The Missionary Review of the World — February 1938
1938
From Confucius to Christ Andrew Gih Effective Missionary Appeals Today Cleland B. McAfee The Dynamic of Philippine Progress Enrique C. Sobrepena What a Missionary Knows Geoffrey W. Royall Missionary Pioneering Today Kenneth G. Grubb The Foreign Missionary of Tomorrow J. Lovell Murray Christian Unity in Santo Domingo Barney N. Morgan 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Yea"
MISSIONARY To have the restoration of Palestine so phenomenal-.-
REVIEW OF THE WORLD To have the building of Jerusalem so progressive·– DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor To have the wealth of the Dead Sea so extraordinary— VOL. LXI FEB., 1938 No.2 To have the unfolding of Bible prophecy so manifestly before our eyes— Publication and Business Office– Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. is to cry out, "THE JEW! THE JEW!" , Editorial and Executive Office– Read this timely and attention-holding volume- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Entered as second-class matter at THE JEW AND HIS MISSION (IN NEW AND REVISED EDITION) Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. By HENRY OSTROM, D.O., Author, Bible Teacher and Evangelist 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. Library Cloth Covers, 156 pages, only $1.00 net Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. Published monthly, except August. The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 848 North Wells St., Chicago, III. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. British agents – Marshall, Morgan important place in the program of the active members of the committee and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, missions." are Mr. Philip Benson, president of London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn; 10 shillings a year. ADAM W. MILLER, Secretary of Dr. Hugh R. Monro, president of the the Missionary Board of the Stony Brook Assembly, and Mr. James MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- Church of God. E. Bennett, attorney, Bible teacher LISHING CO., INC. and radio speaker. The secretary is BOARD OF DIRECTORS *** Rev. Alexander H. Sauerwein of the First Presbyterian Church, Flushing, ROUERT E. SPEER, President "I follow the articles published in N. Y. A. L. WABNSHUIS, Vice-President THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE W ALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer WORLD with great interest." March 4. World Day of Prayer.. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary The day of prayer for missions was PAUL J. BBAlSTED REV. F. A. GOETSCH, D.D., begun in 1887 by Presbyterian women SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Executive Secretary, Board of the U. S. A. and was made a World D. J. FANT of Foreign Missions, Evan- Day of Prayer in 1927. lt is now ob- MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD gelical Synod of North Amer- served in more than fifty countries, WM. B. LIPPHARD ica. beginning in New Zealand and the Emc M. NORTH Fiji Islands at daybreak and contin- SAMUEL M. ZWEMER *** uing westward around the world until the day ends forty hours later at Editorial Chat "I have been a reader of your splen- Gambell on the St. Lawrence Island did magazine for many years and off the coast of Alaska. Plans are under way for two more would not like to get along without it. special numbers of THE REVIEW this lt is a great help m giving the needed II If you use year. Our June issue is to be devoted information regarding missions the to the important Home Mission topic world over." for 1938-1939, "Christ and the City Today." Very attractive and stim- STELLA WOOD, Editor, Albert ulating articles, with noteworthy au- Lea, Minn. thors, are promised. *** Our October issue is to be devoted to that great continental peninsula- "I have been a reader of THE MIS- India – the land of many races, SIONARY REVIEW for nearly ten years languages, castes, religions and op- and value it highly. Its material is portunities. This i& an especially excellent and helpfuL" fascinating subject. MRS. M. W. DOUGHERTY, Morn- *** mg Sun, Iowa.
The annual business meeting of CHRIST AND THE WORLD'S PRINTING THE REVIEW is to be held at 156 Fifth FAIR Avenue, New York, on February 10th, YOU will profit from an acat 2 P. M. The next great World's Fair is to quaintanceship with us. We be held near Flushing, a suburb of do the job complete in our own *** New York, on Long Island in 1939-40. plant, whether it be large or Already the grounds and buildings on small. The special numbers of THE REVIEW Flushing Bay are taking form and the on Rural America and Moslem Lands architects and exhibitors promise a While our specialty is Books, have been in great demand and orders most attractive, complete and unusual Magatines and Pamphlets, yet for additional copies continue to be exhibit – scientific, industrial, educa- we have a variety of modern received. tional and recreational. A Committee equipment to meet all the re- of New York Christian laymen and quirements of your particular *** women have also formed a committee job. You will find our service to promote Christian activity at the prompt, careful and courteous. Here are some recent comments on Fair. This committee includes reprethe value of the magazine to our sentatives of over sixteen interdenom- Will you allow us to estimate readers: inational organizations, among which on your next printing? We be- are The National Laymen's Christian lieve you will be delighted with "I want to express appreciation for Fellowship, the Gideons, Union of our product, price and service. the MISSIONARY REVIEW and what it Gospel Missions, Pocket Testament means in the program of missions. League, Christian Youth Movement The EVANGELICAL PRESS Leaders in our missionary societies and the Missionary Review of the and groups throughout the country World. Printers of subscribe to it regularly. During our The Missionary Review of the World annual convention in June when our The main purpose of this committee new program of missions is inaugu- will be to present Christ and His Gos- PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE rated, special prominence is given to pel to those who attend the Fair-by Third end Reily Streets Herrlsburl, P•• the place that the REVIEW has in help- mass meetings, personal work, over ing to create effective missionary pro- the radio, by distribution of literature, grams. lt is our sincere wish that motion pictures and art, Christian THE REVIEW will continue to hold this education and entertainment. Among [ 65 ]
FILIPINO BABIES-MOTHER AND BABY DAY AT A MISSION HOSPITAL
SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON PARADE – DUMAGUETE PRESBYTERIANS TRAINING THE COMING GENERATION IN THE PHILIPPINES (see page 78) REVIE ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY, 1938 Topics of the Times OPPORTUNITIES IN CHINA Christians have not wavered. Out of about six thousand Protestant foreign missionaries in China Larger harvests follow thorough harrowing; at the outbreak of hostilities over one-half remain better fruit is the result of careful pruning; light at their posts-many of them in the war-torn is increased by trimming the wick; spiritual areas. Most of the women with children have growth is stimulated by hardships and persecu- been evacuated to port cities or to the Philippines tion. This has always been true-in the days of and other countries, but the men who could do so the early Church, during the Reformation, and in are standing by to minister to the Chinese and to the modern missionary enterprise. It is true to- encourage the suffering people. Of the American day in China. In spite of many difficulties and Presbyterian missionaries, 115 remain at their dangers-or because men's hear.ts are made tender stations and 70 more have been transferred to by trials-increased spiritual fruitage is evident other points of service in c:uina. The spirit of among Chinese Christians today in the midst of the missionaries is shown in their disapproval of the horrors and hardships of a foreign invasion. the Government's "evacuation policy." They are While Japanese soldiers loot, ravish women, com- in no mood to withdraw. One missionary writes: mit cruelty and murder, the missionaries befriend "All feel that if it was worth while for us to come the Chinese who find refuge in their mission to China in time of peace, it is even more imporchurches, schools and compounds. A recent dis- tant for us to remain here in time of suffering patch from a Canadian insurance surveyor in and warfare-to heal the sick, feed the hungry Hangchow, at the time of its capture by Japanese and to preach the Gospel of Christ. Today is the soldiers, reports: day of challenge to missionaries. Woe betide us if we sound a retreat." Hundreds of women and girls found refuge in the six refugee camps established by thirty American, British The China Inland Mission reports on several and French missionaries throughout the city. Heroic places where God is working; among them there service was rendered by these plucky foreigners. Every is a revival at Salowu, Yunnan. Chinese woman and child who appealed for a haven in these camps was taken in, although all were badly over- The work began in the Bible School. The work spread crowded. . . . Bishop Curtis E. Clayton, of the Methodist among church leaders and church members. I have not Wayland Academy; Dr. K. Vaneverer; Gene Turner, of seen such a deep work among so many people since coming the Y. M. C. A. refugee camp; Mr. E. Fairclough, of the to China. We felt led to form a revival band, planning a China Inland Mission, and other Americans risked their visit of several months to various tribes and stations. The lives on many occasions. revival blessing is still spreading. Considerably more than one hundred church members have come out confessing The American Protestant Episcopal Mission re- sins, while fully one hundred unbelievers have come out ports great damage to their mission property, in- and made profession of conversion. cluding hospitals, churches, schools and residences in Shanghai, Kiangwan, Woosing, and elsewhere, Similar reports come from many stations scatbut the missionaries are still carrying on their tered throughout China. Pray for the missions work of witnessing and mercy. Many mission- and Chinese Christians particularly. aries and Chinese Christians have lost all their possessions in the battle zone. Many have been In the majority of the provinces the missionary passing through a baptism of fire and blood but work is continuing and all are encouraged by reports of revival movements in the churches and of numbers coming forward for baptism.
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The following is an extract from a missionary's coming of Christ into the world. As to recent letter: progress The Korea Mission Field says: The people's hearts are very fearful, and we have a Half a million enrolled Christians, meeting in 5,000 special ministry amongst them just now-a ministry of places, in groups large and small, not only create an comfort and encouragement, and these days of distress are impression of a large organization but they render a great making openings for the Gospel. N ow is the time to put service. Tens of thousands of Korean youth are enrolled into practice what we have so often preached, namely, in extention Sunday schools, in day and night schools, in that our God whom we trust is able to deliver us and to children's clubs, and in Daily Vacation Bible Schools. give us His peace no matter what the outward circum- There are kindergartens, orphanages, homes for the aged. stances. The very fact that we are here is a help. A The Christians assist in flood relief, fight intemperance, sanctify the marriage relationship, elevate the home, edu- Chinese was heard to remark, cate their children and enlist in community betterment "Oh, they haven't run away yet." movements. "No," replied the other, "they believe and trust in God."
The British Baptists, writing of "New Oppor- As Korean Christians scatter into Japan, into tunities in Shensi," say that while in Shansi and Manchukuo, China, Mongolia, and Siberia, many Shantung work has been completely dislocated by become heralds of the Gospel to other peoples in the Japanese advance, there are great opportuni- these lands. Missionaries are being sent by the ties there for aggressive evangelism. Korean Church to the Chinese with satisfactory results. As the momentum of the Korean Church Rev. A. Keith Bryan writes from San Yuan: increases, an evangelized Korean people may do much to fulfil the purpose of God in the Far East. Several new village Sunday schools have been started. This work is still in its pioneer stage and is beset with CONSIDERING FOREIGN MISSION -difficulties, but shows great promise. . . . PROBLEMS AT TORONTO Weare planning a special campaign throughout all the churches in the Sanyuan and Fuyintstin districts. The Never in the history of the Foreign Missions object is to strengthen the faith of all church members at Conference has the missionary enterprise faced this time of national crisis and to enthuse those who have such a world crisis as in the warring world of grown cold and indifferent. today. For the first time in the more than forty years of close fellowship between the Foreign CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN KOREA Mission Boards of Canada and the United States, the Conference met in Canada (Toronto, January In spite of poverty, hardships and persecution, the Church of Christ has grown and continues to 3-6) * for the forty-fifth annual session. grow in Chosen. Periodically Christians have been called upon to suffer and even today indi- The spirit of the Conference is hard to put into vidual Believers are being persecuted by their un- cold print; there was a depth of feeling and a believing neighbors. In the past, many attempts spiritual atmosphere which permeated every seshave been made to blot out Christianity and to sion. The periods of worship, the messages, the obliterate the Christians' Bible. Temporarily the papers all carried this atmosphere so that the number of Believers may have been reduced but whole program was a unit with the dominant note the Church has been purified and unafraid, and of "Maintaining the spirit of love in the midst of will endure as long as it is faithful to Christ. hate"; the love of God as revealed by Jesus Christ in the midst of a world filled with hate and greed. The Federal Council of Evangelical Missions in It was the message of a supernational Christian Korea recently reports: fellowship to a needy world. The outstanding result of the Conference were two resolutions The Korean Church has gathered momentum; its houses given below. of worship and school buildings dot the landscape everywhere. On Sundays, long lines of people can be seen Naturally much of the thought of the delegates going to and from the Christian services. Everybody in centered in the China-Japan situation. Again and Korea knows about the "Jesu Kyo" and knows something again it was emphasized that as followers of the of what this doctrine stands for, particularly in the field Christ we must live and teach the spirit of love of morals. regardless of the provocation for hate. Facing the present need in China the Conference adopted, The Roman Catholic Church in Korea has been in exist- with a rising vote, this very significant action. ence for over 150 years and reports 150,000 converts (in- cluding all adherents). The Protestant Church has been • The Canadian hosts excelled even their own noted hospitality in at work here for a little over fifty years and has won 225,000 baptized members, not counting enrolled Christians the plans which were made for the conference in the spacious hotel who are neither full members nor probationers. The total number of adherents in both churches is greater than ever and in every detail including a tea to the Conference on Women's before. Work and a complimentary dinner given t<> the delegates by the In all Korea there are at least 425,000 non- Roman Catholic Christians enrolled. There are Canadian Boards. Miss Mabel E. Emerson of the American Board, now more Christians here than there were in all as chairman of the conference, presided with great ability, wisdom, the Roman Empire one hundred years after the tact and with spiritual force. There were a hundred and ninety-six delegates and seventy-two visitors. G. S.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
A resolution concerning relief in China was wherever needed, developed along lines to reveal adopted, in substance as follows: the underlying motive of this world mission; co- operation not as graciously offered to the younger The Conference is confronted with a situation in the churches but as the inherent right of all groups. Far East which already involves human suffering on a Miss Lyon closed by speaking of the need of these scale unparalleled since the World War. Millions of men, newer concepts of the world mission in order to women and children are homeless and on the verge of meet the needs of a "world rocking on its base," starvation. They will perish unless the Christians of the and quoted from the bulletin of the Japanese Stuworld rally to their rescue. If in this hour of China's dents' Christian Association of North America, supreme distress the Christian churches of North America "In the present hour of darkness, even patient, rally to the help of the sufferers in China, they will give a peace-loving people are apt to fall into victims of demonstration of the reality of their own Christian char- dark despair. Yet, everyone who has made his acter and will strengthen their witness to the Gospel of or her deliberate choice with Christ must see Christ which they profess and proclaim.t through the present darkness the approaching dawn. . . . To lead men in the way of Jesus-a In view of this situation, be it world project indeed, and how glorious that North America can be one unit in that world adventure." Resolved: It is difficult in a few words to give a summary (1) That the Foreign Missions Conference recognizes of one of the most deeply stirring messages which that this is a primary responsibility which the Protestant came to the Conference from Dr. Lyman J. Shafer churches of North America must accept as their own and on "What should be the bearing of the foreign to which they must devote unstinted energy. missionary enterprise on world peace?" peace as a positive not a negative force; the building of a (2) That to carry forward the share of the Foreign world Christian community to give recognition to Missions Conference in this responsibility the Conference the values of nations and races and to proceed not appoint a special Committee on Relief in China with power across but through national units. "As Christians to add to their number, this committee to report to the we should seek not one vast world community of Committee of Reference and Counsel from time to time. like-minded people but as a federation of states which for mutual advantage-have given up the (3) That this committee be instructed to cooperate in notion of absolute sovereignty for each nation and Canada with the National Committee for the Relief of have accepted the principles of self-denial- the War Sufferers in China and in the United States, with way of the Cross – that the abundant life for all China Emergency Civilian Relief, Inc., the Federal Council may be realized." of Churches of Christ in America and other interested groups in making and carrying out effective plans to enlist Embodying the spirit of this message by Dr. the support of the Protestant Christians of North America. Shafer, another resolution was passed concerning progress toward world peace. (4) That the Conference urges all churches and mission boards in North America to do their utmost in responding The representatives from China and Japan who to the needs of the suffering people of China; and with were attending the Conference and particularly this in view, instructs the above named committee to ap- the Nationals from China embodied in a remarkproach the responsible church authorities to obtain effec- able way this spirit of love and Christian fellowtive action on their part by such concrete methods as a ship. China Relief Sunday, use of denominational publications, utilizing the services of China missionaries on furlough Dr. Mott and Dr. Warnshuis presented plans for and other plans to secure an early and generous response. the International Missionary Council at Madras, India (December 13-30, 1938). The theme will Outstanding messages were given at every ses- center around the universal Church as a Christian sion. The spirit of the Conference is revealed in fellowship creatively cooperating in presenting an the summaries of two of the messages. The first intensive evangel to the mind and heart of men dealt with "The Newer Concept of the North everywhere. The delegates will come from prac- American Missionary Program as Part of the tically all of the nations of the world, half of them World Project." Under the skilled leadership of being from the Asiatic and African churches and Miss Sarah Lyon, the Conference faced five types half from the churches of Europe and North and of patterns which reveal the field as the whole South America. The National Christian Council world, with the Church of North America as a in each country is making extensive preparation struggling unit in this world Church; this world in order that this Conference may be most sigmission of the Church going from East to West nificant in the development of the universal and not only from West to East; the new mis- Church. A call to prayer is going out to all sionary as a servant "realistic, flexible, compell- churches throughout the ·world since prayer preping, winsome"; "headquarters" not centering in aration is of the most vital importance in order North America as the home base but mission units 1" In response to this situation, there has been formed in Canada a National Committee for the Relief of W,ar Sufferers in China, in which the Canadian Red Cross Society and the Religious Bodies of Canada, cooperate. In the United States, while China Famine Relief, Inc., the American Red Cross, the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, the Foreign Missions Conference, and Mission Boards and other groups have secured and forwarded limited sums for relief, no adequate program has yet been undertaken. At the present time, a national movement is being launched by China Emergency Civilian Relief, Inc., which is being developed as a unified agency with the active cooperation of the Far East Committee of the Foreign Missions Conference, of the Federal Council and of other interested groups.
that the Conference may arrive at a united under- and stimulating statement that brought new constanding of the Will of God and of the mind of Christ for the World mission of Christianity. fidence as to the efforts of the City Government In the closing service of worship of the Confer- in promoting good living conditions, especially to ence, led by Dr. E. W. Wallace, Chancellor and President of the Victoria University of the Uni- the children of this metropolis of over seven milversity of Toronto, each delegate faced personally the responsibility of having been a delegate. "Our lion people, including all colors, races, languages, hearts have been burdened, our faith has been tested and yet our hearts have been warmed as faiths and conditions. news has come to us as to the ways in which God is moving in the hearts of men even in war-torn DI;. Robert W. Searle, Secretary of the Greater China. We have faced the glory of the expectation which lies before us." GERTRUDE SCHULTZ. New York Federation of Churches, gave a power- THIRTY YEARS OF HOME MISSION ful address at the annual dinner on "The Mission- COOPERATION ary Challenge of the City." (We hope to publish In 1908 three councils were formed to bring into closer cooperation the various Protestant this later.) Church bodies working for the advancement of Christianity in North America. These were the Much has already been accomplished in inter- Home Missions Council, the Council of Women for Home Missions and the Federal Council of denominational cooperation and by church federa- Churches of Christ in America. The first two of these interdenominational councils held their thir- tions in many states, and in promoting evangelical tieth annual meetings in New York City, January 9 to 12, .to consider reports of progress, to elect work for Spanish-speaking peoples of the Southofficers and plan for the future. The secretary of the Home Missions Council, Dr. Wm. R. King, west, as well as in other fields. Dr. Edward D. who for the past ten years has served the cause most effectively, has resigned because of ill health Kohlstedt, the re-elected President of the Home and has been succeeded by the Rev. Mark A. Dawber, for some years the able secretary of the Missions Council, gave a stimulating address on rural work for the Methodist Episcopal Church. As Dr. Dawber said in his inaugural address: the stupendous task before the Christian Church "The great job (of Home Missions) remains in America – to combat indifference, secularism, for the most part to be done. . . . The vast army of the poor and needy, the influence of the liquor communism, crime, intemperance, vice and other traffic, .the new social security measures, the decrease m incomes due to the 'depression,' the prob- evils by presenting Christ and His full Gospel, lems of church comity, the unemployed ministry and the changing status in foreign language with all of its implications. groups-all these and other conditions influence the Home Mission task today. . . . To date the The Council of Women for Home Missions have work of promoting comity and cooperation has been for the most part in the realm of the town been doing a remarkable work, not only by bringand country field. The next step is to see how far we can apply the principles of interdenomina- ing women's boards and societies into closer cotional cooperative service in the large cities." . "The City" is the topic for Home Mission study operation, but in promoting Christian activity in cIrcles for the year 1938-39 and will be dealt with in the June number of THE REVIEW. It was espe- behalf of American Indians and neglected Migrant cially noteworthy that the Mayor of New York Mr. F. H. LaGuardia (a member of the Protestant Groups. The Executive Secretary, Miss Edith E. Episcopal Church and a former interpreter at Ellis Island), addressed the conference on "Some Lowry, and the various committees gave encour- Social and Moral Problems of our City and How We Are Seeking to Solve Them." This was a clear aging reports on many phases of the work carried on independently and in cooperation with the Home Missions Council. The President of the Council of Women for Home Missions, Mrs. Au- gustus Trowbridge of the Protestant Episcopal Church, succeeds Mrs. Millard L. Robinson of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Home Mission task of the churches in America is far from completed and will not be finished until every man, woman and child in this great continent has the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Christ, and has available the facilities for Christian training; and until it is far more difficult than it is at present to exploit youth, the laboring classes and the underprivileged, and until true Americans are solidly united in combatting the evils of intemperance, injustice, vice and crime and warm.enhm.ognemstleyn devoted to the worship of Ggeond-' are to Christ, and Christians erally are enlisted in His service.
If thou wouldst walk with me, Take up thy cross: I carried mine-is thine, then, heavier?
Step for step, I walk with thee: Lay thy tired hand in Mine. Love bore for this alone The prints that press thy palm That I and thou together mighest walk.
-The Calvary.
Confucius to
-<II 1 By ANDREW GIH, B,the! M]"ion, Shangh.i, Chin. 11)10– I N A LARGE room full of Chinese boys and vidually. One by one the pupils stood before the girls a little lad of six was kneeling on a hard teacher with their backs to him and recited their bench. He was obliged to kneel there until he old lessons; then the teacher would read the new could recite from memory the daily portion of sev- portion to be learned, and they would return to eral pages from the Confucian ~lassics. He their seats. The confusion of so many voices was shouted the lines rhythmically at the top of his at first very distracting, but I soon became used voice, though the words conveyed no meaning to to it. A bright student could recite his lesson by him. noon, then in the afternoon he could receive a new assignment and thus make rapid progress. It was a bright, wintry February day when I started to school. In honor of the great occasion We went home for luncheon but hurried back my mother bought me a new wadded coat and as quickly as possible for our writing lesson. jacket. She combed my hair and tied a red string First we had to make our own ink by vigorously on my little queue. In my father's absence my rubbing a solid stick of ink around in an inkuncle took me to the school, carrying a red blanket, stand containing a little water until the liquid candles and incense. On entering the school build- was of proper consistency. We had no pens but ing I found a big room with 80 or 90 boys and brushes made of sheep hair. At first we merely girls, all reading aloud. The teacher, a man of painted in characters that had been outlined for about 50, with a ferocious-looking mustache, was us. In the second stage we traced the characters told by my uncle to enroll me as one of his pupils. on thin paper over the models written by the The red blanket was spread before the teacher, teacher. In the next stage we copied them freeand on it I knelt and kowtowed until he raised hand; finally we learned to imitate different me up. Then the candles were lighted and the famous styles of writing. incense burned before the tablet of Confucious, as I again kowtowed. After the writing period we shouted our lessons again until it was too dark to see. Then the The other children stopped their reading to teacher dismissed us one by one in order to keep watch me. Then suddenly, in the silence, I was us from fighting on the street. With no exercise terrified by the teacher striking the table a re- and no recess all day long of course the boys besounding blow with a heavy wooden ferule. In- came very restless and would pester the teacher stantly all the pupils began shouting out their with excuses to leave the room for a few minutes. lessons again. I was assigned to a table at which there were six students, four of them, unfortu- This Confucian school was not really conducted nately, my cousins! We soon formed a clique and according to Confucius' method. He had six subwere tormenting one of the other pupils. The jects in his curriculum-poetry, literature, cereteacher discovered our mischief and made us monies, music, horsemanship, archery. This was choose between being struck with the teacher's a well-rounded training, not just dull memory heavy ferule or kneeling on our benches until our work from the classics. With the pass-age of time lessons were learned. I chose to kneel, but soon the curriculum was divided into two branches, regretted it. The harder I tried to learn, the more wen and WU, the literary and the military. Those nervous I grew, the longer it took to memorize preparing for official tIOsition took the literary and the sorer my knees became!. course while those interested in national defense took courses that developed physical prowess. From early morning until late afternoon we did only two things-read aloud and learn to write. In the literary course the student spent years The children came to school as early as possible, memorizing the classics before he understood anysome were there at day-break. The teacher was thing of their meaning. If he was bright, in three early too and was pleased to see the first arrivals, or four years he could memorize several books and so eager for an education. While waiting for the be able to recognize more than 5,000 separate new lesson to be assigned the pupils would recite characters. Only then would the teacher begin past memory work-one or two whole books from to explain the meaning. This is still done in some cover to cover. The new lessons were taught indi- Confucian schools. The student listens carefully to the explanation and then studies the passage [71 ]
for himself; returning to the teacher he turns his is sin; and to call your brother man a "fool" is back and recites what he has learned. sin.
I spent five years in this school and, though fre- I found that if we measure our lives by the quently ill, I managed to memorize several books. Sermon on the Mount even the most moral Con- Then my father opened a school. I supposed that fucianist comes short of that high standard. Conthere I could come and go as I pleased. How I fucius teaches that we should return good for rejoiced, for I thought the day of my freedom had good, but Christ says, "Love your enemies, pray come. To relieve the monotony of school hours I for those who persecute you." Confucius warns bought a little bird but my father took it away us to do no wrong but he says nothing about how from me. I expected him to set it free, and had to treat those who wrong us. Christ points the trained it to come back to me! But my father way out when he says that love covers all. anticipated that and dashed the bird to the ground and killed it. I went on a "sit-down When someone asked Confucius about death, he strike" and mother had to come in as peace-maker. replied: "I can't understand life; how then can I found that my father was no longer my father I understand death?" There is nothing for the but my teacher! I had to go back to the same man's soul in Confucianism. We read in the old life! Bible: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment." For truth, Confucius What Confucius Teaches uses a word which may be translated "Word" or "Way." He says: "The Word cannot be parted Confucius teaches .us to be good citizens and with; if it can be parted with it is not the Word." good rulers. His teaching is very practical and The Apostle John declares: "In the beginning materialistic and it is difficult to convert a true was the Word, and the Word was with God and disciple of Confucius to any religion. The great the Word was God; the Word was made flesh and scholars attack all religion as heresy and super- dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory – the stition. Confucianism divides society into four glory as of the only begotten of the Father full classes: scholars, farmers, laborers, merchants. of truth and grace." The one defines a principle; Since Buddhist monks belong to none of these the other introduces us to a divine Person, who classes, they contribute nothing to the nation but will give us the experience we seek. are parasites. Hence they are despised. Four occupations are open to the Confucian student: Confucius said, "If this is the Way, enter in; fishing, wood-gathering, farming, study. These if it is not, turn away." His followers have a all aim at material benefits. As the monks do mind for spiritual things but they seek without none of these, they are considered useless non- finding. Jesus Christ says: "I am the Way," and producers. The Confucianist worships Heaven, in Him we find the Way to life and God and our but it is only a formal ceremony. Confucianism problems are solved. ignores the soul or spiritual life of man. Many uninformed Westerners say, "Confucian- Later I discovered, as I learned more, that the ism is good enough for the Chinese; why teach teachings of Confucius are good for this life only. them Christianity?" I will tell you why I forsook I found that Christ promises both "a hundredfold Confucianism to become a Christian. I found that now in this present time – and in the world to Confucianism is only a human philosophy. In come eternal life." Confucianism is negative, Christ I found that which entirely satisfies not Christian teaching is positive. Confucius says, only my spiritual life but also my mind. Con- "Do not to others what you would not have them fucius says, "If it is not right do not look at it, do to you." Christ gives .the command positively. do not listen to it, do not speak of it, do not do it." That sounds very good, but Confucius imparts no As a Confucian scholar I had no use for reli- power to put that teaching into practice. My gion. Then·1 entered the high school of Bethel guilty soul cries out: "Yes, my Teacher, you are Mission in order to learn.English. Since the Bible right; you want me to see no evil, hear no evil, was taught in English I enrolled in that course speak no evil, do no evil. But I have done them and was greatly impressed with the Sermon on all. I have sinned already. I find guilt on my the Mount. Confucius says: "If you want to rule soul. Is there any way out?" His teaching only the nation you must settle your own house; to adds to my despair, for he says: "If one has rule your own house you must set an example in sinned against Heaven no prayer will accomplish your own life; to set a good example you must its end." In the Bible I find great comfort in the keep your heart right." He failed to realize that promise: "If we confess our sins He (God) is the heart of man is deceitful above all things and faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to desperately wicked. The Confucianist is a moral- cleanse us from all unrighteousness!" ist but he never condemns sin in the heart. On the other hand, Christ says that lust in the heart Confucius gives us his conception of God or the spiritual world in these words: "Respect the
FROM CONFUCIUS TO CHRIST
spiritual beings or gods, but keep yourself aloof Yes, Confucius died and his tomb is in Shan- from them; this is wisdom." He knew no for- tung. Costly buildings have been erected on the giveness for sin or no way to draw near to God; site where sacrifices are offered to the great Sage.
Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, revealed Visitors throng the place. His bones lie there, but God as our heavenly Father. Confucius warns us that fact spells doom. He is dead. Can a dead to keep away from God; Jesus Christ tells us to man save a living sinner? Jesus Christ gave His draw near to Him and we may come to know His life on the Cross, a sacrifice for the sin of others.
tender, loving heart. He was buried, but the grave failed to hold Him.
When, as a Confucianist, I started studying the He who raised Lazarus, the widow's son, and Bible, I knew that I came short of obeying the J airus' daughter, Himself rose from the dead on teachings of Christ. Under the teaching of Miss the third day. He who created life, and was not C. F. Tippet, I was convicted that I was a sinner worthy of death, could not be held by death. He needing salvation. I was told that Christ had "brought light and immortality to light through died on the Cross for sinners and that He is the the Gospel."
Lamb of God that "taketh away the sin of the Christ a Living Saviour world." I saw the Saviour on the Cross with out- Jesus Christ rose from the grave over 1,900 stretched hands and His compassionate voice call- years ago. God Himself gave witness to this ing, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are fact; the disciples left reliable testimony; the heavy laden and I will give you rest." whole course of history has been changed by this fact; we can accept the record. Christ was not Confucius did not die as a saviour and substi- merely a historical character like Confucius; He tute for sinners, but I learned that "while we were lives today. I have talked to Him and have re- yet sinners Christ died for us." Then my proud ceived answers from Him. I have fellowship with Confucian heart was softened and I was won to Him and experience His love. He is living today! . God through the wonderful love of Christ. I bowed my knees and for the first time prayed to A Chinese proverb 8ays, "The world can be God who so loved me that He gave His only be- changed but human nature can never be changed." gotten Son and had mercy on me, a sinner. The This is a hopeless philosophy. Confucius could loving Saviour answered my prayer and I was reform, educate, give knowledge, but he despaired received with assuring words: "My son, thy sins of human nature ever being changed. I know that are forgiven thee; go in peace." My burden Christ has changed my heart and has completely rolled away and assurance, peace, the joy of sal- transformed my life. "If any man be in Christ vation, was given me. he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." This, as I Confucius says nothing of making lost sinners can testify, is a blessed reality. righteous, but God says that by Christ "all that believe are justified from all things, from which Forty days after His resurrection Jesus Christ ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." In ascended into Heaven, while his disciples stood the court of Confucianism I would be a condemned gazing upward: There is nothing like this in the sinner forever; there was no way out. But when classics of Confucius. We have fairy stories in I came to the bar of God, in the name of Christ, Chinese; but this record is actually true. We I found the Way of pardon. His law demanded, know that it is a fact, because when Christ went "The soul that sinneth it shall die" ;-"the wages into Heaven He sent the Holy Spirit to carryon of sin is death." But in love His own Son took His work. Pentecost stands as a witness to the my punishment on the Cross. I entered the court of God a trembling, convicted sinner; I walked ascension of Christ. The Holy Spirit bears witout a free man, justified, righteous, through faith ness with my spirit that my Saviour is glorified.
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the righteous Before Jesus went to the Cross, He gathered Judge on the bench had become my loving Father. His loved ones about Him and tenderly told them I was no more treated as a condemned sinner, no that He was "going to prepare a place" for them more a foreigner, but was received as a son into and would come again and receive them unto Him- the household of God. I was born again into self, saying, "that where I am, there ye may be God's family. Oh what joy and satisfaction I also." The return of Jesus Christ is the blessed found in the salvation provided by the Lord Jesus hope. When the dead in Christ rise the living Christ! No wonder the Psalmist cried, "0 taste .will be transformed. In the twinkling of an eye and see that the Lord is good." I would urge we shall be in the presence of the Lord Jesus everyone to come and taste the joy of salvation Christ.
offered through Christ. There is nothing of this sort in Confucianism; The practical-minded Confucianist asks: "Is no glorious future, no coming Kingdom. If Chris- Jesus Christ a real Saviour? If we are saved by tian faith misses these great truths it misses the His death, did not Confucius also die?" glorious promise of eternal life. Without these
fundamental truths, Christianity is not much bet- Our Lord's command, "Go ye into all the world ter than a pagan philosophy. and preach the gospel," is still a challenge to Christians, while one-tenth of the world's popula- Christianity has taken deep root in Chinese soil. tion is still unevangelized in China. The Chinese The Gospel seed faithfully sown by ambassadors may not be head-hunters and cannibals, but they of Christ is springing up and bearing fruit. Many need Christ. There is a great field waiting, white Chinese no longer look upon Christianity as a to the harvest, calling young men and women to foreign religion. Christianity is making progress come with the Gospel of Jesus Christ which they among a people with thousands of years of the themselves have found is the power of God unto practical, materialistic teaching of Confucius, be- salvation to everyone who believeth. Will you be cause Christ offers not a new set of rules, anew obedient to the command of our Lord Jesus philosophy, new ethics, a new religion, but Christ Christ: "Go ye into all the world and preach the offers Himself as a Person, a Saviour. Chris- Gospel to every creature"? tianity is Christ. We have religions enough. We have philosophies enough. But we are sinners and Confucius is a human teacher, not a prophet of we need a Saviour. There are, roughly speaking, God. two hundred million Chinese who have never yet heard the Gospel. Oh, give us a gospel; introduce Confucianism is a system of ethics, not a reus to a Saviour who is mighty to deliver and who ligion. saves to the uttermost! Confucianism is a materialistic philosophy, not Many problems are confronting China; we need a spiritual revelation. much help. But Christ is the solution to all these problems. Is it worth while to send missionaries Confucianism offers reformation, not regenerato China? Christ said, "What shall it profit a man tion. if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" If you should think Christianity a failure in China Confucianism recommends a philosophy of livlook at the thousands of young Chinese Christians ing, not the Way to Life. who are going into the streets and into the villages, preaching the Gospel to their own people. Confucianism deals with man's relation to man, That should put a ringing "Hallelujah" inte the not with man's true relation with God. hearts of every Christian. Confucianism is a recipe for the present, not a new life for all time.
What Confucius and his philosophy lacks, Christ and His Way of Life supplies.
INDIAN TRIBUTES TO A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY The late Dr. William I. Chamberlain made an abiding impression during his service in South India. A memorial service was held in Vellore on October thirty-first and a public meeting of the Indian citizens was held on November fourth under the chairmanship of the Hindu Mayor of VeIlore. The well-deserved tribute was paid, not only to a great Christian missionary, but to the man who during. his residence in VeIlore rendered distinguished public service as Chairman of the Municipal Council, their term for Mayor. The Vellore citizens not only passed appropriate resolutions but they have launched the project to erect a library by public subscription as a tangible memorial to. one whom they highly honored.
The Madras Mail, principal paper of South India, paid eloquent tribute to Dr. Chamber- lain as the "Maker of Modern VeIlore." The paper printed letters from two distinguished Indian citizens – Sir Mahomed HabibuIlah, a Mohammedan high in government serVice, and Sir S. Radhakrishnan, a Hindu, one of the world's most well-known philosophers, now Pro- fessor of Logic at Oxford University. Sir Mahomed Habibullah wrote: "Dr. Chamberlain was almost my first and best friend in Vellore. There was no public movement in the District of North Arcot in general and in VeIlore in particular which he did not either initiate or sponsor. It was my'pdvilege to be associated with him in all his activi- ties, whether social, educational, humanitarian or political. I.t may fitly be said that he was practically the maker of modern Vellore.
"To a magnetic personality he added the charm of winning manners and suavity of temper. His devotion to duty, and the high conception of the conscientious discharge of the responsi- bilitiesappertaining to it, had become an object lesson to those who wished to succeed or had aspirations in life. H:;:vlng bEen his colleague on the Municipal Council (in Vellore) in differ- ent capacities, I can bear personal testimony to the contribution which he made to the civic life of Vellore.
"It was universally felt, when he finally left Vellore, that his departure would create a void which it would be hard to fill; experience proved that this fear was well-founded."
Missionary Appeals
By the REV. CLELAND B. McAFEE, D.D.
Secretary Emeritus of the Board of Foreign Missions, fi.- Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
T wo definite lines of appeal are always needed errand. Then his own part begins. His master at the home end of the missionary enterprise: leaves it to him to rise early or late, take long or for the dedication of life and for the dedica- short cuts in the road, and many other details. tion of resources; both appeals imply an earlier But when he arrives he must give account of his dedication of spiritual force. Experience shows faithfulness. that the money comes harder than the lives. Young people at this present hour seem to see in Just so Christian missionary work a larger opportunity I have God's bidding to perform; but mind than their elders count it to be. And body, all of me, though made and meant For that sole service, must consult, concert But what are the terms of appeal for either or With my own self and nobody beside, both the youth and their elders? What can make How to effect the same: God helps not else. the enterprise look so great and alluring to Christians that both life and money will be forth- It is not strange that from tiIn.e to time we must coming? stop and ask what are the best ways of doing what remains always as our task.
In the recent past the appeal was predominantly After all, missions continue to be a Christian double-the command of Christ and the need of movement and not merely a general humane enmankind throughout the world. Has anything deavor. It is, to be sure, the most humane enhappened to change the force of that double ap- deavor that humanity is now making, but it has peal? Have new elements emerged which weaken its roots in something deeper than kindly impulses the old appeal or that can make a stronger call toward other people. There is no effective plea than these? Can both appeals be reworded so that for missions which can be addressed to those who they may fit better into present-day moods? do not intend to be accounted Christians. If one really does not care greatly for Christ, he will not Certainly nothing has altered the essential pur- greatly care for Christ's call to service. One must pose of the missionary movement. There was no "come" before one will "go." There is not enough date nor any particular description of world con- ditions when the command of Christ was given, "drive" in a mere humanitarian movement to nor when at various periods the work was under- carry one overseas on a mission for Christ, nor taken afresh. Neither the command nor history to keep one there after the first shock of repulse permits evasion nor compromise. by those whom one means to benefit. Nor is there sufficient force in the social impulse to persuade The methods of work must be suited to the con- men in general to maintain persistent and sacriditions under which it is to be done. The New ficial giving. The motives for such a work must Testament gives no details as to what methods be powerful and continuous, not intermittent and should be followed. It brings us merely the clear- impulsive. The appeal has to be made to Chriscut word of our Master in six verbs: Go, preach tians, not to grown-up Boy Scouts who are exthe Gospel, make disciples, teach, baptize into the pected to do "a good deed every day," beautiful as triune Name, bear witness to Christ. To make that purpose is and fine as the habit is. this kind of work effective the continued presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit are The question keeps recurring whether we ought promised. How it is to be done, and what is to be still to continue to emphasize the dire need of the the general outcome, we are not told. Our part is world and of each individual for Christ and the to do the work, with the promise of God's presence life He can bring – spiritual, moral, social, ecoand power. nomic – or to stress instead the reconstructive programs of international peace, interracial un- Recall the illustration of Robert Browning in derstanding and the social justice. Are we his Prince Hohenstiehl Schwangau. The courier seeking only to bring individuals to Christ for is sent by his master on an errand and is given personal redemption or are we trying also to readequate equipment. He is told to go a thousand miles to a certain destination and to do a definite construct the social order under which so many [75 ]
wrongs are done and so much evil exists? Is it world. In some factors those lands merely share eternal life and Heaven we are offering, or are we in these needs with the rest of the world; in some seeking to establish the rule of God on earth? matters, non-Christian lands hold a tragic pre- eminence-in ignorance, in poverty, in social in- It would be a narrowing of our conception of difference, in callous neglect, in attitude toward the Gospel of Christ if we did not answer the women, in superstition, in unworthy and degradquestion with "both-and" rather than "either-or." ing human practices. In such particulars the The Gospel is adequate both for the individual "sending countries" are far beyond the "receiving and for all the world and is needed for both. Yet lands." If need is to be measured in quantity, in it is clear that miSSIonary concern continues to be lives affected, in weakness of corrective measures, primarily with the earlier half of the question. then ,the "receiving lands" must be counted far So many agencies are now at work on general in- more needy than the "sending lands." If it is international and interracial programs that they are sisted that dire needs still exist in all lands, the not in danger of serious neglect by good people, reply is a sad and unqualified admission of the much as they still need to be pressed. Enough fact, along with an earnest reminder that in some ought certainly to be included in the missionary lands many great agencies are at work for the appeal to make it very clear that the temporal correction or alleviation of these evils and that in earthly needs of men are of deep missionary con- other lands such agencies are lacking or feeble. cern. But the basic necessity for a new spirit in individual men and women is not emphasized as Certainly we cannot expect any permanent conmuch as is needed, nor is the need of the indi- cern for Christian missions if we do not look upon vidual considered today so much as it should be. them as a means of supplying some real need. This is a distinctive missionary task. It is sheer intrusion if those to whom we go do not need what we bring. We do not take gif.ts of Missionary advocates must make room in pro- medicine to a family in full health nor offer food gram and appeal for those who are called to carry and clothing to a family fully supplied against forward one phase of Christ's work for men, even the winter. If the religions of other lands are adethough they may feel that the part to which they quate, we need not present Christ to them. The are called is so important as to cover the whole appeal based on need is not invalidated, but it program. They may not welcome the more dis- must be used in humility and love and never in tinctly personal element we would emphasize, but arrogance or contempt. The facts assembled by we may welcome their part because it is truly part Dr. Stephen J. Corey in his "Beyond Statistics," of the whole. One group feels that nothing is are too abundant to leave any serious question of really of permanent value but individual sur- the service of missions to meet existing need, need render to Christ and personal redemption; an- much too real to be dismissed by occasional or other group feels that social reconstruction is frequent instances of culture and advantage found most important and alone can justify the pro- among the people by these other lands. gram. We can welcome both objectives for we can be sure that only spiritually reconstructed in- Today we recognize the newly arisen need in dividuals can properly reconstruct society, and the world for a unifying and mollifying spirit. that when an individual is really reconstructed When nations and races were safely distant from he will be ready to take his place as a rebuilder each other, their underlying defects made little or of the social order. Our Lord once warned His no difference. Today, when nations and races disciples against too narrow views of fellow- are in unavoidable contact, there must be either workers (Mark 9: 38f) , though He recognized conflict or understanding. Some form of world also that there is always danger of affiliations brotherhood mus·t develop, something that will which really vitiate His program (2 Cor. 6: 17, make men everywhere try to understand each 18). The issue is really not between the different other and to work in fellowship. If it is asked parts of the program but as to their order-which whether there can be a world brotherhood, the is primary and which is logical outcome. Too reply is that there is one now – the Christian many social developments and reformations have brotherhood. This is weak and ineffective in resulted from "preaching the simple Gospel" to many places, betrayed over and over again by allow us to count such work unimportant in the those who should be its staunchest supporters, but Christian movement. We must not reverse cause it is always present, checking its own violations, and effect; we must not try to produce the fruits challenging its membership to fuller sympathy, of the Christian life while we neglect its roots. shaming them for their failures. It is no weak The missionary movement is concerned centrally plea for missions that it is the largest single wi~h rootage, with cause, but collaterally it is also agency in forming this world brotherhood, and deeply concerned with fruits and with effect. that every man truly won to Christ automatically becomes a member of it. There is no short cut Much may be said about the downright and to its realization and it cannot be framed by legis- tragic needs which still mark the "non-Christian"
EFFECTIVE MISSIONARY APPEALS TODAY
lation nor by treaties or leagues. It must be the but a messenger of One who claims all men for outcome of the service of those who now follow Christ in seeking men everywhere to join the Himself. ranks of His followers. The process will be just 4. Noblesse oblige-making some decent effort as slow or as rapid as we make it, and its speed is measured by our faithfulness to this principal to share with those who lack them the undeserved method of service. favors of life which we possess. Christ is the great gift of God to us; who are we to let the Here is also the true basis for the much used gift stop with us? idea of "sharing"-the feeling that we go to other lands to "share" our best with them. Of course 5. The present wide ruin of life can be prewe should learn what they can teach us; every vented· by the new and renewing Spirit which missionary learns a vast deal from the land to Christ gives. If anyone doubts the ruin of life, which he goes. But on hiS" main errand for Christ let him look around; if it is ruined here it is he does not go as an inquirer, wondering if per- ruined yonder, equally or more, and ruin hurts haps he may learn something in the other land and brings death wherever it occurs. Certainly which will replace that to which he has given his the ruin is as dire there as here and there are life and for which he has gone out as a messenger few to bring the remedy there. of Good Tidings. If the people to whom he goes know something which he may well learn, much 6. The call to lay our Christian faith down more does he know something which they may alongside of world religions, in assurance that it well learn and that is his principal errand – to will carry its own argument and its conviction of give the knowledge of Christ and to start the truth. The missionary movement does not seek vital influences which flow out from Him. We to attack, as it does not adopt, these religions. have no successful appeal to young people who are The message and power of Christ merely gives not committed to Christ as their Lord and Sav- men of this day what many of their fathers once iour, first and foremost. Their knowledge of Him had-some knowledge of God and of another and and His truth will grow with the years, but its better Way of Life which they may accept if they roots must lie snugly in the life of the missionary will. Vital religions always have traveled, and before he s,tarts on his errand. races of men have accepted and followed new reli- gions many times in history. It is no impertinence The Appeal That Inspires Volunteers to present the Christian faith; if men of today find this faith better than the religion they have Let the effort, then, be made to phrase the ap- had, it is no more than their fathers did in acceptpeal of today in explicit terms. What have we to ing the faith they now have. After hearing an urge that will inspire the unreserved gift of lives address in which the Christian faith was preand possessions? sented, a young Hindu said: "The speaker did not mention our faith, but if what he says about the 1. The call to layout life where many others Christian faith is true, our faith is not true." cannot or do not go to help men. There is need One religion does not reform another; it replaces at home-yes, and thousands of people are here it. concerned for its supply; there is need abroadyes, and only tens of people, or none at all, are 7. The call to advance the whole program of concerned. Where shall the one life be laid out, human unity. The human race needs to have all if one is free to choose? its parts brought into right relationships around the best which any part of the race knows. This 2. The desire of earnest people in "mission lays the chief burden of world unity on the races lands" for help in removing hindrances in the way that know Christ and His vitalizing and unifying of their own people. The first missionaries went power. to foreign lands without being asked, simply because they were needed. Noone now needs to go 8. The call to bring relief to real need in many without being asked to meet needs, for these are lines-spiritual primarily, but intellectual, physikeenly felt in all lands. The "man of Macedonia" cal and social as well. The first relief is generally has come out of the vision and will meet the right brought to individuals, but it often leads to changworkers at the shore, sometimes alone and with- ing a whole social practice and to relieving need out a crowd of supporters, but ready to welcome in a wide circle. It would not be impertinent to men who will "help" him in making Christ known. seek to relieve real need in the next street; why should it be impertinent to relieve the need in an- 3. The opportunity in the name of Christ to other land? assert the value of personality against the contempt or low regard of masses of men and even of All this runs back to the fundamental assurance many rulers. The Christian missionary is the of Christ's desire as expressed in His commission prime believer in the value of men to whom he to His disciples, and to the promise of His abidgoes; he is no superior person going to inferiors, ing presence. There is no successful appeal for life or money for this enterprise to people who do not know Him.
Dynamic of Philippine
I I -~ By the REV. ENRIQUE C. SOBREPENA, D.D., Manila tg.··- FOR four decades the people of the United vide us more adequately with material benefits. States, through their government, have coop- As a result, there is now increased activity in the erated with the Filipinos in building a new cultivation of hitherto .untouched lands and the Filipino nation. The best things of America have development of our great mineral resources. With contributed to this development. The form of increased wealth for the people, there should come government of the Philippines has gradually been better living conditions for all.
builded in the form of that of the United States. During these last forty years sanitation, hy- With it there has come into our life knowledge giene, and medical science have greatly advanced and practice of those her e. Consequently, great principles of de- the Filipinos today are mocracy w h i c h have The Rev. Enrique C. Sobrepena, D.O., is the mod- generally healthier and helped the American sturdier than were those people to grow strong. erator of the United Evangelical Church of the Phil- of a generation ago. ippine Islands. He came to America to represent the Diseases which used to We Filipinos are now new church of his native land at the Centennial cele- send thousands of peoguaranteed in our own pIe to untimely graves Constitution the same bration of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. have now been brought rights of free speech, Dr. Sobrepena has been reelected bie.nnially moderator under control. The epifree press, free assem- of the United Church for five successive terms. He demics of cholera, diphbly, and free worship was also a member of the Constitutional Convention theria, typhoid fever, which we first enjoyed and smallpox-the ravunder the Constitution and he assisted in the drafting of the plan of govern- ages of which were well of the United States. known to the older gen- ment for the Philippine Commonwealth. eration _ are no longer To the United States Born in Caba, La Union, he was baptized and feared as formerly. Acwe owe also our system cording to a report reof popular education. joined the Evangelical Church while still attending centIy made by thePhl'l- In 1901 the American ippines Health Service, grade school. Upon completion of high school and t ran s p 0 r t steamer Thomas brought to the trade school courses, he served as a surveyor under the government. In 1920 he came to the United States and entered Macalester College. For two years he studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and took graduate courses in the University. He was graduated from Drew Theological Seminary in 1926. During his student dayS in Princeton and Drew he served as pastor of the Filipino Church in Brooklyn and was one of the founders and first president of the Filipino Students' Christian Moveme.nt, organized in 1923 dur- ing the Student Volunteer Movement convention in Philippines a thousand Indianapolis. smallpox – which used teacherR recruited from After returing to the Philippine Islands in 1926, to take toll of so many American colleges and Mr. Sobrepena became pastor of the United Church lives, to say nothing of schools 0 f education. in Manila and t<llught in the Union Theological S·em- marring the features of To them and to their inary. When the Union College of Manila was or- large numbers of people successors we owe the ganized, Dr. Sobrepena was called as president. -claimed not one viclarge decrease of illiter- tim last year. As a reacy _ an illiteracy due Dr. Sobrepena is a member of the board of trustees suIt of this scientific to the fact that previ- of Silliman University and the' Union Theological knowledge and other Seminary, has served as executive secretary of the Philippines Council of Religious Education and is editor of the local official organ of the United Evan- gelical Church, The Advance.
ously schools had been factors for the strength- intended almost entirely ening of physical life, for the children of those in power. As education the Filipino is much better prepared to take his and understanding have spread, so we have ad- part as a citizen.
vanced commercially, socially, and religiously. But the most significant contribution to our peo- Upon our educated citizens rests the success, and pIe has been made not by the government or by even the existence of our republican form of gov- commerce or by medicine, but by the evangelical ernment. churches of the United States. We Filipinos, as Our acquaintance with the Americans, who a people, had not been without some knowledge of have husbanded their national resources to afford the Christian religion. Spain, as a colonizing comfortable living conditions, has also inspired us power, brought to her subject peoples the institu- to develop our rich natural resources so as to pro- tions and doctrines of Christianity as she believed [78 ] EVANGELICAL STUDENTS, AS VOLUNTEER TEACHERS, CONDlTCTING A CHRISTIAN SUNDAY SCHOOL IN A VILLAGE' IN THE PHILIPPINES them. But religion, as we knew it before the churches has succeeded in drawing together Filicoming of the American missionaries, did not play pino men and women who believe in the teachings an important part in the transformation of the and the power of Jesus Christ. They are thus individual lives and in the vitalizution of social brought into a virile fellowship fired by a common progress. The presentation of Jesus Christ by purpose – that of making individual and social the messengers of the Gospel as an actual, pur- life thoroughly Christian. poseful reality for the release of men from the bondage of sin and selfishness-preparing them With the continued help of the older and for the life that is to make them veritable assets stronger churches of America, we believe that the in their communities – has made the life and Evangelical Church of the Philippines will grow in teachings of Christ truly vital factors in our na- strength and usefulness, accepting Jesus Christ tional progress. The evangelical missionary work as the dynamic force for the saving of individual carried on by the representatives of the American lives, for sanctifying social institutions, and en- riching all human relationships.
"During my ministry for nearly half a century I have tried to keep abreast of modern developments, and to keep in touch with modern knowledge, but through all the years I have carried on what people call an "evangelical" ministry. I do not see that historical criticism or scientific discovery or the new psychology invalidates in the slightest degree the central and essential Gospel that God was in Christ reconciling the world .to Himself."
J. D. JONES, Bournemouth, England.
a Missionary
By GEOFFREY W. ROYALL, Tientsin, Shantung Missionary of the Church of the Nazarene "KNoWLEDGE, like religion, must be 'ex- in the home lands, the responsibility to ageing perienced' in order to be known," Whipple parents on the 'white side of the world – these reminds us. There are many things that things are, forever greedily sapping the vital only editors know-and they won't tell! Likewise energy of the missionary, generally unconsciously, there are some things known only to' doctors, to for his mind and time are too taken up with his pastors and to mothers. I would tell the saga of immediate tasks to stop and think about them!
things that "only a missionary knows." This Did you ever bury a son or daughter in the knowledge comes from personal experience and jungle of a pagan land? No? Missionaries have.
not from books. Have you ever fought wicked spirits and matched The young missionary knows what it means to your wits with Satan's minions? Missionaries literally bid farewell to father, mother, brothers, have! Did you ever walk into villages where a sisters, and to an ever-increasing host- of friends white man has never stepped and where the name and set his face toward an alien heathen land to of Jesus has never been uttered? No? Well miswhich he has not even been invited. The pros- sionaries have-and are still doing so.
pects of furthering his education, the thoughts of The missionary knows what it means to say becoming successful in business, the possibilities goodbye to his children, to leave them at home for of building towers of friendships (the foundations education while father and mother return to of which have already been laid in youth), the heathen lands to help civilize, help educate and idea of fitting naturally into his place in a modern help save someone's else children! Drop into alcivilization-for all these things to be suddenly most any college and you will find splendid young wiped off the blackboard of life is no easy thing. men and women whose parents are a thousand A missionary knows the sudden jarring impact leagues away on mission fields. Neither parent of a heathen land. No one invited him to come! nor child considers his an unnecessary or unwill- He has been thinking white ever since he first ing sacrifice. This they do for Christ's sake.
looked into the mirror. Now his thinking must be These are among the things known to missionaries in terms of black, yellow or brown, depending -and their children.
upon the land in which he labors. His mother In the business world the basis upon which a tongue must now be painfully switched over to man is paid a salary depends, generally speaking, the staccato of the Kingdom of Kimonos, the sing- upon his ability. The better his education, the song of the Dragon Kingdom, the gutteral lan- more skilled his hand and the richer his experience guage of the pigmies or the mellifiuent rhythm of will mean that he can demand a larger remunerathe Spanish-speaking lands. He must master this tion for his services. The clergy, generally speaknew language, not that his pockets may be soon ing, receive their emolument according to their lined with silver, but that the King's crown may qualifications and experience. An older pastor be provided with adequate gems! will generally command a larger church and in- come than his inexperienced contemporary. On The abrupt change in climate and its inevitable the other hand a gifted young minister may be reaction upon the body, the natural mental strain that comes in the transition from the customs of placed in a better parish than an older man. The one nation to another, the resultant embarrass- remuneration of the missionary does not increase ment that follows his first efforts to speak an with his efficiency and experience and does not de- exotic language-all these are among the less sig- pend on the size of. his parish. The missionary nificant potpourri of expeI1iences that make up who is appointed to the superintendency of a mis- the background of the young missionary's novi- sion field receives larger responsibilities, more tiate. criticism, more sleepless nights and a greater de- mand upon his pocket-but nothing extra in it! Home-sickness is a common ailment among new Yes, the missionary is reimbursed in spiritual missionaries! To be surrounded year after year rewards-not in dollars! by superstition and darkness, the lack of Chris- tian fellowship that you take so much for granted The missionary knows what it means to have [80 ] to combat the unwholesome influence of fellow What should be the attitude of an evangelical countrymen on the mission field. For instance, a missionary in Spain or China today! He knows well-known tobacco company has as its slogan far better than any war correspondent just who here in the Orient: "A cigarette in the mouth of is in the right and who in the wrong. How often every Chinese within three years!" While two, does his righteous indignation clamor for expres- thousand coffins are piled within the vicinity of sion, only for discretion to step in and become the the Temple of Heaven (the execution ground) inevitable better part of valor, lest his tongue be- outside Peking, waiting to house the bodies of un- tray his legitimate disapproval of the powers that fortunate opium addicts and pedlars who may be illegitimately be! How often does the missionary executed this year, our so-called Christian nations sit upon a hypothetical fence and keep his mouth (one of which was originally partly responsible shut, for his garments must never smell of poli- for the introduction of opium into China) thrust tics. His ministry relates to the soul rather than out their minions with a milder form of poison to to the rice bowl. To express himself in favor of take its place! Big self-seeking oil companies either party would be to place himself between force up the price of gasolene and its by-products the Scylla of offending the people that he has come and gain a monopoly over a trade that could other- to help civilize, educate and save and the Charyb- wise sell its goods at thirty per cent below the dis of provoking the powers that be.
present figure and still make a profit. The inroad Disappointments and Ecstasy of unwholesome twentieth century films with the resultant lowering of social and moral standards, A missionary knows the keen disappointment is also among the galaxy of evils which make up of passing through sometimes a whole year withthe missionary's environment. out receiving a letter from those whom he counts Remember, a missionary has to keep the Stars among his dearest friends. "Of course we'll be and Stripes or the Union Jack from being dragged writing to you every month," was their glib promin the dust of international misunderstandings, as well as his primary task of keeping the banner of ise in farewell. They have not forgotten you (oh the Cross flying high and unsoiled. He is, as a no!) but they just don't think to sit down and rule, the first pioneer and the first ambassador to write you a real newsy letter. They prefer to give the pagan lands. Trade, commerce and interna- their nickle to Wriggley Junior inst€ad of to the tional relationships follow, rather than precede, Post Office! To one far from home there is no the footsteps of the missionary. emptiness like that of an empty mail-box. Read that again. How far can the Christian apostle to the heathen lower his standards without compromising? How What are the emotions and impressions of the can he keep a clear conscience and yet permit herald of the Gospel on his return to the Occident? certain heathen customs to continue even after a Only the missionary knows. Perhaps his mother family has embraced Christianity? A new con- or father died while he was on the mission field vert's plurality of wives for instance. These in- and will not be there to greet him. He has been tricate problems and perplexing questions and a royal ambassador of good will (without port- their answers are known only to the missionary. folio!) to the courts of the heathen as well as an Often a missionary knows what it means to evangelical envoy with insignia from his church. Only those vitally interested in his going will be dwell continually in the midst of a bandit-ridden, . on hand to greet him on his return. war-torn, famine-stricken land, where the toil, tears and triumphs of years may be apparently The advance of modern civilization since the swept away in a day. (The writer has just re- World War has been so pronounced and rapid, turned to Tientsin from an enforced 2,OOO-mile that the missionary of today, who returns to the trip to the interior. He went against the wishes homelands after an absence of only five years, will of his Consul and in a period of forty-five days discover more changes than his fellow minister of bumped directly and indirectly into war, floods, twenty years ago who returned after an absence earthquake and plague! The last seventeen days of ten years! Time marches on-the modern miswere spent in quarantine on a British ship off the sionary must keep pace as best he can.
coast of China under the surveillance of the al- For the first few weeks at home he will feel lost.
mond eye of Nippon. Cholera had menaced the His clothes may be out of date. His English vo- ship on its way from Shanghai and it broke out cabulary will in all probability need definite atten- before the boat reached Tientsin. Three passen- tio,n. The threads of civilization must be taken up gers died of the disease.) There are few, if any, where they were dropped. Calloused society is missionaries who have not at some time or other suspicious of him. His body will be weary and been pilloried as "foreign devils" or whose own his mind tired yet, following a few months of re- every-day customs have been mistaken by the na- laxation, it will be his privilege to spend the re- tives as barbarian gaucheries. mainder of his furlough in deputation work.
Then, rested, more or less, he will return to the tide that ebbs and flows or as the moon that regland of his ambassadorship. ularly loses its face once a month!
There is one more thing that is known only to Let a legion of missionaries (modern but not the missionary. It is the unspeakable ecstasy that modernistic) scattered along a score of far-flung fills his heart on seeing the Light of the Gospel battle fronts, and upon whom the sun never sets, break in upon men who were born and who have challenge you to barter your "interest" for a real lived their lives in darkness. To see heathendom genuine "burden." Interest is extrinsic, a genuine light its spiritual candle at his lamp without de- burden is always intrinsic. priving him of any flame-yes, this is the time when dollars are cheapest and spiritual diamonds These, then, are some of the things that "a misare the rarest! sionary knows." Think well upon them, add to them the call and claim of the Christless multi- If you, reader, are one of those who have only tudes and the dynamic commands of our Lordan effervescent, spasmodic interest in Foreign and then be lethargic if you dare! Missions-and they are a plethoric tribe-then go back and look for your cross! Your prayers and Today-send us more "oil for the lamps of your gifts are like your interest-sporadic, incon- China," more spiritual nurture for young Mother sistent and therefore not to be depended upon. India, more doctors and nurses for the "Black Alas, mere interest is like the proverbial railroad Ward in the World's Hospital," and more light time-table, a woman's mind, the weather-subject for the Kingdom of Kimonos. to change without notice! General interest may speak all languages and act all parts but it carries Tomorrow-we will share with you these "diano load. Mere interest has the security though monds in the rough"; polished by the power of not the virtue of principle. It is too much like the the Spirit, with your own hand you may set them into the crown of the King of kings.
Missionary Pioneering Today By KENNETH G. GRUBB, London, England Survey Department, World Dominion Press W HAT is a pioneer? This question, like world has no frontiers except those which he seeks most which raise a problem in definitions, to abolish. He admits no defeats and is satisfied is not easy to answer. There are pioneers with no victories-except the last. The pioneer of trade, as well as pioneers of ideas, of explora- spirit shows a genius for breaking bounds. tion, and of evangelization. When a soul detaches itself from the complex activities of its time, when The missionary pioneer has led the advance of amid the maze of committees, institutions, pre- Christianity into the non-Christian world. This occupations and criticisms of the day, a soul as- has been such a distinctive service that many asserts its freedom and plunges far away from its sociate the word "pioneer" almost exclusively own environment, then the pioneer spirit is born. with the attempt to reach unevangelized fields When that soul has realized the sum of its attain- with the Gospel of Christ. Some missions have ments, when it sinks back into that background been founded almost wholly on a pioneer policy: from which it arose, when the fruit of its initia- they have not wished to undertake the upbuilding tive has been gathered by the institution out of of the Church. It is obvious that, unless the which it was born, a pioneer achievement ends, pioneer has himself failed, his scope is limited. and the second stage begins-that of development Today, there are not many well populated regions where the Gospel has never been preached. The and consolidation. whole world has, in the main, been covered by a Some such conception would probably cover the network of missions, Roman Catholic and Prot- estant, which have created churches and congrevarious uses of the word pioneer. The missionary gations in many thousands of places. Such occuis concerned with evangelization, a living vibrat- pation is gravely inadequate, but the remaining ing process, which is ever claiming new leader- task can hardly be called a pioneer one. ship, new methods, and which ever leads onwards to new horizons. The pioneer is always breaking It is necessary to distinguish between "closed new ground and is working for the future. His lands" and the real pioneer task. If the Gospel has not been carried into certain areas like Af- cases, the best pioneer evangelists come from the ghanistan or Tibet, it is not because the Church Church itself, which, by its intimate ties with the has not borne these lands on its heart, but because life of the land, is better equipped to undertake there are artificial obstacles to evangelization. In the occupation of new areas. The place of the such cases the challenge wears the air of a pioneer missionary will then be behind the front line, task, but is actually of a different order. It is counselling and aiding, giving his time, perhaps, generally useless for a small mission to send out to the training of evangelists, and to that unob- one or two inexperienced men to sit down indefi- served but constant service of love which is the nitely on the borders of these lands; indiscreet essence of fellowship.
action puts the real advance even farther off. In This means that there will not be the same de- these cases there is no open door, but there is a mand in the future for the special type of pioneer call to prayer, which may be as effective in Amer- missionary who has been so useful in the past.
ica as in northwest India. This problem, in any It is notorious that pioneers are often difficult to case, is not one for inexperienced men. It seems live with; they are angular people; they are ac- absurd to put the more poorly equipped men to customed to facing critical situations entirely work on the most difficult task, if we are not to alone and to finding unusual solutions for totally expect failure. The highest wisdom, experience novel problems, and that on the spur of the mo- and devotion are needed when the obstacles are ment. These defects are those of their qualities.
greatest. The present-day situations do not demand less The pioneer task, in the old meaning of the initiative, and do not offer any the less scope for words, is limited. The writer can remember, personality. But they generally call for wisdom, hardly a decade ago, making a journey of nearly for the cooperative spirit, lor patience, sympathy six months without passing through one mission and understanding in an unusual degree. They station, but such areas were very sparsely popu- often suggest a reversal of our sense of what is lated. Does this mean that the greater part of important and unimportant; if rigid organiza- the population of the world is really evangelized? tion, efficiency, and the like represent the ideal of Unfortunately, No; this is far from being the good missionary work, then the sooner the ideal case. The christianization of the world is like an is abandoned the better.
incomplete mosaic. All over the map there are It may be doubted whether a consciousness of scores of small pieces of varying denominational the changed situation has fully penetrated the out- colors; between and among them there are very look of those training institutions which have many gaps where other pieces are needed to com- mainly prepared missionaries of the pioneer, plete the pattern. These gaps cannot be filled up evangelistic type. At the same time it is difficult by a piece of any color, by some new mission to agree with the implication of "Rethinking Mis- planting itself anywhere in cheerful faith. For sions" that only men of exceptional intellectual effective results it is essential that the denom- ability should be sent to the mission field. Such inational pattern, when complete, should at least men, in any vocation or profession, are rare, and present some degree of harmony. It is, therefore, in any event are by no means always the best rep- necessary that the completion of the task should resentatives of a cause which calls for devotion of be carefully considered in its relation to the exist- the heart as much as skill of the mind. The de- ing and adjacent churches. The zeal of those who mand of the present hour is not so much for men diligently pore over the map to see where a new of this type, as for men of simplicity and strength mission can by any means be dropped down may of character who have the courage to refuse popu- be admired but not commended. larity, abjure the temptations which accompany This does not mean that the day of the mission- influence. They will decline to spend time on any ary is over. A great need of recruits is felt by activities except the simplest, which are nearly almost every mission. In such a country as China always the most difficult, being for this reason the hundreds of new missionaries are required. But most neglected. Sympathy, humility, sacrificial the place of the missionary will, in the future, be living and unswerving loyalty are indispensable modified. There is some difference of opinion here, to the modern missionary. Unless he is loyal, how which arises from the different conditions in vari- can he expect to be of any service to a Church ous lands. In many cases the missionary can still which, as in the Far East today, is faced by grave do work, if not of a pioneer nature, then approxi- tests of faith, wisdom and courage?
mating to that. He can take the lead in opening Far from admitting any spiritual laxity, the up new districts, in establishing new congrega- present situation demands an immense increase tions, always in cooperation with the local church of spiritual power. The lonely pioneer is of neces- and in such a way that when the pioneer stages sity cast upon God; he has no other resource, and have been traversed the new congregation can no other hiding-place. The artificial conditions of find fellowship among the existing ones. In other civilization, along with accessibility of friends and
numerous available channels of help and support ground, environment and support through which bring a greater temptation to look elsewhere than alone the pioneer's initiative can be fruitful, and to God alone for inner strength and power of en- without which it will be both as spectacular and durance. It is strange to meet missionaries who as useless as a meteor in the night. To the Church, are unhappy if the wireless is not functioning as such, the majority of the great reforms, the maclearly. The old pioneer conditions did at least jority of the great missionary advances have apthrow a man back upon God; the writer has peared unrealizable. It has required the pioneer found few things so spiritually beneficial as being to break down the barriers, to destroy the vicious lost. The starving find God in a way in which He circles, and "to build above the deep intent the is rarely known by those who have never known deed." want. This sense of the utter indispensability of God, of the impossibility of any real help except The elements of solitude and uniqueness belong from Him, needs to be restored to the whole mis- to all pioneer acts. This solitude is not always sionary enterprise. external, it may be a loneliness of the heart. Alone, the Saviour moved to his appointed doom; Furthermore, every age is constantly offering alone St. Paul heard the Macedonian call; alone its pioneer problems. Every age brings the Luther stood before the Emperor at Worms. Church grave challenges, in the face of which the attitude of the majority is either silent acquies- I hear a voice you cannot hear cence or the voting of resolutions. But a resur- Which says I must not stay; gence of iniquity, under polite modern forms, is not to be met by resolutions but by resolution ex- I see a hand you cannot see, pressing itself in action. Someone must detach Which beckons me away. himself from the main drift of popular opinion, stand out, be made a fool and called a fanatic: he The pioneer's act is also unique: it can never be is a pioneer. In every age some grain of wheat repeated. Some things can only be done once: must fall into the ground and die; someone must Columbus discovered America and no one else can be crucified in order that by death life may ac- do it; Edison invented the phonograph and no quire meaning, and words be convicted of their one else can invent it. It is the privilege of the futility in the face of the deed. pioneer to do the unique act, which cannot be done a second time. In order to relate the work of the pioneer to the progress of the Church we must consider his func- It must be our prayer that the indigenous tions more closely. The pioneer is, in a sense, a churches of Africa and the East will also have solitary representative of an order that is to be. their own pioneers of thought. They must face He enters a new province with the Gospel exem- their own spiritual and intellectual problems, and their own pioneers must emerge in order to solve plifying in his own person the new life that is to them. Oliver Wendell Holmes divides thinkers into three classes: there are the original thinkers; come. In his own life and message he clears away there are the retailers of these men's thoughts, a mass of corruption that has come to be called a who are generally equipped with profound specusocial habit. He therefore stands for a new order lative powers; and there are the re-retailers who at present composed of one individual. He can popularize and illustrate. The first class are the do this because he is constantly compelled by an true pioneers of thought, and we must pray that internal necessity which is nothing less than an the Churches of our day may possess them. identity of life and action. He has to make a movement out of something which, either by ac- It must further be our prayer that the "younger quiescence or definition, has become a halt. He Churches" may have spiritual pioneers, men puts the whole essence of his faith and life into whose very presence in the congregation reveals action in his own field. the restlessness of a spiritual Alexander, ever sighing for new worlds to conquer. They must be But his field is also the field of the Church itself men who can call the fainting back to God, who -the world. The Church, although a divine so- can inspire the Church, and declare the whole purciety, is in its human aspect the medium of pose of God in and through His people, who can intercommunication through which individual freely face and accept responsibility in a constant Christian souls interact with one another. It is assurance of the love of God. Without such con- Christian individuals that make Church history. secrated spiritual pioneers, we may well despair It is the duty of the Church to provide the back- of the outcome of our missionary work.
Foreign Missionary of
By REV. J. LOVELL MURRAY, D.D.
Director of the Canadian School of Missions, Toronto, Canada "MISSIONARIES should be weighed, not the development of their churches rests largely on counted," said Dr. Gustav Warneck over their own nationals. The other is the percolating thirty years ago. That wise and learned into those churches of the intense spirit of na- tionalism which is abroad in their countries and missionary scholar was speaking in a time when which resents the leadership of foreigners. These the Christian missionary force throughout the factors, which have brought some perplexities as world was being widely discussed in terms of its well as much rejoicing to the missionaries on the numerical proportions. The quality of the work- field, have been having their effect too in the ers was not stressed as it is today. The Laymen's "sending countries." One of the reasons for the Missionary Movement was then presenting its sag in the missionary interest and response of challenge for the complete occupation of unevan- church members is undoubtedly the attitude which gelized lands on the basi,s of one missionary to says, "Why continue to harp on the question of every 25,000 of the population. The needs of each missions? The Churches over there are now in a field were presented largely by calculating the position to deal with the situation. And besides number of persons that made up the average they don't welcome our missionaries as once they "parish" of the missionaries working there. A did." similar emphasi,s had already characterized the recruiting appeal of the Student Volunteer Move- Are our missionaries still needed and wanted? ment. This was true especially of the first few When the then Educational Secretary of the Stuyears of its work, when the effort seemed to be dent Volunteers, Dr. Milton T. Stauffer, went to mainly one of mass production. the Jerusalem Meeting of the International Mis- sionary Council in 1928, this question was ringing The last quarter of a century has seen a de- in his ears. He had been hearing it in the colleges cided shift of attention from the quantitative to on all sides. He got what light he could at Jeruthe qualitative element in missionary personnel. salem and on his return wrote to prominent rep- The World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh resentatives of the younger churches, many of in 1910 chose the Preparation of Missionaries as whom had been present at Jerusalem, asking for one of its eight major themes. In line with its their frank opinion on the matter. A summary recommendations the Board of Missionary Prep- of their responses as published in a small volume, aration was established in North America and the "A Call for Colleagues," records all but unani- Board of Missionary Studies in Great Britain; mouslyan affirmative answer, although with qualand the questions of the selection and training of ifications as to the kind of missionaries wanted. missionaries have ever since received a generous The opinions of these eminent churchmen of the amount of attention in these and other "home Orient and Africa not only had weight in thembase" countries. At present, in anticipation of selves, but they also qualified as a cross-section of the Madras meeting, a committee is working the sentiment of their fellow-Christians. under the chairmanship of Professor D. J. Fleming on "The Future Task and Preparation of Has that sentiment changed in the interval? Is Missionaries." A particular evidence of this it generally true that our missionaries are still growing interest is found in the facilities that desired by the younger Churches, and if so, are have multiplied for the specialized training of they wanted in decreasing or increasing numbers? candidates and of missionaries on furlough. This question gives rise to two others. For what tasks are they now needed? And what attitude~ In recent years the questions of quantity and and equipment should they bring to the tasks? quality have both been brought into the front of These questions are obviously of basic importance missionary thinking by reason chiefly of two fac- in our missionary plans for the future and in our tors in the "receiving countries." One is the in- current missionary apologetic and appeal. creased competency and ,self-reliance of the Churches in those lands. They are recognizing in Like others actively engaged in missionary work an impressive and practical way that the responsi- at the home base we have been trying in our bility for the evangelizing of their countrymen and school to gauge the sentiment of the Churches in [85 ]
the field on all of these questions. We have made ness has yet been given, or where there are use of correspondence files, of books and periodi- certain. classes of the population unreached by cals, of field reports, of National Christian Coun- Christian effort, the combined resources of the cil documents, and particularly of the judgments older and younger Churches must be enlisted; and brought by several scores of missionaries each therefore that the missionary force should not year from many parts of the mission world. The only be made up to its pre-depression strength concensus of opinion gathered from these sources but be increased still further-and that without has been abundantly confirmed by three bishops, delay. all of them Orientals, whom we have interrogated within the past fortnight. They were Bishop P. S. Why Are They Needed? Sasaki, of the mid-Japan diocese, Bishop P. Lindel Tsen, of the Honan diocese in China, and Bishop Our second question was: For what special tasks V. S. Azariah, of the diocese of Dornakal, Chair- will missionaries be needed in the years before us? man of the National Christian Council of India. All three are trusted and experienced leaders of This is a subject 0 which much careful thought the indigenous Church, with their fingers on the pulse of Christian sentiment in their respective has been given recently and on which much light countries. may be expected from the Madras meeting. The tasks will of course vary in different fields. How Many Are Needed? Readers of THE REVIEW are familiar with a number of special demands which in general seem Our first question was: In what numbers, if at to be made by the changing conditions in which all, are our missionaries still desired? "Desired? missionary work is done – demands for literary Why by all means," they replied at once, appar- workers, religious education experts, specialists ently surprised by the question. They had no in industrial problems, in social service, in rural yearning for an avalanche of poorly furnished and betterment, in youth movements, in women's ill-adapted workers; but they felt strongly that work, etc. the numbers of suitable missionaries should be increased largely and promptly. Bishop Azariah The bishops quite agreed with these calls for pointed to the mass movements in India and to specialized attention. Doubtless, although the the bewilderment of the Church there as it faces subject was not discussed, they would appreciate the problem of shepherding and instructing the the values to be derived from a limited number of tens of thousands who are coming into its mem- short-term workers and also from brief visits by bership yearly. And back of these, are rank upon outstanding specialists, such as the visit which rank of these same depressed classes moving out Professor Luther A. Weigle recently paid to China of Hinduism, they know not whither. Islam is in the interests of religious education. But they ready to absorb them. Sikhism is ready. But the touched only lightly the matter of "specialists" Christian Church is handicapped because its ca- and talked rather of certain branches of Christian pable personnel already is enlisted almost to the effort to which some concentrated attention should limit. More missionaries are urgently needed to be given in the future. Bishop Sasaki emphasized develop teachers of Christian truth. rural evangelism. Necessary as it is to adjust our programs of education, medicine and literature to Bishop Sasaki said that missionary work hither- the actual life of the country people, he regards to had been mainly for middle-class people in evangelism as needing foremost attention. So also Japan, and he pleaded for a large corps of workers in social welfare work. Japan is giving a large from the West to give special attention to the attention to this problem. The missionary who upper classes and to the rural population. Bishop comes as a specialist may easily be just one more Tsen stated that the Chinese Church "would like social worker. His contribution should be disto have as many new missionaries as the Western tinctive by being thoroughly Christian, a phase of countries will allow." Only rabid nationalists evangelism, and should be in close connection with would discourage their coming. Bishop Azariah the Church. The Bishop pointed out that Japan spoke similarly for his cQuntry. "The Indian is also well equipped with state schools and col- Church has a real knowledge of ~ re(J,l need and leges. The justification for the Christian institusees greater opportunities in the future than it tion hereafter will be its effectiveness in building has ever faced and therefore desires a continuous Christian character and this must be its deterflow of missionaries." All three agreed that the mined effort. The result can be best attained if missionary's effort must always be to make him- a boy or a girl can pass through the whole educaself dispensable in his district by his training of tional process-primary school, middle school, colnationals. But they also agreed that so long as lege–under such an influence. there are unoccupied areas, or so-called occupied areas where in large districts no Christian wit- The Chinese situation, in Bishop Tsen's view, calls for a uniform adaptation in medical, educa- tional, and evangelistic work to the changing times. He mentioned religious education and rural work as calling for missionary specialists, giving instruction in Christian doctrine and in but added that looking ahead he saw in all the regard to the Christian Church. He must be preregular lines of service large opportunities for pared to give his life to the Indian Church. "He any missionary workers who would be sent out by should say a thousand times before coming to the older Churches. India, 'The Church must increase; I must de- -crease.''' And if he is to be the teacher of teach- Bishop Azariah felt that in India all mission- ers in the young Church he must be well prepared. aries should consider that for the immediate fu- Bishop Sasaki, in referring to the same thing, ture their primary task is to strengthen the Indian used the expression "the pastor of pastors." The Church. Nothing will invite their energies more same bishop said that most missionaries of the futhan the training of pastors and lay workers to ture, so far as Japan was concerned, should be care for the great ingatherings of today and to- specially qualified to work either among the upper morrow. He stressed the need for lay workers. classes or among the country people. In his own diocese there are no longer any paid evangelists. Church members are told that if It was Bishop Tsen who had most to say on they are Christians they will be evangelists. But this third question. He mentioned three importhey need training; and here the missionary can tant qualifications: (1) The missionary must be and must help. He referred to the new movement prepared to identify himself with the national inof caste people towards Christianity and pointed terests of the people, insofar as these are not conout that caste women will not learn from men. trary to Christian principles. He must regard Women missionaries are urgently needed to wit- himself not as a foreigner but as a member of the ness to them and to train women to do evangelistic community, and with sympathetic understanding work among them. Be had just appealed to the and naturalness must become one with the people. C. M. S. for more women to meet this need. And (2) He must come wide awake and scientifically he added with emphasis that all the Indian lay minded, as ready to learn as to teach. Instead of workers, and the pastors and teachers also, "are bringing along preconceived notions of Chinese needing the inspiration which the Western culture he must patiently seek to ascertain its Churches can contribute out of their centuries true character. He must be slow to condemn cusof Christian experience." This statement sug- toms, such as ancestor worship. Conversely he gests that the missionary should help the young must beware of representing all things Western Church, while achieving indigeneity, to appreciate as being Christian, for to the Chinese some of and to retain its connection with historical and them may seem to be quite otherwise. (3) He ecumenical Christianity. And again he spoke of must consider himself as a member of the local "the pioneer work to be done in unevangelized church. He must not think that he is there to areas and in the yet untouched communities in superintend, to lead, to "run" something, but evangelized districts"-a work in which the mis- must identify himself fully with the group. "I sionary has a large part to play. notice," said the bishop, "that in their thinking many missionaries put themselves apart from the What Kind Are Needed? indigenous churches. They say, 'You wanted to direct the church's affairs. Go and do it. We The third question was: What manner of men won't be in your way.' This is not healthy. There and women must they be who can effectively dis- is just one inclusive 'we.' We teach each other, charge these various tasks in the near future? we learn from each other.. We share the sorrows The bishops were of one mind in regard to certain and failures and also the joys and achievements basic qualifications. First among the categories of our common Church. We go along and we grow of fitness they placed a deep personal experience along together. The missionary may be short in of Christ that impels to witness, and with that a other points, but this attitude is too vitally imsubstantial knowledge of the Christian Scriptures. They felt that denominational views of doctrine portant to be neglected." and church organization were of quite minor importance as compared with "an unshakable faith This symposium of opinion is far from a comin Jesus Christ." They realized too that mental plete survey of the issues which this article was strength and alertness and adequate preparation were never so greatly needed as now. And each meant to embrace. But it was contributed by of them naturally included among necessary quali- "three wise men from the East" who are wielding fications an equipment for the special tasks of large influence in their respective countries and which he had previously been speaking. For example, Bishop Azariah was insistent that the mis- whose elevation as nationals to the episcopate is sionary of the future should be qualified not only a sign of the changing missionary times. It may for personal and public evangelism but also for therefore be taken as a fair synopsis of present thinking among the younger Churches which our missionaries have the privilege of serving. A NEWSPAPER MAN'S TESTIMONY TO MISSIONARIES IN CHINA The most significant job done by Americans in China is neither the buying nor the selling of goods. It is so great a work that it is altogether misunderstood by small minds and even smaller hearts. That is the tremendously important and valuable services of the American missionary.
. These men and women have gone to town and village, bringing with them not only the many varieties of Christianity, but a new cultural pattern; in my opinion, a nobler cultural pattern than the Chinese retained amid the disintegration of China's indigenous social and intellectual establishments during the last century.
Take, as an example, St. John's University in Shanghai, or the Shanghai College (which used to be the Shanghai Baptist College) or Lingnan University (which used to be called the Canton Christian College), or Yenching in Peking or Soochow University, or Yale-in-China- these and many more have kept the light of modern learning aflame in China during the dark days of civil war and revolution and change of government.
* '. * * These missionaries brought medicine and hospital and nursing and child welfare to China. They brought a new conception of social relationships-not man-for-his-family, but man-for- society – a broadening of viewpoint.
They planted the seeds of a social revolution, which, if it did not quickly make China strong, at any rate produced in China a forward-looking, progressive, non-opium smoking monogamous leadership.
Chiang Kai-shek and the Soongs are Christians. In fact, the Soong family is particularly notable for its Christian affiliations, for on the mother's side they trace themselves back to a famous figure at the end of the Ming dynasty who came under the influence of Ricci and whose daughter, Candida, was the first nun in China, while Charles Soong, the father, actually came to China from the United States to teach English and the Bible.
The present Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Dr. C. T. Wang, was .the first Chinese secretary of the Y. M. C. A. in China, while Dr. H. H. Iung, who was in this country recently and is now Premier of whatever remains of government in China, was secretary of the Chinese Y. M. C. A. in Japan at one time.
*** It is impossible to overemphasize the great value to China of the American missionary, of the American school and hospital situated in that country. And it is something to note in these days of collectivist materialism that there has been no return to the United States for this service. It has cost us more, over a century, than we ever earned out of our trade with China. It was the contribution of a well-off people to those who needed our help and assistance.
And it is to be noted here that, in a measure, we did as well by Japan. It is true that the Japanese, sooner than the Chinese, were ready to take over many schools and hospitals which American good will had established in their country. But for years our missionaries labored there, as in China-not forcing anything down unwilling throats, but offering help and service to those who were willing and eager to receive.
I have known the American missionary in China well. He has been my friend. I have lived at his house. He has dined at my table. I know of no human beings who are more self- sacrificing, more loyal to the people among whom they live, more generous and less materially rewarded for an arduous life than most American missionaries. No matter what happens to China, most of them will remain at their posts valiantly laboring for the simple people who love them.-George E. Sokolsky, in "The New York Herald-Tribune."
INTERRACIAL. INTERDENOMINATIONAL MISSIONARY HOSPITAL AT TRUJILLO CITY, SANTO
Christian Unity in Practice By BARNEY N. MORGAN Superintendent, Board for Christian Work in Santo Domingo ONE notable tendency in the Protestant been encouraging signs of Christian unity in the Church for which the last two decades are merging of different evangelical church groups to be remembered is the growing spirit of and the formation of one body out of diverse deunity, whether this has been expressed in actual nominational elements. It is encouraging to note union or is still in the realm of hope. In no place the similar moves toward unity which have taken has the need for true unity been felt more keenly place on fields where different denominations had than on the mission fields where a vision has been already established work in separate camps. the heritage of Protestantism. There was a day when Christians thought they had fundamental In the island of Santo Domingo a dream has bereasons for dividing into separate camps, each of come real and a new philosophy of missions is at which bore a different name. As one moves fur- work. Seventeen years ago when three major ther out from the center of controversy he often denominations of the United States faced realities moves closer to others in an effort to stand vic- there was born the Board for Christian Work in toriously in the face of common foes. The move Santo Domingo. The result has been a movement from a doctrine-centered, to a life-centered ap- which today is an example of Christian unity in proach to religious reality has brought to great action. It was conceived from the beginning as a groups of Christians a growing sense of oneness program of Christian service to a whole country. which demands definite, practical, outward ex- Four departments of activity were organized-the pression. evangelistic finding its center in the church, the medical, the educational and the social. These In many communities in America there have have operated under the direction of the field [89 ]
<, •
90 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [February superintendent and while each department has its statement, although the church definitely feels own leadership there has been a very decided itself to be heir to the best in the Christian tradiunity both in spirit and action. tion. The ministers have been drawn largely from the constituent denominations having work in The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., the Meth- Puerto Rico, without regard to balance in numodist Episcopal Church, and the United Brethren ber, but there is being formed a national ministry, in Christ, have from the first acted as a unit in members of which are being ordained by the Genthe promotion of the work; since 1930 the Wes- eral Assembly of the churches. All work, with the leyan Methodist Church of England has also co- exception of that in the Puerto Plata – Samana operated but in 1834 they began to minister to districts-is in Spanish. the English-speaking colored people who a few years before had come to the northern part of the With such an origin the Church has never beisland from the United States and the neighboring come denominationally conscious. In fact even islands. An immigration of Negroes from Penn- the names of different groups have little or no connotation for the Dominican evangelical. This A PATIO SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS IN LA ROMANA has made possible the releasing of spiritual energy for real tasks and not in the building of straw men sylvania, New Jersey and the Carolinas brought to be defended. With a vision of Christian servthe demand for evangelical work. Shortly after ice, whether it be through the channels of the their arrival in 1824 they petitioned their former church proper or through the hospital or schools, churches in the United States for a minister but the evangelical movement has won the respect of no response came to their appeal. In 1832 a group all classes of Dominican society and counts as of twenty-four men signed a petition which was friends many outstanding intellectuals who are sent to the Missionary Society of the Wesleyan helping to shape the future of the Republic. The Methodist Church and in response there was sent relation to the established church – the Roman to Puerto Plata from Turk's Island the Rev. Wm. Catholic – has been one of friendship and the Tindall who established a church there in 1834 critical spirit of former days in many nominally and another in Samana in 1837. The work has Roman Catholic countries has been absent. The been hi-lingual (English-Spanish) with growing superintendent of the Evangelical work and the emphasis on the latter. Now old age and youth, present archbishop, ,an Italian born, naturalized fast growing into manhood, have joined hands American citizen, talk frequently over the common and are marching together down the highway of religious problems which both churches face. Christian unity, for the churches of these districts with a membership of over five hundred have be- Two factors which have aided greatly in the come an integral part of La Iglesia Evangelica approach to the people have been the annual In- Dominicana (The Do min i can Evangelical stitute of Religious Education, an intensive train- Church). The question of vested interests, bar- ing school for workers and young people throughrier to many mergers, scarcely entered into the out the island, and the weekly radio broadcast plan of union. All properties formerly owned by from Ciudad Trujillo. ThQ former has helped in the Wesleyan Methodist Church are being trans- the training of leaders in La Iglesia Evangelica ferred without monetary consideration to the Dominicana and the Free Methodist Church hav": Union Board. La Iglesia Evangelica Dominicana ing work in a separate district in the north of the is a national church and has no ecclesiastical af- island (established before the formation of the filition with any of the constituent denominations Union Board) and also in the preparation of of the Board. It is working out its own form of teachers for the public schools. Several successful government and statement of faith. Up to the teachers received all of their technical training in present no urgent need has been felt for the latter teaching methods in the institutes.
The weekly radio broadcast-a regular feature since August, 1935-has created a wide interest in and understanding of the evangelical program. The weekly program, with music by a trained choir of young people and a short address has given rise to favorable comment by many who are not evangelicals. Reports from all parts of the island and from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, Columbia, Costa Rica and the United States bear testimony to the high type of program which is being broadcast.
Hospital Internacional- a part of the union program-is one of the outstanding medical insti- tutions of the country and is serving all classes of
CHRISTIAN UNITY IN PRACTICE
people. For the last eleven years it has been the THE EVANGELICAL UNION CHURCH IN TRUJILLO only source of supply for graduate nurses for the Republic and still maintains the only standard training school for nurses in the country. Less than two years ago the Dominican Red Cross established a school for nurses and the onry graduate nurse on the faculty is from Hospital Internacional which has an all-Dominican medical and nursing staff, with the exception of the superintendent of nurses. Unity with the other departments of the program is secured through the administration of the hospital under the direction of the general superintendent.
Three schools, functioning under the direction of an educational committee named by the General Assembly of the churches, are making a definite contribution in the education of Dominican youth for practical citizenship. All schools are inspected by the government and their standing is first class.
The Social department has made a recognized contribution to youth through the promotion of a Boy Scout and athletic program.
This union project is beyond the purely experimental stage and has developed a stability which augurs well for its future. New trails have been blazed and a highway is open toward Christian unity in this land which Columbus loved. The Republic is enj oying an era of peace and order and religious liberty is guaranteed. One hopes that the influence of this practical demonstration of Christian unity in action may spread to other lands so that oneness in Christ, who knows no dividing line of race, color, nationality, or denomination, may become reality.
CHRISTIANITY DOMINANT IN INDIA In his last public address before returning to India by way of England, Bishop Azariah, of Dornakal, said in New York: There are great opportunities for missionary work in India. One-half the people on the globe are trained in religions which were born in India. There is a peculiar sensitiveness to God in the Indian mind. India is permeated with religious feeling. . . .
It was less than 100 years ago that Christian missions were seriously begun in India. Today a great part of the people are stirred and the Christian religion is dominant in India. Many Indians believe that through Christianity India will become what she ought to be. . . . It was 75 years ago that the first outcaste came to learn and to be baptized. Now, there are in India 1,000,000 Christians, the greater part of them out-castes, but not all: in 1936 we baptized 11,428. They represent all castes. At first, the high-caste Indians came to discuss social questions. This is not so today; they come to be baptized.
Christianity grows quickly in India. This is because the Gospel is first preached to the poor. When Christianity is given first to the poor, it rises and permeates the rich. When Christianity is preached first to the rich and powerful, the reverse is true. . . .
All the people who have come within reach of the Christian message are studying Christianity. The hio,-h-castes and the out-castes are baptized together. This is because the Christian religion has transformed all castes.
-The Living Church. Christian Literature for China By FRANK R. MILLICAN, Shanghai Secretary of the Christian Literature Society for China THE missionary enterprise has mainly been of the literature agencies in China. I would not carried forward along evangelistic, educa- belittle the importance of educational work-I am tional and medical lives. When one reads not discussing that problem now. I would only reports of the millions of dollars annually given point out by way of contrast the tremendous sums and used for these three aspects of work, he can- spent for educational institutions and the meagre not fail to be impressed and filled with gratitude provisions made for anyone of our literature to God. But as we examine more carefully these agencies. Our policy has been millions for edumethods of establishing the Kingdom or rule of cation and thousands for supplying the educated God in mission lands one question arises: Have public with wholesome Christian literature. we fallen too easily into the assumption that these types of work are the only strategic ones? Have Educated people will read. For what purpose we overlooked other means which might be used then are we educating all these masses? Are we equally effectively? I have the deep conviction that educating them to be able to read the volumes of we have sadly neglected one of the most fruitful unwholesome, licentuous and atheistic literature methods of missionary promotion and Christian that is flooding the nation? Have we done our expression. Having lived for nearly thirty years duty when we put into their hands this new in China, where the scholar has been honored and weapon for either good or evil? Or are we where literature or the written page has been held morally obligated not only to create the ability to in sacred awe, we are all the more impressed with read but also to supply the type of literature that this omission in our missionary enterprise. will turn this new skill to constructive and en- nobling ends? Ag.ain I say the public in China While there has been a real failure to appreciate will read, and whether it be in the cities, on the the possibilities of literature as a means of evan- trains or in the country, they find literature of gelism, something along this line has been done. some sort at hand for their consumption. Are we There have been prophetic individuals who have content to let them feed their minds and souls on seen the vision and who have found or made ways whatever they can pick up-largely commercialof using Christian literature in evangelism. Some- ized trash or even worse-or do we feel the oblione may reply that literature naturally falls within gation to flood the reading public with constructhe general field of evangelism. This reply would tive and redemptive literature? be quite valid if literature had been given an adequate place under that heading. I would not Now to "sow China down with good Christian quarrel over the question of classification; that literature"-and that should be our motto-is no is, whether literature should have been a distinct small or unworthy task. It requires determined and conscious division in missionary strategy on and sustained effort. It demands a conscious and a par with education, medicine and evangelism or carefully planned program of cultivation, of pro- duction and of distribution. Our imaginations whether it has more properly been included under need a tremendous stretch to visualize properly the general heading of evangelism. What I do the task in the proportions i.t should be carried wish to emphasize in this article is the fact that forward. There are signs that the leaders in the the strategic importance of Christian literature in forward programs of the church are beginning to the missionary program has been very little ap- awaken a little to this obligation and opportunity. preciated in the conscious formulation of our pro- In more recent conferences and missionary programs and budgets. motion groups in the West we find references to this neglected aspect of our work. In China, too, Take for comparison the emphasis placed on this work is being considered more seriously than education in the past of missionary work. Take in the past. The Church of Christ in China, comthe astounding amount of funds expended for prising one-third of the Christians of China, has plant and staff and current budget in anyone of put literature into its program on a larger scale our larger educational institutions, and compare than formerly. A committee has been set up to this with the petty sums appropriated for anyone [92 ] make a study of the problem and to formulate a ment in Western and Christian thought. This has program of proceedure. This program as pre- done much to break down prejudice and open the sented to the recent General Assembly provided way for the acceptance of the Gospel message. At for the agencies to cultivate this new interest as the same time the C. L. S. always has published well as suggestiDns as to methods of cooperating distinctively Christian literature for this wider with the various literature societies now providing group of readers. Now that secular presses are literature for the church. This is a very hopeful adequately supplying the needs for general and sign. Other Chinese church groups are develop- secular literature the C. L. S. is concentrating ing the same interest. This raises the question more especially on books to supply the needs of what literature societies are working in China and the church. This includes both books for Chriswhat they are doing to meet this grDwing need. tians themselves and books for the reading public. Its catalog reveals a wide variety of subjects. Besides several smaller literature agencies in Starting with Bible Dictionaries and general China we have at least five larger agencies offer- wDrks it goes on to the Life and Teachings of Christ, Apologetics, Religious Education, Coming their services tD the churches. * The Religious parative Religion, Devotional Literature, Biog- raphy, and special works fDr women and children. Tract Society and the Christian Literature So- It aims to supply as far as possible all the literaciety are the two major literature agencies offer- ture needs of the Christian movement in China in ing their facilities to the Christian constituency at all aspects of its work, so far as these are not suplarge. All .of the above akencies have made splen- plied by other societies.. did contributions but all, too, have been greatly handicapped in their work by the lack of adequate The C. L. S. offers facilities f.or the publication funds. The cramping effect of limiting budgets of a wide range of literature frDm the best writers and the efforts to do wDrthy pieces of work an- in the Church in China as well as literature pronually withDut going into the red verge on the vided by special groups. Among the special tragic. What would happen in anyone of these groups working with the C. L. S. in this cooperainstitutions if they could have funds and plant tive task may be mentioned the S. P. C. K. (inand staff comparable to anyone of our larger edu- cluding the wDrk of the Literature Committee .of cational institutions? And just as it takes a large the Sheng Kung Huei (Anglican», Cheeloo number of educatiDnal institutions to meet the School of Theology, Nanking Seminary, the Navarious needs of China so it will probably require tional Christian C.ouncil and the NatiDnal C.omseveral strong literature agencies to meet the mittee for Christian Religi.ous Education in China growing and diverse needs .of the Christian move- (N. C. C. R. E.). There is also a cooperative ment in a country the size of China. We desire as working agreement with the Canadian Mission much cooperation and even organic union in our Press of West China. societies as we can bring about but we ought not to allow the difficulties in this line to hDld us back All the literature agencies in China have had in the great task before us. and still have their special friends and supporters in the West. The C. L. S. has had special enc.our- The Religious Tract Society celebrated its Dia- agement from groups in England and America mond Jubilee in 1936 and the Christian Literature recently in the form .of special provision for the Society is now celebrating its Golden Jubilee. support of Chinese members of the Executive and This represents sixty and fifty years of fruitful Administrative side of its w.ork. This is a step service by these well-known societies, respectively. forward from the loyal support to the general With a worthy history behind them they face the budget in the past. But this brings with it the future in this new day of increased .opportunities increased opportunities which can only be met by in the confidence that the Christian Church both decidedly increased amounts to the general budget in the West and in China will make it possible for to make possible the extensive work that the new them to increase their contributions manyfold. situation requires. It is because of this new op- The R. T. S. has always specialized on tracts for portunity and the demands of the Christian movewide distribution. At the same time it has pub- ments in China for a general forward advance in lished many larger "tracts" in the form of bODks its literature program that prompts this appeal to or booklets. Recently it is tending to put greater mission Boards and all other interested agencies emphasis on these more substantial works. The for adequate financial support. Let us prayerfully C. L. S. in the earlier years emphasized literature consider this great need and opportunity and in for the literati and works of general enlighten- loyal .obedience to Christ's command give our- selves more fully to the task of literature evan- • These are the China Baptist Publication Society In Shanghai, gelism in China. the Lutheran Book Concern in Hankow, the Association Press in Shanghai, the Religious Tract Society in Hankow, and the Christian Literature SOCiety in Shanghai. The Luthern and Baptist societies naturally specialize on literature for their own constituencies primarily. The Association Press issues books and booklets for special classes.
Story of Malam
By DR. A. P. STIRRETT, Nigeria, West Africa Missionary of the Sudan Interior Mission W HAT Moslems need is not argumentative gregation, in trembling voice he confessed himself literature in favor of Christianity, but a penitent sinner desiring to follow the Lord Jesus rather the "living and powerful" Word of Christ, and asking for the prayers of God's people. God, and that not in a foreign language but in The Judge attended the Baptismal Class for their mother tongue. some time. On the day Ibrahim was baptized his Some years ago a man named Ibrahim arrived wife ran away, and next day there came a letter in Jos, Nigeria, from one of the districts to the from her father saying that she would not return east where he had spent his childhood. He had until Ibrahim renounced Christ. Ibrahim wrote: been taught in all the traditions and customs of "I shall never renounce Him who loved me and Islam and, being an apt pupil at the Moslem died for me J"
school, he was taken into a Government school As a Christian he found that he was not wanted and taught the Roman alphabet. Until then he as Judge of the town of Jos. They wanted a Mos- had known only Arabic, which is always used in lem. The Government wished to rule according Moslem schools. His qualifications made him use- to ,the wishes of the people and asked Ibrahim ful to the Government, and after he had finished either to renounce his judgeship or to give up school they soon promoted him to the office of ChrrsCo He chose Christ and thus became a poor, Judge of the town of Jos-quite a lucrative posi- lone, wifeless man. ljOC only so, but he had the tion. care of his three children-one an infant in arms.
The Sudan Interior Missicn had opened the Jos Through all this Ibrahim came in triumph. One Bishara Church, and Ibrahim frequently came evening at Bishara Church he sang us a solo, in over from his office and house and would slip in the chorus of which are the following words: during the evening service. He sat in one of the Yesu, mai-kamnata. Ban yarda, Dan yarda. A raba back sea~s, no doubt to escape observation. The ni da Kai. (Jesus, my Beloved, I will not agree, I will preacher spoke of the superiority of Christ and not agree to be separated from Thee.) the Christian religion to every other prophet and Formerly when Judge Ibrahim walked the religion, but Ibrahim went away unsatisfied and streets of Jos, people would bow down to him.
unsaved. His faith in the Koran had been waver- Now he was called on to suffer many indignities.
ing, and he was not satisfied with Islam. He was despised and even cursed.
One day a man called on Judge Ibrahim, and After a time the tables were turned for Ibra- upon his departure handed him a copy of the him. The Government recognized that he was a Hausa New Testament. The mother tongue of good public servant and soon he was offered the Ibrahim is Hausa and, having been taught in the position of Treasurer of the Town of J os, an Government school the use of the Roman alpha- office he holds today. He often preaches in the bet, he was able to read this book. Here he had Bishara Church, and it is a real treat to hear him found what his soul needed! He read and re-read expound the Scriptures. He has married a Chris- the book, pondering and studying it, until he be- tian girl. His influence has been widely felt in came convinced ,that there was something wrong the community. Not long after his conversion he in his life. Promptly and honorably he sent away was used to lead to Christ another Moslem his two superfluous wives, retaining the one whom (Malam Mama, who was formerly the leader of he had first married. He hoped that in a short the Moslem worship in a small town near Jos).
time she too would become a Christian. Later he had the joy of seeing his own younger Then he realized that there was something more brother come out boldly for Jesus Christ. to be done. He must confess Christ. He began Surely it is the business of missionaries to teach to attend the morning Sunday services in the Bi- young men to read the Word of God. The whole shara (Gospel) Church, pow sitting well up to Bible has now been translated into the Hausa Ian- the front and there he heard the sweet Gospel guage, a tongue which reaches over 20,000,000 message. One Sunday morning, after a young people-Moslems and pagans. Let me ask God's man had arisen and expressed his desire to repent people to remember in prayer this great Hausa- and follow the Lord Jesus, Judge Ibrahim arose speaking multitude, praying that God will cause and came forward. Standing in front of the con- His word to run and be glorified among them.
[94 ] Effective Ways of Working 'rested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home I EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO '~I==-==============================~==========~I~~ More Nationality Nights REVIEW OF THE WORLD, June, dolls sent Japanese children by 1936; words and music, 15 America as the first project of An "Evening in Beautiful J a- cents, Marks Music Co., 225 the Committee on World Friend- West 46th St., New York City; ship among Children. All sang pan" culminated a term's study the Presbyterian Boa r d has words and music on a single Mexican, Italian and other folk of that land. Beside brief talks songs, to keep the foreign dolls sheet, free). One young woman in countenance; and finally we on different phases of Japanese read the words, the pianist sang all the dolls to sleep with played the stirring music and all an Italian lullaby. A girl of life, the girls gave an effective then joined in singing it, rising Italian descent, holding a doll with the Negro guests. During from Rome, gave one verse in tea ceremony, "The Froth of the the social hour, there was oppor- tunity for our congregation, and Italian. Gingerbread dolls and Liquid Jade," in cos tum e s program "scouts" from other tiny chocolate dolls were sold. rented from our Board. Films churches, to meet the visitors. Aside from money profits were a from the same source showed our friendly drawing together of difwork in Japan, and there were Our International Doll Show ferent nationals in the commuthree fine reels, free, from the featured not one but many lands. nity, and a widening of our Japanese Tourist Bureau, 551 Abbut three hundred dolls were thought to include all peoples. Fifth Avenue, N. Y. The exhibit present, and just about as many included "friendship to ken s" men, women and children. Dolls At our Scandinavian Day, demade for us by the girls of were borrowed from the Foreign Sturges Seminary, and hand-col- and Domestic Mission Boards, scribed in a previous issue, we ored woodcuts loaned, free, by from the National Board, Y. W. Shima Art Company, 16 West C. A., three collectors, and count- were asked "What next?" We 57th St., N. Y. As we have no less individuals inside and out- Japanese nationals locally, we side the church. The Swiss peo- hope to "go Armenian," knowing supplemented by visiting the ple knew who had a doll from Saturday Church School of the what canton, and the Scotch lo- a rug-maker who will help and Japanese Christian Institute and cated plaids. The display of attending the notable Christmas dolls from all over the world an Armenian friend who will be program there. made a real League of Nations. There was a Laplander on skis, resource person for costumes, The program for our Negro a South American fruit vendor, Night, culminating the season's Vatican guard, Korean couple; folk songs and native sweetstudy of the Negro, was fur- no color line, and no caste. We nished for us, in the interests of learned incidentally not only of meats. For another program, interracial understanding, by the costumes, sports, occupafriends from the H 0 use of tions, etc., of the various parts we count on the German Club in Friendliness, Negro Y. W. C. A., Jersey City, whose summer day- of the world, but also their ways the High School, which sings camp we had visited. The direc- of thinking. Most doll families tor gave readings from Negro ran to parents, boy and girl, but folk songs in Bavarian costumes, prose and poetry (many are in and a large German population. "Singers in the Dawn," 10 the Chinese gave prominence to We hope an Italian Lutheran cents, Commission on Interracial grandparents. B I u e ribbons Church will help us unlock Cooperation, 703 S tan dar d were formally given to the larg- Italy's rich store of music and Building, Atlanta, Georgia) ; an- est doll, smallest, oldest (150 art, and we have designs also on other told the origin of the spir- years) , best collection, most a Spanish Club in the high ituals, several of which they beautiful, most unusual, and to school, now that the current sang, and one played piano selec- the one from farthest away project of the Committee on tions by Negro composers, Sam- (India) . World Friendship among Chiluel Coleridge-Taylor and Nathan- dren is with Spanish children. ael Dett. They then distributed One girl told of the Japanese You will note that our general copies of the beautiful Negro na- doll festival, and of the 13,000 principle is to use volunteer local tional anthem (words by James aid wherever possible, drawing Weldon Johnson, MISSIONARY [95 ] on other denominations as well as our own, and interesting the general public. We aim to make the base of participation, and therefore interest, as wide as possible. – Florence G 0 r don, Weehawken, N. J.
Field Notes on Rural America has been carried on in villages come in the morning, with rep- and country with great succesrs." resentatives from all the denom- Wishing to find just how sev- Mrs. Belle Tracy Grimes and inations giving live talks and eral average rural communities Miss Merl Davis-both of whom exchanging helpful ideas, in the were endeavoring to improve the have taught extensively in coun- afternoon. religious and educational condi- try schools – write at consider- Both the contributors mention tions of their folk and especially able length of actual experiments that each church has its separate in Lucas County, Iowa. Few if missionary meetings-and that, to gear them for teamwork, the any country churches of their in this day of United Study denomination (Baptist) are sup- courses that are proving so val- Department Editor recently sent porting full-time ministers, two uable in affording cooperative of which they write being only opportunities and a world-wide questionnaires to country or vil- three miles apart, each accepting outlook! It would seem that half-time service, .the evening •mid-month meetings might be lage women of her acquaintance. congregations being practically held separately – or one every the same regardless of which three months – to consider de- Briefs of their replies may be church was taking its turn. nominational plans and specifics Each church has its own Sunday -leaving the regular monthly suggestive, not only to other school in the morning, with gatherings of a union nature. rural residents but to city dwell- good attendance. Both churches One of the villages – with two ers as well, since the latter's are trying to develop their young s t rug g lin g denominational knowledge of rural conditions people, in one case giving over churches only poorly supported and needs is becoming an ideal. to them the devotional services and attended-has a union meet- of the Sunday school. Miss Elizabeth B r y ant – a ing of the ladies' aid societies, country minister's daughter- The teamwork among the de- the services including benevolent writes that from her own ob- nominations in one village cited work, a luncheon, and an inservation and experience, not is excellent. The King's Her- structive missionary or enteronly the radio and the telephone alds, in the Methodist church, is taining program in the afterbut especially the college exten- attended by children from vari- noon. This is popular and very sion clubs have greatly dimin- ous other denominations, its per- well attended. One federated ished the loneliness of the farm- sonnel including members rang- church in the county is proving er's wife and children. The ing from the little folks up to a marked success. bringing of the college to the high-school age. A cap a b 1e farm has resulted in marked im- leader and teachers are chosen In 1914, a Lyceum Association was provement in men and methods. formed under a Presbyterian minis- County agents and other paid and meetings held on Sunday ter's leadership. This prospered for specialists have brought enlight- several years. But due to the fact enment and rendered the farm afternoons once a month. Chilsufficiently attractive to youth to dren take turns in leading the that the men sponsoring it were left induce attendance at agricul- to foot annual deficits caused by their tural colleges and subsequently devotional services. Each spring effort to bring high-grade entertainto attach these young folks to a special program is given at the ment to j;he rural community, a subagricultural life. College extension clubs, 4-H clubs, etc., are church and an offering taken stitute for the plan was sought. An educational in their purpose and which, added to the 25-cent Agricultural Short Course was dealso afford fine social centers for membership fee, goes to the sup- cided upon. Farmers were urged to the life of the entire family. The bring their best stock and products to spreading of knowledge of ar- port of a child on the foreign be exhibited and evaluated, the judges tistic crafts has developed latent and unsuspected possibilities, field. Parents pack the house being sent from the Iowa State Agriopening larger fields of endeavor on this occasion. A picnic later cultural College. The cooperating for young people searching for a affords a fine social opportunity churches furnished a 25-cent dinner worth-while life investment. In at noon and an entertainment for the fact, country life is made so at- and closes the year's work. evening. This prospered and grew tractive in some localities that people not making a success of Vacation Bible school is held into an agricultural fair covering four their work in cities have been led in another of these churches dur- counties. Good buildings have been ing the summer, with teachers erected for all exhibits, which include to do so on farms. The writer displays from schools, 4-H clubs, sewstresses the desirability of de- for the various grades selected ing and canning clubs, assortments of veloping leadership so far as fancy work, quilts and culinary prodpossible from the rural folk from the cooperating denomina- ucts. In a good dining hall, four aid themselves rather than import- tions. A public program and a societies serve meals all through the ing any but the original trainers, display of the handwork rounds term of four days, each society taking because the former have a grasp of the problems and a sympathet- out what has proved a popular one day. Most of the food being doic attitude of mind which no nated. the venture proves profitable outsider can have. "Spiritual in- endeavor. in dollars and cents. The young peofluences have not kept pace with Every summer a Sun day educational facilities,. but union ple patronize this fair eagerly, even mission study of a graded nature school convention draws together the small boys and girls displaying their pets, from ponies to puppies. the entire community, three Bap- Prizes are awarded. tist churches, a Methodist and a Presbyterian participating. The In response to the question as churches take turns in enter- to the means now used to relieve taining the convention. A Sun- the social isolation of country day school session and a sermon life, Mrs. Grimes says: "I don't
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
see how many more devices could a fellowship committed to the doing with a broom, as royalty passed, a be used. With school and college of God's will and to the extension of Finnish nobleman, a Swedish gentleparties, choruses, band practice, God's Kingdom in the home, in the man, an Italian ambassador and his club dances, movies and radio, community, in Canada and through- wife, the Polish president and his wife, most of the young people don't out the world. and others. The costumes were beauget enough sleep or time to tiful and extremely original, as not read." Good old Iowa is a long- Its study theme for the current year one was prepared beforehand. How settled state. Undoubtedly those is, "A New Church Faces a New wonderful such a project as this would things could not be said of nu- World." One of its avowed methods be in the United States, in order to merous communities far ,t her is the use of lantern slides, lectures get acquainted with the elements in west. And in all rural regions and lecturettes, one of the leading our "melting pot," and to put them on there is much room for improve- sets of pictures being "Touring With friendly terms with each other! ment in the selection and grade the United Church." of the activities. Remember the A Reading Course Planned which religious activities and facilities ANew Adventure Program is pro- has unique features is offered by one lag behind the social and educa- vided for the girls in conformity with of the auxiliaries in Alberta. The tional. the general study topic-"The United entire membership was divided into Church around the World." The girls' equal groups, each responsible for and Methods from Our Magazine special book, "Landing Fields," carries preparing one or more monthly pro- the student on imaginative visits to grams, part of the prescribed study Rack rather inaccessible places on Canadian book to be given. These monthly frontier and prairie, in Japanese city, groups were combined into three The "Ways of Working" of a larger groups meeting bi-weekly, for universal character which ap- in Indian and African villages and bookshelf reading, and the major part pear in the columns of the vari- many other places. By stories and of all three groups, with a membership ous denominational missionary letters, by poetry and word picture, ranging from 10 to 15, did their readmagazines sent in to this Depart- we are given sketches of people en- ing aloud at these meetings. A few ment monthly are so many and gaged in truly great adventures. A members chose to read at home; but so excellent that we only regret project leaflet gives two projects in the chief aim was to promote reading our space limitations make it im- outline and each has notes suggesting generally; to create a more lively inpossible to give more than an how it may be adapted for a depart- terest in missions, and strengthen' occasional sample, especially as mental project. A play is entitled, bonds of friendship in this field of enso many are accompanied by "Beyond the Skyline." This play deavor. As a fitting close of the practical demonstrations in the shows how Chinese young people are year's work, the three groups met toway of projects. A selection of gether in a social evening and each outstanding plans will, however, seeking to find what is the most val- woman contributed orally an outstandbe presented for some time to uable pursuit in life. A heart-warm- ing incident from the book read. come, in the conviction that ing project is "A Week at the Church These short talks were an inspiration, neighborly borrowings enrich all at All Nations Camp." In this moth- and aoll participating were most enthe participants. ers and children, together with mis- thusiastic for more reading the fol- sionary workers, comprise the party, lowing year. The United Church of Canada a large number of the mothers and furnishes so noble an endeavor half the children being from the A Dinner Basket towa r d interdenominational Church of All Nations, Toronto. The unity that we are particularly children were divided into groups by A popular means of suppleinterested in all its projects. ages and cared for during the morn- menting the treasury of the The Missionary Monthly, the of- ing by trained leaders. After cabin Queen Esther Standard Bearers ficial organ of its' Woman's So- inspection there was a worship and has been used by the girls' orciety, furnishes the following study period with the mothers, when ganization of the First M. E. items: interesting discussions took place. church, Hutchinson, Kansas. A After a rest period, swimming and basket is passed among the girls Its avowed aim is inspiring, cover- meeting in planned groups occupied and sometimes to auxiliary meming the union of all the women of the bers, friends or relatives outside church for the World Mission of the afternoon and it was not till the the organization. In the basket Christianity; the provision of mis- evening, when the children were in is something the girls have made sionary education for children, teen- bed, that the fun began with the -jelly, preserves, cake, cookies, age girls and young women; encour- mothers. A carefully planned pro- candy, salad, or other good agement of study, prayer and giving gram was given in the playhouse. A things. The one receiving it on behalf of Christian missions at group of the foreign-born mothers en- takes out something she would home and abroad; sharing in sending tertained the guests one evening. An- enjoy, and puts into a container the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every other night they taught some'of their -which is also included in the Canadian and to peoples of other games. Dances, fortune-telling and basket-the amount of money lands; aiding in the development of choral work were most enjoyed by the she thinks represents the worth the Christian Church in Canada and English-speaking group. A fashion of the article. Within three days of the world-wide Church of Jesus show took place. One lady made a she adds something of her own Christ; creating bonds of Christian dress out of six and a half sheets of making and sends the dinner friendship between its members and newspaper, five pins and fifteen tooth- basket on its way to the next peoples of other races and other lands; picks; another wore it, and the judg- person. This plan has unobjeclisting the whole membership in ing began. Two Ukrainian women tionable features not always in united effort for temperance, social took first and second prizes. The high- evidence a m 0 n g commercial welfare and world peace; building up light of the camp was a coronation ball, international in flavor, as the methods for raising money for king was a Yugoslavian young man who was assisting at the camp. church enterprises. – Adapted Thrones were built up on benches and from Woman's H.ome Missions. kindergarten chairs. The royal family preceded the king and queen, who entered dressed in curtains, with rugs for trains. Among those who were presented were an Ukrainian prince and princess, with crowns made of cheese, tinfoil and real wild flowers; a Macedonian peasant, a Bulgarian street cleaner who presented arms The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
OUR CHRISTIAN ERA A religious painting by F. Luis Mora, recently on display at the Grand Central Art Galleries. The work dramatizes the constant failure of Christians throughout the centuries to really put into practice the fundamentals of their reli- gion and challenges the Christianity of so-called Christian nations. In the background of the painting is shown the compassionate Christ still asking. "Forgive them, for they kno'w not what they do," and the entire foreground is filled with generations of armored men and youth amid the banners of many nations, throughout many centuries, all crowding toward war.
[98 ]
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
. They rebelled against the organized a cooperative for irri- Religion became the dynamic words of God, and condemned the gation, another for marketing. in that community; all week counsel of the most High. . . . It introduced the raising of cit- long the church is the center of rus fruit, brought in an im- a life that is vitally related at "Fools because of their transgres- proved variety of hand loom, en- every point to its people. The sion, and because of their iniquities, couraged people to weave their Christian enterprise is busy, are afflicted. . . . Then they cry unto own cloth. As a result of these building such complete and well the Lord in their trouble, and he efforts, the school expanded its rounded communities all over saveth them out of their distresses. function to include adult educa- the world now. I.t is impossible tion, lending its facilities when to overemphasize their impor- "He sent his word, and healed them the church brought in a teacher tance.-World Peace and Chrisand delivered them from their destruc- who held classes for adults, send- tian Missions, by HAROLD E. tions. … ing out its own teacher to visit other communities and introduc- FEY. "Oh that men would praise the Lord ing a library. for his goodness, and for his wonder- Order from your denominational headquarful works to the children of men, and When the school taught the ters, Or from the Council of Women for sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, need for a better diet to over- Home Missions. 35 cents a copy. and declare h7:s work with rejoicing." come beri-'beri, the church or- ganized a campaign to get veg- Hymn PSALM 107. etable gardens planted and their products eaten when raised. The (Tune, SHACKELFORD) "But the fruit of the spirit is love, leading elder of the church soon joy, peace." "He that abideth in me had nine varieties of vegetables Hymns for Creative Living, No. 182. . . . the same bringeth forth much in his fields. Posters on prevafruit." lent diseases appeared on the All beau,tiful the 'l'lWrch of days, walls of both the church and the As seasons come and go; Love that is higher than the love of school. Classes in infant care men, were conducted by the church The hand that shaped the rose hath while the school inculcated high- wrought Reaching above all self, all others, er health standards among the even, children. Regular visits of a doc- The crystal of the snow. tor were arranged. Hath senf the hoary frost of heaven, Lifted upon one impulse that is pure: To glorify the God who is in heaven. An enterprising business man The flowing water sealed, in the neighborhood had secured And laid a silent loveliness Joy thnt is deeper than mere mortals some athletic equipment and was know, renting this out, charging a fee, On hill and wood and field. and collecting a percentage on A joy that flowers in a field of the bets which he encouraged on O'er white expanses sparkling pure sorrow, all contests. The officers of the The radiant morns unfold; church remonstrated with him That sees beyond man's cloud of pres- for fostering gambling, and The solemn splendors of the night ent pain when he refused to change his Burn brighter through the cold; methods, offered to buy his The blessed sunlight of God's bright equipment. When he declined to Life mounts in ev'ry thro,bbing vein, tomorrow. sen his profitable enterprise, Love deepens round the hea,rth, they bought some equipment of Peace that the world can neither give their own and soon, in spite of And clearer sounds the angel hymn, nor take, his angry demands tbat the "Good will to men on earth." church should s tic k to the A peace that passeth all our under- preaching of the Gospel, suc- o Thou, from whose unfathomed law standing. ceeded in putting him out of business by offering the use of The year in beauty flows, Tranquility that finds in every storm their own equipment free to Thyself the vision passing by That quiet born alone of God's com- teams which played without manding. gambling: Although they in- In crystal and in rose, curred his enmity, they put a Day unto day doth utter speech, Beloved, if your lives would bear such stop to the demoralization of fruit, their youth. They continued to And night to night proclaim, maintain socialized recreation In ever-changing words of light, Abide, Ye are the branches; Christ, facilities and gave their youth the root. training not only in athletic The wonder of Thy name. skills but in taking responsibil- HELEN FRAZEE-BoWER. ity for their own community FRANCES W. WILE. recreational life. Digging the Channels of "Cultivators of Earth Make Understanding the Best Citizens"
A description of one commu- The rebuilding of rural Amernity in the Philippines will show ica is of prime spiritual signifiwhat a basically important con- cance, not alone to rural life but tribution the missionary is mak- to the cities and the nation. ing to a world society in minia- Nearly three-quarters of all the ture. At the heart of a valley, churches in the United States a mile from the sea, is the vil- are rural in character. More lage. It contains the three es- church members are engaged in sential institutions of human agriculture than in any other insociety, hom e s, a school, a dustry. church. Surrounding the village are fields. Running through it There is a vital and universal is a stream. bond between the processes of agriculture and religious experi- The church is at the center of ence which we may well note. the life of this community. The Christian religion had its When a blight attacked the rice, beginnings among agricultural the economic welfare committee and pastoral people accustomed of the church brought an expert to grain fields, flocks of sheep, from the agricultural college herds of cattle, vineyards and three hundred miles away. It
sycamore trees. It seems to be mination which entered into the equilibrium of economic, social easier for man to see God in the fields, in the singing of a bird, in very fibre of American life. and religious forces must not be the setting of the sun or the rising of the moon, in the flowers The spread of settlements at the mercy of unruly profitand trees and in wild animal life, from the Atlantic to the Pacific serving forces whose pressure than in the complicated social is the story of the frontiersman's disturbs its balance. The Church and economic mechanism of a religion and Church, the valor of must help to resist these disturbgreat city. Throughout history the devoted men who, as preach- ing forces and their fickle, unfarmers have had their religions, ers of the Gospel, found their reasonable demands. For the their religious practices and way to the remotest hamlets or normal farmer, his home and his the irreligious organizations. actually led the way, as in the place of business are one, and, And if these today are imperiled case of Jason Lee, Marcus Whit- in spite of complaining, he will in America by disintegrating man and others. Nowhere else not desert the farm for the city forces, it is the business of .the has such an amazing spread of unless he is driven away by rural Church to adjust itself to, population carried with it Chris-> forces over which he and the and interpret, the best of the tian concepts, Christian institu- state and government have no new conditions. To those who tions, and Christian interpreta- control. Intimately involved in know the heart of rural America this problem is the rural Church i,t is clear that, even when hidden tions of life. by uncouth exteriors, the coun- But as life became more set- which ministers to his peculiar try people have expressed a gen- tled and society better organized, needs. uine faith in religious realities. so that one part of the country The picture of rural life of No people could have braved the could, in time of crop failure, yesterday, is a thing of "neighdangers and difficulties of the feed another, the sense of divine borships" – a fellow fee lin g American wilderness and con- providence in crop production growing out of common experiverted so much of it into a rich tended to lessen. Methods of ences and common responsibiligarden without feeling that a di- production changed; the farmer ties. How shall these neighborvine being was shaping their gradually lost his intimate con- ships that cluster about and destiny on a great new continent tact with ~he soil, until today support the rural Church, surthat would become the home of many agricultural enterprises vive? The leaders in nearly a virile Christian nation. are conducted like factories. every realm of interest sprang Automatic machinery has re- from the rural social order of Fortunately for those of us duced the number of hours on pioneer agriculture, and the na- the land, and that sense of a tion cannot do without this who believe ,that Jesus is the out- spiritual inship, of mystic precious reservoir of strength. unity, wit the land and the Isolation had its influence, also standing personality of all times, forces of n ture which man has its obstacles and difficulties, but cherished f r ages, has been di- it produced qualities of mind the greatest teacher of religious rectly affec ed. It is hardly to that have played a significant be believed hat the farmer who part in coloring our entire social truth, the revealer of the heart spends his orking hours at the structure. Nature provides an controls Of~'a tractor feels the atmosphere and opportunity in of God himself, and the Saviour same intim cy with the soil as which intellectual speculation from sin and death, America was did the far er who dug his soil and contemplative habits are debuilt by folk who called them- and plant d his crops with veloped. The rural mind is selves Christian. The early set- simple instruments in his own capable of logical reasoning, tlers brought with them the hands. Today the Church must deep thinking and high ideals. Christian Bible. They believed revive that kinship and link it to The rural Church is the focal in the God whom Jesus came to spiritual in1erpretations of rural point of these qualities and charreveal. They respected and ad- problems if religion expects to acteristics. It has made them mired Christian standards of have a place in the new economy. tangible to the farmer, given life, even when they failed to at- them expression and direction. tain them. It is easy to laugh in these days at the rigidity of Farming as a Way of Life It is the role of the rural Church Puritan ecclesiasticism, but it to keep alive in the hearts and contributed something to Amer- Is farming to follow a com- minds of people this sense of the ica which possibly never before mercial standard and be carried place of agriculture in the life of was used as a foundation for on primarily for financial profit, the nation. Above all should the building a new civilization. It or can it be made a wlty of life Church enable farm people to was a Christian way of living satisfying to the souls of a rural see in the daily rounds and comand working. We may change people and yielding to them mon tasks of agriculture a road greatly in the future, but it is to enough of the bounties of nature that may lead them daily nearer be doubted whether we can sever and factory products to make to God. MARK A. DAWBER.t the influences of those early living rich and joyful? If the t "Rebuilding Rural America" may be ordays. Because of the Christian soil must be enriched, so must dered from the Council of Women for Home ethic there was an appreciation the life of the farmer. The farm Missions. Paper, 60 cents; cloth, $1. is not primarily a place to make Prepared by Edna M. Springhorn, Chairof right and wrong, a sense of man of Committee on Conferences and duty and responsibility, a will- money but a place to live. Its Schools of Missions of the Council of Women ingness to endure and a deter- for !Jome Missipns,
World~wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO CHINA AND TIBET presence of these men in the gov- to come. . . . The firm resolution of ernment today that has helped to the missionaries to fulfil the demands A Ch:ristian Ambassador strengthen the moral fiber of the of the Christian movement in China nation. It is not inaccurate to has already won the admiration of the C. T. Wang, Chinese ambas- say that the Church of Christ to- Chinese of all classes, irrespective of sador to the U. S., said in an in- day is touching men and women their personal beliefs. The challenge terview: in all strata of society, from the to Christian loyalty has before never man in the street to the highest been more severe, and happily it is I am trying to be a Christian who authority in the land. being met in a true Christian spiritworks at it. I hgve a pew in my a spirit of which all followers of church at home, and I sit in it reg- Prayers for Japanese Christ may well be proud. ularly. I take time to talk over my political moves and statecraft with Picture, if you can, a clergy- Where Students Go to Church Jesus Christ. I think that needs to be man in any of the Allied coundone in China and in Americf', and in tries during 1914-1918 saying: Hangchow has a church atdiplomatic circles around the world. "Today we will pray especially tendance -problem that differs We all need to listen for the Voice. I for the German soldiers." Yet from that of most places. The have been playing the royal game of prayers for the Japanese soldiers principal of the Baptist Waystatecraft now for a good many years were said at the Cathedral of the land Academy writes: "One of as foreign minister, prime minister, Holy Saviour, Anking, China, the most difficult problems used and minister of this 01' thnt, not one led by the Rev. Robin Chen. to be how to get our students to of which is as important as being a go to church. Now the problem good minister of Jesus Christ. -The Living Church. is how to keep them away. Church members are so crowded I am proud of the fact that Christ Christian Loyalty Recognized out and so overwhelmed by the is gaining the heart and sympathy of increasing student attendance China. Believe me, that is happening. Here are extracts from an edi- that we have had to give formal His footsteps become clear and clearer torial written by a Chinese in permission to students to go to in the good earth of China with every the China Press of Shanghai. church." passing hour. Christian missionaries in China Student attendance figures Once we looked at the handful of have ignored their government's ad- bear out this remarkable state- Christians on the one hand and the vice to seek personal safety. They ment. There has been an avermnssed millions of China on the other have been urged to leave their posts age of 80 at the church midand said, "You better go home and and concentrate in sectors from which week prayer meeting, 200 in the forget it." But the handful stayed. evacuation under the protection of Academy chapel service (now The story of their staying is an epic their national forces may be compara- voluntary), 350 in church Sunwhich makes the defense of modern tively easy; and they have preferred day mornings, 400 in Sunday Madrid a sham battle. to remain in this war-torn country school and 150 in special extra- with their Chinese fellow-Christians, curriculum Bible classes. Today the handful is winning. unafraid and undaunted. The action of the missionaries has doubtless been Help for Sufferers -The Christian Herald. prompted by a sense of duty toward their evangelical cause and toward Chinese in America are mak- Trend Toward Christianity their fellowmen. To God they have ing great sacrifices for relief of pledged to march onward as true suffering. At first, efforts were Rev. Paul H. Bartel, Kwei- soldiers of the Cross, and to their fel- made to raise war funds but, as chow-Szechwan Mission, writes lowmen they have professed to bring the story of what is probably the in the Alliance Weekly that a a divine message of goodwill and spir- greatest suffering in the history definite trend toward Christian- itual comfort. of the world began to reach the ity has become very pronounced. United States, war chests were The encouraging fact is that the Admittedly, the Sino-Japanese war largely forgotten and all efforts Chinese Church itself is being must come to an end sooner or later. put on war relief. Considering vitalized and energized as never While the missionaries must look after the resources of the average Chibefore, with the result that great the present, they cannot ignore the nese in America, gifts are almost numbers are being added to its future. By deserting at the, first sign beyond belief. Reports from membership. Many men of of danger, they might betray the con- some communjties say they aYefpower and influence in the gov- fidence reposed in them by the Chinese ernment have come to know converts; by remaining together with Christ personally, and these men the converts, they would surely earn are filling their positions in the undying goodwill as well as .aifection, Spirit of Christ. Their testi- and lay the foundation for a greater mony and conduct are making a claim to Chinese support in the years tremendous impression u p 0 n Chinese officialdom. It is the [ 101 J
age $200 a person, and $500 a and father, his sister and mem- pastor, spent the last half of Sepfamily. bers of the Martchester C. 1. M. tember in North China as mes- Committee. Mr. Bosshardt held sengers from the Christians of There are 252 Protestant mis- his great audience for fifty min- Japan in carrying out the plan sion hospitals in China. Some utes, while unfolding v e r y as outlined. have been bombed, some have simply his wonderful story of been obliged to move for safety. God's sustaining power. He told Now that the situation is so Most of them are seriously af- modestly, and occasionally with much worse, the Council has exfected by lack of funds, for there humor, a remarkable story of pressed its desire to take part in are practically no pay patients hardship, suffering and endur- a national spiritual mobilization these days and there has been a ance. Mrs. Bosshardt also gave in the spirit of prayer for the tremendous increase in free her side of the story. establishment of good will. work. Literally thousands of sick and wounded are dependent -China's Millions.• -National Christian Counon these American mission hos- cil Bulletin. pitals. In Nanking and Wuhu, JAPAN-CHOSEN according to cabled reports, only Kagawa Suffers the mission hospitals are open. Christian Council Takes Stand Word comes that the great Student Relief The Japanese Government, at apostle of brotherhood and love, the outbreak of the present Kagawa, is bowed down with re- The International Stu den t crisis, sent a statement to all re- morse because of the Japanese Service, with the backing of the ligious groups outlining its atti- aggression in China, yet he con- World Student Christian Fed- tude and urging cooperation. tinues to preach the message of eration and three other large The National Christian Council the Prince of Peace. It is reinternational bodies, is endeav- of Japan sent the following ported that recently at one of his oring to raise sufficient funds to reply: meetings he stood silent for a care for Chinese destitute stu- long time with bowed head and dents. The first money will be Regarding the present incident we when he spoke he said, "This is used to evacuate them from the pledge ourselves to comply with the not Kagawa standing here. It is war area, but the larger portion purport of the Government's state- but his shadow. The real Kaof the funds will be used to ment and to render faithful services gawa is over there in China with undertake a three-point pro- to the state. the suffering mothers and chilgram: (1) to establish four dren mutilated and made hometemporary district universities In this emergency: 1. We recognize less by the war." outside the war zone; (2) to set our great responsibility as Christians up student hostels which will act for bringing about a spiritual awaken- Furthermore, his income is as dormitories; and (3) to cre- ing in our nation and we will redouble practically eliminated because ate a scholarship fund for the our efforts to this end. 2. In order to the war mania has stopped the neediest and worthiest Chinese express our appreciation of the toil of sale of his books, yet he is strugstudents. our Imperial troops we will undertake gling to carryon his far-reach- projects to comfort them. 3. We ear- ing service of evangelism and The reason for this appeal is nestly desire that this difficult crisis regeneration. A group of his the fact that 30,000 Chinese stu- may be solved as speedily as possible friends in America made up a dents are today unable to con- and with a minimum of sacrifice. "Kagawa Christmas Fund" to tinue their studies because of 4. It is our hope that this incident help him carryon. what passes for war in China. may result in the establishment of re- Five large universities have lations of good will definitely and for The shabby six foot square been totally destroyed and ten all time. To this end we ask our fel- shed in which Kagawa lived and others partially ruined. These low Christians throughout the Empire worked for fourteen years in the students want to continue their to pray most earnestly. slums of Kobe was about to be studies, but can only do so if swept away in a program of muaided. -Christian Century. Voted: 1. That the National Chris- nicipal reconstruction, when it tian Council establish a department to was rescued by a group of his The Bosshardts Tell cooperate with all Christian organiza- friends and is now given a per- Their Story tions and institutions in carrying out manent place in the garden of projects for comforting the Imperial the Good Neighbor Kindergarten Fully 2,500 people crowded troops and open a central office for in Kobe, as a memorial to his Albert Hall, Manchester, Eng- this purpose. 2. To send messengers dauntless spirit in "crossing the land, November 6, to hear Mr. and comfort bags. 3. To raise for this deathline." and Mrs. R. A. Bosshardt tell purpose a fund of Y10,000 as an the thrilling story of their cap- initial am:ount. 4. To set up a Com- -Living Church; Christian tivity by Communists. The ad- mission of Thirty to carry out these Century. dress was relayed to 500 more projects; the members of this commiRin the lower Hall, while 800 were sion to be chosen from the different Theory Needs Revision turned away. On the platform communions and Christian organizawere Mr. Bosshardt's mother tions. Kohachiro M i y a z a k i has founded a Christian society The Committee of Thirty was based on the idea that Japan is promptly named, with Dr. Wil- the Kingdom of God. He be- liam Axling a member. Comfort bags were made and distributed, but no religious literature was allowed to be put in. Secretary Akira Ebisawa and the Rev. Y. Manabe, a prominent Methodist
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
lieves that Amenominaka-nushi- wanted to work. Dr. Martin loves the three other workers, are now .on up-kami and the Christian God poor and needy and does not seek to a world tour expected to last six are identical, and that if Jesus gain friends that will do for him. months. After a series of brief had lived in Japan He would campaigns in the U. S., they exhave made annual pilgrimages to Please send our friend back to us pect to sail for Australia early the temple of Ise. He criticizes as soon as he is rested. God does not in February. The work there Christian missionaries and Ka- give us a friend like Dr. Martin but will be under the auspices of the gawa for not basing their mes- once in a lifetime. Please tell him "Campaigners for Christ," ,an sages on the national history and that my people are thinking and pray- Australian movement which is nationalist culture of Japan. ing for ·his return to us. making considerable headway. The United Presbyterian ob- The Team, however, expects to serves that had they done so, Sincerely, cooperate with ministers' counthey would experience difficulties cils and all other Christian orin writing their sermons at -Korean Echoes. ganizations which welcome their present. ministry. They hope to devote Women's Work in Korea some time to all the capital cities Salvation Army Oommended -Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, The Women's Missionary So- Hobart, Canberra, Sydney and Mr. S. Tokutomi, noted his- ciety usually holds its annual Brisbane. -The Christian. torian, journalist and leader of meeting just preceding the Genpublic opinion, recently wrote eral Assembly. Each of the Guns for Books an article in the Tokyo daily presbyterial societies in Chosen Nichi Nichi, in which he said: is entitled to send a delegate. It took 30 years for govern- All of the officers of the general ment and- missions to arouse in If anything is lacking today in society are Korean women, but the Filipino the desire for an Japan, I should say it is religious at- missionaries sometimes serve on mosphere. The Salvation Army has committees. The Korean women education. N ow, on the thresthe religion we need today. It appeals show much ability in carrying hold of the greatest educational to the common people. It teaches the on their work. opportunity that the Philippines duty of mutual love, mutual respect ever had, a policy has been and mutual help, on the basis of uni- At the last meeting delegates adopted that may prove one of versal brotherhood in the love of God. gave reports from the twenty- the greatest blows that civiliza- The Salvation Army, therefore, helps three presbyterial soc i e tie s, tion has suffered in the Islands. the nation. . . . which include a total of 1,023 A military program requires societies. that every school boy of 10 years Another article in the same or over must take military traindaily is by a distinguished states- On the wall in front of the ing. Every young man of 20 man and former Minister of J us- audience was the motto for the years must enter one of the nutice, Viscount Watanabe, who year, "Be thou faithful unto merous camps to take training. says: death." There were also maps Every school, private and public, of the world showing the great elementary, secondary, high or Political force is not almighty. proportion of the population of university, must teach military What politics can achieve is very lim- the world who are not yet Chris- training to its students, at great ited, and what politics fail to achieve tian. One of the officers of the expense to the government whose is limitless. It is religion that can do Society prepared a map of Korea financial resources are limited. limitless work in this limitless field on which was a red cross and a The system has so dug into the … and the Salvation Army, by its grapevine twined arourid it, with finances of the educational dereligion, is rendering limitless service branches and bunches of grapes partment that every school exin this limitless field. reaching to different parts of cept one in the Bontoc district Korea up into Manchuria, across has either been closed or reduced Do Medical Missions Pay? the Yellow Sea to Shantung to the first four grades. The Province in China and across to one that has remained open could A grateful Korean, able to ex- Japan. Each province of Korea not accommodate one-tenth of press himself in English, has was pictured and in each prov- the pupils from these barrios, written a mission secretary re- ince the presbyterial society even if it were possible for them garding the return of an Amer- named. The number of church to find a place to live. ican doctor: societies in each presbyterial was shown in figures. The result is that mission DEAR SIR: schools are pra.ctically swamped. -Women and Missions. The problem is one of taking Are you in peace? I hope you will care of the thousands who have excuse me, but my heart is so full of ISLANDS OF THE PAOIFIO been converted, and of trying in thanksgiving to God for what he has some way to help the thousands done for me through your servant in Around the World Revival who are eager for an education, Christ, Dr. Martin, who saved my life and a knowledge of the Kingdom and soul, I wanted to know if it were In none of the countries visited of God. -The Living Church. possible for my people to have him by evangelist J. Edwin Orr was back now. He cures our bodies and he more cordially received than loves us so much we find Jesus through in Australia; so marked was the Him. He is so gentle with the Ko- interest shown that he promised reans. I think his voice must be like to return at his earliest opporthat of Jesus. He befriended the tunity. Mr. and Mrs. Orr, with homeless, fed the hungry, cured the sick, found a job for those that
Airplane a Mission Adjunct are a Good Samaritan. You are be impressed anew with the im- a Good Samaritan." At last the portance of preserving these Aviation is proving a definite taxi-driver said: "That's twice rights for themselves." auxiliary of mission activities. you have called me a Good Sa- Not only is it used in locating maritan. What do you mean by Prison Reading tribes hitherto virtually un- that?" The Indian Christian known, but it enables mission- was astounded. "Have you never The American Library Assoaries to bring the Gospel to them heard the story of the Good Sa- ciation would take the affirmaquickly. FUrthermore, the use maritan," he asked the taxi- tive side in the much debated of planes makes such an impres- driver? "No, tell me about it." question: Reformation vs. Punsion on native tribes that they So the Christian gentleman from ishment as a prison objective. are more susceptible to the teach- India told an American taxi- At least, they know that good ings of Christianity. driver the story of the Good books have helped many an Samaritan, and left in his keep-' outlaw to drop his role of "pub- Dr. W. G. Turner, missionary ing a copy of the New Testament lic enemy." of the Seventh Day Adventists that he might learn more of the in the South Seas, has been using teachings of Jesus. Perhaps we Most of the 200,000 inmates a plane in the interior of New are not as Christian as we think of American prisons, according Guinea. The existence of the we are. to prison librarians, are eager to people with whom he has been follow reading courses, and their working, and who number sev- "Let Freedom Ring" unguided tastes are much the eral million, was unknown be- same as those of the average frefore 1931. They were discovered New York World's Fair vis- quenter of a public library. The by white miners in search of itors in 1939 will have their at- difficulty, as might be imagined, gold. The distance from sea- tention called to the importance is the lack of the kind of books ports is so great, the jungles are of liberty in worship by a statue they should have. The Federal so impenetrable and the lack of dedicated to "Freedom of Reli- Government, a few states, and a trails so complete, that aviation gion." This statute, with three city or two have sizeable librais virtually the only means of others symbolizing freedom of ries in their penal institutions, keeping in touch with them. press, freedom of assembly and but these are the exception With their planes, Dr. Turner freedom of speech, will be placed rather than the rule. Many, and his associates have been able in a prominent position. The many books are needed, and lito establish 40 schools among the group will be known as the brarians to offer guidance among natives and have made great "Four Freedoms." the shelves. progress in reducing the language to a written basis. Ap- Freedom of Religion will be -Christian Advocate. parently they have no religion portrayed by a young, modestly of their own. attired girl with her face raised "United Thank Offering" reverently toward the skies and These people are not canni- holding a prayer-book in her "Many a little makes a bals, but tribal warfare is their hands. On the base of the mickle," a Scotch proverb which principal pastime. They do not statue, which will be .thirty feet Episcopal women of the United use poisoned arrows, but the tall, a number of houses of wor- States put into practice, but with shafts are cruelly barbed and ship will be outlined to indicate larger results. The procedure of capable of inflicting death at 200 that freedom of worship in the the "United Thank Offering" is yards. Their. only civilized at- nation is not confined to anyone that whenever any woman of the tribute is that they are fine gar- sect or creed. church feels that she has some deners, and layout large areas special reason to be thankful, planted with sweet potatoes and The idea originated with Ar- she puts money in a box, and other native vegetables. thur H. Sulzberger, president every three months turns it over and publisher of the New York to a local treasurer. Here are NORTH AMERICA Times. The thought behind the some of the occasions for thank- idea, Mr. Sulzberger says, is that fulness: a woman who had lost Is America Christian? "freedom is something that must a pet dog dropped a dollar in the be won by each succeeding gen- box when the dog was returned. A cultured Christian gentle- eration. This has been clearly Another time her husband was man from India was stranded in proved since the war by the rise so late in coming home that she one of our eastern cities. Unable of dictatorships throughout the was seriously alarmed; when he to secure lodgings at any of the world. I feel that the New York showed up, the grateful woman hotels in town because of his World's Fair could do a genu- dropped a dime in the box! dark complexion, he was finally inely patriotic service if statues, befriended by a taxi-driver who symbolizing the four freedoms At the recent Episcopal Contook him to his humble lodgings guaranteed by the first amend- vention in Cincinnati, report and gave him his bed for the ment to the Constitution were was made Of total women's thank night. Several times during placed where the millions of offerings since 1 9 3 4. The their conversation the Indian visitors to the Fair could not fail amount was $861,030.52, $70,000 gentleman, expressing his grati- to see them, and could not fail to more than the total of 1934. All tude, happened to remark: "You of it will be devoted to those
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
mission services at home and noticed that fact." "There you in Mexico to open some Roman abroad conducted by women see it," declared the Eskimo, Catholic church for worship.
alone. "that is a work of the devil. It Sometimes these efforts succeed -The Churchman; Cincin- is he who is setting a snare for and sometimes they fail. In no nati Times-Star. us in order to get us to desecrate case is the whole country stirred the Holy Day. But you may rest by them. President Cardenas is Both Theory and Practice assured he will have no such reported as favoring the reopen- luck." ing of churches. He is compelled Sheldon Jackson School, Sitka, to move slowly because of the Alaska, knows the educational Before the summer ended violent anti-clericalism of some value of a boat, and a Tsimshian these sincere Christians had a of his supporters, and also be- Indian, who came to Sitka with rich, weekday harvest of seals. cause each State has its own Sheldon Jackson in 1888, has, regulations concerning religion. with the help of boys in the LATIN AMERICA Noone expects any modification School, recently built one. They of the religious laws. They will cut the timbers for the keel, keel- A Colporteur's Experiences remain on the statute books to son, deck beams and other parts be invoked against the Roman of the boat frame. They logged Colporteur Ceja of Puebla, Church, whenever the occasion yellow cedar trees and cut the Mexico, receives many insulting may arise. It seems obvious that ribs for the boat from them. letters, some threatening his life, as the Roman Church relaxes its Machin~-shop boys constructed all of them unsigned. As part opposition to the government's the 600-gallon Diesel tanks and of an organized campaign to run program of socialization, there built a sturdy rudder from an him and other workers out of will come a relaxation in the enold safe door, all under the direc- the place, the priest has taught forcement of these laws. tion of the machine-shop in- the children to sing a song which structor. This boat is used not says: President Cardenas has shown only for spreading the Gospel, his concern for the masses In his but for transporting students, Get out! Get out! Protestants, organization of cooperative sovisiting villages, hunting, fish- Get out of our nation. cieties, and by promoting legising, logging, Diesel demonstra- We wish to worship lation to safeguard the rights of tion c I ass e s and navigation The divine heart. labor. In education, special classes. -Monday Morning. stress has been placed upon rural Even in their salutations in schools, w h i c h increased to Eskimos Keep the Sabbath their patios or on the streets, the 10,000 in 1935 and to 11,000 in priests are teaching them to 1936. The present year will One sees what kind of Chris- change the usual Spanish greet- show an increase of approxitians the Eskimos have become ing : "To serve God and thee" mately 1,600. This is a striking when it is observed how they to Ave Maria purissima-"long record when one remembers that keep the Lord's Day. Their food live Christ, my life I am willing 20 years ago Mexico had no consists largely of seal meat, and to give for thee." One hears this rural schools. seals are abundant in Labrador. expression on all sides, spoken A Moravian missionary relates so rapidly the words cannot be Methodist Jubilee, Puerto Rico how, on four Sundays in succes- understood. sion, great schools of seals came This year marks the 2:5th aninto the harbor and played in In another town, Colporteur niversary of the founding of the the water in front of the mis- Ceja's knowledge of gasoline Puerto Rico Methodist Mission sion station; but on the follow- engines and simple mill ma- Conference. It was 37 years ago ing weekdays not a seal was to chinery gave him an entrance. that Charles W. Drees, who came be seen. He installed a mill for grinding there from Argentina, conducted corn, and Mrs. Ceja stayed sev- the first Methodist service on the When the fourth Sun day eral days to help the owners of Island. By the end of the first came, bringing an immense pack the new machine understand its year there were 835 members of seals, the missionary saw sev- manipulation. Now Ceja is help- and probationers, seven Sunday eral Eskimo men sitting on a ing the mayor of the town to schools, five preaching places, large rock on the beach. He build a reservoir and lay a pipe two congregations, $139 collected wondered how long it would be to bring water to the village. for benevolences, and $41 for before the men would leap into Thus serving the people, the ministerial support. In 1913, their kayaks and pounce upon priest has not been able to stir Puerto Rican Methodism was or- up hatred toward him.
-F. L. Meadows.
these seals; so he asked them Religion in Mexico ganized in a Conference. From why they did not go hunting. the original nucleus of thirty Then one E ski m 0 replied: According to Mission,s, the re- persons with which the first "Haven't you noticed that these ligious aspect of the Mexican service was started, a church has seals come in such great schools Revolution is slowly fading into arisen with twenty-four pastoral only on Sundays, and not one the background. The daily press charges with ninety-four con- appears on a weekday?" "Yes," from time to time reports move- gregations, comprising 3,778 replied the missionary, "I have ments in widely separated places m e m b e r san d probationers.
There are eighty-nine Sunday sage was a comparison of his The number of patients coming schools, with 6,343 pupils. own life with that of the same to the Presbyterian Hospital in Although Puerto Rico is a mis- experience through which the Rio Verde is small as yet, but sion field, it has both home and Apostle Paul passed. He realizes each returns home with a new foreign missionary work. The his need of being grounded in the idea of hospitals. This hospital, church has sent missionaries to Protestant faith, and is studying a rented private house, has four the Dominican Republic. day after day in the home of capable girls in training as -Christian Advocate. Don Arturo. When he had fin- nurses. With a population of ished his message, a hymn was 2,000, Rio Verde is the largest sung and an invitation extended town in the state of Goyaz. Education in Cuba -Monday Morning. to others to accept C h r i s t. After being closed almost con- Twenty-five responded, among EUROPE tinuously for six years for politi- them several students. cal reasons, the University of Church and State Havana and the original six pro- Missionary Forces Grow vincial institutes or high schools in Colombia The summer of 1937 will be have not only continued to func- remembered for the interna- tion normally since reopening During the past seven years, tional religious conferences in last January, but 14 new insti- the number of foreign mission- Europe. One of the main themes tutes have opened. Two of these aries in Colombia has increased at Oxford was the relation of are in Sancti Spiritus and from 59 to 160. This is due to church and state; and the series Guines, and one is near Caiba- several causes. 1. The return to of regional Baptist conferences rien. power of the Liberal party has came to grips with this question Cuba as a whole is slowly created great opportunities for in a practical way. Separation awakening to the need of a more preaching the Gospel to receptive of church and state was treated practical education for her peo- audiences. 2. Since the publica- in some form or another at each ple in place of the formal aca- tion of the survey of the North- one of these conferences-somedemic type which has always ern Republics of South America times in the presence of hostile prevailed. The Department of there has been a far better officials. Agriculture is taking the lead by knowledge of actual conditions France is the only country of sending out teams to sponsor existing in Colombia, and many Europe which has no problem tree-planting, agriculture, care missions and individuals have as to church and state relations, of cattle, homemaking classes, given attention to the vast op- while in Germany it is, of course, etc. Four of the Presbyterian portunities that the co u n try a burning question; and it is not Board's schools (at Sancti Spir- presents for the Gospel. 3. Bet- likely that there will ultimately itus, Cabaiguan, Cardenas and ter means of transport for open be any place for a free church Placetas) have used the services parts of the country which were in any totalitarian state. Deleof these teams. In Cardenas and hardly accessible some years ago. gates to these conferences in Sancti Spiritus, for example, 4. Many of the organizations eight countries were convinced boys' clubs for the planting of which have commenced work in it will be a long time before we vegetables have been organized Colombia are Faith Missions, see anything like a "U nit e d and a number of classes in do- which during recent years have States of Europe." mestic science and child care been able to increase their ac- -Missions. tivities considerably. The prohave been given.
-Monday Morning. portion of national workers to Christianity's Last Reserve foreign missionaries is now very Converted in Nicaragua low, and the question of the A Leipzig newspaper recently training of a national ministry, had an article about the Starzi, Jose M. Ruiz, a priest of the both lay and ordained, is one of a people who can be ,traced back Catholic Church for 18 years, considerable importance. to the Bogomilians of the early has been converted in Managua, Russian Middle Age, Evan- Nicaragua. He gave his first -World Dominion Press. gelicals who came up from By- public testimony in a Baptist No Doctors Wanted zantium. (Bogomilian means Church, October 31. The occa- "loved of God.") Their protest, sion is described in the Watch- In some mission areas medical which they felt was God-given, man-Examiner: work is the most successful way was against the secularization of "The school assembly hall was of introducing the Gospel. In the Church, and they often came crowded to overflowing and hun- the interior of Brazil, where liv- into conflict with the clerical ele- dreds were standing. He spoke ing conditions in general are ment. They were at times per- about thirty minutes and al- primitive and unhealthful, how- secuted, and in their testimony though we feared disorder, we ever, one finds a different situa- was often a strong admixture of had the best of attention during tion – people eager to hear the fanaticism.
his message. He gave a message Gospel but live in terror of doc- The Starzi were usually of the with a positive ring, sincere and tors and hospitals. They would lower class, but occasionally men forceful. The basis of his mes- rather die than go to a physician. from the aristocracy j 0 i ned
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
them; their testimony has never of Christian ideas. "We must two observations are pertinent. died out. Again and again one avoid rituals reminiscent of church ceremonies. These cere- (1) Even the best friends of hears of them, now in European monies are dead. Our National Russia, now in the forests of Si- Socialist ideology is not a sub- Russia, and those in sympathy beria. They are considered stitute but a new c rea t ion. saints by the common people but Christmas festivals in Protestant with some of her social objechandled rather gingerly by the parish houses are as divorced clergy. But the interesting thing from our ideology as the singing tives, must question whether of Christmas hymns. A solstice is that today there has been a ceremony must be substituted in communism can succeed if its revival of Starzentum in Soviet such form as to force out the for- Russia. Their purpose is to re- eign spirit through the strength progress depends on t h rea t, store the' Christian faith. They of our own faith." force and wholesale executions. travel on foot in simple peasant Bibles in Yugoslavia dress, staff in hand, with the (2) The relentless c r usa d e Gospel and crucifix in a bag on The National Bible Society of the back, seeking to bring ,back Scotland reports this incident against religion seems to have the Russian people to the naIve from Yugoslavia, told by a col- porteur. resulted in a shortage of spirsimplicity of Russian orthodox belief. They are loved by the Traveling by train, I showed some itual power to motivate the vast people, hated and persecuted by Bibles and Testaments to my fellowthe Soviet authorities. passengers. Sitting next to me was a social program. While commu- man who began to speak very lightly -So S. Times. of the Word of God, frankly confess- nism itself has created an emo- ing that he was an atheist. Wanting to show off, he bought five Testaments, tional energy comparable to that opened the window and threw them out one after another, to show his dis- in religion, it is apparent that respect for the Book. I felt deeply grieved, and wished to return him his the Russian program cannot per- money, but he gave no heed to my words. Some days later, on my way manently succeed until the reli- home, I passed again through this dis- trict, and seeing a gang of trainmen gious impulse in the soul of the standing, I approached them: with a people is again given freedom to friendly greeting. After a few words about the weather, I asked if any of express itself, and to furnish the them possessed a Bible, and if they read it, and took two copies out of my guiding principle of the nation's pocket. Instantly one of the men Needs of French Children shouted, "These look just like the life. -Missions. Books some of our men found on the State education in France line." It was true: the Testaments AFRICA leaves God out entirely, and thrown out by the atheist had been while a small percentage of rescued before rainy weather set in. ltaly in Ethiopia and the trainmen told me of the great French children have some sort joy they had in reading them. It was While the eyes of the world are of religious training at home, the in an exclusively Roman Catholic ter- turned upon the Far East, Musmajority grow up as virtual ritory that the Books were thrown solini is busy Italianizing Ethio- out, where perhaps no one would have pia, and a part of this program, pagans. In many cases adefi- bought the Word of God. as all the world knows, is maknite anti-God influence is seen ing Catholics of the natives. The Twenty Years of Communism Associated Press reports that in the schools. Says one educa- Mussolini's engineers have built, tor: "Leaving God out and It may be that Japan's aggres- or are completing eight Roman funding our moral code on a sion in China is partly due to Catholic churches with dozens purely human basis, we under- signs that all is not well in com.:. of auxiliary schools, dispensaries munist Russia-that she is in no and clinics in Ethiopia. The idea take to produce intelligent and condition to thwart Japanese of Catholic education is being brotherly citizens." Another plans. American tourists return pushed, and it is estimated that says, "We are not called upon to from Russia and report an at- 800 priests and 1,200 nuns will mosphere of tense uncertainty be needed. The Salesian Brothattack or deny the existence of there. erhood-famous for its work in God, but to give an education South Africa-has been authorwhich makes faith in God impos- Nevertheless, celebration of ized to lead in this program. sible." the communist revolution's 20th anniversary was carried out as Coptic churches and Moham- In the McAll Mission settle- in other years. With all due medan mosques are being reno- recognition of Russia's achieve- vated in line with Mussolini's ments in Paris and other towns ments during these 20 years, friendly gestures to Islam. It is not Ethiopian souls, but loyalty of France, Gospel truths are be- to his Roman Empire project that concerns him. ing taught to both children and adults. -The Christian.
No Christmas in Germany In aNew Field Christmas came again, but not As already noted, the expulin Germany so far as the Storm sion of missionaries from Abys- Troopers were concerned. The sinia led to the determination to chief of staff of this Nazi Guard open up fresh territory in the issued "Instructions for Cultural adjacent Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Exercises of Storm Troops." It This project has received unexis of the utmost importance, says pected gifts toward the extra Herr Lutze, to eliminate the financial responsibility entailed. "foreign ideology" of Christianity from the exercises of the Storm Troops, and create new forms and ceremonies which will have not even the faintest flavor 108 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [February Extension in another direction always finds lodgings. He helps Director of the German Baptist is marked by the commencement Missionary Society. of work among the lepers of the in the day's work, and bears Moslem provinces of the north. New Life in Angola Five doctors were needed if the witness for the Lord as opportufacilities provided by the British Methodist missionary E. E. Government were to be fully nity offers. Edling believes that Angola is grasped. Three of these are now seeing the harvest of all the seed at work, another is on his way In his travels he visits places sown there during the past 52 and the fifth is taking a course years. He writes: .of study of tropical diseases. where no missionary has ever "Our native evangelists are On a recent Sunday morning, been, away from all Christian constantly on the road" and still Dr. R. V. Bingham, general di- cannot keep up with the calls for rector of this work, led a service fellowship. He keeps in touch special meetings in outlying stain an area where seven years ago tions. They go to hold the meetthe natives were cannibals. Mo- with Tunis by letters posted ings, and people come pouring toring to another center he in from miles around. The work preached to a congregation of whenever he comes to a post has gone beyond us. 600, and in the evening he conducted a service at which 800- office, and these tell of a coura- "Meetings were being held in 900 people were present, and the a village that seemed to have missionary in charge apologized geous witness in face of many grown cold and indifferent, and for the smallness of ,the gather- too full of family quarrels to ing! The morning congregation difficulties. Many Moslems coh- make any progress. But more usually numbers 1,500, but in than 30 people gave their hearts the afternoon and evening many firm the truth of these accounts. to the Lord for the first time, go out to preach to their unevan- not to mention the old members gelized neighbors in surrounding In one village he was received who had been stirred to new life towns and villages. and warmth. One of the helpers very kindly by a sick old man, in these meetings was needed in A, native chief, who had rev- another place, but begged for one elled in tribal warfare and head who wept when he heard of the more day to help new converts. hunting, heard the Gospel from The trip was delayed for one a member of his own tribe. crucifixion of Christ; and when day, when it was seen that this Gathering that it demanded the was only the beginning. For renunciation of polygamy, lying, a few days later he lay on his four more days the meetings stealing and a variety of other went on, new people coming in sins, he declared that he had no death-bed, he refused to witness each day from all that region, use for it. Later he came into many of them heads of villages contact with the missionary, who to Mohammed, but assented who had stoutly resisted the ,startled him by saying, "Come Gospel for many years. Saturto Christ just as you are." when Medani spoke of Jesus as day night when the services finally came to a close with a Imagining that Christianity the Saviour. After the burial he great testimony meeting, 96 new had capitulated, he decided to at- names had been added to the tend mission services. Sunday was accused of converting the list. after Sunday found him in his place, and eventually the light old man to heresy. The men "This is typical of what has broke upon his heart. Now, he gone in since November. To finds that he no longer takes planned to kill him, but a wom- date the list of new converts pleasure in evil doing. since that time in all the villages an, grateful for healing, helped visited totals just about 1,000. -Life of Faith. A new spirit is abroad in the Medani to escape, supplying him whole field." Witnessing to Moslems with food and money. He had Raising Spiritual Standards A ministry of unmeasured value, involving hardship and to remain hidden for some days, The Lovedale Bible School, often peril, is that of Medani, a South Africa, was founded five converted Mohammedan of Te- and in his letter he asked for years ago to assist in deepening bessa, on the Algerian frontier. spiritual life. Its leaders recog- After helping in the mission for prayer that whether in life or in nize the danger of the growth of some years, he now journeys an African Church which is with caravans of Arabs. The death he might glorify God's satisfied with a low standard of average Tunisian countryman is faith and morals. There has hospitable, and as Medani car- name. -Life of Faith. been in some districts a recruries a stock of simple medicines descence of heathenism, because ,and sweets for the children, he German Mission in Cameroon As most of us know, the Brit- ish Government several years ago permitted the resumption of mission work by Germans in the section of the Cameroons which it holds under mandate. German Baptists, however, encountered serious obstacles in maintaining their work. Rigid regulations regarding the export of currency were among the chief of these, and for a time the continuance of German foreign mission work -not only by Baptists, but equally by members of other churches – d e pen d e d upon friendly assistance from Chris- tians of other lands; and British Baptists raised and sent several hundred pounds. The gravest crisis has passed, and it has re- cently become possible to rein- force the mission staff. Peculiar interest attaches to the departure for Africa of Helmut Simoleit, son of Dr. F. W. Simoleit, the well-known Vice-President of the Baptist World Alliance and converts have remained ignorant glory of Christ. Deeply im- doctors were men – had more of the elements of the faith they pressed, the Moslem said, "These women patients than men. This professed. are good words; I will hear you past year saw 455 babies born in The five-months courses of the again." six mission hospitals, Kerman- school have put nearly 50 evan- This, and other such incidents shah reporting one week with a gelists into the field. Entering convinced the British Syria Mis- baby every day-and triplets to the school with vague ideas sion that the training of native top it off with! An increasing about God, sin and salvation, evangelists must somehow be as- number of nurses are being they have had their whole atti- sured. Accordingly, plans are trained. In 1936, the Governtude transformed. A four-page under way for establishing a ment decided to inaugurate monthly, "Preachers' Help," is Bible School for Syria. The nurses' training as a branch of issued in Xhosa and Suto, and the educational program rapidly has 1,100 subscribers. It finds Mission Secretary has completed expanding under the direction of its way into every Province of its able Minister of Education, the Union, and into Southwest a world tour, chiefly to make this a graduate of Alborz College. project known. Rev. Evan R. Africa and Rhodesia. The Love- Harries is to be the first Prin- The educational impetus is dale Press also publishes a cipal, and Zaki Effendi of Port placing girls in positions as "Guide for Preachers and Bible ,typists, clerks and teachers. A Students" to meet their needs Said has accepted the post of knowledge of Eng 1ish and both in private study and as a tutor. The school will be opened French is considered essenUal textbook for training classes. in the Mission building at to secure the best of such em- Shimlan. -The Christian.
-So S. Times. Turkey's Development p19yment. -Women and Missions. Turkey is now chiefly intent WESTERN ASIA u p 0 n internal developments.
Cyprus Has a Sunday School The State controls the chief in- INDIA-BURMA-CEYLON Last year, an Armenian Sun- dustries, private enterprise ben- The Basis of Evangelization day school worker, with head- efiting by State initiative and quarters in Beirut, Syria, visited financial guarantees. The re- Indian missions need "re- Cyprus and organized the first cently signed Asiatic Pact be- thinking." Evangelical Chris- Sunday schools within the Ar- tween Turkey, Iran, Iraq and tians number at least 4,000,000, menian Church in Cyprus. He Afghanistan is designed to as- and to these approximately 250,- was received with enthusiasm, sure their internal development 000 are being added yearly. and reports that a Council of Re- equally with their territorial in- These believers, have been gathligious Education has been tegrity. Pan-islamism has re- ered chiefly through the witness formed for the Island, Sunday ceived a setback; an influential of changed lives and spontaneous school work in Larnaca has been intelligentsia in these countries testimony of Indian Christians; firmly established, and a series is pressing for religious reform. therefore the completion of the of lectures have been given to The missionary outlook is dis- unfinished task of India's evanteachers and prospective leaders tinctly promising, provided that gelization lies in making the on methods of teaching, and Christianity is presented not witness of her Church more principles of Christian educa- only as a Gospel of personal sal- effective. tion. The Armenian population vation, but of national regeneraon the island is about 4,000; tion and progress. The organization, training there were about 850 children enrolled in the Sunday schools. -World Dominion Press. and equipment, as well as the spiritual and material encour- Bible School for Syria New Day for Iranian Women agement of selected Indian work- ers is the pressing duty of mis- Evangelistic work has felt the sions. Nor is this enough. Vital collaboration between mission- Yusef, a young carpenter of effect of women's emancipation aries and Indian leaders on a Tyre, was converted from the in Iran. Galls may be made in basis of Christian fellowship and Moslem faith. Accompanying a Moslem homes, with less embar- perfect equality, will alone bring missionary on an itinerary to rassment to the hostess. A spirit into play the special contribution villages which it is possible for of open-minded inquiry is en- of each, which together, may the missionary to visit only once gendered with the passing of achieve a success denied to uniin two or three years, he sur- long established usage. lateral mission activity. One ef- prised himself in the discovery Again, medical work reflects fective point of contact is found of a gift for evangelism. One the new feeling. For years in the Ashram Movement. These Moslem asked Yusef why he had Iranian women have been in- brotherhood fellowships can left the fold of Islam. With creasingly willing to consult a serve to bring foreign missionsuperb Christian diplomacy, say- man physician, but never was aries and Indian colleagues into ing nothing derogatory to the there such willingness as today. this helpful relationship and prophet, he read passages from Year before last, two of our hos- generous cooperation.
his Bible which set forth the pitals-and their only American -World Dominion Press.
Madras Meeting of I. M. C. study, action and consultation. Their first move was to select The Hangchow Meeting of the The Meeting of the Council fur- four murderers as household International Missionary Coun- nishes the opportunity for this servants. The rest were set to cil is now to be known as the consultation among the repre- work building three villages. So Madras Meeting of the Interna- sentatives of national groups in ignorant were they of work that tional Missionary Council. On account of the disturbed condi- international conference. This each had to be taught how to use tions in the Far East the Council has decided to accept the invita- program, launched a year ago, a spade. Schools, offices and a will continue as planned. It has medical dispensary were built. tion of the National Christian Council of India and hold its emerged out of the life experi- A hand-weaving industry was meeting at Tambaram, on the campus of the Madras Christian ence of these national groups started, and these ex-criminals College. Tambaram is a suburb of Madras, in the semi-tropical and continues as a guiding in- have made clothes for themsoutheastern section of India. It is near the heart of the Mass fluence for thought, action and selves and for sale to all the Movement area where a strong Christian community is growing prayer around the world. Andaman Penal Settlements. In rapidly, and where visitors from other lands may observe much Student Evangelism in Ceylon' five year,:; the gangsters paid that will be instructive and en- back every penny loaned to them couraging. While the Indian For the past t'Yo year~ !he by the government to start in- Christians eagerly welcome the Jaffna In~er-Colleglate ChrIstIan dustries. They have built a dam coming of the Conference to Fel}o'Yshlp has held. an Evan- and reservoir, planted fruit Tambaram, Bishop A z aria h gehsh~ Week. Meetmg ~enters trees, built a hall for their Gosspoke on their behalf in hoping h~ve mcreased from nme to pel meetings. Men who were that the Conference would be nmeteen, a~d the work. was ex- hardened criminals can now be indeed an ecumenical conference tended to m~lude Jum?t: Sec- seen on Sundays teaching the bringing Christians from all ondary E!1ghsh .a!1d Bllmg~al Bible to the children of the colparts of the world to India. Al- Schools, m addlt.lOn· to HI?,h ony. Boys are now preparing though conditions are uncertain Schools. ¥eth~s mcluded "Wlt- for mission service. in the Far East, it is hoped that ~es.s me~~mgs, and to. keep th.e These two workers recently there will be a strong delegation WItness fr?m becom~ng a ~l- visited England, and said that in both from China and from J apan, as well as from other parts ography, WIthout pomt, Wlt- twenty-five years spent among of Asia, Africa, Latin America nesses we!e aske,~ to speak on criminals they had not lost the and the West. The condiitions such questIo~s a~ What C!0d has smallest of their .possessions.
which the Christians of these meant to me m bmes of dIfficulty However within an hour after two countries of Asia face are of major concern to Christians of ?r doubt, s?r!ow, defeat or joy; arriving' in civilized England, all lands, and make the strength- l~ ha!mO~IZI~~ pe:r:sona.l rela- Mrs. Sheard's umbrella was ening of Christian ties more tIOnshlps, m.glvmg dIrectIOn and stolen. -So S. Times. important than ever. The Chris- purpose to hfe"; and to address tian Church, the Church Univer- meetings, with topics such as Missionaries Help Ex-Patriots sal, must stand in united witness "God in Christ," "Forgiveness to its faith today. This· will not Through C h r i s t," "Me for The secretary of the "Servants be a conference only on prob- Christ." of India" Society made an extenlems in the Far East. It is the sive tour of three years in the regularly called decennial meet- The method usually adopted ,to Far East, America and in Ausing of the International Mission- register decisions is to take the tralia; and wherever Indians ary Council, coming together to senior students out for a quiet were living in these countries he consider fundamental problems retreat, or gather them together made it his business to visit of the Christian mission. It will for a quiet meeting, a week or them, and stay with them some ten days after the evangelistic time. As a result, he gives three be concerned with the world- week, with its emotional stress, general impressions with referwide witness of the universal is over. Students cannot be ence to the condition of Indians Church. The Faith by Which baptized without permission of overseas. First, "If generalizathe Church Lives, the Witness of parents or guardian. tions are permissible at all, it the Church to Its Faith, the may be said that in Trinidad, Inner Life of the Church, the -National Christian Coun- British Guiana and Fiji, where Church and Its Environment, cil Review. Indians were originally introand Closer Cooperation among duced under the indentured sys- Christians; these were the five Among Criminal Tribes tem, they are commendably topics named for world-wide better off than similar classes in Major Sheard and his wife of India." Second, "It is remark- the Salvation Army, after work- able that by their own self-help ing twenty-five years among the and against tremendous odds criminal tribes of India, were these Indians overseas have sent by the government four and made great progress." Third, a half years ago to the Andaman "We cannot be too grateful to the Islands in the Bay of Bengal, Christian missionaries who alone where 600 convicted murderers took interest in the uplift of the and robbers had been segre- Indians." -Dnyanodaya. gated. One hundred and twenty were chained as violent crim- inals. Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information Apostle of China. Life of Samuel of God. No man contributed to thrilling facts. To illustrate: Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky. By James Arthur Muller. 275 pp. more than he to making the Often poverty in the mountains $2.50. Morehouse Pub. Co. New York and Milwaukee. 1937. Bible available to the Chinese is associated with high intelli- people. The foundations which gence and profound wisdom; This is a long overdue biog- he laid will endure forever. often Christian p e 0 pie have Professor Muller has done an raphy of one of the most re- shamed the state to action; good amazing piece of work in assem- roads and good schools and the markable missionaries of the bling the adequate material of Wider Parish, the Boy Scouts Nineteenth Century, Sam u e I this biography, when at first it Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky of seemed that all the material had and the 4-H Clubs are helping China. Schereschewsky was a been lost, and he has put it to- Russian Jew born in Lithuania, gether in the most simple and to reveal, and to make usable, May 6, 1831. He became a satisfactory way. The account "the precious things of the Christian through studying the of his researches should lead every missionary board to re- mountains." Mr. White has New Testament in Germany and solve to perfect its archives and given us a book, small in comassociation with Jewish Chris- preserve its irreplaceable treastian friends in America where ures of correspondence. pass, readable, sane, encour- aging. Perhaps we shall rememhe came in 1854. After two R. E. SPEER. ber best his quotation from a years in the Western Theological mountain man, who says: "We Seminary of the Presbyterian had so many churches we couldn't have a church."
Church in Allegheny, Pa., he Highland Heritage. By Edwin E. WM. J. HUTCHINS, transferred to the Protestant White. Friendship Press. Cloth, President, Berea College.
Episcopal Church and was sent $1.00; paper, 60 cents. New York. "It Is Hard to Be a Christian." By as a missionary to China in 1937. Samuel M. Zwemer. 159 pp. 3s. 6d.
1859. There his great work was Mr. White reveals his wide Marshall, Morgan & Scott. London. the founding of St. John's Uni- reading and his deep experience. 1931. versity in Shanghai and Bible He does not live in the realm of This is the full outpouring of .translation, though as bishop he romance inhabited by many a rich and noble experience. It had administrative charge of the writers. His spirit is that of is not testimony which cost nothwork of his mission from 1876 comradeship, rather than of con- ing. It bears "traces of having until his breakdown and paraly- descension. He emphasizes the bled." "Scars" and "loneliness" sis from sunstroke in 1881. For fact, often ignored, that the peo- and "the Cross" are not mere four years he sought to repair ple of the mountains were for a words lightly spoken. They show his health in Europe and then long time "in the thick of the na- forth realities through rents in for nine years, with a shattered tion's life. They played a large the veil. The book is not an body but an indomitable will, he part in the formation of new apologetic for unbelievers or a worked in America on his Bible states" and have always re- piece of impersonal doctrinal translation and revision of trans- sponded when the nation needed statement. It is a soul in Christ, lation, though he could write heroes to fight her battles. The speaking out of the glory and only by punching a typewriter mountains have suffered from tragedy of Christian life to other with a single finger. wanton exploitation; through souls in Christ, drinking of the In 1895 he returned to China ignorance or greed, the resources cup of which Christ drank and for two years and then from of forest, and soil, and minerals, being baptized with the baptism 1897 until his death in 1906 he all have been plundered. The with which He was baptized lived in Tokyo, tirelessly busy in author does not allow us to draw withal. Each chapter begins his colossal books. He was one down the curtains of our minds with an apt quotation from "Pilof the greatest linguists and as we pass abandoned mining grim's Progress" and the true most learned men of his time, a towns, rural slums, schools, the spirit of that Pilgrim breathes man of original and forceful playthings of some rural Tam- from every page. The book is character and a true and devoted many. full of fresh illustrative mate- Christian who rose above pov- As he compels us to face real- rial, and apt and unhackneyed erty and suffering by the grace ity, Mr. White calls our attention words of poetry, and its mes- Any of the books noted in these COllmns will be sent by the REvmw publishers on receipt of price.
[ 111 ] sage is spoken in short, truth- Stand Up and Preach. By Ambrose because the 'war-makers' did not telling sen ten c e s with the Moody Bailey, D.D. Round Table want these supplies damaged or warmth and glory of a true love Press, N. Y. 141 pp. $1.50. destroyed." For children today, of Christ. It deals with Chris- between the ages of 9 and 12 tian discipleship as the New This volume by a pastor of years, footnotes are often sup- Testament deals with it and with wide experience is announced as plied to give sources of inforlife in its tragedy as illumined "a formula for better preach- mation. Such documentation is by the Cross of Christ and com- ing." That an adequate formula valuable to carry conviction. forted with the love and joy of of this nature would be a power- Our boys and girls are far more God and finding its full mean- ful aid in this day of changing alert and mature than in preing beyond the things of time pulpit standards, none will dis- vious generations. and sense. It begins with a pute. The chapters deal with motif from Browning's "Easter such practical questions as the JAMES F. RlOOS. Day" : minister's calling, ideals, mes- sage, intellectual habits, sermon Along an Indian Road. A play by How very h'ard it is to be technique, etc. There is a wealth Mrs. Martin de Wolfe. 5 cents a A Christian! Hard for you and me. of counsel and illustration; in copy. Woman's Board of Foreign fact the book is largely a record Missions, Reformed Church, New And its lesson might be summed of personal experience. There York, or Hilda L. Olson, Marion up in Browning's closing words: are also lists of striking sermon Way, Rockport, Mass. topics which the author has used And so I live you see, with apparent success. The tone "Along an Indian Road," pic- Go through the world, try, prove, re- of the book is evangelical and tures Dr. Ida Scudder's work in while it contains much which is which the author (Ruth Scud- ject, suggestive and valuable, the dis- der) herself formerly had a Prefer, still struggling to effect criminating reader will sense a share. It sets before us the My warfare; happy that I can degree of inadequacy and incom- gathering of the Indian suffer- Be crossed and thwarted as a man, pleteness. There is, for example, ers, some of them lepers, with Not left in God's contempt apart, an inadequate recognition of the their groanings and grumblings With ghastly smooth life, dead at importance of doctrine; there is and jealousies; and then the ar- commendation of certain books rival of Dr. Ida who ministers heart. of questionable value, and some to them so patiently and kindly Tame in earth's paddock as her quotations are either carelessly that they say to one another, made or unfortunate. The book "The name of her God is Love." prize … does not live up to the promise Thank God, no paradise stands barred of its title and purpose. The play was recently given To entry, and I find it hard for the first time before the Fed- To be a Christian, as I said. HUGH R. MONRO. eration of Women's Missionary Societies in Poughkeepsie. Dr. Hard and glorious and alone "Broken Guns." By Eleanor Holston Wm. Bancroft Hill, who has worth while! ROBERT E. SPEER. Brainard. 120 pp. $1.00. Friend- watched Dr. Ida by the roadside, ship Press, New York. 1937. reports, "It is full of the Indian The Romantic Isles – A Sketch of atmosphere, very life-like with the Church in the West Indies. By The author of this wholesome mingled humor and pathos; and John Levo. 88 pp. S. P. G. and junior book knows how to pic- it held the large audience from S. P. C. K. London. ture the peace and war issue start to finish. It can easily be vividly for children and to give presented by a small society as This is more than a sketch of them a good background for well as by a large one; and it missionary work in the West their thinking. makes a very effective mission- ary appeal." Indies. As a handbook for the The story begins with the outstudy of the West Indies it has break of the World War and Accidents Will Happen. By Winifred portrays briefly the experiences M. Pearce. 126 pp. Is. 3d. Pickmuch to commend it. From of soldiers who fought. We see ering and Inglis, London. 1937. Columbus on down through the the part greed plays in the makages explorers, pirates, traders ing of war; what propaganda is A very readable story of the and English settlers are shown and does; who are the true pa- son of an English archreologist triots; finally, how the author who accompanies his father to in a clear-cut background for believes that peace can become Iraq, meets with rather queer the picture. That picture is the a fact, and what boys and girls accidents, learns something of can do to make this possible. the country and more than a West Indian folk of today-their little about things that are worth physical, moral, educational and There are no footnotes or ref- while in life. Several illustra- erences. They are needed to tions add to its value for a boy economical status, as these fac- in his early "teens." There is tors have in many ways deter- substantiate such statements as: plenty of adventure and an added mined their religious develop- "The German and French air- spice of mystery. ment. men did not bomb enemy mu- nition plants by agreement, JAMES CANTINE. The motive of the writer is to show the part in this develop- ment played by English philan- thropy and missionary effort; and what still remains to be done. For the casual visitor to the Islands as well as for the student this little book has a de- cided value. JAMES CANTINE.
to Remember FOR SALE Obituary
February 9-Annual Meeting, Mis- 48 new black poplin pleated choir Bishop Isaac Lane, oldest Bishop sionary Review Publishing Co., New gowns, academic style, $3.76 each. of world Methodism, died December 5 York. All or part. Write at once. in Jackson, Tenn., at the age of 103. Bishop Lane was born in slavery, and March 4-World Day of Prayer. LOUIS J. LINDNER was 29 years old when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. He March 23-24-United Stewardship 426-MRW Seventh Avenue helped to found the Colored Methodist Council, Columbus, Ohio New York City Church, and later established Lane College for Negroes. The Isaac Lane April 28~General Conference, Meth- Dr. H. H. Kung, the prominent Memorial Hospital was organized in odist Episcopal Church, South, Christian Chinese statesman, brother- 1934 by citizens of Jackson to per- Birmingham, Ala. in-law of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, petuate his name and work. has been made the Premier of China. May 12-16-Southern Baptist Conven- Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has *** tion, Richmond, Va. given up this position in order that he may devote all his time to the defence Dr. Leopold Cohn, founder and May 19-General Assembly, Presby- of his country against the Japanese. former president of the American terian Church in U. S., Meridian, Board of Missions to the Jews, Inc., of Miss. *** Brooklyn, died recently. He was 75 years of age. Af':;er studying in the May 2S-General Assembly, United Miss Huang An-Ii, graduate of Yeshivas of Central Europe, Dr. Cohn Presbyterian Church of Nor t h Yenching University, is the first came to America and shortly after his America, Cleveland, Ohio. woman ever to be appointed by the arrival became a Christian. He went Chinese Government to fill a position to Edinburgh where he studied at the May 26-General Assembly, Presby- in its diplomatic service. She has Free Church College and on his return terian Church in U. S. A., Philadel- been appointed third secretary to the became a Christian missionary to the phia, Pa. Chinese Embassy in London. Jews of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. June 2-General Synod, Reformed *** Church in America, Asbury Park, *** N. J. Rev. Robert F. Chisholm has been appointed General Secretary of the Rev. David Wendel Carter, for- June lS-22-General Council of Con- National Bible Society of Scotland. merly a missionary of the Methodist gregational and Christian Churches, In his student days, he was an as- Episcopal Church South, died in Texas Beloit, Wisconsin. sistant in the Glasgow Mission to on September 3, 1937. He welit to .Jews, and was the first Scottish mis- Mexico as a missionary in 1882 and June 28-July 3-;-Twentiet):1 .Interna- sionary to the Jews in Transylvania. since his retirement has worked among tional ConventIOn on ChrIstian Edu- He will also assume the editorship of the Mexicans in Texas. He was a cation, Columbus, Ohio. the Quarterly Record. cultured and effective missionary who knew how to deal with all classes of Personal Items *** people.
Prof. Roy Smith, missionary pro- Rev. G. W. Ridout is making his The Presbyterian fessor in Kobe University of Com- third missionary evangelistic trip to merce, has been decorated by the Sout:l America. He will preach and A weekly religious newspaper in Emperor with the Fifth Order of the hold evangelistic meetings in Panama, its lo6th year of continuous pub- Sacred Treasure in recognition of his Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Mon- lication under the same name. meritorious service as an educator. tevideo and Brazil. Dr. Ridout will Professor Smith has been in Japan work mostly with the Methodist It is conservative and evangelsince 1903, and continuously in edu- churches and schools, but will also be cational work as an instructor in associated with missions of the Pres- ical, gets its news by telegraph English. byterians, Baptists, Friends, :til ,zarene and keeps abreast of the times. and Christian Alliance. *** It goes into every state of the PARENTS •.• Rev. Norman J. Smith, of Yonkers, Union, the District of Columbia, N. Y., has been called to be General In the Foreign Mission Field and U. S. possessions. Secretary of the American-European Fellowship 156 Fifth Avenue, New Endorse Calvert: School It goes to Asia and Africa, South York City. This society supports Home St:udy Courses Christian missionaries in Europe. America, Canada and New Zealand Mr. Smith will also be managing for Children and into twelve countries of Eueditor of The EurQ'J)ea.n Har'Vest Field. He will continue to act as Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- rope. General Secretary of the All-Russian tion Department, will give your child a Evangelical Christian Union and edi- superior elementary education ••• by mail, Subscription Price, • • – $2.50 tor of The Gospel in Russia (formerly regardless of where you may live. Mod- Ministerial Rate, • • – $2.00 edited by the late Rev. I. S. Prok- ern, approved courses from this famous hanoff). Previously, Mr. Smith was school are being used by parents allover .50c. ext,a—Canadian postage with the Russia Bible and Evangeliza- the world with outstanding success. $1.00 extra—foreign postage tion Society and formerly he was a district secretary of tl.e American Give your children the advantages of these THE PRESBYTERIAN Sunday School Union, at Richmond, interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, Va. and attractive materials. Instruction is 1217 Market Str••t, Philad.lphia, Pa. under the personal guidance of teachers in *** Calvert's prominent and successful private day school in Baltimore. Rev. and Mrs. Alva Harsh and Miss Mineva Neher, missionaries of the Write today for booklet of complete in- Church of the Brethren, mysteriously formation. Costs are low. disappeared from their station at Show Yang, Shansi, China, on December 2. These three missionaries disappeared on their way home from visiting a French family but up to date no definite information has been received about them.
Resurrection of the Human o.In Unusual 'W,.ew qJoolt on the A History of the Modern and Con-
Body. By Norman H. Camp. 12mo. temporary Far East. P. H. Clyde. 127 pp. Bible Institute Colportage D;st;ncti"e Truth ofChristianity ! 858 pp. $6. Prentice-Hall, New Assn. Chicago. 1937. York. The Resurrect:ion of There is much confusion in The Invasion of China by the Westthe minds of Christians as to the the Human Body ern World. E. R. Hughes. 324 pp. time, form and nature of the 15s. A. & C. Black. London. resurrection. Even Evangelical by Bible students differ in their in- NORMAN H. CAMP Crisis in China: The Story of the terpretation of Bible passages. Author of Thinking With God, etc. Sian Mutiny. J. M. Bertram. Illus. Mr. Camp is an evangelistic 318 pp. lOs. 6d. Macmillan. Bible teacher, sponsored by the I s CHRIST now living in a human London. Moody Bible Institute. He is a body of flesh and bones? Where? clear thinker and firmly believes Will the bodies of all dead men be China at Work. Rudolf P. Hommel. that the only definite information raised from the grave? When? Can 366 pp. $5. John Day. New York. on the resurrectiQn Is found in Christians distinguish between truth the Christian Scriptures. He and error? How? These and other China Through a College Window. here presents clearly the case for vital questions considered in this timely William Sewell. 183 pp. 28. 6d. the physical resurrection of book on the outstanding message of London. Edinburgh House Press. Jesus Christ and of all believers the early Church. in Christ. His argument is based China Faces the Storm. Ronald on both Old and New Testaments Bound in blue cloth, stamped in gold; Rees. 158 pp. 28. Edinburgh bu.t he also appeals to the testi- 127 pages; attractive two-color jacket; House Press. London. monies of godly men and to the 75 cents. Order Your Copy Now! reasonableness of the belief Stone-Gateway and the Flowery found from the study of the The Bible Institute Colportage Association Miao. W. H. Hudspeth. Illus. analogies of nature, the desires 848 North Wells Street, Chicago 87 pp. ls. C&rgate Press. London. of the human heart and the justice of God. Christians will find For the Mountains – An Autobiog- On the Bombay Coast and Deccan: this study rewarding. raphy. William Goodell Frost. 352 The Origin and History of the pp. $3. Revell. New York. Bombay Diocese; W. Ashley-Brown. Medical Missions at Work. H. P. Illus. 280 pp. 8s. 6d. S. P. C. K. Thomson. 82 pp. 18. S. P. G., The Growing Menace of the "Social London. London. 1937. Gospel." J. E. Conant. 72 pp B. I. C. A. Chicago. A Tribe in Transition. D. N. Ma- A compact little book giving jumdar. Illus. 216 pp. lOs. 6d. vivid glimpses of the wide range The House on the Island. Grace Longmans. London. of medical missionary work Pettman. 182 pp. lB. 6el. Pickerfrom African huts to well devel- ing & Inglis. London. History of the Arabs. Philip K. oped medical schools in China. Hitti. Illus. 767 pp. $10.50. Mac- Pioneering, hospital work, nurse Happy Though Poor. Donald Grey millan. London and New York. training, public health and re- Barnhouse. 95 pp. ls. Pickering search all come in for attention. & Inglis. Londc;m. Iraq: A Study in Political Develop- It is primarily a book of descrip- ment. P. W. Ireland. Illus. 509 tions and narratives, us i n g Along an Indian Road. A Play. pp. 15s. Cape. London. plenty of first-hand "Close-ups," Mrs. Martin de Wolfe. 5 cents. rather than a discussion of prob- Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- African Genesis. Leo Frobenius and lem and policies, or of the phi- sions, Reformed Church in America, D. C. Foz. 236 pp. $3.75. Stacklosophy of medical missions. New York; and Hilda L. Olson, pole Sons. New York. However, the last chapter on Rockport, Mass. "The Meaning and the Motive" Black Hamlet: The Mind of an Afbrings out the Christ-like basis Poems of Faith. Edith E. McGee. rican Negro revealed by Psychoand demonstration of medical 39 pp. $1.00. Stratford Press. analysis. Wulf Sachs. 280 pp. missions with special focus. It Boston. lOs. 6d. Bles. London. is a very readable book with many usable stories. The Resurrection of the Human The Republics of South America: Body. Norman H. Camp. 127 pp. A Political, Economic and Cultural E. M. DODD. 75 cents. B. I. C. A. Chicago. Survey. 374 pp. 21s. Oxford Uni- versity Press. London. New Books Twelve Brave Boys Who Became Famous Men. Esther E. Enoch. Religion and Social Organization in Christian Faith and the Science of 95 pp. lB. Pickering & Inglis. Central Polynesia. R. W. William- Today. J. H. Morrison. 228 pp. London. son. Edited by Ralph Piddington. $2.00. Cokesbury Press. Nashville. 372 pp. 258. Cambridge University Why Do I Believe the Bible Is God's Press. London. A Christian Layman's Handbook. Word? William Dallmann. 75 Robert M. Kurtz. 72 pp. 50 cents. cents. 138 pp. Concordia Pub. Co., 1938. Course in Bible Prophecy American Tract Society. New York. St. Louis. God's Program for the Future Windows of the World. Life of A Scriptural Study Each Week—52 Lesson,. Alfred H. Burton. F. W. Pitt. What Prophecy Is, How It Can Be Inlerpretf'd, Its 28. 6d. 162 pp. Pickering & Inglis. Belationahip to the Jew, the Gentile, and. the Church. London. Send 15c in stamps for current issue_ A Year of Children's Sermons. Jos- eph A. Schofield, Jr. $1.50. 192 pp. HRISTIAN PUBLICATlON5.IN<: Cokesbury Press. Nashville. 1502 II. Third Street, Harrisburg, Pa. Sidney James Wells Clark: A Vision of Foreign Missions. Roland Allen. 170 pp. 28. 6d. World Dominion Press. New York and London.
Henry T. Hodgkin: A Memoir. H. G. Wood. Illus. 281 pp. 58. Student Christian Movement Press. London.
~(J.NoiMi44 THE MOSLEM
PUBLISHED BY THE HARTFORD SEMINARY FOUNDATION Editors, SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, EDWIN E. CALVERLEY SOME ARTICLES IN THE JANUARY NUMBER Editorial••-Vita Nuova Duncan B. Macdonald Vivat, Crescat, Floreat Julius Richter Islam: An Interpretation Edwin E. Calverley The Problem of Central Asia (plate) Ernest E. Grimwood The Conciliatory Tone of Ibn 'Arabi Edward J. Jurji The Story of the Ka'ba Grant Alexander A New Day in Northern Nigeria A. H. Locke Verses Missing from the Qur'an Arthur Jeffery Mullah Sa'eed of Sena Frederick G. Coan Moslems in London. • • • • J. E. Buglry Book Reviews••• Current Topics Survey of Periodicals Sue Molleson Foster ••-.~ SUBSCRIBE NOW ~o(-_.
50 Cents a Copy. $2.00 a Year (postpaid) In combination with THE MOSLEM WORLD THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 1% Fifth Avenue, New York City $3.50 a Year. (Foreign Postage, 50 Cents.) British Agents: MARSHALL, MORGAN & SCOTT, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. Price in Great Britain, Eight Shillings a Year, net THE LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN, OF INDIA By ROBERT E. SPEER This is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the inBuential and able editor of the Bombay Guardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone called him, "The White Yogi."
When George Bowen died in 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character; forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and will richly reward the thoughtful reader. The book will be ready early in February.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. A Decisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. XII. From 1850 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. XIII. Ten Years of Independent Work. IV. Life in New York, 1840-1844. XIV. The Bombay Guardian. V. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. XV. Relations with the American Board. VI. Conversion to Christianity. XVI. Association with the Methodist Church. VII. At Union Theological Seminary. XVII. Bowen as a Writer. XVIII. Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. XIX. Closing Testimony. IX. The Voyage to IndIa, 1847. X. Beginning Missionary Work.
This latest work by Dr. Speer may be ordered at $2.50 per copy from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY 186 Fifth Avenue. New York
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1938
1938
Influence of Christ in History Kenneth Scott Latourette From Mine-Boy to Moderator Life and Character of John McDowell Modern Dem~nds for Foreign Missions Charles E. Maddrj The Missionary Message for Today – Julius Richter Medical Work in Arabia w. Harold Stonn The Bible and Koran Contrasted E. w. G. Hudgell Christian Morale in War-Tom ,China Frank W. Price 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember wealth, religion
January 2-9-Universal Week of All Missionaries Try to and other topics. Some of these Prayer. Follow the Nevius Methods ideals which made him success- January 4-6 – Foreign Missions Con- But many miss the dynamic of them ful are: ference, Toronto, Can. an. which is I have always indulged the hope January 9-12 – Annual Meeting of BIBLE EMPHASIS that I should be able to establish effi- the Home Missions Council and t~e The Korean Presbyterian Church has ciency in giving, so that wealth may be of greater use to the present and 'i Council of Women for Home MIS- gained 180,640 new believers net in futu-re generations. sions Marble Collegiate Church, 9 years. This is the equivalent of New'York City. 70 new parishes of 300 believers ••• every year. Last year it had: January 11-I4-General Missionary One of the most important. of the Council Methodist E pis cop a I 2,844 Week-Long Bible Classe•• elements which go to make up ~ivilh:a Church, South, Savannah, Ga. (178,315 attending.) tion is the progress of moralIty and January 12-lnter-seminary Confer- 10,000 in Bible Correlpondence. the Christian religion. ence on Human Relations, ChicH¥o 844,268 in Sunday Schools. But I am never a pessimist–I never Round Table of Jews and Chris- 55,075 iu Bible D. V. B. S. despair. I believe in man and the tians, Chicago. brotherhood of man and am confident 4,509 in tHO Week Bible Institutes. that in the end everything will come. January 19-An~ual ~eetin~, Anier-. Read ti.e Story in the New Boo" out for the good of all. iean Waidensian AId SocIety, St. Nicholas Collegiate Church, New "THE NEVIUS PLAN FOR MISSION Do all the good you can. WORK IN KOREA" (370 pages). Be earnest. . York City. . Do not be afraid to work. By CHA.RLES A.LLEN CLARK, Ph.D•• D.D. January 19-Feb~uary 18-FI<?ri~a (35y….. inKorea) Persevere. If you make a mistake, Chain of MissIonary Assemblies In remember that it is human to err. 15 centers, beginning at Deland and CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY. Try again and try harder. ending in Tallahassee. Seoul, Korea. postpaid, • – – – ·Y5.00 Sons of wealthy parents have not January 31-February 6 – Founder's E. C. HEINZ, the ghost of a chance compared with Week Conference, Moody Bible In- 3624 5th Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., boys who came from the country with stitute, Chicago. postpaid, – – • – • – – – – – $2.00 the determination to do something in February 9-: Annual. M.eeting, Mis- 1927, she taught at Huping Agricul- this world. sionary ReVIew PublIshmg Co., New tural Normal School. . Live within your means. One of York. the swiftest toboggans I know of is •*• for a youn,' man just starting in life March 4 – World Day of Prayer. to get into debt. Rev. Yaroo M. Neesan. in charge of the Assyrian Episcopal Church in A clear conscience is worth more Flint, Mich., died in November at the and is a greater comfort than is a age of 84. He was born in Iran, at- great fortune. Obituary Notes tended a Presbyterian School at Mar- There is nothing in the world that gawar and at 21 was selected by the can compare with Christian fellow- Mr. Marshall Broomhall, who had America)l Bible Society to sell Bibles ship; nothing that can satisfy but been connected with the China I~la~d in Assyrian, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian Christ. Mission for nearly fifty years, died In and Turkish-all tongues which he England on' October 24th, in his 72d spoke fluently. He was a man of keen If you use year. He was a nephew of th~ la~e intellect, rich background of experi- Hudson Taylor and went to China In ence and unusual Christian character. PRINTING 1890. In 1900 he was appointed Edi- torial Secretary of the Missi~n, which ••• YOU Will profit from an ac- position he filled with effiCIency for quaintanceship with us. We twenty-seven years, until his health Dr. Chas. W. Gordon, better known do the Job complete in our own compelled him to re~ire. La~r" he r~ as Ralph ConnQr, died at his home in plant, whether it be large or sumed the editorshIp of Ch'tna 8 Md- Winnipeg, on October 31st at the age smalL lions and wrote a lar~E! n~mber. of of 77. Dr. Gordon won fame as the valuable books on missIOns In Chma. author of "The Sky Pilot" and other While our specialty is Boob, popular stories of missionary work MagatiftU and Pamphletl, yet ••• and life in the Canadian Northwest. we have a variety of modern He was the son of the late Daniel and equipment to meet all the ~ Dr. R. A. Hutchison, for thirty Mary Robertson Gordon. He was born quireanentl of your particular years General Secretary of ,the Board in Indian lands, Glen County, On- job. You will find our eervice of American Missions, United Pres- tario, September 13, 1860. His father prompt, careful and courteous. byterian Church, died in Pittsburgh, was the missionary of the Free Pennsylvania, on December 11th, of a Church of Scotland and after the son Will you allow UI to estimate heart attack. Dr. Hutchison was was graduated from Knox College, on your neztprintingl We be- born seventy-five years ago and after Toronto, he became a missionary to lieve you will be delighted with being graduated from Monmouth Col- the lumber, railroad and mining camps our product, price and service. lege and Xenia Theological Seminary, at Banff. In 1894 he became pastor Ohio, became pastor of the First Unit- of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church The EVANGELICAL PRESS ed Presbyterian Church at Altoona, in Winnipeg and in 1921 was moder- Pa. He was moderator of the Gen- ator of the Canadian Presbyterian Print",. of eral Assembly of his church in 1926. General Assembly. T.M Mulionary Revie", of the W Ot'ld ••* John D. Rockefeller's Philosophy PLANT AND MAIN OrneE . Mrs. Mary B. Hoy, a missionar~ in ThIrd ad Reily SIr…. Hao.." " , .. Japan and China for the Evangelical The late John D. Rockefeller,. and Reformed Church for more than Baptist layman and founder of a half century, died at Hankow, the Standard Oil Co.,. at various China, Nov. 5, in her seventy-fifth times made known his views of year. She help~d to found the girls' school now known as Miyagi College. .In 1900, Mrs. Hoy established the girls' school at Yochow, China, and later devoted herself to women's work at Huping. After Dr. Hoy's death in
MISSIONARY the condition of war in China making PARENTS
REVIEW OF THE WORLD it unwise to plan for it in Hangchow. In the Foreign Mission Field DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor The special Home Mission Study Number (June) will deal with Christ Endorse Calvert School VOL. LXI JAN., 1938 No.1 and American Cities; the Foreign Home Study Courses Mission Study Number (October) Publication and Business Otll.ce– will deal with the important topic: For Children Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. The Christian Cwmpaign in India. Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- Editorial and Executive Otll.ce– In the other months THE REVIEW tion Department, will give your child a 156 B'ltth Avenue, New York City. covers the world, home and foreign, superior elementary education … by mail, Entered as second-class matter at and keeps our readers in touch with regardless of where you may live. Mod- the main current events and mission- ern, approved courses from this famous Post 01flce, Harrisburg, Pa., under ary problems, great personalities, the school are being used by parents all .over Act of March 3, 1!l79. progress of mission work, the unoccu- the world with outstanding success. pied or neglected field, the best meth- 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. ods for promoting interest and the Give your children the advantages of these Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. current missionary literature. interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, Publisbed monthly, except August. and attractive materials. Instruction is All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. *** under the personal guidance of teachers in B"ltlsh agents – Marsball, Morgan Calvert's prominent and successful private and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, One reader writes: "There is no day school in Baltimore. London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, piece of literature that I get that has 10 shillings a year. great value as a source of illustra- Write today for booklet of complete in- tions of what the Gospel is doing right formation. Costs are low. MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- now in our world than that section of LISHING CO., INC. THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE CALVERT SCHOOL , WORLD called 'Our World-Wide Out- BOARD OF DIREC'l'ORS look.' "-W. E. Forsythe, Caledonia, IBOW. Tuscany Road Mo. ROBERT E. SPEER, PreSident Baltimore '<- Maryland A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President Personal Items ican Board of Commissioners for For- VALTER MCDoUGALL, ~,J.1rea8urer Dr. Conrad Hoffmann began his eign Missions in West Africa for duties with the Board of National nearly 20 years has become director DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary Missions of the Presbyterian Church, of Lincoln Academy, Kings Mountain, U. S. A., in charge of Jewish Evan- N. C., a work conducted under the PAUL J. BRAISTED gelization, on SeptemJer 1. Dr. Hoff- auspices of the American Missionary SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT mann will give nine months to this Association. Kings Mountain is called work, and by a special arrangement "The Negro Northfield" and is a D. J. FANT the remaining three months will be boarding school for Negro boys and MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD spent in Europe on behalf of the work girls. In the summer the campus is of the International Committee on the used for conferences. WM. B. LIPPHARD Christian Approach to the Jews. ERIC M. NORTH *** SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Dr. and Mrs.* Fr*ed *MacCallum are Dr. William E. Doughty, formerly Editorial Chat retiring after 40 years' work under one of the secretaries of the Laymen's the American Board in Turkey. They Missionary Movement and later of The New Year dawns with many plan to spend their remainin'" years the Near East Relief, has been made clouds overhead and on the horizon, in the Levant. One son is a mission- Grand Commander of the Greek Order but the sun still shines-the Sun of ary in Constantinople; a daughter is of the Phoenix in recognition of his Righteousness-on the world of time college librarian in Smyrna. twenty years of service to the people and nature that God made, and on the of Greece and the Near East refugees. world of men whom Christ came to *** The decoration was conferred by the save. The Editor and the Board of Greek Minister to the United States. Directors extend their very hearty Dr. and Mrs. John E. Merrill, Christian greetings to all the readers American Board missionaries at AKEEN That priceless of THE REVIEW and to the mission- Aleppo, Syria, have retired from ac- possession is aries and Christians in every nation, tive service. Through four decades race and tongue. There is evidently they have interpreted the Christian within YOUT more need than ever to spread the missionary spirit among churches of Good News of the love of God and the Cilicia and Syria. MEMORY reach! Follow salvation offered through Christ. This the simple, sen~ is the work for which THE REVIEW *** sible rules in was established sixty years ago and for which it is conducted today. We Dr. D. C. Henry is one of the mis- "HOW TO MEMORIZE" work and pray together for this end. sionaries of the United Presbyterian By Dr. William Evans Church still able to live and work in *** Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mrs. Henry The Possibilities of the Memory, and her children have received per- Principles of Memory Training, and A new Director has been elected to mission to return. step by step instruction on the fun~ THE REVIEW Board to take the place damentals of application. of our beloved friend and fellow work- *** er of many years, the late Dr. Wil- Many gladly paid $5.00 for this liam I. Chamberlain. The new Direc- The Rev. Mark A. Dawber, D.D., material in a correspondence coUrse. tor is the Rev. Paul J. Braisted, Ph.D., Superintendent of Town and Country Now compiled in a single volume the recently appointed Secretary of Work of the Methodist Episcopal bound in handsome cloth covers, the Student Volunteer Movement. It Board of Home Missions, has been gilt stamping, 95 pages, complete is especially fitting that Dr. Braisted elected Executive Secretary of the for 75c. and 6c. postage. should serve the missionary cause. Home Missions Council to succeed the through THE REVIEW since his wife, Rev. William R. King, D.D., who is BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASS'N Ruth Wilder Braisted, is the grand- resigning because of serious illness. daughter of Royal G. Wilder who Dr. King has been the efficient and 848 N. Wells St. Chicago, Illinois founded THE REVIEW and owned and loving Executive Secretary of the edited it for ten years. Dr. Braisted Council for the past ten years. is a graduate of Brown University and served as a Baptist missionary in *** India and Burma for about ten years. Dr. Henry McDowell, a colored *** missionary working under the Amer- Our year's program includes a num- [ 1] ber of articles preparatory to the next International Missionary Conference to be held in Madras next December,
by kind permission of the London Missionary Society
AN AFRICAN'S AWAKENING INTEREST IN THE HOPE OF THE WORLD REVIE ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 1 JANUARY, 1938 Tapies of the Times CLOSED AND OPEN DOORS labor warfare and anti-religious activity in some Looking back over the past year we see many circles. Mexico is still holding doors closed against missionary activity from outside countragedies, disappointments, lost opportunities and tries but is easing up on regulations against the doors closed or closing to the messengers of Christ right of religious assembly. Other Latin Amerand to true religious liberty. There is Korea and ican countries still seethe with unrest but open the Japanese effort to force Christians to take part in obeisance at Shinto shrines; there is conflicts are prevented by strong men in power. China, with the Japanese invasion, bombing of All over the world the greatest obstacle to the hospitals, schools and villages, the diversion of progress of Christian life and activity is in the lifeless or lukewarm churches, that have "a name money and life from a constructive program and to live but are dead," and in the divided, lifeless the efforts to destroy a truly efficient Chinese government; there is Japan with its strong mili- and stony-hearted Christians who are so only in name. The scandals on Christendom are always taristic party in control and their determined the greatest obstacles to Christian progress. effort to stifle freedom of thought and expression on the part of the people. There is Iran where But on the other hand, all is not dark and lifethe shah, Riza Pahlavi, has made himself dictator less as we look back nor as we look forward to the and is clamping down on religious freedom and New Year. What gloriously bright gleams there on all effort to oppose his selfish and narrow- have been in the faithful Christian life and testiminded program. There is Palestine, with the mony in every land – in Japan and Chosen in bitter conflict between Arabs and Jews and the spite of government regulations; in China in the still unwelcome British proposal to make separate midst of invasion, bombings and death; in India Moslem and Jewish states. There is Turkey, with where political strife has brought unrest and "units more enlightened dictator but prohibiting the touchables" are seeking social and religious freeteaching of religion to all youth under eighteen, dom; in Iran, Arabia, and Mesopotamia where thus handicapping the home and the school, the Christians are constantly being born in the midst mosque and even the Church. There is Russia, of fanaticism and in spite of bitter opposition; with its increasingly materialistic program, its in many parts of Africa where the Christian atheistic rules and its anti-Christian propaganda Church is growing through the work of African and its "purging" of the country by the death of Christians; in Germany where Evangelical pasleaders suspected of being antagonistic to the tors and people are ready to suffer imprisonment Stalin government. There is Germany and the for conscience sake; in Great Britain and Europe Nazi government seeking to control the Church, where Christians from all the world and all Protintroduce pagan traditions and worship and to estant and Eastern churches united in brotherly stifle faith in the historic Church and obedience to conference to bring better understanding and Almighty God. There is Spain with its homicidal closer fellowship in faith, life and work. In North strife, the interruption of Christian life and work, America the results of the Preaching Mission and the closing of some partly opened doors by com- Christian Youth Movements are still felt and are munistic, Roman Catholic and military activity, building for the future. In Mexico the evangelical and the impoverishment of the country. In North work goes forward, carried on by Mexican Chris- America there are tragedies in economic life, with tians among the youth and even among the 801- [3]
diers. In Central and South America the Gospel It will continue to prove true in Spain, in Russia, light also shines brightly in many obscure corners. Chile reports effective evangelism among soldiers in Ethiopia and in China. The only way to end and sailors and Indians; Brazil has Evangelical war by murderous warfare is to exterminate all self-supporting churches with over a thousand opponents; even then new antagonists will arise members each. After all, the most effective work and attempt to put down the victor who depends of Christ is carried on not in dramatic ways in on physical force to maintain his supremacy. great assemblies, but through the power of the Spirit of God shining out of individual lives in the A "war to end war" is rightly ridiculed today. homes, the churches and the communities in each It is as futile as is Japan's campaign to cure country. Chinese unfriendliness by a murderous invasion of Chinese territory. You cannot cure hatred by But what of the doors of service for Christ that hatred, or overcome evil with evil. It is nineopen out into the new year? Was there ever teen years since "peace" was declared in Europe; greater opportunity to show what Christ can and the Treaty of Versailles was signed by conflicting will do to set right this disordered world, if only nations; the World War was supposedly brought His followers are ready to leave all and follow to an end; the victors thought that they had been Him? What might not this new year – with able to make it unprofitable, if not impossible, for Christ – show in the establishment of peace in Germany, Austria and Turkey ever again to con- China and Spain; of religious freedom in Japan, sider renewing the conflict. They were believed Chosen, Iran, Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Mexico and to be too weak to take revenge. Germany; in producing the fruits of education, brotherhood and justice in Egypt, Ethiopia and Jesus Christ came with a message of peace to other parts of Africa; in promoting political the world and showed the way to establish and peace in Latin America, and economic peace and maintain goodwill among men. He gave His spiritual revival in North America? life to make peace between men and God and to establish the rule of love, and yet how little we This coming year offers new and rich opportu- have shown our desire for peace and goodwill. nities in the World Missionary Conference at There are still conflicts not only between men of Madras next December; in the coming student different nations, but also between those of differrevival meetings in American colleges; in the ent races, social and economic strata and ideas! revitalizing of churches, Christian organizations and institutions all over the world, but most of all We hate war and yet there are things worse in the opportunity to open individual hearts and than war-even worse than armed conflict and lives to the power and control of the indwelling death. Dishonor, disobedience to the laws of Christ. "Behold I have set before thee an open God, and cruel disregard of human rights are door and no man can shut it. . . . If any man worse than war. A truly righteous and strong hear my voice and open the door, I will come in government must endeavor to put down lawlessto him." ness, even by the use of force. "The powers that be are ordained of God." As long as thugs and "THE WAR TO END WAR" thieves ply their trades, armed police are neces- sary-locally, nationally or internationally. Such There probably never was a period in the his- a condition is not ideal ana does not make for tory of mankind when so much thought and lasting peace, but lawlessness should be made unmoney was being spent on warfare, past, present profitable. and future, as there is today – nineteen hundred years after the coming of the Prince of Peace. There is only one way to end war and that is Instead of peace and goodwill among men, there to establish the rule of love, to disarm the mind are murderous conflicts going on in Spain and and heart by taking away men's desire to fight China and more are threatened in Europe, Asia, one another. There is only one way truly to Africa and in the Americas. There were many conquer an enemy and that is to make him a who believed that the great World War was such friend. We are "more than conquerors" when a deadly and decisive conflict that "civilized" we overcome evil with good. This can be brought nations in future would be persuaded to settle to pass when men give their full allegiance to their disputes without arms. But a "war to end Him who loved us. war" is an idle dream. It is no homeopathic remedy; no inoculation that prevents taking the We hate war and yet there is war in which we disease in worse form. Warfare unleashes human believe. It is a warfare that is in full harmony passions; it stimulates greed, hatred and a desire with the Spirit of Christ and with the Will of for revenge. This has been proved by the course God. It is the Christian war against all evil- .of events in Germany, Turkey and Latin America. the war against selfishness and greed; against hatred and cruelty; against crime and lawless- ness; against intemperance and lust; against sickness and ignorance and degrading poverty.; against godlessness and all forms of evil
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
Men are belligerent by nature. Little children, churches in which they are reported as members.
as soon as they want something they do not His statements as to the decline of Protestantism possess, or find that someone else stands in the in America may not be wholly correct but it is way, fight their battles with a cry, with words, clear to anyone who investigates the facts that or a blow. But children and adults can be taught church and Sunday school attendance and vital a better way than to overcome by physical war- interest in Christian life and service have not pro- fare. There is a conquest by love, by truth and gressed but have declined,-especially in the by surrender. To "fight the good fight of faith," larger ecclesiastical bodies.
we need only courage and the whole armor of Some of the reasons for this d~cline may be God. The moral equivalent of war is the fight briefly stated: against evil, within and without. It is the fight for truth and for righteousness; the battle to 1. Decline of religious interest and responsibility carry out the loving Will of God. This is the in the homes. "war that will end war." When love takes the place of hate, and good takes the place of evil, 2. Increase of rationalism and materialism in the Kingdom of God will be manifest on earth. schools and colleges.
3. Increase of worldliness and self-indulgence in social life, with evidences of insincerity or IS RELIGION DECLINING IN AMERICA? hypocrisy in many professing Christians. 4. Indifference ·to spiritual things on the part of It is difficult to compare one generation with many in the church and out. This is fos- another. Statistics do not tell the whole story- tered by unwholesome fiction, theatricals and as to crime, customs, religious faith or Christian motion pictures.
progress. Each man's vision and information is 5. Increasing ignorance of God and lack of vital limited, especially in spiritual matters. Only God faith among young and old. The Bible is can know man's heart and only He can judge sadly neglected and misunderstood. rightly. Nevertheless air currents, weather vanes, barometers, social investigations, vital statistics 6. Absence of vital spiritual preaching of the and church attendance reveal some conditions and Word of God and lack of effective Christian tendencies. They are worth considering carefully. service in many churches.
There are some conditions in America that are 7. Lack of unity among Christians and failure to show true brotherly love among those of encouraging and there are also tendencies that are disturbing-politically, economically, socially and different classes, denominations and races. religiously. These tendencies downward should be studied carefully and corrected wherever pos- Christian leaders need to recognize these spirsible. Among the disturbing factors are those itual ailments and we should all earnestly and that indicate dependence on physical force rather prayerfully seek the remedy. Christianity, as pro- fessed today, has too often become formal and than on righteousness to settle economic and in- dead. So-called Christian nations have ignored ternational disputes. There is an increase of Christ's teachings as to righteousness and peace. divorce and a lowering of moral ideals; the Larger church attendance, better preaching, even growth of the gambling spirit, the development of Bible teaching and social service, do not in themlawlessness and the spread of intemperance are selves provide the remedy. We are coming to disturbing. The progress of atheism and material- recognize more and more that the first need is ism are evident, especially in some colleges and personal spiritual revival, with surrender to God among those with radical ideas. There is a de- and a vital relation to Christ; second, there is crease in Sunday school and church attendance need for new, more earnest and intelligent study among all classes. In general the growth of ex- of the Bible as the Word of God; third, we need travagance and self-indulgence is coupled with true prayer and obedience to the revealed will indifference to the revealed will of God as the of God. Finally, Christians must unite more standard for faith and life. At a recent National whole-heartedly in loving fellowship, in witness- Laymen's Conference it was pointed out that ing to Christ and in devoted service to mankind.
Christian church membership has declined in pro- There is power in Christ and His Gospel to portion to the growth in population. Mr. Roger transform the world. There is evidence of spir- W. Babson, former moderator of the Congrega- itual vitality in the Church and in multitudes of tional Council, has said that Protestant church Christians. They are still the "salt of the earth"
membership is declining to an alarming degree. but too much of the salt has lost its savour or is Others believe that he has based his statements confined in salt-cellars, not scattered to counter- on incorrect or insufficient data, but Mr. Babson act corruption. Christians are still the "light of states that official church figures include millions the world," when Christ loves and shines through who have now no vital connection with the them, but too many are hiding their light or it
burns dimly, in a small circle, with a poor dying Roman Catholic Church, with special privileges flame that cannot lighten even their own homes, as the National Church, then, in addiltion, the much less the dark corners of the earth. Waldensian Church, the Methodist Episcopal and Baptist Churches, the Friends, the Seventh Day An observer at the recent conference on Evan- Adventists, Plymouth Brethren, the Salvation gelism, held at Northfield, Massachusetts, reached Army and the Spezia mission. No other denomthe following conclusions: (1) We must recog- inations are allowed in the country. nize that the desperate situation in the world today cannot be remedied by reformation but only It is common rumor in Italy that the Vatican by redemption and regeneration. (2) Definite helped to finance the Abyssinian war. In return, decision must be made to accept redemption in it seems to have demanded that the civil authori- Christ producing a new character and not merely ties should restrain all Protestant denominations. improvement along the old ways of life. (3) To The first result was the disappearance of many accept Christ means to adopt His teachings as the independent missions and churches, which were practical plan of life in social, industrial, and in- merely extinguished in conformity with the law. ternational relationships, as well as in personal Particular attention has recently been paid to one conduct. (4) A definite Biblical foundation is independent work estimated to number some needed in thought and preaching. (5) Evan- 50,000 adherents but one that has been a pargelism must be carried to the people wherever ticularly aggressive and successful evangelistic they are and applied to their needs. This involves movement, and was spreading rapidly. A short street preaching, personal interviews, pastoral time ago no less than 1,000 of these people were contacts, clinics for personal problems, etc. placed under "house arrest," not allowed to leave (6) This is the work of the laity as well as the their village or town, and being obliged to report ministry. (7) Evangelism must be world-wide, themselves daily to the police. Nevertheless they not merely local. manage to hold meetings in caves and other secret places. EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN ITALY Attention was next given to those denomina- The British Weekly says that "so far as liberty tions recognized by the State, whose status is nomof worship is concerned matters are worse for inally guaranteed. The country is governed ac- Evangelicals in Italy than in Germany." Under cording to the exigencies of the moment. The a law promulgated in 1929, the following religious Vatican seems just now to be directing its activity organizations were recognized by the State and chiefly against three organizations-the Waldenallowed to conduct worship in their own way: the sian Church and its missions, the British and For- eign Bible Society and the Salvation Army.
RUSSIA'S NEW DRIVE AGAINST RELIGION Press reports from Moscow state that a new drive against religion took place in the Soviet Union to prevent the December influence of the Church or the clergy on the more susceptible voters in the elections. The first elections under the so-called Stalin constitution, now a year old, were held December 12. The clergy were accused of conducting an insidious propaganda campaign for the revival of the sorely oppressed Church. It was charged that their aim was the election of friendly deputies in the local Soviets and in the chambers of the new Supreme Soviet.
Trade unions, in particular, were urged to revive the fight against religion. Their news- paper, Trud, re-emphasized its purpose "to expose the counter-revolutionary machinations of the clergy and believers." The clergy of Russia, whether they are Evangelical pastors, Ortho- dox or Catholic priests, Jewish rabbis, or Mohammedan mullahs, are openly called parasites by the official organs of the Soviet Government and the Communist party and are designated as actual and potential enemies of the regime. Though the trade unions were enlisted in this new campaign against the churchmen, the drive aimed most particularly against the Church's in- fluence among the peasants since the Government seems to have had more difficulty suppressing religious expression among the peasants in the rural areas than in the cities.
Recent indications point to a determined revival of religious interest in Russia in spite of the most persistent efforts on the part of the Government. An indication of this trend is the fact that four years ago the Militant Godless League numbered 5,000,000 members. At pres- ent there are only 2,000,000 enrolled. Dispatches also note that in Russia today there are more than 30,000 religious organizations of various faiths.-Lutheran News Bureau.
Influence of Christ in
By PROF. KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE D. Willis James Professor of Missions and Oriental History in Yale University, Author of "The First Five Centuries of Christianity"
W HAT has been the influence of Jesus upon generation and even more than two or three cen- the human race? Is it waxing or waning? turies to determine trends. These are crucial questions. Upon the an- In general, the history of Christianity falls into swers which we give to them depends in part- three main epochs. First are the initial five cen- although by no means entirely-our attitude to- turies, in which the faith had its inception and in wards Jesus. Out of the~, too, arises to a large which it won the population of the Roman Empire.
degree our attitude towards Christianity and to- Then, second, approximately a thousand years in wards the outlook for civilization. If Christian- which geographically about as much territory was ity is losing in vitality, if it is a declining factor lost as was won but in which Christianity had a in human history, then the prospect for the future large share in shaping some new cultures. Third of the faith is dark, and if the human race goes and last, a period which began about the year 1500 on, its civilization will depart farther and farther and which is still with us (although some suspect from ideals which we think of as Christian. If, that it is now coming to a close), in which Chris- on the other hand, Christianity shows more vigor tianity experienced fresh internal life and ex- as the centuries pass and leaves a broadening and panded geographically beyond all previous limits. a deepening impress on mankind, then we can The first period is often regarded as the great- have more confidence as we face the future, both est in Christian history. The achievements were for Christianity and for civilization.· indisputably remarkable. In it the Church came Any full answer to these queries would require into existence, became second in strength only to a much larger space than the editor could permit. the state, and proved so vigorous that it survived Even a full summary of an answer would demand the state. In it the New Testament was put into a volume. However, it is possible to sketch in writing, and Christianity, beginning apparently brief compass the broad outline of a summary. as an obscure sect of Judaism, spread until it be- In general the answers can be stated as follows: came the religion of the vast majority of the Ro- (1) (This may seem so obvious as to be a banal- man Empire. The effect upon thj:! culture of the i.ty.) Through the centuries the influence of Jesus Roman world was profound. The ancient cults has been potent and beneficent. (2) (This also of the gods, to which the state had given its is a commonplace.) Never in any age or in any powerful support, were erased. The deities of large group of humanity has that influence been pagan antiquity remained merely as memories dominant. It has been one among many. Always and the ancient mythologies survived only in the it has met opposition. Always it has had to con- literature of the pagan ages and as literary allu- front elements in human nature and in society sions and devices. Laws were modified to take which are in complete opposition to it. Indeed, account of Christian principles, although not as the influence of Jesus has grown, the antago- greatly until after the end of the period. A new nism has become more pronounced. (3) In each literature was created, that of Christian devotion, of its major periods Christianity has successively apology, and theology, and new philosophies – if had a more profound effect upon the societies in one may so designate Christian theology – came which Christians have been numerous. (4) Never into existence. A new art and a new architecture, has Christianity been quite so vigorous and never although often incorporating pre-Christian forms, has the influence of Jesus been more widespread were created: Christianity aided in the processes and more effective than in the past century and which brought about the disappearance of certain a quarter. amusements, notably the combats of the arena.
The substantiation of these answers, as we have As its most outstanding contribution, the Chris- suggested, would require a volume. Here we can tian faith gave rise to transformed lives. A Paul give it only in the broadest outline. We must and an Augustine of Hippo are only the more disproceed chronologically. What is re$luired is his- tinguished examples of those who through a cata- torical perspective. We need to see more than a clysmic experience passed from moral and spir- [ 7]
itual defeat and impotence to triumphant living. out Roman rule and with it much of civilization. An Origen of Alexandria and an Ambrose of From the Southeast came the Arabs, carrying a Milan are, in turn, better known instances of those new, vigorous faith, Islam, and occupied Syria, in whom the change, while real, was wrought in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia, all the northern less spectacular fashion-in an Origen by Chris- shore of Africa, and practically all of the Iberian tian nurture. Peninsula. In the lands conquered by the Mos- lems the churches shrank in membership and in Great though the changes were, most of the some places disappeared. main outlines of Grreco-Roman culture were but little altered by Christianity. The vast majority Yet, in spite of this threat, Christianity not of Christians entertained no thought of destroying only survived in many of the areas which it had the existing order or even of withdrawing from formerly occupied, but, winning the pagan barit or of thoroughly reforming it. Many of the barians who threatened to overwhelm it, it also early Christians partly separated themselves from spread into Northern Europe far beyond the forthe world. Some sects, such as the Marcionites, mer borders of the Roman Empire into vast rewere pronouncedly ascetic in matters of sex. Dur- gions which before the year 500 had never heard ing its earlier centuries the Church tended to be the name of Christ. made up of communities apart-of the world but not fully in it. Before the first five centuries were New cultures arose in Northern Europe. They done an appreciable minority had entered the mo- grew up partly under 111e regis and inspiration of nastic movement, thus, in theory and to a large the Church and in them Christianity was more extent in practice, renouncing secular society and potent than ever it had been in the Roman Emembarking upon what appeared to them to be a pire. The Church became the vehicle by which purely Christian life. Moreover, in the first five much of the culture of the Grreco-Roman world centuries after Christ the structure of Grreco-Ro- was transmitted to the peoples of Northern Euman society and of the Roman state underwent rope. It was the nourisher of arts and letters. extensive modifications. However, in the main, Under it the universities of Northern Europe most of these modifications were not due to Chris- arose. Princes called themselves Christians and tianity. The vast majority of Christians more took oaths at their coronation which obligated nearly conformed to the world about them than them to rule as such. The Christian conscience they or that world were transformed by their did not fully accept war, as it had in the fourth faith. After Constantine the state controlled the and fifth centuries, but through the Truce of God Church much more than the Church controlled the and the Peace of God strove to regulate it 'and state. After originally holding themselves aloof reduce it. In chivalry a combination of Christian from the army, Christians reversed their attitude ideals wi,th the warrior's profession was made in and saw no inconsistency between their profession the attempt, probably seldom consciously exand service in the legions. Nor did they make pressed, to Christianize the 1<atter. The family any great effort to mitigate the horrors of war. came more fully under the control of the Church Slavery largely disappeared, but chiefly from than it had under the Roman Empire. The relief other reasons than repugnance to the institution of the poor, the sick, and travellers, and the proon Christian grounds. Some of the traditional tection of widows were largely through the Church amusements, such as the theatre, while still un- and were almost entirely the outgrowth of the purged of many features contradictory to Chris- Christian conscience. As in the Roman Empire, tianity, were as popular with the nominally Chris- so in Northern Europe, the pagan cults disaptian populace of the fourth and fifth centuries as peared. As in the Roman Empire, moreover, they had been with pagans of earlier days. Even popular religious movements broke forth from in the realm of religious practices and beliefs time to time, evidence that the impulse which many attitudes and some customs carried over came from Jesus was still fresh, and noble spirits from pre-Christian days. arose who bore unmistakably the peculiar impress of Christ. Threatened Collapse of Society Even in lands under the control of Moslems, In the next period, that from A. IT. 500 to A. D. Christianity was not without its effect. To be 1500, the story is somewhat different. From the sure, where Moslem law against apostasy was ensixth through the ninth century the very existence forced, as it was in regions in which the state was of Christianity was threatened by the collapse of Moslem, any extensive leakage from Islam to the society with which the faith had come to be Christianity was impossible. In such lands, moreclosely associated. The Roman Empire dwindled over, the Christian churches, on the defensive, to the Byzantine Empire. In Western Europe in- slowly lost ground. However, wherever Christian vasion after invasion of pagan barbarians wiped rulers permanently regained possession from Moslems, Islam disappeared more completely than
THE INFLUENCE OF CHRIST IN HISTORY
did Christianity in many a region permanently had the Christianity of Western Europe been so under the control of Moslems, Then, too, in Mos- vigorous or so far advanced towards the New Teslem lands Christians often had a profound influ- tament standard. ence. Moslem mysticism, or Sufism, came into existence and was molded in contact with Chris- In Europe the influence of Christianity became tian monks and hermits. Christians in Mesopo- probably greater than in the Middle Ages-"probtamia translated into Arabic the works of the ably," because precise measurements as the necesgreat Greek philosophers, so that Aristotle, who sary basis for exact comparisons are impossible. reached Western Europe in part through the Mos- The numbers who entered deeply into a Christian lems, had first come to the Moslems from Chris- experience appear to have been much greater. In tians. It was from Christian physicians tha,t society as a whole Christianity became the chief Moslem Arab physicians first learned much of the impulse back of the formation of international law lore which made them famous. What is called -an effort to put on a basis of peace and justice Arabic art appears largely to have been at the the relations between the rising nation-states. It outset the creation of Christian artisans in Egypt. also gave birth to fresh works of charity. It was the inspiration of the first pure democracies which At the close of the fifteenth century Christian- the world had seen. It entered as a major factor ity again appeared to face a dark future. From into the formation of the national traits of such the outside it was menaced by Moslem Turks. The peoples as the Scotch, the Dutch, and the Scandi- Turk, indeed, took that ancient bulwark of Chris- navians. It was potent in the genesis and fortianity against the Moslems, Constantinople, and mulation of the ideals of some of the most highin time overran Southeastern Europe. In Western minded leaders of the early stages of the French Europe, where Christianity retained its greatest Revolution. stronghold, the faith seemed threatened by internal decay. Medieval culture, largely the prod- Outside of Europe, Christianity spread more uct of Christianity, was disappearing. With the widely than had ever any religion or, indeed, than had any set of ideas, religious or secular. It was Renaissance came humanism, much of it pagan one of the causes of the discovery and exploration and hostile or indifferent to Christianity. A large of America, of the discovery of the sea route to part of the clergy were morally corrupt and a hiss- India and the Far East, and of the trans-Atlantic ing and a byword to all honest folk. For a time settlements of European folk. Christian missionthe Roman Catholic Church was divided through aries penetrated to the farthest confines of the an unseemly schism over rival claimants of the Americas, to the great nations of Asia, and to papal chair. In land after land the Church was various places in Africa. In all of these regions placed under the control of the secular authori- converts were made. ties-a process which continued in the sixteenth century with the further growth of monarchical Achievements of Christianity states. At the close of the fifteenth and in the Moreover, Christianity served to ameliorate the early decades of the sixteenth century the Throne impact of European upon non-European peoples. of Peter was occupied by a succession of thor- Much of the exploration and conquest was accomoughly worldly men. The sad state to which the panied by unspeakable cruelties of nominally leadership of the Church had fallen was drama- Christian Europeans on non-European peoples. tized by the martyrdom of Savonarola, with his Again and again missionaries protested against passion for spiritual and moral reform, through these iniquities. They appealed to the Christian the opposition of the Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, conscience of Europe and in consequence in edict the most infamous of the pontiffs of that low after edict the Popes came out against enslaving moral ebb of the papacy. the Indians and for generous treatment of the aborigines, and the Spanish monarchs enacted- Yet Christianity came back, and with unprece- but did not always enforce-the remarkably hudented power. In the succeeding centuries it mane Laws of the Indies. Missionaries, too, colexercised an influence on mankind far more wide- lected the Christian natives into settlements spread and profound than ever before. A series where they attempted to give protection against of revivals unequalled in the past purged organ- the rapacity of their exploiting fellow-countryized Western Christianity of many of its abuses men. and lifted it to a new level of moral and spiritual earnestness. Some of these revivals contributed In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Christo what we know as the Protestant Reformation. tianity became especially vigorous. The eight- Others led in the old church to what Protestants eenth century witnessed the dying down of the usually call the Counter-Reformation but to what fires of religious enthusiasm in Europe. At the is more accurately known as the Catholic Refor- end of that century the French Revolution and mation. In spite of palpable weaknesses, never the wars of Napoleon threw all Western Europe
into turmoil and in places dealt serious blows to education in Africa, in much of A,sia, and in many the Church. Yet, even in the eighteenth century of the islands of the sea. In China under Chrisrevivals were in progress in the Pietist and Wes- tian auspices a new medical profession came into leyan movements and in the Great Awakening in being. In their day of transition huge civilized the Thirteen Colonies. In the nineteenth century nations, notably the Indians and Chinese, had they became more numerous and more wide- their ideals profoundly modified by Christianity. spread. Always in Protestantism deeply reli- In the Occident, Christianity, far from losing its gious strains had existed. However, political mo- power to mold collectively the life of man, gave tives had been almost as potent as religious in the birth to movements for the abolition of the Negro formation of Protestantism, and the various state slave trade and of Negro slavery. The Red Cross churches in which until the nineteenth century by its very name and symbol bears witness to the most Protestants were found, suffered in their Christian origin of this most noteworthy of atspiritual life from the control exercised by their tempts to heal the wounds of war and of natural respective governments. Now, in the nineteenth disasters. In the OcCident both the menace of century, the Christian motive became more nearly war and the efforts to prevent war assumed undominant in Protestantism and the Christian ex- precedented proportions. Most of the latter had perience more widespread. New denominations Christian roots. The list might be greatly lengthcame into being to express this experience. Great ened to include prison reform, efforts to better movements and organizations-among others the the lot of the blind, the deaf, and the insane, and Sunday schools, the Young Men's and Young the founding of scores of colleges and universities Women's Christian Associations, the young peo- and of hundreds of hospitals. ple's soCieties, and the student Christian movements-arose to meet particular needs. Within As we have suggested, never in any age or peo- Roman Catholicism a new burst of life gave birth ple has Christianity been the only influence at to more new orders than that ancient Church had work molding the life of man. Chronically it has known in all its preceding history. Both the Prot- been vigorously opposed by tendenCies and tradiestant and the Roman Catholic foreign missionary tions which spiritually and morally are its exact movements expanded to unprecedented propor- oppoSites. Always a tension has existed. Always tions. In the new nations formed by peoples of where the light has shone there has been darkness European stock in the United States, Canada, -but the light has continued to shine and the Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, Chris- darkness has not overcome it. If in our present tianity not only held the settlers, but, at least in age the forces of darkness seem to' be espeCially the largest of these nations, the United States, the aggressive, powerful, and perilous to the highest proportion of the population who were members interests of man, we need to remember that never of churches actually increased. has the light shone farther or more brilliantly than in the past century and a half. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the influence of Christianity became more widespread What the future has in store no one of us ought and more potent than ever. Millions from scores confidently to predict. History does not necesof different races and peoples entered to a greater sarily repeat itself. If, however, past experience or less degree into the Christian experience. warrants any prophecy, it is that the light will Scores of tribes in Africa and the islands of the continue to shine, beneficently and more strongly. Pacific reconstructed their entire corporate life So far as we can see, for an indefinitely long peand their customs under Christian auspices. riod to come the darkness will also be there. How- Through Christian missionaries more languages ever, the light is there and we can be confident were reduced to writing than by all other agencies that the darkness will not extinguish it. Always, in all the preceding history of mankind. Chris- as in the vision of Bunyan, the oil of grace contians pioneered in introducing new systems of tinues to be poured and all the efforts of the enemy do not put out the flame.
THE APPEAL OF CHRIST TO MEN The more pagan people are the more Christ's message appeals to them as Good News. But go to people who term themselves Christians, who believe themselves within Christ's fold, and yet are really pagan in life and character, and you run your head into a stone wall.-Prof. Gonzalo Baez Camargo of Mexico.
*** Christianity is a life-a life of fellowship with God in Christ Jesus. All else that is Christian flows from that experience. Doctrines define and formulate that experience in in- tellectual terms.-Thomas Reeve of England.
Mine–Boy to
The Remarkable Achievement of John McDowell, Late Associate Director of the Department of So- cial Education and Action, Board of Christian Education, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
-"I By DELAVAN L. PIERSON I!B- __ J~==============~ ~==========~ TODAY most American parents seem to think not an easy job for a lad of eleven and he still had . that they must supply their children with all to rise early and work hard all day. Again he the education, the comforts, the amusements was faithful in that which was least, and he was and other advantages that their money can buy; cheerful and uncomplaining. Two years later the even then they tremble lest their boys and girls boy was promoted to be a "mule-boy" down in the may go astray and fail to make good in character damp, dark mines. His job was to hitch the mule or achievements. to the coal cars a·nd drive the animal to the shaft What chance of success has a lad of fourte~n, where the coal was hoisted to the surface. Here with only one arm, his remaining hand injured, was more responsibility and more risk to life and a broken leg and a wounded knee; moreover, a limb from accident, cave-in or explosions, but not lad who had received only a meagre primary much money and not very elevating or amusing school education, living in a miner's cabin sur- to a boy of thirteen! But again Jack was faith- rounded with many evidences of extreme poverty? ful, cheery and undefeated. He made friends with Such a number of handicaps would seem almost his mule and with the miners among whom were insurmountable. Not so were they accepted by strong, God-fearing men.
little Jack McDowell. The boy was made of What could John look forward to in life? Must sterner stuff, and did not know what it meant to he always be a poor miner, even if he survived the accept defeat because of adverse circumstances dangers which made the average age of miners and so-called handicaps. at death only about thirty-two? John's father John McDowell was born in DaIry, Scotland, wished better things for his son and, since times on September 24, 1870, and was brought to Amer- were a little easier, asked the lad if he would like ica by his parents when he was two years old. to go to school. It was an opportunity and the The father secured work as a miner in the an- boy had some ambition. In Miner McDowell's thracite coal mines near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- home the daily fare included oatmeal, and the vania, but the money he could earn was very in- Shorter Catechism. The children were taught to adequate for the needs of a growing family. believe in and practice hard, honest work, self- Every cent was needed that could honestly be respect, honesty, reverence for God and human gained and at eight years of age little Jack went sympathy. But the opportunities for financial or to work as a "breaker-boy" at the mines. He had intellectual advancement were very limited. John to get up before daylight-not in a steam-heated told his father that he wanted to enter an engiroom-eat a hurried breakfast of oatmeal, and be neering school and become an engineer. It seemed at the mines at seven o'clock. There he sat all like a high ambition. Could he achieve it? Then day, in the heat of summer and the cold of winter came the catastrophy!
with coal dust filling eyes and lungs, picking out One day, down in the mine, on his last trip, the pieces of slate from the coal as it came down the coal car started on the down grade, caught Jack chute from the crusher. Not much freedom, fun in the machinery, dragged him along, tore his left and opportunity there for a growing boy's mind arm almost off, broke his leg, put a spike through and body. But he was faithful, and uncomplain- his knee and endangered his life. The boy had ing. His help was needed to meet the household presence of mind to put his foot with its heavy expenses. boot in front of the wheel and stopped the car.
Three years later, Jack was promoted to be The mule went on alone and miners came to see door-boy in the mines. His daily routine was to what was the trouble. They found the bruised open the doors at the foot of the shaft to let the and bleeding lad and took him home, where he mules and coal cars pass through, and then to shut hovered between life and death. His ambition them again to keep out the draft from the mines to be an engineer was spiked; but John was un- deep down in the bowels of the earth. This was daunted. When the doctor said: "Well, my boy, [11 ]
you won't have much more than your brain left In Mount Hermon, John came to know and love to work with," Jack decided that he wanted an D. L. Moody and was known and loved by the education. But how was that to be obtained? great evangelist and his family. He heard some When he had recovered sufficiently, he started to of the world's great Bible teachers and preachers attend the public school, and he soon showed signs at the summer conferences and was moved by ap- of a clear, undamaged brain and a determined peals to make full surrender to Christ and to give spirit. his life to Christian service. At Northfield, too, About that time the great evangelist, D. L. he met a girl student-refined, attractive, sweet Moody, came to Wilkes-Barre. He told of his in disposition and strong in Christian character. school, recently founded at Mount Hermon, Mas- Minnie Fowler saw in the Mount Hermon youth sachusetts, where boys with little cash but much the signs of true nobility and promise. Those who earnestness might work to pay part of their way knew these two students then, and have followed and obtain an education. That was the place for them ever since, know what a perfect comrade- Jack. A friend who recognized the boy's worth ship has marked their life together-each conoffered to pay $100 toward the first year's ex- tributing rich stores of understanding love and penses if he could earn the remainder. The next talents to make their lives a united success.
September he went to Mount Hermon-a frail slip From Mount Hermon, John McDowell went to of a lad of fifteen, apparently with serious handi- Princeton University where he was graduated in caps-but again he was faithful, intelligent, dead 1894. He earned his way through and at the in earnest, cheerful and uncomplaining. He same time helped a younger brother to obtain an gladly began to work at his books and at the education. After leaving Princeton he spent a daily tasks assigned to help pay his way. But summer in mission work in New York's East Side, what could he do? Not drive a plow, work on the largely among foreigners. He showed himself a road, or even wash dishes; but he could work in friend to the poor and to handicapped workers the school office and in the summer time he could and gained a keener sense of the prime impor- sell newspapers at the Northfield Conferences tance of winning men to God as He has revealed -and he did. Himself and the Way .Of Life through Jesus But there was another and even greater handi- Christ. As a result John decided to enter Prince- cap from which he suffered. He studied hard but ton Seminary to prepare for the ministry-again though he answered the questions in his written paying his own way through, and using all the examinations, his marks were too low to pass. time he could spare for evangelistic work. He What was the trouble? The teacher told him was called to be pastor .Of a church at Steelton, that he could not receive better marks because he Pennsylvania, in a region not far from his old had failed in recitation. But did not the teacher home. There he came to know the miners and know the reason? Jack stuttered s.o that he could their problems still more intimately as their not recite-especially in translating Latin and in friend and spiritual adviser. But the field was too pronouncing unfamiliar names in history? The limited for his talents and he was soon called to teacher was sorry but firm-boys were required be pastor of Park Church, Newark. There, with to recite. "All right," the boy said, "I will recite his faithful and devoted wife at his side, he made next time." And he did, although he took the full his mark, not only on his congregation but in the lesson period to get out the words. At first the city, serving on juries and on commissions, set- class laughed and the teacher told him he could tling labor disputes, working for social justice sit down. But Jack set his jaw firmly and con- and seeking to exalt Christ and to show the impli- tinued the battle royal. Then his classmates were cations and application of His message for this silent and moved to tears-but tears of sympathy world and for the world to come.
and admiration. Finally they applauded. Jack After ten years in Newark, there followed other sat down a victor. He never stammered again. important pastorates in Detr.Oit and Baltimore, The lad discovered that he need never accept where he ministered to both rich and poor, win- defeat and he acquired a taste for overcoming. ning friends among all classes, in all denomina- He wanted to enter into athletics, but how could tions, in all political parties and among represen- he? Football and baseball seemed out of the ques- tatives of both capital and labor. But he never tion, so he took up tennis; he kept persistently at was willing to compromise or to win friends at it until he became a champion player. It was a the expense of truth or of his fidelity to Christ, great sight to see him toss a tennis ball in the air his Master. During the World War he rendered for a serve, with racquet held in his one hand, and noteworthy service as Y. M. C. A. Director of Re- then give it a smashing drive. He played with his ligious Work among industrial workers in the head and won many matches by out-maneuvering Eastern district. From this he was called to be his opponents. Secretary of the Board of Home Missions .Of the
FROM MINE-BOY TO MODERATOR
Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. (now the Board of standing, John McDowell never knew defeat. He National Missions), later serving as associate di- was never embittered in spirit and never lost his rector of the Committee on Social and Industrial courage, his optimism or his love for his fellow- Relations under the Board of Christian Education. men. He never sought to make capital of what He became president of the Home Missions Coun- others might look upon as his "handicap"; he cil, uniting all the evangelical churches, prepared ignored it and used his one hand more efficiently the annual Labor Day messages which were scat- than many men could use two. So normal and tered all over the land, working to settle labor complete was he in spirit and body that friends disputes and to establish principles of brother- even forgot he had only one arm. hood, justice and Christian love in the economic realm as well as in the Church. He was an able Almost the last public service that Dr. Mcand popular speaker at Northfield and other con- Dowell rendered was in organizing and directing ferences, and rendered important service at the the D. L. Moody Centennary meetings at the Charlottesville Institute of Public Affairs. He Northfield General Conference in August, 1937. was the author of several valuable and influential The general theme of the addresses, "Christ and books which set forth clearly the Christian faith the Bible," was chosen by him as these were the and the principles of social justice-"Dwight L. two main themes and sources of power on which Moody, the Discoverer of Men and the Maker of the great evangelist had built up his educational Movements," "Christian Essentials," and "Fellow- and evangelistic program. The meetings, preship of Toil." He sometimes said that while the sided over by Dr. McDowell, were a fitting trib- "Church has use for a one-armed preacher, it has ute to the man to whom he was so deeply atno use for a one-armed Gospel." tached and to whom he owed so much.
Many true and striking statements were made It would be difficult to point out all the factors in his addresses, books and published articles. that accounted for his success as a man, a life- These always breathed a Christian spirit of fair- partner, a friend, a servant of mankind and as a ness and wisdom, such as are evidenced in the follower of Jesus Christ. His courage, his faith following: in God and in man, his sacrificial spirit, his un- tiring industry, his intelligence and astounding "What industry needs is not better methods but memory, his fairness, sense of justice, good cheer better motives; not more perfect machinery but and keen sense of humor-all helped to make the more perfect mankind; not more laws but more man and servant of God. He owed much to his life, that 'abundant life' that Christ offers and Scotch inheritance; he owed more to his father's that Christ alone can give." faith in God and to his religious training in his home; he owed something to the fact that he knew "Labor belittles no man; wealth-owning be- the discipline of poverty and hard work; he owed littles no man. 'A man's a man for a' that.' much to his experience and to his ability to make There should be no classes-no laboring class, no friends; he owed more to his contact with D. L. capitalistic class. Laboring men? Yes, they are Moody and to his training at Mount Hermon, and the world's enterprise builders. But the laboring Princeton; he owed much to his faithful wife, man and the capital-owning man is each a man." but he owed most of all to the new life he received through Christ, to his daily study of the Word of "From the Christian point of view the primary God and to his fellowship with the Son of God. question in industry today is-shall the symbol of our industrial life be the dollar mark or the Cross? One of the finest tributes ever paid him was by Shall our ambition be self-seeking or sacrificial Dr. Robert Freeman of the First Presbyterian service?" Church of Pasadena, California, when presenting Dr. McDowell to the president of Occidental Col- The height of Dr. McDowell's career in the lege, Los Angeles, California, for the degree of Christian Church was reached when, in 1933, he LL.D. in 1932. Dr. Freeman spoke of him as one was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Gen- "who for fifteen years has been the spokesman of eral Assembly. This is the highest honor in the our denomination wherever social adjustment was gift of the Church of two million members. He lacking or industrial justice imperilled; who in filled the position with great effectiveness, travel- the day of honor and influence has not forgotten ing from coast to coast and from Canada to the the boys who have succeeded him in the choking Gulf, the former breaker-boy speaking sometimes dust of the coal breakers and along the slimy corthree or four times a day to churches, preachers, ridors of the mines, or the multitudes who have students, college professors, men's clubs, confer- trusted him to champion the fair claims of the ences, business executives, labor unions and other class from which he sprang; nor even feared to industrial workers. While at times physical weak- demand justice from them as he claimed justice ness and weariness overtook him and he suffered for them; one who blends evangelical fervor with from more than one accident; and while he often encountered criticism, opposition and misunder-
social passion; who treasures the heritage of the when he was a boy of fourteen but his soul lived old land and the old order and the old faith while on. Later he accepted the gift of Eternal life catching and pursuing the vision of the new through Jesus Christ and he lives today in the heaven and the new earth: John McDowell, presence of the Master whom he served so faithwhose name is a test of romance, a symbol of fully, and in whose promises he believed with all consecration, and an epitome of service." his heart. His memory will be honored by men and women of all creeds and classes; his influence Like the Apostle Paul, John McDowell fought will continue to bear fruit. His labor was not in a good fight, he has finished his course, he has vain for it was "in the Lord." John McDowell kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for him expressed his confidence in the Life Eternal when a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the he wrote of Jesus' attitude toward death. He righteous judge, will give to him and not to him said: only but to all those that love His appearing. He fell asleep in Christ on November 13th after a Christ never spoke of His death apart from His resurmajor operation which he faced with courage, rection. He never thought of His death as the end of His knowing its possible unfavorable outcome. But career; it was only an episode, and an episode opening up he is not dead. A part of his body was discarded the way for the larger part He was to playas the spir- itual leader of men in the Kingdom of God.
A Faithful Friend and True Christian From an Address by Dr. Robert E. Speer, Given at the Funeral Service, November 16, 1937, in Park Church, Newark, where Dr. McDowell was Pastor for Ten Years JOHN McDOWELL was one of the dearest business of the Church, and about God's relation friends, one of the best men, and one of the to man and man's relation to God, and man's rela- noblest Christians we have ever known or ever tion to his fellow men. Just as he sought to know can know. His character and his career is occa- the truth so he sought to speak it. No one ever sion for deep thanksgiving to God for the man found him equivocating or accommodating or that He made. His life is a fountain of ins·pira- using words with reservations. It was in love tion and a call to boundless hope for ourselves and and good will that he spoke and what he spoke for other men. His career reveals to us the un- was the truth. And he thought and spoke truth limited opportunities in our American life for because he was true and genuine. He sought such a boy as this Scotch miner lad; his life ex- wholly to follow Him who said, "I am the Way of emplifies the duty and privilege of ever-expand- Truth and the Life" and to be faithful to God, in ing thought and influence, and the full meaning whom "is· no darkness at all." of the Christian Gospel. No man can be faithful to truth as John Mc- But we are thinking here not so much of John Dowell was and not be a brave and courageous McDowell's career but of his character, and of man, either fearless or victorious over fear. that which was basic in him as it is basic in all John's career was a brave and courageous career. life and character, truth. God, who desires truth He never surrendered to his handicaps. He turned in the inward parts, we may reverently say, found them into resources. He could do with one arm and its maimed hand more than some men can do His desire largely fulfilled in John. He used to with two sound arms. He was an excellent tennis like to quote Mr. Moody's familiar aphorism, player, holding the ball on his racket and tossing "Character is what a man is in the dark." In the it into the air. He astounded a small boy in a dark or in the light, by night and day, John Mc- home where he was staying by speed of unlacing Dowell was unqualifiedly and uncompromisingly and relacing his shoes. He never asked for sym- and steadfastly true. pathy or allowance. He carried his full load. And in all his work he carried truth into action – in His thoughts were true. Paul's admonition was speaking and doing always what he believed to be . not second nature, but first nature with him. right. We have seen him tested in the matter of fidelity to what he believed to be true and right in "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things the midst of difficulties. As Chairman of the are honorable, whatsoever things are just, what- Graduate Advisory Committee of the Philadelphia soever things are pure, whatsoever things are Society of Princeton University, when there were lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if some hard problems in the religious life of the there be any virtue and if there be any praise"- University, and conflicting opinions, he never John McDowell thought on these things. He sought to find the truth of the Gospel, and the truth about his duty and about the nature and
flinched. He and Bishop McConnell bore the and self-control. I never knew him to be fretful brunt of the attack on the report of the Inter- or impatient or irritable, to bear a grudge, to re- Church World Movement Committee, of which sent anything personal, to be anything but steadthey were members, in the matter of the steel fast and straightforward. strike. John has now gone on beyond all the earthly confusions to the pure peace and effortless Professor Royce has made both a philosophy joy of a richer service. I do not think he will be and a religion out of loyalty, and all that there is reproached there, as he was reproached here, nor in loyalty for philosophy and religion John knew. will he need in that happy fellowship the grit and His loyalty to Mount Hermon and to Dwight L. tenacity with which he met his reproach here. In Moody was one of the brightest and most blessed recent years, in the difficult problems which had things in his bright and blessed spirit. As chairto be met in connection with the Seminary, how man last summer of the National Committee on clear were his convictions and how fairly but un- the Centennial of Mr. Moody's birth, he did a yieldingly he maintained them. And to cite but one more instance of his brave and courageous JOHN McDOWELL AS MODERATOR mind and spirit, we will all recall his true prophet's mission in the matter of human relations in noble piece of work. Noone has written articles the field of industry and the fearlessness with or made addresses on Mr. Moody more full of inwhich he spoke his mind, with no partial interest, sight, of true estimate and appreciation, of deeper truckling to no one class or group., but asking only love and loyalty than those that came from John what was right, and in consequence, commanding McDowell. One likes to imagine the meeting of the respect and confidence of all honest men. We the two in the Land Beyond. Mr. Moody, with thank God today for this memory of a good, brave the well-remembered twinkle in his eye, might man. reproach John for his over-praise and John might answer· him without a syllable of retraction. And it rests us to recall his quality of justice, Happy, happy must be their meeting in the Imof sound-mindedness, of fair and kind and reason- mortal Love and the Celestial Light of Paradise. able judgment. There was never any harsh or The loyalty of that friendship was the loyalty of intemperate speech. No one was left in doubt as all John McDowell's many friendships. I speak to his mind. His words were unmistakably clear out of the understanding of a great love. John and pungent but we never knew him to be illtempered or uncharitable. He kept his balance in a world of excesses and partisanships. He knew how to combine and proportion the personal and the collective aspects of Christianity and life. He saw the right place and relations of persuasion and authority, of private action and of legislative enactment. He was a good guide and counsellor in his just discernment of the true functions of the Church in its spiritual mission to human hellrts and wills, and its ministry as an agency of the Kingdom of God.
The rule and joy of John McDowell's life, its formulating principle, was unselfish service. He was the disciple of One who came "not to be ministered unto but to minister." He had no pride which could (be offended and no vanity to wound. He never sought anything for himself. While he was honestly and justly pleased at his election as Moderator and fulfilled the duties of his offioe to the delight of the Church, he did it without any ostentation or parade. Whatever he could do to help people he did with a happy, genial heart. He went in and out among us as one who served.
And it is a joy to recall his good temper, his humor. Again and again he would relieve the tension with some apt anecdote or illustration. Grave situations were lightened by his evenmindedness, his quiet voice, his fullness of poise
was a friend. It is not necessary to say "a true rity." "Uprightness, virtue, honesty, soundness"- friend." There is no other kind of friend. One these are the synonyms. "He that overcometh I knew that it was possible to put full trust on him will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and be safe. and he shall go out thence no more, and I will write upon him the name of my God." That was Supremely John McDowell was loyal to our John McDowell- a pillar, clean, upright, unde- Christian faith as passed down to us from the faced; he was white and true. He is described New Testament and from our fathers of the Re- for us in Mrs. Kingsley's exquisite dedication of formed tradition. He knew the words and he held the life of her husband: fast to the great formularies of our Church as they are, without glosses and unauthorized addi- TO THE BELOVED MEMORY OF tions or subtractions; but he knew the love and A RIGHTEOUS MANthe life of which the words are only the symbols. He remembered his Master's words, "Not every- Who loved God. and truth above all things; one that saith unto me, Lord! Lord!" He joy- A man of untarnished honorfully said, "Lord! Lord! My Lord and my God." Loyal and chivalrous-gentle and strong- But he said the words with his life and .he vali- Modest and humble-tender and truedated them by love and truth and life. Loyalty Pitiful to the weak-yearning after the erringwith him meant not only assent to sound opinion Stern to all forms of wrong and oppression, but also the glory of an obedient will, a gentle Yet most stern towards himselfspirit, the love of the brotherhood, and the com- Who being angry yet sinned not. munion of the saints. Whose highest virtues were known only To his wife, his children, his Sl!rvants and the poor. But our words multiply beyond the need. It is Who lived in the presence of God here enough to sum all up in one word alone, "integ- And passing through the grave and the gate of death, Now liveth unto God forevermore.
AMERICAN YOUTH SEEKING The Lutheran News Bureau says, as the result of a recent comprehensive survey under- I taken by the National Lutheran Council in an effort to refute claims of waning interest: :. "Young men and women in American Churches today are demonstrating a broadening and deepening interest in religion. Distinct evidence is the fact that they are turning in ever-increas- ing numbers to the Church, swelling the membership rolls of the various youth organizations in a most remarkable fashion. National leaders of a few of the Church youth organizations report that membership and interest has fallen off to an alarming degree during the past few years, and attribute that decline to an over-strong emphasis on the social aspect of their groups.
Already, however, they announce plans to effect a complete reorganization with a renewed emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the essential element of all Christian activity. They express confidence that this return to the fundamental purpose of the religious youth movement will create a thorough revitalization. Various youth groups have sought constantly to give primary emphasis to Christ and His Gospel. One organization reports a membership increase of more than 300 % during the past twenty years, and a youth leader of another Church states that 'during the year 1936-1937 we have grown faster than during any year since 1922. This is exceedingly encouraging since we have a very definite program built on spiritual values.'
"Stress the fundamentals of Christian faith; teach the regenerating Gospel of Christ; emphasize the challenge to decide on a life for Christ; instruct young people regarding the work of the Church and the extension of Christ's Kingdom; encourage Bible study; these ele- ments are basic in the programs of the successful; vital youth organizations and are offered as the only rules for success in appealing to the profounqest interest of young men and women.
"Evidence of the growing appeal of religion to American youth is the fact that attend- ance at their conventions-district, state, and national-is increasing rapidly. Bible camps, too, are gaining attention, and reports of activities during the past two summers indicate that it was impossible to accommodate the thousands eager to attend. Pocket Testament movements, Bible study groups, and various young peoples' service organizations have also developed and increased in significance during the past few years. Countless indications point to a renewed interest in the fundamental Christianity taught by Jesus Christ. There is a more vital interest in religion and the Church than we have had for some time."
Demands and Foreign
By the REV. CHARLES E. MADDRY, D.D., Richmond, Virginia ExecutitJe Secretary, Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention A FTER months of careful study and extensive and a host of pioneer missionaries have sowed the .l'" survey of mission work in thirteen coun- Gospel seed beside all waters. tries in which Southern Baptists have Then came the second stage of cooperation in work, we are more firmly convinced than ever before that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the growth and development of foreign work, the one and only hope of mankind. The funda- when the native Christian constituency and the mental missionary motives are eternal and un- growing churches worked with the missionary, changing. As long as the curse of sin and death under his direction and supervision. The sup- porting boards in the homeland still supply most holds the race in bondage, just so long will the of the funds for the growing work. During this good news of salvation be imperatively necessary period the missionary was the official pastor, di- for the redemption and restoration of the fallen recting head and teacher in schools, colleges and race. Man's need for a Saviour from sin has not seminaries. The work on the newer fields is still changed; God's love of the sinner has not changed; in this stage of development. and Christ's power and will to save has not changed. Everywhere in foreign lands, we have Now comes the third and most critical stage of the indigenous church in the development of the seen at close range the Gospel of the first century older mission fields. It is the stage when the miscoming to grips with the degrading heathenism sionary must step aside and work under a native and unspeakable sin and moral leprosy of the leadership. We have reached this period of de- twentieth century and everywhere we have seen velopment in South and Central China; in Japan; the Gospel gloriously triumphant. in Brazil; and in Argentina. The spiritual chil- The motive and the imperative of the Christian dren have grown up and we can no longer keep missionary enterprise are eternal and unchang- them in leading strings even if we wanted to do so. ing. But methods of doing missionary work in all lands, and especially in the older mission fields, Transition to Native Autonomy are changing rapidly. Weare now passing through a very trying and critical transition pe- This transition began in the older mission fields riod in mission work abroad; if we successfully of China twenty-five years ago, but only within pass this crisis, it is going to call for the most recent years has the tendency toward self-support, patient and sympathetic understanding and the self-guidance and equality become a blessed realmost Christlike compassion on the part of our peo- ity. Our Foreign Mission Board is ninety-one ple in the homeland and especially of our mis- years old and this has been the goal of all our ensionaries on the foreign fields. deavors. The business of a foreign missionary is to work himself out of a job, to turn over the Three Stages of Development established and expanding work to growing churches and responsible leaders, and then to There have been three stages in the growth and move on into new and unevangelized regions.
development of foreign mission work. There has been a mistaken tendency on the part First, there was the pioneer stage, when the of most mission boards and missionaries to linger missionary did everything and the supporting too long in the port cities and the older mission boards in the homeland paid all of the expenses. fields. It is always hard for fond and indulgent This period covered the work of Carey and J ud- parents to realize that children grow up and son in India, and of the hosts of other men and should be set free to work out their own destiny.
women, heralds and martyrs in all lands who That same attitude has sometimes been mani- wrought gloriously and triumphantly in this in- fested in the older fields. We are prone to linger itial and pioneer stage of foreign mission work. too long, like the early church, in the hallowed and They laid a good foundation and others have built blessed environment of Jerusalem, and we fail to nobly on this foundation. "The field is the world" realize the call of Antioch for a more aggressive [17 ]
and wider ministry of pioneer evangelism. We capacity and ability with any similar group in welcome with joy and deep satisfaction the fact America. that in many of the older mission fields we have now come to the third stage in our missionary pro- What part does the missionary play in all this? gram of development-the period when the work Well, it began with the Shucks and Roberts, and must be turned over to the native churches and it was brought to fruition by Graves, Simmons, the native leadership that we have won and and Greens, and in more recent years it has been trained for this very purpose. nourished and fostered by a host of younger mis- sionaries, men and women, too numerous to men- Some older missionaries are finding it difficult tion here. to readjust themselves to the new day and to accommodate themselves to the changed attitude of The same process has taken place in Shanghai the new and untried native leaders. The mission- and Central China and the same blessed process aries fear that the new leaders will make mis- is going on in North and Interior China, in Japan, takes, so that the work for which they have given in South America, and on our mission fields in the best years of their lives will be retarded. Of Europe. course, these younger and less experienced Christians will make mistakes and they will not always We are now in the critical transition stage in do things as we think they should. Yes, they will the development of our mission work in Brazil, make mistakes-many mistakes, almost as many Argentina, and Chile. On our recent visit, new as we have made. But they will never learn to agreements and new bases of cooperation were do, except by doing; however painful the ordeal, entered into between the representatives of the we must believe in them and trust them. We al- Mission Board and the National conventions. ready have some glorious examples of what our For the first time, nationals have been placed at young and ardent brethren and sisters in these the head of several of our colleges. There have mission fields can do, when they come to respon- been readjustments and reorganizations and new sible maturity and when we trust them and co- responsibility and support, much of which has operate with them. been assumed by the new and growing churches. The most heartening thing we found in South Native Leadership in Mission Lands America was the fact that many of our churches have come to full financial support and are now We have been at work in South China for a self-directing, self-supporting, and self-propahundred years and God has poured out his bless- gating. ing upon that work in a marvelous way. To those who have not seen it with their own eyes, it is The Missionary's Part almost impossible to convey any adequate conception of what God has wrought in these one hun- What of the future? Is there still a place and dred years. Twenty-five years ago the Leung- need for the foreign missionary in this time of Kwong Baptist Convention was organized. It has transition and readjustment. been strictly Chinese from the beginning and the missionaries had the grace and wisdom to adopt One thing has impressed us, as we have seen the policy and ideal of cooperating with and work- this trend. These younger Christians and growing under the native leadership. What has been ing churches greatly need the sympathetic underthe outcome? standing and loving counsel of the missionary. More than ever before, the missionary is needed Under Chinese leadership, and made possible for guidance and help in organizing the churches, by Chinese financial support, there is today a won- in matters of self-government, of discipline and derful organization and system of boards, com- doctrine. If the missionary, like John the Bapmittees, agencies and institutions equal to those tist, is willing to "decrease" that the native found in any land. There is a marvelous system churches and leaders may "increase," there is a of Christian schools, beginning with the kinder- greater need for his services than ever before. garten and running through the primary, middle school, college, theological seminary, and woman's Also in the matter of training a native ministry training school. There is a separate school for and leadership, there is a greater need than ever. blind girls, an orphanage, and a home for old peo- We can never send enough missionaries to evanple. There is a five-story hospital, owned, oper- gelize all the nations. Our supreme task in the ated, and staffed by Chinese. In the very center new epoch of missionary endeavor is to develop a of all this intense activity is the Tung Shan Bap- native ministry that will evangelize its own land tist Church with three pastors and twenty-five far better than we can. Therefore we are still hundred members. The leaders and directing going to need missionaries-many of them, to heads of all these institutions and agencies are teach in schools, colleges, and seminaries; we will humble and devoted Chinese Christians, equal in need missionary doctors and nurses; and men and women with gifts for writing, translating and creating worthy Christian literature.
But most of all, there is need for God-called
MODERN DEMANDS AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
and Christ-filled men and women who are willing The missionary of the future must be sound in to press out from the port cities and away from body. One who is not physically fit should not go. the beaten track; who are willing to break new We have recently set up a rigid and exacting ground and to do pioneer work in giving the Gos- standard to which every one must measure up, pel to the millions who have never had a chance undergoing physical, mental and nervous tests. to receive salvation offered by Jesus Christ. The missionary of the future must be thor- There are still millions of people and vast areas oughly prepared for service. He must have a that are as yet untouched by the Gospel message. good mind, adequately trained. It is sinful waste Whole provinces in China are almost without the of money to send out a missionary who is unable Gospel. Millions in Japan have never heard of or too intellectually lazy to master a native tongue. the God of love. Great tribes in Nigeria have been begging for missionaries for a decade, and we Most important of all, the new missionaries have been unable to answer the call. Seven great must be spiritually endowed. They must have the states in Brazil are still without any evangelical attitude of Jesus toward the lost and erring. If missionary. Only a beginning has been made in one has never been used to win souls to Christ in giving the Gospel to "all the world." the homeland, a mere change of residence to for- eign land will not make them soul winners. One Missionaries in the days ahead must press out who goes as a missionary to a foreign land, should into fields that are still unevangelized. The port be able to say with Paul: "For I could wish that cities are overcrowded with missionary personnel I myself were accursed for Christ for my brethwhile vast areas are untouched with the Gospel. ren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh." We need today missionary candidates with the The missionary must be one in spirit and purpose sacrificial spirit and holy devotion of the early with Jesus in his statement, "For whosoever pioneers. The call of the lost in the great un- would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever occupied places of earth have entered deeply into shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's our hearts and we are seeking for young men shall save it." and young women willing to go into these needy places and bury themselves for Christ's sake. Today, we must adopt new methods in mission- ary endeavors, but the missionary motives and The Missionary of the Future imperatives are unchanging for Jesus, the author and finisher of missions, is "the same yesterday, What type of missionary should be sent in this today and forever." day of changing methods in mif;sionary work?
ONE OF ISAIAH'S MISSIONARY MESSAGES The Book of the Prophet Isaiah is full of missionary messages, which fire zeal, faith and courage.
Isaiah 49 starts with "Listen 0 Isles!" and "Hearken ye people from afar!" It is His voice sending forth the news of the Gospel to all the nations, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Read the promise to the servant of the Lord. «I will also give Thee for a light to the gentiles, that Thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." After enumerating many blessings of the Gospel, the prophet predicts that people from all parts of the earth, from all points of the compass, will come to Him-"Behold, these shall come from far: and 10, these from the north and from the west and these from the land of Sinim" (an ancient name for China).
This great and wonderful work of salvation which is going on before our eyes in the uttermost parts of the world, brings forth from the heavens and the earth, and the very mountains, a loud song of praise. It is all the result of the great love of Him whose love is beyond that of a mother's love for her babe. To assure us that He will not forget or forsake us, He says, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." The word "graven" indicates the use of a sharp instrument, which carves deeply and permanently our names in His very flesh, as the sharp, Roman nails pierced the palms of our Lord's hands on the Cross. How can He forget or forsake us? The sacred work of engraving is done by God himself: "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." The death of the Cross was entirely voluntary. Can we wonder that such a message attracts the millions of the ends of the earth, even to the jungle people, who sometimes do not seem to have the intelligence of human beings? Many fall down, love and trust, and worship Him. Those from the interior of the remotest isles and from the land of Sinim are "coming, coming, from afar!"
-The Pioneer (Celebes Islands). The Missionary Message for Today By PROF. JULIUS RICHTER, Berlin, Germany Editor of Neue Allegemeine Missions Zeitschri/tj Author of "Missions in India," Etc., Etc.
D URING the last twenty-five years there has uniqueness has been restricted so as to fit into the been a good deal of discussion as to the line prescribed by this or that philosophy of reli- essential content of the missionary message gion. Of course Christian messengers have al- and the methods of its application. The content ways to be on their guard against such shortcuts.
of the Gospel message was set forth in the great Battles have never been won by continuous com- declarations of the Lausanne and the Jerusalem promise or repeated retreats.
Conferences. Some will wish to add particular At other times the greater danger has been to doctrines of their Church, yet all will agree that emphasize particular points of the Message so the main lines are drawn distinctly. The central onesidedly that they were out of all proportion to content of the Gospel message may be expressed its body. Sects generally have the tendency to in two statements: stress their particular doctrines to such an extent First, that in the fullness of time God sent His and in such wise that the message unavoidably only begotten Son that, through His death on the becomes distorted and disfigured. The history of cros!s and by His resurrection, the new era of the the Christian Church and of the missionary move- world was inaugurated in which everyone of us ment is full of examples, such as Christian Sci- is offered justification by faith in Christ and re- ence, Mormonism, chiliasms of different kinds, ceives sonship in God's household. The whole uni- Pentecostal movements, or even disNnct doctrines verse looks forward to the consummation of the of the Church, the Apostolic succession, the sacra- Kingdom of God in glory. ments, or the legitimate offices of the Church.
The other statement is that all New Testament On the other hand the doctrine as an all round writings harmonize in their teaching of the new system of theology, with all its definitions and conception of God as our Father through Jesus scholastic determinations, is pushed into the fore- Christ. There is reinterpretation of the Old Tes- ground so that wholesale acceptance of a partament in the light of the Christian conception. ticular creed has seemed to be all that was asked Jesus the Christ is the Messiah of the prophets for and needed, obliterating the maj or issues of and His sacrifice on the Cross was for the consum- regeneration and of a full-orbed Christian life.
mation of His Kingdom. At the same time He By manifold exchanges and reapproachments lives in His believers and the Holy Spirit is the of the churches at home and abroad, by interde- pledge and guarantee of the divine life. The nominaNonal missionary conferences, by the ecu- Church is the spiritual body of Christ. The two menical movements, by a widespread missionary sacraments are baptism and the Lord's Supper. literature and by maturing missionary experience, We have remission of sins through the Cross of common convictions are growing and, as a re- Christ, and look forward to the resurrection of suIt, we hope that the dangers of adulterating the the body in spiritual form. However we formulate message in one or another direction will diminish. this belief we are able to reach an almost general A danger of a different kind which is becoming agreement. more and more apparent-it has always been There has always been a subtle danger either of present yet we have not always recognized it-is shortening the Gospel by pushing into the back- the radically different character of the Asiatic ground some beliefs which seemed to be at vari- culture religions which renders very difficult a ance with generally agreed upon convictions. The satisfactory approach and a full understanding miracle in any and every form has been an offence by those to whom the appeal is made. Let us to those who regard the law of cause and effect as choose those main religions to make our point the incontrovertible foundation of science. Any- clear. thing supernatural, or anti-rational was relegated Hinduism is a variegated group of religions; to a time when rational minds ruled supreme. yet in almost all of them the pantheism of the Comparative religion has seemed to prove that Brahman conception, the disvaluation of existence Christianity is only one of many religions, though by maya, and the robbing of life of any meaning of course the best and the most perfect. Its by the doctrine of endless transmigrations are [20 ]
THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE FOR TODAY
lurking in the background. Redemption appar- Deep thinking is necessary to understand the ently is the common aim of Christianity and of points of view of those other religions, to value Hinduism, but its meaning is radically different aright the enormous amount of pious meditation in the two religions. In Hinduism it means ceas- that underlies them; to estimate the gulf seping to e}Qist, in Christianity it means consumma- arating them from the fundamental facts and contion of existence. The situation becomes more victions of Christianity; to build a solid bridge difficult and complicated as, in the numberless of clear thought and sound religious experience sects and currents of Hinduism; the variations of across that gulf and to lead the followers of these the foreground and of the background of life are religions carefully and lovingly across. so illusive that one never knows exactly where one stands. The spiritual history of converts of But the question raised was quite different. It first-rate, like Nehemiah Goreh, would be tragic is this: Should the simple Gospel of salvation under this point of view but it is instructive and through Christ be the main content of the misshould be carefully studied by Indian mission- sionary message or should additional teaching be included along more complex theological lines, aries. church polity, social service and other Christian The situation is slightly different with regard obligations? To this question we give fourfold answer: to Buddhism though it participates in all the fundamental errors of Hinduism, pushing the doc- 1. Doubtless the Gospel message must be intetrine of transmigration a disastrous step farther grated in the life of the messenger and in that of by denying any continuity of the soul or any real- the Christian congregation has accepted Christ's ity of self. Splitting into many branches in Hina- message and is sending the messages. The old yana, and even more in Mahayana, Buddhism has Latin proverb is quite right: Vita clerici evanbuilt up a religious structure which enables its gelium popali – the life of the clergyman is the devotees to live on two different levels-there is Gospel read and understood by the people. That the radical nihilism of the sunyata doctrine of the is even more true in pagan countries where the absolute emptiness of the universe and the won- missionaries' homes have glass walls, open doors derfully pictorial imagery of the western para- and windows and are scrutinized carefully, or dise; there is the radical atheism of original Bud- even suspiciously, from morning to night. How dhism and the temples of the ten thousand idols; often one false move of a young missionary has there is the almost superhuman concentration of spoiled his work. It is the same with the Chrismeditation observed by hermits immured in lonely tian congregation growing up under the message. caves in the wilderness, and the blatant sacramen- They must "show forth the praises of Him who talism and sacerdotalism of endless religious serv- has called them out of darkness into his marvelices, prayer wheels, and readings of canonical lous light" (1 Peter 2: 9). They must shine as books by the weeks and months. It is as if a pil- lights against their dark environment. grim were walking through a wonderful paradise, yet a dismal abyss were lurking below engulfing 2. It is unavoidable that the missionary movehim at every step. How extremely difficult it is ment in all times has had its concomitants in faeven to stir up a feeling of that realism with re- vorable or unfavorable contemporaneous currents. gard to religion which is characteristic of Chris- In the three first centuries the six or seven orientianity. tal "mystery movements" were competing with the young Christian religion, all of them equally Or lOOK at Confucianism. Since the brilliant profiting by the decomposition of the traditional expositions of Professor de Groot in his famous religions of the nations within the Roman empire, book, "Universismus," we have become fully con- and by the awakened hunger after the living God. scious of the scope of law and harmony in the On a different plane in the Middle Ages, and again world, the same laws pervading nature and men, in the nineteenth century, Christian missions individuals and society; every trespass troubling were regarded as the outstanding exponents of the harmony having its punishment; sacrifices the highest civilization within reach of their misnecessary for the restoration of the cosmic order. sionary constituency. Such situations are rapidly On this basis, of course, the Christian conception changing; for older Christians it is astounding of the fall, of sin, particularly original sin, of re- how the background has shifted from the general demption by the cross of Christ, of a radical re- admiration for the "Christian civilization" of the casting of a lost universe in the consummation of "Christian nations" to the anti-white and antithe Kingdom of God – all these are considered christian currents of the present time. Christian utter nonsense. Yet how can we convince a well- missionaries need wisdom to keep in view the trained Chinese, immersed from early boyhood in fundamental difference and the dividing line bethe teachings of his classics, that his optimistic tween their Message and their contemporaneous world view is wrong and that the Christian con- concomitants; they dare not confound the ideal ception fully agrees with the real facts of life? of democracy with the Gospel of Christ. If they battle with a united front, they must always march Fourthly, the missionaries are conscious that separately, or the opposite. they are nothing more or less than the channels through which the Spirit of Christ is working in Thirdly, there are situations and conditions of our generation. Their deepest desire is to open misery and degradation against which Christian these channels by keeping their own lives pure, philanthropy cannot remain callous and never has to make them an effective testimonial for this been. If thousands of "untouchables" are losing Spirit. To remove all obstacles which block the their meagre means of existence by conversion channels and hinder the flow of the Spirit is the and baptism, the missionaries would be hard- main content of their missionary meditations and hearted if they were not on the lookout for means planning. of improving their disastrous plight. If the present Bolshevistic communism is offering the hope- In a ruined castle in South Germany I read an lessly impoverished masses of the East a worldly almost vanished inscription: Hic transitat Cmsar: Gospel of a happy classless state, with complete "Here the emperor entered." I was awe-struck, equality of social standard, Christian missions remembering the glorious time of the emperors would be on a lost track if they did not add to and what they meant to my fatherland. I felt their preaching of the Kingdom of righteousness, near to their ancient glories. The invisible insome broad-minded and forward-looking schemes scription over the door of all foreign missions of social help that visibly interpret their Gospel. reads: Hic transit Christ: "Here our Lord Jesus Missionaries cannot remain stolid in view of the Christ invisibly passes through the lands." Only sea of sickness and suffering, particularly if they in so far as all missions follow in His footsteps; remember that European vagrants, colonial in- only so far as missionaries, "with open face befluences, and world commerce have transplanted holding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are new terrible scourges and plagues, and that the changed into the same image from glory to glory, natives rightly would curse the Christian civiliza- even as by the Spirit of the Lord" is their work tion and its exponents, if the missionaries piti- owned by the Lord and produces eternal value. lessly look at their doom. He is the living, life-giving message for all time.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF MODERN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 1. Modern missions have a more extensive geographic spread than missions in previous cen- turies, as well as contact with a much wider range of cultures and religion.
2. The number of kinds of Christianity propagated is very large in the modern era, because so many different communions are participating in spreading the faith.
3. In spite of the divisions of Protestantism there is very extensive cooperation between Prot- estant missionary forces.
4. Missions are almost completely divorced from the political policy of the lands from which they have come, in marked contrast to what was the common practice in previous cen- turies.
5. Missionaries are protesting as never before against the exploitation by their fellow coun- trymen of the people among whom the missionaries live. This is not to forget the work done long ago by Las Casas in trying to check the Spanish conquistadores. .
6. Missions have a much broader base of financial support, being participated in by a very large number of persons, as contrasted with missions in earlier times when they were mainly supported by the state, or by political or ecclesiastical magnates.
7. The large part played by women is one of the most distinctive features of Protestant mis- sions, women outnumbering men on the field, while at home women carry a large part of the burden of supporting missions.
8. The great number of social and humanitarian activities attached to modern missions is another very distinctive characteristic. Schools, hospitals, famine relief, agricultural improvement and cooperative societies are very common features.
9. The standard for admission to baptism is generally very high. Consequently there have been much fewer mass conversions than in previous centuries. Protestant missions have preferred to have fewer converts than to admit people who were not prepared for mem- bership.
10. Though there have not been many mass conversions there has been a great deal of "mass modification" of the customs and ethical standards of the countries where missions operate, much of such modification being due directly or indirectly to missions.-Prof.
Latourette of Yale University; International Review of Missions.
CROSSI:'-iG A PART OF THE, GREAT ARABIA:-I DESERT IN
Medical Work I• n Arabia W. H. STORM, M.D., F.R.G.S., Bahrain, Persian Gulf.
Missionary of the Reformed Church in America p MO,N,'G m,issionary statesmen, metho,ds of P,ro- In the following words the late Sir William claiming the Gospel are often indicated as Osler has well depicted the unique qualifications of direct and indirect. The direct method' a doctor: means the direct preaching of the Gospel alonl:i,) By his commission the physician is sent to the sick.
while the indirect method aims at reaching the and knowing in his calling neither Jew nor Gentile, bond people through education, healing, and various or free, perhaps he alone rises superior to those differ- ences which separate and make us dwell apart, too often philanthropic works, such as social uplift,,~ll oblivious to the common hopes and frailities which should bind us together as a race. In his professional relations, with varying degrees of preaching and personal though divided by national lines, there remains the feel- work interspersed. ' ','
Missionaries among Moslems are working witli ing that he belongs to a guild which owes no local al- legiance, which has neither king nor country, but whose the greatest social and religious system that has work is in the world. The Aesculapian temple has given evolved ,in the world since Christ. It is the place to the hospital, and the priestly character of the strongest opponent, today, of Christianity. Year physician has vanished with the age; still, there is with after year missionaries plod along using both us a strong feeling of brotherhood, a sense of unity, methods, of missionary endeavor with but little which the limitations of language, race and country have tangible results. The rock of Islam seems impreg- not been able to efface.
nable a.nd' the Christian Church remains asleep When to these qualifications strong missionary to its challenge. Everywhere among Moslems the zeal is added, the doctor then becomes peculiarly mi~sionary doctor has proved himself to be' a fitted for work among the Moslems.
most vaJifable asset in winning friendships and When we analyze our work as medical mis- thus making contacts for otJ:l.er workers ;,~()f br.eak~ sionaries, we ask ourselves the question; Is our ing down prejudice, opposition, fear, anQ super- task, i.e., the task of the medical people, dif- stition; of softening the fanaticism of heart and ferent from that of other missionaries? I think mind; and of opening up closed fields. it is the duty of everyone of us to first lay aside [ 23 ]
the mantle of his profession, and face the task It is too €asy for us medical people to say that in the light of all being first and foremost am- the evangelistic end of the hospital work is the bassadors of Christ. Our work is then what?' pastor's job. There ought to be the highest type In the words of the Master we read the Great of cooperation between the evangelistic worker Commission: "Go ye therefore, and teach all and the doctor, and, if in the hospital wards and the hospital clinics, and on tours, the evangelistic worker sees an opportunity to further his con- tacts and deliver the message of Christ, he should be encouraged. But in no sense does this l€ssen the responsibilities and duties of the doctor.
Let us look at our hospitals as a unit. What do they stand for in the community? Are they places where· medicine is given fr€e, and the doctor is some sort of Santa Claus doling out pills and salts free of char.,ge? Is it a competing insti- tution with other irtstitutions nearby? If so, I am afraid we have little excuse for existing. On the other hand, does it stand out clear-cut as a PASSING SOME OF THE BLACK TENTS OF ARABIA definite witness for Christ both in its ministry of nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, healing and its proclamation of His message? and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." If we cannot see in our hospitals this definite mis- sionary program, then in the name of all that is Our training has been entirely different, i.e., just, have we any right to POs€ as Christian misthe training of the teacher and the evangelist sionary doctors and nurses in a Moslem land? has been quite different from that of the medical person. The doctor can remove an appendix,. or Because of the extr€me isolation of mission stasew up a wound, while the preacher would find it tions in a field like Arabia, it is often necessary to extremely difficult; and vice versa, the duties develop one's own hospital staff. Native boys who. of the preacher and the teacher would be equally show an adaptibility to hospital work are trained.
hard for the doctor. Our applications must of necessity then be different, but is it not entirely true that we are aiming at the same goal and the same ends? What is this goal, and what are th€se ends? Are they not, in simple language, the giving of Christ as Saviour to the people among whom we work?
In the medical field, unquestionably, lies the op- portunity to show our training and our knowledge along medical lines. It is our job to teach, where- ever we can, the principles of hygiene. and sani- tation, and to do all in our power to lessen the spread of dis€ase and to relieve suffering; to put it into one sentence, to uplift the physical and social, and thereby the economical scale of the people among whom we work. Can we stop there and say that we have set a Christian exampl€ and thus take satisfaction in a job well done? In the name of social service, Yes; but in the name of Christian missions, No. Can we stop with the satisfaction gained by having done all we can to relieve human suffering among those with whom we have come in contact? We will have done a Christ-like service and given a picture of Christ in one of his most wonderful aspects. That is most worth while, but surely we cannot stop there.
We must link that s€rvice up with the real mes- sage and our real purpose so that the service and the one who serves will not overshadow the Christ whose ambassadors we are. DESERT URCHINS OF ARABIA
MEDICAL WORK IN ARABIA
Photo by W. Harold Storm A CLINIC HELD BY DR. STORM FOR ARABS OF THE DESERT By daily example of real Christ-like living among the medical and evangelistic points of view. Even those on whom he must depend for his assistants, when these women are interested in a Christ who the doctor has his greatest responsibility. If he would bring hope into their lives, they are forsets the proper example they will follow; if he bidden to attend church where they might hear fails they are in a worse state, for an ideal has more of Him, or if the evangelist is too zealous vanished. A daily prayer meeting to begin the she may find it difficult to gain access to the day's work, attended by all the staff from the women. And here is where the doctor is of utsweeper to the doctor where God's blessing on the most importance. She is too necessary to be forday's work is asked, and where everyone senses bidden to the houses, and so the way remains open the real purpose of the mission hospital, starts the for her to bring Christ into the harems. Even the day in the proper spirit and does much to win the most fanatical Moslem cannot remain too severely Moslem helper. The importance of a continuous antagonistic to the Christian through whom the Christian atmosphere among the hospital boys is life of a favorite wife or child is preserved. evident when' one realizes that they have even closer contacts with the patients than the doctor. In Moslem lands medical tours playa very large Inasmuch as they are natives they can enter into part in our work. The history of the Arabian an inner circle of thought that is well nigh im- Mission is indeed a history of medical tours. At possible for a foreigner to penetrate. A hospital first, tours were made along the coast, then inhelper in Bahrain who was an earnest inquirer land. In 1917, Dr. Harrison was called to Riadh and undergoing severe persecution, was on the and made the first inland tour to the heart of verge of throwing all aside. Because of the per- Arabia. Others followed reaching Taif near the sonal nature of these problems there was little Red Sea and Hail in the extreme north. Then, in that we could do for him except to show love and 1935, I was able to make a tour of 5,000 miles sympathy. One day he said to the doctor, "It is across the peninsula and around the coasts from love that has conquered me." Yenbo to Bahrain visiting all provinces. Thus medical tours have touched many parts of the Perhaps the most useful and necessary medical Arabian Peninsula. work in Arabia and among Moslems everywhere, is that done by the woman doctor. There are From a purely medical point of view and the scarcely any people more in dire medical need frequent discomforts it often causes the doctor, than Arab women and children, and there is also touring is far from satisfactory. But evangelistino work more difficult and discouraging both from cally, the opportunities are unlimited, and for making acquaintances among Arabs their worth
is invaluable. For example, we went to Jahara, taining the doctor and his friend? And so we all a village near Kuwait, unannounced, and in just gather around the coffee cups. a few minutes, despite the fact that we were at first told to go home, there had gathered sixty to I refuse to do more treatment and try to rele- gate myself as much as possible into the back- ground – a difficult and most essential part of every medical missionary's task. The evening clinic then belongs to my colleague. Conversation follows in a free and natural way. Invariably it takes a religious turn, for no one is more religious than our Moslem brother. In his mind several obvious comparisons are at work. He often asks questions. Why did the doctor come today? Why does he treat these people with love and kindness? Why do we not do the same?
He has seen the practical demonstration of the Christian message, and now it is our opportunity to proclaifu£the Good News to an interested audi- ence. Often we show them a beautiful picture such as the Good Shepherd, and follow that by reading to. them the Shepherd's story from the tenth chapter of John. Their Hfe is so wrapped up in their· desert and their sheep that this story registers with real meaning. They love to look and look at the picture. On into the evening we discuss together Christ as the Good Shepherd.
The mejilis breaks up and we retire to our rest under the bright stars of an Arab night. Our PUSHING OUR AUTO OUT OF TROUBLE ON ARABIAN TOUR seventy men. Some we treated with the few med- THE FAMOUS MINARET IN TARIM, HADRAMAUT icines we had brought along. Then they listened to the story of the prodigal son. We left; the casual hearts are thankful that God has given us this observer might say, what is the use of all that opportunity, and our prayers are, that His Spirit trouble? But in two or three days, four or five may speak and work in the hearts and minds of people came into the hospital as in-patients. One our Arab friends. man nearly dead from scurvy and malnutrition was brought in on a donkey the whole twenty miles and we were able to save his life. While he was an in-patient he saw for the first time in his life Christ's love in action.
The method which I have found most satisfactory in presenting the Gospel story to my Arab friends is itinerary village work.
There are many ways in which to carry out village tours, but this way is most effective. The evangelistic worker and I go to a village together. We start out in the late afternoon after the heat of the day has subsided. Immediately upon arriving a crowd gathers upon the shady side of one of their date stick huts, and I hold a clinic. We then eat dinner with one of the villagers. Following the meal, as is customary among the Arabs, they all gather together for coffee and to exchange the day's news. Our host's mejilis (meeting-place) is most popular. Is he not enter-
Bible and the Koran
By the REV. E. W. G. HUDGELL, M.A., Port Said Egypt Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society I T WAS a hot afternoon in Cairo. A young mis- him. This "having the mind darkened" is a fair sionary was wrestling with the grammatical reflection of the spiritual state of such men. As perplexities of the Arabic language. His for a copy of the Koran finding its way into the teacher, an Egyptian with a Western education, hands of an unbeliever (i. e., a non-Moslem), that, was patient and sympathetic. too, is generally looked upon with disfavor.
"English is a better language," he remarked. Reverence for Scripture "Why do you say that?" asked the astonished student. There is found in Moslem lands a reverence for "Because," was the reply, "with English you what may be termed "Holy Scripture," i. e. an read in order to know; but with Arabic you know authoritative book, divine in origin and an infalin order to read!" lible guide. This reverence may be regarded as Here is a fundamental difference of concept in exaggerated; but it exists. Not only do Moslems regard to the function of language. An equally display such reverence towards. the Koran, but deep cleavage of opinion exists between the Chris- many of them also include the Holy Bible. tian view of the function of the Bible and the Here is one case out of numb~rs that are re- Moslem view of the function of the Koran. The ported from time to time. "While 1 was waiting Christian will approve when he hears it said, "A for a train at the station, a Moslem approached Gospel is the best tract." For a tract is meant to and in a low voice asked for a Bible. 1 at once be read in order that a man may come to know- opened my bag and handed him one. He took it, may come to know his own sinfulness, his power- looked up towards the sky and said, 'Thanks be to lessness to help himself and "the loving-kindness Thee, 0 Lord, for sending me this Bible.' Then of God our Saviour" who provides a way of sal- he kissed ~t, enquired the price and paid it saying, vation from sin and furnishes men with the power 'I have lived all my life in sin, and have been a to live according to His will. great man only in doing evil. But a year ago a It is this view of the Bible-the view that it has man like you gave me a Gospel according to St. a divine message of its own apart from human John. 1 laughed at him for giving me such a expounding-that a man by reading it may come book, told myself that it would do me no good, and to know the message as .one for his own soul- put it in my pocket. One day while 1 was sitting which led Charles Spurgeon to ask the indignant alone, 1 took it out and began to read it from the question, "Defend the Bible? 1 would as soon beginning. 1 found it very interesting and went think of defending a lion! Let it out! It can take on reading until 1 finished it. Then 1 read it again care of itself!" and again. 1 asked Christians about the things 1 did not understand, gave up the bad things 1 It is this profound faith in the efficacy of the used to do, and became a new man. 1 believe in Holy Scriptures that is the motive that leads the Bible Societies to promote the widest possible dis- Christ that He is my Saviour, because He loved tribution in all languages, in all lands, in all sinners; and 1 always speak with my Moslem hands. brethren about Christ, so that they call me, in our Not so, however, is it with the Moslem and the village, the preacher of Christ.' " Koran. He believes that Arabic is "the language This respect for the Bible on the part of Mosof the angels" and regards it as blasphemous to lems is due in part to a passage in the Koran which translate the Koran out of its original Arabic into says, "We also caused Jesus the son of Mary to any other language. It has been done in some follow the footsteps of the prophets, confirming cases even by Moslems themselves; but only into the law which was sent down before him; and we five or six languages in all; and the .attempt is gave him the Gospel, containing direction and not generally regarded with favor. Such conser- light; confirming also the law which was given vatism towards the language of the Koran leads before it, and a direction and admonition unto to the unedifying spectacle of a Bengali, for ex- those who fear God; that they who have received ample, struggling to memorize it and to repeat, the Gospel might judge according to what God parrot-fashion, words which have no meaning for hath revealed therein." (Sale, "The Koran," p. 79.) [27]
This seemingly favorable passage is somewhat The literary Arabic is much the same in all nullified by one immediately following it: "We countries where Arabic is read, but the colloquial have also sent down unto thee the book of the differs widely from country to country. In Egypt, Koran with truth, confirming that Scripture for example, a request for "leben" brings milk aR which was revealed before it; and preserving the it is commonly understood; in Palestine, the same same safe from corruption." request would bring loppered milk. So great is the disparity between the colloquials of Egypt and PILGRIMS BOUND FOR MECCA Palestine that a scornful maidservant in Jeru- salem once remarked of the writer, "He can't This superiority ascribed to the Koran over the speak Arabic; he can only talk Egyptian!" Law and the Gospel is interpreted to mean that it has superseded them. What little favorable testi- The Bible Societies strive to make use of the mony the Koran does give to the Bible is appealed atmosphere of reverence for Scripture found in to and used, with mutual respect, when the Bible Moslem lands. "They find, on the other hand, obis offered to Moslems and is made a reason for jections to the Bible and seek for the right antelling them that they ought to read it. Often the swers. They also endeavor to surmount the reply comes: "The Bible is for Christians and barriers of colloquial speech by publishing Bible the Koran for Moslems." portions in different varieties of it. The Arabic Bible in literary style, that enduring monument The answer to this objection is, '''The Bible is to the careful and scholarly labors of two great the Word of God; and God means His Word to American missionaries, Dr. Eli Smith and Dr. C. be for all men whether they be Christians or Mos- Van Dyck, is firmly fixed in estimation of edulems or Jews." cated people, and circulates throughout the lands -South America, North Africa, Western Asia, Two Kinds of Arabic Arabia and the East Indies – where Arabic is It ought to be made clear that there are two read. Its potential outreach to people is greater, kinds of Arabic, literary and colloquial. The two perhaps, than that of. the Bible in any language are so diverse as to be almost different languages. save English. The importance of this can hardly A confident graduate of a Western university, be overestimated. But to those of little learning who had studied literary Arabic during his col- it is laboriously difficult to read and often uninlege career, arrived in Cairo and set out at once telligible. For such, therefore, there is a growing alone to buy a few necessities at native shops. His volume of pUblication in the language of everypolished periods, however, produced only uncom- day life, natural and easy, flexible and unstilted. prehending dismay in the faces of the shopkeepers. None of the necessities were produced The chief usefulness of these colloquial texts at until he was rescued by a passing friend who present is for reading aloud to small gatherings could chatter away in "the vulgar tongue." of the illiterate, especially the women and girls whose education is considered of little or no im- portance ! They also find some acceptance among Jews – of whom there are thousands in North Africa and Egypt, to say nothing of Palestine- who, although they may have some knowledge of Hebrew, yet do their trading in Arabic. A col- porteur reported recently, "I entered a Jewish shop where there were three men and began to read aloud to them from the Psalms in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. I noticed signs of delight on the faces of all three. Each of them bought a copy, and one of them added, 'If the Bible Society had not taken the trouble to publish this transla- tion, the Bible would have become to us but a venerable antiquity.' "
Problems of Distribution The great problem confronting the Bible So- cieties in Moslem lands is that of distribution. How can we get the books into the hands of those who can read, and especially those who are not Christians. There are some favorable factors in the situation but the unfavorable ones and the
THE BIBLE AND THE KORAN CONTRASTED
prejudices against the Bible are stronger far than Indeed, he does; and indeed God can through those for it. Illiteracy is general. It is useless to the Word! Several colporteurs are themselves dump books on people who will not and cannot converts from Islam.
read them. Under such circumstances the only For Ohristian Minorities hope of success is to pick men carefully for the personal work, train them in their task, and su- Christians are a minority in all the Moslem pervise them constantly in such a way as to allow lands except in the Republic of the Lebanon, of them freedom of spirit, while maintaining the which Beirut is the capital. It is necessary to level of their spiritual life and business efficiency. Such a ministry by a Bible Society agent forms a have lived with a Christian minority to appreciate very real "cure of souls." That it is done, is not known, as a rule, outside Bible Society circles- "the reproach of Christ" and what a shame (soand not always even within them! But it is done, and it produces results. It gives the colporteur cially) it can be to be a Christian. There is, morean honorable vocation. He is no longer despised over, an impalpable and silent but yet very real as one who has become a colporteur because he is fit for nothing else! "Ambition should be made pressure exerted on the soul by the presence of of sterner stuff." When once the colporteur real- Islam in the mass, and by the spiritual deadness izes that he holds an honorable place among the workers for the Kingdom of God, he gets the right and dryness induced thereby. If this is felt by ambition-the most unselfish and uplifting ambition in the world-to be boundlessly ambitious for missionaries from the West, with all their spir- God. As a Syrian colporteur observed, "I am itual advantages, how much more will it affect the happier at selling a man a Bible than at anything scattered native Christians! There will often be else I know." That same man spent his holiday but one or two Christian families in the whole of last Christmas Day in selling Bibles because, as a big Moslem village. Their lot is hard; for nothhe said, it was a good day on which to offer men ing is quite so cruel and inhuman as "religion" the story of the birth of Jesus. They are drawn without the boundless love and compassion of from many walks of life-weavers, tailors, boot- Christ. A visit from an itinerant Bible seller is makers, carpenters, farm-hands. Many of those often a God-send to people in such a case. Three in Egypt owe their education to the American cases have come to light in recent months where Presbyterian Mission-the largest in the country. such visits, accompanied by the reading of the Bible aloud, have slerved to keep back lonely Chris- What do these men accomplish in Egypt during tian men from apostatizing and denying their an average year? The American and British So- faith. One was in Trans-Jordan, another in a country village of the Nile Delta, and the third in Alexandria.
No less than 80 % of the population of Egypt is afflicted with eye-trouble in one form or an- cieties, both of which are at work in the country, other. It is imperative, therefore, that the Scripemploy about 32 men. The population of the tures should be constantly available in large, bold country is a little less than 16,000,000, of whom type. For those who have quite lost their sight about 1,000,000 are Christians. The total circula- and have to read with their fingers, the complete tion of the two Societies combined, in the year Arabic Bible is published in Braille type and fills 1935 in Egypt, was just under 152,000 books. 32 volumes. Each volume costs an average of In Syria during the same year the total circula- $1.25 to produce, but is sold at a flat rate of the tion of the two Societies amounted to nearly equivalent of 371;2 cents. Where poverty is too 34,000 of which the.colporteurs were responsible deep to raise even that much, a gift is made upon for the sale of 24,000. In Iraq the colporteurs the fulfilment of certain reasonable conditions.
sold nearly 12,000 books out of a total circulation "Drops of water hollow out rocks," albeit they of 15,600. It is not too much to say that the col- take a long time over doing it. Drops of the Water porteur is the backbone of Bible-work in Moslem of Life are being poured onto stony hearts. It lands. They themselves recognize the importance takes a long time to produce appreciable results.
and significance of their work, as is shown by the Who, in view of the method and the problem, following incident. would expect anything else? But there is an ex- A colporteur offered a Bible to some Moslems hilaration, an inspiration, sometimes even an ex- who were sitting in a shop. citement about keeping the drip constant-week "Are you a preacher?" one of them asked. after week, month after month, year after year.
"No," was the reply, "I am a colporteur." Here and there, in individual lives, there shows "Beware!" said another man. "This man is sufficient success to encourage-to counteract the worse than a preacher who speaks and goes away. gloomy entry, "Sold, and no result." Who knows?
This man leaves a book that is able to convert the Keep the drip constant; the results are in God's Moslems !" keeping. Christian Morale in War–Torn China By REV. FRANK W. PRICE, Shanghai Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S.
TETTERS from all parts of war-torn China re- from a well-known Christian educator and church- L veal a marvelous spirit of faith and courage. man in Nanking. He was still carrying on his The Chinese nation and people believe that work and his wife and children were still in the they are fighting a "war of independence" against city, in spite of 65 air raids between August 15 military aggression and oppression. Although and October 20.
weaker in material equipment and arms, China is "The growing interest and sympathy in Amer- strong in purpose and the people are ready for ica at present is in large measure the direct result every necessary sacrifice to win the ultimate vic- of efforts put forth by many friends China has tory for freedom. Missionaries in China are al- among your people. The American sense of jus- most unanimously in sympathy with China's cause tice and humanity is a rich source from which and believe that one of their great contributions will come a strong moral support that will nerve at the present time is to help maintain the morale China in her struggle and hence will bind the two of the people. Chinese Christian leaders are ris- peoples in closer and more solid friendship so as to ing to the emergency and are doing their part protect effectively the peace of the world. . . .
heroically by carrying on their regular work or "China has finally been compelled to defend her- special work in the face of great dangers and by self. She is now staking her all on the tremen- a devoted ministry of relief to the wounded and .dous task of breaking the yoke of oppression, and homeless. This work is winning praise on all of securing the right for independent existence.
sides. These are most terrible days that China has to go Four representative statements, out of a large through but she is quite prepared for the sacrifice.
number received within the past month, show how In no struggle has there ever been a more perfect missionaries and Chinese Christians are bearing example bf spiritual forces against the material.
their witness in this greatest crisis of China's China is opposing an enemy many times better history. armed than herself. It is a wonder that the Chi- lo Christian educational institutions. The fol- nese army has been able to meet the onslaughts lowing statement issued on September 24 by the and hinder the enemy's progress. We cannot forefaculty of Cheeloo· University, situated at Tsinan, cast the duration of this life-and-death struggle, in Shantung Province, is typical of what the but we are convinced of the determination of the Christian schools in China are saying and doing Government and people not to stop short of the in the war situation: achievement of an entire and independent national "The faculty realizes that the time may come existence. The present warfare has done away when heavy bombardment or the approach of the with the distinction of front and rear, of military invading army will make it seem wise for the re- and civilian, of combatant' and non-combatant.
maining faculty and students to scatter. It is The whole nation is bleeding; those who are not important for everyone to understand that such bleeding in flesh are bleeding in heart. The air- a contingency, or even possible destruction of raids make us feel glad in a way that we are shar- some of the buildings, and loss of equipment, will ing in the sacrifice of the nation."
not destroy Cheeloo. This institution consists not 3. Missionaries. Rev. Ronald Rees, secretary so much in land and bricks and tile, as in tradi- of the National Christian Council in China, writes tions, in its records of work, in loyalty of staff and of the changed situations and new opportunities students and alumni, in reputation and support facing the missionary. Speaking of the great mi- in many countries. These things are not easily gration from the coastal provinces to the interior, destroyed, and, from them, if necessary, Cheeloo he says: can rise again, whatever may be in store for her "Northerners have gone on to Sian, Hankow, buildings in the immediate future." Changsha, and many of them on farther. Gov- 2. Chinese Christiq,n leaders. The following ernment and educational organizations are estab-, paragraphs are taken from a letter just received lished now in Hankow, Changsha, Chungking. I [30 ]
CHRISTIAN M'ORALE IN WAR-TORN CHINA '31
think we may expect to see the tide rolling on to that would be heard above the din of battle strife Szechwan, Kweichow, Kwangsi and Yunnan. and reach every member of our home church.
"What effect will these movements have on the "Weare witnesses of the heroic sacrifices and people of China and their future? In the first sufferings of the people to whom we have been place ordinary men and women (not only stu- sent, in their determined oneness of purpose to dents and intellectuals) are conscious as never preserve at all costs their national existence and before of a national emergency and its cause. freedom against a powerful and inhuman military Secondly, national unity is being extended and machine. The bravery of the Chinese soldiers deepened by the common bond of suffering. In commands our admiration, and the patient en- the third place, the intellectual leaders of China durance of the ordinary people stirs our sympathy had been chiefly in the coastal provinces. Many and desire to help. But more than this, we are are now going far inland, perhaps for an extended touched by the turning of the people to us for period. The modernizing and westernizing proc- comfort and encouragement in this darkest hour ess is bound to be hastened in central and west- of their national history.
ern China. "Our Chinese friends in all walks of life were "The people staying in the coastal provinces are bewildered by the very suggestion that all mis- going to need the most tender and faithful sup- sionaries might be withdrawn from China. They port. So, also, those in the northern provinces could not see that it was necessary, and to them torn away from the main body and under foreign it looked like a flight. We have lived and worked (and probably ruthless) domination, if the experi- with them through peace and famine and pesti- ence of Korea and Manchuria means anything. lence and civil wars, and now at the moment of But the center and west of China are going to be their extreme national peril they still look to their open in new ways, for there the heart and mind Christian friends to stay by them and meet what- of China may be centered." ever may come. Their Christian leaders have said The following messages are taken from groups this openly, and innumerable individuals have of Southern Presbyterian missionaries whose said so privately to their missionary acquaintwork in Chekiang and Kiangsu has been acutely ances, and the faces of multitudes express their affected, to their home church. From a group at satisfaction at seeing their foreign friends carry- ing on as usual. Tsingtao: "Our work is slowed down, not stopped. Prac- "When we see these things we are profoundly impressed with the potentialities of these troutically all our churches and institutions are carry- blous times. We are now faced with the greatest ing on in one way or another through the faithful crisis that has ever confronted the Church of cooperation of our Chinese fellow-workers. The Christ in this land. The Chinese word for crisis outlook for Christian work in China at the out- is made up of two words, "danger" and "opportubreak of hostilities was unprecedented. The peo- nity." We are not blind to the dangers, but we are ple were more friendly and open-minded than at thrilled at the thought of the opportunities before any previous time. There was a steady stream of accessions to the company of believers and the us. We appeal to you for your loyal and faithful churches had made marked advance in church support as we face these dangers and opporconsciousness and self-support. They, too, were tunities. getting a fresh and inspiring vision of our obli- "This is not a time to quit, but supremely a time gation and opportunity. . . . At a time like this to stand by. On all sides we see stores with the the influence and opportunity of the missionary fronts boarded up as a protection against bombs who shares the sorrows of the people and com- and bullets, but with the sign on the door, "Busiforts and counsels is greatly enhanced as com- . ness as usual." As Christians in the business of the Kingdom, this should also be our motto. God's pared with ordinary times." work must not and cannot stop."
A group of twenty-three missionaries in Shang- These letters reveal the intrepid missionary hai, many of whom were going back and forth to spirit in China now. their stations in or near the fighting area, wrote as follows: 4. Chinese appreciation of Christian sympathy "With the resounding explosions of bombs and and support. In many ways government leaders shells, the hum of airplanes, and the rat~tat-tat of and the non-Christian public have expressed their machine guns in our ears, constantly reminding appreciation of the stand taken by missionaries us of the struggle to the death in which this be- and Chinese Christians. On September 27, the loved country of our adoption is engaged, we a China Press, a Chinese-owned daily newspaper in company of twenty-three of your missionaries the English language, published the following edi- temporarily in Shanghai, amid all the confusion torial under the title "Christian Loyalty": and misery around us, would fain send a message "Christian missionaries in China have ignored
their government's advice to seek personal safety. being confronted with danger. It might be easy They have been urged to leave their posts and for them to ask their governments to extend a concentrate in sectors from which evacuation paternal hand and deliver them from destructive under the protection of their national forces may forces, and yet to do so would be unchristian and be comparatively easy; and they have preferred unworthy of their Lord.
to remain in this war-torn country with their "Admittedly, the Sino-Japanese war must come Chinese fellow-Christians, unafraid and un- to an end sooner or later. While the missionaries daunted. must look after the present, they cannot ignore the future; By deserting at the first sign of dan- "The action of the missionaries has doubtless ger, they might betray the confidence reposed in been prompted by a sense of duty toward their them by the Chinese converts; by remaining toevangelical cause and toward their fellow men. gether with the converts, they would surely earn To God they have pledged to march onward as undying goodwill as well as affection and lay the true soldiers of the Cross, and to their fellow men foundation for a greater claim to Chinese support they have professed to bring a divine message of in the years to come. goodwill and spiritual comfort. At no other time is the spirit of the true soldier more manifestly "Devotion to a cause, be it Christian or otherbeing placed on trial, and at no other time does a wise, presupposes the willingness to sacrifice. war-torn race stand in more need of the benefits Unless the missionaries were, as they are, preof Christian goodwill and comfort. pared for sacrifices at any cost, it would be hypocritical to talk about devotion, and to claim "It would be highly disloyal to God and to man devotion from others. if the missionaries were to pursue the line of least resistance and withdraw from the field in which they and their predecessors have labored "The firm resolution of the missionaries to ful- so arduously to espouse the cause of the Gospel. fill the demands of the Christian movement in "As the Son of God, Jesus could have asked for China has already won the admiration of the God's hand to stay the Crucifixion, but Jesus the Chinese of all classes, irrespective of their per- Christ remained, to the end of His mundane exist- sonal beliefs. The challenge of Christian loyalty ence, the Saviour of men by giving His life and has never before been more severe, and happily shedding His divine blood for the redemption of it is being met in a true Christian spirit-a spirit man's sins. of which all followers of Christ may well be "The missionaries in China today are, no doubt, proud."
A PEACE HYMN FROM JAPAN Out of Japan came a peace hymn twenty years ago, written by William Merrell Vories, of Omi Hachiman. It is now in the Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in Japan.
Let there be light, Lo.rd Go.d o.f Ho.sts, Give us the peace o.f visio.n clear Let there be wisdo.m o.n the earth! To. see o.ur' bro.thers' go.o.d o.ur o.wn, Let bro.ad humanity have birth! To. jo.y and suffer no.t alo.ne; Let there be deeds, instead o.f boasts! The Io.ve that casteth o.ut all fear!
Within o.ur passio.ned hearts instill Let wo.e and waste o.f warfare cease, The calm that endeth strain and strife; That useful labo.r yet may build Make us thy ministers of life; Its homes with Io.ve and laughter filled!
Purge us fro.m lusts that curse and kill! Go.d, give thy wayward children peace!
The author founded the Japanese "Omi Brotherhaad," described as "an experiment in establishing the Kingdom of God in the province of Omi, Japan." It has come to be one of the most significant demonstrations in Japan of the Kingdom of God, a combination of business and missionary activity. The architectural department supervises and builds more than fifty structures a year. A publicity department prints books and periodicals. Two factories are operated. They are agents for Mentholatum and other products. The church is composed of four nationalities from nine different denominations. It has overcome the difficulty of getting Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, and Americans to work together harmoniously. Effective educational and medical work are also carried on and. good moving pictures offset the influence of vicious films.
A Miracle-Happy Lepers in
_.~I By R. M. WILSON, M.D.* I Missionary of the (Southern) Presbyterian Church 1 __ __ ~~=-~-===~~==~==== ~~~-J FOR over thirty-five hundred years leprosy has case of erysipelas. After two or three weeks this been considered the most hopeless of all dis- subsides, the fever drops, and then the patient eases, incurable, a curse; yet within the past begins to improve. twenty-five years it has become amenable to treat- In treatment an important thing is to clear the ment, and there is hope for lepers. We may call patient of intestinal parasites, malaria, syphilis, it a miracle, for so it is. or any other complication. Food is an important The Korean has no such view of it. He calls it part of the treatment, as well as exercise and Poong or the "Great Wind." He believes it is a keeping busy so as to occupy the mind. Sand curse from heaven. In desperation some Korean baths in the hot sun, as well as swimming, are lepers even eat human flesh, which they have been parts of the treatment; the daily hot, soapy bath told is a cure. Lepers in Korea taste of the bitter is important.
dregs of life. They are driven here and there, Our colony is as busy as a beehive, for all who sleep in culverts and caves, and often fall down can stir about must do their part towards caring before us saying, "Save a dead dog." So, coming for their gardens and raising pigs, rabbits, or into our beautiful Leper Home they soon find the some other form of the extra food needed in their great Christian hope and abide in its joy. treatment. Blind Pak passes his days by making Our leper colony is a little world in itself. The straw rope, and he can earn three cents a day, lepers have their own mayor and town govern- about our usual wage in the colony. Mr. F. E. C.
ment, and manage most of their own affairs, Williams of Kwangju has been a great help to us meeting annually for the election of the councils in training the lepers to a more scientific farming.
and officers. We have trained thirty who do most He comes every fall with a Korean teacher, and of the medical work and in the future this train- their classes, held for one week, mean a great ing will be an even more important part of our deal. An annual fair is held in the fall when task. Formerly we gave such men a general med- their crops, pigs, rabbits, and produce of other ical course, but now we confine a student to one kinds are displayed and prizes given. line of work; otherwise, some will run away and One of the worst wind and rain storms in years practice medicine! A man named Insune is the struck our colony last year and did much damage, head of the group of thirty. He makes rounds mostly to the roofs. The American Mission to and writes prescriptions; yet he was once one of Lepers sent an emergency fund of one thousand the most advanced cases we had. Another lad dollars at once, which about covered the losses. does most of the simple surgery-amputations of One of the queerest observations I ever made feet and hands. Two boys' time is fully occupied among lepers was when I came upon a man with filling prescriptions. One gives all his time to the sole of his foot in his lap. With a large npedle intravenous injections of glucose, calcium, sal- and thread he was sewing up a great crack in his varsan, and the like. Last year 6,206 of these foot. He had to do this about once a month, he were given, and 65,000 injections of chaulmoogra said, for sand and dirt would crowd in and in- crease the size of the wound. It was about like oil.
Very fortunately the chaulmoogra oil is not sewing up a baseball! very expensive. A pound costs about thirty-five A recent study of our seven hundred lepers cents and will treat a case about thirty weeks. For those who take it by mouth the cost is more showed some curious facts which will give an idea because the dose is larger and taken daily. The of their suffering. In answer to the question, oil apparently has a direct effect upon the bacilli. "What relative of yours was a leper?" sixty- Quite often when a case starts the treatment, one replied, brother; forty-five, father; thirtythere is a severe reaction, as though it were a bad eight, mother. Two hundred and twenty said they had lived with lepers; ten, that they thought they had gotten the disease from a leper's house; two • Superintendent of the Soonchun (Korea) Leper Colony aided hundred and twenty-nine said that lepers lived by the American Mission to Lepers, Inc., 156 Fifth AVe'. , New York, N. Y. in their village as neighbors.
[33 ]
"
As to the first sign of the disease, three hundred feet; two, arms; twenty, legs. In three hundred and fifty-nine saw it in their lower extremities, and sixty-one cases the vision was good, and in and two hundred and twenty-seven, in their arms three hundred and forty-one it was impaired.
and hands. Their chief suffering is from neuritis, Thirty-four had lost both eyes, and twenty-six, and four hundred and thirty (more than half the one eye.
colony) had it at the time of our study. Two The fact that four hundred and three are bap- hundred and eighty had ulcers, mostly on the feet; tized Christians and one hundred and fourteen in one hundred and forty-one were unable to do any the catechumen class shows that Christ is strong kind of work. As to recovery, two hundred and among them. Many of the others are new Chris- fifteen had slightly improved, two hundred and tians, but it takes about two years of study and sixty-six had greatly improved, and twenty-three testing before they are fully admitted to the had grown worse. One hundred and seventy- church.
three stated that the dead spots in the skin had It is a joy to see these wretched, sick, hopeless improved. Two hundred and forty had lost creatures recover and become happy, healthy fingers; two hundred and fifty-nine, toes; eight, Christian citizens of the land.
When Korean Preachers Illustrate* -<Ef I By th, 10" F. S. MILLER of Cho,," I!J;.- T HE illustrations Korean preachers and teach- not come and have lunch with us?' The yangban ers use let in the light not only on their sub- felt insulted by being asked to sit by the roadside jects but also on the inner workings of their and eat with coolies, and gave them a gruff reply. minds and hearts. "Several years afterwards, when the reformed Pastor Yune, speaking of mutual helpfulness: government had come in and the yang bans were "Two beggars came through our village, one was deprived of their especial privileges of living by a deaf and dumb woman and she was leading a oppression of the common people and by extorblind man. Both had happy, contented faces, tion, this yangban, like many of his fellows, was and seemed to get along together well enough. on the verge of starvation. One day he passed the same farmer and his hands, eating by the "Now, if the man had kept abusing the woman roadside. How good that white rice looked; those because she did not tell him .what she saw and she pickles made his mouth water. He hoped they had abused him for not telling her what he heard would ask him again to sit down and eat with they might have lived very unhappily together them but, remembering his former rebuff, they and have sought a divorce. As I observed them I ate in silence, not even saluting him. Going a thought, 'That is the way forbearance with each little further on, he felt so weak from hunger and other's weaknesses makes a couple happy.' the grinding of his stomach that he had to stop and sit on the bank of the stream. How he re- "In the leper asylum you will see those who pented of his former pride and oppressions!" have hands helping those who have none and those who have feet using them for those who are foot- *** less. Each of us has his peculiar gifts, let us use them for those who lack. Let us not despise the Deacon Pak, speaking of God's love for us sinhelpfulness of the weak; the bread and the fish ners, said: "One of the Christians in Seoul had did not belong to a full-grown man." five daughters and one son. One afternoon the youngest daughter wandered off. At two o'clock *** the mother discovered that she was missing and started out to hunt for her. Long after dark she Elder Song, pointing out the danger of pride, found her outside the East Gate. used this, "There was a proud yangban, gentleman, in a village who passed a group of farm- "When the father was returning at sunset, tired hands eating their lunch by the roadside. The and hungry, some neighbors told him of his loss. farm women had brought out a large gourd full So he turned back up the street and searched for of boiled rice, bowls of pickled cabbage and a her till eleven o'clock. When he returned home bottle of soy sauce. and found her safely restored, he wept for joy with his cheek against hers, saying, 'If we had "The coolies asked, out of politeness, 'Will you • From The Korean Mission Field.
WHEN KOREAN PREACHERS ILLUSTRATE
not found you we could not have slept tonight. from her parents-in-law and for the present of bread for her parents she thought she would take Thanks be to God.' . three pecks of rice. As she sat down in the sedan chair she thought, 'This rice, in addition to my "If a working man with five daughters and a own weight, will be heavy for the chair-coolies.' So she placed the rice on her head and carried it son to support by his labor could so rejoice over there all the way, instead of laying it at her feet. We are just as foolish when We carry our worries the return of his smallest daughter how easy it is instead of placing them in God's keeping."
to conceive of God's joy over one sinner who *** repents." When speaking of the way Christians lose their consciousness of the presence of the Holy Spirit *** in our hearts, Pastor An said, "An old man and his son were going to Seoul and lost their ticket Speaking of thankfulness, Leader Yi told of a on the train. The conductor said he would come through again and told them to keep up their pastor in Fusan who was returning from making search. They hunted through their clothing and baggage and scolded each other. Finally the son calls and heard the sound of suffering coming opened up his underclothing and there in a secret pocket, wrapped up in paper, he found the ticket. from under a bridge. He listened and heard a When you feel you have lost God, do not search the heavens above or the earth beneath, just look voice asking that God would send a Christian to in your own heart."
help the sufferer. Looking down, he saw a leper *** with one foot almost gone. When he spoke kindly Helper Kim told how he had been asked to hold revival services in a church. He started to do so to the leper the diseased one asked, "Are you a and they fed him the poorest variety of rice and lent him no covering for the night, so he could Christian ?" "Yes." On hearing this the leper neither eat nor sleep and spent the night in prayer for the church. The next day, praying for began praying the more earnestly as he thought strength, he went on with his instruction and ex- hortation and, though they did not improve the his prayer was answered. rice, they gave him a thin and unclean comforter. Again he was too cold to sleep but went on with The pastor hastened home and told the Chris- his revival services, with the result that the peo- ple relented and fed him on good rice and supplied tians to collect and send food and warm clothing him with plenty of bedding. As usual, it was not that they did not have the goods, but that they to the leper as he was on the point of departure lacked the grace.
for North Korea to lead some revival meetings in He went on to say that it is not always the Pyengyang. During the meetings he told the story of the leper praying under the bridge.
Someone in the congregation, without giving his or her name, placed forty yen in the collection plate marked, "For the leper." Others, hearing of the gift, contributed more till they had enough to send him to the asylum.
When the pastor visited the asylum after that, the joy, peace and thankfulness of this leper touched his heart. Leader Yi went on to say: "Thankfulness is not in the place and circum- stances of the person. Jesus was thankful under the reign of a Herod or when lying in the stern of a little boat in the midst of a storm."
*** Lay pastor An, telling how useless it is to worry, said: "A young woman in our village was preparing to pay her first visit to her own home LIFTING UP JESUS CHRIST There is a theory, held by some, that Jesus of Nazareth was only an extraordinary man, a Palestinian Socrates, a Galilean Francis of Assisi, a first century ethical teacher, a Jewish prophet, a lofty spiritual genius, the founder of a new religion to be ranked among the other religions of the world.
In reality Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life. He is the door. He is the bread of life, and the water of life. He is the vine. He is the morning star. He is the light of the world. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the resurrection. He is the eternal Word. He is the only Saviour from sin. He is God manifest in the flesh. He is the image of the invisible God, the effulgence of God's glory, and the very image of His substance. He is the foundation of the Church, and the head of it.
If any pastor, who feels that his ministry is futile and that his church is losing ground, will exalt the living Christ in his life and his preaching, he will be a winner of souls.-The Christian Observer.
worker who brings revival to the church; some- because it is the beginning of a new cycle. The times it is the church that revives the worker. eldest son usually provides a feast for the parent. There was a woman in a church who had lost her zeal and activity. Her son had gone to Japan to The church people, seeing how sad and lonely find work and when her sixtieth birthday came she was, gave her a better feast than her son could there was no one to provide a feast for her. The have done and she received such a revival from sixtieth birthday is the greatest one in a lifetime this kindness that she became an active worker in the church and well repaid them for their love.
Distributing Bibles to Russians By REV. 1. V. NEPRASH Executive Secretary of the Russian Bible Fund T HE Soviet Government gave permission ten from the police, that meant suffering and financial years ago for the printing of 50,000 Bibles losses to' the Believers, the work of distribution and 50,000 New Testaments under the aus- was organized and 19,966 New Testaments and pices of the Russian Bible Fund. The writer was 2,300 Bibles were distributed to those who wished asked to secure the necessary money and a con- them. Five courses for workers were conducted siderable amount was subscribed in America. daily for about 300 pastors and evangelists. Six Part of the program was carried out when, with- hours were given to instruction in the study of out warning, the Soviet Government cancelled the the Bible, how to organize a church, how to bring permission, and the remaining funds were kept in men to Christ and on the spiritual life of workers. America until there should be opportunity to use Every night large evangelistic services were held. them for the purpose for which they were given. With the help of the pastors, the program of dis- tribution was worked out in detail and it was de- Since Russia is still closed to any Bible distri- cided to give the Scriptures to unbelievers only, bution, the Committee in charge of the fund de- to those who are unable to pay and only to those cided to use the money to make the Scriptures interested enough to read the Book. available to Russians scattered in many places throughout the world. Many were stranded in The distribution was made through Believers foreign lands after the War and when the Com- who, with every copy, gave a testimony concernmunists started a drive for the extermination of ing the Book and the Saviour. the educated Russians, hundreds of thousands fled for life and are now scattered in various parts of One month was spent in Poland, where there the world. are several million Russians and Ukrainians. Services and conferences, with courses for work- Some Evangelical Christians organized the dis- ers were conducted. About 15,000 copies of the tribution in China, Manchukuo and Japan and the Bible are being distributed through the Believers. writer took up the work in parts of Europe where there are large settlements of Russians. Six Danzig proudly calls itself the "Free City." months were spent in Czechoslovakia, Roumania, About 2,000 Russians are in the city and its prov- Poland, Lithuania, Germany and France. The ince. Practically all belong to the former intelresults of this evangelistic work are far beyond ligentsia and many are unemployed, leading a expectation because of the spiritual hunger of the miserable existence. Their hearts are over-burmasses of exiles. dened with the situation. Much sympathy is ex- pressed for Jews who leave Germany and have Eastern Czechoslovakia is populated by over nowhere to go, but there is no mention of almost half a million of Carpathian Russians. Having 2,000,000 Russians who, persecuted by Commurecently traveled in seventeen countries in various nists, had to flee their homeland and have lost parts of the world, I have found nowhere such everything after seeing their relatives massacred poverty as among these people. The Scriptures for no other crime than that they were educated. were received most eagerly. Why is sympathy so one-sided? It seems that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only remedy to heal The eastern province is called Bessarabia, and the wounds. A Russian priest in Danzig was is a Russian province under the Roumanian flag. grateful for the Scriptures offered his poor pa- Three months were spent there with most gratify- rishioners. ing results. In spite of continuous interference
DISTRIBUTING BIBLES TO RUSSIANS
Lithuania is a comparatively small country with crossed himself to express his gratitude to God over 75,000 Russians scarcely touched by the Gos- and almost embraced the writer. pel. Two thousand copies of the Testament are being distributed as a start. When a bishop who has 185,000 in his care was offered the Scriptures, he asked suspiciously: In Germany we found complete freedom for preaching the Gospel and the spreading of the "Why do you do it?" Christian Scriptures. The writer answered that he had been an atheist and was converted through the study of In France there are between 300,000 and 400,- astronomy but had found this a wrong way to go. 000 Russians and about 80,000 are in Paris. Serv- He now knew that the shortest way is through the ices were conducted there every day, two on Sun- Scriptures and so devotes his life to their disday, in the opera house Pleyel, in the center of tribution. the city; they were well attended and the pres- "Through astronomy, you said? Please tell me ence of God was evident. Former colonels, gen- how it happened," begged the bishop with insist- TRAINING RUSSIANS TO BE EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN WORKERS One of Seven "Courses for Workers" conducted recently in different countries of Europe.
erals, doctors, professors, singers, leaders in the ence. When the story was told all suspicion disfinancial world, ladies of society, brought low by appeared and kindness, almost reverence, took its circumstances, listened intently. place, together with gratitude for the books.
The Russian missionary work in France and When a book is given by us to a Russian, it is Belgium (with her 3,000 Russians) is well organ- taken with the suspicion that it may be a sectarian ized. A Gospel periodical is published and 15,000 book, but when the copy comes from a bishop it copies every month go to Russians in all parts of is received as a holy book, is read with confidence the world. A campaign for the distribution of and believed. New Testaments has been begun and from 5,000 to 10,000 copies will be distributed, for the most Pray for the many thousands of New Testapart through individual Believers. In some cases ments and Bibles being distributed throughout the the clergy of the Russian Church are also ap- world, that they may bring a hundred-fold harvest proached. When a priest in Czechoslovakia was for the glory of God. Without God's blessing, the offered copies of the Scriptures for his parish- books may remain only printed matter, or be deioners he gratefully but hesitatingly asked for 100 stroyed; but through the influence of the Holy New Testaments and 50 Bibles. He did not know Spirit they may become a Living Word in the where to obtain the books. When he was asked hearts of the readers and lead them to Christif he would be willing to distribute copies among the Giver of a new Life of which these Russians non-members of his congregation, he gladly are so greatly in need because of their experiences agreed. When 250 Testaments were offered he of the past and hardships of the present, with no hope for a better future.
Youth Looks at
By CHARLES D. HURREY, New York Secretary of the Committee on Friendly Relations with Foreign Students .r-. AMERICA is in the spotlight. World youth is American the Chinese are laundrymen and con- watching us. They are visiting us, criti- sumers of chop suey and chow mein. We have cising us,and praising us. maligned the Japanese as sly and deceitful. For "You Americans are making us go faster," said most of us, the Filipino is still a tree-dwelling a Syrian young man, "but are you making us grow savage. When young Americans are asked t.o de- better? You can .organize gigantic industrial cor- scribe India, they give inordinate emphasis to porations, build skyscrapers and subways, but you caste, famine, and tigers. Our fear of entangling cannot write anything comparable to the 23rd alliances with Europe perpetuates the popular im- Psalm or the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians." pression of the French as gay and irresponsible, "You Yankee Americans built the Panama the British as lordly and "high hat," the Germans Canal, but how did y.oU acquire the Canal Zone?" as warlike, the Italians as "dagoes" and the Rus- was the disturbing questi.on put to me by a bril- sians as bewhiskered and red.
Iiant Latin American student. "You imperialistic To offset these weird and unfair judgments we people of North America think of us Spanish need to discover an that is best and beautiful in Americans as a backward people to be exploited others, and to reveal our best to visitors from for gain; you are not willing to meet us as com- overseas. If I could have my way, the schools of rades on a cultural plane." America would be visited frequently by cultured In far-off Australia some are saying: "You are spokesmen from the Orient, Europe, and Latin rapidly becoming a nation of law-breakers; you America. Our youth should be thrilled by the art condemn banditry in China but daylight holdups and musk and literature of other lands. More- menace your metropolitan areas." over we should receive in our homes, clubs, and The youth of Asia attack our color prejudice churches, these guests of culture and refinement.
and racial discriminati.on. They say: "You Fortunately, our college communities are fa- preach brotherhood but you practice injustice; vored with the presence of over 8,000 students you frown upon the caste system of India but you from all parts of the world; sons and daughters lynch the American Negro. Champions of liberty of high officials and business men abroad are now and freedom, you grant n.o Asiatic the rights of mingling with our youth on the American campus.
American citizenship." With alert and open mind they are studying our European 'youth likewise looks us over. "Why civilization at close range. don't you let us run our own affairs?" says a German youth. "Why do you think you are called On the brighter side, here is how they size us upon to be the moral leaders of the world?" up: British youth declare that we grant degrees to "You are a generous people; vast millions are generous donors to our colleges, who have achieved no academic standing. given annually to education, charity, and religion, not only at home but notably abroad. Your cham- "It is not the business of a student to be work- pionship of public health has overcome contagious ing in factory or harvest field," observes an Ox- disease and has enriched life for all. Under your ford student. "It is the business of a student to leadership warfare is waged against poverty, disbe a thinker and to think things through. You ease, ignorance, and crime in the Orient and Latin have achieved only mediocrity in music, art, and America, as well as within your own borders.
literature because in your devotion to popular edu- "Your technique intrigues us; how you do cation you fail to recognize superior talent and things fascinates us. We are here to discover the ability." secret of your gigantic achievements. After all, If these judgments seem harsh and unfair, let this is a land of opportunity, democracy still pre- us remember that we have brought them upon vails, and the people are free to say and write ourselves by maintaining an attitude of aloofness what they think. Here the humblest can rise to and superiority. Have we not thought of Mexi- the highest position in the land, through sheer cans as bandits and bull fighters? To the average merit and hard work.
[38 ] "Darkness is dispelled throughout the world AWAKE, YE CHRISTIAN MEN and mighty forces are placed at man's disposal Words copyrighted by George A. Brown, Elyria, Ohio. Tune-St. Thomas. S. M. by Aaron Williams. because of the inventions of Edison and other Awake, ye Christian men, Americans. We see you victorious in your strug- Behold the world today; gle to master the machine rather than be mastered Great multitudes, like scattered sheep, From God still go astray. by it. Through labor saving devices you are on Come, with a spirit stirred, the way to release men and women from drudgery Obey your Lord's command; and to set free their spirits for contemplating Pray Him to send forth laborers To ev'ry waiting land. eternal values." . Present your gifts to Him, Youthful eyes from every land are upon Amer- Your ·silver and .your gold, ica. What shall they see? Without our effort But,first of all, yourself He asks, That He your life may mold. they may not discover our best, but may drift Go forth, .ye Christian men, into our worst. The preservation of the noblest Proclaim His name abroad, ideals of American youth depends upon the con- That sinners, far and near, may come. To know the Son of God. servation of our Christian character and at the He gave His life for you, same time we must preserve the heritage of beauty His precious blood He shed; and truth possessed by our youthful guests from Serve Him who saves you by His gracet The Church's living Head. afar.
From the standpoint of the development of the Christian world community, no body of young people offer such opportunities as do the foreigtl students in America. If tactfully approached and enlisted in the work of the Christian churches throughout the United States, these young people will become the equivalent of as many foreign missionaries upon returning to their native lands.
TWELVE BASIC FACTS ABOUT ALCOHOL AS A BEVERAGE Whereas the income of people in the United come alcohol addicts; that is, they can dis- continue the practice only at the expense of States has increased 51 % in the past five years, grave discomfort and disturbance. 8. Of those who do not become addicts, the mathe gifts to benevolences have decreased 30% and jority suffer degenerative changes in the the amount spent on alcoholic drink has increased organs and in the vascular and nervous sys- tems. over 300 %. Is it not time we considered the in- 9. The traffic in alcohol is productive of waste, crime, and social deficiency. The social fluence of intoxicants on health and character? burden is comparable only to that of war The following facts are given by investigators: and disease. 10. The alcohol custom and traffic are rooted 1. Alcohol is an irritant, depressant, narcotic deeply in physiological, psychological,ec~ drug. nomic,social, and political motives. .The problem is allied to nearly every other prob- 2. It deprives the tissues of oxygen, hinders the lem, being at once cause and effect. ! functioning of every organ and endangers health by decreasing the efficiency of the 11. The social good can be served only by policies body's defense mechanism. which look toward a diminishing cortsump- tion of alcoholic liquors. Any policy with 3. Alcohol suppresses the higher controls which this purpose and result is acceptable; any are the products of moral and social teach- other ·policy is morally wrong and socially ings, thus causing. disharmony with the disasterous. modern environment. 12. Prohibition of the liquor traffic, by aligning 4. By its effect upon the central nervous system, all of the powers of government against the alcohol slows the reaction time, causing the habit and the traffic, has served the social deaths of thousands of men, women, and good better than any other policy so far children on our highways. tried. There may be better ways of dealing with the liquor traffic and the drinking cus- 5. It decreases physical effidency, impairs the torn; they have not yet been demonstrated. value of mental effort, and disturbs the psychology of the individual.
6. Alcohol is a habit-forming drug. A constantly increased quantity is required to produce a given effect. 7. Because of this habit-forming characteristic, three persons of every ten who drink be-
NEW GUINEA NATIVES HAVING A DANCE FESTIVAL ON A COCOANUT PLANTATION NEW GUINEA PAPUANS AT HOME-PREPARING FOOD
A PEACEFUL SCEKE IN A PAPUAN VILLAGE IN NEW GUINEA, MANDATED
New Guinea Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow -..a{ I By R. R. HANSELMANN I ~- ~==============================~ SLOWLY the wild and unknown spaces of the after the bitter experiences of the pioneers, the world are disappearing. Soon it will no present ten thousand white men are reasonably longer be possible to find a land that mission- safe and comfortable. The one quarter million aries, trade and international politics have not natives of this area have not accepted Christianity penetrated. Outside the polar regions there are as a mere veneer, but have experienced a rebirth but few unexplored areas, and the largest of these of varying degree. The native is pathetically is the vast tropical interior of New Guinea, an anxious to live like a white man, and to imitate island continent much of which is still shrouded both the good and the bad, so that one cannot pre- in mystery, dict the future of the race.
Throughout pioneer days patriots and empire In speaking of the native of yesterday, we mean builders, energetic fortune seekers and zealous the primitive man as he still is in his undisturbed missionaries, were called upon to display a hero- savage life. Possibly a million would be a eon- ism and self-sacrifice perhaps unparalleled in the servative estimate of the population. These naannals of history; and many brave and worthy tives are partly Caucasian, partly Mongolian, lives were as seed planted in the ground, after- with a little Ethiopian blood. Their features are wards to bear the fruits of civilization and right- not as outstanding as the Negro's; their skin is eousness. On a sixty- to eighty-mile border around in various shades of chocolate brown. The men New Guinea, the Christian religion and civiliza- are tall and sturdy, even the pygmies being husky, tion have established themselves securely, for but the women are very small. Men wear tapa [41 ]
cloths and the women grass skirts. Having an promise assistance or protection. When making aversion to water, the primitive man wallows in a new garden, sorcerers are called to drive infilth; fights to protect his clan; cultivates the land sects away. Certain shrubs are planted to attract for food (sweet potatoes, taros, yams, greens and rain and warmth from the sun. Daggers or arrow points are suspended from tree limbs to ward off evil influences. For fighting, hunting, fishing, courting, indeed for every step of life, some sor- cerer plays a role, and each one demands re- muneration. Especially in sickness and death, fear of unseen realities bring terror to the primi- tive man. Gruesome methods are used to scare the captive spirit from a limb or body, and when death comes the whole village laments. In their wailing, they extol the deceased, and try to justify all their past unkindnesses toward him. The widow covers her body with clay to protect her- self from her husband's soul which seeks to snatch her soul away. Suicide is committed, not out of despair or despondency, but out of revenge, for the belief in the power of the departed soul to do evil is real to the man of yesterday.
On the other hand, life in reality is a life of lust. There is nothing to curb desires. The only CANNIBAL PAPUANS CHRISTIAN PAPUANS TODAY (Church Erected by American Lutheran Mission.) bananas); raises pigs, dogs and chickens; and manufactures his own implements and clothing.
Each tribe speaks its own language. The theory is that private contentions caused many separations, and as each ostracized group survived and developed, their language underwent many changes. Unwritten languages are not static. Some tribes suffix their verbs, others prefix them. The irregular verbs in the Amele language number over six hundred. The rules of syntax are almost the opposite of ours. Interpreters that can speak two or three languages are very rare. Their strange melodies reveal an odd rhythm. War and love songs, dance music and mothers' chants are melancholy, like funeral dirges. Fear and superstition leave their indelible traces on the soul, as the weird music bears witness.
Fear of the life hereafter, superstition, and faith in sorcerers make the native of yesterday the most miserable creature on God's earth. A spirit of love and goodness is unknown. By sacrifices or efforts to delude the spirits the natives seek their safety. certain spirits are believed to have their habitation in caves and mountain peaks. There is no trespassing of these premises, and if accidentally or unknowingly entered, fear, or auto-suggestion, would soon claim its victim. The belief that a spirit or enemy may assume another body or form, such as a crocodile or shark, is common.
As animists they seek refuge in sorcerers who
NEW GUINEA YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
check is the sense of the welfare of the clan, and discover the reality of our God." After years of that is frequently at the expense of the individual. swaying forward and backward, suddenly it is Whatever the majority of the clan decides, the seen that the Holy Spirit has created a new heart, individual accepts. Gluttonous feasting and im~ new desires and lives are changed. After a thormoral dancing carry in their wake physical ough Bible course of two years' instruction, large wrecks. As no primitive tribe has been found that classes are baptized, and out of the night of darkunderstood the physiological phenomena of life, ness and the struggle with the unearthly powers our natives have their erroneous ideas. The girl of evil, children of light and of God arise. to be married is supposed to be a virgin; so rightly we speak of the morals of a primitive people as So it comes about that in the native of today one high, but we must add only in certain respects and sees brighter countenances; cleanliness in private that is due to ignorance and superstition. On the and public life; a lighter rhythm is felt in newly other hand the primitive man is found to reach composed music. Every event and problem of life the very lowest depths. is discussed in the light of God's Word. Public censuring of sin and congregational discipline are We see in the native of yesterday a truly ra~ realities. Church services are crowded, and daily tional human being, imbibed with a spirit created devotions bear witness that religion has com- SOME NATIVE :lEW GUI:lEA GIRLS IX THEIR M'ODERl': DRESS by God, living in constant danger of war, ensnared pletely gripped the masses. A different spirit is in a fearful superstition, given to live a life of astir. There is now no fear of evil spirits; the lust, covered with dirt and groping for a miser- blessings of civilization are self~evident realities. able existence, with the definite doom of falling Baptism becomes a custom. into Satan's hands. But there are influences that pull the other way. But we are thankful to say that many have been The indentured labor system takes the young men saved by the power of the Gospel. This has meant into different surroundings for three years. Over many years of careful, tactful, prayerful work and 33,000 young men are employed by white men, a fierce struggle between God and Satan. The absorbing the virtues and the vices of the white stationing of young Christian native men in bar- man. The native has had no time to adjust- himbaric areas, where in the beginning they are not self to the new mode of life. But always a nucleus called upon to teach and preach, but to live a in the church prays and works to overcome the Christian life, is an effective method, and calls evil influences. for the choicest vessels of God. The devil knows what influence these Christian riatives will exer~ Looking into the future, one sees either a promcise, and he tempts them to the utmost. Every ising nation, or the remnants of a dying race. Bible story is told with this appeal: "Tryout and Clouds are now threatening on the horizon. The Oriental world is making gigantic strides, and
whether New Guinea will remain in the white morrow can be helped to adjust himself to changed man's control is an open question. Japan has re- conditions, a new nation may develop, but if he ceived a lease for an immense area in Dutch New cannot acquire the proper psychological equilib- Guinea. Sea shell poaching between nations is rium, he will succumb. In any case, mission work waged like a little war. White population is in- in New Guinea has a glorious future. The Gospel creasing rapidly. Land is acquired, commercial must, and will be brought to this uttermost part enterprises enlarged, and there is an ever-grow- of the earth, and if the Lord's Word and prophecy ing demand for native laborers. Civilization, find fulfilment with this task, then may the end with its blessings and evils, comes into closer and come. Let us be found doing His will and workeasier reach of the natives. If the native of to- ing while it is day.
A Revival in East"Africa By LUCILDA A. NEWTON, Mabuki, East Africa Missionary of the Africa Inland Mission T HE long prayed for revival seems to be unheard of in this territory. But at our station, breaking upon Tanganyika in such power Nera, the powers of Satan seems to be stronger that it is completely changing the lives of than ever. Perhaps it is because here are gath- ered all the future leaders of the work in the Bible both black and white people. It began in our school and pastors' institute. But the Lord can conquer Nera. Already we have felt the Spirit's Africa Inland Mission teachers' institute in July. power in the giving of His Word such as I have never known before. What years of wasted ef- The native leaders received a real filling of the forts we put forth without His power. In these days, since we have really come to know Him as Holy Spirit, and this spread from them back to the never before, He is bringing us to see the power of His resurrection life. There is a stand of faith white missionaries until half of the Tanganyika where that resurrection power can be continu- ously at work against the enemy. force are so changed that their lives are hardly We feel that this reviving is a preparation for recognized by those who knew them two months something ahead. There is a fellowship of His sufferings that is awaiting us, but we do not know before. The Lord did not pass me by but has the details. With the ,Lord doing such a definite work in our midst, how we need grace, how we wrought such a new work in me that I can truly need humility and continued yieldedness. We feel the Lord has done all of the blessed work of resay that "henceforth I live, yet not I, Christ liveth viving and we cannot take ourselves out of His hand-but we can grieve His Spirit by pride and in me." He has so completely revolutionized my self-sufficiency.
home life that we now have complete unity in the things of the Spirit, whereas for a year we had only misunderstanding. This is happening in the lives of many. We have faith to believe that the work will not cease until every worker has been brought into this relationship with God, through the Spirit. '
We hear from a number of stations that rou- tine work has been put aside and daily souls are coming for prayer and to seek the Lord. It is ANCIENT KINGDOMS IN AFRICA Few people know of the existence of two native kingdoms in the heart of Africa, Ruanda and Urundi, which for centuries had each a line of hereditary rulers. Musinga, now de- throned, was the last of the great heathen monarchs of Central Africa, and in his day had exercised the power of life and death over all his subjects. This power was taken from him in 1916. The two kingdoms are now governed by Belgium under mandatory powers.
The Ruanda General and Medical Mission was founded by the Church Missionary Society. For its work it must depend entirely upon voluntary support, whereas Roman Catholic schools are in receipt of large State subsidies. The Mission has seven stations and nearly fifty mis- sionaries. Each station has its ordained English missionary and its doctor. The native evan- gelists and teachers number about 800; adherents are probably about 30,000 to 40,000. Photo by Mr. and Mrs,. Martin Johnson 'OLD SCH'O'OL AFRICAN WARRIORS-WITH THEIR WARDRUMS NEW SCIJ'O'OL AFRICAN WARRIOR-C'OLP'ORTEUR AT BIBLE DEPOT. KHART'OUM '~ Effective Ways·· of Working r 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO SUGGESTIONS FOR THAT No.4; "There.'s too much ml;t- New Philadelphia, Ohio, writes "NEW LEAF" chinery! There's too much ma- this Department as follows: chinery!" Do not be content with the Beside our Missionary Society proprogram of activities or the at- No.5; "Women are not inter- grams, and those of the Guilds, we tainments of 1937. Every liv- ested in missions anymore! intend having a School of Broadening ing thing must grow; even a Women are not interested in Horizons – for the children's groups change to a fresh plan in order missions anymore!" during the church worship hour; and to whet the appetites of the for the young people's and adult membership is well worth while. No.6; "No one reads mission- groups during the B. Y. P. U. hour. The material this month is of- ary lIterature anymore! Noone We expect to have one missionary fered to furnish enlargement reads missionary literature any- prayer meeting a month for eight patterns for pastors, Sunday more !" months. Four will be on the Moslem School workers and leaders of World and four on the Rural theme. both adult and junior missionary No.7; "Women are seeking It is surprising how much there is groups. As a keynote, read this honor only for themselves! available for interesting programs digest of a clever skit given at a Women ate seeking· honQr only when one begins to cast around. For meeting of the Methodist women for themselves!" the rural programs I expect to have of the Cincinnati district, at three progressive rural pastors, all Lakeside, Ohio, last summer: Indignantly the leader says: graduates of college and seminary, "They can;t do this to our new alive to present-day problems, come A Study in Ghosts program! Can't somebody quiet in and speak on such subjects as Co- them ?" operatives, Problems of the Rural The leader of a meeting, out- Church, and the Rural Home of Tolining the new plans for the At this seven women from the day. A stereopticon lecture on Colcoming year, was disturbed by audience rush up and reply for- portage Work will complete the Rural confused talking and groaning cibly, in turn. Each objecting programs. I find that within a radius behind the curtain to her rear. ghost repeats her phrase upon of thirty miles are living several mis- She said: being asked what is the matter sionaries on furlough. One is from with her, and is answered in in- Cairo, one from northern India "Somebody seems to be mak- dignant terms: (where the Moslems are strongest), ing a fuss back there. Will one and one from Nigeria. I am asking of you please go back and see "Others are doing this. . . . them to speak especially on their conwhat it's about?" There must always be a first tacts with the Moslems in these widely time for everything," etc. separated fields. I hope to have a According to prearrangement, moving picture on the Mohammedan a member of the audience looked As each ghost is told, in her topic complete this series. behind the curtain and said, turn, to "begone!" she slinks off, looking furtively behind, and the Your suggestions in the M,ISSIONARY "There's a whole group of the sixth speaker says: REVIEW OF THE WORLD are invaluable, queerest looking people back and I am looking forward eagerly to there. I think you'd better see "You're nothing new-you're forthcoming issues. them." all ghosts of creatures dead long ago." These kindly words of appre- The curtains are opened re- ciation are passed along to the vealing seven ghostly figures As the last ghost repeats her constituency, whose materials, in (sheeted and with faces cray- cry that women seek honor only the main, are used in our departoned) , writhing, t w i s tin g, for themselves, the leader looks ment. wringing their han d s, and up and says: groaning thus: Christian Youth in Missionary "Dear Christ, can it be pos- Action No.1; "It can't be done! It sible that this is true of many of can't be done!" us ?" She closes with a prayer Under this challenging title, of repentance and consecration, S. Franklin Mack, authorized by No.2; "We never did it be- while groans continue behind the International Committee of fore! We never did it before!" the scenes. Religious Education and in co- operation with the Missionary No.3; "It costs too much. It This scene is very forcible. Education Movement, has writcosts too much!" Try it. ten a pamphlet for the series is- sued for young people using the A Pastor Includes the Men United Christian Youth Move- ment literature. Rev. Rodney C. Gould, pastor of the First Baptist Church at [46 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
The pamphlet in question out- duce, we have usually come to use for Rally Day. Another was lines "what individual young a home mission play, 'The Mispeople and young people's socie- the end of the course rather sionary Barrel,' found in a colties can do for missions." It exhausted and wondering how lection of mission plays pubgives a brief survey of the voca- much we had accomplished. . . . lished by MacMillan; and tional aspect of missions, with a another was a foreign mission summary of the qualifications With all of our efforts, most of play called 'The Dawning of the required of the missionary of our churches are giving mission Morning,' published by the Abthe future. If your young peo- ingdon Press. ple are not already enlisted, by study to the very people who all means arrange a rally at the "Besides this program in the call of the pastor, Sunday school need least to be worked with, Sunday school we gave three superintendent or the Woman's while few of the great majority Wednesday evening services and society and present the cause in of people whose outlook is cold two Sunday morning church the most forceful way possible. or indifferent to the mission services to various phases of It is suggested that Mr. Mack's causes can ever be dragged to mission interest. leaflet be reviewed as an intro- the classes. ductory feature, and that talks "We found that the people follow on the sub j e c t s of "Last fall we decided to put manifested a spontaneous inter- "Friendship Frontiers – What mission study into the Sunday est in this mission program. We Are They?" "How Does One school. We carried on the reg- used no urgent methods to get Stake a Claim?" "Presbyterian people to come. Yet every de- Leagues That Work," "Maga- ular work of the school, every partment in the school began to zines and Program Booklets," class studying the Bible lessons_ have increased attendance. . . . and the "Youth Budget." Al- More men were reached with ready it is reported from a va- but we also found considerable mission study than ever before riety of sources that missionary time available for mISSIOns. by our church. giving has increased noticeably Class periods were lengthened since the adoption of the plans ten minutes, with the under- "By conducting our mission outlined in the pamphlet. standing that each teacher would course as we did, we accom- spend the extra time in giving plished s eve r a I worth-while For this material and other information missionary information. All achievements. One was the natwrite The Missionary Education Movement, uralness of approach to the mat- 150 Fifth Ave., New York. teachers were supplied with lit- ter and the effectiveness of the erature, properly graded accord- education given on behalf of the For Pastors and Sunday ing to departments. mission causes. Another was School Superintendents the discovery that mission edu- "We also arranged special cation provides a remarkably Rev. William Crowe, Jr., pas- missionary programs for united elastic technique. We believe tor of the First Presbyterian that we have only begun to Church of Bluefield, W. Va., assembly periods that lasted discover the possibilities for wrote recently in The Presby- from thirty to forty minutes delightful entertainment and terum Survey regarding his pas- each. These programs were de- attractive study offered by this torate of a similar church in signed to make as popular an method. Still another accom- Talladega, Ala. His article plishment was the unexpected (adapted) is as follows: appeal as possible. The united effect the program had on our assembly included ages from Sunday school attendance and "We believe that our experi- interest." ence offers at least one ap- junior to adult. The special misproach to the mission-study sion study period began with Sequence in Program Building problem that is elastic and Rally Day and went through adaptable and popular. seven Sundays to November It is scarcely necessary to 15th. stress the value of a dominating "For eight or ten years we topic as a picturesque feature in have devoted one or more peri- "For our assembly periods we a series of programs. It seems ods each year to mission study. used a variety of programs. to be one of those devices that Some years our method has have a universal appeal. This been to have classes for men, There was one address entitled, year the figure of "Windows" is for women, and for young peo- 'Under Seven Flags,' in which played upon in one or another ple. Other years we have had department of nearly all packets completely organized schools of there was given a brief summary of literature sent for inspection. missions with classes for every of our home and, foreign mission age-group. . . . We believe we Following this fig u r e, as have given this plan as com- responsibilities. The other pro- adopted by the Baptist women, plete and sincere a trial as grams were designed primarily for their national theme, the could be given. After inject- to give instruction and inspira- Woman's Society of the First ing into our plans all the inge- Church of Santa Ana, Calinuity and energy we could pro- tion through entertainment. fornia, has incorporated in its beautiful thirty-eight page year "We made arrangements in New York for a series of two- reel motion pictures presenting information or plots relating to the mission movement.
"Some of the most effective work done in the missionary education course was through the medium of mission plays. One was a home mission pag- eant, 'The Living Cross,' se- cured from the Northern Meth- odist Church and adapted to our
book a series of "vistas" as their STAGE SETTING FOR A SEPTE,MBER PROGRAM monthly program topics, with the undergirding idea of opening windows of opportunity for service, as well as placing them where none exists-as in Indian hogans and Moslem purdahs- to let God's love shine in.
Their theme song is, "Let the Blessed Sunshine in," and the devotional hymn, "Open My Eyes That I May See." The membership list is "Viewers at Our Window." A "Memorial Window" records the name of those who have died during the year. The devotional series in- cludes: "Outlook-Skyward" (Psa. 19: 1-3). After this program on "Open- August porch party to which "Outlook – into the Valley" (Psa. ing Our Window," there came: contributions for Christmas 34: 19.22). boxes were made and impersona- "Outlook-at the Fountain" (Deut. "Windows of Opportunity." tions given of missionaries- 8: 21; John 4: 14). "Dingy Windows" (rural work). home and foreign – telling of "Outlook-toward the Hills" (Psa. "Shining Windows" (union evening Christmas on their fields. 121) . meeting with the youthful mission- "Outlook-in the Garden" (Isa. 58: ary groups). "Tower Windows" – a pro- 11). "Desert Panorama." gram on student work at home "Outlook- at the Harvest" (Luke "Rose Window" (stewardship). and in union Christian colleges 10: 1-2). "College Windows" (Christian edu- abroad (Baptist Board of Edu- "Outlook – Looking at the Sun" cation) . cation, 152 Madison Ave., N. Y., (Mal. 4: 2). "Sunlit Windows" (White Cross and The Cheer Leader, Sept., work for missionary hospitals). 1936, put out by the Foreign "Outlook-toward the Cross" (Luke "Walls without Windows" (Moslem Mission Conference of North 9: 23). purdahs). America, 156 Fifth Ave., N. Y.). "Paper Windows" (Chinese work "Outlook-into the Pasture Land" for women). "Cottage Win dow s" – on (Psa. 104: 14). "Closing our Window" (annual Rural Work in America (MIS- meeting in June). "Outlook-at the Shadow" (Psa. The August space was labeled: SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, 91: 1; 63: 7). "Our Windows Closed, Blinds Drawn." June, 1937; 25 cents). All the monthly programs are Due to many requests In the past for "God's Windows" – women's samples of these lovely annuals, it is stated called "Vistas" and are intended that a limited number of copies are left and prayer meeting for missions may be obtained for 25 cents each. There with special effort to have older to open windows, as stated pre- is evidently no profit for' the compilers. women attend and take part, a Thanksgiving dramatization beviously. The September pro- More Windows ing given (Woman's Missionary Association of United Brethren gram – built around a beauti- The standard Baptist program in Christ, 1412 U. B. Building, built around .this theme includes: Dayton, Ohio). fully decorated stage-furnished "Memorial Win dow s" – a "Shop Windows" – a window a preview of the year's work. study on missionaries who have box opening and program on op- gone out from the participants' portunities for service. The stage was arranged as a own state. "Latticed Windows"-sketches garden and showed a sash win- "Cabin Windows" – migrant of Christian Nationals who are work-with a luncheon of foods witnessing for Christ ("The dow looking eastward. This picked by migrants and imper- Way of the Witnesses"). sonations on "Around the Campwindow, when opened by the fire." "Sunlit Windows" – imper- sonations of missionary doctors president, made way for nine "Stained Glass Windows"- and nurses at home and abroad. an evening meeting on Peace short episodes illustrating the (men of the church invited) at "Barred or Open Windows"- which a pageant, "The Triumph devotional me e tin g inviting phases of work to be emphasized of Goodwill," was given (Coun- women from other churches and cil of Women for Home Mis- presenting a good speaker on in the monthly programs. These sions, 105 E. 22nd St., New "Are Your Windows Open or York; 35 cents plus royalty of Barred ?" Opening of window episodes consisted of mono- $5.00 for each presentation). boxes follows. logues, pantomimes, dialogues, a "Casement Win dow s," an song, skits, and other features.
Through the year the window box will bear its blooms as the gift boxes are opened. At the left of the stage was a cathedral window, the framework of which stood five feet high and was made so that the designs could be filled in with various colors as the money was received. It was very lovely even before the colors were added. . The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
~'I~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PRICE OF SUGAR the greater part of the army of deeper; 1931-lost everything; migrant laborers of the United 1932 – hit the road; 1935- A summer under open skies, serving the farmers of Cali- A child-a thousand children, States. They had come to these fornia as a 'fruit tramp.' " A burning sun, cold rains shores to better themselves. To- -And sugar beets. day the grandchildren of these Where Do They Live? A summer working sugar beets, early immigrants are harvesting And youth – youth pulled and the crops. But even a greater Migrants have to live in all kinds of places, a shack provided topped number of the 2,000,000 and by the employer, a tent on the And plowed beneath the soil more migrant workers today are banks of an irrigation ditch, or -As fertilizer. Anglo-American, forced into mi- just under the trees. In one Youth pulled and topped, and grancy by misfortune. In 1937 camp where shacks were pro- vided by the employer, one fairly granulated, in a camp in Delaware, an ap- large room housed from one to And weighed – weighed out in palling number were people who three families-as many as eight had lost their homes because of people in a single room. In an- bags Florida floods, typhoons and other camp in the East there For us to buy, and please storms. Many had once been ac- were two water faucets for 420 Our tooth for sweets. tive in communities, taking part people. Because of the crowded A summer under open skies, in church work, lodges, and other condition in some of the shan- A child-a future forming; civic organizations. In this ties, straw was strewn over the No schooling to distract group were a trained nurse, an floor with no pretense of mak- From sugar beets. ing a bunk. experienced mechanic, a railroad FRANCES B. WILLIAMS. engineer, a fireman, a plumber. Squatters' Camps-a new de- velopment in the far west, are Father of all mankind, we They felt that all hope of ever even worse. Dr. Taylor tells of pause in the haste of our daily being anything but migrants a tour of these camps. "We lives to come with quietness into found filth, squalor, an entire ab- T'hy presence. May thy strength had fled. sence of sanitation, and a crowdand thy spirit fill us and may the In the West, and Southwest, ing of human beings into totally love which thou hast for all man- inadequate tents or crude struckind flood our hearts. We would refugees from the Dust Bowl tures built of boards, weeds and at this time bring before thee form the greatest part of the anything that was found at hand those men and women and young migrant labor group. "These to give a pitiful semblance of a people who earn their meager home at its worst. In this enliving. by gathering from the people," Paul S. Taylor writes. vironment there is bred a social fields the food that shall feed us; "are victims of dust storms, of sullenness. It is horrible that who bear the heat of the noon- drought which preceded the children are reared in such an day sun, the long hours of labor, environment." and the rush of the cannery serv- dust, of protracted depression ice while we benefit from their which preceded the drought. 'It What Do They Earn? toil. Weare conscious, 0 Fa- seems like God has forsaken us ther, of their longing for per- back there in Arkansas,' said' a "Employment is intermittent, manent homes, of their unful- jobs are often precarious, and .filled hopes for their children. former farm-owner at a San annual income is low. A study Make us eaually conscious of our Luis Obispo pea-pickers' camp. of 165 migrant families showed responsibilities as Christian citi- that 30.9 % received less than zens to mitigate so far as we can 'The cotton burned up' is the $300 annually and 13.3 % less the hardships of their toil. common story. They are largely than $200 per family."
M. KATHARINE BENNETT. farmers who have been carrying Who Wants Them? on agriculture on the family pat- WHO ARE THE MIGRANTS tern which has been so long re- "Only the employer and he TODAY? garded as the great source of wants them only until his crop stability in our nation. One of Twenty years ago immigrants them, recently picking fruit with from poorer countries made up his family in the Sacramento Valley, told succinctly this story of his decline from farmer to farm laborer: 1927 – mad e $7,000 as a cotton farmer in Texas; 1928-broke even; 1929 -went in the hole; 1930- [49 ] is harvested. "The develop- Council of Women for Home the way they used to. But they can't understand why Jesus didn't hate the ment of normal relationships be- Missions tell a story of the 'mean bad men' who killed him. I tween citizens and community, achievement of this Christian told the children that those who and between employer and em- service. wanted Jesus crucified thought they ployee, is not favored by con- In Tomatoes were doing right. This led to a dis- cussion. Charles said, 'If I had been stant movement. 'My father "I don't know if you'll recognize our there, I would have told them a thing was a track foreman at $1.25 a nursery, for now instead of rugs for or two.' Edna said to him, 'Jesus day, but we lived in a house and the toddlers to sleep on we have cribs. would have wanted you to love them.' " everybody knew us,' said a fruit A bureau which I painted cream to tramp. 'This rancher has us for match our green and cream linoleum, In Onions two or three weeks, and then holds the diapers, sheets, etc., on top "At lunch time long tables were athe's thru wjth me. He knows me tractively set by some of the children till he's through with me.' 'Resi- of which is a scale on which the babies and flowers picked for the center denters' look askance at the pieces. A wholesome well-balanced nomads, and treat them as 'out- are weighed regularly every two lunch was served and simple table landers.' Children are stigma- manners taught. When Mary was tized at school as 'pea pickers.' " weeks. Why, Annamae has already seated on a chair made from an orange crate, at the clean simple table, she What the Church Is Doing gained a pound." . . . ' beamed and said, 'My, just like Sun- day!' The hardships of migratory "And our Young People's Club, for life are only hinted at in the "After lunch each child took his above excerpts. Eighteen years youth of 14-20 has been a howling suc- new toothbrush from his own nail on ago the churches began to know about the migrants and their cess. Its purpose is to provide some- the wall, and enthusiastically went needs. It was then that the first through a peppy toothbrush drill. thing worth while for the young peo- After that they all lay down on the thinly covered floor for afternoon ple who are working. A program of naps. Some of the older children were so tired from caring for younger Negro History, Handcraft, and Rec- brothers and sisters, that they thank- reation has been planned. We meet two nights a week.
"A social hygiene forum meets each Monday afternoon and was composed of young men. The average attend- ance was a~out thirty. Some of the subjects discussed were Love, Venereal Diseases, and Marriage."
effort was made to help them. It In Tobacco fully fell asleep on the hard floor. was a unified effort of seven My how good just a small pillow women's denominational home "About twenty came to the recrea- would have felt." mission boards through the tion hall this evening. The group Council of Women for Home "Because many of the children Missions. They sought to im- planned a swim for Monday night. understood very little English, I tried prove these conditions through various ways to help them underthe enactment of protective leg- The group is starting to look on the stand the story. The most successful islation. At the same time they was to make paper figures of people felt responsible for meeting the schedule posted on the porch. Cipus and place them on the table as I went girls brought some Polish records. So along. Afterward they could make their own figures and re-tell the story far the young neople's group has in their own words. When one 10- immediate physical and spir- played darts, bean bag, toss golf, ping- year-old boy was re-telling the story itual needs of the migrants pong and quiet games. Last year of 'Let the little children come unto through public health nurses, me,' with the use of paper people, he recreational directors, visiting about all they wanted to do was said, 'The men wanted to keep the teachers and religious education children away, but Jesus said'-and he leaders in agricultural and can- dance." stumbled over the long verse he had nery areas. Through the years just learned, but finally said, usine: "Alvin came again today. The words of his own vocabulary: 'Jesus the Christian Service in Migrant little fellow asked if he could do the said, "Let 'em come."'" Camps has spread to over fifty dishes and clean the room. I have never seen a child who enjoyed clean- MY CREED ing up a room as much as he does. I wish he could do something in his own home." …
"While I made a game, Selma, who is about ten, read 'Songs from the Slums' by Kagawa. She enjoyed areas in thirteen states. Eight- them very much and from her com- ments I feel that she really under- "The food that I share with een denominations now cooper- stood them. She asked me questions ate. Employers are helping; lo- about him. Later in the afternoon others Is the food that nourishes me. cal communities are accepting a she said that when she read poems The strength that I spend for share in the work as a part of like those and about people who were others their home mission program. so kind she felt sorry for .all the lies Is the strength that I retain. On the World Day of Prayer The freedom I seek for others thousands of groups throughout she told." the country are remembering "As I work I enjoy noticing the Make's me forever free.
growing community spirit among the workers. Almost no profanity. Do a lot of talking about wearing ap- The pain that I ease in others the migrant families in their Shall take away my pain. prayers and in their gifts. The~ parel, menus, clothes, weddings. We The load that I lift from others had craft work. The boys made some Makes my l.Dad disappear. gifts have opened more Chris- checkers. One made a bouquet of flowers out of a tin can and some The good that I see in others tian Centers and sent more Comes back my life to cheer. paper." Christian nurses into migrant The path that I walk with camps. Work is under way in "It has always been considered adthirteen s tat e s, thirty-three mirable here to hit back, and to make others the person cry who is tormenting you. Is the path God walks with more states have migrants but The children favor the idea of loving me."
no work. the one who is mean to you, so he GRACE HILL FREEMAN. The following excerpts from won't want to be mean anymore. I notice them through the day trying it reports of the workers under the out. They don't seem'to admire fights
'~I Our World–wide
i A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events A EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO ~'I================================ MISCELLANEOUS cupied with the war. The hosts nearly fifty officer-instructors, of refugees are spreading infec- specialists in their various de- The Church's Challenge tion and a major epidemic may partments, assist the principal. accompany the turn of the year. United foreign mission boards Typhus, smallpox and meningitis -The Life of Faith. of North America and the Fed- are among the possible dangers. eral Council of the Churches of The Value of Christian Christ in America have formu- This is only an illustration of Colleges lated proposals regarding what how the whole world is influthe Christian Church can do in enced for good or for evil by It is interesting to know that the present world crisis. what takes place in one country. eight of our chief justices were Plague, cholera, influenza, war, college graduates, while seven of 1. Align itself with the condemna- crime, vice will spread if they the eight were from Christian tion of the practices of war as de- are not counteracted by health, schools. Eighteen of our nation's scribed in the words of the World peaceful pursuits, friendliness, presidents have been. college Conference in Oxford. education, morality, and the graduates, while .sixteen of the spirit of Christ. eighteen were from Christian 2. Declare its horror that in these schools. Eighteen of the twentydays any government should resort to Training for Salvation Army five masters of American letters war, "declared" or "undeclared," as a Workers were college men, while sevenmeans of obtaining political or eco- teen of the eighteen were from nomic advantage, or as a punitive The training of Salvation Christian colleges. Of the memmeasure. Army officers is a highly special- bers of our national congress, ized process: it has as much to whose efforts or prominence 3. Lead in arousing public opinion do with personality as with pro- have secured for them a place in to support the government in trans- gram. It is directed to fitness "Who's Who," two-thirds of forming a policy of irresponsible iso- for a keen-edged evangelism. them were graduates of Chrislationism into one of active participa- The original training period was tian schools. tion in the organizing of the political six months, but in 1904 it was and economic forces of tb.e world for extended to nine months. -George W. Truett. the purpose of establishing justice and goodwill. In urging such a proposal, London, England, has a train- NORTH AMERICA we repudiate the thought that it in- ing school which accommodates volves reliance upon military or naval 450 cadets, mostly from Great Paganism in U. S. force, or such measures as are apt to Britain, but there are also at lead to war. present representatives of South The Ministerial Association of Africa, Finland, the West Indies, Los Angeles, California, after 4. RecfJgnize the difficult position Holland and Java. In addition, nine months of investigation, rein which Christians in Japan and three junior officers from Swe- ported 120 pagan societies hold- China find themselves today. den and two native officers from ing regular meetings in and East Africa are taking the about the city. They teach and 5. Understand more clearly the im- course. All walks of life are rep- practice various non-Christian portance of its missionary enterprise resented – professional, skilled faiths, hybrid religions or phiand provide more adequately for its and clerical labor, and almost losophies, largely based upon support. The failure of Christians to every branch of industrial ac- Hinduism. Also it was found witness effectively throughout the tivity. The course include.s that Rosacrucianism has a larger world to the realities of their faith is Bible study, public speaking and nl'mber of followers than any one of the causes of our present dis- preparing addresses, principles evangelical church in the city. tress. and methods of social welfare work, first aid, home nursing -Alliance Weekly. 6. Translate its testimony into deeds and simple medical lectures; of mercy. also practice in house-to-house Religion Through Films visitation. Careful record is 7. Testify to its faith in the reality made of each student's progress, During the recent General of the Kingdom of God. which is tested both as to study Convention of the Episcopal and outdoor activity. A staff of Church held in Cincinnati, dem- -American Board News. onstration was given of a re- [51 ] cently launched plan for "visual A Warning to the World The League of Nations sends a warning that the whole world needs to be on its guard against an epidemic of disease originating in China. The cholera plague is rapidly spreading now in China, owing to the disturbed condition of affairs, the attention of the Government being oc-
religion." A fifteen- or twenty- she will provide an hour of care- Practical Cooperation minute film, to take the place of the sermon at the evening serv- fully planned religlOus nurture The Presbyterian Board of ice, relates to three or four sub- for from 600 to 1,uOO American National Missions has been cojects selected from newsreels youth, one half of whom have no operating with the Board of Forwhich present some phase of eco- vital connection with any exist- eign Missions in providing short nomic or social problems. While ing church or Sunday school." periods of training in National the film is being shown the Missions hospitals for new leader asks questions designed Here we see a new method in to stimulate the thinking of the the field of church work. A nurses under appointment to the congregation. After the pictures number of states provide for at foreign field. This arrangement have been shown, the leader, least an hour of Christian trainpreferably the pastor, would ing each week under the direc- gives the Foreign Board an optake a few minutes in which to tion of the church. In other portunity to tryout new worksummarize the Christian atti- states there is no prohibition .of ers, and gives the nurses experitude toward the problems seen such a plan. ence in extension or field nursing on the screen. The plan has been tried out in Spokane, One such teacher in New Jer- programs which both Boards are Washington, and leaders declare sey spends four days each week carrying on. It also renders the it met with a good response. National Board relief at two in four consolidated r u r a I points where, because of the in- The "Christian Cinema Coun- schools, passing from grade to creasing demand for medical cil" in England is considering a grade each period of the day. – care and the recent difficulty in plan to make religious films of This work is made possible by filling vacancies due to the Govthree types: (1) Films with a the cooperation of the Board of ernment's enlarged activities in moral or reI i g i 0 u s object; National Missions of the Pres- health, the nursing load has been (2) films illustrating the work byterian Church, the Board of too heavy for the staffs to carry. of the Church at home and Home Missions and Church Exabroad; and (3) films for direct -Monday Morning. -evangelism. tension of the Methodist Epis- Gideon Bibles in the Schools copal Church, and the public Stewardship Conference school authorities. A prelim- The "Gideons" of Canada have inary survey showed that many Church leaders representing been at work placing Bibles in of the children enrolled were 23 churches and other religious the Dominion's public schools. otherwise unreached by the bodies in the United States and The Gideon ministry of the U. S. church. Canada, with a communicant has now added this feature to membership of at least 23,000,- their work. Here is a quotation This plan is past the experi- 000, met in Philadelphia in Nofrom an article that recently ap- ment stage. For the millions of vember to search for a realistic peared in The Gideon: boys and girls unreached by a~y and scientific Christian attitude church it offers the only defimte toward money-making, money- The burglary insurance rate is religious training that they are spending and the use of life. $12.00 per thousand in Bos~on; ~22.00 ever likely to receive. The conference the m e was in New York; and $27.50 In ChIcago. "Stewardship as an Approach to Is there any connection between these -Christian Advocate. figures and the fact that the Bible has been read daily in the public Methodist Union Plan Experience and Problem!'." The schools of Boston for sixty-five years, discussions centered upon the for twenty-two years in New York, and excluded for thirty years from Unification of three Methodist principles of the Bible, interthe schools in Chicago? denominations, having approxi- preted in modern economic and Girl + Auto = Christian mately 8,000,000 members in all spiritual terms, the practical ex- parts of the world, lacks only the periences of every day, and Education final approval of the Methodist upon a number of definite rules "A college-trained girl with an Episcopal Church, South. O~ of daily conduct applicable to additional year of special train- cials announce that the ArmIS- every normal relationship of ing in religious education can tice Day voting increased to every human being. teach a junior department of thirty pupils in a Sunday school. nearly 90 per cent the majority Religious Work at Government Seven days later she can bring in favor of the merger. They the impact of her training and Projects personality back to the same said 30 of the 42 conferences task. Give this same welltrained young lady an auto- reported a favorable majority, "United Youth" is the name mobile, set her on the trail of and that approval was practi- of a society of young people in public school groups and, from cally assured. The general ses- the interdenominational work Monday morning to Friday night, conducted by the Home Missions sion of that denomination will be held in Birmingham next Council at Grand Coulee Dam, Washington. About 6,000 men May.
The new unified church, to be are employed by the federal gov- known as the Methodist Church, ernment at Grand Coulee, and will have five geographical juris- the community numbers at least dictions. A sixth jurisdiction 20,000. Three groups of moth- will include Negro churches and ers are organized as a federated conferences. club, and a young mother's club
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
has been organized. About 60 sink and running water, with to all the patients. Tracts and persons attend the morning tow rugs on the floor and cur- Gospels have been given to the church service, and 80 attend tains at the windows. The gar- prisoners in two penitentiaries dens have added all sorts of in near-by cities." Bible school. Similar projects are at Boul- flowers and many kinds of fruits der City, Nevada, where about and vegetables. Helpful as this is, the spiritual improvement Tension Eases in Mexico 180 attend Sunday school; at that has come is far more im- Bonneville Dam, Oregon, where portant.-Christian Advocate. With the exception of the 250 families live in this seven- states of Tabasco and Chiapas, mile-long par ish, and Boy LATIN AMERICA which contain less than five per S co u t s, Christian Endeavor, cent of the population of Mex- Sunday school and church serv- Gospels for Mexico's Soldiers ico, church services are being ice are conducted; and at Ten- conducted normally all over the nessee Valley, particularly Cum- Rev. N. W. Taylor writes that country, and the former tension berland Homesteads, where the the need for buying a new car is eased. Many Mexican priests pastor conducts the equivalent providentially led to a new de- have settled in the United States of an· institutional church pro- velopment in work among sol- near the border, where they are gram, features of which are diers in Mexico. He says: serving parishes of their own interdenominational Sun day nationals. school, worship service and "While breaking in the new young people's organizations. car I could not take it up into Although there seems to be no the mountains and so decided to law on the subject, theological Over the Tea Cups drive down the valley to a city seminaries have not been per- 75 miles away. There had been mitted to function in a conspic- The second annual Christian a few army outposts on this uous way during the past three Friendliness Tea in Seattle was highway and I planned to visit years. The Presbyterian Semattended by seventy-five people, them. The miles sped by with- inary in Coyoacan, a suburb of with G re e k, Spanish-Jewish, out finding any soldiers and we Mexico City, has been closed by Danish, Bulgarian, Italian, Al- began to feel that no work could the government, and it is feared banian, Japanese and Chinese be done. At last we reached an that the Union Seminary in the nationalities represented. The airport on the outskirts of the capital city may suffer likewise. guest violinist was Kosiko Ta- city, where we saw an outpost jitsu, a fourteen-year-old Jap- with a large number of soldiers. -Christian Century. anese girl, who two years ago Approaching the officer I found toured Japan as the soloist of that the adjutant of the battalion Building for Peace in Chile the Tokio Symphony Orchestra. was in ,the camp at that very Her talented thirteen-year-old moment. When he learned what Boys and girls in Valparaiso:s sister played the difficult accom- I wanted to do, he not only gave schools have addressed a peace paniments with skill. The girls me permission to distribute lit- message to all American school are members of the Japanese erature to the men in the outpost children. Congregational Church. The but insisted that I come into Japanese Consul's wife and the town to the barracks. There we Children of America – Again we wife of the Chinese Vice~Consul arranged with the Colonel to re- raise our voices over the mountains were guests of honor. turn on a certain day to give and across the rivers and plains to Gospels and tracts to all the men. bring you our message of peace-:-that -Watchman-Examiner. On that occasion we met the peace which we so much desire and to which the Christ of the Andes, with open arms outstretched over the eter- nal snows, seems symbolically to call us.
Self-Help for Negroes Colonel of another unit, and Children of America! Let us unite when he saw us giving litera- in an affectionate embrace and forget Mary Lee Jones, A.B., Rust ture to all the troops he invited the rivalries which have separated us College, home demonstrator in for so many years. us to visit his battalion. At the Listen – An anxious call comes to the Mississippi Delta:has proved same time an introduction was us from over the sea. It is the call of given to still another battalion our brothers and sisters in Spain. It that one can teach an old dog in a town about twenty miles is the anguished cry of the orphans, new tricks. She finds Negro innocent victims of that fratricidal women forty years old are eager away. struggle.
to learn and are adopting new "Since the first of 1937, twelve In these days of suffering, only our and better ways. Under Miss new regiments or battalions continent, America, conserves its land without war. A great love and a fra- J ones' guidance, eight school have received Gospel portions ternal hope should unite its inhabigrounds and four cemeteries and tracts when in formation on tants. Let us then take care, brothers have been improved; one com- their own parade grounds. In and sisters of America, that this fire munity has bought and installed the offices of three general burns and maintains itself, so that fu- ture generations may enjoy the fruits an eighteen-quart pre s sur e headquarters, New Testaments of eternal peace, which reflects the cooker and six other clubs have have been given to all the staff realization of the sublime desire of the half the money raised for such officers, including the General. Master when he said: "Peace on an installation. Eighty-two cab- Three military hospitals have earth, good will to men." -The Churchman. ins have been improved with a been visited and literature given 54 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [January Mennonites as Evangelists sum mer vacation in trekking neva Bible School. By the middle of October, about 3,000 copies in A group of more than 2,000 through the towns and villages fifty-one languages had been sold Russian Mennonites who left in three months. home penniless have lived for of the British Isles, in an effort some years in a colony in the Those in charge of the Kiosk Chaco, Paraguay. These years to reach the unsaved. Their tes- have had many opportunities for have been full of difficulty, partly personal witness and interviews. owing to the difference in climate timony is t hat unscheduled With every Bible sold, one or from that to which they were ac- two leaflets are given as a guide customed, and from the effects events and the consequent alter- to reading, and to the knowledge of the Paraguayan – Bolivian of personal salvation. war. The privileges of religious ation of plans invariably refreedom guaranteed by the Gov- -The Christian. ernment have been faithfully vealed divine overruling. On observed, and the church life of Outlook in Spain this colony is healthy. They are one occasion, finding that they interesting themselves in the Mr. W. C. Edwards, who has spiritual welfare of their Indian had a day to spare, the trekkers spent some time in Spain, says neighbors, and though their op- that the future for Gospel teachportunities of actual witness are pressed on to a town in York- ing in that unhappy land seems limited they have a deep concern very dark; and utterly imposfor their evangelization. The shire they had not intended to sible at present. The Catholic inclusion of an immigrant group Church, wherever it is under of evangelicals in the life of a visit. Holding an open-air meet.. Franco's rule, is all powerful, country has not always had as and every day it is applying the much effect upon the life of the ing there in the evening, they spirit and law of the Inquisition nation as might have been upon the poor terror-stricken hoped, and it is, therefore, an found the people hungry for the people. C r 0 sse s have been encouraging sign that this Men- erected in some central squares, nonite colony is concerned to Gospel, and six decided for and an altar, with policemen witness to the people of their always on the watch, and woe benew home country. Christ. tide the person who passes with- out bowing to it and giving the -World Dominion Press. Another benefit was the prac- Fascist salute. He is arrested at once. -The Christian. • Oonversions in Peru tical experience gained on the As a Militarist Sees Religion Rev. A. C. Snead, of the Chris- trek. Students learned how to tian Alliance, visiting Quechua While Hitler and Mussolini Indians, writes in .the Alliance concentrate in preparation of have fundamentally the same ob- Weekly: jective, the latter is pursuing a addresses when distances re- sounder plan to attain it in at- God is at work here in Peru, espe- tacking one obstacle at a time, cially in faraway mountain and nuired much time on the road. and has not as yet molested the jungle sections. In Tayabamba, Church or ,the Jews; while Hitwhere the first convert was won only Also, they learned how to adapt ler is attacking Jews, Catholics a little more than two years ago, and and Protestants at one and the where six months ago there were only their talks to varying types of same time. A great German twenty professed iJelievers, there are general recently condemned this today more than one hundred and people. -Life of Faith. as short-sighted folly, "because," twenty who show signs of definite con- said this general, "no army that version. Fourteen men walked eleven Missionary-Minded Youth goes into battle without hope of days over the steepest mountain trails, in France a life hereafter will fight sucpart of the way in altitudes where no cessfully." villages or houses could be seen, to The ninth annual conference attend the services at Pachas. of the Congres Missionaire de The Ohurch and Hitler J eunf!!sse in France last Septem- It was wonderful to be at Pachas, ber represented a missionary After failure to achieve Protwith 220 Quechua Indians from eight- movement among French youth. estant church unity by stamping een pueblos on mountain and in The students' Federation and all out opposition, Herr Hitler has jungle, who gathered to sing the youth movements in France sent declared himself tired of the praises of God, and to learn of Christ. delegates to the number of more whole church business. One of In the evening services the attendance than eighty. The vast territories the inexplicable myths which has of others from Pachas (a fanatical of the French colonial empire crept out of Germany has been Catholic center) brought the number will furnish a sphere for this that Hitler wishes to see the in the congregation to about 300. missionary interest. churches in Germany free to do just as they choose, that every EUROPE There is now a unified evan- gelical church in France com- Students' "Summer Trek" prising the Reformed Church, the Ref 0 r m e d Evangelical Students of Highfield Mission- Church, the Free Church and the ary Training Colony spent their Methodist Church of France. Commissions are studying a method of redistributing the congregations in regional dis- tricts in 1938. The evangeliza- tion of the suburbs of Paris constantly preoccupies the lead- ers. An effort is being made to create one new church yearly for ten years.
-World Dominion Press.
Bible Kiosk at Paris People of all classes and na- tions are being reached through the Bible Kiosk at the Paris Ex- position, maintained by the Geman should be allowed to wor- July, the Central Council of God- Most fanatical of the three reliship as he thinks fit. Hitler does less Institutions in Moscow plans gions is that of the false not understand the "church to hold an International Godless prophet. question." To him there is no Congress in London in April, intrinsic difference between a 1938, and has voted 150,000 Still another classification is: church and a skittle association. rubles towards the expenses. first, small groups of believers Hence, he does not understand The Oxford Conference must bearing witness to Christ; secwhy these oppositional pastors have convinced Soviet leaders ond, those who give evidence of should behave as they do. that the Church is a force to be conviction, but are still holding reckoned with, and that an anti- aloof; third, those who have Pastor Niemoeller, in a letter religious drive is called for. heard the Word, and evince a dewritten from prison to a friend, sire to know more. The great says he is not only unbroken, but The plans made to carry out mass of the people, however, are full of joy and gratitude for this propaganda include, among still ignorant and fanatical and God's gracious guidance. "I am other things, a new radio station there are only about twenty now resting in peace," he says, to be completed next year, from workers among 2,000,000 Mo- "after the abundant turmoil of which godless talks are to be hammedans. -The Christian. the last few years and await pa- delivered daily in European lantiently and with full confidence, guages, including English. An- .Capturing Souls should the Lord again need me ticipating that Great Britain for service outside these walls. may ban the holding of a God- African evangelists, elders, When and how? It is not for less Conference in London, the missionaries in Cameroon, West me to concern myself about that. Soviet Council voted that, in Africa, set as their centennial I know that I and many others this eve n t, the Conference goal the winning of 15,000 new whom God has committed to soli- would be held in Belgium or converts: they have won almost tary places are carried by many Holland. -The Christian. 18,00b, and the Good News is prayers." still spreading. But conversion AFRICA was not enough. Each new Baptists in Roumania Christian is being trained, that Waldensians in Abyssinia he may know what his new de- The Baptist World Alliance cision means and learn to live a reports that the Roumanian Gov- The Italian Government has Christian life. ernment seems determined to asked the Waldensian Church of enforce its decree that some non- Italy to send a second chaplain As their African forefathers orthodox groups are illegal. At to help Captain Bertinatti in went out to capture men and present the 70,000 Baptists in missionary work at Add i s women for slaves and wives, and Roumania are not directly de- Ababa, Ethiopia. Sig. Edoardo returned singing from a successclared illegal, but they are re- Micol, a young minister of 29, ful "raid," so these modern capquired to conform to conditions at present in Sicily, (Pachino) tors returned each day to hold which are to them intolerable in has been sent. It means a great a prayer service for those who principle and impossible in prac- sacrifice, from every point of have refused, and those who tice. Unless they conform, they view, for the Waldensians to have received their message. become illegal. This decree is in send more men to Ethiopia, but violation of the principle of reli- it seems a duty to meet the re- -Monday Morning. gious freedom to which Rou- quest to carryon the missionary mania has subscribed as a mem- work in the Italian colonies. Congo Women Send Greetings ber of the League of Nations. There are thousands of Evan- The Roumanian State Constitu- gelical Abyssinian Christians Ma Ngunga, chairwoman of tion also pays homage to reli- who are now like sheep without the Native Council's women's gious liberty. The Orthodox a shepherd. sessions, Belgian Congo, was Church of Roumania was repre- asked by a missionary what messented at the Oxford Conference -Prof. Ernest Comba sage she should send from them in July, and participated in the of Rome. to Northern Baptist women in unanimous decision to abjure America. She quickly replied: connivance with the repression Land of Three M's by the State of religious minori- "Tell the women of your counties. Yet the present crisis has The effective witness of na- try that we thank them heartily undoubtedly been brought about tive converts is one evidence of for sending us women missionby the influence of the Orthodox a new era in North Africa. In aries. At first even when we Church on the Roumanian Gov- Tunis, though political loyalty is became Christians, we were very ernment. divided between Fascism and much afraid to testify or to try communism, fellowship in the to do any work in the church. -Watchman-Examiner. Gospel has enabled many of both But we saw our white mothers groups to lay aside their differ- go about their work just the Moscow vs. Oxford ences. Mrs. E. E. Short, British same as the men. From them missionary who has been in we began to receive courage. Obviously to stage an answer Tunis forty years, says North Now we are no longer afraid; to the Oxford Conference of last Africa is a land of three M's- We still do not feel very strong; Moses, Mary and Mohammed. but we do want to take our share in the school work, in the med- 56 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD ical work, and especially in the James B. Barton Memorial toward organic unity, but all work of drawing other women work together with one purpose to Jesus Christ. Greet the wom- The Prudential Committee of -Latins, Greeks, Armenians, en of your country for us all." the American Board has hear.tily Anglicans and Protestants. In endorsed the thought of a Me- Christian schools, all the varied – Watchman-Examiner. morial to Dr. James L. Barton classes meet together, and slowly in Istanbul, Turkey, the city that are getting a common educa- Bantus: "Let It Go" spans the closest approach of tional and cultural background. Europe and Asia; the land of The watchword of Bantu Con- his first foreign service. The -The Living Church. gregational Churches is Mali- memorial is to be in connection hambe. What does it mean? with the American Hospital and Pray for Tender Hearts Literally, "Let it go"; that is, School of Nursing of Istanbul. let the evangel go – not let it The Jessie Taylor Kinderalone, not forget it, but release Modern nursing began in Is.!: garten was in the center of the it for its redemptive work. It is tanbul, when Florence Nightin- anti-Christian riots that took the equivalent of Christ's last gale entered the pestilential place in Beirut, Syria, early last command: "Go ye into all the Crimean War hospitals on the year, and the night school is still world." Bosphorus. With the restric- suffering from that antagonism. tions of the veil now removed in But as soon as the day school Malihambe has captuted the Turkey, over 100 young women could reopen, the chi I d r e n imagination, the enthusiasm and nurses have graduated from this trooped gayly back, and the the purse of Bantu Congrega- school since the Great War. school now proudly boasts a tional churches. waiting list. Mrs. J. H. Nicol -Missionary Herald. writes: "The day when the riots -Missionary Herald. seemed most threatening we The Child on the Street closed the school and escorted WESTERN ASIA the children safely home. Be- Turkey's Educational Admin- fore we left one small Moslem Religion in Turkey istration has noted the fact that boy said, 'Won't you please pray children of working families are before we go?' So, of course, I Turkey dealt a body blow to wandering in the streets after would. I asked him, 'What do Islam some years ago, but is still school hours, and it has been you want me to pray for?' He considered a M 0 s I e m land. seeking means to prevent this said, 'Ask God to make people's Among other amendments to the situation, harmful to the chil- hearts tender to each other so constitution last year, the State dren. For this purpose "child- that they will not hurt each is declared to be "laic"; that is, sheltering" rooms will be opened other.' So there were small the Government does not recog- in different parts of the city. heads reverently bowed while we nize an official religion, nor does asked the Father to give us lovit stand to support any par- The Administration has also ing hearts and minds to underticular religion. No one may decided to take strict measures stand each other." interefere with another's reli- to make school attendance more gion; in religion, as in intel- regular. Accordingly, when a Unhappy Assyrians lectual and political matters, pupil does not go to school for fanaticism has given place to one day, notice will be sent to The Assyrians seem to be the mutual tolerance. the child's parent or guardian. forgotten people number one. If a pupi1 is sick, an official doc- There are some 30,000 of them Lest this appear to be more of tor will be sent to his home. in Mesopotamia, the racial reman advance than it actually is, Also, in order to prevent a stu- nant, perhaps, of the great emdeputy Bey Ali warns the Turk- dent from going to the cinema pire of antiquity, and the reliish people that liberty of con- or cafes during the school hours, gious remnant of the greatest science is not a limitless free- such places will be very closely missionary force in the middle dom. The State may interfere controlled. ages, the Nestorian Church. Like in certain situations. For in- so much "Christianity" in the stance, he says, children under -Turkish Translation Near East, the religion has dried eighteen may be subjected to a Service. into ritual, leaving the people alkind of spiritual compUlsion in most totally ignorant of the gosreligion in foreign schools; this Unity Out of Palestine? pel, and many of their priests are already has happened, and will little better. They are a quarrelnot be tolerated. However, after Christian unity coming out of some lot, both among themselves passing the age of eighteen every Palestine is seen as a future pos- and the people among whom they individual is free to choose his sibility by Canon Bridgeman, live. They were staunch and own religion, "provided this does Episcopal missionary in J eru- valuable allies of the British durnot disturb the social order." salem. As the basis for this pre- ing the war; and the British He adds: "Youth must not be diction, Canon Bridgeman cites officially assumed "moral respondragged into Catholicism, and the cordial relationships which sibility" for them as a people thereby a culture foreign to our exist between the representatives when proposing the independthought and feeling be permitted of virtually all communions to spring up in the midst of the working in the Holy Land. Turkish people." There is no specific movement -Alliance Weekly. ence of Iraq to the League of say, "Well, anyhow now I know, ing, and nine the examination in Nations. But here they remain, and shall not spend any more weaving, held by the Committee after a number of unsuccessful time and money looking for a of Direction for Technical Eduattempts to arrange their emi- cure, for if you cannot cure me, cation. The scout organization gration. Six evangelists are at no one can, and I know you are has proved to be of inestimable work among them, patiently folk who do not flatter or tell value in training character and showing by word and deed the lies, but you tell the truth." encouraging the young people to way of the Gospel. be truthful, honest and active. INDIA-SIAM -Presbyterian Board News. -Dnyanodaya. World Conference at Madras Mothercraft in Iran A Requirement for Converts On account of war conditions, Mrs. J. D. Payne of Teheran, the great world conference of the Such a deep impression has Iran, teaches a course in "moth- International Missionary Coun- the Christian religion made upon ercraft" in connection with the cil, scheduled to be held at Hang- converts in India that there is a Woman's Club, which has a de- chow, China, in the fall of 1938, constant demand for teachers in partment of adult education for has been obliged to change its new villages. Before a teacher women. There are about 45 in place of meeting to India, and is sent to a community, at least each of three classes. No text- will convene at Madras Chris- 50 natives must attend daily books can be used; lectures and tian College in Madras, Decem- worship for a specified length of pictures must serve, since the ber 10th to 30th. time. Then the bishop is petiwomen are about in the first- tioned for a teacher. It costs reader stage. Some show inter- Value in Persecution $75 a year for such instructors. est, some indifference, while Instruction for a period of a others are openly opposed to Let no one think the day of year precedes baptism and antaking time to listen to a for- religious persecution has passed other year before confirmation. eigner talk about something of in India. On the contrary, re- Witness is the primary requirelittle value. God gave them ports show an intensified indi- ment of the Christian, and contheir babies, Kismet (fate) left vidual persecution in recent verts are frequently asked as them, or caused them to die, so years. This may even affect they come to church whether or why all this bother? They be- whole communities where new not they have brought others to lieved the world was supported work is being established. It is Christ. -The Living Church. on the horns of a bull; that the still possible to see the crops of sun was a man and the moon a a village being brought in with Christian Character Counts woman; that the foreigner was rejoicing, and those of a recent only to be pitied for her igno- Christian going up in flames. Some villagers in Assam were rance. But most of them ab- compelled by crop failure to try sorbed some of the principles But such persecution has a to get money by arranging with taught. Mrs. Payne writes: value in clarifying individual a timber merchant for a con- "One of the older pupils told me conviction, and the courage and tract. When they approached one day that she wanted another faith of the Christians continues him and asked for an advance baby. She had had nine chil- to make a deep impression in the of several hundred rupees so dren and they all died. I stared community. The revolution they could fulfil their contract, in amazement. 'Why do you created in family life, in cleanli- he was hesitant about giving want another, then?' I asked. ness of person and habits, of them the money. Just then a 'Before I came to your class I growing strength of character, non-Christian forest ranger apdid not want any more, but now are singularly manifest against peared, and after hearing of the I have learned so much from you a background of their previous difficulty said, "These men are I think that I could raise one if life. None can deny that things Christians and they always do I had it. You see, I made mis- have fundamentally changed in their work faithfully. They are takes.' " what, to them, is a miraculous industrious, and once they be- manner. gin to work they will stick to it. "Christians Do Not Lie" lt will be good business for you -World D.ominion Press. to give them the contract and Sufferers sometimes come 300 advance the necessary money." miles or more to the American Uplift for Criminal Tribes This assurance won the day. Christian Hospital in Meshed, Iran; some even come from An important nation-building Gandhi and Prohibition Afghanistan, in spite of the ex- process is going on by means of pense and difficulty of crossing the Criminal Tribes Settlement The prohibition policy of the the national frontier into a for- Work at Sholapur and other new Ministry of Madras Presieign land. Unfortunately, they centers. Eighty-three lads have dency is not mere talk. Gandhi, cannot all be cured, but such is been apprenticed to various in his Rarijan, expresses the the hospital's reputation that trades. There are 302 children hope of "bringing about total when told there is no cure for in the manual training classes in prohibition not later than three t.heir malady, they will sigh and settlement schools. During the years from July 14, 1937, the year, 18 boys passed the exam- ination in carpentry and draw-
date of taking office by the first For Pure Milk for India the interest your people have shown Congress Ministry." He de- in our work, and the concrete part clares fearlessly: They water the milk in India you have played in that work in the too, but Allahabad Agricultural years that are past. I sincerely hope I count the loss of this revenue Institute has found a way to that this cross which you are install- (from the liqu9r traffic) as of no ac- check on village dairymen by es- ing may be the means of linking us count whatever. Prohibition will re- tablishing milk stations, where more vitally, not only in our common main a far cry if Congress is to count the cows are milked before an interest, but also in our common worthe cost in a matter of first class na- inspector, who checks the sani- ship. It gives us much pleasure to tional importance. Let it be remem- tary condition of the animals, realize that Siamese workmanship is bered that this drink and drugs rev- workmen and utensils, weighs to assist the members of your church enue is an extremely degrading form the milk, and delivers it to the in making our common Christ more of revenue. The loss of revenue is Institute dairy. Where cleanli- real. only apparent. The removal of this ness, honesty, and the keeping of degrading tax enables the drinker- records were unknown before, -Monday Morning. the taxpayer – to earn and spend cooperative dairymen's societies better. are being formed. The Institute French Indo-China hopes to build up a system such Then, by way of a Hindu re~ as exists in some parts of the About a year ago a young Anbuke to Christian America, United States, where the cattle Gandhi says: "The American belong to individuals, but the namese evangelist began work example is a hindrance rather milking and marketing are than a help to us. In America, handled by a responsible central among a race of mountaineers, drinking carries no shame with organization. it. It is the fashion there to the Thais, who live in the hills drink." He graciously adds: -Monday Morning. "I do not despair of America north of Laos Province. Alonce more returning, with still Buddhist Worship in Tibet greater fervor and better experi- though these people are highly ence in dealing with it." Theos Bernard, 28-year-old American explorer, is the first intelligent, they are quite unciv- India has made progress when white man to witness, photoshe thus encourages us to try graph and par,ticipate in the re- ilized and untouched by the Gosagain in a moral crusade. ligious rites of the lamaseries and monasteries of Tibet. He pel. In Laos itself there are -Dnyanodaya. took motion pictures of cere- monies which even Tibetans had 60,000 Laotians and tribespeople Practice Training Experiment never seen. who are still in absolute dark- Church workers in Santa} In addition to his phototried an experiment which seems graphs, Mr. Bernard, who has ness, living in constant fear of to promise far-reaching results. recently returned to the U. S., After repe~ted visits were paid brought back a collection of rare evil spirits. Except for the Swiss to definitely Christian villages, a books and manuscripts, includcircular was sent out to clergy ing complete copies of the Kan- missionaries in southern Laos and catechists in charge of con- Gyur, the Buddhist scriptures, gregations, asking for the names and Ten Gyur, or commentaries, there have been no witnesses in of any villagers who would like and other works including 333 instruction in ways of present- volumes printed from engraved that vast, semi-explored district; ing the Gospel to non-Christian wood blocks. These were carried neighbors. Though illness kept in yak-skin bags for hundreds but recently the Christian and away many who sent their of miles by a pack caravan of names, twenty-eight men and mules and yaks over 18,000-foot Missionary Alliance has apeighteen women came. Bible mountain passes and streams. readings and talks on personal pointed a couple for service contacts, how to tell Bib 1e Siamese Present Cross stories, how to speak at a lan- there. tern service, how to teach in A teakwood cross, carved by Sunday school, wi.th practice in a young Siamese Christian, has There is also great need in doing such things, filled the pro- been presented to the United gram. During the last week Church of Hyde Park, Chicago. eastern Siam, with its fourteen end the people themselves sug- Rev. Pluang Sudhikam, of Banggested the following lines of fol- kok, wrote the officers of the provinces and a population of low-up acti,on: Prayer, both church: private and in weekly prayer 4,000,000; only three provinces meetings; Sun day schools; May I as Moderator of the Church preaching bands; personal work; of Christ in Siam take the liberty of are occupied by missionaries. teaching iIliterates to read and expressing the great pleasure and write. -C. M. S. Outlook. gratitude of our Christian people for Two new workers have been ap- pointed for this field, and six young men from the Siam Bible School have gone out on active service. -Life of Faith.
CHINA Who Says Evacuate?
A missionary of the American Board in North China writes the Church in the U. S.: Of one thing we are sure: there can be no abandonment of our work in North China. We have-you have -too large a stake here to think of running off and leaving it. The stake consists of far more than property and institutions. It is a spiritual stake and belongs to a Kingdom of God that still takes precedence over the Im- perial Japanese Government. Barely two years ago, in a personal conver- sation, the American Ambassador told me that he believed emphatically that in the new regime, which he then felt sure was coming, our contribution as Christian missionaries would be needed
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
even rrW're than in the 75 years of our order to win the game, but she among the Wa tribe near the mission's history which had just closed. is getting her pocket drained border of Burma. The Chinese While so many things are crashing every day she lingers in China. soldiers seem intent on destroyabout us, there are other things that She is killing us day by day but ing every vestige of Christianity dJ and must remain. The friendship this act of killing takes much in that tribe. Representations of Christians of the West for the money. Finally she will go through the American Consul stricken Church of Christ in this land bankrupt. We must pray for have proved worse than fruitwill be of enormous value. peace. I do not think all Jap- less. This is not, however, anese people are as inhuman as typical of the attitude of the The courage and good spirit in these war soldiers." Chinese Government, either civil which our Chinese leaders with whom or military, towards mission we are in daily contact are carrying War Impetus to Education work in Yunnan, for in almost on is in itself an appeal for all that every place there is toleration we can do to hold up their hands. Hin Wong, contributor to the and even friendliness. Many of China Weekly Review, says that the officials are either Christians Chinese Appeal to Christians the war now in progress, while themselves, or friendly to Chris- distressing in many ways, is tian propaganda. An open letter to the Chris- beneficial to the Chinese morally, tians of the world, signed by 20 especially to the women folk, in- Although definite statistics prominent Chinese Christians, cluding those in Szechuen, who are not available, it is highly both men and women, declares: now realize their short-comings probable that there are more "The present Sino – Japanese and are not slow to apply a rem- aboriginal Christians in Yunnan crisis may prove a test of the edy. Certain middle schools for than in all the other provinces moral strength of the Christian girls in and outside Chungking of China put together. Amer- Church throughout the world. have decided to use the off-hours ican Baptist workers have bap- Our earnest hope is that the of their students to organize tized over 28,000 aborigines. Sino-Japanese conflict may not mass education for adult women be viewed as a local and remote in order to interest the illiterate JAPAN-CHOSEN quar.rel. . . . We appeal to in reading, and thus in national Christian people all over the affairs. The women's division Shrine Problem Again world, including those in Japan, of the present National Defense, to share with us the sense of re- or anti-enemy, League in Chung- In carrying out the instrucsponsibility in this perilous king, has found itself inefficient tions of the educational departhour, and to adopt whatever and unable to meet the task as- ment of the government that all measures are within their power signed it, simply because of lack common schools in Japan adopt to set in motion the corporate of leadership among the women some sort of spiritual drill, many conscience of the Christian themselves; and all this may be principals take the pupils to a Church." traced to lack of education on near-by shrine once a month and the part of the masses. make them bow before it. The The "Truly True Church" National Sunday School Associa- Revival in Hong Kong tion is seeking to counteract this China is not without sec- influence in the lives of Christarianism. Independent groups Dr. H. Lechmere Clift, of tian pupils, and is endeavoring are springing up in the Chinese Emanuel Medical Mission, Hong- to make special plans to come in Church, and some try to draw kong, writes in The Life of touch with these pupils in some members away from others. Faith: active way. Reports indicate These groups have such names that the Sunday school enrolas the Glory Church, the Inde- The unJelievable has happened. Re- ment is steadily decreasing, due pendent C h u r c h, the Little vival has begun in Hongkong – al- largely to the rising tide of mili- Flock, the True Jesus Church, most the hardest place in the world tarism. Every effort is being and the Truly True Jesus to rouse saint or sinner. Suddenly, made to awaken church mem- Church. Obviously, the Truly with no herald announcing his ap- bers to a realization of their True have left the True. proach, a tall young American ap- duties in connection with this peared at our Mission. He was Mr. important aspect of their work. -So S. Times. Clifford Lewis on his way to Burma, India, Palestine and Britain. How- -World's Sunday School Extracts from Chinese ever, in answer to prayer, the Lord Association. Woman's Letter detained him, and he had more than a fortnight's meetings. Many souls Kagawa's Views Unchanged "Weare unable to send any have been saved and believers brought war news to anyone as mails are into fuller light and into more conse- Asked to comment upon the being censored. . . . China is crated surrender. rumors that Dr. Toyohiko Kagfighting a defensive war. Japan awa had modified his Christian is fighting a war of aggression. Persecution in Yunnan pacifist attitude because of Ja- China will resist to the end. pan's present action in China, China may die in the end but World Dominion Press reports his secretary and fellow worker, Japan will die with us also. that frightful persecution is go- Miss Helen Topping, declared Japan is acting like a gambler ing on against the American that letters she had received playing a poker game. She is Baptist Mis s ion Christians bidding the highest stakes in
from Japan quite recently were Educating Koran Girls from India, Tonga, Samoa, the eloquent witness to Kagawa's Ellice Islands and New Zealand. distress and concern at the pres- Great changes have taken It has been an official leper setent actions of his country. place in all the mission schools tlement since 1911. Since that of Korea. Twenty-five years ago year there have been more than -The Living Church. the average girl was sixteen to 900 admissions to Makogai, of twenty years old when she en- which about 580 remain today. Japanese Speaks Out tered. There were even a few The island is barely two and a married women. Educational half miles long and a mile wide. At a mass meeting in Madison standards were negligible. Most Square Garden, New York City, of the students were from Chris- Lepers able to care for themlast October, Mr. S. Okemoto, a tian homes and had for years selves are housed in one of five Japanese, said: been attending Sunday school, villages, according to their race. as well as Bible classes with Each village is ruled by a head- Enough has been said about the older women. man, responsible to the adminisreal aim of this undeclared war upon tration for its cleanliness and China by the Japanese military Fas- While the objectives have not the observance of health rules. cists who dominate their government. changed, they now enter at All lepers are expected to work, I shall speak about whether the peo- eleven or twelve years of age, if able. Most of them are farmple of Japan want war, whether the and a larger proportion come ers, raising bananas, sweet potapeople of my country wish to murder from non – Christian hom e s. toes, tapioca and kawais. Any helpless women and children. They There is sufficient evidence to surplus crops are bought by the do not want war.. they do not want prove that these modern stu- government and used for feedto murder the peace-loving people of dents when once they have ing the inmates at the hospital. China; nor do they wish to destroy yielded their hearts to God have the old civilization of China. I give the same burning enthusiasm for European nurses devote their facts to prove it. Christian service as have their lives to these sufferers. They older sisters, with even greater perform the minor dressings for First, the working masses of Japan poise and efficiency. the patients and aside from their have to work long hours for miserably aid in medical and surgical treatlow wages. What will they gain by AUSTRALIA AND THE ment .they spend their time engoing into China to shoot the Chinese ISLANDS couraging the lepers in work and or to be shot themselves? Is it in de- play. Besides the inevitable fense of their country? That cannot Sunday School by Mail movies, the inmates have fishing, be, for we all know that no country model boat sailing, cricket and on earth is threatening Japan. The Postal Sunday School native games for amusement. Movement, wit h headquarters Secondly, who is hearing the burden in Sydney, Australia, was started Surprisingly, the visitor finds of the tremendous expense of this four years ago to meet the spir- the whole atmosphere one of warfare? It is the working masses itual needs of young people in cheerfulness. This is due to the of Japan, where the prices of bare lonely homesteads and scattered fact that modern medicine has necessities, food and clothing- have al- settlements. More than 8,000 shown leprosy to be curable. ready risen 80 per cent. The people boys and girls are members, of of Japan cannot afford to pay for war whom 2,718 enrolled during the Women in the Philippines when they earn hardly enough to pay past year. Thousands of isolated for a bowl of rice! It is the military boys and girls still remain to be The U nit e d Evangelical clique, together with a handful of big linked up with the movement. Church of the Philippines' has financial and industrial interests, that just taken a forward step; it is started war, not the Japanese people. Joy Bells, a monthly periodi- the formation of a Woman's cal, is sent to everyone of them Association. Two years ago the – Watchman-Examiner. free, and contains Bible lessons Dorcas Societies of Mindanao requiring study and answers sent a resolution to the General How Churches Start which are sent to headquarters Assembly asking for more par- for examination and correction. ticipation. As a result, women The founding of a Christian Interesting articles in it foster delegates were invited to the church in a heathen village is al- an interest in the Bible among General Assembly last year for ways a miracle. Here is one these children of some 3,900 the first time. These women which had its beginning in the homes in every state of the Com- then got together to consider hear.t of a humble man from the monwealth, New Zealand, Fiji, how Church women could render mountains. He had heard the New Guinea, Nauru and the more effective service. After Gospel for the first time while Solomon Islands. their deliberations, and with the bringing lumber down for the encouragement of Dr. E. C. Sob- Chusil church, and a workman -World Dominion Press. repena, Moderator of the Gentaught him to believe in Jesus. eral Assembly of the United He went home, and succeeded in Leper Island in Fiji Evangelical Church, the Womconvincing four of his six broth- an's Union was organized, with ers of the truth of the Gospel. Makogai is a dreaded spot in Mrs. Julia Yapsutco as first Although he could neither read the Pacific Ocean. It is the president. nor write he bought several island of Fiji to which go lepers Bibles and hymn books to distribute among his brothers and neighbors who could read. He himself is now learning to read. There are about 400 homes in his village; about 45 attend worship services.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Mrs. Yapsutco has been a dy- growing interest in Bible study. Chautauqua World Missions Innamic leader in the churches of All this has challenged workers stitute: "A Moslem world dis- Mindanao, stimulating the de- to broaden their program, and turbed by the forces of nationalvelopment of a number of con- these are the goals they have set ism, social change, and science gregations and becoming pastor for the next two years: and education, was portrayed by of some of them. She is a wom- The Gospel shall be preached for Dr. Young, speaking on 'The an of deep spiritual life, and will not less than one week in every mu- Awakening of the M 0 s Ie m nicipality of the Bicol Region. World.' Approximately 250 milgive this association leadership In every town where there is an or- lion people are of Moslem faith of a high order. today, considerably in excess of ganized church, every precinct shall all the Protestant Christians in -Missionary Herald. hear the Gospel. the world. Dr. Young stated that the Moslem world is seeth- Every member shall strive to win ing with unrest today and turn- ing away from the orthodox Mo- Something New Under at least one soul to Christ. hammedan conceptions. In just Moro Sun what direction it is turning is Every family in the church shall not now evident. It may pos- possess a Bible and every member at sibly turn to a revised Moslem faith, adapted to modern condi- Under the inspiration and di- least a New Testament. tions; or it may turn largely to rection of Dr. Frank C. Lau- A definite work among the Negritos Christianity. bach, a group of young Filipinos (small aborigines) shall be estab- "Dr. Young pointed out that have launched a m 0 vern e n t lished through local contributions the thinking Moslem people can- alone. not reconcile the ideals of Chris- tianity with the practices of supbased upon seven tests of char- Family worshio shall be established posedly Christian nations and acter: (1) Abandonment of evil . in every evangelical home. people, particularly as to the Christian use of force, and alhabits of thought and action. MISCELLANEOUS coholism. The Moslems look to (2) Absolute honesty. (3) Ab- the United States as the most nearly Christian nation in the solute purity. (4) Absolute Missions and Peace world, thus placing upon us a tremendous responsibility in pounselfishness. (5) To be abso- The Federal C 0 u n c i I of lutely loving. (6) Seek and ob- tential power for good. This Churches and the Committee on serve the Will of God in every International Relations of the power can only be exercised if detail of life. (7) Help their fellow men find the "Good Life.'.' Foreign Missions Conference our practices are made to con- Every young Moro who wishes have agreed upon a plan of coto join must pledge himself to operation to relate the mission- form to our ideals." these principles. Over 43 to ary program of the Church more date have done so. Here is a real challenge to the closely to the cause of peace and better international understand- Christian churches of America Goals for the Future ing. It is widely recognized that and to the home missions forces. foreign missions have a part to The non-Catholic population play in the maintenance of world in the Philippines is increasing peace.
rapidly, while the Roman Cath- From a .Summer Oonference olic population is becoming more Notebook broad-minded and, in many cases is asking for Protestant training Dr. Herrick B. Young, Board for their children. .There is a of Foreign Missions of the Pres- deepened spirituality and a byterian Church of U. S. A., PERSECUTION THAT MISSED ITS POINT Christians have always been persecuted more or less in the Bhil country, Western India, but last year concerted effort was made to destroy Christianity in the village of Ubri. So far as can be ascertained, the reason was fear that the Christian community might become dominant. Whereupon the converts were beaten and constantly threatened, and finally given five days' notice to quit the village. Successful appeal was made to the local magistrate who ruled that Christians were not to be turned out of the village.
This organized persecution was not without encouraging results. The persecutors in Ubri were anxious for the persecution to spread into other villages. So they sent word to the head men of villages near by that unless they made it hot for the Christians in their villages, no brides would be forthcoming from Ubri for their young men. The head men responded by summoning the Christians in the various villages to a meeting. Nearly every Christian household was represented. Then such questions were asked as: "Why did you become Christians?" and "In what way is Christianity better than Hinduism?" and so a splendid opportunity for evangelism was given. The meeting broke up in quite a friendly atmosphere, and the attempt to spread organized persecution fizzled out. Not only that, but Christians were bound together as never before.-C. M. S. Outlook.
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I Our Missionary Bookshelf I Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information 1_ ~,~=====-=o…oo=~=======-==,~ The Solitary Throne. By Samuel M. glibly pray the prayer that we The Process of Change in the Otto- Zwemer. 111 pp. ish. Pickering may be filled with the Holy man Empire. By Dr. Wilbur W. & Inglis. London. 1937. Spirit. I shall never forget the White. Map. 314 pp. $3.50. Uni- professor under whom I .was versity of Chicago Press. 1937. The author was formerly a taught theology telling a man to missionary to Arabia, and re- stop as he prayed that prayer" Ranke, a century ago, unravelcently Professor of Christian and the man stopped in the ing the tangled history of Eur- Missions and the History of Re- middle of his petition. 'John,' ope and the Popes, wrote "No ligion at Princeton Theological he said, 'do you know what it history can be written but uni- Seminary; for twenty-six years might mean to your father and versal history." Dr. White, Ashe has been Editor of The Mos- sistant Professor of Political lem World. He has given us mother, to your home-ties, and Science at Western Reserve Unifive addresses delivered at the to your whole life, if you were versity, has well proven the Keswick Convention in England really baptized with the Holy truth of this quotation. In this last summer. The title is taken Spirit?' When we pray that Doctor's dissertation, he shows from a s tat e m e nt by Mr. prayer, it means combustion- hoW the drama of the Ottoman Gandhi: "I am unable to place sacrifice, 'my heart an altar and Empire, though enacted on the Jesus Christ on a solitary Thy love the flame.' " Near Eastern stage, was plotted throne." These addresses on backstage in Russia, Austria, The Solitary Throne, His Minis- The chapter on "The Glory of Great Britain and later Italy and ters a Flame, Photophobia, The the Impossible" is a summons Germany. The book is a mod- Glory of the Impossible, and The more imperative than any Muez- ern tragedy, with its theme the Hinterland of the Soul empha- zin's can to prayer; it is a sum- struggle of a single old Moslem size the finality of Christ, His Empire against new and vigposition on the Throne of God, mons to the exercise of Christian orous empires. His worthiness to open the seals faith, courage and determination of the Book of History, His abil- in carrying the Gospel to the Here is a condensed history of ity to make His ministers a flame Moslem world, where the author Turkey – the first chapter reof fire, and His glory in bringing spent many years of his life and viewing the rise of a military the Light of Life to men. which he knows so thoroughly. Moslem Empire during the Thir- "It is daybreak, not sunset in teenth Century, penetrating all Dr. Zwemer's style is not like the Moslem world" is his in- contiguous territories till in a smoothly running brook, but formed and eager cry. 1774, having attained its zenith, like a stream which is full of the process of disintegration berapids and cataracts. Like The closing chapter on "The came evident. The following Carlyle he is staccato, pungent, Hinterland of the Soul" is the chapters trace the methods used piercing, although the original call of a real leader and a true by European imperialism to and forceful address on "Photo- prophet to all Christians to rouse weaken and encroach on the dephobia" is an exception to this. from lethargy and to take pos- caying Ottoman Empire. There He is nothing if not original, di- session of the things which have is a trenchant criticism of the rect, interesting and often dis- been promised by the Lord. vision of political leaders during turbing. His whole soul is de- the nineteenth century in not voted to the Lord Jesus. First Dr. Zwemer's quotations and understanding the dynamic nahe gives the particulars which illustrations, with which the ture of change. Each step was show the supremacy, uniqueness book abounds, reveal a very considered as final-and no proand finality of Christ and Chris- wide reading, an excellent mem- vision allowed for later modifitianity; second he communicates ory, and a great gift of painting cation of circumstances. Yet to the reader something of the "apples of gold in pictures of Divine fire which has consumed each treaty was but a comprohim in Arabia and at Princeton. silver." Any man or woman who mise and soon after signing of Let the reader think of the pas- reads this book will have his or sage on page 50: "May we never her heart warmed and stirred such treaties, conditions had and inspired and called to deeper love for Christ and to greater changed, making the conditions courage in His service. unbearable to one of the many ROCKWELL S. BRANK.
Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[62 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
parties concerned. Any effort to Browbeaten by war and illegalities guide-book in the unspeakably from 1774 to 1920, Turkey rested its important work of winning peoaccomplIsh modIfications, trod last stand for national existence on ple to Christ and definite salva- military force-and won. With inde- tion. Packed with Bible referon the privileges of some other power. 'l'hus the only possibility pendence guaranteed by its own abil- of affecting change was by de- ity to protect itself by force, it has ences, discussion of casest and nuncIatIOn of a past agreement helpful directions in this work, and military accion. The history accepted existing peaceful instrumen- it is not dry rea din g, but breathes the holy passion of the of the Ottoman Empire is thus talities for the settlement of sub- sidiary questions. . . . It is interest- ing' that Turkey has been one of the one of continuous "illegality" leaders in accepting the instrumentali- Lord Himself, and communi- ties (of the League) and of the spirit and war. The main method used of that part of Article 19 of the Cov- cates the passion to readers who to break up the Ottoman Em- enant regarding the reconsideration already have a clear faith, and pire, was to fan the flames of a willing heart. Its chapters of treaties, the extension of which is national aspirations in the mi- prerequisite to the avoidance of war tell of "A Concern for Souls," and the development of pe,aceful innority races, encouraging revolt, ternational change. "The Fitness of the Worker," assisting by loaning arms or "The Place of Prayer," "Oppor- forces and making timely in- This book, though brief, omits tunity and Approach," and how vasions from outside, application no important material. It is to deal with various classes. The of diplomatic pressure to assure very skimpy on economic factors author's aim is to give in small recognition of new independent producing change; but is a compass the best instruction groups-till portion by portion political study, well documented, possible out of his own experi- the periphery of Empire (Egypt interesti.ngly written, and adds ence and that of other soul-win- in 1806; Greece by 1829-30; a valuable contributinn to the ners the world over. We agree Roumania in 1856; Cypres and literature seeking ways of peace- with the Foreword, by William Tunisia in 1877, etc.) had been ful change – the author's selec- P. Nicholson, that there never broken off, so that by 1914 only tion of the Ottoman Empire is was a time when such a book central A nat 0 I i a, Iraq and excellent and his treatment is was more needed than today, Arabia remained to the parent careful, just and timely. It is a because many believers have State. These were generously sad "case record" of nineteenth never won anyone to Christ, and disposed of in war promises. century imperialism, with hope are missing the heavenly joy of The Arabs were encouraged to for a better way, in which Tur- it and the reward. It would be revolt, and while France and key leads. EDWIN M. WRIGHT. well for the churches if thou- Great Britain retained important The New Walk. By Captain Reginald sands would read a book like Wallis. 78 pp. 40 cents. Amerportions for themselves, the re- ican Bible Conference Assn. Phil- this and have their heart enmainder was promised to Greece adelphia, Pa. 1937. flamed with a new desire and and Italy as the price of entry purpose really to do the will of on the Allied side. There was Like its predecessors – The Jesus Christ. FRANK LUKENS. but one miscalculation-that the New Boy, The New Girl, The "sick man" might revive and New Life, and other small vol- Notes on a Drum. Travel Sketches spoil the sale. This miracle took umes in the helpful series of in Guatemala. By Joseph H. Jackplace and under Kemal Ataturk, books by the well-known British son. Illus. 8vo. 276 pp. $3.00. the corpse jumped off the oper- evangelist-this is characterized The Macmillan Co. New York. ating table and drove out the dis- by clarity of presentation and 1937. secting doctors. an abundant use of Scripture texts. It is more than just a As the subtitle informs us, Nationalism, the disease which treatise, sprinkled with Bible these notes are not "from a references. There are helpful drum" but travel sketches writhad caused the amputation of illustrations, which add to the ten largely on a Guatemala Turkey's provinces, became the usable quality of the book. It drumhead used for a table. Mr. elixir which revivified her body should do much to clarify the re- Edwards is the author of "The in 1919 and produced her regen- sponsibility and privileges of Mexican Interlude" and is cheereration. The rebirth was more effective testimony for recent ful, chatty and an observing than political or military. It converts, as well as for more traveler. was social as well, reaching into mature believers who have not the religion, economy and life of fully realized the practical im- Guatemala is an interesting every Turk. There is a fine con- plications of the Christian faith. country, the most important of clusion: (page 260) the five Central American re- F. E. G. publics. The people and govern- Within fifteen years, it (Turkey) ment show all the characteristics has cut itself off from its past in al- The Divine Art of Soul-Winning. of Latin Americans; mixed with most every conceivable manner. . . . By J. O. Sanders. 96 pp. Is. Indians, temperamental, excit- Interestingly enough, he seems to have Pickering and Inglis, Glasgow. able, ambitious for independundergone a spiritual revivication 1937. ence and right to rule, but lackwhich is responsible for his physical ing in many elements that make recuperation. This new combination The author is superintendent for stable and wise government. of a vital spirit in a smaller, it is true, but much more homogeneous and ro- bust body has been able to throw off of the New Zealand Bible Train- Mr. and Mrs. Jackson went as the restraints of centuries and for- tourists to see the country and mally enabled Turkey to enter as an ing Institute and editor of The the people, apparently without equal into the family of nations…. Reaper. This is an inspiring
any prejudices and with only a his tragic death for its publica- befallen any other of the group purpose to tell what they saw. tion. Intimate personal ac- on the University campus, but The author tells of the climate, there can be no doubt that C. T. the picturesque scenery, the life quaintance with "Jack" Williams Wang was right in his letters of the people – high and low, gave Mr. Wheeler both a sympa- and his inscribed memorial, in rich and poor, Spanish, ladino declaring that "it was the demise and Indians, urban and rural. thetic understanding of his per- of the beloved vice-president The reports of life in Guatemala sonality and devotion and also which shocked the Chinese au- City, Chichicastenango, Quezal- access to correspondence which thorities into purging the coun- tenango and other cities and vividly reveals the man, his try of the Red Terror and effect- towns give a few graphic ing the union of the distracted glimpses but are very incom- times, his labors and his impress provinces of China." His death plete. There are notes on his- upon the new generation in "revealed the guilt of sin and the tory and architecture, markets beauty of love," and this biog- and slums, parks and flowers, China. raphy should bring to all readers volcanoes and lakes, politics and both these lessons and also the officials, hotels and tourists, Ro- John E. Williams, of sturdy infinite value, for time and eter- man Cat hoI i c priests and Welsh parentage, was born at nity, of every strong life devoted churches, festivals, customs and Coshocton, Ohio, June 11, 18'H. to making Christ known to a costumes, Indian idols and Cath- great race like the Chinese. olic images, superstition and Six years' labor with his father tradition; but there is nothing in the coal mines delayed his C. H. FENN. about the important evangelical schooling, but he took the course Christian work with its schools, at Marietta College and was The Man Who Moved Multitudes. churches and hospitals – all of By R. D. Johnston. 12mo. 138 pp. which are worth noting. The graduated from Auburn Theo- Ish. Pickering & Inglis. Glasgow. only references to Protestant logical Seminary in 1899. With 1937. work are unfavorable gossip. With all it is a readable, though his bride he landed in China on This brief biography of the very scrappy, travel book. the eve of "Boxer Year," and late D. L. Moody is scarcely more was assigned to Nanking. He than a sketch, with tributes to Miracles in a Doctor's Life. By the man from some prominent Walter Lewis Wilson. 121 pp. acquired much of his fluency in people. It is very sympathetic Paper, 20 cents. Bible Institute Chinese by constant mingling with the evangelist's spirit and Colportage Assn. Chicago. 1935. with the people. Charge of a purpose and is interesting to those who are not already fa- Here is a spiritual tonic for small boys' school impressed him miliar with the facts. On ac- any Christian doctor. Many count of its brevity there is work conscientiously and effec- with the call for union of such practically nothing in this rec- tively but they view their work schools, and from this grew the ord except about Mr. Moody''! as though the body were of chief evangelistic work. There is importance and as if man were Union University, of which he practically nothing about his only a higher order of animal. was for twenty years the strenu- home and family, the schools he Dr. Wilson looks upon man as ously promoting vice-president. founded, his work in the army an immortal soul with a body- In 1906-07, eight months were and Y. M. C. A. or the great both of which need to be kept Northfield Conferences. There strong and healthy, but the spir- spent with the many Chinese is no literary merit to the story ituallife being of supreme value. students in Tokyo, and there be- and it is exceedingly "spotty." He tells many soul-stirring ex- gan a strong friendship with One mistake is in saying that periences in dealing with souls Mr. Moody married the "daugh- and bodies and shows the joy C. T. Wang, a leader in the Rev- ter" of Fleming H. Revell. She and gratitude that follows when olution of 1911-12. Half of his was his sister. There are also a patient finds new life in Christ, remaining years, to his death in one or two mistakes in the spell- even if the body must return to 1927, were spent in securing ing of proper names. Neverthe- the earth from which it came. less, young people will find it Read the book and send it to your personal interest and financial easy and stimulating reading. doctor friends. support in America for the Uni- versity. N~w Books John E. Williams of Nanking. By W. Reginald Wheeler. Fleming H. From the beginning he was Accidents Will Happen. W. M. Revell Co. 222 pp. $2.00. 1937. Pearce. Is. 3d. Pickering & Inglis. an ardent advocate of an in- Glasgow. Though "better late than creasing measure of Chinese re- never," it is a pity that this me- sponsibility and authority in the The Approaching Advent of Christ. morial of a strong and success- University. His relations with Alexander Reese. 328 pp. $2.40. ful China missionary had to Marshall, M'organ & Scott. London. . await the tenth anniversary of Chinese teachers and students showed no sense of racial or cul- Congo-Past and Present. Alfred R. tural superiority, but always the Stonelake. 202 pp. 3s. 6d. World heartiest cooperative fellowship. He accepted China's problems as his own and declared his convic- tion that Christianity may yet "find a fuller and better expres- sion in the Chinese Church than it has found in any other land." The Anti-Christian Movement of 1922-25 and the anti-foreign agi- tation of 1924-27 did not shake his optimism. His death at the hands of an ignorant Red soldier, on March 24, 1927, might have
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LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN, OF
By ROBERT E. SPEER This is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the influential and able editor of the Bombay Guardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone called him, "The Wh'ite Yogi."
When George Bowen died in 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character, forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and . will richly reward the thoughtful reader. The book will be ready early in February.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. A Decisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. From 18;0 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. xu. Ten Years of Independent Work. IV. Life in New York, 1840-1844. The Bombay Guardian. V. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. XIII. Relations with the American Board. VI. Conversion to Christianity. XIV. Association with the Methodist Church. VII. At Union Theological Seminary. Bowen as a Writer. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. XV. Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. IX. The Voyage to India, 1847. XVI. Closing Testimony. X. Beginning Missionary Work. XVII. XVIII. XIX.
This latest work by Dr. Speer may be ordered at $2.50 per copy from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY 186 Fifth Avenue, New York 11f1! MISSIONARY ~RID This illustrated evangelical missionary monthly will keep readers in touch with the need of men for Christ and His Gospel and relates graphically the story of the progress of missionary work in all lands.
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The Missionary Review of the World — 1937 Index
INDEX-1937 VOLUME
THE MISSIONARY EVlEW'
Founded in 1878 DELAVAN L. PIERSON Editor 1888 to 1911 By ROYAL G. WILDER Editor ARTHUR T. PIERSON Editorial A.ssociates MRS. ESTELLA. S. AITCHISON, "Effective Ways of Working" MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, "Home Mission Bulletin"
MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, "Our World-Wide Outlook" MISS MADELINE M. BECKMANN, Editorial Secretary REV. ENOCH F. BELL, D.D. Editorial Council REV. A. C. SNEAD REV. ARTHUR J. BROWN, D.D. REV. JAY S. STOWELL FRANKLIN D. COGSWELL REV. S. G. INMAN, D.D. REV. MILLS J. TAYLOR, D.D. REV. PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ, D.D. REV. WILLIAM R. KING, D.D. MISS FLORENCE G. TYLER REV. JOHN McDOWELL, D.D.* REV. WILLIAM P. SCHELL, D.D. MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD REV. CHARLES H. SEARS, D.D. WM. B. LIPPHARI> ERIC M. NORTH ROBERT E. SPEER, President Board of Directors SAMUEL M. ZWEMER A. L. W ARNSHUIS, Vice-President WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary WM. I. CHAMBERLAIN* DAVID J. FANT * 'Deceased Copyrighted, 1937 Published by the Missionary Review Publishing Co., Inc.
EDITORIAL OFFICE, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City PUBLICATION AND BUSINESS OFFICE, Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa.
D. J. FANT, Advertising and Circulation Manager [ 621 J Page Index to Authors Page Abel, Russell W…………… 416 Page Price, Frank W. ………….. 563 Rea, Julian S…………….. 524 Anderson, J. Lowrie ………. 489 Hayne, Coe ……………. 308,592 Rich, Mark ………………. 302 Anderson, W. B. ………….. 140 Hewitt, Nina B. ………….. 300 Richardson, R. C. …………. 33 Axling, William …………… 139 Ives, Hilda L……………… 297 Richter, Julius ……………. 423 Azariah, V. S…………….. 131 Jones, E. Stanley …………. 237 Ridley, H. French …………. 145 Jordan, S. M. …………….. 523 Riggs, James F …………… 587 Bellingham, W. …………… 372 Keller, Adolf …………….. 579 Brown, Arthur J. . ………. 26, 179 Killian, John C……………. 312 Ritzman, M. E. …………… 594 Browning, Webster E ………. 341 King, Wm. R……………… 285 Rizzo, Jr., M'iguel …………. 576 Brumbaugh, T. T………….. 582 Koobyar, Stephen O. ………. 597 Rogers, William L…………. 251 Kurdistani, Sa'eed …………. 571 Rohrbaugh, James ………… 41 Burnett, J. S…………….. 345 Lambie, Tom …………….. 422 Royall, Geoffrey …………… 363 Burton, Marjorie A………… 193 Laubach, Fr,ank C. ………… 485 Salsbury, C. G. …………… 75 Butzin, Arthur F. …………. 149 Leynse, James P. . ……. 88, 191,409 Scofield, C. I. …………….. 65 Calverley, Eleanor T……….. 492 Lieshing, M. C. …………… 206 Cantine, James …………… 427 Lindquist, G. E. K ………… 533 Scotford, John R. …………. 45 MacKinnon, Murdoch ………. 378 Scott, William ……………. 187 Case, Brayton C. ………….. 245 MacMillan, J. A. ………….. 90 Shepherd, George W……….. 204 Cash, W. Wilson ………….. 467 Magary, Alvin E ………….. 343 Smith, Ellsworth M. ……….. 305 Chiang Kai-shek, Generalissimo. 357 Magee, John G……………. 207 Smith, Gertrude J …………. 377 Chiang Kai-shek, Madame … 361,540 McClenahan, W. L. ………… 69 McConkey, James H. ………. 35 Snead, Alfred C. . ………. 199,351 Cuthbertson, James ……….. 234 McConnell, Charles M. ……… 287 Somerndike, John M……….. 315 Davies, Howell D. …………. 202 McDonald, George …………. 92 Speer, Robert E. ……. . …. 7,119 Dawber, Mark A. …………. 279 McLaughlin, Henry W……… 294 Storm, W. Harold. . . . . . . .. . … 21 Dodd, Edward M. …………. 459 Mitchell, Ann …………….. 282 Donaldson, Dwight M. ……… 455 Moody, Thomas …………… 379 Taylor, H. Kerr …………… 253 Moore, Jr., L. Paul ………… 30 Tema, S. S. ………………. 195 Eastman, Elaine Goodale …… 128 Morrison, John …………… 197 Thomas, Winburn T….. 36, 231, 584 Edwards, J. F …………….. 183 Mull, Ruth C. ;……………. 318 Thompson, W. H………….. 347 Ekvall, Robert B. …………. 411 Orts-Gonzalez, Juan ……….. 86 Upson, A. T………………. 599 Erdman, Mabel H. ………… 482 Peabody, Lucy W………….. 144 Peet, H. W……………….. 153 Vance, Joseph A…………… 142 Fenn, Courtenay H. . …….. 95, 116 Pell, J. U………………… 236 Van Ess, John ……………. 476 Finney, Davida M…………. 461 Perpetuo, Antonio H. ………. 81 Warnshuis, A. L. …………. 67 Gaebelein, Frank E. ……….. 115 Pierson, Arthur T…………. 430 Gih, Andrew ……………… 190 Pierson, Delavan L., (Topics of Watts, J. R. ……………… 365 Wilson, J. Christy ………. 133,567 Goodale, Dora Read ……….. 578 the Times) Winn, Mrs. George H. ……… 527 Gould, Orpha B. ………….. 542 Platt, Charles A. ………….. 201 Wright, R. R., Jr…………. 589 Greenslade, W. G. …………. 252 Poling, Daniel A. . ………… 151 Wyker, Mrs. James D……… 425 Griffeth. Ross J …………… 290 Porteous, R. W ……………. 412 Young, Charlotte E ………… 519 Grubb, Kenneth G. ………… 529 Young, Herrick Black ……… 241 Haldane, James …………… 471 Zahir, Alfred …………….. 38 Hamner, Edward D………… 309 Harnish, Louis C. …………. 368 Zwemer, Samuel M. . … 181,464,573 Harrison, Paul ……………. 479 Page Contributed Articles Page Afghan Christian Martyr, An, Page China, Christians and the New Alfred Zahir ………… 38 Life Movement, Madame Arabia, Doctor's Tour in Neglect- Chiang Kai-shek ……… 540 Africa, African Bishop in, R. R. ed, W. Harold Storm….. 21 Wright, Jr…………… 589 Combating Communism with Australian Bush, Caravan in, Christian Service in Kiang- Daniel, Tshisunga – Congo Marjorie A. Burton …… 193 si, George W. Shepherd … 204 Apostle, John Morrison … 197 Bailey, Wellesley C.-Friend of Fruit from Seed-Sowing, Or- Christian Villages in Mozam- Lepers, ……………… 239 pha B. Gould ………… 542 bique, Julian S. Rea …..• 524 Board of Foreign Missions, Why Hope for the Renaissance of. African Evangelists in Training, I Like to Work for the. . .. 538 E. Stanley Jones ……… 71 L. Paul Moore, Jr. ……. 30 Brahman Christian – Nehemiah Hospital on the Yangtza. – Missions, New Moving Pic- Goreh ………………. 381 Opening a New, J. W. Pell 236 tures of, William L. Rogers 257 Brazil, Evangelical Work in, Mi- Pioneering for ChI' i s t in – View of Africa's Need, An, guel Rizzo, Jr. ………. 576 Kwangsi, Alfred C. Snead. 351 S. S. Tema ………….. 195 BulletIn of the Council of Women And the New Life Movement 356 Alaskan Eskimos-Old and New, for Home Missions, Edited Arthur F. Butzin …….. 149 by Edith E. Lowry … .Monthly Prison Shaken in, A, Andrew Gih ………………… 190 American Indian and His Reli- Burma, How Christ Changes Life g-ion, The, Elaine Goodale in, Brayton C. Case …… 245 Chinese Communist Finds Christ, Eastman ……………. 128 John G. Magee ………. 207 Carey's Covenant, William ….. 135 – Indians, Early Work Among, Chi'mg Kai-shek, Faith of ….. , 274 Concubine Tells Her Story. G. E. E. Lindquist ……. 533 – Moral Law. Gp'lprali'lsimo .. 278 James P. Leynse ……… l!Jl Children Love to Give, James F. Arab Consults a Missionary Doc- Gospel Posters, Use of, R. W. tor, James Cantine …. ,.. 427 Riggs ………………. 587 Porteous ……………. 412 China, Beaten but Unconquered in, James Leynse …….. 409 r 6221 Page Page Page Chinese Spend Sunday in Pei- Islam, Effect on Childhood, Char- New Life Movement, The, Gen- lotte E. Young ………. 519 el'allSSlmo ChIang Kai-shek 357 ping, How, James P. Leynse 88 ,- Turkestan, Through Unevan- – Facts Auout …………… 470 Nicholson, Sir Frederick, in Civil – Statistical Survey of ……. 458 Service, Lucy W. Peabody. 144 geliz~, H. French Ridley.. 145 – Testimonies of Converts from, Chosen (Korea), When a Magis- Papua, Away with Sorcery and Stephen O. Koobyar …… 597 Murder in …………… 349 trate Went to Church, Wil- Japan, ]<'acts About ~vangelism liam Scott …………… 187 Papuan Bush, Experiences in, Christ for the World We Sing, in, James Cuthbertson …. 234 Russell W. Abel ………. 416 Joseph A. Vance ……… 142 '- Faith Working by Love in, – The Church and Modern Persia (Iran), Growing Interest Youth, Daniel A. Poling .. 151 Winburn T. Thomas ….. 584 in, S. M. Jordan ……… 523 Christian and Missionary Alli- – Visit to the Ainu of North, Poem-Deaf Lady's Appeal to the ance, Golden Anniversary, Winburn T. 'l'homas …… 231 A. C. Snead …………. 199 Goddess of Mercy, Robert Christian and Moslem Homes, Japanese Buddhists Pray, When, B. Ekvall ……………. 411 Ponca Breaks Paths for Choctaw, Eleanor T. Calverley ….. 492 Winburn T. Thomas …… 36 Coe Hayne ………….. 592 Christians Unite, Why ahd How Christian Leader, Nagao, Wil- Power of the Printed Page, Ma- Should, E. Stanley Jones.. 237 liam Axling …………. 139 bel H. Erdman ……….. 482 Church in the Heart, The, Ruth Christians, Dilemma of, T. T. Presbyterian Foreign Missions, C. Mull …………….. 318 Brumbaugh ………….. 582 Centennial of, Herrick Black – of the Countryside, Coe Hayne 308 Keeping the Fountains Clean, Young ……………… 241 Congo BeIge, Sixty Years in the, – Highlights in a Century of, Henry W. McLaughlin …. 294 Arthur J. Brown ……… 26 Thomas Moody ……….. 379 Korean Millsionary Gives Thanks, Rural America – Case Workers Conquering Power of Christ, The, in Rural Areas, Hilda L. Mrs. George H. Winn …. 527 Ives ………………… 297 Julius Richter ………… 423 Kurdish ChristIan Prophet, J. Country Pastor's Job, A, Mark Neglected Fields in, Wm. Christy Wilson ………. 567 R. King ………….. 285 Rich ……………….. 302 Larger Parish, The, Ellsworth M. Doctor's Night at Fatehpur, – – Twenty-five Years Ago and Smith ………………. 305 (Poem), Gertrude J. Smith 377 Lull, Passion of Raymond, Ken- Today, Ross J. Griffeth. 290 Effective Ways 'Of Working, Ed- Church in Canada, Problems neth G. Grubb ……….. 529 ited by Estella S. Aitchi- Missionaries Through Colored 'Of, J. R. Watts ………. 365 son ……………… Monthly Churches Are Doing, What Egede, Han s, Missionary to Glasses, H. Kerr Taylor .. 253 Missionary Appraisal as of J anu- Some, W. H. Thompson … 347 Greenland …………… 375 – – Volunteer Service in, Louis Egypt, Pioneering in a Cairo ary 1, 1937, Robert E. Speer 7 Call, Unchanging, Arthur T. C. Harnish ……….. 368 Slum, M. C. Lieshing ….. 206 – Colporteur, Ministry of the, Erromanga, Martyrs of, Murdoch Pierson ……………… 430 For Today, The Ideal, D. S. John C. Killian ………. 312 MacKinnon ………….. 378 – Community, The Challenge 'Of Ethiopia and the Sudan, Work Hibbard ……….•…… 186 – Motives, Modern, W. B. An- the, Mark A. Dawber ….. 279 in, Tom Lambie ………. 422 – – Cooperation in, Edward D. Ethiopian Missions Under Italian derson ………………. 140 Obligation, my, M. E. Ritz- Hamner ………….. 309 Rule, James Rohrbaugh… 41 – – Saving a Whole ……… 370 European Revolution, In the Midst man ……………….. 594 Spain, Conflicting Issues in, Juan Stopped at the Ranch, When of. Adolf Keller ………. 579 Orts-Gonzalez ………… 86 Farm Tenants and Share-Crop- a, Antonio H. Perpetuo… 81 Statistics-Religious Bodies and Missions and the Critics, Howell pers, Charles M. McConnell 287 Groups in the United States 408 Farmer's Wife Sees It, As a, D. Davies ……………. 202 Students and Missions, British – Tomorrow, The Outlook for, Nina B. Hewitt ……… 300 Christian, H. W. Peet …. 153 First Five Centuries of Chris- Review by Courtenay H. Sunday Schools, Importance of Fenn ……………….. 95 tianity, Samuel M. Zwemer 573 Moslem Lands, New and Old in, Pioneer, John M. Sonwrn- Foreign Missions, Changing and A. T. Upson …………. 599 dike ………………… 315 Reactions to the Gospel, James Syria, Future of Antioch in, W. Unchanging Things in, Rob- Haldane ……………. 471 G. Greenslade ………… 252 ert E. Speer …………. 119 Sermon uy a Converted, Sa'- Thinking Yellow VB. Acting Yel- Forgotten Man of the Back Road, eed Kurdistani ……….. 571 lpw, Geoffrey W. Royall .. 363 Ann Mitchell ………… 282 Superstitions, Davida M. Fin- Gift Reveals the Giver-A Medi- United States, Forty Miles from ney ………………… 461 "a Hospital in the, Dora tation ………………. 380 – Views of "Those Nazarenes," Giving, Points to Remember in Read Goodale ………… 578 J. Lowrie Anderson …… 489 – South as a Mission Field, TM, Christian, The Late C. I. – World, Some Trends in the, Scofield ……………… 65 John R. Scotford ……… 45 Goforth of China, Jonathan, J. Edward M. Dodd …….. 459 Vail, Charles E., The Beloved – – Today, Dwight M. Donald- A. MacMillan ………… 93 Physician, R. C. Richardson 33 Hickey, Mike, An Ex-Convict son ……………… 455 Moslems, Christian Approach to, Waiting for You? Is God, James Who MlJde G"(ln .' ……. ' 44 H. McCnnkev ………… 35 India Advances in Politics and W. Wilson Cash ………. 467 – – Doctor Among, Paul Har- What Christ Said (Poem), George Religion, J. F. Edwards .. 183 McDonald …………… 92 Thou~hts. on Recent Evan- risQn …………….. 479 Educating for Christ, John Women's Work in a Country gelIsm III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Church, Mrs. James D. Wy- Untouchables, What Christ Van Ess …………….. 476 ker ………………… 425 Experience with. Frank C. Has Done for, V. S. Azar- Woods, the Outlaw, Jake, J. S. iah …………………. 131 Laubach …………….. 485 Burnett …………….. 345 Iran, Firebrand for Christ in, Why Preach Christ to, Sam- J. Christy Wilson …….. 133 Youth. Objectives and Principles Iraq, Medical Work Among Arabs uel M. Zwemer ……,…. 464 Murdoch Trail in Kentucky, The, for ……… Third Cover. July in, W. Bellingham ……. 372 Great American Mission Field, Is God Waiting For You?, James Alvin E. Magary …….. 343 Navajo, Christ Comes to the, C. Frank E. Gaebelein …… 115 H. McCQnkey ………… 35 On the Christian Frontier, G. Salsbury ………… " 75 New Life Movement, Madame Charles A. Platt ……… 201 Chiang Kai-shek ……… 361 Page Index to Authors Page Abel, Russell W. ………….. 416 Page Price, Frank W…………… 563 Rea, Julian S…………….. 524 Anderson, J. Lowrie ………. 489 Hayn~" Coe ……………. 308, 592 Rich, Mark ………………. 302 Anderson, W. B. : …………. 140 Hewitt, Nina B,. …. . . . . . . . . .. 300 Richardson, R. C………….. 33 Axling, William …………… 139 Ivesr'}iilda L. :,……………. 297 Richter, Julius ……………. 423 Azariah, V. S. ……………. 131 Jones, E. Stanley …………. 237 Ridley, H. French …………. 145 Jordan, S. M……………… 523 Riggs, James F …………… 587 Bellingham, W……………. 372 Keller, Adolf …………….. 579 Ritzman, M. E. …………… 594 Brown, Arthur J ………… 26,179 Killian, John C……………. 312 Rizzo, Jr., M'iguel …………. 576 Browning, Webster E ………. 341 King, Wm. R……………… 285 Brumbaugh, T. T………….. 582 Koobyar, Stephen O. ………. 597 Rogers, William L. ………… 251 Kurdistani, Sa'eed …………. 571 Rohrbaugh, James ………… 41 Burnett,J. S…………….. 345 Lambie, Tom …………….. 422 Burton, M.arjorie A. ……….. 193 Laubach, Frank C. ………… 485 Royall, Geoffrey …………… 363 Butzin, Arthur F ………….. 149 Leynse, James P……… 88,191,409 Salsbury, C. G… ,………… 75 Calverley, Eleanor T……….. 492 Lieshing, M. C……………. 206 Cantine, James …………… 427 Lindquist, G. E. E. ………… 533 Scofield, C. I. …………….. 65 Case, Brayton C. ………….. 245 MacKinnon, Murdoch ………. 378 Scotford, John R. …………. 45 MacMillan, J. A. ………….. 90 Scott, William ……………. 187 Cash, W. Wilson ………….. 467 Magary, Alvin E………….. 343 Shepherd, George W. ………. 204 Chiang Kai-shek, Generalissimo. 357 Magee, John G……………. 207 Chiang Kai-shek, Madame … 361,540 McClenahan, W. L. ………… 69 Smith, Ellsworth M. ……….. 305 Cuthbertson, James ……….. 234 McConkey, James H. ………. 35 Smith, Gertrude J. ………… 377 Davies, Howell D. …………. 202 McConnell, Charles M. ……… 287 Snead, Alfred C. . ………. 199,351 McDonald, George …………. 92 Somerndike, John M……….. 315 Dawber, Mark A………….. 279 McLaughlin, Henry W ……… 294 Speer, Robert E. ……. . …. 7,119 Dodd, Edward M. …………. 459 Mitchell, Ann …………….. 282 Storm, W. Harold… … . …… 21 Donalds'On, Dwight. M. ……… 455 Moody, Thomas …………… 379 Eastman, Elaine Goodale …… 128 Moore, Jr., L. Paul ………… 30 Taylor, H. Kerr '" . . . . . . . . . . .. 253 Edwards, J. F …………….. 183 Morrison, John …………… 197 Tema, S. S. ………………. 195 Ekvall, Robert B. …………. 411 Mull, Ruth C………….. ~ .. , 318 Thomas, Winburn T. . … 36,231,584 Orts-G<>nzalez, Juan ……….. 86 Thompson, W. H. . ………… 347 Erdman, Mabel H…………. 482 Pea·body, Lucy W………….. 144 Fenn, Courtenay H. . …….. 95, 116 Peet, H. W. ………………. 153 Upson, A. T………………. 599 Finney, Davida M…………. 461 Pell, J. U………………… 236 Vance, Joseph A…………… 142 Gaebelein, Frank E. ……….. 115 Perpetuo, Antonio H. ………. 81 Van Ess, John ……………. 476 Pierson, Arthur T. ………… 430 Warnshuis, A. L. …………. 67 Gih, Andrew ……………… 190 Pierson, Delavan L., (Topics of Watts, J. R………………. 365 Goodale, Dora Read ……….. 578 Gould, Orpha B. ………….. 542 the Times) Wilson, J. Christy ………. 133,567 Greenslade, W. G………….. 252 Platt, Charles A. ………….. 201 Winn, Mrs. George H. ……… 527 Poling, Daniel A. …………. 151 Wright, R. R., Jr. ………… 589 Griffeth. Ross J. . …………. 290 Porteous, R. W ……………. 412 Wyker, Mrs. James D. . ……. 425 Grubb, Kenneth G. ………… 529 Young, Charlotte E ………… 519 Haldane, James …………… 471 Young, Herrick Black ……… 241 Hamner, Edward D………… 309 Harnish, Louis C. …………. 368 Zahir, Alfred …………….. 38 Harrison, Paul ……………. 479 Zwemer, Samuel M. .., .181,464,573 Contributed Articles Page Page Page Afghan Christian Martyr, An, Arabia, Doctor's Tour in Neglect- China, Christians and the New Life Movement, Madame Alfred Zahir ………… 38 ed, W. Harold Storm ….. 21 Chiang Kai-shek ……… 540 Africa, African Bishop in, R. R. Australian Bush, Caravan in, – Combating Communism with Christian Service in Kiang- Wright, Jr…………… 589 Marjorie A. Burton …… 193 si, George W. Shepherd … 204 .__ Daniel, Tshisunga – Congo Bailey, Wellesley C.-Friend of – Fruit from Seed-Sowing, Or- pha B. Gould ………… 542 Apostle, John Morrison .. , 197 Lepers, ……………… 239 – Hope for the Renaissance of. _ Christian Villages in Mozam- Board of F'Oreign Missions, Why E. Stanley Jones ……… 71 bique, Julian S. Rea …… 524 I Like to Work for the …. 538 – Hospital on the Yangtze>. Opening a New, J. W. Pell 236 1;rican Evangelists in Training, Brahman Christian – Nehemiah – Pioneering for C h r i s t in L. Paul Moore, Jr. ……. 30 Goreh ………………. 381 Kwangsi, Alfred C. Snead. 351 Missions, New Moving Pic- Brazil, Evangelical Work in, Mi- • – And the New Life Movement 356 t ures 0f, W I'lll'am L . Rogers 257 guel Rizzo, Jr. . ……… 576 – Prison Shaken in, A, Andrew Bulletin of the Council of Women Gih ………………… 190 View of Africa's Need, An, for Home Missions, Edited Chinese Communist Finds Christ, S. S. sTk I·emm ao s.-.O.l.d. .a.n.d. .N. .e.w., 195 BurmbaY, HEodwI'thChEri.stLCowharyng. e. s..LMifoenth"' y Al a sk a n E John G. Mag-ee ………. 207 – Concubine Tells Her Story, Arthur F. Butzin …….. 149 in, Brayton C. Case …… 245 American Indian and His Reli-, ,"Q!L~Y~'s Coyenant, ~illiam ….. 135 James P. Leynse ……… 19] gion, The, Elaine G<>odale tlhang Kal-shek, FaIth of .. , … 274 Gospel Posters, Use of, R. W. Eastman ……………. 128 "_ Moral Law. Generalissimo .. ~78 Porteous ……………. 412 – Indians, Early Work Among, :.,. Children Love to Give, James F.
G. E. E. Lindquist ……. 533 Riggs ………………. 587 Arab Consults a Missionary Doc- China. Beaten but Unconquered tor, .Tames Cantine ……. 427' in. James Leynse …….. 409 r622 1 Page Page Page Chinese Spend Sunday in Pei- Islam, Effect on Childhood, Char- New Life Movement, The, Gen- ping, How, James P. Leynse 88 lotte E. Young ………. 519 eraUSSlmo L:hlang Kai-shek 357 – Turkestan, Through Unevan- – Facts Auout …….. " ….. 470 Nicholson, Sir Frederick, in Civil gelized, H. French Ridley.. 145 – Statistical i::iurvey of …. ;.. 458 Service, Lucy W. Peabody. 144 – Testimonies of Converts from, Chosen (Korea), When a Magis- Papua, Away with Sorcery and Stephen O. Koobyar …… 597 trate Went to Church, Wil- Japan, i"acts about ~vangelism Murder in …………… 349 liam Scott …………… 187 Papuan Bush, Experiences ~, Christ for the World We Sing, in, James Cuthbertson …. 234 Joseph A. Vance ……… 142 Faith working by Love in, Russell W. Abel …… " .. 416 Persia (Iran), Growing Interest – The Church and Modern Winburn T. Thomas ….. 584 Youth, Daniel A. Poling .. 151 Visit to the Ainu of North, in, S. M. Jordan ……… 523 Poem-Deaf Lady's Appeal to the Christian and Missionary Alli- Winburn T. 'J.nomas …… 231 ance, Golden Anniversary, Japanese Buddhists .Pray, When, Goddess of Mercy, Robert B. Ekvall ……………. 411 A. C. Snead …………. 199 Winburn T. 'J.homas …… 36 Ponca Breaks Paths for Choctaw, Christian and Moslem Homes, Christian Leader, Nagao, Wil- Coe Hayne ………….. 592 Power of the Printed Page, Ma- Eleanor T. Calverley ….. 492 liam Axling ………….. 139 bel H. Erdman ………. 482 Christians Unite, Why and How Christians, DIlemma of;. .T. T. Presbyterian Foreign Missions, Centennial of, Herrick Black Should, E. Stanley Jones .. 237 Brumbaugh ………• ; … 582 Young ……………… 241 Church in the Heart, The, Ruth Keeping the Fountains Clean, – Highlights in a Century of, Arthur J.Brown ……… 26 C. Mull …………….. 318 Henry W. McLaughlin …. 294 – of the Countryside, Coe Hayne 308 Korean Missionary Gives Thanks, Rural America – Case Workers Congo BeIge, Sixty Years in the, in Rural Areas, Hilda L. Mrs. George Ii. Winn …. 527 Ives ………………… 297 Thomas Moody ……….. 379 Kurdish CnrilSLian Propnet, J. Conquering Power of Christ, The, Neglected Fields in, Wm. Christy IV ilson ………. 567 R. King ………….. 285 Julius Richter ………… 423 Larger Parish, The, Ellsworth M. Country Pastor's Job, A, Mark – – Twenty-five Years Ago and Smith ………………. 305 Rich ………………… 302 Lull, Passion of Raymond, Ken- Today, Ross J. Griffeth. 290 Doctor's Night at Fatehpur, Church in Canada, Problems neth G. Grubb ……….. 529 (Poem), Gertrude J. Smith 377 Missiomiries Through Colored of, J. R. Watts ………. 365 Effective Ways of Working, Ed- Churches Are Doing, What Glasses, H. Kerr Taylor .. 253 ited by Estella S. Aitchi- Missionary Appraisal as of Janu- Some, W. H. Thompson… 347 – – Volunteer Service in, Louis son …………….. .Monthly ary 1, 1937, Robert E. Speer 7 Egede, Han s, Missionary to – Call, Unchanging, Arthur T. C. Harnish ……….. 368 – Colporteur, Ministry of the, Greenland …………… 375 Pierson ……………… 430 Egypt, Pioneering in a Cairo – For Today, The Ideal, D. S. John C. Killian ………. 312 – Community, The Challenge of Slum, M. C. Lieshing ….. 206 Hibbard …………….. 186 Erromanga, Martyrs of, Murdoch – Motives, Modern, W. B. An- the, Mark A. Dawber ….. 279 – – Cooperation in, Edward D. MacKinnon ………….. 378 derson ………………. 140 Ethiopia and the Sudan, Work – Obligation, my, M. E. Ritz- Hamner ………….. 309 – – Saving a Whole ……… 370 in, Tom Lambie ………. 422 man ……………….. 594 Spain, Conflicting Issues in, Juan Ethiopian Missions Under Italian – Stopped it the Ranch, When Orts-Gonzalez ………… 86 Rule, James Rohrbaugh. .. 41 a, Antonio H. Perpetuo… 81 Statistics-Religious Bodies and European Revolution, In the Midst Missions and the Critics, Howell Groups in the United States 408 of. Adolf Keller ………. 579 D. Davies ………… . . .. 202 Students and Missions, British Farm Tenants and Share-Crop- – Tomorrow, The Outlook for, Christian, H. W. Peet …. 153 pers, Charles M. McConnell 287 Review by Courtenay H. Sunday Schools, Importance of Farmer's Wife Sees It, As a, Fenn ………………. : 95 Moslem Lands, New and Old in, Pioneer, John M. Somern- Nina B. Hewitt ……… 300 A. T. Upson …………. 599 dike ………………… 315 First Five Centuries of Chris- – Reactions to the Gospel, James Syria, Future of Antioch in, W. G. Greenslade ………… 252 tianity, Samuel M. Zwemer 573 Haldane ……………. 471 Thinking Yellow vs. Acting Yel-; Foreign Missions, Changing' and Sermon oy a Converted, Sa'- low, Geoffrey W. Royall :" "363 Unchanging Things in, Rob- eed Kurdistani ……….. 571 United States, Forty Miles from Superstitions, Davida M. Fin- ert E. Speer …………. 119 a Hospital in the, Dora Forgotten Man of the Back Road, ney ………………… 461 Read Goodale ………… 578 – Views of "Those Nazarenes," – South as a Mission Field, The, Ann Mitchell ………… 282 John R. Scotford ……… 45 Gift Reveals the Giver-A Medi- J. Lowrie Anderson …… 489 Vail, Charles E., The Beloved – World, Some Trends in the, Physician, R. C. Richardson 33 tation ………………. 380 Waiting for You? Is God, James Giving, Points to Remember in Edward M. Dodd …….. 459 H. McConkey ………… 35 – – Today, Dwight M. Donald- What Christ Said (Poem), George Christian, The Late C. I. McDonald …………… 92 Scofield ……………… 65 son …………….. . 455 Women's Work in a Country Goforth of China, Jonathan, J. Moslems, Christian Approach to, Church, Mrs. James D. Wy- A. MacMillan ………… 93 ker ………………… 425 Hickey, Mike, An Ex-Convict W. Wilson Cash ……… . 467 – – Doctor Among, Paul Har- W'oods, the Outlaw, Jake, J. S. Who Made G'1od …….. .. 44 Burnett …………….. 345 India Advances in Politics and rison ……………. . 479 – Educating for Christ, John Youth, Objectives and Principles Religion, J. F. Edwards " 183 for ……… Third Cover, July Thou~hts. on Recent Evan- Van Ess ……………. . 476 Experience with, Frank C. – Great American Mission Field, gelIsm In ……………. 29 Frank E. Gaebelein …… 115 Untouchables, What Christ Laubach ……………. . 485 Why Preach Christ to, Sam- – On the Christian Frontier, ~as Done for, V. ~.Azar- Charles A. Platt ……… 201 lah …………………. 131 uel M:Zwemer ……… . 464 Iran, Firebrand for Christ in, Murdoch TraiJ in Kentucky, The, J. Christy Wilson …….. 133 Iraq, Medical Work Among Arabs Alvin E. Magary ……. . 343 in, W. Bellingham ……. 372 Navajo,Christ Comes to the, C. Is God Waiting For You?, James H.M!cConkey ………… 35 G. Salsbury …………. . 75 New Life Movement, Madame Chiang Kai-shek …….. . 361 90499 Page Editorial Topics of the Times Page Burma, New …………….. 278 Page Neutral, Can Christians Be, Ar- Challenges, Some Present-Day.. 454 thur J. Brown ……….. 179 Chamberlain, William I. ……. 517 Federal Council Biennial ……. 5 Chiang and China, Courtenay H. "First There Is God," A. L. Oxford Conference, Ecumenical Christianity at ………. 405 F~nn ……………….. 116 Warnshuis …………… 67 China, Hope of … . . . . . . . . . . . .. 277 Godless Propaganda, Militant .. 227 Palestine, Partition of ……… 404 – Japan Conflict, The …….. 406 "In Everything Give Thanks"… 515 – Religious Conflict in, W. L. – Tragedy in ……………. 452 India, Modern Challenge of …. 340 – War and Missions in, Frank Japanese Shrines and Emperor McClenahan …………. 69 Pierson Centenary, Arthur T… 230 W. Price ……………. 563 Worship ……………. 136 Rural America for Christ ….. 275 Chosen, Church Growth in ….. 118 Korea, Mission Schools Close in. 228 Russia Marching On-Whither? 68 Christian Internationale, Need Laymen Are on Fire, When … 67 Leaders or Followers ………. 403 Student Volunteers, Reviving the 516 for a, Samuel M. Zwemer.. 181 Mexico, Changing Situation in, Students, Evangelizing College.. 566 Egypt, New Independence for .. 6 Trail Blazing for 1937 …….. 3 Ethiopia, Closing Doors in ….. 276 Webster E. Browning …. 341 Unity, Basis for Christian ….. 453 Evangelism, What Next in Na- Missions, Coming Generation and 407 World Y. M. C. A. Conference in Moslems, Why this Interest in? 451 tional ………………. 5 National Preaching Mission, Suc- India ………………. 180 Youth-Whither? …………. 339 cess of ……………… 3 Page Book Reviews Page Advancing Church in L a tin Page Negro Year Book, 1937-8, Monroe America, An, Kenneth G. N. Work ……………. 618 Grubb ………………. 172 Handbook of the Christian Move- ment in China ……….. 224 New Day in Kenya (Africa), Africa and Christianity, Died- rich Westermann ……… 511 High Lights in the Near East, Horace R. Philp ……… 63 • Arthur T. Upson ……. . New Testament Principles and Alaskan Adventures, Loyal L. Wirt ……………….. 335 .- ………… 3rd Cover, March Modern Missions ……… 61 "None Other Gods," W. A. Vis- Ali Lives in Iran, Caroline Singer Hindu-Jajimani System, The, and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge 619 Wm. H. Wiser .. 3rd Cover, May ser't Hooft ………….. 560 Oil Lamps Lifted (China), Pearl Apostle to the Chinese Commu- History of Jewish Christianity, nists, The, Daniel Nelson.. 62 Dorr Longley ………… 63 Hugh T. Schonfield …… 269 One Hundred Years of Presby- Bi0le Believing Church, A, Charles In the Jungles of New Guinea, Allen Clark …………. 616 terian Missions, Arthur H. R. Hanselmann ………. 399 Brotherhood Economics, Toyohiko India and the Christian Move- Brown ……………… 111 Kagawa …………….. 224 Pioneering in Kwangsi, W. H. ment, V. Z. Azariah ….. 61 Bush Aglow (D. L. Moody), Rich- Indians of Today, Edited By Oldfield …………….. 400 Pools on the Glowing Sand (Dr. ard E. Day ………….. 269 Marion E. Gridley ……. 270 But, Until Seventy Times Seven Japan in American Public Opin- Karl Kumm) , Irene V. Cleverdon …………… 272 (City Missions) , S. M.ay ion, Eleanor Tupper and Portuguese East Africa, Ed- George E. McReynolas …. 616 Wyburn …………….. 399 Japan Today, Edited by T. T. wardo Moreira ……….. 61 By Love Compelled (Volunteers), Brumbaugh ………….. 560 Rats, Plague and Religion (In- Marshall Broomhall …… 175 Jungle Friends, Bishop of Ran- dia), John Spencer Carman 268 Changing Russia, F. J. Miles .. 335 . goon ……………….. 336 Religion in the Republic of Children of Sunny Italy, Myrta Kolerat Pitsiulret,…………. 272 Spain, C. A. Garcia and H. Dodds……………. 64 Latin America, Samuel Guy In- Kenneth G. Grubb ……. 63 China Calling, Frank Houghton. 272 Religion on the American Fron- China Year Book-1936, H. G. W. man ………………… 560 tier, William Warren Sweet 512 Living Religions and Modern Restraining Hand (China), R. A. Woodhead …………… 112 Bosshardt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 270 Christ and the World Today, Thought, Alban G. Widgery 173 Stocking Tales, J. T. Stocking .. 511 C. T. Studd, Athlete and Pioneer, Wm. E. Doughty …….. 398 Mann of the Border, D. Emmett Norman P. Grubb …….. 560 Christendom and Islam, W. Wil- Alter ……………….. 618 Taylor of China, J. Hudson, J. J. Ellis …………….. 448 son Cash ……………. 559 Master of Money (A. A. Hyde), Then and Now in Kenya Colony, George Irving ………. . Willis R. Hotchkiss ……. 617 Christian Faith and the Science ………. 3rd Cover, February Theology for Christian Missions, Today, J. H. Morrison …. 617 A, Hugh Vernon White … 446 Meaning of Christ to Me, Robert Twice Born-And Then? An- Christian Faith in the Modern E. Speer ……………. 223 drew Gih …… 3rd Cover, May World, The, J. Graham Twelve Clever Girls Who Became Machen …………….. 62 Mecca and Beyond, Edward M. Famous Women, H. A. W. and Rose Wilson Dodd … 398 Hamilton ……………. 620 Christianity and the Malays, Two Missionary Voyages, Thomas Lawrence E. Browne ….. . Medieval Missionary,The, James Thompson …………… 446 ……….. 3rd Cover, January Thayer Addison ……… 112 Untouchable's Que s t (India), Godfrey Phillips ……… ~68 Christianity in Eastern Conflicts, Men of the Outposts, Herbert Way of the Witnesses, Edward William Paton ……….. 397 Welch ………………. 617 Shillito ……………… 223 Christmas in Other Lands, Doro- Mexico Today, Irving Speed Wal- What Is the Moslem World?, thy M. Horne ………… 64 lace ………………… 175 Charles R. Watson …… 398 Church and the Churches, The, Missionary Illustrations, Alva C. Why South America?, A. Stuart Karl Barth ………….. 174 Bowers ……………… 447 McNairn ……………. 172 Church Unity, F. H. Knubel … 447 Missionary Plays and Pageants, Young Moslem Looks at Life, East and West, Edited by Basil Fannie Smith Gray …… 271 The, Murray T. Titus …. 398 Mathews ……………. 112 Missionary Romance in Morocco, Evangelical Handbook of Latin J ames Haldane ………. 269 America …………….. 399 M'issionary Stories to Tell ….. 268 God in the Every Day, Hugh Red- Morocco in Mufti, James Haldane 336 Moslem Women Enter a New wood ……………….. 272 Gordon, General Charles, E. J. World, Ruth Frances W ood- small ………………. 173 Richter …………….. 176 My Beloved Armenia, Marie S. Banker ……………… 335
The Missionary Review of the World — December 1937
1937
A Kurdish Christian Prophet J. Christy Wilson Sermon by a Converted Moslem Sa'eed Kurdistani First Five Centuries of Christianity Kenneth Scott Latourette The Evangelical Church in Brazil Miguel Rizzo, Jr.
In the Midst of European Revolutions Adolph Keller The Dilemma of Japanese Christians T. T. Brumbaugh Faith Working by Love in Japan Winburn T. Thomas 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember Mrs. McDougall was born in Detroit, PARENTS
Michigan, June 13, 1869, the daughter December 12-Universal Bible Sun- of the late Arthur T. Pierson and In the Foreign Mission Field day. Sarah Frances Benedict. Subsequent- Endorse Calvert School ly she lived in Indianapolis, Philadel- Home Study Courses January 2-9-1938 Universal Week of Prayer. phia and Brooklyn, moving to Upper for Children Montclair, New Jersey, in 1917, where NATIONAL PREACHING MIS- she made her home with her brother, Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- SION the Editor of THE REVIEW. She mar- tion Department, will give your child a ried Mr. McDougall in 1928 following superior elementary education … by mail, December 2-S–.Tacksonville, Fla. regardless of where you may live. Mod- a year and a half spent in Japan with ern, approved courses from this famous Obituary Notes her sister, Mrs. Frederick S. Curtis, school are being used by parents all over the world with outstanding success. and with her friends of the Kwato Mission in Papua. For forty years Mrs. McDougall was active in various forms of Christian work in connection Give your children the advantages of these The Rev. John McDowell, D.D., with the Church and various mission- interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, Associate Director of the Department ary organizations. For some years she and attractive materials. Instruction is of Social Education and action of the has been the volunteer Promotion Sec- under the personal guidance of teachers in Board of Christian Education of the retary in America for the Kwato Mis- Calvert's prominent and successful private day school in Baltimore. Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., and sion of Papua. formerly moderator of the General Write today for booklet of complete in- Assembly of the Church, entered into The Rev. Dr. Paul W. Koller, for formation. Costs are low. rest on November 13th after under- nine years executive secretary of the going a major operation. Dr. Mc- Board of Foreign Missions of the Dowell was born in Scotland in 1870 United Lutheran Church, died Noand was brought to America by his vember 11th at Baltimore, Md., at parents when two years old. He was the age of 65. graduated from Mt. lIermon School Dr. Koller was born in Glen Rock, and from Princeton University and after a special course in the Theo- Pa., and educated at Gettysburg (Pa.) ment be extended to foreign lands and logical Seminary was pastor succes- College. He attended Gettysburg Dr. Boville spent a year in the Far Theological Seminary, was ordained East founding schools. sively of churches in Steelton, Pa.; in 1897. After serving pastorates in Detroit, Michigan; Newark, New Cleveland, Ohio; Hudson, N. Y., and *** Jersey, and Baltimore, Maryland. Mansfield, Ohio, in 1921 he was named Canon Streeter, provost of Queen's He was Religious Work Director dur- president of the Lutheran Synod of College, Oxford, and Mrs. Streeter ing the War and in 1919 became a Ohio. In 1928 he was elected to the were killed in a plane crash in Switzsecretary of the Board of Home Mis- post he held at his death. He had erland, September 10. Dr. Streeter sions, later the Board of National served as a member of the committee was a scholar' and theologian of high Missions, of the Presbyterian .Church. of Reference and Counsel of the For- ability. His writings have been He was a popular speaker at summer eign Mission Conference of North widely read in this country. conferences and was author of several volumes, including one on Dwight L. America, and had been a member of *** Moody, one on "The Christian Spirit the Missionary Laymen's Executive in Industry," and one on "Christian Bishop William H. Heard, of the Essentials." He is survived by his Committee and the executive commit- African Methodist Church, died in a wife, and one daughter, Mrs. Robert tee on cooperation in the Near East. Philadelphia Hospital September 12, C. Cory. A biographical sketch of at the age of 87. He had attended the Dr. McDowell will appear in an early He also had served as president of World Faith and Order Conference in issue of THE REVIEW. Edinburgh, and while there experi- the conference of Foreign Mission enced difficulty in obtaining hotel ac- … … … Boards of Lutheran Churches in commodations. Dr. Temple, Arch- bishop of York, offered him the hos- Dr. Frank W. Bible, the Central America. pitality of his home. District Home Base secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Mary *** B. Koller, and a daughter, Miss Kath- erine Koller, Professor of English at Bryn Mawr Co..l.leg..e. . …
Presbyterian Church, died in Chicago, The Rev. Dr. Robert George B.o- .T. Harvey Borton, a Philadelphia Ill., November 15th after an illness of ville, founder of the Daily Vacation business man, well known in religious several months. He was born in Bible School movement in the United circles, died on October 80th in the Milesburg, Pa., July 18, 1877, and States and director of the world-wide Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, after graduation from Park College organization for the religious educa- following an operation. He was born and from Auburn Theological Semi- tion of children, died in Yonkers, N. at Rancocas, New Jersey, sixty-five nary, he went as a missionary to Y., on November 8th. Dr. Boville years ago, and lived at Moorestown, China in 1904. There he taught in lived in Riverdale, N. Y., and was N. J. He was connected with the the Hangchow Christian College for eighty-three years old. Hajoca Corporation, manufacturers fifteen years. On his return to Amer- Dr. Boville was born in Belfast, Ire- of plumbing supplies, and was a ica in 1919, he became associate gen- land, and came to New York from a member of the Executives Association eral secretary of the Committee of pastorate in Hamilton, Ontario, in of Philadelphia. Reference and Council for the Foreign Missions Conference of N. A. and in 1901 to become secretary of the Bap- Mr. Borton was an active member tist City Mission. That same year he 1924 was elected· district secretary. of of the Society of Friends and a frethe Presbyterian Board. Dr. Bible began the nation's first daily vacation made a tour of the world in 1930-l. Bible schools. He found a group of quent speaker at the Sunday services With his extensive knowledge of con- young college and seminary students at Girard College. He was also chairditions both at home and abroad, he who were willing to donate their varendered valuable service in promot- man of the council of the V:ictorious cation time to religious training for ing foreign missionary interest. Life Testimony, which directs the these children. One thousand children * .. * were enrolled the first year. work of the Pioneer Mission Agency, Anna Pierson .McDqugall, the wife Dr. Boville traveled throughout the the Keswick Colony of Mercy Kes- country organizing Bible schools. By of Mr. Walter McDougall for tWenty wick Grove, N. J., and summe'r conyears the treasurer of the Missionary 1916 the movement had spread and ferences held at Keswick Grove' Review Publishing Co., entered into the organization was incorporated as the International Association of Daily chairman of the board of trustees of the Life Beyond on Sunday, November Vacation Bible Schools. Missionaries the Belgian Gospel Mission; and a 7th, following a serious operation. in the Orient requested that the move- member of the board of directors of the Sunday School Times Company.
His wife, Alice McClure Borton and a daughter survive him. '
MISSIONARY Do You When the good
REVIEW OF THE WORLD Read the Old Testament calls you East … sail DELAVAN L. PIERBON, Editor Understandingly? p&O VOL. LX DEC., 1937 No. 12 How often have you longed for This year marks a full century of P & 0 Publication and Business OIDce– a book that service to the lands beyond Suez! Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. would present the historical, geo- Whenever you are called to the other graphical, cultural and archae- side of the world, choose this tradi- Editorial and Executive OIDce– ological backgrounds of the Great tional route. Cross to England by 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Book, and thus make the study Cunard White Star •.. and there Entered as second-class matter at of the Bible more meaningful? embark in a great liner of the P & 0 and British India fleets, led by the Post OIDce, Harrisburg, Pa., under JAMES C. MUIR, noted autltorHy and new 22,5oo-ton Strathnaver, Strath- Act of March 3, 1879. lecturer on the Old Testament has just aird and Strathmore. Regular service completed a new and unusnal book that to Egypt, Sudan, Persian Gulf, India, 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. sweeps away the mists of unreality with Burma, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. which time has enshrouded the old China, Japan, Australia, East and Published monthly, except August. Testament narratives – the title, South Africa, Mauritius. Low rates. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. British agents – Marshall, Morgan HIS TRUTH ENDURETH Convenient through bookings can be arranged and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, by your local travel agent or any office of London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, Tltls boole Is more fascInating titan fIction. 10 shillings a year. It enables the student to assimilate more CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE readily the backgrounds of the Old MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- Testament. Here is the story of the GENERAL AGENTS LISHING CO., INC. rise of civilization, the history of peoples who were contemporary with the chil- 25 Broadway and 638 FifthAve.,NewYork BOARD OF DIRECTORS dren of Israel in Old Testament days, ROBERT E. SPEER, President together with the latest archaeological A. L. WABNBHUIB, Vice-President information bearing on the many sub- WALTER McDoUGALL, Treasurer jects covered in the book. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary You Need This Book SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Buy It Today From Your Bookseller D. J. FANT List Price $2.50 MRB. ORRIN R. JUDD NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. PHILADELPHIA WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIC M. NORTH 180,640 Net New Believers in 9 Years in Korea SAMUEL M. ZWEMER This is equivalent to Editorial Chat 70 new parishes of 300 helievers each The Editor and Board of Directors year. Some mission fields haven't of THE REVIEW extend very cordial won 20,000 in 50 years. Christmas greetings to our readers, What is the "secret" of it all? missionaries and other Christian friends in every land. The picture of May it be the Bible emphasis? a warring world is a sad commentary on humanity's response to the Gospel Last year the Korean Church held of peace, but the very fact that man- ~,344 Week-Long Bible Conferences. kind shows so little evidence of ac- (J7R,SJ3 attendance.) ceptance of Christ and His Gospel is 10.0oo!n Bible Correspondence. a compelling reason for carrying His message of life and love to every part S4'.~68 III Sunday Schools. of the world by the power of the Holy 55.075 in Bible Vacation Schools. Spirit at Christmas time and without ',500 in 6-10 Week Bible Institutes. ceasing. May this "NEVIUS METHOD" he the This and other numbers of THE Dynamic of All Methods. REVIEW give encouragement by telling how this work is being done and God Honors His Word. how God is making the work fruitful. Read Korea t" Story in the New Book Read the back cover of THE REVIEW "THE NEVIUS PLAN FOR MISSION for our special offer. WORK IN KOREA" (370 pages). *** By CHARLES ALLEN CLARK. Ph.D.• D.D. THE REVIEW is to puhlish Dr. (35 years in Korea.) Speer's new book-a life of George Bowen, one of the most unique and Postpaid-~ remarkable of all the missionaries to India, who died about fifty years ago. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY. Note the announcement on the back Seoul, Korea ~ – – – – – – – Y5.oo cover. E. C. HEINZ, * '" * S6~' 5th Ave. S.. Minneapolis, Minn. $t.OO "I want to congratulate you on [ 561 ] your Rural (June) issue. You have assembled a lot of fine material on the rural church."-Dr. Wm. R. King, Executive Secretary of the Home Missions Council.
"THE REVIEW*, in* my* opinion, is one of the best periodicals that come to me. I always welcome it and find inspiring articles in it."
WM. JAY SCHIEFFELIN, New York.
TEACHElRS IN CAMPINAS SEMINARY-FOREIGNERS AND
STUDElNTSAT THE CAMPINAS THE"OLOGICAL SEMINARY, BRAZIL (See Article by Dr, Miguel Rizzo, page 576)
NARY
ORLD VOLUME LX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 12 DECEMBER, 1937 Topics of the Times WAR AND MISSIONS IN CHINA dun, the Chinese troops saying "They shall not pass!" and Japan pouring in a continual stream The Chinese armies in the Shanghai area be. of soldiers with superior mechanized equipment. gan (on October 27th) a well-executed retreat Bombing of cities, railways and other lines of from their first lines of defense to a second line south and west of Soochow Creek. This brought communication in this area has been continuous the fighting into areas adjacent to the French for two months. Soochow, Kiangyin, Chinkiang Concession and Nantao, the old Chinese city, and and Nanking have suffered from especially freforced the evacuation of St. John's University, quent and severe air raids. Recently in a bomb- St. Mary's School for Girls, The Seventh Day ing of Sungkiang, 50 miles southwest of Shanghai, Adventist Sanitarium and other institutions. The the splendid center of Southern Methodist miseffects of the severe struggle have been felt on sionary work and lay-training, suffered heavily. the edges of the International and French settle- The Girls' School was set on fire, a missionary ments and from stray shells falling into these residence was demolished and other buildings settlements. Many mission and interdenomina- were damaged. tional organizations were forced for a time to move from their offices near the Bund. Communi· The landing of Japanese troops on the northcations with inland China have been maintained ern shores of Hangchow Bay, south of Shanghai, by bus and motor car service. An increasing may endanger mission centers at Sungkiang, number of missionaries who were sojourning tem- Kashing and Huchow. Christian work is being porarily at other ports or summer resorts have maintained at Hangchow and cities south and been returning to Shanghai and some have gone west. Hangchow Christian College has an enon to their inland stations. A large missionary rollment now of 500, Wayland Academy (Baptist) colony, chiefly mothers and children, is now in has over 1,000 students and the Union Girls' the buildings of the Shanghai American School. School has re-opened. Soochow, 50 miles west The National Christian Council, mission head- of Shanghai, is affected more seriously. The three quarters and other central offices are keeping in Christian hospitals there are crowded with touch with missionaries and churches in the in- wounded and Soochow University is being used terior by means of radio and a limited mail service to house wounded and refugee civilians. Missionwhich has been remarkably efficient considering ary doctors and nurses are staying on. difficulties of transportation. Chinese ~hurches in the settlements and out of the immediate fight- Since the partial destruction of Central Goving zone are continuing their regular services of ernment Hospital in Nanking by an air raid on worship and are undertaking many forms of re- September 25 the University (Drum Tower) lief work. The presence of hundreds of thousands Christian Hospital has had to carry a double burof refugees in Shanghai, who face the winter den of medical aid and relief work. This hospital without food and shelter, constitutes a grave prob- has cabled word of its desperate need for medical supplies, especial anesthetics, tannic acid and anti-tetanus serum. Other mission hospitals in the three eastern provinces of Chekiang, Kiangsu lem. and Anhwei are meeting heroically the emergency Nanking is 200 miles northwest of Shanghai, demands upon their services, with diminished in- come from fees and serious shortage of supplies. Hangchow 150 miles southwest. These three cities form a triangle which is becoming a great Ver- The University of Nanking and Nanking The- [563 ]
SUlIj'UAN JEHOL I.
o /…-'~-1''0 • /C:3 Q-a———-t—–4~~~~ .l KA. U ~ Yenano / l'I'i:,ngChen ,, . -·f….~ …… ,,—-…..- ……'-…—~' o ;- , /~UngShU~ •0 NanchaJlIC _~_V..:"~s'.ht.a,a::n:tiu,;t,e;,S;-I;tI;e-s'IT:~;o—-, GS I " ; ~ FengSl'o O 0 • …………". Shenchcw Tungpjn~ Sinchang K I A :J I0 TureSianR I . 50 100 I'
PRINCIPAL AREAS COVERED IN THE JAPANESE INVASION OF CHINESE TERRITORY On November 11, the Japanese had moved their armies in the north as far west as Talyuan, Shans! Province. Their line extended south of Pelplng, nearly to Tientsin. From Shanghai they had moved south on the road to Hangchow, and were marching west to attack Nanking. The cities named show the principal Protestant mission stations; the location of other stations is marked by circles. Rail- I'oads completed and under construction are also indicated.
ological Seminary have re-opened in Nanking also an increasing exodus of students from the with about a third of their normal enrollments. coastal provinces westward. So far the Chiriese Ginling College is carrying on some of its work Government has encouraged schools to continue in connection with Hwachung College in Wuchang and students to pursue their studies wherever and St. John's University at Shanghai. Govern- possible, believing that China must keep on buildment educational institutions are more and more ing for the future. As a consequence, Hwachung College, Yale-in-China at Changsha and West moving to central and west China and there is
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
China Union University have enrollments far .is moving part of its work including the Medical above the average. School to west China. The Northern Presbyterians and Southern Baptists have extensive work in The National Christian Council sends encour- Shantung. Some missionaries of these and other aging news from churches all over China, even missions are staying in the interior, others are at those in fighting areas. Christian relief commit- the port of Tsingtau keeping in close touch with tees are being organized in many cities. Mission- their Chinese co-workers and making occasional ary work in central and west China is going on visits inland. The Southern Presbyterian Mismore normally and Szechwan and Yunnan seem sion which works in north Kiangsu still has misto be the safest provinces so far. Air raids have sionaries at Haichow, at Suchow the important extended as far inland as Hankow, Wuchang and railway junction and at Tsingkiangpu. Mission- Changsha. After an air raid on Wuchang which aries are remaining in considerable numbers in reduced a poor section of the city to shambles and Honan Province and the United Church of Canwhich came near destroying the Methodist Mis- ada has recently decided to send some missionsion Hospital, a Hankow newspaper reported, aries back who have completed their furloughs. "Scores of operations and amputations were performed by candle light at the Methodist Hospital Cities in northern Shansi where missionaries owing to the electric light system failing. There reside have been bombed and as this article goes is a lamentable shortage of doctors and ambu- to press news comes of the Japanese seige of lance workers." Taiyuan, the capital. The American Board and Church of the Brethren missions have important Air raids have continued on the coastal cities work in Shansi. Taiku and Fenchow, south of of Fukien and Kwangtung with especially de- Taiyuan, are centers of American Board educavastating effect in Canton, but no serious damage tional, medical and evangelistic effort, including to mission property has been reported. One mis- the Oberlin-in-Shansi schools. Christian work sion hospital in Kwangtung has been struck. Fu- here is much disturbed but a group of missionkien Christian University and Hwanan College aries have refused to leave and are doing what in F'oochow and Lingnan University, Canton, are they can to help alongside their Chinese colopen with limited enrollments but with morale leagues. high. From Great Britain come reports that British Yenching University in Peiping and other missions are holding their own. The China Inland Christian schools in the Japan-controlled area Mission is not returning missionaries or sending have opened and the number of students is steadily new missionaries for the present. Detailed news increasing. Few of these students, however are from inland stations comes through slowly. from central and south China and all educational work is conducted with peculiar difficulties. Busi- On September 21st the National Christian ness has been hard hit in the invaded territory, Council of China adopted the following resolution unemployment is increasing and Christian insti- which was later broadcast from Shanghai, "Along tutions and churches which depend upon con- with the material relief we must give is the spirtributions and fees will all suffer. Letters coming itual uplift of the nation. The soul of China is through, however, tell of great faith and courage at stake. An effort should be made to keep up on the part of Christian groups. Paoting, the the morale of the Chinese Christians, so that their capital of Hopei, an important center of mission Christian faith, hope and love may not be dework of the American Board (Congregational) stroyed by the terror of war. What China needs and Northern Presbyterian Mission, suffered from at present is a reinforcement of spiritual power, a heavy siege and looting as the Japanese line and that power Christianity alone can give. Since moved southward. A small group of missionaries this war is going to put a strain upon the restayed on and ministered to the suffering. Teh- sources of the human soul as well as on material chow, another American Board mission center in resources it would seem important that we should northern Shantung, has been captured by J ap- bring together all Christian forces available for anese troops and Changteh, a mission center of the task of deepening our spiritual resources, the United Church of Canada in northern Honan. leading people to look up and find God a very The Japanese advance will probably be halted present help in time of trouble, assisting the for the time being at the strong defenses along churches and schools in clear thinking about the the Yellow River. The fighting is coming close issues raised by this conflict, and giving them to Tsinan, the capital of Shantung. There are comfort, healing and strength." fears that attacks on ,the Shantung coast may force the Chinese armies to abandon Shantung Dr. E. Stanley Jones, who was in Shanghai province but at the present writing the defense when hostilities broke out there, and went to Mais strong. Cheeloo University at Tsinan, in which nila instead of starting upon his projected six thirteen American and British missions cooperate, months' evangelistic tour of China, has now gone from the Philippines to central and west China
for a month of evangelistic meetings, at the re- refused to allow the facts as to their students to quest of Chinese Christian leaders. be made public.
Chinese leaders, both Christian and non-Chris- In one prominent university, where there is a beautiful $2,000,000 chapel and a college pastor, tian, have expressed in many ways their appre- two-thirds of the students said they had not at- tended chapel once that year. ciation of the service missionaries are rendering The religious influences surrounding students in the present tragic situation, and have urged are of special importance since the United States Government acknowledges God as the supreme that missionary work be continued at all costs. ruler and the students of one generation largely mold the life and character of coming generations. Most of the mission boards are raising special How can our students be reached with sound funds for emergency needs in their own fields religious teaching and won to Christ? The great- est need is for truly Christian instructors, but and are also supporting the general campaigns .there is also a loud call for greater spiritual vital- ity in the college churches, in chapel services, and for relief work in China sponsored by the Fed- in the Christian Associations. There is need for better cooperation between the colleges and home eral Council of Churches, American Red Cross, churches from which students come. Parents and even pastors often seem to be impassive or in- China Famine Relief, and other agencies. different as to whether or not their young people give any attention to spiritual things while in col- Since the war may continue for a long time, possibly several years, mission boards are begin- ning to adjust their policies to the special condi- tions. Whatever changes may be necessary in methods of work there seems to be no plan of withdrawal. Missionaries on the field and mission societies here are determined to carryon in war as well as in peace. FRANK W. PRICE.
lege. Much more interest is shown in their intel- EVANGELIZING COLLEGE STUDENTS . lectual standing, their athletic games and their One of the most serious problems of the present social events such as college dances. How many parents would spend a week-end to attend college day in America and other lands is that of winning chapel?
the youth to an intelligent and whole-hearted alle- In view of this situation it is of especial inter- est and importance to note that the National giance to Christ and enlisting them unreservedly Preaching Mission, which last year toured the in His service for mankind. It is estimated that country without making much impression on the colleges and universities, is this year undertaking there are at least sixty million youth in America a University Christian Mission especially among under twenty-five years of age. Of these not more students. Dr. John A. Mackay, the new and vigthan one half are under any definite religious in- orous president of Princeton Theological Semstruction. The, Sunday schools enroll about inary, is chairman. The following statement retwenty million but much of the Christian training veals the purpose and plan of this Preaching received there is haphazard and very inadequate. Mission. $ome of the. finest youth of the lane. go to our colleges and other'higher educational institutions to Due to the dominance of a naturalistic philosophy in so prepare}ol;' life and work. When they leave home many university centers, unprecedented religious illiteracy most' of' them are interested in knowing God and among students, combined with increasing manifestations they are apt to have an ambition to use their lives of spiritual hunger, the responsibility of the Church is to good purpose; many lose both this interest and ambition in college. A report issued by the "Coun- overwhelming. . . . cil of Church Boards of Education," giving the Aimless liberty is palling upon many who'seek an abidresults of a recent comprehensive survey of college youth in 1,171 American institutions of ing loyalty for their devotion. They are looking for a higher learning, shows that 88 per cent of these Master in whom they may believe utterly, and for a cause to which they; may commit themselves with sacrificial abandon; th~y ~~ek light on the perplexing framework in students acknowledge some religious preferences, which their lives are set; in growing numbers they debut only about sixty per cent of them regularly mand to know what Christianity is and what it has to attended any religious services while in college. offer. Many are indifferent and some state that they are Such a situation is a clear caIl to united Christian action. The University Preaching Mission will undertake opposed to God and religion. three major tasks: It will deal with false conceptions about Christia_nity which .are current in university circles. These facts show a serious situation and a great It must also make plain' that Christian faith is fulfilled need and opportunity, especially since these youth only in Christian life !l,ntl.action, and that it is relevant ought to be future leaders in political, educational, to all issues in society which involve the welfare of human economic and religious life. Twenty-four out of beings. The mission will p.im to bring forcibly to the at- 1,458 institutions in nine states reported that it tention of student.s the implications of the Christian meswas illegal in those states to inquire into the reli- sage for all spheres and phases of life, and to set forth gious preferences of students. Other institutions the vision of a world Christian community as the Role hope of saving a sinful world.
A Kurdish Christian
The Story of Dr. Sa'eed Kurdistani as Told to ,. Christ,r Wilson, Tabriz, Iran W E PULLED our chairs up beside the fire of pure water near us. None of us came down in his Teheran home. I had long awaited with the cholera. the chance for this interview with Dr. "As a boy I was always busy with books. I Sa'eed Kurdistani, perhaps the most noted con- read the Persian poets and was so well versed in vert from Islam in all Iran. The story of his life Arabic and Persian that, when my father died, (here told as nearly as possible in his own words) when I was thirteen years of age, the Imam is a human interest document of importance. The Jumeh placed the white turban on my head and sidelights also show the thoughts and the heart of made me a teacher in the same school where my a true Moslem and how such an one may be led father had taught in the mosque.
to Christ. The beloved doctor began: "My father was a very pious Mohammedan. I "I Was born in the year 1863 in Senna, a city of can never forget his supplications to God at mid- Kurdistan. My father was Mullah Rasul; he was night. He said that he had the promise that, at from the village of Buzan, near Sulemanieh. My the resurrection, he would be raised to the plat- mother's name was Mahenisa, meaning 'Moon of form of Joseph, because as a youth he had fled Women.' For seven generations our people had from the same sin as Joseph, under similar cir- been Mullahs (or Moslem teachers) of the Sunni cumstances.
sect. "Father used to tell us stories of the mystic "My father conducted a school for children saints when we were children. During the famine which I attended. I was known as a very preco- he found a sum of money, but sought out the owner cious child, and at six or seven years of age I was and returned it though we were ourselves in des- reading the Koran. The people thought that the perate need. Years later the great difficulty· of· Angel Gabriel had taught me in a dream. By the my brother Kaka in accepting Christianity wa:~', age of nine I was reading the poems of Sa'di and what would become of father, for he thought· he astonished everyone. must be among the saved. Finally I helped him "When I was about ten, it occurred to me that to solve the difficulty by saying that if we live up it was not right for the Kurds to pray in Arabic; to the light we have, our future is in the hands of and not understand what they were saying so 1 a just God. I had very early acquired from my endeavored to put the regular prayers into Persian father a deep sense of the reality of God.
poetry. When eleven years old I began to study Oontacts With Ohristianity Arabic with men who were more learned than my father. At twelve or thirteen I became a follower "There were seventy or eighty Roman Catholic of the 'Naqshbandi' sect of dervishes and went to Assyrian families in Senna and the bishop used to their meetings. Their leader was named Sheikh come from Mosul to visit them. I got a part of Mohammed. the Old Testament in Persian from an Assyrian "I was very regular in my prayers and attend- Catholic, named Fatah Petros, a deacon who had ance at the mosque. I intoned the call to prayer sympathy with the Protestants. He knew the and also the prelude to the prayers of the leader whole of the Psalms in the ancient Syriac. At one in the mosque. I pursued other studies, the laws time the bishop found some Protestant books in of Islam and religion in Arabic. I still have a copy his library and burned them. I read a good deal of the 'Feq' which I wrote and read as a boy. of the Old Testament but did not get much help "When I was about ten years old a great famine out of it. I did not admire the worship of the came over the country. Thieves broke :into our Catholic church, and put them on the same plane house and stole almost everything we had. My with idol worshippers. I prayed daily for my an- father with my brother Kaka and me started on cestors who had suffered but had accepted Islam, foot on a seven days' journey to the region of and thanked God for the great benefit I had re- Meriwan, west of Senna. There was food there ceived from them. I was devoutly thankful for and we stayed with relatives. My mother re- Islam and considered it the very truth as com- mained in Senna. We returned after a few months pared to Christianity. But I was ever a searcher.
to our home to find cholera raging there. My Finally I obtained a New Testament in Persian mother died a short time later. Our house was at from a man who had been in Teheran. I read it the outskirts of the town and there was a spring and asked the Catholic priests why they had taken [ 567] ..,;
out of it the references to Mohammed. I was in fact quite the opposite of what I saw in our own shown the last verses of Revelation, but I told Moslem religious leaders. My conscience awoke them they had put that in to make people think it and I felt very miserable. I was about sixteen had not been changed. At one time two Assyrian years old at this time. Once I asked Kasha his colporteurs came to Senna, but I did not talk to idea of Mohammed but he did not wish to tell me. them or get books from them. I also taught a boy I assured him no harm would come and finally he whose father was Assyrian, and his mother Ar- gave me some hints. Often as I taught the Koran menian. The more I saw of Christians, however, I saw that the things he had hinted as to faults in the more I was confirmed in my Islamic views. the life of Mohammed were confirmed. I got more miserable and became uneasy about the character "Then Kasha Yohanna of Sulduz came to Senna of Mohammed. One evening, as I was going to with two colporteurs, Shemisha Seyad and his son. the mosque to call the faithful to prayer, the idea Kasha Yohanna asked for a Persian instructor came to me: 'What if Mohammed is not true?' I and I went to teach him. But I did not wish to banged myself on the head with my fist, and said, give the salaam (Greeting of Peace) to an infidel. 'You should be cursed for such a thought concern- Shemisha Seyad told me that they also were 'peo- ing the holy prophet.' I went to the mosque for ple of the book' and that therefore it was lawful the ablutions and prayers but came home very for a Moslem to give them the greeting of peace. miserable. I had no answer, and so, as a hypocrite, I used to greet the Christian colporteurs half under my Mohammed or Christ? breath with the words: 'Sahum ile kum.' This sounded like the greeting of peace but means 'May "In my despair I burned the calves of both legs, a sword come upon you.' so that the scars will be there to my dying day. According'to this Kurdish custom I took an irre- "Kasha Yohanna, whom I taught early in the vocable vow, first, never to go to Kasha Yohanna morning before his school, had the Psalms in again or argue religious matters with any Chris- Syriac and a copy in Persian was given to me. tian; second, to live a holy life. I was ashamed, Shemisha Seyad led in prayer, and I heard a real for I knew that the life of Kasha Yohanna was Christian prayer for the first time. I was aston- better than my own. I gave up going to him but ished to hear him pray for his enemies. There I felt very miserable. Whenever I saw him on the was no swinging censor-just a spiritual prayer. streets he was like Jonah to me, and in my heart Shemisha Seyad and his son went on to Kerman- I knew that I was wrong. His life, so in accord shah and I continued teaching Persian to Kasha with what he believed and taught, had affected me Yohanna. I wanted to learn other languages, so so that I could not sleep. At last I went back to he taught me Syriac. We used the New Testament him and renewed my inquiries about passages in as a textbook. the Bible.
"Kasha Yohanna was a very bright man. The "One night I was very miserable during prayers Jews used to come to argue with him. He asked in the mosque. Realizing my sin I went home and me to take the Persian Bible and look up refer- fell on my face in the dust of the hallway. I ences as the Jews looked them up in Hebrew and prayed God to guide me to the Truth, as he was Kasha in the Syriac.1 I was deeply impressed by the Saviour of the lost. Then I went back to the wonderful evidences of fulfilled prophecy con- Kasha and studied both the Bible and the Koran. cerning Christ. When I showed the New Testa- I took some of my difficulties to the Imam Jumeh ment in Syriac to my brother, he was displeased and others, but was not satisfied with their exand told me not to study it. But I continued to do planation of the Koranic passages. After four so in secret. Marking in a Persian Bible the months of such study, the Light broke in upon my prophecies we had read, I showed them to my soul. I can never thank Him enough. brother, saying: "These must be about Mohammed for no one else could be worthy of such ref- "How happy the old man was when I confessed erences. Let me study this branch of knowledge my faith in Jesus as the Saviour. My not going and we shall soon be able to turn all the Catholics to the mosque or getting up early for prayers made and Jews into Mohammedans. I interpreted the my brother Kaka uneasy. Several people came to prophecies according to my own ideas and clus- our home and argued with me but I took the Christered them around Mohammed until I came to the tian side and defeated them. Though I did not words in Isaiah, 'A bruised reed shall he not break, say I was a -Christian, Kaka took up his rifle and and the smoking flax shall he not quench.' I could wanted to kill me. For some time things went on not apply these words to Mohammed. in this way, growing more difficult all the time. People were talking about how to kill me. "Then the life of Kasha Yohanna began to affect me very much. He was truthful, honest-and "At last I felt I must let Kaka know of my new faith and I wrote a letter to give my brother. I 1 Missionaries to Moslems may well note the methods of Kasha feared it would mean certain death and went out Yohanna,–a great evangelist and preacher.
A KURDISH CHRISTIAN PROPHET
in the yard and prayed to God. Then I went back Bible so he took the saddlebags that contained my and gave Kaka the letter. He read it and began books. I went after him and wept. He told me I to tremble. Another man who was there burned must go to the great Sheikh and renounce Christhe letter on a castor oil lamp in the room. I con- tianity; otherwise he would be killed and our fessed my faith again and begged Kaka not to bouse destroyed. Kaka began to torture and beat argue while he was so angry. I would gradually me like a dog. Though I repeatedly kissed his feet explain to him. If he killed me I was a martyr. he would not give back my Bible. How delightful If he let me live I might help him. We went to are Gods comforts! Persecution is the better life, bed under the kurlsi and when my foot touched his, much more wholesome! he roused and said, 'Get away, dog. A dog of a man cannot live in a house.' It was midnight and "My brother saw that I was determined. Both we could hear the wolves howling about, but I had he and my friend wept, but they left the saddleto leave at once. Some of the Roman Catholics knew I had become a Christian, and I went to one DR. SA'EED KHAN KURDISTANI of their houses, but they feared to let me in. At As He Appeared When Winning His Way to Recognition as a last a Catholic woman, named Sherin, took me in. In the morning I went to my school in great fear, Prominent Christian Physician in Teheran especially of Kaka. He thought I would attend He Was Recently Put Into Prison by the Iranian Government prayers in the Catholic church, so he took his gun and sat in a shop across from the church intending for His Christian Faith and Courage to shoot me as I entered. Life in the town was miserable. bags and went away. It was indeed a painful sep- aration. I went to bed and wept bitterly, thinking "About April, in the year 1882, Mr. Hawkes, of that perhaps I would better go back to the village the American Mission, came to Senna with Agha of our relative. I even thought of returning to the Hyeem, the Jewish convert, and a colporteur Sheikh to renounce my faith to bring peace to all named Johannes. One day when I was in his of us. Then like a flash of lightning Jesus' words room, about fifty men ran into the yard to kill me. came to me, 'he who does not renounce . . . even The Lord had so ordered that the son-in-law of the his own life is not worthy of me.' Then I lay down Imam Jumeh was there and he took me home and went to sleep. How I thank Him for the revwithout allowing the people to touch me. elation of His presence.
"About this time Fatah, who had first given me "Kaka went home and said he could not reach the Old Testament, came back from Russia. An me. The people of the quarter collected and a Assyrian preacher in Ardabil had lent him 'Mizan ul Haqq,' 'Tariq ul Hayat,' and 'Meftah ul Asrar,' 2 books that were a wonderful help to me.
"Mr. Hawkes went back to Hamadan, and he wrote me inviting me to come. He would teach me English and I could teach him Persian and Arabic. But how was I to get permission from my brother to go? I showed the letter and told him it was sure death for me to stay in Kurdistan. He knew this was true and at last he accompanied me to a river and carried me through on his back. He deposited me with the muleteers and we started on our troubled journey.
"Later I found that a relative of ours, who owned villages along the way, had told Kaka he would bind me and bring me back, but like Saul he had gone away to hunt his asses. Next day the people wanted to kill Kaka for having sold his brother to the foreigners. So my brother and a bosom friend of mine came on a day's journey after me and found me reading Christ's Sermon on the Mount in Persian to the muleteers. They told me at once that unless I should go back Kaka would be killed and our house would be ruined. I said I would not go. Kaka knew how I loved my • The three great books by Dr. Pfander. Though written a century ago they are still classics in their field.
brave rider was chosen to go after me. He had his I became very homesick and wanted to return. horse saddled and ready to start but at that mo- But I thought, if God would settle my difficulties ment his master sent for him. When the latter and satisfy my longing soul I would go on. The learned what he was about to do he sent him off in answer came that He would. an opposite direction on business connected with "I had a medical certificate from Teheran and his property. had practiced in Hamadan, but I wished to become "I came to Hamadan and there I learned Eng- a really good physician. I was attracted to Sweden by some good people but I could not agree with the lish. In September of 1882, Miss Montgomery views of my friends there in some matters of docand Dr. Alexander and his wife came to Hamadan. trine. So I went to London, still feeling that I With my bit of English I interpreted for Dr. Alex- was in darkness. I read how Agrippa thought ander and so fell into the practice of medicine. I Jesus was dead, but Paul argued that He was also continued to teach in the school and with Mr. alive. I thought: that is enough for me; Christ is Hawkes. People from Senna came and tried to alive. get me out by a trick to kill me. I had many conversations with Bahais and others. I still had dif- "None of the great men in London solved my ficulties with many passages of Scripture but I got difficulties. Then I came among some poor workgreat help from Mr. Hawkes and from the home ers who studied their Bibles, and in their company life of Dr. and Mrs. Alexander. Miss Montgomery every difficulty was solved. God gave me underread and explained the New Testament, Mr. standing of mysteries, prophecies and all. Ah, my Hawkes gave me very helpful spiritual books to soul rejoices in Him. Thank God for all His read, but still I had a thousand and one difficulties mercy. and could not find real satisfaction. I was like a child who loves his parents but is not able to ex- "I studied for two years at Cook's School of plain it. I loved the Lord Jesus passionately. Anatomy and Physiology. I attended post-grad- Often I wished that Mohammed's words were true, uate lectures and demonstrations. In 1895, after that such a beautiful person as my Lord and my studies there, I returned from London to Ha- Saviour was not tortured on the cross. One day madan and took up medical practice. We have had I came across a hymn by Frances Xavier, three children: Sarah, who is now the wife of a Christian physician in Hamadan; Samuel, who 'My God, I love thee not because– married an American girl and mixed the royal I love thee because thou took my place.' blood of the Kurds wi.th that of the Americans; and Lemuel, who died in London. His name means From that moment I knew that He took my sin, 'portion of God' and that he was.S and became sin for me that I should be the righteousness of God in Him. "In Hamadan at one time I took the Dr. St. Claire Tisdall's book, Yanab ul Islam,4 to a Mujta- "After a year Kaka paid me a visit. Later he hid. Many people thought that I had written it, as they thought that no other Christian in Persia came to stay. It is n<it true, as has often been knew enough languages, nor enough of Islam to said, that Kaka came to Hamadan to kill me. We write it. When persecution broke out against me had many long discussic»rs. After several years the Governor Ein id Dowleh took me to his own house and helped me to leave town. I fled to he was converted when t was able to allay his Teheran after the Mujtahid had issued the death sentence against me. Later, after I had become a doubts about my father. He was not sanctified well-known physician in Teheran, I returned to until troubles came and he broke his knee; like Hamadan and this same Mujtahid called on me. Jacob he finally became lame but a true Believer. He said, 'You have made a lot of money in Te- heran. You ought to give me half, because I was "In 1888 I was married to a Nestorian girl, Re- the cause of your going to Teheran.' becca, the daughter of Kasha Shimun of Geogtapa. The whole town made a demonstration during the "The second time I located in Teheran, Ein id month of Moharram and notices were posted on Dowleh was Governor of Khuzistan, where I had the mosques and in the bazaars. The governor been his private physician. I was in Teheran quieted the town by a trick, without my knowl- when Ein id Dowleh became prime minister. He edge. He told the people I had deceived a Chris- wrote a letter to many of his friends saying that tian girl and wanted to make her a Moslem. Per- I had come to Teheran and he wished people would secution finally drove me with my wife to Teheran. give me a trial. When the prime minister says Even there the mullahs of Senna wrote a letter to the Turkish Ambassador to have me put out of the 3 I made two other trips to England for the purpose of further way, saying that I was a blight on Islam. study. On the first of these I took my son Samuel with me. On the second I met Sir Wi1l1am Osler, and some of my letters to him are "In Teheran Dr. Potter, with his beautiful published in his blographY.-Ba'eed. Christ-like life, was a great help to me, as were also the ladies of the mission station. While there • "The Roots of Islam." by Dr. St. Claire Tisdall. I determined to go to Europe to study, leaving my wife and two children in Hamadan. On the way
A SERMON BY A CONVERTED MOSLEM
anything the people are ready to do it in a hurry. matter. When I prayed, I received my answer Sol stepped immediately into a practice with the and wrote that I would come if they would promaristocracy and best families. ise me security from attack. I went and was used to cure the great man of blindness. The mullahs "I was able to speak for Christ to the prime of Senna sent eighteen men to kill me, but they minister and to the leading men of the country. did not succeed. My escort heard of their plans Dr. S. M. Jordan asked me to preach in the church and wanted me to change my cap to disguise my but I asked if he did not think it too soon. He identity. The man who had charge of the attempt said, 'All know you are a Christian.' So I prayed was later brought by the government to Teheran, over it and I think I was the first convert from and showed that he has been very much ashamed. Islam to preach in that church. The greatest He often calls on me and I give him Christian thing I can say is that the Lord Jesus Christ loved books and tracts. a great sinner. He saved a brand from the burning, and He loved me to the end in spite of all my "The missionaries sent an evangelist to Senna, sins and failures. who was no doubt sent to Assyrian Catholics and Jews, but I, a poor Kurd, was most blessed. "In 1912 I made a return journey to Kurdistan. Praise be to God. How wonderful are His ways. While I was in Hamadan a note came asking me I have told you the good things of my life. If I to visit a wealthy man in the mountains. I im- should tell you everything you would not want to mediately wrote saying that I could not do it. But write it down or look at me. But Jesus forgives as I was waving the letter to dry over the fire I me all. How good is the God whom we adore." said to myself that I had not first prayed about the A Sermon by a Converted Moslem Based on the Story of Naaman in 2 Kings, Chapter 5 -. I~I By SA'EED KURDISTANI, M.D., Isfahan, Iran I J;t– J~==============================~I A MAN may have high place in the public eye Leprosy has no cure, but he who suffers from and perhaps may gain a national reputa- it sees it gradually attack all his members until tion; he may through his business exceed his whole body is unclean, full of sores and decayhis highest hopes in accumUlating wealth and ing. His face becomes hideous, his fingers drop property; he may acquire great honor in his own off, his voice is hoarse and weak, and his members country, reaching the highest military rank and lose all sense of feeling. He becomes repugnant, possessing medals and titles from the great na- even to his own brother and sister. And this is a tions of the world. In other words, a man may true picture of the ruined condition of the man reach the exalted position of Naaman, who was of whom sin holds in its power. The unfortunate the first rank and commander-in-chief in the sinner, like the leper, sees that all his efforts and great country of Syria. Yet of what avail was all all his searoh for a cure to his disease of sin are this to Naaman? For he was a leper. In the without avail, and that its horrible results are same way it makes no difference what the rank daily on the increase. and reputation of a man is in the world, if he is a sinner. Ah, this one thing ruins everything for My friends, how awful and accursed a thing sin him; it changes all the joy of the world to sadness, is! Perhaps you have often longed that you might and turns the sweet cup of pleasures into bitter- grow better, but you perceived that you really ness and deadly poison. How unfortunate is he grew worse. In all Syria and in the capital of its who at the time of death owns nothing but money great king there was not found one physician who and fame, when he must undergo the just judg- could cure Naaman's disease. In all the earth ment of God and realizes that he is a sinner and there is no remedy for sin; in no tribe or nation has no certainty! Of what benefit were all Naa- will you find any man who has a cure for it. The man's medals and possessions to him? What joy whole world is a huge leper house with all its indoes he have as he gazes at the signs of his leprosy habitants infected. Both kings and beggars are and watches the exudations from his open sores? sinners.
It is remarkable how God has chosen the weak-
est things of the world for His work. We see that from sin. The command to wash in the Jordan it is a little maid, a captive and servant in the made the leper angry. Man is always displeased house of this great man, who is the means of at the remedy God has chosen for sin and wants bringing a message of .joy to the great general of instead the cure he himself thinks is good. He Syria. She said: "Would that my master could prefers his own worthless prescription to the dego to the prophet in Samaria to be cured of his pendable and efficacious prescription of God. "Are lep.rosy." In the same way I say to you: "WoVld not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, betthat you came to the blessed Jesus that He might ter than all the rivers of Israel?" In the same cleanse you of your sin." way, the unfortunate moral leper says: "Are not the teachings of my own religion better? It says I beseech you, when you hear this name, not to to me: Keep the fasts and all the regulations. be so unpolite as to stop listening to me, but think Complete the ceremonial washings. Pray all a little, and realize that I also, like you, was af- night. Go as a pilgrim to far places. Is it not flicted with the leprosy of sin, yet, through faith better to wash in these great rivers of my own in the expiation and the shed blood of Jesus, and religion than to have faith in this word of God through His resurrection from the dead, I have about the death of Christ?" Very weH, my found eternal salvation, and thousands of others friend, wash, wash, wash in your own rivers, but who were like me have also come to Him in con- among all the millions of men who have done this, fidence and have found a perfect cure. You know show me one person who has become clean from that you are a sinner and that up to now neither sin. With all earnestness I say to you that there you nor a single one of your acquaintances can is not one who certainly knows that he is among make bold to say that you have found salvation those who are saved. and are safe from the just punishment of God. How then is it that I and thousands like me have Naaman's servants said to him: "If the prophet such certainty that we are safe from this punish- had ordered you to do some great thing, would you ment and will forever live joyfully in the holy not have done it? How much rather then when presence of God? Is our confidence without a he said to you: Wash and be olean?" From all foundation? Is our joy purely imaginary? Give the peoples of the world there is evidence of the careful attention and think whether a person has lengths to which men will go in their search for ever found lasting happiness through imagination salvation-long pilgrimages on foot; costly offeralone. And this thought is also worthy of your ings., even of their own children; self-immolation attention, that perhaps you, too, through divine beneath the chariots of the idols. To what exfavor, can find deliverance from the terrible dis- tremes will they not go in the hope that their sin ease of sin and attain salvation. will be forgiven? But God will admit of only one way of cleansing. Naaman finally came to the prophet Elisha, but Finally, Naaman went down into the Jordan notice that he came in the way that man comes, and washed, and his flesh became clean like that standing at the gate with his horses and chariots of a little child. So with those who are washed by Christ. How clean and spotless are these new and bearing gifts. Man likewise thinks that by creatures! Oh, that you would, with the eye of faith, perceive that you may go under the waves his good works and his charities he will be re- of death with Christ and rise with Him from the dead, freed of all the spots and wounds of your ceived by God. He presents to the King with his leprosy. Then will you be able to exhibit to God dirty hands a flower from the King's own garden, and the world the countenance of a new man and show forth heavenly qualities through your words and expects a reward! But Elisha wanted none and deeds. That this is God's remedy for sin and of Naaman's gifts. and praises. One cannot sell your chance of a cure is plain from His own Word, the salvation of God. Elisha sent him a message: where we read: "For if we have become united "Go, wash in the Jordan." He would not go as with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be far as the gate to meet the general, but oontented also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing himself with a message. Salvation today also this, that our old man was crucified with him, that must be by faith, not by seeing with the eye, for the body o(sin might' be done away. But if we Jesus Christ, the healer of sin, has sent the mes- died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live sage of peace through His Word. Whoever hears with him; knowing that Christ being raised from it in faith receives salvation. the dead dieth no more. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God The river Jordan is a symbol of death, and for in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6: 5.). the leper Naaman there was no other remedy but that he dip seven times in the river of death. I can say to you that in all the world there is no other way by which a sinner may find healing but by the death of Christ. His blood alone can cleanse
First Five Centuries of Christianity*
A Review by SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D.
–tEl Professor Emeritus of History of Religion and Christian Missions at Princeton Theological Seminary THIS is undoubtedly one of the great books of The fact that this first volume supplies the an- the year, and if the author completes his am- swers to these searching questions makes it a text- bitious plan, it may well prove the standard book and source-book on the science of early work on missionary history of the twentieth cen- Christian missions, as well as a history of the tury. As now planned, the work is to be incor- enterprise.
porated in six volumes of approximately 150,000 Dr. Arthur J. Brown's masterly volume on a to 200,000 words each. Volume I covers the period Century of Presbyterian Missions is in compari- to the Conversion of the Roman Empire, about the son with the scope of this one volume as a beauti- year 500 A. D. The second volume will cover the fully engraved cameo showing all the particular thousand years between 500 A. D. and 1500; the detail of one Society's work in one century. Here third, from 1500 A. D. to 1800. The last three is a massive canvas not only portraying a pano- volumes are to be devoted to the 19th and 20th rama of apostolic zeal in many lands and many centuries. Volume IV will deal with the general centuries but transfused and transfigured by the movements in Europe and America conditioning miracle of all history-the Incarnation-which at the expansion of Christianity during the last cen- the outset throws its bewildering light on the tury and a half. Volume V will cover the spread whole scene. Miracles in the technical sense, and of Christianity in Latin America, Africa, Asia, according to prevailing Protestant the 0 log y, and the islands of the Pacific. Volume VI will ceased with the Apostolic age.t But in that age conclude with a retrospect of the entire work, and in the message that came from the lips of the summarizing the conclusions. Apostles, miracles had a supreme place; for as Except for its anachronistic jacket (supplied by Archbishop Temple remarks in his latest volume, the publishers), this scholarly production is in Basic Convictions: "The only Jesus for whom every way attractive and worthy of its great there is any historical evidence at all is a super- theme. On the jacket, however, we have a John natural and miraculous figure."
the Baptist figure preaching to a group of men in The literary sources available for the history of Moslem turbans, palm trees and a minaret in the primitive Christianity may be fragmentary, as background, and the whole in a frame surrounded Harnack states in his great work, The Missi,on by heterogeneous crosses! The breadth and scope and Expansion of Christianity. But he goes on of the first volume is large enough to startle the to remark: "How extensive they are compared thoughtful reader at the very outset, for Dr. La- to the extant sources at our disposal for investitourette is dealing with the philosophy of history gating the history of any other religion within the as well as with history itself. He proposes to an- Roman Empire!" swer seven questions in this and the succeeding volumes: In our opinion an anti-supernaturalistic ap- proach to these primary documents in the New (1) What was the Christianity which spread? Testament mars the treatment of the sources both (2) Why did Christianity spread as it did? in the case of Harna«k and also to some extent in (3) Why has Christianity suffered reverses and at times the volume before us. Professor Latourette ex- presses his own evangelical faith in the super- met only partial success? natural character of Jesus Christ and what he (4) By what processes did Christianity spread? (5) What effect has Christianity had upon its environ- ment? wrought and taught, at the close of chapter four, (6) What effect has its environment had on Christianity? in words that seem to conflict with his earlier (7) What bearing do the processes by which Christianity statement in the Introduction and in Chapter One where he "has endeavored to conform to that kind spread have upon the effect of Christianity upon its environment and of the environment upon Chris- tianity? of objectivity extolled by the school of history in • A History of the Expansion of Christianity (Vol. 1): The First which he has been trained." That school appar- Fioo Centuries. By Kenneth Scott Latourette. Harper & Bros., New York. 1937. 412 pp. ,$3.50. t Oounterfeit Miracles-Benjamin B. Warfield.
[573 ]
ently accepted the Evolutionary hypothesis that who had been the intimates of Jesus. Whatever "religion is a comparatively late phenomenon in the cause, that the stream flowed on is clear. It the life of mankind"; that a creature which may . is the uniqueness of Jesus which seems the one be termed human emerged about 1,200,000 years tenable explanation of the fact that Christianity ago (page 2); that "the Israelites thought of is the only one of the many Jewish sects to break Jahweh, their God, as a tribal divinity" (page 33) ; off from the parent stem and outstrip it in size that belief in personal immortality developed and influence. . . . In Jesus, therefore, and in slowly and late in Israel (p. 36); and that "frag- his death and the conviction of his resurrection ments of discourses, pithy sayings, parables, and and of moral and spiritual rebirth and immor- incidents, some of them put together without re- tality through him, is to be found the chief reason gard for the correct sequence, make up large por- for the triumph of Christianity. Without Jesus tions of the first three Gospels and the fourth is Christianity would not have sprung into existence, chiefly an interpretation" (page 46). And we and from him and beliefs about him came its main see our David in Saul's armor again when he dynamic."
writes: "The question is often raised as to what It is cause for regret that in the treatment of was new in the teachings of Jesus. For prac- Apostolic Christianity the historian failed to emtically all, if not all, of the specific precepts and phasize the axiom laid down by Mandell Creighton beliefs attributed to him it is possible to find in his introduction to the Cambridge Modern Hisprecedent in the pre-Christian literature of his tory (Vol. I, p. 5): "In the vast and diversified people. What Jesus did was to penetrate into the area of modern history the point of view deterheart of the moral and religious concepts which mines the whole nature of the record or else the he had inherited from the past and to pick out whole work sinks to the level of a mass of details what seemed to him essential. He performed this uninformed by any luminous idea. The writer not in any systematic fashion. He wrote no book who strives to avoid any tendency becomes dull, in which he attempted to give permanence to his ideas. . . . The novelty of Jesus must be sought, and the cult of impartiality paralyses the judgnot so much in fresh principles, but in his phraseology, in what he emphasized, and espec~ally in ment." what he was as revealed in his words and deeds.~' In the extensive and valuable annotated bibliog- raphies for each chapter we miss, for the earlier chapters, well-known conservative evangelical Naturalistic Explanations scholars both on the history of religion and on the It is refreshing to find the author himself Apostolic age while the extreme liberal school of wholly dissatisfied with such naturalistic explana- thought is conspicuous. One receives the imprestions when he sums up the reasons 'for the tri- sion of a certain lukewarmness that is incon- gruous in the portrayal of Christ our Lord and umphs of the Gospel at the close of chapter four: Paul his great missionary Apostle. There is no "The more one examines into the various factors substitute for the missionary passion even in mis- which seem to account for the extraordinary vic- sion history.
tory of Christianity, the more one is driven to No reader will find the style of this work dull search for a cause which underlies them. It is or the treatment uninteresting. The only other clear that at the very beginning of Christianity history of missions comparable to it is that of there must have occurred a vast release of energy, Harnack which covers only the early centuries and unequalled in the history of the race. Without it has long been out of print in America. The chief the future course of the faith is inexplicable. value of these scholarly chapters on the early his- That burst of energy was ascribed by the early tory of Christianity lies in the interpretations disciples to the founder of their faith. Something which Dr. Latourette makes of the facts so care- happened to the men who associated with Jesus. fully collated and documented. It is a philosophy In his contact with them, in his crucifixion and in as well as a history of missions. What the Roman their assurance of his resurrection and of the con- Catholic historian, Schmidlin, indicated in a para- tinued living presence with his disciples of his graph is here expanded and illuminated, namely spirit, is to be found the major cause of the suc- the difference between early, medieval and mod- cess of Christianity. That experience and that ern missions. During the first five hundred years assurance were transmitted to succeeding genera- the area cove_red by Christian missions was the tions. Why this occurred may lie outside the Mediterranean basin and the Church had a narrow realms in which historians are supposed to move. and insecure base for a wide ·field of action. Dur- One reason is probably to be found in the contin- ing the medieval period the area included all .ued study of the earliest written records of Chris- Europe from a broader and firmer base. Modern tianity and in the effort to preserve intact the missions has crossed the. seven seas and reached belief and the experience of the circle of apostles out to all races. Early missions were largely spon-
THE FIRST FIVE CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY
taneous, incidental and individual in their method; councils, although both have their place. It is not medieval missions conducted by a church hier- concerned primarily with the decline of the Roman archy were cooperative and social; modern mis- Empire, nor with the result of Gothic invasions. sions, both Catholic and Protestant, are both indi- It traces the mighty work of God's Spirit through vidual and social. Early missions had for their the Church and individual believers to the conobj ect peoples of like race and culture; medieval summation of His eternal purpose. The end of missions dealt with like races but of lower culture; the first five hundred years is prophetic of the modern missions have approached all races of onward march. Dr. Latourette says: every level of culture. Early missions aimed at the conversion of individuals; medieval missions In our hurried pilgrimage through the first five censought the conversion of the masses; modern mis- turies of the spread of Christianity we have watched that sions deal with both and with the social structure faith moulded by element after element of its environment. of society. Left to begin its career with a minimum of organization, without a literature, and with no formulre with which to The periods into which this magnum opus is di- define and defend its content, and thrust into a world in vided are therefore logical as well as chronolog- which syncretism was the fashion, Christianity might well ical. The author has the rare talent, exhibited in have seemed foredoomed to absorption and to lose whathis earlier History of Christian Missions in China, ever distinctiveness it may have inherited from the teachof an unprejudiced judgment together with true ing and the story of the life, death, and resurrection of catholic sympathy for all sorts and conditions of its founder. . . . Christians. Amid the mass of factual detail he never loses hold of his central theme and argu- At the close of its fifth century of expansion Christianment, namely, the gradual expansion of Christian- ity was in a very different position than at its outset. ity as Divine light and leaven in the world. This From being one of the smallest of Jewish sects, it had beis not a history of dogma, nor of ecclesiastical come the religion professed by the majority in the most populous of the cultural areas of mankind. Never in the history of the race had so complete a religious revolution been wrought in so short a time among so large a propor- tion of civilized man.
MY AFRICAN FATHER* My father's children did not love him. They feared him very much. My sisters feared him even more than we boys. If we offended him, such as drinking the dregs of his palm wine or standing near any of his wives, he thrashed us unmercifully. We dared not lift our eyes when he was near.
When he was a young man he became a hunter. After he excelled in shooting he swore an oath that he would not marry until he had killed a man of the Bakembe clan; so he went to the witch-doctor whose advice he followed. After he had prepared the war feast, the war- riors, the only ones invited, ate and danced in their ceremonial dress. Then my father took his gun and crossed the river to the Bakembe clan. He stealthily walked to a certain hut and removed the bark that closed it. There lay a man and his wife, fast asleep. He prayed to his gun, "Oh gun, pick off this man and this woman!" The gun sounded. It killed the sleepers. Immediately the hut caught fire and the whole family perished-not one was left to plant a lily bulb (commonly used to exorcise evil spirits). When he returned to his village he danced and sang the songs of warriors for which he was given much goods. With this he obtained his first wife.
Later, my father became a great "medicine man" and a priest of both the Nge and Urn cults. He sacrificed his mother to become a priest of the Nge.
Father married twenty-four wives, but he allowed only one of them to cook his food for fear of poisoning. When the sun was high in the heavens his favorite wife would set a stool out in the street of our village. There my father sat down while she brought hot water, bathed and rubbed his body with redwood powder. One day he killed his brother because he took from him one of his wives.-Zacheus Body-hardened.
i * Drum Call, West Afl'ica i_______.._______________________________ _
Work in
The Rev. MIGUEL RIZZO JR., Sao Paulo, Brazil Pastor and Recently Moderator of the Presbyterian Church ~._ of Brazil; a delegate to the Centenary Celebration of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.
T HE history of the evangelization of Brazil Presbyterian Church, in the capital of the country, could be divided into three phases: first, has been one of the greatest missionary agencies efforts made by 'the French in the sixteenth of South Brazil. He organized the first theological century; second, beginnings made by the Dutch class from which came three preachers who did in the seventeenth century; and third, the definite a very considerable amount of work. He wrote establishment of the work started by American sermons which fed the piety of the first converts.
missionaries in the nineteenth century. He published a journal which is yet a model The first two attempts would furnish abundant worthy to be imitated by the modern evangelical material for many very interesting narratives, but press. All this work was done in the short period the specific purpose of this article does not permit of eight years. He died when he was thirty-four me to write more than a .few words on that sub- years old, but his blessed memory is still highly ject. venerated by all evangelical workers of Brazil.
The first evangelical preachers and lay workers Many other American missionaries have folwho landed in Brazil were sent by the Reformed lowed and have been working earnestly at the Church of Geneva. The French Government was side of national preachers for years. The work then in possession of the country, recently dis- established on such solid foundations has reached covered. These pioneers were martyred by Vil- considerable proportions. The Presbyterian legagnon, a cruel adventurer who found that the Church of Brazil has now 1275 preaching stations Protestant preachers, whom he himself had called with 330 church buildings, 294 organized to Brazil, were not servile instruments to carry churches, and 144 ordained preachers. It receives, out his political program of oppression against the on an average, 2500 new members every year and inhabitants; he therefore persecuted and put has 35,199 communicant members and 30,114 chilthem to death. dren on its rolls. The Sunday schools include 3183 teachers and 39,476 pupils. The theological semi- The record of the noble courage and unbroken nary in Campinas has 37 students and seven fidelity of these preachers, although written in teachers, while more than 80 other students are blood, is one of the brightest pages of the religious preparing to go to the seminary. For many years heritage of Brazil. the Presbyterian Seminary of Pernambuco has The efforts of the Dutch Christians were more been sending many preachers to northern Brazil.
successful. They organized a Synod with more Almost all churches and missionary stations under than twenty preachers, established schools and the control of the Presbyterian Church in central did much social service on behalf of the poor and and south Brazil are now supplied by graduates sick. When they were expelled from the country of the seminary at Campinas.
by the Portuguese all the evangelical work they A missionary society, sponsored by the Church, had built up vanished. The Jesuits who came after supports a missionary in Portugal and hopes to them have tried to defame them and to discredit send another to that country next year.
the great work they established. When the history In order to understand the real opportunities of the nation is written from a critical and un- and the great needs of the Brazilian evangelical partial point of view their work will appear in a field, we must have in mind, among other things, clear light. The rehabilitation of their memory the following facts: is already being promoted by expert historians. In many regions of the country new areas are After these two unsuccessful efforts in estab- being populated so that the traveler who a few lishing a permanent evangelical work came the years .ago passed through some of these regions American missionaries. The first of them was the will be surprised to see the hamlets and villages Rev. Ashbel Green Simonton, who landed in the where previously he had seen only forest. A field he had chosen in 1859. There he organized a popular expression in Brazil is that, in certain really great work. Through many years the First zones, "cities are sprouting out quickly." This [576 ]
EVANGELICAL WORK IN BRAZIL
growth offers a great opportunity to the churches. ficult part of the Gospel. His letter shows clearly In many of these regions the Roman Catholic that his mind is preoccupied with religious prob- Church has not the same influence it exerts in lems.
other places. When this church begins work at Another fact: a few months ago I was inviter!
the same time as the Protestants we generally to visit an engineer high up in one of the depart- have advantages. Experience shows that many ments of the Government. He wished to present people, moving into a new place, are more ready a subject which could better be studied at his to hear the Gospel. Some of the settlers of new home. I went to his house and he explained that regions have lived in cities whe"'e it was n.ot easy before her marriage his wife had intended to be a to hear a Protestant preacher because they had nun and that all her family were very devout.
to face the criticism of friends 'and relatives who He had in his library a Bible which she read; im- could not understand h.ow anyone could leave the mediately her conception of religion changed. She religion of his father. Moving to a new place, was in great trouble because she could n.ot now these people find themselves in a new environment accept the teachings which for so long had been in which the obstacles to hinder attendance at the guide of her life. She even thought that her Protestant services are much fewer than where spiritual trouble must be a temptation of the they formerly lived. In regions recently opened devil. She went many times to see her priest but up, evangelical work is growing c.onsiderably. If he could not answer her questions satisfactorily.
we can use efficiently such opportunities as these, She finally asked him about her new view of the new cities now being organized will be very Christ, and he said: "The Christ you are intro- different spiritually and morally from the older ducing to me is a Protestant Christ." She had cities where it is so difficult to preach the Gospel never talked with a Protestant but now she be- because the people are proud to be "tl'!aditional" came curious to meet one. That was the reason I Roman Catholics. had received the invitation to visit the husband.
1. Brazilian evangelists are working actively She and her children are now connected with my in some of the new areas. Many Presbyterian church and, through her, the door seems to be missionaries are opening the way into the far in- opening to many .others in high places in the city.
terior and are establishing work even in places Still another fact: at a religious meeting in where the population is very scattered. one of the churches of Sao Paulo a lady was taken 2. Another fact worth while considering is that ill during the service. We found that there were many years ag.o great numbers .of German im- six medical doctors in the audience. That is remigrants came to Brazil and brought their pastors markable when we remember tha;t the Roman with them. The religious service was conducted Catholic Church is doing all it can to prevent in German, which now, in many cases the children people from attending Protestant churches.
do not understand. They are Protestants but they The manager of the largest bookstore in the cannot understand the service conducted still in city where I live is a regular attendant at our the language .of their fathers. In one region oc- meetings. He told me that now they are selling cupied by our missionaries there are tens of thou- more religious books, imported from France, than sands of people in such condition. One of the ever before. Most of these books are written by missionaries, Rev. Harry P. Midkiff, has now Protestant preachers. , thirty-five congregati.ons in .one of these new I could state many other instances, but theRe areas and many more places offer opportunities are sufficient to show that among the intellectual f.or preaching; but a man must not attempt to classes of Brazil there is now more interest in cover too much ground. Can the Church be in- the religious question than ever before. Even different to the spiritual destiny of such a multi- in the Roman Cattholic Church we can observe a tude? change in the attitude toward the evangelical 3. The intellectual classes of Brazil are now churches. There are, of course, still many perse- cutions. A few months ago two of our buildingR more inclined to listen to the Gospel. A few months before leaving Brazil, I received were burned-one in Alpinopolis, Minas, and the a call from a person sent by one of the intellectuals other in Pinheiros, Pernambuco. But generally of the country who had been president of the the educated priests do not now use against the State and is recognized as an outstanding de- Protestants the expressions they formerly did. fender .of the Roman Catholic Church. He sent Recently one of the outstanding priests delivered his representative to ask me to interpret a passage a great eulogizing speech about Erasmo Braga, a of the Bible. He explained that he had already very well known minister, before a selected audimade the same request of many of the cultured ence in the Municiple Theatre of Sao Paulo.
priests of the city and they had not succeeded in 4. Besides the Presbyterian Church there are giving him a satisfactory explanation of that dif- many other Protestants working in Brazil. The
total constituency,according to the last statistics people is remarkably developed. The Sunday is 200,000 communicant members; generally there School is generally very wen attended by young are families and relatives and friends who through people and adults. Many of the churches have a them receive their religious influence, so that it very well organized work in religious education. seems to me that it is not an exaggerated The habit of family worship is not so widely estimate to multiply that number by five. This spread as it should be, but many families are very makes a million persons in Brazil under indirect scrupulous in maintaining it. There are in all the influence of the Gospel. The population of Brazil churches groups of strong Christians and they is over forty-two millions so that the quantity of have a blessed influence on the whole. salt is yet very little in proportion to the mass it must season. If we want to win the country to The ancient name of the country of Brazil was Christ we have before us a task of gigantic pro- "Land of the Holy Cross." We hope that this name portions. But we surely will face that duty. in the future may be applied to it, not as a geo- graphical designation, but as a symbol of the Such facts speak for the spiritual life of the power of the Christ of the Cross to redeem the Church in Brazil. The missionary spirit of souls of its children.
Forty Miles from a Hospital-in U. S. A.
FIFTEEN years ago, fired by the needs of a The story of those adventurous years can only remote neighborhood in the Tennessee hills, a woman opened a two-bed "hospital" in an be hinted at here. There were day and night calls unpainted shack without furnace or plumbing. The little village was far from railroads, and the in all weathers; swollen streams that must be main highway was a hog-wallow after rains. But there were wild trails and one-room cabins forded on horseback or muleback; canyons too DR. MARY CRAVATH WHARTON steep and rocky for even a mule to find footing.
aplenty, with typhoid, tuberculosis, pellagra and Patients were brought in from long distances on hookworm,burns, broken bones and gunshot wounds. extemporized stretchers; babies were delivered Pooling her resources with those of two by the light of log fires. Many homes lacked the friends, she put up a $6,000 building-chartered under the State Charities Act and irrevocably most primitive conveniences, or what we call nededicated to public welfare and community service. Everything was very simple and plain. The cessities; yet out of such homes are coming back country was still "the wilderness"; the nearest hospital was forty miles distant. splendid specimens of young manhood and wom- anhood.
Working under its own Board of Directors, Up- lands-for so the institution was christened-has undertaken a many-sided piece of definitely Chris- tian rural betterment work at Pleasant Hill, and has carried it on with unflagging zeal in the face of formidable difficulties. Clinics and dispensaries, public health teaching, inoculations, the care and feeding of babies, first aid, home nursing, and the growing and canning of vegetables to correct the traditional diet of dried beans and cornbread -all have a place in its constantly expanding program. What this harbor of refuge has meant to hundreds, stricken by sudden illness or in- volved in the accidents common to the mountains, can never be told. The work is Christian but non- denominational, and supported largely by volun- tary contributions. It has grown to a health cen- ter with ten buildings, thirty hospital beds, an x-ray machine, and a corps of trained workers.
It is still c-arried on by its founder, Dr. May Cravath Wharton, whose ability, devotion, and vision, together with her record of achievement, are convincing evidence that its work has only begun. DORA READ GOODALE.
Pleasant Hill, Tennessee.
the Midst of European
By PROFESSOR ADOLF KELLER, D.D., Geneva Secretary of the Central Bureau for Inter-Church Aid for the Evangelical Churches of Europe T HE peace and tranquillity of the Christian in labor circles, an anti-god or godless movement Churches have come to an end in Europe. has sprang up, as one can see in Russia and Spain. The Church idyll is over. It may still exist in some hidden corners, in remote villages, in What does this mean? It means that the Church countries far away from the thoroughfare of of Christ is no longer made up of the majority of modern ideologies and conflicting political powers. the population in modern nations, but represents On the crossroad of the life and thought of the again, as in the time of the Roman Empire, the European nations the Churches have to fight for liWe flock, a minority struggling for its life their material and spiritual existence. against modern indifferentism and secularism. This minority is ridiculed by the modern skep- There are only a few countries on the European ticism which prevails in many of the cultured Continent where nation and Church are more or class as well as in labor circles; the masses are less identical and where most of the citizens also advised by them to "leave heaven to the sparrows members of the churches. This may be the case and to the parsons." in certain Roman Catholic states and in the Scan- If Christianity is no longer a predominant dinavian countries. In Norway, for instance, the Church Government or administration is identical power in many countries, it becomes again, as in with the State Department. In Sweden nobody primitive Christianity, a missionary group. The could, until recent times, just leave one Church missionary task disappeared or was forgotten without entering another one. In Finland, 99% where the Church comprised a majority of the people, where everybody by birth or by custom of the nation are members of the National Lu- was a more or less active or convinced member theran Church. The relation between State and of the Church. Today the Church is again con- Church is hardly a problem or a conflict in these fronted in the midst of "Christian lands" with her countries. original missionary task. The Gospel must again But even in certain Roman Catholic countries be preached, not only to the heathen in dark con- like France and Italy, a large part of the nation tinents, but to millions of modern heathen who has given up church membership or active par- have been baptized or educated as Christians, but ticipation in church life. In France, for instance, for whom Christianity has lost its meaning. the Roman Catholic Church claims not more than The new missionary task with which the Church ten millions out of forty-one millions of the inhabitants; the Protestants count hardly one mil- is confronted is taken up afresh by the Churches lion. Where are the other thirty millions of the themselves and by religious groups who undertake French people? Germany counts officially forty a preaching mission similar to that sweeping over millions of Protestants out of sixty-five million the United States. The Confessional Church in inhabitants. But before Hitler came into power Germany actually considers ,the German people as her first missionary field. A special committee one could count sixteen millions of Socialist and under Herr von Thadden is organizing "Evan- Communist votes and it is well known to what gelical weeks" in the large cWes for bringing extent the Christian Church lost membership in again the Gospel to the land of the Reformation. continental Labor. A French student of theology, These gatherings draw new thousands in the A. Reymond, lived six months as a worker in fac- largest churches and assembly halls who wished tories of French industrial cities and made a study their evangelical witness to off-set the vague naof the religious conditions in the labor class. His tional religion which hardly deserves the name of impressions were that the large majority of the being an offspring of Luther's faith. These French labor classes not only have given up church "Evangelical weeks," the largest missionary propmembership but they no longer know what :the aganda undertaken in Germany, were continued Gospel is or what Christ means for mankind. until the Government forbade them and put the leaders in prison. Wherever Marxism and Bolshevism, with their materialistic philosophy have become predominant The voice of the German Churches could not be [ 579 ]
silenced by such administrative measures. The the thesis that confession is allowed but that pub- Christian people hear the Evangelical message lic discussion and propaganda of religion is forfrom the pulpit, in private assemblies and by a bidden. living and encouraging witness mouth to mouth. The Church in Germany shows in these times of The same thesis is found in the Bolshevist reliconflict that she lives alone on the Word of God gious legislation and its interpretation by the Boland recognizes no other Sovereign than her Lord, shevist party. Religious propaganda, therefore Jesus Christ. The former compromise between evangelization and missions, are prohibited in Church and State which led the German theo- Russia while atheistic propaganda is allowed. logian Richard Rothe to the thesis that the Church This prohibition is only one aspect of a religious would be dissolved in the State, has come to an persecution. The law, especially the new constiend and now the Church is drawing a clear bound- tution, does not speak of it. Religious liberty is ary line between her divine message and its im- granted on paper, but in practice the elements of plications and the claims of Caesar. The Church a religious persecution are seen in the following recognizes the State as a divine order to which facts: The importation of the Bible into Soviet she owes obedience according to God's law, but Russia is prohibited; the free preaching of the she refused to betray the Gospel to a State phi- Gospel is prohibited; thousands of priests, bishlosophy or a modern pagan or half-pagan myth, ops and Protestant ministers have been killed, such as it is developed in Rosenberg's "Myth of banished, or sent to the concentration camps in the Twentieth Century" and in other modern na- Siberia and near the White Sea. All religious tionalistic religious movements. education before the eighteenth year is forbidden. Innumerable Church buildings have been alien- Evidently, it needs that peculiar courage which ated from their religious use and are transformed faith has always shown to defy a totalitarian into museums, cinemas, assembly halls, variety State and to remind the omnipotent State that the theatres or are so heavily taxed that the congre- Lord is God and the Supreme Sovereign. This gation has had to give them up, as is the case courage has awakened new leaders like Barth, with the last Reformed Church in Odessa. Of Dibelius, Koch, Niemoller and many others who two hundred Lutheran pastors working in Russia say again with Luther: "Here I stand, I can no before the Revolution, today only five or six are other." They prefer to go to prison rather than still in their villages and nearly every week their betray their faith. Persecution has quickened the friends in Western countries receive letters aclife of faith and isolation gives back to the Church cording to which new arrests take place. her original independence from the world. From an external point of view the Church in In Italy a similar philosophy of a Fascist State Russia has come to an end although hundreds of seems to have concluded a compromise with the church buildings are still open in the large cities Roman Catholic Church which has a privileged and are crowded on Sundays. The official strucposition and accepted a large endowment of 1700 ture of the Church is shaken; the patriarchate, millions lire in the famous Lateran Treaties of the Synod, the Episcopate, the theological acad- 1929. But a compromise in spiritual matters al- emies, the influence on public life. But it is a ways contains germs of future conflicts. Already wonderful and paradoxical experience that the it becomes manifest that Church and State in Church today is saved by the Russian Christian Italy are becoming two rival and competing pow- mothers. They are the most influential and faithers in the sphere of education and marriage. Mus- ful missionaries of the present time. They teach solini tried to escape a conflict by establishing his their children, often in a very elementary way, doctrine of the "two sovereignties"-that of the what the Church can no longer teach and they State for temporal matters and that of the Church continue the faith and Christian tradition of that for matters spiritual. He has shown much diplo- deeply religious people. These simple farmersmatic skill in meeting the spiritual claims of the poor, uncultured, despised people–have a large Church and not only granted her the privilege of share in the spiritual revival which exists among being the national religion, but introduced the the Russian people today. The Russian writer, New Testament into the schools and concluded a Berdjaev, declares that Bolshevism is the child favorable concordat with the Vatican. At the between Marxism and the deep religious mystisame time he granted religious liberty to the cism of the -Russian people. Marxism is an out- Protestant minorities, especially the Waldensian, come of Western culture. Mysticism is the natin the treaty, "I Culti Ammessi" in 1929. The ural life of the Russian people and it seems that question today is whether Mussolini can protect Western influence has not been able to overcome for the future the Waldensians from the conse- the great natural gift of religion, even in a crude quences of an unfavorable interpretation of the form, which the Russian soul has maintained for treaties by the Roman Catholic clergy defending centuries. It is to be hoped that the time will come
IN THE MIDST OF EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS
when the Russian Church can again undertake the The fourth window may be seen in a beginning greatest missionary enterprise in Europe – the of social work within the Orthodox Church. Such evangelization of the Russian people by the Bible social interest in the former mystical, hierarchic and the preaching of the Word of God. and sacramentarian Church might have spared Russia a revolution, as Methodism did to England Already four windows are opening in the Or- in the Eighteenth Century. The beginnings are thodox Church towards Western evangelical Christianity. The first is that the Orthodox weak, but hopeful. Church begins to preach. At our ecumenical con- The Church of Christ is going through dark ferences we have heard more than once a sincere evangelical witness from the mouth of an Ortho- times in these European countries shaken by revdox preacher; where the priests remain silent, olutions, but the Divine light shines in this darkthe laymen, simple men and women, begin to ness and the Church is again going through that preach. In the former Raskol, through the marvelous experience which St. Paul expressed Stundist Movement, the Russian Orthodox Church in the words: "When I am weak, then am I has had a Reformation of her own which could not strong." The revolution has revolutionized men's be quenched and is still alive among the Gospel- inner life and martyrdom, wherever it happened, Christians. has again proved to be the real seed of faith in The second window opens through the theo- Christian churches. logical studies which Orthodox theologians began The Church of Christ has again become the at Western Theological Seminaries. Following little flock, but this little flock is a real Church of such studies these Orthodox theologians have faith. The Church is becoming poor like her shown a remarkable independence. They have not founder who had not whereon to lay his head, but only learned from Protestant theology but have she has become spiritually blessed. She is per- secuted in many places but she feels again that defended and expounded their own faith with an she is bearing the Cross which her Master has original theological skill and sincere conviction. Men like Father Bulgakow, Florowski, Wyszes- carried. lavzev, Cassian, Zander and Zenkowski at the Or- These European Christians are suffering in thodox Academy in Paris, and such theologians as Zankow in Bulgaria, Arseniev in Konigsberg their terrible poverty, in their isolation and perseand Alivisatos in Athens have the merit to have cution. They are the "unknown Christian," opened a new understanding of the Orthodox which the wealthy, powerful and busy Churches Church to Western Protestants. in the West so easily forget. Their answer to the world is silence and martyrdom. They can hardly The third window is opening in the present-day speak. It is, therefore, the task of their happier Youth Movement in the Orthodox Church. It be- but perhaps, less blessed brethren, to speak to came hopeful with the fact that the Western them, to comfort them in their terrible loneliness, Christianity refrained from proselytizing the Or- to strengthen their faith in their vicarious sufferthodox Church, at least that part of it which is ing and to show them that evangelical solidarity collaborating with that Church in the ecumenical which is a privilege and a necessity of the Chrismovement. tian life. Such solidarity was recently declared at Oxford and Edinburgh to be one of the urgent ecumenical tasks of present-day Christianity.
SHALL WE KEEP ON ASKING GOD?
By THE LATE JAMES H. MCCONKEY More than half a century ago George Muller, that prince of intercessors with God, began to pray for a group of five personal friends. After five years one of them came to Christ. In ten years two more of them found peace in the same Saviour. He prayed on for twenty-five years and the fourth man was saved. For the fifth he prayed until the time of his death, and this friend too came to Christ a few months afterward. For this latter friend Muller had prayed almost fifty-two years!
But someone says: "How long shall we pray? Do we not come to a place where we may cease from our petitions and rest the matter in God's hands?" He alone, and not we, must decide when we shall cease from petitioning. We may stop praying for someone because we receive the answer or we stop because we believe God has given His answer. The faith of our heart is as sure as the sight of our eyes, for it is faith in God. More and more as we live the prayer life we come to experience and recognize this God-given assurance, and know when to continue our petitioning.
Dilemma of Japanese
_.•..gf By the REV. T. T. BRUMBAUGH, Tokyo, Japan r;;,··- Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church Since 1924 C HRISTIANS and idealists of Japan are "on This is not only a wholesome change from the the spot" of public scrutiny even more at attitude of Christians in all other wars to date, home today than abroad. Every Japanese but it is in great contrast to the positions taken by is required by his Government, and the people who other religious and cultural bodies in Japan.
support it und.er the Constitution of 1868, to give Without exception, Japan's thirteen religious sects absolute and unquestioning obedience to the na- of Shinto have been vigorously supporting the tion and its rulers. The highest moral principle nation's military policy on the Asiatic mainland; in the Japanese code of ethics is loyalty to em- they have indeed been centers of the combative peror and empire. Consequently when his gov- nationalism of the past half-dozen years. Bud- ernment, in a crisis such as the present, seeks to dhism also, while never so unrestrained in grati- obtain assurances of loyalty from the various reli- fication of desires, has given unquestioned support gious bodies functioning in the land the National to all Government policies and certain sects and Christian Council of Japan, representing two hun- Buddhist groups have by popular subscription dred thousand Christians of various affiliated de- raised large funds for the purchase of airplanes nominations, feels obliged to assure Government to be given to the imperial army and navy.
and rulers that the Christian Church "pledges it- In Christian circles the Roman Catholic Church self … to render faithful services to the State." has also recently been very active in assuring the None who read farther into this recent declara- authorities of its unswerving loyalty to the Gov- tion of the Japanese National Christian Council ernment in all temporal affairs, this being an can fail to note, however, that there is deep regret effort to overcome the suspicion that has rested in and chagrin that Sino-Japanese relations have Japanese minds ever since Catholicism was drifted into the sorry mess of today. Japanese stamped out of Japan in the sixteenth and seven- Christians feel their own share in responsibility teenth centuries for alleged connivance with Rome for all this; they call for a movement of spiritual and other capitals of temporal power in Europe.
regeneration within Japan, one which may bring Protestants have occasionally taken up the cudgels Christians and non-Christians alike to conscious- for nationalistic expansion on "Deutschland-iiber- ness of guilt as well as to a sense of God's will in alles" patterns; but the unprejudiced observer the present situation. As regards the crisis within cannot fail to observe a much more moderate and Japan they are determined to show the nation and international attitude throughout C h r i s t ian those in the empire's military service that Chris- groups and "spheres of influence" in Japan than tians minister to all those in need, whether physi- is found elsewhere.
calor spiritual, and they join fervently in prayer Christians and other advocates of world fellow- that the conflict may speedily be ended and in ship in Japan today are in a serious dilemma.
such a way as to make for permanent peace and They have been drawn to the Christian faith and friendship between China and Japan. its humanitarian ideals because it seems so ob- All this may sound pitifully inadequate to those vious that only such a world community under a hoping to hear a more positive voice out of Chris- unitary and loving Divine order can solve the stu- tendom; yet anyone recalling the attitude and offi- pendous problems of life in the modern world- cial statements of Christians in America and personal, social, economic, and others. But they Great Britain during the World War may find in are puzzled and baffled by the fact that European this declaration some reason for gratification. and American social and national life, in spite of There is here no breath of hatred for China, no many centuries of Christian background, is not suggestion of national glorification, no attempt to actuated by Christ-like motives. The JapaIese sanctify war. There is, rather, a deep sense of feel themselves the victims of white supremacy remorse that, in spite of Christian and other ideal- throughout the earth, and Christians cannot deny istic efforts for peace, open warfare has come be- it. They see that this form of white imperialism tween Japan and her neighbors, and there is a has been built up htrgely by military power and desire to mitigate the horrors of war while pray- that, whereas certain groups of Christians have ing for its swift conclusion. in recent years been renouncing further aggres- [ 582)] sion by such violence, not one "Christian" nation, ness; considering thyself, lest thou also be or even one sizable group of Christians, has re- tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so pudiated its nation's obvious determination to fulfil the law of Christ." keep for 'itself all the advantages acquired so largely by force. This not only applies to the land It is to Christianity's eternal credit that by and available resources of Christian nations, evangelization, education and the natural penetrawhich compare so to Japan's disadvantage with tion of the humanitarian ideals of Jesus the people its vast population and narrow confines, but it is of Japan, China and all other as yet non-Christian especially clear when one compares the standards lands have been awakened to their need of a more of living of Christian peoples in the West with abundant life, material and spiritua1. It will be a those in the Orient. hard blow to Christian prestige if now awakened Japanese decide that Christianity cannot or will The gist of the matter is that Christians in these not undertake to provide for these needs. We may favored lands do not concern themselves with the condemn as unchristian and immoral the methremoval of obvious inequalities and injustices, and ods that Japan is employing in China in her efforts that they and their governments have deliberately to attain her own economic salvation; but if set economic obstacles that hinder the efforts of Christendom cannot indicate and demonstrate a the Japanese to solve their own problems by peace- better way, then our testimony will be to them as ful means. The charge of Japan's nationalists can sounding brass and clanging cymbal. The Christscarcely be refuted, that Christianity and interna- spirit, even when exercising moral restraint as in tional idealism have not been concerned with a the present effort to restrain Japan in Asia, must practical and just solution of Japan's stupendous be redemptive. Let American Christians not problem of feeding seventy millions of people from overlook or neglect the redemptive quality of their a tillable area in Japan proper equivalent to the faith. Western two-thirds of Ohio. WHAT CHINESE CHRISTIANS SAY Christians in Japan also find it difficult to understand an attitude of mind on the part of Western Dr. Chester S, Miao of the National Christian peoples which will complacently tolerate the vast Council of China says: (1) Everyone should do extent of both economic and political imperialism his best to steady the morale of his community that obtains today in China under European and and help to secure peace and order. (2) We American responsibility, and at the same time re- should endeavor to carryon our daily work and gards with such horror all Japanese effort to solve help others to do their regular work. (3) War Japan's economic problem by similar though per- conditions are a breeding ground for rumor and haps more thorough-going methods. Here we note propaganda. Let us do our best to act as agents the difference, if any, between expansion by the for reliable news and for the dissemination of usual methods of economic penetration and that truth. (4) There is no better time than this to openly supported by military force. Japan cannot bring home to our people the Christian message forget that only ten years ago America and Great of the cross of suffering, We need faith to sus- Britain requested Japanese naval cooperation in tain our hope and to endure suffering. (5) Let Nanking to save our nationals and our property us launch a movement in every city for raising from the confusion attendant upon the northward relief funds and needed materials for suffering advance of Chiang Kai-shek's armies. Artillery people. (6) Let us pray for peace and the adbarrages were then laid down around the Stand- vancement of the cause of Christ. (7) Let us ard Oil compound to protect Occidental lives and show that we love justice and seek to manifest the property with a disregard for Chinese life and love of God. interests not unlike that for which Japan's army and navy are condemned today. The Chinese Christian leader, Mr. C. K. Lee, gave this answer to a student who asked why we In brief, Japanese lovers of peace and world fel- should teach Christianity to China when it has the lowship are in a tight place. They are opposed to ethics of Confucianism: any blood-thirstiness in their national program but they are truly and proudly Japanese. Perhaps "There are three reasons. First of all, Conwe have expected too much of a nation only sev- fucius was a teacher and Christ is a Saviour. enty-five years out of feudalism and a careful China needs a Saviour more than she needs a pupil of western forms of national development. teacher. In the second place, Confucius is dead It would seem to one acquainted with the New Tes- and Christ is alive. China needs a living Saviour. tament that Western Christians might well recall In the third place, Confucius is some day going to Paul's injunctions to the Galatians: "Brethren, stand before Christ to be judged by Him. China if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are needs to know Christ as Saviour before she meets spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meek- Him as Judge."
Working by Love in
The Story of the Omi Brotherhood I _•..e/ By WINBURN T. THOMAS, Tanaka, Kyoto, Japan I Ji.- O NE of the most interesting places to visit in Christian work. This might have sent other less Japan is a small village in the province of enterprising evangelists back to America; but Omi, an hour from Kyoto. While the not so young Vories. He determined to give up country is rich in picturesque scenes and in his- his teaching salary and to remain in Hachiman toric treasures, many tourists, with only a few until he had helped his young disciples to a,ttain days to spend in Japan, take time to visit this spiritual maturity. The situation forced him to town on the shores of Lake Biwa. These visitors become an independent, self-supporting missioncome to see the Omi Brotherhood, "a nonsectar- ary. ian experiment in rural evangelization." A Yale University professor, who had seen the work, ex- Some of his young Japanese friends stood by claimed, "It is one of the most interesting social Vories, sharing their school allowances until outexperiments in the history of Christianity." An side aid arrived; one of the young students American philanthropist said, "This is the most shared his room with his teacher. Some of these interesting missionary story I have ever heard." young men are today active members of the A French atheist after spending several weeks in Brotherhood; their fidelity is much like that of the village wrote, "I have never seen or heard Japanese retainers for their lords.
anything like this. You really believe. Although I haven't yet a consciousness of God or an understanding of Jesus Christ, I could join your Broth- hood today, believing in you."
The Omi Brotherhood is no new form of monasticism, for it is very much a part of the world's life. It conducts a successful business; its mem- bers speak over the radio; it carries on evangel- istic work over a large area. Instead of being wholly Japanese, it includes among its workers, Americans, Koreans, Chinese, and nationals from other countries. While members of the Brother- VORIES, YOSHIDA, NURATA, H. SATO, MIYAMOTO, KOGHO hood refrain from the use of tobacco and alcohol WHO WERE TOGETHER IN THE ACADEMY IN 1905 stimulants, they are not ascetic. In a country (Photo taken in 1930) where even Christianity is too often looked upon Fortunately Mr. Vories had studied architec- as a festal observance, a life insurance for the ture and it was not long before he received some future world, theological speculation, or a matter small commissions to design and erect mission of sectarian loyalty, the Omi Brotherhood repre- buildings. Later he became so busy that he was sents Christian life and the purpose of the group obliged to engage a staff of assistants. In the is experimentally to demonstrate the power of thirty-two years since the establishment of this Christ in daily life and conduct. Brotherhood, Mr. Vories and his assistants have Over thirty years ago, William Merrell Vories designed over a thousand buildings, including came to Japan to teach English in a government some as large and well known as the Daimaru de- academy at Hachiman. Not content with in- partment store in Osaka. A score of draftsmen structing the boys in his native tongue he started are busy in the Omi Hachiman office and branch a Bible class. This move went unnoticed until offices are maintained in Tokyo and Osaka. The some of the boys decided to become Christians. vast evangelistic program centered about this vil- Later money was provided for the erection of a lage has been carried on with the aid of Vories'
Y. M. C. A. in which to carryon Christian activi- "little pencil." Not only has the income from this ties. When the building was nearly completed branch of the work enabled him to finance its the opposition was so great that Mr. Vories was evangelistic program, but the office has intro- asked to resign from the school or to give up his duced many badly needed housing reforms.
[584 ] The next project undertaken was to provide vised by Dr. Vories, all strictly observe Sunday, a building materials and equipment. This neces- practice hardly known in Japan. In some cases sitated the organization of the Omi Sales Com- this has resulted in one day in seven being granted pany which imports and manufactures hardware, as a holiday for all employees, notably in the case refrigerators, household furnishings, and other of one of the large department stores. The Brotherhood factory at Omi Hachiman demon- LUNCH TIME AT THE KINDERGARTEN, OMI MISSION strates Christian commercial principles. Em- ployees are treated and paid as though they were modern equipment. Probably the most profitable children of God rather than as economic slaves venture was acceptance of the Oriental sales to be exploited. The workers receive the benefit agency for Mentholatum. Japanese druggists at of city wages while remaining in the country. first refused to handle ,the product, but it has now become almost a household necessity throughout Some results of the mission work of the Broth- Japan. Two small incidents show how wide- erhood are seen in its churches, Y. M. C. A., gymspread its use has become. One day while the nasium, and sanitorium. One of the finest tuberwriter was visiting a movie studio, a leading lady culosis hospitals in Japan, conducted by the misfell and bruised her arm during the "shooting" sion, is located at the foot of a hill overlooking a of a scene. Immediately one of her fellow ac.tors plain that leads to Lake Biwa. One day a memcalled to the "makeup" girl, "Bring the Menthol- ber of the Brotherhood was told that he had tuberatum." Again, at a country hotel, when a mem- culosis. To care for him and similar cases the ber of our party accidently slipped on a rock and first section of a sanitorium was constructed; bruised his hands, a maid produced a small can this has now developed into a modern hospital of this salve and all was well. When the packages with thirty workers and eighty-five beds. Docof Mentholatum are put up by the Brotherhood, tors estimate that one person in seven (some say a Bible verse and an invitation to correspond are as many as one in three) in Japan is a tubercuincluded in each package. As a result many Jap- losis case, but many have good prospects for reanese have been led to Christ. covery.
Evangelism and business are united in the The Brotherhood is non-sectarian, and its memmembers of the Brotherhood, and the two forms bers are free to join any denomination they of work are carried on side by side. On the sec- choose, but the local Congregational church is ond floor of the general offices in Omi Hachiman, the newspaper evangelism and publication depart- THE TUBERCULOSIS SANITARIUM-OMI HACHIMAN ments are conducted. Several full-time workers are busy preparing Christian magazines and most closely connected with the work. This conbooks, and in sending out Bible lessons and litera- nection dates from Dr. Vories' earliest days in ture to those who inquire about Christianity or Japan when he was invited to speak on Sunday who are taking correspondence courses. mornings to a small group of persons who gath- ered in a private home for worship. Within a These various business enterprises, begun only as a means of financing the evangelistic work, have been the direct means of promoting evangelism. Even in the building operations,super-
few years this group was able to erect a chapel One unusual feature of the work is the "Galiand to call a minister. One of the unusual things lee Maru," a motor launch used on Lake Biwa. about the work is that a collection is never taken About 100 Brotherhood workers carry their acat the meetings; those who wish to contribute tivities into six other places around the lake, condrop their offerings into a small receptacle at the ducting church services, Sunday Schools, Y. M. rear of the auditorium. The congregation has C. A.'s, kindergartens, cooperatives, and agriculgrown so that the worship services were recently tural conferences and experiments. transferred to the large gymnasium of the community house, in the front part of which there is The Omi Brotherhood expresses William Mera day nursery and a kindergarten. rell Vories' dream of a "complete independent mission enterprise, of such a variety of activities as will reach all classes of people in a given local- ity and will develop its own support on the field." In the Omi-Hachiman area of 1,616 square miles, with a population of 700,000 living in one city and 1,376 towns and villages, the Brotherhood's aim is- IN THE MENTHOLATUM PACKING ROOM 1. To preach and practice the Gospel of Christ without reference to denominational differences. A comparatively recent innovation of the Brotherhood work is a girls' high school. The 2. To completely unify the work in a fellowship of all higher education of Japanese boys has been taken workers, regardless of nationality or race. care of by government institutions, but girls have been left to shift for themselves after graduation 3. To evangelize communities unoccupied by any other from grammar school. To care for their needs Mission, and under no circumstances to overlap with the in Omi province a former residence was remod- work of such a Mission. eled and a girls' high school begun with an enrollment of about fifty young women. Three separate 4. To evangelize rural communities, as the most conbuildings house the dormitory, dining hall and servative element of mankind and the most probable source class rooms. of leadership.
The most recent building is a new Y. M. C. A., 5. To seek, enlist and train leaders and Christian workwhere the work is in the hands of a full-time sec- ers. retary and where classes are conducted for the village and Academy boys. 6. To promote social betterment-including temperance, social purity, Christian marriage customs, industrial, physical and sanitary reforms, and definite work for the neglected classes.
7. To study and experiment with new methods of Chris- tian evangelization.
The Japanese authorities that formerly perse- cuted and opposed the work of the Brotherhood are now loudest in the praise of Dr. Vories for through his efforts, he has put Hachiman on the map, has employed a large number of its people, and is gradually raising the economic, moral and religious level of its citizens.
"GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY!"
Some years ago a prominent French jurist was attorney for a murderer. In his final address to the jury he said: "Gentlemen of the jury! My task is very easy. The accused has confessed; a defense is impossible, and yet· I want to add a .few words. There, on the wall, I see the picture of the Crucified Ch:rist and I pay homage to Him. There hangs the picture, in this hall of justice, where you condemn the guilty. But why do we not hear anything of Him in our public schools to which we send our children? Why does the murderer, for the first time in his life, see the Crucified One here in this hall, wh~re the law will punish him? If the attention of my client had been directed to the Crucified when he sat on the benches of the school, he would not now sit here facing disgrace and infamy. Yes, it is you, gentlemen, whom I accuse. You that brag, with your education and your culture, and yet are barbarous, who spread atheism and lust among the people, and then are astonished when the people reply with crime and vulgarity. Condemn my client, gentlemen. You have a right to do it. But I accuse you; that is my duty."
Naturally Love to
By the REV. JAMES F. RIGGS, New York Field Committee on United Promotion, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
W ITH rapt attention the children listened. plan for such instruction, and make it interesting The speaker knew children's interests. He by calling attention to what it does to character, was fascinating. In closing his address he the child responds naturally and gladly. This asked if anyone present wanted to help the cause does not apply to money alone, but to any service of Christian education to continue the work de- rendered as well. Money is merely the tool most scribed. Eagerly the hands went up. Then the frequently used. Stewardship both in theory and minister rose and said, "These children are poor. practice covers many aspects of the Christian ex- They have no money except what working fathers perience.
or mothers provide for them. It is not reasonable Schools of stewardship with classes for youth, to ask them to give to any cause. In fact they stewardship dramas, interesting biographies of need many things themselves." generous givers are all assets in the development The speaker was surprised, as well he might be, of true Christian stewards. Youth learns from since the children did not appear to be in need or them that the giving of self, service, substance, for impovished. However, with a smile he inquired the propagation of the Gospel is not a matter of if he might ask a question. When this permission likes or dislikes. It is an imperative. When was granted he said, "How many of you children properly taught this conception becomes as nat- go to the movies?" Every hand was raised. ural as it is beautiful in the child.
"How many of you go on an average of twice a One church quickened this sense of obligation week?" Many hands shot up. "How many go at to the causes represented by the church program times more often than that?" A few hands were through the making and showing of a set of slides held aloft. Then turning to the pastor he re- on giving. These revealed in the form of charts marked, "I feel sure that it would be no hardship and graphs what the average person spent for for them to share in Kingdom enterprises." luxuries like amusements, tobacco, candy, as con- trasted with the amounts contributed to Church, But two long, searching thoughts filled his mind. Sunday school, Christian Endeavor, etc. The ef- Why do adults deprive children of the privilege of fect of these slides was very convincing. When giving? And why do older people so often pre- this was discussed in Sunday school classes and sent vital work in a manner uninteresting to age groups it resulted in a number of increased youth? pledges accompanied by heightened interest in the cause. Children love to give. They give to what they are interested in. The Church however very gen- Conventional giving is not only w:ithout thrill; er.ally expects interest, but often does not work but is likely to be very short-lived. It will cease creatively to generate it. Usually young people at the first opportunity. The child's money will have not the remotest idea of what they are giv- be absorbed by any secular cause or object which ing to when they drop their offering in the blue is appealing. Children are eager to do what is Sunday school envelope, or in the church collec- interesting. They are right in expecting, if not tion plate. Like their elders they give as a matter requiring, that they should get some degree of of course, as a bit of church routine. Consequently. satisfaction out of the causes which they help to they do so without any enthusiasm.
The Theory and Practice of Stewardship support. They ought.to know why they give, as well as what they give to in supporting church Usually stewardship is not taught in any prac- work. If the basic reasons presented to them are tical way. As a result the rising generation real- stated in terms of life, alert in meeting human izes only in the vaguest possible manner that God needs, the children will respond wonderfully.
is the source of all blessings through the years, There is nothing which appeals more deeply to a including the gift of life itself. As a result all the child than to know that he is meeting a real need.
daily benefits are accepted as a matter of course. Sympathies are ever ready and near the surface It is necessary that stewardship should be taught, in childhood. Youth yearns to do worthwhile and practiced too, if it is to mean anything vital work to help others.
to the child. When parents and teachers have a A far more wonderful response, than is gen- [ 587]
erally the case, will be generated if the principle John D. Rockefeller, Jr., say that in the next genof learning by doing is used to acquaint the on- eration we shall have no more concentrated coming generation with the causes to which they wealth, it is essential that the Church build up a contribute. An intermediate group was expected multitude of small but vitally interested givers. to aid in the support of the mission boat "Prince- In days to come their interest will make them ton," which ministers in so many and varied ways "pillars" of the Church. on the tooth-like Alaskan coast. As the youngsters knew very little of the "Princeton," or the Young people today are more versatile and more work it was doing, their giving was sluggish and mature for their years than in any previous genhad never reached the amount pledged. Often the eration. Youth marches on! May it be with the offering was "forgotten"; or just a few pennies Church – because their imaginations and hearts were given. However, when a manual training have been captured by the challenge of bringing teacher agreed to help the group to make a small the abundant life of Christ to underprivileged peomodel of this boat out of scrap materials from the ple. Thus youth may learn to identify itself with department stores, the change in attitude was Kingdom causes. amazing. Boredom and lethargy gave place to the keenest interest. Attendance became almost 1000/0 MESSAGES FROM D. L. MOODY even at week-day meetings. The group devoured eagerly stories of the service rendered by this If you cannot do some great thing, you can do boat. The giving came up without any visible ef- some little thing for Christ. fort or special pledging in excess of the amount pledged. To these intermediates giving became God is ready and willing to work, if we are "alive." It is spontaneous when interest is hehind ready and willing to let Him, and to be used by it. Jesus' words were once more fulfilled, "Where Him. your treasure is there will your heart be also." What we want today is the spirit of consecra- Tested and Helpful Methods tion and concentration. May God pour out His Spirit upon us, and fill us with holy. enthusiasm. Among the other helps in developing interest in benevolences are moving pictures showing the Many people are afraid of the word "enthusiwork supported. These may be secured at nom- asm." Do you know what that word means? It inal expense from many of the Mission Boards. means "in God." The person who is "in God" Dramatic presentations of evangelistic, medical, surely will be filled with enthusiasm. educational work, carried on by children's gifts are also valuable. Missionary progress may also If the Lord sees our faith for those whom we be portrayed dramatically. Animated biographies wish to be blessed, He will honor it. He has not of famous missionaries are often used with excel- disappointed the faith of any of His children yet. lent effect. There are in addition exhibits of curios; and costume meetings in which the cloth- It is far better to get one hundred men to do the ing of the country aided is used by the speaker work than to do it one's self. Only when the rank and ushers.. These educational settings have a and file of the Christian churches are enlisted in very great appeal. active service for Christ will His Kingdom ad- vance as it should. Hand work is always alluring to active boys and girls. Sometimes stories are told while the work In all ages, God has delighted to use the weak is going on. Or the young people may carry out a things. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that GOd visual program in the form of exhibitions of what uses foolish things, weak things, base things, their money accomplishes. One church put on a and things which are not. But if we are leaning series of tableaux of this sort. Another wrote up on God's strength we have more than all the and acted out its entire hooevolence budget with strength of the world. the aid of the young people themselves under the direction of two or three adult advisers. Medical Compare our opportunities of serving God with service was shown by a hospital scene with the those of the early Christians. Look at the mighty children impersonating the doctor, nurse and pa- obstacles they had to encounter and surmount. tient. Education pictured a teacher cooperating Let us grasp these opportunities to serve Him; with a class in working out a special project. then we may expect great things. He will not disappoint us. All these are but forms of the practice of Stewardship. This is essential to the present-day Let us lJot give heed to gloomy and discouragchurch in a changing world. In an era when men ing remarks; in the name of our great Comprominent in financial circles, like J. P. Morgan, mander, let us march on to battle and victory. "Be of good courage and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people and for the cities of our God; and let the Lord do that which is good in His sight.
African Bishop in
The Story of a Missionary's Journey By R. R. WRIGHT, Jr., Woodstock, Cape Province I Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church 1Ja- ~=-=-=-=-=-====================~ C OMING to South Africa a total stranger to stantly, walking many miles each day. We took people, language and customs, I found it tea in his small cottage, which was a marvel of highly necessary to acquaint myself as cleanliness. quickly as possible with my work, and decided that the only satisfactory way was to travel by Here Mr. Gordon left us and we proceeded to automobile. I was fortunate in getting as chauf- Beaufort West where I was to lay the cornerstone feur a young Zulu, who spoke very correct Eng- of a new church. We found the ceremony post- poned because of the sudden serious illness of the !ish, also Afrikaans, Sesutho, Xosa, Zulu and two aged minister. We visited him and spent the or three other dialects; an expert driver, a good night in the home of an old colored seaman, who mechanic familiar with the geography of South looked like the old-time pirates we read about Africa. We took with us maps, guide book and when we were children, but who, in spite of other books and references; an Afrikaans gram- tattooed arms was indeed a kindly old gentleman mar, dictionary and Bibles in Afrikaans and Eng- and an elder in his church. This was our first lish. We drove from beautiful Capetown through experience of sleeping in a "location"-an area the grape-growing districts of Paarl and Well- just outside a city, set apart by the municipality ington to Bain's Kloof, where we gradually rose for the habitation of natives, and sometimes other to a height of 2,000 feet above sea level. This colored persons; the ground is owned by the city, gave us a fine view of ocean and mountains, and which often builds the houses and the people pay villages lying in the gorgeous valleys. We de- rent to the city. These houses are usually two or scended amidst even more beautiful scenery to three rooms, built of mud in the crudest fashion. Worcester, 82 miles from Capetown where we The supervision is usually in the hands of a white lodged with the Rev. D. P. Gordon, who went as "location manager." As there are over 200 "lo- a missionary to this place thirty-two years ago. cations," one can find all types of character in The result of these years of labor are partly seen these managers, from outrageous exploitation to in a comfortable church building which can seat kindly paternalism. In some "locations" there are 400 people, a three-room school building with 215 a few beautiful homes which the people were alpupils, four teachers, and a mission house of seven lowed to build for themselves. But the fact that rooms. The school is now recognized by the Gov- they cannot own the ground and that they may ernment. Mr. Gordon is now 69 years of age, have to move at any time, is most discouraging. and is honored by all for the Christian service he "Locations" were originally designed for natives has rendered. who were brought out of the country districts, Accompanied by Mr. Gordon, who also has away from their native tribal life to work for the whites, and. whom the whites would not allow to supervision of churches on many farms in the live in their cities. This forced segregation has vicinity, we visited the school at De Wet. Here brought on many problems for which have been were two teachers, with 110 pupils in the one- found no adequate solution. The municipality room church building, which had a dirt floor and gives to each church a plot on which it may build benches for about half the children. All seemed an edifice to be used as a church and school. Naunderfed. I had prayer, said a few encouraging tive education is in the hands of the church at words, consulted with the principal and departed present. With all the efforts of the churches there for De Doorns, fifteen miles away. Here again are hundreds of children out of school and it is I found the same type of building, teachers, equip- estimated that 2,000,000 native children in South ment and pupils. The pastor, Mr. Legolie, an Africa do not go to any school. The problem of earnest man past middle age, with little education, education is indeed large. but with great zeal, had not only organized this little church, but churches on six farms. He had At Kimberley, the diamond city, we found an over 200 members to whom he ministered con- intelligent pastor who had built a new church and [589 ]
planted flowers around it, a very unusual thing. in the South African Council, the South African The churches all joined in welcoming us, and I Institute of Race R~lations, the Bantu Men's SJfound here, as everywhere else, a close bond cf cial Center, and in nearly everything that CJn :-;ympathy between denominations. An Anglican cerns the welfare of the natives around Johannespresided, the white Dutch Reformed minister burg. made the principal address of welcome, and the Dutch Reformed colored band played revival In the Johannesburg gold mining center, called hymns to dance rhythm. Brother Nantlahla gave the Rand, from a third to a half of the world's us the manuscript for the African Methodist gold supply is mined. Here are over a third of a Hymn Book on which the Rev. C. Nyombolo, now million natives taken from every tribe in Sou.h deceased, and he had worked for twenty years. Africa, detribalized, underpaid, underfed, living Our next stop was at Wilberforce Institute, our in the world's worst slums-a contrast of poverty leading educational institution in South Africa, and wealth, ignorance, superstition and enlightfounded in 1909 and named for the famous Eng- ened ,Christianity, perhaps nowhere else seen. lish antislavery agitator, William Wilberforce, Here the churches have their hardest task, and and for Wilberforce University in Ohio, whose the A. M. E.'s are trying to do their part. At early graduates are now leaders of our church several places in this gold mining region I called here. together the ministers and discussed educational work and the extension of our church work. We After devotional exercises at the Institute, I have over 125 preaching points on the Rand and left for the administrative capitol at Pretoria. Transvaal. Here I met officers of the Native Affairs Department, of the Department of Education, and of the When I preached I usually had two interpret- Immigration Office; I explained my work and the ers, one each for Xosa and Sesutho, sometimes purpose of my presence in South Africa. I found three and once four. Many Moody and Sankey all the officers without exception not only cour- hymns, as well as the great hymns of all churches, teous,but sympathetic with my plans, although are translated into these tongues and sung to when I expressed my intention to build a Teacher familiar tunes. "Praise God from Whom All Training College in the Transvaal, one said it was Blessings Flow," may be sung to the tune of "rather ambitious." Since then, however, a "Old Hundred" in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Sesu- 12-room building has been started in faith, and tho, Xosa, etc., at the same time. Nearly every workmen are going forward. Our members hav2 Africanin the Rand understands simple English, themselves given me over £750 ($3,750) in sup- but is at home in the vernacular. The African port of this effort, notwithstanding their poverty. native does not "shout". as does the American We proceeded to Johannesburg next day and I Negro. He listens very attentively; he prays ferconsulted with business firms as to materials to vently, always sings all the verses of a hymn, start our building. Thank God, I succeeded in get- assembles for worship promptly and does not ting credit for more than £600 ($3,000) worth of want to stay too long. material from one firm, whose managing director said, "We have never let natives have more than On the Rand I met all types of natives, the lowly £50 or' £60 credit; but I am impressed with your and highly intelligent. There is only one native purpose, your plan and your organization, and physician who was educated in America, one, will take the risk." My next discussion was with lawyer, no dentists, one accountant, many prithe Inspector who had expressed doubt that na- mary teachers, a few nurses, a few politicians, tives could erect such a school building. In fact, editors and business men. All were anxious to the specifications read, "All skilled work shall be hear about the American Negro, and I was kept done by Europeans; i. e., white mechanics." I, from morning till night answering que.tions about however, got permission to have it read, "By com- America. petent mechanics-," and am proceeding with mechanics of my own race, much to the surprise and In all, I spent ten days on the Rand. My nex'; satisfaction of the Inspector, who has publicly stop was at Bremersdorp in Swaziland, where at praised the work. midnight, under a perfect African starlit sky, I met King Sobhuza II, Paramount Chief of the I conferred with Dr, J. Dexter Taylor, of the Swazis. He gave me a hearty" welcome to his American Board, at his home in Johannesburg. country. Far through the night we discussei re- He is, a member of our Board of Trustees of Wil- ligion, education and the general economic ani berforce Institute and I have found in him a true social life of his people. I shall never forget this friend and guide. He has been in South Africa meeting~. ,nor the man, still under 40, a philosoover 30 years and he is loved by the natives and pher,scholar and statesman. I met the Qm:en respected by the Europeans., He is a: leading spirit Mother in her kraal, consisting of over 400 huts of thatched roofs, surrounded by high cane fences. She received me seated on the ground, encircled
AN AFRICAN BISHOP IN AFRICA
by her advisers. Our interview lasted nearly an the marriage ceremony for Chief Seiso Maama hour. I was guest in the kraal of Chief Ben and remained for the festivities. Mrs. Seiso Nxumalo, uncle of King Sobhuza II. The Chief Maama is a woman of beautiful character and went to America in 1928 as a delegate to the high ideals. Her husband, unlike many other A. M. E. General Conference, and got many mod- chiefs, has only one wife and is a devoted Chris- ern ideas, some· of which he has tried to put into tian preacher.
practice. The National Training School is a new At Morija is the hundred-year-old French mis- venture of credit to the Swazis. sion which has done more than any other mission We have fifteen schools in Basutoland, but the to develop the Mosutos language and literature. government gives grants only to the older We visited its famous printing plant where more churches-the French Mission, the Anglican and than twenty-five natives do printing for all de- Roman Catholic churches; all are doing such nominations in South Africa. The French misgood work that Basutoland, I was told, has the sion encourages native African initiative in a way largest percentage of native school attendance in worthy of imitation. At Maseru we saw in the all South Africa. Some of the most powerful . Government offices the first black stenographer chiefs are members of our church and have given .and typist since we left America. land and buildings for schools, which we have We saw very few naked natives, except chilbeen inadequately supporting. I was guest of dren. We met none who had not heard of Jesus.
Chief Seiso Maama, who gave the ground for We heard testimony to the two hundred years of Maama Memorial Church which I dedicated in the heroic missionary endeavor, and also the great inpresence of 1,000 people who had come from fluence of a recent visit of Dr. John R. Mott to mountain fastnesses to witness the ceremony and South Africa. I have met most of the outstanding partake of the chief's hospitality; he killed sev- leaders of all denominations, and all seem coneral oxen for the occasion. As we were leaving, scious of the great work still before them, not the chief and his wife asked me to join them in now so much of securing acceptance of Christ but holy wedlock after the Christian fashion; this I of putting Christianity more into practical life. promised to do when I returned to Basutoland. We who know how hard this is in America, espe- We proceeded to Johannesburg and to Evaton to cially where the darker races are concerned, can inspect our new building. At the insistence of one 'imagine the task before earnest Christian leaders of my presiding elders I visited the Western in South Africa. As much work needs to be done Transvaal. At one place, I was surprised to find among the whites as among the blacks, if there is the most prosperous looking natives I have seen. ever a satisfactory answer to the question, "Shall My host owned in his own right 1;800 acres of Africa Be Christian?"
land, and I met a group of men who owned or I have repeatedly asked myself during this leased over 10,000 acres. They were anxious that journey, "What can the American Negro do?"
the church purchase several large plantations and The answer is, "Much." Wherever I have gone move the people on them, thus giving them better people have said, "Tell us about people in Amer- protection and a better chance for worship, edu- ica," no matter what the occasion. So the Amer- cation and economic improvement. While their ican Negro is an inspiration to the African-he argument was apparently sound, I was not able to wants improvement in living and an outlet for the give them much hope, so far as the church is con- "more abundant life." The rapid growth of the cerned. I sincerely hope that some Christian or- A. M. E. Church is due to this fact. However, ganization may become interested in the economic very few American Negroes are in South Africa.
imprqvement of these people. I have not met a dozen who came here during the After a brief rest we returned to Wilberforce past twelve years. American Negroes trained in to hold the executive board meeting of the wom- social work, in agriculture, as well as in religion, en's missionary organization, headed by Mrs. could help the native and the country at large, if Maxeke, a graduate of Wilberforce University in they come under cooperative, rather than under Ohio. With her husband she has labored nearly denominational auspices. The task is far too forty years in South Africa. I was pleased with great for the individual church.
the earnestness and intelligence of these native I have supervision of over 430 preaching places, women. Next day I laid the cornerstone for the separated by nearly 3,500 miles and reaching new building at Wilberforce Institute and received every .tribe of .Africans, representing the work of contributions from the natives of nearly $500. forty years. But I need helpers. The harvest Two thousand people attended and it is estimated truly is plenteous but the laborers few. Pray that that 90 '10 of them contributed. The inspector of God may move the hearts of more Americans of native schools was the only white man present. African descent to come over and help their be- Then we returned to Basutoland and performed nighted African brothers and sisters.
A Ponca Breaks Paths for
A Chapter in Rural Education for Indians in Oklahoma By the REV. COE HAYNE, New York The American Baptist Home Mission Society SCORES of young Christian Indians are ac- which the Choctaw church worshipped. The old cepting positions as teachers in schools in shack of a building had been given to the Indians most difficult communities, amid desperate for a schoolhouse. And Louis Rhodd had arrived poverty and privation, which they must share, to open the first school for the Choctaw at Bas- that they may be of service to their people in the come. One side of the building, lacking window name of Christ. Going to their stations under ap- frames as well as window panes, was open to the pointment by the Department of Education of the weather. There were cracks an inch wide in the Indian Service, with foreknowledge of the condi- warped and decaying flooring. There were no tions they must confront, they endure the cold in seats or desks in the building. A small platform poorly equipped school buildings and the loneli- at one end of the room indicated that it had once ness in remote places without complaint. In many been used for public gatherings.
localities Indian children would be without school Asked whether or not he felt like turning his privileges today were it not for the enlistment of back on such a school equipment, Mr. Rhodd said: these young Indians in this pioneer educational "I was glad to have such an opportunity."
enterprise. Soon the Ponca was joined by a young Choctaw The Special Indian Day Schools in Oklahoma who from his home a quarter of a mile distant, are served by one teacher each. In these schools had seen the automobile stop in front of the old they find that "teacher" includes many profes-· church building. The Choctaw introduced himsions. Often they are asked to give advice in self by saying that he suspected that the newcomer native disputes; their judgment is sometimes fol- was the man who was to teach the school. He in- lowed and sometimes not. They assist at times vited Mr. Rhodd to go home with him assuring of birth, illness or death, not only the Indians but him of a lodging there over night and possibly also the whites within the community. They offer longer. The father in this Choctaw home did not plans on how to run a home, farm or chicken give an immediate answer to Mr. Rhodd's request hatchery. They are athletic directors in the com- for a permanent abiding place. During several munity. You find them some evenings within minutes he gave no sign that he had heard the their schoolhouses cutting the children's hair. question. When he spoke it was to speak dis- Wherever aid is needed these teachers are called paragingly of the food his home could offer. When upon to help. Mr. Rhodd assured his host that he would be glad The experiences of Louis Rhodd, while conduct- to share with the family whatever comforts were ing a rural school in a neglected Indian neighbor- available and to pay for same, the desired per- hood in Oklahoma from 1934 to 1936, bring into mission to board and lodge in that humble home sharp relief the spirit with which many forward- was granted.
looking Indian youth are meeting their Christian Mr. Rhodd began at once to repair the old responsibilities. Mr. Rhodd, whose former home church building for school purposes. Although was Pawnee, Oklahoma, was educated at Bacone under appointment by the Indian Office he did not College and the University of Oklahoma, the first hesitate to appeal to Mr. Walter Haggard, Pitts- Ponca Indian to obtain a college degree. He was burg County superintendent of education, with appointed by the Office of Indian Affairs to con- offices at McAlester, Oklahoma, for assistance.
duct a school among the Choctaw Indians at Bas- Mr. Haggard had a new floor put in the school, come, Oklahoma, in September, 1934. the doors, windows and steps repaired and the From the Agency of the Five Civilized Tribes schoolroom painted white. On opening day thir- in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he was conveyed by auto- teen pupils were enrolled -later the number mobile to the location of his prospective activities. reached nineteen, all members of the Choctaw The Agency man drove away, leaving the Ponca tribe, twelve of whom were fullbloods. Of this and his traveling bags in front of a dilapidated group only three had been to school before. The little Methodist meeting house, abandoned these ages ranged from four to seventeen years.
many years. Nearby stood a newer edifice in During the first two weeks Mr. Rhodd did not [592 ] have textbooks suitable for beginners. There I have visited Indian homes and seen school children was a total lack of paper, pens, ink, pencils and that were five and six years old correcting their parents' blackboards. For classwork he depended upon table manners. the children's experiences and knowledge of the country and his own resourcefulness. He told Good habits such as inhaling pure air, refraining from stories and encouraged the children to talk con- spitting on the floors, coughing or sneezing in the faces cerning their people and their surroundings. He of others, adequate rest and food, and in general a wellconducted hikes; names of trees, rocks, crops and regulated life will do much to prevent T. B. towns in the locality were listed; maps of the neighborhood were drawn; health topics pertain- In another important matter the cooperation of ing to school and homes were discussed. At the the parents was secured. As the Indian child is end of two weeks each pupil was supplied by the extremely shy and self-conscious the lack of county with textbooks, writing tablets, ink, pen knowledge of good English is a real handicap to points, pen holders, pencils, erasers and crayons. him. In all the homes the native Choctaw lan- The schoolroom was equipped with blackboards. guage was spoken when Mr. Rhodd arrived on the The Indian agent had sent some government books field less than three years ago. The aid of the that were used as supplementary material. The parents was gained to increase the use of English equipment sent by the county included a basket- within the homes. In the Choctaw Indian lanball, two soft balls, bats and some lumber used in guage there is an order opposite to that of the making see-saws and backboards for basketball English. The children had a tendency to speak goals. the English in the same order but they worked hard with the language and by Christmas time The first community gathering at the school was the second, third and fourth grade pupils were an old-fashioned pie-supper given to raise funds writing letters to friends in English. to purchase baseball equipment. The ball games that followed brought the Indians and white peo- Within the schoolhouse has grown a small liple together in clean entertainment, promoting a brary consisting of books on history, poetry, bulbetter understanding between the two racial letins pertaining to farm and home, newspapers, groups. magazines, and also religious reading material. Both the state and national governments issue The parents were unable to provide proper diets bulletins on various subjects that are always oband clothes for the school children. Money ap- tainable free of cost. The Department of Agripropriated by the Indian Service and Pittsburg culture tells the farmer how to fertilize the soil, County provided hot noon lunches for all enrolled. select seed, fight insects, pests and plant diseases, The clothing collected by Bacone College students plan farm buildings, care for stock and poultry came as welcome Christmas gifts. and market their products. Bulletins are also issued in behalf of the housekeeper, telling her Four families moved from a distance of twenty how to care for the health of her family, feed chilmiles or more, leaving fairly comfortable homes dren, preserve fruits and vegetables for winter to live in hastily built shanties so that their chil- use and how to take care of perishable food. By dren might attend school. The winter of 1934- collecting these pamphlets and making them avail- 1935 was a cold one but during the severest able, Mr. Rhodd helped the Choctaw people to weather no family moved back to a warmer house, obtain expert advice in many situations confrontpreferring to endure hardship with the school ing them in their isolated communities. Once a children. Mr. Rhodd helped to seal the shanties month the people come to the community house with building paper. to discuss the problems within the community, and especially the work which the school is try- Adult education was made possible through an ing to accomplish. alliance between the homes and the school. Through the cooperation of the children health Concerning these community forums Mr. Rhodd instruction was transmitted to parents. reported: This Ponca instructor has something very defi- Such problems as conservation and prolongation of life; nite to say about health: knowledge and control of domestic life; knowledge and control of physical environment and creative activities Good health gives better character, greater usefulness, are discussed with much spirit within the school, church increased anility to perform our daily tasks. To let a and homes. Such discussion of problems provides an acchild suffer from ill-health when he might have a strong, tivity that has a permanent and far-reaching result. We healthy body is foolish. are gradually laying a suitable foundation for the day when this community will insist that all its members con- One of the first centers of interest around which useful form to certain standards. learning may start is the school lunch period. This provides an activity that has a permanent and a far-reaching The Choctaw church board, at Mr. Rhodd's reresult. He is taught the proper posture at the table, the quest, consented to have lessons of the Sunday correct use of the spoon, knife and fork, and other de- school taught in the English language. sirable habits. The older children are given an opportunity to wash the dishes and clean the room after lunch.
Missionary
By M. E. RITZMAN, PH.D., Reading, Pa.
Professor of New Testament and Missions, Evangelical School of Theology DR. A. J. GORDON used to say that he not? What is his supreme purpose regarding His stopped praying that the Lord Jesus would Church? We find it summed up in that cate- have compassion on a lost world. "I seemed gorical imperative, "Go ye." Jesus' first command to hear him say to me," said this man of God, "I to his disciples was, "Come ye after me, and I will have had compassion on a lost world; now it is make you fishers of men"; .his last was: "Go, for you to have compassion. I have given my make disciples of all the nations." Discipleship heart; give your heart." and apostleship are one and inseparable. We learn but to teach; we know of Jesus but to tell Dr. Gordon was right. Christ came into the of Jesus; we commune with Him but to comworld, a missionary from Heaven to earth, to show municate Him. Only so far as His Church acus God's infinite love and compassion. He lived cepts her responsibility for teaching all nations to and taught and spent His days in blessing the observe all things whatsoever He has commanded humble poor and His nights in prayer. The Evan- her, may she experience the fulfilment of His gelist tells us that "when He saw the multitudes, promise, "Lo, I am with you always." He was moved with compassion." That was the mind that dwelt in Christ. But He was rejected Some are prone to think that only the more by His own; betrayed by priest and disciple. He pious and zealous Christians need be witnesses. agonized in the Garden and confronted there the But to make Christ known must be the commandarchenemy of our souls. He bore the scourging, ing purpose of every Christian. The early Christhe hissing, hooting, and spitting. He staggered tians understood their Master's meaning, and under the weight of the cross, died on it, went when they were scattered abroad, they went into our sepulchre and rose more than conqueror. everywhere preaching the risen Lord. Now He stands on Olivet. Angels beckon Him. The Father is waiting for Him. With outstretched Because Christ's heart longed for the salvation hands He tells to His disciples that all power is of all men, because He died on the cross to save His, and bids them, therefore, to go everywhere every man, Christianity is distinctively and essenand tell the Good News to all the nations. Then tially missionary. The missionary enterprise is the heavens receive Him. All power was His, not a by-enterprise, a mere incident in our modtherefore they were to go. That was before ern life in which a few enthusiasts take an inter- Pentecost. The missionary idea came into the est and of which they are making a fad. The misworld with the birth of Christianity. sionary work of the Church is not secondary, but primary and supreme. It is not a work which In spite of these "marching orders," in spite of must take its place among other works, that may the missionary enthusiasm of the early Church, be done or neglected according to our mood. If we have the staggering fact to explain that though it is true that the eternal Son of God took upon more than sixty generations have come and gone Himself man's nature and lived on this earth and since our Lord gave His message, out of every died upon the cross for the sins of mankind, there three persons in the world, two are practically is no other fact in history to equal it, and it must without knowledge of Jesus Christ. The need of be told everywhere. these hundreds of millions is indescribably great. Most of them are living in ignorance and dark- It is therefore impossible for the Church to live ness, steeped in idolatry, superstition, degrada- in disobedience to the last command of Christ, tion, and corruption. While the so-called non- and remain Christian. Obedience to Christ is not Christian religions furnish some moral principles less an essential to salvation than trust in Him as and precepts of value, they do not afford adequate the atoning-Saviour. Christians should live up to standards and motives by which rightly to guide their profession by making it their first and highthe life, nor power to enable one to take the step est concern to "preach the gospel to every creabetween knowing duty and doing it. ture." They must either be missionary Christians or they will soon be missing Christians. Tested What is the great thought of Christ with refer- by the words of Scripture, the Church is Christian ence to this great mass of people who know Him and Christ's so far, and so far alone, as it has [ 594 ] obeyed and is obeying the Lord's last and supreme salem never seemed to catch the world-wide mis- command. In this day too many feel they can sionary vision, never seemed to apprehend that obey whatever command of Christ it pleases them the Gospel is for everybody and everywhere. They to obey, and disobey whatever command of the wanted to keep their best workers at home, and, Master they do not choose to obey. so far as we know, never sent men or money to '
It is a historic fact that the Church has pros- evangelize the heathen. While it weakened and pered according as she has cooperated with God's declined, the Antioch church flourished like a plan to give the Gospel to every creature or has green bay tree until in the time of Chrysostom declined to do so. Individual churches and whole half of the city of more than 200,000 population denominations are examples of this. Weak was Christian. What was the difference? One churches with missionary zeal soon become strong fell in line with God's plans for the world-wide churches, whereas a strong church that is an- propagation of the Gospel and God blessed and tagonistic or apathetic toward missions, finally prospered and gave it mighty power. The other becomes a weak church. Nor is this strange, for did not fall in line with God's plans and he withwhat interest can Christ have in the declaration held his power and the church suffered and at last of a man or a church that they believe in Him disappeared.
as the Son of God and the universal Saviour, when There are other reasons that compel me to be they repudiate that confession by denial of that missionary minded. There is no place where one Saviour's mission to the race? Dr. James 1. Vance can invest his life where it counts for as much as has well said, "The church that ceases to be mis- in the mission field. Shortly before Dr. John E.
sionary can no longer be evangelistic; the church Williams met his death at the hands of a Chinese that ceases to be evangelistic can no longer be soldier at Nanking on March 24, 1927, he was evangelical; and the church that ceases to be asked by his wife, as they stood one evening look- evangelical may well doubt whether it is Chris- ing at the lights of Nanking University to which tian." Dr. Albert Schweitzer, of Germany, one of he had given so many years of missionary service, the great Christian philosophers of today, and now "Jack, if you had known all you know tonight, serving as a medical missionary in the heart of would you do it over again?" Quick was his an- Africa, says that our Western civilization is swer: "Yes, a hundred times over! Where else doomed without a dominantly unselfish world in- could I have invested my life in a way that would terest. How much more necessary is it that the have brought me such large returns?"
Church have such an unselfish world interest! Is it not the irresistible logic of the Christian Yea, verily, it is utterly impossible to separate conscience that we are bound to share what we Jesus Christ from this world-wide missionary in- have which we know to be universally good? The terest, and the church that tries to do so may well better it is the more we are bound to share it; write "Ichabod" over its door, for its days are and since Christ is infinitely the best we have, we numbered. are more bound to share Him than by any other The loss of its world vision will more quickly obligations in the world.
bring death to the church at home and obedience Paul felt this when he cried, "I am debtor both to our Lord's last command will vitalize and to Greeks and barbarians." Why? Paul felt he quicken her life. If the church of today would had something which the rest of the world needed have the power of God come mightily upon her, and must have for its redemption. What a chal- if she would know her Lord's intimate presence, lenging motive this should be for us! We have she must receive it in the pathway of larger obe- received more than millions upon millions of our dience to the missionary command of Christ. Cut- fellows. Therefore, according to the Christian ting down our missionary force, closing up fields, principle, we should give more. We are "debtors."
reducing our missionary work to a minimum to If we believe that in Christ alone is found the save expense, is no way to receive God's blessing. truth that satisfies the intellect, the power that re- Only as the Church makes heroic sacrifices to meet generates the life, and the hope that illumines the its missionary obligations, only as her member- future; if we believe that to men's need of Christ ship has something to sacrifice for, only as we there is no exception, and to His power to save give our best, can we expect the Christ of God to them there is no limit: if we believe that He is the walk with us in the way of blessing and pros- gift of the Father to all, that He died to make perity. atonement for the sins of all, that He has been The church at Antioch was an informed and lifted up to draw all men unto Him – then we obedient church. They fasted and prayed and must believe that our first duty is to give the sent forth the best they had, and as a result the knowledge of this Saviour to all mankind. Verily, church became one of the greatest churches of we are "debtors." Are we ready to pay our debts?
the centuries. The old mother church at Jeru- The Apostle Paul meant much the same thing
when he said, ~'We also believe, and therefore also and at last dying the martyr's death? He says it we speak." He who has convictions of any truth was the love of Christ that constrained him. important to others, is ever moved to make that What was it that drove David Livingstone through truth known. You can judge of the sincerity of a Central Africa again and again? What was it man's convictions by the ardor of his proclama- that kept John G. Paton in the South Seas when tion. In this there is nothing peculiar or arbi- the savages again and again tried their best to kill trary. The astronomer discovers a star, and him? What was it that impelled Adoniram Judstraightway desires to give his discovery to the son in his heroic sacrifices for Burma? What was world. The honorable medical man who discovers it that steadied Robert Morrison, during the long a sure prophylactic during the progress of an epi- years when China resisted like a rock? What was demic, would be insanely selfish if he did not pro- it that drove Dr. A. L. Shelton repeatedly to Tibet claim it. As soon as any conviction of important until he lost his life at the hands of a bandit? truth becomes central and vital, there must come Their abiding motive was the love of Christ which an immediate and irresistible desire to utter it; constrained them. Does it constrain us? Do we then sacrifice is gladness and service is joy. The love Him with a love that surpasses all human early Christian Church believed in the sinfulness of man's nature, in the atoning power of Christ's loves? sacrifice on the Cross, the regeneration of the soul Some years ago an American young woman was of man by the Holy Spirit and in the judgment to come, the issues whereof are eternal. Under the called to China. She was the only child of her pressure of these truths, the early Christians could father, precious to him beyond expression. After not but speak, for the truth was a fire in their a tremendous struggle with his own heart, that bones and neither dungeon nor stake could turn father gave up his daughter for China. On the them aside from their purpose. Neither austere night when she was bidding farewell to church climate nor violent opposition could restrain the and friends, the father was asked to say a few medireval missionaries who believed these same words. At first he could not speak; then he said: truths and they went forth to Hun and Goth and "Friends, you all know me, and you all know my Teuton. Because our forefathers in America and Susie, and you all know what she has been to me the early pioneers of our own church, believed all her life, the very light of my eyes, the joy of these fundamental doctrines of the Christian my heart. Jesus Christ wants my daughter in faith, they went forth with heroic sacrifice to China and she is going. All I can say about it is preach the Gospel in our western states and then this-I have nothing, nothing too precious for my on to China and Japan and other lands. Men may Lord." say that they were mistaken, but there is the fact -they believed, and therefore they also spoke. Have you? Have I? Have we anything in Can we do less than they; or are we doing Tess heart or life today that we cannot willingly, because we believe less? gladly, give up to win men to Christ? May God bring us all to that heaven on earth, where, look- But above all,_ there is driving power in the ing into His face, we can truly say, "I have nothlove of Christ. What was it that drove Paul from ing too precious for Jesus Christ, my Lord." the Eastern end of the Roman empire to the When all who profess His name can say that, Western, preaching and teaching and suffering there will be no more missionary debts, there will be no lack of volunteers; our missionary prob- lems will be solved.
A PRAYER FOR MISSIONARIES o Lord Jesus Christ, the desire of all nations, who didst come down from heaven to seek and to save the lost; grant Thy blessing, we beseech Thee, upon thy missionary servants who are carrying the light of Thy Gospel to the dark places of the earth. Preserve them from every danger to which they may be exposed; from perils by land and sea, from persecution and pestilence, from discouragement in their labors, and from the devices of the adversary. May they see thy work prospering in their hands; and do Thou hasten the time, 0 gracious Saviour, when the multitude of unbelievers shall be gathered into Thy fold, and when all in- every land who neglected Thy salvation shall be converted unto Thee. And to Thee, Lord Je- sus, be the praise, unto whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be an honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
of Converts from
I 1I)It- -sf Sent by STEPHEN o. KOOBYAR, Tabriz, Iran Il====~~ "I WAS formerly a very bigoted Moslem and that if Islam were true I should see the proof in had a reputation as a woman of religious my dreams, and if Bahaism or Christianity were zeal. I had made a thorough study of the true that I might see other evidence. It so hap- rules and ritual of Islam and spent my time day pened that my dream that night pointed to Chris- and night in keeping those things which I believed tianity and the next night the same thing took to be my duty, especially in fasting during the place. Still I was not convinced.
special month and daily prayer and almsgiving. "Later I went into a closet to change my clothes.
At the same time I continually implored God to It was dark and the feeling came over me that I save me. must fall down upon my knees and pray. I did "Nearly twenty years ago severe family trouble so, not being able to resist the power that impelled came upon our home, so that I had to flee and me. I poured my heart out in prayer and then found shelter with a widow who had formerly came a vision of Christ. It was as though I were worked with us as a servant. At this time one of drawn to Him by a power above my will to resist.
the American missionaries opened a small school From that moment there was not the slightest in our district, which was entirely Moslem, and doubt in my mind that the claims of Christ were became a teacher there. For the first time I found true. I told my mother and asked her to make and read the Old and New Testament. My condi- arrangements for me to study and be baptized.
tion was changed and finally the light dawned in She asked whether I were certain that Christ was my heart. I accepted Christ as my personal Sav- my one and only Saviour and my ground of hope iour. It was my need that first led me to Christ. for time and eternity. I replied fervently that I "After I was forced to leave my home I was had absolute assurance. Her beaming face showed most despondent and lived a life of gloom until I me that she was praising God. found Christ and this was changed to continual joy and happiness and assurance. Just as the "I began to study the New Testament with a sun is not appreciated until one has known the new spirit and, after a period of probation, I was darkness, so it took trial and trouble as a back- baptized. Christ has sustained me through all ground to make me appreciate the light of Jesus my trials and I know that He is the highest rev- Christ."-From a lady who has been a Christian elation of God. There are many great things in for fifteen years. Christianity, but the greatest is that Christ is able to change life and make a new person; all things *** become new in Him."-A young lady, twelve yearts a Christian. "Fourteen years ago there were six people in our family. My mother had become a Christian *** and the others were all Moslems. I was by far the most zealous of the whole family in the Mo- "This servant was born a little more than fifty hammedan faith and during the month of fasting years ago into a village family. My parents were godly people though neither of them was able to I would arise before daylight to prepare my own read or write. My father had made several pil- food as I would not eat during the day. At times grimages to the Shiah shrines of Islam. I was I argued with my mother to persuade her to re- especially beloved, as I was an only child. My turn to Islam. She did not ask me to become a parents were neither very rich nor very poor, but "Christian but urged me to read the New Testa- wanted to give me every possible advantage. ment. This made me even more fanatical. I went When I was six years old they placed me in the to the mosque and sat at the very foot of the pUlpit village school. when the mullah preached and joined in the prayers very earnestly. I had some very close "They wanted me to learn to read and write. friends who were Bahais (a reformed Moslem If they had a child who could read the blessed sect) and they urged me to attend their meetings Koran it would be a great act of merit for them in and presented the claims of their faith. I became this life, and they believed that the reading of the Koran after their death, would atone for their very unhappy and, being little more than a child, sins. From earliest childhood I had a desire for my mind was filled with superstition. I prayed religious things and my talents seemed to lie along [597 ]
this line. When I had passed the first grades in captured my attention and interest in spite of mythe village school, the teacher suggested to my self. I was miserable for a time, wondering parents that I was worthy of all the education they whether truly salvation were in Islam or Christ. could give me and asked them to send me to the Finally the words of Jesus came to me with specity school. I went there and did well in my les- cial force, 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are sons until I was considered worthy to study the heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' I found the higher branches of Islamic law and religion. I truth of this promise in my own life. I came to entered with zeal upon these studies. Him and found rest. From the day that I gave myself to Christ my troubles became less and my "After some time I heard that certain mullahs heart became joyful; my load became light, and and mujtahids were not true in their faith. I found myself making progress in joy that Christ Though they kept up the appearance of being true alone can give. I believed in the God who gave Moslems it was rumored that they did not be- His only begotten Son to be the atonement for the lieve the very things they taught and that their sins of the world, and in Christ who bore the lives were not in accord with their doctrine. I burden of our sins upon Himself and died upon went to a leading priest who was said to be a 'lib- the cross to ransom us, to save us from destruction eral' and asked him a number of questions. His and bring us salvation and life everlasting. answers only served to increase my doubts and I Among the race of men there is no other free from worried more and more about my faith in which sin who could save us from its guilt and power. I was supposed to be a teacher and leader. Salvation and forgiveness is found in Him alone. Christ took up His abode in my heart and I found "The thought came to me, 'How can it be that comfort in every trouble. He gave me salvation the most educated people of the world in Europe and freedom from the death of sin. and America, with all of their science and invention, can be mistaken about their religion?' My "So I give praise to God that He has led me out first contact with Christianity at this time was of the darkness into His eternal light and has prothrough a Christian priest. Later I met a mem- vided a Saviour who has made perfect atonement ber of the Evangelical church who received me as for my sins and those of the whole world."-A a real brother. Our hearts became knit together and I became his disciple. I learned from him of 1foung mother. my own sickness of sin and the remedy in Jesus Christ. From that time to the present every ad- THE TOUCH OF CHRIST TODAY vance in spiritual truth has shown me in more bold relief my own shortcomings. It is only in Among the hills of Galilee, Christ that I have found peace in my heart; He Through crowded city ways, has shown me my sin and need and also the atonement for sin through the sacrifice of His cross. The Christ of God went forth to heal And bless in olden days. "I should be happy at some time to set down in detail my experiences, that perchance this road The sinning and the sad of heart which I have traveled, from a priest of Islam to In anxious throngs were massed one who has surrendered all to Christ, might help some brother to find the Way."-A former Mo- To catch the great Physician's eye And touch Him as He passed. hammedan Mullah. We have not in our hours of need *** His seamless garment pressed, "I was born in a family which was not religious. Nor felt His tender human hand Even as a child I had yearnings for spiritual op- On us in blessing rest; portunities which I saw meant much in the lives of other people. When I was young my mother Yet still in crowded city streets died and my father placed me in the dormitory of The Christ goes forth again, the girls' school of the American Mission. Later my father died and I was left an orphan. Whenever touch of human hand Bespeaks goodwill to men. "In the school there was a Moslem girl who constantly kept asking me why I did not perform Whenever man his brother man the stated prayers and read the Koran and keep Upholds in helplessness; the fasts. I had never learned to do these things as I had not come from a f3mily that paid much Whenever strong and tender clasp attention to religion. We had Bible lessons in the A lonely heart doth bless, school, and this girl and I read these merely because we must, but we did not pay attention. As The Christ of God is answering time went on certain things in the New Testament A stricken world's demands And leading back a wandering race By touch of human hands.
New and Old in Moslem
ByA. T. UPSON, Rayleigh, England I !ie– I Author of "High Lights"; Former Secretary of the Nile Mission Press I D URING the thirty-seven happy strenuous as that?" Yes; but look at their surroundings in years spent among the Moslems of the Near which they have been reared. Most of the villages East, there were many signs that "The old there have two water-holes, one for humans, and order changeth, yielding place to new." During the other for cattle which they befoul as beasts the last few years, the pace has quickened and will do! But the village referred to has only one tendencies are now more clearly seen. water-hole for cattle and men!! Is it any wonder In recent years certain things have passed away. that typhoid fever is rampant there? Is there any We have great sympathy with the Eastern demand worse sanitary condition in any part of the world?
to abolish "Foreign Privileges." But as the East Yet the local people say that they absolutely refuse grows more nationalistic, what will be the fate of to come under the rule of Damascus, some eighty such encouraging meetings as one held in Iraq, miles off!
when about fifty men listened to an address on Opportunities Remain: The Nile Mission Press "Christ, the Ransomer by His Blood"? What colportage car still goes to the south of Algeria, would have been the fate of my oldest colporteur, and Miss Grautoff, of the Algiers Mission Band, Yaqub? * What would have happened to the seven still goes to an oasis 380 miles to the south to do converts from Islam in those days? Ere a dozen "men's work." The colporteurs in Egypt are still years are past, we shall be discussing "The Pass- plodding on. And in spite of the nationalism of ing of the Foreign Missionary" from all Moslem Iraq and Iran there is more receptivity among the lands. What a call to us to "Work while it is Shiah Moslems than in some lands.
called 'Today.' " Further, some new opportunities seem to be de- But Islam remains; in fact, is more active than veloping. For instance, the German Carmel Mis- sions hold an annual conference for Arab priests ever. In Egypt Islamic broadcasts are made, by of the Greek Church. For several years a wellradio, twice daily. For the first time, they have known Moslem convert has been greatly used of legalized preaching in the open-air, i. e., in the God there. squares of Cairo. But on what subject? The claims of Christ? Certainly not; Islam, and Faithful witnessing remains. Not only is it Islam only, is to be preached. Does one wonder true that "When God buries His workers He carthat the annual drift from the Coptic Church to ries on His work" but also, when political condi- Islam, which was 1,000 a year in my day, is now tions render it unwise for the foreigner to remain 1,500 a year? in a country God carries on His work. How? He has His 7,000 that "have not bowed the knee to Bigotry and Persecution Remain: The expulsion Baal." One still tours Lebanon and North Syria, of Dr. Liley from Tripoli, Barbary, and the half- and most Moslems know that he is a convert from dozen workers from Abyssinia are fresh in our Islam. There are other Moslem converts holding minds-perhaps because the victims were Euro- meetings in Egypt. peans. But what of the native believers in Morocco and other lands? Even in England, an over- A very remarkable testimony was, unwillingly, seas student refused recently to accept a copy of perhaps unconsciously, borne by a Moslem conthe New Testament because of persecution. vert, a former friend of mine. On leaving the Protestants, through marrying a Roman Catholic, Disease and Sin Remain: For the first time in and drifting into unbelief, he still watched us. In thirty-seven years' service, I was recently pelted 1931, when I went to Jerusalem, he wrote a fourwith clods of dirt in a Syrian village. I was not page article warning the people against me, and hurt, though hit with dust and earth about seven saying, "The reason this man (Abdul-Fady) is times, yet it was an uncomfortable experience. dangerous is that he belongs to a group of people The reader may ask, "Are they still as backward • His striking story is told in Mr. lipson's book. "High Lights in who never know when they are defeated, but just fight. on !" the Near East," 2/G )1. M. & S. London; $1.00 Zondervan, Grand Rapids, :lIich.
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~;~~~~~"'=="""'~==~==~11
Effective Ways of Working i 'fested Methods far Increasing Interest at Home I I s. EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~=~====================~==-, Missions and World Peace readily available. For older The Far Eastern Crisis, by Henry Thus far only incidental ref- groups, for the wee~ly pra;v:er L. Stimson. Harper Brothers, $3.75. erence has been made in this Department to the third mission meeting, contests, ralbes, specIal A Place in the Sun, by Grover study theme for the current year -World Peace; but its great emphasis programs, contests, de- Clark. Macmillan Co., $2.~0. . importance needs no added em- We or They, by HamIlton FISh phasis in the .setti~g of the present world sItuatIOn; nor can bb aetset s~faadldl,r epsasneesl and, probably Armstrong. Macmillan, $1.50. any argument fo~ its fundam~n discussions in tal connection wIth the foreIgn Vital Peace, by Henry Wickham missionary enterprise be required when we consider the which a group seated on the Steed. Macmillan, $2.75. devas:tated properties and im- On the Rim of the Abyss, by James paired personnel in many. evan- rostrum converse informally gelical missions which It has T. Shotwell. Macmillan, $3.00. taken centuries to build up. after an opening lead by a chair- And We Are Civilized, by Wolf- Practically every denomination which has sent its new mission- mdiascn~sasinodn,, avoiding pro and con gang Ackerman Covici Frie?e, $2.50. ary literature to the Dep~rtment exploit various sides War-drawings and etchmgs, by Editor for inspection maJors the theme. Earnest preparation has of a subject previously well pre- Kerry Eby. Yale University Press, been made to implement the purposes and sentim~nts of ~he pared upon, in conyersational $2.V50ic. tories of Peace, by GI·11 and Christian Church m Ame~ICa. Pullen. Friendship Press, $1.00 and As the birthday of the Prmce style, the audience bemg all~w~d of Peace draws near, the time is 50¢W. orld Peace and Chns.t.H~n M.1~- particularly opportune to stress to participate after the tOPIC IS sions, by H. E. Fey. FrIendshIp the plans and literature. A few sample programs, alone, in our well opened-through an these Press, 35¢. pages would be quite inadequate to the need. Every church means inclusive of pastoral ser- Educating for Peace, by E. M. and should approach the considera- J. L. Lobengier. Pilgrim Press, $1.50. tion of the subject with broad, emnoends~npdulirnpeoss·eosf may be awakdeep preparation and plans laid activity mapped America Must Act, by F. B. Sayre, for a coordinated effort among Asst. Secretary of State. World all departments of activity, f~om out to make the world peace- Peace Foundation, 75¢. primary department of the BI?le school all the way through semor minded. Community rallies and Highways to International Good and adult organizations and in- Will, by Walter W. Van Kirk. Abingclusive of the pulpit. contests in speaking or essay don Press, 50¢.
For younger children we have writing are inva,luable and lend What Can Christians Do for already referred to "Ship East, Peace? by T. A. Green (syllab1!s ~or Ship West," by E. M. Lobengier themselves particularly to an en- church discussion groups). PIlgrim (Friendship Press, N. Y., or Press, 25¢. your own denominational litera- deavor whose motif must be ture bureau; $1.00 and 50c) , giving the choicest of stories and Christian Brotherhood and its facts on world peace; leaders among junior groups may wen method cooperative. For adults Write to the Foreign Policy Asmake this a starting point, following wit h other material a very effective plan is the circu- fsoorciatoitohn~r8 West 40th St., New York, special pamphlets. The lation of standard books on the subject, a regular church library Women's International League for being a worth-while investment Peace and Freedom, 1924 Chestnut of the Lord's money. It is a St., Philadelphia, Pa., and Th~ Na- cheap move to pass the responsi- tional League for the PreventlO~ of tWona,r' D5.32C1., 7 tahlsSo t . ,h aNv.e.W.th.,~,Wgarseha~mesgt- bility for the outlawing of war onto munitions makers, "capital- profusion of "ammullltlOn agamst ists" and that ambiguous group war, much of which the Editor has called "the moneyed interests." used or inspected and found well They have their part in the con- adapted to its purpose.
tinuation of the war game; but Your own publisher will doubtless be glad to order any they are at most only a symptom of the foregoing books for you.
of a much deeper malady in the heart of humanity-self-seek- PICTURES, STORIES, PLANS ienrhg~opdr.idTe haendfotlhloewliancgk of broth- Friends in Everyland-12 pictures listing of with story on back of each, 25¢.. available material is only p&.r- Never Again-group o~ elg~t tial but will at least pave the Everyland stories of world frlendsh.Ip way to a larger ~onsi<;lera~ion of and peace–printed and bound smt- the subject WhICh lIes m the ably for any library. 50¢ per copy.
very heart of Christ's mission: Suitable for gift book. .
Friends of All the W orId Series: Book 1~f for children eight or nine BOOKS years age, Children of Other oLfanadg~s, 85¢. Book 2, 10 to 11 years Why We Went to War, by Newton The Way of Friendship, 85¢. D. Baker. Harper Brothers, $1.50.
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EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Book 3, 13 years of age, Heroes of at the church (or otherwise) tion of women of Islam. The Friendship, 85¢. and invite the men to attend. 16mm. film rents for $1.25 and Make it "strong meat," not the 35mm. for $2.00. Friendship Paper Dolls-Four dolls wishy-washy sentiment such as eight inches high, like real children of does not appeal to "the breth- "Padre Sahib"-a new study Korea, China, Japan, India. Change ren." of the Moslem world, produced of costume for each doll, in three by William L. Rogers and wife, colors. 25¢. If you value the well-being of with advisory service from the your own children and those of Motion Picture Committee of Order foregoing from Women's Mis- others; if you would make our the Missionary Education Movesionary Society, United Lutheran country a shining example of ment (4 reels, 16mm., silent) is Church in America, 723 Muhlenberg the effort to live the peace a story of everyday missionary Building, Philadelphia, Pa. teachings of Jesus ChriJst; if life in northern India. It offers you would remove the greatest vivid insight into the problems Graded Foreign Mission Stories present obstacle to the pr.ogress and needs of all Christian mison Missions and W orId Peace. Bap- of foreign missions, do some- sionaries. The action of this tist Board of Education, 152 Madison thing at your earliest opportu- picture centers in a typical com.. Ave., New York, 15¢. nity and follow it up with more munity of Moslem Indians. A education and more practical Moslem woman rebels when her A Junior Teacher's Guide on proje,cts. husband brings home a new W orId Peace-projects and program wife, taking her small daughter, activities. Friendship Press, 25¢. Missions in Moving Pictures Zebada, whose eyes had been healed by the doctor. She seeks Children from Many Lands-post- The H arm 0 n Foundation refuge with the missionaries. ers of children of 10 countries with (with which the Religious Mo- Later action of the ,picture is appropriate verse for each. National tion Picture Foundation was concerned with the efforts of Council for Prevention of War (ad- merged) has among its declared Zebada's father to force the dress given above), $1.00. purposes: "To produce socially marriage with Karam Bege, to valuable motion pictures for whom he had betrothed her in Graphs, Program Materials, Illus- educational and church use" and return for 500 rupees. The trated Booklets and Discussion Mate- "to serve as a clearinghouse for action of this picture gives an, rial. Foreign Policy Association, 8 information on the most effec- opportunity to develop the daily W. 40th St., New York. Headline tive use of motion pictures and activities of the Christian misbooks, 25¢ each; program materials, other visual aids in church, edu- sionaries in this atmosphere. 15¢ each. cational and related fields." Its Rental, $4.00. Order all films, catalogue ~hows a most compre- as well as complete catalogue, Posters on World Peace–"The hensive library of silent films- from The Division of Visual Ex- Better Way," 24 x 36 inches; "Se- educational, dramatic, mission- periment, Harmon Foundation, curity Through Federation," 18 x 12 ary, on religion and life, life 140 Nassau St., New York. All inches. World Peaceways, 103 Park situations, social and economic the new films may be purchased Ave., New York, 5¢. studies, the arts, etc. The very in copy by church boards for use large list on "The World and Its in churches of their own de- American Posters on World Peace, Peoples" and "The Church in nomination, prices to be quoted five titles, size, 12 x 12 inches. Amer- Action" co ve r s missionary on request. ican Friends Service Committee, 20 themes. Those which the De- S. 12th St., Philadelphia, 10¢ each. partment Editor has used in Helpful New Literature s.chools of missions proved ex- English Posters on WorId Peace- cellent. They are usually made The Woman's Missionary Soover 30 titles, size, 22 x 30 inches in cooperation with missionary ciety of the Evangelical and Re- (imported by Friends Service Com- authorities, and each year lead- formed Church, 416 Schaff mittee) ; sets of 13, $1.50; each ers on the current foreign study Building, 1505 Race St., Philaposter, 15¢. themes are brought out. As delphia, Pa., has recently sent mentioned previously in this de- for inspection some leaflets and How Shape the Future for Peace? partment, "Islam in Egypt" fits pamphlets which will be helpful -excellent program analysis and the study of Mohammedans. It in any denomination. plan on page 13 of How Can We depicts the mysticism and Shape the Future?-a discussion learning of Mohammedanism in A stewardship packet containcourse for young people by Margaret Egypt, the intense loyalty of its ing a variety of leaflets: Holley Tuck, based on Basil Mathews' followers, its strong customs Shaping the Future. and laws of life. Exteriors and "What's in a Chance?" (leaflet interiors of various mosques are against gambling), 4¢. That's a Dream-similar plan and shown, the call to prayer is outline, page 10 of We Can Change given and "the faithful" shown "Alcohol Advertising Appraised," the World, for Women's Societies responding. The freedom of girls 4¢. and Senior World-wide Guilds, based in an Egyptian school is conon Mathews' Shaping the Future. trasted with the degraded posi- "What Price Repeal?" 5¢. "There Lies the Way," containing Both the foregoing to be ordered instructions for anti-war instructions from the Baptist Board of Education. for children, 6¢. These four Christian Citizenship PAGEANTS AND DRAMATIC leaflets sell as a packet at 15¢.
SKETCHES A Peace Program for Juniors, by Jane Gilbert. Baptist Board of Education, 5¢ each, or three for 10¢.
Send to The National Council for the Prevention of War (address already given) for a long, very complete list of pageants and plays on Peace, for children, young folks and adults. Write your own literature headquarters for many others we cannot list here.
It is suggested that each woman's society should prepare an especially worthful program inclusive of a convincing pageant, if possible; have a supper
"The Rainbow Pageant," a thank- grounds have few real contacts. When they arrived, we found offering service, 15¢. Our series of Public Nationality they had packed their car with Nights, intended to promote a treasures of silk, china, wool "For Such a Time as This," pag- world point of view, started embroideries, pottery, etc., for eant presenting the United Christian when we suddenly realized that which they had combed their Adult Movement, 10¢. though our denomination works congregations. We spread out among Hungarians in New York their beautiful things alongside "The Call of the Hills," play pre- and New Jersey, we knew noth- the collection from New York senting scene in mountain ca0in ing about them-actually less (which we had insured for one (mistakenly accredited in a former than of the Arabians and East day for $200). issue to the Lutherans), 5¢. Indians whom it serves far away. So we set about prepar- About 150 attended our Hun- Woman's Missionary Society ing a Hungarian evening. garian evening on a snowy of the Evangelical Church, Third night. The program came first, and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa.: The Hungarian-American So- interspersed with readings and ciety, Radio Center, New York musical numbers, then our pas- "Men Discuss Missions," a heart- City, arranged to let us have a tor introduced the brother searching demonstration to be staged valuable display of embroideries clergymen, who brought greetby the best men of the church, 5¢. and other handwork. A leaflet ings from their churches. As a from them gave material for a thrilling close, all stood while "Leaven on Noisy Creek," a dia- brief reading on "The Hun- the little orchestra played the logue by two mountain women, 5¢. garian Love of Art." Etude, Hungarian anthem. Oct., 1930, and a bibliography Dramatic plan for Mother-Daughter from the Foreign Language In- Opportunity was given to view 1lanquet, 3¢. formation Service, 222 Fourth the remarkable exhibit of hand- Ave., New York, listing Na- work and to talk to the visitors. Story leaflet, "When the Prince of tional Geographies with articles So on 15-cent admission and 5- Peace Won," 3¢. on Hungary, provided data for cent cafeteria refreshments we another article on "The Hun- made friends and cultivated "Going Farther with the Master," garian Love of Music." Our friendly attitudes, and took in an excellent devotional series of 12 church board sent material for over $20.00; for, passing along leaflets, 15¢ per set. a third short paper on "Our the tables displaying the art Church and the Hungarians." works, one came naturally to a "They Also Wait," a mountain long table filled with cake, sandsketch in two acts and with 10 char- Local resources were used wiches and coffee and a cashier acters, 12¢. next. Two of our melPbers had at the end.-FLORENCE GORDON, their piano teacher give them Weehawken, N. J. "A Mountain Woman's Fight for Hungarian duets. An organiza- Life," a missionary pantomime, 15¢. tion of church singers, invited ("An Evening in Japan," by to prepare two numbers, chose "Suggestions for Creating Atmos- Lis z t 's "Liebestraum" and this same writer, will appear in phere in Program on Southern Brahms' "Around the Gypsies' an early issue.) Mountains": in Japan, in China, in Campfire." A young woman of Nigeria, West Africa, and among Hungarian descent agreed to How MISSIONARY INTEREST Italians in America, 5¢ each. teach the girls the national folk . BEGINS dance, the czardas, and a lovely The Baptist Board of Mission- folk song, "The Old Gypsies" One of the greatest givers of ary Education, 152 Madison (Marks Music Co., 225 W. 46th our generation was asked how it Ave., New York, has brought St., New York, victrola record happened that he made such out the following excellent pro- 20749, Arten Cigany). She sang large gifts to missions. "It grams and study outlines for the last verse in Hungarian. She didn't hap pen," he replied. adult and young people's< groups: also danced the czardas with the "When I was a boy my mother girls, wearing her picturesque taught me to give a part of every "The Way of a Witness," a Project costume in red and green, the dime and every dollar. The only Course in Personal Evangelism, by Hungarian colors. A local music thing that has happened is that Margaret Holley Tuck, based on "The school taught a small orchestra I have more dimes and more dol- Way of the Witnesses," 25¢. of its students a Brahms dance lars now!" and the national anthem. "How Can We Shape the Future?" Katherine Scherer C ron k -a Discussion Course, by Margaret Letters explaining the plan said: "We might say to the hosts Holley Tuck, based on "Shaping the were sent to the two Reformed of church members who are in- Future," 25¢. Hungarian pastors in another different to missions, 'How did county, with a request for infor- it happen that you took no in- "The Future of Missions," a Proj- mation about their congrega- terest in missionary work?' ·'It ect Course in World Evangelism, by tions. They offered to come per- didn't happen,' they might truth- Margaret Holley Tuck, based on sonally, bringing art objects fully reply. 'When we were chil- "Missions Tomorrow," 25¢. from the homes of their people. dren there was no missionary training in our Sunday school "We Can Change the World," five and no missionary society in our programs by Anna Canada Swain, church.' " based on "Shaping the Future," 15¢.
"Six Programs," by Dorothy A. Stevens, based on "Rebuilding Rural America," 15¢.
The following are for 'teen age young people: "Seein' Things," by Mabel A. Silke, 25¢.
"Hills and Veils," by Irene A. Jones and Mae Deal Shane, based on "Highland Heritage" and "The Young Moslem Looks at Life," 25¢.
Nationality Nights A HOME-FoREIGN PROJECT We live across the Hudson from cosmopolitan New York, in a polyglot community, but those of different national back- The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~,~~====~~~~~~~~~~====~=~~ Peace in Our Time militant nations in utter disre- zations participate,and the Na- gard of their commitments tional Peace Conference which God of the nations, near and far, through treaties and peace pacts, includes more than forty peace Ruler of all mankind, and at a time when the United societies and organizations with States is feeling its way toward departments of international re- Bless Thou Thy people as they strive a renewed sense of its responsi- lations, such as the Federal The paths of peace to find. bility to share in the world effort Council of Churches and the to prevent war as the only sure women's interdenominational The clash of arms still shades the sky, way to permanent peace, it is agencies. Thus a certain unity King battles still with king – well to remember that there are has been given to the peace organizations and groups of movement and a great force has Wild through the frighted air of night people who are actively engaged been created which should ul- The bloody tocsins ring. in building the peace movement timately, in spite of discourage- in this country and in trying ments and set-backs, lead the o Father! from the curse of war to find a way to banish war from people of our nation towards the the earth. goal of a warless world. We pray Thee give release, And speed, 0 speed the blessed day The churches are taking an in- New Materials for Peace Education Of justice, love and peace. creasingly active part in this 1. Marathon Round Tables -Presbyterian Hymnal. movement, condemning war as 1937-1938.
Compassionate Father, whose sin and utterly futile as a means The National Committee on eyes are in every place and the Cause and Cure of War has whose heart is burdened with to settle international disputes. prepared the following courses the sin and suffering of Thy chil- for use by those who wish to pardren, while we go forth in safety The organized women of the ticipate in Marathon Round and comfort to our work, we re- Table Discussion Groups: member our brethren in lands churches are also working for where war is bringing anguish Plan A-"United States and and poverty and pain and death. peace in ever increasing num- the World." God of justice, deal sternly with them who have drawn the sword, bers, and are making their in- This is the basic course for those and bring home the guilt and who wish to study world peace mafolly of violence. God of pity, fluence felt in their communities. chinery and the relation of American look in mercy on the helpless foreign policy to such world organivictims of strife and on them Believing war to be destructive zations. who are made to slay those against whom they have nothing. of all those forces which make Individual kits $.75. Make sensitive our consciences to Group kits $2.50. know ourselves involved in and for human brotherhood, and the responsible for a world where Plan B-"Adequate National greed of gain and lust for power bringing in of the Kingdom of Defense-What is it?" move us and our brothers in every land. By the shame and God, they are working to create This course considers national demisery of strife, lead us to re- fense in terms of moral, political, milipentance. By the persuasions of a public opinion opposed to war, tary and economic armaments, and the cross draw all men to the is linked up with the Campaign for more excellent way of love, and and in favor of peaceful methods World Economic Cooperation of the lead the nations in paths of National Peace Conference through righteousness for His name's to effect needful changes in in- the use of the Headline Book of the sake, who is the Prince of Peace. Foreign Policy Association "Peace- ternational relations. . ful Change-An Alternative to War," -Henry Sloane Coffin in which is the basic book for that cam- the Presbyterian Tribune. Church women find their place paign. Through the use of these in the peace movement through Marathon materials church groups Church Women in the Peace their connection with the Council will be cooperating not only with the Movement of Women for Home Missions, National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, but with the Na- In these days of "undeclared the Woman's Committee of the tional Peace Conference' Campaign wars" and acts of aggression by Foreign Missions Conference, and the National Council of Fed- erated Church Women, all of which have departments, or com- mittees of international rela- tions, and through these repre- sent church women in certain of the national peace organizations. Most important among these are the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War in which eleven women's national organi- [ 603 ] for World Economic Cooperation, and State, to acquaint church people people throughout Europe and it is hoped that great many of these Marathon Round Tables will be with the struggle through which Asia who are working together formed this year by churches, clubs, and community peace groups. their brothers are passing and for peace. The World Alliance its relation to international re- for International Friendship Individual kit '$1.00. lations. Price 40 cents, Foreign through the Churches is a mem- Group kit $3.50. Policy Association, 8 West 40th ber of the American Committee Write for further information Street, New York. and the Council of Women for to the Council of Women for The International Peace Home Missions has also signi- Home Missions, or to the Na- fied its intention of joining in Campaign tional Committee on the Cause this movement believing that the and Cure of War, 70 East 45th In the year that has inter- work for peace should be world- Street, New York City. vened since the Brussels Con- wide and that there is strength in uniting with the people of 2. "Peace in These Times," is gress when the International the title of a series of four pro- Peace Campaign was organized, other nations in this great cause. grams of worship and discus- many of the countries of the sion on the causes of war and From time to time the women the way to peace published by world have, through their peace of the churches will hear of the the Presbyterian Board of Chris- organizations, joined in this work of the International Peace tian Education, Philadelphia, movement, and today there is Pa. The four programs, "Jesus, a t r u I y international peace Campaign and those who are in- Christians and War" ; "The movement, which through Peace terested in keeping in touch with Way to Peace"; "Nationalism VB. rallies, National Peace Con- it may subscribe to the bulletin Patriotism" ; and "What Can gresses, and public meetings of sent from Geneva every few Christians Do?" are intended to many kinds, is trying to bring weeks to tell of the work being arouse church people to a will to peace and a determination to pressure upon governments in done in all the countries where work for peace, and may be used the International Peace Camas the basis for group discussion, favor of peace; believing that if paign is functioning. Write to or as four consecutive programs the people of the world unite for meetings of church groups, for peace no ~overnment will the International Peace Cammen or women. They are espe- dare to lead a nation into war. paign, Palais Wilson, Geneva, cially good for a Woman's Mis- Switzerland. The subscription sionary Society. Price 25 cents. Weakened by the absence of the rate is three Swiss francs. peace societies of Italy and Ger- 3. Another new set of pro- many, the people of the other At this Christmas season there is fighting and death by violence countries of Europe where the in China, Spain, Ethiopia and International Peace Campaign is strongest, are nevertheless work- perhaps other places, and men of goodwill seem powerless to grams is that published by the ing together for peace by col- stem the tide of hate and selfish- Council of Social Action, 289 lective action ana are a mighty ness which lead to war. Yet Fourth Avenue, New York City, force in building public opinion millions of men and women hate under the title "World Peace." in their respective nations. The war and are working for peace, This is a packet containing a churches have a leading part in and have faith enough to bestudy outline, a Worship Service, this movement, bringing the in- lieve that eventually goodwill pamphlets and reprints, among fluence of the Church to bear up- will triumph and international these being "Five Sectors .of the on this problem. justice put to an end some of Peace Movement" by Fosdick, In the United S tat e san the "sore spots" which lead to an article on "Neutrality or Col- American Committee to cooper- war. lective Security" and one on ate with the International Peace The women of the churches in local Peace Councils. T his Campaign has been formed. This missionary societies and in other packet is arranged for church Committee consists of those or- church organizations, believing groups, men or women. Price, ganizations which favor inter- as they do in human brotherhood 25 cents, plus postage. national cooperation to prevent and in goodwill between men and 4. Of special i n t ere s t to war and believe that the United women of all nations, all of church members is one of the States should participate in such whom are equally children of headline books of the Foreign international efforts within the God, the Father, gladly share in PolicyAssociation called "Church limits of its commitments under this work for peace with their and State" with the Study the Kellogg Pact, and that the brothers and sisters in other Course which accompanies it. four principles adopted as the lands, and pray with them for For those who are concerned program for the International the realization on earth of the wit h the situation i nth e Peace Campaign must be inter- Christmas message: "On Earth churches of Europe in such preted in the United States in Peace, Goodwill to Men." . -Elinor K. Purves.* countries as Germany, Italy, the light of our national policies.
Spain, and Russia, this study has The American Committe is plan- • This Bulletin has heen prepared by Mlsb Elinor K. Purves, Chairman, Cooperating great value. It is written in col- ning to enter into such activities laboration with some of the as may fit into the American Committee on International Relations for the leaders at the Oxford Confer- peace program and thus to join Committee on Women's Work of the Foreign Missions Conference, the National Council ence on Church, Community and hands with the thousands of of Federated Church Women, and the Council of Women for Home Missious.
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L= = =O= u-= 1=E=:;=~=·s =:~=:=~=R;=.:=~=d=~ =:=st;w=: =e=~ =of=G~=~=~=,?=x~=~=;~=:=o~=}=~O=ts=o=k= = = I~ EUROPE the Roman Catholics, 10 per Bible Society is gIvmg aid to- cent, out of a population of about wards the translation, printing Bible Reading in France 1,000,000. and circulation of the transla- tion. A hymn book in the ver- The Societe Centrale Evan- Protestant w 0 r k is repre- nacular is also being compiled. gelique reports 17,527 Protes- sented by a small Evangelical mission at Kortcha. Its particu- -The Christian. ro tants in its various preaching lar work of preaching, Sunday schools, circulation of the Scrip- AFRICA centers, a 15 increase over tures and religious literature en- 1935. joys the benevolent regard of Southern nlorocco the authorities. The mission, It is interesting to note that however, has no legal status. Someone has said that to offer when M. Chasles, a Roman Cath- Albania recognizes that national the Gospel to a Mohammedan is olic, an archivist and well-known stability and progress is best as- "to ask the proudest man in the scholar, paid a chance visit to a sured by granting wide liberty world to accept something he small Protestant chapel in Paris, for religious instruction and hates from someone he dehe gained such an interest in the helpful spiritual influence to spises." In the face of such op- Bible that he wrote a book, The youth. The immediate strength- position as this, workers in the Bible for Catholics, which has ening of evangelical work is now Southern Morocco Mission have had a wide circulation. He has possible, if the men and the proclaimed the Gospel for fifty also been lecturing at the Sar- means are available. years. bonne on the Bible, and earnestly recommends the reading of -World D.ominion Press. Morocco – 0 n I y three-and-a the Bible to his large audiences. half days' journey from England "Remnants" in Eastern Europe -used to be a Christian land, The Bible in Germany but is now in the firm grip of Protestants have a constant Islam. It is peopled by those The conflict between Chris- struggle to maintain Evangeli- who pride themselves that their tianity and Nazism goes on, with cal work against the fanatical religion wiped out Christianity. more church leaders arrested foes of all religion on the one An encouraging sign of progress from time to time. For over six hand, and unfriendly govern- today is the eagerness of the months in 1936 the colportage ments on the other. Lutheran children to. learn to read and of all religious literature, includ- and Reformed are minority write. The wo.rk of the missio.n ing Bibles, was forbidden, the groups, in some countries "rem- centers in boys' classes, a book secret police giving as the reason nants," often desperately poor; shop and preaching in Moroccan that communLsts, under cover of but they are not only holding market places. selling religious books, were dis- their own, they are winning contributing their propagandist ma- verts by thousands, notably in -Life of Faith. terial. Only in parts of the coun- the Ukraine (Southern Poland), try where the prohibition was Austria and Czechoslovakia. A Step Toward Temperance not strictly enforced were col- Most of the people are simpleporters able to continue more or hearted, unlettered land work- In South Africa a British less their usual activities. Yet ers, scattered thinly over the Commission has ordered that in spite of this, and the growing country. 202 of the 220 saloons be closed propaganda against the Bible in in Mcordance with the Liquor the press, the total number of The greatest need is for com- Act of 1928, a measure which copies circulated by the British petent leadership. The Central provided that after ten years the and Foreign Bible Society col- European Bur e a u of Inter- licenses of no saloons were to be porters, was considerably higher Church Aid, an <ecumenical com- renewed unless they had been than in the previous year. mittee of which Dr. Adolph Kel- converted into restaurants or -W.orld Dominion Movement. ler, of Geneva, is secretary, is hotels. Few have been so con- doing much to organize the con- verted. Unfortunately, the legis- Opportunity in Albania verts and provide such leader- lation allows them to continue as ship. A prime need is to provide wine and malt houses. Never- In Albania Moslems consti- a Bible in the Ukraine vernacu- theless, the closing of such places tute 70 per cent of the people; lar and the British and Foreign to the sale of whiskey and next come the Orthodox, num- brandy is regarded as a step tobering 20 per cent, and lastly [605 )
ward temperance. Church and gathered to watch something.en- Christians there; they were all social organizations are hailing tirely foreign to them-the BISh- outside, having given up their the move with satisfaction. op laying the cornerstone. The places in the chapel to t~eir ground plan of the church was friends, so that the latter mIght -Alliance Weekly and Chris- drawn with the help of a Nuba hear the words of life. Already, tian Advocate. Sheikh, whose workmen dug the more than 20,000 have signified foundation. In the evening, aft- their wish to become Christians. Sunday Schools in South Africa er the laying of the cornstone, The next problem is to train a mud wall had been built, about them in Christian living. More than half the total in- two feet high. The walls grew crease in the membership of the daily; they were molded in red Spanish Guinea Is Quiet world's Sunday schools has been mud one day, the workers patin Africa. In the Union of South ting the mud gently with stones Moorish troops have gone AEufrroicpa~anse,sptehceiaSlluyndaamy osnchgootlhies to prevent cracks. When the from Spanish Guinea, since a live and progressive institu- walls were finished a special pol~ there is nobody left to kill! Comtion. This is one of the reasons ish consisting of a thin layer of munication with Spain has been why South Africa has been mu'd rubbed with a wild nut, reopened; Spanish steamers chosen for the next World's Sun- was applied. come and go, but business is day School Convention. practically at a standstill. . "Meantime, arches for the The Wayside Sunday school roof were being made. Some The attitude of the authOrIhas grown tremendously during brought grass for thatching; ties to the Evangelical missionthe past two years, and reaches others long poles on which to aries is favorable. There is no thousands of children who would rest the arches, and still others official frowning upon the 35 otherwise be outside the influ- made palm leaf ropes to tie the catechetical schools, as the Govence of the Church. It is esti- roof. The old men hacked long ernment thinks that results simmated there are 2,250,000 chil- tree trunks into seats, these to ilar to those in the Cameroun, dren in South Africa who do not rest on mud pillars a foot high. where missions have produced attend Sunday school, largely Ninety people can be seated." thousands of literates, will be because of the distance to the The church was dedicated with desirable in Spanish Guinea. nearest church. these words: The centenary of the Mission -South African Outl.ook. "We here dedicate to the glory of Evangelica de Guinea Espanola God this building, to be called 'The is being celebrated by a joint Italy Controls Ethiopian Church of Christ, the Good Shep- campaign of the mission and the Church herd,' to the extension of His King- Native Church to win 15,000 na- dom to be the place where the Sacra- tives to Christ. Three months The Italians have announced ments are administered, and to be the were spent in preparation and that the Coptic Christian Church House of Prayer for all the peoples of prayer. During the succeeding of Ethiopia i.s no longer under these hills, in the Name of the Father, three months 11,000 men and the control of the Coptic Patri- and of the Son, and of the Holy women turned to Christ. Nine archy at Alexandria, Egypt. Ghost." new communities have been sup- plied with evangelists in the past Corrado Zoli, former gover- -C. M. S. Outl.ook. two months, who are fully supnor of Eritrea, announced that ported by the native church. bishops of key cities of Ethiopia, A Worthy Centennial Goal such as Addis Ababa and Ak- -World Dominion Press. sum, will either be named by the African Christians in the Coptic Church of Ethiopia and Cameroun are out to win 15,000 Self-Support in Africa confirmed by the Italian Govern- new believers as their contribument, or be named directly by tion to the centennial observance There is a steady movement the Government. The announce- of the Presbyterian Board. In toward self-support in the Afriment further stated that it is some of the village chapels, can churches. The Methodist possible that the right to crown writes Dr. W. C. Johnston, sec- Church of South Africa is now the Emperor of Ethiopia will be retary of the Mission, the Chris- independent, so also is the Bapgiven to the Roman Catho~ic tians have given up the long an- tist Church. The Bantu Pres- Apostolic delegate to Add 1.s ticipated privilege of hearing byterian Church is moving in the Ababa instead of the Coptic visiting evangelists and mission- same direction. Last year the Bishops of Addis Ababa and Ak- aries and sit outside after bring- Dutch Reformed Church consum. ing their non-Christian friends tributed over £96,000 for mis- to the gathering. At the close sions, and its mission churches -The Living Church. of one meeting, the missionary and native Christians raised asked Christians to leave,- so £20,000 and £2,375 respectively. First Nuba Mountain Church that he could talk further spe- It is making every effort toward cially to the non-Christians. No reviving family worship. Illit- Pioneer Christians i nth e one moved. He repeated his re- eracy is the outstanding hin- Nuba mountains have completed quest, urging the Christians to drance to Christian work. their first church building. withdraw. Then someone ex- plained that there were no -World DominIon Movement. "A group of interested Nubas
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Sunday School Convention- lend a hand to. uplift their peD- in the CDurse Df the wsaeyrvitche~ 1940 pIe. -World D01ninion Press. shDwing in a striking Great inter&<;t ,is manifest in u.nity and diversity Df Chris- eastern and sDuthern Africa in New Clinic in Baghdad tIans. The invDcatiDn was given the prDspect Df having the One might suppose tahanwD6~0a0n0 in English, the language Df the patients wDuld keep WDrld's Sunday SChDDI AssDcia- ch.ief missiDnary sending CDun- tiDn meet at Durban in 1940. doctDr busy enDugh, but Dr. trIes, and Df the cDuntry giving Durban's climatic gactDutnarvarecantniitDeenne~eDisft·s~ Abushadid Df Baghdad is ask- the. invitatiDn to. this service. accessibility and ISaI~h.53d was read by a Jewish also. the financial ing fDr mDre by Dpening a clinic ChrIstIan elder in ancient He- fDr WDmen and children. brew, the tDngue in which Dur fered by its mayDr all pDinted to. Dr. Abushadid is a graduate Maste~ must have read and pDnthe wisdDm Df the choice. Df the Presbyterian MissiDn dered It. Prayer was Dffered in FollDwing the precedent set SChDDI in Beirut, and was asked Syriac, by an Assyrian elder in fDrmer wDrld hacvDenvaepnptriDDxnis~ by the Iraq GDvernment to. Dr- SDuth Africa will Syriac being the nearest living ganize health wDrk fDr WDmen language to. the tDngue in which mately fifty per cent representa- ~nd gi.r1s in that cDuntry. Start- Jesus spDke and in which he tiDn in the cDnventiDn, the Dther mg wIth the six thDusand girls prayed. A passage frDm 1 CDr. fifty per cent cDming frDm Dther in the public SChDDls, she is de- 12 was read in Armen itahn~ this parts Df the wDrld. It is esti- velDping the wDrk still farther language being that Df first mated there will be 2,500 dele- in the recently Dpened clinic. In natiDn in histDry to. becDme a gates. PrDbably Africa will have the SChDDI Df HDme ECDnDmics Christian natiDn; and finally, mDre representatives in this she gives her students practical prayer was Dffered icnDuIrnatnryiain~ the. language Df .the wDrld gathering than have been experience in the care Df chil- fDund in any similar wDrld CDn- dren by cDnducting a nursery WhICh the meetmg was being clave in previDus years. where the girls are respDnsible held, a cDuntry that is learning fDr the day and night care Df a to. sing His praises.
WESTERN ASIA number Df babies; thus carrying Educational Project in Syria DUt the traditiDn Df the SChDDI. Arabia's Slaves To. prDmDte a cDnsDlidated Peace Pact in Near East A recent repDrt ShDWS that plan Df educatiDn in Syria, plans aTe under way fDr the Drganiza- Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Af- Arabia has at least a milliDn and tIDn Df the Evangelical CDllege Df Aleppo., Syria, a jDint prDject ghanistan, in a dDcument Df ten a half slaves. A large prDpDr- Df the American BDard and Presb~terian MissiDns, and the Sy- articles, have undertaken to. keep tiDn Df this number came frDm rIan and Armenian Churches. It is hDped the SChDDI will be- peace amDng themselves and to. the Sudan and Abyssinia. CDme indigenDus, making bDth suppDrt and administratiDn the assist Dne anDther in all matters Slaves are Dpenly bDught and respDnsibility Df the IDcal Christian grDUps. ?f cDI?mDn interest. The pact sDld, the markets fDr WDmen Df IS ~ahd fDr five years, a periDd beauty being specially cDnducted WhICh may be renewed indefi- and develDped. A recent edict ni~ely, and it will be registered Df Ibn SaDud, king Df Saudi wIth the League Df NatiDns. Arabia, fDrbids the impDrtatiDn The pact dDubtless is a respDnse of slaves by sea, and even by to. movements tDward wider lib- land, unless it is proved that the erty, mDre religiDus tDlerance impDrtee is al read yslaavesslaavre~ Children bDrn Future of Transjordan and general prDgress. I ran Df If the partitiDn Df Palestine is might be called the key to. the themselves slaves. ~arried into. effect by the Brit- Ish GDvernment, TransjDrdan arch which suppDrts the MDS- -Christian Century. ,,:ill c 0. m e into. prDmmence. Smce 1921 the cDuntry has made lem edifice in the rMeaidl drleeliEgiaDsUt~· INDIA, BURMA, SIAM rapid prDgress, and the Dfficial yet there is mDre attitude to. missiDnaries, dDctDrs Missionaries Not Wanted? and educatDrs has been unifDrm- liberty in Iran at the present ly appreciative. The Arab GDV- A new regime in India seems ernment has Dffered generDus mDment than in any Df its neigh- certain to. affect missionary financial help to. rebuild the hDS- wDrk there, according to. a World pita;l Df the Church Miss,iDnary bDring cDuntries. A MDslem in Dominion bulletin. A reformed SDcIety at Es-Salt, and will give Hindu paper, the Arya Samaj it a free hand. Iran may becDme a Christian recently issued a statement that India dDes nDt want Christian . MDslems send their bDYS and nDt Dnly wthitehDuuntcshuafnfgeeridngMDdselaeth~ missiDnaries any mDre. It adgIrlS to. the missiDn SChDDls at which is mits the present prDgress Df Amman, and the gDDdwill of the Christianity and declares that Emir and his cDunsellDrs can be law, b1;'t t~e civil pDwe~ will prD- the strDng religiDus fervDr Df cDunted upDn by all who. will the missiDnary is the mDst im- tect hIm m the exerCIse Df his pDrtant Df the variDus reaSDns for his success. It laments the individual liberty Df cDnscience.
-World Dominion Press.
One In Christ-Iran At the wDrld-wide cDmmuniDn service held in Hamadan last year, five languages were used
materialism of many Hindus, ary women, "we'll use our own school and have made it more and appeals for a new realiza- houses as classrooms. If there's worthy of the church. tjon of the Hindu faith. no money to spare for teachers, VVorkers in Karachi are con- we'll do the teaching ourselves. vinced that bazaar preaching is If there's no dormitory for the a real test of a church's life. Changes in 20 Years women they can fit into the girls' boarding school somewhere." So Thirty-five I n d ian student the school has begun: a two- Usually, crowds are so interested teachers were recently asked year course for training village they refuse to disperse. Last what noteworthy changes had women in home making, child year fifty non..:Christians were taken place in South India in care and Christian living. baptized, in contrast to the one the past twenty years. The first or two baptized four years ago.
eight changes which follow are -C. M. S. Outlook.
arranged in the order of the An Answered Call Indian Preachers' Conference strength of the vote; caste dis- Anglican church funds, on betinctions are disappearing; un- half of Mass Movement work, In an effort to encourage pertouchability is being rapidly dis- will be used first to send teach- sonal testimony and more dy- ers to villages that have been namic preaching, a "Preachers' carded; child marriages are de- begging for them; next to procreasing; female education is vide for the intensive training Conference" was held at Bareilextending; co-education is be- of volunteers and others to equip ly, in September. Two groups coming more common; the pub- them to deal with new inquirers. were invited-a large group of A third item will be to provide lic is taking much more interest houses for pastors and teachers, pastors from the main pulpits in education; the demand for and help towards the erection and a small group of good home rule is more widespread of headquarters' churches; a preachers. Each day there were .and insistent; work for rural fourth item is the extension of reconstruction is multiplying; medical service. two sermons in Hindustani and one in English, as well as a epidemics are being mastered; Great care will be taken to round-table dis c u s s ion on Indians are replacing British of- avoid using this money to build preaching. Thus by example up work which could not be ficials ; India has come into the maintained by the Indian church and precept something definite bicycle-bus age; Gandhi cannot in the future. was done in inspiring and instop the whirl of machinery; houses are improving; women -C. M. S. Outlook. structing preachers. In order are entering public life; person- that the results of the confer- al habits are changing; the ence may be available to those Christian community is steadily who could not attend, and be preserved for future reference, growing and taking much more· it is planned to issue a printed responsibility; and socialism Opportunities in Sind report, incorporating a synopsis and communism are spreading. of each sermon and a gist of each Last year was memorable in statement made in the discus- -World Youth. the history of Sind, not only in sion.-Bishop B. T. Badley.
School for Home Builders that it became a province but Progress in Toungoo that the Christian Church scored At Toungoo, Burma, the out- "The case for village girls is advance. Money was raised by standing piece of work for the hopeless," bluntly said a student sacrificial giving for an enlarged year was a Daily Vacation Bible in the missionary's Bible class and beautified church. school in the village of Kelinsait. An old Christian living in that in Allahabad, India. Unques- The greatest advance is in the village had a son and three tionably, village houses were un- fact that the Karachi congrega- daughters who had attended the sanitary; there was too much tion of the Church of England mission school at Toungoo. They asked the mission to open a vacajewelry and too little water; Mission has accepted responsi- tion school there and gave all the support they could. As a result there was sickness, unbalanced bility for the maintenance of all five people were baptized at the close of the school, and five more feeding of the household even the evangelistic work at present acknowledged their faith during the services at Christmas. VVithwhen poverty did not preclude being undertaken in the district. in nine months this village has variety; there was quarreling, Members of the pastor's commit- indecent talk, and a stolid indif- tee have taken a keen interest ference to conditions. Such was in the leper asylum at Mango the background against which Pir, twelve miles from Karachi, missionary wives at Allahabad and for three years have visited Agricultural Institute h a v e it regularly, preached to the pa- started a school for village home- tients, and shown their love in makers. No such school exists many practical ways. Others gained ten Christians, and Qthin the United Provinces. Neither have gone in the evenings to the ers are convinced of the truth of building, money nor staff is many quarters in the city where Christianity. available. But the school has the poorer Christians live, and Much of the credit for this bebegun. "If we can't find a corner have taken part in regular serv- longs to two Christian Burmans, in the Institute classrooms and ices for them. Others have be- a preacher and a Bible woman. laboratories," said the mission- gun to teach in the Sunday – Watchman-Examiner.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
New Bible School in Siam operation at Pitsanuloke. A Nearly seventy per cent of the Five-Year Plan of Advance has men who are now determining The need for native evangel- been adopted. -Siam Outlook. the policies of modern China are graduates of Christian colists in East Siam has been keen- OHINA leges. ly felt for some time. Accordingly, a Siamese Bible School was Progress in Ohina Education is one of the chief established last year in Korat. aims of the present government, A group of six men and one When I went to China fifty which has accepted the responsiwoman comprised the first class. years ago the period of early bility of providing universal ele- The beginnings were neither seed-sowing had not entirely mentary education for 70,000 sensational nor pretentious. passed away. The difficulties children. This, however, is bare- Lacking a class room, students were numerous and visible re- ly one-tenth of the school-age suits were few. The people were population. met under the missionary's still conservative and did not home. There were no dormitory welcome new ideas. But the pe- About fifteen per cent of the accommodations, s 0 students riod of sowing produced great higher education in China is had to be quartered in various results. The Church in China handled by Christian colleges places about town. These ar- has not grown and is exerting and professional schools. Nine rangements were inconvenient every effort to become self-reli- per cent of the college students, ant. It is willing to assume re- and twenty-four per cent of the and far from satisfactory; but sponsibility and desires to in- professional students a t ten d a very profitable seven months crease the Chinese ministry. Christian institutions. of study were passed together. There are Christian congrega- tions of one thousand people -Christian Advocate. This project is an outgrowtH. that are entirely self-supporting. Oommunion Under Difficulties of the keynote "Go Forward," -F. L. Haws Pott, St. John's University, Shanghai. The Rev. David S. Tappan, of adopted at the Siamese Regional the American Presbyterian Mis- Mission Situation sion in Hainan, tells of a com- Conference. -The Call. munion service in the mountains. Most of the missions in China Faith with Works expect to car r y forward as "To prepare the communion much of the work as can be help- elements we were at our wits' Three years ago the Church fully continued. Missionaries, end. There stood the crude taof Christ in Siam was organized. especially men, will remain at ble but for a cover all they could Ninety-nine and a half per cent their posts so long as they can find was bed drapes not yet used; of the Siamese Christians had serve those in distress. The no cups but some made for wine no real idea what it was all Boards at home will accord them and used in heathen idol worabout, but those who did com- a large degree of discretion, and s.hip. Pastor Wu pointed out the prehend the significance of it in case of danger they may with- verse in 1 Cor. 10: 21: 'Ye canhad faith and were ready to back draw to safety. not drink the cup of the Lord it up with works. The church and the cup of devils,' and apconstitution was two years in The Presbyterian Board au- plied it instantly. But when it the making. thorizes the withdrawal from was proved the cups had not yet danger zones of aged and in- been used in idol worship, they An outstanding move of 1936 firm missionaries, of mothers were accepted. was the appointment of a Re- with children, and of all those vival Committee of two, whose not suited to serve under hard- "No tray for the cups, so a mission it was to visit as many ships that may be inescapable. huge wicker sieve used for siftas possible of the churches, to The· China Council and the mis- ing rice was brought in. No hold meetings and stimulate sion executive committees are bread, so the missionary took Christian life and activity. The expected to make wise allocation some of his supply of twice American Bible Society paid the of the reduced personnel. toasted bread from his lunch expenses of a third member of (fresh bread would have been this committee. Stewardship Evacuated and furloughed mildewed in the dampness). No was their major theme. The re- missionaries, prevented from re- grape juice, so a tin of Amerisults were astonishing. Tithing turning to China, will be used can orange juice, also from his was started or increased in many to strengthen temporarily the lunch, was stirred full of native communities, and the spiritual understaffed missions in neigh- brown sugar and answered the life of many individuals was boring countries until they can purpose. greatly stimulated. return to their own fields. "Nearly one hundred moun- . A second advance step has Educational Missions tain folk caught a glimpse of been the adoption of Pitsanuloke their Lord that day, and some- Station by the first General As- Fifty-one per cent of all the how I feel that He was as much sembly as its own project under Chinese college graduates listed at home at that table as at any a wholly national staff. The in the Chinese Who's Who are communions in America with Church in Siam has also as- products of Christian colleges. their perfect appointments." sumed full responsibility for the work of the Charles T. Santvoord Hospital for three years on a contract similar to that in
Chinese Medical Association of the vast Buddhist and Shinto for one month, and 405 women constituencies. for two and a half months. At The Chinese Medical Associ- Pyengyang Institute, 80 men enation was formerly made up al- Salvation Army Rift rolled for nine months' study. most entirely of foreigners, but The Presbyterian Theological as fast as Chinese doctors be- A rift in the Army has become Seminary also reports one of the came qualified they were ad- an open break. A group of offi- largest first-year classes in its mitted. Now the percentage of cers, representing the younger history. Two young men have Chinese members is very large. leaders, but themselves men of been commissioned as foreign At the last conference about 70 mature age and rank, demanded missionaries; one is laboring in per cent of the 900 attending drastic changes in the Japanese Shantung, and the other in Manwere Chinese, states Dr. John organization. The revolt is defi- chukuo among Chinese and Chi- E. Lenox of Chengtu, West nitely a nationalist movement, nese-speaking peoples. China. protesting against what is al- leged to be a condition of sub- A Korean named Chang, who, JAPAN-CHOSEN servience to the control of the as a boy of 12 watched crew and foreign headquarters, and com- passengers of the steamer Gen- Masses Want Peace mand in London. It is also a eral Sherman struggle out of protest against the Salvation the water, only to be beaten to S. Hirakawa of Tokyo, speak- Army's military organiz'ation, death by the mob, is now an old ing recently before the Friends' with its uniform, its army ter- man over 80. Last year he stood World Conference in Philadel- minology and its dictatorial sys- QY the same Pyengyang River phia, declared that 90 per cent tem. Also it is a demand for and showed to one of the secreof the Japanese are opposed to more emphasis upon the reli- taries of the British and Foreign the war with China. The pres- gious aspects of the work, and Bible Society the place where ent invasion is motivated by a less upon the social and relief one of the passengers, Mr. militaristic clique which is try- phases. The recalcitrant officers Thomas, a colporteur of the Naing to protect the Manchoukuo have been dismissed or have tional Bible Society of Scotland, venture, an experiment that has wit h d raw n, and have now threw to the crowd copies of "a thus far proved a colossal fail- formed one more Christian de- red-bound book"-the New Tesure. Japan is spending much nomination, the "Japan Gospel tament in Korean. He also more money in Manchoukuo Evangelistic Association," mod- showed him a beautiful Thomas than she is getting out of it. eled after the two branches of Memorial Chapel, marking the Another speaker, R. Yamano, the Holiness Church. place of martyrdom and told said that the only place in which how, in his own lifetime, there desires for peace may be pub- -Christian Century. had sprung up a Christian comlished is in the Christian denom- munity of over 260,000 with inational press. Remember the Frogs 4,200 places of worship.
-Christian Adv.ocate. A solemn service in commem- -World Dominion Move- oration of the sacrifice of 100,000 ment. Conditions in Japan frogs which had been used in the past year in biological and ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC A correspondent from Japan anatomical experiments, was says that the absence of civilian held in Tokyo in July. Sixty Spiritual Currents in Java hatred is one mitigating feature professors from Keio University of the grievous war situation. participated and a monument According to the Evangelical Chinese by thousands are still representing two bullfrogs in News Bureau of Holland, three living in Japan and going about stone, with a tribute to frogdom outside factors have influenced their work unmolested and in in general, was unveiled. ·The the spiritual currents in Java in perfect safety. According to a service was held in a Buddhist the last decade: first, the awakrecent report not more than cloister with much incense and ening in Eastern Asia after the 6,000 out of the 30,000 living in beating of gongs. Japanese victory over Russia, Japan have yet returned to and the national-cultural inde- China. By way of contrast the British pendence efforts in B r i tis h and Foreign Bible Society have India; second, the influence of But the dilemma of a Chris- celebrated the translation of the politico-religious movements tian Church in a country at war Scripture into the one thou- in Egypt, Arabia and British is pressing with peculiar inten- sandth tongue, a feat that out- India, seen in the existence and sity upon the Christians. Insig- does anything any single uni- development of trade societies nificant in numbers, and with versity has done. that have become more political the onus of a long inherited sus- organizations; and third the picion of disloyalty still bitterly -So S. Times. influence of communism. Ever held by many people, the Chris- since 1917, the comintern has tian movement now for the first Bible Reading Koreans striven to connect the classtime in a national crisis finds its struggle with the nationalist leaders called in council on equal Bible Institutes are popular movement in the East. Its revoterms with the representatives in Chosen. At Chai-Ryung last winter, 455 men were enrolled
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
lutionary propaganda activity mission spheres and the need for many needy, and the clinic was first reached Java via the na- an adVisory committee to work crowded each day. tive students' union in Holland. toward closer cooperation of Vigorous action on the part of government, churches and mis- Congregational Work Grows the government during the last sionaries. It is hoped that a four years has largely put a stop policy may be adopted broad The American Board reports to this undermining force. enough to cover the different a very successful conference of conditions in the various states workers in Dansalan, Mindanao, The attitude of missions to- on the protection and control of P. 1. There were 130 delegates. wards these spiritual currents the nomadic tribes, their grad- Much time was given to prayer, cannot be merely that of an in- ual development and restoration meditation and praise. In the terested spectator. They will of racial pride and confidence, business sessions much attenhave to deal with the great com- the uplIfting of the half-caste, tion was paid to the extension pleXIty ot moral quesdons wich the suppression of abuses and of the Kingdom in unoccupied which the people of Java have "CO protection from exploitation. areas. A real Home Mission wrestle in these days by preach- program was adopted. Statising the Gospel of God's King- -Anti-Slavery Reporter. tics revealed marvelous growth dom. during 1936. Twenty years ago Education in the Philippines there were three congregations Character of the Papuans and two Sunday schools in Bishop Mosher of the Philip- other places. Today, the North The Evangelical News Bureau pine Islands, who attended the Coast Conference alone has 48 in Holland says there are two ~piscopal General Convention churches and chapels and gave opinions about the Papuans of in Cincinnati, said: $5,500 for the work of the Dutch New Guinea. One is that Church. In all three conferthey are heartless, cruel and Now that the Philippines are inde- ences of Mindanao about 1,000 murderous; the other, that they pendent, they need an army and must new members have been added are good, friendly and even get the money for it somehow. It is education that will pay the price.
pleasant people; those who know The government has closed the 5th, to the churches. them best agree with both opin- 6th and 7th grades in the public ions. The Papuan has really scho lIs. This throws out great num- Filipino Evangelical Strength two sides to his character. One bers of boys and girls. We have is human, that is why the Pap- From the beginning, Filipino 1,200 pupils in our day schools. After the children finished the 4th grade, uan is hospitable, friendly and they formerly went to the public Protestant churches have emdesirous of peace. The other schools. Now the Roman Catholics phasized the value of the Gosside is demoniac, devilish. Some- are getting them; they have the pel in their hospitals and dispentimes, however, the Papuans' funds to have dormitories and to saries; Boy Scouts and Camp equip their schools.
acts are bad only in our eyes, Fire Girls; services for pris- but are good in their own opin- Clinics Had to Be "Sold" oners, for lepers and relief of ion. They, themselves, feel the various kinds. The most potent conflict in their being. They Dr. D. J. Ago, Filipino physi- influence in winning people to know the difference between cian at the mission hospital in Christ has been the private life good and evil. Legaspi, P. 1., could give some and character of Protestant practical suggestions on "sell- Christians, and their public Effective missionary work is ing" a new idea to backward stand on moral issues. The lives not possible without an accurate people. Wishing to establish of both the leaders and the memknowledge of the people. There- clinics in a new area, Dr. Ago bers of the churches have furfore the first demand is: get to first called on the local church nished the strongest testimony know the people, their language, members, taking plenty of time ethics, laws and religion. With- to explain his plan. to the truth of their message. out winning their confidence, Evangelicals also have a good far-reaching influence over them Then he had to persuade the record in public morals. The is impossible. municipal authorities that he fight against alcoholism was was not trying to undermine started and carried on almost Australian Aborigines their prestige. ' Next, the local entirely by them; pro t est s drugs shops had to be convinced against public dance halls and Missionary leaders in Aus- that the clinks would help, not prostitution come largely from tralia are considering the prob- hinder, their trade. The dentist the same source; campaigns lem of the 77,000 Aborigines had to be drawn into the project, against the cockpit and other with great care. This is attrib- and lastly, each of the above had forms of gambling originate uted to a change in public opin- to be persuaded to serve as ad- with the Protestants. ion. vertisers of the proposed clinic. Other elements favoring Prot- Some of the questions that When all this was done, the shy- estantism are the general adhave come up for discussion have ness and fear of the first ven- vance of education, the large to do wi,th aboriginal customs- turesome patients had to be dealt number of educated, liberal nomwhat should be allowed and what with. Then, at last, word spread inal Roman Catholics who have forbidden; the overlapping of abroad that here was help for no vital church membership but
believe in God, and the strongly To Raise Standard of Ministers writes the Pocket Testament anti-Fascist attitude of Evan- League of the religious work gelical Christians. They offer a After a two-year study, a carried on at the prison. reasonable faith to hundreds of commission of the Disciples' thousands of young people in Church introduced a resolution There is an organization here in the schools. at the International Convention the West known as the "Fellowship in in Columbus, Ohio (October Bible Reading," whose aim is to get -Christian Century. 28) , proposing the following as many Bible readers as possible minimum requirements for min- each year during the month of Oc- NORTH AMERICA isterial ordination: tober to concentrate in reading a cer- tain Book of the Bible each day dur- Students As Evangelists 1. Good moral character and per- ing the month. This year the Book sonal fitness for the ministry. of Romans has been selected for spe- Because they feel that a true cial reading and studying. Those Christian life is the only answer 2. A full college course or its equiv- joining agree to read at least four to the problems facing college alent and, if possible, graduate train- chapters a day in Romans during Ocstudents everywhere, the stu- ing in religion. tober, or as another choice they may dents of Wheaton College, Illi- read Romans through in one reading nois, have sent 15,000 copies of 3. Experience in Christian work at least once a week during October, St. John's Gospel to the students which shows real leadership, vision, or they may agree to read Romans of the University of California. pastoral qualities and preaching abil- through daily during October. Here Each copy is inscribed with the ity. in the prison 143 have signed up to statement: "This little booklet join the Fellowship in concentrating will help us all to win in the As matters now stand, a per- on the book of Romans during Ocgame of life." son without even a high school tober. Six of those signing up are education may be ordained in inmates on the condemned row, who Theodore Benson, senior at the church. Opposition to these are facing execution shortly. The Wheaton College and president requirements is expected from a number of inmates who have joined of the Scripture Distribution So- group of conservatives who will the Fellowship by no means takes in ciety there, says: "Our purpose contend it would be a step away all those in the prison daily reading is to discharge our responsibil- from the church's historical con- a portion of the Bible. There is a ity as Christian students to these gregationalism, and toward ec- lot of Bible reading here in the prison our fellow students. We know clesiasticism. Furthermore, be- by the inmates. of no more effective way to reach cause of their independence local the student world than to pre- congregations would not be Religious Radio Programs sent them with the Word of bound to observe the require- God." ments. The Federal Council is spon- soring a new program of radio Survey of American Girls Juvenile Crime Deterrent religion. In addition to the two regular programs of religious A composite picture of the Here is a suggestion in the worship on Sunday which have American girl, 1937 model, is field of crime prevention. Juve- been broadcast for several years presented by General Foods, nile court workers have discov- there will now be a daily pro- Inc., as the result of an effort to ered that many children who are gram of a rather different chardiscover facts about future brought into court are charged acter from 12: 00 to 12: 15 homemakers. From a question- either with stealing toys or steal- every weekday of the year. naire, submitted to shoppers in ing money to buy toys. Out of These noonday messages will be half a million retail food stores, this grew the idea of establish- inspirational and educational in it appears that six out of every ing a toy-lending "library." One character, addressed particularly ten American girls between the has been operating for several to the public. The same speaker ages of 18 and 25 attend church months in Kansas City, Mo., and will be heard each Monday for a regularly. a second one is now being pre- period of three months; another pared there by women of Grace speaker each Tuesday, another Reasons given for non-attend- and Holy Trinity Cathedral. each Wednesday, and so on ance were: through Saturday. The play room in the parish Too lazy …………….. . 36.5% house is to contain the collection The Foreign Missions Confer- Lack of interest ………. . 28.5% of toys, new and "recondi- ence is cooperating in this Too busy ……………. . 19.0% tioned," which the women have presentation. Inconvenient …………. . been collecting. Any child in the 9.2% neighborhood may have a "li- America's Spending brary" card, signed by parent or In answer to the question: guardian, entitling him to bor- The National Committee for "Do you consider it more desir- row a toy. When it is returned Religion and Welfare Recovery able or less desirable, than it in good condition, he may take has prepared a chart to show was in your mother's day, to out another. The toys will be that the American public gave take an active part in church af- sterilized on return. fairs?" replies were given: 30 % less to churches, 29 % less "Fellowship in Bible Reading" More………………… 37.3% to general benevolences, 24 % Less ………………… 26.30/0 The chaplain of California Same………………… 35.70/0 State Prison at San Quentin less to community chests, and 18 % less to colleges in 1936 than was given from the smaller in- comes of 1932. On the other hand, expenditures for jewelry,
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
theaters, cigarettes, automobiles. Creek Indian Christians race are characteristics of the army and navy, whiskey, radio Indian people. The Indian has come a long and beer increased from 25 % to way in spiritual development, as Their belief that, although life 31 rtf). -The Living Chu,rch. evidenced in a recent meeting of is mysterious in all its manifes- 1,000 Creek Indians near Eu- tations, yet it can be trusted if Land of the Unexpected faula, Oklahoma. The preacher human beings act in cooperation was Roly Canard, chief of the with it, may be the secret of the Think of a church service at Creeks. Although a university Indian characteristics of poise which every inhabitant of a vil- graduate and a master of Eng- and restfulness, quiet strength lage is present; where every lish, Canard preferred to speak of character, a keen sense of huworshipper sang all the hymns in his native tongue, as do most mor and delight in the gay and from memory! Rev. C. O. of the Creeks both in private and joyous. Unhurried by life's de- Weber, Moravian pastor of Win- in public. Only the text, which mands, they take time to think ston-Salem, N. C., found this was repeated many times with clearly and concretely. Expectamong the unexpected experi- emphasis, was spoken in Eng- ing its constant changes, they ences of a visit to Alaska. lish: "Behold, how good and face the world with courage.- how pleasant it is for brethren The National Board Y. W. C. A. When he arrived in a village to to dwell together in unity!" speak in a church, the bell was Health Education at Sitka, rung long and vigorously. To Around the tabernacle and his delight he found the congre- church building were smaller Alaska gation eagerly drinking in every arbors and sheds under which word of the message and no were long dining tables. Beyond A new departure in health watches pulled out to check the these outdoor dining and cook- education for both boys and time. He was amazed to hear ing quarters were the tents of girls at Sheldon Jackson School, Eskimo Christians pray in pub- the hundreds of families who Sitka, Alaska, has been more lic fluently, and to note the ex- had come for the four-day meet- thorough testing for tubercupressions on their uplifted faces. ing. losis, which is greatly on the in- This is his answer to the ques- crease among the native population he is often asked: "Are re- Without a leader, one Indian tion of Alaska. In Sitka governsults worth the time and money after another starts a hymn if ment school last year, 78 per spent?" he feels the urge and others join cent of the children were found in. Another common practice to be infected. This is partly -Moravian Missions. is for all to pray aloud at the due to poor living conditions; same time. Often this unison of partly to the lack of recreational From Communism to prayer is for some common ob- facilities, but alcohol is probably ject, such as the recovery of a the largest contributing factor. the Church sick brother, or the missionary work of the association. After One phase of this health ex- A. J. Muste, who has recently a few minutes all voices are periment is the isolation and become minister of Lab 0 r silent save one, and the prayer special care of a group of twelve Temple, New York, succeeding is concluded by this one peti- tubercular suspects. This group Edmund B. Chaffee, has issued tioner. has a special table in the dining the following statement: room. Their dishes are segre- -Southern Baptist Home gated and sterilized. Each sus- I return from the left wing political Missions. pect is isolated in the dormitory movement, from radical Marxism, and is given a special rest each from passionate secular idealism, The Gifts of the Indian day. -Presbyterian Banner. which made me condemn the Church People as conservative, as retarding prog- United Christian Council ress, as martyring free spirits. I re- Because the Indian people of Alaska turn to the Church! Why? Because have felt that usefulness without these years of experience have taught beauty is not enough, they have A United Christian Council of me that the Church of the redeemed created beauty in design, sym- Alaska wit h representatives is the only great redeeming agency. bolism, color, rhythm and poetic from the Congregational-Chris- The nucleus of any effective movement thought. For our use they have tian Churches, the Metlakatla against war, against a social order brought corn and other foods Christian Mission and the Methbased on the spirit and method of and herbs, they have broken odist Episcopal Church has been war, will have to be composed of trails for us and taught us ways organized and incorporated in those who by the grace of God, and of living in the out-of-doors. the State of Illinois. insight into the meaning of the Cross, have renounced the spirit of war; To value character above pos- Formed on July 10, the Counfirst in their own hearts and then and sessions, to consider one's tribe cil will be an elastic, interdenomtherefore, in all relationships of life; above oneself, to appreciate the inational group designed to proof those who know the overcoming achievements of others, to wel- mote closer cooperation among power of prayer and humility and come the stranger, to respect the participating denominations sacrifice; of those who are not led childhood and age, to feel al- at work in Alaska. The sponastray by the will to dominate or de- ways a self-respecting pride of sors hope and expect that other stroy anyone, because Christ lives in them. The Church often fails in this, but I see no other agency doing it at all. That is why I return to the Church.
-Federal Council Bulletin.
denominations willJater join the diers to buy copies of the New Matto Grosso, Brazil Council. It marks a.:distinct ad- Testament and ask for prayer. The definite aim of the Inland vance in a cooperative approach to home missionary tasks. Uther mIssionaries keep in touch South America Mis s ion a r y Union is to reach the Indian Among the practical develop- with college students. Full use world, and its purpose is to carry the Gospel to tribes not ments that have resulted is the is made of the press and book -The Christian. shops.
launching of the Alaska Marine Forward in Colombia included in the plans of other Mission to serve the vast, hither- organizations. One can scarcely to neglected territory in Alaska. The Synod of Colombia was believe that regions on this earth duly organized in Bogota on still exist where men live as July 29, a milestone in the his- "Children of Eden," ignorant of LATIN AMERICA tory of Presbyterian missions in the existence of a world outside that country. Rev. Julio Her- their own. The heart of MaUo Sunday School Influence Brazil, Argentina, Chile and nandez, pastor of Sec 0 nd Grosso, Brazil, is such a region, Mexico have each their own na- C h u r c h, BarranquiIla, was and its evangelization has for tional Sunday school missionary elected moderator; Rev. E. G. years been the hope of the Inengaged in developing Sunday Seel, secretary, and Rev. Gus- land S. A. Missionary Union. school work. Textbooks in Span- tavo Villa, treasurer. Delegates The first missionary expediish and Portuguese are being from the three presbyteries, with tion of the Mission was launched prepared for the training of the help of a map, indicated their in 1926 when possibilities were Sunday school teachers. In Ar- fields of activity and the limits gauged. In 1934 another start gentina alone over 2,000 young of their territory, also the re- was made. A third expedition people have undergone training gions to which they hoped to ex- resulted in the erection of a misfor Sunday school and Bible tend the preaching of the Gospel. sion station. This third expediclass work. From the start, the It was shown that if the work tion covered 2,000 miles in 75 Sunday school, for both adults is continued with enthusiasm, days. Thirty-four days were and children, has been one of soon no one will be able to pass spent in canoeing. The main the most successful agencies of through Colo m b i a without purposes of the journey were: touching some evangelical terri- to visit the circuit of Indian vilthe evangelical movement. It is estimated that there are tory. lages and to introduce the pionow more than 2,000,000 people 'l'he importance of having a neer missionaries – the Big connected with Pro t est ant well-organized seminary for the White Chief and the White churches in South America, and theological and pedagogical Mother; to choose a site suitfreedom of thought and expres- training of national workers was able for the mission station and sion has been greatly increased. made clear; in fact, all the pro- to devote some time in building posals, plans and projects were a mission house; to reestablish Work Goes on in Mexico directed toward a great central friendship with the fierce Ka- purpose, and gave the idea of In spite of restrictions, Prot- the different pieces of a jig-saw mauras, whose hostility had been estant missionaries remain in puzzle which only needed to be of nine years standing, due to a Mexico, doing effective work, in fitted into place to reveal the or- breach of promise made by an dered whole. some respects even better than explorer. They had closed their before. Here are some new -Colombian Clippings. tribal portals to every outsider, including foreigner and Indian. methods that have been adopted. Cuban Schools In one of the best restaurants Requests are now coming The educational problem in of Mexico City, "Wednesday Cuba has yet to be solved. Gov- from the Indians themselves ask- Breakfasts" are arranged by ernment high schools and uni- ing for the "good people," mean- Dr. Wallace, a Presbyterian mis- versities are closed, and a few ing the missionaries, to come in sionary, and Professor Baez and live with them. Camargo, Secretary of the Na- -Amazon Valley Indian.
tional Council of Evangelical mission schools have been the Fascism in BTazil Churches. Members of the in- only secondary schools open durtellectual classes are invited to ing recent troublesome years. Evangelical churches of Bra- the breakfasts, and invariably Among the boarding students zil are thoroughly alarmed over listen with deep interest to mes- this year at the Baptist Colegio the increasing menace of Fassages on vital topics by Chris- Internacionales are Carlos Man- cism. Organized about five tian leaders. uel and Flavio de Cespedes, two years ago, mainly with Italian Mr. Norman Taylor, also a grandsons of a former president and German descendants or .nat- Presbyterian missionary, is do- of Cuba and great-grandsons of uralized citizens, Fascism soon ing splendid work among sol- the Cuban patriot and first revo- gained the support of many libdiers. He visits the camps in lutionary president, Carlos Man- erals and young leaders in the his motor-car, entertains the uel de Cespedes. This is a tes- Protestant churches, who not soldiers with a port.able wireless timony to the confidence placed only came out openly for the set, and then gives a Gospel talk. in the school. cause, but distributed literature -WatchrYUJ,n-Examiner. among fellow churchmen. It is usual for many of the sol-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Methodism voices its appre- MISCELLANEOUS Anti-Semitism hension in the Expositor Christao: Church Council Discusses War A conference held at Prince- ton, N. J., in September on the "Every Protestant or Evan- Should America go to war Jew and the Pre s b y t e ria n gelical is, by nature, a liberal with Japan? Is China guiltless Church went on record as urgdemocrat. It follows, therefore, in the present slaughter? Will ing the Presbyterian Church to that Fascist violence will be dictator nations crush democ- speak out clearly on the dangers aimed against the physical life racy? These questions were of anti-Semitism to the Church of the Evangelicals, in case it put to Methodist leaders in Chi- itself, and to take its full share wins out in Brazil. Millions of cago recently. Bitter condemna- of responsibility for the relief of Brazilians are under this threat, tion of the smugness of democ- the social, human and spiritual among them the great majority racies in not considering the eco- needs of the victims of antiof the Evangelicals." The two nomic needs of over-populated Semitism, wherever found. branches of Presbyterianism- nations now enslaved by dicta- Independent and Synodical- tors vied with vehement denun- The purpose of this Conferhave condemned all extremist ciation of the bombing of Chi- ence was to appraise the work regimes. nese cities. Some advocated for the Jews now being carried swift and complete embargoes; on by the Presbyterian Church The Congregational Church others saw embargoes as useless through the community 0 r went farther, and adopted the and vicious. A II inveighed neighborhood c en t e r, and following resolutions: "(1) No against America resorting to through the parish approach, pastor shall be permitted to af- arms to curb Japan in China. whereby churches are urged to filiate himself with the Fascist extend their services and welparty. (2) All churches which Dr. Elbert M. Conover, of come to Jewish neighbors; to' have members who are already Philadelphia, advocated a light- consider the problems arising in Fascists shall exhort them to ningembargo on war material, connection with it; and to deabandon such a doctrine; but including oil and other elements velop a more adequate and efif they persist in remaining vital to fighting, while Rev. N. fective program. such, they must be cut off the A. Christensen of Oakland, Cal., church rolls. (3) Any church was just as positive that an em- -Monday Morning. which allows Fascists in its bargo is useless, dangerous and membership, shall be excluded evil, because it imposes the pun- Problem of Mission Property from the union." ishment on the people least re- sponsible for war, and leads al- One of the problems of the es- -Christian Century. most inevitably to war. Diplo- tablishment, and relationships matic and social ostracism even- of an independent national Demand for Books tually can apply sufficient pres- Church to the home board has to sure to break any nation's ruth- do with the fact that in almost Dr. R. E. Diffendorfer says lessness. Such ostracism is every mission field new national that in South America the rapid slower, but more' drastic in or ultra-nationalistic regulations progress in secular education effect. are affecting the tenure or title has gone far beyond the ability or terms of mission property of the Evangelical churches and Sacrificial Giving holdings. In Mexico many clear the missions to follow the new titles have been simply wiped intellectuals with an adequate Missionaries see the world's out by the Government, with no Christian m e s sag e. These desperate need at close range. remuneration or redress. Elsegroups know philosophy, politi- Nearly $5,000 out of their per- where increments of value have cal economy, economics and sonal incomes has been contrib- been denied or imperilled. In sociology, educational theory and uted by Presbyterian mission- many lands the nat ion a I practice, and especially the aries to the Centennial Fund of churches are disposed to argue physical and social sciences. To the Board of Foreign Missions. that all mission property is held reach these groups by the sole If their average gift were in trust for them, even though method of preaching and organ- equaled by each of the 2,000,000 it was wholly provided from the izing churches is to lose the op- Presbyterian church members at west, or by people who gave it, portunity. Books need to be home, the reply of the Church to not for the endowment of the written by Latins or translated the General Assembly's urging Church in some one land, but from English, and from other "that the churches and individ- for use in the evangelization of languages on the Christian mes- uals make a sacrificial response" the whole world. sage of the world today. He to the appeal for a $1,000,000 further says that the scarcity of Centennial Fund would make a -Presbyterian Banner. reading material in some lan- total response of at least $10,- guages is so great that many 000,000. Every member of the "To myself a heart of steel; boys and girls lapse into illit- Board and of its executive and To my fellows a heart of eracy after havirig completed clerical staff has contributed to love; the work of the primary schools. the Centennial Fund. To my God a heart of flame." -Christian Advocate.
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i Our Missionary Bookshelf I I Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information ~,===—–==——–=======""",-,==~,~ A Bible Believing Church. The gives new courage; greater zeal is the result of painstaking Nevius Plan for M.ission Work, Il- study, marked by discerning lustrated in Korea. By Charles and stimulates faith in spiritual a n a I y s e s. The journalistic Allen Clark. 8vo. 370 pp. $2.00. Christian Literature Society. Seoul, methods. The work is one of the sources which underlie the body Korea and E. C. Heinz, 3624 Fifth most outstanding examples of of the text have this unique fea- mission work in the world. It is ture that they present the co- Ave., So., Minneapolis. 1937. well organized but does not Are missionary executives spend its strength on machinery. temporaneous opinions of the proven to be too satisfied with There is life in the organizm. editors. Rather than say that conservative, old-time methods? Every missionary in every the book is well documented, it .Are they and the missionaries field will do well to read this im- should be said that it is in the portant report. The methods main-and professedly so-doctoo hesitant to break loose from need not be slavishly copied but conventional lines and to pioneer they teach lessons that could be uments with interpretative comin missionary activities? As a put into practice in other fields ments. also. Churches at home would matter of fact most modern mis- also profit by a fresh study of The history sketches for the sionary work has broken away these ideals and by adopting reader Japan's emergence from many of these methods. from Apostolic New Testament her centuries of seclusion and methods and has attempted to Japan in American Public Opinion. proceeds to detail what she establish occidental institutions By Eleanor Tupper, Ph.D., and learned from the West-the way George E. McReynolds, Ph.D. 465 in lands where life is more pp. $3.75. Macmillan. 1937. we live, what we know, what we simple and primitive. Dr. John believe and how we fight. What Some time ago it was pointed we condemn in Japan's use of L. Nevius, for many years a mis- out that history centered first in modern engines of war, on the sionary in China, strongly ad- the Mesopotamian region, then earth, in the air, and under the around the Mediterranean basin, vocated a return to apostolic then on the Atlantic coasts, and sea, she learned from the West. methods; this was forty years finally in our day on the Pacific. In condemning her appropriatago. He emphasized evangelism This progress westward fol- ing policy, we condemn our- lowed the migration of the J arather than institutionalism; an phetic races. There was also a selves. great migration eastward, unindigenous church with early til now mankind has almost The volume, in conducting us filled the earth. Japan and through the phases of the probself-support and self-government America are turning back on rather than continued foreign themselves. It would be well if lem of the Japanese in Califorcontrol; and spiritual emphasis each could do the turning grace- nia and Hawaii, the wars with fully; it would be better if they China and Russia, the annexaon Bible lines rather than could do it in the Christian way. tion of Korea, through questions higher intellectual training to "Japan in American Public of immigration and n a val reach secular standards. The Opinion" recounts the way J a- Presbyterian mission in Korea pan has been turning for the quotas, the Japanese Monroe last few decades, as observed by Doctrine, the 21 demands, the early adopted the Nevius ideals authors and editors in America. Lytton Report, and the like, and methods and the results The book is an encyclopedic have been among the wonders of source book of facts concerning leads us up through the intricamodern missions. Dr. Clark de- political changes in China and cies of Japan's operations on the Japan, and in America vis-a-vi:s continent of Asia to the summer scribes these methods, how they of 1937. have been applied and the effect. Numerical results show 180,640 .To statesman, merchant, and new converts to Christ in nine years. This is equivalent to 70 missionary the volume is a valu- able storehouse of information. new parishes, each with an aver- It presents both sides of the sitage of 300 believers every year. uations and should have on both Here is the story of how this was ,sides of the Pacific a wholesome done without a large staff of foreign workers or the expenditure influence on those to whom facts have the major appeal. of large sums of foreign funds.
It is a thrilling story that these two countries. The volume G. P. PIERSON.
Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[ 616 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
Then and Now in Kenya Colony. of nature and of man's place and the facts stated. The index is By Willis R. Hotchkiss. 160 pp. purpose in relation to God. confined to names of authorities Price, $1.50. Fleming H. Revell quoted. A bibliography of ref- Company, New York, N. Y. 1937. Dr. Morrison is one of the out- erence books would be exceed- standing Christian scholars of ingly helpful. "It is given to few men in this Great Britain. He is too big a wonderful century of develop- soul and too sane a thinker to be Definite Experience. By A. S. Wilment to have witnessed the son of New Zealand. 128 pp. Margrowth of a colony from relative classed either as a Fundamen- shall Morgan & Scott, Ltd. London. savagery to a high degree of talist who defies or ignores civilization." That privilege has science, or a Modernist who ab- In our daily experience and been enjoyed by Mr. Hotchkiss jectly surrenders to science and teaching we are prone to emphain Kenya Colony on the East ignores the evidence of God's size faith, if we are introspec- Coast of Africa. He went to tive in our thinking, and works Africa forty years ago "not be- revelation of truth. The dictum if we are retrospective. In his cause men were heathen and in of authority "Men of science tell timely volume Mr. Wilson brings need of civilization, but because us" is but a poor substitute for faith and experience, or "faith men were sinners and needed a and works," into a beautiful and Saviour." "Thus saith the Lord." convincing harmony. He shows that to be filled with the Spirit In the process of presenting These seven studies were in is not only a privilege of the that Saviour the missionaries part given as Cunningham Lec- Christian but is necessary for a have found that Africans, ac- turers in New College, Edin- fruitful Christian life. cepting the Christian way of life, have assumed many of the burgh, in 1936. They take up On page 74 we find this harmore desirable qualities of our mony brought out clearly. Mr. civilization. The author shows the wonders revealed by the mi- Wilson says that Romans 8: 13 also that the white man's ideas croscope, the telescope, radiation is "one of the deepest teachings and methods are not always and chemistry, the mysteries of of the Word on sanctification. helpful. Often Africans who science, the supernatural, evolu- Sin remains in the body to the have come in contact with the end. The deeds of the body, each new environment of the cities, tion and the "ascent or fall of sin, as it seeks to rise up, can be far from the restraints of vil- man." They are interesting and put to death. It is the presence lage life and tribal connections, of Christ, through the Holy Spirfind it difficult to withstand the clear, scientific and reverent, it that does this." temptations and are greatly de- sane and honest. The most emimoralized by influences which nent and up-to-date scientists Holy living is emphasized they do not understand and to are freely quoted. Many of them throughout the book. Chapter which they cannot adjust them- seven on "Be filled with the Spirselves. honestly admit that "science is it" should be noted as outstand- completely baffled" to explain ing. The author's use of the The effectiveness of Christ in such things as whence came phrase "Bringing in the Kingchanging the lives of men is dis- dom," is post-millennia1. closed when Mr. Hotchkiss says: matter, motion, life, and man. "One conviction alone has re- His view of miracles is that they A. H. PERPETUO. mained not only unaltered, but confirmed with cumulative force are not contrary to nature but Men of the Outposts. The Romance throughout the years, and that transcend our knowledge. He of the Modern Christian Movement. is that the Cross of Christ is the views Christ as unique, "a By Herbert Welch. 8vo. 261 pp. all-sufficient answer to the prob- veritable incarnation of God." $2.00. The Abingdon Press. New lems of Africa, as to the rest of York. 1937. the world." He believes that evolution is only a theory and has been very There is no more stimulating CLARA L. BENTLEY. much overworked, is often mis- reading than good biographies- history teaching by examp~e. Christian Faith and the Science of understood and takes too much The life stories of great and Today. By J. H. Morrison. 8vo. for granted. "Redemption, not godly men and women reveal 228 pp. $2.00. Cokesbury Press. God working in human life. Nashville. 1936. evolution, is the Christian watch- Here are twelve fascinating sketches and interpretations of Here is a book that will repay word." He holds that the "Chris- nine men and three women who any intelligent man or woman tian doctrine of the fall of man gave their lives and used their for reading. Ministers, teach- is not necessarily in conflict with talents sacrificially to advance ers, missionaries, and others who the findings of modern science. the cause of Christ among manare sometimes disturbed by the kind, especially in mission lands. claims of modern science, or ill- . . . When man sinned he fell, They include pioneers – Xavier informed or half-baked expon- and suffered a permanent moral and Livingstone; evangelistsents of scientific theories, will disablement. . . . Christian op- John Wesley and William Tayfind here a scientific but sane lor; educators·- Wm. Clark of . and reverent study of the facts timism is based on redemption, Japan and Isabella Thoburn of not on development; on the di- vine grace that sends help from above, not on any power in man to evolve."
This volume would be a good antidote to the false and hasty conclusions of science (falsely so-called) as taught in many of our schools and colleges. Ex- tremists on both sides will no doubt disagree with some con- clusions but they cannot dispute
India; doctors-C h r i s tie of 000 Negroes out of 11,800,000 dently writes with the Lutheran Manchuria and Schweitzer of (or about 50 per cent) are not constituency especially in·mind.
Africa; Christian soc i a 1 re- members of any church." The The book, however, has a timely formers-Verbeck of Japan and percentage is larger in urban message for evangelicals of Mary Slessor of Calabar.; and centers. "This constitutes a every name. The pOSition of the home base leaders-Bishop Wm. challenge to the churches for a author will be regarded by many M. McDowell and John'R. Mott. united march against sin and as extremely conservative, but Only two of the twelve'tare still for the salvation of souls." it is temperate and scholarly. living and working on ·'earth. Among the religious sects re- He does not contend that the The least known is William S. ported are "Black Jews," Mos- writers of the Bible were mere Clark; all are worthy of more lems, "Faith Eternal" (Father amanuenses whose personalities intimate acquaintance. There is Divine), and Moorish sects. The were submerged in the commu- variety in their characters, their largest ,number of Negroes are nication of the divine message.
fields of service, their types of members :of the Negro Baptist What is insisted upon is that the work; all were actuated by de- Church (1,950,296 members). writers were preserved from er- votion to Chrisf"imd by a desire Other churches with over 100,- ror of statement and that no to help theiriellow men and to 000 each are African Methodist view of inspired communication bring them into harmony with (6 branches) and white Meth- can be intellectually sound in the will of Goo. odist Episcopal. which inspiration does not ex- Dr. Welch is a bishop of the The section on "The Negro in tend to words which correctly Methodist Episcopal Church and Poetry and Fine Arts" is very express the truth. To hold that was for sixteen years in Japan. interesting – including "the ori- only the thought is inspired These studies, given as lectures gin of the tango." raises the serious difficulty as to at Drew University, are well More might be said to advan- whether the mind is capable of written; they offer valuable il- tage on the Negroes' missionary entertaining any intelligent conlustrative material for sermons work at home and abroad. as well as interesting half-hour ception which does not take form in words. .
fireside readings. The index re- Mann of the Border. By D. Emmett The most valuable portion of Alter. 188 pp. $1.00. Wm. B. veals a wealth of topics and per- Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand the book, however, is not the dis" sonalities that have contributed Rapids, Mich. 1937. to the onward march of Chris- cussion of varied positions touchtianity. This story of a medical mis- sionary on the Northwest Fron- ing the question of inspiration, Negro Year Book. An Annual En- tier of India, among the wild cyclopedia of the Negro. 1937-8. tribes of the Afghan borders, is but the author's careful exam- Edited by Monroe N. Work. 8vo. written by a missionary of the 575 pages. $2.00. Tuskegee In- United Presbyterian Church. ination of the internal evidence stitute, Alabama. He does not make clear whether the stirring incidents described which the Scripture itself af- This ninth edition of the year are based on fact or whether book is exceedingly valuable be- they are oniy fiction. The cham- fords. We could hardly suggest cause of its comprehensive and pion for Islam, a fanatic Mullah, up-to-date information on the meets the Doctor at first by open a more painstaking and satissubject and the arrangement of opposition and violent words and topics which make it easy for threats; then they meet at a factory digest of this evidence, reference. wrestling bout where American dash and jiu-jitsu overcome the unless it be found in the large Both students and general readers will find it good reading volume by Gaussen bearing the title "Theopneustia." In the light of powerful evidence the open-minded reader will realize how much more consistent and logical is the author's view than are any of the prevailing alter- natives. HUGH R. MONRO.
and worth owning. For example, brawn and weight of the stal- Scripture Calendars for 1938. Pick- wart Afghan. Finally the Mul- ering & Inglis. London. the section on "Some: Achievements of the American Negro" lah's followers are won by Each of these calendars carry a daily Bible message and some shows their ec9nomic progress, Christlike love and service. The of them have also helpful comtheir intellectua] and cultural ac- story is well told but the miscomplishments, their inventions sionary approach is not ideal. S. M. Z. ments by s u c h well-known and standing in the field of preachers and authors as Bishop sports, as well as in business, The Foundations Must Stand. By P. Moule, C. H. Spurgeon, D. L. E. Kretzmann, Ph.D., D.D. 123 pp. politics and religion. On the Concordia Publishing House, St. Moody, Arthur T. Pie r son, other hand, the Negroes' crime record is not ignored. The Louis, Mo. – James Stalker, C. I. Scofield, F.
famous "Scottsboro Case" is This small volume dealing R. Havergal, J. R. Miller, Adolph dealt with impartially and' its with the inspiration of the Bible Sophir and Alexander McLaren. is a veritable arsenal for the de- They are mounted on attractive, significance is indicated.
In the section on the "Church fender of the faith. Its author lithographed picture cards made Among the Negrot!s" (30 pages) is a professor in a seminary of for hanging on the wall. They we read that "more than 6,000.- the Lutheran Church and evi- make very acceptable gifts, rang-
ing in price from 1 shilling to 2 life and progress of the people Hallock Johnson suggests in his shillings, 6 pence. each. of India. Reports on cholera, introduction, in the manner by smallpox and plague show an in- which the argument in each There are also almanacs with crease. Leprosy, venereal dis- chapter is turned into an appeal. Scripture texts and "Golden eases and tuberculosis are also Grain Diaries (Is. to 6s. 6d. studied. The information on J. WESLEY INGLES. each), and Christmas cards 15 Government education is meager. for Is. 9d.). Ali Lives in Iran. By Caroline Singer The Heart of the Christian Faith. and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. Illus. A Mighty Winner of Souls: The Life By Francis Shunk Downs. 209 pp. 72 pp. $1.75. Holiday House. of Charles G. Finney: A Study in $1.50. American Tract Society. New York. 1937. Evangelism. By Frank Grenville New York. 1937. Beardsley, Ph.D. 192 pp. $1.50. This fascinating story of a American Tract Society, New York. This little volume deals with little boy and girl (Fatima) who the cardinal verities of the lived in Iran, as Persia is now ~…. 1937. Christian faith, making its ap- called, is based on firsthand ob- No man was more used of God peal to the heart more than to servations made during a motor journey of 5,000 miles in Iran. in his day and generation than the head. The book is most attractively the subject of this biography. Dr. Downs, as a preacher in printed, and illustrated with Tens of thousands of people marginal drawings. Children throughout the United States the First Presbyterian Church who read will be captivated by were brought to Christ through of Berkeley, California, minis- it and will learn to understand his preaching. He reminds one ters to large bodies of university their Iranian brothers and sisof the Scripture that says: "His students, and gives here a series ters better through their lives ministers a flame of fire." The of sermons on doctrinal themes. pictured here. Jewish Isaac, author was Professor of The- His chapter on "The Inspired Zoroastrian Cyrus' and Chrisology and is now Chaplain of the Book" dismi,sses apparent dis- tian Luke are also introduced Missouri Society S. A. R. His crepancies as due to errors in with good effect. knowledge of Church History is translation or errors in transadequate for a proper presenta- mission, and meets not at all the Full Assurance. H. A. Ironside, D.D. tion of this life and its back- problem of an inspired and in- .125 pp. 75 cents. The Bible Instiground. He portrays Finney as fallible Canon without an in- tute Colportage Assn. Chicago. a winner of souls, as an evan- fallible Church to select it. The gelistic leader, as pastor of a book moves into a much stronger 1937. church and also tells of his con- position in the second chapter nection with the founding of on "The Person of Our Lord One of the largest Protestant Oberlin College. In the words Jesus Christ," where Dr. Downs congregations i n America – of the Preface: "Nothing will lays his finger correctly on "the more than three thousand-regserve to promote an interest in central issue of controversy in ularly attend the ministry of the evangelism more than a study of our generation." Here is a the lives and measures of the cogent array of testimony to the author of this book at the Moody men who were successful in win- deity of Christ. Memorial church, Chicago. This ning souls in the past, not that we may attempt to reproduce It is both the strength and small volume of sermons extheir methods, but that we may weakness of the book that it is plains this remarkable interest; catch something of their spirit filled with quotations, many of it deals with a vital truth in and discover those principles them marked by vigor, beauty, terms which are readily underwhich underlie all true evan- and truth. In some places the stood. Dr. Ironside is an able gelism." Well worth reading, frequent selections are like and full of inspiration. pearls gathered from many expository preacher and the wide sources and strung on the thread influence of his sermons sug- S. M. Z. of the author's argument. gests that this type of preaching has sustained interest beyond India 1934-35. 8vo. 145 pp. 50 cents. In the midst of an unoriginal Government Press. Delhi, India; treatment of great Biblical other more "modern" types. British Library, 270 Madison Ave., themes, 'are found illustrations New York. 1937. that hav~ne11ing force or clarify- The aim of the auth{i'1"'iri the ing power. Dr. Downs shows present volume is to le'M:Chris- This official report, presented his homiletical gift and ability to to the Indian Parliament, deals organize his material. tians into an experience of enwith agriculture and industry, t ire assurance of salvation commerce, finance, communica- Laymen who have had little through Christ-a high objections, defence, politics, health evangelical teaching and young tive. Each of the ten chapters and education, and scientific sur- people who need aW'arm and is founded on one of the great veys. The wealth of information concise antidote to the popular assuring promises of Scripture gathered is especially important and superficial lectures of some and there is pointed illustration for the Government and those iconoclastic professors that tend and searching comment to bring engaged in education. Nothing to weaken faith. will find much is said about religion but all the help in this little volume. Its the truth home with power. The topics are closely related to the chief virtue lies, as Dr. Wm. popular essays on ethics and so- cial behavior are shallow sub- stitutes for the satisfying spir- itual realities presented in this book. H. R. MONRO.
The Parables of the Gospels: And Those Who Would Enjoy the Their Meaning for Today. By Hugh More Abundant Spiritual Martin, M.A. 251 pp. $2.00. Life Must Seek It Daily Abingdon Press, New York. 'Cb¢ Upp¢r Room This interesting interpretation of the Parables, by a leader in JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, 1938 the Student Christian Movement Now Ready for Distribution of Great Britain, approaches the subject from the standpoint of Jesus taught his disciples to ask only a daily portion from present-day needs and issues. Heaven's inexhaustible store-"daily bread"-"daily forgive- His purpose is to furnish a book ness from sin"-"daily deliverance from temptation." suitable for teachers in the classroom and the pulpit, and not to It has been the sole purpose of THE UPPER ROOM from supplant larger standard works the beginning to endeavor to re-establish in the minds of on the Parables. An introduc- Christians, regardless of faith or creed, the necessity of some tion, on the character of the form of daily devotions, out of which will most surely come Parables is followed by a treat- a new spiritual vitality for both individuals and church conment based on the translation of gregations. Dr. Moffatt which is used as the text. It is always reverent, Many pastors and group leaders will want to use copies of sometimes incisive and fre- the January, February, March issue of THE UPPER quently portrays a canny insight ROOM as a Christmas gift to members of Bible Classes, into the application of the Par- Young People's Groups, Missionary Societies, and to inables to our own day; for ex- dividual members of the congregation. Special Christmas ample: "Weare still building on envelopes, in two colors, will be furnished at one cent each, sand. The Great War saw the postpaid, in quantities of ten or more j plain, unprinted, at collapse of the imposing edifice fifty cents per hundred, postpaid. of nineteen centuries of 'Progress.' And so little have we Use one of the order forms below. learned the lesson that the few slender gains we thought we had CONSIGNMENT ORDER INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIPTION' wrested from the wreck, are now disappearing." Issue for January, February, March THB UPPBR ROOM, Our chief criticism is due to (For use of Pastor or Group Leader. Doctors' Building, the brevity of some chapters. Nashville, Tenn. Only three pages are given to the Order ten or more copies.) Gentlemen: Unjust Steward and seven pages to the Prodigal Son. This means THB UPPBR ROOM, I am inclosing herewith thirty cents (foreign, a very inadequate treatment of forty cents) for which please send me T he Up· the greatest of all our Lord's Dodors' Building, peT Room for one year, postpaid, beginning with Parables. On the other hand, Nashville, Tenn. the book abounds in careful Gentlemen: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~quarterly is.uc. exegesis. The parable of the Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ leaven is held to refer, not to Please send me copies of T"e evil, but to the Kingdom of God. Street or Route _______________ Upper Room, postpaid. I will sell these for five S. M. ZWEMER. Post·office __________-"State'_ __ cents per copy and pay for same when sold. It Twelve Clever Girls Who Became *A sin~le copy by mail anywhere 10 cents. Famous Women. By H. A. W. is understood that I have the privilege of return- Hamilton. Illus. 12mo. 95 pp. 1s. Pickering & Inglis. London & ing at your expense Bny unsold copies. Glasgow. 1937. Name _____________________ Some of these women are widely known-like Queen Vic- Street or Route ________________ toria, Frances Ridley Havergal, Post·office _ _ _ _ _ _State'_ __ Mary SIessor, Mrs. Ann H. Judson, and Florence Nightingale. Others, not well known in America, will also repay closer acquaintance. They were all remarkable for their nobility of character and for their useful service. Their life stories will be especially inspiring to young girls.
Books A Christmas Present FOR SALE-3l new white
$2.00 each; 19 new black pleated choir Apostle of Japan, Samuel Isaac . for Your Minister Joseph Schereschewsky. James gowns, $3.75 each. all or part. L. J. Arthur Miller. 264 pp. $2.50. Give a subscription to Morehouse Pub. Co. Milwaukee. LINDNER, 42S-MRvV Seventh Ave., New CHURCH MANAGEMENT York City. Daily Guidance. Fairlie Thornton. 31 pp. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. "Found in Prosperous Churches" Orient-three in India, three in China London. and one in Japan. This is perhaps 1 year, $2.50; 2 years, $4.00 women's greatest and most practical Everyday Life in Burma. Pictures enterprise in Christian international- to be colored. Is. S. P. G. London. CHURCH MANAGEMENT ism.
India in 1934-35. 50 cents. 145 pp. Auditorium Building Now, after twenty years, Mrs. Pea- British Library of Information. body goes to the Orient again as an New York. Cleveland, Ohio ambassador of friendship. This is a great work for the emancipation of Japan in American Public Opinion. Year Book of the Society for Propa- women, begun under the "Treaty of Eleanor Tupper and George E. gating the Gospel Among the Bethlehem" through the Saviour of Reynolds. 465 pp. $3.75. Mac- Heathen. 120 pp. S. P. G. London. women. One hundred million women millan. New York. of India are still without expert med- Personal Items ical aid. The demand for graduates Japan Today. T. T. Brumbaugh. of Vellore Medical College make Mrs. 500 pp. Kyo Bun Kwan. Tokyo. Rev. Irwin W. Underhill, Jr., the Peabody's trip of special importance. only Negro missionary in the foreign Men of the Outposts. Herbert Welch. service of the Presbyterian Church, *** $2.00. 261 pp. Abingdon Press. was recently elected a fellow of the New York. Royal Geographical Society for his Dr. E. Stanley Jones will be back splendid work among the pygmies in in India at the end of this year and Miracles in a Doctor's Life. Walter Africa. He is a graduate of the will be available for service in the Lewis Wilson. 122 pp. B. 1. C. School of Finance of the University Indian churches from the beginning Assn. Chicago. of Pennsylvania and of Princeton of 1938. On account of the trouble Theological Seminary. He received between China and Japan it is not The Nevius Plan for Mission Work. the degree of doctor of divinity from possible for him to continue his work Charles Allen Clark. 372 pp. $2.00. Lincoln University recently. in China. Christian Literature Society, Seoul, Korea, or E. C. Heinz, 3645 5th Dr. James K*elly*, s*ecretary of the *** Ave., South, Minneapolis. World's Sunday School Association, Dr. and Mrs. Fred H. Hope, mis- Negro Year Book-1937-38. Monroe recently visited Bulgaria in the in- sionaries of the Presbyterian Church N. Work. 575 pp. Negro Year terests of religious education. He in Cameroun, West Africa, have re- Book Publishing Co. Tuskegee, Ala. also visited Jugoslavia t;) confer on cently returned to Elat where they the reorganization of Christian youth have been engaged in missionary work On the Holy Mount. Joseph Pearce. work so as to place it on a more stable for over twenty-five years. Dr. Hope 95 pp. Is. Pickering & Inglis. basis. is superintendent of the Frank James London. Industrial School, a very effective *** mission enterprise. Twelve Clever Girls Who Became Famous Women. J. A. W. Hamil- Dr. John H. Finley, editor of the The Presbyterian ton. mus. 96 pp. Is. Pickering New York Times, and Dr. Arthur H. & Inglis. London. Compton, winner of the Nobel prize A weekly religious newspaper in for physics in 1927, and professor of its lo6th year of continuous pub- Under New Management. Raymond physics at the University of Chicago, Iication under the same name. H. Benton. 128 pp. Is. 3d. Pick- have been appointed co-chairmen of ering & Inglis. London. the laymen's committee of the $10,- It is conservative and evangel- 000,000 sesquicentennial fund for The W orId from a Window Garden. Christian Education. This fund is to ical, gets its news by telegraph Grace E. Pulling. mus. 90 pp. stabilize the financial situation of 54 S. P. G. London. Presbyterian colleges and 52 univer- and keeps abreast of the times. sity centers where the Presbyterian John Wesley's Awakening. James Church through its Board of Chris- It goes into every state of the Richard Joy. 50 cents. 124 pp. tian Education maintains pastors. Methodist Book Concern. New Union, the District of Columbia, York. *** and U. S. possessions.
Ali Lives in Iran. Caroline Singer Mrs. Henry W. Peabody, formerly It goes to Asia and Africa, South and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. mus. a missionary to India and of recent 72 pp. $1.75. Holiday House. years well known for her effective America, Canada and New Zealand New York. activity in behalf of peace, temper- and into twelve countries of Eu- ance and missions has been requested rope. Religion on the American Frontier. by the directors of Madras Christian Vol. II, The Presbyterians, 1783- College for Women, Madras, and the Subscription Price, – 1840. William Warren Sweet. 939 directors of the Women's Christian Ministerial Rate, pp. $3.50. Harpers. New York. Medical College, Vellore, South India, to go to India for the celebration of 50e. extra—Canadian postage The Study of the Bible. Ernest Cad- the twentieth anniversary of Vellore man Colwell. 184 pp. $2.00. Uni- Medical College of which Dr. Ida $1.00 extra—foreign postage versity of Chicago Press. Chicago. Scudder is president. In 1920 Mrs. Peabody was chairman of the Promo- THE PRESBYTERIAN Stocking Tales. Stories for Children. tion Committee for securing buildings J. T. Stocking. $1.25. 119 pp. and equipment for seven union Chris- 1217 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Pilgrim Press. Boston. tian colleges for the women of the Three Typical Beliefs. 115 pp. $1.50. University of Chicago Press. Chicago.
Why Worship. Muriel Lester. 25 cents. 43 pp. Cokesbury Press. Nashville.
LIFE OF GEORGE W
By ROBERT E. SPEER This is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the influential and able editor of the Bombay GlIardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone called him, "The White Yogi."
When George Bowen died in 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character, forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and will richly reward the thoughtful reader.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. A Decisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. XII. From 1850 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. XIII. Ten Years of Independent Work. IV. Life in New York, 1840·1844. XIV. The Bombay GlIardian. V. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. Relations with the American Board. VI. Conversion to Christianity. XV. Association with the Methodist Church. VII. At Union Theological Seminary. XVI. Bowen as a Writer. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. XVII. Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. IX. The Voyage to India, 1847. XVIII. Closing Testimony. X. Beginning Missionary Work. XIX.
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The Missionary Review of the World — November 1937
1937
The Effect of Islam on Childhood Charlotte E. Young Christian Villages in Mozambique Julian S. Rea A Korean Missionary Gives Thanks Mrs. George H. Winn The Passion of Raymund Lull Kenneth G. Grubb Early Work Among the Indians G. E. E. Lindquist Christians and the New Life Movement Madame Chiang Kai–shek Fruit from Seed–Sowing in China Orpha B. Gould 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
D.tes to Remember AKEEN PARENTS ••• That
possession is November 7-11-lnternational Good- In the Foreign Mission Field within YOUT Will Congress. Boston. Endorse Calvert: School November 19-American Sec t ion, Home Study Courses MEMORY reach! Follow Universal Christian Council for For Children the simple, sen~ Life and Work, New York. sible rules in Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- November 22-Annual M: e e tin g , tion Department, will give your child a United Stewardship Council, Phila- superior elementary education ••• by mail, delphia, Pa. . regardless of where you may live. Mod- "HOW TO MEMORIZE" ern, approved courses from this famous By Dr. William Evans November 22-23-United Stewardship school are being used by parents all over Council Meeting. Philadelphia, Pa. the world with outstanding success. The Possibilities of the Memory, December 12-Universal Bible Sun- Give your children the advantages of these Principles of Memory Training, and 'interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, day. and attractive materials. Instruction is step by step instruction on the fun~ under the personal guidance of teachers in NATIONAL PREACHING MIS- damentals of application. . SION Many gladly paid $5.00 for this October 31-November 3-Cincinnati, Calvert's prominent and successful private material in a correspondence course. Ohio. day school in Baltimore. Now compiled in a single volume bound in handsome cloth covers, November 4-7-Richmond, Va. Write today for booklet of complete in- gilt stamping, 95 pages, complete Novenl.ber 7-IO-Nashville, Tenn. formation. Costs are low. for 75c. and 6c. postage. November 11-I4–ShrevepQrt, La. CALVERT SCHOOL , BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASS'N November 14-17-Tulsa, Okla. November 18-21-Wichita, -Kans. 180 E. Tuscany Road 848 N. Wells St. Chicago, Illinois November 21-24–Quincy, Ill. Baltimore oQo Maryland December 2-5–Jacksonville, Fla. Wooster College and Princeton Sem- inary, and has been a navy chaplain . since 1915. II If you use Personal Items *** PRINTING Mrs. Orrin R. Judd, one of the Rev. A. J. Muste, after several YOU will profit from an ac- Board of Directors of THE REVIEW, quaintanceship with us. We is the new president of the Woman's years as leader of radical social do the job complete in our own American Baptist Home Mission So- groups, has returned to the Presby- plant, whether it be large or ciety. From 1920 to 1921 she served terian ministry and has become Di- small. as treasurer of the Board and'for the rector of Labor Temple, New York past six years as 1st vice-president. City, succeeding Dr. Edmund B. Chaf- While our specialty is Books, Ten years ago Mrs. Judd wrote "Fifty fee who died in 1936. – Mr. Muste Mag~ines and Pamphlets, yet Golden Years," the history of the understands the labor movement and we have a vlilriety of modern Woman's Home Mission Society. She says that their materialistic objectives equipment to meet all the re.- would be unsatisfying, even if attain- able.
is a former president of the Council Obituary Notes of Women for Home Missions.
*** Hugh R. Monro, LL.D., of Mont- Dr. F. E. Dilley, medical mission- quirements of your particular clair, New Jersey, Vice-President of ary to China, died in Cleveland, Ohio, job. You will find our service the Niagara Lithograph Company, Aug. 9, 1937. He was in Peiping prompt, careful and courteous. has been elected President of the American Tract 'Society, to succeed from 1907 till 1920, where he served Will you allow us to estimate the late William Phillips Hall. on the staff of the An Ting Hospital for men and was a professor in the on your next printing ? We be- ••• Union Medical College. In 1921 he lieve you will be delighted with Rev. Dirk Lay, D.D., after twentyseven years of successful service as was transferred to Temple Hill Hos- our product, price and service. the "Apostle to the, Pimas," is to be- pital in Chefoo. come supervisor of' Presbyterian mis- *** sion work among the Dakatah Indians Dr. William Isaac Chamberlain, The EVANGELICAL PRESS on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The work of Dr. Lay Ph.D., who retired in 1935 as corre- Print…. of among the Pimas forms one of the most dramatic episodes in the annals sponding secretary of the Board of The Missionary Rewew of the World of missionary service among Indian tribes. He has succeeded in develop- Foreign Missions of the Reformed PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE ing strong congregations among them, Church in America, died in New York Third and Reily Str••ts Han'''''', P.. each with its own house of worship City on September 28th. He would and native pastor, trained to render have been seventy-five years old on efficient service. He has also been their successful advocate in their ap- October 10th. a native of Pittsburgh. He was gJ"adpeal to the Government for irrigation Dr. Chamberlain had been secretary uated frQm the University of Pittsfrom the Coolidge dam. burgh, in 1889, and from Union of the Reformed Church Board since Theological Seminary in 1892. Dur- *** 1909. He was also a member of some ing his service in Korea Mr. M:iller twenty other boards and societies. -organized Bible institutes, served Capt. Robert. D.! Workman has be- (See Editorial on page 517.) come Chief of Chaplains in the U. S. Navy, to succeed Edward A. Duff, *** churches as pastor and managed Roman Catholic. He is a graduate of The Rev. Frederick Sheibler Mil- evangelistic campaigns. He was au- ler, Presbyterian missionary in Cho- thor of several books on Korea pub- sen, Korea, from 1892 until his retire- lished in America.
ment last December, died in that city, His widow, Mrs. Mary Lillian Dean recently. Miller, also a missionary, survives Mr. Miller was 70 years old and him.
MISSIONARY A t left is one of the
REVIEW OF THE WORLD A.S.S.U. cotton camp Union Sunday Schools. Below is a DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor plank chapel in which numer- ous evangelistic meetings are VOL. LX Nov., 1937 No. 11 conducted and many cort~ versions have occurred. Our "Cotton Camp Evangelist" solicited the funds. and did nearly all the ·work himself.
Publication and Business Office– The Tallest Cotton- Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. OF the United States-do you realize that The Arizona cotton camps are Editorial and Executive Office– it grows in arid Arizona? And do you know that the but one instance where wide- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. tallest men and women spiritually may grow from awake A.S.S.V. missionaries Entered as second-class matter at the boys and girls of the cotton camp section if we are entering opening doors. reach them soon with the Word of God? The youth of unreached rural Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under America is. our chosen field. Act of March 3, 1879. About eight years ago, Buckeye Valley was Evangelical in purpose. non- sectarian in method. and true 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. reclaimed by irrigation from a dry cactus desert and to the Word of God, for more Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. became one of the most fertile cotton-growing sections than a century we have car- Published monthly, except August. of the Southwest. Here hundreds of cotton picking ried on this aggressive and All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. families migrate from eastern cotton states, many of needed evangelism. Our or- British agentll- Marshall, Morgan them remaining the year round. They live in tents and ganization covers the nation. and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, shacks. At nearly every little cross-roads store liquor Heaven alone will reveal the London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, is sold and single men and women of immoral tenden- tremendous results in eternal 10 shillings a year. cies are a menace to the boys and girls of these camps. values.
MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- Through its district superintendent, the Your church or Sunday School LISHING CO., INC. class could choose no nobler A.S.S.V. has established cotton camp evangelism. missionary project. $12.50 BOARD OF DIREC'l'ORS Tents and chapel buildings in some instances have . annually establishes a class, ROBERT E. SPEER, President been provided by the cotton growers. Many conver- $25.00 maintains a Sunday A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President sions have taken place among the young and some School, $50.00 annually sup- WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer needed relief work is going forward. ports work in an unreached DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary community, and $100.00 in a county. $1200.00 annually SAMUJIlL MCCREA CAVERT .supports an active A.S.S.U. D. J. FANT missionary. For full informa- Mas. ORRIN R. JUDD tion, address- WM. B. LIPPHARD AMERI DEPARTMENT OF MISSIONS, Dept. R1137 ERIC M. NORTH 1816 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia:, Pennsylvania. Sunday SAMUEL M. ZWEMER School I wish to sponsor the work of the A. S. S. U. with the Union unreached millions of Rura~ America. Editorial Chat 5 Enclosed find $ ___ to be used foc _______ _ The October number of the REVIEW ESTABLISHED 1817 -on Moslem lands-has had a very ) Send your quarterly Field Magazine – "The Sunenthusiastic reception. About 1,000 day School Missionary" special advance orders were received and many leaders are using them in ( ) Mail your Booklet on Annuities. their study classes. More valuable articles on the same subject appear in ( ) Send Sample Sunday School Literature. this issue-and more are to follow. Name ___________________ .___ _ *** Address _____________________ _ The Home Missions number on City ______________ State ______ _ "Rural America" (June) has had a large circulation-about two thou- CHRIST ALONG THE OLD BACK ROAD sand extra copies having been sold up PIONEER SUNDAY SCHOOL ORGANIZATION OF THE USA to September 1st. wrong one used as a frontispiece for versity of Nanking Hospital is the *** the September REVIEW. The picture only large hospital open in that city. intended for insertion was one of na- Cabled appeals for help to meet the Readers still continue to express tives in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in situation come with the endorsement their high appreciation of the work the midst of picturesque rocks of the of the American Ambassador in China. the REVIEW is doing. Dr. William desert. The picture used was a plate At least $6,000 are needed for anti- Bancroft Hill, of Vassar College, in loaned for another purpose by the Re- tetanus and typhoid vaccines, as the ordering a quantity for distribution, view and Herald, of Washington, supply in Nanking is now exhauste·d. writes: D. C., and represents a camp meeting with 5,000 present in Iboland, Nigeria. There is also need for funds for an "Your October number on the Mos- These people are connected with the ambulance. Dr. Robert E. Speer, for lems is a most able and satisfactory Seventh Day Adventist Mission. twenty-five years President of the presentation of the subject." Board of Trustees of the University *** of Nanking, is now Honorary Presi- *** dent. The Presbyterian, Methodist, APPEAL FOR THE UNIVERSITY Baptist, Disciples, and Congregational Another reader says: OF NANKING HOSPITAL Churches cooperate in the work of "I wish to express my sincere ap- the University, the American office of preciation of this most companionable, Since the Chinese Government interesting and instructive mission- (Central) Hospital in Nanking has which is at 150 Fifth Avenue, New ary magazine, as well as for its in- been bombed and closed, the Uni- York City. spiration and encouragement. It is the only missionary magazine I am re- [ 513 ] ceiving here in the heart of Africa. The Articles concerning the "Bush" especially appeal to me as I am also working in the "Bush."
MRS. LILLIAN WASHER, French Equatorial Africa.
*** A CORRECTION-EGYPTIAN SUDAN By some unaccountable error, two plates were interchanged and the
A SCENE IN THE CHRISTIAN VILLAGE OF MALATE
NAZTALI MBANZI, A TEACHER, PLAYING AN VILLAGE EVANGELISTS IN PORTUGUESE AFRICAN PIANO EAST AFRICA (See article on page 524)
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER, 1937 Topics of the Times "IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS" here also great reasons for national and personal thanksgi ving. At times this seems to be difficult, if not impossible. In spite of many dark days, King Da- There is, first of all, the certainty that God, the vid took up praise for a life work, saying: "As Almighty and loving Heavenly Father, lives and long as I live I will praise thee." Again he said: rules; His will must be triumphant, even though "Thy praise shall continually be in my mouth." ignorant and self-seeking men rebel.
There is the encouraging fact that men are not In the midst of personal sorrow and troubles, satisfied with evil. Ninety percent of humanity in national distress and in world-wide conflicts, condemns selfish wars of aggression, such as there are still reasons to give thanks to God. The Japan is conducting in China and as Italy con- Prophet Habbakuk lived in a time of great trou- ducted in Ethiopia. There is encouragement in ble. There were material desolations, national the desire of many other leaders for peace and judgments, signs of devilish activity on every justice, as is revealed in the League of Nations side; wrong-doing was rampant in Judea-vio- and in the Hague Court, even though these bodies lence, perverseness, lawlessness, immorality, in- are too selfish, too weak, too fearful, or too much justice, strife, international warfare. divided to act together to promote peace.
God seemed strangely inactive and silent and Great trials are offset by God's mercies that yet the prophet could utter a wonderful prayer of offer reasons for thanksgiving. There are spiritpraise because God still ruled and His glory cov- ual compensations that come with suffering; the ered the heavens; even in wrath He remembered discipline of faith is promoted through trial; mercy; the earth also was full of His praise. He troubled souls are drawn into closer fellowship concluded with words that Daniel Webster pro- with God; disciples are weaned from love of the nounced among the most sublime in all literature, material world; the failure of temporal things to declaring, even in the midst of disasters and dis- give happiness often leads to the transfer of life's tress, "I will rejoice in Jehovah; I will joy in the affections from self to God. God of my salvation. Jehovah, the Lord is my strength" (Habbakuk 3: 17, 18). The coming Thanksgiving season does not offer any occasion for self-satisfaction or for rejoicing Stalin, and others who foolishly fight against in increase of material wealth; nor are there en- God in Russia, know nothing of the psalmist's, the couraging signs of a new reign of peace and goodprophet's and the Christian's secret of peace and will among men. But a knowledge of the signs of joy; the Japanese military leaders are ignorant God's working in the world will cause every Chrisof the God of Love; Hitler, in his determination tian heart to give thanks. There are multitudes to rule the Church and to obliterate God's de- of enterprises effectively carrying on the work of crees, overlooks the power of the omnipotent Christ-the churches, missions, hospitals, schools; Ruler; Mussolini thinks only of temporal progress the Christian homes, the work for youth; the puband material force; Spaniards, in their fratricidal lication and distribution of the Bible and other strife, have little conception of the mercy and Christian literature; the men and women who peace of God; at the same time millions in Amer- stand true to Christ in difficult and dangerous ica are seeking political control and economic im- places-as in Germany, Russia, Spain, China, provement for personal gain; and yet there are India, Korea and Moslem lands. We give thanks [ 515]
for little children, so ready to love and be loved; Braisted is a son-in-law of Dr. Robert P. Wilder, we praise God for earnest, forward looking youth one of the founders and first traveling secretary and for teachers who unselfishly give time to Sun- of the S. V. M.The new secretary was for some day school work; we give thanks for the conse- years a Baptist missionary in India and Burma crated money dedicated to God's service and for and has been especially active in evangelistic the hundreds of thousands of men, women and work and Bible teaching among students. At a children who are responding to the Gospel and are dinner, recently given in New York to welcome receiving eternal life through Christ in our city the secretary, Dr. Braisted showed his missionary streets, and in prisons and penitentiaries, in home vision and his grasp of the situation in a truly mission territory, in many of the dark places of statesmanlike address. He expressed the conthe earth. viction that the students of America today, as never before, are awake to the need of the world Every circumstance of life, where God is hon- for a radical change in ideals, and for new spiritored, not only teaches lessons in faith and fidelity, ual power. He said in part: but suggests new causes for thanksgiving and praise. "In everything give thanks." "(1) As we approach students we must find the way of leading them to experience the reality REVIVING THE STUDENT VOLUNTEERS of faith and fellowship with the living God. They need a vital experience of the power of Christ in Even a superficial glance at the present world their own lives. situation gives clear evidence that the missionary task of the Christian Church is very far from "(2) We must be stirred by the fact that, in completed. There are more non-Christians in the Christ, God is revealed and we must present a world than there were one hundred and fifty years fully rounded life as a challenge to students and ago; many more than when our Lord gave His to all mankind. disciples the commission to evangelize the world. While the attitude of men toward Jesus Himself, "(3) We must speak frankly of the rugged deas shown by millions in non-Christian lands, is mands that Christ makes of His followers for a much more sympathetic than it was even fifty life of rectitude, for temperance and self-denial years ago, at the same time the anti-Christian at- and for sacrificial service. titude of misguided leaders in what have been nominally Christian lands-such as Russia and "(4) We must seek to give students a truly Germany-has become vastly more aggressive. Christian world-vision and to enlist them in a world-wide fellowship. In spite of great advance in the Christian missionary enterprise on the mission fields, for vari- "(5) The immediate task of the Movement is ous reasons the coldness and indifference of very to find new, consecrated and qualified leaders in many professing Christians in America and Eu- the Church at home and in the foreign fields. rope has increased in the last fifteen years. Clearly there is great need to arouse the Christian "(6) We must interpret anew to students the Church to new enthusiasm and sacrifice, in order elementary and fundamental facts in regard to that we may push the campaign to win a sympa- Christian missions. thetic hearingand·an acceptance of the Gospel of Christ-with all its implications-both at home "(7) We must bring living, spirit-filled misand abroad. sionaries into touch with students so that they may understand the opportunities, the obligations, Fifty-one years ago the Student Volunteer the requirements and the rewards of missionary Movement was founded for this ideal-to evan- service. gelize the world in this generation. It has been signally blessed and wonderfully effective in en- "(8) We must look ahead and discover the new listing volunteers, in arousing the Church and in types of missionaries that will be needed to carry gaining friends and supporters for the cause. on the work under changing conditions ten years Recently the financial and spiritual depression at from now. home, and complications abroad, have caused the Movement to lose ground. There has been even "(9) We must associate in the Movement, able some talk of abandoning its active work or of Christian leaders of the churches on each field so changing its purpose and program. Lowering of that we at home may work with them for the ideals in some cases, changes in leadership and evangelization and education of their people. loss of support, have hindered progress. "(10) We must seek to win commercial, politi- Now, however, with the coming of a new sec- cal and other representatives in foreign lands to retary, Dr. Paul J. Braisted, there is promise of Christ so that they will have the conviction that new life and power in the Movement. Dr. every Christian should be a lay missionary and should enjoy fellowship with other disciples of Christ.
"In this and other ways we must layout a pro- gram and seek spiritual power to promote Chris-
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
tian unity, harmony and cooperation throughout and Mental Philosophy in the college. For many the world." years he was a trustee of Rutgers-always active in its affairs. As an undergraduate he played on Dr. John R. Mott, one of the earliest Student the college football team, and every interest of Volunteers, and for many years chairman of the the college, especially all its religious interests, Movement, made a powerful appeal for new co- were of concern to him. operation, whole-hearted support and an adequate program to help evangelize unoccupied fields, to After his seminary course he returned to India study the great world problems, and to present in 1887 as a missionary of the Reformed Church Christ as the only One who can solve these prob- in America. His complete mastery of the verlems and meet the greatest needs of all mankind. naculars, which was one of his mother tongues, his extraordinary intellectual ability, his warmth The Student Volunteer Movement has a new of character and his personal charm made him an opportunity today. The secret of new life and ideal missionary. He found a mission almost effective service must be found in a clear vision of Christ's objectives, in new emphasis on the essence of the Gospel, in Spirit-filled leadership, and in devoted, sacrificial service, both at home and abroad. May God guide and bless Dr. Paul J. Braisted and his fellow workers.
WILLIAM I. CHAMBERLAIN One of the most competent, trusted and beloved WILLIAM 1. CHAMBERLAIN missionary leaders of the generation passed away in the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, ideally organized for its work. The evangelistic on September 28th, in the death of the Rev. Wil- itinerating circuits were laid out with greatest liam I. Chamberlain, D.D., Secretary of the Board care and steady and conservative policies were of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in pursued with a view to the building up of living, America for twenty-four years, from 1909 until self-supporting churches. his retirement in 1935. In addition to his full share of direct evangelis- Dr. Chamberlain was born into missionary tic work he gave himself to the training of an leadership. His father was Dr. Jacob Chamber- educated, Christian leadership. He established lain, one of the early missionaries to India of the Voorhees College at Vellore in 1898 and served as Reformed Church and one of the most capable and its president until 1905. picturesque missionaries and missionary advocates of the last century. He was one of the He was recognized as a full member of the Inspeakers at the Student Conference at Mount dian community, enjoying the respect and con- Hermon, Mass., when the Student Volunteer fidence of all classes, serving by election on the Movement originated and his addresses and Municipal Council and as Mayor of Vellore. He power were among the inspiring influences which was a living refutation of the type of critic produced the Movement. Some of the missionary which regards missionaries as intruders, unwelstories became classics.
William Chamberlain was born in Madras on Oct. 10, 1862 and from his childhood absorbed the missionary spirit. The Arcot Mission, to which his father belonged and of which he was one of the greatest leaders, was an extraordinarily efficient and well organized mission, conservative and educational, but at the same time animated through and through with the spirit and purpose of rich and thorough evangelization.
William came back to America for his education and was graduated from Rutgers College in 1882 and from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary four years later. He was always a devoted Rutgers alumnus and his college gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1912. In 1917-8 he was president of the New York Association of Rutgers Alumni. For three years after his return from India he occupied the Chair of Logic
come to the people and aloof from their common ciates. The dominant note of his character was the heroism of his faith. life. He concerned himself with all that affected To the missionaries William 1. Chamberlain the well-being and happiness of the people-sani- was not only a wise counselor, a statesman of broad vision and a friend in every hour of trial tation, taxation, honest government, education. or disappointment; he was a man whose deep reli- gious convictions, in an age of compromise and But above all and through all he was a minister doubt, were like a rock in a weary land. In one of his great missionary addresses on "The Fact of Christ, preaching the Gospel and building the of Christ" he made this memorable statement: "This greatest Master of religion was differen- Church. Under Lord Curzon's vice-royalty he tiated from all other teachers. Others claim to be the messengers of truth; He is the Message. was awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind medal, first class, Others claim to be light-bearers; He is the Light. Others claim to point to the truth; He is the for his service to India. Truth. All the data for Christianity are found in the one phenomenon-the fact of Christ." He returned from India in 1905 and after his Dr. Chamberlain's philosophical mind found its service for three years at Rutgers, accepted the center and rest in the evangelical faith of which he was never ashamed and for which, on the platsecretaryship of the Board of Foreign Missions form and in missionary councils, he fought many a good fight. On the far-flung field of Christian of his church. Here for twenty-six years he ad- enterprise in India and the Far East, in the lonely places of the Moslem world many hearts have ministered the missions with wisdom and devo- been strengthened by his sturdy outspoken witness to the sufficiency of the Gospel. tion, combining careful and conservative views lie was one of the organizers of the American with faith and courage. He possessed the confi- Christian Literature Society for Moslems and was its president for many years. In his unceasing dence of hi$ Church, was president of the Gen- labors for the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church, and the United Mission in Iraq, he knew eral Synod in 1908-09 and again and again carried the burden of Islam and the "patience of unan- swered prayer." The archers of criticism someprogressive policies with the trust of the Church. times sorely grieved him and shot at the enter- prise he loved, but his bow abode in strength and He was looked to as leader on all special occasions his arms and hands were made strong by the mighty God of Jacob. In his picture of the Alpine and .he gave his Church a position of honor in shepherds, as a type of the missionary at his task, he spoke words that are prophetic of the Alleluias the Christian world by the quality of his rl:!pre- in which he now has part: sentation of it. In 1923-24 he was president of When the sun is just setting and the peaks of the eternal snow become tinted by its dying beams, the shepherd who the Alliance of the Reformed Churches and in the is highest up the mountains takes his horn and sounds through it a few simple but melodious notes signifying, field of foreign missions he was Chairman of the "Glory be to God." Far and wide in the pure air floats the sound. The nearest shepherd hears and replies and Annual Conference of ,the Foreign Mission from man to man, over the illimitable deserts of a hun- dred hills, passes on the sound of the worship. Then there Boards of North America and of its Committee is a silence, a deep dead silence, during which every head is uncovered and every knee bowed while from the stillness of Reference and Council. In 1916 and 1920 he of the solitude rises the voice of supplication heard by God alone. visited the missions of his Board and his interest Again the highest shepherd sounds through his horn, took in them all. He had a very special interest in "Thanks be to God"; again is the sound taken up and passed on from man to man along the mountains until, the United Mission in Mesopotamia, a union mis- lost in the twilight, the shepherd betakes himself to his repose." sion of the Presbyterian in the U. S. A., the Re- So do we give thanks to God and glorify Him formed Church in ··A,:ijlerica and the Reformed for the inspiration that has come from this life of this true under-Shepherd of Christ's sheep. Church in the U. S.' When he visited Mesopo- s. M. Z. tamia he was deeply moved by the plight of the Assyrian refugees. He was president of the Board of Trustees of Fukien Christian University and a trustee of the American University at Cairo.
Dr. Chamqerlain was married to Mary Eleanor Anable of New Brunswick, N. J., in 1891. She died in 1929, leaving a daughter, Mrs. Alma Chamberlain Anderson.
Dr. Chamberlain was a Christian man through and through. There was in him no darkness at all.
Always courteous and careful, he was neverthe- less firm as a rock in all righteousness and clear as daylight in his convictions and their expres- sion. There was a singular purity of nature in him that stood out as a quality of childlikeness and simplicity. He was one who commanded al- ways and everywhere all men's trust, and who always and everywhere enlisted without effort their deepest affection. For years he was a di- rector of this REVIEW and those who were thus intimately associated with him place on record their testimony to an able, devoted, noble Chris- tian man. R. E. S.
*** This man of God was versatile in his talents, steadfast in his life and beloved of all his asso-
Effect of Islam on
By CHARLOTTE E. YOUNG, Teheran, Iran -.~ Missionary of the Presbyterian Church,. Teacher in Alborz College MILLIONS of chilren are born every year scholastic standards that have come from widen- into Moslem homes, within earshot of the ing contacts with the Christian world-where muezzin call. From babyhood, through such a large place is given to the child-they are the formative years of childhood, until early mar- still held back, imbedded and writhing in the mesh riage perpetuates the cycle of Moslem traditions, of superstition and the hampering effects of evil customs, and superstitions, Islam is part of their social customs that center in Islam itself. everyday life. The ideal character for those who are brought up in this atmosphere is Mohammed; Murray Titus in his book, "The Young Moslem Looks at Life," says: "Everyone of the undesir- the standards which he has put forth in the able elements in Islam is something that is rooted Koran, as God's revealed will for mankind, are in the religion. They are all lawful-polygamy, the guiding factors in their lives. child marriage, easy divorce, the keeping of con- cubines, slavery." Mohammed participated in One sees God-given spontaneous joy and the sunshine of childhood among the beggar young- each one. There is not one of these outstanding sters in the streets of Moslem cities. One recognizes the laughter and chatter of carefree hap- piness as the children skip and play in the walled harem gardens, or gayly trot along on their tiny donkeys to a garden picnic. And this same child- ish happiness is found in homes where the proud mother asks a manly little son or a demure daugh- ter to pass the sweets to her guests, or where the doting father calls on his sons to entertain the company by reciting poetry.
All this one recognizes as a child's natural response to those God-given human qualities of parental-love-that elemental passion for children that brings with it the desire to shelter, protect and give security to the limit of the parent's knowledge and ability. The response of the child is as elemental as the love of the parent.
Alonzo Bunker has a different explanation for bright faces among Moslem children but recog- YOUNG MOSLEM READING THE KORAN nizes that there are such. "The attractiveness of childhood among all races sometimes seems to be practices within the social system that does not accentuated among less intelligent peoples; so reflect sorrow upon the life of a child.
that, before the fogs of sin and ignorance have From so much in current literature, in maga- blurred the image of God in which they were zines, in novels, in psychological stUdies of childcreated, they show a strength and brightness more hood there comes to us the effect of unhappiness marked than in their more favored brothers and to children resulting from divorce, which seems sisters in enlightened lands . . . one remembers to us least of the above-mentioned evils. A conthat of these too it may be said, 'Trailing clouds crete example taken from modern life in Moslem of glory do they come.' " lands will serve to illustrate conditions all too But from their earliest years children of Mos- common resulting from these customs. lem countries enter into the inheritance of their S- comes to us with her story-a girl who religion, and their religion is their handicap. In had received the highest degree in education that spite of modern methods of Western education women of her country could acquire. She is an taken up by their governments, in spite of higher only daughter, devoted to her widowed mother [ 519 ]
who in turn gave much. Her years of schooling- but who longed to serve her sisters. In one letter freedom to come and go among school friends of she writes: her own choosing-is much in the life of a Moslem girl. But there were limits; on the day when The Mohammedan law allows a man to have four wives she and others of her classmates graduated un- at the same time. And though it be a thousand times over veiled before the large mixed audience and gave no sin according to Mohammedan law and doctrine, I shall their orations, S-, in deference to her mother's forever call it a sin. I call all things sin which bring wishes, delivered her oration from behind the misery to a fellow creature. . . . veil. Her subject was, "The Care and Education of Children." In the audience, a gentleman of There was a woman who became wife number two of a some standing in the educational world, was im- native official. The first wife, who was not quite right in pressed. He sought her hand in marriage- her mind, after a little went away from him, leaving bethrough the medium of the family as was the cus- hind a whole troop of children. Number two oecame his tom. But, protested S-, "he already has a wife official wife and was a painstaking, loving mother to her and children." Very well, divorce could be ar- stepchildren; she was very diligent and worked hard to ranged if that was an obj ection. The mother was save something from the income of her husband so that insistent-it was time that S- should marry. later they would be able to educate his children. And She had had many offers but none from so promi- it was thanks to her that the sons turned out so well. nent and respected a man. And so, much against Now I come to the thanks. Once when her husband had her own wishes, the union was effected. gone to the city he came home late at night and called his wife outside. A guest had come with him for whom she "And are you not happy," I enquired, "Is your must care and make ready a room. The guest was a husband not kind to you?" young woman, and when her husband told her that the guest was his wife and that she, his older wife, must "Oh, yes; it's not that, he is kind, I have a henceforth share everything with her, she was at first pleasant home; enough servants and all that, but stunned, for she did not understand. She only stood and he married me because he wanted me to bring up looked at him. But when the frightful truth penetrated his children. He didn't think their mother was to her brain, she sank without a single word to the ground. doing it well. The children all live with us." Ellsworth Huntington draws the contrast so "But," said I, "isn't that a wonderful opportu- clearly that we take the liberty of quoting from nity-you can put your theories into practice." his book, "The Pulse of Asia": "It is quite impossible," she replied, and there Mohammedanism, as everyone knows, inculcates the was bitterness in the girl's reply. "Apart from the seclusion of women, and makes of her nothing but a fact that their early training has been all wrong, stupid drudge to do man's work, or a light plaything for and a complete reconditioning of many habits is his pleasure. Wherever people of Moslem faith gather in necessary, they are allowed each week to visit towns and cities, as I have seen them in Turkey, India, their own mother, who lives with the grand- Persia, Asiatic Russia, and Chinese Turkestan, this ideal mother. There they are taught to despise me, prevails. In the crowded villages and cities women can quite naturally; when they come back, and for do their work behind high mud walls, and can be conseveral days after each visit, they call me names fined to certain unseen rooms when male guests visit the -not of course in their father's hearing. They house. The support of the family does not depend upon say it is not necessary to obey me, since I am not them, and their activities are almost wholly dependent on their mother. It becomes unbearable. My pa- the will of their husbands. It is rarely necessary that tience cannot endure it. My husband only half they should leave the house, and when they do, there is understands for he is away all day and cannot usually no work to be- done and it is easy to keep their know what I endure. I could love the children, faces covered. Even the peasant women, who must work I could help them; but there is no chance." in the fields, keep aloof, and come in contact with men but little. Only the very poor, or those who are confessedly Our sympathies are with this charming young immoral, go about in public with uncovered faces. The woman; but what of the effect on the lives of that evil effect of all this has been often described and needs boy and girl so patently not responsible for their no comment. conduct? Dr. Richter, in summing up the causes of decay Christian missions to Moslems have centered in Islam, puts the chief emphasis on the moral upon the uplift of the position of women even deterioration due to polygamy and the low ideals more than upon improving the condition of child- of home life. He says: "Sound family life is imhood; and with good reason for, with a higher possible. The children grow up in the poisonous standard of motherhood, many of the sad effects atmosphere of intrigue, fleshly lust, bad language, upon childhood can be eliminated. In "Mecca and and shameless licentiousness. They are polluted Beyond," by Dr. and Mrs. Edward M. Dodd, we from youth up." read of the Javanese Princess, Raden Adjung Kartini who grew up in obscurity and seclusion In "The Arab .at Home," by Dr. Paul W. Har- rison, we find the following: The boy grows up in an ntmosphere of intrigue and suspicion, the furtherest possible remove from any idea of cooperation and brotherly love. The whole environ- ment is charged with exaggerated sex desires, and at the age of twelve, he wants to get married. It is better that he should, for so worse evils are averted. He has no in-
THE EFFECT OF ISLAM ON CHILDHOOD
terest in education, nor have his parents any great in- the creed of Islam in this connection. Mr. Murray terest in it for him. He may learn to read the Koran Titus has outlined it for us in "The Young Mosand if he is especially fortunate he may go on to learn lem Looks at Life" : to write as well. But the home as we know it simply does not exist, and until it does, all hope for solid progress is I believe: futile. That there is no god but Allah; One must remember that Moslem childhood I believe: does not last long. As a matter of fact, according In his angels; to Moslem law, the child has no period of adoles- In his books; cence. B.oys and girls goO directly from infancy In his apostles, and that Mohammed is the last of into manhood and womanhood, and the age of them; childh.ood is limited only by physical development. In the Last Day; and There is no thought .of the immaturity .of the In the predestination by Allah of good and evil. mind. At the first signs of puberty childhood ceases and manhood and womanhood have be- There is no question about the majestic idea of gun. the unity of God found in Islam. Though he is often on the lips of the faithful as "The Merciful, Among educated M.oslems, and there are of The Kind," there is never any idea .of a nearness course an increasing number in every country where Islam is strong, it is gratifying to know CHILDREN NEAR DAMASCUS that child-marriage is one of the first of the social evils to be attacked. The illiteracy of the masses to his creatures, shown in the spirit of fatherhood, remains, and will remain for years, a challenge or in love and sacrifice for his children. Much is to the enlightened people of these lands, as well lost from the spiritual life .of childh.ood when we as to us who are their brothers in Christ. Even take from the idea of God that of a loving, heavenso, the illiterate children will be benefited in this ly Father who cares just as much for a little child respect because of the laws of their governments as for a king or queen. Our Christian children are concerning child-marriage-compulsory education made to realize this blessing as they are taught to and slavery. These laws have come not because come directly to their Father in simple prayer life. of a reinterpretati.on of the Koran or the life of Moslem children must memorize a ritual in a Mohammed-(though that has had to be done by language which, except for those in Arabia, is a few of the faithful in order to rationalize the quite unknown to them. There is reverence for present order), but because of the influence of the the ritual but never any reverence .or respect for spirit of Christ working through the social system the name of Allah. The effect upon the converof even nominal Christian governments. sation .of children, who have never considered the Third C.ommandment, is often shocking to those A New York State high school boy in reading who have been taught to revere the name .of God. some of the latest mission literature, written for the study of the Moslem World, recently remarked to his teacher: "Of course, I didn't know much about Islam before but it really isn't such a bad religion, is it?"
"Not such a bad one," replded the teacher, "but is there a better? Have you as a Christian child profited by being born a Christian? Are there things you would have missed had you been born in a Moslem country? I don't mean material things, but spiritual things that have contributed to your happiness, just because they are Christian .?"
"That goes without saying," said the boy, "and of course we have Christ for our standard-but the rules for a religious life that Mohammed gave his people were not so bad, were they?"
The teacher directed the lad's attention to the traditional Moslem creed and the Moslem ritual and asked him to study and compare the effect of that creed and ritual upon life and conduct with the effect of the Christian faith and standards.
Because of its very definite effect upon the child life of the Moslem world, it is well to consider
With the establishment of government schools pillar, held it under the old man's nose. At the the old "maktab" is disappearing. This "maktab" first whiff the old man threw his head back in years gone by was the only type of education. quickly and of course hit it against the pillar. It was run by the priest, with the Koran as the Being entirely unaware of the real cause of all textbook; but in the Moslem world today it no that happened, he believed to his dying day that longer is an influence upon youth. There is left he had been the victim of some jinn. nothing that is being done specifically for the child by way of religious education. Compare this with These jinn are said to inhabit wells, bath houses, the time, effort and funds spent throughout Chris- abandoned dwellings and certain secluded regions. tendom, not only for the religious education of The Koran says that the jinn were interested auchildren, but also for their joy and happiness and ditors of Mohammed's preaching, and that a comfellowship in the life of the church, and we real- pany of them was converted to Islam. When a ize the results of the love of Jesus for little chil- Moslem declares his belief in jinn, as real beings, dren. We believe in God, the Almighty, as does he means it literally. the Moslem; but our creed gives us also "The Father, and Jesus Christ, His only Son, our It is the rare Moslem child who does not wear a Lord"; because of Him, and the guidance of the talisman of some sort. Many of these are small Holy Spirit, we are led on to probe and to prove metal cases, bound to the arm or ankle, containing the length and breadth, the heights and the depths a sura from the Koran. It is common knowledge of the love of God for His children. that the chapters from the Koran which are most often selected for use as amulets, and put in small Ar,ound the Moslem statements, "I believe in cases, are Surahs 1, 6, 18, 36, 44, 55, 67, and 78. his angels" and "I believe in his books," has grown There are five verses in the Koran, called the up that great cult of magic against which every verses of protection, Ayat-el-Hifdh, which are Moslem child has to fight as he acquires a knowl- most powerful to defend from evil. They read edge of modern science and more civilized forms as follows: of living. The preservation of heaven and earth is no burden unto A modern child psychologist could write vol- Him. umes on the effect upon children of the everpresent talisman that is worn to keep off "the God is the .best protector. evil eye." One never forgets the fear in the eyes They guard him by the command of God. of children, and of educated parents too, as they We guard him from every stoned devil. tell tales of jinn and of the different kinds of A protection from every rebellious devil. devils and angels. Think of the effect on Moslem children who Jinn, the genii of "The Arabian Nights," are study physiology and chemistry in modern schools a sort of intermediate species between men and and at the same time are taught to believe in and angels. There are both good and bad jinn, and reverence amulets and charms. Ordinarily the they are created from fire. They assume various ink used for writing amulets is saffron water, rose shapes, grow large and small at will, attack un- water, orange water, the juice of onions, water suspecting human beings, and are the cause of from the sacred well of Zemzen, and sometimes unending fear in the hearts of multitudes of Mos- even human blood! The one who writes the amulems who believe in their power over men. The let must be a holy man, in the Moslem sense of average Moslem in Arabia, India, Iran or North that word. Arabic books on the subject (and Africa is amply prepared to verify the old tales these books are printed by the thousands) , explain· of the jinn with chapters out of his own expe- as follows: rience. The diet of the one who prepares charms depends on Murray Titus tells how, in Calcutta, an old the kind of names of God which he intends to write or Moslem servant threw up his job of pulling the recite. If they are the terrible attributes of Allah, then fan, or punkah, which was worked by hand be- he must refrain from the use of meat, fish, eggs, honey, fore the days of electricity. The reason he gave and musk. If they are His amiable attributes, he must was that on the previous night a jinn had hit him abstain from butter, curds, vinegar, salt, and ambergris. a terrible blow on the back of his head; he would stay there no longer. The truth was that as he By believing in the "Books," a Moslem also inwas sitting with his back against a brick pillar cludes the istikhara (the cutting of the Koran), he fell asleep, and the person for whom he was especially when it comes to matters of health and pulling the punkah awoke in a great perspiration, concerning medical treatment. This often is the for the night was terribly hot. Since this was means of deciding plans for business, or in connot the first time the old man had stopped pulling, sidering whether to accept employment, to form his master rose from his bed, took a bottle of partnerships, or make journeys. Mrs. Dwight smelling salts and, quietly stealing up behind the McDonaldson tells the following story which illus- trates this point.
A child is brought to a doctor and his case is diagnosed as one needing an operation. The
parent is so advised and arrangements are made of courtesy, of hospitality-beautiful and com- for the child to enter the hospital. However, ex- mendable characteristics that are attributable to cuses are made at the last minute; the doctor is the fact that they are Orientals, as well as that assured that the child will be brought the next they are Moslems. Islam has fostered reverence day. He does not return. Days, or maybe weeks, for an Almighty Holy God, a basis from which later the child is brought for the operation. The Christians may lead on to teach that larger con· story is that the istikhara repeatedly came out ception of the Father who desires all His children against the operation and that the child could not to live in peace, and to grow in grace and in the be brought until there was a favorable result. knowledge of their Lord and Master, Jesus This belief in istikhara is part of the belief in Christ.
the predestination by Allah of good and evil. This naturally breeds a spirit of fatalism and has per- GROWING INTEREST IN PERSIA haps, more than any other one thing, accounted By Dr. S. M. Jordan of Teheran for the stagnation and backwardness of Moslem countries. It accounts in large measure for the About thirty years ago a sermon by W. St. Clair high death rate among children. Eighty-five per Tisdall was printed in Persia and almost created cent of the children born in Iran die before the a riot. Today Christian literature is distributed age of twelve, according to mission doctors. If a and causes no disturbance. It is calculated to child becomes sick, it is God's will. If there is no appeal to the young men of Persia. doctor to be had, it is "Kismet"-a word constantly on the lips of Moslems. A former student of the American mission col- lege at Teheran, after serving six or eight months A common custom in Iran among the illiterate as an officer in the Army, was asked: "Was there is to take a child to the public bath as soon after any discrimination against you, because you are a its birth as the mother is able, a matter of from Christian ?" one to three days. If one remonstrates that the infant may catch cold the answer will be-"God "No," replied the young man. "In fact it gave us the child, He will take care of it." If the seemed the other way. My officers often invited child dies of exposure, they say: "God did not me to tea and, after we conversed on things, asked me: 'How do you come to think that any religion desire it to live." is necessary and why have you adopted Christian- An intelligent young Iranian teacher, only a ity?' That gives me a fine chance to explain how few months ago, was talking with a group of Boy I came to be a Christian. There are only a few of Scouts who had just won second honors for their my friends who seem to have real faith in Islam.
group in a competitive exhibition. Said he: Five or six are Christians."
"Now, you young gentlemen know that had all The first time that I suggested we have a Mos- of our troop' been here on time, we would have lem, who had become a Christian, preach in the won first place by a great margin. Is it not too church at Teheran, my associates said it would bad that the dilatoriness of some kept the group cause a riot. Finally Dr. Sa'eed Kurdistani was from realizing its ambition?" asked to preach the next Sunday. "It will cause a "Oh, sir," came the reply, and it was imme- riot," he answered.
diate and characteristic: "but it would have made "You are a Christian ; why should you not no difference; God did not decree our winning cause a little excitement?" I asked.
first place, so why discuss it?" "I will consult the King," he answered, meaning This attitude of mind, bred in children from in- the heavenly King.
fancy, cannot fail to work against those interested Next morning he accepted the invitation, say- in real progress. It is a stumbling block in the ing, "If it is God's will that I should preach next pathway of youth and a weight upon their feet Sunday morning, I will do my best." He preached that tends to drag them down into century-old on Naaman, the Syrian, and the "leprosy of sin."
ruts. The sermon was printed and for years has been Those who have lived with children and youth giving a message of peace and conviction to the in Moslem countries are always unanimously sure multitudes of Persia. Since then eight different that, in the physical world, the law of the survival Christians who were Mohammedans have preach- of the fittest is outstandingly at work. It is true ed to congregations made up almost entirely of also in the psychological world. Christian leaders Moslems. Two or three years ago we elected a from the West must constantly bear this fact in converted Mohammedan as Moderator of the mind and be patient and sympathetic because Church. During Easter week eight evangelistic of it. services were held in Teheran. In the police de- The children of Islam learn from their environ- partment there is one baptized Christian and he ment deep and fundamental qualities of patience, was assigned to be present at our meetings.
Villages in Mozambique*
By the REV. JULIAN S. REA, Portuguese East Africa Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church EVEN among African missionaries we find that read the Testament and to study its meaning; the the term "Christian Village" needs explana- rest of the time he witnessed the sin and degrada- tion. Angola, in Portuguese West Africa, tion of a polygamous and spirit-ridden, drunken has Christian villages; also the other large Portu- home. He chose the Christian way. He had just guese colony of Mozambique. We will deal with been received as a probationer in the village such villages in the Inhambane country in Mozam- church when the Government called him for mili- bique, also known as Portuguese East Africa. tary service and sent him to faraway Portuguese Christian villages began to spring up about Macao in China. Through all the temptations of fifty· years ago and each year new ones appear. such a life he remained true to his Christian vows.
Some have dropped out and few remain in the I· first met Rafael when he returned to his fasame location for more than five or ten years. ther's house, married the girl they had arranged But there are now more than two hundred in the for him, and was trying to teach her and a small Methodist Episcopal Mission, besides a large num- group of friends and relatives. Each morning or ber of Free Methodist, Nazarene, Swiss Presby- evening they assembled under a tree or in Rafael's terian, Anglican, English Methodist and American house for prayer and on Sunday went to the Chris- Board villages and also some from Ethiopian tian village where he had first learned of Jesus.
movements. We were happy that Rafael and his friends should Look at some of these villages. There is Malate. be witnessing in that heathen kraal. Some meetit is Sunday morning, and classes are grouped ings were held with his old father and his father's outside for the lesson study period. The neat little wives. The missionary was satisfied, but Rafael church is just out of the picture, but the pastor's was not. He went to his village pastor-advisor home shows at the left. The houses of two other with his problem, saying, "We do not want to village families show in the background. In all move into any existing Christian village, for we there are ten families in this village and others like our own Ximangani country, bu.t our children come to the services from near-by kraals. This is are in constant danger in my father's village. a young, growing village. About January, 1933, .They see the vile dances and hear the teachings four of us, one a missionary, knelt in the shade of concerning witchcraft and spirits. Even our a tree about where that pastor's house is now, and wives are only nominal Christians. They obey us prayed for God's blessing on the spot chosen for a when we tell them to come to church, but if the new village. Two of the men were leaders of Government should call us away again or we near-by villages. The fourth was Elias who had should have to leave to find work how could they asked permission to start this new place. Within follow the Christian way here? Will you let us six months the village was well started and a go and build together in a new place away from church of mud, poles, and grass was built and all our heathen friends and relatives?" So pastor dedicated. James Manyiki went and set the matter before his Elias had lived in another village where the missionary. Now, there are six other families as- leader had fallen into sin and had been expelled. sociated with Rafael, and he is installed as the Often in such cases the people will stand by their evangelist of the village.
leader, but Elias asked to be permitted to move Simoni is a cripple who liv.ed in a well estabwith his family from the village which the other lished Christian village. One day the request was man's sin had destroyed and to start a new made to allow Simoni to go and help the people in village. a section south of Manjowu where he lived. A Portuguese farmer owned a huge strip of land in Rafael had quite a different experience. He that area, as much as an American county, but had never lived within a Christian group, but. as would not allow any Christians to assemble in his a boy had attended one of the schools in a Chris- domain. Simoni said that he had found a small tian village. Part of the day he was learning to • See Frontispiece Jor illustrations. section in the centre of this vast property which [524 ] was owned by a Moslem Indian. This man, al- own fields. So today a large village, to say noth- though a follower of Mohammed, said that he ing of a large Christian village, is unique; some of would be glad to allow Simoni to live on his land them have as many as sixty or seventy families.
and teach or preach Christianity. Our advice Naturally these compact, ideal units have been was: seized upon by the European mission leader with his bent for organization. The village of Chris- "Do not go with the idea of building a Christian tian families is the real unit of the church organvillage, but go and live as a witness; teach and ization, support, and government. Eight to thirty preach to all who will hear. Do not draw the at- villages make up a circuit traveled by an ordained tention of the Government to yourself by starting African elder. But the real spiritual nurture is a village, or incur the enmity of the white land- given by the evangelist of each village. If small, owner by drawing his people away to build in a a village is constituted a"class" in the true Wesley village with you." sense. If large, several clases will be organized. The regular class dues and special offerings of the But the fact is, Simoni has allowed families to villagers provide about half the church budget. build with him, and the place is called a new vil- Mission funds are now only given to supplement lage, although officially it is only a "class." these local funds, all to be administered by the finance committee of the circuit. Most matters of These are three of the smallest and newest of the 200 villages in our mission. The native Christian leaders have attempted to insist that all church members must live in one of these villages.
The missionary has not always stood for such a regulation but sometimes the Government has found it convenient to favor it. The thing which the missionary has done is to back the village elders in all attempts to discipline wayward vil- lagers. Usually the offence is a concrete sin, such as drinking, smoking, adultery, attendance on heathen ceremonies or calling in witch doctors.
Any act that the evangelist and his committee feels to be contrary to Christian behavior and the vows of a· Believer may end in a church trial.
Usually the governmental or tribal authority can be appealed to to support actual expulsion when necessary.
One cannot generalize on the attitude of the Government toward these Protestant villages. A HAT FACTORY IN MOZAMBIQUE There has been persecution and some seemingly impossible and unfair regulations as to the edu- discipline and regulations are settled by the vilcational qualifications of the evangelist. On the lage elders who are elected locally and are apother hand, some administrators have been proud proved by the quarterly Conference. A very of these better villages and have used them as serious matter goes to the circuit elders and may show places, fruits of their own good Government. eventually call for missionary judgment. Such officials aid the Christian village leaders and The evangelistic, educational, and even the medhave even helped them secure grants of land to ical program of the mission, has benefited greatly assure permanency. Often they have urged the by this Christian village set-up. Morning and most able evangelists to become voters as regular evening prayers, as a village gathering, have citizens. Still, there has always been a tendency proved a wonderfully effective way of bringing to limit the extension of Protestant villages, espe- people, slightly removed from heathenism, into cially in new areas. This may be because of out- an understanding of what Christianity is and can side pressure. There are a few Roman Catholic .be. There have been phenomenal conversions, but villages, but almost always a village of Believers the miracle of these African Christian vUIages is is made up of Protestants. the slow solid growth of men, women and children In most of the Inhambane country, when more in the Christ-way of life. We do not infer that than three or four families have built together, the villages always live up to their name, or are especially if the houses are white, neat, and laid as the villagers wish, but we are glad that the out in rows, it is a Church village. The old tribal early missionaries had vision enough to encour- system, with its habits and customs, was so com- age this unique African development.
pletely destroyed that the villages were dissolved A more ideal educational unit could hardly be and people scattered to live each family near its imagined. Even today the people of the Christian
villages are called "learners" more often than nurse, has actually been called to take maternity "Believers." If an old man wants to excuse him- cases in heathen kraals. Naturally he had to do self for not heeding the Gospel he will invariably and be something more than ordinary in the say, "I am too old to learn." Boys and girls by Xikokotsa village before such an unusual call the thousands have learned to read their Testa- could corne. ments in these village schools. Educators might scorn the methods and ridicule the equipment, yet Samson, trained leader in an Inharrime village, the great essential "something" is there which has been asked by the old chief to layout rice plots modern universities may lack. for all of his people along the river and to show them how to plant and care for the rice. Some Remarkable Happenings A big paramount chief looked to Danieli to Nothing gives better proof of the significance of teach him and his people to stack peanuts. these villages than the fact that most of the institutional work of the mission has fitted into that One government official asked the missionary mould. The village leaders and their families that about releasing several Kambini trained evanhave corne in for training at the Central Training gelists to work under him in a program of gen- School live in a village which is in itself both a eral and economic uplift. laboratory and experiment station. Even the boys chosen by the various village councils and sent to There are a few definite things we are trying the boarding school live in family groups organ- to do through and within these Christian villages. ized into a school village. The school girls also But it must be remembered that this is by no live and work under an excellent village system means a Utopian set-up or an ideal organization that delights teachers, girls, and visitQrs. The projected by the missionary or African leaders two leper camps, iFl which all the missions coop- onto native life. Better houses was one of the first erate, have house groups with the village set-up. things, and is still a marked characteristic of a They govern themselves and life goes on pretty Christian village. To make the place beautiful much as in a normal Christian village. has been slower, perhaps because of a difference in beauty concepts. One who has had no dealings with Christian villages can hardly realize the significance and To a missionary some of these Christian vilimportance of the "evangelist family." Often lages have had a barren cleanliness, less pleasing their only qualification was zeal and Christian con- to the eye than the picturesque clutter of the viction. They may have understood little of the- heathen kraal. But the problem which has caused ology or doctrine, and been able to read only halt- most concern is idleness among the Christians. ingly the New Testament, yet many have not only That is a kinder name than the white man usually ministered faithfully to their villages, but have uses for the break that comes in an African's acsent out spiritual sons and daughters to start new tivities when he switches over from the old to villages. some new way of life. Talk only seemed to pro- voke more talk. Lectures on industry might set In our training we attempt to preserve all the a hundred Africans to work producing similar lecold zeal and devotion, but to set it ablaze with a tures to their friends and neighbors on the need deeper understanding of the Christian faith and a of industry. Agricultural demonstratiorIJS, with knowledge of God's Word. And as these families teaching, have been much more successful. Gengo back into their villages this faith and knowl- erally the Christian villager has better gardens edge is bearing fruit in many ways. Most sig- than his heathen kraal neighbor. Some have livenificant is the better horne life. The old evan- stock, but that has been a serious problem; many gelist told his wife that she was to be a Christian; Africans have gone back to heathenism because she obeyed her lord and master. This new man of village quarrels over goats or chickens. In has a consecrated partner as eager and intelligent some parts of the country a new type of village as himself. His attitude toward his people is layout is helping and makes for improvement in changed; he is a good shepherd now, instead of sanitation and other lines. a petty chief. The New Type of Village The Christian village was often merely nonheathen, with only certain negative teachings to There are many arguments, especially from the distinguish it. The religious meetings and the evangelists, against spreading the villages out, school were the only positive contributions to the but the change is inevitable. The people want surrounding neighborhood. Recently some re- cattle for plowing and need space for goats and markable things have happened. Only three chickens. The majority of the men in that section samples follow. of Africa depend on work in the Johannesburg mines in order that they may get together any Tinoce, an evangelist with the training of a large sum of money such as is needed to pay for a bride, to buy European clothes, cattle or a plow.
A KOREAN MISSIONARY GIVES THANKS
The missionaries have long contended that this The stressing of better agriculture and hand- dependence on the gold mines is detrimental to work to bring economic security, music and play character. It has fostered the idleness that has to add to social enjoyment, village nurses and seemed to us to mark the Christian more than the clinics to improve health, do not mean that wor- heathen. But arguments seldom affect a change. ship is being given a minor place. The villages The little village exhibits of the past three years were mostly started to facilitate group prayer, have done more than talk to get the village people worship and religious instruction.
to pick up again their own arts and crafts. They A great deal of study has been given at Kam- are going back to the excellent African habit of bini to the problem of daily worship and adequate always having a little basket weaving or whittling religious instruction. Perhaps the most signifi- to do. The first sorry little collection of crooked cant help has come through the development of pots, rickety chairs, and a few wooden dishes, worship for special occasions. The "seed consecra- spoons, baskets, sewing and tools, might have de- tion service" at the beginning and the "harvest lighted an anthropologist, but did not speak well festival" at the end of the agricultura~ season for the results of fifty years of Christian influence have made worship a much more integral part of and missionary training. But each year the all village life and far more understandable to the Christian villagers understand better what the kraal people who flock in for these special meet- exhibits are for and a real pride in good work- ings. An act of worship at the time of a mother's manship and display is developing. "coming out" has come as a natural adaptation of It may hardly seem necessary to worry about something good in their old customs. Home and play in a community where you are trying to per- village dedications have been developed into sig- suade people to do more work. But, especially in nificant Christian ceremonies to replace older ones the larger villages, this is the case. Music and that hada good idea but included much evil asso- drama have been introduced to fill an evident gap. ciation with witchcraft, drinking, and licentious- The most progress has been made through en- ness.
couraging African action songs with the smaller Of all village events the most exciting and children. Story-telling is another African art pleasant are, perhaps, the "big meetings" when which is being revived. Hymn singing was about one village acts as host to all the other Christian all that was allowed at one time in the villages villages of that circuit. Then for two or three but now, with this new use of the old songs, musi- days no one lacks for work, social life, or enthu- '
cal instruments are again finding a place. The siastic, joyous worship. One of our villages is best is their xilophone, or African piano. seen at its best in one of these big meetings.
A Korean Missionary Gives Thanks By MRS. GEORGE H. WINN, Seoul, Chosen Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
T HANK the Lord for more intimate contacts when doing the washing they sing "What a Won- with non-Christians in Seoul City – in fac- derful Saviour Is Jesus, My Jesus"; when iron- tory, at wedding feasts, in homes of non- ing, "Wonderful Words of Life"; while patting a Christian friends, and in my own home. baby to sleep, "Moment by Moment"; when at Thank the Lord for his gift of faith to our chil- the interminable task of sorting and ripping the dren, that gift which we cannot bestow and which cotton-lined clothing for the laundry, "I Must Tell fits for any circumstance which may befall, and Jesus All of My Troubles."
gives us a freedom that we could not otherwise Thank the Lord for the various folk contacted have in giving strength to others. . on the ship as we returned from seeing our sons Thank the Lord for word received recently that and daughter off for America. There was the Mrs. Archibald Campbell, of Kankhai, though tied middle-aged man with a wife and five stairstep down by the care of an invalid father, and no for- children, the eldest twelve, on their way to Tibet, eign doctor in residence, went each evening to whither they felt called of the Lord. Whatever lead the women of a Bible class of a hundred then any narrow human opinion as to the probabilities in session in a song service. She suggested that of return at all commensurate with the investment
involved, thank the Lord for that man's hearty on furlough. While we were gone, on account of "We've got a great God and He is able" when on poor· food and doing too much (had she not had every side folks tried to turn him back. food and a good rest in the hospital!) she devel- oped a hump and she still dislikes going about by Thank the Lord for the existence in the world day in the streets because she is so apt to meet today of a couple willing to start out for a place some old acquaintances of hers or her family'S five weeks' slow journey overland even after go- who have not seen her as she now is. This time ing as far as they can up the Yangtse, a destina- her errand was to tell me with smiling delight of tion as far from Hongkong, to which place only the Lord's goodness in that her mother had been they had money to take them, as Hongkong was baptized the previous Sunday. from the Minnesota farm they had sold to help meet their expenses to Hongkong. The man was Thank the Lord for those who coming to our not impractical. Being a German he could speak door on business, assisting us in stores and other several languages and was skilled in handcraft of places in very different walks of life have acdifferent sorts and could play several instruments. cepted, with apparent pleasure, illustrated copies There is little doubt that he can obtain employ- of the Gospel of Mark in Japanese, and copies of ment in a port city should they be in difficulty. In the Gospel of John and simple books with pictures the depths of a life wrong in every way he had telling the Gospel stories, and many copies of the been converted in the streets of Chicago, after Japanese tracts, "How to Overcome Poverty" and that was married, and they are not without evan- "How to Overcome Failure," and Korean leaflets gelistic experience since for the last twelve years on the "Treatments of Colds" and on "How to traveling in a truck they have spent the larger "Pray." par.t of their time trying to go to places in the West where people have no opportunity for a Thank the Lord for much literature of very church service unless they travel many miles. many kinds gladly received in the Licensed Vice District, where we were much distressed to find Thank the Lord for seeing a hard..,boiled, plas- houses which had been for rent a few years ago tic-surgery faced World War veteran, who said rebuilt and reoccupied and new buildings being he did nothing but travel in the South Seas and erected and more building material being brought other places, going back to America to accumulate in. some more pension when his money was exhausted, his conversation a line that made us Thank the Lord for pleasure given to little chilwince, twice return from shore trips with toys for dren being brought up in such surroundings by those children, that poor face all transformed by the clean Christian picture cards sent us from the change in his eyes as he became a child with America. The children hold out their tiny hands them, and gave himself to making them happy. for something and we cannot bear to give out other literature, to be torn up perhaps if the child Thank the Lord for letting me see the table is too young. steward, an Oriental, and even the cook the other side of the window, stand at attention and the Thank the Lord for the words of one of the veteran bow his head as those children in their Korean guests at our Thanksgiving dinner which childish trebles sang twice through before each was followed by a little circle of testimony. He meal their thanks to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. expressed his gratitude not only for the unex- The redeemed of the Lord were saying so. pected opportunity of keeping Thanksgiving which he had observed for so many years in Thank the Lord for the sixteen callers who America, where he became a Christian, but for came that first day after our return to this empty the opportunity of meeting a whole roomful of home, even though some of them came with the people whom he had never before seen who were difficult question, "What do you do when all of trying to live for Christ. It was interesting to your grain is gone and you're going to have no hear him say, in reference to the five months' harvest this fall and over and above that the flood old son of the Severance Hospital Evangelist has obliterated the field you expected to plant in whom his parents had brought with them to dinthe spring." ner-"Nobody could beat that baby in disposition or appearance-his mother knows how." Thank the Lord that my disappointment in not getting to the November station meeting was His We thank God for the testimony at that same appointment because a young hunchback had time, so frank and humble, of another fine young taken that particular evening for walking the man as to God's goodness in restoring him to a· painful steps from her house to mine. Some years childlike faith, after philosophical questionings. ago she fell backward from a seesaw, knocking a vertebra out of place. After months in a cast Weare thankful for Field Day at the mission under Dr. Y. S. Lee's care her first real walk was school of 400 lads and for the marvelously better to attend the farewell service for us when we left physiques we see on all sides, than could be seen twenty-eight years ago when we came.
THE PASSION OF RAYMUND LULL
Weare grateful for the fine meeting of the dis- of a white-faced neighbor because, not having trict committee and their enjoyment of the dinner mountains to ascend like his grandfather, he had provided for them, and exceedingly grateful to climbed a long flight of outside steps in pursuit them and their families for a thousand kindnesses of a cat! shown Mr. Winn when he is in the country. There is perhaps a lesson in a poem written Man man kamsa hawita (literally ten thousand from the midst of the worst of Japan's slums by times ten thousand)-boundless thanks that, as one, whose severest critics rarely go where such I looked down the path for my husband nearly two things may be seen, as he dwells among them hours late for his committee meeting, my gaze with his family in one roomwas finally rewarded. In two inches of newly fallen snow the bus in which he was riding and Penniless another one from Seoul skidded just as they were A while passing each other, escaping a terrible compact with breathtaking narrowness. Another time it I can foodless· live; just missed crashing into a house in the endeavor But it breaks my heart to avoid a sli:ling truck. Next day as he went back he saw an auto which had skidded with 'To know disaster. I CANNOT GIVE.
What is worse than an itinerating husband? Penniless Recently our grandson who seems at 17 months I can wrap in rags to be manifesting his maternal grandfather's itinerating proclivities returned from the end of But Ithe block looking innocent and hugging a wet I cannot bear to hear paint sign, and next day was returned i~ the arms STARVED CHILDREN CRY.
Penniless And rain falls . But trust is true Helpless I wait to see WHAT GOD WILL DO.
The Passion of Raymund Lull By KENNETH G. GRUBB, London, England Joint author of "Religion in the Republic of Spain"
N EARLY seven centuries have passed since Seven centuries then have passed by since this Raymund Lull, the first Christian mission- Apostle to Islam was born in Palma, the capital ary to the Moslems, set out on his lonely quest. The world, as seen in the light of mission- of Majorca.* It is difficult for us to picture what ary endeavor, has greatly changed since then. Printing has been discovered; the Renaissance, life in the Middle Ages must have been. Since the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation that time a new continent has arisen out of the have followed one another in close succession. Western Seas and men have been lured to new The Roman Catholic empire of Spain has faded, adventure by the sound of breaking of Southern and the power of Protestant nations has arisen Seas. The boundaries of heaven, inlaid with to preeminence. Kingdoms have given place to stars, have sunk back into illimitable space; and republics and republics to dictatorships. No all forms of thought and ways of life have passed longer does the Moor hold the great cities of through lasting changes. In the aisles of dark southern Spain. The sea-route to India has churches, where silent knight and abbot sleep in linked east and west, and by canals, dug by men stone, and in the sound of medireval church bells with their machinery, the continents have been we catch something of those men of yesterday, brought together. Where Don John of Austria but they cannot come to us, nor can we go to them. gathered his fleet against the Turk, tourist steam- But we know, through the lives of such as Lull, ers ritle at anchor today. But still the challenge that the problems of the human heart were fundawhich Raymund Lull gave his life to face remains menta:lly the same, that the figure of Jesus evoked unsolved. The Moslem world is still in very large then as now the same response from consecrated part solidly resistant to the power of Christian hearts, and that, strangely enough, one of the love and the penetration of the Christian message. • There is some dispute about the exact date, but the Lullian Society of Majorca agreed t.o celebrat.e the Seventh Centenary In 1935.
great problems of world evangelization, the Is~ with the defence and exposition of the Christian lamic challenge, was essentially the same. faith, and current medireval knowledge. Between October 1313 and May 1314 he prepared over A few years before LuH's birth Majorca itself thirty treatises setting out his views. of Chrishad been reconquered from the Moors. His fa~ tianity. He wrote poetry, "contemplative" works, ther, in fact, was one of the knights that accom~ and "romances of Christian evidences." His panied James I of Aragon in the Reconquest. magnum opus is the vast "Book of Contempla- Palma was at that time one of the most active and tion," an encyclopredia of medireval philosophy, busiest ports of the Mediterranean, and shipping theology and natural science, as well as a lively from all the coasts of southern Europe and north~ description of Catalan society of his time. This ern Africa mingled in the harbor. The beautiful book of nearly a million words also contains an si'gnorial residences of the town today, its mag~ extended apologia for his choice of a missionary nificent cathedral, and its Lonja, or exchange, career. For centuries after his death his reputabear witness to its prosperity. Here, where Mos~ tion was supreme, and it even survived the lem and Christian mingled in the streets with the Renaissance. His followers credited him with betolerance that was characteristic of that age in ing the inventor of nitric acid, the discoverer of Spain before the Inquisition, Raymund spent his the Great Elixir, and the foreshadower of the disearly life. It was that of a profligate and sinful coveries of Columbus! young man who cared nothing for the restraint of his religion. The story of his conversion relates But the outstanding characteristic of Lull's long that he was in love with a beautiful lady of Palma, life, and one which will forever commend him to the memory of his fellow Christians, was his dewas and while he was composing verses to her there votion. Whatever the cause which engaged his granted to him a mystical vision of the suffer- attention, the pursuit of knowledge, the attainings of our Lord. "Suddenly," says the most ment of the mystic's union with God, the convermodern and the ablest of his Anglo-Saxon biog- sion of the Moslem, or the preparation of other raphers,t "when his whole understanding was en- missionaries, he pursued it with unceasing congaged and occupied in the composition of his vain secration. He had no time either for the careless song, he chanced to look up," and ther.e, at his or the learned trifler. He moved toward his goal, side, was "the figure of our Lord Jesus Christ whatever it was, without pause and without rehanging upon the Cross." He himself writes in gret. This is a characteristic devoutly to be deone of his poems- sired today, when a thousand conflicting interests are apt to distract the attention and divert the But Jesus Christ, by His great clemency judgment. Lull possessed devotion in a remark- Five times upon the Cross appeared to me, able degree, and for this reason his name will be That I might think upon Him lovingly, remembered when those of others of his age are And cause His Name proclaimed abroad to be, lost in the records of the past. Through all the world. Two aspects of Lull's life are of special interest: The undisputed fact is that while stiU compara- one is his labor for the conversion of Islam, and tively a young man, he abandoned the world and the other his pursuit of the mystical path of union took the habit of a Franciscan friar. with his Lord. In these are well illustrated the man's weakness and his· strength. For the con- From this time onwards Lull became a Knight- version of Moslems he relied particularly, and in errant both of faith and knowledge. In the course accord with the spirit of the age, on a process of of his journeys he visited France, Italy, Cyprus, intellectual conviction. His Ars Magna was a Armenia and Mrica in His Master's Service. He compendious guide to all truth, a restatement, made use of these travels to gather information, analysis and defence of the Christian faith, which, to enrich his writings and to deepen his own re- as he himself thought, set forth Christianity in so ligious life. But his real object was to make incontrovertible a manner as to serve as an inknown his Ars Magna, or method of converting fallible instrument for the conversion of the Moslems, either in disputations with Moslems world. From this Ars he compiled a vast numthemselves, or else among Christians whom he ber of simpler expositions for the use of the unsought to stir up to zeal in this holy cause. His learned. He expresses his confidence in this long life, passed in one of the romantic centuries method in his own naIve lines: of the Dark Ages, was spent in ceaseless activity until he met his death by martyrdom at Bougu A science I have found that's new, in North Africa, in 1314, at nearly eighty years Whereby comes knowledge of the true, of age. And falsehood's followers grow few. Infidels now their creeds will rue- Lull's energy was prodigious. He is said to Tartar and Saracen and J ewhave been the author of over 500 works, which For God therewith did me imbue. cover a vast number of subjects, but deal mainly t Mr. A11!son Peers.
The history of Christian missions to the Mos- tian disciple was brought inside a life of passion lem is sufficient to show the error of this mis- and enthusiasm, of suffering and glory, for the placed confidence. The will wears more impene- expression of which words did not suffice, but only tJ·able armor than the intellect, and cannot be a body broken and blood poured out. Love, to taken into captivity except by the use of more Lull, was life in its ultimate purpose; it possessed spiritual weapons, by much prayer, by sacrifice, the irresistible power of a physical force; it was by the way of humility and love. Lull did not by a sharing of the "cup" by which alone the triumph any means overlook the use of these hidden hut could be shared. It was natural that love should powerful weapons, but he regarded his Ars as the desire a reward, but to love-that was in itself special means through which the great end which the highest reward. So, through ecstasy in he sought, must be accomplished. After com- prayer, through trials in service, love passes on pleting this weighty compilation he reascended to the life union and the lover goes unto his Be- Mount Randa, where he had received his original loved. "divine illumination," to pray day and night for Lull's whole life, and the reverence in which his four months that it might be used "to the honor memory is held today, are a testimony to the treof God and to the profit of the Holy Catholic mendous moral force which is generated by com- plete self-surrender to God. He was not free to faith." More interesting and significant perhaps today choose whether he would confer the benefits of his was his attempt to train missionaries to carry on outstanding intellectual and spiritual powers upon his work. On the cliffs of his lovely island, at the other men; it was his duty, and necessity was laid spot known as Miramar, he founded a missionary upon him. His attributes of character were gifts college, where he gathered thirteen Franciscan from God, and anything which he had to give was friars. Day by day they gathered round to talk not in the nature of benevolence but atonement, with their teacher, or wandered with him through atonement for the bitternesses of the age, for the the pines and among the tortuous stony paths. hostility between Christian and Moor. His great Far below them, the lisping of the blue waves adventure of love began and ended in his sense of among the old grey rocks made pleasant music in the profound obligation to be among men as one their ears, and called them across the seas to those that serveth. lands which, like their own, had known both Cross The all-compelIing nature of this motive is eviand Crescent, but unlike theirs, had never been dent in all his thought on his great mission to the Moslem world about him. "I see many Knights," reconquered for the Cross. he says, "going to the Holy Land ,beyond the seas As a pioneer of the inner life Lull holds a unique and thinking that they can acquire it by force of place. This mystical quality in his thought and arms; but in the end all are destroyed before they devotion finds its highest expression in the little attain that which they think to have. Whence it "Book of the Lover and the Beloved," Lull's one undoubted masterpiece. Though nearly the small- seems to me that the conquest of the Holy Land ought not to be attempted except in the way in est it is undoubtedly the greatest of the author's which Thou and Thine apostles acquired it, many works, and it contains in comparatively few namely, by love and prayers, and the pouring out pages, the essence of his religious experience. It is the most widely known of all his writings and of blood and tears." can be read today in six languages. In general Many of Lull's deepest meditations were formed tone and depth of feeling it reminds the reader during his wanderings in his own native island of of the Gospel of St. John, and it must take rank Majorca. Indeed. it would have been difficult for among the more profound documents recording him to find, in the lands bordering the Mediterthe Christian view and practice of the mystic way. ranean, a spot which by history and environment On every page it is concerned with a truer under- was more suited to such a purpose. Islands, many standing of the ideal of union with God as the goal a time, have given to the world pioneers of of the spiritual life; its description of love as "the thought or action. Here in his native Majorca, desire for the Beloved as being the end of the with the tinkling of sheep-bells among the bushes will," is both comprehensive and satisfying. It and rocks, with the quiet splash of friendly waters stretches the use of language to the full in its in the little caves, with the pervasive odor of the boldness of expression, but its words are the southern pines, and the company of a boat or two words of one who himself put to the proof the fishing in the bay; here, when the afternoon sun power of love, and spurned the lower way of self- declined over the sea and lit the towering peaks above, bare in summer, snow-touched in the preservation and self-protection. This book shows clearly that the real motive winter, or when the light itself both molded stark that constrained Lull to a long life of service and outlines and created radiant backgrounds as it devotion was the love of Christ. By it the Chris- fell on the islets and stretching promontories, this
pioneer would walk, and meditate on those themes which realizes that it must maintain morale and which by his treatment have enriched the common build for the future. spiritual heritage of mankind. Behind all his dreams was the tireless beating of the waves, the Hospitals, especially, are urged to keep open. soft but eternal murmur calling him again to There are 297 foreign doctors and 207 foreign launch forth on the knightly quest for men and nurses in the 232 mission hospitals, half of whom God. And around him was a solemn silence, a are American. These hospitals cared last year sil~nce which could be felt, like the silence of for over 200,000 in-patients and about 3,000,000 Horeb or of Calvary, or of all places where God out-patients. The Seventh Day Adventist Medical is present and flesh is subdued. Center in Shanghai has been destroyed. St. Luke's in Hongkew has moved its staff and equipment THE WAR AND MISSIONS IN CHINA into the International Settlement. Margaret Wil- liamson Hospital had to be evacuated. Japanese The effect of the present armed conflict upon airplanes bombed the Mission Hospital of the Dismissions and Christian institutions in China has ciples' Mission at Nantungchow, 50 miles northbeen shattering, especially in some areas. Educa- west of Shanghai, killing two Chinese doctors, tional institutions have been the first to suffer. thr.ee nurses, eight other workers and five pa- Out of a total of 499 educational and cultural in- tients, and demolishing the hospital. All hospitals stitutions, research institutes, libraries, museums near the war areas are crowded with wounded and observatories, 84 per cent are in the coastal soldiers and civilians and the Chinese Medical Asprovinces, including 17 out of 21 American sup- sociation, which includes in its membership pracported colleges and universities. Seventy-eight of tically all western-trained doctors in China, is the 105 colleges and universities, with enrollment cooperating with the government in the supply of of over 50,000 students, are in war areas and 23 doctors. are in Japanese occupied territory. Seven of these have been wholly or partly destroyed by Japanese The work of the Church is naturally much afbombing, including Nankai University, Women's fected. Shanghai, the nerve center of Christian Normal School and Hopei Technical Institute in organizations in China, is now to a great extent Tientsin, National Central University in Nanking, cut off from the rest of the country and it is diffiand Chung Shan University in Canton. Che Chih, cult to send funds to the interior. Tung Chi and Fu Tan Universities in Shanghai are completely destroyed. The University of Thousands of churches not in areas of fighting Shanghai, founded by the Northern and Southern will be affected by troop movements and bomb- Baptist missions, with property value of $800,000 ings, by diminished sources of native support, by U. S., has suffered from large shell holes in the restrictions upon activities and by the general main buildings and from looting of faculty resi- strain of war. But reports indicate that most dences by Japanese troops. Chinese workers are facing the situation cour- ageously and that there is a revival of faith and In the Peiping and Tientsin area of north China of the spirit of prayer in many sections. In larger most schools are attempting to reopen under seri- cities interdenominational committees for relief ous difficulties because of Japanese restrictions work are being formed. Sian, Taiyuan, Chengtu, upon educational freedom and the arrests of cer- Changsha, Anking, Wuhu and Wenchow have retain teachers and students. ported that Christian work is being continued without interruption. The American Branch of In Shanghai, where fierce fighting still goes on, the China Inland Mission, which has the largest educators are doing their best to conserve the in- number of missionaries in interior provinces, restitutional work that is left. The University of ceived a cable (September 16) saying "Inland all Shanghai has found temporary quarters in the In- safe." Many churches in north China are caring ternational Settlement. Medhurst College of the for refugees from war zones. London Mission, schools of the Southern Baptist Mission, in addition to many government and pri- The general feeling in China among missionvate schools, are in the war area. St. John's aries is that this is not the time to desert their University, founded by the American Episcopal Chinese friends and fellow-workers. This atti- Mission, is near the fighting lines. The policy of tude is being supported by most missionary sociecontinuing educational work during the crisis has ties, in America and in England. Dr. E. E. Brown the strong support of the Chinese government of Wuhu General Hospital writes, "We share our work in peace times with Chinese colleagues; why' should we not share in time of danger?"
FRANK W. PRICE.
Work Among the
One Hundred and Fifty Years of Service Among Native Americans By G. E. E. LINDQUIST, Lawrence, Kansas – . For ten years Missionary-at-Large, Society for Propagating )J.- the Gospel Among the Indians and Others in North America O N NOVEMBER 19th this year the oldest school in the wilderness to the support of the col- incorporated missionary society in Amer- lege" (for example, Samson Occom and the found- ica celebrates its sesquicentennial. Or- ing of Dartmouth), were but a few of the activiganized in the days when no restrictions were ties promoted by this Puritan Society which had placed on long titles, it has been known through- its roots in Mother England. out its 150 years as "The Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Indians and Others in The American Revolution naturally meant the North Amellica." Brought into being as a mis- virtual cessation of English effort in behalf of sionary unit within a few months after the Amer- aboriginees in the new republic. Nor had the ican Constitution was adopted, it seems to have distractions of war (French and Indian as well been imbued with something of the youthful vi- as the Revolution) tended toward the promotion tality and commendable daring of that memorable of Christian missions. Wars never do. True, as document. It has thus an honorable place among early as 1762, sporadic efforts had been made to the early undertakings in the newly established establish a missionary society on New England nation. The spirit of independence had been born among a people "no longer subjects in a Province, but citizens in a Nation."
A Pioneer Spirit A pioneer spirit antedated this organization in THREE CHEROKEE CHIEFS WHO VISITED LONDON IN 1762 sending the Gospel to "the heathen of New England," as is evidenced in the somewhat sporadic soil. A considerable fund was collected and a attempts of sundry individuals and societies charter obtained from the Colonial government; whose activities have come down to us in such but when "the act of their incorporation was sent quaint reports as those contained in "New Eng- to England for allowance, the Archbishop of land's First Fruits" (1643), and "The Day Break- Canterbury, jealous lest this should interfere with ing if not the Sun Rising of the Gospel with the the society established in Great Britain, or per- Indians (1647)." It must be remembered that in haps unwilling that persons not well affected to the 147th and the early part of the 18th centuries espiscopacy should obtain a new influence and missionary societies, supported by churches as we power by this means, obtained from the King a know them today, were not in existence. Mis- negative on the incorporating bill." sions were either sponsored by the Government, coincident with Colonial expansion, or by indi- The zeal of "the Christian gentlemen of 1762" viduals possessed of Christian and humanitarian was greatly abated at this rebuff, and the Revoluzeal for those "sitting in darkness and in the tion occupied their attention later, so it was not shadow of death." Thus "amid the stir in thought until 1787 that another attempt at organization and deed at the rise of the English Common- was made. The immediate occasion for this revival wealth" there came into being the corporation known as "The President and Society for Propagation of the Gospel in New England" (1649). History records the work of John Eliot, "the first apostle to the Indians," as well as other pioneers who were representatives of Puritan devotion and missionary zeal. "From physic for the body to medicine for the soul, from aid to the primary [533 ]
seems to have been due to Scottish influence. Dr. een in the District of Maine and two on the Isles Peter Thacher, historian for the Society in 1798, of Shoals. The original benefactor, Col. Alford, describes it in the following graphic manner: had been concerned with "the dark, benighted "In the year 1787, a commission from the society parts of the land," especially the destitute parts in Scotland, for propagating Christian knowledge, of Maine. Consequently, until 1836 the Society was received by a number of gentlemen in Boston helped to support missionaries and preachers in and its vicinity, to superintend the funds of the the frontier settlements of that state and on the society which were devoted to Christianizing the Isles of Shoals "where the inhabitants could not aboriginal natives of America. Ashamed that alone maintain the regular institutions of reli- more solicitude for this object should be discov- gion."
ered by foreigners than by themselves, these gen- Aside from "the free preaching of the Gospel tlemen revived the former plan, and associated to the poor and the destitute," the early missionfor the purpose of forming a society similar to aries were charged with the distribution of "usethat in Scotland. They petitioned the General ful, human literature." Accordingly, the chroni- Assembly for a charter, which was granted them, cler of 1804 was able to report: "In prosecution with the adequate powers, at the close of the same of these salutary purposes, the Society since the year, 1787." year 1787 have purchased and distributed (except A Colonel and a Governor a few remaining in hand for the same purpose) 607 Bibles, 1,151 Testaments, 1,649 Spelling Whether this new society would have survived Books, 801 Psalters, 2,310 Primers, 140 Watt's the financial depression of post-Revolution days Psalms and Hymns, 768 of Doddridge's Rise and without the substantial aid of an army colonel is Progress of Religion in the Soul and 9,898 other not easy to determine at this distance. However, books, mostly pamphlets, but many large and val- Col. John Alford of Charleston, who was desirous uable treatises, making in the whole (if .we in- that the "Aboriginals should be both civilized and clude what were given to the Indians) 17,324."
Christianized," had set aside a considerable part Schools in the Wilderness of his estate for this purpose. Richard Cary, his executor, writing to the members of the Society It has been well said that the early-day misin 1789, says: "Having honored me with his sionary advanced into the bounding wilderness power to act, I have often heard him speak with with the Bible in one hand and the textbook in the concern of the state of"the Indians; how gentle- .other. A task of immediate concern, therefore, men in England were at great expense in having was the establishment and support of schools, the Gospel propagated among them (the Indians), especially "in those towns where there were but while we, in this country, were inattentive to this few inhabitants, and those few not in circumimportanf concern." It developed that Col. AI- stances to support a teacher." The instructors ford's bequest amounted to $10,675.18 in "real were "men of piety, experience and other qualidollars." (rather than "nominal dollars").* fications, to lead in religious services on the Lord's Among other most generous early .contributors day; that so parents and children may derive to the funds of the Society was Hon. James Bow- benefit from their labours."
doin, "afterward Governor of the Commonwealth" All efforts in this direction were not eminently (whose name is perpetuated by Bowdoin College). successful, as is evident from the daily journal of Thus, sixteen years after its establishment, twelve the first missionary teacher (Mr. Little) s~nt to benefactors had given $17,514.51. By 1803 the Penobscot Bay in Maine. He speaks of opening total funds were $23,417.35, and its income $1,- "a free English school," near the borders of In- 145.83. That some "contract relationship" with dian Old Town, and after inviting the Indians· the Commonwealth of Massachusetts must have and getting in touch with the chief Sachem, a obtained in those early days is evident from the French priest arrived on the scene. This reprehistorian of that period who states that "for many sentative of religion, however, was evidently not years" an annual grant was received from the in favor of "free English schools" among his con- Legislature. It is not indicated what these grants stituents, for after conducting a council with involved in dollars and cents, nor when the grants them, the results were reported to Mr. Little as were discontinued. follows: "That ajlmall part of them were desirous to have their children taught the language and In the first Iieriod of its existence the Society manners of the English, but all of them were apsupported four missionaries among the Indians prehensive that their religion would be in danger; (Cape Cod region and Martha's Vineyard), eight- • It Is Interesting to note in this connection that Col. Alford also (they also) wished to know why their children endowed a new professorship at Harvard College of "Natural Re- could not be taught to read and write by a master ligion, Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity," called by the name of of their own religious persuasion." Mr. Little, "Alford's Professor."
EARLY WORK AMONG THE INDIANS
finding the object of his free school "clouded by these missionaries were not to go unrewarded is unforeseen occurrences and events," withdrew evident from a number of items in the annual re- "down the river" where his services were more ports. The truth of the old saying that where certain conditions are fulfilled certain inevitable acceptable. * results will follow, was repeatedly verified. Per- haps no better illustration need be cited than that These ambassadors and propagators of the of Rev. John Sargeant's work among the Oneidas Gospel were "rugged individualists" in an origi- where one-third of the tribe "were determined to nal sense and may aptly be called "prophets of join his congregation at the commencement of the the long road," the sobriquet attached to Francis year" (1805). In his report to the secretary he Asbury of Methodist pioneer fame. Perhaps we "expresses strong hope, by the blessing of God, may apply to them the words used to describe that the two parties (Pagan and Christian) may Methodism's first bishop: "They sat at the feet of some of life's greatest teachers, such as pain, hunger, cold, opportunity, a vast wilderness and a few great books. God, nature and solitude were among their instructors." Far and wide they traveled, often afoot, eager to bring the Good News to Red Men and White Men alike in the scattered settlements. Thus we read of Mr. Oliver (Report of 1805), who during six months spent in the service of the Society, "traveled about 1,200 miles, preached 133 sermons, visited 196 families, and baptized 7 children."
Instructions to Missionaries SAMSON OCCUM, KNOWN AS THE " PIOUS MOHEGAN"
Very specific were the instructions to mission- be united, both in civil and religious views. If ary candidates. Imbued with the urgency of their these prospects are realized, it will rejoice the mission as "propagators" of the Gospel, they were hearts of all, who wish well to the poor, benighted to spend as little time as possible among those heathen of our country." "already enjoying the ordinances of religion." There was to be no duplication or overlapping of The founders and directors of the Society were effort. They were not to abide in the cities but interested in ameliorating the "civil conditions of rather were to seek out the rural folk. Further- the Ind~ans" at a time when strong pressure was more, the Gospel was to be preached freely, with- being brought to bear on the Government for their out "any reward" from those to whom they min- western removal. Rev. Jedidiah Morse (Secreistered, excepting necessary support. They were tary 1802-1810) conceived a plan for "Education not to "attempt the purchase of lands" or engage Families" which were to constitute groups of Inin any secular business, lest the people should dians living under a community economy and unsuppose them to be governed by interested' mo- der the guidance of Christian leadership which tives. Many instances of "entangling alliances" might have been avoided in the mission field if similar counsel had been consistently followed from that day to this! No large salaries were received and none were expected. The laborer was to be worthy of his hire-nothing more, nothing less.
In the face of these practical suggestions the missionaries were not sent forth blindly on their tasks. Consequently, the secretary could with propriety incorporate in an annual report the following: "They may have erred in their judgments, but we know that their intentions have been pure." This is not an unworthy tribute and would not be out of place in a modern personnel report.
That the consecrated and untiring labors of • Indians still residing at Old Town, Maine, are taught by Roman Catholics who have no doubt continued In succession from the time of Mr, Little's first visit until the present, •
should gradually develop their capacity for indi- indirectly at least, as a result of the impetus fur- vidualism. nished for the conversion of the North American Indians. He stated that he used the term "Education Families," rather than "Mission" so as not to offend the opposers of While the primary concern of the Society was missions and because the phrase "Education Families" the evangelization of the Indians, notable efforts well described the purpose of these associations. He was were also directed to the "benighted dwellers in wise in his generation. Morse sought assistance from the the wilderness" of Anglo-Saxon and even Nordic Federal Government from the appropriation of $10,000, heritage. In 1840 when, according to the Annual first made available in 1819, for aid to private schools en- Report, the Society was already styled "ancient gaged in Indian education. Morse's project did not in- and venerable," missionary work was prosecuted volve removal on any extensive scale but did require that as far west as Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Of Chicago it was thought necessary to describe INDIAN YOUTH-NURSERY SCHOOL, MONTANA the location as "in the north part of the State of Illinois." This might give present-day Chicago- individuals and families gather at certain points where ans something to think about. they could cultivate land· sufficiently fertile to afford a living for the groups in which the educational work was The membership of the Society was limited to to be carried out. A certain amount of segregation from fifty members, "who were to have perpetual suc- the whites was considered essential to the success of the cession," according to the charter and was made proposed educational program. Each community was to up of representatives from various denominations. have its own school and church and even a central school No sectarian restrictions have ever been placed on of higher education· comparable to a college was planned. the missionaries, save that they should be "men Morse even suggested in a report to the president the ulti- of the Protestant religion, of reputed piety, loy- mate foundation of an Indian state which should be self- alty, prudence, knowledge and literature, and of other Christian and necessary qualifications suited governing. * to their respective stations."
Contemporary records of the Society do not In the membership roll we find names familiar to stu- record what success attended Dr. Morse's efforts. dents of American, political and ecclesiastical history. . Perhaps the country was not ready for a consist- Among those who have served as presidents are: Han. ent carry-through of the experiment. Oliver Wendell (1787-93); His Excellency James Sulli- van (1800-06); Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw (1837-61); Rev. S. K. Lothrop (1878-85); Rev. A. P. Peabody, who served at the time of the Centennial year (1887). Those who have served as members and directors include Rev.
"Provoking Others to Love and Good Works" INDIAN WOOD CHOPPERS AT DWIGHT MISSION The Society may with apparent justice lay Nathaniel Emmons, Rev. Eliphalet Porter, Rev. Jedidiah claim to be a forerunner of missionary organiza- Morse, Rev. David Tappan, Samuel Parkman, Esq., Rev. tions, established in the early part of the 19th William E. Chamling, Han. Daniel Webster, Rev. Francis' century (several of which have celebrated their Parkman, Hon. Roger Wolcott, Hon. James P. Melledge, centennial in recent years). Rev. Eliphalet Porter, Rev. Phillips Brooks, Rev. Francis G. Peabody, and Rev. pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, mentions George A. Gordon. For many years Dr. Charles W. Eliot, this in his "Discourse," delivered November 5, former president of Harvard University, was the honored 1807: "We have been the probable occasion of head while his son, Rev. Samuel A. Eliot, has served for provoking others to love and good works, to the years as a member of the Board of Managers and is still charitable contribution of their worldly substance, an active member. and to the forming of associations for the purpose of promoting the common salvation." In fact, the modern missionary movement came into being, • Extract from "A Continent Lost-A Civi1!zation Won," by J. P. Kinney, p. 50.
Naturally the early efforts of the Society were may be moving around him in a vertiable whirlilargely restricted to New England; but as the gig. Whenever a group of Indians are rushed into Indians moved (or were moved) westward the a new course of action, or when something is put Society continued its activities among them. Thus over them in a hurry, there is invariably an unthe Cherokees (Dwight Mission in what is now favorable reaction. This is true of sudden legis- Oklahoma) were helped, the Oneidas in New lative action, of abrupt and sudden changes in York and later in Wisconsin, the Ojibways in their mode of living. Witness, for example, the building of commodious frame houses among the INDIAN LEADERS RETREAT AT LAKE TAHOE Apaches, to replace their crude wickiups. The casual traveler on a visit to the reservation finds Michigan, the Onondagas, Senecas and St. Regis a number of these houses boarded up and abanin New York, the Ottawas, Potawatomies, Dela- doned. He learns that a death has occurred and wares and other groups, loosely designated at that the "ghost fears" are at work. The house buildtime as "western Indians." Included in "the oth- ing program was well intentioned but premature ers" were struggling churches and pioneer insti- and did not take into consideration the superstitutions in "the regions beyond." The centennial tions still prevalent among those people. Numerhistorian mentions, for instance, the Wesleyan ous other examples could be given-the change Seminary and Albion Seminary, in Michigan, from the carefree camp life to the static condi- Lawrence University, Wisconsin, Scandinavian tions of reservation life, from buffalo hunters to Mission in the same state, the Canada Missionary agriculturists, from trapping to truck gardening, Society, Drury College, Missouri, and the Riggs from boarding schools to day schools, from no- madic life to community life. How can one ac- Institute, South Dakota* count for the present chaotic conditions among the Navajos and elsewhere except on the basis of "New Times, New Duties" sudden changes, promises lightly made under the influence of high pressure campaigns by neo- phytes, eager to put across "new deals" but ut- terly ignorant of Indian psychology, history and backgrounds?
A Cooperative Approach In the Indian missionary field, as well as in any other, the time for a narrow partisanship and bigoted sectarianism is past. The present day calls for a cooperative spirit and approach. This With the advent of other mission schools and the organization of denominational Home Mis- sionary societies, it soon became apparent that a shift in the main emphasis of the work might wisely be stressed. Intead, therefore, ·of sending'
itinerant missionaries to the outposts of civiliza- tion or using the Society's funds toward aiding already existing institutions, it was determined (beginning with the work of Rev. Arthur P.
Wedge in 1911) that one field representative be designated to cooperate actively with missionary and governmental agencies in promoting a better understanding of the Indian people, especially in INDIAN CHURCH ON ROSEBUD RESERVATION view of the period of adjustment and assimilation through which they are now passing. Society, in view of its long and continuous history, Anyone who knows the American Indian is its traditions and achievements, has an increas- well aware that he moves slowly, although things ingly unique opportunity to further every effort looking toward cooperative work among our In- • A limited work for Negroes was also promoted, principally car- dian brothers. ried on through aid to such institutions as: Wilberforce University, The task is not· an easy one. Any program, no Ohio, the African Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, Howard Free School for Colored Persons, National Theological Institute for matter how constructive and enlightened· it may Colored, Washington, D. C.; Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va.; be, is bound to meet with opposition. A brief Lincoln Institute for Colored Persons, Missouri; Woodville Farm School, Georgia, and CIal'lin University. South Carolina.
quotation from the minutes prepared by Peter forward on a mission of service to share their Thacher, secretary of the Society (January, own best vision. 1198), will serve to emphasize that the original purpose and program must still be the spirit in On the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony which we address ourselves to the new and chal- there is engraved the figure of an Indian, standing lenging tasks of today. on the New England shore in an attitude of wait- ing, saying, "Come over and help us." His need Notwithstanding the discouragements which have at- was real and vital. On the seal of the Society for tended almost all the attempts to Christianize the Indians, Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and the Society feel it to be their duty still to continue them. others in North America there is engraved a cup Their funds will not admit of sending missionaries into which may very well represent "the cup of salvadistant parts of the continent, or to seek out those nations tion." Inscribed on that second seal are the imof Indians who are wholly unconnected with the white in- mortal words of Zechariah 4: 6, "Not by might, habitants. Their attempts are confined to those tribes nor power, but by my Spirit." In the providence of interspersed among the white inhabitants, or in their God, and through the medium of this Society, the neighborhood. The wish of the Society is to propagate cup of salvation has been offered to the American and cherish the spirit of Christianity in the minds of Indians. Today many of our Red brothers who those people~ and, as their means and opportunity will have tasted that cup rejoice in the life-giving admit, gradually to disseminate Christian knowledge Gospel. It is a most precious gift for it does not among more distant tribes. perish with the taking. They too have come to realize, and have so expressed it to the writer, What of the Future? that the greatest gift which their White brother has brought them is that of the Gospel of Jesus The Society's centennial historian, Henry F. Christ. It has not come "by might, nor by power." Hunnewell, records his impressions in the follow- Often frail human emissaries have been the visiing language: "Already the history of corpora- ble means. It is 'not merely accidental that Intions in this country is showing that age, even dians speak of God as "The Great Spirit." With of a century, not only does not impair usefulness, increasing understanding they follow the poet but can add strength and give promise of a future who speaks their language: with increased means and extended operations." This would seem to be the only justification for Speak to Him thou for He heareth, endowments and foundations-that they go "from And spirit with Spirit can meet; strength to strength," not being content to rest on their laurels but ever seeking new avenues of Closer is He than breathing, approach, accepting new and challenging situa- Nearer than hands and feet. tions, and with renewed youth and vitality going Why I Like to Work for the Board of Foreign Missions _~I.:.I====_B_Y_O_n_e=of=th_e=c_le_r_ic_a_l_S_ta_ff=at=1_56====~III~ PEOPLE in general seem to have a very currency, checks, stocks, bonds and real estate. – peculiar idea of what we do here in the offices Although not in the treasurer's department, in my of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Pres- own department I have an opportunity to learn byterian Church in the U. S. A. Frequently have how money is handled, since we must carefully I heard the remark, "Your work must be very in- account for these millions of dollars and show teresting. But you don't get much business ex- how they are expended. They must be budgeted, perience, do you?" not only in United States currency, but also in the currency of the sixteen different countries where One of the many reasons why I like the work our work is conducted. As the money is used for is because of the very varied experience. To be- salaries of missionaries, evangelists, teachers, docgin with, our work covers an annual business of tors, nurses, and native workers; for the buying $3,000,000. These millions are received from and repairing of properties; for the running exhundreds of thousands of people, individually or penses of churches, schools and hospitals, I learn in groups, by legacy or annuity, in the form of
WHY I LIKE TO WORK FOR THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS
about the many phases of our work. Besides this, ·history of that nation; the coming generation will office correspondence covers almost infinite details have a different outlook, as their moral, ethical relating to the welfare and work of 1,400 mission- and mental life is influenced through the stand- aries and their families, such as travel to and from ards of the greatest teacher of all, the Christ.
the fields, finding homes and schools for those on I do not need to read books written by travelers furlough, advising study courses for children and who skim over a country in a few weeks. Many adults, making purchases and shipping them to of our missionaries are famous writers, educators, various points throughout the world, arranging scientists. Their books and reports make fasci- for medical examinations and medical care. nating and authentic reading for, since our reli- What ordinary "business" office can offer such gion cannot be explained to a people without a an experience covering currency, budgeting, real knowledge of that people's own background, our estate, stocks and bonds, law, building construc- missionaries must thoroughly study that people's tion, agriculture, medicine, education, purchasing own religion, mode of living, customs and psy- and shipping, publicity, and their many coordi- chology. They must know their language, their nated lines of work? history, their thought processes, as well as the Besides this, I like to work for the Board be- physical land and its influence. At this end of cause I receive a liberal education through my the line, through their correspondence, reports, daily tasks, and by contacts with those who have and books, I get a cross-section of it all, a rapid traveled widely, studied deeply, and accomplished digest of their many years of intense labor and much. For example, through our regular routine, study.
I can get a broad vision of the political, social, I like to work for the Board because I not only economic, educational and religious life of many receive a wide business experience, and a liberal nations, not to mention their geography and phi- education, but even more because my employers losophy. This one Mission Board has work in help me to learn how to meet life in a finer way, sixteen different countries, and contacts with and in the last analysis, that is the most important practically every part of the globe. Anyone, by thing that can be done for us. Outside the office reading newspapers and magazines, can gain a my life is irrevocably bound up with that in the general idea of the situation in foreign countries office. I do not need to shut my desk at night as -provided the newspaper reporters are expert so many of my friends do, with the thought, historians and statesmen, writing with unbiased "Thank goodness, I can forget this until tomor- eye, and also provided that the foreign corre- row." I do not want to forget it, and I couldn't spondents are not hampered by government cen- if I would.
sorship! But how much more information, de- All business offices have their financial difficultailed and truthful, do we receive from our mis- ties, since the business of business is to bring in sionaries who are in the midst of events in those financial profit. We, too, need money to carryon countries, and in consultation with native leaders. our world enterprises. The depression did not These leaders know they can frankly discuss their pass by the churches nor the church members. affairs with no fear of political intervention and But during these past years, I have seen courage embroilment, but with the assurance that the ad- and faith that has made my heart sing. Disapvice given is in the best interests of their own pointment? Of course! Our leaders are human, people, sound, and free from ulterior motives. but their faith in the supreme Leader has made Where but in these offices could I have access to the attitude and atmosphere of our offices during the past and present histories of movements such these extremely difficult years a very different as the Japanese-Korean situation, the Spanish thing from that of the many business offices I have civil war, the status of the Camerouns, the evo- visited. lution of Iran, the new freedom for Turkish And the little things about the office-what of women, the changes in China and India, the Mex- them? After all, I spend the major part of my ican totalitarian state? And all this, not by doing life here. Why should not, therefore, the little library research, but simply through daily corre- things be as important here as in my home-the spondence and contacts with Americans and na- courtesy, the efforts for our comfort; the thoughttives who have been in the thick of these events. fulness, and the realization that our superior offi- In this same way I learn of the educational ad- cers consider us human. When salaries were cut, vance of other nations, the fight against illiteracy, I knew that it was not done, as in so many places, what the government is doing towards compulsory to take advantage of the economic crisis, and I education in rural sections and in cities. If those was confident that when conditions permitted, governments are using mission schools as models every effort would be made to restore them. If I for their own work, employing our teachers as make a mistake in my work, the air is not blue staff supervisors, there will be a change in the with profanity. Neither is it blue with smoke!
Into every office, death comes at some time,. system based on length of service and salary. Aleither to a worker or in a worker's family. In though there are only about 60 of us, we have a our office, where we are in personal touch not only Clerical Staff Organization which has charge of with the executive and clerical staffs and their all matters touching our welfare. Requests and families but with 1,400 missionaries living in haz- complaints go through a clerical staff committee, ardous places, news of death comes perhaps more which in turn brings them before a committee of frequently. The heartbreak of cables announcing the Board, where they are carefully and conscienthe loss of some loved one half way across the tiously discussed, and the answers are reported world, an accident to a child sent home to school, back to us. Salaries are scaled according to posiearthquake and famine and dread disease, as well tion and years of service. Vacations vary with as the perils by land and sea-all this we know. length of service, to a maximum of four weeks. But the way sorrow and tragedy are met, in the We have the privilege of consulting the Medical strength and comfort brought down from On High Secretary, and he helps us secure necessary aid -this is not seen in every office. And when it through private physicians or hospitals. We have comes our turn to face trials, can we fail to apply a pleasant lunch room with all necessary kitchen what we have seen and learned, to our own lives? equipment, a delightful rest room, the use of the missions library. We are not stinted on light or All have difficult problems to meet, but here heat. Almost every office has its growing plants, almost every letter brings with it a personal prob- and is as cheery as an office can possibly be. lem, a call for advice. Our leaders, through years of experience in the daily solving of such prob- We have an annual dinner for executives and lems, have gained great wisdom, sympathy and clerical staff, Christmas parties, department getunderstanding. When my own problems arise, togethers, special lectures and addresses, and the and they have been legion these past years, I fol- privilege of extended vacations for travel. low their methods as best I can; and if more mature advice is needed, I can always discuss my Our fifteen-minute noon-time prayer meeting is problem with them, in the certainty that thought- not taken out of our lunch hour, but it is our ful consideration will be given it, and all their privilege to attend. This is not only a pleasant experience placed at my disposal. break in the day, but a refreshing of soul and spirit that has its favorable reaction upon our Above all, I like the spirit of cooperation among physical bodies and on our work. the executives themselves, as well as between executives and clerical staff. Things are done in Summing all this up, I like to work for the committee, not individually. The minority knows Board of Foreign Missions because I am treated how to yield, and all are willing to be guided. as a co-worker and friend, because I receive not only a tangible salary but great value in intangible All these are intangible things. But I like to things, and because, since my employers command work for the Board because of their fair treat- my highest respect and the Cause for which we ment along tangible lines. Long before the New work has my deepest love, I can give to them and Deal and its Social Security Act, we had a pension it my unstinted loyalty.
Christians and the New Life Movement By MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK The Leading Woman in China A LETTER from the Church of Christ in morning as they arise. On the first day of issue China has reminded me how much respon- sibility we Christians should carry in two fathers bought cards for each member of the bringing New Life to the people around us. Let me quote: "The Bible Women's Association of family so that the children might form the habit Canton has issued a prayer card with the design of the New Life Movement and the Cross. Their of praying daily for China." . aim is to have a League of Prayer of at least a thousand who promise to pray for China each The cross in the background of the New Life Movement! It has always been there, and the subject fascinates me. Praying daily for China!
That is something that we can all do. One man in government service told me that he uses the
CHRISTIANS AND THE NEW LIFE MOVEMENT
three minutes of silence, observed in the regular conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by Monday morning Memorial Service, to pray for the renewing of your mind." I always want to the nation's leaders. add, and in so doing transform society until we mould it nearer to our heart's desire. Not long ago, in the Officers' Moral Endeavor *** Association at Nanking, a friend came face to face with a painting of Christ that vividly revealed George W. Shepherd writes: General Chiang the crown of thorns. Drops of blood could be seen Kai-shek has issued an official invitation to Chrison the forehead and chest, and the visitor threw tian churches to coqperate with the Movement, up his hands and said: "What a sad picture!" particularly in the field of social service. Some To my husband and myself the cross means not Christian groups have since expressed themselves sadness, but triumph. Without it there could not as feeling that these regulations might eventually possibly be New Life for any of us. If you read lead to some local New Life Movement Associacarefully through the public addresses that the tion assuming that it could exercise control over Generalissimo has delivered during the past three the life of the church.
years, you will notice that sacrifice, blood, and the Significant changes have been taking place. sweat of labor, are referred to frequently as the These changes may be summarized as follows: only way out for individuals and the nation. The 1. The New Life Movement shall not become a political cross is the centre of his life, hence his appeal to instrument in the hands of any party or clique. It the churches and the Christians throughout the belongs solely to the people.
nation to take responsibifity in living the New 2. The staff at New Life Movement Headquarters and in Life and passing it on to others. the local associations have no official rank. They After hI·S return from Sian, the Generalissimo have no authority to issue documents and regulations other than those which come from the President. decided to give more and more time to the de- 3. The chief emphasis of the Movement is to be upon the velopment of character through the New Life development of character through living the prin- Movement. It is with this in mind that he under- ciples of Li, I, Lien, Chih. "New Life is not sometook to organize the Headquarters at Nanking. thing to promote, but a life to be lived." There was a time when some thought they might make a political instrument out of the New Life 4. The New Life Movement is distinctly a Movement and not an organization primarily concerned with estab- Movement, but this can never be. It must for- lishing and perpetuating itself as a permanent instiever remain a movement within the hearts and tution. The Movement will cooperate with and assist lives of the people encouraging them toward fuller all agencies at work on improving the social life of the people.
cooperation in the tasks that face us as a nation, It should be very clear from the foregoing that and slowly but surely building character that will the New Life Movement is not a rival of the stand the test of time, and that will never again church and cannot do the spiritual work that only allow us to stoop to the evils that have afflicted the church is qualified to do. At one time, friends society so long. If we Christians should be busy of the Movement suggested that it solicit members about any task, surely it is this. who would pledge themselves to carry out its The mystical element.m religion must have principles, but the President replied that every value for some, otherwise so many great people citizen of China is automatically a member of the in history would not have followed its gleam. To Movement. The living of New Life principles is me, however, religion is just life as it must be hence the obligation of every citizen. It cannot lived by ordinary mortals, but with the humdrum draw circles of inclusion or exclusion unless it tasks of every day being performed with greater draws a circle around the whole of China. cheerfulness because of an inner faith in God. It There has been an awakening on the part of is the daily renewing of our faith, our courage, • Chinese Christians in their responsibilities towatd our vision, the better to grapple with what the the State. The development of a modern govern- day may bring forth. ment in which they can place their confidence has The organization of the Kiangsi Christian had much to do with it. The attitude of local officials in inviting the cooperation of the church Rural Service Union, slightly over three years in rural reconstruction and in health work has ago, appeared to some as a strange and new step also contributed toward good will and created an for the church. To the Generalissimo and to me atmosphere in which Christians are more at home. it seemed the natural thing for Christians to do. Prayer services for national leaders, and for the A very great responsibility rests upon us so long nation, in times of crisis, have also fostered the as the farmers and workers of many provinces interest of the rank and file of Christians in the have little opportunity to secure the bare essen- welfare of their country. Undoubtedly the New tials of life. Life Movement in its bold stand for righteousness, Christians throughout China should cooperate justice, and honesty, has greatly encouraged many in living and extending its principles. "Be not
a despondent Christian, and given him a distinct It has an odor of formality and external author- feeling of self-respect. Now thousands of Chris- ity. I do not say that they are not helpful, but tians are praying daily that God will deliver China they are not enough. New Life must come from out of all her troubles. the changing of hearts. That is not to be accom- Work by Christian groups in prisons, military plished by posters and addresses only.
hospitals, orphanages, and settlements, is all very As Christians, we must do our best to help the much appreciated by New Life Movement Head- cause of the New Life Movement. It has many in- quarters, and reports on progress and problems teresting and instructive points. Then when we will receive careful attention. Social service by realize the perspective, we ought to contribute to Christian groups everywhere is highly desirable, it the unique teaching and message of Chris- particularly where New Life may be born from tianity. The thing that the New Life Movement within. "Except a man be born again" he oannot lacks is spiritual force. It gives us a lot of plati- see New Life. After all the genius of the church tudes: but it has no technique for the attainment is to give men a spiritual rebirth and send them of spirituality.
out to fight life's battles equipped with the whole Then the Movement lacks a central personality.
armor of God. Others can do many of the obvious We worship Jesus Christ. The New Life Move- things that need to be done, only the church can ment has no concrete example to follow, it seems give spiritual life. The church must not become to be a collection of teachings. It is high time so busy about other things that it runs the danger for us Christians to preach Jesus Christ and his of neglecting its main business of remaking men. Gospel.
The New Life Movement gives the church a We must not merely preach the Gospel, we must large place in Chinese ,society, and a standing that live it out ourselves, especially those of us who has not been previously so frankly acknowledged, are supposed to be leaders in church or public life.
but it grants this status believing that the church If we do not shine for Christ, who will? God has and its institutions have spiritual vitality. The wonderfully used some of us, and has given us New Life Movement does not mistake the church power too. Why not demonstrate to the nation for 'a mere social service agency. It knows that that only a Christian Movement can really save within Christianity there is a life of both quality China? This seems to me the biggest challenge.
and quantity, for it can J?e passed on to the For some concrete suggestions, I mention the masses. following. We can help the cause of the New Life *** Movement by linking it to our Christian message Z. K. Zia, a Chinese Christian, writes: The in the Christian Broadcasting Station, or in our New Life Movement has made an impression on Christian magazines, or even in our churches. Do officialdom as well as on the people of China. all we can to make the New Life Movement a suc- How deep is the impression? cess. When it is properly broadcasted and linked The New Life Movement, as it is, comes from up with Christ, I believe that its moral and spir- the higher authority down to the rank and file. itual standard will be lifted.-Chinese Recorder.
Fruit from Seed–Sowing in China Extracts from a recent letter of ORPHA B. GOULD Missionary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, Paotingfu, North China Y OU should see the smile on the face of Miss family, her father being a provincial official. She Tso Shou Chen, the latest arrival in my was formerly_strongly anti-Christian and anti- home. She left a good position in Shanghai foreign. Now, like the Apostle Paul, she calls because she believed that God told her to come to herself the "chief of sinner," because she had Paotingfu. The superintendent of the Shanghai berated and even cursed the name of Jesus. At school wrote to tell me what a blessing she had one time she recalls saying to a friend, "You wor- . been, and how God had marvelously used her ship Jesus; you might better worship me." there. During her third year at Yenching University This young woman is from a wealthy Buddhist she was converted and left immediately for the
FRUIT FROM SEED-SOWING IN CHINA
Bible School in Nanking. She was graduated last and later several other believers were added to spring, and now has no other aim in life than to the Lord. While we were at this village, a mardo the will of Him who has called her to go forth ried daughter came home for a visit and heard with the glorious message of salvation. She is a about Jesus for the first time. She went back to beautiful, talented and refined young woman and her village, and the next day a man came earnestly her messages are tender, wooing, cutting, straight entreating us to come to their village. We went to the point. She turns down all offers ofa sal- there the following day and the people listened ary. Since her conversion, she has won most of earnestly to the Message, inviting us to come and her family to Christ. Her great aim is to reflect live in their village. We returned six weeks later the glory of the Lord and to be changed into His and found that five homes had torn down their i~age (2 Corinthians 3: 18). idols before we arrived, pledging themselves to believe in the true God. The day we arrived, al- *** though it was sleeping, no room was large enough to hold the crowd that came. They stood in a shed A Chinese evangelist, Mr. Pan,at our retreat all afternoon and evening and listened hungrily to last fall, led the main meetings, his face and his the Message. Several families decided to become message and his prayers all witnessed to his lov- Christians and have held services every Sunday ing, vital touch with his Lord and Master. He since. spoke of Life, with a capital L straight up and down with God, and then across to others,1 with At the next village we visited, the Christianspower that went straight home to the heart. all poor farmers – had built a. chapel with two rooms. Every detail of the chapel told of the time, We went to the Man Ch'eng district to hold a effort, and thought they had put into the work. three days' retreat for the Christian leaders from Fifteen to twenty were present at the early mornthe surrounding villages. Thirty to forty were ing prayer meeting and the evangelistic meeting present and all expenses of food and travel were was packed; many stayed over for the evening joyously cared for by the Christians in that dis- Bible class. One day, at a street meeting in Tsang trict. Not one cent came from the mission. Ts'un, a lady came up saying, "I want to believe in Jesus." She had been a sun worshiper and Later we started on our eleven weeks' evan- then had turned to idols, to the moon and stars, gelistic trip. We stopped at eleven centers and vis- but could find no peace and had come to the conited forty-nine different villages, where we gave clusion that they were not God. Eagerly she at least one Gospel message, handing out tracts listened to the Gospel, made her decision, and or posters to those who could read. On every side went away rejoicing in her new-found Saviour. we were met with the plea, "Come to our village; this is the truth. We want to understand!" In one district, one of our evangelists met an elderly man, and asked him if he had heard of the One morning, at the village of Lu Chia K'ou, true God and His Son, Jesus. The old man said, an old man of sixty came to tell us how the Lord "This doctrine is the truth. Two years ago, a had blessed him. He had gone home the evening man handed me a tract about Jesus and every day, before, called the family together, knelt on the before reading it, I was my hands." He asked us k'ang and had led them in prayer, confessing their how to pray and was very ready for instruction. sins. Then they tore down their idols. His heart was filled with the joy the Master had promised THE GOSPEL FOR JAPAN Takeshi Muto, formerly a professor in Aoyama Gakuin, and now pastor of an influential Methodist student church in Tokyo, express his views as to "The Christian Message in Relation to Japanese Thought" in the Japan Christian Quarterly. Both capitalism and communism have failed in Japan, he says, because of their lack of social justice and inability to bring economic improvement. Both have disregarded Japanese ideals and history. All Japanese thought has been greatly influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity, for the Japanese are inclined to adopt and adapt any new ideas or inventions that they find helpful. They need the Christian message-especially in the following aspects: 1. Japan must learn the Christian idea of a living, loving God, the Father of all mankind -not merely a national God.
2. Christians must preach the ideal of universal peace. We must fight militarism. 3. The Christian message is Christ Himself. Japan needs, not theological dogma, but Christ Himself, incarnation of God's fatherly redemptive love. Christ gave Himself for us; that is the whole of our religion. Japan needs the living Christ. When we receive Him other benefits follow as a matter of course. II Effective Ways of Working 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~=I= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = A Day in Scandinavia wegian and Danish baked goods, Wanted: Adventurous Mis- of which the proceeds went to sionary Material As one of a series of World Friendship projects, the Girls' the Scandinavian churches. A In view of the appetite for League for Service of Grove Re- stirring ideas, among children formed Church, North Bergen, Brooklyn importing firm sent N. J., recently sponsored a "Day from nine to fourteen years of in Scandinavia" at the church hundreds of samples of the thin, age, I have often deplored the house. Main reliance in getting up an authentic exhibit and pro- crisp Swedish rye bread, which fact that there is so little adgram was placed on near-by venturous missionary material Swedish Lutheran and Norwe- found ready takers. gian Lutheran churches. There available. In talking to this age had been no previous contacts The display of articles loaned group not long since I gave the between the Grove Church and the Swedish congregation, but by the Scandinavians was aug- story of a friend in India who the Norwegian and the Grove had a bowing acquaintance mented by some brought back had shot a tiger that attacked a through several Sunday evening girl in her school; when Miss union services. Part of the plan by teachers in the community Fales arrived on the scene, the was to cement new friendships. who had traveled in northern animal had the girl on the The Swedish friends furnished ground with his mouth at her the afternoon program and the Europe. throat. The missionary drove Norwegians the evening; the exhibit was open continuously At four o'clock, a group of him away with a huge stick but from three until eleven p. m. knew she would have to get him Ranged on counters, extending boys and girls of Swedish dethe length of the church hall and later or he would return and do draped over screens behind scent, in costume, sang several more damage. Laying part of them, were fine pieces of Hardanger needlework, homespun folk songs, closing with the na- a lamb as a decoy, Miss Fales woolens, color f u I tapestries which the Scandinavian owners tional anthem, as the whole au- sat outside the compound late at generously stripped from their night until the beast returned, beds, windows and walls when dience stood. At eight-thirty, whereupon she killed him with they caught the idea we were trying to convey-the artistic an octette of men from the Nor- one shot from her rifle. The and cultural contributions their children listened to this story peoples make at home and over wereagl iasonngcsonagrceagpapteiollna, sang sev- with the keenest interest, espehere. They loaned treasured and a soold gold and silver tableware, cially when they learned that the copper coffee sets and teakettles, prano gave solos by Grieg and brave missionary was alone with handturned candlesticks, a spin- 60 children in an area about the ning wheel over 200 years old, o the r Norwegian composers. etc. Each article was labelled with the name of the owner and Motion pictures, borrowed from its history. Wearing native costumes, several women stood be- the Norwegian and Swedish hind the counters explaining the different articles. There was a steamship lines, were shown, brisk sale of Swedish cookies and of several varieties of Nor- these being furnished without cost, as were a number of color- ful travel posters that decorated the hall.
About 300 people attended size of Indiana. during the day. A cafeteria This year we are studying sold coffee, tea, cocoa and home- Africa; and as the leader of a made cake at five cents an item. children's group knew of my Admission to program and ex- conviction that we should first hibit was 15 cents. About interest the pupils in the people $50.00 was cleared; the closer and country, bringing in mis- acquaintance with the Scandina- sionary ideas only casually, then vians in our towns and the fra- make the appeal in the name of ternal feeling generated be- the Gospel later, she asked me tween Christian congregations to give a map talk on Africa. I hitherto almost strangers could used the June, 1935, issue of not be bought for many times_ The National Geographic Maga- . that sum.-FLORENCE GORDON, zine, inclusive of its excellent Weehawken, N. J. map, telling stories gleaned from (In an early issue descriptions of a series reading two of the Martin J ohn- of public Nationality Nights in the Interests of World Friendship will be given. Note s.on books. The children were Miss Gordon's statement regarding the free so absorbed that they listened use of moving pictures from the various with open mouths.' I said a steamship lines. Some of the best pictures great deal about the animals, may be obtained by churches in this way, without expense.) [544 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
such as that telegraph wires Is Not Easy," and "To Be Continued." belle Hirt-booklet interpreting to must be strung on very high l5c adolescents the meaning of sex in poles else giraffes will run into terms of plant and animal propagathem; why lions are thickest in "We Can Change the WorId" tion. l5c the tall grass; the diseases the (Swain), built on Mathews' "Shaping natives get from ticks and the the Future": "Can Crusaders Change "Lenten Week of Prayer Packets" tsetse fly, etc. That led up to the World?" "The World We Face," -five good daily program sheets and the need for missionary doctors "Revolts and Realignments," "Revo- one of suggestions for leaders, for use and the suggestion that some of lution for Christ" and "That's a in Week of Prayer meetings or my hearers might be called to Dream." l5c among shut-ins. 30c become medical missionaries. I have tried hard to find more of "Opening Windows on the Chris- "Friends in Everyland"-setof 12 this human interest material. tian World of Tomorrow" (Swain)- large pictures for juniors, with stories I am hoping THE REVIEW- six programs on "Missions Tomor- and activity suggestions on reverse from which I have learned so row," by Latourette: "Our World To- side. 25c much this past year-may be day," "Our World and Christian Misable to fill the void. *-MRS. sions" (two programs), "Why and *** GRACE W. BENHAM, 1308 La- How Is This New World?" "Does the fayette Ave., Columbus, Indiana. World Need Christ Today?" and Women's Board of Missions of the Re- "How to Meet the Challenge." l5c formed Church in America, 25 E. New "Tools in Type" 22nd St., N. Y. *** In view of many requests for "Spiritual Adventuring," a manual programs and devotional exer- The United Christian Missionary So- of worship for missionary societiescises, as well as auxiliary pro- ciety, 222 Downey Ave., Indian- six complete worship programs on gram material, the Department apolis, Ind. "Source of Power," "Spirit of Love," Editor has examined the new "Spirit of Service," "Stewardship of publications sent in from vari- "School Bells Ringing 'Round the Life," "Stewardship of Money," ous sources and can recommend World"-study and program packet "Prayer and Our Missionaries," with as available for general use the for young people and seniors in the series of choice prayers at close. 10c following, which either have no Young People's World Friendship denominational references or an Project: informational and story "Lamps of India" and "China's amount easily elided: leaflets, plays and other dramatiza- Gateways"-good dramatic exercises. tions and impersonations, problem 10c each Baptist Board of Missionary Educa- and panel discussions, original para- tion, 152 Madison Ave., N. Y. bles, poster suggestions, etc.-a wealth "Talking Pictures of Japan"-se- of ready-to-use material well adapted ries of word pictures concerning its "Four-Point Project Program based to the age interests. 50c history, the place of Japanese women on Missionary Heroes. Course No.1," in the development of Christianity, covering actual hand projects in Map- *** etc. 10c making (Livingstone), Life-saving (James Chalmers), Boating (Gren- Board of Foreign Missions of the *** fell), Handicraft (Mackaye) and Presbyterian Church in America, eight other hero-biography projects, 156 Fifth Ave., N. Y. Woman's Home Mission Society of the with full directions. Invaluable for M. E. Church, 420 Plum St., Cinboys. 25c "Friends Far Away," by Charlotte cinnati, O. C. Hudnut—outline for 10 sessions as "Six Worship Services Based on supplemental to graded S. S. courses, "The Book Beautiful," a year's wor- 'The Way of the Witnesses,'" pre- vacation Bible schools or as inde- ship services for young people, prepared by Margaret Holley Tuck. l5c pendent program material and includ- pared by Lillian Vogel and covering: ing studies of heroes, Mexicans, Jap- "Beauty and Strength," "Beauty and "Christian's Progress" (also on anese, Chinese, Siamese, Hindus, Sy- the Greatest Artists," "The Beauty of "The Way of the Witnesses")-five rians, Africans and a final Friendship Thankfulness," "The Beauty of programs by Anna Canada Swain and Ribbon Demonstration. Ex cell e n t Peace," "The Beauty of Silent Snow," adapted for women's societies and story and dramatic material for jun- "The Beauty of Wisdom," "The senior young people: "The Mission- iors. 10c Beauty of the Changed and Unary Pattern," "To All the World," changed," "The Beauty of the Lilies," "The Missionary Motive," "The Way Free catalogue of "Motion Pictures "The Beauty of May Day Hap- for Church Use," furnished by The piness," "Beauty in a Garden," and • The Department Editor happens to be Westminster Press, 925 Witherspoon "Beauty and Recreation." Well familiar with "The Missionary Heroes Bldg., Phila., Pa. adapted to the interests of youth. l5c Course" which is put out by the Baptist Board of Missionary Education and is in *** "Modern Missionary Journeys Prothree grades or sections. It is replete with gram Book," including not only the just the material Mrs. Benham wants. In- The United Lutheran Missionary So- studies on the home mission topic quire of that BDard at 152 Madison Ave., ciety, 1228 Spruce St., Phila., Pa. mentioned in September but also civ- New YDrk, and receive catalDgue list and in- ics and Christian citizenship, a peace structions as tD expense and where to send "Six Programs on Stewardship for program for Christmas, a Lenten orders. Several books are published by J. Boys and Girls," by Emma Gerberd- service, stories of youth, health B. LippincDtt, Philadelphia, such as: "Ro- ing Lipphard"-each complete in it- through mission hospitals and an exmance of Missionary Heroism"; "Heroes of self with talks and stories, activity cellent mite box program. 50c Missionary Adventure," etc. Tbe books by suggestions, poster outlines, projects, JacDb Chamberlain, "In the Tiger Jungle," list of stewardship stories, leaflets, "Early Missionary Journeys Woretc., and the lives of such African mission- playlets, hymns, responsive readings, ship Services," by Marie Wells Clapp aries as Hannington, Mackay, Livingstone, etc., but the six forming a construc- -a real study of the main events of and Mary Slessor, furnish abundant mate- tive series calculated to make the Paul's life. l5c rial. See alBo the lives of South Sea mission- child feel his responsibility to God. aries–John G. Paton, James Chalmers and Excellently adapted to the age inter- *** Charles W. Abel. ests. 20c "Ship East, Ship West" ($1.00 and Can anyone else tell the inquirer, by writ- "Where It Will Do the Most Good" 50c) and its guide book (lOc), both ing her direct, what further is available? -world-wide missionary playlet by by Elizabeth Miller Lobengier and in- Laura Scherer Copenhaver. 6 char- tended for primary and junior chil- acters. 10c dlen, cannot be too highly praised as a peace study, Subject matter, type, "To Live and Grow," dramatic In- illustrations all of the highest order. dian Lace Day presentation, with im- A number of denominations have sub- personations of Thread, Hook, Doi- mitted it as one of their outstanding lies, Vines, etc. 5c studies. Order through your denomi- national literature department or "The Story of Life," by Zoe Isa- from The Friendship Press, 156 Fifth Ave., N. Y.
A Live Project in "Rebuilding study. At the same time 400 families be served at end of D. V. B. S. were provided with garden seed pur- representation if desired. For Rural America" chased at cost, enabling them to sup- activation, pack box of crayons, ply themselves with fresh vetegables paper, pictures, scrapbooks, scis- One of the outstanding needs for several months. sors and such like to send to some denominational hospital or revealed in our current home The Dillonvale Project has spread country Sunday school. mission study is that of aban- beyond the campus and beyond Grandoned mining regions. Dr. Le- ville. Ohio Wesleyan and Miami Uni- For "Our Mountain Missions," versity students have joined in the draw on blackboard or poster land J. Gordon, Professor of work. A group of public school stu- some mountains and cut out Economics in Denison Univer- dents in Minneapolis sent clothing church, school, hospital, etc., etc., sity, Granville, Ohio, felt the and toys for the Christmas party and and arrange against the backneed of bringing home to his another group of Hi-Y boys in Co- ground, printing name under lumbus shared their contributions. each. Cut out overall boys and students the stark realities back The project is bigger and more vital sunbonnet girls, men and wom- en, some of latter with babies in of the statistics which meant so now than ever before. It has become arms, and arrange them as if little to upper – income – class . a Denison tradition. . . . Noone as- going to school or church. Sing young folk. So he conducted a "God Bless Our Native Land." sociated with the project is under any seri.es of trips to the coal mining illusion as to its importance. All Read selection from Sermon on reglOns of Southeastern Ohio realize too keenly that it is merely the Mount, or tell Annie Fellows where men were in utter de- scratching the surface. But having Johnston's beautiful story, "Joel, spair- seen the need, everyone returns with a Boy of Galilee." Tell stories a profound conviction that whatever of mountain work and pack box Unemployed men, unemployable can be done, no matter how small, for some mission with toys, must be done. At the same time clothes, crayons, etc. Little girls men maimed and mutilated while everybody associated with the work wearing sunbonnets made of sees the larger problems of organized bright crepe paper and little boys mining coal for us to warm our state relief and elimination of under- in overalls may give an attrac- lying causes. Increasing emphasis is tive exercise, "A Mountain homes; heartsick and weary mothers being placed on attempts to secure School," with older girl as struggling to keep the appearance of for these people the puolic relief to teacher. Spelling class learn a which they are entitled. And more few words appropriate to this a home; gaunt faces of sickly, under- effective study of the economic prob- subject; reading class have lems involved in seeking not only to simple selections about mountain nourished, barefoot children unac- remedy such conditions but to make missions; geography class locate them impossible, follows active par- some mountain mission stations customed to the taste of milk or meat ticipation in the work. on map; sewing class start -sights of utter misery and destitu- In the final analysis probably the squares of patchwork that may ones who gain the greatest benefit are be finished at home and made tion which the students could not not the ones who receive but those into a quilt for a mountain or- who give help. They catch a new phanage; and the singing class stand. What had been a crowd of meaning of Christian service and may give "There Is a Green Hill brotherhood in their field work in Far Away" or a hymn about carefree students in holiday spirit be- ec.onomics. Perhaps their generation mountains. Small baskets of wIll learn to meet these economic cookies may be served at "recame a silent group on the homeward problems with more wisdom and real cess." An exhibit of woven and journey, completely overwhelmed by Christianity than have the genera- patchwork quilts, baskets and tions preceding them. pottery is effective. the human tragedy they had seen. The foregoing excerpts, quoted ANNYE ALLISON. The trip had changed their whole out- from an article by Dr. Gordon Richmond, Va. look on life. . . . Upon their return appearing in The Denison Alumni Bulletin, indicate how that small group told their story and faulty is an economic system others caught their spirit. In answer with such sore spots as these, and how both students and comto an invitation, 70 men and womenten per cent of the student body-met munities may be led to take hold of temporary alleviation with a on the top floor of Doane Hall to or- view to study means for permaganize their plans. That was the beg~nning of the Dillonvale Project. nent cure. This is real home mission work which will enlist Since that time nearly 10t0owsntsupdeeonptls~ those who are indifferent to faculty members and have gone to Dillonvale, providing food, clothing, garden seed and enter- tainment, while many times that num- ber . have I?articipated indirectly, sending clothmg and cash contributions ranging from five to twenty- five dollars. The girls have voted to eliminate desserts at certain meals so that their dessert money could be used ts9oo..cbi~au.ly.shmearisvlkibcfeeoercnogmtrhomewi.itltneegaedciohnfigltdhgreernoY.u.pTwhine. InItIating and carrying out this plan.
They set up a workshop for the reno- vation .of clothing and toys. They *** have gIVen benefit dances and sold evangelistic work-or who think The Christian who begins to they are until they come up tithe will have at least five surdoughnuts at football games to raise against the basic needs. prises: At the amount of money funds. They have given the children he has for the Lord's work; at Rural Missions for Primary of Dillonvale Christmas and Hallow- een parties and shared in a Thanksgiving party which provided bread and meat to 500 families who other- Children – the deepening of his own spiritwise would have had little or nothing to eat. (Concluded from the October ual life; at the ease in meeting During the summer of 1933, Wilfred REVIEW.) his own obligations with the Eatough conducted a daily school for Dramatizations may be infor- nine-tenths; at the preparation seven weeks, supported by funds mal or have added charm of that tithing gives to be a wise raised largely by Denison students. Seventy boys and girls attended the simple costumes such as aprons, steward over the remainder of school, learning something about sunbonnets, overalls, straw hats, his income; at himself that he woodwork, needlecraft and nature etc. Lemonade and cookies may did not adopt the plan sooner. The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK We Give Thanks Prepared by CHARLOTTE MARY BURNHAM Prelude: With voices united our praises we and teach us to walk together in offer, the laws of Thy commandments "Praise to God and Thanks and in the ways of human We Bring." To Thee, great Jehovah, glad anthems friendship and true brotherhood. we raise. Can to Worship: Response: Teach us to give Thy -strong arm will guide us, our honor where honor is due, re- DAKOTA OR SIOUX HYMN God is beside us, gardless of race, color or creed, following what our inmost heart Many and great, 0 God, are Thy To Thee, our great Redeemer, forever tells us to be Thy will. Deepen things, be praise. Amen. our respect for unlikeness and Julia Bulkley Cady. our eagerness to understand one Maker of earth and sky. another, that we may transcend Thy hands have set the heavens with RESPONSIVE READING: our differences. May we gladly share the resources of Thy world stars, Leader: Thy beauty, 0 God, with all Thy children, working Thy fingers spread the mountains and is upon us; Autumn splendor together to build Thy City upon everywhere! Days lucid with earth. plains. vision, or dim with mist, haze Lo, at Thy word the waters were and smothered sunshine. Leader: We thank Thee most of all for Thy gift of the Holy formed; Response: We thank Thee for Spirit which makes men care Deep seas obey Thy voice. Thy gift of the Autumn, for the for one another, for the power beauty of the world and the joy of Thy love that drives out that Grant unto us communion with Thee, of the harvest. which is greedy and mean in hu- Thou star-abiding One; man hearts. We are grateful for Come unto us and dwell with us, Leader: Thou hast made our those who are working all over With Thee are found the gifts of life. life a summer sowing, an au- the world to bring peace and a Bless us with life that has no end, tumn harvest, too short for hate, more abundant life to Thy chil- Eternal life with Thee. and only long enough for the dren everywhere. Strengthen love that lifts the load we all our hearts and our hands to Paraphrased by Rev. Philip must bear. help them in their great task.
Frazier 0/ the Dakotas. Response: Yet we know that Response: Solo – When Thy there are men with hate in their Heart, with Joy O'erfiowing. HY1nn: "We Praise Thee, 0 hearts; there are armies that God, Our Redeemer." make men enemies instead of Tune-Bullinger 8, 5, 8, 8. brothers; there are nations that Tune-Kremser, 12, 11, 12, 11. in pride and arrogance defy Thy When my heart, with joy o'ertlowing, laws in the world. There are Sings a thankful prayer, We praise Thee, 0 God, our Redeemer, many in our own land that suffer Creator, from injustice, greed and pov- In thy joy, 0 let thy brother erty. With thee share. In grateful devotion our tribute we bring. Leader: Forgive us, 0 God, When the harvest sheaves in-gathered the envies, suspicion and misun- Fill thy barns with store We lay it before thee, we kneel and derstandings which have blinded adore thee, men and nations and thrust them asunder. Purify our hearts We bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing. [547] We worship Thee, God of our fathers, we bless Thee; Through life's storm and tempest our .Guide hast Thou been.
When perils o'ertake us, escape Thou wilt make us, And with Thy help, 0 Lord, our battles we win. To thy God and to thy brother Christian leadership, but help- and girls. She knows the ministers Give the more. ing these young people, caught in the town near by and has good between two civilizations,to un- contacts. She has been to the district If thy soul with prayer uplifted derstand and work out new ad- Young People's Conference with a Yearn for glorious deed j ustments in every area of life. number of her Indian girls, had a number of church groups from .town Give thy strength to serve thy brother Indian youth presents a chal- at times on the campus. . . . com- In his need. lenge to us today. They have munion by town ministers, joint meet- potentialities and opportunities ings with town groups, clubs for girls Share with him thy bread of blessing, for good or for evil that are far and boys, and other activities. . . . Sorrow's burden share; greater than has been possible for other generations of Indian All directors are doing splen- When thy heart enfolds a brother, youth. They, too, will have a did work in carrying the Chris- God is there. part in Rebuilding Rural Amer- tian message and way of life to Theodore Chickering Williams. ica. these young Indian Americans.
The Prayer of an Indian Girl Just how are our interdenomi- Is it worth while? Let us national workers trying to meet read some other reports: Help us, 0 God, as people these problems in the schools in from all countries to live to- which they are stationed? Let Last fall our Indian Girl Reserves gether in this great world- us look through some of their Club and Arts and Crafts Club girls nation. May we forget differ- reports. From the Pacific Coast made paper caps and dressed pencils to ence in color and language, and comes this one: sell at our Benefit. Later on they made work for the ideals of freedom baby clothes, small children's dresses and brotherhood. School started yesterday with an and quilts for their Christmas boxes. increase of fifty in the student body, A few girls are working on curtains Thou art our Father, we are making about 450 in all, about a third for certain rooms in the chapel. The Thy children; show us that our of them trachoma patients and many Christmas boxes were sent to the hopes and fears and aspirations of them grade school youngsters. A Migrants in the cotton fields. The are one. Forgive the suspicions separate dormitory has been opened boys as well as the girls helped to and misunderstandings which for them. . . . There are many more make toys for these boxes. Another have blinded us; teach us to full-bloods than I have ever seen be- box was sent out to the Navajos, to walk together in Thy command- fore and quite a number of Alaskan one of their former schoolmates to ments, and in the ways of hu- students. . . . My program is to in- distribute. . . . The young people man friendship. Amen. clude a girl's and boy's club, a story have put on a program at the county hour for the youngest ones, and Sun- hospital about five times dUring the At Work in Government In- day School classes for all ages. We year. They have taken four old men dian Schools will use the older students in the at the hospital as their Sunshine Teacher Training Class which was Friends. Thousands of Indian Ameri- started last year, for teachers for the can young people are in govern- younger children. Then I have asked We have many reports like the ment boarding schools, many of for a choir practice evening, one for following, showing the fine work them far from home, friends Young People's Societies, one for many former students are doand pastor; several thousand Teacher Training, and a social eve- ing: are studying in secondary and ning once a month. I am looking forvocational schools to become the ward to a better year with the stu- Leadership Training Classes-I feel Indian leaders of tomorrow- dent Y. M. and Y. W. groups. We that it was the most successful activteachers, nurses, clerks, cattle- hope to have a cabinet retreat at the ity we conducted during the year…. men, agriculturists, tradesmen, Log Cabin this Friday evening to work Have just learned of two loyal memhousewives. Some will go on to out our programs for all the young bers of the class, who, dUring the college and become lawyers, doc- people's groups. . . . The superin- summer, helped to start and lead at tors, ministers, teachers, social tendent asked me if I would have the their reservation station among the workers, etc. Hundreds are ill trachoma patients for chapel Sunday Navajos, an Indian Young People's with trachoma and have been evenings and I said I would be glad Society, giving very able support and sent to boarding schools where to. You see we have a school chapel help to the missionaries in carrying they may receive medical care which is really a school assembly each on the work." and an education; others' are Sunday evening in the auditorium at orphans or from broken homes. seven o'clock. . . . He feels that the Another at his Pueblo home coop- little folks should not be out so late erated with the missionary in con- The Joint Indian Committee . . . and his plan is to have their ducting a "returned student's" proof the Council of Women for chapel at 5: 30. It will be both Ca- gram, being one of the speakers. Home Missions and Home Mis- tholic and Protestant children. sions Council ministers to thou- Still another, a Navajo who says he sands of these young people This young woman, a gradu- wants to be a missionary to his peothrough the interdenominational ate of one of the best schools of ple some day, got in touch with miswork carried on by trained Di- religious education, has worked sionaries at his home immediately and rectors of Religious Work who for three years in this governare placed in these schools to be- ment boarding school under the- has served a: part of the summer as come the friends, teachers and Joint Indian Committee. Of her guides of these children, not only work one member of the Com- interpreter and helper to two misgiving them a thorough religious mittee who visited her recently sionaries. . . . Am anxious to hear education and training for writes: from some of the others.
She has won the real respect of the Fifteen National Home Mis- superintendent, the faculty, and the sions Boards unite in program confidence and esteem of both boys and financial responsibility for this interdenominational Chris-' tian education and leadership. Through offerings on the annual World Day of Prayer, church people share in maintaining and increasing this home missions work.
i OUJM~~r~~:sp':~~:cu~t~~~ok
~~~~~~~~~~~~=E=D=I=T=ED~B=Y~M=R=S=.=H=EN~R=I=E=TT=A~H=.~F=ER=G=U=S=O=N=,=X~EN~IA=,=O~H=IO~~~~~~~~~==-~ LATIN AMERIOA but after hearing the Gospel, she tant villages and in crowded towns. The wonder is not that Fetishism in Haiti said through an interpreter, Mexico has fallen so far short of its hopes, but that considerable A Bible distributor in Haiti "This touches my heart. I feel gains have been won. The Mexwrites: ican treasury is poor-the total it is the truth, and I long to national budget is less than many Here we are always face to face a second-line American city. with devil worship, known as Voodoo, understand better." Trained teachers are few. There or Z'ange', and we praise God for is steady opposition from the many conversions from this evil cult. Among recent converts is a Catholic Church. Priests and laymen join in denouncing the One day, about six weeks ago, a strict Catholic, who wanted to public school as atheistic and man came to my home, his face deeply corrupting. lined with trouble. He had lost all know why she had been taught his .children but one, and said that the Mexico is also fighting child demons were after that one. He so many false doctrines, and who labor, and starvation wages. begged me to go to his home and destroy all his fetishes. asked the missionary to answer -Hubert C. Herring.
On my arrival I found the man him- many questions about the Word Opportunities in Ohile self busy with a hoe, trying to locate things that the Voodoo priest had of God. Another said, "This is William M. Strong, of the buried in his garden several years be- Soldiers' Gospel Mission of South fore. He had been working since be- the first time I have ever heard America, writes of what promfore dawn and had dug a large hole, ises to develop into a new relibut there was no sign of the objects. the Gospel. Could I be saved gious movement in the Chilean When he had worked until noon he army. gave up the search and together we now?" -Life of Faith. went to the little house that he had "Several soldiers in a 'Charabuilt for the demons. He had gath- House to House Bible Work buco' regiment in Concepcion ered together a pile of fetishes, in- have banded together to pray for cluding eight earthenware water jars, Bible distribution in Mexico their comrades' salvation in a three pairs of bowls used in worship, reports progress. One of the series of meetings that we prosix china covered mugs, and a small workers writes: pose holding next month in a black stone which was supposed to be little Gospel Hall near the regivery powerful. After singing a Chris- We have now covered the capital ment. The meetings will be only tian hymn, I took a hammer and com- of this state, Michoacan – which is for sodiers of the two regiments menced to smash the jars. It was a Morelia, a city of about 40,000 inhabi- in Concepcion. Our regular milisight to see the man's face clear as we tants. There was much praYer in ad- tary Gospel meetings are held broke the last of the fetishes and he vance, in which all our Fellowship inside the barracks, but this is realized that the "ower that had held Group joined, and we were overjoyed a new thing we are trying in him all his life in bondage was at last to see how God opened doors in that order to establish a more pershattered. fanatical city, torn between Romanism manent work among the soldiers and Radicalism. About 3,500 Gospels themselves during our absence, The Power of Testimony were placed in the homes, 300 New as we are only able to reach each Testaments were sold, and about 25 regiment once a year. The testimony of Christian persons manifested their desire to rewomen in Buenos Aires is prov- ceive Biblical literature. "Another opportunity has ing the most effective means of arisen in the same city among winning other women to Christ. One woman, when offered the Word the English business men who An Argentine who had seen her of God, said, "No. I don't want to have invited the writer to give a Christian neighbor under great have anything to do with that book. series of Bible talks in the Engstrain and provocation mar- It is not authorized by the Church." lish club. We have already given velled at her patience and calm; But as she listened to the worker tell the first of these talks and it has this awakened her to a realiza- how God had lifted him, tears began apparently aroused a good deal tion of her own lack of peace, to flow and finally she said: "Oh, if of interest." and she sought to know the Lord that book can do that for you, per- Jesus Christ. haps it can give my husband and me new life. Come on Sunday and talk Another Christian brought to us together." her neighbor to talk to the missionaries at the close of a meet- Another instance was that of an old ing. The woman was an Italian, woman in Santa Ana who said: "This who understood little Spanish, is the book I have needed. I never have heard such words, and I know for a fact that the Lord Himself is speaking by means of this little vol- ume."
Mexico and Her Ohildren For the first time in Mexican history, a sustained effort is be- iug made to provide schools for all the children. It is not easy to create a national educational system, to place schools in dis- [549 ]
Gift and Prayer "gossiped the good news of sal- problems of injustice, poverty, A young native Christian vation," bringing their families crime and war must be faced. worker of Central America had -Dnyanodaya. gone into an exceedingly needy and friends to hear the Word of A Belgian Centenary God. -The Christian.
district, without the slightest EUROPE A century ago there were only promise of support. A friend became burdened with a desire Among the Hop Pickers eight Protestant churches in Belto have a bit of financial fellow- gium. Four of these had a memship with this self-sacrificing England has a Hop Pickers' bership of for e i g n e r s only. young man. The idea seized Mission. From Kent, chief hop- Through the influence of an upon this friend to keep before growing county, comes the 68th himself a small bank in which he annual report of this mission agent of the British and Foreign would daily deposit ten cents containing many incidents con- Bible Society the Christian Misthrough denying himself some- nected with last year's work, sionary Church of Belgium was thing he otherwise would have which indicate that many conpurchased, and when putting in versions have resulted. The mis- formed, known as the Belgian the money, to send up a definite sion had six medical centers in Evangelical Society. This moveprayer for the recipient of it, use. These were visited by ment has grown until today there and for the work he is doing. nearly 2,000 patients, most of whom were children. are forty-six churches and mis- This little plan accumulates sion stations in the cities and $3.00 per month, and at the same The Church of England Tem- country districts. At the centime serves as a reminder for perance Soc i e t y commenced tenary celebration more than thirty times each month, lifting work among Kentish hop pickers the heart in prayer to God for more than half a century ago. 3,000 members of the church the phase of work in which the Seventy-five camps in East Kent gathered from all parts of Beldonor may be interested. are regularly visited by the gium. About thirty representa- tives of Protestant churches in other countries addressed the gathering. -Alliance Weekly.
South America's Three Classes workers; about twenty dispen- Children's Mission in France saries are in use, five of which Mr. Alexander Jardine divides travel about wherever they are France has a "Children's Spethe people to be evangelized in needed; Sunday schools and lan- cial Service Mission," with its South A mer i c a into three tern services are held, while so- center at Sumene. The work is classes: First, the forest In- cial work is carried on on sound, carried on in collaboration with dians, living on the banks of the practical lines. The committee churches of all denominations, rivers and in the vast and dense is anxious to develop its dispen- and organizations for young tropical forests, many of them sary work. people are increasing considerhostile to civilization. Second, ably. Five camps were held last are the educated residents of Other hop-picking areas have summer, and follow-up work in- Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, workers who visit the pickers at cludes the formation of Scripand other cities and villages. their work, and hold Gospel ture Union branches. Several For these, house-to-house visita- meetings among them in the eve- hundred boys and girls between tion and the printed page are nings. Their ministry is much ten and fifteen years of age have appreciated. -The Christian. found their Saviour.
used. British Colleges and Religion Similar groups have been or- The third class consists of In- ganized in India; m e m b e r s dians living in the highlands of Churches in Great Britain promise to endeavor to win South America, Peru, Ecuador have begun to feel more respon- others. Sikh, Moslem, Parsee and Bolivia. For years work sibility for the student world, and Hindu girls have been had been carried on among the and in addition to the "Group reached, and the student life of people with very meagre results. Movement" there are now in India is increasingly b e i n g It had been said they were too many universities and colleges, brought into touch with the ignorant, stupid, downtrodden denominational societies estab- claims of the Gospel. In one and poverty-stricken, after four lished with the idea of caring week-end camp, over 100 men centuries of oppression from the for their own church members and women students gathered to white man and the Church of who have come to study. Stu- discuss problems of the Christian Rome, to be reached by the Gos- dents themselves, such as have life. pel message. At the beginning church affiliation, are becoming In the Kikuyu country in Afof the work, missionaries had more conscious of their member– rica the Gospel message has been . been looked upon as mere white ship. conveyed to children by means people come to exploit and lead The gulf between those who of lantern lectures. -The Christian. the Indians astray. After a call themselves Christians, and time, however, little groups be- those who do not, seems to be Liberty Promised by Franco gan to spring up here and there, widening, and the position of the the Church became evangelistic, doubter to be becoming more and Word comes from London that a missionary church, and people more untenable in a world where complete toleration of religious
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
practice and education is prom- to save the world from the ene- Militant Godless Activity ised to Protestants in Spain, if mies of Christianity. In a re- General Franco can make this cent issue of Austria's leading Russia's League of Militant regime effective. It is also stated clerical daily, The Reichspast, Godless has recently been atthat the Protestant school and were two articles, one from a tacked by the Kremlin for negchurch in Salamanca, in Nation- Protestant pastor, the other from lecting its job. A recent decree alist territory, have been handed a Catholic priest, both pleading demands the "uncovering of back to Protestant hands, and for cooperation. The editor, an counter – revolutionary machinacomplete liberty of action ex- aggressive champion of Roman tions of priests and sectarians tended to the Protestants in carried on under cover of using charge. -The Living Church. Catholicism, after referring to their legal rights as guaranteed an appeal of Sir Henry Lunn for by the new constitution." It Crisis in German Missions the creation of a united Chris- further states that "only patient tian front against "the coercive explanation of the contradictions Such are the restrictions im- dechristianizing of E u r 0 p e," of science and religion, and the posed by the Nazi Government reactionary role of religion and on the export of money that the quoted a letter to the London the church, and daily political work of German Protestant Mis- Times in which Archbishop work among believers can oversions in India, Burma and Ceylon Hensley states that Pope Pius come religious faith." is seriously threatened. Only XI had already urged all besufficient support is allowed to The apparent imminence of a be sent from Germany to main- lievers to aid one another in de- genuine religious revival has tain German Nationals, with the fense against the storm of god- produced this counter-offensive. result that all grants from home for the support of native work- lessness. AFRICA ers have ceased. The Gossner The Protestant contributor, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bible Society in Ethiopia Chota Nagpur, and the Jaypore Dr. Ernest Koch, says: "Respect Evangelical Lutheran Church in For more than a century, the Orissa, have had to close schools for each other and love toward British and Foreign Bible Soand cut drastically the already one another is the only possible ciety has been interested in the meagre salaries of Indian work- conduct for Christians. We are publication of the Scriptures in ers. responsible for one another and the various languages and dia- supplement each other, whether lects of Ethiopia. Although the The National Christian Coun- Bible House in Addis Ababa was cil is bringing the facts to the or not we are conscious of it. looted just before the Italian ocnotice of Protestant churches in We belong together. Therefore, cupation in May last year, the Europe and America. work has been carried on with clear-seeing men on both sides unusual success since that time. It appears that the Confes- are calling: 'Hands across the Seventeen thousand volumes of sional Church has r e c e n t I y trenches.' We owe that to each Scripture were circulated last handed Hitler a strongly worded year. The agent, Mr. Bevan, protest regarding the Nazi at- other for the sake of our nation was given to understand that he tacks on Christianity. It re- and especially for the sake of the might remain to continue the minds him that their solemn Church. Our enemies are trying work he has carried on for the warning of 1936 has gone un- to make the chasm between con- past sixteen years, but suddenly heeded, and demands the imme- he was ordered by Italian audiate rem 0 val of restraints fessions as deep as possible so as thorities to leave, and given only against the Christian youth to beat us, one at a time." three weeks in which to wind up work, lifting of the prohibitions his affairs. against gatherings such as the -The Christian Century. Evangelical Weeks, and release A Bible School had been esof the hundred pastors now in Anti-Semitism in Poland tablished in Ethiopia, to train prison. students in the Bible, and to The persecution of Jews in teach them to work with their As originally planned the pro- hands that they might be selftest was to contain an ultimatum Poland continues to be far worse supporting evangelists to their to the effect that the text of the own people. That work also is factual protest would be printed than that in Germany, though ended. in booklet form and distributed throughout Germany. It is not not as much publicized. In 1936, Before the expulsion of the known whether the ultimatum missionaries by the Italian Govwas actually sent, but as yet the more than 1,000 Jews were in- ernment, every member of the Church has had no reply. native missionary society and jured in riots and persecutions every student of the Bible School Seeking a Common Front had been arrested and thrown in Poland, the country which has into prison; many have since In Austria, Protestant and been shot, others deported, but Catholic forces are joining hands the largest percentage of Jewish not one had been set free, and population of any land in the world. In some towns there has been a wholesale destruction of property designed to make it im- possible for the Jews to live.
For the first time in the history of Poland, Jews have been branded officially as being ra- cially inferior. In Lithuania the press is claiming that the coun- try is too poor to support all its population. The remedy sug- gested is the expulsion of the Jews. -Revelation.
those who are in prison are ex- quite foreign to the native mind member of the other Christian pecting death at any moment. to be solicitous for the ulcers of body; there are no denomina- one's own family, let alone of tional differences. Where a Advance in the Sudan other people's. I honestly be- native convert sees different lieve that he does it as an ex- methods of administering the Last year the Sudan Interior pression of the change that Jesus sacraments, he learns that there Mission opened more stations has made in his life." are different modes, but one sigthan ever before; more converts nificance, and when he sees a were won than at any previous Lastly, there are three "pupil- body of missionaries from all time. A little group of workers nurses." Their keenness is over the Congo enjoying the felare still in Ethiopia, and have shown by the fact that whereas lowship of the Lord's Supper tonot given up hope of providing they only receive food and cloth- gether, he begins to understand that land with the Gospel. It is ing and a small "bonus" at the the universality of the body of said that native converts in end of each year they spend in Christ. Ethiopia are increasing more the hospital, they might have and more. Nigeria has opened been earning good wages else- The constant exchange of namore widely than ever; this will where. tive teachers and missionaries afford a field for many workers between the different missions expelled by the Italians. Quite unknown to Dr. Price, is of value in teaching that we the three of them have been are indivisible in Christ. War in Spanish Guinea gathering for family prayers at the end of their day's work, tak- -Christian Observer. Spanish Guinea has had an ing it in turn to lead in prayer. echo of the conflict in Spain and WESTERN ASIA the Christian workers, huddled -Life of Faith. in the interior, have heard the Turkey Needs God sound of flight and pursuit on Success Calls for Education the road at the base of the hill Turkey stands in great peril near where they were, have been Dr. Albert I. Good, Cameroun today. She does not see the threatened with the closing of pioneer, says: "No mission can relevance of God to life. In the their public assemblies, have be successful in such a country first flush of national revival she been watched for any sign of as Africa without education." thinks she has done and can do their taking sides, but they have The Presbyterian West Africa all that is necessary to maintain been kept from harm. This, the Mission today has approximately her own life. smallest colony in Africa, has a 35,000 boys and girls attending total area of 10,036 square miles 1,200 mission schools. Some She seems to be impressed where live about 90,000 people. have to walk five or more miles with the Western effort to dis- There are eight 0 r g ani zed to and from school daily. miss God and religion from life churches, 989 church members, and thought. Her official attitwo African pastors, forty out- There was a time when, be- tude toward religion is nonposts and twenty-five village cause of native fear of the white committal. schools. At present, only two man's medicine and trust in the missionaries and their wives are witch doctor, infant mortality "Islamic faith and culture at work there. claimed more than 50 per cent have failed. Let's try secular- of Africa's babies. ism," she is saying. -United Church Review. Since 1894 there has been The Turk's will to live and Pimu Hospital Nurses gradual transition, from the learn, and his drive toward de- binding fear of the witch doc- mocracy have stamped Turkish Work in a Baptist Mission tor's power to faith in Christian achievements of the last fifteen Hospital at Pimu, Belgian Congo, medicine; from hesitation about years with the mark of authentic would not be possible without the seeking help from the white doc- vitality. But democracy is not help of six "boys" of the same tor to the present crowding of enough. Self-respect is not tribe as most of the patients. hospitals and dispensaries with e n 0 ugh. Patriotism is not Two are trained nurses, de- those sick in body and soul; with enough. E d u cat ion is not scribed as "the mainstay of the nearly 45,000 coming annually enough. God alone is sufficient. tremendous amount of work that for treatment and to hear the has to be done day by day." In Gospel. Turkey is tempted by bitter addition to in-patients' work and experience to say that every naemergency operations, these two Unity in the Congo tion must fend for itself and let have given an average of 120 the devil take the hindmost. injections a day. Another at- Rev. 'John Morrison, of Luebo, tends to the ulcer dressings each worker of the Southern Presby- "Turkey faces West," as Haday. "This is a job which never terian Board, sees as one of the- lide Hanum says. It is not ceases to call forth my admira- fine things of Congo work the Western religion that she seeks" tion," writes Dr. Price, the hos- fact that a Christian Church, but Western science. Thereare pital head. "For one thing it is loyal to Christ alone, is being those within the Turkish nation built up. If a native leaves the who recognize the fact that a territory of one mission and goes thoroughgoing revival of Turk- to another, his membership card ish national life demands spir- is sufficient to admit him as a itual as well as political, eco- nomic, and social rebirth.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
The world community needs a The diocese of Dornakal has A few months ago while I was go- ing aJout in Jalna I met a Hindu strong and beneficent Turkey. a population of over two million, sadhu or holy man, belonging to the Her influence has already set a mostly Hindu. The Bishop's Mahar castle. He was from a village new tradition of peace in the Church people, coming into the about 18 miles from Jalna and was on Balkans. Her national rebirth Church in large numbers, are his way to a sacred place, Paithan, on the banks of the Godavari. This sadhu has helped to restore faith in simple villagers; his clergy, was a constant pilgrim to sacred our common humanity after the mostly Indian with a small for- places, such as Pandharpur in the years of harrowing war. eign staff, have thickly populated Sholapur district and to Paithan. When I met him, I had a long talk The very strategic geograph- fields to cover and are handi- with him on the merits of Christianity, ical position of Turkey makes capped not only by numbers but but he remained perfectly silent. her a potential bridge between by lack of education among the After some days he returned from the East and the West. village people, and lack of equip- Paithan and I again met him. He It is more suggestive to think ment for their lit tIe mud asked me to tell him about Jesus. I of her as the hub of the Near churches. told him about the life of our Lord East. An amazing number of beginning from His birth to the Resurnew ideas radiate from her in all With such humble circum- rection. He listened to it all most directions – to the B a I k a n s, stances as a realistic basis, the attentively and after I had ended ex- Bishop's interests and his in- claimed, "Now I have heard every- Egypt, Syria, P a I est i n e and fluence have grown church-wide thing and I feel satisfied." After that Arabia, Iran, Central Asia and in India, and world-wide. Pas- he visited me several times. Once he even Russia. said, "Really, my life has been spent toral care and training, the de- in vain. Now I know that Jesus. is the The Turk belongs to our hu- velopment of a truly Indian true Saviour." He then broke the man family; he has tested branch of the Anglican commun- rosary or string of beads round his capacity for leadership; he ion with native Indian forms of neck and purchased a copy of the worship, the betterment of vil- New Testament. Since then he has stands a dominant figure at one lage life, the constructive guid- ceased to attend Pandharpur, and is important crossroads of the now an earnest student of the New world; and he faces a great ing of Christian thought in India Testament and a seeker after Truth. crisis in his own inner life. How throughout the maze of politics can he be won for God and to and nationalism, church unity in Telugu Women to the Rescue the things that make a people truly great and strong? The India and in the world-for all Telugu Baptist women raised people of Turkey have never had this he is constantly laboring. Rs. 400 toward keeping the hosa clear vision of Christ. His pital at Sooriapet open and propreal face can be disclosed by lov- Keeping the Masses Ignorant erly staffed. Otherwise, it would ing kindness and sincerity and have been obliged to close its disinterestedness, to make God Political propaganda fills the doors. Dr. John S. Carman in Christ a reality. ignorant minds of India with the writes from the Hanumakonda belief that there are no poor peo- Hospital that this tragic possi- -Fred Field Goodsell. ple in England, since "all the bility was stopped by "one of the money is taken from India to most hopeful forward steps that INDIA feed them, leaving Indian people has been made by our Indian with no clothes on their backs." Christians during the first year Bishop Azariah of Dornakal Mr. Banks illustrates this by the of the new century of Kingdom following story in the United progress among the Telugus." Bishop Azariah, who sails for Church Review: England, November 3d, after -Watchman-Examiner. two months in the United States, As I was watching the fireworks in is the first native Indian bishop connection with the Coronation, a lad Third Moslem City of the Church of England. There of aoout sixteen dressed in the hand- woven cloth which Mr. Gandhi advoare now two others. Rt. Rev. cates, accosted me. "Why have you Hyderabad is the third Mos- not gone to England for the Corona- Vedanayakam Samuel Azariah tion?" he asked. When I said I could lem city in the world. It is equal was consecrated Bishop of Dor- not afford to do so, he replied, "You to Madras in size. With its can travel for nothing, so why did you great Osmania University it atnakal in 1912. He was a dele- not go?" He was convinced that peo- tracts students from every part gate to the World Missionary ple could travel in England without Conference of 1910 in Edin- paying railway fares, and would of India. burgh, out of which grew the scarcely believe me when I told him it Australian Anglicans have a World Conference on Faith and was only railway officials who have free passes. He was astonished to mission there; a part of this Order. Bishop Azariah visited work is St. George's Grammar Australia last year for the cen- learn that I had not seen King George School, where 300 boys and 200 tennial celebration of the first VI. "Why not? can't you go and see Anglican bishop's consecration him whenever you like?" girls are being trained for lead- ership. This school is a base there. He attended the two Truth-Seeking Sadhu from which the aristocracy,offichurch conferences of the past cials and students in the towns, summer in Oxford and Edin- Rev. C. G. Navalkar sends this who are all M 0 s Ie m s, are burgh. Cambridge University incident, reported by a colpor- reached. An Indian clergyman awarded him the LL.D. degree teur of the British and Foreign has been specially trained for in 1920. Bible Society: evangelistic work among Mos-
lems. A book room has been and Chinese to simple exhorta- from an inferiority complex; the opened where the educated Mos- tions to bear the trials and trib- lem can read Christian literature ulations of the war bravely. A Chinese have found themselves. and discuss it. few churches closest to war As to the Christian program, areas were closed. -C. M. S. Gleaner. Mr. Paul says that Christianity Missionary Possibilities Salvation Army Converts plays such a small part in the Rev. C. Darby Fulton, Execu- life of the country that it is diffi- The Government of India has tive Secretary of the Southern marked its appreciation of a re- Presbyterian Board of Foreign cult to say how much of a con- markable work of the Salvation Missions, in commenting on the tribution Christian ethics is Army in the Andaman Penal situation in the Far East says making to the uplift of China. Settlements, by the award of the that the present trouble there, However, many of the leaders in Kaiser-i-Hind medals in gold while accompanied by many ele- all walks of life have in some and silver to their officers, Ma- ments of danger, need not neces- way been touched by Christian jor and Mrs. Sheard. Six hun- sarily retard the progress of dred brutal outlaws, 120 of missionary work. It is conceiv- institutions, whether it be the whom were convicted of fifty able that in some ways the effect church, schools or hospitals. For murders and of robberies total- may be just the 0 p p 0 sit e. the most part, the church pro- ing £22,500 worth of goods have Through newspapers and other gram relates itself to the needs become a law abiding, thrifty sources it is reported that there of the community. Mr. Paul be- and prosperous community. is a vast turning of the people of Some of the more desperate Shanghai and other stricken dis- lieves that western materialism characters were the personal tricts to the consolation of Chris- is permeating China more rap- servants of the officers. Many tianity in this emergency. Then, idly than Christianity. former murderers have become again, missionaries are having a Sunday school teachers and Gos- superb opportunity to prove to -World Call. pel preachers. the Chinese people their genuine sympathy, friendship and devo- Christianity in China -World Dominion Press. tion. One of the field directors of the Literacy in Siam He points out that in Japan vast millions of the population China Inland Mission firmly be- Siam has a higher literacy are out of sympathy with the im- percentage than India, Burma perialistic policies of the mili- lieves that the Church of Christ or China. Compulsory education tary regime. This has been for the first six years is being proven two or three times by the has been so firmly established in made effective all over the king- overwhelming majority of anti- dom as rapidly as possible. A government representatives that China that even if all mission- system of vocational schools is have been returned to seats in projected, and there is a grow- the Imperial Diet. In this op- aries had to be withdrawn, the ing interest in physical edu- position to militarism and agcation. A national stadium is gression, the relatively small but work of evangelization would go being erected in Bangkok; and influential Christian constitu- .Siam, never before represented ency in Japan is a strong nu- forward. Missionary activity in the Olympic games, expects cleus. Letters from our misto send a strong contingent to sionaries reveal that despite the has been seriously handicapped Japan in 1940. national crisis Japan is facing, the spiritual hunger of the peo- during the past ten years by -Christian Century. ple is evident, and there are un- told opportunities for reaching Communist influence. There has CHINA men and women with the Gospel. been general lawlessness. War Brings Revival -Christian Observer. Another worker in China It is reported that foreign and No More Inferiority Complex Chinese C h r i s t ian s packed draws attention to the fact that churches of all denominations in Rev. Alexander Paul, Execuwar-wrecked Shanghai during tive Secretary for Oriental Mis, the past two or three years have the rain of shells, giving evidence sions, United Christian Misof unprecedented religious re- sionary Society, writes from been the most encouraging in the vival. Pastors shortened their mid-Pacific, bewildered at what services to minimize danger to he saw in China, although war China Inland Mission's history, parishioners fro m unexpected had not yet broken out when he bombardments. The peril of left. One of the transformations and suggested that the devil was ever-recurring air raids was con- he noted was the emergence sidered so great that preachers angry at the progress which had reduced their sermons in English been made. Thus behind the earthly conflict was the spiritual, and there was urgent need for prayer. Every great advance of the Kingdom of God in China, he said, had been born out of ap- parent tragedy, and the present setback may well be the prepara- tion for another great step for- ward. -The Christian.
Interdenominational Mission Society The Chinese Missionary So- ciety, organized in 1918, now has 15,000 subscribing members and has become nation-wide. Once in three years its General Conference meets which elects the Board of Directors of twen- ty-one members. The last meet-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ing of the General Conference Shanghai; Hackett Medical Col- has been made during the last five attended by sixty-six delegates, lege, Canton, and Woman's years. was in August, 1936, at which Christian M e d i c a I College, time the following three-year Shanghai. That there is a rapidly growing enplan was adopted: The number of trained Chi- thusiasm for modern medicine in Double the workers in the nese physicians and surgeons is field. less than 5,000. They are serv- China at present, both in the Govern- ing t~roughout every part of the Open a Bible school in Yun- Chinese Republic, and are ren- ment and among the people. During nan. dering an incalculable service to their people. They are manning the last twelve months the Govern- Open work in Tibet. Christian hospitals, entering Open more day schools. government medical service, go- ment has spent two million dollars in ing into private practice, and For the Bible school a princi- teaching in medical schools. But erecting new hospitals alone, and pal has been secured and a build- their number is far too small, ing is under construction. Three for China has only one physician many millions in subsidizing and pro- with modern training for every candidates have applied to be 95,000 people, whereas the Unit- moting medical work. ., sent to Tibet where work will ed States has one physician for That in some of the larger cltIes the soon be opened. every 785 people. inevitable competition between gov- From 1918 to 1931 work was -Presbyterian Survey. conducted in two missions, Yun- ernment and mission hospitals is benan and HeiIingkiang, Manchu- Hospital Inspection ria; but during the last five ginning to be felt. Nearly all mission years missions have been opened Recently a group of sixteen hospitals are handicapped by sm~ll in Szechwan and Mongolia, thus hospital administrators, from almaking three missions now un- most as many provinces, under- poorly-paid staffs and the necesslty der this society. During the took, under the auspices of the nineteen years of the society's Ministry of Education, a trip of being self-supporting, while govwork forty missionaries have t h r 0 ugh North and Central been sent out. At present there China to inspect outstanding ernment institutions at present are are thirty-seven missionaries of hospitals. The Commis-sion whom seventeen have gone out traveled for six weeks through coasting along on large subsidies. from Shanghai, twelve are local eight provinces, making a study paid workers and eight are of about 45 hospitals. The pur- No "Rice Ohristians" These workers without salary. Among poses were to make a start in the matter of setting up mini- The history of missions in these are five doctors and seven mum hospital standards for China has shown that it requires teachers working in their respec- China, and to offer individual more time to convert a Chinese tive fields. members of the Commission, to Christianity than some other some of whom were from iso- Asiatics, but that when he is con- -Chinese Recorder. lated centers, the stimulus of a verted he holds to his new faith fairly comprehensive view of th.e with a tenacity which persecu- Medical Education rapid advance of modern medI- tion seldom shakes. While it cine in China. was to be expected that some The general trend of medical would fall away, the behavior of The inspection included 15 Chinese Christians under the Protestant Mission Hospitals. baptism of blood and fire in th.e Government hospitals are all Boxer uprising eloquently testI- relatively new. Some impres- fied to the genuineness of their sions of a member of the group faith. The uneducated peasant are: was not behind his cultivated countrymen in devotion to duty. That there is a distinct and deliber- Of the hundreds of Christians ate trend in China toward state medi- who were taken inside the Brit- cine and government control of ap ish Legation in Peking, not one teaching and practice of both medl- proved false to their benefactors. cine and nursing. -Watchman-Examiner. That the government is facing the education thus far in the twen- problem of J:tealth f?r th,e people of China conscIOus of ltS dlfficulty and tieth century has been in the di- magnitude, but determined to assu,me JAPAN -OHOSEN responsibility for it and do somethmg rection of concentrating this about it. The broad lines of its na- University Religion tion-wide program, along lines of curawork in a smaller number of tive medicine, public health and med- ical education, have been laid down, centers, and giving greater and a surprising amount of progress Five thousand students at the strength to each of these. Medi- Imperial University in Tokyo, cal education in China, has re- one of the best equipped educa- ceived support from t h r e e tional institutions in the world, sources in addition to that from when questioned as to their r~li mission boards: (1) the Rocke- gfaioctn~ : revealed the followmg Confucianists, 6; Shinfeller Foundation; (2) philan- thropically – minded individuals toists, 8; Christians, 60; Bud- in North America and Great dhists, 300; Atheists, 1,500; Britain; (3) the Chinese people Agnostics, 3,000. Of 30,000. stu- and government. dents in the government UnIver- At the present time medical sities, 27,500 are reported as education is being carried on having no religion.
under Christian auspices at six -Japan Christian Quarterly.
centers in China. In addition to the Peiping Union Medical Col- Are the Japanese Peace- Minded? lCehgee~lothoesUeniavreersaitsy,foTlloswisn: At an; Sir Herbert Marler was for- merly Canadian envoy at Tokyo, West China University, Cheng- tu; St. J 0 h n 's University,
and is now Canada's representa- maintained by his Japanese col- often reaching 1,400. It is worth tive at Washington. In a recent league, Rev. M. Murao, under a going far to hear Korean Chrisinterview with Lady Marler her Board of Directors of the Jap- tians pray. They bow with their testimony to Japan's love for anese Church and the Church faces to the floor and pour out peace strikes a strange note, but Missionary Society. There are praise, confession and supplicashe asserted she found the ma- now three major dailies (and tion as those who know what it jority of the Japanese people several smaller papers) which is to have daily audience with "peace – minded." She c 0 m- publish daily religious articles. God. -Monday Morning. mended the marked influence of It is considered more eff'ective Christian missionaries in Japan, to publish news, rather than ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC stating that while many of the views. News about Christian ac- Japanese who attend Christian tivities has greater weight than Island Problems schools may not formally adopt essays upon Christianity. Christianity, they learn Chris- About 100 delegates, repretian principles and are regular -Life of Faith. senting major mission enterchurch attendants. Christian- prises (except Roman Catholic) ity to the Japanese is a definitely Scholarships at Chosen attended a Pacific Missionary living thing, with a message for Christian College Conference in Sydney, Australia. the individual, which is not Emphasis was placed upon the found in their native religions. Last April, Chosen Christian need for indigenous churches, Lady Marler also praised the College received 153 new stu- undivided by denominational difwork of the Women's Peace As- dents, 84 in the Commercial De- ferences. Said one speaker: sociation in Japan, with a mem- partment, 42 in the Literary De- "We are not concerned only with bership of about 250,000. partment, and 27 in the Science establishing small Christian com- Department. Of these, 60;/0 are munities here and there, linked -Presbyterian Tribune. Christians. Many of these, as with the Church of the West, well as students already in col- and retaining forms and worship "Forward-Day by Day" lege, are barely able to find the and Christian practice peculiar money necessary to get an edu- to the West. We must reorgan- While Japanese and Chinese cation. Many work, some few ize the Island Societies of the soldiers are killing each other, have had scholarships provided Pacific on a Christian basis, and Japanese and Chinese Christians by friends in America and by integrate them into one great are uniting in strengthening the Korean friends. A gift made by Christian fellowship." witness of the Church. Plans for Mr.. C. S. Kim of Seoul last winpublication of Forward-Day by ter will provide four scholar- With regard to education, it Day, the Forward Movement ships. On March 21, Mr. S. K. was agreed that it is the ultimate manual of Bible readings and Cho announced that he would responsibility of the governmeditations, in Chinese are give 20,000 yen each to Chosen ments concerned to educate their under way. Two students at Christian College, to the Sever- citizens. As governments take Central China College are help- ance Medical College and to the over this task, missions must ing in the task of translating the Korean Posung College. The fol- withdraw, but taking care that manuals from English to Chi- lowing day he paid half this sum religious teaching and influence nese. The Chinese are finding to each of the institutions con- are adequately safeguarded, es- Japanese translations of For- cerned, promising to pay the pecially by insuring the Chrisward Movement literature help- remainder in May. With addi- tian character of the teachers. ful in the work, as many of the tional help contributed, the col- Japanese characters are pure lege expects to be able to supply -Pacific Island's Monthly. Chinese characters. 36 scholarships. South Seas Martyrs The Rev. Charles F. Wiston, Mr. Cho's gift is the largest of Central China College, is in which the college has ever re- Lawe~ College takes its name communication with Prof. Paul ceived from Korean sources. from a great pioneer missionary Rusch of St. Paul's University, Coming from a young man who of the London Missionary So- Tokyo,who is aiding with the is not himself a Christian, it ciety in Papua. Here Papuans Japanese publications. More shows something of the esteem are trained as tea.chers, preachthan 55,000 copies of the Jap- in which this college and the ers and handworkers. They live anese Forward – Day by Day Severance Medical College are in neat cottages and raise their have been placed in the hands of held by the Korean people in own food. Their wive,' too, are Japanese families. For war d general. -H. H. Underwood. – preparing to preach as well as to Movement efforts to reach the teach. There is a beautiful little millions of rural inhabitants in One Thousand at Prayer college chapel in which are two Japan a're meeting with success. Meeting stained glass windows, memori- als to Dr. James Chalmers and -The Churchman. Midweek prayer meeting in Oliver Tomkins, who suffered Pyengyang has probably the death by martyrdom at the same News, Not Views world's largest at ten dan c e, time. Above the communion rarely falling below 1,000 and table is another memorial win- Newspaper evangelism, start- dow. It contains four tablets with ed by W. H. Murray Walton, is
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
the names of eighty-two Samoan united Christian forces can bring "Farther With Ohrist" Mission and South Sea missionaries who to the local church in undertakdied in the service of Christ in ing its task. The Evangelical Church has Papua between 1871 and 1899. launched a "F art her With Some of these missionaries, Four basic areas of human re- C h r i s t" Mission. Beginning themselves not long removed lationships are recognized: September 19 a group of bishops from primitive savagery, were Christian Family Life; The began a tour of nearly thirty clubbed or speared to death, some Church and Its Program; Com- strategic Evangelical centers in died from fever or pestilence. munity Issues Calling for Chris- the United States and Canada. If this memorial were brought tian Action; and The Mission of The next step in the mission will up to date, the number would Christianity in the Mod ern be in the local churches. It will probably be twice as great. World. be an attempt to enrich the spir- itual life of the whole church Preaching Mission in the The necessity of a d.eep pe~ through ministers and lay lead- Philippines sonal religious experIence IS ers. The women of the church stressed. This is done through are asked to take part; and The Philippine Commission on common worship experiences, young people who have thought Evangelism is working on plans through addresses, and through clearly about life and its probfor a Preaching Mission to be a continuous recognition by all lems, and who earnestly desire conducted in a similar manner to leaders that personal religious to give themselves to making the the National Preaching Mission experience underlies effective world more Christian are asked in America. Included in the participation in Christian living to join in these meetings. plans is a visit from Dr. Stanley in social relationships. Jones in February, or earlier. -Evangelical-Messenger. His contribution to such an en- A Manual on the National deavor will be invaluable, espe- Teaching Mission explains the Unusual Oountry Parish cially since he was one of the details of a School in Christian outstanding leaders of the move- Living as conducted on either a Rev. and Mrs. L. A. Zimmerment in America. His visit to community or a local church man, graduates of Kansas Agrithe larger centers in the Islands basis. For information, write cultural College, twenty years will stimulate the four-year pro- the International Council of Re- ago, started a ministry of pulpit gram of evangelism, began last ligious Education, 203 N. Wa- and farm at Cedar Cliff, N. C., year. -N. C. C. Bulletin. bash Ave., Chicago. and the result has been start- lingly fruitful. They bought a Honolulu's Missionary Home Moody Institute Expands farm on credit, started living in a log cabin, with only muscle and Hundreds of missionaries pass It is fitting that in this year brain as equipment. Little by through Honolulu, and many of of international commemoration little the debt was lifted, a new them may be interested in know- of the birth of Dwight L. Moody, and attractive house was built. ing of the establiJshment of a founder of Moody Bible Insti- Bible Institute and Missionary tute, Chicago, that a new and During these years of hard Home. The Bible Institute is to more suitable building be erected work on the farm, the ministry be interdenominational and in- to house the Institute's activities. to the people has been in four terracial. The Missionary Home A number of old buildings on La centers, and in two of these four Staff desires to meet every Salle Street that served the In- new meeting houses have been steamer and "take all the mis- stitute in Chicago for twoscore built, erected by the efforts of sionaries and their restless chil- years as dormitories, have been the people and their minister. dren for the day, part of it to be torn down and a twelve-story Two services each Sunday and spent on the sands at Waikiki, Administration Building has three prayer meetings each week and a part in a drive to the Pali, been begun. The needs of an at distances of from four to six and for some a quiet rest in the enlarging student body have miles from the home are held. In Missionary Home." Those inter- made expansion necessary. the special services held, more ested may write to E. B. Turner, accessions have been received 2436 Oahu Avenue, Honolulu. Administrative activities,here- than is the average of the church tofore scattered among thirty- in general. A program of Vaca- NORTH AMERIOA eight buildings, will now be tion Bible Schools is maintained, gathered into a compact arrange- beside socials and entertain- Preaching Mission Follow-Up ment that will make for economy ments. Standards have been and efficiency. Besides numerous raised and the minister's home is . Schools in Christian Living business offices, and lecture and a much frequented center. are under way as a follow-up of reception halls, there will be a the National Preaching Mission. spacious library and reading The Tennessee Valley Author- They seek to provide, not a com- rooms. A completely equipped ity made an aerial survey of the munity substitute for the local printing plant will occupy a part mountains and a short time later church's program, but the most of the basement, which will also one of their agents from Norris competent assistance w hi c h provide additional dining room Dam drove up to the farm and space. Radio equipment has asked what those strips on the been modernized so as to double land meant. They had noticed its service area. it on the map. A new kind of
farming for the mountains had campaign are to make "enrolled" guidance, their success in represent- and "active" membership syn- ing the Lord Christ, even in what been tried – strip farming; a onymous by reenlisting lapsed seems impossible situations. members, and to achieve a great strip of corn twenty-five feet expansion of its program of serv- Let us pray for our fellow Chris- ice through increased support. tians in China and Japan. Many of and a strip of grass to avoid ero- Lutheran Church leaders char- them have been led to the Saviour by acterize this movement as "an the missionaries whom we have sent sion of the land. To terrace the answer to the challenge of that to them. They are the children of spirit of 'defeatism' which was the Church. They are confronted by land would be too costly, but born amid the depression." It possible suffering and by temptations is also an answer to widely pub- subtle and powerful. Let us pray these strips attained the same licized claims that the Church that they may be led and strengthened has ceased to be a potent factor by the Holy Spirit in bearing their result. So impressed was the in American life. In order to witness to Christ, in finding the right present the plan effectively a course for them as Christians to pur- Authority that it asked our schedule of regional meetmgs sue, and in being faithful to the end. has been arranged. preacher-farmer to visit the uni- Let us pray for the rulers, the lead- Current Periodical Trends ers and the people of Japan and China. versity and explain it to the If ever men needed to be taught of The Sunday Sch.ool Times has God what pathway to follow, it is now. classes. W. E. FINLEY. made an analysis of the attitude War, whatever its outcome, will not of this nation's popular maga- assure the peace and the progress of Georgia Buys Bibles zines toward religion, and finds the Orient. Only as China and Japan that the percentage of articles attain some common standing-ground The State of Georgia, through indicating an approving attitude of genuine good will, of mutual respect its board of education, will pur- towards Christianity has defi- and mutual helpfulness, will there be chase 800,000 Bibles for school nitely declined since 1900. It any solution of the problem of the Far children of Georgia as a means appears obvious that Christian- East. Let us pray in humility and of inculcating religious prin- ity has "dropped into a state of after self-examination, for these lands, ciples and offsetting commu- being severely criticised and op- that they may come, albeit through posed." This is especially true bitter experience, to that better undernistic tendencies. in the so-called intellectual type standing which will prepare the way . The motion for the purchase of magazine. for a glorious future-a golden age of freedom and justice and peace, which of the Bibles came from Gov- The magazines whose contents is none other than the kingdom of ernor Rivers, who stressed the reveal such a trend are ones God. need for Bibles in the schools of whose names are familiar to al- Georgia, saying: most every reading household, Also, a group of missionary and whose circulation totals executives in New York in con- "The growth of Communism many millions of copies. They sultation regarding problems reis a menace we of Georgia have are considered to be the best sulting from the Sino-Japanese got to watch, and the best available current periodical lit- struggle made the following weapon with which to combat it erature. It is inevitable that to recommendations: is the Bible. Com m u n ism some extent the nation's thinkteaches Godlessness. Our form ing will be molded by these We are united in our realization of of government contemplates the periodicals. Perhaps no more the need of prayer. We write, thereworship of God as a religion and effective antidote could be sug- fore, urging that through all the deas an act of citizenship." gested than to urge the placing nominational channels there go forth in every home a well-edited a call to prayer for China and Japan, It is reported that each mem- Christian paper. so that at this time of grave crisi.s a ber of the new 10-man board great volume of intercessory prayer arose and indorsed "1009'0" the MISCELLANEOUS may come before the throne of God suggestion and motion of the from the Christians of America. governor. Let Us Pray! Planning a World General It was the governor's sugges- Dr. Ralph E. Diffendorfer, of Assembly tion that the Bible be furnished the Methodist Board of Foreign to all school children in the state, Missions, has issued the follow- Arrangements for a conferfrom the first grade through ing call to prayer in view of the ence to be held in Holland were high school, and the Bible so bitter struggle in the Orient. initiated by a "Committee of furnished to become the prop- Fourteen," appointed by Oxford erty of the child and to remain Let us pray for our missionaries in and Edinburgh, at a meeting in in his possession throughout his Japan and China. Some are in im- Lon don, August 19, which school life. -Living Church. minent peril. Some are in isolation elected the Archbishop of York and bewilderment. All are faced by as chairman, and Dr. Samuel Lutheran Intensive Drive unexpected problems and difficulties. McCrea Cavert and Can 0 n Let us pray for their safety, their Leonard Hodgson as secretaries. A campaign for new members which leaders believe is more The World Council plan concomprehensive than any similar templates a General Assembly of· program ever undertaken by a church in the United States was about 200 representatives of initiated on September 7 by the cooperating churches meeting United Lutheran Church in every five years, and a General America. .Full responsibility for Assembly executive committee plans, which have required ten of about· 60 representatives months' intensive work, are in meeting every year. the hands of Dr. F. H. Knubel, of New York City.
The announced purposes of the Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information ~===========I~ Christendom and Islam. By W. Wil- Romanism usually fares better taught it with scholarship and son Cash. 205 pp. $2.00. Harper and Brothers, New York. 1937. at the hands of Protestant Lib- skill and sympathy to the new eralism than does Fundamental- generations. He has been a sin- Prebendary Cash was for- ism. It is refreshing to find a cere and devoted Christian man, merlya missionary in the Near tolerant Liberal who does not be- who practiced and taught the East and has studied Islam for lieve that all Fundamentalists reality of prayer. He has been over thirty years. He has writ- are bigots, who appreciates the no cloistered student but has ten several volumes on the sub- greatness of the conservative taken his full part and more in ject and these chapters were theology, and who does not cari- the practical work of the Church given as the Haskell Lectures at cature its noble features. in missions, in true evangelism, Oberlin School of Theology in The reading of the book left in cooperation, in national and 1936-7. He naturally writes of the distinct impression that the social service. These essays de- Islam from a Christian stand- weakest chapter is the last, in scribe the fields of Dr. Brown's point. It is one of the best books which the author presents the interest and work and tell a liton the subject in recent years Liberal view and therefore tle, but only a part, of his effecand gives a vast amount of in- speaks for his own faith. It is tive and fruitful service. In a formation about Mohammed, his plain that his opinions have been time of uncertainty and fear Dr. religion, his followers and the colored by a rather full accept- Brown has been a rich influence results of Christian missions. ance of radical Biblical criti- of stability and courage and Read especially the chapter on cism. His view of the Old Tes- hope. And now in his ripe age "The Christian Answer to the tament is naturalistic, while his he is one of the open-minded Moslem Quest." view of the Lord Jesus has defi- and forward-looking advocates Three Typical Beliefs. By Theo- nite unitarian and humanistic of the larger unity and' wider dore Gerald Soares. 111 pages and leanings. But he sets forth his index. $1.50. The University of opinions with tolerance, grace, service of the Christian Church, building on the past a yet great- Chicago Press, Chicago. 1937. and considerable balance. er future.
This little book is of consider- One's response to a discussion R. E. S.
able beauty, both in its format such as this is necessarily col- Dr. Bob Hockman, A Surgeon of the and in its style. The author, ored by the faith that he holds. Cross. By Kathleen Hockman who is Professor of Ethics at Friederichsen. 102 pp. 50 cents. To the conservative reader at Zondervan Publishing House, Grand the California Institute of Tech- least the presentation of Liber- Rapids. 1937. nology and minister of the alism will be far less convincing than that of either Roman Ca- As one who knew intimately Neighborhood Church in Pasa- Dr. Bob Hockman and who had tholicism or Fundamentalism. dena, is a member of the Board FRANK E. GAEBELEIN. much to do with him in the Red of Preachers of Harvard Uni- Cross during his last months on versity. The "Three Typical Be- The Church Through Half a Century. earth in Ethiopia, I heartily liefs" which he discusses are Essays in honor of William Adams Roman Catholicism, Fundamen- Brown by former students. $3.00. commend this life story to every talism, and Liberalism; and the 426 pp. Charles Scribner's Sons, young person seeking to follow book, therefore, has just three New York. Jesus Christ.
divisions, each dealing with the This composite volume was is- Mrs. Friederichsen brings out beliefs of the particular faith sued in Dr. Brown's honor on the interesting fact that in early the occasion of his retirement life he was not a good student under discussion.
This is the only treatise of from active service in Union but that the jolt he received by liberal authorship the reviewer Theological Seminary, New York failing in an e x ami nat ion has ever seen that discusses City. He well deserves every brought out his determination to :Fundamentalism with true tol- word of appreciation and praise succeed. He ended his course at erance and genuine respect. which it contains. He has been the head of his class in the medi- The same thing, to a lesser de- a theological teacher who held cal college. This is encouraging gree, is true for the treatment of fast the great catholic, evangeli- for those who are inclined to be Roman Catholicism, although cal faith of the Church and discouraged. A few months be- Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[559 ] fore the invasion of Ethiopia by conditions and in foreign rela- Probably no one is better in- Italy, at a consultation of ten of tions. The Japanese military formed on "Latin America and the best known doctors in Addis aggressive program is strongly Its Place in World Life." Ababa over a puzzling case that criticized. The movements to- Dr. Inman has given us a resisted treatment and an oper- ward Church union and edu- monumental work as a result of ation, Bob gave a summing up cational trends are presented in his study, observation and exof the evidence and medical valuable surveys. perience. He first, in Book One, probabilities that was really The Japanese Christians are describes Latin Americans and following the flag of the empire briefly reviews their history; in masterful. Mrs. F r i e d e ric h sen has by taking the Gospel to the Books Two and Three he debrought out Dr. Hockman's es- South Seas (Caroline Islands), scribes the new forces at work sential manliness and sweet to South America, the Philip- in labor circles, among students, temper as well as his devotion to pines and Manchuria. The book Communists, and Evangelical duty. What a wonderful com- is not as valuable in the vitality missions. He looks into the fubination, and one that com- of topics treated as are many ture in an attempt to discover mends our Lord Jesus Christ to previous volumes. Several types the outcome of the revolution in young people who are so quick of work and organizations pre- Mexico and Uruguay. to see sham. The name of Bob sented are only indirectly mis- There is a list of important Hockman is entitled to stand sionary-such as the Mutual Aid historical dates, some explanaamongst the heroes of faith of and Fire Protection Association. tory notes and useful annotated all ages. His life reminds us of The obituaries and directories bibliographies on each section. Ralph Tidrick, another mission- occupy 77 pages-one fifth of the The index occupies eight pages. ary hero of the United Presby- volume. The statistics show that Probably to those interested terian Church, who was in many there are now working in Japan in Evangelical missions the least ways like Dr. Bob and who 54 societies, and 986 Protestant satisfactory portions of the book met death by being mauled by a missionaries (232 ordained and are those dealing directly with wounded lion. Heroic death en- 481 in evangelistic work). There this subject. Considerable space courages others to heroic life. are about 1,750 organized is devoted to Communism and There are a number of mis- churches of which 950 are self- its growing strength, less to spelled proper names and tech- supporting. Protestant Church Roman Catholicism and its nical terms in this book and members are rep 0 r ted at moral and spiritual weaknesses. some statistics that should be re- 230,000. It seems an over-statement to vised. The "poetry" is not of The story of work in Formosa, say that in "countries like Brazil, sufficieptly high quality to merit where there has been a revival Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico inclusion in such a noble record. movement, is of particular in- the churches begun by mission- TOM A. LAMBIE. terest. aries have now become independ- Japan Today. Edited by T. T. Brum- C. T. Studd, Athlete and Pioneer. By ent of foreign control, electing baugh. 500 pp. Kyo Bun Kwan. Norman P. Grubb. Illus. 8vo. Ginza, Tokyo. 1937. 266 pp. Zondervan Pub. House. their own bishops and other Grand Rapids, Mich. 1937. ecclesiastical authorities, and Here is the thirty-fifth issue working out their own proof the Japan and Formosa Chris- This stimulating biography of grams." This seems to give the tian Movement Year Book. It the famous British Cambridge has been published under the cricketer and missionary to Af- impression that this independauspices of the National Chris- rica has already been reviewed ence and self-support has been tian Council and is now issued in these pages (April, 1934). It attained in all these and other by the Fellowship of Christian is worth reading as a story of countries. Missionaries. This year book courage, faith and sacrificial deals with Christian missions service. For a general picture of the and religion in Japan and also present situation, for informawith the political and social prob- Latin America. By Samuel Guy In- tion on politics, economics and lems, economic conditions and man. 8vo. 462 pp. $3.75. Willet, the factors that influence the fuintellectual life and thought and Clark & Co. Chicago. 1937. ture of Latin American lands, education. There are statistics this volume by Dr. Inman will and lists of missionaries and Dr. Inman has been a student their stations. The authors of of Latin American affairs for prove most useful, but there is various sections include eight over thirty years. He has little direct information on Latin worked as a missionary of the America's spiritual need or mis- sionary work and the Evan- gelical outlook.
leading Japanese and thirteen Disciples Church in Mexico, has "None Other Gods." By W. A. Vismissionaries. Naturally the vol- been secretary of the Committee ser't Hooft. 185 pp. Harper Bros.
ume says little about Japan's on Cooperation in Latin America New York. 1937.
campaign against China but the for twenty years, has traveled This little but vel'v wortheditor deals' briefly with Man- frequently in Mexico, Central while book was writte"n by one churia and Japan's withdrawal America, the West Indies and of the clearest-minded leaders of from the League of Nations. South America and has written the younger student generation There is a crisis both in domestic many books on the subject. who is also a man of positive
faith. He writes for a in the new world
contemporary mood. There are perhaps far more young people efforts in the colonies prior to this time had been undertaken in America than he recognizes only by societies or congregawho hold fast to the historic tions in Europe. catholic faith of the Evangelical Bishop Levin Theodore Reich- ………"""~ churches without any great dis- eI, in his manuscript entitled, turbance of mind, and there are, "The Early His tor y of the alas, many at the other extreme Church of the United Brethren, commonly called Moravians, in with whom such a valid presen- North America, A. D. 1734- !!!!: COUISE 1M BIBLE EVIDEICES tation as this brief book contains 1748," in an enumeration of the will be in vain: Between these sources of revenue to meet the Ii. Scriptural Study Each Week–52 Lesson•• groups, however, there are many various expenses of the time, Part I. Internal Evidences of the Inspiration in our colleges and universities of the Bible. Part IL The Testimony of History, Science, and li.rchaeolojty.
Send 1& in stamps for eunen! issue.
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The Missionary Review of the World — October 1937
1937
Mohammedan World Number The Moslem World Today Dwight M. Donaldson Some Trends in the Moslem World Edward M. Dodd Influence of Moslem Superstitions Davida M. Finney Why Preach Christ to Moslems? Samuel M. Zwemer The Christian Approach to Moslems W. Wilson Cash Moslem Reactions to the Gospel James Haldane Educating Moslems for Christ John Van Ess A Christian Doctor Among Moslems Paul W. Harrison The Power of the Printed Page Mabel H. Erdman My Experience with Moslems Frank C. Laubach Moslem Views of "Those Nazarenes" J. Lowrie Anderson Christian and Moslem Homes Eleanor T. Calverley How to Interest Christians in Moslems Estella S. Aitchison Best Books on Moslems and Missions Samuel M. Zwemet'
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to Remember WORLD DOMINION SURVEY
September 27 – October 1 – Dallas, SURVEYING THE WORLD Texas. Pres., Mrs. E. R. Alderson, 561 Goodwin St., Dallas, Texas. Here is a series of real missionary sur- veys, scientific and evangelical, written with September 27 – October 1 – Houston, a grasp and definiteness of fact, a perspec- Texas. Dean, Mrs. A. B. Haynes, tive of view and a passion which makes 618 Highland Ave., Houston, Texas. them comparable to a military reconnais- sance. One after another the great fields October 2-6 – Triennial Convention. of missionary endeavof afe being covered Women's Missionary Society of the with topogf~phical accuracy from a stand- United Lutheran Church. Buffalo. point vitally evangelical and entirely non- denominational. The books come from the October 3-Presbyterian World Com- munion Sunday. press bound like government monographs, in big type and made vivid by splendid maps.
October 5-6 – Southern Mountain Catalogue on Application Mention The Missionary Ret'iew Child Service Conference; under auspices of Save the Children Fund WORLD DOMINION OFFICES of America, Inc. Hotel McAlpin, New York. 156 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK CITY October 5-6 – Warren, Ohio. Mrs. The Rev. George S. McCune, D.D., ceived an honorary doctorate degree George Konold, 314 Scott St., N. E., LL.D., for about 30 years a Presby- from Yale in June. At a meeting of Warren, Ohio. terian missionary in Korea and presi- the Associated Boards for Christian dent of the Union Christian College Colleges in China, he made a clear October 6-12-Annual Meeting, Wom- of Pyengyang has joined the admin- statement of his Christian faith, and an's Home Missionary Society, istrative staff of the Moody Bible In- of the part that that faith had in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Se- stitute of Chicago, and will also teach release of the Generalissimo last attle, Wash. and assist in the evangelistic pro- Christmas. gram. Dr. McCune was also for a October 14-15 — Interracial Confer- time president of Huron College, '" * .. ences. Asbury Park, N. J. South Dakota, and brings real talents, Dr. Raymond C. Walker, pastor of October 21- Baltimore, Md. Mrs. experience and spiritual strength to the Market Square Presbyterian David D. Baker, 410 N. Calhoun the service of the Institute. Church of Harrisburg, Pa., was win- St., Baltimore, Md. ner of the $150 prize offered by the * … '" Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- October 24-31-Presbyterian Centen- sions for the best missionary sermon nial Week. Mr. Dugald Campbell, agent of the preached in connection with the cele- bration of the Board's centennial. November 7-11-International Good- National Bible Society of Scotland, is Dr. Walker's subject was: "These Are Will Congress. Boston. retiring as agent for Northern Africa the Great Days of God." Other prizes since he can no longer undertake the went to Dr. George E. Sweazey, of Your Missionary Activities long pioneer journeys on the fringes Danville, Ky., Dr. George Johnson of of the Sahara Desert, and other parts Lincoln University, and Dr. Paul F. Should begin at home. Get a of Africa, as he has done for many supply of our years. He hopes to spend the re- .. . Barackman, of Brookly.n.. . New York. mainder of his days in Johannesburg, GOSPEL TRACTS James Hardy Dillard, eighty-year- .. South Africa. old president of the Jeanes Fund for Sound, attractive, convincing the Improvement of Negro Education, '" '" has received the Theodore Roosevelt Sample package, 250. medal for 1937. This medal is given Mr. Arthur T. Upson, formerly of annually for human achievement or FAITH, PRAYER and TRACT LEAGUE the Nile Mission Press, has returned the development of American char- to Palestine from England. He will acter. Dr. Dillard receives the award Dept.R.W. Muskegon Heights, Mich. be at Mt. Carmel until December 10, "in recognition of sixty years of wise and subsequently at Fairhaven, Alex- and devoted work in behalf of the Personal Items andria, Egypt. He plans to do mis- American Negro, and the creation of sionary work and to give Bible read- a better understanding between the Dr. Iran Lee Holt, minister of St. ings in various places to help weaker white race and the black."
John's Methodist Episcopal Church, Christians. … '" … ~Obituary Note'S South, St. Louis, Mo., and a former General Evangeline Booth left Rev. William Milne, a Presbyterian London on September 22 for a tour missionary stationed on the Island of president of the Federal Council of of the United States and Canada. Nguna, New Hebrides, was killed by Churches, has been appointed chair- After conducting the Salvation a native April 27. Army's annual Congress in Atlanta, man of the Federal Council's new New York, and Chicago, she will go The native was the son of the chief to Winnipeg, returning to New York of the village near the mission sta- Commission for the Study of Chris- tion, and he had seemed demented. by way of Montreal. He attacked several natives who ran tian Unity. The commission is to be- to the mission station, where Mr. and * * '" Mrs. Nottage, missionaries from angin its work when sufficient financial other island, were present on a visit. Dr. H. H. Kung, the Minister of support for it has been secured. Finance in the National Government The madman rushed at the mission- of China, and vice-president of the aries with an axe and struck Mr. Dr. and Mrs. '"Ern'"est'" Lyons, veteran Executive Yuan (vice-premier in the Milne with the axe. Government), has recently visited Methodist missionaries to the Philip- America. He is an earnest Christian Then the village chief commanded and stands next to the Premier, one of his men to shoot his son. pines, have retired from active serv- Generalissimo Chiang Kaj-shek, in responsibilities and authority in the Rev. William Veitch Milne had ice. They went to Manila in 1903 Government. Dr. Kung is a 75th de- served as a missionary in the New from Singapore, and have seen in scendent of Confucius, but in his life Hebrides for over 20 years. His fa- and work he has repeatedly testified their thirty-four years of residence to his faith in Christ and has taken (Continued on pag6 449.) his stand for Christian principles. in the Philippines a most phenomenal Dr. Kung, as a representative of his growth of the evangelical Christian Government, attended the Coronation ceremonies of King George and ramovement. In 1913 Dr. Lyons took the bar examination, thereby saving the church thousands of pesos for legal expenses, as well as enabling him to serve as advisor in critical sit- .. .. . uations.
Dr. Charles Stelzle has been ap- pointed executive director of the "Good Neighbor League" in place of Dr. Stanley High, resigned.
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REVIEW OF THE WORLD In the Foreign Mission Field Fast Days Endorse Calvert School DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor Home Study Courses TO TBE VOL. LX OCTOBER, 1937 No. 10 For Children ORIENT Publication and Business Office– Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. tion Department, will give your child a superior elementary education ••. by mail, Editorial and Executive Office– regardless of where you may live. Mod- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. ern, approved courses from this famous Entered as second-class matter at school are being used by parents all over the world with outstanding success. Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. Give your children the advantages of these interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. and attractive materials. Instruction is Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. under the personal guidance of teachers in Published monthly, except August. Calvert's prominent and successful private All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. British agents – Marshall, Morgan , day school in Baltimore. and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, Write today for booklet of complete in- 10 shillings a year. formation. Costs are low.
MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- CALVERT SCHOOL LISHING CO., INC. 180 E. Tuscany Road BOARD OF DIRECTORS Baltimore ol> Maryland ROBERT E. SPEER, President Obituary Notes Empress of Japan-holder of A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President the Pacific Blue Ribbon WALTER MCDOUGALL, Treasurer (Continued from 2nd Cover.) DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary • ther, Rev. Peter Milne, was one of SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT the pioneer missionaries in the New Go direct fromVancouverand Victoria in 10 days by Em- WILLIAM I. CHAMBERLAIN Hebrides. press of Asia or Empress of D. J. FANT Russia. Only 3 more days via MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD *** Hawaii by Empress of Japan WM. B. LIPPHARD (fastest ship on the Pacific) Dr. Claire H. Denman, who served or Empress of Canada. Con- ERIC M. NORTH as medical missionary in Siam for nect at Honolulu from Cali- SAMUEL M. ZWEMER twelve years, died recently in Berk- fornia ports. Low round-trip eley, California. He was first located fares include passage from Editorial Chat at Chiengmai and later established and and to Seattle. built the first hospital in Chiengmai. This number of THE REVIEW is de- He was also editor of The Laos News, ~fi+ voted to the study of the Moslems of which later became The Siwm Outlook. For rates and sailings, see the world-their distribution, char- Being an ordained minister as well acteristics, influence and the extent as doctor, he made numerous tours YOUR TRAVEL AGENT or Cana- and results of Christian work among into the interior with both foreign Mohammedans. It is an interesting dian PSaacnifiFc:raNnceiwscYo,o3r8k~tChheir- subject and will be studied by thou- and Siamese evangelists. cago, sands of Christians in America this year. The articles we present are by *** cities in U. S. and Canada. experts-men and women who have spent years of service in Moslem The Rev. Dr. Frank Rawlinson, lands. Other equally fine articles, Editor of the Chinese Recorder, was crowded out of this issue, will appear accidentally killed by the explosion of in November. Look for them. a bomb in Shanghai on August 14. He was at the time with his wife and Moslem Women and Children- daughter but they were uninjured. Mrs. Herrick Young. Dr. Rawlinson went to China under the auspices of the American Baptist Encouragements in the Work- Foreign Mission Society in 1902 and Geo. Swan. later became associated with the American Board (Congregational). Testimonies of Converts from He showed great ability in his edi- Islam. torial work and in his understanding of the Chinese. His death is a real Sermon by a Former Moslem- loss to the cause of Christ in China Sa'eed Kurdistani. and one of the tragedies of the con- flict between the Japanese and The Story of Sa'eed Kurdistani- Chinese. Christie Wilson. Ambrose Sw*ase*y, *prominent Bap- New and Old in Moslem Lands- A. T. Upson. tist and trustee of many educational and missionary enterprises, died in *** Cleveland, Ohio, recently, at the age of ninety. He was one of the world's The following shows the esteem in leading scientists, having constructed which THE REVIEW is held by readers the giant telescopes for the Lick Ob- who use it for their own personal in- servatory, the United States Observ- formation and in church work. atory at Washington and the Yerkes Observatory at the University of Chi- *** cago. He was also a generous sup- porter of interdenominational mission- "I think the Rural Number of THE ary work. REVIEW is a very fine contribution to ,the cause. I am receiving a great (Concluded on 3rd Cover.) deal of help and enjoyment as I read the various articles."-Dr. Ellsworth [449 ] M. Smith, Field Representative, American Baptist Hom.e Mission So- ciety.
*** "THE REVIEW means much to me in my work with the women of our church."-Emma H. Mills, Santa Cruz, California. MOSLEM WORLD R op SOUTH INDIAN ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN H· REVIB ORLD VOLUME LX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 10 OCTOBER, 1937 Topics of the Times WHY THIS INTEREST IN MOSLEMS? many other points in common with the Christian Few people on earth are as difficult to lead to faith. This too is a challenge. There is a foun- Christ as are the Moslems, and yet this year thou- dation on which to build. sands of Christians in America and England will 3. They are people of strong character. They be reading and studying about the countries take their religion and its obligations seriously. where the followers of Mohammed are most nu-. They are willing to fight for their convictions, to merous, and about the work that is being done make sacrifices and even to die for their faith. to win them to Christ. Multitudes of earnest They are not easily led to abandon their beliefs prayers will be offered for their conversion and large sums will be given to support missions or obligations as they conceive them and are diliamong them. Why? gent in teaching their children to follow their Prophet. Apostasy is considered an unpardonable It is not because of any personal gain to mis- sin and in Moslem law it is a crime punishable sionaries, or any desire for political, economic or with death. These facts constitute a challenge to ecclesiastical advantage. It is not because the Christians; they may be transmuted into Chriswork is producing large results or because the tian graces when touched by the Holy Spirit.
Church of Christ is moved by a spirit of imperial- 4. Moslems exert a great influence on the world ism for world conquest. There are at least seven reasons why every true follower of Christ should for good or for evil. They constitute a real probtake a deep and practical interest in Moslems and Christian work in their behalf to the extent of lem in Egypt and Turkey, in Iran and Syria, in earnest prayer and sacrifice. Arabia and India. In lands where they are in 1. The number of Moslems in the world and their wide distribution are challenging. At least power they offer great obstacles to progress of one in every ten of the population of the earth is a Moslem. There are between 200 and 250 mil- Christianity and to the promotion of peace and lion of these people scattered over the globe. Nort~ Africa, Egypt, the Sudan, Turkey, Syria, good will among all classes. They believe in a ArabIa, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Java and Sumatra are almost solidly Mohamme- totalitarian Moslem state and in government condan. Millions more live in Central Africa, India, Central Asia, China, the Philippines, South trol by force of arms. Their influence might be Africa, Russia and Bulgaria. Many are found in other parts of Europe and in North and South turned to the advancement of the cause of Christ America. These multitudes cannot be ignored. and for the principles for which He stands. 2. They are people with positive and strong faith in God, as the one eternal, omnipotent 5. More potent than any of these reasons is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. They believe fact that Christ died for Moslems; He died that He might give tliem the life of God. They are sinners and know it, though they have wrong ideas of sin and its expiation. MthoereGoovse~reloutor Lord's command to "Go, preach every creature" certainly includes the Moham- medans today, even though there were none in existence when He first gave the command. There is no other way for Moslems to be saved than by Christ and the acceptance of His gift of Life.
in Christ as a unique prophet and in the authority 6. Another great reason is the obligation that of the Old and New Testaments. They believe in Christians have to Moslems because the contact prayer, in almsgiving, in immortality, and have of Arabians with 'a weak and distorted form of [451 ] Christianity was what led Mohammed to estab- and evidently thinks herself able to defy the publish his new form of religion. If Mohammed had lic opinion of the world. Her military party is been truly and intelligently converted to Christ ambitious to carry out its program, without in his youth what a difference that would have much regard for justice. It is reported on good made to the world ! We owe Moslems a debt, both authority that ninety per cent of the Japanese for the temporal things we have received from are opposed to the invasion of China, but the peothem and for spiritual truth we have failed to ple are kept in ignorance of the real situation share with them. by very strict censorship of the war news. J a- panese Christians, and others with more enlight- 7. A final reason for the support of Christian ened and pacific ideals, are greatly disturbed over work among Moslems is the encouraging results the aggressive policies of the military party that that have come in the conversion of Moslems to now rules Japan. These policies destroy the bene- Christ. Some outstanding trophies have been won ficial effects of the friendly advances made by in Syria and Egypt, in Iran and India. Every such Japanese Christian leaders as Dr. Toyohiko Moslem is supposed to be a missionary and, when Kagawa and Miss Michi Kawai. Apparently Jawon to Christ, should have the same zeal to ex- panese military leaders feared that China was tend their faith, in spite of persecution. What a growing in strength and was becoming united wonderful example is Dr. Sa'eed Kurdistani, the under the able Christian leadership of General- Kurdish Moslem who has become a great Chris- issimo Chiang Kai-shek and so determined to tian physician in Iran. Others are Kamil of strike while there was more likelihood of being Arabia and Michael Mansur of Egypt. There are able to achieve their purpose. multitudes more whose lights shine in narrower circles-but they are known to God. In Sumatra The modern war machine of Japan is much and other parts of the Dutch East Indies there more perfect and complete than that of China. are fifty thousand Christians who formerly were Airplanes· make it possible to carry destruction Moslems. They have their own schools and large far inland, and there seems little effort on the self-supporting churches. The influence of Christ part of the. Japanese to limit destruction to is permeating Iran, the Philippines, Africa, India, enemy fortifications and military forces. Already and many other lands to break down prejudice many thousands of noncombatants have been and build up an intelligent faith in Jesus Christ killed and wounded and peaceful villages have as the true revelation of God and the only Saviour been destroyed by ruthless Japanese airplane atfrom sin and its consequences. tacks. Foreigners and foreign enterprises have also suffered. In the north Japanese forces have Truly we as Christians have reason to preach occupied Peiping and Tientsin and are pushing the Gospel of Christ to Moslems, to carryon the their campaign north to the Great Wall and south work sacrificially and to expect that God will to the Yellow River. Without any declaration of honor our fulfilment of His will, by bringing Mo- war, Shanghai has been attacked with warships, hammedans into the fold of Christ. airplanes and cannon. Even the International Settlement has suffered and many educational THE TRAGEDY IN CHINA and missionary institutions have been bombed. The Chinese troops have offered brave and deter- Apparently the Japanese have determined to mined resistance in spite of their inferior equipgain control of China or of the northern prov- ment. They have now retired to their second line inces. Impartial observers who have followed the of defense on the west of Shanghai. events that led up to the present conflict can see no justification for Japan's invasion of China. What will be the outcome of this invasion of The excuse offered is the Japanese desire for eco- China, no one can foresee. China is too great a nomic development, their determination to sup- nation and too large a territory to be conquered press anti-Japanese feeling, and. a desire to com- in a short time. The Japanese attacks have bat the communistic influence of Russia. They united Chinese as never before, even communists have taken a strange method for accomplishing offering their service to the Nanking Government. these purposes. The first end might have been China is fighting for her life and for the pringained by friendly agreement and cooperation; ciples set forth by Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the father the second aim is thwarted and made more im- of the Chinese Republic. possible by each new invasion of China's territory and by utter disregard of China's sovereign The warfare is naturally affecting the missionrights. The third aim-to destroy communistic ary work in China. Reports come that the people influence in China-can scarcely be achieved by in war areas are filled with fear and that there methods that stir up the spirit of communism and are signs of religious revival in many places. seem to give reason for its promotion. Christians meet to worship, in spite of danger, and pray earnestly for the guidance and strength- Japan feels conscious of her military strength
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
ening of their rulers. The Protestant community meantime we can all work for greater unity numbers over one million and Roman Catholics re- through the guidance of the Spirit and through port 2,702,000 on their church rolls. Foreigners loving cooperation in the work He has given His in China number about 10,000, of whom over one- Church to carry forward. There is no room for half are Protestant missionaries. Many of these jealousy, for a desire to rule or for personal am- have left China on furlough; women and chil- bition, rivalry, suspicion and selfishness in such dren have been taken with other refugees to the unity. Philippines; missionaries on furlough are being kept home and others are being advised to leave Mr. Erling C. Olson, a New York business man, the danger zones. Probably by November first recently broadcasted over a network of stations the number of missionaries on the field will be re- some very helpful meditations on "Christian duced to 2,500, but most of these will elect to Unity," based on the one hundred and thirtystand by their flocks and to suffer and die with them if necessary. The missionary work most third Psalm. He said in part: * affected is in the area of Peiping, Tientsin, Shangh:;d and Nanking, although Japanese bombing The New Testament principle of fellowship and complanes have carried their attacks as far as Han- munion was beautifully expressed by our Lord, when He kow in the west and Canton in the south. said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." One would nat- The Christians in America and England can do urally assume, therefore, that when any body of Christians most by upholding their missionaries and the meets together they would experience this delightful comforces of righteousness by prayer. Much suffer- munion which the Psalmist so wonderfully portrayed, ing of innocent Chinese can be allayed through when he said, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is missionary and Red Cross ministrations. Gifts for brethren to dwell together in unity!" No one takes to meet present emergencies should be sent exception to this principle. It is good for capital and through the mission boards working in China. labor to dwell together in unity. It is good for any in- dividual to enjoy the fellowship of other members of his THE BASIS FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY group and preserve a spirit of unity. Such being the case, what an indictment it is against the Christian fam- Many movements are on foot for church union ily when there are petty squabbles and when the spirit of -on mission fields, in England and in America. discord and consequent disruption are present, as has been Some of these are to unite denominational fam- evident, particularly in recent years, even among men ilies, as in the Methodist, Baptist, Congregation- and women who actually have been born again by the al, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Reformed bodies. operation of the Spirit of God and the Word of God. I Some unions have already been effected, while am not talking about Christendom as we know it today. others are still being agitated. Other union move- I am not talking about the vast body of Christians and ments, as in Canada, include different denomina- non-Christians gathered together in one great melting pot. tional groups, while still other communions, like I refer to the body of Christ; to those who know that their the Protestant Episcopal Church eagerly advocate sins are forgiven, who know that they have eternal life a united church but can conceive of it only on the through faith in Jesus Christ, who know that they have basis of the acceptance of ecclesiastical ordination passed out of death and into life and therefore know that in harmony with their belief in the "historic epis- the Lord Jesus Christ is their Saviour and have acknowlcopate." edged Him as their Lord.
All true and intelligent followers of Christ ac- It is no wonder that the Church appears so impotent cept unity as the Christian ideal for which our before the world when the members of the Church are at Lord prayed three times in his high-priestly variance with one another. prayer: "That all may be one, as thou Father art in me and I in thee, that they may be one as in There can be no united Church except on a solid foundaus"-they are given eternal life in order that they tion. I do not think it is possible to have unity between may know God and be sanctified, kept, perfected. two groups of people, one of whom believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the other believes that He is The recent conferences at Oxford and Edinburgh a mere man; or to have unity between a group that looks have again emphasized the ideal for unity and upon the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross as a divine union among Christians, but seem to have found transaction, wherein God made 'atonement for sin, and a no new basis in which to realize such union. Hu- group that looks on the Cross and the death of Jesus man individuality, with differences of personal Christ as that of a martyr or a good man who died for a interpretations, tastes and methods of operation, cause. There can be no real fellowship between such must be recognized and respected until we all real- groups-but there can be unity between every member of ize that union with Christ that can find full ex- the body of Christ whose feet rest solidly upon the fact of pression in the harmony of faith, love and service the deity of Christ and upon the death which He died upon only as we realize perfect union in Him. In the the Cross.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says, "I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuifering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to' keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
In the 16th chapter of his letter to the Romans, the Apostle gives a similar injunction: "Now I beseech you, • Quoted by permission.
brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences tion. In Java and Sumatra alone, where the contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid Dutch Christian influence predominates, there them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus are over 50,000 converts from Islam. Christ, but their own belly . . ." That is a strange expression. Mark those men and avoid them, for they do There is the challenge of Jewry-not a popular not serve the Lord. They serve their own selves in their challenge but one we must face as Christians conlust for preeminence, or their appetite for power. cerned with the spiritual welfare of the youth of the world. The key to the Jewish problem every- Again, our Lord Jesus Christ, the fountain-head of all where is the recognition of Jesus Christ as divine truth, in His great high-priestly prayer, recorded in the Lord and Saviour of all mankind. Fifteen million 17th chapter of John's Gospel, said, "Neither pray I for Jews are without the knowledge of the saving these alone, (that is, the apostles gathered around Him) grace of Jesus Christ, and yet what do we owe but for them also which shall believe on me through their to the Chosen People of God for the preservation word; (that means us) that they all may be one; as of the Old Testament, and the knowledge of Christ thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may and His Way of Life. be one in us: that the world 11WIJJ believe that thou hast sent me." What a terrific responsibility rests upon each The challenge embraces many non-Christian member of the body of Christ to observe a spirit of unity, lands such as India and China. There is the mass in order that the world may know that our Lord Jesus movement in India towards 6hristianity; whole Christ is the Son of God and sent by Him to die for us! communities are pressing forward to become Christians. The immediate need there is for When brethren dwell in unity we will determine that, Christian education and the greater development instead of causing divisions, we will endeavor to keep the of indigenous leadership. China is plastic to new unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The Holy Spirit impressions and the greatest hope of the Chrisalways makes for unity amongst believers in Christ, for tians of China is their vision of a Chinese in- He dwells in them. digenous movement adapted to meet the religious needs of the people, and effective in arousing in * SOME PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGES Chinese Christians the sense of responsibility for the extension of the Kingdom of God. Weare living in a world which is more or less in a broken state, when even the bravest are apt There is also the challenge of unreached areas to grow despondent. The difficulties and problems in Central Africa, in South America, the Islands are of many kinds-political upheavals and mass of the Pacific and other unevangelized fields. movements are ruthless in their disregard of Christianity; nations are dissatisfied with what Then there is the challenge of Europe today. they have seen of modern civilization, and are In Central and Southeastern Europe Protestantfilled with bitterness and antagonism. But a new ism is fighting for its life. Nationalism and Comproblem is becoming the most serious menace to munism are seeking to capture youth with teach- Christianity, namely, a refined heathenism. Also, ing, much of which is subversive to the ideals of in their very antagonism to Western civilization, Christ and the best interests of humanity. some non-Christian religions are absorbing the principles of the Gospel of Christ. While thus The needs of this weary, war-torn, restless refining their own religion they still stand in ab- world and the great opportunities that confront us solute antagonism to the Christian faith. In the constitute a challenge to every Christian. God is early days of the Christian Church, they, too, more concerned about the needs of the world than found that a purified paganism was more insid- we are; the Christian teaching and training of ious and powerful even than an antagonistic bar- youth is a great burden oli His heart even more barism. than on ours. One of the greatest words in Chris- tian literature is "Immanuel" – God is with us. We believe that these problems are not per- Here we find the motive and the power for Chrismanent, nor even paramount; they are passing tian education. God loved, and when He loved, phases; to followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, He served, and when He served, He sacrificed they constitute, not reasons for fears and misgiv- His best. There is but one service which is the ings, but a challenge. service of the Kingdom of God; one race, and one Cross; one world of men, and one Kingdom; and First, there is the challenge of Islam. Moham- one glorious, peerless, Saviour for the whole medanism is conscious of a solidarity and unity world. which does not exist to such an extent in any other religion. They have their sects and their divi- This world is not going to be won except by sions, but they are conscious of a brotherhood great sacrifice. We must have the spirit which wherever they are. Today the Mohammedan recognizes that only by entire dedication of ourworld is restless, but it is more responsive to the selves and all our resources can we truly serve message of Christ than it has ever been. Per- Christ. As Hudson Taylor once said, "Christ secution and opposition exist, but nothing so must be Lord of all or He is not Lord at all." clearly proves the power of the Gospel as opposi- • From an address at the World's Sunday School Convention, Oslo, by Dr. James Kelly.
Moslem World
-"if By the REV. DWIGHT M. DONALDSON, D.D., Ph.D., Meshed, Iran )Bt– Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., 1915- I T SHOULD never be forgotten that when the maintain this political and military authority, it armies of Islam were victorious in Syria and has come to be a matter of policy for Western in Persia, they took over the authority of the governments to have strict regard for the cultural old Persian Empire. This ancient empire, under and religious preferences of their Mohammedan the Achremenide'S, had been the scene of the far- subjects. Whatever criticisms may be voiced flung adventures of Xenophon and the Ten Thou- against this Western domination, it will not be sand; under the Parthians had held the haughty claimed by intelligent Mohammedan leaders that Romans at bay for more than two centuries; the Christian faith and practice are being forced upon same empire, under the Sassanidre, was forced to them. give place to the conquering Arabs. Afterwards, when this famous empire of the East became Mo- There is now no longer a Caliph in Islam, since hammedan, much of its culture and prestige sur- the Sultan of Turkey was compelled by his own vived to adorn the courts of the new rulers. Noble people to abdicate in order to open the way for the Persian families, some of them Zoroastrian and Turkish Republic. Of the entire Mohammedan some of them Christian, furnished viziers and population of the world, about 240 millions, there treasurers for the Caliphs, and scholars and trans- are nearly one hundred millions who are living lators for the libraries. under the authority and protection of the British crown and forty millions ruled by the Netherlands It is customary to ascribe the failure of the Cru- in the Dutch East Indies. Of the remaining 100 sades to a lack of effective cooperation among the millions, there are about thirty-two millions in the leaders of the Christian nations. No doubt real French colonies and protectorates, sixteen milunity in Christendom during the tenth, eleventh lions under the iron hand of the Soviet Republic, and twelfth centuries would have produced a dif- fifteen millions in China, and some four millions ferent situation. As a matter of fact unity of ac- in the Philippine Islands, in Japanese possessions, tion among the Mohammedans was but sporadic and in Europe. There remain to be accounted for and short-lived; they too had repeated failures only about thirty-three millions, who live in the that were primarily due to dissensions among five self-governing Mohammedan countries, twelve themselves. Time after time a new attack from millions in Turkey, eight millions in Iran (Perthe Christians would serve to bring them together. sia), three millions in Iraq, six millions in Af- In the course of the Crusades, each generation ghanistan, and four millions in Arabia. seemed to feel that the East and the West were, through some necessity, fighting again. On each H. R. H. Amir Saoud, the son of King Abdul side religion was part of the war propaganda. Aziz, remarked recently that "it is not easy for Now that many hundred years have passed, we independent countries to enter into a thorough look back upon those long continued conflicts and federation with countries that are only partially see how they served but one fatal purpose in world independent." When he was asked about his opinhistory. Their one abiding result was to hand ion in regalld to the suggested Middle Eastern bloc down to succeeding generations a heritage of between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, he hatred, suspicion and fanaticism. In their atti- said that "this would be a welcome development tude towards each other East anq West, for the and would certainly receive our blessing," (Great most part, have shared this heritage. Britain and the East, July 8,1937).* While today there is no longer a great Moham- In any effort to classify and describe the vast medan EmpI·re, as l·n th.e day.s of the Crusades when the actual dominion of the Caliph extended • counAtriceosncmisaey sbtaetefmouenndt oinf tWhe. Def.foSrctsheorfmCerhhroisrtnia'sn rmeciesnsitonbsooikn, t"hTehsee from the Indus to the Atlantic, yet Mohammedan CsthimriSutliaatningMisssuiorvne. yinotfhethJefodwehronleWporrolbdl"em(choafptmeris1si0on);s atondMaohmaoms-t medans is given in Dr. S. M. Zwemer's "Across the World of Islam." civilization has continued to prevail in vast areas Attention should also be called to an article in the July number of The Moslem World, which publishes "A Statistical Survey," by that have come under the political and military Carlo Gasbarri. This article has been translated from the Italian authority of Western peoples. In order to help by Phlllip T. Blackwood and it is probably the most up to date ~~fli~!S ;~r~~ question of the distribution of Mohammedans through- [455 ]
group of mankind that make up the Mohammedan with pious cant and hypocrisy, that boy may come world, divided as they are into many sects and to regard as genuine the open honesty and fairscattered in many countries, it is easy to make play that he sees in some Christian college. In serious mistakes. Aside from the fact that ac- such a case there is much for which to be thankful. curate census reports are not to be had in some of The lad acquires the habit of the conscientious these countries, a numerical survey of the adher- quest of truth for its own sake. But something ents to any religion is apt to be misleading. There further is needed. New eagerness to learn what are millions of Mohammedans whom the puritani- is true mus,t be directed into the spiritual realm as cal Wahabis in Arabia and Iraq would not recog- well, and this must be done by those whose ways nize as true believers. Likewise the self-satisfied of living he has come to admire. Here is an op- Shi'ites of Iran and India can see little hope for portunity for the possible coordination of the boy's those who rejected and dishonored their Imams. new life with the direct evangelistic work of the The modern reformers in India have suffered mission, or better still, with the agencies of the agony of soul when they realized the ignorance indigenous Church. and superstition of thousands upon thousands of their own religious community, whose systematic Another young man may show more interest veneration of fetishes and saints they regard as and ability in social life rather than as a scholar. sheer idolatry. And orthodox groups in Egypt, He may attend a Christian wedding in a beautiful who adhere to the Koran ,and the Traditions as garden in India. There he will see Christian interpreted by the four recognized schools of law, young ladies moving about modestly but graare indignant at the man-made movements of the ciously, animated with gay hospitality, and talking Moslem "modernists." From any of these varie- freely with both ladies and gentlemen. When he ties of believers you may easily find a friend who returns to his dormitory room he may voice a prowill assure you, "In these modern times it is hard test, as I once heard such a man do, against the to say who is a Mohammedan." unreasonable restrictions of Mohammedan so- ciety, and ask, "How long will it be until we can Objections to Christianity have the same clean and natural and loyal family life the Christians have?" Notwithstanding these inherent difficulties, whether a missionary go to Cairo or to Constan- Here also is a point of contact for some discerntinople, to Beirut or to Teheran, to Baghdad or to ing Christian friend to show him, in the right way Lucknow, he will hear certain uniform objections and time and place, that it is not what comes from to Christianity for example, that it has three gods, the West but what comes from Jesus Christ that or that the true Gospel that Jesus brought down makes the big difference. This, however, will not from Heaven is no longer extant. These objec- be accomplished by mere assertion. A careful tions are usually met best indirectly, in the course study together of the pre-Christian social standof calm and patient teaching and explanation of ards of some of the modern Christian peoples may the New Testament. But almost everywhere we be necessary. The missionary's objective is not to discover also that Westernization, in the form of suggest that one social culture be abandoned for secularism and nationalism, is making serious in- another, but rather that the culture of every naroads on Islam. And if we read again the opinion tion be submitted to the transforming power of of one of our foremost American orientalists, Dr. the will of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. D. B. Macdonald, (Aspects of Islam, p. 12), we realize that what required discerning insight a In such circumstances a program of Westernizafew years ago is now written in the Islamic social tion only would be hazal'dous and inadequate. structure so that one who runs may read: And what has been said with reference to schools and colleges applies with equal force to mission Islam as a religion is not holding its own against the dispensaries and hospitals. In this field also getunbelief that is flooding in from the European civilization. ting somewhere from the Christian point of view Young men are growing up into crass and material forms means getting beyond mere Westernization. There of atheism; forms that the best intellectual life of Europe is something fine and noble in a Christian doctor's has itself thrown off. And as education spreads and attitude toward his patients that witnesses to the deepens, as history vindicates for itself its place, as the spirit of Christ. It is this that enables him to work moral feeling becomes more watchful and sensitive, so the with patience and sympathy with people who are legend of Muhammad will crumble and his character be often unreasonable and exasperating. He has seen in its true light. It is, then, for the Christian schools something else than the discipline of his profesand preachers to save these peoples, not only for Chris- sion, something that has for its purpose, not the tianity, but for any religion at all; to vindicate to them white man's supremacy, not national honor, not the claims upon their lives of religion in the broadest sense. personal distinction, but a deeply laid desire for the dominion of the healing love of God in the But Westernization cannot be depended upon to hearts and bodies of suffering mankind. produce Christians. When perchance a Mohammedan youth has a father who disgusts his son
THE MOSLEM WORLD TODAY
As we think of many famous cities in the Islamic ary epistles in the New Testament, in their salutaworld where missionaries are now working pa- tions, exhortations and farewells. tiently and devotedly as true knights of the Cross, it is a sobering thought to realize over what a These national Christians also work with the wide area they are scattered. We rejoice also in missionaries in adapting Christian teaching to the strategic advantages they now have in this meet what has been called "the new Moslem apolgreat crusade for the peaceful penetration of the ogetic and polemic." In their candid social and love of God in Jesus Christ. Important and fa- intellectual relations with Mohammedans of the miliar cities in which they are witnessing, cities present day, missionaries find that many are not of more than 100,000 population according to the as dogmatic as they used to be. Things have been last issue of The Statesm.,an's Yearbook, may well happening to give them a broader background. be mentioned: They are inquisitive and receptive in the fields of history, of science, and of philosophy; and their Calcutta ………………………….. 1,485,582 opposition to Christianity is apt to be less bitter Constantinople ……………………… 740,805 and fanatical. Bombay …………………………… Cairo …………………………….. 1,161,383 On the other hand, if Moslems are irritated into Madras …………………………… 1,064,567 explosively proclaiming their objections to Chris- Hyderabad ………….. ,"""",',…. tianity, they may say things that are palpably Alexandria …………… ,………….. 647,230 specious and superficial. They may maint;:tin that Teheran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466,894 the Christian Scriptures teach that the blind and Lucknow ………………………….. 573,063 leprous are impure and that Solomon was an Rangoon ………………… , …. '….. 360,000 idolater. As the Mohammedan takes for granted Damascus …………………………. 274,659 the dogma that the prophets were sinless, they will Delhi …………………………….. 400,415 insist that the Bible is in gross error in saying Lahore …………… , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193,912 that David became a prey to temptations and that Smyrna ………………… , ……… ,. 447,442 Aaron joined in the worship of the calf because of Cawnpore …………………………. 429,747 fear of the people of Israel. Like the Jews of old Agra …………………………….. 170,546 Moslems still exclaim that it is blasphemy to say Ahmadaoad .'……………………… 243,755 that Jesus is the Son of God, that it is directly Tabriz ……………………………. 229,764 contrary to the Koran to say that one person can Allahabad …………………………. 313,789 bear the sin of others, that it is immoral and fool- Tunis …………………………….. 219,000 ish to say that "the Law is a curse," and naively Amritsar … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183,914 anthropomorphic to speak of God as being "tired" Howrah …………………………… 202,405 or "repentant." Poona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264,840 Soerabaya ….. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224,873 To counteract the considerable influence of Baghdad ………………………….. 250,187 Christian teaching among the students in the Diwaniya ………… '……………… 146,944 schools and colleges of India, the Ahmadi sect Fez ……………………. " . . . . . . . . . . . 353,840 make such allegations as these against Jesus: Patna ……….. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341,068 Aleppo ……………………………. 106,838 That He was given to drunkenness. Karachi ……. ,……………………. 159,690 That He exceeded all bounds in vulgar abuse of the Jews. Meshed …………………………… 177,313 That He was a coward and afraid to face death. Beirut ……………………………. ' 263,565 That He was disrespectful to His mother. Ankara …………………………… 139,000 That He was friendly with women of questionable char- Isfahan …………………………… 134,655 123,699 acter. 100,000 That His teachings were too idealistic and impracticable. That He grew angry and lost His temper. Some of the most gratifying work for Christ is That He was provincial, and that His message was only done in towns and rural districts that lie across the plains or in the mountain valleys beyond the for the Jews. cities. It is from these regions that hundreds and That He was weak and helpless. hundreds of patients come to mission hospitals; That His mission was a failure. and country boys and girls come to attend mission That Jesus did not die on the Cross, and that there was schools. National Christians, sometimes accompanied by missionaries, go out and tour from town no Resurrection. to town, or from village to village, having their part in modern apostolic witnessing. The fellow- But as a rule Mohammedan readers put a disship of believers is beautifully shown when these tinction between the Gospels and Chri.stian propamen and women, often themselves converts from ganda literature. Many of them are able and Islam, are able to be in the same little place for a ready to refute superficial and hostile objections while with some isolated Christian family, or to to the character of Jesus. They feel too much of have a series of meetings with some struggling the significance of His life and teaching to let His little group of new Christians. And when letters character be smirched "by the pen of an enemy." are exchanged afterwards, it is interesting to see that they write after the manner of the mission- "It cannot be," as Dr. Murray T. Titus has ob- served in his book on Indian Islam, "that honest
truth-seeking Moslems will continue indefinitely ulation, with sharp differences between the varito refuse to face all the facts, and pursue a policy of evasion of the real issues of history and life, ous region; in the Northeast they reach 82%, in even though such investigation leads to the questioning and study of the very sources of revelation the East 8 %, in the West 32 %, in the center 470, itself. . . . The sum of it all is, that the highest revelation of God to man is through a living per- and in the South only 2%. sonality. That the modern Moslem apologist is becoming more and more conscious of the funda- Percentage mental importance of this truth is revealed in the Moslems of population fact that he is emphasizing the personality and character of Mohammed as the means by which Morocco ………………. 5,215,000 97 God's grace was shed upon the world, and as the fact of central importance in Islam. The problem, Algeria ……………….. 5,174,872 82 therefore, for the Moslem as for the Christian investigator, is to apply the same honest and fear- Tunisia ……………….. 1,932,184 93 less critical methods to the study of Mohammed and his revelation as have been applied to Jesus Egypt ………………… 11,658,148 91 and the Bible," ("Indian Islam," Murray T. Titus, 1930). . Libya …………………. 1,205,000 94 For missionaries among Mohammedans, as for Anglo-Egyptian Sudan …… 2,800,000 66 their supporters in the homeland, and for their colleagues from the national Christians in Moslem Mauritania …………….. 254,000 99 countries, the issue is clearly drawn; our purpose is "to ,give the light of the knowledge of the glory Senegal ……………….. 915,000 75 of God in the face of Jesus Christ." French Sudan ………….. 1,061,000 42 Eritrea ……………….. 225,000 56 French Somaliland ………. 210,000 100 British Somaliland ………. 300,000 100 Italian Somaliland ………. 1,500,000 99 Ethiopia ………………. 2,500,000 37 French Guinea …………. 1,045,000 66 North Nigeria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,889,000 64 South Nigeria …………. 1,940,0000 25 Chad …………………. 925,000 72 Cameroons …………….. 500,000 25 Nyasaland …………….. 160,000 10 Kenya ………………… 1,000,000 40 Uganda ……………….. 600,000 20 Tanganyika ……………. 400,000 10 A STATISTICAL SURVEY OF ISLAM* By far the largest Islamic country in Africa is Egypt where, as in West Africa, the Moslem prob- Every good Moslem is, and in fact must be, a lems are of particular interest.
"missionary." In 1900 the Moslem world had at Since 1930 Moslem missionaries from the el-Azhar University in Cairo have been diffusing its disposal two hundred printing presses; today culture and orthodox doctrine among the Moslems of various countries. An American observes that it has eight hundred and eighty. Out of a world the "Christians are talking about converting Af- rica, and the Moslems are doing it." Roman Cathpopulation of 2,053,600,000, we can accept 240,- olic missionaries state that the Moslems succeed in making propagandists among their converts, 000,000 as a figure for Islam. while the Catholics cannot succeed even in in- structing their catechumens. Moslems in A'sia are most numerous and in- Islam constitutes about two one-hundreths of clude 17.970 of the population. one per cent of the population of North America, and one-eighth of one per cent of South and Cen- Percentage tral America, with a total of scarcely 135,583 Moslems of plYpulation members.
Turkey ……………….. 12,600,000 92 In Europe and Soviet Russia Moslems represent 2% of the total population. They include 584,000 Syria …………………. 2,159,259 77 in Albania, 1,337,000 in Jugoslavia, 690,000 in Bulgaria, and 2,400,000 in Russia. Palestine ………… . . . . . . . 557,649 70 There are no general organizations for all Islam Transjordania ………….. 2,850,000 92 with a purely missionary scope, and the attempt to create an Association for the Defense of Islam Arabia ………………… 4,000,000 100 is a failure. The only organization of the kind, which will perhaps soon become international Iraq ………………….. 2,640,700 96 through increasing growth, is the Association of Moslem Youth, with headquarters in Cairo. An Iran ………………….. 8,830,000 95 international movement has developed from heret- ical Moslem sects, principally from the Ahma- Siberia, Kirghiztan, etc. ….. 16,462,442 80 diyah of Qadian and Lahore (British India), and from the Bahai sect, of Persian origin. Afghanistan …………… 6,380,500 100 British India …………… 78,000,000 21 French Indies ………….. 15,000 5 British East Indies ……… 2,025,000 47 Dutch East Indies ………. 43,000,000 86 Philippine Islands ………. 443,037 4 China …. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,000,000 5 Chinese Turkestan ………. 1,200,000 48 The leading Moslem country in Asia is India. Moslems in Africa number about 37% of the pop- *eondensed from The Moslem World (July, 1937), New York; translated from an article by Carlo Casfarri in Il Pensiero Mis- sionwrw (Rome), December, 1936, by Philip T. Blackwood of Princeton, N. J.
Trends in the Moslem
By EDWARD M. DODD, M.D., New York Author of "To Mecca and Beyond"; Formerly a Missionary of the Presbyterian Church in Iran A GENERATION ago the world of Islam was As one surveys the wide reaches of the Moslem still predominantly a unit. Though living scene, and ponders the changes taking place, there under diverse national and political condi- appear to be four fairly well defined trends of the tions, Moslems had a strong sense of their solidar- day. This observation applies chiefly to leaders, ity. Except for certain well established heresies to urban centers and to youth. The vast rural or minor offshoots, and allowing for the begin- bulk of Islam is still conservative, orthodox and nings of revised and modernized thinking which relatively little changed. But where the city goes affected a relatively small group of intelligentsia, now the village will go presently, especially with there were no outstanding .divergencies in the the radio and the automobile and the printed page Moslem road, or deep rifts in the Moslem front. arriving everywhere. We are here concerned with In the main the religious road of Sunnis in India, these lead-trends to the future.
Turkey or North Africa, for example, ran parallel, 1. In the first place we have the conservative or rather they loyally converged on Mecca. The status quo plus the "Puritan" revival in Arabia. Sultan-Caliph was still on the Constantinople Externally or mechanically Arabia is being gradthrone; and the faithful from Morocco to the ually modernized but religiously it remains ortho- Philippines, and from Bokhara to CapeTown, dox, with the re-emphasis of the Wahabi Moverecognized and revered him as their head. It ment. The tale which at once illustrates the point, was still not wholly fantastic to talk of a general as well as the consummate skill of Ibn Saoud, has Mohammedan Holy war; indeed Turkey made an been told more than once. When it was proposed abortive attempt at this as late as the closing year to install a telephone system in Riadh, the desert of the World War. Moslems had not yet trans- capital of Saoudi Arabia, the conservative relilated the Koran out of Arabic. The veiled and re- gious leaders protested. The thing was not of the pressed status of women was still universal. Even Koran and therefore not lawful. Ibn Saoud put in heretical Shiite Persia the Old Order was not the matter to the religious test. He suggested visibly disturbed. that a Mullah read the Koran into the telephone at one end of an experimental line and another But what have we now? Shocks from without Mullah listen at the other end. If the apparatus and revolutionary transformations from within, conveyed the sacred words, surely the thing was accentuated by the WorId War but largely repre- of Allah and lawful. How could one object to that? senting the influx of the modern age, have shaken Needless to say, Riadh now has telephones. Yet and confused the House of Islam. Turkey has the ecclesiastical hierarchy is intact. One wongone secular and modern, while Arabia is Puritan ders how long this intellectual straddle can hold Wahabi. The Caliphate has been summarily abol- up, for Islam tends to give way or to be revised ished, and there are no significant efforts afoot to as it is exposed to the modern impact. re-establish it. Egypt has developed theological modernism; and Azhar University, the intellec- North Africa, west of Egypt, shares with tual nerve-center of Islam, has been made over on Arabia the characteristic of Mohammedan conmodernized lines. The Koran has been translated servatism, even though in the social externals of for the use of Moslems into Turkish and is being life it is also becoming Europeanized. translated into other languages. The veil has been largely discarded in Turkey and is officially banned In Central Asia we have the complicated situain Iran. The Turkish National Assembly has now tion of conservative religious leadership, assaulted a number of women delegates; Egypt has a vig- by the socially radical and religiously atheistic orous feminist movement. Turkey and Iran are Soviet government and also facing a considerable busily harking back to their Turanian and Iranian feminist movement. The prospects are that the origins, and are turning away from the Arabic- religious old order will be overpowered by the Islamic culture. In the Near East generally, ex- social new order. A real battle is on. cept for Arabia, there is considerable disintegration in Islam. 2. There is another group which we might call the reform or revision states, conspicuously illus- [459 ]
trated by India and Egypt, each in its own way. be called the drifters. The drifting away from They are formulating definite philosophies, which Islam is a part of what is going on all over the have been developing and spreading for a number world-the drift away from all religion. In these of years, and which are changing and diversifying Moslem countries the dominant interest is political the religious picture. The outstanding contribu- and nationalistic. Nationalism is becoming the tion of India is the Ahmadiya movement. The net new religion rather than Islam: the ardors of result in India, according to Mr. Murray Titus is loyalty, the mass demonstrations, the allegiances reinvigoration. He concludes that in spite of di- of youth-these are now channelled largely into visions and weaknesses, "Islam in India today is nationalism. There is a wholesale drift of youth better organized, better educated, more progres- away from the old religion. Outward observances sive, more reasonable and tolerant toward its may still be maintained, though many of these are neighbors than ever before in its history. Of weakening, but the inner conviction is crumbling Egyptian thought, Dr. Charles C. Adams of the away. The movie theatre is found to be much American Mission says: more exciting than the Mosque; the radio broad- "Mohammedan modernism in Egypt may be cast is more intriguing to the younger generation said to have taken form as a definite movement than the call to prayer. Inert fatalism, the resig- during the last quarter of the preceding century, nation of Islam, has a hard time surviving the under the leadership of the late Grand Mufti of automobile and modern medicine.
Egypt, Sheikh Myhammad Abduh, who died in . The Iranian Shah has made it unmistakably and 1905. It constitutes an attempt to free the reli- dramatically clear fuat progressive nationalism, gion of Islam from the shackles of a too rigid embodied in himself, rules, and not Islam. But orthodoxy, and to accomplish reforms which will there has been no official disestablishment of the render it adaptable to the complex demands of latter. The youth of Iraq says that Mohammed modern life. Its prevailing character is that of was well enough for his day, but that he is now a religious reform; it is inspired and dominated back-number; let the religious hierarchy die in chiefly by theological considerations. It differs in peace; they no longer count. But no official overt this respect from the reforms instituted by the change has been made. Syria's consuming na- Indian group of nationalist reformers, who aim tional interest is in the new political situation cre- primarily at a cultural movement, and the adjust- ated by the transition from French mandate to ment of Islam to the conditions of modern Euro- independence. The races and religions in this pean civilization. The fundamental assumption, polyglot country increasingly unite on the basis of however, that Islam is a world religion, suitable Arab nationalism, which tends more and more to for all peoples, all times, and all cultural condi- transcend religious and racial lines.
tions, is common to both movements." Similarly in far~off Java, one of the largest In both countries there are strong social move- Moslem units of the world, there is a well-devel- ments among women, which are attacking prob- oped movement to return to the pre-Islamic Na- lems of health and well-being, of polygamy, di- tional culture. There is a strong nationalistic vorce and prostitution. All of this is within the movement, which is of far more vital interest to frame-work of the established religion. the younger generation than any religion. With These two groups, the orthodox and the revised, them Islam is increasingly under criticism and in give no evidence of breaking away from Islam. the discard.
They are making their social and theological adap- 4. Finally there is the radical state, Turkey, tations from within. The state or the community which alone has turned squarely away from Islam is still a "church" state or a "church" community. as an official institution. It has not turned against ("Church" is of course used as the nearest intel- Islam, nor is it antireligious in general, but it has ligible counterpart – not because Islam has a decided that, in order to become a modern and pro- church in the Christian sense.) gressive country, it cannot brook the inhibitions, Both of these groups are strongly missionary. interference, and frustrations of the old Moslem The Ahmadiya movement is very active and the order. Kemal Ataturk has therefore set up a sec- Azhar is still a powerful propaganda center, with, ular state which, in itself, is a repudiation of basic Africa as its chief missionary field. In India the Mohammedanism, because the Mohammedan sys- new situation created by the Outcast movement tem has hitherto claimed the whole stage. A away from Hinduism, and the Ambedkar an- typical indepenuent Moslem country was ipso nouncement of their readiness to consider some facto a religious government – a "church" state; other religion, appeals tremendously to this funda- the only law was the Moslem law; there was no mental missionary urge of Islam, as well as hav- concept of a separate civil law.
ing its important political hearings. This radical national departure, coming from 3. Other predominantly Moslem lands, like the country which had so long been the seat of the Iraq, Iran, and Syria, as well as Malaysia, might Caliphate, the spear-head of the whole Moslem
INFLUENCE OF MOSLEM SUPERSTITIONS
World, struck a body blow at world Islam. India hardly be water-tight compartments. There is and Egypt and the far isles of the Pacific rever- bound to be mingling and overflowing in this day berated with the shock. Turkey was branded as a of interchange and questioning and remolding. renegade and apostate, but the fulminations were It is an intriguing question as to which if anyone futile. Turkey went serenely and successfully on of these trends will prevail to any general extent. her way, and nothing has come of the scattered efforts to revive the Caliphate. It is, of course, incumbent upon the Christian enterprise to understand these trends, and the The course which Turkey has pursued has also varied fronts which they present. It is one thing had its admirers in other lands. Iran, for ex- to deal with a zealous, intolerant Wahabi Bedouin ample, is very apt to follow the same patterns as of the far desert reaches and another thing to talk her neighbor on her western boundary. There are with an indifferent, agreeable, irreligious young not wanting those, among the younger generation government clerk in Iran, or Syria; it is still anelsewhere, who think that Turkey has really other thing to sympathize with an active woman shown the way to do the thing. social reformer of Egypt, who also presents the new Moslem apologetic; and again another thing The patterns of national development, though to be a strictly inhibited missionary in Turkey. distinctively represented by national units, can Influence of Moslem Superstitions By DAVIDA M. FINNEY, Ramleh, Egypt II ~. – Missionary of the United Presbyterian Church '~==========================~I O NE of my earliest recollections as a child is Nurses and mothers frighten their erring children of a Moslem sheikh who came to call upon with, "Be good or the bu' bu' will catch you." my father. He sat alone in our drawing- room, waiting for father's return. I did not know Only about ten years ago I was dining with a he was there, and was wandering, rather discon- number of Egyptian college students about to re- . solately, down the hall when suddenly I was star- ceive the baccalaureate certificate. Turning to the tled by a flurry of robes, quick breathing, and one on my right, I asked: looked up to see the sheikh in full flight from the drawing-room door. When he saw me, he stopped "What did you think the bu' bu' was when you precipitately, and muttered, were a child?"
"An afreet! He blew down the chimney!" Then "A negro giant," he told me, "with flashing eyes he continued more calmly, "Let me, if you please, and a red mouth." sit outside here in the hall." At once the group around us was adding detail I remember glancing into the room, astonished upon detail. A discussion of afreet followed. Made at his fright and yet wondering if after all my a little uneasy by the vividness of descriptions mother might be wrong about afreet, and my na- given, I finally remarked: tive nurse right, and that I might now catch a glimpse of one. The sunny room lay silent and "Isn't it a fine thing that today we need no empty, however. No grinning afreet perched any- longer fear the bu' bu' and the afreetl" where, not even on the little iron stove. Faith in my mother returning in a comforting wave, I There was instant silence, and then the man on murmured loftily: my right said, "Pray be seated." "But you are a Westerner. We of the East know." This incident was my first introduction to the fact that learned men as well as my nurse were "But have you ever seen'an afreet?" I asked in- afraid of spirits. credulously.
In conversation with many Egyptians, I have To my amazement he nodded. found one word an open sesame to a common "One day," he said, "I was walking across a bit ground of experience, and eventually to a feeling of waste land. Suddenly I saw an afreet approach- of intimate friendliness. We discuss the bu' bu'. ing, very tall, clothed all in white. I looked to right and left, hunting for a place of concealment, but there was none. So I cowered down and hid my face until he had passed. One must always do that with an afreet; it is death to oppose him. Once a friend of mine, who happened to be armed,
met an a/reet and in his fright fired at it. The weaned her child. Women threatened with harm a/reet disappeared, but in a short time my friend may protect themselves by wearing a bit of palm was dead. If you oppose an a/reet, within a year stalk (gareeda). you die." No bride should be approached by a person just Over and over again in conversation with all circumcized. A woman who has just lost a child sorts of Egyptians one is reminded .of the fact that or a qati/ should not enter a house where there even today, for the mass of the population, ginn is a weaning child or one with sore eyes. If she and a/reet are real, a daily concern, terrifying. does, it will become blind. My friend, Mr. Khaleel Modern education, the radio, the cinema, closer Armanios, the blind evangelist of Alexandria, has contacts with Europe, a constantly increasing use often been asked if he was blinded by a qati/. of newspapers, these factors and many others are rapidly modifying superstiti.ous beliefs. Yet in Just after shaving a man must not approach a fairness one must remember that these educative bride, a pregnant, nursing .or weaning mother, if influences reach .only the minority in any country he has not previously met them, lest they become where literacy is low. Even in educated folk, barren or lose their milk. Evil consequences may brought up by superstitious parents, such belief be avoided if the WDman enters the room of meetis instinctive and dies hard. ing and walks around the man seven times. On the .other hand, if he shaves in his own house with A few years ago the editor of a fairly well- the woman close beside him no harm is done. Or known daily, then being published in Cairo, de- the woman may take the razor used, soak it in scribed to me his visit to an old convent. water, and .on a Friday when she bathes, pour the water over her body. Should her well-being be "I went alone," he told me, "although the place threatened by a qati/, or some other woman, she was full of a/reet. But," with quiet pride he con- may escape harm by securing some blood from the tinued, "J was not afraid." other WDman and placing it in her bath on Friday.
It is the modern educated youth who more Mr. Khaleel told me of a family of his acquaintnearly achieve freedom from fear. I am not writ- ance who had a bitter quarrel with a neighboring ing of Christians and well-traveled and well-read family. One of the women had weaned a child Moslems who for years have been unconsciDus of but had not yet seen the new moon. Forgetting such fear. I write rather of the general mass, not this fact, when her neighbor gave birth to a son the small group. she went to call upon the rejoicing mother. In a short time the child died, and, even worse, at the The women and girls with whom we come much end of a year the mother was still barren. After in contact are dominated by fear of el Mushohira much consultation and thought, the neighbor's (literally, to be monthed), the Ain (the Evil Eye) visit was remembered. She was apprDached and magic, and spirits. These spirits may be El Zar agreed to do what she could to repair the damage. (the Visitor), El Ginn, or El A/reet. The masses They took some blood from her hand, and the believe in certain charms to be said or used to mother placed it in her bath on Friday. No good counteract these evil influences. They think that resulting, again the neighbor was approached and .one must be quick to observe, and punctilious in again gave blood, this time from her foot. Still performing such rites, if one wishes to avoid no good resulting, .once more she was approached, injury. and asked to contribute blood from some other part of her body. This she indignantly refused t.o The Mushohira gets its name, as far as I am do, claiming that if she were the cause of the curse, able to discover its root, from shahr, month. The blood from one part of her body would be as effiidea in its use is that escape from harm depends caci.ous as from any other. Rapidly the quarrel on seeing the new moon. The evil effects of the grew, and for three years neither family has Mushohira fall upon certain groups of people and spoken t.o the other. are brought about by certain people. Those most commonly recognized Mushohira, bringing evil, There are other unlucky deeds by which one perare: a mother weaning her child, called El Qati/; son may bring evil upon another. If one crosses a a man who has just shaved; a person just cir- river in boat or train and then at .once enters cumcized; one who is ill or with sore eyes; and a where there is a bride, a sick person, a pregnant bride when she meets another bride. Those who or weaning mot!ler, injury will result. To avoid suffer from such individuals are brides, pregnant bringing injury, this person should remain in anwomen or mothers weaning a child, and the sick. other room until the woman enters where the new- The Mushohira is caused by other means, but less comer is and circles him seven times. Mr. Khaleel frequently. called recently in the home of a woman who once was visited by s.omeone just after crossing the If a Qati/ approaches a bride ora pregnant river. In a few days the woman became blind. woman, she becomes barren; if she approaches To remove the curse, her br.other took her in a another Qati/, the milk will be stopped. To rid herself of this baneful power, the Qati/ must see the new moon as soon as she has completely
boat to cross and recross the river. He was told not speak to or interfere with them. If a person that at once her eyesight was restored. Constantly accidentally stumbles or falls to the ground there one comes across the effects of the Mushohira. is grave danger that he has injured some of these spirits. The only way to appease them is to The Ain is injury brought about by admiring sprinkle the spot with salt, water, or even sugar something not your own. This admiration is prob- and bread. Last week a woman stumbled in ably envious and therefore brings evil conse- alighting from a street-car. She hastened to a quences. It is considered much more proper and friend's house, borrowed salt, sugar and water, considerate not to praise at all, but if impelled to returned to the spot and silently sprinkled it. To do so one should preface the remark with "Yikhzi maintain silence is essential if the rite is to be el Ain" (May God put the eye to shame), or "Aini efficacious. aleykum barda" (My eye is cold upon you). People are especially liable to be possessed by One man may say to another, "Aini barda, but spirits at certain times; at marriages, perhaps you seem to be in excellent health." Then all is because at that time they are concerned about well. It is difficult to remember this instinctive their appearance and frequently look in a mirror; shrinking from praise of anything a man holds when bathing, because they may inadvertantly addear. Nor is it easy to hold a baby in your arms mire their bodies; when sleeping alone, as spirits and make no admiring comment. If your eyes are always infest a solitary place; when going to bed blue, better far not even to look your pleasure. in a worried or angry frame of mind, as the spirits find access easy at that time. To be freed from the evil consequences of the Ain, it is thought necessary to secure a piece of Should one become possessed by a spirit one garment worn by the envious one, or some dregs must appease him and remove the cause of his from his coffee cup. No offense must be given, so anger. This is done by the holding of a Zar. one must not let him know that he is suspected of There are special women thought able to reconcile having done injury. If it is impossible to secure the spirits. The one possessed gives such a woman a bit of his clothing surreptitiously, often it is an article of her wearing apparel. She places it possible to secure a bit through a bribed servant beneath her pillow; during the night the offended or a sympathetic friend. Sometimes people are spirit tells her the cause of his anger and also startled to find a small piece gone from some val- what gift will satisfy him. Next morning the ued garment. This snippet is burned and the woman tells the possessed person what the spirit smoke passed over the child. Coffee dregs are wants – jewelry, a sheep, a new dress, or some boiled and the steam is passed over the child. piece of furniture. Many women take advantage of this custom to secure for themselves things they As for vengeful spirits, the ginn and zar are cannot otherwise obtain. considered always present. The ginn live usually in kitchens and bathrooms or in lofts where sup- The Sarukh (the cry), is brought about through plies are kept. The loft of a house in which Mr. an unnatural death. If a man is murdered, the Khaleel once lived was infested with rats. Neigh- spirits which live in his blood, continue to cry bors visiting in the house heard scurryings and aloud for vengeance from the spot where his blood squeakings and were firmly convinced that ginn was shed. There is no fear of evil consequences to the house if he dies away from home, otherwise it haunted the house. becomes infested with his afreet. In the case of A little Mohammedan girl once stayed in our any violent or accidental death, the spot where death occurs remains a place of danger to all home for some time. One day she went into the passers-by. kitchen to get some water but came out hastily without it. When asked what was the matter, she These are some of the superstitions with which one comes in contact day by day in schools, homes, said, and in one's travels. Many sheikhs studying in "There's an afreet in the pot on the stove." the Azhar University are today electing the course Looking in, I saw the lid of the tea-kettle rat- in modern education, similar to that given by the Ministry of Education. Such men will not fly pretling furiously as the water boiled. When taking cipitately from a room when the wind blows down a bath, if suddenly startled or frightened, one may the chimney. A new day has dawned in Egypt, a be sure that a ginn has taken possession of one's fact which is being felt even in EI Azhar Univer- sity. Yet those who visit in homes aU over the body. country, who deal intimately with men, women, Besides the ginn, the earth is believed to be in- and children, are forced to realize more and more clearly each year how great is the hold that superhabited by other spirits. These are divided into stition still has upon masses of the population in three main divisions; El Sitt (the woman), El any Mohammedan country. Seed (the master), and El Abd (the slave). They are found everywhere, but especially in any open or waste piece of land. Here they busy themselves with their own affairs. If one is forced to cross such a piece of land alone, one may see and hear them. To avoid injury by them, one should
Preach Christ to Moslems?
By the REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., F.R.G.S., –..g{ Princeton, New Jersey }Sc-.- Editor of "The Moslem World"
"IF YOU will only organize Christian missions lidity and necessity of Christian missions to to the heathen in my province, instead of at- Moslems? tempting to convert Mohammedans, I will do 1. If ,the Gospel of Christ in its simplest form everything in my power to further and support (which is also its deepest mystery) includes the them, but I cannot approve or allow, at any rate Incarnation, the Atonement and the Resurrection at present, the opening of a mission to the Mo- then the world of Islam certainly needs our meshammedans." So said the governor of Nigeria, sage for it is news and offers Good News to every about thirty years ago. This policy was that of Moslem. Islam is not a Christian sect or a Chris- Lord Kitchener in the Sudan, of the British in the tian heresy. It is an eclipse of the Christ as re- Malay States, and is not yet abandoned every- vealed in the Gospel. It is an Arabian palimpsest where. superinscribed over the message of Jesus by an- The validity and the necessity of carrying the other hand. Its categorical denial of the deity of Gospel message to Mohammedans have been ques- Christ, of the crucifixion, of the finality of Jesus tioned in times past and are being questioned Christ as God's messenger and of His way of life today! The late Professor G. Kampffmeyer of through regeneration is evident from the Koran the University of Berlin in "Whither Islam?" itself.
deals with the subject in the same attitude; his The analogy of Paul's attitude toward Jew and conclusion is that missions in the Near East among Gentile holds today as regards missions to Mos- Moslems are as dangerous as they are futile and, lems and to other non-Christians. It was because for the good"of humanity, should be discontinued. the Jew had so much that was true and noble and yet needed the Gospel that Paul preached every- Dr. Hugh Vernon White, a secretary of the where to the Jew first. Their theism, their knowl- American Board, in the magazine called Chris- edge of the Old Testament, their zeal for God, tendom, plainly states that "Christian efforts to their passion for the Law did not invalidate their evangelize the Moslem have met with signal and need of the Gospel but emphasized it. This imconsistent failure. The response to such efforts plication would hold also for those Moslems of today is negligible and there is little likelihood of China, Africa and India who live in the midst of any marked change in the near future. . . . The paganism or polytheistic ethnic faiths. Christian Church ought to quit trying to make proselytes of Mohammedans. It should bring the In the Near East and North Africa, we have an best works of Christian service to the Moslem additional argument. There we are not merely world in a spirit of ecclesiastical and theological trying to lead Moslems to Christ, but rather to disinterestedness. " lead them back to Christ. Here we have the argu- ment of church history; the inspiration of the Father T. Bennerth, writing in a Roman Cath- cloud of witnesses, the apostles and martyrs of the olic missionary magazine for April 1930 says: faith; and the very stones of ruined churches and "As the conversion of the great bloc of Islamic monasteries would cry out if we were silent. nations to the Christian faith is not to be expected in our century " . . it is of the highest value that The Great Unoccupied Moslem Fields Islam at least maintains the belief in God in puri- fied forms. If this refuge of belief in God should 2. The missionary forces have hitherto moved vanish, then Western Christianity will be threat- across or around this great Moslem bloc. The fol- ened by a new seat of danger." lowing areas, or. countries in which the popula- When we compare these statements with the tion is wholly or predominantly Moslem, are still verdict of the Roman Catholic Conference, held in practically unoccupied. The missionary confer- Louvain in 1930, we find that ,there also the entire ences of Cairo, Edinburgh, Lucknow, and Jeruworld of Islam is labeled "le bloc inconvertisable." salem successively laid them all before the Church, In view of such opinions and statements, what but with little result-Afghanistan; the provinces satisfactory reasons can be advanced for the va- of Hejaz, Asir, Nejd, and Hadramaut in Arabia; [464 ] Russian Turkestan; parts of Siberia, Bokhara; blasted. The Moslem World Conference held at the eastern part of the Malay Peninsula; Socotra Mecca, and afterwards in Europe, proved a failand the Moslem populations of Madagascar, Rus- ure; none of the resolutions was carried out. sia in Europe, British and French Somali-land, Tripoli in North Africa, the French Sudan; the The Dutch Orientalist, Dr. Van der Meulen, who Great Aures Mountains, the Saharan Atlas spent many years in the diplomatic service at ranges, the central populous mountain regions of Jiddah, asks, "Are we standing at the eve of a re- Morocco, and the vast Sahara itself. These un- vival, a renaissance of Islam? No, the phenomena occupied fields have a total population of approxi- do not point this way. Except for the Wahhabi mately thirty-six million. How can we speak or movement in Central Arabia, it has all been a sing of evangelizing the whole world and leave all question of self-defense and resistance," (Moslem this outside of the program of occupation for World, October, 1936). Christ? Regarding the enormous area and population of Disintegration and Decay of Islam Indonesia, Professor C. C. Berg speaks of "de- structive forces that are at work against Islam all 3. A religion that once was the hope and glory over the world." Of the favorable factors he says of millions shows signs of breaking up. Old sanc- that they "might possibly result only in the long tions are disappearing. Their anchor-ground has run in a decrease in the rate of decay," ("Whither proved insufficient in the rising tide of material- Islam?" pp. 306-311). ism and atheism. Some tell us that there are signs of a resurgent Islam and of revival of faith in The geographical expansion of Islam in Africa Mohammed. But all signs point in the opposite has often been exaggerated. The latest statistical direction. This years report of the Board of For- survey shows a smaller proportion of Moslems in eign Missions of the Presbyterian Church states: nearly every area in North-central Africa (Mos- "There is now abundant evidence that the religion lern World, April, 1936). Dr. Deaville Walker of Islam is slowly disintegrating." wrote a few years ago: The collapse of the caliphate, and the failure of Within a comparatively short time, we pictured great all attempts to revive it, would lead to the conclu- pagan populations being rapidly Islamised. I am consion that Pan-Islamism is dead. The policy of the vinced that the position is wholly different today. Careful new government in Turkey and the complete sec- personal investigation in Sierra Leone and Mendeland, ularization of that republic points in the same the Gold Coast and Ashanti, Nigeria, and in the French direction. The Turkish press utters severe judg- colonies and protectorates of Dahomey, Togo, and the ment on Islam and its Prophet, while one by one Ivory Coast,· have made it very clear to me that the adthe old sanctions and customs of religion are pub- vance of Islam is being definitely checked, and that today licly discarded. A few years ago a British official we are winning far more Africans to the faith of Christ of high standing actually wrote to me: "Islam as than the Moslems are winning for their Prophet. Startling we once knew it is dead in Turkey; it is dying in as this may sound, I believe it to be absolutely true. Persia; it has ceClJ8ed to carry real weight in Egypt; it may survive some generations in What elements in Islam are today resurgent? Arabia; but the basic truths of Christianity will Does the old Mohammedan law or jurisprudence in the long run even there prevail." Such judg- any longer prevail under the new nationalism and ment is undoubtedly somewhat premature but it the new state? Or has the purely -Islamic-govis prophetic. erned state disappeared even in Arabia and Afghanistan? Islam faces a crisis in the lands where once it was dominant. Its efforts at propagandism in Has the social structure of Islam withstood the India and Africa "remind one of those sparse feminist movement and female education anygreen twigs sometimes still appearing at the ex- where? Can we seriously speak of "resurgent treme ends of half-dried-up boughs in trees whose forces" as regards polygamy, slavery, concubicore has for long been decaying from old age." nage, and the seclusion of womanhood? Was the Islam suffers because it feels itself under the suppression of the age-old Moharram celebrations tutelage of the West. In Turkey it suffers by be- in Persia a sign of vitality in Islam? Is the reli'- ing violated in its own bosom; in Russia from gion of Islam showing a new vitality when three Soviet persecution; and in Persia from a revolt of its "five pillars" are crumbling? The daily against the Arabic language and tradition. Mus- prayers are no longer observed as they were ten tapha Kemal Ataturk of Turkey raised great ex- years ago. The number of pilgrims to Mecca, in pectations, but he has turned out a bitter disap- spite of new facilities by motorbus and steampointment for all Moslems. The disenchantment ships, has dwindled from 250,000 to 80,000. was cruel but complete. The high hopes fixed on Mecca is losing its importance. Are the uniting Ibn Saood of Arabia to revive the caliphate were forces that remain, the Arabic language and cul- ture, the sense of brotherhood, the press and Al Azhar of Egypt-are these forces strong enough to counteract the disintegrating factors? Or will the progressive secularization of Moslem life rob
all life from the religion of Islam? Will the wan- Hospital in Northwest China, reports that Moslem ing of the Dervish orders and their suppression, as in Turkey, continue? patients crowd the doors, kiss the feet of the The fact is that Islam has been severely Christian physicians, listen eagerly to the meswounded in the house of its friends. The younger Egyptian modernists, instead of building care- sage, and that some at least find new life in Christ. fully on the foundations of reform laid by Jamalal-Dinal Afghani and the great Mohammed'Abdu, More and more thousands of Moslem youth are have ruthlessly undermined what remained intact. Mansur Fahmi, in his doctor's thesis, proved that sitting at the feet of Christian teachers in every Islam was progressively responsible for the degradation of womanhood. Dr. Taha Housain raised land. Day schools, boarding schools, colleges, and a storm of hostility by a book proving that much of early Islamic literature was a forgery, ·fabri- universities tell of an increasing number of Moscated to prop up the Koran and tradition. "The story of Abraham and Ishmael building the Kaaba lem pupils and of the leavening power of Chrisis all fiction." Ali Abd al Razik went even further, and in his book, "Islam and the Fundamentals of tian education that reaches far beyond the cur- Authority," advocated the abolition of the caliphate, "which has always been a misfortune." riculum and the campus area. Everyone should Moreover, he proposed the complete separation of Church and State, and the abandonment of the know that the emancipation of Moslem girlhood vast body of canon law. (Adams, "Islam and Modernism in Egypt," pp. 254-265.) and womanhood began in mission schools. It is When the best thinkers in Islam accept an hon- not only unkind but ungrateful and unhistoric to est historical research of all her spiritual property, it will mean a revelation of bankruptcy. trace these modern movements to hybrid sources. When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Only the real gold, the theistic Christ alone removes the veil because He demands spiritual values of Islam, will be able to withstand the heat of this inevitable furnace. A careful and imparts purity of heart. Moslems themselves study of the whole question leads to the conclusion that as a cultural and even as a political force have testified to this fact. there is yet a future for Islam, but as a religious force the future does not look promising-except The great Christian literature societies and comin Christ and His Gospel for Moslems. mittees in Cairo, Constantinople, Teheran, Shang- The Response to the Gospel Message hai, across India, and in the Dutch East Indies are 4. This great response, as we see it today, should not surprise those who believe God's prom- producing and distributing ten times as much litises and who have experienced the final fruitage that follows the "patience of unanswered prayer." erature as they did a decade ago. Illiteracy is de- Others have labored, since the days of Henry Martyn, and now we are entered into their labors. creasing. Education is becoming compulsory. Others have knocked long and loud and waited patiently before locked doors-now those very doors The stigma of disapproval now rests on old superare nailed open. Eastern Arabia, Hadhramaut, and the cities of Meshed, Iran, and Riadh in Cen- stitions that once had religious sanction. tral Arabia, are outstanding examples. There are public baptisms in places where for- The Bible has been translated into all the great languages of the world of Islam. It is the best merly the "law of apostasy" would have adminprinted of all books and has an ever-increasing circulation. One has only to read the annual re- istered public ostracism or private vengeance. In ports of the two great Bible societies to realize the miracles of grace accomplished every year by the Java alone there are 75,000 Moslem converts gathprinted Word. ered into Christian churches. In North India Every hospital and dispensary across the map from Tangier, Morocco, to the Borden Memorial there are other thousands and in Persia we can truly speak of an indigenous church-weak still in numbers, but strong in the spirit of sacrifice and boldness of witness.
Those who challenge the validity and success of work among Moslems need to remember the lines of Arthur H. Clough: .
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
For not iJy eastern windows only When daylight comes, comes in the light; In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly! But westward, look, the land is bright.
While for years Christians have been battering against an impregnable position in North Africa, Islam has been steadily sweeping south and pagan tribes have become followers of the Prophet and have been lost to Christ. Suppose the Church had concentrated its efforts on these tribes in the rear of the Moslem position, and had flung a barrier of Christian churches across Africa, would Islam have made the progress it has southward? Might not the Church have found in Christian Africans, the allies who would have won far greater success than white foreigners can hope to achieve?
A. S. McNAIRN.
Christian Approach to
By PREBENDERY W. WILSON CASH, London I Secretary of the Church Missionary Society I~ ~==============================~ H AS Christianity anything to offer Islam? disappointed, goes forward with undimmed faith In answer to this question, one group of and courage, proclaiming Christ and Him cruci- people fall back upon the threadbare argu- fied as the only Hope of the world.
ment that "Islam is good enough for the Arabs." This difficult situation makes us pause and study They do not think, however, that is good enough afresh the task before us. First of all, nothing in for themselves. this past hundred years in any way invalidates the The question is sometimes put in a different way Gospel of Christ. Men of many nations and races -What is there in Christianity that is not found have found a new eternal and abounding life in Islam? through Christ, the living Saviour. The experi- The Moslem himself approaches the issue from ence of men converted in evangelistic campaigns a very different angle. He is certain that Islam in Europe or America is duplicated in the lives has much to offer to the Christian world, and par- of Africans, Indians, Chinese, and many others. ticularly just now when international affairs are Revival sweeps through parts of India and Africa so tangled and difficult. and tens of thousands find peace with God. But The missionary meets the point by a bold and the Moslem world still stands like some impreg- frank presentation of the Gospel of Christ as the nable rock, almost unshaken, and as a rule undis- only adequate religion for all the world. turbed by missionary witness. The reasons for A missionary recruit, going out to a Moslem this are many; some of them must be briefly field for the first time, is shocked to find that the stated. When the Moslem armies invaded the Moslem is just as eager to convert him to Islam countries from Syria to the Sudan and North as he is to win the Moslem for Christ. This is Africa they found a responsive body of nominally only the first of a series of shocks. As he settles Christian men ready to join their ranks and to to his work he discovers for himself what he had fight for them. The armies of the prophet were always heard, that the Moslem is about the most increased daily by many who saw in Mohammed a difficult man in all the world to bring under the deliverer from the hated Byzantine rule. The Em- influence of the Gospel. peror used the Church as an imperial tool, and in A survey of the past hundred years of mission- the minds of most people Church and State were ary work among Moslems does not reveal appre- one.
ciable progress in most areas. In one or two coun- There were alsothe divisions within the Church tries there have been remarkable results, notably and the disruptive elements in its own ranks. The in the Dutch East Indies; but against this suc- Roman and the Greek churches were separated cess must be set the inroads of Islam into the and the Greek and the Coptic churches were no Christian Church in the Near East. In Egypt it is longer in communion with each other. The ornate estimated that from 500 to 800 Copts annually ritual of the Eastern churches was contrasted become Moslems. The history of Islam is one of with the simple forms of mosque worship. The ceaseless encroachments on'Christendom, until pictures and images in churches gave the impres- now we speak of Bible lands, which were once sion of polytheism, and the abstruse theological Christian, as Moslem lands. The large propor- controversies still further weakened the spiritual tion of the peoples of Syria, Palestine and Egypt life of the Church. The fact is that the Christian are Moslems today. The Christian Church of faith was so badly misrepresented by the Church North Africa has been blotted out. The formerly of the day that people could not see Christ through Christian areas of the Sudan are now solidly Mos- the maze of ritual and ceremonial, the selfish am- lem. And still the Church sends missionaries to bitions of prelates and the secular encroachments Moslems and many are willing to give their lives upon the community. Race superiority was re- to Moslem evangelization, in an effort to remove sponsible for a good deal. The Roman or Greek the reproach which lies at the door of the Church. pattern was stamped upon the churches every- And still the missionary, though often baffled and where. There seems to have been nothing in- [467 ]
digenous in the Church of North Africa; and in into a new environment, utterly foreign to him.
Arabia there does not appear to have been any The strain of this social upheaval upon a young translation into the vernacular, either of the convert is so great that it develops any idiosyn- Scriptures or the Christian liturgies. In Rome cracies and oddities in him and in the end drives people worshipped in Latin and, therefore, they him back to his old surroundings.
had to worship in Latin in all North Africa; sim- The history of Christian expansion down the ilarly, because in Constantinople the liturgical centuries does not show that the nineteenth censervices were all in Greek, they had to be in Greek tury policy was adopted in other periods. In also in the Arabic-speaking world. Any approach earlier days people moved towards the Christian to Islam by the Christian must take account of faith by communities, by families, and tribes. In such facts. They are not dead matters of history doing so they became Christian without having but living issues today, and a study of them will had to suffer a catastrophic upheaval in their sohelp us in our evangelistic work. cial life. Instead of being uprooted from their The Gospel, it is true, needs no vindication. natural environment their social heritage was Once it is given a chance in the lives of men it Christianized, while they lived in the same homes proves itself, and its validity is recognized, but as before, carried on the same occupations, and the method of presentng the Gospel is a very dif- met much the same people, yet things were differ- ferent matter; after the experience of the past ent. The homes were transformed, they worked hundred years it is surely evident that we must from different motives, and their relationships to all face anew how we are to preach the Gospel in others were new; a different standard of life came Moslem lands. into the community through the coming of Christ.
The Nineteenth Century missionary expansion While such people found by personal conversion was marked by a strong emphasis on individual- the way to God, yet they moved together, families ism. Personal conversion was the note struck; were baptized, and communities received into the evangelistic missions sought to pluck men as faith.
brands from the burning. No one who knows This contrast requires careful and detailed in- Christ as his Saviour and Lord would' wish to vestigation. Is the cause of unsatisfactory con- weaken the appeal for personal conversion, but it verts in Moslem lands due to the break up of their must be admitted that there are other factors to be social environment? If so, may it not be equally considered. Moslem converts in many cases have true that a wrong method has hindered the whole proved to be utterly unsatisfactory. Curiously progress of the Gospel. Some years ago in a vil- enough a normal Moslem often became an eccen- lage in the Near East a large number of Moslem tric Christian. Missionaries labored to win that . families asked for baptism. When I met them it convert and when he was baptized disillusionment was obvious that some were thinking of Chris- set in. Instead of fitting into his new surround- tianity in terms of "loaves and fishes," but others ings, often he proved to be restless and required seemed to be genuinely sincere. Once the news a great deal of nursing. When discipline was even leaked out great pressure was brought to bear by mildly applied he would fling off in a temper, re- the Moslems to prevent these men from becoming nounce Christianity and go back to Islam. Most Christians. Large bribes were offered if they missionaries in the Near East have had this ex- would remain Moslems. In the end .some went perience; but they have pegged away through back to Islam, but others accepted Christ. Now heart-breaking disappointments always hoping the point of this is that while the missionaries did that things would change and that a better type emphasize personal conversion the converts came of convert would appear, as in fact he did from forward as families. They lived on as before in time to time. their own village and tilled their land. They were The problem is not due to any failure of the sufficiently numerous to remain as a community Gospel, nor indeed to lack of faithfulness in the in the village. Instead of being driven from house missionaries. The Message has been honestly pre- and hQme, ostracized and disinherited, they con- tinued in their old homes which now became sented to Moslems. A certain number have be- Christian. Here the difficulties experienced so come Christians but many were failures. These often, of abnormal converts, did not appear beare the facts. What is the answer? A survey of cause in becoming Christian they still preserved the Moslem world shows that in the Dutch East Indies, and to a certain extent in Persia, this un- their social heritage.
satisfactory result does not obtain. If we examine This line of argument raises several still bigger the social environment of the converts, I believe issues. The old method of missionary work was that we shall find that, through the process of con- mainly an attack upon Islam as wrong and on the version, we have uprooted the Moslem, torn him prophet as false in his claims, and by comparison from hi'! QWn. ~pciftl Jif~ aIld transplanted him a pre~~nt~tioJl Qf Chri~t as th~ only true Saviour,
THE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO MOSLEMS
The second half of this is all right. We believe similar experiences that Moslems claim to have. Christ to be the only Saviour, but by contrasting This may be illustrated frQm the eighth century Mohammed with Christ missionaries have created in Khurasan, where a young prince had a remarkin Moslem minds an antagonism to Christ. Instead able vision. He was out hunting one day when he of a Moslem agreeing that Christ was superior he heard a heavenly voice calling him from the purrather felt a kind of suppressed grievance against suit of pleasure to the service of God. This vision Him. Thus a wrong impression was created and came to him three times and at the third appeara missionary found himself in the prejudiced at- ance he fell to the ground and gave his life to mosphere, which frequently led to a heated debate. God's service. He then walked across to a shep- As the situation hardened the controversial herd near by and exchanged his clothes and horse method became a very common 'One in missionary for the shepherd's woolen garments; without propaganda. Argument led to counter argument, funds or material resources he set out on pilgrimand attack to counter attack, until the atmosphere age to Mecca. was so strained that it was impossible to sit down quietly and to explain the Christian message with- Missionaries need to study more the meaning out at once being involved in a bitter wrangle. of Islam because the root idea of complete sur- render to God contains a truth no Christian can lIo~ VVin nlosleDls? afford to neglect. Moslem mystics glory in the will of God and the strength of their position is How can I approach the Moslem without an- this acceptance of whatever God sends as right. tagonizing him? First, I must understand his Too often we have used the Koran simply for purpoint of view, his spiritual aspirations, and what poses of controversy, forgetting that it does conreligion means to him. We often hear it said that tain the spiritual pilgrimage of one who started Moslem prayers are a matter of words and for- with undoubted sincerity and who wrought a refmula because certain prayers are memorized and ormation in his own land such as no one either repeated five times a day. If therefore, as a Chris- before or since has ever been able to accomplish. tian, I talk about prayer to a Moslem and at the The strength of Mohammed was not merely milisame time believe that he has no real prayer life, tary prowess. He hammered out in the desert a I start from a prejudice and an assumption which conception of God that carried the Arabs to will make fellowship with Moslems impossible. I heights previously unattained, as he described God have heard Moslems pray extemporaneously, with as the Eternal, the Great, the Glorious. He drew no set form, with every evidence of intensity and men to religion by saying, "Whichever way ye reality. Here is what one Moslem lays down as a turn there is the face of God." He said: "All on rule about prayer: earth shall pass away, but the face of thy God shall abide resplendent with majesty and glory." Before the time of prayer comes the servant must be in a state of meditation and recollection, free from wander- Whatever may be our attitude toward Islam, we ing thoughts and considerations, and the remembrance of cannot help a Moslem unless we are really honest aught save God alone. Those who enter thus upon prayer in our approach. If we trade upon his ignorance from the heart, intent only upon God, will proceed from of either his or our faith, if we fail to see the eleprayer to prayer in that same state of recollection, and ments of truth and reality in his religion, if we will remain therein long after they have ceased to pray. condemn him and his faith when we do not know it enough to pass judgment upon it, we are not There is here a depth of insight into the meaning of prayer that could at once form common honest. ground between Christians and Moslems for a There is a Christian way of approach to the sharing of mutual experiences in prayer. Why should not our approach to the Moslem be by the Moslem which is noncontroversial, where we value road of prayer, by beginning with quiet and medi- all that is good in his faith and appreciate the tation, by a remembrance of the name of God, so spiritual values it contains. We need not give up that there may be between us a spiritual affinity any Christian convictions, nor need we deny our which would make discussion easy. own faith to recognize a value in his. We can well begin by learning from the Moslems, by shar- Again can we not appreciate more the teaching ing our spiritual experiences with them in such a of Islam on spiritual things? The Sufis have much way as to enable them to share their experiences in their writings that is curiously like parts of the with us. We may find much common ground in New Testament. One writer says, "The Sufi is our prayer lives, in our worship and in our conone whose heart is pure toward God"; another ceptions of God. How surprised many of us misaffirms that "Sufism is enmity to the world and sionaries would be if, when preaching about the love to the Lord." indwelling of Christ in our hearts, we heard some- one say, "I gazed into my own heart. There I As Christians we rightly place great importance saw Him. He was nowhere else." upon the need of a personal spiritual experience of God. It would help us to study more carefully Yet this comes from a Moslem. Often when we
get closer to the mystic we find a religious toler- earnest Moslems let us not forget that the witness ance that puts some Christians to shame. There of the Spirit ultimately always leads to Christ.
is a saying: "0 Lord, none but Thyself can No man can say, "Jesus Christ is Lord," but by fathom Thee; yet every mosque and church doth the Spirit. If we depend more upon the Spirit, harbour Thee." and realize that God is at work in the Moslem Where 9.oes all this lead us? Not to any form world, we shall see our task in new proportions.
of syncretism, but to a new sense of the values of We shall be content to let our lives be as living all truth, even where that is found in another seed. ,We shall not fret if converts are few at the . faith. It leads us ultimately to Christ who, in the moment. We shall not worry if men call Mo- end, must be the Crown of Islam. We lose nothing hammed, prophet. We shall see Christ supreme by recognizing broken lights of Him who is the and alive, seeking to break through in spiritual Light of the World. We do not diminish Christ's revelation and power into the lives of men. As glory when we see how God illumines every man the living truth works in the hearts, we shall see coming into the world. It is true, as St. Paul hasl men and women discovering a new meaning to said, "God has not left Himself without witness." life, as they learn that Islam must involve not only If we see evidence of the witness of the Spirit in surrender to God, but to God revealed in Jesus some of the teaching of Islam and in the lives of Christ.
A FEW FAOTS ABOUT ISLAM Islam, more than most religions, reflects the personality of its founder, Mohammed. He was born in Mecca, near the western coast of Arabia, about 570 A. D. When he was about forty years of age, he had a series of experiences which he interpreted as visions from God.
These ordered him to attack the idolatry and worldliness of his fellow citizens, and to proclaim one supreme God and a day of judgment. Converts at first gathered slowly, and they were subject to persecution.
In 622 A. D., the Hijrah, or Flight to Medina, took place, from which the Moslem calendar came to be reckoned. In Medina, Mohammed soon became head of the community and ruler as well as prophet. At the time of his death, in 632 A. D., not only Medina, but Mecca and practically the whole of Arabia, had accepted his doctrines.
The sayings of Mohammed, which are believed to have been dictated word for word to him by the Angel Gabriel, were later gathered together and they constitute the Koran. This scrIp- ture is divided into Suras, or chapters, arranged roughly according to length rather than in any chronological order. The Koran is the Bible of Islam, considered verbally infallible. Since it is often obscure, and since it failed to prescribe conduct or attitudes to be observed in subse- quent situations that arose, it was early supplemented by Traditions as to what Mohammed said or did under various circumstances. These rules of conduct were, in time, codified into legal systems.
The five principal observances of Islam are: (1) the recitation of the creed-"There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet"; (2) worship, the set forms of prayer which are to be performed five times a day; (3) alms, a certain proportion of the income being pre- scribed from those of means for the benefit of the poor; (4) fasting from sunrise to sunset during the Ramadan; (5) malting the Haj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca once in a lifetime by those who are able.
Among various prohibitions are intoxicants, usury, making of images, and games of chance. On the other hand, Mohammed's relations with women led him to permit four legal wives as well as concubines, and to recommend the seclusion of women. The Jihad, or war against countries controlled by unbelievers, has always been considered a duty. As in other religions, these observances have been much relaxed in practice.
In the first century of its existence Islam split into two principal sects, the Sunni, which is in the majority in most Moslem countries, and the Shia, containing the bulk of Persians, about half of Iraq, and smaller communities in other lands. In addition to these, there have been many other sects. _ Moslem theology has emphasized the unity and power of God, and has been especially severe on anything that seemed like polytheism or idolatry. At the same time saint worship has been quite general; there is also much superstition, together with mystical or emotional exercises.-Quoted from "The Moslem Faces the Future," by T. H. P. Sailer.
Reactions to the
By JAMES HALDANE, Mazagan, Morocco -.•~ Southern Morocco Mission; Author of "Missionary Romance in Morocco," "Morocco in Mufti," etc.
W HEN we present the Gospel of Christ to tion and have the means at their disposal to carry individual Moslems we find them reacting the effort to a climax.
to our message in a variety of attitudes Jeremiah, and other Hebrew prophets, acted and tempers. When the reaction is born of fa- sometimes in' strange manner with a view to exnaticism the man allows you the utterance of only citing their audience into a listening mood, and a few sentences, after which there is a manifesta- employed what we might call a sanctified guile to tion of petulence, rising to passion and finding its grip hearts which could not be reached by ordiclimax in vociferation and whirling gestures. The man's mind is infested with vitiated religious sentiments which, when stirred by an element that opposes them, make the body a medium for their manifestation and produce a condition akin to madness. In the presence of such a man the missionary is confronted with the question of what means he must employ to exercise these exorbitant religious notions from the mind where they are lodged.
Let it be said with emphasis that, whatever A MOSLEM "HOLY MAN'S" HABITATION IN MOROCCO attitude we take towards the fanatic, whatever means we employ to deal with such malady, it nary means. Let me give an instance – one of must be based on sympathy. A display of irrita- many used in my work among Moors-to illustrate tion, an exhibition of caustic temper or rancor, the method. far from mitigating the evil, will aggravate it. A movement from the basis of sympathy to attack I was dealing with a small group of men while religious enormities and delusions, as manifested a number of others, who were merely spectators, by the fanatic, does not imply an unsteady tread sat beside us. There was a wild scene in which suggestive of fear and helplessness. It means reason was caged and rowdyism became rampant. that we are approaching with love and under- I tried everything within the range of ordinary standing a victim who has been born and reared methods used to calm them into a listening attiunder the glare of superstition and religious in- tude but all in vain. I was faced with the alternafatuations, one who has come under the impact of tive of doing something unusual to overcome this a single idea which drives him past all other con- devastating display of fanaticism, or abandoning siderations. these men as hopeless material. I decided to imi- In deaJing with such men it may be necessary to adopt an attitude of silence, at least until some of their fierceness has subsided. In some instances one may detect, seeping through the crevices of a disordered mind, an occasional show of intelligence which casts a passing gleam upon the countenance. Just at that moment one may be able to shoot in a word like an arrow that will find its mark, touch the reason and stimulate it to accept the challenge of a new line of thought. And on occasion fanaticism may be countered by cajolery. But this experiment should not be tried by any but those who, through long contact with the peopIe among whom they labor, understand the situa- [471 ]
tate the Hebrew prophets. Taking off my boot, as if he were afraid that the usual tone of voice ignoring my audience as if it did not exist, I filled would be an interruption. With this show of init with stones. These I shook inside the boot, tense earnestness he lures the preacher on, and emptied them out and filled the boot again. With just at the moment when we are ready to urge his a show of much earnestness this process was kept surrender to Christ he riSes up, draws his fingers up for sometime. Their interest was directed into through his beard, shakes the dust from his gara new channel; they could not understand what I ments, exclaims in a loud voice, "There is no God was doing and were astonished that I had so easily but Allah and Mohammed is His prophet," and tripped away from a serious theological discus- strides away with an air of triumph. sion into the trivial business of shaking stones inside a boot. Their curiosity mounted until it could In some of our meetings, within doors and in no longer be curbed: the open, we have an audience that has come to- gether by consent to extract some pleasurable ex- "Whatever are you doing?" they asked. citement by engaging the foreign preacher in argument. On one occasion a number of young A VISIT TO MOSLEM BEDOUIN fellows came tumbling into my meeting for this purpose. As clearly as if the words had been "You are all acting like madmen and I deter- chiselled on their foreheads I read, "Weare here mined to help you ollt,~' T replied. for fun." I put away my Bible, erected the black- board, put down a sum in addition and invited This had the desired effect for it suddenly struck anyone in the company to come forward, take the them that their vociferation and whirling move- chalk and do the sum. Several came forward and ments were, in the circumstances, as foolish and attempted to add the figures but no one added futile as shaking stones in a boot. Then at my them correctly. invitation they squatted on the ground and together we examined calmly the message of Jesus. "If ever you are to rise above being water car- riers and laborers you must learn to count," I said. Another type we meet is the man who reacts to our message with a cunning camouflage, whose So we continued the exercise until they became aim is to humiliate the missionary. He makes a greatly interested and some could add up figures show of much earnestness and on occasion will before we finished. I invited them to return the sway his body to emphasize his concern for his following week to learn subtraction. soul. At the mention of forgiveness through Jesus Christ he will stare with the surprise of one who "This is the way into an office and a good job," has just made a great discovery. And as the I heard them say as they talked among themselves. story unfolds he will say in a whisper, "Proceed," They were so pleased with their progress that they all shook hands with me before taking their de- parture.
The following week they walked into my meet- ing, some of them with copy books and pencils. We put simple subtraction problems on the board. Interest reached a climax when some of the more intelligent ones were able to find the solution to what I had put down. At this juncture I wrote on the board: ADD TOGETHER: FORMAL PRAYERS, FASTS, LUST, LOVE OF THE WORLD.
SUBTRACT: DEATH.
RESULT: NOTHING.
What a discovery this was! Addition and sub- traction could be applied to theology.
Again this problem: ADD TOGETHER: SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
SUBTRACT: – THE REDEMPTION OF JESUS'
CHRIST.
RESULT: FORGIVENESS AND ETERNAL LIFE.
This proved to be the beginning of an interest- ing work among those young fellows, some of
MOSLEM REACTIONS TO THE GOSPEL
whom continued· to attend my Bible class for that, if he gives Christianity a trial and it does not years. fulfil expectations, he may find the doors of the Then there is the polite man, the person who fold he has left barred against him. He wants to wishes to be courteous and who would treat an make an experiment with a new faith, for he is outburst of antagonism from any religious quar- deeply conscious of the inadequacy of Islam to ter as an outrage against good manners. When provide the assurance of pardon that he seeks.
we introduce our Gospel to this type there is no He is like a man who, dissatisfied with the job he display of opposition and almost no evidence of interest. He simply allows you to talk on, and says, "Yes," to everything. He is like a man who, busy with his own thoughts, will occasionally make a remark to the child that chatters by his side just to show that he is not displeased at its interrup- tions, although he finds nothing in its chatter to be cherished as valuable information. When we have given our Message and ask this man what he thinks of it, and what attitude he is going to take towards Jesus, he skirts the issue by inviting us to drink tea, or by diverting attention in some way calculated to close the subject.
What are we to do with that sort of man? Va- rious methods may be employed in an effort to awaken real interest in him. I give one example: "Well, let's go inside and drink tea now," said my Moslem friend after I had made a serious en- deavor to point him to Christ. We sat down to sip tea and I put this question to him: "I'm interested in Islam; what steps would I be required to take if I decided to become a Mos- lem ?"
The question gripped him and he began to teach me with much solemnity. He had gone far when I injected extraneous matter.
"Are your shoes made of leather or cloth?" I inquired.
He talked on and every now and then I inter- jected some trivial question and gazed around me indifferently. He became annoyed and said: "You are not listening."
"It doesn't matter, just go on," I replied. There was a spell of silence and then I asked: "Do you consider me a bad listener?"
"You certainly are," came the quiet reply.
"Do you know who taught me to listen badly?"
"Say who?"
"The gentleman who sat with me outside the A MOSLEM FANATIC IN MOROCCO door a little time ago." has, would fain go out and search for another, but "So you are taking revenge?" he said with a is afraid that should his quest fail his present em- ployer might not take him back. grin. "N0, only trying to teach you a lesson."
A more interesting, as well as more hopeful, In dealing with this type, which is common type is the man who has a real interest in spiritual enough, rush tactics do not succeed. In exalting matters and who is willing to make some real sac- the capital doctrine of the agency of the Holy rifice to reach the assurance that there is a way Spirit in dealing with such men we must not over- to obtain God's forgiveness, an offer of Eternal look the means of patience and instruction from Life. But there are difficulties in the way. The the missionary's side. To expect such a man, man is encumbered by an imaginative ignorance whose mind is sodden with superstition and that dogs his steps the moment he steps out to cramped from bold thinking by ignorance, to take meet Christ. He is embarrassed with the fear one long stride towards the objective we place be-
fore him is rather too much. He states his need, types enumerated above, gathered in a meeting shows interest in the Gospel message, but shies at where the Gospel is to be preached with a view to the suggestion that he should pass immediately their conversion. Our aim is to gain a hearing over the chasm that separates Islam and Chris- from them all. It would simplify matters if one tianity. Every time the man is forced forward could separate them according to their class, and he reacts with caution. present the Gospel in a manner calculated to meet the particular needs of each section, but this is HIGHIDR CLASS MOSLIDMS OF MOROCCO rarely possible. We must take the audience as we find it. In an effort to arouse the indifferent from their torpor we may say something that will un- sheath the passions of the fanatic and so have a tumult before the meeting is well begun. Or if we stress the finality of the cross of Christ as a means of taking away sin we are likely to hear the muffled rumblings of some who consider it is their duty to counter this teaching by repetitions of Islam's creed. These cross-currents will in turn disturb the polite section of our meeting whose only desire is to conduct themselves in a proper manner, and who would probably rise up and go out if there was any sign of rowdyism.
To place such a meeting in the hands of an in- experienced missionary is to do an injustice to our cause. Some will say: "Preach the Gospel and leave it at that. Let them all have the pure Gospel: there our responsibility ends."
The fact is one considers the Gospel to be such a blessed thing, and such consequences hang upon its presentation, that it is felt to be a kind of sacrilege to offer it to a rabble.
In a meeting of the type I am describing there are two factors which determine what results will be produced. In the first place there is the factor of atmosphere; the missionary's first business is to create one that will harmonize with the exalted theme he desires to present. This cannot be One more type is the man who meets all our – approaches with deadly indifference. In extreme cases we are almost made to feel that we are A HILARIOUS GROUP INTERVIEWING A MISSIONARY speaking to a corpse! The man can be turned from one position to another, rolled over from achieved by a process of shouting and pounding. one doctrine to another, without showing interest What means, then, must we use to create an ator resistance. There was a half silly man who mosphere worthy of a serious undertaking such as lived in our village in the days of my boyhood. presenting the issues of life and death as con- We used to tease him. He had enough sense to tained in the message of the New Testament? look after a cow but little more.
"Ah, Geordi," we would say, "did you give the cow a drink?" "Yes," he replied. Of course there would not be any water in the pail. We would continue. "No," he would reply naively. That silly teasing comes back to my mind almost every time I meet the Moslem type I am now dealing with. He answers "yes" and "no," according as we suggest, no matter how contradictory the replies may be.
Now think of fifty Moslems, a mixture of the
The answer is: a vigorous and proper use of The second factor is, motive. I have not space the native tongue of one's audience. There is no to develop this point. The most ignorant audience, substitute for this. Accent is not a serious handi- not to speak of those on a higher level, is concerned cap, but to flounder about in a sea of foreign words with the motive of the preacher. This concern is is simply to tickle or irritate an audience accord- born, not of analysis but of instinct. There is an ing to its mood. An easy flow of language, studied instinctive feeling of enquiry in every audience and correct, has a tremendous effect. If one can we face as to the motive of our preaching. That is prove to the listeners that he has not only an easy why many missionaries will not develop any phase flow of their language, but also an understanding of work where money comes into play. Mercenary of its underlying significance and subtleties, the motives may easily be attributed, by primitive chances are in his favor for getting a good hear- people, to money transactions accompanying Gos-' ing. Sale points out in his introduction to the pel services. (See the New Testament on this Koran that the success of that book is due in no subject.) small measure to the jingle of its words. The opening chapter of the Koran, when well read, My aim here is to show that natives are consounds like the jingling of bells. If, then, we find stantly watching our motives, and unless we can the atmosphere in a meeting unsuited to our mes- convince them that all our work springs from the sage, we must not imagine that we are false to our motive of love, we labor in vain. That is why a mission if we introduce some extraneous matter warning about sin and its consequences, a referfor the purpose of getting the proper conditions ence to the futility of Islam or an exposure of its established. Here is a method I have employed contradictions should never be carried out with times without number when faced with a meeting any show of triumph, lest we give the impression difficult to handle: that our aim is to score points. Even when en- gaged in disputation, as must sometimes happen, The audience is a mixed multitude-antagon- our words should be the breathing of love. Livism, hilarity, indifference and suspicion surge ingstone's achievements among primitive Afrithrough the atmosphere, and one detects an effort cans were due, almost solely, to this fact: he conon the part of some to scuttle the meeting. To in- vinced them, not merely that he was an honest troduce Jesus Christ in this atmosphere would be man or a good man, but that he loved Africa and to give them the very opportunity they desire to its people intensely. wreck the meeting, for it would present the object for attack. Much to their surprise the preacher With these two factors-a suitable atmosphere, claims only that there is one God and He has no and divine love in our hearts to supply the impetus partners. The next step is to show that all the for all our work-we may say, even when statistics good things we receive in this life are from His deny their support, the faithful missionary of hand. A sense of reverence asserts itself, for this Christ "shall doubtless come again rejoicing is what they all believe. The next step is to show bringing his sheaves with him." that many of the boons that reach us, coming from God, do so through the medium of our own DISTRIBUTION OF MOSLEMS labors, as for instance when we plough. "That," we say, "is why it is a good thing to have a trade." By GOVERNMENTS We then introduce lines from one of their own poets. This creates interest. There is now an Total Moslems in the world-about ……. . 240,000,000 atmosphere of reverence and interest. We quote Moslems under British rule (including Egypt) 94,000,000 the lines again and again: Moslems under other Western Governments ., 94,000,000 Moslems under MQslem Governments ……. . 38,000,000 Mal jiddeen A parent's legacy Moslems under other Eastern Governments ., 14,400,000 Yiteem; Will finish hastily; DISTRIBUTION-BY CONTINENTS Ma yibka All will fade Khir snaa Except the trade America-North and South …………… . 130,000 Australia and Islands ……………….. . 1,030,000 Yideen. You handle daily. Europe and Soviet Russia …………….. . 12,000,000 Africa ……………………………. . 53,000,000 It may be said that there is no Gospel in this. Asia and Malaysia ………………….. . 154,000,000 True; and there is no Gospel in a banner, a bell or a band. Yet these are constantly in use in INTERESTING HISTORICAL DATA Christian work for the purpose of creating interest and a proper atmosphere preliminary to intro- Birth of Mohammed, 570 A. D. Death of Mohammed, ducing the Gospel. I have a whole collection of 632 A.D. Moslem poems, proverbs and stories which I use almost daily in my meetings, for the same purpose Hejira (Mohammed's flight from Mecca), 622 A. D. as I use low gear in my automobile; that is, to get Battle of Tours (defeat in West Europe), 732 A. D. Moslems driven from Spain (by Ferdinand II), 1492. a start. Capture of Constantinople by the Turks-1453 A. D. Young Turks proclaim new Constitution-1908 A. D. End Qf the Caliphate (Turkey), 1924 A. D. Religious freedom in Iran (Persia), 1925 A. D.
Moslems for
By REV. JOHN VAN ESS, D.D., Basrah, Iraq Missionary of the Reformed Church in America THE objective of missionary work is to bring With this as my creed, I go back tomorrow to Moslems to a saving knowledge of Christ. my school. It is the last week of my twenty-fifth But what is "a saving knowledge"? Is bap- year as a teacher of Arabs. For twenty years this tism of converts the criterion of success? Christian school was on the crest of a wave of popularity. Being the first in this region, it has Salvation is assuredly not merely a "ticket into educated or at least vitally touched about three the ark," so to speak. To "accept Christ" is not thousand young Arabs. Each of these has met merely to assent to the formula "Christ died for Cl).rist or heard His message in the vernacular my sins." Our Lord's constant emphasis on the from my own lips, months and years on end, in Kingdom implies a King and an organization, with systematic and progressive Bible study. Hundreds laws, implied strife and victory. This Kingdom of these young men have been absorbed into the begins on earth but will be an eternal Kingdom as political and economic life of the land, and you its King is eternal. When a man is saved, there- can count on the fingers of two hands those who fore, he is saved not so much "from" as "unto"- have definitely gone bad. I can explain it only on unto Life, unto obedience, to fruitfulness, to har- the assumption that the light of Christ has somemony, to eventual and complete adjustment to how produced a change on the film of their heart God. The Cross is not merely a tragic drama on and thought life. Calvary on a Friday afternoon in a city in Palestine. We read of the "Lamb slain from the foun- And now has come nationalism. The Iraq Govdation of the world," of the Word that was in the ernment, in its youthful exuberance, is establishbeginning with God, that was God. The Cross was ing schools of all grades everywhere. They are eternally in the heart of God; Calvary was its good schools, well equipped and staffed. They tragic demonstration in time. The Atonement has have behind them all the prestige and resources of a gigantic sweep, far wider than the salvation of the Government. There are many respects in a confessed minority. The Atonement is a process which, pedagogically speaking, I do not agree with of divine dimensions, a process that began with the system. But the Government has the right to God's eternal purpose of good, reached its supreme decide its own objective and to formulate its own demonstration on Golgotha, and was consummated method. In a missionary school I cannot compete on Easter morning. "If Christ be not raised, ye with the Government on its own ground, nor are yet in your sins." should 1. Two summers ago, driving along a coun- try road in Michigan, I asked a farmer, "Where So I do not visualize myself as standing on a does this road go?" He replied, "Stranger, if you dock with a boat-hook, desperately grasping at follow it long enough, this road will lead you to the souls that come rushing by. According to my the cemetery." As Christians we are often in Lord's precept and example I work for individuals, danger of going up the road to a mental cemetery, but all the time I am conscious that those whom I where lie the dead bones of dead controversies. may miss do not "drift beyond His love and care." As missionaries we are in danger of going up the Above the din and clatter of my clumsy efforts I road to a cemetery of method, if not of message. hear Christ say "I have overcome the world"- The famous Dr. Abraham Kuyper of Amsterdam the cosmos. And so I visualize the world, the said, "The fault of the Church is not that she made whole cosmic order, the whole social, economic, creeds, but that she stopped making creeds." political, as well as the religious set-up, as being brought into obedience unto Him. Anything else As a missionary educator, I am closing a chap- is defeatism and defeatism is treason. Pro rege is ter of twenty-five years, with no regrets, and with. the device on my banner. pleasantest memories, grateful that it has been my privilege to be a pathfinder, and looking around Physical death, then, can no longer be a cri- for new fields to enter and new paths to open. I terion of anything either to me or the Moslem. am deliberately cutting out the top of my tree, so My missionary work is only a beginning, and in- to speak, gradually eliminating the high school deed will never stop. Christ promised a Life that grades, and concentrating on the depressed classes now is and spoke of death that ceases to be.
[476 ] who comprise about two-thirds of the population. outside of myself, illuminating the whole and shed- They do not come within the perimeter of the offi- ding its power over myself and my pupils. But cial vision, and will not do so for a generation. there is the phenomenon. They are desperately poor but they are desperately in earnest. Their economic condition does not For years and years I had tried to present allow them to remain in school more than six years Christ to the Arab boys: His life, His Cross, His at the most, after which they must return to their salvation. A young American, fresh from college, villages or to their former economic plane, equip- with the light of heaven in his eye and the smile ped, we trust, to lift up that plane to a higher level. of God on his face, came to join me for a short Any higher education I leave to the government term. For fifteen months he taught the boys, lived schools which admittedly qualify only for govern- with them, played with them, brothered them. ment jobs and already have reached the point of Then, by an accident, God took him. The boys besupersaturation. Out of the morass of this little' gan to come to me and say, "Sir, now we underproblem I leave the government to struggle as best stand what you have been trying to teach us about it may. God; how He made Himself visible, and lived among us, and suffered with us, and died for us. And so, after a quarter of a century, I stand We have seen it in Mr. Raymond. That is what again where I stood at the beginning. I am again God did." I awoke to the fact that we cannot teaching small boys in simple subjects, and am make men hear the Atonement; we must make back in the daily irritations of discipline and routine. One of my former colleagues, a man of wide men see it. reputation, said to me: "Van Ess, I thought you had it in you to put up a college in Iraq." To I am quite unruffled by government competition which I replied, "I am really prouder of the fact and by decreased appropriations. Indeed, the dethat I had it in me not to put up a college in Iraq." With the rise of nationalism, missionary colleges pression and the consequent cuts have made me are being forced to the wall. India may be an ex- cut out a lot of underbrush, so that I can now see ception, though in the new constitution lurk the path more plainly. Even the casual remarks ominous obstacles. That they have done a splen- of well-meaning friends that the school seems to did service is undoubtedly true but how much be going backward, does not sting anymore. As room there remains for them is a serious question. But there remains a great deal of room at the a matter of fact, there is a far greater percentage bottom. This to my mind is the great challenge of Moslems in the school than ever before, and all to missionary educators today. The greatest con- available space is filled. "Why are most of your tribution we missionary educators can make is not boys barefoot?" asked a government inspector. in the doing of big things in a comparatively small "Why do all the barefoot boys come to me 7" I way, but in the doing of little things in a big way. answered. For that task we need all the mentality, and all the education and all the experience, and all the Where now does all this fit into my pretentious manhood, and all the linguistic ability, and all the creed? Next door to my house is an electric powerhumility, and all the spiritual equipment we can station. Into one end is fed the crude oil; out of command. When the world's proletariat awakes, the other end comes that strange, invisible, potent within the next generation, as it inevitably must, fluid called electricity. The cause is not at all will men, by that time, be familiar with us and commensurate with the result. The only function our message and our Lord, or will they, as in of the crude oil has been to be consumed. Some- Russia, revolt against Christianity that has cham- where along the line, in the dynamo in fact, it has pioned the rights of the privileged classes? If been transformed into energy. It is carried miles one great truth of the Cross of Christ is, in Jesus' away to the wharves where it raises heavy burown words, "I have power to lay down my life dens and lights dark streets and houses. I cannot, and I have power to take it again," surely we dis- and we cannot by education or any other method, ciples can best preach that Cross in our own daily change the world. But we can be consumed, willhumiliation. I, for one, wish to bear witness to ingly, humbly, gladly, for our efforts are made dythe compensation that comes from a humble effort namic in the Cross. "I fill up on my part that in that direction. which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh." During the past year I have had a daily experience, which you may explain as you like but which Anyone who knew Turkey before the World is, none-the-Iess, intensely real. As I teach the War knows that there was not one ray of light Gospel lessons to class after class, lessons which I on the horizon of missionary work among Moshave taught literally hundreds of times, a shaft of lems. In five short years, what happened? The light seems to come from somewhere, certainly Caliphate was abrogated, the Sultan was expelled, and a republic was established; Islam was dis- established, womanhood was emancipated, suf- frage was made universal. The Turkish revolution came like a bolt from the blue. I have heard
famous professors of international affairs confess innovations, which seemed impossible a decade or their inability to explain it. It seems plain to me, two ago, are rapidly being realized. however. For eighty years the American missionaries had been working in Turkey, and prayers, Another innovation, the lawfulness of which the tears, the sighs, the labors, the gifts of God's has been hotly contested, is the translation of the people were consumed for Turkey. They were Koran into English. After a lengthy debate in the made dynamic in the eternal Cross of Christ; the secular press, the Government and the leaders of energy was banked up behind the barrage of God's reform have gotten round the difficulty by affirmpurpose until in His own time He let it loose on ing that while the Koran can never be translated Turkey, and something more had to happen. into any other language, what is now being at- tempted is to translate the teaching of the Book A couple of generations ago a young Chinese especially for the benefit of the English-speaking lad named Sun Yat Sen learned in a mission school peoples. The large increase of religious articles in Honolulu the three uniquely Christian prin- and debates in the secular press, both Arabic and ciples: Liberty, Democracy, Social Justice; today English, is another noticeable development, and if China is in the throes of a new birth. And so it to this we add the broadcasting of the chanting of is in India, and I believe in Russia. To me the the Koran several times a day, while Christians great and humiliating fact about Russia is that the are not allowed to broadcast even a reading of the Church has let Communism steal her thunder of Scripture, we get an idea of the strength of the demanding social justice. propaganda that is being daily carried on.
From the segment of a circle we can tell from The remarkable growth in Egypt of Moslem rethe degree of curvature, not only how big the ligious societies to further the teaching of Islam circle is but where the center is. And everywhere from every aspect impresses itself upon Christian in the round world today we can see the segments residents. The most active of these is the Young being filled in, all centering in Christ, a gigantic Men's Moslem Association. It is a regular centre sweep, a stupendous Kingdom of Divine dimen- of political and religious intrigue. The same sions. spread is also noticeable in the Islamic periodicals and magazines, which are distributed far· and So I go back to my little school tomorrow, con- wide, even in the remotest villages. This new fident of contributing a small but none the less a movement has even reached the neglected southern real part to one segment, and overwhelmed by a European Moslems, and very recently these held sense of unutterable privilege. How many bap- a Moslem conference in Geneva, so that they tisms? A greater missionary than any of us said: should not be left behind in the reforms. Needless "Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach." to say, Islam is being interpreted now-a-days in terms of Christian doctrine. MODERN REFORMS IN ISLAM The agitation of the Feminist Movement against The disintegration of Islam is true only in a plurality of marriage, the prevalence of divorce very qualified sense. The old and primitive type (at present 47 per cent), and the neglect of chilof Islam is giving way to a new form of teaching dren is but like a voice crying in the wilderness, and to an interpretation in line with modern which soon dies in the arid air of Islam. The Western ideas and philosophy. This new move- greatest hindrance to Arab advance and the ment carries with it the vitality and momentum of spread of Islam has been hitherto the wide diveryouth, accompanied with the zeal, if not fanati- gence of views and the animosities among the difcism, of the old Islam, so that, in a very real sense, ferent states, but the Alliance recently signed there is revival in Islam. among all the Arab states and with Egypt joining them, presents a united Islamic front. This revival is most in evidence in Egypt, which is taking the lead among Moslem countries. It Islam is essentially a primitive religion, a fact has actually carried along with it the great centre of which all the leaders boast -and emphasize on of Islamic learning, the Azhar University, that all occasions; no wonder if we see it breaking immobile institution which has for the last thou- down under the demands of modern progress and sand years defied any scheme of reform. The cur- civilization; they are trying to reconstruct it riculum of the University now demands the study along modern lines. It will remain to be seen of science along European lines, and of modern whether such external reforms will prove the relanguages. Promising students have even been vival or the death of Islam.–Condensed from an sent to European universities, and other startling article by an Egyptian Christian in Egypt, "Gen- eral M-vssion News," 1936.
PATIENTS AT A WAYSIDE DISPENSARY IN
A Christian Doctor Among Moslems By PAUL HARRISON, M.D., Muscat, Arabia Missionary of the Reformed Church in America ~~N0. ' I DO NOT believe in forcing religion with God. I have never met a missionary who was down people's throats. I believe in med- foolish enough to suppose that a man could be ical missions though." forced into Christian faith, nor wicked enough to More mistakes it would be hard to put into two attempt it.
sentences. Ordinary missionaries force religion And if any have illusions as to the redemptive upon the sensitive innocence of the unprotected, capacity of Atebrin pills, and Elastoplast band- whereas the medical missionary who has re- ages, and Davis and Geck sutures, the medical mis- nounced the Devil and all his works, redeems them sionary has none. Men with their hernias skill- with pills, plasters, and catgut sutures. fully repaired, stab their neighbors just as fero- Neither the minister nor his medical colleague ciously in the bazaar, and marry their fourth wife, is so foolish. None of us try to force anything on a baby of twelve, with just as animal a glitter in anybody. Those who are willing, we introduce to their eyes, as they did before. None watch the Jesus Christ, with as deep and discriminating an dreadful pageant of human ignorance, and sin and introduction as desire anct background make pos- suffering, with quite so deep and terrible an under- sible. Christ's contact with them depends even standing as the doctor, none know so well as he, more on the depth of our surrender to Him, and that the wages of sin is death, and before it is the radiance of our daily walk in His company. death, it is disease.
In the affairs of the spirit coercion is poison. Be- And so the medical missionary thanks God with fore us always is the beauty of Christ's example, all his heart that he is as other men are; i. e., an as He led free men into a redeeming fellowship evangelist whose life object is to bring Christ to 479
those who need Him. Ignorance has crippled the afternoon, in the hospital courtyard, and on weekmen whom Mohammed captured so many years day evenings they saw Christ on the Cross through ago. Sin has overcome them. Their diseases the stereopticon. Smooth sailing? Not always. come from sin. So does their poverty which is A month ago our outlying dispensary in Nuchl, 75 almost worse than disease in these terrible areas. miles from Muscat, was summarily closed, and we So, also, that emptiness of soul which makes the ejected. But the people there want us to return, inner poverty of the rich, worse many times, than and it will be only a short time probably, before the outer poverty of the poor. If only Christ can we are back. fill some of these souls with the radiance of His Eternal life, they will be a light for the entire There are many areas in the world where the community, just as He promised. Yes,. and in medical missionary is still a pioneer in the simplest sense of that word. No missionary except he. can AN ARAB CHIEF, WITH DR. HARRISON WHOM HE INVITED enter. Central Arabia is such an area. Sois TO VISIT HIS TRIBES IN INLAND ARABIA Afghanistan, and Tibet, and parts of Northwest China. Often even he can go only by special invithat radiant group, Christ Himself will find the tation, and very infrequently. Sometimes he can one joy and happiness that men are capable of take his evangelistic colleague with him. On~e I giving Him. heard of a consecrated music teacher finding an entrance when even the Doctor was shut out. But What part have the medical missionaries played the brunt of this campaign is carried by the docin the great Eternal enterprise of carrying Christ tors. They visit such places on medical tours, to the Mohammedans? A genuine part and an treat those who need medical help, present Christ honorable one. We go where no one else can. to those who will listen, make many friends. Harold Storm made a trip two years ago which included pretty well the whole southern coast of On occasion theYl;re driven out, but they re~ Arabia. With trifling exceptions, that whole sec- turn.. and eventually tlieMission is invited to come tion can be reached only by the medical mission- in and establish a permanent station. Such a staary. And can the Gospel be preached on such a tion may begin with only the medical missionary tour? It can. Last year in Sur, a wild and fanati- in residence. Eventually he is joined by his evancal place, men listened to the Gospel every Sunday gelistic colleague.
It is a great step in advance when a permanent mission station is established. Then the impact of Christian family life is felt, and that is by far the heaviest piece of artillery that we have. The difference between the Christian and the Moham- medan family is an apologetic which admits of no answer. But in this station too, the active medical work of the mission hospital has a great part to play. Dozens and scores and hundreds come to the dispensary. They do not become Christians, but they do become friends. And in the hospital itself men listen to the Christian message with a more friendly ear than elsewhere, and during their days of comfortable convalescence, the same mes- sage can be repeated many times, until some de- gree of comprehension is reached. Christ walks up and down the aisles of these primitive mission- ary hospitals, and the doctor succeeds in making Him visible to some of those who are his guests.
Abdullah was such a patient. He came with the largest ulcer of the year, and we have many ulcers by no means small. His measured six by four inches. Only the swollen condition of the foot made such dimensions possible. After three months he is nearly healed. Abdullah is one of' those fine, sincere, gentle souls, who show that Christ is indeed the light that lighteth every man. The Gospel story was water to his thirsty soul. Abdullah is one of the fortunate few who can read. For weeks he was a hospital fixture, with his leg
A CHRISTIAN DOCTOR AMONG MOSLEMS
stretched out so it could lie in the sun, while he emerging medical profession in these new states earnestly studied the New Testament. He follows can reach full growth. In the meantime the med- Christ now, with deep sincerity, and just ahead is ical missionary can take under his wing these newthe realization that Christ and Mohammed do not fledged doctors, and to their science add ethics, walk the same road. Abdullah returned home two and to their ethics compassion, and to their comweeks ago. May God keep him. passion, freedom from the love of money, and if when he has finished with some of them, these Young men of the community make up the hos- things be in them and abound, he will have made pital staff. They are chosen after much elimina- a very great contribution indeed. And the most tion of inferior material, because they have unusual deftness of hand, and kindliness of soul. PATIElNTS AT THE MISSION HOSPITAL They are not Christians when they enter the hospital service. No such material is available. But important members of this group which he trains, some of these boys come to see Christ as He walks will be the Christian doctors who become under beside them, ministering to men and women who his hands, pillars in the church, and ornaments of suffer. Mobarrek is such a convert. The whole the Kingdom of God. town of Muttreh has been lit up by the beauty and simplicity of his Christian confession. Two of his The medical missionary is a member of the comrades in the hospital have already followed his great eternal succession, through which from example, and the Sultan himself has listened to Abraham to Hudson Taylor, God has unfolded His his testimony. program of Divine power and salvation. The Church of Christ has been set up in the Moham- The medical missionary is a missionary in his medan world. In Iran she has reached the magown right. He is also a member of a mission sta- nificent virility of youth. Even in Arabia the intion where team work is very important. The fant church has been born. Thus does the last evangelistic impact of such a team can be very citadel of human error and sin slowly open to the great. Only a small part of the preaching can be love of Christ. The medical missionary's heart done by the doctor. Proclaiming the truth of is filled with gratitude that in this great adventure Christ is the evangelist's task, illustrating the of the Divine Will, he has been permitted to have grace of Christ is the doctor's (though to be sure a share, and at times to carry the flag. the evangelist does that too). The intelligent and effective mercy of the hospital is a Christian les- ISLAM AS A RELIGION son of the first order. It is the hospital which makes the Christian Gospel intelligible. Moreover Moslem Creed: "There is no God but God and Mohammed there are Christian lessons of no mean order in is the prophet of God." Includes pantheism and scientific medicine per se. Truth is one thing, and animism. error something else. Noone who assists at surgical operations doubts that for very long. The Jesus is regarded as a human prophet inferior to Mopatients believe it too. Ignorance is one thing and hammed. discriminating knowledge something else, and no one knows that quite so wen as the patient to Materialistic and sensual Paradise. whom an accurate diagnosis brings relief after Five supreme duties-witnessing, saying prayers (five many disappointments. Cleanliness is different times a day), almsgiving, the Fast of Ramadhan, pilfrom filth, a rule that holds in the realm of the grimage to Mecca. (Also Holy War.) spirit as well as in the world of bacteria. There Weakness or Islwm-formalism, fatalism, militarism, senis no antidote to superstition like the microscope. sualism, stagnation, polygamy, slavery, blind adher- A louse there, looks far more dangerous than the ence to tradition. evil eye itself. St?'ength of Islamr-belief in one supreme imnipotent God, loyalty to their faith, people of one sacred book, ag- The function of the medical missionary is a tem- gressive in witnessing, courageous. porary function. He understands that. We do not send medical missionaries to Japan. Medical schools are making their appearance in nearly all of the Moslem countries. There is such a school in Teheran, Iran. There is another in Baghdad. They will give first class medical training. In such a country the medical missionary faces a new problem, and new problems mean new opportunities, if only we can see them with God's eyes. The place and the need for the medical missionary are passing away, but it will be years before the
Power of the Printed
By MABEL H. ERDMAN, Beirut, Syria i Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. s. A. 1Jie– I .l"". "/ LITTLE old man with greying beard and than all else I was impressed by the beauty and kindly, smiling hazel eyes sits in a wheel the purity of Christ's teaching and character. chair on the veranda of a Home for the "Suddenly I was covered with confusion. This Aged in a near East city. His face is lined, but thing which I considered beautiful, this story the Tines are those of a thinker. He is talking to which was written in my own sacred tongue, was his Moslem neighbor – a thin, time-scarred old a despised Christian thing, a false book which they gentleman whose bed has been pulled out on the dared to set up in comparison with the holy balcony. The first old man is telling something Koran! Hastily I hid it lest I be detected.
of his early life. A missionary friend listens while "Days slipped by, during which I condemned the tale is told. myself on the one hand and indulged my curiosity "Years ago I lived in the Holy City where I was on the other. Finally I decided that there was no a keeper in a large mosque. I was a devout Mos- harm in carrying the book about with me. After lem, wearing the green turban to which I was en- all, my devotion to Islam could not be questioned.
titled as a direct descendant of the Prophet. Five I managed to read all of the Gospel of Mark, and times a day when the muezzin called, I prayed then, still firm in my own faith, I made bold to with the faithful. One of my duties was to clean visit the foreign lady again and ask for other and fill the many ornate lamps which hung in that books of the same sort. I do not know what im- mosque. I was also expected to collect the rents pression I made upon her, but she received me due from houses owned by the mosque. In these kindly and without question gave me three other houses lived all manner of people, the better apart- Gospels.
ments being let to foreigners from whom we could "In a short time I had read all four Gospels and demand a high rental. One of these tenants was then I secured the Book of Acts. It was not long a lady who lived alone. I wondered why she had then before I had to acknowledge that Jesus the left her far-away home to live among strangers, Christ had won me as he had Paul of Tarsus, who, to judge by myself, loved her little. though my own conversion was much less dra- "One day, quite accidentally, I learned why she matico I was filled with a great longing to serve had come. When she gave me her rent money she my Saviour and Friend, who had revealed God to handed me a small book. I suspected at once that me in a new light-as a loving Father to whom I it must be an accursed book of the Christians, and was precious.
had it not been for the precious money and the "So strong was my new faith, so compelling His courtesy due a tenant of the holy mosque, I should plea to leave all and follow Him, that I knew I have dropped the hated thing which seemed to must make open declaration. The great mosque burn into my hand. As soon as possible I bowed became an intolerable place; the copies of the politely and left the foreign lady. sacred Koran, the shining lamps, the very rugs "There were other collections to be made that leered at me.
day, and lacking opportunity" to do otherwise, I "I knew that I must turn my back on all this.
slipped the small book into my pocket. I forgot My parents would disown me and disinherit me; about it until later in the day when I sat alone in a my friends would seek to destroy me; my wife shadowed corn~r of the great mosque. Curiosity would have to do as her parents and mine decreed, overcame my fear and I opened the book sur- and I should have to leave her and the children.
reptitiously. "Weeks and months slipped by as I hesitated.
"Many years have gone by now, but never shall My life was comfortable, even luxurious. I was I forget my first impression of the beauty of that loved, respected, trusted. In giving up Islam I '
story. It was the Gospel according to Saint Mark, should be giving up all security and respectability and as by some outer force I was impelled 'to read as I knew them. But while I debated about this through the verses which described John the Bap- other Prophet and compared His life with that of tist, Christ's Baptism, His temptation and the Mohammed, I knew what I must do; and at last calling of some of the disciples. Perhaps more I did it.
[482 ] "The result was all that I had anticipated, but Dark tales were whispered over backgammon though my suffering was great, I felt no sorrow boards and between sips of thick, sweet coffee- nor regret. There were many new friends now tales of clever thefts, of quick, sure fingers on to replace the old, whom I loved with a greater knife and trigger, of amazing feats of horseman- love than ever and forgave wholeheartedly when ship and of unbelievable endurance.
they persecuted me. Penniless, I left my home city J-'s quiet, pale Armenian wife, whom he had with all of its dear associations, and traveled taken from a refugee camp just after the World northward. Everywhere Christians who had War, had borne him a son and a daughter; but for heard of me welcomed me, but whenever I encoun- him there was no united family life; it had never tered those of myoId faith, they reviled me merci- occurred to him that such was necessary or de- lessly. I was refused shelter in every Moslem sirable. His own mother had often sent him as a home; I was shamefully cursed and ejected from boy to carry supplies of money and food, to her restaurants and all public places where I was father's home, against the inevitable day when her known. husband should tire of her. Many a day on the "For a time doubt assailed me. I wondered road he had met other boys, his friends, going on whether God had forgotten me. Things were the same sort of secret errand. Home for J – strange as I traveled away from home; I did not meant shelter from rain and cold, even from ene- slip easily into the new customs and religious mies to some extent, but little else.
practices. I missed my loved ones, particularly It happened one day that J-, natty in his well- my sons, who would now grow up considering fitting uniform, passed a meeting house in the their father a renegade, an infidel, a betrayer of center of his home town and saw a crowd of peo- the faith. Perhaps these were the hardest hours ple assembled. Curious, he looked in and saw his of my life. wife and children there. Upon questioning some "But when my sorrow was deepest, when the bystanders he learned that an evangelist had come outlook seemed blackest, God made Himself known from the far west to help the harassed Armenian to me, and I was able to rise up and follow Him refugees to return to their ancient faith in God with renewed strength and vision. and His Prophet Jesus Christ. J- was amused, "Now after all these years I can testify that and leaning against the rear wall of the building, He has never forsaken me at any time and that listened while the foreigner read a story which He is worthy of every sacrifice made for His sake. seemed to be all about a new way of Life. The I would not go back to the old IHe, with all of its preacher then talked simply about repentance and security and material comfort, for all that the salvation. It was all so easy to understand, so world has to offer. I have tried to witness to straightforward, that J – was amazed. The meet": Him, to tell others of His love and beauty, and as ings continued for several days, and J- attended life's shadows lengthen around me, I realize that all of them, hearing little more than the simple I must work harder that no time be lost." Gospel story told in none-too-perfect Turkish.
Thus the fascinating tale came to a close. When- That story was enough to change his life. From ever he can do so, this truly converted believer that time on J – knew that his old ways were not reads from his "Beautiful Book" to his compan- in keeping with God's will. To his astounded asions, and if we were there to see, we should note sociates he declared his new faith as openly as he that many a face is softened, that new light comes had boasted of his heinous deeds. He resigned his into hard, cold eyes which have seen much bitter- position with the gendarmerie, and rearranged his ness and disappointment, for the Prince of Peace whole life. There was little he could do to earn an hovers near. honest living, but he did what his hands could find to do, often enough working as a day laborer. *** After their first amusement at J-'s new A few years ago a gay young man rode daily "stunt," his former friends and associates began through the crowded streets of the northern towns to persecu~e him. Finding that he paid little heed of Syria, cursing and jostling the shepherds and to them, they spat upon him, kicked and reviled other traders who came in from the desert to sell him; caused him to be thrown into prison. They their produce. His bright, dark eyes sparkled as were humbled and astounded the more when he he drew rein, for he knew his power and his repu- turned the other cheek. He who had once been so tation for cruel justice. His uniform indicated quick to retaliate now bore the harshest treatment that he was one of the gendarmerie, and well was without reproach. His former powerful char- he known in village and town and out in the far- acteristics were changed and beautified. His rest- away places of the desert. No danger was too less energy led him on to greater and greater tasks great for him to face, no journey too distant for and sacrifices; his splendid physique enabled him his strength. Bold, winsome, rash, J – was at to endure great suffering and deprivation without once the terror and the pride of his associates. apparent harm.
In quiet moments J- sadly counted the years of Before long a crowd gathered, and J- took his life which had been spent in wickedness and occasion to tell his story of Jesus and to distribute riotous living, the blood-stained deeds of his im- tracts. The Sheikh listened as attentively as the petuous youth, and he longed to recall them and others, and when J- had finished he stood up and dedicate them to God. told an amazing story himself. J-Iater recounted this story to us in detail. Some years have passed during which -he has grown steadily in grace. He is tireless in his task About three years ago the Sheikh went to the of spreading the Gospel, his journeyings covering dyeing establishment of an Armenian Christian. the breadth and the length of his native land. On the table in the small shop lay an open book. The bitterest of his enemies are being won over, one by one, for the old charm of J – coupled with "What book is that?" asked the Sheikh, using this new, compelling love, is irresistible. Now and Turkish as readily as his native tongue, Arabic. then there is one who still distrusts, even persecutes him, but to no avail. Into prisons, among "A Bible,!' answered the Armenian. castaways of all faiths, he takes Bibles and Gos- "Is it the good book of which the Koran pel portions and religious tracts. At the doors of speaks?" mosques, in the homes of rich and powerful "Yes," answered the Armenian, a bit on his sheikhs he preaches Christ and distributes lit- guard with so staunch a Moslem leader. The Arerature. menian, though fearless in his faith, had experi- enced something from the fanaticism of Moslems. Recently he was visiting some of the scattered "Tell me about it," persisted the Sheikh with hamlets on the edge of the north Syria desert genuine interest. when he met a man whom he had not seen for "Let me read from it," answered the dyer; "it some years. At sight of that man J- thanked tells its own story better than I can." God and said, He picked up the Book and read some chapters in Genesis. As he read the Sheikh received a new "Brother, do you remember me?" vision of the greatness and the power and the majesty of God as compared with the sinfulness "Yes, indeed," responded the lean shepherd, his of man. The Armenian saw that the effect was keen eyes narrowed in his weather-beaten face, real and read on. "you used to be in the gendarmerie. I have not Later his customer returned and begged to borseen you lately, but I remember you well." row the Book. The dyer volunteered to secure for him an Arabic version, and with this copy in his "Do you remember that once a goat was stolen hands the Sheikh began at the first chapter of from you?" Genesis and read through all of the books of the Old and New Testaments. When he reached the "Ap, my friend," laughed the shepherd, "a goat last verse of Revelation he began again and read is often stolen from a shepherd in these parts. as before. What can I do? The poor have no rights." After that second reading he was convinced that "I stole a goat from you once,and I thought I the only way of salvation is through Jesus Christ. was clever to do it without being caught. My Then one night he dreamed that his city was being friends and I had a fine feast." destroyed because of the wickedness of the people, as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Great "You?" grinned the shepherd in mock surprise. was his grief and helplessness when he turned "I cannot believe it." away from the awful scene-and there he beheld Jesus upon the cross. He dreamed that he rose "But yes, I did," averred J- in all seriousness. up, threw his arms about the bleeding feet and "And now I wish to pay for that goat, and to ask wept for his sins and those of his people. your forgiveness. Here is the money." So it happened that when J- came to this town Overcome, the poor man who seldom sees even the Sheikh took courage openly to declare himself paper money, for he trades in kind and is always a Christian. "Do not call me 'Sheikh' any more; in debt to the money-lenders, exclaimed, "Is it I am a Chris-tian, a follower of Jesus Christ," he possible that one steals a goat, is not caught, and declared to the crowd. then comes back to pay for it?" The Word of God is living and active, and sharper than "Yes; it is possible," responded his companion, any two-edged sword. Hebrews 4: 12. "if one steals while he is in darkness and sin and then learns to know Jesus Christ." My Word shall not return unto Me void. Isaiah 55: 11.
What better sermon could have been preached Surely the Word of God is a powerful witness to that poor, ignorant Bedouin of the desert? to Christ and can be used to achieve great results if we can but put it into the hands of men and Leaving the desert, J- went to one of the larger women everywhere. towns and was invited to meet the head man who owns more than three-fourths of the town's land and houses. He bears the important title of Sheikh and is a man of great influence.
Experience with
By REV. FRANK LAUBACH, Ph.D., Mindanao, Philippines Missionary of the American Board C. F. M.
FOR four centuries the Moros of Mindanao pealed to the supreme court, entering a plea of fought the same relentless war with the Span- self-defense. Our case was so well prepared that iards and Filipino Christians that the Moros Pambaya was ~cquitte!i. He is now my/fast friend (Moors) of Africa had fought in Spain during the and will be yours if I introduce him to you." five centuries before Columbus discovered America. The annual war in the Philippines would So this man .]?ambaya, who so nearly spent commence as soon as the winds were favorable for twenty years in,i'Irrison, became my friend, taught the Moro vintas to sail northward, or for the me the .Maranaw language, and has been our Spanish galleons to sail southward. strongesfhulw3;rk ever since. He has toiled with us for cOU)ltless. hours in building up a Maranaw When the United States took over the Philip- dictionary, haS'-helped in the translation of the Old pines in 1898, we inherited this endless war with Testament stories and the Gospel of Luke, and has the Moros. American soldiers, with their greatly ~ided in the preparation of many other books.
.superior weapons, broke the power of the Moros But his chief function is to keep his ear to the and instilled in them a sense of fear and respect, ground for signs of opposition and to make friends though outlaws have hidden in the forests and Qut of potential enemies. No missionary in a performed exploits of murder and robbery every Moslem country can get on very well without some year up to the present day. man of that type.
In the year 1915 my wife and I visited Lanao for the first time, hoping to establish a mission for the Moros. We found the air tense, the nerves of the officials taut, the Moros sullen, and rumors of impending attacks being whispered from ear to ear. We were told plainly that no Christian missionary effort would be tolerated as it would certainly add to the fanatical fury of the Moros.
We left Lanao to work in other parts of the Philip- pines, awaiting a more propitious day.
It was not until 1929 that we felt the time had arrived. A large percentage of the trouble makers had been imprisoned or killed, and the Province had become comparatively quiet. Because there MORO GI1,;LS'l'H:tNK;iTH:EY WILL DIE U' THEIR PICTURE· IS was no school suitable for the education of our 'l'AJ(;EN,BUT 'fHEY Tf.:KE A CHANCE TO son, and also because we were not sure how safe pLlllASE THE; MISSIONARy Lanao would be for women and children of missionaries, I left my wife and son in· the northern Tclie first :rno.n~~,be:fo.:re I had found Pambaya, wer¢, among the hardest Of my life. I did not seem part of the Philippines, and entered Lanao alone. to be able to get the right beginning. I climbed The officials still expressed misgivings about any Signal Hill, back of my cottage, night after night, religious work being attempted, and permitted me with no companion but my dog Tip, and remained to begin my work on the understanding that it until long ·after dark while the finger of God would be educational and social, and not contro- painted marvelous colors against the western sky.
versial. I was a missionary of Christ, with my I recall the heartaches and the yearnings with lips practically sealed~ which my eyes roved around the lake below me, I asked a big-hearted American, Lieutenant where the Moros had their villages. The deepest Cramer, whether he knew a Moro whom I could spiritual experiences are born of pain, if one lets trust. Cramer replied: that pain drive him to God. Out of the loneliness "There is a Moro who was convicted of murder of Lanao came some of the most precious soul ex- and sentenced to serve for twenty years. Feeling periences of my whole life. During one of these that this sentence was too heavy, some of us ap- sunset trysts I was telling God aloud that He must [485 ]
guide my pathway, for the obstacles were like a sinless man to be crucified. That would not be mountains. I spoke aloud, for nobody could hear justice." He snatched Jesus out of Gethsemane, me but God and Tip. Then my lips began to sp.eak and then changed Judas into the appearance of to myself, voicing a new light which had come Jesus, and allowed the Jews to crucify Judas, as into my mind: he deserved. The Koran teaches that Jesus now sits on the right hand of God interceding for men If you want these Moros to be fair to your religion, be -more kindlihearted than the Moslem God. In fair to theirs. Study their Koran with them. Medina there are four graves: that of Mo- hammed; that of Fatima his daughter; that of I told some of the Mohammedan priests that I Omar, the greatest Moslem missionary, and an wanted to study the Koran, and the next day my empty grave. Tradition says that Jesus will re- turn, will reign a thousand years, will die, and MORO POET WHO WON A CONTEST will be buried in that fourth grave.
house was full of priests and hadjis with their What broke down the wans between the Moros Korans, all of them bent upon making a Moham- and myself more than anything else was a pammedan out of me. We found to our delight that phlet published by the Moslem Propaganda Society there was much in common in our religions. Islam of India. This pamphlet was brought to me to has about seventy-two prophets, of whom we show me how to become a good Moslem. To my found the names of sixty in our Bible. delight I was able to translate into Moro, before all the priests in my house, these important facts: Those who do not know the Koran will be surprised to find how it exalts Jesus. He was born of Islam has four holy books: a virgin, according to Moslem tradition, but he (1) Torah, or the books of Moses; was not crucified. In the Garden of Gethsemane, (2) Jabur, Qr the Psalms of David; so the tradition goes, God said: "I will not permit (3) Kita.J Injil, or the Life of Jesus; (4) The Koran of Mohammed.
"I have studied these first three sacred books many years," I told my Moslem friends, "and will tell you all I know, while you tell me all you know about the Koran."
Two or three of the men studying the Koran knew English and so acted as interpreters for the others and for me. They began to ask for a class to teach them to read English.
"Our constant warfare with the Christians has left us far· behind the rest of the Islands," they told me, "and we want to catch up."
The Moros had burned down fifty school build- ings in the years just preceding my arrival, and were for the most part unfriendly to the schools. Yet they began to realize that they were harming themselves and nobody else by this attitude. I knew that for these adults the mastery of English would be a very long process, so I said: "Suppose you learn to read your own language first with English letters. Then it will be easier to learn to read English."
This sounded reasonable, so we began to pre- pare lessons in the Maranaw language with Eng- lish letters.. Nothing had ever been printed in their language up to that time. We had to decide upon an alphabet. Fortunately the Philippine languages have adopted perfectly phonetic alpha- bets, and we followed these in all but one letter. We needed but sixteen letters in all.
At first we used the ordinary sentence method of teaching, but this seemed unnecessarily long for learning sixteen simple letters; so the Moros joined me in seeking a method better adapted to their own language. Month after month they
MY EXPERIENCE WITH MOSLEMS
toiled with me, making positively exciting prog- are you going to get· your money back? Our ress. As the course became easier the numbers imams will not teach us the Koran unless we pay who desired to learn increased, until at last hun- them in advance." dreds came to the large old building we had purchased. Thus began the first of those literacy This gives us our opportunity to tell the religion campaigns based on the principle of "each one which under other circumstances they would be teach five more" which have since spread to many unwilling to consider: parts of Malaysia, India, Africa, and Latin America. "I have studied the wonderful life of Nabi Isa. From the time he awoke in the morning until he The second year the highest Chieftain in south- closed his eyes at night he spent every minute of ern Lanao asked me to attend a three-day feast the day helping people. He was always teaching which he was holding in celebration of the opening of his school for adults. He had moved out of DOCTOR LAUBACH AND PAMBAYA, A MORO FRIEND his largest house and turned it into a school building. The day I arrived was Friday. Kakai Daga- or encouraging, or defending or healing or saving langit, for this was the chieftain's name, asked me somebody. That is a wonderful way to live. If to accompany him to the mosque, and I accepted. everybody in Lanao lived like that we would have I washed my hands and feet as is the Moro cus- a paradise. The climate is perfect, but the people tom, and followed the chief into his mosque. He hate and fight and defraud one another. Because took me to the front prayer rug, placed a black I see everybody must help everybody else, I am hat-far too small for me-on my head, and said trying to teach all I can. And I have discovered I was a "Christian pandita." By this brilliant the secret of happiness! When I was looking for name he hoped that Islam and Christianity might happiness I could not find it. It escapes like the be reconciled. He returned my courtesy by at- rainbow. And when I harm people I feel mean tending our Christian church, dressed in a magnificent shining satin coat and trousers. Since inside. But when i spend my day teaching peothat time I have accepted the invitations of many of the highest chieftains to attend their mosques. ple, my heart sings. Go out and teach others and do not take a cent for it, and see how your heart Kakai Dagalangit has one of the most brilliant will sing!" minds I have ever met. He asked me endless searching questions and told me the populations of all the principal countries of Europe – some army captain had told him what they are. This chieftain also made a contribution to education which may have very far-reaching effects.
When the depression came I had to call all my teachers and the leading chieftains of Lanao together and announce that the little money I had left would permit me to retain only three out of nineteen teachers. Kakai Dagalangit arose and said, with his usual brevity: "This campaign is the most important thing that ever came to Lanao. It shall not stop. Every person who learns must teach five others. I will see that they do."
This is how it happened that we began the "each one teach five" idea, which proved a great success in Lanao, and has proven a cheap and effective method of reaching adults in their homes throughout the Philippines and indeed in every country I have since visited.
A literacy campaign along these lines has proven to be a very fine way to make friends. If you sit beside an illiterate and teach him with patience and real love in your heart, he grows more and more surprised at this new experience, and at last interrupts the lesson to ask: "Why are you teaching me without pay? When
Thus we introduce Jesus at the point where He so tenderly, so perfectly as in the face of Jesus. is most irresistable-His great burning heart and Until men have known Jesus they have not known His loving service. We help people to act like the best fact about God, that He is, that any being, Christians long before they think of becoming even God, can be as good as Jesus! Christian in name. Arabs are poor slipshod business men. Jews There was equal eagerness on the part of stu- and Christians can beat them in business with the dents from Irak studying in the American Univer- utmost ease-:-and do! Mohammed· met Christians sity in Beirut, and Iraneans whom we met in who told him wonderful stories about the lovely Turkey. Now as I write from Dar es Salaam in Jesus-and then proceeded to take advantage of East Africa, I am having one of the most thrilling him in their business transactions. The result experiences of my whole life preparing lessons was that Mohammed, one of the supreme religious and teaching Moslem men every morning, and geniuses of all time, loved Christ and hated Christeaching Moslem illiterate women every afternoon. tians! If Christians had lived what Christ taught A leading African Mohammedan imam is collect- and lived, Mohammed might have become the ing the illiterates. With the memories of thou- greatest Christian since Paul. So ten thousand sands of Mohammedans who have looked at me times over this planet one runs across instances and held my hand in loving appreciation, I feel deeply as well as believe profoundly, that the day TEACHING MORO ADULTS IN THE MARKET PLACE for embittering controversy is past.. For centuries it was the fashion for the two religions to expose of the fact that Christ's chief enemies are Christhe worst features they could find or imagine about tians who betray Christ in their lives and their one another. The time has come to call a truce to business relations. this, and for these two religionS to appreciate one another. We ought to be fair to Islam, for we need to ask mercy in judging Christianity. We have failed so There is much Christians may learn from Islam tragically that we are asking the world to believe if they will look for it. For example a good Mos- that "Christianity has never yet really been tried." lem prays five times a day. Of course Christians We ask others to begin to try it, though Christian are supposed to pray oftener than that-but how nations have never tried it themselves. many of us do? For Moslems the one overwhelming fact is the will of God. We who have come I often hear Christians in Asia and Africa say: into contact with Islam have been reminded that "You can't trust any of them." I dare not tell the one imperative duty of a Christian is to find that Moslem what I think of him, but I will tell and carry out the full will of God in every detail you. What he means to say is: "You cannot trust -,-but how many of us do? Every Moslem is sup- any of them to allow you to despise them, outwit posed to regard every other Moslem as a brother, them, underpay them, ostracize them, and browregardless of race, nationality, wealth, or social beat them." No,he is right, you cannot. Moslems , condition. Moslems do not need to be introduced are mirrors, giving back love for love, hatred for in order to speak to one another! The Arabs inter- hatred, suspicion for suspicion, trust for trust. marry with the Africans and thus make Moslems But so are all the people of the world-mirrors! of them. Christian whites compel Africans to And the majority of ~very nation are responsible live in segregated sections of the African cities. if one treats them decently. The Christian teaching is exactly like the Moslem teaching on the point of brotherhood-but how Nobody can appreciate how valuable it is for many Christians practice it? On the other hand Christians and Moslems to cooperate in some such the Moslems are in tragic need of a vital contact campaign as this, unless he has gone through the with the Christ whom they hold in high esteem, experience. Our experience in Lanao while seekbut about whom they know so little. The more ing the best method of teaching Maranaw, was generously we appreciate their merits the more particularly fortunate. Letters began to reach us readily they will accept the Christian experience of Christ. In a very real sense therefore, we can speak of sharing with Islam.
Some people fear that words like these will paralyze missionary giving. But any person who stops giving for this reason does not need to read more ugly pictures about other religions; what he needs isa fresh experience of Christ. Those of us who have touched other religions know that never in any religion have men seen God so winsomely,
MOSLEM VIEWS OF "THOSE NAZARENES"
fromaH parts of the world inquiring about our Only by some such sharing can one discover campaign. These letters were read to the Moros, what wonderful and zealous friends the Moslems who boasted inordinately about showing the world can be, and how "Christian" many of them are in how to become literate. Some of the young men spirit. Whenever we told Mohammedans about prepared a large map of the world, and ran green our Lanao friends they worked with tireless enlines out to the countries from which letters were thusiasm in preparing lessons in other languages. received. When three years ago we announced A dozen young Moslems and two missionaries our plan of visiting other countries, all Lanao worked almost night and day preparing Malay wanted to go along! Hundreds of datos came down charts in Malacca. In VeIlore India, the Printo the seacoast, a distance of twenty-five miles, to cipal of the Mohammedan Government School and bid us farewell. They crowded the deck of the his faculty struggled and toiled and sometimes steamer, making highly exaggerated but wholly nearly fought over the difficult Urdu. The Presisincere speeches. Then they selected the leading dent of the Arabic College in Madras gathered the imam to pray while they held out their hands great lights of Urdu in a most inspiring meeting, turning their palms alternately upward and down- staged a successful demonstration, put fragrant ward as they responded to the prayer. Mingling flowers around my neck and made such speeches Maranaw with Arabic the imam asked that this as I have not heard, no, not in all ChristenQom. American friend, who had cooperated with them in making the easiest lessons in the world, should When the students of the Lahore Government have the blessing of Allah as he introduced their Training College heard the story of the Lanao method to other countries. They kissed me fare- Moslems, several Mohammedan students followed well, with their long Arab whiskers, and the me home and would not permit me to eat my lunch imams said: before taking the train. One of them wept as he begged me to change my program and visit Jind "We will pray for you in every mosque in this State at once! Two others hung on me resolutely province, while you carry our method to the until I promised to go to Afghanistan. They said world." they would write at once for the government to issue an invitation. I was as excited as they, for Then the Mohammedans stood in silent rever- few foreigners and no missionaries enter Afghanence while the Christians prayed and sang: "God istan. be with you till we meet again."
Moslem Views of "Those N azarenes"
By J. LOWRIE ANDERSON United Presbyterian Missionary in the Egyptian Sudan W HAT a member of one religious sect thinks a man here know or care about the elections in of those of a different faith depends upon America? I thought.) the prejudices in which he grew up, on his temperament and critical faculties, on his second- "But why?" I asked. hand knowledge, and on the members of the other "Because Hoover was against liquor, and the group with whom he is acquainted. other fellow is for it. I am sorry that America turned its back on Hoover and prohibition." (In- The average Moslem knows little or nothing toxicants are prohibited by Moslem law.) about the Christians of America. Only once did I In the French consulate in London, awaiting a find interest in a moral issue in America, and that, viise to our passport, we met a young Turk who strangely enough, in a small city where no Euro- had been a student in Paris and London, and was pean or American lived. We were on an evan- returning to his native land. He was interested gelistic journey in 1934 and visited a town three that we were going for the first time as missiondays' journey from the nearest railroad. Discov- aries to a Moslem land. ering that some in the party were from America, "In recent years," he said, "Moslem countries a stranger sought us out to question us about our have retrogressed. That is because Islam, our country. In the conversation he said, faith, has been weakened. Our great days of power were the great days of faith. When Mos- "I am sorry that America rejected Hoover and lems closely adhered to their religion they were took this other fellow." (What in the world does
the leaders of the world. When faith decayed, so The man of the street in the Sudan has become did their political power and intellectual leader- interested in one report that has reached him, ship. namely, that Islam is spreading in Europe and America. Where the report started I know not, "In Christianity it is just the opposite. It is but in every corner of the Moslem Sudan it has the nations who have abandoned the attempt to gained credence. In many different cities I have follow their religion that are at the forefront. been asked if I knew that all Germany had aban- France and England pay only lip service to their doned Christianity and gone over bodily to Islam. religion. They do not follow the ideals of Jesus. This is probably how the news of the rise of Nazi- And because they have left these out, they have ism and the Neo-pagan Movement in Germany has become great. This is always true." finally filtered into the broadcasting agencies of these simple people. I was at a loss to account In the Sudan, years later, I heard a strange for the origin of the report that in the United variant to that same theme. The spokesman was States five millions have declared themselves Mosnot a graduate student, as the first had been, one lem. Any attempt to deny the statement would be who had traveled in Europe and was learned in useless. Perhaps the Sudanese had heard about the branches of Western science. He was a poor the recent movement among the Negroes in Amer- Sudanese black, who had traveled little if any out- ica to claim that they are not Negroes, but Moors, side hi!,! native region, and who knew how to read with a history not of slavery, but of conquest. Arabic, but no other language. Our colporteur When such Negroes dress in Arab costume and pointed him out, sitting in the shade by the side wear fezzes, worship Allah, and go through forms of the road, and said: of worship, these things have no relation to Islam. But when we realize that they have done this to "That man I believe to be a Christian. He has get away from the stigma white Christians have read the New Testament many times, and he has put upon their race and color, we need to be bought some other books. He knows about Chris- ashamed. Jesus quoted with approval the saying, tianity, although he will not confess Christ." "My house shall be called a hous!'! of prayer for all peoples." But it is hard to find a church in Amer- We walked over and sat down on the log beside ica without the color bar. No wonder Negroes the black man. After introductions were over, the prefer to be considered "Moors" and to profess old man turned to me and said: Islam, rather than Christianity.
"You Christians are the queerest people in the Although the Moslem in the Sudan knows and world?" cares little about the Christians of the West, he has known his Christian neighbors. In Greece, "Why do you say that, Uncle?" Syria and Egypt the ancient Eastern churches "I have read your books. I have read the Gos- still exist and their members can be found in every pel through many times. I find that Jesus section of the Sudan. From these Christians the preaches peace. He tells his followers if they are Sudanese buy their sugar and cotton cloth, and to smitten on one cheek to turn the other. He com- them they often sell cattle or dates. mands that when a man asks for your coat you shall give your cloak too. He says to forgive each "Drunk as a Christian" is a metaphor that was other, and to love your enemies, and to pray for not coined from imagination. The great Christian them. Is that not true?" festivals of Christmas and Easter have too often "Very true, Uncle." been largely drunken orgies in the East. A Mos- "Before you Christians came to the Sudan, we lem funeral is marked with dignity and solemnity. thought we knew something about fighting. All "This is Allah's will," the mourners say, "and as our men le~rned how to use the sword and the His creatures we submit to it." But shrieking and spear and the javelin. Some of them knew also wailing, cursing God for having taken the loved how to shoot a rifle. But that was nothing to what one, and every sign of grief and desolation mark you Christians have shown us how to do. You the death of a Christian. No (me would ever befight with machine guns that kill people, not one lieve that they are followers of One who is the at a time, but by the scores. You bombard towns Resurrection and the Life. Often for years the with cannons fired from many miles away. You Christians display the outward marks of grief and fight not only on land, but on the water, and under priests fatten on the superstitions of the people. the water, and under the land. Nowadays you He alone can intercede effectively for the sins of even fight from the air. Yet you claim to be fol- the people, and only when his palm is crossed. lowers of Jesus, who preached love to all men." The keys of the future life are in his hand, and only gold will give him strength to turn that key. Acknowledging inconsistency of professing This the Moslem knows, and thanks Allah that he Christians, I tried to show the man my own conviction that nothing of Western civilization built on force will endure but that the teachings of Jesus are the only sure foundations for abiding life, in the East or in the West.
needs no intercessor as he comes to God. For this the Gospel in the Apostolic Era. Moslems who reason he further despises the Christian. have become acquainted with them have a better conception of what Christians are like than if they Moreover, the Moslem usually knows little about did not know any Christians. the religIon of the Christian, and what little he knows usually repels. Religious pictures, and the Conversation with Moslem converts has concandles that burn before them, leads him to think firmed my own observation. A convert who had the Christian little better than an idolator. Many learned to hate Christians, found those he met in Moslems believe that the Trinity consists of God school to be little different from Moslem boys, exthe Father, Mary the Mother, and Jesus the Son. cept that they had a better spirit of mutual coop- They reject this suggestion as vile and puerile. eration. Eighty years ago in the Sudan, Arab All are sure that the doctrine at least betrays mud- slave raiders attacked a native village and took dled thinking. Nor has the witness of Christians the women and children as slaves. Among the to their own faith usually been strong. In the group was the son of the chieftain, a twelve-year- Sudan, because they are in the minority few have old naked savage, brighter than the rest. The been willing even to discuss with Moslems the Arabs called him Ibrahim. He attributes his conthings they believe. Thousands of Moslems would version to Christ to a conversation he had while die for their religion, and in the days of the Mahdi still a slave with an untutored Copt in a small vilproved it by courting martyrdom. But when the lage in upper Egypt. In half an hour the Copt same Mahdi ordered all Christians to turn Mos- explained to the inquiring black youth the myslems on pain of death, they scurried like fright- teries of the Incarnation and the Trinity. The ened rabbits into the folds of Islam. Many re- young man's heart went out to Christ who became mained Christians secretly, and when the power flesh and tabernacled among men. His conversion of the Mahdi's sway was broken, confessed it was real, as is proved by Ibrahim's years of faithopenly again. It is the blood of martyrs, not the ful service as a colporteur and evangelist in Egypt saving of life by apostasy, that is the seed of the and the Sudan. Church. Sudanese hold to their faith so strongly, and count death so lightly, that they have no re- In recent years there has grown up a small Protspect for people who change their religion as they estant community in the Sudan. Their interest in do their cloak, when they meet the fierce wind of evangelism has thrown them into contact with the persecution. But the influence of the Eastern Moslem majority and their emphasis on the ap- Christian churches on Islam is not all negative or plication of the teachings and spirit of Christ to detrimental to Christian progress. My experience daily life has not only given them a higher standin the Sudan has caused me to moderate my own ing with the Moslems, but has influenced the memviews on this subject. The presence of the Chris- bers of the older Eastern churches. Moslems of tian in the Sudan, though he be worldly, is a the Sudan are thus having the opportunity to constant reminder to the Sudanese of the presence judge Christianity on its real merits more than of this other faith. Moreover he sees the Chris- ever before, as they see persons who seek to lead tian, not as the vile and wicked monster some- the Christ-life in their daily conduct. times portrayed in their tales, but as a man in many ways similar to himself – with the same "Never have I had a superior like this one," needs and aspirations, the same passions and said a Moslem doorman at the Government office temptations, much the same likes and dislikes, where a Prot,;)stant held a high position. "He is hope and fears. Moreover, he knows Christians always polite, always considerate, and I believe to be people of "The Book," and that interests him that he takes a personal interest in me." more in the religion of Christ. Very uncertainly at times, but on the whole effectively, the Chris- "The best loved in all Wad Medani is Mr. tian has raised the standard of monogamy in the Toobia," said a Moslem to me concerning our Sudan, which many Moslems are coming to recog- Christian pastor. He is probably the most unnize as superior to their own polygamy and easy selfish man in all the district-a man whose face divorce. Christians have many faults and the and life are stamped with the marks of the Lord Christianity they profess is often a caricature of Jesus. the real thing. That their standard of. religion and morals is far from that of the apostolic days. The Church Mission hospital in Omdurman, The Moslem of the street despises them, and not where Christian doctors give freely of time and without cause, yet, all in all they have been an strength and of their own souls to serve their Mosasset to the Gospel, and their scattering through- lem brothers,.has given many a new conception of out the cities and towns of the Moslem Sudan is a what true Christians are. Perhaps the day is not preparation for the Gospel, even as the Dispersion far distant when the Moslem will say not that a of the despised Jews was a help to the spread of certain Christian "is good enough to be a Moslem" -their highest compliment today – but that un- selfishness in a Moslem is one of the marks of a Christian. S~irit-filled Christians can bring that change about.
and Moslem
By ELEANOR T. CALVERLEY, M.D., Hartford, Conn.
Formerly a Missionary in Arabia A MEENA rocks her baby in an Arab cradle baby of her own. The Saviour Divine to whom .r-.. made of date~sticks just as the Moslem her faith looked up during those days and nights of danger and suffering at the beginning of her mother in the next mat hut rocks her little widowhood is the One of whom her neighbors hear one. Next door the mother chants softly to put her sing. Yes, Ameena means the words. Christ her child to sleep. is her saviour in a very real and tangible way. She knows from what He has saved her and she "La ilah il allah knows from what He has saved her tiny daughter La ilah il allah." who sleeps so peacefully without benefit of Mos- lem charm or amulet. Her little one is perhaps Over and over again from the first day of his life the only native child in the whole town and for the Arab child hears these sacred words of the many hundreds of miles around who will enjoy Moslem creed. "There is no god but Allah." For all Islam no other lullaby could compare with this the advantages of a Christian home. in beauty or in soothing power.
The song which Ameena sings as she rocks her little daughter is a Christian hymn. Her neighbors are beginning to learn the words which they have heard so often.
My faith looks up to Thee Thou Lamb of Calvary Saviour Divine.
Does Ameena think of the meaning of those words? Does her faith really look up as she sings to her baby girl? Does her faith lift her above the level of the sordid life with its filth and misery and wickedness which is all about her little home? THREE ARAB BOYS AND A GIRL IN KUWAIT Does it make her home different; more lovely and more happy than the homes of her Moslem neigh- Few towns in Arabia have the example of a bors? Is Christ her saviour in a really practical home like that of Ameena. She and her husband sense? If so from what has he saved Ameena? are of slave descent, and for that reason are more independent than members of Arab families. Eight years ago Ameena's first husband died. Under the prevalent patriarchal system it would It was he who had taught the young wife to become with him a follower of Christ. Gently and with great patience year after year as he and Ameena lived together among neighbors who thought them traitors and infidels because they were no longer Moslems the husband shared with be. difficult for the son of a family with social his wife the knowledge which meant so much to standing in a Moslem town to become a Christian. him. She was very shy and slow to learn but Even though a young man might be willing to live when her husband died she proved that his teach- as simply as does the husband of Ameena, for him ing had not been in vain. Although the whole to take a wife of his own choice and establish an Moslem community seemed determined to force independent home where his bride could enjoy the her to return to her former religion and accept a privilege!'! of Christian womanhood would seem to husband of their choice, Ameena stood her ground. most Arabs an impossibility. For this reason, in ' Even when death threatened, with back to the wall Arabia at least, the only Christian homes with she persisted, never wavering in her witness for which most Moslems can compare their own are.
Christ her Saviour. the homes of foreigners.
Years have passed and Ameena has another In Kuwait on the eastern coast of Arabia where Christian husband now. At last hftr arms hold a it was our good fortune to make our home for [492 ] eighteen years, the missionary family was always uttering three times the words, "You are dian object of much interest and curiosity to the vorced." His wife however has no similar right. women of the town. For two years we lived in Concubinage is taken for granted; slaves are both rented houses. These were built like other native Negroes and white women from countries farther houses with blank outside walls designed to pro- north. Women who live in the town, when in pubtect women occupants from the gaze of men. The lic must cover the entire face with a layer of black rooms surrounded a central courtyard which was cheese-cloth through which they can see dimly open to the sky. When our new home was built although their features are not visible to others. with outside windows admitting sunshine and A black cloak called an "aba" envelops their whole fresh air to every room many women visitors came to see the house whose arrangement seemed to ARAB WOMAN AT EN'ImANCE TO AN ARABIAN TOWN them so strange. person from crown of head to feet, when on the "Which is your room?" they asked the mission- street, excepting only one cheese-cloth-covered eye. ary mother, thinking that she like themselves would have but one room to call her own. Few Arab women can read and fewer still are permitted to learn to write. Fatalism restrains "The rooms are all mine; you see the family any desire for progress or for change. What is shares them all. This where we now are is the "written" on one's forehead must be endured. living room where we sit together and visit with Marriage and motherhood, especially the motherour friends." hood of sons are practically the only aim of exist- ence for these women. "You mean the reception room for men." "No, for both men and women." It is not fair to generalize about the home life "Surely you don't mean that men and women of all Islam from conditions in a backward sit together in the room!" country like Arabia. Great changes are tak- "Certainly they do." ing place in many Moslem lands. In Turkey, for "And this," continued the hostess, leading her instance, almost overnight through the adoption friends into the dining room, "is where we eat. With us, the mother sits at one end of the table and the father at the other end while the children sit at the sides." "You cannot mean that you and your husband eat together!" "Yes we do." That was hard for the guests to accept, for in their homes the men are served first and the women have their meal afterward. "They tell us," persevered the callers, "that your children are all girls. Is that true?" "Yes it is true." "Won't your husband divorce you because you have no son?" "No, he will not divorce me."
"Well then, won't he take another wife on your head?"
"No, in our country a man would be arrested for having two wives at a time. But I am thankful to say my husband does not even wish to take another wife."
"Oh! how fortunate you are!" exclaimed the visitors; and then, more wistfully, "How we wish that we were like you!"
Eas,tern Arabia is very conservative and is little affected by Western ways. The laws formulated in the Koran are still the rule for life. Polygamy is usual for those who can afford more than one wife and is also practiced by many who are poor. Early marriage of girls, not infrequently at the age of nine but more often between the ages of twelve and fourteen, is the established custom.
A man may divorce bis wife at will by simply
of the Swiss code and the separation of Church sionaries' home in order that they may become and State Turkish women were released, in theory accustomed to the association of men and women at least, from many of the restrictions we have in social intercourse and may learn to feel at ease mentioned. Legally, polygamy, the veil and un- in acting as hostess in their own homes.
equal divorce laws have all disappeared. As a Surprisingly enough the most violent opposition Turkish woman discussing modern social prob- to changes proposed by feminists in the status of lems said,* "What was moral in my grandmother's women in the home often comes from women day is now taboo, for instance polygamy; whereas themselves, especially from women of the older the perfectly normal social relations of young peo- generation. There is something not only indecent ple today would have formerly been considered but traitorous they feel in the new-fangled ideas immoral." of their sons. Virtuous women of Islam through In Egypt, Syria and India groups less radical all the centuries since Mohammed have gloried in than the Nationalists who are in power in Turkey submission to what they felt was Allah's will.
"We know the 'kind of life you Westerners live,"
said some Arab women returning from a visit in India, to a fellow passenger who talked with them on the ship. "We have seen life in your country pictured in the movies at Bombay." Then they described indecorous behavior of men and women together as they had seen it pictured on the screen.
That sort of thing would be to their minds the inevitable result of discarding the veil and giving to women a position similar to that enjoyed by men.
That freedom has its perils cannot be denied.
BAHREIN GIRLS' SCHOOL MADE OF DATE' STICKS When the veil is taken from the face of women a veil of character to shield the heart becomes imare endeavoring to secure social justice for women perative. Western civilization, nationalism and by reinterpreting Islam. Laws set down in the feminism must all have their part in bringing so- Koran to meet seventh century conditions need cial justice into Moslem homes; but all of these not be followed literally in the twentieth century together could not do for Ameena and her home they believe. And so, although more slowly than what Christ has done-that Saviour of whom she in Turkey, the status of women is beginning to be sings. raised in many Moslem countries.
In speaking of the effect of Islam on home life THE OHALLENGE OF ISLAM it is usual to consider principally the injustices imposed upon women. Educated Moslems are be- To win Moslems for Christ is a task of supreme ginning to realize that in the system of polygamy difficulty and many Christians regard it as one and in seclusion and lack of education for women, from which practically no results are to be exmen also suffer loss. In the face of opposition from pected. his superstitious and hysterical women-folk a man is helpless to apply the discoveries of modern Let it be admitted that it is the Evil-one's counscience to the care of his children. After losing terblast to the Gospel in the Eastern world. These child after chUd, in Arabia.where the infant mor- very facts make the conversion of a Moslem to tality is appalling, I have heard Moslem fathers Christ one of the most signal illustrations of the exclaim in despair, "What can I do? The women power and grace of God. In Moslem lands there are like cows!" Moreover, when men become edu- are today many men who once recited, five times cated in the Western sense as is happening more a day, with passionate conviction, the Moslem and more frequently in Iraq, for instance, they creed, but who now, with equal sincerity, are desire wives with whom they can enjoy compan- preaching Christ. In Morocco alone there are ionship. Sons frequently refuse to accept their little assemblies of believing and baptized natives, parents' choice of uneducated girls to be their who manifest the gifts and graces of the Spirit. brides. This fact perhaps more than any other Such instances are a clearer proof of the triinduces fathers to send their girls to school. umphant POWel' of the Gospel than the conver-· sion of hundreds of those, who, for various pre- Men students in Iran, I was told by the wife of disposing causes, are eagerly stretching out their an American professor in that country, are begin- hands for the Word of Life.-Condensed from a ning to bring their young wives to call in the mis- letter by Rev. E. J. Poole-Connor of the "North Africa Mission," printed in "The Christian" * Quoted from "Moslem Women Enter a New World," by Wood- (London).
small.
Ways of
'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home s. EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO "New Roads in Ancient Islam" but rather mentioned as they ap- "The People of the Mosque," by L. pear in the outlines for work and Bevan Jones-a scholarly and detailed "To the majority of our church study sent in to this Department study of Islam and a challenge to members, the Moslem World is an un- by various denominations. In Christianity (cloth, $2.00). known sphere and therefore holds little this no discriminations have interest. To us as leaders is given been made. Leaders in any com- "Voices from the Near East"-writthe opportunity of opening up this munion have only to submit their ten by Christian nationals (50¢ and fascinating and most challenging prob- materials for the Editor's exam- 25¢) . lem facing the world mission of the ination, whereupon they will be Christian Church today." given attention and publicity in "Young Islam on Trek," by Basil the interests of the common Mathews (25¢). "Glimpses of the Moslem World good. show us that change is the order of "Islam Awakens," by Herrick B. the day. Whether it be a surge of The Source Material Young – a course for senior high nationalism here, a welling up of re- school groups (25¢). ligious fervor there, a zigzag course The main study book is, of of progress and reaction elsewhere, or course, "Mecca and Beyond," by "Masoud the Bedouin," by Alfreda just an unheralded drift from the old Dr. and Mrs. Edward M. Dodd, Post Carharlr-stories of Bedouin life moorings, there is something going on priced at 50¢ and $1.00. One of (25¢) . which is unprecedented in extent and the most excellent "How to Use" scope in all the thirteen centuries booklets (15¢) the writer has "Tales from Moslem Lands," edited since Mohammed. Modern civilization ever seen furnishes the plans for by William W. Reid (50¢). is flooding un on the world of Islam young folks and adults, men and and changing the face of that world. women alike. In addition to pro- "Christian Adventures in Moslem . . . The great question is, 'Whither, gram outlines of the subject mat- Lands," by Winifred Hulberlr-a study Islam?'" (From "How to Use," ter, complete worship services, for intermediate groups (25¢). Mecca and Beyond.) poems and the like, there are suggestions for invitations in- "Doorways," by Mary Entwistle- Our foreign mission theme is clusive of 0 utI in e picture stories for juniors (75¢ and 50¢). so rich in subject matter, so col- sketches, two complete dramaorful in plans for pres.entation, tizations and plans for a variety "Musa: a Son of Egypt," by Perkso dynamic in possibilities that of others, plans for use of life ins and Entwistle-a primary course it would be wasteful to give stories taken from the book, im- (25¢). space to prefatory remarks. personations, imaginary broad- Sampling the main study book casts, airplane trips, etc., a rib- "The Story of Musa," by Entwistle or any of its supplementary vol- bon demonstration, a candle (25¢) . umes, or of the articles in the lighting service, a "convers'abody of this magazine, may well tion" between a Moslem and a "Esa: a Little Boy of Nazareth," be trusted to win students with- Christian, a "pageant of antiq- by E. Mildred Neville-for beginners out explanatory "sales talk." uity," a new "Riddle of the (25¢) . The potentialities bound up in Sphinx," matching and other the theme, "The Moslem World," "tests," an "impersonation of the A variety of others may be readi.ly are explosive enough to rend pyramids," questions for prac- located from the listings of Boards of Christendom, or powerful enough tical discussions and many other Missionary Education, or denominato furnish motive power for devices for making topics attrac- tional publishing houses. building the King's Highway tive and forceful. "Effective Ways of Working" through the Orient. So whether Supplementary books: with the Study Topics making this an entire unit of study or merely incorporating it "What Is This Moslem World?" by The Central Committee on into some addresses and pro- Charles R. Watson ($1.00 and 60¢). United Study of Foreign Misgrams, our readers cannot afford sions, 186 Massachusetts Ave., to turn it down because not rep- "The Young Moslem Looks at Life," Boston, MMS.: resenting a field of endeavor in by Murray T. Titus ($1.00 and 60¢). their own denominational work. Miss M. H. Leavis, its secretary, "The Christian Approach to Mos- states that she has had great difficulty As in last month's citation of lems," by T. H. P. Sailer – a study in securing the illustrative curios helps for the home theme, ma- with teaching aids for adults (25¢). such as enlivened our study of Africa terials are not all listed under last year, receiving either nothing or their many publication sources, [495 ] novelties in too small quantities to be because of our space limitations, advertised, but that she is ready to furnish the following aids, in mim- eographed form: Life stories of the authors of "Mecca and Beyond"-Dr. and Mrs. Dodd ………………. 5¢ Story-"He Sent the Comforter" (to be read and questioned upon) ……..•…………. 51/'
Poem-"Desert Thirst," by Mary W. Vassar (Moslem woman's dream of God) ………….. 31/'
Poem – "Our Moslem Sisters" (communion story on "Has Any One Been Missed?") ……… 3¢
Poem-"The Tapestry Weavers". 3¢ saw. She asks, "What if we could The United Christian Mission- Plays- see all around the world through win- ary Society, Missions Bldg., 222 dows in all countries? Would you like "My Baby Is Sick," by Mary to try it? Which countries would you Downey Ave., Indianapolis, Ind.: Vassar – two women and a like to see? Can you think of any doll. . . …. . . . . . . .. . . . … .. 5¢ friends you would like to meet?" A Has no work in Mpslem lan_ds but game is then played in which the chil- "Yesterday – Today," by M;ary dren in the circle represent different expects to devote two months to the Vassar – mother and daugh- nations and the child in the center study topics and will use materials ter dialogue …………… 5¢ chooses from whatever nation she pre- to be mentioned later in the year. fers, the old tune, "Go in and out the Their catalogue mentions "Moslem "Persian Proverbs and Wise Say- Windows" to be used with words be- Children"-pictures at 50¢ per set, ings" •…………………. 3¢ ginning, "Go round and round the and a "Cut-out Sheet of Moslem "The Experiences of a Moham- nations." Types" at 15¢. medan in Christian America," "What We See First through Open by Mrs. F. G. Platt. . . . . . . . . . 3¢ Baptist Board of Missionary Windows" shows a picture of Christ Place cards – picture of "Mecca and the children of all races. Leader Education, 152 Madison Ave., and Beyond" on green card with directs conversation to the idea of N. Y.: . space for name ………. each 1¢ God's garden with differently colored flowers, these being the children of all The graded missionary materials ar- A Window Transparency-the lands. "Weare going to visit this ranged by this board are for use in camels and the star (directions garden and enjoy these flowers." A Sunday schools or organized groups of for making) ……………. 3¢ song, "His Garden," is then sung. It corresponding age interests. In order- is suggested that Friendship Paper ing the publications listed, note that "The Mecca Certificate"-a beauti- Dolls be used in this connection (four all materials marked (*) should come ful reproduction in a series of four dolls eight inches high, like real chil- from the board headquarters as cited plates (9x22in.) of the certificate dren of various oriental countries, above, but books and other helps (ingiven to every Mohammedan who price 25¢ a set). clusive of publications of other demakes the pilgrimage to Mecca. The nominations) are to be obtained from art work is fine and intricate. Ex- Succeeding lessons emphasize the the American Baptist Publication Soplanation and translation accompanies needs we see through open windows, ciety, 1701 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, certificate. 10¢. ourselves through open window, "The Pa., or its various bookstores. World Looks through Our Windows- Cash must accompany all orders for And What Does It See?" etc. Beginners: the foregoing materials. Auxiliary materials suggested and "Esa: a Little Boy of Nazareth" Women's Missionary Society which may be ordered through the furnishes the main story material. of United Lutheran Church, 723 For visualizations, use "Friends in Muhlenberg Bldg., Philadelphia, Lutheran headquarters are: Everyland"-12 pictures with story Pa.: on back of each, including "A Moslem Picture Sheets in "Child Life of Friend in India" and "A Friend in "Zahia" – dialogue between Mo- the World" ………….. each 25¢ Turkey," 25¢ (listed elsewhere by its hammedan bride and school- publishers, the Women's Society of the mate ………….. 3¢ or 6 for 10¢ Lutheran Picture Sheets on Af- United Lutheran Church); "Posters rica, India and Japan …. each 5¢ of Moslem Children," 25¢; and hand- Special Program Helps to Use work such as "Arabian Village Cut- with "Open Windows" ……. 15¢ Picture Maps of Africa, India .. out"-eight cardboard sheets with di- ……………………. each 50¢ rections for coloring, 50¢; "Desert This pamphlet is especially helpful Life Panel Posters"-four brown sepia in presenting the book to children. Picture, "The Hope of the World" panels, 12×36, with colored cut-outs to Its keynote is in the opening para- (Christ and the children) …. be pasted on, 50¢; "Near East Paintgraph: "Through open windows that ………… postcard size, 5¢; ing Book"-seven pictures with colorlook out into the world, we see boys sepia, 35¢; large size in colors, 60¢ ing instructions, 10¢. Other stories and girls in China and India, in Af- recommended are "Just Like You" by rica and Egypt, in Japan and Borneo. Picture games – I n d i a, Africa, Lucy W. Peabody-a book of stories The stories of their lives and adven- China ………………. each 20¢ from many lands, 25¢; "A First Book tures are told so vividly that it is not of World Friendship," by the same hard to feel that we really see them Pictures through Magic Windows author-a collection of "Just Like You through the open windows. The leader -18 Bible pictures and verses Stories" in six little books, $1.50. may also reverse the idea so that the in attractive form ……….. 75¢ boys and girls realize that children of Primary: other countries are watching us also. "Friends in Everyland"-12 sto- The book contains ten stories. Each ries with large picture ……. 25¢ The stories are found in "Missionmay be told separately or some of the ary Stories to Tell," which contains material may be combined and used Teaching Pictures on Rural Life two short stories from Moslem lands. for six or more programs. The lead- around the World ………… 50¢ $1.00 and 50¢; "Our Little Friends of er's aim is to open the windows of a the Arabian Desert" (illustrated) child's heart and help him to make Presbyterian Board of Na- which takes us to visit the children of friends with all people who pass by." tional Missions, Central Distrib- a Bedouin sheik, $1.00; "The Story of uting Department, 156 Fifth Musa," by Entwistle-eight illustrated The ensuing pamphlet suggests Ave., N. Y. (Checks payable to narratives, 25¢; "Graded Foreign ways for leaders to carry out the fore- Central Distributing Department Mission Stories" (*), to be ready in going ideal, furnishes an outline guide December, 15¢. for each program, hymns, prayers, of the Mission Boards) : Scripture, a long list of excellent The visualizations and handwork group activities in the way of poster In addition to the study books listed are "Children from Manv Lands"- making, dramatizations and construc- previously, with their respective teach- portfolio posters of children of 10 tion work, outline illustrations of ing helps, "Fun and Festival from countries, llx14 in., in colors, with posters, directions for making an in- Moslem Lands" (25¢); "Primary Pic- verse for each picture, $1.00; "Life ternational house or village, map in Moslem Lands"-21 pictures with work, plans for scrap books, etc. ture Stories – M 0 s I e m Children" descriptive titles, 25¢, and all the ma- (25¢); and a moving picture, "Islam terials listed for the beginners. A sample of some of the preliminary in Egypt" are listed. Special attenplans will furnish an idea of the tion is called to this last valuable item, Juniors: method employed: which is a one-reel film taking ap- proximately 15 minutes to show. The The Stories are "Doorways," 75¢ Introducing the idea of theme, the rental price is $1.25 in 16mm. and $2.00 and 50¢; "Graded Foreign Mission leader has the children-individually in 35mm., plus transportation charges. or in groups-look through the largest ordering from Visual Aids Division of window near them, then tell what they The Westminster Press, 925 Wither- spoon Bldg., Philadelphia, Pa.
"Living Water" is a play taking 20 minutes, 13 women, 2 children (5¢).
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Stories on Missions and World Peace" "Hostess Hints," covering menus Oriental music suitable for Moslem (*), 15¢; material from the primary and recipes for Arab cookery, 10¢. studies includes "Where My Caravan section. Has Rested," "Till the Sands of the "Traceaole Sketches" – outlines of Desert Grow Cold," "Bedouin Love Visualizations and handwork include flags, suggestions for place cards, Song" and "Kashmiri Song," with a picture map of the world-art map fruits, human figures, etc., which may other selections from collections of 30×50 in. with 23 small pictures to be readily be copied by tracing and used Oriental Music by Amy Woodfordepasted on, 50¢ "Cut-out Sheets of in a variety of social ways, 10¢. Finden. Inquire of any music dealer. Moslem Types"-20 outline sketches with directions for coloring, 10¢; "Islam," a dramatization with nar- The Religious Motion Picture "Friends of the Caravan Trails"- rator and 14 characters – outstand- Foundation has now merged its intersuggestions for handwork on pp. 21- ingly informing and worthful, 15¢. ests with those of another concern and 24, also sketches in insert sheet, 25¢; should now be addressed as Departmaterials listed under primary section. Sketches, "Mohammed" (4¢), and ment of Visualization, Harmon Founda- "Mohammedanism" (3¢). tion, 140 Nassau St., New York. It Intermediate and Young People: has a large number of religious and Story, "The Forgotten Words," 5¢. educational moving picture films in Story telling from "Tales from Leaflet (easily dramatized), "A stock, and each year additional ones Moslem Lands"-illustrated adventure Kabyle Wedding," 4¢. on the current study topics are prestories, 50¢; "M,asoud the Bedouin," Young women have a course on pared with the heln of an interde- 25¢; "The Beloved Physician of Te- "Highways and Skyways in Minaret nominational committee. heran," $1.00; "The Moslem World" Lands," including the textbook, for -a book of facts about foreign mis- 60¢. Some Rural Programs sions (*), 15rb. For Standard Bearers (of junior age), "Moslem Adventures on the By ANNYE ALLISON Visualizations and handwork include Magic Carpet of Imagination" con- "Christian Adventures in Moslem tains all necessary materials for a For primary pupils, make Lands" – suggestions for handwork, program of strong appeal to young 25¢ ; Set of Twelve Charts with folks, $1.00. poster headed "Win Rural Amergraphs for blackboard work or poster "Doorways" (50¢) and its "How to ica for Christ," showing church, making, 50¢ per set; Maps of the Use" (10¢) are recommended for the Sunday school, daily vacation Moslem World, to be colored and wired younger groups, along with materials Bible school, young people's for project purposes-wall map 30×46 listed elsewhere in this Department. meeting, hospital, orphanage, in., 60¢; large outline map, 28×32 in., 25¢; small outline map, llx14 in., 25¢ Woman's Board of Foreign colporteur, etc. Dramatize some per dozen; and some of the materials Missions, Reformed Church in features. Have group of chilfor the younger groups. America, 25 East 22d St., New dren pretending to fish or pick York: berries, and let lady enter and There is one stereopticon lecture on invite them to the D. V. B. S. the Moslem World, revised by Dr. "Camel Bells"-complete programs which is to begin the next day. Zwemer, entitled "The Spread of including semi-dramatic and easily When children arrive, seat them Islam." It rents for $2.00 and car- dramatized material, under the topics in circle with lady in center to riage both ways. Address the Vis- "Letters from a Saddle Bag," "Cara- tell a good religious story. Pass ualization Department, Council on van Trails," "Oases" and "Behind the paper and crayons and have chil- Finance and Promotion, 152 Madison Lattice," 10¢. dren draw pictures to illustrate Ave., N. Y. "God's Good Gifts" or "God's "Playmates in Mission Lands"-at- Beautiful World." Hymn, "Jesus Plays: "Black Tents" -life among tractive illustrated primer booklet on Loves the Little Children of the Bedouins in Syria; 4 boys, 3 girls, A, B, C plan, for very young children, World" ; the Lord's Prayer; 20 minutes, 25¢; "Tara Finds the and including Arabian features. simple Bible verse such as "God Door to Happiness"-life of Moslem is love," "Suffer the Little Chilwomen and girls in India; 2 women, "Under Many Flags," 5¢. dren," etc., following with the 7 girls, 2 boys, 30 minutes, 25¢. "Silhouettes," 5¢. circle talk and another hymn. "True-False Test on Arabia," 1¢ "The School of Missions"-a hand- each sheet. The brighter side of the hosbook of information on setting up a "Cross Word Puzzle on Arabia," 2¢ pital theme may be dramatized school, by William A. Hill, free (*). each sheet. by having a child who has been "Fun and Festival from Moslem cured waiting for his mother to Woman's Foreign Missionary Lands," 25¢. take him home. Nurse wearing Society, M ethodiJst Episcopal Wall Map of Moslem World (60¢) white dress, cap and apron and Church, 581 Boylston St., Bos- and Outline Maps of Moslem World arm band with red cross on it is ton, Mass.: (large size, 25¢; small, 25¢ per with him and teaches him a Bible dozen) . verse. Child presently runs to "Complete Program Outlines for "Spiritual Adventuring" is a very meet mother telling how good Auxiliaries" (woman's societies), giv- worthful manual of worship for mis- people have been to him, about ing suggestions and plans for a year's sionary societies, giving complete out- the cards, Bible verses, hymns, work, 25¢. This begins with a beau- lines, including poems and prayers, etc., which he will repeat when tiful installation service for the offi- for a year's meetings, 10¢. he gets home. At nurse's call the cers and continues through Moham- doctor enters and mother pours medan studies including "The Moslem Additional Helps and out her gratitude for a denomand His World," "North of the Sa- Suggestions inational hospital to which counhara," "Christmas and the Christ's try people with very little money Land," "Behind the Bourka," "The Further missionary dramatics, ob- can send their sick children. Sword of the Moslem." Additional tainable from sources whose addresses programs of universal application have already been given herein are: [CONTINUED IN NOVEMBER.] (omitting one specific to Methodist "An Afternoon in Arabia"-10 young plans) are on "Christian College Stu- women and girls, taking about 10 dents around the World," "World minutes-5¢ (W. B. F. M. of Reformed Citizenship," and "On the Road to Church) . Hangchow." May be used by groups in any denomination. "Christ or Mahomet – Which?" 4 scenes, 12 characters, 15 minutes-10¢ Excellent coordinated materials are: (W. F. M. S. of M. E. Church).
"Go Ye," a year's devotional out- "Kasim"-modern life in Persia, 5 lines, 15¢. men, 5 women, 1 hour-25¢ (Mission- ary Education Movement, 150 Fifth Ave., N. Y.). The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK Over half of the population of the United States is rural. Under what conditions do they live? What are their problems? What groups have special needs?
How should they be met? Is the church meeting the needs of Rural America? What must we do to Rebuild Rural America that it may be a part of a great Christian nation of which we can be proud? What lessons can Rural America teach us today? The contribution of Rural Amer- ica to urban life and the develop- fllent of the nation has been great, as has been its contribu- tion to the Christian Church, which has its roots in rural life.
CHARLOTTE M. BURNHAM.
STUDY BOOKS For Adulbs Rebuilding Rural America, by Mark A. Dawber.
A PRAYER THE CHURCH AND RURAL Dr. Dawber has for years trav- eled the whole United States as Teach me, Father how to go AMERICA a leader in rural church work. Softly as the grasses grow; He reports graphically what is Hush my soul to meet the shock This is the month when many happening to,rural America, and Of the wild world as a rock; of the women's societies will take describes rural people and con- But my spirit, propt with power, up their studies of the home mis- structive enterprises that the Make as simple as a flower. sions theme for 1937-38. The churches are undertaking. A books this year are not only in- chapter is given to groups with Let the dry heart fill its cup, tensely interesting and challeng- special needs as the Migratory Like a poppy looking up; ing, but are vitally related to our Worker, the Southern High- Let life lightly wear her crown national life and the critical pe- lander, and the American In- Like a poppy looking down, riod in which we are living. As dian. Cloth, $1.00.. paper, 60 When its heart is filled with dew many of the speakers at the Mis- cent8. And its life begins anew. sions Institutes this summer have pointed out, we can no longer The Church and American Rural Our Father, help us to root expect to hide our own family Life, by Benson Y. Landis. our lives as deeply as Thy trees, skeletons from the world, and which grow so grandly; to rise unchristian conditions in our- A leader's guide based on Restraight and true as Thy grasses, own country, and unchristian building Rural America, conwhich grow so simply; to make behavior toward other countries, taining many helpful suggestions the results of our living as-beaU- prove a stumbling block to the for study groups for city and tiful as Thy flowers. Amen. foreign missionary as well to rural churches. Paper, 25 cent8. those at home who are trying to "Sorvices fr>r th.e Open." spread the Gospel of Jesus. Migrant Laborers. They Starve T hat We May Eat.
Two million migratory workers ' on the road, in the fields and at the canneries; a challenging problem in the rural field with a description of a challenging program of action for the church. . This composite study has been written by authorities in the church and secular field [498 ]
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
and edited by Edith E. Lowry, joyed to learn that I was to go School Methods, Adult Educa- Executive Secretary and na- to Lisle, New York, for a set- tion Methods, Round-Table Dis- tional Director of Migrant ting-up conference. cussions on Work with Young Work. Paper, 35 cents. People, Handicraft, Health Pro- Nearly fifty migrant workers gram, Infant Care, Nutrition, For Young People who are to serve in the Eastern Methods in Work with Children, Migrant camps this summer ar- Methods in Recreation, First Aid Highland Heritage, by Edwin E. rived in Lisle, a typical, peace- and Camp Sanitation, and a dis- White. ful, happy, country community, cussion on our relationship to and were welcomed most gra- the community, the employer The book has literary charm and ciously by our host and hostess, and the migrant. the task of the churches in rural Dr. and Mrs. Richard Edwards. America is vividly illustrated by [This little community has a By the third day, many doubts what is happening as new high- population of three hundred and had come to my mind. Can I do ways and power lines are driven our conference, plus a young all that these other people have through the isolated valleys of people's conference, swelled the done before me and can I put in the "horseback country." Cloth, number to four hundred. You these long hours each day? $1.00; paper, 60 cents. may well see that we overflowed the Inn, the conference rooms For the last vesper service on Rural America Challenges Chris- and the village homes.] Saturday evening, we climbed up to the highest point in this local- tian Youth, by Edwin E. White. PICNIC LUNCH AT A MIGRANT CENTER ity where we seemed to be on the top of the world. I felt, almost A leader's guide based on High- The first evening we met for instantly, a great sense of peace land Heritage containing sug- vespers on a near-by hillside steal over me. My doubts seemed gestions. for youth groups as an looking out over the valley be- to vanish during this vesper approach to the study of the low. This experience instilled service and I felt a sense of re- church in rural America. Paper, in me a sense of quiet and in- newed strength to carryon in 25 cents. spired courage for the many this chosen work. "May I prove hard days ahead. Later that my mettle and may I bring these For Children evening, former migrant work- people the ideals and under- ers gave us a bird's-eye view of standing that will enable them Missionary Stories to Tell. the work and their experiences to come to a greater feeling of in the migrant centers. These fellowship with God and an Thirty-eight of the best mission- girls had worked very hard, had understanding of the meaning of ary stories to tell to primary and experienced many hard, long Christian fellowship that will junior children. Cloth, $1.00; hours that must be put in in any lead them into a more meaning- paper, 50 cents. center, and still were ready and fullife"-this was my prayer. happy to go forward into another Lifting Today Above Its Past, by year. How cheering this was One thing that Dr. Eric Grace McGavran. for me! Thomsen said in one of his talks with us shall always remain with An interesting and challenging Along about the second day a me. "If you suffer without suc- course on life in the country suspicion came into my mind ceeding, then some one after you places of America. This unit of that, perhaps, Miss Lowry was will succeed without suffering work for intermediate groups breaking us into this migrant and if you succeed without suf- contains selected oackground ma- work here at Lisle. We arose at fering, then some one before you terial and can be given without 6: 30 in order to arrive in time has suffered without succeed- additional sources, although use- for breakfast at 7: 30 and were ing." This seems to sum up in ful references are cited. Paper, kept busy each and every minute my mind our work. Will we suc- 35 cents. until 10: 30 at night. During ceed now in our endeavors with these hours, we had the oppor- these people, or will we pave the Ship East-Ship West, by Eliza:- tunity of a varied program way for some one after us to beth Miller Lobingier. which included staff conferences, courses in R u r a I Sociology, succeed? This first volume of a new series Kindergarten Methods, Nursery I cannot stop here without of source books for primary chil- dren introduces them to the sub- saying that I arrived at Whites- ject of world peace through bog, New Jersey, twelve days stories and simple facts. Mrs. ago and have worked as I have Lobingier is a skilled teacher never before for such a long and the author of Stories of stretch of time, seven days every Shepherd Life and other vol- week. I find these people to be umes. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.00; a happy, friendly, courageous, paper, 50 cents. hard-working race who seem as little children in so many ways For Reading List refer to the June number and who need our guidance and of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, understanding. pages 334-335. HARRIET CLOSTER. THE SETTING-UP CON- FERENCE AT LISLE, NEW YORK July 23 to July 27, 1937 After making my decision to devote my summer to working among the Migrants, the feeling came over me many times that I was going into this man-sized job with little knowledge of previous conditions, methods or results and was, therefore, over-
AND SIAM to save that which is lost." In India launched on its first voyage
dedicated for its work of minis- Toward Greater Efficiency Christianity is everything to the De- try. It is chiefly to the workers At Montgomerywala in the pressed Classes, It is with them in in the rice lands that this float- Punjab, a church committee is ing dispensary is sent, and their forming itself into small groups, their work, in their homes, in their need is great indeed, as they are each of which will tackle some entirely without medical help. particular need. For instance, fields. It has "found" them. Then Many of their homes are quite three or four members are to form a hygiene committee to see Christianity has found the criminal inaccessible except by boat, and that the village is kept clean and during the monsoon flood time to teach the people to realize the tribes-men who were regarded as alneed of sufficient light and air in thousands more are cut off; even their houses; another committee most lower than the beasts, men who food must be brought from great i's to find out special cases of pov- distances by boat. During two erty resulting from illness or were guilty of unheard-of evil. I saw months of the monsoon no work some other cause, and to report them to the church committee; these same men giving all their power can be done in the rice fields, and and a third group will teach the people the privilege of giving, to help each other. I heard them sing, which few have learned. and saw men whom I had been told The women are also assuming more responsibility. A Zenana would never work, working for the Committee, some· of them quite illiterate, take care of a weekly sheer joy of doing that which was usemeeting, where one leads the devotionals, another reads the les- ful. – The Chru.stw' n. son, and a third gives a talk. Once a month there is a witness A Practical Experiment meeting, when any who have received special help witness to In the Punjab a different cen- the people of the backwaters are what God has done for them. faced with terrible want. No ter is chosen each month, and all work means no money and no -C. M. S. Outlook. the congregations of the C. M. S. food. They borrow-and pledge Mission, within a radius of eight The Salvation Army away the whole of the next har- miles, assemble. The men and vest to keep themselves alive till Lord Willingdon, former vice- boys form a procession which roy of India, pays tribute to the marches around the village sing- that harvest can be sown. work of the Salvation Army in that part of the Empire. He says ing psalms and hymns. Mean- The voyage of the new boat is he has watched this work for 16 years, and declares there is not while the women and girls gath- carefully planned. There are a public official who would not er in the courtyard and sing. three "ports of call" to be visited express gratitude for such as- Then they are seated in an open each month. The boat is tied up, sistance as the Army is giving in space outside the village, which the stores and medicines are prohumanizing, Christianizing and duced and patients begin to arcivilizing those who are thought is decorated with colored paper rive. A clinic under the trees is to be beyond the reach of good flags, texts and mottoes such as: influence. "Do not get into debt," "Learn held each day for ten days, then Speaking of her visit to India. General Evangeline Booth says': to read," "Be sober." By this the boat is moved to another I never knew until I undertook this time the congregation has been place, not to return for a year. journey the meaning of the words, "The Son of man is come to seek and swelled by a good number of Thousands of people, for whom non-Christians. There is more medical help is available only singing, an opening address ex- from the two floating dispensa- plaining the obj ect of the meet- ries, are ministered to for less ing, and touching on the broth- than a month, then have to erhood of mankind through the be left "as sheep having no Fatherhood of God, addresses by shepherd."
two or three of the manads on -C. M. S. Outlook.
the causes, effects and remedies of debts, illiteracy, poverty, and Festival of Lights a closing address, giving the defi- While there are many unlove- nite Christian message. -C. M. S. Outlook. ly features attached to India's popular festivals, some of them Travancore's Floating _ have beauty and value. At Das- Dispensary ahara time children may be seen· in the evening going about car- Early this year the second rying various colored lights floating dispensary which is to which from a distance have the ply up and down the backwaters appearance of being lanterns so of Travancore, bringing help arranged as throw out light and relief to so many, was through odd openings. An inves- [500 ]
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
tigation discloses the contriv- Bangkok Christian College CHINA ance to be simple enough. A Bangkok Christian College is The Challenge in China small earthen vessel has been looking forward to the day when their plant will be moved to the made wIth openings cut in the new site. Ten years ago new Dr. Charles T. Leber and Dr. property was purchased between side in fanciful designs. Over Bangkok and Paknam at a loca- J. L. Dodds, new secretaries of tion that seemed very remote. this is pasted colored paper and Today, with government high- the Presbyterian Board of For- way improvement, the new site the little oil lamp placed on the is only fifteen minutes distant eign Missions, recently com- from Bangkok, by motor car. inside turns this crude lantern pleted a tour of the mission The staff now includes sixteen into something quite fantastic. Siamese and three foreign teach- fields. Of China, Dr. Leber says: ers on duty, with a few others It is the custom for" children, es- on furlough. "The country is magnificent pecially of the servant class, to When the Educational Com- in its possibilities and presents mittee of the Siam Mission put go with these lights to the houses on a Teachers' Institute at the a tremendous challenge to Chris- beginning of the year, seventy of their masters and others from Christian teachers from mission tianity. The lives of Christian schools of three denominations whom they expect gifts at Das- were in attendance. faith and sacrifice that have ahara time. These children run- Nearly four hundred boys are been put into this land are bear- ning about from house to house ing fruit. The whole nation is in the darkness with these lights progressing but I have been es- make a very striking feature of pecially impressed with the rise the Dasahara festival. The chil- of Christianity. . . . It is in- dren themselves greatly enjoy spiring to see how the Chinese the part which they play, and leaders are re~ching out into the even aside from the gifts which areas of evangelism, Christian they receive, think the occasion education, young people's work one of great importance. Why and social welfare. . .. – not? -Indian Witness. "Mr. Arthur Rugh, formerly Begging for the Gospel in enrolled this year and classes are with the Y. M. C. A., but now Ceylon overcrowded. The government working independently among curriculum for the lower grades the students at Yenching, made does not permit the teaching of A Five-Year Plan of Evan- a survey of student thinking at gelism is being carried out in Bible in the regular schedule, so Yenching. He held personal in- C e y lon, all the Protestant Churches cooperating. Recent- that subject is now taught be- terviews with two hundred of ly, a long closed door unex- the students and is amazed at pectedly opened in Eheliyagoda. fore the opening of the official the thinking they are doing along A man came there from another district, bringing with him a Bi- day in the first six classes. In the lines of religion. They are ble and a very limited knowledge even asking why no greater pOSIof Christianity, but the little he the upper division there has knew he passed on. The people tive Christian approach has been been no need to make this made to them, though most of -Siam Outlook. them are not Christian. A list change. was made of 500 questions which Siam Cares for Lepers of Eheliyagoda are low caste, The Siamese Government has students are asking about reliand were at once attracted to a been watching with interest the gion. A group of educators are religion where all men are equal, chain of 23 leper clinics, laid out considering the possibilities of and were quick to see that Chris- by Dr. J. H. McKean, Presbyte- religious instruction being pertianity would bring them social rian missionary; and now pro- mitted in the schools. At a conuplift as well. So they asked to poses a plan to establish self- ference of' Christian middle be taught. One group of evan- supporting government colonies school principals in Shanghai gelists went from house to in several sections of the coun- the Mayor of Shanghai arose house; another held an open air try, with the same type of organ- and gave testimony as to his meeting. New Testaments were ization as now exists in mission Christian faith. He charged the eagerly bought. At these meet- clinics. The first step will be to principals that their duty as ings, which continued, there train government doctors and Christian principals was to make would be two or three simple assistants at the Chiengmai col- their schools Christian. One addresses, including one to the ony. Then a special leprosy of- trembles to realize what a tragchildren, who are always present ficer and committee will be ap- edy it will be if the Christian in large numbers. Between ad- pointed to make a survey, do forces do not unite and do not dresses the people would ask propaganda work among the move forward to meet the chalquestions or explain their diffi- people, and establish, as the first lenge of this present opportuculties. At the end, the village of the series, a large farm col- nity." headman would select points ony with up-to-date treatment. from the various addresses and If this plan renders mission War Against Opium compare them with Buddhist clinics unnecessary, they will at China seems determined to doctrines, pointing out the ad- least have served to stimulate wipe out the opium curse. On vantages of Christianity. the government to recognize and the eve of the New Year, before -L. M. S. Chronicle. accept its own responsibility. a large crowd at the famous Con-
fucius temple in Nanking, huge ciety," interdenominational, is JAPAN-CHOSEN quantities of opium, and para- putting into operation a plan to phernalia of opium addicts were send forth evangelistic bands of Church Worship burned. Long before this meet- trained men and women to the ing, placards were distributed market towns, let them locate Church service in Japan has and posted on the doors of every there for about two weeks and so me interesting differences house and shop, and slogans from that as a center, visit every from American customs. The written on white streamers home in all the surrounding vil- tray for offerings is always were displayed everywhere an- lages, and freely give the people passed to the minister as well as nouncing: the Word of God. They will also to the congregation. If the ush- do personal work and preach on er fails to do this, the minister 1. Beginning Jan. 1, 1937, hopeless the streets of every village. They will walk from the pulpit and narcotic addicts will be executed. will return to the market towns deposit his money. The sexes arc in the evening, where special separated in all church services: 2. Beginning Jan. 1, 1937, first-time meetings are held in halls, tel!l- men on one side and women on opium smokers will be heavily pun- pIes, schools or homes. the other. This was the custom ished; after being arrested three in America a hundred years ago. times, they will be shot. These bands have already For thirty years Japanese Chris- gone to sixty-four market towns tians have used a common hym- 3. Narcotic addicts who desire to and, as they have worked out nal. Methodists, Presbyterians, escape these penalties should surren- from those centers, 3,482 villages Baptists and Congregationalists der themselves to the city clinics for have been finished. In these vil- all use the same songs of wortreatment on or before Dec. 31, 1936. lages there have been 390,049 ship. -Missionary Herald. homes with a population of near- Parades, depicting opium addicts be- ly two million people. In the Pastors Discuss Religious ing dragged to the g;:tllows with the 3,947 meetings held there have Topics wailing families trailing behind, were been some 691,657 people who also witnessed in the cities. heard the Gospel, besides having The Church of Christ in Ja- received 571,123 tracts and Gos- pan held a Pastors' Conference The regulation, control, pur- pels. As a direct result of this at its theological seminary in chase and sale of narcotic drugs work, 12,906 of those who were Tokyo August 30 to September for legitimate purposes in the dealt and prayed with, sought 4 as a part of the celebration of country were placed in charge Christ as their Saviour. the fiftieth anniversary of the of Division of Narcotics, newly church. Leading pastors and created bureau. Immediately -0. M. S. Standard. teachers lectured on the followthe following measures were put ing subjects: into effect: (1) It restricted the Bible Exhibit issuance of certificates for the The Creed of the Church of Christ importation of narcotic drugs; An exhibition of Bibles in in Japan. (2) it prepared an estimate of Peiping this year evidenced kinds and quantities of narcotic China's interest in the Christian The History of the Church During drugs for the nation's medical Scriptures. There were 300 en- the Meiji Era. and scientific use for 1936; and tries, representing 69 languages (3) it drafted measures for the and dialects, of which 17 were Protestant Credal Views of the Bicontrol of sales of narcotic Chinese. Among the Bibles were ble. drugs. some of a costly character, and others of priceless historical val- The Differences Between Catholi- In order to check recultivation ue. The volumes were lent by cism and Protestantism as a Means of of poppy in areas where poppy libraries, universities, individ- Understanding the Gospel. cultivation existed before but uals and various mission groups. has now been absolutely prohib- The British and Foreign Bible The Main Currents and Problems of ited, the "Measures for General Society lent the famous Morri- Contemporary Theology. Detection and Suppression of son Bible of 1823 and the Morri- Poppy Cultivation" were issued. son New Testament of that same The Thought of the Old Testament date, printed from wooden Prophets. -China Weekly Review. blocks made 10 years earlier. There was also the first Protes- The Church and Culture. Market Town Campaign tant Chinese version to be pub- The Fundamental Principles of the lished. Protestant Reformation. Generally speaking, China's vas t population is grouped No V'olume, however, attracted_ Open discussions were conaround market towns. It is esti- as much attention as the Manda- ducted on The Pulpit and the mated that there are some 40,- rin Bible loaned by Generalis- Church; The Sunday School 000 market towns in China, and simo Chiang Kai-shek-the one and the Church; The Pastor and that an average of about twenty- he used during his imprisonment His Readings, and The Church five surrounding villages are fed at the time of the Sian revolt in and Society. by each market town. On mar- December, 1936. ket days, held every third day, -Translated from Fukuin the people of these villages flock -Monday Morning. Shimpo. to the market towns to do theIr buying, selling and "neighbor- Kagawa Fellowship ing." The Kagawa Fellowship in Ja- The "Oriental Missionary So- pan is an informal organization of about 150 Occidental friends of Dr. Kagawa living in Japan, whose purpose is to share with
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Kagawa in the rich experience missionaries were sent to the Manchuria, and helping to send that God has given him; to study Chinese in East Shantung, them to China and elsewhere. his program for the extension of China. This work has been the Kingdom of God, and as far maintained for 25 years and the The Australian Mission as possible to cooperate with him Korean missionaries there are in achieving this program. The ministering to 25 churches and South Kyengsang, in which fellowship assists Dr. Kagawa in groups in which are enrolled the Australian Presbyterian the translation of his writings 1,500 professing Chinese Chris- Mission has work, is the third into English, gives information tians. smallest of the thirteen provabroad and in Japan about his inces of Korea. It is the most work, and endeavors to get The Korean churches are in- densely populated, the nearest whatever financial support for digenous, self-propagating, self- to Japan and according to stahis program it can. supporting, but need more mis- tistics it consumes per capita sionaries to help in the evangel- the largest amount of beer. Effort is being made to obtain ization of 22,000,000 Koreans in These three circumstances presupport for the promising Medi- Korea, a million in Manchukuo sent their own problems. cal Cooperative Society in To- and 500,000 in Japan proper. kyo, an interesting pro j e c t In 1914, when the mission of started by Kagawa. More than -Korea Mission Field. the Presbyterian Church, U. S. seven thousand people are mem- A., handed over this province to bers of it. The society has a hos- Protestant Christian the Australian mission there pital with fifty-one beds as well were 101 churches, 1887 bapas conducting a clinic, dispen- Membership tized members and 3,816 adhersary and visiting nurse service. ents. Just now money is being raised Of 410,000 enrolled Protesto erect a residence for the tant Christians in Korea, 78 per Comparing these statistics nurses; the building will be cent are Presbyterians, 14 per with those of 1936, we find that called the Nitobe Memorial in cent Methodists and eight per now there are: churches 313, remembrance of Dr. Inazo Ni- cent of other denominations. Of baptized members 7,941, adhertobe. -Christian Observer. the total number 210,000 are ents 26,955. either baptized or members on "God Shelf" for Kitchens probation. The remaining 200,- Each of the five stations has 000 are enrolled as professing some form of institutional work. One of the large department Christians and are regular at- The Harper Memorial High stores of Kyoto is displaying a tendants. School for Girls, near Fusanmod e 1 Japanese kit c hen, chin, trains Christian leaders equipped with electric icebox, With 3,880 churches and for church and school. The Vogas stove, kitchen cabinet, and groups, the average sized con- cational Farm School for Womso on. On the walls hang an gregation numbers about 100. en seeks and saves those in morelectric clock, a thermometer, The largest congregation in Ko- al danger and destitution, and and a small, but complete "god- rea is in the city of Sin Euiju the Paton Memorial Hospital ill shelf" for the spirit of the deity with 4,000 adherents. The Sun- Chinju cares for the sick, espethat presides over kitchens. The day school enrolment of 316,000 cially the sick poor. There are shelf is complete and up-to-date in the Presbyterian and Method- also Men's and Women's Lower with miniature lanterns and ist churches in Korea is about Bible Schools. dishes for the food offerings. the same as the total number of professing Christians. Method- -Korea Mission Field. -Living Church. ist and Presbyterian mission- aries in Korea number a little ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC Korean Christianity more than 400. Many mission lands have a less number of mis- About the Philippines Of the first seven Koreans to sionaries in proportion to the be ordained to the ministry in population, but none h a v e Did you know that there are the Presbyterian Church, one yielded a better return for the three classes of people on the was sent as a home missionary expenditure of time and money. islands, each of a different colto the island of Quelpart. That or? That the Chinese have been church is now supporting 500 -Presbyterian Banner. coming to the island for years, evangelists to unevangelized dis- thus solving the employment tricts in Korea and to Koreans On Their Own problem, since a Filipino will in Manchukuo, Peiping, Shang- not work until the money he has hai and Japan proper. The A Presbyterian church in on hand is all gone? That 10,000 Methodist Church is also carry- Wiju, Korea, has a membership converts were received within ing on an extensive home mis- of 3,000. Not a cent of Ameri- ten years? That there are nine sion work among Koreans in can money has gone into the flourishing mission stations now Manchukuo. When the Korean work of that district for 20 in operation? That there are Presbyterian General Assembly years; no missionary lives witn- 7,000 Americans on the islands? was organized in 1912, three in 20 miles of it. The people That before American occupa- have erected and financed their tion funeral arrangements were own church and are sending mis- always made before calling in a sionaries across the border into physician? That only one and
one-eighth per cent of the popu- ments. In ten years they have and the imminent consummation lation are classed as Frotestant not only banded themselves into of union with the Methodist Christians? effective intelligent groups for Church of France. Nearer home, -Monday Morning. mutual improvement, but they the Alliance welcomed a new have transformed their village member in the Evangelical and Club Women in Polynesia life.-London Chronicle. Reformed Church. The Re- formed Church of the U. S. A., The Polynesians have been NORTH AMERICA recently united with the Evan- evangelized by Samoan Chris- Coordinated Missions gelical Church, was already a tians, who themselves received member.
the Gospel a hundred years ago. The International Foreign The International Women's Mission Association of North Council of Women's Missionary While the men folk have fishing America (composed of inde- Societies was recognized as the for excitement, the women have pendent undenominational mis- women's section of the Alliance, no activities which give interest sions) brings together for coun- with a provision that a certain and variety to island life. Miss E. sel sixteen mission enterprises, quota of del ega t e s shall be A. Downs, principal of the Girls'
School at Puapua, Samoa, sug- under which some 2,231 mis- chosen from the women, with au- sionaries are sent out. They ad- thority to hold sessions during gested that they form Women's the meeting of the council. Sim- Clubs, and that they should work minister over a million dollars ilar action was taken with retogether for the general uplift of annually, and go into many of gard to a youth section of those under 30 years of age, the deletheir village life, for the applica- the out-of-the-way corners of the gates of this group being authortion of simple laws of health and world. The doctrinal basis of hygiene, for mothercraft and in- all these missions is: (1) The fant welfare work, for the pres- plenary inspiration and divine ized to bring to the notice of council matters of deep concern ervation of native arts and authority of the Scripture; (2) to youth. crafts, for social intercourse and the Trinity, including the deity religious expression. They de- of Christ and the personality of -The Christian Century.
cided to call their club "The the Holy Spirit; (3) the fall of Women's Committee," and on man, his moral depravity, and Lutheran Church Leaguers each island the pastor's wife was his need of regeneration; (4) Interest in the education of made the leader. the atonement through the sub- youth tow a r d international Returning to visit the islands, stitutionary death of Christ; peace and continued support of Miss Downs found the women no (5) justification by faith in mission work through a special longer apathetic, but eager to Christ, apart from works; (6) project were the outstanding show what they were trying to the bodily resurrection of Christ, features of the twenty-first bien- do. In Nanumea they had re.- and also of the saved and the un- nial convention of the Luther vived their art of making beauti- saved; (7) the unending life of League of America at Spring- ful fans decorated with seabirds' the saved and the unending pun- field, Ohio, in July. The sessions feathers; in Nui the women were ishment of the unsaved; (8) the brought together between six making mats with patterns of personal, bodily and visible re- and seven hundred young people secret native dyes. In Nanu- turn of Christ. and leaders from the United maga there was a new taro plan- Lutheran churches throughout tation w h i c h their Women's Presbyterians in World the United States and Canada.
Committee had made in the face Council Climaxing the mISSIOnary of a good deal of jeering from Last June Montreal, most project for the past biennium the men; the women had grown Catholic of any large city in this much-valued food product North America, entertained the with a gift of more than $11,000 by dividing the swamp into General Council of the "Re- for a community center building workable sections with walls of formed Churches throughout the at T'ai Tung Chen in the foreign coral from the reef, and in them World Holding the Presbyterian mission field in Chi n a, the making soil from rubbish and System." The central theme Luther League of Arne ric a rotting vegetation; Nanumaga was "The Church in Modern adopted another $10,000 project had in the past been one of the Life." for the coming biennium. This poorest islands,. and liable to time the objective will be the famine, but here was a source of An advance was made in the complete furnishing of a medical prosperity. The women of Niu- unification of Reformed Chris- center established at Konnarock, tao were especially interested in tians. The Reformed Church of Virginia, for southern mounmaking soap from caustic soda. Denmark was admitted to mem- _taineers. bership in the Alliance, now Last year, the triennial church comprehending more than two The Convention of 1939 will conference saw women delegates hundred church groups through- be held at Long Beach, Cali- fornia.
for the first time, eager to ex- out the world. The Reformed Bible Teaching in Kansas change ideas and report achieve- Church of France announced the ments, and to draw up a list of completion of union among all Kansas City, Kansas, has comproposals for future develop- Reformed Churches in France, pleted thirteen years of religious
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
education of its school children. many new people have been seek- sacrifices, without ever obtain- The Council of Religious Educa- ing association with the church ing healing for my poor chiltion, representing all denomina- during recent months that he dren. When my second child betions, sponsors this work. The has been completely "snowed came dangerously ill, I went to Jews are interested but as yet under." Throughout the spring consult a witch doctor and asked not participating. and early summer season every him if he could heal my child. service has been conducted in a He assured me that he could, There are 74 church schools, packed church, and with the provided that I would give him enrolling 91 per cent of public coming of fall the pastor believes thirty dollars. I offered him scholil pupils. The courses are it may become necessary to con- twenty dollars, which he acplanned to correlate with the duct two morning services. cepted. I paid him half the sum work of each grade in public on the spot. But on my way school from October to the end LATIN AMERICA back to get the balance of the of April. Classroom work in- money, a messenger came to tell cludes Bible memorizing, Bible Liquor Ban in Mexico me that the child was dead. I reading, Biblical and character- saw that I was being deceived by building stories and dramatiza- Within ten years statesmen the devil. As a respected antion, notebook and expressional below the Rio Grande, led by cestor of my family was a Chriswork. President Cardenas, hope to tian, I had often heard him speak complete the prohibition of alco- of God, so I told my wife I was -Women's Missionary holic beverages. Governors of going to Port-de-Paix to find out Magazine. all states have helped by order- about Him. ing municipalities to cease issu- Texas Wars on Evil ing licenses for saloons, to cut At a service held by the Hai- down the production of alcohol tian Gospel Mission at Port-de- Texas legislators are out to gradually but none the less Paix I first heard the Gospel. "clean up." In special session surely, and to trim the sales they have outlawed pari-mutuel through higher and higher taxes. After attending services for gambling on horse races, pro- The governor of Coahuila has some time, one Sunday my wife hibited the operation of bookies, gone even farther. He has acted said to me, "Wait for me, I am abolished dog races and insti- to stop the vending of liquor on going also." Since then, not only tuted such an anti-gambling cru- all trains passing through tl}e has God in His mercy saved my sade as has seldom been seen state. The main line of the Na- wife and myself, but He has also anywhere in the whole country. tional Railways of Mexico, healed my child who was para- The Texas supreme court has carrying many passengers be- lyzed from birth. definitely ruled out lotteries. tween Laredo, Tex., and Mexico The Dallas News, the Houston City, is affected, for the route -Haitian Gospel News. Post, and other leading dailies for many miles lies through have ceased the publication of Coahuila, with a stop at Saltillo, Religious Census in Venezuela racing results. In nearly all of the capital of the state. The govthe several counties voting by ernor gives this explanation for The Government of Venezuela local option recently, liquor has his order: vendors from pass- is making a survey and census been outlawed. Anti-vice squads ing trains have sold intoxicants of all religious work and workare also being called into action. to the villagers along the way, ers in the country, collecting full checking the good work that was data regarding the work of both -Christian Century. being accomplished by means of Catholics and Evangelicals. The prohibition in the country towns. purpose is to decide on some "Church of the Lighted Since the government now con- policy regarding the admission Window" trols the railways, this order of foreign religious workers. should be easy to enforce. No disposition to oppose the The Lutheran Church of the work is indicated, but it is pro- Redeemer in Atlanta, Ga., is -Christian Advocate. posed to fix the number of those gaining state-wide recognition who may be admitted, and when as "The Church of the Lighted From Darkness to Light that n u m b e r is established, Window." It is the custom each others will be admitted only night to light up the large color- A convert from heathenism in when some of those at present in ful front window. The effect of Haiti gave the following testi- the country leave for furlough the window is so unusual that it mony on the occasion of his bap- or other reasons. has attracted the attention of tism: "From my earliest life I people throughout that section. put myself under the protection In view of the tremendous A recent monthly publication of of demons. I built a small house, need, it is hoped that new misthe Georgia Power Company, and furnished it expressly for sionaries may be admitted, espewhich lights the window, car- their reception. I had two sick cially those who are accepted ried front-cover pictures of the children one of which had never and waiting to enter. church with particular reference walked from birth. I spent to its beauty and the unique cus- everything I possessed in pay- -Moody Institute Monthly. tom of lighting the window. ment to the witch doctor and in "Voice of the Andes" The pastor reports that so Senor Manuel Aldama was born in the Basque Province of
Spain, trained for the priest- then asked, "Will you read the they can understand, they are hood, became Professor in the University of Santander, was book if I give to to you?" surprised by songs of deliver- converted to evangelical Chris- tianity in 1925, and after in- "Gladly," said the gentleman, as ance, victory and blessed assur- struction in the Bible Training Institute, Glasgow, was accepted he rose to leave the bus. ance ; they are moved by the by the Evangelical Union of South America, for work in When he had gone, the work- words of sympathy expressed by Lima, Peru. Here he took up the ing man said, "It is a funny the pastor, and cannot believe editorial work of the Mission thing, but that text was my their eyes when they see him press and the translation of the mother's favorite, too. I have mourn with the bereaved fam- Sunday school lessons. His gone a long way on the wrong ily. Thus it is that a Protestant mastery of Spanish and his fa- funeral service conducted in a miliarity with Romanism en- road since those days." The Roman Catholic country is a abled him to contribute largely woman gave him a Gospel of St. great opportunity to put the to the development of the Evan- John, which he promised to read, truth of the Gospel before the gelical Church of Peru. and went on her way praying people.
Recently, a call has come to that both might be touched by About 2,000 people assembled him to full-time cooperation in the Word that giveth Light." the only Evangelical broadcast- ing station in South America, La -Life of Faith. for the funeral of a young Voz de los Andes (The Voice of mother, whose last words were, the Andes). This Voice of the Andes operates from Qui t 0, The Gospel in Spain "Whether I die or live, I am the Ecuador, and was established Lord's." The Mayor, the Town some five years ago by an inde- Opinion is divided as to the Council, the teaching staff of the pendent worker from Chicago. religious outlook in Spain. Some high school with their 400 chil- believe that opportunity for Gos- dren, and many notables had The Board of the Evangelical pel teaching will be assured if gathered to pay homage to the Union of South America is set- the government wins, while deceased. The first meeting be- ting Sr. Aldama free for this others are convinced that the gan at the home; another meet- special service. He will combine government is not only anti- ing followed at the Mission Hall, with this ministry some service clerical, but anti-Christian. Rep- and the last one took place in for the British and Foreign resentatives of Anglican and Bible Society throughout the Re- Free Churches of Great Britain the cemetery. At each place the public of Ecuador. went to Spain recently to gain Gospel was listened to by thou- first-hand information. They sands who had followed the pro- -The Christian. were given full liberty of move- ceedings from half-past one till ment, and upon returning to five o'clock in the afternoon. As EUROPE England reported as follows: a result, the evangelist had many requests for interviews. . "The Entrance of Thy Word" We found no evidence of an organ- -Belgian Gospel Mission. A member of the Pocket Tes- ized "Godless" propaganda such as tament League was riding in an exists in Soviet Russia. We were un- Paul's Speech on Mars Hill English bus with two other pas- able on inquiry to hear of any carica- sengers – an elderly business Unlike the ancients, tourists man and a working man. The tures of God, of Christ, or of the who go to Athens are not search- business man leaned across the Virgin and Saints, such as have been ing for "some new thing," but bus and asked the woman, features of "anti-God" propaganda in for things associated with the "Would you like to read my other countries. On the other hand, past. With this in view, one of paper?" "Thank you," she said. members of our party found copies of Mr. Rockefeller's projects has "Would you like to read my the Scriptures offered freely for sale been the restoration of the Par- book," holding out the New Tes- on street bookstalls. The situation in thenon; and because it is fitting tament. He took it, and after regard to religion in Spain was that something far more signifi- glancing at the page said, "Why summed up to us by a very acute cant than the friezes of Praxit- did you give me this?" "Why English observer of dispassionate eles should be remembered, Mrs. did you give me the paper?" she views, one who knows Spain well and Josephine Demas, daughter of countered. "Because the news is is himself a practicing Catholic, in the one of the most famous archi- interesting this morning," he following terms :-"There is a strong said. "My book is interesting anti-clerical movement but no anti- every morning." He looked God movement in Spain." again at the book. "This is my mother's favorite text, John -The Christian. 5: 24. It is years since I have read it." The P. T. L. member Evangelizing at Funerals tects in Athens, has urged upon the municipality the enshrining Great is the astonishment of of Paul's speech in the rock of Catholics in Belgium when they Mars Hill. T~e press an~ a attend their first Protestant number of emment Athemans funeral. They are familiar with – have. backed the proposal ~nd the pomp and ceremonies of the dIrector of.the A~cheologlCal their own funerals, the mo- Bureau has gIven hIS endorse- notonous recital of the Latin ment. He says that £350 to £400 liturgy, the gestures of the offi- is ne.e~ed,. and h.e hopes .that t~e ciating priest and his apparent ~umc}pahtr ~Il~ prOVIde ~~IS indifference to grief. At a Prot- relatIvely mSIgmficant sum.
estant funeral they hear things -Christian Advocate.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Paid Persecutors in Galicia Church has extended its serv- while Pravda laments the inac- ice and the social side of the tivity of the "Godless League." The National Lutheran Coun- Church as a colony center has cil is authority for the report not been neglected. Spiritually, This new life is particularly that agitators in Poland are be- there are the regular services noticeable in the country. Heads ing paid approximately 120 zloty the Church Festival6bservances' of collective farms even conduct per month to persecute members and th?se on national holidays; Church Councils, and other colof the Lutheran Church and MemOrIal Day, Fourth of July lective farms permit Bible readcompel them to return to the Thanksgiving Day and the like: ing, ch?ir singing, and evening Catholic Church from which The names of Ambassador W. entertam~nts. It is also anthey originally came. In a re- E. Dodd and Consul-General nounced that the number of cent legal process it was re- General Jenkins are on the members of the Militant Godless vealed that one such agitator Church Council roll. League has decreased from was offered a bonus of 50 zloty 5,000,000 in 1933 to less than for every person he succeeded in -Lutheran News. 2,000,000. Five anti-religious intimidating to return. But even though there are constant Religious Freedom in Russia museums in the provinces have difficulties and hardships the been closed. A correspondent Ukrainian peasants are firmly The much-heralded religious in another paper notes that the steadfast, and manifest an ever- freedom promised by the new jeering at religion has largely increasing interest in the Gospel constitution of Soviet Russia gone. turns out to be a disappointof Jesus Christ. ment. Four conditions must be AFRICA Christian Convention in Italy a~op:pvrocvleosd~d,be.if~oorepenaendy. Tchheurpcoh~ Student Alliance in Alexandria The Director of Spezia Mis- htIcal rehabIlIty of the petition- as Young Emgaytpetriiaanlissttiucdaenndtsiarrree~ ers "must be above suspicion." a rule, sion writes: "Those who can go The church must be more than 15 minutes' walk from a school ligious; their education is of the freely to Christian conferences the condition of the building must be above criticism, there sort to make them vain, shallow, and share the fellowship of kin- must be no protest from the local organization of the godless. selfish. For this reason Chrisdred minds know little of the tian work among them advances According to official Soviet grave difficulties to be sur- figures, 14,000 churches and slowly. But a young men's club chapels were closed in 1935 and mounted, the severe testing of 3,700 priests, preachers' and known as the "Christian Alliance other servers of the churches of Young Men," reports some faith, the patience, and the condemned, twenty-nine of them to death. prayers involved in accomplish- progress. On the other hand a renewal mg such a gathering in Italy. of spiritual life is appearing. In Two Bible classes and other the province of Swerdlovsk the prayer – meetings are h e I d But God worked what seemed to population have requested that at~eist propaganda be stopped. us miracles indeed, in breaking ThIS movement began in the in- weekly; Copts, Moslems and dustrial districts, where almost Jews sing hymns together and down obstacles." the whole population consisted of factory workers. Collections Representatives cam e from are held among the workers to study God's Word; the numbers restore the churches and rebuild far and near, and the organizers them. A Czech correspondent are increasing. Two young men wr!tes that !Ie found a newly !Iad their hands full, in arrang- bUIlt church m almost every vil- have been converted recently lage in the neighborhood of Mosmg for the accommodation and cow. In some of the collective one a Copt, one a Greek. ' farms, club buildings are being the meals for those to whom they set up to get the church free The members of this Alliance once more. gave so warm a welcome. are asked to sign a basis stating Religious Interest in Russia T~e supreme point of the Con- that they are uniting with other It seems unquestioned that reventIOn was the service in the ligion is reviving in Russia to a young men who know the Lord degree disturhing to commu- Church of Casa Alberto, which nists. W 0 r l d Evangelization as Saviour, and desire to bring mentions a town of 4,500 which was crowded,-a long and won- has 30 religious organizations, others into the Kingdom. Twelve derful service. It included the baptism of groups of those who members have signed. -Life of Faith. at La Spezia and at Leghorn'
had recently tfhoeuncdelCebhrraitsit~nanodf Medical Service to Felahe'en ended with Dr. Harpur of the Church the Lord's Supper. Missionary Society founded a hospital in Old Cairo 48 years -Life of Faith. ago which is still known 'to Egyptians, especially the fela- American Church in Berlin heen, as "Harmel," a corruption of Dr. Harpur's name. The Despite the fact that the felaheen are a lovable and Ame~ICan Colony in Berlin is friendly people, though ignorant and superstitious; it is from growmg. smaller, the American this class that the majority of Church m that city is growing the patients are drawn. They ~tronger both financially and in are almost overcome by the mfluence. Truly American is strangeness of being put into the "Ladies Aid Society" in the form ?f an active Sewing Guild. The hbrary connected with the
beds with sheets and blankets, favor the Westernization of the ing developments, avoiding un- instead of lying in a dark and country. There is a movement necessary risk and exposure of dirty corner, surrounded with in the Egyptian University to missionaries, and at the same noise and clatter, the talking of introduce compulsory Moslem time gradually reducing ex- relatives and neighbors, and the religious equcation and to abol- penditures in view of the uncer- noise of animals and chickens. ish coeducation. The Dean of tainties of the future.
Arabic texts are painted in red Arts in the University thinks The Italian Minister of For- on the white walls, giving a there is nothing in the Koran eign Affairs has informed the touch of brightness t~ the whole; against coeducation, while the American Ambassador at Rome instead of being thought too Rector of EI-Azhar University is that "The Italian Government much bother to be looked after, against it. has decided not to entrust to for- the patients are treated kindly The Westernizing faction ig- eigners whatever may be the re- by the Egyptian staff of nurses. nores the Ramazan Fast, neg- ligion they profess, the work of Biblewomen and evangelists lects the study of the Koran, establishing schools in terri- have prayers for half an hour in seldom prays in the Masjids and tories of Ethiopia." The com- the mornings in the out-patient encourages their women to dis- munication also states: "Should departments; for those in the card the veil. An article in a pro- foreign missionaries wish to con- wards prayers twice each day. Moslem paper declares that tinue their other humanitarian Recently some of the Egyptian "Most Egyptian households, es- and philanthropic activities, out- men nurses have been singing pecially those in high life, have side the field of education, their hymns and giving a talk on Sun- no prayer-carpet, and no copy requests for permission will be day evenings to the patients in of the Koran, and do not know considered in due time and after the men's hospital. what these are." de jure recognition of the Italian -Life of Faith. -World Dominion Press. empire is an accomplished fact."
Missionaries can scarcely see Faith and Freedom Times of Trial how evangelistic and medical The February number of Protestant missions are rapid- work can be carried on success- Faith and Freedom calls atten- fully without at least some type tion to the new constitution of ly disappearing from Ethiopia. of educational institution. the Soviet Union, in which many Mussolini's own paper, the Gior'- nale d' ltalia, has carried a front -United Presbyterian.
have seen the end of the struggle page story predicting the end of Liberia's Hinterland against church and worship; Protestant work. The Swedish for protection of religious con- missionaries and three Ameri- The native population of Liviction is expressly guaranteed can independent mlSSlOnaries beria, divided into many tribes, in the new project. This in no have been expelled, and the prop- is about 1,000,000 of good, virile erty of the Sudan Interior Mis- stock. The Liberians, who are sense means that a change has sion has been requisitioned. the descendants of liberated Necome about in the attitude of offi- groes brought to Africa by the cial circles towards church and The pastor of the Swedish United States and Great Britain religion, or that the time of per- church in Addis Ababa, Kes Ba- about 120 years ago, now numsecution is past. The Soviet at- dima, has grown old and gray ber about 12,000, and are the titude remains the same. The in the service of his Lord, and ruling group of the country. new policy means that those re- knows what it is to be chained sponsible must carryon with the and driven from place to place The Methodist C h u r c h of eradication of church and reli- for his faith. His son was killed America has been active in gious life, though they must not during the riots. He spoke often spreading the Christian mesthereby injure too greatly the of the keeping power of God, sage, and churches now number religious conviction of the peo- and of his longing for the day 102. The great need is to peneple. Stalin has said, "Why when his earthly pilgrimage trate the thick bush country of should one be actively unmerci- would be ended. He told count- the interior, where live most of ful? One must explain the harm- less people how God had judged the natives who have been pracfulness of religion to the young Ethiopia, and warned the-:n tically unreached with the Goswith patience, and supply them against the final judgment. He pel. A pioneer mission penewith propaganda for a material- encouraged those who were trated for 200 miles to Ganta istic outlook as the only scientific weak, gave liberally to the poor, and there organized a station a one !" Communist patience will and not even the great slaughter few years ago, and a road for 80 in future be set against Chris- of February shook his faith in miles of this distance has been tian and religious patience; but the least. -Alliance Weekly. _ made. For three years a doctor the extirpation of church and and his wife have labored here, religion is still the purpose. Ethiopian Situation then sleeping sickness claimed them and forced them back to The V nit e d Presbyterian Modernism in Islam Board has not been willing to the States. A similar effort by abandon established work in another doctor and his wife was A conflict is going on in Egypt made three years ago to reach between those who would revive Ethiopia unless obliged to do so. the tribes in the hinterland of interest in Islam and those who They have been watchfully wait- Barclayville, sit u ate d in the
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
southeastern corner of Liberia. ble and Prayer Circle, a move- 'the blood of martyrs is the seed Sickness again defeated a fine ment which has grown out of of the Church," for not long aftwork, and the workers have been the evangelistic ministry of Mr. er Rasalama's execution church compelled to return to the States. G. A. Gush, a colporteur-evan- membership increased tenfold, gelist who was at one time a and the adherents twentyfold. The Firestone Rubber Com- farmer, and who was converted pany have cleared 70,000 acres during a mission conducted by -The Chronicle. of jungle and planted it with Gipsy Smith in South Africa, rubber trees, 15,000 acres of about thirty-three years ago. Call for Protestant Unity which are now bearing. This has Those who found Christ through greatly increased prosperity in Mr. Gush are to be found all Dr. Daniel A. Poling, inter- Liberia. over South Africa today; and national president of Christian there are hundreds, especially Endeavor, told a group of hear- -World Dominion Press. among the European population ers in Grand Rapids, Mich., re- of the eastern Cape Province, cently that Protestant Christian- Angola Leper Work where the Prayer Circle has been ity, instead of being in a posi- the result of a hunger for deep- tion to conduct a successful of- A large part of the work con- er spiritual life. fensive against the powerful nected with the Camundong~ forces opposing the Church, Leper Colony, Angola, South Af- The Prayer Circle is an unde- might be unable to maintain its rica, is undertaken by the lepers nominational body made up of own position. Among these opthemselves. It was considered many praying bands in cities, posing forces he cited militant impracticable to send nurses or towns and villages. The differ- Shintoism in Japan; a united orderlies from the station to the ent bands meet on different eve- Hinduism in India, Burma and villages; the more intelligent nings~ and each has its own Siam; a united, world Bud- Christian lepers were therefore method and procedure; but dhism; Mohammedanism, shaktaught to use the hypodermic twice a year there is a large ing off its age-old superstitions; syringe, and to administer chaul- gathering in a central place. the German Neo-pagan movemoogra oil treatment. Only ment, and Communism. Christians, and those who can -Life of Faith. read the Bible and preach the Under the slogan "Christ for Gospel, are sent out. Dlalagasy Centenary the Crisis," Christian Endeavor has adopted a program of ob- Christian lepers have also en- Among this year's centenaries jectives that have to do with gaged in evangelistic work. Re- is that of the martyrdom of Ras- world peace, cooperation in the cently a party, many of them alama, Malagasy Christian, in enactment and enforcement of advanced cases, set out on a the reign of Ranavalona I, "ty- law support for Christian mismission of testimony, traveling rant queen of Madagascar." sions at home and abroad, the from village to village, telling During her reign of thirty-three furtherance of economic justice what had been done for them, years from sixty to eighty pro- and racial good will, and the and preaching the Gospel. This fessing Christians were publicly fight against alcohol and narcombined medical and evangel- put to death; s 0 m e were cotics. istic work is meeting with great speared, others burnt, and many response. -Life of Faith. stoned. Later, 500 died from -Presbyterian Tribune. the poison ordeal. Of those who Congo Prayers voluntarily confessed the i r Interesting Documents Christian faith, 400 officers were A missionary has w r itt e n reduced in rank and 2,000 were The Life of Faith reports that down some of the prayers of fined, while an unknown number half a million private journals men and women in the Congo. suffered privation and under- and letters sent home by mis- Here are two of them. mined health as they hid away sionaries in Africa, India, China in mountain fastnesses, or up and the West Indies, during the We have two hands each full of to their necks in rice bogs. last 140 years are to be reclassiseeds, seeds of goodness and seeds of fied by experts and preserved in evil. Day by day we scatter thfs8 Rasalama, 39 years of age, fireproof rooms at Livingstone seeds. Father in lieaven, help us to sang cheerfully most of the way House, Westminster, England. fill both hands with good seeds. Daily to her execution, and when This task will take two years. I seem to scatter evil seeds, and as reaching the spot where she was The documents include letters yet I am not worthy to go and tdi to be martyred, she asked per- from the first missionaries to others of Jesus. mission to kneel in prayer, and reach Tahiti, in 1797; from Dr. in that posture she was speared John Philip, who defended the * ** to death. rights of the Kaffirs in South Africa; Robert Moffat, during As the charcoal burns in the fire of Today, Rasalama's cottage his pioneer days in Southern the village smithy, and is consumed as still stands as she left it. There Rhodesia; David Livingstone; it makes the iron hot, so let me burn is a strong church here under Robert Morrison, the first transout in Thy service, 0 God, my King the London Missionary Society, lator of the Bible in Chinese; and Lord. and Christians can worship W. G. Lawes and James Chal- without fear of consequences. mers, of Papua; and from many -Wonderlands. It has been literally true that others.
Young People's Prayer Circle Between 500 and 600 people attended the fifteenth rally of the United Young People's Bi-
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Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information I ~i==============–=-=~ TWENTY-FIVE "BEST BOOKS" IN THE STUDY OF MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS PREPARED BY THE REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D.
Editor of "The Moslem World"; author of "Arabia, the Cradle of Islam," etc., etc.
Shortly after the World War 3. The Origin of Islam in Its signon's Annuaire du Monde a German scholar, Gus t a v Christian Environment. By Musulman. Paris. 1934. Pfannmuller compiled a Hand- Richard Bell. $3.50. Macbook of Literature on Islam and Millan, New York. 1926. 8. Christendom and IrSlam. By missions to Moslems. It com- W. W. Cash. $2.00. Harpprised over four hundred pages The writer gives the back- ers, New York. 1937. and over two thousand titles. ground of the new religion in Since that survey appeared, in- Arabia and indicates the sources A succinct account of the conterest in Islam as a world prob- of its strength and vigor. . tacts between Christendom and lem, and in missions, has not de- Islam and the influence for good creased. For one who has him- 4. Islam: Beliefs and Institu- and ill mutually exerted by Cruself written more than twenty- tions. By H. Lammens. sades and conquests. five books on Islam and Missions 8's. 6d. Methuen, London. to be asked to select twenty-five 1929. 9. An Eastern Palimpsest. By "best" books is therefore some- O. Wyon. 2s. 6d. World what an embarrassing task. A careful analysis of the creed Dominion Press, New York. New books (like new art, new and practice in Islam. Full of 1928. wine, or new violins) are not information and accurate in all always better than the old. Yet its statements. A brief account of missions in the latest view may be the only the Near East with maps and true picture of a scene that has *5. The Legacy of Islam. By statistics. witnessed kaleidoscopic changes. Sir Thomas Arnold and We have therefore selected some Others. Oxford. 1931. *10. Moslem Women Enter a new and some old volumes, while New World. By Ruth scores of others here omitted are A compendium of what the F ran c e s Woodsmall. "best" in their own field. The West owes to Islam in literature, $3.00. R 0 u n d Table titles marked with an asterisk art, architecture, science, phi- Press, New York. 1936. are popular and suitable for losophy and culture. No other younger readers also. book contains such fascinating The most recent book on the material on the "glory of Islam." subject and gives the brighter r. MOHAMMED AND ISLAM: side of the picture. Needs to be 6. The Koran (translated). By supplemented by present-day re- 1. Mohammed the Man and His E. H. Palmer. 80 cents. ports of women – missionaries Faith. By Tor Andrae. Pocket edition. Oxford Uni- who live close to the illiterate Scribners, New Y 0 r k. versity Press, New York. masses. 19.36. 1929. 11. The Moslem World of To- The latest attempt to evaluate The most idiomatic transla- day. Edited by John R. Mohammed's character. It is tion of the Koran with valuable Mott. $2.50. Doran, New fair and discriminating. Shows introduction and good index. York. 1926. how much Mohammed owed to Nestorian Christianity. II. EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF This consists of a series of monographs by missionaries and THE MOSLEM WORLD: orientalists on present-day as- pects of the problem, education, *7. Across the World of Islam. the press, medical work, etc. By S. M. Zwemer. $3.00.
2. Mohammed and the Rise of Revell & Co., New York. III. MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS: Islam. By D. S. Margo- 1929. liouth. $2.50. Putnam, THEIR VALIDITY, HIS- New York. 1905. A statistical and political sur- vey of the Moslem world and its TORY AND CHARACTER. The best brief life story of the missionary opportunity. Lacks Prophet; fully documented from a clJ,apter on the Near East and *12. Henry Martyn, Confessor original sources. should be supplemented by Mas- of the Faith. By Con- stance E. Padwick. S. C. M., London. 1922.
Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the R~IllW publishers on receipt of price.
[510 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
The best life of the first mod- it deserves special mention. Full They teach a lesson without the ern missionary to Islam. of inspiration. necessity of pointing a moral. Children, parents and teachers 13. Modern Movements Among 21. The Arab at Home. By Paul will find these tales delightful Moslems. By S. G. Wil- and helpful. son. $1.50. Revell, New W. H a r r i son. $3.50. York. 1916. Africa and Christianity. By Diedrich Crowell, New York. 1924. Westermann. 221 pp. $2.25. Ox- Excellent, especially on Iran, ford University Press. New York. but not quite up-to-date. One of the best books for the 1937.
*14. The Persian Journey of the study of the Arab mind and soul Dr. Westermann of Berlin, Rev. Ash ley Wishard, the author of "Africa Today," is etc. By Elgin Grosclose. by one who has lived close to this one of the best-informed and $2.50. Bobbs – Merrill, people and loves them. . most interesting writers on Af- Indianapolis. 1937. rica from a Christian point of *22. The Expansion of Islam. view. He is professor of African A novel full of missionary ap- By W. W. Cash. 38.6d. languages at the University of peal and interest. Edinburgh House Press, Berlin and the material here London. 1929. presented was given in the Duff 15. History of the Arabian Mis- Lectures in Scotland in 1935. sion. By Mason & Barney, An excellent, popular general The author dwells on aspects of 25 East 22d Street, New survey. missionary work in Africa and York. the change this work is bringing 23. The Eclipse of Christianity about in the character, culture An account of thirty years' in Asia. By L. E. Browne. and condition of the people. He pioneer effort in the hardest of $3.50. Cambridge Uni- shows the old and new standards Moslem lands. versity Pre s s, London. and ideals in family and commu- 1935. nity life; the influence of Euro- 16. Vital Forces of Christianity pean commerce and control; the and Islam. 3s. 6d. Oli- Here is the history of Islam's changes in religious faith and phant, Anderson & Fer- penetration and spiritual con- practice-from superstition, ig- rier, London. 1915. quest of those lands in Asia norance, fear, to belief in God as where the Crescent has super- presented by missionaries. Dr. Six studies by missionaries to seded the Cross. Scholarly yet Westermann includes a chapter Moslems on Method of approach most interestingly written. on Christianity vs. Competition to the Moslem heart. with sects, with Islam and with 24. The Crescent in Northwest secularism-not c h e e r i n g to 17. Indian Islam. By Murray China. By G. Findley An- read; the growth of the Church; T. Titus. 12s. 6d. Ox- drews. China Inland Mis- and the production of Christian ford Press, New York. sion, London. 1922. literature. He does not hesitate 1930. to criticize missions construc- Sketch of Missions in North- tively as a friend. A scholarly survey of the his- west China. tory, character and peculiarities The information is general of Islam in India, its distribu- 25. A Desert Journal. By Evan- rather than specific for Africa is tion, and its present-day in- geline French & Mildred too large a continent to be sucfluence. Cable. $3.00. China In- cessfully dealt with in one short land Mis s ion, German- volume. For a general view, 18. Temple Gairdner of Cairo. town. 1934. however, this volume is highly By Constance E. Padwick. commended. It shows the prob- $3.00. Macmillan, New This book is a type of many lems and the progress noted in York. 1929. that tell of the daily life of Mos- two centuries of modern mis- lems and their attitude toward sions in Africa; also the forces The life of a versatile, schol- Christians in the great unoccu- for and against Christ and the arly and devoted missionary by pied areas. Church, forces that must largely one who is herself doing work determine the future of this for Moslems in all lands through OTHER RECENT BOOKS great continent. Christian literature. Stocking Tales. A Book of Stories Ablaze for God. By Mary W. Dunn 19. The Reproach of Islam. By for Children. By J. T. Stocking. Pattison. 317 pp. 38. 6d. Japan Temple Gairdner. C. M. Illustrated by Winifred Bromhall. Evangelistic Band, London. 1937. S., London. 119 pp. $1.25. Pilgrim Press. Boston. 1937. This is the biography of Paget There is no better textbook for Wilkes written by his sister. all who desire to know Islam as Dr. Stocking is a prince of Wilkes was born in Suffolk in it is and Christianity as it ought story-tellers, with lit era r y 1871, was educated at Oxford to be in witnessing for Christ. charm, a truly Christlike spirit, with Temple Gairdner, J. H. Not a lukewarm book, but full of imagination and a love for chilfire. dren. He fascinates adults and young people as well. His death *20. Young Islam on Trek. By has brought a great loss as his Basil Mathews. 25 cents. life was a great blessing to Friendship Press, New many. These stories are a mix- York. 1926. ture of fairy tale and parable.
This earlier textbook for mission study is so well written that
Oldham and Stuart Holden and the Plan of Union between Pres- meet are not so ready to be led." went to Japan to work with Bar- byterianism and Congregational- Doubtless Dr. Wilson has also clay Brocton in 1897. Later he ism and the controversy growing met many utterly indifferent to became the leader of the Japan out of it. the Word of God, who needed to Evangelistic Band, an undenom- be a wakened to a sense of sin. inational movement which em- Part Two is made up of docu- This is probably a selection of phasized direct evangelism and ments illustrating the frontier certain experience.'3 that show the "Second blessing." He was work of the Pre s b y t e ria n the great truth to be presented a man of great ability and of churches-an immense wealth of in Bible words to sinners, namepure devotion, whose motto source material. It is of course ly the way of justification and might well have been Henry ·only a fraction of what is avail- peace through the atoning death Martyn's "Now let me burn out able and a vast deal is of neces- of Christ. These true sketches for God." He mastered the Jap- sity omitted, many times as are very informing because they anese language and he inspired much as could be included; one show how thousands of people his associates, both Japanese and would rather have some of the who have gone to church and foreign, with his own zeal, and omitted material than that which have read the Bible for years, his consecration and sacrifice is included, some, for example, have never really understood the were a stimulus to many in the from the records of the old Penn- Gospel that Christ died for the missions of the British and sylvania presbyteries and from remission of sin, and that we American churches. At home, the period and area covered in are not saved by our own goodin England or in Canada or in Waddell's "Annals of Augusta ness, but by faith in Jesus South Africa, he conducted mis- County, Virginia, from 1726 to Christ. That is the one thing sions for the conversion of non- 1871." But we are grateful for that stands out in this book. We Christians and for the deeper the mass of old documents which must add this also that readers life of Christians. He was a Dr. Sweet has presented. They will be convinced that most Church of England evangelical enable us to enter intelligently Christians do not sufficiently and was a notable illustration of into the religious atmosphere of recognize the sinfulness of sin, the great body of British Chris- our country a century, and a cen- and the necessity of the shedding tians who move out on their own tury and a half ago, to realize of Jesus' blood; therefore they lines beyond the bounds of de- the social and cultural conditions do not feel impelled to seek the nominational action. He had the of that early time and, by such salvation of others. Finally, this Keswick mind, with a turn of a term of comparison, to see how book shows that Christians his own, and he served his Mas- far on we have come in true re- ought to know their Bibles and ter with his whole heart and ligion and Christian charity. be able to diagnose a soul's need mind and soul and strength. T9 and offer the remedy. We should read such a life is to have one's ROBERT E. SPEER. definitely study the book with own lethargy and reticence :r:e- this in mind. We may well note buked and to feel the glow of the The Romance of a Doctor's Visits. the Scripture passages used. New Testament discipleship at By Dr. Walter L. Wilson. 128 pp. Dull is the conscience of the work amid the conditions of our Is. Pickering & In~lis. London. Christian, either at home or on own day. 1937. the mission field, that will not be moved to personal work by read- Religion on the American Frontier. This small, easy-reading vol- ing this book. Vol. II, The Presbyterians, 1783- ume is one of the "World-Wide 1840. By William Warren Sweet. Library of Famous G 0 s pel FRANK LUKENS. 939 pp. $3.50. Harper & Brothers, Books." The author is a physi- New York and London. 1936. cian of some years' experience Consider Him. By Vance Havner. who but devotes much of his $1.00. American Bible Conference This volume by Dr. Sweet of time to Christian ministry. For Association. Philadelphia, Pa. 1937. the University of Chicago is the a number of years he regularly broadcast the morning Bible les- For those that like a "stimsecond in a series dealing with son over the radio station of the ulus" in Bible study and meditathe different denominations on Kansas City Star, and was said tion and desire a greater fellow- to have an audience of a million ship with the Spirit of God, this the early American frontier. people. book will be of great help. In it we find one hundred medita- The first volume dealt with the Here are twenty-eight short tions on some of the great pas- Baptists and the third is to deal pen-pictures of different persons sages of the Bible. These mediwit h the Congregationalists. seeking salvation whom he led tations were gathered by a Part One (125 pages of this to assured faith by use of Bible pastor from his everyday "walk volume) deals generally with passages. The cases represent and talk" with the Master and American Presbyterianism at all sorts and conditions of life, with his people in the parish. the close of the Revolution, the but the need and the solution In a book form they will inspire Presbyterians and Westward are practically the same in all. a much greater parish. To min- Expansion, the cultural and edu- The first impression on the read- isters they will serve as seeds of cational influence of the Presby- er is that everyone of these peo- thoughts for sermons. terians in the Early West, re- ple were seekers, conscious of vivalism and Presbyterian con- their sin, and wanting peace. A. H. PERPETUO. troversy, and the operation of Some may say, "The people I
Books Obituary Notes The
Across Africa in a Lorry. W. B. Red- (Concluded from page 449.) A weekly religious newspaper in mayne. 128 pp. $1.40. Zondervan. Grand Rapids. Dr. Edward M. Poteat, prominent its lo6th year of continuous pub- in Baptist work both North and South Books for the Traveler or Sojourner for two generations, died June 26, at Iication under the same name. in China. Harriet Hardison Rob- Raleigh, N. C. After a period of son. 24 pp. 25 cents. American years as preacher, college president, It is conservative and evangel- Council, Institute of Pacific Rela- and denominational worker, he went tions. New York. to China to be a professor in Shang- ical, gets its news by telegraph hai College. His son, Gordon Poteat, is Burmese Brothers. Story Lessons professor in Shanghai College; an- and keeps abreast of the times. for Little Children. Eleanor Mar- other son, Edwin M. Poteat, Jr., is a tin. 42 pp. 6d. S. P. G. London. prominent pastor in Raleigh. It goes into every state of the Union, the District of Columbia, Fun, Fear and Faith. The Story of *** the Church in Burma. Ruth Hen- and U. S. possessions. rich. 91 pp. 18. S. P. G. London. Dr. Danjo Ebina, Professor Emer- itus of Doshisha University, died in It goes to Asia and AFrica, South Cycle of Prayer and Praise, 19'37-38. Tokyo, on May 22. He first learned 100 pp. 68. S. P. G. London. about Christ from Gapt. L. L. Janes, America, Canada and New Zealand and afterwards was a member of the Christ of the Countryside. Malcolm first graduating class of Doshisha in and into twelve countries of Eu- Dana. 128 pp. $1.00. Cokesbury. 1879. He founded the Hongo Congre- Nashville. gational Church in Tokyo, was its rope. pastor until 1920 when he became Communism. John Horsch. 30 pp. university president. He was the Subscription Price, – 15 cents. B. I. C. Assn. Chicago. author of many books on Christianity. Ministerial Rate, The Land of Umbrellas. Lessons on *** the Church in Burma. Ruth Hen- 50c. extra—Canadian postage rich. 92 pp. Is. S. P. G. London. Emile Doumergue, for 66 years the leader of the French conservative $1.00 extra—foreign postage Flaming Milestone. Report of the theological group, died recently in World's Conference of the World France at the age of ninety-three. He THE PRESBYTERIAN Alliance of the Y. M. C. A.'s. 115 was the author of the Life of Calvin pp. World's Committee, Y. M. C. A. in seven volumes, and contributed 1217 Mark..t: Str….t, Philad..lphia, Pa. Geneva. editorially to the leading journal of Protestantism in France. He was not ciety, and president of the Bible Highland Heritage. Edwin E. White. in favor of church union for the sake League of North America. 196 pp. $1.00, cloth; 60 cents, of union. His was the phrase: "Fu- paper. Friendship Press. New sion without proper evangelical basis *** York. is nothing but confusion." Sir J. Charles Clegg, president of Is Not This a Brand? Percy Rush. *** the British Temperance League for 96 pp. Is. Pickering & Inglis. sixty-three years, died at Sheffield, London. Mrs. Elizabeth Murdoch Poage England, June 26. His most recent entered into rest at her home in Co- efforts in the cause of temperance was An Introduction to the New Testa- lusa, California, on July 4, at the age the preparation of a booklet, "Out to ment. Edgar J. Goodspeed. 362 of sixty–one. For forty years Mrs. Win." pp. $2.50. University of Chicago Poage had been an officer of the Press. Chicago. Sacramento Presbyterial and for nine *** years was president. The loss of her Little Talks to Little Folks. Charles service is keenly felt for she had been John T. Underwood, founder of the A. Puncker. 92 pp. Is. Pickering faithful in the performance of re- Underwood Typewriter Co., and & Inglis. London. sponsibilities both little and great. brother of Dr. Horace G. Underwood of Korea, died July 2. Mr. Under- Lessons in Soul Winning. Will H. Dr. Frederick H'" . W* ri*ght, who ren- wood was a former member of the Houghton. 23 pp. Free. Moody Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- Bible Institute. Chicago. dered effective service in both the sions, president of the Buckhorn As- heme and foreign work of the Metho- sociation of Kentucky, and a generous Medical Missions at Work. H. P. dit<: Episcopal Church, died June 11 supporter of work in Korea. Thompson. 82 pp. Is. S. P. G. in Ocean Grove, N. J., aged seventy- London. eight. He served as past)!· of the Gifts during his lifetime were con- Methodist Church in Rome from 1899 tinued in numerous bequests, among More Sources of Power in Famous to 1905. Some years later he becama them: $50,000 each to the Buckhorn Lives. Walter C. Erdman. 160 superintendent of the Italian Mission Association and to Chosen Christian pp. $1.00. Cokesbury Press. Nash- Conference under the Board of Home College; $20,000 to the Orphan ville. Missions and Church Extension. Asylum Society of Brooklyn; $10,000 each to the Lafayette Avenue Presby- Work of the Chaplain in the Civilian Mrs. Thomas *E. * Ba*rber, former terian Church of Brooklyn, the Pres- Conversation Corps. Col. Alva J. byterian Board of Foreign Missions, Brasted. 48 pp. Command & Gen- missionary in the Columbia Mission, the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities and eral Staff School Press. Ft. Leaven- Presbvterian, U. S. A., died in the the Brooklyn Museum. worth, Kansas. Pasad"ena Hospital, Pasadena, Cali- fornia on June 2. Most of Mrs. Bar- *** Women of the New Testament. ber's time during her 25 years on the Abraham Kuyper. $1.00, cloth; 65 field was spent in educational and Rev. Wilhelm Zoellner, D.D., for- cents, paper. 95 pp. Zondervan evangelistic work at Barranquilla, Bo- mer head of the Church Affairs De- Pub. Co. Grand Rapids. gota and Medellin. partment of the Nazi government and one-time leader in the ecumenical The West Indies. H. P. Thompson. *** movements of Stockholm and Lau- 70 pp. 18. S. P. G. London. sanne, died at Duesseldorf, July 17. Mr. William Philips Hall, for 26 The World, the Church and You. years president of the American Tract When, in December, 1936, Hitler Outlines for Group Study. 34 pp. Society, died on August 14 at Walling- ,rarned Nazi leaders to cease their at- 3d. Edinburgh House Press. Lon- ford, Conn., in his seventy-third year. tacks upon Christianity, part of the don. Mr. Hall was born at Stamford, credit was given to Dr. Zoellner, who Conn., on February 1, 1864. He was was reported to have warned the gov- Yahrbuch Der Ostasien Mission. 96 the founder and for many years the ernment that its anti-Church program pp. Allgemeiner Evangelische-Pro- president of the Hall Signal Co., vice- had gone too far. tantische Missionsverein. Berlin, president of the American Bible So- Germany.
The Man that Changed the World. Frederick B. Fisher. 208 pp. $2.00. Cokesbury Press. Nashville.
~o Noi MU4 A DAILY USE
THE •.. Cbt lIPPtf Room (America's Leading Devotional Guide) MOSLEM Will Lift the CONTENTS OF THE WORLD Level of the OCTOBER-NOVEMBER- Sfiritual Life A Christian Quarterly Review of o Any Church DECEMBER ISSUE Current Events, Literature and and Its Homes Thought Among Mohammedans Inte,.pretation of COf)er Picture, "Christ amont the Lowl," Editor: SAMUEL M. ZWEMER October 1-9 SOME ARTICLES IN THE The Christian and His Home OCTOBER NUMBER October 10·20 Herbert Udny Weitbrecht Stanton The Christian and His God By Samuel M. Zwemer Octobe,. 21-21 Missionary Adventure in the Sahara The Christian and the Christ By Dugald Campbell Octobe,. 28-31 Northern Nigerian Opportunity The Christian and the Holy Spirit By H. G. Farrant NOf)ember 1-6 Islam in India The Christian and Social Responsi. bility By James W. Sweetman NOf)ember 1-13 Moslem Women of North Africa Foundations for a Stable and Peace. By Frances E. Roberds ful Society The Joy of Preaching to Moslems N of)ember 14-20 By Stephen Khoobyar The Kingdom of God and the So· cial Order The Political Fortunes of Islam By G. L. Schanzlin NOf)embe,. 21-21 The Spirit of Thanksgiving and Hitti's History of the Arabs the Social Order By Nabih A. Faris NOf)ember 28-30 Also Book Reviews, Current Top. Working Together with God ics, Survey· of Periodicals, and the Index for the Year. December 1-11 The Christian and His Attitudes SUBSCRIBE NOW December 12-18 50 Cents a Copy. $2.00 a Year (postpaid) The Christian and His Daily Walk THE MOSLEM WORLD December 19-25 156 Fifth Ave., New York City "Unto Us a Saviour Is Born"
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The Missionary Review of the World — September 1937
1937
Beaten But Unconquered……in China James P. Leynse The Use of Chinese Gospel Posters R. w. Porteous Experiences in the Papuan Bush Russell W. Abel Work in Ethiopia and the Sudan Tom Lambie The Conquering Power of Christ Julius Richter Women's Work in the Country Church Mrs. James D. Wyker An Arab Consults a Missionary Doctor A Monologue by James Cantine 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember Reda;m;ng an abandoned church in cenlralIllinois
September 13-1S-C 0 n fer en c e on Those Abandoned Churches • • • Presbyterian Church and the Jew. Princeton Theological Seminary. that dot the hillsides and valleys of rural YOU ARE PRIVILEGED America to-day-more than ten thousand of to sponsor this marvellous October 2-6 – Triennial Convention. them-are a challenge to Christian people of work "With Christ along Women's Missionary Society of the the Old Back Road." United Lutheran Church in Amer- all Evangelical denominations. Some are only evi- $12.50 annually maintains ica. Buffalo. dences of changed conditions. Many others mark the the work of one Sunday retreat of Christian forces. School Class. SUMMER CONFERENCES AND $25.00 annually maintains SCHOOLS OF MISSIONS The vast majority of Christian people living in cities the work of a Sunday School. and towns do not understand the serious rural need $50.00 annually maintains September 20-24-Southern California of the hour. Neither do they realize that in countless the work of an unreached (Los Angeles). Mrs. H. M. Horn, instances the A.S.S.U. has met and is meeting that community. 1955 Carmen Ave., Los Angeles, need. Old church bells are pealing again, calling $100.00 annually maintains Calif. young and old to thousands of Union Sunday Schools. the work in any given county. September 20-24 – Minnesota (Min- In a fine old brick church in a prosperous farming $1,200.00 annually fully neapolis-St. Paul). President, Mrs. section of east central Illinois, an A.S.S.U. Mission- supports a consecrated and Charles L. Grant, 610 Aurora Ave., ary recently organized a Sunday School. Thirty-six aggressive A. S. S. U. Mis- St. Paul, Minn. attended the first meeting. Three weeks later the sionary. attendance reached sixty. Now the people have pur- Will your Prayers and yout September 7 – October 1 – D a 11 a s, chased an electric lighting plant, and evening serv- support go with us to this Texas. Pres., Mrs. E. R. Alderson, ices are being conducted by a regular minister. In needy field? 561 Goodwin St., Dallas, Texas. scores of other instances, work reclaimed by our ministry has been turned back to the proper September 27 – October 1 – Houston, denomination. Texas. Dean, Mrs. A. B. Haynes, 618 Highland Ave., Houston, Texas. Evangelical in purpose, non-sectarian in method. and true to the Word of God, theA.S.S.U. is actively September 28-30-A n n u a 1 Interde- engaged in this national ministry of restoring wor- nominational Missionary Institute, ship to rural churches in forty States. Will YOU help? Woman's Interdenominational Union of Philadelphia and Vicinity. First Baptist Church, Philadelphia.
October 5-6-Warren, Ohio. Mrs. George Konold, 314 Scott St., N. E., Warren, Ohio.
October 21- Baltimore, Md. Mrs. David D. Baker, 410 N. Calhoun St., Baltimore, Md.
!In the £un~ ot gonuh un~ His qou'£~ Home Letters of AMERICAN DEPARTMENT OF MISSIONS, R8l7 MARGARET DEAN McDOWELL 1816 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sunday I wish to sponsor the work of the A. S. S. U. with the , She left a Chicago schoolroom to or- unreached millions of Rural America. ganize a cooperative laundry for refu- School Enclosed find $ ___ to be used for________ _ gees in Mesopotamia—and made it pay. Union ) Send your Quarterly Field Magazine – "The Sun- , She made friends with the sheikh of day School Missionary" a tribe of "devil-worshipers" who have an ancestral taboo against education- ( ) Mail your Booklet on Annuities. and he sent his children to her school. ( ) Send Sample Sunday School Literature. Name _____________ – – __ – ____ – , She met great ones of the earth-and in treeless Mosul spent hours creating Address _________ – _ – – – – – – – _ – – – a Christmas "tree" so that the children City ______________ State ______ _ should not be disappointed. 4 CHRIST ALONG THE OLD BACK ROAD , She began modern Christian educa- ESTABLISHED 1817 PIONEER SUNDAY SCHOOL ORGANIZATION OF THE USA tion for girls in Mosul-and many rise up and call her blessed. Personal Items one-half years of service as he says that he is "no longer able to recom- , Particularly valuable in connection The Rev. A. C. Snead, Foreign Sec- mend the Board as a Presbyterian with the coming year's study of Mos- retary of the Christian and Mission- missionary agency." Mr. Woodbridge lem lands. ary Alliance, sailed for a tour of was formerly a missionary in West South American mission fields on July Africa, representing the Presbyterian Price: cloth, $I .00; paper, 60 cents 27. He expects to visit Jamaica, Co- Church in the United States of Amer- lombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, The ica, from which he resigned in 1Q33. Order from Argentine and Puerto Rico, returning home on December 7. Mr. Snead ••• THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF earnestly requests the prayers of THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. U. S. A. Christian people for God's blessing on Dr. Ralph E. Diffendorfer, corre- his mission to these important fields sponding secretary of the Methodist 156 Fifth Avenue New York, N. Y. where the Christian and Missionary Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions, Alliance carries on work. sailed on Saturday, June 12, for Italy FOR SALE-28 new black poplin and Central Europe, where there are pleated choir gowns; academic style, • • • . Rev. Charles J. Woodbridge, Gen- pressing problems. Dr. Diffendorfer $3.75 each; Iblack mortarboard caps, $1.50 has announced an anonymous gift of each. M. R. W. LINDNER, 425 Seventh eral Secretary of the Independent 100,000 Reichmarks-approximately Ave., New York. Board for Presbyterian Foreign Mis- $25,000-for the work in Germany. It sions, has resigned after three and will be used chiefly for improvements (Concluded on page 448.)
MISSIONARY and value. It is devoted to the mis-
REVIEW OF THE WORLD sion study topic of the coming year- The Moslem World and the progress DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor of Christianity among Moslems. These articles are by missionaries who have VOL. LX SEPT., 1937 No.9 devoted their lives to the work and who know the conditions from expe- Publication and Business Olllce– rience. Some of the articles are by Third and Reily 8ts., Harrisburg, Pa. those who have come out of Islam and have confessed their faith in Christ Editorial and Executive Olllce– as their Lord and Master. The work 156 Firth Avenue, New York City. in Moslem lands is one of the most Entered as second-class matter at difficult in any field since the Moham- medans are militant in their propa- Post Omce, Harrisburg, Pa., under ganda and as a rule are very bitter Act of March 3, 1879. antagonists against those who pro- claim Christ as the Son of God and 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. only Saviour through His death on Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. the cross. A list of the articles pre- Published monthly, except August. pared for our special number will be All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. found on the fourth cover of this is- British agents – Marshall, Morgan sue. It is advisable to order copies of and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, the October REVIEW immediately. London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, 10 shillings a year. PARENTS ••• When the good work MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- In the Foreign Mission Field calls you East … saH LISHING CO., INC. Endorse Calvert School p&O BOARD OF DIRECTORS Home Study Courses ROBERT E. SPEER, President This year marks a full century of P & 0 A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President for Children service to the lands beyond Suez! WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer Whenever you are called to the other DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary Calvert School, through its Home Iustruc- side of the world, choose this tradi- tion Department, will give your child a tional route. Cross to England by SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT superior elementary education … by mail, Cunard White Star •.• and there embark in a great liner of the P & 0 WILLIAM 1. CH..umEBL£IN regardless of where you may live. Mod- and British India fleets, led by the D. J. FANT ern, approved courses from this famous new 22,5oo-ton Strathnaver, Strath- school are being used by parents all over aird and Strathmore. Regular service MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD to Egypt, Sudan, Persian Gulf, India, WM. B. LIPPHARD the world with outstanding success. Burma, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, ERIC M. NORTH China, Japan, Australia" East and SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Give your children the advantages of these South Africa, Mauritius. Low rates.
Editorial Chat interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, Convenient through bookings can be arranged and attractive materials. Instruction is by your local travel agent or any office of The unusual situation in China is a under the personal guidance of teachers in very disturbing factor to missionaries, Calvert's prominent and successful private CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE the Chinese Christians and to all interested in the development of that day school in Baltimore. GENERAL AGENTS great land and people. What Christians can do most effectively is to t Write today for booklet of complete in- '25 Broadwayand638 Fifth Ave., New York pray for the afflicted people that all may witness a good confession, and formation. Costs are low. stand true to the highest Christian principles. The editorial "Topic of CALVERT SCHOOL the Times" and the articles in this 180 E. Tusc:any Road number by Mr. James P. Leynse, of Peiping, and Mr. Porteous will be Baltimore -0- Maryland read with deep interest.
*** The October number of THE RE- VIEW will be one of unusual interest The Minister's Social Primer Basic, Factual Articles Which Deal With New World Economics By WILLIAM L. LUDLOW Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Muskingum College SUBJECTS 1. Marxian Communism 4. German National Socialism 2. Soviet Russia 5. Democracy 3. Fascism 6. Trade Unionism in America 7. Labor Legislation.
The first chapter will appear in the October issue of CHURCH MANAGEMENT, to be published September 17th. Others will follow in order.
Send $1.50 for special seven-months' subscription to secure this social primer so necessary to men in public life. Single copy, 25c.
CHURCH MANAGEMENT Auditorium Building Cleveland, Ohio [401 ]
NATIVES IN THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN
(See article on page 422.) REVIB ORLD VOLUME LX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER, 1937 Topics of the Times LEADERS OR FOLLOWERS? educated for better leadership; they are learning how to keep the mass of the people from drifting There is a loud call today for leadership–for or floundering.
wise leaders, honest leaders, unselfish leaders, It was said of a certain politician: "He would courageous leaders, experienced leaders.. They make a great leader, if only he could persuade are needed in world affairs, in politics and indus- anyone to follow him." There are two requisites: try, in business and philanthropy, in education a wise, strong leader and people intelligent and and religion. How many nations of the world are unselfish enough to follow good leadership. How in a turmoil for lack of proper leadership! In much both are needed today! The Apostle James Cuba, Mexico and many parts of Latin America says: "Be not many teachers-:-or leaders-know- there is almost continual civil war because one ing that we shall receive heavier judgment."
man after another seeks to lead the nation's des- (James 3: 1 R. V.). In many lands, and in many tiny. Europe offers many examples of strong and spheres of life, confusion and conflict arise beweak political leaders. Spain is torn with fratri- cause too many seek to be leaders rather than cidal strife and is drenched with blood because of show a willingness to be followers. We are in- the conflict between rivals who would be leaders clined to forget that "one who would command and rulers. In Germany, Italy and Russia we must first learn to obey."
have examples of headstrong rulers who are in When the late Sadhu Sundar Singh, that re- the saddle and are leading their nations-but markable Christian ascetic of India, was in whither? America, he was asked by one who heard him In Asia the struggle for leadership continues. speak: "Have you any followers in India-any Gandhi and others are striving by different meth- who follow your ideals of life and methods of ods to determine India's destiny. China is bene- service?"
fited by the influence of a strong and intelligent The Sadhu thought a moment and then replied: leader, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, but Japan, "No, I have no followers. I, myself, am a fol- under the control of the military party, is leading lower." In that answer lies the secret of leader- the country to a war that threatens all Asia and ship to meet the needs of the hour.
may involve the world. Jesus Christ did not call men to be leaders; He Similar struggles exist in America. The ques- called them to be followers. He called them to be tion of the type of leadership determines the po- "fishers of men," rather than rulers of men. He litical program in nation and city, spells failure or called them to serve men rather than to exercise success in the conflict between labor and capital, lordship over men. They were called first to be and will bring failure or success in the Christian disciples (learners), then apostles (missionaries).
Church. Who are the leaders? Why do they seek Is not this the great need in the world and in control and whither are they leading? the Church today? What might we expect if, in- Much emphasis is placed today on the training stead of setting up many "leadership conferences,"
of leaders in all departments of life. Leadership we promoted training classes to teach men, wom- training conferences are being held for political, en and children to be good followers? There is one educational and religious workers-and in many safe and sane leader, the Lord Jesus Christ. If of these conferences, men and women are being men and women would sit at His feet to learn of [403 ]
Him; if we would know how to appreciate His has resulted. The Arabs, who are traders and love and His sacrifice; if we could understand cattle-raising nomads rather than agriculturalists His wisdom and accept His standards-then the or industrial workers, have seen their prestige wrongs in our own personal lives, the mistakes in and control threatened. Their racial pride has the family, in the Church, in the State and the been hurt. They have been warlike since the days world might be set right. As we learn of Him of Esau, while Jews are non-militant. Riots and and are ready to follow Him, He has promised to bloodshed have resulted and all Great Britain's give us power to do His work as He gave power diplomacy and military strength "have been reto the early Disciples when the Holy Spirit came quired to maintain some semblance of peace. upon them. Finally a British Royal Commission was ap- The great need today is not more classes to pointed last year to visit Palestine and report on train leaders but more classes and conferences to the most feasible plan for developing the country. teach us to be true followers of Jesus Christ-as Their report shows careful study and a desire to humble Christians, as parents, as business men and solve the difficult problem-but it satisfies neither women, as workers in Church and State, as mis- Jews nor Arabs. The proposal is for a "major sionaries and as executives. In proportion as we operation," to divide the land into three sectionssucceed in learning in this school of Christ, we giving to the Jews about one-third-including the can say with the Apostle Paul to less privileged western border on the Mediterranean, from about disciples: "Be ye followers (imitators) of me twenty miles north of Gaza to Syria and the Lebaeven as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11: 1). non Mountains; giving to the Arabs two-thirds- including the land south of Bethlehem, east of THE PARTITION OF PALESTINE the plains of Judea and across the Jordan River. The British are to retain a small "corridor" from Although almost insignificant in size – only Jerusalem to the sea at Jaffa, and a small circle about the size of New England- Palestine around Nazareth, and with a naval base at Haifa. has the most strategic position of any country in This would mean that the Jews will have the the world. It lies at the crossroads of Asia, Africa Shephelah and the lowlands of the Mediterranean and Europe. The natural wealth of the country, seacoast, where Tel-Aviv and other modern Jewas well as its command of the trade routes be- ish settlements are located; also Mt. Carmel and tween East and West, have made the land a de- practically all of Galilee. The Arabs will have sirable prize. It was this land, enlarged to reach Shechem (Nablus) and Samaria, the country "from the Euphrates to the River of Egypt," that around Hebron, J.ericho, and Beersheba and the God promised to Abraham and his descendants. lands of their ancestors-the Moabites, Ammon- It was many years before the Hebrews gained ites and Edomites. The British retain control of possession and then because of their disobedience, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and the railroad they were conquered and lost control of the coun- to the seaport of Jaffa (ancient Joppa). The try many times. From the earliest days of history Jews and Arabs are both offered independent this little country has been a battleground between states, with representatives in the League of Na- Philistines, Canaanites and Hittites; between tions. Syrians and Egyptians; between Assyrians, Babylonians, and Israelites; between Romans, The Arabs object to this division on three Greeks and Arabians; between Crusaders and grounds: (1) They say that they have possessed "Infidels" ; between the Allied armies in the the land by right of conquest and occupation for World War and the Turks. hundreds of years; (2) they are in a majority and now own most of the land so that it would be Today Palestine is again a scene of strife and a necessary to evacuate 225,000 Arabs from Jewish bone of contention between Arabs and Jews, be- territory; (3) the plan gives the Jews the most tween Christians, Hebrews and Moslems. As a fertile and desirable portions and most of the result of the World War, England was given a seacoast, while the Arabs are assigned to the mandate over Palestine and the Balfour Declara- more arid sections of the mountains and the semition promised the Jews an opportunity to develop wilderness beyond the Jordan. their ancient heritage and to make it a "National Home." The persecuted and ostracized Jews of The Jews find the plan inacceptable: (1) be- Europe have taken the opportunity to return in cause the whole land is theirs by right of divine large numbers. They have built cities, developed promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by ancient farms, made good roads, established schools and inheritance and occupation, and by the Balfour universities, and have taken other steps to im- Declaration; (2) because, being driven out of prove the country and to increase prosperity. But Europe, they need Palestine as a National Home after seventeen years, and in spite of British ef- and they have shown the will and ability to develforts to maintain order, strife rather than peace op the country, which the Arabs have not; (3) because the Arabs are assigned the Jordan Valley
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
I .q z MPDI TER RA NeA N .:.' S£A 4 MEO/TERRA NEA"' .:,'.,'· o .seA " ,,~,_ -0— ,, ," . ,,,/ "oH.ebron ,t EGYPT -, ;<rBeerSheM r—–~~——–~ a ! Ie J' l ' I KEY ~EERSHE8A SU8- DISTRICT t EXTENDING roGUU' 01' AQABA _ Proposed boundaries ", Present boundari es CULTIVATION UNSURVEYEO /JO MIlFI _ Rai /ways —- Roads Courtesy ot "The New York Times"
with all the light and power plants, the Dead Sea material resources used to increase the prosperity and the mountains which are richest in chemicals, of the country. Both Jews and Arabs are so unminerals' and other natural resources. Both par- friendly to the British that they may yet unite ties want Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and oth- against them, as the Pharisees and Herodians er sacred sites. It is as impossible to give both united against Christ. Jews and Arabs all they wish as it is to satisfy both labor and capital, or both communists and God's plan is not yet made clear for His "peim perialists. culiar people" and His chosen land. Any arrange- ment, such as is proposed by the Royal Commis- The plan offered is objected to by many British "sion, can at best be only temporary. God's promise and by people of other lands who take up cudgels to Abraham was: "I will give unto thee, and to for one side or the other. Dr. Chaim Weizmann, thy s~ed after thee, the land wherein thou art a President of the Zionist Movement, finds the pro- stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting posed partition unsatisfactory but thinks that it possession, and I will be their God" (Genesis offers the best solution of any plan suggested up 17: 8). to the present. Dr. Stephen Wise, President of the American Zionists, is utterly opposed to any ECUMENICAL CHRISTIANITY AT OXFORD such surrender of what he terms "Jewish rights." The World Conference on "Life and Work" that Christians as a whole have not entered into the met for two weeks in July at Oxford, England, to controversy, but many Syrian Christians in Pal- consider "The Church, State and Community," estine would prefer to see the Arabs in control brought together some eight hundred delegates because they find it more difficult to get along and associates from many different nations, Ori. with Jewish neighbors. Neither Jews nor Mos- ental churches and Protestant communi:bns. These lems are friendly to Christian mission work; included 100 young men and women from thirty neither one favors Christian or British control; countries, who constituted a special "Youth Secbut both are willing to see Christian ability and
tion" of the Conference; there were also many ments that threaten the efficiency, if not the very delegates from the younger churches of mission life, of the Church. la.nds. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang, was president, and Dr. John R. 2. That the Church consider how to meet and Mott, well known American Methodist layman, overcome the evident purpose in many lands to was Chairman of the Business Committee. The elevate the State to a divine status, thus seeking Conference was much more widely representative to give human rulers more authority than that than that which met at Stockholm in 1925; but accorded Almighty God; also how to correct the there were no German delegates at Oxford, pass- tendency to racial discrimination, social injustice ports having been refused by the Nazi Govern- and the increase of immortality in personal and ment to members of the Confessional Synod. community life.
Many important topics were discussed by the 3. That greater emphasis be placed on the facts Conference in various sections, papers having been that God is the only supreme and ultimate auprepared in advance and "Findings" being pre- thority; that religious liberty is essential to husented for discussion at the general meetings be- man liberty, and that Christians are called of God fore approval. to use their resources to help raise the status of the underprivileged, the oppressed and unlight- Among the disturbing trends in the life of to- ened brothers and sisters of the human race. day were noted: the claim of the State-as in Germany, Italy, Russia and Turkey-to dominate The Conference closed with a united communion and control religion; the growth of secularism in service presided over by the Archbishop of Canall lands at the expense of religion, and the signs terbury, assisted by the Episcopal Bishop of Dorof moral anarchy which threatens the sanctity of nakaI, India. marriage and the home. THE CHINA-JAPAN CONFLICT The members of the Conference applauded those who advocated unity among Christians of all na- Since July 7, the world has been increasingly tions, races and sects; there was emphasized the concerned by another demonstration of the deneed for greater dependence on the guidance and termined military encroachment of one nation of power of God for the solution of all problems. the Far East upon the territory and the sover- Real progress was noted in the growth of friendly eignty of another at a time when other nations understanding between Eastern and Western are too busily occupied to intervene. So much is Churches and between members of French and clear to all the world, to which all further judg- German nationals. There was a call for a united ments may safely be left. And few will condemn Christian front to combat and overcome the in- the militarily weaker nation for deciding that pacrease of militant atheism and of pagan material- tient submission had ceased to be a virtue and for ism in all lands. risking all in self-defense. The infinite pity of the situation is that the blow should fall upon Perhaps the most striking proposal was for the China just at the time when her provinces and formation of a "World Council of Churches" to parties and leaders were heartily uniting in the include all non-Roman Christian churches that work of material and moral reconstruction which wish to join. This will be a world-wide organiza- had been so frequently interrupted during the tion planned and operated on lines similar to the quarter century of the republic. Inspired by the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. courage, wisdom and unselfish patriotism of Gen- It is suggested that it function through an As- eralissimo and Madame Chiang and several likesembly of some two hundred members; its pur- minded associates and by the marvelous deliverpose will be to increase. the ecumenical conscious- ance of their leader from deadly peril in captivity, ness among all Evangelical Christians, and to confident hope of a great future for China had promote cooperation among churches of all na- been rekindled. The appointment of Dr. C. T. tions, races and denominations. This Assembly Wang as Ambassador to the United States and the would meet every year and might give informa- visit of the Minister of Finance, Dr. H. H. Kung, tion service through a World Council Journal; to America and many European countries, have it might also promote world-wide conferences, contributed to a mutually helpful international such as those held this summer at Oxford and friendship, but nothing has prevented the out- Edinburgh. It is hoped that this Council would break of a murderous "undeclared war." represent the "voice of united Christendom"- outside the Roman Catholic Church. The first stages of that war in the driving of provincial forces from the neighborhood of Tient- Among the Findings submitted and approved sin and Peiping, though it involved much slaughby the Conference were the following: ter J)f soldiers and civilians and destruction of valuable property such as the progressive Nankai 1. That the Christian Church meet the present University ~t Ti~Iltsin~ have been trifles as comchallenge of the serious economic situation in all Jands and the anti-religious and secularizing movepared with the terrific conflict which broke out on ning to open as usual. The same is presumably August 14 between rapidly gathering Chinese air true of the College of Chinese Studies (Language and military forces and the Japanese warships School) though the number of new missionaries lying at the Hongkew bund portion of Shanghai venturing into North China this autumn may not International Settlement, where they had no right be large. to be. Their position rendered accidents inevitable, and bombs intended for the warships It was intended to list here the missions at work dropped in the settlement, killing hundreds of in the war zone, but since the scope of the war civilian Chinese and several foreigners including increases daily that would be a hopeless and use- Dr. Frank J. Rawlinson, Editor of the Chinese less task. Recorder, and Dr. Robert Karl Reischauer of Princeton, son of the well-known missionary in In sharp contrast with this dismal picture of Tokyo. Since then by air and land and water, strife and hatred stand out the recent picture of Chinese and Japanese have hurled death and de- Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa of Japan, and Dr. C. Y. struction at each other, and attempts have been Cheng of China, smiling radiantly, with arms made and resisted to carry the war to the national about each other's necks. A later photograph capital, Nanking, and other centers of military shows two girl scout leaders-Chinese and Japaconcentration. nese-in a similar attitude. Let us hold fast to our hope that some day the love of Christ will Many are the predictions as to the outcome, constrain these two peoples, so nearly related, to but such prognostication is futile. If "God is al- love one another and engage heartily in mutual ways on the side of the strongest battalions," upbuilding for the service of the world. China will be once more humbled and crippled. There seems to be little or no prospect of a saving THE COMING GENERATION AND intervention by any or all of the other nations; MISSIONS but the new national spirit of the Chinese people, added to their traditional ability to "conquer by The youth of today sometimes criticize the misabsorption," may bring them safely through this sion boards on the ground that youth is ignored in most fiery trial of their recent history. the planning and direction of the work. They claim that the viewpoint of the younger generation is The outbreak having come in midsummer, ignored in religion, while it is sought in business, when many missionaries were absent on vacation, in politics and in social movements. when many had left on furlough and new missionaries had not arrived, the problem of protection All acknowledge that the future of mission work and evacuation has been comparatively small. is vitally linked with the rising generations. It Only a few who occupy key positions on the field is dependent on new life being constantly supare now being returned to China, though some plied, infinitely more than it is dependent on new who had sailed before the crisis became acute will money. probably be diverted to other opportunities for service until the way is open to the old field. The But are the young men and women of this commissions in the Philippines will gladly absorb a ing generation taking an interest in vital Christia'1 large number. At this writing evacuations of work as they are in politics, sport, economics and missionaries have been very few, but the Boards social reform? In how many churches are the and the field agencies are on the alert and pro- youth a strong factor? How much are young peovided with authority and funds to meet all needs. ple as a class willing to sacrifice for the Cause of Except as mentioned above, no missionary lives Christ? How many are ready to do personal work have been lost, or property seriously damaged. on spiritual lines? Are they trained to accept and practice fundamental Christian ideas and stand- It is well to remind ourselves that the situation ards? How many of the present generation of differs widely from that of the Boxer Outbreak students would sacrifice ambition and prospects in 1900. Then, all foreigners were the object of of business advancement to start and carry forannihilative attack by the "Boxers" and the Chi- ward a Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign nese imperial troops; now neither combatant will Missions or a Young People's Missionary Moveintentionally injure the citizens of any neutral ment? Have they the idealism, the courage, the nation. Apart, therefore, from the "accidents of ability, the faith to undertake such work, in face of discouragement and opposition? warfare," the ambassadors of Christ are not considered to be in serious peril. We believe that multitudes of the youth of to- day will respond to this challenge if it is rightly Latest reports from North China state that all presented. They must first be conscious of their is quiet in and near Peiping and that Yenching own debt to Christ and acknowledge His suprem- University northwest of the city and the North acy over their lives. They must realize the need China American School at Tungchow are plan- of the world and the ability of Christ to supply that need. When they see this as clearly as they of Nations. This is the missionary enterprise of the future. see the need for world peace, for social justice, One contributor takes exception to this view, for economic improvement and for better race re- and rightly if we are to be guided by Christ's ideals and objectives as they are presented in the lations, then they will respond as enthusiastically New Testament. This contributor says: and sacrificially to the call of Christ and man's In the early days of the Church there was no social justice. Palestine was seething with social injustice, naspiritual needs as they now do to the call of Marx tionalism, imperialism, absentee-landlordism, cruel taxa- tion, frequent rebellion-but was there not a spiritual life or Hitler or Mussolini for temporal and national in the midst of it? In my experience those who have been the greatest saints have often been those who suffered advancement. There is great encouragement to- most from social injustice. I do not think that the world as we know it will ever be rid of sin, and so I cannot see day in the spirit shown by Christian youth in a hope of our being rid of social injustice. I have not much hope of the coming of a cooperative Commonwealth many colleges and in summer conferences, in so- of Nations in the terms in which we see it today. We are in a time of tremendous chaos in which we cannot yet see cieties and in churches where they find true virile clearly the direction or tell the nature of the new order which will be born, though my own hopes lie in the d:recand spiritual leadership. tion indicated here. I do not, however, regard this as the "missionary enterprise of the future." Missions are con- The missionary cause must be presented wisely cerned primarily with the religious, not with the economic.
to appeal to the youth of today. What kind of a Let the coming generation be stirred to fight courageously against the present-day crime, inmissionary enterprise will students support? is justice, cruelty and selfishness, but the hope for a new and more fruitful day in Christian advance a question recently sent out to colleges by the Stu- is in a youth movement wholly loyal to Christ and led by the Spirit of God. f1ent Volunteer Movement. The Intercollegian and Far Horizons publishes the following answer which was among those received: .
Everywhere and for the most part increasingly, capitalism, communism, fascism and nationalism threaten the welfare of mankind. Nervous breakdowns, depressions, wars-these are all symptoms of a basic economic and moral sickness. Until social justice can be established, spiritual life is impossible. The great hope of the future lies in the development on a world scale of cooperatives and an increasing socializing of the means of production, pointing Ultimately toward a Cooperative Commonwealth RELIGIOUS BODIES AND GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES IN A OOMPARISON OF THOSE REPORTING OVER 50,000 MEMBERS, 1935 AND 1936 Membership 1 Yr. Gain 10 Yr, Gain Membership 1 Yr. Gain 10 Yr, Gain 1936 1936·1935 1936-1926 1936 1936-1935 1936-1926 Baptists (19 Bodies) ….. 10,332,005 140,308 1,890,939 Polish Catholic Church … 186,000 36,000 124,426 Methodist (19 Bodies) .. , 9,109,359 41,798 1,038,740 Church of the Nazarene .. 133,516 5,867 69,958 Lutherans (17 Bodies) … 4,589,660 43,905 646,202 Mennonites (17 Bodies) .. 116,665 4,101 29,491 Jewish (Heads of Families) 4,081,242 Eastern Separate (2 Bodies) 107,675 78,087 Friends (4 Bodies) ….. . 105,917 dl,527 d4,505 Presbyterians (10 Bodies) 2,687,772 6,507 62,488 Protestant Episcopal …. . 1,918,329 21,193 52,243 Church of God (Indiana) . 82,893 364 44,644 Disciples of Christ ….. . 1,602,052 d6,700 224,457 Unitarians …………. . 98,600 38,026 38,448 East. Orthodox (9 Bodies) 1,092,349 94,262 832,955 Federated Churches ….. . 59,977 Congregational & Christian 1,010,776 d2,177 16,285 Scandinavian Ev. (3 Bodies) 55,237 385 6,452 Evangelical and Reformed 849,205 d71,384 173,401 Universalists ……….. . 51,159 68 d3,798 Roman Catholics (whole Lat.-Day Saints (2 Bodies) 777,695 12,981 171,134 Churches of Christ …… . 433,714 family) …………… 20,831,139 221,837 2,226,136 United Brethren (3 Bodies) 428,838 1,073 32,953 Total, Over 50,000 ….. 62,844,012 689,572 8,718,230 Reformed (3 Bodies) … . 366,583 81,958 110,318 Salvation Army …….. . 255,765 d3,336 180,997 Total, Under 50,000 649,024 147,832 271,636 Ch. of Four-Sq. Gospel .. . 257,635 5,255 257,635 Evangelical (2 Bodies) .. . 258,207 9,390 31,678 Church of Christ, Scientist 202,098 Grand Total ……….. 63,493,036 837,404 8,989,866 Population (July, 1936) .. 128,429,000 908,000 11,429,000 Church of God in Christ .. 200,470 170,207 -From The Christian Hemld. Breth. (Dunkers) (4 Bodies) 192,588 1,047 34,484 d Decrease. Adventists (5 Bodies) … . 195,553 5,435 49,376 Assemblies of God …… . 173,349 2,936 125,399
But Unconquered – in
By the REV. JAMES P. LEYNSE, Peiping, China Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. s. A.
W ITHOUT even so much as a knock at the "One day in the fall when the 'harvest of the door Mrs. Single Flower Liu, in a sky-blue five grains' was plentiful and people went merrily cotton garment, entered my study and told to their work, a student of the Truth Hall Mission me this story: School of Peiping came to our village elders. His words of new and strange things came freely out "Allow me to use some of your time, Shepherd- of his mouth. At the first watch of the night, teacher. Today, with the wind making many. a when all the people had supped, that young man whirling cloud of dust, there will be a few people would stand preaching in front of the village inn, gathering at the Hall of Glad Tidings. The saying that there is only one God of heaven and' heavens have turned yellow; the earth is almost earth; that the sun and moon belong to all the dark and the sun has only a dim light. Ai, this world; and that all men around the four seas are is truly a good room to come to on such a day; all brethren. It was truly a strange doctrine, but these books of foreign learning are a pleasure to that young man had his stomach full of good behold. I have come to you to speak about the learning and his heart was warm with sympathy. things of my heart. He knew how to speak words acceptably.
"Years ag<J, when through the goodness· of your "One evening when the moonlight was dim, I friends across the foreign sea, you invited me to went stealthily out of the family house and stood become a Christian evangelist, my joy rose to among:st the crowd like a man, so as to hear the Heaven and I determined that some day I should tell you the story of my conversion. Pray, do not student-preacher read ,from his Heavenly Book. weary of my account and do not regard it a hard- His preaching filled my heart with a peace unship to use your pen to write it down. I am but a speakable and I, humble young sister, cried out to humble woman of scanty learning and know how the Living God for help and guidance. In the to write only a few hundred characters of our lan- middle of the night my heart became so heavy guage; I am but nothing to compare with such an within me that I got up from the brick family bed one as you. and bowed myself to the ground before the great God and Creator for the first time in my life. "I was born in the village of the Deep Hill Waters. My ancestral home was favored by the "The next day when the sun had set and the gods with plenty of millet, rice, oil and salt. moon arose I went again to hear about the Way of Though the house was large I had but eight feet Life and to seek salvation. I was like one who of the family brick bed on which to sleep, just as had made her bow in the dark. While listening, everybody else. My highly esteemed grandfather my heart was mirrored before God, and I saw the was a chief priest of the Lotus Goddess and my blackness of my sin. I believed what the preacher uncles were leaders of Buddhist pilgrimages. Yea, said and knew that I was cleansed from my inthey even were active fighters in the great anti- iquity. At that time I was born again, a new Chdstian movement of 1900 when all over the woman, and my heart became settled in quietness land many missionaries and thousands of Chris- and peace. tians were killed. My honorable father was also an ardent Buddhist, who cared for the gods and "Afterwards that young man taught me to pray spent many pieces of good silver to help rebuild and to read the new…style writing. He put the our village temple. And my mother, though only Word of God into my hands and my faith grew a country woman of simple mind, knew all about until it became the most precious thing on the the gods and was a vegetarian for many years to earth to me. I witnessed to my relatives about it please Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Happiness. I but their temper rose hotly within them against myself desired from childhood on to serve the gods this new and strange doctrine. In their hardness of heaven, and with my very flesh and bones I of heart they vowed never to throw a single idol loved to do all that is good. Therefore I was set away nor to forsake the temple. aside to become a 'witch woman' of the group of the Lotus Spirit. "Years went by and my grandparents and par- ents all died, leaving me without proper care and protection. My uncles therefore took me in and [409 ]
filled my ears with many good promises if I only fore I could wean them. For this I bore a thouwould renew my faith in the old temple idols. sand bitternesses-but no more need to be said of They would have adopted me as their own daugh- such things. ter if I had but burned a little incense before the household idols; but I could not do such a thing "One morning, when the spring was young and and displease my Saviour. I was doing the housework, I sang a chorus 'Heaven is my Home.' My sister-in-law hearing "Then my relatives married me into the house- this cried out in great wrath: 'I surely will help hold of Hsu of the Village of the Seven Precious you to ascend to your Heaven.' I was ignorant Things, to a young man I had never seen before, of her intentions and did not in the least suspect nor even heard of. This is the custom of our coun- that she had put poison in the few mouthfuls of try of Central Glory. I was already twenty-two spinach I had with my millet. That night my years of age, and upon my arrival in my new body grew hot with fever and in the morning I home, I learned that my lord and master was but was stiff with cold. I could not utter any speech, a boy of fourteen years. From the first I saw that neither did my eyes see any light, and everybody the look on his face was sullen, yea, even when I said, 'She soon will die.' Hastily they bargained bowed myself three times before him, I knew that for a fiat cart drawn by mules to pull me to the he was a rude thing who did not know a whit of home of my uncles that I might die there. manners. And his relatives acted like him. I had brought with me a bride's box of sheepskin painted "At midday, when the sun was high in the skies red with beautiful trailing clouds. In it I had put and I was lying in the cart rolling hither and my garments of red and blue as a bride always thither on account of the many ruts in the road, has, but also my Bible and hymn book. I had I awoke a little and dreamed a beautiful dream. scarcely been in the house a few hours when the I thought I saw a big ladder reaching from heaven mother of my lord snatched the key out of my to earth and on it an angel came down carrying hand and looked hastily through the box. When medicine and food for my body. When the angel she found my Bible and hymn book, her heart be- was about to touch my heart and heal my body, I came course with anger. She cursed me fiercely cried out, 'Oh, most Gracious One, let there be a and, just as when a dog barks at something a hun- limit to my suffering and let me die in peace.' dred dogs start barking in chorus, all my relatives- Then that one answered saying, 'Not so; it is in-law joined her in reviling me. God's will that you shall live ; be of good courage.' I answered, 'If this truly must be so, grant me "Afterwards I learned that my uncles had sent three requests.' Then that one said, 'Is there anywords of warning about my Christian faith, say- thing too hard for the Lord to do?' I replied, 'See ing that by all means they should drive the evil to it that those to whom I belong allow me to folspirit out of my vitals. They stated that in doing low Christ. Arrange for me that I may study the so it would be considered only a small matter with Bible, and let those who are in authority over me them if they beat me to death. This was the rea- give me freedom to unbind my feet.' Touching my son that, though I was before my young husband forehead the angel replied saying, 'Your requests like a sampan that waits on a steamer, I did not are granted and so shall the Lord do to you.' find favor in his eyes, neither received any kind Straightway my stomach was cured of illness and words from his parents. It was my lord's busi- great peace was within my heart. ness to braid mats and to sell straw shoes but most of the time he was weary from idleness, and "When my uncles saw me entering their home, had much leisure in which to find fault with me. they said, 'How is this strange thing? This sick- ness is not unto death and how is it that her par- The affairs of that home were like the hills, with ents-in-Iaw give themselves the weariness of sendthe even places few and far between. On the day ing her here?' And all the neighbors looking at of my arrival they burned my Bible, hymn book, me said, 'Surely, she will not die and the wages of and tracts in the courtyard before a picture of the the cartman are but wasted.' Then I testified with gods of heaven and earth. But no shouting nor a power which was not my own but of the Holy beating with sticks could induce me to rise from Spirit and there was no one that dared to raise my knees when in the morning and evening I his voice against me because the Lord was at my knelt in prayer to my Saviour. side. In all the months I stayed in my uncle's house my life was as a road of heavenly peace. "Some years passed and to all of the people in The women and children gathered daily in my' the home of my parents-in-law I was like a mirror room to study the Word of God and many a man hung with the glass to the wall. I bore my master stood behind the street door curtain to listen. two children but the words he ever spoke to me were seldom heard. I was beaten so often that "Then one day, when the winds of autumn bemy bruises never disappeared. The measure of gan to blow, my husband stood at the gate and millet, left for me in the cauldron, was so small commanded me to follow him. As there was that my children were weak at birth and died be- nought to do but to walk behind him, I said fare-
BEATEN BUT UNCONQUERED IN CHINA
well to my relatives. All the weary way back to follow him any longer. Finally my relatives sucmy husband's home the tears blinded my eyes and ceeded in satisfying him. The law of our land one by one they dropped on the Bible I carried set me free and even gave me my son to rear, wrapped in my handkerchief. When I arrived though he was the only grandson of the family. within the enclosure of his home my husband Soon afterwards came the complete answer to my grabbed me, bound me with ropes and hung my prayer and I was permitted to study the things body from a beam in the house. Then he and his concerning the Bible in a special school for that mother used sticks and a big whip upon me in a purpose. Now, out of the goodness of your heart, long and fearful way. But I never as much as you have allowed me to be an evangelist to go cried out for mercy. I prayed to my Father in among my own Chinese people with the Gospel of heaven and did count the pain but joy. For many Salvation. Here I am, a lowly servant of Christ months that followed my husband and his brothers Jesus, taking my place in the fields of the harvest and their mother often used big sticks upon me, in this great country." but I always prayed as before and quietly praised my God in whispered songs. A DEAF LADY'S APPEAL TO THE GODDESS OF MERCY "One day they locked the gate of the house and again bound my body by a rope to a beam and By ROBERT B. EKVALL, B.A., F.R.G.S.* beat me until my breath came in gasps. Then my Christian and Missionary Alliance, Kansu mother-in-law urged her son to use a knife on me good and deep so as to cut the evil spirit out of Goddess of Mercy, the incense burns with framy body. In great confused hurry he hunted all grance sweet, over the house for the big kitchen knife, but the God of Heaven blinded his eyes so that he could But sweeter yet if I were not so poor; not find it. Then they all shouted and together The best that I could buy for I am poor. they beat my body with sticks. The pain became Ah, Goddess, hear my prayer. so fierce that I let my voice go out in loud screams. For you can hear. The neighbors heard it and one man climbed over Your ears are not dead stones that numb your head the roof into the courtyard and protested against As mine have been these past five years. their beating me to death. He bowed himself to Ah, Goddess, hear. the ground before my husband and my fatherin-law saying, 'If she has caused you loss of face But maybe now my tongue has lied on account of her disobedience I will repay for her And makes no sound. I wish I knew. sin with this bow. But let there be an end to this Perhaps my voice is dead-and after? thing. We, your neighbors, do not want our street The world is but a picture now; and if to be talked about and we most surely do not want Death dropped the veil, among the spirits the police to inquire about our affairs.' Then they Could a deaf old woman find the way? unbound me and locked me in a small room where No hope beyond, and half lost, stumbling now. frequently someone came in to beat me with a stick. But Christ Jesus strengthened me and was Goddess of Mercy, just one day that I with me in that little room so that I did not starve Might hear. For in the house across the street with the scanty food which was left for me. The foreign lady tells strange things. I know That they are strange, for Mei Nai Nai, "Some time later, on a night when the moon Who has not smiled for twenty years was misty and the clouds were heavy with rain, Till yesterday, cried, and then through tears a kind niece came into the house saying, 'Set forth She smiled, like summer's sun through falling rain. quickly, I have unfastened the gate, the road is Their lips are twisted by strange words; my eyes before you. Why tarry here any longer?' Pray- Are old! I cannot see. And even when ing to the Lord to protect me I ran as long as My son has mouthed the words he finds within the dim moonlight lasted. When the sun arose Their books, they seem so strange. I slept hidden in the fields with my Bible for a A story? But what story makes old hearts young? pillow. After suffering much from hunger and I watch his lips until he points above and says one weariness I safely reached the mission and friendly hands led me to the Industrial School for word. Women. A month later my son was born. As a Goddess of Mercy, let me hear but once that word means to earn something for food and clothing I That I may laugh through tears and feel at peace. gratefully took up making with my hands the colorful things which ladies in foreign lands like My incense ash has dusted all the floor; to put into their homes. The Goddess has not heard. The word-the word- "Boldly my husband came to claim me, threat- Five years too late. I cannot hear. ening to go to court about it when I refused to * Copyright From The Alliance WeeklY.
of Sin Bondage of Sin Allurement of
COLORED POSTIDR NUMBER 7- THE SIN PICTURES The Use of Chinese Gospel Posters I I~- Prepared by R. W. PORTEOUS, Nanchang, Kiangsi China Inland Mission Bible Training Institute SOME four or five years ago at a monthly mis- similar work might be done in all the military hos- sionary meeting, the writer happened to be pitals throughout the country. Instructions were sitting opposite Madame Chiang Kai-shek. immediately issued to all the military authorities She beckoned me to come over and asked if it to welcome Gospel workers in all such hospitals.
would be possible to get the various missionaries Weekly visits have been maintained in all kinds working in the city to unite in an effort to bring of weather and thousands of suffering men have the comfort of Christ's salvation to the wounded thus heard of Him who suffered, the just and the soldiers in the four large military hospitals in unjust, to bring them to God. As Madame Chiang N anchang. so aptly put it, "Be sure and tell them of the One Thus the work which, during the intervening who suffered more than they ever did!" Hundreds years, has been successfully carried on with the of these men have been brought to a definite ac- blessing of God, began with weekly visits to each ceptance of the message of life in Christ. Not a hospital. On receiving the fi~st annual report, few have died rejoicing in their new-found Sav- Madame Chiang wrote expressing the desire that iour. One or two hundred more have openly con- [412 ]
THE USE OF CHINESE GOSPEL POSTERS
fessed Christ as their Saviour before their offi- one, whose face beamed with happiness, said, "I cers, and several have taken a definite public stand am praying to God three times every day, in the for Him. Now the military prison is being visited morning, and at midday, and in the evening."
weekly by three groups of missionaries; through Here is another incident. On entering a small the generosity of the Bible Societies each of the ward, we found a very sick man, an officer, to' 600 to 700 prisoners have received cloth-bound whom we spoke a few words of co:r:nfort and help. pocket Testaments. Scores of these men are be- The following week we called in to see him again, ing brought to definite decision at the weekly Gos- and found his wife, who was a Christian, at his pel meetings held in the prison. bedside. The patient being slightly better, we Gospel and Wounded Soldiers* were able to have a longer conversation with him and, before we left, he said, "I will believe. Pray In addition to the United Gospel Service held weekly, which all attended who were able to be about, we also had the privilege of visiting the more serious cases in the wards. As we went our round amongst these poor sufferers, many showed great interest in the Gospel and, at times, as we bent over some sufferer, we would hear him say, "Yes, I am praying to Jesus." There were a num- ber of exceptionally bright cases of conversion and several died confessing Christ as their Sav- iour. One young man looked up into the face of the worker who enquired how he was, and said, "No, I do not want food. All I want is Jesus."
One poor fellow, lying on his bed in a state of extreme exhaustion was too far gone to speak, we were told. After several of the other sick ones in that ward had been spoken to, we sang a hymn, followed by a few words of explanation. Suddenly from one of the beds a man called out in quite a loud voice, "I believe on the Lord Jesus." Look- ing round, we found to our amazement that the words came from the lips of this dying man, whom we had been told was too ill to speak. Later on we had a conversation with him, and felt assured il~~.1that his faith was real.
Another case was that of a man who heard the Gospel before he had joined the army, but it was ~J.~J.' only during his stay in the hospital that he de- cided for Christ. As we were bending over a bed ………-., ~f&~~A·-t to speak to a sick man, a voice behind us said, "I …………. believe." Turning around, we found this man who was looking exceedingly weak and ill. He POSTER NO. I-THE DOUBLE FACE smiled and said, "I have read the books you gave me, and now I am trusting the Lord Jesus for salvation. I know He died on the Cross for my for me, and pray with me." On our next weekly sins." He went on to tell us much more, and we visit, as we entered the ward, the dear man's face were amazed at the understanding of the truth he beamed with joy as he said, "I do believe. I am had acquired in so short a time. trusting the Lord for salvation." After we had prayer with him, he himself prayed and gave We were standing in the ward when we saw a thanksgiving to God for all His mercy in saving man beckoning to us. He was very sick with his soul, and granting him remission of sins. His fever, and unable to speak coherently but after a words came feebly, for he was still suffering time we understood that he had attended one of greatly, but we know how well-pleasing to the our Gospel meetings, and now asked if we would Lord such a prayer must have been. A few days pray with him. A patient in the next bed re- later, as we paid our usual visit to the same hosmarked, "He knows how to pray himself. He has pital, we hurried in to see this friend, but instead always prayed before having his food I" Another • From The Chinese Recorder. of being met with his welcoming smile we saw
•..l -«- -itt A ~ ffJ h…, . ,f~ :~ 1 rt ~ 1 NUMBER 2-THE GRACE POSTE'R NUMBER 9-THE TRAIN POSTE'R that his bed was empty; and bedding and every- an excellent method of presenting the Gospel mes- thing else had been removed from it. On enquir- sage to old and young, especially to the illiterate ing from one of the patients near by, we heard in the unreached country districts. The Evan- that he had passed away two days previously. gelistic Bands, mostly supported by local Kiangsi churches, have found them just the thing they One of our workers who was looking around need to grip and hold the attention of those whom the ward, trying to find one of the patients he had they are seeking to interest in the Gospel message. spoken to previously, who had confessed to hav- ing received salvation, was addressed by one of The following is a description of posters pub- the soldiers who said to him, "You are looking for lished during the past six months: So-and-so, but he has gone. As he was dying, he knelt on his bed in prayer before us all." No. 1. The Smiling or Double Face. Showing the blessedness of the man whose sin is forgiven, A great help in this effective and intensive whose iniquity is covered. The face turned round evangelism has been the visualizing of the truths shows sadness. There is "no peace" to the wicked. of the Gospel by means of large, specially pre- pared, illustrated Gospel posters in various colors. No.2. The "Grace" Character. Showing the Christian workers elsewhere have expressed a de- word for "Grace," on the cross which stands at the sire to have these posters published, and over fork roads of life and death. The poster bears twenty have been put through the press; thou- the text: "We have all sinned and come short of sands of these are now in circulation throughout the glory of God." The question is asked, "Friend, China and most encouraging reports are reaching which road are you traveling." us from field workers of our own and other mis- sions. They tell of their usefulness in attracting No.3. The Joy Spring Poster. Showing a the crowds in the marketplaces and country vil- mountain scene with bamboo trees, some of which , lages, also in the city churches, Gospel halls and are cut down and used as water pipes to bring thE: streets. The revival poster was used to stir up fresh mountain spring water down to supply the the Christians in one district to pray for revival needs of the family. The text is: "Now may the and led to a time of real blessing. God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in be- lieving (the water pipe which keeps the Chris- Our student Preaching Bands, sent out from tian filled) that ye may abound in hope through Bible Training Institute in twenty to thirty groups the power of the Holy Ghost." during the past five years have found these posters
Foward Evangelism Posterst NUMBER 8-INVITATION: "COME"
No.4. Large Clock Poster. A clock hung on a large and will look up." Then the prayer in large characters, red cross with the hands pointing to God's hour; "Now "0 Lord revive Thy work and begin in me." is the accepted time." No. 12. True Happiness Poster. This poster is specially No.5. Tke Christian's Two Wings. A mountain scene, designed to take the place of the empty characters diswith one eagle flying, wings outspread, on which is shown played in the homes of the people at the New Year time. the Chinese characters for prayer and Bible study. The The large character which hangs on the Cross, bears the other eagle, perched on the ground trying to fly with only Gospel message in a nutshell. (John 3: 16.) At each one wing, on which is written "Prayer" in Chinese, show- corner there are in four characters, "He that believeth ing how both wings are necessary to become a (soaring) shall be saved." spiritual Christian. Special Offer. A sample copy of each of our local posters, 12 in No.6. The Fundamental Truths of the Gospel. Show- all, will be sent' post free in China only to any address on receipt ing a large "Fuh" (Happiness) character in front of the of $1.0(} either in stamps or C. 1. M. Note. cross, with descriptive sentences of the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension.
No.7. The Sin Pictures. Three pictures on one poster: The deceitfulness of sin-a spider's web with insects caught in it.
A prisoner behind the bar, showing the bondage of sin. A black horse galloping towards a precipice-the dan- ger of sin.
No.8. Large character posters (size, 30×22 inches). Price, 5 cents each.
The character for "Come," printed in three different colors, with suitable texts, "Come unto Me," etc.
The character for "Righteousness" in three different colors, with appropriate explanations.
Orders may be sent with stamps or cheque to the Secretary, Bible Training Institute, C. 1. M., Nauchang, Ki.
Sets of Children's Posters, prepared by Miss Florence Luton, size 30×22 inches. Price, 10 cents each; or $1.00 per set of 10 in four colors.
No.9. The Train PostM', showing a man bound to railway track-descriptive of the danger and binding power of sin. The train judgment is seen approaching.
No. 10. Tke Boiling Kettle Poster. Showing a steaming hot kettle with a glowing fire underneath. The locomotive originally came out of the kettle, but as in every country, so in every church, locomotives-outstanding preachersare none too numerous. There is need, however, for a boiling kettle-a red hot witness for Christ-in every home.
No. 11. A Revival Prwyer Poster. Showing a Christian at prayer with his open Bible before him; the clock above him is pointing to 5 a. m. A scroll by the clock bears the verse, "In the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee t Just published. New Gospel posters prepared by the Nanchang Bible Institute. C. 1. M.• Nanchang, Kiangsi; 42×30 inches; printed in three to four colors; ten cents each.
THE COLPORTEUR TO THE RESCUE Colporteur Lee Hiap Loong in Malaya reports that one day he met an old Hakka lady. He asked her to buy the Scriptures, but she gave no answer, scolding him instead, so he turned away. About a month later he visited the same place, and seeing four young chicks had fallen into the drain, he picked them out. They happened to belong to the old lady, who came out just at that moment and thanked him. She asked if he was still selling the Scriptures, and bought a Mandarin New Testament. Later she went to his house for interviews, and afterwards joined the Church, throwing her idols into the sea.-Fr01n the British and Foreign Bible Society Report.
in the Papuan
The Report of a Recent Trip Among Raw Heathen in the Abau District By RUSSELL W. ABEL, Kwato, Papua * Missionary of the Kwato Mission of Papua LTESS than two years ago (in November, 1935) ney from here on the way to Abau which we at Mr. Cecil Abel of the Kwato Mission, with a length reached on the third day. team of Papuan Christian evangelists visited After which a two and a half hours' journey the unevangelized villages of the Abau or Dore- round the beacons brought us finally to the man- vaidi district of Southeastern Papua. They found grove belt, in a clearing of which is tucked the the people steeped in murder, sorcery, warfare, little station Duram. Here the advance team that filth and many forms of sin. The response of .left Kwato ten days earlier and including Davida, some to the Gospel message was remarkable, espe- Merari, Alice and others, were awaiting us. They cially as these ignorant and degraded primitive had held camps at Segini-a group of villages of people saw and heard what Christ had done for "bush" people, about 700 in all, living up the Rob- their fellow Papuan members of the Christian inson River-and Ganai, a salt-water village of team. Five chiefs asked to return to Kwato with coastal Mailu-speakers. They had had a hard time Mr. Abel in order that they might see for them- at both places. At Segini the people simply took selves the results of the Gospel in the villages to to their heels at the approach of the campers.
the east. They came, they saw and were con- They camped away in their gardens and sent mes- quered by the evidences of the love and power of sages to say: Christ. (See September, 1936, REVIEW.) Then "We don't want missionaries. Weare ignorant they returned to their own villages to tell what Kunikas (bushmen). If you come you will doubt- they had seen and to try to win their people to the less make us wise. What then? Then the Gov- new Way of Life. ernment will say, 'These are not ignorant bush Here is the report of a subsequent trip made by people, they are mission people.' Then we shall Mr. Russell Abel and a Papuan team last May be made to pay taxes like the salt-water people."
when they visited the new district of Keveri and They had thought it all out. They reckoned it revisited the Dorevaidi villages. It is a story of was just a ruse, and they weren't having any!
modern wonders of the power of God to awaken (It should be explained that bush pepole, not hav- and transform ignorant savages through the work ing any means of making money, are exempt from of the Holy Spirit and the simple testimony of taxes.) Christian believers. What would be the results At Ganai it was the same. In the middle of the if such signs were always following those who be- village stands the dubu (temple) with its deeply lieve and follow Christ in America and other parts concave roof and almost vertically pointing gables.
of this disturbed and sin-stricken world! Mr. Within its dark recesses were incarcerated three Russell Abel reports: youths, initiates undergoing their period of seclu- Our team was a motley one, including Frank sion. These ceremonies are accompanied by Briggs (.a white visitor), Tiraka and a number feasts. It may be that the arrival of a team at of Kwato boys, village folk from different parts such an inopportune moment Was a cause of em- of Milne Bay and eleven young fellows from Bu- barrassment. However, the result was the same.
hutu Valley. Splendid workers the latter proved "We don't want you here," they said. "What to be-alert, disciplined, and experienced in per- good are you? Do you offer to pay our taxes for sonal work. Strangely enough a number of them us? No. Do you make our gardens grow any had never even been to Kwato, though they had better? No."- thoroughly assimilated all that Kwato stands for Nevertheless the guidance was for a week-end in the Christian life and testimony. We picked camp back at Ganai, which was held with very up the Buhutu contingent at Konemaiawa, the different results as will be seen.
nearest port of call for Buhutu, and a day's jour- We spent a day of preparation in Duram, dur- ing which the plan became clear to us-our vari- Ne•wThYeoArkm; erW icaanlteHreaMdqcuDaorutgerasll,ofTtrheiassumriesrs.ion is 156 Fifth Avenue, ous responsibilities allocated, and our swags and [416 ] provisions apportioned and packed in readiness. summit of a round-topped hill. A river bordered- One team was to make for Dorevaidi, and one for by trees wound in and out between the hills and Keveri. A third team, including the girls, was across the valley. From our height our boys to spend the week-end at Ganai, and then await eagerly speculated on suitable sites for football word from us before proceeding inland. We were grounds,! Some, really too modern for words, uncertain about what accommodation there would tried to decide upon the best place for a landing be. In fact we were entirely uncertain as to what ground for future aeroplanes! Papua, 1937. lay ahead, except that there was great opposition We returned~all tiredness gone, it is true-to to the Mission in Keveri, ;:tnd that heathen feasts the preparation of our evening meal. and dances (fertility rites) were in full swing in the district, which we learned at Abau, and which Some of the boys wandered up another track, made it still more unpropitious a time to be going which led to a tiny bush village. There were inland. A MUD BESMEARED WIDOW OF THE So we went! KEVERI DISTRICT Sunrise next morning found us aboard the K wato, rounding the beacons on the way to Abau, only two women at home, the rest of the inhabiand threading up the Babaguina River. We had tants having gone to a dance some distance away. morning tea on board, put the Ganai team ashore They told the women we were missionaries. at Ganai, half way up the river, and ourselves further up where the Keveri trail begins. By "Any white men with you?" 10 a. m. we were strung out in a long line, through "Yes." the Babaguina Plantation, and into the forest. "Who? Cecelo or Raso?" (Cecil and Russell We crossed a range of hills. Frank shot a young Abel.) wild boar, and at length we landed on a wide I was thrilled when I heard this, and from river bed (the Godoquina) on the other side of that moment felt no longer a stranger in a the range, at sundown, glad by then to call it a strange land. It was lovely to be known by day. We bathed in the icy, swift-flowing river, name, and in such unfamiliar surroundings. As cooked and demolished the pig, and parked our- we sat down to our meal we kept hearing furtive selvesl under the stars for the night. The next noises in the bush, a twig cracking, a faint rustle. morning, after a very helpful meeting together, We started calling, "Who is there? Is it a perwe set off again, and walked all day. son? Don't be afraid. We are Kwato mission- Two days tramp, boring further and further aries. If it is a person come out and see us." inland, up the stony bed of a rushing torrent, Presently a man cautiously emerged from the over another steep range (3,000 feet), and not a darkness into the light of our hurricane lantern. trace of humanity did we see. Just empty bush He was followed by two women, wrapped in country-miles of it. At sundown we called a bark-cloth blankets, peering over his shoulders. halt at a little clearing in the forest where a rough "barracks" had been erected. We threw ourselves upon the ground. Some started to light a fire and cook our rice. Two or three boys strolled off into the bush. In two minutes they were back, wild with excitement, and shouting, "Weare there! The open Keveri country is close to hand, miles of bare country." They begged us to come and see. "Oh, we are too tired," some of us said.
"Your tirednes,s will disappear when you see this wonderful sight. Ours did!"
We were carried away by their enthusiasm, and all jumped up and followed them up the hill. Suddenly the forest ended and miles of rolling, grassy country opened up to view. It was an exhilarating sight,and utterly unlike Papua. Our lads, never having seen anything but land heavily clothed in deep forest, found it breathtaking. The sun had set and delicious cool breezes swept up the hillsides, rippling the grass. In the distance was a little village perched on the
.One had an infant hoisted on her head. We Bolubaba. He is having a hard time. The peomade great friends with them, and eventually ple of his village have threatend his life and told pursuaded them to share our meal, which they him that if I, or Cecil, or anyone from Kwato appreciated. A shower ended our chat over a visits their village they will kill us. broad leaf piled with rice, and we scrambled into the rickety barracks, where we sang choruses We mounted a steep hill, on a shoulder of which and ended the day with a time of prayer and was perched the fenced village of Bolubaba. praise. There was Elebe, smiling welcome, and thrilled to recognize the members of the team he had met Early next morning we were strung out once at Kwato. Elebe had been led to believe that we more in a long line, crossing the grassy un- were coming and that he was to build a house in dulating Keveri plain. The road wound between readiness. Fortunately Elebe had acted on this conical hills. What villages we saw were perched guidance with the result that in the circle of dirty, on the summits of these hills. Our dinner guest crowded houses was wedged a nice, brand-new of the previous evening joined us as guide, and one, on high stilts, with a little balcony in frontmade himself quite one of the party (a -couple all ready for our occupation. The people were of days, later he was already embarked on the very friendly, and brought stacks of sugar cane Christian life). Women seeing us coming miles of the sweetest, juiciest variety. away, ran up the hills nearest the road, and called down to us as we passed: For the next three days we lived in this heathen village. The inhabitants, are continually sucking "Who are you? Where are you going? Who sugar cane, and throw the chewed refuse over the are the white men?" fence. This bred flies in millions and we could hear a constant hum in the background, like a dis- To this our guide responded: "Missionaries. tant organ. Everything in our little hut was Bolubaba. Raso and his friend. They say, 'Come crawling with flies. and see us at Bolubaba!' " The most curious feature of Keveri men is the On hearing we were missionaries they shouted, custom of wearing seven or eight smooth, horny "Agutoi!" (greetings) the Suau word which they tails from the backs of their heads. These are learned when Cecil and the first team came in- fixed on to the actual hair, permanently, and bound land and visited them eighteen months ago. Fur- tightly in leaf. The whole bunch of tails is then ther along two tall, well-built men, clad in the kept carefully covered with a wrapper that pulls scantiest scraps of bark-cloth, waylaid us and on backwards over the head. A little rattan halo seemed really glad to see us. One, an influential crowns the headdress, with tufts or sprays of casman and the heir of a village chief, said: sowary feathers· at the sides, and a fringe of stiff fibres frames the forehead. Over the fringe is "Cecil talked with me when he was here. He worn the shell homicidal ornament, which begins taught me how to pray to God and I have prayed at the right temple, crosses over the forehead like ever since." a bandeau, and hangs swinging down the left side to the knee. The cap or tail covering is tarred a (This, man is now converted and is coming to shiny black with a filthy mixture of wild syrupy Kwato for training.) honey and soot. And bodies are also shined up with a lacquering of sticky honey! This is in lieu This seems to have been a tactic of Cecil's, as of oil which, like salt, is a commodity entirely lackwe met several who told us this. Groping up- ing inland. The men are murderers. We looked wards toward God, through their ignorant into faces that appeared to be utterly bad. It prayers, had given the Holy Spirit His chance to would be hard to imagine a worse set of ruffians get into their hearts, and we found these marvel- than the male population of Balubaba, taken at lously ready. To others our words were unin- its face value. telligible, but in those, however heathen, who had prayed, there was a responsive chord. In Women seemed to be outnumbered by men, and some way prayer had meant something to them, we were pained to learn that tiny girls were alas they tried to tell us in limited, pidgin Motu, ready wives, and sadly enough wives of grisly old it had made them "feel sweet inside." They men; poor little drudges, cheated of childhood, wanted to know more. One man told me with and working like miniature old women at garden~ bated breath that he knew a little about God; he ing, carrying firewood, peeling and cooking. had been praying secretly, and it had made him strong. Now he is praying openly. Heathen though life in this village appeared, there was at the same time a bright and constant We were making for Bolubaba, Elebe's village. witness by Elebe and two men whom he has won. This man and a friend from further inland, spent These three let what light they had shine out. three months at Kwato, about six months ago, Every time strangers arrived they talked to or and returned, having been converted. Then silence engulfed them. The friend is entirely alone at a village about three days' walk from
EXPERIENCES IN THE PAPUAN BUSH
prayed with them. Often you would hear the "Why had we come?" murmur of prayer in some part of the village. Most important to all of them was the ques- Someone was being taught to look up. Women, tion, "Did we put a travatu–ban or taboo-on starting off for their gardens in the morning, their ceremonies, dances, headdress? If not, would first find one of these men and ask him to should they continue with the festivities that pray with them before they left. The women night? Would it be safe for them to do so?" seemed singularly ripe soil, poor souls. Chris- "Safe?" I queried, "What do you mean by tianity will be all gain to them. Morning and eve- that?" ning prayers were quite an institution in the vil- Well, they explained, if they went, in the face lage, although the antagonism of Mura, the chief, of our disapproval, would we make a prayer to made this difficult. Apart from the above three in- God and bring down His wrath upon them? quirers, there were a few people secretly intrigued There was great fear of this, and it was on this by the "New Way," but afraid of the others. that they really wanted our opinion. There seemed to be open disgust and impatience with the little handful of pioneers. Elebe is quite A KWATO TEAM WORKER AND A NEW CONused to unpopularity now. This was the situation VElRT FROM THE I NTERIOR OF PAPUA we seemed to find everywhere in Keveri. I replied that we had not come to make a lot of When Cecil Abel made his first brief tour of the taboos, or interfere with their affairs. We had district eighteen months ago the people had lis- brought a new kind of life altogether in which God tened attentively to all that the team had had to is our Master and we obeyed Him. They had not say. Many felt glad at the thought of an end of taken that step yet, and so were free to follow the old ways, and hoped the Mission would tame their own wishes. We said that God wanted them them and that killing would stop. But this respon- to turn to Him, not ignore Him. Probably when siveness was soon dispelled by wild reports cir- they changed they would not want many old cusculated as to the awful things it was alleged would toms any more, but in any case there was no happen if people started following the "New Way." "ban." These yarns eventually reached the Government ears and were attributed to distortions on the part This was the answer we felt led to give them, of converts from Dorevaidi (the adjacent inland but they were not quite satisfied. There were at district), misrepresenting what they had learned. least six men, three in Bolubaba, and three from I found no mystery whatever about the origin of other villages with whom some of the team had these stories, and traced them largely to three already had talks, and who were known by all to men, die-hards of the old Papua. They were all be openly "seekers." prominent in the feast and fertility rites that were taking place. Pr6bably the fear that the new "What about them?" the people asked. "Were ideas would upset the ancient traditions and cus- they coming to the feast?" "Well," I said, "I'm toms in which they were important personages, not stopping them. Ask them." made them kick all the more. Anyone, they said, who joined the "New Way" would die. Their gardens would not bear. If they decorated themselves, God would be angry and make the sun wax hot and scorch them to death. There were many other predictions, quite unrepeatable and descending to the ludicrous and the obscene. These primitive, superstitious people with their continual "touch wood" outlook on life, were frightened, and felt it safer to have nothing to do with the new missionary "medicine."
Many of them had very foggy ideas as to what we were. They seemed to regard the Mission as a kind of "government," unarmed, but in league with the unseen, which is far more terrifying to primitives than police, or a term in gaol. Without experiencing this, no one quite feels himself a complete man.
The first afteroon they all crowded round with straightforward questions, which I thought was a sign of intelligence.
One and all refused to go or let their wives go. wouldn't take all this trouble. And we are all too With regard to the latter there was no uncertainty occupied with our old customs even to come and whatever. Why? They said: listen to what you want to bring us."
"All that is darkness. We want you to show us I was quite taken back. The man's conscience light." was pricking; the Holy Spirit was working.
Elebe had thrown away all his sorcery para- The next morning nothing would induce him to phernalia. Some wanted to do likewise. The cere- go back to the long drawn-out festivities. The mony was full of sorcery, and other things for next evening he had given himself to Christ and which all the new converts lost their taste. was drinking in eagerly all we could teach him of the "New Way," and was himself taking part in .a By now the village was ,crowded and the din meeting. If you could have seen the contrast, the was great. There were children everywhere, and unlikelihood, humanly speaking, of such a thing women busy with cooking the evening meal in happening, you would be able to marvel, as we ingenious ovens of hot stones. Out came drums marveled, at the mighty power of God, who hears and headdresses, and conceited youths, eaten up and answers prayer. with pride in themselves, swanked about in their glory, danced, flaunted their feathers, and dis- The next day was the extra day we were led to charged their surplus energy on their drums. spend at Bolubaba. It coincided with the monthly Day of Prayer at Kwato. Many all over the world I asked a small boy, with a daub of red paint on were praying with us specially on that day. It his nose, whether he would like to come to Duram was a glorious day of witness and God gave us for a while and go to school. He swaggered up many opportunities on every hand to talk to peoand down among the crowd, looking comical with ple individually of Him and His way of life for bright red nose, shouting, "I'm going to Duram! them. We entered the people's houses freely, and I'm going to be a missionary!" although a few seemed impatient, most welcomed us and gave us the feeling that a great harvest Suddenly all decided it was time to clear off to was about to be reaped. That afternoon I was the scene of the night's revels, a little village privileged to be present at a little meeting of higher up the hill where food was displayed from Keveri converts – some could only just be called stands and trees, like a harvest thanksgiving. The that-and it was a joy to hear them sharing for drums accompanied a complete abandon to animal the first time their new experiences, and the thrillspirits all through the night. ing first steps that they were being guided to take.
The following day we spent in an empty village We had some good public meetings, in which I -that is to say empty except for the little handful refuted, or tried to, the wild rumors that had been who were occupied with higher things than the connected with our aims in coming among them. parade of world, flesh and devil that was going on The testimony of the Buhutu members of our team elsewhere. We had good talks with these few, but was a great help. They were able to tell a woncould not help feeling we had cornea long way to derful story of what had happened in their own visit a ring of empty houses. "bush" district, of communal life collapsing through fear of sorcery; of villages scattered We were convinced that we were to fight this through internal hatreds, and of the big change situation with prayer, and not accept defeat. We when individuals began letting God into their prayed for those dancers, asking God to bring hearts and lives; of the new, reconstructed life of them to an end of themselves, to satiation and to Buhutu with its flourishing, progressive villages stir them to some vision of the futility of the old controlled by God. They told the story well and degrading life. We prayed until we felt sure of made it personal as they told of their own inditwo things: first that we, that is the few of us vidual part in an this, their own surrender to who were passing through, should remain at Bolu- Christ. These converted "bush" lads were keen baba another day, and second, that all defeatism to do their part in the camp, and an important and any barriers in us had been surrendered and part it was. God's peace filled us instead. The end of this story has still to be told, as I The day wore on with its deserted, "Sunday-in- was only a member of a sort of "flying squad," Scotland" air, but that evening things began to making a hurried round. We set off from there, happen. We were settling down to our evening leaving the main team to carryon, to be reinmeal when a man returned from the feast caned forced later by Davida's team who were working me out. He wanted to apologize for his behavior, up towards Keveri from the Dorevaidi direction. and seemed most upset. We set our faces towards Dorevaidi, passing a filthy, dirt-strewn village where a feast had been "Why, what have you done?" I questioned. held, and later another village, Mukawala, where "Oh," he said, "this is the first time you have ever been to Keveri, and we all cleared out and left you. You have come all this way to teach us something. It must be something great, or you
festivities were in full swing. (They celebrated in The village and its inhabitants are clean; flower a different village each night.) This village too gardens are in front of the houses and a cleanwas in a filthy state, and the jaded crowd gath- swept air made us want to rub our eyes and make ered there looked worn out. They had been at it sure we were seeing straight. all night and looked fed up. Food lay about everywhere, and on a tall tripod where it had been dis- We were given a warm-hearted welcome. At played were still hanging gruesome-looking black- Keveri we had bought all our food from the nasmoked kangaroo-shrivelled and contorted, and tives, rather than have to carry supplies all the coils of smoked python. There were a lot of young way. At Bolubaba we had had a daily hoi-hoi fellows there, poor lads with evil faces, destined (market) when they had brought taitu (food) to for something far better. I compared them with be exchanged for salt. The food was poor, the some of the youth at Kwato, Sariba, Milne Bay good stuff having been devoted to feasting. Now and Bohutu. They were very cordial. We greeted at Ukoudi when women rolled up with net bags them all and hurried on our way as we had a long full of very excellent sweet potato and taro, as a march ahead. I prayed as I walked that God matter of course I opened the swag, and delved would capture the youth of Keveri, and show us for salt to pay them. how to train our own youth into an army of evangelists for the inland frontier. In response to my "Oh," they said reproachfully, "this isn't hoiprayer God gave me a distinct vision about this. hoi. This is our gift. We want you to feel that Three youths running after us asked me about this is your village too. All our food is yours." their dancing. From then onwards-and we stopped at Dore- "Why," they asked, "don't the 'changed ones' vaidi, Nebulu, Makaca and Kurondi and Domara join us?" -not once did we have to buy food. It was heaped upon us at each place and we did not know Elebe was with us so I asked him, "When you how to get through it. were at Kwato did anyone tell you not to dance?" I cannot describe the change, the difference, in "No," he replied. these villages. Dorevaidi is now like a well-run "Then why didn't you join last night? These mission station. The things one noticed first were boys want to know." cleanliness and discipline, and children playing- Elebe thought for a while, then smiled and a lovely sight that made one feel the Lover of chilpointed upwards. He added, "I have no wish to dren was there. We spent two nights at Dorego back to an that." (He would not leave his wife vaidi in a beautiful big house especially built for in that village for a moment-even in the day- the Mission, and had some great times with the time.) people. The reason why things are going ahead there is that the Christians are constantly on the I told them that God had a far better life for job, linking up with other villages further on. them and they were the ones to lead Keveri out of the old ruts and to take the "New Life" to new The farthest outpost is now Orodei, two days' districts. I said we didn't ban those things. journey beyond Dorevaidi, and we are expecting There was no need to. the first converts from Orodei to arrive at Kwato for training. "Wait till you are changed," I said, "you will have not time for such things then. Your lives Two men from Keveri came straight down to will be too full of real things. Like Elebe you the coast, to return to Kwato with us. One was will find, when you give yourselves to God, that the chief of Bolubaba, Mura, who has been a hot you won't care about an that. There is no ban opponent, and whom I was led to invite. To the for you. The only law we have who follow the amazement of all he consented to come. The 'New Way' is to obey God. That does not apply other man was a complete surprise, and the sequel to you yet." to our prayers for Mukawala. Apparently imme- diately after we had left that village the chief I reminded them that whether their tribes pro- leader of ceremonies also left. He announced that gressed, or remained chained to old things, de- he was sick of the whole business and was going pended on them, and prophesied that one day to Bolubaba to find something better. His friends they would open the way for God over those hills quarreled violently about this, but he said, inland. They looked wistful. "Why is it that people have come from every vil- Please pray that prophecy to its fulfilment. lage on the Keveri side for this feast and none We marched through the forest for two hours from Dorevaidi side? Because they are too busy and we emerged upon the village of Ukoudi. Here with new things while we are wasting our time a surprise awaited us. This is a new Christian with old rubbish." village that has recently been entirely rebuilt. The contrast with Mukawala we found a bit sudden! So he walked out on his own party and is now There are fine big houses, facing a lovely river. learning God's will for Mukawala at Kwato.
TO NEW FIELDS IN THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN
Work in Ethiopia and the Sudan By TOM LAMBIE, M.D., Sc.D., F.R.G.S.
Missionary of the Sudan Interior Mission DECENT events in Ethiopia have emphasized A few months ago things in Ethiopia looked dis- ~ anew the unwillingness of the Roman Cath- couraging while recent reports are more prom- olic Church to countenance the presence of ising. We must be patient and see. In the mean- Protestant mISSIOnaries in countries dominated time there has been much disruption in Protestant by their influence. We can understand this feel- mission work. According to our latest reports ing although we do not sympathize with it. thirty-five of Sudan Interior missionaries are to be permitted to stay but these are less than half There seems to be some agreement between the Papal hierarchy and Fascist Rome; but there are of the force two years ago. This Mission, which also points of disagreement between them. The has united with the Abyssinian Frontiers Mission, desire to expel Protestant missionaries from cen- has decided to open a new work on the Anglo- tral Ethiopia may be inspired from the Vatican Egyptian Sudan side of the Abyssinian border in but Fascist Italy may also desire to have none but fulfilment of a former expectation. Italian subjects in Ethiopia, because they might interfere with a strict dictatorship. Mus'solini When Dr. Roland V. Bingham and the writer visited the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan last March the· would like to have things his own way without any Governor-General, Sir Steward Symes, in his first adverse comments from non-Italians. While such sentence remarked: "You do not need to convince an exclusive policy remains in force it makes me of the benefits of Christian missions. I have Protestant missionary work difficult if not impos- seen them at work and am convinced of their sible; even French and other non-Italian Catholic value."
missionaries have been expelled. Two weeks in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was [422 ]
THE CONQUERING POWER OF CHRIST
much too brief a time for a real survey, but we the missionaries who are rendered homeless by were able to make a trip to the Blue Nile and the Italian occupation of Abyssinia. We hope to southern Fung area in a Ford V-8. South of open stations at once at Wisko and Kurmuk. The Khartoum we saw the Gezira irrigated area where latter town is on the Abyssinian border. Gedaref, thousands of acres are being cultivated to grow Kassala, Gallabat and other populous areas are some of the finest cotton in the world. This area on the Sudan Abyssinian border and are accessible was desert a few years ago. by train and motor car.
Wad Medami is a thriving city; farther south The whole area, from the Red Sea westward to are Singa and Sennaar; large villages, practi- Nigeria, is practically without Christian witness. cally all Mohammedan, dot the landscape. Still The United Presbyterians have missions at Kharfarther south, we traveled into the tropical forest toum and on the Sobat River; the Church Miswhere thorny trees are interspersed with enor- sionary Society workers are at Omdurman and in mous baobab trees, fantasic leafless giants which the far south; the Sudan United Mission workers are among the most curious trees in the world. are at Melut and .the Nuba Mountains. These are Still farther south, about seventy miles from only bright spots on an immense expanse of un- Roseires and only thirty or forty miles from Abys- evangelized territory. sinian border, are the Inghesana hills with curious rock formations like dolmans; here a range We flew from Khartoum to Kano, from the Nile of hills rises to a heighth of two thousand feet to the Niger, and until almost at the end of the above the flat Sudanese plain. journey, Maidukuri in Nigeria, a distance of nearly two thousand miles, we did not pass over On the sides of these hills and in the valley live any mission station. From Khartoum to Red Sea the Inghesana people from whom the hills take we would not have passed over any, excepting at their names. They are simple farm people who Khartoum itself. grow Kaffir corn in large quantities and have fine cattle. From the dom palm trees they gather What a privilege to have fellowship with our enormous quantities of dom nuts, the kernels of Lord in sacrificial service. This is not an easy which are intensely hard vegetable ivory. field, and we would urge no one to offer them- selves for service here unless they are prepared to These people are without any knowledge of sacrifice and endure hardships. Christ or in the ways of European civilization. If let alone they will soon become Islamized. To We covet your prayers and fellowship as we these people we are planning to go, with some of once more go forward in His Name.
The Conquering Power of Christ L _.o~ By PROFESSOR JULIUS RICHTER, Berlin, GermanYII~o,- O NCE more in our times there is an all-world in a few years or decades. They forget that none discussion of the greatest powers at dis- of these past empires have outlasted even a single posal of the human race. There are four generation; they were similar to Daniel's great different views. image, of imposing brightness yet with clay feet, and a single great stone cut out without hands, One group regards military armaments for smote the image upon his feet' of iron and clay land, sea and air as the greatest force; they lose and broke them to pieces. The iron, the clay, the sight of what has been so irrefutably proved by brass, the silver and the gold were broken to the Great War: that a sudden change of com- pieces and became like the chaff of the summer binations can cause such a transformation of the threshing floors! opposing fronts to emerge that all former calculations are void and futile. Others again think of money as the greatest power. Yet no country was ever able to amass Others think that if some great military genius, such riches of gold and silver and diamonds as like Alexander the Great or Julius Cresar or Na- Spain gathered to itself in the sixteenth century, poleon or Girgis Khan, emerges he will simply or the Inca Kingdom in Peru in the preceding sweep the globe and build up a world empire with-
century. Both of these countries were completely those curious mystery religions invading the Ro- impoverished within one short century and there man Empire from the East and for some centuries has been no recovery even after four or five cen- competing with each other, the balance for a cen- turies. Nothing is more perishable than material tury and a half being doubtful if Mithraism or wealth. Christianity at the very end would get the upper At present there appears to be a general over- hand. Christianity, to general surprise, turned valuation of the power of nationalism; it inspires out victorious, though an all-powerful army was people with a new vigor comparable to a mighty on the side of Mithraism. Yet that Mithraism was stimulant, with a gigantic explosive power, such a spent force to such extent that only the most as we see in Japan, for example. Yet in the his- modern research after fifteen hundred years has tory of the human race, which we know through rediscovered that a long long time ago it was conthe last six or seven thousand years, such national sidered a dangerous rival to Christianity. explosions are almost like the passing bubbles in Why has not Christ been forgotten? Why has a rushing stream; they change color or direction Christianity gone on victoriously? The next seven with the current for a short time, and then the or eight hundred years after Constantine were a wonderful age when all Keltic, Teutonic, Nordic, force is spent. and Slavic tribes exchanged their outworn tribal There is only one Power which through two religions for Christianity. Most of them, of their thousand years has never relaxed and which even own free will, preferred the new Christian relinow is showing no sign of evanescence, that is the gion and considered it the earnest of a new era in Spirit and power of Jesus Christ. Imagine that their national ascendency. you stood under the cross of Jesus in the time of Pontius Pilate and of Caiaphas, the High Priest. So it has gone on through the centuries; and it What would they have said? They would have is a fascinating history to follow, tracing the adpointed in scorn at the young man on the gibbet; vancing Christian faith across land and sea, from a poor artisan from an obscure corner of Galilee, continent to continent. The world missionary at the frontier of heathendom. They would have movement is the vanguard of the advancing power said that He had been parading for two years, like of the Spirit of Christ. some scores of other upstarts, as the promised Messiah, and that the faithful nation of Jews had Here is one point of orientation in our modern discarded him; the political power of Rome had world-wide campaign. We look back on two thoualso justly put him away as a rebel; the highest sand years of victorious advance, no world power ecclesiastical authority had also condemned him we know of has in any respect a comparable as a blasphemer. Of course they would have said record. We study the particular energies which that this Jesus was discredited and destroyed even Christianity has supplied at different times and more than any other previous upstart messiah. among different nations. We ,admire that won- Even the small group of his adherents had de- derful adaptability which could fit into the speserted him. He was ending in shame and despair, cial environment it was facing in different counfor they had heard his last words: "My God, why tries and races; we wonder how it could integrate hast thou forsaken me?" and develop to a higher perfection all spiritual and rational equipments; how it could become in- What would Pontius Pilate have said if you had digenous to such an extent that St. Mary is looked hinted to him that within three of four centuries upon as Polish in Poland and the Sainted Virgin the emperor of the Roman empire would bow his of Guadeloupe has become Aztec in Mexico. With knees before the name of this Jesus and, with the Greeks Christianity developed their philosognashing teeth, would confess: "Thou has con- phy; with the Romans this new faith promoted quered, 0 Galilean!" All types of historians have statecraft; with the Germans "the Holy Roman pondered over the victorious Power which in so Empire became of German nationality" as the short a time was pervading and recasting the earthly incarnation of the Kingdom of God; with mightiest empire the world had yet known. Many the British Christianity inspired their imperial reasons have been advanced but, whatever causes progress with religious responsibility. The relimay have contributed, there can be no doubt that gion of Jesus Christ is still proving its divine the one underlying spiritual Power has been the origin by its wonderful flexibility and power to Christ, himself, the Power of God and the Wis- become all things to all nations, to rejuvenate, dom of God. and purify and enrich all. Missionary-minded' Christians pause for a moment, we look around History did not end at the cross or with the con- and take up our spiritual armor and battle cry quest of the Roman empire. Someone might have anew: In hoc signo vincemus. "Under this ban- imagined that Christianity had been only one of ner we conquer."
Women's Work in a Country
By MRS. JAMES D. WYKER The Federated Church, North Jackson, Ohio "JUST what is woman's work in the country to church rolls and having contests to increase at- church?" I asked a little lady with snow- tendance. He was not a Presbyterian or a Bap- white hair who has been a life-long member tist or a Methodist seeking to sprinkle or immerse, but a Christian out to reveal God, change life and of one. save individuals. He insisted ona decent society "Why paying the preacher and keeping up the in which religious people might be more religious; He desired that the hungry might be fed. He had church building repairs," she answered. Then no fear and did not hesitate to condemn sin whershe hesitated and added, "And, of course, mission- ever he found it, even the corruption of the politiary giving. Women have always done that. Not cal system of his day. People believed Him not many, but a few of us alway.s send in our appor- only because of words He spoke but because they tionment to the Board." saw a radiant personality on fire with a divine message – a man who lived what He preached. "And for what is the missionary money used?" I inquired again. The country church today has the unique oppor- tunity of carrying on this same simple kind of re- "Preaching the Gospel," came back emphatically. "Saving souls."
I went next to an enthusiastic young minister's wife who, with her husband, has dedicated her ligion, unhampered by big church-building debts, life to the work of the rural church. set forms and ceremonies, large maintenance ex- pense. Because of the unique position of the coun- "What is woman's work in the country church?" try church, rural women have unusual oppor- I asked. tunities.
"Helping her church rethink its reason for In the first place, the farm home continues to existing," came the unhesitating reply, "urging it be something of a unit even in a complex, modern to place life ahead of creeds; showing that its world. There are chores to be done and responfield is THE COMMUNITY and that every unreached sibilities that need to be placed on young shoulperson is a responsibility of the church. All of this-with the belief that sharing the message of ders. The family shares many experiences, even Jesus Christ around the world is a task for the its social life, and the minister of the rural church entire church." ministers to the entire family. Woman's work in the country church is first of all to recognize this In her enthusiasm she had generalized, but as and try to preserve family unity, for it is a real I talked with her later I received specific answers in very definite terms. asset to church life.
As I talk with rural church women today, I find The rural woman in many communities today is many eagerly and earnestly agreeing with this faced with the fact that her children attend a fine, young minister's wife. well-equipped Consolidated School during the week The function of the rural church woman has and, on Sunday, must leave their friends and go (if they go) to a small, competitive, denominachanged today because the program of her church tional church. She realizes that though the docis changing. And is it surprising that her church trines of her church are important and she will program is changing to meet new needs? The probably continue to believe them, the emphasis heart of her work continues the same-the shar- of religion today should be, as in the ministry of ing of the teachings and message of a young, rural Jesus, on life. She realizes that if the rural church evangelist, Jesus Christ; but her method of work is to continue its ministry, Christians must learn is changing as she finds the experience of her children to be different from her own a genera- to work together and in cooperation with other tion ago. character building agencies. Small, competitive The religion of Jesus was very simple. Grow- churches, unable to support a resident minister, ing up in a country home, his school the country- will find it difficult to challenge other cooperating side, the beauty of the out-of-doors keeping him groups in the community and to do much about close to the heavenly Father, He grew to under- the large, unreached number of people within its stand and sympathize keenly with people and their boundaries. problems. Religion to Him was not adding names Another responsibility of the c.ountry woman [425 ]
today is to develop an interest in her church for petuation of the Woman's Missionary Society, as wholesome recreation, especially for young peo- such. They do not seem to care that the men are ple. It is unnecessary for rural youth to drive indifferent to the missionary program of the into the city for commercialized "wreck-reaction" church and that the majority of the children and when the country has so much to offer in recrea- young people are unreached. Again it is organ- tion activities. Rural recreational leaders, arti- ization, rather than life. If only our vision could sans in leading folk games and other forms of co- enlarge to see the whole, to know that most men operative play are being developed. Some rural and children and young people are interested once communities have the satisfaction of seeing their they know! Someone has facetiously said that for young pople interested in worthwhile social life, too long in our church work, men have sung: in which the majority participate, while the public Take my wife and let her be dance halls and the beer gardens move out of the Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
community. Most of us who have tried to interest our men "Camps for Mothers" are very valuable in many and boys, with the same fervor and intelligence rural communities. It seems unbelievable, but we have used in the women's missionary work, rural mothers are finding they can lay aside for a have found them responsive and interested. Just few days the responsibilities of home and family as the church should see that the religion of Christ and go off for recreation in the out-of-doors. permeates all groups and agencies in the commu- Many farm women discover unusual beauty at nity, so the Woman's Missionary Society should their very doorsteps. The busy, crowded days at see that the cause of missions is enthusiastically home and the fact that the sunrise, the moon, the trees, the stars "have always been there" has shared with all groups. I know a mother, a memkept many of these women from being conscious ber of a Woman's Missionary Society, who comes of these "aids to worship." home from the missionary meetings and usually says, as she sighs, "Well, that's over for another One rural parish in New York state has built its month" and then wonders why her husband and own cabin in a woods and each year the farm . daughter are not interested in missions! mothers look forward to the cherished days of Jesus had a high regard for womanhood. In rest and relaxation. A rural cooperative church the centuries following his death on the Cross, in Ohio has a camp of its own where each year, woman has achieved more freedom and education. along with other age groups, the rural women live I wonder sometimes, as He watches the Marys and together for a few days. These women look for- Marthas of our rural homes today, if He does not ward to the discussion periods each morning fol- wish we would follow Him more intelligently and lowing the nature hike when they consider such give more time and thought to His work. I wontopics as "Family Worship," "Personal and Home der if He watches eagerly for a Mary Magdalene Relationships," and "The Missionary Task of the as He sees us drag about our church work, giving Church." In the afternoon they read, sleep and only left-over time, attending the Ladies' Aid and rest, following the creative craft period, and then the preaching services because we think we go swimming. After the evening meal, they walk should, and giving to missions only after we have over the ravine and climb up Vesper Hill where, paid for new clothes and other things. away from all worry and burdensome responsi- A story is told of an old colored woman sitting bility, they "draw near to God." on the steps of a church during a Woman's Rights If rural women are to have new visions for meeting in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. She listened to work in the country church today, they must take the fiery speeches by the men for quite awhile, de- time from their labors for rebuilding and rethink- nouncing the idea that women should vote, deny- ing. Out in these well-planned camps (where ing her intelligence, etc. Finally, unable to stand there are no meals to cook and no dishes to wash) it any longer, the old woman walked to the front they find their physical bodies relaxing and rest- of the church, pointed her finger at the men and ing while, at the same time, their spiritual life is said, "If de fust woman God ever made turned quickened. Tired mothers go away more radiant, dis world upside down all by herself, dese women happy Christians. If only rural women would all togedder can set it right side up again and you look about them and discover the material avail- men better let 'em do it."
able for use! If only they would insist on having I pause to wonder what the future of the coun-, a minister trained for his task, knowing and lov- try church might be if rural women "all togedder"
ing rural folk, they would find material and re- would consecrate themselves to the building of sources at hand. . the New Rural Church, where Christians would There are many Woman's Missionary Societies put life ahead of dead dogma and where the coun- (and they are not all in the country) that seem tryside might again hear and share the message to believe that the ultimate goal in life is the per- of the rural teacher, J.esus of Nazareth.
Arab Consults a Missionary Doctor*
A Monolog Purporting to Giv~ the Reaction of an Arab Gentleman of Baghdad to the Christian. Message By the REV. JAMES CANTINE, D.D., Stone Ridge, New York One of the Founders of the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in America Persons: pital? Well you can go down and, if you see him, Abd el Kadir, a well-to-do Arab. ask him to come up. . . . Wait! Before you go Zarifa, one of his wives, very ill. open this door by my side and stretch a curtain Amina, his daughter, eight or nine years old, attend- across the doorway. Then tell the servants to bring Zarifa in that room and lay her down by ing mission school. the curtain." Ahmed, his son, fifteen or sixteen, attending Govern- (Servant goes out.) ment School of Engineering. Abdullah, his servant, probably of slave descent. The American missionary doctor.
Place: "I take refuge with God from a house full of women! I hope that doctor will not mind being Abd el Kadir's reception room, long and narrow, with asked to give medicine to a woman." (Turning to chairs and little tables down each side. Doors at curtain.) "Ha, Zarifa, now stop that crying! I each end. Just outside the entrance door Abdul- know it hurts, but it is God's will, is it not? Every- lah is stationed with a charcoal fire for keeping thing that happens is written in His book. Listen, the coffee hot. The door at the head of the room I have sent for the American doctor and, if God where Abd el Kadir is seated opens into another wills, he will give you ·some medicine. Only be room. quiet.
When Abdullah is called he enters and crouches down "Ah, here he comes." (Arises, steps forward before his master. The children kiss the hand of and touches the hand of the doctor.) their father and stand until bidden to be seated. "May God make your morning happy, 0 doc- Abd el Kadir is seated, fingering his beads. He listens, frowns and calbs out, "Abdullah !" tor. In the name of God be seated. If it pleases (The servant enters and Abd el Kadir speaks.) God you are well? Praise be to God I am very "Abdullah, what is this screaming about? well. "You say that Zarifa is very sick! Yes, I know. "Do you drink? smoke? No?" (Calls to Abdul- lah.) That slave woman has been here and has cauter- "Abdullah, coffee! …• ized her, has she not? They are paid according "I have had my servant ask you to come in, 0 to the number of burns they make so I suppose doctor, so that you might, if God wills, give medi- they have done a good job. cine to one of my women. It is scarcely worth "But you say that she gets no better, and that while taking your valuable time, but you were the other women object to her cries and say I passing by and- Yes, that is she whom you hear must do something. God deliver me from such moaning behind the curtain. You can ask her evil! What can I do about it? It is all as God any question you wish. She has been sick severa} wills. I could divorce her. That is easy; just to days and they say she is getting worse.
say three times 'I divorce you' . . . "Oh, no! You cannot see her, but I will let you "Yes, I know, her family is important and I feel her pulse. Zarifa, put your hand under the.
cannot send her away sick as she is. curtain. There doctor!
"What is that you say? . . . Why don't I send "Yes, I expect she is very ill.
for the American doctor? What do you know "You say that if you saw her you might help about him? her? But that is quite impossible. From the time "You hear he is clever and you think he has a I took her no man but myself has seen her face.
kindly face. And he passes by the door every "You say that she may die? That is as God morning about this time on his way to his hos- wills…. You are sorry that there is no woman • Copies of this monologue may be secured from The Woman's doctor here, and you hope that sometime you will Board of Foreign MiSSions, Reformed Church in America, 25 East have a woman doctor to work in your hospital?
22d Street, New York, for ten cents a CODY.
[427 ]
As God wills! . But you can give her medicine "And how is my little daughter today? Sit to keep her quiet, can you not? I will send my servant to the hospital for it. down here on this cushion by your father's side.
"And your fee, 0 doctor? Your lips are cold, Amina, where have you been? "What, no regular fee? You say that I can give what I wish! Very well, I will send it to the hos- "You are just back from school? Tell me about pital by Abdullah. It will not be a very large fee, but if you get enough of them you will one day that school. It is the American school, is it not? be rich, will you not? "What is this you say? You do not keep these Do you like it? fees for yourself, but use them to buy medicines for the very poor! Ah, that is almsgiving. Alms- "You do! Why? .. You like the school begiving is one of the five pillars of our faith as given to us by our prophet Mohammed, upon cause the teacher is so kind? Is that all? whom be prayers and peace! "Pardon me, 0 doctor, but before you go will "You say that she talks so nice about God! you tell me how you live if you take no fees for yourself? We know your government does not What does she say about God? . . . That He pay you as some governments pay their doctors. "What! You say that the Christian people of loves you and that you must be a good girl and try America send you money enough for your expenses, because their religion tells them to help to please Him. And have you learned about the other people? I am surprised! I did not know the Christian religion was like that. holy prophets, Amina? Which one do you like "Just one more question. Will you tell me why you left America and came here? It seems you best? will not get rich in Baghdad; it is not a very healthy climate for foreigners and you are far "The prophet Jesus! And why do you like the away from your friends. "You say that you have come because you love prophet Jesus best? . . . You say because He the prophet Jesus and want to follow His example. . . . And now you want to ask me a question! took little children in his arms and talked so nicely That is only fair. "Do I know about the prophet Jesus? Oh, yes, to them. But has she not taught you about the the Holy Koran tells us that He was without sin and did many miracles like the other prophets. prophet Mohammed, upon whom be prayers and "Yes, there may be more about Him in your book, but you know that the prophet, Mohammed, peace? upon whom be prayerl and peace, is the seal of all the prophets and that is enough for us. "Nq! Well, Amina, I think it is time for you "You wish I would read more about the prophet Jesus? Well, 0 doctor, some time, if God wills it, to go to another school where you can learn all I will look for a book that tells more about him. "Will you be going now? I am obliged to you. about our holy religion of Islam. Go in the safety of God!" "What! You don't want to go! Now don't cry, (As the doctor goes out, Abd el Kadir continues.) my daughter, don't cry. Perhaps I will leave you "That doctor seems a good man and he does awhile longer in the American School. But tell have a kindly face. Perhaps some time I might be interested in knowing more about the prophet me what else you learn besides reading and Jesus. writing. "Abdullah! Did you take Zarifa to her room and shut the door so that her crying will not "Oh! To sew ? You make dresses for little annoy the other women. Here, take five rupees to the hospital and bring back some medicine for her. girls? But that is foolish; your father can buy Wait! Is Amina about the house? Send her in to me." all the clothes you need.
(Enters Amina and kisses her father's hand.) "You say that they are not for yourself, but for the poor little girls in the school who do not have good dresses! Well! Well! You can go now, 0 my daughter, go and play." (He soliloquizes.) "Now what shall I do? There is nothing to which I can object, but I am afraid of that Chris- tian school. But that reminds me!" (He calls.) "Abdullah! Tell Ahmed that his father wants to see him." (Ahmed enters and stands before his father.) "Ahmed, I am much displeased with you. Some- one saw you going into the house of the American preacher. Is that right? So? Sit down. How did you come to know him?
"He gave a lecture in your school about sanita- tion in America, did he? What does he know about sanitation?
"Oh, he was an engineer before he was a preacher, was he? Well, all that is the business of your principal. But why did you go to his house? _ "You say that he asked the boys to come and'
see some pictures he had brought from America?
Pictures? Why, Ahmed. Now I a.m angry! You know I have forbidden you to go and see those dreadful, disgraceful American pictures!
"But these were not cinema pictures? What then?
AN ARAB CONSULTS A MISSIONARY DOCTOR
"Pictures of bridges and public buildings in that knows me see you buy it. I would be dis- America and England and Russia 1 God curse the graced if it were known that I wanted a Christian Russians, they make it very hard for a good Mos- book. Be careful about that.
lem to live in Russia. But did he say anything "What 1 You have such a book. What does this about religion? . .. He did 1 What? mean? You a MOi>lem and my servant, having "That there is freedom for all religions in such a book 1 How did you get it?
America 1 But, Ahmed, you don't want to know "You say that you were going past a shop and about any other religion than Islam. . . . You you heard someone reading out of a little book do? Why? about the prophet Jesus, and it seemed such good "You will not feel educated -like the boys in words that you bought it.
other countries-unless you know about other re- "You have it here? Give it to me at once so ligions? (Abd el Kadirshakes his head in dis- that I can tear it up." (Abdullah takes a little sent.) And did he say anything about his reli- Gospel from unde~ his garment and gives it to his gion? master.) "So he talked about the prophet Jesus and His "Go away I" (Abdullah leave'S the room.) teaching 1 Well, you have heard enough about "Shall I tear it up? But it may have the name that, ·so do not go again. . . . But you want to of God written in it and I cannot harm that Holy go next Sunday with the other boys? What boys? Name. And this may be the book I wanted to "Well, if the judge and those other men let their buy. . . . I shall just see how it begins. (Turns sons go, I suppose I ought not to object. What is to the beginning-it would be the end of the book he going to talk about? to us-and reads.) 'In the beginning was the "Oh, yes 1 I did see a notice of it in the paper. Word.' The Word? Why that is the name the It says he is giving a series of lectures on the Holy Koran gives to the prophet Jesus. Can there prophet Jesus-His Teaching about Personal Hab- be truth in this book? . . .
its, and Family Life, and Government. Now see "Shall I see what is marked? (Turns pages and here, Ahmed, you go next Sunday and then come reads.) 'I am the way and the truth and the and tell me all about it so that I can correct what life.' The Way? Why we pray five times a day is wrong. . . . That is all, 0 my son I" (Ahmed and ask Allah to 'Lead us in the "right way.'" kisses his father'lS hand and retires, being careful Here is someone who says, 'I am the Way.' Who not to turn his back upon his father.) could say that (reads) 'Jesus Said.' I don't under- "Now, what shall I do about these, my children? stand. He is a holy prophet, but how could he Amina-it would break her heart if now I took say that He is the way to God? . . .
her away from the American School. And then "I will read in just one more place. (Turns I am told that she is a much better girl at home pages and reads.) 'Because I live ye shall live than she used to be-more obedient, kinder and also.' Did Jesus say that? Yes? Strange 1 Of does not use bad words. Shall I send her to an- all the prophets Jesus is the only one our Holy other school and have her become a good Moslem, Koran says did not die, but is now alive in heaven. or shall I let her remain where she is and have Can this be the ground for His saying that those her grow up to be a good woman? who believe in Him shall be with Him in paradise?
"And Ahmed 1 It seems that the young men of "What book is this? Why have I never seen it today want to see all things and decide for them- before? Is this the book I half promised the doc- selves; and they cannot be ruled as I was ruled tor I would read some day? Will it tell me about by my father. It will be better if I try to guide the Jesus that my little daughter loves? Are there Ahmed away from these Christian influences. here the teachings of Jesus that my son wants to Perhaps I ought, myself, to know more about the know about? Shall I, dare I, read it from begin- prophet Jesus. That doctor wants me to know ning to end?
more about His teaching. And I would like to "Surely I am a Moslem. (Recites the creed.) know why my little daughter loves Jesus more 'There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the than she loves Mohammed, upon whom be prayers prophet of God.' But Jesus is our prophet also.
and peace. If I find out the falseness of the teach- Who can forbid me knowing all I can about him?
ing of Jesus then I can correct Ahmed's wrong "If the story of Jesus can make a man like the impressions. doctor come out here just to follow His example; "But where can I get a book about the prophet if this story makes my little daughter love Jesus Jesus? I will ask Abdullah. whom she has never seen; and if it makes my son "Abdullah 1 Abdullah, is there a bookshop in want to know about His teaching, then I ought to the city where they sell books about the prophet read it. (Puts the book reverently on the table.) Jesus? . . . There is 1 Well, I want you to go And if here is the 'straight path' we pray that and buy me such a book. But don't let anyone we may follow, dare I walk therein? God Knows."
Unchanging Missionary
A Challenge and Appeal of Fifty Years Ago* By ARTHUR T. PIERSON Editor-in-Chief of the "Review" for Twenty-three Years. This Year Is the Centenary of His Birth THE argument and the appeal in behalf of These providential signals, and these gracious missions are unsurpassed for variety and signs, being once truly recognized and realized, cogency. . . . The very watchword of the make duty a delight; the work of missions be- Christian life is obedience, and our great Captain comes no longer the cold necessity of obedience, has left us His marching orders: "Go ye into all but the most inspiring, enrapturing privilege.
the world and preach the Gospel to every crea- Only some such exalted conception of this last ture." Such a plain command makes all other commission, and of the supreme blessedness of a motives comparatively unnecessary. . . . Where loving fidelity to our stewardship in the Gospel, there has been given a clear, divine word of au- can lift the Church of God to a higher plane of thority, immediate, implicit submission and com- praying and giving. Better than the conscience pliance will be yielded by every loyal, loving dis- that drives, is the love that draws to the work of ciple. Even to hesitate, for the sake of asking a missions. Once brought to the white-heat of pas- reason, savors of the essence of rebellion. sion for souls, we are henceforth "weary with When our great Commander left us this last forbearing and cannot stay" in apathetic idleness precept, however, He annexed to it a most inspir- and silence; the inward fire must have vent. It ing promise: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto is no longer hard to give, but hard to withhold; the end of the world." That promise has been and, better than the most princely gifts of money, conspicuously and marvellously fulfilled in con- we shall give ourselves "a living sacrifice." . . .
nection with missions; for Christ has been with One startling and comprehensive fact should us, both by His providence and by His grace. The be clearly kept before us-that all the stupendous argument and appeal, found in this providential movements and changes which we have to record, and gracious Presence, have not been properly or refer to, have taken place within less than a considered and appreciated. . . . century! . . . Within the nineteenth century what The providence of God is especially apparent in astounding changes have taken place! That bugle- missions, in the opening of doors, great and effec- call of William Carey has rallied all Christendom.
tual; in the removal or subsidence of barriers; God has opened the two-leaved gates, until the in the preparation of the field and the workmen; last of the hermit nations unbars the doors of ex- in the provision and protection of the la:borers; clusion and seclusion and welcomes to her ports and in the revealing and unfolding to the Church the messenger of Christ. Even the most enthu- of His set times, seasons, and measures for secur- siastic student of missions fails to apprehend and ing new advance and success. Such divine provi- appreciate the grandeur of such colossal move- dence becomes to God's people a glorious and in- ments. Wonderful, indeed, that a hundred open spiring signal both that He is always with them, doors, great and effectual, God should set before and that His pleasure shall prosper in their hands. His Church; but more wonderful the ways in The grace of God appears in missions, espe- which, by keys of His own, He has unlocked the cially in working mighty results and effects, such gates of hermit nations. When, in 1793, William as are plainly attributable only to the Divine Carey, that pious, learned cobbler, went forth as Spirit. These results are wrought not only in in- the first foreign missionary from English shores, dividuals, but sometimes in whole communities; the whole world was comparatively locked against there are some transformations that deserve to missionary enterprise; there was scarce one real be called transfigurations. In the workmen, also, opening into pagan, papal, or Moslem lands to whose consecration to such heroic labors develops preach the Gospel in its purity, or win converts, in them an exalted type of piety, and even in those without molestation and persecution both to the.
who earnestly pray and liberally give for the sup- missionary and the convert. Now the whole aspect port of the work, similar unmistakable fruits of of the world is changed, and there is scarce one this grace appear and abound. . . . closed door, or community where the preacher may not go with the open Bible, or where the convert • From the first chapter of "The Crisis of Missions," published may not, in publicly confessing allegiance to Jesus, In 1886, a great volume that aroused the Church to the claims of Foreign Missions. claim the protection of law.
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I Effective Ways of Working 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~~i==========================~ Shall We Study "The Church ing in towns and villages, un- moving pictures that are so ef- in Rural America"? duly small memberships (aver- fective in the assembly periods age of less than 100, with annual of mission study schools-all of There is a tendency in some per capita expenditure of $13.27 which indicates the trend toward as against $21.50 in cities), in- activating study rather than letquarters to answer in the nega- adequate ministry as to training, ting it pause with "information nonsupport, inability to give full- and inspiration"-which tend to tive in view of the absence of the time service, etc., lack of trained be static. lay leadership, denominational picturesque and dramatic in the competition and overlapping, BAPTIST BOARD OF MISSIONARY EDUtheme, and the apparent diffi- etc. Topping all these is a psy- chological difficulty in getting CATION, 152 MADISON AVE., NEW culty in concreting it sufficiently new standards and a broader outlook, with an unchanged in- YORK: for the younger folk. But no stitution in a changing world. reader of THE REVIEW can fail, Our best endeavors are called for Beginners- in "creating a new moral and after noting the contents of its spiritual top soil for Rural Handwork, visualizations, stories: June issue, to see that nothing America." "The Singing Farmer," 68 cents; of more practical nature or im- "The Friendly Farmers" – projmediate urgency has been offered From r e c e n t' contributions ects and activities included, 50 by the Central Committee for submitted by various denomina- cents; "Farm Life Panel Postour consideration if we are to tional boards of missionary edu- ers" – four brown sepia panels, give the 31,000,000 and more cation, the following materials 12×36 in., with colored cut-outs people (half the entire popula- are cited because they are good to be pasted on, 50 cents. (Order tion) who are tilling God's Gar- in quality and of a sufficiently these from The American Baptist den their opportunity for "the universal character to be used Publication Society, 1701 Chestabundant life." Nor does this with little adaptation by mem- nut St., Philadelphia, Pa.) ; concern dwellers in country and bers of any communion. No one "Farmers in Many Lands"-picsmall towns alone. It is our com- denomination can hope to be ture sheet of 12 pictures, four on mon problem in view of our in- sufficient for even a fraction of American rural life, from which terdependence and the complex the task. And it is only by picture books may be made as situation created by the two mi- friendly borrowings that we can handwork, 25 cents; "Rural Life grations – the exodus of farm- hope to attain all-round effi- Through Teaching Pictures" – 8 bred youths toward the city and ciency. Along with specifically pictures llx15 in., 50 cents. the recent reverse trend caused denominational offerings will be by economic conditions – this found materials from neutral Primarylatter throwing the responsibil- sources, belonging in the units ity for the early training of a merely because they have been Handwork and visualizations the large proportion of our citizen- selected and fitted in by the sev- iJame as for Beginners. Stories: ship upon country homes and eral missionary education boards "The World on a Farm" – illuschurches. The rural world is as best shaping up to their stand- trated narratives, 25 c en t s; confronted by new problems and ards for graded Sunday school aggravated old ones in which we and age-group study. These di- * "Over the Hills and Far Away" all have a common stake. The rect transcripts from the lists economic ones are at the very submitted save space otherwise -series of graded home mission storm center of our national life to be consumed in separate cita- stories, 15 cents. -child labor, the sharecropper tions of publishers, etc. Attensituation, inadequate educational tion is especially directed to the Juniorsfacilities, reforestation and wealth of devices for visualizaplowing of submarginal lands, tions and activations, particu- Handwork, projects and activisoil conservation, collapse of cot- larly to the stereopticon and ties: "Out in the Country," 50 ton tenancy, wage-and-time ad- cents; "Farm Life Panel Postjustments, racial antagonisms [431 ] ers" as listed above; "Picture and a score of others. The reli- Map of the U. S."-art map 30×50 gious ones are even more vexing in. with 18 sketches to be colored and far-reaching – over-church- and pasted on, 50 cents; "Rural Life Teaching Pictures" as pre- viously listed.
Stories: * "Friendship Tales from Far and Near Trails," 15 cents.
Intermediate and Young People- Handwork, etc.: Several of the sets listed above; "Willson's Gummed Paper Letters and Fig- ures"-27 sizes and styles – free from The Tablet and Ticket Co., 115 E. 23d St., N. Y.; "Velox
Transparent Water Color Stamps" and his sharecropper tenant; study abounds in fine story material; the -perforated stamps of 12 colors, of local rural schools; inquiry of four "ranges" rounding up the sub- to be dissolved in water, with librarians as to type of books avail- ject in the closing meeting in a way four brushes and instructions, able and expense thereof; steps to to incite to action. "The Migrant Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, supplement this by making more Map" is another program of a most N. Y., $1.00. Stories: "The Ad- reading matter available; study of practical character, fitting in with ventures of Mr. Friend," 25 cents; cooperative marketing with view to the general home mission theme. its establishment in the community; Outline, 20 cents. * "The Church of the Country- demonstration of social and cultural work in drama, art, music or recrea- The women's group offers as a three side" -10 graded home mission tion and investigation as to facili- months' inset to their booklet on stories, 15 cents. ties for these among your rural citi- "Journeys," a set of outstanding zens; s p e cia 1 investigation of programs on "Journeys Along Rural Visualizations: S t ere 0 p tic 0 n churches in the vicinity as to pas- Roads," in which full directions are slides with coordinated lectures- tors, salaries, equipment, Sunday given for a panel discussion, an "The Little White Church on the schools, type of service most needed; original chart study on "Forward Hill"; "On Lonely Trails with organization of local groups for co- Together for Better Service," and Colporter Missionaries"; "The operation in the Peace Movement. "Journeys Toward the New Day"- Colporter Country," $2.00 each impersonations of the seven groups and carriage both ways. PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF NATIONAL of rural folk listed in the textbook. MISSIONS, CENTRAL DISTRIBUTING While the program booklet inclusive WOMEN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE MIS S ION of the foregoing contains much UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH, 723 BOARDS, 156 FIFTH AVE., NEW other cleverly conceived program MUHLENBERG B LD G., PHILADEL- YORK: matter, it is all of such a nature PHIA, PA.: that its form and manner of pres- Adult course on "Rebuilding Rural entation are universal and usable "Teaching Pictures on Rural Life America," 25 cents; study book of by folk of any communion. Price, Around the World" – 8 large pic- that name, 60 cents and $1. 50 cents. tures of country folk of different lands, 50 cents; plays-"The Call Young People's and Senior's unit "Early Missionary Journeys" is a of the Hills," 5 cents; "At Devil's on "Highland Heritage"-breaking separate booklet containing a full Nose" (mountain m iss ion a r y down of isolation in Appalachian year's devotional studies in complete sketch), 15 cents; stories – "Ra- Life, 25 cents; book, 60 cents and outline. Price, 15 cents. channy of the Southern Mountains," $1. "Rosann," "Spunk," "Jest Gals," 2 A number of worthful sugges- cents each or 6 for 5 cents. Intermediate unit by Grace Mc- tions for programs on "Rural Gavran, 35 cents. America"-inclusive of a special THE UNITED CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY article on junior work, by Annye SOCIETY, MISSIONS BLDG., 222 Stereopticon slides and lecture on Allison – as well as excerpts DOWNEY A VE., INDIANAPOLIS, Rural Life – "The Book and the from summer conferences at- IND.: Plough," 30 slides; rentai, $1.00 tended by the Department Edi- plus two-way. postage. tor, have to be held over for lack A very complete study packet of of space and will appear as soon leaflets covering "Dwellers in the Moving pictures (16mm., 2 reels), as possible in a later issue. Ad- Countryside," 50 cents. "Hearthstones and Al tar s" -life ditional methods material suit- story of typical rural family; "Mid able for pastors, men's groups This includes instructions to pro- Purple Mountain Majesties" -fol- and children's organizations is gram committees, a "Calendar of lows a boy from his mountain com- especially solicited. Send direct Service"; "Things We Can Do" at munity. $2.00 per reel and two- to this department instead of the the successive meetings to translate way carriage for each of the fore- Magazine headquarters, to avoid them into life; a large variety of going. delay and extra postage. subject matter for the talks, papers, etc.; good dramatic sketches on Order from Distributing Depart- For older people, this topic "The Farmer's Wife," "Bringing ment in N. Y., or 8 So. Dearborn lends itself wonderfully to panel College to the Farmer," "Weari- St., Chicago, or 234 McAlister St., discussions, round tables or pro- ness," "They Went to Bethlehem"; San Francisco, Calif., according to gram conferences. For instance, a special Christmas program com- your location. make up the entire program ex- plete; a panel discussion for four cept for appropriate music inter- women on "Influences that Make for THE WOMAN'S HOME MISSION SOCIETY spersed, from the June number Peace or War"; a program on OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL of THE REVIEW, the leader im- "Blessed Are the Peacemakers"; CHURCH, 420 PLUM ST., CINCIN- pressing the importance of the and well-constructed studies on NATI, OHIO. LITERATURE DEPART- topic by using points from the these phases of the rural problem: MENT: editorial, "Rural America for Educational- "Sing B e h i n d the Christ," and being promptly sec- Plow"; "Bina Holben-Sharecrop- The Methodist women have clever onded and supported by another per"; "Pietro Lopez – Mexican"; series of programs worked out for participant summarizing "The, "M r s. W a 1ton – Mountaineer"; their girls (Queen Esthers) under Challenge of the Rural Commu- "Max Smith-Miner"; "Sarak Pe- the figure of "Building the Map of nity." On this background let toskey-Migrant"; "Susan Kepple U. S.," and for the women on the successive speakers, by prear- -Farm Woman"; "The Nat ion picturesque theme of "Modern Mis- ranged plan but with appearance Helps the Farmer" – a parable of sionary Journeys," an adequate ap- of spontaneity and in conversa- American rural life in Oklahoma; preciation of which will appear in tional style as if talking among "Social Influences Yesterday and a later issue, as only the rural themselves, give brief talks of Today"-a social science study. theme studies can be noted at this time. Among the workable suggestions listed are: An original study of For three months the girls study child labor statistics and condi- "Highland Heritage," with unique tions; a demonstration of the set- visualizations, a meeting in the form tlement between a plantation owner of the recitation of the geography class, "Head Range" and "Heart • The three sets of graded primary, junior Range" being considered; "Hand and intermediate stories listed above at 15 Range" and "Health Range" being cents each sell collectively at 35 cents. added in the following meeting that
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
not over five minutes each, selec- lines on "Discipleship" being for byterian Board of National Mistions of topics to be made from worship services and the remain- sions, 156 Fifth Ave., New the excellent articles following, ing six for worship and study York. ending with pointed presenta- combined. Their object is "to tion of things the group or their seek to make women conscious "If I Be His Disciple-How church can do. This is very im- of their responsibility as Chris- Shall I Follow Jesus Today" is portant. tian citizens for the solution of the title of a booklet prepared over a year ago by the Spiritual A more dramatic and impres- the social and economic problems Life Committee of the Presbysive program might be arranged of present-day society." terian Mission Boards. It confrom the same number by hav- sists of a ten-cent leader's ing a congress or conference of "In times like these the forces pamphlet and a set of leaflets persons impersonating-with or of religion should be exerting corresponding to the successive without costumes – the r u r a I topics and intended for use in pastor, the farmer's wife, the themselves to create a condition the audience. The subjects are: sharecropper, the case worker, out of which right motives for the colporter, etc. Again, close leadership can be generated. I Will Learn What the Bible Says to with practical planning, and a . . . There is only one motive Me devotional service of consecra- adequate to solve the problems tion to the task. Either one of and heal the ills of our stricken I Will Learn to Meditate these plans will make a most ef- civilization. That motive is the I Will Learn to Pray fective prayer meeting or eve- motive of the good neighbor. It I Will Learn to Serve ning service for the church at is clearly the business of religion I Will Learn to Share large, the meeting eventuating I Will Test My Life by Christ in organized activity. Time the to create mental and moral attiparts or the theme will be tudes to support and sustain and The leaflets sell for ten cents "talked to death." vitalize, as well as to call out per set. that motive. If religion does not Devotional Material call that motive into being, it A companion booklet recently will not come into being." (From issued is called, "If I Be His Dis- "In the beginning God created "Who Is My Neighbor?" by ciple I Will Grow." The topics . . . the earth. . . . And the are: Lord God formed man out of the Walter H. North.) dust of the earth and breathed I Will Grow into His Likeness into his nostrils the breath of The devotional outlines are on I Will Grow in Reflecting His Spirit life; and man became a living "God at Work in His Universe," soul. . . . And the Lord God "Great and Mighty. Things," Every Day planted a garden eastward in I Will Grow in Meeting Life's Crises Eden; and there He put the "Christ's Point of View" and I Will Grow More Sensitive to Human man whom He had formed. And "For Such a Time as This." out of the ground the Lord God The subjects of the programs Need made to grow every tree that is I Will Grow in Using My Life for pleasant to the sight and good for full meetings are: "We Look for food." God created an earth, at the Present Social Order," Him a man and a garden. The earth "The Bible and Social Values," was of basic importance then "The Christian Approach to So- This booklet also costs ten and must ever be. (From leaflet cial Problems," "The Church in cents, and the corresponding of the United Christian Mission- Action in National Missions," leaflets two cents each. These ary Society.) are invaluable helps for devo- "A Christian World Order" and tional leaders, giving Scripture, A service on this keynote may "A Plan for Social Education subject matter, prayers, ques~ well start the study of "Rural and Action in Your Commu- tions for meditation, material America," following later with nity." Only one of these-that for the group's use, hymns, devotionals keyed to Christ's na- poems and prayer suggestions ture parables – "The Sower," on National Missions-has any for the ensuing week. Suitable "The Tares," etc. denominational flair. The others for any young people's or adult will apply equally well among all group, or for prayer meetings. "Worship Services" based on evangelical groups. The Scrip- "Lord, Teach Us to Pray" may A VISTA IN JAPAN be had from the Presbyterians tural foundations are well laid, for five cents each. the citations to live, present-day books are excellent and the Under the title "C h u r c h theme studies worked out in a Women and a Christian World scholarly- though simple-way Community," a series of ten to challenge interest and thought programs has been i.ssued for in any intelligent group. In this use in any organized group of church women, the four first out- year when standard study themes include "The Church in Rural America," "World Peace" and "The Missionary Motive and Imperative," and when panel discussions are in the lead in presenting subject matter, the outlines are most timely. The price is 10 cents, at The Pres- The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK Committee – the Quaker organ- ization which has carried on re- lief and reconstruction work both abroad and at home-dur- ing and following the World War in several European coun- tries and more recently in the coal areas of the United States.
This Committee is again trying to save life while others destroy.
The work for children in Spain is strictly non-partisan and is approved by the Federal Coun- cil of Churches and by the Red Cross.
We quote from the special bul- letin on Spain issued at intervals by the A. F. S. C.
"There may be defeats today – victories tomorrow for the armies. For the hungry people there is little hope that anything can happen to repair their ruined homes or restock their devastated farms." "Out of the confusion and debatable issues of the war, arise certain uncon- trovertible facts. Authorities agree, for instance, that as long aQ"o as last February there were more than a million refugees in Loyalist territory. The Loyalist government then reported that 250,000 children were in refugee colonies. More r e c e n t 1y, a Quaker relief worker in Madrid World Wide Photos, Inc. stated that there were 116,000 Thou Shall Not be Afraid "We have not fully caught the children still in that city under mind of Christ until we realize 14 years of age, badly under- "Thou shall not be afraid for that the Kingdom of God on nourished and unable to be evacthe terror by night, nor for the earth is the cooperative task of uated for lack of places to put arrow that Rieth by day." God and men working together." them. The safer municipalities (Psalm 91: 5.) throughout Loyalist Spain are "Faith is the diametrical op- now so congested with refugees "God hath not given us a spir- posite of fear and the supreme that they are forced to refuse it of fear, but of love, and of cure for fear is faith." additional numbers except when power, and of discipline." (2 the food is guaranteed by out- Timothy 1: 7.) RUFUS JONES.
"Fear is the greatest single Spain Opens Door for Friendly- side agencies." "The A. F. S. C. hindrance to the advance of civ- has become a recognized im-· ilization today." Service partial channel for relief of the "We should leap forward to a new type of civilization and be (An opportunity to show the spirit Spanish people regardless of able to avert world disaster, if men were not chained to a dead of goodwill in a country clouded by where they may be—":"in Loyalist past by their fears." war.) or Nationalist territory." "All Doubtless our readers know shipments of goods or contribu- of the American Friends Service tions of money will be used [434 ]
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
strictly for the purposes desig- all over Spain and that is simple National Peace Conference Ma- nated by the donors . . . ." playthings for children such as terials "The refugees arrive in such balls and blocks and things that The National Peace Confer- terrible condition that their rags are not easily destroyed." ence publishes, through its Pubhave to be stripped off of them lic Affairs Committee, a series and burned. Children can be The need for playthings will of pamphlets on subjects conmade to smile by a bright col- be at least partly filled when the nected with world problems ored jumper or a pair of shoes." children of America send their which affect international rela- "Next to the full maintenance of suitcases to the refugee children. tions and peace, and which are the colonies, help with the food Detailed information on this of great value to those who wish supply is the most important project may be secured by writ- brief expositions on topics of imthing that can be done for refu- ing to the Committee on World mediate interest. The latest gee children; a problem every Friendship Among Children, 297 pamphlet is entitled "Colonies, day more acute. Shipments for Fourth Avenue, New York City. Trade and Prosperity," and is a this purpose come in duty free." Those who desire to contribute simple and condensed study of "One's first impression of the clothing or cash for food should the economic approach to the refugee situation is of terrible send it to the American Friends peace question. This pamphlet chaos and misery. The first day Service Committee, 20 South is excellent and very readable, in Murcia I went to the Pablo 12th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. and will be very valuable in con- Inglesias – a huge b u i I din g (In either case kindly mention nection with the campaign on economics and peace which is to where 4,000 are housed. The THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF be launched next fall by the Nabuilding is in reality an unfin- tional Peace Conference, and THE WORLD.) about which you will hear more ished block of flats about nine in detail in the fall. stories high. The floors have Materials on Peace Education not yet been divided into rooms, A packet of helps. for this and form vast corridors, swarm- Marathons pamphlet is being prepared and ing with men, wom(in and chil- will be ready for use in the fall. The subjects for the Marathon These National Peace Conferdren of all ages. There is no Round Tables for 1937-1938 are ence pamphlets sell for 35c each, furniture of any sort – only now at hand. There are two but can be ordered in quantity at Marathons this year-Plan A: a reduced rate. For further instraw mattresses. It must be Preparatory Marathon on the formation write to the National remembered that many of the subject "The U. S. and the Peace Conference, 8 West 40th World"; and Plan B: Advanced St., New York City. refugees have been in this build- Marathon under the title: "Adeing for two months. Nearly all quate National Defense. What World Day of Prayer in come from Malaga, and look is it?" Send to the National indescribably poor, dirty and Committee on the Cause and a Rural Village Cure of War, 1622 Grand Cenwretched. The municipality tral Terminal Building, New One step toward cooperation which complains of being one York, for copies of this folder in the work of the church has million pesetas in debt for its for distribution at fall meetings. come through the World Day of Let us try to have a large num- Prayer. Mrs. – – of – – sent refugees can afford to give only ber of Marathons among wom- in to the Council office $2.92, the one meal a day to this house, en in church groups during the offering from the observance of with the addition of a little milk coming year. to the children in the morning. The noise was terrific, babies New Headline Book crying, boys rushing madly from floor to floor, women shouting to them. A woman came up cry- ing bitterly, saying that she had The new Foreign Policy Asso- the World Day of Prayer. Her lost her two smallest children in ciation Headline Book: "Billions husband is pastor of a small the confusion of the flight and for Defense," is another study rural parish and this year for didn't know whether they were course on national defense. More the first time she inaugurated alive or dead. There is nothing popular in its plan than the ad- the World Day of Prayer in her for the children to do. Many vanced Marathon on the same country community. She said children begged us to take them subject, it is valuable for those the nearest church was 13 miles away to colonies or somewhere who desire an e Ie men tar y away. She contacted 13 differ- " course. It could be followed by ent churches over a wide area, Esther Farquhar, Quaker re- the Advanced Marathon if a they had four denominations lief worker in Spain, reports: group wished to pursue the sub- represented at their service, and "The conditions at Murcia are ject further. The kit of mate- there were 42 women present frightful. The infant mortality rials which is furnished for this which was "an excellent number has been as high as fifty per book is planned for a series of for this community. We found cent." Her work is largely with four meetings. Price of the the service extremely devotional infants. She has established a book: board cover, 35c; paper and I felt the women really clinic which she calls "a Drop cover, 25c. Discussion kit, 15c. prayed. Twenty – five of the of Milk." "There is one thing Foreign Policy Association, 8 group participated actively in that I have noticed the lack of West 40th St., New York City. one way or another."
World~wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO 1.
~===============================~ JAPAN-CHOSEN In the minds of the average Jap- aminations at the John D. Wells anese, Christianity is still as- Christian Accord associated with Western civili- School, Seoul, Chosen. Some zation. Nevertheless, what has failed; some lost out on the The National Christian Coun- been called "disembodied Chris- physical examination; and some cils of Japan and China have re- tianity" (Christian ideals and couldn't stand up under the scrucently taken definite steps in an standards observed by those who tiny of their former school receffort to bring about a closer re- are not actual church members) ords. From 13 different .provlation between the two organiza- is a strong force in Japan. This tions and between the Christians is evidenced by the facts that inces, the successful boys rated of the two nations. Both Coun- courses in Bible and Christian B or above in every subject, had cils are eager for closer rela- history are offered in some non- goo d personal records, and tions in order to understand Christian universities; that the showed much promise. About each other and build a bond of Bible and the Union Christian Christian brotherhood between Hymnal have a wide circulation half came from Christian famthe two peoples. Recent events among non-Christians; and that in North China, however, are social work, formerly a monop- ilies. bringing about further separa- oly of Christians, is now con- A 20th century note is seen in tion, at least in external rela- ducted by many other agencies. tionships. the fact that very few people -Monday Morning. The nation-wide United Evan- looked at the bulletin board in gelistic Movement is quietly go- Memorial to Dr. Uemura front of the school to read the ing forward in Japan. In addi- list of successful applicants, the reason was that almost every one had heard the names over the radio.
-Monday Morning.
tion to a program of evangelism, The Japan Theological Semi- ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC bands of evangelists are being n a r y (Presbyterian-Reformed organized for work among the Church) has recently dedicated Strange Island of New Guinea churches, youth is being trained a new recitation hall in memory for Christ, and lay leadership of Rev. M. Uemura, outstanding Rev. R. R. Hanselmann went and stewardship are advocated. Japanese Christian who died ten to New Guinea in 1926 as a mis- Arrangements have been made years ago. This Seminary is the sionary under the American Luto send out ten evangelistic official school of the Church of theran Church. While at home teams to conduct meetings and Christ in Japan. It was estab- on furlough he has given nearly hold conferences in eight prov- lished in 1930 by a union of the 800 lectures about his experiinces. Other provinces will be theological department of Meiji ences in this island of headworked later. Gakuin and a seminary in Tokyo hunters and tree-dwellers. established by Dr. Uemura. With "Disembodied Christianity" the exception of one small semi- New Guinea is the second nary in Kobe, all theological edu- largest island in the world and According to latest figures, cation of the Church of Christ in is shaped like a monstrous bird. the Church of Christ in Japan is Japan is now out of the hands of If the southeastern point were made up of about 340 churches. the missions, and directly under placed on the tip of the Florida Slightly more than half of these the management of the Japanese peninsula the northwestern point are entirely self-supporting, Church. would reach to Colorado. Vegewhile others receive aid either tation of unsurpassed luxuriance from the mission or from the This Church has been cele- covers nearly the entire island. self-supporting churches. A typ- brating its 50th meeting of Syn- Among the light and dark green ical church is a city organization od with a series of evangelistic foliage are incessant flashes of with a membership of 123, and a meetings. gorgeously colored birds, and Sunday school of 71 with an surpassing all in beauty is the average of five teachers. Up -Presbyterian Banner. Bird of Paradise. A constant until 1930, membership was stream of scientists and museum rapidly increasing, but since Applicants for Wells School collectors arrive in New Guinea then, owing in some degree to in quest of biological s·pecimens. the intensified feeling of nation- There was room for only 106 alism, the rate has slowed down. new boys out of the 844 appli- Lately discovered mineral re- cants who had paid the registra- sources have brought white men tion fee to take the entrance ex- in hordes. Beneficent govern- [436 ] ment penetration and mISSIOn church membership by about cies of the Church, and he used organizations have b r 0 ugh t 4,000, but the results of Chris- his privilege with good sense about prophylactic measures, tian education carried on over a and definite loyalty to Christian making the life of Europeans long period of years can now be teaching. It was voted to make reasonably safe. Six hundred seen in the annual increase in the conference an annual event. plantations are under European the Christian population. control, cultivating cocoanuts, -The Living Church. The British Government consugar~ane,rubber,kapok,coffee tributed over $360,000 toward NORTH AMERICA these mission schools in 1936. Of and cocoa. Gold-mining is one the 18,000 children enrolled in Church Membership Gains of the chief industries. The various types of school, one in aerial transport has developed four is a Christian and of the Religious bodies of the United into the largest freight carrying 6,000 in g ran t-i n-a i d boys' States, as a whole, are growing, air service in the world. schools, one in six is a member according to statistics gathered of the Church. As a result of this by the late Dr. George Linn The natives as a whole are less mission policy, and government Kieffer. ill-natured than popular accounts sympathy and aid, a Church of imply. Their aversion to bath- educated persons is being built In 1936, the total membership ing is one of their most marked in Malaysia. of all religious bodies in the characteristics. To Christianize United States reached 63,493,- such a people usually requires -Christian Century. 036, as compared with 62,655,- from fifteen to eighteen years 632 in the previous year. This from the time contact is estab- Thankful for Leprosy! represents a gain in membership lished with a wild tribe until the for the year of 837,404. tribe is ready for baptism. The Leprosy is the last thing for life of the native Christian mis- which most people would be The Baptists continue to lead sionary, stationed in out-lying thankful, yet at the watch night all other Protestant bodies with districts, is so convincing to the service at Culion Leper Colony a total increase for the year of heathen people that slowly they the following testimony was 140,308. The Reformed Churchlay aside their former mode of given: "I thank God Almighty es, not a large denomination in sinful living. The race has a fu- for having made me a leper be- comparison with the Baptists ture. Various mission agencies cause in this place I have found and Methodists, come second, in New Guinea have a staff total- my Lord and my Redeemer. I with a gain of 81,958. The Luing over 500 white workers. had tried to find joy, peace, and therans, with 43,905, are third, contentment from what the and the Methodists fourth with -The Bond. world had to offer, but all ended a membership gain of 41,798. in bitter disappointment. In Other notable increases were Dyak Christians Jesus I have found my salvation made by the Unitarians, with and real contentment." 38,026; the Protestant Episco- During the past six years, palians, with 21,193; the Evanabout 12,000 Dyaks have been Igorot Young People's gelicals, with 9,390; the Presbybaptized as Christians. Thi~ terians, with 6,507; the Nazarepresents four distinct fields; Conference renes, with 5,867; the Advent- East Bornea, the districts of Ma- ists, with 5,435; the Mennonites, hakam, Boelongan and Sesajap, The first Young People's. Con- with 4,101; the International and West Borneo, the district of ference of the Philippine Epis- Church of the Foursquare Gos- Kapoeas. The Dyaks, though copal Mission went beyond the pel, with 5,225; the Moravians, uncivilized and uneducated, are most optimistic expectations in with 1,624; and the United by no means stupid. They gen- its attendance of 100 young men Brethren, with 1,073. erally learn readily, and have re- and women, most of them Igotentive memories. There is a rots-though delegates included -The Churchman. simplicity of heart which is re- one ex-Moslem girl from Zamsponsive to the Gospel message. boanga. A Bible Crusade About 200 native students are in various stages of preparation for The general topic was Chris- A new movement has been the ministry.-The Pioneer. tian religion in relation to both launched in Chicago called the the old traditional ways of the "Bible Evangelistic Crusade," Methodists in Malaysia mountain province and the sud- which has for its purpose the den incidence of modern prob- evangelization of neg Ie c ted The Methodist Church has lems. To keep the native group towns and villages and country built up a mission in Malaysia from backwardness in express- places in the United States and on an educational foundation. ing views, the foreign attend- Canada. It is reported that Last year nearly 18,000 children ance was restricted to two. there are 10,000 churchless and young people attended their towns in America and 30,000 grade and high schools, where The meetings proved remark- without a resident pastor. There 690 Asiatics and 53 European able for the frankness and inter- are 36,000,000 children and adoand Am e ric a n teachers in- est of the opinions expressed. lescents growing up without any structed them. The number in For the first time the Igorot religious training whatever. these schools exceeds the total Christian was showing himself vocal in helping shape the poli-
Over eighty Bible Institutes amend broadly the state Sunday Our Crime Peril and Christian training schools in the U. S. are turning out law was defeated; in Indiana a Recent reports of the Federal thousands of young people each Bureau of Investigation apparyear equipped for Ch~ist~an bill to open the saloons on Sun- ently confirm our unenviable disservice. This new organIZatIOn tinction of having the worst will assist such workers in being day was killed by a vote of three crime record of any of the sofurnished with trailers, tents called civilized peoples of earth. and other necessary equipment to toesne~'tteamnpdtsinto several other The reports indicate that "a larto reach the more difficult fields. sta bring in com- ceny occurs every 44 seconds in Pastoral workers will be di- the United States, a burglary rected to the most encouraging mercialized sports and amuse- every two minutes, an automoplaces to follow up the work that bile theft every two and one-half has been begun, and will be ments and other business were minutes, a robbery every ten given some assistance in getting minutes, a felonous assault every started. When further support frustrated. One of the greatest twelve minutes, and a criminal is needed by evangelistic groups attack on a woman every 67 and missionary pastors, the or- victories won in law enforce- minutes." ganization will try to interest churches or individuals in fur- ment was the abolition of 17 The Bureau's figures show nishing a regular monthly al- that our national crime bill anlowance. burlesque show theaters in New nually is $15,000,000,000. This is a daily cost of more than $41,- -Evangelical Christian. York City. The Lord's Day Al- 000 000. "Every time the clock tick,s off a second, the count ry's Testaments for Prisoners liance has been driving hard crime bill jumps $475." Most of the crimes are committed by The Pocket Testament League against such performances. persons 22 years of age. How has recently sent 500 Testa- can these figures be reduced to ments for work among the pris- -Monday Morning. the minimum? oners of San Quentin Prison, California. This is the distrib- The Exeter Experiment Goodwill in Tennessee uting center for other state p~ nal institutions-at TehachapI, "Weare trying to bring the The Tennessee Interracial Forsom and one under construc- Commission, organized 19 years tion near Los Angeles. The di- Good News." Thus the religious ago, was first known as the Law rector of religious work at San work director of Mount Holyoke and Order League. Its program Quentin, Alfred C. Schmitt,. in- College epitomizes an experi- was enlarged when its name was terviews all prisoners and gIves ment at Exeter, Maine, forty changed. Under its first name it Testaments to those desiring miles from Bangor. Four years confined itself to crime preventhem. The demand is so great ago this director, Mis~ Kathe- tion and crusaded against mob that the director has called for rine Grammer and MISS Mar- violence. The enlarged program another 500 copies immediately. garet Teague, secretary for ru- includes health, housing, sanita- He writes: "Some of the in- tion education, recreation, travmates become so attached to ral work of the diocese of Maine, eling accommodations on public their Pocket Testaments that asked themselves what could be carriers, child welfare and imthey request the privilege of done to meet the religious needs provement of rural conditions. taking them along with them of a b a c k woo d s generation. Its methods are (1) the promowhen they go out on paroIe." growing up without any real tion of mutual understanding of (Gifts to supply these Testa- viewpoints and needs; and (2) ments may be sent to the Pocket knowledge of Christ and His the cooperation of the two races Testament League, 156 Fifth Church. Instead of merely la- in securing the ends agreed upon Ave., New York.) menting facts, a vacation school in conferences, usually through was planned. For four w~eks the building of favorable public "Remember the Sabbath" eight students and a tramed sentiment. nurse afford the only regular op- All Christian citizens can re- portunity the children and even In the beginning, some of the joice in the increase of interest difficulties were: radical elein preserving the civil institu- the adults of that vicinity have ments in both races; indifference tion of the Sabbath. Of the 43 during the entire year for seri- to constructive efforts for betterstate legislative bodies in sessi?n ment· and a tendency to proin 1937, proposed adverse legIs- ous religious instruction, as well mote 'selfish ends. But in time lation has been defeated more notable results were achieved. than a score of times: In New as forthe teaching of recreational Much has been done in the cor- York State five such bills went rection of interracial injustices down to defeat; in Iowa a bill to values. Approximately 100 chil- and the betterment of conditions affecting Negroes. Oppressive mdarteen~iafrlowmit5h to 21, are the raw which the vacation school works. They are collected in beach wagons or make their own way to the farmhou~e and barn in which the school IS con- d u c ted. Classes, handicraft work and expert recreation make up the program of the morni~g.
A morning, and a sunset serVIce is conducted each day. More than 300 adults attend the Sun- day evening services. – Miss G ram mer and Miss Teague believe that they have at least paved the way toward de- veloping a technique which can be used in other rural areas.
-The Living Church.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
measures have been opposed. tious than a bottle of pills. The the island, but the large number Inconsiderate and brutal officers missionary supplied such relief of letters he receives from peo- have been called to account. Co- as he could to the suffering peo- ple not touched by churches is operation in community enter- ple with a few pills until in 1904 a witness to the value of this prises has been promoted. Ne- when the Presbyterians sent out s e r vic e. The First Baptist gro members have been privi- a medical missionary and built Church of Santiago has been leged to lay bare any inj ustices the first little hospital. helping a Spanish priest who which they feel their race is suf- The work rapidly outgrew its within the last year left the Ro- fering, assured of a courteous first quarters and today there man Catholic Church. For the and friendly hearing. stands a grade "A" hospital with present he is supporting himself Close contacts are maintained 110 beds; a children's ward; by teaching in the day school with church groups. Baptist, nurses' home; a training school of the First Church. The Bap- Methodist and Presbyterian of fifty-five nurses; and a 1936 tist Church in Palma Soriano, a denominations have indorsed the record of more than 32,000 pa- town of 20,000 inhabitants, has Tennessee interracial movement, tients. The hospital was placed outgrown its building which and many have accepted re- on the approved list of hospitals seats only 160. Its average at- sponsibility for leadership. for graduate study in tropical tendance in Sunday school is -Tennessean Magazine. medicine by the Council of Med- 230.
Pima Indian Evangelist ical Education of the American Brazil's Student Problem Medical Association. In the re- When a Pima Indian becomes motest country barrio and in the It has long been realized that crowded city it is known as "EI one of the serious missionary a Christian he is usually filled Presbiteriano." problems of the Latin world is with a desire to win others. Pima the approach to the student -Presbyterian Banner. class. The Student Union for churches regularly send teams Christian Service was organized of lay workers into areas where Religion in the West Indies twelve years ago, and at present there is no church or resident confines its activity to students minister. A group of 16 of these Charles S. Detweiler, Baptist in evangelical schools of higher lay workers recently returned Home Mission Secretary, reports education. With nearly 500 memfrom a 10-day itinerary in dif- observations on a recent trip to bers it already has a considerferent parts of the reservation, the West Indies. able effect upon the lives of its devoting their entire time to members, and the necessity for personal evangelism. In Port – au – Prince, Haiti, personal witness is impressed there are four Pro t est ant upon all who join. A Pima Indian Christian en- churches, the Episcopalian, the tered an exclusive shop in Pasa- Wesleyan, the African Method- -World Dominion Press. dena, California. Conversing ist Episcopal and the Baptist. with the saleslady, he said, "I The largest of these churches suppose you attend church ?" has the poorest building. There Echoes of Martyrdom When she replied that she did is real religious freedom in Haiti. not, he began then and there to In Puerto Rico, Protestant in- From the region along the tell her of the love of God for fluence in public life is growing. Amazon where the Messrs. Rob- His children, and how He sent For some time the head of the erts, Wright and Dawson, known Jesus down to earth to save us- Teachers College and the second as the "three Freds," disappreaching her a short sermon in rank in the University has peared in martyrdom, comes the right in the store, which was been a Puerto Rican Presbyte- report that 1,200 Kayapo Inacross from one of the largest rian, and now the Chancellor of dians had suddenly emerged churches in Pasadena. People the University is another Pres- from their forests and descended came to listen and the Indian byterian. The new Commission- on the little town of Nova carried on, proud that he could er of Education, recently ap- Olinda. Fear at first prevailed tell the story to one who hadn't pointed by President Roosevelt, that they had come to massacre; yet learned to love Him. Before is a Puerto Rican Presbyterian. but a strange thing had ocleaving he exacted a promise, A very outspoken Baptist, prom- curred. Wars in their home diswhich the woman seemed glad to inent in political life, is presi- tricts had driven them forth, and give, that from then on she dent of the Board of Commis- they were seeking safety and would attend church. -Monday Morning. sioners of the City of San Juan, food. The news was received by and also a member of the Public the field workers as an answer LATIN AMERICA Service Commission of the Is- to prayer, and steps were taken land. The pastor of the Second to meet the opportunity. Two Hospital in Puerto Rico Baptist Church of Santiago, missionaries soon were on their Cuba, broadcasts for one hour way up the Xingu, with a ton of The Presbyterian Hospital in his Sunday morning service, and farina.
San Juan, Puerto Rico, repre- every day from seven to seven- Contact with these Kayapos sents the steady growth of an thirty he is on the air with a was established, and to the de- idea projected nearly forty years devotional service. The station light of the missionaries they ago with nothing more preten- reaches only the eastern half of found that God had been prepar-
ing for this meeting for ten years French Protestant Church tants, yet each is profiting by the past, at which time the language struggle of the other. had been reduced to writing. The French Pro t est ant Dr. Charles S. Macfarland, The new settlement has brought Church, though weak numerithe Indians to a place where the cally and financially, is a true secretary emeritus of the Fed- Gospel can be preached to them. missionary Church. The Paris eral Council of Churches, has Already a few have accepted Missionary Society which has issued an open letter to Hitler, in Christ. which he condemns the official been carrying on its work for 113 German attitude toward religion The last letter received from years, is working in eight differ- on four counts: the band of three contained this ent fields, wherein labor 165 misappeal: "Brethren, pray and sionaries. The whole work is (1) Hitler has "seized control over supported by an annual budget the Church, arrested multitudes of its send others to continue what the of five million francs. French pastors, confined many of them, and Lord has begun." missionaries are also working in permitted not a few to be assaulted the Methodist Mission on the without open rebuke of their at- -Alliance Weekly. tackers."
EUROPE Ivory Coast, and the Norwegian (2) Despite his promise to unite Call to be "Up and Doing" Lutheran Mission in Madagas- car. The present membership of the Church he has "divided it between those who comply, those who are neu- tral, and those who courageously op- Church attendance in England the French Churches is about pose [his] domination." 700,000, divided among 1,038 (3) Despite his promise to regard is reported as declining. The the "confession" of the Church as Methodists say that 60,000 few- parishes under the direction of er pupils attend Sunday school; 1,097 pastors. sacred, Hitler has "endeavored to c h u r c h membership has de- crush out its basic doctrine of the -World Dominion Press. Fatherhood of God and the brother- creased by 3,000. The Baptists Religion at the Paris hood of mankind." report a decline of pupils by Exposition nearly 20,000, of church mem- (4) "Instead of doing justice to the bers by nearly 1,500. Causes are Visitors to the Paris exhibi- Jews you have permitted them to be harassed and despoiled, without :he slightest appearance of mercy."
suggested include week-end hab- tion may discover several fea- When Hitler came into power it of hiking; opening of cinemas tures of special interest. A mis- he asked that he be given four on Sunday; Sunday excursions; sion boat of the McAll Mission years before people should judge dropping of family prayers; in- his policy. The four years have fluence of radio sermons. The will be found between the Alma elapsed and the judgment must and Passy bridges. Here, daily be one of condemnation. Scots Church's General Assembly has serious things to report services will be held. On the -The Living Church. gangway of the pont d'Alma, is a about reduced incomes for work bookstall containing Bibles and abroad. The foreign missions religious publications. The Godless Union accounts revealed a deficit of An exhibition of Protestant over $250,000. Sabbath observ- Art is a special feature at the Vigorous efforts to increase ance was lost in the Great War. American Church (63, Quai d'- membership in the Godless Un- -R. BIRCH HOYLE. Orsay) . This will be on view ion are being made by Litvinoff, London's Mosque from June 18, although the Russian Commissioner for For- Church itself is open from the eign Affairs. All applicants for The Nizam of Hyderabad has beginning of the Exposition. A diplomatic posts abroad, likewise provided a s,ite in West Kensing- leaflet in English and French en- all members of the Diplomatic ton, London, for a Mohammedan titled "Souvenirs of French Prot- Service at present employed mosque. The foundation stone estantism," by Pastor Boss, is abroad, must be members of the was laid on 4th June by the being published by the National Godless Union, or face dismissal.
Prince of Berar, the son and Touring Center. A Welcome The decree is also extended to heir of the Nizam, surrounded Center for Women (47, Quai d'- com mer cia I representatives by a distinguished company of Orsay) is open from 9 a. m. until abroad. The Osservatore Ro- Moslem representatives from 9 p. m. -The Christian. mano says that during last year Egypt, Arabia, Turkey, Persia German Churches Firm membership of the Union greatand other countries. Like the ly increased, and its funds im- mosque at Woking, the London The Nazi's are not making proved by the payment by every mosque will be a miniature of much headway a g a ins t the member abroad of a special conthe Taj Mahal and is to be fin- Christian Church. Roman Cath- tribution. The new decree has ished at the end of the year. It olics have no intention of retreat- resulted in 6,700 new adhesions will hold about 1,000 people, ing or compromise; confessional- to the Union. The Komsomol quite large enough to accommo- Protestants have set up a secret has ordered Russian youth to' date the worshippers. The total council, to which pastors pledge imp r 0 v e their antireligious number of Moslems and those obedience, in defiance of the work, and to win between May 2 interested in Islam in the whole Reich. and August 2, 200,000 boys and of Great Britain is estimated at So far as known, there is girls as recruits. 2,000. nothing resembling a u nit e d Antireligious pro p a g and a -World Dominion Press. front of Catholics and Protes- abroad was stimulated by the
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
despatch of appropriate litera- Emirates in the Sudan are open- Britain has not full liberty to ture valued at 1,500,000 rubles, ing for the missionaries of the expel priests of Italian or any chiefly to Switzerland, Holland, Sudan United Mission. Many other nationality. The British France, Spain, England and followers of Islam are awaken- Government is, however, anx- Belgium. Sixty-five thousand ing to the deficiencies of their ious to show church circles that rubles only were received from system. The first conference of it is fighting with all the re- Kabyle converts was held re- sources of diplomacy behind the recipients. -World Dominion Press. cently, and on almost every sta- British missionaries who may be tion there are signs of the work- in trouble. This has been Brit- Protestantism in Austria ing of the Holy Spirit, and that ish policy whenever mission- Since February more than the seed sown through so many aries' lives or teaching activities 15,000 people in Austria have years will soon bear fruit. have been endangered in China entered the Protestant Church. or elsewhere, and the same pol- In Vienna alone about 10,000 -The Christian. icy is being carried out now. have taken this step. A great Moslem Stronghold Crumbling -New York Times.
many of these were formerly There is today throughout Bible Pictures to "Think Roman Catholic, but the major- Africa a mighty movement away Black" ity were without religious de- from Islam and paganism, sinomination. Many of them are multaneous with the movement An attempt to stress the need very poor and out of work, yet away from Hinduism in India. of "thinking black" in any ap- such is their desire for spiritual The Sudan Interior Mission sees proach of the white man to Afriteaching that they visit regular- new opportunities in the open- can children is the plan of the ly divine services and Bible ing up of the Moslem strongholds World's Sunday School Associaclasses which the Protestant of Northern Nigeria to the Gos- tion to present awards to native Church has organized for them. pel. The Nigerian Government African artists who produce il- Protestant churches are filled to is now willing to hand over the lustrations of the parables conoverflowing, and the few pastors leper camps in these provinces veying the fullest meaning to have so much to do that it will to the missionary society. native African children. The be necessary to employ new as- With the acceptance of the story of "the widow's mite" does sistants to impart religious in- challenge, the call has gone forth not make sense to the African. struction. The State authorities for a hundred new missionaries, How can she be the "poor widare very unfriendly towards this including doctors and nurses. ow" with her flowing dress is -Life of Faith. the incredulous reaction of the movement, and put every ob- stacle in the way of preventing Italy's Ethiopian Policy African native. The results of persons from leaving the Roman this venture will be marked by Catholic Church. Italy's action in forbidding an originality which s h 0 u I d From all parts of Austria ur- British, American and French prove refreshing. missionaries to carryon their' gent requests are pouring in for -W. S. S. A.
Bibles and New Testaments. A work in Ethiopia, gives point to Uplift for the Bantus pastor in Syria writes: "I come Foreign Secretary Ant h 0 n y from a little village in which twenty have entered the Prot- Eden's guarded reminder that Missionary work in the Portuestant Church, and they all request me to send them Bibles the British Government "must guese colony of Bantus is chiefly and Catechisms. This was not a political movement, because they reserve the right to consider" among nine recruits of the Transwanted nothing other than God's the expulsion of Italian mission- vaal. There can be no doubt of Word." -Bible Society Record. aries from Malta, Nigeria and the influence of the "East Coast other parts of the British Em- Boys" on the Christian villages pire. The expulsion of British which have grown up in Portu- missionaries has been the sub- guese East Africa. After work- ject of prolonged negotiation ing in the mines of the Trans- AFRICA which have not proven success- vaal, particularly on the Wit- ful. England's threat is not watersrand, they return home Is Islam Tottering? likely to be translated into ac- with ideas about a home which tion, but at least it calls atten- cannot tolerate the old heathen W. Cecil Collinson, Secretary tion to the injustice of Rome's customs, and either these have of the Egypt General Mission, policy. had to go or they have built a observes that large numbers of Italian priests and teachers group of huts in a new spot Moslems are tiring of the for- are to be found chiefly in Malta, away from their pagan relatives.
malities of Islam. Here are some Nigeria and Palestine. In MaTta These structures are finer than facts which go to prove that most of them already have been the pagan huts, influenced by there are signs of a real change replaced by Maltese; in Nigeria, homes they have seen of the in the situation. In every Mos- Italian missionaries are only a white people in the Transvaal.
lem community of over 50,000 handful com par e d with the In the midst of the new huts has inhabitants there is a nucleus of French, while Palestine is a been built the chapel with a bell, witness for Christ. Long-closed mandated territory in which where the leader calls the people
morning and evening to read the tegic importance of this educa- There has been a marked Scriptures, pray and sing hymns learned in the Transvaal. tional program is seen in the deepening of interest in the Gos- The Bantu thinks and works fact that the seven secondary pel m e s sag e among various in circles rather than straight lines. His house is circular, his schools in Palestine educate classes of people. Among the village is circular and his thinking follows a circuitous route. practically one-half the Arabs causes of this should be noted: Christianity widens his mental horizon and helps him to think receiving such training, and a first, a general consciousness and construct in terms of rows of superior huts with fruit and not inconsiderable number of the that we are in a most critical flowering trees between them, which provide ventilation, clean- Jews. period of the world's history; liness and improved sanitation. Many observers say despond- second, the results of seed pre- -World Dominion PreISs. ently that there is no solution of viously sown; and third, the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute the problem of Arab, Jew and prayers of friends. There is The year 1940 will mark not only the jubilee of the founda- Briton; others offer political or greater opportunity for reaching tion of the two Rhodesias in 1890 by Cecil Rhodes, but also diplomatic ways out, but the Moslems as more and more chilthe centenary of the departure for Africa in 1840 of David Liv- only workable plan is to make all dren take advantage of the ingstone. It is proposed that this double anniversary should be three Christian. schools. Approximately 100 boys commemorated in Nor t he r n -Spirit of Missions. and girls attend Sunday school. Rhodesia by the establishment of a Rhodes-Livingstone Insti- News from Syria These are divided into three tute of Central African Studies classes or groups with competent which will serve as a combined The Danish Mission to the teachers, each child being permemorial to these two men. Orient has opened a new Evan- mitted to enter the group of his The proposed institute is in- gelical Church at Hafar, Syria. own language. The pupils in one tended to further scientific study In five boys schools 69 % are class are all Moslem. of the impact of European civili- Moslems and in the girls' schools zation upon native African So- -Near East Christian Council. ciety. It will be located at Liv- 78 %. Students are more seriousingstone, the old capital of minded than those of ten years Northern Rhodesia, seven miles ago, and there has been in- INDIA-SIAM-MALAYIA from Victoria Falls. creased interest in the various Reaching the Multitudes WESTERN ASIA voluntary religious services. Financial difficulties h a v e The Methodist Church in Hy- Christian Schools in Palestine caused the Danish Mission to the derabad is responsible for a Armenians to close their clinic Christian community of 100,000 Christian schools are the only in Beirut, and a reduction of the persons. Those who have been places where Jew and Moslem, numbers in Birds' Nest, Jubeil; reached are eager to learn more, as well as Christians, meet to- but industrial work has sup- and there are some remarkable gether, study together, play on ported many needy women, and testimonies to changed lives and the same terms, and, in the children have been paid for in cleaner homes. Those who for spirit of Christian charity, learn schools. Bible-women are used generations have been in bondthat give and take which are so for evangelistic work in homes age to idol worship and the powimportant. Last year when the and meetings and conferences ers of darkness find it no easier feeling between Jews and Arabs have been held. The Swiss So- to walk in a path of true separarose to boiling point, and all ciety of Ghazir has given help to tion than do the followers of Arab schools, even those under Armenian village colonies by C h r i s t in more enlightened the government, went on strike, placing nurses among them, in lands, where Christianity has Christian schools still went on. addition to their work among been making its influence felt There was difficulty at times in the blind. In spite of the difficult for centuries. To the end that keeping Arab and Jew together, financial situation the Armenian converts may be strengthened, but it was done. Result: the churches have taken increased "refresher courses" are given. schools have been crowded as responsibility for carrying on These are attended by pastors, never before. Jews and Arabs their work, and have even evangelists, village teachers and say what they find there is started new work in three or young men and women from vil- "character training." The stra- lage congregations. On one oc- four centers. -Near East Christian Council. casion several village teachers gathered for a time of prayer In Iraq and meditation in connection "Iraq reports a steadily in- with their work, after which it creasing stream of tourists, and was estimated that in one week the missionaries are glad that 85,000 persons heard the Gospel.
many of them are sufficiently in– Rev. C. W. Posnett is leading· terested in missions to take time this work. Not long ago a vil- to see mission work. The most lage chief, who had continually noteworthy visitation recently persecuted the native Christian was in the form of a conference teacher, went to Mr. Posnett and in Baghdad of five officials of the said: "I used to persecute your British and Foreign, and the teacher; I pulled down the thatch American Bible Societies. from his shed, and tried to drive
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
him out, but I have come to tell five stations (Madras, Conjeev- plexes will be shed when one can you that I want his religion; eram, Chingleput, Arkonam and read his own Bible, subscribe to your teacher has saved and Sriperumbudur) together with his own paper, and form his changed my village, and he is 450 coworkers, eight Indian min- own opinions at first hand. now my friend." isters with 8,000 church mem- bers, give stalwart witness to the -United Church Review. -The Christian. growth and strength of this work. Dr. Laubach's Method "Temple Entry" Proclamation An outstanding feature of Dr. Frank C. Laubach says Caste Hindus in Travancore those early days was the baptism that teaching the people of Inhave issued a proclamation com- of two students, P. Rajahgopal dia to read is like trying to tear pelling the depressed class Chris- and A. Venkataramiah, which down the Himalayas. Only 8 tian converts to go to Hindu caused a furore, reduced the per cent of the 340,000,000 can temples. If they do not forsake school attendance from 400 to 70 read, and only 7 per cent of Christianity, they are not al- overnight, and brought on a those who can read can do it lowed to reap the harvest, and court case, through all of which well enough to understand what some are turned out of their the Christian leaders stood un- they are reading. Dr. Laubach poor dwellings. This restriction compromisingly for their faith, thinks he has the explanation. is being applied to London Mis- resulting in many conversions. There is in India a spoken lansion, Romon Catholic, Salvation guage and a written, in all the Army and Syrian converts in Madras Christian College, an large languages. These go by places like Avaneeswaram and outgrowth of the work of this the same name but have differ- Thalavoor. The matter has at- mission is celebrating the Cen- ent vocabularies. It is as if you tracted the attention of Mr. tenary by transfer to a new lo- were learning Greek, or Hebrew, Gandhi, who has promised to try cation covering 390 a'cres at and had to learn both a new voto better the situation. Tambaram, sixteen miles south cabulary and a new alphabet. -National Missionary Intelli- of Madras. It is worse than that for the il- literate, for he has never learned gencer. -United Church Review. any letters and does not know what to expect. Dr. Laubach is Santal Mission Anniversary Literacy by 1941 advocating that all illiterates be taught in their own dialects, This year marks the seven- The All-India Conference of learning to read in the spoken tieth anniversary of the found- India Christians has issued a language. Thus the other laning of the Santal Mission of challenge: "Every Christian guages will become dead. North India. Of the founders, able to read by 1941." Here are Hans Peter Borresen and Lars some of the reasons for expect- -Missionary Herald. Olsen Skrefsrud, the former was ing a literate Church of Christ a native of Denmark, the latter in India four years hence. First, Gospel Inn at Leh of Norway. The mission is now there are many evidences of a supported by Lutherans in Den- widespread interest in adult lit- The Christian tells us that at mark, Norway and America. eracy. Active committees are Leh, on the border of VVestern There are fifty missionaries in at work in every part of the Tibet where Moravian missionthe field, twenty from Norway, country in the study of the prob- aries have labored for many twenty from Denmark and ten lems involved, in the prepara- years without seeing much fruit, from America, and the field is tion of materials, in the encour- it is now proposed to erect a expanding. Scattered over a agement of voluntary teachers "Gosnel Inn," in an attempt to strip of territory 400 miles lon~ of the illiterate. Preliminary at- obtain closer contact with nilare small Santal churches with tempts have met with distinct grims on their wav to their holy their pastors, evangelists and success. Striking achievements city. This inn will afford shel- Bible women. There are village in other countries spur India to ter and rest for the pilgrims and schools, and, in the large cen- the attainment of literacy. Rus- give opportunity for the missionters, boarding schools both for sia raised her literary from 33 aries to minister to their spiritboys and girls. There are also to 90 per cent between 1921 and ual needs. orphan homes, hospitals, and at 1931. In China, Dr. Y. C. James Saldoha a colony for lepers. Yen, began a mass literacy Christian Villages in Siam movement in 1922 with 1,450 Madras Centenary students; and within seven years One of Siam's largest Chris- he had taught five million to tian groups consists of ten vil- Scottish missionaries in Ma- read and write. lages where work is being cardras and vicinity are rejoicing ried on by Siamese leaders. In in their hundred years of his- Recent research has shown the largest church in this area tory. In February of 1837, John that the adult can learn to read there are several active organ- Anderson, son of a blind farmer some five times as rapidly as a izations-a large primary Sunof southern Scotland, landed in child. Many are influenced in day school, a large day school, Madras and began a school with their interest in literacy by the and a Kings Daughters circle. a definite evangelistic aim. To- political franchise to be gained They have their own evangelists day, thirty-six missionaries in by the literate. Inferiority com- whom they send out to work in
neighboring villages. There is colleges are coming to positio~s reconsecrating themselves to a large group of people studying of influence in the State and III Christ and four applying for now to be received into the all the learned professions. In church membership. c h u r c h as soon as they are the last dozen years the number ready. These church members of enrolled students of the Chris- Rev. C. H. Wong, pastor of tithe, and their gifts are more tian colleges has increased from the East Shanghai B a p ti s t than enough to meet the ex- 2000 to over 7,000. There are Church, asks these questions of penses of the church and sup- 800 graduates going out of these candidates for church memberport their own pastor. They institutions every year to take ship: are now asking for an assistant up their careers of various pastor, since the one cannot do kinds." What does it mean to be a Chrisall the work that might be done. -Missionary Herald (London). tian? Why do you want to become a They are ready to assume the Christian? What is the difference besupport of the extra pastor as Radio Preaching tween a Christian and a non-Chrissoon as he can be obtained. tian? Are the members of you~ fam- One of the most encouraging ily Christian? . Does yo~r .famIly ob- Singapore Churches features of Christian work in ject to your bemg a ChrrstIan? What Shanghai today is the Christian would you do if some one should per- Churches in Singapore differ Broadcasting Station. The un- secute you for being a Christian? Why from those in America in that usual thing about the broadcasts do you wan~ to join the. church? Wh~t they are run by young people, is their popularity, since only is the meamng of oaptIsm, the Lord s for in the ordinary church there one person out of 300 is a Chris- Supper, prayer, etc.? Do you p.r3:Y and are more youths than adults. tian. The station was begun, read your Bible? Are you wIllmg to The explanation for this is found and is still financed by a Chris- help bring others to Christ? in the fact that the church con- tian Chinese business merchant, ducts primary and· secondary who probably gives not less than Sometimes candidates are schools in every section of the nine-tenths of his income to God, asked to wait for further study city. These mission schools meet and part of it meets the heavy of Christianity, or until they the government standards, and expenses connected with this have a deeper experience of teach religion during these form- broadcasting center. W hen Christ before they are presented ative years, so that religious some one suggested that perhaps to the church for membership. education is a part of the whole more money was being spent on process, and not merely a Sun- its maintenance than should be, -Watchman-Examiner. day morning project. he replied that instead of spend- ling less, he felt he ought to Fukien's Experiment Another difference is that the spend more, and would do so. congregations are interracial; Thus he is now proposing that Fukien Christian University, the Sunday school and worship Government stations in other with a dozen villages within an service may be in Chinese from provincial capitals be placed at hour's walk of its campus – a 8: 30 to 10: 30. English may be the service of Christian preach- campus fashioned out of seventy the language for the next two ers. By payment of a fixed sum acres of rice and potato fields, hours and Malay in the after- to the authorities in charge of is not unmindful of its obliganoon. The same minister may those stations, half-an-hour daily tion to solve its share of the Chihave two of these groups and can be allowed for the broad- nese rural problem. The unisometimes the third. Race does casting of the Gospel. This ra- versity believes that the r~con not matter-only language. dio service reaches "the war struction of the rural areas IS an lords and the politicians, the experiment, and therefore an ex- Six out of ten churches in farmers and the factory work- pert's task. Francis Chen, with Singapore are self-supporting. ers, the old and the young, the his Yale Ph.D., in rural econom- Those receiving mission help are pirates and the followers of ics has returned to China as exthe newly organized ones. Some Christ." -China's Millions. pe;imenter. A gift secured by of the Chinese laymen have Rev. E. H. Smith, of the AmerIstarted an anti-opium clinic Evangelism in Shanghai can Board in Ingtai, provides which they are supporting, and funds for a five-year period of reports show over 1,000 patients University experimenting; and the village with 1,400 on the waiting list. of Nieu Tien is the starting It is the custom at the Uni- point. . -RALPH A. FELTON. versity of Shanghai (Baptist), to have four evangelistic meet- Forty year'S of revolution have CHINA ings each year, each called "Re~ made the farmer their victim. ligious Emphasis Week." Per- He is the sufferer from the civil Christian Influence Expanding sonal work is done largely wars, exorbitant taxes, the cor- through fellowship groups. dur- rupt and bewildered gentry, not At a meeting in London of ing the year. The l~st serIes ~f to speak of bandits and commu- British Missionary Societies, meetings resulted III 14 decI- nists. The farmers constitute Rev. C. E. Wilson, Baptist For- sions, twenty-two desiring to four-fifths of the total popula-: eign Secretary, said: enter Bible classes, seventy-four tion. To save the farmer is, therefore, to save the nation. "It is one of the most remarkable features of modern China -Far Horizons. that the graduates of Christian Through Personal Contact Of 28 students and teachers baptized in one station in China
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
during the past year, 17 came ites" has learned a great deal of the Church of Christ in China. from non-Christian schools. A about the Chiang people of the Similar boards are being de- Presbyterian m iss ion a r y in western borderland of China. veloped at Kulangsu and Chuancharge of student work there They live between China proper chow. Outlying hospitals at says that these were not super- and Tibet. They bear such un- Changpu and Siokhe will be opficial or emotional decisions, but mistakable marks of being Is- erated as branches of the Changfollowed many months of care- raelitish that Mr. Torrance chow hospital center, and it is ful training in communicants' says: "Were they clad in foreign proposed that other outlying classes, and much personal dis- dress and set down in London or hospitals shall be designated as cussion with other Christians. New York, they would be taken branches of the Kulangsu and Most of these young people first at once for Jews." Chuanchow centers respectively. became interested in Christianity The description he gives of the Each of the three missions conthrough Christian stu den t s use of an altar in the sacred cerned have given approval to whom they knew. Said this mis- grove, and of the slaying of the the plan. sionary: "It is easier to get stu- sacrificial lamb by an appointed dents into a vital relationship priest, clad in special priestly GENERAL with God in their personal lives garments, is strangely reminis- Religion—'Not Philosophy than to lead them into the cent of the Old Testament sacri- Needed fices, and the likeness is further Church." -Monday Morning. borne out by the ritualistic use President Jam e s Rowland of a priestly rod bearing the im- Angell of Yale University insists age of a serpent, recalling the that religion, rather than phi- Leprosy Conferences ancient Nehustan. The similar- losophy must be relied on to Within a week after the tragic ities between Israelitish and change the human heart and shooting of sixty lepers at Chiang religious practices all solve our many problems. Said Yeungkong, two of the most shed fresh light on many an elu- he at the Bowdoin Institute of noted scientific bodies in China sive Bible allusion. The national Philosophy: were in session-the Chinese story of the Chiang people un- "Anything which gives any Medical Association and the doubtedly holds the answer to promise of restoring some meas- Third National Conference on many hitherto unanswered ques- ure of sobriety of outlook, some Leprosy. The national character tions of religion and history. common convictions a m 0 n g of these two organizations made Mr. Torrance's work of Bible thoughtful and honorable men, them loud-speakers of protest distribution in West China has is deserving of encouragement. against these executions. On the strictly intellectual side, brought many Chiang villages philosophy and science are alone The Me d i c a I Association likely to gain the necessary hearpassed the following resolution, into the Christian fold. ing from our thinking leaders, quickly seconded by the Leprosy -Bible Society Record.
Conference: Three Missions Unite Medical and perhaps by contagion some Work shreds of sanity may spread to That the Chinese Medical Association, in session at the Medical Center, Dr. Edward H. Hume sends common folk who have neither Shanghai, has heard with dismay of the mental power nor the train- the premeditated murder of lepers in an account of the federation of ing to think through basic probthe Yeungkong hospital leper settlement and the subsequent looting of three medical missions in China, lems for themselves. In the the settlement by soldiers; formerly maintained separately larger area of feeling and emo- by three denominations, to com- tion, to which appeal has finally That, apart from the natural ab- bine all medical work in South horrence of such cruelties, this and to be made before any social re- similar acts, in direct contravention Fukien into one unit. Late in sponse of significant magnitude of the orders of the Canton authorities, as expressed in their published 1936, a survey committee was can be hoped for, I think we injunctions strictly forbidding the appointed by the three missions molestation of lepers, do more than must look to essential religion. I involved – American Reformed, personally think that the most anything else to spread the disease by English Presbyterian and Eng- sophisticated can with intellectdriving every leper into hiding; lish Congregational – w h i c h ual assurance turn to the convic- And that immediate steps be taken by the officers of this conference to studied the entire area and tion that spiritual forces are inapproach the proper authorities in reached the conclusion that it digenous to ultimate reality, that they are in part reflected in such Nanking and Canton, urging that would be desirable to commence suitable penalties be imposed on the united activities at one center, conceptions as we have of jusmurderers, that steps be taken to protect the lepers, and especially to pre- while regarding the hospitals of tice and truth and beauty and the vent the molestation of those under- love of our fellow man." He going medical treatment. the entire area as essentially be- added that the task of turnin~ longing to a single plan. The -Without the Camp. Board of Managers of the hos- people as individuals from mal- pital at Changchow (London ice, cruelty, and selfish lust "is a The Chiangs of West China Mission) agreed to go out of ex- task which religion can most istence and a new board was cre- easily perform, and hardly any The author of "China's First ated, three of whose members other agency can make a real be- Missionaries – Ancient Israel- were designated by the Synod ginning."
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Our. Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information A Theology for Christian Missions. pear, as he recognizes! with t~e tain them. Meanwhile it is good By Hugh Vernon White. 220 pp. historic Catholic faIth. HIS Christology does not seem to be to have this thoughtful book $2. Willett, Clark & Co., New York the historic Chris~ology either of which goes so far and sets forth and Chicago. 1937. the Roman Catholic Church or so much truth as to life and of the theology of the Reformed thought and duty that one This book begins with a re- Churches. He reverences Jesus freshing note, at variance with wishes it would go further and the easy unrational and self-con- Christ as the historic revelation recover all of the great evan- of the character of God but says tradictory view of the past gen- little of the Risen Christ as a liv- gelical tradition which is as true eration which eschewed any in- ing supernatural person and today and will be as true tomorterest in the theological basis of foreign missions and advocated now as it ever was.
the adequacy of the ideal and R. E. SPEER. motive of human service. But presence and little of the mysti- cal element .of Christian experi- Two Missionary Voyages. By Thomas why were the ideal and motive ence. He saves a good deal of TPrhoommoptsionng. 8C7hprips.tiaIns. KSnoocwielteydfgoer. of human service adequate? the old but the movement of London. 1937.
Any attempt to answer this q?es- thought preserves the human- This little paper-bound book tion involved the answerer III a istic construction of the past few rescues from obscurity the name theology, a very thin and poor decades instead of entering into of a pioneer missionary who was theology perhaps, but still a the- the new currents which return sent out nearly two hundred ology which sooner or later had to God, rather than man, as the years ago (1745) by the Society to grapple with the meaning of the ideas of God and man and center and the constructive prin- for the Propogation of the Gos- ciple of Christian thought and pel of the Church of E,ngland to society. experience. The emphasis her2 work among the EnglIsh colon- Dr. White sees all this clearly is on man's service of his ists in New Jersey, and who, and states his view with unmis- brother, using the concepts of when his opportunity was closed takable plainness: God and of the teaching and ex- by the Revolution five years It is my strong conviction that the ample of the historic Jesus, later became the first Anglican Christian mission must have an ex- rather than on God in Christ, missionary to West Africa. His plicit theology to sustain it. These the Christ of history, the living interesting account of his adventlheecotuloregsi,cathl epreofionrteo, frevpireewseannt da dthefeinaitte- Christ, at wodrk u1sintg' manf Hfo' r turous voyages and varied extempt to ground evangelical Christian- the service an sa va Ion 0 IS periences were published by the children. The books cited are Society during his lifetime, but itv in beliefs about God, Christ, man .and the nature of the spiritual life, the books of the humanistic had been out of print and lost trend and thehre 'stehems to be for 150 years till a stray cop.y wprheiscehntc-adnaybeChhreilsdtiawnisthancodnwfidheicnhceCb2ny either no touc WI or a con- was found in the Rutger's 11be defended rationally and sustained scious ignoring of the new and brary in New Brunswi<;k. T~e by practical experience. Evangelical tfshaioeintohslo. ghiacIsaflatshfuuapntpdosarumtpeponoftratClhfrsaitla~ltksi,eanCinhmr~tIhss-e- dominant currents which turn Society has now republIshed It, back to the B.iblicaDl coWnche.ptts of wI'th explanatory introductions., tianity ceases to be a "gospel" in the God and ChrIst. r. 1 e ac- in its original form. The EdI- local parish as well as on the mission cepts "the passing of the old ra- torial Secretary rightly says field. tional premises for doctrinal that it will stir the imagination constructidon' wthh ti c hh'Cathfoltihcs of all who care for the records of ingWefohr avtheehamdisesnioonuagrhy swpeocrikal opfletahde- have foun III e eac Illg.O e old days and are ready to honor church. What it needs is not special Church and Protestants III the the memory of a Christian pio- letter of Scripture." Is it not neer and hero. pleading but a clear realization that the world mission finds its oraratiloin~a-l rather t rubaectkhat 0t dtahye sWe I'otlhd prem- _ ARTHUR J. BROWN. justification as well as its m ises are a new perative in the very nature of ChrIstianity. This is what makes so neces- sary today a treatment of missions power? The future will show. The Deeper Life. By Max I. Reich. The future will show also 112 pp. $1.00. Wm. B. Eerdman from the point of view of Christian theology. whether Dr. White's construc- Pub. Co. Grand Rapids, Mich.
When Dr. White states his tion of a theology for Christian Those who share the convictheology, however, variances ap- missions will sustain and main- tion that the present urgent need Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the RllvIIlW publishers on receipt of price.
[446 ]
OUR MISSIONARY
is the deepening of the spiritual by the Apostles, and effective in which characterize his discuslife of the church will prize this a new righteousness from God, sion of the subject, which is volume of studies by a gifted and a new access to God, a new crea- especially timely in this year of able expositqr. Dr.· Reich is a tion by God for those who ac- the Edinburgh World Confermember of the faculty of the cept it. Dr. McNicol does not ence on Faith and Order. Moody Bible Institute and the start with a thesis to which facts book reflects both his deep spir- must be made to conform. His ARTHUR J. BROWN. itual discernment and wide appeal is to what "is written." knowledge of the Scriptures. How completely documented Missionary Illustrations. By Alva His approach is somewhat un- from Scripture his treatment is usual in that there is almost en- may be judged from the 500 ref- C. Bowers. 154 pp. $1.50. Flemtire absence of illustration or erences listed in the Scripture ing H. Revell. New York. appeal to emotion. The aim is Index at the end of the book. rather to bring into view great Yet the text does not seem cum- Here are stories of real exareas of spiritual privilege re- bered by excessive quotation. vealed in the Scriptures, which On the contrary, the argument periences, gathered by the au- Christians so largely neglect. moves steadily forward, without There is the constant holding up waste of words, from position to thor during his twenty-six years of the divine mirror to expose position, as each is established the deformities of the self life, and fortified in turn. Marked in foreign mission service. Pasand warning against formalism, with fine insight and evident ritualism and doctrinalism, as scholarship the book is neverthe- tors, Sunday school teachers and foes to highest spiritual attain- less not academic. It is wholement. The sixteen chapters are somely objective, and yet at the leaders of young people will find rich in sustenance for the inner same time is intense with feellife, especially those on Deeper ing. Obviously the Christian this book a mine of usable inci- Fellowship, Deeper Teaching, evangel has pro v e d in the and Deeper Peace. writer's own case to be "power dents that will increase the unto salvation," and he cherishes If there be any qualification in it with joyous conviction. Any- knowledge of other lands, and one's appreciation of a book of one who wishes to understand such high value and helpfulness, essential Christianity cannot do give point to inspirational this would relate to one or two better than read this book. instances of overstatement. truths. H. H. F. ARTHUR H. GORDON. HUGH R. MONRO. God's Methods for Holy Living. Church Unity. By the Rev. F. H. Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. 50 The Christian Evangel. By John Me· Knubel, D.D. 86 pp. 75 cents. cents. 93 pp. Revelation. Phila- Nicol, D.D. 12mo. 193 pp. $1.50. Board of Publication of the United delphia. 1937. American Tract Society, New York. Lutheran Church in America. 1937. 1937. This volume of brief addresses This discussion of church It is a good omen that books unity, by the distinguished presi- deals with a theme of which we are appearing, one after another, dent of the United Lutheran which seek to define Christian- Church in America, is in the hear all too little in present-day ity as presented in the New Tes- form of a commentary on the tament. Many have become Epistle to the Ephesians, whose preaching. Holiness has had a weary of the vague religiousness real theme is held to be the unity of much contemporary preach- of the Church, and in which St. prominent place in the great reing, and eagerly desire to know Paul presents the "fundamental what the original Christian mes- facts concerning unity," "Chris- vivals since Wesley's day, but sage really was. They wish to tian responsibility for unity" "distinguish the things that dif- and the proper methods for the because of the teaching of eradier." Dr. Machen's "What Is "promotion of unity by Chris- Faith," and Principal Michlem's tian denominations." cation and other extremes by book with a similar title, are calculated to meet this commend- Leaders who feel that true certain groups, a widespread able desire. The volume by Dr. unity should and will express it- McNicol belongs in the same self in union, that union does prejudice has recently grown up. class and certainly does not suf- not mean a standardized unifer by comparison. It is a clear, formity or a supergovernment, To omit a truth so essential as coherent, cogent setting forth of and that a closer union than now the "Christian Evangel" as fore- exists is long overdue, will prob- this leaves great areas of Scripshadowed in the Old Testament, ably not share Dr. Knubers fear made possible by our Lord, in of "the hurried establishment of ture uncultivated and the sym- His life and death and resurrec- an external union." They will, tion, certified by the gift of the however, respect the ability, sin- metry of Christian doctrine is Spirit at Pentecost, proclaimed cerity and fine Christian spirit sadly marred.
Dr. Barnhouse's approach is well balanced, scriptural, and in the fullest sense practical and helpful. His numerous illustra- tions are highly effective. the language clear and forceful, and there is a sustained interes '; throughout. The reader will lay down this book with a sense of spiritual refreshment and with much new light upon the Word of God. H. R. MONRO.
My Servant Moses. By E. Ray Cam- eron. A.M., Th.M. 12mo. 187 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell Company, N. Y. 1937.
Here is a straightforward chronicle of the life of the great Hebrew lawgiver. It follows closely the Biblical record, util- izing often its very phraseology, and makes no attempt to ap- praise the documents critically, or speculate as to their origin.
Their full reliability is taken for The History of Sin Personal Items granted. The writer presents An illuminating and instruc- (Concluded from 2d cover.) ]doses as the chief instrument tive treatise on the little understood subject of the on church properties, and for a bish- through whom the Providence of origin and development of sin op's residence. God operated for the deliverance in the world. of Israel from Egypt. He traces Rev. F. Wh*itt*ake*r, an English The Marks of Sonship that Providence in detail from Methodist missionary in Hyderabad, the beginning to the end of Tracing in clear language the India, has been appointed mass move- ]doses' life, and seeks to inter- pathway of sonship. An ad- ment secretary of the National Chris- pret ]doses' reactions to it. He mirable treatise dealing with tian Council of India. This post is the very heart of the Gospel. made necessary by the situation fd1- introduces us to ]doses' inward lowing the Ambedkar movement of conflicts and hesitations, his ven- The History of Temptation the Depressed Classes. tures of faith, the motives which Barring what seem to us one *** actuated him, his hopes and or two extremes in statement, . trials and disappointments and this pamphlet throws a flood Rajah B. Manikam, Ph.D., has been of light on a subject concern- elected one of the secretaries of the triumphs. The result is no mere ing which there is far too National Christian Council of India, symbolic figure of the dim past, much superficial thinking. Burma and Ceylon. His time will be devoted to the Central Board of Chris- aloof and severe, but "a real When Winter Comes tian Higher Education and to the warm-blooded human being" of promotion of Christian literature. Dr. like passions with ourselves, and A tribute to those in advanced Manikam has been vice-principal of years by one in the prime of Andhra Christian College, supported "as lovable as any character in by the United Lutheran Church. history." The scattered facts of ]doses life are collected and in- *** Dr. Adolph Keller, director of the Central Bureau of Relief of the Evan- life. Emphasis is placed on gelical Churches of Europe, is coming cluded in the narrative, empha- to the United States this month. He the solid satisfactions of later will participate in the National sizing his versatility, his prodi- years when there are hallowed Preaching Mission and will give lecgious achievements and their abiding value. Now and then memories and a living faith. tures on the recent Oxford Conferthe story is made more vivid by In contrast to the unbelieving, ence. *** imaginative touches, as when such find light at eventide.
]doses and Aaron meet after HUGH R. MONRO. Obituary Notes forty years of separation and James Hudson Taylor of China. By Mrs. Hele,n Pierson Curtis. the J. J. Ellis. 96 pp. 2s. Pickering wife of the Rev. Frederick S. Curtis, talk over old times, or when the who spent forty years of her life with sensational experiences of Israel, and Inglis. London and Edinburgh. her husband as a missionary in Japan during the days immediately and Korea, died in New Haven, Conn., after the escape from Egypt, are Hudson Taylor was 'known as on July 5, 1937. She was born in Binghamton, N. Y., on August 9, relayed in the modern form of "the man who believed God." 1861, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. news flashes. Judicious and per- Arthur T. Pierson. She was educated tinent practical suggestions ap- He believed God without any in Kalamazoo Seminary and after her marriage went to Japan in 1888 pear at intervals, which remind qualifications whatever. The where she did a notable work in teach- ing and evangelism. M'rs. Curtis is one that the book has its roots in awe-inspiring fact of his life survived by her husband and four a series of sermons preached to children. the writer's own congregation. was this simple faith; and the One finishes reading with a sense one great lesson to be drawn from it is the power of such a faith. H. H. F.
of profit from having become Seminary Militant. By Louise Porter Herbert Udn*y *W*eitbrecht Stanbetter acquainted with this most impressive Biblical character, Thomas. 117 pp. $1.00. Dept. of ton, for many years an associate edi- English, Mount Holyoke College. tor of The Moslem World, died on 1937. prior to Christ Himself. May 30 in London, at the age of eigh- One of the centennial publi- ty-six. Dr. Weitbrecht Stanton, schol- ARTHUR H. GORDON. cations of ]dount Holyoke Col- ar and linguist, was a distinguished Series of Six Booklets. 16 pp., with lege, being an account of the missionary of the Church Missionary heavy paper cover. By Donald Grey Society in the Punjab for more than missionary movement at the a generation. His long residence in Barnhouse. 10 cents each. Revela- college, inspired and developed India, and his intimate acquaintance tion, Philadelphia. by its founder, ]dary Lyon. The with Arabic as well as Urdu, specially Happy Though Poor book is interestingly compiled fitted him to write on Moslem prob- lems. An arresting discussion of the from letters, diaries, and note- secret of happiness, replete books of early students and *** with vivid illustration, sound teachers. Along with the strug- reasoning and clear Scripture Mrs. William Clifton Dodd, hon- teaching. orably retired Presbyterian mission- gle to develop higher education . ary to Siam, died at her home in Men Whom God Struck Dead for women was the dauntless re– Johnstown, Pa., July 4, 1937. Isabella Ruth Eakin was born at Solemn lessons drawn from solve to convert the world. The Rose Point, Pa., June 26, 1861, sailed long list of ]dount Holyoke for Siam on October 20, 1887. In 1889 alumnre who have served as mis- she became the wife of Dr. William judgments of Scripture. Each sionaries at home or abroad in- C. Dodd and for nearly 33 years they illustration is given a power- work as pioneers in that remote Laos ful present-day application. cludes the name of Dr. Ida field, hundreds of miles from the Scudder. fringe of civilization. H. H. F.
Book. For OCTOBER
SMTWTFS Africa and Christianity. Diedrich •• •• •• •• •• 1 2 Westermann. $2.25. Oxford Uni- 3 4 5 6 789 versity Press. London and New 10 11 12 13 U 15 16 York. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 80 Books for the Traveler or Sojourner 81 •••••••••••• in China. Harriet Hardison Rob- son. 24 pp. 25 cents. American Most Important Months Council, Institute of Pacific Rela- of the New Church Year tions. New York. NOVEMBER Be Sure DECEMBER Christianity and the Eastern Con- to Order IMTWTFS flicts. William Paton. 224 pp. .!..!!.TWTF. •• •••• 1 2 8 of $1.50. Willett Clark & Co: Chi- •• 11846' 6 8 7 8 91011 cago. 12 18 U 16 1617 18 7 8 9 10 1112 18 Christianity and Our World. John U 16 18 17 18 19 20 ………….. 19 20 III 22 28 24 26 C. Bennett. 70 pp. 50 cents. As- sociation Press. New York. .. .. .. .. .. .. . 212228 114 26 118 117 282728298081 •• The Church at the Heart of the 182980 •••••• World Christian Community. Es- ther Boorman Strong. 60 pp. Cbt Upptr Room 1. M. C. New York. OCTOBER-NOVEMBER-DECEMBER ISSUE The Divine Art of Soul Winning. J. O. Sanders. 96 pp. lB. Picker- With summer past and vacations over, it is time to ing & Inglis. London. inaugurate a new Church year and a new program. In many instances a new organization must be set up The Great Commission. W. Wilson or at least replacements made. New Members must Cash. 116 pp. 28. Oliphants be drawn into closer fellowship and the spiritual life London. of the old members must be quickened. For this period of cultivation the daily devotional life of the Dr. Bob Hockman – A Surgeon of individual is most important to the success of the; the Cross. Kathleen Hockman whole program. Friederichsen. 102 pp. 50 cents. Zondervan Pub. House. Grand More Than 15,000 Pastors Have Acclaimed Rapids. THE UPPER ROOM as the Most Effective In the Jungles of New Guinea. R. Daily Devotional Guide Obtainable Hanselmann. Pamphlet. Lutheran Book Concern. Columbus, Ohio. Pastors or group leaders are invited to order a trial supply on our liberal consignment plan. Use the or- Kagawa Comes Home. 25 cents. 66 der form below. pp. Friends of Jesus. Tokyo. CONSIGNMENT ORDER INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIPTION- Morocco in Mufti. James Haldane. THB UPPER ROOM, 231 pp. 68. A. H. Stockwell Ltd. Issue for October, November, December Doctors' Building, London. (For use of Pastor or Group Leader. Nashville, Tenn.
The New Adorning. Reginald Wallis. Order ten or more copies.) Gentlemen: 65 pp. 80 cents. American Bible I am inclosing herewith thirty cents Conference Assn. Philadelphia. THE UPPER ROOM, (foreign, forty cents) for which please Natur Und Gnade in Der Mission- Doctors' Building, send me The Upper Room for one year, arischen Verkundigung. Theodore Devaranne. 28 pp. Ostasien Mis- Nashville, Tenn. postpaid, beginning with _ _ _ __ sion. Berlin, Germany. quarterly issue. Gentlemen: Pioneer Days in Darkest Africa. A. Name G. Ingleby. 176 pp. 28. 6d. Pick- Please send me copies ering & Inglis. London. of The UpPer Room, postpaid. I will Street or Route _ _ _ _ _ __ sell these for five cents per copy and Practical Christian Living. Thoughts pay for same when sold. It is under- Post·office _ _ _ _ _ State _ __ for Daily Meditation. Zelma Argue. 32 pp. 25 cents. Zondervan Pub. stood that I have the privilege of re- *A single copy by mail anywhere 10 Co. Grand Rapids. turning at your expense Bny unsold cents. Redeeming the Time. Report of the China Inland Mission. 82 pp. Lon- copies. don. Name Radiant Youth. Reginald Wallis. Street or Route _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 128 pp. 80 cents. American Bible Conference Assn. Philadelphia. Post·office _ _ _ _ _ State _ __ Seminary Militant. Louise Porter Thomas. 117 pp. $1.00. Mount Holyoke College. Mt. Holyoke, Mass.
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Anti-Christian Anny —
200,000,000 Moslems The strongest united force opposing the claims of Christ and the progress of modern missions is the Moslem population of the world. Although the followers of Mohammed believe that Jesus was a prophet of God and although the Koran gives Him an exalted place, the Mohammedans refuse to accept Him as Son of God and the only Saviour from the penalty and power of sin.
The Moslems are not only extremely fanatical but they are also militant propagandists for their religious faith and practices. The difficulties they put in the way of Christian missionary work are especially felt in countries where Islam is in control or that claim a majority of the population. Such countries are: Egypt, the Sudan, North Africa, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, parts of India, Malaya, China and southeastern Europe.
The October MISSIONARY REVIEW will be devoted to this subject-with articles by mission· aries and converts, maps and illustrations, news and book reviews. Among the articles will be: The Moslem World Today…………………………………… Dwight M. Donaldson Why Take Christ to Moslems …………………………………… Samuel M. Zwemer Some Moslem Superstitions …………………………………………. Davida Finney The Gospel that Wins Moslems …………………………………….. W. Wilson Cash Moslem Reactions to the Gospel …………………………………….. James Haldane My Experience with Moslems ………………………………………. " Frank Laubach Christian vs. Moslem Homes ………………………………… .Mrs. Edwin E. Calverley Medical Missions to Moslems …………………………………… , ….. Paul Harrison Encouragements Among Moslems ………………………………………. George Swan Sermon by a Convert from Islam ………………………… , ………. .Sa'eed Kurdistani What Christ Means to Me …………….. " …………………. .By Converts from Islam Best Books on the Moslem World ……………………………••..• •Samuel M. Zwemer 25 cents a copy –Send Your· Order Now– ~2.s0 a year ~20.00 a hundred Special Pmt! in ~antities if ordered bt!fore Septembt!T 15th THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD THIRD AND REILY STREETS, HARRISBURG, PA.
Robert E. Speer, President Delavan L. Pierson, Editor
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1937
1937
, The Murdoch Trail in Kentucky Alvin E. Magary What Rural Churches Are Doing w. H. Thompson Pioneering for Christ in Kwangsi A. C. Snead China and the New Life Movement Generalissimo. Chiang Kai..shek Thinking Yellow vs. Acting Yellow Geoffrey W. Royall The Problem of the Rural Church in Canada J. R. Watt A Brahman Christian……Nehemiah Goreh 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember September 27 – October 1 – Houston, of her service to Japanese women
Texas. Dean, Mrs. A. B. Haynes, the field of education. M>iss Loomis July 5-16-New Jersey Summer 618 Highland Ave., Houstori, Texas. was principal of Doremus High School School for Christian W 0 r k e r s, for girls in Yokohama from 1901 until Blairstown, N. J. October 5-6- Warren, Ohio. Mrs. her retirement last year. She is the George Konold, 314 Scott St., N. E., second missionary in this school to be July 8-13 – International Christian Warren, Ohio. so honored by the Emperor, the first Endeavor Convention, Grand Rap- being Miss Julia N. Crosby, one of ids, Mich. October 21 – Baltimore, Md. Mrs. the founders of the mission, who went David D. Baker, 410 N. Calhoun to Japan in 1871. July 11-16 – Anniversary, First Con- St., Baltimore, Md. ference of American Methodism. *** Old St. George's Church. Phila- Personal Items Dr. Tom Lambie, recently in charge delphia. Dr. E. Stanley Jones expects to be of the work of the Sudan Interior Mis- July 12-26- World Conference on in China for six months from August sion in Ethiopia and a naturalized Life and Work. Oxford, England. 15. He goes at the invitation of the citizen of Ethiopia, has recently re- National Christian Council of China. turned from a visit to Africa to sur- July 14-17-National Council of Fed- He will be asked to give attention vey the Nigerian field with a view to erated Church Women. Lake Ge- primarily to the strengthening of opening new stations to be occupied neva, Wis. church leadership in evangelism, lay by missionaries who will no longer be service and the Christianizing of the welcome in Ethiopia. Dr. Lambie has July 19-30-Religious Education Con- home, with such work for non-Chris- applied to have his American citizen- ference. Northfield, Mass. tians and students as may be carried ship restored. During his trip he and on without diversion from this main Dr. Rowland V. Bingham went up the July 24-31-Conference of the Asso- Nile to Khartoum and later flew from ciation of Christian Youth Move- objective. there to Kano, 1,800 miles across ments of America. Stony Brook, *** Africa to the west.
L. 1. Mrs. Orrin R. Judd, a member of *** the Board of Directors of THE RE- July 31-August 6-General Confer- VIEW, has been elected president of Rev. Hafiz Abood Faris, elected to ence. Northfield, Mass. the Woman's American Baptist Home represent Syria at the Centennial cele- Mission Society at its recent annual brations of the Board of Foreign Mis- July 31-August 7-Annual Interde- meeting in Philadelphia. sions of the Presbyterian Church in nominational Young People's Con- the U. S. A., is pastor of the church ference. Stony Brook, L. I. *** at Horns, Syria; president of the Synod Dr. William J. Reid and Dr. Wil- and moderator of the Syrian Evan- August 3-18 – World Conference on gelical Church. Through his leader- Faith and Order. Edinburgh, Scot- liam J. Reid, Jr., as father and son, ship federation among the Protestants land. in Syria has been effected and included have continuously led the First United the Covenantor churches (Reformed), August 16-23 – Christian .Endeavor the Irish Presbyterian Mission and the Conference. Northfield, Mass. Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh Danish Mission churches.
August 21-29-General Bible Confer- for 75 full years, the father holding As a schoolboy Mr. Faris attended ence. Stony Brook, L. 1. the American Presbyterian Mission the pastorate for 40 years. This School at Sidon and received his the- Sept. 28-30 – Annual Interdenomina- unique anniversary has recently been ological training at Suk-ul-Gharb. He tional Missionary Institute, Wom- is related to the talented Abood fam- an's Interdenominational Union of celebrated in Pittsburgh. In a curious ily which has furnished the Christian Philadelphia and Vicinity. First way the younger man has reproduced Church in Syria and Palestine with Baptist Church, Philadelphia. six pastors, several teachers, and a his father's work. The father was for number of workers along other lines. SUMMER CONFERENCES AND 15 years editor of the United Pres'by- He spent a number of years in Amer- SCHOOLS OF MISSIONS terian; the son has edited the same ica (1903-07), and organized an Arabic-speaking Presbyterian Church Council of Women for Home Mis- paper for 16 years. The weekly Bible among the Syrians of West Hoboken. sions and Affiliated with the Committee on Women's Work, School at the Y. M. C. A., which the *** Foreign Missions Conference elder taught for 30 years, was after- Rev. and Mrs. Phineas B. Kennedy, July 7-15-Northfield, Mass. Miss v.ho have spent forty years in Al- Amy O. Welcher, 796 Prospect Ave., ward led by the son for almost 20 bania and Macedonia as missionaries, Hartford, Conn. years. The U nit e d Presbyterian first under tHe American Board and Handbook, which the father prepared later in the Albanian Evangelical July 10-17 – Mountain Lake Park, Mission, are now in America and are Md. Chairman, Mrs. J. M. Knight, annually for many years, has been available for addresses on conditions 207 Roane St., Charleston, W. Va. and work in Albania. Mr. and Mrs. issued by the son for 22 years. The Kennedy have a fine lot of stereopticon July 17-24–Mt. Hermon, Calif. Mrs. slides and a large fund of interesting N. J. Forsberg, 1144 Eddy St., San father sent a full-page weekly discus- Francisco, Calif. information in regard to this little- sion of the Sunday school lesson to known part of the storm center of July 19-23 – Bethesda, Ohio. Miss Europe. Their address is 718 Ken- Mary 1. Scott, 310 Tomlinson St., his paper; here, too, the son has car- sington Ave., Plainfield, N. J. Moundsville, W. Va. ried on. *** ••• August 15-22 – Chautauqua, N. Y. Chairman, Miss B. Louise Wood- Dr. J. D. Jones, long pastor of one David Griffin, son-in-law of Rev. ford, 930 23d Ave. North, St. of the leading Con g reg a t ion a I Paul Rader, Chicago evangelist, ex- Petersburg, Fla. pects to make a 20,000-mile tour of churches of England, and well known Asiatic and African frontiers in a August 19-25 – Kerrville, T e x a s. three-wheeled motorcycle truck, ac- Chairman, Mrs. T. M. Cunning- in America as well as Great Britain, companied by Hubert Mitchell, of Los ham, 618 West Sydamore, Denton, Angeles. From Singapore their Texas. has been elected to the presidency of route will take them through the Ma- lay States, Burma, Tibet, across September 20-24 – Minnesota (Min- the National Free Church Council. Khyber Pass, through Persia and neapolis-St. Paul). President, Mrs. finally across the mid-section of Charles L. Grant, 610 Aurora Ave., *** Africa. St. Paul, Minn. Prof. Arthur H. Compton, eminent September 20-24–Southern California young physicist and Nobel Prize win- (Los Angeles). Mrs. H. M. Horn, ner, has been installed Chairman of 1955 Carmen Ave., Los Angeles, the Laymen's Missionary Movement, Calif. Chicago. Prof. Compton has served on the Committee for eight years. September 27 – October 1 – Dallas, Texas. Pres., Mrs. E. R. Alderson, *** 561 Goodwin St., Dallas, Texas. Miss Clara Denison Loomis, for thirty-five years a missionary in Japan under the Woman's Union Mis- sionary Society of America, was re- cently honored by the Japanese Gov- ernment by being presented with the Renju Hosho, the highest decoration
MISSIONARY for your magazine as a whole. lt IS Fastest
REVIEW OF THE WORLD well for all of us to keep before us to the DELAVAN L. PIERBON, Editor the general trend in the missionary world, as well as to know some of the ORIENT VOL. LX JULy-AuG., 1937 Nos. 7 & 8 speclllc pieces of work which are be- ing carried on by other churches Japanese Publication and Business Olllce– throughout the world. Your MISSION- Girl Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. ARY KEVIEW helps to keep us informed with at these points." Editorial and Executive Olllce– lantern. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. MABEL NIEDERMEYER, Entered as second-class matter at Director of Children's Work, Go direct fromVancouverand Victoria in 10 days by Em- Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under United Christian Missionary press oj Asia or Empress oj Act of March 3, 1879. Society, Indianapolis. Russia. Only 3 more days via Hawaii by Empress ojJapan 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. *** (fastest ship on the Pacific) Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. or Empress oj Canada. Con- Published monthly, except August. "You are surely issuing a most nect at Honolulu from Cali- All rights reserved. Copyrighted 193 7. splendid magazine. I bind the copies fornia ports. Low round-trip British agents – Marshall, Morgan so as to maKe constant use of them. fares include passage from and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, I have known of interest and contribu- and to Seattle. London. E. C. 1 shilling per copy, tions through people learning of needs 10 shillings a year. as given in THE REVIEW." ~r;4 MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- REV. WILLIAM H. ENSIGN. For rates and sailings, see LISHING CO., INC. Los Angeles, Calif. YOUR TRAVEL AGENT or Cana- dian Pacific: New York, Chi- BOARD OF DIRECTORS "I think ever*y *Ch*ristian ought to ca~o, San Francisco, 38 other ROUERT E. SPEER, President citIes in U. S. and Canada. A. L. WARNSHUlS, Vice-President read THE REVIEW. It is the best thing I have ever seen on missions. Many WALTER MCDOUGALL, ~'rea8urer of my congregation are oecoming en- thUSIastic over it. One night when a DELAVAN L. PIERSON. Secretary speaker disappointed me I talked for an hour on mIssions, giving informa- SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT tion gleaned from THE REVIEW."
WILLIAM I. C'luMBERLoUN PASTOR F. L. SHANNON.
D. J. FANT Beckley, -W.-V-a.- – – – MRS. ORRIN R. JUDO THE SECRETS OF SUCCESS WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIC M. NORTH "Push," said the button. "Take pains," said the window. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER "Never be led," said the pencil. "Be up to date," said the calendar. Editorial Chat "Always keep cool," said the ice. "Do business on tick," said the clock. Our June (Rural America) Num- "Never lose your head," said the ber has already had a large sale and is still in great demand. Order your barrel. extra copies before the supply runs "Do a driving business," said the out. Here is only one of the many favorable comments we have received: hammer. "Aspire to great things," said the nut- "Allow me to congratulate you on the splendid issue of THE REVIEW for meg. June in which you present a fine pic- "Make light of everything," said the ture of rural America. This will be of great help to the rural church fire. movement." "Do nothing off-hand," said the glove: "Look up," said the telescope. THOMAS ALFRED TRIPP, "Make much of little things," said the Associate Director, Town and microscope. Country Dept., The Church Ex- "Look ahead," said the spy-glass. tension Boards of the Congrega.- tional and Christian Churches. Obituary Note.
*** Emma Belle Dougherty Pierson, for forty-two years the beloved and Other articles on "Christ and Rural faithful wife of the Editor of this America" appear in this present issue REVIEW, fell asleep in Christ at her and more will follow later, since the home in Montclair, New Jersey, on subject is to cover a year of Home June 18, after a serious illness, last- Mission study. ing over five months. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December *** 15, 1871, and early gave herself to Christ,., trusting in Him for salvation As usual, in recent years, there will and all her daily needs. For nearly be no August number of THE REVIEW. fifty years she was a remarkably suc- Instead the June and July numbers cessful teacher of little children in the each have a larger number of pages. Sunday school and led many of them Many subscrioers are away in August to Christ. Her personal charm and and the summer months are less (un- many talents were dedicated to His fortunately) active in church circles. service. Mrs. Pierson was deeply in- The omission of the August issue is terested in the work of Christ at home also a help in meeting publication ex- and abroad, was active in the missionpenses. ary work of her own Church, was an officer of the Montclair Missionary *** Union and for some years a mem.:er of the Board of Foreign Missions of Our October number will be looked the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. forward to with great interest as it will be devoted to the very important (Concluded on 3d cQ'/Jer.) topic, "Christ and the Moslem World." [337 ] Other recent *com* m*ents on the RE- VIEW show that God is using it to stimulate interest in the Cause of Christ. The following are some extracts from letters: "I wish to express my appreciation
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A RECENT PORTRAIT OF GENERALISSIMO CHIANG KAI-SHEK AND MADAME CHIANG (See article, pages 356 to 362) REVIB ORLD AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS VOLUME LX JULY-AUGUST, 1937 NUMBERS 7 AND 8 Topics of the Times YOUTH – WHITHER? The situation is not wholly new except in the complacency with which many parents, teachers This is ideally the golden age of youth. Never and even professing Christians look upon it. have the young men and young women had such There are many who have high ideals for the opportunities. They are awake to this new day, Church, the school, the home; what are we going with its problems and possibilities in education, to do about it? Boys and girls are capable of in politics, in science and business. Youth is also great things and their interest is not difficult to awake to the new license and opportunities in capture for the best in God's creation and procrime and lust, in war and lawlessness. It is well gram. Left alone or misled they naturally run known that the age of convicted criminals has de- wild. creased by one-half in the past twenty-five years. The widespread use of the automobile for vice and The Christian Church has a responsibility for crime, the pernicious effect of intoxicants and the the guidance of youth because of her commission degrading influence of much that is found in from God and the ideals for which she stands. At movies and theaters and in modern literature; a crime conference held in Albany, former Justice the decrease in the influence of the Church; the Alfred J. Talley said that judges of the bench laxity in parental control, and the new disregard declare the main cause of criminality in Amer- ica is the "indifference of our people to the need for God and His laws fostered in too many schools of the American child for daily religious teachand colleges – all these have not only helped to ing." He continued: further inflame "flaming youth" but now endanger the whole life of the coming generation. Recently Why is it not time to make a fresh start? In the some high schools in Greater New York and else- policy of the State, religion is kept out of the schools, where have been the subject of shocked investi- because, unhappily, one religion was fearful that another gation because of the widespread immorality that religion would get some advantage and the fatal course was reported. Such immorality is not new but was adopted of wiping out religious teaching altogether. modern tendencies have made it more prevalent Pagan divinities and their amours may be glorified in the and open and less disgraceful in the eyes of youth. school- Nero, Cresar, Hannibal, Napoleon, Henry the In one city alone five tons of salacious books and Eighth-with all their human frailties, their wars and pictures, chiefly intended for boys and girls, were devastation, but the Almighty Father, the Divine Archirecently seized, while many tons more have barely tect, the Merciful Creator who holds the destiny of the escaped a similar fate. In New York certain de- American people in the hollow of His hand must not be grading "shows" have been closed but still the mentioned before an American child in an American State refuses to exercise <censorship in behalf of school. Why is it not time to make a fresh start? the youth. While we enact and enforce laws to protect physical health, lawmakers still permit The Hon. John C. Maher, Chairman of the the deadly germs of moral and spiritual diseases Parole Commission of New York, speaking of the to be spread by those who seek to grow rich there- influence of religion in the life of the criminal, said: "To me religion stands preeminently above all the police forces and all the armies that the world has ever conceived. It has an influence on by. Who can wonder at the wave of banditry, an individual that cannot be injected by a prison, murder and increasing sex crimes that have but can be injected by those who are experts in spread alarm all over the United States? the art of reaching the inner man. The aid of the [339 ]
Church and the clergy should be definitely en- Today superstitions are breaking down before listed to help solve the problem of crime." modern education; harmful social and religious customs-such as infanticide, child marriage and A member of the New York Parole Board re- the burning of widows-are outlawed by growing cently called attention to the need for cooperation. public opinion; caste is breaking before the ad- vance of modern progress and the awakening of While it is highly desirable that something be done on a the outcastes; women are coming out of purdah religious basis, practical experience shows that not much and are taking part in public life; Christ and His can be done unless the religious groups actually will be- teachings are coming to be honored by multitudes, come interested in doing something for the criminal. Judg- even of those who are still Hindus. All these ing from my personal experience of five years in New changes have come about by the patient teachings York City, in which we have dealt with now some ten or and influence of Christian missionaries and by twelve thousand cases, I believe that generally speaking the laws and education promoted by the British the individual clergymen of all the different groups are Government. definitely disinterested in the criminal. These and other signs of progress in India are Christians have tremendous opportunities and especially evident to those who have visited the duties of service which have not yet been accepted great peninsular continent at intervals during the adequately. Some of the greatest achievements past half century. Dr. John R. Mott, who has reever accomplished, not only in science and public cently returned from his fifth visit, first went out life but in religion, have been under the energy there in 1895 in the interests of the Student and leadership of youth. Jesus Christ and the Christian Movement. Again he visited India in apostles were young men; General William Booth 1901-02 to conduct an evangelistic campaign, and was a young man when he started the Salvation eleven years later to help organize the Christian Army; the Y. M. C. A. and the Student Volunteer forces of missionaries and Indian leaders. In Movement, the Missionary Education Movement, 1928-29 he went again to help interpret the J eru· and many similar activities were initiated and led salem Conference and to form the National Chrisby young men. Where are those today that will tian Council. Now he has returned from a three organize and carry forward a new Christian cru- months' visit in connection with the International sade to enlist the youth of today in the service of Y. M. C. A. Convention at Mysore. He returns Christ and their fellowmen? with great burdens on his heart for India. The new impressions he has received have brought The responsibility for the proper training of deepened convictions and a sense of wonderful youth is divided between the State, the Church opportuni ty. and the home. In most instances the influence of the State and the school is nonreligious and non- 1. There is the conviction that the work of the Christian, if not positively antireligious and anti- missionary is not yet done in India. It is only be- Christian. The churches today have little oppor- ginning and is of prime importance. With the tunity to train the youth because the breach has new constitution the land is progressing toward been widening between them. It is necessary that independence and is struggling to attain greater the clergy and Christian laity go after the youth unity and power. In view of the new possibilities and win them, rather than expect the youth gen- in material advancement in education, in ecoerally to come to the Church for instruction. But nomic, political and social life and in religious the key to the situation is the home, the funda- attitudes, it is no time for Christians to relax their mental unity of society. If the home is character- efforts. ized by unity, purity, honesty, love, joy, faith and reverence for God, and by a true understanding 2. The present-day opportunities of evangelism of Christ and His Way of Life, then there need offer a greater challenge than ever – especially be no fear as to the way youth, under the guidance among the Depressed Classes and the students. of God, will react so as to build a Christian world The Indian Church is in the midst of a five-year for tomorrow. campaign of evangelism. This calls for a clearer understanding of the needs of India and of the THE MODERN CHALLENGE OF INDIA power of Christ to meet those needs, both indi- vidual and social, temporal and eternal. India It is diffi<;ult for many today to realize the re- needs the whole Gospel adequately presented. markable changes that have come in India in the through united Christian effort. past half century. Things that were considered impossible then have now come to pass and 3. There.is the challenge presented by the Lindchanges that seemed could only be brought about say Commission to unify, extend and improve the in a century of effort are now taking place. This Christian educational work. There are today very is true in regard to religious superstitions, and unusual opportunities to reach the college students social customs, the stranglehold of caste, the low and to train them for Christian service. position of women, the immoralities of Hinduism and the strong antipathy toward Christianity.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
4. There is the challenge presented by the med- the Mexican republic have been unusually strin- gent against the practice of religion, some States ical opportunities in India. The physical needs of having enacted legislation that is a drastic at- tempt to throttle all public worship and religious millions of people are still uncared for, and the teaching.
medical missionaries are now looked up to and Certain states have limited the number of priests to about one for every 80,000 of the poptrusted by all classes. This work is practical ulation. In others, as Chiapas and Chihuahua, only one priest has been permitted for the whole Christianity that opens many closed hearts and state. Such limitation has now been declared il- legal by the supreme court of Mexico. In the case closed doors. of Roman Catholics, who form the greater part of the population, the number of priests allowed 5. The rural probtem in India presents a tre- by law has been far below the needs of the people. In at least two states, Tabasco and Campeche, mendous challenge in a country that is ninety per the law permitted only married priests to officiate in religious worship and to administer the sacracent rural. Here is a basic problem that affects ments, so that no Roman Catholic priest could celebrate mass unless he violated his oaths of the whole work. It calls for "new investigation, celibacy and broke the discipline of his Church. In Tabasco, which is perhaps the state in which agitation, experimentation and demonstration" by antireligious legislation was most extreme, church edifices have been razed, the bricks and stones those who have the best interests of India at used for paving the streets, and the sites converted into public playgrounds. Even children have been heart. obliged to take part in the public burning of cruci- fixes, and rewards have been given to those who 6. There is the challenge of the growing literacy informed against Mexicans who privately prac- ticed religion in their own homes. Now, however, and the need for good literature. With a rapidly the governor of this same state reports that he increasing number of readers, ~nd the influx of proposes to assume an "attitude of conciliation to cheap and harmful literature, Christians must the Church." So far, that conciliation is limited to granting the privilege of private devotion; provide better periodicals and books for the read- there has been no published statement lookina- toward the renewal of permission for public reing public. With a growing Church there must ligious exercises. In other states, as San Luis Potosi and Sonora and in the Federal District, be more funds provided to supply the members masses may be celebrated in most of the churches, and there seems to be a considerable relaxation with wholesome Christian reading. in the stringent enforcement of antireligious laws. In the State of Vera Cruz, some months ago, the 7. There is the challenge for an increase in the people forcibly opened the churches after a young girl had been shot by the police during a religious missionary staff in India. The economic depres- celebration. The President of the Republic sus- tained the people and the churches have remained sion has led to a decrease in workers and a con- open, although still under police surveillance.
sequent increase in the burdens borne by those Although there are indications that the rigor of the antireligious laws of Mexico is being rewho remain. While the Church of Rome is in- laxed, the concessions thus far made are of com- paratively little importance, except so far as they creasing her missionary activity, the Protestant show a desire on the part of some officials to be less strict and unreasonable. This more lenient Church is curtailing hers. There is danger that attitude may pave the way for a more liberal interpretation in the future, or for the abrogation as the older missionaries retire younger men and of legislation that has proved ineffective because obnoxious to the majority of the people. women will not be sent out'to take their places. During the period of antireligious agitation in The result will be an alarming hiatus. . Mexico, the Protestant work has suffered very 8. There is the' challenge of new opportunity for native leadership in India. At the coming Hangchow Conference in 1938 there will be fifty Indian delegates to ten missionaries. The Indian churches are eager for help and the Christians of other lands must stand by them. The National Christian Council of India, Burma and Ceylon has now formed provincial councils that have a most important field for service – but they need help to do effective work.
India, without doubt, offers one of the greatest challenges to Christians of the present day. The progress already made, the great vital needs of the people especially along spiritual lines, the dangers that come from anti-Christian sources, the new attitude of Indians toward Christ and the Gospel, and the readiness of the Indian Church to take up the burden of responsibility-all call on the Christians of Europe and America to in- crease rather than relax prayer and sacrificial effort.
THE .CHANGING SITUATION IN MEXICO In Mexico, as in Soviet Russia, the antireligious movement seems to have lost something of its former strength and vigor. The Federal laws in
_ THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [J uly-August
little in comparison with that of the Roman Cath- social strife in America, show that it is high time olic Church. This is largely due to the fact that for the Church of Christ to reveal His power to Protestants are a small minority of the popula- transform human society as well as to save indition, their ministers are g.enerally married, they viduals. have been careful to comply with all laws affecting registration and those that regulate public The missionary work of the Church has always worship, so that foreigners have refrained from been greatly affected by the attitude of the govconducting what have been defined as religious ernments in non-Christian lands, by the social services. Recent letters from Mexico indicate conditions and customs, and by the state of relithat there are now unlimited opportunities for re- gion and the influence of religious leaders. At ligious work of all kinds, and that ministers of the same time, missionary work has greatly af- Protestant churches, even foreign missionaries, fected these phases of life. Christ desires to transmay come and go when and where they will, form politics, society and religion in order that preach and otherwise help in conducting services, all life may be brought into harmony with the without restrictions on the part of public officials. will of God. It has always been stated by government officials that the drastic legislation was not aimed at the THE EDINBURGH CONFERENCE on "Faith and Protestant minority, which has always been law- Order" (August 3-18) will emphasize the reasons abiding and in no way has tried to exercise politi- for Christian uni,ty and the beliefs held in comcal power; it was directed against those mem- mon where all followers of Christ may unite. bers of the Roman hierarchy who presumed to consider themselves above the law and refused to The first World Conference on "Faith and submit to the laws, especially that one which de- Order" was held at Lausanne, Switzerland, in manded their registration. The main object of 1927 with 400 delegates present, representing over the lawmakers, it has been asserted, was to oblige 100 churches. The delegates of Edinburgh inthe Church to limit its work to the spiritual realm, clude representatives of Protestant churches in rather than attempt to control the State, and that, many lands and also from the Greek, Armenian in so far as it has obeyed the law, there has been and Assyrian communions. no thought of persecution. Today Christianity is being challenged as never WEBSTER E. BROWNING. before since the days of Constantine. From the fourth to the twentieth centuries a steady advance PROBLEMS AT OXFORD AND EDINBURGH was made in winning the allegiance of mankind to Christ, but now tkere seems to be a renewal of While Christians are told to be "in the world activity in non-Christian and anti-Christian but not of it," that does not relieve them from re- forces. The 1937 Conference 'must be conducted sponsibility for proclaiming truth, lifting stand- in such a way as to face realistically the present ards and righting wrongs. Jesus Christ not only situation of the Church in the world. preached the Gospel but rebuked sin wherever found and helped meet the material and temporal One of the definite achievements of the Conneeds of men, as well as those that were spiritual ference ten years ago was the conviction that and eternal. unity will not come by glossing over differences of belief. Now the churches must go on to the Important conferences of Christian church task of trying to share with one another what it leaders are to be held this summer at Oxford and is that the various confessions mean until we dig Edinburgh to consider how Christians, especially down through the rocks .to the Eternal Rock. of the Protestant churches, can work together more harmoniously and effectively to give Christ The first task is to realize the urgency of the the preeminence in our thinking and in following challenge of the world situation to Christendom His teachings and spirit in every walk of life. as a whole, and in the face of that challenge to discover and accept the underlying unity which At Oxford (July 12-26) about eight hundred binds Christians together through common loyalty delegates from North America and Europe, Af- toone Master, Jesus Christ. The second task will rica, Asia and Latin America, are to gather for be to press forward to help the Christians of all two weeks in a conference on "Life and Work in churches to realize, in things both outward and the Church, the State and Society." The presiding inward, the true unity of the Body of Christ. officer will be the Archbishop of Canterbury. The main lopics to be discussed at Edinburgh The conditions in the world today clearly call are: for more effective Christian testimony. The wars that devastate Spain and the threats of more Jesus Christ and His Grace. widespread and destructive conflicts in Europe, The Church of Christ and the Word of God. Africa and Asia, and the growing industrial and The Ministry of the Church of Christ. Church Unity in Life and Worship-visible and invisible.
A VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN CENTEH AT BUCKHORN
The Girls' Dormitory (Englis Home, accommodating forty students), McKenzie Hall, and the Domestic Science Building The Murdoch Trail in Kentucky By the REV. ALVIN E. MAGARY, D.D., -<t&f Brooklyn, New York Pastor, Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church T HERE is a new state road in Kentucky, called Kentucky mountains to investigate conditions for the Murdoch Trail. the Board of Home Missions and, once having Thirty-five years ago a young Presbyterian seen the possibilities around Buckhorn, the life minister arrived at the little mountain hamlet of of an assistant minister in staid old Brooklyn was Buckhorn, Kentucky, with $250 in cash and un- far too tame. He proposed to some of the men of searchable riches in Christian faith. His name the church that they back him in a modest way was Harvey Murdoch. in a missionary adventure. They consented, and Today, Murdoch is gone, but the fruits of his since that day the people of the church have been faith remain. There is a school of 400 pupils, the main financial support of the work. Until more than half of whom are in the high school Harvey Murdoch died, in October, 1935, he came department, there is an orphanage, a hospital, a back to Brooklyn each year to tell the people how large farm on which most of the food for the things had gone in their beloved Buckhorn since school and orphanage is raised, and a church with last they saw him.
800 members. When Harvey Murdoch came to Buckhorn, Murdoch had been, for some years, a member there was no railway station within twenty-4ive of the pastoral staff of the Lafayette Avenue Pres- miles. There were no roads worthy of the name.
byterian Church, in charge of the work at the If you could afford transportation you rode on Cumberland Street Chapel. He had gone into the mule-back up the bed of the creek, realizing the [343 ]
while how much a mtile wouid 'be-impr()ved' if it a rare thing and even fUIieralsweI'EHioinftequeht could be equipped with springs. But most people as to be marked occasions. Usually, the body was walked and a tramp of thirty miles to school was put into the ground without even a prayer and not regarded as anything out of the ordinary. the funeral service was held at any time, from Conditions in that country are still primitive. The one to five years later, when a minister happened railway is still a dozen miles aw.:f1Y and the mule to be in the neighborhood.
Five years after Murdoch's coming the Buck- horn church had been organized and he was for- mally called to be its pastor at a salary of sixty dollars a year. To pay a minister anything was entirely against the traditions and practice of the people in those days. Today there is an entire Presbytery of 37 churches that has grown out of that first work. :.'Since the beginning, more than a church per year, has been organized. The first little log-house structures have been ' supplanted by buildings still extremely inexpensive and simple, but adequate and comfortable. To the eyes of some of the children from distant hamlets, children who have never seen a railway train, nor a building larger than a mountain cabin, they doubtless seem grand enough.
Buckhorn has worked a transformation in the country round about, but there is still much to be done. The old days, when the country was the scene of murderous mountain feuds, have passed, but even now the resort to gun-play is by no THE LATE HARVEY S, MURlDOCK (Grist Miu.. KEY "&Saw Mill Ir Eleeme Pta"… 10. Boys Dormitory.(, StoriQ) has by no means lost his place in the economy of life; but, when the season is not too wet, one can 2.Churth. " . Presidenb HOme . (l3tonea) get in by automobile in these days. Boys and girls still tramp over the mountains, a score of miles 3.6ymtlClsium. 12.. ReseY''Ioir. and more, at the opening of school. Sometimes a dozen of them will be brought in by truck, hav- A..LafClyette School Hell' (.t.1te'*~ 13. H~spitClI. ht St,rie') 10 Sm. ing ridden at least a part of the long way. There 14. G~ "s Home : (~t S"."'5) is often no other way to bring the sick to the hos- 5. M"nuo' Trofni"" H"JJ 15. G,,15 Dormitory. (5 St'Or,,,) pital except to carry them on a litter over the mountain trails. When the writer was there re- 6 . PrimC)1"V Hall. cently, a little procession, with mother and father leading, came in carrying a boy of six from his 7. Ki"d."fJOrt.".. 16. Oin,f't9 ,Hall. ~JL' Sto,let) home eight miles away. While we looked, as the 8. Boy~ Horne. (a 5…..iH) IT. Dome$tlc Sclenc.e. Hcdl (,a S"'lc~ little cortege stopped, we heard the mother utter a cry. Her little boy had died within a hundred e.Vie. Presidenb Home. (2 S't"'_ yards of the hospital. They had not reached it soon enough. THE BUCKHORN · PLANT In the old days freight was brought up the river in little hand-pushed boats, traveling a mile and a half an hour. For many children of the district almost no schooling was available and only one person in seven or eight was able to read or write well enough to be called literate. Harvey Murdoch was the only ordained minister of any denomination along the middle fork of the Kentucky River for 'a distance of sixty miles, from Athol to Hyden. Before his coming a religious service was
JAKE WOODS, THE OUTLAW
means a rare occurrence, particularly when plenty Church, Dr. Dinsmore, proposed that the class of mountain whiskey is mixed with the situation. undertake the support of a boy at Buckhorn. His The people are still desperately poor. The farmer proposal was adopted and the youth selected was may have ten acres, planted in corn. The arable a mountain boy, Elmer E. Gabbard. Through land runs along the creeks and is so steep that school and college and theological seminary they much of it can be cultivated only by hand. Many stood by him. Now, after a successful ministry, of the parents of the young people at Buckhorn he has left the pastorate of the North Side Preshave the best will possible toward the idea of edu- byterian Church of Chattanooga and has gqne cating their boys and girls but it is impossible for back to Buckhorn. He knows the people and them to pay as much as ten dollars a year for tui- they know him, and we may believe that he will tion. Yet the school takes them, so far as its carryon the work to yet more notable achievestraining capacity will permit. They work on the ments. farm, in the kitchen, everywhere; they do the baking, the cleaning, the plowing and harvesting. In these thirty-five years 6,000 persons have They are busy from dawn until night, with neces- professed their faith in Christ and 4,000 young sary time for rest and recreation. No busier, hap- people have been educated in this work started by pier, more attractive lot of young people will you a young man with $250, some good friends, and a see anywhere. They come out of poverty-stricken resolute faith in God. The influence of Buckhorn mountain cabins, knowing as little of the civilized is felt throughout the state of Kentucky and it world as a squirrel and, after a term of years at was a proper tribute to its founder that the state Buckhorn, go back as teachers, doctors, leaders in road passing near by was named "The Murdoch their communities, to change the whole aspect of Trail." It leads to Buckhorn; but the trail of life among their neighbors. Harvey Murdoch leads straight to Him who said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the One Sunday, some years ago, the leader of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Men's Bible Class in the Lafayette Avenue me."
Jake Woods, the Outlaw* By J. S. BURNETT, Chattanooga, Tennessee Superintendent, Tennessee Mountain Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church O NE night high up in the Smoky Mountains other preacher ever had; you must try to save of Tennessee I was lost in a snowstorm. Jake Woods." Though I was frozen into unconsciousness, my horse carried me to a house. When conscious- How should I begin ? Jake was sitting before ness began to dawn again, I heard a fire cracking the wide fireplace as I packed my saddlebags. I and looking up saw a bearded man bending over, walked over to him. Taking a bill from my pocket, swearing because I would not open my mouth to I said, "Mr. Woods, I regret to offer you so little admit the neck of a bottle. In the moment of when you and your good wife have done so much delirium, I thought I was dead. for me, but this is a little expression of my ap- preciation for what you have done. I could not When my senses returned, I recognized the man pay you even if I were rich." asa notorious outlaw, with a price on his head, a man who had vowed that physical violence would He looked me over from head to foot with asfall heavily on any preacher who dared to enter tonishment. his house. "Put up your money, Doc," he said; "what we My rescuer and his wife did everything possible done for you was because we wanted to be clever for me. When bedtime came, he took me in bed to you. If you had come to my house last night with him and held me .against his great warm as a preacher, I would have turned you away in breast all night, never relaxing his vigilance for the storm and been glad if you were frozen to a moment. In the morning, I was little the worse death. Twenty odd years ago, when the Almighty for my experience, but the sun shone and the snow took our little boy, our only child, I swore that no was melting, and I was ready to go. Then it was man representing Him should ever come under that a Voice said, "You have a chance that no my roof. I kept my word till last night, but when your horse brought you I couldn't turn you away. • Condffilsed from The ahri8t~an Advocate. Now, you can go and have it to say that you have stayed all night with Jake Woods."
His last sentence was hissed through clenched I gave him the book and turned away saying, teeth. I never saw a man look so fierce. I had that his ','old woman" might come to hear me failed, so I picked up my saddlebags from the bedside and started toward the door. But some preach when I returned to the Flats School House. Power gripped my conscience like steel. "You Several times before I had preached at the Flats must try it again," the unmistakable order came. to but a few good souls, but when I arrived this I walked the floor, trying to find a ship to time the whole schoolyard seemed to be covered Tarshish, but none was in sight. I was sure that with people. The first man who gripped my hand, Jake guessed what I was suffering but he never until I thought I would fall off my horse, was Jake turned his head. Finally, I walked over to him Woods. "Doc, I fetch 'em," was his greeting. again, and with voice trembling from emotion, I said, "Mr. Woods, I have a little book that I want I walked into the schoolhouse. The women were to read and talk to a Friend of mine before I go, on one side of the aisle. On the end of the second will you let me?" He turned in his chair with his bench from the front there was one who caught back to me. His wife, sitting in the corner, said, my coat sleeve as I passed. It was Nancy Woods, "Doc, it's all right; go ahead." I began reading at church for the first time in more than twenty that wonderful fifteenth chapter of Luke, about the one sheep that had strayed, but was found. years. "Doc," she said, "there is something the matter There was the story of the Prodigal Son, too. When he came home, in tatters within and with- with Jake." out, his father was so happy that he would gladly "What like?" I asked. have killed everything on the place to make merry "I don't know, but he hain't like he used to be because his son had come home; maybe to spend some more. since you were there. He's been real good to me. Doc, please call for mourners today; maybe Just then I looked out of the corner of my eye Jake'll go up." and Jake Woods had turned around and was looking' at me with eager interest, as much as to say, The tears came to my eyes as I walked to the "Why are you talking about me?" He had sneered table and laid my saddlebags down. Jake Woods in the messenger's face who came when his father had beaten that woman almost to death once bewas dying and begged his son to come home. cause she had given a coin to a preacher. Many I dropped on my knees and took hold of God times he had driven her off in the storm. Once, while I tried to reach Jake Woods with one hand, but he was too far away. I held on until I re- in a drunken delirium, he had thrown her in the membered that the sin of lacking hospitality is fire. Now, she had been in heaven for three whole unpardonable with us in the Southern mountains. I said, "0 God; I came here more dead than alive weeks! last night, and this man and his good wife took The men came, with Jake Woods at their head, me in and nursed me back to life, and now they refuse to accept anything for their kindness. But walking like he was on air. Just behind him was Jesus Christ has stood at their door, ever since an old soldier of the Civil War, hopping on a stiff they have had a house, with outstretched hands knee. He hadn't been ih church since the war bleeding, and with thorncrowned brow, and they have slammed the door in His face. Help Jake closed. Woods sat on the end of the front bench Woods to tell Jesus Christ to come in today." and the old soldier by his side.
When I got up, Woods was sitting on the floor, The house was full of the good and the bad. looking at the door. I followed his gaze but saw The sermon that I had prepared would not fit, so nothing except the open door, with sunshine and I took for my text, "The Son of man is come to melting snow. After a minute, he said, to Someone apparently in the door, "Come in." Then seek and to save that which was lost." turning to me, he added: "He came in," as much as to say, "You can't throw it up to me any more." One standing by that·table at my side, preached that day, with convincing power. When I left the cabin Jake followed me to the gate. "Doc," he asked, "have you another of those When I let down the net, Jake Woods sprang to little books like you read out of awhile ago? My his feet and went down the aisle, speaking in a pap used to read about that boy and I guess I've voice that drowned mine: "Men and women come been him. If you'll lend me one and turn down a on! Doc's telling you the truth for I saw that leaf, I might find someone to read, and I think I Man when Doc prayed in my house. When I would like to hear it again." opened my eyes, He was standing in the door, with His hands stretched out and there were holes in them with blood running out. I saw thorns on His head, too. I told Him to come in and He came and I haven't been the same man since." , They came until it seemed that all would come. The result was thirty-five candidates for baptism.
Jake Woods went out to exhort and save the peo- ple of his acquaintance, and he reached more of that class in two years than I could have reached in a lifetime.
Some Rural Churches Are
By W. H. THOMPSON, Columbus, Ohio Field Secretary, Ohio Council of Churches SCATTERED widely over. the land are out- meetings, such as Day of Prayer for Missions, standing examples of what Christ can do for Youth conferences, annual business meetings, and country people through pastors who have social fellowship and creative leisure activities.
been born of His spirit of sacrificial service, and The pastor and his coworkers, the Rev. Rowland who have been endowed with consecrated intelli- Jones and Miss Elizabeth Streid, share their time gence. They have been scientifically trained, and in personal and pastoral parish visitation, each have answered the Divine call to country fields as church sharing in financial support according to foreign missionaries have dedicated their lives to ability. The pastor joins with pastors of other Africa, Asia, or the Islands of the Sea. denominations of the area in community-wide Parish of Templed Hills projects of religious and social welfare. He co- operates with the Agricultural Extension Service, Until eleven years ago when this parish was Farmers Institutes, Four-H Clubs, public school organized, there were in the region near Oak Hill, leadership and the county ministerial association.
southeastern Ohio, from eight to twenty Welsh "As prosperity seems again to be coming upon Presbyterian churches on a circuit served by a us," says Mr. Bicksler, "and the cities are beck- group of ministers, each living on a farm or hav- oning our youth to jobs, we feel we can send them ing some other occupation. with a background of respect for the church, be- Urider the advice and counsel of the late Warren cause locally the church has kept abreast of other H. Wilson, six of these churches and a mission things such as the schools and adequate equip- chapel were brought into a definite cooperative ment. Though we cannot expect to keep all of parish relationship with two pastors and a full- our youth on the farm, we can, with our spirit, time social worker. program and equipment, at least prepare them Five years ago the Rev. Harry E. Bicksler* was as Christians and church leaders." t· .
called as director of the Parish of Templed Hills. Ohristian Fellowship Parish At his coming the churches cooperatively purchased a fourteen-acre tract of land in the open A second example of the transforming power country, including five acres of dense thicket and of Christ in village and rural communities in Ohio a fine piece of clover mea,dow. Under Mr. Bick- through cooperation of a group of churches is sler's direction, a modern manse with every con- found in "The Christian Fellowship Parish" in venience was built, the thicket was transformed the southwestern part of the State. Six Christianinto a picnic grove in which a shelterhouse was Congregational churches entered into a "Parish erected, with table and kitchen equipment, with a Fellowship" two years ago under the joint passeating capacity of 600, for use by local organiza- toral leadership of the Rev. Ralph A. Brandon as tions, and as a meeting place for youth training Minister of Parish Administration, residing at conferences for southeastern Ohio. Hamersville, and the Rev. Theron A. Zimmerman as minister of Christian Education, residing at Each church in the Parish is organized and Pt. Isabel. cares for its own local business. There are three councils-the Elders' Council, Council of Women, The constitution under which these churches and Council of Youth. Parish Trustees are the work includes the following: holders of property which is owned jointly by all the churches. There is also a parish Federated Believing that friendly cooperation between our several churches in their religious, moral and social work would make possible a program of Christian activities that would Flower and Garden Club. The manse and the vitally strengthen the Kingdom of God in our several com- parish grove are used as a central meeting place munities, bring about a more efficient church and i:>etter build into the lives of our people the teachings of Jesus for the councils, and as a center for various group Christ and the principles of the Christian Church, we, the • Mr. Bicksler had completed a term of service in a Home Mis- following churches . . . do hereby pledge our loyal supsion Rural Parish in the far West, had been sent by his Board of port to the following Constitution and By-Laws. . . . National Missions to Europe to visit the great rural parishes of the ~~~~~~~?tt{es~nd had spent a year in graduate work in one of our pa~i~r'Or~:~~r~ 1r7Ils~,~ory is published in his recent book, "The [347 ]
The object of this organization shall be to promote the now joint studies are being made by all the pas- Kingdom of God through systematic and persistent meth- tors of the area, exploring the possibility of enods of Christian education, evangelism, worship, and com- larging the parish group to include churches of munity services; and to bring about a better religious, other denominations. Here again is a case of moral, and social atmosphere in our communities through especially trained pastoral leadership for the pasthe coordination of our efforts. tors are dedicated to town and country work, backed up by their national and state denomina- A Council, consisting of six representatives tional Councils, and have in their hearts the Spirit from each church, six members at large, and one of the Christ who "came not to be ministered unto, representative from each denomination included but to minister." in the Parish, chosen by the State head of that denomination, and the members of the staff, meets Example number three is the Federated Church quarterly and acts as the executive body. in the village of North Jackson, in. northeastern Ohio. More than ten years ago the Spirit of Christ moved the hearts of the denominational leaders and the members of three of the four local churches-Church of Christ (Disciples), Presby- terian, and Reformed in the U. S., to recognize the sin of local competition and division, and to work out a plan of union whereby the three churches united under the leadership of one pastor.
Each church retains its denominational connec- tion and benevolence contributions are divided equally among the three State and national offices. The Presbyterian building was selected ·as the place for united public worship. Sunday school classes use the public school classrooms. The Church of Christ building is used for Women's So- . ciety activities. The Reformed Church building is being razed and materials used to enlarge the Presbyterian building.
The present university trained pastor, the Rev. James D. Wyker, was formerly a member of the staff of Groton Larger Parish, New York. He came five years ago and under his dynamic lead- ership, and that of his unsalaried wife, a varied program of constructive Christian leadership is being developed with the many groups in the com- munity.
Horse-sheds Transformed ELDERS' COUNCIL, PARISH OF THE TEMPLED HILLS Two features of the program at North Jackson are worthy of special attention. A camp has been A program of systematic pastoral visitation, developed in a natural beauty spot, with creek, regulaz: Sunday school and worship services, an- woods and hills, with cabin, mess-hall and craft nual .evangelistic meetings and preaching mis- shop, vesper spot and recreation field. Here local sions, vacation church schools, youth activities, groups, including youth and farm women, asleadership training institutes and mission study, semble during the summer for from two to fiveis provided for each church. day- courses of study of the Bible, personal and community problems, recreational leadership, and A mimeograph machine, owned cooperatively, for social fellowship. The camp is also used for is used to publish a parish paper and by it the community picnics and family reunions. reports of all departments and committees are made available to all members. Was it not the Spirit of Christ who inspired the men of the church and community to dismantle These pastors cooperate with pastors of the the obsolete .horse-sheds of the Disciple's church' other churches in the area so that the program and use the materials in the construction of the for the whole community is coordinated. Even camp mess-hall and craft shop and the bridge leading to vesper hill?
As an expression of the ideal of Christian unity in local community Kingdom building, Mr. Wyker
AWAY WITH SORCERY AND MURDER IN PAPUA
has helped to develop a community coordinating absent in parsonages, and parish travel obligacouncil of character building agencies in North tions ten times greater than that of the average Jackson. Frank study of local problems has been city pa~tor. undertaken and allocation of responsibility for service programs has been made looking toward Through the le:;tdership of these pastors, town wise use of available resources and talent. and country youth are being won to Christ through evangelism and religious teaching, and The pastor also has assisted in developing "folk schools" for the study and practice of the prin- HORSE SHED TRANSFORMIDD INTO MESS HALL ciples of Christian cooperatives in his own and AND CRAFT SHOP neighboring communities. He is one of the vicepresidents of the Ohio Pastors' Convention and a are trained in the Christian use of leisure time member of -the executive committee of the Ohio and in high civic and economic and social ideals. Rural Pastors' Summer School maintained at Neighborhood feuds are being healed by their Camp Ohio by the Extension Service of the Col- ministry; lonely souls are befriended; comfort lege of Agriculture of Ohio State University. and counsel is brought to the sorrowing and the disillusioned. Churches having fallen into dis- The picture would not be complete if recogni- repute are being restored to the respect and contion were not given to scores of high-minded and fidence of their communities. devoted town and country pastors and their wives who, without special technical training of colleges and seminaries, never-the-less by diligent reading and frequent attendance at summer schools, short courses, and rural institutes, have kept abreast of the times in techniques and programs and ideals of religious education, youth activities, community cooperation with public schools, the Grange, Farm Bureau, Four-H Clubs, and Boy and Girl Scouts. They have served wisely and effectively in fields where the odds and handicaps have been terrific, salaries inadequate, modern home conveniences Away With Sorcery and Murder in Papua* A Story of the Work of God Under the Kwato Mission of Papua T HE Bohutu Valley, in Eastern Papua, long grasped him by the wrist, crying, "What are you presented a problem which no Government doing?" forces could solve. Fear of sorcery and spirits had led to the complete depopulation of the It was Lobai, the sorcerer, who was out to do valley, the tribes having fled to live in small the village policeman to death that night. Think- ing Merari was another sorcerer he pleaded for groups in the mountains around. No offers would his life, but Merari explained that he did not want possibly induce them to return to their villages. to harm" him. He told him about God, and ar- Reason is helpless before fear in Papua as in ranged to meet him next day at the village. Be- Europe. . fore the night was out he had surprised two other It was Merari, a tall, athletic Papuan of twenty- sorcerers on similar errands and arranged to meet eight, who first saw how these deep-seated prob-_ them the next day as well. lems could be answered. God told him in his time When they met at the village, two of the sorof listening to go up into the valley and investigate. So he went and lived in one of the villages. cerers immediately produced their ginauri, de- stroyed them, and gave their lives to God. But One evening he was out in the bush, and, as he Lobai held back, the sacrifice being too great. walked, heard some one approaching along the Then Merari did a daring thing. "We'U put it to track from the opposite direction. Stepping off the test," he said. "You say your charms are the track he waited, and as the man passed strong; I say God is stronger. Over there is the • From the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society Quarterly. This platform on which I sleep. You may come tonight Mission, founded by the late Rev. Charles W. Abel, has American headquarters at 156 Fifth Ave., New York. and put any charm on me you like. Then we will
see which is the stronger." Lobai hesitated, then life has been changed the death-blow to adultery answered slowly: "No, you are right. I tried has come because the sexual life of the natives is them all last night. But every time I threw my God-guided and released.
magic at you it came back at me." So he too was Eighteen months ago it became clear that new changed, and is one of the most fearless leaders ground must be found for the activities of the in the valley today. teams already mobilized. The Abels were granted Merari immediately sent an S 0 S to Kwato, permission to take on the mountain district of and a team came up to help him. They stayed a Abau, where the tribes still practice their homi- month, moving from group to group, bringing a cidal customs. Before a man was considered new life to hundreds in personal interviews. Some eligible for marriage he had to have killed or time later thirteen sorcerers and sorceresses came helped to kill some one. "Every male I met,"
to Mr. Cecil Abel of the Kwato Mission, and vol- writes Mr. Abel, "-and I met a great many-had unteered to give themselves up to the Government, served sentences of between two and ten years for sorcery being a punishable offence. The Governor murder."
pardoned them, and none of them have gone back Here the tribes have no background of teaching to their old ways. In the same way those changed whatever. No missionary had ever been into the in the little hamlets in the mountains received area. Everyone predicted the greatest difficul- spontaneous guidance to return to the valleys. ties, but when Cecil Abel went in with a team of Their fear had disappeared. Now they are gath- Papuan leaders the response was immediate. The ering into three large villages. The Government patrol lasted threll1 weeks, and at the end of that Patrol visiting the valley recently said that they time five chiefs came together, said how they could not recognize the place; the people and the agreed with the new way of life, but wanted to distribution of them had changed so utterly. see how it was lived out in the villages of the After four years the new life is increasingly Kwato district. "Only send a messenger," they active. A new corporate life is developing. In said, "and we will come down to you."
some villages the day starts with the blowing of When Abel sent for them, not five but forty a conch-shell in the dark morning stillness. A wanted to make the three days' journey to the sleeping village rouses itself and goes to bathe- coast. Only six could then be accommodated, but a reform which neither Government nor mission- for two months these chiefs mingled in the vilary could ever have enforced. Half an hour later lages and watched the everyday life of the inanother note on the shel.!, followed by complete habitants. When the time came to return home silence for about half an hour, indicates that the they got together for a farewell party, and Bawhole village is having a quiet time of listening ruma, their leader, made this speech: "The Govto God. Twice or thrice a week they meet cor- ernment tried to make friends with us, inviting porately as a community. us to feasts and 'Christmases' at Abau, but we It was in this way that guidance came to one went back unchanged. Then they took us off to previously poverty-stricken village to make one jail, four, five, six years. We didn't mind. Gov- corporate holding of all the land where their crops ernment rice and biscuits are very good. We were produced. Private interests gave way vol- came back unchanged. At last God's children untarily to community guidance, and the village came out of love for us and changed us right flourishes. Another village was guided to give round inside. Your food ·at Kwato is very good, its large surplus of produce in a bumper year to but we have good food too in Dorevaidi. We another village that was hard hit by a local bad haven't come for that. Your schools and works harvest. The men loaded their canoes, and the are very good. We would like to learn too, but we emotions of generosity and gratitude produced haven't come for that. We have only come for more spontaneous delight than the old communal one thing. To learn about God. Our hearts are orgies, for which the appetite has been lost. burning to go back and tell our friends all we In another community a common pool of coco- have learnt."
nuts, the only form of capital the native possesses, The true task has just begun. In Kwato are be- was made to inaugurate a new corporate manage- ing trained leaders adequate to changed the whole ment of the village consequent upon the change in course of Papuan life, while in the district itself the individuals composing it. The damage done the way is clear for a God-directed civilization to'
by civilization has been in some measure repaired. come into being. For the changing of lives is but Adultery, which was unknown under the old tribal the clearing of the undergrowth and the setting morality, became common when these ancient of firm foundations on which God may build a sanctions were removed, and the only penalty was culture of amazing richness, perhaps the pattern a fine. In many villages where the community for the Pacific.
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KWANG .TUNG PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN THE PROVINCE OF KWANGSI, SOUTHWEST CHINA The Chcistian and Missionary Alliance has ten centers where 26 missionaries reside; in thirty other towns and cities chapels have been opened, lllanned by Chinese Christian workers.
Nine other societies are at work in the Province: Church Missionary Society (Kweilln); C. of E. Zenana Mission (Kweilln); Bible Churchman's Missionary Society (Nanning, Noming); Southern Baptist (Kweilin, Wuchow); Seventh Day Adventist (Nanning); Assemblies of God (Chungshan and Hohsien- both vacant); Independent (Wuchow, Kwelhsien). These societies report 34 missionaries.
Pioneering for Christ in Kwangsi By the REV. ALFRED C. SNEAD, New York I Foreign Secretary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance 11i- ~==========================~ SOME years ago Old Eagle, a Chwang tribes- but still earnest and active, has been tramping man of the Province of Kwangsi, southern over the mountains and hills as a colporteur of China, came with ten other men from their the British and Foreign Bible Society, visiting the country homes to the city of Liuchow. There they wildest parts, wherever he could find members of heard the Gospel message. As he listened to the his own tribe. The Lord has blessed his efforts Gospel night after night Old Eagle accepted and a number of his people have been converted Christ and the joy of salvation filled his heart. and are now faithful members of the Christian He became eager that his own Chwang people Church. should hear the Good News and later accompanied The large southern Province of Kwangsi was the missionary on many tours of exploration and formerly one of the most backward in China. In preaching trips. There are nearly three million recent years, however, the province has become of these tribesmen in the Province and for the one of the more advanced in education, enlightpast few years Old Eagle, now seventy years old ened government, engineering projects, and the [351 ]
building of roads. The honor of having one of there is now a membership of more than 320 the first resident missionaries in the then hostile Chwang tribesmen in the Alliance Mission in and forbidden Province of Kwangsi fell to the South China. On an 800-mile trip in Western Christian and Missionary Alliance when its mis- Kwangsi, the .missionaries and Chinese found that sionary entered Wuchow in 1896 and resided in a thousands in the country markets could under- "haunted house," the only place then available stand scarcely a sentence of Mandarin, the pre- for residence. vailing language being Chwang. The Yao is one The city of Wuchow was built in A. D. 592, so of the least known and most primitive of the tribes that more than 1,300 years passed before the and there are many subdivisions. The Tung Church of Christ began to fulfil' the Lord's com- tribes, estimated at 300,000, live in the wild moun- mand, so far as Kwangsi was concerned. Today, tain fastnesses of Kwangsi and the neighboring besides the Alliance, the Southern Baptists and Province of Kweichow. These people, among two other American societies, there are four Eng- whom a missionary couple and Chinese workers lish societies, and a few small independent groups have been ministering for six years, listen to the working in the province. The Bible Societies are Gospel eagerly and some have accepted Christ.
Various divisions of the Miao tribes are scattered through the northern and western parts of the Province· and some of these, as well as other less well-known tribes, are being brought to the atten- tion of the Mission through long and often la- borious itinerating trips into hitherto unreached territory. The spirit of those who make these trips is shown in a letter written by the intrepid pioneer, Rev. W. H. Oldfield, the Chairman of the Alliance Mission in South China: "Here we are in the wilds of the west ready to start out with a party of thirteen for a tour among the tribesmen. The whole trip has been a time of blessing. First, we made a tour in the moun- tains of the north, which is commonly called Miao- land. There we came in contact with six differ- ent tribes, two of which we had never seen before.
The Gospel message was given and tracts .were left among them and we trust that this seed will be watered by the Spirit and will bring forth an abundant harvest to the glory of God.
Photo by A. F. Desterhajt "On the entire journey of over 1,000 English TUNG WOMEN OF KiWANGSI miles on foot through all kinds of mountain ter- cooperating with the various missions in circu- ritory, we were led in safety, but the very last lating the Word of God. Today after more than day, when almost within shouting distance of the forty years, there are still millions in the province city of Poseh, we were held up by robbers and two who have not been brought into vital touch with of the three loads we were carrying, containing the Gospel of Christ; and in the northern and bedding and clothing, were taken from us by these western portions of the province, where the Al- evil men. It occurred the day before Christmas. liance is responsible for evangelizing the people, It seems strange that this term of service should wany.tribes are entirely unreached. begin and end with a highway robbery, but I am glad we still have clothing. We do not change our During the past few years, pioneering trips plans, but in spite of somewhat disturbed condihave brought to light many tribespeople in the tions, we plan to leave day after tomorrow for the fastnesses of the mountains and the valleys of the last few weeks among the tribesmen of the west, interior, and these the mission and the Chinese and we trust through the prayers of faithful Church are making earnest efforts to reach. friends that we may be saved from further ·The population of Kwangsi is approximately trouble, though trouble or not we go forward in 12,000,000, according to the latest government His Name to the many peoples of the west that census. There are believed to be at least 5,000,000 have not yet heard the saving message of the tribespeople in the Province. The Chwangs, Gospel."
members of the great Tai race, are the most nu- With the growth of the Chinese Church in merous and easy of access. One hundred mem- Kwangsi, there has been a very encouraging debers of this tribe were baptized last year and velopment along true indigenous principles. Mis-
PIONEERING FOR CHRIST IN KWANGSI
RED-HEADED YAOS OF THE LOH-LI AND SI-LIU DISTRICTS, MR, YUEN, THE' EVANGELIST FROM POSEH, IS STANDING, HOLDING HIS ACCORD'EON siOonaries and Chinese workers are earnestly the church treasurer a sack of pennies amounting laboring to make the Church fully self-supporting, to $5.00, hOoping that other members might be wisely self-governing, and zealously self-propa- stimulated by his example, so that they could have gating under the leadership and by the enabling their own building. Mrs. Tseng, the treasurer, of the Holy Spirit. had a flourishing business and every comfort, yet she gave nothing. She was ashamed as she gazed When a congregation is able to supply six- on the sacrificial offering and a few days later she tenths of all its running expenses, including sal- left her shop and hurried off to see Dr. Moh, a aries, it passes from the oversight of the Joint prosperous man and a member of the church com- Committee (Chinese and Mission Executive Com- mittee. She Ooffered to give a plot Oof land fOor the mittee) to the direction of the Chinese Commit- building and to help buy the brick and lumber, if tees. The goal is to attain full self-support within Dr. Moh would take time to direct the workmen. four years after the church has become sixty per cent self-supporting. Finally a spacious street chapel was completed and furnished. The prosperous members felt a One group of Christians in the inland town of little ashamed of their ragged brother Lan and Kong Cheng rented a building as a chapel but urged him to wear better clothes. He quietly rethey often had to change their place of meeting plied that he had frequently been tempted to buy because the landlords blamed them for any calam- clothes but that he felt he must lay aside his penity that might befall their households. Finally nies for the church. As Dr. MOoh listened and Mr. Lan, one of the poorest of the members of remembered that he himself wore silk and fur the church, declared that they must build their garments while his brother member WOould not ownchapel. Daily he prayed to God to help him even buy a cheap padded gown because he was so think of some plan by which he might save money intent on His Lord's interests, Dr. Moh invited for the building. His fOOod was only such as the the poor man tOo his home where he gave him a poorest of men could affOord even in China, but good hot meal and a new gown. His son also was finally he and his wife decided to eat less and lay given work in the doctOor's office. NOoW a happier aside a few pennies saved from time to time. The man than Brother Lan can scarcely be found in poor man's body was weakened from the lack of all the countryside. He and his fellow church nourishing food and he was often chilled because members have found that giving is the Father's of insufficient clothing, yet he rejoiceq as his sav- way to added blessing. ings grew. After several months he brought to
Eleven organized churches, with a total mem- provided by the converts for continued meetings bership of 993, are now under the direction of the before the Bands have finished their ministry in Chinese committee. The combined membership the section. of all the Alliance churches in Kwangsi is 2,539 and many of these are expected to come into full In recent tours in Kwangsi and Kweichow, seven counties have been traversed, great moun- tain ranges were crossed, where the foot of a white man had never tramped. Thus, the search for new tribes and peoples goes ever onward in the confidence that, when they are discovered, mis- sionary volunteers will not be lacking and through the prayers and assistance of loyal friends at home, earnest efforts will be made to reach these tribes with the Gospel message.
One of the encouraging discoveries of recent trips is that a number of the tribes can be reached through the Chwang dialect, the Chwang workers had no difficulty in being understood by the vil- lagers and people along the pathways to whom they spoke.
During one part of the trip, four tribes were found of which the missionary writes: "The Heh-i, the Loh-Loh, the Ta Pan Yao and the Lan Tien Yao are still practically as much A CHWANG WOMAN AND HER BABY relation with the Chinese Conference within two MR. LAN, FORMER TAOIST PRIEST, NOW or three years. AN EARNEST CHRISTIAN The great unevangelized Yao Mountain terri- He is seated beside; some of the idols that he formerly worshiped. tory in Kwangsi, with its many thousands of unreached tribesmen has been entered by repre- neglected as they were a thousand years ago. It sentatives of the Chinese Church as their field for is true some Gospels and tracts have been distribevangelization. The Church publishes the Al- uted to some of them, but they have not as yet liance Weekly in Chinese, Sunday school papers, had an opportunity to hear and understand the and other helpful literature. Some of these have Gospel. On this tour we determined to get in a circulation reaching into nearly every province of China, as well as into foreign countries where Chinese have emigrated.
The Bible Training School, under Chinese leadership, often has among its student body representatives from many other missionary societies and church groups. It is recognized to be of a high standard and absolutely loyal to the Word of God and the fundamental truths of our Christian faith. Two important phases of work are the Short Term Bible Schools held in various districts and the ministry of the Chinese Evangelistic Bands who labor both among the Chinese and the tribespeople. In one month members of one of these Bands gave a brief Gospel message in 1800 homes and preached in all the towns and villages of the section in which it was laboring. In some places the work of the Bands is so fruitful that several groups of converts are baptized and places
PlWto by A CHWANG TRIBESMAN'S HOME IN THE' MOUNTAINS-HERE A MISSIONARY OFTEN SPENDS THE NIGHT. PIGS AND COWS ARE FREE TO ENTER THE FRONT DOOR ON THIID GROUND FLOOR.
close contact with them. On other trips we have long so as to discourage travelers, especially met them on the mountain pathways and have soldiers or robbers, from going that way. Though found them usually timid and retiring. On this the Miao carrier did not wish to continue the trip, however, we left the main pathways, secured journey, the Commission of the Lord still reads guides to take us back behind the mountain ranges "unto the uttermost part" and so the messengers to where the tribesmen have their homes, lived pressed on. Tribes in these distant places are with them in their huts, ate with them, slept with them, sat with them around their' camp fires, almost 100 % illiterate so the Gospel must be given dressed their sores, bound up their wounds, and told them the story of the Gospel. In a few days them by word of mouth. they became so friendly that they flocked around How do the tribespeople respond to the Gospel us as if we belonged to their tribe; when we left one tribe to pass on to another, there was a hearty message? A Tung tribesman, having been told invitation to call again, and we felt that another that a strange white man who loved his people tribe was ready and waiting to receive the Gospel was living in a distant town, left his mountain when we have men to send and means to support home and came to the city where he cautiously inthem." quired for the missionary. That tribesman is now studying the Word of God and looking forward to The Timber Yao people differ noticeably from the time when he can tell his ownpeople the glad other tribes in their language and in the women's new Story which he has so recently heard. Many dress. Their houses are scattered in groups of who hear the Message are eager to tell it to their two to five, with only an occasional small village. people in the scattered villages, and they find a The women of this tribe, as well as the Miao and hearty welcome as they sit around the camp fire Tung tribes, wear trousers instead of pleated evenings and tell to their friends and neighbors skirt like those worn in other tribes. Their silver the story of God's redeeming love. ornaments include a number of Hongkong coins, beaten plates of silver and earrings. Another young Tung from the hills of Kwangsi, who had studied in the City of Canton, returned to After passing through a valley, far beyond the his mountain home among fellow tribesmen, and contacts of civilization, the party came to a moun- was so oppressed by the dullness of his surroundtain pass where the natives had spiked the road ings that he planned to seek escape through suiwith sharp spikes of bamboo four to six inches cide. Then it was that a Chinese preacher, Mr. Loh, visited the village and gave the young stu- dent some Christian books. Through reading
these, a desire was created to know more of the This answer to prayer made a powerful impres- Gospel and finally the young man expressed his sion, not only on the sick man's household, but purpose to follow Christ and to become a teacher also on many other members of his tribe. They of the Gospel to his own tribesmen. had never seen prayer answered in this fashion and reasoned, "If the Lord can answer prayer in Through the witness of two Chwang converts, this way, surely we ought to trust Him for the Mr. Lan, formerly a Taoist priest, and Mt. Chiu salvation of our souls and our future happin!,!ss." Tak-sun, an earnest Christian farmer, a consider- Before long about forty of the tribespeople asked able number of Chwang tribespeople have been to be enrolled as inquirers and from this number converted, twenty-seven being baptized on one twenty-seven were baptized. occasion. Mr. Chiu constantly urged his tribespeople to accept this Jesus who worked such won- Many similar instances could be given as eviders when on earth and who is still the same dence of the saving grace of God among the tribestoday. people of Kwangsi. Millions of Chinese and tribespeople are yet unreached and the Mission One day a neighbor became very ill and the with its thirty-four missionaries and the 102 sickness increased in severity until the family Chinese wor-kers, 29 of whom are women, have a feared that he was going to die. After tribal large task before them. We commend to the remedies had failed, the family sent for Mr. Chiu, Lord's people for prevailing prayer these earnest who went at once to the sick man's bedside. After missionaries and Chinese workers that, as the exhorting the family to cast away their idols and new-born souls are instructed in the essential trust alone in Christ, the Christian farmer kneeled truths, they may be established in the Christian down and prayed to God for the tribesman's re- life and become effective witnesses to their fellow covery. The next morning he was much better tribesmen. and in a few days he was well.
China and the New Life Movement* CHINA'S present attitude toward religion and nificant Easter message is significant of the atti- toward Christ is somewhat confused. Con- tude some of China's leading spirits take toward fucian ideals, though a factor in the New religion. The country is more widely open to Life Movement, do not function religiously any religious propaganda than ever before. Though more than they ever did. China does not promise there may be some discrimination against gradto be more Buddhist than at any time past, nor uates from unregistered Christian schools there is is it turning Christian. To promote religion in none against qualified Christians for important China is no easier or simpler than in "Christian" governmental and commercial agencies. Furthernations. Nevertheless, the attitude of China to- more, there is apparent a desire for Christian day toward religion is different from what it has and church cooperation in reconstructive projects been in the past. No religious system is receiving that implies recognition of the religious dynamic the special favor of the state, nor is the state at- as one of the essentials to China's rebuilding. In tacking religion. Prominent Chinese, including other words, China has passed from a mood ansome Christians, do not in their attitude distin- tagonistic to religion. guish as sharply between Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism as some Christians Present-day China is more aware of religion might wish. Official courtesies are paid to rep- than once was the case. There is an inarticulate resentatives of all religions when occasion re- feeling that economic, social and political changes quires. One hears little discussion of religious are not enough. Thus for all kinds of aggressive liberty yet it seems to be a fact in China though religious movements the hour is propitious. some deem it infringed upon as regards educational freedom. China is not aggressively anti- Three years is too short a time in which to religious at the moment. judge the New Life Movement which has set itself a stupendous task under unusually difficult cir- There is something to be said of a seeming cumstances. It is not an organization but a movefriendliness on the part of China to religion. ment. It cannot be judged solely in terms of its High officials participated in the platform ad- purpose- and a summary of its achievements bedresses given before a Catholic Action Congress longs to the future. Nevertheless, it has moved a year or so ago. General Chiang Kai-shek's sig- forward as regards the clarification of its purpose and understanding of what it should aim to do in • The first part of this article is freely quoted from an editorial terms of reconstruction. Taken generally it is in The Chinese Recorder. "An attack on the fundamental moral problem in
THE MOVEMENT OFFICIALLY DESCRIBED
China's social life." As a matter of fact insofar as program are already cooperating with the New the Movement tries to reform manners it has both Life Movement. All churches not so engaged to curb the exuberance of modernized Chinese might well consider how they may participate. manners and jar the inertia out of traditional What can Christians add to the New Life Moveones. In some places, however, the Movement ment is a question. But cooperation in any field has disturbed gamblers and those promoting com- can only be worthwhile if it is reciprocal. So the mercialized vice to the point where they have question, What can the New Life Movement conurged that the Movement should show less zeal. tribute to the churches? needs also to be consid- This is an indication of its possibilities as a moral ered. The Movement provides an opening for the force. The program outlined indicates how the manifestation of the religious dynamic hardly Movement is becoming a positive force for re- equalled heretofore in China. It offers to tie up building life as well as an obstruction to evil Christian energy and moral fervor with the life agencies and a reformer of manners. So far it is of China in new ways. As an indigenous movelargely urban but the direction and scope of its ment it is setting out to endeavor to do along sevactivities are turning to rural centers also. eral lines what Christians have been trying to do for many years. Church response to the Move- It has been said that "The New Life Movement ment's appeal for cooperation should aid in keepaims at the revival of the traditional virtues of ing it creative. If in places the Movement is more China." But those responsible for it also feel the sound than success the church should help give need of a religious fervor to energize these tra- the sound a deeper note. If, on the one hand, it ditional virtues and that they seek the aid of those is a revival of traditional virtues it is, on the other motivated by the Christian faith in particular. In- hand, a search for ways of developing and manideed, while his Movement is not set on building festing a modernized and vitalized life. It cannot up a religion or a church as such, Christians are go far in this without the deepening of spirit and to some extent active in directing its activities. consciousness that religious faith can give. Chris- The time has come for the churches to give it tians can help by demonstrating how their faith serious attention as a force in the life of China works in the simple or elaborate forms of reconwith which they can work. struction.
Churches engaged in activities as given in the The Movement Officially Described* By' GENERALISSIMO CHIANG KAI-SHEK President of the Chinese M'litary Affairs Commission THE New Life Movement aims at revolution- such traditional virtues as Li, Yi, Lien and Chih, izing the mode of life of the whole of the they are living today under conditions. which sug- Chinese people. It seeks by the application gest that they have just emerged from savagery. of the simplest and most effective methods possible to eradicate from the people those habits that China has 35,000,000 square liof territory and are no longer suited to the times and to replace abounds in natural resources, which if developed, them with a new mode of living in accord with could easily make this country one of the wealththe spirit of the age in which we live. In other iest nations of the world. Yet there is widespread words, the movement stands for the rationaliza- poverty and misery in the land. This again is due tion of the lives of the people, and is based on the traditional virtues of China as expressed in these to the neglect of the traditional virtues of China, characters, Li, Yi, Lien and Chih. namely, Li, Yi, Lien, and Chih.
The Chinese people used to set great store on China has 400,000,000 people who used to be these traditional virtues, the revival of which is well organized in all the essentials of life. But imperative and essential to the welding of China what spectacle do our people present to the rest into a modern nation. of the world today? They are disorganized, in- dolent, cowardly and torn between conflicting per- With a civilization of more than 5,000 years the verse teachings, leading a life little better than Chinese people attained long ago a high degree of that of savages. This again is due to the neglect refinement in matters of food, clothing, shelter of Li, Yi, Lien, and Chih. and deportment, but owing to their neglect of While it is true that the removal of the existing • From ChAnese Affairs, Shanghai crude and degrading modes of life of the Chinese people in favor of one of refinement depends to a
great extent on the revival of the old virtues of anything else. This work may be described as Li, Yi, Lien and Chih, it is equally true that under the work of the New Life movement. The extenpresent circumstances, when society is in a state sion and progress of the movement depends upon of chaos, when perverse ideas have permeated the the extent to which the people realize its need. It country, and when the great majority of the peo- should begin with individuals and later spread to ple are sunk in pleasure and indolence, immediate families and the community at large. It serves success can hardly be expected to attend the in- as the vanguard of the political authorities, but it troduction of political measures or the inculcation should not depend upon the latter for its success. of teachings of the right sort. If the modes of living of the people are to be improved, a start Objects of the Movement must be made first with the rectification of their bad habits. For this reason, the New Life Move- The attitude of mind of the great majority of ment offers the only road to the salvation of Chinese today is marked by drift and insipidity. China. This expresses itself in acts which do not distin-. guish between good and evil, right and wrong, Our late Chungli, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, said: "Min and private interests and public welfare. Hence, Sheng means the life of people, the existence of our officials are hypocritical, greedy and corrupt; society, the livelihood of the citizens of the country our people are disorganized and indifferent to the and the welfare of the masses." Although the welfare of the nation; our youths are degenerate problem of the livelihood of the people, or Min and irresponsible; and our adults are vicious and Sheng, may be considered from four angles, the ignorant. The rich are given to pleasure and exquestion of life is really the manifestation of the travagance, while the poor are low, filthy and other three aspects of the problem of the people's groping in the dark. All this has led to a complete livelihood. For the continued existence of so- breakdown of authority and discipline, resulting ciety certain guarantees are necessary. As re- in social unrest, which has in turn made us helpgards the problem of the livelihood of the people, less in the face of natural calamity and foreign there must be room for development and expan- aggression. If this state of affairs is allowed to sion. For the continuity of life, propagation is continue any longer, it will be impossible for us necessary. Life is the manifestation of all these even to lead the present kind of existence for very activities. In other words, life is a general term long. . . . . for all human activities. To rebuild the life of the people in accord with All activities arising from the propagation of modern conditions, especially to build a new social the race, from the preservation of life and also order, resort has to be made to political reform, from the development of the livelihood of the peo- particularly education, but in the past education ple assume different forms at different times and and politics in China have suffered from one beunder different conditions. Sometimes the en- setting sin, namely, cant and hypocrisy. This vironment also changes. Not until a man "renews has led to the ineffectiveness of laws, the uselesshimself daily" can he hope to have a rich and ness of technical talent and the impotency of abundant life. The life of a people must accord machines. Where a C.hinese is placed in the post with the time and environment in which it lives. formerly Occupied by a foreigner, it invariably A new life is possible only when there is a com- happens that the Chinese official cannot attain the plete break with the old modes of living. same degree of efficiency .as the foreigner. This is true of machines. Run by a Chinese, a machine Whether the people have a rich and abundant cannot yield the same output as it does when life depends primarily upon the existence of good under foreign· supervision. If we want to make government and on the extension of sound politi- our laws effective, the thing to do is not to imcal institutions, but this has a close connection prove the laws, but to get the right· men to adminwith customs and usages. ister them. The same is true of machines; Struc- turally, there is nothing defective about them: If during the transition from an old social what is needed is the right men to operate them. order to a new one nothing is done to assist the It is true that politics and education have an imintroduction and spread of new political· institu- portant role to play in the formation of character, tions by the introduction of new customs and but at the same time it is equally true that social usages, such new institutions are liable to be stul- customs and usages exercise a more important tified in their development. In other words, they influence over the lives of men. must be assisted by the inculcation of new ideas, preparing the minds of the people for their recep- That the Government will exert itself for potion. For this reason, every country makes the litical reform goes without saying. Unless we are task of changing the customs and usages of the prepared to let the nation go under without a people its first concern during the transition from struggle during the present national crisis, we the old to the new, for this is more important than
must act resolutely to put a stop to the present of food and clothing will not bring about social state of affairs and throw ourselves into the work peace, and if any proof is needed to substantiate of social reform. In short, we must make a clean this statement, it is an unquestioned fact that sweep of the existing social abuses and evils and crime abounds always in cities where there is take prompt measures to foster what is best and plenty and abundance. Moreover, can one serivital in society. This is the mission of the, New ously maintain that many of those who have Life Movement. turned to brigandage or become traitors and greedy officials have done so owing to fear of Contents of the Movement hunger and starvation? . . .
The New Life Movement advocates a mode of Li, Yi, Lien and Chih are general principles in living based on the principles of Li, Yi, Lien, and the establishment of states. This was true of Chih. In other words, it seeks to apply those ancient times and is true of the contemporary age.
time-honored principles to the daily conduct of Of course, each age has its own interpretation of men and women, especially in matters pertaining those principles. Let us explain them in the light to food, clothing, shelter and deportment. Any of modern conditions of life. Briefly, Li means one who fails to order his life in accordance with polite manners, Yi, chivalrous or upright conduct, this code is bound to fail. This is true also of Lien honesty or a moral sense 'of right and wrong, nations. and Chih, decency or an appreciation of moral There are people who are skeptical of this view. values. It is contended that Li, Yi, Lien and Chih, undoubtedly excellent virtues in themselves, may be There are two conditions associated with food, able to produce men of exemplary character, but clothing, shelter and deportment, namely (1) tanif we are backward in technical knowledge, no gible things, such as food, houses, roads, carts, amount of virtue can save China. This line of steamers, etc., and (2) manifestations, such as reasoning is untenable. It is true that knowledge eating and drinking, living, ·walking. is power, but knowledge is liable to be abused in The word Hsing, or deportment, however, has the hands of those who have no moral scruples. two senses. In its narrow sense it means walk- Li, Yi, Lien and Chih are the guiding rules of ing. In its broad sense it means behavior. Inconduct for individuals, society and the state. deed, in this sense Hsing ~ncludes food, clothing, shelter and deportment.
When educated men act contrary to these rules, The "San Min Chu Yi" ("The Three People's both the public and the nation will suffer. In Principles") in the chapter dealing with the short, Li, Yi, Lien and Chih are able not only to questions of food, clothing, shelter and deportsave China but to remake her. ment, emphasizes the material aspect of the prob- There are others who declare that Li, Yi, Lien lem. If there is any doubt on this score, it should and Chih are empty principles and can hardly be be dispelled by a perusal of this passage in "The expected to serve as rules of conduct for those Fundamentals of Reconstruction" which says: who live from hand to mouth and do not know The Government should assist the people in the where their next rice bowls come from or what development of agriculture so that they will have the morrow may bring. This fallacy is due to the enough to eat. It should promote the textile inteachings of Kuan Tze who maintained that be- dustry so that the people will have enough tovvear. fore a man can know decency he must have enough It should help the people to solve their housing to eat and wear, or as the Greek philosopher Aris- and transportation problems by building more totle said, before a man can be expected to be houses and repairing canals and roads. The virtuous he must have a competence. The funda- "Hsing" in the present New Life Movement is mental fact seems to have been overlooked by used in both its narrow and its broad senses. these skeptics that Li, Yi, Lien and Chih are the "foundation" of a man, and that if he does not Methods of the New Life Movement possess these attributes, he cannot have food and clothing. Leadership.-The direction of the whole New Life Movement is vested in the hands of the New In a society based on Li, Yi, Lien and Chih, one Life Movement Promotion Association in Nancan make up the lack of food and clothing by hu- chang. Branches of the association may' be estabman means, whereas in a society where these lished in the various parts of the country, but in principles are not observed, no amount of wrong- order to avoid confusion and to ensure common doing, such as robbery and theft can bring suffi- action, district branches should be subject to the ciency and abundance to the needy: Acts of Li, control of provincial New Life Promotion Asso- Yi, Lien and Chih are correctives to acts of strife, ciations. theft and robbery. In cases where Li, Yi, Lien andChih are flouted, even sufficiency in matters District and provincial branches should be jointly organized by representatives of various
public organizations, such as the Provincial and Chinese should have a decent standard of living, District Kuomintang headquarters, Bureau of which is another term for an artistic mode of liv- Public Safety, Social Welfare and Education, and ing. In ancient times China used to have the somilitary commissions. Subject to the direction called six arts and sciences: Rites, Music, Archof the l~al district New Life Promotion Associa- ery, horsemanship, calligraphy and mathematics. tion, the various guilds, schools, women's organi- These six things today have made the Western zations and rural groups may start separate New powers great and strong, although the Chinese Life groups. people for centuries used them as guiding prin- ciples of action in life. The reason why there is The work of the New Life Movement consists so much suspicion, jealousy and animosity in of investigation, planning and promotion. Chinese society today is that we have forgotten the teachings of our ancients. There is no hope The expenses of the movement should be re- of improvement unless we order our lives in acduced to a minimum and borne by those respon- cordance with the principles of Li, Yi, Lien, and sible or raised by the authorities of the locality in Chih. which there is a branch of the New Life Movement Promotion Association. Solicitation of con- (2) The poverty of China is due to the existtributions from outsiders is forbidden. ence of so many people who cannot produce any- thing of their own and who live on others. The The program of the New Life Movement will be productivity of the people must be increased. We drawn up by the New Life Movement Promotion must develop our immense natural resources and Association in Nanchang. The Movement will avoid waste. Everyone should consider it a first begin with a campaign for cleanliness and shame to depend upon others for his support. In orderliness. other words, everyone must work for his own living. There is no other way to relieve the pov- The formula of the Movement.-The Movement erty. of China and remove the source of civil strife should start with oneself and then extend to than to practise the principles of Li, Yi, Lien and others, with officials first, and then the masses, Chih in our daily lives. from simple things to more important tasks, and from public organizations, schools, etc., to the (3) In advocating Li, Yi, Lien and Chih as the lower classes of society. code of our daily conduct, we are inspired by the How the Movement may be promoted.-Per- or desire to "militarize" the life of our people. When sonal example, oral instruction, illustrated posters, campaign literature, plays and motion pic- a nation cannot fight for the defence its soil tures are some of the means by which the Move- against foreign invasion, it cannot be considered ment may be promoted. The New Life Movement a nation. We must cultivate martial arts if we Promotion Association will send delegates to visit are to overcome the present weakness of our counthe various provinces and districts from time to try. China today is overrun by Communisttime and inspect the work being done by the re- bandits. Civil war has not yet been completely spective New Life groups. In order to promote banished from the land. Our national territory a healthy spirit of rivalry between the various is growing smaller and smaller every day. Imgroups contests will be held. There will be prizes perialists join with traitors and Communists in for the winning groups. oppressing our people and undermining our coun- try. If we wish to deliver China from ,the present No compulsion should be employed in extend- crisis and bring peace and order to the land, we ing the Movement. Persuasion should be the must prepare to "militarize" the whole country. watchword of the "New Life" canvassers. Before this is possible, the people must be trained in habits of orderliness, discipline, cleanliness, Conclusion simplicity and accurate thinking. They must be law-abiding, conscious of their responsibilities and To sum up, the New Life Movement aims at the ready to die for the country. substitution of a rational mode of living for the present irrational mode of living of the people. A rational mode of living is realized when the How can this be effected? My answer is: by principles of Li, Yi, Lien and Chih are applied to making Li, Yi, Lien and Chih, the code of our the daily conduct of the people, especially in matdaily conduct. ters pertaining- to food, shelter, clothing and de-. portment. A great revolution will have been ef- (1) In advocating the revival of our traditional fected and the foundations of new national strucvirtues such as Li, Yi, Lien and Chih, the object ture laid when every Chinese lives in accordance in view is an artistic mode of living for all our with the principles of the New Life Movement, people. Many are apt to think that only a few which are based on the traditional virtues of Li, privileged persons can lead an artistic life. This Yi, Lien and Chih. is a mistake. It is within the reach of all. Every
Chiang Kai–shek's Interpretatiqn
of the New Life Movement in China* T HE New Life Movement was inaugurated medireval into the modern world. Those who have three years ago to quicken and to deepen the failed us are those who have refused to pay the work of reconstruction in China. Since then price of living the New Life. "You cannot serve the nation has progressed farther than we had God and mammon"; you cannot live a regenerated dared to hope, giving us a new faith in the future vitalized life and at the same time maintain a of our race. After these three years of experience selfish attitude toward society. we are more than ever convinced that the most vital force in the reconstruction of our nation is On this our third anniversary it is fitting that the spiritual life of the people. we should review some of the accomplishments of the past and perhaps more important still outline It has been a long and difficult task, and one the most pressing needs of the nation. that has required the cooperation of all the leaders of the nation, to unite China's scattered troops First and foremost let us mention the needs for into one strong national army. It has not been unity and internal peace. easy to improve communications, remodel cities and set forces in motion that will eventually im- The policy of the National Government is enprove the living condItions of farmers and work- tirely one of harmonizing, composing and settling ers. Yet in the long run these are the outward all differences through peaceful means, thus presigns of a new controlling principle, a new law of serving national resources and strengthening the life which we are slowly learning to follow. faith of the people in the ability of the nation to weather any storm. The unification of the armies This energy and courage animating our people, is not sufficient in itself. There must go with it and sometimes referred to as the national renais- that oneness of purpose and broadmindedness that sance, has been at work in China for two decades. enables men of all parties and of every faith to In a very real sense, the New Life Movement is keep in step, regardless of conditions, and while gathering together spiritual forces that are partly keeping in step to work together for the commonindigenous and partly from abroad. The New wealth. Life Movement is slowly winning the confidence of the people, for we are still very conservative, Throughout the country there are still minor and is fast becoming a centre where all agencies, disturbances where hungry men, masquerading both governmental and private, interested in the as bandits, take by force from their neighbors and welfare of the people, may find a common meeting from travelers what society should provide for ground. them in some other way.
Heretofore various organizations shouldering Economic Betterment and Education the burden of building a new social order have not only been scattered but they have oftentimes Benjamin Franklin has well said, "Poverty been perplexed by what seems to be cross-currents within the life of the nation. The river of New often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is Life released three years ago in Nanchang is gradually gathering into one great flood embody- hard for an empty bag to stand upright." ing the currents of life and thought that go to unify and reconstruct the nation. Idleness, intemperance and extravagance are A year ago, on the occasion of the second anni- not the only stones that pave the road to poverty. vers.ary of the New Life Movement, the Generalissimo emphasized three immediate needs of the Corruption, inefficiency, oppression, malnutrition nation: sincerity, efficiency and living of the New Life. During the same year mistakes may have and an unjust social order also help to depress been made but none can question the sincerity of our national leaders. Most Of them have been the economic level. When the New Life Movelending. a hand as the nation emerges from the ment was inaugurated in Kiangsi, one of the first • Radio broadcast speech by Madame Chiang on February 19, 1937, In commemoration of the Third Anniversary of the launching things it did was to establish welfare centers st~::h~tW Life Movement. Reprinted from The Peoples' Tribune, where the economic and social needs of the people might be studied and gradually relieved. Through- out the nation it will continue to focus attention upon the economic factors underlying the needs of the masses. Without this there can be no in- ternal peace. Banditry and rebellion will cease only when nt heex tpteoopt hlee have enough to eat. inte rnal Second, need for unity and peace I should place education.
[361 ]
The growth of the modern school system Almost anyone of us can gather together a few throughout China is phenomenal. Everywhere we see the children with their school books com- friends interested in social service and through ing and going. The fact· remains, however, that the vast majority of the people are not informed pooling resources can bring new life to many a on many matters that concern their every-day life; ignorance and superstition still influence them to community. Incidentally in so doing you will find an alarming extent. great joy and lasting satisfaction. The New Life Movement last summer presented this challenging situation to the college students , A group of well-equipped devoted national leadof East China and received a hearty response. College students, both men and women, spend time ers without your help cannot bring new life to our in their own or neighboring villages teaching summer schools for both children and adults and nation. Such a social revolution calls for the coholding popular lecture courses in the evening. In time our educated people will catch this spirit operation of every intelligent man and woman of service and voluntarily will do 'what they can in their immediate neighborhood so that in a short throughout China. time illiteracy will be greatly reduced. What the national and provincial governments are doing to Many a great movement has slowed down bemeet this gigantic problem is very encouraging but we wish to make this appeal to our educated cause it has failed to grip the imagination and to people everywhere, that they must not rely solely upon the Government but should also carry re- enlist the enthusiasm of the rank and file. This sponsibility for those closest to them. I, myself, have found deep satisfaction in mothering a few is not true of the New Life Movement, and from hundred students in the schools for the children of the revolution and I recommend this form of the bottom of my heart I hope it never will be social service to my friends throughout China. true. You know as well as I do that the great Games and Healthy Sport failure of democracy is that we rely too much We all know that we receive much valuable education outside of the schoolroom. Last summer a upon a fe,w chosen leaders. In democratic China student from a Shanghai college, visiting his home village in Kiangsu, discovered that a large per- you are showing your appreciation of the nation's centage of the people were spending their leisure time gambling; without discoursing on the evils leaders in many ways and we are deeply grateful, of gambling he hastened back to Shanghai where he purchased and borrowed a few outdoor and in- for it makes us doubly sure of the solid foundation door games, including a small radio. He worked with the young men of the village in cleaning and of unity upon which we are building. I beg of whitewashing an old temple and in levelling a playing field. Within a few days he had games you not to take too much for granted and not to and competitions in progress for the younger members of the community and victrola and radio expect too much of a few leaders. If New Life entertainment for those who preferred to be less active. From his knowledge of the outsilje world really comes to all our people throughout the provand from newspapers and magazines he gave a series of evening lectures on subjects of interest inces, it will come because it has been unanimously and value to the community. When the time came for him to return to his studies at college the vil- supported in the heart of the country. lage schoolmaster had already taken charge of these activities and they are doubtless still in The last and most important thing that I have progress. to say to you is something that the President of Through the social-mindedness of another college student in providing a village radio, the peo- the New Life Movement has said over and over ple of his community have just heard the President of the N~w Life Movement speak to them. again. "New Life is something we live, not some- thing that we promote." It is a quality of life within ourselves, a standard of ·values that in- fluences every thought and action. The greatest Teacher that ever lived has told us that "what goes on in a man's heart determines the quality of his life." If New Life implies a change of heart then let us all make that change together on this the third anniversary of our great spiritual move- ment. A change of heart within each of us will soon prOduce the :riew and prosperous nation that we all long to see. .
*** A Missionary Resolve – By the Grace of God: We will "maintain the spiritual glow."
We will depend on spiritual means to achieve results in God's work.
We will not magnify statistics nor glory in mere numbers.
We will be slow to criticize others, but will seek to be our best and look for the best in others.
We will earnestly try to be free from race prejudice.
We will show love to others and devotedly seek their high- est good. _ We will ask God's help to solve our own spiritual problems so as to be more free to help others.
We will not be too impatient for visible results, but will steadfastly trust God to do "exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think."
We will tarry until we are "endued with Power from on High" and then go forth to witness for Christ.
"He giveth power to the faint." Isaiah 40: 29.
Yellow vs. Acting Yellow*
By GEOFFREY W. ROYALL, Chao-Cheng, Shangtung, China Missionary of the Church of the Nazarene THE eyes of the world are turned to China to- ventions, raising money, holding bazaars in order day more than at any time since the Boxer that the Gospel (!) might be taken to the poor Rebellion, a generation ago. So much has heathen – these slit-eyed, flat-nosed, oily-faced happened in the last five years and so much more Sons of Han included!
seems about to take place. . . that' even the Span- A tragedy! Yes, and one that is enacted too ish situation has not turned the attention of the often in other churches. Can it be true in yours?
people away from the land of Sinim. If we are not vitally interested in the salvation Now, instead of attempting to transport you of the ",heathen" who live on your street, your to the Orient and thrusting you heart first into the neighbors and fellow-citizens, then why try to fool intriguing life of the Chinese, we will stay in the ourselves into believing that we are really con- Occident, and spend a few moments "Thinking cerned in the redemption of heathen ten thousand Yellow." We have "thought white" for so long miles away? If one cannot "think yellow" at that it will be no easy task to suddenly "think home, it is useless to try 'imd stretch one's reli- yellow." gious imagination across the Pacific. It will prob- Having just returned from the Middle King- ably be drowned before it reaches Honolulu!
dom, I was in a store in Toronto purchasing a Cincinnati, the metropolis of Ohio, is a great daily paper. A lady of large dimensions came in centre of religious activity. Some years ago at and asked for one of the popular weekly'maga- the annual district convention of one of the larger zines. As the news agent handed her the maga- denominations, the largest auditorium filled to zine and her change, he pointed in my direction hear a missionary of national repute lecture on and said: "This is the Reverend Geoffrey Royall China. The two front rows were reserved for who has just returned from China." ecclesiastical dignitaries – bishops, superintend- "Why how strange," she replied, responding to ents and the like.
my recognition. "I have just come from the Chi~ A passing Chinese, with a staggering burden of nese laundry. You know, Mr. Royall, I have a laundry, was attracted by the bright lights' and horrid sensation run down my spine every time I paused to read the announcements. When his enter that place. That yellow face that pops up eyes caught the word "China" and noted that this behind the counter when I hand over my husband's evening was to be devoted to an address on his shirts is enough to scare anyone. Slit eyes, flat own country, he passed through the doors and noses, oily face . . . ugh! I'm glad I was not walked down the aisle towards the front, with the born a Chinese. How awful it must be for you to bundle of clothes. The speaker was waxing elo- have to live among such people." quent when his eye caught the face of the Chinese I opened my mouth to reply but the words laundryman beaming celestially into his own.
clogged in my teeth and I was silent. . With a quick gesture he motioned the visitor to a "Well, we have a meeting of the Women~s Mis- seat and the visitor promptly sat down next to a sionary Auxiliary at three, so I'll be running corpulent bishop, at whose feet he unceremoni- along," the woman continued, picking up her ously planted the laundry. A few minutes later magazine. We watched her sail out of the store the good bishop discovered that one end of his with the trail of a Pekinese dog in her wake. frock coat was caught beneath the individual next "Mrs. Jones is one of the best workers in her to him an,d, as he turned to look and he discovered church," remarked the storekeeper. a Chinese, he rose to move to another seat. Near- My mind followed her down to her missionary sightedness prevented him from seeing the bundle meeting. Here was a church woman, busy week at his feet, and he tripped ungracefully over it after week, no doubt, year in and year out, work- with a resounding thud.
ing on garments, preparing boxes, visiting con- Can we doubt that at the moment the bishop moved away from the Chinese, Jesus came and * C()lldensed fram a missionary address given In the First Church sat down in his place? To separate ourselves in ~Is~~oena~:z~~~~':;nk~:, ~~~~~~s'19~~~lfornia, at the annual District pride from our fellowmen because of the color of [363 ]
his skin is to segregate ourselves from the Son of the window display. His hand was on the door- knob, when he looked up and saw a plain notice, Man, the "Friend that sticketh closer than a in English and Chinese, nailed just above the door: "Chinese and dogs not allowed." The suit brother." There is danger that a "paternal" at- in the window was most inviting, but the words above the door were not. titude toward the heathen prevents us from being The same ancient tram took the prospective "fraterna1." . customer back to the Chinese quarters and the next day his customers noticed a new sign tacked In the city of Los Angeles I heard the following above the entrance to his restaurant: "Europeans and dogs not admitted." story. The new Chinese Vice-Consul decided to As we think over these four incidents we are patronize American stores during his residence in forced to admit several things.
California and visited one of the American bar- First, the average American church member does not appreciate the wonderful advancement bers. The shop happened to be without other his cousins of Cathay have made in recent years. There is also a tragic lack of soul passion for their patrons on his arrival, and the head barber was redemption. When we have learned that we are our "brother's keeper" in America, only then can seated on a chair reading a newspaper. Hearing we accept this responsibility for our neighbors in other lands. a customer enter he lowered his paper and looked Second, a spirit of aloofness and feeling of suover his glasses. The Chinese official smiled, but periority is a great barrier to Christian progress in foreign fields. How much of our missionary the proprietor growled: activity is superficial? There is a vast difference between being "interested in foreign missions" "What do you want in here." and in being vitally burdened for those of other races tor whom Christ also died. How often we "Oh, just a hair-cut today," smiled the Chinese foolishly interpret the former for the latter!
Vice-Consul. Third, the influence of Christian civilization that we endeavor to send to the Orient is often "Well, we don't cut Chink's hair here, so get nullified by our pagan attitude of superiority to- ward those who come to our own shores. out," was the reply. Fourth, many representatives of so-called "And may I enquire the reason," asked the Christian business houses that trade in the Far East, are a positive hindrance to the efforts of the Celestial, his smile disappearing. Christian missionary.
"I've got no time to argue," snarled the hair- "Thinking yellow!" does not mean "acting yellow!" It is a fallacy to suppose that Christ dresser. "Suppose our best customers from Holly- was a white man. In the book of Acts we read that when the Apostle Paul was standing on the wood should see me cutting your hair; what would steps of the castle waiting permission to address the Jewish rabble, the chief captain of the Roman they think? Do you suppose they want their hair guard asked: "Art thou not that Egyptian?" Christ and Paul were contemporaries and if the dressed with the same tools as I use on you? The chief captain mistook Paul for an Egyptian, it seems that he might well have mistaken Jesus for trade I have built up through years would be one also!
ruined in a day." The seventy-five thousand Chinese in America today constitute an outstanding challenge to the . "Before I leave I want to ask you a question," Christians of America-a challenge that has never been adequately accepted. said the Vice-Consul as he turned to the door. Christians can-learn to "think yellow" by learn- "Make it snappy then," grumbled the barber. ing to understand and to' sympathize with the Chinese. We need not "act yellow" in a sense of "I'm expecting a customer any moment." doing what is unworthy of a follower of Jesus Christ. The same Gospel that transforms us will "If my country came to you, as it has in the burnish the Chinese into gold fit for the King's crown. past, and gave Uncle Sam an order for five million dollars worth of machine guns and ammunition, seventy-five aeroplanes, two million dollars worth of scrap-iron and half-a-million dollars worth of modern factory equipment, would your people re- fuse the order? Would they say, 'We don't take Chinks as customers?'" Without waiting for the answer the Chinese stalked out of the shop. .
The tragedy was that at the same time he slammed the shop door he also slammed his heart's door on Jesus Christ. Today, that Vice-Consul is a chief executive under Emperor Henry Pu-Yi of Manchukuo. One of his tasks is to interview mis- sion board representatives who come with re- quests for government grants of land for hospitals and for other concessions. We wonder if he ever says to himself: ". . . We don't serve white for- eign devils."
Now let us take a boat to a foreign port in the "Dragon Kingdom," "thinking yellow" in Hong- kong. A young Chinese restaurant owner needed a new suit, and noticing a special sale advertised by a prominent down-town tailor, he planned to investigate. An antiquated street car took him to the foreign concession where he eagerly viewed
of the Rural Church in
~-.. I By REV. J. R. WATT, D.D., Kingston, Ontario I Registrar in Queen's Theological College EXCLUDING Greenland, Alaska and New- gave the ratio of urban to rural population as 53.7 foundland (a separate British Dominion), to 46.29 (urban, in Canadian census terminology, Canada comprises the entire northern part includes any separately organized municipality of the North American Continent. It has an area regardless of population). Since 1881 there has of 3,729,665 square miles as compared with the been a steady decline in the ratio of the rural pop- 3,776,700 square miles of the United States and ulation. In many of the older townships the rural . its dependencies and is slightly smaller than the population has declined as much as 50 per cent.
Continent of Europe. The estimated potential Even so two-thirds of Canadian congregations are agricultural land is 2,218,747,200 acres. rural or semirural in character. For this reason Occupying this vast area are 10,376,786 people, alone the welfare of rural congregations is a an average of 2.99 per square mile, but because major concen of the Canadian Church.
large areas are unoccupied this figure may be mis- It seemed necessary to state the foregoing facts leading. Prince Edward Island, with little unoc- that non-Canadian readers, unfamiliar with con- cupied land, has an average density of 40.3 while ditions here, might have some background against Ontario, with great areas unsettled in the North, which to look at the problem. In many respects has 9.45. East of the Great Lakes most of the the problem of the rural church is the same in population is found south of the 50th parallel and China, India, Canada or the United States. But in the West south of the 55th. the approach to and the solution of it must always Of this population 5,381,071 are of British take into account the local background with its origin, 2,927,990 of French, 2,067,725 of other unique local characteristics. Climate, density of races. The largest non-Anglo-Saxon groups are population, religious complexion, racial traditions, German 473,544, Ukrainian 225,113, Dutch 148,- are all factors of prime importance to workers in 962, Polish 145,503. The largest infiltration of this field, and must be taken into account in any non-Anglo-Saxon population is in the West. efforts at betterment. Some of these factors are Prince Edward Island is almost solidly Anglo- permanent, others are modifiable, and the problem Saxon while of the people of Manitoba, Saskatche- will change as they change.
wan and Alberta half are of non-Anglo-Saxon In a contribution as brief as this must neces- origin. sarily be, many significant elements must be In religion the population is 4,285,388 Roman passed by without reference. For example, there Catholic (of whom 2,853,117 are in Quebec and are in not a few communities the changing racial the Maritime Provinces), Jews 155,614, Greek complexion. Areas that once were solidly British Orthodox 102,389. The United Church is the and populous enough to maintain adequate reli- largest Protestant group with 2,017,375 persons, gious services are by steady infiltration becoming and the Anglicans second with 1,635,615. French or Ukrainian or some other racial color.
The climate varies with the latitude and other Then follows inevitably the ethical confusion and factors. Compared with Europe, except in the uncertainty that accompanies the clash of cultures territory on or near the Pacific coast influence by and the, difficulty that a thinning Protestantism the warm waters of the ocean, Canadian winters has to support its own religious usages.
are colder and longer with shorter, warmer and Since this and many other problems of the same drier summers. The temperature of the Pacific order are local to certain communities, they must Coast is identical with that of the British Isles in yield place here to other handicaps much wider in the same latitude. Of Canada as a whole it may their influence which effect all rural work. Of be said that the climate is healthful and invig- these denominationalism must be given first place.
orating, favorable to hardy bodies and vigorous Denominationalism is an inheritance. Histori- minds. cally Christianity was propogated and maintained Agriculture is the chief industry. In a single in the Dominion on a denominational basis. It year the value of the total agricultural production would serve no good purpose to quarrel with a has reached $2,000,000,000. The Census of 1931 fact that was, perhaps, in the evolution of Prot- [365 ]
estantism inevitable. But inevitable or not de- In these overchurched communities the work nominationalism in spite of much that was ad- suffers in several directions. Ministers are undermirable and praiseworthy must be debited with paid. If three men have to be supported where some things inimical to the rural church. When only one is needed stipends are inadequate and a pioneer community found itself, because of de- home mission funds that ought to go to new nominational zeal and prejudice, supplied with all pioneer work are expended in communities that the branches of Presbyterianism, Methodism, the might and ought to be self-supporting. Because Baptists and Anglicanism, it was not well of competitive denominationalism ministers have churched but shamefully overchurched. The con- to minister to areas too large for efficient work. sequence was a burden of maintenance that over- Serving, as many must, three, four and five points taxed the financial resources of the community, there is not a full program of religious work at inadequate buildings, and ,a conception of religion any place. Sunday school and Young People's that would be difficult to justify from the New work suffers because the groups are too small Testament. This condition has been improved for effective work and the minister's time is too greatly by the various unions that have taken much dissipated. Buildings once adequate when place. In 1876 the Presbyterian churches united preaching was the only function of the church to form the Presbyterian Church in Canada. In Gan scarcely be maintained and seldom are re- . 1883 the various Methodist bodies came together placed with modern buildings in keeping with in the Canadian Methodist Church. Then in 1925 present-day conceptions of church function. the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church and the Congregational Churches merged their A second handicap that adversely affects all identity to make the United Church of Canada. rural work is the measure of disesteem with which The Methodist Church as a whole entered this society and the Church regards the country and union, practically all the Congregational Churches country life. As a generation we are urbanand two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church in minded. The proof and causes of this fact cannot Canada. be here examined. It must stand biuntly while the consequences are set forth. The consequences of this latter Union for the rural work affected by it were far-reaching. The Very few men voluntarily and deliberately degreatest single incentive in achieving Union was vote themselves to country work. In too many the religious needs of the rapidly expanding fron- cases it is accepted as a second best because nothtier. In anticipation of Union hundreds of con- ing else offers. It is accepted with the hope that solidations took place and in the three years fol- a few years apprenticeship will open the way to lowing Union 560 amalgamations, rearrangement an urban appointment which carries with it the of fields, or uniting of charges were affected, in- hall mark of success. When this ambition is not volving 2,000 congregations. One Presbytery, realized there is a measure of secret disappoint- Kamloops, B. C., reported a saving of $2,750 per ment and a restlessness which most men strive year in Home Mission Funds. Within the area of heroically to conceal. But concealed or admitted the former Presbyterian Synod of Toronto there it reacts on the work and robs men of the joy in was a saving in money of $50,000 while 126 men service without which no man gives his best. required on a competitive basis were released for work elsewhere. In part society is to blame for this deprecation of rural life and service. The stage farmer with In spite of this improvement there still remains hayseeds in his uncombed hair is a libel that gets in the older parts of the Dominion much over- raucous laughter from cr'owds who appreciate churching in rural areas. The Union of 1925 af- very little the farmer's part in national economy. fected only three of the national churches at work "Who's Who" is a roster of city names – even in Canada. But within the United Church itself though many are farmers' sons. It is difficult to there is a natural enough reluctance on the part imagine any farm achievement that would earn a of many people to close unneeded churches, hal- man a place beside those who have achieved prolowed by'memory and long association, in the in- fessional distinction or made money. Urban newsterest of an efficiency that was not demanded in papers frequently publicize city pulpits while earlier days or encouraged by older conditions. rural utterances of equal merit go unnoticed. For this reason it is not impossible to find many hamlets of six or seven hundred people striving In part our Theological Colleges are to blame. to maintain four or five churches where only one They graduate students hopeful that they will add is needed. Eventually this anachronism will cor- lustre to the school by winning tall city pulpits. rect itself, but when it comes it must be without Among the courses they offer there is little serious too much overhead compulsion and so it will be effort at instruction in rural background or rural slow. psychology; and as little to impress students with the contribution that the farm makes to national character, culture and stability. Little pains are
PROBLEMiS OF THE RURAL CHURCH IN CANADA
taken to correct the silly heresy that country pas- Church at large. Today the average urban church torate,is a proof of mediocrity. has at its command much more adequate and In larger part than either society or the theo- steady resources than its rural neighbor.
logical college the Church itself is to blame for Today the farmer is not prosperous in Canada.
accepting these standards without vigorous pro- When taxes are paid and necessary living expenses test or effective resistance. Whatever it may have are provided for there is little left over for the held in theory in practice it has consented to such Church or any other community enterprise. Why a judgment. This is to be seen first in the scale agriculture should remain the Cinderella among of salaries in town and country. The average in industries is a question that clamantly calls for an the city has been always very much higher than answer. Of its truth there can be little doubt and anything attempted in the country. This, doubt- neither the Church nor the nation will be steadily less, is justifiable in a measure but the spread is prosperous until such adjustments are made as greater than can be justified. Because of the will secure for the farmer a fair return for his larger stipends and other advantages that urban investment risk and labor.
life offers the city exercises a selective power that It is obvious, then, that this problem cannot be tends to bring the ablest men to its pulpits. This solved by Church action alone. The economist and happens not because city posts are more difficult statesman must lend their aid before this handi- or more important but because of very definite cap can be removed. When it is corrected, as it financial and social advantages. The rural min- must be in the national interest, a new day will ister, frequently isolated, serving a community dawn for the country church. For the farmer is with a declining population of three or four small essentially religious. He is too close to the vital discouraged groups, who provide little effective processes of the world to be much impressed by a local leadership has a task far more difficult than godless humanism. His religion may be touched the average urban minister and needs, if he is to with fatalism but he knows that it is only the fool carryon, courage of the highest order. Yet the that says in his heart there is no God. If his Church is content to send its weakest men to the Church is meagerly supported it is by necessity most demanding tasks and remunerate them on and not by choice.
the lowest scale in the Church. That rural pas- Three conditions that enter into the rural torates are brief, too brief to face and solve the church problem have been briefly noted. What problems they present, is not to be wondered at. of the future? It is pleasant to be able to state in It is the direct consequence of the factors we have closing that definite progress is being made. The been considering and will not be corrected until outlook is promising. Overchurching is on the de- the Church wins back a true perspective and cline. The generation that takes up our work is creates sufficient spiritual dynamic to remove going to see some changes that the boldest prophet these abuses and inspire men to choose as Oberlin did not dare to anticipate a generation ago. The did more than a century ago. Church is slowly opening its eyes to the need and A third major handicap which touches the pros- profit of strengthening the rural base. More men perity of the rural church is the depressed status are hearing and responding to the call of the coun- of agriculture as an industry. The Church as an try without apology or the old sense of inferiority.
institution cannot carryon without suitable build- And governments are slowly learning that pros- ings, equipment and trained leadership and for perity and national greatness are not products of these a sufficient measure of financial support mass production in city factories but have their must be found in the community served or in the roots much deeper in the life of the soil.
FOLLY OF BEING POWERLESS If an electric car stands motionless on the tracks, it is nothing against the power of electricity. If an invalid has no appetite, and cannot go out of doors at night, it is no argument against things good to eat and the joy of starlit air. If a man does not know a flower by name nor a poem by heart, it is no indictment of the beauty of a rose or the charm of some poem. If we bear the name of Christ, but give no other sign of Him; if we go through the forms of Godliness, but live powerless lives, it is a thousand reproaches to us. To be powerless when Christ has all power, and we can have all we want, is an arraignment to which we can make no answer that is not self-incriminating.-Selecfed.
Service for Rural
~-.. I By the REV. LOUIS C. HARNISH, Standish, Maine IPJ…- W HERE shall we spend our honeymoon? Why should so much outside help be needed in This was one of the questions that two carrying on the work of the rural church? young people discussed as they made plans This question involves two other questions: for their wedding. One was a recent graduate of "Why not depend on local leadership?" "What a well-known college who was serving as Dean of are the special or unusual needs that ought to be Women in her Alma Mater. The other had pre- met?"
pared in a midwestern college for teaching. The In other words, what are the conditions which answer to their question came from the American make the revival of the rural churches so difficult, Friends Service Committee to whom the Sebago and why is there need of such a large amount of Lake Regional Parish of Maine had applied for volunteer work that can be done only with the help vounteer summer workers. Arrangements were of leaders from outside the community?
completed and the young bride and groom arrived The task of the Christian Church might be deon the scene. They found themselves in a colony fined as "ministering to the abundant life." Chris- of eight volunteer summer workers, housed in the tianity is a religion of culture. Ministering to hu- large parsonage at Standish. man needs in the spirit of Christ makes religion The Sebago Lake Regional Parish was one of vital. It was in this way that Jesus began the a number of so-called "Larger Parishes" founded work of the Kingdom in His day. People are led largely through the vision and energy of the Rev. from the needs they recognize to the needs that Hilda L. Ives who, in this case, served as one of are more fundamental, that is, spiritual needs. the volunteers. Other members of the colony In spite of all the advances and facilities of were a mother and daughter, two young women college graduates, and a young Harvard student. modern civilization, there are multitudes who need the ministry of health, of sympathetic understand- The mother was a woman of culture and of ex- ing, of encouragement, of wholesome recreation, perience in higher education, who served as house of social satisfactions, of culture, including music, mother. Her daughter was a teacher in the pub- beauty, literary appreciation, etc. Homes need to lic schools of a large city. be made more livable, more attractive, more com- The group lived together as a family, each par- fortable, more sanitary, and in many cases, more ticipating in the household duties. Daily confer- commodious. Parents need assistance and guid- ences were held at which reports of the preceding ance in the care of their children and in habit day were received and plans for the day discussed. training of their children from infancy. They With the aid of cars in various degrees of senility need cooperation in dealing with youth and in the group scattered over the field. Every home in family problems along many lines.
the entire region was visited and studies were This is a spiritual ministry and can never be made of the needs and problems which were re- made fully effective by any other ministry than vealed as a result of the home or individual con- that of Christ-directed lives prepared for the spe- tacts. cific task to which their energies are to be de- Partly as a result of the summer's experiment voted. It is this phase of Christian service that the Church must meet if its ministry is to be efa call for student volunteer Christian service was fective. This is true especially of underprivileged sent out through various channels. An article in sections. Nowhere is this service more needed the Boston Transcript brought many responses. than in many rural regions. More than thirty-five young people have served on the Regional Parish staff, mostly on a non-salary The lack of competent local leadership in many basis. For the past three years the whole staff rural sections..is obvious. The reasons for this. has been serving without salaries. Ordinary liv- lack are also obvious. ing expenses are provided and the staff live as a family in the Standish parsonage. Each person First: The membership of the rural churches is allowed ten dollars a month for strictly per- is for the most part pitiably small. Those who sonal use, but it is understood that no one will be constitute the membership are as a rule older peoallowed to suffer in case of emergency. ple. Many have lost their vital touch with the younger generation. There is also, to a large ex- [368 ] tent, a spirit of pessimism that weakens the in- sick. This is one of the greatest opportunities fluence of the group. for devoted service in the rural field. One member Second: At least one generation has lost out of our present staff is a registered nurse and has both in religious and cultural training. The demonstrated clearly the demand for such servyounger generation, including the young married ice and its practicability as a means of spiritual people, are not even connected with the church, service. except in a few of the more progressive parishes in very recent years. Even those who are mem- There is great need for people with home ecobers often do not take their religion very seri· nomic training, especially fitted to deal sympathetously. ically with families. Here is an opportunity to really transform homes and to instill in them the Third: Those who have the qualities and capac- religious atmosphere. Another line of service is ity for leadership have left their homes to find em- for people with nursery school and kindergarten ployment in other places. Some of these have training. The Regional Parish was instrumental become religious leaders in other churches. in securing Federal Aid for a nursery school which has been carried on for over two years in very Fourth: In rural communities people are scat- close and sympathetic relation to the leaders of tered, many living at a distance from any center, the Parish. It seems almost impossible to overmaking it inconvenient or impossible to attend estimate its value. Elementary Christian educagroup meeting with any regularity. tion must be closely related to the home and Fifth: The demands for Christian service in should begin in the earliest stages of the child's thinly populated regions of Maine and other parts life.
of New England are especially great. Facilities We recognize the value of music in the church that are available in cities and more advanced and in the home and in almost every phase of neighborhoods through schools and clinics, and neighborhood life. Whole generations have lost visiting nurse associations, through settlements out in music training. The schools have made a and civic centers are almost entirely lacking in beginning. Here is a great opportunity for the many country districts. Some "homes" are even Church. Every child that has the capacity ought worse off than those in the congested districts of to have the opportunity to learn to playa musical cities. instrument and to sing. We have done something Sixth: In most country districts there is a lack along this line, but very inadequately. There is need of, and in fact, a demand for many other of social responsibility on the part of the more lines of cultural service. A Harvard graduate privileged people. There is a tendency to regard interested in oriental pottery spent a summer in the people of lower standards of living as "no our parish teaching "coil and pat" method of good" and incapable of rehabilitation. These conditions are, in a way, similar to the making pottery. The response was astonishing. conditions that gave rise to the settlement move- There is demand for all lines of manual work ment in the cities fifty years ago; They give the' for both boys and girls. Recently our boys' Church its opportunity for the revival of the rural worker became very popular teaching the boys to church. Here is a situation that calls for the same make airplane models which could really fly.
heroic service as the foreign field. It is a service The call for volunteer service on the part of that demands the very highest qualifications of younger (and older) Christians is a reasonable character, consecration, spiritual development, one and is certainly in keeping with our Christian and technical training. It calls for the "mission- traditions. It has saved the Church in more than ary spirit" in the highest sense. But it is espe- one crisis. Why should not our young Christian cially in these sections that money is not available students and graduates give one or two years of for the employment of trained workers. How, free service in recognition of the privileges they then, can the situation be met? have enjoyed? Has the Christian Church less The experiment of the Sebago Lake Regional claim on its youth than the Mormons whose young Parish suggests one way of meeting the situation men are called upon to go out without scrip or which is, perhaps, worthy of consideration. It purse or remuneration to serve for a year or two involves, in the first place, sending out to our col- as missionaries? Has the Christian Church less leges and technical schools a call for volunteer right to such service than the State that drafts its service on the part of men and women of excep- young men for military service and training? tionally fine Christian character, technically Moreover, there are many educated Christian peotrained for some specific task. There is need for ple who are economically independent who might nurses with public health training to do educa- well practice their profession without salary.
tional work, serve as visiting nurses, and in case But how are these people to be maintained who of emergency to care temporarily for the very have not the means of their own? This leads to
370· THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [July-August
the second suggestion which has been tried out on is a project that ought to appeal to many people of a small scale in our Sebago Lake Regional Parish. larger means.
A staff of workers can live as a group or colony, The life of a group living as a family is an inunder good leadership, on a very small allowance. teresting experiment in many ways. It calls for The funds usually provided for two salaries will the exercise of. the finest Christian virtues. It maintain a staff of four or five. There is the pos- also provides the very maximum of social and culsibility, also, in rural regions of doing a little subsistance "farming." People in the country can tural satisfactions.* often give produce where they cannot give money. Evep so, funds are likely to be needed from be- • The Director of the Sebago Lake Regional Parish will be glad nevolent minded people outside the region. This to correspond with people who wish to consider giving themselves for volunteer rural service. It Is hoped that the Parish may become a training field for those who enter such service. .
Saving ~ Whole Rural Community* The Life and Work of John Frederic Oberlin T HE biographer says: "The story of Oberlin The soil was poor, the roads were bad, th€ peo- is that of a man who stayed in a remote valley ple were sick and ignorant – the only school- and did his work so well that the world made teacher was a man whose job had been pig herda path to his door. ing but he had become too old and weak for that so they sent him to care for the children. "John Frederic Oberlin was Franco-German. He never came to America; but an American col- Oberlin took a census which showed five villege was named for him. lages, 100 families, and 400 inhabitants.
"His salary was less than that of a teacher in Service. Oberlin said in his first sermon that our grade school; put, more than a hundred years "minister" meant "-servant" and he had come to after his death, the New Standard Dictionary lists serve. He told the congregation that men serve him as a 'philanthropist.' God by doing good to their neighbors. "Dear friends, one especially please-s God by good works. "He founded the first 'infant schools' on record. To do good works one does not need to have "He was a pioneer in scientific 'agricultural ex- money. Everything that is done for the public tension.' good or to ease the burdens of man or beast, when "In an age of intense religious animositie-s both it is done for love of God, is a good work which Protestants and Catholics worshipped together in rejoices his heart." his church. "He shielded Jews from persecution, and per- Road building. "Such a work, especially," sonally indemnified them for injuries -suffered in Oberlin continued in that fi:r:st sermon, "is the rehis parish. pair and good upkeep of roads." "Although in peril of his life during the French Revolution, he was given 'honorable mention' by He raised money in the city to buy gunpowder the National Convention for his work as an edu- to blast the rocks; he asked villagers to work with cator. him and when only two or three came, he started "He was nominated for the Legion of Honor the job alone. before the fall of Napoleon, and was given this decoration by Louis XVIII. Others joined him; a good road was made; a "He was awarded a gold medal for his work in bridge built and the Valley of Stone was connected agriculture and community betterment. He re- with the outside world. ceived messages of endearment from the Tzar of Russia." The other villages asked Oberlin to help them build roads. Work in a Country Church Schoolhouses. Oberlin bought a lot for a new Oberlin went from a city to live in a small vil- school building; raised the money to buy the malage and work in a rural community. He planned terials. to remain there 30 years. He worked as a carpenter and finished the job • From "Good News-Well Told," a pamphlet published by the in two and a half months. National Christian Council of the Philippine Islands. The facts are taken from Dawson's book entitled, "John Frederic Oberlln-A Prot- Next he built schoolhouses in the other four estant Saint." villages.
SAVING A WHOLE RURAL
Sanitation. Oberlin concluded one of his ser- the villagers, continued to dig. When the trenches mons thus: were four or five feet deep he lowered young trees "My friends, remember what I have told you. into them, mixing and pressing lightly around The pestilences which from time to time have car- their roots the kinds of soil believed to be best ried half the people of this valley to their graves suited to their rapid growth. He alsO" procured are not caused by witches. They are caused by slips of a few pears, plums, cherries, and some filth. Some of you, showing love to God by a re- nuts, and turned one of his gardens into a large gard for the common welfare, have heeded what nursery. Then he waited. The mountaineers had I have asked everyone to do and are keeping your never seen trees grow so fast. At last their premises free from filth that is a public nuisance. curiosity got the better of them. Of their own Others, showing an obstinacy that fills Satan with accord, they came to express their astonishment joy, have continued in their old and detestable and to ask him how they could raise such trees ways. What shall I say, then? Shall I leave them ' for themselves."
to start another pestilence, and let them learn Next Oberlin gradually introduced scientific from the Angel of Death when that messenger agriculture. comes to their door? Indeed, they well deserve "He was interested primarily in the character such teaching; but alas, when calamity comes the of the inhabitants of the Valley of Stone. He had good must suffer with the bad. No-I must try seen a vision of perfected humanity' in the char- again to save you. I cannot command you. But acter of Jesus unfolded in the Gospels. His con- see, dear friends and compatriots, what I hold in suming passion was the desii'e to lift all men to my hand ! Yes it is money – money that came that level. But it did not take long for a man who through the sale of grain from my fields. I offer had trained himself both in medicine and theology it as prizes to our countrymen whose yards, upon to see that bodies enfeebled by a degrading desti- inspection, are found to be free from filth." tution cannot go far on the road to spiritual per- An educational system. Oberlin changed office fection. Oberlin heard a voice that said: 'I was of teacher from standard of a pig herder to that hungry, and you fed me.' He must feed these peoof highest honor in the village. He wrote new ple. 'God is immensely rich!' It is not necessary textbooks; he organized "infant schools," the first for any child of his to go hungry. Wherever there kindergartens in the world. Thus he established is a need, there is also a supply. Apply the Golden in his rural parish the best school system in Rule and the scientific method, and everyone will Europe. have enough and to spare."
A demonstration in farming. When the people Then Oberlin's wife taught the people how to saw these things, they began to believe that their spin. In one year the small Valley sold to one manufacturer about 12,000 pesos worth. leader knew what he was doing. "The mountaineers were ready to admit that "Visitors to the Valley of Stone discovered that the inhabitants were more intelligent, honest, and Oberlin could lay a stone wall, clear a road, build polite than were any other peasants they had ever a bridge, construct a school, and teach them to seen. The schools and the church had done their read and write. But there was one thing a peas- work! A distinguished Swiss patriot, who had ant, living in the eighteenth century, would not founded a ribbon factory at Basle, was attracted believe that a city man could do. He could not to the Valley of Stone by the fame of its minister. teach them anything about farming. He urged his two sons to move their ribbon fac- tory to this place. . . . "Oberlin knew this feeling on the part of the peasants. He was wise enough to respect their prejudices, where these were deeply rooted. He "The factory was located in the Valley of Stone would not start by telling them about new meth- without further ado. (In 1812, Legand's entire ods and undreamed-of possibilities. But there establishment was removed to the Valley of was nothing to prevent his setting out some trees Stone.) The prosperity of the region was then as- and plants in his own gardens and fields. sured."
"One day there was much merriment in the vil- Called to America, Oberlin decided to remain lage of Waldsbach. Two fields, noted for the bar- in his Valley. He lived there sixty years (1767- renness of their soil, belonged to the parsonage. 1826) and won the whole Valley to Christ. Prot- These fields were crossed by paths much fre- estants and Catholics worshipped together in his quented by the peasants. The passers-by noticed, church. .
on the day in question, that the minister, with the This remarkable life of a Christian preacher help of a servant, was digging deep trenches shows how effective witness may be borne to through the barren fields. What did he expect to Christ through service that helps to elevate men grow in that place? . . . intellectually, economically and socially as well "Oberlin, disregarding the sly amusement of as spiritually.
BELLINGHAM PREACHING AND PRACTICING AMONG BEDOUINS OF
Medical Work Among Arabs in Iraq* -·of/ifJ.!,;;;1====B=Y=W=.=B=EL=L=IN=G=HAM=====~lll>o- -THE vast expanse of the Shamiyah Desert, gists, geologists, also search and journey with .. which lies west of the River Euphrates in high hopes of adding a little more to our knowl- Central Mesopotamia (the Kingdom of Iraq) edge of the almost unknown.
extends far into the Nejd (in Arabia). It is There are a very few who are called and sent bordered by the Syrian Desert to the north and to heal the sick and to preach the Gospel among by all the mystery of Arabia to the south. the widely scattered tribes of Nomad Arabs.
A trip into that supposedly empty desert would Nothing can turn them aside from their objective seem rather reckless to the ordinary individual; once the "call" is upon them and so long as their a sojourn over a period of years~whatever one's trust is in the Risen Lord. To them the way is objective-would appear nothing short of mad- old yet ever new with new and exciting dangers ness. Yet people do travel there, though one often and difficulties. There are the unpleasant sensawonders what attractions those great arid wastes tions in the burning sun at midday; terrible footh.ave to offer, and why people endure untold hard- soreness, thirst, fevers, loneliness-all new with a grim unexpectedness. The aches and pains, the ships, wandering about its vast empty spaces. sufferings and anxieties experienced along the Some travelers seek something new by way of wayside in the journeyings of a missionary are adventure: they experience queer itchings in the never fully told. Nor need they ever be told, for blood known to many as wanderlust. Organized they are forgotten mid blessings derived from parties of explorers, anthropologists, archreolo- ministering to the greater sufferings of those to * Condensed from 'The EvnngeHcal Ohristian, Toronto. whom they are sent. For those sick bodies and [372 ]
MEDICAL WORK AMONG ARABS IN IRAQ
sicker souls to whom they journey know not the women; they are moving off at the sight of uscomforts and love of the Risen Saviour. single file, along a well-worn track, carrying skins of water. The water in the water-hole is dirty But come with me-or rather with us, Christ and stagnant, but oh, how precious – water is and myself-if you would know something of the Life !.How sweet on the desert! "Let us hurry desert. We will take you into its unquenchable and tell them of the sweet water of Eternal Life." life as we live it, and as it really is. It is only a thought and cannot be done, for sud- denly we think of the. unwritten laws of the desert The journey requires a little over three hours and content ourselves and follow on, not daring by either camel or horse and is just as uncom- to mention them more than once to our Arab comfortable on either. Leaving our little home of dried mud, dwarfing itself in the distance, we THE MISSIONARY IN ARAB DRE.SS sway off into the wilderness, soon to lose sight of everything one connects with mankind. There is panion, who in the roughest voice he can muster, not a structure, mechanical contrivance or human is bidding them ,move from our path.. "It's easy being within sight. On every side is sun-scorched for us to go aroun~," we protest with a feeling of desert, dry, empty, silent, uncanny and bare but pity. .But t~y h~ve scrambled aside. One has for the presence of a few clumps of camel-thorn fallen over, and we pass on trying hard not to and ourselves. The sun beats down with a pitiless hear the oaths muttered by the Arab at our side. glare, and the surface of the desert becomes so hot that it will fry an egg. 'Perspiration oozes from The tents of the other Arabs are not to be seen. every pore; a gentle breeze from the south lifts The path winds and, twists through the thorns for up particles of sand that adhere to every inch of another four miles and we cross a rift in the desour uncovered skin. Even the thought of water ert, and there, to our relief, are the tents, black as makes us thirsty, but we refrain from drinking– the lean goats moving around. Our thoughts we shall only perspire more freely if we do. Our Arab companion comforts us with an Arab prov- flash to Genesis, arid we think of Jabal, Abraham erb: "Don't drink-less thirst; don't eat-less hunger?" So we sway along to the rhythm of the and Jacob, who were plainsmen dwelling in tents. gurgling water in our waterskin. To talk is a Surely they must have used tents like these even fatigue, so we rock and think, think and sway, Oh, why were camels made to walk so oddly? It's such an uncomfortable ache we feel across the belt. The glare hurts our eyes. We wish we could talk; we wish we could drink. Oh, if only there were one shady tree where we could rest. If only we could see something new or other nomads in the distance. Why, oh why, do people waste so much water over the simple washing of hands? A thousand and one thoughts flash on through the mind-we straighten up-relax, close our eyesmeditate-. We shall not get lost, Christ is at our side and even if there is no track we are comforted somewhat for our Arab companion is with us. On and on! .
Over a ridge and dpwn into an indentation. There is more thorn now:, and there-away in the distance-camels-"El Hamdu lillah"-unto God be praise. Further ~n are flocks of sheep and goats that 'appear to be grazing on sand for we see no grass. We begin to wonder what the black hundles are that move, for from where'we sit they appear to be framed between the camels' ears. It's a water-hole-no need for the Arab to tell us. The camels smeUed it long before we crossed the ridge and had we been unconscious from thirst the camels would have taken us there even if they themselves did not want to drink. They are wonderful, in spite of being awkward at times.
But there! we see that the black bundles are
in those long ages past. There they stand in all is in God. "God is great," they mutter, and now the stark loneliness of the desert. is the time to tell them of God's greatness. They love a good story and will listen with patience; Someone is running to meet us; a shout goes but in like manner we have to listen to their up, others follow. Several barking dogs race to stories, with patience equally as great, or they will show their teeth, but the first to greet us are the not listen to our next. Usually their stories are flies. We attempt to speak. Several flies are in about the prophet Mohammed and Jimree, and our mouth, but we soon get used to it. what they lack in propriety they soon gain in amusement. The Arab has perfected the art of The Arab at our side mutters: "Allah Wakeil" telling a story; much gesticulation, gasping and (God our Trustee), and touches the camel's neck. repetition goes with everyone. The following is With a series of grunts it kneels at an alarming typical of the kind that tickle their imaginations, angle, head down and forelegs first; we hold tight and this, by the way, is believed by them to be until we get a jolt from behind and know then she true. is properly settled. We alight with relief and have the feeling that it is good to he on mother One mullah, such a good mullah he was, never was there earth. But before the feeling has rushed around a mullah like him. Never! our aching limbs we must give our greetings with "Peace," which is answered by "And on you be He was always most careful in his ablutions, and always peace." washed his hands before going to pray. And as was his ha0it he always held out his hands, always held out his A dozen or more dirty palms are thrust into hands he did. But the sparrows belonging to the mosque ours and in our pockets with impunity. The bag knew, and at prayer time always flew down to rest on his with the medicines is in the safe-keeping of the hands and cling to his fingers to drink the drops of water Arab, who freely clouts one and then another of that gathered at his finger ends, until not even a drop rethe besieging crowd. A score of questions are mained and his hands became dry. asked in as many seconds about our health and welfare, and what we have brought. We are then At the end everyone gasps, and the teller, to led to the Sheikh's tent where some measure of confirm it, will swear by his Prophet that it is not peace is assured. Greetings and questions are re- false. peated and a dusty rug is placed at our disposal. So we relax. A new dung fire is lighted right at Finally we tell our story, a guest's, privilege. our feet; coffee beans are roasted and pounded. Then comes our time for medical treatment and We ask someone to bring our water but sour milk more Gospel. These Arab nomads suffer from alis brought in a filthy container instead, with flies most every ailment it is possible to imagine-sore swimming on its surface and every inch of its ex- eyes, open sores, the only covering of which are terior covered. To brush them off would send the flies; infected wounds; cuts, burns, skin dismore diving into the beverage, so instead we blow eases and internal complaints too numerous to them to the far side and take sucking drafts of mention. Very seldom do they wash and never the milk until our thirst is quenched. If we should with soap. They are so poor that one cannot be weak in the stomach and complain about the imagine how poor until they are seen-no money, flies, we may hear comments to the effect that we no stores. They live mostly on dates and the have been given both food and drink and that meagre supply of milk from their flocks. Perhaps they were sent by' Allah. twice a year they take wool, hair and skins to the town, which may be a handred miles away, and But we have come to preach the Gospel, but preaching, in the ordinary sense of the word, there they exchange their pJoduce for clothes and cannot be done, so we shall have to win them by cheap luxuries. tact. If we can first attend to their sadly-neglected bodies they will then listen with eagerness Those diseases for which we have no cure we to the wonderful healing power of the Great Phy- commend to God in prayer and He honors the sician, for they never forget a kindness. faith of His servants. The men and boys are treated first; then we go to the women and girls. First we must have coffee and discuss the latest It is pitiful. But a half can never be told. We news; then follows a general talk. They know leave messages of comfort and promise to come why we are here but it's beyond them to know again, if God so wills. "Inshallah" they repeat why we are not afraid. Government officials visit from their hearts. them on rare occasions, but always with an escort of several armed police. After giving our treatments we return to the Sheikh and ask permission to go. He presses us "Are you not afraid of being stabbed and to stay the night, but we have had the experience robbed," they often ask, for they love talking of before. We pick off a few lice that are visible on such subjects. We tell them briefly that our trust our dress and make excuses. We return home as the. coming night chases another passing day to
HANS EGEDE-MISSIONARY TO GREENLAND
the west, to bathe in four gallons of water. If Their trust is in a dead prophet while ours is in that is not available-be patient, Brother! Christ the Risen Lord. bore our sufferings on Calvary and made one sacrifice once and for all; therefore no sacrifice is too When next we visit the spot we find the water great for us to make for Him. We think of the hole dry and the desert empty and bare. All is Arabs we have left behind, and our hearts ache. quiet. They have gone, Gone! GONE! BUT WHERE???
Hans Egede – Missionary to Greenland Last year was the 250th anniversary of Hans Egede's birth. We are indebted to Dr. O. M. Norlie of Luther College, and to the News Bulletin of the National Lutheran Church for the following sketch of this interesting and inspiring Lutheran missionary of long ago.
H ANS EGEDE, the Apostle to Greenland, Gardar, Greenland. Then, for a long and dreary was born January 31, 1686, at Senjen, stretch of over three hundred years, nothing is Northern Norway, 250 years ago. This said about Greenland.
busy world will do well to pause a moment to It was Hans Egede who brought the question up listen to a brief tale about his life and labors. He again. A graduate of the University of Copenwas a hero and saint whose monument is the hagen at 21, he at once married and accepted a ChuroCh of Greenland, of which every person in pastorate in the fishing town of Vaagan, Lofoten Greenland, except two, is a baptized member. Next to Australia, Greenland is the largest island Islands, Norway. While there he read about the in the world. It is more than one-fourth as large Greenland settlements and the Church that had as the United States. It is the most northern once been planted on that remote island. He beland in the world, and perhaps the coldest, for its gan to think about it and to talk about it, and, interior is covered with an immense shield of ice after much careful and prayerful consideration rising from 4,000 feet to 11,000 feet. Its mon- concluded that he ought to go there as a missionstrous fjords discharge numberless icebergs, some ary to his countrymen. He laid the matter beof them ten miles long and a mile or more deep. fore the bishops of Trondheim and of Bergen, but The habitable portion is a thin fringe along the their replies, which were delayed a whole year, southwestern and the southeastern coasts, an area were just honeyed words. His parishioners at first thought his views interesting, then they proof 46,740 miles, or 5% of the total island. tested, later became angry and finally regarded him as deranged. His wife, Gertrude Rask of The first settlers in Greenland were the ancient Bergen, at first did not share with him his desire Norsemen. GunnbjflSrn, Ulf Krage's son, the sages to go to such a desolate and unknown field, but say, was driven by a storm to the coast of Green- through prayer she became convinced that God land in 876 and wintered there. Erik the Red willed it and never afterwards wavered in het made a settlement there in 983, and called the support of him. To this day she is reckoned as land Greenland, hoping to attract settlers. At one of the noblest missionaries in all the annals one time there were six thousand Norsemen liv- of nineteen hundred years of mission work.
ing there. In 1715, Egede wrote a pamphlet defending his In 999, King Olaf Trygvasson of Norway sent idea as to the need of mission work in Greenland and resigned from his pastorate in order to arouse Leif Erikson to Greenland to Christianize it. In- interest for the mission cause. People regarded cidentally he made a voyage of discovery and him as a madman. Church people would not listen found Vinland, and his name is best known as the to him anymore. He turned to the merchants. discoverer of America in 1000. In the Norse He went to Bergen to enlist the merchants in an sagas and the Vatican archives are found occa- expedition of trade with Greenland. It was all sional notices of the Church which Leif established in vain for they dared not make the venture. in Greenland. Thus, in 1112, Pope Paschal II ap- Now, fortunately, the King of Denmark-Norway, pointed Eric Knutsson Bishop of Greenland. In Frederick IV, had started a mission college and 1121, Bishop Eric left Iceland for Vinland. The had sent two missionaries, the German Pi~tists bishops after him are mentioned in the Icelandic Ziegenbalg and Pliitschau, to be missionaries vellums by name in regular succession down to among the Tamils around the Danish trading set- 1409. In a letter of Pope Alexander VI, dated tlement at Tranquebar, South India. The sending 1492, the year of Columbus' discovery of America, of these two to India is considered as the beginthe sad condition of neglected Greenland is reviewed and Matthias is appointed Bishop of
ning of modern Protestant missions. Egede be- ing venture rather than a missionary enter,prise, took himself to the King, who at first refused to and for a year they had not been able to do any consider the Greenland project, but later prom- trading with the natives. In fact, they could not ised to give an annual amount of money to it and even buy provisions and as their supplies were gave Egede public endorsement. With this back- .getting dangerously low, were firmly determined ing, Egede began to get a more respectful hear- to leave for home on a certain day. But, on the ing and by 1721, after thirteen years of agitation, day set for leaving Greenland, three Norwegian he had a trading-colonizing company organized boats came into sight. They brought supplies and and a ship purchased for the voyage. With his reinforcements, and took home such of the colfamily and forty men on board he set sail from onists as were discontented. And so the work Bergen on May 3, 1721, and arrived off the south- went on. At length through the children Egede west coast of Greenland on July 3, 1721, two was permitted to do some small acts of kindness months later. As the natives seemed fearful and among the Eskimos. Fear of him waned and he fled at the approach of the newcomers, he occupied became a welcome guest. He was a hard student a little island off the coast, which he called and made good progress in their language and HaabetsjiS (Island of Hope). This island was to began to understand their ways. At last, on Janbe his headquarters for seven years. uary 10, 1724, he gathered some seventy of them in one of the larger houses and for the first time The Greenlanders, Egede found to be, I).ot de- preached to them in their own language. scendants of the old Norsemen, but an Indian tribe called Innuits or Eskimos. The Norsemen Four years later Egede moved his colony from had disappeared, and their sixteen large churches the little island to the mainland and named the and their houses were all gone. As stated, the new station Godthaab (Good Hope). It is still natives were timid and afraid and unapproach- one of the chief towns of Greenland and the seat able. They had had experience with strange of the Greenland Lutheran Theological Seminary, ships, with whalers and merchantmen who had which trains the native ministry of today. Other often come to rob and kill as well as to barter. stations were added as time went on: one at On one occasion, according to Egede's "Dagbog" Christianshaab in 1734 by Hans Egede, several (Daybook) a whaler came and set fire to an by his son, Paul, later on, as at Frederikshaab in Eskimo village, came again the next year and re- 1742, at J akobshavn in 1749, at Claushavn in peated the crime. No wonder they were afraid 1752. The king gave Hans Egede the title of of Egede and fled to the hillsides when he came Bishop of Greenland, later applied to his son, Paul ashore. In fact, the first year he was on the Island Egeqe, and other successors. of Hope the village on the mainland near by was emptied of its inhabitants. It was mainly through But though Egede had won the confidence of his children, Paul and Nils and the two daughters, the Eskimos, there were many hardships. Buildwho played with the Eskimo children, that ing material and many kinds of food had to be imfriendly relations were gradually established. ported from Europe. There was often danger of starvation and real famine. There was sickness Egede set to work to learn the language, which and even plague. The opposition from the native was not then written. He started to translate the priesthood was deep-rooted. Some of the colonists catechism and portions of the Bible into their and traders that had come over were not morally tongue. It was a difficult undertaking, for their what they should be. In 1727 the trading comvocabulary was very meager. How, for example, pany which Egede had organized dissolved, as it could he render "Lamb of God" to a people who was not a paying venture. This was a hard blow, had never seen a lamb and had no word for it in but Egede asked his king in· faith to send him their language? There were other obstacles too. more workers, and he sent him two new mission- The native priests did not welcome the new re- aries, Ole Lange and Heinrich Milzong. In 1731 ligion. The people, like ignorant heathen else- a ship came to port with the sad news that Fredwhere in the world, were prone to superstitious erick IV, the friend of missions, both in "Greenbeliefs and practices. One superstition was that land's icy mountains" and· on "India's coral sickness was due to witchcraft. So, when some strands," was dead. Egede got orders to return one got sick, the thing to do was to find the witch to Norway. The royal support was withdrawn. that was causing the trouble. Usually some poor, But the Greenlanders urged him to stay, and Gerhelpless old woman was seized, tortured to death, trude, his wife, agreed with him that it was their her heart taken out, her body sawed to bits and duty. So they stayed on. The new king, Christhrown into the waves of the sea. There was tian VI, joined the Pietist movement and became no hope of curing a sickness until this had been friendly to the mission cause. Count Zinzendorf done. Such superstitions died hard. was present at his coronation and witnessed the baptism of two Greenland boys that Egede had Again, the expedition had been at base a trad-
HANS EGEDE-MISSIONARY 1'0 GREENLAND
sent to Denmark to be trained. This gave Zin- and enlightened people, due to the solid foundazendorf an idea, which his Church, the Moravian Brethren, then and there began to .put into action. tions laid by Hans Egede and his son, Paul. The idea was to bring the Gospel to the heathen. Zinzendorf pleaded with King Christian VI to When Hans Egede came back to Norway he was support Egede, and from then on Christian was a staunch friend of the Greenland mission. Zinzen- engaged in speaking about the work of his misdorf went a step further. He himself would send missionaries to Greenland to help out. He sent sion. The University of Copenhagen established three good men to start with who made their first station and headquarters at a place they called a Greenland Seminary and made" him the director New Herrnhut, some distance north of Godthaab. Strange to say, their coming was in many ways a of it, a position he held until 1747, when he asked hindrance to Egede's work, for they opposed him, notwithstanding that he was always kindly and to be relieved. In his retirement he lived at Stubhelpful towards them. The worst hardship that befell the mission during Hans Egede's stay was bekj~bing on the little island of Falster, Denmark. the smallpox plague in 1735. A boy came down with this dread disease, which spread rapidly from There he died on November 5, 1758, at seventyhut to hut and laid waste whole villages so that there was not a man left to bury the dead. Some two and was buried beside his dear wife in the three thousand died of the scourge, including Gertrude Rask Egede, the beloved and faithful Nikolai Cemetery. The Eskimos to this day call wife of Hans. Then, at her death, broken down by untiring labors and sorrow, he asked that he him the "Unforgettable Father." " might return to his homeland for a season of rest. He preached his farewell sermon on July 28, 1736, A DOCTOR'S NIGHT AT FATEHPUR* vona.mth.e. s.a.d"text Isaiah 40: 4-"1 have labored in (By one who sleeps on the Hospital roof) But had he labored in vain? Although after The birds have hushed their sweetest bedtime songs, fifteen years of work he had baptized only twenty For dusk has quickly faded into night. people, he had prepared the soil and had /'lown much good seed that was to bear abundant fruit. The monkeys, crooning, moaning in the trees, Said one native to him: "You have done for us Are soon to hush, until the break of light. what none of our own would have done. You have stayed by us in our sickness and fed us out of A traveler on his way to cheer of home, your store. You have buried our dead who other- Goes singing down the now-deserted road. wise would not have received burial and would have been devoured by dogs and ravens and foxes. Anon come jingling bells and trotting hoofs- But above all you have told us about God and the An ekka driver clicking-on his load. Saviour and Heaven, so that we can die in joy and have a sure hope of a better life in the world When time has come for sleep, a jackal howls, to come." And then the pack let out blood-curdling cries His work was continued by his son Paul Egede, 'Til all the dogs awake and start to bark; who spoke the Eskimo like a native and was a It seems as though they echo round the skies. truly great linguist and administrator. He wrote in the Eskimo language a dictionary, a grammar, And from the distance comes the rhythmic drum Luther's Catechism, the New Testament, the Of tom-toms, of some Hindu wedding feast. Church Book. He extended the missions along the whole west coast of Greenland over one thou- And long into the night their frenzied beats sand miles. The Church in Greenland has ever Grow faster, when all else from sound has ceased. since been a living Church, although like the churches in the homeland it was at low ebb dur- Then wearied from their play, 'tis silent night ing the period of Rationalism. The first heathen And all sleep on, but those who guard the townin Greenland to be baptized, a Protestant, was in 1725, the last was in 1856. Heathenism has been The chaukidars, who call abruptly out, driven from the land. They are a God-fearing While others answer, walking up and down.
And then-sometimes-that sleep disturbing cry: "Oh, chaukidar, oh, come unlock the gate,"
And heavy wheels come crunching down the path. The prodded oxen stop, and then I wait.
And muffled voices soon are heard below, The lights flash out, with tasks soon under way, Inevitable footsteps to my roof Of nurse who calls, "A patient's come to stay."
And then below, the night becomes as day, And we all work to save that woman's life, The baby's too, if haply it still lives 'Spite villagers with ignorance so rife.
And just before the dawn there comes a lull, The woman resting, sleeping after pain; Before the birds their morning chatter start, There's stillness and some peaceful sleep again.
Upon my sleep there breaks a glorious hymn; It is the nurses at their start of day.
"So soon, another day in which to live?" Oh yes, to praise and pray, and work and play. GERTRUDE J. SMITH, M.D.
• From The Missionary lAnk, New York.
Martyrs of
1- 1Ilf By the REV. MURDOCH MacKINNON, D.D. Il~- THREE generations ago Erromanga, a large tions of war. Now we have built a vessel to carry island in the South Seas, was in the grip of the Word of Life, a more excellent thing, and no heathenism. Domestic life was practically vessel has ever been built in this historic dockyard unknown; the tribes were at war, and victories with more pleasure than John Williams V."
were celebrated by public feasts at which the The report of this happy event stated that as bodies of captives were served as a delicacy. But the vessel struck the water the Scottish pipers, the cries of little children and the groans of without direction beforehand, struck up the Scot-'
strangled widows were wafted hither by the warm tish air, "Off to the Isles," amid a hearty burst of breezes from the South, and found response from cheers.
the heart of Christendom. Eighty years ago Mr. and Mrs. George Gordon "I am received with the utmost respect," writes arrived at Erromanga on the mission vessel, the Dr. H. A. Robertson, in one of his recent reports. John Williams, and for upwards of four years "Peace and goodwill prevail all over this fair they lived and worked there. Three months later, isle." he had translated the Ten Commandments. Mrs.
The secret of this change may be deciphered Gordon began by teaching two small boys, who from a tablet erected within "The Martyrs' Me- afterwards became faithful Christian teachers. morial Church," Erromanga. A part of the in- Kindness and unselfishness never yet failed to scription reads thus: disclose hidden worth in the human heart. The younger people listened to the story of Jesus and SACRED TO THE MEMORY the love of God; the old people heard of the cross of the Missionaries who died on this Island of Calvary and the Home of "many mansions." They were intensely interested, and the work GEORGE N. GORDON seemed to prosper. ELLEN C. GORDON But heathenism dies hard, especiaiIy when the Killed by the people of Unepang greed of civilized men allies itself with it. The May 20th, 1861 cruelties and falsehoods of the sandalwood traders JAMES D. GORDON. outstripped anything that benighted Erromanga Killed at Potnuma, March 7th, 1872 could produce. The influence of the missionary tended to make the dishonesty of the trading more difficult. Hence the trader prejudiced the people George N. Gordon and his devoted wife were against Mr. Gordon, saying, "He brought the the first European missionaries to live on Erro- measles to you for did he not tell you that God's manga and to John Williams belongs the honor judgment was coming? He also caused the earth- of having been the first to suffer martyrdom quake and your other misfortunes."
there. He had carried on successful work for The poison had the desired effect. A plot was over twenty years in other islands of the South laid and speedily executed by nine savages, Lovo, Pacific, but no sooner had he and his friend Harris a chief, being party to it. What are one unsus- landed on Erromanga than the murderous people pecting couple against Erromangans with toma- fell on them. Thus they consecrated the island hawks. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon sleep on the banks with their blood, and the little streamlet flowing of the Williams River but no heathen celebration, red that day spoke of peace to the dusky sons of no cannibal feast disturb their dreams. The the South. Christian young men who laid them to rest vowed The launching of John Williams V at Grange- that they would win Erromanga for Christ or mouth, England, a few years ago, forms a sig- perish with their missionaries in the attempt. .
nificant commentary on the saying that "the blood The mother of George Gordon, of Alberton, of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." A rep- Prince Edward Island, had still another son, and resentative of the shipbuilding company said: the heroic spirit which she communicated to her "We have built vessels for commerce, for pleas- children was not crushed. By the grace of God ure, and, I regret to say, vessels to carry muni- she was ready to give this other son to Christ in [378 ]
SIXTY YEARS IN THE CONGO BELGE
so great a cause. J ames Gordon was preparing to them and the Spirit of God worked directly ort for the ministry, and when he heard of his broth- their hearts. He who called Williams called his er's death, he said, "Now it is my turn, I must successors. The Gordon brothers were nature's go." He sailed from Halifax on the famous Mis- noblemen, tall, handsome, athletic. They were sion ship, Dayspring, and in 1864 arrived at the men of intellectual power, with a genius for lanscene of his brother's labors and martyrdom. He guages. They were eloquent, persistent, fervent. gave himself to the work with enthusiasm, pre- They were men of prayer. senting the Gospel to the people in its simplicity and power. Progress was evident on every hand, The Church lives by spiritual conquest, and the and the Word that was sown in weakness was be- Gordons were bent on conquest in the name of the ing raised in power. But the spirit of heathenism Christ and in the power of the Cross. Their death was not yet appeased. It called for another vic- seemed premature and the sacrifice great, but tim. Disease broke out and the missionary was Erromanga is now a Christian island and today again blamed. Nerimpaw's two children died sends out missionaries. The heart of our people after Gordon had given them medicine. (The was stirred and the church at home was wakened hundreds of other children whom he treated, re- out of sleep. covered.) Enough! While he was translating the Acts, and had reached the account of Ste- The foreign missionary not only extends the phen's martyrdom, Nerimpaw's tom a haw k Church abroad, but also is used to save the Church plunged deep into his head, and he too "fell at home. In an age when the world is too much asleep." in evidence, it is inspiriting to hear of these brothers, who gave themselves to the service of There is nothing that calls forth the heroic Christ for the sake of redeeming men. The one spirit like a manifestation of heroism. The Gor- was the first missionary to live, and the other the dons had heard of Williams and as growing boys last martyr to die, on Erromanga. The Church had listened to the voice of John Geddie. The re- that gave the Gordons has other heroes awaiting ports of his work in Aneityum appealed strongly the call of the Master. The Christ who has saved Erromanga can save the world.
Sixty Years in the Congo BeIge By the REV. THOMAS MOODY Missionary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society AFTER Henry M. Stanley crossed equatorial Congo, with one thousand mISSIOnaries superin- tending the work. The church members in all .L'. Africa and came out at Bauana in August, Belgian Congo number over 250,000, in addition 1877, the English Baptist missionaries to Christians under instruction who number 275,- started for the Congo in 1878. The missionaries 035. More than ten thousand village schools enof many other societies have also entered until roll over 350,000 boys and girls. they have practically occupied the Belgian Congo Many of the mission stations have had very for Christ. great blessings. Sona Bata, of the American Bap- From that day to this the progress of the work tist Foreign Mission Society, where I spent the last few years, was opened in 1890. After several has been wonderfully blessed of God. The mission- revivals we had an exceptional turning to God of aries have gone in with the idea of preaching the the natives in 1921 in which for ten years in suc- Gospel of Christ to the natives and giving them cession over a thousand people were baptized each the Word of God in their own tongue as soon as year and were received into the church on confesit was possible. As a result today the Christian sion of faith. At present there are 10',309 memchurches are in every part of the Belgian Congo, bers connected with this station, with 303 village a large number being self-supporting, self-propa- schools and 7,874 pupils. Besides the church gating, self-sustaining, indigenous churches and boarding school there is a school for medical aswith schools, from the common bush school to the sistants and nurses. The Sona Bata field covers schools for the preparation of teachers and 10,000 square miles with 100,000 people and 2,000 preachers to carry on the work. A large amount villages. We have preached the Gospel in one of the work is done entirely by the African teach- half of their villages but the other 1,000 we have ers and preachers, the oversight of the mission- not entered. When I went out in 1890, there were aries, often being limited to one or two visits a less than 5,000 church members in all the Belgian year to the churches in charge of the natives. Congo and now they number 250,000.
At present there are some forty different Protestant missionary societies working in Belgian
GIFT REVEALS THE GIVER-A
"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3: 16.
This verse tells of the greatest Gift the world has ever known. Other passages from God's Word march in procession before the mind : "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, b.ecause that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." 1 John 4: 9.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15: 13.
"Without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 9: 22. "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him."
Hebrews 7: 25. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, . . . he hath declared him."
John 1: 18.
The mind clings to the thought, God's Gift, even Jesus, reveals God to me; then is it not true that my gifts reveal me to God?
Jesus, God's Gift, reveals to the human heart far more of God than mere paper and ink can ever convey. Four characteristics of God the Father are definitely revealed in His Gift and are all suggested in the words of John 3: 16.
1. GOD'S GIFT REVEALS GOD'S LOVE "GOD SO LOVED . • . that he gave his only begotten Son." "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
2. GOD'S GIFT REVEALS GOD'S VISION "God so loved THE WORLD that he gave his only begotten Son." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
3. GOD'S GIFT REVEALS GOD'S WISDOM "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him SHOULD NOT PERISH." "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
4. GOD'S GIFT REVEALS GOD'S POWER "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in hi1n should not perish, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE." "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."
If Jesus, the Gift of God, reveals to us God's love for us, God's vision of the needy world, God's wisdom in providing a way of escape from sin, and God's power to save, surely our gifts also reveal us to God.
Take a. backward look at your gifts of the past year, to test yourself by them. Center your thoughts on the gifts which you plan to bring in the coming year as gifts to Him, week by week and month by month. Ask yourself: What do my gifts reveal of my love for Him who gave all for me, of my vision of this sin-stained world, of my knowledge of the way of salvation, and of my faith in God's power through Christ to save all men everywhere. If you are not sure that the revelation made through your gifts is in line with what you feel in your heart, will you sacrifice even more, until you are confident that, seeing the gifts, God will know the depth of your love. Then you will know the secret which Jesus sought to disclose, but which has been kept from many of us: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." -Adapted from Janie McCutchen, in "The Presbyterian Survey."
[380 ]
A Brahman Christian-Nehemiah
The Father of the Author of Uln the Secret of His Presence"
I T WAS a great victory for the Christian mis- the fame of Pandit Goreh, had an interview with sions when Nilakanta Sastri, the Indian pandit him at Benares and took him to Europe as his and scholar, abandoned the Brahmanic reli- tutor in 1854. ,In England, the Goreh was allowed gion of his forefathers and accepted Jesus Christ. an audience with Queen Victoria along with the Nilakanta was born on February 8, 1825, in a Maharajah. He also attended theological lectures village near Jhansi. He belonged to a high class at Islington. This stay brought him into contact konkan family and his father, though born in with some of the great men of the Church of Eng- Poona, migrated early to the north. Soon after land and he had the privilege of meeting with Prof.
Nilakanta's birth the family moved on to Benares, Max Muller at Oxford.
the citadel of Hinduism. Here Goreh was brought For thirteen years Goreh worked as Headmas- up in the lap of luxury as an uncle became Dewan ter of a school under the Church Missionary So- of a State and he was given the best of education ciety., In 1861 he was ordained a Deacon and at that time. He studied Sanscrit under learned sent to start a mission at Mhow in Central India Shastris, specializing in the Vedas, the Nyaya and and later to Chanda in Central Provinces. At grammar. He had a strong prejudice against Cawnpore he came in touch with the Brahmo Christianity as he thought it a "religion fitted for leader, Keshub Chandra Sen, and in the course ignorant Mlechchas only." But Goreh began an of discussion discovered to his surprise that earnest study of the Bible to pick holes in it and Keshub had not read books on the evidences of strengthen his position as a st,aunch advocate of Christian faith. This interview made Goreh Hinduism. The Sermon on the Mount captivated take a special interest in Brahmo Movement and him and drew him near to Christ. His interest write pamphlets to win them over to the Christian steadily grew and contact with missionaries con- faith. He criticized Brahmo Movement as a com- vinced him that Christ's religion is the only satis- promise between Hinduism and Christianity.
fying faith. His father and uncle implored him In 1883 Goreh wrote his important work in not to desert them and their religion, but Nila- Marathi entitled, Is there any proof that Chris- kanta stood firm in his conviction. He challenged tianity is a divl~nely given religion? to meet cer- the pandits of Benares to debate the truth of the tain religious difficulty of Pandita Ramabai who Gospel of Christ. Though his deep affection for was not then a Christian. Later he published a his father made him hesitate to embrace Chris- series of his lectures entitled, Christianity not of tian religion, he finally was baptized on March man but of God. Among his many other publica- 14, 1848, by the Rev. Robert Hawes at Jaunpur tions, and one of the most useful to missionaries, and was given the Christian name of Nehemiah. was-The genuineness of the Holy Gospels. His It was not easy to bring his wife to the new health gradually failed and he passed on to his faith. After his baptism she was supposed to be Rest on October 29, 1895, at the age of 70. It widowed and was kept in privacy. Later, by great has been remarked of him, "The intensed devotion efforts, the husband and wife were brought to- and self-denial of the Brahman missionary, his gether though she remained Hindu for some time. genuine humility and modesty, as well as his pro- Finally, she saw the light revealed in Christ and found erudition, set off the eternal mode of his was baptized with their only daughter, Ellen life, his poverty, his emaciated look, his plain Lakshmi, shortly after joining the Goreh Church. mendicant-like attire-made him to be regarded Unfortunately the mother died soon, leaving the by the people generally, European and Indian, as orphan girl who was the father's pride and joy. a Sadhu, the beau ideal of a Christian missionary."
This daughter has immortalized her name through By his example, and the vigor and persistency her great hymn, "In the Secret of His Presence." of his advocacy of the Christian Gospel, he was She passed away recently at Cawnpore, after a able to convert several men who afterwards be- long period of distinguished service in the cause came his colleagues in the great task. Christian of Christ. evangelism to be truly effective and fruitful in Nehemiah Goreh was an excellent writer and our present day calls for Christian Indians of a used his profound knowledge in Sanscrit in trans- rare type like Nehemiah Goreh with intense de- lating some work to justify the ways of Christ to votion, deep conviction and self-denial.
his fellow-countrymen. Maharaj Duleep Singh, By T. D., in "The National Missionary himself a convert to the Christian faith, heard of Intelligencer."
[ 381 ]
Ways of
'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO The Place of Missionary Edu- ary interest and motivations that outlook. Circulation of the right sort cation in Church Enterprise will withstand winds of criticism of books will help. and droughts of spiritual aspira- Shall missionary education be tion. There is a lack of qualified teachers integrated into religious educa- of missionary education. Three things tion? "This," says Bulletin Dr. T. H. P. Sailer and a com- are needed by these teachers: Mis- No. 5 of the Professional Ad- mittee consisting of Leila Bag- sionary information, knowledge of visory Section on Missionary ley, Genevieve Brown, S. F. missions, and contagious missionary Education of the International Mack and J. L. Lobingier (chair- interest. A s'U!bje'ct like missions Council of Religious Education, man) have gathered together the needs not only the material that can "is a perennial subject." Among results of the discussion of the be found in the teacher's quarterly, the bulletins of this Section, topic at a meeting of the Profes- but a broad background. Few teachprevious issues of which dealing sional Advisory Section, in Chi- ers have this. Methods other than with specific, interdenomina- cago, and supplemented them those in Sunday school classes and tional methods have been re- with suitable new material for group meetings will be needed. . . . viewed in this Department, the the pamphlet. Here are a few present one is far and away the high lights indicative of the Without leaders of this type missionmost comprehensive and schol- motif, method, trend and sub- ary education will be integrated only arly and deserves careful study ject matter: in name but not in fact. The most on the part of pastors, Sunday ideal curriculum on paper will be deschool superintendents and de- The principal aim of education is vitalized if presented in a perfuncpartmental heads, as well as tory way. Therefore the first move leaders in men's and women's to expand our interests and help us should be to concentrate on securing organizations in the local church leaders and improving their quality. and denominational executive to see things in a broader perspective. boards. It goes deeper than any Has missionary education a real mere "ways of working"-down Missionary education should not seem contribution to make to work that is to the undergirding religious already being done in religious eduand educational principles which to be a competitor with issues that cation? Let us not seek to introduce render mere patterns secondary are more immediately important, but missionary applications, illustrations and relatively inconsequential in and talks because missions must be that the trained person can work an aid in broadening our vision so gotten in somehow, but because it out his own methods on any really enriches experience. Chrisgiven subject – whether it be that we shall see thin~s more as God tianity is essentially a world religion "Rural Missions" or "The Mos- sees them. The essential thing that . . . and is needed by the whole lem World." world. . . . The material should not missionary education contributes to be lugged in by the ears but help to The claims of this new Bul- add significance. . . . The five min-' letin to citation in a methods religious education is a sense of uni- utes a Sunday or 20 minutes a month department are valid in that talks to a whole department or school very fact and also that in its versality, with a knowledge of the should not seek merely to add variety latter portion it dips deeply into or furnish information, but to make specifics for every department needs of all mankind and a growing religious education more vital by supof church endeavor. It is a plying the elements that are needed large-sized, twenty -three – page participation in the meeting of those but too frequently omitted. pamphlet that will challenge the understanding of simple folk as needs. . . . Missionary education The new courses of study for the well as the most intellectual church school are inserting specifically workers who desire to dig more rests on the assumption that Chris- missionary lessons or short units. deeply and discriminatingly into tianity has something of supreme . . . The present arrangement offers the human soil of all age inter- a great opportunity. Well qualified ests in order to implant mission- value for all mankind, and that this teachers can arouse such interest in the subject that outside work will be will not be transmitted without spe- undertaken. This may lead to church schools of missions, independent dis- cial effort. It holds that Christianity cussion groups on missions, campaigns of missionary reading and special is a universal and not merely a na- projects. The only way to secure time is to make the subject so attractive tional or racial religion, that what- that people will give time.
ever efforts are worth making to pro- The best way to deal with such a situation (where the atmosphere of vide religious education for ourselves local churches is depressing to the missionary spirit) may be to trans- and our communities are equally de- plant individuals temporarily to other climates such as summer conferences sirable for other groups throughout where they mary catch the heOJ1Jenly the world. . . . Without the knowl- edge of Christ for personal guidance or social cooperation, their (the ma- jority of needy mankind) welfare be- comes a major concern of a Kingdom- centered curriculum. – The attitude of the pastor and other church leaders will be very important (in securing an adequate ideal of a basis for this new curriculum). The issue may be faced in meetings and discussion groups. Delegates may be sent to summer conferences and in- stitutions where they will get a larger [382 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
VtstOn. Where this is not possible it 3. Do I carry these brotherly Methods Briefs for Primary may be best to concentrate on a small, ideals into my daily rela- Teaching select group. Under these conditions tionships with people of the temperature may be raised as it other racial, national and Mexico: On table covered would not be for the staid majority. social groups? with serape or other colorful Manifestly, missionary education 4. Am I adding an intimate woven scarf, arrange pottery, will never be effectively integrated knowledge of a race or unless people will bestow brains and people to my intellectual plain or painted gourds, clay pains on the process. At the founda- assets each year? tion of the whole matter must be the hats used as pin trays, cans of effort to bring people to care deeply 5. Do I feel that other people string beans, Mexican pictures for the thorough integration of mis- have a contribution to cut from magazines, etc. Make sionary education. Churches which make to my life, or do I posters of cut-out pictures to iltry to operate machinery without suffi- feel that missions implies lustrate talks. Tell how the rovcient steam will surely be disap- a one-way relationship? ing vegetable pickers live in povpointed. erty and squalor, children- 6. Does my conception of home working hard like their elders- Then follow "Practical appli- missions inc 1u d e the do not even know the meaning cations of integration for church Christian solution of such of "home." Adapt stories from organizations"; some "Practical problems of our national "The Laughingest Lady," by questions for discussion" such life as social and economic Elinor Cowan Stone; "From as: the use of costumes, curios, justice, race relations and Every Tribe and Nation," by stunts, etc., for entertainment or the alcohol problem? Belle M. Brain (using the story, decorative purposes, employ- "Dona Carmen, a Living Episment of conventional methods, 7. Am I endeavoring to secure tle") and denominational leaflets outlining a year's programs for for missionary education on the subject. Have the chila women's association so as to its normal, integral place dren cut small adobe houses integrate their work into the in the worship, the in- from bogus paper and make a whole program, best plans for struction, the offerings Mexican village on sand table or linking up the Sunday school, and the activities of all in window, adding trees, a donetc. ; "factors essential to in- departments of the local key, chickens and children. Posttegration"; some practical cur- church life? ers may be made of children riculum suggestions as to form, feeding donkeys or chickens, material and methods; "Over- 8. Am I increasingly seeing picking beans or carrying hamhead counsel and cooperation"; and using opportunities pers of them, and donkeys bear- "Integration from the viewpoint for the disseminating of ing panniers loaded with beans. of the denominational program" ; missionary knowledge and Women may be making pottery. questions proposed to executive interest through the loan- Have offering taken up by darkboards of the Presbyterian, the ing of missionary books haired boy in white suit with Congregational and Christian, and magazines, the choice wide, bright sash tied over the United Lutheran and the of hymns at meetings shoulder and under arm, the Methodist Episcopal churches where I preside, the em- gifts being received in highare given with summaries of the phasis in my pub lie crowned beach hat with little replies; and a very concrete prayers, the collecting and balls on edge of wide brim. He specific section devoted to plans sharing of pictures, sto- may be assisted by girl with for children's, young people's ries, pageants, p I a y s, straight black hair, wearing red and adults' programs in mission- curios and costumes? or yellow dress and bright scarf ary education. This last is well tied over hair. Chicken sandworth the price of the pamphlet, 9. Have I read at least one wiches, small servings of string which is only 25 cents. Send book the past year in the beans with oil dressing, sliced orders to Miss Leila Bagley, 810 general field of missions? hard-cooked eggs or sman bowls Broadway, Nashville, Tenn. of chile con carne, both of the 10. If I work with children or latter served with crackers, may Measuring Myself-A Mission- young people have I read be used as refreshments. "Jesus ary Efficiency Test at least one book on mis- Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the sions in my specific field? Little Children of the World" 1. Do I have thoroughly Chris- are appropriate songs. tian motives for my mis- 11. Am I sharing my resources sionary activities? Are with the missionary cause Indians: Give local color with they definitely based on in a systematic manner? pottery, baskets, beads, mocca- love for God and love for sins, tiny totem poles, etc., ar- man? 12. Have I made any actual con- ranged on table covered with tribution to the cause of Indian blanket, and with bright 2. Am I cherishing more broth- missions during the past posters made from cut-out pic- erly ide a I s concerning year other than my finan- tures. Feathered headdresses other peoples each year? cial contribution? may be made by the children Can I see the worth of the from craft paper or even com- individual regardless of -United Christian Mission- his race or culture? ary Society Leaflet.
mon brown wrapping paper, from "The World's Children for for Indian and South American Jesus." Refreshments of pop- studies (which were used in the ornamenting with feathers and corn balls or plain popcorn, United Study Course last year) drawings with colored crayons. candy in shape of pumpkins or may be had from denominational Large or small wigwams can be grains of corn. One may some- missionary literature headquarmade from the same paper. times find little candy turkeys. ters or the Missionary Education Color long strips of paper first Movement, 150 Fifth Ave., yellow, then orange, then brown South America: Keynote, a N. Y., at 75 cents each. "Stories (several children working on large map of country with inter- South of the Equator" will be same strip), making all strokes found very helpful. lacing letters, A, B, C, for Arin same direction. Soak paper gentina, Bra z i I and Chili, Groups not adhering to the mounted down front. Leader current United Study courses two or three minutes in water, may form their plans from such open carefully over bucket, drain points out location and tells suggestions as the foregoing; off water and crumple between something about each of three while workers using the new fingers as fine as possible. countries, then says she has a Spread flat on folded news- bag of gifts from South Amer- topics of "Rural America" and papers, coat with orange shellac, ica from which the children, "The Moslem World," noting the coming up one at a time, may principles involved, may be aided using large, flat bristle brushes select something. For this a in working out their presentawhich may be cleaned in alcohol, going-away bag has previously tions to little folks at the age the shellac being diluted with been paeked with a bone button, when eye-gate, ear-gate and a-lcohol if too thick. When dried bone-handled toothbrush, leather hand must be made teammates. coin purse, little red shoe, billthis paper looks and feels like fold, band from sewing machine, The suggestions are from skin and makes a fine wigwam. leather-covered boo k, jacket, Annye L. Allison's work among Large one very effective made chipped dried bee f, gelatin, juniors. over framework of poles, tied together at top and fastened to coffee, chocolate, cocoa, Chili The outlines raise the quesfloor. Fasten paper securely to pepper, mixed spices, orange, tions of the Church's responsipoles at bottom and lace together bility in relation to social condiwith raffia or twine, using large lemon, grapefruit, Brazil nuts, tions, to what extent such re- silver spoon, glass set in lieu of sponsibility can be formulated raffia needle not too sharp. Have a diamond, ostrich feather, into a universally applicable sys- monkey fur, rubber bands, children draw on 9'xI2' paper eraser, comb, phonograph rec- tem of Christian social prinfigures of Indians, wigwams, ciples, what our personal and shocks of corn, fish, pumpkins, ord, bright feathers, sea beans, group responsibility is, where toy snake and other appropriate we obtain our criteria and data deer, bears, turkeys, ponies and objects wrapped in tissue paper in arriving at judgments, and large Indian heads. They may to look like gifts. Have each how we can implement these string popcorn or macaroni principles in terms of social ac- gift opened, laid on table and tion. The programs are inbroken into small pieces, with explained. When bag is empty, tended primarily for the monthly disks of construction paper in meetings of the women's or- give talk on the country, discuss- ganization, but have additional lieu of beads, to be worn with ing the things it needs from us suggestions for their more exthe headdresses. They also en- – Bibles, religious literature, tensive use in general group joy making posters of wigwams churches, Sunday schools, hos- meetings. Pastors would find pitals, etc. English books not them heJpful for the midweek or cliff dwellings, trees, corn, church services. pottery, rugs, baskets, etc., these available because the language to be drawn, painted or done in is mostly Spanish. Names of *** paper-cutting. Let them bring missionaries may be given, prayer offered for their work "Prayer in the land of the fir such things as arrowheads, bas- and Bible verses found begin- tree and pine. kets, beads, shells, etc., from home. Indian nature writing ning with A, Band C. Prayer in the land of the fig always interests them and they tree and vine. like to learn the signs. Have The results of an imaginary dark-haired boy wearing head- trip to South America were vis- Prayer where the waves dash loudly and cold. dress and blanket collect offer- ualized by the writer in an iming in basket or jar. A box for provised moving picture – pic- Prayer where the lion stalks fearless and bold. some Indian mission may be tures pasted on strip of paper packed. If a victrola is avail- with explanatory cap t ion s, Prayer in cathedrals whose able, play such selections as names of missionaries written spires tower high. the "Love Call," "Marcellina," etc. Use selections from "Hia- and verses chosen for each Prayer in kirks and cabins watha," "Lady Yea r dIe y' s country, the ends of this long close by. strip being fastened to two Guest," "Joc's Coals of Fire" broomsticks turned by boys to Prayer where two are gathered (from "The Rules of the Game" show the entire reel. The leader to pray. by Lambertson), and various read all script aloud for the benstories of mission work among efit of the little folks unable to Everywhere, eve r y w her e, prayer today." Indians. Close devotional part read for themselves. Textbooks of meeting with Indian stanza The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK "I Was a Stranger" the curt 'Move on, you!' of the transient bureaus and camps in sheriff at the county line, or ac- operation-295 bureaus and 190 "For I was hungry, and ye tual arrest and sentence to the camps. With the reduction in gave me to eat; I was thirsty, workhouse or the chain gang, relief spending in 1934-1935 and ye gave me drink; I was a have been and still are the pen- came the order to the states "to stranger, and ye took me in; alties too frequently exacted close intake at the transient cennaked, and ye clothed me; I was from the victim of unguided mi- ters and camps and to liquidate sick, and ye visited me; I was in gration. Having no responsible the entire program as of Novemprison, and ye came unto me. agency to direct him to oppor- ber 1, 1935. Then shall the righteous answer tunity for personal employment, him, saying, Lord, when saw we he drifts or is shoved in this di- "During the 20 months of life thee hungry, and fed thee? or rection or that. ' of the transient program, state athirst, and gave thee drink? and local authorities had been And when saw we thee a "Not all those who move from completely absorbed in adminisstranger, and took thee in? or place to place are mentally or tering ERA, CWA, and various naked, and clothed thee? And physically competent to under- other related activities under when saw we thee sick, or in take to fend for themselves in a 'emergency' legislation. No prison, and came unto thee ?" new field. But men are not al- thought had been given to an Matthew 25: 35-40. ways at fault for having no adjustment of the old poor laws money saved on which to sup- to meet new conditions." "Move On, You!" * port themselves after months in the lumber camp, or on railroad "By March, 1936, many states "Traditionally the American construction, or following the had become thoroughly alive to people have regarded the stran- crops. Often enough the wages the fact that it was not enough ger who asked for alms as a for which they work are grossly to ask for federal funds with ne'er-do-well whose own fault it inadequate to meet their needs. which to meet the needs of tranwas that he found himself in Compelled as they are to take sient relief, but that there must such sorry straits. Let him help the only jobs they can get, there be a sharing of responsibility himself ! Was there not oppor- are times when they need help between national and state govtunityand success for every man from the society which tolerates ernments and that the states to take care of himself if he these conditions." must face the fact that their 'had it in him'? own laws of legal settlement The depression years of 1930 were, by their rigidity and lack "The man who takes to the and 1931 saw a tremendous in- of uniformity, creating some of road' today in quest of work crease in the numbers in those the very problems of which all carries with him, unaware, the illegally "riding the rods." Still states complained." ball and chain of the settlement more were "thumbing a ride." laws of Old England. If work is The budgets of private agencies Three interstate conferences not found and, need develops, he which had been aiding these have been held. suddenly finds himself in an transients were steadily declinalien community, unwelcome, ing and the numbers needing "In all these conferences the with no legal claim for aid, with help were steadily increasing. Committee on Care of Transient limited private charitable re- A National Committee on Care and Homelesst kept up a drumsources available to him, and of Transient and Homeless was fire on the objective of federal, with suspicion directed toward composed of individuals from state, and local responsibility in him as a dangerous character. national agencies concerned with this field, together with em- The hospitality of the police some phase of the problem of phasis on the basic remedies of station, the 'two meals and a transiency and homelessness. 'surer direction and guidance' flop' in a municipal lodging Through the efforts of this com- for men in search of employhouse or second-rate mission, mittee the Federal Transient ment. Unification of the laws Program was formulated. of legal settlement throughout • Excerpts from "After Five Years," pub- the United States was urged, as lished by the Committee on Care of Tran- By 1934, forty-four states and was the vesting of responsibility sient and Homeless, 1270 Sixth Avenue, New the District of Columbia had York, price 10 cents, t The Council of Women for Home Mis- [385 ] sions Is represented on this Committee. in the state governments to de- was a desire to express the spirit Kingdom of God under the captermine settlement. The federal of the Preaching Mission-unity tion, "Thy Kingdom Come." Dr. and state authorities were asked of effort for the Kingdom of Lyman said that to Jesus the to prov'ide the necessary funds God. Kingdom meant living the will with which to meet the relief of God and that His was one life needs of the unsettled person. The four organizations, The lived in harmony with God. An Council of Women for Home ideal was held before this great "Each of these conferences Missions, the Women's Commit- group of city women to leave the appointed a continuing commit- tee of the Foreign Missions Con- distracting small things and live tee charged with carrying out ference, the National Council of lives in harmony with God, decertain recommendations of the Federated Church Women and voted to the interests of His conference and with bringing the Women's Cooperating Com- Kingdom. What could not be the resolutions of the conference mission of the Federal Council accomplished by this challenge to the attention of the proper of Churches, combined to bring to seven hundred women put authorities. together the church women of into action? metropolitan New York. Nearly "The Council of State Govern- 700 sat down in fellowship. The second speaker of the day, ments, meeting in its Third Gen- While the greater number were Rev. Joseph R. Sizoo, D.D., lately eral Assembly in Washington in from metropolitan New York, come to New York from Wash- January, 1937, with representa- including cities and towns in ington, D. C., brought rich extion from 45 states, adopted a New Jersey, We s t c he s t e r periences from his contacts with series of resolutions favoring County, New York, and Long varying groups. All he found 'uniform and reciprocal state Island, there were guests from going back for satisfaction of laws to iron out some of the con- Poughkeepsie, New York; Stam- heart-hunger to the Christian flicts in the field of social se- ford and Norwalk, Connecticut; faith. Dr. Sizoo had as his topic curity.' It recommended a stand- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; "For Such a Day as This," and ard requirement of one year to Washington, D. C. ; the Bay pointed out how Christian womgain settlement; a provision for region and Southern California; anhood in such a time must meet retaining the old settlement un- Atlanta, Georgia, and Toronto, the heart-hunger of the world til a new settlement was ac- Canada. for the Gospel. He said we quired; relief and service dur- have got to develop a new kind ing any period of inquiry as to The luncheon was planned of heroism. settlement; authority vested in the state public welfare depart- under the chairmanship Of Mrs. Dr. Robert M. Searle, as secment to determine settlement; retary of the New York Federafunds available to the state for Augustus Trowbridge, who was tion of Churches, offered the inreimbursement of local commu- vocation, and the benediction nities for service rendered to also the charming presiding was pronounced by Rev. William transients; and approval of the officer. By her long-range plan- Adams Brown, D.D., Chairman 'Uniform Transfer of Depend- ning Mrs. Trowbridge was able of the Committee on Universal ents Act.' These resolutions, to bring to the luncheon group a Life and Work. bearing as they do the stamp of cable message from India from approval of the official delegates Dr. E. Stanley Jones as follows: In closing we quote from a from 45 states,constitute the "Personal gratitude your signifi- letter of Dr. Brown's received crystallization in government of cant move toward unity. Light after the luncheon, for it exa sense of social responsibility in that direction. Follow it." presses what so many feel: for the non-resident." Another cable message of bless- ing on the undertaking from I do not know when I have attended May Luncheon for Church Maude Royden and a third mes- a meeting which seemed to me more sage from across seas, from vibrant· with thrilling possibilities. Women Lady Astor, "All we who profess It was not merely the fact that the the Christian faith will unite large company assembled was an ir:.- On May 10 at the Hotel Bilt- when we understand and apply dication of the resources of far-reachmore, New York City, a really Jesus' message, 'Now are we the ing and intelligent service which the significant luncheon took place. Sons of God,' and follow His Church possesses in her consecrated There had been several May Day command." President Mary E. womanhood, but still more the fact luncheons sponsored by one Woolley was prevented by the that your meeting together, instead interdenominational organiza- one hundredth anniversary of of separately, was an indication of tion for the missionary women Mount Holyoke College from be- your recognition that whatever difof metropolitan New York but ing present. In her place at the ferentiation of function may prove this luncheon sponsored by the guest table was Mrs. William wise from the point of view of effecfour interdenominational or- Adams Brown. tive administration, the cause is at ganizations . t h r 0 ugh which heart one. Dr. Mary Ely Lyman, just rechurch women have been work- turned from receiving an hon- May this cause which is one ing, symbolized a new epoch. orary degree from Mount Hol- be served whole-heartedly by The thought back of this effort yoke, brought a strong message every woman who has taken the on what church women can con- name of Jesus Christ upon her, tribute toward bringing in the and may she give herself entirely to Him in "Such a Day as This."
EMMA JESSIE OGG.
~ Our World–wide
I A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO EUROPE the influence of a book by the restore the crucifixes to their original headmaster of a Jewish girls' places on the walls. The Bible in Spain secondary school whose study of anti-Semitism has led him to In his May Day speech Hitler In the latest report of the realize that the only solution to is reported to have declared: "I British and Foreign Bible So- the Jewish problem is to be will not tolerate that the German ciety, reference is made to the found in Christ. Two hundred people's authority shall be mentriumphs of the Bible in Spain Jewish families in Bucharest are aced from any quarter. . . . during the present conflict and prepared to become Christians, That holds good above all for distress. Although the civil war but the State church refuses to the churches." was raging in Spain for half the encourage the movement. . year with which the report As to the children of Chrisdeals, a circulation of 211,000 -Watchman-Examiner. tian people he said: volumes was achieved. The Bible Society's depot in Madrid Religious Education in Sweden We will take their children and was kept open during the siege will educate them to become new Gerand the Society's agent remained The Lutheran Church is the mans. We will not permit them to at his post. State Church in Sweden and in lapse into the old ways of thinking. all high schools and colleges re- We will take them when they are ten Evangelism in Belgium ligion is a required subject. It years old and bring them up in the includes Bible study, church spirit of the community until they are Within the past few months, history, comparative religion eighteen. They shall not escape us! the Belgian Gospel Mission, and missions. School work befounded by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph gins every day with a religious -New York Times. Norton, has opened seven new service lasting about fifteen mincenters, making a total of sixty- utes, with a view to training What of the Waldenses? six in which the Gospel is reg- pupils to do serious thinking on ularly preached. M. Vansteen- religious and ethical questions. This oldest evangelical church berghe, one of the directors of in the world, a church that has the Mission, was converted from Teachers of religion are re- withstood more than 30 organatheism in England during the quired to be members of the ized persecutions, today has 250 war, through the reading of the State Church. Great demands churches and missions in Italy. Bible while in a hospital. are made as to the teacher's per- Because of retrenchment in sonality; he must preach by his other churches, the Waldenses M. Vansteenberghe tells how character the same ideals that are carrying more responsibility one center was opened as typical he teaches. for Christian witnessing in Italy of all the others: A brushmaker, than ever before. Last year living near Ypres, heard the -The Christian Advocate. they provided over 88 per cent Gospel at a meeting last June, of the money spent upon their was converted, and straightway The Cross in German Schools Missions throughout Italy, their asked if a hall could be opened H 0 s pit a 1s, their Children's in his village. With his small An order to replace the cruci- Homes, their Homes for the life savings, he enlarged a brick fix in classrooms in Germany Aged, their College at Torre Pelshed attached to his house, so with pictures of Adolph Hitler lice and their Theological Semthat it is capable of seating forty has resulted in great excitement inary at Rome. Their congregapeople. On the opening day, and open resistance. The Liv- tions are larger than ever, and sixty crowded in, and others ing Church says: Italians in increasing numbers stood outside the door listening. are joining their churches. The unyielding attitude of Roman -Life of Faith. Catholic parents forced the authori- It is clear that an evangelical ties at Konnersreuth to restore the agency, such as the Waldensian Jews Turn to Christ crucifixes to the classrooms in that Church, is more needed in Italy city. Upward of 100 irate townsmen than ever before. The Barbican Mission to the marched to the home of the school Jews, London, reports that sev- superintendent and chanted in unison AFRICA eral hundred Jewish families in their demand for restitution of the Rumania are prepared to accept Christian symbols. The intervention 11 Duce and the Moslems Christ. This is largely due to of the police, with drawn revolvers, failed to intimidate the townspeople. A New York Times corre- The upshot of this demonstration was spondent in Egypt declares the an order from the local authorities to majority of Moslems are unal- [387 ]
terably opposed to Mussolini's Protestants Not Wanted Tea With Tracts claim to be "defender of the in Tripoli Moslem faith." Sheikh Musta- Dr. Burkitt of Nairobi in pha el Maraghi, rector of the The medical mission for Mos- Kenya Colony, Africa, is a dithousand-year-old Azhar Uni- lems and Jews in Tripoli has rector of a tea plantation and at versity in Cairo, and recognized been closed by Italian authori- the same time carries on Chrisas the ecclesiastical head of Mos- ties, and the missionary doctor tian work. He is promoting an lems throughout the world, says: was ordered to leave the terri- East Africa Colportage Society "Only a Moslem who believes in tory. For half a century the for the distribution of Scripture the religion of Mohammed and North Africa Mission has main- portions and evangelical booklets lives up to the laws of the Koran tained this healing and preach- among the blacks from many can be the defender or protector ing center, the only evangelical tribes who pass through on their of Islam. No other person, no witness in the whole of Libya. way to mines and plantations. matter of what race or religion Complying with Government re- They eagerly read anything they or nationality, can be our de- quirements, the purpose of the can get in their own dialects. fender." mission was described as: "Ex- Dr. Burkitt has an attractive plaining the way of salvation depot in Nairobi which he hopes Their religion forbids Moham- through the Lord Jesus Christ to duplicate in other centers of medans from being ruled by non- in obedience to His commands, East Africa. -So S. Times. Moslems, and those of that faith and also endeavoring to show the in the Near East are not at all love of God in our medical con- WESTERN ASIA interested in Mussolini's pro- sultations." nouncement. After Fifty Years A' government ordinance of Cairo's College for Girls Two reports from North Syria August 26 authorized the mis- prove that progress may appear The American College for sion to continue under three con- over a stretch of half a century, Girls at Cairo, administered by ditions: (a) No religious prop- which cannot be seen from year the American Mission in Egypt aganda. (b) Nurses to have to year. The first is that of for the United Presbyterian Italian diplomas. (c) Premises Rev. D. M. Wilson in regard to Church of North America, is the to conform to Hygiene Inspec- Tripoli, written in 1853; the lineal descendant of the first tor's regulations. The doctor other, written fifty years later girls' school in all Egypt. The was unaware of this Ordinance by Rev. F. W. March, who died cornerstone of the first building until it was read to him at the last year after 60 years in Syria. was laid February 25, 1908. The police station; after which, original college building fund charged with disregarding its "We mention schools not bewas raised through the personal terms, he was ordered to leave cause we have any, but to state efforts of its founder and first and the Mission was closed. the reason why we have none. president, Miss Ella O. Kyle, Near the close of the last year supported by a committee in -Moslem World. our school in Tripoli was broken Pittsburgh and individuals in up by the Greeks…. At none both Egypt and America. The Good News from Nigeria of the villages is there any proslargest single contribution was pect that a school would open the $30,000, a gift from Mr. John D. H. G. Farrant, field secretary way for a preaching station; and Rockefeller, Sr. It is the most of the Sudan United Mission, to sustain a school for the sake advanced Protestant missionary gives an encouraging account of of the influence of the school school for girls in North Africa, present conditions in northern alone, under any native teacher occupying a strategic position in Nigeria. Although a few years we can. employ, we regard as a a city that is the largest in the ago a missionary would be able waste of missionary funds. . . . continent, and that is, at the to give the names and histories Since last spring the Christians same time, the intellectual and of all the converts, today that have lived in constant fear of spiritual center of the Arabic- would be impossible. By far the their Moslem neighbors, indeed speaking Moslem world. greater number of converts of a large part of the Christian recent years have been won, not population fled in midsummer The student body numbers by Europeans, but by Africans. to the mountains where many of mor~ than 400; courses include It is the aim of the Mission to them still remain. . . . If asked the whole gamut of a girl's edu- "blacken" the work as much as whether there be signs of a cation, from the Beginners' De- possible. Thirty men with their brighter dawn our answer would partment through the equivalent wives and families are being be very unsatisfactory." of an American Junior College trained at Gindiri for evangeliscourse. Among graduates are tic work. Two centers in the "The Tripoli field has eight found doctors, nurses, lawyers, heart of one Moslem district, organized churches, most of musicians, teachers, office work- which had not been available for which include groups of villages, ers, an artist of note, Egypt's missionary effort during thirty so that the eight churches take sole aviatrix, and a host of effi- years, are now occupied. The in all the church members of the cient wives and mothers. opening of a new leper colony at whole field. Each church has a Maiduguri means the possibility native preacher. There are 23 of reaching 1,000,000 people. outstations including 25 schools -The Christian.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
which are visited regularly. In suggested that since the mission- threw herself on the body of her the eight churches are 767 mem- aries had discovered the source dead husband prepared for crebers. . . . During the year, 31 of disease, doubtless they would mation. God knows what else persons have been received on provide a new and safe fountain. she did in the name of Christ the profession of faith. The eight "Unfortunately," said the mis- Great Physician." churches working together as a sionary, "our mission has no Presbytery have established a money for such projects, nor Physical Training for Women Home Mission work; a commit- have we as individuals." tee composed wholly of Syrians The Physical Education Colhaving been appointed to receive Finally it was agreed that if lege for Women in Bengal is an and disburse funds and direct the missionary could provide the experiment financed in Canada. the work. They have raised cement for a sealed fountain, the It has made a beginning with 9,000 ps." headman would provide the 16 pupils, Europeans and In- labor. Now the 2,000 people of dians, from various parts of In- -Syria News Quarterly. the Moslem village get clean dia, women of good educational water and the Christians are standing who think it worth American Mission Press welcomed as friends. while spending time and money to obtain this extra qualification. The year 1934 marked the -Monday Morning. Even for girls, education is no centenary of the American Mis- longer confined to books; they sion Press in Beirut, Syria. The INDIA AND SIAM are the healthier and happier Press was founded in 1822 on for the change. Calcutta has the Island of Malta for service Seeing Below the Surface had a physical education college in the Near East, but it was not for men for a few years, and its until 1834 that it was actually "World travelers who visit influence is already felt throughmoved to Beirut, where it has port cities, stay in good hotels out the province. The girls' colnow completed over one hundred and follow guides may have an lege will soon be as well known. years of missionary publication interesting time, but they learn and printing for Arabic-speak- little of human suffering and its A recent demonstration of the ing lands. Its literature now amelioration," writes a corre- College was largely attended by goes to some twenty-five differ- spondent of the Christian Evan- prominent people of Calcutta. ent countries. gelist. -Indian Witness. Many missionaries and in- "My saddest experience has digenous workers have aided in been to note the look of fear, as New Methods in Rural Work various ways. A zealous young well as suffering, in the faces of Swiss has recently printed at the teeming thousands-a look born Evangelistic work in rural Press a useful leaflet, "How to of ignorance, disease and under- areas seems to be taking a new Read the Bible." Dr. N. Nucho, nourished bodies; a ghastly look turn, and promises well for Director of Hamlin Memorial of futility because there is no building up the Church. In gen- Sanatorium, has distributed in physician, no hospital, nurse or eral, the emphasis is: the past several years thousands medicine; and worse yet, no of copies of a tract on "Tuber- courage that comes from the (1) Seek to concentrate evangelistic culosis and Its Prevention," Spirit of Christ. In most orien- effort in villages and seek to build largely at his own expense. tal countries, as well as in Cen- up the old Christian communities; tral Africa, there is probably no (2) oDtain a mediating leadership; -Syria News Quarterly. more than one trained physician (3) make a decisive and deep im- to every 200,000 people. pression on chaudhri leaders by liv- Disturbing the Village ing with them; (4) aim to make them "A few years ago I spent sev- the firebrands that will set the villages When a missionary came to a eral hours with a medical mis- aflame, and (5) get them to take re- Moslem village in Syria, it did sionary in India. This delicate sponsibility for follow-up work. not take his trained-nurse wife woman gave herself and her long to tell him that much of the service to people in their filth, It is a new experience for old disease rampant in the town was ignorance and abysmal super- converts from the sweeper class due to the public fountain, where stition and suffering, packed in to live in the same tents with the women dipped hands and poverty like rabbits in a warren. city folks, and "break caste" by jars to draw the family water She dressed wounds many times eating with them. It is also a supply. after having taken out the mag- new experience for them to work gots. She cleansed the fly larvae to schedule and obey the call of "It is the will of Allah that from the festering eyes of little the bell, and in the evenings to there should be sickness," said children and bound them with get the exer_cise afforded by the village headman when it was healing lotions. She gave con- games of football. urged that he take steps to rem- solation and sedative to a dying edy this condition. "You stran- man who had hold of the tail of -Indian Witness. gers are disturbing our village. the sacred cow which had been Please go away and do not come brought into the house to help Andhra Christian College back." in his dying moments. She com- forted a wailing widow as she The United Lutheran Church On second thought he shrewdly of America and the Church Mis- sionary Society of Great Britain have worked out a plan of coop-
eration in Andhra Christian Fruit of Leper Work and shot them. Their bodies College. The first C. M. S. pro- were dumped in a lime-filled fessor will join the staff on Dr. and Mrs. J. W. McKean, trench, and the village was looted July 1. Lutherans will provide now living in retirement at and burned. A smaller group a dormitory for C. M. S. stu- Claremont, California, were mis- was slain near Canton, and Candents. sionaries in Siam for thirty ton authorities are also said to years, establishing the first or- be engaged in making a round- It is hoped that the American ganized work for lepers in that up of all lepers. Lutheran Church Mission, the kingdom. About 2,000 lepers American Baptist Mission, the have since entered the asylum at Military authorities had long English Methodist Mission, the Chiengmai. There are 450 there threatened to end the little Canadian Baptist Mission and now and nearly all have become Happy Valley colony in their efthe American Methodist Epis- active, praying Christians, mak- forts to wipe out the disease. copal Mission will also coop- ing regular contributions to the work out of their very limited Mission to Chinese Buddhists erate. allowance for food money. The Christian Mission to Bud- Women Elders in Siam A recent letter from Chieng- dhists is now fifteen years old. mai Leper Asylum includes this Its first headquarters were in The Leper Asylum, Chieng- statement: "Mr. Pia begs to Nanking, but in 1926 the center mai, Siam, has the distinction of hand to Dr. McKean two ticals was moved to Shatin, near Honghaving the first women elders in and to Mrs. McKean two ticals kong. The influence of this work the Presbyterian Church. Nang to be used in God's work." (A extends to every large monastery La and .Nang Kan Gao were tical is worth about 50 cents.) in China and even reaches elected to eldership in April, Japan, Malaya and Formosa. 1925. At that time Siam formed -Monday Morning. Since the beginning of the mistwo presbyteries of the synod of sion over eighty Buddhist and New York. These two saintly CHINA Taoist monks of "lay-devotees" old women went about the duties have been baptized as Christians of their high office with a hu- "The Bread of Life" and some have become pastors mility and joy touching to be- of churches. In addition, there hold. A cracker manufacturer of are several thousand "Tao Yu" Hongkong encloses in each tin -interested men and women. There had been good reason of his wares, shipped throughout for their election. Many leper China and the Netherlands In- Until recently this work has women were so crippled they dies, a small paper on which is been supported by funds from could not come to the chapel, and printed in four languages- Norway, Sweden and Denmark, missed the comfort of the weekly Chinese, Javanese, Malay and but it is expected that the Anservice. These women therefore English-the text, "Jesus said, glican Church will help next asked that two of their number I am the Bread of Life." year. The plan is to form a be made elders to comfort, teach brotherhood of converted Budand administer sacrament to When a representative of the dhist monks, already accustomed helpless shut-ins. The two most British and Foreign Bible So- to celibacy, who will live together loved were Nang La and Nang ciety called on this man recently and be available for special evan- Kan Gao. Nang La had been a he showed him a drawer full of gelistic· work among educated wretched beggar. Her near letters which he had received, Buddhist lay folk in the cities, relatives did not care for her asking for more information and among the hills of Yunnan. and at the progressive signs of about this Jesus, "the Bread of leprosy drove her away from Life." In reply, he always sends .-Chinese Recorder. her home. Her only recourse a copy of St. John's Gospel, with was holding out her twisted a personal testimony to its in- Results from Small Efforts hands for alms. Then she found fluence on his own life. Christ and began to "serve the During her stay in China, Lord with gladness." -Alliance Weekly. Muriel Lester says the most re- markable piece of work she saw Nang Kan Gao lived in He~then 'Cruelty was the transformation of a vil- Chiengmai where her husband lage in twelve months. Two was an elder in the church and Presbyterian missionaries re- missionaries lived so close to the she herself was a great Bible port the execution of 80 mem- Chinese in fellowship and so student and ardent Christian. bers of a leper colony in Yeung- close to our Lord in spirit, that Her husband died and Nang kong, Kwangtung Pro v inc e, by using only their spare time· Kan Gao carried on alone. China, by civil and military au-_ and spending almost no money When it was discovered that she thorities. These lepers lived in they were able to evoke from the had leprosy, still in its early a little cluster of huts known as peasants of a neighboring village stage, she immediately started Happy Valley, and existed by sufficient confidence, communal on foot to Chiengmai. Because their own efforts, aided by the ambition and initiative to set up the disease was caught in its missionaries. A lone survivor three schools, a library and early stage, it was arrested. told of hiding in a sewer of the reading room, a daily clinic, a village while soldiers bound his -Siam Outlook. associates, carried them to a hill
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
public exhibition of agricultural Better Conditions for Women "I told her that the baby produce in which five or six other villages cooperated, and a A Woman's Life Improvement seemed well and strong, a finegroup of voluntary actors, stilt Association is being sponsored looking little fellow-I thought walkers, conjurors, to enliven by the Kiangsi provincial gov- she was doing a good job. She the long days of the New Year ernment. For six months the holiday. Association will investigate the said no, he was spoiled. She living conditions of women in couldn't feed him properly, she A leading medical man had Kiangsi. Then plans will be couldn't train him properlybeen helping the peasants near the grandparents wouldn't allow his hospital set up a credit and worked out for the promotion of it. Every time she tried to cormarketing cooperative. Amazed the welfare of women. From rect him, they interfered and at the resourcefulness and re- July, 1937, to June, 1942, is to scolded her! I tried to sympaliability that was forthcoming be the period of enforcement. thize with her, but I told her it In the first year a home econom- was her job, and a tough one. he summed up his whole ex- If only there were any hopes of perience of China: ics' school will be established. training the grandparents !" The second year will see the ex- "There is no country like it. tension of the program to ten JAPAN-CHOSEN Here one gets such big results more districts: the third year to 20 more districts; the fourth from such small efforts." year to 25 more districts; and Intensive Rural Campaign -The Christian Advocate. the fifth year to 27 more dis- In experimenting with ways Mui Tsai Slavery tricts, thus finally covering the and means to carryon its cam- whole province. Special stress paign for "100,000 new men and boys for Christ in ten years," For some years the British will be laid on needs of farming the Brotherhood of St. Andrew Government has been trying to and working women. Physical is giving a full half of its energy education, civic training, indus- this year to stirring up activity end the practice called Mui Tsai, trial and farming production, whereby young girls are sold useful social activities and set- in rural evangelism. An Insti- ting up of good habits will all tute for training rural workers into service – to work for the receive attention. will be held in Tokyo, August purchasing household without pay and without the right to -China Critic. 16-21, when a well-planned, leave. Yet in spite of legal en- practical demonstration course actments, ways and means have How Would You Answer This? will be conducted by rural workbeen found to continue the prac- ers in such problems as evantice, which cannot be considered What is the proper way to de- gelism, woman's work, young anything but a mild form of cline taking a baby to bring up? slavery. The recent findings of This is what a missionary in men's work, church school meththe Royal Commission appointed Hainan would like to know, and ods, and health and occupational to investigate this matter make here is why. schemes. Only three rural work- ers, lay or clerical, from each of clear such a conclusion to any A young Christian mother the ten dioceses, will be invited has been much interested in the to participate in the first instiimpartial investigator. feeding and care of her baby, and came to the Mission at in- tute. The Onabake Mission was The Manchester Guardian gets tervals with questions. She had chosen as being best suited for to the heart of the problem when asked for a book on "Care and demonstration purposes, being it says: Training of Children." Let the missionary finish the story: located five miles from the rail- If it were possible to discover what way station, in the midst of a girls are Mui Tsai, the present legis- "She was the fi'rst mother I countryside completely population in Hongkong and Malaya, properly enforced, would be sufficient to lated by small farmers. This abolish the practice. The difficulty, had known to intimate that she little mission was made possible as the Commission and all other in- was not fully qualified to bring through a gift of $1,000 secured vestigators have realized, is that the up any number of children. But by Bishop Dallas, following his possessors of a Mui Tsai naturally claim that the child is something else I had not seen her for several visit to Japan last year.
-an illegitimate daughter, a child left weeks, when she came up one -The Living Church. in their care by relations, or, gen- Sunday after church. When I erally, "an adopted daughter-in-law" went downstairs to greet her, More Japanese Deities -that is, a girl child adopted until she said, 'I've brought my baby she is old enough to marry a son of to hand over to you, so you can To Japan's national pantheon, the house. The only practical meas- bring him up properly,' and she which is said to include "eighty ure that has ever been suggested to myriads of gods," 1,148 new stop this is to register. all adopted pushed him into my hands, con- deities were added in solemn daughters-in-law and, if necessary, all tinuing, 'I don't know how. I ceremonies last April. They children transferred from their par- want you to teach him and feed were soldiers of the empire who ents' care. The Governments in Hong- him and train him-it wouldn't had died during the past year. kong and Malaya have always resisted be hard for you. It's hard for this on the ground that such measures me. I'm not equal to it. Oh, The ceremonies in form and would logically lead to the registration and supervision of every girl in meaning have no Occidental the colony. I'll pay you,' she added.
counterparts. The rites were Even before the tent meetings ISLANDS OF THE PAOIFIO carried out in darkness. Against the local congregation had felt the black background of the the old church building inade- Demon Possession in shrine the white-robed Shinto quate, and had taken up a sub- South Seas priests and military officers who scription, at great sacrifice, of assisted made striking, ghost- one hundred yen. A wealthy A missionary in the South Sea like figures. Three thousand Christian woman in Taiku Evangelical Mission, working in members of the families of the who had grown up in that village the Solomon Islands, thinks that dead and the highest officers of gave another hundred. Follow- those who scoff at the reality of the army and navy were present. ing the Sunday service all joined Satan and demons, would revise in a parade. "A couple of hun- their theology if they could be First, the chief priest of the dred strong we marched a half in a heathen village for a few shrine invited the spirits of the mile to the river-bed," writes days. He tells of a notorious departed to enter the sanctuary. Mr. Adams, "We each, men, old witch doctor whose mind was Rites were held to felicitate the women and children picked up a incapable of grasping spiritual new deities on their elevation. stone according to our strength. ideas. When he was convicted In solemn procession, with a mil- We marched back to town, while of sin and he accepted Christ his itary band playing a funeral an- non-Christians lined the streets mind cleared, and his joy was them, a small portable shrine, to see the strange parade. We unbounded. But Satan did not conceived to contain the spirits deposited the stones in the easily release him. Next day a of the new deities, was carried church courtyard, and then held man hurried to the mission, crythrough the courtyard to the a brief service dedicating these ing: main temple. All lanterns and first offerings to the future place other lights were extinguished of worship to the one and only "Come quick! Old Mae-hui during its passage. When the true God and His Son. It was shake-shake too much; old fell a ark was placed in its proper a witness of solidarity among devil come back." niche the shrine lights were relit Christians." and offerings of fruit, vegetables The old man was found graspand wine were placed before the Stages of Growth in Korea ing the rafters of his low dwellnew spirits. ing, shaking the building with The figures tracing Presby- great power, and crying out in Those deified in the recent terian Church growth in Korea an unearthly way. Prayer was ceremony brought the total so since 1900 are significant. The offered and soon Mae-hui called worshipped to 130,967. first decade of this century saw out, "Lord Jesus, save me from a growth of 1,1000/0 in adher- this devil's power." Immediately -New York Times. ents, but in the second decade he fell exhausted to the floor and slept heavily for a few hours. A Witness of Solidarity the increase was only 3 %. Dur- He soon recovered and has gone on since a happy Christian. Edward Adams writes from ing the third, the figure advanced Taiku, Korea, of results that fol- to 26%, while in the six years of NORTH AMERIOA lowed a week of tent meetings this fourth decade there has ten miles from Taiku, where a been the almost unbelievable in- Oommission on Unity church had been established ten crease of 75.5%. years ago, but they were ten Largely as an outgrowth of years of struggle for bare exist- Baptized membership has not the National Preaching Mission, ence. A little farther into the kept pace with this. While it a new "Commission for the mountains are two more groups was 1,000% between 1900 and Study of Christian Unity" will -about three miles apart-very 1910, the next decade shows carryon. "a continuous educamuch in the same condition. Too 76%, the third 33%, and the six tional program," both as to the far from the main currents of "conditions that create the de- Christian activities, and with the years of the fourth 24 %. There mand for a greater unity" and strong and overwhelming back- as to the various proposals by ward pull of a hostile society, it were no native pastors in 1900; which unity may be achieved. has been a discouraging strug- there were 40 in 1920; then an The educational program would gle. A native pastor, four lay increase of 3500/0 in 1920, of strive to produce attitudes favorworkers, two women and two 127% in 1930 and 29% in 1936. able to an advance in unity, and men made up the Gospel team. readiness to give open-minded For three days the tent was filled These figures reflect the great consideration to whatever plans (500-800 people) morning, noon revival that followed loss of in- seem most promising. and night. Workers took turns dependence; the period of conin addressing the multitudes solidation that followed, a period Some of the conditions behind· with time out only at meals. By that has now passed and the the demand for greater unity Sunday night 140 decided to ac- Church seems to be entering an– are: cept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. other forward movement. Mis- Two evangelists ~tayed to do fol- sionary work in Korea began in Overchurching in local areas. low-up work, and the next week 1884; Christians now number Inefficient use of resources. 20 more decisions were made. 520,000. Since the total popula- The meaninglessness of our divisions tion is 20,500,000, each Chris- tian must win 40 others! when transplanted to the mission fields, where new churches are -Christianity Today. being created.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
The lack of moral authority in a British Army by a man named been studied very little, if at all. Church which appeals for unity Jackson at the time of the Amer- The results of their research is in the world at large, when it ican Revolution. Today one can then compiled, and used by gov- find albinos, mulattoes, as well ernment agencies, universities, has such insufficient unity within itself.
Progress in Kentucky's as combinations of these, and Bible translation societies and negroid and Indian features. scientific research societies. Mountains Little was done concerning This offers opportunity for their physical, mental or spir- Rapid changes are being made itual needs until the Episcopal service and discovery seldom in the Kentucky mountain com- Church began work there sev- surpassed in the realm of scienmunities. Many county seats eral years ago. Two years ago, are connected by good roads; tific research, as there are hunrivers once crossed only by fords Rev. Albert Chillson took hold dreds of extremely interesting have been bridged. Many good of the work. He found malnu- languages about which very schools have been erected. trition was widespread, high mortality among children and little is known, and long-sought 'rhe College at Berea operates destitution in general. Mr. Chill- secrets about the relationships a "book car." One who travels son gained their confidence by of people and streams of migrain it writes: tion. The Institute's headquar- repeated visits, and when he ters are at 506 Commonwealth During my almost six years of trav- proposed a religious service in Building, Philadelphia, Pa.
eling I have seen six new school build- the near-by schoolhouse on Sun- The Mormon Program ings replace old ones. In three in- day afternoons they responded of Today stances a two-room building has taken amazingly, both in numbers and the place of a one-room school. With It is well to know just what the new buildings, conditions have im- in their participation in the serv- the Mormons are up to in these proved. The better light and freshly ices. So far, only a beginning United States: painted walls seem conducive to clean- has been made. liness. In one school a small kitchen 1. Nearly 2,000 emissaries at work, has oeen equipped for serving hot -The Living Church. without salary. lunches.
Transportation of pupils to Saving the "Shreds" 2. Using deceptive radio talks mis- leading many.
county high schools is becoming Said Horace Mann in a lecture 3. Using millions of copies of perimore common. For the Cumber- on education: "The ash e s, odicals and tracts, all craftily written land National Forest the govern- to lead people to believe things utterly shreds and wrecks of everything contrary to the Bible. ment has already purchased are of some value." A California 300,000 acres, and plans even- reformatory is acting on this 4. Having a great building era; theory, and results are in sharp while it has already seven so-called tually to buy a total of 1,338,000 "temples" costing an average of acres, in seventeen counties of contrast to most misnamed "re- Kentucky. formatories" from which youtps $770,000, it is building soon a $525,000 plant in Los Angeles, another in Idaho, a new meeting-house in Chi- There are still very many commonly come out worse than cago costing half a million, besides its regions in which "the roads run when they entered. two $100,000 ones there; has another planned in Philadelphia; owns Manup the creeks, and the creeks run At the Preston School of In- hattan Congregational Church, New down the roads," many regions dustry, as this institution is York.
in which one must abandon all called, the boys are "cadets" in- 5. Has doubled its numbers twice thought of a car, and travel on stead of "inmates." Its cluster and one-third since the census of 1890 mule back or in jolt wagon to of buildings, with campus and and teaches that it is to rule the one's destination at some settle- world. ment or schoolhouse. athletic field, resembles a pleas- ant little college. Bars and 6. Has nearly all its Senior high- WILLIAM J. HUTCHINS. school students in its "Theological armed guards are only for a few Seminaries" one hour daily. "Jackson Whites" in sullen and vicious ones. The 7. Has millions of yearly income, rest have classes and military from tithing and large secular busi- ness interests, with which to do all New Jersey drills, learn trades, and are made this. 8. Has enough control over its peo- An isolated, backward group to feel that society is not against known as "Jackson Whites," liv- them, but on their side to aid ple to keep its proselyting force filled; ing in New Jersey, a few miles them to b e com e physically~ every young man expected to serve from the most heavily populated morally and mentally fit for use- two years or more. section of the United States, pre- ful citizenship. sent an ethnological puzzle. To -Light on Mormonism. -Evangelical-Messenger. Economic Freedom for Indians the original Indian settlers were Linguistic Research Hundreds of Navajo Indians added at least two other strains; met early in April in the Navajo Hessian deserters who in fleeing Each summer there is held an capital, Window Rock, Arizona, from their British masters had Institute of Linguistics, for the to draw up a new constitution.
settled in the hills and a part of purpose of training practical They desire a Legislature instead the 3,500 women, some white, linguistic investigators, and to of the old Tribal Council, which some black, imported under con- locate them among indigenous is claimed not to be representa- tract as camp-followers for the tribes whose languages have tive of all the people. Some of
the delegates were draped in torial officials, as well as mis- Fellowship will take part. The blankets, and some, college edu- sionaries, are deeply concerned campaign, lasting five or six cated, appeared as business men. over the situation. years, is designed to reach the All discussions were in the The Alaskan Native Brother- entire population of 16,000,000, Navajo tongue. hood, a Christian organization, which includes 3,000,000 of non- Seventy years ago this tribe has appealed to the missionaries Spanish – speaking Indians. A numbered 8,000; today there are for help in applying such restric- large circulation of the Scrip- 50,000 members. Their reser- tions to the traffic in intoxicants tures will be a feature of this vation includes 16,000 acres in as would afford the native people great effort.
Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. some measure of protection, and -Christianity Today.
Their land is rich in coal and save them from the moral de- oil. They own a million sheep, struction with which they are In the West Indies threatened. Victories over tempand their blanket business is ap- tation are being won by Alaskan The Presbyteries of Puerto proaching a million dollar indus- Rico and Cuba have been contry. Their constitution will be church members, who are sub- ducting evangelistic campaigns j ected almost daily to the sever- far more extensive than ever besubmitted to the "white fathers" est tests of the genuineness of fore. It is estimated that about at Washington. their Christian profession. 2,000 new members will be re- -Alliance Weekly.
Canadians Plan Federation Point Barrow Hospital Burns ceived as a result. These mem- bers have been trained for the Plans for a Canadian Federa- The hospital at Bar row, most part in the Sabbath schools. tion of Churches, fashioned Alaska, erected in 1921 by the The campaign has been carried somewhat after the Federal Presbyterian Board of National Council of Churches in the Missions, has been totally de- on by the pastors after weeks of United States, have been sent to stroyed by fire. The patients preparation. the heads of the Anglican, Bap- were removed safely, but meditist, Presbyterian and United cines and surgical equipment The Presbytery of Cuba or- Churches, the Salvation Army were destroyed. The loss is cov- dained two new ministers this and the Disciples. This proposed ered by insurance. Until July 1, year. They were members of federation would provide for 1936, when the operation of this the Sabbath school years ago, "the setting up of some coordi- hospital was transferred to the received their training from the nating council, so that in mat- Office of Indian Affairs of the ters of common interest we may U. S. Government, it provided mission schools of Cuba, and have the means of expressing the only health service available their seminary training in the ourselves, through one voice, to some 2,000 Eskimos. which could speak for the Prot- Evangelical Seminary in Puerto estant Church of our country." Emergency quarters h a v e Rico. One of them has estab- been fitted up, and medical sup- It is hoped thus to formulate plies and surgical equipment lished a church in what was fora united front of all Protestant have been shipped by dog team merly a garage, the only buildbodies on social questions, such from the Kotzebue Hospital. ing available when he was comas war and temperance, and for Mrs. Fred S. Klerekoper, wife pelled to move from a rented national evangelical work. of the missionary at Barrow, building, because of the annoy- who is a fully trained, registered -Advance. ance of a public cafe. The gar- age has been transformed into a nurse, will respond to emergency very attractive church audi- calls. Encouraging reports. have torium. The young minister and been received from the Klere- kopers regarding the progress his wife represent the new gen- Liquor Evils in Alaska of church work in the Barrow eration of Cubans, well prepared area. With characteristic devo- intellectllalIy, thoroughly identi- "The repeal of the Prohibition tion, the congregation continues fied with their own people, and Amendment was a major calam- definitely committed to the ideals ity for Alaska," says Dr. John of the Kingdom of Christ. M. Somerndike, Secretary for Alaska under the Presbyterian -The Presbyterian.
Board. "Ketchikan, for example, to carry forward the local pro- New Deal in Dominican with a population of less than gram of community worship and Republic 4,000, has 65 saloons where service. -Monday Morning. liquor is dispensed. Similar conditions prevail in every Alaskan LATIN AMERICA Long before the present gov- ernment used the term "New town and city. It is claimed that Evangelism in Mexico nearly two-thirds of the ship- Deal" it was a reality in the ments of Alaska steamship lines A cooperative effort in wideconsist of liquor. Its devastat- spread evangelism is being ar- Dominican mission field, and sixing effects are seen especially ranged, in which, among others, teen years of united action on among the native population. the National Bible Society of the part of United Brethren, Methodist and Presbyterian forces have proved its value. Immorality and every form of Scotland, the Scripture Gift Mis- Operating under four departvice follow in the wake of this sion, the Evangelical Churches ments – evangelistic, medical, evil. Government and terri- and the Latin America Prayer educational and social, the Board
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
for Christian Work in Santo Do- Need for Nationals in its annual feast and bull-fight. mingo has moved forward in a The constant noise and din of unified program w h i c h has The general situation in Cen- the drunken band all night long reached every stratum of Do- tral America directs attention to made sleep well-nigh impossible. minican life, and has become a the need for national Christian With the governor's permission vital factor for improvement. workers. Efforts are being made I was able to preach in the pub- There has been a substantial in- to send Christian workers into lic plaza as well as sell books, crease in the number of evan- several new Departments in before the bull-fight began. We gelicals. English Wesleyans are Guatemala, EI Salvador, Nic- had a good congregation and the now incorporated in this union aragua and Honduras. Foreign people were quite keen to listen church, and this year there was missionaries will take part in the to our message. held in Samafia the centennial advance, but the importance of celebration of the founding of the Bible Institutes at Pana- "The governor is a slave to the Wesleyan Methodist Church jachel for Indians, and that at drink. His wife asked if we had in that district among the Eng- Guatemala City and at San Jose a cure for this curse, and turnlish-speaking colored people, who in Costa Rica for Spanish-speak- ing to the two boys with me, I had migrated there from Penn- ing students, is increasingly ap- said, 'Senora, there are two of sylvania, New Jersey and the parent. Moreover, travel be- them. Ask them,' and Matias Carolinas in 1824. In 1837, tween the republics becomes Arela warmed my heart with his England sent a pastor who more difficult by the application splendid testimony. He was a founded a church with 60 char- of measures chiefly designed to known drunkard, but is now a ter members. The oldest mem- exclude foreign competitive im- free man through Christ. ber is 96 years old. Hanging on migration. News from Costa Rica the wall of her home is this indicates that the Government is "A seven hours' horseback motto, painted by her husband: taking drastic measures to limit journey took us to Copapata, "Childron United you stand de- the number of incoming mission- and here we saw the nucleus for vied you faull. Childron when aries; and the Minister of For- a growing work. We visited this you see remember me-E. eign Relations of Colombia has other small towns and made con- Anderson." Thus the idea of also announced that no more tacts with some who are really unity is foretold. -Advance. missionaries are wanted in Co- keen to know the way of salva- lombia. His veto is particularly tion. I always think of the town Woman's World severe against any further in- of Santa Rosa as the place where crease of single women workers. Satan's seat is. The ]ileople are The Presbyterian Board re- exceedingly bitter against us ports great progress in the West -World Dominion Press. and are very fanatical Catholics. Indies during the last few years In 1931 we held meetings there, in the organization of women's Belated Eft'orts in Guatemala but owing to continued persecu- tion the Indians stopped roming. societies in the churches. There Roman Catholics are making However, on this visit we had are now 18 church societies in every effort to regain lost ground the joy of baptizing five from Cuba, with 491 members, re- in Guatemala. Their efforts are the town itself, who professed porting more than 700 meetings commendable in many ways: a faith in Christ as Saviour. So during the past year. On their better type of clergymen; more keen were they that we hold a own initiative they have con- active rural work; better educa- convention there, that we did so. ducted seven Sunday schools and tion for children; certain im- Some fanatical women turned distributed 7,000 pieces of litera- provements in the quality of up, hoping to disturb the meetture. Each society has estab- their press; and even a strong ing; but we sang hymns until lished a "wardrobe," collecting party within the church, work- they went off in disgust. They and distributing used clothing to ing to purify the church, or at repeated the experiment the folthe community. Miss Edith M. least to remove the objections lowing day, but a terrible hail- Houston, worker at large, re- that laid it open to'complaint and storm drenched them and they ports that while visiting in the favored the advance of the made a hasty retreat. Not once home of one of the members of Evangelicals. Meanwhile, the were we disturbed again. Later, the societies, she found the evangelical cause continues to a son of one of these fanatical woman of the house examining grow by leaps and bounds. women who had attended the her coat and murmuring, "It meetings for the first time exwould make three little pairs of -Guatemala News. pressed the desire to know the pants." She lost no time in res- Lord. cuing her coat from the modern In Southern Peru Dorcas. Afro-Cuban Cult Alex. Jardine, writing for The Many of the societies have Neglected Continent, tells of a According to the Literary Diprayer groups, meeting once a new Christian group at Macu- gest there is in Cuba a cult month with the sole purpose of sani, southern Peru, who had whose rites sound like a page praying for the evangelization sent a special reque>st for an from pagan Africa. Kidnapof Cuba. -Monday Morning. evangelist to visit them. Mr. ping white children and human Jardine responded and says: sacrifice are a part of the cere- "We found the viUage occupied
monia!. Forty of their witch (66.79 %) are of the opinion aries in fourteen different fordoctors were arrested last De- that religion is losing ground. eign countries. Of the 2,728 cember and twenty others are churches in these foreign counalready serving long terms in World Religions tries, 2,000 are self-supporting. the Government prison. The total membership is 204,894. World Dominion has recently Rumania reported 6,050 bap- This cult originated at Sabee, published tables as authentic as capital of the West African slave are available of the percentages tisms, which was the largest coast kingdom of Whydah. It and numbers of the religions of number reported for the year. claims 500,000 votaries in Cuba, the world: of whom 100,000 are whites. – Watchman-Examiner. Catholic …….. 350,000,000-17% Gospel Bus in Chile Orthodox ……. 150,000,000- 7% Asia's Children in Sunday Protestant …… 230,000,000-11% School For the past three or four years the Presbyterian mission Of the non-Christian religions India has the largest Sunday in Chile has taken an active part school enrolment in Asia, with in the work of distributing the the Confucianists form 17 %, Korea a close second. There are Scriptures throughout r u r a I Hindus and Moslems 12 % each, 285,000,000 children in Asia areas by means of a gospel bus. under fourteen years of age They have made long trips with Buddhists, Animists, Shin- (excluding Asiatic Russia), out through the country whenever toists, Jews and others making of which number 2,800,000 beweather permitted traffic away up the remainder of the 2,040,- long to Protestant communities from the central highways. 000,000 in that class. -that is one in a hundred. Only Hundreds of New Testaments about one-quarter of these chilhave been left in the homes of Lutherans Go Forward dren have been touched by the country people, many of whom Sunday school. Some have been never leave their thatched huts. The American L u the ran receiving religious instruction in In each place the missionaries Board of Foreign Missions in day schools, but such privileges take the opportunity of telling adopting its budget on April 22, in day schools are rapidly disthe story of Christ, reading from removed a 10ro cut in mission- appearing. -Alliance Weekly. the Bible itself, training new ary salaries, and voted to send Christians, and opening new during the year one new or re- Women's Missionary Magazine avenues of interest. placement missionary to each foreign field, and also to make After years of discussion and -Presbyterian Banner. to each field a special contribu- planning, the Women's Mission- tion of $1,000 during the year ary Magazine of the United MISCELLANEOUS ($500 for British Guiana) for Presbyterian Church issued its buildings or general work. Ar- first number in August, 1887, Is Religion Losing Ground? gentina gets $1,500 because of with 2,300 advance subscrip- special needs at Eldorado. The. tions. Mrs. Sarah Foster Hanna In the January Fortune ap- total financial advance for the had the honor of first advocating peared the results of a survey on year is $30,000. such a magazine. Mrs. W. the status of religion in the Clark Hutchison, of Xenia, Ohio, Other indications of renewed was its first editor, and served United States today, based on progress are the building of a for 27 years. She was followed 4,500 interviews secured by For- church in Kobe, Japan, and three by Mrs. George Moore, who tune's investigators. new buildings at Zorzor, Liberia. served for 21 years. A fund The erection of new buildings at raised as a memorial to her sup- An equal number of men and Tsingtao, China, will proceed as plies illustrations for the magawomen were interviewed in all soon as the Luther League of zine. It is now under the capable major geographical areas, in America has attained its objec- editorship of Mrs. J. P. White, both rural and urban communi- tive of $10,000. formerly a missionary in Egypt.
ties. The various economic A special effort to cancel the o Lord our God, thy mighty hand levels were represented as fol- Board's debt is making headway. Hath made our country free; lows: prosperous, 10%; upper The treasurer was able to report that indebtedness had been re- From all her broad and happy land middle class, 27 %; lower middle duced to $80,000 by last March. The regular budget of the Board May worship rise to thee; class, 38%, and poor, 25%. is $471,727. The question: "Is religion in Fulfill the promise of her youth, Baptist Gains Her liberty defend; , America today gaining or losing .More than 17,000 persons, the By law and order, love and truth, ground?" The consensus of largest number in one year in judgment: the history of the Foreign Mis- America befriend! sion Society of the Southern Religion gaining……….. 24.8% Baptist Convention, were bap- The strength of every state increase Losing……………….. 49.90/0 tized by the Society's mission- Same ………………… 17. 20/0 aries and native workers last In Union's golden chain; Has no influence ………. year. The Society has mission- Don't know…………… 1. 3% Her thousand cities fill with peace, 6.8% Her million fields with grain- The virtues of her mingled blood Of those definitely believing In one new people blend; that religion is either gaining or losing, more than two-thirds By unity and brotherhood, America befriend! AMElN. -Henry van Dyke.
Missionary
Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information Christianity in the Eastern Conflicts. Eastward. The Story of Adoniram tions and achievements of the A Study of Christianity, National- Judson. Portrait. 8vo. 240 pp. next thirty-seven years fill the ism, and Communism in Asia. By Round Table Press. New York. volume. Judson's first wife died William Paton. 224 pp. $1.50. 1937. after fourteen years in Burma Chicago, Willett Clark and Co. and he later married Sarah 1937. There is no more fascinating Boardman. After a few years she too entered into rest and This is a very timely book. or more stimulating reading Judson married a third time. Mr. Paton is a secretary of the The dangers and the difficulties International Missionary Coun- than good missionary biog- overcom~ in pioneer mission cil. Last year he made a trip work for Christ present a very which took him through the Far raphies. They contain stories different story from that of East, India, and the Near East. most modern missions. Those The letters which record his im- of adventure in new fields, sac- were the days of giants and of pressions are among the most heroes and heroines. informing documents of their rificial service, love and rokind that this reviewer has seen. mance, information about new The biographer is a graduate At the insistence of his friends, of Brown University and now Mr. Paton put the substance of peoples and strange lands and professor of missions in Berkthose letters into book form. eley Divinity School, California. Here, then, is a record of what customs, and the study of char- He naturally sympathizes with a thoughtful observer has seen acter development under many Judson's change to Baptist of present conditions in the adverse conditions and toward views, which was the immediate most populous parts of Asia. high ideals. The life of Adon- reason for the founding of the Mr. Paton's concerns are pri- iram Judson, pioneer mission- American Baptist Missionary marily missionary. He is, how- ary to Burma, is such a treas- Union. The biography is vivid ever, interested also in the set- ure house. He has furnished and sympathetic, revealing the ting in which missions must material for many biographies, way God works to build up His work. These chapters contain, histories and historical novels Kingdom "in spite of dungeon, therefore, pictures of trends in in the past eighty-five years. fire and sword." politics, economics, and thought This is a well written life his- tory, documented, with clear The Israel Promises and Their Fulwhich affect the life of the purpose and abundant human filment. By Samuel Hinds Wilkin- Church. interest. While not a spiritual son. 195 pp. 88. 6d. John Bale, interpretation, it is a sympa- Sons, and Danielson. London. 1936. The book does not end with a thetic record. travelogue. The author has What is the teaching of the properly added an interpreta- The subject is too well-known Bible regarding the future of tion. The second half of the to require extended comment. the Jews? The answer would book he terms "Reflections." Going out with his young bride, seem to be simple enough. It is Mr. Paton states what he be- in 1812, as one of the first in fact far otherwise. There are lieves to be the Christian mes- American foreign missionaries, in general two main views held sage. He discusses the relation he found they were not wanted by Christians. One follows the of Church, community, and state by the British East India Com- Jewish interpretation of the in the Far East. He describes pany that controlled foreign re- ancient prophecies concerning the present condition of the lations with India. Moreover, Israel that there will be a recon..; younger churches as he has seen Judson and his wife decided stitution of the Jewish nation in them. He also gives space to that they could not work as Con- Palestine under the Messiah the relation of the Church to the gregational missionaries but when the Jews will reach the changing social order. Mr. must work as Baptists. This highest pinnacle of earthly do- Paton is always soundly evan- cut them off from home support minion and glory. Some Chrisgelical and always sees below for a time. Forbidden to work tians maintain that this will be the surface to the significance in India, after they had come realized at the second coming of of the transient scene. 12,000 miles and were five months away from home, finally K. S. LATOURETTE. after trying Mauritius and Pen- ang, the J udsons found a "crazy old vessel" to take them to Ran- goon. The trials, horrors, hero- ism, joys and sorrows, priva- Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the Rl!VIIlW publishers on receipt of price.
[ 397]
Christ. The other view holds that have taken place. Arabia, terest. Dr. Corey is one of the Syria and Palestine, Egypt and recognized leaders of the foreign that the old covenant was abol- Africa, Turkey, Iran, India and m iss ion a r y enterprise, and the Farther East are then con- writes out of long and rich exished by Christ and under the sidered specifically in illumi- perience, first as secretary and nating chapters. While Islam is now as president of the. United new covenant the Church is the still considered an almost impos- Christian Missionary Society of sible field for Christian advance, the Disciples of Christ. His legitimate heir of the promises this book gives an encouraging knowledge of missions is wide record of the progress made. and accurate. He shows the made to Israel. Instead of an The Moslem attitude to Christ is wider range of world missions, changing but Mohammed's fol- "beyond statistics." His clarity earthly dominion and glory, the lowers are becoming more ma- of literary style, wealth of facts terialistic. The weakness and and illustrations, and cogency Church has come into possession strength of Islam are clearly of argument make delightful shown. The absolute necessity reading. So good a book should of a spiritual Zion and a richer of life through Christ might be have an index. more positively stressed. Mosspiritual inheritance. lems who become Christians ARTHUR J. BROWN. know that there is no hope in One of the ablest exponents of Mohammed. The Young Moslem Looks at Life. By Murray T. Titus. 8vo. 181 pp. the latter view is Philip Mauro, Christ and the W orId Today. By $1.00, cloth; 60 cents, paper. Wm. E. Doughty. 12mo. 126 pp. Friendship Press. New York. 1937. whose volume, "The Hope of Methodist Book Concern. New York. 1937. Moslems are an interesting Israel: What Is It?" has had a people. They follow one of the Dr. Doughty was for some most positive religious systems wide circulation and a potent in- time a secretary of the Laymen's in the world and are exceedingly Missionary Movement and later missionary-minded. Many Mosfluence. It is because of this in- of the Near East Relief. He is lem youth are wide-awake and a man of missionary vision and are in training for leadership. fluence that Samuel Wilkinson a clear and convincing speaker In the first chapter of this study and writer. This little volume book for young people in Amerhas written his book to counter- describes the "New Age" in ica, the author introduces Mo- which we live – with its good hammed Bey, a young Moslem act its effect which he regards and evil; "The Changing World" of Kashgar, who desires to see that offers a challenge to Chris- the world by making a pilas harmful and misleading. tians; the "New Destiny" that grimage to Mecca. The book is faced by the Church and the describes his experiences and As director of the Mildmay various nations and races; the reactions and shows that while "World Mission" of Japan, India his eyes were opened to many Mission to the Jews, of London, and other lands; "America in weaknesses in Moslems, his ex- the New Age" and its vast op- perience at Mecca overwhelmed Mr. Wilkinson brings to bear on portunity; the "New World So- him with Islam's greatness. ciety" seen as the Kingdom of the problem a deep interest in God and "Christ's Summons" to Dr. Titus then goes on to show a new departure, calling for a clearly the main facts about Mothe Jewish people and the re- new crusade. hammed and his religion, the practiC'es of Islam and the results of a life-long study of the It is a book of facts, carefully sults seen in the family, in poli- selected and interpreted to show tics and religion. He closes with Scriptures concerning the m. the author's views as to why and a Moslem view of Christianity how the world should be made and Islam's challenge to the He undertakes to establish on over to conform to the spirit and world. Young people will do purpose of Christ. The facts well to read it. They will then impregnable foundations the in- are impressive but we believe have deeper appreciation of that the Bible leads us to expect Christ and Christianity. violability of the promises con- the complete fulfilment of Christ's purposes only when lie What Is the Moslem World? By cerning Israel and the certainty returns to reign. Charles R. Watson. 8vo. 207 pp. $1.00, cloth; 60 cents, paplr. of their plenary fulfilment. His Beyond Statistics. By Stephen J. Friendship Press. New York. 1937. Corey. 188 pp. $1.00. Bethany book is a very valuable contri- Press. St. Louis. Mo. 1937. Few men know the Near East Moslem world better than Dr. bution to the study of the sub- Here is one of the best of re- Watson. He was born in Egypt cent missionary books, small in of missionary parents and has ject, but we wish that its mes- size, but large in value and in- been a missionary there for twenty years. In this adult missage had been less controversial and less limited in its scope by the arguments which he seeks to meet. These books by Philip Mauro and Samuel Wilkinson are keen and interesting ex- amples of diverse Biblical inter- pretation. J. S. CONNING.
Mecca and Beyond. By Edward M. Dodd and Rose Wilson Dodd. IlIus. 12mo. 222 pp. $1.00, cloth; 50 cents, paper. Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions. Boston. 1937.
Mecca, the "Forbidden City" to Christians, is a name to conjure with for Moslems. Dr. and Mrs. Dodd have both lived among followers of Mohammed in the Near East and have been in touch with them ever since they left Persia (Iran). This popular and well-written study book is good reading for it deals, not with abstract, but with concrete facts and incidents. First the authors view "the Moslem and his world" as a whole and show the remarkable changes
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
sion study book he has given the the churches and missions are well told, always attract children main facts about the lands and included, with 2,298 mission- and at the same time educate peoples where Islam holds sway. aries. The information is un- them and develop their human He points out many peculiarities avoidably and unfortunately in- sympathies. A child naturally of the Moslems and the "grip- complete. has no racial prej udices and can ping power of Islam." He also Bust., Until Seventy Times Seven. By be deeply interested in the way May Wyburn. Illus. 12mo. 192 presents the main facts as to the children of other lands live and contact of Christians with Mos- pp. $1.25. Loizeaux Bros. New talk, work and play. Here, by lems. Where Dr. Watson fails, York. 1936. means of captivating pictures we think, is in dealing with the The Water Street Mission, on every page, with attractive New York City, has long been verses and stories, the reader is weakness of Islam, its increased introduced to children from antagonism to Christ as known known as a place where modern Greenland, China, Japan, India, to Christians, and its supreme miracles are wrought. The story Africa, the Philippines and from of lives and natures transformed Palestine. Here are friendly, need for the Gospel. In looking and regenerated there have a attractive stories for very young to the future he calls on Chris- perpetual thrill and will never children, suitable for use in the grow old. Here the widow of home and Sunday school, as well tians to make better use of their as by teachers of young children resources, to understand the the former superintendent, a in day school. true man of God, gives some of task and its difficulties, to use these wonder tales of city mis- Kill or Cure. By Muriel Lester. 135 more strategy with a united ap- sion work, under the subtitle of pp. $1.00. Gokesbury Press. Nashproach to the problem. Mission- three Biblical names of three ville, Tennessee. 1937. aries to Moslems know that un- superintendents – J ere m i a h failing faith and prayer and lov- This is an avowedly "peace (McAuley), Samuel (Hadley) tract," by the woman who has ing sacrifice are required, but and John (Wyburn). These men been called "the Jane Addams" that the fruit must come from of England and who had become the Spirit of God opening blind are worth knowing and the eyes and bringing new life to dead souls. stories of their lives and the In the Jungles of New Guinea. By harvest that resulted from their internationally known not only Missionary R. Hanselmann. lllus. seed-sowing and watering fur- for her remarkable Christian Pamphlet. Lutheran Book Concern. nish good illustrations for ser- Columbus, Ohio. mons as well as excellent read- service in the tenement district ing. Here is a place where men New Guinea is still unknown were truly converted. They of London but for her eloquent to most Americans, in spite of knew it and others knew it by the fact that it is an immense the way their light shone before advocacy of world peace. In island and has great wealth and men and glorified God. Read interest for explorers, anthro- these "wonder tales" and pass this little book she convincingly pologists, scientists, exploiters them on to others as a witness and especially for missionary- of the redemptive power of shows the utter futility of war minded Christians. Christ. and the urgent need of develop- Mr. Hanselmann, a Lutheran Just Like You Stories. For Boys and missionary in the Mandated Ter- Girls. By Mrs. Henry W. Peabody. ing attitudes and methods for ritory, gives here his impres- Illus. 186 pp. $1.50. M. H. Leavis. sions of the flora, the fauna and Boston,. Mass. 1937. preventing it. Some readers the natives. A little is told about his experiences with them Eyegate is one of the most ef- may feel that she carries her and the effective work of the fective means of entrance into Lutherans. the mind and heart and soul. pacifism to extremes, but they will respect her sincerity. Dr.
Stanley Hunter adds an inter- esting biographical sketch of the author. ARTHUR J. BROWN.
About the Old Faith. By Henry W.
Frost. 12mo. 128 pp. $1.25.
Fleming H. Revell Co. New York. 1937.
The Evangelical Handbook of Latin Wise guidance in a child's read- In these days of new man- America. Paper. Quarto. 119 pp. ing is therefore one of the most made cults and of militant un- 48. Committee on Cooperation in belief there is need for short, Latin America, New York and the important avenues of learning. clear studies in revealed truth. World Dominion Press, London. And yet multitudes of children 1937. today, even in Christian homes, Those who are experimenting in With excellent maps, statisti- are having their tastes vitiated, new creeds need to avoid the cal tables, general information, their standards lowered, and toadstool variety of philosophy and directory of missionaries in their future endangered by the that carries death. each of the Latin American silly, distorted and often degrad- For half a century Dr. Frost countries, this volume gives val- ing reading they find in news- has tested the brand of faith uable up-to-date information. papers and books. Dr. May which he presents here in simple Everyone interested in the Lazar, research assistant of the outline. It has, m 0 reo v e r, progress of missions in these Board of Education, New York proved its value for two thoutwenty-one countries (including City, warns against many fairy- sand years and continues to islands in the West Indies) tales and "series books" that bring life and strength today to should have this Handbook for distort their ideas about life. those who follow it. Here is an study and reference. Most of True stories of children, when elementary volume for students,
rather than an advanced treatise Immensity. God's Greatness Seen in With Christ in Africa. By Rev. D. A. Creation. By Clarence H. Benson. McDonald. Illus. 158 pp. 28. 6d. on the Christian faith. Dr. Frost Illus. 8vo. 140 pp. $1.50. The Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd., bases everything on the Bible, Scripture Press. Chicago. 1937. London, Edinburgh. Obtainable in though in many cases the refer- America from Zondervan Publishences are lacking. His general The wonders of God's uni- ing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. verse can be grasped only faintly $1.00. 1937. topics are: The Godhead, Christ, Man, Sin, The Scriptures, Fun- -its magnificence, its order, its "The persons who say, 'Let design, its harmony in immen- the Africans alone; they are damental Doctrines, The Church, sity and in minuteness. There quite happy,' have never lived Christian Experience, Christian is fine opportunity for unending close to African life." For Privileges, Christian Services, forty years (1892-1931), Rev. Vital Topics, The Unseen World, study for it is a study of the D. A. McDonald lived among the works of God. Mr. Benson here people of South Africa, daily Prophecy and the Final State. gives glimpses of the wonders adding to his evidence that "The For most purposes the studies of astronomy and the lessons we dark places of the earth are full learn as to God's character and of the habitations of cruelty." are too analytical. There is no purpose. The author is director The story of his life and work argument but rather a series of among the peoples of Kafraria numbered statements to set forth of Christian Education Courses and North East Transvaal rethe author's interpretations of in Moody Bible Institute, Chi- veals a genuine understanding and appreciation of the Zulus the Bible teaching. There are cago, and is author of "The and Vendas among whom he almost no extra Biblical illustra- Earth, the Theater of the Uni- faithfully and victoriously contions or examples of the way verse" and other volumes. Here ducted his business of "life- is a book that makes infidelity changing." these truths work out in life. impossible to an honest, intel- Young people who wish to know From the point of general in- ligent thinker. It is also fasci- terest the effectiveness of the what the Word of God says will nating reading and furnishes an book is somewhat hampered by find Dr. Frost's studies illumi- immense amount of material for nating. Missionaries will also sermons. Every chapter is linked up to Bible passages and find them of real value to clarify the closing chapter is on the their own thinking and as a text- book for use with converts.
Except Ye Repent. By Harry A. "Star of Bethlehem" – not yet a too exact emphasis on the Ironside. 8vo. 191 pp. $1.50. clearly identified. names of obscure places and American Tract Society. New York. people. But the genuineness, the 1937. Pioneering in Kwangsi. By W. H. Oldfield. Illus. 8vo. 208 pp. whimsical naIvete and the splen- The number of strong and Christian Publications, Inc. Har- did Christian vitality of the man convincing evangelical preach- risburg, Pa. 1936. make his narrative a real testi- ers seems to be diminishing Kwangsi is one of the larger mony to the joy of courageous rather than increasing, so that and generally unevangelized Christian living.
volumes of sermons, like this, provinces in southwest China. FLORENCE LERRIGO.
are prizes worth having. Dr. Here The Christian and Mission- Ironsides, pastor of the Moody ary Alliance has done and is do- Cross of Christ. By George P. Pier- Memorial Church, Chicago, is a ing a remarkable work among son, D.D. $1.50. 173 pp. Amer- ican Tract Society. New York. powerful evangelical and pop- Chinese and aboriginal tribes. 1937. ular preacher and a clear ex- The courage, sacrifice, and perpositor. This series of sermons severence of these missionaries This timely little volume is , on Repentance won the $1,000 have produced some remarkable well worth a young Christian's prize offered by the American results. (See the article by Rev. examination and p ray e r f u I Tract Society. They are worth A. C. Snead in this issue of THE study. Dr. Pierson, for forty years a missionary in Japan, it – short, evangelical, Biblical, REVIEW.) practical, arresting, adapted for The Rev. W. H. Oldfield, one places the Cross where it should present-day needs. This series of the pioneers, describes vividly be, at the center, and he focuses takes up the meaning of repent- the land and people, the material the divine light of God's Word ance, Christ's call to repent, the progress in recent years and the upon it from all angles-"from teaching of various apostles and work of the Alliance in its vari- above, from the background, Biblical writers on the subject ous stations and outstations. It from its very self, from either and the results of preaching re- is a story of faith, of courage, of side, from the foreground, from pentance today. Ministers and adventure and of achievement. below, and from the ensuing missionaries will do well to study There are still millions who are centuries." In doing so he brings this volume carefully and to unevangelized and one can travel forward the essentials of the preach on the same subject hundreds of miles without see- Christian faith that need emoften. It is too much neglected ing a Christian chapel. Some phasis and restatement at the and too superficially treated. of the best work is being done present hour.
"Except ye repent, ye shall all by Chinese Gospel Bands that Dr. Pierson is well qualified likewise perish," are the words are trained and then go out to for this work not only from a of Christ to religious leaders of evangelize their fellow country- scholastic standpoint but also His day. men. from personal experience. After
from Princeton Uni- The Deeper Life. Max I. Reich. 115 of this Course
versity and S e min a r y, he pp. $1.00. Wm. B. Eerdmans. Young People's Society may preached these truths in Japan Grand Rapids, Mich. , converted into a School for and America. A. H. P'ERPE1'UO. Bible Training. Four Point Project Program. Based New Book. on Missionary Heroes Course No.1. 1936 STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE Theodore L. Conklin. 30 pp. Board But, Until Seventy Times Seven. S. of Education, American Baptist Four Parts-52 Lessons. Part I, The Bible-The May Wyburn. 192 pp. $1.25. Asso. New York. God of the Bible. Part II, The Christ of the Bible Loizeaux Bros. New York. -The Holy Spirit. Part III, Man-Sin and Redemp- God's Methods for Holy Living. tion. Part IV. The Church-Future Events. Christ and the World Today. Wm. Donald Grey Barnhouse. 93 pp. E. Doughty. 126 pp. Methodist 50 cents. Revelation. Philadelphia. Send 15c in stamps for current issue. Book Concern. New York. The History of Sin. Happy Though HRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS.IN(; My Servant Moses. E. Ray Cameron. Poor. History of Temptation. Men 187 pp. $1.50. Revell. New York. Whom God Struck Dead. The 1502 N. Third St., Hlrrisburg, PI. Marks of, Sonship. When Winter Then and Now in Kenya Colony. Comes. Donald Grey Barnhouse. Bishop Lauress J. Birney, retired, Willis R. Hotchkiss. 160 pp. $1.50. 16 page leaflets. 10 cents each. of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Revell. New York. Revelation. Philadelphia. died in Pasadena, California, on May 10 at the age of 65. He was born in James Hudson Taylor. James J. Living in the Ministry of Song. Tom Dennison, Ohio, and after graduation Ellis. 96 pp. 18. Pickering & Jones. 180 pp. 2s. 6d. Pickering from Boston University School of Inglis. London. & Inglis. London. Theology, served several pastorates. He was elected Dean of Boston Uni- Pioneering in Kwangsi. W. H. Old- Obituary Notes versity in 1911 and in 1920 was ele- field. 208 pp. Christian Publica- vated to the Bishopric, with China as tions. Harrisburg, Pa. (Concluded from page 337.) his special mission field. Mr. Frederic F. Helmer, editorIal Christendom and Islam. Their Con- secretary for North America for the tacts and Cultures Down the Cen- China Inland Mission, died in Toronto, turies. W. Wilson Cash. 205 pp. Canada, March 19. Mr. Helmer had $2.00. Harpers. New York. filled various positions in the C. I. M., among others Publication and Prayer Church Unity. F. H. Knubel. 86 pp. Union Secretary. He remodeled 75 cents. United Lutheran Pub. China's Millions and founded Young House. Philadelphia.· China.
OBJEOTIVES AND PRINOIPLES FOR YOUTH We earnestly commend the following personal and social objectives for. the enlistment of youth: .
I surrender my life to Jesus Christ and His way of living and I enlist in His service.
I believe that it is the purpose of God to make Christ known in all the world so that all human relationships will be controlled by God's law of love. I propose to live, so far as He enables me, as if His Kingdom were now recognized.
I will faithfully observe a "quiet time" each day for meditation and prayer and the study of God's Word.
I will regard my lifework as my share in extending God's Kingdom. I will choose my life- work in accordance with what I can discover to be God's will, and not for personal selfish gain. I will practice restraint and self-denial in all my personal nabits.
I will keep my friendships on a high level, not conforming to lower standards of the world, but helping to lift the standards of my group to the best that I know, as God has revealed His way of life.
I will serve Christ through the Christian Church, doing all that I can to make it the effec- tive instrument that it must be if God's world is to be truly Christian.
I will oppose the war system as murderous and selfish, and will work ceaselessly for the establishment of peace based on righteousness and love.
I will refrain from the use of alcoholic liquors, and will work to rid the world of the degrading liquor traffic.
I will treat those of all races as my brothers and sisters made in the spiritual image of God.
I will give myself to the creation of better economic and social conditions wherein every member of society shall have opportunity to earn a livelIhood for himself and those dependent upon him and wherein every member of society shall have sufficient to meet his economic needs.
I will use my leisure time only for such recreation as is wholesome and will enrich and uplift personality, and will refrain from amusements which injure or degrade myself or others.
I will give of my time, as far as possible, to working for the building of a Christian world -in personal work, public speaking, writing, and circulating literature, and in every possible way evangelizing for Christ.
I will give sacrificially of my earnings and other possessions to support the enterprises which are working to build a Christian world.
I will conscientiously seek to obey the Will of God as revealed in His written Word and will put Him first in all things-that Christ may have the preeminence. -Adapted from "The Evangelical-Messenger."
THE SPECIAL uMOSLEM NUMBER"
OF THE MISSIONARY ~'WORID This October Issue will contain articles on CHRIST AND THE MOSLEM WORLD Why Take Christ to Moslems? Samuel M. Zwemer The Gospel for Mohammedans W. Wilson Cash Present.day Trends in Islam Edward C. Dodd Moslem Reactions to Christ • James Haldane My Experience with Moslems Frank C. Laubach Christ and Moslem Homes . Eleanor Calverley What Christ Has Done for Me • S. Khoobyar A Sermon by a Former Moslem Saee'd Kurdistani and others—with maps and illustrations ORDER COPIES IN ADVANCE FOR YOURSELF AND MISSION STUDY CLASSES 25 cents a copy $20 a hundred $2.50 a year THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD Third and Reily Streel:s, Harrisburg, Pa.
ROBERT E. SPEER, President DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor READ THE MOSLEM WORLD SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, Editor SOME ARTICLES IN THE JULY NUMBER Patience (Editorial) George Swan The Arabic Version of the Bible Paul Erdman The Bible and Moslems • J. Christy Wilson The Bible in the Balkans • James Oscar Boyd The Koran as Magic Bess Allen Donaldson Moslem Chronology in China Isaac Mason Shi'a Standards of Hyderabad • • Kate Greenfield A Statistical Survey Carlo Gasbarri Why Not Canonize Mohammed? Mounir R. Sa'adeh Egypt Tastes Independence Pierre Crabites Book Reviews ••• Current Topics••• Survey of Periodicals __-+)0 SUBSCRIBE NOW ~~-._ 50 Cents a Copy. $2.00 a Year (postpaid) In combination with THE MOSLEM WORLD THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City $3.50 a Year. (Foreign Postage, 50 Cents.) British Agents: MARSHA!.!., MORGAN & SCOTT, 12 Paternoster Buildings, !.ondon, E. C. Price in Great Britain, Eight Shillings a Year, net
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1937
MARCH,1937
Changing and Unchanging Things in Foreign Missions Robert E. Speer The American Indian and His Religion Elaine Goodale Eastman What Christ Has Done for Untouchable~ v. s. Azariah A Firebrand for Christ in Iran J. Christy Wilson Japanese Shrines and Emperor Worship By a Resident of Japan Modern Missionary Motives w. B. Anderson Christ, the Church and Modern Youth Daniel A. Poling 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember PLAN NOW to Spend Next Summer's Vacation with
ica's Greatest Theological Teachers. March ll-15-Annual Meeting, Wom- an's Missionary Council, Methodist Winona Lake School of Theology, Winona Lake, Indiana Episcopal Church, South. Colum- bia, S. C. For Ministers. Teachers, Missionaries. Sunday School Workers and Laymen SO May ll-General Conference, United Courses leading to Regular Theological Degrees, Cost Reasonable Free Brethren in Christ, Chambersburg, July 7 to August ll···Two Terms 15 Days Each.•·lnterdenominational Pa. Rooms Evangelical Faith and High Scholarship Combined May 18-21-National Convention of Dr. W. E. Biederwolf. Director (Ask for free Prospectus) Dr. J. A. Huffman. Dean the Evangelical Women's Union, St. Louis, Mo. and of all Christians in order to rid ~!,mn~ the world of leprosy. May 20-25 – Northern Baptist Con- vention, Philadelphia, Pa. *** of tbt May 26 – General Assembly, United Miss Laura M. White, a mIsslOn- Presbyterian Church, Oak Park, Ill. ary in China for over forty years, May 27-General Assembly, Presby- died in Germantown, Pennsylvania, ((bri~tian terian Church in U. S. A., Colum- on January 25. She was born in bus, Ohio. Philadelphia, where she was grad- Obituary Notes uated from Temple University and lLift Mrs. Amy Wilkes Zwemer, the went to China in 1892 under the Womwife of Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, of an's Foreign Missionary Society of cA. BOOK of worship in song, com- Princeton Theological Seminary, died suddenly of heart disease in New York the Methodist Episcopal Church. For bining a hymnal for general Citv on January 25. Mrs. Zwemer fifteen years she was editor of The was born 71 years ago in Woolver- Christian Literature Soc i e t y of church use, and a song book for evanhampton, England. After being graduated as a registered nurse she served Shanghai. gelistic purposes. Only songs sound in a hospital in Sydney, Australia and *** volunteered for mission work in Bagh- Mrs. Lillie Campbell Orbison, wife in the faith and inspirational in chardad, Iraq. She and Dr. Zwemer were married in Arabia in 1896 and con- of Rev. John H. Orbison, recently a acter included—emphasizing Evangeltinued their missionary service for member of the Punjab Mission of the Moslems, residing in Arabia and Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., died ism, Missions, and the Deeper Life. Egypt until 1930 when Dr. Zwemer on February 5th in Hoshiarpur, India. Many of the new-·-the best of the old. became Professor of Missions and Comparative Religions at Princeton Dr. and Mrs. Orbison were honorably 504 Songs Responsive Readings Theological Seminary. One of Dr. retired in 1932, after nearly fifty Topical Index Gold Embossed Zwemer's daughters, Mrs. C. L. Pickens, is the wife of a missionary in years of service in India. Mrs. Orbi- Published in round notes and Roxite cloth Hangkow, China; two other daugh- son was born in Manayunk, Pa., 78 edition only at $65.00 per 100···an especially ters and a son, Dr. Raymond L. years ago. low price. Single copy, S5c postpaid. Zwemer, of New York, also survive *** the mother. Mrs. Zwemer was author Write today for returnable sample copy of "Two Young Arabs," was joint author of "Topsy Turvy Land," "Zig- Mr. Frank Thompson, who died in Zag Journeys in the Camel Country," and was one of the editors of the CRUSADE SONqS London on November 22, in his 84th volume entitled "Moslem Women." year, was known for his long associa- '" Wellesley C. B'a" ile'"y, founder and tion with Spurgeon's Tabernacle and cA CHOICE selection of 105 hymns and retired secretary of the Mission to its allied institutions. He was also choruses for Revival Services, Bible Con- Lepers, which he founded over sixty years ago, died in Edinburgh, Scot- for nearly a quarter of a century a ferences, and Missionary Conventions. land, on January 28th at the age of member of the Baptist Missionary 90. Mr. Bailey was born in Thorn- Society's General Committee. One Strong manila binding, 15c each; bury, Ireland, on April 27, 1846, was son, Stanley, served in the Congo $12.50 per 100. Carriage extra. educated at Kilkenny College and after a brief period in New Zealand until retired because of broken health; CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS,Inc. became a Presbyterian missionary at another son, Cecil, is Secretary of a Ambala, India. There he opened the British Mission Auxiliary. 1502 North Third Street first missionary leper asylum in 1869. Five years later he founded the Mis- '" '" '" Harrisburg, Pa. sion to Lepers, during his furlough in Ireland, and in 1886 became gen- Sir Andrew Wingate, son of Rev. eral secretary to the Mission, a post Wm. Wingate, missionary to the Rev. Robert Tahupotiki Haddon, which he held until 1917, when he be- Jews, died in Switzerland January 1, Maori chief, died November 5. The came Honorary Superintendent. Mr. at the age of 90. Sir Andrew entered Methodist Times says: "Mr. Haddon Bailey emphasized the necessity for a the Indian Civil Service nearly sev- was a chief of high rank who could threefold objective, preaching the enty years ago, becoming widely trace his ancestry back a millennium. Gospel to lepers, supplying their known as Famine Secretary during He stood over six feet in height, erect simple wants, and relieving their suf- the great South India drought of as a spear, with flashing eyes in a ferings through medical care. Since 1877. On his retirement in 1902, he rugged, kindly countenance. He was then the Mission has sought also to gave himself wholeheartedly to volun- ordained to the native ministry in win the cooperation of governments teer missionary work. He was espe- 1904, and for over thirty years he exercised a faithful ministry. Mr. cially interested in the Bible Society's Haddon twice advocated the claims of activities, in Jewish missions, and in his people in New Zealand Parlia- Anglo-Indian Education. ment.
'" '" '" The Rev. Dr.'"Jam* es*S. Gale, author Dr. Thomas J. Porter, Prof. of of "Korean Sketches" and other vol- Church History at Campinas, Brazil, umes and for forty years a mission-' until his retirement in 1932, died sud- ary of the Presbyterian Church, denly in California, December 26. U. S. A., in Korea, died in Bath, Eng- Dr. Porter was a missionary in Persia land, on J.anuary 31 at the age of from 1889 to 1896, and after a period seventy-five. James Gale was born of iII health took up the professorship in Pilkington, Ontario, graduated from Toronto University and went to at Campinas.
'" '" '" Rev. N. Odinzov, President of the Korea in 1888 as a representative of All-Russia Baptist Union, recently the Y. M. C. A. Three years later he died in the Yaroslaw prison. He had joined the Presbyterian Mission and refused every temptation to renounce retired in 1928. to live in England. his Christian convictions. (Concluded on third cover.)
MISSIONARY Personal
REVIEW OF THE WORLD Dr. Julius .Richter, of Berlin, is TBE DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor now in America, lecturing at the ORI.ENT VOL. LX MARCH,1937 No.3 , Biblical Seminary in New York. In Publication and Business Olllce– Record Time! Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. * * … Mr. William M. Danner, for over Go direct fromVancouver and Editorial and Executive Olllce– Victoria in 10 days by Em- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. twenty-six years the General Secre- press of Asia or Empress of Entered as second-class matter at Russia. Only 3 more days via tary of the American Mission to Hawaii by Empress of .lapan Post Olllce, Harrisburg, Pa., under Lepers, has been honorably retired. (fastest ship on the Pacific) Act of March 3, 1879. or Empress of Canada. Con- So far as his health permits, he will nect at Honolulu from Cali- 25 cents a copy–$2.50 a year. continue to serve the cause of the fornia ports. Low round-trip Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. fares include passage from Published monthly, except August. lepers by public addresses and in con- and to Seattle. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. British agents – Marshall, Morgan sultation on the affairs of the Mission. ~fI.+ and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, .. * .. For rates and sailings, see 10 shillings a year. YOUR TRAVEL AGENT or Cana- The Rev. Emory Ross has been dian Pacific: New York, Chi- MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB~ ca~o, San Francisco, 38 other LISHING CO., INC. elected General, Secretary of the citIes in U. S. and Canada.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS American Mission to Lepers. He was, ROBERT E. SPEER, President A. L. WARNSHUIB, Vice-President for some sixteen years a missionary in WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary the Congo. … …
SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Rev. T. C. Wu, General Secretary WILLIAM I. ClLumlDRLAIN D. J. FANT of the Chinese Mission to Lepers, has MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD WM. B. LIPPHARD resigned after more than ten years'
Emc M. NORTH service. As leader of the Chinese SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Mission to Lepers he has placed that Editorial Chat work on a high level of efficiency.
The annual meeting of the REVIEW * * … was held on February 18th for the Rev. Thomas Alfred Tripp, of consideration of annual reports and the election of directors for the en- Mystic, Connecticut, has become Assuing year. sociate Director of the Town and *** The June issue of the REVIEW will Country Department of the Church be devoted to the Home Mission study subject for the year, "Christ and Extension Boards of the Congrega- Rural America." (See notice on back cover of this issue.) tional churches. * * .. *** Rev. Ernest E. Grimwood has been Will you help acquaint friends with the REVIEW as a means of increasing appointed Director and Chairman of interest and cooperation in Christ's work throughout the world? Send the Central Asian Mission. Prior to names and addresses to the Circulation Department, 3d and Reily Streets, the War, he served the Mission as Harrisburg, Pa., and we will send honorary secretary and editor and free sample copies. later was honorary secretary of the *** Sudan Interior Mission, which posi- Here are the unsolicited estimates of the value of the REVIEW, received tion he resigned… in No… vember. recently from missionary readers: … "The REVIEWS that you are getting out are exceedingly fine. I do not Rev. William Henry Fonger has think that in all its history THE RE- been elected secretary of the Philip- VIEW has done as good work as it is pine agency of the American Bible doing now, and unless I am very Society, where he has served as actgreatly mistaken God is using it and ing agent since March, 1934. other influences with it, to get the missionary enterprise back on its own *** even keel again." Dr. Roy ,B. Guild and Dr. Worth DR. PAUL W. HARRISON. M. Tippy, Executive Secretaries of Muscat, Arabia. the Federal Council, became emeritus *** on January 1 and they will continue to give part time service to the Coun- "We enjoyed the Africa number of cil through 1937, carrying on certain THE REVIEW and hope that it will be important duties and being available possible for you to have a China number before very long. as counselors. … … …
REV. G. W. ROYALL. Dr. W. B. Bagby, Baptist mission- Shangtung, China. ary to Brazil since 1881, lives to see 600 churches with 50,000 members, five colleges, two seminaries, ,a publi- cation society, a home and foreign mission board carrying the gospel to the far interior of Brazil, to Portugal, and from Portu..g. al… to …Africa.
Dugald Campbell, F.R.G.S., who for several years has been in the serv- ice of the National Bible Society of Scotland, circulating the Scriptures through the Sahara, has found it necessary, from repeated heart at- tacks, to relinquish responsibility at Tamanrasset. This is an important development of the Society's work in the Sahara; it will now be under the direction of M. Jules d'Allmen.
(Concluded on third cover.) [113 ]
by Bureau of American
A RELIGIOUS TORTURE RITE OF THE AMERICAN I;lDIANS OF THE PLAINS THE RAIN DANCE OF THE ZUNI INDIANS OF NE.W MEXICO (See article on "The Amerkan Indian and His Religion," pages 128 to 130) REVIB ORLD VOLUME LX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 3 MARCH,1937 Topics of the ·Times YOUTH – THE GREAT AMERICAN jority .of American yQung people are tQday spir- MISSION FIELD itually illiterate. But just because they are in this conditiQn, From all quarters today is heard the cry fQr revival. Religious leaders are joined by men young people constitute a great and fruitful misprominent in business and professiQnal life in de- sion field. For, whether we who had our educaelaring that modern problems have .their roots in tiQn more than fifteen year,s ago like to admit it moral and spiritual ills. One of the recent addi- or not, our schools and colleges are today almost tions to the chorus insistently calling fQr revival completely secularized. Of course, there are still is Mr. John Edgar Hoover, chief of the Federal a few Christian institutions left, but, compared G-Men. Commenting upon the huge crime bill of with the total student population .of the land, their the nation, he says, "We are in dire need .of a number is very small. President James Bryant spiritual awakening. We must place the rejuve- Conant, Dr. Eliot's successor, once remQved, nation of national morality above mundane am- spoke in his first annual report of the aim of the founders of Harvard and that early Puritan herit- bitions. . . ." age .of the university whereby educatiQn and the- There is nothing very remarkable about such a ology were united. And then with perfect candor statement. Mr. Hoover's work brings him face to he continued, "It is hard fQr us to recapture their face with the fruits .of godlessness. In the great [the Puritans'] point .of view; today, learning has army of youthful criminals he sees the logical re- become secular." And so it has. It has become suIt of the fact that vast numbers of American so secular that President Nicholas Butler, .of Co- parents have heedlessly left God and religion out lumbia, protests as follows in one .of his reports: of their lives and out of their homes. In an essay "So far as tax-supPQrted schools are cQncerned, published in The Atlantic Monthly, in 1924, the an odd situation has been permitted toO arise. The late Pres,ident Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard, separation of Church and State is fundamental in pointed toO the forty or fifty milliQns .of Americans our American political order, but as far as relinot connected with any church or religious or- gious instruction is cQncerned, this princip,le has ganization whatever. After remarking that the been so far departed from as to put the whole children .of such parents receive no religious in- force and influence .of the tax..supported school on struction at home .or abroad and are therefore the side of .one clement .of the population-namely, densely ignorant .of fundamental moralities and that which is pagan and believes in no religion even gQod manners, Dr. Eliot wrote these trench- whatever." ant words: "N0 such experiment on SQ vast aYes, the young people of America are a great scale has ever been tried since time began, as this missionary challenge. And this applies to uniconsiderable fraction of the American people is versity students as well as to secQndary and elenow trying-namely, bringing up their children mentary pupils. As the Editor of this REVIEW without any religious instructiQn." The great remarked, after lunching with some leaders at a New England educator published those words recent Student Volunteer C.onventiQn, the delethirteen years ago. Has the experiment paid? gates were a missionary field in that many .of them Every judge, every minister, every spiritual- had never yet really faced the claims of the Gos:- minded educatQr knows that it has not paid. pel .of Christ? If ever the words of our Lord re- Rather has it cost a dreadful price; the great ma- garding "the fields white unto the harvest" ap- [ 115 ]
plied, they apply to. yQung people tQday. But, line-"The hungry sheep look up and are not fed." thank God, it is a fact that Ameriean youth is Let all missionary-minded Believers in Christ resPQnsive to. the Christian message. Black as the pray and wQrk to the end that the dreadful repicture of s,piritual illiteracy amQng our YQuth proach of a younger generatiQn spiritually starvmay be, it has anQther side. The great missiQn ing in a nominally Christian land may no longer field of American yQuth :is responsive to. Christ! rest upon the Church. FRANK E. GAEBELEIN. When He is truly presented, they listen and as they listen many yield themselves to Him. CHIANG, CHANG AND CHINA This is the mQst encQuraging fact in the reli- Oriental diplomacy is largely unintelligible to gious life Qf our cQuntry today-that the stirrings the Occidental mind, even ,to those who have spent of a spiritual awakening are being felt especially a lif~time in the Far East. China and Japan, in amQng the youth. SQme significant facts substan- any given circumstances, seldom s.ay or do what tiate that statement. First, there are the inter- Great Britain or America WQuld have said Qr denQminational ,summer cQnferences for young dQne, and their explanations of processes and repeQple. At a SCQre of centers throughout the land sults rarely meet Western requirements as to great numbers of students, many of them from lucidity Qr adequacy. colleges or universities, assemble for Bible study and spiritual fellowship, usually fQr periods of a One of the most mysterious and apparently irweek. Anyone who has been a leader in such con- rational performances in recent histQry is the ferences must have been struck with the intellec- sudden "kidnapping" and the unexpected release tual and moral calibre of the delegates and, even Qf Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, the head of more, with their eager response to. the preaching the Nationalist Armies, together with the surof the sovereign claims of the crucified and risen render, trial and treatment of his erstwhile cap- Christ. To see college men and women, to say tor, Chang Hisiieh Liang, a subordinate officer. nothing of the many high school students who. go The Generalissimo had just ,achieved such marvelto. these cQnferences, enter into a personal rela- ous success in uniting all the provinces of China tionship with the Lord gives Qne new hQpe for a under a central gQvernment, after personally leadcoming revival in America. ing National forces in driving the murderous CQmmunist hordes ,to the northwest borders, that There are also Bible study groups in leading the world, in its reawakened hope that China was universities. A few months ago. the writer had winning a new lease of life, was startled and horthe privilege of 'speaking at a great technological rified, early in December, by the report that institute. He was invited by a Bible study club, Chiang Kai Shek had been seized and held prissponsored by a group of students and faculty. oner by Chang Hsueh Liang, his subordinate of- The meeting was not large, but its very existence ficer in Shensi whom he had gone to consult. Many was remarkable. After it was over a professor of Chiang's military escort were slaughtered at said that it was only the second time he had ever the time and Chang was even reported as brQadseen a speaker with a Bible in his hand on a plat- casting to. the world his execution of the Genform at that institution. And many anQther great eralissimo. educational institution has a similar group of earnest Christian students and faculty, seeking The so-called "Marshal" Chang, son of Chang to. give a real witness for our Lord. Tso Lin, the ex-bandit "War-lord" of Manchuria, unable to hold Manchuria and other territory Again, any .pastor who is preaching the Gospel against the Japanese and for some time in retirewith power to a fun church, will say that his mQst ment, was ostensibly engaged in completing the resPQnsive hearers are his young people. So has suppression of the CQmmunists in Shensi and it ever been. The disciples came to Christ as Kansu. He seems, on the contrary, to have made young men. As young men the greatest mission- common cause with those outlaws in demanding aries have gone out to. preach the -GQspel. for the Communist party a share in ,the govern- ment and cooperation with the gQvernment troops The spiritual illiteracy of American YQuth is an ina crusade to drive out the Japanese. The appalling problem. It is heart-breaking to see seizure of General Chiang was for the purpose . millions of them being educated in bQdy and in of cQmpelling the adoption of ,this PQlicy by the mind, but with spirits starved for want of the Nanking government. Bread of Life and the only thirst-quenching Water of Life. What a challenge this mi'ssiQn Profoundly stirred by the rebellion and es,pefield of youth, in yQur city or town and in mine, cially by the threat against the life of the leader in your very neighbQrhood, makes upon us to to. whom all were looking for the safety of China, whom God has entrusted the only Message that the Nanking authorities despatched large fQrces can give our young people the joy and fruitful- fQr Chiang's rescue, but hesitated to. apply force ness of the new life in Chdst Jesus. In his great immediately lest it provoke his murder. Negotiaelegy, "Lycidas," John MiltQn has this poignant
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
tions w1th the rebels were undertaken and Mad- times, as heretofore, but something very near personal ame Chiang, with her brother T. V. Soong, flew concern for the safety of an admired, if not loved, figure. to Sian, the capital of Shensi, to intercede on the Our teacher, who came to Nanking rabidly anti-Chiang Generalissimo's behalf. On Christmas Day came three years ago, was so upset that he could not eat or sle'ep the word that not only had Chiang been freed but and was ready to weep. He said, "If only people knew that he was flying to Nanking with his captor! how much Chiang has done for the country!" Most of On their arrival both professed "penitence": the students were fearfully depressed and then went wild Chang for the rebellion and Chiang for the lax- when the news of Chiang's safety came. There are thouness of discipline which had rendered that rebel- sands who would be only too glad to kill Chang (Hsueh lion possible. Chang was tried, convicted, and Liang). pardoned, but retained in custody, while Chiang retired ;to his old home in Chekiang "for a rest." It is impossible to apportion the measure of Recent reports, like the earlier ones, are sadly tragedy and of melodrama in this whole series of conflicting. On the one hand they visualize a events. We may never know how much blood was concentration and stiffening of the rebellion actually shed or how serious was the actual threat under the leadership of Communist generals and of Chang Hsiieh Liang .against the life of his under the inflammatory radio broadcas,ts of a superior officer; but this much seems evident that woman radical from America. On the other hand not only China but the world has been led to realthey present a picture of the surrounding of rebel ize how much Chiang Kai Shek has already acstrongholds by government troops and the nego- complished toward the rehabilitation of China and tiation, at Sian, of peace ,to be secured by the how indi'spensable is his continued activity for withdrawal of all forces opposing the government. the completion of that enormous task. He has Only time will disclose the actual facts, or per- long been hampered by internal jealous.ies and haps only a small proportion of them. ambitions and by Japan's unwillingness to see China become a strong nation. China and the As to the missionaries of Shensi and Kansu, world shuddered at the reports of Chiang Kaireports have indicated their widespread peril, Shek's capture and execution; China and the with 'some of them held in Sian as hostages, world, in spite of the mystery of the transactions groups of rescuers were proceeding from Peiping at Sian, have exulted in the outcome'with its prosand elsewhere for their relief. By airplane and pect of better days to come. Once more China and the world have been made conscious of the other transportation many have left Shensi.* fact that, not only the Generalissimo and his wife, but also most of the other Chinese, prominent in Letters written at Nanking immediately after the building of the New China, find in Christianthe release of the captive Generalissimo give ity not only their own hope but the supreme hope forceful expression to the universal joy: for the future of the nation.
The word just received of Chiang Kai Shek's safe ar- COURTENAY H. FENN. rival in Loyang (Honan) was the most longed-for and welcomed of all Christmas gifts. The whole city and coun- WHEN DISASTER COMES try has been wild with joy. No one can realize how both he and Madame Chiang have endeared themselves to the Recent floods have devastated large portions of Chinese people. The loyalty and affection which is felt the Ohio Valley by raising the river level over for them is such as no one in China has ever before ex- sixty feet and have also threatened those 500,000 perienced. Just an hour ago the sky above us was filled people who live along the banks of the Mississippi, with airplanes going out to greet General Chiang ashe in the 1,200 miles from Cairo to the Gulf. It is returns to the city. Firecrackers are popping everywhere; reported that there is over $700,000,000 damage the streets are crowded with eager faces and the vicinity to property; nearly 1,000,000 people have temof the airdrome is filled with the joyful crowd waiting to porarily been driven from their homes, business greet the leader of China. has been disrupted, churches and schools inun- dated, and as a result over 500 people have died *** by drowning, accident, exposure or disease.
The situation at Sianfu (Shensi) has cast a pall of It seems incredible that with one hundred and gloom over everyone. So you can imagine our joy at six sixty years of national history, with immense o'clock Christmas Day at hearing that Chiang was safe wealth, great unemployed man-power, most modand in Loyang. The city went wild, with the streets ern powerful machinery, and efficient managers j.ammed with people and a din of firecrackers. It was a 'Of big business, no way has yet been found to perfect Christmas gift for the Government and many of prevent such destruction of life and property and the people. Indeed the most remarkable thing about the such disruption of national life. Some steps have whole affair has been the unprecedented concern of the been taken by certain towns and cities along the man on the street. I've never seen anything like it before Ohio, .as by Dayton, Ohio, and along the Missisin China. It was not fear of looting or financial hard sippi River, and $325,000,000 have recently been • Newspaper reports indicate that in the settlement with Communists and with Yang's and Chang's forces, the Nanking Government has recognized Communist control in North Shensi (where Swedish Baptists have a station), and gives Yang Fu-Cheng control over a central section where the Scandinavian Alliance Mission (C. 1. M.) has several stations. In Kansu, under the control of Chang's ex- Manchurian armies, there are stations of the Scandinavian Alliance, Assemblies of God, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Tibetan Tribes Mission.-Ep~TOll,
expended by the United States Government in and coordination of all life. Some nations claim flood-control work on the Mississippi. that this ideal can be reached by strong military measures, some by the rule of the proletariat, But while levees and spillways have proved some by human dictatorship and a totalitarian their value, they do not solve the problem. The State. Christians know that the solution is in the floods carry off top-soil, which the raging torrents recognition of the sovereignty of the Almighty, bring down and deposit in such abundance that the all-wise and loving God, as revealed through Jesus bottoms of the riverbeds are continually rising Christ as the Way, the Truth, the Life. The pracand levees must be built higher and higher. Pitts- tice and the making known of this Way of Life burgh, Cincinnati, Cairo and Louisville are among is what constitutes the reason for existence of the the large cities that have suffered and President Christian Church. Is there any doubt that Amer- Roosevelt placed the entire Government on a "war ica and every other country in the world needs basis" to administer relief to the stricken areas true missionaries of Christ? – rushing airplanes, trucks, troops, doctors, nurses and conservation workers to the scene. CHURCH GROWTH IN CHOSEN As in other cases of sickness, sorrow and loss, The growth of Christianity among Koreans is Christians are not exempt. Churches, parsonages, one of the most enheartening evidences of the schools, homes and business, belonging to follow- work of God's spirit in the world. In the Presers of Christ, suffer with the people and property byterian Church alone there has been a growth who do not recognize Him. This causes some of of 75 % in the past six years-compare that with feebler faith to question the love of God or His a 10% growth of members in Presbyterian and power to protect His own. But the situation is Methodist churches of the United States. not new. Followers of God have always suffered with their fellow men who are unbelievers, but the In Chosen there were only 150 "adherents" remoral and spiritual effects on the two classes are corded for Presbyterian missions in 1890, six not the same. Disasters and trouble draw some men to God and turn their thoughts to the great years after the work was started. During the abiding realities, to the things that make earthly life effective and they have the assurance of next ten years the number increased to 13,569 or Eternal Life beyond this. Distress and disaster also develop human sympathy and sacrificial serv- 9000 %. Since 1900 the work has steadily grown ice, as has been shown so often. Sickness and calamity always stimulate human minds to study until now the adherents number 341,700-and the preventive measures, and to apply remedies. New cities and new men rise on the ruins of the old, Church is self-supporting and self-governing with when there is a vision of better and more abiding things. "No affliction (chastening) for the pres- its own Presbyteries and General Assembly. From ent seemeth to be joyous but grievous-nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of 1930 to 1936 the church growth, as stated, was righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." seventy-five per cent in the number of Koreans on But if blessing comes through physical disaster Presbyterian church rolls. Adherents include bapwhat shall be said of sorrows, destruction and death that come through human selfishness and tized church members, enrolled catechumens, chilcruelty. In Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan and elsewhere the self-will of the natural man that dren and regular attendants at church services. is "at enmity with God, and is not subject to the law of God," brings untold suffering and loss. In The roll of baptized communicant members has America the reign of lawlessness in criminals; the selfish disregard of human rights on the part increased from 100 in 1890 to 112,987 in 1936. of many employers and employees; the selfish weakness of many unemployed; the strikers that The net gain for each decade has been from refuse to work, or to allow others to work-all 331;2% to 3600% in membership. The number add to the present nation-wide unrest and suffering. Even the most materialistic thinkers are of churches has grown from three in 1890 to coming to realize that what this nation needs, and every other nation, community and individual, is about 3,600 in 1936, with 3,254 church buildings. an all-wise, benevolent and all powerful Ruler who will insure righteous laws, impartial justice, There are nearly 19,000 unsalaried Korean evanunselfish and wise officials, and effective control gelists and local church leaders and the Sunday school pupils number about 35,000. Christian Endeavor societies report 37,695 members. The church contributions for the year 1936 amounted on the average to ten days' wages per member.
How about America? .
One of the most vital factors in the life of the Church in Chosen is found in the Bible institutes held at various times in the year. These bring together over 182,000 Korean Christians – one- half the church membership-for from one to six weeks for Bible study, prayer and training for Christian work. Is it any wonder that the Church is alive and grows?
and Unchanging Things I•n
Foreign Missions* l By ROBERT E. SPEER, New York -"-If:1~. ,-;;;;_""==A""ut""h""O",,r""0,,,,'"""""C""h""rCi""sht""ri.ai"s"nt""R"t"oe""a"M"li""tei",,e"s"",'"e,,'"t"c".""T""he=M""e""a""nt""'n,,,,g""O""'==-:.I}3e– T ET me begin rather indirectly. Some time ago deeper problem – which is the real one – is our L there appeared in the International Review relationship to history and experience. of Missions a review of a volume entitled There are those who thrust their heads into the "The Finality of Jesus Christ." It was a some- sand and say that there is no such relation, that what severe review and culminated in the criti- the imaginary present is wholly separable from cism that the book represented "the Presbyterian the past. Shortly after the World War a little orthodoxy of fifty years ago." Some time later group of students in one of our eastern univer- the publisher of this volume issued another book sities, feeling greatly bewildered and confused, by the same author which he sought to have ac- went off for a week-end retreat, and invited with cepted by one of the committees recommending them as a senior counsellor the late Dr. James monthly books to the reading public. He told me Harvey Robinson. One of the boys told me after- that the member of the committee of selection wards that in his first talk Dr. Robinson unequiv- whom he had approached remarked in reply that ocally advised them "to cut loose from every idea the writer of the book "was a good fellow but he and institution of the past." Some time after- was a hundred years behind the times." ward I was talking with the president of one of I am rather well acquainted with the author of our largest railway systems with regard to one both these books-somewhat too well acquainted of our best-known American preachers, for whom -and I know that his only complaint with regard my new acquaintance was expressing the greatest to these criticisms is that they make him out en- admiration, on the ground that he had no respect tirely too much of a modernist! His purpose in whatever for the past and, frankly abandoning the first book was not to set forth the orthodoxy its positions, was striking out on wholly new of fifty years ago but to go much farther back and ideas.
to declare what he believed to be the orthodoxy To these two illustrations let me add one more, of the New Testament. And so far from being namely a full-page advertisement of a fortnight only a hundred years behind the times his earnest ago of the Bernarr Macfadden pulp magazines effort had been to get wholly behind them, be- which declared that these magazines were "keyed hind all time, and to set forth the eternal truth to the present and future" and not to the past. which is beneath time and beyond time. Pulp is a material which has no past. It is a sort of mushroom product and is a fitting material on The question here of perennial interest is of which to print magazines which instantly on course the question of the relation between the their publication vanish into the past which they present and the past. In a sense, to be sure, any despise. such issue is purely fictitious, for what we call the present is a vanishing line. It is simply the fu- These illustrations will suffice. What a queer ture flashing by into the past. In reality, the and yet entirely natural reaction they represent! present is nothing but a compound of the imme- A few years ago the dominant formulas of diate past and the proximate future. The ques- thought were "heredity" and "determinism"; tion is how much of each enters into what we call they bound us hand and foot to the past. Now we the present. I suspect that the ratio differs with are swinging to the opposite extreme. But what different people but that in general the present is an utterly impossible view the new view is! Dr. simply a word for the period made up of perhaps Robinson was advising the boys to reject every seventy-five per cent of the immediate past and idea and institution of the past. I suspect that if twenty-five per cent of the proximate future. The they had looked at him carefully they would have • President's address, somewhat abridged, delivered at the Forty- seen a twinkle in his eye and his tongue in his AfomuretrhicaA, n(n.uJaanl uSaeryssiIoi ntoof8,th1e93F7o)r.eign Missions Conference of North cheek. He was giving them this advice through [119 ]
a language which was the supreme embodiment maica and Sierra Leone and then at home had and achievement of the past; and his chief instru- done his work in the destruction of British slavment of action as an author was books produced ery, and who represented in his own mind and and circulated by means of inventions of the past. character the great Christian tradition of his race. "Some, perhaps," said Trevelyan, "will re- The railroad president wanted the past re- gard such motives as old-fashioned and such conjected. What would his board of directors have victions as out of date; but self-abnegation, selfsaid if he had proposed that the capital of the road control, and self-knowledge that do not give to accumulated in the past, its rolling stock manu- self the benefit of any doubt, are virtues that are factured in the past, its right-of-way acquired in not old fashioned, and for which as time goes on the past, should all be discarded and the road be- the world is likely to have as much need as ever." gin anew? The other quotation is from "The Life and Let- Would our friend, the book-recommender, pro- ters of Thomas Hardy." "Conservatism," wrote pose to discard everything more than a hundred Hardy, "is not estimable in itself, nor is change years old-Shakespeare and Milton, Raphael and or radicalism. To conserve the existing good, to Michelangelo, Plato and Phidias and Homer? supplant the existing bad by good, is to act on a What silly talk this is and how utterly stupid in true political principle which is neither conservaits failure to realize that time is not mechanical tive nor radical." but organic; that the present is only the projected and continuing past; and that the past, so All this just as background for the theme on far from being closed and complete, is all open which I wish to speak, namely, "Some of the and contingent, waiting for the full determination Changing and Unchanging Things in Foreign of its character upon the loyalty or disloyalty of Missions." the present and the future. Changing Personnel At Northfield long ago one of the best loved and most original veterans of the Civil War, the late Of the changing things, each one will be think- Chaplain Henry Clay Trumbull, made the Fourth ing first of the changing personnel. In this comof July address on the theme "Our Duty to Make pany there is not one person besides myself who the Past a Success." He took his text from the was present at the first of these conferences forty- Epistle to the Hebrews where, after the great roll four years ago. The conferences began at the inof the heroes and heroines of Israel's history, the stance of the Committee on Foreign Missions of writer declares: "And these, all having obtained the Western Section of the Alliance of the Rea good report through faith, received not the formed Churches holding the Presbyterian syspromise; God having provided some better thing tem. That committee called a conference of the for us, that they without us should not be made representatives of the Foreign Mission Boards of perfect." the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of the Uuited States and Canada to meet on January 11, So! How often during this past football sea- 1893, at the old Presbyterian Mission House on son did we see the ball on the five-yard line, with the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twelfth Street in the whole stadium seething with excitement, with New York City. There were present 38 repreone team seeking to carry the ball the last five sentatives of the eight boards of these Presbyyards and the other team resisting with every terian and Reformed Churches. There are only ounce of its power. How did the ball get there, two survivors of this group- Dr. Avison, who if the past is of no consequence? On that phi- has just retired from his rich service as a medical losophy, why not take it back to the middle of the missionary in Chosen, and myself. The following field where it will stay forever, on the theory that day there met in the same place 78 representathe present is to have no use for the past? All tives of the 23 foreign mission agencies of that the struggle that went before was futile unless day, including almost everyone of our denominanow in this fleeting moment the present does its tional boards and also the China Inland Mission duty to the past and fulfils its own mission in the and the Christian and Missionary Alliance. The discharge of its trust. Lutheran Church was not represented at the first conference but was present at the second and . Noble things the great past promised, thereafter in the person of a grand Christian Holy qreams both strange and true; man, Dr. Scholl. – There are only five survivors of the 78 delegates at this first conference-Dr. Avi- But thE{present shall fulfill them, son, Dr. Mott, Dr. Campbell White, William D. What he promised she shall do. Murray and myself. The names of almost all who were present come back to me now: Dr. N. G. All can be found in two noble quotations from Clark, Dr. A. C. Thompson, Dr. Judson Smith of two books I have just read. The first is from the American Board; Dr. Duncan, and Dr. Henry Trevelyan's "Life of Macaulay," regarded as one of the half-dozen great biographies in the English tongue. Trevelyan is speaking of Zechary Macaulay, Lord Macaulay's father, who in Ja-
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
C. Mabie of the American Baptist Missionary who came to perpetuate the ministry of Christ Union; Dr. Tucker of the Southern Baptists; Mr. and to make the Christian Church the most tire- Kimber and Dr. Satterlee of the Episcopal Board; less, the most inventive, the most persistent, the Dr. Stephen C. Baldwin, Dr. A. B. Leonard and most persuasive agency of human history.
Dr. Peck and Dr. Walter R. Lambuth from the I have seen so many attitudes change, and so two Methodist Churches; Dr. R. M. Sommerville many issues rise and disappear, that I can view of the Reformed Presbyterian Church; Dr. Henry with a calm mind many of the eddies and drifts N. Cobb of the Reformed Church in America; of the present day. I was a schoolboy in Phillips Dr. Dales and Dr. Barr of the United Presby- Academy at the height of the Andover contro- terian; from Canada came Dr. Sutherland, Dr. versy and the contention in the American Board MacLaren, Dr. R. P. Mackay, John Charlton and over the question of the "second probation." We others. Most of the glorious company whom we have seen the humanism of the last generation met in these conferences across these forty-four rise and begin to pass, and have heard Berdyaev years are gone now. How fast they pass! Soon and many another sing its requiem. Professor the new generation will be taking our places. Julius Richter, on his last visit, described with Not only does the personnel of missionary humorous disdain the burial in Germany of many workers at home change but how fast has changed of the philosophies which had been born and had also the roll of missionaries. We could profitably died there and which were still influencing thought recall tonight the men and women who have gone in America. We have all seen the rise of the out from our churches, served the three genera- Barthian emphasis, which surely is not the whole tions of our foreign mission history by the will of of the Gospel but is an essential recovery of cer- God and who are engaged now in an ampler serv- tain aspects of truth which will not be so easily ice and an immortal liberty. lost again.
One would also recall the great list of national Some of our changes of attitude are not as great leaders; Dr. Schneder and I were speaking today as we sometimes suppose. In the January issue of that company of powerful personalities which of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD I founded the Christian Church in Japan and were quoted the substance of a letter which the late remembering the three survivors who are still Dr. J. P. Jones wrote to The Harvest Field in with us-Ibuka, Kozaki and Ebina. We sorely India in 1903. He was one of the wisest and miss the men who have gone-Goreh and Chat- ablest missionaries of his time. After he had terjee, Arcadio Morales and Alvaro Reis, Eduardo been traveling among the churches on furlough, Pereira and Erasmo Braga, and scores of others he wrote for his friends in India his impressions who were with us and are not with us now, save of the missionary situation in the home church.
in the invisible company. The personnel of our If he were describing the situation today his de- missionary enterprise changes fast, and this scription would not differ greatly from his ac- change alone brings with it the inevitable changes count of what he found a whole generation ago.
due to new times and new duties and the new per- There have been changes of emphasis and of atti- sonalities which rise with them. tude, but the essential issues have not changed so The Changing Methods much as some suppose. The change of attitude has probably been far The methods of the missionary enterprise have greater on many of the mission fields. The non- also changed and are ever changing. Perhaps Christian religions have changed as Christianity these changes have not been as great as we some- has not. Noone can overestimate the radical times suppose, or as we might desire. There are changes they have undergone and are undergoing.
new forms of evangelism, by newspaper adver- I have been reading the issues of the Bombay tising and radio (still in its infancy as a mis- Guardian under the editorship of George Bowen.
sionary method), and some old activities, such as He was one of the most remarkable Christian per- street and chapel preaching, are less practised sonalities of the nineteenth century-remarkable than they were. Many of us feel that the change for his intellectual ability and cultivation, for his has been too great in the diminution of mission- spiritual character, for his personal influence.
ary itineration. But the great basic method of The Bombay Guardian under his editorship was human influence and persuasion cannot change. one of the ablest religious papers in the world.
Preaching, teaching and healing were the meth- It is interesting to read today the articles on reli- ods of our Lord and they are the obvious and per- gious life and thought in India in his day; on manent methods of evangelism. One would like Hinduism and the reform movements, and to note to see still more ingenuity, more fertility of inven- the almost incredible changes which have come tion; not more reliance upon the promotional about in the past half century since Bowen wrote.
methods of modern exploitation but far more re- I do not remember Mazoomdar's visit to the West, sponse to the suggestions of that Living Spirit but I remember the swath cut by Swami Viva-
kananda. Many a Swami has followed in the conditions which the missionary enterprise had path which he blazed, all of them unconsciously to meet seventy-five or a hundred years ago-con- witnessing and contributing to the doom of that ditions of ignorance, of prejudice, or of racial and which they were seeking to preserve. And all religious selfishness. We are lacking today the these changes of past attitude are only predictions tidal wave of interest and sympathy which we had of further changes, not all of which will be for a generation ago in the old Laymen's Missionary good but none of which do we fear. Movement. Those who did not feel the hopeful The Changing Problems joyous surge of that spontaneous movement among the laymen of our churches cannot appre- Problems also have changed and will change; ciate what we have lost. Our new problem is to most of them superficially, but some fundamen- know what can take the place of such movements, tally. The political problem has changed greatly how the missionary enterprise can be so formu- within my memory. Mr. H. V. Morton's book, "In lated and so presented now as to draw forth the the Steps of St. Paul," reveals the change in the resources needed for the new opportunities.
freedom of the missionary movement since Paul's Changing Opportunities day. Paul was able to pass from Jerusalem to Spain without a passport, crossing no interna- Of the many changing things which I might tional boundaries on his way. Mr. Morton speaks mention, I will speak only of the changing oppor- of the contrast in his own experience, in passing tunities and resistances which are upon us and only from Antioch to Rome. ahead of us. Nobody any longer talks of the "im- In the last fifty years there has been a vast movable nations" as they were described in Rob- change for the worse in this matter of the free- ert Barr's book, "The Unchanging East." That dom and trustfulness of human intercourse. was the commonplace idea in regard to Asia fifty When I first visited Asia forty years ago it was years ago. One of the most authentic books of not necessary to get any vises on passports, and that time was "Asia and Europe," by Meredith we were not asked to show our passports more Townsend, who lived for years in India and suc- than two or three times in crossing a dozen or ceeded George Smith, Sir George Adams Smith's more nations. Now at every national boundary father, as editor of The Friend of India. Then he the barriers stand. We have lost the freedom of returned to England to succeed Richard Holt world movement of the Roman Empire, but alas, Hutton as editor of The London Spectator in the we have got back its worst political principle in days when the Spectator was one of the three most the deification of the State. Mr. Michael Williams, influential journals printed in the English lan- editor of The Commonweal, has pointed out the guage. No man was better informed regarding fact that the old concept of the "Cresar-god" is the relationships of the East and the West, and back again, with all its ominous significance as to yet the unchanging and yet constantly varying the relationship of the State to the freedom of the thesis of his book was the unchangeability of Asia.
human spirit. This problem of religious liberty Townsend held that Asiatrc races were sterile; has taken on accordingly a new aspect. I am not they had had their history. They were burnt out referring to the issue of missionary freedom, al- and no movements of living change could be gen- though that is significant enough. I am thinking erated among them. What must Mr. Townsend of those principles of religious liberty which we think as he looks down today upon the peoples of believe to be of universal validity and to enshrine Asia, representing one-half the population of the the basic rights of the human spirit. world, swung completely away from the old moor- It would be well for all of us to read some of ings, which he thought were perpetual, and that the recent books which deal with this issue, such are now adrift before mighty tempests on the vast as Christopher Dawson's "Religion in the Modern waters of time!
State" ; Adolph Keller's "Church and State in These nations have not changed more than Contemporary Europe"; William Adams Brown's some of our Western nations have changed; "Church and State in Contemporary America"; among them no change has been greater than the and Carl Heim's "The Church of Christ and the place of our own among the nations of the world.
Problems of the World Today." We have no time I remember well my first crossing of the boundary to discuss this here but it is a very different prob- between Persia and Mesopotamia, then under the lem today from what it was fifty years ago. Our rule of Turkey, just forty years ago. We were present situation is a throw back to darker days held up in the villages of Khanikin and Kasr-i- from which we had hoped we had escaped forever. Shirin by a Turkish quarantine. It was an in- Weare confronting another set of new prob- teresting place, near the old palaces of the lems in the promotional work of the missionary Khosroes. Mrs. Speer and I sat on those great enterprise at home. In one sense these problems terraces, where the marble pillars had held their are not new; they represent simply the revival of marble roofs, and recalled Browning's "Love
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
Among the Ruins." When at last the quarantine India now than there were in the entire world in was lifted, for almost the only time on that trip, the year 300. There come to my mind again the we showed our passports to the Turkish officials. names of the leaders of these churches, of whom They gathered around Mr. Hawkes of Hamedan I was speaking a little while ago, men and women who had brought us to the border, and we over- who are the peers of any in our Christian heard in their discussion the words "Yangi churches in the West and with whom we rejoice Dunia." I supposed it was some barbarism for to step forth, brother clasping the hand of "Yankee Doodle" but we learned from Mr. brother, fearless amid the welcome changes of the Hawkes that they were the Turkish words for new days. "New World." The dispute was as to whether there really was any such country as the United Things That Do Not Change States of America and if so where it was and what it was. In those days the sight of the Amer- Now one rej oices to turn from these, and the ican flag was a rarity, and only once or twice in innumerable other changing things representing the waters of Asia did we see it on any American both gain and loss, to the consideration of some ship. As one goes across the world today no of the things that do not change. words can exaggerate the difference, whether it be for good or for ill, in the knowledge and in- First there is God, the same from everlasting fluence of America. to everlasting. I recall most vividly the meeting of the general War-time Commission of the To this plasticity of the fixed nations, and to Churches in Washington, during the World War. this unlimited influence of our country, one adds There were three speakers, Archbishop Soderblom the amazing change represented in the rise of of Sweden, Bishop Gore of England, and Dr. the Christian Church. There is enough to dis- Harry Emerson Fosdick of America. Who that courage us in the problems of self-support, true heard those three notable addresses could ever independence, literacy, and self-propagation, and forget them! Dr. Fosdick had just come back the true spirit of autonomy in these churches. I from France and closed his address by quoting have seen the abandoned parasite churches which the familiar hymn which was the favorite of Engdied when the subsidies failed. But these discour- lish-speaking soldiers from whatever land, "Abide agements are offset tenfold by the miraculous with me, fast falls the eventide." Standing out· growth and progress of these past years. How for the soldier most distinctly were the lines, easy it would be to recite many concrete evidences "Change and decay in all around I see; 0 Thou of the change. I know of hardly anyone more who changest not, abide with me." Thank God, dramatic than the Lushai choir. Half a century He is unchanging. ago the Lushai people lived in terror and suspicion of each other. "Chief rose against chief, village Turn back again and read sometime Bishop against village. Prisoners were taken and car- Brent's address on next to the last evening of the ried back in triumph by the conquerors who used Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910 on the them as serfs, or cut off their heads and put them theme "The Sufficiency of God." Time swings by on poles outside the villages. The Lushais were in its ever rolling stream, bringing its unceasing head-hunters. When they died those who had the change; but this work that we are doing, however required number of heads were allowed to enter much its form and conditions may shift from year the Lushai paradise." Today there are 300 Chris- to year, is mortised in One who changes not. tian churches among them with 50,000 members, and the Lushai choir travels all over India singing o God, the rock of ages, Gaul's "Holy City" and Handel's "Messiah" as well as they can be sung by the great choirs of Who evermore hast been, the West. What time the tempest rages, About a year ago we celebrated the jubilee of Our dwelling place serene; missions in Chosen. I was in Korea shortly after the organization of the first church in Pyengyang Before Thy first creations, and could appreciate the feelings of Dr. Samuel Moffatt who founded that church as he watched o Lord, the same as now, the jubilee procession of Christians seven miles long and could reflect that there are more Chris- To endless generations tians in Chosen today than there were in the The everlasting Thou. Roman Empire at the end of the first century. The last news bulletin of the United Lutheran This metaphor of the rock, which the Old Testa- Church called attention to the fact that according ment used with regard to God, is equally relevant to the last census there are more Christians in and came naturally to the thought of the writers of the New Testament, with regard to Jesus Christ. He is "the same yesterday, today and forever." I do not say that He must be the same to us. If He is what the New Testament repre- sents Him to be, and what we believe Him to be -the fullness of the Godhead, in whom are hid all the riches of grace and knowledge-then He cannot merely be to us the same from day to day,
but must every day be something more, as we two of the ablest Greek scholars in England, Sir grow in the knowledge of God in Him, and move Edwin Hoskyns and Noel Davey. There has been "in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of no more thoroughgoing acceptance of the analyt- the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the ical criticism of the synoptic Gospels than this. measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." But its conclusion is that, dissect the Gospels as We want no misunderstanding of our position; you please, you will have, when you come to your whatever the materials or the plans of our build- most destructive end, a Person from whom there ing, there is one unchanged and unchanging foun- is no escape, One who believed Himself to be God dation on which we bUild. Everything else may and whose belief His disciples shared. It is inter- shift and alter but not this. We thank God for esting to note that, in the hands of some, the Grundterg's noble Lutheran hymn: "form criticism" of the Gospels is taking this same reverse turn. It was formerly held that the evan- Built on a Rock the Church doth stand gelists had overdrawn the picture of Jesus, that Even when steeples are falling. love and devotion had read into the story what was not there. But now there are those who hold Crumbled have spires in every land that the evangelists underdrew the picture, and Bells are still pealing and calling. that Jesus, being what He was, it was inevitable that His picture should be underdrawn; th8t do Let the steeples fall if they will, and more surely their best, men could do nothing more than touch still the minarets and the pagodas and the towers, as it were but the hem of His garment. "Jesus but the great Rock Foundation stands is greater than the traditions about him," says Deissmann, and I think that we are on the thresh- Whereon our feet were set by sovereign grace, old of a day when the godlikeness of Jesus will Nor life, nor death, with all their agitation displace, perhaps overmuch, the humanitarian Shall thence remove us if we see His face. interpretations of His person. Let the interpre- tations come and go-He is what He has always One of the greatest services ever rendered by been, and we stand on His unchangeable reality, our friend Dr. William Douglass Mackenzie, who Son of God and Son of Man. belonged by birthright and conviction in this fel- lowship, was the work he did in his latest book, Onr Unchanging Faith "The Christ of the Christian Faith." In the .finality, the absoluteness, the sufficiency, the Our fourth great unchanging inheritance is our uniqueness, of this supreme Personality the mis- common catholic faith. Weare often reproached sionary enterprise believes, and here it unalter- with our divisions and disagreements but as a ably stands. matter of fact these are trivial in comparison with the broad basic unity of our common Christian Unchanging Facts of History mind. Weare often told that we shall never be able to get together in our Christian opinion and The facts of Christian history and the record that we should turn accordingly to cooperation of those facts in the Gospels also stand un- and practical service, where it is assumed that changed. We are not ignorant of, neither are we we can unite as we cannot unite in our underlying disturbed by, the historical and literary criticism convictions. "When there is a great fire," we are of the early Christian documents. What the facts told, "see how men of every opinion unite. Reliabout Jesus Christ were, they were and are. No gious and political differences are forgotten in the criticism of history can alter the facts. It can common effort to deal with the great emergency." alter the interpretation of the facts. It can cor- Nothing of the kind. The opinions that are not rect any misrepresentation of the facts. But what relevant to the emergency are temporarily held in happened happened; and we are absolutely sure abeyance, but there is no cooperation in work that that whatever changes may take place in the form does not rest upon intellectual agreement in that of the New Testament criticism will leave us with work. The fire extinguishers are united in their the fact of Christ, and the facts of Christ more opinions about the fire and the method of its exsure and certain than ever. As Harnack said, in tinguishment. And as a matter of fact the area closing his famous address on "Christianity and of our intellectual agreement in Christianity goes History," "Let the plain Bible reader continue to far beyond the measure of our practical cooperaread his Gospels as he has always read them; for tion. It was a significant thing that at the first in the end the critic cannot read them otherwise. "Faith and Order" Conference at Lausanne the What the one regards as their true gist and mean- only commission's report which could be adopted ing, the other must acknowledge to be such. . . . was the report on the common faith, a report This evangelical faith need fear no test that can which was embodied in the message of the Jerube applied to it. It can bear a strict and me- salem Missionary Council. That Council too could thodical scrutiny of the facts which form its historical foundation."
One of the most significant books of recent months is "The Riddle of the New Testament" by
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
never have been united in anything except its ac- Two specially great and inspiring books that ceptance of the common Catholic faith and par- I have read recently are "The Autobiography of ticipation in the common Christian experience. Jawaharlal Nehru" and Seaver's life of "Wilson We have seen this very richly in the recent Na- of the Antarctic." Jawaharlal Nehru, now presitional Preaching Mission, where men of many dent of the India National Congress, has been for divergent denominations and dissimilar methods years one of the outstanding younger leaders on found themselves absolutely united in their proc- the Nationalist movement in India. He is the delamation of the essential Christian message. voted friend of Gandhi, though they differ almost What we need is not so much more doctrinal by the width of the world in their ideologies and agreement: it is the implementing of our exist- philosophies. He wrote his book in prison and ing agreement in the instruments of united action. the shadow of his wife's illness lies over the last pages. As a Socialist drawing near to commu- In the world at large today we face the same nism, Jawaharlal frankly repudiates all religion. situation. Whether it likes it or not, the world is It is open to question whether his methods may unified today in its economic life and in its real not frustrate the very ends which he seeks, but political self-interest. Our trouble is that we are there can be no question as to the glorious deseeking to deny facts and that we have not pro- votion of the man, his steadfastness, his patient vided, either in the League of Nations or other- endurance, his self-sacrifice, his disregard of wise, the instrumentalities through which the everything else in his loyalty to his cause. One common life of humanity can express itself and asks himself, as he lays down the book, whether fulfill its functions. Many changes are called for his Christian loyalty can match this Indian's conin the world and in the Christian Church today secration and how soon, in the Church on the misbut underlying all of these the hopeful thing is sion field and the Church at home, leadership can that we have already existent a great body of be raised up that will surpass in the Christian common faith and life extending far beyond our cause young Nehru's leadership in the cause of achieved, united and cooperative action. Indian Nationalism.
The Great Fundamental Aim and Method The other book is more wonderful still. One feels unworthy to read the story of such a life. After all, the great fundamental aim and cen- Wilson was a biologist, an artist, a naturalist, a tral method of the missionary enterprise remain physician. lIe was the doctor and the spiritual unchanged. What is that aim? It is all expressed mainspring of Scott's expedition to the South in our Lord's prayer: "Thy kingdom come, thy Pole, where he died with Scott and two other comwill be done on earth as it is in heaven." This panions as they were returning from the Pole in formula may seem to over-simplify the task. their effort to reach their base of supplies. I have What is the Kingdom of God? The phrase is used never read a life of purer inspiration. When the with half a dozen significances in the New Testa- bodies were found by the expedition that came to ment. What is the will of God? Much of our seek them two letters. were taken from Wilson's philosophy and theology reads the evil of the breast addressed to his wife. Let me read them world into the Divine Will. I do not believe that now: any sanction can be found, or any rationalization either, of sin and unrighteousness in the will of To My BELOVED WIFE: the righteous and holy God, the Father of Jesus Christ. Dishonesty, murder, adultery, rapine and Life has been a struggle for some weeks now on this lust and crime are not the will of God. return journey from the Pole-so much so that I have not been able to keep my diary going. Today may be the last But the difficulties do not touch the central effort. Birdie and I are going to try and reach the Depot simplicity. Our business is to live and work to eleven miles north of us and return to this tent where bring the life and work of the world into con- Captain Scott is lying with a frozen foot. . . . I shall formity with the pure and righteous and loving simply fall and go to sleep in the snow, and I have your will of God, as revealed in the mind of Christ. little book with me in my breast-pocket. . . . And the central motive must be what it has ever been, what it was to St. Paul: "The love of Christ Don't be unhappy-all is for the best. We are playing constraineth me." Does that love adequately con- a good part in a great scheme arranged by God himself, strain us? There was no one in st. Paul's day and all is well. • . . I am only sorry I couldn't have seen whose devotion to any master or any cause shamed your loving letters, and Mother's and Dad's and the the devotion of St. Paul to Christ. Are we sure Smiths', and all the happy news I had hoped to see-but that we should feel no shame as we set our devo- all these things are easily seen later, I expect. . . . God tion to Christ today over against the devotion of be with you-my love is as living for you as ever. men and women around about us to the causes which command their minds and wills and their I would like to have written to Mother and Dad and all utmost sacrifice? at home, but it has been impossible. We Will aU meet after death, and death has no terrors. . . . We have done what we thought was best. My own dear wife, good-bye for the present.. . I do not cease to pray for you-to the very last. . . •
To My MOST BELOVED WIFE: than our predecessors had then. The trouble is, God be with you in your trouble, dear, when I have we do not think enough on the continuity of life gone. I have written another short letter to you. . . . and time. We have too many ephemeral notions -they spring up this morning and will fade to- I leave this life in absolute faith and happy belief that night. We need to do our thinking deeper down if God wishes you to wait long without me it will be to some good purpose. All is for the best to those that love God, and oh, my Ory, we have both loved Him with all in the organic unity of the enterprise. There is our lives. All is well. . . . a bit of verse I came upon recently in a little Eng- We have struggled to the end and we have nothing to lish book, "A Cotswold Year": regret. Our whole journey record is clean, and Scott's God guard me from those thoughts diary gives the account. . . . The Barrier has beaten us Men think in the mind alone. -though we got to the Pole. He that sings a lasting song My beloved wife, these are small things, life itself is a Thinks in a marrowbone. small thing to me now, but my love for you is forever and a part of our love for God. . . . I do not cease to pray for And the moral principles abide. A New York you and to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will. (Later.) God knows I am sorry to be minister in a sermon on the recent tragic experi- the cause of sorrow to anyone in the world, but every ence of the whole English-speaking race depre- one must die and at every death there must be some sor- cated the persistence of the old ethical ideas. The row. . . . All the things I had hoped to do with you after Ten Commandments, he held, were antiquated this Expedition are as nothing now, but there are greater relics of a social life lived in the desert long ago things for us to do in the world to come. . . . My only and were irrelevant in our present time. Let a regret is leaving you to struggle through your life alone, but I may be coming to you by a quicker way. I feel so word spoken by Walter Lippmann at the inauguhappy now in having got time to write to you. One of ration of President King of Amherst answer this my notes will surely reach you. Dad's little compass and poor preacher's folly: "What the world needs Mother's little comb and looking-glass are in my pocket. most of all from the colleges," said Mr. Lippmann, Your little Testament and prayer book will be in my hand or in my breast-pocket when the end comes. All is well-. "is not medicine for its pains but the maintenance So they left him there, covering the little group intact, amidst all the distractions of life, of its with a clean snow monument and setting up over standards of excellence." The mariner's comthem the simple inscription: "To STRIVE, TO pass does not change with the moral caprices of SEEK, TO FIND, AND NOT TO YIELD." For the joy men; and the spiritual principles are equally sethat was set before Him our Lord endured His cure and unshifting. It would be well if we would cross; for the love of such a Master, St. Paul set ourselves individually and collectively, to diswalked the roads of the Roman Empire, crossed cern and draw out these principles. A great deal its seas, and died outside the walls of Rome. Is of our confusion is due to our failure to apprethe unchanged motive dominant within us today, hend them. We are seeking, for example, to furor has our changeableness and vacillation held us nish leadership today for our youth movements back from the pure devotion that has been the and to see what can be done to vivify and maincentral spring of the missionary enterprise tain these movements, including the Student Volthrough the centuries? unteer Movement. Leadership will not be sup- plied to these movements from without-it must I have been reading Thomas Traherne's "Felici- spring up spontaneously from within. We need ties" with their contempt of the "Cursd and to remember, too, that the greatest spiritual lead- Devisd Properties" which robbed his eyes of ership is often the humblest and the least pubsplendor, and kept him from the glory to which licized. The things that have happened in his- God called all obedient life. Are the proprieties, tory, that we do not know about, probably outthe conventions, the accepted respectabilities, the weigh in their eternal significance the things that unbelieving naturalism, the fear of wonder and happened and that we do know about. Some auof miracle, keeping us in grooves from which we thentic unrecorded history is vastly more imporshould. break out, with self-forgetfulness, in striv- tant than some authentic recorded history, and ings and in achievings transcending the sacrifies still more important than the recorded history of nationalism and of exploration? This is the that is not authentic at all. And what is true of unchanging call. history is still more true of personalities.
Unchanging Spiritual Issues Some time ago I sent to one of our able mis- There are great spiritual principles and issues sionaries a little statement of suggested items·of that after all change little if at all. Read the missionary principle and policy, one of which.I resolutions adopted by the early Foreign Missions am afraid slipped into just the error of which I Conferences. The resolutions adopted long ago am speaking. It read, "Perhaps the largest part at tl;Ie meeting of this Conference in the rooms of of our whole problem is to find and prepare men .the Board of the Reformed Church in America and women who know what the Gospel is and who dealt with just the issues that we are facing now. are intellectually and spiritually capable of com- They show that we have no more wisdom today municating it and of doing today the work that
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN M'ISSIONS
needs to be done by great evangelists, apologists automatic self-progression of humanity. As Dr. and theologians, as well as by common men and Adolph Keller wrote recently fr:om Geneva, as he women who simply know how to love and serve." surveyed the European scene: "We are coming back to the first Christian conception of the world. The good and wise man to whom I sent the The world is not plastic material to be easily statement replied: moulded by Christian influence. There is a hos- tile demonic element. The Church has to fight Will you forgive me too if I fail to respond, as I perhaps stubbornly against principalities and powers for should, to the mention of the great names of the past as its faith and liberty, for the conversion of peoples necessarily suggesting more heroism than is evident today, and the spread of the Gospel." under conditions not so difficult in many other ways? I am sorry also to say that the really great names of the This was Paul's view. "For we wrestle," said missionary enterprise, as of any other enterprise, are never he, "not against flesh and blood, but against prinmentioned, and that makes me wince a bit at the last line cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of of your paragraph 11. I am so much of a heretic in the the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickface of present plans and propaganda that I believe that edness in high places." If any of you have lived the strength of the missionary cause is in "the common such placid lives that you do not realize this, if men and women who simply know how to love and serve." you still think that life is a bright and happy un- folding of its: own latent nature and possibilities Unfortunately, too, the solution of our personnel diffi- of good, I hope you may be spared those deep culty does not seem to lie alone, or even predominantly, tragedies through which others of us have had to along the line of preparation. This is not to discount the pass, tragedies which have taught us the truth of importance and necessity of the very finest preparation Paul's interpretation. We do believe, as the hymn available, but there is a real sense in which a preparation in our conference hymnal declares: too intense and technical and American, reaches a point of supersaturation which really unfits a person for the God is working his purpose out main essential in missionary living, which is simple- As year succeeds to year: hearted adaptability to the situation in which he finds himself. The problem of reconciling these two is a very God is working his purpose out, difficult one, and I don't think that we have reached the And the time is drawing near; solution. Nearer and nearer draws the time, The truth that we need to learn and keep ever The time that shall surely be, in mind St. Paul set forth long ago in one of his letters: When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God As the waters cover the sea. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many We believe this. If Paul could believe it and noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things declare it in his letter to the Philippian Christians of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen written from jail, from discouragement, from the weak things of the world to confound the things which loneliness, from the treachery of fellow Chrisare mighty; and base things of the world, and things tians, surely we can believe it and declare it towhich are despised, hath God chosen, yet, and things day. But the purpose will be accomplished only which are not, to bring to nought things that are. as the end of a great struggle: a struggle that cost the life of the Son of God, a struggle that is Here once again is the everlasting paradox. calling today for everything that is within us, that Who was the man who wrote these words? We is demanding of us more than all that Jawaharlal see him now not as weak and foolish but as the Nehru is giving to his Nationalism, all that Edmightiest figure in human history, next to his ward Wilson gave to Antarctic exploration, that Master. David Livingstone gave to those dark journeys which lifted the somber fringes of the night and The Nature of the Christian Life let light in upon Africa, all that Jesus Christ asked and is asking still, "If any man will come Lastly, among the unchanging things of which after me, let him deny himself and take up his I would speak there is the real nature of this life cross and follow me." This is the summons that that we are trying to live and this work that we is unchanged and unchanging. are seeking to do. It is a conflict in which we are engaged-a conflict ever changing and unchanging. We are passing beyond the easy conception of the last generation or two with regard to the We need, not simply education, but Christian education – training that issues in religious conviction and Christian personality. Our strength lies in the intelligent religious convictions of our people. In the more comprehensive sense of the term the whole problem of the church is now more clearly seen to be one of education. We have to bring every available resource to bear to make the home, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the day school, the university, the the- ological seminary, all our educational factors, efficient in carrying out the great task of train- ing men and women in Christian character. R. E. S.
American Indian and His
Native Beliefs and Customs and the Christian Missionary Motive -4£{ By ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN Author of "Pratt: The Red Man's Moses"
THERE are undoubtedly inherent values in right in assuming that their religious associations many primitive religious beliefs., and there are not likely to alter radically "so long as the is an essential human dignity in black, brown culture pattern holds firm." Among our own and yellow men. But the recognition of these American Indians the opposite condition obtains. values has gone too far in many cases, as for ex- Nearly all of them have been compelled by circumample as regards the relatively small group of stances to turn for a living to agriculture, cattlepartially assimilated American Indians. raising or sheep-herding, modern industry or other civilized employment, and schooling has Recent writers have indulged in what may well been general in most tribes for one or two genbe termed extravagant praise of the original In- erations. dian religion and culture. Ernest Thompson Seton's "Gospel of the Red Man: An Indian The Decline of Primitive Cultures Bible," is a brief summary of the "highest and best" ethical teachings of many tribes. The au- The early missionaries, foreseeing this radical thor quotes nine passages, covering almost every shift of cultures, knew that a decay of faith and point made, from Dr. Charles A. Eastman's "Soul ritual based on war and the buffalo hunt must of the Indian" (published twenty-five years ago), inevitably follow. "So far as this tribe is con- and closes with the words: "We advocate his (the cerned," writes one who passed a lifetime among Indian's) culture as an improvement on our own." the Sioux," there never was any use of force to Having long been keenly sensible of the charm turn an Indian away from any religion or toward of the primitive, I have insisted upon the native any religion." Such men were not unwilling to virtues of the untutored Red Man in a day when admit the merits of a culture they saw as doomed. such an attitude was frowned upon as sentimen- Aware that some loss was unavoidable, they tality. Until well into the nineteen hundreds, the sought to balance the loss by greater gain, usually Indian was looked upon as a "savage" and a with marked success. "heathen"-no less! The time came when I was Although a few literal-minded officials and privileged to assist in the preparation of Dr. East- over-punctilious clergymen did try to root out man's idealization of his ancestral philosophy, as everything "native" just because it was native, filtered through a modern mind-a study of this I think this was never a typical attitude. I know subject which has perhaps never been surpassed. that missionaries made some of the finest collec- Yet the Sioux author would not go so far as to tions of aboriginal art, and in some cases built up claim, as has another college-bred Indian, that his a profitable trade in these articles for the benefit race "has contributed more ideas of freedom, of native craftsmen. The Mohonk Lodge in Oklaequality and brotherly love than Christ ever homa is an example. While encouraging the pro- dreamed of"! Nor did he ever assert with Seton duction of things beautiful and serviceable, they that theirs was "the most spiritual civilization the could not be blind to the existence of objection- world has ever seen!" If these things were true, able habits and demoralizing superstitions. Di- what had we to offer them? In defense of the vi- reet attack upon these is, however, a less effective tality and persistence of the Christian missionary method than the friendly offer of something better motive, let us set beside the misleading half- in their place. Every normal personality instinctruths of the new school of Nature-wors'hippers tively seeks it consistent, well integrated philoso- the other half of the story. phy, and the adoption, even in part, of a modern Frank G. Speck, in his book on the Naskapi, the viewpoint implies the rejection of such naive ex- "savage hunters of the Labrador peninsula," as- planations of natural phenomena as that lightning serts that long-time missionary enterprise among proceeds from the beak of an enormous bird, or this people has basically failed. They are still that disease is the work of a malicious spirit. nomadic hunters, ,and the scientist is probably Sterling traits of character, present in some de- [128 ] gree among all mankind, are by certain extremists Photo by Bureau of American Ethnology labelled typically "Indian." Actually, there is HOPI INDIAN SNAKE DANCE little reason to suppose that the ordinary Indian surpasses the common man of another race in courage, generosity, truthfulness, or any basic virtue. In any group these traits vary widely with the individual. Neither, we may assume, is he in reality more "spiritual." True, a state of chronic warfare develops aggressiveness and continual hardship teaches endurance, while such vices as theft and avarice are hardly to be looked for in a moneyless society, whose few possessions are unprotected save by public opinion. On the other hand, those who live close to the soil are constantly preoccupied with primary needs and desires. The day-by-day talk of a primitive Indian camp deals first of all with food-a material necessity; after that, with a never-ceasing flood of incredibly petty and often spiteful neighborhood gossip.
The acceptance of civilization and Christianity makes life more complicated. Along with new temptations, it presents higher standards and a far wider outlook. I am fully aware of the difficulty of making so fundamental an adaptation. I know, however, from first-hand observation, that it may be and has been achieved, in numerous cases. Doubtless the ancient mores at its best produced some fine characters-an earnest of the strength and richness of those that have been developed under Christian teaching.
Some Harmful Indian Customs munities, some attention to the laws of health and preventive medicine is required by law. Both the literary fashion of lauding pagan cults, and the activity in their behalf so recently 2. The Hopi snake dance, theoretically a prayer undertaken by the Indian Office, have put our for rain, is now a well-advertised tourist attracmissionaries more or less on the defensive. With tion. The question arises: Do religious saturnalia no desire to call in question the existence of good of a sensational character, especially after they in all religions, it may be well to specify a few begin to be exploited for money, tend to exalt huof the old-time Indian customs which the mission- man dignity? A correspondent of The Christian aries hold to be definitely opposed both to moral Century commented, a year or so ago, on a someadvance and civic progress. what similar affair staged by Southern "poor whites." "Teester's performance," he wrote, "has 1. The occult arts and weird incantations of brought on such a widespread orgy of snakethe medicine-men, who are doctors as well as handling in tent and crude tabernacle meetings priests, not only fail to cure the sick-unless to that something will have to be done about it. . . . a limited extent by hypnotic powers – but they Press and sound news reel have made capital of often spread disease among the well. For one ex- the frenzied spectacle." ample out of many, take the Reverend J. C. Morgan's description of the ye-ba-chai, sacred healing 3. Rites involving public torture and mutilation ceremony among the Navajos. Mr. Morgan is a once climaxed the Sun Dance of the Plains people. native missionary. He writes: "In this dance These were banned by the government; but it is many men take part, each wearing a snugly fitting said that in some pueblos there are still ceremonial buckskin mask. One after another wears the whippings. same mask all night long. Some have sore eyes; some have tuberculosis; the masks, become sat- 4. Belief in witchcraft is almost universal urated with breath and perspiration. I believe among primitive Indians. Some tribes execute many are infected with trachoma or tuberculosis persons suspected of being witches. or both." This dance lasts nine days and nights and costs much money. In most enlightened com- 5. Fear of "ghosts," really fear of the dead and their power to harm, is extremely common. It causes a great deal of unhappiness and leads to
lending one's wife to a visitor, will hardly be de- fended as worthy of perpetuation among United States citizens..
11. The tradition of incessant petty warfare against "enemy tribes," usually near neighbors, dominated the society of the leading Indian na- tions. No youth might honorably seek a wife until he had shed the blood of an "enemy," often that of a solitary hunter with his helpless little family. Next to taking the life of a member of another tribe, either man, woman or child, in a kind of private "war," most renown was to be won by "stealing" his horses or other property.
REV. BEN BRAVE – SIOUX INDIAN The Need for the Christian Message practices injurious to the living, such as the de- It will be said in reply that no one has proposed struction of a dwelling in which a death has oc- going to logical extremes, but merely that the curred. Extreme mourning customs, the cutting "best" of the ancestral tradition be perpetuated. of the hair and flesh, burying or giving away all This means that the much eulogized "native culpossessions, add needlessly to the pain of bereave- tures" must first be judged by wholly alien standment. ards. After the process of sifting, only a few selected items remain, and these usually among 6. It has been said in praise of the old-time the least characteristic and important. Customs Indian that "his ambition was not to possess shocking to our moral sense, such as kidnapping, wealth but to give it away." At the same time, slavery, massacre of noncombatants, torture of property must first be accumulated, before pres- prisoners and many others, though sanctioned if tige can be acquired by its distribution. Probably not enjoined by various Indian religions, are supthere was little pure altruism connected with the pressed by Seton in his "Indian Bible" as well as tradition of public giving, which was on the whole by certain spokesmen for the Indian Office. The a form of display. The leading men of some tribes widespread injury to health from the use of collected and destroyed great piles of savage peyote, and the activities of native medicine-men, wealth as the surest :r;oad to personal distinction. are glossed over or ignored. If it were actually possible to reestablish the "integrity of the old 7. The Peyote cult, borrowed from Old Mexico, order," as some enthusiasts have seemed to advocenters about the use of an intoxicating drug for- cate, we should once more have tribal leaders of bidden by the laws of several states. Missionaries the type of Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and Kicking and other close observers have invariably con- Bear – high priest of the Messiah craze. This demned it as harmful. It is tolerated, however, would be genuine "Indian leadership," promoted by the present Indian administration. by strange forms of religious excitement and find- ing vent in intertribal feuds, as well as in undying S. Religious taboos against many common hostility to the white man! foods, such as fish, or the totem animal of the individual, cause needless privation and inconven- On the other hand, our present-day Indian leadience. ers have been trained by Christian men and women to lead away from, not back to, the primi- 9. Isolation of the menstruating woman, often tive. Most of them are of mixed ancestry, and with inadequate fire and food, is a common cul- the same is true of an estimated two-thirds of the tural trait based on superstitious fear. It involves Indian population, so-called. Intermarriage, says great discomfort and probable danger to health. the Dutch scientist, Schrieke, in his book, "Alien Americans," is "America's greatest contribution" 10. Polygamy, and especially the claim of a to the solution of the Indian problem. The inman to any or all of his wife's sisters as second- evitable transition is now far advanced. Surely ary wives, regardless of their preferences, to- the future of-these aspiring contemporary Amer.igether with the custom of sexual hospitality, or cans cannot, to any significant extent, lie along aboriginal folkways? If not, the "missionary mo- tive" is still valid, and Christ not only offers an advance upon any and all native religions but a new conception of God and the way of life for man.
Christ Has Done for Untouchables*
By v. s. AZARIAH Bishop of Dornakal, India THE whole of India has been agitated by the They cannot lose government help, simply because declaration made by Dr. Ambedkar that all they change their religion. Some others say that who are known as Depressed Classes should Hindus are reforming themselves, and there is give up Hinduism and seek to join some other re- much change nowadays compared with former ligion that will give them the fullest opportunities times, and that the Depressed Classes must wait of developing themselves. Dr. Ambedkar char- in patience. Dr. Ambedkar says in reply that he acterized Hinduism as a contagion; those who has now waited for many years and nothing is wished to escape the evil effects of this contagion really done; that the nature of Hinduism is such must flee from it. that nothing much can be done within it and the fact that some people have changed does not prove Dr. Ambedkar has been in Europe, England, that his people's lot is going to be very different and America and has spent several years in those from the past. countries for advanced study. Owing to his Depressed Class origin, however, he was put to great It is not for us to say what religion Untouchinconveniences when he began work in the Baroda ables must join; and what religion will give you State and in the Bombay Presidency. He is now what you seek. We place before you what the practicing law in Bombay and is also the principal religion of Jesus Christ has done in the past for of a law college. Thousands of those hitherto your brethren who have become Christians. known as Untouchables in all parts of India have declared their willingness to follow Dr. Ambedkar We have in the Andhra Desa about a million and renounce Hinduism and join some other reli- Christians. Of these nine-tenths must be people gion. who themselves or through their forefathers were in the so-called Depressed Class groups before Hindu leaders naturally are advising the so- they became Christians. What has Christ done called Depressed Classes not to abandon Hindu- for us who are converts and your brethren? ism. Some reformers urge that Hindu temples must be open to Depressed Classes. But "ortho- 1. He has lifted us socially. We have had edudox" Hindus vehemently oppose ,this. Pious Hin- cational facilities given us by missions. Adults dus would no longer visit the temples If they were have learnt to read. Our children live, study, and polluted by Untouchables. It would be reasonable eat alongside of any who may have come into our to ask why the Depressed Classes should now in- religion from any other caste. We have risen in vade Hindu temples where they have never wor- the estimation of other castes because of our edushipped before and hurt the feelings of the devout cation and character. Our original caste and the orthodox people. Many Depressed Class leaders ca11te of our forefathers are thus being forgotten. have publicly said that they do not want this. Some of our men are occupying positions as Deputy Collectors, Tahsildars, Sub-Magistrates, Some Hindu leaders have argued that the De- Municipal Commissioners, Revenue Inspectors, pressed Class people will not gain anything by etc., throughout the Andhra Desa. Most of our giving up Hinduism, because only when they re- pastors and teachers are from our own people; main in the Hindu fold will they be entitled to and these have under their care Christian conenjoy those political privileges and government verts from all castes. There are hundreds of favors which they now get as Depressed Classes. Christian pastors and thousands of schoolmasters But Dr. Ambedkar asks: "What is the use of all over the country. Converts from the Brahmin, privileges when we are to he eternally called 'out- Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra castes are taught castes,' 'untouchables' and have to live under this in Christian schools and are given religious mindisgrace?" And he is right. Moreover, he is con- istrations by converts from the Depressed Classes. vinced that the government is certainly not going These things. are not unknown to you. to do any such injustice to the Depressed Classes simply because they choose to revolt against the 2. He has raised our womanhood. The Chris- ~osition in which Hinduism has placed them. tian women stand higher than Hindus in educa- tion. In English education they stand highest of *N~~t~~~e~i~~~r distributed by the Foreign Missions Conference among Indians. Among them are found many doctors, and B.A.'s who are occupying responsible [131 ]
positions in the Andhra Desa. A few are in gov- ment in the higher things comes to us and these ernment service. These are respected by all who inevitably lead to enlightenment of mind and adknow them. Infant marriages are unknown vance in general culture. The light of Jesus among us; purdah is unknown, and this gives Christ has shone into our hearts and minds, and our women the opportunity of going on to higher is illuminating us. This may be noticed in any education and making themselves useful in public village in the Andhra Desa. life. Our home life is generally known to be pure and happy. Taken as a whole, our women and (e) Christianity has brought us fellowship and our girls enjoy life, full life and happiness, be- brotherhood. It has treated us with respect, and cause of our religious injunction-one man-one it has given us self-respect. It has never despised wife, and both equal before God. us because of our lowly origin, but on the contrary has held us as individuals who are as valuable be- 3. He has removed the customs and habUs that fore God and man as any man of any origin. We have been the causes of our past degradation. believe it has been the working out of the will of God, that probably more than seventy-five per (a) As we have already said Christian mar- cent of all the great efforts Christian missions riage law has given us happy homes. How con- have made in the past two centuries, has been for stantly, among the so-called Depressed Class peo- us, the Depressed Classes, for whom previously ple, men took liberty to give up one wife and take no one had shown any interest or care. All this another without making any provision for the has been in accord with the life and character of first wife? It was possible, too, for a man to take the Lord Jesus, who said, "I am come to seek and more than one wife. The result of this was un- save that which is lost." We, your blood and happy homes, wrecked lives, bitter tears, Quarrels, brethren, can witness to you what a blessing it and sometimes even murders. All this has now has been to be "found" of Him. changed. (f) Best of all, Christianity has given us hap- (b) The Christian religion has combated the piness and joy that can only come by the knowlcurse of drink. There is no doubt that one reason edge that God has forgiven our sins and has made for the poverty of the laboring classes is that half us His children in Christ. We consider this as the the earnings of men is usually wasted on drink. foundation cause of all that we have received Drink has also led to quarrels, riots, and court through this religion. The fact that Jesus Christ cases. Christianity has opposed this; and we can died for us makes us hate sin, and live new lives. point out many whole villages from which drink He lives now and enables us to give up our old, has altogether been driven out. This has in its bad habits and grow in newness of life. "If any turn brought prosperity. We know-we can cite man is in Christ there is a new creation," say onr names-all over the Andhra Desa, of Christians Scriptures. (who were known formerly as Depressed Classes) who have given up drink, and thus after a short All this has not been accomplished through any time have been able to payoff old debts, and a magic, or done in a day. It has been the result of little later have been known to possess bullock- years of service, patiently and with love poured carts, and earn an independent livelihood for out by thousands of consecrated Christian men and themselves. Decent houses have been built, and women, both Indian and foreign who have labored the general level of life raised, after the people to improve our lot. It has been the result of conbecame Christians. stant teaching, care, and instruction. It has been accomplished moreover, because we ourselves, (c) Christianity has made the people cleaner. freed by Christ from chains of ignorance and The Christian religion requires us all to meet in fear, have found within ourselves new courage, our churches every day, and most of all on Sun- new hope, new strength to struggle upward. It is days, together for the public worship of God. still a process going on; we are not a finished This regular worship of God has inculcated in us product (you may no doubt find many faults habits of cleanliness and self-respect. within us) but no man can deny that we are grow- ing, moving toward the goal. If you, like us, (d) Christianity has also improved our intel- should choose Christ in your momentous choice, lectual powers. The Christian religion enj oins on you will find in Him, not empty words, but ~n opall converts a certain amount of knowledge of di- portunity for an abundant life. "I am come that vine things. As soon as we are enrolled as Chris- ye might have life, and that more abundantly." tians regular instruction begins. A teacher and his wife are sent to live in our midst, and they All over India the Depressed Class people are guide us to knowledge in divine things. Our Sun- wistfully looking in every direction for a new reday worship includes instruction in religion. As ligion. The decision must be yours. What we a rule during daytime the teacher conducts a have tested and found that Christ is doing today school for our children. Men and women and for millions of your brethren, He can do for you children are thus lifted to a higher level of life; also. and by daily teaching and daily lessons, enlighten-
A Firebrand for Christ in
By the REV. J. CHRISTY WILSON, D.D.
American Mission, T abriz, Iran "I WANT to enter the school, and especially to study the New Testament, and learn more of Christ."
These were the first words of a Moslem village boy who came to the Mission School at the begin- ning of the fall term. Though he did not show much promise as a student his purpose was un- usual. In his case there was no prejudice against Christianity to break down. Somewhere he had learned to read Syriac, and the story of Jesus had captured his imagination, if not his heart.
Like many another boy in lands around this old world, he explained, "I have no money for tuition, nor even for books, but I am willing to do any kind of work."
Our drinking water was carried from a mission compound a mile or two outside the city so that his first job was to carry water in an earthen jar, like the woman of Samaria. That task led her to the well where she found Christ.
During the few busy days before the opening of school I saw much of this boy. At every meet- ing in the church or school he was present. He even appeared at teachers' meeting! A hunger to hear and learn everything he could made it un- necessary to urge him along "the flowery path of knowledge." At first he had appeared to be a very ordinary village boy but we were soon aware SAMUEL NARY – A MOSLE'M WHO FOUND CHRIST that his was no ordinary zeal for learning. He was sixteen or seventeen years old, but because from Islam, most of them develop gradually into of little previous schooling he was enrolled in the full-fledged Christians, but not so this boy. He third grade. gavehis heart all at once in full and complete sur- His name was "Seif Ali," he said, but he asked render and he was transformed. In an instant, that we enter his name as "SamueL" The reason it seemed, the village Moslem boy had passed he explained, "My name means 'The Sword of away. Before us there stood a new creation.
Ali,' who was the son-in-law of Mohammed the From that moment he became a firebrand for prophet. The name does not suit me, however. Christ.
I prefer to be called Samuel, that was the name Samuel went on with his studies and before of the boy whom God called and who later became long began bringing others to our house to talk of a great prophet." So Samuel it was. Jesus. They were for the most part common men In a Moslem country like ours, Friday is a from the bazaar, but they had been prepared for school holiday and on that morning a class of the interview. If they could read, Samuel had boys, who were interested, came by invitation to given them Christian literature and portions of study of Christ. Samuel drank it all in. Inside the New Testament. Instinctively they had real- of three weeks he was leading us in beautiful and ized that this boy's great and sincere desire was effectual prayer, and before three months he had to share with them the glorious new life he had confessed Christ. I have seen many converts found in Christ.
[133 ]
Following a shorter period of probation than you want me on your account to break a law of usual, Samuel and another boy who had accepted the school?" Christ about the same time were baptized, after being examined and accepted by the elders of the "My dear Sir," the boy responded, "I am not church. He began to wield a great influence under law; I am under grace." among the boys in the school and in the dormitory and the church. His surrender to Christ, his He continued in school through the sixth class Spirit-filled life, and his sincerity were so appar- and soon after was called by the government for ent that his faith could not be doubted. His zeal two years of military service. He went gladly to was contagious, and Christians who had grown serve in the army, saying that he had two great cold were warmed into new fervor by the fire that duties, one to serve God and the other to serve his burned in his heart. There were more than two country. He was anxious, however, to get the hundred boys in the school, many of them born patriotic duty out of the way, so he could devote and reared in Christian homes, but before the end his time more fully to what he conceived to be the of the year this' boy knew his Bible better than greater task. During his army service he conany other in the school. He seemed to have an tinually witnessed for his Master and became answer for every question in the words of Scrip- known as the most willing recruit in all his conture. It may have been that his influence had a tingent. Some years later, when another Chrisgreat deal to do with the fact that before the year tian convert boy went to serve under the same was over more than twenty of the students and hard-boiled drill sergeant and the latter saw how teachers expressed a desire to dedicate themselves gladly he obeyed even the most difficult assignto full-time Christian service. ments, he said, "What do we have here, another Samuel Naby?" At the time of his baptism Samuel asked to be called "Samuel Naby" or Samuel the Prophet. Periodically the boy in uniform came to ask for When he returned to his village his first concern Christian literature and Gospels, which he diswas ,to witness for Christ to his own relatives and tributed widely but with great care. Then no friends. There was some property of which he word would come from him for a time as he would was part owner and the members of the family be off in a distant area of the province. News took legal action to obtain his share of the prop- came from him at times and in various ways. erty on the grounds that he had become a Chris- Once two Jews walked about fifty miles to the city tian. He did not contest the action but remon- to get aNew Testament in Hebrew; they had strated with them for attempting to take away by been interested in Christ and His Way through force what he would have been willing to give the testimony of the boy doing military service them freely. His was the spirit of Him who said, in their mountain outpost. "If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." One day the officer in command of his compaJjY found Samuel reading. He asked what book it The vacation period passed and the principal of was-and the boy, standing at salute replied, the school, in whose place I had been substituting for the year, returned from furlough. Samuel "The New Testament, Sir." came from the village to enter school again. He "Put that book away, you have enough to study asked if he might skip a class, and tryout in the in your guard manual," was the command. grade ahead, since he was older than the average of his classmates and had been studying in the "Sir," Samuel answered, "it is because of this summer. As reported to me the conversation was Book that I have in my hand that I stand here somewhat as follows: saluting you. Had I not learned from this Book my duty to my king and country, I should have "I shall be glad to have you enter a grade fled like many of my companions across the borahead," said the principal, "but you shall have to der to avoid military service." pass all the examinations of the class you wish to skip before you can enter the advanced grade. The officer did not answer but passed on. This is a positive rule of the school." Some ,time later the company to which Samuel "Please let me go in the higher class and try belonged was ordered to the extreme northwestern out there," Samuel replied. "Inside of a few frontier for a campaign against unruly Kurdish weeks I shall know perfectly well whether I can tribes. The going was hard and many wounded carry the work or not. If I cannot keep up you and sick were brought in to the military hospital will not need to say a word, I shall go back in the in the city where we were living. One day w·e other class of my own accord." heard that Samuel was there. I called on him. and found him as full of zeal as ever, though suf- "I should like to do it that way," the teacher fering from a severe case of pleurisy, contracted answered, "but our rules must be kept. Would from exposure and sleeping on the ground. I had taken him some books, which he began to pass on to others before I left his bedside. When my visit was about to end he shouted to all the sick
A FIREBRAND FOR CHRIST IN IRAN
and wounded men in the big ward, "Now be quiet Naby. His teacher in the training school for a minute, you fellows, this man is going to lead evangelists testified, "I have never received so us in prayer." There was absolute silence as I much spiritual help in my life as from that boy prayed-in the government military hospital. The in the three months he was with me." It will next time I came I was besieged for books and take much in sacrifice, and life itself, to found the tracts. church which God is calling out of Islam in this land, and this young friend would deem it a rare In due time the boy was well enough to return privilege to be one of the foundation stones-beto his home city to complete his military service. neath the ground if need be–in that church. When released from the army he started on a tour of near-by villages, busy at once in evangelism on The Great Teacher of us all has told us that: his own initiative. I was later told that many "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and Christians asked themselves the question, "Must die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth we wait to be shamed by this former Moslem boy forth much fruit." In Samuel Naby I have seen before we begin to witness for Christ?" the absolute living proof that the Spirit of Christ can change, in a moment of time, an ignorant vil- Samuel expressed his desire to become an evan- lage Moslem into a radiant, powerful Christian. gelist and give all his time to that service. He wanted to be free to work anywhere that God WILLIAM CAREY'S COVENANT called him and said, for a time at least, he would like to travel like Mansur Sang, the Christian Weare thinking much of missionary methods dervish. The Mission decided that he should go in these days. Carey and his colleagues, in the histo the distant city of Isfahan to take up training toric Serampore Covenant, expressed convictions in the school for evangelists. He already had the which never grow oldprime requisites, a heart full of love, a yearning to lead people to Christ, a burning zeal, and a 1. To set an infinite value on men's souls. good knowledge of the Bible. He was, however, 2. To acquaint ourselves with the snares which anxious to get the best possible training before he took up his, life work. hold the minds of the people. 3. To abstain from whatever deepens India's On his way to the training school he stopped for a few days in our city where he spoke in prayer prejudice against the Gospel. meeting and made the prayer at the general Sun- 4. To watch for every chance of helping people. day service. Many people caught a spark of his 5. To preach "Christ crucified" as the one great fire and he was mentioned scores' of times after he had gone on his way. means of conversions.
Reaching Isfahan, Samuel plunged into his 6. To esteem and treat Indians always as our training with keen delight. He was hungry for equals. instruction and worked with a will at these lessons under a young English missionary. He still 7. To guard and build up "the hosts that may be had time, however, to work among patients in the gathered." hospital, with men in the street, in the bazaareverywhere he carried on his intensive witness for 8. To cultivate their spiritual gifts, ever press- Christ. No necessity for others to plan "field ex- ing upon them their missionary obligation perience" for him in connection with his course – since Indians only can win India for of study! Christ.
After some three months of this training he 9. To labor· unceasingly in BibHcal translation. had some trouble with his throat and it was suggested that he have his tonsils removed. He ac- 10. To be instant in the nurture of personal recepted ,the proposal gladly, and when the time ligion. came went to the operating room laughing and saying to his friends, "I'll be out in just a few 11. To give ourselves without reserve to the minutes." Chloroform was administered for the Cause of Christ, "not counting even the operation and under the anesthetic Samuel lost clothes we wear as our own." consciousness but never regained it in this life. "Brainerd in America poured out his All efforts to revive him failed. very soul before God for the people. Prayer, secret, fervent, expectant, lies at Why God called him, at what to us seemed the the root of all personal godliness. A combeginning of his wonderful ministry, we do not petent knowledge of the languages current know. From our viewpoint the three years min- where a missionary lives, a mild and winistry of our Lord would have seemed all too short. ning temper, and a heart given up to God One thing we know is that many lives were stirred – these are the attainments, which more into new consecration by the passing of Samuel than all other gifts, will fit us to become God's instruments in the great work of hu- man redemption." It is written of Carey that "his whole desire went out to meet the Will of God."
Shrines and Emperor
–<!IIi By a R",;d,nt of Japan III>– T HE tradition of the descent of the Japanese that shrine w,orship is a secular ceremony, both ruler from the Sun Goddess has seen a strong scholars and the general Japanese and K'Orean r·evival during recent years. Ten or fifteen public look upon such acts as religious. The leadyears ag,o liberal Japanese leaders were inclined ers of the present reactionary movement (the to interpret this traditiDn as meaning only that Fundamentalists of Shinto) have succeeded in the line of EmperDrs, to quote the constituti,on, demonstrating that the act of paying reverence at "is coeval with Heaven and earth," leaving the a national shrine is an act of worship. The leadattendant mythology to fade into the background. ing authorities ,on National Shinto are c'Oming to Others even pr,ofessed to hope that Japan would devel,oP into a constitutional monarchy of the the position that the national cult is a religion. * British type. All 'Of this has a vital relationship to Christian Today, however, no 'One dares to express such education in Japan because the larger percentage opinions 'Openly. The world "Emper,or" and pro- of the students in all ,of the missiDn schools (exnouns applied to Him must be capitalized when cept the theol'Ogical seminaries) are n'On-Chriswritten in Western languages. The Japanese tians, and parents and guardians are consequently SChODl books state, "We Japanese lODk up to our non-Christian and very susceptible to influences Emperor as to a God," and "The Japanese Em- surrounding them. Non-Christian alumni and peror is divine." Last year the word used in offi- parents, s,ometimes instigated by pr,ofessiDnal "pacial documents for "Emper,or" was chang·ed from triDts," have demanded that the schools "clarify kotei (the general term for emperor) to Tenno, the national polity" by speaking 'Out clearly CJnor "Heaven-ruler." The Japanese are quite con- cerning the divine nature ,of the Emperor and the cerned because the Eur,opean word "emperor" is Sun Goddes·s. used with r·eference to the emperor of India and the emperor 'Of the Roman Empire, so that SDme This present-day interpretation of Japanese call their ruler Tenno even when speaking a fDr- nationalism forces several serious pr,oblems ,on eign language, and refer to Japan as a Tennocracy the attention ,of Christian schools in Japan, rather than an empire. It is forbidden to refer to Chosen and Form'Osa. the Emper,oras a man even in praise, and mDst Western j'Ournalists adopt the policy ,of referring 1. The moral basis ,of Japanese education is laid to His Majesty as seldom as possible in order to in the "imperial Rescript" on education, drawn avoid giving ,offense. They dare not ever refer up by the Department ,of Education in 1890 and to the Emperor Meiji as a "truly great man." issued under the name and seal of the Emperor Japanese express amazement that Christians Meiji to offset the flood of Western ideas. The should be S,o fD'Olish as to believe that one person Department of Education ordered that it should (Jesus) might be both human and divine. be read, with appropriate ceremony, 'On stated 'Oc- casions in all the schools. Recently another movement has revealed an unmistakable demand that loyalty to the present Within the past ten years, the Rescript has been Empel'or shall be equal to the loyalty to the Sun exalted n'Ot only as the basis 'Of Japanese educa- Goddess, and that the test 'Of national lDyalty is tion but as the Apostles Creed ,of the Imperial the worship 'Of the "Ancestress 'Of the Imperial Cult. The Rescript itself is held to be without line." Some years ago many scholars interpreted err,or and beyond criticism. Its morality is C,onthe Sun Goddess merely as a personification of fucian but it clearly states the divine ancestry 'Of one 'Of the tribes which invaded Japan in prehis- the Emperor. This element has caused it to be toric times. Today loyal subjects of the Emper'Or esteemed highly by those wh,o wDuld stem the tide· must accept the Sun Goddess myth just as it of present-day _Western doctrines. In recent stands. months all schools have been f'Orced to lay more emphasis upon this liturgy-the method 'Of read- In Korea most 'Of the shrines are dedicated to ing, the white gloves 'Of the reader and the bowing in reverence. In most Christian schools these the Sun Goddess, whereas in Japan most are dedicated to Japanese herDes. Japanese officials say • See article by D. C. Holton in the Japan Ohristian Year Book f~~ ~;i~6 q~Oe~tton~ummary of present-day scholarly opinion concern- [ 136] ceremonies are acc.ompanied by hymns, Scripture tion." Christians never know how the Rescri.pt reading, prayers and a short explanation .of the will be interpreted next. meaning .of the cerem.ony, but it is doubtful whether this can long continue since it is looked A few years ago when the service of a certain upon ,as an opportunity to teach the Christian d.oc- church was being broadcast at Christma's time the trine of God and to inculcate a Christian attitude phrase, "Lord save the Emperor," caused the of l.oyalty to the State. church such difficulty that a revision of the prayer book was necessary. The phr&se "King of kings In N.ovember, 1936, the Department .of Edu- and Lord ,of lords" was indicated as unacceptable cation required all schools to present copies of the for Christian worship. Recently Paul Kanamori's program used at the Rescript ceremony, and to "The W,ay to Faith," was withdrawn from cirexplain the nature,Qf the care taken of the sacred culation because of its monotheistic arguments. d,Qcument. The public press has also criticized the Christian doctrine of the Kingdom of God because its basic 2. In Japan most Christian schools accept the virtue of love is contrary to loyalty, the basic virstatement of the Government that the ceremonies tue of the J.apanese Empire. Hymns used in at the shrines are nonreligious and permit their Christian services (both English and Japanese students to go there to pay respect. These Chris- translations) might be oonstrued as treasonable. tian schools have not adopted the custom of volun- Opponents of Christianity are looking for the tarily, but thr.ough social pressure or demands slightest deviations from the present interpretafl'om patrons. In some Christian schools attend- tion of national loyalty. Christi.ans are concerned ance at the shrines is optional; in others the en- lest they should be forced to ,teach dogmas which tire student b,Qdy is taken under the direction of run counter to fundamental Christian principles. the military officers to pay reverence. In one boy's school the military officer invariably chooses Japanese Christians are concerned about these a Sunday to take the students to the shrine. In problems, but their concern is modified by two or T,Qkyo and vicinity the authorities are more three modifying factors. lenient than in other districts, a proof of the truth of the Japanese proverb that "The foot of the 1. The J,apanese Christians feel that officials lighthouse is in darkness." charged with the enforcement .of the law are friendly. All of the leaders .of the missi.on schools 3. The Japanese consider it a great honor for who have been called to confer with the officials a school to receive a Portrait of the Emperor. of the Department of Educati,Qn have been treated The Portrait must be kept in a fireproof safe with great oonsideration, and the men in charge when not in use; a teacher must sleep each night seek to make everything as easy as possible f.or in the same room ready to protect the sacred the sch.ools and churches to abide within the law Portrait with his life; acts of reverence must be without offense to conscience. The officials themmade when passing the Portrait or the container selves are being pres'sed by the Shinto Fundamen- ,of it, and the Portrait is on display only on the talists into a positi.on which they would not take ceremonial occasi,Qns when the Imperial Rescript if left to themselves. They are willing to make is read. Most Christian schools have avoided re- almost any compr,Qmise to avoid a public scene ceiving the Portrait by pleading that they had no that might involve them in lese majesty. These suitable pJ,ace in which to keep It. In the autumn men who are enforcing the law are not followers of 1936 all Christian higher schools were called of any particular religion. They are atheists or to the Department .of Educati.on to explain if they agnostics. The men .of the Meiji Restoration, who had a copy of the Portrait, and if not why not, devised the present cult of National Shinto, were and .if so, how It was treated. Leaders of the Na- rationalists and ,&theists. The J.apanese Christional Chdstian Education Ass.ociation advised all tians, therefore, conf.orm to many ceremonies Christian schools to apply f.or the best.owal of the without scruples, which would be impossible to a Portrait. Officials of the Department .of Educa- people (such as the Koreans) who do not have tion have recently advised Christian schools that this historical understanding. The men in charge a chapel, having symbols of the w.orship of the .of enf,Qrcing the law realize the necessity of not Christian God, was not an appr.opriate place for violating the constitutions guarantee of freed.om the display ,of the Portrait. .of religi.on, and will not force an issue which will antagonize the strong theistic sects of Buddhism, 5. In recent years the Government has been as well &s the Christian churches. emphasizing the importance of religious education in schools. A distincti'on is made between culti- 2. The Japanese Christians bend but do not vating the spirit .of religion in the pupils and break easily. Historically the cult of Shinto was teaching the doctrines of any ,specified religion. not intended to be religious, and many believe that The Government memorandum stated explicitly when this present tension has passed the .original that "n.o religious teaching will be permitted that purpose of the founders of the constituti.on will runs contmry to the Imperial Rescript on Educa- be maintained. Therefore, if the Government
will consistently maintain that the shrines are gone through controversies with the Government nonreligious and that reverence paid there is an in the past with credit and if they cannot find a act .of I.oy.alty and not .of religi.ous worship, they way out of this present crisis, they are ready to will foll.ow. Meanwhile they insist upon the re- pay the price in persecuti.on. form of Shinto and the removal of religions elements from shrines. Christians in Japan are fear- Finally, Japanese Chdstians are unwilling to ing a new era .of persecution, but d.o n.ot wish to create an issue out of what really seems to many precipitate it. a min.or matter, f.or they realize that far more important issues are in the air. 3. One question involved is, What does the Government mean by the words used for "God" for 1. A definite and well-directed anti-Christian "worship," for "divine"? It was unt:ortunate that m.ovement is .on foot in Japan, the extent of which the word adopted for "God" (kami) in Japan is is being revealed. The Government and the offithe same as that used for the Shinto divinities, cials ,are generally on the side .of the Christians, who are spirits of nature and deceased nati.onal seeking to avoid any overt act that would precipiheroes. The significance of the w.ord is little more tate a crisis. Ina certain city the l.ocal authorithan "eXialted being." Many Protestant Chris- ties recently issued orders that every house should tians refer to God by the term "Heavenly Father," erect a Shinto god-shelf. In another city placards .others ,always qualify the w.ord kami by phrases denouncing Chdstianity as a disl.oyal sect apasserting the uniqueness, the eternity and the fa- peared .on the streets one morning. In these plactherhood .of the Christian God. Although the ards the situation was analyzed so clearly that Shinto FundamentaHsts, ,and many .of the common it made one feel that, if a concerted effort were people, may think .of the Sun Goddess .or of Im- made by the enemies of the Gospel, there would perial Ancestors as possessing attributes of deity, be little difficulty in persuading the nonthinking the Christians know that the ideas differ greatly populace that Christianity is a traitorous religion. from the ideas which ,the Christians hold concern- At least many of its fundamental concepts run ing the Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, owing directly contmry to the stream of nati.onalistic to the hysterical state .of many "patri.otic" leaders, thought current in Japan at present. Certain it is impossible to air the differences involved, but hymns, certain secti.ons from St. Paul's Epistles, the Christians are thinking things through and from the Prophets, from the Book .of Revelati.on, discussing them in small groups. and from the Westminster Gonfes,sion, if pub- lished .on billboards, would precipitate trouble. Worship is paid by people to the spirit of a The situation is, as the Japanese would say, "delifaithful dog, whose statue stands at the railway cate." station where he awaited the return .of his dead master. Buddhi,st mas,ses are regularly held for 2. Another 'element of danger lies in the milithe spirits .of needles broken while sewing, and tary faction which use,s the Shinto reactionaries for ,the spirits of broken dolls. B.owing the head and Loyalists to further its policies of nationalistic is not reserved for what Westerners term "reli- expansion. This is.a subject concerning which it gi.ous" occ'll;sions. The sentiment .of awe at the is not prudent to write. There is clearly a rift center .of the Japanese idea of w.orship enters into between the civil ,authorities and the military. We many social conventions and habits. It is P.ossible are told that soldiers attempted to prevent the f.or Christians therefore to b.oW at shrines, even reentry of Dr. Kagawa, who was forced to appeal though thes~ same shrines may be used by .others to the governor of the prefecture before he could for religious purposes. It means little more to enter Kobe. them than taking off our hats at that same shrine would mean to us. The military authorities today are acting as if another war were imminent, and they look upon But many Japanese Christians will n.ot g.o vol- missionaries as enemies of their country, because untarily to the shrines or, adopt these methods .of they are foreigners; they look upon Japanese showing their loyalty. Well-known Christians are Christians as semitraitors because of their connot afraid to state that they or the'ir children d.o necti.on with the missions and because of the libnot worship at the shrines. If an issue is pressed, eral political and social ideas held by many Chrish.owever, they W.ould conf.orm rather than precipi- tian leaders. These things have had the effect of tate a crisis which might be far-reaching. drawing the Japanese Christians closer to the' missionaries, for in the event of a crisis both When such vague notions are common in Japan would suffer equally. regarding the meaning of "God," "worship," and "spirit," many missionaries feel that it is better The situation in Japan is more serious than that to leave the distinguishing .of the things that involved in the Shrine problem. Japanese Chrisdiffer to Japanese Christians. They are men and tians are seeking to avoid any open break with w.omen of a high .order .of intelligence, they have the authorities which would give additional oc- casion for their enemies to attack them.
Nagao-a Japanese Christian
By the REV. WILLIAM AXLING, Tokyo, Japan American Baptist Foreign Mission Society; Author of the "Life of Kagawa"
HAMPEl NAGAO was one of Japan's front- young Mr. Nagao has forged his way to the front line Christian leaders. While a student in and has become a conspicuous figure in the na- Tokyo he enlisted in the Christian life and tional life of Japan. On the staff of the Colonial this step ushered him into an entirely new world. Administration of Formosa, as Japan's represen- Everything he saw, the sky, the sea, the moun- tative on the International Railway Commission tains, the trees, the flowers, spoke to him about his in Siberia during the World War, as Chief of the new-found God, as revealed in Christ, a God who Southern Division of the Imperial Government is not only great and powerful but his Father, his Railways, as Head of the Municipal Street Car Friend. System of Tokyo and as a member of Parliament With unspeakable eagerness he looked forward he has rendered a significant service.
to the summer vacation when he would return to Through it all he has stood s.taunch as a Chrishis country village and share this new experience tian. Again and again he paid a big price for his with his parents, his brothers and his sisters. Christian conviction. He lost his seat in Parlia- Slow-footed summer ~rrived at last and hurriedly ment because the liquor interests combined he started for home. In his letters he had at- against him. But he lost it with a smile, saying tempted to prepare the way so that his family that his Christian principles were far more knew that he had become a Christian. precious to him than the coveted seat in Parlia- When he reached his village and opened the ment.
door of his home, the family rushed forth to greet Although constantly carrying heavy official re- him. All but his father. He was not to be seen. sponsibilities he was never too busy to respond to This seemed to augur ill. The father sent word a call for Christian service. For over twenty demanding that he must renounce his new-found years he was a trustee of the Tokyo City Y. M.
Christian faith before he would be received. C. A. and for a part of that time served as Chair- Worse still the father refused to allow the son to man. He was one of the organizers and a trustee cross his threshold. This was like a blow in the of Tokyo Woman's Christian College.
face. All the happy anticipations. of his home He was a flaming crusader in the temperance coming were shattered and he stood stunned. cause and a passionate advocate of church union.
The lad's reply was that he would do anything In these two fields his contribution was unique.
within his power to please his father but he could He was one of the prime movers in the movement not give up his faith in Christ. The father in which enabled the Christian Literature Society turn sent word that he was then no longer a son and the American Bible Society to secure their and this was no longer his home. Members of the present quarters. He passed into the life beyond family interceded, but the father's only reply was a few months ago and now that he is gone, the that the son had brought such dark disgrace upon battIe for everything that is Christian and good, him and the home that he was strongly tempted to will be lonelier and more difficult. atone for the son's sins by committing "harakiri" When Mr. Nagao died thousands of people in true traditional Japanese fashion. gathered to pay their respects in one of the With the tears streaming down his face Nagao largest auditoriums in Tokyo. Ministers of state, took his New Testament and, with a prayer, laid ex-ministers .and members of Parliament paid it on the threshold, sending word to his father, high tribute to his life and Christian influence.
asking him to read that book and judge for him- One other word of thanksgiving must be added: self whether Christianity was the evil religion His father read the New Testament which his which he supposed it to be. Then bidding good- sort left on the doorstep that fateful summer eve- bye to the members of the family and sending his ning and too found it to be Good News. He belove to his father, the boy turned away, weary in came an earnest Christian and the whole family body and broken in spirit, to retrace the long, long found their way into the new life in Christ. Even- miles back to Tokyo. tually the son was welcomed back into the home This happened fifty years ago. Since that time from which he had been banished.
[139 ]
Missionary Motives*
By the REV. w. B. ANDERSON, D.D., LL.D., Philadelphia, Pa.
Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church A WIDELY read book on missions, recently or of Robert Hockman of Ethiopia. They do not published, makes an astonishing statement sound familiar to those accustomed to listening of its authors' conception of foreign mis- to the missionary purpose as stated simply and sionary motives. They are attempting to state earnestly in gatherings of students, or from mis- why, in their opinion, men and women have be- sionary platforms, or read in mission offices. This come foreign missionaries. Summed up briefly, analysis of foreign missionary purpose looks their motives are as follows: . somewhat unattractive, and does not promise en- (1) The ardent desire of all religions to com- during energy and vital strength. municate what is spiritually valuable or of su- Fortunately we are not left to speculation at preme importance or unique (found particularly this point, but can determine the actual facts, in the followers of Buddha, Jesus and Moham- since each candidate for missionary appointment is always asked to state clearly his or her motive med). (2) Conviction as to the greater need of those for seeking appointment to foreign missionary service. The reply is personal and confidential. in the Orient. (3) Hopes of a greater return for given evan- Since the beginning of the foreign missionary work of the United Presbyterian Church, 761 misgelistic effort.
(4) The danger that those unevangelized would sionaries have been appointed. We have studied records showing the dominating motive of 308 go to eternal death. men and women in seeking appointment and these (5) The vision of a world-wide Church. include those enlisting over a period of the past (6) The desire for world unity. (7) A subconscious impulse to achieve one's 50 years.
growth through giving to others. The documents of the group were examined, This seems to be their analysis of the foreign and records made, some years ago. In many cases missionary purpose into its contributing personal statements contained more than one motive, but motives. an attempt has been made to select the predom- inant motive. No statement has been omitted be- A high school girl came into the laboratory cause the meaning of a writer was obscure or where the teacher in biology had spread out upon might be misunderstood. The dominant motive a tray the various parts of a flower. When asked that contributed to the missionary purpose of each if she could believe that this was a morning glory, individual is placed in a group, with the number she replied that she did not think that it was a given to those stating the same motive: morning glory, but only the stuff of which a morning glory was made, "For," she said, "life must Obedience to Christ ………………………… 58 bind all this together into a flower; and really the Appeal of the need ………………………… 52 life is the flower, is it not?" To lead others to Christ …………………….. 36 Love for Christ …•………………………… 34 These motives seem to me to lack something Desire to serve ……………………………. 17 that is found in the missionary purpose as I have To preach the Gospel ………………………. 16 To make the best investment of life …………… 15 known it in students and in missionaries. These To serve with her husband ………………….. 1~ motives, and others, may be variously combined To respond to a definite call to serve abroad ……. 12 in certain individuals, but a true Christian mis- Enlisted through -the influence of others ……….. 11 sionary purpose must have something that is not To advance Christ's kingdom ………………… 1 For God's glory …………………………… 1 present here. To promote Christian civilization ……………… 1 These motives in any combination seem to lack something vital found in the purpose of Jesus Not one of these candidates for foreign mis- Christ, or of the Apostle Paul, or of Livingstone, sionary appointment failed to recognize his faith * Condensed from The United Presbyterian (December 3, 1936). in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, and [ 140 ] loyalty to Him as personal Saviour and Lord of groups, moved by the passion of love for Christ his life. Whatever motives may have entered into and loyalty to Him, going out at any cost to lay the decision, it was this vital essence of Chris- down their lives in service for their fellowmen. tianity that bound them together into an indomitable purpose. Without this faith and loyalty, The only true Christian foreign missionary purthere can be no Christian mission any more than pose that can be found outside books, and that is there can be a morning glory composed of its effectively operative in the world today, is the parts without the vital spark of life which is the purpose derived from love for the risen Christ morning glory. and 10Yfl.1 obedience to Him. Because this purpose is inherent in His life, and has been imparted to This study of the subject of foreign missionary His followers, this purpose cannot cease. The motives is confined to the missionaries of one de- only Christian missionary purpose springs from nomination, but for us its conclusions should be motives that are stirred by personal love for, and reassuring as we face new opportunities for ad- loyalty to, Christ who is a living, ever-present, vance, knowing that there is no hope for true ad- ever-ruling Saviour and Lord. When this purvance and permanent results apart from the pose, springing from this love and loyalty, has eternal Gospel of the Son of God, and personal been fixed in the life of every Christian, those loyalty and obedience to Him. who go and those who stay, nothing can stop the accomplishment of the Church's mission in the I have had the opportunity of knowing many world; but merely human "religious" motives missionaries of other churches during my years of and purposes, however powerful, will always conservice abroad and at home. With them I may tinue to fail. have differed in race, nationality, social background, degree of education, creedal statement, Three years ago a group of college students definition of theological terms, form of church were discussing how the students on the campus government, or missionary methods, but with the could be interested in foreign missions. After exception of two or three such missionaries, every several had been heard, one of the leading men of one I have known personally, in his own statement the college arose and said that it was his convicof the creed has been a professing believer in the tion that the only way in which men and women one vital essence of the Christian faith. could be effectively enlisted in the foreign mission- ary enterprise was by causing them so to know The attempt being made today to rationalize Christ that they would in personal devotion to Christianity, by eliminating the miraculous Him submit their lives entirely to Him. Then he through the denial of Jesus Christ as God mani- made a statement of his own experience. This is fest in the flesh, is not some new thing that may not an ancient pronouncement, but it is made by destroy the Church. Agnosticism began this at- .a Christian student leader of today. The modern tempt in the first century, and under some form" missionary motive is devotion and obedience to human pride has ever continued this attempt. God in Christ, incarnate, crucified, risen and pres- Since the beginning of its history, the Church has ent in His people now. We thank God that in the had within it a group, or groups, of those deter", Church throughout the world the trend of convicmined to eliminate the miraculous from its teach:'. tion and faith seems to be strongly back to the ings by discounting the deity of Christ. The con: child-like faith in Him which is the door to the cern of such groups has ever been to secure for Kingdom of God, and to the simple devotion and the Church a place of esteem among human insti- obedience to Him which alone can ever inspire the tutions, and to escape from the "offense of the Church to evangelize the world. cross." But we do not find any record of such One of my classmates in the university was surpJ;'ised that I, whdihad taken an engineering course along with him, should set my face toward the mission field; Many unfamiliar with mission work think it is a far step from studies in electricity and mechanics to carrying the Gospel to the lost ones in Africa; but I would not trade jobs with any man. I have'seen automobiles, bicycles, and all sorts of machines broken, abused, and cast aside as worthless, brought to our shop. Old parts were taken out, new parts put in; and they were again put out on the job for which they were originally intended. With the repair of most of these I have had some responsibility. I have also seen men broken, abused and cast aside as worthless, led to Him who is able to do all these things well. In His hands they have been cleaned up, remade, old things have been cast away, all things had been made new, and they too have been sent out to do the service for which they were originally intended – for the praise of God as witnesses to His great Love. – EDWIN COZZENS, Cameroun, West Africa, in the Drum Call.
for the World We
By the REV. JOSEPH A. VANCE, D.D., . Detroit, Michigan ~..- Pastor 'of the First Presbyterian Church and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
EVERY reverent and persistent student of the whom the whole modern world has gotten in the New Testament is impressed with its mar- Mosaic Law its moral backbone; in Greek, the velous inexhaustibility. As the late Bishop language of universal culture and philosophical .H. C. G. Moule, of Durham, wrote with his un- conquest; and in Latin, the language of universal .usual spiritual insight and experience, "After rule of the world-conquering Roman. Through fifty years of study, each fresh effort and difficulty the centuries since, Jesus has been turning this lays open to me something that adds to the com- unconscious prophecy of Pilate into history, and pleteness of the apostolic record." fulfilling His own promise, "And I, if I be lifted As one goes digging deeper and deeper for this up, will draw all men unto me." surprising treasure, he is made increasingly aware This amazing universality of Jesus embraces that it comes, in one way or an- four elements: other, from ,the person of Jesus 1. He breaks down all race Christ. He discovers that here barriers. The mother of Jesus is the life story, not of a mere was a Jewish girl. So far as provincial Jew, but of a more we know, he was never outside than cosmopolitan, eve n a the little land of Palestine. All .world citizen, who takes on of his recorded literary quota- himself the title, "Son of tions are from the He or e w Man." In this oompact life Scriptures, but the little village story of Jesus of Nazareth, we of Nazareth, where he grew come on ,the vast reaches of up, was at the crossroads of universality. Born of a Jewish the world, and its people be- mother, here is one Man who came the world-bridge that puts racial prejudices under mediated between the old and his feet, and brothers human- new worlds in civilization, and ity. Cradled in David's little especially in religion. So here town of Bethlehem we see a He had many a vision that pre- .Babe over whose birth :the pared him to brother men of 'angels proclaim a promise of every race and to disciple the universal peace and world-en- world for citizenship in His compassing good will. Kingdom.
In His career as a Teacher, 2. In the second place, Jesus Jesus not only wins a unique bridges the world's soc i a 1 place among his own people, REV. JOSEPH A, VANCE, D.D. chasms. He is no high-caste but sends his followers on a Brahmin or Nordic egotist. He campaign to win .all men of every nation to His is far more ,than an Occidental democrat. He , discipleship. neither denounces a man because he is an aristo- When sharp antagonisms bred a hatred that crat nor cold.,shoulders him because he is a social :,sent Him to the cross, a cynical oflicial nailed over outcast. He asks a cup of water from one and ' the victim's head, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King goes to dine with the other.
of the Jews"; .but even in attempting to pro- Jesus Christ has kept this spirit alive down the . vincialize the victim and ,humiliate those who vic- centuries. The uneducated ,toiler, and even the out- ., timlzed him, the Roman officiill became a prophet caste gone tothe gutter, is as sure of His sympathy : of his victim's world-wide mission, for he wrote and help as is the honest and cultured. He broth- , the inscription in three languages ~ in Hebrew, ers the streetsweeper and the premier of state, : !he tongue of the great religious specialist, from and brings them together in a bedside prayer.
[142 ] 3. The third of these universal qualities is His Thou hast no power, nor mayest conceive of mine, agelessness. Jesus is as much at home in the But love I gave thee with Myself to love, twentieth century as in the first. The world out- And thou must love Me, who hast died for thee. grows Plato and Aristotle, even Mohammed and Confucius, but it is never able to outgrow Jesus. Down the ages his followers have marched, We can picture Him as easily in a dress suit at a thrilling to its music by an unknown monk of the dinner party today as we can see Him dining at Middle Ages, singing: Bethany with Lazarus. His figures of speech are as eloquent in our day of airplanes and stream- Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler. of all nature, lined cars as among the boats and nets of Galilee's fisher-folk. o thou of God and man the Son!
4. His universality even stands the test of sex; Thee will I cherish, thee will I honor, and how amazing that is, few fully realize, even Thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. in our day of open doors for women. The ordinary man takes on womanly qualities at the ex- And an Oxford student also turned evangelist pense of his personal force, and the average with his immortalwoman pays with her charm for her approach to masculinity. But Jesus is history's unique blend Jesus, lover of my soul, of virility and tenderness. He blazes with wrath Let me to thy bosom fly. in the face of hypocrisy and injustice, but outwomans a mother in dealing with quarrelsome What place can this Prince of Peace find in this brothers or a wayward girl; His compassion for confused, cynical, warring world of today? the down and outs has sent His followers on a new religious crusade for social justice. Probably now is the greatest chance to redeem it that He has had in all the world's history. What is the secret, from the human side, of this Through sheer disappointment elsewhere, and amazing catholicity of Jesus Christ? Is it not to tragic despair as it slips into the maw of self-debe found in the fact that He ministers to those struction, the hour has sounded for the Galilean. needs of the human race that are essential and universal and ageless? He breaks through the Never perhaps in the world's history has the strange speech and the local color and the ephem- human race been so earnestly seeking peace, and eral external, and meets the needs of men, not as never has the world witnessed the creation of Jews or Gentiles, not as slaves or freemen, not as more orderly and seemingly adequate machinery ancient or modern, not as male or female, but as to create and maintain it. The world is deluged human beings. with unanswerable arguments for peace and for the futility and folly of war. Not only has prac- Every man, for example, is a sinner, and Jesus' tically every type of religious organization, J ew~ great mission is to save people from their sins. ish, Catholic and Protestant, declared war to be wicked and contrary to their essential tenets, but Every man has darkened and unworthy concep- pacifist organizations have multiplied. The signations of God. Jesus is "the express image" of tories of the Kellogg Peace Pact have pledged God's person, and. "the exceeding brightness of themselves not to resort to aggressive war, and the Father's glory." the World Court waits to settle all international disputes amicably. But despite these and the Every man is more or less enslaved to ignorance League of Nations, the nations of the world are and the indulgence of his lower appetites, and racing to out arm for possible war against each comes, sooner or later to face his inadequate other on land and sea and in the air. Italy has equipment for the moral struggle. Jesus brings defied the rest of the world to make military conto both individual and the race, power to win out, quest of Ethiopia, and the whole world seems to and to turn life from tragedy to victory. be slipping into the abyss of war.
Then, as a climax to it all, we come on the uni- Who can exorcise this bloody demon and loosen versality of the language in which Jesus makes his grip on the sons of men? His appeal. By way of His cross He revealed the universal language of love. "And I, if I be lifted Our only hope of universal peace is in men's up, will draw all men unto myself." "This he full allegiance to the universal Christ. said," adds the apostle John, "signifying by what death he should die." Anyone can understand Weare accustomed to find the essential causes that language: "He died for me." No mind is of war in commercial rivalry, class inequalities, too stupid and ignorant to feel the love back of racial antipathies the ambition of political leadthat sacrifice; no genius is so brilliant as to de- ers, the sordid greed that will plot wholesale spise it. murder in order to sell munitions. But underlying all of these is that something in the human soul o heart I made, a heart beats here! that thrills to the call of war and irresistibly rushes to its appeal. Face my hands fashioned, see it in myself! The universal Christ binds His followers in a brotherhood that abolishes racial hatreds and bridges social chasms, that links the men of all ages in ties of love and abolishes even the limita- tions of sex.
But Christ does far more: He enrolls the nat- SIR FREDERICK AND MRS. N I CHOLSON ural fighting spirit on the side of truth and human brotherhood. He furnishes an "equivalent After being graduated from Oxford, Frederick for war" in clothing His followers in the armor of righteousness and rallies them to "fight the good Nicholson went to India as a young, untried offifight of faith." He not only furls the black flags of piracy and the red flags of class hatred, but He cial from a Christian home. He was soon proranges over egotistic nationalism the Cross-emblazoned banner of sacrificial service. moted and became collector of a great district.
Raymond Guthrie confesses that he loves war There he found his wife, a lovely daughter of a because he finds in it all the things that are denied him in peace time; because it offers him missionary of the Church of England. It was my association with a great number of men in a common cause; it gives him a chance to put forth his good fortune to meet them as a young missionary, effort in a cause greater than his own personal concerns; it thrills him with a sense of its eco- escaping from the heat of Madras to the hilltop of nomic equality and its spirit of adventure. Yercaud. Their friendship for a young Amer- Ninety-five thousand people will throng to spend over a million dollars to see two pugilists batter ican girl, far from home, made life different for each other. The average man loves a fight, and if he cannot fight himself, he gets his delight the five following years of missionary service. vicariously from seeing others fight. Many beautiful surprises included frequent visits Life fascinates us only when it has some element of struggle and adventure, some cause for and aid for the mission work in Madras. In sickwhich to suffer, something for which one is willing to die. ness and sorrow Sir Frederick and Lady Nichol- Christ sublimates this fighting spirit, robs it of son were always helpful. He was deeply interits appeal to baser instincts, and sets to martial music the tramp of a holy army marching to uni- ested in developing industries for the Indians and versal philanthropy. Christianity calls to a world war against every evil demon within and without. discovered a very fine grade of clay with which "We wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but he started a pottery. This he gave to the mission against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places." We thrill to the station to use for their Christian people who were call to put on the whole armor of God, and life's greatest adventure comes to us as we "fight the often thrown out of their homes after conversion. good fight of faith." Memories of fifty years of friendship linger to Kellogg pacts will continue to be but scraps of paper, and even World Courts and Leagues of this day. Sir Frederick rose to become a mem- Nations will prove vain attempts to promote world peace until we learn to sit at the feet of ber of the Viceroy's staff, and was knighted by Him who is both Son of Man and Son of God and find the Captain of our salvation in the Prince of the British Government. He was the man who Peace. developed the Agricultural Banks which have been The Son of God goes forth to war A Kingly crown to gain. such a blessing to India-and might offer a sug- His blood-red banner streams afar; gestion to progressive America. He also initiated Who . follows in his train? the plan for fisheries, and after visiting notable CHRISTIAN SERVICE IN CIVIL SERVICE examples in Europe, spent a summer in America In the passing of Sir Frederick Nicholson, the eminent statesman of India, the world has lost and carried back from Gloucester what he con: more than a Knight of the Empire of India. He died last summer at the age of ninety, in the hills sidered the best suited plan for India. If Maof South India, the Coonoor country to which he had given his life. His work for India was no- hatma Gandhi had the spirit of Sir Frederick he . table, even among the many ably British stateslnl;'!l} who have aided the Empire. might do more for men of all classes of India:. At his death the press, people and officers united in highest praise. In all his loyal service for the Empire he never lost sight of the Kingdom of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Lucy W. PEABODY.
Unevangelized Chinese
By H. FRENCH RIDLEY, Urumtsi, Sinkiang Missionary of the China Inland Mission FOR years the spiritual needs of the Moslem as they did after the rebellion of 1894-5. On my people (Chanteos) who occupy that little arrival at Korla the man from the Yamen came known district which lies to the east and south to see me and look at my passport. They asked of the great Takla-Makam Desert has been laid me where I was going. I replied: on my heart. When in Sining Kansuh, I would often gaze westward to that vast region, between "You know our business is to go where there us and Kashgar, without a single messenger of the are people." Gospel. I wondered if it would ever be my privilege to visit those regions. That was away back "Oh, yes, we know you Fuh-ing-Tang, you are in the nineties. On my return from furlough in good people exhorting people to be good." They 1913, I was asked to assist in Lanchow in the troubled me no more, yet still I did not feel per- Middle School for two years. During this time fectly safe until I got to Chaklik. my thoughts again turned to this needy field and in 1926 the way opened to come to Tihua to re- It was necessary to provide food for the whole lieve a fellow worker. During my three years way to Chaklik – sixteen days' journey. We in Tihua my thoughts were continually upon this stored up a lot of bread, the bread being kept soft field and I picked up as much as I could of the by mixing three pounds of mutton fat with ten Turki language. pounds of the flour.
In the year 1931, after the return of Messrs. On November 16th early in the morning, with Hunter and Mather from their visit to the Qazaqs a full moon shining down upon us, we set out on in the mountainl;! and IIi (Kuldja) I was led to our journey. As the books I had with me were take a journey as far as Karashar and Korla at limited, I divided them up so that I could leave a the northeast end of the great Gobi Desert. A Gospel in every place we passed through. We British officer had been refused the request to camped out in the open without tents the whole take the route just previously so I little expected way to Chaklik, with the exception of two places. that I would have much chance even if I tried. Desert, jungle and sand dunes made up the jour- But the Lord was laying it more and more on my ney, interspersed with a small village here and heart that now was the time for me to go. Don- there or scattered farmsteads. Choang Kul had keys could be procured easily and the innkeeper 20 families; UIugh Kul (Kul is lake), 30 famtold me that he would find a reliabie man as don- iIies; Kulslagh Camp, 70 families; Tikkenlik, 150 keyman. A cart road had been made all the way families; Kara Bais, 70 families. The last five to Chaklik to make the transport of food for the stages had not more than 10 families. Beside givtroops at Chaklik easy. The soldiers built a high- ing away Gospels, we left tracts in bushes and on way through the marshes which were impassable trees where by-paths led off to farmsteads. Four without a guide and very trying to the traveler. hundred and fifty soldiers were camped at Tikken- Canals had also been cut so that fresh water was lik. I disposed of quite a few books there and obtainable all the way. As the Roman soldiers, later saw one man sitting at his door reading the before the Christian era, built fine roads in all Gospel with seemingly great interest. We camped parts of their empire, making it easier for the near the river at Arghan. A shepherd came and messengers of the Gospel to carry the glad news, I gave him a Gospel and a Pilgrim's Progress. so once again the soldiers of this great empire Early next morning ere we had broken camp he had gone before, making it easier for another mes- returned for copies for two other shepherds. He senger to carry the glad news to the people of this said they had been reading the greater part of the region who had never heard it before. Mission- night and liked the books very much. Here they aries living in the province have an advantage were in the jungle with their sheep and cows four over travelers and explorers, because we are per- days' journey from Chaklik, days passing without mitted to go where we desire. Nevertheless I was seeing anyone. They were rejoicing over this gift doubtful about being permitted to go as there was of books which will be read again and again in still fear that the Dungan's, in case of being de- their loneliness, with plenty of time to discuss the feated in Kansuh, would fly to this said district, contents. May they, like Bunyan's Christian, find their way to the Cross with their burden of sin.
Nearing Lob Nor there was a terrible gale of wind called a "buran." Fortunately behind us.
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The wind whizzed among the trees and just be- River and halted for the night. The following was yond was the open desert. Noone could possibly a lovely winter day. Our path first led through pass over the desert that day. In the evening, the jungle, then among the high reeds and rushes snow fell and from Fort Kuron to where we of Lake Choang to a little hut, the home of a shep- camped at Kashgar forty days' journey, snow lay herd. These huts are made of wattles plastered along our path. Lob was our last encampment ere over with mud, the walls falling two or three feet we reached Chaklik. We had to take fuel for our short of the r.oof, leaving plenty of room for fresh camp fire from Fort Kuron. The trek to Chaklik air. When we entered the hut the shepherd's wife is sheer desert, a long weary journey. and three naked children were sitting around the The First Contact with a Missionary fire on the ground in the middle of the room. No table, chairs or forms. We all squatted round the We arrived at Chaklik, a little town of 140 fam- fire, ten in all, and fared out of the same big ilies with probably some 500 families in the whole cauldron, inviting the family t.o join us at our district, at dusk. Over 700 soldiers were stationed sumptuous feast of mutton broth and bread.
there to check the Dungans. I sold all the books The following day we passed through much I could spare and gave away many tracts. The grassland and saw several flocks of sheep, crossed people were courteous and visited me in the inn. the Charchien River on an ice bridge and at dusk This was their first contact with a missionary. arrived at the village of Tatran where we were When I left on the 9th of December my donkey- informed that there was no inn. I then over- man pr.omised to go as far as Keria (19 days heard s.ome one say there was an officials' Rest further) but changed his mind, so I bought his House called a kong-kuan. Soon a door was donkeys and hired a man to help my servant. We opened and we entered a very cozy room, the floor replenished our store for the next seven days to covered with Khotan carpets. The caretaker and Charchien (Churchend on some maps). A 33-mile his wife and mother were exceedingly obliging, trek over sheer desert, flat as a pancake, we ar- soon had a fire lit and tea ready. All joined in a rived at Gillig, where a man has his hovel by the supper of mutton. The village elder and a few riverside. There are two little caves, without other men came in to see me and I gave them doors .or windows, dug out in the bank of the books.
river. We arrived late so found the caves occu- Good News for the Magistrate pied, but some merchants made room for me and my servant in their cave. They had brought fuel The next day we arrived at Charchien. Our with them, or we should have fared badly. I gave entrance into the town settled a little quarrel that was going on in the street, the advent of a forthem a Gospel. Another 30 miles brought us to the village of eigner being more important. The news caused Vara-shari, with some 120 families. We stayed a stir in the Yamen for no official information in the official Rest House. The young women of had been received of any foreigner coming and the household were keen to have a look at me and I had no escort. We had just gotten settled and made several errands to pass my door. Several I was having a cup of tea when a man came from men came to see me, and by the help of my serv- the Yamen demanding in a bustling and rude ant, I told them why I had come. The crucifixion, manner where I had come from and where I was death and resurrection of our Lord was fresh going. He stood asking for my passport. "Sit news to them. They asked many questions. We down," I said. "What is all your hurry, I am not rested a day to prepare for the heavy cr.ossing of going away again tonight; wait till I have finthe high sand dunes. Towards evening of the ished my tea, then I will give you my card.
following day we reached the foot of the dunes. He replied, "The magistrate is very anxious to There is only one hut and it is occupied by a fam- know who you are, as he has had no n.otice of your ily of five. There is no grazing land for cattle or coming." Finally he sat down and talked. When sheep and all the food has to be brought from I was finished I gave him my card but he wanted Vara-shari. They were glad to have a gift of my passport.
some white bread. In the evening the son and "I will bring it along tomorrow," I said, but he other tr~velers sang songs and played on the would not go without it so I sent my servant to banjo. The women folks were peeping through bring it back.
the wattle petition. I seized the opportunity of The next day r visited the official, an elderly getting in a word for my Master and gave them Chanteo gentleman from Kashgar. He received some books. me very graciously and returned my visit when The following day we crossed the sand dunes, he gave mean unique opportunity of telling him several hundred feet in height – heavy traveling the Glad News, as he opened the subject himself.
for man and beast. "Did Christ really die and rise again?" he Finally we reached the banks of the Charchien asked.
THROUGH UNEVANGELIZED CHINESE TURKESTAN
"If it had not been so I would not be here," I talk about the Gospel, and they all got books to answered. take away with them. In the afternoon the head- There was a big, listening crowd. Several de- man of the oasis, with a few friends, came to see sired books and one man surprised me when he me. He was from Yarkand and asked many ques- told those who stood by that what I had said was tions about the Gospel. Having asked my age, perfectly true. said, At Charchien we replenished our food supply, "Why, at your age, have you come this long des- as well as grain for the animals. Nine days of ert route?"
desert lay before us. Snow was on the ground "To do the will of my Lord and Master," I re- everywhere and the road was heavy with sand plied.
dunes. The first three langars (Rest Houses) "It must be done," he answered. I gave him were in charge of a father and two sons, living Mark's Gospel and a Pilgrim's Progress. Niya alone, thirty to thirty-five miles apart. Some- and Endere are the two places where Sir Aurel times for days no travelers are to be seen, so if Stein unearthed many interesting relics. Forty one of these men were ill and died the other mem- miles direct north from Niya is the shrine of bers of the family would not know for days. Imam J afir Sadik, the most famous shrine in all Around Endere there is a good deal of jungle, Central Asia. As my mission was to bring the therefore many wild sheep, cattle, horses, foxes richest Treasure that this world affords rather and pigs. One touching scene on the way is the than seek for earthly treasures, I had no time to lonely grave here and there marked by a long pole go so far out of my way. There is a small langar stuck in the ground and a yak's tail hanging on at 40 li (13 miles) from Niya. It seemed no top. Sickness had overtaken them far away from bigger than a dog kennel, but it is built in a hol- help. It may have been that they died of thirst. low, the smallest langar we saw and is in charge We passed a little group of four one day. The of two very old women. We had to stoop down to mother had been taken suddenly ill, could no get into the miserable hovel. They had prepared longer ride the donkey, so was lying on the ground a little mutton broth for passers-by. In the sum- with the remainder of the family standing around. mer when there is no snow the water has to be On the sixth evening from Charchien we ar- carried five miles.
rived at the Yak-toghrak Langar to find the inn In a Farmer's Home full of guests, so there was no room for us in the inn this Christmas Eve. After going three miles Next day we journeyed 35 miles, arriving at the we beheld a camp fire about a half mile off the oasis of Oy-Toghrak at dusk. There was no inn, road. It was a cloudy evening and dark. Slowly so the donkeyman took us to the home of a friend we made our way among the shrubbery, snow be- where we had a very hearty welcome. Our host ing quite deep in some places, and at last reached was a well-to~do farmer. To my surprise they in- the camp fire. Our fellow travelers had found a vited me into the women's quarters where there hole under the huge roots of a tree. My men un- was a fire. A wee laddie of five summers took loaded the animals, swept the snow off the ground, hold of my hand without fear. The old mother then went in search of fuel and soon had a roar- and one of the daughters-in-law came and sat be- ing fire. It was Christmas Eve again over nine- side me near the fire. There was a father, mother, teen centuries after that first Christmas Eve. two sons and their wives and two boys. One of Here was I, out in the desert, privileged to be the the sons is a mullah.
messenger of the same Glad News to a people who After supper all except the father gathered had never heard it before. It will be a never-to- round my fire, chatted and asked questions. The be-forgotten night for me. most interesting thing was my teeth. I told them Three days more brought us to the oasis of my errand and they listened very patiently. I Niya, about 20 miles in length sustaining a pop- had only a few tracts left, but had asked for Gos- ulation of 1,000 families. Just before entering pels to be sent from Kashgar to Keria to await the oasis we passed the grave of some holy men. me, so I promised to send some back with the There were two ram's horns on one grave, on an- donkey man. None of the women wore veils in other a ram's head, a third had a sheep skin, on the house. The old lady performed her evening a fourth hung the skin of a fowl, besides hosts of devotions while I was still in her room.
little flags upon which were written prayers, re- New Year's Day we reached Keria, a city of minding one of the Tibetan obos with their hosts 6,000 families and probably 40,000 in the district, of prayer flags hung on branches of trees stuck which includes Niya and Oy-Toghrak. Here was on the top of the obo. In the evening several mer- my first touch with a bit of Western civilization, chants came to the inn where I was staying; all the post office. There is no telegraph office nearer but one could speak Chinese as they had been to than Kashgar. I was invited to stay in the home Kansuh with their merchandise. We had a long of the Aksakal, an Indian Moslem who is the rep-
resentative of the British Consul General in Kash- lars all the way. To be away from the desert gar, appointed to look after the British Indian for a short while was a real treat. subjects. It was bazaar day when we arrived and the streets were packed with people. We first We arrived at Khotan at noon and were enterwent to the inn but were glad to be invited else- tained at the home of the Indian Aksakal. The where, for the room smoked badly and was so journey long prayed about was accomplished. dark that I needed a candle to read. Here is a Khotan had already been visited several years ago good center for a mission station. The city is by that intrepid missionary, Rev. G. W. Hunter, built on a high bank overlooking the river. There who has been traveling 25 years in the province are no gates of importance and only two main and knows it better than any other living person. streets, but lanes galore, running here and there The distance from Korla is 1,140 miles and the in a most tortuous manner that it was difficult to route naturally divides itself into two parts: find one's way around. There is a large popula- Korla to Vara-shari, with headquarters either at tion on the north side of the city. Except on Korla or Karashar. one and a half days further bazaar days the city presented a very quiet ap- north, Tatran to Khotan with headquarters at pearance. When I wanted to buy anything, I was Keria. The Swedish Mission hopes to occupy told to wait till bazaar day otherwise it would be Khotan soon. difficult. The people took little notice of me. In fact, along the whole journey, except in Char- From Khotan I went northwest to Yarkand and chien, the people were not a bit curious. How Kashgar and had the privilege of seeing the work they would receive missionaries it is difficult to of the Swedish Mission at their three stationssay. It would be necessary to visit the place a Yarkand, Yenghi-hissar and Kashgar. Between few times and do a little dispensary work to open Khotan and Yarkand the three cities of Suma, the way. The need is great and that in itself Kargalik and Posgam ought to be occupied. I constitutes a call. This field naturally falls under returned via the north road-Maral-bashi, Aksu, the care of the Swedish Mission who hope to open Kuchae and Karashar thus circumambulating the Khotan in the near future. great desert of the Takla-Makan, probably the first time it has been done in one journey by a After a twelve days' stay in Keria, I sold my white man, a distance of 2,625 miles. From donkeys and bought two horses. It was a long Karashar I returned home to Tihua (Urumtsi). stretch of forty miles of desert to Yar Langar I left Tihua on the 22d day of October and reand thirty-three miles more on the following day turned on the 24th of April, in six months and brought us to the town of Chira with a population two days having covered 3,300 miles, passed of 2,500 families in the oasis. All along the route through 18 cities and towns where there was no people had been saying that it was the coldest Christian mission station. winter in the memory of the oldest inhabitants and at Chira there was a great scarcity of water. The need itself is the appeal. Pray for God's Here are ten thousand people who had never had blessing on the books and tracts sold and given the opportunity of hearing the Glad News. Much away on this virgin soil, that He who blessed and land is yet to be possessed. In the oasis of Lob broke the five loaves and two fishes and satisfied there are supposed to be some 20,000 families. It five thousand men, besides women and children, joins up with Khotan-a vety rich district. From may so break the precious Word that many souls Lob to Khotan is 20 miles along a lovely road for may be fed in this wild desert region. In the day motors about 20 feet in width and lined with pop- when He gathers up His jewels may there be many found among His treasures gathered out of this land of buried cities.
As the sculptor works in wood and stone I would devote myself to the living soul. But I face the solemn thought that the sculptor cannot carve either in wood or in stone anything better than himself. All the lines of my carving Will but reveal my own soul. Gazing at my hand, at my chisel, I shudder. How long will it take for this human sculpture which I can never carve better or finer than my-own soul? How shall I escape! how escape from my pitiable, limited self, and rise to become a carver of God!
Happily there is a guide for me, One Who has opened the door of the sanctuary, One Who in His living flesh Has given us an image of the living God.
-Toyohiko Kagawa.
Eskimos-Old and New*
=B=U=T=Z=IN====!.lII~- –tIi{II.!;;!===B=y=th=e=R=E=V=.=A=RT=H=U=R=F=.
ARE the results of fifty years of continuous their faith and hope as they heartily sing: "We .r.. missionary effort equal to the price paid? shall sleep, but not forever." As they glance at Fifty years of the Moravian Church's the crosses marking the last resting places of northwestern venture has involved thousands of their own, they have in their hearts the assurance dollars. The human effort and sacrifices with the of a glorious dawn when they shall never part.
compensations and losses involved can never be The Old Religion and the New reduced to figures set on a balance-sheet.
But in answering the question let us contrast The medicine man, or shaman, was a conspic- the Eskimo of yesterday with the Eskimo of uous person in the old order. As direct repre- today. sentative of the tunrangaiyak (Devil) he was The ancient religion of the Eskimo was one of powerful. Many of them used this power diabolideception and fear. They summed it all up in the cally. Some were of a kindlier disposition, but words: "I fear." In their language there are all of them could easily become the tyrants of many synonyms for fear, foreboding and horror. foreboding and terror. Fear enslaved the people For this fear they blame one tunrangaiyak and to these men. A young native, dying of the dread his agents. He is "the Ruler out of the Dark- tuberculosis, said to me: "The shaman has bound me. I have begged him, but he will not ness." We call him the Devil. For the Christian Eskimo the ancient fears are unbind me. So I must die. If only he would unof yesterday. They have accepted the Saviour, bind me, then I could live." who has broken the bonds that once enslaved them That the shaman did have terrible power our to fear and horrors. They say with all believers: older Christians know. But they also know that a "This is my Lord, who redeemed me, a lost and stronger and a kinder One has come. A Christian undone human creature, purchased and gained Eskimo, also dying of tuberculosis, was besought me from sin, from death and from the power of by his father, still a heathen, to have the shaman the Devil." Some may still need to say: "I be- in. He would not. They begged him that they lieve; help Thou mine unbelief." But they are might take his parka to the shaman to pow-wow saying it sincerely. Christ has opened a new over. No, he would not. If his Saviour would, world of trust and hope to their hearts. He has he could heal him, but if He saw fit to take him brought them a real salvation from terrible bond- from earth to Himself, that would be best. But age and has also introduced to them the mighty in any case he would not now let his soul be soiled by the touch of the Devil. God as their dear and loving heavenly Father. Under the old regime death came with horror, A heartless religion engendered heartlessness. hatred and hopelessness. The loss of child, Our early missionaries repeatedly met with inmother, father, or other dear one, caused the stances where those enfeebled by age or disease were left behind to starve at the time of the spring usual natural heartache. In addition were the migration. When they realized this, our missionhorrors and terrors of apparitions of the de- aries prepared salt fish ahead and saw to it that parted. There was hatred for the shaman who they had sufficient ammunition to procure the might have caused the death. Added to these was necessary ducks and geese to feed such during the utter hopelessness. Life was gone forever. periods of scarcity of food. This kind forethought Death still brings to them the heartache and made its impression. The modern missionary feeling of loss. I have heard a Christian Eskimo still encounters a sad lack of deference and kindfather sob over his dying son: "Father have liness for the aged and feeble, but they are now mercy upon me." Later this father calmly spoke fed and cared for. There is a growing Christian to his people of the Home with the heavenly Fa- opinion that the aged should be dealt with conther and the Saviour, where he would meet his siderately. Most of our congregations have colown again. Easter has become the glad day for lections especially for such older and needy folks. bereaved Eskimos. At the sunrise service they tell Sometimes Sunday school classes gather gifts for * From 1'he .BIorav1an (Decenlber, 1935). them and sing in their homes.
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The orphan and the "half-orphan" (child of gether easy in that low, flat country of rain, Eskimo companionate marriage) shared the lot of water, slush and mud where dirt is a natural aged feeble folk. However, they could not be element. starved so readily nor was that exactly desirable. The people needed "slaves" to labor for them. And it is true that the persistent influence of Hard work, rough treatment and "garbage" food the Gospel is toward cleanliness. The old superand clothing fell to the lot of these. We have seen stitions thrived in filth and darkness. Jesus is the these "slaves" among well-fed and happy children. Light of the world. Light dispels darkness and They looked on while the others had their fill of destroys filth. This is the experience of the Good the choicest. When all were satisfied, they got News among the Eskimo. Napagiaghak village the crumbs, bones and dregs of the tea that hap- wanted a chapel. They could not build it without pened to be left. These things used to be com- help. In presenting the need of a chapel their mon, for there was no sentiment to forbid it. spokesman advanced as the cogent reason for it that it was not compatible to celebrate the Holy "Let the little children come unto Me," includes Communion in the dark, dirty and soot-covered the orphan. That part of the Gospel is being in- kashige. The younger set are eagerly learning terpreted by the orphanage. Again the Eskimo the truths of sanitation and gradually are formas a whole have responded wonderfully. From ing habits of cleanliness. all corners of our field comes approval. Native congregations give fish. Some have donated fur A Long and Winding Trail boots and other things. Before our eyes we see another advance. It is the Saviour's will that It has been a long, long winding trail from their none of these little ones be offended. primitive superstitions and fears to the devotion, thankfulness, hope and Christian fellowship ex- The Social Change perienced at one of the Communion services to- day. The pioneers met with stolid hostility, with The aboriginal Eskimo considered woman very dense ignorance and utter indifference. The Gosmuch man's inferior. She was man's servant. pel message was too immense for their minds. Her duty was to bear and rear children, and al- The trail through their hearts led to their souls. ways serve the man. She gathered the wood and The patient kindness and service rendered them cured and stored the fish. She removed and dried by the missionaries won their confidence. As one the pelts of the animals trapped by the man and ignorant Eskimo said to one of our missionaries, out of them made garments. Whenever a migra- "You are Christ to us." Any verbal interpretation took place, she helped the dogs haul the bag- tion meant nothing to that man; a Christlike life gage, or if by water, she and the children pro- did. pelled the boat, while the man sat in the stern steering it. She was "too dumb" to appreciate Today they listen gladly to the message and, anything better. Mentally she was considered a furthermore, they themselves have become detervery inferior animal. mined to have a share in presenting the invitation of Christ to fellow Eskimos who have not yet ade- That feeling still persists, but there is in prog- quately heard. Helper Neck is outstanding. His ress an adjustment. Husbands and wives now name is first in the "Eskimo Who's Who." He live together – some of them very peaceably. had come from the uttermost-a shaman of the They bring up their children together. As a fam- shamans, zealous. He had accepted Christ. Thereily we see them coming to church; the husband after his living was of Christ and for Christ. He is even carrying the baby in his arms; though he and a host of others have written the Gospel acwalks on ahead while she follows! The husband cording to the Eskimo. This interpretation of has begun to fetch the wood and water and lend Christ in living epistles is read and understood. a hand in the curing and storing of the food sup- Congregations have been touched by this Spirit. plies. In many of our congregations the woman They help support native preachers in the frontier has been granted the vote. Some of the more villages; when a new chapel is to be built, a coladvanced pray at their meeting and teach Sunday lection may be taken or a hand is lent in its conschool classes. struction.
*** Fifty years in the life of a race is but a day. It would be unreasonable to expect that in so short a Very much has been said and written about the period every vestige of the old superstitions and Eskimo and his foul igloo. The subject may seem fears should have been utterly destroyed. The over-emphasized, but only to such who have never older folk "know" experimentally that evil as imseen, smelt or touched it. Then, if it be true that personated in the shaman was powerful to bless cleanliness to Godliness is kin, some very notice- and curse, That same power stilI exists, though able change should be apparent in the person, held in check by the stronger power of a merciful home, and surrounding of the Christian Eskimo. God. We wilI grant them that cleanliness is not aIto-
the Church and Modern
By J,rnV. DANIEL A. POLING, D.D. I I r~"- Pastor of Baptist Temple, Philadelphia, Pa.
~==============================~, MODERN youth is incurably religious-not may stand between, youth presses toward the goal by the test of any particular human creed, at whatever cost. Youth does not and cannot not in the vernacular of fifty, twenty or escape Jesus Christ when He is released by those even ten years ago, but in deep reality. Modern who too often build about Him barricades of youth is incurably religious even though he may prejudice and petty sectarian difference.
deny the fact for the moment, by deeds as well as What is it that makes Jesus Christ unique as words. the Captain and Leader of youth? "I will follow William Lyon Phelps, who talks a language withersoever thou goest," declared a young lawyer that youth understands, has suggested a reason centuries ago as the Galilean Teacher moved tofor the basic religious..attitude of young men and ward Jerusa·lem and His crucifixion. Those words young women. "Youth responds to the spirit and of dedication were spoken deliberately, in the message of Jesus Christ," says Dr. Phelps, "be- light of known facts, after Jesus, by the test of all cause Jesus knew more about political economy human evidence, had apparently passed from than all the professors in all the colleges in the triumph to decline; they were spoken in the face world and He knew more about the human heart of impending physical disaster. This young scribe than did Shakespeare. Jesus Christ is the great- made his choice knowing full well that by so do- est leader, the most absolutely right Person, the ing he turned his back upon family and ambition, world has ever known. A complet~ change has that he invited tragic risks, that he flung wide his come over the world since the War, especially in arms to defeat and even death.
the emergence of individual leaders in times of Jesus was on the march, and it is life on the peace. StaHn is running Russia alone, Hitler do- march that captures youth. Jesus was moving ing the same thing in Germany, Mussolini in toward a great goal. The young man knew it, Italy. The whole world is in such a turmoil that and he would go along. The psychology of youth men are looking for leadership and saying, 'Who in every generation is the psychology of advance.
is going to get us out of this mess?' People may Progress, and not decline, is the key to the hearts be following some fallible human leaders for the of our sons and daughters; and Jesus Christ for- moment, but the leadership of Jesus Christ in our ever has that key. He has a destination in view, lives ought to be, may be, constant in everything. an immortal destiny. He could not be turned If I should say that the only way in which every aside by opposition and He would not retreat be- person in this world may be saved is by joining a cause of bitter dangers. It is not a Garibaldi particular church, you would rightly think me patriotism that discourages a young man today.
crazy. I am not out of my mind when I say the It is not a loyalty involving danger that dampens only way the world can be saved today is by ac- the ardor of a young woman. But an institution cepting and following Jesus Christ." or a leader that is not going somewhere, that is It is in the very heart of the vital matter that not headed toward some real and alluring destinawe find the great twentieth century issue for the tion, cools the fevered blood of a holy purpose in Christian Church. She cannot win youth by ask- the veins of a rising generation. ing youth to join her divisions but she can win Let the Church, with her allied institutions and youth by asking them to unite their lives to the organized activities, give heed today. Let any person and cause of Jesus Christ. Jesus in the church that does not have young people, and is flesh always attracted young people to' His com- not able to attract them, take account of stock and pany, challenged them with His message, won remember the man of twenty centuries ago who them to' His ministry. He was always going some- cried, "Master, I will follow thee whithersoever where and knew where He was leading them. thou goest."
Danger and defeat did not lose youth's allegiance, Saul of Tarsus was riding hard toward Damas- for always yO'uth is on the march and if the goal cus, but Jesus rO'de faster, overtook him in the is worth reaching, though reverses and disasters way, tumbled him into the dust and then lifted [151 ]
him to sweep him forward faster than horses and to make men and women truly good and powerful farther than the boundaries of Rome's imperial is adequate for this crisis. The editorial concludes world. This same Jesus overtook Rome herself at that this solution is to be found nowhere else than last and moved on ahead of all her legions. in Jesus Christ and the New Testament.
What was the destination of Jesus? Where is The world has a growing sense of need. Her He going? When He was on earth he went to find very terror in the presence of the machine age she the hungry, and He gave them food. He went has created may be matched by her desire to find with healing for the sick, and even the dead lived and travel the road that leads to a new world. It again. He went to reveal the true basis of brother- is as though the leader of this generation said, "I hood to a world filled with hates and fears; He will follow thee, follow thee whithersoever thou went to find the lost and to show them the way goest." But have they counted the cost? back to the Father. He is still on that mighty quest. He goes now to destroy armed conflict and One of the distinguished military leaders of the bring peace; He comes to right wrongs and to Great War declared it to be his reasoned concluoffer new life and youth flocks to His banner sion that "only the Church can save the world wherever it is lifted on high. from another and even more disastrous conflict." He added, "If another great war comes, the Where is Jesus, our Lord, going? He hastens Church will be to blame." Can the Church preto establish the sacredness, the divinity of human vent war? Can the Church destroy poverty? Can personality, when brought into vital relationship the Church secure justice for weaker races, and with God. For him a little child, the humblest classes? Can the Church solve the problem of baby of the poorest house is of greater value than lawlessness and actually Christianize civilization? all the wealth of a great city. No-the Church cannot, al'5 an institution with an institutional program. As an organization in her Jesus Christ travels on with the ever-lengthen- own right, however great and glorious in the light ing stride of eternal truth to free man's body from of sacred history, she cannot. But as the chosen its bondage, and to cure and save the soul of man instrument of this same Jesus Christ, the Lord of so that it will never die. All other leaders are Glory, the Church, united, humbled by the sense little men when compared with the divine Gal- of her human weaknesses, but with the knowledge ilean. They have their moment of acclaim, but of her infinite divine resources, the Church, folseldom more than one. Only when they join His lowing the l~adership of Christ, thus can save the company and are possessed by His Spirit do they world. This is the Church to which modern youth survive their generation – such were Paul and will come, as youth in every generation has Luther, Wesley and Spurgeon and Moody. The flocked to enlist for high adventure. Youth enlists youth of the world can be saved today only' by fol- today for dictators, and youth marches behind lowing Jesus Christ. the banners of Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini, moved by fear and hatred and self-interest. When In a popular magazine an editorial writer, who the lists of Jesus Christ are opened and His would resent being called a preacher, declared that trumpet is blown youth will march under His it is not by a "new thought" that the world can be banner. saved but that the regeneration of society demands new lives, and that only a Power sufficient LET THE CHILDREN BE HEARD You may hush every other voice of national and individual complaint; you may silence every other tongue, even those of mothers of destroyed sons and daughters, of wives of profli- gate husbands; but let the children speak – the little children, the wronged children, the crip- pled children, the abused children, the blind children, the imbecile children, the nameless chil- dren, the starved children, the deserted children, the beaten children, the dead children!
o my God, this army of little children!
Let their weak voices, faint with oppression, cold and hunger, be heard. . . . Let their little faces, pinched by want of gladness, be heeded! Let their challenge – though made by small forms, too mighty for estimate – be reckoned with! Let their writing upon the wall of the nation – although traced by tiny fingers, as stupendous as eternity – be correctly in- terpreted and read, that the awful robbery of the lawful heritage of their little bodies, minds and souls is laid at the brazen gate of ALCOHOL. – EVANGELINE BOOTH, General of the Sal- vation Army.
Christian Students and
–<!III By H. W. PEET, London, England 11"'- T HE student Christian Movement Quadren- The worst policy today is to maintain the status nial of Great Britain was held at Birming- quo; anti-Communist crusaders become too easily ham. This great gathering is held to bring the messengers of the "bad news" that things before each generation of students the needs of must remain as they are. The Church must realthe missionary work of the Church. ize that "The finest realities of the West are not in systems; forms of government are merely tem- The trend of student thought today is reflected porary ways of dealing with human affairs. We in the general title of the conference, "God Speaks must have a sense of proportion-or humor-and to This Generation." As Dr. Leyton Richards, of the idea that behind the facade of affairs are just Carrs Lane Chapel, Birmingham, said: frightened human beings. We must try to look God in the face and realize how ridiculous it is "After the war the emphasis was on social work for us to sit in judgment on one another, like and international matters. These are still press- archangels on the day of judgment. We must ing heavily on the students but they realize that realize that humanity is a band of sinners who they and the world around them have failed to should come to God and then stand side by side put things right, and they are returning to a helping to make a new world." search f.or a sure foundation for their faith in God." Dr. t'Hooft gave a vivid analysis of Great Britain today as an outsider sees her. He put his The early disciples of Christ started with the finger on the weak spots in British national facts of Jesus' advent, life, sacrifice and resur- armor, and quite frankly said that the world is rection. They found that these historical facts irritated with Britain because she seems so easily became for them the basis for a moral fact. As to find great moral reasons for acts of self-interthey tried to explore the moral fact and explained est. Britain must be willing definitely to conit they found that the Person they had known tribute to the peace of the world, apart from any just as a fact of history, and whom later they advantage such an act may bring to herself. recognized as the great factor of moral life, could only be explained as a spiritual fact, as One who An Anglican Father, Rev. W. S. A. Robertson, was the embodiment or incarnation of the very of St. Ives, who is d.oing a magnificent work in being of God. the midlands among tramps, presented an attrac- tive figure in his brown robe and course girdle. The gathering was attended by 2,000 people, Speaking on "The Reality of God," he said that, including many overseas students studying in even though his audience was so different fr.om Great Britain and others who came specially for those among whom he had recently been mixing the meeting from the continent of Europe, Asia yet they had much in common for all .of us must and Africa. come to God as "down and out" men and women.
Dr. Visser t'Hooft, the very capable Dutch sec- Rev. William Paton, Secretary of ,the Internaretary of the World Student Christian Federation, tional Missionary Council, spoke on his recent representing some 200,000 students in 45 coun- visit to the Far East and dealt with the political tries, spoke on "The 'Christian' West." He said: and religious ferments there. In his analysis of "We might as well talk of the 'Christian Jungle,' " the situation in Japan, where the worship of the recalling the tragically unchristian state of af- Emperor, inherent in the Japanese system, is setfairs which prevail today. "Nevertheless," he ting up a superreligion of extreme nati.onalism, added, "Christianity has been the central forma- he really gave a digest of his important book, tive element in all that is good in Western civ- "Christianity in the Eastern Conflicts." One of ilization. It has emphasized the worth of effort the speakers of the World Student Christian Fedand of individuals. Without Christianity the erati.on was Mr. Sen, ,an Indian who has just been West would be historically inconceivable. "What touring the United States. His illustration of the the world lacks today is a common point of ref- five fingers .of our hand representing what should erence. Several groups believe that they alone be the five chief elements in our life. The thumb can save Europe-and are willing to ruin Europe represents strength and courage for with it we in order to prove their thesis. The ideological grip things. The first finger represents leadership enemy is considered the representative of some satanic principle."
[ 153]
and guidance, for with it we point. The center supplication, but rather with hand stretched ,out finger represents harmony. The third on which in cooperation." In a warm tribute to the misthe wedding ring is placed, stands for love. And sionary movement of the past hundred years, Mr. the little finger when we hold our hands in prayer Sun said, "It would be difficult to discover in hisfaces the aUar and, also, in the Indian meth,od of tory any group ,of men and women who have comsalutation, faces the person we honor. manded greater respect and admirati,on than those ,of the missi,on field. The world owes a greater The Archbishop of Y,ork spoke on "God in debt to these men and women than it sometimes Christ," recalling the first Quadrennial he at- realizes." tended in 1908. "Those who saw God in Christ in the first century," he said, "did not argue ab,out Africa was represented by Mr. J. C. W. Dougit. F1aith is a response of the wh,ole mind, critical all, the new Secretary of the Conference of British and constructive. Yet the essential wonder of Missionary Societies, who has spent s,ome years faith is much more like the feeling for a trusted in East Africa as educational adviser to missi,ons. and admired leader than it was like the Q. E. D. While all the most vital questions of international at the end of a geometrical proposition." relationships may be focussed in Africa at the moment, the most important fact Lor the future is Rev. Paul Rangaramanujam gave a stirring ac- that there is a Christian Church in Africa. count ,of the growth of the Mass Movement in the area in which he works. On the political situa- The urgent need for missionaries at present was tion Mr. Rangaramanujam said that India is emphasized by Miss Ruth Rouse, Educati,on Sec- retary of the Missionary Council of the Church of facing clear issues with high idealism, c,ourage England-who, incidentally, was one of the three and wisdom that are almost Christian. The Na- people present at this conference who were also tional Movement which used to have primarily a at the first Student Christian M,ovement Quadpolitical emphasis is n,ow beginning to embrace rennial in 1896. There are today 400 vacant P,osts social and economic pr,oblems. While earlier it in the Protestant mission field which can be filled wanted self-government because it did not want only by men and women who were now students to be g,overned by others, now it desires inde- -ordained men, teachers, doctors, nurses, women pendence for the noble purpose ,of serving India evangelists, agricultural engineers, builders, weland seeing that her P,oor, depressed and ,outcaste fare workers.· There are fields now where the pe,ople come into their own. Great Britain is average age ,of the missi,onaries is between 50 and called to send Christian men and women to G,oV- 60. New consecrated, well-trained missionaries ernment service, military and other forms of serv- are needed from the present student generation. ice to India, to sh,ow the go,od will there is in the Church of Christ in Britain. Mr. Rangaramanu- There are great possibilities in consecrated jam also emphasized the needs which the Church young life and our prayer is that y,outh may fulin India still has of spiritual and intellectual lead- fill .its pmmise and see its way, having listened ership from Western Churches. to the voice of God, to a path which will lead the world onward. As a leading member of the The Chinese Christian editor, Mr. T. H. Sun, faculty of Birmingham University said of the made a plea for help for the Chinese Church from gathering: "The whole atmosphere is reeking the church of the West. "The younger Churches," with moral gunpowder." he said, "come to you n,ot with the open hand of A HINDU PARABLE There was a donkey which belonged to a dhobi (handy man). The poor donkey had a hard time, for, as everyone knows, donkeys belong to a "depressed class." The owner abused and overworked him shamefully. The rope by which he was tied was very old and had be- come weak in many places, partly because many reformers had tried to cut it and free the donkey. The poor animal longed to be free and himself often chewed it. He CQuid have broken it easily; but whenever he became restless, the dhobi would give him a little green grass and as he was always hungry he would quiet down to eat the grass. Then his ,owner would load him up again' and beat him and curse him. Again he would determine to go free at the first opportunity but as often as he started to break away the dhobi would again give him a little grass. Then, the donkey would think, "After all, if I leave this place where could I go? This is the place where I was born." So he remained in his wretched condition, not because the rope held him, but because he received a little grass and because he really disliked to change.
Moral: The bonds of caste are not strong enough to hold anyone who really wishes to go free.
Ways of
'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~'=I============================~ MEN'S MISSIONARY LEAGUE, 1934 – FIRST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ELYRIA, OHIO An Achievement in Masculine den of responsibility for the gained 50 % in active member- Missions present abnormal situation in which "the whole undertaking ship, 34% in general offerings Under this challenging title, to make Christ known to the The Men's Missionary League world is regarded as a strictly and an increase of 43 % in the of the United Presbyterian feminine affair" (in the local church of Elyria, Ohio, has church aspect) and the entire thank-offering over that of the brought out a leaflet giving "the missionary movement is a wom- preceding year! The entire mishuman interest history" of their an's undertaking and not some- sionary budget offerings of the adventure in leading men to thing to challenge the serious congregation for the church year major in missions. The pioneer- and active devotion of strong ending in March, 1935, were ing pastor, Rev. George A. Christian men. The story of the Brown, told the story of the ven- way in which Mr. Brown set 137 % over those of the year beture in THE REVIEW in Novem- about harnessing the men and ber, 1935. As set forth therein boys in his church for team work fore. the problem of enlisting men for with the sisterhood is a chalmissions is, in its final analysis, lenging one, and the report of We have now to record that a matter of interesting them the effect upon the local wom- the infant organization has not whole-heartedly and enthusias- en's missionary society is star- only survived and grown but tically in Jesus Christ Himself, tling. At the end of the first year that similar leagues have sprung the dynamic of whose life work of the League, that society rewas the missionary motive and ported marked increase in mem- up in a number of other churches the carry-on personnel of whose bership, attendance, offerings, necessitating the issue of the interest and cooperation never leaflet above mentioned as an incampaign, in the early centuries, known before on the part of "the structional manuel with model consisted of the informal mis- brethren." In the language of sionaries we now call laymen. figures, the women's soc i e t y constitution and by-laws. On the evening of Nov. 17, 1936, the Upon the pastors rests the bur- [155 ] League celebrated its t h i r d birthday in a party with all the other missionary organizations of the church as guests and Sam- uel A. Fulton, International Chaplain of the Gideons, as the main speaker. Two special mis-
sionary projects-one home and ets of such material over care- African territory-very picturesque) ; one foreign – have been under- fully and found them highly sug- "African Lights and Shadows" (story taken by the organization as its gestive, the Editor is glad to re- illustrated by shadow piCtures inpractical outlet. In a recent let- deem her promise to cite them volving a series of dramatizationster to the Department Editor, for consideration, especially as full directions given); "An African Mr. Brown says: the African study period is not Village Trial"; "Harum Scarum finished yet; and the bulk of the Harems"; "Enlarge Your World" We have been going now for over material is of a timeless, univer- (folder illustration); "Mimeographed three years and the interest not only sal character and the "program Patterns"; "Greetings-Congo Style" abides but grows with the passing molds" of such a type that they (full directions for picturesque ceremonths and meetings. Our men here will suit a variety of topical con- monial) . are enthusiastic about it and the work tents. The denominational brand is extending throughout our church. is also negligible. Any evan- An outstanding feature of We have had wide and favorable pub- gelical group can utilize most of these packets is the number of licity, not only in this land but in the programs, devices and sub- references made to plans and Canada. The hand of the Lord is ject matter to good advantage. articles in the October issue of most manifestly in our work and we THE REVIEW. Much of its mawant it to grow for His sake and to The three packets are adapted terial is recommended for spe- His glory. for use among women's societies, cific use. older and younger young peo- With whole-hearted assent we ple's groups and Sunday school Follow the Line of Most echo the closing words of the classes or departments. They Resistancecampaign leaflet: may be obtained at The United Christian Missionary Society, but that's only one way Let each pastor preach to his men Missions Building, 222 Downey of saying it. at the earliest possible date, and more Ave., Indianapolis, Ind., at 50 earnestly and plainly and directly cents each. State for which The blue waters of Eagles than ever before, to show them that group the material is desired. Mere Lake moved and shim- Missions is a man's job. Then call a mered under a golden June sun. meeting for the organization of a Each packet contains an out- The foliage circling the lake like Men's Missionary League: pray, plan line of the course and materials, a wreath provided a restful and proceed as the Holy Spirit Him- instructions for leaders and pro- change for the eyes and at least self may lead. In the words of our gram builders, ready-to-use les- two city-dwellers sitting on the rallying song: son subject matter, dramatic beach appreciated the scene. sketches, folk lore tales, complete A wake, ye Christian men; devotional, consecration and in- The girl in the bathing suit Behold the world today; stallation services, question and dropped her beach coat so that discussion mat e ria 1, mimeo- the sun could reach her shoul- Great multitudes like scattered sheep graphed patterns, African games ders. They were conspicuously From God still go astray. for the recreational periods, etc. white compared with those of Sample questions and discussion other bathers about her. Come with a spirit stirred; topics are: Obey your Lord's command; "Dotty," she spoke to the girl Is it right to impose denominational- in blue gingham beside her, Pray Him to send forth laborers ism and white civilization upon "why have I never done this be- Into each waiting land. other countries? fore? A vacation at a mission- ary conference didn't sound Present your gifts to Him, Is the African not happy as he is? thrilling to me, but I don't know Your silver and your gold; Why interfere with his beliefs? when I've enjoyed a week more, and I'm going home with my But first of all, yourself He asks, What conditions growing out of the head simply crammed with That He your life may mold. conquest of Africa jeopardize the ideas." She took a small note- peace of the world todav? book from the pocket of her coat Go forth, ye Christian men, and began turning its pages. Proclaim His name abroad; There is so much to be done at home. Why support foreign missions "You know, Sarah," Dotty re- That sinners far and near may come until we have Christianized our plied, "when I asked you to come To know the Son of God. own country? with me last year, you said you were taking your vacation later. He gave His life for you; The process of securing products from Most of the conferences like this His precious blood He shed. Africa is changing the lives of were over. But I knew you Africans. As a user of these would like it." Serve Him who saves you by His products do I not have a moral grace, responsibility toward Africa? "Well, I certainly do. Thete's plenty of time for outdoor exer- The Church's living Head. How does my consecration compare cise and the things I'm learning with that of African Christians? come in such an easy, interest- (Copies M the organizational leaflet may ing way – everything combines be had at 4 cents per C(}py. 40' cents per Is my life a recommendation for to make me feel a real satisfacdozen, $3.00 per hundred, from The Board Christ? tion." of Administration, United Presbyterian Church, 705 Publication Building, Pitts- Dramatics, dialogues, visual- "Just before I came," the burgh, Pa.) izations, etc., include the follow- other went on, "I agreed to be ing as samples: "Allo, Congo!" "Upriver on the Oregon" (travel As mentioned in the October impersonations); "White Gobblers in issue of this Department, the Africa" (illustrated representation of foreign mission programs. and foreign rapacity in "gobbling up" study material of the United Christian Missionary Society could not be listed until after the first of the year, as they would not come out before January. Having looked the several pack-
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
president of our mIsSIOnary sort of thing. Of course, we'll like to have an evening with circle next winter. My notebook have a play or a talk by a mis- Polly Brown and Helen Frazier sionary so as to keep the party talking about their trip to the is a sort of outsize one and it's Orient. They didn't visit all the going to be a lot of help to me. from being all amusement and mission stations but they did nothing to show for it after- meet a few of the missionaries I can make use of so many of wards." and if they would show the the things we get here. You things they brought home and "That sounds fine," praised tell about the ones they met, and weren't here the first night when Dotty, "and how about making describe our work as they can the literature lady told that little invitations like those we saw in read it up in the missionary story made up of the titles of the the shape of an African hut. magazine, I'm sure the girls books on Africa. That was They are made of wrapping would learn something from clever and it's a stunt that might paper with the thatched roof that, too." be done with titles of books crayoned a darker brown. You about any country. She had a catch a glimpse of the wording "A good thing about the methglobe in front of her on a table on the inside fold through a ods we've had here," remarked Dotty, "is that they could be and she repeated the words of little cut-out door in the hut. We adapted to suit the study of al- 'This is my Father's world,' the must pique the imagination with most any country. Now, my the wording of the invitation, as cousin says they will study first verse, while someone played Miss Applegarth said. Didn't Japan this year because the misit softly on the piano. Then she you love her asking, 'Has the dic- sionary their own church sup- tionary joined your church?' ports is making their town her said, 'My Father's world! I re- It's true that we keep on using headquarters while she's at peat the words often thinking the same old hackneyed terms home. That series Miss Appleonly of the part I can see with garth suggested on Hands, for my eyes' or words to that effect. in our meeting announcements. instance, could be used for any We just don't take the trouble other land as well as Africa. She went on to talk about Af- to think up more alluring ones." Remember, she had the titles rica, bringing in the titles of the listed, Hands across the Sea, different books and magazine The sun was slanting lower Hands that Rock the Cradle, articles and holding each one up Hand – Me – Down, Behindhand and the lake breeze was cool. or Beforehand, Han d i c r aft, as she mentioned it. Then she Sarah pulled her coat about her Hand-in-Hand. Can't you just closed with the last verse of the shoulders again as she scribbled picture how those topics could hymn, after saying something a few words in her tiny book. be worked out. It does take "Yes, and we mustn't use stilted imagination, though. I must about our obligation to help Af- phrases either. They put peo- say, I feel as though I never rica's people to see the Father's ple to sleep-people at a meeting again will be satisfied to follow 'the line of least resistance' in world and be able to thank Him need to be electrified. Even the presenting the cause of missions for it, too. I thought at our first furniture should be placed dif- -there I go again using set meeting we could give the girls ferently now and then, and the phrases! How would you say minister's wife mustn't always that, Sarah? Follow the line of a glimpse of the study plans that lead the devotions. In our case least resistance in broadcasting same way." it's the minister's daughter, but the fact that our missionaries I'm going to ask Flo this time to are heroes in the midst of a Sarah was still fingering her get two other girls to read with thrilling adventure-up against notebook, nodding her head to her the story of Philip and the all sorts of odds, yet they see reshow that she was listening. sults that make them realize they "One thing sure," she declared, Ethiopian eunuch. One can read are truly workers together with "I never would have promised to the narrative part, one will take charge of the party for new speak for Philip and the other God and must win in the long members if I'd not been getting run. When the girls really get some of those things they call for the eunuch. It will make the 'methods' from Margaret Apple- story more real." that view, they are sure to want garth. Now I know just what to help. By the way, Miss Ap- I'm going to suggest to the com- "Another thing to think about in devotions is hymns. Alice plegarth and some of the other mittee. Remember the game we leaders are going to be here played on Saturday afternoon, told me she simply hadn't the with the name of a famous per- heart to sing '0 Zion Haste' ever again next summer." son on every girl's back. We'll again. She says we always sing use people connected with Af- it. I told her that if she'd come "Well, I'm telling you right rica, missionaries like Living- and lead us in some really new stone and Jean Mackenzie, and hymns, or even some old ones now, so am 11" a few like Cecil Rhodes and that we don't sing so often, we'd Haile Selassie. For refresh- JANE GILBERT, give the stand-bys a rest for a ments we had a whole bunch of year. And with just a little Vice-Chairman, Eagles Mere, Pa., bananas, and cookies cut in the originality, there are ways of Conference, June 26 to July 3. varying the use of even an old shape of the map of Africa, hymn to advantage."
spread with a mixture of peanut "If I wasn't so full of this Af- rican party," said Sarah, "I'd butter and chile sauce-weren't they good? And the peanuts we had to hunt for all around the room. The girls will love that
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BULLETIN OF The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTlVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~'~I~–==~~~~~~~~~===—-I~ LET US REMEMBER JESUS INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: BENEDICTION: A Lenten Service of Worship* Vocal solo–"My Task"-Ashford. (Remain standing after benedic- tion.) INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: PERIOD OF MEDITATION. LEADER: "The Palms"-Faure. LEADER: (Continue to play softly as ac- ("Into the Woods My Master Went" companiment during the reading Let us remember Jesus: Who loved to be played softly during reading of the poem.) men, yet retired from them to pray, of poem.) rose a great while before day, LEADER: watched through a night, stayed in o Master of the Galilean Way, the wilderness, went up into a Judean hills are holy, Judean hills mountain, sought a garden. Who, Forgive us for the vows we fail are fair, when he would help a tempted dis- to keep: ciple, prayed for him, and for the For one can find the footprints of perfecting of those who received Forgive us that we so neglect thy Jesus everywhere. sheep, him. One finds them in the twilight be- So idly waste this shining harvest neath the singing sky, INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: day!
Where shepherds watch in wonder Vocal solo-"Into the Woods My What matter if we cannot under- white planets wheeling by. Master Went" – Lanier. (F irs t stand stanza.) His trails are on the hillsides and The mystery of Love that is Di- down the dales and deeps; PERIOD OF MEDITATION. vine, He walks the high horizons where LEADER: Nor pierce the veil! Dear Lord, vesper silence sleeps. our faith increase Let us remember Jesus: Who be- He haunts the lowly highways lieved in men to the last and never To know that, since our hands where human hopes have trod despaired of them. Who through may reach thy hand, all disappointment never lost heart. The Via Dolorosa up to the heart Who disregarded his own comfort Our lives are made all-powerful, of God. and convenience and thought first through thine, of others' needs, and though he suf- He looms,·a lonely figure, along the fered long was always kind. Who, To heal a wounded world and fringe of night, when he was reviled, reviled not bring it peace! again, and when he suffered, threat- -Molly Anderson Haley. As lonely as a cedar against the ened not. Who humbled himself lonely night. and carried obedience to the point Poems from "Quotable Poems," Vol. I of death, even death on the cross, Judean hills are holy, Judean hills and endured faithfully to the end. Clark-Gillespie, Willett, Clark &anCdo.p, ra1y9e3r1~' are fair, New York. Music, meditation INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: from HNew Hymnal of American Youth" For one can find the footprints of Jesus everywhere. Vocal solo – "Into the Woods My H. Augustine Smith, Appleton D. Century, -William L. Stidger. Master Went." (Last stanza.) New York.
PERIOD OF MEDITATION. UNISON PRAYER AND CONSECRATION Officers, 1937 LEADER: (Standing) : President – Mrs. Millard Robinson (Methodist Episcopal). As we worship together- o Christ, our only Saviour, so come Let us remember Jesus: Who, First Vice-President-Mrs. Orrin R. though he was rich, yet for our to dwell in us that we may go forth Judd (N. Baptist). sakes became poor and dwelt among with the light of thy hope in our us. Who was content to be subject eyes, and thy faith and love in our Second Vice-President–Mrs. Augus- to his parents, the child of a poor man's home. Who lived for thirty hearts. tus Trowbridge (Protestant Epis- years the common life, earning his To the preaching of good tidings copal). living with his own hands and de- of salvation we consecrate Third Vice-President- Mrs. J. W. clining no humble tasks. Whom the our powers; Downs (Methodist Episcopal common people heard gladly, for he To the healing of broken bodies South) . understood their ways. and the relief of distress we Recording Secretary – Miss Dorothy consecrate our gifts; A. Stevens (N. Baptist). INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: To the leading of every soul to the knowledge and love of Treasurer-Mrs. Norman V. Peale Vocal solo-"When the Lord of Love Christ we consecrate our in- (Reformed in Am.). Was Here"-Brooke. (First three fluence; stanzas.) To the Christianization of the Chairmen of Committees world, PERIOD OF MEDITATION. To the building of the Kingdom of Annual Meeting: Miss Laura H. Parker (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). LEADER: God: Chautauqua: Miss Amelia D. Kemp We consecrate our money, our ef- (Un. Lutheran). . Let us remember Jesus: Who was Conferences and Schools of Missions: mighty in deed, healing the sick and forts and our lives. Amen. Miss Carrie M. Kerschner (Evan- the disordered, using for others the powers he would not invoke for RESPONSE: gelical Reformed). himself. Who refused to force Editorial and Publicity: Mrs. J. men's allegiance. Who was master "Hear Our Prayer, 0 Lord." (Vo- and Lord to his disciples, yet was cal or instrumental.) Henry Callister (Friends). among them as their companion and as one who served. HYMN: Eva Clark Waid Memorial for World • Prepared by Charlotte Mary Burnham. "0 Master, Let Me Walk with Peace: Miss Emma Jessie Ogg Thee." (Four stanzas.) (Presbyterian, U. S. A.).
[158 ]
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
Finance: Mrs. Mary D. White (Con- one another and to demonstrate the Western Hemisphere and to ex- gregational-Christian) . the inclusiveness of the home tend this policy of good neighborliness mission program. In reporting to all nations, regardless of geograph- International Relations: Miss Elinor the year's activities at the busi- ical propinquity. ness session novel methods were K. Purves (Presbyterian, U. s. employed – panel discussions, 2. To exercise moderation with re- round tables and skits, thereby spect to our military establishments, A.). making the presentation of re- to the end that the influence of the ports interesting and stimu- United States may be on the side of Legislative: Mrs. Bessie H. Payne lating. peace and not on the side of war. (NatI. Baptist). Important actions were taken, 3. To accept membership in the Migrant: Mrs. Kenneth D. MiIIer a few of which are reported in World Court and through such action (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). V. this Bulletin. The Liquor Com- relate our nation in a helpful way to Chairman: Mrs. D. C. Turner mission appointed at the 1936 the development of a world commu- (Congregational-Christian) . Annual Meeting, to study the re- nity of law and of justice. lation of the Council of Women Nominating: Miss Edna M. Spring- for Home Missions to the Liquor 4. To extend the existing neutrality horn (Un. Lutheran). Problem presented a very com- legislation to include an embargo on prehensive report including the basic war materials to nations resort- Office Administration: Miss Ann follow i n g recommendations ing to war, in order to keep the Elizabeth Taylor (Presbyterian, adopted by the Federal Council United States from being drawn into U. S. A.). Biennial Meeting last December war, while at the same time it coop- and which were adopted by this erates with other nations for the Pension Plan: Mrs. Edmund B. Chaf- meeting. preservation of peace. fee (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). 1. That temperance education be 5. To work to secure national and Programs for Local Interdenomina- strongly reenforced in church and international control of the arms tional Groups: Mrs. Fred S. Ben- community and that denominational traffic. nett (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). and interdenominational boards and agencies charged with this responsi- 6. To extend stilI further the ad- Race Relations: Miss May Huston bility seek to cooperate in the publi- ministration's program of trade agree- (N. Baptist). cation of study courses for youth and ments and to facilitate through such of temperance literature; action the easing of economic tensions Study Courses: Miss Margaret Mars- throughout the world. ton (Protestant Episcopal). Vice- 2. That exploration be made as to Chairman: Miss Mabel M. Shei:o- the possibility of taking the profit out 7. To make clear the fact, by Presi- ley (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). of the manufacture and sale of liquor dential proclamation or otherwise, and the Research Department of the that the armed forces of our country World Day of Prayer: Mrs. Daniel Federal Council investigate and re- are not, under any circumstances, to A. Poling (N. Baptist). Vice- port on this aspect of the liquor be employed for the protection of the Chairman: Mrs. E. E. Cooley problem; economic or other material interests (Presoyterian, U. S. A.). of American nationals in other lands. 3. The securing and furnishing of Young People's Work: Rev. Frederick data which may be used by educa- 8. To take such steps as may be ad- R. Thorne, D.D., Chairman (Pres- tional agencies in presenting the sub- visable to insure the improvements of byterian, U. S. A.). V. Chair- ject; American-Japanese relations and, in man: Miss PrisciIIa Chase (Con- cooperation with other interested na- gregational-Christian) . 4. That the press of the country be tions, to labor for the restoration of urged to consider the harm done to a treaty structure for the Pacific. Joint Indian: Rev. Mark A. Dawber, themselves and their readers by liquor D.D., Chairman (Methodist Epis- advertising and, together with the 9. To place upon a strictly volun- copal). Vice-Chairman: Miss radio and the screen, be urged to elim- tary basis all military training in Helen M. Brickman (~ef'd in inate the emphasis on drinking habits; civil colleges and universities and to Am.). provide for the elimination of all mili- 5. That the Council of Women for tary training in high schools. ANNUAL MEETING Home Missions, in the interest of na- tional safety and welfare, most sol- That it make known this endorse- The Council of Women for emnly calI upon the people of this ment in a letter to the President of Home Missions and the Home land to arouse themselves to the men- the United States. Missions Council held their An- ace of this growing evil and by pernual Meeting January 11-14, sonal influence, by coIlective and polit- That it commend to the women of 1937, in Asbury Park, New Jer- ical action strive for such practical the Church through the denominasey. The first two days were measures of restraint and control as tional Boards the statement on peace given to the business sessions of are necessary for the protection of adopted by the Federal Council of the two Councils and the last society. Churches at its meeting on December two to the National Conference 11, 1936, asking them to study the on the City Church. The Fel- The above recommendations nine point program, included therein, lowship Supper which officially had been adopted at the Biennial to make known their attitude to the opened the Annual Meeting of Meeting of the Federal Council government of the United States the Council of Women for Home of Churches on December 11, and to the people of their communi- Missions was in every sense a ties, and to develop in their own and fellowship. Mrs. Millard Rob- 1936. other people's minds the will to peace. inson, President, presided. The program, informal in nature in- International Relations YOUNG PEOPLE'S WORK cluded greetings from fraternal delegates and then three-minute The Committee on Interna- It was reported that at the accounts given by a representa- tional Relations recommended: Conference of United Christian tive named by each constituent Youth Movement at Lakeside, Board describing the outstand- 1. To implement stilI further its Ohio, in the fall of 1936, it ing achievement in the home Good Neighbor policy with regard to had been decided to include mismission work of each board in sionary emphasis in the promo- 1936. Seldom has any feature tion of Christian Youth Building on an Annual Meeting program a New World, and material is done more to acquaint us with being prepared for this by the Youth Committee of the Mis- sionary Education Movement.
~i'==O=u=r=w=o=rl=d=–W=i=d=e=o==ut=lo=o=k==~ir
J1t A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events "
~. EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO .~~ LATIN AMERIOA Preaching Restricted quainted with us, told of what we were doing, .of the impor- Ouba's Oooperative School Rev. C. S. Detweiler, of the tance of Christianity for the American Baptist Board, made world. He ended with a cordial The c.ooperative idea in rural a recent visit tQ Central Amer- invitation for all to attend Chriseducation has been highly suc- ica, and reports that it is prac- tian services." cessful in San Miguel de los tically impossible for any m.ore Banos, Cuba, where a Presbyte- new missioOnaries to enter Costa Bibles, Testaments and tracts rian Mission has an experi- Rica and Guatemala. With SoOme in Chinese have been sent for to mental rural proj ect. For three difficulty the Protestant missioOns help follow up this important months ,the idea grew upon the in these countries have been able opening. community, and 25 adults and to secure replacements f.orthQse 22 children were found who whQ have left, but are not al- A More Liberal Order needed and wanted the school. l.owed to increase the staff. Evangelical missi.onaries have New thinking is observed in A thatch-:mofed house was been affected by new restrictions Colombia. Youth is impatient put up; the next move was to upon their work in town and with the old order and is workprovide a teacher. She will country. The g.overnment is re- ing for liberal principles in edumaintain her own home, and the quiring all pas,t.ors t.o secure a cation, and a relaxation of the young women of the community license, and .only thus are they inhibitions of the Roman Cathwill take turns living with her, permitted to hold services. olic Church. This attitude has in order to learn home making been reflected in a 71 per cent from her.-Monday Morning. -Watchman-Examiner. increase in the enrolment of Protestant Sunday schools since Ohristian Literature for The Ohinese in Guatemala 1932. Mexico Dr. E. M. Haymaker, editor Legislation recently passed by F.or the first time in the his- of Guatemala News, describes a the Colombian Par I i am en t tory .of evangelical wQrk in Mex- new work which the newly ap- marks the great changes now in ico, Sunday School Association pointed Chinese consul helped tQ progress. Three articles .of the publicati.ons are being sold in inaugurate. He is a Christian Constitution have been deleted: books,tores .other than their own. Chinese, while his wife is the Works by Kagawa, Compton, C. daughter of a Chinese pastor Article 38. The Roman Catholic F. Andrews and others are in and granddaughter of a former religion is the religion of the nation, prQcess of translatiQn. The first one. Both are deeply interested protected by the public authorities, reof a series of booklets intended in their Christian faith. spected as an essential element of sofor student evangelism appea,red cial order. early this year. There are about 742 Chinese in Guatemala at present. Article 41. Public instruction shall Prof. G. Baez Camargo be- be organized and directed in agreelieves that this literature pro- Dr. Haymaker felt that some- ment and harmony with the Catholic gram that is being carried .on thing ought to be done for them, religion. modestly, but effectively, will and talked over the matter with prove to be .one of the greatest Mr. LeQ, the consul, with the re- Article 55. Buildings destined for spiritual adventures in the his- sult that some .of the mission- worship, seminaries, and episcopal tory of the evangelizati.on of aries were invited tQ tea at the houses shall not be subject to taxa- Latin America. consulate to meet a group of tion, nor taken for any other service. Chinese. This gave the oppor- Personally, and through the tunity of meeting no less than -Indian Witness. SUPP.ort .of friends in England thirty of the principal Chinese and America, Prof. Camargo of the capital where there are Beginnings in New Field has launched a literature project some 200 located. "There was .of another type: a Christian no beating about the bush as to E. K. Pinn and D. Michell, quarterly especially dev.oted t.o the object of the tea," writes w.orkers f.or the Evangelical the intrQduction .of the GQspel Dr. Haymaker. "Mr. Leo, in UniQn of South America, have to students, professors., social explaining whQ we were and changed their field from Chinleaders and educated persons. why he wanted them to be ac- chellos to Talavera, Peru. Work at the £Qrmer place is being c.on- -W. S. S. A. News. [160 ] tinued by two young Peruvian Christians.
These missionaries find in Talavera a mQre .open-minded, liberal spirit, "but," they say, EUROPE Outlook in Spain "while it is a pleasant change Toward Church Unity Dr. Juan Orts Gonzalez benot to be called 'devil,' 'Or 'athe- lieves that now, more than ever ist' or to have people surrepti- In St. Paul's, London, a contio'usly looking f'Or our tails, in- ference was held last October, before, the Gospel of Jesus differenc·e and materialism can attended by delegates represent- Christ can be made known in prove as great enemies as fa- ing most of the church b'Odies 'Of Spain even to devout Catholics, naticism. Many people are glad the W'Orld. Plans, are being de- if appropriate efforts are made. to have us here to visit the P'O'Or vised f'Or the cl'Oser drawing toand sick, but do not want to be gether 'Of all denominations. A He writes: disturbed in their life 'Of im- great pageant is to be held in m'Orality, 0 r m'Oney – making, London at a date to be fixed, the "A few months before the revdrink or other besetting sin." background to which will be a olution began, the Bible Society choir 'Of 1,500 voices. Preceding succeeded in publishing adver- Encouraging aspects in the this dem'Onstration, which will .tisements in the two great prochange are improved health, be broadcast 'Over a world-wide letarian papers of Madrid, El friendliness of the majority, network by the British Br'Oad- Socialista and Claridad, with more level c'Ountry so that they casting Corporation, two world very satisfactory respons,e in the can walk farther, and the coop- conferences will be held, one in eration 'Of teachers in all'Owing Oxford,and the other in Edin- way of sales. Shortly afterthe children ,to attend prayers. burgh, the object of which will wards, Claridad published an These children have mem'Orized be the removal 'Of all barriers article undoubtedly written by many hymns and passages of which prevent unity. an evangelical, in which it was Scripture. Lantern meetings, ;stated ,that ,the Gospel of Jesus with slides 'Of the Life 'Of Christ, -Alliance Weekly. prove helpful. Christ is the greatest basis for Church Union in France formulating the just claims of -South America. the worker; and the editor, a leading Marxist, in presenting the article said: 'This is a vital topic; and we invite all 'Our Unity in the Reformed Church readers who can write to take Religion in Argentina's of France seems about to be part in the discussion of it.'
Schools achieved. The Synods of the Scarcely a day passes in which Reformed Evangelical, and of the leading papers, in criticising The law in Argentina provides the Reformed Church have for the hierarchy and the fascists that, in respect to religi'On, some time been working toward who claim to interpret Chrisschools are neutral ground, so union; the acceptance of a com- tianity better than anyone else, that "religious teaching may mon confession of faith had, do not quote the example and the only be given in the public however, yet to be achieved. words of Christ in refutation of schools by authorized ministers Last June, this was accepted by their claim. of the various cults to children both synods. It is probable that of their own c'Ommunions before the regional synods will accept "The greatest proof which I, or after school hours." This has the new statutes in the spring personally, have experienced of hitherto saUsfied Christians, of 1937 and that a Synod consti- the receptiveness 'On the part of Jews, Moslems, Buddhists and tuted by the first united church the Spanish people to religion 'Other religi'Ous bodies who con- will take place in 1937 or 1938. has been affol'ded by ,the results The question will arise as to of my newspaper evangelism. tribute their share 'Of taxes f'Or whether the two faculties of the- With the generous help of the the upkeep 'Of the schools. The ology of Paris and Montpellier United Society for Christian Litpresident of the National Coun- should be united. erature (London) and of the cil on Education recently de- Methodist Board of F'Oreign Misclared that as a religious back- During 1935 the Societe Cen- sions (U. S. A.), I have already ground for moral teaching was trale Evangelique worked in 40 been able to publish more than necessary in the schoo~s, the law thirty articles of this type in El should be altered so that Roman departments of France; in 13 Popular of Ma.laga. Several Catholic clergy might give in- of these it was the only Prot- thousand persons have read struction during school hours in estant body represented. The those articles, and a great many Sunday schools showed prog- of the readers have seen Christ all public schools. Non-Catholic ress, instructing 1,600 scholars, and His Gospel in a different children would have the alterna- and of these 419 were confirmed Cay, evidenced by the personal tive of receiving any instruction and received as members of the testim'Onies I have received." in morals and civics. The pro- Reformed Church. In different posal is regarded as an attempt churches 370 new members were Must Not Pray for Hitler received. The difficult task of to reintroduce 'sedarian instruc- keeping spiritual contact with A very curious thing has haption in public schools, and the scattered French Protestants Argentine press is critical, hold- was vigorously maintained, and pened in Germany. The Scriping that the existing law is the this Society is now maintaining tures enjoin prayer for those least discriminating towards all 70 evangelization centers. classes 'Of the community. who rule over us, but no one is -The World Today. allowed to pray for Hitler. Re-
cently a pastor was censured for church and state are separate the sweet potatoes must be uprooted praying that this ruler might be and in which Freethought is ac- or all would die of hunger! Meangranted "guidance to his spirit tive. Affirmative answers are while Gure Christians were praying so he may submit humbly." This said to have come from Mexico for rain; they also prayed for the was interpreted by the Minister and the Spanish Loyalist Gov- witch-doctor's soul. of Culture as an implied criti- ernment. It is also reported that cism of Hitler's policies! a Russian :£actory has received That night the Lord bountifully an- large orders for life-size statues swered the prayers and sent an -The Presbyterian. of Christ, Moses, Mohammed, abundance of rain! No more has been the Pope, Luther and others to said about our potatoes. Protestantism in Austria be used ,as targets at shooting contests. Lagos Cathedral Evangelical Christi1anity continues to increase in Aus,tria, AFRICA After a brief furlough in but more slowly than in 1934 Great Britain, Dr. F. Melville when the movement was partly To Educate the Blind Jones, Bishop of Lagos, Nigeria, due to a new law obliging every has returned to continue buildcitizen to join ,some church. The The first steps to assist the ing the cathedral, which he new members are eager to learn; blind in Egypt, of whom there undentook on his appointment and as the Pr'Otestant churches are a great many, were taken in 1919. Dr. Jones and his wife in Austria insist ,that candidates by the missionaries. Their suc- have between them spent ninety for membership shall receive a cess has apparently stirred the years in Nigeria, and it is their course of Bible instruction, the Moslems to similar efforts. Al earnest desire to see the catheknowledge of the Word of God Ahramannounces that the dral finished before they retire. made a great impression on their Sheikh of the Azhar proposes The chancel, transepts, lantern hearts. Many have been soundly the instruction of blind students tower, and one hay 'Of the nave converted, and their testimony in the elements of mathematics, are completed. Of the £18,000 has brought in 'Others. reading and writing. A scheme which it has cost, all but £1,000 has emerged to form an i<Az_ has been contributed by the Af- -Alliance Weekly. haric-Institute of the Blind." rican people of the diocese. To The Braille method will be used complete the building, £4,000 ad- Conference in Athens and the necessary educational ditional are required. appliances will be ordered from Twenty..,six Greek Orthodox abroad. -Tke World Today. -Life of Faith. theologians recently held a conference in Athens. Three were Rain and Potatoes Active German Mission from Jugoslavia, three fr'Om Bul~ria, seven from Roumania, Miss H. Griffin, of the Sudan Bethel Mission was founded six from Greece, four from the Interior Mission, writes: in Berlin 50 years ago when Ger- Russian Theological Academy man colonies were acquired in in Paris and two from the The millet was ready for trans- Africa. Since 1891, the Mission Polish Orthodox Church. The planting but there was no rain, and has worked in the hinterland, <:Ecumenical Patriarch was rep- if rain did not come soon, the grain and in the Usambara mountains, resented. would die. Several sacrifices were Tanganyika, and ,after 1907 in made and chickens killed but no rain Ruanda. After the war the Papers were read on church fell. The witch doctor was called and Mandate for the latter region and state, the possibility of an- after much talk and noise, water was was given to Belgium and the other <:Ecumenic Council, social taken out of a hole in a rock which Belgian Protestant Missionary work and missions, biblical criti- is believed to control the rain. They Society is at work there today. cism, ,and church culture. These threw the water in the air, calling, papers will be published by the "Send more rain!" Beer was then The Bethel Mission has 18 Athens faculty. The Bucharest poured into the hole, but still no rain chief-stations and 169 ou.t-sta- Orthodox theological faculty will came. tions, 10 native pastors, 339 men lay plans for the next conference and 59 women helpers, and 17,- to be held in 1939. In the in- Finally five chickens were brought 945 Christians. In the 174 vilterim an effort will be made to out, and with them rested the fate of lage schools and two intermeestablish a joint magazine for our sweet potatoes! Gure people eat, diate schools for boys and two the promotion of theological but never plant sweet potatoes because for girls there are 8,501 p"l~pils. scholarship throughout the Or- of evil spirits. When we planted ours In the Bukoba field the mission thodox Church. on the compound, we were told they is experiencing a remarkable re- would bring :floods and spoil the vival among the heathen. .New Antireligious Treaties harvest. Until now the rains had been groups constantly offer them- normal and nothing had been said, selves for bapUsm and the' ca- The Soviet Government is pro- but with the scarcity of moisture pacities of the few missionaries posing to draw up antireligious things were different! The – five are strained to the u.tmos.t. There treaties with other governments, chickens were to be the deciding fac- are two medical centers. It has according to press reports from tor in revealing the cause of the also the only nerve hospital con- Leipzig. This pact is to be of- drought. ducted by a mission, with a cafered to all countries where pacity for 100 patients, as well As each chicken was beheaded the as a mental depar:tment. Alto- witch-doctor said, "If the sweet pota- toes are not the cause, rise up in the air, if they are the cause, lie quietly on the ground." The chickens re- mained quiet, conclusive proof that
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
gether the mission, including Bantu S. S. Convention Scho'0ls. Plans have been made doctors, teachers and other mis- The first Bantu S. S. CQnven- to extend this in 1937. sionaries, has 92 German work- tion was held at Port Elizabeth, The publicatiQn '0f an Arabic ers. December 14-16. The meetings bQok of f'0lk songs has helped tQ Spain and the Cameroun were in the nature of a workers' introduce grQUp singing, as conference and schQQl of meth- Arabic music is almost whQlly Civil war in Spain has reached ods. Bible ,teaching through the a S'0lo perfQrmance. A Syrian medium of the Sunday schoQl w'0rker was able last year to con- West Africa. The colony of adapted to Bantu life and cQndi- duct a school which did not re- tions, was discussed. Lectures, quire any '0utside financial help. Spanish Guinea, which lies just She used discarded dress ma- demonstrations and discussiQns terial to make aprQns and cutsouth tofofthWe eFsrtenAcfhricCaamPreersobuyn~ dealing with Bantu child nature, tings of bolts of strong muslin is par preparation of the lessQn, class tQ make sacks fQr carrying books teaching and Sunday s c h 0 01 tQ the school. She used worn terian Mission. In Ootober, the out tQwels tQ make baby bibs management were given; also and had the boys dOl carpentry seapQrt town of Rata was shelled practical demonstratiQns, with repair for schQol benches, mak- ing use 'Of wood already on hand. by gunboat fire. Refugees, from Bantu children, of methQds of All Hterature is furnished by the worship, instruction and expres- Central Committee. the coast fled across the border sion work. The meetings were open to Natives of all denQmina- Newman School of Missions intQ French territory. For three tions.
days truck loads of Spaniards -South African Outlook.
came to Elat and to the near-by government station of EbQlowa.
MOIst 'Of them had fled without having time tQ collect any per- sQnal belQngings, and American and French residents had tQ sup- ply ,them with clothing, fQod and Imagine This! A writer in the Near East sleeping accQmmQdations until Bulletin remarks that "if Palessome place could be prepared for Zulu peQple sang and ap- tine has the deepest valley and them. Christian mission work plauded at a meeting where has gone on without interrup- mQney was solicited fQr missiQn- the saltest sea, she has added to tiQn. -Presbyterian Banner. ary work! Rev. H. A. Stick had this distinction by having the been instructed by the Zulu An- Leprosy in Nigeria nual Conference tQ stir up inter- longest strike on record," adding est amQng Zulu churches in mis- that this gives Christian forces .A r~cent report on leprosy in sionary work among the Batswa, opportunity for prQmoting rec- NIgeria recommended that leper the Shangaans and the Chopes colonies should be the care of in Inhambande, East Africa. onciliation. Despite the strike, missions as far as possible. The SubscriptiQns were made rang- Administration of the Northern ing frQm 10 cents to $30. Many Newman School of Missions in Provinces has, therefore, ap- gave $5, which is the equivalent proved a scheme for the exten- in an American wa,ge earner's Jerusalem has not lessened its sion of the work of missions in mQney tQ $25 'Or $30. Even a enrolment; the total was 8l. this direction. The Sudan In- "heathen"-with three wivesterior Mission will undertake gave $5.50 and promised $2.50 Among the students last year the chief responsibility fQr lep- more for his trio of spouses. was a Japanese, Rev. Y. H. rosy work in the north; other There are just two ordained Af- SacQn, whQ is preparing to sucsocieties accepting increased rican ministers in a field 200 ceed tQ his father's Old Testaparticipation are the Church miles long by 50 wide, trying to Missionary Society, American serve 90 churches. The rest 'Of ment chair in the Japanese Baptist Mission and the Sudan the work has tQ be dQne by un- MethQdist TheolQgical Seminary United Mission. educ,ated laymen. near TokYQ. In Southern Nigeria, a new -Overseas News. The student grQUp also inleper colony has been opened to accommodate 1,000 patients. cludes tWQ German missionaries from Egypt, two from the Dan- ish Mislsion in Aden; others from India and Mor'0cco. Fif- teen missionaries in all took ex- aminations in person, and one by corresPQndence.
The Government of Nigeria, Na- WESTERN ASIA INDIA-BURMA-SIAM tive Administrations, the British Empire Leprosy Relief As- Schools in Syria sociation, the Mission to Lepers, The Near East Bulletin lists World Y. W. C. A. Conference all have shared the cost. The encQuraging signs in educational When it is remembered that Church Missionary Society has WQrk in Syria. One factQr in the first organization of women, provided the doctor. The Sul- promoting efficiency was the "The Female Sense Society,"
tan of Sokoto, spiritual head of mimeogmphed material sen t formed in 1807, had to have a Islam in West Africa, has agreed frQm America tQ help the teach- man to count their mQney and to the opening of a dispensary ers. The second factor was the offer their prayers, it is clear at Chafe, in the province of So- great improvement in Teacher that the Y. W. C. A. Regional koto, by two young Christian Training Schools ; and a third C'0nference in Ceylon was a Africans.-The World Today. has been the VacatiQn Bible milestone. In 'Order tQ ensure
more Far East participation, Hindu Temples Opening Generous Hill Women this conference was held in Cey- The doors of Hindu temples The Hill women in Assam, lon instead of in Europe, as are gradually being 'Opened to who have very little money, usual. The subjects discussed Depr,essed Classes, and the re- through their donations of rice, were: cent proclamation of the Ma- saved a handful at a time from 1. My country as a background to the haraja of Travancore, already the daily meal, are able to sup- work of the Y. W. C. A. referred to in these columns, port not only an evangelist, but which gives to all Hindus the to start little village schools. 2. The place and contribution of These are often taken up by the women. right to enter and worship in all mission and raised to a higher state-eontrolled tem,ples', is the 3. The message of the Y. W. C. A. in latest evidence of the growth of status. asiatic countries. sentiment supporting the de- Women in the Telugu field, 4. The problem of international rela- tions.
5. Leadership. mand of the Depressed Classes. after hearing of the cut which Among other helpful lectures Gandhi insists that it is for caste the Home Board had to make, were those of Miss Anna Rice, Hindus to right this wrong, and how their mission was try- National Secretary for U. S. A. whether the Depressed Classes ing to meet the situation, met to- She said: make the demand or not. gether for a half hour prayer "We are faced with two spe- The action of the Travancore service. Then one woman said cial dangers: (1) That we be- state will make it difficult for it wasn't enough to pray, and come an instrument for agita- other Hindu states to refuse to tors, and drift with the tide make similar proclamation. If gave a jewel worth Rs. 75. away from our purpose. (2) temples in South India, strong- Others followed till they had That we retreat from the prob- hold of untouchability and Hindu lems of our environment and fail orthodoxy, are opened, the strug- raised in cash and pledges nearly to make our spiritual inspiration gle is as good as won. Rs. 200, and voted to make it productive." Rs. 500, to send to the Home -Indian Witness. Board as an expression of ap- In the session on "Findings" preciation. In the News -Baptist Missionary Reit was agreed that: Any reputable citizen of Bom- view of India.
We must feel individual responsi- bay would read the average Sheep Without a Shepherd bility for humanity's victims. American daily with horror, and would probably be filled with In the little town of Jampur, Religion to be effective must develop pride that in India, papers do evil was so rampant that the a practical program of work that not flaunt tales of gangdom, little group of Christians were truly reflects present-day needs. robberies, murders and kidnap- sorely beset. There had been no ping. ordained minis·ter there for We need to rid ourselves of violent three years, not even a village emotions and hateful impulses and However, one may read in a reader for a year and a half. fear; we need to have tolerance and Bombay paper such items as Dr. Noel Fletcher writes: Some respect sincere experiment; we must this: of the group had been won by strive for racial amity and the pres- their Moslem neighbors into the ervation and creation of beauty. "Mr. S. K., a prominent young citi- fold of Islam. "Dr. Miss Sa- zen of M., was found on Tuesday, We need an affirmation of individ- drowned in a well near his home. His ual Christian faith. We must not only believe but allow truth to function in our lives. Personalities are more important oldest son was very ill with a fever hiba," said the faithful old than programs or methods. which seemed hopeless. So the father sweeper at the rest house where -Malaysia Message. had gone to visit a famous holy man we stayed, "please will you write and ask what might be done to save Thirty-Year Service Pins his son. The holy man told him that the name of my padre on a slip if there should be some other death of paper for me? Sometimes a The U nit e d Presbyterian in his family the god would be ap- sahib comes here, and when he Board rec'Ognizes the service of peased and spare the life of his boy. knows I am a Christian he asks So the father decided to give his own me who is my padre. For three missionaries who have served 30 life for that of his son." years since Padre Chambers years 'Or more by a service pin, Sahib left, I have not known, consisting of a cross and crown Or another like this: and I feel ashamed." .
of dull gold, set with amethysts "L. B. was sentenced to be hanged -C. M. S. Outlook. and pearls, surrounded by a in Poona on Wednesday for the murwreath of laurel leaves. At the der of his son. It seems he had been Burmese Buddhism annual meeting of the Sialkot told that there was a treasure buried in his land. He was in desperate need Mission, Misses Nancy Hadley, of money, so he went to a holy man to Mary Kyle and Flora Jameson ask how he might find the treasure. Burma is the most .actively 'If you will sacrifice your child to the were each presented with this goddess you will find the gold.' So, Buddhist country in the world; thirty-year service pin. Thirty- during the night while the mother was one might say Burma and Bud- asleep the father stole the child and dhismare synonymous, and one such pins have now been killed him." there is no sign of weakening in awarded. What was done about the holy this religion. Every day one -Women's Missionary men? Nothing. may see monks on their journey- Magazine. -Western India Notes. ings. The proportion of monks
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
to the population is said to be 1 language of those who are study- "Materia medica," he says, in 30. A boy is known as a ing. During the rainy months "as practiced in ancient Chinese "little animal" till he has been of July to October, I spent every fashion, is a thing to behold. to the monastery school for a spare moment translating med- Only three major possessions while; then he is called "a little ical literature. Ten men began were needed by an enterprising man." That happens in the life the course in November, 1935; fellow in order to set himself up of every boy. Village boys come nine of these finished the last of in the profession of Chinese daily to Buddhist schools to be March. The course is so ar- quackery; a bland and scholarly taught reading, writing and re- ranged that those who spend countenance, a collection of alligion, and in consequence lit- only one year will have a good leged drugs, and a lot of nerve. eracy is higher in Burma than practical knowledge with which Add to these a mortar and pesin any other province of India, they can go to their villages and tle, a cutting board, several and religion is stronger. begin the long tedious process of sharp knives, a bottle of river teaching the ignorant villagers water and place to hawk his -The Layman. the value of modern medicine. wares, and the quack was ready Three more years of study will for business. Training Kachin Leaders be offered to those who really desire to take up medicine for a The modest ethics of the mod- A triennial Leadership Train- life work." ern medical profession were ing Institute for Kachins was unknown to him. He advertised held near Bhamo, one of the -Moody Institute Monthly. that he could cure anything, and Kachin mission stations in upper to his credit it must be stated Burma, last year. Over 5,000 Literacy in Siam that he at least tried. He was Kachins assembled for the meet- all things unto all men, that is, ings, some traveling for twenty The government has under- to all afflicted men, and to his days, many on foot. Kachins taken to create a literate nation shop flocked the sick, the lame, are giving liberally in their sup- within ten years, and teachers the halt and the blind. The maport of this leadership training are at a premium. Training jority of his patients survived, institute. Eleven young people classes at Wattana Wittaya, and those not too seriously affinished the two years' course Presbyterian Academy for Girls, fected got well, as they would and have gone out into the work. cannot begin to supply the de- have under any circumstances. Many of the young peo,ple of the mand. Refusing to send out school go into the villages round half-trained teachers, they have Church "Comes of Age" about each week-end and the started a practice s c h 001, many changes taking place tes- attended by 60 youngsters from In a letter to the Board, a tify to their earnestness and ef- neighborhood families, teaching Presbyterian missionary tells fectiveness. them the regular government how a church in Nanking "came curriculum of studies, and do- of age." -Watchman-Examiner. mestic science as well. "For some time, we have been Doctor Multiplies His Talent Wattana Wittaya is located on working on a policy whereby, the Sam Sap canal, the "canal beginning with April, 1936, any Dr. Richard S. Buker has, been of 10,000 mosquito smarts." The church which could not take full pioneering in North Burma long name means Academy of Pro- responsibility for its pastor's enough to get his bearings in gressive Knowledge. The stu- salary was going to have to give the matter of making his life dents take the Red Cross exam- him up for such part of his time count. He tells how he plans to inations, Girl Scout tests, and as they did not pay for. So the mUltiply his ministry: the temperance pledge. Two mission was preparing to use Christian Endeavor societies, part of the time of Pastor Dju, "The tremendous call of thou- one f:or seniors, one for juniors, of the Second Presbyterian sands of villages about me, which meet regularly. Church of Nanking, but we have not the slightest chance of reckoned without the church receiving even simple medical On Sundays groups of stu- people. The elders and deacons care during sickness, continually dents visit the homes of the peo- had a meeting and decided that bears upon my mind. I am the ple living along the canal, for the church could not afford to only doctor with a medical de- whose children the academy let any part of Pastor Dju's time gree who can possibly go to these maintains a day school of 40 go into other work, and they villages. My great desire is to pupils. -Monday Morning. went out among the church spread myself so as to be of members to raise his entire salmore value. The only way for CHINA-TIBET ary. In a short time they anme to do this is to teach others nounced to the Presbytery and what I know. The Passing of the Quack the mission that the church was prepared to call Pastor Dju as "A building for the teaching is Dr. W. H. Dobson, South its full-time pastor, completely practically completed; now there China Presbyterian missionary, supported by the church." must be funds to feed the stu- thinks that with the passing of dents, and provide them with the cure-all quacks, one of the books and incidentals. There most colorful institutions of old must be medical literature in the China will become history.
Taking the Gospel to Prisoners meating Chinese life, and cites hope that it may contribute to- a number of them. Here are wards a larger understanding of A Scandinavian missionary three: the problem, and help all those at Changan, Shensi, writes in serving in the rural church to China's Millions of opportuni- A well-to-do young Chinese couple, plan more intelligently and acties for prison preaching. so wealthy that they did not know tively for the future. In Kiangsi what else to seek in life, decided to the provincial government has In answer to a long time of prayer commit suicide together. They hired adopted a three-year plan to and waiting, a new door finally opened a room in one of the large new hotels carryon work along four linesfor Gospel work among the men pris- in Shanghai, and turned on the radio to stimulate village self-governoners in the provincial prison. As to drown the noise of their suicide. A ment, to organize the farmers mentioned in earlier letters, the work Gospel appeal happened to ring forth, for self-protection; to develop among the women prisoners started and both were soundly converted. rural education; and to raise long ago. There are not very many people's economic level, for the women, and the matron is an earnest Many missionaries have stopped at realization of the self-govern- Christian, which made an opening Wing On's large department store in ment, self -dependence, selfeasier. The situation is different with Shanghai. Among other goods ex- supply and self-protection of the the men, for there are over three hun- ported from that shop are hundreds of rural population. dred in number, which makes gath- tons of soda crackers. Under the lid ering for meetings more risky. 'I'heir of each tin is a slip of paper, neatly -Chinese Recorder. officials are non-Christians and, though printed in red characters, which very friendly, could not be expected reads: "Jesus said, I am the bread of For Neglected Seamen to show any hearty interest in Gospel life: he that cometh to me shall never work. But a visit to the prison by hunger; and he that believeth on me Although a great deal has been members of our Field CommitteE: was shall never thirst." done for seamen in other nawell received, resulting in an official tions, Chinese seamen had been permission to hold meetings for men A little outpost was too poor to neglected until Mr. B. J. Tan, every Saturday. Brother Swenson, raise a regular preacher's salary. An who worked among seamen in the Bible-school teacher, and others excellent evangelist and teacher, England for 20 years, organized take part in these meetings. Several known among us as Nathanael, of- a Seamen's Mis,sion in Hongof the prisoners have already decided fered to go and help that little com- kong three years ago. Mr. H. for Christ. munity last winter, without any stip- R. Wells describes this work in ulation as to salary. Just inside the the Chinese Recorder. New Ways for Old door of the little mud chapel two large barrels were placed. Into one of The mission is making good prog- Here is a story told in the these, contributions of grain were ress since the opening of the new United Church Record of Can- poured; and into the other, cabbages, headquarters last May. The men are ada. onions or turnips were dropped-and glad to have a place to rest, read one day a new gown was dropped for books, newspapers and magazines, Canton's old execution ground is Nathanael! write letters and play games while being used for better purposes in these they are waiting on land for situadays. Its most frequent use is for Christianity or Communism? tions. athletic meets; but Easter Sunday saw it serving another purpose still The problem of livelihood is Sunday evening service is well atmore remote from its original use. receiving increased attention. tended since the opening: some of the Soon after sunrise people oegan to The New Life Movement was men join us in our daily prayer meetstream from all parts of the city- quickly followed by the People's ings, morning and evening. We visit some in buses, some in cars, some in Economic Reconstruction Move- the boarding houses once a week, and rickshas, and some on foot-towards ment, which is devoted largely ships alongside the wharves, carrying the East Parade ground, and by half to the welfare of farmers, since The Word of Life, cheer and comfort, past eight the scene which in former 80 per cent of China's popula- and distrii:>ute cards with "Golden days witnessed many a criminal pass tion belongs to that class. There Texts." Not merely the men themon without a ray of hope, was re- has been a striking increase in selves, but their wives and children sounding to the voices of five thousand the number of cooperatives; the are helped when the men are inpeople singing "Jesus Christ is rben Government and several banks structed in the principles of Christian today, Alleluia." The singing was led are trying to help the farmer morality. by three bands from the Pooi Ying, by extending loans, and there is Pooi Ching and Ling Naan schools, a national bureau for the im- Tibet to Modernize and by a choir of five hundred young provement of rice and wheat and men and women gathered together a central bureau for the im- Gordon Enders, son of a Presfrom the various churches. The provement of cotton. The prob- byterian missionary to India, as hymns were well known and suitable lem is how to translate plans advisor to the grand lama of to the occasion, so that the huge con- into action, because of wide- Tibet will have an important gregation was able to follow whole- spread illiteracy and the peas- role in the modernizing program heartedly the lead given by the choir ant's suspicion of new methods. planned for that country, schedand bands. Dr. T. Z. Koo's message The alternative, "Christianity or uled to start this spring. was short and to the point, empha- Communism," is stirring Chr-issizing the radical change in the lives tian forces to pay more attention Century-old stores of gold will of Christ's disciples as unimpeach- to community welfare. be removed from mountain monable evidence of the resurrection. By asteries and used to build highthe help of a loud speaker, the whole A start in this direction has ways, railroads, and establish assembly, accommodated on tiers of been made by Nanking Theolog- air lines and modern communiseats arranged in a large quadrangle, ical Seminary which has begun cation systems, according to Mr. was able to hear every word. a study of 100 representative rural churches in Ghina, in the The Gospel Spreading Life China's Millions says that many instances may be quoted to prove that the Gospel is per-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Enders. The grand lama does integrate it into the life of the and rural evangelism in pubnot plan to modernize Tibet in- nation. lishing a weekly magazine called dustrially, although power plants Severance Medical School in The Christian Herald. will be estahlished on mountain Seoul, Korea, was the first misstreams. He wishes to give his sionary hospital to be thus in- Social Gospel in Korea people certain advantages of the corporated. -Living Church. An article in a recent Chris- tian Advocate shows how new modern world, without import- Church Union in Japan ideals are influencing an ancient ing the industrial world's prob- country. A popular type of lems. The lama will try to es- The National Christian Coun- town work is the Well Babies' tablish a spiritual nation intent cil was instructed by the All- Clinic which not only looks after on keeping peace. Japan Christian Conference held last November to lend its good the baby but also influences the -Dayton News.
JAPAN-CHOSEN offices in furthering the work of mother and ultimately the whole the Commission on C h u r c h home. It also acts as a link be- tween the sick mother and the Population Increase Union appointed by that body. hospital. The provision of clean, Japan's population increased That Commission has been at standardized food for babies has 1,100,000 in 1935, according to a work during the year on the resulted in a revolutionary report from Tokyo. The aver- change in child nurture and age rate of increase has been questions of the form of or- gives prospects of lessening the from 800,000 to 900,000. The ganization for a United Church, notoriously high child mortality. birth rate for 1935 was 31 for The soy bean may be the means 1,000, while the death rate was a creedal statement and pro- of providing a cheap, nutritious, 16 for 1,000. The number of cedure. It has drawn up a premarriages was 556,730, showing liminary report, to be presented clean, milk substitute. an increase of 44,076 over the to the Council's Annual Meeting, It was once believed that Koprevious year. The number of expressing the following concludivorces was 48,528, or 0.70 per rean women could not study, 1,000, showing a decrease of 82 sions: That the United Church sing or play. Now one of the in actual number and of 0.01 in in i.ts organization does not the rate from 1934. necessarily require the realiza- departments of the women's col- tion of organic union, but the lege in Seoul trains Korean -China Weekly Review. adoption of a system of govern- women to be music teachers. Another early belief was that ment whieh will respect the Korean girls could not and autonomy of the various com- munions. That it is advisable to adopt the creed in the proposed would not take part in games. Faculty All Christian draft for Church Union – pre- Now the girls' college has a Wilmina School for Girls in sented last year – but incor- physical director, and the new porating the Apostles' Creed. plant includes a well-equipped Osaka is rejoicing because the That headquarters should be set gymnasium. This same girls' principal and everyone of the up in the center of the Empire; faculty of more than 60 J ap- college has a department of home that steps. should be taken to co- economics where an attempt is anese teachers are Christians. ordinate and unify the husiness being made to apply the benefits The number of students in- offices of .the various denomina- of science to the household econcreased from 450 in 1930 to tions and then advance by coop- omy of Korean homes. 1,060 in 1936. Each year about 100 girls from this school are erating on a nation-wide scale to In short, it has been proved baptized, with the full consent of bring about gradually a walking in many ways that Korean wom- and working together; that any en can do everything that women their families. -Monday Morning. new evangelistic campaigns, do anywhere. either within or outside Japan, Charter for Medical Center should be planned on a coopera- Carrying On in Korea tive basis through the above- Permission has been granted mentioned central headquarters; A letter from Mr. and Mrs. by the Minister of Home Affairs and that in order to nourish the Harry J. Hill, of Pyengyang, to incorporate St. Luke's Inter- faith of absentee church mem- says that in spite of the fact that national Medical Center under bers facilities should be made never in their 19 years of serv- Japanese law. The college of for the passing of church mem- ice have the forces of darkness nursing had previously been in- bers from one communion to an- been so determined as now, corporated, but the medical other. center as a whole had, from its doors are wide open to evanearly history, continued to exist C. E. in Chosen as a private mission enterprise. gelism ; and never a finer group The institution had grown to Nearly 1,300 Christian En- of volunteer workers. In Ocsuch proportions that those in deavor Societies, with 35,500 tober, 117 girlsoome for the members, are inactive operation Junior Bible Institute, one from Manchuria.
charge of the work felt that this in Chosen. The national C. E. The name of the all-year Bible step was necessary to safeguard Union is joining with the de- School for Women has been its future, and more thoroughly partments of religious education changed to Women's Biblical
Seminary. Calls for its grad- tion and wider knowledge, to under the transforming influence uates come from all over Korea, better material living and more of the one Bible saved from the 'and from J apanand Manchuria. widespread commercial activi- "Bounty," as it was taught to the These young women are leading ties, and best of all to better women and children by Young many to Christ in factories, hos- moral and spiritual progress. and Adams, after all the rest pitals, street chapels, homes and had been murdered and killed. government schools. The Evangelical Church in the Today we thank God for His Philippine Islands has helped Word, which was ,the means of The Institute for Blind and the people on their way by en- saving us from heathenism, and Deaf Boys now admits little deaf lightening their minds and com- doubtless cannibalism. . . . girls, as there is no other place forting their souls through the in Korea where they may learn Gospel of the Christ who said, "In your letter you ask to read and write, and use the "I am the way, the truth and the whether the National Bible Sosign language. This work is not life; no man cometh to the Fa- ciety of Scotland might have the under the Mission, but under the ther, but by me." privilege of s.ending a further Korean General Assembly. Fif- supply, if there was need. That teen blind and 20 deaf and dumb Rhine Mission Jubilee offer is unsurpassingly kind, for are taught by four part-time which we would return grateful blind teachers, one deaf and The Rhine Mission last year thanks. . . . Many of the older dumb and four part..,time sighted commemorated the 75th anniver- folk need large-print Bibles. teachers; with a blind evan- sary of its work in the Batak Our popUlation now numbers gelist calling regularly in homes country, Dutch Indies. The 215, including children who canof the blind. climax of the occasion was the not yet read. I leave it to you unveiling, in the Church square to send as many copies as you ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC at Siporok, of a monument 20 think advisable. I would be very feet high, a four-sided, trun- grateful also for a Teacher's "On Their Way" cated pyramid, which bears the Bible in large size, also one for inscription in Batakian on a my nephew, Richard Christian, Rev. Charles N. Magill, D.D., marble plate; "The Lord hath who is in need of one." was recently asked what he done great things for us, therethought was the most marked fore are we rejoiced." The New Britain's Village Schools material change that had taken monument stands on the spot place in the Philippines since where the first meeting of the In "Man in the Making," the his arrival in 1905, and he Rhine Mission was held. The author, R. R. Marett, defines replied: "Improvement in trans- Batak church is now numbered savagery as "intellectual confuportation." Facilities for trans- among the greatest and most im- sion combined with physical disportation have increased perhaps portant native churches of the comfort." Pioneer missionaries one thousand per cent. The world. to New Britain some 60 years rough mountain trails and the ago, Dr. George Brown and his dusty quasi roads of the dry sea- Bibles for Pitcairn Island band of Fijians, found people son and the mudholes, called who fitted ,this definition, but it roads, of the wet season, have The story of "The Mutiny on can no longer be truthfully apbecome first class highways over the Bounty" is well known. By plied to the majority in these w h i c h speeding automobiles, the reading of a Bible, which islands. busses and trucks carry multi- had been carried ashore from the tudes of people and the products ship, the whole of the island was The first aim of the mission of the country. Thirty years ago changed, and became a moral has been to assist the natives to travel was on foot, or on ponies, community in which the Gospel a right relationship to God; secor in two-wheeled rigs. This created an atmosphere of love ondly, to develop character and was slow, uncomfortable and ex- and peace. In 1848, when the citizenship; and thirdly, to enpensive. People did not travel news came to Britain of this re- able them to acquire those skills much as compared with the markable tllansformation, the which will assist them to protravel of today. Now there are Edinburgh Bible Society sent vide for their material welfare. thousands of miles of splendid out fifty Bibles for the benefit of New ethical standards and new roads and tens of thousands of the colonists. motives have been supplied as motor-vehicles in operation. old ones disintegrated. Village Every year millions of pas- In 1935, the Secretary of the schools have also worked toward sengers are "on their way." National Bible Society of Scot- raising standards of health. land, sent a letter ,to the descend- This includes such training in Within three decades there ants of the mutineers. Extracts practical gaI'dening as will enhave been introduced and put from the reply sent by Mrs. sure a more consistent and varinto effective operation "ways Edgar Christian, wife of a fifth ied supply of food. Often a naand means" to help the people generation descendant of Flether tive community is sick largely not only in traveling over high- Christian of the "Bounty," will because of improper diet. ways, but in progress to better be of interest: "We raIl know government, to better laws and how the scenes of vileness, The future of these mission quicker justice, to fuller educa- cruelty, and murder gave way schools is uncertain. Either the Administration will gradually
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
establish its own elementary study and to aid Sunday school from pastors to whom a quesschools, in which case the mis- teachers and officers in their tionnaire had been sent. sion system will no longer be re- church work, by making five quired; or the Administration tours. Five teams, visiting 72 In response to the first queswill assist in maintaining schools high schools and 58 churches, tion: "Have you had or do you of greater efficiency than is pos- reached more than 5,000 church plan some evangelistic effort sible with limited financial re- members and 6,000 high school during the present c h u r c h sources. students. -Monday Morning. year?" In response to this ques- tion, 655 ministers answered -Missionary Review of For Better Movies yes; fifty-five answered no; and Australia. eleven did not answer. The "Legion of Decency" sug- NORTH AMERICA gests some restrictions to insure In response to the question as proper motion pictures. Here to whether or not they felt there What Makes Criminals? are a few: was a growing spirit of evan- gelism among the pople, the an- Dr. Amos O. Squire, for many No picture shall be produced in swers were as follows: Yes, 398 ; years head physician at Sing which evil is made to appear attrac- No, 196; no answer, 127. Sing Penitentiary, in an address tive, and good unattractive; in which on "Youth and Crime in Modern the sympathy of the audience is In answer to the question as America," revealed some star- thrown on the side of wrongdoing, to whether or not the spirit of tling facts. He said: evil and sin, or against goodness, evangelism was growing among honor, innocence, purity, or honesty; Sunday school teachers, 443 of "In 1900 the average age of in which law-human or divine-shall the 721 pastors answered yes; criminals in America was forty; be ridiculed, or sympathy be created 148 answered no, and 130 did today it is. twenty.,three. Forty for its violation; in which the treat- not answer. The ministers were per cent of the atrocious crimes ment of crime makes heroes of crim- asked to give the number of adcommitted in America are by inals and seems to justify their ditions they had had during the youths still in their teens. One actions. first six months of the church hundred and seventeen thousand year. A total of 5,521 additions are now imprisoned in Federal -Alliance Weekly. on confession of faith was reand State prisons, while 200,000 ported by six hundred ministers. more are confined in county jails An Atheist Converted The other 121 ministers either and reformatories." reported that they had had no Martin S. Charles was a additions or did not fin out that His explanation of this, in a young preacher whose Christian part of the report. word, is the breakdown of Amer- faith was undermined by false ican home life. He said: teaching that he became an Twenty colleges of the denom- atheist. He founded The God- ination indicate that they have The breakdown of religious author- less World magazine, conducted some definite plans for keeping ity has left character seriously un- twenty-two public de bat e s the claims of Christ before the founded. A boy whose character has against Christian ministers, and students under their direction. no deep religious foundation experi- held offices in the Association for ences a serious shock if his home is the Advancement of Atheism. -Christian Observer. broken up. Perhaps his parents be- Then, after twelve years, he was come divorced, or they separate, or supernaturally stopped in this Elyria, Ohio, Men's League they live together, but in perpetual career, being convinced of the strife and unpleasantness. The effect reauty of the existence of the The men of Elyria, Ohio, on the boy is to unhinge him, and he One whom he had denied. He United Presbyterian Church drifts into crime. Forty-five per cent has recently been conducting a who formed a local Men's Misof the boys who are coming to Sing "Back to the Bible Mission" in sionary League in November, ~ing, having previously served a term Fort Wayne, Indiana. 1933, have no thought of quit- In the Reformatory, are children of ting, for since the last anniverbroken homes. Conceit, if pursued -So S. Times. sary a new project has develintensely enough and long enough, oped, in addition to their foreign tends to produce a definite mental Presbyterian Diamond Jubilee mission obligation of supportunbalance. Character, religiously ing a native missionary in India. founded, will stand up under serious The Diamond Jubilee of the When the pastor, Rev. George shock. Southern Presbyterian Church, A. Brown, visited Colorado last was celebrated last December. summer he found a small mining -Christian Advocate. One of the chief objects was the town, Tellurite, without a resi- promotion of a renewed spirit of dent minister for many years. Christian Education Tours e van gel ism throughout the Getting in touch with church of- Chur.ch; and in particular to ficials, Mr. Brown has been the Seven denominations – Pres- win 25,000 new members on con- instigator of placing a missionbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, fession of faith in the home ary there, and the Men's League Baptist, Congregational, Chris- Church and 10,000 in the for- will contribute to this project. tian and Moravian-Jamestown eign field. College, and the State Council of With a foreign and home proj- Christian Education worked to- Dr. B. K. Tenney, secretary ect now a definite part of their gether from October 19 to No- of the Jubilee Committee, re- activities, the local league begins vember 8 in an effort to acquaint ports on replies so far received high school students with the North Dakota plan of Bible
the fourth year with renewed Keystone School of the Bible have carried on daily advertise- ment about Christianity for vigor and a determination to A new international training some months, and a number of keep growing. Since last year enquiries have been received. In several new men's missionary school has been opened in Pitts- India, a weekly article inserted leagues have been formed. burgh at 535 Penn Ave. The in a Karachi paper has brought school has a directorate of nine enquiries from people of all -Elyria Daily. ministers and thirteen laymen. classes and faiths. An experi- It is conservative in theology. ment in Christian journalism is Stewardship at Asheville also being carried on in Moham- The President is Rev. A. Gordon medan countries; while in Spain Ike and Mike were two pigs MacLennan, D.D., pastor of the the editor of El Popular, a raised for the Lord by several Shadyside United Presbyterian widely read paper, has agreed to Asheville Farm School boys. Church of Pittsburgh, Pa. The publish a Christian article of Daily the owners cared for their Dean is Wm. S. Hawks, B.A., 1,000 words every Sunday for a charges and watched them grow. year. Following the corn harvest the from the Davis Memorial Bible boys gleaned several bushels of School of Binghamton, N. Y. Leper Statistics corn from the field for their pigs. The school is supported entirely Finally, having grown round and by voluntary contributions and is one of the 66 cooperating in- fat, the pigs were sold. After all stitutions throughout the coun- Medical returns from fiftyexpenses were paid the proceeds try which includes the Standard four leper homes and hospitals went as a contribution to the Training Course of the Evan- in India, China, Korea and young people's missionary budg- gelical Teacher Training Asso- Africa where work is mainet in the presbytery. ciation. Eight men compose the tained by the Mission to Lepers, The Lord's Acre Club at Ashe- faculty. afford some indication of prog- ville Normal School, organized ress made during the year: two years ago, has twenty-three Negroes in Detroit Eleven thousand, nin~ hundred and members who annually clear a twenty-two patients had been under plot of ground of brush and The Negro population in De- treatment for not less than three troit has risen from 40,838 in months. Of theseweeds, and plow, plant and hoe 1920, to about 135,000 in 1936, it. One member stays during the larger portion of this in- One thousand and fifty-four had bethe summer to cultivate the crease coming from villages and come disease arrested cases without crops. From the sale price all rural sections of the South. deformity (i.e., symptom free). Housing conditions are reported expenses are met. The net pro- as bad; health conditions, as Five hundred and twenty-seven had ceeds the first year were fifteen might be expected under these become disease arrested cases with dollars and the second year sev- housing conditions, are also bad. deformity. enteen dollars. Six hundred and ten churches Three thousand, nine hundred and -Presbyterian Banner. eighteen had much improved.
Two thousand, eight hundred and fifty-three had slightly improved.
One thousand, two hundred and two minister to the Negro popula- were apparently stationary. Awards for Missionary tion. Forty-five per cent of Of the remaining cases some had Sermons these are "store-front or house become worse and a considerable num- Awards for the best sermons churches." Numerous cuI t s ber had left or died. Seven hundred on foreign missions are offered flourish among the Negroes and and seventy-six of the cases arrested without deformity had been discharged by the Centennial Council of the constitute a serious problem. and 168 of those arrested with de- Presbyterian Board of Foreign The report warns that the Negro formity. In addition, upwards of Missions, in connection with is fast drifting away from the 7,500 lepers had been treated as outtheir centennial this year. For patients. Where the attendances had faith of our fathers into some- been regular the results had been enthe best sermon which has been thing else. Thousands of them couraging; 142 outpatients were repreached to an actual congrega- have become communists asking ported to have become arrested or tion, $150 will be awarded, with "Who is God?" "What good is symptom-free cases. the church?" They have been $75 for second place, $25 for told that it is the mother of race The chief problem in the conthird, $10 for fourth and, for hatred, prejudice, war, capital- ism, lynching, injustice and trol of leprosy is to prevent the each of the six next best ser- slavery. mons, there will be awarded a infection of children. Where copy of "One Hundred Years," -Presbyterian Banner. the centennial history by Dr. this can be accomplished the dis- Arthur J. Brown. MISOELLANEOUS ease should become negligible Each sermon should be typed, within one generation. .
-Without the Camp.
on one side of the paper and New Newspaper Evangelism Lutheran World Front should be accompanied, on a sep- arate sheet, by the name and ad- Newspaper evangelism, first A "Lutheran Front," massing dress of the writer, and the ser- tried out in Japan, is steadily the more than 80,000 members mon's text and theme. It must reaching into other countries. of this body behind a very defireach Room 913, 156 Fifth Ave., In China, the movement is still nite evangelical program for New York, before April 1, 1937. new, but two Hankow papers world betterment, will take vig-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
orous form within the next four day schools. Remarkable growth ment is organized to inaugurate years. Headquarters for this is reported from the former and maintain in the educational program will be established in German colonies; Tanganyika work of the church such definite increased over 40,000, the Cam- programs of teaching and wor- Berlin. For the achievement of Luth- erouns 10,000, and Southwest ship, based upon the Word of eran Solidarity a series of spe- Africa 8,000. The Union of God, and interpreting the life cific tasks has been mapped out. South Africa increased over and teaching of Jesus Christ as There will be gathered "an en- 100,000 since 1932. Brazil in- shall lead to interracial undercyclopaedic file of information creased 43 %; Argentina, 34'fa. standing, international concord concerning a II L u the ran The situation in the larger and the ab-owlit.ioSn. of war. Churches of the world." There Sunday school constituencies in S. A. News.
will be prepared for publication Burma, Ceylon, India, China and Christian Humanitarian in 1940, a revised edition of Japan has not changed materi- League "Lutheran Churches of the ally, though Japan reports an in- World," first published in 1930. crease of eight thousand. The A Christian Humanitarian Periodical bulletins will be is- loss reported in China is more League has been established and sued to the Lutheran Church apparent than real, as the figures held its first meeting at The Press of the world. A "Central for Manchuria and Mongolia Hague at the close of last year. Bureau of Relief" will be estab- have been deducted. India con- This League has set up as its lished. The executive secretary tinues to have the largest Sun- general principle: "The only will be the official representative day school enrolment in Asia, of the Lutheran Churches of the with Korea holding second place. just basis for the construction world. There is to be built up of a new social life is the Chrisan international Lutheran pulpit North America, Sunday school tian doctrine, which sets us the stronghold of the world, shows task of being human; that is to and lecture exchange. a falling off, though it should be say, in all respects and under all The Executive Committee, noted that other youth move- circumstances to do our Chris- ments and religious education tian duty in the spirit of truth, recognizing that the present day projects have increased. Eu- justice and love. For the buildis one "of enlarging relation- rope, as a continent, shows a net ing up of a new social life, emoships," a day when "religious loss, but gains are reported in tion and reason must be healthily Poland, Greece, and even har- and normally developed and bodies that have always laid assed Spain. Russia is out of work together in harmony. Reclaim to ecumenical character the picture entirely. ligion, truth and justice are the are pressing those claims with most important foundations of new vigor," have issued a dec- Peace Resolution this new social life." laration as to Lutheran participation in general world-wide re- Perhaps the most important The urgent necessi.ty for a ligious movements, saying: and far-reaching action taken concerted effort against atheism by the Oslo World's Sunday was emphasized at this meeting. "The Lutheran Churches of School Convention was the Peace the world should proceed with Resolution. Every Convention Forward – Day by Day united front on their relations since 1904 has adopted a peace with ecumenical Christian move- resolution, but this Convention The Protestant Episcopal ments, general cooperative or- realized that better than a reso- Church has issued a booklet ganizations, or C h r i s t ian lution is the development of containing daily Bible readings Churches claiming universality. Christian men and women who with comments, practical sug- They should agree among them- can reach across national bound- gestions for Christian living, selves as to their united partici- aries and extend the hand of fel- and prayers called "Forwardpation or nonparticipation." lowship to those of all races and Day by Day." This booklet has been widely distributed; alto- -International Christian Press.
Achievements in Religious nationalities, with a desire for gether 3,625,000 copies have Education mutual understanding and com- been bought and paid for. In mon endeavor in behalf of the addition to regular congrega- There are nearly a million welfare of all. There can un- tions from coast to coast, this more Sunday school pupils in doubtedly be no lasting basis for manual goes into prisons, re- the world today than there were peace that is not built upon a formatories, hospitals, sanatofour years ago. Africa is cred- more vital Christianity, without riums, camps, schools, and to ited with more than half this which peace pacts and interna- the employees in bus i n e s s gain, or 581,721. Notable gains tional treaties will continue to be houses.
were made in Belgian Congo, mere scraps of paper. The Peace Translated into Japanese it Angola, Rhodesia and French Resolution adopted by the Oslo has been distributed to 271 con- Equatorial A f ric a. Uganda Convention differs from those of gregations in Japan. It goes to made its first report showing an former Conventions in that it everyone of the Church's for- enrolment of 2,000 in the Sun- calls upon all constituent units eign mission fields. In Canada day schools and over 100,000 re- of the Association in every field and the United States it goes ceiving religious instruction in where the Sunday school move- into homes of scattered settlers.
'~I========='==========i~
Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information I Iril~==~~=======-=~~ An Advancing Church in Latin The third chapter, "The Hun- writes and whom he describes. America. By Kenneth G. Grubb. 256 pp. 38. 6d. Marshall, Morgan dredth Milestone," gives an out- The description of scenes in the & Scott. London. 1936. line of the history of the Evan- various countries is true to life, Mr. Grubb is a past master in the art of condensation. The gelical Movement in L a tin and the value of the text is enlittle book whose title is given America, since its founding, now hanced by a number of wellabove and which has less than 80 pages is multum in parvo. more than a century ago; the chosen illustrations, unusually Rarely does a reader find so much information condensed fourth, "God and Cresar," deals clear and attractive. Throughinto so few pages, and in such with the rising tide of national- out the book, but particularly in short space, and the information given is unusually correct and ism as it impinges on the prog- the chapter on Peru, there is up-to-date, inasmuch as the author has recently made a close ress of the Evangelical churches, frequent and sympathetic refer- and personal study of the coun- and the fifth and closing chapter ence to the Indian population, tries and the problems of which he writes. The seventeen re- deals with "The Significance of and a moving presentation of publics of Hispanic America, as the Indian," that submerged the physical, spiritual, and ecoalso the three Caribbean republics, Cuba, Santo Domingo and portion of the population that nomic needs of this portion, Haiti, plus the island of Puerto Rico, are brought under review might well call out with the which, in some cases, is the main this small volume, and he who reads its chapters carefully will Psalmist, "No man cared for my jority of the entire population. be much more knowing in regard soul." W. E. B. No doubt some of his readers to our friends, the other Americans, and the problems with will not agree with what the auwhich they contend. Why South America? By A. Stuart thor believes to be the best meth- The first chapter, "From Mex- McNairn. 145 pp. 28. 6d. Marico to Cape Horn," is, in a sense, shall, Morgan & Scott. London. ods of organization and carry- 1936. an introduction to those that fol- ing on the work of the churches low, since it gives much of the This is a book by an author physical and historical setting who is thoroughly familiar with and groups of believers. But all his subject. He was for a numof the various republics and ber of years a missionary in intelligent students of missions their peoples. In the second South America, and, in more rechapter, the author comes to cent years, has served as a mis- will applaud his insistence on grips with what is evidently the sionary secretary, in which posi- tion his long experience on the the necessity of the missionary main problem of the book, in his field has no doubt been of great treatment of "The Necessary service to his board. By fre- to give his time to the raising up Evangelical Church." T his quent and extended visits to all church will be, in essence, we are parts of the continent, Mr. Mc- of "faithful men who will be told, "a Fellowship of the Burn- Nairn has become thoroughly ing Heart," a band of brothers familiar with this field. able to teach others also," thus whose hearts God has touched. While the book, very natu- making it possible, in time, for It will be a band, not necessarily rally, gives more attention to the of intellectuals, but of all re- work that is being carried on by the missionary himself to pass deemed sinners, a true expres- the Evangelical Union of South sion of the communion of saints America, the missionary board on to other fields that are as yet and of their reunion in the Body with which the author has been of which Christ is the living long identified, it will neverthe- unreached. W. E. B. Head. less interest and instruct a much larger community of readers. Pastor and People. By O. C. S. Wal- The references to history and lace, D.D., Litt.D. 128 pp. $1.25. other developments of the differ- Broadman Press. Nashville, Tenn. ent sections of the continent are 1936. reliable and informing, and the reader will correctly gather the In twenty-five brief and inti- impression that Mr. McNairn mate chapters, Dr. Wallace dis- not only knows, but loves the cusses many of the problems land and the people of which he which face the modern minister and his congregation: pulpit poses and voices, understand- able speech, postsermonic "let- downs," songs and singers,. offi- cers and officiousness, meddle;. some men and flattering women, ushers and their larger calling, the minister as a steward and a man of God, the sacraments, and a host of other important ques- tions. He writes with sympathy, clarity and insight, and with a Any of the hooks noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[172 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
wealth of fresh illustrative de- thought does not concern itself many influences are promoting tail. with obsolete theories regarding it, especially in Turkey, Egypt, the death of our Saviour. Nor and Persia. Hugh Walpole once wrote, "If can it accept belief in the actual an author is to survive a year or resurrection '(page 231). Even With the new economic role two after his death he had bet- the Synoptic Gospels must be in which women are playing ter cultivate the spirit of kind- stripped of supernaturalism be- their part and crossing the liness in his work." In this fore they are trustworthy. threshold of professional life, short volume the vet era n there is, of course, the danger preacher and teacher – he was Aside from this viewpoint, the of liberty becoming license. The eighty November last – demon- book contains many excellences. author points out the effects of strates the ministerial embodi- The weakest chapter, next to old social customs on health and ment of that essential virtue. that on Christianity, is that on the higher standards that are Islam, where the author or the now advocated. The two later R. 1. LINDQUIST. proof reader is responsible for chapters deal with the widening many curious blunders. sphere of women's interests and Living Religions and Mod ern the pressure of change on Islam Thought. By Alban G. Widgery. S. M. ZWEMER. itself by the new womanhood. 306 pp. $2.50. Round Table Press. New York. 1936. Moslem Women Enter a New World. The illustrations are remark- By Ruth Frances Woodsmall. 431 ably fine, and the author's style The title of this book and the pp. $3.00. Round Table Press. is attractive. The book gives author's qualifications as Profes- New York. 1936. very few references to authorisor of Philosophy at Duke Uni- ties and no statistics; the latter versity lead one to expect great In many respects, this is the is understandable. As the authings. Throughout the book is best book we have had in Eng- thor remarks, scholarly and thought-provok- lish on womanhood in the world ing, and presents a comprehen- of Islam. Miss Woodsmall is Statistics today are half-truths tosive and ethical view of the General Secretary of the World's morrow. The subtle nuances of world's living religions. The ar- Y. W. C. A., and spent nine years change are of real significance. To rangement is logical, and the in the Near East. Later, through see one woman from a high-class author has a concise style with a traveling fellowship, she jour- family of Mecca today unveiled would facility for factual classification. neyed beyond the Near East into be a more surprising symptom of Persia and India. Long-time change than the thousands now un- To the Christian, however, residence might give a more in- veiled in Istanbul. I have tried, therewho accepts the ecumenical timate portrayal of the present fore, primarily to understand the creeds and the historicity of the conditions, but none could do it trends of Eastern life, the currents Gospels, this book is a dis- with greater sympathy and a already visible on the surface and the appointment. Christianity is bolder sweep of the pen. undercurrents which determine the placed with the other living re- main movement, using statistics, ligions only as the climax of hu- The rising tide of social where available, only as subsidiary man effort to understand God change is flooding the Near East indications of change. It is evident and the universe. The author and obliterating many Islamic that the very essence of change makes begins that chapter by saying: customs. On its crest it carries it impossible accurately to portray it, a new freedom for womanhood. for while you have stopped to record Founded by a Jew, in its funda- But the undertow is still very trends of change, life has moved on. mental spirit Christianity is essen- strong, and it is here that one Today a new book each month could tially a continuance of prophetic would like the important state- scarcely keep up with the changing Judaism. With allowance for the ef- ment, made by the author her- status of Moslem women; whereas fects of differences of individual char- self, underscored in the preface, formerly one every century would acter and environment, Jesus and and as a footnote on nearly every have given a fair picture, for there Paul may be considered in the line of page of the volume: "Ninety was no change. Hebrew prophets. per cent of the people in the Near East are still untouched by We have two criticisms, how- Religion is even now in proc- the film, but the remaining ten ever. The first is that the causes ess of development. There are per cent represent the important for all thi,s social upheaval and many pathways which lead to progressive minority who s e the dawn of a better day are not God. thought today is in a large meas- sufficiently indicated. One would ure determined by the film" (p. expect an appreciation of the The religious wealth of mankind 27). fact that the whole educational will most probably be increased by program for womanhood in Mosscholarly adherents of particular re- What is true of the film is lem lands is due to the initiative ligions remaining faithful to their re- true of all the other social and of Christian missions. A second ligions and striving to realize the intellectual changes so admirably omission, which is less excusable, elements of value in them. The way sketched as milestones in prog- is that the author gives so little to comprehensive truth and unity is ress. The trend is undoubtedly attention to Islam and its teachnot likely to be found in the present away from polygamy and the ing regarding womanhood, as universal adoption of anyone existing old freedom of divorce. The the background for her picture. religion. marriage age is rlsmg. There The appendix of three pages, in is an educational awakening, and which some badly translated The living religions, treated verses of the Koran are quoted, by the author, are all measured is scarcely adequate. by such a twenty-inch yardstick. According to the writer, modern
Previous writers on the sub- two religions. It may lead many proper Christian home, or it will ject (Robertson Smith, Perron, to a fuller knowledge of the not be done at all. Mansur-Fahmi, and 0 the r s) Christ of whom Isaiah testified. seem to agree that the position Each church must be domof womanhood in Arabia before The Church and the Churches. By inated by Christ, the Christ of Islam was better than it became Karl Barth. 92 pp. 75 cents. Wm. the Scriptures. through the legislation of the B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. Grand Prophet. No less an authority Rapids, Mich. 1936. FRANCIS SHUNK DOWNS. than Professor Duncan B. Macdonald states: "I do not think The World Conference on With Christ Into Tomorrow. By that there can be any question Faith and Order to be held in Hunter B. Blakely. 8vo. 160 pp. that the position of women in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August, 50 cents, paper; cloth, 75 cents. Islam is practically due to the 1937, has doubtle,ss been the oc- 1936. Presbyterian Committee of attitude of Mohammed himself. casion for the writing of this Publication, Richmond, Va. 1936. Monogamy would be the rule in book. Professor Barth is such Islam, while the veil would a fearless and forceful thinker, This mission study book, writnever have existed except for with a flair for fairness and yet ten by the pastor of the First the insane jealousy of Moham- with such a forthrightness of Presbyterian Church, Staunton, med." It is not true, as we read style, that anything coming from Virginia, signalizes the concluon page 376, that "customs, his pen is eagerly read, whether sion of seventy-five years' hisrather than the actual teaching or not we agree with all of his tory of the Presbyterian Church of the Koran, resulted later in positions. in the U. S. The six chapters the veiling and seclusion of are as follows: women" ; nor that "by incor- The four chapters are sugporating the various social re- gestive in their headings: The Our Groping World forms such as the restriction of Unity of the Church, The Mul- Our Adequate Christ polygamy and inheritance rights tiplicity of the Churches, The Our Compelling Mission directly into hi,s religious teach- Union of the Churches, a Task; His Universal Church ings, Mohammed proved himself and The Church in the Churches. His Abiding Method to be a practical idealist." Ex- Professor Barth maintains that His Ultimate Victory actly the opposite is the fact. because the one and only Word Mansur Fahmi, an Egyptian of God has once for all been The author says: "My hope in Moslem, states: "The ancient uttered in the fact of the Incar- Arab woman was happy in her nation, the Church is one in the sending this little book on its home. She lived. Soon Islam, task to proclaim this coming of with its diverse institutions, its God to earth and "to summon way is that the reader may be theocratic laws, and the conse- men to believe in its reality." If quences that followed, changed we are to realize the unity of stimulated to think creatively the Church we must first accept the customs and the activity of Jesus Christ as the Head and concerning the Christian duty of women was paralyzed." This is Lord of the Church. "Jesus Christ as the one Mediator be- world evangelism, and to face very different from the idealized tween God and man is the one- Islam of Miss Woodsmall's book. ness of the Church, is that unity squarely the personal obligation within which there may be a S. M. ZWEMER. multiplicity of communities, of for giving Christ to a needy gifts, of persons within one The Shepherd Prince. A Historical Church, while through it a mul- world." Romance of the Times of the tiplicity of churches are ex- Prophet Isaiah. Translated from cluded." Therefore he concludes, Dr. Blakely is one of the lead- the Hebrew masterpiece of Abra- if we listen to Christ, it is "un- ham Mapu by B. A. M. Schapiro. thinkable that great e n t ire ing young ministers of his de- Introduction by the late Robert groups of communities should Dick Wilson. 400 pp. $2.75. stand over against each other in nomination. His book is sim- Brookside Pub. Co. New York. such a way that their doctrines 1936. and confessions of faith are mu- ilar in purpose and plan to the tually contradictory." In this classic the translator larger book, "Missions Tomorhas preserved the fire, pathos Dr. Barth concludes his book with a statement of the essential row," by Latourette, and forms and intensity of the author's ro- conditions under which it would mance interwoven with drama be possible to share in such a an excellent companion piece to and tragedy. Both Christians genuine effort of union towards a living Church. Real unity is that volume. It is ideally adaptand faithful Jews will find a advanced as we listen to Christ fresh concept of the God of in our own Church. Union work ed to mission study classes and must be done wit h i n the Abraham. The novel helps one churches, he believes, as its reading groups not only in the to understand the Jewish race and reading it should help to Southern Presbyterian Church cement the bonds of friendship but for a wider circle. Approxibetween the followers of these mately ten thousand copies have already been used in mission study circles during November.
Mrs. W. W. Draper's "Helps for Leaders," in teaching "With Christ Into Tomorrow" (price 15 cents) is issued by the same publishers. H. KERR TAYLOR.
Tangled Waters. By Florence Cran- nell Means. $2.00. Houghton, Mifflin Co. New York. 1936.
Too many American Indian stories are told from the white man's point of view. Once this meant contemptuous ignorance of native traditions; today, on the other hand, we often find a
forced and artificial enthusiasm the blanket secretly woven by of more than seventy years, which takes no account of their the young girl in defiance of which has carried the Gospel to hopeless incompatibility with tribal taboos, copying a sacred every province of Inland China modern life. Such new juveniles sand-painting for a collector who and to its almost inaccessible deas "Singing Sands" by Grace pays liberally; the search for pendencies, begins with the over- Moon, and "Indians Today," by hidden treasure; the desper- whelming sense of God's Love Mario and Mabel Scacheri, are ately sick child carried out of and the desire to be given some really part of the current super- the hogan by a superstitious fa- self-denying service for Him ficial propaganda for Indian cul- ther and left to die alone and un- which filled the heart of young tures as something to be pre- tended, till happily rescued by Hudson Taylor shortly after his served, or revived, among con- the indignant white doctor; the conversion. This longing for an temporary young Americans of plans for a forced wedding "Outlet for Love" pointed him Indian descent. broken up at the last moment by to China's measureless need and For these reasons, "Tangled Altolie's school friend and a led to the founding of the Waters," is the more welcome to plucky little missionary woman C. 1. M., though he first served thinking people. This story will -all these are woven into a for four years under a Society not only please the young girls strong plot. whose running into debt trou- for whom it is primarily in- "Tangled Waters" is recom- bled him. He "could not think tended, but will interest and in- mended, not only as a story but that God was poor or unwilling form their elders. It combines as giving the right clue to a very to supply any need of whatever a vivid and sympathetic picture human and troublesome prob- work was His." The history of of present-day Navajo life with lem. It has passed the scrutiny the Mission is one long record the frank and intelligent treat- of several specialists in Navajo of answers to the prayer of life, and is especially advised for faith. Love always found a ment of a typical situation. Mrs. Means, who has spent missionary societies and school way, often an adventurous one many weeks in Arizona during libraries. which taught the missionary to nine years past, introduces us to "I think it is the difference laugh at rough places, to suffer a family of native sheep-herders, between their beliefs and ours," extreme perils undauntedly, and characteristically dominated by says Altolie, speaking of her to be "strong as death" through the fiercely conservative old white friends, who do not trem- the terrors of 1900. Love found grandmother. The N a va j 0 ble before malicious spirits in its reward in the great awakenwomen, as is usual, do most of air and water or fear to touch ing of China which followed, the' work. The native "singer" the dead and dying, even when seized its opportunity and, or "Medicine-Man" must be their nearest and dearest. "I, through all testings and discalled when there is illness and too, would like to live without tresses, with undismayed courhe is well paid for his mum- fear!" ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN. age and unfeigned fidelity, though pressed on every side mery. Altolie's stepfather is a By Love Compelled. The Call of the and meeting financial ordeals in confirmed gambler. The old lady, his mother, is planning to China Inland Mission. By Marshall forced evacuations, ever made Broomhall. 126 pp. 35 cents, the same reply, that it would trimarry our heroine as soon as paper. London, Hodder & Stough- umph "at all costs," even cap- possible to the ne'er-do-well son ton, 1936. Marshall Broomhall, chief aide tivity and the loss of life itself. of a richer family.
The fifteen-year-old girl has for many years of Hudson Tay- If anyone has been deceived wholly natural and spontaneous lor, founder of the China Inland by the specious claims of theaspirations toward the marvel- Mission, years ago gave to the oretic Communism, one chapter ous new opportunities presented world a detailed history of that of this book, with its ghastly picby school and mission. Presently unique missionary enterprise. ture of Red massacres and deva bad fall opens the way, and at He has now rendered an equal astations, should prove an adethe mission hospital she is put service to the many who would quate antidote. into a bed "like a warmed snow- lose the benefit of that volumi- The last chapter describes the drift." Here· she meets with nous work through its very size, close fellowship of the organizaterror, soon merged in joy and by presenting the gist of it, tion, under wise leadership, with confidence, the white doctor with brought down to date, in this equal provision for all members bright blue eyes "of a keen kind- modest and cheap form, stress- from funds never directly apliness." Since more time is ing the heart and sinew of this pealed for but always supplied needed to heal a torn tendon, greatly blessed enterprise in the for every emergency. Altolie is placed in a near-by "faith which worketh by love." school for regular treatments, Previous publications of the C. H. FENN.
and there by an attractive boy a Mission have laid the greater Mexico Today. Col. Irving Speed little further along the new road stress on Faith: in this book, Wallace. 364 pp. $2.00. Meador she is encouraged to forget "Love rings out from every Pub. Co. Boston. 1936. homesickness and press on to page with a marvelously clear Of the making of books on better things. note." Latin America, or on this or that The cloud-burst in the canyon; This brief "sketch" of a work country of the 20 which form
that geographical entity, there as .more or less of equal im- j ects. It is interesting to note seems to be no end; and very portance. Some fault is found that Dr. Lane refers to THE with both Church and State, in MISSIONARY REVIEW more freoften the reading of them has their somewhat confused rela- quently than to any other magabeen a weariness to the flesh. tions, but the author gives credit zine except the North American Many have been written after a to each. Review-which has been in exhurried trip around the con- istance 30 years longer. Many writers on Latin Amertinent, in a comfortable steamer, ica reveal an evident dislike for Frank Mason North, 1850-1935. A and after having seen the sights the people, and approach their Biographical Sketch and Appreciaof some important cities from a subject with a fully developed tion. Published by his friends. modern hotel as a base. Such superiority complex. Colonel 1936. books may be interesting, but Wallace shows that he likes Mexico and the Mexicans, and A Christian is known by his such information as they give is he envisages the time when there friends and his achievements. will be a closer cultural under- Frank Mason North was a man not likely to be true to the facts. standing between the United greatly beloved and highly hon- States, Canada, and Mexico, ored by many and the influence In "Mexico Today," Colonel even to the point that, should the of his life and work extends occasion arise, their flags may around the world. He was born Irving Speed Wallace gives us a be "unfurled in one united de- in New York, was graduated book of a different type. He has fence." from Wesleyan University and in 1873 became a minister of the not been content with the usual Anyone who reads "Mexico Methodist Episcopal Church. trip around or across the con- Today" with care and attention, For twenty years he was a pastinent. His writing is limited to will be much more intelligent in tor; for another twenty years the republic of Mexico, and he regard to our neighbor republic, he was corresponding secretary wrote only after years of travel much more sympathetic with the of the New York City Church government in its attempt to Extension and Missionary Soand adventure, not only in the raise the moral and cultural ciety and for twelve years was larg cities, but also after per- level of the people, and will corresponding secretary of the sonal experience with mountain understand more fully the strug- Board of Foreign Missions. His gles which that people has other activities, offices and contrails and life in the most re- undergone in its attempt to free nections were too many to. remote hamlets. He went among itself from the shackles of feud- cord. As a poet and hymn alism and the bondage of an ec- writer he was well known and an untutored and semicivilized clesiastical system which sought some of his songs are widely population, as well as making no advantage save its own. used in many churches. They contacts with representatives of will live even where the author W. E. BROWNING. is unknown. A son, Dr. Eric the cultured classes. Therefore, M. North, is secretary of the the reading of his book is not Missions in Magazines. By Ortha American Bible Society. only interesting; it is also illu- May Lane. Pamphlet. Tientsin minating. In twenty chapters, Press Ltd. Tientsin. 1936. Gordon. A Drama in Three Acts. By E. J. Richter. Pamphlet. 50 he gives us a great deal of infor- Here is an interesting study cents. Capano Press. New York. of the treatment of Protestant mation in regard to methods of foreign missions in American "Chinese Gordon" is ever a Transportation, the Six – Year magazines from 1810 to 1935. heroic Christian figure, a martyr Plan, the New School System, It is a treatise in preparation for to the cause of British rule in the the degree of Ph.D. in the Grad- Sudan. This drama presents Home Life, the National Sport uate College of Iowa State Uni- briefly and accurately the events -which is bull fighting-makes versity. The aim of the study CUlminating in the fall of Khar- is to show how much and what tum in 1885. Twenty-five chara very sympathetic reference to kind of Protestant missionary acters appear besides sheikhs, the present able and energetic information American maga- dervishes and tribesmen. The President of the Republic, and zines will print; also the scenes take place in London, adds attractive references to changes in this respect in the Cairo, Khartunl, and the camp past 125 years. Most modern of the Mahdi. It is not a misquaint old Spanish customs of editors of secular magazines are sionary drama, and may be a the people. not interested in the religious little difficult to stage, but it has aspects of missions but will a stirring appeal for those who There is no chapter specially print articles dealing chiefly believe in the necessity of prodedicated to the relations of with political, sociological and moting peace and human wel- human interest values. This fare by the use of British armies State and Church, but there are study will be of especial value to and the sacrifice of men and several references to the reli- editors, mission board officials money. gious situation, written from an and writers on missionary sub- unbiased standpoint. His description of a conversation with an innkeeper in one of the smaller towns, whom he asked why the bull ring is always near to the church, comes very close to the real heart of the question. The innkeeper, after due reflec- tion, said that he supposed they were "put close together so that the folks could go to the bull fight from the church and lose no time." Both were classed together in the life of the people
Lights in the Near East. By of "A History of Korea," "The Van- Rev. Andrew Gih, the evangelist
Abdul-Fady (Arthur T. Upson). guard," and "Korea in Transition." the Bethel Mission, Shanghai, who re- 128 pp. Illus. 2s. 6d. Marshall, Dr. Gale is survived by his second cently visited America, was born as Morgan and Scott, London. 1936. wife, Ada Louise Sale Gale, a son, a the son of a Buddhist scholar. In daughter and two stepdaughters. his youth he was antagonistic to the The author was, until re- Christian message, and vowed that he cently, Director of the Nile Mis- *** would never become a Christian. sion Press in Cairo. He is one of the few foreigners ever in Dr. Thomas N. Chalmers, a clergy- The Presbyl:erian Egypt who could, unaided, write man of the United Presbyterian articles in Arabic which needed Church and head of a Christian Mis- A weekly religious newspaper in no correction before publishing. sion to the Jews in New York, died its lo6th year of continuous pub- This book is made up of reminis- in Tampa, Florida, on January 29, Iication under the same name. cences of his busy life; of strik- at the age of 78. Dr. Chalmers was ing examples of divine guidance, born in Riverside, Illinois, and at- It is conservative and evangelwhich were to him "High tended Monmouth College and the ical, gets its news by telegraph Lights." United Presbyterian Seminary in and keeps abreast of the times. Xenia, Ohio. After pastorates and a During the author's ,thirty- lectureship, he served as a missionary It goes into every state of the three years of active service, he to the Jews in Chicago and Pitts- Union, the District of Columbia, has issued over 700 publications burgh, in 1908 founded the New York and U. S. possessions. through the Nile Mission Press, Jewish Evangelization Society, and many of which he had written. was editor of the Jewish Missionary It goes to Asia and AFrica, South Magazine. America, Canada and New Zealand New Book. and into twelve countries of Eu- *** rope. Ethel Ambrose – Pioneer Medical Missionary. Compiled by Mrs. W. Miss Annie Van Sommer, the Subscription Price, – H. Hinton. 256 pp. 3s. 6d. Mar- founder of the Egypt Mission Band, Ministerial Rate, – shall, Morgan and Scott. London. died at the age of 83, at her home in England on January 9th. During the 50c. extra—Canadian postage Changing Russia. F. J. Miles. 144 past forty years Miss Van Sommer $1.00 extra—foreign postage pp. Is. Marshall, Morgan and spent much of her time in Egypt and Scott. London. was a valued member of both Field THE PRESBYTERIAN and Home Councils of the Egypt Mis- Missionary Romance in Morocco. sion Band. She founded the beautiful 1217 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. By James Haldane. Illus. 190 pp. Rest Home for missionaries at Fair- 2s. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. London. haven, near Alexandria. She was II If you use greatly interested in the distribution The Church Through Half a Cen- of Christian literature through the PRINTING tury. Edited by Henry P. Van Nile Mission Press and in promoting Dusen and Samuel McCrea Cavert. prayer through the Fellowship of Y OU will profit from an ac- 426 pp. $3. Scribners. London. Faith for Moslems. quaintanceship with us. We do the job complete in our own Agnes Dickinson-Missionary to the *** plant, whether it be large or Chinese. Margaret Ness. 80 pp. small. 45 cents. Woman's Missionary So- The Rev. John MacNeill, D.D., of ciety, Presbyterian Church of Can- MacMaster University, Hamilton, On- While our specialty is Books, ada. Toronto. tario, died at his home in Hamilton Magatines and Pamphlets, yet on February 11th at 63 years of age. we have a variety of modern Definite Experience-Convention Aid Dr. MacNeill was President of the equipment to meet all the re- and Deterrents. A. S. Wilson. 128 Baptist World Alliance from 1928 to quirements of your particular pp. Marshall, Morgan and Scott. 1934 and of the Canadian Baptist job. You will find our service London. Foreign Mission Boards. prompt, careful and courteous.
The Father and His Sons. Arthur *** Will you allow us to estimate B. L. Karney. 68 pp. Is. S. P. G. on your next printing? We be- London. The Rev. Herbert C. Withey, pio- lieve you will be delighted with neer Methodist Episcopal missionary our product, price and service. The History of Jewish Christianity. in Angola, Portuguese West Mrica, Hugh J. Schonfield. 7s. 6d. 255 died in Malange, Angola, on February The EVANGELICAL PRESS pp. Duckworth. London. 11th at 64 years of age. Mr. Withey was born in Lynn, Mass., and went to Print…. of Heritage of Beauty. Daniel Johnson Africa with his parents in 1885 under The Mi••iona,., Review of the World Fleming. 94 pp. Illus. $1.50. the leadership of Bishop William Friendship Press. New York. Taylor. M.r. Withey became an au- PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE thority on the Kimbundu language Third and Rally SIr••1s Hettlsbur., P.. Immensity-God's Greatness Seen in which he reduced to writing and into Creation. Clarence H. Benson. 140 which he translated the New Testa- pp. $1.50. Scripture Press. Chi- ment and a part of the Old. He also cago. translated "Pilgrim's Progress" into Kimbundu and Portuguese. For many Jesus According to Mark. Albert years he was editor of the Angola Hughes. 188 pp. 60 cents, paper; News, a Sunday school monthly and $1.00, cloth. American Bible Con- the only periodical in Kimbundu. ference Assn. Philadelphia. *** Obituary Notes Personallteml (Concluded from second c(1)er.) (Concluded from page 113.) He was a master of the Korean language, edited an Korean-English dic- Rev. George Freeman Bragg, D.D., tionary of more than 80,000 words, colored clergyman, celebrated in Jantranslated several volumes from uary the 50th anniversary of his ordi- Korean into English and from Eng- nation, and the 45th as rector of one lish into Korean. In addition to of the pioneer Negro parishes of the "Korean Sketches," he was the author St. James Episcopal church, Balti- more. Dr. Bragg has a notable record for the fostering of mutual under- standing and good will between the White and Colored races.
THESE SPECIAL
The Missionary Review ti.~World The June Number will contain special articles on Christ and Rural America Christian Achievements in Rural Churches The Challenge of the Rural Community Trends in Rural Life in Twenty-five Years Cooperation in Rural Parishes The Church in the Country Community Evangelizing Our Rural Foreign Born The Larger Parish Project Leaves from a Colporteur's Notebook Solving Some Rural Problems The Youth and the Country Parish Rural Life in the Southern States A Rural Pastor's Job Some Unchurched Rural Districts Rural Responsibility of the City Church Woman's Work in a Country Parish Special October Number CHRIST AND THE MOSLEM WORLD A Survey of Islam Today Why Preach Christ to Moslems? Results of Missions to Moslems Women and Children in Moslem Lands The Bible and the Koran Some Great Missionaries to Moslems The Influence of Christian Literature Islam in India Today Some Evangelized Moslem Fields Notable Christian Converts from Islam Articles by Christian Moslems Order These Copies Now for Yourself and for Mission Study Classes 25 cents a copy $20 a hundred $2.50 a year The Missionary Review of t:he World Third and Reily Streets, Harrisburg, Pa.
ROBERT E. SPEER, President DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Edito:r
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1936
1936
Unoccupied Mission Fields Alexander McLeish The Education of Indian Girls Charlotte Wyckoff The Pageant of One Hundred Years George Dexter T ay lor Memories of Forty Years in Africa Roland V. Bingham A Moslem Seeker Who Found God L. Bevan Jones The Reign of Christ in Arabia Paul W. Harrison Limko Christians of Hainan Paul C. Melrose 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember Eaglesmere, Pa.-June 26-July 3. Obituary
Mrs. E. B. Breeding, 24 Rugby June 29-July 10 – Indian Missionary Lane, Scarsdale, N. Y. The Rev. Walter Laidlaw, D.D., Conference and Annual Meeting of formerly secretary of the New York the National Fellowship of Indian Houston, Texas – September 28 – Oc- Federation of Churches and founder Workers. College of Agriculture, tober 2. of the Clergy Club of New York, died Madison, Wis. Dean – Mrs. A. B. Hynes, 618 suddenly in New York City, on May Highland, Houston, Texas. 20th. Dr. Laidlaw was born in Cana- July 6-12 – Twelfth World's Sunday da seventy-five years ago. He was School Convention. Oslo, Norway. Lake Geneva, Wis.-June 27-July 4. graduated from the University of Mrs. T. A. Freeman, 427 Green- Toronto and later studied at Berlin. July 9-August 12 – Win 0 n a Lake wood Ave., Evanston, Ill. He made a careful study of the cen- School of Theology. Winona Lake, sus and edited the Statistical Sources Ind. Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul)- for Demographic Studies for Greater September 21-25. New York. Recently he has been August 16-23-World Missions Insti- working on the City Planning Com- tute, Chautauqua, New York. Ex. Sec. – Mrs. C. E. Heard, mittee of New York. 3020 Colfax Ave., Minneapolis, CONFEREtTCES AND SCHOOLS Minn. *** OF MISSIONS Mt. Hermon, Calif. – July 25 – Aug- Mrs. Frank W. Wilcox, for nine- Affiliated with the Council of Women ust 1. teen years Associate Secretary of the for Home Missions and the Com- Mrs. N. J. Forsberg, 325 Dor- American Missionary Association of mittee on Women's Work, For- antes Ave., San Francisco, Calif. the Congregational Church, died in eign Missions Conference her home in Montclair, N. J., on May Mt. Lake Park, Md.-July 10-16. 19th. Caroline S. Mellick was born Baltimore, Md.-October 19-21. January 15, 1867 and married Frank Mrs. David D. Baker, 410 N. Cal- Mrs. B. H. Sincell, 103 2d St., W. Wilcox in 1889. She lectured at houn St., Baltimore, Md. Oakland, Md. many missionary conferences and conventions and was in charge of the Bethesda, Ohio-July 20-24. Northfield, Mass.-July 6-14. "Box Work" of the Women's Soci- Miss Mary 1. Scott, 310 Tomlin- Miss Amy Ogden Welcher, 796 eties of the Congregational Church. son Ave., Moundsville, W. Va. Prospect Ave., Hartford, Conn. For sometime she was vice-president of the Council of Women for Home Chautauqua, N. Y.-I n s tit ute of Southern California (Los Angeles)- Missions and was a member of the World Missions (August 16-23). September 21-25. Editorial Council of THE REVIEW. Mrs. F. C. Reynolds, 309 Wood- Mrs. H. M. Horn, 1965 Carmen land Road, Roland Park, Balti- Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. (Concl11ded on third cover.) more, Md. Warren, Ohio-October 6-7. Mrs. George Konold, 314 Scott St., N. E., Warren, Ohio.
DO NOT MISS THE MOSLEM WORLD SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, Editor SOME ARTICLES IN THE JULY NUMBER TOR ANDRAE'S MOHAMMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel M. Zwemer THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM ……………………. . Leo A. Cullum EARLY MOSLEM LEADERS IN CHINA ……..•.•……………….. Claude L. Pickens JINN AMONG THE MOROS ………………………………….. Jose R. Collante RELIGIOUS EDIFICES AND COMMUNITY LIFE ……………………… . D. N. Wilber ISLAM IN THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL SUDAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Dighton KORANIC WISDOM ACCORDING TO A TURK …………………….. Paul M. A. Mulla THE TURK IN HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY ……………………….. G. L. Schanzlin MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS IN SOUTH AFRICA ………………….. W. J. Vander Merwe MOSLEM CHILDHOOD IN BENGAL …………………………….. . Hilda McLean CHRIST SETS UP HIS CHURCH IN MUSCAT …………………… . Paul W. Harrison Current Topics – Book Reviews – Survey of Periodicals » » SUBSCRIBE NOW « 50 Cents d Copy. $2.00 d Year (postpdid) In combindtion with THE MOSLEM WORLD THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City $3.50 d Year. (Foreign Postdge, 50 Cents) British Agents: MARSHALL, MORGAN & seon, 12 P.lernosler Building., London, E. C.
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REVIEW OF THE W ORlO Dr. John Alexander Mackay, sec- ORIENT DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor retary of the Board of Foreign Mis- si{)ns of the Presbyterian Chul"ch, with VOL. LIX JULY, 1936 No.7 U. S. A., has been elected president of Princeton Theological Seminary to S p e e d – C o m f o r t – Economy Publication and Business Office– succeed Dr. J. Ross Stevenson who Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. has occupied that post for twenty-two Take the shortest, fastest crossing to years. Yokohama . . . only 10 days by Editorial and Executive Office– Empress of Asia or Empress of 158 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Dr. Mackay was born in Inverness, Russia. Or sail to Honolulu in 5 Entered as second-class matter at Scotland, May 17, 1889, was gradu- days … reach the Orient in 8 days ated from Aberdeen Coilege in 1912 more by Empress of Japan (largest, Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under and from Princeton Theological Sem- fastest liner on the Pacific) or Em- Act of March 3, 1879. inary in 1915. After his ordination press of Canada. by the Free Church of Scotland he 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. went as a missionary to South Amer- Surprisingly low round-trip fares Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. ica and was appointed principal of by luxurious First Class or comfort- Published monthly, except Augr,st. the Anglo-Peruvian College at Lima. able Tourist Class. Also, inexpen- All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1935. He later became professor of Philos- sive Third Class on all Empresses. British agents – Marshall, Morgan ophy at the National University at and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, Lima but continued his missionary Regular sailings from Vancouver London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, activities. He returned to the United and Victoria in Canada's Evergreen 10 shillings a year. States in 1932 to accept the position Playground. Orient fares include of secretary of the Board of Foreign passage from and to Seattle. If you MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- Missions. sail from Los Angeles or San Fran- LISHING CO., INC. cisco, connect with an Empress at *** Honolulu. Orient ports-of-call: Yo- BOARD OF DIRECTORS kohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Shanghai, ROBERT E. SPEER, President Dr. John McDowell, secretary of Hong Kong, and Manila. A. L. WARNSHUIS, ViC6-Pre8ident the Board of National Missions of • World Tours as low as $579.90. WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer the Presbyterian Church, has been Go on one inclusive ticket, good for DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary elected a member of the Board of two years. Write for folder of six Trustees of Princeton Theological most popular world tours. SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Seminary. Booklets, information from YOUR WILLIAM 1. CHAMBERLAIN *** OWN' AGENT or Canadian Pacific: D. J. FANT New York,.344 Madison Ave.; Chi- Dr. John M. Springer, for many cago, 71 E. Jackson Blvd. ; San Fran- MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD years a missionary of the Methodist cisco, 152 Geary St.; and 38 other WM. B. LIPPHARD Episcopal Church in south-central Af- cities in U. S. and Canada. rica, was e;ected Missionary Bishop ERIC M. NORTH of the church at the recent General ~~ Conference in Columbus, Ohio. by SAMUEL M. ZWEMER EMPRESS *** Editorial Chat Dr. H. W. Greist and his wife, who As has been our custom, to save ex- is a registered nurse, stationed at Bar- row, Alaska, the most northerly mispense and in view of the absence of sion station in the world, have re- cently resigned and are returning to many of our sUJscribers from home, the United States. Dr. and Mrs. Greist have done a remarkable work our August issue will be omitted. among the Eskimos of northern Alas- The September and October issues ka within the Arctic Circle. Their places are to be taken by Rev. and will have more pages to catch up Mrs. Frederick G. Klerekoper who have been for two years stationed at with the news and to give our readers Skagway, Alaska, under the Board of the National Missions, Presbyterian some additional articles of especial Church. Mrs. Klerekoper is a regis- tered nurse but the medical work at value. *** Barrow is to be taken over by the United States Government. While you are away fr{)m home will *** you speak a word for the REVIEW and so help to secure additional readers, Dr. and Mrs. O. R. Avison, who retired last year from mission work and at the same time promote inter- in Korea, are temporarily located in New York City. Dr. Avison was for est in the work of Christ? many years president of Severance Medical College at Seoul. *** *** "Every issue of THE REVIEW is full of informing and stimulating ma- Mrs. Fred S. Bennett, vice-presi- dent of the Presbyterian Board of terial." MRS. B. P. HEUBNER. National Missions, in recognition of her services in connection with the Ottawa, Kansas. development of the work in Santo Do- mingo, has recently been given $2000 *** for a clock and bell for the Evangeli- A CORRECTION cal church in Santo Domingo City.
Our attenti{)n is called to an erro- (Concluded on third cover.) neous impression given in the article on "Preaching Liberty to the Captives [337 ] in Portugal" by E. R. Holden. This article which was condensed from the manuscript sent by Mr. Holden implies that the Cardinal-Patriarch, the highest dignitary in Portugal, offered to Mr. Reis material advantages if he would recant. Mr. Holden writes that the Cardinal "most definitely did not hint at anything of the sort and left Reis very well impressed by his truly Christian spirit and indeed no one can read the Cardinal's frequent speeches and writings without being convinced that he is a real Christian while all one hears of his life bears out this impression."
THE KILLING OF THE WITCH IN 1836 (EPISODE
Photographs by Lynn Acutt REPRESENTING DR. WILSON AT THE GRAVE OF MRS. WILSON-MOSEGA, 1836 THE PAGEANT OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA (See article by Dr. J. Dexter Taylor, page 343)
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LIX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 7 JULY, 1936 Topics of the Times PRESENT-DAY TRENDS IN ISLAM destitution. Nevertheless Mecca is the center from which the press and these returning pil- The collapse of the caliphate and the failure of grims proclaim a renaissance of Islam under poall attempts to revive it would lead the superficial observer to conclude that Pan-Islamism is dead. litically independent rule, with as much modern- ism as is safe.
The policy of the new government in Turkey and There have been radical reforms in al-Azhar the complete secularization of the republic points at Cairo where the Fundamentalists are at war in the same direction. The Turkish press utters with the Modernists while both are agreed that severe judgment on Islam and its Prophet, while Islam is the religion of t~e State and the hope of one by one the old sanctions and customs of reli- humanity. Foreign missions are sent out to gion are publicly discarded. A few years ago a China, Japan, Spain and America to preach Islam. British official of high standing actually wrote to A violent wave of religious feeling is passing me: "Islam as we once knew it is dead in Turkey, over Egypt, and over the Islamic world, so violent that nobody knows what the outcome will be. Sevit is dying in Persia, it has ceased to carry real eral are anxious about its effect on the strong weight in Egypt, it may survive some gen~r~ti~ns fortress of Islam. The Minister of Education wished to render Islam a service and to heap iwnillAirnabtiha~ but the basic truths of ChrIstIamty further honor upon Egypt in its service of Islam long run even there prevail." Such by translating the Koran from Arabic into mod- ern languages. From the governing body of aljudgment may be prophetic but it is undoubtedly Aihar (great Moslem university) some supported his idea; others opposed it absolutely. Compremature. There are at least three centers to- day that keep alive the pan-islamic idea and are active as never before in defending and propagat- ing the Moslem faith-Mecca, Cairo and Lahore.
Arabia under the able leadership of Abd ul mittees have been formed to work at it, and the Aziz Ibn Saood may not covet the caliphate, but rector of al-Azhar has written a long letter to is the fulcrum of agitation for uniting all the the Prime Minister in which he says: "A literal Arabic-speaking states of the Near East. The translation is not possible to all the Koranic whole peninsula is being rapidly modernized. The verses, but a translation of the meaning is percamel has had his day. Usages of almost sacro- missible, only it could not be used in the official sanet significance are being put aside. In the prayer, where only the original may be used." Kaaba court electric light has been installed, and In Palestine the Arabs are rising to oppose fur- the men who tended the hundreds of olive oil ther Jewish immigration. The Arabic press still lamps are no longer needed. Motor cars now "breathes out threatening and slaughter" on any carry the pilgrims to the holy cities, and the thou- and every occasion when they imagine the glory sands of camels and their attendant army of cam- of the Prophet is at stake. The Young Men's Moselmen, formerly employed, are not now required. lem Association is a keen rival of the Y. M. C. A. The Hejaz Government is reported to have 300 r'and itinerant preachers of the Koran vie with cars in use. Christian colporteurs and evangelists in their The diminution in the number of pilgrims is so zeal. The first congress of the Moslems of Europe considerable, that the thousands of Arabs in the was held at Geneva (September 12-15), last year sacred cities who lived by serving them are in presided over by Emir Shekib Arslan.
[ 339 ]
In India, with more than seventy-eight million benefit from it, and expressed their determination not to worship at Hindu shrines and temples. Moslems, the rival Ahmadiya groups of Qadian They are free to adopt any religion they wish, provided it offers them freedom. and Lahore both broadcast their Pan-Islamic One of the greatest signs of change in India is propaganda from Lahore and London. A dozen in the position and opportunities of women-fornewspapers and magazines, although outside of merly considered unworthy of education and of orthodox Islam, are welcomed widely as the best lower status than the cow. Mrs. Mira S. Ramdas, weapons against Christianity. Their chief aim an Indian Christian, read a paper on "Modern India," before the Women's Conference in Bomnow is to win over the "untouchables." bay last March. In this paper she said (in part) : Christian missionaries in Egypt, Arabia and To any casual observer it is apparent that the India of India are in close touch with all these movements the twenty-five years ago is not the India of today. The which are signs of the times. In carrying the whole nation has undergone a tremendous and rapid Gospel to Moslems anywpere we face the whole change in these few years. Old ideas are swept aside, old methods of life and education have been given up. New front of this rival faith. 'We see encouragement life has been infused and has awakened the millions in India. Willingness to change for the better, to adopt new in the fact that in Arabia our medical mission- ways and think bold thoughts is to be seen everywhere aries enjoy the personal friendship of the King today. . . .
and are welcomed into the interior of his vast A few things have happened as the direct result of the domain; in Cairo missionaries minister to the national awakening which must be noted here in a general blind sheikhs of al-Azhar and its students crowd way as they have a bearing on our subject. the American University to hear lectures on so- 1. First is the great rush for literacy and general educial reform; in Lahore the Henry Martyn School cation. The leaders wish to educate the masses to enable is training young missionaries to meet the situa- them to take in the new things; on the other hand the tion. The Gospel of Christ is the dynamic of God masses desire education so that they can follow intelli- gently what is happening in the country. The popularity unto salvation. We can afford to wait for the of the press is a sure indication of this fact. Both gov- ernment and the national leaders are busy coping with Cross has never been defeated. Christ will con- this situation. . . .
quer. S. M. ZWEMER. 2. Second is the great desire towards industrialism. With the knowledge of what is happening in countries f outside, industry has assumed new charms. . . .
ENCOURAGING SIGNS IN INDIA 3. Third is the religious upheaval. With the spread of literacy and with the tending of the mind towards indus- In ~oslem lands, in India and China, incredible trialism and materialism, there has come about a severchanges are taking place in hoary beliefs and cus- ence from ancient Indian ideas and ideals specially a very toms–changes that would have been thought im- noticeable severence from the Hindu religious ideas. The possible fifty years ago. Then the conversion of average Hindu man or woman today does not have much Moslems was generally spoken of as an idle dream faith in the religion of his forefathers. But this is not all, apd the field was almost barren of fruitage. To- he or she does not have much use for any religion at day thousands of Moslems are turning to Christ all. . . . in .Malaya and hundreds are openly confessing their faith and leaving Islam in Iran. The doors This then is the India today: nationally awakening, are opening wider and wider, even in Arabia. seeking education, preparing for industrialism, and put- ting off old things and especially her religious mindedness China, in the early days of missions, seemed to which was so characteristic of her. present an impregnable barrier to Christian progress. Prejudice, superstition and pride in Con. Indian women today are being educated in fucian ethics and culture obscurred Christ and schools and colleges; they are becoming teachers, made the people unreceptive. Today not only are lawyers, physicians and nurses; they are enterthousands of Chinese of all classes becoming ing into business and into political life. Christian Christians, but thousands are effective evangelists women especially are enjoying a freedom never and some Chinese, like T. Z. Koo and Andrew dreamed of before and their views are listened to Gih, are even coming to America to preach Christ. with a respect that their fathers and grandfathers would have never dreamed possible. The rise of India for many years presented the barrier of women in India is all traceable to the work of the an elaborate Hindu philosophy, deeply rooted re- early Christian missionaries. ligious customs and caste which stood in defiance of the spirit and teachings of Christ. It seemed SUMMER – RETREAT OR ADVANCE impossible to break down the system which was built into the very foundations of Indian life and Will the coming summer be a time for re-creathought. Indian womanhood was kept in seclu- tion and growth, or only for relaxation and rest sion of mind and body – what power could draw from our usual occupations? In these warmer the veil? Today caste is tottering on its founda- months many churches and Sunday schools are tions and a press dispatch reports that on June 1st 10,000 "untouchables" assembled in Bombay to renounce Hinduism because they had received no
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
closed, ministers of the Gospel are away from stay-at-homes, through family gatherings and the their parishes, and too many Christian workers opportunity to hear visiting preachers. There are are taking a vacation from service and serious many books and magazines that richly reward thought. Children whose parents can afford it careful reading. They are for all ages and are go to camps or to the shore or mountains where usully neglected during the busier months. They worldly rather than Christian influences prevail. include biography, missions, travel, sermons, pop- Relaxation includes not only mental and physical ular science and some fiction. Many of these letdown but a moral and spiritual slump as well. books can be obtained through public libraries or The result is that multitudes of church members, in reading circles formed for the exchange of some of whom have been active in Christian work, volumes. Twenty-five cents a week for each famcome to the autumn with less spiritual life and ily may supply a goodly number. Education costs purpose than they had when summer began. It but it is worth the price. Upward progress calls often takes a month or two to catch up the slack for the expenditure of energy; only a downhill and to start the wheels moving again. course requires no effort.
Christ and His disciples felt the need for rest At the end of this summer will we and our famafter their strenuous mission tours and days of ilies show progress and growth or retrogression strenuous service; they turned aside for refresh- and deterioration – not only in physical development but always with the purpose of preparation ment and mental alertness but in moral strength for more effective living. Do not many of us in- and in closer sympathy with Christ and a clearer cline to seek relaxation without reference to serv- understanding of His plan for us and for manice? The only reasons that justify a Christian in kind? We cannot take a vacation from God and seeking relief and amusement are: (1) the fact His service, but we can recreate with God for that we have worked hard enough in God's service further service.
so that energy needs to be rebuilt and (2) that we A MISSION TO UNIVERSITY WOMEN are preparing for further service.
If the summer months are to be a time for It is a surprising fact that in Bombay, the key growth, how can this be promoted? The wise position for organizing work among Indian womparents are those who, so far as is possible, plan en, there is still no women's college. Madras, to surround themselves and their children with though so far away in the south, has two over- Christian companions and influences that tend to flowing colleges, one missionary, one a governbuild up spiritual life and character, irrespective ment college. In the far north at Lahore, there of personal convenience and preferences. Today are also two colleges, though the number of womthere are multitudes of summer camps and confer- en seeking higher education is so much smaller ences in the mountains, at the shore and by inland there than in progressive Bombay. It is a lamentlakes, where recreation is combined with Chris- able fact that the six hundred women undergradutian comradeship and spiritual stimulus. Those ates of Bombay have no intellectual home of their who put first the Kingdom of God seek to use these own, although women do attend lectures in men's opportunities and are willing to pay the cost. colleges.
Those who go from home to the seashore or This yawning chasm in the educational system mountains, or travel at home or abroad, can find of India has been potentially filled by women stumany opportunities for service and encourage- dents from overseas. More than thirty years ment. Many missions and small churches have ago a hostel for university women was founded in been greatly cheered by the attendance and sup- Bombay by graduate women in other lands. As port of summer visitors. In many vacation lands long ago as 1896 the British graduates were in- -in Europe, Alaska, Canada and the western tensely aware that, having greatly benefited states-those who are interested may find strik- themselves from college life, they ought to pass ing centers of mission work, with devoted work- on these benefits to Indian women. They were ers whom we may greatly encourage, while at the still more intensely aware that the great emancisame time we learn more of the work God is doing pating power for Indian women is Christ. Few in these fields. Not all travelers are selfish or people realize how unable Indian women would be self-appointed critics of missions. to take their place today in the reconstruction of their own country had not Christianity prepared Many a summer colony also is strengthened for the way for their emancipation. To Christian the whole year by the cooperation of summer missions they owe not only the conviction that visitors and their families who are not seeking a women's souls are as valuable as men's, but also vacation from God and His service. practical machinery for equipping doctors, teach- ers and nurses. Till a few years ago a vast ma- But even for those who cannot go far from jority of all trained teachers, doctors and nurses home the summer offers many opportunities for growth through reading, fellowship with other
were girls trained in Christian schools and col- pressed their gratitude but welcome also to the leges. settlers who have enjoyed and learned so much In this campaign of emancipation the Bombay through their warm friendships.
Settlement has played an honorable part. The But the uphill work of devoted service to all nucleus of its work is a hostel where about forty castes and creeds needs the Christian dynamic, women undergraduates make their home, with a if it is to succeed. At every turn one feels that staff of four or five graduates from British or Christ alone can set these women free, and that other Western universities. The students include there should be not one settlement to carry His Hindus, Mohammedans, Pharsees, Jews, Chris- message, but a dozen.
tians and others who speak sometimes as many India is still afraid of Christ, but perhaps when as ten different tongues, though all can speak Christianity is no longer associated with an alien English, the language of their degree work. government, Indian women will acknowledge Though the settlement is recognized by the Uni- openly what so many of them already acknowledge versity of Bombay and a certain amount of coach- secretly, that they owe more to Christ than to ing and lecturing is done by the staff, the main anything in their own religion.* object is to carry the standards and teachings of Christ to these students, and the workers seek to THE VALUE OF MISSIONS PROVED show by their lives what Christ has meant to them. The household daily gathers for prayers The so-called "criminal tribes" of India have in a chapel which forms the centre of the home. been a great problem to the British-India Gov- For over thirty years the. work was housed in ernment. Like gypsies they not only lived off the rented premises, but in 1930 a suitable house was communities to which they wandered, but took purchased and the dedication of a chapel became what they wanted both of property and life. Ex- possible. The workers are daily grateful for the tensive policing did not control the situation and peace and strength given to them through this the Government had to admit failure.
visible symbol of their faith. Though adherents Some fifty years ago the Salvation Army was of other religions are not under any obligation to attend Christian worship, they almost always asked to try to do something with these tribes come voluntarily, and thus learn what Christ who menaced the whole country. The Salvation might do for them. The students attend five dif- Army accepted this challenge. Enforcement of ferent colleges, and form two major groups, the the laws is a tremendous task and Christianizing medical and the arts students. They come from people who have been lawless for generations homes all over India, and have no common reli- seems almost impossible. But the Salvation Army gion, language or race. Thus one of the first needs with infinite patience and "no compromise with is to get them to mingle with each other, and this evil" is getting results, with financial help from the settlement manages to a remarkable extent. the Government. Instead of the twenty-two separate messes for twenty-five students, such as are found in a cer- In the Malay peninsula, with a population of a tain men's hostel, the settlement has only two little less than four millions, Great Britain has kitchens and dining rooms for its students. The felt responsibility for educating the young people. Brahmin-cooked food is served for orthodox Hin- Chinese and Indians have helped to develop the country, working in the most important tin mines dus in the big brass platters on the floor, and . in the world and the great rubber plantations there is a European dining room with tables and which supply a large amount of this modern nechairs and "unorthodox food" for those who either cessity. Government schools were established with prefer it, or must acquire Western ways before good buildings and paid teachers. But they could embarking on their travels to America or Europe. not get or keep the right sort of teachers. Then Apart from the hostel, the Settlement occupies the work was turned over to the already estaba remarkable position in Bombay. After all only lished mission schools. Nothing was said about a small percentage of advanced women find their teaching religion, but it was assumed that they way to college, and it is perhaps the Settlement's would. The method has furnished this developmost original contribution to mission work that ing country a body of alert young people with it has always shown itself the servant, not only the background which they need for modern of the student, but also of the most advanced life. The young women alumnre of the mission leaders among Indian women. Friendship with schools are bright, cultured, progressive and the progressive section of this most emancipated charming, taking their places in the life of their city in India has always been a welcome feature community and nation.
of the Settlement's work, welcome not only to the • The British office of the Missionary Settlement for University Women is at 296 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, S. W. 1. countless Indian ladies who have so warmly ex-
Pageant of One Hundred
The Centenary of the American Mission in South Africa By REV. J. DEXTER TAYLOR, D.D., Johannesburg, Transvaal Missionary of the American Board I N A SNUG vale amongst the rolling hills of The Pageant opened with a symbolic Episode Adams Mission Station, Amanzimtoti, Natal, entitled "The Light of Life." After a Gregorian with a background of bamboo and native bush, chant had sounded, the Narrator declaimed the a colorful presentation of the hundred years' his- simple ·Scripture story of the shepherds and the tory of the American Board Mission in South wise men and the college choir sang, Africa was given in connection with the celebra- As with g:adness men of old tion of the Centennial. The spectators had come Did the guiding star behold.
by motor cars and busses from Durban and Then across the stage came a group of shepherds Maritzburg, from near-by villages and planta- with their sheep, one of them carrying a tiny tions, and even a few from lamb in his arms. In the man- Johannesburg, 400 miles away. ger scene, the shepherds draw About 1,500 European guests near with reverence and while and a large company of Afri- they bow in adoration the pro- cans saw the spectacle. cession of the wise men bearing The scenery, from behind gifts moves slowly across and which the actors emerged, con- completes the picture.
sisted of a group of realistic The music changes, the shep- boulders, interspersed with na- herds and wise men vanish and tive huts, all made out of bur- one by one the stage is taken by lap, paper and paint by mem- representatives of the different bers of the Adams College staff. races and nations of the earth.
The orchestral music on which Africa, the Islands of the Sea the episodes floated smoothly and Indian America form a onward was supplied by gram- group of the primitive peoples; ophone r e cor d s, amplified China, India and Japan repre- through microphone and loud sent the Orientals; while Rus- speaker. The two Narrators, sia, Germany, Holland, Spain, one a European in full aca- Scotland, Scandinavia and the demic robes and the other a rest, all in picturesque national Zulu in pagan garb, declaimed garb formed a third group of in English and Zulu, poems Photographed by Lynn Aoutt peoples from the West. Again especially written for the occa- THE ZULU CHRISTIAN NARRATOR a screen is moved and high in sion, each stanza carrying the the background appears the spirit of the episode which followed it. The Zulu Cross, with the Angel of the Resurrection. Three poem was written by B. Wallet Vilakazi, B.A., ang01s of light appear from the foot of the cross the first Zulu poet to publish a volume of Zulu and lead the nations slowly forward to group rev- poems. erently before it, while the choir breaks forth into I the Hallelujah Chorus.
As out across the chaos of a world unborn II Went forth the word, "Let there be light," Where ruled the primal darkness of a pagan life And all the gloom and shadow of a scene forlorn And witchcraft's bane held all enthralled, Was changed to glory by that Word of might. Where scenes of peace and quiet sudden turned to strife, And fear's dark shadows e'en the day appalled.
So dawned upon the chaos of a world distraught Was there to be no dawn, no setting free The Light of Life, the Word made flesh, Of prisoned souls? no healing touch?
And shadowed lives, the victims of the way mistaught, No voice of God to whisper of the life to be? Saw light arising and Hope spring afresh. Said not the Christ, My Kingdom is of such?
[ 343 ]
As the Narrator's voice died away the stage IV was filled with a merry group of pagan Africans (most of whom in real life were high-school stu- T,his land of lights and shadows, clash of old and new dents and a few were African B.A.'s of the staff) . Her welcome gave to one small band; The happy domestic scene was suddenly disturbed Forth fared they self-forgetting; far horizons drew, Nor doubted they for God to take the land.
From scenes of war and pillage, sick at heart and sad, Their footsteps turn, and hope grows dim.
The word of Peace is silenced by the war-drums mad. Their hands they turn to other tasks and wait for Him.
Photographed by Lynn AClltt The arrival of the six pioneers, Adams, Grout, Champion, Lindley, Wilson and Venable, their TREKKIXG MISSIONARIES A CENTURY AGO (EPISODE IV) meeting with Dr. Philip, the famous London Mis- sionary Society leader at the Cape, the division by the entrance of the witch-doctor; soon a most of the little party into two, one of which trekked realistic "smelling-out" was in progress and the north to Mosega in Mosilekazi's country, while witch was dragged forth to her fate. The mar- the other made its way by sea to Durban and to vellously natural acting of the scene was a vivid Dingaan the great Chief of the Zulu nation-all reminder that such an inheritance is still in the this was portrayed in a series of scenes in which blood of the Africans, and that "the primal dark- bullock wagons, costumes of 1835, Voortrekker ness of a pagan life" is scarcely yet of yesterday. scenes and wild pagan dances carried the thoughts of the spectators through those early years of III heroic pioneering, and reminded the generation of today at what cost present attainments have been "Thy youth shall visions see and maidens dream," won. So prophets spake. They dream and do! Do American Christians know the story of Mrs. Beneath a haystack's shelter from the rain's quick stream Jane Smithy Wilson, the dainty fragile girl, who Youth saw a vision and the dream came true. after enduring the hardships of the long north- ward trek and living for months in the midst of The church, her soul new wakened and with faith fresh war and bloodshed, died in that far country, the girt first great sacrifice in the winning of the field? We saw young Dr. Wilson kneeling by her grave Their challenge heard, her youth sent forth. in deepest grief, then walking brokenly away So bore they balm and blessing for the world's sad hurt watched by the blacks whose preoccupation with war had made the missionary enterprise amongst And dead souls quickened into life's full worth. them impracticable. The little soapstone grave- stone roughly carved by Dr. Wilson's own hand, Who does not know the story of the beginning was unearthed by the late Dr. Gubbins in 1912. of the American Board in the Haystack Prayer The choicest treasures of this famous collector of Meeting at Williams College, where in 1806 a Africana now occupy an entire floor of the new dozen young men, led by Samuel Mills, driven to Johannesburg public library. Lindley's ten years the shelter of a haystack from the sudden rain of work amongst the Voortrekkers, while the that caught them in the midst of their outdoor shattered foundations of the mission enterprise prayer meeting, continued their ardent discussion were relaid, was hinted in a tableau in which he of his fantastic proposal to take the Gospel to the was seen baptizing the boy Paul Kruger, a true lands of the East. They followed his suggestion though little-known incident in the life of the to "make it a subject of prayer under the hay- great president. stack, while the dark clouds are going and the clear sky is coming." And then afterward the V challenge was put to the General Association of Massachusetts by Judson, Mills, Nott and Newell From seed long sown and watered comes the fruit at last, which led directly to the establishment of the Souls seek the light, the darkness flees; Board in 1910. Both scenes were effectively pictured and by virtue of their own inherent emo- Forth from the ranks come those who face the future not tional content provided one of the great thrills of the past. the Pageant. As time moves on so knowledge grows by swift degrees.
In Zulu's liquid cadence speaks the Book divine; See, Afric's sons take up the torch!
In work and play and service climb toward heights that shine, Young men and maids, whom changing times shall not debauch.
1936J THE PAGEANT OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS
Photographed bY Lynn Acutt THE FINAL SCENE OF ONE' HUNDRED YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA Not now the pagan darkness of the days of old Fear not that God will fail you, if your course ye run. Obscures the path, and witchcraft's murk, Your cause is His. Christ bids you, On! His pledge, the Cross. But problems new created by the lure of gold Beset all life. God us forbid the task to shirk! So finally was pictured in a grand march the educational, social, medical and religious progress Ten long years after .the little group began its of today. The Adams College staff includes in its heroic enterprise, the first convert was won at number five African B.A.'s and a fine body of Amanzimtoti. Her son was the first fully quali- young South Africans, both English and Afri- fied Bantu physician. Here the foundation of an canders, from the universities. The staff and stu- educational system was laid and has its consum- dents of Inanda Seminary sang to the memory of mation today in the High School and Training Mrs. Edwards, their founder, a song composed by College known as Adams College. Later came the an African; another group of students was led beginnings of a Native ministry, the first ordina- by Rev. John L. Dube, founder of Ohlange Insti- tion in 1870 and the completion of the first trans- tute, an offspring of the American Board Mis- lation of the Bible into Zulu in 1883. Each of sion; doctors and nurses in hospital uniform rep- these forward steps was dramatized. Especially resented the McCord Zulu Hospital in Durban charming was the primitive school conducted by and the Bridgman Memorial Hospital in J ohan- Mrs. Ireland, represented by a member of the Col- nesburg; African teachers, ministers, mechanics, lege staff, the scholars being African kiddies from builders, farmers poured from behind the rocks the kindergarten department. and trees of the African scenery passed across the field stage and gradually massed under the VI three flags, the Union Jack, the Stars and Stripes and the flag of the Union of South Africa. Sud- Is there above the chaos of the clash of race denly high up behind the central platform rose a A rainbow gleam? Shall there be light? glowing silver cross. The whole great company turned to face this emblem of the Divine Sav- M'ay black men toward achievement dare to set their face? iour, and raising the right hand toward it in Is there a goal? Doth God behold their wicked plight? token of reconsecration, broke into singing: So sure as from the formless void of earth and sky When I survey the wondrous Cross Was born a world and time began, On which the Prince of Glory died, , Creation's spirit brooding still doth doubt defy, My richest gain I count but loss New worlds are born. Love shaU prevail. God dwells And pour contempt on all my pride. with man.
Turn ye not back, 0 dusky children of the land of sun, Be not dismayed, though tempests toss;
The crowds walked slowly up the hill, talking of striking scenes and bearing in large type as its enthusiastically of what they had seen and heard heading, in this dramatic review of the hundred years.' "Youth Saw a Vision and the Dream Durban's chief newspaper next day carried a full account of the Pageant illustrated by photographs Came True."
Memories of Forty Years in Africa By ROWLAND V. BINGHAM, Toronto, Canada General Director of the Sudan Interior Mission I T WAS true when we sailed for Africa in 1893 have hundreds of thousands of students ever that inside of a line one hundred miles from learning to read, with always one book, the Bible. the coast there, were not nearly one hundred The Bible Society's greatest triumph has been in mission stations, except in civilized South Africa. Africa. Today there are, we think, 1,900 mission stations manned by white workers, with thousands of sta- Once more, long years ago, we prayed that God tions held by native pastors and teachers, well would open up Africa. Missionaries and traders trained and well taught, inside that same line, settled on the coast and died in its malarial while the few hundred converts in that area have swamps and along the river courses. The interior multiplied into the hundreds of thousands. was inaccessible. Livingstone spent his life in fulfilling his vow, "I will open up Central Africa Inside that hundred mile line from the coast, to the Gospel or die in the attempt." He did both again with the exception of the South African magnificently. But it took Stanley two years to Colonies, hardly a square foot of territory was find Livingstone. Today rail and motor roads held or controlled by white powers. Sin and are being extended everywhere – and fleets of slavery held the millions of its peoples. Today boats navigate the great rivers. Air stations, too, that whole vast continent is governed by civilized are being prepared everywhere and planes cover powers bringing in law and order and banishing the continent in a few days. The Sahara itself is cruel customs and the desolating slave traffic. being crossed by great highways. It took the writer and his companions twelve months in 1893 Again forty years ago, apart from that coast to cover a distance of eight hundred miles from strip, illiteracy universally prevailed. A few the coast and his two companions both succumbed Moslem mallams or teachers could understand the at the end of the journey and found lonely graves. Arabic script in parts of the Sudan, but literature Six years ago, we covered the same trail in a was almost nil. Into the polyglot tongues of Africa couple of days, and crossed the whole continent the Scriptures had been rendered into but few, in six months; in the whole journey which inand there was no one to read. Including the col- volved ten thousand miles, we held conferences onies of South Africa there were then 21 lan- in quite a number of centres of from two to ten guages that had the whole Bible, and a beginning days each. Africa is opened up everywhere today. had been made in 54 more. Today the whole Bible has been rendered into six additional tongues and Then, too, we used to urge people to pray, as portions of Scripture have been translated into for a forlorn hope, that the day might come when 185 more languages. It can be said today that a chain of stations might be formed right across at least three-fourths of the people of Africa have the continent. Two or three such chains are well some portion of the Word of God in their own nigh complete. We think we could motor a party language. Moreover, the curse of Babel which right across Africa today at its widest part, and rested so heavily upon Africa is rapidly being re- arrange to-stop at a mission station almost every moved. The opening of great roads across the night and many a day secure our noon meals at continent is leading to the widespread use of the still other stations. There are a few bare spots, outstanding trade languages and the rising gen- but mis1sions are moving into these unoccupied eration will be reached by less than a dozen great areas, while extending the Gospel testimony tongues, with all the African literati speaking at around every occupied station. least one European language. Mission schools Let us come to our own special field, the Sudan.
MEMORIES OF FORTY YEARS IN AFRICA
In 1893, we could point to its vast areas and its the complaining prophet is a good answer to these 50 millions of people as the largest totally un- pessimists of our day. God's reply to him was: evangelized field of the world. Not a missionary occupied a territory much larger than India. "Behold ye among the heathen, (nations) and look, and wonder YfYUl,rvellously: for I am working Today in the three sections, Egyptian or a work in your days, which ye will not believe Eastern, Central now called Northern Nigeria, though it be told you." Hab. 1: 5, R. V. and the Western or French Sudan there are fifteen to twenty different societies at work. Our God is working that work in Africa today. No own Society, the Sudan Interior Mission, has one can heed that double exhortation, behold! nearly two hundred missionaries at work on forty look! with eyes toward the land known as the different stations with scores of outstations. We Dark Continent only 40 years ago, and not "wonhave in our own work there taken part in render- der marvellously." ing the Scriptures into fifteen languages, and on our Niger Press have printed portions of the CASTING OUT DEMONS IN SIAM* Word of God in forty different tongues for the By ALBERT SEIGLE various societies. Mr. and Mrs. Si T'o and their young child, after weeks Out from the lowest depths of savagery and sin of preparation for baptism, were received into the Chinese we have seen the power of the Gospel operative church in Bangkok. Several months passed, during which until thousands have been gathered into the fold time these "new born babes in Christ" were faithful in of Christ, and scores of little churches have been church attendance. The Christian workers and friends formed. While it is true that in this central have been faithful in their visitation and prayer with Sudan area there are millions yet who have not them in their home. heard the Gospel there are very few large tribes in which a beginning has not been made of Chris- A few weeks ago, after the regular Sunday morning tian testimony. The large Moslem provinces from service, it was told that Mrs. Si T'o was being troubled which missionaries were so long excluded are now by an evil spirit. After consulting with the worried husbeing entered. The six cooperating Societies in band it was decided to have a special prayer meeting at that sphere have only to keep up the active ad- their home. Armed with the Word of God, and going in vance of the past ten years for another ten to the name and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, a group ensure full occupancy of the whole of this terri- set out to see what could be done. tory. If three or four of the major societies of this Sudan area could be brought together, a Upon arrival four or five friends Lnd neighbors were comprehensive plan could be prepared for the present; two women sat with Mrs. Si T'o inside the one evangelization of the whole Sudan in another ten tiny room of the house. The husband and his friends sat years which would be both reasonable and prac- with the pastor and elders under a small lean-to just ticable with no greater faith than they have al- before the door. ready exercised, and no greater difficulties than have already been overcome. The service began with prayer followed by a hymn on the "Precious Name of Jesus." There were other prayers May we conclude with another great African and hymns and finally the Chinese pastor read a few field-Ethiopia. Our Sudan Interior Mission en- verses from the First Epistle of John, and gave a short tered this great mountain country only eight years exposition. Up until this time the meeting had gone along ago. The United Presbyterians and two Swedish smoothly, but as the pastor began to explain the Scripsocieties were there before us. But during the tures, Mrs. Si T'o–who was seated just inside the dooreight years of our occupancy we have seen more way-began to shake violently and mutter something to advance there than in twenty years of our earlier herself. The pastor was finally compelled to stop as the work. Even in the six years of depression our woman's voice grew louder and louder with every word work has gone steadily forward, our four stations of explanation. Two non-Christian friends took hold of increasing to fourteen, our missionary force there Mrs. Si T'o's arm, and in the language of the various from fourteen to seventy-four. Even since this Christian workers, she was urged to simply trust in Jesus terrible war began Gospel ministry has gone for- Christ and in His power. ward unceasingly. Had Italy left Haile Selassie alone in his sovereignty, we believe a very few During her raving this phrase was caught. "I can live years would see that great mountain Kingdom an here no longer. I want to go back to China." Some inevangelized field. terpreted this to mean that the evil spirit was saying, "Since Jesus came to live in this house I have been un- There are people at home who say that the days happy and wish to return to China." A close friend of of great revivals are past. But they remind us the family, an elder in the church, saw a tiny piece of of the old prophet who complained that God was red paper still clinging to the door facing, where once a not answering his prayers. And God's answer to spirit paper had been pasted. This he removed imme- diately. Two or three friends then prayed and during their prayers Mrs. Si T'o grew calmer. The meeting was closed with the old hymn, "I Am Trusting, Simply Trust- ing," and a prayer of benediction, asking God's blessing to rest upon the home. By this time Mrs. Si T'o was smiling and talking in a natural way, apparently uncon- scious of what had just happened, and began serving us tea.
• From The Siam Outlook, October, 1935.
REPUBLIC'S
Nlc,&UIU.a K o n. . Cost. RIc. 2. Shenal P"n,l,mil J. Sh","" BU115h CUlana 4. Hopei 9 Dutch GUlillU. 10 Fanch GUlaR. 5- 6. Honan I). YWlftan 19. II. ECUildof 7. Shantunl 14· K'IW1 Ch-ow 20 P •• ilCu&Y IJ U(Utu&y • 14 rl~rril dl'l FUflO THE PRINCIPAL GElOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS OF THE WORLD (This map will assist the reader in l<Jcating unoccupied mi'8wn fields) [348 J
Mission Fields and
Evangelization _o..utllol==B""Y""A""L""E""X""A""ND=""ER=M=CL""E""I""SH"",=LO""n""d""o""n,=En""g""la""n""d==!.!II~- I N THIS article we will consider only the un- conditions, nomadic habits of the people, or in the evangelized populations of the mission field. sparcity of population. It can safely be said that Almost every week the World Dominion offices this complexity of geographical, political, linguisreceive enquiries regarding unoccupied mission tic and religious obstacles is greater than anyfields, and many new enterprises have had their thing that has been hitherto encountered. This, origin in the information provided. indeed, is largely why such areas are still un- It is significant also to note that one of the occupied. study groups at the fiftieth anniversary of the A brief consideration of the unoccupied areas Student Volunteer Movement at Indianapolis was devoted to this question alone. This marks a new will show the nature of these difficulties. Outer appreciation of the realities of the situation con- 111ongolia, Russian Turkestan and other Asiatic fronting the Church in the world today. Soviet Republics were always difficult of access and, owing to religious fanaticism and the no- In any study of the unfinished task of Chris- madic habits of the people, have never been occutian missions, it must be realized at the outset pied. These difficulties have been increased since that the problem is not merely one of entering the domination of the Soviet Government. unoccupied territory or reaching with the Gospel millions of individuals. The situation is much Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan, all more complicated than that. On the one hand, strongholds of Buddhism or Islam, are unoccunon-Christian systems of religion, often closely pied owing to internal political and religious obassociated with nationalism, have laid stronger stacles which, so far as organized missions are hold on masses of people so that the individual is concerned, are greater today than they have ever not free to consider the claims of Christianity, been. The native territory of Baluchistan and owing to the psychological and spiritual inhibi- most of the Native States of the Himalayas have tions which must first be overcome. On the other been unoccupied owing to their inaccessibility, hand, the task of evangelization is intimately conservatism, sparsity of populations and linguisbound up with the spiritual vitality and evan- tic difficulties. Out of the 562 States in the Ingelistic outreach of indigenous churches in neigh- dian Empire, at least five hundred have not been boring fields. In addition to the foreign mission- entered by Christian missions, and many of their ary, the groups of Christians associated with him Rajahs will not allow missionaries to live in their have become of vital significance. In many cases territories. little further can be achieved in reaching the untouched hinterlands without the effective coopera- In the Netherlands Indies, half of the 48,000,000 tion of the indigenous Christian groups. people among whom missionary work is permitted have not yet been brought into touch with any There is no easy solution to the problem; it evangelizing agency, while there are 12,000,000 will not do to simply call for more missionaries more in areas where the Government will not aland new societies, and imagine that by so doing low mission work owing to fear of political comthe call is being adequately answered. In almost plications. In view of the general missionary every case the method of approach requires very situation, the evangelization of these 36,000,000 careful study. Mere enthusiasm will not solve people devolves upon the Dutch missionary societhese unfinished tasks. The missionary strategist ties and such others as they may call to their help must be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. and who are prepared to cooperate with them. The unoccupied fields of the world today have It would be inadvisable for outside missions to generally remained so for some very definite rea- enter this field, except by invitation. son. These reasons are variously found in the opposition of governments and ancient religious Most of Africa during the last fifty years has systems, in the geographical difficulties, climatic been open to missions, but recently difficulties created by Roman Catholic Governments are rais- ing new barriers. It is clear that Italian control [349 ]
makes work by Protestant missions well-nigh im- 1,200,000 in China and 3,000,000 in India. While possible in their territory; and at the instance of China has been subject to many upheavals, India the Roman Catholic Church new restrictions are has benefited by a hundred years of peace and being placed upon Protestant missions in Spanish, order under a Christian government. In addi- Portuguese and Belgian colonies. Two-thirds of tion, while the vast majority in India are drawn Africa is under the control of Roman Catholic from the depressed classes, there has been no corpowers and the Roman Church makes full use of responding class in China, with the exception of political action, through which its opposition is 'the aboriginal peoples. The difference on closer becoming stronger every day. In the north the examination, therefore, is not quite so great as at barrier of Islam has prevented the foundation of first appears. Nevertheless, whichever way the even one strong indigenous Church. situation is viewed, the number of unevangelized peoples is very great. A liberal estimate gives the In South America the example of Mexico in pro- still unoccupied fields in China as 45 per cent of hibiting most of the activities of the foreign mis- its area. Of the 1,608 counties in the 18 provsionary, owing to the fact that the Roman Church, inces, 293 are quite unoccupied and 206 prac-· as always happens in the long run, has antago- tically so. nized the political authorities, is being followed in many republics, such as Peru, Ecuador and Vene- More than half the counties of Manchukuo are zuela. The maj or part of the interior is without also unoccupied and the population is being rapevangelical witness, and the position of foreign idly increased by Koreans and Chinese, as well missionaries is likely to become increasingly diffi- as by refugees from Soviet Russia. cult. New methods of work must be devised. While Korea records two per cent of its pop- Neglected Rural Areas ulation as connected with the Christian Church, it is obvious that the extent of the unoccupied field In addition to these regions, missionary occu- is still very great. This is specially true of the pation is very weak in the rural areas of Japan, northern areas. Yet, owing to the exceptional China and British India. In Japan nearly all the cooperation of the Korean Christians, Korea is missionaries live in 110 towns. In China there by far the most evangelized region of the Far are only 1,130 mission centres in its 400,000 towns East. and villages, and about 1,000 stations among the 672,000 towns and villages of India. In addi- Interest has usually been so centered on the action there are in the latter between 50,000 and tivities of the various missions that it is easy to 60,000 villages in which Christians are to be forget that beyond these areas are vast unreached found. On any consideration of the situation, populations. It is true, as the case of Korea however, there are large unevangelized areas in shows, that the cooperation of the native Christhese lands. A concerted effort by the missions tians has been an essential factor, yet the task is already there is called for to reach the villages of so great that all the encouragement and coopera- Japan. The Chinese, as a whole, have proved tion of foreign missionaries is essential to its difficult to reach with the Gospel. There are only completion. Further, it must be realized that in 488,539 Protestant Church members, an exces- many of the so-called occupied areas the appeal sively large proportion of whom are drawn from is being made to only one section of the popUlathe aboriginal peoples. In India the depressed tion. In some cases this is a social class, or a classes and the aboriginal peoples have provided racial or religious group. There are, therefore, over ninety per cent of the Protestant community many unoccupied fields even in occupied areas. of over three million. The challenge of the next decade is how to reach the fifty million of the de- Another complication lies in the fact that in the pressed classes, whose leader has now declared his days of greater prosperity, missions demarcated purpose to withdraw from Hinduism; and there spheres of work which in many cases they have is also the problem of the eight million aboriginals never been able to evangelize properly, and these who are rapidly being absorbed by Hinduism and extensive hinterlands are to be found in nearly Islam. every mission field today.
It may be urged that it is not fair to compare A limiting factor exists also in the presence of the difference in membership of the Church in Roman Catholic missions, which wholly monopo- China and India. The 500,000 members in China lize certain regions into which Protestant misindeed ought to be compared not with the total sions have not penetrated. Christian community as is often done, but with the actual membership of the Church in India of The problem of unoccupied regions is, however, 1,500,000. The respective Christian communities, by no means that of mere numbers of people still including adherentg and children, are probably unreached, for if the areas are examined which fall under this description, it will be seen that they are strongholds of the great historical reli- gions – BuddhiRID, Hinduism, Islam, Confucian-
UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELDS AND THEIR EVANGELIZATION
ism and Shintoism – and that the challenge is has an adequate missionary force, averaging 400 that of hard places where these religions are most to the million people, which, when compared with stronglly entrenched. Very often geographical the 17 of India, and the 18 of China, shows the difficulties are associated with these strongholds relative extent of missionary occupation. One of conservatism, and it must be recognized that factor accounting for this large ratio is the very the easier tasks have been attempted and the scattered nature of the islands and the small pop- more approachable peoples have been reached, and ulations amounting in all to only 2,000,000 people.
that it is the difficult regions and the harder prob- This, to some extent, justifies a greater occupa- lems which still remain to be faced. tion than in the compact densely populated areas Where Missionaries Are Working of Asia. In Africa, where among a very much smaller Much light is thrown upon the problem of the population than in the other great mission fields unfinished task, and how to overtake it, by con- (being in fact less than half that of either China sidering the extent of missionary occupation in or India), there is a larger number of mission- aries (7,552), giving a proportion of 50 missionthe various fields. Relatively Korea is the best occupied country aries to the million people. This is about three in the Far East where, including missionaries' times that of India. Here again this is partly· wives and single women workers there are 28 justified by the huge area of the country and its missionaries to two million people. Next comes sparse population, and by the great confusion of the Philippines with 26 to the million, then China political and linguistic groups. The easier task of proper with 18, Manchukuo with 9, the Nether- winning the pagan peoples has also attracted lands Indies with 76, and Indo-China with only 2. many missions. For example, in a few years in These ratios give a good idea of the order of need the Belgian Congo the number of missions has in regard to missionary occupation in these coun- increased from ten to forty-two. When it is noted tries, and also indicate relatively the extent of further than half of these 7,552 missionaries are in South Africa, and only 800 in the whole of the unoccupied field and the unfinished task. The occupation of India, Siam, Malaya and North Africa including Egypt, a good idea of the Burma is in each case about seventeen mission- unequal nature of the missionary occupation is aries to the million. These fields are nearly alto- obtained. gether occupied by the larger missionary societies To appreciate the nature and extent of missionof the churches of the United Kingdom and the ary occupation, each country must be studied in United States of America, and in addition, in the detail, but in general it can be said that some of case of India, of Europe and the Dominions. In the larger Boards ought long ere this to have en- India this occupation is very unequal, half the tered the Moslem areas of central and western total missionary force being found in the Madras North Africa, and an effort at least equal to that Presidency. With regard to the other three: in in Egypt should have been made in these French Siam, the maj or part of the work is in the hands and Spanish colonial territories. Many missions of the American Presbyterian Mission; in Ma- in Equatorial Africa stand in need of strengthenlaya, of the American Methodist Episcopal ing, more particularly in the French territories of Church; in Burma, of the American Baptist Mis- the West African hilnterland and French Equasion. In these countries also missionary occupa- torial Africa. For the moment it may be said tion is confined to certain areas and classes. In that the occupation of Angola, the Congo, Uganda. Siam the Buddhists in the south, and especially and Kenya is adequate. Other colonies in this round Bangkok, have proved a hard field, while region may need some reinforcement. South success has been greater in the northern regions Africa can no longer be reckoned as a mission both on the plains and in the hills. In Malaya, field. Its force of Christian workers and Church where half the population is composed of Malays members should be adequate to meet the situation. who are Moslems, practically nothing has been This remark also includes the Protectorates of done for them by missions, all the work being Swaziland, Basutoland and Bechuanaland, the carried on among the Chinese and among the Mandated Territory of Southwest Africa, and Tamil immigrants from India. In Burma much also the Rhodesias. A study of the latter area remains to be done amongst the Shans and other shows that further occupation depends upon the hill tribes, but the great problem here is the Bud- extension of the work of the present societies.
dhist Burmese, upon whom comparatively little With regard to the occupation of nominally impression has yet been made by missions. Roman Catholic countries, there is undoubtedly a The Pacific Islands are adequately occupied by great and growing demand for evangelical work- missionaries. The eastern half of these islands ers. The peculiar difficulties of work under Cath- is already fully evangelized; and the other half olic Governments are well known, and restrictions
are likely to become greater wherever, on the one This the most obvious common sense, and yet hand, the Roman Catholic Church can command it is ignored by many missions with the result political support, or on the other, governments in that dearly bought experience has to be won over revolt against Catholic influence impose antireli- again under the most unfavorable conditions, and gious laws which affect Roman Catholics and men and resources are thus being continually Protestants alike. wasted. These fields, as has been seen, are almost exclusively the last strongholds of conservatism In South America every kind of Protestant and religious bigotry, and deserve the best that work needs reinforcing, and even where mission- can be provided for their evangelization. aries, owing to anti-religious legislation, can no longer discharge the functions of pastors or edu- It is vital, therefore, that the student world cators, there are, nevertheless, other types of should hear the call to reinforce the larger miswork of a more personal and less organized na- sions. It is important to remember that the smallture open to foreigners, which may be in the long er missions, while they have made a notable run even more fruitful. Organized activities in contribution, have never been able to do work on these republics will ere long be confined exclusive- the same scale and with the same thoroughness as ly to nationals. The sooner, therefore, foreigners that of the missions of the great churches. A realize the new situation, the better it will be for comparison of results in several fields has shown the eventual evangelization of these countries. clearly how much more far-reaching have been The same is true in large measure of the Latin investments in men and resources in the larger countries of Europe. mission undertakings. Latterly, many of the mis- sion boards have found it difficult to get the best The Need for Reinforcement type of student. In Great Britain over 200 va- cancies exist for qualified people, which cannot This review shows that all the larger missions be filled. The temptation has been great to send need reinforcing in order to overtake the great out less qualified people, with the usual trail of task of building up the indigenous church within difficulties attending this policy. A very definite the area for which it can be reasonably considered challenge lies upon the student world to face the responsible, and the work of evangelizing the still call of today, and of the boards to so relate their untouched areas beyond. The multiplication of call to them that the hope of eventually entering societies, as far as possible, should cease, and unoccupied fields can once again form part of the every effort be made to strengthen the existing appeal. societies which have garnered so much valuable experience and have associated with them a con- The call, however, to reach unevangelized peosiderable indigenous Christian Church. The ob- ples is not one that concerns only the missionary ject of such reinforcements should be that more candidate. That is an extremely narrow way of and more rapidly the indigenous Christian forces looking at the problem. It depends upon the whole shall be fitted to take up the whole task of evan- impact of Christian nations upon non-Christian gelism and carry it forward to completion. While communities and upon every Christian who is in the work of the foreign missionary, more than in contact with them bearing an adequate witness, the past, must be viewed as of a temporary char- whether the connection be trade, commerce, govacter, yet under the most favorable conditions the ernment or travel. In some cases these will be maximum contribution of both mission and the only contacts possible, and this constitutes a church is vital to the success of the enterprise. demand that Christian students today should con- sider their relationship to the missionary call not This review shows further that for the most simply as that of presenting themselves to a mispart only experienced missionaries should be sion board, but as to how they themselves as asked to undertake these more difficult remaining Christians should respond to Christ's command tasks which have been described. Men of from to be witnesses to Him wherever they may be. ten to fifteen years' experience who have become acclimatized and have acquired the requisite Should the missionary appeal be presented to knowledge of customs and languages should be the Christian student from this point of view, I singled out by the mission boards and assigned to am sure it would meet with a very real and wide this work, while the new missionary should be response. From amongst the larger numbers of employed in the more settled conditions of the those who would respond to such an appeal'suffioccupied fields where he in turn may acquire the cient numbers would be found prepared to accept necessary experience to occupy later the first line specific calls by mission boards to undertake the posts. definite tasks which the foreign mission fields present.
OF THE EARLY CLASSES IN ST. CHRISTOPHER'S TRAINING
In the centre are Miss Chandler, Miss Brockway (Principal) and Miss Devasahayam (Vice-Principal). Two students are Hindus while the others are Indian .Christians. This is one of the earliest classes trained. At least eight of the above young women are now heads of gIrls' schools. Two are Inspectresses under the Department of Public Instruction. All are in educational work in places as widely separated as Travancore and Poona.
How Education Helps Indian Girls The Story of St. Christopher's 'Training College and the South Indian School Teachers –e&f By CHARLOTTE C. WYCKOFF, Chittoor, South India A Missionary of the Reformed Church in America H OW is it pQssible for an Indian woman to ing the double burden of home and school duties. teach school, bound as she is by the custom Hindu women now are eager to send their daugh- of early marriage and by close confinement ters to school. Girls of every caste throng the behind the purdah? The pioneers in India have high schools, the colleges, and the normal schools.
been Christian women who first had the oppor- Many take positions as teachers. An especially tunity to study and to train for professional interesting change is the movement to educate as service. teachers young widows who formerly would have For over fifty years Christian missions have been condemned to a life of hopeless drudgery, been sending out trained Christian women teach- with shaven heads and coarse white clothes.
ers of elementary grade to teach in Hindu and Many of these are now to be found in increasing Mohammedan as well as in Christian schools. numbers attending school and fitting themselves The progress in education for women is very for a life of service to their country as teachers, largely due to their efforts. These Christian doctors or nurses. Some even finish college and young women postponed marriage and even after become inspectresses of schools.
marriage some of them continued to teach, carry- Mohammedan women are even more backward [353 ]
than Hindus, but they too are going to school in and frequent reshaping of their theories. Teach- curtained carts to study behind closed doors, and ers must specialize as carefully as physicians, for even seek to train themselves as primary teachers. they are dealing with the mind and soul as well The masses of Hindu and Mohammedan women, as with the body of the child. They have no especially in the country, are as yet untouched by "waste paper" on which to practice. Their mis- this movement, but it is slowly spreading as mar- takes are costly, for they involve persons. We riage is postponed. cannot expect that a teacher, who is himself a Like all pioneers these teachers, whether Hindu, product of the rote-memorizing examination mill, Mohammedan or Christian, have great opportuni- and is exhausted by the daily grind of the class- ties and great difficulties. Their opportunities lie r-oom, can think out the needed changes in the along the line of working out a type of education whole system of education for a nation, without which will both attract and truly educate the the help of teachers' colleges.
masses of India's women, 98% of whom are still St. Christopher is the saint who found the illiterate. This means something far better than Christ through helping a child, and St. Christo- merely imitating the weaknesses of the boys' pher's College, which bears his name and his serv- schools which have, for the most part, stressed ice, has this as its aim. "Though there are as the passing of examinations as a means of getting many as 500 Christian secondary schools in In- Government "white-collar" jobs. It involves true dia," says the Lindsay Commission's Report, education of the most progressive sort, based on "there is in ,all India only one Christian training the culture of India, designed to develop women college of higher grade," and that one is St. Chris- who can build a new social order in this testing- topher's Training College, in Madras.
time of change. This college, like the saint whose name it bears, Some of the Difficulties has, been obliged from the beginning to wade , through torrents of difficulty. Its very existence The difficulties which these women teachers' has been threatened by one calamity after an- must undergo are due in part to the deep-rooted other. This baby-college was born in 1923, just conservatism of their own people whose reaction a year too late to profit by the great Three Mil- to the idea of higher education for girls is ex- lion Dollar Fund raised for seven women's col- pressed in the Tamil proverb: "How will educa- ,leges in the Orient. St. Christopher's had no fairy tion teach a girl to blow the fire.?" godmother at its christening. The twelve mis- If the masses of people look upon girls' schools sions that support the other two colleges for as merely convenient repositories for their too- women in South India promised to give a small wrigglesome small daughters at such hours as annual contribution.
they are not wanted at home, how then can one The Early Days expect that they will look with favor upon the idea of postponing that daughter's marriage until Miss Alice Van Doren and Miss Nora Brockshe is through high school? Indian women can- way set up housekeeping in a rented house in not conceive of the possibility of a respectable Madras in July, 1923, to provide for a small class woman's living an independent life apart from of college graduates as students. The next year her family, as a teacher must generally do. If Miss Brockway became principal, assisted by she must travel, or even walk through the streets Miss Lily Devasahayam, an experienced Indian to school, or take up her residence in a new place, graduate trained in England. Miss Van Doren she must have careful chaperonage unless she is was replaced by Miss Gertrude Chandler. Each strong enough in character and personality to re- year trained graduate teachers have been sent sist scandal and exploitation. into high schools and normal schools and super- It will not be an easy task for Indians to re- visory positions all over South India, and even make the educational system, as they alone can as far north as Lahore. The growing number of and must. Where are they to gain the breadth of students soon necessitated more bedrooms and vision and experience, the high ideals and liberal the college moved to another rented house. A conceptions of education which will fit them to whole village of palm-leaf huts was constructed accomplish this reformation? In America new upon the.. fiat, terraced roof of the old bungalow movements in education have sprung up from the that housed the college. Part of the roof was teachers' colleges where teachers receive not only screened off to serve as the chapel, which must be the techniques but the visions which lift school- the heart of a Christian college. In these huts on teaching out of its traditional ruts and make it a the roof abide the budding educationists to this force in the building of the nation. The profes- very day, although their "village" has twice been sors of these teachers' colleges have leisure and blown away by severe cyclones that swept in from means for constructive thinking, experimentation the sea.
HOW EDUCATION HELPS INDIAN GIRLS
Not only did it seem that the "stars in their St. Christopher's refused to commit suicide and, courses fought against" St. Christopher's, but on the contrary, has grown year by year in numthe Indian Department of Public Instruction as bers, prestige and influence. Its strong corp of well. In the second year of the college, grant-in- teachers has opened a new department for girls aid was nearly refused because the Government who have only completed the high school course had decided to open a women's training college of and, after two years of college life in the company its own. "We have money for land and buildings, of graduate students and staff, these younger girls a fine site by the seashore," they reported to the go out to fill important positions as teachers in twelve missions which were cooperating in the junior high schools (called Middle Schools in Insupport of St. Christopher's, and added: "Build dia) or even as heads of elementary schools. With a Christian hostel near us for your Christian stu- the graduates they tramp long distances on foot, dents, and let them attend our college." or ride by bus and tram to schools all over the city for observation and practice-teaching. These The logic of this seems at first irrefutable. makeshift arrangements involve a great deal of Why not provide Bible-teaching and other reli- waste of time and effort. This. college, like all gious education in connection with the Christian other teachers' colleges, should have its own prachostel, and avoid the expense of developing a tice school. Only lack of a few thousands of whole new institution? St. Christopher's staff dollars hinders the carrying out of a plan which and Council decided that, even without Govern- would put the college on a firm, permanent basis. ment aid, they must maintain their separate college, since students cannot get Christian educa- The faculty of St. Christopher's College contion in its best sense by adding an extraneous sists of English, Scotch, American and Indian Bible class to a purely secular course. The golden women of the highest qualifications for their. imthread of Christian faith and life must be woven portant task. Beside the five resident members, through the whole fabric of education, not put on two or three part-time lecturers come in from as an ornamental border. Unless teachers go other Madras institutions to supply the needs of forth aflame with a spirit of sacrificial service, Physical Training, Art and Indian Music. These how can they avoid the mercenary spirit which three departments should some day be developed blights the public education of so many of India's in such a way that teachers may specialize in schools? Hindus and Mohammedans themselves these fields which are neglected in Indian schools realize the disastrous effects of education divorced at present. The college also needs sufficient staff from religion, as is shown by the discussion which to meet the need of experienced teachers for "retook place at an All-India Women's Conference fresher courses," similar to the summer school held in Madras. The Christian teacher needs courses given by teachers' colleges in America. special training in the methods of Bible teaching St. Christopher's is one agency through which as well as character development. She must also this need can best be met in South India. be fitted to work in close cooperation with missionaries and must be trained gradually to take Gay young girls of St. Christopher's College, the place of foreign missionaries, by assuming laughing joyously at their games, experimenting administrative and supervisory positions. with the methods of various educationalists, seek- ing moments of quiet meditation to learn the Opportunities for Graduates secrets of Christ, the Great Teacher, too soon leave this home of loving fellowship, coil up their The young woman who goes into Government long braids and bend their backs to the burden service, as so many Christian teachers have done, of training their country's youth. If their edumay not be permitted to teach Christ directly, but cation has taught them anything, it has taught she may be, in her own personality, "the only them to "blow the fire"-to breathe upon the di- Bible that the non-Christians will read." If she vine flame that smoulders even in the heart of an comes to her work aflame with the spirit of Christ outcaste child, to cherish and nourish the flame in as her Master, with sterling character and quali- the hearts of every child who turns to them for ties of leadership, she may rise high in her pro- help, to replenish their own flame from the Difession and attain an influence impossible to the vine Source of light and power that they may teacher in a private Christian school. While some have wherewith to give. Their patient, skilful may have failed to live up to the opportunities of blowing of this fire will start a conflagration that these positions, many have won respect for them- will sweep all India! selves and their faith by the uprightness of their characters. [Further information about St. Christopher's Training College may be obtained from Mrs. F. G. Cook, 44 Garden St., Cambridge, Mass.]
of Modernism in Islam*
By JAMES E. KINNEAR, Cairo, Egypt Recently Secretary of the Nile Mission Press O WING to the impact of Western civilization, sorry to say many have dropped the custom alto- especially since the Great War, upon Mo- gether. May God forgive them, if they call them- hammedanism, a feeling has sprung up selves Moslems!" among the educated classes that the old religion The effendi was rather intrigued by the sheikh's of Islam is out of place in present world condi- outspokenness. He replied: tions. Some have discarded their religion alto- "Well, you see, I am one of those who believe gether, while others maintain that Islam should in reforming Islam. The movement for modern- be thoroughly modernized. Some idea of this "neo- izing our religion is very strong in Turkey, and Islam," against the ba'ckground of the older tra- as I can see by the newspapers here, there is a dition, may be'gained from an imaginary conver- growing feeling that certain things ought to be sation between representatives of the old and the changed to make Islam up-to-date."
new schools of thought. The sheikh looked horrified, and raised his On a journey from Suez to Cairo, across burn- hands in protest. The other went on: ing and glaring desert sands, the only other occu- "Just the other day I noticed a letter in the pant of the railway compartment was a sheikh, newspaper suggesting that the fast of Ramadan who had just returned from the pilgrimage to should be greatly modified to suit modern condi- Mecca. A third person joined us before the train tions of living. It is the sort of thing that was moved off, and the dialogue which started up be- common in the Turkish press about ten years ago.
tween this newcomer and the sheikh proved to be The gist of the argument was – and he's quite most interesting. right, of course – that the practice of fasting all The new arrival was of the effendi class and day for a month on end was not a great hardship proved to be a Turk who had spent five or six on the Arabs, who lived an easy kind of life, and years in Egypt in business, which accounted for who could afford to take the fast month more or his fluency in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. The less as a holiday. True, Mohammed (upon him sheikh, a man between thirty and forty years, be peace), made exception in the case of the sick wore the customary flowing robes of his class. and those traveling and so forth, but he made no The sheikh, who more or less continuously kept provision for those who have to go on earning up a low muttering of prayers and fingered his their living by hard labor. Think of the condi- rosary unceasingly, declined to take a cigarette tions prevailing in large cities, where many thou- when offered it by the effendi. After a time the sands get no respite from their work in Ramadan.
latter unwrapped a paper parcel containing his Think, too, of the fellah in Egypt. He has to go lunch, a small chicken, some black olives, a piece on toiling. I tell you the big fast is an intolerable of white cheese and a round flat loaf of bread. In burden to multitudes. You can't blame them for accordance with Eastern custom he pressed the throwing it up altogether."
sheikh to help himself. As he politely refused, "Surely one's obedience to Allah and His he added, "I am fasting, my good fellow. Are you Prophet comes before one's physical comfort,"
not keeping Ramadan also?" exclaimed the sheikh. "Would you dare change "Sorry," said the other. "No, I'm not keeping the decrees of the Holy Prophet which descended the fast." Then after a pause he turned to the upon Him directly from Allah?"
other smiling and said, "I'm a Turk, you know; "Another thing is this," went on the Turk, tak- and the fast of Ramadan is not nearly so strictly ing little- notice of the interruption. "The fast observed there as it used to be. I notice in Egypt was introduced at a time when the solar calendar the great majority of the people observe it." was followed, so that the fast fell at the same "Yes, I believe that is true," returned the season every year. Later the lunar year was sheikh, "but there are very many who only pre- adopted, and it seems that the Prophet overlooked tend to keep it, eating food on the sly. And, I'm the fact that the fast would then frequently fall in the hot summer months when long days are an * From Blessed Be Egypt, April, 1936. undue hardship to all the Believers."
[356 ] The sheikh's astonishment and horror knew no Moslems would have to spend the whole day in bounds. "What," he cried, "you would charge the saying fifty prayers!" Holy Prophet, who was none other than the mouthpiece of God, with falling into error, as At this both laughed; even the sheikh saw the though he were like any common man? Why, point. the very pillars of religion are being undermined! What next will you modernists be doing? It's "Yes," he said, "there is a danger if we get nothing short of heresy, rank heresy, this sort of away from the simplicity of the Koran. As long thing. . . . " as we stick to the Blessed Book we shall keep to the straight path. But I must say I don't like The effendi tried to calm him, saying: what you've done in Turkey, translating the glo- rious Arabic of the angel Gabriel into another "Surely you know that there is a strong school language in which Allah never spoke to men." of thought amongst Moslems these days which does not accept the traditional view of the "That's just where we modernists differ. What Prophet. It is one thing to believe the Holy we say is, if you want Islam to propagate itself Koran, but, believe me, it is another thing to ac- among the unbelievers you must remove every encept all the traditions of the early followers, even cumbrance from it. .If we insist that the Koran though they are classed as genuine. Take that be kept in Arabic the knowledge of it will never absurd story found in Sahib Bukhari's works, for spread to any degree. True, the eloquence of the instance, a masterpiece of untruth and stupidity. Arabic can never be reproduced in another lan- The Koran tells of Mohammed being taken to the guage, but surely the contents of the book are more Holy City only at night, and later adds that it was important than its eloquence." in a dream. So there was no possibility of a miracle, you see? But these zealous traditionists "That may be so, but if I can believe what I take Mohammed to the Seventh Heaven, write hear, you don't stop at that. You even find fault down a voluminous account of his voyage, and with the text of the Koran itself. What on earth claim that Mohammed himself related all these are we coming to?" things. In short, they make the Prophet a liar, and introduce a lot of unnecessary miraculous "Well, you know," the effendi tried to assure stuff that only makes our religion a laughing him, adopting a quiet and deliberate manner, "the stock in the eyes of Westerners." Koran of course contains the very essence of re- ligion, the religion, but the great message which' "But what is to prevent God having taken the the Prophet came to deliver can be expressed in Prophet to heaven?" asked the sheikh rather a few lines-the true principles of religion. Mohotly. "Did he not condescend to work many and hammed considered these basic principles enough divers miracles at the hand of Mohammed? So for Islam and did not deem it necessary to teach why should it be thought incredible. . . ." all the other verses of the Koran. Some verses have nothing to do with religion; they simply "Miracles?" interrupted the effendi. "Who at- echo the trouble that arose over certain matters. tributes miracles to Mohammed? That is more There was no reason why the whole Moslem comof the traditional overloading of the simple truth. munity should know these – husband-and-wife Do you still hold to that sOlt of thing? Why quarrels, jealousies, improprieties and so forth. don't you read an up-to-date life of Mohammed It seems that Mohammed himself did not give to like that recently published by Haekal Bey? Any the whole of the Koran the importance accorded mention of miracles in that? Of course not. And to it later on." Into the sheikh's scandalized ears further, what about the origin of the obligatory he poured the doctrine that "We must learn to prayer five times a day? You know what these differentiate between the important and the unold traditionists say about that, don't you? How important verses." Mohammed, after receiving commandments directly from God, at his ascent into heaven, met As the sheikh, with upraised hands, could only Moses on the way back. Moses, like one of the utter a deprecatory "Allah!" the effendi continued present-day reporters, interviews the Prophet and to propound his doctrine. "We need to revise the when he hears that Moslems 'have consented to old revelation, you see. Nothing short of it. If burden his people with fifty prayers a day, tells Islam is going to survive, we must cease to be him that they will refuse to bear such a burden, sticklers for many of its external forms. They and that he should go back and get a discount. are relatively unimportant." Mohammed went and returned, but with insufficient discount, and Moses obliges him to go back "Yes," the sheikh cut in, "you're even proposing several times more, until the matter boils down to do away with Friday as the day of rest in Turto five prayers a day. So, had it not been for the key, I see. . . ." prudence and bargaining skill of Moses, today "Of "Course. And there are plenty in Egypt too who think the same way and act on it. Trade is so fully developed with Westerners living in Mos- lem lands these days. You can't lose two days in
the week, both Friday and Sunday. It won't be fare and killing, for men to marry five or six long before Sunday is officially adopted in Turkey wives. Men were relatively scarce then. But as the weekly holiday. The Government offices in such doctrine is out-of-date. I would go so far as Egypt are practically the only places that close to advocate the passing of a law forbidding plural down on Friday now." marriages. . . . No woman can be true to a man married to another wife if she knows that he is "There seems to be a mad rush to copy thesE' deceiving and betraying her. If she had the power Europeans. They've come here and disturbed she would condemn him to death. How can a man everything. . . . " and woman live together in insincerity? You can respect no woman as your wife unless you know While the sheikh was delivering himself in this her to be sincere. Otherwise it were better to strain, reiterating his sentiments somewhat mo- leave her at once. . . . The duty of the Egyptian notonously, I thought it time to offer my contri- woman is to work through Feminist Societies to bution to the discussion. The chance was too good pass a law which will forbid plurality of wives, to miss. except in times of war. Representations should be made to the king, to ministers and public "Excuse me," I said, "here's something worth bodies. She should not alienate the right to enjoy reading." I handed to the effendi my copy of her husband's love exclusively without sharing Al-Ahram, a Cairo Arabic daily, pointing out a him with other wives." letter which occupied the best of a column. "Read that to your friend." "The times are sadly out of joint indeed," cried the sheikh, and went on to develop the sad theme He took it and read: "I was much surprised at in no uncertain language. But his tirade was soon your paper for favoring plurality of wives, for I cut short by our arrival at the noisy railway stalittle thought you would defend such retrograde tion of the metropolis. custom, which, God knows, is not consistent with the times in which we live. It may have been natural in the old days when there was so much war- A Moslem Seeker Who Found God By REV. L. BEVAN JONES, Lahore, Punjab 1I )8- Principal of the Henry Martyn School of Islamics I HARD and unpromising though the soil of of this unique person, was met one day in dra- most Moslem hearts appears to be, we yet matic fashion. Happening to mention his wish have reason every now and then to thank in the house of a Moslem, formerly a missionary's God and take fresh courage because of evidence servant, the latter tossed a copy to him as though glad to be rid of it. Alim-ud-din received it as a that the Gospel of His grace works with saving very gift from God. He now began a diligent study of the Scriptures, and the more he read the power in these hearts also. ~ more convinced he became that in Christ, and not in Mohammed, is God's way of salvation for sin- One such seeker after God, who found Him, is ful men.
old man Alim-ud-din ("learned in the faith"), In his own community he was a well-to-do ta- lugdar (landowner), and yet withal singularly now passed to his reward. humble in spirit. But though his home was in a village on the outskirts of Dacea, it was long be- Always of a devout and inquiring turn of mind fore he made contact with the missionarie,s who lived there. One day he stopped in a street to this man had, while still quite young, read listen to the preaching" and something said by one of the missionaries was God's word that found through the Arabic Koran a number of times. In lodgment in his heart. Alim-ud-din was then over fifty years of age. this and certain devotional books of the Moslems Now, Bible in hand, he would debate the claims he had been arrested by significant remarks con- of Christ with local Moslem leaders. He used to cerning Christ. Incredible though it may sound, to Him are there given titles and tributes higher than anything accorded to Mohammed. Conclud- ing that Jesus is, in some special way, supremely worthy, Alim-ud-din formed the habit of reciting the'se tributes, in the Mosque itself, instead of the usual 'liturgical prayers.
His longing to secure a Bible, and so learn more
A MOSLEM SEEKER WHO FOUND GOD
speak of one occasion in particular, when to his concern to pass on to others the message of God's consternation he found assembled at the rendez- Salvation through Christ. He came for copies of vous a great concourse of people who were there the Gospel and Christian literature that he might to give support to their "doctors of the law." His give these away, or read them aloud to others. In courage quite failed him and, to his shame, he his own way he became an evangelist, witnessing crept away without saying a word on behalf of fearlessly for Christ among his own people. Christ. Frequently he would seize one's hand in both Years passed by and then, overcoming his shy- of his and, with a rare smile on his dear old face, ness, he accosted one of the mission evangelists would exclaim: "How can I thank you enough for and was brought by him to the present writer. the ratna (jewel; i. e., Jesus) you have brought By this time he had read the Gospels to such good to me!" God's Spirit had quickened the seed. purpose that he could repeat from memory many sayings of Jesus. While to us he seemed ready TWO MOSLEM CONVERTS AND DR. ZWEMER for baptism he himself, for some reason, held Alim-ud-din and Musharraf in India in 1927 back. And then one morning he came with grave face to tell of a dream in which he had seen the When God called him Home the evangelist, Christ. "And now," he said, "I dare not die with Peter Sircar, wrote saying: "I am not grieved my faith in Him unconfessed. I have no faith about his death, because he is now with Jesus on whatsoever in Mohammed. He himself was a whose account he had for so long borne reviling sinner. I am a sinner and I want peace, the peace abuse and neglect at the hands of his own people." that Christ gives, before I die." But in the end those very people were constrained to bear this testimony: "He was a most trust- At his baptism he was given for his encourage- worthy and God-fearing man; we shall never see ment the text: "If God be for us, who can be His like again in this village." It is fitting, thereagainst us?" Trouble quickly followed, and his fore, that the epitaph on his tombstone in the vilfoes proved to be those of his own household. His lage should take the form of a witness to others wife, his only son, and the neighbors rose up to of his great quest and still greater discovery: persecute him. Maulois ("doctors of the law") came, and with cunning assured him that he could ALIM-UD-DIN, a devout and humble seeker after truth, maintain his devotion to Christ within the fold of Who, guided by the witness of the Quran, Islam; so why not return and cease to be a cause Searched the Christian Scriptures and found Jesus, of grief to them all? As a result of their argu- The Way, the Truth, and the Life. ments Alim-ud-din recanted.
It was a distressing experience to go to the old man's home and show him what his apostasy must mean to God. We vowed that we would pray that God might cause him such pain at the thought of it that he would cry out for mercy. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as we left.
He was at length convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit and later returned to us, with a grievous burden on his soul. Had he not, he asked, committed the unpardonable offence? How, then, could God forgive him? Many were the talks we had, but he was not easily persuaded that great as was his sin, God's grace is greater still. Nevertheless, reassurance and relief came, and it was a happy day for us all! One after another of the deacons of the church pleaded for him in prayer to God that he might enter fully into the joy of forgiveness.
Once again persecution followed, and Alim-uddin prepared for the day when he might have to go forth as an exile from his own home. But in the mercy of God that necessity did not arise. He lived down the opposition and by his transparent goodness and meekness actually won the admiration and esteem of his Moslem neighbors.
In place of the old timidity he developed a new
Limko Christians of
By the REV. PAUL C. MELROSE, I Los Angeles, California 1'- ~==========================~ "FOREIGN Teacher, I have no money and only and made it a communistic center. In a few days these two hands to work with, but I wish to the tide turned, however; loyalists drove out the enter your school." Reds and the church was again occupied by the The principal of the mission school for boys at Christians. The next year they bought a new Nodoa, Hainan, looked at the Limko lad, Fu Vun piece of land and, after self-sacrificing effort, Khai, and said: built a fine new chapel.
"How can I receive you when the school is full Soon after the dedication, Pastor Fu stated that and I cannot provide work for another one?" a new building was needed at the main Limko center at Hou-Iang. Their present building had "Yes, Teacher," said the boy, "but I just must been in use not more than ten years but even for come to school." ordinary services was now inadequate. The mis- The principal capitulated. "Take off your sion decided to work for a new evangelistic center coat," he replied, "and help me with this black- on a fifty-fifty basis, the Limko church promising smithing." $2,000 and the missionaries agreeing to ask So began the training of Pastor Fu of the friends at home for the same amount.
Limkos of Hainan, who now preaches to one of If Pastor Fu had been able to foresee the future the largest congregations on the island. he might ;well have hesitated. The first great ob- Who are the Limkos? We Americans are apt ' stacIe was famine. For three seasons the rains to think of every other nation a!'l l}aving only one failed and the rice rose in price until the poor language. This is far from true in China. In Limkos could not afford to buy. They made sweet the Island of Hainan, the mass of Chinese speak potatoes (known in Hainan as the "bread of povthe Hainanese dialect with variations, but in the erty") the staple of diet. Then war came and interior we find aboriginal tribes which retain brought ruin in its train. The communists forti- their distinctive dress and customs, and their own fied a near-by village and made that their headlanguage. There are "tame" aborigines such as quarters until government troops dislodged them. the Kheng-toa, Limko and Damtsiu Lois. In the After the battle the village of one thousand homes mountain regions there are also "wild" aborigines was obliterated and the inhabitants were either such as the Mia,us and Lois. Colonies of Kakkas killed, captured or scattered. Nearly one hundred and Cantonese live near Nodoa. The Limkos are destitute Christians found refuge in the chapel.
found in a district fifty miles and more west of Pastor Fu fed them as long as he could and then Hainan's one treaty-port, Hoihow. In ancient appealed to the mission for help. But during all times this tribe probably drifted over from the this period the Limkos never lost sight of the goal. mainland of Asia, since their language has much The money was pledged and paid in. A beautiful in common with that of the Laos of Siam. Less new site was purchased, temporary quarters were than a generation ago the Limkos first heard the erected, a well dug, bricks purchased, and the Gospel and since then they have come into the walls went up. Meanwhile the American friends Christian Church in increasing numbers. Isaiah's had not been idle. The family of the late Wm. word may well be applied to them: "A little one J. Leverett provided $1,000 and the new chapel shall become a thousand and a small one a strong was named the Leverett Memorial Chapel. In nation." October, 1931, the new house of worship was dedi- cated, with a brief address by the Nodoa pastor, During the dark days of 1926-2'7 the Limko Rev. Li, and the prayer by Pastor Fu. Christians at Notia were subjected to bitter per- secution. Anti-Christian papers were pasted on Later word from the field tells of the organizathe chapel walls; efforts were made to prevent tion of another Limko church at the district city. meetings for worship; the townspeople said it This new group of about two hundred members was time to "take back" the chapel property, and is an offshoot of Pastor Fu's organization, and a leading communist openly used the chapel for a plans to call a pastor. The Limkos of Hainan are primary school. Finally the Reds seized the town coming into the Kingdom.
[360 ] By PAUL W. HARRISON, M.D., Muscat, Arabia Missionary of the Reformed Church in America THE Iraq Government is building a modern Christ and His teachings and principles. He plant for its medical school in Baghdad. The needs to know the philosophical principles and day for medical and educational missionary technique for embodying those principles in actual work in that country has passed, as. it is passing life. He needs to know how to live as a follower in the whole Near East. There will be a time of of Christ in this confused modern jungle, and he transition but eventually the New Iraq will not needs to know how outsiders can enter and begin need medical missionaries, just as Japan does not to live as Christians. now. How do men enter the Kingdom of God? By a Unfortunately there will probably not be as miracle which God works in their hearts, always.
many of these years of transition as would be for Lacking that miracle, any results that we may the country's good. Missionary schools and hos- think we see are futile and temporary things. pitals could make a genuine contribution for a We have been sent out to cooperate with God long time to come, but the tide of nationalism rises in that process. He has made us His indispensable higher and higher and apparently the government partners. Our commission is to "make disciples." is ready to dispense with all foreign contributions. If making disciples is fundamentally working in Recent legislation in Iran did not regulate pri- cooperation with God to accomplish a miracle, then mary mission education. rt was abolished, and on obviously the one matter of real importance is to all sides we hear the assurance that higher edu- discover how God wants this done, and then to cation is soon to walk the same plank. In that cooperate with Him as reverently and as diligently country, too, it is more and more difficult for any as we can. Our success will depend on how well outsider to secure permission to practice medicine. our efforts please Him, and not on anything else.
rt has been a matter of great surprise and pro- But can we discover how God wishes to work? found thankfulness that along with this deter- We can at least find out how He has worked bemined effort to eliminate missionary schools and fore. In Arabia we have now earnest Christians missionary hospitals has come an increased who have been called out of darkness into light, friendliness toward evangelistic work. In this and from the power of Satan unto God. How did new era Christ apparently finds His way into the they come to hear God's voice and follow Christ. human heart more easily when unincumbered by institutions. Iran reports scenes of genuine re- Some came because God prepared their hearts, vival power. Even in Arabia the Church of Christ prepared them so completely, that one might alis emerging, and blessing is attending our evan- most imagine an animated phonograph had delivgelistic work such as we have not seen before. ered a sufficient message. Dr. Dame made a trip to the Pirate coast, and Christ's message was These are significant changes. We have been given as widely and as well as the circumstances accustomed to think of missionaries as carrying of such a tour make possible. At the best such a Christ's message to men and women who are presentation is meager and unsatisfactory. But bound hand and foot by ignorance, and are vic- a man was there whose heart God had touched, tims of every disease. Medical and educational and this meager glimpse of the Gospel was enough work found their justification in the needs of the to lead him to respond with all his soul. He fol- infant church and in the needs of the surrounding lowed Dr. Dame to Bahrain where he was further community. But now the State cares for the sick instructed and eventually he went to Busrah for and teaches the ignorant, while we present Christ training in Christian school. His loyalty to Christ to men of intelligence and education, citizens of has never wavered. He is one of the deepest and the world of thought and ideas. most earnest of all Christ's men in Arabia today, That means many things. rt means that, where- a pillar in His Church. The occasional finding of such men is One of the fundamental reasons for as it was important once for the missionary to be tours throughout our field. Such men God prea profound student of the religion of the people to whom he was sent, it is important now that he pares. All the missionary does is to discover be intimately and profoundly acquainted with them.
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Another such man, prepared by God's own the regular Sunday services and attending the Spirit, came to Christ with all his heart when the daily morning prayers for the hospital staff. How only message that he could receive was what he many hundred times he listened to the presenta- saw in the missionary's life. The missionary in tion of the Gospel before his own heart began to this case is a very considerable linguist, one of our open its windows toward Jerusalem, it would be best. He commands with ease three European interesting to know. From the first he was faith- languages, besides being an authority in Arabic, ful in his work, and an interested listener, but but he knew no Beluchi at all, and Sheero knew comprehension came slowly, and words falling on nothing else. He was merely one of a construction a puzzled and uncomprehending heart fall "by the gang, which the missionary employed in building wayside, and the birds come and devour them."
a new hospital. That would seem a hopeless sit- But eventually Noobie's eyes lighted up with a uation, but nothing can defeat the Spirit of God new light, and there was joy in the presence of when He moves men, and for depth of surrender the angels ()f God when he was baptized a few to Christ and joy in His service, we have not seen weeks ago.
Sheero's experience surpassed. Sheero eventually Feddag came in the same way, except that he learned some Arabic and the missionary some was in a mission school where a lesson in Christ's Beluchi, so that now he has had the message teaching and example and work is part of every through the ear as well as through the eye. With- day's assignment. It was not an understanding in the past few weeks he has been baptized. of the mind for which he waited. Doubtless he Such an experience, with God's hand unmis- had that from the first day. Far more difficult takably evident, is a great reinforcement to the is the understanding which makes loyalty to missionary's faith, but it is not a common experi- Christ harmonize with our love for our mother, ence. Most men need to have the message pre- for our companions, and for our country, which sented a hundred times before they enter the makes Christ's loveliness the crown of every other Kingdom. That does not mean that they are lovely thing that the soul has ever seen. That given a different message. Our message comes understanding is a much deeper thing, and some- from God and it is the one thing that we cannot times it is slow to come. That is perhaps the rea- change. It does not even mean that a different son why the educated man must travel a much aspect of the message is presented first, or that longer road before he arrives at Christ's feet than emphasis is shifted from one point to another. his ignorant neighbor, and why the intense pa- It does not mean that these more ordinary ex- triot often has the longest and hardest road of all.
periences of conversion come after the missionary In the West many have opened their unwilling has persuaded the listener to accept the message. souls in surrender to Christ only when failure and Persuading men to accept Christ has been very sin have broken their self-confidence and pride.
prominently in the minds and the methods of In the shame of a broken self-esteem men find evangelists at home. Finney, for instance, has a their way to God. That is true in Arabia too.
good deal to say about it. But in a country such Zaharah was born to lead, and she has done so.
as Arabia, I doubt if any missionary has ever With her help, her husband has been acknowl- persuaded a man to accept Christ. The neces- edged chief of a notable clan of brothers. But sary thing is to get them to understand the Gos- wrapped in the same bundle with leadership was pel. The message is the same and doubtless no a furious temper. Her outbursts made her feared man is going to leave his past life to accept and by the whole community. The insult of a partner follow Christ except as God prepares His heart wife made her worse and she became a community for that decision. But the number of men who spectacle.
are ready to accept Christ is perhaps not so small One day a particularly vicious outburst left her as we think. With rare exceptions, men do not sitting broken and weeping in the path that led to readily understand the message, and even if we the missionary's house. All that he could offer speak with the tongues of men and of angels, the her was Christ's hand to lead her out of her dis- situation is not greatly helped. An infinite amount grace and sin and make her free. That was all; of repetition will do much to make the message and no more was needed for she was ready, and intelligible and I know of nothing else that will. Christ always is. Perhaps no other of all those Once understood, it will of itself persuade. chosen to be Christ's pioneers in Arabia has the Noobie was stolen from Beluchistan as a mere endowment and the potentiality of this woman.
baby, brought to Arabia and sold as a slave. As God is working in power through the groups a slave he grew up, and as an adult he suc- of Christians who have made their contribution ceeded in running away and securing his freedom. to our own lives. But it has not been easy to Ire came to do the cleaner's work in the mission transfer the lesson of these groups to the mission hospital, and was with us two years, listening to field. In Arabia the necessary background seems
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND PEACE IN THE PACIFIC
lacking, and doubtless also imagination and flexi- dream or a sign to confirm it. She did not follow bility on our part. Recently the Oxford Group till she had the dream. Nor was it much of a came to Muscat, with both its message and its dream as we might estlmate such things. She saw method. Our best hospital helper had steadily the missionary and his wife in a garden. The held aloof from Christ. He had been associated most irrepressible psychiatrist would have diffiwith the hospital for thirteen years, and was de- culty in making much of that, nor would the misvoted to his work, and loyal to us personally, but sionary claim much for it either. But it constistill a Mohammedan. Like most Mohammedans tuted the evidence that she needed, and she swung his matrimonial course had been marred by un- her heart wide open to Chrst; the glory of God happiness and divorce, though in it were also in the face of Jesus Christ has shone in her life areas of real love and companionship. One night ever since. we were led to share with him some of our own experiences of loneliness and trouble. Christ's We have seen children come, led by their parhand had been there in the darkness for one of us, ents, and wives led by their husbands. Men and and that night the other put his hand out too, for women come to God as a result of very different Christ to grasp that he might be led and ruled human contributions but always because, by some and saved. Through persecution and hardship, human agent, the message of the Gospel is preweariness and temptation, his loyalty has never sented, and is made understandable; then by the wavered since. There is no reason for being sur- Divine Spirit they are brought to surrender themprised that witnessing to God's power is so val- selves to Christ whom that message reveals. Nor uable a means for reaching men's hearts. The is that the whole story. It is only the beginning Gospel had been presented to Mobarrek literally and the missionary's responsibility for the first thousands of times, but that night for the first feeble steps of these infants, and for their sound time he understood what it was that Christ and genuine growth in Christ, is very great. wanted to give him. There are mistakes and stumbling and backsliding and repentance, and so there will be until Christ's Urn Miriam, she of the shining face, how did Church, under His guidance, comes to be a glorishe come? A dream brought her. The message ous church "without spot or wrinkle or any such she had heard, and without doubt had understood thing." But the reign of Christ in Arabia has it as far as superficial understanding goes, but she begun, and He shall reign until He has put every was not sure that it was true and she asked for a enemy under His feet, forever and ever.
Christian Missions and Peace in the Pacific By KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE, Ph.D., New Haven, Connecticut Professor of Missions and Oriental History at Yale University W HAT can the forces of Protestant mis- to the teeming peoples of the Far East. Some are sions do to insure peace in the Pacific? derived from the political weakness of China. By themselves they cannot hope to main- Others stem from the destruction of the former tain it. They may, however, by throwing their balance of power which once somewhat shakily weight on that side, help to determine whether supported the peace of the East of Asia. Whatthe future is to be one of peace or war. ever the reasons, they are not such as to permit us to center the responsibility upon anyone power. Not since the Russo-:Japanese War have we had Yet they are making for a rising threat of hosformal belligerency which has centered in the tilities. The growing resentment of the Chinese Far East. For the past few years, however, we and the clear purpose of the Japanese may at any have been watching an expanding Japan whose moment break out into open and declared war. activities are disturbing the uneasy equilibrium. The danger of another Russo-Japanese conflict The reasons for that expansion are multiform. varies in acuteness, but seems to be increasing. Some of them lie in the rapid growth of the pop- The traditional Open Door policy, if adhered to ulation of the Island Empire. Some of them are and insisted upon, may at any time embroil the to be found in the rapid industrialization of the United States past the possibility of peaceable country. Others are to be sought in the lack of extrication. Japan does not wish to fight the outlet and the preemption by the white races of United States, but if the United States, in support most of the sparsely occupied lands and the of the Open Door policy, appears to Japan to be markets and raw materials of the world, and in seriously interfering with her Continental prothe unwillingness of the possessors to open these
gram, she may resort to arms. Any of these wars ligible. In Korea and the Philippines the memwould involve great loss of treasure and of life, bership of the Protestant churches constitute at with untold suffering for millions. They would most less than one per cent of the population. In but further upset the equilibrium and sow the China it is only about one-tenth of one per cent, and in Japan perhaps a third of one per cent. To seeds of future wars. . be sure, these groups exert an influence out of all To this menace the missionary forces cannot be proportion to their size. One of the most remark- able features of the Protestant movement in the. indifferent. Any of these conflicts would breed Far East is the large numbers of those who have more hate and add to the toll of the world's suffer- been touched by it who have had an outstanding ing. Any of them could not fail seriously to place in shaping the policy and the life of their jeopardize the cause of Christ on both sides of respective countries. We are living in a day in the Pacific. Especially would the churches of which we have seen demonstrated again and again Japan, China, Korea, and the Philippines, numer- the power of a small but determined minority ically small as they are, be placed in the gravest which knows what it wishes and sets out to attain peril. it. Could not the Protestant minorities in the Far East unite and succeed in inducing their gov- Must the missionary forces stand helplessly by? ernments to maintain the peace? On the Amer- Is there nothing which they can do to stem the ican side of the Pacific, moreover, the Protestant tide? forces are numerically much stronger and are in a position to bring pressure on their government As a result of missions, organized Protestant and to shape public opinion. Yet we need to re- Christianity has at hand assets which should be member that even in the United States those who of help in averting war. As the fruit of missions, have more than a nominal connection with the home and foreign, of the past century and more, Church are decidedly in the minority. churches have arisen on the American shores of the Pacific and in Japan, China, and the Philip- The Lack of an International Outlook pines-all of the bordering lands most vitally concerned except Russia. The great majority of In the second place, we must recall the lack of Protestant missionaries in the Far East are from international outlook in the great majority of the United States. Ties between these Protestant church members, whether west or east of the Christian bodies have been maintained by the con- Pacific. Theoretically they should have it. In stant flow of missionaries westward and by mem- practice most of them do not. More than most bers of Far Eastern churches who have studied nonchurch members, they are somewhat predisin the United States or have come on errands on posed to view other peoples with sympathetic behalf of these groups. In the course of the past understanding. As we shall remind ourselves in forty years organizational machinery has been a moment, many encouraging movements for developed which is knitting together in conscious peace have originated among Protestant Chrisfellowship the Protestant Christians around the tians. Yet the fact remains that at present the North Pacific. In Japan, China, Korea, and the large maj ority of Protestants on either side of Philippines are National Christian Councils, and the ocean are ignorant of all but the vaguest noon the American side the F,oreign Missions Con- tions of other peoples around the North Pacific ference of North America. These, in turn, are and tend to share the nationalist sentiments of members of the International Missionary Coun- their non-Christian neighbors. cil, an agency more nearly inclusive of all Protestantism than that fissiparous movement has We must recognize, in the third place, that known in the over four centuries of its history. Protestants cannot possibly speak as a unit on In the main, this cooperative machinery is grow- anyone issue, whether international or otherwise. ing in experience and strength. In its essence, Anyone person or any group or organization Christianity recognizes nations but rises above which presumes to voice the opinion of all of them them. In the Church, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, is either deceiving or self-deceived. None of the Filipino, and American are ideally one in Christ. National Christian Councils embraces all the Prot- All are brethren, bound by ties of a common faith estant communions within its area. Nor does the and by love for one another and for God. So far Foreign-Missions Conference of North America as they remember one another in prayer, as many include in its membership all mission boards. of them do, they are knit together by that tie that Certainly the Federal Council of Churches does transcends space and national boundaries. This not represent all the Protestant bodies of the fellowship, then, should make for peace. United States. Probably no official body can voice authoritatively on international questions the con- However, any honest and intelligent facing of victions of all the members of even one denomthe situation at once discloses limitations. To ination-partly because it does not have such a ignore these is to insure frustration. First of all, we must recognize the fact that in the Far East the Protestant groups are numerically almost neg-
mandate, and partly because those convictions not quickly conclude that Christianity has failed.
vary, when, indeed, they exist at all. Protestants The ministry of mercy and the message of spir- are not agreed as to whether ecclesiastical ma- itual and moral salvation to the individual are not chinery should be used for action on international to be despised. They are primary features of the questions. If they were, they would not be function of the Church. But in a day of growing unanimous on what the action should be on any international tension is this all which the Prot- specific problem. Certainly on anyone issue no estant forces on the two sides of the Pacific can international body, whether the International hope to accomplish?
Missionary Council or any other, can do more We do well to remind ourselves that even now than mobilize for action a portion of the Prot- the Protestant forces have been far from ineffecestant constituency. tive. Already out of Protestant missions and the In the fourth place, it is probably fair to say so-called younger churches have come movements that Protestants cannot alter very greatly the fac- which have made for the lessening of friction.
tors making for war. These latter are of many They may point the way to what, given the nature kinds. Some are economic. Some are associated of Protestantism and of the problems it faces, we with the closely related rate of increase of popula- can hope to achieve. They may indicate that in tion. Some have to do wicth rampant nationalism. Protestantism, as it now exists on both sides of Protestantism cannot hope at any early date to the Pacific, agencies are already to hand which, if effect any great change in the birth rate in Japan intelligently and resolutely employed, can make a or China. In China, by its widespread medical vast difference in the trans-Pacific international public health and famine relief activWes it has outlook.
probably accentuated rather than lessened the The Influence of Protestant Missions pressure of population. Through a few experi- mental cooperatives Protestants may point the First of all, the Protestant missionary enter- way to an alleviation of ,the desperate plight of prise has carried on a process of education which the farmers which has had so much to do with has contributed to a more sympathetic under- Japan's recent territorial expansion. By efforts standing among the peoples of the Pacific. Mis- at devising better agricultural methods and sionaries have sometimes aroused antipathy, but through rural life reconstruction they may, sim- among those who have known them at all well ilarly, pioneer in achieving a better life for the they have made for a warm admiration for the farmers of China. Yet, taken as a whole, they best in the lands from which they have come. In cannot hope to do more than modify some of the the United States missionary education has done basic economic factors which lie at the roots of much to spread information about the Far East much of the international friction in Japan, and to create a hearty appreciation of its peoples China, Korea, and the Philippines. Protestants and cultures. Often missionaries are accused of cannot expect to make much headway against the playing up the weaknesses of the lands to which rising tide of nationalism of the rulers and the they have gone in order to arouse compassion and masses. They are too few in numbers for that. through it an increased support for their work.
In the United States, Protestant leaders, if peace- That back of this charge some truth lies cannot minded, can, because of their much larger con- be denied. In the main, however, and especially stituency, hope for more success in offsetting the of late years, the widely used mission study texts bellicose nationalism of those who have appointed and a very large proportion, perhaps a majority, themselves the nation's professional patriots. of the addresses by missionaries have sought to They may do something, for instance, to curb the present the peoples of the Far East in a favorable swelling flood of armaments. Even in the United light. Mission study texts have many more read- States, however, organizations depending upon ers than have any other books on the Far East.
Protestantism for support can be only one of Probably addresses by missionaries have a total many conflicting forces and cannot basically alter number of hearers larger than that for all other some of the outs·tanding causes of international lectures on the F'ar East. The majority of Amer- friction. ican scholars who specialize on the Far East and What does this mean? In the face of the lower- its interpretation either are from the missionary ing clouds in the North Pacific must the Prot- body or are the children of missionaries. Here estant forces stand by supinely and helplessly, has been and is a vast educational process which contenting themselves with assisting minorities is helping to create an atmosphere in which intel- administer palliatives to the misery brought by an ligent and fair-minded, even generous, discussion inevitable war and bringing to a few the news of the problems of the North Pacific can take of a suffering and triumphant God in whose place.
strength they can rise radiant, undespairing, We need to recall, in the second place, that out above the general disaster? If that is so, we need of the missionary movement have emerged some
of the most distinguished leaders and helpful viduals will emerge who through nonecclesiastical agencies which have labored for peace across the private organizations and through governmental Pacific. Recall the work of Dr. Sidney Gulick, channels will work for peace. All this may not once a missionary in Japan, for many years on the be enough to insure peace and prevent war, but staff of the Federal Council of Churches, and with it can be made to work mightily in that direction. an enviable record of promotion of sympathetic understanding between the United States and May I go one step further and suggest some Japan. Remember that the Institute of Pacific concrete measures? First, would it not be pos- Relations was carried through its initial stages sible to enlarge the functions and perhaps the by a missionary, Mr. J. Merle Davis, and now has personnel of the existing Committee on Missions as its general secretary a former missionary, Mr. and Governments of the Committee of Reference E. C. Carter. Remember, too, the experiment of and Counsel to take into its purview and as its the Omi Brotherhood in bringing into its inner responsibility this promotion of peace across the circle Japanese, Americans, Chinese, and Koreans. Pacific? Second, might not the Foreign Missions It is heartening, too, to recall the delegations of Conference place this topic of peace upon its Christians which have gone back and forth be- agenda for unhurried consideration at one of its tween China and Japan to try to keep unbroken annual meetings? Third, could not the mission and even to strengthen the ties between the Jap- study texts of the Missionary Education Moveanese and Chinese churches. ment and of other mission study programs con- centrate in some one year in the not distant future These successes, it will be noted, are primarily on the problem of peace across the Pacific? This in the realm of education, in the creation of atti- would involve the popularizing of existing infortudes, and in the removal of barriers of suspicion, mation on the causes of friction and a discussion fear, dislike, and hate. of possible ways of allaying that friction-with- out, however, advocating concrete action by When it has come to attempts to obtain action churches and denominations as such. Fourth, on concrete issues the organized Christian forces could not at least some of the missionaries on furhave not been so fortunate. In the United States lough from the Far East who are to go on depuecclesiastical organizations, including mission tations through the churches be brought together boards, have not been able to have Far Easterners in the autumn for an unhurried conference of sevplaced on the immigration quotas and thus to re- eral days to help one another in their thinking on move one of the least defensible sources of irrita- the issues in the Far East, and so improve the tion. It is debatable whether their effort to pre- quality-often already high-of their addresses? vent the naval maneuvers of 1935 did more good Fifth, might it not be possible, in connection with than harm, or whether, indeed, it had any effect. the 1938 meeting of the International Missionary The difficulty amounting to an impossibility of Council, to hold a special conference on these obtaining agreement among Protestants on con- issues? This conference should be smaller than crete issues and of mobilizing by church bodies a the main gathering and made up only of the delebacking of numbers and conviction sufficient to gates from those countries most immediately conmake much impression on governments raises cerned. doubts as to the wisdom and efficacy of such campaigns. Sixth. Is it not feasible to increase the fellow- ship of prayer? Every additional Christian in What, then, can we expect from the organized lands about the Pacific who remembers in love Christian forces in promoting peace around the before God his fellow Christians across the water, North Pacific? We cannot hope that often, if at either in the mass or in the persons of specific all, they will move unitedly to induce governments individuals whom he knows, must thereby make to take action on specific issues. We cannot ex- it possible for God to work more mightily for that pect them, single-handed, to insure peace. We peace and goodwill which we believe He desires. can, however, hope that they will carryon educational processes which will create an atmos- What is the conclusion of the whole matter? phere in which there will be more of forbearance, It is that those interested in Christian missions of intelligent and sympathetic understanding, and must not claim that they alone are to settle the of fair play. We can hope that by prayer for one issue of war and peace. However, much that is another and through fellowship made possible by good may already be charged up to the credit of church bodies, the World's Student Christian Fed- the Christian forces. If they act wisely and resoeration, and the International Missionary Council, lutely, they may be able, even better than in the they will create and strengthen ties which will past to undergird by an intelligent public opinion help other forces making for peace and, if hos- those forces which are working for peace. They tilities break out, assist in healing the wounds may even succeed-not alone, but as one of sevand bridging the chasms brought by war. We eral agencies-in stemming the tide toward war can hope that from churches and missions indi- and in turning it into the direction of peace. Effective Ways of Working crested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO I ~r.=~=~=============-==~——-==I'4ii) MISSIONARY CATERING year for mISSIOn hospitals and work- Road to the Abundant Life," etc. The devotional services were entieed ers, and as she read her report, an as- "Which Road?" "The Royal Road to Romance," "A Traveler of Jungle Continuing the effort last sistant spread the display over sur- Paths," "His Road," etc. "Laying month to supply "Fresh Grist rounding furniture. The reading Roadbed Foundations" and "Awardfor Program Builders" we ask chairman fastened up a picture of a ing of Trophies" covered the tasks of long flight of stairs on ea"h step of the Engineer and the Timekeeper in you to keep in mind four objec- which some group or guEd of the the girls' organization. A panel dis- church supposedly stood, w.th the fig- cussion on "Improving Our Alphatives to which attention is called· ures representing the number of betical Roads" (W. W. G., C. W. C. in a leaflet by the United Chris- and S. C.-youth organizations) was tian Missionary Society entitled points accumulated by reading mis- conducted by a Commissioner and a sionary books and mag-azines, includ- Consulting Engineer (counselors) . "To the One Who Is Responsible ing THE REVIEW (which counts for There was "A Visit to Exhibits, Pos- five points). The treasurer showed on ters, Guidebooks, Road Maps" in Good for Programs": "To inform; to a long chart a series of red money Fellowship Class Room, in the Sunday bags graduated in size to indicate the school department. widen horizons of fellowship; to sums given for the several objects of show possibilities of Christian benevolence. The house chairman At the closing Centenary Banquet service and to inspire to a desire in honor of the Baptist fields now cele- went forward followed by two assist- brating their one-hundredth anniverto share in that service." De- ants bearing on a new broom a basket sary, four "Guests from Centenary vices presented primarily for carried like the famous "grapes of Roadways" spoke on "The Juggernaut entertainment, variety, attrac- Eschol," the 'oasket containing samples Road" (Bengal-Orissa), "Roadways and Waterways" (Houth China), "The tiveness and not subordinated to of the items purchased by her as sup- Brahmaputra Highway" (Assam) and the above purposes will prove plies or for replacements all through "The Trail to Prayer Meeting Hill" the year. As the meeting proceeded (South India), with the climactic insterile. But with educational thus, the reports were far from "dry" spirational address on "I Am a and service motives dominant, Builder." and mude an ineradicable impression much depends upon the attrac- on eye and ear. Installing New Officers is no mere formality but should be so tive form into which the subject At a meeting of the Baptist East planned as to make it a means Central District of Women's Work, of grace both to the official group matter is cast. Some fresh sug- he:d at Huntington, W. Va., last May, and the audience. From Womgestions for, catering follow: the annual business meeting was en's H.ome Missions comes this simple ceremony (adapted for The annual meeting: This is often based on the theme of "Roads" with brevity) fraught with spiritual a burden because of length and dry- scriptural keynote of Isaiah 49: 11- values: ness of reports. The program secre- "I will make all the hilltops a hightary in the women's society of the way and lofty roads shall be built" The officers step forward as their First Baptist church in Granville, (Kent translation). The theme song names are called. TheI the leader was "Where Cross the Crowded Ways says: Ohio, tells that at the close of a year's of Life." The presiding officer was study under the travel motif, officers called the General Superintendent of You have been chosen by this loyal, and the membership met '.') "unpack Roads and she appointed committees interested group of women to be the the baggage." Reports had previously as Highway Patrols; the recording officers for (name of organizational been enclosed in a variety of baggage secretary became the C:erk and Time- group) during the coming year. You containers – brief cases, suit cases, keeper; the "Paymaster" (treasurer) hold in your hands a great trust….. . overnight bags, etc., and each official gave a "leaf from the payroll," etc. Do you accept your office willingly and produced her report and visualizing "Construction and Maintenance" was with a deep desire to be divinely didevice (if any) from such a container. handled by the Supervisor of High- rected for your special task? Thus the program leader took out of ways and Commissioner of State her brief case a large map of the Roads (the state official). The Com- Officers make affirmative reply. world, had it fastened to a blackboard missioner for International Trails inand developed while she read her re- troduced foreign missionary speakers. Leader: Will you endeavor to learn port. A red star sticker marked the "National Trails and Strategic Out- the meaning and purpose of your parhome starting point, then an attached posts" was the theme handled by one ticular office, then perform its duties ribbon led to the next star placed in of the Road Commissioners; "The De- faithfully? ….. . the West where a Home Mission camp- partment of Public Safety" by anfire was supposed to have been held, other, with "Highway Publicity," "The Will you cooperate in fullest measthence the device proceeded to South Information Bureau," "Friendships of· ure with your president as she directs America where "Women Under the the Road" and "Light and Power" dis- Southern Cross" had been the subject cussed by sU'Jofficials. Addresses were matter, and so on stars and ribbon given at intervals on "Working the traced the way over foreign fields and Formula," "The Road to Adventure," back home for the current meeting. "The Road to Friendship," "Congo The White Cross leader proceeded to Crosses," "The Road of the Loving take from her suitcase a sample of Heart," "Younl" Travelers on the each of the articles made during the [ 367] the plans, and work loyally with each the "port of sailing" (church, street, ing the never-to-be-forgotten other? ….. . aim. Often the parents are shy number), the "tourists" are greeted Will you pray earnestly for the de- by young men dressed as sailors and in cooperating at first, suspectvelopment of your own personality, ing some ulterior motive; but if for that of your fellow officers and escorted into the ship's cabin, where for every person whom you may a devotional service is conducted. The serve? •….. songs usually include "Sail on" and they can be induced to let their Will all the members of the congre- "Jesus, Saviour, Pilot Me." After an children try a session or two, gation stand? Will you support with even these older folk become so your earnest prayers these officers introductory talk by the ship's "cap- interested that they ask to be who have accepted responsibility for the direction of the work? ….. . tain" regarding the countries to oe visited, adjournment is made to an- Dearly beloved, there can be no defeat in the business of our great or- other room which has been decorated allowed to come to some sort of ganization if we keep these purposes with a setting typical of the country. a:ways in our thoughts. Jesus said, Natives in costume and American mis- an evening session. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," that is, with your sionaries are impersonated by mem- The World Call, in writing on emotions; "with all thy mind," that bers of the church, and talks are is, your highest intelligence; "and given on the geography, history, peo- the subject says: with all thy strength," that is, with all your powers of being; "and thy ple, religions and missions of the fi-eld. Your vacation school may have in neighbor as thyself"; that is your Sometimes songs and instrumental it some suggestions for mission study. service. Let us pray. (Prayer of selections characteristic of the coun- . . . Send for the pamphlet on misconsecration on the part of audience try are given. When the program is sionary education in vacation schools, and officers, and singing of "Blest Be concluded the tourists are invited to which goes to you free upon request, the Tie that Binds.") a third room where a typical luncheon from our office, and with it the catalog is served by those who presented the giving the list of materials and books Church Projects: These are program in native costumes. . avai.able. (Doubtless inquirers outmany and varied, one of the side the constituency of The World most educational being that of Arrangements are being- made for Call should offer some cost-price paya Missionary Exposition, for the publication of these and other pro- ment.) . . . Plan early to have a which a number of plans have grams. been sent in lately. The one from the First Presbyterian Further details will be given by browsing table where JOys and girls church of Berkeley, Calif., is typical. Mr. Githens, if return postage is en- will find stories, books and pictures, Twenty-seven booths representing closed. His address is 318 S. Fourth maps and suggestions for things to do each of the 16 foreign lands and 11 St., Quincy, Ill. home mission fields where Presby- in relation to their study of other chilterian missionaries are working were arranged throughout the church dren. Search in your public library building. Each booth exhibited the life, customs and scenes of the par- The Vacation ChurCfi:""School for books which you can use to create ticular missionary station. A continual program of still and moving pic- is a church or community proj- an interest in the countries you are tures, music and addresses by mis- studying. Some children's books are sionaries and nationals, plays and ect par excellence. The unde- very good. Some travel books will be pageants was given each afternoon and evening. On the closing night 60 veloped potentialities of the useful. Various magazines can be missionaries and nationals in costume, led by the vested choir of the church, Church in taking children off the used to furnish material. . . . Write participated in a processional. Such or have the children write to the varian unusal educational project, which street and exposing them for at ous steamship companies for folders. required weeks of study p.nd prepara- least a few hours daily to uption, might be carried out on a smaller Start a collection of around-the-world scale by any mission study group lifting influences instead of the pictures. Investigate the possibilities which wishes to exhibit the work, of curios which are in your own town. needs and olJportunities of the fields. sort which for much longer pe- . . . Many people buy as gifts or re- riods are contaminating them is ceive as gifts, from the modern de- "Foreign Tours" is the name of another missionary project so well recognized that often partment store or gift shop, articles presented under the auspices of which have been directly imported the Christian Endeavor Society public school authorities, the of the Presbyterian church in juvenile courts and probation from other countries. Keep your ears Quincy, Ill., using one of the open for people who have traveled in plans prepared by Harry W. departments offer to cooperate the Orient and who may be able to Githens of the Adams Co. Council of Religious Education. The in an effort to develop good lend artic:es or to come and tell the account says: citizenship. Such an alliance of children about them.
Posters and folders usually are se- Church and State as this is quite Service activities are another source cured from steamship companies, giv- legitimate. While local plan- of helpful and character-building projing information regarding the coun- ects. Many vacation schools provide try to be visualized. Upon arrival at ning and direction are adequate nothing but busy work or craft activi- ties which are taken home by the chil- in fairly good communities, dren for themselves. Along with mak- rural or underprivileged ones ing things for themselves, there are are being reached under the many things children can do to share supervision of the Joint Com- with others. This should be an out- growth of the missionary education, mittee of the Home Missions but may become a project in itself if Council and the International desired. Council of Religious Education.
A variety of denominational Staking Claims is another boards gladly cooperate in an project coming into rather gen- extension program now being eral use for young people who developed. For this work many have, as yet, small financial re- Christian students and – other sources. Such claims may be in young people are needed, trans- India, China, Alaska-wherever portation and maintenance only the denominational board has to be given. The work of the missions. Each definite amount school usually includes worship, settled upon as the price of a Bible study, story-telling, handi- claim – $5.00 or $10.00 – gives craft of various sorts, recrea- its donor a claim; and the claim, tion, etc., character building be- in turn, does its own beneficent
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
work in accentuating interest Program Pointers be ordered well in advance of and a feeling of ownership which detailed program – making on is likely to lead to larger invest- Miss Elizabeth 1. Fensom, a Bap- Africa. The prices are but ments-maybe of life itself-in tist program secretary, writes that slightly above cost and every the work thus capitalized. Not the W. Atlee Burpee Seed Co. adver- dollar of possible profit is turned only individuals but Sun day tised African flower seeds and its rep- back into African mission work. school classes or departments resentative checked a catalog for her The editor has had the privilege (like the beginners), a young with the assurance that "all the seeds of examining the various "novelpeople's society or a women's would grow in an ordinary garden." ties" and unhesitatingly declares group may cooperate in claim Miss Fensom thought, "Why not mis- them very superior, the stories ownership. As a means of be- sionary flower gardens this year? with a real literary quality and nevolence and missionary educa- The blooms might be used to further the devices calculated to help our tion, claim-staking is rapidly interest in the new African studies, people visualize African life and approving itself. to send to shut-ins along with current conditions much more effec- leaflets and pamohlets, etc. Among tively. That African parrot is Books and Leaflets are the the flowers checked in the catalog simply "stunning" and would program rna k e r' s mainstay. were many varieties of white and yel- form an exquisite decoration in Have you seen Lucy W. Pea- low lilies (like callas), cacti, gladiolus, the best of homes. body's "A Wider World for daisies, arctotis (Transvaal daisy), Women"? (Price, $1.25.) It Heliophila – Monarch of the Veldt, Picture of Mrs. Kellersberger, asks: Tripteris Ursinia, Ornithogalum (new author of "Congo Crosses," and outstanding), African violets and with typed story of her life "Do women want a wider world? double marigolds, also Vinidiurn. If and other material …….. $0.10 How are they using the world they al- you are a gardener, do not miss this ready have?" And from the intro- in African year, when a great seed Colored parrr t on black mount- company has made it a leader." duction of the book we cull this: "The ing board 13×20 in. …… .35 first law after creation was a prohibi- "Coworkers with the Divine Artist" tion law; but Eve, beguiled by the was the unusual topic used last year SamJ! unmounted ………. .10 by the Women's Society of the First serpent, ate the forbidden fruit and Baptist church in Marlboro, Mass. Cards: persuaded Adam. Thus started the The subtitles of the monthly programs make free use of such words as "Is this the way to Bethlefirst Anti-Prohibition Society, with "color" and "scenes." The cover of hem?" Folder of two Africharter members a serpent, a woman the year book-which is handmade- can children carrying lanand a man-a partnership which con- is in the .form of a palette with daubs tern. Envelopes to match. of the primary colors ready to hand. For Christmas card, invitinues to this day with painful conse- Five of these programs are fitted to a tations, messages, etc. …. .10 quences." From first to last all corresponding number of races, each through the volume one finds insight, being written on paper of the appro- White correspondence card knowledge, humor, tributes to women priate tint- that on the Negro on with envelopes-boy under black paper with white ink, etc. Mal. palm tree. Very artistic. .05 who have been pioneers in the effort 2: 10 is the scripture keynote as cofor International Friendship (is not ordinated with the Great Commission. White p:ace card tied with that Foreign Missions?) and sketches Titles are delightfully suggestive: Belgian colors, for Ibanof outstanding women of all ages. Splashes of War Paint, for Indians; quets, messages, etc. ..3 for .05 Sepia Prints, for the Burmese; The The world's only hope, the book avers, Divine Artist's Birthday in Many Elephant place card (very is in "The Treaty of Bethlehem." At Lands, for Christmas; Massed Colors, striking) – g ray stock, the close is the command for Christian for an international tea and deibate; printed elephant with di- Life Scenes from the Studio Window, rections for cutting and internationalism covered by the great for an address by a missionary folding. White name card commission, which entreats us to fol- speaker; In the Work Shop, for the for trunk …………… .05 annual meeting, etc. In each case the low in the footsteps of the early devotional service was closely cor- Picture and poem, "Life of Apostles and other believers united in related. This unique series was sug- Mwaluki, "mentioned on p. a common loyalty to the Leader. "To- gested by the picture, "The Hope of 201 of "Congo Crosses" …. .05 day if we take our inheritance as a the WorId," by Harold Copping, and trust, the world will be reborn." a story, "Color Blind," by Margaret Flags of Belgium and the Congo Would not this book make a good basis Applegarth. See to what pains some (narrow ribbon, 14xP4 in.) .01 for a year's devotional services in a women will go in the Lord's work! woman's missionary society? Order Raffia cloth from A'frica made through any of your denominational "The Black and White Number of into small mat s, 6×6, bookstores or supply houses. the Artist's Magazine" featured Ne- fringed, lined with oil gro work. Miss Fensom says: "The cloth, used as protectors "And the King Shall Come In" is magazine was assembled as the pro- under vases or tumblers .. .10 the name of a new worship service gram proceeded. At the close the com- (10 cents) obtainaole at the American plete volume bound in black was on Larger size …………… .20 Baptist Publication Society, 1701 display. A hand-drawn map of the Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. It Southern States showing the location Congo Hammock Song (never gives a series of six complete pro- of Negro schools was used as a fron- before printed in America) grams inclusive of hymns, scripture, tispiece. The devotions were based on …………. 1 for .05,3 for .10 leader's talk and prayer. "The Gates Ps. 18: 28; 119: 105, 130." of Paradise" was written bv Mrs. W. "Southland Spirituals" – book S. Abernathy; "Two Gates," by Mrs. "Novelties for Africa" of 64 spirituals published by Orrin R. Judd; "The Gate Beautiful," Rodeheaver Co. ……….. .25 by Mrs. Jessie Burrall Eubank; "The Under this heading, Miss M. Locked Gate," by Mrs. W. P. Topping; H. Leavis, 186 Massachusetts Typewritten S tor i e s from "Inside the Gate – our Outside," by Ave., Boston, Mass., lists supple- Everyland: Mrs. James Kingsland Romeyn; mentary materials for the for- "Three Gates on a Side," by Margaret eign study theme which should "Arrow John's Return," by T. Applegarth. These fine devotional J. Mervin Hull……… .05 services are adapted for local or associational and convention use. "The Gift," by Anita Ferris .05 "The Black Madonna," by Margaret T. Applegarth. .05 Cask must accompany orders and eack order is final. BULLETIN OF The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK _ ~I u __ . _ _ _ ..n. _ _ ~I~'
The Continual Feast "Christian Unity in Servie.e" the Solomon Islands pursues his All the days of the afflicted are The notable thing about this career with a certain sense of evil; But he that is of cheerful May Luncheon of the Council of religious mission. So did the heart, hath a continual feast. Women for Home Missions is thugs who used to roam through Thus in Proverbs 15: 15, the that it is possible to have such a the central and northern provwise man wrote. In March, luncheon. Here are representa- inces of India, usually in the dis- 1933, when banks were closed guise of pilgrims, gaining the tives of twenty-three mission and fear stalked the land, the confidence of other travelers, Administrative Committee of boards in the United States and whom they strangled in honor the Council of Women for Home Canada met for the purpose of of the goddess Kali, and whose Missions planned a festival day interdenominational fellowship. bodies they hid in graves dug "to prove the life that is in tis." A generation ago that would with a consecrated pickax. So Christian women came from do certain American countermany churches in the metropoli- scarcely have been possible. parts of the extinct Indian tan area. On May 11, 1936, the People representing mission thugs, masked and hooded figfourth May luncheon was held. ures who ride at night, and kid- Over 300 church women and boards of different denomina- nap persons suspected of radical men, and a goodly number of tions beamed good' will upon the tendencies and carry them off the clergy celebrated together heathen and the unconverted but for whipping, tarring and feath- "Christian Unity in Service." speaking generally they eyed each other askance. In an is- ering, and other forms of tor- Mrs. Millard Robinson, the sue of Puck there was a full ture. President of the Council pre- page cartoon which portrayed sided. Various phases of united two boats loaded with frock- In one of his quaintest ser- Christian service as demon- coated mISSIOnaries drawing mons Jeremy Taylor asked, strated in the growing work of near to a South Sea Island. The "Who is the busiest minister in the Council were presented. missionaries were engaged in England? I will tell you. The Mrs. Kenneth D. Miller spoke on hurling Bibles and hymn books "The Present Situation Among at those who occupied the boat devil is the busiest minister in Migratory Laborers," Dr. Wil- in which they were not passen- England, because the devil is liam R. King told briefly of the gers. The heathen were reprework among Indian American sented as smoking pipes in peace always at work and never youth, Miss Marion Cuthbert, and viewing the scene with plac- sleeps." So according to Jeremy author of "We Sing America" id equanimity. Underneath the Taylor, even the devil has a conand other books, told of the new cartoon was this caption: "Why sciousness of mission, and in this Home Mission study books and do the heathen rage. They don't, war-torn, fear-ridden, hate-obcourses. Miss Seesholtz pre- dear reader. It's the missionsented the work of missionary aries who do the raging." . . . sessed, class-conscious world he minded women for bettering in- appears to be having things ternational relations for secur- There is reason to believe, pretty much his own way. ing world peace, and for observ- however, that the peace and seing the annual World Day of renity and interdominational The Gospel of Jesus is the Prayer on the first F.riday in fellowship which characterize Gospel of the Light of the world, Lent. this luncheon of the twenty-three and when that true Light shines home mission boards is due not in darkness such as this, the The Reverend Howard Chand- to lack of zeal and not to ignor- darkness does not overcome it. ler Robbins, D.D. of the General ance of the Bible but to a bet- Rather it seems to shine more Theological Seminary, New ter knowledge of what missions, radiantly, just because of the York City, was guest speaker foreign and domestic, really terrific contrast with the dark- mean. Mission is an ambiguous ness, .and those who love the word. It may stand for some- light come to the light and live thing very good, or for some- as children of light. There is a grand couplet from a forgotten poem of an unknown poet which expresses their motivation: on the subject, "Christian Unity thing very bad. It may even "Death worketh; let me work in Service." His add res s stand for things that are utterly (abridged) was as follows: too; detestable. The head hunter in Death undoeth; let me do."
[370 ]
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
That couplet expresses, it The worship that we offer is sent, are doing a work in the seems to me, the present motive, worship of the God of love, and importance of which it would be the present purpose and the the divine power that comes up- difficult to exaggerate. You are present inspiration of the mis- on us in true worship is the not directly concerned with orsion boards which you who are power of love. This must ex- ganic church union. You accept here present represent. Because press itself toward others, and the fact that the religious life of death is at work in the world to- so the church, when it is true to America is organized in denomday, you are working on the side itself, becomes the agency inations. But you believe that of Him who came that men through which the love of God Christian unity in service is atmight have life. Because death is active in works of mercy and tainable in spite of that fact, and is undoing men's best work and service. In this sense it is the the increasing number of interbringing precious things to de- Body of Christ, the organ of his denominational agencies and struction, you are moved to do, love working in the world "to joint projects and their widento save, to conserve, to con- draw the whole of mankind into ing range of interests shows that struct. There are greater pic- the fellowship of love which the you are right. The united entertures, but to me one of the most church itself exists to be." But prises conducted for the Governmoving pictures in the world is how can it ever hope to draw ment Indian Schools, for mi- Albrecht Durer's picture en- the whole of mankind into fel- grant workers, and for such titled, "The Knight, Death, and lowship unless fellowship is first communities as Boulder City, the Devil." established among its own mem- Nevada, are striking instances. bers? How can it teach the Gos- And it is undoubtedly true that "Death shakes the hour glass of pel of love unless it first prac- there is "a growing tendency to the running sand, tices it within the Christian view the problem of each area brotherhood? or population group as a whole And leering Satan waits at his and to develop a positive coop- right hand; We come here to the very eration of all religious forces in- But steadfast and unmov'd, the deepest evil of competitive de- knight rides on, volved." nominationalism. The economic The cross his strength, its vic- evil of competitive denomina- This in turn has led to a stead- tory to be won." tionalism is plain enough. Any ily enlarging conception of the Something as knightly as that, business man can see it. There task of the Christian Church. something as chivalrous, some- is the loss in men and money of thing as militant and challeng- Up to about forty years ago the ing, something such as Albrecht having half a dozen churches in home missionary program cen- Durer saw in the Christian life a town which can barely support and as St. Joan of Arc exempli- tered about the establishment of fied, must adhere in our concep- two. There is the waste in over- churches and Sunday schools tion of missions if the missions head expenses by reason of the about which we are thinking are and personal evangelism. TomISSIOns of the Church of duplication and maintenance of day, while not slighting this part Christ. . . . half utilized plants. of its program, there has been Weare getting beyond that increasing social emphasis, and community centers, hospitals sort of thing. We no longer take pride in our unhappy divisions. and public health centers and many practical service minis- Weare beginning to be rather tries are included in the mission- ashamed of them, and more than ary enterprise of churches which a little embarrassed by them. The tide of sectarianism has can accomplish by cooperative turned, and what is going on effort what they could never now is reintegration rather than hope to do by individual exer- further disintegration. Churches tion. Archbishop Temple said which are nearly related to each recently that in England if you other in faith and polity are ask who are those who are doing making overtures looking to- the day-to-day drudgery of so- ward organic union: the Lu- therans have largely effected it, cial and philanthropic work, you the Methodist and the Presby- will find that nine-tenths of terians are on the way to it. Others which are less nearly re- them are Christians, acting in lated are eliminating competi- the inspiration of their Chris- tion, establishing measures for cooperation, especially upon the tian faith. Undoubtedly that is mission field, and taking united t rue also in this country. action in many matters which concern the common good. Church-going Christians consti- tute less than half of the popu- It is here that the Home Mis- lation of this country, but if sions Councils, which you repre- their gifts for social and philan- thropic work were to be with- drawn and their personal serv- ice to cease, I venture to say that
there would scarcely be more Christians in the field of Chris- The editor likes to ponder the than a memory of private phi- tian education, there lie others, roll call quoted from the Findlanthropy left in the land. larger, more complex, more ex- ings (pp. 67-70): "Twenty acting, which concern us as years have elapsed since the first But while we are thankful, Christian citizens. We ought to and only previous occasion when and deeply thankful, for what measure the responsibilities the representatives of Proteshas already been accomplished here by the question, What must tantism united in holding a Nain evangelistic, educational and be done in the whole vast under- tional Conference on the Rural philanthropic services by the co- taking of social reconstruction Church. That earlier Conferoperation of religious forces in before modern civilization can ence was held in Columbus, this country, we should not rest presume to call itself Christian? Ohio, in December, 1915, under Well, what can be done if once the auspices of the Commission content with it. We should real- we take our religion seriously? on the Church and Country Life ize that if the church is really What would be done if the fifty of the Federal Council of the the Body of Christ, it exists to million Americans who are Churches of Christ in America. do Christ's will, and that of this, church members were them- The President of the United in respect of the country in selves to live without avarice, States was in attendance and which we live, we have only themselves to subordinate the made an address. In those days made a beginning. In the mat- profit motive to that of service, the country life movement was and themselves, where Christian new, and was, in fact, more a ter of religious education, for principles are concerned in our hope and an enthusiasm than a example, what tremendous op- social, industrial, economic life, movement . . . " portunities and responsibilities and in our international reladevolve upon the churches, to tions, to speak with one voice? "It is fitting that we should -Howard Chandler Robbins. pay our tribute of respect to the see that the children of the coun- great number of workers, in try receive somewhere the edu- For Summer Reading high places and in low, who in cation in religion which they are the intervening years have ennot receiving in the public In a day when politics, budget listed in the service of rural schools. In the matter of public and taxes, the farmer and in- progress . . ." morals, how much can be done dustrialist seem to be in the along lines so effectively taken same boat in the same storm "From this whole great group by the Roman Catholic Church heading somewhere, in this through its Legion of Decency month when the Festival of In- six names stand out, four in this dependence is celebrated, intelliin purifying the motion pictures gent Christians s h 0 u I d be country and two abroad, of men exhibitions-no, "purifying" is "alive" to the situation. to whom we would especially too ambitious a word; let us be The Home Missions Councils, recognize our common indebtedmore modest and describe our whereby is meant the Council of endeavor as that of making the Women for Home Missions and ness. These are-Liberty Hyde more offensive of them less fla- the Home Missions Council have grantly indecent. And if twaddle a Board membership including Bailey, the scientist who has and sentimentality are as offen- twenty – seven denominations. preached the doctrine of a holy During the Annual Meetings sive to the Christian conscience held in Washington, D. C., Janu- earth; Kenyon L. Butterfield, as they are to our canons of ary, 1936, there was a well taste, we might pay some atten- planned conference on "The the educator who has viewed the Rural Church Today and Totion to this aspect of public mor- morrow." And because similar movement of rural life around als, in the movies, in radio conferences are to be held durbroadcasts, in comic sections of ing this year and next, and be- the world and has preached the the newspapers, and alas! some- cause the new Home Mission doctrine of a holy society; times in the musical offerings of study texts for 1937-38 will be some churches! on the Rural Church, you are Charles Josiah Galpin, the so- urged to send for "The Rural Then there is this matter of Church Today and Tomorrow- ciologist, who has analyzed and preparation of young people for A Report of The National Conthe duties and responsibilities of ference on the Rural Church." chartered the anatomy of rural marriage: this too has become There are eighty pages of ada cooperative project of the dresses and findings with a se- life and has enabled us to underchurches under the leadership lected bibliography. It is avail- stand the process of rural social able for fifty cents, and worth progress; Warren Hugh Wilson, of the Federal Council of much more to the intelligent Churches. A schoolboy asked to church leader. the minister who has made sogive the plural of a certain noun ciology the servant of religion said that the plural of spouse is and has led the movement to spice. We must prove that he was wrong by preparing young make religion a vital force in people to find a deeper enjoy- rural reconstruction; Sir Hor- ment in monogamous marriage. ace Plumket, the prophet of eco- nomic and social cooperation; And beyond all these direct George Russell, the philosopher responsibilities which face us as and poet of an abundant· rural life."
Another National Conference on the Rural Church will be held in Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, November 17-19, 1936.
World~wide Outlook i'~
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events ~II=======–=======I~ ..;11' EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO EUROPE audience grew as the meetings In East Poland proceeded. There are places Oentenary of Muller where students will listen, but Evangelical Christians i n Orphanage not many where the listeners eastern Poland are organized in- wish the address to be followed to the Union of Churches of One of the most notable Chris- by discussion. In these meet- Christ-300 small churches with tian achievements of the century ings students of all types, Prot- 25,000 people in full memberis the work of faith and love, or- estants, Catholics and freethink- ship and many mission stations. ganized by George Muller for ers were represented. The government favors them, homeless orphans 100 years ago looking on them as a breakwater last April. Within twelve years "The relation between the against Russian Communism. the work outgrew its quarters. deity and humanity of Christ The movement extends from the One of his earliest ministries and the unworthiness of those Baltic to the Black Sea. was to gather together at eight who call themselves by His o'clock in the morning a com- Name were the two points Most of the' 300 preachers pany of the poorest children, which came back again and earn their living at farm, shop provide them with a piece of again: and behind it all the or factory, and preach in the bread for breakfast, and then eternal and most real question: evenings and on Sundays. Peofor about an hour or more give How can I believe? At the end ple often wait overnight to hear them instruction, and read to of the three days students asked the message promised next day them the Scriptures. The work if it would not be possible to ar- and listen in relays. The moveexpanded until there is now a range for another session on ment is stirring the whole nagreat block of buildings, with this last question." tion. Almost as soon as a Bible accommodations for over 2,000 teaching course by correspondchildren. Ohanges in Spain ence was launched a thousand young men enrolled and then The orphan work grew out of Constant shifting of Spanish proceeded to agitate for a Bible the "Scripture Knowledge Insti- politics make it difficult to ap- institute where they could be tution," organized two years praise the general situation. trained for Gospel work. The earlier. ,Children in day and Laicism, the basis for religious leader, Mr. Jaroszewicz, says in Sunday schools in Great Britain freedom, has disappeared and World Dominion: and other lands either wholly or the government is again paying partly supported by the S. K. 1. the priests salaries in the form It is difficult to convey in words the at one time far outnumbered of pensions. Military men ren- hunger which pervades all classes for those in the orphan homes. An- der honor to images in public religious reading after centuries of other of the principal objects of processions. Governors and deprivation. This hunger gives the the S. K. 1. was to assist mis- mayors attend religious services Russian atheists an opportunity and sionaries and evangelists who and officially welcome digni- they are flooding the country with went forth in faith, especially taries of the Roman Church. anti-God literature. On some occathose unconnected with any so- Protestants are greatly handi- sions I have divided my own New ciety. capped and in many regions can- Testament to give a single Gospel not have public meetings. In from it to several people and even Mr. Muller superintended the some places they are openly per- divided it into leaves for crowds who orphanage work until his 93d secuted. begged for some part of the Word of year, and died in 1898. God. But a new Spain is emerging. -The Life of Faith. The Catholic Church is display- Jews' Demands in Poland ing better organization, publish- Student Mission in Paris ing better periodicals and has The Jews of Poland have re- organized all classes,-poor and cently made ten demands of the Dr. W. A. Visser 't Hooft rich, young and old, ignorant Government. Among these dewrites in The Student World of and educated, for social work; mands are: (1) That the name a series of meetings in Paris to for this purpose, thousands of "Christian" shall not be used in help truth-seeking students to lectures are given in all parts of any inscription where Jews and find their way to personal ac- Spain, in large cities, towns and Gentiles live side by side; (2) quaintance with Christ. There villages. that the Jewish Sabbath shall be was but one theme in the three officially recognized and that the meetings – Jesus Christ. The [ 373] Jews shall have the right to con-
duct their businesses on Sunday interest. Young people were be- sweater, 2' cloths (women), and as if it were a work-day; (3) ing neglected. One missionary (5) give a small grant for inithat school books objectionable put a plan into operation with tial huts.
to the Jews shall be prohibited the help of Egyptian Christians. -Congo Mission News.
from the schools; (4) that the For the past 18 months or more title "Christian" as applied to an active Sunday school has de- Blind Students land, nationality or church shall veloped, almost entirely with An important branch of C. M. be totally prohibited. Egyptian leadership. S eve n S. work in Egypt is that among classes are taught by faithful the blind. Egypt has been called -Svensk Kyrkotidning. ones who care enough for their own and their neighbors' chil- "the land of the blind" and fig- League of the Fighting Godless ures justify this. The number dren to give their time to this of totally blind is said to be 148,- Antireligiosnik – League of work. The officers of the school 000, and the partially blind is a the Fighting Godless in Russia are all Egyptians. The enrol- much higher figure. This work -devoted an entire number of is conducted by an Egyptian its periodical to its ten year "ju- ment is now as large as the bilee." In the various articles membership of the church. evangelist who is himself blind. the following results are said to The largest of three centers is have been attained on the god- This congregation enjoys the near EI Azhar, the great Mosless front: services of a wide awake young lem University; nearly 300 of Today at least half of the entire minister who welcomes mission- its students come to the center. population has wholly or partly bro- ary cooperation and offers his Nearly 3,000 ex-students of the ken with religion. This is a pheno- university, scattered through menon of world significance. Never own time in mission projects in 118 villages, are studying the before and nowhere else has atheism the community. At a recent produced such results as in Russia, community 20 young people, Bible in Braille. No other due to the victory of the Socialist mostly students united with this Arabic literature is available in revolution. church. Their decisions came Braille. -C. M. S. Gleamer. through the work of the church The Stachanow Movement, which members personally, by the exrepresents a movement for the or- ample of Christians whom they Civilizing Ethiopia ganization ?f piece work, must p:ay see living their faith, and work- Ethiopians are still primitive an outstandmg part in the final over- ing at it.
throw of religion in our country. It people-generally without mod- signifies a mighty 'increase in the Lepers in Belgian Congo ern education and scientific impower of man, who is conquering na- provements. The Emperor, ture and breaking down all previously Belgium is well to the front in imposed standards. If the scholars of setting up machinery which will Haile Selassie I, worked unceasthe bourgeois world maintain that ultimately deal effectively with ingly to give his people schools there are limits beyond which man's five of the more destructive malperceptions and man's strength can- adies in Africa – venereal dis- and hospitals, to abolish slavery, not pass, it is evident under the so- ease, yaws, tuberculosis, sleep- to promote justice and provide cialism of the proletarian ideal of de- ing sickness and leprosy. Facts good government. Some proliverance from religion that conscious gathered by the Belgian Red workers in the class·ess society can Cross and by many mission doc- gressive provincial rulers symproceed to tasks which a man who tors establish the fact that the pathized with the emperor and was fettered by religion would never incidence of leprosy in the Bel- united in the effort to establish have dared to face; man can learn schools in the interior. The miseverything, and can conquer every- gian Congo is at least 1 %, or a sionaries have done much to thing. total of at least 100,000 lepers raise general educational stand- -The Indian Witness. in a total population of approxi- ards as well as to teach Chris- mately 10,000,000. tian truth. Most of the medical AFRICA work is conducted by Protestant A special fund has been cre- missionary doctors. (What will Egyptian Christians at Work ated for complete medical as- sistance to the natives of rural be the result of Italian occupa- The United Presbyterian says tion it is impossible to say.) that the Egyptian Church is be- areas. This was solicited by the The Seventh-Day Adventists ginning to carry its own load, late King Albert, and supple- are located in eight stations and and to develop leadership. Mis- mented by Queen Elizabeth and conduct four hospitals, estab- lished with the help of the emsionary participation in the vari- the Minister of Colonies. ous congregations becomes more Missions on the field have peror. In these hospitals Ethiocooperative and less directive. been assured that the Govern- pian nurses are trained for ef- One congregation is taken as ment will (1) Grant concessions fective service. Eight other typical. It numbered about 125; of ground for leper villages and Protestant missions are at work had been organized 30 years gardens, (2) supply all drugs, in the country. Ethiopia will ago, and continued under the (3) pay for one infirmier for not be civilized by Italian maleadership of one pastor. But each colony, (4) provide food chine guns and bombing planes he reached old age, and was un- and clothing: 0.50 cms. per day but by messengers of Christ who able longer to initiate new proj- for food (or according to local go about doing good.
ects or to cultivate community conditions) and 1 blanket, 1 -M. J. Sorensen.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Advance in Rhodesia beths have become Leahs or Na- medicines the evangelist reads a A new sphere of work has omis. There is a good sprinkling portion of Scripture, gives a been opened among the Mawiko short talk and prayer. Hidd has in northwest Rhodesia. The of Shlomos, (Solomon) Ivrivas, been noted for its fanaticism, "League of Pioneers," a British but never has anyone made a (Irving) Baruchs and Morde- disturbance or shown any disyouth movement to ext end cais in the Palestine Gazette. respect to the preacher or his Christ's Kingdom in southern message. A tour into central Africa, is making progress. The New Theory About Turks Arabia revealed the tremendous change that has come over Riadh League's 890 members under- A new school of history, geog- and Nejd which is best illustake to pray systematically for trated by comparing the treatthe work, to try to interest their raphy and literature has been ment accorded the first doctors friends in it, and to raise funds and the first preacher. The docby taking a collection. Every opened in Angora, Turkey, to be tors visited there in 1917, 1919, branch of the mission's activi- 1921 and 1923. Though welties is spiritual. Many young the nucleus of a university. The comed for their medicines they people have been led to Christ were cursed and reviled and as the result of coming into con- object is to expound new the- sometimes spat upon. On this tact with missionary work, or trip the preacher had the freeby joining the summer camps ories on Turkish history and dom of the city. No stones were arranged for boys and girls. thrown at him, neither was he language. It is claimed that in- -The Christian. vestigation shows that the Turk- ish race has been grossly ma- ligned by older historians biased by racial or religious prej udices.
The Turks are far from being a predatory race of braerabcahreiadns~ but in remote ages high state of culture which they spread during migrations into cursed. That does not mean that WESTERN ASIA China, India, Mesopotamia and his message was accepted, but it New Names for Jews Asia Minor, among the less en- means that bigotry is less bitter.
An interesting development of lightened peoples. They should INDIA Zionism is the desire of many therefore really be considered Jews in Palestine to identify the fathers of civilization it is A Serious Situation themselves as fully as possible said, and possessors of one of with the Jewish homeland by a the greatest and most glorious Since large numbers of Chrischange of name. This is all the histories in the world. tian students are reported ateasier since many of the so- tending non-Christian colleges, -Alliance Weekly. the Bombay Provincial Chriscalled "Jewish" names are not tian Council has adopted the fol- Jewish at all. It is well known Iran Confiscates Periodicals lowing resolutions: that at one time in Germany Jews were assigned German Rev. J. Christy Wilson, writer (1) To record that this Board names, often in the most arbi- for The Presbyterian, reports trary fashion and without any that all American magazines are views with deep concern the presence regard to the wishes of those now confiscated by the authoriwho were compelled to bear ties of Iran as a result of stories of an increasing number of Christian published in some papers which them. Jews in other lands often offended. The circulation of the students inthnaotn-Cthheristpiraonviisnisotnitutoifons~ found it convenient to change papers of one nation among believing their names from one that was those of another nation who do "foreign-sounding" to one more not know the language is ex- Christian environment and the influakin to those prevailing in their ceedingly limited, and it is hoped new surroundings. So, in Amer- that this attitude will be speed- ence of teachers inspired with Chrisica, Weinberg becomes Winfield, ily relaxed, permitting Ameriand in Scotland Markowitz be- can papers to circulate again. tian ideals is of utmost importance comes Macgregor. Then and Now in Arabia for the up'iJuilding of Christian char- Many of the new names acter, and the leadership and nurture of the church in India. (2) To ask the principal of Wilson College, Bom- bay, to prepare a statement of the amount spent annually by the college in aiding poor Christian students and of the grants or scho:arships avail- able for such students, with the con- ditions of tenure. (3) To circulate that statement to the churches and adopted are Biblical. Abraham Writing in Neglected Arabia missions working in the area repre- sented by the Board, and suggest that Obarzanski has become Avram of the work at Bahrein, Dr. they cooperate with the authorities Ben-Barzel, '.~Son of Iron," and Thoms says that the medical Jacob Messongnik, Yaakov Kes- work has continued to expand ?f the Christian colleges, by supply- mg information regarding mission ler. The three families of Black, until one wonders whether build- grants to Christian students in at- tendance there, and by obtaining re- Brown and White are now ings or staff will break first. por~s of. the studen~s' progress. (4) known by their Hebrew equiva- There has been marked increase To mqUlre further mto the economic lent. In the adoption of "given" in the number of in-patients, and other reasons for the presence of names the immigrants have be- out-calls, operations and clinic Christians in non-Christian instItu- tions, and find out what, if any, accome qui t e Biblical-minded. cases. commodation or care is· provided for Amos is quite common as a first In Hidd, a combined evangel- such students by local churches or name. Fanny has become Zi- istic and medical project is car- missions, and how far students avail pora, "Bird"; Sophie, Shifra, ried on in an empty store room. themselves of such facilities.
"Beautiful" ; while the Eliza- While the doctor gets out his -Dnyanodaya.
A Christian Mela inces and many of the States. of the discussion centered about By active propaganda the people Some five to six hundred men of India have been aroused to policy and organization, docand women gathered from 95 help in stamping out the disease. villages of the districts of Main- trinal standards and the practipuri and Etawah to attend a -Alliance Weekly. cal unification of the ministry. Christian mela, February 29 to March 2. The mela was entirely Hindu Strongholds Shaken Two main difficulties were devoted to the discussion of spir- presented by the Methodist itual and social topics. Time had At a meeting of the Poona and Episcopal Church in joining the to be found for holding exami- Indian Village Mission, held in nations to test their knowledge London, evidences of progress contemplated union. One is the of Scripture. Contests were held were related. Nateputa, once hesitation of the India section of in singing and it was interesting fast closed against the mission- this church to break away from to watch groups of young and aries, is now open to the Gospel. its world-wide organization in old competing for the flag which Even in the temple itself, the order to unite with other church boys singing to the god have bodies in India. The other conwas the prize for this contest. been heard singing the songs of cerns the claim of the Methodist Both Christians and non- Zion. Only fear of man seems Episcopal Church that it is a to prevent the head man of the unified organization embracing Christians attended; the latter village from open baptism. He outnumbered the former in the said to the missionary: "Sahib, both missionary and ecclesiastiratio of 5 to 1; but the non- before you came I used to go cal activities. Behind all the ne- Christians were also truth seek- twice daily and fall at the feet gotiations is the question whethers. Their members indicated er independent Indian Christian opinion will support the union.
-The Living Church.
the movement of the depressed of the god, but now I fall at the Caste People Enter Anglican feet of Jesus Christ, and He Church classes toward Christianity. alone is my Saviour." From all enquirers at the mela who sought admission into the A striking story was told of The Living Church reports Christian fold was demanded the the conversion and baptism of a that a large number of low caste condition that they should have Hindu "holy man," who came to Hindus of Travancore are plantheir chutiyas (tuft of hair on the Gospel meeting in the Pand- ning to enter the Anglican their heads) removed. The chu- harpur bazaar with the intention Church. They are said to have tiya links them with the old re- of causing a disturbance. But chosen this church over the Syligion and this link must be bro- instead he was led to Christ, and rian and Roman Churches, the ken. Then they were examined was baptized at his own urgent two other important Christian in Christian essentials: (1) request, to be known henceforth bodies in Travancore, because it John 3: 16. (2) The Ten Com- as William Paul. On returning is the "Church of the King-Emmandments. (3) Their sum- to his home 500 miles away he peror." They count upon the ming up in the words of our suffered bitter persecution, but protection of the British gov- Lord. (4) The Lord's Prayer led his brother and a friend to ernment, through British misand (5) The Apostles' Creed. the Saviour. Now he has come sionaries, against any repressive Each one had to commit these back to the missionaries, and is measures that the state authorito memory and recite t1).em be- staying at Akluj, having regular ties might launch, under the fore the examiners. Out of some Bible instruction with the young guise of quelling a movement of 100 as many as 48 were declared men stationed there, and going disloyalty to the throne of the successful. For their growth in forth with them into the villages Maharajah. knowledge groups of 5 or 6 and to preach the Gospel to his own sometimes 8 or 10 villages have people. He makes no claim on New Preaching Methods been formed according to size the mission, but trusts God for A new way of preaching the and number, and Christian wor- his needs. -The Life of Faith. Gospel is through morality ship and classes of instruction plays. Recently, two of Canon are held. Union Plan Progresses Gairdner's plays, "The Good Sa- maritan" and "Joseph and His Two Million Lepers The Joint Council, which has Brethren" were produced, and Great Britain's Leprosy As- been formed to promote the un- students threw themselves into sociation has made an investiga- ion of the United Church of them most effectively. The audition of leprosy in its Empire, Northern India, the Methodist ence was largely made up of edwhich reveals an increase of Episcopal and the B apt i s t ucated Hindus. The Indian has 700,000 during the past twelve Churches held its third meeting a natural genius for, and appreyears. The disease is far more in Lucknow recently. The Con- ciation of the drama. widespread than was formerly gregationalists of Bengal, affili- Another new way of approach thought. The greatest progress, ated with the London Mission- is through the medium of music. the report states, has been made ary Society, h a v e definitely Both Christians and Hindus in India where an Indian Coun- joined the movement. Thus the gather in an open space in the cil has been organized, with joint council now represents cool of the evening, and the branches in all the Indian Prov- four distinct communions. Most evangelist, accompanying him-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
self on a violin, sings the gospel "It is our aim to lead men to know, literature is composed of quarstory in verse, every now and love and serve God as revealed in terlies and charts on the lessons, then stopping to explain and Jesus Christ, and to know, love and prepared and illustrated by misteach. Thus he sings his way serve their fellowmen." The policy sionaries and Chinese workers. into the hearts of a large audi- adopted contained the following Also a paper is being published ence while they listen by the points:-(l) The establishment of and sent, not only to every provhour. -C. M. S. Gleaner. vital Christian churches which shall ince in China, but to other parts be free to develop according to their of the world where the Chinese OHINA own interpretation of the New Tes- have gone. This paper will even- tament, and from which will issue tually be The Sunday School After a Hundred Years recreative forces transforming the re- Times of China. -Tidings. ligious, social, moral, intellectual and Robert Morrison died feeling social life of the people. (2) The Mr. Bosshardt Released sure that if there were 100 maintenance of a system of education Christians in China after 100 as essential to making contacts be- A cable received at C. 1. M. years of missionary effort it tween church and community, and headquarters April 14 brought would be a miracle. After for the training of Christian leader- the news that Mr. R. A. Boss- 100 years how many Chris- ship in both church and society. (3) hardt had been released uncontians were there? There are the To train physicians, dentists and ditionally, and was as well as graves of 1,800 Christian mar- nurses in order that the practice of could be expected. tyrs, killed in 1900 for their the ministry of healing and public faith. There are 10,000 Chris- health, in a Christian spirit and in It will be recalled that Mr. tian communities. T h i r tee n accordance with modern scientific Bosshardt was captured near g rea t Christian universities standards, may be an effective means Kiuchow, Kweichow, on October train leaders for China's future. in carrying out our aim. (4) To give 1, 1934. From that date to East- The Bible is a best seller. such strength and attention as is pos- er Sunday, 1936, is a period of sible to the promotion of social service 560 days, more than eighteen -Missionary Herald. programs, young men's associations, months. For three-fourths of reading rooms, mass education, rural that time he had the companion- New Life Movement Re-Oast services and anti-vice programs. (5) ship of Mr. Hayman, but for 147 To prepare and circulate Christian days, since Mr. Hayman's re- Gen. Chiang Kai-Shek has literature. lease, he has been alone, or acpublicly criticised the dilatory companied by a German Roman mood now marking his "New -The Chinese Recorder. Catholic priest, who, as far as Life Movement." Meetings of known is still in captivity. those charged with the move- Ohanges in Eight Years ment's activities had become It appears that the Commuperfunctory. In all too many Rev. Thomas P. Worsnip of nist forces had to move quickly centers attention had been di- the South China Alliance Mis- on account of attacks from the rected to imposing blue law reg- sion lis t s several striking air, and the near approach of ulations–questions of cut of changes, observed after an eight the Yunnan troops. On the night hair and dress, etc., and the ne- year absence in the United of April 11, Mr. Bosshardt was cessity of coupling the move- States. After noting the wid- given $10 and a certificate of ment with vital issues had been ened streets, taller buildings, release, and at midnight the Red overlooked. The general now water and sewage systems, elec- Army retired, leaving him free proposes to reorganize it with a trically lighted s t r e e t sand to make his way to Fumin, about view to linking it to social re- changed dress, he speaks of the thirty miles north of Yunnanfu. construction. In Nanking plans spiritual changes. More chil- It is reported that on the 14th have already been started to get dren attend Sunday school and he was moved to the hospital the New Life Movement behind a shamefacedness, which once (doubtless the C. M. S. Hospia reform of the riksha business. seemed to characterize those en- tal) for treatment for slight Other such social issues will take tering and leaving chapel, is pleurisy, and a touch of heart the place of the former emphasis gone. In evangelistic meetings trouble. -China's Millions. on morals, manners and hygiene. invitations are given by the The movement suffers from lack preacher for those interested to "Mud Oollege" of competent leaders, who know raise the hand, to stand, or to how to tie it up to vital issues. come forward for prayer. Years Sam Dean, Presbyterian mis- ago this was never done. The sionary in Peiping, is proudly -The Christian Century. Chinese did not know the mean- developing what he calls a "mud ing of such procedure. college," in which young techni- Baptists Look Forward cal students are trained in archi- Evangelistic bands are being tecture and engineering, earning The West China Baptist Mis- trained in three months' Bible not only their own way, but paysion has issued a new definition Schools, where they acquire a ing many of the expenses of the of aim and policy, based on the working knowledge of Christi- "college" by the work they are determination to advance in es- anity, and go on the "firing line" doing. sentials, and retreat in nones- for the other nine months of the sentials. The aim is stated thus: year. Traveling libraries represent another type of rural work being Another remarkable change is that the Chinese are publishing Christian Sunday school litera- ture, subscribed for and sent to every province in China. This
developed. The "librarian" car- nomination of Shinto, Buddhism All the evangelistic efforts of ries books from village to vil- and Christianity is called upon the various denominations and lage, making a point of visiting to secure official registration as Christian 0 r g ani z a t ion s government schools. In one sta- a "juridical person," but there throughout the country are betion, the 1,000 books (chiefly re- is no particular reason to expect, ing unified and inter-related. ligious biography, hygiene and at present, that there will be in- Among the types of gatherings health, and other useful sub- terference with the tenets of any contemplated are public mass j ects) are distributed in 50 vil- ordinary religions. meetings; training conferences lages, in schools, churches, po- for religious leaders; special lice stations, shops and private The bill looks forward to a round tables for educators and houses. Another project is the measure of state control over public-spirited village, town and "Lord's Acre" plan, by which religions, and would place in the city leaders; meetings in eduthe products of a given plot of hands of the authorities the cational institutions; conferground are devoted to the use of right to judge whether a person ences on rural uplift, and on furthe church in helping to build up was fit to hold a responsible po- thering evangelism in industrial self-support. sition as pastor or evangelist. and commercial areas. Should it pass it will undoubted- -Monday Morning. ly affect the carrying on of re- After Forty-Five Years ligious propaganda throughout JAPAN -CHOSEN the empire. It may also affect Recently on the street of the status of schools, and the Pyengyang a loud-speaking vic- A Forward Movement opinion has been expressed from trola sent forth the hymn, Korea that it might lead to re- "Jesus Shall Reign," and Dr. A Commission on Nation-wide striction of educational work on Moffett stopped on the street to Evangelism has completed its the part of the Christian forces give thanks to God for what had organization, and is asking there. occurred in the 45 years since Christians throughout the em- he first came to Pyengyang. At pire to remember this movement Christians and Militarism that time there was not one in their morning devotions, and Christian in the then-known also to organize groups which Japanese Christians we r e most wicked city of the nation, will undergird this evangelistic deeply humiliated by the milita- nor in the whole of north Korea. effort with a volume of united rist outbreak in Tokyo. They Still, multitudes have not yet prayer. A budget of 5,000 yen seek a better way of strengthenhas been adopted for the present ing the Japanese people than by heard the Gospel and 98 % of the year. It is hoped that during militarism, they believe that the the first year of the movement way of Christ is more powerful people do not know of Christ. special campaigns may be con- in achieving national solidarity ducted in the empire's six major than any other method. On -The Presbyterian Banner. cities-Tokyo, Yokohama, Na- April 28th the Christians held a goya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe-and great mass meeting in Tokyo at Church Discipline in Chosen in six near-by cities. which Dr. George W. Truett of Dallas, T e x a s, world-famed Revelation tell s how one Literature evangelism will be evangelist, was present. They church in Chosen put into pracmade a special feature of the released a statement of which tice their belief that "a deacon movement. This will take ad- the following is a part: shall be filled with the Holy Spirvantage of the present awaken- it." A deacon of this church ing among educators and na- "Recognizing that Christians owned a rice field which had a tional leaders regarding the in the past have fallen far short very good crop in the drought need of religious education in of fulfilling their great mission, year. Everyone in the church the training of the youth. Spe- in deep repentance they affirm knew the approximate income cial meetings for educators will in this crisis their relief that of this deacon; annually he rebe held in which religious edu- only the Gospel of Christ can be ceived about two hundred yen in cation will be the central theme. the safe guiding star for the cash. His pledge to the church At an early date a "Religious people's thinking and can bring was fifteen yen each year. This Education" number of the King- eternal welfare to the father- particular season his income was dom of God Weekly will be pub- land. Zealously, therefore, we almost doubled because of the lished for distribution among bestir ourselves, and emphasiz- high price of rice. When the teachers of Primary and Middle ing the love of God and the grace deacon subscribed fifteen yen he Schools. of Christ we proclaim this Gos- was brought before the elders pel to our fellow nationals. We, of the church, was told that ,his Religious Bill's Implications the Christians of the empire, failure to increase his gifts in united and with an unbroken proportion to his income was a Comments on the Religious front, propose to launch a great sin against the Lord and against Bill are being made by a num- union evangelistic movement the church, and he was forced to ber of Japanese papers. One of and carry forward a nation-wide resign his office of deacon and the features of the new bill dynamic program of aggressive was put on probation for severseems to be that each sect or de- evangelism." al months.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
The Christian Life Speaks department. There are eight na- NORTH AMERICA tive workers in this southern Mrs. Harry J. Hill tells an Celebes field. Four of the 12 The National Assembly of incident of the past year which fields are in Borneo. the Oxford Group proves that by-products of missionary service may have far Two high spots of the work Audiences variously estimated reaching results. are, first the ingathering of at from 3,000 to 10,000 people 8,000 Dyaks in Borneo, and, sec- gathered at Stockbridge, Massa- A Bible school girl, worker in ond, the large number of men chusetts, May 29 to June 8, to rural areas, said to the mission- attending the Bible school. Al- listen to Oxford Group leaders ary, "Did you go out to such and ready over 50 students of the from many lands bear testimony such a village one hot day last Bible school are out in the work, to the change God has wrought fall, walking ten li or so just to gaining practical experience in in their own lives and to the talk with one little backsliding the art of soul-winning. A need of everyone for new spirsaxi and her young husband?" Women's Bible School has been itual life in order that the world organized. may be transformed through "Yes, what about the two, did men and women in harmony you meet them ?" The students come from all with God. Lenox, Great Bar- points of the compass, natives rington and Stockbridge were "Well, the girl is weak, and from many unreached islands, captured and the leaders moved her husband evidently not a true and speaking between 20 and 30 on to New York, on June 8, to believer yet, but the whole vil- island dialects. hold a great mass meeting in lage heard that a missionary the Metropolitan Opera House. from Pyengyang had gone clear Chinese workers of the Chi- Among the speakers at these out there and out into the fields nese Foreign Missionary Union meetings were members of the just to 'preach to' that girl and have done splendid work. In nobility, professors, preachers everywhere I went people said, Borneo, their reward has been and public men from Great 'There must be something in this nearly 3,000 converts. It is safe Britain and Europe, as well as Jesus doctrine, if the foreigner to say that over 10,000 have ac- converted Socialists, pickpockis willing to go to all that trou- cepted Christ in these few years, ets and drunkards from the ble. Come in, and we'll listen to and there are probably as many lower strata of society. Others what you have to say.' " more awaiting baptism, as soon came from many walks of life as workers can be sent to teach in United States and Canada. ISLANDS OF THE SEA them. The leaders express their convic- tion that the secret of a changed A Mission Ship Indispensable Methodists in the Philippines -Godly-world is changed indi- The Bishop of Melanesia re- viduals that make up the world, Two new Methodist Confer- and that the secret of this ports that the Mission Ship, ences have come into being-the change is complete surrender to "Southern Cross No.7," has Philippine and the Philippine the will of God. Whatever difproved a thoroughly seaworthy North. Eight Filipino district ference of conviction there may craft. Last year she carried the superintendents, under Bishop be as to method, there is no bishop nineteen thousand miles, Edwin F. Lee, are doing a fine room for difference of opinion besides bringing Christian boys piece of work in meeting new as to the desirability of attainand girls from remote islands to local and national needs with a ing the objective. Testimonies school, sick people to hospitals, well-rounded Christian p r 0- from many parts of the world teachers to centers for "refresh- gram. Two hundred and twen- give evidence that the Gospel as er" courses, and stores to outly- ty-nine ministers are under reg- presented by the Oxford Group ing stations. This little ship ular appointment. Leaders are is effecting transformations in plays a very important part in cooperating in the development all lands and in all classes of the work of the church in Mela- of a church organization that the society. nesia. She is the link which Filipinos will be able to mainbinds together the church in the tain. Church membership is 87,- Bible Reading in Schools many islands, a constant remind- 572, making this the largest er to the native Christians of Methodist group in the Far East. New York's Supreme Court the love of the people in the Pastors are on a basis of self- Justice William T. Collins has home church. support, which, though inade- rendered a decision upholding quate, enables local churches to hymn singing and Bible reading Netherlands East Indies accept entire responsibility for in public schools, and the occa- the promotion of their. activities. sional use of school buildings by Mr. R. A. Jaffray summarizes religious and racial organizathe achievements in the Nether- The division into two confer- tions. Free thinkers of Amerlands East Indies Mission. At ences was along language and ica had objected to the practice, least a start has been made in race lines-the Ilocanos forming in effect for many years, and twelve distinct fields, widely a distinct group from the Taga- had brought the case to court. scattered and embracing an area logs, though both are Christian equal to half the distance across and Filipino in their loyalty. North America. Makassar is the headquarters, and located there -The Christian Advocate. are Bible school and publication
Answering their charge, Justice The National Bible Institute Board Cancels Debt Collins declared: The purpose of the National For the third consecutive year Bible Institute during its 29 the Presbyterian Board of Na- "To read the Bible in schools years' history has been to take tional Missions closed its fiscal the Gospel message to New year with a surplus. Receipts for these and like purposes, or York's unevangelized millions, from all sources amounted to and through its schools to afford $2,492,111.15 and expenditures to require it to be read without Christian young men and women to $2,489,441.91, leaving a sur- opportunities for acquiring a plus of $2,669.24. Of the resectarian explanations, is no in- thorough knowledge of the ceipts, $1,570,037.64 came from Scriptures, and for securing gifts from churches, Sunday terference with religious liberty. Spirit-guided training for Chris- schools, youth budget, mission- tian service as pastors, mission- ary organizations, individuals; It is not urged that any particu- aries, evangelists and Bib I e and $927,599.37 from unre- teachers. In the last school stricted legacies and invested lar sect or religion or biblical year, 402 young men and women funds. It is said that only 400/0 were enrolled. of the church members are conversion is being taught or insin- tributing to the mission cause. During the twenty-nine years, uated. It is not maintained that the Institute has conducted more Through depletion of legacy than 50,000 outdoor evangelistic funds, the accumulated debt of dogmatic reI i g ion is being meetings, with an aggregate at- $1,055,252.58, as of March 31, tendance of more than seven mil- 1936, has been cancelled. This foisted upon any pupil. No spe- lion persons. More than 1,750,- leaves the Board of National 000 Gospels and Gospel messages Missions today without a debt cial sect or creed or tenet is fav- have been distributed. In these for the first time in its history. meetings there were more than It is pointed out that this action ored. The use of the Bible in 70,000 professed conversions. has reduced the Board's annual Also during this period at the income by the amount of interno way affects the belief of free Institute's mission halls in New est that so large a sum safely in- York there was an aggregate at- vested would yield. thinkers. Authentic free think- tendance of more than one mil- lion persons. Methodist Laymen's Movement ing involves the indubitable Crime Problem in U. S. Formal organization of the right to believe in God as well as Layman's Religious Movement, J. Edgar Hoover, head of an unofficial, liberal group in the the unfettered license not to be- crime investigation, in address- Methodist Episcopal Church, -Missions. ing the D. A. R., stated that files was announced April 23. Outlieve." of his bureau revealed 3,000,- lining the purposes of the move- 000 convicted criminals in this ment an official statement as- Missions Handicapped by country and that "one out of serts that "in every age religion every 25 persons in the United has been quickened and revived Intoxicants States is inclined toward crim- by active participation in the inality." Declaring that he had great group social movements, The apparent inability of the no wish to cause alarm, Mr. which have arisen from the ever government to prevent the sale Hoover said he was compelled to changing conditions of human of intoxicating liquor to Indians admit that there are "150,000 living." It continues by saying adds to the difficulties against murderers roaming at large in that the sponsors and endorsers which Christian missionaries the country, and that statistics of the Statement of Principles are continually obliged to con- show that within the lifetime of find it impossible "to be silent tend. Before repeal, the boot- everyone alive today 200,000 regarding the 'un-Christian, unlegger was more easily discov- persons will commit murder be- ethical and anti-social' aspects ered by Indians who were op- fore they die and more than of present-day civilization which posed to the liquor traffic, and 300,000 persons will be mur- everyone recognizes. apprehended by government dered." Mr. Hoover said that the police. Now the supply of liquor average citizen pays a tax-of "With millions unemployed is abundant and it is offered at a $120 a year "for the privilege and many more millions underprice within the reach of the In- of living in a country which each paid; with countless families dians, especially those receiving year sees 12,000 murders, 46,981 living below subsistence levels; cash for their labor under the cases of felonious assault, 283,- and members of the younger government work – relief pro- 685 burglaries, 779,956 larcenies generation denied to a large exgram. and 247,346 automobile thefts." tent the right to establish a ca- reer with any hope of opportu- Numerous tribal councils have -United Presbyterian. nity and security, it would be appealed to the government to unthinkable t hat Methodists seize and punish those who en- should not prayerfully seek congage in debauching the Indians, by enticing them into vicious resorts, and the Navajo Council some months ago assumed the responsibility of appointing a force of special policemen to ferret them out and bring them to justice. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs is aware of these distressing conditions and is making earnest efforts to apply corrective measures. Large appropriations of money not now available would be required to clean up these plague spots, such as are found in centers like Gallup, N. M.
-The Presbyterian Tribune.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
structive methods of correcting ministry in their behalf; to en- The objects of the association these conditions," the statement list various church agencies in are threefold: (1) to unite all continues. a program of service, and to Japanese, especially Christian devise effective methods of ap- students, and to cultivate organ- Inner Missions Surveyed proach. ized effort; (2) to promote growth of Christian character Three hundred and eighty- Converts in the Jewish field and fellowship among its memtwo agencies, societies and insti- compare favorably in number bers and to spread the Christian tutions of the Lutheran Church and character with those in any way of life among Japanese stuin the United States minister, in other field of the church. Peniel, dents in America; (3) to stim- Christ's name, to orphans, de- Chicago, reports two hundred ulate capacity for service and to ficient, sick, handicapped and fifty converts from a community render needed services for the friendless. The activities show a of socialist Jews in fifteen years general welfare of Japanese stuvariety of types-orphanages, resulting in the formation of a dents in America. Local chap- 66; homes for the aged, 81; church. ters endeavor to emphasize perdeaconess mother-houses, 12 ; sonal evangelism, to conduct hospitals, 76; hospices, 33; In- -National Missions. religious forums or discussion ner Mission Societies, 73; sea- groups; to foster prayer circles men's homes, 19; home-finding One Indian to Anothe:r and prayer life, to encourage atsocieties, 15; settlement houses tendance at student Christian and day nurseries, 9. The total The way the Gospel makes its conferences, to organize sectionproperty valuation is almost influence felt is seen in an In- al conferences, and to encourage $50,000,000, of which the hospi- dian's letter to another Indian, contact with Christian homes. tals absorb almost half. whose respective tribes were bitter enemies in former years. -Japanese Students Directory. There were 1,022,182 persons served by the organizations re- WHITE ARM, New Church in Alaska porting; Inner Mission societies ministered to 713,146 and hos- LODGE GRASS, MONTANA. The Eskimo village of Wainpitals to 200,117, all without re- wright, Alaska, is to have its gard to creed or race. Dear Brother, own church building. Wain- wright is located on the far -Lutheran News. r writing short letter to you so you north Alaskan coast some 110 miles southwest of Barrow. The Jewish Situation know my little baby girl died. Your There are more than two hun- friend Bird Bear came home from dred active members of the There are more Jews in Amer- Crow reservation after my baby died. Presbyterian church in this isoica than in all Asia, Africa, Bird Bear told me your daughter lated village, under the care of South America, Australasia and Dr. Henry Greist, who recently most of the countries of Western died some time ago too. r sorry to resigned as doctor and pastor of Europe combined. The vast ma- Barrow. Because of the presjority have come since 1880, the hear that but at same time we can sure of work at Barrow, and the greatest number from Russia thank God she gone to better land fact that it takes from two to and Poland. They are scattered where no sin, nQ heavy heart, where three days to make the trip by over every state of the Union, tears are wiped from her face. dog team between Barrow and in 9,712 different places. Two- Wainwright, such trips are necthirds of the total number live r very glad to hear you helping essarily infrequent. Services in the Eastern states, about one have been conducted regularly million in the Western and Pa- missionary at Lodge Grass. Be true by two Eskimo workers who liscific states, and one-half million to Jesus, White Arm, and show with tened to the sermons broadcast in the Southern states. Though daily life that you are new man and by the late Rev. E. L. Winterso widely scattered, 3,000,000 that way everything will come out to berger, missionary pastor at live in eleven cities, of which your best. It will not always be like Anchorage, took notes, made New York has 2,000,000, Chi- yQU think but if you walk straight aU translations into Eskimo, and cago, 325,000 and Philadelphia will be good. You might have to wait gave a digest of the sermons at 270,000. but everything turn out all right. the services the following Sun- day in the little government Phenomenal changes are tak- Remember me to Crows and be good school house. ing place in Jewish life and thought. Today, they are more to yourself. r now enclose my letter Since last fall Wainwright has open-minded, more willing to had a resident minister, Rev. consider the claims of Christ. with prayer and best regards. Thats Percy Ipalook, product of the Some of the objectives of the all. Good by. Barrow Mission and the first Es- Presbyterian Board are to edu- kimo to be trained for the mincate the church concerning the -Missions. istry. Jewish situation in America, and the need and opportunity of a Japanese Students in U. S. A. -Presbyterian Board News.
The Japanese Students' Chris- tian Association in North Amer- ica, the dream of many a Japa- nese student in the past, was proposed at a meeting of J apa- nese delegates to the Student Volunteer Convention at Indian- apolis in January, 1924. In the following June the national or- ganization became a reality, and since then has made a record growth. Three national conven- tions have been held; at Evans- ville in 1927, at Detroit in 1928 and at Buffalo in 1931.
LATIN AMERICA work in northern Brazil. A Bi- found the Lord in a regimental ble Training Institute has been meeting. What happened to him New Day in Venezuela started in the state of Maranhao. also occurred to two other sturdy One sees hope for a new day The Baptist Church has ex- soldiers and their families in the in Venezuela. One of the first tended its work among the In- same regiment. moves of President Lopez Con- dians in the state of Amazonas, treras was to order the building and some Indians have been bap- Pioneering in the Argentine of over 500 rural schoolhouses tized. The Presbyterian Church in the state capital, Manaos, has No Indians in the Chaco need and the establishment of trades been enlarged to accommodate a mission more than the Pilaga. schools in all the state capitals. increased numbers. A new pa- Unscrupulous settlers and sol- A large program of public works per in Portuguese to arouse inhas given employment to thou- terest in the evangelization of diers have caused all Spanishsands of men at a fair wage. the Indians of the Amazon area speaking people to be enemies in has been published and has met Freedom of speech and of the with an unexpected welcome. A the eyes of these simple yet repress were also established to new church has been inaugu- vengeful people. Because of some extent, with full freedom rated in the state capital of Para, and among Gaviao and their rigid rule in vendetta, the for the country when it has re- Cherente Indians evangelical Pilaga have been hunted each turned to normal conditions. work has been opened. year, many being slain, in order With the return of many of the to pay for the slaughter of nuintelligentsia from exile, with Sunday School Convention in merous whites-who have been the nation free from public debt, Peru killed by the Pilaga in order to with an assured income from oil At the first national, interde- pay for the slaughter of their production, and a desire on the nominational Sunday School tribesmen, and so the vicious Convention in Lima, Peru, in circle went. Yet these people part of the people for a retu:r:n 1935, there were present at the begged for a missionary, and to the normal type of economIC opening session 53 delegates replife there is every reason for resenting 30 Sunday schools. finally two were sent. The Inoptimism. A president who, in Denominational lines were elim- dians built substantial huts, inated, and the meetings were made gardens, a well, cut roads. a country where no building was open to the general public. From A school is now being built by ever erected for educational pur- SIxty to a hundred people were the Indians themselves, as they poses, starts out with th~ aim of usually present. Two delegates immediately inc rea SIn g the walked half the distance down are most anxious to learn to read school population, is evidently a the Andes mountains because and write. Twenty-eight Indi- they had only enough train fare departure from the usual run of for half the way. ans meet each week for Chris- Latin American rulers. tian instruction. So interested A committee was appointed to are they that they get all the In- Brazil's Evangelical Congress dians together in the village of one chief or another, and there An Evangelical Congress was they sing hymns, pray simply, held in Brazil in the latter part and the chief of that village tells what he learns in the inquirer's foefdeJruantei~norgoaf niEzevdabnygtehel Con- class. i cal Churches. Evangelization was stimulate the production of orig- the first of the subjects to come inal hymns in Spanish, to select under review, and an important and make available simple songs, place was given to questions re- having in mind especially the A Superior Education lating to work among youth, and children under eight years of the production and use of litera- age; and to study the matter of Offered by Calvert Courses FOR CHILDREN ture. The Confederation is pri- making victrola records for use marily a Brazilian movement, in teaching hymns in the outly- drawing its inspiration from the ing p I ace s. Demonstration More than 50,000 children have ac- desire of Brazilian Christians to classes in teaching were held quired a superior elementary education … in their own homes … in this take every step necessary to for- during the week. interesting and simple way.
ward the evangelization of their Chilean Soldiers Recommended by Mission Boards, Educountry. Some 250,000 Evangel- cators State Department, and Army and N'avy Officials. ical Christians are in touch with Mr. William M. Strong ~ays the cooperating churches. Article 1 of the Constitution states he saw "a bit of heaven III a Dspaeicliyallemssaotnes:iaslesleacntdedpbeorosokns,asl tagtuiio~naenrcye, its objectives: "To express and humble Chilean home." It was stimulate evangelical unity, pro- … by mail … from our promment in the shining face of a sergeant and successful private day school in' mote organized act ion, and of infantry, sitting propped up Baltimore. maintain relationships with the in bed reading his Bible. "He Write today for illustrated catalog.
had been at home sick with the Church of Christ in all the grippe for several days, and was CALVERT SCHOOL , world." not expecting company when we Mrs. O. S. Rhoads. Director of Home Instruction There are signs here and there dropped in on him, so the Bible 188 Tuscany Road. Baltimore, Md. of development in evangelical was not just for show. This man
'~I—=======-==========================Ol~
Our'Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information ~,===============-;=,~ Taking Hold of God. By Samuel M. IX, X, XI and XII, should im- est, is the Power of Prayer, both Zwemer. 188 pp. $1.00. Zondervan subjective and objective, as con- Publishing House. Grand Rapids, mediately follow Chapter I on stantly asserted in the Bible and Michigan. 1936. The Antiquity and Universality proved in the experience of saints ancient and modern. The A new book by this great mis- of Prayer, rather than the sev- well-known H i n d ran c e s to sionary, life-long student of Is- eral chapters on the Nature, Prayer, external and internal, lam, founder and editor of The Power and Indispensability of are discussed, with appropriate Moslem World, and, since 1930, Prayer, ideally the most natural remedies. Professor of the History of Religion and Christian Missions in and impressive conclusion of the Non-Christian Prayers and the Princeton Theological Seminary, book, which, however, is made specially vital relation of Prayer is a not infrequent and always forceful by the presentation of and Missions form two chapters. welcome event. the example of Our Lord. Old Testament Prayers, the Prayers of Paul, an analysis of In these "Studies on the Na- The author maintains not only The Lord's Prayer, and the ture, Need and Power of that there has been no religion unique Prayers of Our Lord Prayer," Dr. Zwemer has left without prayer, but that there Himself, complete the main text his special field of research and of the volume, which, however, devoted service to make a valu- can be none. It is the only chan- is supplemented by "A Devoable contribution to the Chris- nel between the seen and the un- tional Service and Meditation on tian Church's realization of "the seen, the only bridge across the The Trinity, arranged from vaheart of its religion,"-of all re- abyss of eternity. While most rious sources," and by a selected ligion,-and the indispensable pagan prayers are for temporal Bibliography. source of its power to fulfill its mission. Dedicated "To my col- good, many of them have been -COURTENAY H. FENN. leagues on the mission field, who addressed to a Supreme Being have been an inspiration in the in recognition of a spiritual re- At the Point of a Lancet. William goodly fellowship of prayer," lationship and filial dependence. Warder, 304 pp. Kelly & Walsh, the book is manifestly not mere- Ltd. Shanghai. 1935. ly a series of Biblical and his- Prayer is not easy to define: torical studies but also a record it includes more than petition, The practice of medicine 100 of mature experience of "the life yet petition is at its heart. years ago was something dishid with Christ in God." James Montgomery's familiar tinctly different from what it is hymn defines it in fourteen pic- today. The modern up-to-the- Believing that Jesus alone can tures. The sixty-fourth chapter minute practicioner has such an teach His disciples how to pray, armamentarium of instruments and that prayer is a great real- of Isaiah is its most perfect ex- and technical aids in the realm ity, Dr. Zwemer seeks to bring pression. The recognition and of electricity, light, heat, masevery thought concerning his thankful adoration of God; the sage and water therapy, that he theme "into captivity to the obe- pouring out of the heart before well-nigh requires a special condience of Christ." He has no Him in conviction, confession, sultant to enumerate them all. sympathy with the modern the- contrition and consecration; pe- From this glorification of gadgory that the value of prayer is tition for the accomplishment of ets and marvelously clever and solely subjective, but believes His holy and loving will, and in- efficient machinery, it is a long that "Prayer changes things," step back to the day when Peter as proved by "its universality, tercession for all men in relation Parker, in the autumn of 1835, its antiquity, its nature, its mys- to the Kingdom of God, consti- opened his hospital' at Canton tery and its history," and heart- tute true prayer. and began to treat Chinese afily echoes the words of Glad- flicted with eye diseases. He was stone, "Prayer is the highest ex- The comparative unimpor- a skillful doctor, and he was also pression of the human intellect." tance yet positive importance of a devoted missionary. Direct Place, Posture and Time in missionary activity as well as all Logically, the his tor y of prayer are fully treated and the other forms of foreign penetra- Prayer, as recorded in Chapters lack of devotion of time noted as one of the average Christian's chief impotences. The Horology of Bishop Andrewes is set forth in full.
The center of the studies, and that which is of most vital inter- Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent hy the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[383 ]
tion was vigorously opposed by abroad. He discusses the sub- ticular." They were restless, the Chinese Government, but ject under three heads-Getting, roving adventurers of the sixwithin a year Parker's ministry, Spending and Giving. Each is because of its skill and sym- presented with clarity of state- teenth and ninteenth centuries pathy, was eagerly sought by ment, cogency of reasoning and respectively; but they were picrich and poor, by official and aptness of illustration. The senpeasant. In 1837 on some days tences are short and crisp. turesque characters who had his patients numbered two or There is an occasional one that, strange and sometimes thrilling three hundred. Thus Peter taken by itself, might be misin- experiences, and the reader is Parker, an American missionary terpreted; but as a rule the grateful to Dr. Gowen for bringphysician, broke down the prej- statements win instant assent. ing them out of the oblivion udices that sealed the doors of The book has special interest for where they were known to only China. missionaries and their support- ers, for most of the discussion of a few research scholars like him- It is an enchanting story, and giving is on the relation or giV- self. So his volume is both in- Dr. William W. Cadbury and ing to foreign missions. Crit- structive and interesting. Mary H. Jones, in "At the Point icisms are refuted and the scope of a Lancet," tell it with all the and worth of missions are ef- ARTHUR J. BROWN. vividness that such a story pos- fectively presented. Of the book sesses. They carry it on-this as a whole, that good judge, We Beheld His Glory. The Primistory of the Canton Hospital- Prof. Halford E. Luccock of tive Christian Message and Presthrough the 100 years that have Yale Divinity School, writes: ent-Day Religious Trends. By stretched on from those early be- "It is a masterpiece of lucid Nicholas Arseniev, D.D. Translated ginnings of Parker working in s tat e men t and penetrating from the German by Mary Anita his warehouse hospital without thought, a profound and persua- Ewer, Ph.D. 220 pp. $3.00. Morenurse or dispenser or assistant sive Christian philosophy of life. house Publishing Co. New York. down to the newly planned mod- Its wide use throughout the 1936. ern hospital shortly to replace Church will make notable histhe old buildings, making this tory." ARTHUR J. BROWN. The subtitle defines the charfamous old institution a vital part of a great University-Medi- Five Foreigners in Japan. By Her- acter of this book. The author cal School-Hospital enterprise. bert H. Gowen, D.D. 283 pp. $2.00. Fleming H. Revell Company. New is a professor of the Orthodox The power and fruitfulness of York. 1936. these 100 years of testimony Greek Church at the University through the compassionate heal- The author of this attractive ing ministry is beyond human volume is professor of Oriental of Warsaw. In his epilogue he comprehension. This faithful Studies in the University of and sacrificial witness, through Washington, and the "Five For- gives the reason for writing the the lips and the hands of such eigners" are Fernando Mendez servants of God as Parker, Kerr, Pinto, Francis Xavier, Will book. Thomson, Swan, Niles, Kirk, Adams, Ronald MacDonald and Cadbury, and many skillful Chi- Townsend Harris. So much has "In our day the power of nese associates, has made "At been written about Xavier and the Point of a Lancet" a story Harris that their careers are Christ is functioning perhaps of which the Christian Church well known; but Dr. Gowen has may well be proud. graphically retold their life with especial strength, even in stories with full appreciation of J. D. VAUGHAN. who these historic men were the midst of human injustices, and what they did. Christian Materialism. By Francis among atrocities, and suffering. John McConnell. 167 pp. $1.25 Pinto, Adams and MacDonald, cloth; 60 cents paper. Friendship are less known. Adams, the first And we know that even in suf- Press. New York. 1936. Englishman to visit Japan, be- came a protege of the great Sho- fering, even beneath the Cross, This book is small in size but gun, Iyeyasu, in the early declarge in importance. It was ades of the seventeenth century there is the power of the Risen written at the request of the and rendered a service as pilot United Stewardship Council, and shipbuilder which is com- One: a piece of another, higher representing twenty-six Protes- memorated by a monument still tant communions, which felt standing in Tokyo. We doubt reality, and yet existent within that a new study of the Chris- whether Pinto and McDonald this reality, inwardly enriching tian's relation to material pos- can properly be classified, as we sessions was urgently needed. are told in the Foreword, among it, illuminating and permeating Bishop McConnell was eminent- the men who had "influence uply fitted for the task by his long on the history of the Far East it." experience as a Christian leader in general and of Japan in parand his wide knowledge of the After a general explanation religious situation at home and of the realism of early Chris- tianity we have an account of the religious situation in the world today through the eyes of a Greek Catholic. The phenom- ena of modern Protestant the- ology and their belief in the church and the sacrament are contrasted with the J ohannine vision of glory which belongs to the Eastern Church. John's the- ology is that of the Incarnation.
A concluding chapter gives some tendencies in modern Roman Catholic thought. .
The divine victory and the manifestation of redemption at the incarnation was "the inrush of God into the world." Today, says the author, this Christian message is being rediscovered in its full force. S. M. Z.
Books Personal Items Eternal
China Christian Year Book, 1934-5. (Concluded from page 337.) T IME is an impartial yet severe test of value. Edited by Frank Rawlinson. 458 Money comes and goes) stocks nse and fall. pp. $2.00. Arthur H. Clark Co. Dr. and Mrs. F. C. Stephenson, of Glendale, Calif. Toronto, for over forty years have blliJdings are used and decay. Returns from been leaders in the work of mission- Hlvestments in this world are at best uncertain. The Church That Is To Be.-C. M. ary education in Canada. Dr. Ste- ;;'hat a contrast then is a work which "gather- S. Report for 1935. 52 pp. 6d. C. phenson is retiring from the active ttil fruit unto life eternal" (John 4: 36) ! M. S. London. work of his office as Secretary of Mis- sionary Education in the United Invest in the Lord's Work Interpreters: A Study in Contempor- Church of Canada. ary Evangelism. Max Warren. 142 X-'-h~o you use your m.oney to further men's work, pp. 2s. 6d. C. M. S. London. *** passmg good or growmg evil m~y result. When An Introduction to Mexico. Anna Dr. Howard Guinness, of the In- you put your money in trust WIth us t? furth~r Dill Gamble, R. A. McGowan, 48 pp. tervarsity Fe:lowship of Evangelical the Lord's work. only lasting good can come of It. 10 cents. Catholic Assn. for Inter- Unions, has undertaken a five months' national Peace. Washington, D. C. visit to the universities of South Af- THE BIBLE h;;1TTUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION rica where he will hold conferences OF C.H.ICAGO is an undenominational (.interdenomi~ Korean Young Folks. Frederick S. in four universities and six univer- national). thoroughly evangelical sG,;;iety. founded Miller. 190 pp. $2.00. Revell. New sity colleges of the Union. There are by D. L. Moody 10 1894. Its object accordlOg to York. nearly '7,000 white students in South Its charter is: Africa. Literature for the South African "To circulate, distribute. make. publish. buy. Bantu. R. H. W. Shepherd. 1s. 82 The Rev. Francis Car Stifier, D.D. sell and give away books, pamphlets, tracts, pp. Carnegie Corp. Pretoria, So. has been elected Editorial Secretary singing b,?oks, Bibles, Testaments, and evan~ Africa. of the American Bible Society. He gellcal rdlgious publications, and to use any will be responsible for the Society's Long Live the King! George V, King monthly publication, The Bible Society surplus funds of the Association in and about and Emperor. Prince and Sover- Record, and the preparation of pro- Bible and evangelical work," eign, Edward VIII. Eric Acland. motional literature. 372 pp. $1.50. Winston. Philadel- The years have tested and proven the soundness of phia. *** Dwight L. Moody's vision, The Gospel in ,its simplicity and power has been available to nch Many Members-One Body in Christ. The Rev. A. Thakur Das, M.A., S. P. G. Report for 1935. 1s. 236 has been elected Moderator of the and poor that men mi&ht understand the plan of pp. S. P. G. in Foreign Parts. Lon- General Assembly of the United sal vatlOo, grow 10 Chnstian living, and more ef~ don. Church of Northern India. fectively work for the Lord. True behevers. who desire to attach themselves to a lIVIng, VItal, pro~ The Nez Perces Since Spalding. *** grcssive Gospel agency such as this, are invited to Mary M. Crawford. 66 pp. Pres- byterian Book Store. San Fran- Dr. T. Demura was recently elected tellowship in the support and enlargement of our cisco. President of North Japan College, ministry. This may be done in varIOuS ways: under the Reformed Church in the Omwa! Are You Awake? P. H. J. United States to succeed Pres. D. B. 1. D,rect gifts–checks or currency. Lerrigo. 175 pp. $1.25. Revell. Schneder, retired. Dr. DemUl'a takes New York. up his work with a thorough knowl- 2. Donation of bonds or stocks. (If the in· edge of the principles, spirit and One Hundred Thrilling Tales. Hy objectives of his alma mater. come is needed during life, the security Pickering. 216 pp. 1s. Pickering & Inglis. London. Obituary Notes may be placed with us in trust.) Puritans in the South Seas. Louis (Concluded from second cover.) 3. Provide tor a legacy or bequest by last B. Wright and Mary Isabel Fry. wlll and testament. 350 pp. $2.00. Holt & Co. New Mrs. A. R. Stadin, a missionary of 4. Assign to the Colportage Association any York. the Seventh Day Adventists in Ethi- rights to unsettled estates, or rents and lfl~ opia, was ki:Jed on May 2d by a stray The Shrine of a People's Soul. Ed- bullet from an Italian gun. come from any property. , win W. Smith. 208 pp. 2s. and 2s. 3d. Edinburgh House Press. Lon- *** S. Name the AssoClatlOn as a benefiCIary don. Mrs. Grace Bekins Stauffacher, under a life insurance policy. Henry Harmon Spalding, Pioneer of wife of Charles J. Stauffacher, M.D., 6. Loan funds to be used without interest; Old Oregon. Illus. Clifford Merrill died at Gikuki, Portuguese East Af- Drury. 438 pp. $3.00. Caxton rica, March 25. Born in Hickman, Or give an estate note. Printers, Ltd. Caldwell, Idaho. Neb., and educated in Minneapolis. After completing her training as a Legal Form of Bequest Students and the Christian W orId nurse, she married and went to Afri- Mission: Report of the Student ca, where she was of great assistance "I hereby gIve, devise and bequeath unto. The Volunteer Convention. Edited by in medical work and in the training Blble Institute Colportage ASSOCIatIOn of Ch,cago. Jesse R. Wilson. 333 pp. $2.00. of African girls in nurse service. a corporation organized and existmg under the Student Volunteer Movement. New York. *** laws of the State of Winois. the sum of , …. , ..
St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. J. The Rev. Robert Shields, an Amer- . , , , , , …. , ., dollars. to be paid out of any real Ernest Shufelt. 32 pp. 10 cents. ican Methodist Episcopal missionary or personal estate "wned by me at my Jecease," St. Luke's Lutheran Mission. High of Loanda, Angola, West Africa, died Point, N. C. there on April 19, following an op- W'rite today for free copy of booklet "These eration. He retired last year at the Forty Years." Please mention THE MISSIONARY Taking Hold of God. Samuel M. age of sixty-nine. In February, 1887, REVIEW OF THE WORLD, and indicate how you Zwemer. 188 pp. $1.00. Zonder- he arrived in Malanje, and his life would prefer to help this work. van. Grand Rapids, Mich. has since heen devoted to evangelistic and educational work. He was ably "These Forty Years" will ins,ire you with the Youth Movements Here and Abroad. assisted by his wife, Louise Raven. "eternal 'alue" that CUf Gospe efforts can create (Bibliography.) 8 pp. 20 cents. with your aid. Write today. Russel Sage Foundation. New York. The Bible Institute Colportage Assoc.
A Wider World for Women. Lucy 849M North Wells Street. Chicago. Illinois W. Peabody. 128 pp. $1.25. Re- vell. New York. Planned along ad· vanced pedatl'ogical lines to provide both Home and Class lor the pupil. VaTied ' such as Quizzes, Reading Tests, True False Tests. and Completion Tests. pupil to work out each lesson from for himself.
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