The Missionary Review of the World — September 1908
J APAN AT
g!lissionary CJ?..eview
of the World VOL. XXXI. No. 9 SEPTEMBER, 1908 VOL. XXI. NO.9 Oid Serj" N."" S.ries PublishlJd by Funk" Wagnalls Company, 4…1_60 E. 23d St., N.Y. Isaac K. Funk, Pres.• A. W. Wagna.lls, Vice-Pres. a.nd Treas., Robt. Bt»t.t. See'y SIGNS OF THE TIMES READ AND PRAY Persia; at the same time we pray for divine protection for both subject Changing Conditions in Turkey, races and foreign workers during this Korea Coming to Christ ……. . time. If the constitution should The Outlook in Persia ……… . really prove effective, as we hope, New Educational Edicts in China we look for enlarged opportunities The Situation in India……… . and more energetic native work as Missionary Solitude in Africa .. . a result. The clauses providing for Interpreting Christ to India …. . personal liberty, equality of all races Prospects of Christianity in Japan and religions, no sentence without judicial trial, abolition of torture, and CHANGING CONDITIONS IN TURKEY for freedom of the press afford the greatest cause for hope to the Lord's Within the past three years the people. The worst restrictions under three empires that meet at Mt. the absolutism of the past have been Ararat,-,-Russia, Persia and Turkey, the impracticability of direct and open -have, theoretically at least, been work for Moslems, and the censorship changed from absolute to constitu- of the press. tional monarchies. The surprizing announcement by the Sultan on July Under a constitution a general as- 24th, that the constitution elaborated sembly is to be constituted, consisting by Midhat Pasha in r876, and held of two chambers, one Deputy elected in abeyance for over thirty years, was for every 50,000 people and Senators to be put in operation again, has been appointed by the Sultan. It is also received with mingled feelings of probable that taxation will be more doubt and hopefulness by missionaries just and bribery less flagrant, thus in Turkey. The doubts are due to making conditions of life more enthe facility with which the Sultan has durable. The humiliating flight of squirmed out of all promised reforms Izzet Pa~ha indicates the fall of that during the past thirty years, coupled infamous palace coterie, of which he with his previous setting aside of the was the presiding evil genius. The constitution. It will be surprizing, leaders of the young Turks, who are moreover, if the heterogeneous ele- now in the ascendency, are believed ments in Macedonia and Asia Minor to be favorable to foreign educational and Arabia can be induced to accept influences; and this will tend to repeacefully an assembly of Deputies in move restrictions that till now have which each must submit to the ma- hampered mission schools and coljority, at the sacrifice of 'private am- leges. We look especially for an inbition and sectional jealousy. We fear that there will be a period of disorders such as has attended the change of government in Russia and creased attendance of Moslem pupils, ,he Japanese soldiers are not generally and for improvement in the conduct helpful to missionaries. Rev. C. A. of Moslem schools. Will not Chris- Clark wrote of his district in Kang tians strive. by prayer and personal Von province: "People have been so effort, that the increasingly wide- busy dodging bullets that they have open doors in Turkey may be entered no heart to buy Bibles." While this for Christ, and that the Church may is true, it is also a fact that the diskeep ahead of the representatives of turbances have driven the Christians commercial enterprises in seizing the to their Bibles. opportunity of the hour? Rev. F. S. Miller writes that the KOREA COMING TO CHRIST uprisings have hindered the distribu- tion of Bibles considerably, but have Korea is the land of marvels In done the Church good. The unfaiththe results of missionary labors! The ful have been driven away and the people seem to be turning to Christ faithful made to realize more clearly in a day! The nation is desolate, the keeping power of God. As the broken-hearted, with a glorious past Christians have their hair cut, the but a future that is far from radiant. Japanese suspected them of being ex- "Christianity may not preserve politi- soldiers, and the insurgents suspected them of being members of the procal identity," says Rev. J. M. Moore, Japanese II Chin Society. However, neither party interfered with those "but Korea's 10,000,000 Christians can who were reported by their neighbors do for the world in any sphere what to be true Christians. The Bible was is not possible for 10,080,000 heathen, a safe passport with either side and whatever their position or worldly saved many from trouble. But wo power. Christianity is never lost betide the man who carried a Bible upon any man that fully accepts it. and could not read it. Often a man The Church can have nothing to do was tested as to his ability to read with Korea's political conditions, and and sing. One man made a great show can offer no solace to any nation that of being a Christian, but on being faces a governmental catastrophe; but asked to read and sing had to admit that need not deter her in her efforts that he could do neither, and was shot to give every man the gospel of life. as a spy. If a people became Christian because of a hope of support from Christian The circulation of Bibles for the nations in time of political disaster, year was 151,23° volumes, an increase then indeed would Christianity lose of 23,96r volumes over the year 1906. its meaning. So the very remarkable turning of the Koreans to Christian- Under the leadership of Prince Ito, ity greatly multiplies the responsibility many reforms have been introduced, laid upon the missionaries. Korea is and a new era is dawning. The coming to accept Christ. May she eagerness for an education still conalso come to know Him." tinues. Mission, private, and gov- ernment schools are taxed to their The recent uprising, due to the ab- utmost capacity. One great difficulty dication of the old Emperor of Korea is the scarcity of suitable teachers. A in favor of his son, has caused some normal school has been opened in interruption of missionary work and
OF THE
Seoul with an enrolment of 121 men. in his present straits would give way to From these there will gradually be Russian demands at the price of protec- gathered teachers capable of teaching. Girls' schools are on the increase and tion from his rebellious subjects, and it are receiving every encouragement. The demand for education for girls is not likely that the protest of the Per- is a very great and urgent one. sian Parliament would be able to with- The evangelistic work has pro- stand the overwhelming force of Russian gressed by leaps and bounds. During the year 6,000 full members were bayonets. From all points of view, there added, and the contributions to the seems to be a prospect at present of an churches amount to 125,889.13 yen ($63,000), or an average of 5.23 yen increase in territory for Russia in her per full member. need of more land for her people. THE OUTLOOK IN PERSIA The Powers of the West have long de- Order has not yet come out or chaos in the land of the Shah.* What will creed the fate of this Asiatic monarchy, the end be? The article on Persia's now more than two thousand years old. future contributed to the Pester Lloyd by Professor Hennann Bambery, of Persia is bound to go down, to go down the chair of Oriental languages in the suddenly. At present a spirit is University of Budapest, gives a very moving in the Moslem world of Asia which interesting estimate of the outlook. Professor Bambery thinks that may bring in changes which the great Russia, baffled in Manchuria, is cast- Powers would not particularly relish.
ing hungry eyes on Persia, whose For half a century Europe has disposed soldiers are drilled and commanded of the world pretty well as she chose. by Russian officers, while the Russian tongue is employed in the words of To-day this is no longer the case. command. But in spite of her threatened ruin, Persia is a power to be Whether Asiatic princes tremble on their reckoned with in Europe. Her thrones or abdicate them has no in- troubles come from the degeneracy of fluence on the natural course of things. her kings. Asia to-day is no longer clay in the Russia is seeking a pretext for extending her southern frontier (beyond the hands of the European potter, and this Aras), which it seems probable she will effect without any opposition. The Shah change in the character of Persian and *Mohammed Ali, the Shah, by no means en; oys general Asiatic ideals is something with a bed of roses. But it is almost wholly his own fault. In the first place his unpardonable an- which our Nestern Powers will have tipathy toward all liberty, everything constitutional and parliamentary. is a glaring fault. He sooner or later to reckon.* might at least have tried to put a good face on the matter. let the constitutional experiment of a NEW EDUCATIONAL EDICTS IN CHINA parliament run its course, and not have involved in his own destruction the highest members of The following fresh instructions the Persian aristocracy, who have much more insight and education than the Shah himself. He have been issued to the provinces from is now said to be practically a prisoner in Teheran, threatened by the wild tribes whom he summoned the Throne: to his aid and who demand more pay-which the Shah can not give. I. Viceroys and Governors are directed to open at least a hundred preparatory schools in each provincial capital within twelve months with a student roll of fifty children each, the Government to defray expenses.
2. Rich Chinese must open as many schools as possible and establish educa- tional societies in all districts to teach the benefits of education.
3· All boys over eight years of age must go to school, or their parents and relatives will be punished. If they have no relatives, the officials will be held re- sponsible for their educat;on.
4. All wealthy Chinese opening schools will be rewarded.
5. Every prefecture must have forty preparatory schools, and every town or village 011e or two.
6. Viceroys and Governors must report lI- Transbtions made for Tlte Literary Digest.
the opening of the schools, and an offi- murdered and to calmly take up the cial will be sent to inspect them. interrupted work. But such courage and faith are rewarded. The Lord is The Rev. W. Nelson Bitton, of with us as He was with Joshua. Shanghai, remarks: On November 3rd, 1905, five It must be remembered that one of Presbyterian missionaries were murthe weaknesses of government in China dered in Lien-chou, southern China. is that Edicts are often a pious expres- Chapel and hospitals and schools and sion of opinion carrying little executive homes were destroyed by an unthinkweight; therefore this Edict will be but ing and unreasonable mob. A year partially obeyed. The Edict makes the later a new band of devoted missionfact clear, however, that China realizes aries went to reopen the station. universal education to be an integral They were met by the Chinese with part of the movement for reform in the sullen faces and unfriendly reception. Empire, and has set this ideal before her. Now the loving kindness of the mis- She has not yet the material to staff sionaries has won the day. Many of these proposed schools; but that fact the Chinese realize the blessing serves to make it the more imperative brought by the hospital that was defor the Christian Church in China to put stroyed, and homes and hearts are all the strength at her disposal into the being opened to the messengers of education and training of Christian lads Christ. who shall hereafter be the teachers in the new educational system of China. Under the direction of Rev. R. F. A Government system of education is Edwards, five buildings are being bound to come. We should waste no erected-a church, a boys' school, a time or strength, therefore, on side is- preacher's house and two missionary sues, give up playing at elementary edu- residences-one to be used also for cation by subsidizing inferior schools a girls' school. Two hospitals will simply because Christian books are used also be built, and the work will soon in them, and go whole-heartedly at the be going on more actively than before work of preparation for the coming need. the massacre. Non-Christian peoples We do not want the difficulties of edu- will some day learn that it is imposcation in India to be raised in China, sible to drive out Christ and His misand the only way to obviate them is to sionaries by acts of violence. "There prepare to capture the system at the out- is a greater with us than with them." set by providing Christian material for its working. JAPANESE CHRISTIAN STATESMEN SINCE THE MASSACRE AT LIEN-CHOU The experiences of Daniel and Joseph and Nehemiah are reproduced When a British admiral saw some in modern history. Those who fear missionaries decide to remain at their and follow God are honored among post in time of danger, rather than rrien who seek wise and trusted leave their defenseless converts that leaders. they might enjoy the protection of the war-ship, he said: "Gentlemen, your The recent general election in courage is magnificent. Men have re- Japan resulted in the choice of about ceived the Victoria Cross for less twice as many Christians as before heroism than yours." being sent to the House of Represent- It takes faith and courage to remain at the post of danger, it takes equal faith and courage to return to the place where friends have been
atives. They now number four- dents studying in the mission schools. teen. The number of enrolled Chris- The American Bible Society has distians in Japan is only 150,000 out tributed over 700,000 Scriptures or of about 50,000,000 inhabitants, or portions and a large number of them 3 out of 1,000, while the 14 have been complete Bibles. The Christians out of 380 members British and Foreign Bible Society in the House of Representatives are distributed 37,597 books during the almost 4 out of IOO; that is, they last year. have nearly ten times their proportion. These fourteen Christians do not all The Presbyterian Mission, eight exhibit the same degree of zeal and years after the landing of the first misearnestness in religious matters; and sionary, shows the following comsome are what the Japanese call parison with the 27 other missions of "graduates"; but they more or less the Board: It is second in the numrepresent Christian ideals, and most ber of communicants received during of them are very active in Christian the year; fourth in the number of life. stations; sixth in the number of total communicants; sixth in the number Shimada is editor of the Tokyo of students for the ministry; ninth in Mainichi Shim bun and very active in the number of outstations; eleventh in social and moral reforms. N emoto is the number of native workers. the well-known temperance champion. y okoi has been a Kumi-ai-pastor and In these eight years Methodist mis- President of the Doshisha. Ishi- sionary work has passed swiftly bashi is editor of the Osaka Asahi through the stages of a presiding Shimbun; and Tagawa is editor of elder's district and a Mission Conferthe Miyako Shim bun, Tokyo. Uzawa ence; and it is now the Annual Conis a young barrister, recently honored ference of the Philippine Islands, with the degree of Doctor of Law. with 26 full members and 12 men on Kurahara worked hard in America for trial. There are now 78 circuits unan education and is called "the scholar der the members of the Conference on without a penny." Hattori is well Supplies, in which there are working k~own in Seattle, where he was act- 535 local preachers and exhorters, ive in Christian work among the only 40 of whom are employed by the Japanese. Takekoshi is the author of missionaries, and these 40 receive an "Japanese Rule in Formosa." average salary of only $8 per month. There are 442 congregations EIGHT YEARS' PROGRESS IN THE and preaching-places and 23,000 mem- PHILIPPINES bers and probationers. The reports of the missionaries show that there Eight years ago there was not a dol- are also 31,000 adherents, many of lar invested in the Philippines by any whom are waiting to be formally re- Protestant missionary society; to-day ceived and taught the way of life. nearly $500,000 is held by various American missionary boards. More THE SITUATION IN INDIA than 30,000 Filipinos have already confest faith in the simple Gospel Bishop W. F. Oldham puts it of Jesus Christ. Over 8,000 were re- clearly and boldly, as both startling ceived last year. There are 1,000 stu- and sh:l1neful. Assuming that dis-
ciples are loyal to the King and have and reach them when·other doors are a passion for the kingdom, how dis- comparatively closed. But, beside graceful the lethargy and apathy that all the rest, women evangelists are idly stand by while two out of every needed. "The Lord gave the word; three of earth's vast population have great is the company of the women never yet known of the King or who are publishing it." Any traditions heard the message of the kingdom! are unworkable that shut out women The whole heathen world is now from this work of carrying the Gos- physically accessible, and so far men- pel to the women who can. not other- tally and spiritually approachable, wise know of Christ and His that while ministers, at home, prepare salvation.
dainty dishes for fastidious palates, Bishop Oldham is confident that the missionary abroad faces millions even Mohammedans are accessible if hungering for the bread of life, amI the way of approach be such as to perishing of hunger. Especially do disabuse the Moslem mind of the idea the women and girls, who form half that Christianity is identical with of this whole host of destitute souls, politics, and means a movement need woman's ministry, being inacces- toward conquest. In actual labor sible to male missionaries. There among 30,000,000 of followers of the are four ways of reaching those mil- prophet, he has seen two mission- lions of women: first, by the day aries who have baptized more Mos- school; second, by the female college; lems than ever before in the same third, by the medical mission; fourth, space of time by the same amount of by direct evangelistic effort. The labor. His experience in India is so day school has advantages over even far in favor of the work in non-Chris- the boarding school, because each day tian lands as to make comparison the newly taught child returns home contrast. For example, while the to be an educator and evangelist increase of his own denomination at to the women there. While the home is nille per cent, abroad in boarding school which isolates the India it is forty-seven per cent, or pupil is better for the girl. it is not over five times as great. N ever, in so good for the home-life. Some- his view has there been so loud a call times a whole family is led to Christ for consecrated workers, or so em- through the day pupil who carries phatic an encouragement to whole- home at night the new teaching re- bearted service.
ceived at the school. HINDUISM TOTTERING As to the women·s college, it is of A paragraph like the following the highest importance to give the from the Rey. Hervey C. Hazen, best training possible to the fltture writing from Tirumangalam, India, native leaders of society; as one such should be printed in capitals for the thoroughly educated woman in India encouragement of those who pray and or China, Japan or Korea, is worth labor for the great world of India: a dozen of the best-qualified women from abroad. Then in medical work The year opens up most encouragingwomen can marvelously help and ly. There are signs of promise on many guide the womanhood of these lands sides of us. In one village of high-caste people, where there had been intense de-
I908 ] SIGNS OF THE
votion tu Mammon, there appeared such carefully investigated the time spent a spirit of inquiry that the teacher re- and the cost of living and came to the quested our good Pastor Thomas to conclusion that these small wages come and talk with the Hindus. He were sufficient, because these helpers went and found the schoolhouse filled are cloing so little religious work that with the prominent men of the place. they have plenty of time to cultivate They asked many questions and he an- their own fielcls. The religious work swered them patiently all night long till of these native helpers consists in the break of day, when four of them put preaching twice every Lord's Day, in their names down as Christians. He sent catechising twice every week, in holdin to me for four New Testaments for ing devotional exercises every mornthem. A few days afterward more came ing for twenty minutes, ancl 111 in to see us at the bungalow and gave holding school an hour a day. their names as having fully decided to be Christians. Then Mrs. Hazen and the The missionaries refused to enter Bible women went there and did some into negotiations until the helpers good work among the women. The' re- would show a more Christ-like spirit, sult is told in the words of an enemy, whereupon the strikers sent an appeal who said, "Hinduism is tottering in to the Society in Germany, which Sengapady. It will fall and they will all naturally can not be listenecl to against become Christians." On an itinerary the decision of the missionaries. just closed we fuund one village where twelve heads of families are eager to Some native Christians and misbecome Christians and want a teacher sionaries are in favor of employing among them. In another place thirty native helpers for their full time and families were just ready to embrace increasing their wages with the help Christianity held back only by the op- of the native congregations, which position of their head man, who since have been doing little or nothing then has signified his consent. In still hitherto. another, forty families show great enthusiasm in coming to Christ. Their Who would have expected a strike women are especially eager, which is of native missionary helpers for quite unusual. ,ye are now about to higher wages in East Africa? take a man away from a place that does not yield much fruit and put him there, INTERDENOMINATIONAL HOME feeling confident that we shall have the MISSIONS COUNCIL entire caste of that village. Some fifteen years ago the Foreign A STRIKE OF NATIVE HELPERS }Iission Boards of the United States and Canada decided to meet together The tendency to "strike" for higher 111 annual conference to discuss wages is spreading to the mission problems and policies and plans of field and invading the Gospel work. closer cooperation. These meetings The missionaries of the N eukirchen have proved so helpful that some of Missionary Society recently sent the Home Mission Boards met last strange ancl painful news from East fall and, having agreed among them- Africa. All native helpers in the mis- selves, invited the cooperation of sionary work on the banks of the other boards in the formation of a Tana River went on strike, demanding "Home Missions Council." Memberan increase of wages. From our stand- ship in this organization has already point their wages of from ten to twelve been asked for by the Baptist, Congrerupees ($3 to 3.66) a month may seem very small, but the missionaries
gational, Episcopal, Lutheran, Metho- it was almost universal; now it is a dist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant, rare exception when a preacher is Presbyterian North and South, Re- addicted to the use of either ferformed and United Presbyterian mented or distilled liquors as a bever- Home Mission organizations, making age; and, from personal ex/erience, a majority of the Protestant Chris- after twenty years of growing intitians of America. Others are ex- macy with British family life, we can pected to join. A conference of the say that in not one case in fifty have Boards held last February to consider we found any sort of liquors in use the interests of religious work among by the families we have visited. immigrants was attended by about one hundred. Next winter a series THE KING OF SWEDEN AND of joint presentations of the Home MISSIONS Mission cause in the leading cities of the country is planned. In two-day King Gustavus of Sweden has isconventions the saving of the nation sued the following proclamation, will be presented in the most com- which deserves attention as coming prehensive way, on undenominational from so influential a man: "There lines-each convention closing with is a wide-spread indifference to special denominational meetings at Christ, and even blasphemies against which the subject will be brought Him are being heard. None of us, home in a practical way to church- alas, can say that he has so opposed members. The close relation of this the evil by word and deed, or so tesmovement to that of Federation is tified in behalf of truth and right, evident, and it is hoped to bring it that he can call himself without to the front at the next national con- responsibility for these current sins. vention of the Federation in Phila- Let us remember, great is the respondelphia next December. sibility of a people which rejects the saving grace of God. We look much DECREASE OF CRIME IN BRITAIN for change and improvement. The most important change, the most It is refreshing to know, by trust- necessary improvement, is a universal worthy testimony, that in the last turning to God. half-century official criminal statistics show a decided relative decrease of "In spite of the great hostility criminality, while in 1906 there was against the Gospel, however, we see practically as many offenses against that it brings blest results among law as fifty years before, the popula- ourselves and also among the heathen tion had nearly doubled (19,000,000 in these days. Like as living seeds to 34,000,000), so that relatively the are carried across the waters and bear number of crimes has decreased about fruit upon foreign shores, so the Gosforty per cent. It is quite as hopeful pel reaches the heathen; and since we a sign that this decrease is so largely are coworkers in that labor; it must owing to the successful work of the be done by us with such true love that British temperance organizations. the desire of our hearts to bring to The habit of using intoxicants is not our fellow men in foreign lands that half as prevalent as half a century gift which we ourselves consider the ago. Then, even among the clergy, pearl of great price becomes apparent to all."
EARL OF CROMER ON ISLAM *
BY REV. S. M. ZWEMER, D.O. .uthor of "Arabia. the Cradle of Islam/' etc.
The scholarly work on modern In order that those who imagine Egypt by the Earl of Cromer, which Islam to be a handmaid of Christianity has jus-t been published and has al- may be enlightened, we quote the folready reached a second edition, is re- lowing paragraphs from Chapters markable for nothing more than for its XXXIV and xxxv. No comment is brief preface. In its sixteen words we necessary save to remind the admirers have the key to the whole book. Lord of Islam that so unprejudiced an ob- Cromer writes: "I am wholly respon- server and schol;l,rIy a thinker as the sible for the contents of this book. It Earl of Cromer seems to agree in the has no official character whatsoever," verdict of the missionaries that there and just because this book gives a pic- is no hope for Egypt in Islam. ture of modern Egypt by him who created it, and who now speaks from The Failure of Islam behind the scenes of what his eyes have seen and his hands have handled, He says: "The reasons why Islam as the narrative is accurate and the ob- a social system has been a complete servations are unprejudiced and relia- failure are manifold. ble. Noone will accuse Lord Cromer of prejudice against Egypt and the "First and foremost, Islam keeps Egyptians or against the Moslem faith. women in a position of marked infe- As he himself says: "It is not possible riority. In the second place, Islam, to live so long as I have lived in Egypt speaking not so much through the Kowithout acquiring a deep sympathy ran as through the traditions which with the Egyptian people." cluster round the Koran, crystallizes religion and law into one inseparable It was with surprize, therefore, that and immutable whole, with the result I read a review of "Modern Egypt" that all elasticity is taken away from in the most important Moslem paper the social system. If to this day an published in Cairo, which, instead of Egyptian goes to law over a question of testamentary succession, his case is reviewing the book with sympathy, decided according to the antique prinmade an attack on Lord Cromer in ciples which were laid down as apfour articles-the last of which was plicable to the primitive society of the twenty-nine columns long-criticizing Arabian Peninsula in the seventh cenhis statements in regard to Islam as a tury. Only a few years ago (r890), social system and a barrier to progress. the Grand Mufti of Cairo, who is the It took two pages of objections to an- authoritative expounder of the law of swer the paragraphs that Lord Cromer Islam, explained how bands of robbers wrote on the condition of Mohamme- should be treated who were found dan womanhood in Egypt, and the guilty of making armed attacks on a editor of El M oeyyid was specially in- village by night. The condemned dignant because of the statement that criminal might be punished in six cliff.. Moslems were intolerant and some- ferent ways. He might have liis riglit times fanatic. hand and left foot cut off and then be '''Modern Egypt," by, the Earl of Cromer. 2 vats.: 8vo. $6.00. M~crojlla,n & Co., 1908.,
decapitated; or he might be mutilated, strike him, to claim an eye for an eye as before, and then crucified; or he and a tooth for a tooth. Islamism, might be mutilated, decapitated, and therefore, unlike Christianity, tends to eventually crucified; or he might be engender the idea that revenge and simply decapitated or simply crucified, hatred, rather than love and charity, or decapitated first and crucified after- should form the basis of the relations wards. Full details were given in the between man and man; and it incul- Mufti's report of the mode of cruci- cates a special degree of hatred against fixion which was to be adopted. The those who do not accept the Moslem condemned person was to be attached faith. 'When ye encounter the unbeto a cross in a certain manner; after lievers,' says the Koran/strike off their which 'il sera perce it la memelle heads until ye have made a great gauche par une lance, qui devra etre slaughter among them, and bind them remuee dans la blessure jusqu'a ce que in bonds. '. .. 0 true believers, if ye la mort ait lieu.' . . . assist God, by fighting for His religion, He will assist you against your ene- "In the third place, Islam does not, mies, and will set your feet fast; but indeed, encourage, but it tolerates sla- as for the infidels, let them perish; and very. Mohammed found the custom their works God shall render vain. existing among the pagan Arabs; he . . . Verily, God wiil introduce those minimized the evil. But he was pow- who believe and do good works into erless to abolish it altogether. His gardens beneath which rivers flow, but followers have forgotten the discour- the unbelievers indulge themselves in agement, and have generally made the pleasures, and eat as beasts eat; and permission to possess slaves the prac- their abode shall be hell fire.' " tical guide for their conduct. This is another fatal blot in Islam." . . . Lord Cromer goes on to say that it is because of this intolerant spirit of "Lastly, Islam has the reputation of Islam and the volcano of fanaticism being an intolerant religion, and the which is always ready for an eruption reputation is, from some points of that the Englishman in Egypt must do view, well deserved, though the bald his best to abstain from all interference and sweeping accusation of intoleranCE- in religious matters. It is startling to requires qualification and explanation. read these words even from Lord Cromer in regard to the British policy Nevertheless, the general ten- in Egypt: dency of Islam is to stimulate intolerance and engender. hatred and con- "He will look the other way when tempt not only for polytheists, but also greedy Sheiks swallow up the endowfor all monotheists who will not repeat ments left by pious Moslems for charthe formula which acknowledges that itable purposes. His Western mind Mohammed was indeed the Prophet of may, indeed, revolt at the misappro- God." … priation of funds, but he would rather let these things be than incur the "'More than this, the Moslem has for charge of tampering with any quasicenturies past been taught that the bar- religious institution. For similar reabarous principles of the lex talionis are sons, he will abstain from laying his sanctioned and even enjoined by his reforming hand on the iniquities of the religion. He is told to revenge himself on his enemies, to strike them that
EARL OF CROMER ON
Kadi's courts; The hired perjurer will they will only avail him so far that be allowed full immunity to exercise they may perhaps tend to obviate any his profession, for the Englishman is active eruption of the volcano of ininformed that the criminal can not be tolerance." brought to justice without shaking one of the props which hold together the If such was the British policy in rereligious edifice built twelve centuries gard to Islam as the state religion for ago by the Prophet of Arabia. He did Egypt, we need not be surprized that not for many years allow a murderer, the Gordon Memorial College has bewhose offense was clearly proved, to come a Mohammedan institution, be hanged because Islam declared-or and that the British occupation has was supposed by many ill-informed strengthened Islam not only in Egypt, Moslems to declare-that such an act but throughout all North Africa.* is unlawful unless the murderer confesses his crime, or unless the act is Women lind Polygamy committed in the presence of two witnesses; and he accepted this principle In regard to the degradation of in deference to Moslem sentiment, women and the baneful effects of with the full knowledge that, in accept- polygamy, the writer of "Modern ing it, he was givil~g a direct encour- Egypt" gives no uncertain testimony: agement to perjury and the use of "Look now to the consequences which torture to extract evidence. In the result from the degradation of women work of civil juridical reform, he will in Mohammedan countries. In respect bear with all the antiquated formalities to two points, both of which are of of the Mehkemeh Sheraieh. He will vital importance, there is a radical difscrupulously respect all Moslem ob- ference between the position of Mosservances. He will generally, amidst lem women and that of their European some twinges of his sabbatarian con- sisters. In the first place, the face of science, observe Friday as a holiday, the Moslem woman is veiled when she and perform the work of the Egyptian appears in public. She lives a life of Government on Sunday. He will put seclusion. The face of the European on slippers over his boots when he woman is exposed to view in public. enters a mosque. He will pay his re- The only restraints placed on her spects to Moslem notabilities during movements are those dictated by her the fast of Ramazan and the feast of own sense of propriety. In the second Bairam. He will, when an officer of place, the East is polygamous, the the army, take part in Moslem relig- West is monogamous. ious ceremonies, fire salutes at religious festivals, and sometimes expose "It can not be doubted that the sehis life under the burning rays of an clusion of women exercises a baneful African sun rather than substitute a effect on Eastern society. The argu- Christian helmet for the tarboosh, ments on this subject are, indeed, so which is the distinctive mark of the commonplace that it is unnecessary to Moslem soldier in the Ottoman domin- dwell on them. It will be sufficient to ions. And when he has done all these say that seclusion, by confining the things and many more of a like nature, sphere of woman's interest to a very limited horizon, cramps the intellect '* See the statement by Dr. Andrew Watson in the Report of the Cairo Conference, "The Mo- hammedan World of To-day."
and withers the mental development of of sound understanding and of mature one-half of the population in Moslem age.' "
countries. An Englishwoman asked an The practise of monogamy has of Egyptian lady how she passed her late years been gaining ground among time. 'I sit on this sofa,' she an- the more enlightened Egyptians; nev- swered, 'and when I am tired, I cross ertheless, it can not as yet. be called over and sit on that.' Moreover, inas- general. "The first thing an Egypti;m much as women, in their capacities as of the lower class will do when he gets wives and mothers, exercise a great in- a little money is to marry a second fluence over the characters of their wife. A groom in my stables was di- husbands and sons, it is obvious that vorced and remarried eleven times in the seclusion of women must produce the course of a year or two. I remem- a deteriorating effect on the male pop- ber hearing of an old Pasha who com- ulation, in whose presumed interests o plained peevishly that he had to go to the custom was originally established, the funeral of his first wife, to whom ,md is still maintained. he had been married forty years pre- "The effects of polygamy are more viously, and whose very existence he baneful and far-reaching than those of had forgotten."
seclusion. The whole fabric of Euro- Weare told by the armchair critics pean society rests upon the preserva- and the admirers of Islam as a system tion of family life. Monogamy fosters that it lifts the African pagan to a familylife, polygamy destroys it. The higher morality. Let us hear what monogamous Christian respects wom- "Modern Egypt" thinks of this type en; the teaching of his religion and of Mohammedan morality: "Among the incidents of his religious worship other consequences, resulting from tend to elevate them. He sees in th~ polygamy and the. customs which dus- Virgin Mary an ideal of womanhood, ter round polygamy, it may be noted which would be incomprehensible in a that, whereas in the West the elevation Moslem country. The Moslem, on the of women has tended toward the re- other hand, despises women; both his finement both of literature and of con- religion and the example of his versation, in the East their degrada- Prophet, the history of whose family tion has encouraged literary and life has been handed down to him, tend conversational coarseness. This coarse- to lower them in his eyes. Save in ness has attracted the attention of all exceptional cases, the Christian fulfills who have written on Egyptian man- the vow which he has made at the altar ners and customs. It is true that the to cleave to his wedded wife for life. Moslem may argue that he started 600 The Moslem, when his passion is sated, years later than the Christian in the can if he likes throw off his wife like race to attain civilization, and that, an old glove. According to the Sun- apart from the English dramatists of nis, whose doctrines are quoted be- the seventeenth century, the writings cause the Egyptians are SUl1nis, 'A of Boccaccio and of Rabelais denote husband may divorce his wife without a state of society no more refined than any misbehavior on her part. or with- that which at present exists in Egypt; out assigning any cause. The divorce and he may use this argument with all of every husband is effective if he be the greater reason inasmuch as the
class of humor which finds most favor sion took place, how melancholy was in Egyptian society is very much akin the result! The Moslem and the to that which we may now read in the Christian would agree as to the nature Decameron. But, in the first place, it of the fungus which was stifling all is to be observed that the Decameron that was at one time healthy in the is a model of refinement as compared original growth; they would apprewith many works in Arabic; and, in ciate in like fashion the history of the second place, it may be doubted its extension; but whilst the symwhether, even in the Middle Ages, the pathetic Christian would point out general coarseness of European soci- with courteous but inexorable logic ety was ever on a par with that of the that any particular remedy proposed modern Egyptians." would be either inefficacious or would destroy not only the fungus but at The Future of Islam the same time the parent tree, the Moslem, too honest not to be con- Finally, Lord Cromer takes up the vinced, however much the conviction subject of the future of Islam, and might cost him pain, could only utter shows that the best men among the a bitter wail over the doom of the Mohammedans, those who are most creed which he loved, and over that enlightened and most progressive, are of the baneful system to which his attempting a hopeless task when they creed had given birth." speak of the reformation or repristination of Islam. "Let no practical If there is no hope of moral reform politicians think that they have a plan in Islam, and if it is impossible for capable of resuscitating a body, which the British reformer in Egypt to put is not, indeed, dead, and which may new life into this dying system, has yet linger on for centuries, but which the time not come for the British is nevertheless politically and socially Government to substitute for a painful moribund, and whose gradual decay neutrality a real manly Christian polcan not be arrested by any modern icy, favorable to missions in the Nile palliatives however skilfully they may be applied." Valley and, using the force of a Chris- To reform Islam and bring its ways tian civilization, to give new character into harmony with modern civilization, and new life to modern Egypt? The we are assured by the Earl of Cromer, Earl of Cromer rises to the dignity is like trying to "square the circle." of an Old Testament prophet when To the Moslem, the hierarchy, he he states, in regard to the Moslem of states, naturally represent the ne plus Egypt, that "his conservatism is due ultra of conservatism. To introduce to an instinct of self-preservation, and the principles of Western civilization to a dim perception that, if he allows necessarily means to undermine the himself to be even slightly reformed, system of Islam. He writes: "On the all the things to which he attaches imcommon ground of ethics the Moslem portance will be not merely changed of this type could meet the Christian in this or that particular, but will and discuss matters of common in- rather be swept off the face of the terest without stirring the fires of earth." Perhaps he is not far wrong. religious strife. But when the discus- "Altho there are many highly educated gentlemen who profess the Moslem
religion, it has yet to be proved that have seen to-day, ye shall see them Islam can assimilate civilization with- again no more forever.''' The prophout succumbing in the process. It is, ecy may be approaching fulfilment in indeed, not improbable that, in its pas- a sense different to that in which it sage through the European crucible, was addrest to the Israelites. many of the distinctive features of Islam, the good alike with the bad, If the old Egypt and the old Egypwil! be volatilized, and that it will tians are passing away, will the new eventually issue forth in a form Egypt, in spite of social and material scarcely capable of recognition. 'The prosperity, be better than the old un- Egyptians,' Moses said, 'whom ye less Christ delivers the country from agnosticism and infidelity?
SYSTEMATIC MISSIONARY READING EDITORIAL Bunyan has taught us how im- strictions, and welcomed to COll– portant are eye gate and ear gate, if munion with the intellectual princes we would enter the City of Mansoul, of the realm of letters. and it is not improbable that more knowledge finds entrance through eye Books hold to missions a vital regate than any other. lation, not only as the treasuries of the great facts of the world's religious The power to read books is one condition and history, but as the of the foremost furnishings for a true records of missionary history and life work. It not only makes ac- biography, sacrifice and service, herocessible the best sources of informa- ism and achievement. Books are the tion and intelligence, as to universal memorials and monuments, without facts; but it puts into the hand of which the very memory of such lives the humblest reader a magic key to and labors would perish; for, tho the author's inner life, introducing all lasting impress is often left on living who take pains to use it to the most human beings, even converts die, select circle of human writers and and tradition is too untrustworthy to thinkers in every department of be the custodian of such priceless learning and literature. If acquaint- memories. Our libraries are the true ance with the aristocracy of letters "catacombs" the dwelling-places of be sought through ordinary channels, the dead; for in their books authors we find many hindrances to access, perpetually abide among us, living, some of which may prove barriers breathing, speaking, acting and movpractically insurmountable; but who- ing on mankind. ever can read, and will undertake to do so carefully, discriminatingly and It is of prime importance, especially sympathetically, will find himself ad- to young people, to form habits of mitted to the arcana of an author's systematic, careful, thoughtful readlife on a level of equality with all ing. Those who properly appreciate others, unrestrained by artificial re- the value and virtue of a good book will not neglect this open door to the highest culture, in the companionship relation of missions to the locality of the wise, the great, and the good. where the work is to be done, which What a privilege to have such free- includes, of course, the distribution of dom of access to the world's true roy- the various races and religions of the alty, tho separated by distance, by a world. This was William Carey's foreign tongue, or even by death! starting-point, and the pains he took to sit at the feet of the wisest and to acquire some exact knowledge of best of men or women, to learn the facts is amazing. Out of such few secrets of their success. books as he could get-mainly, "Cook's Voyages Round the World" Lisb of Missionary Books -he first gathered knowledge of the world's religious state, and then, with Requests come to us with great such crude helps as a poor frequency, and often urgency, for shoemaker's shop afforded-leather, guidance in the choice of the best mis- brown paper and a paint-brush-he sionary literature, and it may be that made a leather globe, and a map of many inquiries may be answered in the world on Mercator's projection, a general outline of a reading method, and by figures and shades of color tho the theme suggests too broad '1 represented the comparative condition field to be covered save in such out- of different countries and peoples, line. The report of the Ecumenical adding new features as he acquired Conference of 1900 has an appendix new facts. It was such industry and of 28 pages, in which Dr. Harlan P. systematic application as this that Beach has compiled a list of the mis- made Carey's shop such a place of sionary literature of the nineteenth cen- information that Thomas Scott, the tury. That bibliography is confessedly Commentator, called it "Carey's Colfar from .exhaustive, yet it con- lege." A glance at his map, with its tains over 1,600 volumes; and already records of the forms of religion prethe eight years of a new century have vailing in different lands, their comnearly doubled this number of books, parative populations, governments, treating more or less directly of mis- and religious destitution, kept Carey sionary themes. constantly reminded of those facts' which are as fuel to the flame of mis- It would, therefore, be vain to at- sionary passion; and we would advise tempt, within our available space and our young readers to follow his plan, for our present purpose, to give a and make their own maps. However complete list even of the best books rude and crude as works of art, they on mISSIons. But it would be more will serve a purpose that not even the to the point to indicate the prin- best, manufactured to order, can ciples upon which such reading serve equally well; for the work that should be conducted by those who produces such a result draws a map wish to inform themselves on the on the mind. Nor is the task one subject. from which anyone needs shrink. Take Beach's "Geography and Atlas There are three leading aspects of of Protestant Missions and use map missions which need to be studied: paper or muslin; careful measuring the geographical, philosophical and historical.
By the geographical is meant the off of spaces, drawing the parallels Movement, will serve as an outline; of latitude and the meridians of longi- later on, Sir Monier Williams or Dr. tude, makes easy the subsequent out- Robson, on Buddhism, Zwemer on lines of the continents and their Islam, Legge on Confucianism, will countries, at first with crayon, after- be found valuable for the more thorward, with India ink, or color; and ough study of the different religions. the tracing out of mountain and river systems, with the main features The way is thus prepared for the of the countries outlined will follow. historical studies, which have been The various religions and their geo- much simplified by such first-class graphical area may be shown by helps as Dr. George Smith's "Short colors. History of Missions," or Dr. Bliss's "Concise History of Missions." Dr. The philosophical aspect of the re- D. L. Leonard has described "One ligious world should next be studied. Hundred Years of Missions," and Mr. It is well to get firmly fixt in mind Hodder has written a work on "The the leading features which distinguish Conquests of the Cross,'· which, despite the great religious systems, and con- its being now out of date and having nect each of the ten greater religions marks of haste and inaccuracy, is an of the world with some simple ap- inspiring help. Of course, the Enpropriate symbol, such as the cres- cyclopedia of Missions, by Drs. Bliss cent and the green flag for Islam; and Dwight, IS indispensable for reference. the prayer-wheel and the letter a Most requests that reach us for Buddhism with its Nirvana; the are from those who wish to read the sun for Parseeism; the Greek cross briefer books on various countries, for the Greek (burch; the crucifix for and their faiths, and the best missionthe Roman Catholic, and the cross ary biographies; and hence the main and open Bible for the Protestant. object of this paper must be kept in mind, which is to help such parties Every reader of missions should to lay" out a course of reading which master a few details, like the may be useful in fitting them for five points of Mohammedanism-the intelligent, and sympathetic cooperacreed, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and tion with all missionary endeavor. pilgrimage to Mecca; the difference between Brahmanism and Buddhism, Without, therefore, implying that Zoroastrianism and Confucianism, books which may not be included in our mention are inferior in value, we Shintoism and Jainism, Mormon- venture to yield to a very oft-repeated request for a list of "one hund~ed ism and fetishism. These faiths helpful books on missions," by refermust be interpreted largely by a ring to some which have been found knowledge of their founders, or of by ourselves most informing and the conditions in which they ongl- stimulating, and which are easily nated; and of their religious books. obtainable. The student must understand why the Mo~lem faith is the foe of all idols and One Hundred Rooks accepts the Old Testament, etc. Dr. Burrell's "Religions of the World" or Beginning toward the sunrise, Dr. "Religions of the Mission Field," Griffis's books on the "Hermit Nation" published by the Student Volunteer and the ".Mikado's Empire" will help Feudge on "Missionary Life in to the understanding of Korea and Siam," and Mrs. Curtis on "The Laos Japan, Dr. and Mrs. Underwood of North Siam." To know the career have both written valuable books on of Boon Itt, the famous convert, is the Koreans, and the life of Joseph very helpful. Persia is inseparably Neesima by T. S. Hardy, and of Guido linked with Dr. Perkins and Dr. F. Verbeck and Samuel Rollins Grant, Henry Martyn and Fidelia Brown, supply keys to the unlocking Fiske. Turkey will become a familiar of the Sunrise Kingdom. field when one has been with Cyrus Hamlin, "Among the Turks" and Those who would know about For- read "My Life and Times"; or Crosby mosa must read such books as Dr. H. Wheeler's "Ten Years on the Eu- G. L. Mackay's "From Far For- phrates"; and to know about such mosa; and, as to China, there is a men as Goodell, Schauffler, Riggs legion of volumes. Wells Williams's and Dwight at Constantinople and H. "Middle Kingdom," and the story of ~. Barnum at Harpoot will prove not Hudson Taylor and the "China In- only informing but fascinating. land Mission" are bulky; but the life of Robert Morrison, the Syria has its noble names, like pioneer; of Peter Parker, pioneer in Bishop Gobat, Pliny Fiske and Levi medical missions; of John L. Parsons, C. A. Van Dyck and Eli Nevius, Pastor Hsi, Smith's "Chi- Smith and H. H. Jessup. Geo. E. nese Characteristics," and Glover's Post, M.D., at Beirut, is one of the "Six Thousand Miles. of Miracle"; greatest medical missionaries. the Lives of Griffith John and J as. Gilmour, of Mongolia, give glimpses Arabia has found in Dr. Jessup's of this vast field. "Women Among the Arabs," and Dr. Zwemer's standard works on As to India and Burma, one should "Arabia and the Cradle of Islam," an go backward and read about Gutz- illuminating treatment. Of course, laff, Ziegenbalg and Schwartz, who the life of Mohammed is a necessary were pioneers-Buchanan's "Star in clue to the Arabian maze. the East," which helped to fire Carey; and the lives of Duff, John Wilson As to Africa, again there is an emof Bombay, John Scudder, of Bishops barrassment of riches. Everybody Heber, Valpy French and Thoburn; reads "The Life of Livingstone," the of George Bowen; of Jewett and "Story of Madagascar," and Mullin's Clough among the Telugus; of Dr. "Wonderful Story of Uganda"; as Chamberlain; of Eliza Agnew in also the lives of Mackay and Pilking- Ceylon; Adoniram Judson and his co- ton, Bishop Hannington, and the workers among the Karens; and one black bishop, Crowther; Johnson's would hardly feel acquainted with "Seven Years in Sierra Leone," India who did not read Miss Car- Tyler'5 "Forty Years Among the michael's "Things as They Are," and Zulus"; the life of John Hogg, of follow the '11arvelous path of Pundita Lansing, and of Mary Whateley; of Ramabai. the old heroes, Moffat, Krapf, Van- derkemp and the two Lindleys, and On Siam, Mr. Cort has written on that modern hero, so recently dead, "The Heart of Farther India," Mr. Coillard, scarcely surpassed by any of the rest. Professor Naylor's "Day- Field," ancient and modern, Dr. break in the Dark Continent" is the Butler's work in India and Mexico; best of all the brief handbooks on "Lives and Deeds Worth Knowing Africa. About," by Stevenson; the lives of Count Zinzendorf, Harriet Newell, The Isles of the Sea find noble Melinda Rankin, David Brainerd, treatment in Williams's "Missionary Raymond Lull, Richard Knill, Cap- Enterprises in the South Seas," one tain Gardiner, Jonas King, of Athens, of the greatest books ever written Chamberlain of Brazil, Keith Falon missions; Miss Gordon Cumming's coner, Sam. J. Mills by Richards, "At Home in Fiji," John Geddie's Mrs. Charles's "Three Martyrs of the work on Aneityum, and John G. Nineteenth Century," Duncan's Met- Paton's on Aniwa, Bishop Patterson's lakahtla and Egerton Young's books tragical career, and Titus Coan's on the North American Indians, an'1 "Three Years' Camp-meeting at Hilo such like may show how rich is the and Puna." biographical field.
Those who would know' about Looking at missions as a larger work in papal lands should study service to humanity, the story of Robertson's "Roman Catholic Church George Muller, Quarrier and Barin Italy," McAll's work in France, nardo among orphans; Matteo Proetc. The life of Loyola and Xavier, chet, among the Waldenses; George Griesinger's "Jesuits," and Arthur's Williams and the Y. M. C. A., Booth "Pope, Kings and People" may help and the Salvation Army; McAuley to give an insight into Romish and Hadley among New York methods. "bums"; Baedeker among Russian convicts; Father Damien and Mary There are a multitude of general Reed among lepers, etc., may hint works on missions and of biographical how wide of application is the term sketches which we would be sorry niissionary; while hundreds of biognot to own, or at least to read, such raphies like those of John Howard, as the "Ely Volume," the "History Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale, of Methodist Missions," and of the Mary Lyon, Gypsy Smith, will show A. B. C. F. M.; of the "Church Mis- how it is the same Fire of God sionary Society"; Dennis's masterly which on every altar of sacrifice work on "Christianity and Social both consumes and glorifies the Progress," Thompson's "Moravia.l offering. Missions," etc. Among biographies, Walsh's "Heroes of the Mission WHY SHOULD WE STUDY FOREIGN MISSIONS?
1. "It gives breadth to the mental 4. "Missionary achievement attests and spiritual horizon," the presence and power of God in the Work of the Church." 2. "Missionary biography is rich in inspiring examples." S. "It establishes and enriches faith." 3. "It is an aid to self-denial and a single purpose : -The evangelization MALCOLM SPENCER, M.A. of the world in this generation."
BURNS, THE FIRST MISSIONARY
MANCHURIA BY REV. J O H N G. DUNLAP, NEW-CHWA NG, MANCHURIA In the soft light of the fading day some day I would retell the story for a little group of Scotch and Irish the possible blessing of others. missionaries laid to rest one of their colleagues, one of the quarter mil- William Burns' life may be relion victims of the struggle between vealed in a series of scenes. Russia and Japan-Mrs. Westwater, of Liao-Yang. She had died of The first is laid in the old manse typhus, contracted among the hun- at Kilsyth, in Stirlingshire. A staldreds of Chinese refugees for whom she and her husband cared during several months following the great battle that raged for days about their city in August, 1904. After the service was over, and those missionaries, and Japanese officers who had paid the last token of respect to the dead, had scattered among the trees of the little graveyard, the writer found himself before a grave the legend of which read: To the Memory GRAVE OF WM. C. BUR NS of the wart lad of seventeen has come in REV. WILLIAM C. BURNS, A.M., at the end of the day, all unex- pected and travel-tired and grave- Missionary to the Chinese looking. To his mother's exclama- From the Presbyterian Church in Eng- tion, "Willie, where have you come from ?" his answer is "From Edin- land. burgh." "How did you come?" "I walked" (a distance of thirty-six Born at Dun, Scotland, April 1st, 1815, miles) . Died at Port of Nieu-Chwang, April 4th, There was then a silence, and 1868. standing on the hearth-rug with his back to the fire, he said quietly, "What II. Corinthians, Chap. v. would you think, mother, if I should be a minister, after all?" Nearness to that sacred dust brought upon the missionary the in- That sentence tells the story. spiration that comes to the patriot Hitherto he had been a careless boy, by the grave at Mount Vernon or by but now his manhood had begun. Nelson's tomb in St. Paul's. One He had loved the fi elds and woods. of the Irish missionaries stept up and said quietly, "This is a sp0t that we're all proud of." Another of them, a Mukden missionary, said later, " It was the story of Burns that made a missionary of me"; aud I recalled my first benediction on reading, fifteen years before, the record of Burns' labors, and resolved that
He had hunted, and fished, and felled day of Thy power." The peopic trees, and harvested. He had done listened with the most riveted and well at his books, too, and had had solemn attention, some with tears and two sessions at Aberdeen, and then groanings. At th~ last their feelings been apprenticed to a lawyer at Edin- became too strong for all restraints burgh. He had long declared his in- and broke forth in weeping and tention of becoming a lawyer, and wailing, with here and there shouts vehemently rejected the idea of be- of joy and praise. Strong men fell ing a mlt11ster. "He saw lawyers to the ground as if dead. Almost rich and with fine houses." What alone, Burns was perfectly calm. a commentary his whole life was Tho calm and self-controlled, there upon this early aspiration! was a dramatic vividness and energy that was reminiscent of Whitefield, The second scene is in Robert but due simply to an intense and Murray McCheyne's pulpit at Dundee. awful realization of eternal truth and He had finished at Aberdeen and a divine presence. taken his theological course at Glasgow. Licensed to preach in 1839, he Followed eight years of intense found his first work in one of the evangelistic activity, frequently swaygreatest churches of Scotland, Mc- ing thousands with the power of a Cheyne's at Dundee. The call to sup- Wesley or Whitefield. The mounply, during several months, for one tain glens, the crowded river steamof the most holy and gifted and suc- boat, the noisy 100m-shop, the solicessful preachers of the century was tary cottage, the wayside tavern, the a stern test for the young licentiate. barracks, the market-square, the fresh from college and not yet twenty- coal-pit, the harvest-field, as well as five. No panoply of mere "gifts" the great churches of the cities and could have stood that test, and cer- towns of Scotland, all witnessed his tainly William Burns, young, inex- labors of those years and showed their perienced, measured and slow of fruit. Nor was it Scotland alone. speech, with no peculiar charm of In Newcastle and in Dublin, and in poetry or sentiment or natural elo- scores of towns and villages in Upper quence, was doomed to failure but and Lower Canada, in English and for one thing-he had THE gift. His Gaelic and French, like an Apostle words had a weight and a power that with the gift of tongues, he witnessed carried them to the heart and the con- to the resurrection of "this Jesus" and science of his hearers of whatever called thousands from the death-sleep class. His preaching was by the of sin. power of the Holy Spirit. He was like Evan Roberts in his Scene three finds him the Evan spirit and power-able to speak only Roberts of his time and country, the what he felt, and that only while he central figure of a revival that swept felt it and so far as he felt it, only through the Lowlands in 1839-40. out of the abundance of his heart, and It began on a day when he preached often silent altogether rather than at a communion service in his father's speak that which was merely known church at Kilsyth. His text was, or believed; a very prophet; a John "Thy people shall be willing in the the Baptist, living as it were in the
1<)08] WILLIAM BURNS, FIRST MISSlOIARY TO MANCHURIA
wilderness, making himself grandly April, 1844, he suddenly appeared at. solitary for the work of Christ, an-i a friend's door in Dublin with a small calling men to repent and flee from bundle in his hand, the whole of his the coming wrath. He was like luggage. He had come to preach, Roberts, too, in his exaltation of and night after night in an open space prayer; "I spent the whole of this before the custom-house, whefl~ forenoon till half-past twelve In Father Mathew had administered the private with the Lord"; "Oh, for a temperance pledge, he declared "all day every week to spend entirely in the words of this life," in the face of the secret of His presence!" a derisive Catholic mob. Often his clothes were torn; not seldom the An old white-haired man WclS chair on which he stood was broken; noticed once weeping bitterly dur-< FIRST PROTESTANT CHURCH BUILT IN MANCHURIA1 1872, NOW USE!) BY JAPANESE CHRISTIANS ing his preaching and saying, "Oh! but he never was impatient, not for it's. his prayers; I canna stand his a moment did he lose his self-comprayers." But with all his zeal and mand, and his face so beamed with power and prayerfulness, he was the the joy of his Lord that some of his typical scholarly Scotch minister. persecutors were constrained to say, During a winter in Edinburgh, be- "He is a good man; we can' not make sides almost daily preaching and him angry." teaching of Bible classes, he worked in the Students' Missionary Associa- lithin thirty yards of Burns' grave tion, infusing much of his own fire lies the dust of the first martyr of and love of missions into the hearts Manchmia-the gentle Wylie, of the of the students; he taught a private Scotch mission at Liao-Yang, who Greek class in his lodgings and a was done to death by Manchu soldiers Hebrew class in the new college. in 1894. Of Wylie, too, it was said, "An angry word he could not utter," One or two pictures of those stir- "Such a power in prayer!" "Such ring years stand out vividly. In a modest man!"
Irish-Catholic Montreal was even to care for those for whom few else more dangerous than Irish-Catholic cared. Dublin, and often he preached in the Place d'Armes with a self-constituted From the first he immerse(l him- body-guard of soldiers of the famous self as completely as he could in an 93rd Regiment, to whom he had atmosphere of Chinese. He spoke ministered in Scotland. Even this Chinese, wrote Chinese, read and heard Chinese, sang and prayed in IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW~CHWANG Chinese. He soon moved from the English settlement to a rented house protection did not save him from vio- among the Chinese popUlation, and lence, and to be pelted with gravel there lived in such simplicity that on and besmeared with mud, to lose even one occasion, when an excited crowd his Bible and part of his coat, to be in pursuit of a criminal stopt at his door, some one cried out, "Oh, you carried to a surgery bleeding from a need not look there; it is only a poor foreigner ." severe wound in his head-these were some of the experiences that came to It is anticipating, but twenty-one him in Montreal before he was even- years later, when the single trunk tually driven from the city. containing nearly. all the property he left behind him in tlfe world was He was in Canada about two years, opened in his brother's home in Scotreturning to Scotland in I846 to be land, a little child looking on whiscommissioned shortly as the first mis- pered, "Surely he must have been sionary of the English Presbyterian very poor." "Poor, yet making many Church to China. The five months' rich," could well be said of William voyage to China was spent chiefly in Burns. work upon the Chinese language. He arrived in Hongkong in Novem- Of his twenty years in China there ber, 1847. is not space to speak in detail. The impression that he left in China was Our first glimpse of him in China less that of what he did than of what will be in the jail at Hongkong he was. He was not a builder, not within two months of his landing, an organizer, not even a baptizer. He laboring in his halting Chinese to worked before the days of the teach the way of life to three COll- apotheosis of organization and the demned murderers. This beginning organizer; he labored it) days and in in China was characteristic, for he fields almost barren of visible results. loved to walk like Christ on the shady Besides, he was never content to be side of the world, seeking first of all in the rear-guard-the greater need ahead always challenged him and called him forward. He was a pio- neer in many fields. In his twenty years he worked in and from the fol- lowing centers-Hongkong, Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Shanghai, Swatow, Peking, and New-chwang. This list of stations would condemn many a man
BURNS, FIRST MISSiONARY TO
of restlessness or fickleness, but Will- where none other dared to go. Even iam Burns was neither restless nor the sordid Chinese recognized him as fickle. He was simply what the a man full of the love of his God French appropriately call a mission- and his fellows. When he took his aire apostolique; he was a nineteenth- last voyage from Taku to New-chwang century apostle. in 1867, with the vast field of Man- churia calling him on, the junk cap- He did not build up a great mis- tain in whose vessel he spent the three sion or attempt to do so. He did not weeks of the voyage would take no exalt his own denomination. Far more money for either his passage or his to him than the welfare of the Church food. Even the rough heathen mariof Scotland or the Presbyterian ner scorned to make gain of one Church of England was the welfare whose life was one of utter devotion of the universal Church of Christ, to the good of his fellow men. and so he worked as a brother IRISH PRESD¥TERIAN MISSION HOSPITALJ NEW·CHWANG with all evangelical missionaries. In It was ever thus. He preached Amoy, Foochow, and Peking, whe!"e daily during the seven months he there were other denominations as was allowed to live and work in Newwell as his own, it was a common chwang, but he "made no converts there' thing for Burns to be found in the as he had made few elsewhere. But course of one week preaching in Con- to-day, thirty-eight years after his gregational, Episcopal, and Methodist voice has ceased to be heard, he is chapels as well as in his own. There remembered and spoken of with revwas one kind of invitation which he erence by Chinese and Europeans never could decline, and that was an who knew him during those few invitation to preach. Men now are months and recognized the holiness earnestly preaching church U1uon of his life. As recently as yesterday in tnission fields; William Burns the writer heard one such speak of practised it fifty years ago. him-an old American pilot of over forty years on the North China His zeal and courage carried him coast. And once during the war, in into many dangers, but his manifest a prayer-meeting of Japanese soldiers, simplicity and earnestness carried him he heard one who had been in Paosafely through them all. He toured
ting-fu, and had there met a allowed to few even of the greate;,t family who had been brought to preachers, but in China reduced some- Christ by Burns nearly forty years times to teaching a few children to before, speak movingly of the lessons read in their own language or to the of Burns' life. The carpenter who drudgery of translation, "Peep of had worked for Burns, and had lis- Day," "Pilgrim's Progress," colloquial tened unmoved to his earnest appeals hymns-a tragedy apparently, yet in during life, who later made his coffin its permanent influence upon the and placed his poor worn body in ;t, lives of thousands who knew him or is to-day a valued elder of the church have read or heard of him a life at N ew-chwang. that still lives and speaks and works as truly as that of any greatest living Poor, yet making many rich; dead, missionary of to-day. If Burns' life yet speaking; his life apparently a was a tragedy, let us have many such tragedy-so conscribed, so starved tragedies. China will not be saved socially and intellectually, a man who without them. had swayed his thousands in a manner EDUCATIONAL MISSIONS IN JAPAN BY REV. A. OLTMANS. D.D., JAPAN ::Iissionary of the Reformed Dutch Church The emphasis in this subject should of the country by Commodore Perry be upon the word missions, rather in 1854, not by the public proclamathan upon the word educational. tion of the Gospel by the wayside or Protestant missions in modern J ap;l11 in rented halls or private dwellings of have been largely of an educational the people, but by teaching a few youth character. After having set forth the of the "Samurai" (soldier) class here reasons for this fact, we will discuss and there in the homes of the missionthe justification and the limitations of aries themselves, and in a very educational missions in Japan. guarded, and often secret, way. The reason for this simply was, that I. The Fact, and the Reasons.- Christianity was at that time in Japan If statistics were gathered showing the most strictly forbidden article. how many of the hundreds of mission- The people had been taught, through aries to Japan, both men and women, 1110re than two centuries, to fear it began their work by teaching, the per- even more than the plague. Public centage would be perhaps as high as edicts stood along the highways at sixty-five or seventy per cent. And conspicuous places, warning the peoif to these were added the number of ple most solemnly against every kind those who, tho not beginning ,15 of contact with the so-called "evil sect, teachers, have yet devoted a consider- called Christianity." In fact, the main able part of their time in Japan to reason for Japan's almost complete teaching, the percentage would prob- isolation from 1637 till 1854 was the ably run up as high as ninety. desire to keep Christianity out of the Protestant mission work in Japan W;lS country. It is highly significant that begun a few years after the opening
MISSIONS IN
the public edict-boards against the Another reason why the early mis- Christian religion were not removed sionaries in Japan devoted so much from the highways till 1873, nearly time to teaching was the restrictions twenty years after Perry secured the upon them, by treaty regulations, re- treaty between the United States anli garding travel and residence in the in- Japan, and fourteen years after the terior. Both were extremely difficult; first Protestant missionaries arrived the latter almost impossible, for many in the country. Perforce, rather than years after Japan was opened to for- from choice, all these early mission- eign intercourse. The passport system aries-like Brown, Hepburn, Verbeck, in vogue was exceedingly annoying, Ballagh and others-first became to say the least. The consequence was teachers, as this afforded them the that foreign missionaries remained only possible chance for contact with mostly in treaty ports, and there they the people. The two-sworded Samu- were almost daily beset by young men, rai, practical lords of the reaim, were and after some years by girls as well, the only ones that dared to approach requesting them to teach English in the "foreign barbarian," for the pur- their homes, or in private schools.
pose mostly of wresting from him And those who did go out to live in some knowledge of the secret of West- the interior were technically required ern greatness, disclosed to them in the by the terms of their passports to gigantic ships that had steamed up the teach in the employment of some J apa- bay of Yedo (Tokyo) and the harbor t'~se, while if they simply traveled out- of Nagasaki. For the missionaries side of treaty limits, it technically had.
to refuse these young men on the plea, to be for pleasure, or for health, often made, and justly, by later mis- or for scientific research, conditions sionaries, that they had come to Japan which for a long time sorely tried the to preach the Gospel, and not to teach tender consciences of certain mission- English and Western sciences, would anes. Of course, under the revised have been to close the only avenue treaties that came into effect in 1899, there then seemed to be open for an all these restrictions and limitations approach to at least the minds, and have been taken away.
possibly the hearts, of the Japanese. Some missions in Japan long with- The first Protestant Church in stood the assertion that any mission in Japan, organized March 10, 1872, in Japan that desired to build up a at Yokohama, consisted almost en- permanent work there must be to tirely of young men from Mr. Bal- some extent an educational mission.
lagh's school, who were baptized on Of late years, however, they have that same day as the result of a re- practically all yielded to the argument, ligious revival among the students of and at least three missions-namel.~, the school. Out of these early class<'s the Southern Baptists, the Southern of students, taught privately by the Presbyterians and the Lutherans missionaries, came several men th;:(t (Southern. Synod) -decided this past have been, even till to-day, the fore- year to start boys' schools of their most leaders, both in the Christian own. Other missions, like the North- churches of Japan and as Christian ern Baptists and the Christian Church, educators. began their educational work only a
few years ago, and I think these re- which, if they could not fathom, they gret now that they did not begin it could at least follow. The criticism many years earlier. This has no ref- sometimes made that the early miserence to the training of native sionaries in Japan' started on the workers, which every mission is bound wrong "tack," and should have sought to take in hand from the beginning, opportunities for preaching rather or "sponge" upon other missions for than tie themselves up by teaching, their supply. The entire work of the may seem to -contain a grain of truth, Y. M. C. A. in Japan, which has been but can not stand before the general so successful, especially in recent law that the duty of God's workmen years, is practically a Christian edu- is to avail themselves of such opporcational campaign for the student tunities as are offered, believing them classes. The larger missions that to be providential, and meanwhile were earliest on the field in J apan— keep their eyes and ears open for betsuch as the Episcopal, the Northern ter ones. It may well be doubted Presbyterian, the Dutch Reformed whether the critics of the early mis- (all from 1859), the Congregation:. I sionaries would have acted differently ( 1869) and the Methodist Episcopal had they been in the place of those (S. and N. 1866 and 187J)-have all whom they criticize. It has been said been, and still are, strong along the that educational missions in Japan line of Christian education. have been very expensive, and that if anything like the amount spent by the The latest statistics of educational missions for education had been spent mISSIOns available give about 4,000 upon the direct preaching of the Gosstudents in boys' boarding-schools, pel, the results for the kingdom of 7,300 in girls' boarding-schools and Christ would have been far better than about 7,000 girls and boys in day- they are now. The reply to this critischools. That means more than cism is, in the first place, that it is 18,000 of the rising generation of extremely hazardous to. affirm what Japan in almost daily contact with the would have been the results if differmission force and with the teachings of ent methods had been pursued. But, Christianity. apart from this doubtful point, it is at least interesting to note, as stated Earl)" Missions in Japan before, that those missions in Japan which for a long time stood aloof from 2. The Justification-is found, first active participation in mission educaof all, in the circumstances that tion have sooner or later nearly all surrounded the early missionaries in fallen in line with the earlier estab- Japan. It was natural for them to do lished missions. t.hat which came to hand, to enter the one open door that presented itself. Were they forced to have schools be- Nor should we imagine that the mis- cause the other missions had them? sionaries looked upon this kind of Or were they led by the conviction work as "secular," and ~ departure that in Japan the permanency of their from their calling as ambassadors of work demanded their taking part in Christ. To their minds it doubtless this particular department of labor? seemed the "divine hand," shaping the Giving these missions the benefit of destiny of a new nation by ways
lllSSlONS IN JAPAN
the doubt, we venture to say that it Church are an exceptionally intelwas the latter, rather than the former, ligent, well-educated, active and effithat led to the change in policy. cient body of men and women. It is not denied that this very fact brings That mission schools in Japan have to the Church in Japan problems of been and are expensive, both in build- peculiar difficulty, but nevertheless ings and in maintenance, as well as there is much in it for which we in teaching force, can not be denie(l. ought to be thankful. Through the The estimated value of Protestal't labors in the mission schools in Japan mission-school property at present ag- there has been raised up, during a gregates about two million yen, or comparatively few years, a body of one million dollars. But this is cer- pastors and evangelists that rank tainly several times more than the favorably with those of any countrv, amount originally paid for all this considering the kind of work they are property by the missions. There are called to do. The mission schools have mission-school properties in Tokvo also yielded hundreds of Christian that are to-day worth probably about young men and young women that as much above the original investment are equipped as teachers in these same as the running of the schools cost dur- mission schools, as well as in a large ing all the years of their existence. number of government schools. For Again, we must not forget that most the latter positions they are now of the buildings of these mission not infrequently sought out by the schools were erected with money from government in preference to graduates well-to-do donors in the home land, from the public schools. and not by the ordinary contributions of the rank and file of the Church. Even tho we may not consider mis- It is also very probable that the sums sion schools a success as direct evandonated for such buildings would nnt gelizing agencies, still we should not have been given for the general evan- forget that the present Protestant gelistic work. We may deplore this Church in Japan is largely the fruit fact, but we can not deny it. Further, of mission education. That it will 111 it will be founcI-that the income of the the future be proportionately less so leading mission schools in Japan from than in the past we may confidently matriculation fees and tuition amounts expect because of the constantly into a large sum, and covers, in some creasing expansive and self-propagacases, about half of all the expe~ses ting power of the Japanese churches. of the school, outside of the salari('s But the foundation was laid, and th(1s of foreign teachers. If some of these far the superstructure was largely schools had accommodations for dou- reared, upon the Christian education bling the numbers of their students, the received in the mission schools. fees would probably cover all their expenses, including Japanese teachers. Limitations of Mission Schools Again, a justification of educationctl 3. The Limitations.-Any one at missions in Japan is found in the pres- all familiar with the work of foreign ent condition of the Protestant Church missions knows that mission schools in the Island Empire. The great ma- on the foreign fields have their limitajority of the membership of that tions. First of all, mission schools
are not an end in themselves. Simply This applies especially in a country to educate the people of a mission land, like Japan, where the public educaeven tho that education be positively tion has attained to such a high degree Christian, is not the purpose for of efficiency and completeness, conwhich churches in the home lands un- ~idered from the material and the indertake and support missions. That tellectual points of view. Simp:y purpose is to evangelize the people; as educational institutions, mission to make them disciples and followers schools can not, and ought not to of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tho it may attempt to, compete with the governbe somewhat difficult to draw in every ment schools. The strength and usecase a clear line of demarcation be- fulness of the former, and the good tween mission education and evan- reason for their existence, must lie gelization, still in general the differ- in their distinctive features as mission ence i;:; definite and distinct. Missi011 schools, or, if preferred, as Christian education seems to me justifiable only schools. Their real success in the as the handmaid of evangelization. past has been secured through em- The main purpose of mission schools phasis upon these distinctive feature,~, should be to train an efficient body and these are also the features that of Christian workers for the Church, mark their limitation. They constitute in order to accomplish the great work the reasons for which some Japanese of the Church in the evangelization parents, not necessarily Christians, of her own land and of "the regions send their sons and daughters to misbeyond." And even tho it be true that sion schools rather than to government but a comparatively small percentage schools. Some are attracted to the of those taught in mission schools are mission school by the superior English led into that definite sphere of church taught in them. This is a laudable work, the ,mission should look upon recommendation, but to the mission the other larger percentage of stu- it is an incidental advantage, and not dents in the school as being there an object in itself. The missions mainly for the purpose of helping to gladly give to their students the best furnish the smaller percentage of ac- English at their command, if by so tive church workers. It is a sifting doing they can the better touch for process, like that of river-bed gold, good the real hearts and lives of these and much mixed sand must be young men and women of Japan. handled, perhaps, for the sake of a This is something far beyond the ken comparatively small quantity of the and concern of the ordinary Japanese precious metal. At the same time, we teacher in the public school, but it are joyfully certain that the labor be- constitutes the prime purpose and at stowed upon those who do not come the same time an unavoidable limitawithin the ranks of Christian workers, tion of mission schools. In the Ipisor even of believers, is not in vain, sion boys' schools, especially, it keeps and seed sown in this way is not in- more away from the schools than it frequently found "after many days." attracts to them, but those whom it does attract are of the best and most A second limitation of mission hopeful material in the country. schools is in their efficiency or completeness as educational institutions. We might finally speak of a limita-
EDUCATIO:–JAL MISSIONS IN
tion of mission schools in regard to to obtain endowments for them suffitimc-. That miSSIOn schools are cient to make their annual appropri;J.- eventually, and gradually, to give place tions by the mission boards unnecesto, or to change into, Christian schools, sary. Could this be accomplished, it supported and carried on by the might seem that, unless prevented by Japanese churches and individual the terms of the endowment gifts, Christians themselves, goes of course schools thus endowed would soon be without saying. The teaching force placed largely or wholly under' the of every mission school of any size in control of the Japanese. The fact, Japan consists to-day largely of J apa- however, is that, under the new laws nese, the missionary teaching for the of property-holding in Japan, these most part the English branches and educational plants of the missions are the Bible classes. This does not at present nearly all owned by coniwholly apply to theological schools panies, consisting of the missionaries, and schools for the training of Bible acting for their respective Boards of women. The reason for such a com.. Foreign Missions in the home land. para'tively large force of Japanese This would be a sufficient safeguard teachers is not only an economic one, against any such fear above menit is also because of real efficiency tioned, for which fear, however, no one attained. has sufficient grounds. The time when the Japanese can entirely care for the Mission-School Control Christian education of their country seems still a great way off, and As to the control of mission schools, meanwhile the mission schools have the majority are still under the control splendid opportunities, in harmoniol~s of the respective missions; but some, cooperation with tfte Japanese Chrislike the "Meiji-gaku-in" at Tokyo, tians, to make broad and deep the are governed by a joint board of re- foundations already laid of the gents, consisting of equal numbers Christian Church in Japan, and in raisof Japanese and foreign missionaries. ing up a large body of consecrated The "Doshisha," at Kyoto, has been young men and young women, upon rapidly passing from the control of whom will fall increasingly the glorithe American Board Mission to that ous task of leading their own countryof the Japanese, and can hardly be men, the people of the "Land of the classed any 'longer as a mission school. Rising Sun," into the light of the What prevents other mission schools knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus from going the same way is in part Christ, as the Son of God, and the Retheir lack of. financial support on the deemer of the world. part of the Japanese. Strong efforts are now made by some of these schools
FAMILY 01" TilE OKAYAM.I
THE GREAT ORPHANAGE AT OKAYAMA BY REV. E. W. THWING, HONOLULU, HAWAII The city of Okayama, not very far tures of Okayama and other parts of from Kobe, Japan, is celebrated for Japan, and so gain the sympathy and three things: her~ are made the be5t cooperation of as many as possible in dumplings in all Japan; here is found this, one of the worthiest charities in one of the most beautiful and famous the world. of the public gardens of the empire; and here, also, is one of the largest NIr. Onoda brought some very inorphanages in the Far East. teresting views of the daily life in the orphanage, and also moving pictures Mr. J. Ishii is the superintendent of of other places in the empire.
this remarkable orphanage, where Okayama Orphanage, now in its hundreds of little children are gath- twenty-first year of continuous service, ered. was the first Protestant institution or- ganized in Japan to care for homeless The assistant superintendent of the children. It was also the first Chris- Okayama orphanage, Mr. T. Onoda, tian enterprise to receive a grant-inrecently visited Honolulu for three .aid from the Emperor and Empress of reasons; fir~;t, to visit Hawaii's schools Japan. and to study especially the industrial work carried on at institutions like Located in a city of 85,000 people Kamehameha, Lahainaluna and the near the geographical center of the Hila Boarding-School; second, to a;::- empire, it is national and even internaqnaint his countrymen here with the tional in the scope of its benevolent ileeds of the orphanage and secure work. their support; and, third, to show pic- Like many another striking succe~s
GREAT ORPHANAGE AT
in educational or evangelistic effort, terests of the orphanage. The esprit the work of this great institution cen- de corps of the institution is one its ters around the unique personality of chief assets and recommendations. one individual, the founder and present superintendent of the orphanage. Four times in its history Okayama orphanage has risen to meet great na- A man of simple faith, sublime self- tional emergencies; namely, two wars, devotion and tireless energy, J. Ishii one earthquake and one famine. Jn is one of the marked workers' of this the spring of 1906 it befriended 823 advanced age. He has been in turn famine waifs, taking them to Okaan ardent student of the lives and yama from northeastern Japan, and labors of George Muller, General S. 285 of these children are still in their C. Armstrong, General William Booth, foster home. In consequence of this and Dr. Barnado. His own work suddeQ increase of its numbers from shares the impress of their wonderful 375 to I,200 children, a debt of characters and successful mehods. $30,000 has been contracted, which But above all he is a loyal disciple of should be canceled during the present Jesus of Nazareth, 'a believer in prac- year, in addition to supplying daily .tical righteousness, who spends him- needs. self and all his resources in work for needy children, ex-convicts and the An interesting incident showing suffering poor. He is assisted in his how this work has sometimes received present work by 16 school-teachers, support occurred just after the great 40 house-mothers, and 50 other earthquake in Japan of seventeen helpers, all loyally devoted to the in- years ago. Mr. Ishii heard that many orphans, left by that disaster, needed ONE OF THE HOME CLASSES~ OKAYAMA ORPHANAGE
BOYS OF THE OKAYAMA OR PHANAGE to be cared for, but he had no funds. is not much, but it is all that I have." At that time he was providing for That was a start, and like the few about 120 children in the home. loaves of the lad 011 the shore of Gali- lee, it grew until more than $[,000 A little Japanese girl came to him hac! been raised, and 85 of the and said. "Here is 20 sen [about one needy children were taken into the dime). I want it to help care for those orphanage. poor children of the earthquake. It THE HOME RELlGI()NOF THE JAPANESE BY MILDRED GRAHAM LAYMAN Of the two great religions of Japan, head of the household acting as the Buddhism and S~into, the latter is, in priest of the family is still maintained. a double sense, the home religion, so far as it is a religion. It was the wor- The elementary beliefs of Shinto ship of the people before Buddhism are that all the dead become gods, was introduced, and it is the religion good or bad, according to their lives; most intimately associated with the that these gods, the spirits of the dead, homes of the people. Shinto is a form remain in this world, in their tombs or of ancestor worship, and originated in the homes whieh they occupied in from a family cult in which the head oi life, and, tho invisible, share in the each family was the priest. A more life of the living; and, most important modern form made use of temples, like of all, that the happiness of the dead Buddhism, and even adopted some of depends upon the care and service of the forms and ceremonies of Bud- the living, and, in turn, the happiness dhism, but the primitive idea of the and prosperity of the living depend upon the spirits of the departed.
THE HOME RELIGION OFTHE
Many foreigners think the Japanese it is always Shinto. In- this household a very irreligious people; that in spite shrine are kept the burial tablets of of the fact that they worship millions the deceased members of the family.
of gods, they are not deeply concerned These are small white sticks made in about any. This is because it is always the form of tombstones, on which difficult for strangers to discover the are written the names of the dead per- inner life and thought of a people. sons. If Buddhism is also the faith There is no regularly recurring day of of the family, there will be an image.
worship, corresponding to the Chris- of Buddha and there- may be many tian Sabbath, when all the devout other idols, but the "spirit-sticks," or people may be seen at the same time burial tablets, are always there.
making their way to a common place Prayers are repeated and an offering of worship. But it is a great mistake made before this household shrine to look at the temple worship of the every day. Before the family may Japanese in order to judge what partake of food, a small portion of the Christianity has to. overcome. One rice cooked for the family is taken out must study the home worship. of the rice-pot and placed in front of After being in Japan a mimber of the shrine, with a simple prayer for years, I became especially interested in protection and care from the spirits a certain woman who attended our of the dead. This is not done one day meetings, and through her began to and entirely forgotten the next, as is know something of the strength of the case with the family prayers of so this home religion. She was a mid- many Christian homes in America.
dle-class woman, intelligent and re- That much, at least is done in the Jap- fined, and after attending the meetings anese home every day. On special for a long time with great regularity, occasions, such as the anniversary of and listening very carefully to the the death of the loved one or on re- answers to her questions, she began to ligious-festival days, the shrine re- study the Bible for herself. At last ceives special attention. The photo- she began to offer public prayer to graph of the deceased may be placed the true God, said she believed in with the burial tablets, and special Christ and was going to follow His food and wine are offered.
teachings. In every respect but one These ceremonies before the home she seemed to be truly converted. She shrine are not, as a rule, long or very could not give up the worship of her formal, but the faithfulness with which ancestors. She could not throw asi< Ie they are carried on is what shows how her "spirit-sticks," altho she gladly much they mean. It is really a very removed every oth~r idol from her touching faith, the belief that the dear home. ones are or may be ever near, Hearn, Every home in Japan, unless it be in his "Japan," has so beautifully writ- a Christian home, practkaUy e~ery ten of this belief: "They are not home has its "god-shelf." This thought of as dead; they are believed "god-shelf" may be a combination to remain among those who loved Buddhist and Shinto shrine, for many them. Unseen they guard the home, families hold both religions; but if and watch over the welfare of its in- there is only one religion in the home, mates; they hover nightly in the glow
of the shrine-lamp: and the stirring under teachers in government school., of its flame is the motion of them. and private schools, and we were re- They dwell mostly in their lettered ceived by them, into their home life, tablets; from their shrine they observe more freely than in any other neigh- and hear what happens in the house: borhood in which we ever lived.
they share the family joys and sor- These families were intelligent, re- rows; they want affection; but the . fined, educated people. They had ad- morning and evening greetings of the vanced far beyond the average Japa- family are enough to make them nese in getting away from the ordinary happy. They require nourishment; beliefs and superstitions of the com- but the vapor of food contents them. mon people.. No images of foxes, or They are exacting only as regards the rice gods, or gods of wealth, or even daily fulfilment of duty; to neglect images of Buddha, were worshiped them is a cruelty, is the proof of an in their homes; yet in everyone of evil heart; to cause them shame by ill these homes the "god-shelf," with its conduct, to disgrace their name by bad "spirit-sticks," was as carefully at- actions, is the supreme crime. tended as in any home in Japan.
This, the home religion of the Japa- It will be many years ye~ befo!'e nese, the most simple form of Shinto, Japan can give up her ancestor wor- is yet the strongest barrier which ship. Their whole system of govern- Christianity has to overcome. One ment is founded upon it. But the often hears the statement that Bud- "grain of mustard-seed" has been dhism has largely lost its hold on the planted, is beginning to grow, and t:le people, and there is much truth in this; time will come when the intense loy- the same is true of Confucianism, but alty and faithfulness now manifested not of Shinto. in the worship of ancestral spirits For a year we lived in Tokyo, in <- will be transferred to the worship of locality where we were practicaEy One Great Eternal Spirit. When that surrounded by the homes of school- is true what a Christian nation the teachers. There were principals and Japanese will become.
AFRICAN MISSIONARY ISOLATION BY REV. ROBERT HAMILL NASSAU, D.D., WEST AFRICA Every mi'ssion-field, in any heathen But, as to isolation, I think only land, has its special difficulty for the Point Barrow, within the Arctic Circle, missionary worker that calls out our and Tibet surpass Africa in the sympathy. Listening to narratives loneliness that awaits candidates for of personal experiences, in almost mission service. The pain of isolaany missionary convention, there will tion, that at first does not strike the be, from some, stories of physical listener to the story as a very great deprivations; from others, theological affliction, is one that grows, and' for or national or class antipathies and which there is little relief. But manoppositions; from all, personal trials kind is gregarious. Isolation is an of their moral and spiritual natllre~. affliction that, tho at the moment less sharp than a wound, disease, hunger, formative or educative of local mi3- cold, heat, or insult, becomes erosive, sionary interest. But tourists do not like the continued wearing away by include West Africa in their schedule.
a persistent water-drop on a stone. They do, indeed, start on the African Dynamite, in a moment, could shatter west coast steamers, but they drop off that stone to fragments; the explo- at the Canary Islands, for health at sion would be heard and commented Las Palmas, or for 'the glory of snow- on; and then the shattered stone crowned rosy-tinted Peak of Teneriffe.
would be forgotten; for, simply, it There does come an occasional scien- no longer exists. But the block, tist; Du Chaillu to shoot gorillas; lying under the drip, drip, day and· :Mary Kingsley, with her graphic pen, night, year after year, is being worn writing of native characteristics and away by a species of torture the while foreign politics the while that she in- its "days go on, go on." The physical vestigated African fresh-water ich- distresses of cold and hunger are tem- thyology; and Professor Starr, in porary, and have their possible re- the Kongo, with his study of eth- lief in change of clothing and new nology; and occasionally a Richard supplies of food; for diseases, there Harding Davis to tell the truth about are medicines; intellectual trials find Leopold and Kongo atrocities. But', their relief in books; and the moral in all my forty-five African years, I and spiritual, in communion with never net, among the passengers on the Master. But isolation persists in my many steamer journeys up and its loneliness. down the coast, nor at any of the I do not predicate this of all of stations of the Presbyterian West Africa. ?-Jot of the missions in North Africa Mission, more than one Chris- Africa, especially on the Nile. Nor tian visitor, outside of members of of South Africa. But of West and that or adjacent missions. That one East and Central; and, very especially, man was the Rev. Dr. Pinney, who of Equatorial Africa. had been a missionary there in early I. One cause of that isolation is, life. For all others, Africa'? climate geographical West Africa is out of was considered too deadly. It had ob- the line of world-travel. In the tour- tained an evil reputation for the loss ist-season, mission stations in Syria, of white life. True, it has been a and up the Nile are, in a kindly "white man's grave." True, is is un- sense, overrun by tourist visitors ~ healthy. But 110t more so than was inquirers, or at least curious sight- . the Isthmus of Panama, which seers. Never a year but that men and science, hygiene, sanitation and com- women of wealth and educati<,?n and mon sense have recently made health- philanthropy make their so-called ful. The limits of this paper will not foreign-mission tour, even tho it allow me to enter my disclaimer as limits itself to China, India, and to the justice of the charge that resi- Japan. Even the newspaper reporter dence in Africa is necessarily fatal to and the prospective book-maker is white life.
not unknown in Persia, Siam, South During the first sixty years of its America. and even Alaska. These all existence, the Presbyterian West return with instructive statements Africa Mission was never officially inspected or visited. There were work, or care to have other than of- often occurrences or questions, as to ficial speaking acquaintance with him. which a sympathetic official could have rendered valuable aid that would The majority of the traders, also, have called out the gratitude of the have little sympathy with mission- lone mission. Individual members of work; they think that teaching makes the mission had asked that it should the natives less biddable as servants. be given the recognition, aid, and con- Yet, inconsistently, they constantly sequent interest that would accrue seduce with wages so much larger from an official visit. To one such than the missionary can give the request, a member of the board (now young men in the mission-schools, for dead) replied that Africa was not service to commerce or government, sufficiently important to justify the as clerks or other servants. Such expense and danger to life involved service would be commendable and a in such an inspection. Poor Africa! desirable advance in civilization for That frank utterance of the board- the young men, were it not so fre- member exprest too sadly the esti- quently involved with Sabbath-break- mate held by the general public- ing, the handling of intoxicating .even the church public-of the rela- liquors, and association with scenes tive standing of Africa in church of often a dissolute life, into which thought. Was it any wonder that the also mission-school girls are often missionary, out by the African rivers, drawn. Naturally, therefore, the infelt isolated? tercourse between trader and mission- ary is largely solely on a commercial Foreigners in West Africa basis. The teacher or the pastor ac- cepts isolation as a less evil than as- 2. Another cause of this isolation sociation with the men who are so lies in the character of the foreign often leading away from him his communities in which West African hopeful young men and women. missions are located. As it is true Outwardly, the bearing of these men that no tourists visit that part of the is that of gentlemen, and their treatcontinent, it is even more true that ment of missionary ladies is generally no Europeans (except Portuguese) that of scrupulous politeness. But or Americans settle as permanent resi- the lady can not forget that it is idents in any of the towns or cities mostly superficial, and that there of the coast, or villages of the in- could be no real companionship in terior, outside of two very limited her parlor. In the foreign comclasses, the trader and the Govern- munity, there are few public funcment official. With few exceptions, tions, dinners, banquets, teas and the latter come only for civil and po- parties, such as ladies would give and litical preferment; with slight knowl- attend in their civilized homes. Very edge of the native, and but little de- few of the traders or government ofsire to make his acquaintance, and ficials, if married, have brought their willing to risk life during the short wives to Africa. Some of them conterm of eighteen months or· two tent themselves with a native wife. years for the sake of credit on the It is rare therefore that, for the lady diplomatic list. Few of them look of the mission-house, there is any with sympathy on the missionary's lady with whom she can exchange The same is true in other missions. calls in the foreign community. In their own countries, European or American, Christian men and women 3. Cut off thus from association choose their own associates. Also, with travelers from his own country, the mere fact that a man or woman or with members of the little foreign is a Christian worker, while it is a community, shall we say that the mis- ground for reciprocal respect, is not sionary should be satisfied with the a reason why one should choose him companionship of his own mission or her as an intimate companion. In household? That would seem natural our own countries, we like our own and reasonable. What more reason- conventionalitie~, and are justly of- able than that one should find com- fended by a breach of them. The aspanionship with others who were sociate is doubtless a good man, but animated with the same Christian he interferes with one's comfort at hopes and missionary zeal as himself, dinner if his manners are boorish and and who, like himself, had made sac- disgusting. Manners are worth somerifice for a common cause? Surely, thing even if one be a missionary. there would be the fellowship that Even native Africans, having their should arise from mutual suffering! own code of politeness, are most But, even if all these were invariably critical observers of the gait, bearing, true, the mission household, to begin manner, and habits of the new miswith, is a small one. For instance- sionary. They remem·ber missionary in the Presbyterian West Africa Mis- precedents. Their own language (as sion there is a company of 3S men and a field of study) not having been women, located at 7 stations, from written uptil the missionary came, and 60 to 100 miles apart; there being having had no books, they, neverthefrom 3 to 7 persons connected with less, are, among themselves, lynxanyone station. Those numbers eyed students of physiognomy. In never remain the same for more than my own observation of very many one year at anyone station. There years, within two weeks after the arare removals, not often now ( thank rival of any new missionary, the God and common sense) by deaths, natives had read their carriage and but by "fitness of things," and the social bearing, and had accurately loregular furloughs in the United cated the stratum of society in which States, numbering each year one- the new missionary had dwelt in his seventh of the entire force. With an or her own country. Naturally, out average, therefore, of only four at a of the few in any typical company station, the chances for companionship at a station, there would be sodal are not large. That thirty-five includes differences. But, you say, such eight clergymen and their WIves, things should be ignored for the sake physicians and their wives, lay of the great common cause. Perteachers and their wives, and perhaps haps so. But you do not ignore them a mechanical or other business man in Philadelphia, or Rochester, or St. or two. They are all Christian men Louis. They were not ignored in a and women, but they come from certain starving, dying arctic expedivery different classes of society in tion. Unfortunately, if it be unfortheir own country. tunate, the missionary is still a human by the native much that is worthy of being, with human weaknesses, just respect and even affection in his na- like his Christian brother in Phila- ture, which he reveals in no other delphia and Rochester and St. Louis. way. But not every missionary has I am not writing what should be, but these tastes or even ability as an in- what is, and what, I believe, is in- vestigator; some not even the desire. evitable in the working out of Their duty to the native is, appar- differently constituted natures. Such ently, fulfilled when they have problems exist in Christian com- preached the Gospel story, taught the munities in the United States. But Scripture lesson, warned against ways they are solved there by not living of sin, and knelt in prayer for divine under the same roof or eating at the aid to the inquirer. Very true and same table. The uncongenial in the sincere they are. And the native has United States, quietly and kindly, gone out of the house very respecttake their separate ways, even if they ful, and very obedient. But he be neighbors, or members of the same was only a sinner to be prayed for. church. And so, for the sake of He was not thought of as a companpeace under the mission roof, and to ion. He would have been pleased to escape rasped nerves from uncon- become a companion, and open a genial fellowship, a missionary some- most affectionate heart, if he were times stands pitifully alone. sought as such, and not simply as a fellow member of a fallen race. 4. Under such combined causes of isolation, there is a happy solution, if Finally, the effects of such isolation, the missionary will turn to the even coming from so many sources, hedgpartially civilized native. True, he ing in the missionary to Africa on will not find· there any intellectual or every side of his entire nature, are social or conventional equality. But not told in reports of missions to it is always possible to find, in the boards and assemblies. But they are native, some interesting, instructive, known in the pitifully frequent disand even exciting line of research, if harmonies on mission ground,. and in the missionary has literary or scien- the unnecessarily frequent returns tific leanings. Following such lean- and abandonment of the work. The ings, various roads of science open euphemism of "resigned for ilIto him-e.g., ethnology, psychology, health" is true; but, sometimes, only philology, etc.-the pursuit of which partly so, and not always principally will give the investigator recreation, so. There would not have been the repay with intellectual acquisitions ill-health if there had not been the that may be a blessing to the world's unhappiness, and there would not fund of knowledge, and in the study have been the unhappiness had there of which there is incidentally revealed not been the isolation.
AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN
BY REV. FRANKLIN E. JEFFERYS, D.O.
I. Industrial that he is always living next door to In our thought the term "India" starvation, so that when the year of has almost become synonymous with crop failure comes he is driv~n to the the term "famine." In fact, at the last extreme, and easily succumbs to present time there is a famine of con- the semi-famine condi.tion.
siderable severity extending through- In July, 1906, I was living in the out much of North India. It is true Madura district when great scarcity that India has its rich men as riches visited us. Many declared that if go in India, but the multitudes are rain did not fall within thirty days ever toiling under conditions of pov- the wayside would be strewn with the erty so pinching as to be inconceiv- dead bodies of those who were able to one living in a land of such wandering from place to place seek- abundance as America. ing food. The people were driven to Agriculture is the chief source of use various kinds of herbs as food.
support to the people, but the small- Some were cutting down the aloes, ness of their farming operations ex- or "century plant," from the heart cites surprize. In southern India an of which they dug out a coarse pith average farm would be something for food. Others were plucking the like three or four acres. A part of fruit of the prickly pear. I visited a this is rice land, upon which the crop village of Indian Christians where the is raised by some artificial scheme of people for several months had been irrigation. The remainder is used for living upon the coarse chips of a palm- what is called "dry cultivation," and tree. These were ground into a pulp, on this some form of pulse is sown. made into a porridge, and eaten with- When harvest time comes no heavy out salt, sugar or milk. One may machinery is dragged in to do the well ask, what are the causes for harvesting, for the rice is gathered this great poverty?
by the handful, and frequently, in 1. The Failure of Water-Supply.
order to save each individual head Yet there falls upon the surface of of grain, the harvester goes forth India about fifty-one billion hun- into his field of pulse and reaps it dred-weight of rain-water annually.
head by head with a sickle no larger India has been denuded of its forests than an ordinary jack-knife! More . from time immemorial. So the flood- than one-half of the entire population rains waste themselves in a mad rush live in this condition of poverty or to the sea. The English ruler has worse. been making an effort to save An ordinary farmer's complete this copious rainfall and utilize it for set of farm implements would in- crop-ralsmg. Probably some of the clude a crudely made stick-plow, a finest irrigation schemes in the world hoe, a large skin or iron bucket, with are to be found in India. By means wheel and rope attachment, to be used of river irrigating channels, ending for drawing water fr~m the well to in a series of artificial lakes, an acre- irrigate his crops, and a few head of age equal to England, Scotland and very lean oxen for draft purposes. Wales has been brought' under these The product of his toil is so meager government irrigation schemes. One
of the great problems now before the In that ancient land modern commer- rulers in that land is how to conserve cialism in any large sense is more of this ;vast but unutilized unknown, and every form of the in- rainfall. dustrial arts is in its infancy. The 2. The religion of the land is material for the manufacture of another of the influences operating glass and enamel ware, glazed pot- to keep the people in poverty. It tery, and buttons lies unused every teaches a restraint of all passion and where, while these articles are im- emotion. It quenches ambition and ported from Austria and Germany.
emulation. The ideal held up to be Up-to-date water-lifts, oil-mills, saw- followed is for a man in meditation mills, looms, tanneries, paper-mills, to dream away his existence. Such steel rolling-mills, match and box a religiQn has produced a vast army factories, clock and watch factories, of more than four million able-bodied introduced into the country would so-called "holy men," who, scantily revolutionize economic conditions and clad in yellow, or perchance in sacred do much to mitigate famine if not ashes only, wander with begging-bowl entirely prevent it.
and staff throughout the land, always The industrial conditions of the consuming, never producing. Their land being in such a backward state, influence spreads paralysis in the missionaries saw the opportunity to economic conditions in India. train up an advanced body of self- Hinduism also encourages belief supporting Indian Christians. Many in fatalism. "Vhat is to be will be," missions have established industrial is an oft-quoted motto. Man can not schools. Through these they hoped change the difficult environ111ent, it to also stimulate the industrial arts must be endured. For these reasons of India.
creative and inventive genius is al- Mr. Churchill, formerly a student most entirely wanting among the of Oberlin College, now in charge of people. Furthermore, the caste sys- the American Board Industrial School, tem is fostered by Hinduism. Many at Ahmednaggur, has invented a hand of the more cultured and enlightened loom, by the use of which a native Indians are beginning to lift up their weaver is able to do in one day what voices condemning this cllstom. it formerly took him five days to do.
Caste is a socio-religious system in. The Government of India has now which the Brahman has no need to take~ up the matter of industrial edustruggle upward, for he was born cation and is establishing and encour- at the top, and therefore all others aging technical schools throughout must honor and serve him. The the empire and in many other ways Pariah must have no ambition to seeking to develop native industries rise, for he is bound ;)y the fate of along modern lines.
his birth to live out his existence in II. The Political Situation the social stratum into which he was The political situation in India is born. In these ways the religion of daily growing more acute. The India shuts out the hopeful spirit of British in India have done a splendid progress and development. work along many lines in raising the 3. Ignorance is another factor. people to a higher standard of civiliza-
AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN INDIA
tion. They have introduced trunk has been afforded them to show their lines of railways connecting the great integrity as rulers. The pity is that centers of population with the sea- so often the Indian hand of justice ports and, like a net-work, they have is replaced by the willing hand thrown out a system of splendid pub- reached out to receive the bribe. lic highways reaching to the remotest jungles. They have fostered and But in the last few years a new developed a thorough educational spirit of nationalism has been notice- system, with a curriculum perhaps able. Large numbers of Brahmans a little too English, but one that has have been educated 111 Western worked powerful changes in the thought and history. It was impos- thought condition of the people. sible for them as students to study More than 3,000,000 of the Indians the struggles of Western nations as are to-day able to speak the English they fought to establish liberty and language. Perhaps the two greatest constitutional forms of government blessings brought to India have been without themselves being mightily the strong central government and influenced toward patriotism and a the growing spirit of nationalism. In sense of nationalism. This spirit has the history of man nothing in the way manifested itself in the organization of alien rule has been so vast in its of a self-constituted "Indian Namagnitude or so difficult in the carry- tional Congress." This congress ing out as the attempt of our English has no authority in governmental cousins in India, and their splendid matters. The Brahmans who formed success challenges our highest admi- it intended it to be the medium for ration. In all India there is but a political agitation. Nationalism has handful of English to rule, and they also manifested itself in the revival have been training a complex people, of Hinduism. Hinduism is to be the made up of 43 different races and national religion of India. National nationalities, divided into 2,378 main schools and colleges are also being castes more or less antagonistic each organized in which it is intended to to the other, and holding a number give instruction in religion. of distinct religions. These are the people they have been fitting for The congress meets annually, and self-rule! uses its influences to press for a larger degree of self-rule. There This indeed is the avowed purpose. has grown up within the congress Mr. Morley, the Secretary of State two parties-the Extreme and the for India, said, in his recent speech Moderate. Members of the Extreme before Parliament, "I declare to you party appear to demand absolute I can not find what it is the agitators separation from the British crown. in India want 11S to do which we are Their battle-cry is: "Mother land." not anxious slowly and gradually to "India for the Indian." They desire make way for eventually doing." to drive the English into the sea and The fact is that even to-day the rule themselves. The members of greater part of the well-organized the Moderate party, on the other system of government is administered hand, recognize the great good by the Indians. Every opportunity England has done for India and de- clare that the. destiny of India is in-
tlissolubly linked with the destiny Hindu, who has been supposed to be of the English Empire. They are so docile, has been roused to violent agitating for a form of self-govern- and bitter animosity against foreign ment similar to Canada or Australia. rule. Under the influence of this agi- tation, seditious riots have broken This congress assembled last De- out in Bengal, North India, and, cember at Surat, in North India. most surprizing of all, in the South- Dignified Brahman delegates 1,000 ern Peninsula. At Tennevelly, a strong, wearing long silk and velvet month ago, a massacre of Europeans coats' and gold-banded turbans, as- was only averted by the timely arsembled from all over India. For- rival of a company of policemen with merly such a congress would have their European commander. In Benbeen impossible on account of differ- gal a bomb was thrown at the carriage ence of language, but now the English in which an English judge was suplanguage has become the common posed to be riding, and the two medium of deliberation. The Mod- English ladies who were the occupants erates were in the majority and wen. instantly killed. This violence elected a moderate president. But led to an investigation and a bomb the Extremists had come like a fla- factory was discovered. Where did ming torch not to be quenched. And these docile Hindus learn to make when the newly elected president, a bombs? In anarchistic schools in highly cultured and much-respected the slums of Paris! University-bred Brahman gentleman, arose to deliver young Indian gentlemen had been his presidential message, some mem- sent to France to study the latest ber of the Extreme party threw a methods of modern anarchism! In sandal at him. This was a signal for the Calcutta factory quantities of maa general riot, and the congress terial for the manufacturing of bombs tent was at once the scene of the was found, and following up the clue, wildest confusion as these delegates it was learned that the factory was the cast aside their dignity and for half center of an anarchistic organization an hour struggled together, using reaching out into many points sticks and chairs as weapons of war- throughout India. Other schemes for fare, and abusing each other in the destruction were found in outline. wildest fashion. The English super- Plots also for the killing of Lord intendent of police, with a company of Kitchener and Lord Minto and others. men, at last arrived and drove them all from the tent and the congress was What is the teaching of all this? broken up. Here we have a body of the most highly educated men of the empire, Tho the Extremists have been com- who should be using their knowledge paratively few in number, they have to build up the forces of their land, been exceedingly active. Failing to studying to introduce anarchism and get their extreme views endorsed by lawlessness! There can be no doubt the congress, they have resorted to but that the present method of eduvarious methods to impress India as cation has much to do with the situaa whole. Through the vernacular tion. The English Government is press they have sent out an alarming pledged to neutrality III religion. mass of seditious literature until the
Hence the students who pass through some form of religious instruction the government schools, are getting might be introduced into the schools. an education with no religious or Failing to obtain a favorable reply, moral instruction. Modern science a new movement has been set on foot, has been destroying their ancient faith whereby "National Schools" are beand India is threatened with a body ing organized by the Hindus, the of highly educated men who are funds for which come from private without the restraints of religion. individuals. The purpose is to make Such men become morally irresponsi- Vedantic Hinduism the national reble. My railway traveling companion ligion of India. was a Brahman B. A. educated in the Christian College in Madras. He vol- Now, concerning Hinduism as a unteered this testimony : "Young national religion, the Brahmo-Somamen who are educated in the non-re- jists have made a pronouncement. ligious government schools, come They say: "We do not see how it is forth atheists and are unreliable in possible for a religion such as Hincharacter. I am one of many who duism, divided as it is into so many see in mission education an extreme parts, to become the basis of a nagood to India. Christian education tional life. We can see how Chrisis working mighty changes in the tianity, or even Mohammecl m, character and life of the Hindu com- could become such!" munity, and the young men whom they educate come from the Christian Now up to the present the only College with faith in God and a satis- higher schools teaching religion in factory stability of character." India have been the mission schools. These have exerted a powerful in- Many of the English rulers in India fluence already throughout India. have observed the failure of a purely This kind of work needs strengthsecular education to develop charac- ening, for the time has gone by ter, but they are helpless to introduce when we need to think of the work any religious instruction; for what of foreign missions as that of gathershould it be? Hinduism? In its pan- ing a few "converts" here and there, theistic or demonistic form? Mo- important as that is. The time is hammedanism, Jainism, or Christian- upon us when we are seeing nations ity? Back of it all one must remember "born in a day." And the Christian that the English have pledged them- College in India is training up a body selves to absolute neutrality in matters of men who, with faith in God, shall of religion. So the government battle against anarchism and go forth schools can do nothing. in these times of awful stress just coming upon India to reform the The most patriotic among the Hin- nation, to calm the troubled seas of dus have seen the defect too. A large threatened anarchism and guide the body of Hindus recently appeared ship of state into the peaceful harbor before Lord Minto, petitioning that of prosperity and progress.
C/l.RNEGIE LIBRARY AND THE RE C1TATION HALL, PARK
PARK COLLEGE AND MISSIONS * BY CY RUS £lOVD BECKES Park College was founded in the people. The classes o f 1903, 1904 and year 1875 at Parkville, Mo., for the 1905 raised the number to seven each. purpose of g iving a distinctive Chris- The classes of 1901 and 1902 furc tian education to worthy and needy nished eight each. young men and women. The college gives a full classical course and is not An item worthy of special mention merely a missionary training school, is that the first class graduated in the but it is doing a distinctively Christian new and' greatest of all centuries, the work not only for the American home 1900 class, broke all records by sendand business life, but for the larger ing out ten men and women into the interest s of th e Church called missiom. home land. The total number of home-workers to the yea r 1903 is 85, Park College And Home Missions an average of three per class or of four per class for the twenty-one The college has graduated thirty classes sending out workers. Of classes, but in the figures for mis- course this number does not include sion work we omit the last three classes all, for many have gone in to the minso that seminarY' men and medical men istry and have worked in home mission may be counted. The last class men- churches of whom we have no rectioned in these facts is the class of ord. These counted are largely those 1905, twenty-seven in alL Everyone who have gone as teacher s in the home of these has sent out home mission- mission schools. a ries except six. The classes of 1888 and 1889 and 1899 each sent ont five To speak of individuals in the home .. Few colleges, i f any, are doing finer, more far ·reachi ng work fo r the ca use of Chri st than is that one in Missouri, insepa rably connected with the name of McAfee. See also Editorial.-EDITORS.
COLLEGE A:-.JD MISSI02'JS
field is a real pleasure to us. We love ancl asked. them to lay her dust upon to tell the story of some of these peo- the hilltop among her people. Now ple. Miss Anna Palmer, of the class for 18 years fathers and mothers and of r882, went to Utah to work in the youth gather at this grave and tell, mission schools. She saw the awful each other by word and signs and need of the real Gospel to the people tears of the life they loved so well. of Utah. The work grew upon her and she grew into the heart and life of But hear the story of one of our the people. They loved her for her men in the far North. John Myers, work and sympathy. She came home of the class of 1901, offered himself to visit her friends at Parkville and to the Home Board for Alaska. They vicinity. She told a touching story of sent him out, after his graduation from medical school, in 1904. He be- LABOR HALL) PARI< COLLEGEJ MISSOURI that people. While at home she heard gan his work at Ketchikan. He of the death of one of her associates, turned his hand to every task in line who, dying, requested to be bur- of mission work, as well as attend to ied there among her people. Upon everything in his profession. He soon hearing this, Miss Palmer said she had a good practise as a physician. loved her work and her people, but He notified the board to discontinue when she died she wanted to be buried his salary, that he would make his own with her family. Her visit over, living, but would do just as much she turned her face toward her moun- work in and for the mission as ever. tain work. After a few months on the Such a man has multiplied himself mountain slope, her frail body gave about three times. He is a strong way to the stress of a strong spirit. factor in the community. He counts In her sickness, she saw the anxious one in the mission, and he tells the faces of her loved people come and go. board to use his salary to hire another She called her associates to her side man. One of the secretaries of the and told them she could not live long, Home Board says that Dr. Myers is
one of "the biggest men in Alaska." Hartman Johnson, prepared them- Dr. Sheldon Jackson is supretne au- selves for the work and were commisthority upon affairs in Alaska. Dr. sioned to Korea. They sailed for the Jackson has been United States Gov- Orient, joyous over the outlook. They ernment Agent of Education for thought to embark on the ocean to Alaska for about a generation, and find a field of labor in the distant and says: "I find, as a rule, the teachers lonely Korea, but God meant it otherfrom Park College outrank any others wise. Mrs. J ohl1son was stricken with in the United States for the kind of malignant disease on shipboard. When work I wish done." the vessel reached Kobe, Japan, she was taken to shore and kindly cared Park College and Foreign Missions for in the home of missionaries until her death, January 13, 1903. Brave in Every class graduated from Park spirit but lonely and sick in heart, the College to the year of 1905 sent men youth set his face toward his chosen and women into the foreign work ex- field of labor. He made his way as cept five. There were five people com- far as Seoul, Korea, and after a few missioned for the foreign work from weeks took the smallpox and died, the class of 1892, and 1903 comes next March 17, 1903. But this paper is in order with six. The class of 1888 not to tell a single life story. sent out seven of its number. Dr. Eleanor Chesnut, whose name is now For some reason not yet apparent familiar to all the Church, was a to man, the class of 1901 also, just at member of the class of 1888. The the turning of the century, did a suwhole number of graduates in this preme thing to champion the cause of class was 23, seven of these were mis- foreign missions with the consecration sionaries for the foreign field and five of twelve men and women. This is for the home field, making 12 in the banner class of Park College in all, out of a class of 23. The class of its purpose to serve the Church in 19o0 offered nine of its members to the great field of missions. The class the work of giving of the Gospel to was the next to the largest ever gradthe world. Thirty-eight men and uated from Park, having forty.one women graduated in the 1900 class, members. Three classes sent out oneand 19 took up the work of missions, half of their number into mission or just one-half of the class. Shall work; they are the classes of 1888 we not just here give utterance to the and 1900 and the banner class of 19o1, hope and prayer that these facts may which sent out eight into the home be prophetic of the work of the entire field and commissioned twelve to the Church for this new and great cen- foreign field. This class, with its tury? The class of 1898 will have a forty-one graduates, in sending out place in the history of missions for twenty of its number lacked only one two reasons: The first is the signifi- of half of the class. The class of cance of members, as this class sent 1888 sent out more than one-half of out nine people. The second fact is its number, twelve out of twentythat two of this number lost their lives three. Including the year 1905, the before their work was begun in the college has sent eighty-five men and land of their destination. The Rev. women into the service of the Church Walter V. Johnson and his wife, Emily in the home land; and, including the
I<io8 ] PARK COLLEGE AND
same year, the college has educated member of the class of r885, and gradand trained and put before the Board uated from Princeton Seminary in of Foreign Missions eighty-three men 1888." He and his wife, Dora Martin and women for their work, making Taylor, '87, sailed from Laos that same a grand total of r68 missionaries. As year. For twenty years Dr. Taylor a whole, the classes sending out work- has labored in Lakawn and vicinity. ers have sent seven per class or six Tho nothing remarkable has discovper class for every year, including ered these workers to the world, yet I905. Besides the people going out their term of service and extent of every year into this line of work, Park good deeds highly commend them to College has the supreme satisfaction the entire Church. They have spent of knowing that there are in the field their second furlough in America.
ALUMNI BUILDING, PARK COLLEGE of conflict over one hundred men and Their last home visit was in 1904-05, women, true to teachings of the Bible, and as they turned their faces once in the very frontier of the Church's more to Laos, they left their two work at home and abroad proclaim- elder daughters, two precious treasing the unsearchable riches of the ures, in the home land. During these Gospel of Redemption. A recent twenty years Dr. Taylor has labored writer has said that one out of every in and bnilt up a strong church at sixteen missionaries under commis- Lakawn, of which he is pastor. He sion of the Presbyterian Church to seems to be one of the trusty men of the foreign field is a Park man or the board who can look after any kind woman. of work. He built his own residence, said to be the best in the compound, May we mention some of the in- but it cost the board less than many dividuals who have gone out among of the other houses. He.,carries on a this number? Rev. Hugh Taylor,
boys' school during part of the year. he went to Europe to study the educa- He also superintends the buildings tional systems of England, France and now in process of erection in the in- Germany. At the request of the Reterests of our Church in that vicinity. public of Bolivia, he made an exhaust- Besides all this, he finds time to make ive report of his investigation. Upon his return to Chile and the presenta- THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, PARK COLLEGE tion of his report, Dr. Browning was offered the directorate of the Educaitineraries to the outlying districts and tional Department of Bolivia, with a help direct the work of all helpers and salary far in excess of the one paid native pastors and workers. him by the board. He declined this very flattering offer of the Bolivian Rev. Webster E. Browning, Ph.D., Government and stayed at his post for of the class of 1892, took his seminary two reasons, and these he gives himcourse at San Anselmo and Princeton self: first, because his work was not seminaries. After three years' pastor- finished and he could not leave the al work, he secured a position as the work and lose what he had put into principal of the Instituto Angles of it during these years; and, second, be- Santiago, Chile. This institute has 'cause he felt that the board had no had a steady and rapid growth under one in sight who could take the work. Dr. Browning's administration, and Dr. Browning and the Instituto Anis at present almost self-sustaining. gles occupy a very important post It is one of the few higher educa- in the interests of the kingdom in tional institutions of that portion of South America. South America. Parents all over Chile recognize the value of the moral No Park College graduate of whom and religious atmosphere of the school, we have definite knowledge has ever and are taking their sons out of other gone out into a harder situation nor schools that give an equal education, labored more self-sacrificingly nor only that they may be trained by our courageously than Victoria E. McArschool and taught to have a proper thur in India. To think of India is appreciation of their moral an relig- to think of teeming miIlions, a motley ious duties. Dr. Browning returned horde of idolaters and heathen; to to the United States in 1903 for a year think of famine raging like a forest of rest and study. During this time fire, driving multitudes of helpless creatures before its flames only to consume them in their extremity. It is to see famine sufferers, men and women skeletons walking about, to hear the awful cry of orphans, chil- dren and infants crying, crying, and no language but a cry. India, India, the land of child widows and the black plague. Victoria McArthur, a delicate young woman of the class of r894, went to India in 1897 as a med- ical missionary. She went to Kodoli.
COLLEGE AND MISSIONS
The last report at hand says that the the stress of such severe labor, the two churches of this station are with- plague of India is an ever-present out pastors. At this point Dr. Mc- source of anxiety. Now, it is not too Arthur took charge of dispensary and much to say that she literally gave her hospital. She at once began her work life to the people of India; entirely as physician and surgeon. Before i!l- broken in health, she returned to struments could be secured, she per- America about one year ago. She has THE NEW DORMITORY FOR WOMEN OF THE Pt.RK COLLEGE FAMILY A formed her surgical operations with a now partly regained her health, and is carpenter's saw. At times she treated telling a life story of India to the peoone hundred patients per day; about pleof America. eighty of these could be dismissed These facts speak for themselves. with a lotion for the itch; the remain- This year Park College sends out a ing twenty were hospital cases, more class of forty-four men and women or less serious. She has a two years' just as good, and we hope just as record that shows 44,000 people treat- noble, in purpose as any who have ed, or a daily average of 118. Besides gone out before.
/
CHRIST TO
BY SAMUEL E. STOKES, JUN [The following extracts are from an article ill The East and the yVest for April, 1908.] It may seem curious to some that rightly, I distributed what things I chose to enter upon the friar's I possest among the people who life when seeking a way to imitate needed them, and, after three days our Lord. It was because Jesus has spent alone in prayer, assumed the always seemed to me to be the per- friar's robe and the obligations of a feet friar. For the friar, as St. friar's life as I understood them. Francis conceived him, was one who Since then I have been trying, tho tried to conform his life in all particu- not very successfully, to live up to this lars to the life of Jesus. He was not ideal. a monk, dwelling apart from the world, but a brother of men, dwelling In the place where I distributed among them. He came "not to be my things and bound myself, work ministered to but to minister," as his had been going on for about sixty Master had done before him; hence years. During the last twenty years his life was one of service. He did there had been one or two conversions not necessarily bind himself with the at the most, and these had been from three vows in order to "mortify his the outcaste class. I have often heard flesh or to raise a wall of separation the neighborhood spoken of as "Gosbetween himself and the world, but pel hardened." The Gospel had been rather because marriage, wealth and preached for years in the mission independence were none of them schools and surrounding villages factors in the life of Him whom he without kindling love for Christ, so sought to follow. He strove to far as is known, in a single heart. attain to the devotion, love and During the days of my retreat, after humble self-abnegation of Jesus; the distribution of things mentioned and he aimed at an implicit obedi- above, a boy of very high caste deence to His commands. The result cided to come to Christ. He was was that he could glory in hardships what is called a Rajput. The word and rejoice when men despised him means "king's son," and the caste is and set him at naught, for he felt the proudest and, after the Brahmans, himself to be a partaker in the service the highest in India. For six months and cross of his Lord. He learned he lived in the midst of his people, to bless those who cursed and fearlessly asserting his intention to slandered him, to pray from his become a Christian. He endured heart for those who persecuted him, everv kind of insult and even blows to serve with humble joy the lowest for' his Master's sake, his father and vilest of men, for life was Christ swearing to shoot him if he should to him, and death was gain. The break his caste, and thus bring disleper, the plague-stricken, and heavy- grace upon his family. laden knew and loved him. The hardened heart of the sinner was At length matters came to a climax. touched by his meek and holy de- His life was in danger, and one winvotion. In short, at all times and ter night he and I were forced to upon all occasions the true friar escape from the place. The journey made it his aim to live Jesus and was one not soon to be forgotten. keep his memory fresh among men; We continued to walk all the night, hence his life was an ever-present and the next day, some time after sermon upon the love and life of noon, arrived in Simla, having cov- Christ. It was this ideal which ered over fifty miles of mountainaroused in me the longing to give up road -in the course of our march. The the world. next day we reached the plains, and I put the lad in a school where he was In August, 1906, if I remember able to continue his studies. He made splendid progress in every way, and
INTERPRETI?G CHRIST TO INDIA 6<]r
after several weeks, was baptized. look for the proper village. I slept Last summer he revisited his people for the night under a tree in a field, with me, and there during his stay and in the morning started across continued to witness fearlessly for his country, asking those whom I met Lord. I have known this lad both to tell me where the plague was as a Christian and Hindu, and can thought to be worst. At length I testify to the wonderful change which came to a village which seemed to has come over him since he accepted answer my requirements. In two Christ and took up his cross. The years nearly half the people had died. last four months have been particu- Most of those who remained were livlarly remarkable in this respect. He ing in huts outside the walls, fearing has come to have a deep feeling of to enter the gates of the place. N unh personal responsibility to God for the bers were lying sick and some were proper use of his life. One seldom dying every day. sees so much self-control and such earnest purpose in a lad of his years. I did not go directly to them, but spreading my blanket on the ground I have enlarged upon his case as beneath a banyan-tree, got out my he is the first and, so far as one can New Testament and began to read see, the best gift which God has yet to myself. It is almost always bet- ter to let people come to you than given us. to go to them. At last the headman At the end of October or begin- of the village and a number of others came over to ask what I ning of November the plague begins wanted and to inquire who I was. I to do its work, and goes on extend- told them that I was a bhagat (a pering its ravages until the heat of son who devotes his life to religious May again decreases its power. In exercises), and that I lived, as a the Punjab the mortality for the last rule, up in the mountains; but havfew years has been tremendous, and ing heard that so many were dying there are many towns and villages my heart had been filled with pity. where nearly half the population has I had come, therefore, desiring to been swept away. The Government serve them, and had brought with me has made every effort to check it, but certain drugs which might be able to without much success, for the people cure them. "Nevertheless," I exwill rarely cooperate with health plained, "God cures whom He wills; officers in their attempts to stamp it we can only test the medicines, and out. Their attitude is largely due then accept what He may give." to ignorance and to the feelings of suspicion which they almost uni- At first they seemed inclined to versally entertain toward foreigners. refuse my offer, but after some dis- In many sections of the country the cussion told me that they had no report has been spread, and believed, objection to my trying my drugs upon that the plague is caused by the Gov- the sick Chamars (one of the lowest ernment. This report, spread by castes of the Hindus), then if none certain agitators, has caused the of these were injured by the drugs people to look very suspiciously upon they would, perhaps, let me treat all attempts to relieve them and, in some of themselves. "And where will many cases, openly to refuse the as- you lodge?" they asked. I assured sistance offered by the Government. them that I was quite comfortable under the tree beneath which I was When things were thus last spring then sitting, and would lodge there it seemed that something might be if they had no objection. "And accomplished if I were to go into food?" they inquired. "God can· proone of the infected villages and there vide food," I replied. So they let try to help the people. So I took a me stay. blanket, a little water-vessel called a Iota, a few medicines, and my Greek Leaving my New Testament and New Testament, and started out to
blanket beneath the tree, I went into vVhen the people came to question the quarters of the low-castes to see me as I sat under the banyan-tree the sick, and after finding out their he was among them. Of all those condition, and when I had made who seemed to take a pleasure in friends with them, I started trying imposing upon me this man was to serve them. Toward evening one probably the worst. One eveningof the headmen came over to the it was the third day, I think-h~ Chamars' quarter and shouted for me called me to him as I was returning to come to him. I obeyed. When to my home beneath the tree. As I arrived at the place where he stood soon as I approached he began in his he looked contemptuously at me and customary way to order me about and ordered me to follow him. Wonder- sneer at me, watching me closely all ing what this change of manner coulll the while. I did what he bade me mean, I obeyed him. When we ar- in silence, and when he asked me rived at his booth a large number of some questions tried to answer as men assembled, and some began to humbly and gently as I thought laugh boisterously and others to Christ would have done. At last he sneer at me. This seemed verv ordered me sharply to go over to my strange, for Hindus are as a rul~ tree. I started to do so, but had most courteous. Some one called hardly gone ten paces when he overout, "Get him something to eat." took me, pulled off his turban, and Others replied :"No, let him eat with laying it on my feet, bowed almost the sweepers." At last, however, they to the ground before me, exclaiming brought a filthy old brass dish and, at the same time: "lfaharaj ," throwing it at my feet, ordered me which means "great king," and is to wash it at the pond near by. Much the title by which bhagats are compuzzled at this conduct, I took up monly addrest in northern India. the plate and in silence went to obey Then he walked over to the tree with them. When I had brought it back me, explaining the while how the they threw some stale food into it villagers had not believed that there and ordered me to eat. I did so, could be bhagats among the forwhile they stood about and stared at eigners, and how they had resolved me. After I had eaten and washed' to test me. "Now," he concluded, the dish, the headmen sat down to "I know that you are truly a bhagat smoke their pipes, reclining at ease of God, for you are gentle, and when upon cane chairs and upon bed3, men insult you, you do not become while I sat near them on the ground. angered. Moreover, you love every one, even the low-castes and the They kept this treatment up for children, and speak mildly to those about three days, during which time who torment you. Thus did Guru they seemed to enjoy nothing quite Nanak Dev and Raja Gopi Chand, so much as insulting me and ordering and by this sign all bhagats may be me about. Had not my aim been the known." imitation of Jesus, I should most certainly have left them and tried to This is the substance of what he find some place where they would said, and from that time the attitude treat me more politely. But the of the people became absolutely thought that He had been misunder- changed. One after another came stood, and set at naught and spat to make friends with me, and every upon, always held me back and filled evening when work in the fields was me with the desire to imitate His finished, men brought their hookas gentleness and patience. So I stayed (the Indian pipe) to my banyan-tree, and continued to work for the sick where we sat and talked for hours, while the children listened or played Chamars. about. Among the principal men of the They no longer gave me stale food place was one Daya Singh, a Sikh.
CHRIST TO
in battered vessels, but every old The above work was carried on lady in the place vied with her neigh- among illiterate farmers; I shaH bor in preparing good things for me. now give an instance to show how Vherever I went it was, "Salaam the educated classes are affected.
Baba (father), will you have some Shortly before leaving India, while milk or buttermilk?" Or "Salaam stopping in Lahore, I learned that Maharaj, can I not cook something one of the college boys had been for you?" They called me in to visit stricken down with smallpox. The their sick, and obeyed all my direc- college authorities were at a loss to tions implicitly. On one occasion they know what to do for him, so I offered got me to undertake the treatment of to stay and nurse him. At first we a sick cow. were put in a separate wing of the One night there was an occurrence college, and orders were issued that which drew me even nearer to them. none of the students should visit us.
Some time after midnight I was Even this arrangement did not meet awakened by a Sikh who urged me to with the approval of the Govern- follow him at once. He conducted me ment Health Officer, and we were to a booth beside one of the gates removed to the segregation camp out- of the village where a group of peo- side the city, and lodged in a hut there ple were gathered together. One made of bamboo sticks covered with of them held a baby in his arms; the rushes.
child had been playing about some At first I arranged to have my hours previously, and, finding some food cooked by the people in charge opium had swallowed it. He was of the place, but I had not been there breathing painfully when I arriverl, two days before some of my Sikh and moaning with every breath. An friends-students in the coIIege- old white-haired grandfather held found me out. They insisted upon the child, and the mother knelt be- canceling the arrangement which I side it and kept trying to attract its had made for food, and during the attention by calling, "Ghulu, Ghulu, three weeks or more that I was de- speak to me. Don't you know me, tained there, brought me food morn- Ghulu ?" I shall never forget the ing and night from their own table.
note of strained anxiety in her voice The camp was more than a mile from -it was her first baby, and the only their college. In addition to this they little one in the family. We labored purchased mattings to make me more for a long while-hours it seemed- comfortable, and to fit upa vacant doing whatever we could for it, but hut where we might sit and chat.
as the poison had been working for They rarely came alone, often several hours before anyone sus- bringing as many as six or eight pected that the child had taken it, friends with them, and in time it be- we were unable to overcome its came the custom for quite a number effects. Suddenly the baby gave a to drop in after supper to sit and talk.
cry, his head dropt back, his body There were no religious meetings, as relaxed, and almost before we re- I had made it a rule never to talk of alized It he was gone. The whole Christ unless questioned about Him.
affair completely upset me. I do not We talked on the subjects which inter- believe anything can be more pitiful ested us most, yet hardly a night to witness than a sturdy baby-boy passed when the Master did not have fighting a losing battle against poison, a place-often a large place-in the with his mother looking on. I did not conversation.
think of the others at the time, but One needs but to know these later I learned that they were very educated young Indians intimately much touched by my grief. This ill- in order to love them. Few for- cident made them feel that I was not eigners have ever come to know them merely serving them to win "merit," thus; they therefore find it difficult but that I really loved them. to love them as they would their
own countrym~n. The friar has and the ideal set before men by Christ, more opportumty of getting into are in all main points identical, hence close touch with· the Indians than do the friar's greatest privilege is so to other Europeans, as he is more easy live Christ before men that the people to approach, and does not stand in of India, seeing that beauty of this the position of superior to those with life, may become convinced that spiri- whom he comes in contact. More- tual perfection is a possibility to the over, his mode of living is strictly in Christians if to no one else. When accord with their ideas of what is they have realized this, we shall not proper for a man devoted to the need to implore them to come to the service of God; while all other forms Master. of work have so much that is West- ern about them that they are apt to I have occasionally met with op- arouse the prejudices of the people position and often with ridicule. It -especially at a time when all non- would have been strange had this not Indian things are looked upon with been so; and one of the greatest fields such disfavor. I have only been liv- of opportunity would have been lack- ing this life for about a year and a ing for the display of forbearance and half, yet I can bear witness to the patient love. There is nothing which so great change it has wrought in my kindles the admiration of the thought- relations with the people. Formerly ful Indian as that love which "suffer- I could see the faults of the Indians eth long and is kind." Patient hu- and a few of their virtues; now I mility in the face of domineering know more of their faults, to be sure, arrogance will secure a hearing in but I have had an opportunity to see India where everything else fails; the good in them in a manner which and the friar by strictly obeying the would probably have been impossible Master's directions in Matt. v. 39-44, had I ndt become a friar. The result can make all opposition work together "is that I am thankful for the privilege for the glory of God. of serving them, and number some of my best and most intimate friends Mr Stokes is now .in America among them. hoping to return to India with other young men who have similar ideals The Indian has an ideal, and it is a of Christlike service. They will work very high one. To be sure it differs under the Bishop of Lahore, who is from our own, just as the Oriental in thorough sympathy with the pur- temperament differs from our tem- pose and plans of the "Brotherhood perament. Yet altho they have a of the Imitation of Jesus," as it is lofty and noble ideal, there are very called. The statement of their aims few who even try to live up to it. is in brief as follows:* The reason for this is that they do not consider it possible of attainment, The Spheres of Service (I) To Glorify hence they draw a clear line between God in Jesus Christ by becoming the ser- what they ought to do and what vant of all who are affiicted-especially they can do. In India, therefore, our those stricken with plague, cholera, small- mission is not to present to the pox, and leprosy-living in segregation people an ideal, but to convince them camps, etc. that they can attain to their own ideal, and that the way to do this is (2) It shall enter on the educational Christ. There is no country in the work for the young-as unsalaried professworld where there is such a deep re- ors in institutions requiring aid. alization of the superiority of the spiritual over the material, and when (3) This Brotherhood shall give true and India once becomes convinced that catholic obedience to Anglican Bishops; it spiritual perfection is within the shall not look upon its work as supplantreach of every man, it will astonish ing that of other missions. the world. The ideal of the East, • See full statement in The Mission Field, Lon· don, for August, ~908.
CHRISTIANIZATION OF JAPAN*
BY DR. INAZO NITOBE Over the still small voice working serve their Lord and Master by minis- wonders in our midst are heard two tering to the needs of their country.
loud cries, "Christ for Japan" and A Christian and a patriot are not "Japan for Christ." The Christiani- irreconcilable in one person. Neither zation of Japan and the Japanization the State nor the nation is, as an- of Christianity are the shibboleths of archists claim, the handiwork of the the two parties equally interested in Evil One. Human aggregations, es- the spread of Christianity and the rise pecially those bound by moral ties, of Japan, but unequally convinced of are divine institutions destined to the precedency of the Church and the work out the Divine will.
State, a religion and a nationality. Christendom–the prospective an- Around the banner–Japan for swer to the prayer "Thy kingdom Christ–rally those to whom Christian- come"–the highest conceivable eth- ity is–at least theoretically–all in ical aggregation, can, I believe, be all; to whom there is nothing worthy realized by men trained by lower of considering by its side, who would forms of aggregation, by those who erase all national barriers, for whom in the family have felt a father's love, the kingdom of God, as yet but dimly or in a village tasted something of surmised, is the objective point aimed communion of kindred minds, or in at. The other side, with whom the national affairs known impulses reach- war cry is "Christ for Japan," consists ing out toward millions of their fel- of those at the end of whose mental low men.
vista stands the glory of the Island In the present stage of the moral Realm. development of mankind, the political The view-points of the two parties institution of the nation is the highest differ on the fundamental conception form attained. Any scheme that as to the relative importance of the transcends national ideals and inter- abstract and the concrete, the principle ests can be realized, not by destroying and the practise. the ultimate and the but by enlarging them.
immediate. Look at the very ones who maintain It is easy to see which party has that Christianity, being an universal the broader outlook, and if breadth is religion,. ought to be embraced by the criterion of superiority, it is easy Japan. Where is the proof that to see which will win the palm. The the God of Christians is no respecter advocates of the Christianiz;;ttion of of persons or races? What evidence Japan have certainly all the theoreti- can you educe of the superiority of cal advantages which promise final Christian faith. to other systems of triumph. The religion of Jesus has teachings? Those who glibly talk by no means exhausted its resources of bringing Japan prostrate at the foot or its energy. Even were it wiped of Jesus, even at the expense of her out by some diabolical fiat, inertia national traits and cherished ideals, alone would carryon its work for are almost entirely foreigners, who some centuries to come. The question naturally do not share ot1r enthusiasm, for Christian believers in Japan is not and whose chief argument for the whether they should pay tribute to universality of Christianity is that it is th" State and not, to the Church, not the religion of their own people; or, in whether they should serve the earthly other words, they are usually those more than the spiritual master–but whose belief is based on a patriotic whether they can not contribute in bias.
mites or talents to the celestial treasury Thus does the Christianity which is through the fiscus of the Mikado, or presented to the Japanese as a univer- "* From The Japan Evangelist.
sal religion impress them as strongly the only successful method of converttinged with the earthy characteristics ing a new people. "The fields are of other nationalities quite alien to white unto harvest." But some fields our best instincts! Is it too much to are best reaped by a steam-harvester, say that present Christianity is a others by a scythe, still others by a national product? We can perhaps sickle. An intelligent agriculturist better liken it to the garments we studies the size, nature and configurawear. The wool may be plied a tion of each field and chooses the tool natural product, but the cut of the suitable for it. For a wise choice, he coat, etc., varies with each fashion of must even study the weather and the the day. market. The implement and the farm must complement each other. The missionary methods for Japan He is only a one-sided farmer who exmust, therefore, be quite different claims, "The implement for the field," from those pursued among peoples or "The field for the implement," and tribes who had not yet attained to and sticks to the use of an old tool a national aggregation. Paul's mis- for all kinds of work and ground.. sionary versatility and tact in becoming a Jew to the Hebrews, a Greek The final solution of missionary to the Hellenese-his versatile adapt- methods for Japan will be somewhere ability to the varying conditions and between the two extremes-to win circumstances of his surroundings-is Japan at all costs, and to keep Japan.
THE YOUNG MAN OF THE NEW FAR EAST * BY HaN. YUN CHI HO, M.A., OF KOREA I. The Young Man of the Old Far things, we must be aIel men first to do East.-The Old East produced splen- anything worth having, anel that did young men twenty or twenty- therefore we must devote our time and talents in the making of old men, three centuries ago. They invented from generation to generation. Our machines and letters; they discovered fathers forgot, in their efforts to get and systematized the principles and old, that the sages, scholars and laws of art, of science, of politics, philosophers were not aIel men but of war, philosophy and of religion. young men in their days and genera- These great young men did their tions. work well; some of them so well that their memories are still young. Starting from this misconception, Since then, we have had no young our fathers of the Old East transmen, properly speaking. Instead of formed the world they lived in into a taking up the magnificent works of manufactory of aIel men; hence the the ancient young men anel carrying inertia, hence the stagnation, hence them forward by fresh inventions, the retrogression of our beloved East. fresh discoveries and constant im- The watchword of the Old East was provements, our fathers, during the "Backward, Ho!" The life of the past twenty or more centuries, fell into young man of the Old East was the habit of thinking that, because divided into two halves, the first half such and such sages or scholars or devoted to learning from his great philosophers hael lived so many grandfathers how to think old, act hundred years ago, they must be olel-in other words, all the gruesome all old men bv this time; that since mysteries of how to be old. The the old mel). diel so many wonelerful second half was devoted to bringing * Address at the World's Student Christian Federation. Reprinted from The Japan E'vungeiist.
YOUNG MAN OF THE NEW FAR EAST
up his children in the way they long as we have the attributes of a should go-that is, backward to the young man-and no longer.
dead past. 3· What is the wor!? orfejtuhviesnaytoiu0n1e~r If a little creature like the coral mall!,-It is even the polyps, by building on its dead shells, nay, the resurrection, nay, the re- can in time produce islands on which generation of the East. Now then- trees grow, flowers bloom, birds sing the question of all questions: how and the weary traveler finds rest, is this tremendous work to be done?
what must have been the grandeur The other day Count Okuma, in of our achievements had the youn~ addressing the Chinese students who man of the Old East made the represent 400 millions of the East, centuries of the past tI-ie stepping- said that the only possible and stones to rise upon and not the grave efficient basis or means for the union to be buried in. of East and Vest is the love as 2. The Young Man of the New Far taught by Christ .and the benevolence East.-But the New East has come to as inculcated by Confucius. A re- stay. In the eloquent words of a markable statement this. Count Japanese statesman: "Commodore Okuma is a non-religionist; yet he Perry rudely disturbed the peaceful did not say that the East is to be lifted dream of centuries." (May I say into a l~igher civilization through here that our brothers of Japan atheism or materialism. He is the slept lighter than most of us, thanks founder of a great university; but to the feudal system.) The eyes of he did not say that China could be the young man, still heavy with the saved by education alone. He is a sleep of centuries, are dazzled by the statesman; yet he did not say that new marching orders written by the the world could be bettered by politics hand of the Almighty, in burning or diplomacy. He is the Samurai of letters of fire, around the globe. Samurais; but he did not say that "Awake, thou that sleepest!" to us armies and navies could bring to pass who have too long been asleep. the realization of the dream of phi- "Let the dead burv their dead!" to losophers-the universal peace. He us who have too long let the dead says that happiness of the two worlds past bury the living present. "De depends on the love as taught by fruitful-replenish the earth and sub- Christ, and on the benevolence as due it: and have dominion over the taught by Confucius. But in the fish of the sea and over the fowl of higher and nobler language of the the air, and over every living thing Dible, we are more clearly taught that moveth upon the earth!" to us the means of regenerating the East: who have too long worshiped and "Not by might nor by power, but by served the creature more than the my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."
Creator. This is the message which Finally, my fellow citizens of the Christianity has brought to the Young ~ew East-the citizens of no mean Man of the New East. Now who is city-in no spirit of bombast but this young man? It is you: it is I. with all due humiliation, I say: Where does he live? Wherever you "Fortv centuries look down on us." or I live, be it China or India or C1oud~ of witnesses are watching us.
Japan, Korea or Siam. How old is In the face of such responsibility who he ? Well, this is rather a delicate is there that does not cry out with question to be asked in a crowd, but Paul, the young man of Tarsus, don't be uneasy. We need run no "Who is sufficient for these things?"
risk of telling an unpleasant truth. In the words of Dr. Neesima, one The fact of the business is that you of the noblest sons of the New East: and I are and shall be young men as "Let us advance on our knees."
EDITORIALS THE WITNESS OF UNITY ing shame at past unfruitfulness and uncharity, and evoking longings of Few questions surpass in impor~ catholic affection for believing brethtance this: What was the unity for ren, and yearnings for human salva'- which our Lord prayedl It would tion, and leading to a passionate and seem to be a sort of climacteric result universal effort to save men. All of the whole working of the suffer- this is true, but it is not all the truth. ing Savior and the sanctifying Spirit, since upon its manifestation It is remarkable that the unity for depends the final triumph of faith in which our Lord prayed is no mere an unbelieving world. Twice, and visible drawing together of disciples, at the critical points in this inter- however real and genuine, but a cessory prayer, this effect of unity unity dependent upon another and is brought into prominence. "That higher unity 'with the Father and the they all may be one. . . . that the Son-a bond of perfectness, first of world may believe that Thou sentest all knitting all believers into holy· me," (21); and again: "That they union with God, and then manifesting may be made perfect in one; and that itself in the closer fellowship with all the world may know that Thou hast God's children. This is, as we believe, sent me, and hast loved them as vital to any true understanding of Thou hast loved me." Such repe- this unity. There is a merely formal tition can neither be accidental nor and mechanical unity of ecclesiastical unintentional; it is manifestly pur- machinery, such as we see to-day in poseful and of the foremost conse- both the Eastern and the Western quence. Somehow the ultimate churches, but which, instead of conknowledge and belief, conviction and vincing those outside of the Church, faith, of the world as to the charac- of the divinity of Christ and His ter and mission of the Lord Jesus claims, rather breeds formalism and hang on unity among His disciples; skepticism. In fact, denominations and hence it can not be even a second- often come together and form ecary matter to find out just what that clesiastical unions, not so much beunity is. cause of any advance in love, but rather of a decline in faith. As or- It is generally taken for granted thodoxy gives way to looseness of that it means a closer fellowship creed landmarks are naturally reamong disciples, a living and loving moved, which were once the signs and oneness, in spite of minor differences expressions of difference in important, which naturally alienate and sepa- if not fundamental, beliefs. rate believers, if unduly magnified. The current impression is that what Our Lord definitely characterizes our Lord prayed for was a practical the unity for which He prays as first brotherhood and brotherliness which of all based upon a closer union with would eliminate sectarian selfishness God: "That they all may be one as and carnality with the apathy and Thou Father art in me and I in Thee, lethargy that eat out the very vitals that they may be one in us. . . . I in of Christianity, and leave only an them and Thou in me, that they may empty shell of ecclesiastical organiza- be made perfect in one." Nothing tion without the life and power of a is plainer than that such unity as our vital organism. It is said that if the Lord desired and such as is to be Church would overawe the world, effective in compelling a world to the truth must be held in love, and in believe, is absolutely impossible withall parts alike of the Christian terri- out first the holiest unity with God. tory it must melt down differences So long as the Church is carnal, worldly, selfish, careless of doctrine and quench heartburnings, awaken- and still more heedless of practise,
EDITORIAL
there may be an outward external SECRETS OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE and visible union, with absence of sectarian controversy, and yet no Rev. J. Stuart Holden, of London, faith-compelling power. But when individual disciples so nourish and whose illuminating addresses at the cherish their holiest relations with Northfield conferences proved so God that they are drawn together by suggestive and helpful, remarking on the very fact of such oneness with Luke xvii: 28-33, gave many a new Him, in such unity there will be insight into the meaning of this teach- power-a divine power. There is, ing of our Lord. in nature, a unity of mere cohesioll- often very strong; but when to that is Which of you, intending to build a added the pervasive power of some tower, sitteth not down first and countmighty force like electricity, such unity eth the cost, whether he have sufficient acquires a dynamic force. It is because to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath of a supreme conviction that this unity laid the foundation, and is not able to is what our Lord prayed for that we finish it, all that behold it begin to are compelled to distrust some mod- mock him, Saying, This man began to ern movements, as confederacies, build, and was not able to finish. born of inferior and perhaps carnal motives, such as numerical increase. Or what king, going to make war The one thing needful is to cultivate against another king, sitteth not down holiness,. to get out of the way all first, and consulteth, whether he be able hindrances to our fellowship with with ten thousand to meet him that God, and from that high vantage- cometh against him with twenty thouground make possible and real a new sand? Or else, while the other is yet a understanding of our relations to great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, fellow disciples. It has often been re- and desireth conditions of peace. marked as by the late Dr. Charles Hodge, that however Christians may So likewise, whosoever he be of you differ in this logical controversy, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he they always, on their knees, pray in can not be my disciple. the same language and dialect. And the converse is true: that those who He observed that the word "likemost learn that we are all one be- wise," in verse 33, links on the fore the cross and the throne of grace, maxim concerning "forsaking all" are also more prepared for practical to the previous illustrations, and cooperation in the work of God. We shows that in all our building and believe that in the mission field the fighting we are to renounce our selfvery unity of our Lord's prayer has dependence and confidence. been more nearly realized than elsewhere and for this very reason; that, This thoughtful exposition opens as a class, our mission force repre- up before us a wide territory of apsents the most Godlike of the plication. All life's activities may be Church's whole membership. They included under two heads: work and have learned most of God and lived warfare-the constructive work of in closest relations to Him; hence the building character and usefulness; closer bonds among them as brethren. and the destructive war against the We know of but one church in the world, the flesh and the devil. One of world that, for more than seventy-five our greatest lessons in discipleship is years, has been composed of all that both the work and the war are Protestant Christian denominations, primarily the Lord's. We are incomand never yet had a break of harmony petent to build whatever is good and -and that church is on a prominent permanent, or to make successful mission field. war against adversaries so many and so mighty, our only hope for success is utterly to renounce all other de- pendence but God. This is counting the cost. We must understand and acknowledge our own bankruptcy and incompetency and take refuge in infinite riches and sufficiency. The work is first of all God's work, and ours, because it is His, and we are
His. We are to forsake all our own lessons of Old Testament times.
plans and fall into His, and studv (See 1 Chron. xvii: 1-12.) His time and 'Way of doing even what we already know to be His will THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION OF for us. TRACTS So of the war: It is His, and we It is many years now since the late are enlisted under His banner, and Rev. Vm. l1~rlev are to follow the Captain of our sal- mous address at tPhuensahnonin~eirnsahriys favation-His must be the strategy, of the weapons, the strength, the victory. In a grand sense we do not need to the London Religious Tract Society, fight, but stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. For as the work traced a few of the footprints of the of building, so the battle is not ours but God's. great tract writers and distributors such as Peter Valdo, of Lyons, th~ This is not a distinction without a difference. The men and women merchant of the twelfth century, who who have wrought and fought most grandly and effectively have been had the four Gospels translated and made them accessible to lay readers in the Piedr~lOntese and Vanctois Vall~ys, and carned cargoes of tracts among them; and the outcome of whose work those who have forsaken all that they was the Waldensian Martyr Church, had, in the way of wisdom, strength, which has held fast to the truth, power, and self-resource, and have through thirty-five persecutions, detaken every step, and dealt every fying the spear of Savoy and the fagot blow, in the confidence and conscious- of Rome.
ness of alliaJlce with the Infinite John de Wyclif was also a grand God. It was this which characterized pioneer in tract writing and distrib- the Master, Himself, and constituted uting. One of his tracts, carried in the part of His sublime self-emptying. pocket of a Boheman nobleman, As He declared, "The Son can do through him found its way to John nothing of Himself," "The Father Huss, and brought him to know the which dwelleth in me He doeth the truth and die for it at Constance. Fa- works," and so he explicitly affirmed reI, the pioneer French reformer, first that even His words were God-given formed a tract society in Basle, to get words. May it not be that so much, hold of minds and hearts and con- both of our work and our warfare, sciences of men. Martin Luther, in fails of success, because, even ~hen more than one sense flung his ink- the motive is good the method is stand at the devil, for some of the worldly, carnal, self-suggested? And lesser products of his pen stirred all how little do we, in prayer, first of Germany. The preface he wrote to his all acknowledge God and seek I-lis Commentary on Galatians found its direction in all our steps. David's de- way to John Bunyan, the tinker, and sire was to build a house for God- helped to make him the thinker he and it was well that it was in his was; and his preface to his Commen- heart. Moreover, God wanted a tary on Romans, arrested John Wes- house to be built, and Nathan the ley, while reading it in Aldersgate prophet gave his sanction, and bade Street, London, who, in turn, fifty David go forward, assuring him that years before tract societies were born, the Lord was with him. And yet was writing and distributing tracts.
David was not permitted to build the An old Puritan doctor wrote a little house-God's time and God's man book-"The Bruised Reed." This fell had not yet come-showing us that into Richard Baxter's hands, and he good people may devise a good plan was brought to Him who breaks not, and agree together upon it, and yet but binds up the bruised reed of a peni- fail to know God's mind! This we tent heart. Baxter's "Call to the Un- take to be one of the most significant converted" "called" Philip Doddridge to a deeper knowledge of Christ; teachers and the pursuits followed by Doddridge's "Rise and Progress of graduates. It is not to be denied Religion in the Soul," at a critical that as fine Christian service may floint in the history of William Wilber- be performed in other walks of life force, moved him to a new life. Then as in the ministry, for men and women Wilberforce wrote his "Practical Chris- can do their best work for God and tianity," and this fired the heart of humanity only in the sphere to which Leigh Richmond, whose "Dairyman's God calls them, whether it is in Daughter"-most conspicuousl}' blest preaching Christ or picking cotton. of all, has been translated into-no Too many, however, think only of self one knows how many-languages! in the choice of their life work and many instructors fail to teach high And who shall ever complete the ideals of unselfish service. story of this Apostolic Succession 1 or . when shall the last link in the golden Park College (see page 684) is an chain be forged! exception to this rule. We know of no college where high Christian ideals Books like "Foster's Essays," are more faithfully presented or Hawes' "Lectures to Young Men," where better results are obtained. Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress," The whole purpose of the founder, Dr. Waterbury's "Advice to a Young Dr. McAfee, was to offer young men Christian," Hodges' "Nay of Life," and young women of poor parents an and many others that might be men- opportunity to train for Christian life tioned, have shaped the character and and service. The Park College moulded the destiny of thousands, both family is a cooperative institution, so for time and eternity. A single muti- that the pupils learn to work for their lated volume, read and reread in the fellows as well as for themselves early history of Virginia, led to a pow- while still in college. The results erful revival of religion, the results of are seen in the characters of the grad- which are felt even to this clay. uates. While many may lack the suavity and polish of those who come A copy of the "Rise and Progress," from more expensive Eastern colleges, placed in the hands of a young man in we believe that there are no educa- Yale College, led to his conversion; tional institutions which can show a he afterward entered the ministry, and superior record, if any can equal it, from the families of his congregation in the percentage of graduates who fifteen young men entered the minis- devote themselves heart and mind and try; six persons became foreign mis- soul. to self-sacrificing service and sionaries; six, the wives of ministers; ,'ho show the evidences of true ster- and nearly eight hundred communi- ling character. cants were added to his church, whose combined influence for good only Over fifty per cent of the male eternity can reveal. graduates are in the ministry and ten per cent of the total have gone to the PARK COLLEGE GRADUATES foreign field.
Our Christian schools and colleges As the expense to each student is were originally founded for the pur- only about $60 a year, it is necespose of training young men for the sary and right that Christians who are ministry, but how far most of them stewards oCthe Lord's money should have departed from this ideal may be be called on to contribute to the exseen from the character of their cur- penses. It is a great investment for riculums, the number of non-Christian the kingdom of God.
MISSIONARY
JAPAN AND KOREA Recently the editor of the Yorozu Education versus Vice in Japan Choho, in upholding the Minister of A contrast between conditions in Education for forbidding an immoral America and in Japan is seen in the opera by the Tokyo School of fact that Governor Kawashima of Music, says: "In these days, when the Hokkaido permitted last year the moral degeneration of young people is open establishment of houses of ill- so remarkable, an)' attempt to check it fame in an immediate neighborhood can not be too strongly commended."
of the Middle School at the town Prayer of an Ainu Woman of Asahigawa. In spite of protests We frequently have Ainu prayerthe educational authorities in the Cen- meetings in our house, composed of tral Government paid no attention people from the "Rest Home." The whatever. prayers are very original at times and More than twenty houses of ill savor strongly of Ainu characteristics. reputation have already been set up, Here is one used by a woman a short and above two hundred women are time since: "Lord, make a basket of engaged in their shameful profession my body and a bag of my heart, and within less than a hundred yards of fill both full of Thyself. I was as the school. Already the moral life of filthy as a highly smelling, putrefied the students has begun to degenerate. fish but Thou has cleansed my heart The following letter from Asahi- and sweetened me. For this I praise gawa gives a lurid but true picture of Thee. We were worms and noxious things as they are in other garrison insects, but Thou hast been gracious posts as well. One difference is that to us and raised us up. Oh, help us the Christian forces of Asahigawa are serve Thee! And when we return to unusually able and ready to work, if our homes help us to tell of Thee to only they have the proper equipment. others. Amen."-C. lvI. S. Quarterly, "We want you to see the appalling A Christian Japanese Judge for Korea need of a Y. M. C. A. hall in this community. We are working and The appointment of Judge Noboru praying against the twenty-two new Watanabe to be the Chief of the brothels in the town. Practical Judicial Department in Korea is a praying would be the construction of matter of no small importance in the a worthy Association building. The history of Christian progress in the soldiers go where they find things East. No better man could have lively and that means for them the been found for such a position; and gates of hell. There is hardly a place whatever may have been the past where they can eat their lunch without history of that country, the people exposure to evil. of Korea may rest assured that under "Weare ready to do all we can. his administration there will be a The young men- are well organized wise and just administration of the and alive. One of them is one of the laws.
choice spirits of the land_ and of the For a number of years Judge world. The volunteer secretary, Mr. Watanabe was at the head of the Tanaka, was in Y. M. C. A. work in highest court in Yokohama. During Manchuria, a fine fellow. So we- have all that time both he and his wife a desperate need; efficient managers; were leaders in Christian and all other a great desire-everything but the Rood work. As the President of the money, and that lies in some one else's Yokohama Young Men's Christian pocket, if he only knew that the Lord Association he did much to popularize had need of it." and strengthen that institution. In an account of his conversion he The Conditions in Korea says: "As I look back upon my past life, I feel that I have been continually There are, no doubt, two sides to led of God, and I can not but wonder at His goodness and the marvelous way the question of the Japanese occupain which He has directed my steps." tion of Korea. Dr. J. Hunter Wells, Early in life he was instructed in the principles of the Chinese phi- a missionary of the Presbyterian losophy, and at the age of eighteen Church at Pyeng Yang, Korea, went to Tokyo and chanced to get writes of the general conditions as hold of a copy of Dr. Martin's "Evi- follows: dences of Christianity." For the first time he found out that God was not The general conditions here are most a mere abstraction but a real and per- satisfactory for successful mISSIOnary sonal being. work. The political conditions, quiet and improving fast, after a somewhat Ten years later he happened to troublous :nterval, are all that could be hear a Christian address on "Love," asked for the propagation of the Gosand was affected deeply by the thought pe. I attribute this largely to the of the greatness of the love of Christ. settled condition resulting from the J ap- It was not until 1897, however, that anese occupation. There are those who he accepted Christ as a personal criticize Japan on her work in Korea, but I do not see how anyone interested in Savior. the progress of the Gospel or in the ex- He at once made a public profes- tension of Christ's kingdom can do any- thing but thank Japan for helping along sion of his faith, and from that time the good work. It has been said, and he has gone steadily forward in the it doubtless has some influence, that dis- Christian life, and not as a hearer satisfaction with the political conditions only but as a doer of the Word. has led many to inquire into Christianity. There was, however, a wide-spread in- When congratulated by Bishop quiry and growth before the war, when Harris on his recent appointment, he political conditions were much worse replied that he was going to Korea, than they have been since. One specific not simply to interpret the law, but result is worth mentioning: Officials can that he might be a witness for Christ. now become Christians and still hold office, H. LOOMIS. Presbyterian News Items from Korea A Year'. Results at Chunju, Korea I. A new station at Chong Ju is in In the Presbyterian Mission the midst of a population of 1,200,000. It is the county seat of a county containing (South) in Korea, the report of the 900 villages. On market days 6,000 men year shows S new church buildings, gather; holidays, 12,000. Recently 8,000 8 new meeting-places, 13 churches leaflets were distributed in one day. There are 44 groups of Christians, 102 enlarged, SI3 adults and S4 infant baptized members, 260 catechumens. baptisms; 2,291 people were exam- The people contributed $408.63 gold. ined, leaving 1,778 on the waiting This equals 2,724 days' work, or eight list; 3.462 visits by 2,462 wome~ ~nd days' wages for each member and catechildren were made to the cllmcs; chumen. A new missionary in Korea writes: "I could not help being imprest 45 classes were held, and 7 home by the hunger for the Gospel which these missionaries were supported by the people show."
natives. To God be all the glory. 2. A Christian Korean traveling along a country road met a company of his 1905 1906 fellow countrymen who were hunting Japanese sympathizers. As he had his Meeting·places ..•…• 32 60 68 hair cut like the Japanese they arrested 386 him, insisting that he was a Japanese. Communicants ……. 106 198 797 He denied it, declaring that he was a Baptisms ……•….• 68 553 5'3 Christian Korean. "Have you a Bible, Catechumens……… 182 45 968 and a hymn-book?" He produced them. 64 "Repeat the Lord's Prayer." He did so. Church huildings.. . . . . 19 6,781 50 "The Ten Commandments and Apostles' Pupils in school…. .. . 64 155 Creed." "Sing the Doxology." The Patients treated…… No Dr. $1,150.00 3,462 Christian did all these, including singing "Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Professional visits…. . 54 Flow." He was released. Contributions …… $481.67 $1,685.29 REV. WM. M. JUNKIN.
3. The helper at the Fusan station on United States for a period of ten his return from an itinerating trip com- years. The Empress-Dowager favors plained of sore legs, due to the constant education after the boys are grounded squeezing of the dense congregations. in Confucianism. The Koreans sit at their worship. New groups are reported in nearly every coun- T~e Population of China try. A young missionary writes: ·'To hear 1,800 men sing, intelligently and rev- We talk glibly of 400,000,000 of erently, 'Jesus Shall Reign,' to the tune people in China without knowing I learned when a youngster on a Scotch what the figures mean. Let Mr. Rithillside, sent the blood coursing through son, secretary of the British and my veins. If ten men equipped with the Foreign Bible Society, help us to unlanguage arrived at once in Pyeng Yang derstand how great a fact they repthey could be immediately put to work, resent: "If all the Bibles, Testaments and more would be needed." and Portions ever published on earth were all in Chinese and all still in 4. Korea Mission has long desired to existence, they would be insufficient open a station in the far north. The to supply the inhabitants of China board has now authorized the mission to each with a book. Assuming that a proceed with plans at Kang Kei, as soon Gospel could be placed to-day in the as it can equip the station out of re- hands of every living person in China sources at its disposal, whether mission- at a cost of four cents a head, this aries or funds, and without injustice to alone would involve an expenditure any other station. of over sixteen millions of dollars." Such is the mass of human beings in Seven Korean Physicians Gre.duate the great empire of the Far East, whose future God has placed in the Rev. George Heber Jones writes hands of Christendom. in The Northwestern Christian Advocate that in June "a class of seven Can the Chinese Be Americanized? Korean physicians were graduated from the Severance Hospital Medi- In the Chinese Recorder for May, Rev. cal College. They are the first E. W. Thwing, after twenty years Koreans to graduate, and are all ear- work among them both in China and nest Christians. Addresses were de- in America, and seven years in charge livered by Yi Chai-kon, Minister of of the Chinese work in Hawaii, gives Education, and 1m Sun-chun, Min- to the above question a most emphaister of Home Affairs. The diplo- tic affirmative, saying in substance: mas were conferred by Prince Ito, "There is nothing in the nature and Japanese resident-general, who thus character of the Chinese, when treated showed an unmistakable mark of his kindly and fairly, to prevent their beinterest and sympathy. It was an oc- coming good and valuable American casion long to be remembered, and the citizens, possest of our ideas, ideals, Presbyterian Mission, to which the and ambitions, with a home and fam- Severance Hospital belongs, is to be ily life like ours. In Hawaii are ~ores congratulated on this event. The hos- of American-Chinese homes, where pital is the gift of a wise and far- the children all speak English, where sighted layman of the Presbyterian home-life is bright and beautiful, and is arranged on American lines. More Church." than 400 have all the rights and privi- leges of American citizenship." It CHINA AND TIBET seems then that the common idea, once a Chinaman always a Chinaman, is A Good Use f"r the Boxer Indemnity. false and pernicious; "a man's a man for a' that"; and the transforming China is planning such a good use force resides in kind and Christian of the ten or twelve million dollars treatment. which we returned from the Boxer indemnity that it makes us sorry the sum was not even larger. The Chinese Government means to spend the greater part of the money in paying the expenses of Chinese boys at American schools and colleges, sending 200 students annually to the
What Chinese Convert. 'Must Know gave her into the hands of the faith- The Methodists in China are re- ful deaconesses who are in charge of quiring the Chinese candidates for the work.
church-membership to know the The report shows how glad these catechism, Lord's Prayer, ten com- blind girls are to find a refuge, and mandments, general rules and the how willingly they receive Christian Twenty-five Articles of Faith by instruction and accept Christ.
heart; and to give the parables and Emancipation of the Women of China miracles of the Lord with explanation of attending circumstances, and When the history of China during also a general outline of the life of the first decade of the twentieth centhe Lord. tury comes to be written, Miss C. J.
Lambert, of the girls' boarding- Blind Women of China school, Foochow, says "the historian In the annual report of the Ger- will record nothing more marvelous man Mission to Blind Females in than the awakening of the women of China, we find touching stories of China." She writes: blind Chinese ~rls, small and large, At the beginning of the century eduwho found a home and Christian in- cation was the right of no Chinese struction in the home of the society woman and the privilege of few. With rare exceptions woman accepted as a which is located in Kanlun, oppo- matter of course her position as the drudge or the toy of man. "For a site Hongkong. Fifteen new pupils woman to be without ability is her virwere added during 1907 to the sev- tue," said the wise men, hugging to enty who remained in the home at themselves the treasures of learning.
the close of 1906. Among these new The twentieth century was ushered in pupils was little Shinlin, seven years with storm and bloodshed, and when of age. Her father brought her, his peace came, jUst where the storm had only child, and as he bade good-by raged most fiercely, woman was seen to her the tears were running down shaking off her shackles and reaching out her eager hands for the gifts so long his brown cheeks, for it was adieu denied her. This was marvelous, but probably for his life, since on the next day he and his wife intended to still more marvelous is the fact that remove to Singapore. Soon after father, husband, and brother are saying to-day, "Take the bandages from the feet of our women, and the veils from the Shinlin, little five-year-old Atoi was eyes of their understanding; let them be brought by her mother. A few clays our companions, let them be fitted to before, the mother, who, seemingly carry out their duties as wives and with great love ancl tenderness, car- mothers." So say the modern wise men of China; and tho all are not yet saying ried her little blind girl in her arms, this, it is because the new ideas have not had time to claim universal assent. had planned to drown her child. This ancient empire, which has so long "Vas she not blind, so that she faced the past, now faces a future bright would be a burden to herself, her with possibilities and yet beset with dan- mother, and all others all the clays gers, and no path is so full of perils as of her life? Was it not better to that upon which the "new woman" of China now seeks to set her emancipated throw the helpless little child into feet.-C. M. S. Gazette. .the water and thus save her from further suffering? While the mother The Dalai Lama still hesitated with the carrying out Lamaism is the religion of the of the plan which was dictated Asiatic Tartars, who worship the by heathen ignorance, but against grand Lama, a word which is Tibetan which her mother-love rebeIled, she for spiritual teacher, or Lord. Lama- heard of the German Home for Blind ism prevails in Tibet and Mongolia, Girls. Quickly she decided to avail and is Buddhism corrupted by Siva- herself of the opportunity of pro- ism and Shamanism (spirit worship).
viding for her blind girl, and with The Dalai Lama is simply the chief, tears of gratitude in her eyes she or Lama, and is worshiped as a
god, the interpreter of the traditions rections the country is peopled with and oracles. Tibetans. So while Tibet is not yet open to missionary effort, this station Something very odd has occurred will be in the heart of a Tibetan lately as to this Buddhistic head. population. Four years ago, when the British under Col. Younghusband were march- Batang has no post-office, no ing upon Lhasa, in Tibet, the Dalai native carriers, no banks, and no civ- Lama fled for refuge to China, where, ilization' except an attempt at a telewith a considerable train of retainers, graph. Missionaries must send for animals, etc., he has been ever since their mail, their money, their stores, entertained by the Chinese Govern- their medicine to Ta 01ien lu. ment. This has come to be so burdensome that the Lama was invited It is altogether likely that Tibet to a conference with the Chinese Em- will be open to travelers and missionperor in Peking, to be elaborately en- aries within a decade, or in less time. tertained, but as distinctly invited There is no room on the planet for with all the evasive ceremonies of a hermit nation. When Tibet is open, Oriental flattery and courtesy to re- other stations can be established in turn to Tibet. There is said to be no different parts of the country. But little apprehension that the distin- there will alwavs be a need of a welIguished guest may continue to con- equipped station at Batang.-The sider China as quite good enough for Missio1!Qry Intelligencer. him and refuse to take the hint. All of which is sure, in the end, to assist in INDIA opening Tibet still further to European influence and Christianity. Widow Marriages Increasing A Mission on .. the Roof of the World" We are glad to note, says the Indian Mirror, that the number of widow For several years the Foreign marriages is increasing every year. Christian Missionary Society has Following on the heels of one in high been at work on the borders of Tibet, life in Calcutta, there have been often called the "Roof of the World." lately three such marriages in dif- Dr. Susie Rijnhart, who was instru- ferent parts of the country. This is mental in starting that work, found a noteworthy record which should that she could not stand the rigorous cause the social reformer to take heart climate of that region. Soon after for the ultimate success of his work. her marriage to Mr. James Moyse she The agitation that has been kept up resigned and, with her husband, for years by the Social Conference moved to Chentu, in western China. has been successful, if only in im- Since then she has gone to her long pressing all classes of the Hindu home. About the time that Dr. Rijn- community with the necessity of hart resigned, James C. Ogden and widow marriage. It is, however, well wife, of Kentucky, joined Dr. and known that those who still take ex- Mrs. Shelton at Ta Chien lu. ception to it and offer sentimental objections have no widowed daugh- A year ago the mission decided to ters at home, and consequently have move closer to Tibet. Ta Chien Iu no means to judge their sad condition. is near!y 500 miles from the border. After a thorough examination of the A significant marriage between country, Batang was fixt upon as a high-caste Hindus is reported by a suitable place in which to open a sta- correspondent of the Sunday-School tion. This town is 467 miles, or 18 Chronicle: days' journey, west from Ta Chien lu and is almost on the border, and Very recently in Calcutta Babu Brojinon the great road connecting Lhasa dranath Kanjilal was married to the widand Peking. For 200 miles in all di- owed daughter of the Hon. Mr. Justice Ashuiosh Mukerji. This may appear a very commonplace item of news. From a Hindu viewpoint it is revolutionary. The bride was married at ten years of
I908 ] GENERAL MISSIONARY
uge and widowed after six months. Cus- by establishing scholarships to help tom commands that she shall wear sack- Indian Christian young men and cloth and ashes to the day of her death. women qualify themselves as educated Her father, an enlightened but orthodox physicians for their own people. The Hindu, has dared to help create a new Christian Patriot, a weekly Journal of custom, thus making it easier for other social and religious progress, pub- Hindus less influential than he to do the lished in Madras, rejoices in the erecsame sensible thing. The young l!ldy tion of this hospital, and calls attention was but thirteen years of age at the time to significant aspects of the gift. of her second marriage. In the first place the donor is a rep- A Hindu Version of the Good SaJllaritan resentative of that large and increas- ing number of Indian Christians now Our missionaries at Sukkur were rising into eminence in every departglad last year to obtain a new build- ment of national activity and industry. ing for the Hindu girls' school, and And so his gift indicates the worth of both teachers and children are pleased missionary effort for the evangelizawith their new house, which is situ- tion of the higher castes, and is in ated in the busiest part of the town. so far an answer to Bishop White- Every child has to learn Bible stories, head's contention that endeavors to and to repeat them in her own words, reach educated Hindus are largely so that she may be able to tell them wasted. It is impressive also to obto her relations' at home. He.e is one serve that the name which is given girl's version of the Good SaIT?aritan; to the hospital-Kalyani-indicates it may help some of us to reahze how that it is a memorial to the donor's the story appeals to the Indian mind. mother, as his earlier gift was a tribute "There was once a rich bania (mer- to his wife. This honoring of womanchant) going home through a forest. hood both in the name and the object He was suddenly attacked by robbers, of the gift is a striking witness to the who beat him and robbed him of all influence which Christianity has had his money, leaving him half dead. A upon Indian thought. To build a hos- Brahman~ passed by, and seeing the pital in a great city for the suffering man, said to himself, 'He is only a women and children of all castes and sweeper,' and went away. A Moha~n creeds certainly marks a new era in medan also came that way, but he said, the life of India.-Missiol1ary Herald. 'This man is no relation or friend of mine; why should I have any concern MOHAMMEDAN LANDS for him?' and so he went away. At last a Christian came, riding on horse- As the Consul Sees It back, and taking pity on the poor man bound up his wounds with strips of Thomas H. Morton, the United cloth torn from his own turban, and States Consul at Harput, Asiatic placing him on his horse took him ~o Turkey, writing to the Department of a hospital and, giving the doctor sahib Commerce and Labor on "The Outtwo rupees, said, 'Make this man well, look for American Trade in Harput," and when I return, you will get from closes with a signal tribute to the me twenty rupees more!' "-India's missionaries: T'Vomen and Chilla's Daughters. I have had occasion to revert to the Christianity's Boon to Womanhood work of the American missionaries and teachers settled in the district. In a A new hospital is being built in thousand ways they are raising the :1adras. It is for women and chil- standards of morality, of inteJligence, of dren, and is to be opened to all class~s education, of material well-being, and of and creeds of patients. Its name IS industrial enterprise. Directly or indi- Kalyani Hospital, and it is the gift of rectly, every phase of their work is rap- Dewan Bahadur N. Subrananya111', an idly paving the way for American com- Indian Christian, who has already merce. Special stress should be laid shown his generosity and patriotism upon the remarkable work of the physi- cians who are attached to the various stations. The number of these stations
is steadily growing; they now dot the movement in India, within the heart map of Asia Minor at Cesarea, Marso- of tb.is corrupt system, toward ref- van, Sivas, Adana, Aintab, Mardin, Har- ormation, with some notable converts put, Bitlis and Van. At most of these to Christianity, tho these are yet very points well-equipped hospitals are in act- few. But in the secluded homes a ive operation. The influence of the potent influence is at work. Moham- American practitioners stationed at the medan girls educated in Christian above points is almost incalculable. schools take back with them the seeds of truth. In Lucknow, Mohammedan Progressive Persia fathers ·attend the public exercises of the Methodist mission schools, and The Record of Christian Work listen with evident pride and interest gives an encouraging report of mis- to their daughters, who take part in sionary progress in Persia (before the program. The "purdah" life the recent disturbances). Fifteen will be difficult to enforce after such years ago the city of Ispahan with freedom of thought and action, and its 100,000 Mohammedan people, was the "new woman" may yet make her frantically hostile to everything that advent in India in exclusive Mohamhad the Christian taint. All mission- medan circles. ary effort was met with superstitious dread, intolerance and persecution. • Interest in Syria To-day, within 300 yards of one of the dispensaries forcibly closed by. the At Deir Mimas in Sidon field, opauthorities, stand two large hospitals posite one of the famous crusader containing ISO beds. When these castles of Syria, the capacity of the hospitals were being built, about three village church was taxed to the utyears ago, Mohammedans came for- most, last January. Rev. Geo. C. ward, some of whom had once. op- Doolittle, of the American Presbyposed the work, and subscnbed terian Mission, conducted a week of nearly £200 toward the cost of erec- evening services and, night after tion, and some of them subscribe an- night, benches were pushed farther nually for their maintenance. The back, mats brought in, chairs placed native doctors, who previously did all in the aisle, rear doors opened, till the harm they could to the work of four hundred people were listening to the medical missionaries, now ask plain talk about true and false Christhem to see cases in consultation. tianity, daily duties and remissness in Many of the Mohammedan religious the same. After each service, a comleaders have attended the Christian pany of men and boys-Protestants, services and listened quietly to the Greeks, Catholics-gathered about the message. While it can not be s!lici missionary, who late into the night that they are in any sense reachmg prest home the personal applicaout for the Gospel, it is a cause for tion on Sunday observance, family great rejoicing that prejudice is be- prayers, honesty in dealing, Bible ing so rapidly broken down and study, Christian forbearance.-Wombigotry expelled. an's vVork.
Christian Influence in Moslem Homes Mohammedanism has long been the EUROPE most obstinate of Oriental religious systems in antagonizing Christian A Pan-Christian Congresl missions. Tho its ethical results are debasing, because of no standard In the closing paragraph of the reof right livir.g above the lowest tend- view of the year, read at the annual encies of humanity, 'it can not be meeting of the Church Missionary classed as "heathen," since it has al- Society, the committee say: "Will ways been a hater and destroyer of future Pan-Anglican Congresses ever idols-and exalting only the "one be superseded by a Pan-Christian God." There is recently a noticeable Congress of the Universal Church? If this seems hopeless in the present
J GENERAL MISSIONARY I~TELLIGENCE
dispensation-tho things that are im- tion between charitable institutions, possible with men are possible with to make the experience gained by each God-the dispensation will not last common to all, and generally to pro- forever, and there is a Congress mote better working. The outcome that must come-'the Coming,' the should certainlv be-as in the case of Parousia, of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King's Hospital Fund-a vast and our 'gathering together unto saving of money.-Episcopal Re- Him.' Then indeed will the spiri- corder.
tual 'seed' be brought 'from the Worldly Hostility to Missions East' and 'gathered from the Vest'; then must the North 'give up' and Dr. Warneck, Professor of Mis- the South 'keep not back.' Then will sions at Halle, and the great German all 'middle walls of partition' be leader of the cause, with more knowl- broken down, and the Lord's prayer edge probably of missions than any 'that all may be one' shall be ful- one either in Germany or elsewhere, filled. Then will the Church Mission- has an article in his journal, Allge- ary Society and all its sister societies, meine lHissiolls Z eitschrift, in which sowers and reapers alike, 'rejoice to he shows the many dangers and gether.' It is for every member now hostilities encountered by missions to ask himself solemnly, as in the through the influence of godless presence of God, what am I doing to Europeans and Americans. Tho gather out the souls now that are to they owe everything almost to mis- be gathered together then?" sions in the opening up especially of Can Overlapping Be Avoided? savage regions, they have often a bit- ter feeling against them, while many In London, over iro,ooo,ooo a infidels exert themselves in the circu- year is subscribed to some 1,700 or lation of infidel literature. Such 1,800 charitable institutions-in addi- influences are openly manifest in tion to some £5,000,000 a year spent Japan, China, and India. The great bv the Poor Law authorities. There object is to show that Western prog- i; not the least doubt that an appal- ress and civilization are entirely lingly high percentage of these vast separate from Christianity. The charitable funds is more or less gross lives of many, anci the utter wasted or misapplied. Each institu- worldliness of others, tend to hinder tion, as a rule, works in isolation, and undo missionary work. It is spends its income without any regard very sad that men from Christian to its neighbors, and guides its policy countries should become often the solely with a view to its own affairs. greatest enemies of Christianity.
Overlapping is the inevitable conse- Every possible effort should be made quence, along with other obvious to Christianize the white populations forms of waste. The strong feeling scattered among the heathen.-Mis- that these charitable funds might be sion World.
far more effectively used for good has Picture Postals as MisJionllry Helpers led to the inauguration of a most im- portant new organization-the Asso- The Leipsic Society has done itself ciation of Subscribers to Charities. credit, and performed a valuable serv- Lord Avebury, Lord Rothschild and ice to its patrons, and to the friends many other financial and philanthropic of missions everywhere, by publish- magnates have interested themselves ing four packages of picture postal- in the association; Mr. John Burns, as cards which present vividly to the President of the Local Government eve a multitude of facts connected Board, has given it his blessing; and ,;ith its work both in India and it was launched at a Mansion House Africa; such as natural scenery, tem- meeting on Friday. The idea is to ples and dwellings, individual faces promote the fullest possible coopera- and groups of people, etc. The cost
is merely nominal, being only a mark force consisted of IO ordained mission- for each package of a dozen cards. aries, 8 teachers, I deaconess, and 48 native helpers, while 155 heathen were German Universities IUld Missions publicly baptized. In Rhodesia 2 or- dained missionaries and 1 lay worker How much German science thinks labored. In Southern India 8 orof the missionary enterprise becomes dained and 2 lay missionaries, 4 teachclear to the reader of the programs of ers, and 107 native workers were lectures to be delivered in the different laboring upon 5 central and 3 by-sta- German universities during the sum- tions, with 86 preaching-places. In mer of this year. In Berlin, Professor 38 schools 1,741 pupils received in- Kaweran treats the history of evan- struction. Only 12 heathen were bapgelical missions among the heathen. tized in 1907. The income of the so- In Greifswald, Licentiate Uckelsy in- ciety, for heathen missions and from vites to a course of lectures on the history of missions, in which the heathen all sources, was $65,085 in 1907. The religions will be especially considered. work, according to the reports of the In Konigsberg, Professor Lezius missionaries, is in a most promising speaks on the history of missions in condition. Africa and America, while in Marburg Professor Mirbt takes for his Is Protestantism a Failure in Ital)'? subject the history of missions in German colonies. Professor Hashagen, in The Catholic Universe having pub- Rostock, promises to teach his hearers the elements of the history of missions, lished the assertion that "Protestant and Professor Haussleiter, the newly elected professor (ordinarius) of mis- proselytism has failed ludicrously in sions in the great university t)f Halle, announces two subjects, namely, Italy," the editor of the Christian Ad- "Missions and Civilization in German Southwest Africa," and "The Mission- vocate wrote for the facts in the case ary Enterprise a Necessary Expression of Life in the Christian Commu- to the Rev. Alfredo nToateglinaolwatigtra~vealn nity." Italian Protestant of Another proof of the respect which ing in this c0l!ntry, who in reply, is paid to the work.of Protestant Missions by German universities is the among other thmgs, asks the followgiving of the theological doctor's degree (in Germany) a great honor, to ing pertinent questions: the well-known missiOl~ary writer Pastor Julius Richter. "If that statement is true, why did Swedish Church Missionary Society ~eo XIII in the last years of his pon- The Swedish Church Missionary tificate lament so much and so bit- Society maintains work in India and South Africa and also among Swed- terly .the P.r0testant propaganda, and ish seamen in German, British, French, and Italian ports, and among the scat- espeCially 111 Rome? Why do the tered Swedes in several European cities and in South Africa. In South bishops so often send out pastoral let- Africa, among the heathen Zulus, the work was carried on in 1907 upon ters protesting against the opening of 6 central and 6 by-stations, with 86 preaching-places, and 8g6 pupils at- our churches and our halls of wortended 41 schools. The missionary ship? Why has the Society of St.
Jerome felt the need of imitating our colporteurs? At a laughable failure one laughs. Why then in Rome do not the Roman Catholics laugh, rather than weep and work? It i's true that the Protestant propaganda has not yet obtained the great results we ardently desire. But remember that we have carried on our work with but few men, and with very little re- sources, for less than fifty years among a people over whom Rome has exer- cised an undisputed sway through a many-formed and most powerful or- ganization for the space of fifteen centuries." Religious Intolerance in Spain soon as the local officials learned of its opening, they declared it to be a That Roman Catholicism is as in- plot on the part of German agents tolerant as ever has' been recently for the "Germanizing of South Rus- shown by the persecution of the sia," and ordered it closed. Expla- Evangelical Mission at Figueras, nation and petition availed nothing Spain, when the five-year-old child and closed it was. of the teachers of the mission schools died. Permission was given by the By a singular chain of circum- civil authorities for the interment of the body, and the director of the mis- stances, however, a powerful friend sion and his brother conducted the was raised up in Petersburg, who funeral service. But the priest took on himself to secure the neces- claimed the right to bury the child, sary permission for reopening. He and instigated a suit in the courts went to the Russian ministry de- against the mayor, who gave the clared that the teachers whoU; the burial permit, Rev. Lopez Rodriguez government allowed to teach in As- and Don Alexander, for conducting trakhan were many of them not fit the service at the grave, charging to enter a schoolroom-nay, even to them with disobeying various royal put foot on school grounds-and that decrees by not allowing the priests the new seminary in question was to burv the child, because he was a likely to fnrnish a better and necesminor: and had been baptized by a sary type of teachers. His appeal priest, while his mother was a Catho- was listened to and the coveted sanclic. The judge unrighteously de- tion given. manded a payment into court of $800 as a guarantee for the costs of the ac- So the first authorized evangelical tion which was forced upon the mis- seminary in all Russia is at last sion. An appeal has been taken to launched. "What wonderful perspecthe Cortes, but there is little hope for tives for that land greet the eyes of relief from that quarter, because it believing Christians! What a stream is under the influence of th~ priests. of blessing for this 140 millions of It is not unlikely that the director of people, if a strong body of young men, the mission and his brother will be trained in religious and general culimprisoned and heavily fined, and the ture, shall go out early from its mission embarrassed, if not closed.- doors to preach the Gospel of the Christian Observer. risen Lord."-From Der Christlische Orient. A Training School for Russia AMERicA Doctor Lepsius writes that the first evangelical training school for The Laymen's Movement: A Prediction tea-chers, to get State sanction in Russia, is that which the German Orient In the Christian hltelligencer, An- Mission has established in Astrakhan. son A. Carter has this to say concern- ing the task the men of our churches One hundred years ago, the Em- have taken in hand: "This movement peror Alexander I allowed the Molo- has none of the earmarks of a kans secret exercise of their religion worked-up affair, but rather of one in South Russia, whither they had worked-clown and God-inspired. It is been banished. On the 100th anni- men banded together to do men's work versary of this event in 1905, their for a cause for which a JHan died. descendants, now calling themselves And this banding together is no for- Russian Evangelical Christians, de- mal procedure. It is the realization termined to establish a seminary for that something should be done and training their sons as teachers and done quickly. This movement is gopreachers. The school was started in ing to push forward Protestant February, 1907, with eleven pupils. As foreign missions on such a gigantic scale as to arrest the attention of the whole heathen world. Suddenly this
heathen world will realize that not World: "The Federation is not a simply the picket-line is to be dealt missionary organization in the sense with, but the main army. There will that it exists in one part of the world be a mobilizing of forces, and a and sends its representatives to some fierce struggle to retain the old other part. It is a world organiza- strongholds. But without the vision tion as indigenous to the Orient as of a seer one may predict the end. to the Occident. On its general com- For when the arm of the Lord is mittee each of the student movements revealed in the virile manhood of of the East has as many representa- Protestant Christianity, the supersti- tives as any movement in the West. tions and systems and cults and phi- But it aims to make Christ the Lord losophies of the heathen world must of the world." The total membertake their places among the things ship of the affiliated movements has that are passing away to make way for increased by nearly 100,000 since the the sure advancement of the cross." Federation was formed thirteen years ago. A New Parliament of Religion' At the invitation of the Student This was held at Unity Church, Movement of Great Britain and Ire- land, the next conference of the Fed- Montclair, N. J. The program of eration will be held in Oxford, England, in July, 1909. This will be speakers and the themes of addresses the eighth conference. The other conwere both significant of the epoch in ferences have been held in Vadstena, which we are living. The following Sweden, in 1895 ; Williamstown, is the published list of both subjects Mass, 1897; Eisenach, Germany, and speakers as printed in advance: 1898; Versailles, France, 1900; Sora, Denmark, 1902; Zeist, Holland, 1905; Eroad M. N. Dhalla, a Parsee priest Tokyo, Japan, 1907. of Bombay, India, who recently took the degree of Ph.D. at Columbia University, The World's Sixth Sunday-School will speak on "The Message of Zoroastrianism to the World To-day." Convention Professor Nathaniel Schmidt, head of will be held at Washington, D. C, the department of Semitics at Cornell, on June 2-7, 1910. For the second time "What is Christianity?" the Sunday-school forces of the world will then gather on this continent. S. C. Kanaga Putnam, president of the The previous conventions were in Central College, Colombo, Ceylon, on London, in 1889; in St. Louis, in "The Religious Message of the Orient- 1793; in London, in 1898; in J erusathe Spirit of the East." lem, in 1904; in Rome, Italy, in 1907. At the recent meeting of the Ameri- Rabbi Samuel Schulman, of Temple can section of the World's Sunday- Beth-EI, New York, on "The Message of School Association at Pittsburg, Pa., Judaism." it was decided that the American rep- resentation be on the same basis as Mohammedan Alexander vVebb on for the International Convention "The Message of Mohammedanism." in Louisville in June, 1908. The theme of the coming World's Conven- A. N. Datar, representative of the Ma- tion will be: "The Sunday-School harajah of Baroda, on "The Message of and the Great Commission. " Justice Hinduism." Maclaren, of Canada, president of the International Sunday-School Associa- Kentok Horai, a Japanese Buddhist, tion, and Mr. W. N. Hartshorn, of now in Harvard, on "The Message of Boston, joint secretary of the World's Evangelical Christianity." Sunday-School Association, have been appointed a committee, with power Dr. Chen-Huan-Chang, of Peking, China, doctor of the Chin-Shih College and secretary of the Secretariat, will also speak, and there may be a Greek-Catholic speaker.
It was intended to have a Roman Catholic priest deliver an address, but Cardinal Gibbons refused to allow it.
The World's Student Christian Federation The world-wide sweep of the Christian Student Federation is shown in the following editorial from its new quarterly publication, The Student
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE 7I
to add to their number, to visit Eu- Chinese, Japanese and Koreans in rope in the service of promoting in- California terest in the Washington Convention. The Presbyterians are able to make They propose to go at their own ex- this report of progress: pense, and conduct a systematic visi- At Los Angeles, the Chinese tation, probably early next year. Church has borne all the current ex- Missions at Northfield penses of the local work. Freewill offerings for missions average $I5 Northfield, Mass., -is becoming a per member: $5 of this was sent to center for mission study and the gath- the Board. The Japanese Mission ering of missionaries on furlough. at Salinas, eldest daughter of the San Each of the seven gatherings has Francisco Japanese Church, just cele- -l11issionaries on its list of speakers and brated its tenth anniversary. Ten two of the conferences are wholly de- years ago, one mission in the State voted to missionary problems. The for Japanese; now six. Then there Student Volunteer Movement was was one church, now there are three founded at Mount Hermon during the organized and two ready to be organ- first session of the Student Confer- ized, with a combined membership of ence. between 300 and 400. Then one mis- The Women's Interdenominational sion building, now four; all save one Home Missionary Conference con- purchased by the Japanese. Koreans vened for the first time this year. Its -In Los Angeles, 45 Christians; 27 purpose is to train leaders and arouse connected with the Central Church; interest in the churches in home mis- IO baptized last year. Riverside, 35 sions. Mrs. Alfred R. Page and other Christians, 20 connected with Calvary leading workers presented the work Church. In Upland, 20, IO connected among the Indians, the mountaineers with the American Church.
in the South, the Porto Ricans, the What Christian Unity Would Do miners and the lumbermen. The churches of Canada have sur- On July 2Ist the Women's Foreign passed all others in the movement Mission Boards in the United States toward the abolition of denominational and Canada met for their fifth sum- names and forms. In the recent Meth- mer school, Mrs. Helen B. Mont- odist General Conference, Dr. James gomery conducted daily studies in the Henderson was present as a fraternal text-book for this year "The Nearer delegate, and said that the union and Farther East." Dr. Ida S. Scud- movement in Canada "is likely to spoil der, of India; ,Mrs. Benjamin W. that gorgeous figure of speech which Labaree, of Persia; and Dr. George some ecclesiastical orators are fond H. Jones, of Korea, and others spoke of: comparing the Protestant bodies .at platform meetings. Rev. J. Stuart to the colors of the rainbow-Presbv- Holden, of London, conducted the terians blue, Methodists red, Episc~ Bible-study Class. palians violet, etc.-for Canadian saints have come to the conclusion that The largest gathering of the sum- Christ's Church will never set the mer, the General Conference in Au- world on fire until i-t so ceases being gust, placed much emphasis on mis- a prism and makes itself over by the sions at the Round Top meetings grace of God into a convex lens focusevery evening. One entire day was ing white light." given up to this subject. Among the missionary leaders who were heard were Rev. Louis Meyer and Miss An- War Upon the Saloon gell, missionaries to Jews, Dr. Horace In two-thirds of all the territory of G. Underwood, of Korea; Dr. Ida B. the United States the saloon has been Scudder; Bishop W. F. Oldham, of abolished by law. Forty years ago India, and Rev. C. C. Creegan, of the there were 3,500,000 people living in American Board of Foreign Missions. territory where the sale of liquor was
prohibited. Now there are 36,000,000 schools of Egypt, afforded by the repeople under prohibitory law. Since cent change in government regUlathat time the population of the coun- tions. Teachers have been provided, try has scarcely doubled, while the and a leaflet has been issued, giving population in prohibition territory has directions as to the conducting of increased tenfold. There are 20,- classes and supplying a program. 000,000 people in the 14 Southern This latter provides that three out States, 17,000,000 of whom are under of five lessons weekly shall be on the prohibitory law in some form. In Bible, one on Christian doctrine, and 1900 there were 18,000,000 under pro- one on the Coptic language. For the hibition in the United States; now present year, the Bible teaching is there are 36,000,000. In eight confined to the New Testament. months State-wide prohibition has Very successful classes have been cleared the saloon from an area as opened in Cairo, as well as at some great as that of France. In that area places in the provinces. From every there is a solid block of territory 300 point of view the movement is a most miles north and south by 720 miles hopeful one. east and west, in which on the first day of next January a bird can fly Refonns in Kamerun from the Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the boundary of Governor Seitz is the source of re- Tennessee to the Gulf of Mexico, cent vigorous enactments in Kamerun, without looking down upon a legal- emancipating African women and opized saloon. Great Britain and Ire- posing the liquor traffic. Presiding land could set down over this space over the council he had called, at without covering it. There would be Duala, in December last, his Excel- 10,000 square miles of "dry" territory lency exprest amazement at the numleft as a border.-F. C. IGLEHART, ber and size of caravans laden with in the Review of Reviews. rum which he had met in the southern part of the colony. He said he wished AFRICA he could stop the traffic at once. A recent law, by substituting the use of African Churches Coming to Self-Support cash for barter, deals a blow in this direction; hitherto, carriers of com- To one familiar with Presbyterian merce have been paid in goods, rum missions the term "self-support" read- being the largest item. At present, ily suggests Korea, Japan, parts of the whole policy in Kamerun is to China; perhaps no one would expect discourage rum and polygamy. to find poor Africans in the front row with the best. There has been great A council upon education at Duala advance ,ince three years ago when in included, besides the Governor in the Africa Mission there were 7 village chair, officials of the district, deleschools supported from America; gates of Basel Mission three, Roman now there are 28 sustained by the Catholic three, English Baptist two, people themselves; station. schools American two. Discussion was free have also advanced tuition fees. Of and informal upon languages to be taught, government aid, how long pu- IS churches, II support their own pils should be kept in school, and other subjects.-Woman's Work. preaching this year and 8 of them also care for evangelistic work. -Woman's African School Children in Drought Work. A missionary's letter from Living- The Coptic Church Favoring Education stonia, in east Central Africa, tells of the remarkable action of some school The authorities of the Coptic children during a drought. It is a Church in Egypt are taking advan- fact not well known that heathens fretage of the opportunities for giving quently appeal to Christian neighbors Christian instruction to Coptic children in the Egyptian public primary in a time of plague, famine, or other The Indian. in Natal public calamity, to cry to their God for its removal (Jonah i. 6) : Lord Ampthill has been doing his utmost to impress upon the mind of Worship and prayers were offered by the British public and British states- men the injustice and inhumanity of the heathen to the spirits, but there was the treatment that is meted out to his Majesty's Indian subjects in British no answer to their entreaty. Some of colonies and in South Africa. In Natal, for instance, the licensing the scholars were asked to pray to God, boards possess unlimited powers to grant or withhold trading licenses, and the answer to their prayer was rain and the Indian trader has thus been placed absolutely at the mercy of their that same night. The heathen were arbitrary discretion owing to the stress of competition and the jealousy greatly imprest, and there were many of European traders. Lord Ampthill called the attention of the House of thanksgivings to God. The rain was Lords to the position of the Indian trader in Natal, and justly charactercopious, and they got in their seed. Then ized the policy of driving out the In- dian as unjust, inhuman, and unin a few days the green blade appeared, grateful. Indian labor has done in the past not a little for the progress and the promise of abundance of food. and prosperity of Natal and of other South African colonies, and it is noth- Just then, however, a great swarm of ing but ingratitude to forget the part Indian laborers and traders have locusts came down, and with the locusts played in the development of those territories.-:-Bombay Guardian. an outcry of despair. Again they prayed The Troubles of Protestant Mbsionl in to God, saying something to the effect Madagascar that "We prayed for rain, and you heard Little has been published lately conus, God. We were glad and thankful, cerning the state of affairs upon Madagascar, where the present Govand planted our seed. But now when ernor-General, M. Augagneur, has so greatly hindered the work of Protesthe leaf has appeared above ground, you tant Missions. The Governor stilI refuses or delays beyond endurance have locusts which must destroy our giving the necessary permission for reopening of reconstructed schools crop. Help us, God!" They had not or churches. We understand that the American Norwegian Lutheran Misstopt praying when "wu-u-," a strong sion has now only five houses of wor- ship in the southern part of the island wind came tearing through the plain, ta- where it had forty-three formerly.
king the locusts with it and leaving not The influence of the continuous per- secutions of Protestant Missions by one behind. Their crops were saved.- the French Governor-General is most apparent in the decrease of native pu- The Bombay Guardian. • pils in the missionary schools. For instance, the 92 regular and the 53 Zulu Definition of Faith preparatory schools of the Paris Mis- sionary Society had I I .European The Norwegian missionary Braad- teachers, 137 native teachers with vedt in Zululand once asked his native teacher, "What is faith and what is unbelief?" He received the following excellent answer, "To have faith means to take hold of Christ and His Word," to lack faith means to let go Christ and His Word." To this the Christian Zulu added the following explanation: "In Zululand strong men are stationed at the rivers to carry the people over when the waters are high. Before these men go through the river, they tell those whom they carry to take a firm hold. Those who have confidence in the carrier and obey him, safely reach the other side; but they who lose confidence and let go their hold, perish in the water. That is faith and unbelief. Whosoever believes in Christ, clings to Him under all circumstances, relies upon His guidance, and obeys Him. Thus he gets safely through this life and reaches the beautiful land on the other side of the river of death. Whosoever lacks faith, perishes in his wanderings, because he has no guide." diplomas, and 72 native teachers with- publication of the scriptures in the out diplomas in 1907, who instructed various languages of the people. The 121 resident and 9,090 non-resident multiplicity of tongues makes that pupils in 1907. In 1906 there were a tremendous undertaking. In Japan 105 regular and 172 preparatory a single translation ministers to prac- schools with 12 European teachers, tically the entire 50,000,000 people; 128 native teachers with diplomas, and here there must be at least six trans- 205 native teachers without diplomas, lations to carry the message to the who instructed 237 resident and 7,000,000 Filipinos. The various mis- 15,252 non-resident pupils. The boys sions have been overburdened with the decreased from 9,189 in 1906 to 5,601 urgent calls for evangelistic work and in 1907, the girls from 5,826 to 3,268. have left this important department, In spite of these persecutions the the translation and publication of the Paris Society increased its mission- scriptures, to the proper agency, the aries in Madagascar from 9 in 1906 Bible societies. On the other hand, to 13 in 1907, while the number of this work could never have been ac- native evangelists was increased to complished had it not been for the from 61 to 66. The number of native support and assistance of the mission- Christians connected with the society anes.
is now 1I 1,335, an increase of 5,000 The people were clamoring for the in one year; and that of adherents is Word so it was impossible to tarry till now 27,080, or 1,000 less than in 1906. the whole Bible or even the New Tes- There were baptized 851 adults, but tament could be all translated, but as the number of communicants de- soon as a satisfactory translation of a creased to 9,048 (from 9,118 in 1906) Gospel was made it was published in and that of catechumens to 1,076 a little booklet by itself, then two or (from 1,368 in 1906). Thus, the per- more Gospels together, and as soon sistent persecutions from the French as the New Testament was all com- Governor-General seem to have some pleted it was then published entire.
effect upon the work of the Paris With the limited means at hand it has Missionary Society. The Lord over- been impossible to keep pace with the rule it! demands for the books. The work has ISLANDS OF THE SEA been pushed with all diligence, and the entire Bible has been published in Ta- The Bible in the Philippines galog, the New Testament in Ilocano, Panayan, Visayan and is already com- Many chapters might be written pleted and either in the hands of the concerning the entrance of the Bible printers or ready for the same in into the Philippines. F or centuries Pangasinan, Pampangan, and Cebuan it was debarred. Many attempts were Visayan. Portions have also been pubmade to bring it into the Archipelago, lished in Ibanag, Bicol, and translation but the ever-alert emissaries of the work is being pushed in the Old Testa- Roman Church frustrated any open ment with the expectation of soon havimportation or publication of the scrip- ing the Bible entire in at least the three tures. Copies were smuggled in and greater dialects, Tagalog, Ilocano, and were treasured and fairly devoured by Visayan. It is the most prodigious the hungry seekers for a sane founda- initial undertaking in the missionary tion for faith. work in the Philippines.
Following upon the heels of the Chinese Up to Date in Java American occupation the British and Foreign Bible Society sent its agent to Manila and established an agency Missionaries are called upon to here. In 1899 the American Bible So- render all sorts of service. The Rev.
ciety established an agency also in J. R. Denyes, superintendent of the Manila. Both these societies set about Netherlands-Indies District, Malay- the arduous tasks of translation and sia Conference, tells of this experience with Chinese in Ja'va, who are study- tude and spirit, and are so far evan- ing methods of conducting assemblies: gelized.
The headman of a Chmese viJlage ten Thus, at a recent social conference a miles from town (Batavia), wrote asking low-caste man was put on the platform me to come there and help them form with honor. Brahmans and others dined a social club. I went out and talked together without distinction of caste. It things over with them and made them a is difficult for an Occidental to compre- constitution and by-laws. In this society hend the mighty change this means for the members are to give up opium, liquor India. In the same way the Gospel has and gambling. After a president had coerced Hinduism out of many of its been elected, he asked me to preside over pagan strongholds into Christian prac- the meeting and show them just how Eu- tise. Thus idolatry is giving way; child ropeans conduct meetings. So I put marriage is rendered foolish and cruel; them through a parliamentary drill, man- remarriage of widows is finding encour- ufacturing the terms for motion, second, agement. They are constrained to open carried, etc., as I went along. These orphanages to keep orphans from Chris- people are learning to express their tian control. Female education has be- thoughts, and some day the y.'orld will come the fashion and demand of the stop to listen to what they WIll have to hour. Hinduism is being flanked out of say.-World-Wide Missions. these hoary castles of heathenism by the Christianity it does not want to adopt in MISCELLANEOUS name. All the outer works are carried as these reforms, distinctly Christian, are Livingstone Knew It Would Come adopted. The devils of paganism are cast out by the gospel of Christ, altho not in The night before his departure for His name. Africa David Livingstone said: Man May Use Spiritual as Well as The time will come when rich men will think it an honor to support whole sta- Physical Force tions of missionaries, instead of spending their money on hounds and horses. Bishop Westcott has reminded us that when the missionary monks, who Commenting on this, the Christian went out from Iona in the sixth cen- Observer says: tury to evangelize Britain, came to the most difficult part of their journey, This has literally come to pass in some the prayers of their master, St. Coinstances, and the awakening of the in- lumba, always met them there. So terest of men in missions indicates that it may be with us. We may not know men are learning to put God's kingdom just when the crisis is coming in some where it should be in every life-in the distant field, but we may be certain forefront, in the place of most impor- that praYer offered for the. workers tance. will help them through many a time of discouragement and difficulty. This is the deep significance of That is perfectly reasonable. We can the Laymen's Movement.-Baptist flash a message of good-will over con- Courier. tinents and under oceans because man has discovered and can control and Evangelization by Flank Movemenb direct great natural forces. Is it too much to expect that man, by putting Rev. T. J. Scott, former president himself in correspondence with God, of Bareilly Theological Seminary, can use the great spiritual forces of writes to the Christian Advocate as the universe for the help and comfollows: fort of his fellows? These spiritual forces, no less and no more than the Grant's greatest victories over Lee forces of the physical world, are the were won by flank movements toward forces of the King, and we can wield eRriacthemgoenn~draclomtopeplullilngouttheofghreisatinCtroennfcehd– them if we will. To neglect to use ments for new positions. It has been them is to limit our own influence and observed that missionaries now lay more to withhold help from our friends.- stress 011 ethical teaching than on polem- Spirit of Missions. ics against pantheism, polytheism, idolatry and other heathen absurdities. The pure sweet light, the noble, the elevated, the Christlike, flank the pagans out of their strongholds of error and darkness. Without becoming avowedly Christian, many are flanked out of the old thought and practise, taking up the Christian atti- FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY THE CALL OF KOREA. By Horace G. Un- scribed separately, as are the missions derwood. Illustrated. Map. 12mo, of the Roman and Greek Catholics. 204 pp. 75 cents, tlct. Fleming H. The table of statistics shows 26 Revell Co., New York. 1908. Protestant societies, with 793 mission- aries and 408 native ordained minis- Because the Apostle Paul heeded ters. The Japanese baptized Christhe call of God voiced by the man tians number 50,000, not including from Macedonia, Europe received the children. The Roman Catholics (in- Gospel and passed it on to us. The cluding children) number 58,000, and call of the man from Korea seems un- the Greek Catholics 7,000. The total questionably as truly the call of God, Christian population of Japan is about and may mean great things for the 150,000. Professor Clement comfuture of Asia if the Christians of pares the condition of Christianity in America will respond with men and Japan to-day with Christianity in the money and prayer. Roman Empire in the days of Constantine-a heathen body (the Dr. Underwood has a right to speak masses) and a Christian head (the for Korea, for he has given over leaders). The nation is being recontwenty years of his life to the Her- structed on Christian lines. He mit Nation. He· has seen the doors prophesies that within this century opened in hut and palace, he has seen Japan will become a Christian nation. the people change from opposition to If this is to be true, Jesus Christ must indifference and from indifference to control not only the head but the desire for the Gospel. This is clearly heart and the will of Japan. the crisis hour of Korea. An adequate forward move by the Church THE SOCIAL EVIL IN JAPAN. By U. G. Murof Christ may mean that practically phy. Illustrated. 12mo, 172 pp. 50 the whole people will be won to the cents. Methodist Publishing House, Savior in twenty-five years. Tokyo. 1908.
Dr. Underwood first describes The social evil in the Orient is a briefly but geographically the coun- menace not onlv to the life of the try from which the caIl comes, then Asiatic nations, but to the lives of the the people in their religious and secu- men and women of America as well. lar life, and, finally, the way in which Sin is made so easy, attractive and the call is now being answered apparently safe by the laws and license by Christians of America and Eng- that prevail that young men who visit land. The statements are thoroughly these lands fall a prey to the devourreliable, and the story, including many ing monster of impurity. incidents of the work, is of fascinating interest. The questions and Gratitude is due to Mr. Murphy references on each chapter make the and others-especially the Salvation book of great value for more ex- Army – for their brave and dehaustive study. termined fight against this evil in Japan-the land where it is still con- CHRISTIANITY IN MODERN JAPAN. Ernest sidered right for fathers to sell their W. Clement. Map. 12mo, 205 pp. daughters, and girls to sell themselves $1.00, tlct. American Baptist Publica- to lives of shame in order that family tion Society, Philadelphia. 1905. debts may be paid.
Missionary handbooks are especially The book makes far from pleasant valuable for reference. Professor reading, but the facts should be known Clement· has given us a dear, con- in order that the evils may be cise statement of the history and remedied. The experience of Japan progress of modern missions in the should be forever a conclusive argu- Sunrise Kingdom. His statements ment against licensed and segregated are· reliable and his information is prostitution. presented in an orderly form. The work of each denomination is de-
FOR THE MISSIQXARY
CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN. By Bishop M. C. Leaders will find herc a greater va- Harris. 16mo, 88 pp. 35 cents. Eaton riety of topics and countries for their & Mains, New York. 1908. year's work than in volumes dealing with single countries, but the result It would be difficult to conceive a can scarcely be expected to be so book of less than 20,000 words more satisfactory. pact with information and yet reada- ble. Bishop Harris has described the MANUAL OF MISSIONARY METHODS FOR SUN- country, the people, the religions, the DAy-SCHOOL WORKERS. By Rev. George progress of Christianity and the work H. Trull. 12mo, 245 pp. 50 cents. The of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Sunday-School Times Co., Philadela few words, each one of which counts. phia. 1908. The reader catches a glimpse of a group of volcanic islands with an area One of the present-day movements about the size of California, with over in the Sunday-school world is toward 200 volcanoes, over 50 of which are systematic instruction in the princi- ples and progress of missionary work. active, and one with a crater IS miles Many workers have beeen convinced of the importance and need for miswide. In this land the earthquakes sionarv instruction who have been at a loss'as to how children of different average 37S a day, and the typhoon ages may be taught in an interesting and practical way. Mr. Trull's sometimes brings death to 3,600 people manual supplies the lack. He gives in one year. The people and religions very little space to the theoretical are described with similar vividness side to tell why, and plunges right into and simplicity. One could scarcely his subject to tell h07.(I. To his own conceive of a better epitome for those wide experience he acids the methods who seek information on Japan and used in many other schools in city and Methodist missions there. country churches-giving in detail practical suggestions for missionary THE NEARER AND FARTHER EAST. By Rev. committees, methods of instruction, S. M. Zwemer and Rev. Arthur ]. praying, giving, securing recruits, the Brown. Illustrated. Map. 12mo, 325 use of the librarv, bulletin boards pp. 50 cents, net. The Macmillan Co., charts, maps, etc. •Programs and or- . New York. 1908. ders of service that have been tried and founel successful are given iri Thousands of copies of the vVom- detail, and there are in the appendices an's United Study books have been excellent suggestions as to equipment sold and, what is better, they have and the best and most complete been studied. The present volume graded list of missionary books for takes up the "leftover" fields of the the Sundav-school that we have seen. Old Vorld-the. smaller nations of This handbook should unquestion- Asia. Dr. Zwerner gives an excellent ably be in the hands of every superoutline study of Moslem lands-the intendent. With it there is no excuse religion, the customs, social evil and for failure to make the study of mismissionary work in North Africa, sions in Sunday-schools a pleasure and Turkey, Persia, Arabia and Malaysia. a power. It is a vivid picture of the conditions, needs, and Christian work in Moslem THE DIVINE RIGHT OF MISSIONS. Henry lands, but the space is too limited for C. Mabie. 12mo, II7 pp. 50 cents, net. more than a brief outline with a few American Baptist Publication Society, touches of color. Philadelphia. 1908.
Dr. Brown describes even more There are Christians-unthinkable bi-iefly the fields of Siam, Burma and tho it may seem-who deny the ne- Korea. It was a difficult task and the cessity of sending missionaries to result could not be as satisfactory the heathen, and there are men and as in most of the other text-books women, claiming to be enlightened, of the course. Enough is given, however, to whet the appetite for more, and the sources for the larger feast are suggested in the bibliography.
who deny the right of the Church to lishing House, 54 West Twenty-secdisturb those who hold the ethnic ond Street, N ew York, will receive atfaiths. Dr. Mabie, as a clear and log- tention. The subject is not a popular ical Christian thinker, presents an un- one, and this great thesaurus of inanswerable argument as to the duty formation has been slow of sale; but of those who accept Jesus Christ as its value to those who do know and Lord. It is not an attack on ethnic appreciate its contents is very great. religions or a defense of Christianity, but a statement of the necessity of TALKS ON CHINA. Pamphlet. 6d. Church man's redemption by God and the im- Missionary Society, London, 1907. perative command of Christ to disciple all nations. It is a book that every An outline of six missionary lesspastor should read. There is nothing ons with diagrams and other illustrahackneyed nor insipid about it, but a tions and recitations for young peofresh, straightforward, vigorous in- ple. A very practical and useful telligent line of thought. pamphlet.
PAMPHLETS THE IDEAL MINISTRY. By Herrick John- YEAR BOOK 0;;- PRAYER FOR FOREIGN MIS- son, D.D., LL.D. Revell, New York. SIONS. Presbyterian Church, U. S. $1.75, net. Nashville, Tenn. 1908.
This volume is the rich sheaf gath~ FIFTEENTH CONFERENCE OF FOREIGN MISered from a half-century of earnest SION BOARDS. 20 cents. Foreign Misand careful thought and study. Dr. sionary Library, New York. 1908. Johnson, after a brilliant college career, and many years of most suc- SOUL WINNING·AROUND THE WORLD. Chas. cessful and fruitful pastorates, was M. Alexander. 10 cents. Revival elected to the chair of homiletics and Times Co., Philadelphia. 1907. pastoral theology in Auburn Theological Seminary, and afterward in THE MEDICAL MISSIONARY. James L. Bar- McCormick Seminary; and in this ton, D.D., American Board, Boston. great work of training young men 1908. for the ministry he has spent the last third of a century. It is not too much DESERT MOUNTAIN AND ISLAND. By Von to say that he has largely exemplified Ogden Vogt. Maps and illustrations. the very ideals he sets before others; 15 cents. Presbyterian Board of Home and many who have sat at his feet as Missions, New York. 1908. preacher and teacher will recognize in this book not only a reproduction NEW BOOKS of much that he has said, but a reflection of much that he has been and THE MOSLEM WORLD. By Rev. S. M. done. To say this is to say all that Zwemer, D.D. 12mo. 35 and 50 cents. need be said to commend this volume Young People's Missionary Movement, to a wide circle of readers. New York. 1908.
THE POPE, THE KINGS AND THE PEOPLE. By PERSIA, THE AWAKENING OF THE EAST. By William Arthur. 12mo. Hodder & W. P. Cresson. 8'0. $3.50. J. B. Stoughton, London. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. 1908.
We have, in two consecutive ar- THE WHY AND How OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. ticles on "Political Plotting at the Vatican," called attention to this By Rev. A. J. Brown, D.D. 12mo. 35 great book by Wm. Arthur. Inquiries are somewhat numerous as to the way and 50 cents. Young People's Misof obtaining copies. Any orders sionary Movement, New York. 1908. for it sent to D. T. Bass, Gospel Pub- THE STORY OF THE REVISED NEW TESTA- MENT. Matthew B. Riddle. I2mo, 89 pp. 75 cents. Sunday-School Times Co. Philadelphia. 1908.
GRENFELL OF LAllRADOR. By Rev. J. John- ston. 12mo. Illustrated. IS., 6d. S. W. Partridge & Co., London. 1908. THE MARVELOUS STORY OF THE REVIVAL IN MANCHURIA. By James Webster and John Ross. 12mo, paper. 6d, net. Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, Edin- burgh. 190B. TAKING MEN ALIVE. C. G. Trunbul1. 12mo. 60 cents. Y. M. C. A. Press, New York. 1908.
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1908
GRM}UATION EXERCI"ES IN THE MISSIONARY ACADEMY OF PYENG YANG
<the 81issionary CJ?.eview
of the World VOL. XXXI. No… FEBRUARY, 1908 VOL. XXI. No… Old Series New Series t>uulished Loy Funk & 'Vagnalls Company. 4-1-£0 E. 23d St., N.Y. Isaac K. Funk, Pres., A. IV. YagnalI~, "ice-Pres. :luti Treas., Root. Scott, See'y SIGNS OF THE TIMES THE KOREAN HORIZON condition of reception into the Church is that they have already begun to Foremost among all the signs of the witness to others. And, taking all times we deem the present situation Protestant denominations together, in Korea. Here is a nation that, up there are about 120,000 Christians toto 1882, was one of the Hermit peo- day among these thirteen millions; ples. It was death to a foreigner to and, if there were enough missionaries land there, or native to harbor onc. to guide this infant Church, with in- In that year the first treaty rights credible rapidity, Korea might be were secured with the United States; evangelized, for all things are now and, in 1884, Dr. H. N. Allen, trans- ready-except the Church at home! ferred from China, became the first Protestant missionary. Twenty years Our Lord said: "Ye hypocrites! ye ago, seven converts secretly gathered can discern the face of the sky; but around the Lord's table. This year can ye not discern the signs of the there are 15,700, in 139 churches of times?' His words are strong, yet is the Presbyterian denomination alone, there not an element of h:ypocrisy in representing nearly 60,000 adherents! our failure to discern God~s oppor- tunity when put so clearly before us, Dr. Underwood says the converts and in failing to enter such open are characterized by four marked fea- c1obrs? Can the prayers be sincere tures: they are "a Bible-loving, prayer- which beseech God to break down the believing, money-giving, and actively barriers, and then, 'when in such marworking people." There is such a pas- velous manner He sweeps them away, sion for the Word of God, that Bible- hesitating, tardily and inadequately classes of men, numbering as many as coming up to His help and the help of 1,300, have met for ten days at a time, the benighted millions to whom he has some members going on foot a seven granted access. days' journey, to enjoy the privilege; and then men take the place of SIGNS OF LIFE AMONG LAYMEN their wives at home that these may have a like chance. They pray with In view of the Presbyterian Laychildlike faith to the Father and ex- men's Missionary Conference in Philapect and receive answers. Tho their delphia, (February 11- 13), it is in- teresting to read the experience of average day's wage is from IS to 20 William T. Ellis, one of the editors of the Philadelphia Press, who has recents, they have given-the Presby- cently returned from a tour of the terians alone-$27,00o in a year. Onc world and is now giving the public the when Mr. White went tuto Canada, and results of his observations. He says: met with the men of Toronto, London, Hamilton and Brantford. Because of the During the past few weeks I have peculiar nature of their field, and the 3poken to more than a score of gather- fact that some of their boards are both ings of men in different American cities home and foreign, the Canadians decided in the middle West and South. The im- to include both causes in the laymen's' pression has been strongly made upon advance. On this basis Toronto, with me that the men of the Church are ready 60,000 church members, rose from $141,- for something big. The unusual ready 000 to $500,000 in its pledge; Brantford response made in these meetings has went from $13,800 to $30,000; Hamilton been due to the fact that large opportu- from $37,500 to $75,000. nities have been frankly held up to the men, without abating one Jot of the hard- These meetings have been inter-deships and heroism required to meet them.. nominational, and it has been clearly understood that not a penny is being In Topeka, Kansas, when one hundred raised for running expenses of the representatives of the churches met at a Laymen's Movement, but that every banquet, it developed that the 8,000 dollar is to go through the denominachurch members of Topeka last year tional boards of the respective gave $7,500 for foreign missions. After churches. As a concerted enterprise, the project. seems to appeal to men. the addresses by J. Campbell White and They like the idea of these big inter- denominational committees, which myself the company separated into de- send, for example, a Baptist and a nominational groups and then came to- Methodist and an Episcopalian to a gether again in a general committee, and Presbyterian to urge the latter to do agreed to increase their gift to $25,000, the right thing by his own Presbyif possible, within sixty days. terian Board! The men of our churches are evidently ready for an The following week the men represent- enterprise that is big enough to sating St. Joseph's 12,000 church members isfy their conception of what a Chrisundertook to raise their annual foreign tian man should undertake to do. mission gift of $12,000 to $50,000. A single church has already pledged $10,- ENTER BIBLES. EXIT OPIUM IN 000 of that sum. St. Louis, with about CHINA 50,000 church members, gave $56,000 last year to foreign missions, but a hard- Rev. G. H. Bondfield reports an headed committee, containing many of astonishing increase to the already the most conservative business men, has great circulation of Bibles in China. undertaken to increase the sum to $250,- During last July and August, usually 000 this year. Nashville, with 25,000 slack months, the British Foreign Bi– church members, gave last year $20,000 ble Society's depot, at Shanghai sent to missions, but a mass meeting of about out 96,000 volumes more than during one thousand men ratified the proposi- the corresponding months of 1906. tion of a small committee to make this The total issues from Shanghai for the amount $60,000 in 1908. Knoxville, with first eight months of 1907 were over 14,500 church members, advanced from 943,000 volumes. Mr. Bondfie1d adds: $7,500 to $30,000 as its goal for the year's "I do not know where we shall be if foreign mission gifts. Atlanta, whose this demand continues. It upsets all 30,000 church members had given $24,000 for the larger work, exprest itself as determined to make that $24,000 no less than $100,000. Charlotte, N. C, with 8,800 church members, who have been giving $7,000 a year to foreign missions, now pledged itself to give $30,000.
In addition to these American cities, there were extraordinary developments
r908] SIGNS OF THE
calculations, makes estimates of little time, expeditiously, the Chinese have value, and brings gray hairs to those closed the whole of the 700 opium responsible for meeting the demands." dens in Old Shanghai. Then they asked the authorities of the Interna- In contrast to this H. B. Morgan tional Settlement to close theirs, which writes that the great autumn festival numbered 1,600. The International which was kept all over China in the Settlement refused and the Chinese apweek ending September 28th, was cele- pealed to the British Foreign Office. brated in Hang-chow, by a civic func- The appeal went from one authority tion-the burning on the City Hill, in to another until it was promised that view of the whole city of Hang-chow, no new licenses should be issued, and of all the opium-pipes and wooden that the dens should be gradually trays from the recently closed opium- closed, the process to extend over ten dens. Gorgeous banners floated in the years. What is the explanation of breeze. Each side of the pyramid of this policy? Simply that the Municipipes was about six feet at the base pal Council in the International Setand about seven feet in height. They tlement derives from the opium dens were wrapt in bundles of thirty or a municipal revenue of some $50,000 forty, and the total number must have a year, and for the sake of this .revebeen between five and six thousand. nue the Councillors are prepared to uphold the vice of Shanghai. The Mr. Morgan says: Labour Leader says: "Revenue is a word of accursed sound in connection When I arrived, at nine o'clock, a con- vith the dealings of civilized nations siderable number of people had gathered, and benighted people. Revenue is the some on the balconies of tea-houses and secret of the long-drawn-out Kongo other points of vantage. As time passed, deviltry. Truly 'the love of money is various squads of uniformed students the root of all kinds of evil.' " . with the banners of their schools drew up at different spots to witness the pro- AMERICAN CRUSADE AGAINST ceedings. At 9.30 dry straw was piled OPIUM around the stacks, and the whole deluged with oil. Then mandarin-chairs began to The International Reform Bureau, arrive, and large numbers of people of which Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts is the poured up the various pathways leading head, is endeavoring to induce the to the hill. At the hour appointed the ·American Government to play its torch was applied, and the two piles of proper part in the crusade against doomed instruments disappeared forever. opium in the Far East. The problem faces us directly in the Philippines, CHINA'S EXAMPLE TO EUROPEANS and indirectly in connection with Great Britain, Japan, and China. The Labour Leader of England, in a burning article, entitled "The Shame The Bureau sent to a large number of Shanghai," declares that no one of American medical missionaries in from the West must henceforth preach China a circular letter asking them to to John Chinaman the superiority of answer four questions. The replies European morals. Shanghai consists are significant. Almost uniformly they of two parts – "Old Shanghai," say that opium users do not need which is Chinese, and "The Interna- a long period for tapering off. The tionalist Settlement," which has half a million Chinese and many English, French, and Americans. Carefully and thoroughly, but, at the same
ordinary case can be broken off imme- ment. These activities of the forces diately. The help of a hospital and of evil to debauch the people of the a medical adviser is of great benefit in 'Far East should stir the hearts of providing skilled care and the judi- Christians to a more earnest endeavor cious aid of some tonics to strengthen to get the Gospel to these people, and, the system. The opium pill is re- as far as possible, to counteract and ported as even more injurious than defeat the efforts of Satan to destroy opium smoking and at present it is them. quite generally used. Need of fair government inspection to prevent Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts, of the Namedical quacks and dishonest drug- tional Reform Bureau in Washington, gists from nullifying the prohibitory D. C, suggests that the following reslaws is recognized. It is in order for olutions be sent to representatives in all friends of the nations cursed with Congress: the opium vice to stand for rigid and vigorous prohibition of the opium Whereas, The opium traffic is a great traffic. hindrance to missions, morals and legit- imate commerce alike; and OPIUM AND BEER iN THE FAR EAST Whereas, Many governments are mov- The imports of opium into China ing together under the lead of President amount to three thousand tons, while Roosevelt to prohibit the sale and imthe native product amounts to thirty portation of opium; and thousand tons. There is also a great development in the use of morphia and Whereas, A large amount of the drug the Japanese send to China large quan- is imported into the United States and tities of cheap hypodermic syringes. its insular possessions; therefore, The better Chinese have a strong feeling against the enormous extension of Resolved, That we earnestly petition the growth of th~ poppy throughout Congress to prohibit the importation and the Empire and favor the recent Gov- sale of opium, except guardedly for ernment edicts for the suppression of medicinal uses; and to make this prohibithe use of opium. tion as extensive as the jurisdiction of Congress, including the Philippines and The market for Japanese beer in Hawaii, as well as the mainland. Manchuria, Korea and North China has greatly increased and the annual The United States should be at least export value, which has not hereto- as enlightened and earnest as China! fore exceeded $500,000, was estimated as $750,000 last year. WHAT KONGO MISSIONARIES SAY The demand is steadily increasing The Conference of Protestant misamong the Chinese and in the South sionaries, met at Leopoldville in Sep- Sea Islands, and it is expected that tember last and passed the following the export of beer will total in value resolution unanimously: $5,000,000 in the near future. We, as individual missionaries of the These facts are taken from the various Protestant missionary societies monthly consular and trade reports is- of several nationalities working in Konsued by the United States Govern- goland, now assembled in conference at Leopoldville, Stanley Pool, 19th Septem- ber, 1907, while giving credit to the au- thorities for some slight improvement in the condition of the people in a few fa- vored parts of the Kongo, unanimously express our deep regret that up to the present no adequate measures have been enforced to relieve the situation as a whole, the condition of the natives of
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
the Kongo Independent State being still ting, and there was no Kongo literaunutterably deplorable, notwithstanding ture; now seven languages have been boasted reforms. We are profoundly mastered, and more or less of God's thankful for all the efforts that have been truth has been translated into them, put forth in Europe and in America for besides a great number of other books. the amelioration of the unhappy state of these oppressed and desparing peoples. Twenty-five years ago the witch- We would earnestly urge all lovers of doctor held sway over the hearts and liberty and humanity to cooperate and minds of the people, and cruel, dark use every legitimate means to bring customs fettered them; now, where about an improved condition of affairs. missions have been at work, the power We trust that soon there may be a com- of the witch-doctor has been broken, plete deliverance from a system which and superstitions and cruel (;,iotf)ms so robs the native of the elementary rights eradicated that young men hC3X with of humanity, exposes him to unspeakable surprise about the strange deeds of cruelties, and condemns him to ceaseless their fathers. toil for the enrichment of others, amounting to practical slavery. We, therefore, Twenty-five years ago the Gospel humbly pray that Almighty God will was preached stammeringly at three or bless all efforts on behalf of the Kongo four places by missionaries who were millions. then just gaining glimmerings of a new language; now the Gospel is de- The resolution is signed on behalf clared daily in seven different lanof the missionaries by the chairman guages, at nearly 350 stations and and secretaries of the Conference, H. outposts. S. Gamman, Kongo Balolo Mission; T. Hope Morgan, Kongo Balolo Mis- Twenty-five years ago natives sion; and Kenred Smith, Baptist Mis- grasped at everything that came in sionary Society. How long will Leo- their way, and selfishly held fast to pold of Belgium be permitted to carry what their fingers closed upon; now on his reign of cruelty? the native Christians give heartily to- ward the missionary work of their dis- MISSIONARY RESULTS ON THE tricts. Those who know the poorness KONGO* of the people marvel at their gener- osity. To God be all the glory. Twenty-five years ago there was not a native Christian in all Kongo; THE GOSPEL IN SOUTH AFRICA now there are over 2,500 baptized members of the native churches, and A wonderful story comes from Rev. as the languages have been reduced George A. Wilder, missionary of the to writing, translations of God's Word American Board at Chikore, in Rhomade, and many agencies set to work, desia, South Africa. A few years ago the increase of the future must eclipse the Chikore people were low-down, that of the past. brutal savages, given to revelry and debauchery of the most hideous kind. Twenty-five years ago no native When they came together it was either knew how to read or write; now thou- to engage in disgusting orgies of their sands of men and WOlri~n read God's heathen feasts or to take part in fierce Word, and there are over 8,500 boys quarrels. A missionary went there ten and girls in our day-schools. years ago, and four years later the Church was organized. At the annual Twenty-five years ago no Kongo language had been reduced to wri- • From a statement by Rev. John H. Weeks.
meeting last June, 200 Christians, well on the fields are overworked to the behaved and decently dressed, gath- breaking point. The theological semered for four days of meetings. The inary at Adams has of necessity been Chikore Church met daily for a week closed during Mr. Taylor's furlough for special prayer. Free enter- in this country. tainment was offered to all na- – To the difficulties connected with tive Christians by the men of developing the educational work, and the village, once given to fighting to the care of the native churches, is strangers. One man cared for 19 visi- added the most critical city problem. tors, another for 23, another 17. Mr. Johannesburg, so vastly important be- Wilder "slept" 21 persons in a room cause natives flock to its labor mar- 12X18. He had 19 more in his sheep- ket from all over South Africa, needs fold and 40 young men were accom- i1lcreased financial aid. In Durban the modated in his carpenter shop. The moral and sanitary conditions of the opening sermon by Nohlondhlo, a na- native quarters are almost indescribative evangelist, upon "Preparation for ble. The cities are ruining the natives. Service" (Acts 2), was a logical, well- A man of training and ability is ordered and deeply spiritual discourse. needed to devote his time for awhile The speaker called attention to the exclusively to this matter. contrast between the scene in the Church and the orgies of a few years A brighter feCl,ture in the situation ago. He described one of their canni- is the improved attitude of the govbal feasts he once witnessed. He said ernment and colony toward the mishe saw a prisoner killed, flayed and sion. The new governor has the best roasted; strips of the human flesh were welfare of the natives at heart, and then strung on poles hung a few feet wishes to see justice done them. He from the ground. At a given word has said that the days of friction bethe warriors rushed at the meat, tore tween government and mission are at it down with their teeth and ate it. all end. This was their means of gaining courage for battle. All the meetings were On other questions affecting the conducted in an orderly and reverent native welfare, such as the matter of manner, and to those who had seen the marriage licenses, work upon locasame people a few years before, the tions, and intrusting to the natives the transformation seemed almost incredi- expenditure of the entire income of ble. rents upon the reserves, the ministry seems at the present time to be quite SERIOUS OUTLOOK IN NATAL in accord with the judgment of the mlsslonaries. Here is progress to be Dr. Edward VV. Capen has written rejoiced over, yet it calls for the uta detailed and valuable review of the most ability and tact on the part of American Board missionary situation some member of the mission to make in South Africa. The chief impres- secure and operative these gains. sion made upon him is of the extreme seriousness of the times. The force lVestern peoples are doing their utof workers is too small to be at all most to corrupt the Zulu and exploit adequate. The few men and women him. The next few years will be the crucial ones, for unless he is given Christianity he will be ruined.
SIGNS OF THE
NEWS FROM MADAGASCAR of the Revue Chretienne, Monsieur Angagneur, the Governor-General, who The persecution of the French and was called to France to give an exother Protestant missionaries by the planation of his actions, has succeeded French Governor-General of Mada- in gaining the interest of the French gascar, is rapidly becoming worse. At politicians by a little pamphlet, "Misa recent banquet in his honor, the Gov- sions and the Religious Question in ernor-General permitted the chairman Madagascar." He shows his attitude to use the most unjust terms concern- by his statement, "the only value of ing all religious workers, Protestant our colonies is the profit which they and Catholic, and in his answer bring us." The great politician Clemthanked the chairman for his "discreet enceau heartily agrees with his view, allusion to the religious question in so that there seems little possibility Madagascar." that the decrees of the Governor-Gen- eral concerning churches and missions The missionaries report new difficul- will be reversed. ties placed in their way by the Governor and his subordinates. Several Ten years ago the island was of the hitherto recognized schools have thrown wide open to the Jesuits. Tobeen closed, tho their teachers day Roman Catholics also are deprived possest certificates from the Govern- of the advantages once ·granted to ment and the schools were held in them. When the Roman Catholic special school buildings. The excuses missionaries complained and asked for given are the unsanitary conditions of the same amount of religious liberty these school buldings, tho the mission- as is enjoyed in France, the Governor aries affirm that all these buildings are answered adroitly: "Upon Madagascar far superior to those used by the Gov- religious liberty would be advantageernment. In Tananarivo Protestant ous to Protestants chiefly." That statemissionaries are no longer permitted ment silenced all complaints from the to visit the city prison to hold public Jesuits and their friends. serVIces. JESUIT AGGRESSIVENESS But while man is thus trying to destroy the work of the Lord, He who There is a compactly planned sitteth in the heavens, encourages His movement in. the Papal Church, to messengers by blessing the proclama- proselyte Protestants to Rome, and tion of the Gospel. One of the most the leaders are evidently Jesuits. For interesting incidents is that of a young instance, in November, when Mr. A. native girl at Tsinjoarivo, who, in C. Gabelein was holding his meetspite of the ravings and fury. of her ings in Houston, Texas, two men were heathen parents, openly avowed her there engaged in this propaganda. faith in Christ. The persecutions by They circulated invitation cards in the her infuriated family she bore with same style as cards are printed for patience, courage, and gentleness, un- revival services or Gospel meetings; til the Lord softened the hearts of on one side giving the topics and on her parents and they gave their con- the other side the following announcesent to her baptism. In other districts ment: also there are signs of revival. "Rev. Father Power, one of the According to the December number
most distinguished orators of the So- dominant; and second. the more surciety of Jesus, will be the preacher. prising tendency among Angelicans The presence of our nOll-Catholic fel- themselves toward the independency low Christians and non-Christians is so desired by non-conformists. As an most earnestly desired." Since when indication of the new currents of does the Catholic Church, and espe- thought, moving in the Church of cially the Jesuits, acknowledge IlOJt- England, note the proceedings at the Catholics as fellow Christians? Church Congress, held, a short time ago, at Great Yarmouth. The Arch- It may be interesting to note a few bishop of Canterbury himself took ocof the sentences of this "distinguished casion to warn the Church that its orator" to see how subtly he misrep- ministers "must distinguish between resented evangelical teaching: eternal truths, pious opinions and ven- erable customs." The Bishop of Nor- "In that open rebellion against the wich followed in a very notable ad- Church, some four centuries ago, the dress, emphasizing that suggestion by watchword of those against the Church the declaration that a Church, dependwas 'Justification by faith.' The leader ing for its support upon the love and in that revolt went so far 'as to say that devotion of the people, is sure to be faith was alone necessary for justifica- more prosperous than one supported tion. 'Sin as much as you like,' he said, by the State. Without directly advo- 'but keep your faith strong and sufficient. cating disestablishment, he pleaded so Does not Christ say, "He that believeth strongly for the "free and democratic" shal! be saved and he that believeth not Church that even the London Times shall be damned?'" felt moved to protest. Rev. Hubert Handley did not hesitate to demand. "From one extreme they have passed that the bishops should abandon their to the other. Now they say, 'Faith is palaces and divide the revenues! Exnot important. Not only that, but it is treme socialistic or democratic ideas unnecessary. Less creeds and more are not likely to find deep root in the deeds. Try to be a good, industrious, soil of the Church of England. But, honest, sober man; be a good moral both in Parliament and in the ecclecitizen and your salvation is secure.' siastical realm, the thought of the Four hundred years ago 'faith' was working man's rights and needs is everything and 'works' was nothing. coming resistlessly to the front. The Now 'works' has come to be everything Gospel is democratic, and its mission and 'faith' is nothing. But the unchan- is to bring all men into a new brotherging Church, the Catholic Church, has hood, and movements in that direction steadfastly kept them both and preached are among the signs of the times. them both: First, have faith; second, practise faithfully to the end all that God At the Oxford Union recently, the commanded us." debating hall was crowded to consider the motion, "That disestablishment THE DRIFT TOWARD DlSESTAB. would be disastrous to the Church and LISHMENT to the nation." After speeches by vari- ous ones, it was significant that the This is unquestionable, even in motion was lost by ten votes, 260 vo- Britain, where, owing to the modified ting for and 270 against. control of a State Church, the rule of an established form of religious creed and worship has not been so oppressive. Two marked currents are to be seen, both moving in one direction: first, the rapid and startling growth of the free churches, or dissenting bodies, now already becoming
LORD'S CALL FOR
EDITORIAL Curse ye ~leroz, said the angel of the 2'.leroz must have been near the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants Kishon, but its real site is unknown, thereof; because they came not to the that mentioned by Eusibius being too help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord far south. Schwarz more probably against the mighty.-Judgcs 5: 23.
These words are from the Song of identifies it with .l1erasas, or EI Mu- Deborah, which for poetic spirit and russus, which was built on the south- lyric fire is unsurpassed in any of the ern slopes of the hills which lie along sacred songs of the Word of God, and the side of the vaHey that stretches be- which celebrated one of the "fifteen tween the plain of Jezreel and the decisive battles" of Israelitish his- Jordan. If so, this town commanded tory. From the last verse of the pre- the pass, and any of Sisera's host who vious chapter we get a hint of the im- sought to escape that way might have portance of this victory over Sisera been slain, had the inhabitants of and his host. From this time, the :Meraz been on the alert. It is con- power of the children of Israel waxed firmatory evidence of this latter as the greater and greater. This beginning of true site, that nothing remains but a successful resistance to J abin found complete ruin, as though the curse had its ending in the recovery of their in- swept the village entirely away.
dependence and the final breaking of Jewish tradition attaches great im- the Canaanite yoke. We hear no more portance and significance to this curse.
of this foreign domination in the Book lIeroz means secret, and is supposed of Judges. to contain an occult hint of a conspir- This war then marked a crisis-a acy of evil angels as leading on the crisis successfully passed. But there accursed Canaanites. But the vital were some who, instead of sharing the point is the practical one, that the fly- blessing of this victory, brought upon ing foe could not have escaped themselves the curse of Jehovah for through this mountain pass, had the their apathy and inactivity. The in- Merozites clone their duty. They, at habitants of Meraz-which according a momentous crisis in Hebrew history, to Eusebius, was a village twelve miles took no part in a campaign that Jefrom Samaria, and in his day kno~vn hovah meant as one of the turning as Merrus or Merran-hung back and points in the career of His elect peo- gave no help in the hour of conflict, ple. Whatever victory had been won, notwithstanding the call of Jehovah was won despite their indifference, not through the mouth of his prophet, to say without their aid; and, an in- summoning His covenant people to spired prophetess, not in any spirit of rally to His side against the uncove- private revenge, but in jealousy for nanted idolaters of Canaan. The de- Jehovah and in the spirit of corporate nunciation of this faintheartedness is vengeance-not vindictively, but vin- made to form a pendant to the bless- dicatively, solemnly pronounces a di- ing proclaimed on the prompt action vine curse on the people of Meroz. It of a woman, who might have been ex- it a national ban against faithless citi- pected rather to be one of the faint- zens of the commonwealth, who left hearted. the cause and conquest of Jehovah's
people, to take care of themselves, of His people in the day of battle, is when endangered in a desperate con- not to come to His help. He identifEct against heroes. fies Himself with His people, and takes whatever is or is not done to them as There is a great, eternal principle done or not done to Him. To withinvolved here of perpetual applica- hold from his warring battalions aid tion: The greater the opportunity, the and comfort, is to prove disloyal, cowmore awful the responsibility, and the ardly and treacherous toward their severer the penalty for unfaithfulness. general-in-chief. Thus read, this curse There are times when non-assistance on Meroz teaches us the duty of the is counted as resistance; and, because universal union of His church in batthe cause to be served is the highest, tle against a common foe, the granthe treason that abandons it to its fate deur of the opportunity of cooperating is the blackest. It is in the full view at a crisis, and the terrible consequenof such larger considerations as these ces of inactivity and apathy. that this curse with its consequences is to be weighed and judged. Meroz, A still more startling suggestion is from this point completely disappears that sometimes a nation, a denominafrom the sacred narrative; even Sisera tion or even a local church""'::"is it too is repeatedly referred to, after his de- much to add, in some cases, an indistruction, but even the name of the vidual man or woman ?-may hold the treacherous Meroz is no more mentioned, and its site is marked only by pass, upon the guarding of which dea scarcely distinguishable ruin. pends the victory or defeat of the war- If we mistake not this is meant as ring host of God! Mission history, a lasting warning to God's people especially since Carey's day, has furabout the danger of not cooperating nished not less than fifty critical fields with Him at crises in His Kingdom. of conflict, and we may even say, hours of struggle, when a timely in- These crises are perpetually recur- terposition either turned the whole tide ring. In the battle of the ages, and of battle, or might have changed the the world wide campaign, there are issue from defeat to victory. Many of a thousand strategic points, and count- these golden opportunities have been less maneuvers of the enemy. There lost. The inhabitants of Meroz have is no hope of success without being not come up to the help of the Lord constantly on the alert. We can not against the valiant and heroic foes that on account of signal victory at anyone shame us by their alertness and courpoint, relax vigilance and diligence at age and persistency. any other. We must, collectively as well as individually, put on the pan" The prompt action of American oply of God and then pray always Christians in r82O, in sending Bingand watch constantly. (Eph. vi: 10- ham, Thurston, and the others of that 20) . We shall otherwise not only fail famous "seventeen," to the Hawaiian in an emergency, but will fail to see Islands, saved the islands from-no the crisis till it has passed by and the one knows 'what-for they had just chance is lost, at least for us. be~n the scene of one of the most re- markable revolts from paganism God teaches us, moreover, that sig- known in all history. The ptlople had nal lesson that not to rally to the side risen up against the tyranny of the
LORD'S CALL FOR HELP
tabu, destroyed their idols and idol heedlessness of opportunity! Who fanes, and were for the time without can tell how the whole face of Siam a religion, Four years later a move- might have been changed religiously, ment, led by their chiefs recognized the if, ten years ago, the Presbyterians of Sabbath and Decalogue, and in an- America had entered fu!!y the open other four years there were nearly five doors which never have been so widely hundred native teachers and twenty- flung open since! In the days of Boon six thousand pupils connected with Itt what possibilities lay before the the mission schools. Ten years more Church, now lost by his death! Dr. and a six years of awakening began, Kumm has been vainly imploring the with a harvest of converts that gath- Church to occupy the Sudan, with its ered in twenty-seven thousand. What hundred lands and hundred languages, if, eighteen years before, the American all non-Christian, and longing for the Board had been practically another advent of Christian teachers-but in Meroz! danger of damnation by the Moslems. He says the Hausa language, the great Crises in Uganda. Siam and Korea trade dialect of the central and west- ern Sudan, more or less the vehicle This may stand as a memorable ex- of communication from the Mediterample of alertness in seizing oppor- ranean to the Gulf of Guinea, and tunity. Another historic one is the Im- from Madai to the Senegal, offers a mediate occupation of Uganda by the ready medium for evangelization. Church Missionary Society. When, in Here are openings before the Chris- 1875, Stanley"s letter appeared in an tian Church, such as have never been English newspaper, conveying King known there before, and the disciples Mtesa's urgent request for teachers, a of Christ who hold the pass are asleep! party of missionaries was dispatched A country, larger than all Europe, exthat landed in East Africa the next cepting Russia-and with from fifty year; and altho the leader and one to eighty million. people, waits for the other of the heroic band were killed evangelist and will welcome him; yet there are almost no missionaries almost at once, the mission was eS- among these heathen tribes, and the twelve mission stations now in the tablished by July, 1877. Their arrival country are so far apart that it is as decided the destiny of the Baganda tho in all Sweden and Norway people, among whom the Gospel has there were buf three preaching stahad a steady progress that has proba- tions and none in either England or bly on the whole but one parallel in Ireland, France or Germany, Holland modern missions. And ·so marvellous or Belgium! While the Church is and obvious has been the crisis there apathetic, the Moslem advance is so that, within a few years past, leading rapid, that within one generation the missionaries in India sent word home green flag may wave over all this terthat, in view of the astonishing de- ritory, unless we hasten to set up the velopments in Uganda, missionary red banner of the Cross! What about candidates should be sent there for the the curse of Meroz ! time rather than even to India! Korea presents another opportunity. But if timely action has, in some such cases, brought such untold blessing, what of the melancholy and manifold instances of unfaithfulness, and
Shall it be seized or lost? It is called terians to reenforce with at least ChQ-sen (morning calm). It is pos- twenty more missionaries their work sibly in another sense God's ch"sen in that land. He says that in his opinland? John Ross was on the alert. In ion and that of his fellow workers, 1875 he came into contact with this no such crisis has even arisen before. hermit people near the Manchurean The progress of Christianity is unborder. He felt that the opportunity precedently rapid. Native churches, was great, and altho he had never instead of appealing for foreign aid set foot on Korean soil, at Mukden are becoming self-supporting, selfhe studied this strange tongue, trans- governing, self-propagating. There is lated into it the whole New Testament an astonishing revival spirit and evanand sent his new version across the gelistic zeal. Converts are gathering border. The results were immense. by scores and hundreds. Self deny- When, later on, Dr. Horace N. Allen, ing giving is developing in a unique in 1884, came into Korea, they found fashion; volunteers offer for work whole communities in the north pro- among the unsaved, men who have litfessing Christianity, studying the Bi- tle money to give pledging days of ble among themselves and waiting, like service, till the aggregate in one conthe Ethiopian, for "some man to gregation was several years of such guide" them. direct effort. The conditions seem primitive and apostolic-the arousing The first Korean was baptized 111 of a whole people-a hunger for the 1886, and from the very beginning, Gospel-simplicity of faith and piety through these twenty years, progress -readiness to serve and suffer-unihas been steady and rapid, until now it versal and self denying giving, and a bids fair to leave behind even the coustant and rapid conquest by the Uganda and the Telugus. Korea is Gospel. Sisera is in flight. The Presnot only wide open, but the encourage- byterian Church holds at least one of ments remind us of the Hawaiian Isl- the passes. Will it prove another ands eighty years ago. The Emperor Meroz? We believe not and are has acted as the open friend of informed that its Mission Board is Protestant missionaries, and while, planning to give Korea just what the some years since, he destroyed thirty missionaries ask, a score of new misheathen temples in and about Seoul, sionary workers with appropriations and officially deplored the annual multiplied threefold. Will not God waste of money at idol shrines, gave bless such cooperation? Christian churches and schools and hospitals ample room. A Korean One great inducement to largeleader has said that the only hope of hearted effort is found in the fact that the country is in the churches; that God is calling out all His reserves. his people lack moral character, and This is not as clearly seen as it ought the churches are supplying it, and to be. When, in a great campaign, hence to convert and educate the com- a gen,~ral in chief begins to mass all mon people is the one hope of Korea. his forces, concentrating all his scat- tered regiments and army divisions to- Dr. Horace G. Underwood, since ward one point, as Grant did in the 1885 a missionary in Korea, is now close of the war, we infer that the in America, to plead with the Presby-
AMERICANS SPEND THEIR
"The Signs of the T imes" presents th e accompanying striking co ntras t for Christian Am ericans to consider. So long as present condi tions exist, so lon g as hun dreds of millio ns in heathen lands have not yet been given the Gospel, we, as stewards of our L ord's m oney, are not entitled t o waste it on the unn eces- sary or ha rmful extravagances of life. Th ere are more than 400,000,000 of Chin ese in the dark- ness of sin and d eath; mor e than 300,000,000 in India dyin g for want of the Brea d of Li fe; more th a n 155,000,000 in th e "Dark Co ntinen t; " more than 46,000,000 in J ap a n; m o re than 92,000,000 in the o ther countries of Asia (exclusive of China, India, Japan and Malaysia); over 44,000,000 of Ma lays; m o re than 37,000,000 in the " N eglected Con- tinent" o f South America; m o re than 500,000 in the islands of Oceanica, nearly all of whom know not Jesus Christ as Savior fo r this life a nd the life beyond. A total of m ore th an 1,000,000,000 are dying for wan t o f the Bread of Life! Over against this the population of th e United States last year spent the eno rmous sums indicated for intoxicating liquors, tobacco, army and navy, confec- tionery, etc., the amounts being figured on the basis of th e retail instead of th e wholesale trade. If we deduct 20,000,000 fr om our population as the number who do not indulge in these llnnec essa ri es, stich as small chil- dren, paupers and the aged, the r em a ining 60;000,000 av er- age $58 per year each O il the se lfish pleasures of lif e, while the same number av- erage but tw elve and one- half cents each year on foreign missions. Is it not time for each one to ask himself, " H ow do I spend my money?"
THE LORD'S CALL FOR HELP
great culminating blow is about to be issues are more vital and actual; that struck. So we can not but believe that there is no time to be lost and no the Armageddon of missions is at hand, force to be wasted, and that every because the captain of our salvation man, woman and child are needed, has for seventy years been calling out and expected to do their duty. No all His reserves. one knows but that he holds the pass For centuries, all the organized mis- -that his activity or apathy may de- sion work done was carried on by the cide some great issue~ as the prompt- help of men-adult men in the church. ness of Matilda Rankin, in 1852, When the new era opened under smuggled the Bible into Mexico, from Carey, it took forty years before wo- Brownsville on the Texas side of the men began to organize. David Abeel Rio Grande, somewhat as Dr. Ross told in England of the hundreds of carried them into Korea from Man- women in Oriental seclusion whom churia.
only Christian women could reach; These are critical times. What it and Zenana missions began; it was took a century to do in the ancient the first time the Christian sisterhood ages, afterward could be done in a had come out distinctly to take part decade. When the possibilities of in the war. About ten years later, achievement were so increased that' a George Williams led out the young year was like ten of the past; then men into associated work for Christ; days became epochs, and now hours shortly after the young women began have become big with possible tri- to organize. Still later the young peo- umphs or defeats. All nations are ple, as a whole, in the societies for neighbors. The universal postal, com- Christian Endeavor; and, since 1886, mercial, telegraphic systems bring the the Student Volunteers. So. since nations to our doors. The printing 1835, God has called out the women's press and the new motive powers Battalion, then the ;'oung men's, then make Bibles and books multiply and the young women's; then a still lar- cheapen like forest leaves. It is the ger division of young people as such, decisive hour of the ages. Whether with even boys' and girls' brigades. the Church or her foes shall flee de- He has nothing left but the cradle pends on how we are to organize all roll, and even that is being called. our available forces, and hold the pass.
What does all this mean but that the But one thing is sure: the curse must foe is growing more active and ag- light on all who, like the inhabitants gressive; that the crises of battle are of Meroz, fail to make a stand against more decisive and critical; that the the powers of darkness.
KOREAN· WOMEN AND CHILDREN
KOREA: THE UNIQUE MISSION FIELD BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS Editorial staff of the Philadelphia Press Gradually the truth is sinking into festly an extraordinary instance of the the consciousness of Christendom that special workings of a supernatural Korea is not like other mission fi~lds, Spirit. Some aspects of Korea's misand that the urgency of her claim is sionary history may be accounted for not simply another of the vig- by the sagacity and farsightedness of orous appeals from foreign fields to Moffett and Lee and Gale and L'nderwhich the ears of the Churches have wood, those statesmanlike empirebecome sadly dulled. Korea is unique builders. Even tho they, and the likeamong mission lands to-day; it may be minded men and women who have questioned whether her case has ever come after them (for the Korean mishad a parallel in missionary history.. sions, both Presbyterian and Metho- dist, have an unusual personnel), be My own experience has been akin credited with ti.!l that can be attributed to that of all other travelers in the to them, there remains a great surplus East who have observed missionary of marvelous achievement which can conditions. After a year of rather be accounted for only by charging it thorough investigation into the mis- up to the still-working Spirit of the sion work of the Orient, I have re- Omnipotent God. turned an enthusiast for Korea. No other work appeared to me comparable Others may go into the history of with the Korean work. This is mani- Korean missions, and recite those
I908] KOREA: THE UNIQUE MISSION FIELD
moving statistics. My part is to tell believers. When she learned that you a plain tale of a traveler returned. are, she insisted on coming back again What I saw was learned in a sojourn to tell you how glad she is to meet of about one month in the cities of you." Fusan, Taiku, Seoul and Pyeng Yang, and itinerating among the country vil- This experience was frequently relages. Considerable time was also peated. At the famous mid-week given to investigating political as well prayer-meeting in the Central Presas religious conditions, interviewing byterian Church of Pyeng Yang, there Marquis Ito, and lesser Japanese offi- were twelve hundred worshippers. cials, and the non-missionary body of seated on the floor. The larger wing foreigners in Seoul. of the building was filled with men, the women* occupying the other, while THE CHRISTIAN WORKERS TRATNING CLASS IN PYENG YANG, KOREA This class in the Presbyterian Mission alone now numbers over 2',000 On our arrival in Seoul, we called the boys-beautiful, olive-skinned lads at the home of a missionary friend -who reminded one of that other and found there, calling at the same Oriental Boy who loved his Father's time, an "old Korean peasant woman, house-were crowded up in front who had walked in several miles from and" even on the edges of the platthe country to plead with the over- form. Apart altogether from its picworked missionary to come visit her vil- turesqueness in a visitor's eyes, that lage. Her errand was, I fear, as fruit- was the most interesting Church conless, as it had been on previous occa- gregation I ever have seen. Alert, sions. After this quaint, shining-faced devout, radiant, they were an arguold figure had left the room, she re- ment for "old-time religion." turned, our hostess explaining. "This old woman asked me, when we got out At the close of the service the men into the hallway, if my friends are • They had to leave their bushel-basket hats out- side-.which practise might profitably be adopted in Amenca.
thronged to greet me, not because of person is a Christian links him in vital what I had said, but for the reason bonds to all other Christians. I was that I had been introduced as a Pres- going along a country road-the narbyterian elder, the highest office row "highway" of the Orient, which known in the native Church up to that illuminates the parable of the sowertime. A Presbyterian elder is proba- when I saw a young coolie coming bly more of a personage in the eyes toward me bearing two eight or tenof these sequestered, newspaperJess foot lengths of timber, of teJegraphpeople, than many of the celebrities pole thickness: the Koreans, be it whose names fill our public press. The known, are the most heavily laden peogreeting of the Koreans is distinctive. ple on earth. Their burdens are ter- No Orientals shake hands: the Ko- rific. As this youth advanced, his face rean does not even shake his own began to break up into a smile of hands, Chinese fashion. Instead, he recognition, until it was beaming radiclasps you by the wrist, the hand, the antly. Of course I perceived that here arm, the shoulder, and by the pressure was somebody who had seen me with of his fingers shows his pleasure. That the "moksa," or had heard me speak night so many hands were laid upon at the little church near by, and thereme, in genuine and enthusiastic ex- fore regarded me as a sort of missionpression of pleasure at meeting with ary-in-law. So I responded with the a fellow disciple from over seas, that I Korean word for "Peace ;" and as he thought I would find bruised spots on drew nearer, he shifted his load from my body! his shoulders, squeezed my arm and wished me peace. For a few minutes The next morning we left Pyeng we fellowshiped there, he not knowing Yang before daylight. The railway a word of English and I not knowing station is built three miles from the six words of Korean. But I had opcity proper. The morning was so bit- portunity to consider once more that terly cold that it hung icicles from the here again, in an overburdened Komen's mustaches. Nevertheless, so rean peasant's face shone "The light strong is the spirit of fraternity among that never was, on land or sea"-put the Korean Christians, that nine of the there by the Gospel of Jesus. elders of that church were on hand at the station, to bid me go on my way These Koreans seem to have a in peace. The incident is worthy of genius for Christianity. They grasp the attention of all preachers and it with a comprehension, and a comspeakers who have been addressing prehensiveness, that amazes the mislarge bodies of Christians, and who sionary. Repeatedly I was told that know what it is to sneak out of a the New Testament passages which strange town, alone, unnoticed and un- perplexed the foreign teacher were missed, in the cold gray dawn of the clear to his hearers. I myself could see day after. how wondrously this land, so like Palestine, explains the Book. I never Another incident shows how sim- felt so near to Bethlehem as when I ple is the faith and fellowship of these slept, in country Korean fashion, unwhite-robed saints. To them the tie der the same roof with the cattleof our common religion is the strong- aiiho in a different room. est tie of life. The mere fact that a
KOREA: THE UNIQUE MISSION FIELD
To a degree that is remarkable, lage. The missionary and myself had Christianity becomes a normal thing to not unpacked our luggage upon our the Korean. The wholesomeness and arrival at nightfall before there came naturalness of the Korean type of re- an appeal from a village, some ten ligion are very refreshing. The con- Ii further on, for him to go over verts do not "look pious," nor does there to hold a meeting. The village the missionary have to go around had never been visited by a missionnursing his dignity. That company of ary; yet it contained a group of ten elders who escorted me to the train at believing families, evangelized by the Pyeng Yang were a merry, jovial, Church we were at the moment visitwhole-souled crowd; and, while the ing. Of course we could not go, any deep things were touched upon, we more than we could answer the many w. D. REYNOLDS HORACE G. UNDERVOQD JAMES S. GALE THE BOARD OF BIBLE TRANSLATORS IN KOREA AND THEIR ASSISTANTS also had more than one hearty laugh, other appeals that came to us from all once, I recall, at the expense of the sides during those few days of itineramissionary. Early one morning, while tion. In order to keep his engageitinerating, a smiling, red-coated lad ments with the Churches who had been of twelve, whose hair hung braided notified of his coming, the missionary down his back, showed me the way was unable to examine all the candito where the wild geese were feeding, dates for baptism who awaited him at that my borrowed gun might try to every appointment. earn its freightage. Two hours later the boy passed a yery creditable exam- And such examinations! I sat ination for baptism. through one for several hours, having questions and answers interpreted, UI1- How the aptitude of the Christian til the atmosphere became too thick Korean for personal evangelism shows for me, and the company too numeritself was illustrated in that same vil- ous-for there were more living or-
ganisms present than showed on the means of pres~rving the identity of the Korean people from extinction at the Church rolls. Into the little room, per- hands of the Japanese. The evident purpose of the latter, to wipe out the haps six by ten feet, there were Korean nation as the Ainus were wiped out, is manifestly doomed to failure, crowded (seated on the floor of because in a large body of Koreans the Christian religion has created a new course), the missionary, four elders, manhood and womanhood, a new self- respect, a new social consciousness, a the candidate, the journalist-and the new patriotism. A score of years ago Japan might have succeeded; to-day others, unseen, but not unfelt. I have she must fail. Altho now bitter is its process, the ultimate outcome of the sat in many session meetings, but Japanese regime will doubtless be ben- eficial. Japan is the flail for the never have I seen such close, search- threshing of Korea.
ing and difficult questioning of the Even this end, great tho it be, is scarcely the sufficient explanation for candidates. At first, it seemed to me the mighty demonstrations of the Liv- ing Spirit in this one-time "hermit entirely too severe, and I remonstrated kingdom." The opinion of many thoughtful missionaries all over the with the missionary; but he knew bet- Orient is that in Korea are being raised up, ~or that inevitable day ter than I, for they are determined to which now seems nearer than many have thought, when the East must evanhave a pure Church in Korea. If what gelize the East, a body of trained and efficient and consecrated preachers of I personally observed is typical, as I the Tord. The white man seems to be the chosen pioneer of the kingdom have reason to believe it is, then the in these days; but the way that he has blazed must be followed in the Orient Church in Korea has the narrowest by help of Oriental minds and man- ners and methods, who can have the door of all the Churches in the world. most sympathetic and effective ap- proach to their own neighbors. Who Apparently no missionaries in Korea dares to say that Korea-feeble, scorned and despised Korea-is not to are doing evangelistic work. They become, in the near future, the dom- inant force in the Far East, because seem r,ather to be getting nervous appointed to bear the message of life to all these people? prostration trying to keep up with the procession of native-made converts into the Church. Every Christian be- comes an evangelist. The homiletic gift seems instinctive. They are "born preachers." In devotion to the Bible the Korean Christians put the Churches at home to blush. How they will walk scores of miles to attend a Bible class is part of the familiar history of this romantic mission field. .
The question naturally arises, what is the deeper meaning of all this! How may the significance of Korea's ClJris- tianity be interpreted to the West?
For surely God has some great design in raising up, as by a miracle, this wonderful Church. He has not kept this nation sequestered for millenniums for no purpose. First of all, it seems plain that Christianity is to be the
COUNC I L OF PRESBYTERIAN MISSlONARlES IN
THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN KOREA BY REV. HORACE G. UNDERWOOD, D. D., SEOUL, KOREA The story of the Gospel in Korea- Gospel, have carried the good news for many years known as the "Hermit from home to home, from village to Nation"-has been most fascinating. village, all over the land, have pro- Prior to the terrible persecution under duced marvelous results. The activthe Tai Wun Kun, in the middle of ity of the native Christians, their genthe last century, the early history of erosity in giving of their hard-earned missionary progress under the Ro- means for the spread of the Gospel man Catholics reads almost like fic- in their own land and even in foreign tion. Dallet's History of the Korean lands; their earnest trust in God, and Church, and the story of the begin- in the power of prayer, are characternings of Protestant missions in the istics which the Church in America "Land of the Morning Cal!11" shows has looked upon with wonder and ada receptivity on the part of the Korean miration. people that should have led the church in America to reinforce the work marc The Koreans are said to be a phlegquickly and to push forward the cam- matic people, not given to showing paign with greater energy. signs of emotion, and yet hard-work- ing business men have been known to The willingness of these simple- we-=p as they heard the story of the minded people to hear the story of Cross and realized for the first time Christ, their natural hospitality and that the blood of Jesus Christ was the zeal with which those who have shed for them. Here and there some become convinced of the truth of the have been found who seemed to real-
ize, in an unusual way the burden of membership of the church, it was cer- guilt and the enormity of their own tain to produce this result.
sins against God, the greatest of which The awakening has given to Chris- they consider their failure to acknowl- tians a clearer idea of God and Christ edge Him, and the worship of idols. and of the human heart and sin, and But throughout all Korea there has had a marvellous purifying effect seemed to be a desire on the part of upon the whole Church. There were the native Christians and of the mis- those who scoffed, as there always will sionaries for a manifestation of the be, but when to these same scoffers presence of the Spirit with power. men came, confessing wrong doing This desire had long been in the hearts and made restitution, they were forced of the missionaries, but as the Koreans to acknowledge the reality of the read the story of Pentecost and stud- work. The most trusted native em- ied the Acts of the Apostles, they ployee of a certain foreign merchant were aroused to question whether the had been a Christian for several years, presence of the Spirit might not be and at the time of the revival was manifested in Korea with power like led to see that he had not lived up to that described in the Apostolic days. the teachings of Christ. This man In one church, after an earnest dis- went to his employer and restored al- cussion by the elder and the people, most a thousand dollars, which he said they set apart a season of prayer to he had stolen before the time of his last ten days and "to try and see" conversion. Such facts as these are whether God would grant the outpour- irrefutable.
ing of His Spirit. When the elder While in most mission fields the heard their decision he told them that missionaries are seeking openings and those two words "try" and "see," to- are pushing the work, here in Korea gether with the ten day limit, were the work has been steadily pushing the sufficient to bring failure. They might missionary, until at the present time well have the prayer-meeting for ten it is beyond his power to control and days, but they must not try the Lord, grasp it all or to take advantage of their God. This incident shows a real the many opportunities offered.
desire for the real outpouring of the In the Presbyterian Church alone, Spirit. between June, 1906, and June, 1907, Early in 1906 the report spread of the communicants increased from 12,- the marvellous revival that was visit- 546 to 15,079; an increase of 20 per ing this little land, and it was soon cent. The adherents in 1906 num- seen that this was not so much a re- bered 44,587 and in 1907, 59,787, an vival outside of the church, drawing increase of 15,200, or 34 per cent.
non-Christians, as a revival inside, The schools in connection with these purifying the hearts and lives of the churches, which numbered 208 in people, making them realize better the June, 1906, increased to 344 in June, enormity of sin in God's sight, and r907, during the same period, and the causing them to strive even more scholars increased from 3,456 to 7,504, earnestly for the conversion of their or 72 per cent. The Church is ex- neighbors. While the result of this tremely active so that the places of revival was not, therefore, an imme- regular meeting have grown from 628 diate increase in the number of the to 767 in the one year, and the con·
THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN KOREA
tributions increased from $27>418.89 land, which is about equal in area and to $4o,088.48-or nearly double. population to the states of New York and Pennsylvania, we are led to think The reports from the two Methodist of what might be done if the forces churches now working in Korea show there had been properly increased. The attitude of the people generally Native communicant member s… 5,858 throughout the whole country is fav- Probationers ……………….. 22,595 orable to the Gospel, and there is Adherents ………………… 44,61 I placed before the American Church Churches over ………………. 400 to-day a nation that, as :!'-1r. Mott says, Contributions over ………. . …$12,000 "can be Christianized in this genera- tion, if the Church will but take ad- Twenty years ago, (in December, vantage of the opportunity." 1887 ), the first communion service for Koreans was administered in Seoul, and all the Christians in the county were present, seven in all. Last year OXE OF THE NATIV~ PRO TESTAN T COUNTRY- CHURCHES IN KOREA (1907), the sacrament was observcd In view of the great opportunity and in over one thousand churches belong- responsibility that face s the Church ing to three denominations with 20,- the Presbyterian Board of Foreign 937 believers.* Missions has decided upon an unpre- cedented action. The five missionaries This work, with its earnest, active from Korea now in America are aumembership, places before the Chris- thorized to make special efforts to find tian Church in America a wonderful twenty new men and to raise sufficient opportunity of winning a nation for money (estimated at $229,540), to Christ. properly conduct the present work. The time is ripe for the winning of vVhen we consider the compara- Korea for the Kingdom of Christ. tively few Christian workers in that The question before the Church in America is "That will she do about *It is regretable that the figures at our it ?" disposal are only those of the three denominations, a nd if we desire to consider all the work in Korea, these figures would be very largely increased.
LETTER FROM DR, SAMUEL A MOFFETT In the Central Presbyterian Church service which was held in September. we are still struggling with the prob- All four of the churches have comlem of how to accommodate the con- manding sites and are so located as gregation. A separate service for wo- to touch the entire city. One more men in the morning with from 800 to church to the west is now needed to 1,000 in attendance and a service for relieve the congestion at the Central men only in the afternoon with from Church. What we shall do when all 1,200 to 1,500 in attendance is so far five of the churches are crowded we the only way in which to meet the do not yet know.
THE SEVEN FIRST ORDAIN ED KOREAN PASTORS O.L· THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH situation. We must have another The Academy and College opened church but the last two sent off have with some 450 pupils enrolled and the not yet fully completed their build- buildings are taxed to the uttermost ings. capacity. New buildings are impera- tively needed. The school for wo- I was rejoiced upon my return from men and girls opened also with 135 America to find the South Gate enrolled-everything crowded. The Church completed, with ca,pacity for new building for training classes and some 750 people, the North Church girls' school is now under way but nearly finished, seating 450 and the will not nearly meet the needs for new or Fourth Church with its first the developing school and so it is wing, capable of seating about 800 hoped to secure another gift for the people, just about ready for the first
EDUCATION IN KOREA
girls' school allowing the present contributed for all purposes last year plant to be used for the training yen 94,227 ($47,113.50). classes and other work for women which under Miss Best's direction is Presbytery granted permission for now assuming such proportions as to Mr. Kil San Chu to accept the call need all the present equipment. Last of the Central Church, Pyeng Yang, year was the best. This year will cer- and provided for his installation. The tainly be the best. other ordained men-except one- were appointed as pastors or co-pas- The Korean Presbyterian Church tors over groups of churches until the was organized on September 17, 1907, next meeting of Presbytery. In the case in accordance with the authority given of one man the Presbytery took what by the General Assemblies of the four is perhaps the most significant action Presbyterian churches whose missions of its session. One of the seven men were united in the missionary council. ordained, Yi Ki Poung, was set aside as missionary to the island of Quel- The Presbytery, in its first meeting part and the whole Church was asked after the ordination of the first seven to provide the means for sending him ordained native clergymen, consisted there with the Gospel. He and his of 32 foreign missionaries and 40 wife, with one or more helpers, are to Korean ministers and elders. Presby- go to the people of that island and tery has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over proclaim the Gospel and establish the a Church with 17,890 .communicants, Church. Sixteen years ago, this man 21,482 catechumens, 38 fully organ- stoned me on the streets of Pyeng ized churches, 984 churches not all Yang; now he· goes forth as the first fully organized, adherents numbering missionary of the Presbyterian Church 69,098, and day schools 402, with 8,61 I of Korea. pupils under instruction. This Church EDUCATION IN KOREA REV. ERNEST F. HALL It has been said by some that the has been an important factor in awak- Koreans do not desire a modern edu- ening the desire for up-to-date schools, cation. So long as they remained a and it is no wonder that wherever a hermit nation, with no wish to min- church is planted there follows the gle in the affairs of the great world school. The people are awake from outside, such a statement might have their sleep of centuries, and realize some degree of truth, for hermit na- that if they are to take their rightful tions and hermit individuals lack the place in the world's activities they stimulus to educational progress. But must be trained to respond to new that condition is now out of date, as demands. The Chinese classics do not the following facts clearly prove. satisfy the cravings of the soul, nor do they give equipment for the bus- The progress of Christianity and the iness that the nation must perform. rapid development oC the native Fathers and mothers are asking for church, demanding trained leaders,
their children what was denied them, knowledge of several thousand Chiand they are making noble sacrifices nese characters and the study of the to that end. teachings of Confucius and Mencius. For twenty years the Emperor has Political changes in recent years patronized a school in Seoul conducted which have resulted in wresting from after modern methods by American Korea her independence, have also and English teachers, but no effort made her realize that "Knowledge is had been made to give Korean youth power," and that she has lacked the in general a thorough education until knowledge of the things which has mission work developed in that line. given to other nations the might to A CLASS IN THE 'PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR BOYS, SYEN CHUN, KOREA humiliate her before the world. Hence It must not be inferred, however, it results that "righteousness, which that the study of Chinese characters exalteth a nation," and which has and classics does not educate. While been at work within, and ambitious it does not give the varied information conquest, which has been at work that can be obtained in Western from without, have combined to schools, the mental discipline which arouse the Koreans to an intense de- results in developing the memory and termination that they shall know what concentration of thought is a valuable the great nations know. educational process, and prepares the mind by exercising the faculties which Not until the present century has must be developed in order to receive there developed any modern school and utilize information. There is a system in Korea. The Koreans have large class of men in Korea who have been imitators of the Chinese, and been thus developed mentally, and adopted their educational methods, who are keen to make use of all kinds which consisted in the acquiring of a
of knowledge. Thus it will be seen of an academy for boys at Pyeng that the native schools have kept the Yang" has become a full-fledged acad- Korean mind alert, and we have not emy with 355 students. The princito deal with a people unaccustomed pal said last spring, that if there were to thinking. sufficient teachers and equipment they could easily have a thousand students, "Schools are mostly in the elemen- for a great many are refused admittary stage. The demand for education tance because they can not be cared is coming." These words, taken from For. the report of the Presbyterian Mission in Korea in 1900, are interesting when In 1902, the mission schools num- PART OF THE G[RLS~ SCHOOL AT SYEN CHUN, KOREA viewed in connection with the report bered 66, and the students 1,08'2. which has recently come to hand con- There was a rapid increase each year cerning the work of the past years, for the next four years, when, in 1906, which shows that the same mission the schools numbered 208, and the stunow has 344 primary schools with an dents, 4,356. During the past year attendance of 6,099 boys and 1,083 the increase has been phenomenal, the girls. The report of 1900 said, "There number of schools increasing by 136, is a small boarding school for girls or 65 per cent, and the number of stuat Seoul, and the nucleus of an acad- dents increasing by 3,148, or 72 per emy for boys at Pyeng Yang." The cent, making the total number of prireport of 1907 shows that the mission mary schools 344, high schools 13, and conducts 13 boarding and high schools, the total number of students 7,504. where 603 young men and 146 young women are studying. The "nucleus In addition to this IS young men have been pursuing college studies and 72
have attended the' theological school. to confine the training to such sub- The latest figures of the other missions jects, but to give a broad training such have not come to hand, but they will as will fit men and women for every considerably swell the total educational walk of life. The curricula include statistics. These figures themselves the study of Chinese, which is the prove conclusively that the Koreans do official written language of China, want an education. Korea and Japan, the Japanese Ian- The intensity of their desire is guage, and English in some of the shown by their willingness to payout schools. Other modern and ancient of their poverty for educational privi- languages are not needed at present.
leges. Of the 344 primary schools The hospitals have young men and above mentioned, the natives entirely young women in training for physi- support 344, providing buildings, pay- • cians and nurses, who have already ingteachers' salaties and all running proven their ability in these lines, even expenses. The following incident to the successful performing of sur- which occurred in the Central Church gical operations. Industrial training in Pyeng Yang, June 26, 1906, still is an important factor in our acade- further illustrates the determination of mies, and it is hoped soon to begin the people, for the contributions were experimental farming, while a school made by the Koreans. "After pre- for the blind, model Korean homes senting the needs of and plant for a and normal institutes for teachers give college, a collection was taken. It some idea of the comprehensive scope was the most enthusiastic offering of the training.
ever witnessed in this city. Deeds of Enough progress has been made to lands and houses, offerings of money show that the Koreans have great ca- and rings, and promises to pay speci- pacity as students along all lines, and fied sums each year for a period or the experimental stage is passed. The for life, all followed one another in Koreans should be judged by the same rapid succession for three hours, re- standard by which America wishes to suIting in a total offering of more than be judged-its citizens of intelligence $2,000." and moral force, not its coolies and It has been the policy of the mis- vagabonds. They have capacity, let sion to give a Christian education, us give them our support. Although hence the study of the Bible is one they are doing nobly to help them- of the required subjects in all the selves, they are poor and need friends schools, and the educational system to assist them. Will not some who also includes Bible institutes for the read these pages respond at once to church in general, and training classes help maintain Korea's higher institu- for leaders along lines of practical tions of learning, and thus let her church work. Yet it is not intended enter into our heritage?
DOCTOR IN
A . ;1. SHARROCKS, M. D.
The first Protestant missionary to for a short time. She heard the Gos- Korea was a physician, and from that pel, was imprest, bought aNew day to this. the medical arm of the Testament and went to her home. work has been strong. It is less true She learned to read (as all new beof Korea than of some countries that lievers do) and then poured over her medicine is needed to pave the way for newly acquired treasure. She called THE SEVERANCE MISSION HOSP1TAL, SEOUL, KOREA the evangelist, for the Koreans accept in her neighbors and according to her the Gospel readily, and any and all own dim understanding explained it. missionaries have abundant entree to Soon the.re was a group of them meet- every class of people. It is true, how- ing every Sunday for study and ever, that the medical work has been prayer, and when the missionary was and still is a very powerful agency for passing through that region they asked the conversion of the people. In my him to enroll them as Christians. own practise I know of large numbers There is now a flourishing little of direct results, and not a few who church there. So far as the actual getting their first knowledge of the conversion of the heathen is concerned Gospel at the hospital have gone back I believe the medical worker in Korea . to their country homes and have been is as potent a factor as the clerical, the means of starting work in those for the latter's time is now mainly places. A definite case of this sort taken up with the already converted, was brought to my notice by a mis- admi~istering to the churches, while sionary from another station: A wo- the doctor still deals hand to hand man, of his territory, living in a with the raw heathen. There are, too, heathen village, was in our hospItal other reasons why the doctor is more
than an ornament to the mission. He One would wonder why a patient would is a necessity in each station to the submit to such barbarous treatment.
life and welfare of our missionaries. I wonder myself and yet, my friend, The Korea mission has never be- what would you do if you knew no lieved in the small one-man station. better and had no one to whom you From two or three to eight or nine could go with your trouble. Pain is families constitute a station. These a dreadful thing; fear of death is bad, are a valuable asset of the Board and but absolute suffering and the thought for their care a doctor should always of continuing in the same for a long be one member of the group. As the period with no relief is something we work grows new stations are opened of America know little of. There is and so new doctors become a necessity, no decent treatment in Korea, or was but while he is needed for the sake of none till a few Americans went there.
the missionaries, that is by no means So what was the sufferer to do? The a large part of his work. In each native doctor promises help, acquaint- station there is a hospital for the treat- ances who have recovered perhaps in ment of Koreans. In one of these spite of treatment in years past, urge hospitals the number of treatments re- him to take it. The pain drives hiro ported last year was 21,581, in an- to it, and thus it goes.
other, 12,730, in another, IO,143, and It is hard for us to imagine the so on. In all six of our institutions ignorance of the common Korean on a little over 60,000 for the year. matters that pertain to anatomy, phy- Korea is a country with no knowl- siology, hygiene, etc. He is not igno- edge of Western medicine and sur- rant along all lines for Korea has a gery. It is small wonder that when system of learning and according to "doctors from America first went there their own standards there are those the people expected little from them, who are called scholars, but medical but still less wonder that having knowledge is not in their system. Nor learned what the American can do, is the so-called doctor an exception.
they are crowding the hospitals and He knows the exact spot to strike a dispensaries. According to their ap- surface artery when he wants to bleed proved methods a broken bone or dis- a person, or the exact spot where a located joint is treated by sticking long needle may be inserted into a joint, needles similar to hat pins into the un- but why the blood he is letting comes fortunate part; indigestion or con- out in spurts, or what the joint looks sumption, by placing little pyramids of like inside he does 110t know. Post- dried, powdered herbs on the skin mortem examination or the dissection over the affected part, ignite it, and of the human body has never been grin and bear it, while it slowly burns thought of ane! would not be tolerated; away; or certain other affections, by so how could they know. A comment wrapping the naked patient in the skin on the style of education of their doc- of a calf or dog still warm and drip- tors may be most forcibly made by re- ping from the body of its first owner. lating what came under my own notice To sum up, the medical and surgical only a short time ago. A woman was treatment of the native doctor is of- in terrible suffering and in a condition times worse than the condition treated. that woule! probably soon prove fatal.
I908 J THE DOCTOR IN KOREA I09
Two or three Korean doctors were reans in Christian philanthropy. The called in, among them one whose fame hospitals are almost self-supporting, had spread far and wide and who was which means that the patients pay for looked upon as great in the profes- their medicine, etc., but they know that sion. Still the woman grew worse we are not there for money gain. The rather than better. They sent for me, poor are always treated although they but as I rarely go out to cases in the may not pay a penny, not only treated, country, I sent one of my assistants, but frequently fed and clothed as well. a young Korean. He went, understood From the side of philanthropy alone, the case at once, and did what was medical missions in a foreign country, MEDICAL STUDENTS IN THE MISSION AT SYEN CHUN, KOREA needed to the entire satisfaction of the where the modern theory- of medical whole household, and saved the patient. practise is unknown is most commend- The next morning he encountered this able. Remembering with that the exold doctor of local fame walking up ample of our Savior, his teaching, to and down the yard, saying, "What say nothing of his command as he does that young snip of a fellow know commissioned the Twelve, saying, about medicine, anyway! I prayed to "Go, preach, teach, saying, 'The Kingthe gods from the top of every moun- dom of Heaven is at hand,' heal the tain around here, and can it be that sick," etc. Medical missions rest on he has learned more in these few no uncertain foundation. years from that foreigner than I have through a long life from all the gods?" Caring for the missionaries, winning And he went away in a rage. friends among the natives and heal- ing tlleir many diseases are not the The medical man in Korea is a most only duties of the doctor in Korea. impressive object lesson to the Ko- Vie are ambitious to have our work
live after we pass away. No branch for some time and are a very valuable of our mission work in Korea is copy- element in the work. Without their righted. The clerical worker is rais- help the treating of so many patients ing up a native ministry to replace would be an impossibility. What the himself. The educator is educating training of these Korean doctors will those who will make our future facul- mean to the future Korea can hardly ties. So is the doctor training those be over estimated. who will be the future practitioners of Korea. We each have a class of the This is the work of your doCtors in brightest and best of the young men Korea. Our mission is in sore need available who are serving their ap- of two more such men and two mediprenticeship under us. In my own dis- cal plants, one at Chong J u, where pensary I have nine, all of whom are missionaries have already entered and not only Christians, but come from where a separate station will be opened Christian families. They are well-to- next fall, and one at Kang Kei, where do and that is a requirement for they the work simply demands the opening must be at their own expense, and not of a station as soon as the men can subject to the temptation to make their be assigned to that territory. The misown living at the expense of the drugs sion can do nothing without the round about them. They are also money. The Board can not grant the good students and quick of mind. appropriation unless it receives the Many of them have been with me now necessary gifts. 'What will the Ameri- can Christians do to supply the funds?
A TRAVELER'S IMPRESSIONS OF KOREAN MISSIONS BY REV. J. E. KITTRIDGE, D. D.
The quaint land of Korea made a The first impression that Korean distinct and dazzling impression on us missions made upon us was that of during our brief visit. The land and a phenomenal success. Think of it. people are of absorbing interest. Less You are invited to the regular picturesque than Japan, less massive Wednesday evening prayer-meeting of than China, it is in a way more attrac- the Pyeng Yang Central Presbyterian tive than either. Church and find yourself face to face with a congregation of over eleven In area and population, Korea is hundred eager men and women! This about equal to New York and New is the ordinary attendance, and there England, omitting Maine. Its range are four other prayer-meetings going of climate, as of latitude, is about the on at the same hour, so that the total same as that of our American coast attendance is about thirty-five hunline from Boston to Charleston. The dred. Such a scene as that would Korean folk, too, seem a trifle more thrill a Christian anywhere. We quite like ourselves than Chinese or Nip- appreciated the feelings of Mrs. Darponese. We seem to understand them win R. James who wrote home: HI think more easily than we understand their I was never quite so near heaven before neighbors, and learn to sympathize in my life." This is in Pyeng Yang, a with them more quickly.
A TRAVELER'S IMPRESSIONS OF KOREAN MISSIONS
city of less than sixty thousand, where rapidity, and in an ever-increasing eleven years ago there was not one progression. Nor is there need to an- Christian-now there are seven thou- ticipate any considerable reaction such sand. Korea has only a little over as occurred in the nineties in Japan.
two decades of mission history and The times, the conditions, the· spirit yet to-day her Protestant Christians of the people are altogether different.
number nearly 150,000. The progress With the principle: "every man a mis- has been wonderfully rapid, especially sionary," and with the particular kin- in the past three years. In the Pres- ship of the peoples and tongues byterian church last year there was an between the Korean and Chinese, advance of fifty per cent in the church this people may come to be a membership. mighty factor in the evangelization of A second impression is the solid the vast Empire of China. As one, basis of the work. This is not a mer- veteran missionary recently said:- curial people. Their mental caliber "Without doubt God means to use and stamina rank high, and there ap- this little nation in a wonderful way."
pears a surprising aptitude and sus- The urgency of the present hour ceptibility for Christianity. The Gos- mightily moves us. The entire East pel appeals peculiarly to the Korean. is astir. From the inland sea of Eu- His sense of personal sinfulness and rope to the inland sea of Japan there need is real and deep. The change is _a tremendous seething of thought, brought about by conversion is not a very revolution of ideas. This is in dress, nor in the structure of the portentous, as it is promising. The house, nor in the ordinary habits of world has seen no hour quite like it.
his life, but in the man. The condi- It challenges the Christian Church.
tions of church membership test the The Church of Christ must answer.
reality of his faith and purpose for And if there be any mission field in to be a Christian in Korea means bus- the world that supremely calls for in- iness, the business of life. It means stant and open-handed help it is Ko- the giving of time and strength and rea. The work crowds the workers money for the work of Christ. Some- until they are almost overwhelmed.
times a Korean gives a full third of It is flood-tide, and should be taken his income. Every man is practically at the flood. Postponement spells a missionary. There is something so peril. The moment for Korea is delightfully natural, too, about the NOW.
Christian life in Korea. It takes one The specific and immediate needs, refreshingly back to the apostolic which imprest us were: a fresh force days. A"gladder type of Christianity, of missionaries, say twenty or more; or Christian services more songful, good houses. to shelter them; and can scarcely be found anywhere else in equipment for higher educational in- the world. stitutions. Men are needed to super- There is splendid promise for the intend the evangelistic work, which future. There ought to be, and why the native pastors are doing now, and should there not be, a continuous and can do better than we. Collegiate,and steadily broadening spiritual life ? The theological schools are necessary, di- Korean Church ought to grow with rected by trained men.
A PART OF THE HARVEST-AN INTERIOR VIEW OF TABERNACLE ERECTED BY THE CHINESE CHRISTIANS IN
This tabernacle was filled with Christian Chinese during the recent Morrison Centenary celebration; all the people are standing
CHINA'S AWAKENING AND
BY REV. ROBERT F. FITCH, HANG CHOW, CHINA Missionary of the American Presbyterian Church, North China's history dates back through to all those traditions which had preforty-five centuries or more, and yet we served the race during centuries and . are unable to discover the time when had made possible its coherency and there was no trace of organized hu- greatness. man life. Even to-day, there are the descendants of aboriginal tribes to It is difficult to understand the huge whom the present written and spoken inertia which has hitherto resisted language of China was never indi- every effort to change the cobweb-covgenous. ered customs of China-an inertia that brought its evil as well as its These tribes were subjected to con- good. This obstructive conservatism stant invasions from the West and is shown in many ways. Northwest, and through these invasions, the population of the land was In the year 1877 a friend in comgradually increased. In the time of pany with a physician who was Confucius we are told that for a period of twelve years, he wandered brother to Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, through seventy-two kingdoms, seeking for a prince who would accept his started from H~nkow northward, to political teachings and his personal relieve an awful famine, that was deservice in the affairs of State. In the stroying many thousands of lives. Three Kingdom novel, one of the These two men carried credentials finest novels in Chinese literature, we from the Governor of Hankow, and have a description of life as it ex- wore Chinese clothes and queues. They isted in the third century of the Chris7 traveled by wheelbarrow, and took tian era, and at that time there were with them several thousand ounces of but three kingdoms. By constant in- silver. At night, they sought shelter vasions and internecine strife, the in the public inns, many of which were whole race was gradually unified po- thatched with straw, and exposed to litically, until at last there was formed the inclement weather on two sides. the one great Empire of China. The floors were of clay, and were oc- cupied not only by human beings, but It is interesting to note, that by .donkeys, cows, pigs, dogs and during the last twenty-four cen- chickens. When the travelers apturies, while there have been constant proached an inn, it was necessary for political and social changes, there has them to feign sleep, and to remain on been practically no change in the ethi- the wheelbarrow in a stiff, uncomfortcal ideals of the race. This has been able position throughout the night, in due to the dominant personality of order that the shape of their eyes Confucius, who taught the ideal of the might not betray their foreign extrac- Princely Man, an ideal to be attained tion and cause them to be refused adby a process of ethical self-culture. mittance to these wretched quarters. Loyalty to him was linked with loyalty As they went they met hundreds of men and women fleeing toward the south, and saw hundreds dead on the
highway. When the party arrived at The Reform Movement its destination, a large provincial cap- There were many things which con- ital, they saw scores of people dead tributed to bring a spirit of restless- on the streets, and even in the houses ness and aspiration into the race, but of the rich, men and women were ly- the reform movement gave to that ing about on floors, chairs and tables, spirit its most direct and powerful im- starved to death. It was necessary to petus. The founder was Dr. Timo- wait for several days for the reply thy Richar!i, a Welsh missionary, who from the Governor from whom per- devoted himself especially to work mission was expected to distribute re- among the upper classes, and to re- lief. In the meantime the literati and form literature. The Emperor and merchants of the city placed cartoons many of his most prominent advisers on the walls and temples of the city, were disciples of this movement and pen sketches and colored drawings, in when he was deposed by the Empress which the "foreign devils" were rep- Dowager, there were found in his resented as pouring poison into wells, room two books, one a copy of the violating women, disemboweling chil- New Testament, and the other a work dren, and indulging in many other on reform by Dr. Richard. So much cruel and devilish practises. At last was the Empress imprest with Dr.
when the reply from the Governor Richard's influence, that shortly after- came; it refused permission to distrib- ward she offered a price of ten thou- ute foreign relief, so that the party sand ounces of silver for his head.
was compelled to leave without being At the time of this coup-de-etat, able to help the perishing multitudes. Daen Dz Dong, one of the advisers to Their servant expressed a desire to the Emperor, fled with Kong Yu Wei, follow his new masters to Hankow, to Tientsin, where they expected to and to bring his son with him as he take the first British ship to Japan.
was a widower. The coolie, who had During the time of waiting, Daen Dz wheeled the "foreign devils" and Dong came to his companion with whose life had been saved by them, these remarkable words, "Kong Yu had been so influenced by the rumors VVei, you are the greatest literary gen- . and placards that he spread the re- ius of China to-day. It is your duty port that his masters proposed to kid- to flee to other lands, to study their nap a child. Thus the missionaries civilization and religious faiths and to were driven from the city, by a mob, write for the enlightenment of our who followed them with curses _and race. As for me, it is necessary that stones. I return to Peking, and submit my- The author of "Letters from a Chi- self to the assassin or to my Empress, nese Official" is not merely unfair in in order that the shedding of my giving only the bright side of the blood, and the use of your pen, may "huge inertia" of the Chinese, but he combine to arouse in our race a sense also fails to have a true faith in that of need for a higher life." Daen Dz race when he says that this "huge Dong returned to Peking, and was inertia" can never be stirred. That killed, but the shedding of his this view of the Chinese is false can blood and the publications from be proved by recent events. the pen _of Kong Yu Wei helped
CHINA'S AWAKENING AND CHRISTIANITY . I
to fulfill his prophecy. To-day the ment began, Russia had taken Port Empress herself is the leader in re- Arthur, the Germans had taken Kao- form and is devoted to those princi- chao, the Japanese had taken Forples of pr.ogress which she formerly mosa, the French had extended their conc1.emned. iVherever Dr. Richard territory in Annam, and the English goes, he is honored openly by the had taken Wei Hei Wei. The Boxer highest officials of the Empire, and is Movement was an attempt to drive often consulted on important affairs the foreigners out of China in order of'State. to regain this territory. The new mil- itary movement will not attempt to Among the political changes, are drive foreigners out of China, but by those that have to do with official life. civilized methods of warfare, will at- My merchant and official friends in a tempt to regain this territory, and ultilarge city in China, openly admitted mately we believe the attempt will that the Tao-Tai, (the highest official succeed. Moreover these Chinese there) received an annual Government scholars call upon the young men of salary of six hundred ounces of silver, China so. to arm themselves as that but that his actual income was thirty some day they may carry out the purthousand ounces, the difference being pose they once had, but to carry it made up largely by graft. In the out by reasonable methods, and if necyamen of the Tao-Tai there was a essary by recourse to war. small army of underlings, who received little or no pay for their ser- W u Ting Fang, the former Chinese vices, and whose income was made up minister to Washington, has, since his principally by blackmail. return to China, devoted himself to an alteration of the penal code of that Recently, while on a trip from land. In his lectures in America upon Tien Tsin to Shanghai, it was my Confucius and Christ he has often privilege to travel in company with given more credit to the former, but the new Tao-Tai for Hangchow. This in his actual work since his return man brought with him a small force to China, he has given the greater of foreign drilled men, with semi-for- credit to the latter, by adopting the eign uniforms, and he intended to use penal code of Christian nations. In this small force to displace the nnpaid front of the yamen of an official I army of yamen runners. He was bril- have seen a man enclosed in a wooden liant in conversation, could speak cage, in such an attitude as that he French, and seemed well acquainted had to stand on tiptoe. He was with the political affairs of Europe. clothed in rags, his teeth were chat- tering with the cold, the snow was The military movement in China, falling fast, and around him was gathwhich had been better developed under ered a group of men and women, the leadership of Viceroy Yuan Shih seemingly indifferent to his suffering. Kai than under any other man, has There he was condemned to stand, unfor its motive the same purpose as til he should starve or freeze to death. that which originated the Boxer movement. That purpose was to recover A salt smuggler had in his emsuch territory as had been wrongly ploy an oarsman, who had been taken from China by the Western hired for a single trip, and who Powers. Before the Boxer Move-
was innocent of the character of Dowager, in considering certain ten- his cargo. When the boat was tative propositions with Western pow- overtaken by custom-house officials, ers, telegraphed to various boards of the smuggler escaped, but the innocent commerce throughout the Empire for oarsman was taken as a substitute, their free criticism and it was freely according to the old penal code. No offered.
attempt was made to capture the The anti-footbinding movement, guilty man, but the innocent sufferer which was organized by missionaries, was kept in stocks for one year. He is now largely under the patronage of was fed thrice daily by a widowed the leading men of China, including mother, and he was finally released viceroys, governors, and tao-tais, as only through the payment of a bribe. well as the literati and merchants.
Though Wu Ting Fang has done a Educational Developmenf noble work, it will take several years before the new code will be actually in In Han-kow, Chang-chih-Tung has force throughout the Empire. But organized a large university with pro- the change is coming, and the marvel fessors from various Western nation- is that it is so rapid, not that it is so alities, and has a scheme of education slow. which begins in a number of kinder- Social Changes garten schools for little boys and girls.
We are accustomed to think of the In the heart of the city he has a large Chinese as wearing loose flowing gar- hall, in which maps, charts, physical ments and long flowing sleeves. But apparatus, and physiological models, as the result of Western influences, as well as skeletons of all kinds are men, in the ports of China, are wear- displayed. In fact what is shown ing clothes more fitting than our own. there, a few months previous, would When the writer was on a special have started a riot in nine out of ten mission to the Chinese students, in cities of China. In the hall there is 1906, about ninety-five per cent of the also a large display of new text books, students had cut their queues. Since based upon Western methods of edu- that time in China itself thousands of cation, and the place is visited by the young men have done the same.. The literati of a population representing etiquette of the race, which was some- fifty-seven million people. Everything what pedantic and stilted, has also on display is also for sale, at low been tempered by the influence of the rates, and hundreds of dollars worth West, and bids fair soon to be unsur- of material is daily taken away.
passed in refinement and culture. No- In Pao-ting-fu, Viceroy Yuan Shih where in the world can there be Kai, has a college of veterinary sur- found men who have better instinctive gery, where one hundred men are be- ideas of the social graces, and who ing educated so as to build up the have more poise and self-control in future cavalry of China. Several the social relations. horses are dissected monthly, and A few years ago it would have several hundred fine animals are be- meant death for anyone to call a pop- ing imported from Europe to improve ular meeting to discuss a government the Chinese breed. In the same city measure, but recently, the Empress there is an Anglo-Chinese College,
CHINA'S AWAKENING AND CHRISTIANITY
where three ilUndred students are r~ the atmosphere instead of being ceiving their education, and in the characterized by inertia, is charged same city is a normal school where with an intense desire for progress, six hundred young men of the literati class are being trained. The vit:eroy In Tokyo last year there were then issued orders compelling the local sixteen thousand Chinese students, officials of Chih-Li Province to open and the number is gradually increasschools of Western learning, and this ing. The Chinese minister at Tokyo normal training school is to provide and the Chinese Consul General in teachers. Yuan Shih Kai has a large Yokohama, both testified cordially to number of bitter enemies who belong the splendid work of the Young Men's to the old regime, and who regard the Christian Association among the new learning as making it impossible young men of their race, and subscripfor them to obtain a livelihood in the tions for this work have recently been . Chinese schools. These new schools raised by the Consul General from the offer opportunities for men of the old merchants of Yokohama. regime to earn four times as much by teaching the new method as by N.tionilo,l Consciousness teaching the old. In this way the viceroy is using the men as a body Another remarkable change since guard to keep off the forces of con- the writing of "Letters from a Chiservatism. nese Official" has been the awaken- ing of the national consciousness. For In Peking there is the Imperial years it seemed as if there were only University where six hundred stu- a local consciousness in the race. One dents are being prepared for public looked in vain for an expression of service. At Tientsin, Yuan Shih Kai the national sense among the Chinese has not only an Anglo-Chinese col- of Foo Chow, even when across a narlege, but also an industrial in- row channel, just opposite their city, stitute, intended for three classes of the island of Formosa was being students; criminals, beggars, and seized by an alien power. It is true young paupers, who desire to that their Oriental reserve would have learn a trade. In this institute they partIy accounted for a certain unwillare taught bootmaking, weaving of ingness to express shame, or even to rugs, paper-making, rope winding, refer to the matter in the presence of manufacture of pens, tailoring, etc. foreigners, but nevertheless it is true, that millions of Chinese so lived that 1£ the system of compulsory educa- their interests went little farther than tion which Yuan Shih Kai has in- the clan of which they were a part. augurated in Chih Li is successful it Their ruling dynasty was Manchu, will probably be introduced into the and there was a feeling that the govother provinces. In Tientsin there ernment could care for itself. are also free lecture halls where several thousand of the lower classes at- But through the working of such tend nightly, illustrated lectures on forces as the Boxer Movement followscience, travel, etc. There are free ing the seizure of Chinese territory, the reading rooms, where adult coolies are Russo Japan war, and the revival of encouraged to learn to read, so that the Chinese exclusion act in America, with the consequent boycott of Ameri- can goods, the sense of national unity
has been awakened. A Chinese to-day this remarkable message, which I is proud of his race, of its traditions, would interpret in the light of present of its ancient history, and he expects conditions. "I thank God I baptized not only to appropriate the good there none of you, (save Crispus, and Gaius is in the West but also to conserve and the household of Stephanus) lest the good that is in his own past. He any of you should say, I am a Presexpects that his race will preserve its byterian, and another I am a Baptist, identity and present its own message and another I am an Episcopalian, to human life. The missionaries in and another I am a Methodist, and China realize this national conscious- another I am a Congregationalist. It ness as never before, and see its great is better for you to be without bapvalue.. They also realize that they tism, either sprinkling or immersion, are not in China to denationalize or to than that you should divide the body Westernize the race, but to help the of Christ." Paul would not have baprace work out its own salvation, with tism degenerate into superstition, or the help of Christianity. break up their unity in Christian love. He was equally radical in his defini- Reaction on Chriatil>n Thoughts tion of a Jew, setting aside, absolutely, the definitions which a Jew regarded There are two practical problems as fundamental. which the missionary must face in China. The first is that he can- not In China, there is developing more work at his highest ratio of efficiency, rapidly even than in America, a sense if his forces are divided. A division of the importance of the unity of along denominational lines must pro- Christendom along a few fundamental duce much unnecessary duplication lines. Some day there shall be preand waste of energy. The other prob- sented to the world a proof of our dislem is that the Chinese mind, which is cipleship with Christ, such as has concrete and strongly practical, and never yet been presented in its full very similar to the mind of the ancient significance. That proof will be man- Hebrew, resents the imposition of ifested in our love one to another, and those denominational and sectarian ultimately by a unity somewhat like distinctions which grew up in the ear- unto that which the Father had with lier history of Christianity, often out his Son. of much strife and shedding of blood. The Chinese wish to stand united on In China to-day, five Presbyterian what is fundamental instead of impair- denominations have united into one; ing their efficiency along lines that are there are union theological seminaries, not fundamental. and union colleges. In one of the latter there is the combination of The Apostle Paul said something in American Presbyterians and English his letter to the Cori"nthians which Baptists. There is a new union medfew ministers of the Gospel could say ical college in Peking, in which five to-day, and yet any minister should Protestant denominations are united, be able to say it if the occasion should representing England, Scotland, and arise. After having been the means America. To this institution the Emof the conversion of a considerable press Dowager recently gave ten thounumber of Corinthians, he wrote them sand ounces of silver, and other high
TREND OF EDUCATION IN CHINA
officials gave thirteen thousand· ounces tions on the other. The sentiment of more. This institution, for the next Christian nations will generally be half century, will train four hundred against Rnssia. pupils annually, in a five years' course, ~nd give to China her finest medical Contemporaneous with this conflict, men. It need fear no competition. This there shaH burst out in Western Europe unity will associate the name of Christ a revival, such as was never known in with what will be absolutely preemi- the Christian Church, and which shall nent in the work of healing the bodies spread throughout the world, turning of men. many to righteousness.
This work of coordination has only And, my brethren, it is moreover my begun. It was the keynote of the conviction that immediately following recent conference in Shanghai, and this mighty outpouring of the Holy Western Christendom will some day Spirit, the Lord Himself will come. look to China for leadership along those lines which will bring to its If we may take China as the repfaith its greatest triumphs. resentative of the spirit of the Orient, with its awakening after centuries of In closing, let me quote a remark- sleep, we find that able prophecy given about eight years ago by the late Hudson Taylor, found- vVhen the dawn comes up like thunder, er of the China Inland Mission. Out of China, 'cross the Bay,- Brethren, I have a conviction, which I There shall be ushered into all hubelitove to be from the Lord, that in the man life a new day, which, beginning next ten years there will occur one of with the Orient, shall cross over to the bloodiest wars in the world's history. the Occident, and shall bring all hu- In this war, Russia will be the leader on manity into a wondrous unity, through the one side and one of the eastern na- the love of God as revealed in His Son. Then, and only then, shall Jesus Christ in the true and ultimate sense, be King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
THE TREND OF EDUCATION IN CHINA BY MARY E. CARLETON, M.D., MING CHIANG, Faa CHOW, CHINA – We have just learned, authoritative- Modern education, or education ac- cording to Western methods, is just ly, of the concurrence in a federation now the rage in China. The fact is, which has been entered into, by the to borrow a Western phrase, it is American Baptist Missionary Union, "booming." Edict after edict has been the Church Missionary Society, the issued from the Board of Education China Inland Mission, the Friends of at Peking, and has blown over the England, the Canadian Methodists, land, during the last two or three the Methodist' Episcopal Missionary yearS) like cyclones, uprooting, tearing Society, the London Missionary Soci- down, and instituting a new order of ety, and others whom we do not name things. While we rejoice in every now, for the establishment of a federa- sign of progress and improvement in tion in education by the West China this country, we wish "God-speed," Educational Union.
not "man-speed," in all these things. This evidently is the thought which
prevails to-day in government and America, has accepted the throne abmIssIonary schemes. This was the dicated by his father, the emperor of thought in the Shanghai Centennial "The land of the Morning Calm." Conference when it adopted its de- Probably the manner in which he contermination to establish a general edu- ducts himself will be put down to the cation committeee to study the whole faults or virtues of his education. One field in China. It was looking then to can but wonder how the students in the establishment of a union Christian Christian schools or Christian students university in this empire. The modern in mission schools will stand this new school is made the ideal by China it- era with free press and improved faself. Yuan Shih Kai, whom those cilities for conveying news. The queswho know this empire do not hesitate tionable conduct of some of our own to pronounce the most energetic and students during the last year or so progressive viceroy in China, has should open our eyes and cause us to within recent years established over teach that liberty is not license and 5,000 schools in a single province into that true patriotism is not of necessity which he seeks to introduce Western resolution, but a strong desire to serve methods. A short time ago 15,000 one's country. Chinese students went to Japan to obtain Western learning. The Chinese students from Japan are full of revolutionary ideas, and it The Trend of Education in China would not be surprizing that the Chi- nese Government should prohibit It is evident, however, that the Chi- the Chinese going abroad to get an nese Government does not regard the education. The single church selected flocking of these Chinese students, in in the centennial conference in China such large numbers, out of the coun- to issue certificates to the Protestant try to the colleges of Japan as an un- Christians of this empire at Tokyo, mixed blessing, and one can not won- will tend to unify the outgoing Chrisder at the restrictions that are being tians. This will, it is hoped by many, put upon students in the light of the have the effect of checking the revolurecent murder of the Governor Anhwei tionary spirit among the student class by Hsu Hsi-lin, a returned student of Chinese in Japan. China is esfrom Japan, a self-confest revolu- teemed by some more in danger of tionist. revolution than she is of conservatism. She is going forward under the guid- In reading over the names of those ance at present of the Committee from who are suspected of complicity in the Centennial Conference. this crime and for whom the Government are seeking, one is struck in Under the auspices of the West finding the name of the rebel's wife, China Educational Union, the primary and at the ages of his other associates, and secondary schools in that part of all young men under or about thirty China have already been unified, years of age. A little learning is a graded and provided with standard dangerous thing, and it is from the courses of study, with regulations for young that we most fear and for examinations and a central examining whom we should most constantly pray. committee. The plan now is to have N ow we hear that the Crown Prince a Chentu union university, the main of Korea, a young man educated in
features of which are: (I) Each mis- education. One feels nothing but sion to found and maintain. with a utter sympathy for this poor, dis- staff of one or more men, a college to tracted country, trying to reform be affiliated with the university; (2) but having no truly disinterested re- a Western university to provide a staff formers, trying to incorporate modern of men or equip a central building and methods of education without properly furnish a staff; (3) the separate col- qualified teachers or superintendents leges in consultation and with the uni- to assist her. During a recent visit to versity to provide for the separate de- Tientsin and Peking and Hankau we partments, including all the students visited some of the government in each; (4) each college to be under schools for girls, or viceroy schools, its own management and a senate as they are called. Splendid as are representing all to manage all univer- these schools by comparison with an sity matters; (5) each college to be old-style native school, yet we could supported entirely by the mission to but feel how poor it all was. At present which it belongs and to pay its share the Educational Board seems willing of the running expenses of the univer- to employ anyone, irrespective of na- sity; (6) the Western university to tionality or religion, and some of our support its own staff. Christian young people are feeling it Resolutions were adopted at the is too good an opportunity to lose.
Centennial Conference urging upon the At present two of our Faa Chow stu- home churches that they unite in the dents are employed in the· north: Dr.
establishment of union normal schools, Sia Fieng-bo, son of our sainted Sia in at least one center in each province, Sek-ong, and Miss Emily Hsu, grand- in connection with already existing daughter of Hsu Iowy-mi, and niece constitutions. The conference recom- of our own Dr. Hu King-Eng. We mended the establishment of summer visited Emily Hsu and with her vis- schools in all the provinces for the bet- ited two schools in which she teaches.
ter training of Christian teachers. Emily is also tutoring in a private They looked forward to the estab- family. If I remember correctly, she lishment of a union university for all teaches two hours in each of two Protestant missions in China, and con- schools and tutors one or two hours.
stituted a committee to that effect. For this service she receives $140 They called attention of the home (Mexican dollars) per month. To ap- boards to the necessity of making preciate what this munificent income more liberal allowances to such really means one must compare it schools. with the salary of other teachers. A That the Church should sustain the first degree man purely a native work of the Y. M. C. A. in Japan who teacher may be employed for $4 to $6 are working among the Chinese is of per month. Young men with a small tremendous importance. One wonders, knowledge of English command from if suspicion of students is continued $10 to $20 per month. Young men to be felt by this government, how graduates from our Anglo-Chinese long it will be before all our Chinese College start in at the post-office or young people will be forbidden going customs or clerking with $20 per outside their own country to obtain an month.
Emily Hsu was educated in our Tai women, tho I believe Chinese masters Mani girls' boarding-school and later are also connected with the schools.
in the Foo Chow Conference Seminary, We saw an English girl, a Japanese where she learned English and, I be- and a German woman all teaching. I lieve, also learned a little Mandarin. think the German and English women, She quietly goes off up to Tientsin like Emily Hsu, only come in for an and walks into the post with a salary hour or so daily. Fancy work, prin- each month as great ?r nearly so as cipally crocheting, was taught in all her father, a presiding elder in our the schools. Some of this was on in- conference, receives in a year, and spection under glass cases, and I must more than the W. F. M. S. pays her confess it was supremely ugly.
aunt, Dr. Hu King-Eng. It is most One Chinese teacher was taking her remarkable, and it would be no won- girls through a drill. She said she der if her head were turned, but I am was following Japanese methods. One thankful to say I found her living could but smile to see these dear, quietly in the family of the native quiet, demure Chinese girls stepping pastor of the Tientsin church and about the court with legs bent as high going about in her own sweet and as knee and thigh could bend. The simple manner, having changed her schools seemed well supplied with dress but slightly, and as she took us physical and chemical apparatus but, sight-seeing I thought her composure like the government schools in Foo and dignity would have done credit to Chow, were quietly resting on the a woman twice her years. Her great shelves and tho well labeled seemed desire is that her father will allow her never to have been used. The students to use her money to go to America to seemed a happy, merry set of girls; continue her studies. Let us pray that one could but covet them for the king- she may quietly witness for Our Lord dom of heaven.
in high places, and that the usually China has a stupendous task on her fatal attraction of money may not hands, and tho some of us think she tempt her out of the way. would succeed better in her educa- III these viceroy schools are Con- tional reform if she had taken her fucian tablets before which students staff of teachers entirely from mis- are expected to worship at least twice sion schools, poor as they may be, yet a month. The teachers are exempt it is but natural she should have done from this. These tablets are very as she has done. Let us see to it that simple-just "Confucius, the Great if she ever does turn to us that the Sage" inscribed on them. Before them girls and" boys educated in our mission on the floor is a great mat and before schools and in our Christian home the door a heavy curtain. countries are thoroughly grounded in The teachers whom we saw were all Christian patriotism.
GOSPEL FOR THE
THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN NEW ZEALAND BY MISS J. QUIGLEY, LONDON, ENGLAND New Zealand, the land of the comfort, with few possessors of inor- Maoris, became a British colony in dinate wealth; with an orderly, intel- 1840, when the native chiefs agreed to ligent and well-instructed people."
acknowledge the British supremacy so The story of the gradual triumph of long as they themselves were left in the faith of Christ, in New Zealand, is possession of their own land. Some a bright page in missionary history, thirty years earlier when Rev. Samuel with dark patches caused by apostasy Marsden-a chaplain in New South among the native Christians, strife Wales-and a few lay missionaries between Maori tribes, and between landed in New Zealand at the peril of Maoris and the white settlers, many of their lives, the native inhabitants were whom counterbalanced the mission- not only warlike, but were cannibals. aries' influence by un-Christian ex- The lay missionaries settled among ample.
the people to teach them the Gospel, In the year 1840, the Rev. ]. F.
while Doctor Marsden returned to his Churton was sent out by the Society duties in Australia. Ten years later for the Propagation of the Gospel one of the missionaries came to Eng- with the first English emigrants to land and, with the help of Professor New Zealand. The work done previ- Lee, of Cambridge, reduced the Maori ously among the natives by the Church language to writing and published a Missionary Society had taken hold, grammar. but there was a great need for clergy The Church Missionary Society for the white settlers. The first set- sent out the first resident clergyman tlement was at Wellington (then called to the natives in 1822, and in 1837 the Britannia), where Mr. Churton began New Testament and prayer-book were services in a native "warrie" then oc- printed in Maori. As late as 1840 cupied by the surveyor·s men. The cannibalism still existed in New Zea- occupants of the "warrie" went on land, but has long since been extinct. with their usual work of cooking, etc. ; The Maoris are a fine race, now almost during the service, as there was now wholly Christianized and civilized, proper church building, most of the and many of them now hold govern- white congregation ceased coming, ment posltIons. Owing to the en- but the natives continued eagerly to croachment of the white man they attend.
have rapidly dwindled in numbers and A year later Mr. Churton, finding very few pure-blooded Maoris are no means of support, moved to Auck- now to be found. land, where there were 1,500 settlers.
New Zealand-consisting of three After the first service in a public large islands-is a favored land, with "store" many of the settlers met out- countless lakes, mountains, forests, side and agreed that since a clergy- and fertile plains. To-day the people man had come they would build a are enterprising both in agriculture church. As a result the St. Paul's and manufactures. It is a "land of Church was opened in 1843.
In 1841, a bishopric was created and system some missions in North Amerendowed by the Colonial Bishoprics ica still receive some support from the Council, the Xew Zealand Church society after one hundred or one hun- Society, and the New Zealand Land dred and fifty years of existence. Company. Fortunately a great man was elected as the pioneer bishop- Bishop Selwyn with his wife and none other than George Augustus Sel- child arrived at Auckland in May, wyn, then only thirty-two years of 1842. During his wearisome voyage age. He was a man of great moral the bishop learned some Maori from a native lad returning frol11 England, MAORI WARRIORS IN NEW ZEALAND and spiritual force, with unusual so that on landing he could converse powers of organization, and was with the natives. He also learned greatly loved by the Maoris. One of navigation and could afterward pilot his great aims was to make the church his own mission schooner amid the self-supporting, and he stipulated for dangerous reefs and currents of the an annual grant from England to be Pacific. During the first six years he spent as required, instead of providing explored his immense diocese. There annual salaries for the clergy. This were no roads, and Auckland was policy has proved of great value in merely a place of squatters. The New Zealand, where the mission sta- Maoris, as described by the governor's tions have become independent of an- wife, "were just emerging from barnual grants, while under the other barism … with blankets drawn round
THE GOSPEL FOR THE MAORIS
their bodies, and hiding every bit of far north near the Bay of Islands, their faces except a bit of tattooed fore- started a college and library for head and a pair of bright eyes. . . . younger men, and after one year held An independent, rough-mannered, his first confirmation-when three merry, kindly race, often obstinate and hundred and twenty-five natives were self-willed, yet very shrewd and ob- confirmed at the vVarinate. The servant, and eager to learn English Bishop wrote to his mother: "It was ways." Bishop Selwyn wrote of them a most striking sight to see a church as "a sinful people, accustomed to sin filled with natives ready at my first in- sr. PAUL'S CHURCH, AUCKLAN D, NEW ZEALAND In this Church Bishop Selwyn held his last services in New Zealand in 1868.
from their youth, and who talk of it vitation to obey the orclinances of their with levity…. But, when I tell them religion. The contrast with the Engthat these sins brought the Son of lish settlements is lamentable; where God, the great Creator of the Uni- the lack of candiclates will (I fear) verse, from His sternal glory to this for some time prevent me from holdworld . . . to die,-then they open ing a confirmation." their eyes and ears and mouths, and wish to hear more; and presently they But Bishop Selwyn, to his great acknowledge themselves sinners, and sorrow, lived to see a sad reversal of say they will leave off their sins." this; "native Christians who are so simple and docile, apostatized in thou- Bishop Selwyn proceeded to build sands during his twenty-six years in his wooden cathedral church in the New Zealand and went over to a semi-
heathen fanaticism, while the many unbroken ground. This rule he in- English settlers passed through their variably followed in his mission work, period of indifference to better things." as he held, strongly, that divisions were Rapid conversion among heathew. often the ruin of the cause which all had at disappoints the missionary who has to heart." These island people were very strive against the influence of heredity treacherous, pretending good will unand environment. til ready to make a sudden attack. Bishop Selwyn's life was often in Thinking the Bishop's abode too far danger, but he would never allow his from the center, the Church Mission- crew to carry weapons, and some quite ary Society decided that he must live BISHOP COWIE OF AUCKLAND, ARCHDEACON CLARKE AND REV. c. M. COWIE, WlTH TWELVE MAORI CLERGYMEN OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND at Auckland, and a new station was indefinable quality in him had a wonstarted, including a hospital, a print- derful influence over savages. ing house and an industrial school. The Bishop gathered promising Maori In May, 1853, the first Maori clergylads to train for a native ministry, who man was ordained, and Bishop Selwyn were in time sent out to the affiliated visited England to obtain the power chapels. to subdivide this vast diocese, to secure for the Church of New Zealand The Bishop visited other islands in a legal power to manage its own afthe Archipelago, "never interfering if fairs by means of a mixed "general he found any other mission work synod," and to obtain a full recognigoing on; but after interchange of tion by the Church of England for the kindly intercourse with the missionary, Melanesian Mission. In all those h~ would push on farther in search of places he was prosperous.
HOW ORTHODOX MOHAMMEDANS EDUCATE A CHILD
Then came many years of fighting Cathedral and knelt in front of the between the Maoris and the white set- chapel in which he is buried. tlers over the land. Intense bitterness and bloodshed ensued, and Bishop It was not long after the appoint- Selwyn, who ministered to his people ment of Bishop Selwyn's successor beon both sides, was often distrusted by fore twelve Maoris were ordained for both. In 1867, as the long war was work among their own people, and coming to a close, the Bishop was none of whom relapsed from the faith called to attend the first Pan-Anglican during the great wave of apostasy Congress at Lambeth, England, and which engulfed two-thirds of the was constrained, much against his Maori Christians. About fifty· native will, to accept an English See (Lich- clergy are now at work in New Zeafield). Up to the time of his death, in land. About 17,000 Maoris now be- 1878, he never ceased to work and long to the Anglican Church, and pray for the Maoris, and he will never many thousands are members of other be forgotten by them. Two Maori branches of Christ's flock. There are chiefs, who visited England a few' still, however, about eight thousand years ago, made their way to Lichfield non-Christian Maoris in Auckland diocese alone.
HOW ORTHODOX MOHAMMEDANS EDUCATE A CHILD REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D. D.
Author of " Arabia, the Cradle of Islam"; .. Islam, a Challenge to the Faith," etc.
It is strange that where so much has age of twelve years, is responsible for been written on the intellectual, so- any sin she may commit!" In the cial and spiritual decline of the Mos- "time of ignorance" the heathen Arabs lem world, so little has been said of were wont to bury their daughters one of the great causes of this decay, alive; but since the days of Mohamnamely the Moslem theory of educa- med, the veil and the harem serve the tion. same purpose.
To begin with, that theory shuts The education of a boy, says tradiout girls from the privilege of learn- tion, is to begin at the age of four ing. The author of Ahlak-i-Jilali, a years, four months and four days. On standard work on ethetics, who says it that auspicious day, he is taught to reis not advisable to teach girls to read peat the Bismillah, or opening chapter and write, until very recently voiced of the Koran. Soon after the child, if the general feeling among Moslems. of well-to-do parents, is sent to a day If a girl knows how to recite the Ko- school and taught the alphabet. The ran and the liturgical prayers, she is school is most probably a corner of a considered highly educated. Allah merchant's shop or an alcove in a created girls only to be sacrificed as mosque without any furniture save early as possible at the hymeneal altar. mats and rahils, (small folding book- Mohammed is related to have said: stands, resembling a tiny saw-buck). "Whosoever does not marry his The school-master sits on the floor in daughter when she hath reached the the midst of the lads, who all drone
out their lessons at the same time; is nearly always open to the street), there is no attempt at grading the pu- like a continuous panorama-horses, pils nor is there order in the school- camels, drivers, donkeys, veiled wom- room. The master's trained ear can en, pastry-sellers, pashas, soldiers, however, distinguish a mispronounced beggars and bedouins. It is no won- vowel or detect a word omitted from der that all learning becomes a mat- Allah's book, tho a score of voices ter of rote and that the best memory make a confusion of tongues like' receives the prize.
Babel. One lad is still at his alphabet; Right here we stumble upon the su- another has gone as far as Abjad, or preme fault in their theory of educa- the numerical value of the letters; a tion. The memory is trained to the third is spelling out the first Surah; utmost, while the reasoning powers are while yet others are reading from the left entirely undeveloped. A Mos- middle of the Koran at the top of their lem lad is not supposed to know what voices. the words and sentences mean which The earliest and only text-book is he must recite every day; to ask a the Koran or portions of it cheaply question regarding the thought of the lithographed on second-<;lass paper. Koran would only result in a rebuke Of course there are no pictures in the or something more painful. Even Moslem primers, for tradition states grammar, logic, history and theology that Mohammed cursed all who would are taught by rote in the higher Mo- paint or draw men and animals. Con- hammedan schools. Since orthodoxy sequently, their work is held to be un- can not allow a place for private judg- lawful. There is neither prayer nor ment in the professor's chair there re- singing when school opens; all ortho- mains no reason why pupils should dox praying is at daybreak, when boys think for themselves. Thousands of are fast asleep, and as for singing, Moslem lads who know the whole Ko- Mohammed said "Singing or hearing ran nearly by heart, can not explain songs causeth hypocrisy to grow in the meaning of the first chapter in the heart even as rain causeth corn every-day language. Tens of thou- to grow in the field." (Mishkat XXII: sands can "read" the Koran at ran- 9: 3·) dom, in the Moslem sense of reading, To the American school-boy, a Mos- who can not read an Arabic newspaper lem school and a Mohammedan school- intelligently. The alpha and omega of book would appear the dullest things knowledge is the one hundred and on earth. Yet the Arab boys seem fourteen chapters of Allah's revelation.
to enjoy school for there is continual What need is there for other text- distraction and, especially if the books?
school-master is a shopkeeper, plenty Writing is taught on a wooden slate of time for idling. While a customer or in copy books made by the teach- bargains or the water-carrier passes, ers. Slates and slate pencils are prac- or the coffee-shopkeeper pours out the tically unknown and the youngest teacher's daily beverage, naturally all child begins with a reed pen and ink.
eyes turn away from their books. The Caligraphy is not only a science, but mixed procession of oriental street life the chief fine art in that part of the passes before the schoolroom (which world which abhors painting, statuary
and music. To write a beautiful Hypocrates and Avicena under their Arabic hand is the height of youthful teachers. There is no dissecting and scholarly ambition. no practical experiments are carried on. Of course, none of the text-books It is difficult even to cut the reed have illustrations. Students of di- nib aright, altho some school boys be- vinity pursue the following branches come adepts in this use of the pen of study; grammatical inflection, synknife. The ink is generally made by tax, logic, arithmetic, algebra, rhetoric, the teacher, it is rich, black and thick, jurisprudence, scholastic theology, and is made from lamp-black, vinegar, commentaries on the Koran, exegesis, red-ochre, yellow arsenic and camphor and finally tradition with the comin mysterious proportions. A famous mentaries thereon! Next to the Korecipe for ink is a family treasure. ran itself, the Arabic language is the most important center of the group of When a boy has finished the read- sciences; lexicology, accidence, derivaing of the whole of the Koran for the tion, syntax, meaning, eloquence, first time and has learned the rudi- prosody, rhyme, caligraphy, versificaments of writing, he graduates from tion, and prose-composition,-all these the primary school. On this occasion require separate study from special he has a rare holiday. Dressed in fine treatises; the result in this case is a clothes, perhaps mounted on horse proud master gTammarian who has no back, he visits the neighbors, receives doubt that Arabic is the language of gifts and sweetmeats and brings a the angels and the only speech of Goel. handsome present to his tutor. If he does not intend to become a doctor of The profession of Law exists only divinity or of herbs, this is the end in a religious sense, but many pursue of his school days, and the lad is put it for its rich emoluments. A single to learning a trade or helping his par- illustration will show how casuistry is ents. dignified into a science and at the same time will give a glimpse of the As to moral training, tradition com- character of Moslem learning. "The mands pious Moslems to teach the boy hand of a thief is not to be cut off for of seven to say his five daily prayers; stealing a book, because the object of at the age of ten, if he omits them the theft can only be the contents of they are to admonish him by blows. the book, and not the book itself. But Boys are taught early the proprieties yet, it is to be observed, the hand is of conversation and behavior accord- to be cut off for stealing an accounting to Oriental etiquette. They are book because in this case it is evident also taught the ceremonial washings that the object of the theft is not the and the correct postures for devotions. book but the paper and material of But purity of conversation and truth which the book is made." V,'hen such are seldom taught by precept, and statements are found in standard never by example. works on Moslem law (El Hidaya, Vol. 11., 92), one does not wonder For a liberal education the boy is that ignorance, bigotry, pride, and sent to one of the higher schools in pedantry are the chief results of a the centers of Moslem learning, such purely Mohammedan liberal education. as Cairo, Bagdad, or Damascus. Students of medicine obtain a smattering of the natural science and then read ISLAM IN THE LIGHT OF TO-DAY* TIY TI-IE REV. H. U. WEITBRECHT, PH.D., D.D.
Within a century after the flight of tion by continents is for Asia 170,000,- Mohammed to Mecca (623 A.D.) his 000, for Africa 59,000,000, for Europe faith had spread westward over the 4,000,000. Politically the Mohammedcoast lands of North Africa, and its an population of the world is thus armies were contesting with Christen- divided: under Christian rule 161,000,- dom for the possession of Spain and 000, under pagan rule 34,000,000, France. Eastward they had prevailed under Moslem rule 38,000,000. Of over Arabia, Syria, and Persia, and Christian powers Great Britain rules had spread to the outskirts of India 82,000,000, France 29,000,000, Holland and China. The Middle Ages saw the 29,000,000, Russia 16,000,000, and othspread of the faith southward in Af- ers the remnant. In Asia Great Britrica, through much of Western and ain is predominant with 64,000,000, in Central Asia, and its increase, despite Africa France with 28,000,000 subvicissitudes, in China. But its great- jects. est achievement in that period was the conversion of the Turks and the Mon- The Reaction of the Christian Church gols, founders of the two greatest Moslem empires of the world; one How sorely the Church needed the westward in Asia Minor and south- lesson imprest on her by the deacIly western Europe, the other southeast- irruption of Islam was shown by the ward in the great Indian peninsula. length of time she took to learn its These empires were at their height in ABC, that the form of godliness withthe sixteenth and seventeenth centu- out the power thereof is already its ries. Since then the one has decayed death. When Christendom had slowly steadily, the other has perished en- recovered from the shock of the great tirely. But the spread of the faith of attack, its first impulse was to take the Islam has continued. The Malay pen- sword, and by the sword its hosts of insula, Java, and part of Sumatra Crusaders perished. Raymund Lull, have come under its sway; Islam in the Arabic-speaking missionary to China has seen violent fluctuations; North Africa, was a voice crying in but in Africa it has steadily advanced, the wilderness of the fourteenth cenand now touches, or even in parts tury. And even in the sixteenth, deoverlaps, the equator. Accepting green voted as were the Roman missionaries as the color of Mohammed, the world- who then began to go forth to the padistribution of Islam may be fairly in- gan world, there was little place under dicated by a bar of that hue across the Moslem theocracies for men who incontinents of Africa and Asia, begin- stituted the inquisition at Goa and inning with the shores of the Atlantic trigued for political power in China from Morocco to Senegambia, leaving and Japan. It was left for the rea small patch in southwest Europe, formed communions to lead the way in continuing from Western into Central evangelizing the Moslem world, and Asia, and forking out into small it was a missionary of our own patches northeastward in China, and Church, the sainted scholar, Henry large ones southeastward in British Martyn, who first attacked the great India, Malaysia, and the Dutch Archi- task systematically. He rendered the New Testament into Urdu, the leading pelago. Mohammedan language of India, and The most recent estimate gives the into Persian, the tongue of the Shia schism and of Sufi mysticism; and his Moslem population of the world as helper, Abdul Masih, converted as a some 233,000,000 out of 1,650,000,000, result of the task, was the first (but or nearly one in seven. The distribu- • A paper read at the Barrow Church Congress.
ISLAM IN THE LIGHT OF TO-DAY 13
very far from the last) Mohammedan Sociologically these races range convert ordained to the ministry of from the medieval or stationary civilour Church. During the hundred ization of India, China, and the Turkyears since Henry Martyn's arrival in ish Empire to the higher barbarism of India, the work of evangelization Africans and Asiatics just emerging among Mohammedans in that and from a state of savagery. In the case many other lands has steadily pro- of the latter we see the adoption of Isgressed, and the Bible now speaks lam followed by a certain amount of through translations in every impor- moral and material progress, the abotant tongue in the Moslem world, while lition of idolatry, the prohibition of the Koran directly reaches a mere strong drink, the adoption of clothing, fringe beyond the one-eighth of its decencies of worship, and an increased followers who know Arabic, for its sense of personal dignity, but in some translations are few and held in little cases these are accompanied by lamenesteem. Here and there Churches have table setbacks, especially in the developbeen gathered in, composed mainly or ment of the African slave trade; the chiefly of converts from Islam; in religious sanction given to intertribal many places, especially in North In- warfare, and the degradation (as dia, they form an appreciable element among the Sumatra Bataks) of the in the Christian community, and a dignity of marriage and the status of considerable number of missionaries woman. In the case of the civilized belonging to various nations and com- nations we find that a moral and matemunions are engaged in the direct rial stagnation has ensued which is a evangelization of lloslems. At the most powerful bar to all progress. The same time it is calculated that at least Mohammedan institutions of polygamy one-third of the Moslem world is quite and seclusion of women, and the docoutside the range of any kind of mis- trine of fate are characterized by prosionary work; and we may well con- gressive Moslems as the greatest obclude that hardlv one-third is definitely stacles to the well-being of their com· within the scope of evangelistic effort. munity and they endeavor to prove For some years past workers in this that the Koran, rightly understood, field have {elt the need of more effect- teaches monogamy, the rights of womive coordination of forces and efforts, an, and the freedom of the will. The in view of the work alreadv done and connection between the license given now in hand, as also of c;lIating in- to religious war, slavery, polygamy, formation as to the scope and methods and divorce, and the doctrine of fate of the work, both in order to help the on the one hand and the Moslem conworkers and also to rouse the Church ception of God and His attributes on of Christ at large to a sense of her the other, is one which leads us up to duty to the Moslem world. the true cure for the disease of which these evils are symptoms. Features of the Present Situation As to that crucial point, the status of Some idea of the grouping by race woman, it is only as Islam comes into of the world's Moslem population may contact with Christian civilization and be gathered from these rough figures religious effort that any change for as to language (in millions) :- the better is taking place. And, in- deed, the change is not always for the Languages of India (chiefly Aryan) . 62 better, as in the case of the influence exercised by some European fiction in Languages of Malaysia and Eastern the harems of Turkey and Egypt. One can not, however, but welcome the fact Archipelago 29 that in India and elsewhere there is some reaction against polygamy, tho Chinese dialects 30 divorce is exceedingly common there and elsewhere, and in certain places Persian . . . . . . . 9 Languages of the Russian Empire 13 Turkish . . . . . . . 8 Hausa and other negro tongues 37 Arabic 45 233
the degrading practise of temporary The Religious Side marriage is recognized by religious authorities. The idea that polygamy, Turning from the ethical to the recombined with female seclusion and ligious side of contemporary Islam, early marriage, has done away with we find certain revival movements of prostitution is'a mistake. In India the this or recent times still in evidence. ranks of "unfortunate" women are The'vVahhabi movement, starting from Arabia in the eighteenth century, still largely recruited from the Moham- acts in India and elsewhere as a Mo- hammedan Puritanism; its followers medan community, and it is no infre- sh?w greater religious zeal, purity of faIth, and moral earnestness than the quent thing for an attachment formed average Moslem. In Persia the Babi with one of them to result in the con- sect, now merging in the Behai and version of a Hindu to Islam. Even numbering, it is said, a million, reprewhere there are no recognized class of sents a belief in latter-day revelation such women their absence is often bal- with a wider and more t~lerant outanced by a lower standard of general look than traditional Islam; in Syria morality and by the greater preva- the Shathliyeh, a very much smaller lence of unnatural vice. sect, attempted a humanizing reform of Islam in the spirit of the New Tes- The proportion of illiteracy in the tament, but without much result. In Moslem world ij lamentably high. India the followers of Sayyad Ahmad Even in India by last census the per- and those of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad centage of illiterates among men have attempted a more or less modernamounted to 95, and among women to izing reform of practise and tenets. 99.7. In the larger part of the African African Islam has a strong organizing section literates are the merest fraction center in the brotherhood of the Senuof a percentage. On the other hand,' siyah dervishes, with their headquar- Egypt shows 88 per cent. of illiterates, ters at Kufra in the Central Soudan' Tunis 75, Turkey-in-Asia 85, Dutch East Indies 85, and China is quoted at in India internal strengthening of th~ 50 (but this last must be guesswork). It is gratifying to hear that the Turkish authorities in Syria, stirred by the long-standing and successful work of community is carried on by the Anjuthe American Mission, are making de- man i Himayat i Islam (Society for the termined efforts to raise the standard Succor of Islam) which has many of education, both male and female. branches. These and similar efforts or So also the progressive Moslems of organizations are sometimes lumped India, following the example first of together under the term Pan-Islam- Christian missionaries and then of ism. But, so far as I know, this desig- Government, are starting a training nates a tendency, not an organization.
school for female teachers at Aligarh, Islam is a democratic brotherhood, and similar efforts are being made in which has no orders of clergy or hier- one or two other places in India. archy. Such leadership as there is, Slavery as a domestic institution is whether of a man or of a society, reported as still in force in Morocco, stands subject to the suffrages of the around Aden (outside the British faithful. And yet there is no religious sphere), Afghanistan, Persia, China, body more conscious of its unity, and Turkey-in-Asia, and Independent Ara- more ready to vibrate through the bia, and in the two last named slave whole in response to an impulse given markets are carried on. Otherwise in any part. Yet while there is a wide- slavery is said to be dying or dead, spread, tho not universal, revival of re- thanks again to the intervention of ligious zeal, the reports indicate that Christian nations, impelled by the awa- the spirit of fanatical intolerance is kening of the Christian conscience. generally on the decrease, especially
IN THE LIGHT OF TO-DAY
where Christian Missions have been Moslem La.nds for some time in evidence. Finally we group Moslem lands in On the side of propaganda all re- relation to missionary work into three ports agree that Islam is active. Even classes. among the old-established Christian churches of Syria, Egypt, and else- 1. The lands of dominant or greatly where complaint is made of defections preponderant and long-standing Islam. from Christianity at intervals. In In- By these I understand North Africa, dia sporadic conversions from caste Arabia, Turkey, Persia, and Central Hinduism are fairly frequent, and Asia, including Afghanistan. In these from among the lower races larger the converts are few, isolated, and of- numbers are brought in. ten refugees. The remnants of Chris- tian Churches in these lands have been Most of all, however, is the faith so worn out by a millennium of opmoving forward where its boundaries pression that, tho they have not abanmarch with those of the lower pagan- doned their own faith, they scarcely ism in Africa and other lands. In Ma- dare admit a Moslem convert to it, laysia and Africa ~ leading part in much less make active efforts for his proselytizing is ascribed to the re- conversion. The methods here availturned hajis or Mecca pilgrims, and it able are education, medicine, and lithas also been supposed that a regular erature. By Moslem rulers difficulties supply of missionaries is sent forth are put in the way of each and all of from the Azhar mosque at Cairo and these; yet they are not entirely stopt; from the Sanusiyah brotherhood. But, and under Christian rule they are free. so far as I can learn, the number of Education has leavened the upper such professional missionaries is small. classes with an understanding of what The chief propagators of Islam, in Af- Christianity is in itself and means for rica at least, are the Moslem traders our life: literature continues the work who push their doctrines with their and goes beyond the schoolmaster; goods, and use their social contact and and chiefly through vernacular vermarriage relations with the people to sions of the Bible it is testifying sienlarge the sphere of their religion. lently of Christ with an authority part- In some measure we are reminded of ly traditional, partly inherent. Medical the first three centuries of Christian work speaks of the love that Christ in- Missions, the most strenuous and fruit- spires and the healing that He brings ful in the history of the Church, from for the soul, in a tongue understoodwhich no name of a professional mis- of the people. It is as yet a sowing in sionary has come down to us. We hope; but hope maketh not ashamed may well recall with gratitude all that when the love of God is shed abroad Christian laymen in non-Christian in our hearts. lands have done in our own age for the propagation of the faith-was it not 2. The lands of ancient pagan civil- Sir H. M. Stanley, an explorer open- ization, where Mosfems are in a miing the way for trade, who founded the nority. These are, of course, India Uganda Mission ?-but Christian Mis- and China. In India converts are sions will never be raised to the level more numerous than in lands of the on which our Lord would have them, first group, tho still a small and scattill the Church applies to the work tered body. A considerable literature that most powerful of all levers, the has been -built up in the vernaculars priesthood and missionary character of used by Moslems, especially in Urdu, every Christian man and woman, and a large part of this is the work of wheresoever they be. able converts such as Dr. Imadud Din. The effect of Government and mis- sionary education is very widespread, and the Bible aud Christian books are read by many Moslems. Among the
converts are counted not a few faithful neo-Moslems are no rarity there also.
pastors, earnest missionaries, and in- At any rate, there is more than enough fluential laymen. The ministers and evidence to demolish the old delusion, preachers connected with the North sometimes repeated with unction by Indian Missions who are converts writers of weight, that a pagan once from Islam or children of such num- converted to Islam is never won by the ber close upon two hundred. Gospel. Yet it is true of the individ- In China we have to confess that, ual and much more of the community, in view of the appalling pagan popu- that such converts* are far more diffi- lation of the Empire special work cult to bring over than the mere pagan.
among Moslems is non-existent. If But the interesting paper of Herr Si- undertaken with vigor the conditions mon on the work in Sumatra seems to should be more favorable even than in show that when such neo-Moslems are India. May we not hope that the brought to Christ their religious life great renaissance now going on in has its own specially bright features.
China will produce Christian mission- Missions to Moslems present a very aries aflame with zeal for the conver- practical problem to the Christian sion of the millions of their Moslem Church, especially our own branch of countrymen? it. They are a form of the self-de- 3. The border marches of Islam in fense of Christendom. Till the ancient Africa and Malaysia. In these parts churches of the East have regained we have to do with masses of Moham- their missionary position, how is their medan population as in Northern Cen- candle to burn brightly? And how tral Africa, but of comparatively re- can they regain that position except cent standing, and with the newly con- we show the way? If the Church has verted tribes on the pagan frontiers. erred hitherto in respect of Moslem And here we come in sight of one of Missions, it has not been from rash- the greatest responsibilities of the ness in underestimating the forces Christian Church. Is the portion of against 11S. It has been from timidity these border pagans to be the Koran in not realizing Who is with us; from or the Gospel? The fortunes of the slothfulness in not acting on that con- conflict are varying. Java is almost viction. At this centenary of modern entirely Mohammedanized; Sumatra Missions to Moslems, the little gather- for the most part, but in the latter is- ing at Cairo sends us a message. That land the work of German missionaries message is that the needs of the Mos- of the Rhenish Society has, through lem world, of the lands that once were the conversion of some 60,000 of the or since might have been Christ's her- heathen Bataks, drawn a cordon of itage, be weighed and prayed over in Christianity across the northeast of the light of His crucified love and the island, and repulsed the further ad- world-ruling might. It is that the vances of Islam amongst them; while work of Christendom in this field may there and in Java many thousands of be coordinated and unified by mutual converts have also been gained from information and consultation on the among the neo-Moslems and organized part of those who send. It is that the into Christian Churches. In Uganda, Church should provide a training more a generation ago, the claims of Chris- thorough and complete than hereto- tianity and Islam were trembling in the fore for special missionaries to Islam.
balance; now the Baganda people are It is that she may recognize and dis- rapidly advancing on the way to be- charge her great debt to the followers come a Christian nation. But toward of that faith whose errors and misfor- the West Coast it would seem as if tunes are in no small degree the result Islam were advancing more rapidly of her own unfaithfulness.
than Christianity and even making oc- • Except, perhaps. in India. I do not think that casional inroads on the Church, tho an ex-Hindu Moslem is more difficult to reach than I am told that baptisms from among another. I have known more than one instance of such conversions.
IS AWAKE. ARE WE? *
BY REV. LOUIS BYRDE, YUNG-CHOW, HU-NAN. CHINA Western Europe awoke at the Re- opened her eyes still more to her formation, but Eastern Asia has slept weakness, in spite of partial reform. on till our own day. Now even the Thirdly, the victory of Japan in the "antiquated" empire is rapidly awak- late war finally disposed of all coun- ening, for China is AWAKE. sels of delay and tinkering, and launched the empire on a thorough- (I) On the Education Ql~estioll. going renovation. But the continuous 'Within the past two years the won- cause, above all others, has been the derful educational system in operation work of missions, more particularly for I AOO years has been completely the circulation by millions annually of westernized· in idea, if not always, Scripture portions, and tracts and through lack of teachers, in practise. books on all subjects. To remedy this lack from 12,000 to 14,000 students have been sent to Ja- An imperial commission has re- pan and other lands to acquire mod- cently visited foreign lands and re- ern knowledge. Such an educational ported, and now reforms, from consti- exodus has never before been seen in tutional government to short hair for the world's history. Think of what men and long feet for women, are it means; as many as in all the great well within the bounds of practical British universities combined, and the possibilities. end is not yet! And besides this, un- told sums of money, both public and (4) On the Opium Question. private, are being spent in building On September 20 an edict was is- and equipping schools and colleges. sued commanding that opium smoking (2) On Military Matters. must cease within ten years. On No- No change is more marked than in vember 22 detailed regulations fol- army reform. The smart regiments, lowed, finishing with the statement well-armed, well-disciplined, are a that the British Minister was to be marvelous contrast to the rabbles of approached with the object of progres- yesterday. Horizontal bars and all sively reducing the amount imported gymnastic exercises are well patron- from India-the crux of the whole ized. Bugle bands can be heard in question. For the Chinese realize the the remotest regions. Even little chil- impossibility of really rooting out this dren play soldiers on the streets! A devastating evil so long as Britain has portentous change is this. The great the right of importing as much as she military maneuvers in Hu-nan last likes at a nominal duty. . October, tho the supply of officers (5) On Postal Matters. is still short, would have been incon- Note the following figures: ceivable three years ago. (3) On Reform. 1901 190 5 Reforms of all kinds are being rap- idly adopted. Three great events and Post-offices open. . 176 1,626 one continuous cause have operated to this end. First, the defeat of China Letters, etc., carried 10,500,000 76,000,000 by Japan in 1894 opened the eyes of China as nothing else had done to her No town of any size except in parts backwardness and need of change. of the extreme west is bevond the Then the failure of the Boxer upris- Postal Service, which cove;s 40,000 ing in 1900 to expel foreigners, to- miles of road by couriers, 5,000 miles gether with her previous and subse- by boats, 2,27° miles by rail, and thou- quent treatment by foreign powers, sands of miles by steamer. This mar- velous development of the means of * From The Church Missionary Gleaner. the intercommunication of thought is welding the nation into an intelligent unit. The great daily newspapers (al-
most unknown ten or even five years us, the very apostles of the Reforma- ago) now published in all the great tion? It does, for methods of work centers, find their way to readers suitable for a people asleep need everywhere, awakening a newness of change to meet the requirements of a life wonderful to behold. The exten- people awake. The modern cry "China sive telegraph lines, linking up all the for the Chinese" is as loud in the chief cities with Peking, must not be Church as anywhere. Said a Chinese, forgotten. "We shall be only too glad to work Is the Church Awake? with you if you will work on our lines /" All our methods must be over- ( I) On the Education Question!' hauled if we are to secure the cooper- With the present elaborate system of ation of the leading Chinese Chris- modern education, and the premium tians, especially the young men. It is that will undoubtedly be put on those vital to the future success of Chris- educated in the anti-Christian atmos- tianity that the powerful new national phere of the government institutions, life be not alienated from the Church the Church may find herself in the by keeping the whole (as at present) same weak position as in Japan, unless administration of mission work in for- advised in time. Let the experience in eign hands. It is not yet too late to Japan be a warning and a warning mend our ways.
heeded. There is absolutely no time (4) On the Opium Question?
to be lost in planting in all parts of The disgrace of being a partner to China (for one part is as open and the arrangement of importing opium, suitable as another) numerous Chris- a poison, into China, at the nominal tian schools and colleges. These duty of four per cent., still remains.
would be largely if not entirely self- Can the conscience of the Church be supporting. With these in being the awake on this "morally indefensible"
government schools (often anti-Chris- conduct? Opium smoking is so bad tian) would have to compete. But if morallv that no smoker is allowed in these latter are established first, great the Chinese Church. Great Britain re- hindrances might be put in the way of ceives from the trade in opium, an starting Christian institutions (as in agent of destruction, ten-fold more Japan) to the lasting weakness of money than she spends on the Gospel, Christianity and the Church's disgrace. an agent of salvation, for the Chinese.
(2) On M ilitary Matters, i. c., (5) On Postal Matters, i. e., Com- Eva1lgelistic Work? plete Occupation!
Why should the military bugle Of the 1,626 places with post-offices sound where the Gospel trumpet is not how many are mission stations? Of heard? All China is open and ready the 2,000 or so official cities how many to give attention. It is as easy to tell have resident missionaries? One re- of salvation through Jesus Christ in cent estimate gives the number as un- Song-pan on the borders of Tibet as der 400, but until the returns for the in Shanghai on the borders of the Centenary Conference in Shanghai ocean. Why is it not being done? (May, 1907) are complete, it is im- Simply because so few warriors of the possible' to tell accurately. But sup- Cross dare brave the journey. And pos~ that there are 500, there still re- the whole of the eighteen provinces main the great majority unoccupied.
between these extreme points is open. If the government require these 2,000 Shall not this day of marvelous op- centers for administrative purposes, portunity see a vast influx of Gospel surely the Church can require no less bearers right illto China? Of nearly for the purpose of universal evan- 3,500 missionaries over 2,100 are con- gelization! The area of effective in- fined to the maritime provinces. fluence of any station is limited to (3) On Reform'! about one day's journey on foot from But surely Reform does not concern it. Is the Church Awake '!
CHINA'S NEED OF JESUS CHRIST*
(WRITTEN flY A CHINESE) Instances are not few, in Western The only true statesman is the countries, in which men and women statesman who has measured the subhave lost their self-poise and have tle and powerful forces of the heart. committed acts of rashness and atroc- The only true reform is the reform ity under the influence of sensational which attacks sin in the human heart. literature, notwithstanding the strong The vision of sin may well appall the widespread influence of religion, which bravest soul. helps to a great extent to counteract its evil effects. If this is so in Eu- The earnest student of history sees rope, how much more so will it be its black stream moving irresistibly in China? Religion has no strong and down the ages, millions and millions permanent hold upon our people; and of men, women and even children add to this the present impressionable helplessly engulfed in its loathsome period through which we are passing, filth. Horrid idols instead of the beauin which anything of good or evil may produce its lasting impress, there is tiful God; brawling harems instead of every reason for us to be on guard; the Christian home; woman the slave and unless our press wiII take active of man, instead of his companion; measures to check the increasing cur- man, lecherous and lustful, women rent of this kind of base literature cowed and ill-tempered; the shallow which is now fast flooding our mar- philosophy and icy ethics of the world, ket, we shall only regret when it is too instead of the warm and glowing late. teachings of heaven; the tyranny of fear and superstition instead of the Times have changed. Our classics liberty of truth; the slavery of are no longer a part of our educational appetite .of passion, instead of the program, and the modern student while building up his intellectual struc- masterful spirit of him that overture with the materials of modern cometh; wickedness intrenched in anlearning, has allowed his moral edi- cient times, in laws, in languages, in fice to be left neglected. Will modern learning with its tendency toward the social systems in religious forms, materialism and skepticism be suf- and fortified by the authority and presficient guarantee for the production of tige of thousands of years of history. a good citizenship? The negative an- 0, horrid ocean of sin, who shall measure thy borders? Who tell the swer of the foremost civilized coun- tale of thy relentless years? Thy easttries in Europe and America is proved ern wave sweeps man's fair Garden by the greater zeal with which they of Eden, and thy western shore no foster moral education among her stu- man knoweth. Thebes, Nineveh, dents. And the various religious or- Babylon, Athens, Rome, are but ganizations, as the Y. M. C. A., and wrecked ships on thy shores. No time, others, are doing their best to coun- no clime, but has reason to curse thee. Who is able to cleame thy foul teract the dangerous influences of depths? modern materialism in colleges. The need of some sort of systematic moral Fellow-countrymen, shall we not training is emphasized by the tendency view this vision with fear? Shall we among our young students to lose not sit in the ashes, tear out our hair their head.~nd go off at a tangent at and wring our hands in despair? Are the slightest provocation. Surely, we women or children? If we are men, then let us gird up our loins and among the important factors, which unitedly combat our greatest infernal make up our new nation, the moral foe, our national ulcer, which is saptraining of our students is the one ping and gnawing-and will sap and which claims our serious corisidera- gnaw, if we do not nip it in the budtion. the foundation of our national struc- ture?
• From the World's Chinese Students' Journal.
EDITORIALS
THE PERILS OF RICHES nating Church and State. How few hu- man beings can be trusted to hold and Few dangers of our day are more wield a golden sceptre! The history threatening both to the individual and of the race shows that, unless with the community than vast accumula- accuJnulation of property there goes, tions of wealth in the hands of one side by side and in increasing proporperson. This is not unprecedented, tion, the dissemination of it in the upfor a few examples are found in an- lifting of mankind, it becomes a curse cient history, but they are exceptions. rather than a blessing. Nor will giv- Crcesus, the last of the Lydian Kings, ing suffice unless it is commensurate (568-554 B. C.), has become prover- with getting. What costs no self-debial for his immense possessions. He nial counts but little in the final reckgave to the temple and people at Del- oning. Gifts are to be judged not by phi, a pyramid of bricks of silver and what is parted with but by what is gold, surmounted by a golden lion- kept. To some a million dollars may the value of which is estimated at involve less sacrifice than to others, a $4,000,000. Accompanying this were dime. The overflow of a cup that is two enormous bowls, of solid gold and constantly refilling, is not true giving. silver, and of the most artistic work- Where a man gives from so vast an manship, worth a million more. He income that he never knows it, there also sent a golden image of a woman, can be little or no blessing to his own five feet high, worth yet another equal soul. We must learn that the rapidity sum. To these sumptous gifts he and volume of the outflow should added three hundred and sixty golden keep pace with that of the income; bowls, and a present of twelve dol- and that the ratio of disbursement lars to each man in the city, and a should increase with the increase of sacrificial offering of 3,000 head of wealth. Then the new era shall dawn each animal used in worship. More- when, on the altars of God, man shall over he gave an exact duplicate to the lay gifts of such princely sort as shall temple at Branchidae. A moderate befit merchant princes, and the estimate of the value of all these gifts Prince of Peace. Men shall learn reckons them as representing $200,- what stewardship means, and hold all OOO,ooo-a sum, spent in gifts on one things in trust, calling nothing their occasion to two foreign divinities, own; and there will be no lack in any equal to two or three of the largest department of God's work. Not only fortunes now possessed by the richest will prayer and praise be continual, multi-millionaires. If we are to trust but gifts shall be offered with such Herodotus, these gifts were compara- magnificence of generosity and untive trifles, when the wealth behind selfishness, as shall realize the typical them is estimated. Yet of all this incal- forecast of the Kings of Sheba and culable riches, lavished in such reck- Seba. less extravagance, absolutely nothing remains but a name that is pro- SHOULD CHINESE CHRISTIANS GIVE verbial for great possessions. UP ANCESTOR WORSHIP? Contrast such a monopoly of money with the self sacrifice of large and lib- Manv Christians have discust the eral giving, that makes accumulation questioi-t whether the ancestor worship impossible by the constant distribution of the Chinese may be liberally interof income. What peril is involved in preted so as to allow Chinese consuch vast wealth, in making its owner verts to continue it. proud and selfish and autocratic, and in tempting him to use it for unlaw- Roman Catholics ardently debated ful ends, or in controlling an(I domi- it in the seventeenth century. The Jesuits took the ground that ancestor worship is really only ancestor hom- The whole future of Christianity was age, civil, not religious, and therefore bound up with this refusal to let the to be tolerated. The Dominicans and new wine be put into the wornout Franciscans, on the contrary, main- wine skins. Had the Church complied tained that it was worship proper, ren- with this moderate and "reasonable" dered as to gods, and therefore idol- request, as the Emperor esteemed it, the Empire would still have perished, atry. but the Church, having thus become Rome had every motive to favor the essentially bound up with it, would have perished with it. Jesuits' view as they were much more numerous and more successful than 11artyrdom is not a pleasant thing, the others. The Chinese Emperor or it would not be martyrdom. No had pronounced for their opinion and one knows how he would behave if to contradict it made sure that Chris- confronted with it, above all if those tianity would be proscribed in China. dearest to him were involved in the The Popes knew how unpleasant the peril. It is much easier to let Chrisconsequences were apt to be if they tianity appear as an elastic and comopposed the Jesuits, who had it in pliant thing, mildly disapproving evil their power to cause the. chariot and error, but energetically opposing wheels of the Holv See to drive heav- tumult, and angrily disavowing the ily. Notwithstanding these considera- unseasonable zeal of those who cause tions, however, Rome decided that the a ferment in society. Chinese veneration of ancestors is worship, not merely civil homage, and It is very pleasant to have the apthat it is, therefore, idolatry, and must probation of foreign secretaries, and be forbidden to Christians. diplomatists, but above all of news- paper reporters and review writers. The late Dr. Ernest Faber thor- I f these are our gods, let us follow oughly approved of the decision, and them. We shall have our reward, said that had it turned out otherwise which, they tell us, lies not in some Christianity would have become little cloudy heaven, but in solid credit and more than a form of Confucianism. comfort here on earth. But if we own Him for our God, who has said: The same question has long been "I came not to send peace on earth, pondered by Protestant missionaries, but a sword," let us follow Him. "It who have almost unanimously arrived is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his at the same conclusion. Lord." In this form martyrdom is Travelers, who dash off ink within our reach, and we are not to shrink from it. sketches of the outside of things and never take pains to look deeper, call There is abundance of room for missionaries narrow minded for seek- prudence in China, and courteous ing to .restrain their converts from compliance with national usage and further compliance with what these ob- feeling, altho the anger of the Chinese servers style "vital usages of Chinese is roused ten times by the brutality of life." Somewhat in the same way the merchants or tourists for once that it pagans of Rome thought of the Church is kindled by the carelessness of misof Christ. It 'is easy to see, from sionaries, at least of Protestant miscontemptuous tolerance of the Em- sionaries. If our purpose is not to revperor Hadrian's language, that he was olutionize the world, we are scarcely perfectly willing that the Church should exist, for he seriously medi- Christians. The one great revolution tated worshiping Christ as a god the Chinese need is, that they be deof the Empire. When he found that tached from ancestor worship. It has the Christians could not be moved to been well declared, that there can be perform "The Roman Ceremonies,"· or 110 true future for a country so relentto worship the Emperor's genius, he lessly held in the grasp of the generahad to let the laws take their course which made such customs obligatory.
tions. gone. When this persistent spell more than an approximation is possiis broken, the Fourth Commandment ble under existing conditions." will still nourish the virtue of filial reverence, in which assuredly the He- I ~ suonuqplUO) 0 ':".".?., brews have never fallen short, but will no longer suffer it to be a bar to <4 progress, to the more intimate affection due to the wife, to the manly in- I .,,.uoHeqo'd I 00 Nen ~ 00 dependence of parental care, and to 00 ~ ;:; the forelooking vision of the genera- "- &; tions to come. ~ GATHERING STATISTICS I I "'qmaw 1(~lU1() ~ !§: :N:: ; U"BHSI-Iq:l ;}SdU!t{:> Every thoughtful missionary has a ~ ..; feeling of special sympathy for those who work out interdenominational ~ statistical tables, but it is practically impossible, as things now stand, to S~~dnO:> '0!''0":: ~'" -2 produce an accurate statement and it will continue to be impossible to be pUB slooq~s A.I"B 0accurate until suitable united action is -UO!SS!w ul SlU;}P taken by the heads of the missionary -UlS pue SndUd N societies in Britain and America. Is '" '" '" that too much to expect? With the executive machinery now at the dis- snOntqs-qns § R~ posal of the missionary enterprise it is very near to being "slothful in busi- I pU'B SUOH13:}S .;; " ..; ness" for our societies to defer unification of reports for the general public, Sl;}),{lOA. It ";j: 0g0; at least upon general lines. The need of.0is is apparent to every student of I ;,S;,U!'!) ["10,[. a0;- a; a; mlSSlOns. S;}PBUO!SSIW ~ '"""'""- ~ Mr. Robert E. Lewis, of China, u2!<:J.10d rtq0,L thought it well to have an accurate .;; '" statement of the missions in China I and turned to the latest authorities, the statistics in the Centenary His- ~ ~~… "~~ 0 's~, tory, those prepared by the Forward Movement Study Course for Dr. ~~ ~~ S Smith's new "Uplift of China," and ~ ~. those in Mr. Broomhall's "Chinese Empire." The comparative table be- '- " OJ 0 low shows that in no point do these 'P.;E statistics agree, though all are pub- UU PU I.tl lished this year, and in that most interesting particular, Chinese Church Should these conditions continue membership, there is a variation of longer? Can not the Mission Boards about thirty-seven thousand. The "get together on a uniform and intel- "Uplift of China" says, for its table: ligible scheme?" "The statistics have been compiled by direct correspondence with mission THE CIVIC FORUM boards," but Mr. Broomhall remarks, "Some reports actually give no statis- This is an organization in New tics, and in not a few cases the figures York, for the discussion of matters needed are not easily found. Nothing having a supposedly important bear- ing on higher ideals in social life and civil service, and it is hoped it may wield a powerful scepter in influen- cing not only this nation, but all oth- ers. It is meant to be essentially a forum of the world. Addresses are planned to be given by men of promi- nence from all parts.
Ten meetings are planned for Car- negie Hall, the first having been held on November 20, and addressed by Governor Hughes, as chief speaker. Invitations to speak have been ex- tended to Bjornson, the Norwegian author and reformer; Rudyard Kip- ling, John Burns, a labor leader in Great Britain; Sir Robert Hart, for more than forty years inspector-gen- eral of customs in China; Lord Cur-
zan, formerly governor-general of In- nesota, and such a life long friend of dia; Jules Siegfried, a member of the the Redman. French Chamber of Deputies; Fred- erick Van Elden, of Holland; Gover- He was about to hold religious ser- nors Folk, of Missouri, and Johnson, vices near an Indian village in one of of Minnesota, etc., and the topics to the Western States, and before going be discust will be mainly political to the place of meeting asked the chief and economic. who was his host, whether it was safe for him to leave his effects unguarded Representative citizens, whether in the lodge. youths or adults, such as may be nom- inated by teachers, judges or organi- "Plenty safe," grunted the red man. zations, are to be delegates to, or pre- "No white man in a hundred miles ferred members of, the Civic Forum from here." body and expected to make the most of their opportunities as hearers, stu- A REMEDY FOR DISUNION dents, and eventually workers. Only speakers of high repute and who have A member of his church was sera reputation for doing effective work iously ill, and all known remedies will be invited to address the gath- failed to touch the disease. Pos- sessing some medical knowledge, Dr. erings. Duvall suggested to the doctors in at- tendance a new medicine, two drugs THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in combination. "The two drugs will oppose each other," was the reply. Modern corruption shows practi- "They can not coalesce." "Not outcal disregard for all ethical restraints. side," he said. "But if we could get them into the Lord's laboratory inside, Clough's version, which he entitled maybe they would work together." "The Latest Decalog," is an experi- So it was; the patient was cured. "No man has harmonized Arminianism and ment in pure cynicism: Calvinism," Dr. Duvall said to the Committee. "But if we get them to- Thou shalt have one God only: who gether into the Lord's laboratory they vVould be at the expense of two? will work all right." So it seems No graven images may be likely to be. Worshiped, except the currency; Swear not at all: for, for thy curse THE VALUE OF HOME MISSIONS Thine enemy is none the worse; At church on Sunday to attend Those who depreciate Home Mis- Will serve to keep the world thy friend: sions should read carefully Cali- Honor thy parents: that is, all fornia's early chronicles. When the From whom advancement may befall; golden gates were opened in r848, by Thou shalt not kill: but needs not strive the discovery of gold on the property Officiously to keep alive; of Colonel Sutter in Coloma County, Do not adultery commit: the news spredC1 like a prairie fire, and Advantage rarely comes of it; men, dropping their business and leav- Thou shalt not steal: an empty feat ing their families, rushed to the new When it's so lucrative to cheat; Ophir, and the more when it was fur- Bear not false witness: let the lie ther found that the whole State was Have the time on its own wings to fly; a gold mine. From South America, Thou shalt not covet: but tradition Europe and even China, as well as Approves all forms of competition. the Atlantic coast, the throngs poured in. So unparalleled was the inrush A SINGULAR IMMUNITY that in an incredible time there was a quarter of a million of adventurers, How often and sadly are we re- energetic, reckless and dangerous. minded that the vices imported by civ- Gambling was a universal passion and ilization and the crimes learned from indulged on a colossal scale. Whole representatives of Christian nations, squares in San Francisco were given are sometimes the most serious obstacles to the progress of the gospel among rude and barbarous peoples. Another, and a quaint illustration of this is furnished by a story of Bishop Whipple, so long the Bishop of Min-
up to it, and as much as $20,000 was when opposed by constituted authori- risked on the turn of a card or a ties. When they surrendered their throw of dice. Fortunes were staked office, they had tried and disposed of and lost or won in a few minutes, and thirty cases, and executed four. Their with a coolness that amounted to in- heavy expenses were borne by volun- difference. tary contributions. That their re- markable administration was approved Prices rose to fabulous figures. by the best part of the citizens is No one would render any sort of serv- evident from the fact that their judg- ice for less than half a dollar and ment controlled the subsequent choice the smallest change used was a quar- of public offices, both in city and ter of a dollar. Circus seats were from State. And to this day the compara- tive quiet and order of the city is $3 in tlIe pit to $55 in a private box. largely due to them. Let it be added The most indifferent board was $20 a that the Home Missionaries, dis-. patched to this State in its early his- week, flour and pork, $40 a barrel, tory cooperated with this committee, coarse boots as much a pair, wages and it was an essentially Christian in- from one dollar an hour to $20 a day. fluence which rescued the city and The "Parker House," a two-story State from the rule of violence. frame building, rented for $120,000 a year, gamblers paying for the entire MR. ARNOT'S WORK IN AFRICA second story. Outlaws poured in Mr. F. S. Arnot, well known as from all parts of the world. Justice founder of the Garenganze Mission, could not be properly administered. is about to build a dispensary and op- The "Red Hand" was everywhere rob- erating ward with money given by bing and killing. Lynch law was the two friends in America, for Dr. Saw- common refuge in the lawless condi- yer. God is blessing the work. At tion of the State; in 1851, San Fran- all the stations it is proving a won- cisco found burglary, arson, and mur- derful time of ingathering; as he ex- der so frightfully rampant, that the presses it, "fruit in its season, and . courts seemed rather to shield than without 'lny effort falling into the lap convict criminals; and a Vigilance of the missionaries." Of course trials Committee took two men-McKenzie and difficulties increase, but notwith- and Vhittaker~from prison and hung standing, the work goes steadily on at them in the street. Casey-who had the four Garenganze stations. been in prison in New York-was a PAINTINGS BY "THE MAN WHO member of the Board of Supervisors, LAUGHS BUT DOES NOT TALK" but he was charged with the sale of nominations, stuffing ballot boxes, There have been so many requests procuring the passage of fraudulent for copies of these paintings men- bills, etc. This man murdered Mr. tioned in the MISSIONARY REVIEW for King, who had in his newspaper ex- September that we have obtained four posed him, and with a gambler, Cora, of them from Dr. De Forest and can who had shot the U. S. Marshal, was offer these to oilr readers. They are hung by the Vigilance Committee, artistic water colors of Japan's fa" after trial in their rooms. mOllS mountain, Fuji, on silk. A small booklet will be sent with each paint- Though the Vigilance Committee ing to describe the artist and the work conducted all its affairs with dignity he is doing for the evangelization of and calmness, it shows the state of Japan. society when such a provisional and irregular government could be neces- sary. For considerable time the power of the State was in their hands, even
MISSIONARY
CHINA A Peculiar Petition Difficulties in China According to a special correspond- ent of the New York Evening Post: The missionaries of the Berlin Mis- "A most remarkable memorial, writ- sionary Society report from the prov- ten with the writer's own blood, has ince of Kiang-si in China that a re- been addressed to the Foreign Office volt, very similar to that of the Boxers at Peking. The petitioner is Hsi in 1900, broke out last September. A Chien, a Manchu censor and imperial secret society, which calls itself Schin- clansman of the Plain Blue Banner, ta-fui (Society of the Fighters of the and he recommends nothing less than Spirit), has been organized. Its mem- the establishment of an independent bers meet during the night and work Roman Catholic Church for China. themselves into a rage by warlike He wants the Chinese Government to exercises. They believe that they are send a special envoy to the Pope to in league with supernatural powers request the appointment of a papal and are able to destroy all foreigners. nuncio to reside in Peking, and of a Primarily, they direct their attacks Chinese cardinal to be the head of the upon the Roman Catholic missionaries proposed Chinese Catholic Church. and their followers, and it is said that The ultimate object of the petition a number of them have been murdered. seems to be to put an end to the re- But, after all, the movement is directed ligious disturbances in China, which, against all foreigners and threatens the petitioner states, are due to the the Protestant missionaries. Under foreign missionaries. Or, he would the circumstances, several of the have all the mission churches put un- German mlsslonaries were forced der Chinese control, utterly failing to to leave their stations, and in Sinjin understand the differences between the scholars fled, so that the school Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, had to be closed. Two German chapels Congregationalists, Presbyterians, etc. were also destroyed, and native Chris- These are the closing words of the petians were seriously threatened. The tition: Chinese Governor has done all in his "I sncerely hope that your Excellency power to save the missionaries and to will show a great mercy to our people by put down the revolt, and the latest re- taking steps at once to arrange with the ports are quite favorable, saying that Grand Government Councils and Boards the soldiers have overcome the movement. for the formation of a National Christian Association in China. and put the control The Chinese Burn a Chapel of all the churches and Christians in this country in our hands, in order to main- A cablegram from Shanghai reports tain our great Empire in safety for long years to come, etc."
that some property of the American Presbyterian Church, South, was de- The World's Oldest Newspaper Defunct stroyed by rioters at Kiahsing-fu, a It is reported from Peking that the town in the Province of Chekiang publication of the Peking Gazette has early in January. The official resi- been suspended. This gazette is much dence of the local magistrate was also the oldest newspaper ia the world. It destroyed but the foreigners at Kia- was first issued in 9II A. D., and has hsing-fu are reported safe. There h~s regularly appeared since 1351. It been considerable unrest recently m contains no popular news, but gives this province, but the disorders have the daily court circular and selections been directed principally against the of memorials and reports from the dynasty. high officials of the Empire which are .. daily laid before the Throne by the station of the Basel society), at Can- Advisory Council. This historical ton (where missionaries of the Berlin journal is now to be superseded by a society labor), and at Tungkun (one paper on more modern lines, known as of the stations of the Rhenish society), the Government Gazette. soon after the Chinese New Year and ea~h society will be represented of- .. A Sample of Chinese Heathenism" fiCially by three delegates, while all "Recently some professional procur- other missionaries shall be most corers going the rounds of the cities of dially welcomed. The three superin- Northern China, buying girls for the tendents also decided upon the publibrothels of Shanghai, stopped here in cat~on of a. common weekly paper their diabolical quest. They nego- which shall aid the native helpers and tiated a sale with a mother (living not teachers and build up Christian life far from us) for her 17-year-old and thought in the congregation of daughter. Now, according to the the three societies. Its first number heathen Chinese standard, abnormally was scheduled to appear in January, small feet are an important element 1908, and its contents shall be religof female beauty. As this daughter's ious, scientific, pedagogical, entertainfeet were not small enough to enable ing, missionary, and to a small extent her mother to command the sum de- political. We are glad of these first sired, the mother arose at midnight, steps toward that close cooperation while the children were sleeping peace- and fellowship of the different misfully on their brick bed (resting their sionaries in one field, which must be heads on brick pillows), took a big conducive to the advancement of the stone hammer and proceeded to beat Gospel. the feet of the daughter in question to a pulp. The agonizing pain, the Racial Hatred in China heart-rending screams, were of no Racial feeling between the Chinese avail. Thus was completed the process and their masters, the Manchus, runs of binding into· smaller compass and high just now, and many Manchu thereby expediting a more advanta- officials go about in fear and tremb- geous sale. This incident is one of the ling with the dread of the assassin daily, inevitable corollaries – whose upon them. An Imperial edict has woe extends ceaselessly to scores of been issued deploring this racial jeal- millions-of the fundamental teaching ousy asserting the absolute impartiality of China's man-made religion. Women of the Throne, and exhorting both par- are worth practically nothing till the ties, in face of the common danger, to mothers of sons." work together for the welfare of the Empire. Closer Union of German Societies in China Imperial edicts, however, do not The good news comes from China alter facts. The Manchus enjoy many that representatives of three great exceptional privileges. They domi- German missionary societies at work nate the central government and mon- in the Empire have taken the first opolize the best posts in Peking.
steps toward a closer approachment The number of Manchu officials of the societies and their workers. throughout the Empire is out of all The superintendents of the missionary proportion to the comparative num- work of the Rhenish, Basel and Berlin bers of the two peoples. Every male Missionary Societies in China met on Manchu above the age of sixteen September 12, 1907, and decided that draws a monthly allowance from the "as an expression of mutual friend- Government and a quarterly grant of ship and of the unity of the three Ger- rice. In nine out of the eighteen man societies" a missionary conference provinces of China proper there are shall be held biennially. It shall be Manchu garrisons which long since convened alternately at Hongkong (a have become quite useless.
GE~ERAL MISSIONARY IXTELLlGElCE
An Encouraging Ingathering of its objects to promote the study of missions in Sundav-schools and other The Rev. Albert A. Fulton, of Can- young people's organizations, and gen- ton, in his second quarterly trip to erally to foster the interest of the out-stations received 225 men and wo- young in the evangelization of the men on confession of faith. He has world. Similar steps were taken ear- 39' chapels under his care. The Chi- lier in the year at several centers in nese have subscribed the money and India. These results are due to the are building a railroad in a section of visit of Messrs. Earl Taylor and Vick- the Canton field. This road will be ery, delegates from the American in operation in about six months. Young People's Missionary Move- This will greatly facilitate the work ment. They are hopeful beginnings. in the Canton field. The Chinese built one chapel almost without any assist- How Koreans Work and Give ance; the cost was about $600. Other chapels are in process of erection. Of Rev. James S. Gale, D. D., who has four men recently ordained, three just returned to Korea, writes: "Our have been called to self-supporting church building holding about 500 h'!s churches. become too small for a congregation of 1,200. A collection of $60 was Great Good Out of Great Evil taken, sheeting bought and stitched together into an awning. The autumn In Shansi Province alone during winds, however, blew it down just as the Boxer outbreak 177 foreigners the company of 1,600 had started to were massacred. But instead of a sing the first hymn." One thousand money indemnity, at the suggestion of dollars in gold has already been paid Dr. Timothy Richard, of the Chris- in by the Christians at Seoul to build tian Literature Society, a modern uni- a church that will seat all the people versity was fOUl)ded for the education who wish to attend. of the literati of the province, the Imperial Shansi "Cniversity, located in Japanese Missions in Formosa Tiyuan fu. Already 25 students have been sent from it to England for five There are nearly 3,000,000 people years of further study, that later they in Formosa-the great majority Chipromote the cause of progress at nese, 133,539 Head-hunters, 40,000 home. While in England they will be Japanese. Japanese constitute the ruldirected in their studies bv Lord Li ing class and are influential and ag- Ching Fang, the new Chit{ese :Minis- gressive. Splendid evangelistic work ter to Great Britain. is now being carried on by the J apa- nese Church for the Japanese in For- KOREA AND JAPAN mosa. The English and Canadian Presbyterian missionaries have done Young People Organizing in the Orient great work in Formosa. The J ap- anese Presbyterian Church is attempt- Good tidings come of the organiza- ing to aid the other Presbyterian bodtion of a Young People's Missionary ies in this great evangelistic move- Movement both in China and in Ko- ment. The work is extending to the rea. At the Centenary Conference in savages-Head-hunters. Mr. Dogura, Shanghai a committee was appointed a Japanese forest planter and a Christo care for the proper development of tian, has won many of them by his kindwork among young people, and this ness. He offers to support a Japanese committee has resolved to ask the missionary to these degraded people. :Iission Boards to send out mIssIon- A Japanese magistrate on his plantaaries specially to develop Sunday tion, near where the Head-hunters schools and Young People's Societies live, with a Christian wife, is much in their various fields. The Korean interested. The wife is a trained missionaries were present in strong nurse. She is trying to learn the lanforce at Shanghai, and they too have formed a committee which has for one
guage. She said to a missionary: HI who believes in Buddhism sufficiently am trying to learn the language of to make it a power in the country.
these savages and win them by kind- In all parts of Japan our adherents ness and tender care." are leaving us to join the Christians.
Bible Circulation in Japan Among the upper classes there seems to be scarcely anybody who believes Ever since March, 1906, Osaka has now in Buddhism.. . . With such been the scene of a sustained effort on priests as we see to-day there is no the part of the colporteurs on the staff future for Buddhism." of the two British societies (the British and Foreign Bible Society and the INDIA AND CEYLON National Bible Society of Scotland). Work for the Lepers in the Orient The last census returns show in 1905 The auxiliary mlsslOnary work a population of 1,069.458 inhabitants which is carried on so successfully by in Osaka, occupying 244,965 houses, the Mission to Lepers has now com- and the intention is to visit every pleted its thirty-first year, and its in- house in the city. One of the leading fluence is scattered over 78 asylums daily papers comments thus on the in India, Burma, Ceylon, China, Ja- scheme: "A great Bible-selling cam- pan and Sumatra. It was surely a paign is in progress in the city. The divinely inspired plan which led Mr.
plan is to circulate 100,000 Scriptures WelIesley C. Bailey in laying. the if possible. A large supply of books foundations of his great work to utilize has been provided by the British Bible the missionaries on the field instead Societies, and several of their colpor- of sending out workers for the special teurs have made a commencement in mission. In this way the mission to the work. So far it has been most lepers has become an interdenomina- successful in Senda, a most conserva- tional movement, and its own influence tive district of the city. We consider has spread indefinitely, while it ha.s the movement a most unique and in- assisted, without competing with exist- teresting one." From March 15th to ing missionary societies.
December 31st the sales amounted to Among the outstanding events of 357 Bibles, 7,088 Testaments, 14,81 7 the past year may be mentioned- portions; a total of 22,262 books. In (r) The building of three new Asylums January and February 5,000 further in India.
copies were sold. (2) The completion of several new build- Admissions Made by Non-Christian ings. (3) Two new openings in China, and Japanese one in India.
Dr. T. Inoue, one of the ablest phil- (4) The opening of the Dhar Asylum. (5) The dedication of three leper osophical writers and lecturers in churches, viz.: Tarn Taran, Alleppey and modern Japan, who has hitherto bit- Pui. terly antagonized the religion of the (6) The arrangement for erection of an Nazarene, remarked a few months ago at a large meeting of school directors: AsylUm at Poona.
A Fakir and His Doings "Formerly Christianity in this country In the modern busy street in Cal- was not in agreement with the State, cutta, called Mow Bazaar, in which but such is no longer the case," and the Oxford Mission House used to he readily speaks from the same plat- stand, I saw by the side of the tram- form with Pastor Ebina, Dr. Nitobe line a man, stark naked, with chains and other prominent Christians. Re- around feet and hands. He was lying cent papers are publishing the frank flat in the dust, measuring his length acknowledgment of Bankon Shi- on the ground. He rose as I was mada, one of the oldest and ablest looking, advanced a few paces, and Buddhist priests in the country: "It standing upright, with his feet where is hard to find anybody nowadays his nose had marked the dust, he prostrated himself again, proceeded to go der of the Sikh religion). The Prophet is through the same motions. He was a not Mohammed. Guru Nanak is dead. Mofakir, or devotee of some sort, and I hammed is dead. The living Prophet is was assured that he was going to Jesus Christ. The living Guru is Jesus travel in this manner all the hundreds Christ." of weary miles which intervened between Calcutta and the sacred city of Mission to the Lakhers Benares. My first feeling was, I fear, one of disgust and contempt at the In the northeast of India, between the borders of Arakan and Burma, superstitious folly of the man. But I lies the tail-end of the Assam Mounhope it was soon overtaken and tains. These are inhabited by a tribe checked by a consideration both of wild hillsmen who at the present worthier and with more of humility in time are enveloped in the deepest of it-the consideration, I mean, that he, heathen darkness and superstition, sacin his benighted ignorance of the char- rificing to demons in the hope of wardacter of God and of the way to serve ing off any evil that may beset them. Him, was taking a great deal more After much prayer the call came to me pains about his devotions than I was to go to a tribe known as the Lakhers, in the habit of doing with my better a fine race of men physically, but spir- itually deep in the mire of sin. Their knowledge.-Bsihop Gore. country lies some six days' march south of Lushai-Iand, where mv A Sikh Fakir Proclaiming Christ brother, Rev. J. Herbert Lorrain, and Twice a year a meeting is held near Amritsar, called the "Prem-Sangat," his colleague, Rev. Fred W. Savidge, which means literally, "Love Assem- have had the great privilege of workbly." It brings together the Sikha and ing for the Master for the last fifteen Christians in a friendly way to allow years and have been enabled to reduce preachers of each religion to give pub- two of these, then unknown, lanlic addresses. A writer in the Church g~ages-Lu5hai and Abor-to wri- Missiollary Society Gazette describes ting, as well as to translate portions qf the scripture and to write a story one of these addresses: of the Bible in the Abor tongue. When these two pioneers went up int'Ll the At ten o'clock on the morning of the Lushai Hills the people were known mela, those present sat down under a huge as notorious head-hunters, who reshamiana (tent), the Christians at one end peatedly made raids on the planters in to the number of 20, the Sikhs, numbering the plains, carrying away their heads some 300 on one side, near them the various into their mountain retreats. The Lakbranches' of the neo-Hindu community, and her people are a kin tribe to the Luat one end ISO Mohammedans. shais, but they speak an entirely dif- ferent language, which at present is When we had been sitting on our crossed unknown save to themselves, and is legs about an hour .and a half, there wa? a without an alphabet or sign of any slight excitement 111 the camp. Askmg kind. I have just completed a course what it was, I was told that Kesar had ar- of medical training at Livingstone rived. Almost immediately all gave the College, with a view to being able to greatest respect and reverence to an old help them in body, and so gain their man-gray-headed, wearing a fakir's garb, confidence.-London Christiall. with hair standing straight ont all over his head, who stept into the assembly. He Islam and Hinduism Endowing Colleges stood a moment with outstretched hands, with his followers behind him, and then be- The prince of powers of the air is gan in Punjabi this striking utterance-stri- alert. Right in the heart of our misking because coming from a .nominal sion in North India, a powerful Moheathen, a Sikh fakir, and also because of hanunedan college has been founded the contents of the message and the almost and liberally endowed in the city of apostolic boldness with which it was de- Aligarh. Some time ago its founder, livered: "There is one Prophet. "There is one living Prophet. "There is one Guru (teacher). "There is one living Guru. "The Guru is not Guru Nanak (the foun- Sir Sayad Ahniad Khan, warned the am! morals. They are sincere in their Hindus against letting their orphans beliefs and enable us to correctly apfall into our hands. A strong Hindu praise the intrinsic social position of college has been endowed at Lahore, the Britishers, who are dressed in brief the Punjab capital, to bolster Uj) Vedic authority over us. They moreover Hinduism. They are now talking of sympathize and mix with us in many sending missionaries to convert Amer- a social and public function, and we ica to the Hindu faith! At Hardoi, have much to learn from them to imwhere the Ganges emerges from the prove our general condition. Their Himalayas, perhaps the most sacred colleges and high schools hold their spot in India, and where sometimes own among the best in the land, and I2,000,000 people assemble on pil- some of the best among our men of grimage, a Hindu theological semin- light and leading are the alumni of ary has been established for training these institutions. They do not, as preachers for primitive Hinduism. a rule, make converts by unfair means. Mrs. Desant, a brilliant English wo- There may be exceptions here and man, renegade from Christianity, ancl there, but we believe we have painted posing as a Hindu, has succeeded our missionary friends in India in true in getting the Hindus to endow a Cen- and faithful colors. Ve ought always tral Hindu college at the sacred city to look upon these unselfish workers of Benares. She is principal, and in as India's real friends." her last report proposes in the female department "the education of girls on TURKEY the lines of pure Hinduism." The endowment is building up rapidly. The Taking Up a Collection in Turkey Brahamos, an advanced Hindu sect, are now proposing a theological sem- In Sivas, the American Board has a inary at Calcutta, to train preachers Normal School which sorely needs and missionaries for India and abroad. better appointments, and in -the ab- sence of help from America, a meet- J. REV. T. SCOTT. ing was called. The nllSSlonary writes as follows concerning what was Missions As One Hindu Sees Them said and done: In a recent contribution to the 11y- "The alumni of the school present sore Revie'w these unqualified words in the town were gathered with a few of commendation are bestowed with- friends in a hall one evening-twentyout solicitation bv a writer born and seven graduates and half as many reared in India, ~hich also certain un- friends. I doubt whether anywhere informed critics will do well to read, in the world more of enlightenment note, mark, and inwardly digest. He and good desire, combined with more savs: of humble poverty, could be got to- gether in one room, There was dis- -"We take this opportunity of en- cussion for an hour as to what could treating our countrymen not to mis- be done, if anything, and how to bring understand our European missionar:y it to pass. At what seemed the I"roper friends, and to impute to. them sinister time one took from his pocket a Turkmotives for the work they are doing ish pound ($4-40), and brought it to in our midst. They do not mask the table to start the subscription for their object in coming to India. It is the normal school. At once the head avowedly to evangelize her children teacher said, 'I'll make it three by co1lviction. They do not use force pounds.' Immediately another said, or compuls,ion, They are, however, the 'I'll make it four pounds;' another, great pioneers and successful prosecu- 'I'll make it five;' and so it rolled up tors of Western higher education, and to thirty pounds. Then I said, 'When being divested of official prestige, give it reaches fifty we'll sing "Halleluus object lessons of British home life jah.'" This ~as thought a jump be-
MISSIOlARY INTELLIGENCE
yond possibilities, but it was not long institutions, has founded a medical before we were on our feet, singing, college and hospital in Damascus, and Hallelujah! thine the glory; is building a large hospital ane! indus- Hallelujah! Amen. trial school in Beirut. The latter is "Before the hymn was fairly done, of vast proportions, with three ima young business man, earnest and mense edifices side by side and accomfriendly, though not a Protestant, said, modations for hundreds of students. 'If only we can raise it to seventy Yet it should be borne in mind that here to-night we will certainly be able these and all government schools are to raise it to a hundred outside after- meant for "Muslims only."-Assemward.' The ball started rolling anew, bl'j' Herald.
and so far overran seventy that the EUROPE same young man, in consultation with a friend or two, said, 'Ve guarantee Protestant Statistics the whole hundred, now and here.' Professor Kattenbusch, of Goettin- Thereupon the joy was all the room gen, has been investigating afresh the could hold. statistics of Protestantism, and his conclusions are very interesting. He "So in a single evening, in a com- estimates that there are now about pany familiar with the last degree of 180,000,000 Protestants in the world, economy in making ends meet, $440 as over against 250,000,000 or 260,- was raised to help on the cause of the 000,000 Catholics and IOO,OOO,OOO to normal school. The next morning 1IO,OOO,OOO adherents of the Oriental twelve of fifteen dollars more were C4urches. The distribution of these added to the subscription, and the joy 180,000,000 Protestants is as follows: radiant in all faces was exhilarating First of all countries stands the to look upon."
Modem Civilization in Syria United States, with 65,000,000 to 6!),- Steam and electricity have laid 000,000 out of a. population of about hold on Syria and are compelling the 79,000,000. ~ext comes Great Britain land to move and be enlightened. ,-:ith 37,000,000 out of a population of, Railroads are now completed between say, 42,500,000. Next, Germany, with Jaffa and Jerusalem, 1?etween Haifa, 35,000,000 out of a population of 56,- Tiberias and Damascus, between 000,000. To Sweden and Norway Beirut and Damascus, between Beirut, are attributed 7,500,000; to Denmark, Baalbek Hamath ane! Aleppo, and be- 2,500,000; to Russia 6,000,000; to tween Damascus and Tibok ane! Me- Hungary, 4,000,000; to Holland, 3,- diaen, on the Mecca Hejaz Railroad, 000,000; to Switzerland, 2,000,000; to some 600 miles on the way to Mecca. France, 500,000, and to Austria, 250,- An electric trolley road runs 000. The British colonies add 10,- through the streets of Damascus, and 000,000, and the. Protestant mission- the city is lighted by electricity. Iron ary chi,trches about 4,000,000 more. It pipes are being laid to bring the crys- is interesting to note that of these tal cold water of Ain Fyi, fifteen miles 180,000,000 no less than 114,000,000 to Damascus. are of English speech. With respect A Belgium company is building an to the various types of Protestantism, electric trolley tramway through the Professor Kattenbusch's statistics streets of Beirut and will furnish elec- yield the following results: Of the tric lights. 180,000,000, no less than 100,000,000 These railways are increasing busi- belong historically to the Reformed ness and building up the waste places Churches-57,ooo,000 in America; along the line and giving the Arab 32,000,000 to 33,000,000 in Europe; peasantry access to the seaport mar- IO,OOO,OOO elsewhere. Fiftv-six mil- li01~S are Lutherans, 32,000,000 of kets.
At the same time the Turkish Gov- whom are in Germany; 29,000,000 are ernment, not to be outdon~ by foreign Anglicans.
The Passing of Exeter Hall in America. In Canada and the In view of the final destruction of United States he supposed he had this building or its alteration and ap- dealt with something like IOO,OOO peo- propriation to other uses, it may be ple at his meetings. He had had on well to quote the following from the one platform as many as 9 judges, a Church Missionary Intelligence: Roman Catholic bishop, leaders of Exeter Hall was first used by this Protestant denominations, the Jewish Society for a Valedictory Meeting in rabbis and representatives of leading January, 1890. The occasion was one breweries and distilleries. He had de- which history may prove to have been termined to try a new scheme of emi- more potent for the extinction of the gration. People were going from the slave-trade and for the civilization of Ea~t to the West of Canada, leaving Africa, tho they were not the primary theIr farmsteads, and he was going objects in view, than the meeting over to embark on an experiment of send- which the Prince Consort presided just ing 50 farmers to occupy those dere- half a century earlier, for it was to lict farms. They would be supplied take leave of parties of missionaries with cattie, sheep, horses, capital and proceeding to East and West Africa. all that was necessary for them for -including Geo. L. Pilkington to the first couple of years. The Army's Uganda and Mr. and Mrs. G. Wilmot success in dealing with the criminal Brooke, Dr. C. F. Harford-Battersby class was, said the General, being rec- (now Doctor Harford) to West ognized in a remarkable way. He Africa. Bishop Crowther was one of had accepted the offer of a Canadian the speakers, the Rev. C. G. Basker- cabinet minister to take entire charge ville gave the concluding address, and of a new prison. A town in America prayer was offered by Dr. A. T. Pier- with 70,000 population had agreed son. It was a memorable meeting, the that the Salvation Army should dis- precursor of many others at which pense the united charities of the city.
men and women have been led to ded- Growth of Moravian Missions icate themselves and their substance to the evangelization of the world. The Moravian missions have had a Who in 1890 dreamed of the establish- very satisfactory growth during the ment of the Pax Britannica in Hausa- last quarter of a century. They have land, such as now prevails, of the abo- now 6 schools for the training of nalition of human sacrifices and twin in- tive assistants against three in 1882, fanticide, which have so largely taken and the number of students also has place in the lower reaches of the doubled. Instead of 17 ordained na- Niger? Nho could foresee the aboli- tive" missionaries and IO unordained tion of slavery in Uganda, the estab- native helpers, there are now 33 native lishment of peaceful industries in the missionaries and 35 native helpers. place of warlike expeditions, a Chris- The number of natives who conduct tian ruler, a prime minister honored meetings has risen from 145 to 300; by King Edward VII., a company of the number of white missionaries from nearly 60,000 baptized Protestant 144 to 206; the number of baptized Christians, and outposts stretching to members from 74,535 to 94.402; the Gondokoro in the north, the German whole number of pwple directly confrontier in the south, and east and nected with the congregations gathwest from Kavirondo to the bound- ered from among the heathen from aries of the Kongo Free State? 79,021 to I02,216 at the end of 1906. The society at the time of its sesqui- General Booth On His VISit to America centennial (1882) had 12 missionary General Booth was "at home" on provinces,99 stations and 15 preaching his return from Germany to a num- places. It has now IS provinces, 141 ber of press representatives, to whom stations, 131 filials and more than 600 he gave a striking account of his tour preaching places. The progress of the
I908 ] GENERAL MISSIONARY
mission schools has not been so great. they had multiplied to 56 congrega- There are now 238 schools with 29,- tions with 14,600 communicants, and 562 pupils, as compared with 217 had 24 missionary stations; and schools and r6,590 pupils in r882, and four years later, there were 38 146 Sunday-schools with 21,000 schol- missionary stations, with a total ars. of 100 pastors, evangelists and Protestantism in Paris teachers. The vitality of this little There are in Paris 43 French Prot- _ church of the valleys is astonishing estant churches, of different denominations, and in the outskirts there are and can be compared only to that of 47 more, making a total of 90 the Moravians. In the report for churches, where French Protestants 1907, the Synod reports five districts, worship. In 3 of these, English serv- one in Sicily; 131 workers, of whom ices are also held, and in 4 of them about 50 are pastors, and they have German services. There is also one 46 churches, 68 stations and 24 of the Swedish church. The British and "Diaspora," or scattered groups. American churches number 6 in all, What church of so small a member- ship can equal this record?
itS two of the Wesleyan churches are Bibles Permitted in Austria used for both languages. One of The organ of the British and Forthese 6 churches, an English Episcopal eign Bible Society says: "It is encourachurch, is outside the fortifications, at ging to learn that, after long delay, the Neuilly. There are in Paris and the Society has obtained licenses for two immediate environs some fifty or sixty -colporteurs in Istria, and one colpor- thousand Protestants. The total num- teur in Dalmatia. Moreover, we have ber of British and American residents, the promise of a license for Lower in the department of the Seine does Austria-which includes the city of not number more than 10,000. Vienna-where none of our colpor- The Waldensian Work teurs have been permitted to work for Some years ago, in 1890, it was our the last ten years."
privilege to spend considerable time in Da;ybreakin Spain the Vandois Valleys, tramping over The editor of the Sunday at Home the mountain passes, and speaking to has been visiting Seville, and it is congregations of these simple minded gratifying to find that he is able to and loyal disciples. At Torre Pellice, bear witness to the fact that, altho Angronia, and various other points; Protestantism can not claim magnifi- visiting the Cavern, where for so long cent buildings or large congregations they worshiped, hiding from their im- in that city, "it is at least a growing placable persecutors, and lodging at spiritual force." Apart from the Brit- the humble homes of their self-deny- ish colony, there are now over 500 ing pastors, Bonnet, Chabas and Pons. persons connected with the Protestant The visit was most inspiring, and left churches, two congregations of these ineffaceable impressions. Few, even belonging to the Reformed Church among the more intelligent of disci- and one to the Presbyterian, and each ples, know the real worth of this de- of them having schools. On a recent voted little flock, who for nearly eight occasion pastor Emilio Carreceo led centuries have been the subjects of a procession of 300 scholars of his unending papal antagonism. The last day-schools through the streets, and of their violent persecutions has, we tho they bore a banner, Escuelas hope, been endured. Since 1848, they Evangelicas (Protestant schools), they have been put more on a level with were not interfered with. Surely this the Roman Catholic subjects of Sar- is marvelous for Spain, with its histor- dinia. At that time they had IS con- ical and inherited intolerance. The gregations and 18 pastors; in 1879, visitor was delighted to hear the Sun-
day-school children singing Spanish Mrs. Russell Sage and the Y. M. C. A. versions of "Onward, Christian sol- diers," and "I think when I read that :Mrs. Sage continues to put to most sweet story of old," and a large eve- excellent use the millions of her un- ning congregation joining in a render- philanthropic husband. Of late the ing of "Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." Y. M. C. A. has been the recipient of various sums which aggregate nearly .. Flying Column" in Russia $875,000. For a building at Fort Slocum $50,000 was given, $20,000 Mr. Ivan Prokhanoff, of Russia, toward another at St. Paul and $25,- said: 000 toward a soldiers club-house at Fort McKinley in the Philippines. Be- Last summer some Chr:stian evangelists sides, a gift of $50,000 for the bene- formed choirs of young people, and with fit of railroad men at Long Island these "flying columns" went from place to City has been increased to $85,000, place conducting missions. They put up and a gift for the naval branch of the posters announcing that evangelical meet- Y. M. C. A. in Brooklyn from $25°,- ings would be held in some popnlar hall. 000 to $285,000. To these is to be People flocked in crowds to the meetings, added $350,000 for the International and thousands profest conversion to Christ. headquarters in New York City. One of these evangelists went to the city of Omsk with a choir of young people. He The International Y. M. C. A. Convention hired the largest hall in the city, and it was crowded out. Then he hired a leading In 'Washington, D. c., from Notheater, and that also was crowded with people. For a fortnight he conducted meet- vember 22 to 25, over 2,000 accredited ings in Omsk, and every night the place of delegates, representing twelve differmeeting was crowded with people. The ent lands, and all the continents of the choirs, as well as the evangelists, proved a globe gathered to consider the great great attraction to the people. Similar questions of this organization that has "flying commns" are being formed this year now a world-wide influence. Rev. Dr. to carry the Gospel to other towns. Floyd Tomkins, of Philadelphia,' struck the keynote in the opening AMERICA "quiet hour," in his theine: "He who works must pray." Y. M. C. A. Progress The first business was the report of The new year-book of the Young the International Committee, a Men's Christian Associations of North most encouraging document, showing America gives the present number of growth in every department to have associations as 1,887, with a total mem- been phenomenal; increase in membership of 435,000. Of this number bership, and the nUluber of employed 175,000 are members of evangelical officers, buildings secured and money churches, and therefore control all contributed for permanent endowment elections and administrations.~ The and current expenses; and especially average daily attendance of young men in Bible. study, religious meetings and at association rooms throughout the conversIOns. land was 138,000. During the past year the Bible classes had an enroll- Perhaps the most important matter ment of 92,000. There were also 24,- for consideration was the readoption 000 young men helped into employ- of evangelical basis of active memberment, while those living in association ship, adopted at Detroit in 1868 and dormitories now number over 12,000. reaffirmed at the Portland Convention The value of property owneci by Chris- in 1869. All questions pertaining to tian Associations is given as $39,000,- the basis were referred to the Com- 000, while $4,000,000 additional have mittee of Seven, of which Dr. Bosbeen paid toward other new buildings, worth, dean of Oberlin Theological for which $II,OOO,ooo have been sub- Seminary was chairman; and all who scribed. A yearly appropriation of wished to present memorials or reso- $r 50,000 toward work 111 foreign lands lutions were heard. Effort was made has been made.
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
to reach as many as possible of the citi- ary and his wife in China, including zens of Washington with the Gospel, salary, outfit, traveling expenses, and, and on a larger scale than ever before. if necessary, building a house. The The weather was unpropitious, but offer calls for $2,200 a year, .and pos- about fifty meetings were held each o sibly even more during the second day and probably reached 50,000 peo- year. He assumed this obligation for ple. At the close of one meeting fully thirty years, and is considering pro- 2S0 men professed acceptance of viding in his will for its continuance Christ. It was estimated that 150,000 when he is gone.
people heard the message of the Con- Methodist Women as Given vention, which was the acceptance of Jesus Christ, the Divine Lord and No Women's Missionary Society Savior, and the claim of the Christian surpasses in activity the one connected Church for their service. with the Methodist Episcopal Church Auxiliaries have been formed t6 the The Presbyterian Men's Convention number of 5,996, with a membership of IS8,III. Its representatives in the During this month, (February II- 13), this foreign mission gathering foreign field number 316, and 26 have convenes in the Academy of Music, been sent out within a twelve month. Philadelphia; and all indications point The receipts reached $692,490 last toward it as one of the events of our year (an advance of $76,000 beyond day. Registration of delegates be- the year before), while the total from gan months beforehand. Representa- the beginning is more than $9,000,000.
tive business men who have person- New York's Fint Chinese Church ally made a tour of investigation in The announcement of the erection mission fields are to report on the en- of the first building to be used terprise of missions, as such: and the exclusively for Chinese Protestant church purposes will come as a surdouble purpose of the convention is prize to most readers, altho it has to face the facts, and decide what taken nearly half a century to reach God is calling His Church to do; and this event. New York has now 8,000 then to consider ways and means for the proper doing of'the work. There Chinese within its limits. The Presought to be very earnest prayer that byterian Chinese Mission is the first in New York to have so far developed the convention may be preeminently as to need a building. The minister, pervaded by the power of God. Rev. Huie Kin, has been in America forty years. His American wife has Mr. Moody Still a Force for Million.
Up to the present time 45 old North- been an important factor in the mis- field, (Mass.), Seminary students are sion. The new building is to have an working in foreign field-I3 in China, auditorium on the ground floor for 1 J in India, 3 in Africa, 4 in South services and Bible school. The second America, one in each of the following floor will contain a Chinese library, countries: Bulgaria, Philippine Is- parlors, rooms for Tract Society and lands, South Sea Islands, Siam, Syria other adjuncts to the work, and pas- and Korea. All of these Northfield tor's study. On the third floor will be girls are doing a fine work, and many bedrooms for visitors and students, of them are in positions of great re- dispensary and hospital facilities. The sponsibility. Several having taken a basement will contain the dining-room, medical course, are in charge of hos- kitchen, etc., and a gymnasium, and pitals. there is to be a roof-garden.
A Mt'del Investment in Missions Canada's Immigration Problem The American Board announces that 'vVe hear much of the flood of fora man in the West has just made a eigners pouring in upon us, but most extraordinary offer. He will as- almost nothing of the similar phesume the entire support of a mission- nomenon visible beyond the St. Law-
renee and the Great Lakes. The state- River went without pudding one Sun- ment is well authenticated that in the day out of every two. A sum of £2 three provinces of Manitoba, Sas- was saved and sent to the leper chil- katchewan and Alberta are to be found dren in China. That was true self- not less 'than 90,000 Gennans, 80,000. denial !-London Christia.n Herald.
Russians, 50,000 Scandinavians, 35,- The Metlakahtla Jubilee 000 French, including French-Cana- dians, Belgians and half-breeds, 20,- Fifty years ago, on the night of the 000 Icelanders, 9,000 Hungarians, and 1st of October, 1857, William Dunin fewer numbers, Rumanians, Finns, can landed at Fort Simpson, British Swiss, Hollanders, Italians, Syrians, Columbia. He had traveled by H. M. Bohemians, Flemish, Greeks, Letts, S. Satellite, under the command of Ethonians, Lithuanians, Hebrews, Captain Prevost, at whose instance he Danes, Poles, Slovaks, Welsh, Servi- had been sent out, and who gave him a ans, Bulgarians, Chinese, Hindus, free passage. Nine months had elapsed Japanese, Armenians, Portuguese and since he sailed from Plymouth, Eng- Egyptians. land, but three of them had been spent waiting at Victoria, Vancouver, for an Some years ago it was a surprise opportunity of completing his journey, to hear that 25 different languages a further 500 miles up the coast. The were spoken by the children attending Hudson's Bay Company's officers the public schools of Winnipeg, but strongly objected to his proceeding. last year the Bible was supplied to He would find no possibility of consettlers in the Northwest in 50 differ- tact with the Indians. The servants ent languages and versions by the of the Company lived surrounded by Bible Society.
Going Without Pudding to Help the a stockade, within which no Indian Chinese Lepers was admitted, and to go outside it would be at the risk of his life. Such Bishop Stringer, Selkirk (the Yu- were the conditions of life on the kon Territory), of the Church Mis- Pacific coast half a century ago, and sionary Society, describes how Rev. such the relations between the white E. J. Marsh, missionary at Hay River, men and the red. In August last, at told his Indian boarding-school about Prince Rupert, close to Metlakahtla the needs of the leper children in of missionary fame, where the begin- China. Soon after the children asked nings have been made of what is ex- if they could not help them. 11r. pected to be a great city, for it is to Marsh could not see one single thing be the terminus of the Grand Trunk that they could do. Their clothing, Railway, Bishop Du Vernet held the their food, was all from the mission. second Synod of the diocese of Cale- They went away disappointed, but donia. He reported that he had con- soon came back and said: "We want firmed during the previous year 121 to help those little children in China. candidates. Few heathen now remain We have been thinking about it, and in the diocese, and the descendants of want to give up our pudding on Sun- those wild and ferocious Indians are days." The children had fish thrice a civilized and prosperous in a high de- day, and sometimes potatoes, but on g-ree. The Dominion Government Sundays, as a special treat, they had lately purchased from them a consid- rice pudding, with no sugar. The erable acreage of their reserves for tears came to the missionary's eyes as public purposes, and over ninety-five he said: "No, you don't know what per cent of the Indians who received you say; it is the only treat you get." the money opened savings' bank ac- He saw they were terribly disap- counts therewith. One Indian woman pointed, so he said: "Well, you may who lately died left forty dollars to do it every second Sunday," And for each church in the diocese.-c. M. S.
that year those Indian children at Hay Review.
MISSIONARY
155 AFRICA be speedily followed by the spread of Tokens of Good for Aftica the Christian faith throughout the Psalmist and prophet include Africain whole of West Central Africa.
the sweep of divine mercy. Ethiopia's Ordination in Toro outstretched hands will find the hand that was pierced on Calvary for her In Taro two chiefs have just been redemption. Africa, so long known as admitt~d to deacons' orders, the first the "Dark Continent," has come into of their race to enter the Christian the light during recent years. Com- ministry. A few years ago they gave merce and conquest have followed the up their chieftainships in order that Christian missionary and opened Af- the might prepare for jooyrdoefrs~dmaintd rica to civilization. The area of Africa Bishop Tucker had the is about 11,500,000 square miles. Its ting them both to the diaconate a few population is estimated at 130,500,000. weeks since. The Bishop also con- Through gradual occupation the Eu- firmed 400 Datoro candidates and ded- ropean nations have taken possession. icated to God's service "a beautiful Great Britain, the land of the immortal new church, built of brick, almost like Livingstone, has entered into his la- a small cathedral." It is only eleven bors, and owned 2,500,000 square years ago that the Bishop baptized, on miles before the Transvaal war gave May 8th, 1896, the first converts in them sovereignty over the Dutch Re- Toro, and now there are over 3,000 public. Egypt and the Sudan are ad- Christians and 1,400 communicants in ditional territory under British sov- the country. Six hundred and nine- ereignty. Portugal, Germany, Spain teen gathered with the Bishop three and Italy have also large possessions. months ago at the Lord's Table. He If nations shall become evangelists, confirmed in all during his tour in then Europe will have a field in Africa. Ankole, Toro, and Bunyoro, all Lun- Baptism of Mohammedans in West Africa yoro-speaking countries, 1,200 candi- dates. On a Sunday a few months since Bishop Tugwell, of Western Equa- Teaching Kongo Children Useful Tradel torial Africa, baptized in the river Let us glance, for a moment, at the Kaduna, outside Zaria. the first two Luluaburg Mission, 1,000 miles from converts from Mohammedanism, both the mouth of the Kongo River, and a of whom had been mallams, i. e. type of many of the best stations. The learned men or teachers. It was an grounds are neatly kept, the school- impressive service, even to the nOll- house with the little cupola, the hos- Christians who witnessed it, as the pital, the church, and other buildings candidates left their number to de- are commodious. Good roads are scend the bank of the stream, and then maintained.
after immersion in the name of the The fathers here lOve most of all to Triune God and the signing of the have hundreds of children under their Cross on the men's foreheads were influence. "Give us the children," they welcomed by the Christians on the say, "Their parents are so fixt in other side. One of the lookers-on, primitive and barbarous ways that it himself an inquirer, observed, "I never is hard to change them. So we wish to felt so ill before as I did when I saw gather the children around us that we my friend croSs the stream and leave may mold their plastic minds and train me behind." "Of the sincerity of their hands. We may help in this way these two converts," the Bishop says, to make the future fathers and mothers "there can be no question." very different from those of to-day, The Hausas are by far the most im- and how vast will be their influence!"
portant race in West Africa, and the In no sense do they neglect the acceptance of Christianity by any adults, but their hopes are chiefly based number of the Hausas is likely to upon the boys and girls from five to seventeen years of age. These chil- ISLANDS OF THE SEA dren fill the school and workshops. No walls or regulations compel their Latest Facts from the Philippines presence, but a large variety of work and play and unfailing kindness and Eight years ago there was not a patience keep most of them there until dollar invested in the Philippines by their education is completed. A lit- any Protestant missionary society; totle reading, writing, arithmetic, and day nearly $500,000 is held by variolls geography, well sandwiched with American missionary boards. More music, complete the schoolroom exer- than 30,000 Filipinos have already cises; but every day for years they are con fest faith in the Gospel of Jesus absorbing knowledge as infants do. Christ. Over 8,000 were received last They learn to read the clock to dis- year. There are 1,000 students studytinguish the days and the months. ing in the mission schools. The Amer- They receive small coins for doing ican Bible Society has distributed over certain kinds of work, and each must 700,000 portions of the Scriptures, a keep an account of his receipts and large number of which have been comexpenditures. They are familiarized plete Bibles. The British and Foreign with many conveniences of life and Bible Society distributed 37,597 books methods of work, and finally all are during the last year. required to specialize in one or another branch of labor. Most of the manual The Presbyterian Mission has statrades are taught to the boys, sewing tions in Manila, Laguna, Tayabas, Aland all branches of housewifery to bay, Iloilo, Cebu, Dumaguete and the girls, and there are regular hours Leyte. Three hundred students are in when everv one works in the fields or attendance at the Silliman Institute at gardens. . Dumaguete.
Church Union in South Africa The missionaries in the Philippines are up-to-date, using modern conven- The Missionary Record reports that iences-bicycles, motor cycles, automothe trend towards union of Churches biles, vapor launches, pipe organs, is showing in South Africa. At a con- baby organs, cornets, pianos, brass ference in Johannesburg on July 26th, and reed bands, telephones, telegraphs, attended by representative members of ocean cables, electric lights, acetylene the Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Congre- lights, a cinematograph, stereopticons, gational, and Baptist Churches, it was neostyles, mimeographs, windmills, unanimously agreed, after lengthened photography, electric motors, phonoconference, to declare their conviction graphs, typewriters, clubs, engines, that there were no obstacles to a union and even a saw mill has been pressed of these bodies which ought not to into service. be overcome, and to invite the supreme courts of the Churches concerned to Methodist Mission in Java appoint eight delegates from each to act as a joint committee to prepare The district conference of the Metha basis of union, embracing such odist Episcopal Mission in Java, points as doctrine, polity, administra- lately held in Batavia, showed that tion, tenure of property, and the like. there are in Java Methodism and un- But the dates of meeting of the su- der its care English, Dutch, Javanese, preme courts will not allow any joint Soudanese, Amboynese, Malays, Chicommittee to be appointed before next nese of two dialects, and Babas. May. The important point is that the "Work is being carried on at five cenevangelical forces in South Africa are ters-three in and about Batavia, at more deeply realizing their unity, and Buitenzorg, and the latest opening at feeling the call to combine for the Tjisaroae, with five organized congrefurtherance of the kingdom of Christ. gations, three schools, over 200 mem- bers, and a sympathetic hearing from hundreds of others." The mission was commended less than two years ago, and has 18 foreign and native workers. Calamity Befalls a Mission in Borneo in the ashes. Then let him eat corn for supper, and the next day eat corn A severe storm that swept over the for breakfast, and corn for dinner, and Island of Borneo destroyed the new corn for supper, and the next day eat mission house at Sibu, Sarawak (on corn for breakfast, corn for dinner, and corn for supper, and before many the north side of the island). Rev. J. days have passed, even the most ob- tuse critic will know why the foreign M. Hoover had worked for about two missionary does not and can not live years, cutting the lumber from the as the natives cio.-From Arthur 1. tangled jungle and floating it fifty Brown's "The Foreign Missionary." miles down the river. The building was to have served as home, church Glorying in Difficulties and school. N ow it lies in ruins. The missionary and his farnily have been In a recent address before the enduring life in a poor house, through Hampton students, Dr. Booker T. which the rains poured, the sun shone, Vashington uttered good philosophy and the winds blew. Thev are sur- and good counsel when he said: rounded by the head-hunti~g Dyaks, with equatorial heat, malaria and in- "Do not get discouraged because sects as accompanying joys. Yet Mr. we have a hard row to hoe. I like Hoover bravely writes that they are a real, hard, tough proposition. It "down but not out."-World-Wide is interesting to work on the hard Missions. problem. Any fellow can solve an easy one. You honor the fellow who MISCELLANEOUS can work out the tough, perplexing problems. I like to belong to a race Why Not Live Like the Natives? that has hard, knotty problems to solve. I would not care to live in an Live as a heathen does? The hea- age when there was no weak portion then does not live. The death-rate of of the human race to be lifted up and heathenism is appalling. The men die helped and encouraged. It is only of consumption and pneumonia and as we meet these great problems and fevers and cholera and smallpox. The opportunities that we gain strength." children are carried off in regiments by diphtheria and measles and scarlet Genuine Christianity fever and cholera infantum; while as for the women, at the age of forty, Christianity is not a voice in the when the English and American wom- wilderness, but a life in the world. It· an is in the full splendor of her beauty, is not an idea in the air, but feet on the typical heathen woman is old and the ground, going God's way. It is withered. not an exotic to be kept under glass, but a hardy plant to bear twelve man- If any critic really imagines that he ner of fruits in all kinds of weather. could live as the heathen live, let him Fidelity to duty is its root and branch. try it. Let him built a hut in his back Nothing we can say to the Lord, no yard-no floor but the beaten earth, calling him by great or dear names, no windows but latticed or paper-cov- can take the place of the plain doing ered openings, no bed but a hard plat- of His will. We may cry out about form, no stove but an open fire in the the beauty of eating bread with him middle of the room, no chimney but a in his kingdom, but it is wasted breath hole in the roof through which the and a rootless hope, unless we plow smoke rises, and the wind and rain and and plant in his kingdom here and snow fall, and no fuel but manure now. To remember him at his table mixed with grass, made into cakes by and to forget him at ours is to have his wife or daughter and dried in the invested in bad securities. There is sun. For food, let him buy three no substitute for plain, every-day bushels of corn. It will sustain life goodness. MALTBIE D. BABCOCK. for several weeks and cost but a dollar. Have the wife pound it between two stones, mix it with water, and bake it Unproniliing Candidate a pastor in Binghamton, N. Y., where her sisters, and brother, still live. Born Human judgments are not infallible. on July 29th, 1859, Mrs. Jessup was educated in New York, and married David Livingstone, who has been pro- Dr. Jessup July 23rd, 1884. She en- tered actively and sympathetically into nounced the greatest missionary' since all his missionary work, and was par- ticularly interested in work among Paul, and whose versatility as geog- Syrian women. She also organized and sustained the Beirut Temperance rapher and explorer, astronomer, Reading Room for men, in the hope of counteracting the rapid developgeologist, botanist, meteorologist, car- ment of the drink habit. She was a trained musician, and compqsed many penter and builder, gardener and songs, some of which were compiled and privately published. blacksmith, physician and scientist, Edward S. Hume. of India makes his career one of the wonders Rev. Edward S. Hume, for many of history, barely escaped being re- years a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Fqreign jected and plucked on two occasions: Missions, died on January 10th, in the Presbyterian Hospital, New York. first ~twtehrenfairleuproertefdromby his crammer Dr. Hume was sixty years of age and an hesitation of had given over thirty years of his life to India. He was a son of a missionmanner and lack of fluency; and again, ary, the Rev. Robert W. Hume, and was born in India. He was graduated when he went to Scotland for his fr0111 Yale in 1870 and from the Hart- ford Theological Seminary in 1874. medical license and was almost refused He went at once to India, and re- mained there until 1894, when he rebecause of his strong opinions and turned and made his home in New Haven. One of his six children is Dr. resolute defense of them. It is well Edward H. Hume, head of the Yale Mission in China. One of his daughthat there is a higher tribunal that ters, Mrs. Elizabeth Hunnesberger, is a missionary in Bombay, and another, often reverses man's judgment. Mrs. O. D. Wanamaker, in Canton, China. A third daughter is in Vassar Not Aliens. but Brothers College.
The man going to a new country is v. W. Helm. of Japan torn by the roots from all his old associations, and there is a period of The young men of Japan have lost great danger to him in the time before a most earnest friend and efficient he gets his roots down in the count:y, helper by the death of Mr. Verling before he brings himself in touch wIth Vinchel Helm, last October. He .was his fellows in the new land. For that thirty-two years of age and for eIght reason I always take a peculiar inter- years was an efficient secretary of the est in the attitude of our churches to- International Young Men's Christian ward the immigrants 1''ho come to Association in Japan. His crowning these shores. I feel that we should be work was for the Japanese soldiers in peculiarly watchful of them, because of Manchuria. Mr. Helm was practical our history, because we or our fathers and spiritual, energetic and sympacame here under like conditions. Now thetic, and lived as a true ambassador we have established ourselves, let us of J estls Christ. see to it that we stretch out the hand of help, the hand of brotherhood toward the newcomers, and help them as speedily as possible to shape themselves, and to get into such relations that it will be easy for them to walk well in the new life.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.
OBITUARY Mrs. Henry H. Jessup. of Syria Theodosia Davenport, third wife of the Rev. H. H. Jessup, D. D., who has been for over fifty years a missionary in Syria,-died on December I9th from pneumonia. She was a daughter of the Rev. Peter Lockwood, long
THE MISSIONARY
THE UNVEILED EAST. By F. A. McKenzie, Upper Burma into Western China has 8vo, $3.50 net. E. P. Dutton & Co., now been surveyed. N. Y., 1907. Taken with Mr. J. Dyer Ball's The best recent book on the situa- "Things Chinese" and with Colonel tion in the Far East, without question, Denby's two volumes on China, this is this volume by Mr. McKenzie, a book will give about as complete a set- correspondent of the London Daily ting forth of the present conditions in Mail, who has been traveling in Japan the Far East as any books one might and China and lived for some time in name. The author's account of the Korea. He was with Kuroki's army aggressive commercial campaign car- and has been very diligent in inter- ried on by Japan in Korea, Man- viewing the common people, travelers, churia and even in India is precise and merchants, missionaries, statesmen and painstaking. His story of .1 e ] apa- high officials. If he has anything to nese enterprise in ship building has say that is antipathetic to any people, startled even the House of Parliament he says it in the simplest, sanest, of Great Britain. For completeness, frankest way, but manifestly without thoroughness, accuracy and fairness any malice whatsoever. His book is this is a model book.
utterly free from vituperative abuse. THE CONGO AND COASTS OF AFRICA. By He tells the story of the J apauese rela- Richard Harding Davis, I2mo, 220 tions to Korea, illustrating it with pp. $1.50 net. Chas. Scribner's Sons, photographs taken by himself which 1907· seem to show that the Japanese in This very entertaining book is main- Korea have, in many cases, behaved ly of interest as a powerful arraign- as brutally as King Leopold's people ment of the administration of the Kon- have acted in the Kongo State. It is go Free State. Incidentally it is a possible that there are some other graphic exposure of the enormity of things to be said that might modify the slave trade. Mr. Davis traces it the conclusions we should arrive at back to its beginning in the fifteenth by reading only what Mr. McKenzie century, with the discovery of the says. He is perfectly fair to the mis- West Indes, the Bishop of Chiopa sionaries while he frankly makes cer- first importing slaves from the West tain criticisms which are criticisms Coast to spare the natives of those well worth our consideration. His es- islands who were unequal to the man- timate of the missionary as a man of ual labor demanded by the Spaniards.
devotion to his work, of great indus- He lived, however, to see them suffer try, practising constant self-denial, so much more than the Indians before agrees with the estimate formed by them that, to his eightieth year, he Colonel Denby, Major Conger and pleaded with the Pope and the Span- others, as already reported in the RE- ish King to repair the wrong he had VIEW. Mr. McKenzie suggests that done, but in vain.
religious leaders would do well to visit In 1800, Wilberforce said, in the the Far East and says that such a House of Commons, that British ships journey may be made in less than a were annually carrying to the Indies hundred days and at a cost of about and the American colonies, 38,000 $1,000. slaves, and the traffic was already 250 This book was manifestly written at years old! For a considerable time the close of 1906 with some slight Britain and Spain led in this awful additions here and there to bring it traffic, and Mr. Davis cites a number up to date. "The railway map of of circumstances which show how China in 1907" needs a little amend- fearfully callous even the conscience ment. The railway to Chau Chow Fu of good men become under the in- is in operation and the railway from fluence of this trade in human beings. For instance, an English captain on rage is resorted to and encouraged. In one occasion deliberately heaved over- seven years the natives, under this bloody lash of compulsion, brought in board 130 sick slaves chained to- $55,000,000 worth of rubber-but at a gether; and when he claimed insur- price in life and property incredible ance for the slaves he had drowned, in amount. Everybody should read this chapter, if no more. the Solicitor-General justified the The remainder of the book declaim on the ground that he had scribes the Kongo capital, the Amerithrown over gauds whose condition cans in the Kongo, hunting the hippo, endangered the rest of the cargo! old Calabar, and the East coast. But As early as 1718 it was estimated we have mainly been absorbed in the that, up to that date, 9,000,000 slaves two chapters which bear so directly on the open sore of the world, and had been exported to the two Amer- the new and scarcely less hideous slavery now systematically organized icas ! Bancroft calculated that in the under a European tyrant. 18th century the British alone im- NEW BOOK:;> ported 3,000,000 and that 2,500,000 THE CONTINENT OF OPPORTUNITY. {South more, kidnapped or bought, were lost America.) Rev. Francis E. Clark, D.D. I2mo. Illustrated. $1.50 net. in the surf, or on the voyage; and Fleming H. Revell Co., N. Y., 1907.
he estimates the gross returns for that CHINA IN LEGEND AND STORY. Rev. C. Campbell Brown. I2mo, 253 pp. Ilnumber at about $400,000,000. lustrated. $1.25 net. Fleming H. Revell Co., 1907. When, in Chapter II, Mr. Davis ROMANCE OF THE SALVATION ARMY. By begins to discuss conditions in the Hulda Friedericks. 12mo, 216 pp. Il- lustrated. $1.00. Cassell & Co., New Kongo Free State, the picture he gives York and London, 1907.
is one that should bring shame to THE HEATHEN HEART. Rev. Campbell N. Moody. I2mo, 3S. 6d., net. Illusevery nation engaged in the compact trated, Oliphant, Anderson and Fer- rier. Edinburgh and London, 1907. of 1884, whereby that State was FOREIGN RELIGIONS SERIES. Edited by R. ]. founded. He shows that Leopold was Cooke. I2mo, 6 volumes. 40 cents each. Eaton & Mains, N. Y., 1907. placed in control with definite pledges MARJORIE WITH THE CHAMORROS, (Quam). to keep it open to the trade of the By Mary C. Stevens. Illustrated. 12mo, 73 pp. 45 cents. American world, develop its resources, and sup- Tract Society, N. Y., 1907.
press slavery. Every part of that A TRIP WITH SANTA CLAUS.. Mrs. Lucy W. Waterbury. Illustrated. 48 pp. pledge he has not only failed to 40 cents. Baptist Publication So- ciety, 1907. redeem, but he has done exactly the HELPS FOR LEADERS OF MISSION STUDY opposite, and stolen for his own ag- CLASSES. Young People's Missionary Movement, New York. grandizement a million square miles! SOUL-SAVING REVIVAL SERMONS. By John Inasmuch as the act of incorporation L. Brandt. I2mo, 332 pp. $1.50. Christian Publishing Co., St. Louis, made all the fourteen powers guard- 190 7. ians of the conditions of the com- WHERE THE BOOK SPEAKS. Rev. Archibald pact, to stand quietly by and see this McLean. I2mo, 241 pp. $1.00 net. Fleming A. Revell Co.. 1907. outrage and do nothing makes each THE SAILOR'S MAGAZINE. Bound volume for 1907. American Seaman's Friend of them particeps criminis. Mr. Davis Society, New York. THE DEITY OF CHRIST. By S. W. Pratt, holds up the King of Belgium to con- D.D. I6mo, 166 pp. 50 cents. SU?- tempt as a selfish monopolist, an ~n day-school Times Co., PhiladelphIa, principled usurper, and a cruel admm- I9oS.
istrator. Trustee and keeper over 20000000 of blacks, he has in every re~pect abused his trust and violated his pledges. This has gone on for nearly a quarter century, an~, how- eitvearppdeias~Os'uilsikede'tyisthgaotinthge on still, and Kongo will be somehow actually absorbed into Belgium. With this treacherous monarch, the Kongo S~ate exists for two ends: rubber and Ivory-and to ob- tain these in large quantities any out-
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1899
RAMABAI'S LITTLE WIDOWS AT DINNER IN THE OLD
MUKTI, KEDGAUM.
HIGH CASTE WIDOWS AT SHARADA SADAN, POO~A, INDIA. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: Old Series. [ JULY. New Series. { VOL. XII. No.7. VOL. XXII. No.7.) RAMABAI AND 'rHE WOMEN OF INDIA.
BY THE ElJIT01{-lJ-('HIEF.
History circles around individuals, and to understand events we must study the lives of these central actors. The most prominent figure among the women of the Orient in our day i" Pundita Hamabai, whose work in India ig becoming so well known, and awakening such deep interest the world over.
'rhe census of lS91 showed ;~SO,OOO,OOO people ill IlHlia, with 600,000 more men than women, owing to the low status of woman and the murder of felllale infallts. '1'hose who are not starved to death or otherwise disposed of ill infancy, find life so miserable that many become suicides. The mell rank a~ "goldell vessels," however defiled the vessellllay he, but it is a crime to be a womall; she is but an earthen vessel, and a very llllclean onc. Especially is a widow despised, for her husband's death ig supp08ed to be due to her sin. The suttee is, therefore, deemed a fit pellalty. Cattle have had hospitals. but not nntil fifteell years ago wall a woman treated with as much consideration as a cow. Everything about that animal is sacred, even to her dung, but now only where Christ has taught the new theology of womanhood is woman respected. Widows are plenty, for e'ery fifth woman i,; a widow; and altho (lespised, they are eOllsidered good enough for servile work. When 110 lOllger able to serve, they are allowed to die like other beasts of burden. As the nightingale's eyes must be pat out if it i1l expeeted to Bing in its eage, edueation is denied to woman, and the eyes of her ullderstalHling are blinded lest she rebel against her lot. Not one in fifty call read, not to say write. Volumes have been written upon womall ill India,t for ill no olle conntry, perhaps, is woman so bound down by chaills wrought of combined custom • This periodical adopts the Orthography of the following Rule, recommended hy the joint action of the American Philological Association and the Philological Society of England :-Change d or ed final to t when so pronounced, except when the e affects a preceding SQUUd,-PUBLISHERS, t The Iuilowing authorities may be consulted: Bainbridge, "Round the World Tour;" Woodside, ., "roman in India: -, Rte"Tart, II Life and 'York in India; l' 'Vilkins, ,. Daily Liffl: and'Vork in India; ,. Storrow, H Our Sisters in India;" U 'Vrongs of Indian Womanhood," The Bambay Guardian, etc" etc.
RAMABAI AND THE WOMEN OF INDIA
and law, caste and religiun. WulllanhuOl is crnsht out because hope is abandoned by all those who enter woman's estate. Even the Racred books sanction this horrible degradaLion. According to these, she has no legal or social status, no rights which a Illan is bound to respect. She is not capable of any acts of devotion; is to obey her husband, huwever immoral his commands, and worship him if she would have salvation. She is an incarnation of sin and lying, and can not be believed ullder oath. '['he results of sllch a system of society are, (!/ courlie, not only chillI marriage amI polygamy, but infanticide, slavery, prostitution, aud the suttee.
CHILlJ ,,'J Y Ec; A:]) In ])0',.;.
The last Cell811S taken in thc presidellcy uf ?tladras thruws a lllrid light on the terrible evils of the accurst system of child marriage in this great castern empire. It showed :?3,n3S girls under four years of age, and 14:?,GOG between the ages of five and nine married; nss baby widows under fOllr years of age, and 4,14';' girl widows between fiye and nine years. of age. 'l'here are two ceremonies in connection with an Indian marriage. Shonld the bridegroom die between the first and second of these ceremonieR, the little bride becomes a widow, doomed to lifelong wretchedness and ignominy. Many little girls are married to old Illen tottering on the verge of the grave, and this again aggravates the el'i1. In the Madras presidency alone are some GO,OOO BrahIllan widows, widowed ill childhood, and doomed for life to the coarse white cloak alld shaven head of the woman who is curst by the gods.
The unhappy lot of Indian widows is partially described in the following native editorial extract from the ~J I'ya JleliliengeJ' of Dec. l. This paper devotes much time and thonght to the glorification of everything indigenous, and its testimony regarding the sad lot of its womankind is, therefore, particularly valuable. 'Were a missionary to use the language of this extract, he would at once Le accused of mendacious exaggeration, or something equally terrible. The extract is thus: There are at present ant of 6,016,759 married girls between .five and nine years of age, 17J,OOO widows in India. These unfortunate creatures are condemned to a life of perpetual widowhood, for no fault of their own. These infants, what could they have possibly done to deserve so cruel a fate? They could have absolutely no idea of the moment when they were betrothed, and most of them could have no idea of the time when they were married. They had no hand in the choice of husbands for themselves, their parents bestowed them on whomsoever they chose, and now, before they have fairly learned to talk, they are husbandless, doomed never to know the joys of a horne. It is impossible to imagine anything more heartless, anything more savage and barbarous than the treatment which has been accorded to these unhappy girls by their misguided parents. ,Vhy should they have been betrothed and wedded when mere infants, and on what gl'Ounds can it be justified that their future shall be dark and dreary-a succession of miseries and sufferings? No law, human or Divine, can justify such a thing, and since it is an outrage upon Divine teaehing and upon man's own sense of justice, it is but natural tha,t we should suffer for it. And we do suffer for it in a thousand ways, and we know it. Yhat can be more ridiculous, more monstrous than that while a decrepit, spent-out old man, with one foot in the grave, can marry a young girl at any time, a virgin, who is in the prime of life, who has not as yet lived in the world one-fifth the time the old man has, should he absolutely denied the right of taking some young lIlan as husband! The fathel' of a widow of eight or nine years old may marry again when he chooses, .but the poor girl herself must never! This is tt state of things which exists nowhere else under the sun.
There is no real falllily life in India. There could not be when Hindu philosophy teaches that, "He is a fool who considers his wife his friend." A few extracts from a Hindu catechism give some idea of the basis for the ill-treatment of Indian women; lVhat -is the chief gate tu hell? Yoman. lVhat i,~ CI'1ICl? The heart of a yiper. What is 1Ilu}'e c}'uel ? The heart of a wOlIlan. What is 1/W8t C1'1wl of all? The heart of [t soullesH, pennyless widow. IVhat poison -is that wh'ich appea'I'8 like a necta}' ? Voman.
The marriage of girls to Khanrloba is a custom which, like sodomy, can not be treated in plain words, as it belongs among the things of which it is " a shame to speak." Suffice it to say that it implies a devotement to a life of vice as a mw.zi, and reminds one of the slmilar customs connected with the rites of Venus and Bacchus. Parents lend themselves to these nameless horrors, and additions to the Indian penal code have been directed to the mitigation, if not abolition, of these enormities.
THE "TOllY OF lLDlABAI.
Ramabai is a middle-aged woman, with black hair; she is slightly deaf, and a quiet atmosphere of power invests her. She talks with intelligence, and is hearll everywhere with profound interest-the 1I10re so as the facts of her life are known.
'rhis woman has It romantic history. Her mother was herself a child-bride, wedded to a widower at nine years of age, and taken to a home nine hundred miles away. Ramabai learned many lessons from her mother's lips, who would not marry her in infancy, and so "throw her into the well of ignorance." Her father, who was an educated Brahman pricst, had her taught Sanskrit and trained her well. He lost all his property, and, after enduring fearful suffering with his wife and elder daughter, fell a victim to the awfnl famine of twenty-five years ago-18i4-ii. E,'erything of value was sold for bread, and then even the necessities of life had to yield before its extremities; and the day came when the last handful of coarse rice was gone, and death stared them ill the face. 'I'hey went into the forest to die there, and for eleven days and nights subsisted on water and leaves and wild dates, until the father, who wanted to drown himself in the sacred tank, died of fever, as also the mother and sister. The father's dying prayers for Ramabai were, indeed, addrest to the unknown God, but have been answered by the true God, IVho heard the supplications of a sincere but misguided father. Then the brother and Ramabai found their way to Calcutta, where they were scarcely better off, being still half starved, and for four years 101lger endnred scarcity. There this brother also died – a very strange preparation for the life-work to which God called llamabai. When twenty- two years old, her parents being dead, in It period of famine, during which she suffered hoth for lack of food and clothing, as well as shelter, she learned a lesson which prepared her to sympathize with others who suffered. Life's sorrows and priva- PUNDITA RAMABAI tions became It reality.
Left thus alone, her beauty and culture WOIl her the coveted title. saravasti, and attracted to her friends and admirers. Finally she married a Bengali gentleman, and for about eighteen months was happy in her new home, a baby girl being given her. But her husband's death introduced a new exp~riellce of sorrow. 'rhe world was before her and her child, and two grave questions confronted her: First, how shall I get a living?
and seeond, what shall I do for others? .
Ramabai, being thus early left a widow, began to know the real horror of a Hindu widow's lot, and resolved to undertake, as her life mission, to relieve this misery and poverty. Her heart kindled with love for these 25,000,000 child widows and deserted wives, who know no happiness; who are often half starved, are doomed to perpetual widowhood, and to whom their departed husbands are practically gods to be worshipt.
At the age of twenty Hamabai went to England, where she heard the Voice that called Abmham to go ont, not knowing whither, and like him she obeyed. There she was converted to Christ, and baptized in 1883. She taught Sanskrit in the ladies' college at Cheltenham, her purposes for life meanwhile taking definite shape.
About twelve years ago she visited America, where she found friends RAMABAl'S UFNGALOW, SHAR..!H. S..D.',-X, POOXA.
disposed to help her start her SdlOOl for ~ligli-ca~te widow8 ill Bombay. She began with two pupils, hut, despite opposition and ridicule, sho went OIl with her God-appointed mission, am] 11011' has over Jon pupils and a property worth $60,000, embraoing a hundred acros, cultivated by them. About 225 girls have boen brought to Christ, amI many have been trained for useful work, happily married, or otherwise profitably employed. III nine years Pundita Ramabai has receive(l upward of $91,000 for the work. For It time her attitude was negative and neutral as regards Christianity, but her work is now distinctly evangelical and Christiall. Love is its atmosphere, a)](l ullselfish labor for those who are in need, as is shown by the opening of her doors lately to welcome :300 famine orplHllls. 'l'hrough help obtained in England and the Unite<l States she bnilt at Poona a building, and opene(l a school ealled Sharada Sadan (Abode of Wisdom).
In 18%, hearing of the famille desolating the oentral provinces, she mado arrangemen ts for the fifty or more widows to he oared for at Poona, aud wellt to the famine districts resolved to rescuo at least 300 girls from death; amI these became her own, under her control, to be brought up as she pleased. ~Vithill two years 11early one-third of this numbor had accepted Christ. These were placed on the farm at Kedgaurn, abOll t thirty-four miles from Poona.
One mnst havo li,-ed in India and gone through a famille experienoe to nnderstand the facts. Government poorhouses and relief camps she found to he inadequate; even where the bodies were shelterccl and fed, the soul was in danger from the chara.cter of those who were employed as mnkadams, managers, etc. She found young girls" kept" for immoral purposes in these government shelters where virtu.. wa.. pre.mmably also in "helter; and when th.. d8puty commissioner was told of the facts, like Gallio, he " cared for 1l0lle of these things." Hamabai says that young women had to sell their virtue to save themselves from starvation. British soldiers often oppose missionlLry labor because it breaks up this infernal traffic in virtue. Dr. Kate Bushnell and :Mrs. AndJ'Pw exposed the doings of high military officers, and further exposures are £oare(l where godly women have freedom to work.
During the late famine, wh ell Poona was abanuoned, Hamabai was supporting 372 girls, of whom 337 were in Kedgaum, at the farm, while the rest were Itt differen t places. When this farm was bought, embracing 100 acres, the govern ment would not allow dormitories to be put up. Ramabai's reply was, " I will build a barn for bullocks TilE" DARN" AND RAMABAI'S FAMINE WIDOWS AT MUTKI, KEDGAUM .
and grain." She went on and put np a large building, and by the time it was completed, she had permission to put girls in it instead of cattle. Thus she stored it with" grain for the Lord." That" cattleshed" became a shelter fo r 200 famine widows, and later served as school-house, chapel, dormitory, etc. Temporary shelters were also erected and the llew settlement was called Mnkti (Salvation).
The work at ;Iukti is constantly growing. and has the growing confidence of intelligent and Christian people. The new Luildings now completed are already insnfficient to accommodate the inmates, and new Luildings will be put up as fast as the Lord sends means. The heart of this godly woman travails for souls, and she can not see tlle miseryaml poverty abont her without yearning to relieve it. A few poor women, ruined by viee und terribly diseased, arc hon sell for the time in separate c1l1tppee huts, until a home for s UI~ h rail be provided.
This home is not rt place of idleness, bnt a hive of industry.
Education for the mind, salvation for the soul, and occupation for the bady is the threefohl law ; washing alld wcaying, cooking and sweeping, growi ng grain and g rindin g it, fio"{'1' (;nIt,ul'e and fruit raisillg- these are some of the intlustries in which the girls arc trained, and which contrihute towanl their self-support.
The teachers are e;rc!usi"el!J Oltristiull , and the settlement is d. truly missiOllUry center. Mi ss RESCUED FAM[NE WIDOwS.
Abrams, who superilltcnclecl the work ill HalllalJai's absellce, gives ller whole time to it, giving Bible instruction ill the 8chool, and snpcrvising the yillage work. She ha<l oilly to snggest to students a lilecl gc like that of the student volun- teers, amI thir/!J-jil'6 at OIlCC offered to follow <Lily leading of God into mission work. A score of n eighboring villages are alreacly accessible to tho Oospel, alld crowcl s gather arol1lHl Miss Abrams alHI her Gospel womOIl.
The Holy Rpirit works with TIamabai. The girls show real sorrow for sin, and hunger after salvatiol1 . Th en IVhen they are s:wed, they bccome witnesses, and in their own simple way tell of forgiveness and cleansing. In , the hospital there are also il"e- gnent manifestations of God's healing power.
irhen she set lip her school in Poona Hamabai malle no efforts at proselyting the inmates; but some five or six years ago twelve or thirteen of them, WOll to Christ WIDOWS .AT SHARADA SADAN. by her lInselfish love, renounced RESCUED CHILD WIDOWS AT KED(;AC)I GOING TO DI'SNER.
heathenism, and were hal'tiz(~c1 ill to ChriHt. Poolin was greatyaroused by such an event, all(1 for a time it Reemell as tho the llOJIle itself would be reduced to a mill. Hamabai calle<l a pn blic meeting, and undertook to explain why these widows had accepted Christ. '['he streets were thronged with people, alld a crowd of young men filled the hall where she was to speak. 'Yithont a sign of anxiety, Ramabai stood up to address them. She spoke of the moral and spiritual slavery of the Hindus; how incapable they are of helping themselves, while they are askillg for political freedom; how unhappy their family life is, and especially how miserable is the lot of their women. Then, holding up the Marathi Bible she said: "I will read to yon now ,,"hat is the reason of all your misery, degradation, and helplessness; it is your separation from the living God!" It ,vas growing dark, and she askt OIle of the exeited Hindu youths to bring a lamp that she might read. Vithout a moment's hesitation he obeyed. After reading some passages, she began to speak of the COIlversions of the widows, and then said: "Your view of my actions can not influence me in the least, nor can your threatenings fri:5hten me. You like to be slaves; I am free! Christ, the truth, has made me free." The excitement was tremendolls, and the Br'ahmans only restrained themselves with difficulty; but they heard her out to the end in dead silence, and allowed her to walk uninjured through their ranks to her home.
The storm past away, allC1 the horne remained undisturbed-shel- tering some sixty women, and training them for lives of usefulness.
'1'he Shamda Sadan is still a secular school, but Mukti is distinctly Christian, tho uIlsectarian. • PUlldita Ramabai has made two visits to this country. 0nce ten or eleven years ago, when she carne to ask aid, and again, more recently, when she came to give account of her stewardship. During this decade of years, the Ramabai circles had sen t her npward of 80,000 dollars.* Fifty thousand dollars of this she had invested ill property, free from debt, and over :i50 high-caste widows have already enjoyed the benefits of her school, and are now filling various places of self-support and service.
*The American Ramabai Associatiou has been incorporated, and the treasurer is Mr. E.
Hayward Ferry, 222 Boylston Street, Boston, lUasR. About $20,000 are needed annually to carryon the work. A Sharada Sadan scholarship is $100 annually. and a Muktl scholarship is $45 annually.
1899.J A RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS
A REOORD OF FIFTY YEARS.
THE STORY OF PASTOR HARMS AND THE HERMANNSBl:'IW MISSION.
BY BELLE "l. BRAe" SPIUNGFIELlJ, OHIO.
Author of .. Fuel for Missionary Fil'eH1 " ,. The Transfonnation of Hawaii," etc.
Half a century ago, in the quaint old town of Hermannsburg, about fifty miles south of Hamburg, Pastor Harms began his ministry, alld inaugurated the great work for foreign missions that resulted in the formation of the Hermanllsburg Society. 'I'his year, therefore, llIarks the fiftieth anniversary of this unique !lnd important enter- pl'l.se. * Louis Harms was one of the remarkable men of this century. His life-work, tho wrought within the narrow confines of all obscure Germall village, extended" unto tho uttermost parts of the earth." Ilis achievements were unique, without a parallel in missionary history. To him was it gi"en to prove to the Chureh that one pastor and his congregation ean aoeomplish great things for world-wide evangelization; that the necessary funds for missionary operations will be forthcoming when God, llot man, is askt to supply them; and that the reflex blessing of giving the Gospel to those who have it not, is so great as to be beyond computation.
Pastor Harms was horn May fl, 1808, in ,,-alsrode, a village of the Liilleburg heath, in Hanover, but at the age crf Ilille years he removed with his parents to Hermallnsburg, not far distant, where his father, a staunch and dignified Lutheran minister, was pastor of the parish. The elder Harms was noted for the severity with which he disciplined his children. Ilis sons were trained in all manly sports, and Louis, a strong and healthy lad, with daulltles~ eourage and great powers of endnranee, becallle an expert athlete, far-famed for his daring exploits and feats of skill. His mind was as strong and powerful as his body, and his memory so remarkable that he eould repeat long poems after merely reading them orer several times. III after years, in his chureh at Hermannsburg, he frequently recited, with perfect aecuracy, a psalm or chapter from the Bible, expounding it, rerse hy verse, in the most delightful manner. It is said that he eommitted the entire Bible to memory.
His edueation was thorough and complete. After a course of study at home, and two years in the high-school at Oelle, he went, in 1827, to Gottingen {"lIiversity, entering upon an extended course of • Jubilee celebrations will be held June 21st and 22d III connection with the Missionstest, a yearly festival so deal' to the Hermannsburg heart that it divides the honors with Christmas, and is attended annually by great crowds of people. This year an unusually large number are expected to be presont. The services of the first day will take place in the Church of the Lord's Cross, in Hermannsburg, while those of the second day will be held on the grounds of some large farm iu the neighborhood of the village, perhaps in Lutter, where it is beautiful under the milihty oaks.
L oms
Fonntl er of (li e HI ~ l'nHl.nn s hlll'~ :ll ssl oH.
A RECORD OP FIFTY YEARS
study with great zest. The ulliversity was at that time permeated with the spirit of rationalism, and ere long the faith of the young student began to decline. Gradnally sill king lower a nd lower ill unbe- li ef, he at last openly declare!1, "Th ere is no GOt1.·' Not long, how- ever, did he remain ill this hopeless conditioll. H e was a chosen ves- sel that must be made meet for the Master's nsc. One even in g, as he sat alon e, intending to spelld th e cntire night in study, h e WitS moved to read the seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel. As he came to the third verse-" And t7tis £8 lUe eternal, Ih((t the!! might know Thee, tlte only true (tad, and J e81/8 Clwist, 'II:lin1Jl, Tlum has sent"-the tl'llth entered as a searchlight illto his sonl. "I ha(lnever fenre(l in Itll my life," h e says; "bntwhell I came tOll. knowledge of Illy sill I trembled before God frolll top to bottom, Hn(1 all my mn s- cles shook."
His COli ver- sion was as in- stantaneous and co mplete as that of Saul of Tarslls.
Henceforth Loni s H a rlll s lived only for his n ew-foil wi Mas- ter. Bpiritual gifts of the high- est ord er were THE OLD PETEH-!>AU1. CHURCH IN HERMANNsnURO. bestowed· up 0 n him, but with them was given, as to the great apostle, a" thorn in the flesh." No t long after his conversion his l'l1gged health gave way, and he was weakened and tortnrcrl by physical pain, which sclr]om lcft him. Bravely aIH1 patielltIy di<] lie bear it, refu sin g to take opiates, and accepting it as the Lonl's way of humblin g. " It is true t hat I suffer much every day," h e said, "and more (wery night. I do n ot ~v i sh it otherwise. My Sav ior is my physieian. I loye to lie awake the entire night, becau se I can then commulle with Him."
On Jenvi ng the university in 1830, young Harms engaged in teach- ing, serving nine years as a tutor in Lauenbnrg, and four in Liineburg.
It was during this period that h e first became interested in missions.
Many positions of great u sefu ln ess, n otably those of tutor in the Mis- sion House at Hamburg, anr] pastor in New York, wcre open to him.
All, however, were decl in ed in acco rdance, as he b(~lieve(l, with the will of God. There was" a parish destined for him frolll eternity,"
and h e was kept in waiting for it until the" fulness of time." In 184:l his father sent for him to COllle to lIermannsburg to take charge of his private schoo1. A year later, after receiving ordination, he was appointed assistant pastor, entering upou his duties the second Sunday ill Ad Yellt, ISH. The parish at that time included seven of the mallY villages that <lot the Liineburg heath, a great expanse of thinly-peopled moorland, extending frolll the "Weser to the Rlbe. The parishioners, about ~,;)()O ill llumber, were, for the lllOst part, sturdy, self-reliant German yeomen an(l peasants, as ardently attacht to their natil'e heath as the Highlanders to their Scottish hills, or the Switzers to their Alpine peaks. This intense home-love young Harms, himself born and bred upon the heath, share(l with them. lIe was an indefatigable antiquarian, poring oyer legends and tmditiolls, and searching out the locatiOll of illlportant places connected with the history of the region.
The parish sanctuary, the l'eter"Palll's Church, at Hermannsburg, a quaint old stone structure, dating Imek to A. n. 97;), was regarded with a reverent af1'ectioll akin to that of the Jews f8r the temple at Jerusalem. 'ithin its sacred walls the ancestors of the pastor, an(l many of his people, had worshipt for well on to nine huudred years. Tho poorly ventilated, ana totally inadequate in size, during the lifetime of Louis Harms it remained unclulllge<l. Hegarding it as a mealls of graee, he po~itiYlJly refnse(l to allow it to be remo<leled, or rebuilt.
The religious life of the pari,dl, tllO ortho<lox, was eul([ alld formal, and there was little spirituality, or Christian activity to be found. The advellt of the earnest young teacher, h()'(~yer, iutroduced a new element, and a different spirit began to perllleate the place. From the first day he callle amollg them, Louis Harms hegan to exert that wonderful influence that continued throughout his life, alaI deseend'ed upon his successors. The example of his sillgularly <levollt life, fed by deep communion and unceasing prayer, raised the people to a higher spiritual level, while the deep love alld warm sympathy he manifested for even the lowliest amollg the flo(,k, houlld them to him by the closest ties. Before lIlallY years hall paht he wielded a scepter of influence well-nigh unlimited in power.
In 1849 the d<1el' Harms <lie(l. allLI his SOll hecame his snecessor. Scarcely had he entered upon the (luties of his new position when a great religious Hwak()Jling took place. The spirit of self-sacrifice aud <1evotion mn high, an<l the young pastor wisely en(leavored to turn it into propel' chanllels. He urged his people to undertake a mission to the heathen, The project had long-been dear to his OWll heart, and now he suecee<1ed in kill(llillg fires of missionary enthnsiasl;l throughout the parish. The first-fruits of the newly-awakened iuterest were three hum1Jle gifts: six shillings from a wido,,', a sixpence from a laborer, and a silYer penny from a little child. Ere long men as well as money began to be offered for the work. One by olle they came forward, ulltil a little compauy of twelve stood ready to go wherever God would send them, asking only that it be the place of greatest need.
'rhe field chosen was a district in suutheastern Africa, occupied by the Gallas, it fierce and bloodthirsty tribe, to whom as yet 110 Gospel herald had carried the story of the Cross. The lIext question was one of preparation. '1'he volunteers, tho filled with the spirit of heroism and devotion, were untaught peasants, by no means ready fo:' their work. After due deliberatioll, a house was purchast and fitted uiJ as a trailliug-school. Here the prospective missionaries took up their THE OLD HERMANNSnURG MISSION HOUSE, Built in 1849 and ~tiH in use.
residence, and entered npoll a fOllr yeal';;' <;o nrse uud er the direction of Theodore Harms, ayoullger brother of the pastor. Besides a daily round of mannallahor the curriculnm embraced Bible study, church history, exegesis, dogmatics, hi story of missiolls, etc., a formidable array of subjects for men ullllsed to st udy. Thi s, however, as all else cOlllJected with I-IermanllHhnrg, was accomplisht through prayer.
A yeal' or two later an event occnrred which completely changed the plans of the lllissioll. A party of German sailors arrived in the village, askillg Pastor Harms to send them to Africa nnder the care of his missioJlaries. They had recen tly been converted, and desired to found a colony in Africa to assist ill putting down the slave-trade. Harms received them gladly, and at once :wcepted tIre new idea of colonization. This set the Hermannsburgers ablaze with enthusiasm. No less than sixty peasants immediately came forward , asking to be sent as colonists. Eight of these were accepted alltl put under a suitable course of training.
The project now assumed proportions far exceeding the designs of its promoter, and there were perplexing questions concerning ways and means. How was this large company to be sent to the field? After "knocking diligently 011 the dfmr Lord in prayer," Pastor Harms sought for help among the shipping agents. Failing in this, he applied to Bishop Golmt in Jerusalem, but receivell no answer. Then he wrote to Krapf in Africa, bu t the letter was lost. The way seemed effectually blockt on every side. Finally OlIO of the sailors suggested the building of a ship so that they could send out their own missionaries. "The proposal was good," says Harms, "lmt the money! That was a tillle of great conflict, and I wrm;tled with God. No Ol1e encouraged me, but the reverse; alltl even the truest friends and brethren hinted that I was not in Illy senses." At length, however, while spending the night ill prayer, the way became plain. "J prayed fervently to the Lora," he says, "and laid the whole matter ill His hands. As I arOSe from my knees at midnight, I said, with a voice that almost startled me in the quiet room: 'F'01'ward now,l>n God's name! ,., The crisis had past. Never again did a thought of doubt enter his mind.
Oontracts were at Ol1ce let at Harbul'g for huilding the ship. When it was completed, pastor antI people went, with great rejoicing, to the little city on the Elbe, and de(licated the beautiful new vessel to the holy work of carrying thc Gospel to the cfricans, christening her Caudace, queen of the Ethiopians, From 110W on JIermal111sbu rg was the scene of the busiest activities. Women and girls sewed and knitted incessantly on the outfits of the voyagers, while men and boys gathered great stores of pro l"isions fat' the vessel. Notlling was forgotten-not even a Christmas-tree planted ill a great tub, ready for the festival that would be kept ori the ocean. Then there was the interest and excitement attel1dillg the examination and ordination of the eight missionaries who had successfully completed the course. Of the original twelve, two had dietl, and two proved unworthy.
At length all was ready and the day of departure at hand. A great farewell service was held in the church, attended hy people from all the surrounding country. After the sermon, preacht by Theodore Harms, the sixteen volunteers-all men-stood .np and sang their partillg hymn: "Ein teste Burg 1St unser Oult," the grand old hero psalm of Luther. Next morning a long train of wagons wound its way over the heath, followed for some distance by the villagers, singing their favorite hymns, and the first brood from the IIermannsburg nest had gone.
At Hamburg Pastor Harms conducted an open-air service on board the ship. The novel event brought togethel' a great concourse of THE HERMANNSBPRG MI SSION SHIP (,I CANDACE."
people, who crowded the rigging and bulwarks of the shipping in the harbor. From the deck of the Oandace the pastor, at the close of his sermon, spoke earnest words of counsel to each class Oil boa.rd-missionaries, colonists, officers, and sailors. All were urgea to "pray without ceasing," awl to give diligent heed to the readillg of t he Word. The service over, and farewells said, the Oandace weighed anchor and began her long voyage for Mombas and the Gallas country via the Cape and Port Katal. The date, Oct. ~~S, 18;)3, is a notabl.e one in missionary history.
After the busy, excitetl days of preparatioll ~md (leparture the village seemed desolate, indeed. Kot lon g, however, dill it remain so. In three weeks' time the vacant semillary was again fill ed with twelve students, a mong them a young man Jlam ed Behrens. who offered his farm as well as himself. This gift, known as the mission farm, was of great value, yielding sufficient revenuc to support the students in the school.
In 1854, feeling the need of some means of commnllication between the missionaries and th e people, Pastor Harms, with great hesitancy, und ertook the pUblicatioll of a missiona.ry magazill e-the Hermannslmrge1' .Missionsblatt-whi ch has contin ucd to be issued monthly down to the present time. From the very first it was remarkably successful. At the end of five years it became a so urce of r eve nue to the mission, having a circulation of 14,000 copies, the largest, with two exceptions, of any periodical in GermallY. The publication of the magazine soon led to the establishment of a printing-house, where not only the paper, but Bibles, hymn-books, and catechisms could be printed.
As t.he long month s went by no tidings were received from the Oandace. It was It time of sore anxiety, for commercial authorities had spread the report that she was worIll-eaten and had heen lost at sea. The pastor kept nothing back, and when the people askt, "What shall we do if she never returllH ?" replied: "Humble ourselves, confess OUI' sins, pray to God, anil build a lie(/) s/tip! " Great was the rejoicing when, in 18.")5, she at last arrived in such goo(l condition that even ordinary repairs were not needed.
The voyage as far as Port Natal had been made ill safety, Imt after leaving that poiut the missiollaries had been" in perils in the sea and in perils by the heathen." A storm drove them far out into the Indian Ocean, and when at last, with great ditliculty, they reacht Mombas, the Mohammedans in power had positively refusecl to allow them to land! After trying ill vain to reach the Gallas, they reluctantly gave up their cherisht plans, and returnillg to Natal, settled among the Zulu tribes. Here they purchast 4,000 acres of land, calling it Perseverance FarIll, and 011 September 1H, 1834, laid the foundations of ~ew Hermanllsburg, the first station of the Illissioll.
In 1856 the Candace returned to Africa, carryillg out a second company of volunteers, among them fOllr brides. the promist wives of missionaries in the field. In 1857 she went again, crowded to her utmost capacity hy forty-four persolls who left the ol(l lIermannsburg for the new. Henceforth she made yearly trips, taking out reenforc(lments for the field, and returning with encouraging reports of the work.
So mightily was the mission blest of God that ill 1860, seren years after the first missionaries sailed, the congregation at Hermannsburg was able to make the following remarkable report: In the home land they owned, and had in successful operation, the mission house occupied by forty-five stll.dents; the refuge farlll, an asylum for discharged convicts, occupied by twenty inmates; the mission farlll, and the printing-house. In Africa they owned 40,000 acres of land, occupied by eight statiolls, at each of which comfortable honses and workshops had been erected. Olle hundred of their own number were already 011 the field, and fifty converts had been gathered frolll the African tribes. Besides all this, they owned a ship and publish t a missionary magazille. That sHch wouders should have been wrought in seven years by OIle pastor aud his congregatioIl of humble peasants, seems almost beyond belief.
'rhe financial record of the mission has been called a "spiritual study ill statisties.'· Such expensive operations demanded a large outlay of money, and neither Harms nor his people were rich in anything but faith. Tho they gave with great liberality, some, like Behrens, stripping themselves of all they had, it was quite impossible for them to furnish more than a tithe of the whole amount. Where, then, did the money come from? The allswer is very simple. God, who was manifestly directing the enterprise, sent it in answer to prayer. Contributions eame unsought from all parts of the world. Harms himself called his mission" :nvim1lwtg iron," believing it to be supernaturally sustained. So bitter a foe was he to beggars that not one was tolerated in his parish. Equally hostile to religious beggars, he determined from the first, that God alone should be askt for the Heeded funds. Most richly was his faith rewarded. His experiences of answered prayer were as remarkable as those of the late George Muller of Bristol. It is a notable fact that, tho the expenditures of the mission varied greatly from year to year, the income varied in exact proportion, so that at no time was there a deficit. Each year closed with a balance in the trc({slI7'1j!
LIFE 1:-; HEIUIAXXHBt:IW.
~leanwhile the Hermannsburgers were proving by their own experience that "religion is it eommodity of which the more we export, the more we have remaining." While they were so diligently engaged in sending the Gospel to the heathen, the windows of heaven opened, and showers of blessing descended npon the work at home. During the whole period of Louis Harms' pastorate there was an nninterrupted revinl in Hermannsbnrg parish, in which it is said 10,000 souls were brought to a knowledge of the truth. Prof. Park, who spent three weeks with Pastor Harms in 1863, says: I supposed for a time that the pal"i~h was then in It state of special religious excitement. I askt, "How long has this excitement continued?" "About seventeen years," was the reply, "ever since Pastor Harn1s carne among us." A stranger is apt to l'E'gal'd the villagel'R as living almost altogether for the church and missions. .. Are there not some unhelievers in the parish?" I askt my landlord. "There is one, only one," was his,~ reply.
Louis Harms was a mo<lel pastor. He was a lJrofound scholar of brOl.l,(l culture and refinement, and his people simple-Illinded German peasants, yet he lirecl among them as a father, preaching to them in their own llialect, and concerning himself with every detail of their daily lives. Tho engaged in such vast enterprises, Loth at home and abroad, he nevertheless found time to deyote to pastoral work as well. Each day, from 10 to U .-L iI. and from ± to 6 P. .lVI., the parsonage was open to the people, who eame in great numbers, being admitted one by one to his study for It private interview. From 10 to 11 P. ~1., when his family devotions were held, the parsonage was again open that all who wisht might spend the hour with him in prayer and praise. It was, in reality, ({ daily JI}'{{yer-meeting. He never married, being, as he said, "too busy for snch pastime" His home was presided over by his sister, a finely-educated lady of great culture.
The religious life at Hermannsburg was so perfectly blended with the sermlar that there was apparently no separation between them. All was done to t1ie glory of God. Prof. Park has gi ven a beautiful picture of some of the quaint old cllstoms illtroduced by Harms, com- bining religious fervor with the performancc of the common duties of daily life. He says: Over many a door in the village is printed some verse of the Bible or stanza of a hymn. At snnrise, sunset, and midday, the church-bell is tolled for a few minutes, and at its fir;;t stroke men, women, and children stop their work wherever they are-in the house, or field, or in the street -and offer a silent prayer. Once I saw a company of seventeen men on their way to a wedding at the church, wlwn suddenly they stopt, took off their hats, and seemed to be devout in prayer until the hell ceast tolling. Often during the evening, as lllen walkt the streets, they sang the old church hymns.
In 1865, after a period of intense wifel'illg, borne without a lIlurmur, Louis Harms past to his reward. The desire of his heart, that he might die in the har- ness, without reaching old age, waR granted to him. 'l'he news of his death was received with peculiar sorrow by Chris- tians ererywhere, and all THE NEW MISSION HOeSE eyes were II pon his mis- sion. .Many feared that Built at IIerlllannslJurg illI8&!. Most of tht' stuuents lin~ 1ll'l'I , with its great head taken away it would decline in power. But its foundatiolls were broad and deep, and God, who "buried his workmall, carried 011 his work." 'l'he mantle of Louis Harms' influence descended ill' great measure upon his brothel'
Theodore, who now became director of the missio!l, filling that office with good success for a period of twenty years. On his death in 1885 he was succeeded by his son, Egmont Harms, the present director, The jubilee year of the mission finds it in good condition. In South Africa, among the Zulus and Bechuanas, there are 27 stations manned by 40 missionaries, and in India, among the Telugus, there are !) stations and 10 missionaries. There are also 402 native assistants at work, and the whole number of communicants in the mission churches is about 24,000.
In the home land two training-schools, known respectively as the Old and New Mission House, are ill active operation. The number of students is now so large that only a part of them are needed to supply the mission fields. All, however, are sent to foreign lands. Some are serving as pastors in Australia, America, and other fields remote from the fatherland. Besides these training-schools there is a boardin~- school for the children of missionaries ill IlIdi~~, who are sent home to be educateo.. Ko such provision is made for clJildren of mission- aries to Africa. On account of the good climate and excellent school facilities, they remain with their parents in the field.
'rhe historic old Peter-Paul's Church has not been meo. by the congregation for ma1lJ years. They 110W worship ill the Church of the Lord's Cross, a large amI commodions edifice, erected when the Free Church separated from the State Church ill 18~8. The Candace no longer makes her yearly trips, "movillg to and 1"1'0 as It shuttle weaving a clo81:'r bOlld" between the home church alld the mission field. When stean]ers began to Illy the waters between Europe and tIle Tropics, it was found cheaper to send tIle missionaries by means of them, and the Candace was solO. to a mercantile house for coastillg traffic. A few years ago SIlO was sold agaill, and soon after broken UP.
Rev. Egmont Harms is 110W in Africa. Early in 1896, with his wife alJd two youngest childrell, he took 11 p his residence for a term of five years in Kew Hermannsbllrg. This remond of tbe director to the field is a new departure, alld was under- . taken in order that the conditions existing ill the field might 1)e bettel' understood. The scheme, so far, has beel! productive of much good.
This year, to mark the }Jassing of the half- century rnilestolle, a llCW station, to be known as" Jubil ee 8tutioll," will be opened ill Puttur, India, and a great effort is being made to pay off a debt of about $;~;3,OO() with 1"hich, Ull- fortunately, the soc i e t y is at present encum- bered. 8nch has been the record of fifty years in Hermaulisburg mission Chris- tians everywhere join in extend- ing congratula- tions to these II 0 b I e workers, and in expressing the hope that their labors dnr- iug the coming ! years may con- tinuetobecrown- —~========'- ed wi th blessing THE CHURCH OF THE LORD-S CROSS and success.
The Hermaonsburg cOII!;nl'gatio1lllow worships tn thi s hnlhling. alltl bere some oervjces in tbe ./utJiJee celebratlou wlJl tJe beld.
July WILLIAM DUNCAN'''' WORK ON ANNETTIl: ISLAND, ALAI'lKA
WILLIAM DUNCAN'S YORK ON ANNETTE ISLAND, ALASKA.
BY REV. lmWAlU) )fARSDEN,* S.X)LX, ALASKA.
Annette Island is situated about forty miles north of the southern extremity of southeastern Alaska. It is about twenty miles in length, with au average width of five. The island has a very irregular shape. On the west side is a peninsula, and on this peninsula, near the main land, is located the town of Metlakahtla. The island ha~ natural harbors, especially the one at Metlakahtla, and these afford a safe anchorage to sailing vessels and steamers in case of storms., In Alaska one sees almost nothing but high mountains. E,'en the small islalJds, like that on which Metlakahtla is situated, are not an exception. It has a range of high mountains, and from It flow rapid and picturesque streams. These majestic mountains that tower up to heaven help to make the natives of Alaska religions and patriotic.
The natural wealth of Annette Island consists of sprnce, hemlock, yellow and red cedar trees; an abundance of salmon and of a few min· erals. Many miners have been attracted to the island by the discovery of gold and silver, and they have threatened the prosperIty awl peace of Metlakahtla. Their real object in coming is to do injury to the community that has been to them, and other ungodly men, a constant thorn in the flesh. There is hardly anythlllg to be saHl of agri, culture, altho we fiud in Metlakahtla a few gardens of potatoes and other vegetables.
It was in 1887 that the people of Metlakahtla, under the leadership of Mr. William Duncan, Illigrated from the old Motlakahtla, British Columbia, for the sake of ci vil and religious liberty, and settled on this island. I was there at the time, lind was one of the very first to arrive at the newly-selected settlement. New Metlakahtla has grown in spite of obstacles and discouragements. With Mr. Duncan at its head, and a corps of level-headed aml trnstworthy native advisers aroun(l him, the settlement has become the center of Christian and business activity ill all this region.
:Metlakahtla has a population of about a thousand people, aJl(l this consists principally of the TSlmpshean. There are some Thlingits among them that have been added since 1887, and the only white people 111 the community are the missionary and his assistants. Tho language used is the 'rsimpshean, but a large proportion of the natives can express themselves in English.
Imagine that we start from tho steamship landing and walk *1111'. Marsden is a native of old Metlakahtla, Bntish Columbia. having been born there III 1869. His father and mother were converted tlll'ough Mr Duncan After having been graduated from Marietta College Ohio and Lane Theologieal Seminary, Edward Jllarsden returned to new Metlakahtla for a time, He IS 1I0W working uneler the Presbyterian Boarel at Saxman. Alaska. through the tOWII. 'l'he first group of buildillgs that we see is the salmon cannery. This is olle of the main sources of living for the settle- ment. The cannery is owned partly by Mr. DUllcanand eastem capital- ists, and partly by lIatives. It has a capacity of about 20,000 cases of packt salmon ill olle Sll rnmer, aud it gi ves employment to not less than a huudred people. This is a paying enterprise, and the skill with whi ch it is managed speaks highly for Mr. Duncan and tIle commulJity.
A little farther up from the lauding is the band stand, made from a large tree cut down to within twenty-five feet from the ground, and lIpon which a circular platform has beejt hnilt. When a steamship, with hundreds of tourists from the States, calls at Metlakahtla, the band often greets them with melodious music.
Walking on, we step into the store. On the shelves of this store we see a large v:ariety of goods of eastern manufacture. The way in whi ch t he clerks moye to I.mel fro shOll'S a flourishing busincss.
III this same building is the post- office. It is slll'prisin g to see the size of the mail bags that are <leliyered here froll1 the States once ill two weeks. Th ere was a time whcn cOlTespoll<IPllce l)y letter was fo reign to onr people.
Hut now it is consi<lered all aCCOTll- plishmellt alllong theJll – Illid WILLIAM DUNCAN.
indeed it is-for one 1,0 eom- mnni cate his thoughts to It fJ'i en<l at a <1 istan<:e hy IL few sc ratdws Oll a piece of paper After looking arol1l1(l ill t he store, we follow a street leading to the sawmill on the east elll1. We hear the buzz of th e saw am'! the sound of the planer. 'Ire notice the activity of the men at work. Theyar(, all Ilatives, alld are so trained that they perform all their work well.
This mill has l~ capacity of 15,000 feet of sawed an d plallet1 lumber pel' day. It is rlln by water power, taken from the lakc Oll a moun- tain three mile~ a,:ay. This same lake fU]'J1ishes the town w,itliesh water. The null IS oWllea by the same company as that wInch owns tho caullery amI store.
'Ve turn back and walk on lip to the church. As we approach it we can not help but think that the large structure IIOW before us must have cost much labor and money. The edifice has two towers, one of which is the belfry. Wi enter it"anc1 Wi Ilotice at Olwe the simplicity
50;! WILLIAM DI]~CAN ' :S ""URK U~ .-l.NN.I,;T'rE I,;LA~lJ, ."L.UlKA
THE HETLAKABTLA INDIAN lUND.
of its ceremonies, the suhlime Christian i(l('al s for which it stamls, alld the unchangeabl e t l'Uth for whi r.h it is dedicated.
The church has an ordinary capacity of seating l ,c,OO people, and much more if occasion should dellland it. It is l:eated by hot water and lighted with oil. 'rhe walls HlHl ceilin g, and the seats and pulpit are of red and "yellow cedar lumber. Th ese are not painted, as their natural color is beantif ul. Th e "carpet is an Am erican make. The windows are of ordinary glass, and the whol e strnctllre is sim pIe and of high-trained workmanship. The church was huilt ill 1895 and dedicated OIL the first of January, 1Sf)';.
Leaving the church we n ext visit the school bn ildillgs. If we are there during school honrs we see th e ehil(lrell at work on their lessons. 'rhe teachers are natives, and to them is committed t he important duty of shaping the future destiny of the tOWIl.
Then we come to the industrial shops and stores of the town itself. 'l.'hese are owned by the natives, and the way ill which they condu ct them show that they are thrifty and honest in th eir bu siness dealings. The "goods they handle are of American manufacture. The llatives make all kinds of hOL!Se fUl'JIitul'e, boats of different dimensiolls, and sLlch things. We find also ill the community photographic galleries, shoe-repail'illg shops, restaurants, mu sic rooms, anu so forth.
One can always estimate the life of a people by their homes. We enter and are at once conlially'gl'eeted and comfortably seated. Our eyes meet with the pleasing arrangemellt of the household fUl'lliture, the position of th e Bi bl e Oil th e table, t he pretty pid nres Oil the walls. Altho these homes are "ery humble, lacking many of the elegancies and adornm ents of easterll homes, we find. in them peace, joy, love, anu the light of God.
Let us now tum to Mr. Duncan's own cottage. It is plain and homelike. In response to our kll~ck we are illvited to enter, and are warmly greeted by the owner, a man well advanced in years. We see his office books, papers, delicate instruments, medicines, tools, shovels, pickaxes, and a host of other things.
Mr. Duncan's history has often been told. Surely he has dOlle a great deal for the 'l'simpshean people. Altho he has been independent in his methods, firm if llot stern in his instructions, yet he has commanded the respect of those to whom he has devoted his whole life, Mr, Duncan has been among :my people as a leader, ad viser, business manager, organizer, a preacher, and a fearless prophet. Many differ from him ill some important principles, but we all agree that by God's direction he has accomplisht a wonderful work. His monument ought to be oll'e of the most conspicuous among those dedicated to missionary heroes.
Let us now glance for it momelit at the various departments of admimstratioll in the town. 'l'his settlement has a board of councilmen, elected by popular vote every year. The improvements, plans, and general directions are committed to this board. With Mr. Duncall's help it has guided the Metlakahtla people through many dangerous troubles alld held the people together as a true family. It is composed of the very leading men of the place, all (I they are usually men of much experiellce.
MetlakahtIa has aJ(lo a vigilance company. 'l'his is for the promotion of peace and oroer in the community, and its services are invaluable. It has mallY a time warded off the curse of intemperance from the locality.
Next comes the fire brigade. Once, in UW3, the west end of the town, which consisted of some forty houses, was destroyed by fire.
THE METLAKAHTLA COUNCILMEN These men are tho frst ~enerat1on of converts from tbe Ts1mpshean Indians
THE CHRISTIAN SETTLEMENT Nl' METLAKAHTLA. L·July
Since then the place ha~ been threatelled again, 1'0 that this organization has been found very useful.
In matters of legal cases and ciril and <Timinal offenses, the United States Commissioner at }'ort ~yrangel has sole jurisiliction. The government has also two native policemen appointed for this place.
Metlakahtla has an independent church organization and goverllment. '1'he whole town is a Christian church. 'rhey elect a body of elders every year to look after t he religious welfare of the people, Mr. DUlIcan, of course, is at the head of it all. Tithout stating their beliefs and ceremonies, suffice it to say that they declare and profess to stand on 110 other ground than the Bible as we have it in the English language.
In the cllllrch we find the Sabbath-school, the hllnds for philanthropic and other charitable works, the teacher's Bible classes, and other associatiolls for religions }Jurposes.
If we go from ~Ietlakahtla to other places where there is no Gospel, we shall be COli vinced that it pays to selHI the hless('<1 news to the distant regions of th<' wor1<1.
THB CHRISTIAK Sl<j'r'l'LR]lEK'L' ,T MRTLAKAHTLA.
J1Y ,rTLLLU! I>F xc.x*, )!ETLA KA HTL., .LASK..
Since our arrival in Alaska (nearly twelve years ago) the public have learned of our work from travelers-friends or foes-who visited Alaska and saw for thelllselres. On this account, "by evil report, and good report" of us, it has fallon to onr lot to taste, ill some small degree, olle of the experiences of St. Paul, the great apostle.
One of our first critics was all enemy. He was prominC'ntly connected with a newspaper in British Columbia, and had, during the troubleswhich issued 011 our leaving the country, used his pen, or his paper, against liS. At the time of his first visit he carne as a passenger on a steamer which bronght liS freight, and, it beillg shortly after our arrival in Alasklh ,he was all eye-witness to some of the hardships we hadio endure dnrlng onr first winter. He ~aw oyer 800 of us liying in little shanties-fringing the beach-with a giant forest behind ns, in which we should have ,to figl,lt for our new home. Before leaving us, he somewhat cynically assured me it would be a 'ery long time before lve sholl'ld have as good a place here as the olle we had left in British Columbia.
After the lapse of tell years, about a year and a half ago, he reap- * ~Ir. Duncan has a strong aver!';ion to personal publicity and to writing for publication in regard to the work with which he is connected, He prefers to allow the work to speak for itself-which it does nlost gloriously He has written the present article in order that erroneous statements Inay be corrected, and that friends may know of the progress and present condItion of the work ~EDlTOR.. peared ill our miust. On thi~ oeeasioll we had a substantial wharf for hil,l to land Oil when he stept off the ocean steamer; we had about three miles of good sidewalks, eight feet broad, OJI which he could parade; 120 good houses, occupied by the natives, and each built on a corner lot. Back of the little town Oll!' beautiful ch urch, with capacity for seating ROO people, also a large school-builuing, with its twelve gablcs, and a town hall, with separate apartments for the town council, Sunday-school teaehers, musicians, and lihrary and reading-room. ~ear the beach a guest-house for strangers, and mission premises to accomlllodate two families and twenty boarders undercraining, all which attracted him. The industrial plallt next invited his attention. It consisted of a salmoll cannery, employing in the salmon season upward of 200 llatives, antI two steamers, which are run and engineered by natives; alRO', a sawmill of fifty horse-power, managed entirely by natives, and driven by water-power conveyed in iron pipes from a lake two alld a half miles away, anu 800 feet high. In audition to these he coul(l see several general stores and workshops for boat-building, etc., all owned and carried on by natIves. The giant forest of ten years before had (lisappeared, and the grollnd was proclucing vegetables and small fruits.
On this gentleman's retul'll to the steamer he seemed humbled, and frankly ('onfest his surprise at the changes, for he saw that we had raised a home in tell years far superIOr, in every way, to the one we left in British Columbia, which had taken us twenty-five years to build. Whether or )lOt he ascribed our progress to the right cause I can not telL "We kIlOW, however, the Gospel of Christ accepted has done it all, and to God be all the praise and glory.
While we have had a few such visitors, many dear Christian people hare come to see us, whose sympathetIc hearts have poured out, not only expressions of admiration, but praise and thanksgiving to God for all they saw amI heard. Their hearty handshakmg, their words of blessing, their singillg with glistenillg eyes and hearts aglow before It crowd of natIves on the wharf) thClr partmg hymn, " God be with you till we meet again:' made us all feel how 1eal and sweet is Christian lore These fnends-members of many dIfferent churcheswere a lIving proof to the natives that all true ChristIans are really one in heart. Who can tell how much abiding lllfiuence for good such an obJect lesson as this will have on our people?
Of course, om friends during their brief stay-which seldom lasts o'er two hours-ask many questions, some of which may be of enough general interest to enumerate, together with my answers to them.
1. "O/what deno?lllnatwn 18 youI' Glmrc!t? ' 'Ve have adopted no denominational name, but call ourselves 8im" ply" The Christian Church of Metlakahtla." The natives are taught tllut while t hey owe 11 0 exclu sive allegiallce to all Y oue denomiuation, they are to be in unicnl alld fellowship with all evallgelical Christians.* z. "How !s the 1iIlSSWn 811J1llorted l "
~Ye wo rk and earn , and , therefore, have 110 need to Leg. Our iudustries are enough to supply ampl e JIl eans for church, school, med- ical, and other mission ex penses.
3. "How many church 1IIembers hrll'IJ yll1t ,; "
All the JlatiYes, who, after a tim e of proLutioll, are accepted as members of our community, alld who promise obed iell ce to the rules of our community at a sacred meeting, are counted memllers of our church. If they are t ru e to our ru les, they will he true Ohristians.
4. "Who built this beau IIfu 1 (;/t.'Ilrclt? ,. 5." Jl 7l1i p lays th e organ?" G. ·'])o you preach III Bllgli.<1t or l.n lhe ludll'e longue? '·' Om c.:hnrch was built by lIativc lauor entirely. It cost over *10,000, of which the natives subscribed abo u t $2,000, . our American and Ellgli sh fl:iends aLo ut $:;,000, aud we eamed the remainder. We have several llatives who play the organ yery well , and they rem1er their ser- vi ces gratuitously. Our church ,er vice is ill the lJati YO tongue, with t he excep tion of some of t he siugillg, which is ill English.
Th e afternoon service, each Sun- day, is cOlldu cted elltirely by 'l'HE METLAKAHTLA CHl'RCH. llative::;. I take the SUl1day- 1I10l'lling aud evening sen-ice, and Buill by Indians a nd pbotogruph takt'll the week-day oyening EeI'vice. hy fi ll .Indian photographe r.
The cOlJcluding prayer after eH'ry C'Hmi llg sen ice is offered by a native at his seat ill th e cOllgregation. ,/" " What w({s th e cause (~f' youI' lea v ill!! 1Jl'lti8/t (/oluJJlbw?"
Briefly, our mov e was CllllSC'cl by ollr snfferillg ecclesiastical perfidy until it became ulIenllurable. The unscrupulous priest who stirred up the strife le(l the rulill g officers of the Church Missionary Society illto a senes of blunders.' Wh en the Llullders were (liscovored it was too late to h eal t he ruptllre whi ch had beeII made. Onr ll atires, assum- ing that th e land all which their homes " 'ere Luilt was th eir patri- mon y, as it had been ill t he possessio II of t heir forefath ers frol1l t im e ' I often de plore the jealOUSies a nd diVisions of the evangplical ehurches W ould 10 God they would send out their missionaries under one banne r instructing t hem to name no Dame but the savmg name of Christ. and to work for no other objed than to brmg sinners to the Savior It can n ot be expected that intelhgent heat be n WIll overlook the great mconsistenc y of missionaries dIVIded among the mselves. while tll ey profess to serve one Master. whose relt erated com mand to HIS people was tbat they should lIve in unity and lo ve. Nor can wp expect Christianoty to regain its wonted triumphs as C>f old 111 the great stumbling block of sectarian J ealo~sy and strIfe is l'.en1oved. DIf!er~~ ceR III the mode of Christian. wor~hlP. would go for 'nothmg If only the essential oneness ot spll'll vrevRJled among the ml~SlOllarles immemorial, appealed to the governmellt uf Canaan, to rill them of the ecclesiastic who was causillg thelll so much trouble. 'rhe premier of Canada promist to accede to their wishes, but failed to fulfil his promise. They then appeah.d to, or mther invokt, the law of British Columbia to aid them, hut, to their alllazement, they were told that by the law of British Columbia" they had no rights ill the land, except such as might be accordetl them by the hounty or charity of the Queen of EllglalHl.·' When this infamous law was interpreted to them, oLir people could no longer rest peacefully in British Columbia, Only two conrses were open to them-either to fight for theil' rights, or seek a llew home, ,", t a mass-meeting both courses were discust, and the peace party prevailed. I was then deputed to visit Washington, DC., 011 their behalf, amI to ascertain whether our move would be sanctioned by the United States authorities. It was sanctioned, and tho no promises were Illude, I was gi ven to uuderstand that if our people moved into Alaska, Congress would take action securing them suitable land for a home. This was snbsequently done. Our move, however, was a fearfnl blow to our material interests. Our houses, all our industrial plant-cannery, sawmill, brickyard, workshops-anrl the heautiful church we had built (not with any of the Church lVIissio'nary Society's money), were confiscated ill order to force us to remain. We calculate that $50,000 worth of actual property, besides all the improvements ill roads and gardens we had made, were taken from us, this being under the British flag in the uineteeth century!
8. " Who 010118 all tl.e l)l'opeJ'f!l !Ion have lfllll; 1Ip?" 9." Are .1Io/{ I/,orlang under the ('ooj)el'ldll'e plan, or do !lOll p({!llO({f)es!"
The object in view hy these industries is, first, to find profitable employment for the people; second, to teach them to manage business affairs, and third, to ultimately make them proprietors of the whole industrial plant for the perpetual maintenance of the mission work, thus rendering them quite independent of charitable aid. We do not work under allY cooperative system, but on general busmess principles. '" e pay workmen the wages they individually earn, aIHl according to the value of the work -they can <10, ranging from $1.:!5 to $2.25 a day for men, and boys in proportion to their usefulness.
This year, 1 am very thankful to say, I have arrived at the goal of my hopes in financial affairs, and a new epoch in the history of the mission has arrivetl. ~Whel1, in 1887, we left British Columbia for Alaska, my own means, so much re<111ced by the losses we had sustained, were not sufficient to recommence our business eOllcerns 011 the scale I wisht. Some kind American friends came to my aid at once, and subsequently a stock company was incorporated, und about $11,000 subscribed. A number of our natives (workmen) also bought stock in the company amounting in all to $2,460. With this money, and my own, we have built up Olll' present business enterprises, which have beeH so blest and prospere<1 that I alll now able to see my way for refunding, both to our friends and the natives, the full amount of th eir shares. 'l'his done, we shall then hand over to the community, under proper restriction s, the cash ualallce, and all th e plaut and stock in trade. I am anxious to havo the transfer legally and Recurely made while I have strength Jeft me to superintend their illitiation into the executive <1nties all(l tho bookkeeping involved.
10. "Has Congress slJcurer! to ,1/uur people tillS 187rt1lll fo)' t/l/Jil'
lle/'mauent 1Ise? "
The CongressIOnal Record oJ MardI 1, HHll, says: That, nntil otherwise provided hy law, the body of lands known as Annette Islands, situated in Alexander Al'chipelago, in southeastern Alaska, on the llol'th side of Dixon's entrance, be, and the same is, hereby set apad as a reservation for the lise of the lVIetlakahtla Indians, and t.hose people known as Metlakahtlans, who have recently emigrated from British Columbia to Alaska, and such other Alaska natives as lllay join them, to be held and used by them in common, under such rll]es and regulations, and subject to such restrictions as may he prescribed hom time to time by the secretary of the interior.
Attempts hare been made to ahrogate tIl() above act of Congress ill the interest of speculators, btl t I am thankful that so far, through the kiud watchfulness of our friends ill 1111(1 on t of Congress, these untoward attempts have not succeede(1.
11. " ]J'hrt/ 1IJt1l heco1Jle (f these natlres when !Ion hal'e them OJ' .!lie? "
Altho we call not foretell th e .f utnrc of }Ietlakahtla, yet we are justified, from past experience, ill both hopillg and believing that God will continuo His caro over it. III the meantime we have not overlookt the work of providing, l~S Lest we can, for the emergency.
THE METLAJUHTLA SCHOOLHOUSE AND MISSION BUILDINGS.
REFORM MOVEMENTR IN G.HINA
vVe have already a native organization, instituted lIlallY years ago, for the good government of the community, consisting of a body of elders, twenty in number, who look after the spiritual affairs of the church, and It council, also twenty in number, who attend to the cIvil affairs of the town. These officers are elected yearly by the votes of the people, and are steadily growing in influence and usefulness. As toour pecuniary affairs, I have already stated that our indust~ial plant, with God's blessing, is ample for supplying the meallS for supporting the mission workers, and all necessary expenses connected with church, school, and hospital.* HEFOHM MorEJIEXTS IJS' CHI~A.
BY HEV. ARTHCR H. ~-DllTll, TIE:T}'3IX, CHINA.
:lHissionary of the American Board; author of . Chine~e Characteristics We have 10llg since Otltgrown the old-time idea that the East is the land of stability. During the year 1898 there were successive edicts issued from the imperial palace, quite enongh to hnve caused old Yao and Shun, Wen Yang and Vu Yang to turn in their graves, if not to come forth and "bear a hand." '['here has been much ignorant and much hostile criticism of the reforms which the emperor was attempting to introduce into China. As they have all failed of adoption, it is scarcely worth while to recapitulate them in detail and to show their relation to the condition of the empire. It must suffice to say that, in the opinion of those well qualified to judge, there was not a single one of all these measures which was not needed, and which, could it have been adopted, would not have been to the advan· tage of China. One of r,he most sweeping reforms was in regard to the old examination system, an effete relic of the Sung dyna~ty, wholly incapable of securing the education imperatively necessary ill the closing months of the nineteenth century. The sudden abolitioll, by a stroke of the imperial pen, of the hoary wen-chang, or examination essay, was the most salient, tho not the most esselltial, feature of the changes proposed and ordered. :Xo one is qualified to say what the Chinese really thought about this mighty revolution, for the reason *The InisRion is in' especial need of a medical missionary and a trained school-teacher Both the doctor and the teacher should be married and they and their wives sound Chris tians, without any sectarian 1ias. and willing to consecrate their lives to God's service None of them should be over forty years of age. or constitutIOnally delicat"
As the doctor's time would not be fully occupied in medical work. he would be expected to assist in teaching some young people a portion of tbe day. and occasionally preaching in the church. The doctor·s w;fe. and school-teacher's wife. would be expected to take charge of a few big native girls. and train them in household duties The school teacher's duties would be mainly with the regular day·schooL For the combined services of the Goetor and his wife we can offpr $1 ,200 a year. and for the teacher and his wife $800 a year, Both families would be provided with house and garden free. and have no taXf>S to pay. or extra expenses connected with the pupils and the sick, which would be borne by the mission The salaries are ample for the wants of the miSSIOn aries, since food and clothing are reasonably cheap in MetlakahtJa,-WILLUM DUNCAN that no one can know for certain what the Chinese think about anything.• They would not tell you if you askt them, and if you did ask them, and they did tell you, it would Ge entirely uncertain whether they were not usillg language in "a Piekwickian sense." Still there is excellent reason to think that a powerfnl minority, if not an actual majority, of the students nuder thirty years of age were prepared to welcome the change when they understood it-which, of course, they ceuld not easily do Puhlic opinion in" the Orient is a wholly different thing from that to which we are accustomed, and is often for a long period ill a fluid condition, until it is evident what the outcome of a given course is to 1!C. With regard to opinions on the political changes it was altogether otherwise. :Many useless bureaus were to be abolisht, uune.cessary ofticials dislllist, and steps taken to secnre greater economy and efficiency ill the administration of public work. Now this is exactly what no official in Chiua will see done, if he is able to prevent it, since it really or potentially destroys his means of Iirelihood. The salaries of the officials in this country are merely nominal, and woul(l not furnish the amount which they are obliged to expend for the hire of two secretaries, indispensable to every district magistrate If reform were once to begin, there could be no telling in what direction it would run and whom it might next strike; therefore, all reform would haye been stoutly resisted to the last.
Another related fact is of great importaJlce. That the emperor of China, brought up in the seclusion of an imperial palace, wilh no communication with the real world, was illtellectually capable of apprehending the nature and the necessity of the numerous reforms which he ordered, is itself one of the wonders of the age, and should on no account be lost sight of. But this does not alter the patent fact that the edicts ill which the proposed alterations were announced were eoucht in the vaguest terms, with a little of history by way of preface, much criticism of eurrent methods and results, a good deal of the imperative mode in ordering mandarins, great and small, to cooperate with new plans announced almost incidentally, and with Hot the least provision for adequate finaneial backing; and a sharp time limit, within which reports as to ways and means were to be sent in. When these reports failed to appear, other and more mandatory edicts appeared, filled with reproaches, arguments, requisitions, and pleadings. What would have been the outcome, if anything ,lwd been allowed to come out, is a fertile theme for the imagination.
But another propositioll may be safely advanced of llluch more praetical importance. If everyone of the emperor's reforms had been gradually forced upon an unwilling mandarinate, no such results as were aimed at and expected would haye followed. It is a venerable superstition in Chilla that when those above act, those beneath will follow suit, just as when the wind blows the grass bends. This classical maxim proceeds upon the theory that maukind are grass and nothing more. which some ages of experience have disproved. Even in ".estel'll lands we have become convinced that men can not be reconstructed by act of parliament. Bnt in China the problem of reform sllch as is needed is almost inconceivably intricate, owing to the antiquity, the complexity, and the vttriety of the particulars in which reform is required.
To the inexperienced Chinese patriot the matter donbtless appeared much simpler than to llS. China needs this, that, aud the other, which Western nations already have. LeL us provide China with this and that, and the other will natnrally ensue. By this and that we .mean the armies, navies, and external appliances through which great nations express themselves in contemporaneous hIstory. Let China buy war ships, drill armies, set up the appointments by which these results are brought about, and the results themselves will presently materialize. During the last fhe alJLI twenty years there has been no apparent consciousness on the part of the leaders of China that what she needs is men of a new type. ·When the first students were sent abroad to learn the ways of the West, great was the rejoicing, because it was thought that by this means the men would eventually be forthcoming. A few years later these same students were recalled in virtual disgrace for the reason that it was thought their adoption of Western thought was far too complete. They returned youug mell without a country, and most of them have ever since occupled an equivocal position as being not exactly foreign, and yet not altogether Chinese. By sacrificing the only method of securing men f1t to enter on the new era of duty and opportulllty, China unconsciollsly rendered it certain that any plan of reformation must fail for lack of pilots. Men of the type needed are not to be ordered up like a gun-hoat built on the Clyde, or a new pattern of Krupp gun-they must grow. For this there has mover been any provision or encouragemellt, and there is at present less than none, inasmuch as the very need seems to be denied.
Four propositions seem to us to be capable of proof. l. Reform in China is not dead; revolutions do not go backward. The nineteenth century is not a suitable melns for the Sung dynasty. The twentieth centnry is just outside the gates, and it will be eyen more inexorable than its predecessor. In what way, through whose agency the inevitable coming changes WIll be inaugurated, it is vain to guess; but inaugurated they wJll be. ~o power and no powers can stop them. The finger of Providence points to them, and they are somewhere below the (lIp of the hOl'lzon.
2. When these movements begin again, they may have less apparent speed t.han before, bnt they will hare the gathered momentum of represt forces let loos(j. There will certainly be a mighty struggle, before they win their way to practical acceptance, and a longer and a harder one before they are masters of the empire. Old China will die hard.
3. In contributing to the snccess of the coming reformation, Christian missions will play an important part. The educational literature is almost entirely an outgrowth of their development. The educational institutions that have been longest ill the field, that have the best output and that can be most trnsted, have their origin from the same source. Theil influence will be out of all proportion to their numbers. It is already great, and it will be far greater.
4. The outlook for all forms of missionary activity ill China was never so bright as now. Edicts recognizing the beneficellce of the work done by missionaries, imperatively interdicting their etlemies from assailing them in any way whatever, have now become so fre· quent, that it is impossible to keep track of them The walls of mission chapels are covered with them, and the supply never fails. The opening of China to many kinds of synd icates gi ves all Westel'll powers a practical interest in the personal security of their subjects in the interior of China hitherto unknown Capital is sacred, and must be protected. The ferment of thought has forced opell mental oyster shells in China, which never hitherto took in Olle occidental idea, and they are becoming accnstomed to the novelty and even desire more. Ideas can not be shut out entirely, even from Chinese minds, alHI once an entry is gained, they can not be hallisht to a distance of three thousand Ii beyond the frontier-like Chang Yinhun, Every mission-press in China is overworkt. Every tract society has a far larger call for its books than ever before, and the same is true of the Bible societies. llissionary periodicals, like The ReView oj the Ttmel;, find their way everywhere, especiall) into the imperial palace. Their cireulatlOn and theIr illfiuence is certain to increase. 'l'he native Chinese church is gradually coming to self-consciousness. Its day of conventions has begun, and it will have important results, not only for the church itself, but for the outer fringe of those whom it affects without actually attracting. The nItimate outcome of these intellectual and spiritual movements no man can foresee, bnt it would not be strange if they should influence the development of the Chinese language by introducing a new element of common interest, the nse of common terms, the gathering together of leading minds discnssillg weighty themes in fruitful ways. 'fhe Christian church in Cltilla is the force of the future. 'fhere is in the. whole empire no other which has within itself the seeds of life. Those who ignored it fifty years ago, who scoft at it thirty years ago, began twenty years ago to treat it with distant respect. Since then they have gone so far as to speak well of it. But nevertheless it will go on its triumphant way into the unknown but glorions future which ~waits it,
RED MAN'S SEARCH FOR WHITE MAN'S BOOK
THE RED MAN'S SEARCH FOR THE WHITE MAN'S BOOK.* BY REV. EGERTON H. YOUNG, TORONTO, CANADA.
Many years ago one of the early pioneers to the Pacific Coast visited what was then a powerful tribe of Indians. He was a godly man, and carried with him a copy of the Word of God. With a limiteu knowledge of their language and some help from a few Inuians who had a smattering of English, he taught them as well as he could from the sacred volume. He told them of God, the creation, of His love for the human race, of the way of salvation through the Son, allu of the Better Land beyond.
The white man went on his way, and the Indians saw him and his Book no more. But they never forgot, and at many a council fire, through many moons, they talkt over the things that they had heard. Their belief in the conjnrer was gone, and their Indian religion seemed foolish in comparison with what they had heard. The wonderful Book of t,he paleface was ever before their minds, and a spirit of unrest took possession of them, which could not be quieted. At length they decided that a deputation of some of their strongest and bravest men should be sent to obtain a copy of the coveted Book. So, scarcely knowing where they went, but with the good wishes of the tribe, in 1832 they started on their long, adventurous journey.
Months past before, in the depths of winter, the deputation of Flathead Indians reacht the city of' St. Louis. They carried in their persons the evidences of many hardships and of the severest privations. Bronzed and scarred were they by the summer's heat and winter's storms, for many moons had waxed and waned since they had started on their long and dangerous journey from their own land. Their traIl had led them through the domains of hostile Indian tribes, and many and thrilling had been their adventures. But altho their appearance bore pathetic evidence of their privations and suffering, yet little had they to say about themselves or their trials. One all-absorbing longing was in their hearts, ill comparison with which all else was d warft into insignificance. Yet to the thoughtless white men, to whom they first addrcst themselves, very strange and meaningless seemed the importunate request of these gaunt, wearied red men. They came, they said, from the land of the setting SUllo Across the great snow-clad mountains and the WIde prairies for many moons had they traveled. They had hearu of the white man's God and wanted the white man's Book of heaven.
Finally they were brought before the commanding officer of the military post, and to him they told their SImple tale. Unfortunately, however, altho the general was a kind-hearteu man, he was a Roman Catholic. He took them to priests, and while they were received with • See MI~SIONARY REVIEW for July, 1888, for a fuller account of this incident. the gre!.test hospitality, and shown the pictures of the Virgin Mary and of the saints, they were steadily denied the oft-repeated request for the Bible. Caring for none of these things, importunately did they plead for the Book, but all in vain. So exhausting had been the journey that two of the Indians died in St. Louis from their sufferings aud hardships. The other two after a time became discouraged and homesick, and prepared to return to their far-off people. Ere they left the city a farewell feast was given them, and the general and others bade them" Godspeed" on their journey. After the feast one of the Indians was askt to speak, and his address was not only a model of eloquence, but exprest the heart-cry of many weary, longing souls who, dissatisfied with their false religions, are eagerly crying out for the true. He said: I came to you, over the trail of many moons, from the land of the setting sun beyond the great mountains. You were the friends of my fathers, who have all gone the long way. I came with an eye partly opened for more light for my people, who sit in darkness. I go back with both eyes closed. How can I go back blind to my pebple? I made my way to you with strong arms, through my enemies and strange lands, that I might carry back much to them. I go back with both arms broken and empty. Two fathers came with us. They were the braves of many winters and wars. We leave them asleep here by your great water and wigwams. They were tired in many moons, and their moccasins were worn out. My people sent me to get the white man's Book of heaven. You took me where you allow your women to dance, as we do not ours, and the Book was not there. You took me where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, but the Book was not there. You showed me images of the good spirits and pictures of the good land beyond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the way. I am going back the long, sad trail to my people of the dark land. You make my feet heavy with gifts, and my moccasins will grow old and my arms tired in carrying them, yet the Book is not among them. When I tell my poor blind people, after one more snow, in the big council, that I did not bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by our young braves. One by one they will rise up and go out in silence. My people will die in darkness, and they will go on the long path to other hunting grounds. No good white man will go with them, and no white man's Book to make the way plain. I have no more words.
One young man was so imprest with the address that he wrote to friends i"n the East an account of this strange visit, and the pathetic appeal of the Indians for a Bible. Some Protestants became interested, bnt it was two years before It missionary started with the Bible for that land.
Meanwhile, what had become of the two Indians? 'J1hey left St. Louis, and on the plains fell in with George Catlin, the celebrated artist. But altho they traveled with him for many days, whether it was from Indian reserve and stoicism, or that they had become disheartened and discouraged, they did not mention the object of their visit. He painted their portraits, and in his famous collection they have become historic, and are to be seen numbered 207 and 208. After leaving Catlin another of the Indians died, and so bu tone survivor returned to announce to the great council the death of his companions and the refusal of the white man to give him the Book.
'1'he tribe was embittered, and gave up all hope of aid and comfort from the white man's God. From a condition of eager longing to hear and accept the teachings of the good Book they swung to the opposite extreme, and when missioJ:l,aries at length found these Indians, they received no welcome from tllem, and found it almost impossible to overcome the feelings of despair aud bitterness which had sprung up in their hearts. Other tnbes in the same land were 'lEACHING INPIA,1iiS '10 READ BY SYLLABIC CHARACIE&::, ON BIRCHBARK.
more docile, and a church and manual-labor schools were establisht, and many of the Indians became Christianized and civilized.
These Flathead Indians remained unreacht for many years. Long after this memorable visit in search of the Bible some very successful missions were commenced in British Columbia '['he Church of England, Methodists, and some other evangelical churches early took a deep interest in the sad conditioll of the native trIbes in that country. The marvelous successes of Duncan and Crosby and ot.hers showed what could be accomplisht. Hundreds of souls were won for Christ, and an abiding civilization followed thIS genuine Chnstianity.
Some years after this there went out from Hamilton, in Canada, a devoted young lady to labor as a teacher among the Indian tribes on the Pacific Coast. She suffered many hardships, but was much owned of God in her work. Many of the Indians renounced their sinful, superstitious lives, and earnestly strove to walk in "the way of the Book." 'rhc story of t110 successes in British Columbia traveled far and wide. Strange rumors of a palefaced woman and a wonderful Book went far south into Oregoll. From that place some of the Flatheads went to investigate these rnmors for themsel yes. They had some meetings with the paleface lady, and listened to the story of the love of the Great Spirit as revealed in His Book. To its truths they listened, and accepted the great salvation. They carried the good news home with them, and told what they had heard to others, who also went and heard for themselves. In their simple faith they tried to live up to what they had learned. They prayed much, and kept holy the Sabbath day.
Sometime after this a party of white men went into their land on an extensive hunting and fishing expedition. One day when they were all out in a boat Oll the Columbia River, they were caugl.lt in one of the treacherous rapids there, and, III spIte of all their efforts, their boat was upset, and three of theIr party were drowned. The surviving two barely managed to reach the shore alive. Tbeyaroused the Indians and began the search for the bodies of their companions. After several days these were discovered floating in the back eddies at the foot of" some rapids several miles dOWl1 the stream, It was found impossible to send the bodies to their relat.ives, and so it waH decided to bury them there Oll the bank of the riYer. Coffins were made, t.he graves were dug, and then the bodies were lowered into their long resting-places. When the survivors were about to cover up the dead, some of the Christian Indians said; "Do you bury your friends like dogs? Do you not have some prayers? Do yon not thank the Great Spjnt that yon two escape when your comrades die? Do you not ask God to bless the mothers, or wives, or children of these mell dead, who will feel so badly when they hear they were drowned?"
The two white men listened in amazement to these words. At first there was a disposition to resist them as an impertinence, but better feelings prevailed, and one spoke up and said: " 'We don't know how to pray, or how to conduct a funeral service, but if any of yon fellows know how to att.end to the matter, why, go ahead ,- Not very reverent words, but the Indians acquiesced, and gathered around the open graves, There, with uncovered heads and devout hearts, they held an impressive tho simple service. So profound was the impression made upon one at least of those white men that he then and there gave his heart to God.
THE MISSIONARY'S BODY
H.-MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT.
THE MISSIONARY'S BODY.* BY THE LATE THOS. H. ALLAN, NZAWI, BRITISH E. AFRICA.
Vhile the spiritual qualifications of a missionary candidate occupy the first rank in determining his call to service, it is also important that the physical condition of a prospective laborer in a foreign land should be examined, and thoroughly understood by the missionary himself, in so far as that knowledge will enable him to use his God-given energy and endurance in the service of Christ. Therefore, let us consider, (1) The character of the body; (2) The condition of the body; (3) The culture of the body; and (4) The causes of decay in the body.
1. THE CHARACTER OF THE BODY.-Too many Christian workers consider body only as a means by which temptation and sin may assault the citadel of the soul. It is often erroneously clast with "the flesh"- our evil nature, which clings to us after regeneration.
That our bodies should be honored and cared for-tho not pampered -is a truth which many Christians have forgotten, and even the laws ~hich were promUlgated by God to this end are too often overlookt. The body is dign~fied by the InCa1'1wt'ion. Christ came "in the likeness of sinful flesh." He took our nature, that He might enter into sympathy :with us in all our conditions of life. Moreover, the body is honored in becom·ing a temple of God by the Holy Spi1'U's indwelUng. "Know ye not that ye are a sanctuary of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile (or, destroy) the sanctuary of God, him shall God destroy; for the sanctuary of God is holy, which ye are."t The body is to be raised and glo1'~fied. It will be delivered by Christ from the presence of sin and the power of the grave, and raised in incorruption, glory, and honor. "'Ve wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shallfushion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to His glorious body." (Phil. iii: 21, R. V.) II. THE CONDITION OF THE BODY.-The missionary-elect, before coming to the field, should pass a medical examination, such as would entitle him to take out a large policy in a good life insurance company. The conditions of life in a foreign land are so different from those at home, that the body is taxt to the utmost by the change during the first year or two. A glance at some of those new conditions of life may be helpful.
l. There is change of climate often from the temperate to the torrid zone, bringing on numerous attacks of fever. It has been well said that " there must not only be good health, but resources of strength, nerve, and sinew. All this is needed to stand up under a deadly clime, exposure, and hardships, and the nervous strain of heathenism's 'dead lift.' Aches and pains, tendencies and inheritances easily controlled at home, are sure to be aggravated in foreign lands."
2. There is change of food. In some mission fields all the ordinary necessities and even comfort" of home life can be obtained; but in fields, * Condenst from Hearing and Doing.
t (1 Cor. iii: 16, 17.) The word used here is the same which designated the Holy of Holies in the temple, and which is used for Christ's own physical body as indwelt by the Spirit. Again, in 1 Cor. vi: 19,20, we read, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body." We are also told to "present our bodies unto God."
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
such as inland China and Central Africa, the missionary must consume European canned provisions, and depend upon native foods to make up his bill of fare. Such a sudden change in diet is felt very much, and may often cause disorder in the system if great care is not exercised, and even then native food is not always palatable. A good digestion is indispensable, therefore, in one's physical outfit.
3. There is isolation. Frequently the missionary may be alone on a station for months at a time, and the isolation is likely to influence his health, if he is not prepared to meet it. Christ should be known in the homeland all the joy of one's life in all places and circumstances, so that any depression caused by loneliness may be thrown off. Any tendency to melancholy should be avoided, and a cheerful and contented spirit cultivated. A missionary should also be able to cook for himself, and make his room tidy and homelike, so that it will have a cheerful aspect.
4. There is incessant study. Missionaries need nerves of steel to endure the constant mental strain. There is the toil and grind of a new and difficult dialect to be acquired, which is so wearing to a newcomer. This requires preparation of mind and body in some years of student life in the homeland.
5. There are many hardships. Let not the missionary candidate close his eyes to these, and in youthful enthusiasm rush off to Africa to repent afterward that he ever came. Count well the cost. Endurance will be needed for weary marches in the tropical sun, and one must endure the lack of many home comforts. Possibly the bed will not be very comfortable, or the grass roof may leak overhead! The missionary's hands may have to fashion very rustic furniture, of which it is quite romantic to speak, but not as comfortable to use every day. If he could spend some time in the backwoods at home, he may" rough" it in some measure, yet even there it will be luxury to what one must pass through in Inland Africa.
6. There will be physical pain. Hardships and fever can not come to a missionary without pain, from which many shrink as they look forward to the mission field. Pain must be suffered, but it is in a glorious cause, for a glorious result, and, when borne in the right spirit, is blest by God to develop character and bring one into fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. One missionary, on furlough, said that the chief thing she dreaded upon her return to Africa was the" jigger," that little insect pest which burrows its way into the toes and under the toenails, and has to be cut out of the flesh, often night after night, and many at one time. Added to this the painful stings of other insects, and the pain which comes in the fulfilment of duty, all has to be met and endured for Christ's sake.
7. There may be ttnceasing an;x;'iety. The greatest temptation to a missionary, I believe, is to worry. If yielded to, worry undermines the constitution very rapidly in Africa. The missionary can not be indifferent to the sin that surrounds him. Anxiety on account of one's present health and the health of fellow-workers; anxiety for the loved ones at home, who may not write, or may fail to send needed supplies; anxiety on behalf of the natives, etc. But the missionary must be able to resist successfully all the temptations to worry. The work is the Lord's and the results are in His hands. The missionary and his friends are in God's hands, who careth for all. One must learn at home to cast all anxiety upon the Lord, and maintain unruffled peace under all circumstances.
THE MISSIONARY'S BODY
III. CULTURE OF THE BODY.-A well-equipt missionary should be acquainted with the laws of health, and should comply with them.
1. As to food. " Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink. . do all to the glory of God." How are we to observe this rule? (a) By keeping this thought prominent at meal times-that the strength to be derived from the food eaten and digested is to be used in the service of God. (b) By abstaining from food which will defile and destroy the body by disease, or which may be a stumbling-block to others, such as intoxicants, indi- gestible foods, and that which is unsuitable to the tropics. A missionary should be temperate in all things, exhibiting that true self-control, which is the moderate use of things useful, and total a.bstinence from things hurtful. (e) By proper attention to dietetic rules. No gluttony-eat to live, not live to eat. No epicureanism-eat for nourishment, not for pleasure. No carelessness-avoiding carelessness in eating, and eating between meals. Fasting occasionally will be helpful. Self-indulgence in food tends to sluggishness of mind, slothfulness of body, evil temper, peevishness, and disorder of the physical system and disease. (d) By abstemious living. A proper diet should be adhered to-simple, satisfy- ing, sustaining health. By this is meant a diet of food supplying the proper proportion of phosphates-vitality for the brain; nitratesstrength for the muscles, and carbonates-heat or fat. Distilled and filtered, or boiled water should alone be drunk.
2. As to dress. In tropical Africa the young missionary will do well to give good heed to the advice of elder brethren in the work. Theywill tell him to wear woolen or silk garments next the skin, and the rejection of this advice may cause his death, as undoubtedly it has helpt to that end with some who thought they knew better. Toward evening, daily, there should be a change of clothing, from the light clothing of the day to a warmer attire suitable for the cool evenings. Above all things guard against chilling the surface of the body. The temptation to sit in the cool breeze is very great, the results are very bad. The head'also needs to be properly protected, and care must be exercised in going about during the day. One missionary in East Africa received a sunstroke merely in crossing from his house to the cook-house outside, without his helmet, and had to return home.
3. As to e,rereise. A missionary who makes itinerary tours, or visits villages, will usually have sufficient exercise for his health, but a junior missionary who has to spend much time in the study of the language, will have to make it a duty to take daily exercise, such as is prescribed by missions in China and India. Long breathing exercises, deep· and full, are among the simplest which may be daily observed, and are most beneficial. Malaria enters the system when the mouth is used for breathing.
4. As to cleanliness. The clothing next to the skin should be carefully attended to; more frequently than at home, else the many minute insects which abound will cause great discomfort and annoyance. A daily sponge-bath may easily be had in the morning, even during itinerating tours, and is vel'y refreshing, altho, as a rule, water is a scarce commodity. There should also be regularity in the observance of sanitary laws, especially in malarial districts, to insure good health.
. 5. As to rest. Insomnia is a bugbear to many missionaries, caused by the noise the natives make at night and one's run-down condition of health. One needs to learn how to rest at any time, and by regularity in retiring early, be able to sleep through the eight hours, and obtain that
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
which is vital to the maintenance of health in a foreign clime. Learn to stop when too tired to study or work further to advantage.
IV. CAUSES OF DECAy.-Besides from the unhealthy climate missionaries often are invalided home in a very few years, from having brought upon themselves much fever and other illness.
1. There may be carelessness. Running unnecessary risks; walking long distances in a few honrs, when such "record journeys" are not required; sleeping upon the damp ground outside a tent during itinerating or prospecting tours; doing without necessary food through a mistaken idea of self-denial; and other things which may be entirely unnecessary and harmful, seemingly for the purpose of being able to refer to it afterward as "roughing it." Such action is recklessness.
Dr. Luther Gulick well says: Usefulness upon the field depends largely upon staying power. How misdirected the consecration that allows one, in the first four years of rnissionary l~fe, to get into a condition where efficiency for the balance of one's liEe is diminished! The winning of the world is a campaign, not a skirmish. Superficial loyalty leads to thoughtless rush; deep, abiding loyalty leads to the holding of oneself steadily in hand, so that the maximum of efficiency may be secured. The second takes more and deeper consecration than the first. To give oneself for Christ in one enthusiastic onset is easy, as compared to living steadily and strongly from year to year for Him. What more pathetic sight than that of a devoted missionary removed from service in the prime of usefulness, and relegated to a life of continued struggle with nervous disease. "A mysterious dispensation of God's providence?" Not at all; overwork, overworry, lack of vacation, lack of home life-all conditions at variance with God's will, and so God removed him. Symptoms of overwork are badges of dishonor. Many seem to be proud of them, as of scars received in honorable comhat. They are rather the marks of parental discipline. May the time soon come when we shall be as ashamed ofyiolating physical as moral laws. To take care of oneself, year after year, is prosaic. People admire those who forget themselves and rush in, overwork, and break down. ,. Such devotion!" "Such self-sacrifice I " they say. In reality these missionaries did not have enough devotion to do the harder thing, and live simply and truly before God every day.
2. There may be thonghtlessness in those who are leaders in mission work. These leaders may be physically strong, and able to endure many hardships without breaking down, and thus expect others under their direction to endure to the same extent. ,Vhat is merely a "comfort" to one is a "necessity" to another.
3. There may be ignorance. In a new field, ignorance on the part of the missionaries may have fatal l'esults. Experience, gained at great cost, alone can teach in such cases. For example, one medical missionary in Africa lost his wife by fever through turning up the soil too near the house. Healthy spots may be and should be located long enough before building, in order to be certain that there are no marshy spots close at hand, or whether the house may be exposed to high winds, which carry malaria from low-lying spots to higher plateaus.
4. There may be Zack of proper guppUes. 'Vhatever happens, the field force should not be allowed to suffer from such a lack of nourishing food, when it can possibly be avoided.
5. There may be disobedience. It may be that there is a lack of prayers for others and want of open confession of faults. For some other reason the chastening hand of the Lord may be npon the bodies of the workers. Whatever the cause, it should be sought out and rectified.
Let us, therefore, honor the body, care for it, observe its laws, and yield every member unto God, holding one's strength only for His service in the work of the evangelization of the world in this generation. Such is the true physical missionary.
AT THE MOROCCO SLAVE-MARKET
AT THE MOROCCO SLAVE-MARKET.* BY ALBERT J. XATHAN, lIfOROCCO.
Missionary of the Kansas Gospel Union.
In the coast towns of Morocco the slave-trade is carried on only by private transactions, and yet even there I have known a black woman who was soon to become a. mother to be offered for sale in a bilsiness letter to a Moorish friend of mine, as tho she were a cow or a mule. The chief seats of slave-trading in this empire are the capital cities of Fez and Morocco City. The unfortunate slave is bought from his heartless rela- tives in the Sudan, or sold by those who have taken him captive in tribal warfare, or may have been stolen from peaceful settlements. Through the swamps, deserts, and mountain passes they are dragged, fettered and half starved, until they l'I:lach the market at Morocco City. Here I saw an auction of human bodies a few weeks ago. The trade in slaves was not very brisk at this time, as it was during the Moorish month of Ramadan. In slave-trader's etiquette it is a breach of good form to sell slaves just previous to the feast, when they are usually clothed anew and fed upon the good things prepared.
The auction is held three times a week, and begins about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. The place of sale is an enelosure about one hundred feet square, with open sheds made of sun-dried brick arranged on three sides, while the space in the middle is clear, except for a long pavilion down the center for the accommodation of customers. I first entered before the opening of the sale, and found one old black woman sitting by herself, bitterly weeping, in one of the cells. 'Yhen I spoke to her, and askt her the reason of her presence, she replied, "My lord needs the money, and desires to sell me," and, after I had spoken to her of the love of God as manifested in Jesus Christ, she added, "I beseech you, in the name of God, do buy me." "Then I explained t.o her that this was impossible, as Mohammedan law forbids the sale of slaves to Christians, she fixt her eyes in a pitiful appealing glance upon my face, and said, "If you know how to pray, ask God to send me a good master." The tale of wo and despair written in deep lines upon this woman's face defies description.
Before the auction began I studied the auctioneers, buyers, sellers. There was the professional slave-trader, who buys up any bargain he can find cheap in the market, and especially looks out for any young women possest of attractive features, in order to feed and clothe them, and sell them again with gain. His face is as hard as flint, and he seems never for a moment to consider that his trade is any less honorable than that of the dealer in horses and cattle. There were also a number of men whose increasing households demanded the acquisition of more slaves. One of them had just added a new wife to his harem, and intended to buy some young woman who could act as her maid, and concubine ta her lord and master. The sellers were men who had lost heavily, and were, therefore, compelled to part with their human property. The auctioneers are brutal and heartless men, who have become so accustomed to their nefarious trade afj to have no compunctions of conscience about the matter. These are specially licensed by the government, and receive a small percentage for their labor in case a saJe is effected.
At the opening of the sale the auctioneers stand in a row, the chief • Condenst from The Gospel Message.
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
of them holds out his hands, and prays with a loud voice to their god for blessing upon the auction, upon the government, for profit to the seller, and good bargains for the buyer, and ends with a hearty amen in chorus by his fellow auctioneers. The first slave brought out was the old woman mentioned above. The auctioneer took her by the hand, cried out, "In the name of Allah," and led her around among all the buyers. She then followed him briskly around the open court a number of times, while he cried out, "AI-Allah, AI-Allah, AI-Allah" (upon God), signifying that nothing had as yet been offered for her. Bidding was slow, as the woman was advanced in years, and the highest price offered for this woman, in whom dwells an immortal soul, was a sum equivalent to $9.50 American money.
The next person offered to the purchasers was an attractive young negro woman of about twenty years of age. She acted modestly, and askt the "privilege of retaining her outer garment; but the auctioneer roughly tore the great shawl from her, threw it on the ground, and said, "Follow me, you dog." Offers became more spirited in this case, and when she was taken around for examination more interest was evinced. I saw men pulling her lips apart to see the teeth, feeling her limbs and body, whether the flesh was firm, and heard them cracking indecent jokes before the girl, who turned her face away in very shame. The price offered for her was about $25, but as her owner did not consider that sufficient, no sale was made. As the customers were dispersing I was in conversation with a group of them, among whom was the highest bidder for the young girl. One of the regular slave-dealers approacht him, and said, "If you wish to buy a good slave I have a number of them at my warehouse which you can come and examine now," and then more horrible details followed which would not be suitable for publication.
Morocco is a derelict power, and if one of the so-called Christian nations would take the initiative, I am sure this nefarious trade in men and women could be greatly checkt, if, indeed, not entirely abolisht. Shall we not pray that the Gospel of Jesus Christ may enter with its light-giving power into these abodes of cruelty, and that the poor slaves of Morocco may be speedily set free from the awful bondage in which they are held at the close of this nineteenth century of the Christian era?
GLIMPSES OF THE LI"G-CHIU ISLANDS."
BY R. A. THOMSON, KOBE, JAPAN.
It is rather remarkable that until seven years ago, or more than twenty-three years after Protestant missions were begun in Japan, no attempt was made to reach the Hyu-Kyu Islands (or as they are hetter known, the Liu-Chiu Islands) with the Gospel; and yet it was through these islands as a fulcrum that Commodore Perry commenced those operations that finally resulted in throwing open Japan, not only to trade, but also to evangelization.t Mission work was attempted on the islands in 1846 by Jesuits from China, one of whom died on the field in 1848, and his grave is to be seen in the foreign cemetery.
*Condenst from Gleaningsfrom the American Baptist Missions in Japan (March, 1899). tIn 1852 Commodore Perry, having made a rendezvous at Naha for the American fleet sailed for Yedda to make his memorable treaty with Japan.
1899.J GLIMPSES OF THE LIU-CHIU ISLANDS
Dr. Bettelheim, a converted Hungarian Jew, who had married an English lady, was sent out with his wife and family by an English naval mission society in 1848, and lived at Naha for nearly seven years. It does not appear that he was a man entirely fitted to make his efforts successful, altho his failure was largely due to the unceasing hostility shown him by the higher officials of Liu-Chiu, who in turn were instigated by fear of their Japanese masters, for even at that time they were a kind of dependency of Japan. The Liu-Chiuans tried in every possible way to get rid of him, even addressing the English government on the subject through the minister at Peking. But the doctor held his ground, altho he was made to undergq some pretty rough treatment. He was a skilful physician, and during an outbreak of smallpox he was so attentive to the common people that the authorities became exceedingly jealous of his influence. He and his wife were bllowed and hooted at in the streets, owing to the hostility created by these Japanese officials, and at one time Mrs. Bettelheim was forcibly separated from her husband while he was attackt and severely beaten. Spies followed him everywhere he went, and if he stopt to preach or to talk to the people, at a signal from these men, the crowd would at once disappear. When he distributed the tracts and portions of Scripture which he had translated into their own language, the officials would gather them up from the people and return them to him the next morning, all neatly tied up in a bundle.
On my recent trip I met a fine old Liu-Chiuan, about seventy years of age, whose father was ma,yor of Naha in Dr. Bettelheim's time. The son comes frequently to our Christian meetings. He remembers the doctor quite well, and told me some very interesting incidents connected with him. It was thrilling to hear the account of the doctor's landing at Naha. He arrived on an English man-of-war with his family and effects. The officials absolutely refused him permission to land, and had instructed all the sanpan men not to bring him ashore under very severe penalty. Several days past when one of these boatmen, more curious than the rest, was tempted to go on board the vessel, and was taken below to see the sights. Meanwhile Dr. Bettelheim got his wife and children, and all his earthly belongings, into the sanpan, and waited the reappearance of the boat~an. Vhen he came upon the scene he was horror-struck to find his boat thus occupied. He begged the captain of the man-of-war to order them out, but without success. For six hours he stayed by the ship, continuing his importunity, but finding it of no avail he took his most unwelcome passengers ashore, and the vessel sailed away. Think of the grit, as well as the grace, shown by this missionary in thus taking possession of his field, and standing h~; it through constant opposition for seven long years.
Dr. Bettelheim was of very great service as interpreter to Commo· dore Perry during his stay at the islands. The authorities made repeated requests to Commodore Perry to take the doctor and his family away. It is not to be wondered at that health gave way under the strain, and his family had to be sent away in one of the Lmerican ships to China early in 1854, the docto:;:, following a few months later. The Rev. Mr. Moreton was sent from England to take his place, but he did not remain long on the islands, so that the officials gained their point, and rejoiced that they were free once more from the foreign teachers and their doctrines.
52-1 MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
Nearly forty years went by before mission work was again attempted on the Liu-Chiu islands. A great change had come over the scene. The Liu-Chiuan power had forever past away, and the islands had become Japanese territory. The ancient palace, with its gardens, beautiful as a midsummer dream, turned into barracks for military occupation, and the old Liu-Chiuan prince and his family forcibly deported, being now held as pensioners in Tokyo. Numbers of the old nobility, disgusted with the new order of things in their once beautiful island home, slip away to China whenever an opportunity occurs. They have no love for their Japanese masters, and no sympathy with the progressive order of things introduced among them, greatly preferring to bE! left in their ignorance and peace.
Meanwhile mission work had been opened in Japan, and had met with wonderful success; but none of the societies seemed to take much thought for the Liu-Chiu islanders, and even tho substantial oL'ers of help had been made, none seemed ready to take up their case. It remained for a lady from Scotland, who visited Japan in the spring of 1891, to be the means of reopening Christian work on the islands. For years the thought of sending the Gospel to the Liu-Chius had been on her mind and heart. On her return to Scotland a definite offer was made to the American Baptist Missionary Union, through the writer, of a sum of money sufficient to open up the work on the islands, and carry it on for a number of years, with the understanding that the work, if successful, should he kept up by the mission. The opening of this most interesting field was alsa cordially approved by the mission and hy the executive committee of the Baptist Missionary Union at Boston.
Steps were immediately taken to secure a good Japanese evangelist, and Mr. Hara :M:ichinosuke, a theological student, who had already had this work, was sent to the islands with his family. In the autumn of 1891:M:r. Hara and his family left for Liu-Chiu, and thus became the first Christian Japanese evangelist to these islands.
In January, 1892, the writer and his wife made a visit to the islands. It was anever-to-be-forgotten trip. The sight of a foreign lady nearly upset the equilibrium of the city of Naha; her appearance on the street was the signal for a general suspension of business. She could clear the public square, which was the general market-place, of both merchants and customers inside of three minutes, if it was known that she was walking through any of the streets. This disturbance of the traffic led to the rather amusing request on the part of the police that the lady should stay indoors during the daytime. This she complied with to the extent of only venturing out in a covered jinrikisha during the day.
"Ve were on the islands for nearly three weeks, ahd held meetings every evening, which were crowded with native Liu-Chiuans, the majorityof whom understood Japanese. Of course, many came out of mere curiosity, but what a different reception to that which Dr. Bettelheim had received forty years before! Before we left the islands the ordinance of baptism was administered there for the first time. "Ve afterward learned that on the same day of the haptism the gracious donor of the funds by which the work was reopened had past to her eternal reward.
The population of Naha, the seaport of the principal island, is about 30,000, and that of Shuri, the capital on the same island, three and a half miles distant from Naha, about 25,000. Of the other islands, Miyako- Jima has 29,000, Yayeyama-Jima about 9,000, and Kume-Jima a little
GLIMPSES OF THE LIU-CHIU ISLANDS
over 6,000. Altogether the whole population of the group is given by the government as being about 420,000.
The climatic conditions are very trying, even to the Japanese who live there. Extra salary and more frequent vacations are the allowances made by the government to those who go there in official capacity. The highest temperature is only 94.5, and the lowest in winter 55.5, but the climate is very humid and enervating. The highest altitude is only 300 feet above sea level. Malarial fevers are very prevalent.
All the houses in the cities are surrounded by high walls, built of huge blocks of coral rock. These walls are from three to four feet thick at the base, and are from six to eight feet high, giving the streets a peculiarly grim appearance, but are a necessity on account of the fierce winds which at times sweep over the islands. Apart from the houses being shut in by these walls, the architecture of the towns is entirely JapaneRe. Outside of the towns the natives live mostly in small thatcht huts, but whether in towns or country, their surroundings are filthy in the extreme. The smells that abound are simply beyond description.
The productions of the islands consist largely of sugar and textile fabrics. The principal article of food among the poor is the sweet potato, and a very poor variety at that; even the better classes make at least one meal pCI' day from these tubers, while the poorer classes have hardly anything else. All the rice grown on the islands is distilled into spirits, it being of a particularly fine qualityJor that purpose. There i5 a class of human beings there who habitually eat a certain kind of clay, and when they were pointed out to me one day they truly seemed to be "of the earth, earthy." The average wage for a laborer per day is twenty-five sen (twelve and a half cents), and for a servant one yen per month (fifty cents), including food.
"Vhile they make bold claim upon one's credulity by asserting that their traditions date back for 17,000 years, in reality the early history of this people is shrouded in total darkness. The first mention made of the islands is found in Chinese history about the seventh century (GOO A. D.), and they received their name from the impression which their appearance made upon the mind of the official who discovered them, Ryu-Kyu (floating water dragon).
It is a remarkable fact, and worthy of investigation, that they have among their traditions the story of Adam and Eve, and of the deluge. Having no literature, their traditious are oral, and handed down from father to son. Their real history seems to have commenced somewhere in the twelfth century, when Tametomo, a celebrated Japanese warrior, defeated in some civil war at horne, was banisht to Izuno Oshima. Sailing out from there in search of adventure, he landed on the northern end of Liu-Chiu, and speedily conquered that part of the island. His son, Shunten, noted for his bravery and virtue, was chosen to be king of Liu- Chiu. Like the Japanese royal family, the kings of Liu-Chiu claim a long line of unbroken descent, according to which the late king, the present Marquis Shotai of Tokyo, is the thirty-fourth in line>.
Buddhism was introduced in the islands during the first year of Kocha period (1261 A. D.), but was never successful, and the only official capacity in which the few priests there now appear is in the burial services. Very few temples are to be seen, and the only one of note is between Naha and Shuri, which is said to be 800 years old. No trace of modern Buddhism is to be seen about it; the walls are lined with the
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
tablets of all the kings of Liu-Chiu, and the temple is really devoted to their worship.
The most striking objects impressing the visitor as he approaches the islands are the numberless tombs or vaults, clustered in groups or scattered here and there all over the hills, peeping out from the green foliage. Every natural mound is utilized for the formation of these abodes for the dead, more attention being given to them than to the abodes for the living. The average height of the tombs is about nine feet, with a breadth of about twenty-two feet. A small iron door between two a:1d three feet high gives entrance to the vault. The tomb itself is built of coral rock covered over with white or cream-colored plaster, which causes them to be very conspicuous objects in the landscape. They are usually the most valuable possession of the family, as they cost anywhere from three hundred yen to a thousand yen ($150 to $500 gold). When the family becomes impoverisht the tomb is sold, and all the bones of the previous occupants are cast out by the purchaser, to be replaced by those of his own family. The custom is to lay the dead body in the tomb, leaving it for two years; sometime during the third year the relatives gather together at the tomb, and the body is taken out and all the flesh cleaned off from the bones; the latter are put in a jar and deposited in the tomb. The bones of a husband and wife are put in the same jar, children undlo'r eight are buried outside the tomb first, and after the "washing ceremony" the bones are put in the vault.
There was a great amount of prejudice to be overcome as well as suspicion regarding our motives, which took time and patient teaching to dispel from the minds of the natives. The people are entirely and wholly ignorant of anything .that could be called religion. The grossest immorality prevails, and is not only lookt upon with tolerance by all classes, but is apparently regarded as essential to society.
Around the various preaching places a healthy religious influence is being exerted as much by the Christian lives of the evangelists and their families as by their teaching. The people have had Chinese philosophy, and as a result their minds are utterly debased and sunk to the lowest depths. As in Paul's time, they are weary of words which have in them no power to save, to lift up out of darkness and superstition. The Gospel of Christ, the only power on earth to lift up and to save, has been brought to them, and some have come out of darkness into the light and liberty of truth as it is in Christ, and have been made free.
A great deal has been accomplisht during the past seven years. Necessarily it has been a time of breaking up ground and seed-sowing. As compared with other new fields, in view of the prejudice which existed against the Japanese as well as other foreigners, the progress of the work has been very encouraging.
The future evangelization of these islands must be largely carried on by native Liu-Chiuans, as the climate is very hard on the foreigner; even the Japanese find it very debilitating and require frequent vacations.
STATISTICS OF CHRISTIAN WORK I~ JAPAN FOR 1898
STATISTICS OF CHRISTIAN WORK IN JAPAN FOR 1898.
CO~DENST I<'ROM A TABLE COMPILED AND PUBLISHT BY REV, H. LOOMIS, YOKOHAMA..
}Iissionaries j! ~ci J~It~ ~i~·!I -gi NAME OF MISSION. v ~ ~ ~~ .:~ oo.~ ';tgj–a'=)1·z§.;t: Qe6–~o.~g .~S "g ~~O~CJ ~S .~S5 ~.-'~g ·:C:<;S1):p:.l.a:l5l~l 'Cd W 0) • g.::: -' C,.! ~00 ~ ~t ~.- 2§2~ u '-;':> N .9 t.,g. "~::S:f '0 ~,:; ~ ~ ~ l[ ~ 8 g i~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~'@.1f': s -1- —- -p-r-e-Sb-}-.t-e-r-ia-n-C-h-'-lr-c-I-'-O-r-u-.-S-. 1-18-5-9 -;:; ~ –; ~ ~ – – – – – — I.. …. ….. ……….. ………… .. Reformed Church in America 1859 10 11 31 10 13"':":1:::::: :::::: ::: ::: :::: :::::::::: United Presb. Ch., Scotland .. 1874 2 . … 4 1 Church of Christin Japan ……………….. 1" 70 8:l710,010 14 45 140 30,296.12 Reformed Church in the U. S. 1879 7 3 Hi 2 lIO2D7 …. …. …… …… 10 …………… .. Presb.Churchin U.S. (South) 188" 10 71 27 G Woman's Un'nnIiss. Soc.,U.S. 1871 …. 4, 4 2 …… 2 … Cumberland Presb. Church .. 1877 4 7 15 4 12 … .
Evan. Lutheran Miss., U.S.A. 1892 2 4 1 31 67 3 3 251.09 Danish Lutheran Society….. 1898 1…. 1 1…………………… …………. ..
Amer.Prot. EPiscopalCh'chI 1859 17 11 42 1 1 35 1……………. 14 16 121 …….. . Church Missionary Society. 1869 30 40 9:, I . . . … …… •.. .. . .. .
NipponSeiKokwa;i. . . . . . . ~: …~ … : … " f2, S(j 94 580 7,7193824 121 11,039.74 Soc.for Propaga n O[ Gospel 1 1813 ID l e 1 .. …. .. …. .1…….. . ……. . 6 …. G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Andrew's Univers'y nIiss l J .. …. .. ….. . …… .
St. Hilda's Mission………… …. … 91 9 …………………………………… .. American BaptistnIiss. Union 1860 18 161 52 7 80 26 205 1,~02 16 8 54 2,17'0.96 Baptist Southern Convention 1889 3 …. I 6 3 9 1 13 70 .. . 1 4 (c)152.00 Disciples of Christ (a) . . . . . . . . 1883 4114 4 36 9 127 511… 8 2 464.71 Christian Church of Amer. (d) lti87 2 2 (j 3 18 6 :J6 334 41 5 3 351.01 Kumiai Churches in Co- ~ operation with the Amer- 1869 22 29 73 12 195 72 379 10,081 15 73 36 23,261.00 ican Board's Mission (b) .. 9 60 no 483 5,177 50 M 35 15.267.40 Amer. Meth. Epis. Church … 1873 18 321 68 Meth. Church of Canada (a) .. 1873 5 151 24 5 54 22 107 1,399 5 22 73 5.9932'7 Evangel. Ass'n of No. Amer. 1876 2 .. . . 4 1 16 14 5U 840 2 16 4 1,105.25 Methodist Protestant Church 1880 6 4, 16 3 14 8: 67 3,,6 6 7 9 627.58 Meth. Epis. Church (South) .. 1886 1" G 35 9 59 1:3 91 600 3 12 47 1.6Sg 00 United Brethren in Christ.. . 1896 1. . .. 2 ;. .. …. 4 10 109 1 7 127.89 ….. 8~1 SG'c§a~nAd~~i n;:. aAn.lgl i..a:n, rc. oe:l.I.(1ai ses~.~, J~aIp~a}n 1891 2 6 10 181…. 124 4 4 (c)12.00 1885 4 1 11 1 4 • 56.63 1 107 1 4 Society of Friends, U. S. A … 1885 2 C 1 3 …. (e)ll' 148… 7 186.22 ~ i … ~ ::: ……4 Ie… …: .. :~::?:~ g~n~~~~.~~~.~~~~~:~~l.i~.~~~: l~~§ l … ~ 3 1 61 6 25 200 6 160.55 Universalist ……………… 1890 1 1 16 3 7 f)10 ……….. 22 604.55 Salvation Army (f). ………. 1895 6 7 3 1 …. …… 1:2 … 1 3026 Hephzibah Faith Miss. Asso'n'1894 2 11 25 (c)6I)< … 3 7 1,516.39 Independent (Native) (c)….. ………… Ind. and Unconnected (For'n) …. 3 14 2: …………………………………… ..
Total Protestant Miss., 1898 … , 232 257 692 143 864 423 3,070 10,981 194308 72" 95,366.62 Totals previous year, 18m .. …. 233 223 65~ 140 739 384 3,062 40Ji78 169 302 580 81,551.72 (a) Statistics to May 1, 189S. (b) Statistics to January 1,1898. (c) Approximate. Reports not complete. (d) Statistics to June 30, 1898. (e) Admitted to Christian fellowship by public profession of faith in Christ. (f) Not churches, but Army Corps.
RECENT ARTICLES ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS.
AFRICA-The Heart of Africa, Douglass Thornton, The Student Movement (May). AMERICA AND ARCTIC LANDs-The Negro and Crime, Prof. W. E. B. Du Bois, Independent (May 18); The Value of Puerto Rico, Robt. T. Hill, Forum (June); A Side-Tracked Race (Eskimos), Wilson Lyne, The Quaker (June). CHINA-An Unprecedented Opportunity in China, R. E. Speer, Assembly Herald (~ray). INDIA AND LAos-Recent Movements in India, J. P. Jones, D.D., Missionary Herald (June); Worship of Spirits in Laos, C. H. Denman, Assembly Herald (May). ISLANDs-Ten Years in North Borneo, W. H. Elton, Gospel Missionary (May); America in Samoa, H. H. Lewis, The Quaker (June); Samoa, National Geographical Mag. (June); The Imbroglio in Samoa, Henry C. Ide, North American Review (June). GENERAL-Money and Missions, J. H. Prickett, Review of Missions (June); Points on Missionary Comity, W. M. Upcraft, Chinese Recorder (April).
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
III.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
George Muller, of Bristol. a half million dollars. And yet we have mentioned only the outward BY J. T. GRACEY. scaffolding, and only part of that, of the life of this good man, and There lies before us a book entitled have not hinted at the secret spring "George Muller, of Bristol, and His of it all; nor to the ministry which vVitness to a Prayer-hearing God, he accomplisht as a great traveler, by Arthur T. Pierson; with an in- as a witness to the fidelity of God troduction by James vVright, son- in answering prayer-the sum and in-law and successor in the work of substance of the burden of his life. George 1fiiller." It is publisht by The Baker and Taylor Company, It is said that "History is ro- New York. It contains twenty- mance that is agreed upon," and it four chapters and an appendix of has also been affirmed that all biogninety pages, chiefly of q lwtations raphy is necessarily false in being from Mr. Mi'llier's writings, in illus- but part of the truth. The usual tration and amplification of the gloss of the defects of the subjects text of the Illemoir. There are thir- of memoirs gives color to the latter teen illustrations, including a por- statement. But the" Narrative' trait of Mr. lVluller, all of which are of George Muller's experiences, and well executed. They include the this biography of him, are so rugfirst rented orphan houses, and the gedly honest, and the purpose, to later buildings erected for the or- deal sternly with facts, only facts, phans under his care. The book and all the facts, so manifest that covers the same period as that of the they seem to preclude the four volumes of Mr. Muller's" Narrative of the Lord's Dealings with Probation of a hook or loop George Muller," and the remaining To hang a doubt on. thirteen years of his life. The million-worded journal Mr. Of the great work of 111'. Muller Muller called the "Dealings' of down to his sixtieth year of labor, God with him was not intended to we have the summary. he had show George l~IiUler at all, but to built five large orphan-houses, and demonstrate that God in his provItaken into his family over ten dence touches human affairs now thousand orphans, expending for as definitely 1Il answer to prayer, their good within sixty thousand through coinCIdences, as He did dollars of a round five millions. when He helpt the Shunamite He had given aid to day-schools widow by so ordering her steps that and Sunday-schools in many lands, she appeared to claim her land, having a hundred and fifty thou after seven years wandering, just sand pupils, in which he expended as Gehazi ''was felling the king" five hundred and fifty thousand all about her. Dr. Pierson treats dollars. He had circulated nearly of all this, but he also shows the two million Bibles and parts there- transformatIon of George .Mfiller, of, at a cost of over two hundred from an unprinclpled and conthousand dollars, and other litera- scienceless smner, to a man of faith ture at a cost of a quarter of millIOn of the pattern of Elijah. There dollars, and had given a million were reasons why this book should and a half dollars to aid missionary be written. Not only were the laborers in many lande, making twenty volumes of the" Dealings" nearly an aggregate of seven and too cumbrous for common circula- tion and perusal, but there could not be in them somewhat which That any should equal his achieve- the world would want to know, and ment few would dare to hope, yet which George MillIeI' could never the value of the life would be have wrItten without ceasing to be lessened if we were disheartened George lfiiller. No saint ever ac- thereby. knowledged himself a saint; that would unmake him if he were one. Circles are praised, not that abound There were virtues that modesty In largeness. but the exactly round. would not allow MI'. MillIeI' to speak of, even if he can be con- There is a sense in which what Mr. ceived of as realizing them to exist MillIeI' realized by prayer and faith, in himself, and there were results by Bible study and obedience, is of his life and work which it were possible to every child of God, else impossible should be known to this biography might be relegated him. to a lumber loft.
Dr. Pierson had exceptional fur- Some have been led to imitate nishing for his task. He had inti- his doings, as when Ishua in Japan mate acquaintance with the subject seeks to found and conduct an of the memoir for twenty years; orphanage on the same plan and he had the clearest concept of the principles; but that is a mere inciview-point of his life which Mr. dent. Others have been led to ate MillIeI' himself selected; he had the tempt other benevolent schemes on highest appreciation of the over- the same plane. That is not essenmastering apologetic value of the tial to the understanding of what life and of the principles which was designed to be taught. Bemade it possible, and sympathy nevolent work is commendable in with the doctrinal views which Mr. whatever way the expenses of it MillIeI' specially emphasized and may be honestly met, yet many a promulgated. He had, besides, long weary worker with narrow finanand intimate acquaintance with the cial margin, will be helpt by this home and family at Bristol; an inti- case of Mr. l1il.ller, and many macyof which was born the confi- another will be stirred to altruistic dence which led the heirs and suc- work, or will be sustained and becessor to request th'tt he should come successful in it by imitating write this" Authorized Life." his fidelity, scrupulous integrity, and refusal to be discouraged. The apologetic value of Mr. Thousands of workers in the slums Milller's life is the feature which of great cities and in the" habitathis book never lets slip from the tions of cruelty," reading this reader. Nowhere is there an at- record, "seeing, will take heart tempt to set Mr. MillIeI' forth as a again." In truth, one might pity model to be servilely imitated. The the toiler in any good work who Moslems say "God is without a could read this volume without a companion," and it is sure that he new inspiration, a fresh daring, makes no doubles. There was and the advance of the enterprise nothing on which Mr. MillIeI' had a he has on hand. Such a thing is patent, yet theT'? will never be an- hardly conceivable. But there might other George MillIeI'. This is em- he thousands of orphanages estabphasized, because while we com- lisht, and uncounted millions of mend the volume without stint, we pages of good literature circulated, feel the need to forfend against under the inspiration of Mr. Millwhat seems a natural corollary ler's example, yet, while his life that we should do what Mr. MillIeI' would have thus been a splendid did,. without due discrimination. provocative force, if that were all, it would fail of his intent. Nor was Mr. Muller without ap- brought guilt on their consciences, preciation of the good to the bodies on account of not trusting in the and souls of the orphans under his Lord, were used by God to awaken care, which God permitted him to in my heart the desire of setting see accomplisht. In every city of before the Church at large, and bethe United Kingdom of Great Brit- fore the world, a proof that He has ain, and in the" sixty-eight cities" not in the least changed, and this where, up to 1877, he had preacht seemed to me best done by the eson the continents of Europe and tablishing an orphan-house. It America, he had found converted needed to be something which orphans, and believers to whom could be seen, even by the natural a bun dan t blessing had come eye." through reading his reports. For twenty-one years after that he The orphanage, and the tract lived to rejoice in "what God had work, and the sustenance of miswrought," so that we must not be sionaries over the world, were allowed to say that he did not ap- merely incidental to t.he chief preciate all this splendid result in purpose, they served as a sensitized and for itself; but still he punctu- plate on which to project the picated the whole to read into it the ture he wisht to make men see. nearness of God and possible access All that he did was only intended to the supernatural. as an object-lesson, not of what good work a good man might be But what this volume and Mr. blest of God to do, but of the fact Muller's life teach is, that every that the supernatural is just as real one, in every condition of life, in and as reliable as the natural, and palace or prison, in multi-millioned that the process of e.x:periencing wealth or in the hut of poverty, God is just as simple as the simplest however renowned or unknown, operation of the law of gravitation. however tempted, tried, beaten, Not, however, regardless of condibruised, abandoned of men or as- tions. There are chemical analyses saulted by them, may come into that can not be made with a pestle contact with God by prayer and and mortar, and observations posfaith, and know for himself that sible by a microscope that can not God does" in veTY deed dwell upon be had through spectacles. One eaTth and among men." This book can not prove anything by every is for everybody, whether he be an sort of process. Nature only reorphan or builder of an orphanage; sponds on conditions. And so it is whether on the" firing line" in the with the supernatural. Mr. Muller energetic fray, or helpless and bed- seeks to impress us that these conridden; whether associated with ditions are obedience to God's others in God's work, or isolated 'Vord, and simple prayer and faith, in the uttermost loneliness. if one would find the secrets of the supernatural. Mr. Muller says: "I, therefore, judged myself bound to be the serv- It. is with no little pleasure that ant of the Church of God, in the we read in a foot-note, on page 358, particular point on which I had ob- the following: "The author of this tained mercy, namely, in being memoir purposes to give a copy of able to take God at His word, and it to every foreign missionary, and to Tely upon it. All these exercises to workers in the home fields, so of my soul, which resulted from the far as means are supplied in answer fact that so many believers with to prayer. His hope is that the whom I became acquainted were witness of this life may thus have harast and distrest in mind, or a still wider influence in stimulating prayer and faith. The devout Mission" is " evangelical, unsectar- reader is askt to unite his supplica- ian, and inter-denominational." It tIOns with those of many others is supported entirely by the free- who are asking that the Lord may will offerings of God's people. No be pleased to furnish the means personal solicitation is authorized, whereby this purpose may be car- and no debts are incurred. Every ried out. Already about one hun- need is brought to God and to Him dred pounds sterling have been alone. Its aim is to carry to the given for this end, and part of it, perishing millions of India, by a small in amount, but rich in self- variety of methods, the Gospel of denial, from the staff of helpers Christ. and the orphans on Ashley Down. [A. T. P.]" Its care for the sick is to find con- cmte form in the erection of a hos- Ve are sure that Dr. Pierson, or pital, funds for which, amounting Mr. James Wright, of Bristol, Eng- to £538, have already been donated. land, will gladly communicate with anyone desiring further informa- Its trained nurses have been tion in regard to helping on this made use of by the government laudable object. authorities to search the plague- stricken homes of the women of The Poona and Indian Village Mission. Poona, and in this ministry they have so endeared themselves to the BY REV. ALLANW. WEBB, GEELONG, tenants of the zenanas, that they are now ever Jnost welcome visitors. VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. One lady, an artist of exceptional merit, is giving lessons in painting Very divergent opinions are en- to the Parsee ladies of Poona, and is tertained as to the worth of mis- simultaneously imparting Gospel sions which are connected with no truth. The mission is gradually particular denomination of Chris- spreading a network of agencies tians, and which glory in their be-. through the native state adjacent ing served by members from all to Poona, known as the Bhor State, evangelical bodies. There are very and indeed finds unlimited room for practical difficulties staring such extension on every. hand. The missions in the face, whenever they native state of Phaltan has been begin to realize any large success in visited, and lands obtained in the bringing the heathen to Christ. Phaltan city for a station. These difficulties will require for their solution great mutual for- The missi-on owes its existence bearance, and a large measure of under God to .Mr. Charles F. Reeve, " the wisdom which is from above " who, having labored as an evangel- ist in Australia for some years, The mission. whose short history felt the spiritual needs of the miliwe would l,lere trace, is one which tary stationed in Poona laid heavily presents all the features common to upon his heart. In 1893 he promissions of the type to which we ceeded to that city with wife and have referred. These features will children, with a view to preaching be regarded by some as high excel- to the British soldiers lencies, and by others as huge de· fects. We would suspend our final It became imperative that Mrs. judgment until time tests thClr Reeve and the children should reworth, meantime reJoicing in any turn to Australia. They had en~ and every effort made by true dured the horrors of smallpox hearts to extend the knowledge of under circumstances of most dis- Christ among the heathen. tressing discomfort, and were phys- ical wrecks. But Mr. Reeve felt it This" Poona and Indian Village to be his duty to remain behind to Zealand, 2 from Tasmania, 3 from minister the Gospel to the soldiers, India, and 3 from England. The and to organize a mission to the director is Mr. Reeve. He has an heathen. Indian council to aid him in his centrol, but necessarily he is The first to join Mr. Reeve was lookt to for final decisions, and so Mr. McGavin, who followed Mr. far these have been so dictated by Reeve from Australia. Then their love and wisdom that the harmony number was increast by converts has been unbroken, from among the soldiers, who realized God's call to consecrate He accepts the meanest fare, their lives to this service. In 1894 travels (except when some friend Mr. Reeve visited Australia, and provides a ticket for a better class) returned with five brethren as an in the steerage, and avoids every addition to the staff. These are unnecessary expense. now able to speak the Maharahti language. So far every agent seems to have dropt into the very position for In 1896-97 he paid a second visit which best adapted, and God, who to the Australian colonies with a is so fully trusted for supplies, is view to placing the' claims of the guarding this infant mission people of India before the Christian against mistakes and guiding its Church at large, and thereby to in- course in smallest details. duce godly men and women to volunteer for such various service Already the mission has its own among the heathen as this mis- organ, which bears the appropriate sion contemplates. The result of title of "'Vhite Already to Harthis appeal was phenompnal. From vest," and from Inonth to month different sections of the Church of this interesting paper reports the Christ he received the names of toils of the missionaries laboring in over one hundred and twenty per- Poona and the Bhor State sons, who were willing to accept service on those " conditions" In each of the Australian colowhich are peculiar to the mission. nies a council has been formed, the Some of these aspirants to service duty of which is to receive and were ladies of education and means. transmit funds, to interview and Some were men of large intelligence prepared to surrender profes- select candidates for servi~e, and sional and business engagements to join the mission. Not one shilling to place suitable ones in training was guaranteed to anyone for sup- homes for equipment. Upon port, for outfit, or passage-money. these councils are representatives God alone was to be drawn upon of all evangelical sections of the for meeting ever-present and pro- Church of Christ. spective need. As the outcome of Mr. Reeve's visit he took back with The agents now being sent forhim to India thirty-five laborers- ward (for the staff is being augeleven men and fourteen women. mented from year to. year) are Some were Highlanders, some were selected wIth great care, and in Plymouth Brethren, some were nearly every case are receiving a Methodists, and some Congrega- course of instruction in one of the tionalists, Baptists, and Presby- missionary trainIng homes, now terians. existent in Australia.
The mission now has 46 agents; 16 As indIcating (-'ods gracious care from Australia, 22 from' New of the Illlssion, the last balance sheet showed, after the payment of all the various expenses of the mis- sion. a credit of £935. This affords a contrast to most missions of the present day, and may be regarded as a token of the approval of within two v'eeks.-No less than the Lord of the harvest of the nineteen diffeLent works on western faith and courage, if not of learning were reprinted in Szethe method, of this remarkable chuen alone. In 1895 there were mission. It is certain that no nineteen native newspapers pubmore economically workt mission lisht in all China; in 1898 there exists, and whilst its agents have were seventy. The publications of not had the training which theolog- this society afford a good deal of ical halls afford, yet they are the staple of these papers. Ten, highly intelligent Bible students, twenty, and thirty thousand dolwho are grappling with markt lars (Mexican) were subscribed by success with the difficulties of the natives in 'mrious provinces for the Maharati language. purpose of teaching western learn- ing and languages. Even a scheme "Ve think that this latest out- for an agricultural college was growth of the missionary enthu- backt by a subscription of 100,000 siasm of Australia has a claim upon taels. "The young of the whole the sympathies and prayers of empire were in a great ferment of God's people throughout tlle world. general satisfaction, and hundreds of schools for western learning It is stepping forward with won- were started. Fifteen hundred drous strides, as its income attests. students applied to enter the new In 1895 it was only £690, andin1897 Peking university, under the prcsiit was £,1,125. It may be that God dency of Dr. Martin." Even girl's designs to do for India, through its schools on western Inodels were agency, what the China Inland started at Shanghai. The emperor Mission is accomplishing for that himself sent for books to the numland. ber of one hundred and twenty- nine, of which eighty-nine were Christian Literature and Reform in issued by this society. There was China. the" mightiest wave of enthusiasm for reform which had been felt for The eleventh annual report of a thousand yea1's." the "Society for the Diffusion of Christian and GeneraJ Knowledge The reaction touk down six proamong the Chinese," is a remark- to-martyrs, executed without trial, able document. The cumbrous title tho one of them was son of an exof the society is a hobble. These governor, and another the descendare not days when the use of the ant of the commissioner who deinitials of a society is considered stroyed the foreign Jpium in Cangood literary form, and if it were, ton, many years ago. It drove out S. D. C. G. K. would itself be cum- of the country such men as K'ang brous. "Ve learn, however, that it Yen-wei, a doctor of literature, who is allowable to speak of this organ- had written a new commentary on ization as the "Diffusion Society," the Chinese classics, and who was or better, as the" Christian Liter- ~alled by his large following of stuature Society in China." Call it by dents, "The _Modern Sage;" he was whatever name one likes, this re- secretary of the Tsung-li Yamen port is good reading. It is publisht itself in 1898. He fled the country at Shanghai. to escape arrest and death. Liang Chi-chao, director of the transla- It speaks of the unprecedented tion department, editor of the first demand for western books treating reforIn paper, Chinese Progress, of western learning. "Vhen" Mac- also escaped. Chang Yin-hwan kenzie's 19th Century" was publisht, four thousand copies, of an edition of five thousand, were sold was banisht for life. He was at with us on Sundays. One of them invited us to hold Christian serv- one time minister to the United ices on Sundays in his own beauti- States, and special envoy to Queen ful foreign house. One of these Taotais, when visiting some friends Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Oth- in the south, talkt to them about Christianity, and they were so ers were deprived of rank. anxious to join the church that These reformers were not ignor- they sent a telegram, asking our secretary to go down by the mail ant banditti; they were patriots of steamer, i. e., three or four days' steamer journey, so al" to give them the highest type, with a common instruction in the Christian relig- ion, saying that they would of desire to save their country by de- course pay all expenses to and fro. veloping it up to the plane of intel- To these gentlemen a reply was sent, recommending them to a misligent conduct of public affairs, sionary nearer them. Many others necessary to keep it from being of lesser note have also exprest a desire to join the church. borne down by foreign competi- Ve have not traveled outside of tion. Japan had adopted such the pages of this stirring report in measures, and saved itself. China all that we have said above, and must do likewise or be cast out and we could pick out as much more of trodden under foot of " barbarians." choice information from its para· It is to be noted that these reform- graphs. Rev. Timothy Richards, ers were not boys, and most of them secretary, and his associates, are to not old men. The first six, who be congratulated on the penetratwere beheaded, were from twenty- ing and far-reaching influence they six to forty years of age. Most of have been enabled to exert through the others were about the same the operations of this Christian litage, tho two of them were sixty, erature society. The sales of this and one fifty years old. It was the society have grown from $817 in best brains, the best blood, and the 1893, to $18,457 in 1898, exclusive of best patriotism of the land that sales by natives, who reprinted these reformers represented. Of their issues. Over thirty-seven course, there is but one way which millions of pages were printed last reforms move-they only go for- year on their presses. This society ward, and checking never nleans has the indorsement and hearty reversal. But there are indications sympathy of prominent men of that this is not merely a social and every denomination in China, and political, but also a religious refor- it heartily cooperates with every mation. Ve give from this report mission in the land. Just at this the following: juncture in the history of China, it A mandarin, named Yuen, who has been a magistcate in Hunan for has a large place among Christian twenty years, has come down to Shanghai, a distance of about 700 agencies. J. T. G. miles, chiefly, he says, for the purpose of joining the Christian A Ohinese Oongregational Union. Church. His interest in Christianity was first aroused by reading our One of the most perplexing ques· "Review of the Times," and our tions arising on mission fields IS "Essays for the Times." On his apt to be that relating to the diviway down to Shanghai he. was sion of the respective areas within greatly helpt and stimulated by which contiguous missions are to the Rev. Griffith John, D.D., of work. The general conference of Hankow. It is to be hoped that he China missionaries at ShanghaI in will join Dr. John's church in 1890 accepted the principle that it is Hunan, as then he will have the nearest and best guidance. Two Taotais-i. e., Chinese mandarins who hold the rank of men who rule on an average thirty countiescommenced this summer to worship wise to have a definite understand- been excommunicated, or are under ing, and mentioned prefectural (fu) discipline, without communicating cities as those which one might with the disciplining church, and enter, even if they should be already receiving a recommendation from "occupied"; but sub-prefectures them; debarring from employing (chou) and district (hsien) cities it in church work members of other was thought best to allot to those churches without the consent of who first enter them, rather than the churches to which they belong; to run the risk of grave embarass- and requiring all male members ments later on. We have no means over twenty years of age, and in of knowing whether this principle good standing, to be provided with has been generally acted upon, but church certificates, to be annually such appears to have been the case. renewed. This is a necessary guard Last October the Congregational against the religious tramp who Association of the P'ang Chuang has long since made his appearance (Shantung) station of the North in the Flowery Empire.
China mission of the American Board invited three contiguous sta- Evangelical Element in Medical Mis- tions to send delegates to form a con- sions.
gregational union with a view to de- BY REV. LEVI B. SALMANS, M.D.
limitation of frontiers, and to adopt Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal rules regarding the relations of Church iu Guanajuato, Mexico.
members of one church to other After more than 15 years of work churches. This meeting was held in this country, spreading our just before Easter at the close of efforts out over parts of the terrilast March, comprising seventeen tory of 10 of the 27 states of the members, five of whom were mis- republic, we found here and there sionaries, two English (L. M. S.) a city in which we were unable to and three American Board, two make any progress whatever with native pastors-all of the latter evangelization, and one whole society, and seven other delegates. region, covering 17 cities, in which In this particular region thirty we essayed to work in two states, years' irregular growth had in- was entirely unsatisfactory and sensibly interlaced the work so unpromIsIng. "Ve gave up our that separation was somewhat diffi- work in several of these places, and cult, yet in two sessions of less than held on in the others in the hope of three hours each, with a private establishing a boarding-school in conference between, all questions one of the cities, and finding some were settled by an unanimous vote. other plan for finally conquering Between three and four hundred for ourselves an open door in the miles of frontier lines were exactly others.
defined, and, perhaps, half as In 1891 Bishop Ninde arranged many more tentatively agreed for me to try medicine on return- upon, subject to ra,tification by ing for my second term of service other neighboring missions not here. ,After practising privately present at this meeting, but in- in this city for a little over a vited to the next one in 1900. year and a half, I moved to a near- Rules were also agreed upon re- . by place, and during that year quiring the transfer of members opened preaching dispensaries in permanently residing in the terri- three cities. These continued open tory of another mission to the mis- for three years and a half, when sion where they live; forbidding they were closed temporarily for the reception of members who have the lack of funds. During this time something like 40,000 patients requests for us to construct a hos- were prescribed for and supplied pital, which was at last begun 3 with medicines. The Gospel was years ago, our missionary society most earnestly preacht to them, granting the ground, and the build- thousands of portions of the Scrip- ing has been put up and is now be- tures were sold, and m~ny traets dis- ing furnisht preparatory to its tributed. Not only did the pastors opening, wholly by private dona- in each place take the most active tions, largely from residents in or hand-to-hand part in the work near this city, among them being every dispensary-day in dealing found all classes, rich and poor, with the sick, and afterward visit- Catholics, Indifferents, andProtesing them in their homes, but I also tants. Something like $6,000 will hired pharmacists and Bible read- have been spent upon this hospital ers from among our most eligible of moneys furnisht in that way Christians, and these also aided very during the past 5 J ears, by the time greatly. Various physicians like- we open this summer or fall. wise lent most valuable assistance, one being the wife of another mis- All this work from a medical sionary, another a former mission- standpoint has been carried on in ary on this field, sent out specially fair competition with modernmedto aid me by the missionary board ical practise, for when we begun of our church, and three others there was a long establisht medisettling in our dispensary towns cal school in this city itself, and from the United States and Canada even yet there are 3 medical with the special purpose of helping schools working in this republic. us, and providing for their own sup- There are 10 drug stores now in this port by the practise of their pro- city, and tho the poor are badlyatfession and otherwise. tended medically, still it is neces- sary to do good medical and surgical 'fhe evangelistic results of this work in order to secure the public work were most manifest, even esteem, as well as for the very imstriking. Work was opened portant purposes of helping the auspiciously in two cities, where be- sick to the best of our ability, and fore no amount of work was able of honoring OU1' Christ among to secure us even a beginning sinners. In view of this, and of this nucleus of a church. In two others, being a silver country, and one to where the cause was languishing, which all medical snpplies must be our work in all its parts, scholastic imported from gold countries, the and evangelistic, was put into the expenses of the work have been very most prosperous condition. The great, going considerably above public odium of Protestantism and $20,000 (Mexican). The most of this Protestants was removed in such a money has been raised by the large degree that it was no longer private practise of one or two misnecessary, as it had been before for sionaries supported by the society. more than 15 years, to keep our Since 1893, the Methodist Episcopal homes, schools, and churches under Missionary Society has been takguard by soldiers on all festive days, ing an interest in the work, and to keep the people, who at such giving small, but increasing sums times crowd the streets, from doing of money to help us. Up to the us violence. On the contrary, the beginning of this year these small crowds on such occasions came to contributions had amounted to a cheer for us and our philanthropic total of $1,700. Last November work. Money began to be offered they made a much more decided by all classes of persons with urgent step in the direction of aiding and supporting this sort of work in "I am now in my seventy-third year, but I am glad to say that Mexico, by giving us $1,000 gold for with care I am able to work dispensaries. steadily. Since the events of '95 you can readily understand that My plea is for a review of the new burdens have been laid upon us. We thought that our hands precepts and methods of work de- were pretty full before, but it be- livered to the Christian church by came necessary to administer large sums for the relief of the destitute, its head, and a greatly extended use and then to make permanent ar- rangements for the care of orphans. of the medical agency. Medical You know that the government work has come to be a recognized does not allow orphanages to be es- tablisht without 'firmans,' and part of all extended missionary also that such documents are not efforts among pagans, Mohamme- easily procured, so we have gath- ered the orphans into • Homes,' dans, and even in the larger efforts while they attend the regular at city evangelization at home. schools. 'Ve have seven such , Homes' in this city, with four Our church, and perhaps other de- hundred children in them, and nominations, are not fully enough there are seventeen in other places committed as yet to this method with seven hundred more, thus making a total of eleven hundred. even in the city evangelization at The care of these belongs chiefly to home, but the other than denomi- Mrs. Barnum and myself, altho we have assistance from others. It is a national agencies are coming to be most hopeful work. No other depretty well committed to it. 'Vhat partme!)t is more so, but the re- sponsihility is great, especially is lacking in city work and in the when we think of the future of Roman Catholic and other coun- these children. Then, too, there are hundreds of others for whom tries, possest of a knowledge of no provision has been made, who are wandering about homeless. To modern medicine to greater or less shut the door in their face is one of degree, should be supplied at the the saddest experiences we have.
earliest possible day. Why should "The government does not look with favor upon this amount of we be willing to show forth the love effort for these poor children. At of God in its more palpable form of present it is carefully examining helpfulness to the bodies of men, into the matter, evidently seeking only in such places as will abso- some favorable pretextfor shutting lutely not receive our I?~ssage otherwise? Why not be wllhng to them up altogether. They have take the greater trouble and go to already closed three of these the greater expense of making 'Homes,' under our care, but an manifest this love to the whole man (not interesting ourselves in effort is being made at Constantithe concerns of his spirit only), and nople for their reopening. so "force them" "to believe our report" more rapidly EVERY- " You know that a good deal of WHERE, or at least, and for the im- property was destroyed here in mediate present, in a very largely November, '95, and Turkish soldiers increast part of the "field" we shared in it. There has been a are now working? How sad it is for us to repeat with the prophet, promise of indemnity, but so far it " Who hath believed nul' report?" is only a promise. Our minister at I am fully convinced that the world will believe us more speedily to the Constantinople is pressing for it, extent that we approximate more and also for permission to rebuild Christ's own methods of recom- the burned school-buildings, but we mending our metlsage with the loving deeds of helpfulness to those see no present prospect of securing who are cast down with physical either. The simple truth is, the suffering. government is opposed to all de- Our Mail-Bag. partments of our work, and you can readily understand the trial of A note at hand from Rev. Dr. H. having this opposition added to the N. Barnum, Harput, Turkey, will real burdens which come along with the work itself. ' be read with interest. He says: IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The New Catechism and Missions. blessing would be incalculable. To present one united doctrinal front In our March issue we gave much in dealing with the heathen and space to a leading article on the Moslem world would do much to movement toward church union. disabuse the minds of the unchris- It belongs to this matter to add tianized peoples of the notion that that " An Evangelical Free Church the prinCipal feature of Christian Catechism" for use" in home and churches is their divisions and disschool" has been "prepared by sensions. To publish some snch catspecial committees of the National echism in every language of earth Council of Evangelical Free as the common c:reed of all true be- Churches in England and Wales," lievers could, as it seems to ns, do and has reacht probably by this only good. On the person and time its tenth edition. It is pub- work of Christ, the nature and conlisht by Thomas Law, in London, sequences of sin, the conditions of and by the American Tract Society, salvation, etc., this catechism is N. Y. This new catechism strikes more sound than we could have Us, on careful examination, as the originally hoped, knowing the most notable contribution which variety of yiews held by the conthe modern age has produced stituent elements of the council. toward a consensus of doctrine among evangelical Christians. For example: Without giving a careless' sanction to all its defin itions, it is ce'rtainly Question 14 What did He (Christ) accom surprisingly and unexpectedly free plish for us by His death on the cross? from the excesses of liberalism and the errors of rationalism which A By offering Himself a sacrifice with many feared would find their way out blemish unto God He fulfilled the 1'e into any modern attempt to con- quirements of Divine Holinessj atoned for all ciliate all parties to a proposed sins, and broke the power of sin union. Question 22 What is it to believe on the Says one of our contemporary Lord Jesus Christ?
religious weeklies: A. It means that we rely on Him as our Teacher, Savior. and Lord, putting our Despite occasional criticisms it whole trust in the Grace of God through seems to meet with increasing favor Him. among evangelical Christians. It was the prol'.lCt of the conjoint These answers, like many others, labors of twenty representatives of are singularly guarded from doceight denominations in Great trinal heresies. They may not Britain. Originally drafted by the satisfy many, but they are framed Rev. J. Oswald Dykes, D.D., of the With unusual wisdom. English Presbyterian Church, it was for two years studied and re- The Spelling of Geographical Names. vised by a committee of ten prominent clergymen of the Free The spelling of foreign geographchurches, and then ·unanimously ical names is a vext and much approved by the committee of mooted question, and one not easily twenty referred to above. settled. It would be a great step in advance if some approximately cor- This catechism we here refer to rect and satisfactory system could now mainly for its possible bearing be agreed upon by geographical upon missions. If some such con- societies, missionary boards, and sensus could displace the different leading journals,-a system based creeds in the mission field, the upon definite principles, consis- tentlyadhered to. .• Authorities ., differ so widely that none can be The Millier Orphanages.
followed with confidence. Many At the time of MI'. George Mill- ler's funeral in March, 1898, his sonseek to follow a phonetic system, in-law and successor, MI'. Wright, remarkt: others a transliteration from the I have been askt again and again lately as pronunciation in the native tongue, to whether the orphan work would go on. It is going On. Since the commencement of the and others seemingly follow their year we have received between forty and fifty fresh orphans, and this week expect to own sweet will. receive more. The other four objects of the Institution, according to the ability God In our February number we re- gives us, are still being carried on. 1Ve be- lieve that whatever God would do with reprinted an excellent map of China, gard to the future will be worthy of Him. We do not know much more and do not want prepared by Rev. H. P. Beach. In to. lIe knows what He will do. I can not think, however, that the God that has so this map Mr. Beach sought to fol- blest the work for so long will leave our prayers as to the future unanswered. Iowa consistent 8ystem of spelling VV ord now reaches us through the which would at least, enable stu- press that the George MillIeI' or- phanages at Bristol have just redents to approximate the correct ceived notice that under the will of a recently deceased barrister, they pronunciation of Chinese geograph- will receive a legacy of 20,000 pounds (100,000 dollars). ical names. This necessitated a de- Ve believe firmly that for His cided departure from the system own glory God is thus showing and will continue to show that a work with which American and English carried on upon such a hasis is wholly independent of anyone readers have grown familiar. One man. Mr. Tright and his co- worker, G. Fred Bergin, with the correspondent refers to it as "the large and efficient staff of about eighty helpers, are carrying on the abominable Pekingese Rmnaniz- work on the same great principles as during Mr. Milller's life. ing utterly useless and An Ideal Mission. misleading when applied to China 111'. William Duncan's work in as a whGle. " We do not think that Metlakahtla, Alaska, is, to our mind, very nearly an ideal Christian any system introduced by an indi- missionary station. It is decidedly Christian without being denominavidual will prove generally accept- tional, and combines most success- fully industrial, intellectual, and able, and doubt not that that of Mr. spiritual training. It is now prac- tically self-supporting, and has Beach is far from perfect. Any never appealed widely for funds. The account of the work (pp. 500reform system will have its oppo- 509) will be read with interest and profit. Note especially the need nents, and it is therefore desirable for a doctor and a teacher.
that there should be some sort of an agreement among geographists,and missionaries.
Mr. F. P. Noble has attempted in his excellent book "The Redemp- tion of Africa" to follow a reform system in regard to African names, but here again, however. careful, thorough, and systematic the au- thor may have been, we do not think that his mode will be generally ac- ceptable. The phonetic method is very difficult of general application.
Vhy should Kongo, for example, be spelt with a "K" and Cairo with a "C." The same difficulty is experienced with regard to Turkish, Persian, Indian, and other names.
It requires an expert to recognize Loo Choo, Liu Kiu Ryu, Kyu, etc., as referring to the same islands.
vVhen will some agreement be reacht? The Warszawiak Oase Again. deceived and withdrew his com- mendation and support. The same It is painful even to refer to the is true of Herr Cohen of England. sad story of Hermann vVarszawiak vVe regard Hermann Warszawiak -but the pamphlet recently issued, as disqualified by untruthfulness which claims to' present "the from any work requiring the confi- whole truth in the cause of" this dence of Christian people. man "in answer to his accusers" will not, we fear, help him much in Foot-Binding in China. the public esteem. One specimen may bl') quoted. Referring to the The anti-footbinding movement exertions of an American Jew in China is one point in which the named 'Cenjamin, who has for years critics of missions are at one with persecuted Jewish missionaries, the the advocates of the work. Every pamphlet says: mission station in the empire is, and always has been, ex officio a center (I) The London CM'istian, and some of light for the furtherance of this other respectable mediums, public and pri- good cause. But the mission sta- vate, were simply A. Benjamin's mouth- tions do not confine themselves to pieces, until the secret channel of inspiration this reform, but combine with it the accidentally sprung a leak, and the last unbinding'of the souls as well as the poisoned paragraph was stopt in the editor's small toes of the women brought room from fear and shame. under their influence. Those who have never lived in a non-Christian (2) Benjamin, to prove his friendly inten_ land can form no adequate concep- tions toward Mr. Warszawiak, had begun by tion of the fierce antagonism which giving him a confidential "tip " of certain such a measure as the omission to machinations of his enemies, which provi- bind the feet of girls meets from dentially proved a clue to t.he intimate rela- their mothers, as well as from the . tions of Benjamin to their conclave, and to a girls themselves. certain editorial intention of The Christian. The detection, brought home to the editor, This was forcibly illustrated in shut off the next, and probably the last, of the case of the little daughter of a the inimical communications fed to that missionary in one of the central paper through Benjamin, and like worthy provinces of China, who was re- agents of the amazing conspiracy of which cently obliged to associate largely we have thought it well to uncover a single with Chinese maidens. As a result interior glimpse. she soon begged her mother as a .privilege that she might have hel' To these charges and insinuations feet bound like those of the other the editor of The Ch1'istian-a gen- girls about her. This being denied, tleman who conspicuously conducts she watcht her opportunity, saved that periodical in a spirit of wisdom all the strips of cloth upon which and Christian charity-feels con- she could lay her hands, and en- strained to reply: deavored to bind her own feet. The recent report of the Tien Ts1J, Hui, There is not a word of truth in them. We or "Natural Foot Society," which never publisht a word from A. Benjamin; has beep patronized by influential we never wrote a line from his inspiration. officials, some of whom have writ- If "the whole truth" is throughout as ten tracts and ballads for distribu- veracious as are the statements made regard- tion, gives incidents which throw ing ourselves, then it is worse than worthless light upon the tremendous hostility as an H Answer to Accusers. 11 which such a movement must en- counter. The male members of a Having read the letters on Hermann Wars- family may be opposed to the zawiak t,o Madame Nicolas, we are also pre- pared to say that the pamphlet is not to be relied on in its statements on that matter. The same applies to the circular, obviously libelous in its terms, issued by Rev. A. A. Isaacs, of Bath.
Mr. Henry Varley began invesc tigations as a warm friend and defender of Hermann vVarszawiak, but found later that he had been maiming of their female relatives roundabout and sometimes costly by the senseless custom, but the women vill support it. One methods-demanding expenditures Chinese even promist his daughter a dollar a day to keep her natural of time, strength and often of feet, and another, having failed money too, to avoid a little direct with his older girls, arranged that selfdenial in giving. his youngest should be under his personal supervision night and day. For instance, we call attention to The one natural-footed girl was a modern method which all sensible sought in marriage for the dollars people should discourage on prin- that had been faithfully laid by for ciple. It is known as the "chain her. But at her new home she was system." ,Ve had hoped after the so ridiculed by the hundreds who plain exposure of this silly scheme, came to see her-and her feet-that when Miss Schenck's attempt to she lost her reason. The other girl raise funds for the Red Cross was also became insane as a result of so thoroughly shown to be an abthe persecntions which she had to surd one-that this method would endure. be abandoned. Anyone who knows the simplest laws of arith- Self-denial and Giving. metic will at once see how unwise such a plan is, to use no more vigor- The Salvation Army in the United ous adjective. If only ten series of States raised $40,000 during its fonr letters each are sent ont over recent week of self-denial. Cer- one mill'ion persons are involved; tainly the amount testifies to the if fifteen series, the number exceeds devotion and energy of this body of one thousand million, and twenty believers. series would imply a population equal to nearly seven hundred One can not but contrast with this times the entire race now on the sensible and scriptural way of I'ais- globe! And yet, as one of our ing fllnds snch newfangled and mathematical friends laughingly absurd methods as are everywhere exclaims, those who are promoting in vogue and vie with each other this plan actually ask to haveitexin point of impracticability. In tended to twenty-five factors, as some cases there is an amount of tho we were expected to go through effort put forth to a void any real the planetary system to seek coopself·deniaJ which costs much more eration. Such people do not stop than the self-sacrifice would. ,Ve to consider that every person who remernber a woman who "could joins the plan, apart from the letnot afford to give, outright, two ters written, must pay in postage dollars to missions, but who, when ten cents for every ten cents askt her suggestion of getting up a StIP- for, whether there is any money colper was f'.Jllowed, herself sent two lected or not. As a correspondent large turkeys costing her five dol- of the Epi8copal Recorder suggests, lars, then cam:') herself and helpt such a scheme immediately disget up the banquet, then brought credits the object to be promoted, her entire family and paid four dol- however praiseworthy. lars more for tickets entitling them to help eat up the turkeys which she Outline Address on Idolatry, gave!! And now we are constantly besieged by all sorts of letters and Pastors who would prepare a appeals, in which the principal helpful and stimulating series of feature is the securiniS of money by missionary addresses might do well to take time to study and then speak on IDOLATRY thus: 1. Fetish worship. 2 Image worship. 3. Demon worship. 4. Sun worship 5. Symbol worship. 6. Mammon worship. 7. Man worship.
This would give fine scope for pur- suing the subject from its lowest to highest forms, and the two clos- ing lectures would give ample op- portunity to show how idolatry is fast finding its way into Christian chu!-,chel;!,
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS
V.-RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS.
HISTORY OF THE CnURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY; complete the task, bat health was insufficient; and so God chose Mr. its environments, its men, and its work. Stock, as Solomon was e:ected to By Eugene Stock, Esq" (editorial secre- build into final form the materials tary of thee. M. S.), 3 vols. 8vo. Church David had gathered for the Temple. Missionary Society, Salisbury Square, London. That was a happy thought to in- clude the "environment" of the This work is one of the greatest society, at home and abroad, for achievements of this last quarter of only so can its developmpnt be rethe nineteenth century. Two vol- ally understood. General history umes of the three which form the shapes missionary history. Events complete work, are already ont of mold the men and open the doors. the press. These two covel' over Divine Providence in its larger 1,150 pages jointly, and contain over plans becomes the pillar of cloud half a million words. If the third that goes before and searches out volume is of corresponding size, the way for the evangelizing host. there will be in all three-quarter of The church at large-the men and a million of words, carefully and women who are actors in historypainstakingly selected, with Mr. the great social and political move- Stock's habitual and sagacious care ments of the age-the theology of in composition. But the size of the inventions-the great educational volumes and the style of the writ- movements-all these are factors ing can give little idea of either that enter into the problem and dethe scope of the work or its sub- termine the result. lUr. Stock sees stantial value to the cause of world- this; a noble catholicity pervades wide missions. The last twenty- the hook, a cordial acknowledgfive years have produced many ment of the work of other branches memorable volumes on I'nissionary of the Church of Christ, and a recwork and its heroes-an Alexan- ognition of the value of the heroic drian library in itself. But we have services of those who belong to seen no work issued from the press other communions. There is no on either side of the water, which, "anglican" narrowness of vision, in all that constitutes a first-class or ,bigotry of ,. apostolic succesproduction, excels these products of sion "-indeed that true apostolic Mr. Stock's conscientious toil. succession of filling up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ, This is the centenary year of the is here amply and sweetly put on society, and these volumes are the record. Mr. Stock has written not memorial of its hundred years, and a history of the society's 11l"issions a sort of legacy to the whole his- only, but of the society itself, and tory of modern evangelization-if, to no small degree of all missions indeed, it be propel' to speak of a of the century. He vindicates the legacy while the society is not only right of the evangelical body in the yet living, but in its full vigor, and Church of England to be, and shows will undoubtedly continue until how their influence has made the the Lord himself comes. This work C. 11. S. what it has been and is. of writing a full history was planned eight years ago, and begun by Rev. These volumes are a picture gal- Charles Hole, whose thoroughness lery. ,Verefernot only to the literal in the first volume was such that illustrations, which are numeroU$ he brought the narrative only as far as ISH. Then Dr. Mears, of the South China Mission, undertook to and valuable; but to the pen por- First, that only those who are His traits of men who have stood at the true servants themselves are qualifront and moved in the van. The fied thus to call men back to such foremost figure is probably Henry allegiance; in other words, spiri- Venn, but he is only primus inter tual men for spiritual work; second, pares, and the center of a large and that nothing short of the real renoble group, including snch men as turn to God of His alienated crea- Charles Simeon and secretary "Vi- tures, their actual conversion in gram, Josiah Pratt and Edward heart and life, is to be the motive Bickersteth, and many others who and goal of effort; and last, that shaped the policy of ~he society. the qualifying of men for such ser- Then there are the brief but terse vice, and the securing of success in sketches of such missionaries as such service, are solely dependent "Vm. A. B. Johnson, Alexander on the Spirit of God. ~Iackay, and the dead heroes that belong between, whose name is A volume that gives not only the legion; and the living men who are annals of such a grand society, but worthy to follow them, and the na- the philosophy of its history-that tive converts and preachers, like shows how spiritual advance Bishop Crowther and Abdul Masih, abroad is inseparable from a simiand John Williams Hipango, who lar progress at home-and that are the fruits of the seed-sowing. missionary work can be expected to rise to no higher level on the Nothing is more delightful than field than its source of supply at to see the sturdy and intelligent home-can not but be of immense faith in the old Gospel, which is value both as a history of the past, stampt on these volumee. There and a philosophy of the future. Its is no new theology here, the "old glance gives at once a retrospect wine" is served up as not only bet- and a prospect, while dealing with ter, but as the only unmixt and the pr,-,sent aspect of the work. unadulterated produce of the true This is all we feel it needful to say vine. At a time when even Chris- of these noble volumes, whose very tian scholarship seems conspiring size and worth have forbidden hithwith the enemies of Christ to take erto more than a glance into them, out of the Bible its inspiration, and and a glimpse of the vast territory out of the cross its atoning efficacy, which, like mountain peaks, they and out of the Spirit's work its su- survey and command. pernatural seal, we have as yet found not a line that hints at any JAPAN AND ITS RESCUE. By A. D. Hail, D.D. decline of faith in the Gospel as Illustrated. 12mo, 150 pp. 75c. Cum- Paul preacht it. berland Presbyterian Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn. There is, indeed, a distinct enunciation of the great leading princi- This is a "brief sketch of the ples of the Church Missionary So- geography, history, religion, and ciety, the first and foremost of evangelization of Japan," by one which is that the work of the who was "for twenty years a mischurch is "to call men back to sionary in that cou!ltry." It Ol'igtheir allegiance to their one Right- inally appeared as a series of ful Sovereign, proclaiming His articles in The Cumbe1'land Presgracious offer of pardon and restor- byterian, which were deemed ation, through His incarnate, cruci- worthy of publication in more perfied, and exalted son, for all who lnanent form. return to Him." Subordinate to this are three other principles: The scope of the book is some- what like Perry's "Gist of Japan," but it gives more attention to the work of the Cumberland missions, and work of this society, and exand less to the description of Japanese character and the present presses the hope that Mr. Cavalier's problems of missionary work. narrative will stimulate friends at Dr. Hail begins with a geographical and historical description of horne to a more hearty cooperation Japan, then treats of its religions and their points of conflict with in the salvation of the women of Christianity and with old religions. He tells of the early Roman Catho- India. lic missions, and subsequent persecutions and the entrance of Pro- The book describes particularly a testant missionaries. There are also chapters on the spiritual life of the visit to India in 1897-8, just as the Japanese Church and Christians, WOlnan's ,vork, etc. country was emerging from famine The style is clear and attractive and plague, and vividly shows the for so condenst a narrative. The chapters on " Christianizing a Civil- distressing condition of the people ization" and" The Power of God" are especially fresh and interest- and glorious work of the missioning. aries. PERSIAN WOMEN AND THEIR CREEDS. By Mary S. Bird. Illustrated. 12mo. 104 pp. 18. Monthly Missionary Bibliography. Church Missionary Society, London. SOCIAL PROGRESS. Vol. II. By James S. Den- Miss Bird, who has been aC.;L8. nis, D.D. Illustrated. 8vo, 486 pp. $2.50. missionary in Persia for six years, Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. here writes upon Moslem women and work in their behalf. It is an AMERICA IN THE EAST. William Elliot Grifinteresting and important theme, fis, D.D. 12mo, 244 pp: A. S. Barnes & and one upon which little has been Co., New York. written. The book gives some helpful hints as to the character THE MAKING OF HAWAII. By Prof. 'Vm. F. and effects of Islam, and the bring- Blackman. 8vo. $2.00. The Macmillan ing of thc Gospel into Persia, to- Co. gether with many striking incidents connected with missionary THE BREAK-UP oJ" CHINA. By Lord Chas. work. It is an exceptionally read- Beresford. Portraits and maps. 8yo, able little book, and one which 491 pp. $3.00. Harper' & Bros. gives an excellent idea of the needs and opportunities in the "Land of MAP OF CHINA. 3Y2 X 3 ft. All mission stathe Lion and the Sun." tions underlined. 12s. China Inland Mis- sion, London. Ix NORTHERN INDIA. By A. R. Cavalier. Illustrated. 8vo. 174 pp. 38. 6d. S. W. AMONG THE HIMALAYAS. By L. A. Waddell. Patridge & Co., London. Illustrated. 8vo, 452 pp. $5.00.
Mission work in the zenanas, OUTLINE OF PRACTICAL SOCIOLOGY. By Carhospitals, schools, and villages of roll D. Wright. 8vo, 431 pp. Longmans, India offers a fascinating theme, Green & Co. and one on which few are as well qualified to write as the secretary THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH. By Edward Judof the Zenana Bible and Medical son, D.D. Wnw, 212 pp. Lentilhon & Co., Mission. Lord Kinnard, who writes New York. the introduction, speaks most enthusiastically of the missionaries THE ST'lTDENTS' CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCHES.
By Luther D. Wishard. 12mo, 47 pp. 15 cents. Fleming H. Revell Co.
The Author of "The Redemption of Af- rica;' which book '~le noticed in our June nU!Ilber, wishes us to say that he deems the spelling followed in his book to be self-con- sistent. "The tern1 Zanguebar designated the littoral of the mainland as well as the mere little island itself, Zanzibar." The Encyclo- pe(lia Britannica and other authorities use the spelhng •. Zanzibar" for the whole sul- tanate, as well as for the island and city, tho giving" Zanguebar" as the more correct form. Another authority gives" Zanquebar" as the correct nanle for the island, and H Zan~ zibar" for sultanate. The reviever did not base the charge of inconsistency on this narr:e alone, but on one or two others as well, e. g., on the map revised by Mr. Noble appear the names Congo River and Kongo (district). As was stated, however, inconsistencies and in- accuracies in the book are rare and compara· tively insignificant.
Mr. Noble also says that original maps could not be obtained, and that many socie- ties failed to respond to requests for statis- tics. We hope that in a later edition both of these may be supplied.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.- GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D.
THE KINGDOM. Christianity's conquest of other religions in their strongholds shows -Why shall not the saints lay to its divinity. Splendid moral and heart the signs of the times in the social results everywhere follow political and financial world, and missionary work.-REv. J. L. BARlearn wisdom therefrom? This is emphatically the day of peace con- TON. ventions, movements for federation and arbitration, away from ruinous -We often hear, perhaps, in a competition to profitable combina- sense too often, of "princely gifts." tion and cooperation in trusts and What constitutes the princely the like. The missionary counter- quality? Can it be the mere matter part would be: Comity, most care- of bulk? As the Lord jndged, the ful and conscientious, especially in two mites of the widow were more opening new fields, as well as com- princely than the much gold of the bining to the utmost in hospitals, wealthy. schools, printing establishments, etc., etc., in order to cut down -Fifty high-hearted young men expenses. and women, who believe the Master has called them to the foreign field, –:-Recently a new effort WB,S made have been approved by the Board to compile missionary statistics, of Foreign Missions, and now, and the following is in round num- while awaiting appointment, exbers the result: The missionary so- pecting to embark within six cieties of America and Europe, months, they receive-a letter: Asia, Africa, and Australia number 250, with 4,700 stations, 15,200 "Not financially possible to send out-stations, 11,700 missionaries, any new missionaries, unless special 65,000 native helpers, 1,122,000 com- funds are provided-if women's municants, and nearly 1,000,000 society, church, or presbytery will under instruction. The income of provide funds. This letter authorall these societies reaches $13,000,- izes you to ask assistance. Tell 000. This, we believe, a very close the churches 'Send me–.' We approximation to the present facts. are as eager to see you on the field, as you are to go." -The missionary's coming is an insoluble riddle to the heathen. What shall these young people Unbelievers here have attributed it do? Is it not an embarrassing place to a romantic enthusiasm, or to to put them in? The church seems missionaries' inability to earn a saying to its children, as Secretary living otherwise. Romance has Speer last year before the General had abundant time to fade, but Assembly charged it with saying: missionary zeal increases, and any roll-call of missionaries makes the "Unless you break the ties to other plea an abject absurdity. your church you can not go and Protestant missions employ 12,000 disciple all nations. Become a men and women, backt by $16,000- Roman Catholic, and you can go. 000 a year. If Christ was not divine Join the China Inland Mission, and did not command missions, and you can go. But stay in the they are the maddest delusions of church you love, in which you a deceived and deceiving sect. were born and nurtured, and you can not go! "-Assembly Herald.
-The Missions-Freund, speak- ing of the difficulty of bringing to the minds of the Arctic races a con- ception of the scenes of the Bible, says: "They know neither grass aire," by H. Dieterlen, with a prenor flowers in the field, they have face by F. Coillard. Would you never seen cultivated lands, nor know what results may be brought become acquainted with sowing about by a great power of will, and reaping. They find it equally committed unreservedly to the hard to gain a conception of flocks service of the Master? Read this and shepherds, whose life is in volume. Weare thoroughly over- Holy Scripture so often used as an come with admiration in view of emblem of the relation between the the work accomplisht by this faith- Savior and His people; and the ful worker with God, M. Adolphe parable of the vine and the branches Mabille. The secret of his prodigcan not fail to appear as an unin- ious activity is wrapt up in this telligible mystery to people who double device: To receive everyhave no idea of the vine, its thing from God, to give everything tendrils, and its sweet fruits." to God. He had received much special aptitude for the study of – In Greenland a child is never languages (he knew French, Sessuto, buried alone; a live dog is placed German, English, Italian, Dutch); in the coffin with it to guide the a markt fondness for music; a child to the other world. "A dog widely open mind, which study had can find his way home anywhere," enricht with knowledge as exthe Greenlanders declare. tended as varied; an intelligence quick to conceive, and an energy -A necessary prerequisite for prompt to execute; a fusion, as even the least measure of real mis- happy as rare, of boldness in sionary knowledge is a warm heart design, of wise wariness in action, for missions. "If our heart belongs of perseverance in effort; above all, to missions," says Warneck, "this an absolute consecration to God, a assures to us an open eye for them constant striving for deeper holiand a busy hand. Let a man's ness, a faith full and entire in the heart be thoroughly warm for mis- promises of the Lord and in His sions, and then say whenever he threats; such were the chief reads the paper, every notice features of his strong characte>:>. respecting missions will strike him -Journal des Missions. at once, like a hen noticing a kernel in the dirt. And if anyone's heart -klissions-Zeitschr'ijt remarks is warm for missions, then he can that Father Damien's resolution of no longer pass so lightly over the settling among the lepers of the missionary texts of the Bible, as Hawa~ian Islands was undoubtedly we see so often done in preaching. noble, but that there was no occa- On the contrary, much which at sion to make such a great parade first is far from having a mission- over it. The Moravians have workt ary look, gains new light and life steadily among the lepers since 1818, by the fire of missionary zeal glow- yet they have never made any ado ing in the heart. And surely, it is over the fact. I t is true, he died of not asking too much to ask that the leprosy, but he need not have our heart should belong to missions. done so, if he had taken precautions For they be near the heart of Him, of common prudence, and been nlOre who has a right to our whole heart. cleanly. His English friends and A warm heart for missions is thus admirers own that in these respects an answer to the requirement: he was not a bit like St. Philip Neri, "My son, give me thy heart." who said: "I love holy poverty, but -Evangelishes Missions Magazin. r don't love dirt." -" Adolphe Mabille, Mission- WOMAN'S WORK. there were 18; to-day there are 270, in each case excluding wives. Dur- -Queen Victoria was for many ing the same time the men increast years opposed to the medical from 160 in 1849 to 230 in 1874, and woman movement. A change, now they number 509-a goodly however, was wrought in her opin- band, but the increase is very small ions through the lack of proper compared with the increase in the medical attendance to the women case of the women. of India, which was brought to her notice. An American woman doc- -At the World's Missionary Contor had successfully treated an In- ference in New York City next dian princess for a most painful year, among the subjects and of and lingering disease. This prin- special prominence will be that of cess, hearing that the doctor was woman's work. Marvelous have about to pay a visit to England, been the developments in this sent for her, and requested her to direction. The organization of write a message to the queen, tell- women in distinctively Christian ing her how much the service of lines for the redemption of nonwoman doctors was needed for her Christian women throughout the subjects in India. The physician world, is recognized as one of the did so, and the princess, placing most extensive of the religious acthe letter in a jeweled locket, tivities of women that ecclesiastical which she took from her neck, history records. For the last 35 gave it to the American woman to years this has been the characdeliver, This fact came to the teristic feature of missionary work. knowledge of the queen through At a missionary conference held in the medium of the home secretary, Liverpool, 1860, not a woman's and the doctor was invited to name appeared. Eighteen years Windsor to deliver the message. afterward, at one held in Mildmay, The queen was toucht by the plea, only the names of two women apand from that time her objedions peared as delegates, while at the to women in the medical profession London Conference, 1888, two whole were withdrawn. sessions were given to the consider- ation of woman's work, and over -The Mission Record says: "In 400 names of women appear as March, 1837, the women of the delegates. These facts show the Church of Scotland decided to send great advance in sentiment concernout their first missionary to India. ing the work of women. Then there was not a single zenana open to a white woman; to-day our -The Woman's Board of the Inmissionaries visit 157. Then the terior (Congregational) sends forth one missionary that we sent out this appeal: started the first girls' school; today we have 49 schools, with over "Wanted! Three earnest, Chris- 3,000 pupils in them. Our one mis- tian young women, graduates of &ionary has increast to 36, and college or university, to go out as there are 1,084 women in zenanas missionaries at their own expense." under instruction," When General Garibaldi was '-In the list of missionaries issued gathering his army for the libeby the C.M.S. in the Jubilee year ration of Italy, he said: "I have of 1849 there were 12 women mis- no money, no food, no clothing, sionaries; in 1874 there were ex- no stores, no resources. Let every actly the same number; in 1885 man that is willing to suffer poverty, hunger, shame, disease, and death, and who loves Italy, follow me ; " and thousands enlisted tions. The specific purpose is to with tears and acclamations. Hun- gather facts that disclose personal dreds of missionaries are now work- spiritual need and then to bring it ing at their own charges under to the attention of some contiguous English societies, but few, thus far, church for special care and over- under American boards. Thirty sight. women would not fill all the urgent calls for help, but the most urgent It is now suggested that a na- need at this time is for three teach- tional Federation of churches and ers in colleges and Bible training- Christian workers will result in schools for women. extending the benefits to the nation that have already been realized in AMERICA. New York: United States.-The fact is not (1) Cooperative service on the part of the generally known that the Connec- churches is needed everywhere. ticut Missionary Society, organized in 1798, during the first quarter- (2) A national federation would suggest the century of its existence expended organization of federations in cities, states, $250,000 wholly mdside the lim'its or counties. of the State, in Vermont, New York, Ohio, the South, etc. Its (3) It would federate work common to all 300 missionaries performed 500 denominations and aid in the prevention of years of toil. During a portion of the waste of men and means, those days primeval no less than three-fourths of the present area of (4) A helpful and far reaching influence the Union was Spanish soil. could be exerted in coordinating existing institutions for Christian work, and thus -It was high time; but better prevent the formation of innumerable late than never. St. Vincent's societies with their poor equipment and monastery, near Latrobe, Pa., has inexperienced workers long been celebrated for its beer, of which over $60,000 worth was sold (5) A national society would naturally be· every year to the retail trade. The come the means or channel through which announcement is made that all scattered organizations would be brought brewi~ for public consumption together in vital and helpful connection. was . suspended on April 30. This action is said to be due to the pres- -Johns Hopkins University .,," sure brought to bear on the monas- medical department is about to tery authorities by leaders in the send 2 of its besL qualified patholo- Catholic Church in the United gists to Manila to study the climate, States and in other countries, many the diseases prevalent there, and of whom regarded the manufacture everything else that will best fit of intoxicants by a religious insti~ American scientists and physicians tution as a scandal, or at least con· to cope with the problem of pre- trary to the spirit of the times. serving life in the tropics. This is a step taken early in our career as -The Federation of Churches a controller of distant possessions, and Christian Workers, with its which the British have only just headquarters in New York city, begun to take in any effectual way, has been actively engaged in work a college for the especial study of for three years, and has won the tropical diseases and their treat- approval of prominent ministers ment having just been opened in and laymen in seventy churches, Liverpool. representing sixteen denomina- -An impression is abroad that we are a sordid, materialistic people, that· Mammon is our God, and the plutocrat his prophet. If so, how happens it that-quoting the statistics prepared by the com- pilers of Appleton's Annual Ency- clopedia-our citizens have given, in sums of $5,000 or more, $203,800,- 000 during the past six years to eral Synod 7 congt"egations and 700 educational, philanthropic, and re- members, the Joint Synod of Ohio ligious organizations? Has any 5 congregations and a membership nation of any time ever been of about 1,000, etc. Of the 117 equally altruistic ?-Congregation- Lutheran congregations in the city alist. there are only 11 purely English.
-We are glad to learn that the -In the Lutheran General Synod Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- the attempt is in progress. to send sions closed its books for the year out and sustain additional mission- $10,000 ahead. How soon will the aries by securing groups of 70 churches enable the Board to do this persons pledged to contribute each without disastrous retrenchment? $15 annually for ten years.
-The following table indicates -The Presbyterian Church, the financial results of the forward South, since its beginning in 1861, movement of the American Board has contributed $2,464,741 for misduring the first three months of its sions. The first year the memberprosecution, from February 1 to ship was 75,000, and the contribu- May 1, 1899. Thirteen churches tions $11,000; the average was 14 were visited, and each was askt to cents per member. In 1868 the a verassume the salary of a missionary. age had risen to 16, ten years later Each church responded affirma- to 25; in 1888 to 57, andin 1898 to 67 as tively. The contributions an d the average contribution per mempledges do not include the amounts ber. Last year the gifts were given to the women's boards, or by $145,237. The fields occupied are individuals: Africa (the Upper Kongo), China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Brazil. Number of churches, 13; resident The total of missionaries is 155 (59 membership, 5,815; last year's con- ordained and 34 single women), 92 tributions, $2,755; annual pledges, native helpers, 3,378 communicants, $9,975; increase, $7,220. There has and 754 pupils in the schools. been a guaranteed increase of nearly 300 per cent. in the contribu- Canada.-Canada has gained 10,- tions, an increase in per capita con- 000 high-minded believing citizens tributions from 45 cents to $1.71 a through the persecution meted out year. The permanence of these in Russia toward those holding contributions is assured. This is evangelical principles. Such is the said to be chiefly attributable to number of emigrants belonging to the concreteness of the appeal, viz., the Doukhobortsi who have been for the support of specific men in cOllveyed across the Atlantic clearly designated fields. mainly through the help of Chris- tian sympathy in England and -To an interested onlooker this America. A large portion of this seems to be an unfortunate and un- army of religious stalwarts have called for divisipn of forces. Per- already been welcomed at Montreal, haps the closing sentence will ex- and the rest are to follow. Twelve plain the phenomenon in some townships, six miles square, in a measure: Twelve different Lu- beautiful and fertile country, have theran synods are represented in been apportioned to them in the Chicago. The Missouri Synod Canadian Northwest. leads with 33 congregations and a communicant membership of 29,770. West Indies.-When a man has The General Council has 7 congre- a toothache in Cuba, he goes to the gations and 900 members, the Gen- nearest silversmith, buys a small silver tooth corresponding in size and shape to the one that troubles served to lose these islands, and I him, and gives it to the priest to be hope the Americans will prove betlaid before the saint who is sup- ter and more faithful to their posed to be most sympathetic and charge than have the Spaniards." compassionate in toothache cases. If the trouble is a stomach-ache, he -The Presbyterian Church of buys a silver stomach; and if he Canada has an interesting and suchas a nose-bleed, he can get a silver cessful work in Trinidad among the nose. Every organ or member of tens of thousands of coolies gaththe body that is within the range of ered in that island, of which these the Cuban's anatomical knowledge figures will give some idea: is imitated in silver; so that no matter where he has a IJain, he can Canadian missionaries……. , ……. '" 5 get a model of the affected part in Ordained natives………………….. . 4 silver to lay before his saint with a Catechists ………………………… . 52 prayer for relief. What the priests Bible women ……………………. .. 11 ultimately do with these little Baptisms-adults … '" …………… . 167 models of limbs and viscera I don't children ………………. . 187 know; but I presume they melt ,j, them up, sell them, and use the proceeds to pay for the beer with Canadian women teachers …………. . 4 which they treat their parishioners Schools ………………………….. .. 57 at such Sunday dances as the one ~?il~ ?? ':?ll::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::: that I attended in Baracoa on the 3094 first day cf the new year.-GEO. 1310 KENNAN, in Outlook. Total" ",. , …. , … , …….. , ……. . 4404 Average daily attendance …………. . 2508 -Father Thomas E. Sherman, Total enrolled for year……………. .. 6349 the Jesuit priest, and son of Gen. Communicants December, 1898…….. . 687 VV. T. Sherman, says that the great " added during the year.. 115 problem of Puerto Rico is not so much of government, as of religion. EUROPE. He does not believe that Protestants can succeed in perverting the Great Britain.-Richard Cadbury, Catholic population from their re- recently deceast, left the followligion. And yet, he says, their in- ing legacies: For the Temperance tense hatred for anything Spanish Institute, London, £10,000; the has led them away from the Friends' Foreign Mission Associachurch. They connect Spain with tion, £5,000 ; the Birmingham Genthe church, because the church has eral Hospital, £5,000; the Birming- Spanish priests, and has been under ham Eye Hospital, £5,000; the Spanish rule: " Fifty Spanish Birmingham Ear and Throat Hospriests have left the island, and no pital, £2,500; the Birmingham one regrets their departure. The Orthopedic Hospital, £2,500; the bishop did a cowardly thing, in my Friends' Adult First Day-school, opllllOn. He returned to Spain as Birmingham, £2,500; the Friends' soon as we got there, and nothing Children's First Day-school, Birhas been heard from him since. I mingham, £1,000; the Friends' do despise Spanish methods, I care Home Mission Association, £4,000; not whether in ecclesiastical or the Friends' Brumana Mission, governmental matters. The poor Lebanon, £2,000; the Friends' natives are without religion.' The Woman's First Day-school, £500. Spanish government richly de- For fourteen years the income from a sum of £10,000 is to be applied for the purpose of carrying on the Gos- pel Temperance Mission, Birming- ham. An amount is to be set apart, out of the residue of the estate, to produce a yearly income of £300, this sum to be paid to the trustees for the time being of the Moseley Road Friends' Hall and Institute.
-According to Medical Missions at Home and Abroad, there are in Great Britain and Ireland 28,589 the representatives of Germany, persons holding British degrees. France, and this country next There are besides 3,770 practitioners resident abroad, and 2,521 in the week, on the lines of the conference naval, military, and Indian medi- of 1890.-London Christian. cal services, making a total of British medical men of 34,880. -The Baptist Missionary Society Among these are found only 268 received an income of £75,331 durmedical missionaries. In other words, more than ten per cent. are ing last year. It is maintaining found willing to go abroad for the purpose of making a living, and missionaries in China, in India, in nearly another ten per cent. are Africa, the West Indies, Palestine, found ready to enlist in government service and serve largely in foreign Italy, and Brittany. In India it parts; but less than one per cent. has 200 European and native miscount it a joy to give their lives for the Lord's service among the sionaries and evangelists, in Ceylon heathen. So far as China is con- 24, in China 104, on the Kongo 31, cerned, it means that all told only 90 British medical missionaries are and in the West Indies 187. The in that land. Add to these those Ohristian practitioners who have Baptist Union of Jamaica numbers gone out to China from other Protestant countries, and there is pos- 177 churches and 34,000 members. sibly a working force of 200 among China's 300,000,000. In other words, -The great C. M. S. in this its all that the Christian Church and the medical fraternity give to China centenary year is able to report reis one medical missionary to every ceipts amounting to £312,492, the 1,500,000 persons. largest ever known. Offers, too, of -The reception by the colonial secretary of the deputation of the men and women for service are not United Committee for the Prevention of the Demoralization of lacking. As the Intelligencer re- Native Races by the Liquor Traffic was on the whole eminently favor- ports: able. Mr. Chamberlain, on behalf Between May 1st, 1898, and of the government, avowed himself in complete sympathy with the April 12th, 1800, 545 approacht the aims and objects of the move:nent. society on the question of going out From figures supplied by him, it to the mission field, 348 men and would appear that the consump- 197 women. Of these, 221 offered, tion of intoxicants in our African and their cases were examined by dependencies isgradually lessening, the committee, namely 98 men and instead of increasing, and this de- 123 women. The candidates accrease would go on at a still greater cepted for training numbered 83, rate, if it were not for the action of 33 men and 50 women. The candiother nations, notably of France, dates accepted as already qualified, whose province of Dahomey is pos- and not needing further training by itively "gin-soakt." There is to the society, were 23 in number, 19 be a conference at Brussels between men and 4 women. Of the 19 men 11 were graduates: 7 of Cambridge, 1 of Oxford, 2 of Dublin, and 1 of Edinburgh. The total number ac- cepted for service was 79, of whom 37 were men and 42 women. The 37 men included 23 in holy orders and 4 medical men. This society has recently sent out its 2,003d European missionary. The 1,OOOth missionary sailed in the year 1880.
-From 1825, when Abdul Masih was ordained, nntil the present time, 567 native clergy have been admitted to holy orders in connec- tion with the C. M. S. Of these, 340 are now engaged in the work; of the remainder most have died, and some few have ceast to be connected with the society. -The English Presbyterian mission work by establishing new Church, the mission work of which stations in South Africa, on the is mainly in China and India, has Mosquito Coast, Nicaragua, and in 165 stations, 153 native and 55 Labrador. It is expected that European missionaries. Ten hos- $80,000 will be applied to this new pitals are open, at which some 30,- work. According to the conditions 000 patients are treated annually. stipulated in the bequest, the money The hospital of this mission at must be used for new enterprises, Swatow is the largest in all China. and can not be used for the paying of debts or the support of work -The Tibetan Band, for some already establisht. This church time under the care of Mr. Polhill- has in heathen countries 182 mis- Turner, has been turned over to the sion stations, 372 European mis- China Inland Mission. sionaries, and 1,945 native agents. In connection with the mission -:-,Ve enter on the official year congregations there are 33,505 com- 1899–1900 with 163 missionaries sent municants and 62,206 baptized adult out by the Free Church of Scotland candidates for baptism. Last year to 42 central stations in India and the cost of this missionary work South Arabia, Africa, and the New was £82,700. The total income was Hebrides Islands, Syria, Constanti- £70,100, and there was thus a deficit nople, and Budapest. Besides their of about £12,600. own direct labor in preaching, teaching, and healing the sick, and -Last year missionary inspector in translating and printing the Schreiber, of the Rhenish Society, Word of God in recently-occupied made a visitation of their mission lands, our missionaries work along' field in Sumatra, where he had with, or control, a staff of 1,221 labored as missionary twenty-five Christian natives. Of the 163 mis- years ago. With much emotion sionaries from Scotland, 98 are men he writes of the striking changes and 65 are women. Of the men, 62 that came under his observation. are married, thus indirectly raising Certain districts ruled by Mohamthe mission roll to 225 in all. Ex- medan influence were not only clusive of 62 missionaries' wives, inaccessible to the Gospel then, but 10 of the whole are honorary mis- seemed to be impregnable strongsionaries-3 men and 7 women holds against the light of Divine working at their own charges. Be- truth. Those very districts are sides these, 16 of the missionaries now made radiant by the light are directly supported by members of Christianity, and the reception of our church in Scotland, who sup- accorded the visiting inspector was ply the salaries for their "substi- most cordial and enthusiastic. tutes for service," or in other ways. When he reacht the central station Of the whole number 28 are medi- of his former labors, he was rejoiced cal missionaries-5 women and 23 to see a number of familiar faces, men-with a full British qualifica- and to be able to call some of his tion. In India 2 natives, and in former pupils and parishioners by Budapest 1 besides have local med- name. ical diplomas, making 31 medical missionaries in all.-Free Church France.-The confession of Major Monthly. Esterhazy that he was the author of the bordereau, implicating the Germany.-Aided so munificently army chiefs, seemingly finally by the Morton btlquest the Mora- establishes the innocence of Dreyvian Church is about to extend its fus. It is hoped that it will complete the reversion of popular feel- peasants, forced from the interior ing in France and do much to lessen by hunger, tlockt to Aden in the the intense anti-Semitism which hope of getting relief. Some were has prevailed. able to obtain work, but many could not, and would have died but Austria.-The secessions from the for the kindness of the Aden mer- Roman Catholic Church continue. chants, who twice a day collected The Ostdeutsche Rundschau affirms into the mission compound more that 8,300 persons have joined the than 1,000 of these poor people, and Reformed Church during the last gave each of them a small loaf of few months. In Sombor, 1,600 bread. The government has also Catholics were to join the Greek generously come forward and given Church at Easter; and, at the same to them, through the neighboring time, 10,000 Bohemians in the dis- sheiks and petty sultans within a trict of Reichenberg intended to radius of fifteen days' journey from enter the Protestant Church. The Aden, nearly £11,000 worth of Roman Catholic journal of Vienna, grain. the Vaterland, says that the movement has crost the frontier and Persia.-The indications steadilyreacht the Catholic populations of increase that Russia will soon pro- South Germany. claim Northern Persia as her own. Russians in Persia have announced ASIA. that the province of Azerbaijan is their territory, and that they would_ Palestine.-Is this an iridescent declare it at once if their hands dream? Perhaps not: "Vithin were not tied in other parts of the three years a man will be able to world. In this province of Azerget into the train at Ostend and baijan are included the regions of travel straight through to Port Urumia, Tabriz, and Ardabil. On Arthur. In five years a person will the Turkish border it would go be able to travel in a railway car- nearly as far south as the parallel riage from the Cape to Alexandria. of 11osul, and on the Caspian Sea There is yet a third great world very nearly to Resht. line from Constantinople, via Palestine, Persia, India, Burma, to Rev. W. A. Shedd, of Uru- Hongkong. The importance of mia, writes: "The other day we these three great lines of communi- were invited to attend a service cation can not be sufficiently dwelt at the French mission, in honor of upon; it can certainly not be exag- President Faure. The service itself gerated. Vith the Siberian rail- was an imposing one, tho not a road we have nothing to do now; pleasant one to a Protestant; but with regard to the other two this is the most impressive thing was the to be noted: they both of them meet audience. There we sat, Roman in Palestine. Palestine is the great Catholic bishop in full robes, with center, the meeting of the roads. miter and crozier, his brother Whoever holds Palestine com- bishop of the Chaldean rite, and mands the great.lines of communi- attendant monks, the black-robed cation, not only by sea, but also by monks of the Russian mission, the land."-l'he Last Days. Anglican priests, ana Protestants from America, England, and Ger- Arabiao-Formore than five years many. Besides these there were there has been a scarcity of rain in Armenian and Nestorian Chris- South Arabia. Consequently, when tians, representing the Oriental it failed altogether last year, very churches, and most decorously many people died of starvation, and thousands of these starving polite Moslem government officials. main object of schools, like that at Only the despised Jew was absent Batala, is to give education to the to make a full representation of children of sweepers and shoe- the worshipers of one God. It was makers. And that would be no a picture of the division of Chris- uncommon sweeper or shoe- tendom-Catholic, Greek, Protes- maker who could resist the temptant, Oriental, and Anglican." tation cf making over his child to be educated and brought up in a India.-The government is stead- school like that of Batala. It is a ily pushing its educational work in beautiful structure with extensive India. Between 1892 and 1897 there play grounds, and with a very good has been an increase in institutions boarding-house attacht to it. And of 10,232, or 7 per cent., and in yet the Batala school is but one of scholars of 500,049, or 13 per cent. the numerous schools which are England does not think it necessary being workt by the missionary in to keep her subjects ignorant in different parts of India. Thus every order to maintain her rule. Hindu community or tribe is being vigorously assailed by the mission- -The government's attitude to- ary in ways diverse. What' are ward Sunday, refusing to acknowl- we doing to neutralize his effort, is edge it as a dies non, is a serious the question. Hinduism is inhindrance to the observance of the deed inert, and can do nothing." day of rest in this country. We need not be reminded of the diffi- -The recent conference of C. M. culties connected with the adminis- S. North India missionaries past tration of government among vari- the following resolution: "That ous peoples of non-Christian faiths; this conference would record its these we estimate at their full conviction of the necessity for invalue. But there was a period dustrial and technical instruction when Sunday was a legal holiday as an important branch of mission in India, and no harm came to the work, and would draw the attengovernment or the people thereby. tion of the directors to the fact that It would be a great moral advan- such instruction is being given at tage to India were the government Almora, Mirzapur, Mangari, Berto restore the old regime and once hampur, and Calcutta, resulting in more pronounce Sunday a dies non. the increast temporal welfare of -Indian Witness. the native adherents, and in the self-support of inquirers and con- -Says the AryaMessenger: "The verts while under instruction. Christian missionaries have pen- This industrial work is already in etrated into every nook and corner two places wholly self.supporting, of India. They swarm in our hills and in no case is it dependent on and in our plains. They are to be grants from the Rociety. The confound in our forests, in our deserts, ference would request the directors and in our swamps. They are after to give their sympathy and support the Gaddis and other tribes in the to the development of this side of hills, they are after the husband- the work." men, the Brahmans, and the Kshatriyas in the plains, and they are -The Arcot Reformed (Dutch) assiduously engaged in preaching Mission dates from 1854, has 143 the Gospel to the Gonds, Bhils, out-stations, 24 organized churches, Santals, and other wild tribes of 2,304 communicants, 8,944 in the India. They are even after the congregations, 6,365 pupils in the sweepers and shoemakers. The schools, added last year 150 families won over from heathenism, and 223 the erection of steam ricemills and persons to church membership. sawmills near it, have made -In some of the Hindu religious . the removal necessary.-Assembly services in South India the collection is taken up by an elephant Herald. that goes around with a basket. -Presbyterian missionary work -One of the most interesting in Siam is so important that we careers in the history of Ceylon is read with interest of the alleged that of Miss Agnew. Led as a outrage upon the French at Kentao. young woman to offer herself for Commenting upon this report the service, she came to Ceylon and Independent says that Kentao is lived there forty-three years with- several miles beyond the river out returning home. She taught Mekong, and outside the twentyin her boarding. school over 1,000 five kilometer limit; that the girls. The people called her aggression was not by the Siamese "mother," the" mother of a thou- at all, but by the French agent sand daughters." More than 600 himself, and that the Siamese were girls of that school made profession entirely within their right in deof their faith in Christ. More than fending their country against in- 40 Bible women who were taught vasion by an armed force. Siam is by Miss Agnew are now at work in a buffer state between the French Ceylon. on the east and the English on the west. Will she be able to preserve Siam.-King Chulalangkorn, her independence? Upon the outthough he does not bear a very en- come of this struggle depends the lightened name, is himself a ruler prosperity of that work of the who stands among the first of Presbyterian Church which has Asiatic monarchs in his high been so successful. ambitions for his country. "Personally, he is bright, amiable, and -A tour east of the Cambodia courteous, and devotes much time from which Dr. McGilvary has reto state business, assisted by his turned was" by far a tour of the brother and private secretary, who greatest promise that I ever had." has the reputation of being a keen The headman of ten villages acand thoughtful statesman." The cepted the Gospel, and his own vilking is slight in figure, erect, with lage began to keep the Sabbath, fine eyes and fair complexion for a but a native official, backt by the Siamese. He is now forty-five, French commissioner, raised objecand came to the throne thirty tion to the missionary's remaining years ago. This ruler has again to teach their ' , slaves." The reshown with what favor he regards quest to leave was politely veiled the only Christian mission in his under expressions of consideration country. He has both given our for Dr. McGilvary's health, and the brethren permission to transfer the responsibility felt by the officials high-school for young men to a fine for his safety, but the real motive corner lot on the east side of the is not thereby disguised. Two river at Bangkok, and he has made Laos Christians were left behind to a contribution of twenty catties, instruct the people. about $500 gold, toward the purchase of the new property. A China.-In one mission-school in nobleman has followed the royal China there are no less than 50 example with a still larger gift. girls who had been thrown away by The growth of the high-school and their parents to die in their infancy, but had been pickt up by compas- sionate persons and taken to the school to be cared for by the mis- Shanghai printed 45,000,000 pages. sionaries. -Baptist frIissionary frIagazine.
-Nothing has come to us of late -Rev. C. E. Ewing, of Peking, Gf so joyful a kind as the news that writes that the British and Forthe Province of Hunan has been eign Bible Society is having a opened at length to the Gospel. sale of its issues in the Chinese For many years various missionary empire entirely without any presocieties have been seeking en- cedent. During ten months (Jantrance into this province; but, uary to October, 1898), the sales aside from itinerating tours and reacht 795,000 copies, and it was the briefest residences, at one or thought by January 1, 1899, they two times, every effort, until lately, would reach 1,000,000. Until withm has been unavailing. The officials, four years past the annual sale in and hence the people, have been China never exceeded 290,000, and actively up in arms for years past the average was not over 250,000. against the foreigner, and those Similar increase has characterized missionaries who have gone into the sales of the North China Tract the province have done so at the Society. peril of their lives. But God in His mercy has at last answered prayer, -Thirty-four counties in the and has thrown open the gates that great province of Shantungthe King of Glory might go in. itself about the size of England After centuries of darkness, and -have been devastated during after years of patient waiting, the the past six months by the ambassadors of Christ are at last terrible outbreaks of the Yellow settled in the land. Members of River. Of these counties all but the Christian and Missionary Al- three have been seriously affected. liance are located at two centers, The missionaries have been doing and there are now six workers their utmost to give such relief of the China Inland Mission occu- as circumstances–especially the pying four centers.-China's Mil- funds placed at their disposal-have lions. made possible. Honan has been likewise a great sufferer. Central -The advance of China is most China has been subject to a widestrikingly shown in the increast spread famine, and dangerous popdemand for books on Western ular outbreaks have followed, one science and learning. To supply of them rising to the dignity of a the calls for this sort of literature rebellion. Extended experience the old printing houses have been has made many hundred missionovertaxt, and many new ,ones aries in China skilful managers of started. Bookbinders. have ad- relief distribution. In one respect vanced their prices, and the price they have greatly the advantage of of paper has risen. Nineteen books the most honest and well-meaning on western learning have been pub- official, because the missionary lisht in Szchuan, the most western almost always has at his disposal province in China, and the number a staff of Chinese upon whom he of native newspapers has quad- can depend, and any exceptions will rupled in three years! The Society be detected and the parties dismist. for the Diffusion of Christian and General Literature among the This famine relief is physically as Chinese, last year printed more well as morally most exhausting, than 37,000,000 pages, and the especially to the sensibilities, which Presbyteri&n Mission Press in are perpetually harrowed by suffer- ing which one is powerless to relieve. But the ·hardest work is for us, whereof we are glad.-REV. sometimes in the future, when the missionary has to fix upon the GRIFFITH JOHN. places in which to open new work, and to decide upon those who are AFRICA. fit to be taken into the probationary membership of the body which has -Miss Siessor, a Scotch missionsaved their lives, and towhichmul- ary, who has been twenty-four titudes of them naturally desire to years in Africa, has herself saved attach themselves permanently. the lives of over 50 twins. When Here it is easy to go too fast; it is twins are born, they are at once also possible to go too slow. taken from the mother, and, if no one intercedes, they are taken by One small mission on the edge of the feet and head and have their a large district which has been in- backs broken across a native woundated, has just added/arty-eight man's knee, in the same manner as preaching places to its list. Think one would b:t;eak a stick. The of all which this involves to the ad- bodies are then placed in an earthministrators of that single station, enware receptacle, and taken to the in the present emergency not only, bush, where they are devoured by but still more in the future. Lov- the flies, insects, or animals. Someing Christian hearts in the lands times the little victims are put into from which the missionaries have these receptacles alive, and are then gone will pray for the work in eaten alive in the same way. The which their distant brethren are mother becomes an outcast. If she engaged, but let us bespeak for does not at once take her own life, those upon whom these new and she has to flee to the bush. If she added burdens have providentially ventures near the town or village, been laid, an especial interest in she must see that she does not rethe prayers of those who have sent main on the path when aLY other them forth. It is encouraging to native is coming. Her presence, remember in what wonderful ways according to their superstition, this" plowing by earthquake" has would defile the place for others. been used of the Lord of the har- She must not drink from the same vest to forward His work. spring, must not i ouch anything even belonging to her own rela- tions.
-We have not had a year so Kongo Free State.-The latest prosperous in this respect since the wonder-story from Africa relates establishment of the mission, tho to the completion of the Kongo telthere has been steady progress egraph line, intended to stretch from the beginning, and tho the across the entire belt of Central accessions of the preceding two or Africa, 800 miles up the Kongo three years were unusually large. river from the ocean, to K wamouth, The accessions in 1896 were: Adults, the junction of the Kassai and 337; non-adults, 97; in all, 434. In Kongo rivers. A recent Belgian 1897 the accessions were: Adults, paper says: "A telegram despatcht 485; non-adults, 128; in all, 613. In from K wamouth on January 15, 1898 the accessions were: Adults, was delivered at Boma half an hour 660; non-adults, 149; in all, 809. later. For the future the Kassai is Had we gone to Hunan, there thus placed in direct and rapid would have been 200 more acces- communication with the' seat of sions at least, and the increase of government, and Europe is also the year would have been over brought close to the center of Af- 1,000. God has done great things rica. Only a few years ago news took at least two months to reach baptized 63 children and in July Boma from the Kassai, and the re- and September 49 adults. These ply would not be received under are not hasty baptisms and superfianother two months, and this only cial ceremonies, but with great if the parties were available and care and thoroughness candidates the steamer ready to start." for baptism are instructed in the Word of God. -The Rev. Henry Richards, for twenty years missionary at Banza -The missionaries of the Rhen- Manteke, on the Lower Kongo, ish Society complain of the invingave, at a recent meeting in Lon- cible frivolousness of the Namas don, an account of a wonderful (German S. W. Africa), both spiriwork of grace at his station. For tually and temporally. As to the seven long years he labored with- latter, when they heard that the out seeing any definite fruit. From rinderpest was coming, they began 1886 to 1889 about 400 were baptized, recklessly to slaughter their cattle, and many more gave up the super- instead of waiting to inoculate. stitions and their idols. The two Even those who did inoculate were years which followed were a time so obstinately inattentive to the of testing, and when the sleeping necessary precautions, altho they sickness broke out, some of the had been carefully shown what converts went back, but a goodly they were, that they got little adnumber cleaved unto the Lord. vantage. This frivolous heedless- The need for teaching then ap- ness of temper does not seem to be peared; if converts were not to go an intellectual fault (for the Namas back, they must be taught. After appear to be a pretty bright peoa season of trial the work was re- ple), so much as a moral one, a organized on stricter principles, mixture of indolence, presumption, and discipline was enforced. Ever and self-sufficiency. God does not since then there has been a stream as yet seem to have found for them of blessing, and altogether more either joyous or grievous messages than 1,500 have· been baptized. which will bring them to reflect. There are now 1,200 standing and serving the Lord. The line is Uganda.-Both the Anglican and sharply drawn between Christian the Roman Catholic missions of and heathen, and there are about Uganda are advancing. The latter 30 schools, all taught by Christians. seems to be now divided into a There are in all 50 preachers and French and an English mission, teachers-some of the former men the English department under of great power in the work-con- Bishop Hanlon. When these latter ducting self – supporting pioneer took possession of their district operations. some three years ago or less, there were 200 baptized Catholics, and South Africa.-The work of the some 1,000 catechumens, but there Bechuana mission in South Africa was neither church nor missionis progressing with great rapidity. house. In September, 1897, there One of the missionaries of the Her- were three stations and four mannsburg Society reports in re- churches and chapels, 11 priests, 3 gard to baptismal services of un- schools, 1,200 baptized persons, and usual proportions which he con- 6,000 catechumens. ducted last December. One day he baptized 96 adults, converts from Madagascar. – The anti-Protesheathenism, and on the following tant efforts of the Roman Cathoday 58 children. In June he had lics have not entirely ceast. For example, the government has forbidden the English missionaries dispositions. Certainly General not merely to sell medicines, but Gallieni is very amiable now. even to bring medicines for them- Moreover, he has restored to the selves from England. As a result London mission all the churches a great many remedies which they that had been taken away from it used to furnish at a moderate cost in Betsileo. Gallieni, with his have gone up in price, so that it is aides-de-camp, and a large number impossihle for the common people of civil and military functionaries, to secure them. In view of this the lately attended a joint memorial French society is making an effort service in honor of the late Presito establish a medical mission to dent Faure, conducted, of course, meet this new phase of the work. by the Paris missionaries. This In another respect the situation is sudden call on the missionary enerdifficult. The French law requires gies of the French Protestants has military service, and the governors awakened their latent spiritual of the villages are relied upon to forces in a most gratifying degree. give the ages of the people who are What a blessing it would be to liable. These are all Roman Cath- Catholic France, if at least a fifth olics, and are very apt to discrim- of its people should become Protesinate very heavily in favor of their tant! Even now, in Madagascar, own people, giving their ages as the natives are learning the folly outside of the limit, while they put of the Jesuit talk, that Frenchman down the Protestants as within the and Catholic are all one. Unhaplimit. So eager have they been in pily it was the Protestant Guizot some instances as to create a very that first set that speech on foot as curious situation. In one instance concerns the colonies. they reported both a man and his son as of the same age-just twenty- ISLANDS OF THE SEA. one. -The Philippine Commission has -Mr. Huckett sends to the Chron- issued the following proclamation icle an acco~nt of some interesting to the Filipinios as to the form of special services in which members government proposed for the of the Paris, Norwegian, and Lon- islands: don societies all joined. "Ve met at the three churches in succession, While the final decision as to the form of and members of each society, as government is in the hands of Congress, the well as Malagasy pastors and president, under his military powers, pendpreachers, took part in all the serv- ing the action of Congress, stands ready to ices. This is a most healthy move- offer the following form of government: ment, and can not fail to be productive of a good effect on the A governor-general, to be appointed by Malagasy. It was almost like a the president: a cabinet to be appointed by Fianarantsoa 'Keswick' or 'Grin- the governor-general; all the judges to be delwald,' and, I trust, will bear appointed by the president; the heads of depractical fruit in the future." partments and judges to beeither Americans or Filipinos, or both; and also a general -It should seem that the injus- advisory council, its members to be chosen tice with which for awhile the by the people by a form of suffrage to be French authorities treated the hereafter carefully determined upon_ Protestants, but particularly the London Society missionaries, was The president earnestly desires that bloodrather owing to the violent onset shed cease, and that the people oft:,e Philipof the Jesuits than to their own pines, at an early date, enjoy the largest measure of self-government compatible with peace and order.
-Spain has finally ceded to Ger- many her remaining possessions in the Pacific-The Caroline, Pelewor Pelao, and Ladrone or Marianne Islands (except Guam of course). With Christianity," is perhaps the This change will undoubtedly make finest classic on that subject. He them more open to the Gospel and was the "Duff Lecturer on Miswe hope that Ponape will soon sions in Scotland" for 1888, and again be occupied by missionaries. first gave the substance of this book in his lecture course in Edin- -The zeal of the Mormons is burgh. worthy of a better cause. No professedly religious body propagates -Many will hear with sorrow of its doctrines so industriously. Not the death of Joseph Rabinowitz, content with sending their" eld- the well-known Hebrew Christian ers " to every part of our own land evangelist and teacher, of Kischiand Europe, they are now wending neff, Russia, who passed away on their way to the little island groups Wednesday morning, May 12th. of the far South Seas, there to be a source of trouble to devoted mis- The story of this man is altosionaries who have borne the hard- gether singular. A lawyer in Kisships of pioneer work and converted chineff, a scholar, and philanthrocannibals into quiet, peaceable pist, Rabinowitz had in early life a people. Samoa has for several commanding influence among his years past been partially occupied Hebrew brethren; he loved his naby Mormons. Thus far their efforts tion, and was loved in return. have been confined to the islands of About twenty-five years ago, when Manua and Tutuila. In 1898 they the Jews were suffering much from had eight" elders" on these islands, persecution in Russia, he was sethough they had only some eighty lected to visit Palestine for the purfollowers-one missionary to every pose of promoting a colonization ten adherents.-The B-ssionary. scheme. While there he was con- verted to Christ, and, returning to Obituary Notes. Russia, Mr. Rabinowitz boldly an- nounced his acceptance of Jesus as The death of Sir Monier Monier- his Savior and Lord. The signifi- Williams, K. C. 1. E., Boden Pro- cance of his conversil:ln, and the fessor of Sanskrit in the University importance of his work, were alof Oxford, on April 11th, at Cannes, most at once detected by tbe late from pneumonia, supervening on Prof. Franz Delitzsch, who spoke influenza, removes a man of large of the man as "a star in the firmaculture and of great influence in the ment of his people's history," and work of missions. He was a vice- of the movement in South Russia president of the Church Missionary as "a prelude of the end," when the Society, and his speech at the anni- remnant of Israel should return versary in 1887 was one of the most unto the Lord. valuable in its particular line, that of vindicating the supreme author- Somerville Hall and its prophet ity of the Holy Scriptures, that has have a place in the prayers of many probably been delivered in Exeter who remember Zion, and not only Hall or anywhere else. have the spoken discourses been greatly blest, but the printed page He has long shared with Prof. has gone far and wide, and been the Max Muller the honor of being an means of implanting Gospel truth acknowledged authority of first in many Jewish hearts. Baptized rank on Sanskrit literature. and in Berlin in 1884, Rabinowitz made his splendid book on "Buddhism continual progress in grace, and ia in Its Connetion With ·Brahman- the knowledge of Christ. (See MISism and Hinduism, and Its Contrast SIONARY REVIEW tor January, 1894.)
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1898
EXTRAXCE TO THE GREAT BURMESE PAGODA AT
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOl•. XXI. No. 4.-0ld &ries.- APRIL -VOL. XI. No.4.-New &ries.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF OENTURY.- INDIVIDUAL LINKS BETWEEN GIVERS AND 'rUE MISSION FIELD.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
No practical problem, now occupying the wisest and best minds, is more engrossing than this: how to secure, from cheerful givers at home, a hearty and unfailing support for workers abroad, or on the borders of civilization in the home land. Great as is the need of a larger force in the field, the question pressing just now, with tremendous weight, is how to keep the laborers already in the field, and prevent disastrous retrenchment in the work already begun. On every side, and in every direction, the grand undertakings of the Church are at risk. Debts so enormous as almos~ to wreck boards representing home and foreign missions, and deficiencies so crippling to all aggressive action as to compel retrenchment instead of advance, have caused a chronic alarm and .apprehension that are paralyzing to all hopeful enterprise. It is only great faith in God that dares take one step forward and onward when the work presents such an aspect and prospect.
Devout souls stand in the presence of such a crisis in missions, with the deep conviction that it is both needless and shameful. 1'here is money enough, yea and piety enough, to remedy all these evils and supply all these deficiencies, were the money and the piety only made available. In nature, power and energy have always been present, but' have not al ways been properly applied. And so the cOllllPcting Jinks seem somehow wanting between Ohristians at home and the work and workers abroau. Dr. Thomas O. Upham has saiu,t that there is in every comrnonweatb, "a conservative hody of men who, in their freedom from passion, call estimate the just claims of tI'U th, and, in the strength of moral amI religious principle, will at all hazards do what is right." And hence," when great constitutional and moral ques- ':. This periodical ailopts the Ol'thcr;raphy of the folloiYing Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philolo,;;cal Association and the Philological Society of England :-Change d or ed final to t when ~() lll'ollonnced, except when the e affects a preceding sound.-PuBLISHERS.
t Life of Faith. 300 p.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
tions are at stake, the results have generally been favorable to law and truth, in consequence of the accession at the precise moment of danger of those of all denominations of persons, wro, in their devotion to rectitude of principle, have declined to recognize the coercions of party discipline, and who constitute the genuine' Imperial Guard' or 'Macedonian Phalanx,' who strike only at the moment of imminent hazard, and whose moral strength renders them inYincible."
The Church of God is the hope of all good ellterprises, and within its sacred inclosure are the very" Body-guanl of the King." There is on the earth a vast company of prayerful, intelligent, consecrated men and women, amply sufficient ill lllllllbcr, amply ellieient ill faculty, and not at all deficiellt ill either sympathy for holy activity or in self-sacrifice for its promotion; and, if this Lody of God's dcar saints could Lc brought illto yital touch with the work of lIIissiotls, money and workers would bc continually forthcoming; there would be alike men in tIle field and" III pat in God's bOllse." It is the link of connection that is lacking. The majority of Cllrist's disciples know little. of the Wf1nts of the world-tield, and lmve never cOllie to feel the needs and claims of the work. Theil' milld" a1(1 hearts, eonsciences and sympathies, have not yet Leell really enlisted. If any impression has been made lljlOIl them, it bas been occasiollal alld incidental, and hence tllC respollse has beell spasmodic alld illlplllEil'e. But in them lie the latent pos~il)ilities of yast increase ill all that aids the Lest enterprises of the Church-the 'lI/otOi' which lIel'<ls ollly proper lJ1achinery t() conllect it with tbe work to be dOlle.
When all)' temporal tlisaster, like plague or falllill(', llIakes its appeal, mOlley flolVs ill streams, alld' sOllictiIII PS in floods. The difference lies bere: the appeal in the latter ease is lou(] and strollg, echoed by every llcwspaper, ('mphasi7.ecl ill CH'l"}" ~crlllOll and public meetillg for relief. '1'he ealamity that is presellt or threatellillg Lecollies everywhere the cnrrellt topic of COllYersatiOlI. There is 110 eluding its clamorolls dem:LlH] for help, 11lld knowlc(]ge d fIlets kill(lles sympathy alld sympathy loosells pnrse-strings alld lwart-strings. Can 1I0t the perishing millions who know !lot the Gospel, be so brought practically into proximity with the millions of disciples who really love the Master, and are ready to respond to His command llll(l to their claims, as that a constallt stream of cons('cmted gifts may be secnl'ed beyond the risk of all this ullcertainty ?
In reference to this matter, we desire to put once wore 011 record onr OWll deliberate, calm, prayerful, alld mature jndglll8nt, that no OIW tking would do 1IIore to secure a jlI'Oll/jJt, })(JI"l)l{lIleld, (lliil altogetltm' 1tnprecedented advance in missiolls, than this samc plan, whiclJ the writer has advocated for more than twenty-tire years-and which has been steadily growing ill flLvor aml ill success-oj ~llJiJiorting individual missionaries in tlte field by individ1Wl contributions.
LINKS BETWEEN GIVERS AND THE MISSION PIELD
Nothing is more needed in all missionary aggressive enterprise than three grand conditions: Knowledge of the field ~l/Oork, sympathy with the worker, and pmyc!:ful interest in tlie work. When these are secUl·ed, gifts pour ill without special appeals and without cessation. One method of supplying all these conditions readily suggests itself. Any man or woman of a family that is immediately linkt to the missionary cause by the support of a missionary, will naturally come to know the field, to feel Ollcness with the worker, and to pray interestedly for the work and its progress. In repeated visits to Britain, having crost the sea -now seven times and back, and having spent a large part of the last ten ycars in Great Britain, the writer has been urollght into contact with hundreds of families that, as such, support olle or more ll'.issionaries, in some cases of their own number, and in others of the church or denomination to which they uelong. And in such cases there are uniformly found an illtelligence as to missions, a deep personal sympathy with missionaries, an absorbing interest in the work and in the people among whom it is done, a high standard of giving, and a high level of praying, not commonly met with under any otiter circumstances.
:For example a Scottish family-a poor family-gave one, two, three sons to missions. One of them became disabled, and his sister went and took his place, and two of the grandchildren followed – six from one house. Need it be said that in that household the standard of knowledge, zeal, prayer, and giving was very high? Another family-that of a Scottish knigbt-sent a daughter to India as a fully cquipt medical missionary; the effect Oll. the whole family life was uplifting, and tliat family became itself a little missionary society, with all the cOlluitions of success. Again a family-comparatively wealthy-resol ved to give, pound for pound, and shilling for shilling, to the snpport of missiollaries, the amollnt spent on home expenses. That house is the gathering-place of missionaries ancI' a school of missionary information. Both the husband anu wife can discourse of missions in any part of the world with intelligence and power. There is a family in Liverpool, whose son is in India in the Civil Seryice, but himself practically a missionary. Letters pass to and fro, allll in that home allY of us may learn of the condition, especially of Indian missions, and a habitual giving is there to be found, which sho's a world-wide sympathy. A family in London supports not one but many mission workers, wholly or in part, in various fields. A.fraJilcd list of subjects for daily prayer is hung up in plain sight, and, as each new clay comes, the subject for that day is conspicuous. Of course, giving is bound to go with such praying, and the husband and wife, each one the independent possessor of a fortune, have given np all hoarding of mOltey that they may ell rich others, and frugally avoid needless expense that they may have more to uestow.
'M4 SPIRITUAL· MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
'l'hat home is another missionary training-school. Another family of eleven sons and daughters are all engaged in mission work of some sort; the city of London is their field. One of them is training for the foreign field and has offered himself; and there again all the conditions are met, high intelligence, earnest prayer, fervent sympathy, and habitual giving. Such examples might be multiplied without limit. But these justify alld illustrate the principle, which is all we Jleed to do.
Before being confronted with these and like examples, the writer, in the year 1870, proposed to a church, of which he was then pastor, that the young men should form themselves into a missionary circle, and undertake to support a young man abroad. The proposal proved a seed in a congenial soil and took root. A numLer of the young men thus associated undertook the support of a young man who was just going to Japan and who spent years there as a most efficient and acceptable missionary and educator. Need it be said that the standard of knowledge, praying, and giving in that church rose to an uncommon level? In 1869 the sum total of benevolent and missionary offerings reacht about $J ,800; in 18,9 they reacht about $18,000, for that church was one of the best organized in the country in the matter of its mission bands and societies, from the" Rhea Band -, of the Sunday-school up to the adult organizations.
In 1883 I settled in Philadelphia. There was a large body of people, numbering ill all from 3,000 to 4,000, more or less closely identified with Bethany church and its great Sunday-school. After some few years of education in missiolls, taking up country after country and missionary heroes and heroines, etc., there was a band of several young people who proposed to go out to some foreign field as a colony, and lIon. J Jhn ,Vanamaker offered a thousand dollars for tlle pastor to go and prospect and locate the field for the colony. It was then 11l'obaLle that the entire support of this mission band would have been attempted by the church, as Pastor Harms' church in IIermannsLurg had done, so long before. The head of this mission band was a young Welsh licentiate and his wife, others who offered Leing simple artizl1ns and traelesmell. At th~t time tllCl'e was prOSCll teel to the presbytery a printed statement cOHring all tIle facts, aIHl askillg only for encouragement. It was most graciously l'eeei red, and referred to a committee to confer with the board; and the result was that it was deemed by the boarn. ullwise to eneonrage any such irmovation, and so the whole mattcr fell through. On eallllly reviewing the whole matter, there is no (lollht that there would have Leen a large shrinkage had the theory beell reduced to practise. Some of this proposing mission band woulll proLably ha1'e "gone back" when the actlUlI work was undertaken. ~0 don bt much of the glamor of enthusiasm woul(l IH1ye faded away, like Ephraim's goodness, the
LINKS BETWEEN GIVERS AND THE lIfISSION FIELD
morning cloud, and early dew. No doubt the conserratiYe policy of presbytery and the board had much worldly wisrlom back of it. But, after all reductions and deductions have been made, it still remains true that, had that church sent one or more missionaries direct to the fleld, it might have become, with the generous and enterprising busi- Hess man who has from the beginning been practically at its head, one of the main feeders of missions!
Take the Presbyterian Church as one example of what could be done by the individual missionary plan. The board needs, let us say, $1,000,000 for the proper prosecution of its existing missions. It has all it can do to get this sum, tho there is a membership of as many souls as it asks <1o11ars annually. Of course, if this amount could be equally and proportionately di vided; if each member would give one dollar a year, one-third of a cent a day, the whole amount would be raised without allY self-denial-tho that is a damage rather than an advantage. But this result, simple as it is, can not be secmed. The bulk even of Presbyterian church-members give nothing! '''hat if out of the whole denominationflve hundred churches could be found from Maine to California that would give $2,000 each to the support of a missionary abroad, keeping in touch with him by letters, studying his field, and praying Imbitually for his work? We should have the $1,000,000 and all the rest of the denomination left to work on for surplus amounts. Or, let us suppose 1,000 churches to give $1,000 each, the same result is accomplisht.
In this vast membership of about 1,000,000 there are believed to be not less than twenty thousand millionaires. In one church, of which the writer was pastor, there were twenty men or women, anyone of whom could without self-sacrifice have maintained a missionary in the field. There are no less than two hundred and jifty men in this one denomination that represent an average of ten million each, or an aggregate slim of $2,500,000,000. How few of us know what that sum mealls! If piled up, in five dollar gold-pieces, that aggregate wealth would reach th)'ce fhousanll five hundred miles into space! But, of course, we know that millionaires are not always or generally selfdenying givers. But can not there be foun<1 1,000 men or women in this whole Presbyterian Church that will each undertake, at the cost annually of $1,000, to support a missionary in the field? And what llllspeakable advantage to tIle givers! What increase of knowledge of the field of work! What increasingly sympathetic touch with the missionary and through him or her with all other fields aJ..d workers; and what a stimulus to prayer, t.o giving, to personal consecration! 'Vhat has been shown to be possible in this one denomination in the United States furnishes only an example of general possibilities if the Church of God were in dead earnest.
Eighteen centuries )uLve sped since 0111' Lord gave his final com-
24G SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HA":'F CENTURY
mission. To-day uhere remain at least 800,000.,000 of human beings to. he reacht with the Gospel message. And of these 2;5,000,0.00. will die during the year 1898, over 2,0.0.0,000 a month! At the present rate of mission prog:'ess the world willlleve1' be overtaken. III fact, at a time when every condition of the field demands advance and every condition of the Church justifies it, in seven out of ten of om missionary societies the decroe has gone forth for retrenchment from twenty to twenty-jive pel' cent! In other wor<1s, with the population increasing at the rate of 2,0.0.0,000 a month, and proportionately dying, the Church of Christ, that aggregates at least fifty million Protestant members with hoarded ,"oalth that defies computation, instoad of sounding the siher trumpet for the assemhling of the camps and tho forward march around the ark of the covenant, bids the ignominious drum of a worldly selfishness to heat a retreat; and wo rotire from positiolls, gained at the cost of hlood and of treasure, and of lives giyen for Christ; ,ye actually surrender frOlr one-fomth to one-fifth of our outposts and capturod fortrosses, and bid tho foo once more swoep hack npon tho territory claimed and possest for God!
And if ono nowadays raises the cry of alarm, amI thunders out a remonstrance; if one declares that missions have never beon in greater danger rf utter collapse through tltis lad,; (!f adequate giving, the answer, from somo fellow-believers, is ridicule, robuke, stigmatizing opithets, snch as "pessimist," "eroaker," ete.
Ono gravo cOllsideration should be beforo us as to individual resllonsiiJilit:,-. l~lItold disaster to Chnrch-work ~laS been entailed oy the withdrawing and withholding of offerings en tho part of those to whom the local church and the denomination have a right to 'look for finaIlCial snpport. A clmreh-mernber should hare very solid reasons-reasons ihat would stullcl not only the scrntiEy of an enlightened conscienee, but Lho searching inquiry of omniscience-who treats with lH'glect, indifferellce, or contempt tho mission work of the ehurch and donomination to which such individual member belongs.. A board, or other ropreseniatire committee, is hut [.n administrative body. It senus missionaries to the field under tho implied plod go of the church it represents, to stand oehilld it and to support them there; and to this implied covenant every church-member is a necessary party. '1'0 allow the missionary agency to be erippled hy an ompty troasury and half '1'('ckt by dobt, is something for ' hich, thereforf', overy church-momber is responsible, alHI will be held accountable by the Master of us all.
This plan of thus directly eonnecting home churehes, familios, and indivi(bal givers with the mission field hy these liying and personal ,r links, has beon growing in favor, and having increasing proof of Go,1'8 blossing, of late years. e lmve already >;een how that, ill connection with the Chureh 1fissionary Society of Britain, there are ahout 300
LINKS BETWEEN GIYERS AND THE :MISSION FIELD
missionaries maintained by special gifts of indiridual donors, without prejudice tlJ the general war!,;, which is a very important fact. The Presbyterian Board in this country is just now advocating a similar policy, encouraging indiyiduals to give to the support of special missions and missionaries, while they carefully caution such donors that they deem it unwise EoI' such gifts to be ,'imited to special objects in the mission i'leld, as it lias been found that interest is apt to decline, and support to be withdrawn, when such special object is no longer deemed auvisable or practicable.* Of comse, when gifts to missions are prompted by a truly Christ-like spirit, they will never be limited by too narrow a range of personal sympathies or individual preferences. The work is cosmopolitan, and demands a cosmopolitan soul behind it-catholic, impartial-universal sympathy, and support. When it ceases to he wise to pursue allY particular line of work, or to occupy any particular sphere of service, when allY form of effort ohviously lacks the divine sanction, consecrated gifts will not be withheld altogether, but only diyerted to some wiser, better channel; the work at large must never suffer because any local work fails to commend itself to our further approval awl cooperation. Otherwise we are moved by self-will and not the will of God.
We comlllend for consideration the foll0wing suggestions: 1. That every loar! r:ongl'egahnn shall at once organize with reference to the support of at least one f01'eigll 111 Isslona1'!J, to be associated with its own church life and work. Some congregations can do more than maintain one. Some may not feel equal to the support of even one; let such associate with themseln's Olle or Illore smaller churches. 2. Let eachfalllil.1j ask the question: Can we as a household support a missionary abroad? Many a family that lJas llever yet thought of such a thing as possible, will at once see that by a sIllall reduction of family outlay, or by consecratillg a certain precentage of family income, a missionary could represent them abroad. 3. Let every £ndividual Christian solemnly ask and answer this question: Conltl I not this year support a missionary? There is a man-known to the writer-who is alone in the world and spends at least $10,000 a year for his own kecping; another who pays $10,000 a year reut and has not a ch ild or dependent; another who spent $25,000 in one year's travel; another whose personal expenses are at least $15,000 exclu3i ~~e of house rent; another who, with one child, spends $1O,()00 anuually. 'rherc are others who retrench in eyery * A pertinent example of this method of supporting a missionary, and of enlisting the sympathies of a church is furnisht in the case of the late Dr. A. C. Good, who was sustained in his arduous work in Africa by the contributions of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Montclair, N. J. This church askt the board that they might assume his entire support and salary, and regard him as their special representative abroad. The arrangement resulted most happily. His relation to the board was unaltered thereby, and a particular benefit. accrued, not only to that church, but to the Church at large: for never before had he allowed himself to write such full, leisurely letters. The pastor, Rev. Orville Reed, testifies to the blessed influence of these letters on the church, in the real interest awakened in foreign missions~ the warm attachment to the missionary. and the increase of prayerful giving. It was as tho the church lu.J a second" pa;)/.01' in Africa. "~_", A Life for Africa," p~. 14H, 149.
SPIRITUAL M.oVEMENTS .oF THE H.iLF CENTURY
directiQn, cheerfully and habitually, in .order tQ give, like that man who supPQrts an entire mission with its six wQrkers, paying .outfit, transPQrtatiQn, _salary, etc., .out .of his o'Wn PQcket; yet that man is not a rich man, but .one .of very moderate means, but whQ dQes busi- ness and makes mQney fQr Christ.
Mr. Luther D. Wishard is abQut tQ give a year tQ a special effQrt tQ interest individuals in fQreign missiQns. He has large qualificatiQns fQr such wQrk. TQ his life-IQng interest in missiQns is added his fQur years' visitatiQn .of the fQreign field, and SQ he is thQrQughly infQrmed .on these matters. His twenty years' service, first as CQllege Secretary, and then as FQreign Secretary .of the International Committee of Young Men's Christian AssociatiQns, has kept him in tQuch with the field, and given him wide acquaintance amQng missiQnary workers at hQme, fitting him tQ enlist the cQQperatiQn .of prQminent laymen.
He is an effective speaker, and deeply appreciates and strongly empha- sizes the vital relatiQn .of missiQns tQ the spiritual life. The Presby- terian BQard may well be cQngratulated .on securing his services. He accepts this work .only tempQrarily, and his appointment invQlves no additiQn to the bQard's executive fQrce, and nQ increase .of its adminis- trative expenditure, the entire CQst, including not .only his salary and travel, but even PQstage aud statiQnery, being met by a layman, whQ already himself supPQrts tWQ fQreign missiQnaries thrQugh the bQard, and believes that many .others might be induced to cOQperate in this way, if the matter were personally presented to them.
Alas! the Church of GQd as a bQdy is still asleep, .or, if awake, criminally apathetic and lethargic. And the Master of us all will have s.ome day an awful reck.oning with us f.or wasting His g.o.ods, and neglecting His scattered sheep, and dis.obeying His c.ommand. There is bl.o.odguiltiness t.o be required .of this generati.on. Let us abandQn the wQrk .of missiolls altogether if it be nQt Goel's work and ours by His appointment. Hut if it be His wQrk, then in the name .of G.od and .of Christ, and .of the GQspel, and .of Humanity let us do it, and dQ it with sQme such enthusiasm, prayerfulness, generQsity, sacrifice, giving of money, and giving of self, as the magnitude of the trust and the field, and the magnificence .of the wQrk and the reward, and the majesty of the Diville King and Captain demand!
The one thing which the Master i8 nQW pressing upon the attentiQn of all His disciples whQ have ears tQ. hear is the absolute necessity .of remembering, as befQre GQd, their individual duty and privilege. He sQlemnly challenges every disciple tQ face three great questi.ons, as .one whQ alone is tQ gi.ve accQunt .of himself untQ GQd. HQwever we may hide here behind the mass, .or lose .ourselves in the crQwd, at the judgment-seat of Christ everyone .of us, in awful alQneness, must cQnfrQnt these tremendous questiQns: "Hast thou wasted my gQQds ?" "Hast thQU neglected a dying wQrld ? " "Hast thQU shut thine hand and purse against thy needy and perishing brQther man?" And we need tQ meet these questions, nQW, with a practical answer which will stand this scrutiny, if we are not to be "ashamed befQre Him at His cQming."
THE CONDITION OF WOMEN IN INDIA
lIINDU WOMEN OF THE ZENANA.
THE OONDITION OF WOMEN IN INDIA.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
Strange social usages have prevailed in all ages. Some of them have had their origin in differences of religion and race, others in intellectual and physical superiority, and other8 again in pure prejudice and selfishness. Whatever their origin, they have generally wrought toward evil and oppression, ho,"ever innocent their origin or specious their aim. Of all these, there is probably not one which has had a more specious origin, endured for a longer time, extended its influence more widely, affected society more vitally, or produced as large an amount of suffering and degradation, as the low status of the Hindu women.
The main features which have given it this durable, far-reaching power are, that it assumes to be based on essentially natural distinctions, to have divine sanction, and rigidly defines what all women are morally and intellectually, and how they should be treated from the cradle to the grave. How this system originated, and the causes which led to its perpetuation, may be subsequently considered. Our first aim will be to describe the actual positioll of women early in this century, when their condition, according to native ideas, first came to be adequately understood by Europeans.
Happily now more wise and humane sentiments are beginning to prevail; but we wish to show wlwt Hinduism, when left to itself, did for the vast raee which came under its rule, to excite deeper interest and sympathy in the condition of women, and to encourage effort for their emancipation.
The deepest wish of a Hindu father has always been to have a son, since sons are an hOllor to a family, daughters a dishonor and a burden. The former alone is qualified to lead the funeral ceremonies, essential for the happy transmission of the soul. 'fhe birth of a son, therefore, was a welcome event; that of a daughter most unhappy, lowering the mother in the estimation of her family and neighbors, and possibly in her relations to her husband. Girls received no education. Even the art of reading and writing was regarded not only as unnecessary, but as positively dangerous, because likely to make women disobedient and eonceitecl, and putting in their power gifts more likely to be used for misehief and intrigue than for good purposes. Here and there a learned Brahmin taught his daughter, but such instances were rare, for ignorance was considered "the ornament of a woman," and there is no record of a school anywhEre for girls, tho education for boys was greatly valued. A quasi divine authority directed, and custom-the unchallenged despot in all Indian affairs-ruled that every girl should be married before her twelfth year of age. Probably the greater number were married much earlie~, and some when mere children of five and six. Marriage was not at these early ages followed immediately by its eonsummation, but usually-and always with those of high caste-was accompanied by three conditions: (1.) Strict seclusion in the zenana. (2.) Abject submission to the husband's authority, and the mother or sister-in-law, who ruled the zenana; and (3.) Perpetual widowhood in the event of the husband's death.
Dread of caste defilement, fear of the gods, and suspicion of women were the three ruling sentiments of all heads of families. The chastity of the women was assumed to be best secured by not allowing them freedom to walk abroad or to think or act for themselves. Even in her own family, she is not free to leave the zenana and penetrate into that side of the house exclusively given over to the use of her father-in-law, brothers-in-law, ul1cles, and male cousins.
Submission to her husband was absolute, and prest to the t):tent of abjectness. She must not sit in his presence until told to do so, 1101' begin a conversation, or eat with him, or express any opinion contrary to his. Silent submission, not only to his will, but to his reproaches, and even to his chastisement, was regarded as the duty of a wife.
H the husband died, the wife became a life-long widow. Even if they were mere children, who had never lived together, or seen each other but for a moment during the elaborate marriage ceremonies, her marriage was regarded as shameful to her and insulting to the memory of the husband and his family.
Widowhood had also to be associated with life-long austerities and humiliations. It was deemed fitting that all joy and brightness should pass forever out of her life. lIer plentiful and much-loved orna- ments and bordered attire had to be laid aside, and were often vio- lently torn from her ; her head was shaven, she had but one meal a day, and was obliged to fast for two days in the month; she was sub- ject to reproach, contempt, and abhorrence, and was forbidden to be present Oll any occasion of festivity. This was the prescribed usage, tho the poor widow might be a little child or a delicate woman.
There were bu t three escapes from this inferno: prostitution, death, and the suttee. 'l'hefirst was adopted by multitudes, and the last by many, especially in the great province of Bengal.
They sometimes adopted this course in despair, not seluom as an act eminently holy and meritorious, and frequently at the pm'sua- sion of relatives, who thus got rid of what was really an encumbrance and sup- posed to be a disgrace, which by this act was turned into a family honor.
Girls being unwelcome as a family reproach, a bur- den, and a cause of anxiety if not of shame, it is hardly surprising that infanticide was common. There is every reason to think that A LOW CA~TE HINDU WuMAN. some millions annually thus disappeared. It became a system, and was hardly held to be a disgrace. '1'he facilities for it were great. The father had only to give the sign, by a movement of the hand to say" It is nothing, take it away," when the pressure of the midwife's hand on top of the head or throat, or the pan of water, or the poisoned breast, or the adjoining jungle, or river, or tank rec:eived the unwanted one.
All these eustoms were sanctioned by public opinion, and prevailed, more or less, for many centuries among a people twi~e as numerous as now inhabit the United States, and over an area almost equal to all Europe, west of Russia. They centered into the common daily life of immense multitudes, as the following illustrations will show.
The prevalence of suttee was brought to tbe notice of the government early in the century. Careful inquiry Rhowed that while it was everywhere regarded as a most sacred and meritorious deed, it prevailed chiefly among Ragputs and in the large and populous districts near Calcutta. The Serampore Mission in 1804 sent ten agents to collect information as to its prevalence witl1in thirty miles around Calcutta. They reported that more than three hundred widows had been immolated within six months.
Subsequently government inquiry showed that in twelve years, from 1815 to 1826, 7,154 thus died in the presidency of Bengal. In eight of these years, 287 Were bUl'lled in :Madras, and in nine years 248 in Bombay. In 1818 there were at least 839 suttees in British India. Child-wives were often disposed of thns, and sometimes several women thus died at one time. In the parliamentary papers there is given a list -of 61 widows, all under eighteen years of age, who thus perisht between 1815 and 1820.
A Brahmin had married forty wives. Twenty-two died before him, but the remainder all became suttees, leaving more than forty children. In another instance a Brahmin, who had married one hundred wives, died, and twenty-two of his widows became suttees, the fire being kept burning for three days.
Infanticide was yet more common and was confined to girls. It was seldom caused by poverty and want, and was most prevalent among the Ragput and other superior classes. The blue-books abound with such evidence as the following: "The far greater part of the Sharijas in Kutch followed the practise. In Kathiawar the lowest estimate was that 1,000 were annually destroyed, and in Kutch 2,000."
In many large districts government officials malie such reports as the following: " In 157 families there were 32 daughters, but 189 sons. In 13 villages, with 654 families, 429 boys and 100 girls. Elsewhere 350 boys and 90 girls. It was admitted that in one tribe the proportions were 118 boys and 16 girls; in a second, 240 and 98; a third, 131 and 61; and a fourth, 14 and 4; a fifth, 39 and 7," etc.
It was estimated, on good authority, that in Malway 'Lnd Rajputana not less than 20,000 infants were annually destroyed.
The British Government has made this practice a penal offense and used its grcat influence with the native states for its suppression; bn t feminine life is little valued, and, as the natives say," Nothing is so eaeily destroyed as a flower." Therefore, the crime, tho abated, yet goes on, as some curious facts reveal, especially this very obvious one: the government census tables for 1891 state the entire population to be 146,727,296 males and 140,496,135 females-proportions the reverse of those which nature produces.
The early age of marriage, the cruel and repressive usage to which widows are subjected, and the stern hostility to their remarriage, are among the greatest evils of India. Usage and quasi divine authority, enjoin that if the marriage of girls is delayed beyond the age of twelve, the parents neglect a great duty and commit a great sin. There were, when the census was taken in 1891, 22,657,000 widows, almost one-sixth of the entire female population. Of these 13,870 were under four years of age, 60,040 between five and nine, 174,500 between fifteen and thirty-four. The manifold evils of this state of society may be imagined, but can not be described. It offers great temptations to vice. It burdens a large number of families. It constrains wiuowers, if they marry, to take ollild wives, for oihers are not to be had, and it is 110 unusual thing for men of thirty or even fifty years of age to have wives of eight or ten.
In such a condition of society the education of women found no place; tho highly valued for men, and carried by some very high in literature and philosophy, it was, as we have said, even in its simplest elements, regarded not only as unnecessary bnt dangerous for women. A pundit here and there taught a bright and favorite cllild, but probably not one girl in 2G,000 was over in any sense educated.
0+ This was the condition female society when England, with sur- prise, found herself mistress of this magnificent empire, and when missionaries uegan their di rine 'i'e]'].;:. Tho actual condition of things eame uut slowly to be understood, and yet more slowly to be dealt with, for their hands were fnll of prossing preliminary work. Theil' course was most difficult and dangerous, and native sentiment was snspicious, reticent, and hostile to ehange. Happily, in spite of all this, a good beginning in every direction has been made, and gives great promise for the future. It is as when the sweet and gracious inflneilcos of springtime have begull siowly to work ie, nature toward the beauty alld fruitfulness of sultlmer.
By what slow and even painful processes the missionaries tried to trach girls as well as boys; how, meeting with little success, their wives tried girls' schools. and by feminine wi tchery and all mann er of gentle devices, could only induce a few small children of the lowest castes to venture all a precarious attendance; how they tried boardingschools, and finally zenana instruction-all this can not now be told. It is a pathetic story, and one full of interest and importance; a story of quiet, persistent, unobtrusive love in which angels would delight. This on ly can here be stated. Three great factors have mainly CO Iltribl! ted to the change: 1. The usages and policy of tho English r ace as a n ohject lesson to a ;;ingularly in tellectual and observant p eople.
2. The gen eral influence of Christianity as taught by lllissionaries. 3. And above all, the highest education given in a ll tho Anglo-Indian colleges and schools to the el-ite of the upper classes and castes in a ll t h e m ost important cities of the empire.
The carly meth ods employee: fo r reachin g women up to the middle ..'. . of the cCllt ury have grad ually been elllarged in a manner surprising even to the natives them- selves, and hardly expected by the missionaries.
The moyement is n ot general, but where mis- sionaries have labored for a few years, aud the kind of schools named have been active, the condition of women has been greatly improved.
For instan ce : 1. Some of the worst usages have been abolisht, or greatly restricted. Infanticide was I If prohibited in 1802. Suttee in 1829. Female education was undertaken by the government A CHRISTIAN HINDU GIRL. in 1850. 'rhe remarriage of widows legalized in 1806. The age of consent raised in 1891.
Ou questions on which public opinion rather than legislative action mu st bri'ng abollt a change, there is a markt advance. '1'he most influen tial classes are now advocating the r estriction, if not abolition, of child marriage; the encouragemell t of female cducation, morc respect, and greater freedom for women; the humane treatment of widows anu their r emarriage, and the prohibition at least of Rulin polygamy. Each one of these steps points to a beneficent revolution affecting t he happiness of many millions of women, with reflex advan- tages to the male population.
2. It is a hopeful sign that in spite of t he force of ancient cnstoms, the suspicion and distrust so general, [mel t he r estraining influ ence of large masses of the population, there is It great desire on the part of so many to respond to Christian cffort. :For instance, common seho018for girls are better attended and are often carnestly desired. Schools of a better class are here and th ere formod. Natives spontaneously form and man 'lge girls' schools. Native Christian Bible-women and Emopean ludies usually find free access to read the Scriptures, to explain Christiull truth alike in towns and villages, and are doubly welcome if possessing medical skill.
3. The greutest sign of change is in the zenana movement. No dwellings were ever more jealously guarded. No women were ever kept in such bitter, dreary ignorance. I remember the time, even in Caleutta with its immense populution, and many thousands of welleducated alld highly intellectuulnative gentlemen, with the graciolls status of Ellglishwomen before their keen and observant eyes, when no missionary's wife could have gained access to a siugle zenana to A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL FOR GIRLS AT ALLABABAD, INDIA.
instruct the ladies and teach Christian truth. N ow there and else- where 40,500 such homes aJ'e open; in many of them several women as well as children are taught. N or is this all. In a large number of similar honses missionary instruction is now given by native women, and by men to their wives.
4. The advance of education will be seen from the following figures, altho all information previous to the middle of the contu"!')' is approximate only. In 1855 the Hev. J. Fordyee, the actual founder of zenana visitation, estimated the number of girls at school through- .out India to be about 5,000 or 6,000, one in every 15,000 females! In 18'78, the number was '78,6'78; in 1887, ~li3,4~S; and in the government ce11sns roport Jor 1BD! woro (Vowell):-
THE KNIGHTS OF THE BROOM
Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 197,662 Literate……………. ……………….. ……….. 543,495 Illiterate ………………………………………. 127,726,768 The movement for the elevation of women had its origin chiefly in the exertions of the missionaries, ana they have been the leaders in every subsequent forward movement. The advance they have made in recent years will be seen in the following table; for before 1870 lady missionaries, and the zenanas open to them, were very few.
1871 1890 Foreign Female Teachers ………………… . 370 Native Christian Female Teachers ………… . 837 711 Girls' Day Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . '" 664 3,278 Day Scholars …………………………… . 24,078 1,507 Orphans………………………………… . 2905 62,414 Zenanas visited …………… , …… , " ……. . 1;300 1,784 40,513 'rhe advance thus far made is gratifying, especially if the diffieul- ties in the way of all progress be considered.
5. But how much remains to be accomplisht!
The females under instruction are 197,662, but the illiterate are 127,72(:,000. There is but one Prote~tant lady missionary to about 190,000 of her sex! Probably not one zenana in a hundred is open to Christian visitation. Not one-fourth of the 715,000 of the villages of the empire have ever been visited by a Christian lady; or one-half the entire population ever heard the Gospel message! Yet within the range of Christian beneficence no one sphere is so vast and important as the elevation of these despised and long-suffering women.
THE KNIGH'rs OF THE BROOM.* BY RE". T. J. SCOTT, D.D., llAREILI.Y, I~DLL Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Board (North).
It is creditable to the scientific and enlightened spirit of British rule in India that, from the beginning, many officers of the government, both civil and military, have devoted much time and labor to the study of the natural history, ethnology, archeology, and religions of India. Senants of the government have thus rendered valuable aid to all iuterested in this great country. Olle of the most recent examples of such research is that recorded in a pamphlet by Mr. H. 'Greeven on the origin, history, and customs of the" sweeper" caste of India. These people are especially interesting to missionaries as repreEenting a large and most hopeful field of work. They are now yielding converts by the tens of thousands.
The people of this caste, num boring about 100,000,000 in north and central Iudia, are commonly called sweepers, from the fact that, * The title of this article is the name of a fair-sized pamphlet on the sweeper caste in India by Mr. R. Greeven (Oxon), in charge of one of the civil districts of the Northwest Provinces, into which India is divided for revenue and magisterial purposes. from time immemorial to them has been relegated the sweeping of houses and street,s, and the general removal of filth. This not very genteel employment-this battle with dirt-has gained for them the facetious title of "Knights of the Broom." These sweepers are scattered over a large part of northern and central Illdia, being settled more thickly in some places, where they often constitute a ward in the city, or a large section of the town or village, while in other places only a few houses of isolated families will be found. The caste is not always confined to the traditional work of the scavenger, for in many places they are occupied in agnculture, or are the village watchmen; some even belong to the police force, or are trusty soldiers in the queen's service. Nevertheless, on account of the filthy drudgery assigned to the caste, the books of the higher classes refer to the sweeper with loathing, and the most stringent rules have been formed 00 prevent contamination by even his shadow falling upon one of higher caste.
There is generally nothing in the appearance of this people to mark them as a low, ignoble, outcaste race. One would often be puzzled to distinguish them from the proud Brahmin priest, or the lordly warrior, with many generations of heroic blood coursing through his veins. In the northwest provinces the fairest children and prettiest women in the villages and city wards belong to the sweeper's class.
Mr. Greeven found, to his surprise, that this despised caste" possesses a military organization, follows a secret and mysterious religion, interlinkt with a poesy of tradition at once sublime and pathetic."
It is still a mystery how this caste arose. They are manifestly Aryan in race, like the proud castes that claim their most menial service, while shrinking from their touch. Their folk-lore gives an account of their origin, which traces them to the best blood of the Hindu race. The story goes that early in the Hindu history certain princesses had invited their friends to a feast, but before the guests arrived, a calf fell dead within the sacred space consecrated for the banquet. In their perplexity they disputed as to who should defile himself by privily removing the carcass. The great warrior Arjun entreated the young Prince Nakul to save them from dishonor by removing it, but when the young prince had accomplisht his task, Arjun immediately withdrew from him in disgust, swearing by the Vedas and Shasters that he never again would associate with him. This led to Nakul's. separation from his caste and retirement to a forest, where he united with a wild woman, from whom descended the race of scavengers, whose work since then has been the toil of the sweeper and remover of dirt.
After the entrance of the Mohammedan conquerors into India, the sweepers, in the performance of their menial duties for Moslem masters, gradually absorbed something of the Moslem faith and traditions, from which they elaborated another version of the manner in which they became involved in their degrading service. '1'he legend, as gathered by Mr. Greeven, ran thus: "Adam and Eve, tho clothed in flesh, were innocent as yet of the grosser needs of the body. They had no wants, save to contemplate the glory of the Almighty, singing, 'There is no God, save God.' The Lord was pleased with His handiwork, and commanded all His angels to worship Adam and Eve as their masters. All the angels obeyed save Satan, who refused, saying adroitly, 'Hast thou not taught me that there is no God save God? Thee will I worship, but none other.' Then the Almighty was angered, and sternly charged Satan to kneel down before Adam on pain of everlasting punishment. Satan was afraid, and affected to submit. Nevertheless guile and rancor were in his heart as he entered Paradise, where the seraph hosts were adoring Adam. 'Give ear, ye dullards,' cried Satan; 'how long will ye be content to continue fasting? Behold the ears of corn how they ripen and grow yellow I Shall we ever despise God's bounty? Nay, rather let us eat that the ears wither not, neither fall to the ground, serving no man.' Then Satan gave the ears of corn to Adam and Eve and all the angels, and all ate. The earthly food turned to ordure in their bodies. So it was that the earth and steps of heaven were defiled."
In consequence of all this, according to the legend, the Lord created scavengers to cleanse the earth and steps of heaven.
From these legends of the sweepers the true origin of the caste may be inferred. At a very early period in the history of the Hindus the caste system was developt. Menu, the Moses of the Hindus, about SOO B. C., laid down emite niles of remarkable severity. The repugnance of the early Aryan invaders against the aborigines is seen in a social code of bitter severity against the children of marriages with the aborigines. Menu speaks of sllch as the" lowest of mortals"- "a foul race." 'rhey were to dwell apart from others, and their shadow even was held to be defiling. 'The most menial and degrading service was .~.::siglled to them. The sweeper legends indicate that the caste arose from such infringement of the social code as forever excluded the condemned to an outcast life of great severity. Untold generations have past, hut no atonement has bridged the gulf of social degradation. As outcastes the sweepers in time organized their own caste rules and customs, and acquired a belief peculiar to themselves, drawn from many sources. From their legends various stages may be traced by which the sweepers past under the influence of other religions. In the earlier days, separated from the Hindu community, they retained much of the old helief, and praetist such ceremonies as were convenient to their situation. In more recent times, as lVIr. Greeven shows, when the Mohammedans invaded India, the sweepers borrowed from them, and wove into their belief scraps suiti.ng their fancy, so far as to be recognized as proselytes, but they never have acquired any social position among Mohammedans. Still later, when the Sikh power developt, which was a kind of Hindu military movement in northwest India, a large number of sweepers joined it under Kanak Shah, the hero of a revolt against Moslem tyranny. The martial followers of the Kanak adopted the tenets of their chief, and abandoned the menial duties of sweepers.
As stated, the sweepers have an elaborate system of their own, with secret ceremonies and esoteric teaching. 'rhey have more open ceremonies for births, weddings, and deaths. The following quotation from our author will indicate some of the caste rules of this outcaste class: "Only Lalbegis and Rawats eat food left by Europeans, but all eat food left by Hindus or .M:ussulmans. The shaikh mehters (sweepers), as lfussulmans, alone circumcise, and reject pig's flesh. Each sub-caste eats uncookt food with all the others, but cookt food alone. Only Helas refuse to touch dogs. Shaikhs and Lalbegis alone admit proselytes. No sweeper touches the corpse of any other caste, nor, within his caste, of any sub-caste except his own. While to the west of Delhi they are willing, and regard as their function, to sweep streets and burn corpses, in Benares they profess, on the authority of a legend, to abandon streets to chamars (tadners) and corpses to dams. In fact, sweepers by no means indorse the humble opinion entertained with respect to them."
These people, in some places, have a remarkable clan organization, which seems to have been adopted in this form since the introduction of British power. It consists of a curious mingling of civil and military offices, with an order of procedure in clan council, and there are establisht punishments in case of offense against the rules of the tribe. Punishments consist of (a) fines, (b) dinners furnisht by the offender to the clan, (c) outcasting in case of non-compliance with the demand for fines and dinners. • Some branches of the sweepers add to their number by making proselytes. This is especially so of those who have taken on some form of the great proselyting ::'loslem faith. One tribe, the Lalbegis, or followers of the "red prince "-a semi-mythical personage-after a long ritual at night, cause the candidate to drink a goblet of sweet- ened water, toucht in such a way by each member of the brotherhood present that the fingers are wet in the finid. This is said to inspire him with lowliness and contentment in the degrading service of his life. 'rhe convert, ge~lerally an outcast from some of the Hindu clans, is entitled to sit on the tribal mat in assemblages, and smoke the common pipe. Cases are known of higher caste persons joining them for a coveted wife.
The special point of interest in this numerous class of people at the present time, is a mass-movement among them toward Christianity in many places. And this is no hasty impulse. A third of a century ago, where now tens of thousands are turning to Christ, they seemed as difficult to reach as any caste. When I first went to India, in 18G2, an earnest missionary of the English Church Mission had been working among the sweepers for years, but with small success. His thought was that surely this people, with really no caste, and socially everything to gain, could easily adopt the new religion. After years of labor the missionary retired from India in broken health and hope unrealized. I heard that, like Paul, in the deep interest of his heart, he had said, "I could wish that myself were accurst from Christ for my brethren, the sweepers." He saw it not, but the time of refreshing came, and the labors of miesionaries among this deprest class now bear wonderful fruit. Within a few years, more than a hundred thousand souls from among them have been gathered into the Christian community. Some missionaries have hesitated to push work among them, lest it might prejudice effort among the higher castes. Others, recognizing the opening, and believing that now, as of old, it is the glory of the Gospel that it is preacht to the poor, have pusht the work among these broken-hearted, socially ostracized, and imprisoned multitudes. Many churches have been organized among them and pastors raised up. And it is noteworthy that, after all, this movement does not hinder the work among other castes, for the missionaries who are seeking these poor people secure more converts among other castes than those who shun the sweepers. Able men have been raised up from among them who, as preachers and teachers, are nobly pushing evangelism, not only among people of their own clans, but among higher castes also. Others are taking their places in respectable reI?unerative secular employment.
In the days of American slavery, the songs and aspirations of the enslaved were prophetic of the great deliverance to come. It is remarkable that the sweepers, in their outcast and downtrodden condition, have adopted an ancient prophecy of the Mahabharat, the great heroic poem of the Hindus, as in some way meaning restoration to honor and position for their tribe. The passage in the Mahabharat predicts a coming millennium for the proud Brahmins, the priestly caste. A wonderful incarnation as a" blazing Brahmin of mighty intellect haying appearfld, will destroy all things," that he may prepare the way for a new order. "Surrounded by Brahmins, that Brahmin will exterminate all the rulechas (outcastes) wherever those low and despicable persolls may take refuge." But the sweeper has read into this ancient prophesy hope for himself. For centuries the llame of Jesus and something of His teaching have been known in India apart from the direct work of missionaries. There is a tradition that a sweeper was the means of restoring to life a hero of the Sikhs, Guru Goyind Sing. 'I'he hero saint immediately said: " Come thou Savior of the world, Jesus. Under Thy sway shall flowers and betel leaf fall from heaven. All men shall gather together and cry in joy: All hail thou Ruler of t.he universe, Vanquisher of foes and fosterer of the poor."
DEVOTEES-HINDU AND CHRISTIAN
In thc millennium of the sweeper, as Mr. Greeven expresses it, "The prophecy of the rule of Jesus has been fulfilled by the empire of the British. That empire has proved as gentle and kindly as the dying said foretold." But Jesus one day will appear as the final Restorer of all things. « All shall join hands in paying Him honor. When the last stain of impurity shall have been cleansed away, all shall be alike pure and holy. The distinction between clean and unclean shall disappear. All castes shall be blended. All men shall eat together." Our author then contrasts the aspiration and hope of this lowly stratum of despised Indian humanity with the idea of the Brahmin, to whom his touch is pollution: "Thus the lordly Brahmin and the despised scavenger each in his way contemplates the approach of the millennium. Which is the fairer picture, the Brahmin gloating over the subjection and the exterminaticn of all races, except his own, or the scavenger yearning for the hour when there shall be peace and good-will upon earth, and all men shall be alike, pure and holy? "
DEVOTEES – HINDU AND CHIUSTIAN.
BY LUCY E. GUINNESS, HARLEY HO"CSE, LO:-lDON. Editor of Regions Beyond, and author of "The Neglected Continent:'
The holiest place in all Bombay is the beautiful" tank," down to whose clear waters lead flights of wide shelving steps, and where bathers and little children play among reflections of the cloudless skies and picturesque masonry. To the minds of multitudes this is a sanctuary, a shrine. Round it a group of little temples rise among odd buildings, priests' houses, pilgrims' lodgings, and native homes. From time immemorial Valkeshwar has been a sacred spot. Many pilgrims have trampt through weary journeys to reach these shining wa.ters, many anxious, clouded lives have been strained to the utmost to seek what here they seek, but never find.
Four or five fakirs, covered with filth and ashes, sit at one end in the hot sun, looking almost more like beasts than men. There they sit, almost naked, on the rough ground, surrounded by the various little pots and bowls and odds and ends which they employ for life and worship. One or two are smoking a powerful drug, which partly stupefies them. One talks to us by translation, and another, the most hideous of all, an animal-looking creature, with masses of matted hair full of dust and ashes, who seems really half insane, makes us a great oration all in his unknown tongue. Louder and louder he talks, preaching at last at the top of his voice, and pausing now and then amid his eloquence to blow shrill blasts on Ii cow's horn by his side.
"Why does he do that?" we ask our boy. "Whenever the holy man is hungry he blows his horn, mem Sahib, and the people come out and bring him food."
What must bL the character of the faith whose ideal is before us? We stand beVildered in the sunshine, trying to realize that it is not a dream-that to these men, our brothers, thie filth, this degradation, this naked idleness, is the embodiment of sanctity-and our hearts go out to India, the first example of whose greatest faith meets us in such a form. 'fhis is Hinduism, hoary JIinclnism, three thonsand years old, and rnling to-day more than two lHllldred million men and women. The spectacle before us is the Oll tcome of her teachings. This is the highest life one can lead. To their minds existence is an evil; emancipation from it in this life, and in countless future lives, is the one hope. Detach yourself from earth, go without clothes; have no home, no friends, no people; do no work; take no interest in anything at all; enjoy nothing, feel nothing, hope for nothing. Detach yourselfto do this, suffer pain, sleep on spikes, starve yourself, or eat carrion and nameless abominations; hold your arms up till they wither and the nails grow through the hand; do anything and everything to get rid of your supreme curse-conscious existence.
It is difficult for us under the influence of J esns Christ to understand and grasp this Hindu theory. 1'0 those who know and follow Him, Christ makes sheer Ii ving beautiful, life on earth a pri vilege, and everlasting life beyond the gift of God to men. But to the Hindn living without Christ-as to many, alas! in our own lands who live without Him-mere existcnce seems a curse. These poor son Is THE SACRED TANK AT MADURA, INDIA. A HINDU DEVOTEE-LYING ON A BED OF SPIKEs..
believe themselves burdened with being because they are not good enough not to be. Hence they must accumulate merit, raise themselves laboriously by weary years of good works until they can at last escape existence.
"The Hindu devotee," writes Bishop Thoburn, * "flatters himself that he can, by his penances of various kinds, accumulate merit. The word penance, to his mind, conveys no idea of repentance, but solely that of a means of acquiring personal merit. In the next place, he is possest with the idea that matter is inherently evil, and that since his union with a material body is the source of most of his misfortunes, he must make war on the body in order to liberate the soul. • No doubt a large number of both sexes choose a life of asceticism because they find it the simplest and easiest way of securing their daily bread; •..
but many of them show abundant evidence that they are sincere in their purpose, and persist, through long lives of severe suffering and privation, in faithfully following the course which they have chosen.
"At nearly every great fair a number of men will be seen going through the self-inflicted torture of what is called the' five fires.' Foul'
fires are kept burning constantly around the devotee, while the sun, which makes the fifth, pours down his burning rays upon the head of the sufferer. Others, for months at a time, never allow themselves to lie down to rest, but permit themselves to be supported in a half-reclining position, or sometimes suspended upon a cushion, with their feet dangling down at a distance from the ground. Some sleep on beds made of broken stone, others on spikes, while others again seek torture for the body by abstaining frolH sleep altogether, or at least reduce their sleeping hours to the narrowest possible limits."
This nightmare dread of existence is the natural outcome of the transmigration theory-that saddest and most hopeless of all human ~ "India and Malaysia." Bishop Thoburn, pp. 124-6. See also "Hinduism, Past and Present." Murray Mitchell, R. T. S. explanations of life. Think for one moment of what it would mean to you to believe that every Ii Vil1g thing on the face of the earth was the body of some soul- birds, beasts, insects, reptiles, men – all alike son I-houses ; alld that human souls were ceaselessly shifting through countless lives, and must forever shift among these, according to their merits or demerits? rrrans~igration we call it, and dismiss the idea with it word. But to believe that idea, to think that the souls you love uest, and that death has called away, are pent up in some body-a jackal's, a cow's, it serpent's, perbaps-and will be bound there, feeling, suffering, enjoying if they can, until death smites them once again, and once again they change th ei r house and pass into some other form, as coolies, kings, or what not-to believe that idea, what must it mean? Think of the burden of it, the end- less, restless, weary round, from which is no escape; the grip of fate that holds you ano. drives you on and on; the inexorable sentence, from which is no appeal, consigning you to groveling reptile life or loathsome being. Yon may be born to-morrow it A HOLY IIAN OF INDIA. leper, an idiot, it mur- derer, anything-Karma, your fate determines what shall be, and your fate depends entirely on your merits. There is no pity anywhere, there is no forgiveness.
Trouble comes to you to-day? Ah, you earned it yesterday, back in your last body. Then you sinned, now you are punisht. This theory apparently explains everything so satisfactorily-all the crook- cdness and inequalities of life, all the strange chance of destiny.
But it is so hard, so hopeless. Eighty-six million times yon will be born and reborn, to suffer, live, and die.
What more natural than to wish to shorten the period? Become a devotee, perhaps even a fakir. By so d~ing you detach yourself.
You gradu ally escape reincarnation. You stand a faint and far off chance of sooner finding rest-the oblivion of Nirvana-" not to be."
Standing in the snnshin c, looking flown on the spectacle before ns,
1898.J BIBLE STUDY FOR NA.TIVE AGENTS
on these scarcely human creatures, in their filthiness and ashes, realize the burden of belief that makes them what they are! Let your heart go out to the 26,000,000 people living in the Bombay Presidency only, in this one strip of country along the western coast of India, a land larger than Spain. Think of the waiting harvest in this one presidency. Look on her fields. And look beyond-away across the continent of India with its 290,000,000 souls. Two hundred and eight millions of them are Hindus, living in the darkness of the faith whose devotees are before us, 60,000,000 more than the whole Protestant population of the world.
You have been thinking of the devotees of the Eastern world. Where are the devotees of the West? Thank God there are many of them toiling here for the salvation of India, and many more scattered in every heathen land, besides many who are sleeping in missionary graves, and many working bravely on at home. But had we but onehalf the devotion to Jesus Christ that the Hindu fakirs have to their gloomy faith, should we not do more to reach India's waiting millions? Should we not hasten to give Him our time, our means, our strength, ourselves-to suffer daily loss in that devotion, and to sacrifice it may be all that we hold most dear, that we may help to bring these hearts the knowledge of His love?
BIBLE STUDY FOR NATIVE AGENTS.
BY REV. ALONZO BUNKER, D.D., TOUNGOO, BL'RlfA. lIIissionaryof the American Baptist lIIissionary Union.
Since we can not depend entirely on foreign missionaries to meet the needs of the heathen world, we must lean more and more on the native helpers Hence the best method of preparing these workers for their mission is worthy of the closest study. The efficiency of their preparation will depend very largely upon their spiritual grasp and experimental knowledge of the truths which they teach. They must also have some skill in the mode of presentation, and especially must their teachings be accompanied with that patient, melting love with which Jesus always taught. The doctrines, so disliked by the natural heart, if proclaimed in any other way than with such love, even tho it be with the eloquence of an Apollos, will have very little power over heathen audiences or individual hearts.
Again, the progress of the Kingdom of Christ in these lands will depend largely on the quality of the native preachers. Besides ability to proclaim the Wor<1 with power, they must have spiritunl insight to enable them to distinguish the true from the false, and to decide on fit subjects for baptism and church membership. They will have much to do in training young men for service. '1'he church-life will also take its type from their teachings. Hence these leaders should be most carefully trailled and prepared by the missionary himself befOl'e they are entrusted with snch vast interests in the Kiugdom of Christ. It is trne that these native helpers, as well as the missionary, have the promise of the Spirit to lead them into all truth, and that He will use thern to the measure of their knowledge and consecration. But we read in the Acts that tho Apollos was" mighty in the Scriptures," yet it was necessary that he should have expounded to him "the way of God mere perfectly." How mnch more, theil, do these native brethren, recently called out of heathenism, need to have the way of God very carefully and frequently expounded Lo them to insure their highest efficiency.
In such a work of instrnction the Bible is, undoubtedly, the most powerful and important factor. General education is well, and in some directions necess&ry. The more mental discipline the worker can obtain, the better able will he be to exercise his reasor.ing powers. However, even here, our native Christians often astonish us by their wisdom in stating difficult questions, and in the simplicity and force of their illustrations. The school of life has done much for them. So we belieye that. there lies just here a great danger, not only in the preparation of workers recently redeemed from heathenism, but of the missionaries themselves before entering their work in foreign lands. lIow often we have heard experienced missionaries declare that they have been ooliged to reconstrnct their theology since reaching their fields. The mind may be very richly stockt with knowledge, but in the work of preaching Jesus to the lost ollly that knowledge which has been wrought out experimentally, and so comes from the heart, will avail in leading souls to the Savior. Knowledge is power, but in this spiritual work for the Master only that knowledge which has been gained by those who have been with Jesus will preyail.
At the first thought, it might seem that as all spiritual and experimental knowle(1ge are acquired, the oue a gift from the Holy Spirit and the other by the learner himself, under the guidance of the Spirit, the missionary has little to do with the supply of such knowledge. More careful thought, however, will show that he may and ought to ,,,ill have very much to do in this work, and that he fail in his devel- opment of a native instrumentality by so much as he fails at this point in his teaching.
The missionary may well pause here and ask how he can best aid his native brother in the acquirement of such knowledge. We may safely say that the best aid will not be found in a secular education, however helpful that may be, nor will it be found in moral and ethical teaching, nor in sacred geography or Ilistory, ]]01' in any mere intelIectual study of the Bible. It is true that all such knowledge may be among the approap,hes to the Holy of Holies, but they are not the place where God dwells, and where the soul comes into immediate COlltact with its Lord.
It is clear that the first requisite of a successful missionary teacher must be, above all things else, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, whereby he lllay have His help in teaching. Here then we should gi ve fullest recognition to the office of the Holy Spirit, as a Teacher of the things of our Lord. No part of the responsible duties of the ambassador of the Cross needs His help more than that of preparing a native agent for His work.
As Paul preacht with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, so must the missionary teach, if he wOllJd secure success. May he not boldly claim here that help which was given to the Apostle, when he spake" not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power? " How is it possible to deal with the spiritual lives of others, save as we have the enlightening influences of the Spirit in our own? 'rhis is the more necessary, if possible, in dealing with these souls recently saved from heathen ignorance and superstition. We find them (speaking now of the Karens of Burma) without any adequate apprehension of the heinousness of sin in the sight of God, even, in most cases, after their conversion; or of God's great love in Jesus Christ, or of the love of our blessed Lord for lost men in His sufferings and death on the cross. All these wonderful truths are, at first, largely a theory. They do not enter into their experience, or move their sentiments very much. It is only by repeated teaching by their missionary, and the miraculous work of the Spirit, that these verities in our faith get hold of their hearts and begin to be felt by them in their experience.
The Holy Spirit works in many channels, but one of His appointed ways is through the Holy Scriptures, and perhaps the best method of reaching the hearts and consciences of our people is in Bible exegesis. Certainly there is no other method of teaching that gives such opportunities for personal dealing with our people as does this. The Word of God is the peculiar instrument of the Spirit. "Sanctify them through Thy truth; 'rhy Word is truth." Here, if anywhere, we may come into close contact with the hearts and lives of onr pupils. In practise we have this method peculiarly adapted to the spiritual wants of the native disciples, as well as to their growth in grace. As they stmggle up out of the superstition of heathenism, along the way· of the new life, they are daily beset with troops of trials which arise f:'om want of early training, from close contact of their heathen neighbors, and from lack of such helps as abound in Christian lands.
In Bible exegesis we have a most ready instrument for encouragement or rebuke, which may be applied to any need, at any time. Here also a little experience 011 the part of a lcal'ller becomes a key, by which, under the hand of the teacher, the way Illay be opened into larger experimental knowledge. It is also a ready means of correcting any misapprehension of divine truth. For example, it is difficult for a native Christian to learn how trial and snffering can be a proof of the love of God, rather than a judgment for the punishment of sins; but the exegetical study of the twelfth of Hebrews makes it all plain to him, and his doubt is turned to certainty. The little experience he has in discipline of God's love may be used to unlock for him this mystery of human trial.
Again, the exegetical study of the life of Christ, His sufferings, temptations, and trials, His lowly life among the poor, and His wonderful teachings, discloses, as nothing else can do, the loving fellowship of Jesus, the Son of God. His life is so unlike anything they have ever seen in heathen lands, that it is almost too much for them to grasp, and too often they realize it only as a dream which one can not expect to experience or imitate in this life. Blessed, thrice blessed, is the missionary who is able so to live the Christ-life before them, as to give a practical illustration of this loving fellowship of Jesus. In this study, the native Christian is gradually to apprehend the love of God for the world, in the gift of His Son, and also that which is a never-failing source of wonder and astonishment to him-the love of Christ to His enemies.
Again, there is a strong tendency among our native Christians to worship God as do the heathen their idols. That is, they too readily adopt a form of worship without its spirit. 'l'bis may also be true of some in ChriRtian lands, but they have less excuse than those who were born and reared in superstition and ignorance. 'rhey are slow to realize that the living God, whom they are taught to worship bnt can not see, is a real prayer-hearing and prayer-answering Person. Karen Christians are especially gifted with fluency of speech, yet they are not the only ones in this fallen world who seek fine words which shall please the ear rather than a plain talk with God. Too many pray as if they were reciting a piece before an iUol. But Scripture exegesis brings the worshiper repeatedly face to face with God in the Bible. He there hears God speak and learns to realize Him as a living, loving, and interested Person, and that His worship does not consist in forms and ceremonies, however beautiful and elaborate they may be, but in reverent approach to Him in confession and petition.
Again, while almost all other forms of knowledge acquired by the disciple will fade from his memory, spiritual knowledge, which becomes more or less experimental by such practical study and teaching of God's Word, will never fail, but will increase by use and be always available. It becomes, too, the most powerful weapon, when backt by a gentle spirit, one can use in these dark lands, in dealing with heathen superstitions.
In this connection we should notice the necessity of emphasizing certain doctrines of the Bible in our training of a native ministry. The first and most important of these is the doctrine of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. They are very slow to recognize the church or the body as the temple of the Spirit, or His personalty or presence with the believer. Continucd teaching on this point is necessary, but ihe marvelously added power of those who apprehend the great truth, and experience the fellowship of the Divine Comforter and Helper, compensates a thousand-fold the time and strength expended in teaching. As the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, enduing the missionary with power for service is all-important, so in an native workers; the Spirit is one for all.
Native Christians have not a little difficulty ill divesting themselves of the idea that their salvation depends much on their good deeds instead of solely on the merits of J esns. They are so accustomed to think of judgment following sin, as "the cart-wheel follows the ox," that the doctrine of grace is too often a mystery to them. Moreover, the doctrine of vicarious suffering is so foreign to all their experience, that the atonement is very hard to apprehend, tho they readily profess to understalld it. Hence the necessity of emphasizing this doctrine. The doctrine of "constraining love," also, should al ways be taught side by side with the atonement, for in this we get the true and highest motive to right thinking, acting, and living. '1'he transformation of character under the teaching of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, atonement, and constraining love, is sometimes most remarkable.
Again, there is seldom any family discipline among these Eastern peoples. Hence it is difficult for a native Christian to make the love and justice of God agree. He is always asking, "If God loves me as the Bible says, why does He let me suffer?" The strict discipline of our training-schools, and careful teaching on this point are necessary.
The pupils must learn that absolute loyalty to Christ is founded on absolute obedience to Him, not even connting their lives dear to themselves. It is a matter of constant surprise to see how many of our disciples endure hardness as good soldiers of the Cross, trials which would seriously test the faith of any missionary himself, and some even suffering martyrdom for Jesns' sake.
Finally, it is wise to keep before the native learner the joys and rewards of heaven. IVe have found the Revelation one of the most popular books of the Bible on this account. He can readily understand the triumphs of the Gospel there depicted, and as he delights in figures and symbols leading up to these trinmphs, he quickly responds to these riches of hope. He accepts these foretold victories of the Cross
THE GREAT BURMESE PAGODA
with a child-like faith, and brings them into his daily life as a comfort and support under the many trials he must meet with in his efforts to live a Christian life amidst his heathen surroundings.
In summing up what we believe to be the best method of Bible preparation for our native w.orkers we would say:- First.-The missionary can not prepare himself too carefully by daily study of the Vord of God, meditation on the portion he is to teach, and prayer for the help of the Holy Spirit, and he should assiduously teaeh his pupils to practise the same method.
Second.-Let the method of teaching be largely one of Bible exegesis. 'l'hird.-Always apply the teachings which arise in daily lessons experimentally and to specific cases, as far as possible. Fourth.-Always keep the love of Christ to the front, for love begets love, and thus the pupil may be led to love and know Him more immediately, "whom to know is life." Fifth.-Encourage the learners by all means to ask questions, and so educate by drawing out rather than by pouring in. Sixth.-Patiently meet every diffieulty presented by the pupil, however trivial. It is only a pebble that sometimes turns the beginning of a mighty river to the east or to the west. Finally.-Let the spiritual and experimental he always in advance. This is all important and indispensable to a successful worker. All other knowledge is subsidiary.
'rHE GREAT BURMESE ·PAGODA.
BY HEY. II. mUTTA~ m:rXXESS, D.])., LOXDOX, EXGLAXD. Founder of the East London Missionary Institute.
Crowning a hill near Hangoon the.Swe-Dagon Pagoda, the greatest and most venerable pagoda in Indo-China, lifts its golden pinnacles into the clear blue sky, towering to a height above that of St. Paul's Cathedral in Lonuon. A host of smaller pagouas surround it, whose walls and roofs are carved into fantastic shapes, while within them sit countless statues of Buddha, in white marhle, in gilded wood, in black metal, in glittering brass; the sitting figure being always the same in form, the legs crost beneath, the right hand recumbent, the left hand open in the lap, to receive the gifts of worshipers, with an aspect of imperturbable calm upon the countenance, the look of a heing who has reacht the rest of ~irvana.
Shaven, bare-headed, yellow-robed priests attend in every shrine of this vast pagoda; they lead the devotions, they light the taper~ they chant the prayers, they take the gifts, candles, rice, flowers, money, they supervise the ceremonies. Crowds of gaily-drest Burmese move through the wide courts, or stand aroulld the stalls, or listen to the fortune-tellers, or kneel before the statnes of Gautama Buddha,. With hands prest together they repeat their prayers, a rosary depending from their fingers; or reverently bow before the idol till the forehead touches the ground.
Statues innumerable adorn the pagoda, from the gigantic leogryphs, or dragon-like lions, which guard the entrance, to the legendary figures of Gautama on the lofty roofs and pinnacles. On this spot a nation has lavisht its wealth through long centuries, to adorn the worship of Buduha with the utmost magnificence. That wealth has built these terraces, these long ascents, these countless shrines, these glittering spires; generations of pilgrims have filled these imagehouses with their gifts; have burnt the illeense, and scattered the flowers, and chanted the prayers in a worship never intermitted day or uight. Anu this has gone on for ages. As long ago as in the time of the Maccabees and of the Babylonish captivity, a pagoda to Gautama Buduha was stanuing here. One pagoda has' followeu another; as one has decayed another has been built; larger pagodas have been built over smaller ones; shrines and statues of Buddha have been multiplied, roof has been added to roof, spire to spire, and pinnacle to pinnacle, until now this wonder of the Eastern world, containing, as it is said, not only actual relics of Gautama, but of the three Buddhas who preeeded him, stands on this spot in unrivaled splendor, attracting pilgrims from every province in Burma, from Cambodia, Siam, Korea, and Ceylon.
And yet there is about it all a look of mental and moral poverty, and even of barbarism. The carvings are grotesque. There is a wearisome sameness of idea. Buddha sits in the same posture in every shrine. There are whole rows of Buddhas, pagodas filled with nothing but statues of Buddha. On that one form all this wealth has been lavisht. To that one figure every eye, every thought has been direeted. The calm, abstracted look of a reputed saint who has attained, as the reward of personal merit, a fixt unsuffering state, rivets the gaze of worshiping thousands; the hope of etemal quietude, of a waking slumber untroubled oven by a passing dream, of a sort of living death, an existence wrapt in the stillness aIlli. silence of Nirvana, fascinates the mind of every worshiper. Gautama Buddha is the great object of their adoration and guide of their hopes. This is that ancient idolatry which holds half Asia in its grip. Day by day the cloudless sun pours its splendor on the material adjuncts of this scene of spiritual darkness. Here millions adore the dead. Here the living God is all unknown. To Him nOlle bow the knee. None fear Him, or praise Him, or proclaim His truth. His glory fills heaven and earth, but none behold it here. All bow to Buddha in this holy of holies of the Eastern world, this center of ten thousand times ten thousand pagodas lifting up to-day their spires over half the world, from the palms of Ceylon and the peaks of the Himalayas, to the rivers of Burma and Ohina" and the shores of Korea and Japan.
DAYS IX MADAGASCAR
A religion which ignores the existence of God, which denies the existence of the soul, which affirms transmigration and the reign of fate, which proclaims pain and punishment, but knows nothing of grace and pardon, which holds forth no prospect of immortality, which offers no hope for the present life, and none worthy of acceptance for the future, is still, and has been for ages, the dominant religion of Asia. Under the veil of astrology, devil worship, or witchcraft, the powers of nature are adored. The s'eli-denial of the ascetic is magnified as the highest art of virtue. The doctrine is believed that man holds himself the keys of heaven and hell; a hell of sevenfold horrors, and a heaven of sensual or dreamy delights. The golden statne of Gantama Buddha has practically been placl>d upon the throne of God, and is there to-day; not to listen to the prayers which are addrest to it, for it is deaf; not to stretch forth a helping hand to the mass of misery at its feet, for it is paralyzed; not to feel for the woes of humanity, for it is soulless and dead; but to fix the gaze of benighted millions, to direct their vain and deluded hopes, and to hide from them in life and death the character, presence, and glory of Him who alone is the Creator, the Ruler, and Redeemer of the world.
BRIGHTER DAYS IN MADAGASCAR.
BY REV. 'Y)I. C. COUSIKS, ~I.A. Missionary of the London Missionary Society at Autananarivo.
A special deputation* from the directors of the London Missionary Society has for eight weeks past (Oct. 15-Dec. 10) been engaged in a careful revision of the society's work here, in making arrallgements with the missionaries of the Paris society, and in endeavoring to convince the French authorities that the aims of the society are pm'ely religious, and not political. The visit of the deputation had long been lookt forward to, and their special mission has been the object of much prayer. Now we look back upon it with a deep feeling of thankfulness, and with a belief that all has been wisely ordered.
'rhe first nlatter demanding the efforts of the deputation was to try and remove from General GalliEmi's mind the strong prejudice he has felt against the work of the society. The men chosen as its special representatives were admirably fitted for this task. Mr. Thompson's full knowledge of all the facts, and his courteous, yet firm, manner, cou pled with Mr. Spicer's bright and hopeful spirit and evident wish to be on friendly terms with all mell, proved a most *The two members of the deputation were the Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson. the well-known Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society. and Mr. Evan Spicer. a member of the London County Conncil. and a broad-minded, energetic. and earnest supporter of the general aims and work of the society. happy and successful combination. 'rhe general affirmed his belief in the loyalty of the missionaries; but said that many of the native adhercnttl of thc society regarded it as a spccial representative of British power and influence. These still hoped that through its inter- vention some help against French rule might be forthcoming. To convince the natives that Frallce is master here, he seized our build- ings and took other harsh steps. The deputation offered to issue a letter to the native Christians under our care stating clearly that such hopes were utterly groundless, that the aims of the society were entirely moral and spiritual, and that if any adherents of the society indulged in such foolish talk, they might render it impossiblc to con- tinue to work in Madagascar. Sncll a letter was issucd both in Malagasy and in French, signed by Mes3rs. Thompson and Spicer, and by all the London missionaries in and around Antananarivo.* The growth of confidencc on the part of General Gallieni has been very markt, and he has, during the last few days, given unmistakable evidence of his sincerity. He has allowed the society to reengage Hova evangelists who were banisht from Betsileo, and has given us permission to buy a house in Ambohimahasoa, from which town its missionary was evicted a year ago, simply because of his connection with the London Missionary Society. Furthermore, on Monday (Dec. 6th), he paiu a personal visit to the girls' school in Ambodin Anuohalo in order to show the people that he diu not in any way oppose our work. In his address he said that tho it had been agreed that the building was soon to pass into the hands of the French Government, he should now recommend the colonial minister to allow it to remain as a girls' school under the care of the London Missionary Society. He also said to the parents and others: "You see I am helping these missionaries and you must do the same." 'rhis visit of the general has given great delight to our many native friends, and they begin to see that the days of repression are passing away.
'rhe next important matter for the consideration of the deputation was the arrangements to be entered into with the Paris society. As a result of the conference eight large districts have been placed nnder the care of that society. These districts contained in 1895 (before the war) 550 congregations. Elementary education throughout the whole of Imerina and Betsileo remains under the care of the Paris society, altho General Gallielli told the deputation that the London Missionary Society was at perfect liberty to resume control of the schools if it desired. When, early in 1897, the schools past under the care of the Paris society, they were 438, and contained 30,955 scholars, and the number has largely increast since the transfer was made. It is thought wise to allow all thcse elementary schools to remain under Frooch care, as they will more readily understand and fall in with the views • The letter has since been reprinted by the general's order in the Journal Official. of the government. Full liberty is, at the same time, accorded to the L. M. S. missionaries in the various districts (either in person or through properly appointed representatives), to give religious instruction in the schools.
The general results of the visit of the deputation to Betsileo are eminently satisfactory. 'fwo districts (Ambosib-o and Isandra) are placed under the care of the Paris society, as well as all the elementary education. 'fhe girls' school at Fianarantsoa, which had for a time been taken over by the Paris society, will now revert to the London Missionary Society. M. Benezesch, who represents the Paris society in Betsileo, has shown great earnestness and activity, and has done much to restore confidence among our native adherents. lIe has made it clear to all that Protestants are not to be considered the enemies of France. The missions on the east coast, at Tamatave and Ambahy, will no longer be carried on by the London Missionary Society, but there is reason to hope that either the Norwegian society, or some French or Swiss society will enter into this work.
The net result of recent changes is that about half the territory formerly workt by the London Missionary SociE'ty has now been given up, and that whereas, when the last statistics were gathered, we had 1,445 congregations under our care, we now have less than 700. In this smaller area and among the 700 churches still under our care, it is believed that much good work may still be carried 011. The districts formerly under the care of individual missionaries were too extensive to allow of eflicient superintendence, and with Rmaller districts and more native helpers, it is hoped that much may be done to strengthen the churches that have been so sadly weakened by the events of the past two years. Already there are signs of returning confidence and hope. The reign of terror seems to be drawing to an end. The state of siege has been raised, and we are once more under civil rule. The Jesuits appear to have gone too far, and to have tried the patience of the government. They have evidently received some caution or check, and are far quieter than a year ago. The government has begun to see how much harm was done by stirring up religious strife all over the cOllntry. At the same time we can not shut onr eyes to the fact that the Roman Catholics are growing in number and influence. 'l'he Roman Catholic religion is regarded as the French religion, and many flock to their churches. The most distressing aspect of the question is that many Protestant children have been sent to the Roman Catholic schools for the sake of the French language. The Protestant churches of the future may be less in number and may have far smaller congregations, but we must work and pray in the hope that there may still exist a vigorous body of Protestant Christians who, by their intelligence, their religious earnestness, and the testimony of pure lives, may do much to promote the highest interests of their native land.
"THE RUIN OF INDIA" BY BRITISH RULE
II.-MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT.
"THE RUIN OF INDIA" BY BRITISH RULE. * BY S. H. KELLOGG, D.D., LL.D.
I have read with equal pain and astonishment an article by Professor Des Islets, entitled" The Ruin of India," t wherein various assertions are made which, were they justified by facts, would show this government to be one of the most pitiless tyrannies on the face of the earth. But I rejoice to be able, to the credit of our common civilization and Christianity, to assure the professor that, from whatsoever source he has derived his supposed information, he has been in this matter most egregiously deceived.
In his very first sentences the writer shows that he is under a total misapprehension of the facts regarding the riots in Calcutta and the assassinations in Poona during this last summer, which he intimates to have been due to the" frightful oppression" which India is enduring at the hands of her British rulers. In reality, however, both the riots and assassinations were occasioned, not by the ill-doing, but by the conspicuous well-doing of the government.
In the case of the riots an appeal had been taken to the High Court by a certain Bengali gentleman of rank, regarding the ownership of a certain piece of land on which stood a Mohammedan place of prayer. The High Court on reviewing the evidence sustained the appeal, and ordered the premises to be vacated by the Mohammedans. When they refused to do this, the government officer proceeded to remove their building. Hence the riot. Where in all this was the" frightful oppression ?"
In Poona and Bombay the terrible black plague has been raging for months. As the only means known to modern science of combating the pestilence with any hope of success, the government ordered the segregation of all that were stricken in speeial hospitals, either provided by government, or, wherever preferred, by the members of the different castes and religions, each for themselves. But the people generally would not let cases be known, and constantly secreted the sick in close and poisonous quarters, thereby intensifying the infection and spreading the disease. Under these circumstances the government ordered a compulsory house to house inspection of such infected cities, the compulsory cleaning of filthy houses, the removal and burial or burning of the corpses frequently found in them, the forcible removal of all in them found sick with the plague to the hospitals provided, where all who chose might have the best treatment known to modern seience. These searches were carried out by organized parties made up of native gentlemen, British soldiers, and English ladies who volunteered for the purpose. But all this, instead of moving the people to gratitude, excited a fierce tempest of angry hate, of which the deepest secret doubtless was to be found in the intense caste pride and superstition of the ,Mahratta Brahmins, who were thus compelled to admit into the sacredness of their houses these unclean foreigners, whose very shadow falling on their food is supposed to render it so unclean that it must be thrown away. Those who have been engaged in this work have been threatened with death, sometimes violently assaulted, assailed both in India and even at home, by radical members of Parliament, with the most atrocious al}d unmentionable calumnies, and * From the Presbyterian Review, Toronto, t Presbyteriqn Messenger, Sept, 30, iS97.
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at last this culminated on the Queen's Jubilee day in the Poona assassinations, wherein the officer in charge of these plague operations was shot at night by one of these same Mahratta Brahmins, as now confest by the assassin himself.
Again Professor Des Islets makes this astounding assertion-that from the wretched millions of India" England extorts every year, without any compensation, the enormous sum of $150,000,000." * Without any compensation! How any intelligent man can say that England gives" no compensation" to the people of India for the taxes she takes, passes comprehension. In the first place, in return for these, she has given the people, from one end of India to the other, a system of government which, in so far as it is administered, not by natives, but by the members of Her Majesty's Covenanted Civil Service, stands to-day as a model to the whole world for purity and incorruptibility, and magnificent labors f,)r the help of the poverty-stricken millions of this over-crowded country. In the days of the Mohammedan rule of India, Tavernier wrote that a traveler in India" ought always to take with him twenty or thirty armed lnen." Is the present security no "compensation" for revenues taken from the people?
Again, the British rulers of India have during a comparatively short period developt a system of education which has planted schools, colleges, and universities in every part of the land. These are supported in large part by revenues taken fro~n the people. Is a great educational system like this, supervised by cultivated university men from home, no "compensation" for the taxes taken from the people?
Again, out of the revenues gathered from the people the government has constructed-to illustrate-in the Northwest Provinces alone, and within the lifetime of the present generation, 10,173 miles of irrigation canals, which last year supplied water to 11,437 villages and watered over 2,000,000 acres. Similar figures might be given for the Punjab and other parts of British India; and the government is at present planning another magnificent system of irrigation for Oudh and Rohilkhand which, when carried out, will be of even greater magnitude JCtnd irrigate over two and a quarter million acres. Except for the tens of thousands of miles of irrigation canals which have been built and are still being constructed by the British government, this last year would have witnest a famine here, in comparison with which the horrors of that now drawing to an end would have seemed insignificant and for the like of which ,ve should have to go back to the happily by-gone days of independent native rule.
To these instances of the return given to India by her British rulers for the taxes taken from the p30ple may be added many others, due exclusively to British rule, which space forbids me more than to mention. Such are e. g., a most complete postal system, with the unit of postage, to all parts of India and Burma, a half-anna, or one cent; a postal telegraph, by which a message can be wired anywhere in India or Burma for as low as sixteen cents; connected with the post-office, also, a government savings-bank by which, in any post-office in the empire, may be deposited, at interest, so small a sum as eight cents-a favorite form cf investment with thousands of the very natives who most vigorously denounce the government; hospitals and dispensaries scattered all over the land where the poorest may have enlightened European treat- * An average of fifty cents per capita a year.
"THE RUIN OF INDIA" BY BRITISH RULE. 2'i''i'
ment gratis; permanent security-no doubt, sometimes, at the expense of one of those "useless frontier wars," for which the professor blamEs the government-against the fearful Mohammedan raids and invasions by which, previous to British rule, large parts of India had been repeatedly laid desolate; magnificently graded macadamized roads, connecting all important places in India, not to speak of steamboat lines, and railways with fares so low that one can go, if he please, from Calcutta to Peshawar, near the Afghan frontier, 1,M2 miles, for about $6.00, etc., etc. This enumeration is far from complete, but it will suffice to enable the average reader to judge with how ITuch of truth and justice it is charged in the article review~ed that England" extorts" her" enormous" revenues from the Indian people" without any compensation."
Professor Des Islets strangely regards the railways of India not as works of enlightened beneficence, but" as immense siphons to drain the resources of the country toward England." The truth, again, is the exact opposite. Even with the vast irrigation system, except for the railways little could be done to mitigate famine, simply for lack of tramportation. And yet the professor can only see in the railways of India another evidence of the greedy tyranny of its British rulers, and de pite tens of thousands of miles of these railways and irrigation canals he can write: " The famine in India is a famine of which the English are the cause." But what he calls a "proof of this," is, if possible, more astounding than the original assertion; namely, that" the great native vassal states, with 50,000,000 of population, do not suffer from famine." I never heard such a statement made before, and no wonder, for it is utterly incorrect. Given the same conditions of soil and climate, the native states suffer from famine precisely as do the contiguous British districts.
It is, indeed, true that a very large proportion of the people are distressingly poor; but there is only one sense in which it can be said with unqualified truth that this is due to the British domination. India is enormously over-populated. In the Ganges valley the population ranges from 500 to 700 to the square mile. Before the British rule began almost incessant wars helpt to keep the population down, and when famine or cholera or deadly fever would sweep through the country, the native rulers as a rule did nothing to save life, millions perisht, and the congestion was relieved. But now it is different. The Pax Brit!'~nnica has now long ruled; intestine wars are at an end; cholera is checkt; famine is relieved, and mortality is otherwise diminisht. The velY excellence and beneficence of the government becomes the direct occasion of increasing that over-population which is the necessary cause of the extreme poverty of the mass of the people. In this sense only is there any truth in the statement that "the English are the cause of this famine."
I am far from maintaining that every British official is a saint, or that there have been and are no grave mistakes in government policy, and no great moral wrongs which are still unrighted. But on the whole, despite tremendous difficulties, it is probable that no existing government has ever shown such a grand example of the application of the Golden Rule to the administration of the affairs of a people as the British government in India has been exhibiting, especially during this past year of terrible disast8r and trouble. If an impartiality in justice between the various subject peoples, so absolute and colorless that it causes the government to be cordially hated by millions of the adherents of both the chief religions of the country; if the expenditure of mi!-
27$ MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
lions continually for the amelioration of poverty, th~ prevention of famine, and the spread of education, latterly under repeated threats of a bloody return for their kindness and beneficence, be Christian; if it be right and Christian to put an end to suttee, thuggism, infanticide, and-as in parts of South India-the compulsory nakedness of low-caste women; if it be a high Christian duty, in the interest alike of India and the whole world to invade, at whatsoever risk, even the sanctity of a proud Brahmin's or Mohammedan's house, rather than to allow the" Black Death" to rage unrestrained; then I may without fear avow my settled conviction, the growth of more than thirty years' intimate acquaintance with India, that notwithstanding sometimes failures and grave mistakes, and sometimes even great moral wrong, in administering or supervising the government of these 287,000,000; yet, on the whole, the present British administration of India is probably 'more practically Christian than that of any other country in the world.
RAMABAI'S FAMINE WIDOWS.
In our September (1897) number we gave some account of the rescue of child-widows carried on by Pundita Ramabai in Poona, Bombay Residency, India. Since that time the blessing of God and the generous contributions of Christians at home and abroad have caused markt progress in the work, and many of the girls and young women in Sharada Sadan have given their hearts to God. We gather the fol- lowing items of interest in regard to the work from Ramabai's re- ports and from articles in the Bom- bay GUa1'dianandlndian Witness. Ramabai is now in America, and is being warmly welcomed by those who have heard of her work for the Master. We hope soon to have a satisfactory paper on the condition of the child-widows of India a.nd what is being done for them. In her publisht report Ramabai writes as follows (Oct., 1897): "In April, 1896, I attended a camp-meeting at Lanowlee, accom- paniedby fifteen of my own girls who were believers in the Lord Jesus. My heart was full of joy and peace, and I offered thanks to the Heavenly Father for having giYen me fifteen children, and I was l'ARA. A DESTITUTE CHILD WIDOW, AS SHE by the Spirit led to pray that the Lord would be so gracious as to F.:-01'ERED RAMABAi' s HOME, 1892.
square the number of my spiritual children before the next camp-meeting takes place. Every circumstance was against the very thought. For in the first place not more than sixty or sixty-five girls at the most could be admitted in my school. Then the number of my schoolgirls was but forty-nine, and some of them were to leave during the summer holidays.
RAMABAI'S FAMI!'E WIDOWS. 2')'9
"Six months past away from that time, and our work went on as usual. There was no increase in the number of my pupils, on the con- trary, the number went down to forty-one. I knew nothing of the famine in Central India, nor that I could get any girls from that part of the country. In October I heard of the terrible famine in the Central Prov- inces, and received my call from God to go there and rescue some of the young widows who were starving to death. It was not until the last week of December that I had the courage to obey the call.
I was doubtful whether I could get any of the kind of girl widows that I could admit into my school. The chief difficulty was the want of place to shelter the girls and of money to maintain them. The Lord put it in my mind to rescue three hundred girls; and in less than ten months from the time when I began the rescue work, the Lord has given me nearly three hundred girls from the famine districts. These are my own girls, and I am free to bring them up in the fear of God; praise the Lord!
No one of them is compelled to become a Christian, and yet most of these new girls delight to attend prayer and to hear the Word of God. About ninety new girls have accepted the Lord Jesus as their TARA, A CHRISTIAN WIFE, AS SHE LEFT Savior, and I believe that before RAMABAI'S HOME, 1897.
the next camp-meeting the numher of my spiritual children will increase to 225, and my prayer to square the number fifteen will be answered.
" I had no human sources to depend upon, but the Lord raised friends for me, and money was poured into our treasury, and the blessings of the Lord came down like a shower, and His promise as recorded in Ps. lxxxii.
10 has been literally fulfilled. I must here record heartfelt gratitude and give thanks to the dear children of God who have so generously sent donations from all parts of the world. Most of the girls who had been nothing but skeletons and wild like the beasts of the jungle, are now looking fat and humanized. Many of them show great intelligence and eagerness to learn. Those who have profest faith ,in Christ are showing signs of a real change of hcart by serving and helping other girls, by their self-forgetfulness and love toward one another.
"The Lord gave me so many blessings in the shape of girls that there was 'not room enough to receive' them in our fornler schoolhouse.
So I was obliged to add a wing to our school building in Poona; to build another large house in our farm at Kedgaum, and, finding those insuf- ficient to shelter all the girls who are in my charge, I have hired another Lungalow for a period of ten months until the other large buildings now
mISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
under construction at Kedgaum are finisht. They will shelter over two hundred and fifty girls. * There we shall have primary industrial schools to train the girls according to their abilities. The most intelligent of these girls will be placed in the higher standards in our school at Poona.
" The famine relief work has been taken up as a Christian work, and it shall be so to the last. The Holy Spirit has now put it in my heart to pray for starting a Christian mission in the village where our famine girls' school is to be. I request my Christian friends to pray especially for the true conversion of my famine children and for this mission which is to be started shortly."
Rev. D. O. Fox, who has audited Ramabai's accounts, writes: "Kedgaum is thirty-four miles from Poona east on the railway. The farm joins the railway station, and has one hundred and twenty acres, all under cultivation. Three wells have been dug, which will yield abundance of water for the use of the Home and for the cultivation of the farm. Things about the farm look as if the Pundita is likely to be as good a manager of a farm as she is of the Home.
"We went through her accounts and gathered up the totals of her expenditures for eight months ending with the 9th of September. The cost of caring for an average of two hundred and fifty girls, including a few women, is a little over eight rupees per month per head. This includes all expenditures of food, clothing, salaries of teachers, and other workers in the Home, washing, cooking, and other household utensils, furniture, school books, and other expenses connected with the Home."
Miss Baird, of the American Friends' Mission, Nowgong, Central India, says: "At the beginning of our work of gathering children from the famine sufferers to send to different mission-schools and orphanages, we were met with a difficult question, namely, what shall we do with the young widows who come to us perfectly destitute? They could not be admitted into the mission-schools, and many of them were too young and pretty to be kept with safety upon our open compound. After praying for guidance Miss Fistler wrote to Pundita Ramabai, asking her if she had room for any such girls. With her usual promptness she dispatcht – , coming.' Since then she has visited Central India four times, and has taken about three hundred young famine widows to Poona and Kedgaum.
"A month ago, when I visited Poona and Kedgaum, I could but exclaim, 'What hath God wrought amongst the heathen hy the ministry of one woman!' Our starved, emaciated girls of three months before had become round and rosy beyond all recognition, and were singing hymns as lustily as tho they had always been familiar with them, many had learned to read, and there have already been thirty real heart conversions in the home at Kedgaum, where the work among the girls is thoroughly evangelical, unhampered by any promises to caste-keeping relatives.t • The annual expenses of this new establishment-where three hundred girls and workers are to be maintained – will amount to fifty thousand rupees (about sixteen thousand dollars).
t Many have askt why Ramabai estimates for more money for the support of her girls than the missionaries do for the same number of children kept in mission·schools and orphanages Ramabai makes a real home for the girls, while missionaries are usually contented to give children simply a boarding-school. She lives with her girls, and gives to each that which she considers necessary for her own health and strength.
1898.J RAMABAI'S FAMINE WIDOWS
" I think the most beautiful work of grace I have ever Been in any child's heart was the following: A few evenings ago we were late in going to have prayers with the girls, so when we got to the door we found dear little Anandi had gathered all the women and children together and was praying aloud with them and they repeating the prayer after her. How the heart of our Father God must have rejoiced as He heard such requests and thanksgiving as ascended from that room. 'Our kind heavenly Father, we do thank You for bringing us here, giving us such deal' friends, and especially for Ramabai. Oh! our kind Father, those of us who love You, we want You to keep our hearts very clean, and those who don't love You, quickly clean their hearts, and keep them clean by YOUI' Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Oh! our kind Father, take care of all us in this Home and the Poona Home to-night; bless all who look after us, and abundantly bless Ramabai and Sundrabai who take such care of us. Now, Father, we thank You for Jesus and for what Jesus promises to do for us. Take care of us to-night, and forgive us wherein we have given You pain to-day, for Jesus' sake. Amen.'''
Miss A. Parsons, of the" Poona and Indian Village Mission," gives an interesting picture of days spent with Ramabai's famine widows at Kedgaum. She says in part: "They are a sad pitiful sight when first they come! Some almost too weak to move, some throngh want of cleanliness and propel' food are covered with sores, that it is painful to look at them, others through sheer poverty have been reduced to wearing the same article of clothing for such a very long time that it is impossible to stand neal' them without feeling faint through the very unhealthy odor proceeding therefrom. Praise the Lord for what a few months in the Home have done for such! They are not only clean, and the majority of them strong and healthy, but they have wonderfully toned down through the Ohrist-influence that has been exerted over them, and now instead of quarreling and fighting, they gladly do anything for one another, or for those who are in charge of them. Some have accepted Ohrist as their Savior, and many of us who are older in the Ohristian life, might well envy them their simple faith in a God whom they believe not only has made a way of salvation from sin for them, but one who cares for them and promises to supply their every need."
Rev. 'V. 'V. Bruere held ten days' special services in the Poona Home last year, and at the close 116 women and child-widows were baptized. Later he went to Kedgaum to hold a mission. The women had been prepared for these services by constant daily religious teaching ever since they entered the Home. At the close of three !;lays' services sixty-seven had been converted. The meetings were continued, Mr. Bruere returned, and as the crowning event on November 15, the baptismal service took place. It was a rare sight when seventeen bullock carts, crowded with seven and eight women in each, started out for the Bheema River, five and a half miles distant from the farm. Songs of joy arose one after another as they slowly went along, methinks mingled themselves with the joy around the throne when sinners are converted. A tent was· pitcht on the bank of the river, which served as a dressingroom. A short service was held by Rev. W. W. Bruere, after which the haptisms took place. The happy faces and frequent expressions of praise showed that the Spirit teaches His children alike the world over, for these women had never come in contact with many Ohristians, revivals,
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
or baptismal services. One hundred and eight women and girls and one boy of twelve years of age were baptized.
The chief thing that imprest one in the meetings was the real working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the girls, producing real sorrow for sin and an earnest search for salvation. Then when the light would break in, there would be the spontaneous utterance of such notes of praise as the one Spirit alone can teach. We all know how timid the women of this country are about speaking in public, but when Jesus comes into the heart, the joy of salvation drives out fear. One after another they would rise and tell of forgiveness of sins, yet in language peculiarly their own.
On Sunday "something new" came into existence-a church of widows. Connected with the church a Sunday-school was organized, with regular officers and teachers. The older girls (those under Ramabai's care prior to the famine) have a chance to prove that salvation is not a selfish acquirement, for they are given a class in Sunday-school as well as appointed class-leaders to instruct those in their charge.
THE LIVINGSTONIA MISSION IN AFRICA. * BY RIGHT HON. LORD OVERTOUN.
Twenty-four years have past away since David Livingstone died on his knees at Ilala, near Lake Bangweolo. While his body was brought home by loving hands and laid to rest among the luighty dead in Westminster Abbey, his heart rests near the spot where, in suffering, he spent the last night of his life, among the people he loved so well.
His death rang the great bell for the evangelization of the Dark Continent, and the Livingstonia Mission, advocated by Dr. Stewart, of Lovedale, Livingstone's fellow-traveler, was founded in 1874, and stands to-day a nobler monument to the great missionary than crumbling marble. The following year the Ilala steamed into Lake Nyassa, bearing a company of pioneer missionaries, headed by Dr. Laws, who for a quarter of a century has ably directed the Livingstonia Mission. During all these years a battle has been steadily waged of Light against Darkness; the Gospel against Heathenism; Liberty against Slavery; Civilization against Barbarism; Righteousness and Truth against Vice, Cruelty, and Superstition.
By God's good hand upon us the small band of 1875 now numbers 28 Scottish missionaries and 112 native evangelists, while there has been formed a native church, with seven congregations, 12 elder~ and deacons, and 291 members. There are now 85 schools, with 354 native teachers and monitors, and with a daily attendance of 11,510 pupils.
The great purpose of the Livingstonia Mission is to win Central Africa for Christ. The work is carried on on four great lines: 1. Ecl'angeHzai'ion by the direct proclamation of the Gospel at the various mission centers. At Bandawe the attendance at church on Sabbath numbers upward of 1,000, and from each center native evangelists go out every Sabbath with the Gospel message to surrounding villages, some as much as ten miles distant. The church building has become too * From The Ftee Church of Scotland Monthly.
1898·1 'tHE LJVINGSTONIA MISSION IN
small, and the session and congregation have petitioned for help to build a new church, seated for 1,400, to which they are to contribute £200, ($1,000). Not only the adults are reacht, but the children are specially cared for and taught in Sunday-schools out of God's Vord in their own tongue. They have a great talent for music, and delight in the hymns which are on the lips and hearts of our bairns at home. The printing and circulation of the Bible in the native dialects have greatly helpt the work, and the people are gladly paying for the VVord of God and Chris- tian literature, which are now spreading through the country.
2. Medical lIfissions.-As in all lands, so in Africa, this work has arrested and won the people, and given them perhaps their first idea of what Christianity is. That men better, wiser, stronger than they should come, not to destroy or rob them, but to heal and help, is a mystery beyond their comprehension. Vhen they see men and women healed and cured by those who are constrained by love of God, and learn that the Son of God lived and died on the earth to save them, is it to be wondered at that their confidence and then their hearts were won? At Bandawe alone more than 10,000 cases have been treated in the past year.
3. Educai'ion.-No thoughtful or observant man now questions the policy of educating the natives, for in the march of civilization and commerce, the demand is steadily on the increase for trained and intelligent natives, and the daily attendance at the eighty-five schools is very large. There are a large number at the elementary stages, hut many, especially at the Institute, are in the fifth and sixth standards. The diversity of tongues-nine different languages being spoken in Nyassaland-greatly increases the difficulty of school-work. Ve are feeling more and more the desirability of having a uniform language, and are trying to adopt tltt Nyanja language, enricht by such words as may be adapted from others.
4. Industrial Work.-The experience gained, and the success achieved at Lovedale under the able guiding hand of Dr. James Stewart, satisfied us at the outset of the mission that we must seek not only to take the Gospel of Christ to the people of N yassaland by direct preaching and medical missions, but also to educate them-not only in ordinary school instruction, but to train them in industrial pursuits-so that some occupation might be given which would take the place of their one occupation, warfare, and also prove beneficial to the people by training them in the arts of peace. Ve therefore, at all our stations, have more or less given instruction by Christian tradesmen in carpentery, brickmaking, agriculture, building, and latterly printing, telegraphy, and tailoring, as well as elementary ambulance work. A central training institute receives the more promising pupils, and makes them inh mechanics and tradpsmen who will do much to develop thp country. The demand for admission from all the stations is three times as great as our accommodation, staff, and funds allow us to receive.
The work of the Livingstonia :Mission is changing the country and the people. Slave-raiding, with its horrors, is almost a thing of the past. Poison-drinking is ceasing. Superstition is dying out. Fields are planted with coffee, wheat, and potatoes, and gardens with vegetables. New fruit and timber trees are being planted, and cattle are being raised and tended. All this has been wrought hy God through the Gospel, through the labors of our noble band of workers. But Africa is to be
MISSIONARY DIGEST trE]PAR1'lIfENT
won by her own sons and daughters, and for this end we are laboring. Within the last six months 285 men and women have confest their faith in Christ. The field is great, and there are openings around us, which for lack of men and money we can not yet enter, while they are calling us to come.
———- REV. PROFESSOR JAMES LEGGE, M.A., D.D., LL.D.* 1. HIS WORK IN CHINA.-The fame of Dr. Legge as a Chinese scholar of the very first rank has traveled throughout the world. He was of such a scholarly turn of mind, that he might have risen to high eminence in the university in which he was trained, but his mind, however, was set upon becoming a missionary. Accordingly, in the year 1839, t he was appointed to labor in the great empire of China.
In those early days China sternly and haughtily refused to allow foreigners free access into the country. Dr. Legge, therefore, began his missionary life at Malacca, where he became the presiding spirit in the college which had been establisht there for the higher education of Chinese young men, who, it was hoped, would play an important part in the elevation of their country.
After the conclusion of the war between England and China, and the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, by which Hongkong was ceded to the former country, Dr. Legge hastened to take up his residence there. He was not content with being able simply to acquire the spoken language of the Chinese, but determined to study the written characters in which the books are printed, Thus he would be able to read for himself the writings of the ancient sages of China. Dr. Legge was a hard student. As his knowledge of the language grew, and his acquaintance with the writ;ngs of Confucius and Mencius became more thorough, the purpose to translate these into English gradually fixt itself in his mind. Those who would understand the Chinese, must study their sacred writings. Dr. Legge determined that this should be made possible by translating them into English. The Chinese classics reveal the mincl of China more than any other books that have ever been written in that great empire. They stand, in fact, in very much the same relation to the people of China as the Bible does to the English. They have had to do with the molding and development of the Chinese character. From early times down to the present they have been the only school-books that would be tolerated in any school throughout the eighteen provinces. Every man that professes to be a scholar knows them off by heart, and even those whose education is most imperfect will assume an appearance of culture by quoting sentences that they have learned from them on all possible occasions. They are the royal road to distinction and honors in the State, for only the men that have received their degrees by passing examinations in them can hope for high official appointments. Every man in China is a Confucianist first, no matter what else he may be after.
To perform this great task one would naturally suppose that Dr.
* From the L. M. S. Chronicle.
t James Legge was born at Huntly, Aberdeenshire. on Dec. 20, 1814, and studied first at King's College and University, Aberdeen, and then at Highbury College, London. He was a member of the church assembling at Trevor Chapel. Brompton, then under the pastorate of Dr. John Morrison, whose daughter, Mary Isahella, was his first wife She died in 1852. Subsequently he married Mrs. Willets, the widow of the Rev. G. Willets, of Salisbury.
REV. PROFESSOR JAMES LEGGE, M.A., D.D., LL.D
Legge would have had to devote all his energies to it, to the exclusion of almost eyery other work. But when he was most busy with the classics, he seemed also to be fully occupied in preaching. He was, besides, pastor of Union Church, in Hongkong, and as a public-spirited man and a loyal citizen, was always ready to expend brain and time for the furtherance of any plan that had at heart the welfare either of his countrymen or of the Chinese. The one thing, however, that has given him a world-wide fame is the profound scholarship that enabled him to translate the sacred books of China, and thus bring them within the reach of every student. In doing this he has broken down the great wall that hid that nation from the West, and has given thinkers an opportunity of studying the ethical principles upon which Chinese society has been built.
II. PROFESSOR LEGGE IN OXFoRD.-In 1876, after the labors of an average lifetime, he left China for England to become professor of Chinese at Oxford. But since that time he has been no less the Chinese missionary than in the earlier days at Hongkong. He has made it his chief concern to toil at the Chinese language and literature in such a way as to bring the West into a fuller and more sympathetic knowledge of the East, and we have had further translations of Chinese classics and treatises on Chinese religions from his prolific pen. He has also trained here in Oxford many able and competent missionaries. But of almost equal importance, we seem to lose in him a great Christian ambassador-to whom men from the far East were ever welcome, and who was unceasingly sought out in his Oxford home by all who were interested in China from whatever cause.
His belief in the necessity for Christian missions was never dimmed. When a paper was to be read before a Nonconformist society upon "Missions: their Use and Abuse," he discovered that some of the members were inclined to be somewhat critical and unsympathetic. He therefor.e wrote a long letter to the secretary, giving the arguments which he would have used had he been able to be present. One paragraph deserves quotation: "From the time that I began to think of what might be my own = course in life-long before I was ten years old-it was as clear to me as that 2 + 2 4 that if I could not find a good reason, which Christ would admit, for not becoming a missionary, I must go as one to some foreign field. For nearly ten years the search for such a reason went on in my mind, until every sophistical excuse which I proposed to myself was gradually disposed of, and, in 1839, I went as a missionary to the Chinese. I thank God to-day that I was finally constrained to adopt that course, and when I look back on the more than thirty years that I spent among that people, I venture to think that it was to me 'a I!race given to teach and preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ.'''
In this spirit he lived and workt in Oxford, and his abundant services in the churches are to-day remembered with gratitude. His funeral service in Mansfield Chapel was a veritable grammarian's funeral-for Eastern and Western learning were there amply represented. But it was more than that. Our greatest scholars were there to do honor to the man of learning; but there were many also present from far Hankow, and distant Amoy, and elsewhere, whose presence bore eloquent witness to his great achievements as a pioneer worker in the great Middle Kingdom. On the special hymn sheet was the apt quotation from his own translation of Confucius: "If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the evening without regret."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
Ill.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDl:"CTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Impressions Made by the Student icies, methods, so that no little re- adjustment is required. But church Volunteer Oonvention. leaders and judicators may well make haste to square themselves to REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D. OBER- the changed situation, and at once proceed to put in harness the po- LIN, o. tent celestial forces here found al- ready massed and waiting to be All things considered, including wielded. the theme continually uppermost in every mind and heart, the great Or, the late convention stood for a l'eligious movement represented, phase of the most marvelous and the intellectual and spiritual char- impressive modern uprising of the acter of the delegates with the stu- youth of our churches, to take their dent bodies which se'nt them, the share of toil and responsibility, eminently business-like manage- eager to learn, rcady to fit themment of affairs, the well thought selves for efficient service. The through and comprehensive pro- Sunday – school and the publicgram, the remarkable high average school systems were prophecies of excellence of the numerous addres- good things to come; later the ses, the ruling spirit and motive Young Men's Christian Associafrom first to last, the really tre- tion with its kindred Young Womendous tho quiet and controlled men's Christian Association gave a enthusiasm everywhere manifest, broad hint of what was in store for it is to be counted a remarkable the Kingdom of forces auxiliary, and significant gathering, and one as well as the more general movenot often, if ever, equaled. Re- ment for the enlargement of woduced to a sentence, the meaning men's sphere, with the Society of of the convention was, world-wide Christian Endeavor and its adaptamissions at the very soonest pos- tion to well-nigh every denominasible constitute the supreme and tion, and the Student Volunteer exigent business of the entire Chris- ~Iovement to cap the climax. All tian Church; but, alas, only the which means that from henceforth f"w are fully awake and possest of not one sex only, but both are to intelligent, burning zeal. be represented in the vast mission- field both at home and abroad, and Among the characteristic feat- not merely by the older half of the ures were such as these: Here was Lord's host, but by the youth and a movement most clearly providen- the children as well. These latter tial in origin and inspiration, that are to be enlisted into the service is, springing up outside of all eccle- of the Great Captain in earliest siastical planning and manage- years. And this well nigh startling ment, spontaneous, fairly leaping innovation upon all hoary preceinto life, irresistible, like Christian- dent is to be accepted heartily and ity itself, the Reformation, modern with thanksgiving. These "irregmissions in Carey's day, or the Sal- ular" undertakings are not to be vation Army. Not strangely some lookt at askance, opposed, represt, confusion results, some revolution in certain well-establisht ideas, polbut rather to be encouraged, guided, culties standing in the way of the and utilized to the utmost. world's speedy evangelization, like the vast m ultitudes of the unreacht, One could hut notice the blessed the strength of the great false reand perfect unity which pervaded ligions, lack of money at home, every session. Here were brought etc., are excuse not the least for together old and young, great and discouragement, for giving up in small, black and white, male and disgust or despair, but are rather female, British, Canadian, and to be made a spur to faith, prayer, American, from every section of aggressive effort. This point was the land, North, South, East, West, made emphatic. If the missionary denominations by the score- societies are afflicted with empty Methodist bishops and Episcopal treasuries, and so can not send the hishops, Presbyterians and Bap- volunteers who are ready to go, tists, from hoth sides of Mason and then let the latter proceed to seek Dixon'::; line; Lutherans of divers needed funds from relatives, from kinds, and many others, hut nohody the local church to which they becared for the difference or stopt to long, or from neighboring churches. think of it. The one weighty, all- Such is the impulse of a soul dead in absorbing fact was, we are Christ's, earnest, of genuine faith and heroand are here to learn how we can, ism. Like Britain's greatest prime at the soonest, crown Him King of minister, the Lord's servant is kings and Lord of lords to the very called to "tread on impossibilities." ends of the earth; and that fellowship of the Spirit in the honds of No word more true, more weighty, peace was possest of a celestial or more solemn was spoken during quality as tho Pentecost had come those five notable days than that of again. Dr. Hall, when he said in substance that, as a rule, with very few ex- 'Vhat divine power went forth on ceptions, in our Christian colleges, Saturday from those five-and- and even our theological seminaries, twenty denominational rallies in as the students do not have afforded many sanctuaries; in sonle cases as them, either in the curriculum or many as twenty or thirty returned in aught that their instructors say missionaries sitting upon the plat- or do, a fair opport1~nity to face form, ready to bear witness to the the all-important q1.wstion, whether world's perishing need and of the they shall consecrate their lives to power of the Gospel to save. The some form of strictly missionary aggregate of these audiences could toil in the foreign field or at home. not have been much short of ]5,000, He would have in both seminary and on Sunday, when practically and college at least a two hours' every church in Cleveland and course required, and another two vicinity was addrest both morning hours' course elective, fitted to supand evening by missionary secreta- ply a chance to settle rationally ries, returned missionaries, student this great matter. Surely no man volunteers, presidents, or profes- or woman can claim to have sesors, and all upon the one theme: cu.red a liberal education who cares Let us arise at once and gird our- nothing about the world's evangeliselves to the mighty task of making zation, and because he knows Jesus King. nothing about the appalling spirit- ual needs of humanity and the ob- Two thoughts in particular may ligation resting upon every renewed be specified as having made a deep soul in every possible way to carry impression upon at least one au- the glad tidings of salvation. ditor. Again and again it was urged with earnestness that diffi- Autonomy of Native Mission Ohurches. dIe their own affairs and push on A great many questions of policy their aggressive work, if the opporin the conduct of foreign missions are forcing themselves to the front tunityof trying to do so is denied simultaneously in a way to demand, as they ought to command, wide them? "Vhat is the result of a and profound consideration. The missionary societies have counted century of cautiousness in throwing their successes at the close of the first century of Protestant move- on them responsibility? ment in non-Christian lands, and cheered their supporters on to new The native churches in West endeavor, but the crisis of the hour calls for a general frank acknowl- Africa in 1893, in a debate with edgment of the seriousness of the situation confronting them in the their home authorities in England twentieth century, and for concerted consideration about how to over the proposal to make a Eurograpple with the problems which experience shows them to have left pean successor to Bishop Crowther untoucht, or about which they have made mistakes. 'Vhen the Ecu- in the Niger See of the Church of menical Conference convenes in 1900 in New York, is it to spend its England, made a deliverance, signed energy in formulating its past achievements chiefly, or will it by forty-six of their clergy and mass its forces to some businesslike investigation of what a century laity as representatives of the body, has taught them they ought to seek to correct in fundamental and in which the following occurred: far-reaching principles of economy? "Christianity has seen about a A graver problem than even century in West Africa generally, "self-support" in foreign missions and yet it to this day wears the is that of self-control, self-propaga- character of an exotic. It has not tion, and leadership of native com- succeeded to root itself in the soil ; mittees by natives. If self-sup- to get the people generally to idenport is considered a prerequisite to tify their interest and their lives autonomy, may it not also be pos- with its existence and that of its sihle that autonomy is the short institutions, and exercise toward cut to self-support? The ultimate it that devotion which they or their goal being a self-acting and self- ancestors had exhibited toward developing native church, how early heathenism. ought snch Christian community to be left to bear the responsibility " There is no strong guarantee for of its own development? What permanence and continuity in this responsibility have the missionaries exotic character, and Africans who and mission boards entrusted them believe in the regenerating power with? Have these churches been of the religion and wish to see it kept in leading-strings from over- cover the whole country, who have caution, to the detriment of their some knowledge of its fate in North growth in tearing responsibility? Africa, after many centuries of ex- How are they ever to learn to han- istence, and of the complete failure of even its Homan Catholic form in comparatively more recent times after over two centuries of exist- ence, and who are not altogether ignorant of the causes of these re- peated and signal failures, are nat- urally anxious to see a repetition of the sad Lud terdble calamity avoided.
"It is our conviction that one of the reasons for the character which Christianity now manifests in Africa is the fact that it has been held too long in a state of de- pendence; and that it has been too long in the habit of looking to its foreign parent for immediate guid- ance and direction in almost every- thing, and this you will admit, does not make much for the development of that manly independence and self-reliance which are so essential for the development of a strong people and a vigorous institution.
"We are not blaming our teachers, who have sacrificed themselves Church-an experiment whose sucon the altar of love for us. vVe do cess was very generally desired in not underrate any of their achieve- England, especially on account of ments, for which we are, and ever the very heavy mortality which hope to be, grateful. 'Ve are not had always prevailed among Euimpatient of the presence of Euro- ropean missionaries in the African peans a,mongst us, as we have un- mission all through its long course. fortunately been too often mis- The clergy and lay agents that takenly represented by some of our workt under this episcopate, which foreign friends to be, but are invi- was often exercised amidst circumting attention to a state of things stances of peculiar difficulty and which we are persuaded they would trial, were almost, always natives." like to see changed." They did not attempt to claim They argued that the episcopate any perfection of administration. of Bishop Crowther demonstrated They were only endeavoring to their ability to conduct their own show that even when handicapt affairs successfully, tho that had by the semi-control of the church the drawback of sensitiveness about authorities in England, they had the control of their affairs being done well enough to justify further only one remove further back, be- enlargement of their independence. cause Bishop Crowther himself was They argued thus: kept under such limitations from "But attempts have been made direction by the authorities in the last few years-on account of moral weakness discovered in England. They believed that the some of the infant churchee that have been gat.hered in, and serious bishop and the native churches faults in some of the agents and the like-to pronounce the experiwould have made a much better ment a failure and the negro inca- pable for a responsible trust and for showing had the entire responsibil- an independent life ; and in spite of the century of training and teachity of administration, uncontrolled ing he has had, unfit still to be set free from his pupilage and the leadby Europeans altogether, been en- ing-strings of European superin- tendence. trusted to them. They might have " We, on our part, do not find made mistakes, but they would ourselves able to subscribe to this pronouncement with the facts of the have learned by experience, and mission to which we have already referred before us, and also the fact would have developt a governing that some of the apostolic churches of which we read in Scripture were faculty all the more rapidly. Yet not exempt from serious faults, and that the churches even in Europe, they believed the episcopacy of which have been in possession of Christianity many centuries, and Bishop Crowther, as a negro those in other parts of the world, do not, many of theIn, form an exbishqp, itself showed that they were ceDtion."
capable of self-direction and devel- This was not said in any "iu opment under absolute autononlY. quoque" spirit, but was a plain That episcopacy covered the space reference to the history of all be- of twenty-seven years. They said: ginnings, and the incipient stage of "The elevation of the late Bishop all church organizations. Crowther to the episcopate in 186! was declared by the Church Mis- The report of that able and spirsionary Society-which, under God, was mainly instrumental in bring- ited discussion reacht the writer at ing it about, and whose servant he was, and which has, from. the fact the time, not through any missionof its being the honored founder of the 'Vest African churches, held ary periodicals, in which it might the patronage of these churches in its own hands-to he an experi- properly have been lookt for, but ment to prove the capacity of negroes for evangelizing important through the local secular press in sections of the African Continent by themselves and without the stJmulus 6f the presence and supervision of Europeans, and for exercising the higher offices in the 'Vest Africa, and was preserved as Work Among Syrian Ohristians, India. a valuable contribution to the per- manent tliscussion of this funda- BY J. G. GREGSON, MANCHESTER, mental feature of missionary eco- nomics. He did not present the sub- ENGLAND. ject at the time in these columns, partly through delicacy lest such For over thirty years I labored course might be esteemed unfriend- in India without any knowledge of ly to the missionary administra- the power of the Holy Ghost work- tion, whose action provokt a ing within me. Recently I re- heated controversy. It is doubt- visited the country and was invited ful if the caution was justified. to hold meetings among the Syrian That discussion was educative, and Christians, in Travancore, South- ought to have had wide attention ern India. of the churches generally. Unfor- tunately, there is no provision for These people belong to the re- a common council of missionary form party in the Syrian Church, administrators and missionaries for which they believe was founded by the consideration of questions St. Thomas, at Quilon, on the which, like this, affect all missions. Malabar coast, in the year 52 A. D. The reform took place ahout twenty It is certainly desirable that this years ago, by the bishop renouncing Ecumenical Conference of 1900 shall the confessional, prayer to the consider whether it can not provide saints and Virgin Mary, prayers for the erection of some common for the dead and masses, but until representative body to meet, say recently they knew nothing of spiribiennially, to deal with questions of tual truth and power through the fundamental nature, like this, in baptism of the Holy Spirit. The which they have all common inter- reform had been more in outward est. What these African brethren ceremonies than in spiritual living. assert about the failure of a century of missions to produce an indige- The center of this movement is nous type of Christianity in their Aiyroon, on the river Ranee, where country is, there is room to fear, the people came night after night not peculiar to their locality. The in vast crowds of between two and episcopal churches have not ele- three thousand persons.. The servated natives to the episcopacy, vices were far too short to satisfy and they only represent what the their desire to hear and learn more non-episcopal churches have failed about spiritual things. At the close to do within their several econo- of the meetings we usually waited mies. It may be quite true that upon God, in silence, for a few the native churches have not exhih- moments, and then one after anited the qualities for such responsi- other of the audience would pray bility and leadership, but the deeper aloud. It would be impossible to question is whether this condition conceive of anything more moving is not attributable largely to their than to listen to these vast crowds, never having had responsibility in which each individual prayed thrust upon them. Men grow under aloud to God to guide him into all responsibility, just as lads do, or as truth, and very specially to reveal peoples do in new territory, where the possibilities of a holy life, lived they can not avoid assuming lead- out by His Spirit. ership. This problem deserves attention. Its discu);sion ought to be ad- My second mission was one of vanced on the calendar. constant traveling through the churches and living amongst the people. I found them simple- minded, hospitable, and earnest. In some parishes, where they were beginning their rice harvest, they an evangelistic movement among gave up work and often came miles the heathen, who are their farm to attend the meetings. In many servants. The Syrian Christians places the churches were too small are the farnlers of Travancore, and, to hold the crowds, so that we had in many instances, cultivate their to meet outside in the open air. own lands. The chief products are When the meeting was over, many rice, tapioca, sugar-cane, and cocoawould remain to a late hour, asking nuts. questions and carefully examining the Scriptures concerning the Another encouraging evidence truths they had heard. of their desire to know more fully what God has in store for them, Christmas day is kept on January is to be found in the eagerness with 6th, and a great festival it is. The which the women attend the meet- Christmas service begins just be- ings. They are taken up with fore dawn, a little after three household cares and duties, and o'clock, when the explosion of have but little time to attend to bombs and the clanging of bells spiritual things. Several of the arouse the sleepers to the con- elderly women were deeply consciousness that it is Christmas cerned about living a holy life in morning. The first ceremony is the power of the Holy Spirit. Tho around a camp-fire in front of the the Syrian women are not shut up church, where they sing and pray, in zenanas, they have a life of like the shepherds who kept watch drudgery, and are treated more by their fires at night. The service like household servants than as in the church begins about four wives. They are married when o'clock, and goes on without a they are quite children, through arpause till eleven or twelve o'clock. rangements made by their parents, At the invitation of the priest, I and submit to the position in which preacht the sermon on Christmas they live, according to the customs day, and in the afternoon had a of their forefathers. meeting with the Sunday-school children. The boys and girls were For this work men and money remarkably bright and happy, tho are needed, and my belief is, that one little lad greatly surprised me when He calls forth His laborers with a text, which was given in re- He will provide the means required sponse to my request. He rose and to send them forth. The need is for said very gravely: "Oh, wretched sanctified messengers who have reman that I am, who shall deliver ceived the baptism of the Holy me from the body of this death?" Ghost, and are thereby endued with I felt that my young friend must the power of the Holy Ghost, and go home with a brighter text than divinely qualified to go as living the one he had given me, so I gave witnesses to the uttermost parts of him instead: "Rejoice in the Lord the earth.* always." Does the Roman Catholic Church Want One of the most encouraging an" Open" Bible in Roman signs in connection with the mis- Catholio Countries? sion has been in having a good many young men attending the Weare furnisht with fresh evimeetings who have been educated dence of the antagonism of the in English and read our literature. Roman Catholic Church to a free These young men have formed a and open Bible, in an episode which Young Men's Christian Association, and are deeply interested in * Mr. Gregson returned to Travancore in November, in response to a request to con- duct a three years' mission among the Syrians.-ED. has occurred in the order of " Free Dam shall hereafter be removed and Accepted Masons." 'Vhat the and repudiated." merits or demerits of Free Masons or of Free Masonry may be, lies The New York Freeman's Jouroutside of the purview of this peri- nal, noticing this expulsion and odical. But Wm. A. Sutherland, repudiation of the Grand Lodge of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge Peru, asks: Vhat will be the result of Free and Accepted Masons of if the Grand Lodge of Peru in turn the State of New York, has entered expels the Grand Lodge of New the arena as a champion of an open York from the order of Free and Bible as against one Christian Accepted Masons? Of the whole Dam, Grand Master of Masons in matter as an inter-Masonic affair, Peru. It appears from the recital whatever its merits pro or can, this in a circular, which we judge is not periodical knows nothing, and with esoteric to Masonry, that this it has nothing to do. But, assum- Grand Master of Masons in Peru ing that Mr. Sutherland is well acannounces to those under his juris- quainted with the facts in the case, diction that" according to Catho- and aware of his ability, and that licism the Bible is a sacred book in he is an eminent and authorized which the revealed word is depos- attorney in the State of New York, ited and as snch can not be freely we take it for granted that what he examined and criticized; that the affirms of the authoritative expul- Bible can not be considered as a sion of the Bible from the so-called fountain of scientific knowledge " Masonic altars" of Peru, and the or history, nor as a basis of moral- reasons for it, are matters of fact, ity; " and he does" decree that on and we make reference to it only all Masonic altars the Bible shall in evidence of the general spirit be removed and replaced by the of the Roman Catholic Church to- Constitution of the order of Free ward the Bible in every land it Masonry, and that in all our ritu- dominates, and as a fresh illustraals the word' Bible' shall be strick- tion of the need of the presence and en out and the words, 'the Con- power of Protestant missions in stitution of the Grand Lodge of countries dominated, as is Peru, by Peru' put in its place." the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
The circular signed by William The Freeman's Journal volun- A. Sutherland as Grand Master teers in explanation of the course proceeds to affirm, " By virtue of of the Peru lodge, that it is in evithe powers and prerogatives in me dence of and a part of the lamenvested as Grand lYlaster of Masons table infidelity of the times. But in the State of New York, I do will the Journal tell us in what announce and declare that the said Roman Catholic country the eccleedict and the decree of the said siastics of the church have not Christian Dam has terminated all antagonized the circulation of the relations heretofore existing be- Scriptures among the people, or tween the Grand Lodge of Peru in which of these countries it and the Grand Lodge of New has taught that the Scriptures York;" and as Grand Master Mr. might be "freely examined" by Sutherland commands all under the the laity? The Plenary Counjurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of cil of Baltimore may have said New York to "abstain from all that they desired to see the Bible Masonic intercourse with the so- (pl'esumably the Douay edition) in called Grand Lodge of Peru until every home, but that is in a strong the said edict of the said Christian Protestant country, and amidst tendencies which they did not originate, and is not in evidence for believe that to be true, not because, Roman communities which they as the Journal says, it expresses overshadow. Does it not occur also the infidelity of Masons in South to the Journal that it is dealing America, France, and Italy, but in with the product of three centuries that it plainly blurts out as the of unrestricted domination of the basis of its action, that" accord'ing Roman Catholic Church in Mexico to Cathoi'icis1n" the Bible is too and in South American communi- " sacred" to be "freely examined." ties, when it speaks of infidelity It is that policy which has resulted which results from Roman Catholic in the revolt against the Roman administration? We have long Catholic religion which the Freeknown that the Roman hierarchy man's Jonrnal styles infidelity, wasted no affection on Free Mason- and which it alleges the Masonic ry in Roman Catholic countries, orders of Roman Catholic lands repbut we had supposed that that resent. hatred was toward it in common with all other secret societies. It Uniformity in Missionary Statistics. seems very probahIe, however, that it is in accord with the spirit of the It was mentioned in the report of Roman Catholic Church, that the the Missionary Officers' Sixth An- Peru lodge excluded the Bible from nual Conference, that a committee its altar, and not because of infidel- which has been patiently working ity, since the ground of the expul- for some years to mature a formula sion, and the argument based on it, for statistical reports fwm the sevis that the Bible is a "sacred book in eral forE'ign fields, has been successwhich the revealed word is deposit- ful in preparing snch a schedule as ed. " There does not seem to be ar- the American and Canadian socierant infidelity in that, but there ties had generally agreed upon, and is a prononncement of what the this conference called attention to Grand Lodge of Peru understands it as possibly affording a sufficiently to be the permanent policy of the comprehensive and yet analytical Roman Catholic Church in all Ro- formula for general use over the man Catholic lands, in the assertion missionary world. We make room that the reason for the expulsion for the headings of these several is that" accor&ing to Catholicism" columns that missionaries everythe Bible is too "sacred" to be where may take note of the same, " freely exalnined," we assunle, by and if the brotherly spirit which the laity. dominated the American Officers' Conference shall prevail in attempt- There will not be much zeal for ing to work it, this or something the circulation of the Scriptures, better will greatly aid in reducing by any church or people holding the present confusion, which makes this theory concerning the Scrip- the foreign churches, at least in one tures. If the republics of South respect, not unlike heaven, in be.ing America and Mexico ever get this a company which "no 1nan can Bible in "every home," they will number." The formula has blanks probably only have that blessing for returns in the following order: through the Protestant Bible societies and the Protestant missions "TABLES OF STATISTICS FOR THE of those lands. YEAR ENDING – – The Free1nan's Journal says: Nmne of Stai'ion, Town or Vil- "Christian Dam has simply been lage-When establisht ; population more frank than his South Amer- of field. Missionar'ies-Ordained; ican confreres." 'Ve admit and unordained (not physicians); phY- sicians (men); physicians (women·) ; s~ngle women; wives; total mis- daily average attendance during sIOnaries. Native Helpers – Or- the year, not total enrolment. All dained preachers; unordained salaries, contributions, and so- preachers; teachers (men); teachers ciety grants should be stated in na- (women) ; Bible women; other na- tive currency. Expenses 01' contri- tive helpers; total native helpers. butions entered in one column Chu~rch Statistics – Out-stations; should not be entered in another places of regular meeting; organ- column. The salary of a preacher ized churches; churches entirely engaged in teaching during the self-supporting; communicants; week should be divided between con- added by confession (year); adher- gregational expenses and school ents; average attendance; Sunday-* expenses, in the proportion to schools; Sunday-school member- which he devotes his time to each. ship. Educai'ional Stat~istics-The Meeting places should include or- ological schools; students in theo- ganized churches. It is desirable logical training for the ministry; to group towns and villages by students in collegiate training; their relations to an organized boarding and high schools; pupils church, or by circuits, rather than (boys) ; pupils (girls) ; other schools, to enter them alphabetically. pupils. (boys); pupils (girls); total number under instruction; schools (This excellent table is by far the entirely self-supporting; united most complete and satisfactory with church during year. Native thus far issued, and much would be ContribuNons, Churches and Chap- gained by its universal adoption by els-For church and Ctmgregational missionary boards. There are, howexpenses; for education; fer build- ever, some headings which may ing and repairs; for home and for- still permit' misunderstanding. eign missions; total native contri- "Vhenever such possibility exists butions; appropriated by board; some are sure to make use of it: for churches and education (natiYe work). Medical Summwl'Y – The 1. Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyitems suggested are, number of hos- terian, and other organizations may pitals ; number of beds; number of put different interpretations on the in-patients; number of dispensa- word ordained. ries; number of out-patients; total expenses, including assist- 2. It would be well to distinguish ants ;t receipts in fees. Under the between paid and unpaid, Christian department of Pr'inl>ing Press the and non-Christian, native helpers. items are-number of printing establishments; number of pages 3. Communicants should include printed during the year; number only full members, and should be of pages printed from beginning; distinguisht from those who join number of Scripture portions; num- on probation. ber of other books; total expense of running press, including sup- 4. Added by confession might by plies; total sales for the year. some be more clearly understood if defined as meaning those "received This formula is accompanied with into full comnlunion."
the following suggestive notes: 5. It would be helpful to have a distinction made between Christian This blank can be used for station and non-Christian pupils. reports, or to make up the totals of a mission, comprising the statistics 6. Total (pupils) under instl'1wfrom a number of stations. (,ion should be stated not to include those in Sunday-schools. Adherents include all communicants, baptized children,::: inquirers 7. Un'ited with the ch1Lrch during under instruction or received on the year is, we suppose, intended to probation, and regular church at- refer only to pupils under instructendants. All contributions, fees, tion, and not to include those 01' society grants are understood to merely baptized or received on promean for the year closing the re- bation.-D.] port. Day-schools should allow Protestant Missionaries in Turkey. • The word "Sabbath" was suggested as a substitute for H Sunday." "Ve admire the frankness of the t Not including salaries of foreign mission- New York Freeman's Journal, a aries. Roman Catholic paper, in the fol- t Or baptized non·communicants. lowing, which it says under the caption of "A Correction: "
" Some weeks ago we commented
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
on reports, sent from Washington Rescue Work in India.
to the New York press, concerning Rev. J. O. Denning, M.A., prin- Protestant missionaries in Ar- cipal of the Hardwicke Christian menia. These reports represented Boys' School, Narsinghpur, India, the missionaries as encouraging the Dec. 22, 1897, acknowledges a dona- revolt against the Turkish govern- tion for the support of his orphan ment, and as presenting exorbi- boys, and communicates some facts tant bills of damages for property of interest, which we give in sub- destroyed by the Turks. vVeight stance: was given to these reports by repre- "Narsinghpur is one of the four districts of the central provinces senting them as based on official suffering worst by famine.
information from Dr. Angell, "Over two years ago a mother brought her three children, want- American Minister to Turkey. As- ing to sell the girl of twelve years for ten rupees ($3.25), but suppossuming the correctness of the re- ing no one would take the two boys, younger, at any price, after ports, and seeing no contradiction, a little talk, she gave me all three for nothing. From that time till we made our comments. now, two years, hundreds of people have been dying all around us; the " Concerning the crediting of ghastly looks of the living skele- tons crying for bread; the sores these reports to our minister to and other diseases resulting from hunger; children sucking empty Turkey, the Rev. John Lee, of breasts or crying beside a dead mother; the pitiful appeals for Chicago, sends us the following let- food, which we were unable to meet, were enough to make Dne's hair ter, which, in answer to an inquiry, turn gray.
he received from the Assistant " "Ve rescued over seven hundred children, nearly all orphans, and Secretary of State: sent them to various mission- schools. Our boys' school here "Rev. JOHN LEE, 57 vVashington soon filled up to about sixty, but Street, Chicago, Ill.: having no more room, we sent others away. Last February we "Sir: I have to acknowledge the bought a large building here, nearly receipt of your letter of the 21st new, for about two-fifths of its inst., in which you say that a cost, and put the boys in it. Last prominent New York paper states March we began relief work. A that complaint was made some lady gave money to employ people time ago that much of the trouble -hungry, yet able to work. Others in Armenia was caused by the con- did likewise. For six months I had duct of Protestant missionaries, about 300 of these working people, and that our minister at Constan- and have 100 yet. They have greatly tinople, in his report to the State enlarged and improved the school Department giving details of the buildings, and there is room now recent attack on Turkish villages for 400 or 500 boys. by Armenian brigands, justifies the complaint. You request a copy of " Everyone on entering the school said report. leaves off his heathenism and be- gins Christian form. Many of the "In reply I have to inform you older boys have really found the that no report of the character Savior. stated has been received from our minister to Constantinople, and Most of the boys will probably the statement that you have quoted, follow trades or some business, but which has been persistently current no small per cent. will be preachers in the press, has been repeatedly and teachers to their people. In the denied. Respectfully yours, first English class, a sweeper-boy stands first; in the second, a Brah- "WILLIAM R. DAY, min, while a Mussulman is proba- " A.s.si.stant Secretary. bly first on a general average.
"As the author of the reports falsely attributes them to our min- ister, no reliance can be placed on what he says. His statement is detrimental to the character of the missionaries, and must be considered as worthless. And any remarks of ours based on those false reports are, of course, withdrawn."
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
IV. -FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
India,* Burma,t Ceylon,+ Hinduism,§ Woman's Work,11 Native Agents.f1 BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
The Awakening of India. Christians, and second in the birth of souls into the Kingdom. More earnest believing prayer, and more absolute self-surrender 'Ve rejoice and give thanks for and dependence upon the power the blessing already received and and guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the p'i"OgTCSS already made. At the great need of the Church to-day the beginning of this century Prctfor the work both at home and estant missions had only just been abroad. The Church of Christ has cOInmenced in India, and were on the money and the men; what is a very small scale. In 1851 the needed is the consecration and ener- native Christians numbered 91,100; gizing of these forces. More prayer in 1861 they had increast to 138,700; is of greater importance than more in 1871 there were 224,300; in 1881, work. India is possest of a legion 417,400; and in 1800 they were reof devils which can not be cast turned as 559,700. At the present forth but by prayer and fasting. time there are probably more than The missionaries are awakening to 750,000. There were very few chila realization of this, and observed dren in mission-schools at the be- December 12th last as a day of prayer ginning of the century. In 1851 for India. The fruits are already there were 64,000; in 1861, 76,000; being made manifest, first in the in 1871, 122,400; in 1881, 187,700; in quickening of the spiritual lives of 1890, 290,700. There are now 300,- the missionaries and of the native 000 children under Christian in- struction. A writer in the Harvest * See also pp. 368 (May, 1897); 517, 541 (July); Field summarizes the present work in India as follows: 579, 591 (August); 669, 682, 687 (September); 13, 36 (January, 18981; 119, 139 (FebruarYI; "There are to-day nearly three- 197 (March); 249,256,260,275 (present issue). fourths of a million of Protestant Christians; half a million of chil- NEW BOOKS: H India, the Horror Stricken dren are under Christian instruc- Empire'" II Twelve I ndian Sta tPeisomneeen~sII tion; there are also 1,000 European George Smith, LL.D ; •• Missio n ary and Eurasian preachers, another in India," John Rutherford, D.D ; H Life of 1,000 lady workers, 5,000 native preachers, and 10,000 native teach- Valpy French," Hubert Birke; .. Christian ers at work spreading Christian truth among the people." Services Among Educated Bengalese." R. P. Wilder; I< Life and Travels in India," The growth indicated in these figures is cheering, but when we re- A.nna Leonowenj H British India," R. 'V. Fra- member that in London alone there zer; II Hindu Manners, Customs, and Cere- are six times as many ordained preachers of the Gospel and probamonies," Abbe dn Bois. bly twice as many other workers as in the whole of India, the need of RECENT A.RTICLES: U Indian Discontent and more laborers in this great field Frontier Risings," Quarterly Review (Octo- will be apparent. ber, '97); "England and the Famine in India," Forum (November, '97); H Bubonic Bishop Thoburn writes of the present opportunii'ies in India, as Plague in India," Chautauquan (March). contrasted with 40 years ago: t See also pp. 264, 270 (present issue). "It was no longer necessary to NEW BOOKS: .. Picturesque Burma," Mrs. E. Hart.
t See also pp. 583 (August, 1897).
NEW BOOKS: •• Letters from Ceylon," Fannie Gregson.
§ See also pp. 445 (June, 1897), 579 (August).
NEW BOOKS: "The Upanishads," F. M. Miiller.
RECENT ARTICLES; "Early Religion of the Hindus," Bibliotheca Sacra (January).
II See also pp. 643, 669 (September, 1897); 197 (March, 1898); 249, 278 (present issue).
'[ See also pp. 264 (present issue). go to the jungles to find inquirers. all believe in the power. Spirit- Tn many parts of India thousands are manifesting a practical interest filled workers are the missing link, in the Christian religion. Thirty years ago the great difficulty but they need not be mbsing long. was to find converts who desired instruction. To-day enough Chris- Hindu Social Reform. tian teachers can not be found to instruct the applicants for bap- The following are the resolutions tism. This is not the time for discouragements, but for prayer, past by reform Hindus at the faith, and fidelity. May God inspire His people to rise up in their eleventh social conference at Amspiritual might and meet the stupendous responsibilities of the raoti. * They are suggestive of present hour." much thought, showing that Chris- As to the need of an awakening tian aims and principles are being Rev. G. H. Parsons cites the fact foisted on to Hinduism in many that in his own society (the C. M. directions. Resolved: S.) there was in one year an average I. That in the opinion of this of but two adult baptisms to every conference no perrnanent improve- rnent of our social arrangements three European and native workers. is possible, without a wider spread of female education and the elevation And this he takes to be a fair ex- of the standards at present taught in our public schools; and that the ample of the state of affairs in In- best way to attain this end is (1) the larger employment of qualified dia. No wonder that he calls upon female teachers trained in special his brethren for more 1caiting until normal schools; (2) the continua- tion of the school education in they be endued with power. private houses by means of home classes; and (3) the taking steps to Hev. V. B. Boggs, D.D., of Se- secure a body of self-sacrificing In- dian sisters, who will devote their cunderabad, indicates the following lives to the cause-sacrificing in the manner of Christian sisters of nquisites for the awakening of the charity and mercy.
missionaries and a new outpouring II. The conference notices with satisfaction that in promoting the of spiritual power: cause of temperance, the associa- tions should make common cause 1. A renewed and deepened con- with the temperance workers till viction of the unfailing power of we succeed in securing for the mathe old Gospel, and its perfect jority of the total abstainers the adaptation to India's need. Faith power of determining the number is the first requisite in the over- and locality of licensed liquorthrow of Satan's strongholds. shops in each. large town, or some adaptation of the principle of local 2. A new evangelistic crusade. option. Faith without works is dead. More loving, faithful, patient devotion V. That the conference notes to the work of saving souls will with satisfaction that the reports not fail to be rewarded. of most of the associations furnish evidence of an earnest desire to 3. A new era of prayer. In postpone the lIwr'1'iages of children closet communion lies the secret of to twelve at least in the case of Christian life and spiritual power. girls, and eighteen in the case of May God give us a new knowledge boys, and it recommends • . . of the power of prayer! that the consummation be post- poned till at least 14 and 20 in the It is always easier to recognize case of girls and boys respectively.
a mighty manifestation of God's VI. That in the opinion of the conference th~ practise of men of power in the past, or to believe that more than 50 years of age marrying young girls below 12, is opposed to it may come in the future, than it the spirit of the Shastras, and is is to expect that He will do great * Condenst from The Bombay Gttardian.
things in the present. There is nothing too hard for God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and forever. All acknowledge the need, extremely prejudicial to the inter- industry so that they may attain est of the community. positions which will remedy the disadvantages of their condition, VII. That the experience of the and not to induce them to join last 40 years' working of the Widow other faiths. Marriage Act of 1856 has establisht the fact that the act fails to XIV. That the conference is of opinion that the imprisonment of secure to the remarrying widow women in execution of decrees for the full enjoyment of her natural the restitution of conjugal rights rights in the following respects: (1) should be abolisht, as such coercive That such widow is made to forfeit process is not sanctioned by any her life interest in her husband's enlightened code of laws, and as immovable property for doing a the legislature has already abolisht imprisonment of women in execulawful act, when such forfeiture tion of decrees for money. would not have resulted if she had misconducted herself; (2) that there XVI. That as the law at present is a general impression that she loses stands, there is apparently no proproprietary right over her mov- tection to a widow or an unmarried girl living under her guardian's proables in favor of her husband's tection, above 12 or below 16, who relatives; (3) in many cases she is a consenting party to an act and her second husband are not of personal dishonor at the hands only excommunicated, but their of strangers. In the opinion of the conference the consent of such right of worship in public temples a girl between 12 and 16 should, as and access to public places has been in the case of kidnapping, be held denied to them; (4) in some parts of to be inoperative to protect the man who violat.es her honor. the country she is subjected to disfigurement without any freedom to Prize Essay on India's Religion.* her to exercise her choice. The conference is of opinion that steps The Saxon Missionary Confer- should be taken by the social reform ence, whose object is to arouse and associations to adopt remedies to relax the stringency of caste usages, maintain interest and intelligence and to secure a reconsideration of at home respecting missions among the principles of the act with a view to remedy its defects. the heathen, proposes, in union VIII. The conference notes with with the Preachers' Conference of satisfaction that in several prov- the Lower Erzgebirge, a prize of a inces, notably in Bengal, Gujerat, and the Punjab a few attempts thousand marks ($250 or £50) for have been made to bring about the fusion of sub-castes, and the con- an essay in furtherance of the ference recommends that all castes missionary cause in India. This and sub-castes who can dine together, should, as a rule, strive to essay is to have the form of a promote intermarriage among their scientific dissertation of the followmenlbers. ing tenor: IX. The conference records with satisfaction that in nearly all parts "A presentation of the fundaof India efforts are being made to mental views of the Hindus, relig- ious and philosophical, according discourage Nautch and indecent to the Vedas, Upanishads, and of songs and obscene festivities at the the Brahmanic (especially the Ve- Holi. This is only one department danta) philosophy, and an estimate of the purity movement, and the of the same from the Christian conference is of opinion that a wider point of view." scope should be given and greater emphasis laid on the claims of this 1. This prize has been proposed movement in all matters of per- in view of three facts: sonal, family, and public life. (1.) The observation that, in the X. The conference notes with intellectual struggle which has been evokt by missions in India, satisfaction the efforts made by the the cultivated Hindus are, indeed, Maharastra Village Education So- ready to throw over the popular ciety at Baramati, and the Prar- religion, but cling so much the thaua Samaj at Satara, to educate the low castes, and to raise their * Translated by Rev. C. C. Starbuck. status in Hindu society, and it recommends that every effort be made to secure their education and more tenaciously to "the primeval Bhagavad Gita. Special presenta- Aryan religion" contained in the tion must be made on this basis of Vedas, the Vedanta, and the the following: Doctrine of God, Bhagavad Gita, and endeavor to cosmogony, lnan, transmigration, and, above all, redemption. strengthen themselves and others in the fancy that in this" primeval (4.) A further limitation of this religion" the fundamental concep- wealth of material may be made by lll;ying chief weight on the .final tions of Christianity are also to be a~ms (the practical results) of Brahmanism (especially Nirwana) found. against those of Christianity. (2.) The assertion, continually There the extinction of the person- ality, here life eternal; there the reiterated in the journals of India, contemptuous abandonment of the great masses, here the "seeking that this position of the Hindus is to save the lost," etc. confirmed by the comprehensive labors of European scholars in the (0.) The author, however, must take great pains to throw into the domain of Sanskrit literature and light the elements uj truth in those comparative religion. writings on which he founds his course of argument, and which, (3.) The observation, tbat many moreover, may render this better tendencies of the circles in Europe intelligible to Hindu readers.
and America which are estranged (6.) It is desirable that there from Christianity, as, for instance, should be the greatest possible ac- commodation to the Indian manspiritism and theosophy, have, in ners of thought. Whether the some measure, allied themselves author shall even use the form of with "young India," and al'e en- the dialogue, such a favorite form deavoring to make propaganda at of Hindu composition, it is for him home for the Brahmanic doc- to decide.
trines. (7.) The judgment past upon the In view of these phenomena the Hindu religion must be given from the positively Christian point of prize essay must be addrest to view, from that of faith in revelaserve a double end: nt h01ne to in- tion. The counter presentation of struct educated friends of missions the Christian truth will of itself be indispensable for the illustration of in the true genius of the Hindu the labyrinthine aberrations of Hinreligion, and its fundamental dis- duism. tinction from Christianity, as well as abroad to sustain the missionary (8.) The essay, which may be in his conflict with the giant might written either in German or Eng- lish, should not go beyond 20 of Hindu heathenism. printed sheets (about the size of Oldenberg's Religion der Veda). II. As respects the contents and Copyright is reserved to the author. jorm of the prize essay, it is meant: (9.) The manuscript must be (1.) To afford the proof (a) that easily legible, and superscribed this so-called "Aryan religion," with a motto, answering to the neither in itself nor in its histor- superscription of a sealed letter acical evolution is a homogeneous companying, giving the exact name of the writer, as well as of his callsystem, capable of satisfying the ing and dwelling-place. It must be religious needs of a people, not to sent in before June 30, 1899, addrest say of taking the place of Chris- An den Vorstand der Siichsischen Missionskonjerenz, z. H. des Mistianity. (b) That it is an error to sionsseniors R. Handmann, Leipassume that Christian Indologue zig, Arndtstrasse 22, Germnny. as a body would favor a "renais- (10.) The judges are: Professors sance " Brahmanism, now half dead. Dr. Windisch and Dr. Lindner at (c) That Christianity alone is, in its Leipsic, and Dr. von Schroeder at scheme, essence, and destiny, suited Innsbruck.
to become the world's religion. Die Siichsische Missionskonjerenz: (2.) The prize essay must rest P. DR. KLEINPAUL, Vorsitzender. upon a knowledge of sources and Brockwitz bei Coswig, July, 1897. literature corresponding to the present stage of Indological inquiries, and demonstrate this ade- quate knowledge by citations frugally and carefully selected and illustrated on all sides. (3.) It should limit itself to the main points of the religious view of Brahmanism, as it has especially defined itself in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Vedanta, and has modified itself in the
300 EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
V.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The "Dizciples" of Madison Oounty. men, seeking to know God's Word, and to follow it. This REVIEW aims to stand for "One with whom I talkt, said: truth and righteousness, without 'There might be here and there an ignorant preacher who preaches fear or favor, and to deal justly error, but the church should not with all parties and questions, irre- be held responsible for such teach- ing.' spective of creed or conoition. But "I was told that the church bejustice is sometimes necessarily lieves in three persons and one God, tardy, for it takes time to secure and that candidates for admission to the church are askt: 'Do you besatisfactory evidence. In our No- lieve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and your Savior?' Another vember (1897) issue certain state- told me that candidates are adments appeared imputing to the mitted by 'faith, repentance, con- fession, and baptism.' Repentance, Disciples of Madison County, N. C., he further stated, must be 'not from the teeth, but from the heart.' certain beliefs and benumbing in- A man must also break off from evil habits, and give evidence of fluences, which, upon further in- true repentance. 'Of course,' he vestigation, we are pleased to find said, 'we have members who are a reproach to the church. But the are untrue. The article was written lives of these do not represent the teachings of the church.' by one unconnected with any mission board, but who has a sincere " I am glad of this investigation, as it has convinced me of the earand sympathetic desire for God's nestness of the leaders of the church in question, and has shown to me blessing upon the people of that that, as a people, they honor the district, and the information was, Vord of God. . . . I am further convinced of the loyalty of these for the most part, gained from va- people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
rious residents there. Our inform- "It is, however, my honest conant, * in regard to the "Campbel- viction that somewhere among the lites," as they were inadvertently people is a great failure to honor the Spirit of God. * They affirm called, is one in whose Christian their belief in the personal Holy charadeI' and spirit we have the Spirit, and say, 'Vhere the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible utmost confidence-a confidence is silent, let a solemn hush prevail,' which is strengthened by further to which I say AUten. But there are great truths about which God communication on the subject. is not 'silent' regarding the per- sonality, character, office, and After a careful investigation our works of the Holy Spirit, which, tho they may be articles of belief, correspondent writes: nre not prominent subjects of preaching, " "The terms 'Campbellite' and 'CampbeJIislIl' were used simply 'Ve have a further communicato make myself more clearly understood, and to distinguish them from tion from one of the "Christians" Christians and disciples in the other churches. I now regret having of Madison County on the doctrinal used terms displeasing to these people, whom I would not willingly position of the "Disciples of wound. Christ" in that district,t and froUl "Regarding this church in the Bluff district I made somewhat this we make copious extracts: broad statements which were founded on hearsay rather than on • This is, unfortunately, only too true of personal knowledge of facts. At many other churches1 even where not traceyour request, I have gone among able to erroneous doctrines. It is often a these people to inquire into their failure of emphasis more than of faith. beliefs. I have interviewed members and adherents of this church in t Henry Clay Ammons. this distrkt, and my inquiries have convinced me that they are earnest • We withhold the name of our correspondent, not by request, but according to our own judgment. "(1.) Our church is known by the as to have unwillingly caused ofname 'Chur~h of Christ,' or 'Chris- fense, and so have given currency tian Church.' Ve regard the nick- to unjust reports. * This may serve, name' Campbellites' as an insult, however, to vindicate them more because we absolutely refuse to thoroughly than if they had not bear any human name, . . . . been accused. Our one aim is glory and we claim that no mortal has to God, and peace among men. any right to apply a name to God's May the Lord more closely unite church other than that found in the the Christians of all creeds to Him- Bible. self, to the end that they may be more closely linkt together, in loy- "(2). If there is a disciple in this alty of heart, and lahors of love. county who does not hold most firmly to the doetrine of the Trin- D. L. P. ity, it is unknown to me. Ve believe in God the Father, and in Dangerous Teaching. Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. We believe in the Holy Vith no little surprise and sor- Spirit as that Holy Personal Spirit row we have noticed, not only in sent forth from God to convict, the daily and secular papers, but in convert, and save sinners, and to some of the religious weeklies the dwell in all saints, to comfort and reported opinions concerning the guide them unto the end. question "Can an agnostic enter heaven?" with the favorable "(3). Ve believe that all sinners answers, not only of Dr. Lyman must be regenerated by the word Abbott and Dr. Heber Newton, hut and Spirit of God in order that one of Drs. Faunce and McArthur (Bapshould enter the Lord's kingdom, tist), Lloyd (Congregationalist), and and that regeneration is the divid- North and Upham (Methodists), the ing line between the saved and un- last a professor in a Methodist saved. . . . Theological Seminary. The quota- tion of such opinions does not sanc- "(5). The only salvation that we tion them, but to qUfJte without ever heard of, conditioned on the comment is to give currency to mis- Gospel, is pCl'sonnl salvation. Each chievous sentiments. At risk of person must hear the Gospel for seeming illiberal and narrow, we himself, believe it for himself, re- feel constrained to say that in our pent for himself, and obey for him- opinion such exprest views tend self, and then he can rejoice that he only to encourage infidelity and is personally saved in Christ…. promote indifference to even the 8earch after the highest truth. On "All we ask is to have our doc- snbjects concerning which a Christrine clearly understood. . . . Ve tian minister and teacher has no are poor in this county, but, for the revelation, even if he ventures to glorious doctrines set forth above, have an o}yin'ion, it behooves him to there is not one of us who would be silent. It is a question whether, not go to the stake with songs if indeed, it is safe to form even an need be. Perse~utions have knit op'in'ion where there is no Bihlical us togethet as one man. Ve hate basis. " Preach the preaching that no one, we love all men who love I bid thee "-" preach The JVord"- our one Lord. Ve love peace- these are the Divine guides for us we even court it. . .. And now, brother, 'Vith charity for all, * The editorial note in our February with malice toward none,' let us go on to finish the work in which issue was printed before we received specific we are engaged, to bind up all denials of the reports as touching Madison needless wounds, and to stand by County, and oefore we had time to investievery hero of our common cross, gate. to the end that the world shall be taken for Christ, and our rightful, glorious King shall reign in all hearts."
This testimony is fully corrobo- rated by other witnesses from whom we have not space to quote. Ve rejoice at this vindication of our brethren in North Carolina, and regret that we were so misinformed in the solemn work of dealing with missionary bishops of the Church souls. The foremost preacher of Missionary Society, William Carey to-day is, perhaps, Dr. Alexander and Adoniram Judson, Dr. Duff Maclaren, of Manchester. If he and Dr. John Wilson, Griffith John, has any private opinions that go David Livingstone, Bishop Thobeyond the express teaching of Holy burn, and a host of others. If" by Scripture, his sermons, reaching their fruits ye shall know them," it through ahalf century, have never, is a proof that the modern lax views in a single case, betrayed them. He of Scriptures and human peril are has dared to confine his preaching to not of God, for they undermine the the Scriptures, and has helpt to very basis of missions. As Dr. mold more Biblical teachers than Ewing has said, "'Ve cannot afford any other living man. Beyond the to export doubt to the foreign clear revelation of the Word, we, as field." "Ve write in no conscious God's witnesses, can not safely go. intolerant spirit, but from pro- It is possible that agnostics are found conviction that those who often " willingly ignorant," and do would be loyal to God must preach not even care to examine into not a negative but a positive Christian truth. It has been well Gospel. Goethe said, "Give us said that" if it is of no consequence your convictions; as for doubt.s, we what a man's opinions are, pro- have enough of our own." With vided he be sincere, it is not worth tenderness, but faithfulness, we while to search for truth, or when would exhort our brethren not to found, to embrace it." And we have go beyond the Word of the Lord, no hesitation in saying that such as the only course whereby we shall sentiments, when not only pri- "save ourselves or them that hear vately held, but publicly declared, us." tend to knock the bottom out of all missions, both home and foreign. Our friend, A. R. Cavalier, of the If men are in no danger without Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, Christ, all missions become at best or Indian Female Normal School only a philanthropic and humani- and Instruction Society, writes tarian scheme, and we feel con- from London: strained in loyalty to God to ask whether in the judgment ofthe great " Our society is the first establisht day one would prefer to stand mission specially to reach the woamong those who have gone beyond men in the zenanas, and has for up· the ,Vord of the Lord, or with such men as Dr. Maclaren, C. H. Spur- ward of 40 years devoted its atten· geon, Archibald Brown, Andrew tion to work amongst women and Thomson, D.D., "Villiam Fleming girls in India." Mr. Cavalier, re- Stevenson, D.D., and men of this ferring to statements, page 643 of class across the sea, and with such as Drs. R. S. Storrs, Theodore L. the September REVIEW, that one- Cuyler, A. J. Gordon, Stephen H. twelfth of the women in India are Tyng, and Bishop Simpson, on this side the water. And as for foreign widows, says: "The actual nUInber, missions, the men who have most at the last census of 1891 was 22,- vigorously and nobly prosecuted 657,429; the proportion of widows is theln are, everyone of them, men therefore nearly one-sixth." who hold by thd old Bible. Witness Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, George The number, 8,000, for widows Miiller, the grand missionaries and under ten was a typographical er- ror, intended for SO,()(){); and in- stead of 175,000 under 14, it should have read" between 10 and 14."
The census is as follows: Widows under 4 years of age. . . . . . . . . .. 13,878 •• between 5 and 9 years ……… 64 040 H 10" 14 ~……….. 174,1582 U Total number under 14 is …………. 252,450 "According to the same census there were 38,047,354 girls under 15 There was no saying, 'I am of years of age, and of these, includ- Paul,' and 'I am of Apollos;' all ing all girls' schools, both govern- said, 'I am of Christ '-and they ment and missionary, only 313,777 helpt each other. If they had known were under instruction, so that for that I should be honored by being every girl who is being educated, 99 askt to speak at this meeting at least are growing up without to-night, I am sure they would education. " have sent a warm greeting to all here connected with the Alliance. At the Cambridge Conference of I think I may well say that the the Evangelical Alliance in Septem- missionary bond and the missionber, Mrs. Bishop, bearing witness to ary brotherhood are two of the the harmony of spirit and brotherly brightest examples of keeping that union which exist among Protes- unity of the Spirit in the bond of tant missionaries, said; "I shall peace which the Alliance for these be happy to say what I have fifty years has been striving to proseen of the Alliance spirit among mote." Mrs. Bishop has made a missionaries in various parts of the donation to the society of £100 for world. I have traveled for seven a mission hospital at Mien-cheo, and a half years in Asia, and have West China. visited in that time, I think, about 170 mission-stations between the The Student Volunteer Conveneastern shores of Japan and the tion, which met in Cleveland, Feb. Sandwich Islands, and those wil- 23-27th, was the largest and most low-shaded streams by which the representative ever held. Over Jewish exiles wept over memories 1,700 students gathered for prayer of Zion; from the snows of Sibe- and conference as to ways and ria to the fierce glow of the Equator means of carrying the Gospel to in the Malay Archipelago. In the "regions beyond." Earnest- Central Asia, China, Persia, Asia ness, waiting on God for guidance Minor, Arabia-wherever I have and power, calm consideration of met with missionaries in all these difficulties in the field, and the lands, I have met with the Alliance need of thorough spiritual, pracspirit, with work for the good of tical, and intellectual preparation man, carried out in faithful obe- on the part of workers, the emdience to the last command of our phasis on whole-hearted conse- Lord, while the workers have been cration, and the n:ed of beginning holding' one Lord, one faith, one one's life-work at home-these and baptism, one hope of their call- other characteristics markt the ing,' and one hope of eternal life. gathering and made it one of great I have found them meeting to- power and promise. A report will gether for prayer and Scripture- appear in our next issue. reading in all the mission-st.ations, loving each other as brethren; A British theological students' holding their own denominational conference is to be held at Birmingviews, many of them very strongly ham, England, April ]2-16 for the -but these denominational views purpose (1) of determining the renever, except in one particular case, lation of the British theological interfering with that bond of students to the student Christian brotherhood in which all were movement of Britain; (2) to deepen work·ing for the welfare of man- the spiritual life in theological colkind. It was instructive to see this leges, and (3) to stimulate missionbond of brotherhood so markt that ary enthusiasm among theological one never knew to what church or students generally. Two hundred society these devot.ed men and and fifty student delegates are exwomen belonged. All met together pected, and the earnest prayers of in love and harmony, seeking the God's people are sought to the end same aims and loving the same Lord. This Alliance spirit, this blessed observance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, was communicated by these workers to their converts. One of the brightest features among the Christian converts, and, perhaps, especially in China, was this spirit of unity. that this conference may be di- must be ground between lions' rected throughout by God's spirit, teeth to make bread for God's peo- and that the results may be mani- ple." fest in spirit-filled men going forth to labor in all parts of the Lord's When our personal friend, Rev. vineyard. Archibald G. Brown, so long pastor of the great East London Taber- FmnCES E. Willard. nacle, went to the Chatsworth Road Baptist church, West Croydon, his The death of Miss Frances E. new field, he told his new flock Willard in her 60th year (born 1838), why he had left the London taber- which occurred in New York, Feb. nacle. For twenty-eight years he 18, is one of the most not::.ble events went to his work singing, and, as of this year thus far. She was long as that continued, there was no an extraordinary woman, probably need to stop; but then came a unsurpast by any woman of her sense of weariness and ill-health, generation in the symmetry of her and he recognized that he was no womanhood and the complete con- longer young, and that the strain trol of her really unusual powers. must be eased. But, after the rest, She is one of perhaps six women he could now say: "There is work who have most influenced her gen- in me yet." The Norwood deacons eration for good, and this death had said: "We have a chapel and strikes a chord in many lands. For hundreds of empty seats." "That's ten years she has been at the head a great attraction, and that has of the women's crusade against brought me," concluded he, with strong drink, and for this cause has the spirit of a true missionary. sacrificed everything with rare selfabnegation. Later on she became Errata. a strenuous advocate of the movement in favor of social purity. P~~re~;t. (Nov., 1897) for Unitarian read She was preeminent as a public Page 9~ (Feb., 1898) for Universalist read unispeaker, and will be remembered as versities. a model of sim~le, fluent, persuasive speech. Of her address in the Donations Acknowledged. great "Free-Trade Hall, Manchester, England, a competent judge has No. 106-Indian famine sufferers……. $1.00 said: "It was the finest speech I ever " lOB-Jerry McAuley Mission……. 5.00 heard." Her style as a public ., l09-Jerry MCAuley Mission……. 29.80 speaker reminded one of Wendell " l09-Pundita Ramabai…………. 80.00 Phillips. She was, first and last " 110-Jerry McAuley Mission……. 5.00 and always, a devoted Christian, " 111-Jerry McAuley Mission……. 80.00 and her death was such as fitly " 112-PunditaRamabai. ……….. _ 15.00 crowns a consecrated life. Her last words were: "How beautiful to be Books Received. with God!" This is not the place for a biographical sketch. But the AFRICA WAITING; or, The Problem of Africa's writer heard her years ago before Evangelization. By Douglas M. Thorna mass-meeting in the auditorium ton. 16mo, 148 pp. Map. Student Volof the university at Ann Arbor, unteer Movemeut, New York. 25c. where her closing historic reference was the key to her life. She quoted PICTURES OF SOUTH CHINA. Rev. J. Mac- Ignatius, the martyr, in the arena, Gowan Illustrated. 8vo, 320 pp. Refacing the Numidian lion, and say- ligious Tract Society, London. Bs. ing calmly: " I am grain of God; I ApOSTOLIC ANn MonERN MISSIONS. Student Lectures at Princeton, 1895. Rev. Chal- mers liartin, M.A. 12mo, 235 pp. Flem: ing H. Revell Co. $1.00.
WHETHER "WHITE OR BLACK, A MAN. A Plea for the Civil Rights and Social Privileges for the Negro. Edith Smith Davis. Il- lustrated. 12mo. Fleming H. Revell Co. 75c JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE MrSSION OFCHUROH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 12mo, 220 pp. 28.
18913.1 EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
VI.- GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D.
Extracts and Translations From Foreign German Protestantism' at large. Periodicals. Even the authorities of the estab- lisht churches, particularly the BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, Prussian Church, entangled as they are in the depressing influences of MASS. Oresaropapism, begin to awake under this reviving breath. THE PRUSSIAN CHURCH AND MIS- SIONS. In the January number of the Missions-F1·eund, the Rev. A. Me- At the Reformation, in order to rensky has an article entitled escape the domination of the priest- " Signs of the Times," in which he hood, the Protestants deemed it remarks on this encouraging fact. necessary to allow to the State an He observes that we hear an infininordinate share of power in the ity of complaints about peoples and administration of the Church. In governments, and above all, and England, we know, the sovereign, that often with only too good tho not assuming the immediate ground, over growing frivolity and functions of the priesthood (which ungodliness. Yet all is not dark. European sovereigns have claimed These are exactly opposite signs, for nowhere), called himself Head of which we ought to thank God with the Church, and from the time of all our heart. The Gospel of Christ Elizabeth on has exchanged this has again become a power. It for the title of Supreme Governor. stands on the candlestick, and the In Protestant Germany and in time is here of which St. John Scandinavia, the sovereign is styled writes (as in Luther's Bible): "I Sun~mus Episcoplls, Suprerne saw an angel flying through the Bishop, and seems to trench more midst of heaven, who had an eterdeeply and far more arrogantly nal gospel to proclaim to those that upon the spiritual sphere than in sit and dwell upon earth, and to all England. The bonds of the Conti- heathen and races and languages nental state, as we know, are very and peoples." That man unquesheavy anyhow. The Old Catholic tionably forfeits a great part of his movement, which promist so well warranted Christian joy who does at first, has languisht in Germany not in our days look into the results for nearly a generation, in part on of Christian missions, which are, account of the feeble power of ini- without doubt, the greatest and tiative in the German laity, which, fairest object that our age has to moreover, has never formed the offer and that which is most worthy habit of spontaneous contributions of thanks. "Vhen the Kingdom of for ecclesiastical ends. Cresar may God begins to show itself at the have defended the Reformation, ends of the earth we know that it but he has very nearly suffocated it. is the herald of yet more glorious times, for" this Gospel of the King- Yet the Unitas Fratrum shows dom shall be preacht in all the what depth of spiritual energy and world for a witness unto all nations; of self-devotion is latent in German and then shall the end come." Protestantism. So, also, do the Hermannsburg missions. The in- Protestant missions originated in spiring, broadening, and strength- Germany, altho it was the maritime ening power which lies in missions begins also now to show itself in
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Denmark that sent out the first more than ever bent on exercising German missionaries. Considering wherever possible in Protestant the far greater numbers and energy missions, and of which we are now of the free churches in England having so aggravated and heartand America, and the far greater rending an example in Madagascar. freedom of the establisht churches, To be sure, the Jesuits would beand the far more extensive com- have in this way, even if Rome formerce of these countries, and the bade them ever so strenuously. wide colonial empire of Great Brit- However, she appears comfortably ain, it is not strange that these few to close her eyes to all their domissions in Germany make but a ings there. As Herr Merensky reweaker show in comparison, altho, marks, the encroachments of Rome what Herr Merensky does not abroad and the contumeliousness chance to mention – they are dis- of Rome at home are closely continguisht for thoroughness and joined. She seems determined that thought. Yet missionary interest if the heathen receive the Gospel it is steadily growing in Germany, shall not be in the brightness and aided, tho at the same time en- simplicity of the Reformation, but dangered, by the feverish zeal for under the cloud of medieval schocolonial extension. lasticism. There is ample field for both churches, and why must she, As to contributions, Germany, by unscrupulous interference, rewhich, moreover, is comparatively mind us so irresistibly of the early a poor country, stands relatively Judaizers? The Synod, therefore, thus. In England and Scotland did well to handle the two matters gifts amount to a mark (24 cents) together. We have not seen the for each Protestant. In France 55 Canisius encyclical, but we undercentimes (11 cents) and in Germany stand it to have past all bounds of 12 pfennig (3 cents). The large city courteous controversy. Indeed, it congregations are peculiarly back- is reported that the Curia itself has ward. In Berlin, for instance, the been forced into a sort of apology contributions are only 4 pfennig for it. (1 cent) a head. If Germany were as rich as France or the two Anglo- The Synod has directed the fol- Saxon countries, it would be dif- lowing protest to be read from all ferent, altho, perhaps, the Celtic pulpits of the Prussian Church, at and Anglo-Celtic nature is more home and abroad: free-handed than the unmixt Teutonic. "(1). What the Pope describes as malignant poison is, in truth, the "Another attractive sign of the saving gospel of the free grace of times is the favor which missions God in Christ Jesus. We must have found at this year's meeting never cease admonishing the Pope of the General Synod of the Estab- anew to give admission finally to lisht Church of Prussia. This.has this. (2). Luther, whom the Pope been shown at every opportunity invidiously styles a rebel, has, in of speaking for the cause. The reality, only in straightforward voice of the Synod in its advocacy simplicity, given the honor to God, has been as that of one man. Forty in bidding defiance to the papal or fifty years ago such an acknowl- authority, founded as it was upon edgment of its value would have the traditions of men, and in opappeared impossible." posing to it the authority of the Divine Word. (3). The secular Herr Merensky complains, with authority has first been recognized righteous displeasure, of the dis- again as an independent ordinance turbing influence which Rome is
– 1898
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS.
of God, since the usurpt supremacy to two or three pfennig a head; in of the Pope over the civil govern- Westphalia and on the Rhine, to ment no longer found credence 17 pfennig (4 cents) or more.
with evaD.gelical believers. History Professor Dr. Warneck, the well- bears witness that the dismal fire of known student of missions, added revolutionary rebellion has found valuable suggestions and warnings.
more abundant fuel and effected Especial1y: "Colonial history will greater ravages in the Roman Cath- ever be one of the darkest and dirt- olic lands than among Protestant iest pages of universal history. In nations. (4). Against the asserted the Kongo State these nightsides connection between the Reforma- are revealed in their most hideous tion and dissoluteness of morals we form. But let us, at all events, re- appeal to the witness of God. The joice that these colonial acquisi- Reformation, by its presenting of tions are a new missionary oppor- the unadulterated "Vordof God has tunity, It new missionary signal."
awakened the conscience, and has Director Gensichen then urged a been, from age to age, the spring of wider circulation of missionary Christian culture and morality literature.
alike for the individual, the family, The General Synod has not been and the nation. But, against all deterred by the effusively exprest calumnies, the incarnate Son of friendship of its Summus Episco- God, our Mediator, remains our pus for the Sultan from adopting a Refuge and Fortress. The field He resolution expressing- the utmost still shall hold." abhorrence and distress in view of The Synod has also occupied it- the pitiless and still-continuing per- self with the missionary work more secution of our Armenian brethren immediately. It had caused a re- in Christ. It warmly commends port to be drawn up which turned those that are still in the lion's den especially on the extent of the Ger- to the prayers and active help and lHan rnissions. There are 16 socie- liberality of German evangelical ties engaged in these, which have Christians. This liberality it im- altogether some 700 missionaries in plores, above all, for the children of their service, of whom nearly 100 the martyrs. ' , We exhort all the 3,re in the German colonies. They members of our Evangelical Prus- proclaim the Gospel in some 40 sian Church to pray that those who languages and have translated the are still under the trial may exhibit Bible, or parts of it, into about 30. a faithful constancy, and to suppli- They have gathered some 300.000 cate the King of all kings and the Christians from among the heathen, Lord of all hosts, that He will turn and almost 70,000 once heathen the hearts of the persecutors, and children go daily into German mis- give a gracious consummation to sion schools. It is a great matter the time of suffering."
of rejoicing that, as appears by the 'There is, indeed, more probability report, the income of these societies of a sudden conversion of the Mo- has, in ten years, increast by a mil- hammedan murderers than of their lion of marks. It now amounts to Western accomplices and apolo- about 4,000,000 marks. The colonial gists.
extension of the Empire is, it is The Synod calls attention to the true, in part to thank for this. The imperious need of providing ample various provinces, however, differ pastol'al care for the Germans in greatly in the amount of their con- East Africa, that while the Gospel tributions. In West Prussia, Po- is preacht to the natives, these may sen, and East Prussia, these amollnt not be set against the Gospel by the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
virtual heathenism of the Euro- .. English Notes.
peans. The admirable influence ex- BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A. erted OIl the natives by the flourishing South African communities of The Society for the Relief of Germa,n peasants around the Her- Persectded Jews has recently held mannsburg missions gives special a meeting at the house of Lady point to this admonition. Louisa Ashburton, Kingsbridge.
Hitherto German missionaries, An interesting account was given few of whom have gone through the by Mrs. Tinn as to the amount and prescribed course for a pastorate at value of the work being done by home, have been incapable, if com- the society, which is not forty pelled to return, of holding a posi- years old. It was started in 1857 tion in the home church. The under the auspices of Lord Salis- Synod, however, has past a resolu- bury, in order to aid poor Jews tion greatly modifying this restric- returned to the land of their fation. thers from Russia, Rumania, and other countries, and yet utterly The modest, but admirable Ger- destitute. In order to get work for man hospitals, schools, and other these poor refugees a plot of land evangelical establishments in the known as "Abraharn's Vineyard," Holy Land were also commended was bought and cultivated. Soloto the effective interest of German, mon's quarries were again workt, immediately of Prussian Protes- and an olive-oil soap manufacture tants. started. In this way many Jews have been helpt to gain an honest Finally, the General Synod unani- livelihood, the soap manufacture mously adopted the following being specially prosperous. vote: "The General Synod has, with thankful joy, taken account of the Missionar'ies in Trainin[J..-On fact that results in the German Thursday, December 23rd, a most mission-fields have, of late years, enjoyable meeting was held at Har- been decidedly more encouraging, ley House, Bow. The gathering and that the home contributions was the last of the session, was, in have also increast, and a larger fact, the breaking-up meeting be- measure of trained theologians also fore the holidays. The new princi- have been added to the practically pal, Rev. Silas Mead, M.A., LL.B., trained force. Yet the Synod can has evidently alrtlady establisht not close its eyes to the fact that himself in the esteem of the stu- the increase of missionary gifts is dents; he was received with great still far from corresponding to the applause and his words of counsel increasing missionary responsibil- listened to and appreciated, coming ities opening before Protestant as they did from one so well verst Germany. The Synod, therefore, in wisdom and experience.
would address to all organs of the The Rev. J. Douglas, M.A., of Church a cordial and earnest en- Brixton, now for the third year as- treaty to persevere in extending sisting in the work at Harley missionary knowledge, and in using House-spoke a few words on the all means to kindle a warmer love right equipment for the faithful for missions, such as shall express missionary; dwelling mainly on itself in a larger liberality, that the the value of the study of the 'Vord efforts of our missionary societies of God-a library in itself-a study may not be lamed for want of the which, if properly undertaken, requisite means."-Redaction by would make the missionary a Di- Rev. C. C. STA.RBUCK. vine messenger' to the heathen.
ENGLISH NOTES
Mr. Crosby Brown, B.A., the by the Rev. F. B. Meyer of Christ resident art tutor, did not publicly Church, London. Addresses were address the meeting. Reference was given by Mr. C. T. Studd, Mr. made, however, to his great help- V. B. Sloan, and Rev. Arnold fulness in the work by most of the Streuli, the pastor. speakers. The London City Mission held The Rev. G. D. Hooper of Luton, their annual meeting at Exeter who during the two years previous Hall, as usual on New Year's Day. to Mr. Mead's appointment, had Between four and five hundred been theological tutor, added coun- workers were gathered under the sel mingled with dry humor re- presidency of Rev. Robert Dawson, specting the course of study for the one of the secretaries of the misfuture at Harley. sion.
Throughout the evening songs The meeting was stimulating and and recitations varied the proceed- energizing, and the toilers were ings. helpt by Rev. J. Campbell Morgan's address on "The compassion of The special feature of the even- Jesus for the perishing multiing was the introduction of the tudes." The workers were urged foreign students by Mr. F. Z. to manifest a Christlike compas- Hodge, who with true humor char- sion in their work among the acterized each foreigner as he in- sunken and degraded, and while troduced him. Palestine, Armenia, hating the sin, to love the sinner. Korea, and France were all represented, and ably represented, by THE KINGDOM. students now residing at Harley House, thankful for this land of -Revelation xiv. 6. "And I saw Christian freedom, and the privi- another angel fly in the midst of leges enjoyed here. heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that Dr. Harry Guinness was unable dwell on the earth, and to every to be present at this most pleasant nation, and kindred, and tongue, evening with the students, as he and people." was then worki~ in Peru, organizing the new branch of missionary -Referring to the fact that in all work there. churches the Ten Commandments are frequently heard, the Church One could not but feel thankful, Missionary IntelUgencer suggests as one left the college after the that in missionary meetings ten meeting was concluded, that such commandments from the New Tesa college exists, where men of all tament be read, the people being nations may gather together with invited to make after each the reone object, namely (after special sponse, "Lord, have Inercy upon training), the fulfilment of our us, and incline our hearts to keep Lord's great command, to go and this law." The following are menpreach the Gospel to every crea- tioned as suitable for this purpose' ture. Matt. v. 16; Matt. vi. 19, 20, 33; Matt. vii. 1; John xiii. 3t; John The Christian Endeavor Society, v. 39; John iv. 35; Matt. ix. 36, 37 ; in connection with Moss Side Bap- 1 Cor. xi. 23-25; Matt. xxviii. 19, tist Church, Manchester, has de- 20. The Intelligencer adds that one cided to support its own missionary advantage of the adoption of this in China, Mr. Charles Fairclough. plan, which has been successfully The ordination meeting was held in the last week of December, and the charge of the missionary given
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
tried, is that it puts foreign missions tians do; I have seen it in Agra, on the right ground; it teaches the and I've seen it in Ahmedabad and people to confess that they have been Surat, and I've seen it in Bombay.' guilty of failure, and to pray for Perna laughed, and his happy face grace to amend; and it shows that shone the more as he said, 'Yes, the real Christian has no option as I'll tell you the medicine; it is to whether or not he will take part happiness of heart.' 'The external in the evangelization of the world. appearance of our people,' said -Church At Horne and Abroad. Bishop Caldwell (Tinnevelly) 'is so much more respectable than that -The experience of George Miil- of their heathen neighbors; they leI' in regard to "Answered Pray- are so much cleaner and brighter er," is related in the Sunday Mag- looking.' "- Church Missionary azine. The whole of the money in- Gleaner. vested in the building of his orphanages, amounting to £115,000, -In suggesting what would be was obtained thus. For sixty-two proportionate giving for various years he has never askt man for a benevolent objects, the Mission penny, while he has received for Field, of the Reformed (Dutch) the carrying on of his work £1,400,- Church, indicates the following 000. Further, he has been enabled amounts on a basis of 10 per cent. to send £257,000 to his missionary on each $1,000 of income: Local brethren. His method has been in- church, $50; foreign missions, $13.- variably to go on praying till the 50; home missions, $9.00; church answer has come. In a recent ad- erection, $6.75; ministerial relief, dress to a Y. M. C. A. meeting, in $4.50; widows' fund, $2.25; publicahis ninety-third year, he said that tion, $2.25; and miscellaneous, he took up his orphan work espe- $5.00. cially with the object of giving a visible demonstration to the whole -Rev. John McNeil is back in world and to the Church of God of London girding at the Pharisees. what prayer could do. The whole "It is nothing to give one-tenth world is familial' with the result. when there are nine-tenths lying -London Chr'istian. snugly behind. Call such a man a pillar of the church! He is a cater- -On an Alaskan steamer the pillar." A good many church passengers were proving that an treasurers would be glad to have a Indian could not be civilized. So few such caterpillars in their con- Dr. Hill, of Portland, called up a gregation, all the same.-North graduate of Marietta and Lane, a and West. native Alaskan with bronze skin and black hair, who told the story -A whole Christ for my salvaof what the Gospel had done for his tion, a whole Bible for my staff, people. Skepticism was impossible a whole church fnr my fellowship, on deck after that demonstration. and the whole world for my parish. -North and West. -Au.gustine.
-" A Hindu trader in Kherwara -We shall be glad to see the Parmarket once askt Perna, 'What liament of Religions of the Paris medicine do you put on your face World's Fair in 1900 justify its to make it shine so?' Perna an- being; but it is at least not easy to swered, 'I don't put anything on.' see how it can serve any real good. 'No; but what do you put on?' It avowedly seeks "in default of 'Nothing. I don't put anything doctrinal unity, the fraternal unity on.' , Yes, you do. All you Chris- of all men only as being religious, and to raise above the differences resented by columns in church of sects the principles in which they papers; of 26 boards, 11 issue a are all united." But all people are children's periodical, and 2 have a religious; but what can the parlia- departmf'nt for children in the ment prom·ote that is held in com- senior organ; about 9,000,000 of mon between the fetish worshiper pages in leaflets and tracts are of India and the Protestant? Men issued each year, besides books and believe in God, indeed, but there is pamphlets; of 30 women's boards, nothing in that unless the concep- 14 pay all expenses, sometimes with tion of God in each case bears a surplus, 10 are subsidized, and 6 some show of approachment. The are in debt; in 30 boards, 23 find Jews and the Samaritans had a interest in m;ssionary literature good deal in common, as the Chris- increasing. tians and Mohammedans have. But will anyone tell us what work in -To Queen Victoria has recently common Christians and Moham- been sent a memorial signed by medans can do ?-Christian Work, 336,350 women of the realm, not a few of them of noble blood, setting -Rev. 'Villiam Ashmore names forth the fact that since her reign these" three mistakes to be a voided began 800 convents have been esin China," but all missionaries in tablisht in England, with 20,000 all countries will do well to take women now in them, but with no note and give good heed: (1) Build- sort of supervision except from ing their meeting-houses for them; Rome, and praying that the gov- (2) paying the salaries of their pas- ernment will take speedy measures tors for them; (3) educating their to inspect their condition, managechildren for them. ment, etc.
-Worse and worse. There seems -The British Syrian Mission to be no doubt that Hermann Schools and Bible Work Society at Warszawiak drew frqm an Edin- its 37th anniversary reported 29 burgh bank $20,000, which had schools in Beirut, Tyre, Damascus, been deposited for use in building etc., with 3,312 pupils, of whom his New York "Christ's Syna- 1,245 are Greeks, 315 are Moslems, gogue," and declines to give any 441 Roman Catholics, 399 Druses, account of it, tho one has been de- and 133 Maronites, Syrians, etc. manded. The number of European and na- tive teachers is 91. WOMEN'S WORK. YOUNG PEOPLE. -The following figures presented at the union missionary meeting in -The Chicago Inler-Ocean is New York by the chairman of the probably unique among large daily literature committee, show: That papers in the fact that it employs the number of members represented an experienced reporter, who deby the churches of 22 women's votes all his time and thought to boards is 7,324,924; the number the interests of young people's rewho are members of the mission- ligious societies, giving generous ary organizations of these churches space to his work. This reporter, is 611,237, or about 1 in 12; the Mr. Oscar E. Roecker, puts into his number in the missionary organi- writing much vigor and skill. zations subscribing to missionary periodicals is 191,565, or about 1 in -Miss Carrie A. Holbrook, secre- 3; of 30 boards, 26 publish a mis- tary of the Minnesota Christian sionary periodical, and 4 are rep- Endeavor Union, mentions a society in an Episcopal school which holding British degrees or diplois phenomenal in its realization of mas. They number 251, an increase the interdenominational and inter- of 11 since last year. India has ,national ideas. It is made up of 50 76, China 69, and Africa 36. The members, among whom are Scotch, Church Missionary Society leads Norwegian, Swede,Dane, Austrian, with 44, the Scottish Free Church Swiss, English, German, Polander, has 29, the London Society has 24. and American. The following denominations are reported: Presby- -Womankind is represented in terian, Baptist, Methodist, Epis- the foreign field by 116 medical copal, Church of Christ, Roman missionaries, who are scattered far Catholic, Lutheran, and Congrega- and wide through 11 countries: in tional. There might be a reminder China, 44; India, 41; Japan, 6; of Babel in the meetings, but on Africa, Persia, Burma, and Ceythe whole they must saVOl' far more lon, 4 each; Borneo, 3, etc. of Pentecost. -Americans in London, as a last- -Rev. "Villiam Carey, of Dhaka, ing memento of the Jubilee, raised East Bengal, India, the great grand- £5,000 and endowed in perpetuity a son of the famous missionary, writes bed in each of the 5 principal hosto the Christian Endeavor World pitals of London, for the use of of a special visit to Calcutta, and a Americans primarily, but when not tour through Assam, which were needed for these they can be used fruitful of results for the Endeavor for others. movement in which he is so greatly interested. "A fine opening has -Hindus of the Madura district been found for Christian Endeavor have subscribed about $13,000 for a among the Hindu girls in our mis- hospital, which has been given, sion day-schools. "Ve have 3 socie- nearly completed and free of cost, ties among them in Dhaka, and 3 to the American Board, with dismore in Calcutta. My Assam trip tinct consent to have the Gospel was very encouraging. In one preacht in its waiting-room every place 70 of the hill Christians (Kha- day. This hospital, called the third sis) signed the pledge at one meeting handsomest building in the city, on a cold, rainy morning." may be contrasted with the great Madura temple to Siva, adorned -The Endeavor society in the with the finest sculptures of South Cook county poorho1Lse, Dunning, India, and built 450 years ago, at a Ill., has just celebrated its fourth cost of $4,000,000. birthday. It receives hardly any help from outside in carrying on -The Church Missionary Society its meetings. It is now in the pas- has in its hospitals 1,030 beds, aml toral charge of the Moody Institute, to snpport each of these £5 are rehaving been transferred from the quired annually in China, and £10 Chicago Commons. elsewhere.
-The largest Junior Endeavor so- UNITED STATES. ciety in the New York City Union is at Five Points House of Industry. -If one is inclined to marvel and It numbers 200. wax indignant over the situation in New York City, it will be well to MEDICAL MISSIONS. remember that of the population 1,250,000 are foreign born, or with -Medical Missions at Home and their children, 2,500,000, that is, Abroad, for January, gives a com- two-thirds of all. The Germans, plete list of medical missionaries children included, number 700,000, which is more than any German
GENERAL MISSIONARY
city contains, save Berlin; the 000 souls have been saved through Irish, 850,000, tho Dublin has not the instrumentality of this society; half so many; 170,000 English; (2) to-day there are over 200,000 105,000 Russians; 100,000 Italians, "living monuments of God's 50,000 Scotch, etc. mercy" who have been brought to the Savior through the same agency; -Chicago, eminent for so many (3) each year, on an average, about things, good and bad, may properly 12,000 are baptized by the missionbe termed the Seminary City, since aries; (4) 475 American missionit holds 4 schools of the prophets,and aries, men and women, are now Moody Bible Training Instituf"ion fighting the powers of darkness; besides. In these are 865 theolog- (5) about 3,000 native preachers and ical students, distributed as fol- other workers are cooperating with lows: Garrett Biblical Institute (M. them; (6) during the last four years, E.) has 150 students. Of these only even in the face of accumulating 50 are college graduates; 20 are debt and diininisht resources, there in the Scandinavian department. have been nearly 50,000 additional The Chicago Theological Seminary converts; (7) the Union is working (Congregational) has 165. Of these, in 22 different countries, namely: 130 are college graduates; 45 are in Burma, Assam, India, Siam, China, the Scandinavian department. Mc- Japan, Africa, Sweden, Norway, Cormick (Presbyterian) has 150, all Germany, Austria, Hungary, Ruscollege graduates. The University sia, Finland, Poland, Denmark, of Chicago (Baptist) has 329 in the France, Spain, Bulgaria, Rumania, divinity department. Of these, 227 Belgium, and Switzerland. are college graduates, and 55 are in the Scandinavian department. -The distribution of the missions of the Presbyterian Church and its -Princeton Seminary in all has force are as follows: sent 208 men to the fo'.'eign field, located as follows: India, 48 ; China, .. ~.~~ ~ ,; ~~ 41; Japan, 20; Africa, 17; Brazil, 13; Siam, 12; Persia, 8; Hawaii, 7; '~.~d~ ;l" {'i:l Mexico and Chile, each 6; Syria, ~8 5; Colombia and West Indies, each ~~ c3 ~.§ 4; Ceylon, Korea, and New Hebrides, each 2 ; and Burma, Afghan- Africa …………… 33 50 8 (.)~ istan, and Formosa, 1 each. There China ……………. 185 511 72 are now in the seminary about 35 India …………….. 141 334 28 1,267 proposing to devote themselves to Japan ……………. 58 100 35 7,990 the foreign field. Korea ………….. _. 33 30 10 3,093 Persia……………. 60 276 29 5,269 – During the last ten years the Siam and Laos ……. 63 92 24 Brooklyn Union Missionary a~1d Mexico …………… 23 104 42 530 Training Institute has sent 62 to Cen. and S America. 63 79 52 2,404 the foreign field. The number in Syria .. ,. , … , ……. 39 215 28 2,496 attendance averages from 40 to 50. Chinese in U. S …… 10 11 3 2,191 1,854 -The number of Indian church 2,247 members in the United States is 28,663. 303 -The Baptist Missionary Union Totals ………… 708 1,802 331 30,644 is able to give this splendid account of itself: (1) Since 1819, when the -The Evangelical Lutheran first baptism took place, some 300,- Church (General Council) has one mission field in the Madras Presi- dency, India, in which are 7 mis- sionaries with their wives, 1 native pastor, and enough of other toilers to make a total force of 160. The principal stations number 7, schools have been establisht in 113 villages with 2,719 pupils, and preaching is sustained in 191 villages. The -In the St. Thomas Church communicants are 2,002, and native choir, at Ryde, Isle of Wight, a Christian (adherents) 5,036, an in- lady of eighty-five years of age is crease of the latter of 552 in two leader of the choir, of which she years, and of school children 826. has been a member for seventy- eight years. She walks to and EUROPE. from the church (from the alms- house, where she is one of the in- Great Britain.-An immense con- mates) to the services regularly. fraternity has been formed in France and England to pray and -The Evangelical Churchman work for the conversion of Eng- (Toronto) for Jan. 27, has a fineporland to the R. C. faith, and com- trait of Eugene Stock, editorial plete submission to the pope. This secretary of the Church Missionary is all right; it is a better way of Society, and an article which tells trying to conquer England then by of his gifts and work. These words sending " invincible armadas" are well justified by the patent facts against her. But the effort to in the case: "He has raised the C. convert England into dependence M. S. publications to be easily the upon an Italian priest for religious first in the world. He has done and moral guidance is a very fruit- more. He has managed to create less enterprise. The popes could an ever-growing circle of people not hold the English or the Scotch who read them. Missionary rein their harness when they had ports and papers are no longer dull them fairly well tied up; much less and uninteresting. They claim and can they recall a free people into secure attention." bondage to the ways and devices of the dark ages. The Continent. – The French Catholics seem to be alarmed over -Well does the New York Times the number of priests who are insay of the position Great Britain scribing their names at the Faculty has taken in China with regard to of Protestant Theology in Paris, free trade: She is the champion of and a leading French paper says civilization and humanity. She is that such a desertion from the the champion of democracy and Catholic ranks has never been witprogress against the reactionary nest as at the present time. autocracies of Europe. She deserves the support of all mankind, -The French Lutherans have and especially does she deserve the formed themselves into a society support of the United States. for helping the Norwegian Lutheran Mission in Madagascar.
-Gratifying progress seems to be -It is said that the Italian Govmade by a movement initiated by ernment has on foot the founding the Calvinistic Methodists to raise of a public library at Florence for a fund of £10,000 toward helping to the purpose of collecting all the make up the loss caused by the re- books which ha1'e been banned by cent earthquake in India. The Rev. the Vatican. There will be no spe- Josiah Thomas, the secretary of cial expense connected with the the foreign missionary society, has publication of the catalogue, as exreceived information as to the ex- isting copies of the Index Expurtent of the destruction in the Khas- gatorius are accessible and can be sia and Jaintia Hill, and in Sylhet, procured at a reasonable price. and it amounts to 207,124 rupees, or Expurgated truth will be thus given at least £12,000. public recognition, preservation, and circulation. A free state thus band of apostles, martyrs, and offsets an intolerant church. saints that have preceded them, they are, at least most of them, -The late Baron de Hirsch gave dull preachers of dogmas that bring away during his life, or devised, neither light nor life to our nation. nearly $22,000,000; for Jewish colonization, $10,000,000; for the Jews o Lord, if they have come to benein the United States, $5,000,000; for their education in Galicia, $5,000,- fit us, may their lives show more 000, etc. Vhat wealthy Christian earnestness, self-denial, and prayerhas done better? fulness. Make them worthy of Christ and acceptable to the people ASIA. among whom they labor by imbu- ing their hearts largely with that India.-Bishop Thoburn believes simplicity of faith, sweetness of it a fact that tens of thousands of devotion, and lowliness of ascetipoor people can be found in India cism without which preaching is t~-day who are willing to embrace sure to be ineffectual. Lord, teach the Christian religion if teachers them to be humble and poor, and can be found who, in the language turn more to the spirit than to of the inquirers themselves, can empty forms, so that they m::Ly " show them how to be Christians." prove truly helpful in leading our countrymen to purity of life and. -In the Wesleyan Work and godliness."-Indian Witness. Workers the question is discust of why there is often such an un- -How strange! During the apsatisfactory state of feeling be- palling calamities which have retween the races in India. ~'he cently befallen India from plague writer admits that color prejudices and famine, almost the entire may h~ve something to do with it, amount of financial assistance has and also the imperiousness begotten come from Christian Britain and hy the position of the rulers; hut America, and next to none from the he ascribes it largely to the moral thousands of wealthy Hindus and defects of even the best educated Mohammedans. natives, which make it difficult to work with them, and also to the -R. Chandra Chandra, a caste social entanglements by which the Hindu, was converted to Christ in natives are beset, and which cause the Duff College, and baptized by them often to live a double life the late Rev. Dr. Mackay. Hepast hardly compatible with honesty. into the Bengal medical service, and distinguisht himself both as a regi- -Christian missionaries are al- mental surgeon and a medical ways glad to have prayer offered in professor. When on furlough, their behalf. It may interest them Surgeon-Major R. Chandra Chanand stimulate their flagging zeal dra married the late sister of the and declining energies to learn present Lord Chancellor, Earl Halswhat their Bramho Somaj brethren bury. On her death, and his reare asking. We find this prayer in turn to India, Dr. Chandra Chanthe World and the New Dispensa- dra made a will, under which, after tion: "Cause Thy light, Almighty providing for his Hindu brother God, to shine on all ,Christian mis- and sister and three sister's sons, sionaries working in this land. Do and for a small hospital in memory Thou revive, we earnestly beseech of his wife, he bequeathed £500 to Thee, their declining zeal and ener- our foreign missions, and a capital gies, and increase their spirituality Chandra fund of Rs. 3,750 (say £235), and devotion. Unlike the noble the interest to go to our Calcutta Bengali Church's Sustentation -Hindu widow remarriages are Fund, to the mission, and to the increasing in number. One of the girls' school. The will was deelared latest recently took place at Hai- informal by the court, and the darabad, Scinde, under the auspices whole past to the nearest Hindu of the Arya Samaj there. The heirs. They have most generously bride, Valli Bai, was aged about 22 resolved to carry out their Chris- years. She is the head mistress in tian brother's intentions, and have the Thatta Vernacular Girls' paid over the amounts left for our School. The bridegroom was Lala missionary purposes.-Free Church Dewan Chand, a Punjabi employed Monthly. in the storekeeper's office, N. W. Railway at Kotri. The parents of -Among the 1,000 temples in the bride are living, and it is with Brindaban there is one built by their consent that the marriage two rich bankers of Mathra at a was contracted. The ceremony cost of $2,250,000. The food of the was performed according to Vedic idols costs $15,000 yearly, and other rites. expenses amount to $12,500. The managers of the temples were de- -John R. Mott visited a college termined that no Christian place of in Ceylon where he found a band worship should ever be built there. of students so poor that 16 of them They kept out the Mohammedan occupied one room. Near the build- mosque during the 800 years of ing was a garden, in which they Mussulman rule. Six years ago spent their spare time cultivating the Methodist Church began work bananas. When Mr. Mott inquired, in Brindaban, and now the presi- "What do you do with the mon- ding elder of Agra District, Dr. J. ey?" they took him to the shore E. Scott, of which it is a part, has and pointed to an island off in the 15 appointments. sea. "Two years ago," they said, "we sent one of our graduates -A member of the Bareilly M. there. He started a school, and it E. District Conference writes thus has developt now into a church. to the Indian Witness: "Ve have We are going to send him to an- 242 members, of whom about 180 other island this year." They also . are paid workers. We have 20 said they had instructed their cook circuits, 112 sub-circuits, with a that every tenth handful of rice sub-pastor and pastor-teacher for should be laid aside that they each of 1,222 villages in which might sell it in order to have Christians live, 1,088 baptisms this Christ preacht a little more widely. year, with 1,924 under special in- struction for baptism, 3,786 full China.-It is stated that from the members, 5,652 probationers, 4,335 Peking Government strict orders Christian children; giving a Chris- have been issued to each of the tiancommunityof 13,773. Number governors of the eighteen provinces of leaders, 688; Christian pupils in to open in the capital city schools day-schools, 2,026; pupils of all of Western learning. Of course, ages in Sunday-schools, 7,152." for teachers resort must be had to the missionaries and their Christian -When Dr. Duff began work in pupils. Calcutta, he found that a cow had more rights and higher rank than -Rev. V. B. Hamilton writes a woman, and he said that to try thus vigorously in the Independent: "to educate a woman in India was "China at present is like a sitting as vain as to attempt to Bcale a 'wall hen. She has sat and sat so long, jive hundred/eet high." and in her sitting has so mismanaged, that most of her eggs have there was a cart with a mule to pull become addled. Attempt to move it; paper servants to do all sorts of her and she ruffles her feathers, work, paper houses, flowers, tables, futilely pecks at the intruder, and chairs, a pig, and even an image of at times cackles incontinently. her pet cat. These all were sent up Poke a stick at her, in appearance in smoke, and supposed to go to like a gun, and away she runs in her wherever she is. Several bowlH temporary fright, in her awkward of real food that she liked best were haste perhaps breaking one or two burned too. Ugly paper lions were of her ill-smelling eggs. Sitting burned to guard her door and keep hens are sometimes cured by break- thieves away, for the Chinese have ing up their nests. To accomplish no treasures in heaven where this, external force must be applied. thieves can not break through and This process China is now under- steal. At her grave two huge going. Under foreign influence an- paper giants were burned-one tiquated methods in war and diplo- black and the other white. Their Inacy, in commerce, industry, and faces were terribly fierce, and they education are being abandoned. were expected to drive evil spirits But China's corrupt government avay." still remains untoucht. How long will the imperious powers of the -Rev. J. A. Silsby gives these fig- West continue to have their pa- ures as to the number of Christians tience thus abused? Already the in China, which he estimates at temptation is strong to wring the 80,000 communicttnts, and 20,000 old hen's neck and gather to feast applicants for baptism in addition. upon her toothsome body. But He finds them scattered through will our symbolic hen lend herself all the 18 provinces, Fukien leadto neat dissection? This is the Chi- ing with 17,000 communicants, nese puzzle of the day. In China Kwangtung following with 12,700; carving is often performed with Shangtung,12,000; Chehkiang, 9,000; a meat-cleaver. 'Vhack! whack! Manchuria, 7,200; Chili, 7,000; etc;, whack! down comes the blade, and down to Honan, 300; Hunan, 100; backbone and legs, breast and wing Yunnan, 60; and Kwangsi but 20. are served up in one shattered, shapeless mass. Snch carving, -Dr. Baldwin in a letter to the however, is very distracting to an New York Advocate describes the order-loving world. Undeniably, new M. E. church at Peking. It is China does present some lines of the largest church edifice in the emcleavage." pire, having comfortable seats for 1,300 people, and it is possible to -Miss Anna Pruitt gives this ac- accommorlate an audience of 2,000. count of a Chinese funeral: "The At night the church is lighted by old lady across the street has just 40 electric lights arranged in a cirdied. Her sons are rich, and think cle around the center of an auditheir money can buy happiness for ence room. The electric plant in their mother's soul. They burn the Methodist University building make-believe money, and say that near by furnishes the lighting powit turns into real gold and silver for er. The church was built in accordher to use. I can't tell you all the ance with architectural plans from things they have burned for her. the United States. Bishop Joyce There was a paper horse for her to dedicated the building a few weeks ride, tho the old lady never even ago. Mandarins of high rank were trusted herself on a donkey here; officially deputed by the Tsung-li Yamen, or Board of Foreign Affairs, to attend the service, who -At the Rhenish missionary stalistened with close attention to the tion of Omupanda, in German Methodist bishop'S earnest sermon, Southwest Africa, 13 converts have in which he held up Jesus Christ lately been baptized, the firstfruits as the only Savior of sinful men. of four years of preparatory work. In Great Namaland considerable -Bishop Joyce tells of an exhil- desire after the Word of God is aparating Methodist lovefeast at parent now that more peaceful Hinghua, in which 228 natives, as times have come round. At Keet- Inany women as men, and 11 for- mannshoop a new church has been eigners testified for Christ in .fifty built at a cost of £10,000, and anminutes. In that conference are other is about to be built at Betha- 40 members and 60 local preachers, nien. The total number of baptized whose whole time and energies are converts in German Southwest given to the work, at a cost of only Africa now reaches 9,370. – Allge- $3,500, and of which the people meine Missionszeitschrift. raise about half. That is, the average cost is but $35. -The churches of the Rhenish Missi9nary Society in Cape Colony -Dr. C. R. Hager, of Hongkong, numbered 14,335 souls, according to has charge Gf 10 stations with 9 the last annual report. It is an im schools and 226 pupils, treated 1,046 portant point that these congregapatients last year, made 98 visits to tions themselves pay the whole cost the sick, pulled 124 teeth, performed for the maintenance of their 53 operations in minor surgery, churches and schools, and in 1894 baptized 131, and received 122 they even paid 4,300 marks as a adults to the church; and all at voluntary offering to missions. In the expenditure of $590. The South Natal also the work is making de- China Mission received only $850 cided progress. The humbel' of nato sustain 11 chapels, 11 day-schools, tive Christians has increast in a and a training school. striking manner during the last seven years. In 1888 there were AFRICA. 5,000 baptized adults, last year there were 15,000. -The United Presbyterians have in Asyut, Egypt, a college and a -Says the Mission Field (Society girls' school, and the two institu- for the Propagation of the Gospel) tions seem to be enjoying abundant under the heading of "A Zulu Stusuccess under the management of dent:" Gregory Mpiwa Ngcobo, a Rev. J. A. Alexander and Miss Zulu, baptized at Isandhlwana, is a Jessie Hogg. There were about 590 student at St. Augustine's College, students enrolled in the college dur- Canterbury. He is the first Zulu ing the past year, and about 240 in who ever past the Universities' prethe girls' school. These numbers liminary examination of candidates are quite in excess of the reason- for holy orders. At that examinaable capacity of the institutions, tion an average of one-third of the and the students are simply crowd- candidates are rejected. Ngcobo ed in the study and sleeping-rooms. not only past, but did well in Latin, It is, indeed, fortunate that the ex- Greek, and elementary Hebrew. cellent climate of Egypt allows the The examiners were very much students to do a considerable part pleased with him. He is going back of their studying out of doors, or it to work in his own country under could never be done, with the pres- the Bishop of Zululand. There is, ent insufficient accommodations. indeed, good hope for the native church when it can have such men three years ago we had 1,600; two of the Zulu race for its clergy. years ago we had 3,400, and the past year nearly 7,000." -M. JulIa has been successful in preventing a war which was about -A missionary in Uganda tells to break out between the Barotsi us that once converted the people and the Mashikulumbue. The king are anxious to evangelize their feland chiefs being present at a ser- low-countrymen, and that one out vice, M. JulIa exhorted them to re- of every 5 communicants has gone nounce this iniquitous enterprise. to proclaim the Word of God to the They were astonisht at his bold- heathen. The natives are not enness, and some of the chiefs were couraged to adopt European habits, furious; but in a few days they all as the missionaries believe in the agreed to give up the war. This is formation of a strong native church. the first time that the Barotsi have renounced a war for which they had ISLANDS OF THE SEA. already made all the preparations.- Journal deslJfissions Evangeliques. -At the beginning of the century the population of Java was 3,500,- -A remarkable story of enter- 000. In 1826, it was 5,500,000. In prise, illustrating the rapid opening 1850, 9,500,000. In 1865, 14,000,000. of Africa, comes from Bulawayo, In 1890, 24,000,000. It is 600 miles the capital of Matabeleland. In long, and from 60 to 120 miles wide. April of 1896 the first rail of the Borneo and New Guinea are much new line north of Mafeking was larger, but, nevertheless, have poplaid, and on October 19 the first en- ulations of only 800,000 and 600,000. gine entered Bulawayo, completing The difference is the Dutch system the construction of 500 miles of of colonization in Java. There are railway in 400 working days. This about 13,000 Christians in the haste in construction was occasion- island, and the Bible is printed in ed by the ravages of the rinderpest, Javanese. which had rendered the transportation of goods in South Africa almost -General GalliEmi, the French impossible. We can have little con- resident in Madagascar, has deception of the immense losses manded for the current expenses of caused by this cattle disease. I t is the present year an additional sum estimated that in the district over of no less than £760,000, so that the which the Christian chieftain Kha- total expenditure for 1897 will rna rules, 750,000 cattle have died. amount to £1,220,000. It is calcu- The Christian Express, of Love- lated that in future the yearly outdale, estimates this loss as amount- lay will be at least £720,000. Most ing to $7,500,000, which, comparing of the unforeseen cost has been inthe condition of the people in South curred, not by reproductive works, Africa with that of the people in but by military expeditions, and by Great Britain, would be like taking what was otherwise necessary for $750,000,000 from British savings.- insuring the pacification of the J"Iissiona1'Y Herald. island. France, therefore, has not yet made much of its new conquest. -Mr. John R. Mott reports that last summer he met an old friend in M. Delord, who has been ap- England, just home on a furlough pointed by the Paris Missionary from his work in Uganda, who said: Society, after conference with the "Five years ago we had 400 bap- representatives of the L. M. S., to tisms; four years ago we had 800 ; two large districts in Imerina, writes thus of his charge: "From the material, as well as the spiritual point of view, it is a 'despoiled ety, just publisht, shows that this heritage' which has fallen to me, society numbers now as regular atand, some exceptions apart, I only tendants on public worship, on the meet with ruins. The schools are island of Samoa, 6,192 persons; Fiji, disorganized; about 50 have only a 96,421; New Guinea, 9,318; New Britnominal existence, not having been ain, 8,812, making a total of 120,- able as yet to find any teachers. 743. The first missionaries were The churches, in many cases, have sent to New Britain only 20 years no reality to answer to the name; ago, and the New Guinea mission the flocks, more heathen than was establisht only 6 years ago. 21 Christian, having only just come European missionaries, 73 native out of the forest to which they had ministers, 1,250 native teachers, and fled, are in such a state that one 2,778 day-school teachers are emfeels that everything has to be ployed in these fields. Of the nadone or to be redone."-Journal tive agents 3,763 are Fijians. The des Mis8ions Evangelique8. total cost of the work is about $50,000, about half of which is -In the three districts which borne by the natives. formerly belonged to Mr. Pearse, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Huckett, -The following are the latest stamore than 1,000 children and 1,200 tistics of the Fiji district: grown-up persons have come back to us. At Fianarantsoa I am told Churches and preaching places…. 1,293 that more than 300 children have left the Catholic church and begun European or Australian ministers. 11 again to attend the Protestant service, after having remained several Fijian ministers. … ……………. 67 months without appearing anywhere. The Malagasy judge, of Catechists and teachers………… 3,756 whom I wrote to you, has come back. This movement will grow, Local preachers………….. …… 2,051 I hope, when I have a church. And I am happy to tell you that I shall Class leaders. . . . . . . … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,521 have one in about ten days, from what Commandant Claret tells me." Native members ………………. , 30,794 -Ibid. on trial….. …… 4,291 -From the Betafo district of the Norwegian Missionary Society in Catechumens …………………. 11,081 Madagascar, Pastor Engh writes: "Capt. Durand (the French offi- Sunday·school teachers………… 2,631 cial) keeps his word faithfully, and the greatest civil and religious free- H H scholars ………… 33,590 dom is allowed within the bounds of ·law. People can be Protestants, Day scholars…………………… 35,141 Catholics, or heathens, just as they like, without any influen!;Oe being Attendants on public worship …… 96,421 used by the authorities in one direction or another.-Norsk Mi8- – Rarotonga, the South Sea ission8tidende. land, which John Williams first visited, has a most interesting ar- -The annual report of the Aus- ticle devoted to it in the December tralasian Wesleyan Mission Soci- Chronicle of the London Mission- ary Society. It has a population of over 2,000, and has been a Chris- tian island for more than seventy years. Each village (there are 5 of them) has a church, school-house, and manse of its own. The people maintain their own pastors, and make an annual contribution to the London Society. They have stone hbuses, with chairs and tables; they use buggies, and have a bicycle club .. they have a local parliament, in which all the islands of the group are represented.
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1898
OF FIVE HUNDHED GODS, CANTON
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOl,. XXI. No. 1.-Old &rWs.-JANUARY-VoL. XI. No.1.-New &ries.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY.-· THE REVIVAL of THE PRAYER-SPIlUT.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The pivot of piety is prayer. A pivot is of double use: it acts as a fastener and as a center; it holds in· place, and it is the axis of revolution. Prayer is the double secret: it keeps us steadfast in faith, and it helps to all holy activity. Hence, as surely as God is lifting His people in these latter times to a higher level of life, and moving them to a more unselfish and self-denying service, there will be a new emphasis laid upon supplication, and especially upon intercession.
This revival of the praying-spirit, if not first in order of development, is first' in order of importanr,e in every really onward advance. Generally, if not uniformly, prayer is both starting point and goal to every movement in which are the elements of permanent progress. Whenever the church is aroused and the world's wickedness arrested, somebody has been praying. If the secret history of all really spiritual advance could be written and read, there would be found some intercessors who, like Job, Samuel, Daniel, Elijah, like Paul and James, like Jonathan Edwards, William Carey, George Muller and Hudson Taylor, have been led to shut themselves in the secret place with God, and have labored fervently in prayers. And, as the starting point is thus found in supplication and intercession, so the final outcome must be that ()od's people shall have learned to pray, if there is not to be rapid reaction and disastrous relapse from the better conditions secured.
These convictions have so been inwrought into the mind of the writer by patient and long continued study of the religious history of the race, that there seems to be no seal of permanence upon any movement, however spiritual in appearance and tenden(}y, which does not sooner or later show a decided revival of the praying spirit.
* This periodical adopts the Orthography of the following Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philological Association and the Philological Society of England :-Change d or ed fina to "when so pronounced, except when the e affects a preceding sound.-PUBLISHERS.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
There is a divine philosophy behind this fact. Our greatest need is to keep in close touch with God. Our greatest risk is the loss of the sense of the divine. We are in a world where every appeal is to the physical senses and through them. Reality is in direct proportion to the power of contact. What we see, hear, taste, touch, or smellwhat is material and sensible-we can not doubt. The present and material absorbs attention and appears to us solid, substantial: but the future, the immaterial, the invisible, the spiritual, seem vague, distant, illusive, imaginary. Practically the unseen has no reality and no influence upon the vast majority of mankind. Even the unseen God is less a verity than the commonest object of vision; to many He, the highest verity, is really vanity, while the world's vanities are practically the highest verities.
God's great corrective for this most awful inversion and perversion of the true relation of things, is prayer.. "Enter into thy closet." Why? There all is silence, secrecy, solitude, seclusion. Within that shut door, we are left alone: All others are shut out, that the suppliant may be shut in-with God. The silence is in order that we may hear the still, small voice, that is drowned in worldly clamor, and which even a human voice may cause to be unheard or indistinct. The secrecy is in order to a meeting with Him who seeth in secret and is best seen in ·secret. The solitude is for the purpose of being alone with One who can fully impress us with His presence only when there is no other presence to divert our thought. The place of seclusion with God is the one school where we learn that He is, and is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. As Dr. Plummer used to say, the closet is "not only the oratory, it is the observatory," not for prayer only but for prospect-the wide-reaching, clear-seeing. outlook upon the eternal! 'rhe decline or prayer is the decay or piety; when prayer ceases altogether, there is spiritual death, for prayer is the breath of life to every child of God. .
To keep in close touch with God in the secret chamber of His presence, is the great underlying purpose of prayer. To speak with God is a priceless privilege; but what shall be said of having and hearing Him speak with us ! We can tell Him nothing He does not know; but He can tell us what no imagination has ever conceived, no research ever unveiled. The highest of all possible attainments is the knowledge of God, and this is the practical mode of His revelation of Himself. Even His holy word needs to be read in the light of the closet, if it is understood. "And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with Him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony,-from between the two cherubims, and he spoke unto him." Nu. vii.: 89.
THE REVIVAL OF THE PRAYER SPIRIT
And, where there is this close touch with God, and this clear insight into His name which is His nature, and into His word which is His will made known, there will be a llew power to walk with Him in holiness and work with Him in service. « He made known His wallS unto .Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel." The mass of the people stood afar off and saw His deeds, like the overthrowing of Pharaoh's hosts)n the Red Sea; but Moses drew near into the thick darkness where God was; and in that thick darkness he found a light such as never shone elsewhere., and in that light he read God's secret plans and purposes, and interpreted His wondrous ways of working. All practical PO'VER OVER SIN AND OVER MEN'
depends on closet communion. Those who abide in the secret place with God show themselves mighty to conquer evil, and strong to work and to war for God. They are the seers WllO read His secrets; they know His will; they are the meek whom He guides in judgment and teaches His way. They are His prophets, who speak for Him to others, and even forecast things to come. 'rhey watch the signs of the times and discern His tokens and read His signals. We sometimes count as mystics those who, like Savonarola and Oatharine of Siena, claim to have communications from God; to have revelations of a definite plan of God for His Ohurch, or for themselves as individuals, like the reformer of Erfurt, the founder of the Bristol orphanages, or the leader of the Ohina Inland Mission. But may it not be that we stumble at these experiences because we do not have them ourselves? Have not many of these men and women proved by their lives that they' were not mistaken, and that God has led them by a way that no other eye could trace?
But there is another reason for close contact with the living God in prayer-a ieason that rises perhaps to a still higher level. Prayer not only puts us in touch with God, and gives knowledge of Him and His ways, 'but it imparts to us His power. It is a touch which brings virtue out of Him. It is a hand upon the pole of a celestial battery, and it makes us charged with His secret life, energy, efficiency, Things which are impossible wit.h man are possible with God, and with a man in whom God is. Prayer is the secret of imparted power from God, and nothing else can take its place. Absolute weakness follows the neglect of secret communion with God-and the weakness is the more deplorable, because it is often unsuspected, especially when it has never yet been known by us what true power is. We see men of prayer quietly achieving results of the most surprising character. They have the calm of God, no hurry, or worry, or flurry; no anxiety or care, no excitement or bustle-they do great things for God, yet they are little in their own eyes; they carry great loads, and yet are
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
not weary nor faint; they face great crises, and yet are not troubled. And those who know not what treasures of wisdom and strength and courage and power are hidden in God's pavilion, wonder how it is- they try to account for all this by something in the man, or his talent, or tact, or favoring circumstances. Perhaps they try to' imitate such a career by securing the patronage of the rich and mighty, or by dependence on organization, or fleshly energy-or what men call "determination to succeed "-they bustle about, labor incessantly, appeal for inoney and, cooperation, and work out an apparent success, but there is none of that Power of God in it which can not be imi- tated. They compass themselves about with sparks, but there is no nre of God; they build up a great structure, but it 'is wood, hay, stub- ble; they make a great'noise, but God is not in the clamor. Like a certain preacher who confest that, when he felt no kindling of inspired thought and feeling, he walkt up and down the pulpit: and shouted with all his might-they make up for the lack of divine unction and action by carnal confidence and vehemence. There is a show of energy, resolution, endeavor, and often of results, but behind all this a lamentable and nameless deficiency.
Nothing is at once so undisputable and so overawing as the way in which a few men of God live in Him and He in them. The fact is, that, in the disciple's life, the fundamental law is "not I, but Christ in me." In a grandly true sense there is but one Worker, one agent, and He divine; and all other so-called" workers" are instruments only in His hands. THe first quality of a true instrument is passivity. An active instrument would defeat its own purpose; all its activity must be dependent upon the man who uses it. Sometimes a machine becomes uncontrollable, and then it not only becomes useless, but it works damage and. disaster. What would a man do with a plane, a knife, an axe, a bow, that had any will of its own and moved of itself? _Does it mean nothing when, in the Word of God, we meet so frequent symbols of passive service~the rod, the staff, the saw, the hammer, the sword, the spear, the thrashing instrument, the flail, and in the New Testament the vessel? Does it not mean that a wil((ul man God can not use; that the first condition of service is that my will is to be so lost in God's as thai; it presents no resistance to His and no per- sistence beyond or apart from His, no assistance to His. George Milller well says that we are to wait to know whether a certain work is God'sj then whether it is ours, as being committed to us; but even then we need to wait for God's way and God's time to do His own work, otherwise we rush precipitately into that which he means us to do, but only at His signal, or we go on doing when He calls a halt. Many a true servant of God has, like Moses, begun before his Master was ready, or kept on working when his Master's time was past.
There is one aspect of prayer to which particular attention needs
THE REVIVAL OF THE PRAYER SPIRIT
to be called, because it is strongly emphasized in the Word, and because it is least used in our daily life: we mean intercession.
'l'his word, and what underlies it, has a very unique use and meaning in Scripture. It differs from supplication, first in this, that supplication has mainly referenqe to the suppliant and his own supply: and again because 'intercession not only concerns others, but largely implies the need of direct divine interposition. There are many prayers that allow our cooperation in their answer, and imply our activity. When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," we go to work to eaJ'1~ the bread for which we pray. That is God's law. When we ask God to deliver us from the evil one, we expect to be sober and vigilant, and resist the adversary. This is right; but our activity in many matters hinders the full display of God's power, and hence so our impression of His working. And the deepest convictiolls of God's prayer-answering are wrought in cases where we are in the nature of things precluded from all activity in promoting the result.
It will, therefore, be seen that the objecNon which often hinders our praying, or praying in confidence of results-namely, that we are entirely helpless to effect any result-is THE GRAND REASON FOR PRAYING; and when such praying is answered, the evidence of God's working is irresistible. It is when we are in trouble and refuge fails us, when we are at our wits' end, that it becomes plain that He saves us out of our distresses. Unbelief is always ready to suggest that it is not a strange thing if a prayer for the conversion of another is answered, when we have been bending every energy toward the winning of a soul; and we find it very hard to say how far the result is traceable to God and how far to man. But when one can do nothing but cry to God, and yet He works mightily to save, unbelief is silenced, or compelled to confess, this is the finger of God.
The Word of God teaches us that intercession with God is most necessary in cases where man is powerless. Elijah is held before us as a great intercessor and the one example given in his prayer for rain. Yet in this case he could only pray. There was nothing else he could do· to unlock the heavens after three years and a half of drought. And is there not a touch of divine poetry in the form in which the answer came? The rising cloud took the shape of "a man's hand," as though to assure the prophet how God saw and heeded the suppliant hand raised to Him in prayer! Daniel was powerless to move the king or reverse his decree; all he could do was to " desire mercies of the God of heaven cOlwerning the secret;" and it was because he could do nothing else, could not even guess at the interpretation when he knew not even the dream-that it was absolutely sure that
tJannarS
God had interposed, and so even the heathen king himself saw and felt and confest. All through history certain crises have arisen when the help of man was vain. To the formal Christian, the carnal disciple, the unbelieving soul, this fact, that there was nothing that man could do, makes prayer seem a]m-ost a folly, perhaps a farce, a waste of breath. But to those who best know God, man's extremity is God's opportunity, and hUIUan helplessness is the argument for praying. Invariably those whose faith in prayer is supernaturally strong, are those who have most proved that God has wrought by their own conscious compulsory cessation of all their own effort as vain and hopeless.
George Muller set out to prove to a half-believing church and an unbelieving world t.hat GOD DOES DIRECTLY ANSWER PRAYER; and to do this he abstained from all the ordinary met.hods of appeal, or of active effort to secure the housing, clothing, and feeding of thousands of orphans. Hudson Taylor undertook to put missionaries into Inland China, by dependence solely upon God. He not only asks no collections, but refuses them in connection with public meetings. lIe and his co-workers are accustomed to lay all wants before the Lord, whether of men or money, and expect the answer, and it comes. The study of missionary history reveals the fact that, at the very times when, in utter despair of any help but God's, there has been helieving prayer, the interposition of God has been most conspicuously seen-:-how could it be most conspicuous except amid such conditions?
One of the most encouraging tokens of God's moving ill our days is, ·therefore, what, for lack of any better terms, we have called the revival of the prayer-spirit. This is very noticeable in the numerous "prayer circles" and" prayer covenants," which have been formed within ten years past. In Great Britain particularly, intercession has been unusually emphasized of late. The Keswick movement has been more conspicuous for prayer than for anything else. The whole atmosphere of the convention has been laden with its fragrance, and the intervals between the meetings are very largely filled up with private supplications, or with smaller gatherings of two or three or more who seek further converse with God. There are organizations for prayer alone-some whose members do not know each other, or meet in common assemblies, but whose only bond is a covenant of daily supplication for one another and for objects of mutual interest. Any one who will read the two volumes in which is told that wonderful story of the China Inland MisEion, will find that beyond all else believing prayer is brought to the front, as the condition of all success. It fell to the writer of this paper to spend some weeks at the Mission
THE REVIVAL OF TIlE PRAYER SPIRIT
Home, in London. From morning till night there was one sacrifice of praise and prayer, and at least once a week, with the map of China in fun sight, the various missionaries and stations are mentioned by name, individually, the peculiar circumstances being made known, which incite to earnest, sympathetic supplication. And thus, both in larger and smaller circles of prayer, the spirit of intercession has a markt revival.
This is doubtless the most hopeful signal apparent above the horizon, and it is a signal calling God's people to a new life of unselfish and believiug prayer. Every church ought to be a prayer C'ircle)' but this will not be, while we are waiting for the whole body to move together. The mass of professing Christians have too little hold on God to enter into such holy agreement. May the writer venture a suggestion-the fruit of long and prayerful thought-to his brethren in the ministry, and to all who yearn for a revival of the prayer-spirit? It is this, that IN EVERY CHURCH A PRAYER CIRCLE be formed, without any regard to number.~. Let the pastor nnite with himself any man or woman in whom he discerns peculiar spiritnallife and power, and without publicity or !tny effort to enlarge the little company, begin to lay before God any matter demanding special divine guidance and help. Without any public invitation-which might only draw unprepared people into a formal association-it will be found that the Holy Spirit win enlarge the circle as He fits others, or finds others fit, to enter it-and thus quietly and without observation the little company of praying souls will grow as fast as God means it shall. Let a record be kept of every definite petition laid before God-such a prayer circle should be only with reference to very definite matters-and as God interposes, let the record of his interposition be carefully kept, and become a new inspiration to believing prayer. Such a resort to united intercession would transform a whole church, remove dissensions, rectify errors, secure harmony and unity, and promote Holy Ghost administration and spiritual life and growth, beyond all other possible devices. If in any church the pastor is not a man who could or would lead in such a movement, let two or three, who feel the need, meet and begin by prayer for him. In this matter there should be no waiting for anybody else)' if there be but one belicver who has power with God, let such an one begin intercessory prayer. God will bring to the side of such an intercessor others whom He has made r.eady to act as supplicators.
Not long since, in a church in Scotland, a minister suddenly began to preach with unprecedented power. The whole congregation was aroused and sinners marvelously saved. He himself did not understand the new enduement. In a dream of the night it was strangely
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
suggested to him that the whole blessing was traceable to one poor old woman who was stone deaf, but who came regularly to church, and being unable to hear a word, spent all the time in prayer f~r the preacher and individual hearers. In the biography of C. G. Finney similar facts are recorded of "Father Nash," Abel Cleary, and others.
In 1896 I met in Newport, England, a–praying circle of twelve men, who had met for twenty-five years every Saturday night to pray for definite blessings. Not a death had occurred in their number during the whole quarter century. The first impulse leading to this weekly meeting. w.as interest in Mr. Spurgeon's ministryo They felt that with his greall.a;ccess to men he had need of peculiar power from above, and on the .Sabbath following their first meeting, he began to preach with such- increast unction as attracted general notice. Examples might be multiplied indefinitely. But the one thing we would make prominent is this: that above all else, God is calling His people to new prayer. He wills that "men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting;" that,first of all, snpplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.* And if this be done, first of a,ll, every other most blessed result will follow. God maits to be ask!. He has the fountains of blessing which he puts at the disposal of his praying saints. They are sealed fountains to the ungodly and the -unbelieving. But there is one Key that unlocks even heaven's gates; one secret that puts connecting channels between those eternal fountains and ourselves, that key, that secret, is prevailing prayer. .
In London an enterprising newspaper has a private wire connect- ing with Edinburgh, in order to command the latest freshest news from the Scottish Athens. One night the clerk, who was out to col- lect local items, returned late and could not get in-he had forgotten to take his night-key. He thought a moment. It was of no use to knock at the door-the only fellow-clerk in the building was too far away to heal' him. He stept to a neighboring telegraph office and seRt a message to Edinburgh: "Tell – – that I am at the street door and· can not get in." In twenty minntes the door was unfastened' and he was at his desk in the office. The s7wrtest way to get at the man in the fourth story was by Edinburgh. How long will it take us to learn that our shortest route to the man next door is by way of God's throne! God has no greater controversy with his people to-day thaI;.
this, that, with boundless promises to believing prayer, there are so few who actually give themselves unto intercession.
" And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, That stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee."-Isa. lxiv.: 7.
*1 Tim. Ii.: 1, 8.
1898.J THE PRESENT SITUATION IN ASIA
'l'HE PRESENT SITUATION IN ASIA.
)lY ROBERT E. SPEER, NEW YORK CITY, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
It is a cJmmon belief among men who are living in the East, and who are, without bias, studying its future, that the Pacific is to supplant the Atlantic as the great sea of commerce and the ocean theater of the world's life and movement. The populousness of the lands bordering the Pacific on the west, the wealth of their undevelopt resources, the magnitude of their markets, the greatness of the empire that is growing up around Australia, the inexhaustible richness of the Spanish-American States, and the promises made by the powerful infancy of our Pacific commonwealths, leaving out of view the yearnings of European states to gain seats of influence and residence in the old East that is becoming the newest West, are but a few of many grounds on which these men rest their belief that the great scenes of future history will be enacted around the Pacific. There is much to lend color to such views. We mistake in thinking of Asia as wholly effete. It is covered with the wrecks of great historic movements. Onr antiquities are as the play of children compared with its hoary age. The forces which have made many of its peoples are spent. But the peoples of Asia are great peoples, and their old life, while devoid of aspiration, of progress, of fertility, has schooled them into a pati~ ence, an endurance, a frugality, a sense of human weakness, that may prove, when the new forces that are at work begin freely to play upon them, an equipment of infinite value, the very qualities needed to enable them to do what has not yet been done.
The new forces have been powerfully at work the past year, and the new year begins with the situation in Asia more interesting than ever to the friend of human progress and the student of history. Superficially the reactionary influences seem, in the main, to have prevailed. Underneath, the solid, progressive forces may be seen not only to have held their own, but to have gained in the great struggle which has begun. Some wonld reckon Russia among the retrogressi ve influences; but Russia stands for order, protection, law; and her industrial ambition means that her political absolutism is constructing its own limits, while emancipation in some form, which must come, may make Russia's influence not so unfavorable to the higher' interests of the Asiatic peoples as has been usually supposed. Sunnee Mohammedanism in the person of the p8eudo Oalif, Abdul Hamid, has risen from the low estate into which it was believed to have been brought, and the Sultan, from being the sick man of Europe, has gained new health and power with which further to curse the nations. The new year sees both :r.ussia and Turkey more securely entrencht than ever in Asia; and in the case of the former, at least, in a position of unassailable strength in fields on which a few years its hold was slight.
On the other hand, the influence of Great Britain, which, while in the main (lirected with purest selfishness toward the absorption and developme,nt of trade, has also ever been the most righteous and just- spirited influence in Asia, is declared by many British residents and papers in Asia, to have declined. The weak and vacillating course of Sir Nicholas O'Connor during the Japanese-Chinese war certainly did weaken the influence of Great Britain in both China and Japan, while it played into the willing hands of I~ussia. And the appointment, two years ago, of Mr. Byron Brennan practically to in vestigate the condition of British trade, and his commission, with a sort of pontifical authority, indicated the. British belief that they were in danger in just that sphere which is dearest to them, and whose protection and enlargement has ever been the particular care of British foreign policy. Many long for the old swash-buckler days of Sir Harry Parkes, forgetting that the Asiatic nations have past through a generation of the most efl'eC-' tive discipline in the ways of western governments since then, and have learned some good lessons in that same school which taught the Sultan to play chess with the suspicions and distrusts of the European states. In matter of fact, the solid influence of Great Britain has not declined so much as the influence of other European governments, and the wit and skill of the Asiatic governments have increast. 'l'he old supremacy and daring aggression are gone. The telegraph renders the Asiatic stage too opcn to the gaze of civilization to allow the old tactics ever to be employed again. Still, e'ven a relative decline of British power means a less favorable political atmosphere in which to initiate and foster missionary movements toward enlightenment and iiberty and life.
But, whether the atmosphere be favorable or unfavorable, the missionary movements will be maintained and enlarged. It is waste time to meditate on their decline or withdrawal. Through whatever difficulties, against whatever odds, at whatever heavy cost of money and life, the missionary movement means to do its work in Asia until its work is done. And steadily during the past year it has prest on its way. Temporary diminution of receipts has led it to re-examine its methods and to increase their efficiency. Each year's experience has shown it how more fully to avoid all irritation of the people, and to win their friendship and confidence. Political confusion has given it the opportunities for which it is ever looking to show the people that it is free of all political entanglements, and is a clear and untrammeled enterprise, whose kingdom is not of this world. Fi'om Turkey to Korea the year has witnessed the solidifying of the foundations of missionary work, and its quiet and steady progress in numbers and 1898.) '1'l1E PREBEN'f SlTUATlON IN ABlA. 11 power, while it closes with the forces of decay and retrogression emerging in many places, and in some apparently predominant.
In Persia the new Shah has shown himself incompetent to de{L1 . with the problems confl'onting him. When he degraded the Sadr-azam, the powerful prime minister, and reorganized the cabinet, some thought that he was showing the master hand of which Persia is in need; but all later developments have corroborated the first impression of his weakness. 'fhere is no hope for Persia in the Kajar dynasty, nor in any force or party within the state. The timidity with which Muzafi'r-i-din began his reign led to the abandonment, during the year, of his proposed trip to Vichy on account of kidney trouble, and it seems to be leading him now to adopt a weaker atti- tude with regard to the mollahs, and to' hold, with looser grasp, the lin es of control over the more distant sections of lJis empire. He recently appointed a serparast, or governor, for the non-Moslems of Ramadan, with instructions to warn th em against heing misled by the missionaries, who were the more dangerous because of their kindly acts of charity and beneficence. This may have been only a sop to the ecclel:!iastics, but sneh sops have become too numerous. How weak the government's authority is has been well shown by the recent propaganda of the Greek Church among the Nestorians. For years the Nestorians have lookt for political snccor from some foreign source. They coquetted with the Catholics in the hope of French protection, then with the Anglicans, looking toward England. Long ago, tho, they saw how vain were these reliances, and have been turning toward ~ussia, wondering when the Greek priests would como. Last spring they came, and hundreds flockt to them, hailing them as their deliver- ers. Under the illusion that they were now secure, they taunted the Moslems, boasted of their security and the coming day when their heels would be on the necks of their Mohammedan masters, and the lands of the faithfnl wonld be their portion. The Moslem authorities were dumbfounded, and not knowing how true the pretensions of the new proselytes to the Russian Church were, hesitated to take vengeance, or to enforce the old order. Feeling their way, however, they have discovered that Russia is not ready yet for arny aCtiveinterference, and the last state of these poor Nestorians is now far worse than the first. It is to the credit of the solid work done by the American missionaries, that the great majority of the members of their churches resisted the allurements of the Greek priests, and kept a temperate mind. The whole episode, taken with many others illnstrating the general weakness of the country, the rottenness of the village system, the injustice and extortion of the whole scheme of taxation, and the incapacity of Persian and Turk alike have increast the longing of many Mohammedans as well as confirmed the desire of all non-Moslems for the intervention of Russia or England. 'fhere are some strong men in Persia, most of them as unscrupulous and wicked as they are strong. Some of them might develop, for a little while, an apparently stable government, but PERSIA IS ROTTEN.
Her village population has great possibilities under a just government, but it is absolutely futile to hope for a just government from any dynasty that can be establisht in Persia, or as long as the Mohammedan ecclesiastics have influence over administration or are left with any of the large judicial authority they now possess. Whoever hopes for progress or righteousness from Islam in this or the coming century, is expecting grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. There is no political hope for Persia save in Russia or England, and there is no moral or social hope save in that vital regeneration which only Christianity of all the forces in the world can effect. As Mr. Curzon, no favorable critic of missions, declares: "Those philosophers are right who argue that moral must precede material and internal exterior reform in Persia. It is useless to graft new shoots on to a stem whose own sap is exhausted or poisoned. We may give Persia roads and railroads; we may work her mines and exploit her resources; we may drill her army and clothe her artisans; but we shall not have brought her within the pale of civilized nations until we have got at the core of the people, and given a new and a radical twist to the national character and institutions."
It must be admitted that in Persia and 'furkey the mission mttlook is not bright. The abandonment of Mosul as a mission station greatly weakens the force at work in Mesopotamia, all of the lower and central portions of which now are toucht only from Bagdad by a small force of C. M. S. missionaries on the south and from Mardin on the north. The magnificent work of the American Board of Missions has been tried as by fire. In Arabia there has been general quiet, but the few Scotch missionaries at Shiek Othman,. near Aden, and the Americans at Buzrah, Bahrein, and Muscat are as drops in a bucket. The chief grounds of assurance regarding missions in the lands of Islam must be found in a prophetic vision of the future, and in a calm faith fed by the very spirit of Islam, and vindicl]:ted daily, that there is o"ne God, and that Jesus Cbrist is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and that ·he will be the Savior of Islam because there is none, other. Islam simply can not endure modern life and light. When these are turned fnll upon it, the old religion of a nation of Arab tribes, full of the shackles of a narrow life, yet full of the bigotry of a universal claim, must crumble of its own contradictoriness.
What shall be said of that great territory between Persia and the west, India and Tibet on the east, Russia on the north, and the Persian Gulf on the south? Where are the heroes who will essay to enter this field? What is to be its destiny? Is it to be barren and waste, curst by the jealousy and anger of the two great .empires that glare across it at one anothcr? The past year has seen no advance made toward the evangelization of these lands-Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Turkestan, and Bokhara, which, howeVEr, is Russia.
THE CONDITION OF INDIA.
In India famine has followed plague, and war and unrest have followed famine. Plague slew its thousands, and threatened to turn Kurrachee and Bombay into cities of the dead. Famine slew its tens of thousands, and filled the Northwest Provinces with agony and suffering, in comparison with which the quick fatality of the plague was merciful. How many died of famine or plague, many will say, but none can know. Of what account are the numbers when set against the millions who remain, as sick and hungry almost as the multitudes who have gone? On the heels of these miseries have come new mutterings of discontent, ncw exposures of the dark tides that are always running under Indian life, new difficulties on the northwest frontier. And many speak as always of the cruelty, the oppression, the tyrannical impositions of the British power. Which is both uutrue and unjust. All that any power on earth but Christianity could do for India, England has done. But what is that? Fine roads, a great and non-religious educational system, newspapers, enlightenment, political equality and equality before the law, railroads, abolition of cruelties and enormities practist in the name and under' the sanction of religion, national peace, 'and order, these are great blessings, and some of them run deep; but equality and enlighten- ment and justice and righteousness run just as deep in India as the layer of British integrity extends, and no deeper. Below that, and that is not far, all the principles of Oriental life, so distorted, so evil, 80 wondrously persistent, rule with unshaken sway. To think of India as civilized, and to propose to deal with it so, is to toy with high explosives. A new mutiny, if it ever comes, would show the spirit of the old in the same opulent extravagance of savage and treachei'ous brutality. Why shonld this be so? Simply because Eng- .
land's work has been on the sur- face of Indian life. New institu- tions, new courts, new laws, all these are the expressions, not the creators of a spirit. England has not given India a new moral spirit or a character of integrity, because she could not. When she might have done so, if sh,e could have done it at all, by a system of free Ohristian education, she refused to do so, politically she was not fit to do so. India will not be a better India than was revealed in the days of Chandra J apta, of Akbar, of the Sepoy Rebellion, until the only force in- the world that can do it gives to SON OF THE GANGES, BENARES, INDIA.. India a new character. Julian Hawthorne's testimohy, growing ThIs Is the Image of the River God, which 18 out of his study of the famine covered at high water.
conditions, warmly corroborates the judgment that irresistibly obtrudes itself. He says: "The only salvation of India, even from the economic poinL of view, is, in the opinion of those wllO have longest and most deeply studied it, its Christianiza.- tion. Hindu idolatry and Islam are the blights that are destroying the country. The pa.rnlysis of caste on the one side, and the fetters of bigotry on the other, delay civilization and obscure enlightenment. England bas not fulfilled her duty to the souls of her dependents; and, therefore, as Edwardes foresaw, her administration has measurably failed to rehabilitate tbeir minds and bodies. . . . Let her inspire India with a veritable Christian faith, Rnd nine-tenths of the present difficulties would spontaneously cease."
It will be for the peace of India and of Asia to recognize this. He who contributes to enlarging the missionaries' work in India uuring the coming year, is not only saving souls from death; he is strengthen- ing the only force that is working for the life and redemption of the world. Whatever else is done for India, in plague prevention or famine relief, or secular education, is but external and tertiary.
The King of Siam has been visiting Europe during part of the year. Perhaps the pleasant intercourse he had, as it is reported, with President Faure of France" accounted for the absence of serious, trouble over the boundaries between Siamese and French territory, though the Siamese appear to have made some aggressions. Much may be hoped from the visit, The work of the missionaries is held in as high favor as ever and explorations by Dr. McGilvary and Dr. Peoples in the extreme north, above the Laos States, reveal a great country and accessible peoples whom missions have not -yet reached.
Ohina has moved slowly during the year; but it is a great thing to move one-fourth of the human race at all. Politically there has been little change, Russia holds such a position with reference to Man- CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION HALLS, CANTON.
In these examination booths, each of which is only large enough for one man, the students are examined in the Chinese classics. They are not allowed to leave them until each examin· ation Is over, but attendants may bring them food and water.
churia as to be able to absorb that territory whenever she is ready to do so, and her sharp, decisive action, during the war, in securing Chinese territory from Japanese appropriation, and in pursuing one clear, strong line of policy commanded the respect and confidence of the Chinese government. In the south, France wants Hainan, and makes little concealment of the desire, while the opening of the West river to trade pours British influence into Kwang tung, Kwangsi and Yunnan, and so places an effective bar across the northward advance of French aggression from Tonquin, while it establishes a belt of British control, in fact, along the northern boundaries of Tonquin, Burmah and Assam. British commerce and so British influence are now predominant in the two great valleys of China-the Yang-tsze and the West. 'l'here have been no serious outrages during the year, save the murder of the two German missionaries in Shantung, where the Rhenish society were just establishing a new mission, and on the whole, the anti-foreign feeling seems to have mellowed a little. The German aggression, which followed the murder of the Rhenish mis- sionaries, however, may feed the slumbering hostility into heat. From Peking not a little pressure has been exerted on provincial author i- ,ties to provide facilities for the study of English and western sciences; and in many provinces such schools have been establisht.
The Imperial University at Tientsin under Mr. Tenney has been enlarged, and, crowded with students, seems to be on solid founda- tions. A passion for English has grown np in the ports. Schools and colleges which offer it are thronged with pupils, and even those which do not, but have a reputation for solid work, have also leapt from an almost languishing condition to new prosperity. The railroad from Tientsin has been pusht to within three miles of the gates of Peking, and the great line from Peking to Hankow, and from Hankow to Canton seems to be fairly well assured. Puny shut" and geomantic superstitions have shown that they are powerful, but not powerful enough to stand against the demands of progress. Bicycles and foreign restaurants are fads of the young Ohinese of sportsman- like tastes in other cities than the coast ports. Some think the foun- tains of the great deep are about to be opened. It is not so. Ohina is moving, but her central government is corrupt, and lacks the capa- city to lead the country forward, wbile the people are the same in character that they have ever been. There will be ebb and flow in China.
SPASMS OF PROGRESS'
'will be succeeded by reactionary falls. Permanent change for the better will only come with permanent improvement of character and the play upon Ohinese life of the redeeming, restorative forces of Christianity. If there is any harder task in the world to set before the Ohurch than this, of subduing the mind of Ohina, which has been forming and hardening into its present amazing distortion through thirty centuries, to the mind of Ohrist, it has not been discovered yet, unless it is to be found in the Mohammedan missionary problem, aud the proclamation of religious liberty in the lands of Islam will give to this problem a totally new face. It may b~ doubted whether, on the whole, the m-tss-ton cause in China has ever before had so successful year as this last. The move- ment in Fuh-kien may be discounted by some in suspicion of the motives of the inquirers, on whom the power of foreign nations shown in the punishments inflicted for the outrages at K ucheng has made a deep impression; but such a criticism is of second causes only, and not of results. A great gathering of sincere Christians will be the fruit of this movement. The growth in Manchuria seems to con- tinue without abatement. The-missions are pressing out into new territory. The work in southeastern Hunan, carried on for several years without ostentation, seems to be better establisht, several churches having been gathered there, and persecution having been brought to an end for the present. Generally throughout the Eighteen Provinces missions have surrendered nothing, but have strengthened their stakes and enlarged their borders.
In the missions in Japan the worst seems to be past. The reac- tion which had its roots chiefly in rationalism and nationalism has tried the churches severely, and has sifted out a great deal of chaff.
Now, the general ..,,-'-~"""""~""Oi'''''''_ii''?';;;; testimony is, that the people want pure and positive presentation of the Gospel, and not the arid spec-"
ulations and va- garies which, for awhile, many were in danger of su pposing consti- tuted that real and adapted Christianity for which Japan was seeking. The A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL AT NANKING, CH.INA. dangers w h i c h assail the Japanese church have by no means been left behind, how- ever. The new industrialism which has increast the product of man- ufactured goods so as to absorb trade formerly in foreign llands, and which is represented by imports in 1895 of yen* ] 38,674,842, as compared with yen 37,637.38 in 1886; and of exports in 1895 of yen 136,186,328, as compared with yen 48,870,532 in" 1886, has made the.
commercial spirit the spirit of the country. While the elaborate and thoroughly .organized system of government education pours out steadily its irreligious torrent of influence. Combined with this. is the spirit of war, which has been fed and nonrisht the past year among all the people who are toucht by the modern movements at all, and which is striving toward the end of doubling both army and navy within the next decade, in preparation, the young Japanese will tell you, for the meeting they propose to have some day with the * A yen is equal to about 50 cents gold. Russian power, which, with its advancing railroad across Siberia, its Asiatic fleet, and its one hundred thousand troops at Vladivostock, so ominously overshadows them, and so sharply checkt them in their designs upon China and robbed them of the foothold upon the Continent-one of the most disavowed but most desired fruits of the war. The flurry over the Hawaiian question in the summer soon died away. Every level-headed Japanese knew that it was nonsense to offend the United States, which buys nearly one-half of their exports. But there has been not a little friction, and a great deal of talk about friction between foreigners and Japanese in the ports. 'fhe missionaries, as a rule, make no such complaints. Their relations with the people are now well adjusted. The difficulties arise with those who so distrust the Japanese that the prospect of coming into force of the revised treaties is most unpalatable to them. 'fhey do not wish to be subject to Japanese laws and courts. On the whole, the year has been one of comparatively sober and solidifying progress in Japan. The people are enamored now of industrialism and military power as the real secret and gist of civilization, but many are coming to recognize that a nation is fouling the springs of all true power and stability which traduces religion and trains men to live as tho there were no God and no law of God. But this mad self-deception is only A STAGE IN JAPAN'S PROGRESS.
The country is honestly seeking for what is best, and its fickleness is due to its superficial judgments, which lead it with apparent captiousness from one thing to another, before the first has been thoroughly tried. When the people find what is the best, and see it, they will be stable enough. One who knows them as well as anyone living, writes privately regarding them: "One often hears the Japanese charged with extreme fickleness, especially in comparison with the Chinese. This charge, I think, requires to be somewhat qualified. During the feudal regime, for about three centuries, they surely were sufficiently steady and conservative. The Chinese as a nation have not yet emerged from that kind of stagnancy, whereas the Japanese have entered on the path of human progress. The present generation of Japanese lives and moves in an age of change in all departments of life, in an age of transition from the old to the new. In things material as well as immaterial, they are making for something better and something higher than what they were, and had by heredity and transmission from of old. The Japanese are quick witted, and apt to jump to a conclusion without sufficient knowledge or examination; hence, they readily enter upon a thing quite new to them. It does not take them long to find out that they have made a mistake, or, perhaps, they are disappointed, while at the same time it is likely that another" good thing!' has attracted their attention. And so they go in for that, and so on. But, by-and bye, when they have finally hit upon the right thing, they are quite steady and often splendidly persevering."
The process of galvanizing the national religions into some sort of vital obstruction to Christianity has been carried on vigorously during 1897. Societies for adapting Shintoism to modern philosophy, and for advancing the interest of the worship of the fathers of the empire, have been formed. The Buddhist papers have beeu full of forebod- ings as to the effect of throwing the whole country open to foreign residence. " What will happen," they ask, "when the simple-minded country folk, with their quiet and trustful faith, are brought face to face with this disturbing, scrutinizing, iconoclastic spirit of western civilization? Would that the treaties had not been revised, and that the people had been left in the peace of their ancient ways!" 1'0 prepare for this change the more advanced Buddhists, who have already adapted their ethics and philosophy to the needs of the new situation, are seeking now for some adaptation in prepara- tion for the struggle with modern science. In the missions, the rupture between the ultra liberal men in the Kumiai churches and the American Board missions has been made complete. The Church of Christ now stands first in evangelical membership, and with the cooperation of the seven mis- sions which work with it, has decided to take what it believes to be a large step forward in the !
matter of self-support. Its prac- tical position is, that no church should be organized that can not be self-supporting, and t hat churches already organized on a different basis shall be given two years in which to attain self-sup- A BUDDHIST PILGRIM IN JAPAN.
port or forfeit their privileges as fully organized churches. Deeply in sympathy with the nationalistic aspirations of Japan, and strongly affected still by the influence of liberalism ll:nd scepticism pouring in from America and Europe, the native preachers of all the churches are struggling toward firm evan- gelical foundations, and the people are everywhere demanding such preaching as supplies them with true spiritual bread and drink. '['he Unitarian propaganda is not gaining any power. Mr. Clay Mac- Caulay, its leading American representative, declared at the seventy- second anniversary of the American Unitarian Association in Boston lately,that the Unitarian body is more widely known in that country than any other foreign religious body, and that the name Unitarian has become incorporated into the Japanese language as signifying reason in religion.
It is an interesting comment on this, that in reporting their work to the Rev. Henry Loomis, of the American Bible .Society, for his annual table of statistics, the Unitarian missionaries omitted this last year the one church they had reported the year before. What had become of it? Did it become incorporated into Japanese Buddhism or eclecticism?
Light and shade have played over Korea with inconstant alternation during 1897. The new year begins with the missi.on outlook brighter than can be described, and with the dark clasp of Russia tightened to mastery. On the evening of October 7, 1895, Japanese influence was absolutely supreme in Korea. But it was an external power imposed, which· had wrought great reforms in the most obtuse and provocative way, but had built up no party ~n the state to whose interest it was to sympathize with Japanese authority. Early in the morning of October 8, 1895, the queen was slain at the direct instigation of Viscount Miura, the Japanese minister. It was a stupid blunder, showing the complete diplomatic pnerility of the Japanese representatives. By sunrise, the influence of Japan in Korea had been wiped away as floods sweep away straws. Japan had won and Japan had llndone. The king fled to the Russian legation, and so without the lifting of her hand, Russia found Korea separated from China, cleaned somewhat and a little purified, and placed in her lap by the blunder of Japan.· The war with China was undertaken by Japan to secure the independence of Korea. So she boasted. She was establishing civilization in the East. To start Korea on the high way of emancipated enlightemnent was her great aim and ambition. And now she has closed her first chapter with the utter collapse of these pretensions, and has succeeded merely in doing a piece of not very clean work for Russia. As long as Mr. Waeber was the Russian Minister, and Mr. McLeavy Brown, an Englishman, was superintendent of the customs and &dviser of the treasury, there was not much to fear. Mr. Waeber was a broad-minded, honest man, who wisht for the good of Korea, and did a great deal to this end. His wife was a Lutheran, and they showed no unfriendliness to evangelical missions, while Mr. Brown, with absolute veto power over all expenditures save those of the royal household department, was a guarantee of integrity and honesty, and an assnrance of such progress as could be madeagainst the odds of a worthless king, an opera b01~(fe government, and as corrupt a set of officials as could be found outside of Persia and China. However, Mr.Waeber was promoted to be Minister to Mexico, and in September Mr. Speyer, a man of different methods, with whom it was believed the interests of Russia would have precedence over those of Korea, was transferred from Tokyo to take his place. Does the fruit begin to appear? A recent telegram announces the removal of Mr. Brown, and from time to time news comes of slight increases of the "staff of Russian officers, who now have charge of the Korean troops. If Mr. Brown has indeed been removcd, it is as heavy a blow as could well be struck at the cause of progrcss in Korea, altho even he was unable to stay the tide which was already running back to the old days of office buying and selling, unjust, irregular taxation, official squeezing, and geueral corruption. In any event,1898 opens with the reactionary tendencies dominant in politics and government in " Chosen." Buddhism has no hold In Korea, when compared with Japan or A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, SEotTL, KOREA.
Asia, or Burmah, or Siam. What religion the people have is Shamanism, and Shamanism unorganized, unarticulated, with no framework of bone or gristle is a very flabby opponent to such a force as Christianity launches against it. The spirits proved quite inefficient in the China-Japan war, and the spread of Christianity has emboldened many to throw aside their fear of them, even while unprepared as yet to accept the high requirements of Christian discipleship. A great transformation has past over the country since the war, destroying the old spirit of exclusivism and distrust, which seems to havc been the inevitable fruit of Confucianism everywhere, and disposing the people with peculiar favor to missionaries, especially from America, which has had the good fortune to be well represented diplomatically, and whose political disintercstedness, at least, is in a measure under-
"REJOICE, YE IlEAV)j;~NS ! "
stood. The missionaries have been helpt by these conditions, but have known their supe1"ficial value too well, had they not been ai!lling at altogether different results, to do other than ground their work on solid spiritual foundations. Nowhere else in the world have I met native Christians of more joyous and simple faith, who were more vivi(Uy reproducing in our own time the apostolic days, when "the word of the Lord had free course and was glorified"; and "there were added to the Church daily such as were being saved," visibly delivered from day to uay from the grip of old errors and evils, and led on into ,evident light and life. Over and over again we thought of the exclamation which in the early days of Christianity was in the mouths of the heathen, "Behold, how these Christians love one another!" It is scarcely to be dou bted that there will come, perhaps soon, a time of great trial and sifting in the Korean Church. The new year dawns, however, on a wonderful opportunity to reach an open people.
The Siberian railway slowly creeps across ARia, working from both the east and the west. Russia has been given a coaling station at Fusan, anu an open port is hers on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li when she wishes it. Germany is pressing her trade, and before the end oithe year several new Japanese steamship lines, or old lines enlarged, are promist to bind Japan more closely to America and Europe.
This is a rapid view of the conditions with which the new year begins in Asia. The forces of men flare and fall. The old faiths of men are declining, or so far surrendering to the pressure of the new times as to betray themselves and to compromise their true principles in the effort to meet Christianity on ground where it is invincible. But throughout Asia the great movement of missions has forged steadily on. Nothing can stay it-neither its own blunders nor the apathy of hom8 Christians; neither slander, nor misunderstanding, nor opposition, coldness of heart or warmth of passion. A cool, just measurement of the situation leaves as a conviction more firm far than that of designs and power of the Russian government, this of the pertinacity, the virility, the permanency of the enterprise which begins this year under brighter anspices than ever, and which believes in the face of all doubt and denial, that it is the movement of God upon the nations.
"REJOICE, YE HEAVENS! "-Rev. xii. : 11,12.
REV. F. B. MEYER, B. A., LONDON, ENGLAND.
We will not attempt to locate i~ the prophetical chart, the incident referred to in this paragraph; whether it has been fulfilled, or has yet to be fulfilled, is immaterial to our present purpose. The casting out of Satan is not confined to anyone incident in the history of redemption, but is, probably, a long process which commenced when Jesus said: "Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out," (John xii.: 31), and will reach its consummation, when he shall have been driven from heaven to earth, from earth into abyss, and from the abyss into the lake of fire and brimstone. The 'principles, therefore, which appear at anyone stage of the casting out of the old serpent, the deceiver of the whole earth, are applicable universally, and we may obtain valuable lessons for our own share in the process, by carefully studying the statement, that "they overcame because of the Blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life even unto death."
One point of exegesis must be settled before we can feel the full force of this sublime announcement. Weare told that they overcame. Who are these? Obviously, not Michael and his angels, for it could be hardly said of these celestial combatants that they overcame because of the Blood of tlie Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, nor, that they loved not their lives unto the death. The pronoun evi- dently points to the previous noun, the brethren, who had been accused before their God day and night. And who were these brethren, con- cerning whom the great voice in heaven speaks? Can they be other than the saints who were dear to God, and who, face to face with the.
fury of magistrates and crowds, stemming manfully the hatred and opposition of their times, were bearing persecution and reproach in every city of the known world; and without knowing it, by their vic- tories, were bringing success along the entire line of the hosts of light.
THE SOLIDARITY OF THE ARMIES OF GOD.
The conflict thronghout the universe between good and evil is one.
The saints on earth are brothers in arms with Michael and his angels.
Each soul, however lonely and obscure, plays an important part in the issue of the fight, jnst as sometimes an entire position may be gained or lost by the fidelity or otherwise of a single sentry at his post.
For a moment let us consider this great conflict. It must have begun with the first uprising of pride and rebellion in Satan's heart, when for the first time he abode not in the truth. There was, prob- ably, war in heaven long ages before it broke out in the glades of Eden. It may even be that the earth herself bears marks of that an- cient conflict, though it became more markt and determined when man's destiny became the gauge of battle. It may appear some day that much of the carnage of creation, the ferocity of the tiger and the hawk, the violence of the hurricane, and the casualty of the earth- quake, are due to a disturbance introduced into God's creation by the sin of the archangel, who had been appointed the vicegerent and prince of the world, but who violated the first law of his creation, by assuming the prerogative of independence. It is enough, however, for us to learn the consideration of the malign effect of his fall on nations for the more certain and scriptural conception of its effect on man.
The inner thought of the fall was the successful assertion on the part of Satan of his superiority over the new creature which God had built up from the dust of the earth. By a lie he seduced him from the allegiance which he had so often plighted when he walked the glades of Ed"en in converse with his creator; and in that first act of rlisobe- dience Satan acquired a supremacy over Adam and his race which he has never failed to press to its utmost capabilities.
Since the fall, the government of man has been hcld by the prince of the power of the air, who is also the God of this world. and the entire system of idolatry, which is co-extensive with the family of man, is in its essence, demon-worship. This is clearly stated by the apostle, "This, I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God" (1 Cor. x. : 20), a statement which is corroborated by the universal witness of missionaries, that "the whole system of FetiEhism, is really demon-worship, and that the gifts of idol-votaries, are really presented to propitiate the evil ·spirits, which in their experience are only too much to be feared.
It is pl.'obable that heathenism is the dark veil beneath which the prince of evil enshrouds himself and his trusted emissaries. Daniel tells how the angel that came to him had been resisted and stayed by the Prince of Persia, in evident allusion to some strong evil spirit which hac delayed his progress (Dan. x.). And Ezekiel uses of Tyre words that, in their full meaning, are only applicable to the dark spirit that mled the city (Ezek. xxviii.). In perfect harmony with these two statements, the Apostle tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places (Eph. vi.). Putting all these statements together, are we not clearly taught that before headway can be made in the evangelization of any country, or the overthrow of any idolatry, the strong man who holds his goods in peace, has to be bound by the cords of faith and prayer. Probably, if the story of missions could be written from the heavenly standpoint, we should fini! that each advance was simultaneous with some casting out of the evil spirits that had been too long entrencht . in the dark superstitions and idolatries of the heathen-the casting out which was due to the faith and prayer of humble saints, who may have been removed from the scene of conflict by vast spaces of land or sea.
This thought may be carried even further. It is almost certain : that behind every strongly entrenched wrong in Christian laws, such as the liquor-interest, the betting-ring, the gigantic system of impurity which holds its myriads in thrall, we have to deal not with flesh and blood, but against evil spi:'its that hold and rule the hearts of men. Hence the necessity of having spiritual men engaged in the conflict. If we are contending with spirits, it is preposterous to use carnal weapons, such as rhetoric and human learning. You can only conquer spirit by spirit. And no man can hope to succeed in this fight, who has not already learnt the secrets of the overcoming life, and applied them successfully for the regimen of his own spirit.
Hence the importance also of prayer, because in this ~oly exercise lonely souls are able to throw their weight into the conflict, and the supplication or intercession offered in loneliness and solitude may avail to turn the scale in some distant place, as an ounce-weight cast into the scale, where two hundredweights are in balance, will make the one preponderate over the other.
Heaven and earth are in close sympathy. The angels rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. Satan is beheld falling from heaven, when a handful of humble disciples cast out a few demons, and perform a few other miracles. The heavens are bidden to rejoice, and Satan is cast out of some position of advantage, because the brethren on earth overcome with the blood of Jesus, and the word of their testimony.
Do not undervalue yourself. Do not underestimate the effect of your successes or failures. The position of every grain of sand affects to some extent the position of every other sand gra.in throughout the world. The weight of every asteroid reads on the balance of the spheres. The addition of every drop of moisture is felt on every tide on every beach around the world. We can not be neutrals in the great fight. If we are not for Ohrist we are against Him; if we do not gather with Him, we scatter abroad. It will make a real difference in briuging in the kingdom of God, whether we have fought a good fight, and finished our courEe. Let us, therefore, appropriate the memorable resolve of S. J. Mi1ls, of the Haystack Covenant, so to live as to make our influence felt to the remotest part of the world, and not here only but through all worlds, and all ages, to the glory of Christ, so that through us may come salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.
THE ESSENCE OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.
By every artifice which Satan can employ, moral beings, whether among the ranks of angels or men, are being blinded to the secret of blessed and healthy existence. In order to win and help his power, he endeavours to show that there is no policy comparable to that· of self-pleasing. To be one's own mastel', to follow the sway of inclination, to do good things from a selfish motive, to oppose even the power of Satan, because of the price to be paid with self-interest, this is the policy to which he uses all his arts to persuade. In the first temptation he told Eve and her husband that the tree was to be desired to make them wise, and its fruit would make them become as gods. In the temptation of our Lord, Satan strove to show that He had a perfect right to gratify appetite, to act 011 impulse and presume on the :Father's care, and to acquire the Kingdom by methods of selfpleasing, from which the cross and shame were eliminated.
In our Lord's words to Peter, when he answered his suggestion to spare Himself by the severe command, " Get thee behind me, Satan; " we may infer that in his apostle's advice, the Lord detected the same spirit against which He had so often contended in his conflicts with the evil one. 'The great enemy of rilan was always suggesting to the Son of Man that He could achieve his life-purpose by easier· methods, than by laying down his life.
When on the evening of His death, the Master said: "The Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me," His consciousness of the certainty of victory was determined by the knowledge that He had no will or way or purpose of His own, to which the evil one could direct his suggestions, or from which would emanate the least likelihood of yielding to his power.
The Christ spirit is, therefore, forever victorious over all the power of the enemy. It is as impervious to the attack of evil, as carbolic acid is to the fructification of spores of disease. When a spark comes to the ocean, it finds nothing in the briny waves on which to feed or kindle, and when the spirit of selfishness appeals to a nature in which there is nothing but perfect love, in which there is absolute selflessness, it rolls back paralyzed and conquered_ If we may dare to say it, the Divine Man has establisht in Himself a perfect antidote to the power of evi1. The spirit of love and life and entire devotion to the will of God in the service of man, is a rock on which the waves of hell break in clouds of spray. And just in proportion as we imbibe that spirit, are inoculated with that nature, and partake of that rock-like character, we, too, shall be more than conquerors. Good is love, the highest good is the most perfect love, and love is selflessness. There is none good but One, that is God, and God can not be tempted with evil, because He is good, and in Him is no darkness at all, no taint of self.
Evil is in some form or another the manifestation of the selfprinciple in which is darkness, hatred, misery, hel1.
Christ in our nature has lived a life of perfect selflessness and love. Thus He has overcome the power of the enemy, and is raised far above all principality and power and might and dominion. Through the ages He is living a life of pure and intense benevolence, goodness, love. Selflessness is regnant in our King; through Him love reigns over all spheres, and is carrying forward its blessed victories to the overthrow of the empire of darkness. And in so far as we ally ourselves with him, substitute His nature for onr own, repeat in our poor life something of the mighty music of His matchless natnre, we, too, shall overcome. The Christ-spirit in us will master the selfish spirit of the devil. Love must gain supremacy over hate. Those that follow the cross, and count not their lives dear to the death, must finally tread on all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt them. "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."
THE THREE-FOLD TALISMAN OF VICTORY.
The Blood of the Lamb.-The oue sufficient answer to the accusations of the great accuser before God, is the propitiatory death of the Lamb of God, for which the word Blood is the sufficient synonym. Let him say what he will against us, and he can hardly exaggerate the truth, there is one sufficient and satisfactory reply, " The Blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, has cleansed our hearts, and blotted out the handwriting that was against us, and contrary to us." There is uothing more to be said. 'rhis word ends the I1trife.
But, probably, there is even a profounder meaning. The Blood of Christ stands for His perfect love, His entire subordination to the will of His Father, His supreme devotion to the great cause of human salvation. And in so far as we drink of that blood, and are baptized into that spirit, and even fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of ·Christ, we learn the secret of perennial victory, and are able to stand in the evil day. We possess a thin red line that keeps the enemy at bay. In preaching it we let loose 11 principle throughout the world, the principle of selfless love even unto death, before which the powers of hell can not stand.
Again, as we proclaim the Blood of Christ, and all it means to the children of men,we emancipate them from the dread of the consequences of sin, which is Satan's most potent instrument of thraldom, we secure peace from the terrors of conscience, and the accusations of a broken law, and Wfil inspire them with desires to learn the secret of love as selfless, self-sacrifices as perfect. Thus we overcome by the Blood of the Lamb.
The Word of onr Testimony.-Weare sent to the world to resist the devil's lie, by bearing witness, as our Master did, to the truth. There is no such way of defeating error, as by presenting truth alongside. Suppose the artists of a given era are possest with false conceptions of nature, and of painting, a great critic may arise, who shall detect and criticise their mistake, but his words will not produce the same effect as if he were to present nature on his canvas with the faithful portraiture of a true witness. Let him hang his picture on the wall, and without a word of comment, it will show the inaccuracies and inaptitude of the school he desires to dispossess.
Such is the vocation of Uhrist's servants. When Satan presents men with a travesty of true peace, making it to consist in circum-
RECENT MISSIONARY BOOKS
stances and surroundings, we are called upon to show it consists in a state of heart, which outward conditions can not affect. When Satan makes joy consist in the hilarity of perfect health, or the stimulation of the stage, the music-hall, the dance, it is for us to bear witness that the unseen and eternal are the only true ministrants of enduring gladness. To this end we were born, and for this we came into the world that we might bear witness to the truth, and in doing so, refute the lies with which Satan deceives the whole world. Finally, the conscience which is within every man must recognize the voice of -ehe true Shepherd, and reject the false for the true.
The Prod1:gality 'With 1()7ticlt the Saints regard their L(fe.-" They loved not their life even unto death." In the great war we must follow our Master in absolute self-surrender. The resistance against evil must be carried even to blood. Like Paul, we must be willing to be poured out as a libation. There must be but one purpose-to do the will of God; one aim-to deliver men from the power of the devil; oue supreme and over-mastering love to which no hardships are too great, no expenditure too costly. Like our Master, we overcome in apparent failure, we conquer in apparent defeat, we are crowned and ascend the throne when our enemies think they have put out our name from under heaven.
RECENT MISSIONARY BOOKS.
BY THB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
What furnishes a more abundant proof of t.he prominence of missions in the present age than the number, variQty and value of the books and periodicals which either treat of mission work directly or recognize in it a factor too mighty to be disregarded? The Literature of Missions is fast assuming a manifold form and a yet more manifold bearing; not only historic and biographic, it is becoming in effect also apologetic-presenting in itself a body of evidence that makes cavillers appear irrational and even ignorant, and proving Ohristianity to be of God by its divine effects.
The mere mention of good books issued during the past few years along the lines of missionary enterprise or in some way linkt with the work of a world's evangelization, would require more space than is consistent with the pressure of other matter. But we here bring to the reader's attention some books which have been submitted for review, or have in other ways compelled attention by their high merit and excellence. We give here a partial list of recent books bearing on missions, some of which have been already referred to in these pages, but are now mentioned in a classified list, for more convenient reference.
I. GENERAL.
Christian Missions and SociaIProgress..Jas. S. Dennis…………. Fleming H. Revell Co. $2.50 Strategic Points in theWorld's ConquestJno. R. Mott. ………….. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.00 Concise History of Missions ………… E. M. Bliss, D.D………… Fleming H. Revell Co. .75 Short History of Missions. (5th Ed.) …. Dr. Geo. Smith ..·……•… T. Clark, Edinburgh .. $1.00 Hand Book of Missions ……………… A. McLean ……………. Chn. Pub.Co. , St. Louis .50 Picket Line of Missions …………….. By Eight Authors ……… Eaton & Mains •.••…. $UA) In Lands Afar ……………………… Edited Dr. E. E. Strong … A. B. C. F. M………. $1.25 A Century of Christian Martyrs …….. Rev. F. S. Harris……… Jas. Nisbet, London… .75 Child Life in Mission Fields….. . .. ….. Barby & Smith…….. ti.oo Methodist Episcopal Missions. 3 Vols .. Reid·Gracey …………… Eaton & Mains… …. .00 Church Missionary Society Workers … Emily Headland ……….. Jas. Nisbet, London… 1.00 Hist. SketchesPresb.MisslOns. (New Ed.) Pres. W. B. F. M… … 1.00 Philip Melanchthon ………………… David J. Deane………… Fleming H. Revell Co. .75 The Growth of the Kingdom of God ….Sidney L. Gulick ……….Fleming H. Revell CO:'!,50 Chosen of God ……………………… Rev. Herbert W. Lathe … Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.25 Dictionary of Treatment…………. Wm. Whitte, M.D ……… H. Renshaw, London.. .00 Autobiography ofChas. F. Deems, D.D.By His Sons ……………Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.50 II. AFRICA.
Chronicles of Uganda ……………… R. P. Ashe ……………. Randolph & Co., N. Y. i1.50 Seven Years in Sierra Leone ………… A. T. Pierson …………. Revell & Co……….. 1.00 Wril. & Louisa Anderson. (Old Calabar).Wm. Marwick …………. And. Elliot, Edinburgh 1.50 Madagascar of To·day ……………… Rev. W. E. Cousins…….. Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.00 Madagascar Before the Vonquest……. James Sibree………. , … Macmillan & Co ……. $2.00 Africa and the American Negro…….. Prof. J. W. E. Bowen….Gammon Theo. Sem.. '11.00 Pioneering in Morocco ……………… Dr. Robt. Kerr, M.D ….. H. R. Allenson, N. Y.. 1.50 David Livingstone. (New Edition) …. Dr. W. G. Blaikie ……… Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.50 III. TURKEY AND PERSIA.
Letters from Armenia …………….. Prof. J. Rendell Harris. .Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.25 Conversion of Armenia: ………: ……. W. St. C!air Tisdall……..Fleming H. Revell Ce:>. $1.40 Turkey and the Armeman AtroCitIes … E. M. BlIss…………….. Hubbard Pub.Co.,Ph,1. $2.00 Persian Life and Customs ………….. Rev. S. G. Wilson ……•.. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.25 IV. INDIA.
Twelve Indian Statesmen …………… Dr. Geo. Smith………… John Murray, London. fi'OO Missionary Pioneers in India ………… Jno. Rutherford ………. And Elliot,Edinburgh 1.00 Life ofT. Valpy French. 2 Vols …….. Rev. Herbert Birks……. John Murray, London. 3.00 In the Tiger Jungle …………………. Jacob Chamberlain, D.D.. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.0t) Chn. Service Among Educ'd Bengalese. R. P. Wilder …….•. .- ….. Gazette Press, Lahore. $1.25 Letters from Ceylon…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fannie Gregson . . . . . . . . . . . Marshall Bros., Lon … $1.00 V. CHINA. A History-ofChina …………….•…. Dr. S. Wells Willial!'s ….. Chas..Scribner's sons"I~'oo A Cycle of Cathay…………………. Rev. W. A. P. Martm, D.D.Flemmg H. Revell Co. 2.00 26 Years of Miss'y.Work in China……. Mrs. Grace Stott………. Am. Tract. Soc., N. Y. 1.75 Eye·Gate, or Native Art in the Evangel· ization of China …………………. Dr. Wm. Wilson ………. Partridge & Co., Lon. .60 China and Formosa ……………….. Rev. Jas. Johnston ……. Fleming H. Revell ('0. $1.25 Sister Martyrs of Kucheng. . . . . .. . …. Letters of Miss Saunders. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.50 VI. KOREA. Korea and Her Neighbors…………… Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop.Fleming H. Revell Co. $2.00 VII. JAPAN. The Gist of Japan ………………….. R. B. Peery …. , ……….. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.25 Rambles in Japan ………………… Canon Tristam ………… Fleming H. Revell Co. $2.00 From Sunrise Land ………………… Amy Wilson·Carmichael. . Marshall Bros., Lon … $1.25 Religions of Japan …………………. Rev. Dr. W. E. Griffis ….. Chas. Scribner's Sons.. $2.00 VIII. ISLANDS OF THE SEA. Hawaii, Our New Possessions………… Jno. R. Musick ………… Funk & Wagnalls Co.. 1.75 Pioneering in New Guinea ………….. Jas. Uhalmers …………. Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.50 Een Yaar op Reis in Dienst Der Zendig .Fe Leon Cachet…………Amsterdam…. '" …. .00 IX. AMERICAN INDIANS. On the Indian Trail ………………… Rev. Edgerton R.Young.Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.00 Conquest of the Sioux ……………… D. C. Gilman …………. Carlon & Hollenbeck.. .75 X. EUROPE. Robt. W. McAll ……………………. Mrs. McAll ……………. FlemingH. Revell Co. $1.50 Christian Life in Germany ………….. E. F. Williams, D.D …… ,Fleming H. Revell Co. '$1..50 The foremost in rank is "Christian Missions and Social Progre'ss," before referred to ill these pages. 'fhe extent and magnitude of this work may be inferred from the fact that the one volume so far issued, embraces over 4GO pages octavo, and a second, of like dimensions, is being prepared. This work gives evidence of no hasty preparation. It will take first place among sociological treatises on missions, which are not numerous. It is scholarly, as became lectures first given in the halls of colleges and seminaries of learning, and is made doubly attractive by its artistic and unique illustrations, over sixty pages being thus adorned; while its value is greatly enhanced by the pains and patience expended in securing accurate statistics-a department where exactness is so difficult to attain. This book every student of missions, CLASS IN CARPENTRY, LOVEDALE INSTITUTE, SOUTH AFRICA.
(By courtesy of Fleming H. Revell Co. From" Christian Missions and Social Progress,") and of Christianity, will want to study; no other so broadly covers the field of its special survey.
The contributions to missionary biography are remarkably complete. If any man of modern times deserves to rank among the biographers of good and great men, surely it is Dr. George Smith, whose golden pen has given such masterly portraits of Duff and Carey and Wilson and Martyn and Heber. Here we have his latest, just at hand -" Twelve Indian Statesmen "-Charles Grant, Henry and John Lawrence, James Outram, Donald McLeod, Henry M. Durand, Colin Mackenzie, Herbert Edwardes, John C. Marshman, Henry Maine, Henry Ramsay, Chas. Aitchison-the empire-builders of the nineteenth' cen- tury. All but the first, the biographer knew personally, and some of them intimately. Dr. Smith has rare power of historical analysis and synthesis. He separates, classifies and combines, with equal skill. He sees events and men in their succession and in their procession. His eye takes them in, in the individuality that belongs to each, and sees the providential relation that each sustains to all; and thus he becomes a true philosopher of missionary history. This new volume we hope will have an American edition. Those who would test its value should read for example the splendid monograph on John Lawrence, the third of these pen portraits. The description of the great pageant at Agra on Nov. 20, 1866, is itself a masterpiece of word painting.
"The Life and Correspondence of Thos. Valpy French, First Bishop of Lahore," is in two volumes, each embracing 400 pp., octavo, superbly gotten up and a credit to author and publisher alike. This biography verifies the saying, that the world knows nothing of its greatest men. Bishop French was a C. M. S. missionary in North India for 18 years, and bore remarkable resemblance to Henry Martyn. One was honored by Oxford, the other by Cambridge; both were men whose one aim was to be holy and useful; both labored among Mohammedans and both finally left India and died in Arabia in the service of missions to Moslems. Bishop French's grave, like Keith Falconer's, is both a milestone and a stepping stone for missions to the Arabs.
Here we may add a word about" Brief Sketches of C. M. S.Workers," containing 25 biographical sketeheH in one volume of over 300 pages, which are both readable and valuable. How could it be otherwise where you have a gallery of portraits of Henry Venn, Dr. Krapf, Bishop Crowther, A. M. Mackay, and others like them!
" William and Louisa Anderson" is a record of life and work in Old Calabar. Mr. Anderson we ha.ve persona.lly known and loved for his own, as well as his work's sake, and his wife was, indeed, an hell)- meet for him. This godly man had the rare honor of having presented to him a "Jubilee" address from the U. P. Foreign Mission Board of Scotland, on the completion of his fiftieth yeal' of mission work. The presentation was made by our dear friend, Hon. Duncan McLaren, in 1890. In 1892 Mr. Anderson visited his relatives in America, and at the advanced age of 80 years, still kept preaching. Also on his return to Scotland, where we last saw him we found him as ready as ever to go back to Old Galabar, and having all the enthusiasm, if not energy, of youth. On September 29th, 1895, he actually sailed for the beloved home of his life's labors. He had his heart's desire, but it also proved to be the closing scene. After his death some facts came to light that illumine his saintly character. For instance, after his retiring allowance of £120 annually was voted him, he "complained (?) that it was too large" and askt that half of it might be given to the aged ministers' fund and the foreign mission fund! This is a fair specimen of the man, one of the noblest missionary patriarchs we have ever seen, and one who reminded us of Robert Moffat.
"The P:cket Line of Missions," is the happy name of a book con- taining nine sketches on Livingstone, Mackay of U gallda, Keith-Fal- coner, Sia Sek Ong, Dr. Kenneth Mackenzie, Bishop 'l'hobnrn, Mary Reed, John Williams and John Hunt. 'l'hese sketches are from eight different pens-with an intmduction which has on it the marks of that Johannean man, Bishop Ninde. Eaton and Mains have given a cheap but-most attractive book to the Epworth Leaguers, in these portraits of the Advance Guard. The spirit of holy heroism burns in the book and is contagious. Variety is consulted, as may be seen when the difference is considered between the great missionary explorer of Africa and ~he humble convert of China, or between Mary Re,ed in India, and Keith Falconer in Arabia; and every Christian reader m'ay find his" affinity" here, and get a new impulse and inspiration.
Among other biographies, not bearing directly on missions, we may mention" Philip Melanchthon," a delightful sketch of the " John" of the Reformation; and" Scripture Photographs," by Dr. J, Elder Cum- ming, who never writes a puor book or preaches a dull sermon. (Drum- mond's'l'ract Depot, Sterling.) "The Chronicles of Uganda" is a specimen of the historical books which deal with special jielils. '['his country, in the interior of the dark continent, is the cynosure of all eyes. Never, since apcstolic days, has there been a miracle of missions surpassing what has occurred there withiu fifteen years, and particularly within the last five. It seems beyond belief that since Bishop Hannington was shot, such revolutions have taken place; and such transformations in the whole religious aspect of the pe.ople. Uganda is the great modern answer to doubts about the living God and the living Book of God. Mr. Ashe, in his "Chronicles," has given an interesting and valuable record of the religious and political conditions and changes of the country. '['he book abounds in well selected half-tone illustrations.
"Twenty six Years of Missionary Work in China" is a book of • which Hudson Taylor says he found not a dull line in it. Mrs. Stott has a right to be heard. She has something to say: it is a story of faith, prayer, and patience. When her husband fell at his post, she bravely took up his work and carried it on, even to the preachingj and the mission she conducts is so well shepherded that Mr. Tayloi' finds it practicable to let it alone, scarcely supervising it. Those whv think a prayer-hearing God is dead, or that the old Gospel is, like Samson, blinded and shorn, should read Mrs. Stott's charming story.
"China and Formosa" is from the pen of a man well known to many as the Secretary of the World's Conference of Missions at Exeter Hall in 1888, as well as by his missionary work and writings. He is careful, scholarly, able, with modesty as great as his merit. There are some men whose imagination holds the brush when they paint; Mr. Johnson's fancy does not play with fact, or robe it in illusive attire. He is a mathematician in preciseness and accuracy, and his book is one on which the reader may rely. But, with all its carefulness of statement, it is by no means lacking in all that means an interesting volume. Numerous illustrations add their charm to the narrative.
"From Sunrise Land" come the letters of a charming woman, put into the usual beautiful form in which the publishers present matter to the public. Those who read this book become companions of a most lovely worker for God in her daily ministries in the Sunrise Kingdom, and are taken into her confidence. There is no attempted "style" or eloquent" periods"-simple as she is, is the story she tells, but it is full of the aroma of Ohristliness.
"Letters from Oeylon ,; deserves to go side by side with Miss Carmichael's book. The two are alike, and the authors are not unlike, but this sorrowful contrast is suggested-our dear brother, Rev. J. Gelson Greggson, has laid' his daughter to sleep in Ohilan, and her husband (Mr. I .iesching) followed her less than a month later. These are the last letters that this saintly woman's hand will ever write.
A valuable account of mission work in Java is" Een Yaar op Reis in Dienst Der Zendig," covering a department of mission work which needs just such a full presentation. The book has 800 pp., and glows with fine illustration. We hope some good translation may make it accessible to English readers. It is a matter of regret that so much valuable matter should be lockt up in the chambers of a foreign tongue.
If the writer be permitted to mention his own work in this connection, "Seven Years in Sierra Leone" is the story of W. A. B. J oh.nson's marvelous labors, between 1816 and ] 823. The fact that the original memoir is out of print, and that the narrative is of almost unequaled interest, constrained the Editor of this REVIEW to put it forth in this new form, which he hopes may bring it to the knowledge of many, llnd pro-ve a divine impulse to a like holy life.
"Rambles in Japan" and" The Gist of Japan," both beautiful and artistic pieces of presswork, are what they claim to be-only that the "rambles" are by no means rambling. If anything more than has been written could be said about this little empire near the sunrise, it is here suggested. History changes so fast in Japan where a sudden Rennaissance has come to pass, that while a book is going through the press, events make it half antiquated. The" Gist of Japan" is an excellent digest of what one wishes to know in regard to th~ country, people and missions.
The book market presents also some very useful and marvelously condenst text booles, suc~ as the "Handbook of Missions," (Bethany Reading Course Oommittee, Cleveland, 0.), whose writer is himself an able missionary secretary, and author also of a volume of fourteen "Missionary Addresses;" both books being meant and fitted to quicken and direct intelligent zeal for a world's redemption.
"The Short History of Christian Missions" is out in a fifth edition. Of course, every student of missions has that; and now comes a new "Concise History of Missions," which packs about as much information into 300 pp. duodecimo as can often be found. This will be a favorite text book and is one of the modern helps to study, eminently suited to the student volunteers and others who want multwn in parvo.
Not every record, however, can or ought to be so condensed; and it is a "matter of great satisfaction to see Dr. Reid's "Missions of the M. E. Church" enlarged by our true yokefellow, Dr. Gracey, into three volumes of 500 pp: each. Here is an encyclopedia of "Yethodist Missionary Societies and their work, and it is well worth its theme and gifted author and editor. It is embellisht with maps.
"Historical Sketches of Presbyterian Missions" is an old friend in a new dress. It always was first-rate and is now, if possible, better in its new and enlarged edition.
"The Growth of the Kingdom of God," is an attempt on the part of a missionary to the Island Empire, to present, primarily before Japanese young men, the proof of Christianity's power in the world. 'fhe book is confessedly an apologetic: it exhibits the growth of God's mustard seed-in numbers, uuderstanding, practice, and influence among the nations where it has been planted. The charts are a distinctive feature. Mr. Gulick puts the results of his study in a form t.o be easily graspt and retained.
"In Lands Afar" is a series of sketches already charming the younger readers of the Missionary Herald, gathered now in a preservable form for reference. Those wh() have been accustomed to find in the Herald a feast of fat things will know what a banquet is here spread.
" Christian Life in Germany" is a much-needed book, treating of one of the great thought centres of the world; what happens there concerns the race. Dr. Williams has sought to acquaint us with this nation, to give the key to the life of a great people, especially intellectually, morally, socially, and religiously. He helps us to' understand them, to sympathize'with the sceptical tendencies and to interpret the socialistic sentiment so prevalent. We have been especially interested in his sketch of Pietism and the" Inner Mission," but we have as yet found not a page that had no charm about it. Whether or not one agrees with Dr. Williams, he always finds that the writer's converse is uplifting and instructive.
" A Dictionary of Treatment" is a comprehensive therapeutic index of 1000 pp., a copy of which the author has sent free to fifteen hundred "missionaries, as a help and guide in medicine and surgery, where often skillful attendance is not at hand. It is the work of a lifetime to present such information in a form so portable and useful; and it is a noble service to humanity to send such a book as a free gift to the ends of the earth.
" Eye-Gate or Native Art in the Evangelization of China," is the title of a unique and attractive book recently prepared by William Wilson of the China Inland Mission. The object of this book is twofold, appealing alike to missionaries in China and to those at home interested in the spread of Christ's Kingdom in heathen lands.
Missionaries, in China as elsewhere, realize the value of Scripture prints, magic lantern illustrations, etc., to instruct native Christians.
THE PRODIGAL SON. SCENE 11 THE DEPA.RTURE.
Among those unfamiliar with Christian truth such means are of little value and often prove a positive hindrance because the foreign character of the picture distracts the mind from the truth. In" Eye-Gate," Scripture stories. and parables are illustrated with pictures designed and executed entirely by a Chinese artist, so that these are Chinese in every detail. One of these illustrations we reproduce here.
These pictures are printed in colors and were originally painted in large cartoons suitable for open-air preaching. The subjects delineated comprise The Prodigal Son, The Good Samaritan, Noah and the Flood, The Horrible Pit, and The Miry Clay and The Burden of Sin. Each subject includes several scenes, and is accompanied by an explanatory key. The book contains, in addition, several chapters on the progress and prospects of missionary work in China.
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
n.-MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT.
JULIAN HAWTHORNE ON INDIA.-I.
The Oosmopolitan presents a vivid and awful picture of the horrors of famine and plague in India, in the valuable series of papers publisht in the July to the November numbers from the graphic pen of Julian Hawthorne, the Oosmopolitan}., special commissioner to India. Mr. Hawthorne was deeply imprest with what he saw and heard, and has written in candid, clear and convincing manner of harrowing conditions prevailing, the inadequate methods of relief, and the outlook for the future.* We are obliged to reserve perhaps the most striking part of Mr. Hawthorne's account for our next issue. He says in part: THE PLAGUE CITY (Bombay) is built on a round flat-an island-the greater part of which hardly rises above high water mark, and even sinks below it here and there; but an acclivity, about one huoored feet in height, called Malabar Hill, occupied by the government house and the bungalows of wealthy people, extends in the form of a promontory into the western sea.
The population of the "Bazaar," or native town, is about nine hundred thousand, but the buildings containing it are crowded together in a very small area; some single houses are occupied by as many as two thousand persons. The site of the Bazaar is the least salubrious on the island. To the north is spread out the European quarter, with large and handsome public buildings. The streets are wide, connecting immense squares or open places. They are constantly swept and watered. Everywhere passes to and fro a mixt and incongruous population, Asiatic and European, naked and clothed. The thermometer in Bombay seldom shows a temperature above ninety· eight degrees, but the atmosphere is always miasmatic and fevedsh, and the humidity makes the heat far more debilitating than th(j scorching suns of the arid interior country. No white man living in Bombay can ever be or feel entirely well. The air is poisonous. The poison may act quickly or slowly on individuals, but it alw:;tys acts.
I began my investigations with a drive through the Bazaar, or native quarter. The narrow, irregular streets lie between queer buildings, misplaced, uneven, grotesque, salient with odd features; some low, some high, their fronts and roofs balconied, hooded, gabled, crowding upon the sky, the eccentric lines of structure defined in various colors; over them glared down the blinding Indian sun, casting strange shadows. Upon the door-jams were painted innumerable red circles and crosses-plague and death. These sinister marks were by no means restricted to the poorer houses, many of the most pretentious were scarred with them. Death unseen and silent was all about me; it burrowed in the soil; it hid in the walls; it hovered in the air; it lurkt in the squalid nudity of the swarthy figures that thronged the narrow ways, squatted -at the street corners, croucht within the shadows of booths. Hunting down the plague is a ghastly business. The circumstances and details of the pursuit could hardly be more redoient of horror and loathsomeness.
A house was markt down for visitation in the midst of the Bazaar. You could not see anything of it from the street; it was screened by other houses; but it was large enough to contain six hundred people. It was built round an interior court, perhaps five and twenty feet square; the four walls inclosing it went stag- • Send fifty cents to The Cosmopolitan, Irvington, New York, for July to November numbers, and read these articles in full.-Ed.
1M8.] JULIAN HAWTHORNE ON INblA
gering upward, story above story, so that we seemed to stand at the bottom of a well. But what a well! The place even here, beneath the open sky, smelt like a -cesspool. The ground under foot was boggy and foul, it was composed of dung and rotten matter of all kinds, and upon investigation proved to extend down- ward to a depth of no less than five feet. This huge and festering mass of coagu- lated filth had been accumulating uncheckt, deep down in that pit of human habitations, for fifty years past. The heat, quite apart from the poison of the atmosphere, was stifling and intolerable; there could never be any movement of air in this place, nor could the sunlight penetrate its hideous depths. But the windows of three-score living-rooms opened upon it, and this was the atmosphere which the inhabitants drew into their lungs day and night. / The people who crept and peept about the place assured us that sickness of any kind was quite unknown in this savory retreat. At the same time they admitted that several families were at that moment on a visit to their friends in tile country, and had lockt up their apartments. Hereupon orders were given to inspect the house from top to bottom, and to break open all closed doors unless keys were promptly forthcoming.
The harvest of disease and death reapt in that single house was terribly large.
Every room entered was dark, and the breath that came from it was uubreathable.
Some were empty; three contained each but a single occupant-two were dead and one was dying. In one room, at the end of a stifling and lightless corridor, down which we had" groped and stumbled, feeling along the filthy walls for pos- sible doors, we found a mother and her baby lockt in and left to die alone. The woman was barely able to move, but with her last strength she covered with a fold of her sari the body of her infant, lest it should be seen and taken away from her. There was no food or water in the room; there was a number of rats, all dead. The floor was uneven with the compacted grease, rubbish, and excre- mentitious filth of years, and in the dull flash of the lantern there could be dis- cerned an obscure scuttling of obscene insects, disturbed at their banquet.
Now, the family and neighbors of this mother and her child had complacently lockt them up there in the darkness and horror to die a lingering and tortured death; they had done so with the victim's full consent, and the reason was that both parties to the transaction preferred such an end to accepting the light, air, cleanliness and devoted nursing which the government offered them. If caste, superstition and ignorance can bring the descendants of a mighty race to this, what lower depth remains for them? And is this the ultimate goal of our clever contemporary Theosophists? One wishes the Mahatmas would come to Bombay and demonstrate to these turgid English how much better than Christianity is the esoteric doctrine.
How many hospitals there may now be in Bombay I know not. New ones were being added weekly and almost daily while I was there. Three'big ones in different quarters of the city would have been enough; but the difficulties of caste had to be met, and each person relegated, so far as possible, to his or her own kind. The cooking must be done either by persons of the same caste as the patients or higher-I suppose the Brahmans could have cooked for anybody except for some of themselves. No doubt one might be too sick to know whether they were being profaned or not; but it is wonderful to note how vital the caste instinct is in this people; it seems to die, if at all, only just before the body, and not seldom it might be said to survive it.
The so-called Servants' Hospital, on made land adjoining the docks, consists of four sheds, made of matting stretcht on Bamboo frames and whitewasht.
These constituted the hospital wards. A range of smaller huts behind them served to accommodate the friends of the patients, the workers, the dispensary
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
and the kitchen; the dead-house was removed a few rods to the north. The aspect of all was clean and airy. Each ward contained four beds and could have held many more. The nurses-men and women, native and European-past from cot to cot, taking temperature, dressing bubos, adjusting coverings, giving medicine or food.
In the first ward lay a middle-aged Hindu, with a blanket drawn up to his shoulders, and a piece of white mosquito-netting thrown over his face to shield him from the flies. He was drawing his breath with difficulty, in stertorous gasps, which heaved up the folds of the blanket under which his wasted body lay. The attendant pulled aside the netting, there were patches of black on his pincht brown face, his eyes were open and shining, but fixt; he did not notice us or change his posture. " He will die before sunset," remarkt the doctor, replacing the netting; "the disease has taken the pneumonic form in his case."
THE BANDORA . PLAGUE HOSPITAL, INDIA.
(By courtesy of The q081nopolitan.) So far as a visitor could judge, all the arrangements and proceuure of this -little hospital were as well-conceived and as efficient as they could be. All was done that could be done for the people. Often the latter come for treatment too late; often they refused medicine or inoculation, and by far the greater part of them die-there is no cure for the plague. But the almost hopeless fight is steadfastly maintained; and, at least, it is bett& that the victims should die here than in the hideous surroundings which they would choose for themselves.
The newly started government hospital at Parel, given for the purpose by Lord Sandhurst, isa huge, irregular builuing, with spreading wings and a lofty columnal portico. This place had been for many years the palace and headquarters of the governors of Bornbay, but for a long time past had stood unoccupied, the governors preferring more salubrious qlarters on the seaward promontory of Malabar Hill.
A native attendant with whom I talkt, said that altho the people were so unwilling to come to hospitals, yet.after having been brought there they became unwilling to leave. Mauy arrive, he said, who have not got the plague; but their houses have been destroyed and their furniture and clothing burnt; they have nowhere to go; their relatives were dead or had got away to the country.
JULIAN HAWTHORNE ON INDIA
STARVING INDIA.
The only persons of white blood who know what is actually going on are the missionaries, for they go about quietly everywhere, see everything, and can not be deceived or put off the scent by the native subordinates. Nor are the latter much concerned to deceive them; for they know that what a missionary says would not be accepted by the government if it contradicted the reports of its own agents. A missionary, in the eye of the government, is a worthy but sentimen~al and unpractical personage, whose sympathies are readily workt upon, and who knows nothing of political economy. The weight attaching to their assertions is, therefore, the government thinks, entitled to the respect which belongs to good intentions, but to little more. Now, anything further from the truth than is this prepossession on the part of the government it would be hard to conceive. It was my great good fortune to be thrown with the missionaries from the start, and I was able to compare their methods and knowledge with those of the government people.
Let me most emphatically declare that the English in India are doing all that wisdom and experience can devise, and heroic energy and devotion execute, to combat and diminish this stupendous calamity; they are sparing neither time, money nor life itself. But whatever they do as a government is voided of a moiety or more of its effect by the strkt necessity they are under to employ native subordinates. The moment their white backs are turned, the native sub- ordinates pocket a part (as much as is safe, and often rather more) of the money. It is impossible to stop this wholesale robbery, for the simple reason that there are not white men enough in India for that purpose. The area affected by the famine is nearly half as large as the United States; the means of transport are still inadeqnate to enable one to reach the greater part of it; and the climate is terrible beyond the belief of anyone who has not experienced it. No white man can live in the plains of India; all he can do is to survJve until he can get away to the hills, or back to England.
Millions, literally, of the people starve to death without the government hav- ing any knowledge thereof. Eight millions-eight times the popUlation of New . York, nearly twice that of London, have already died of the famine in India. Think, if you can, of this number of persons slowly turning into skeletons and dying for lack of food-and no one knowing anything about it. And were it not for the hero!:! and unselfish efforts that England is making, this stupendous total would be multiplied l1y two, or even three. Nor does the mortality by any means stop with the immediate deaths; for millions will be left, after the famine proper is past, with no means. of cultivating crops-their bullocks have died, and their tools have been sold for foC)d. And millions more will have been so weakened that their constitutions can never recover from the shock; they will droop month after month and year after year. Children especially, after having reacht a certain stage of hunger, never recover; they will not appear upon the books that record the mortality of the famine, but they will die of the famine none the less, even tho when they die they may be in tIle midst of plenty.
There is one thing we can do to help India, and only one-we can send money. If we would (and how easily we could) raise a hundred million dollars here. and cause as much as possible of it to be distributed through the various missionaries on the ground, we would almost dispose of any further danger of starvation in India. The missionaries do not work through native officials; the money they distribute is given by them directly into the hands of the starving persons themselves. Of course, the number of missionaries is very limited, and the number of persons they can reach is correspondingly so. But with means in their hands, the area of their activity would be greatly increast. Let each of
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
us remember that one dollar, properly applied, will keep a human being alive in India for a month. How many of us can afford to let that one dollar stay in our pockets, or go in tips to waiters, or in peanuts at a baseball match, or in cocktails and cigars? A score of persons have died in India of starvation while you have been reading the above passage.
Jubbulpore was my first stopping place. I drove through the native city- a crowded, huddled up, uneven mass of buildings. looking older and more primi- tive than Bombay. The inhahitants throng the winding streets and the houses, and squat or sit directly in the roadway in great numbers, getting up and moving aside reluctantly to let my ghari pass. They are more, and more generally, naked than the Bombay people. In the grain.market section of the town quantities of grain were spread out on the streets, with venders and buyers squatting beside and upon it. The latter wel'e mostly bony remnants of human beings; the former were uniformly plump and often fat. Near a fountain, surrounded by worship- ers, sat an old fakir, his face smeared with ashes, his hair matted with filth, clad in a dirty twist of a rag; he was eating raw grain with an expression of crazy self-complacency. Further on was a Hindu temple, with two or three priests under the portico, calm and clean. At the door of a mud hut a lusty young woman sprawled naked on her back, nursing a naked baby, which scrambled over her bare stomach. 'There were many women whose arms and legs were loaded with silver bangles; and many more who tottered along on bony limbs, and were recognizable as women only by stature and head-dress.
After tiffin, Mr. Johnson, the resident American missionary, drove me to the relief-camp and poor-house, where are kept persons who are unable, from weak- ness or disease, to lab01' on the government relief works, All are under the supervision of white inspectors, one of whom should visit them daily.
We first entered an orphanage, being met at the gate by a native supervisor, a shrewd and hard.looking oriental of sixty. There were hundreds of children, mostly under ten, standing or sitting about the large inclosure; they had lost their parents either by death or desertion-for at a certain stage of starvation the' parental instinct disappears, and fathers and mothers abandon their offspring with a terrible apathy. Indian children are normally active, intelligent and comely, with brilliant eyes, like jewels. A few of these little creatures, who had been taken in before starvation had gone too far, lookt fairly well; but the major- ity-death walkt among them and would sooner or later carry them away. You could count the ribs in the least emaciated of them; but there were scores of figures there upon which I could scarcely endure to look. The abdomen, espec- ially in children, is often largely distended, and tight as a drum, as if overloaded – with food; and I have heard persons, looking at photographs of such, remark that these, at any rate, mnst have had 8. hearty meal. But it is not food, but the lack of it, which causes this distension; there is disease of the liver, which becomes enormously swollen with wind. A child who reaches this condition hardly ever survives. The contrast between this abnormal rotundity and the emaciation of the limbs, chest and back is grotesque and horrible. As for the faces of these children, nothing childlike remains of them. The dark skin is stretched on a fieshless skull; the lips are mere skin, and shrink back from the teeth, the eyes glimmer dimly in hollow sockets, unless, as is often the case, they have been eaten away by the ophthalmia, which is among the consequences of starvation. Creatures thus reduced are not seldom fed by the native supervisors on insufficiently cooked or even raw grain-the result is diarrhea, dysentery and cholera, of which every camp of this kind contains many cases, Well, this is starvation !
From the orphanage we went to the general poor-house; here were men and
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY
older children. They had lost, literally, everything. All was gone-all, except the rag which bound their loins. They showed us their hands, worn with toil, but now bloodless and shriveled. They showed us their bellies-a mere wrinkle of empty skin. Twenty per cent. of them were blind; their very eyeballs were gone. The joints of their knees stood out between the thighs and shinbones as in any other skeleton; so did their elbows; their fleshless jaws and skulls were sup- ported on necks like those of pluckt chickens. Their bodics-they had none; only the framework was left. A certain portion of them lookt in better condi- tion than the others; but it was at best a sorry exhihit. Yet this Jubbulpore poor-house is consiuered one of the best conducted of them all.
We went to the women's poor-house. There were fewer women than men; I askt the missionary why. " They die quicker," was his reply. I can not portray their aspect; everything womanly had disappeared, and with it all womanly modesty. We began to make the round of the sheds. Most of the women here were lying down and could not rise; they tried to lift their heads and mutter some· thing; but the effort was too much, and they fell back. The missionary, used to trying sights, turned abruptly away, and said to me in a choking voice, "Let's get out of this." One can endure the sight of a great deal of pain and misery, if one is capable of relieving it; but otherwise it is hard. – I went home with the good missionary, who had invited me to spend the night at his bungalow; and when, before we went to bed, he knelt down and askt God to bless the poor heathen, I silently joined in the prayer with all my heart.
(To be Oo?Wluded in February.) THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.
REV. R. M. PATTERSON, D. D.
In the year 1000 the number of nominal Christians in the world was computed at about only 50,000,000; in 1500, 100,000,000; in 1700, 155,000,000; in 1800, 250,000,000; and now, in a world population of about 1,430,000,000, 477,000,000.
As to the different governments of the world and the people whom they rule, nearly 800,000,000 of the 1,430,000,000 inhabitants of the world are under Christian governments. The progress, at first slow, has been with an ever-increasing ratio.
As to the different forms of Christianity. In the year 1700 there were 90,- 000,000 of the inhabitants of the world under Roman Catholic governments; 33,000,000 under Gteek, and 32,000,000 under Protestant; and now the number under Protestant is about 450,000,000 of the 800,000,000 who are under Christian governments.
As to the Uniteu States, the latest reports (of 1896) give 25,424,333 as the number of communicant members in all the churches of all kinds, and about 10,- 000,000 children in all the Sunday-schools, which figures seem to leave a large proportion of the popUlation beyond all direct ecclesiastical connection, not connected in any way with any of the churches or schools, tho, of course, many of those who are not members of any church may be in families some of whose members are in the churches and schools and attendants upon the services, and, in some measure, under their intIuence.
The contrast between the little Ante-Pentecostal Church in Jerusalem of 120 members and the millions upon millions among almost all nations now is great in the arithmetical figures, but the Omniscient One alone knows the number of the saved for eternity-the multitude of true and obedient believers in the crucified
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
Jesus, and the incomparably greater multitude still of all the infant dead, who have been taken to the glory of heaven during the terrestrial strife and progress. And as to the intellectual, moral, social, restraining, elevating influence which Christianity has had upon society at large in the nations it has reacht, and not merely upon those who have been eternally saved through it, what human pen can describe it all ?-Condensed from Trea,8ury of Religious Thought, PENTECOSTAL TIMES IN SOLTH AFRICA.
Last year (1897) George Weavers, of Tabor, Iow::1, U. S. A., a plain man of God, with little education of this world, but a faithful student of God's Word, and a man of much prayer, has been used by the Holy Spirit to begin the work which since his departure for America in February has swept like a mighty tide over the whole mission (Natal). There is no leader of the movement except the Holy Spirit. Sometimes He uses a missionary to utter His message, and some- times He uses a school girl or boy, or calls an ignorant kraal girl just out of heathenism. No matter what the instrument, men listen and act as though their lives depended on it.
The revival has swept through our schools with great power. The 180 girls at Inanda Seminary have been shaken like leaves in a tempest. The boys in Amanzimtoti Seminary have been wonderfully stirred. Sleep was abandoned to afford time for confessions. The teachers stood amazed to see the work which they had struggled so hard to accomplish, done so easily and thoroughly by the Spirit's power. The Inanua church, where a division had arisen that split the church from end to end with fearful hatred and lying, has been through the fire of the Holy Spirit's searching until men have forgotten their personal animosity in their fear for their personal salvation, and now .seems welded together in brotherly love and service. In the entire history of the mission there has been no such awakening among the people.
WONDERFUL WORK IN NATAL.
Mrs. Cowles sends the following account of the work in the Boys' Normal School at Amanzimtoti:- " The work of the Spirit became manifest on Saturday eve, March 13th, in the boys' Prayer Meeting. The next day, Mr. Cowles in his usual Sunday evening talk to the boys, took repentance for his subject. When Mr. Cowles dismist the boys he askt any who would like to talk to him to come to his office. The room was soon crowded and adjournment was made to the boys' study. Then began a never to be forgotten scene. Such confessions! such a pouring fortll of sins! Lying, stealing, social vice, immorality of every sort. Every sin, except murder was confest. The meeting continued until 3 A. M., and that was the beginning of this wonderful work. After several meetings of confession, there came a great crying unto the Lord for forgiveness, followed by earnest seeking for the gift of God's Holy Spirit-His indwelling. Then came the conviction that ere this blessing could come, W1'ongS as far as possible must be righted and reparation made.
" A very markt feature of this movement on all the stations has been the giving up of the use of tobacco, it being included in the same category as love charms and evil medicines. We hear of piles, literally bushels of pipes, snuff boxes, and charms, being brought into the meeti~g, and at one of the stations they have had a great public burning of these implements of Satan. That God's spirit could not dwell in a polluted temple has been a foregone conclusion. The fUllness of blessing tlle boys felt they must have. For this they wrestled with
PENTECOSTAL TIMES IN SotrTlt AFRICA
God in prayer, and many whole nights were spent with Him, till the rising bell at 5.30 called them to study or to chop wood or draw water. It seemed almost impossible for the boys to do anything but pray and study the Bible, so a whole day was given up to prayer and fasting. Football and their favorite debating society have given place to the prayer-meeting, and every evening between sup- per and 7 o'clock study hour there is a voluntary resort to the hillside back of the house, and this recreation hour is spent in calling upon God.
" As a result of this constant and earnest seeking, many have received great blessing. Their hearts are fairly on fire with love to God. They love the word. One boy, hugging his Bible to his heart, exclaimed, "0, this is the book for' us now! We have had enough of other books. The Bible, oh, only t.he Bible now!" With God's Spirit in their hearts, His Word in their hands, the boys began immediately to ask if they might not go out to tell their friends of their changed lives, and induce them also to give up all for Chrlst. And so every Sunday morning more than hl;tlf of our school scatter in little bands all over the hills to take the glad message to their heathen friends. Some start at 4 A.M., returning at 7:30 P.M., having walkt thirty miles or more.
"They are truly converted. Their danger lies in their emotional and imaginative dispositions. They measure their religion by their feelings. We need divine wisdom to guide them right ..
Miss Phelps writes of God's wonderful work AMONG THE ZULU GIRLS at lnanda. The school has 168 boarders. Each class spends half of the time in lessons, and the other :lalf in work in the laundry, sewing.room, garden, or in general houscwork. A large number of these come directly from the kraals, and many come unable to read, and most of them without clothes. Some had been aroused to seek the Lord at their homes in attendance upon special service, and had found pardon and peace.
The first signs of the deeper interest were noticeable in connection with some very serious talks by Dalita, a native teacher, and one or two of the older girls_ One Sunday evening the teachers heard loud crying and sobbing, and on going to them found nearly the whole school in an almost uncontrolable state of emo· tion. After awhile, a number made definite confessions of sin, and this was God working in our midst before he sent Elder Weavers to be the instrument of bringing many souls into the kingdom of Heaven. The arrow of conviction went deeply into many hearts. And with strong crying and tears, confessions of sin were made before God and men.
The weeks and months that have gone by since this blessed work began have borne witness of the genuineness of it. Some have been much used of God in strengthening and helping their mates, and they have been an inspiration and a support to their teachers. They see that a Christ life within them must touch their lives everywhere, in the class-room, and at the laundry, as well as in the prayer-meeting. The deep concern of the girls for their friends in heathen darkness, and the earnest desire to tell the good news to others have been noticeable. Some have gone to the kraals or out-stations to tell the people what God has done for them, and in several cases the Lord has blessed their words, and sinners, old and young, have confest their sins and turned to the Lord.-Mission .7I{ew8 Letter, publisht at Wellington, South Africa.
From The South African Pioneer we also take the following account of this wonderful work as described by Rev. W. C. Wilcox: Last year I could hardly see a ray of light in the dark clouds that seemed to overshadow us. But this was only the darkness which preceded the dawn.
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
I think God has been preparing the people and missionary for it, in various ways. The scourge of locusts which had destroyed the food of the people for two seasons, had been taken by many as a judgment of God for their sins. Then there was the rinderpest threatening to come in at almost any day. The missionaries also had been quickened by the "Keswick" Convention held at Durban last year. So there were in many ways the signs of a shower. .An early morning prayer-meeting had been begun on this station, which was surprisingly well attended for the time of the day. Just at this time God sent Elder George Weavers from .America. He at first attempted to preach without interpretation, and there were very few who understood him, yet it was evident that the Spirit of God was present from the start, and after a few days, as he began to have his sermons interpreted, the revival took hold of the people with great power. It was especially characterized by great grief for sin, confession, and restitution, and the forsaking of sinful habits and customs. .At one time the feeling reacht to such a pitch that the meeting was kept up all night long and all of the following day. Many laid aside snuff, pipes,heathen medicines, and ornaments. Two heathen men cut off their head rings. Many would about as soon have consented to have their heads taken off, as it is a mark of rank and honor among the men. One man confest to a murder. .All this was at Mapumulo. But a similar work had begun at Umvoti. We also went over into Zululand to another station in our connection. Here again we saw the same manifestations of divine power. We only stopt about a week in Zululand, but when we came back we brought with us fifteen snuff boxes, one hemp horn, three pipes, three bottles of heathen medicines, all of which had been renounced in the meetings. One old woman claimed to have had her appetite for tobacco taken away from her in a remarkable manner. .A witch doctor confest his deeds, and promist to give up his practice.
The revival did not stop, as so many do, when Elder Wea-:ers had returned to .America. It went on in many places with even greater power than before. From Inanda it spread to .Adams, where is the boys' school, and they being aroused carried it on to Infumi and other outstations. Not only the boys but many girls and even children were used of God to spread this new salvation as it was called by many. It was carried up to Table Mountain (Natal), where there was a wonderful work done notwithstanding most violent opposition from the adversary and some of his minions. .As this account must be brief I may not go any further, but let me give here a summary of some of the results.
(1). First, great spiritual blessings to the missionaries. Many of us have come into a deeper experience than we have ever known before, and have come to realize the truth of doctrines which we have held before more as theory than as an actual experience.
(2). Increast number of meetings. On some of the stations there have been as many as ten meetings a week kept up now for over six months.
(3). Increast attendance. Notwithstanding the greater number of meetings the attendance is much better and the interest deeper than when there were fewer meetings, and at the present time there seems to be no flagging in interest.
(4). Peace and harmony in the church, long standing feuds and quarrels having been made up. In many cases these were made up simply by gathering together and continuing in prayer till God gave them to see eye to eye.
(5). Increast contributions. Notwithstanding the almost total loss of crops and the blocking of traffic by the rinderpest quarantine, the contributions to the Lord's work have been largely increast. Many have gone away to Johannesburg and other towns to earn money that they might have something to give.
(6). Large additions to the church and the restoration of backsliders. The
THE GOLDEN AGE OF MISSIONS
additions to the churches under my charge have been hundreds more for the past – six months than for any time since my coming to the field. But it is not the number so much as the character of the converts that is encouraging. I believe none have been admitted who have not only renounced all customs and sins that are in any wise connected with heathenism, but also dancing, beer drinking, and tobacco in all its forms. They are, almost to a man, workers ready to preach or pray with sinners and visit the sick.
With all this that is good I do not overlook the fact that while the Spirit of God has been with us the devil has been present also. Never in my life have I seen such exhibitions of his power. In some places it has appeared in violent opposition on the part of some old backslidden members. Again it has been in the counterfeiting of the experience of some who have received the Spirit. At other times it has been the circulating of mischief-making lies. Perhaps the greatest wonder of all is that notwithstanding such persistent and violent opposition on the part of the adversary, there has been so mueh that is genuine and lasting. "0 that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men."
THE GOLDEN AGE OF MISSIONS.
The Church at home is now going through much the same experience that comes to very nearly every missionary on the field. It is a common, if not uni-'
versal experience there, that after two or three years of work an earne&t man or woman, who has gone out full of enthusiasm and ambition, comes to wonder whether, after all, a mistake has not been made, and whether better work could not be done somewhere else, perhaps at home. The work is so different from what was anticipated, and they seem to make so little progress. Sometimes they yield. More often they hold firm and find that their grandest, most successful work is yet before them. They take it up with new heart, new energy, and, a little later, look upon withdrawal, if for any reason that becomes necessary, as the greatest possible trial.
So it will be with the Church. It is now in its trying time. It is facing as never before the real problem of the Christianizing, not merely the evangelizing of the world. If it holds true, if it supports the work it has commenced and enables it to be carried on, it will find a golden age before it such as it has not dreamed of. If it holds back, the story of the Middle Ages may be repeated, and the world may wait for evangelists from Africa to do in America what Americans are now doing in the Levant.
Let us look for a moment at the immediate possibilities. The battle with the great systems is on as it has never been. Buddhism in Siam, in China, in Japan, is bestirring itself to resist the encroachments of Christianity. Hinduism is looking anxiously at the signs of its weakening power, over not merely the educated, but the common people. Islam shows an, as yet, undivided and apparently unconcerned front, yet recent events make manifest its realization that it has at last met a foe the strongest it has ever encountered. While this is true. however, it must not be supposed that the end is near. Such systems are not conquered in a generation. They survive many severe wounds, and rally even after they appear to be conquered. That they can be conquered, however, and that they will be, is as true as Christianity itself. When they yield, then will be the golden age of missions. , How soon that will come depends very much upon the attitude of the Church toward the work during these coming years. If the vantage-ground is to be kept and inmeast, the daS' of success will be hastened. If work already done is to be given up, if the orders to those at the front are to be Retreat, instead of Advance, then the delay may be indefinite. Now is a time of test, not a time of crisis, for crisis implies a possible failure, and God's work knows no such possibility. It may, however, be delayed through failure of His appointed means fully to meet the demands upon them. To meet them requires effort, patient, persevering, persistent effort; but that will win.-Tlte independent.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
III.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Anglican Oonferenoe and Foreign voluntary body, and itsutterances,while strictly non-official, except as they are Missions. those of a company of officials, have, perhaps, all the wider swing, and really What one hundred and ninety-four gain in moral effect by the accident of bishops, whatever church. they repre- being a concensus of view instead of sent, have to say on the subject of for- an official pronunciamento. eign missions, might well attract atten- tion in any part of the Christian world; It would be impossible to make room but when these bishops represent the in this magazine for even a full synopsis foremost evangelical forces of the cen- of the utterances of this widely repre- tury in a great body, like the Church of sentative body on the subject of mis- England at home, with delegates from sions. Some of these have reference to all the British colonies and also from matters pertaining to the internal history affiliated bodies like the Protestant Epis- or economy of the Episcopal churches copal Church of the United States, as here met. They note that theevangeli- did the Fourth Lambeth Conference, cal impulse is a comparatively modern and when such a body occupies a whole one, even in the Church of England, the month in council on its own, and on Book of Common Prayer having but related interests, whatever they for- very meager allusions to the subject of mulate as a concensus of their views, or missions, the whole subject scarcely express in resolutions looking to activi- being present to the minds of the great ties, ought by all means to secure the leaders who compiled that book, while serious consideration of the whole Chris- they declare for themselves the judg- tian church, whether Protestant, Roman ment that "no ordinary service should or Greek. be considered complete which did not plead amongst other things for the Less than a decade before (1888), a spread of the Gospel." There is a re- similar conference made no reference to cognition also of the fact that the mis- the subject of Foreign l'IIissions, in sionary impulse in the Church of Eng- markt contrast with which the Fourth land arose by the independent action of Lambeth Conference thrust missions its members, who, recognizing the into the fore~ound, creating for their failure of the Church as a whole to consideration the largest of all the many realize her bounden duty for the world's . committees which they appointed, and evangelization, formed themselves into making it as representative as possible societies within the Church to do the of all the interests of missions at home work of the Church. The Church, it and throughout the British colonies, as concedes, owes to these great societies a well as of the missionary energies of the debt of gratitude for the work which Protestant Episcopal Church of the they have been enabled to do, not only United States. Not less than ten directly in evangelization abroad, but bishops actually in service in the several in supplying a providential stage in mISSIOns of the Church Missionary leading the whole Church to a higher Society were members of this com- conception, though this has never yet mittee. been adequately workt out in church history. This they assume to be only a This body has no organic relation transitional stage and that the Church under constitution to any branch or as such must come to the front to plan branches of the Episcopal churches re- and to prosecute its own work in seeking presented in its composition, but it has the additional freedom and force of a the redemption of unchristian races. races which must continue to expand The Protestant Episcopal Church of independently. In China and Japan the United States may be said to be the proportion of white races present, conducting missions in its official capa- and even their great influence over city through a Board of Missions ap- the social, political and religious life of pointed by the General Convention, these people, will, probably, never in which board appoints as its executive a any way materially affect their racial Board of Managers. The Conference independence of the Chinese. In such declares, however, the individual right cases they would encourage the develof donors to offer funds for missionary opment of national churches. The purposes, either for special localities or practice of the Church varies in different special work alld on special lines, and localities, but mainly along the lines of that the missionary societies should these distinctions. The Protestant accept all such when not inconsistent Episcopal Church of the United States with the belief, order, and discipline of has a native African bishop of Cape the Charch. Palmas, with two African assistant bishops consecrated in recent years. One In the matter of the development of formal resolution of the Conference denative churches, they take a very liberal clares that the establishment and develview as to the measure of autonomy opment of native churches is of the utwhich should be recognized under pro- most importance and' 'from the very be· vidential developments, encouraging ginning the idea that the Church is their native churches to work toward the goal own, and not a foreign Church, should of independence, bound to the mother be imprest upon converts, and that church "by no other bonds than the a due measure of the management and one faith and one communion in the financial support of the Church should Church Catholic." The Church in India be theirs from the first." It would not, has already made great advance in the however, encourage ultimate autonomy direction of this autonomy. There are until the Church had reacht a stage 9f no bishops of the Indian race, and the financial independence. They assume number of ordained native missionaries that it is only a question of time when directly engaged in evangelizing their the Church in Japan will become selfown countrymen is small, yet the devel- governing and self-supporting. The opment of the Indian ministry in most English and American Episcopal miscases keeps pace with the growth of the sions in that country have already Christian community. A good deal of united to form one Japanese Church, sound philosophy underlies the general having its own constitution and canons, scope of aim, however, in this direction. with a strong body of Japanese clergy, It would not be wise, for instance, to though as yet having no Japanese anticipate nor aim to secure autonomy bishop. for races which are rapidly diminishing, or that will be absorbed in white races, In the matter of comity as between such as the Maoris of New Zealand and the churches organically connected with the Indians of North America, as there the societies and independent churches would be no prospect of their per- of the Anglican communion, they demanently maintaining themselves as a clare that there ought to be a recognichurch, separated from the white races. tion of the equal rights of each other But there are other races which will when establishing foreign missionary continue, even under the dominance of jurisdiction, and that there ought to be white races, to so far outnumber them the utmost care to avoid conflict of inthat they can never be absorbed, or to terest in creating any new missionary any preponderating degree amalga- jurisdiction, and particularly where mated with them; while there arc other signal spiritual blessings have atraces lying contiguous to the white tended the labors of Christian missionaries not connected with the Angli- through the lens of Christian thought.. can communion, special care should be The practical outcome of these religions taken to avoid any encroachment on is by no means what might be anticieach other's territory, and to avoid pated from these favorable excerpts, whatever would tend to interfere with the very religion itself being often the the" due growth and manifestation of avenues of vice, and its leading reprethat 'unity of the spirit' which should sentatives too often conspicuous exever mark the Church of Christ." amples of evil. Noone of them nor all of them can furnish any substitute for Perhaps nothing on which this Con- Chlistianity, while, philosophically ference made a deliverance is of wider speaking, several of them or most of interest than, what would be popularly them have an underlying base which is called, comparative retigiontl. Though Pantheistic, Atheistic or Agnostic. the Conference itself is not holden for the utterances of its committees except Perhaps no part of the proceedings as form~lated in resolutions, yet it cer- touches a more crucial question than that tainly is responsible for a concensus of relating to the duty of the Church to the judgment on these related topics. It follower8 of Islam. Estimating the goes further than to merely admit that population of the world at fifteen hunthere are glimpses of theological and dred millions, they make it liberal commoral truth to be found in the several putation for the proportion that falls to systems, and recognizes a measure of Mohammedans, distributing them as direct and divine inspiration in the follows: in Europe five millIons, seven origin of these truths. It would seem hundred and fifty thousano; in Asia and· that in this they recognize something the Eastern Archipelago, one hundred beyond the mere migration of truth and sixty-nine millions; in Africa, forty from thG original inspired utterances. of millions; in Australasia, twenty-five the Hebrew and Christian literatures, millions, making an aggregate of two for they frankly admit that the existence hundred and fourteen millions, seven of these truths is owing to the work of hundred and seventy-five thousand, or the Holy Ghost, which would at least one-seventh of the entire population of warrant the inference that they concede the world. We do not know what the direct inspiration of the authors of authorities they followed in making so these several ethnic cults, of that which liberal an estimate, and it certainly is excellent in them. Of course, they must be by a very charitable allowance assert the insufficiency of any and of for countries where populations are only all of these several systems as furnish- estimated, that they can accept such ing an inadequate degree of· light and figures. It is scarcely possible to comtruth about God and about man's rela- pute with anything like accuracy, what tion to him, and their failure to give the Mohammedan portion of any popuany competent motive for well doing, lation might be where a strict Euro· or to furnish anything like a sufficient pean census is not taken. It is of help to man's weakness or consolation interest, however, to note that with in his troubles. They declare that for even this high estimate, more than the most part these sacred literatures one-fourth of the :Mohammedan populathemselves are but little known amongst tion of the globe are citizens of the the people who profess them, and that British Empire, amenable in its courts the Christian world at large overweights and under its political sway. India the extracts which are culled for pre- alone contains over fifty-seven and asentation to Christian communities out third millions of Mohammedan popUlaof an Qverwhelming mass of foolish, tion. It is a deplorable fact that until fallacious, or immoral material, and the present century, no effort worthy that even these excerpts are interpreted the name to evangelize the Mohamfrom a Christian standpoint 01' se~n medan world was ever made; and even that within the present century has zibar, as well as amongst the Hausa been local, weak and spasmodic. The people of the Central Soudan. The opportunities and obligations now rest- conference made special mention of the ing upon the Christian Church to inau- Student Volunteer Movement and allied gurate a systematic and well-organized organizations, and also remarkt on forward movement, for the conversion the rapid increase of the number of of the Mohammedan world, as recog- women giving themselves to the service nized by the conference, includes such of the missionary church, as well as to facts ~s the awakening of the Christian the increast employment of medical misworld to a sense of the iconoclastic sionaries to the progress of west Africa element of Islam, its immobility and toward self-support; to the evangelistic inadaptability to all modern progress, fervor of the native Christians in Uganda and to the blood of the martyrs all of which have been imprest upon in China.
the civilized world by the Armenian Our space does not permit a further massacres. This, and the peculiar poli- presentation of the interestint. _hr-TIO'~. tical relations of the Turkish Empire nor of the formulated utterallt 0: – tnil! with the Christian powers of Europe, Conference. To some they ~ave aphave turned the attention of western peared as the utterance of mere plati- Christendom to Islam to a degree never tudes, but whatever may be thought of known since the crusades. There is, them, favorably or unfavorably, every -however, it is asserted, a growth of a honest Christian throughout the world spirit of dissatisfaction within Islam must rejoice in the declaration by so itself in parts both of Europe and of widely influential a body of scholarly Asia, which is not without encourage- men, that the work of foreign missions ment, while, at least amongst the sixty " at the present time stands in the first millions of the l'Iohammedans of India, rank of all the tasks we have to fulfill." there is enforced toleration on the part of that community to any agencies J. T. G. put in operation for their enlightenment. The Conference, however, re- Ohinese New Year Notes. cognizes further that it requires no ordinary energy in attempting to com- BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, P'ANG y'ANG, bat Islam or to secure any modification of its prejudices towards Christianity. CHINA. It believes that for this purpose missionaries must be extraordinarily fur- However little attention he may pay nisht by a patient study of Moham- to the Chinese calendar, every foreigner medanism and knowledge of Arabic, of in China is sure to be reminded in a the character of Mohammed, and that very effective way of the approach of absolute fairness must be the rule in the close of the Chinese year, long bedealing with the doctrines of Islam, fore the edge of the New Year is to be while emphasis should be put upon the seen above the horizon. At some time correspondences between Christianity during the twelfth moon, the "boy" and Islam, in discussing all points of makes his appearance, and with an undifference. It believes that men should usual animation in his unanimated face, be put in special training for this work explains that owing to a combination of and that missionaries should not be sent circumstances which seem to be to a singly into this part of the field. Special large extent incapable of elucidation to us, he is obliged to request the advance at opportunities are named the present of his wages for the current month, and also for the one to come. This may be time in the districts of which Lahore, contrary to rule, doubtless is so, but Lucknow, Delhi and Hyderabad in owing to the combination above alluded' India are centers, and also in eastern to, is an imperative necessity. Otherand western equatorial Africa and Zan· wise ruin impends. It is not long before a similar statement is made by the upon. One reason for this is the fact cook, with regard to his affairs, and by that it is very difficult for them to the various coolies as to theirs. In each accumulate a reserve, and another case the necessity turns out upon in- equaLy potent is the fact that there is vestigation to be so real, and the pres- nothing which can safely be done with sure of the combination of circum- it pending its ',[se. There are no savings stances so powerful, that we are, in a banks, and there are no investments manner, forced to do violence to our which are safe. The only thing which own judgment, in order to avert the can be done with ready money, is to imminent ruin of those who are in our lend it to those who need it, which is employ, and in whom we feel, perhaps, generally done with some reluctance, as some interest. But it is a long time be- the lender jnstly fears lest he should fore it occurs to us to look into the never again see either interest or princimatter more deeply than sufficiently to pal. Whoever has a wedding in his ascertain what everybody knew before, family, is liable to have to borrow that Chinese New Year is preceded by money to carry it through, and if it be a universal season of debt-paying from a funeral the necessity will be still more which no one is exempt. If we insist urgent. He needs money to start in upon following up any particular case business, and he needs more to settle up with a rigid examination into its re- at the end of the year, when, if their moter causes, we soon learn from the own accounts are to be trusted, nine principal party such facts as appear to Chinese out of ten who engage in "busijustify his assertion of an emergency, ness" in a small way, find that they and also that there is nothing peculiar have lost money, though this often in his case, but that other people are in signifies that they have not realized so the same predicament. If these in- much as they had hoped. In short, it quiries are carried far enough, they will is hard to find a Chinese to whom the bring to light the seven deadly sins of loan of a sum of money at any time Chinese socialfinanciering. would not be as welcome as "water to a fish in a dry rut." It is this all-pre- I. Everybody always needs to borrow.- vailing need which smoothes the sur- That the business of the world, even in face of the spot where the pit is to be western lands, depends upon the borrow- dug. ing of money, and that credit is the largest factor in trade, are positions II. E'1!erybody is obliged to lend money. which we do not ·for a moment forget. -We have just remarkt that the man But Chinese borrowing is of a different who happens to have a little surplus type from that with which the great cash does not like to lend it, lest he expansion of modern commerce has should never see it again. But there made us familiar. We do not affirm are various kinds and degrees of presthat there are not Chinese who do not sure which can be brought to bear upon need the mon!)y of other people for the the capitalist. One of these is connected conduct of their affairs, but only that with the solidarity of the Chinese these people are so rare that they may family, or clan. If one of the members as well be disregarded. We never saw has money which he might lend and any. We have, indeed, never heard of another is desperately in need of it, the so much as one. The whole scale of latter will get a member of the genera- Chinese living and the whole system of tion higher than that to which the capieconomics are of such a sort, that, as a talist belongs, to intercede for him. rule, there is but one narrow margin of This may be done unwillingly, but it financial reserve. With all their prac- will probably be done. To a sufficient ticality and skill in affairs, it is a con- amount of pressure of this ancestral de· stant source of wonder that so few scription, the capitalist will find it best Chinese ever have anything to fall back to yield, though not improbably against his financial judgment. But every V. No Chinese ever pays a debt till he is Chinese is from infancy accustomed to dunned.-To us this also seems a strange the idea that it is seldom easy to have practice. Most of us have grown up one's own way in all things, and that with a fixt idea that as a debt must be when one can not do as he would, he paid, "if it were done when 'tis done, must do as he most. If the borrower then 'twere well it were done quickly." does not belong to the same family or The mind of a Chinese operates in quite clan as the lender, the difficulty will be a different way. His view is, if it must greater, but it may, perhaps, be over- be done, it were best done when it is come by the same description of pres- done as deliheratelY'as the case admits. sure, by means of friends. A wouldbe borrower is often obliged to make a VI. It seems also to be the rule, that great many k'o·fous before he can se- No Oltinese will pay his debts till he has cure the favor of a loan (at an extor- been dunned a g1'eat number of times. tionately high rate of interest), but he Here again he is at the opposite pole is much aided in his efforts by the from that which we occupy. We do Chinese notion that when a certain not like to be dunned, and would rather amount of pressure has been brought make considerable sacrifices than to to bear. a request must be granted, just have needy persons dogging us for the as one of a pair of scales must go down collection of debts which we honestly if you put on enough weights. Thus it owe, which we must ultimately pay, comes about that in all ranks of Chinese, and not to arrange for the payment of the man who has, is the man who must which at once is more or less of a disbe content to share his wealth (for a grace. By" we " we mean, of course, handsome remuneration). the average foreigner, for it is not to be denied that Western lands have their III. From the foregoing propositions, full proportion of impecunious and it follows with inevitable certainty shameless rascals who" live off the inthat Everybody owes some one else. terest of their debts," and who swindle There is never any occasion to ask a all those whom they can. But the Chinese whether he owes money. The Chinese, of whom we are speaking, do proper formula is, "How much do you not belong to this class. The mass of owe, and to whom, and what is the rate the Chinese people we believe to be of interest?" honest, and they fully intend to pay all that they owe, but they do not intend IV. No Ohinese ever pays cash down, to pay until they· are ready to do so, unless he is obliged to do so.-To us this and neither gods nor men can tell when that will be. It is a current saying, that may appear a most eccentric habit., but when a person has many debts he is no it seems to be almost a law. The longer concerned about them, just as Chinese has learned by ages of experi- when one has many parasites he ceases ence, that he no sooner pays away to scratch. money to satisfy one debt, than he needs VII. In a large proportion of cases, the that same money to liquidate three other Ohinese who pays a debt, pays but a Pa1't debts. In their own figuratively ex- of it at a time. The rest he will try to get together in the ., third month," the pressive phr~se, a single cup of water "ninth month," or "at the end of the year." The practical outcome of these is wanted in three or four places at once last three peculiarities is, that the and the supply is always as inadequate twelfth moon of every Chinese year is as the classical "cup of water to put a time of maximum activity all over the out the fire in a cart-load of fuel." empire. One would suppose that a Knowing tbis with a keenness of appre- vast amount of work was being accomhension which it is difficult for us to plisht, but the facts are otherwise. appreciate, the Cbinese holds on fast to his cash till it is wrung from him by a force whicb overcomes his own tenacity of grip. One is reminded of the witch in " Alice are a time of rejoicing, but there is no Behind the Looking-glass," where the rejoicing 80 keen as that of a ruined child was hurried along on a broomstick debtor, who has succeeded by shrewd at such a rate as to take her breath devices in avoiding the most relentless away. She thought she must be travel- of his creditors and has thus postponed ing illimitable space, but when this idea his ruin for at least another twelve was communicated to the witch, the months. For. once past the narrow latter only laughed, and replied that strait at the end of the year, the debtor this was nothing at all, for they had to finds himself again in broad and peace~ go like that to "keep up with things," ful waters, where he can not be mo- and if they were really to get ahead to lested. Even should his creditors meet any extent, the rate of travel must be him on New Year's Day, there could be enormously faster .than that. The no possibility of mentioning the fact of racing around of the Chinese in their the previous day's disgraceful flight and la-yueh, or final moon, is just to "keep concealment, or, indeed, of alluding to up with things." Every shop, no mat- business at all, for this would not be ter how trifling the sum total of its busi- "good form," and to t.he Chinese ness, has its army of runners out, each "good form," (otherwise known as "demanding debts," or rather endea- custom), is the chief national divinity. voring to do so; for to achieve it is no such easy matter. The debtor is him- The National Reform League of Ohina : self a creditor, and he also will be A Girls' School. occupied in the effort to call in the sums which are owing to him. Each separate Miss Gertrude Howe, of Kiukiang, individual is engaged in the occupation China, sends us a translation of a proof trying to run down the men who owe spectus of a proposed school or college money to him, and compel them to pay for Chinese girls, which is in contemup, and at the same time in trying to plation to be establisht at Shanghai. avoid the persons who are struggling to Whether it shall be establisht or not, track ltim down and cork-screw from the very proposition is significant of a him the amount of his indebtedness to new movement in Chinese thought. them The dodges and subterfuges to We give the text in full, in what Miss which each is obliged to resort, increase Howe calls a "rough translation," as, in complexity and number with the so far as we are aware, this is the first advance of the season, until at the close time attention has been called to the of the month the national activity is at subject in any way, outside of China. fever heat. For if a debt is not secured The paper was brought to Miss Howe then, it will go over-till a new year, and by" His Excellency Wen," and Miss no one knows what will be the status of Howe remarks: " It shows evidence that a claim which has actullly contrived the project is essentially Chinese and to cheat the annual Day of Judgment. that the leaders have not sought any In spite of the excellent Chinese habit foreign help in formulating. it, but are of making the close of a year a grand themselves toucht by a spirit of reclearing-house for all debts, Chinese form. J.Jet us hope and pray that they human nature is too much for Chinese may give themselves to this spirit's custom, and there are many of these guidance until they recognize it to be postponed debts which are a grief of no other than God's Holy Spirit." mind to many a Chinese creditor. In a note Miss Howe says: "Yester- We have but to imagine the applica- day two influential Chinese gentlemen, tiop. of the principles which we have members of the National Reform named to the whole Chinese Empire, League, sought out our Chinese girl and we get new light upon the nature doctors with the exprest desire of of Chinese New Year festivities. They placing their young daughters in our home, to have them brought up with employed, two for Chinese and two for unbound feet and given a thorough edu- English, all of whom are to be Chinese cation. No objection was offered to the ladies. In general each teacher will girls becoming Christians. Our Chinese have twenty pupils. This refers to the lady doctor, Dr. Kahn, recommended beginning of the literary department. the M. E. Church (South) school· for As funds and pupils increase more the daughters of official and "high teachers will be added. class" (so called) families opened in Shanghai. The gentlemen objected to 3. There shall be one foreign and one having their daughters educated by foreigners ! There seems to be a wide- Chinese Superintendent, who will live spread suggestion of opening a highgrade school in Shanghai of which our at the school, and have general over- Chinese lady doctors are to be invited to take charge. These gentlemen men- sight of pupils and employes. They tioned and seemed to be anticipating it. They deprecated the doctors' hesitating shall receive salaries. . to fall in line, saying: "If one has one objection and another another to taking 4. Eight Directors shall be chosen hold, what will become of our poor from the number of contributors who country?" The greatest wisdom is shall visit the school by turns, inspect requisite at this point to keep in touch the studies and assist those in charge. with this eminent progressive element They shall receive no salaries. and put it in touch with the one invincible "power that makes for reform." 5. Twelve men shall be chosen from This great National Reform League the families of contributors to solicit and seems to appeal to the best there is in collect funds, appoint teachers and printhe people, but it needs to be led to cipals, decide on course of study and Christ. I regret, for some reasons, to manage finances. They shall receive see the distrust of foreigners, especially no salaries. of foreign missionaries. The intelligent Chinese can eMily discover that we 6. There shall be two Treasurers have no politieal axe to grind, nor com- chosen by the twelve male directors, . mercial greed to satiate. Perhaps, it is who shall be honest and economical not so much distrust as that we have men and good accountants to have failed t9 win them. Very probably we charge of receipts and disbursements. have failed to divest ourselves suffi- They shall receive salaries. ciently of the oft-vaunted spirit of "An- The above five rules appertain to the glo-Saxonism. " management.
PROVISIONAL PROSPECTUS FOR A GIRLS' 7. The school will open with forty SCHOOL. pupils, and the members shall be in- 1. In opening schools for girls we creast as funds increase. are reverting to the illustrious custom of the three dynasties. In order to open .8. Pupils may enter between the ages up the intelligence of the people we of eight and fifteen. must, certainly, make the women free and afterward customs can be changed. 9. Pupils between the ages of eight That the reality may correspond to the and eleven must be able to read a cername, all funds and plans for this tain amount on entrance. Those beschool are to be under the control (super- tween twelve and fifteen must know vision) of women and the teachers are something of composition and be able to to be women. read letters. Teachers shall decide upon the eligibtlity of candidates for The above is the fundamental idea in admission. the establishment of the school. 10. Foot·binding is a very vile custom 2. Temporarily four teachers will be of the Chinese. Persons of culture should not continue it. Since this is only a beginning of the school and the customs are not yet establisht, for the present pupils shall be admitted with- out regard to whether their feet are bound or not, but after a few years there will be a limit and no one with small feet will be admitted.
11. It is the intention of this school to make no distinctions of rank, but since in the future pupils from this school will be leaders and teachers in other schools, only daughters of reput- able families will be admitted. .
The above are the five rules for the admission of pupils.
12. The course of study will be half English and half Chinese. First reading and composition shall be learned, ceive a diploma which empowers them and later all elementary branches of to follow those professions for which learning; afterward history and science, they have prepared. handicrafts and professions may be taken up. 22. Girls taken from' Foundling A1!y- lums can not be given ill marriage as 13. There shall be three special cour- concubines; much more shall the pupils ses of study; mathematical, medieal of this school not be given as concuand law. Each pupil may choose which bines, but shall be more highly esteemed she will pursue, but those who study in the world and loved by their parents, medicine and law must first have a good and not by being given as conCUbines general knowledge of the mathema· tarnish the purity and disgrace the high tical. standing of the school. – 14. Besides these courses of study 23. All countries prohibit the sla.vethere shall be a Kindergarten depart- trade. China should gradually do away ment, the teachers of which must have with the system of slavery. Any pupils a wide general knowledge. who have been in the school, however poor they may be, may never be sold as 15. The Industrial Department shall slaves. Anyone violating th{s rule include spinning, weaving and drawing, shall pay a fine of five hundred dollars. as soon as there are funds sufficient to engage teachers in both foreign and The above are the three rules for native methods, as these matters are of those who graduate from the school. great importance to women. 24. Each contributor will please hand 16. Monthly examinations shall be in the official rank and residence of her held by the teachers, who shall give the husband or son, and her own officiaL markings. Quarterly examinations shall rank with her subscription for the be conducted by specialists who will record. give the marks and award prizes. 25. Make the contributions payable The above are the five rules for by the month or year according to the studies. custom of western countries. In order that the funds of the school may not 17. All those in control, from teachers run short, contributions should be reguand superintendents to servants, shall lar. Our great hope is that the ladies be women. Rigid discipline shall be within the four seas will observe the enforced. Nomen shall be allowed to annual and monthly contributions. enter the doors. If the male directors have anything about which to consult, 21. All SUbscriptions, whether from they shall meet in an outer building. natives or foreigners, small or great, from one dollar upward, will be alike 18. Little children, whose homes are received. We would not hinder cheernear, may attend the school without ful giving. living in it, but must be regular in attendance. When the homes are dis- 27. In the beginning, while funds are tant, children may live at the school. limited, it has been decided to open a It is decided to build ten rooms for their school in Shanghai. but it is hoped that accommodation. afterward the work may be pusht for- ward into every province, and prefec- 19. Fees shall be g,aduated similar to ture and township. those paid by foreigners (or expenses will be about the same as in western 28. The teachers of western branches schools). The rich shall pay liberally to first to be appointed, are the learned help the school, but if the family is in women from the Kiang Si province, moderate circumstances, the fees shall Ida Kahn, and from the Bupeh pro· be less. In case of extreme poverty the vince, Mary Stowe. The teachers of fee may be entirely remitted. A poor Chinese are yet to be sought out by the student who has ability and application superintendents. may not only have fees remitted, but may be prOvided with board, clothing, 29. The men and women directors books, etc. shall be elected by ballot by those who are instituting the enterprise. Since 20. Clean. honest women-servants those interested are widely scattered, shall be employed to attend to all the those instituting the work will go forwants of the pupils. Pupils may be ward and act temporarily until such allowed to bring servants from home, times as directors can be elected. but such servants shall be subject to the authorities of the school. 30. For the present all contributions may be sent to the office of the Chinese 21. Whoever completes one of the Progre8s. Each issue will contain names three courses of study in the Kinder- of contributors with amounts contrigarten or Industrial course, shall re- buted, also all disbursements. Everything being made public will insure effectually through the school-house confidence in the enterprise. door.
31. This is an experimental schedule " A long row of graves in the little giving the general scope of the enter· Protestant cemetery, at S. Paulo, t-estiprise. After the school opens, the ties eloquently to the faithfulness of the teachers, superintendents and directors men and women who have given their will formulate the details. lives to this work during the last 30 years. With a knowledge of Brazil Horace M. Lane, M.D., President of and Brazilians growing out of forty years' experience with them, I would the Protestant College at S. Paulo. not attempt to discuss this plan of reaching eighteen millions of people in Brazil, in a note at hand says: four years. God bless every effort everywhere and by every process to " A contributor, in a recent number spread the light of the Gospel through- out the world!-nor would I say a word of the REVIEW stated it to be his belief to dampen the ardor.of those who advo- cate it; but I can not help feeling that that with 100 men all Brazil could be the gentleman who made the statement had not carefully studied the conditions evangelized in four years. • With under which the work must be done;"
God all things are possible,' but with [The editors of the REVIEW also took poor, weak, erring man there are cer- exception to the feasibility of the plan tain limitations, even in the work of proposed by Mr. Olsson, as was stated evangelization. . in their editorial note following his ., In a very restricted sense the evan- article.-ED.] gelization of Brazil might only mean Babism in Persia.
the preaching of the Gospel to the one Some tifty years ago a new prophet arose in Persia claiming to be the only million Indians to be found in the true representative of God. Many Mohammedans were dissatisfied with forests and on the plains of that vast their own religion, and gathered round this prophet, who has to-day 800,000 couI)try, who have never heard of it, or followers, notwithstanding government persecutions and imprisonment. The to the so·called tame Indians living chief difference between the orthodox Mohammedans and' the new sect is along the great water courses, who are that, while the former say the Bible is not reliable, the latter admit the New equally ignorant of Christian truth, Testament to be the Word of God. Most of them believe that Jesus Cllrist though catechised in some of its forms. has come again in the person:of their prophet. These scattered peoples, speaking a be· Then; is much in the new teaching wildering variety of dialects, derived that is sad, but it has opened the door to the Gospel as nothing else has done. from the eight principal Indian lan- Bible circulation is almost doubled every year. It is computed that in guages, would have to be taught Portu- many towns and villages half the popu- lation are Babis. This is a clear indiguese, or the missionary would have to cation that the people of Persia are already, in large measure, wearied with aequire a knowledge of Indian tongues, Islam, and anxious for a higher, holier, and more spiritual faith. Almost all before they could be told the story. through the country the Babis are quite friendly to Christians. The rise The von den Steinen brothel'~ spent the of this faith is in a large measure due to the spread of the Gospel, the best of best part of two years, with a well their doctrines are borrowed from it, while they openly reverence our Scripequipt expedition, in acquiring an tures and profess to be ready to reject any opinion they may hold when once imperfect knowledge of a comparatively proved to be contrary to the Bible.
small region of the Xir•.qlt, embracing a few small tribes. hitherto unknown.
In the populous states along the sea- . board there are still vast areas of unex- plored country, while the great central plateau is practically terra incognita.
" In a wider sense t!J.e evangelization of Brazil would mean not only the preaching of the Gospel to the Indians, but also to 16 to 17 millions of civilized- and nominally Christian Brazilians, Italians and other foreigners, including about a million of freedmen. When we consider that no less than four or- ganized evangelical missions have been working in Brazil for many years (the Presbyterian mission was establisht in 1859), and that only a comparatively small portion of the nation has been toucht, we may have some idea of how difficult and complex the problems are which confront the Protestant mission- ary. The idea is rapidlj' gaining ground that these high strung Latins can only be reacht permanently and
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III. -FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
The Outlook,* Sta.tistics,tLitera.ture.t BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
Monthly Topics for 1898. SEPTEMBER.
JANUARY. Japan. Korea. The Outlook. Shintoism. Statistics. Medical Missions. The Church and Missions. Self-Support of Mission Churches. Missionary Literature. OCTOBER. FEBRUARY. Greek Europe. The Chinese Empire. Mohammedan Lands. Tibet and Formosa. The Greek Church. Confucianism and Taoism. Mohammedanism. The Opium Traffic. NOVEMBER. MARCH. South America. Mexico. Frontier Missions in America. Central America. Mormonism. The West Indies. Young People's Work. City Missions. Foreigners in America. DECEMBER.
APRIL. Syria and Palestine. The Jews. India. Educational Work. Burma and Ceylon. Industrial Missions. Hinduism.. Woman's Work for Woman. "A Word to the Wise." Na~ive Agents. Every year the editors are flooded MAY. with manuscripts entirely unadapted to their use, while many others could be Siam and Laos. vastly improved by a little thought and Shan States. care. Many are indeed "opened with Malaysia. expectation and closed with profit," Unoccupied Fields. but not in the sense which Alcott in· Buddhism. tended. Perhaps a word to prospective Work Among Lepers. contributors to the pages of this RE· VIEW may not be out of place. JUNE. A.frica. The subjects are, for the most part, Madagascar. suggested by the list of topics for the Freedmen in America. present year, but within this range Fetichism. there is a vast opportunity for variety The Slave Trade. of treatment. The specific topic must, Missionaries. of course, be determined upon by the peculiarities of the field and ~he definite JULY. object in view, but what readers of missionary periodicals usually desire to The Islands of the Sea. know is the peculiarities of countries Arctic Missions. and people with which they are unfami- North American Indians. liar, the methods of awakening interest The Liquor Traffic. . and bringing to the light those who are Work Among Fishermen and Sailors. in the darkness of sin, the trials and triumph~ of missionary life, the con- AUGUST. trasts between Christian converts and heathen, the special needs and oppor- Papal Europe. Romanism. Bible and Tract Work. Reflex Influence of Missions.
• See p. 9, 45 (present issue). t See p. 41,70 (present issue). An article by Dean Vah! on the subject comes too late for use in this issue. ~ See p. 28 (present issue). tunities of the field, as well as any dis- least two months previous to the date cussion of missionary policies or methods of work which may be attracting of issue, and if their value is in any present interest. An excellent list of suggestive topics, possessing the possi· way dependent upon immediate inserbility of almost endless variety of application in connection with the various tion, it should be so indicated. mission lands, is that of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions for In sending manuscripts, kindly in- 1898.* Under the general subjects: The Bible and Foreign Missions, The Un- close stamps for return, and give full believing World, Evangelistic Work, Missionary Administration, Nat i v e name, address, and the name of the Church, Missionaries, The Printing Pre~s, Reflex Advantages of Missions, society, church, or mission field with Civilizing Influence of ~nssions, Relation of the Home Church to Missions, which the writer is connected. etc., a great variety of SUb-topics are suggested which present a fruitful field The editors do not hold themselves for study and discussion. responsible for opinions exprest, but But the selection of a subject is less difficult than the manner of its treat- will do all in their power to insure the ment. The style of an article is of vast importance in securing a hearing and reliability of statements made and the in producing an impression. Adefinite purpose is a prime requisite to the clear worthiness of objects indorst. and forcible presentation of a subject. Accuracy, interest, and brevity are, of Missionary Donations. course, important. There is no necessity that articles on missionary subjects The editors of this REVIEW are always should be either dry and tiresome on the one hand, orfrivolousand puerile fln the glad to receive and transmit to their other. Incidents should be used as much as possible to illustrate points destination free of charge any sums and to add specific interest; statistics which may be forwarded to them for should be tabulated and condenst as any cause presented in these pages. It much as possible, as they are thus more is their endeavor to give place to no usefnl, and, while none the less weighty, appeals for objects which are not in are much less heavy. every respect worthy of the confidence and S1; pport of the readers of this REo Photographs are desired to accompany VIEW. It is impossible to give space to and illustrate articles as much as pos- every such appeal, but we rejoice at sible, and add much to the interest and the evidences of Christian love, which instructiveness of description and nar- come in response to physical and spil'itratives. Views of people and places ual needs of those who have a claim are always acceptable, especially those upon our sympathy and assistance. showing characteristic customs of natives, the results of Christian missions, All donors will hereafter receive and the machinery and methods of numbered receipts for all sums sent to missionary work. us for benevolent purposes. Such dona- tions should be sent to the Managing Articles intended for special numbers Editor, D. L. Pierson, 944. Marcy Aveof the REVIEW should be in hand at nue, Brooklyn, New York.
* See Church at. Home. and Abroad for In addition to sums already acknowl- edged we have received and forwarded December, 1897. the following: No.100-For Rev. J. C. Denning, India, $5. No. 101-For Pandita RamabaPs widows, India, $35.00.
According to Rev. Dr. Daniel Dor- chester, the growth of the Roman Catholic population in the United States 1870-94. was from 4,600,000 to 8,806,- 000, while the increase of the commu- nicants of Protestant churches was from 6.673,400 to 15,218,000. During the same period the popUlation connected with these churches has increast from 29,029,000 to 45,654,000. The growth of Protestantism as indicated is greater than appears on the surface, and is in advance of t1lat of the Roman Catholic denomination, for while the latter in- cludes all the children of Catholics, the former includes only the actual com- municants.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
V.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
In the January issue of 1897, page 2, possest but a corner of the land, which the editor stated his calm judgment far away to the north and east invites that, because "the giving of the peo- the standard bearer of the Cross. In ple of God is so utterly inadequate and Africa there is actually no limit to the disgracefully disproportionate, missions possible establishment of new stations to the heathen have at no time during by the heroic men and women whom the last half century been at greater our Church may push to the front. peril of utter collapse." One phrase from this sentence, taken China is softening in its prejudices, apart from its connection, lias been and growing more accessible every day quoted with severe criticism, and, as to the messengers of salvation. Reports we think, most unfairly. We did not from Persia are fragrant with the say that the danger of collapse came record of precious revivals of unprece- from any source but the inadequate dented power and fruitfulness. The giving of the Church and the conse- very attitude of defiance of enemies of quent emergency of debt and retrench- the Cross at some points in the world is ment. no less a bign meant of God to stimulate For example, one. religious journal the zeal of the Church. And shall we thus refers to it: "If that high and excellent au- not recognize yet another divine sign in thority on foreign missions, who not the manifest yearning on the part of long ago, in a public meeting, gave the great body of missionaries for a • utterance to his belief that the cause of more thoroughly spirit-filled life? It missions was on the verge of collapse breathes out in many of their letters. It and failure," etc. If the quotation gathers volume in many special meet- had been fully given it would have ings held to seek this blessing. It is been seen that the deficiency of funds was the point of warning, and, at this revealed in increasingly intense work very time, the American Board and for soul rescue in many lands. .
most other societies are sounding the SECOND FAcT.-The all-pervading interest in the cause of foreign missions same note of warning, as is evident which ruled at the sessions of the last from the following extracts from a general assembly at Winona, is an in- spiring summons to the whole Church. model appeal from the Presbyterian It was as a solemn response to the Board of Foreign Missions. unmistakable call of God's providence for a forward movement, . . . The FOUR PRESEN'l'-DAY FACTS. enthusiasm of the assembly in this cause should be accepted as setting the Real and effective interest in foreign pace for the Church in enthusiaRm and missions can only exist as the facts devotion in the months before us. pertaining to them are well known. The board of foreign missions calls " He that hath an ear, let him hear attention to four such facts now con- what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." fronting our Presbyterian Church. THIRD FACT. – Notwithstanding FIRST FACT.-The trend of divine these signs of the divine intention that providt:)llces to-day unmistakably calls the Church go forward, the startling for a forward movement in foreign fact confronts us that the foreign mis- missions on the part of the Church. sionary work of our Presbyterian Signs abound in many lands. . . Church is to-day crippled beyond pre- which summon to immediate duty and cedent. The financial straits of the conquest for Christ. Grand opportuni- board have compelled it to order severe ties for missionary effort fire the zeal of retrenchmcnt on all its mission fields. our brethren and sister.~ in foreign This reduction in their appropriations lands. Korea flings its doors wide open has struck our missions like a cyclone. to the march of the conquering hosts of The missionaries from one station, Christendom. In the Laos country ex- writing of the cable announcing for plorations disclose that as yet we have them a reduction of $6,000, say, "We were simply stunned." To meet this cut, college and girls' seminary, hospital and press, and village schools must ap- parently be side-trackt for a whole year. J…arge contributions from the missionaries' salaries were the only re- sources in sight to keep some depart- ments from absolute stagnation. From another mission a brother writes: "The situation is, in some respects, simply may be found, vol. iv., new series, p. hearthreaking. My wife and I have decided to give ~200 of our salary to 320,325. help out the cut in our field." Every mail from abroad is multiplying such The editor of the O. M. Intelligencer distressing statements. Furthermore, the board has called a halt in the send- makes a reference to the fact that this ing out of new missionaries. motto, "The Evangelization of the FOURTH FACT.-After this unparal- leled retrenchment has been made the World in this Generation," has lately board still' needs for the current ex- penses of the year on which it has been animadverted upon in terms of entered $830,000. This amount it has virtually pledged for the support of severity by D1'. Wm'neck (a recognized au- its 708 missionaries actually on the field, for its 2000 native workers who can thority on missions), in an article on not be ;ummarily discharged, for its vast itinerating work, and for other "The Modern Theory of the Evangeliza- vital departments abroad and at home. Besides this amount necessary for cur- tion of the World." He says in reply: rent expenses, there was a debt at the outset of the year of $97,454.47 to be "Regarded as a vindication of the provided for. In short, the board must old and tried methods of missionary receive during the present fiscal year work the article in question has un- $118,1'525.95 above w~at it. received last doubted value. But while individual year in order to satIsfy Its full fiscal advocates of the motto have laid them- obligations and unforeseen dema~d8. selves open to Dr. Warneck's criticisms, This certainly is a large undertaklllg, the Volnnteer Union itself has dis- "but not an impossible one for such a tinctly disavowed either that the watch.- Church as ours. word is a prediction, or that 'evangelz- eation' means on their lips a mere Here are the facts. What will the hurried proclamation of the Gospel. On Church do with them? Who cau the contrary, in a memorial to the ignore the claim they establish upon 'Church of Christ in Great Britain,' every church member's personal atten- which the Union issued this late spring, tion? "My Missionary Work," "My it defines 'evangelization' as meaning Board," "My Share in its Outlay," 'tl;(lt the Gospel should be preacht "My Portion in the Bl~ssed Reward.:' intelligibly and intelligently to ef!6ry Which link in this cham of holy oblI- soul in such a manner that the regation would you wish to renounce? spon~ibility for its a.cceptance shall no Will you not take the cause home to longer rest upon the Ohristian Ohurc1t, your heart with new affection, to be but upon each man for llimseif·' " manifest in more ardent prayers and To this Dr. Wameck says in effect, laro-er gifts in its behalf? "Then this evangelization is not possi· . ble in this generation; " and the S. V, .'j'The people rejoiced for that they M. U. is in agreement with him on offered willingly." this point, with an im portant qualifica- tion. It says, "With heathenism so The question is often askt of the edi- vast and so strongly intrencht the 'Evangelization of the World in this tor how, and when, he was led to sug- Generation' is an impossibility, unless t116 Ohurch cease8 to be so engJ'ost with gest the motto, since adopted by the things of time." And herein the true aim of the Union and the great service Student Volunteer force both in Ameri- which in God's Hand it has been privileged to render to the Church and ca and Europe, and now by the Church the world is brought into. view. Its object is to emphasize not a theory but a Missionary Society in the forward duty. There is no part of Dr. War- neck's paper which we regret 80 much movement, viz.: "The Evangelization as when towards the close he deprecates appeals for large acces~zons to the b~n~s of the World in this Generation." of missionary evangelIsts because It !s not acc(Yl'ding to t',e law of growth zn The motto, so far it can now be nature, and 'becal;se the Christians at home are not able to increase the numtraced, was first suggested in an address, ber of missionaries so suddenly, and if they did the money for their support Feb. 27, 1891, before the Student Vol- would not correspondingly increase. We should have thought that Dr. Warunteer Convention iu Cleveland, O. neck would have agreed with us that the Church of Christ, whether in Ger- It was in May of the same year put into many or England or America, has been a printed form in the leading article in THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, where it asleep to its duty to evangelize the The outlook in India is brightening. world, that it is only partIy awake now, Rains have been more abundant and that those who are awake ought to try the famine is wellnigh over for the their utmost to awaken the rest, and present. The number of its victims, that what the Christian Church can do will, however, run up into the millions. when it is awake will be out of all pro- The need is still great, for 5,000 portion to what it has done while for famine children must be cared for or the most part asleep." they will die of starvation.
The Recent Revolt in Uganda. The outlook for the coming winter in Armenia, says the Independent, is by no It was on Tuesday, July 6th, 1897, means cheering. There has been no that the capricious and fickle King disposition apparent on the part of the Mwanga ran away. Government to institute reforms and altho there have been no serious dis- The King's action is not hard to turbances, there has been no substantial explain, especially when one fact is progress. The harvest of 1896, an ex- understood. The King's party repre- ceptional one, is nearly exhausted. The sents the distinctly irreligious class, fall sowing did not bring forth much who wish to be free to live openly and fruit, the crop in no case being more than without restraint according to their fair, and, in many instances, scarcely lusts. Two things combined to bring returning the seed sown. The relief matters to a crisis. In May the failure work has been carried on through the of the rebellion involved Mwanga, who summer, care being taken to give the was in the plot, but turned "state's greatest aid to those who had no pos- evidence." His share in it was con- sible means of self-support, and even doned, but he feared results. Secondly, then to use them so far as practicable about one hundred of his pages, with in the industrial department. In this whom he had been guilty of the grossest way some 5,000 persons in Van district immorality, were banisht from court alone, have been kept alive, who, so far by the government, and this led Mwan- as is apparent, must have perisht with- ga himself to raise a revolt. He sent out this assistance. The care of orphans emissaries in every direction to stir up has developt in many important ways. strife and promote rebellion against the The schools for them have increast, English government. If he had suc- and there is constant demand for new ceeded, all the Bible readers would have departments, especially in the different been killed, and the Europeans driven trades. Shoemaking, weaving and out, and the reign of heathenism re- some lighter forms of iron work are establisht. All Uganda lookt on among the lines needing to be pusht. with intensest interest to watch the Great efforts are being put forth to care issue of the first engagement in Budu. for these children, who are to be the Nearly all the police deserted and chief strength of the next generation. joined the King, and the war became distinctly a religious one, between The twenty-fifth anniversary of the those who serve God and those who Jerry McAuley Rescue Mission, 216 serve him not. Mwanga and the hostile Water Street, New York City, was . chiefs and pagan people hate Christians eelebrated in Carnegie Hall on Sunday, because sensuality, slavery, polygamy, November 21. This is the original etc., find no encouragement under the rescue mission which has given the im- rule of Christ. The only faithful pulp!) to many similar efforts all over natives are the Protestants. Happily the lforld. The remarkable story of the battle of the 24th of July was fought the conversion of McAuley has often and won at Krango, in Budu. It ended been told. Sent to prison at nineteen for in a panic for the heathen party and great rejoicing for the Christians. fifteen years and six months, he profest of memorable sayings, for example: his conversion under preaching in the prison chapel. On coming out of prison "The Lord is ever looking for cothere was no one to care for him, and he fell to drinking. At last he was workers: He gets on-lookers." The fully reclaimed, and four years later started the Water Street Mission. The Bishop of Newcastle, the main speaker, story of the conversion of S. H. Hadley, who for eleven years has had charge of made a strong plea for a revival of true the work, is scarcely less interesting and striking, and is well nigh as missionary interest in the officers of familiar. At the anniversary exercises in Carnegie Hall, a number of eminent the Church, and especially the clergy. men spoke, among them Bishop C. C. He said: McCabe and President Moss of the Police Board. A large number of rescue "Since the cal1 to evangelize the workers from all parts of the country world came to the whole Church, then, also came together, and made the even- as the officers of the Church, the clergy ing exercises most interesting. We are primarily responsible. We must hope to give an illustrated account of not suppose that missionary ardor is this and other rescue work in our March universal in the Church of England. issue. Those who are really on fire are a dis- tinctly small minority, even in a congre- After a t.rial, lasting several weeks, gation which might have a reputation the Session of the Fifth Avenue Pres- for missionary zeal. Whose fauIt is it? byterian Church, New York, of which We clergy are very much to blame. 1 Dr. John Hall is pastor, found Mr. do not know of a single instance of a Hermann Warszawiak guilty of the clergyman really interested in foreign charges made against him aud dismist missions, praying and working for him from the membership of that them, who has not met at length with church. l'ir. Warszawiak appealed the a real response from a certain number case to Presbytery. The Presbytery of his parishioners. I have once wisht has recently sustained the action of the that all ordinary deputations might be Session of the Church,'but Mr. Warsza- suspended for a Whole year, and dewiak threatens to carry the case before putations be sent to the clergy alone. the Synod. It is stated that Dr. Hall Until the clergy are afire, it is useless and others still believe in Mr. Warsza- to expect the laity to be so." wiak's innocence, which we hope may be made manifest. At present a dark On October 12th uIt., Exeter Hall, cloud rests on his name. London, again witnest the outgoing At the recent Church Congress, in Nottingham, England, the Bishop of of C. M. S. missionaries. Rev. H. E. Southwell, in his presidential address, declared its "speciality to be its mis- Fox stated that including 12 who had sionary character." At the clerical breakfast, 170 sat down, the Bishop of sailed, 97 were going out during the Sierra Leone in the chair. He gave a thoroughly spiritual address on the autumn. 85 were on the platform, " first missionary breakfast"-John xxi. He said the key words were of whom 30 were returning to their LOVE, FEED, FOLLOW, and his address, like all Bishop Taylor-Smith's, was full work and the rest going out for the first time. Out of the 63 located during the year past, 52 were to be supported by special cont1'ibutions of individuals or groups of friends, 4 were honorary or so in part, leaving but 6 to be supported by the general fund.
Bishop Ingham, among other good'
things said, quoting one of the" Hints to Stewards" for the Missionary Ex- hibition about to be held at Guildford -" Be fresh to each person." When they got into the mission-field how could they be fresh to all amid the ad- verse influences around? He remem- bered how surprised he was when he first saw at Sierra Leone the marvelous greenness of the trees, while all the shrubs and herbage were parcht. It was owing to the faCt that they were 1897, 323. And this is beside, and not deeply rooted down in the levels kept instead of, sUbscriptions to the general moist by the last rainy season. Again, fund. We feel constrained to say that those who escaped from the Benin mas- we believe some such plan would do- sacre had depended upon the dew-drops more than any other one thing to relieve to quench their thirst in the forest. the present debts of the Boards and pre- The inference was obvious. We needed vent other debts being incurred.
not only deep roots but heavenl,!/ dews if A legacy amounting to probably £180,000($900,000) has been left to Rev. we would befresh every day, to each per- J. Hudson Taylor for the work of the son, and to every duty: China Inland Mission. Laus Deo !
In 1890, in July, a letter from several The Kongo Balolo Mission, of the East friends in Keswick was sent to the C. M. London Institute (Dr. Guinness) is in S. Committee, urging that an appeal be sore need of funds to carryon its prosput forth "for no less than a thousand perous and growing work in the heart additional workers, who will be needed of the Dark Continent: $7,000 to go out into the various fields withiu (£1,400) are needed immediately to the next few years. The prayers of nieet expenses. Eight new missionaries many friends of the Society were di- have recently been sent out and are rected toward sending forth 1,000 new worthy in the highest degree of our missionaries in the last decade of the prayerful sympathy and financial supcentury. To not a few it seemed little port. short of presumption at that time to ask for such a thing, but now is there any About two years ago a few of God's one who thinks an average of a hun- children had the continent of South dred a year a visionary aspiration? America, with its thirty-seven millions What has been the experience? The of perishing souls, specially laid upon number added to tluJ li.~t between May 1st, their hearts. arid longed, in some way, 1890, and May 1st, 1897, including to aid – in the work of preaching the wives and missionaries in local connec- Gospel to these people. ~<.s it was not tion, was 666, an average of 95 for the permitted any of them at- that time to seven years, the average for the first three take the Word of Life to the inhabityean having been 83, and for the latter ants of the " Neglected Continent," four years 104. These numbers do not they decided to remember daily before include those sent out in July last, the Throne of Grace these poor deand more lately, which would add 83 to graded souls, and also the missionaries the total given, making a grand total laboring among lhem. Thinking that of 749. Clearly we are encouraged to others would like to join with them in plead with enlarged desires and expecta- prayer for Sonth America, they were tions." led to form what is now known as the &uth American Missionary Prayer Again, about the same grand society Union. The prayer of faith is necesthat leads all Christendom: sary in the great work of spreading the knowledge of Christ. and while" Some Twenty years ago Rev. V. S. Stanton can go, most can give, aU can pray."* initiated the "Substitute for Service Fund," not only the idea but the exam- * Any further information regarding the ple, for he himself gave, during eight years after, the sum of £250, which was Prayer Union, or membership card for the doubled afterward in the time remain- same, may be obtained on application. In ing before his death. In June, 1893, order to defray the necessary expenses of the appeal was made for such offerings. printing, postage, etc., there is a small fee In May, 1894, 48 were thus supported; of 25 cents on entering the Union, which, in l'Iarch, 1896, 146, and in November, however, is optional. The secretaries are A. E. Robinson, 1 Hepbourne Street; and A. E. Armstrong, 927 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ca- nada. It is reckoned that during the year strumentality of the Salvation Army 1897, the cases of lynch-law being put into execution have averaged more into the enjoyment of the higher than twelve a month, and some one has arranged the list in the order of promi- Christian life, the whole course of his nence thus: Texas takes the lead, and is the black-banner State"":then Ala- life was changed. As a thank-offering, bama, Mississippi, Georgia and· Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, South Caro- he gave one hundred thousand dollars lina, Kentucky and Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Maryland, Arizona, Cali- for the work of the army, and liberal fornia, Ohio, Nevada, Alaska and Illinois conclude the list with one each, contributions followed each year there- While Texas heads the list with nineteen. It will be seen that all but five of after. these lynchings have occurred in the South; eighty of the victims have been Being convinced that he must make negroes, and three Indians, and the great majority of cases were supposed a change in his whole mode of life, he murder cases, and now Indiana comes in the list with five victims at once in abandoned his handsome dwelling to the late tragedy at Versailles. take up his abode among" the slums."
He bought an old theater in one of the worst parts of the city, spent one hun- dred thousand dollars in fitting it up for mission purposes, with a hall for meet- ings, Rescue Home, etc., and a home for his family, and there the rest of his life was consecrated to lifting up the fallen. His wife, being in accord with him, they together lifted up the cross, where sin and sorrow and death had held undisputed sway. God put the The following letter is of such inter- seal of His approval upon him, both est to the general public, that we pub- temporally and spiritually. " Star lish it, and invite further suggestions as Hall" deserved its name as a great to its proposal: center of light and life. .
DEAR DR. PIERSON-In preparing a Some of us have followed this devoted missionary address on Africa to-day, it man in his walks of usefulness through occurred to me that, perhaps, the RE- those lanes and alleys, where crime was VIEW could inaugurate a movement rampant. His Mission Hall has been whereby. on the last day of the century, all missionaries and societies might the place of holy'convocation for many publish a statement, or send to some saints and for new campaigns against central committee a statement, of the sin and hell, and for the deepening of'
then present condition of tIle world the spiritual life. One who was with and position of the work, that might be placed in the hands of suitable editors, our dying friend, says he closed his and a volume publisht the first month earthly life "full of the sweetness of the new century, or as early as con- and tenderness of Jesus-no care, no venient-a volume that would review struggle, no fear-and the last· hours the growth of missions from the begin- ning, and state the actual position of were a veritable heaven on earth." It affairs in the missionary world. These was a real translation. The work goes are crude id~as, but can you not mark on. The beloved wife and coworker the century in some such form? Yours consecrates herself to the Lord's work truly, . D. SPENCER, LL.D.
with redoubled energy, succeeding her Mr. F. W. Crossley, of Manchester, glorified husband in the sowing as she England, who died March 25th, ult., was a man of large business, who will join him in the reaping. abode in his calling with God. He had taken the Lon]. into partnership as the Dr. John H. Barrows, has given Head of the firm, and used the profits for His glory and the extension of His most unequivocal testimony to the work. work of missions in India. He says: Having been led through the in- "The objects most worth seeing in India, to my thinking, are neither the Himalayas, nor the Taj Mahal, the Tomb of Akbar, nor the Temple of "Women in the Mission Field; Madura, but the varied triumphs of mis- Pioneers and Martyrs," and " The sionary effort. What a prodigious Heroic in Missions; Pioneers in Six amount of toil has gone into the Chris- Fields," by the Rev. A. R Buckland, tian vernacular literatures, and what secretary of the Church Missionary splendid triumphs of faith have enriched Society of England, are both interestthe church universal! I have heard ing narratives of life and work in formuch less of the discouragements of eign lands. The various chapters (each missions than I expected. I know how complete in itself) Me -excellent material hard workt and, in the truest sense, for reading at missionary gatherings, self-sacrificing are the Christian mis- mothers' meetings, girls' friendly society sionaries. I know their temptations meetings, or any occasion where a stirand sorp trials. But I have not heard ring narrative of missionary work a single word of doubt with regard to would be effective. (50 cents each, or the ultimate evangelization of India. two, postpaid, 80 cents.) Thomas Those who have been here longest Whittaker, New York.-D. L. P. have seen the most wonderful changes." Without the Oamp, the organ of the Books Received. "Missions to Lepers in India and the East" (17 Greenhill Place, Edinburgh), ENCYCLO;PEDIA OF SOCIAL REFORM. is full of interest to all true followers of (Large 8vo, 1439 pp.) Edited by Christ. It is an illustrated quarterly Wm. D. P. Bliss. Funk & Wag- (15 cents a year), which should be naIl's Co., New York and London. widely circulated and bear fruit in $7.50 (cloth), $9.50 (sheep), $12.00 hearty support of this truly Christian (half morocco), $14.00 (full mor- enterprise.-D. L. P. occo). Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop's" Korea THE STUDENTS' STANDARD DICTION- and Her Neighbors" (Fleming H. Revell ARY. (8vo, 915 pp.) Edited by Company), is a valuable contribution James C. Fernald. The same. both to missions and to general litera- ture. Mrs. Bishop resided in Korea for CLERICAL TYPES. (12mo, 217 pp.) By over two years after the China-Japan Rev. Hames Mann. The same. war, and made frequent excursions $1.00. into neighboring states. The reports of the condition and outlook in this THE STORY OF JONAH in the Light of land at such a critical period in its his- Higher Criticism. (16mo, 120 pp.) tory by such an experienced observer By Prof. Luther Tracey Townsend. must certainly commend themselves to The same. 50c. the student of the Eastern problems.
THE OLD TESTAMENT UNDER FIRE. Mrs. Bishop writes graphically and (12mo, 246 pp.) By Rev. A. J. F. intelligently of the Kur Dong and the Behrends, D.D., S.T.D. The same. King, of the assassination of the queen, $1.00. of the Japanese occupancy and suzer- ainty, describes a great Manchurian THE CONVERSION OF ARMENIA. (12mo, flood, as well as curious customs of a 150 pp.) By W. St. Clair-Tisdall, people little affected by Western civili- M.A. Fleming H. Revell Co., zation as yet. New York, Chicago, and Toronto. $1.40. The illustrations, about thirty in number, are all reproductions of photo- SISTER !'[ARTYRS OF RU-CHENG. graphs taken by the author. Two new (12mo, 120 pp.) Letters and Me- maps are also provided, as' well as moir of Eleanor and Elizabeth index and appendices.-D. L. P. Saunders. (Illustrated.) The same. $1.50.
THE AINU OF JAPAN. (12mo, 175 pp.) By Rev. John Batchelor. (Illus- trated.) The same. $1.50.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.- GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD', D.D., OBERLIN, OHIO.
Extracts and Translations From Foreign mation of a various interest in human Periodicals. and Divine knowledge. Perhaps this makes the matter so much the worse. BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, Great numbers of the upper-class Eng- MASS. lish look upon India simply as existing to provide lucrative salaries and honor- INDIA. able places for younger sons of the gen- try. As an Englishman, quite apart -Mr. Harold Frederic, in a recent from any thought of criticism, has dispatch to a Boston newspaper, calls laughingly said, great numbers of his the zenana missionary ladies propaga- countrymen in India, if asked what tors of "the gospel of discontent," and their duties are, would be able to give questions, on the authority of old gen- no other answer than that given him erals and other Indian functionaries, by a very subordinate official, whom he whether as much harm has been done askt what he did: "Sir, I hold the in India by famines and other plag ues position." The natives know that Engas by them. It is interesting and land gives them peace, justice, humane rather amusing to notice this restric- administratiun and care, and enlightention. Formerly, it was all the mission- ment. Still, the more widely developt aries in India that were a danger. their intellects become, the more likely Carey and his fe!lows were put out of they are to persist in asking whether all British territory, and compelled to take these objects might not be accomrefuge in Serampore, which was then plisht just as well by a great reduc- Danish. Mr. Thompson, and we sup- tion in the complexity and expensivepose others, were sent out of the Penin- ness of the pllblic service. Such sula altogether. In 1857 the cry was questions might be very uncomfortable raised for a moment that the Sepoy for aristocratic young England. The Mutiny was the result of missionary old stoHd and stupid acquiescence in propagandism. But as the missionaries whatever the "Sahibs" please to do, were plainly not in the least responsible might be preferable, rather than that for greased cartridges, and as the .. niggers " ane. "black devils" should Hindu merchants of Calcutta indig- begin to ask such questions. It· must nantly declared that the missionaries, be confest that a few more million so far from being answerable for the Christian and educated Hindus would, mutiny, were, above all other foreign- without a word or thought of violence, ers, winning reverence for their religion compel a very fundamental revision of and. their courtesy, and were esteemed Indian administration, ami a far more by the Hindus as fully the equals of profound respect for themselves; and, their own saints and sages, this cry as a certain Right Reverend English soon died down. Now, for some inex· Bishop has suggested, that Joseph Arch plicable reason, perhaps because these might well be duckt in a horsepond modest women are not much given to for insisting that even farm-laborers controversial self.defence, it is the have rights, it is no strange thing if that zenana ladies that have to bear the Bishop's cousins to the hundredth genbrunt of the attack. To be sure, they eration think the same of zenana can not enter the zenanas without the women. There seems to be only one full consent of the husbands and fathers. way of suppressing this inconvenient These, then, have not discovered the growth of intelligence, namely, to danger of quickening the monotonous life of the female recluses into the ani-
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
disestablish Christianity. So long as this "The gods Vishnu and Siva," says subsists, it has an uncomfortable way Mr. Phillips, "the highest ideal of of working itself out in various direc- Hinduism, have committed every imations, some of which provoke Anglo- ginable sin magnified to the utmost Indians to a very free use of profane extent." language. The German missionary, Frohnmeyer, The Rev. Maurice Phillips, in the quoted in Le Mi8sionaire, remarks: "At Harvest Field, remarks of the minor the present time one meets with but a poems of Hinduism: "The minor poems cold reception in Germany to speak· are of a very late date, evidently writ- about England. There are political ten after the introduction of Christian- reasons for this; I shall not undertake ity into India. Some time ago their to judge of their force. For all this, it teaching was represented in one of the pains a German missionary laboring in English monthlies as 'Latent Hindu- India, to hear the English described as ism.' What was quoted from them is nothing but a nation of shop-keepers. not Hinduism at all, but reflections We, on the other hand, see them under of the teaching of Christ! .. a very different aspect, and we love to say of them: 'They are the nation of As the excessive predominance of the missions; the nation of the Bible.' The priesthood in Roman Catholic countries. English take pains to bring the Bible especially in Italy, has called out a into every house and into every heart. violent atheistical reaction, so it was We know, for instance, that in India the absolutely unendurable tyranny of you can find in every railway station a the Brahmans that called out the athe- Bible in English, and another in the lanistical religion of Buddhism. As Mr. guage of the country. The English Bible Phillips says: " About the sixth century is read assilluously by the employes and B. C., it appears that the tyranny of the also by the travelers." The Hindus do Brahmans had become so oppressive,· not venture very much into the waitingthe burden of the daily sacrifices had rooms, but as we know, they read the become so heavy, and the fetters of Bible a good deal at home. caste had become so tightly riveted that the people, unable to bear them any MADAGASCAR. longer, revolted, and that revolt found expression in Buddhism. Buddha de- The German Ultramontanes endeavor nied every doctrine of the ancient creed, to weaken the force of the damning aIexcept the doctrine of transmigration, -legations brought against the French which he modified to suit his own sys- Jesuits in Madagascar, and their viotem. He declared that there is no God; lent ways, by urging, among other that the Vedas are of no authority; that things, that common prudence would priests, prayers, and sacrifices are use- not allow the French authorities to less; that caste is a fiction; and that permit outrages against the EngUsh there is no soul in the sense of a spiritual mISSIOns. To this G. Kurze, in the entity distinct from matter. Thus he Allgemeine Mi8sions Zeitschr(ft, very swept away, with one stroke, the foun- pertinently answers: "The French govdations upon which the tyranny of the ernment has not the slightest occasion Brahmans was built, viz. God, the soul, to take any account of England. in the Vedas, prayers, sacrifices and caste." these last years Protestant Albion has shown herself wretchedly timid when- Yet, as Mr. Phillips remarks, "the ever she was called to vindicate English system of the void," as the Brahmans Protestant missionaries. And, now rightly called it, could not prevail in the again, when Gallieni is so contemptuousend. and Brahmanism, deeply modified ly treading under foot the rights of the by Buddhism into Hinduism, recovered Congregational, Anglican, and Quaker jts sway among the devout Indians. missionaries in Madagascar, England is
GENERAL MISSIONARY' INTELLIGENCE
playing as pitiable a part as ever. We How many others which have disap- can not help querying whether the two peared, replaced by those of the Jesu- powers have not struck a secret bargain its! I am here speaking only of the in the political sphere, on the principle three most threatened districts, known of Give and Take, by virtue of which to me personally." England is fain to look quietly on, while her missionaries in Madagascar M. Ducommun writes; "The peo- are maltreated." ple are so put beside themselves that the strongest means succeed. For ex- What else could be expected from ample, the priest traverses the villages that unworthy descendant of Elizabeth's with two registers, a red for the Catho- Burleigh, who now misdirects the lics, a black for the Protestants. ' The atrairs of Great Britain? An Armenian Protestants, "says he, •will have to make friend tells me that some years ago the all the roads, railroads, and telegraph Marquis of Salisbury said; "If the Ar- lines, then they are to be shot, and will menians do not want to be ill treated go to hell. The Catholics will have by the Turks, why don't they turn nothing to do, and heaven stands ready Mohammedans?" It may be doubted for them.' And such means succeed!" whether these were his words, but they exactly express his cynical and con- "Is it surprising that a missionary temptuous spirit. How much less should write thus to us; 'There are would he care when the 1<'rench shoot now not more than twenty persons in a few score Malagese, to frighten the my church. The rest have all heen rest into the French Church! shot, chained, imprisoned, or banisht, and these twenty are every day expect- M. Delord writes; "The Jesuits are ing their turn, fClr the priest has taken far from abating their efforts. They their names.' " receive, almost by every steamer, new reinforcements, and we have the cha- We see the spirit of St. Bartholomew grin of learning often that they are oc- is still as fierce as ever in the veins of cupying new positions. There are these fanatics. strange illusions as to the nature of our work. It is imagined that we are real " The situation in Madagascar, with- pastors, almost bishops, having the su- out showing any particular sign of im. preme direction of solidly constituted proving, is now becoming more clearly churches, composed of a certain num- defined. The animus of the French ber, relatively considerable, of Chris- authorities is now seen to be directed tians. Alas! such notions must be against the missionaries not as Protes- given up. At bottom we are, and used tants, but as English. and against the to be, real missionaries. There are L. M. S. in particular. The London many things to do, to undo, and to do Missionary Society has not been known over. In easy days things went as they by any distinctive name in the island, might, but since the tempest has risen, but being the first in the field, and, by all is disorder, confusion, chance-med- far the largest of all the Protestant ley. Desertions, churches burnt by the societies at work, i.ts converts have been Fahavalos, stations disorganized by the called 'English' Christians, while the Jesuits; a general recrudescence of de- Romanists have for a parallel reason lations, of calumnies, of false witness! been called 'French.' A similar state How many persons thrown out of their of things prevailed in Uganda a few wits, and seeking rather the approba- years ago. The L. M. S. has thus tion of the government than of their loomed up before the eyes ofthe French own consciences! How many schools as a great oppossing force, and all the . there are, once humbering hundreds of more so because in previous colonial pupils, which now number but units! extensions, in Tahiti and the Loyalty Islands, the French have found the same society at work before them.
ENGLISH NOTES
Needless to say, they are quite unable to probably live until disease or heartbreak grasp the idea that English missionaries does its work.
are not political agents. Theirs are, as witness Monsignor Hirsh in Uganda, English Notes.
therefore ours must be. The BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A.
compulsory acquisition of the Normal North Africa Mission. – Another School building and other educational year of service in connection with the establishments by the French Govern- above mission is completed, and looking ment is narvely justified by Le Temps as at the work as a whole progress and in- 'an injury done to the prestige of the crease seem to mark the year. The be- Society, for it is thereby deprived of its ginning was saddened by the murder of most powerful means of propaganda.'" Dr. and Mrs. dLaerakcahnadnmd ythsteeirrioliuttsleevseonn~' but even this -C. M.lnteUigeneer.
The treatment of Queen Ranavalona has been the means of good in the by General Gallieni is a characteristic hand of God. mixture of brutality and hypocrisy. The unhappy sovereign lmd not a fore- The storm of opposition from the boding of what was impending, when, French seems now to have benefited in the evening of February 27, she was rather than interfered with the work. suddenly informed that she was de- The work of the Lord is specially felt posed, and must set out for the island in Algeria, where signs are continually of Reunion early the next morning. being manifested, several having re- Utterly overcome, she threw herself at cently confest Christ. the knees of the subordinate officer who brought the message, but, of course, to The receipts of the mission show an no purpose. The man who had judi- increase of income every year on that of the previous year, which is felt to be encouraging.
cially murdered her uncle, doubtless The China Inland Misswn.-Mr. J.
praised his own clemency in letting the R. F. Pledger writes from Yun-nan niece live. That her passage to the stating the difficulty which he and Mr.
coast took place in the unhealthy season Stevenson experienced at Yun·nan by of course signified nothing. Had Rana- reason of anonymous placards posted valona perisht, it would simply have about the town denouncing missionaries been one inconvenient life the more out and ~her foreigners. These posters of the way. made the people generally very unfavor- After this manly deed, Gallieni put able, although, fortunately for the mis- forth this ponipous and mendacious sionaries, the chief man of the district proclamation: was favorable to them and issued orders " Since the Government of the Re- commanding the people to behave public has declared Madagascar a properly to them, giving permission to French colony, the regal dignity has the missionaries "to build, buy or become superfluous in Imerina. I have rent" where they liked. Difficulty still therefore invited the Queen to abdicate exists because of the popular feeling the exercise of the same, and at her re- being against foreigners in the district, quest have authorized her to repair to and it is unsafe for missionaries to go the Island of Reunion, where she will unprotected about the city.
enjoy the fullest hospitality of the Miss :M:uir writes from Tsin-chau: French authorities." "Miss S. Garland, while visiting Tuh- The French are not poisoners, and it siang, a city one day's journey from is not likely that they will guillotine Tsin·chau, Kan-suh province, was talk- the poor woman, which would raise her ing to some wome who seemed specially to an unpleasant likeness to their own interested. Presently one of them turned Mari!' Antoinette. She will, therefore, to the others -and said, 'This is quite
GENERAl, 'MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
true; my baby has been very ill for a before its close, as there are three or month and after trying everything I could think of I remembered what Koh four persons who have already applied Tai-t'ai had told me, and prayed to this God, and my baby got well quickly," for baptism. We believe that God has Tidings from Hankow rel~te the sad wrought His work of grace in their death of Mrs, Fishe, who has been connected with the C. I. M. since 1875. hearts, and we are praying that they All acquainted with her hold her in great esteem, and her loss will be keenly will be a power of good in this land of felt at home and abroad. darkness_" Four lads have recently Baptist Missionary Society_-A private letter to Edwin C. Curtis, of South offered their services as itinerant work- Wales, from the Rev _Timothy Richard, of North China, contains matter of ers, and the little church feels able to fresh interest in its bearing on China's future. According to Mr. Richard the bear the expenses which this will necesrecent marvelous awakening in China through the Japanese war, and the re- sarily involve. markable direction which has been given by the China Christian Literature The Church Missionary Society,-The Society to tbe minds thus awakened, Church Missionary Intelligencer for call for a larger support to the operations of that society, and an extension October contains a specially interesting of those operations. The design is to establish in each of the capitals of the report of the Medical Mission in Rana- 20 provinces of China an institution which shall consist of a library and ghat, Bengal, under the direction of Mr. 1ecture-hall, to serve as a nucleus of enlightenment" for their respective 20, :MuDl'o. The workers endeavor to fol- 000,000 of population, who are now asking for the light of Christian civili- low our Lord's ministry of preaching, zation." Mr. Richard now reports donations and sUbscriptions for this object teaching and healing, and the work is from the Baptists of the United Kingdom, amounting to £1,590; and also re- lleing most signally blessed. The ports that a merchant from China (Mr, Thomas Hanlevy) has promist to build spiritual needs of the people must come a central institution in Peking, which will cost some thousands of pounds. first, and continually there are services Mr. Timothy Richard, who left for the United States on August 25th, will being held in the waiting-rooms and doubtless be heard in person in many of the important centers of this great verandahs of the dispensary. "Men and republic. women have listened with attention- Stanley Pool.-The Rev. S. C. Gordon writes from Stanley Pool: "It is a Illany have admitted the truth of the great joy to me to be able to report that yesterday we baptized two persons in words spoken-many have gone further the Congo River here. This is our second baptism since the beginning of and have stated their belief in Jesus the year, and we hope to have another Christ as their Savior; but beyond this none have gone."
The teaching in the school does good satisfactory work-the standard taken is the three R's up to the Bible. The little Hindus are very much in request by the people around, because of the hymns they sing. In this way the Gos- pel is becoming known in the neighbor- hood round the school.
The daily visits to the hospital have been 180, and many cures have been brought about. The people are becom- ing quite favorable to the foreign doc- tors, and bring their sick from aU parts_ Lady-doctors attend serious cases among the women at their own homes-thus doors are opened for the truth.
Work on the Niger.-" On Easter Sunday last, an interesting service was held at Onitsha, when fifteen boys, the first, fruits of the work at Immanuel church, were baptized by the Rev_ P. A. Bennett in the River Niger, in the presence of all the native Christians and a large crowd of heathen people, who had come down from' Onitsha town to the waterside in order to witness the ceremony." Statistics of thc Missionary Societies of the [THESE tables include only Missions to non·Christian and non·Protestant peoples, and so they Japanese in the United States. The figures are derived almost wholly from annual reports, and leave the fewest possible blanks, and hence where official figures were not at hand, conservative .Missionaries. Native Laborers. .; qo…-,t:.eS ~~ '"d ..,.~ od .~g NAMES OF SOCIETIES. §§ .; .n -~SS.·~$u·;~i ai _.n " "… A"'<~: <"Qa [o§ 0 .~ <l 0"..". "S .":: ~ .5 ",,, §~ ~.e; j~ 1;' ~ p ~ E-<Ol ~ ~ 0 Z — —————— American Board …………………….. 1810 $688,414 174 13 176 175 543 234 2,956 Baptist Missionary Union……… ……. 1814 467,202 163 2 161 102 428 283 1,984 Southern Baptist Convention …….•…. : 1845 125,682 35 0 33 12 80 38 100 Free Baptists ………………………… 1836 30,432 5 1 6 11 23 7 229 Seventh·Day Baptists………………… 1847 9,000 2 0 2 2 6 0 4 Christian (Disciple) ………………….. 1875 96,811 24 5 24 12 65 0 76 American Christian Convention ………. 1886 5,100 4 0 2 1 7 4 11 Protestant Episcopal.. ……………….. 1835 237,326 28 7 22 20 77 70 353 Society of Friends……………………. 1871 32,100 9 11 13 23 56 7 83 Lutheran, General Council ………. .. 1869 20,803 7 0 7 3 17 1 143 Lutheran, General Synod …………….. 1837 48,238 11 0 8 7 26 2 442 Methodist Episcopal. ………………. 1832 948,938 230 18 225 194 667 606 5,223 Methodist Episcopal, South …………… 1846 225,297 56 1 49 5 111 99 262 African Methodist Episcopal. …………. 1876 6,814 6 10 12 3 31 0 7 Methodist Protestant…………… · ….. 1882 12,000 5 1 6 4 16 4 10 Presbyterian………. ……………….. 1837 808,929 231 51 241 185 708 182 1,802 Presbyterian, South ………………….. 1861 143,500 56 9 50 38 153 36 134 Cumberland Presbyterian ……….. …. 1820 31,430 7 1 6 13 27 8 33 Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) …. 1856 18,838 … 2 9 6 24 0 37 Reformed Presb. (Gen. Synod)…….. , .. 1836 5,000 2 11 6 8 22 4 29 Associate Reformed Presbyterian ……… 1879 8,413 3 0 3 8 9 4 5 United Presbyterean…………………. 1859 120,520 89 2 39 34 114 32 705 Reformed (Dutch)……………………. 1836 111,112 32 4 30 20 86 82 431 Reformed (German)………………….. 1878 29,789 6 1 5 3 15 12 42 German Evangelical Synod….. … ….. 1883 12,124 7 0 4 0 11 0 49 Evangelical Association ………………. 1876 9,000 2 0 2 0 4 14 46 U nited Brethren …………………….. 1853 11,077 8 10 8 7 28 2 20 Canada Baptist………………………. 1873 50,018 18 0 18 14 50 13 206 Canada Congregationalist ……………. 1881 5,500 1 0 1 2 4 0 4 Canada Methodist.. ' …………………. 1873 148,499 28 29 45 15 117 26 65 Canada Presbyterian …………………. 1844 159,000 36 18 37 40 131 7 243 Twenty·three other Societies…………. …. 628,300 135 -38-0 271 312 1,098 38 – 460 Totals …………………………… -…-. — — — — — — – 1,372 592 1,521 1,269 4,754 1,767 16,194 $5,255,006 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-C.-_ _ ~–'- _______ ~_ United States and Oanada for 1896-97.
omit work done in non·Oatholic Europe, while covering that in behalf of Indians, Ohinese, and relate in the main to 1897, tho sometimes the year includes a part of 1896. The aim has been to estimates have been made, based upon former reports.] 'Oc0fSl.'"'~ 2 bIl ~~ ~~ ~ Ol '" ";." .'."-", " <Ii .<.I.i Countries in which :3~ ol "ol Missions are sustained. -~(!) ''0O"~ Cl)·…. cts "0 ~ olOl<> "ol"" .S:! .E0..-,·!0…. ~'0"~ :"g,."$" ~+=I …. ,.0c:: ,.c:: 0…00 Ol ~ <> ~ ,."c'::oZl·;'!"l "00 00 "ss ~~~ 0 0 0 — — —- ——- — 8,499 1,227 44,606 8.919 1.~8,445 1,184 54,615 Africa, Turkey, India, Ohina, Japan, 2,412 1,128 127,128 6,594 1,285 Micronesia, Mexico. Spain, Austria. 500,000 180 236 4,824 660 25,000 85 28,997 Africa (Kongo), India, Burmah. As«am, 252 15 782 72 2,500 . 95 China, Japan, France, Russia, 'etc.
1,103 Ohina, Japan, Africa, Italy, Mexico, Brazil.
3,238 India (Bengal).
10 2 89 22 250 4 120 China (Shanghai).
141 64 1,418 286 4,550 19 784 China, Japan, India, Turkey.
18 22 317 60 1,200 4 118 Japan (Tokyo, etc.).
430 200 4,074 140 18,000 125 4,598 Greece, Africa, China, Japan, Haiti, In- dians. 139 . 2,500 32 1,106 Mexico, China, Japan, Jamaica, Alaska. 160 57 1,029 234 2,719 India (Madras). 198 2,002 170 5,100 113 466 13 5,283 230 16,000 212 5,870 India (Madras), West Africa.
5,890 504 63,650 4,560 146,767 1,587 43,470 China, Korea, Ja:&an, Africa, S. America. 873 Mexico, Italy, ullfaria, Malaysia. 38 8,756 908 26,000 62 2,096 China, Japan, Brazi, Mexico, American 164 Indians. 257 West Africa, West Indies. 12 360 45 1,000 5 26 14 290 60 1,000 1 34 Japan (Yokohama).
2,510 904 80,644 3,140 120,000 724 25,592 India, Siam, China, Jspan, Korea, Africa, 287 Syria, Persia, S. America, Mexico, etc. 60 86 8,156 508 10,000 25 726 0hina, Japan, Korea, Africa, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Brazil. 8 tOO Japan, Mexico. 11 773 188 2,500 61 11 245 20 800 14 620 Northern Syria, Asia Minor.
51 25 876 172 2,500 4 273 India (Northwest Provinces).
14 14 276 39 600 4 90 Mexico (Tampico, etc.).
819 277 7,677 1,271 25,000 358 17,488 Egypt, India (Northw~st Provinces).
517 281 5,806 391 15,000 182 6,904 China, Japan, India, Arabia.
57 34 1,985 197 5,000 2 206 Japan (Tokyo, Sendai, etc.).
60 13 675 240 2,227 15 1,182 Africa (Sierra Leone).
50 21 807 52 2,000 1 8 Japan (Tokyo, Osaka).
48 12 5,000 300 12,000 9 700 Africa (West Coast, Sherbro, etc.), China 256 76 8,920 505 10,136 74 1,480 India (Te!ugus).
8 2 30 4 200 3 100 Africa (West Central).
182 50 2,850 180 12,000 40 2,500 Japan (Tokyo, etc.), Indians.
874 188 8,054 426 10,000 177 7.086 China, India, .Ne" Hebrides, West Indies. 1,558 290 26,048 324 27,000 20,946 6,091 856,880 I750 30,000 6,672 241,180 26,283 1,143,275 THE KINGDOM. corrupts, or the light that splendidly illuminates, and the salt that silently -" Ye know the gracc of our Lord operates; but, being dead or alive, Jesus Christ; that, tho He was rich, every mnn speaks.-Ohalmers. yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might -Society is recognizing the debt of be rich."-PAur" THE ApOSTLE. strength to weakness. The man who -One of the missionaries in British has skill in speech is becoming a voice Columbia reported the prayer of an to the dumb. TlJOse who have skill Indian after hearing of the Ku-cheng towards wealth are becoming the al- massacre: "Say again, dear Jesus, moners of bounty towards art, educa- 'Father, forgive them, for they know tion, and morals. Men who selfishly not what they do.' 0 gracious Spirit, . get much and give little, who have be- Thou art not quencht by blood; let it come Dead Seas of accumulated treas- make thy garden soil strong to gr01J! ure, are losing their standard in society.
Oltinese believers in! " More and more cities are bestowing -High words and disagreeable on their honors and esteem upon those the streets of Chiningchowabout "for- who serve their fellows. Men are beeigners stealing Chinese children," were coming magazines, sending out kindsilepced last July by two official procla- ness everywhither. Men are becoming mations. In one of these the citizens gardens, filling all the air with pungent were told that it "would not be fair to fragrance. Men are becoming castles kill them without a warning, and, in which the poor find protection. The therefore, they were being warned;" floods of iniquity have long covered the earth, but love is the dove bringing the but if they continued to spread false reports about the foreigners "I shall olive branch of peace. Love sings the take your heads off." dawn of a new day.-REv. N. D.
HILLIS.
-The Otis legacy, which yielded -Thomas A. Edison has discovered a $1,500,000 to foreign missions, was process whereby he is able to extract, given by a deacon of the First Church, by the use of powerful magnates, iron in New London, Conn., whose interest in paying quantities from low-grade ores. the cause was developt from seeing If, now, that busy brain of his would some missionaries, who had landed in invent some kind of magnet which New London the day previous, after an would extract withheld gifts from lowabsence from home of twelve years, grade givers, he would be one of the walk down the aisle of the First noblest benefactors of the world.-Ad- Church, Sunday morning. in their old- vance.
time and much-worn garments. Their -We have been privileged to read a moral heroism so toucht him that his remarkable letter from one of the honinterest in the mission world from that ored bishops of the Moravian church. hour knew no abatement. He commenced housekeeping about -Every man is a missionary now 1859 on a salary of $350. He at once and forever. for good or for evil, began to tithe, and has continued the whether he intends or designs it or not. practice ever since. He has not li~ited He may be a blot, radiating his dark his gifts to the tenth, but has often influence out to the very circumference given more. This bishop has a family of society; or he may be a blessing, of 8 children. The youngest is twelve spreading benediction over the length years old, and all have adopted the sys· and breadth of the world; but a blank tern of tithing. The bishop writes: he can not. be. There are no moral " I have never known want, tho I have blanks. there are no neutral characters. often had more in the Lord's treasury Weare either the sower that sows and than in my pocketbook. We have had many luxuries, too, not the least of pal Caven, on the' study of the New which is knowing the blessedness of Testament, and one by the Rev. Progiving." His private means are very fessor Geo. L. Robinson, on the study slender; he is worth but $500, and yet of the Old Testament. he has been able for the past three years to keep his son at a theological semin- -Every night 1,000 women are ary. He is receiving now only $500 a housed in the Salvation Army shelters year, but declares cheerfully that he and homes in Great Britain. During the has all he needs, and has nothing but last twelve months 1,633 past through hearty gratitude for God's providence the Rescue homes, of whom 1,432 have in his life.-Golden Rule. been sent to situations or to friends, and enabled to make a fresh start. Mrs. -A wealthy manufacturer in Bahia Bramwell Booth's 250 helpers visited (Brazil) has recentiy turned over to the 1,068 women prisoners, and spoke to use of the Presbyterian mission a new nearly 5,000 women on the streets. The school building, completely furnisllt Army's investigation department has and equipt with material from the traced 708 missing persons during this United States, to accommodate 150 year. Self-denial week in Australia pupils, and will support the teachers resulted in the collection of £25,000, required for kindergarten and primary which is more than was received in grades, on condition that it be made a Great Britain. model school like the "American" school at S. Paulo, the mission to have – Intelligence comes of the appointabsolute control of the work and the ment of Miss Hu King Eng, M.D., as selection of teachers. first physician in the household 'of Li Rung Chang, viceroy of China. Miss -The British and FOl'eign Bible Eng was born in Foo-chow in 1866, Society has publisht 151,000,000 vol- and was the second of five children of umes at a cost of $60,000,000. The Hu Yong Mi, one of the most efficient American Bible Society has publisht Methodist native workers in China. 63,000,000 at a cost of $27,000,000, and Her grandfather was a military manother societies 51,000,000; making a darin, who embraced Christianity early total of 265,000,000. in life, his five sons also accepting Christianity, and the family being the WOMAN'S WORK. second one in China to embrace the -If one would get a glance at the Christian religion. She took a special marvelous, because multifarious and course of study in the Ohio Wesleyan multitudinous, tasks which the women University preparatory to adopting the of the W. C. T. U. have undertaken medical profession, in 1890 was admitand are pushing with great vigor, let ted on examination to the Woman's him traverse the more than 100 pages Medical College of Pennsylvania, and of the New Crusade for October last. was soon rankt among the leaders of The table of contents is fairly bewilder- her class. After completing the full ing. medical course she spent a year and a -The Methodist women (M. E. half in post-graduate and hospital work, Church, North), raised $313,938 for and was practicing in Foo-chow when missions last year, an advance of $28,- this high honor came to her. Dr. Eng 000 beyond the year before. To the 170 is the first woman in China to be gradrepresentatives in the foreign field 13 uated from a medical college. were added.
..!-In Toronto was recently opened YOUNG PEOPLE.
the Ewart Woman's Missionary Train- -The Y. M. C. A. has 127 railroad ing Home. The curriculum includes a branches, with 30,000 members, and no course of lectures, to be delivered at less than $140,000 are contributed by Knox College, one by the Rev. Princi- . railroad companies for their maintenance. The New York, New Haven and charitable objects, shall at the end of Hartford Railroad has granted $30,000 that time prove to the satisfaction of for a building. the United Society that he has not been financially prospered far beyond the -The first Young Woman's Chris- sum paid out by him." tian Association Home in London was opened in 1855, and now there are in -Fully 500 poor mothers and that city 23 homes and restaurants for children were carried on each of the young women, while in the provinces free excursions given by the Junior there are 100, in Scotland 11, and ill Christian Endeavor union of Camden, Ireland 14. These minister to all classes N. J., during last summer. of workers-teachers, clerks, shop as- sistants, and servants. AMERICA.
-According to the Congregationalist United States.-How strangely it 120 of our colleges now support as came about. D. O. Mills laid the foun- many Christian missionaIies. Last year dations of a fortune upon the Pacific Wellesley gave $1,050 for missions; Coast, and now he constructs a hotel, Yale, $1,200; Mt. Holyoke, $549; Cor- costing $1, 000, 000, in the" down town" nell, $500, and Oberlin, $650. But our section of New York City, whose design students do not begin to sacrifice for is to furnish for 1,500 a clean, comfort- this purpose as do those of the Canadian able room for 20 cents a day, bath in- colleges. Thus the 80 students of cluded, and meals and laundrying at McGill University last year gave $1,- similar rates. He proposes also to build 833, and only 5 out of the 80 are exempt a second hotel for the same purpose. from the necessity of earning their live- lihood, in some measure at least, while – In the twelve years of its existence they are students. the Chicago Training School has sent out 98 foreign missionaries, 935 gradu- -Kin Leon is a bright young China- ates engaged in deaconess work in this man who has spent a number of years country, and 70 who are occupied with in the United States, and coming under some other form of home missionary or the influe!lce of Christian teaching was evangelistic work. With its fine new led to accept the" Jesus doctrine," and building, Harris Hall, and the recent ' joined the Presbyterian Church and the extension of its course, it seeks with Endeavor society. For some time he renewed courage to fulfill its part in has conducted a laundry .at Oxford, supplying the large and increasing Pa., but now he feels that the Lord has demand for trained workers at home other work for him to do, and is about and abroad. to give up the laundry for the purpose . of devoting his entire time to study, with -Hampton (Va.) Institute opened its a view of some time enteriJ?g Lincoln thirtieth year with an attendance of University to take the regular course about 1,000. A new building for teach- necessary to fit him for missionary work ing agriculture and domestic science is in China. in process of erection, to cost between $50,000 and $60,000, of which $35,000 -At least 700 Endeavorers of South have already been subscribed. Hamp- India met a short time ago in convention ton has done more for the negroes of at Madura. Out of 65 societies 37 sent the South than can be estimated. Its delegates_ work for the Indian IS of the same character, only more limited for the -A Louisiana insurance agent, in want of material. Yet there are about . joining the Tenth Legion, makes this 140 Indians connected with the school, 40 of whom are new students, mostly bold proposition: "I will pay $1,000 as from Western tribes. – a forfeit to any young man who, having -There are now 22,799 Indians in during three consecutive years given – honestly one-tenth of his income toward schools of all kinds, 68,000 own lands. Spanish America.-The uneducated in severalty, and the government ap- Mexicans are not exempt from the propriation for 1897 was $2,631,000. usual prejudice which obtains among ignorant classes concerning the use of -Two sons of a Zulu chieftain have water for personal cleanliness. The recently reacl1t this country. This two things the sick are most carefully chief is not a Christian himself, but he guarded against in the homes of the desires that his successor shall be one, poorer Mexicans, we are -told, are fresh and, therefore, he sends. his sons to air and clean water. A teacher says: America "to learn and to believe. " "Children sometimes come to school The oldest son, who is the natural heir, with dirty faces and hands, and when I is not a Christian, and has two wives speak to them about it, they tell me whom he leaves behind. The younger they have colds, ()!" are not very well, brother has been in the mission schools and it would make them sick to wash at Lindley and Amanzimtote, and is a themselves."-Horne Mission Monthly_ lay preacher. The father pays all cost of sending and supporting the boys. -Primitive customs. prevail in' the more remote Mexican plazas. "It is -The Methodist Episcopal Church, amusing," says our teacher at Embudo, South, is rejoicing in the complete pro- "to see the threshing of wheat. A cir- vision for its missionary debt. The cle of ground is first swept clean, the entire amount of $145,000 has been wheat is placed in the center and scat- secured by personal pledges, and the tered llbout the circle. The goats are Church is free to go on with its work driven around on the wheat, while as it has not been in the past No pub- boys guard the goats from straying_ lic appeal has been made, but the work After being thus thresht, the wheat is has been done in a private way by in- carried home and washt hy the women dividuals, laymen, benevolent women, before it is sent to the mill_ The corn and church officers. Of that sum $50- is husked, then baked in the oven, and 000 have been given by 9 persons, afterwards ground between stones by $100,000 by 200; and the contributors the women, as in Bible times.-lOid.
to the debt have been less than 4,000 -Nov. 10 the Congress of Peru, in in number. spite of the utmost the cleJical party Canada.-The Grande Ligne Mission could do to pI'event it, past a bill legalwas founded, in 1835, by Henriettll izing non-Catholic maniages by sanc- Feller and her associates, who came tioning a civil ceremony. Great was from Switzerland and opened a small the excitement attending.
school, with the object of doing what EUROPE. they could to give a pJimary education, and a knowledge of the way of salva- Great Britain. – The Ohurch Mis- tion, to the French-Canadian people of sionary Intellig, nCe1' calls attention to Quebec. The mission maintains some the fact that offers have been made by 15 or 20 colporteurs and Bible-women. individual friends or groups of friend~ 6,000 persons are known to have been to sustain the personal charges of converted through the agency of this neal"ly all the new missionaries who do mission, and it has sent out 50 mission- not go forth at their own costs. " Of aries, several of whom have gone to the 63 (excluding wives) sent out since the foreign field. The income is not May 1st, 4 are honorary, one partly derived solely from Canadian Baptists. so, and offers have been made for the Of the $19,000 expended last year, support of 52, leaving only 6 to be a nearly $3,000 came from the United charge on the ordinary funds of the States, and nearly $2,000 from Great Sodety. The totalnumher of mission- BJitain. aries Oil the roll for whom special" provision is thus made is 305, of whom administering Lutheran baptism to the 188 are men and 117 women. Indi- children of Lutheran fathers and vidual friends are responsible for 94, mothers who had married members of parochial and other associations in Eng· the Greek Church. land and Ireland for 87, the Gleaners' Union and its branches for 43, various ASIA. county organizations for 11, the Dublin University Fuh·kien Mission for 8, Islam.-The Turkish Government other bodies of friends for 30, and has demanded the recall of 2 mission- Colonial Associations for 32. Besides aries from Aleppo, on the ground that· these 305, oifers are to hand for the sup· their distribution of relief is likely to port of 18 others, making a total of cause disturbances. The American 323." legation has ignored the demand pen- ding definite charges, fearing that this The Continent.-The Order of is the first step toward the expulsion of Jesuits numbers 14,251, who are dis· all the missionaries. tributed among 22 provinces, which cover the globe. Germany has more -We continue to have cheering than any other country, though Bel.. words from Turkey in respect to the gium, Spain and France are not far be- spiritual work. Little allusion is made hind. in the letters of our missionaries to the political situation, but they write -The Danish Missionary Society held almost uniformly of progress in their its annual meeting recently in Copen- several fields of labor. Mr. McNaughhagen. It comprises 600 branch socie· ton, of Smyrna, says: "The prospect tics, with an active membership of for the future in all departments of our 20,000. The receipts for the past year work was never brighter. The reports amounted to about $27,500. The first from the out·stations are uniformly mission field of the society was in hopeful, and some of them most inspirsouthern India; but since 1892 mission ing." It is a most remarkable fact, reo work has been begun in China, 4 mis- ported by the Smyrna station, that the sionaries are ready to be sent out, 16 contributions from native sources missionaries are employed. The ques- within that city and district for the tion was discust whether a third evangelical work amount to more than mission, in middle India, should be twice the appropriations received from undertaken. The president of this the Board.-Mis8ionary Herald. society is Dean Vahl, the veteran missionary statistician of 72 years. For -U. S. Consul Wallace at Jerusalem a half century he has studied mis· reports to the State Department that, sions, and has in his home a missionary according to the consular records of his library of 11,000 volumes. office, it appears that there are 530 citi- zcns of the United States residing in – The Norwegian Missionary Society Palestine. Of this number 438 are sent out last year to Madagascar 12 Jews, who are only nominally Ameri· Norwegian missionaries, 2 French mis- cans, having lived in the United States sionaries, 2 French teachers, 1 printer, just long enough to obtain citizen and two women teachers.-Norsk Mis· papers and passports. The majority of SW1UJtidende. these emigrated from Russia to the United States and thence to Palestine. -It is reported from Russia that the Of the other 92 American citizens, Czar has granted full pardon to 200 nearly all went there because of pecu- Lutheran pastors of the Baltic provin- liar religious views, and among them ces, who, on a variety of charges, have may be found all possible shades of been deprived of their churches and Christian beliefs. The one idea, which deported to other parts of the Empire. seems to possess all to a greater or less Among the charges has been that of extent, is that of the second advent of local Islamia College, who is reading in our Lord. This is by all considered to his second, or sophomore, year. For be an event soon to take place in Jeru- some two or three months he was very salem. The Spoffordite colony or regular in attendance at all the services "Overcomers," as they call themselves, of the Hindustani Church, including have recently been increast by an ad- all the meetings of the Christian En· .
dition of 117 Swedish Americans, deavor Society. Then he was baptized mostly from Chicago. on confession of his faith in Ghrist_ -Missions t.o Mohammedans have, of His father is one of the leading Moham- late years, found a special advocate in medans in Lahore, and, moreov~r, a .Pastor Faber, a Lutheran minister in preacher of Islam. His brother is a Saxony. His efforts resulted in the man of liberal mineI, quite different sending of 2 German missionaries to from the ordinary Mohammedan. If .Persia. They settled at Ooromiah, the young man stands fast and proves were received in a friendly way by the Mohammedans, and were cheered by himself a genuine Christian, there are hopes of his father and mother also.
finding a spirit of inquiry. But the -Some time since an Englishman in Persian Ambassador at Berlin, a fanat- Ceylon announced his conversion to ical Moslem, had become acquainted Mohammedanism and immediately with some of the writings of Pastor claimed the privilege of polygamy, Faber, which he sent to the Shah, and taking unto him a second wife in the secured their expUlsion. One of them person of an English girl of excellent died from exposure and malaria, on family, who also announced her con- his way through Asia Minor, in March version. The first wife sued for a of last year. This defeat has only had divorce. The man protested that as a the effect of stimulating to further Moslem he had a right to two or even efforts, and now 4 theological students four wives. The matter has come up of great promise, and a fully qualified in the courts, and it has been decided woman doctor, have placed themselves that his status in Ceylon is that of an at the disposal of the mission. Englishman upon whom the obligation -India. The statement is by no of monogamy is binding, whatever his means new, but it is true, and will bear religious belief, whether he be Chris- repetition: "The people in India, hold- tian, Jew, Buddhist, Mormon or Mo- ing hands, would reach three times hammedan.
around the globc at the equator. Put -The Rev. Ruttonji N owroji, of the people in single file, allowing three Aurangabad, in Western India, writes feet of space for each to walk in, and, thus of the actions of the Hindus While walking at the rate of ten miles a day, suffering from :famine: "The Hindus it would take them forty years to pass had hired Brahmin priests to keep up a given point; or, walking five miles a their noisy worship before the village . day, with the present increase of popu- idols, and fully expected abundant rain lation by birth-rate, the great proces- as the result of their worship. But after sion would never have an end." And waiting for days and weeks, they re- . China has a population larger by one- solved to punish the gods who had third. . received costly offerings without giving them the lookt-for blessing in return. -The Indian famine is said to have In some places they indignantly be- caused a pecuniary loss of $50,000,000. smeared their idols all over with mud, Great Britain, her colonies and America and closed up the entrance of the tem- contributed some $7,500,000 for relief.
-·An interesting baptism recently ples with thorns. In otbers they filled took place in Lahore. It was of a up the temples with water and blocked young Mohammedan, a student in the up the doors, so that the idols m!ght shiver in wet as a punishment for keep- vance movements of the church, espeing their fields dry." cially that of self-support, has just suc- cessfully past the examinations for the China.-In a certain village, called "First Degree," and has received his San Yuam, which is known as the degree from the official. One of his "Gospel Village," the native converts brothers, also a church member, has were anxious to secure a room to hold just received the same degree. services in, and so they undertook to build a· place themselves, and also find -The Rev. Timothy Richard, the the material. A chapel was in this way eminent Baptist missionary to China, erected to accommodate 300 or 400 per- was greatly cheered on the eve of his sons, and the cost to the Baptist Society return thither by the promise of £5,000 was only £15. When Mr. Shorrocks from a Mr. Hanbury, for the purpose was returning to England the people of establishing an institution in Peking presented him with a silk banner, bear- to consist of a library and lecture hall. ing the inscription in Chinese characters, "Blessed is pe that cometh in the -Rev. S. H. Chesler, now on a visit name of the Lord," and their spokes- to the Celestial Empire, writes: "If I man said, "We can't give you a big should sign my name and title as present, but we wili contribute 500 arranged for me here, in Chinese, it days' labor in building a school where would be Mei Kwoh Nan Changlao our leaders can instruct us." .. On one Tso6hg Hwuy Pudao Shook Keh-szeoccasion," narrates Mr. Shorrocks, teh; which, being interpreted, means, ., my colleague and I were much sur- "American Kingdom Southern Presprised to see some men coming towards byterian General Assembly Mission us with wheelbarrows. We soon dis- Secretary,-the man who meditates on covered that they were bringing a num- virtue." The last two syllables, "szeber of petitions from 200 villages, urg- teh" are the nearest approach the laning the missionaries to go out to teach gnage affords to my name. them." Japan.-The Nippon gives the num- -In an article on the" Present Sta- bers of students in some of the most tus of Missions in the Fuh-kien Pro- noted pri'DUU schools of Tokyo. It may vince," the Ohinl!86 Recorder gives a be possible to arrive at an idea of the statistical table of th(j work of all the principal aims of the rising generation churches in the province, including, of from a study of the figures given. In course, the L. lL S. and the. English the Semmon Gakko (Count Okuma's Presbyterian Mission in Amoy, the school, where politics, law, economics American Societies and the C. M. S. and pure literature are taught) there are The missionaries (male and female) 937 students; in the Meiji Law School, number 171, and there are 133 ordained 932; Tokyo Law School, 1,200; Nippon native pastors. The adherents number Law School, 854; Franco Japanese Law 55,000; 3,441 adults and 1,817 children School, 525; Saisei Medical School, 700; were baptized in 1896. There are 697 Tokyo Commercial School, 288; Arschools, with nearly 13,000 scholars; tisans' School, 937; Senshin Gakko and the contributions for church pur- Baron Tajiri's – vice-Minister of Fiposes for the year amounted to $38,167. nance-School, where economics alone The latter show an increase on the pre- is taught), 250.-lndependent. vious year of $9,000, and the adherents have advanced by nearly 16,000. -Writing concerning .the first ordi- nation service held .by him in Japan, -At Foo chow Mr. Ling Muk Gek, Bishop Awdry, of Osaka, says: "All a teacher, a member of Geu Cio Dong went very well, but it was curious to church, the first Christian Endeavorer have no music at all. . As II sign of in China, and a leader in all the ad- public mourning for the empressmother, all music is forbidden for a which has been a crying scandal for term, lind though it was explained that years, has doubled during the past this was not intended to apply to music seven years. Unless measures are taken in religious servic_es, yet, on the whole, to restrict the traffic the most disastrous it was thought best to show the fullest results, he says, will ensue. possible sympathy with Japanese feeling by havin'g no singing. The J apan- -" The capture of Benin," says ese are excessively sensitivl) as to for- Bishop Tugwell, "opens up a large eigners disregarding their feelings, district lying within my diocese. This especially in matters connected with city has long .been notorious for its patriotism. " atrocities committed with the Ju-Ju worship; it is now thrown open to the -A correspondent of the London Christian world. Meantime, I am Tim6s writes from Japan: "Japanese anxious to organize a band of from 20 women are for the most part comely to 30 men. We need ordained men, layand engaging rather than handsome. men and medical men. Ere long, ladies It is the combination of grace, dress will be able to proceed to these counand manner that makes up the sum tries with a minimum risk to life and total of attraction. The apparel of a health. Proceeding further, as we Japanese lady is not the least agreeable should now be prepared to do, to Sokoto feature. It is artistic, healthy, and and Gando, and other important censuited to the beautiful fabrics of the ters, we should necessarily need concountry." siderable sums of money."
-Under the title, "Low Life in -Dr. Taylor Smith, Bishop of Sierra Tokyo," the Japan Times has an inter- Leone, speaking at Norwich, EnglllJld, esting article, illnstrated by actual sta- described the horrors of Ashantee and tistics. After saying, "Few of the Benin, including human sacrifices. well-to-do people have any idea of the King Prempeh, who had revelled in all number of their fellow-creatures who this blood shedding, was now one of struggle for existence in the poorest his congregation in Sierra Leone, and quarters of this great metropolis," the only shortly before the bishop left he 1 imes gives the number in each dis- had taught him, at his own request, the trict of the city engaged in various Lord's Prayer. lowly occupations. There are 42,328 jinrickisha men; 3,061 waste – paper -A missionary writes: There is a buyers, 834 waste-paper gatherers, 797 list of goods which was recently paid shoe keepers, 2,348 broken glass buyers, by a young man in our employ to a and 1,040 potato sellers. The waste- father-in-law who had an eye for busipaper collectors are chiefly poor, weak ness before the young man secured his children, and shoe keepers are a "class wife. And the time will never come of persons engaged in taking charge of when his father-in-law will not regard wooden clogs at the entrance to theatres it as his perfect right to ask his son-inand all places of assembly, and arrang- law for anything more he may want. ing the footgear, ready for departure." The list is thus: 80 neptunes, 5 guns, 32 marks (about $8) worth of cloth, 3 AFRICA. goats, 5 cases of gin, 3 kegs powder, 2 zinc trunks, 2 umbrellas, 1 coat, 2 -Shades of Rameses and Pharaoh! chairs, 2 tall hats, 3 felt hats, 1 flag, 4: Are we awake. or do we dream? A shirts, 1 tin of sugar, 8 drinking glasses, traveler writes of "a fine bridge across 12 plates, 1 lamp, 2 brass kettles, 4 the Nile," and "the rush of electric small iron pots, 1 knife, 25 pipes, 2 jugs, cars" in the streets of Cairo. 1 large iron pot, 30 brass wires, 4: pairs of scissors, and about 23 marks in cash West_-Bishop Tugwell points out ($5.50). that the liquor traffic in West Africa, -The battle of Bida opened the long now stands the house of the O.M.S. misclosed doors of Hausaland, or the Central Soudan, says the Missionary, and sionaries. The tree has fallen, and its thus gave the Christian world access to 15,000,000 of the finest people in wood has been ttsed in the building of a Africa, a hundredth part of the world's inhabitants_ This country is more ac- Ohristian church. cessible than was Uganda, and British authority insures protection of life_ -Bishop Tucker, speaking on Ugan- Moreover, the Hausas excel in physique da, before leaving England for Africa, and intellect, are famous as traders, said the natives are now able to receive have a vernacular with no mean litera- in tbeir own language the Bible, the' ture, and possess great cities, such as prayer-book, a hymn-book, and "Pil- Kano, Sokoto, and Gando_ The Church grim's Progress." Missionary Society has entered upon the work of evangelization_ ISLANDS OF THE SEA.
East.-The English and German -Societies in Victoria, Australia, are missionaries in East Africa introduced already represented in the mission field the custom of hoisting a whiteftag with by 24 workers, while 15 others are prea red cross upon it in their stations on paring. From one society 5 members Saturdays, to remind the natives that have gone to China and India, while the morrow would be the Sabbath_ The another has 6 members now at work people have consequently come to call and another in preparation. Sabbath "Flag Day_" -The variety of races to be found in -The Berlin missionaries in Konde- both Singapore and Penang is extraland, on the north of Lake Nyassa, in ordinary. The bulk of the population German East Africa, lately made a tour is Chinese, but there are Malay, Ben- 'of exploration through Wahehe-land, galese, Parses, Arabs, Japanese and which was brought into SUbjection two Jews, besides English, French, Dutch, years ago. Mission work is now madc Germans and Americans. Men-of-war possible. There are 11 male and 4 fe- and trading vessels of many nations male Berlinmissionaries in Konde-land; crowd round their beautiful and extenthey are enjoying good health, while sive harbors, while Mohammedan the English and Scotch missionaries on mosques, Chinese joss-houses, Hindoo the east coast of the lake have suffered temples, and Christian churches are several losses by death. prominent in the well-kept streets and park-like spaces. The Chinese form by -It is fifteen years since Mr. Wray far the most conspicuous part of the went out to East Africa, to work among population. To be in Singapore or the wild Taitas. He had found their Penang is like being in China. A deck country, he said, a hard field, but passage from Hong Kong to 8ingapore nothing was too hard for God, and the can be had on some of the best steamers Spirit of God was, indeed, working for 5 dollars, and on second-class among them. He held in his hand steamers as low as 3 dollars, enabling some pieces of wood from that far thousands of Chinese to migrate from region. "I wish," he said, "these the overcrowded cities of South China pieces ·of wood could tell their own year by year. Many of the Chinese story. " At Sagalla, among the Taita merchants in Singapore are rich and hills, was a hill held once so sacred that prosperous, and the run of Chinese no woman was allowed to set foot upon emigrants both industrious and successit. The wood came from a tree which ful. stood on the hill and was worshipt as the god of the country. On that lLilt -There are now at work in the New Hebrides mission 256 teachers; 13,084 people are attending more or less regu- larly at Sabbath services, and 5,463 are attending the day-schools; 207 adult baptisms and 142 Christian marriages were celebrated, and 231 were added to church membership last year; and there are now 239 candidates asking for baptism. Thirty-three teachers were settled, and the total contributions for mission purposes were £424, 6s. in cash, and 17,683 pounds of arrowroot, equal to .£884, 3s., amounting together to the sum of £1,308, 9s. All the above fi~ ures are exclusive of the island of Efate, from which no returns were received.
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1894
~,~, tJ'*'~ ~¥~ 7J~""
4 .k¥~..L-~, Ittr If!} MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No.l.-OldSeries.-JANUARY.-VoL. VII. No. 1.-New 8eriu.
THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION AT CHICAGO.
BY THE EDI1'OR-IN-CHIEF.
At the World's Fair the seven wonders of the world met to hold high carnival. The metropolis of the great Northwest achieved a grand success. To describe the superb splendor, the vastness and variety, the architectural and resthetic attractions, the overwhelming grandeur of this Exposition, is impossible. All adjectives fail, and even superlatives are weak. "Aladdin's lamp" may now be relegated to the oblivion into which the most gorgeous fancies retire when outdone by facts. The common verdict is, "The half was not told me."
Symmetry, in hug0 columnar and statuesque forms, here on every side saluted the beholder; and the combination of the colossal with the exquisitely delicate, of the original and the unique with the refined and poetic, left fal' in the distance any previous triumphs of human genius. When, at night, the electric lights illumincd and glorified the massive structures and allegorical figures that surrounded and adorned the Court of Honor; when the golden statue of Liberty, in lustrous robes, confronted the Administration Building, with its garlands of light and its coronal of glory; when the electric fountains shot rainbows skyward, and all this unearthly beauty and radiance was reflected and repeatcd in the mirror of the lagoon, it seemed reverent to ask whether the dream of Paradise were not become a reality, and the " Vhite City" were not at least the forecast of t.he " City of God."
Connected with this imperial display of the world's inventions, discoveries, achievements, and material civilization, there have been held several congresses, to three of which the pages of this HEVIEW might properly advert: The Parliament of Religions. the Congress of Missions, and the World's Evangelical Alliance. The daily press m{d religious weeklies have so far dealt with detail!'! that at this distance of time nothing remains but a re-view, II backward glance whieh lIIay serve to gather up and crystallize into permanence the impressiollfl of the geuel'lll ellaradcr and rCimlts of these three conferences.
THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION AT CHICAGO
As to the l'arliament of Religions-of which especially this paper treats -there was something thrilling about the conception of gathering into one fraternal assembly the representatives of the various religious faiths of mankind, and hushing all discordancies in one universal harmony. Charity seemed to have come down from heaven to sit upon her throne and sway all hearts j and yet, as to the utility of such a parliament, there were in many minds grave doubts which events have not dissipated. Of course in an open field, with a fair showing, Christianity has nothing to fear from competition with any other so-called" religions j" bllt such a parliament leaves on the popular mind impressions which are misleading and mischievous. Superficial people naturally infer that, as all the great religious systems of the world claim to have their" sacred books," and" sacred persons," and most of them their" incarnations," it is simply a matter of comparison and competition whether or not Christianity shall, in the race for the prize, come out ahead! There is, in the concession of a common platform-to which Brahmans and Buddhists, Confucianists and Taoists, Parsces and Shintooists, and representatives of every other typc of rcligious doctrine and practice are admitted upon an equality-something which looks very like the virtual abandonment of thc position held for centuries by the evangelical disciple, that there is but one divine religion, and that so unique as to defy all comparison or competition.
On the same platform, in the Hall of Columbus, were to be seen Christians of every name-Roman Catholic and Greek Church dignitaries, as well as leading Protestants of all denominat.ions; theosophists and materialists and deists, as well as theists; followers of every creed, however sublime or absurd-a great throng all gathered in one hall and rejoicing in the unity of their diversity, and that all-embracing bond of " charity." It was pronounced a " wonderful and impressive sight," even by the unimpressible newspaper reporters! Cardinal Gibbons delivered an invocatory prayer, and addresses followed from a Presbyterian" president," a Universalist female preacher, and a Roman Catholic archbishop; and everybody was supposed to be happy because the millennium of " peace on earth and good will among men" was at last inaugurated! Here,for seventeen days, those who glory in the" universal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man," and the universal affinity of all religious faiths and cults, sat down together at their banquet of love. According to the conditions of the Parliament, the principles of each faith were to be set forth by special advocates, without reply, rejoinder, controversy, comparison, or any form of counter attack, so that, as every mouth was muzzled, there was no room on that platform even for the exposure of error, sophistry, fallacy, or even falsehood. Such refutation must find its opportunity and facility outside the Parliament, if at all. No wonder if that competent and cultured Arabic scholar, Dr. George E. Post, of Syria, when he heard false statements made as to the teaching of the Koran, could not keep silence, but broke' through restraint and started for the platform, with an open copy of the Koran in hand, to refute the falsehood by reading from the book itself !
There is room for grave suspicion as to the final outcome of this Parliament. Many of the best men still question whether " charity" was not made to cover extremes of concession and unwarrantable fellowship; whether such levelling of alllandma.rks between creeds and cults was not a dishonor to the Christian faith and the Christian's God; whether the ban put upon all " controversy," and even rebutting testimony, did not leave error to run its race unhindered, and hamper truth in overtaking it, by compelling a resort to tardy and uncertain methods of exposure; whether the ultimate result will not be to countenance an unwholesome tolerance of false teaching, and open the door-as in fact is already the case-to a new era of propagandism of Buddhist, Mohammedan and other "mysteries" even in Christian lands j whether we are in no danger of misreading the motto, "Liberty, equality, fraternity" into "Laxity, apathy, and compromise. "
" The Moslem Wodd is a Mohammedan paper recently started in New York City, whose editor thinks the United States a'n excellent missionary field, and hopes to make many converts to the doctrine of Islam. He thinks the people here ripe for conversion, and that American women in particular will embrace the doctrine, because it makes woman free and independent. Islamism, the editor avers, will lessen licentiousness, purify the marriage relation, and banish adnltery! The morality of Mohammedanism will, he says, compare favorably with the morality of Christianity. He makes the Islam heaven appear very roseate. His paradise is beyond description, ineffable, iridescent and glorions. A Mohammedan may have as many wives as he can p1'ovide for: no more. That's good news. This prevents adultery, etc. With two hundred million Mohammedans already upon the face of the earth, what may we expect ?"
So says a contemporary journal. It is not strange if doubts of the expediency of such a Parliament will not" down atone's bidding." There is but one "religion" worthy of the name j only one "Sacred Book," sealed with the" seven seals" of God: fulfilled prophecy, general accuracy, faultless morality, exalted spirituality, divine originality, consistent unity, and saving efficacy. No other "religion" gives man a Saviouf? anointed of God, competent as prophet, priest, and king, the way of God to man, the way of man to God j no other faith, however ancient, and boasting however many millions of adherents, can supply such a firm standing place fOf life, slich a pillow for the dying head, as Spurgeon found in those "five words," which Paul would rather speak with the understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue : " CHRIST DIED FOR OUR. SINS."
Bacon's maxim was, that it is not worth while to discuss a matter with any man who does not agree with you upon first principles. ",Vas there no risk of an impression, even on those invited to present thllir " religion" in such a Parliament, that Christians do not regard their divergences from themselves as radical or fundamental 1 And is this a true or tenable position 1 Is it possible for an idolater, a polygamist, a materialist, a deist, a pantheist, a theosophist, a worshipper of Brahm or Buddha, or of 'his own ancestors, to have real concord with one who holds all idol worship to be sin, polygamy to be a perversion of marriage and the panderer of an unhallowed lust, and that he who denies the Son of God denies the Father also 1 Charity is not laxity. It covers a multitude of sins, but it is not to become a mantle of snow, concealing a fatal crevasse. Let us, as Augustine said, cultivate "unity in essentials, liberty in non· essentials, and in all things charity j" but, without unity on the essentials, liberty becomes lawlessness and looseness, and charity another name for the carelessness that' compromises with error and is indifferent even to vital distinctions. John was the" apostle of love," yet his pen wrote: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God j and this is that spirit of Antichrist" against which the New Testament thunders perpetual warning. Even the apostle of love would have made a poor president of such a " Parliament j" he was too intolerant; for he protests, " If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him 'Godspeed,' for he that biddeth him 'Godspeed' is partaker of his evil deeds" (1 John 4 : 3 j, 3 John 10).
It was that same Paul who drew that sublime portrait of charity that still stands unrivalled in God's gallery, who asks, " What concord hath Christ with Belial 1 what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness 1 and what communion hath light with darkness? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel 1 and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols 1" And ihis same Paul enjoins: "Be not ye unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Cor. 6 : 14.:..16).
Forbearance with errorists and evil-doers must not degenerate into toleration of their error or evil-doing. 'With cordial concession of the poetic beauties, moral truths, and even lofty models found in the false " religions" of the world, we must still insist that the unique charm and claim of Christianity are found in this, that it gives us the only infallible Book j tho only perfect Personality, and the only Saving Bond between the sinner antI his Saviour. 'What is religion but, as the word hints, the binding back of the alienated sonI to God, j and what other religion ever wrought snch reconciliation? and yet wlmt is- any religion without salvation? There may be room for comparison and competition among ethical systems and humanitarian theories j but there is "none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved," but that of Jesus. And, as a fact, no other religion has ever yot answered the question, ". What must I do to be saved 1" This defect is so radical that to gloss it ovor is to daub a falling wall with nntempered mortar.
It is vain to pretend that the divergences between Christianity and other faiths are not radical. Mrs. Besant's definition of theosophy makes it " consist of three affirmations: 1. The universe is fundamentally spiritual, and matter is only an expression of spirit. 2. Law reigns everywhere, in morals as much as in physical nature-that is, every act and every thought produces its inevitable result, against which no prayer and no vicarious atonement is of the least avail. 3. The doctrine of reincarna- tion, declaring the persistence of intelligence which passes from life to life, thus gathering experience as it goes, and ever building up a higher type in man." What signifies it, if with much of this teaching the Christian faith is not fundamentally at variance, since at some points the believer must part company with such teachers ! We believe the Creator still rules creation, and that physical laws are but His modes of working. Call nature" clock work" if you will; but remember that an intelligent being may reverse the ordinary movement of the hand on the dial, apparently reversing also the law of the clock's uniform motion, and yet not damage or even interrupt its mechanism!
Without impugning the lofty motives of the projectors of this Parliament, one impression, already produced, especially upon these representatives of foreign faiths, is that Christians are ready to concede that theirs may not be the only J)ivine religion. Swami Vivakananda, in his orange robes, was emboldened to Iilay : ,. Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if anyone here hopes that this unity would come by the triumph of anyone of these religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say: 'Brother, yours is an impossible hope.' Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu q God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Bnddhist would become Christian q God forbid. If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity, and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion would soon be written, in spite of their resistance : 'Help and Not Fight,' 'Assimilation and not Destruction,' 'Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.' "
One of the last voices heard in the Parliament was that of Reuchi Shibata, of Japan, High Priest of the Zhekko sect of Shintoists. Here are his concluding words : " What I wish to do is to assist you in carrying out the plan of forming the universal brotherhood under the one roof of truth. You know unity is power. I may help you in crowning that grand project with success. To come here I had many obstacles to overcome, many struggles to make. You must not think I represent all Shintoism. I only represent my own Shinto sect. But who dares to destroy universal fraternity q So long as the sun and moon continue to shine, all friends of truth must be willing to fight courageously for this great principle. I do not know as I shall ever see you again in this life, but our souls have been so pleasantly united here that I hope they may be again united in the life her'lafter. Now I pray that eight million deities protecting the beautiful cherry-tree country of Japan may protect you and your governmentforever, and with this I bid you good-bye."
How will that do for a Parliament projected by Christian believers, one of whose first truths is, " There is but one God," and who hold that poly- theism is therefore treason against Him?
Bishop Campbell, who attended the conference, expressed publicly his regret that he had been identified with such a gathering, and says that "the answer of the Archbishop of Canterbury t.o the invitation was the one which all Christian ministers should have made: " 'The difficulties which I myself feel are not questions of distance and cOIlvenience, but rest on the fact that the Christian religion is the one religion. I do not understand how that religion can be regarded as a member of a Parliament of Religions without assuming the equality of the other intended members' and the parity of their position and claims. ' "
Bishop Campbell adds: " Whatever profit may have been derived from the meeting, we have to face the fact that, by participating in it, Christians have stood upon a platform from which the Lord Jesus Christ as ' the truth,' , the true light of the world,' and the only revelation of the Father, has been excluded. For the purposes of this gathering, followers of Jesus Christ as the only true God have practically admitted that Christianity is only one of many religious systems, and that Jesus was one of several religious teachers. The object of the Congress seems to have been to find common ground upon which the religions of the world can meet, and this I conceive to be an impossibility, so long as the inclusive and exclusive claims of Jesus are admitted. This meeting placed Christianity on a level with the heathen religions. "
As Christians, how can we consistently recognize any man as on a common platform with us, religiously, who does not accept at least three basal truths : The Bible as the rule of faith j the atoning work of Christ as the ground of salvation j and the Holy Spirit as the author of the new nature? Christofora Jabara, of Antioch, urged the appointment of a committee to investigate the claims of all great religions and formulate a creed which shall embrace the .truth in each and be acceptable to all. He particularly argued that the reconciliation of the Mohammedan and Christian religions is an easy matter. He maintained that the Koran is an inspired book, and that the Bible cannot be understood without it j and that God has allowed Islamism to endure because it is destined to correct the errors of Christianity. A new idea certainly! Hereafter we must have the Bible and the Koran printed on parallel columns, that each may be a commentary on the other! !tis as appropriate then to invite missionaries from Moslem soil as to send them to the followers of the Prophet of Mecca !
This is but one of many utterances at the Parliament openly advocating the " harmonizing of the great religions of the world upon the basis of common central truths," not only Buddhists and others who represented heathen faiths, but American clergymen pleading for such a broad plat- form! A new and universal creed. whose grand base blocks are to be the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man. Professor W. C. Wilkinson, when discussing the "attitude of Christianity to other religion..," said unpopular but true words : " These erring religions the Bible nowhere represents as pathetic and partly successful gropings after God. They are one and all represen.ted as groping downwm'd, not groping upward. According to Christianity they hinder, they do not help. Their adherents' hold on them is like the blind grasp of drowning men on roots or rocks that only tend to keep them to the bottom of the river. The truth that is in the false religion may help, but it will be the truth, not the false religion. The attitude, therefore, of Christianity toward religions other than itself is an attitude of 1:tniversal. absolute, eternal, unappeasable hostility, while toward all men everywhere, the adherents of false religions by no means excepted, its attitude is an attitude of grace, mercy, peace, for whosoever will."
The suppression of truth and the repression of all contradiction and correction of falsehood are to some minds a fatal blemish and blotch upon the Parliament of Religions. The Pope's portrait over the platform and his letter of special blessing on the gathering, with the warning from His Eminence's emissary that no words must be uttered offensive to Catholics, served to put the Parliament well nigh into the hands of Romanism to begin with. And when the brilliant Japanese priest railed against the missionaries who, half a century since, incited his countrymen to rebellion and carnage, no voice was raised to protest that it was Jesuits and not Protestant missionaries who were 1eferred to, and Romanists were more than content to have the obloquy rest on Protestant shoulders!
On the whole, Humanitarianism, Unitarianism, Universalism, and Romanism triumphed at the Parliament, or we do not read the signs of the times. The creed that emphasizes nniversal brotherhood, human 'charity, alms deeds and culture, passes by the atonement, and holds to an ultimate salvation hy evolution, can of course clasp hands with heathen priests, ratlOnalists, free thinkers, and idolaters. Why not 1 But such a creed means a surrender of every vital doctrine, or a vague, misty faith fit only for a new sect that might well be called, Oonjusionists.
Two remarks will close this already extended paper. First, all religions are to be judged practically, not theoretically. Mr. Leightley ventures to say that" the attempts made to Christianize India are pure foUy. The Hindu has as elevated and noble a religion as Christianity, and he really assumes to know and understand more about the fundamental principles of religions than most Christians." It might be well to set opposite such estimates the remark of a very celebrated traveller, that" to discuss Buddhism ten thousand miles off, theoretically, in a Parliament of Religions, is one thing; but seen near by, it is the worst compound of filth and fanaticism, idolatry and ignorance, superstition and sensuality I have found anywhere. " An acute observer remarked that the sufficient answer to tbe Parliament of Religions was the "Midway Plaisance. " There is a story of a priest who used a walnut as his object-lesson to show the vast superiority of his own church. He stripped off the tasteless, worthless shell-that was one nominal body of believers; then the skin, nauseous and disagreeable-that was another; and now for the real kernel, the very meat, his own church. He cracked the nut, and out fell a rotten, worm-eaten mass! A cough to cover his embarrassment and a hasty dismissal of the congregation concluded tIle object-lesson.
Our second remark is that such a Parliament of Religions puts new hindrances in tbe way of Christian missions. "Vith what grace or consistency can we conduct a crusade for Christ against faiths whose followers we welcome to a common platform with us and salute as factors in the great" religious unities" and" seekers after a common goal" ~ A common platform must mean agreement on fundamental truths. Are we then henceforth to treat the distinction between evangelical Christians and esoteric Buddhists, Moslems, and fetich worshippers, as belonging to nonessentials ~ If these religions are fragments of one universal faith, or at least preparations for one ultimate faith; if the Shastras, Vedas, Zend- Avestas, Koran, are inspired of God, and Zoroaster, Confucius, and Gautama Buddha are apostles, and even incarnations of God, it is presumption if not insult to send missionaries to these peoples. But if Christianity is right in asserting a sublime monopoly; if Christ was true when He said, " I am the way, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me;" if these religion-s are only seductive theories, corrupted with gross error, and having no saving power; if even the truth they contain has never actually uplifted the peoples which tenaciously hold them j if we are to judge Mohammedanism and heathenism, not by essays in the Art Palace, but by the " Street in Cairo" and the" Dahomey Village," it may be our duty to wage uncompromising war against any religion that betrays men with false hopes of salvation.
One speaker thought he scored a victory because so few of his hearers were found to respond openly when he asked how many had read Buddha's life. No doubt many more had read it who did not choose to be put to a test which might prove the snare of a wily orator. But is it necessary always to read the lives of men in order to judge of the practical drift of their teachings and the actual influence of their systems 1 Zeno and Epicurus were both superior men, and their philosophies were in many respects lofty in moral tone; but the Epicureans and Stoics became awfully degenerate. Buddha was a heroic and unselfish Oriental saint, but when his personality was withdrawn his system sank to a very low level. It is the miracle and glory of Christianity that, when its Founder withdrew into heaven, there was and still is a Personal Presence whose influence is felt to the ends of the earth; and even the corruption of human nature has not essentially depraved the religion Hc taught nearly two millenniums ago Are we in no danger lest the new god of this age, Oivilization, may be another colossal image of gold, which all men are now called upon to worship, and may not another firm protest be the duty of God's holy children 1 This Parliament of Religions recalls a familiar incident, in the reign of Solomon, which seems almost a parable of the present day. The faiths of the world are all confessedly dead-have no vitality or saving power. Into the court of human opinion the one living faith is brought j and there are those who would lULVe it divided: they seem to think that, if the supernatural could be eliminated and the ethical left, if atonement by blood and regeneration by the Holy Spirit could be left out, the rest might stand. We could, perhaps, induce the world to accept one half of the body of Christian truth j but the true believer sees that this is like cutting in twain a living child-dissection is vivisection, division is death-and his heart yearns for the old. faith as it is, and will not consent to any compromise with error or any surrender of the truth as revealed by God. With the utmost " charity toward all and malice toward none," he still believes that nothing can be settled until it is ReWed aright j that all peace or fellowship that is not founded upon submission to God and acceptance of His dear Son, lacks firm foundation j and that partnership with those who teach error and practise idolatry is a sanction of what is wrong, and helps to blind their eyes to their sin and risk. It is not true that" it matters little or nothing what one believes, so long as he is sincere.' , Never was a maxim more a devil's lie, gilded over with the charm of apparent charity. Were this proverb a right axiom, it would no more be worthwhile either to search diligently to find the truth, or to embrace and obey the truth when found. If God has given us the Truth, and Jesus is Truth incarnate, we who possess this truth and know this Jesus, are bound to go into all the world, face error in teaching and unrighteousness in living, and bring the works of darkness to the light, having no fellowship with them j and proclaiming to men everywhere that the wrong, however sincerely held, is degrading, depraving, damning j that in none other is there salvation save God's appointed Saviour. If this were not so, the Bible would not be God's Book, for it would become the father of falsehood j Jesus could not be God's Son and the world's Saviour, for He would be setting up a baseless claim j and Christian missions would be unsound, unpractical, and even impertinent, for they assume that all ot.her "faiths" are false in essence and fatal in tendency.
Paul expresses the whole matter in a few words: "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many, and lords many j but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him j and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him" (1 Cor. 8: 5, 6). These words were written calmly, but with no hesitating hand, with reference to forms of religiout; faith prevailing in Paul's time, and substantially identical with those now claiming recognition; and this inspired testimony may well be repeated by us with even increased emphasis. The tendencies of our times are toward a fellowship broader than the Word of God allows. Paul might have formed a parliament of religions on Mar's Hill, but he could not meet, without a courteous rebuke and firm remonstrance, the errors of Epicureans and Stoics; and so the conference broke up speedily. He might have formed another parliament at Ephesus, but his uncompromising hostility to idolatry set the whole city in an uproar, and brought his own life into risk. James warns us that overtures for the friendship of the world IIlay become hostile assaults on that relation of a believer with God which, like marriage, allows no allegiance to another, no division of devotion. John incarnated love, but boldly called him " liar" and "Antichrist" who denied the Father and the Son. It may be doubted whether" orange robes," or " priestly" dignity, or " Demosthenic" oratory, or courteous suavity, or even a hiding of error behind half truths, could have prevented the beloved apostle from calling things by their right U:l.mes had he been present at the late " Parliament."
The convictions which find utterance in this paper we dare not keep back, for silence is sometimes treason and heresy. Edmund Burke, before the electors of Bristol, defending himself against the charge that he had pursued in Parliament a course opposed to the wishes of his constituency, nobly said: "I obeyed the instructions of nature and reason, of truth and conscience; I maintained your interests as against your convictions." Intrepidity and independence demand in these days an unswerving witness to the old trnths, which are in serious danger of being swept away before the advancing flood of a "new theology." In no age have the landmarks which inspired apostles set up, been more recklessly and rapidly removed. It seems to be taken for granted that whatever is new is true and whatever is old is false, or at least needs improvement; and that the goal of the gospel itself is reached when all men are united in one religious faith, even though it be a Christless creed. With solemn but unalterable conviction we write it, as before God: The Captain of our salvation leads us on in a holy war, in which the Word of God is to be used as a sword, and love itself is armed for the fight and goes forth not for compromise, but conquest. The Stone, cut out without hands, that grows into a mountain and fills the whole earth, takes up into itself not even the best material of human systems, but alike disdains the iron and clay, and the silver and gold j not assimilation, but comminution-all to be swept away together as chaff. There is to be no new and universal religion, an eclectic combination of what is best in all existing faiths. He who sublimely says, "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life," is the only 'Way, the perfect Truth, the sole Life; and our mission is to tell men that any path that goes not by way of the Cross leads to darkness, danger, death-· VIA CRUCIS VIA LUeIS.
"HREE WEEKS WITH JOSEPH RABINOWITZ
THREE WEEKS WITH JOSEPH RABINOWITZ.
BY A. J. GORDON, D.D.
Perhaps there is no man living whom the writer has more earnestly deRired to meet face to face than this Israelite of the New Covenant. Professor Delitzsch wrote several pamphlets and documents concerning him, evidently regarding his as possibly the most remarkable Jewish con- version to Christ since that of Saul of Tarsus. "Ve have followed with the profoundest interest the reports of his work in Russia since his confes- sion of Jesus as the Messiah; and we have read with no less interest his sermons and addresseR which have appeared from time to time in print.
Going to Chicago in July last, for a month's service in connection with Mr. Moody's W orId's Fair Evangelistic Campaign, we found ourselves at our lodgings placed in the next room to a Russian guest whose name was not yet told us. Hearing in the evening the strains of subdued and fervent Hebrew chanting, we inquired who our neighbor might be, and learned that it was one Joseph Rabinowitz, of Russia j and thus to our surprise we found ourselves next neighbor to one whom we would have crossed the ocean to see, with only a sliding door now between us. Introduction followed, and then three weeks of study and communion together concerning the things of the kingdom, the memory of which will not soon depart.
Before we detail the story of our summer Hebrew school at the feet of this Christian Gamaliel, let us repeat the story of his conversion as we have read it before, and now heard it verified by the man himself.
Joseph Rabinowitz was a lawyer residing in Kischineff, Southern Russia, a man of very wide and commanding influence among his Hebrew brethren as a scholar, a philanthropist, and a lover of his nation. . From a young man he had been a most diligent and painstaking student of the Hebrew Scriptures, of the Talmud, and of all related Jewish literature, so that at the age of forty, he says, "I was like 3 man living in a house furnished with every article of furniture which money could buy, and yet the shutters of that house closed and the curtains all drawn, so that I was in the dark, and knew not the meaning of my own learning till Jesus, the Light of the world, came in and illumined all as in a flash."
About ten years since Mr. Rahinowitz was selected, in connection with certain colonization efforts, to go to Palestine to secure land for planting Jewish emigrants, who desired to flee from Russian persecution. When fitting himself out with guide-books for his contemplated journey, he was advised to take a copy of the New Testament with him, as furnishing an admirable directory to the sacred places of Jerusalem and the vicinity. He did so, and while walking about Zion and gazing upon its historic sites, he carried in his pocket this yet unopened treasure. Going one day to the brow of the Mount of Olives, he sat down on that sacred hill and began' <:ontemplating the city as it lay at his feet. Then came a train of reflection and questioning: "Why this long desolation of the city of David ~ Why this scattering of my people to the ends of the earth? vVhy these fresh persecutions breaking forth against us in almost every country of Europe?" While he pondered these sad questions he gazed toward the reputed Calvary, where that holy prophet of his nation had been crucified.
As he did so his eyes were opened j he looked upon Him whom his nation had pierced. In a flash the truth entered his heart: " We have" rejected our Messiah! hence our long casting off and dispersion by Jehovah!"
He believed j he cried out to Jesus, " My Lord and my God," and almoRt as suddenly as Saul of Tarsus Joseph Rabinowitz, from being a Hebrew of the Hebrews, had become an Israelite of the New Covenant, a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. He took out his New Testament, a guide-book in a sense undreamed of, and read the first passag~ that fell under his eye: " I am the Vine, ye are the branches. Without Me ye can do nothing." "I saw it in the twinkling of an eye," said he j "our Jew- ish bankers, with their millions of gold, can do nothing for us j our scholars and statesmen, with all their wisdom, can do nothing for us j our coloniza- tion societies, with all their influence and capital, can do nothing for us j our only hope is in our brother Jesus, whom we crucified, and whom God raised up and set at His own right hand. 'Without Him we can do nothing.' "
We may imagine the sensation which was caused in Russia when this emiuent Hebrew returned home and boldly announced far and wide, pub- licly in the synagogue and openly in the columns of the press, his accept- ance of Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord. Persecution and obloquy were poured upon him from every quarter, and they of his own household became his foes j but he had counted the cost. He joyfully and boldly maintained his testimony, till little by little the enmity was softened.
Now he rejoices that one after another of his own family have joined him in confessing Christ, and preaching Him to their neighbors. By permis- sion of the government, surprisingly granted, he has built a synagogue, where he assembles a large congregation to listen to the Word of God from his lips j and he says that his entire time is occupied from morning to night, week in and week out, in answering letters from Jews who are distressed in mind concerning this great question, and in meeting inquirers coming sometimes hundreds of miles to talk with him of Jesus of Naza- reth. What wonder that such a conversion, attended with such results, should have led Professor Delitzsch to hail the event as " the first ripe iig"
on the long barren tree of rejected Israel, and as a cheering sign that for that people "summer is nigh." "Ve quote from this eminent Hebrew professor these strong words : "The movement of Kischineff is cp.rtainly a prelude of the end. No doubt the final conversion of the nation will be preceded by such testimony proceeding from individuals raised up by God and filled with His Spirit. Voices will be heard in Israel calling to repentance, to a return to God and His Anointed (Hos. 6: 1-3; 3: 5) ; many shall awake to new life, and from that portion of Israel to which blindness is happened a Jewish-Christian congregation will be gathered. The religion of the Messiah will then prove the Divine power which penetrates the spiritual and social life of the nation. Joseph Rabinowitz is a star in the firmament of his people's history. God keep this star iu the right path and continue its light in truth and brightness! One thing is certain, the history of the Church caunot reach its consummation until the prophetic and ap0stolic Word, predict,ing the conversion of the remnant of Israel, is fulfilled, an event which will bring an abundance of spiritual powers and gifts for the revival of the whole world."
It seemed to us as we talked with this Israelite without guile day after day, and heard him pour out his soul in prayer, that we never before witnessed such ardor of affection for Jesus, and such absorbing devotion to nis person and glory.vVe shall not soon forget the radiance that would come into his face as he expounded the Messianic Psalms at our morning and evening worship, and how as here and there he caught a glimpse of the suffering or the glorified Christ, he would suddenly lift his hands and his eyes to heaven, in a burst of admiration, exclaiming with Thomas, after he had seen the nail-prints, "My Lord and my God!" So 'saturated is he with the letter as well as the spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures, that to hear him talk one might imagine it was Isaiah or some other prophet of the old dispensation that was speaking. "What is your view of inspiration~" we aRked him, in order to draw him out concerning certain muchmooted questions of .our time. "My view is," he said, holding up his Hebrew Bible, "that this is the Word of God; the Spirit of God dwells in it; when I read it, I know that God is speaking to me; and when I preach it, I say to the people, ' Be silent, and hear what Jehovah will say to you.' " "As for comparing the inspiration of Scripture with that of Homer or Shakespeare," he continued, "it is not a question of degree, but of kind. Electricity will pass through an iron bar, but it will not go through a rod of glass, however beautiful and transparent, because it has no affinity for it. So the Spirit of God dwells in the "Word of God, the Holy Scriptnres, because these arc His proper medium, but not in Homer or Shakespeare, because lIe has no affinity with these writings." This sentence gives an instance of his vividness of illustration, of which he seems to be a natural master.
We spoke just above of his striking Hebrew diction, the lofty prophetic tone, tempered with exquisite pathos, with which he pleads with his people coucerning the Messiahship of Jesus. The following, selected from one of his sermons, will illustrate our meaning : " Lift up your eyes, my brethren, unto Mount Golgotha, and behold there the ransom which delivers our souls from the curse of God, prollOunced on Mount Ebal, and which bestows upon us the blessing on Mount Gerizim. Only behold the Cross of the Messiah, and you will sec clearly that here is the gate of Jehovah, into which the righteous shall enter; the only access opened unto all men, be they Jews or Gentiles, that in one Spirit they may draw near to our Father in heaven. Open your eyes and behold the Lord of glory, Jesus the crucified j how glorious is this High Priest, who Himself is the propitiation for our sins. How beautiful, how lovely is the Great Shepherd of the flock, who Himself is the Lamb of God, which beareth the sin of the world, and who comes as our Messiah, bringing peace to them that are afar off, and to them that are nigh.
" My brethren, if you esteem your souh~ precious, and if you desire to be citizens of the city, and to be numbered among the saints, and in the household of God, then bow this day your knees before the King of Glory, before Jesns, crowned for you with the crown of thorns j smite your breasts and confess your sins and the sins of your fathers, and the iniquity they have committed against the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. Say then, 0 house of Israel, ' Surely we all, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. but Jehovah laid on Him the iniquity of us all j for the iniquity of His people was He stricken. For only with Jesus, the Messiah, is redemption, and He shall deliver Israel from all his sins.' "
Some of Mr. Rabinowitz's expositions and explanations of Scripture were exceedingly interesting. "Show me a photograph of Kischineff,"
he said one day, "and I can tell instantly whether it is correct, for I have lived there all my life. So when I read the New Testamerit, how vivid are its pictures to one who llas lived for years in Jewish history and tradi- tions!" Opening to Rev. 16 he read: ., Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." "This admonition of the Lord affected me very deeply when I first read it," he said, " for I knew at a glance its meaning. All night long the watchmen in the temple kept on duty.
The overseer of the temple was always likely to appear at unexpected hours; to see if these were faithfully attending to their charge. 1f hc came upon any watchman who had fallen asleep, he quietly drew his loose garments from him and bore them away as a witness against him when he shouid wake. My Lord is liable to come at any moment. He may come in the second watch or in the third watch, therefore I must be always ready, lest coming suddenly, He find me sleeping, and I be stripped of my garment."
"Do you know what questioning and controversies the Jews have kcpt up over Zech. 12 : 10?" he asked oue day. '" They shall look upon Me -nN-whom they pierced.' They will not admit that it is Jehovah whom they pierced. Hence the dispute about the whom j but do you notice that this word is simply the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph Tav? Do you wonder, then, that 1 was filled with awe and aston- ishment when I opened to Rev. 1 : 7, 8, and read these words of Zechariah now quoted by John : ' Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him;' and then heard tho glorified Lord saying: ' . I am the ALPHA AND OMEGA'? Jesus seemed to say to me, 'Do you doubt who it is whom you pierced? I am tho Aleph Tav, the Alpha Omega, Jehovah the Almighty.' " Rabinowitz is as clear as is Paul in the eleventh of Romans as to the Divine order and plan for the bringing the nations to God. After the present Gentile election and outgathering he holds that the Jews are to be converted and restored to God's favor in connection with the second ad- vent of our Lord, and that then will follow world-wide salvation and the universal ingathering of the Gentiles. He is very positive, therefore, as to the meaning of the passage in the fifteenth of Acts: "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of tltem a people for His name." "That is what is now going on," he says. " During Israel's rejection the elect Chul'ch is being gathered." "After this I will return and build again the tabernacle of David that is fallen down," etc. "This is very plainly the conversion and restoration of Israel," he says. And when I urged that many spiritualize the words and apply them to the Christian Church, he replied: "It will not be easy to make a Jew believe that, when the words in Amos which are here quoted plainly refer to the restoration of Israel; and especially since the Jews have been praying this prayer from time immemorial, always repeating it at their yearly feast of Tahernacles, ' 0 Thou Redeemer, prosper those who seek Thee at all times: raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, that it may no longer be degraded.' "
" After the tabernacle of David shall be rebuilt and national Israel saved," he continues, " then and then only will come the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, in which all nations will be brought into obedience and SUbjection to Christ." Such is his strong conviction, and the reader may find that he appears to agree with Peter in Acts 3 : 19,20 and with Paul in Rom. II.
Indeed this Hebrew prophet is proclaiming most solemnly the impending advent of our Lord. He contends that without a clear proclamation of the second advent Christians have no common ground on which to meet the Jews; that to spiritualize this doctrine as many do is fatal, since the predictions are so clear of a glorious and conquering Messiah as well as a suffering Messiah. If you spiritualize the second advent you must allow the Jew to spiritualize the first, as he is always ready to do, and you have no basis on which to reason with him. Mr. Rabinowitz's view on this point is shared by another remarkable Hebrew Christian preacher, Dr. Adolph Saphir, recently deceased. In his valuable book just published, "The Divine Unity of Scripture," he says: " I will speak freely on this subject. It is the second advent of our Lord, when lIe will return with His saints, and when He will make Himself manifest to Israel and to the whole world, not in order that the last judgment may be held, but that another historical period may be ushered in, when God's will shall be done upon this earth as it is in heaven, and when Jesus Christ and the transfigured saints shall come to be seen and acknowledged, and then there shall be fulfilled the promises which God has given from the beginning of the world. vVhen He comes Israel will say, 'It is Jehovah, and it is His first advent.' The Church will say, , It is Jesus, and His second advent.' Israel will say, 'He has come to take possession of the throne of David, and Jerusalem wiII be glorified and will be His nation.' And the Church wiII say, ' He is glorified in the saints and admired in all them that believe, and we whom He has redeemed with His blood shall reign with Him on the earth.' This is what all the apostles taught and taught constantly, 'Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. ' It is Jehovah who wiII appear to Israel. It is Jesus who appears to His Church-the same thing-' the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' "
Nothing could be more thrilling and pathetic than to hear this latter- day prophet of Israel dilate on the blessedness and glory of his nation when it shall at last be brought back into favor and fellowship with God . •, The Gentile nations cannot come to their highest blessing till then," he says, "nor can our rejected and crucified Messiah see of the travail of His sons and be satisfied till His kinsmen according to the flesh shall own Him and accept Him." Then, with a dramatic fervor and pathos impos- sible to describe, he said the following beautiful thing: "Jesus, the glorified Head of the Church, is making up His body now, my brot.her. Think you that my nation will have no place in that body ~ Yes; the last and most sacred place. When from India's and China's millions and from the innumerable multitudes of Africa and the islands of the sea the last Gentile shall have been brought in, and His body made com- plete, there will still be left a place for little Israel-she will fill up the hole .in His side, that wound which can never be closed till the nation which made it is saved."
Many other sayings of this remarkable man might be quoted had we space to insert them. He declares most confidently that the Spirit is moving on his people as has not been the case since their dispersion. lIe is full of joy at the prospect of their speedy turning to the Lord. Emphatically he preaches that there is no hope but in the crucified Messiah. He must be received; His blood must cleanse; His mercy must be gained before the Jewish nation can ever have rest. In one of his sermons he compares Israel to a little ship which has witnessed the wreck of many a proud craft-Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome-while this is the one nation that is never to perish, because of the unchangeable covenant of Jehovah. He says: " Two centuries a.go it was wrecked; broken were its malolts, bnt up to the present day it sails among modern nations-a strange, weird-like ship. Its mariners are often in despair, when the waves seem to swallow up their fragile vessels; many from among Israel seek to join other ships and find a home there, and try to partake of the treasnres of culture and modern development which adorn them. But soon the men of other nations rise against the mysterious strangers from the old Oriental ship, and not willing to tolerate them, fling them back into the waves, so that with difficulty and trepidation they return to the old wreck, on which the tears of their fathers have fallen abundantly. The storm rages, the clouds are dark, the hearts of the mariners fail them, they cry out, ' Lord, ~lwe us, we perish!' But the hour is coming wIten He who long ago rose ill the
IEMORIAL
TIIJ:o: Hon.r; 0 1" Pn.-YKlt. BETIHmK.ll. Synagogue of Congregation of hruclHl'~ of the }I;' cw Covenant at Kischt'neff, Bcssarabia.
'1894.] THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD
little ship on the sea of Galilee shall rise in the midst of them; He shall rebuke the wind and the waves-it will become perfectly still, and some shall sink down before His feet with the cry of Thomas: 'My Lord and my God!' And immediately Israel will be in the Haven of Rest, which is still remaining for the chosen people of God. "
It would not be possible to put on paper Rabinowitz's fervid and dramatic exposition of Christ's farewell to the temple: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily, verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me until the time come when you shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of. the LOl d." He pictured a Jew sitting in the door of his lonely house in the evening. Suddenly he catches sight of a beloved and long separated friend approaching. He rises up and shouts out his salutation to him : "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." So shall Israel do when the Spirit of grace and of supplication has been poured out upon them; and they shall see Him whom they pierced coming to them. As they once cried, " Crucify Him! Crucify!" now they will cry, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."
So when on parting I asked for his autograph, he wrote this in Hebrew as his farewell word, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."
THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD.-I.
BY JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A., BRIXTON, LONDON.
In attempting a general survey of government as mirrored in the present condition of the nations of the world, it is needful, for the sake of perspective, to note certain broad lines of difference that distinguish the civilization of to-day from that of the old-world period. Beneath much that on the surface lies now politically apart, there is a kinship which shows a line of direction that is common, and a unity in spirit more significant by far than a unity in letter or name. The ideas at the base of modern polity are different in kind from those which were the recognized and controlling forces in the days when Sparta and Athens flourished. The political wheel rotates now in an opposite direction.
Broadly speaking, the individual is to-day a unit, whereas in ancient systems he was but a cypher. Leaving out socialism and other kindred movements which loom darkly on the horizon and constitute a menace of all government as at present in force, the trend of government, in all communities which are up to date, tends more and more to the recognition of the rights of the individual both as one who has person and property to be protected and a voice to be heard. It was not so in the old-world epochs; no, not even where absolutism was set aside and monarchy deposed. Ancient republics did not turn 011 the pivot of the individual. Under them, hardly less than under absolutism itself, individual rights were grouud down. The common weal, philosophically interpreted ann clothed with all-inclusive authority, was drawn, as a kind of Juggernaut, remorselessly over every form of individual right. The State in ancient days was not, as with us, a power that gives fixedness and protection to the complex organizations which modern civilization has engendered and is continually reforming; but it was a unifying machine in which all indi- viduality was sunk, and upon the shrine of which it was the citizen's honor to be sacrificed. The ancient republics, indeed, were patriarchal in spirit, only in their case it must be remembered that the philosophe1's were the patriarchs. Hence while intelligent moderns have come to regard with comparative indifference any variety of constitutional Iorm that admits of equally broad individual rights, the ancicnts, attaching small importance to the individual, separately viewed, merged thought and feeling in the comparative estimate of their respective political systems as philosophically deduced and fitted to render the State cohesive alike to make or repel attack. It was for this reason the philosophers of Greece were accounted the rightful politicians, to whose enactments the citizens of the varied States, willingly conceding the authority of law, complied.
All this, time, or, as we venture to think, the insensible action of Christianity, has changed. A man is now a man. He is no longer to be spirited away or philosophized into a chattel or a thing. ·Whether a king reign or a president rule, the position of the individual calls for recognition and demands respect. That minute jurisdiction which the State exercised, even under the freest forms of ancient government, to the curtailing of the liberties of the citizens has paRsed from the scene. The like applies to State exclusiveness. In ancient times, it is true, patriotism was intense, on the principle that that for which a man sacrifices everything must be dear to him indeed; but, on the other hand, such patriotism was extremely narrow and unjust. It acted as a grievous gag to commerce, and stifled all cosmopolitan feeling. There could be no fraternity on the basis of government as anciently conducted. There is not much of it in our OWR times; but who can deny that along with the right of the individual to be considered, there has begun to dawn among the nations a sense of their community and common humanity? These are aspects in the case which are like glimpses of azure in an otherwise murky sky. The governments of the world are very varied; and some, though Christian in name, ignore the cry for liberty, or seek ruthlessly to stifle it; still the record, on the whole, is one of surprising advance. ,Vhat is tantamount to a -revolution has taken place. Now, in contrast with early sentiment, it is generally held that there is a region of individuality, of subjective freedom, a wide circuit of opinion, action, and example over which the citizen should himself rule; and that so far from civil restraints furthering man's development, and being the effective means of perfecting the body politic, these ends are best consulted wherc State interference is reduced to a minimum, and scope is given, consistently with conscience and mora1ity, for the free play of individual powers. Summed up in a word, the modern trend in government has underlying it the conviction that the citizen everywhere has in him what the Greeks/ would call the ovra.(.w;, or capability of all positions. Such an idea was foreign to Aristotle, foreign to Plato, foreign to the schools. Christianity in its secret influence-and it is only as working in secret that Christianity retains its purest spirit-is to be credited with the find. As expounded by the philosopher, government was caste. The place of the many was to submit to the few. The masses were regarded as if they had no reason, no spirit j as if they were a compound of appetite only. Sueh an assumption Christianity, with its Gospel for all and its doctrine of "no difference," insensibly but surely sapped. The philosopher is not all reason j nor are the common peoplfl-the profanum vulgum-all flesh and no spirit. Humanity is not to be classified by a psychological law into ruler, warrior, craftsman, answering to reason, will, and brute impulse. Humanity is of the same blend under all suns and nnder all conditions. Intelligence is not to be conceived as if dead in the many and only existent in the few j nor is executive force to be viewed as the monopoly of a class for the enslavement of the multitude and the carrying out of the behests of the few. No. The dunamis of all positions is common to the race j and the gatherer of sycamore fruit may, after all, be the man for the times, even as Amos was God's prophet to the nation.
While writing the above we would not be understood to mean that there are no ominous signs in the political sky. There are. And were it our business to furnish a political horoscope, or to deal, either argumentatively or prophetically, with the schemes that would raze modern govemments to their foundation, we should have something to say to those who dream dreams, who think to redress inequality of condition at the expense of manhood, who foment anarchy and imagine that government can serve in lieu of Christ, or that unrighteousness between man and man can be stamped out by governmental portents j but this is not our object. Rather it is to show what the governments of the world are to-day in their varied forms and in their superficial and more radical discrepancies.
1. The governments of the world may be classified broadly nnder fonr heads: Monarchies, absolute and constitutional j republics and protectorates, including dependencies. The absolute monarchies embrace many oldworld forms, and are still represented in the councils of the leading nations.
In RUSSIA government is absolute. In the Czar all power, legislative, judicial, and executive, is vested. He is " the head of gold," for his will alone is law. Beyond the fact that the Czar may not appoint his successor, the succession being determined by regular descent, with preference of male over female heirs, and the further fact that the reigning monarch must be a member of the Orthodox Greek Church, there are, theoretically, no limitations j the Czar reigns in his own right.
There are four boards for the assistance of the Emperor in the administration : the first, a Council of State, in which the princes of the imperial house have seats ex officio. The number of members in 1889 was sixty, who hold their seats by appointment of the Emperor. This council is divided into three departments-legislative, civil and ecclesiastical, and financial. Their functions, however, are consultative alone, and are con- fined to the examination of projects of laws, the discussion of the budget, ~nd the arrangement of the expenditure.
The second board is the Ruling Senate, to whom belongs the right to promulgate laws. This buard is divided into nine sections, and at the head of each is a lawyer of distinction, who represents the Emperor, and apart from whose signature no decision has force. The third board, called the Holy Synod, has charge of all the religious affairs of the empire,' and consists of leading ecclesiastics alone; but the Emperor's will is supreme, for all the decisions require the Emperor's sanction and go forth in his name. The fourth board is composed of a Committee of Ministers who are heads of departments and communicate directly with the sovereign.
The Government of TURKEY is likewise autocratic, only on a more modified scale. The Sultan of Turkey is more conditioned, both by usage and religion, than is the autocrat of Russia. The probability, however, is that he realizes himself more in his limit than does his more powerful rival. For one so conservative in type and stereotyped in faith as Moham- medans usually are, it will doubtless be a small hardship to be bound by the accepted truths of the Mohammedan religion, or to govern in accord- ance with the " Multeka," a code of laws based on the supposed sayings .; and opinions of the false prophet. The Sultan's Government has been somewhat disturbed by the attempted introduction of IJtte years of forms of government after the model of Western Europe, but the results of the experiment have not been encouraging. The patch of new cloth on the old garment has rather made the rent worse. If the old spirit remain, experiments in government are worse than useless. There is no means of rejuvenating the old man politically or carnally. He must die to live.
Under the Sultan's direction the legislative and executive authority is exercised by the Grand Vizier, the head of the temporal department, and the Sheik-ul-Islam, the head of the church. The former is assisted by a Privy Council consisting of ministers of departments; and the empire is divided into vilayets or governments, subdivided into provinces and dis- tricts, and further parcelled out into sub-districts and communities.
In CHINA an old-world form of absolutism, based on the government of the family, is maintained. The Emperor's person is sacred, and well- nigh invisible. He appoints his snccessor, and has full control. There are seven boards: The Board of Civil Appointments, the Board of Revenucs, the Board of Rites and Ceremonies, the Military Board, the Board of Public Works, the High Tribunal of Criminal Jurisdiction, and the Ad- miralty Board. Over these boards is the Grand Council, in whom the f'npreme directioll of the empire is vested, while the Hdministratioll is under the direction of the Neiko or Cabinet, comprising four mcmbcrstwo of Manchu and two of Chinese origin-besides two assistants from the Hanlin or Great College, who have to see that nothing is done contrary to the civil and religious laws of the empire.
A feature of the times is the rapidly growing extent to which the absolute monarchies of to-day are being conditioned from without. The fate of AFRICA supplies the most notable instance. In that great continent there are still a few independent States of note that pursue their career untrammelhid by European intervention. Bornu, for example, the most populous Mohammedan State in Central Soudan, is governed by a Sultan under the official title of Mai, commonly spoken of as the Sheik, who is in principle an absolute monarch, and is assisted in the administration by a council of military chiefs together with members of the reigning family. The like applies to the Sultanate of Wadai, which is the most powerful of the Central Soudan States. This Sultan has a council of administration and also a college of Ulemas, by whom the Koran or Law is interpreted. The army is employed, in times of peace, as sheriff officers, to levy tribute in kind from the provinces and vassal States; but for the most part Africa is now partitioned into protectorates which have been ratified by treaty between the powers concerned and the varied Sultans, and made accessible to the civilizing, commercial, and evangelizing influences of European nations. Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Portugal have not only their colonies and possessions in tIle Dark Continent, but for the most part their Hinterlands also and vested rights in regions where their actual influence is as yet but distantly felt. When we speak of Africa's absolutism, we must remember the countercheck that is thus supplied. In what we see to-day there is the dawning promise and potency of, Africa's political redemption. Zanzibar, for example, while retaining its Sultan has now. by arrangement with England, under whose protectorate it has been placed, a regular government, consisting of a president and a responsible head for each department. On the mainland the Sultan's authority is virtually in the hands of England and Germany, who utilize it in his interests and their own, and make their power felt far into the interior, acknowledging, indeed, no limitation save that of similar appropriations. The change of government ~hich all this bespeaks is not seen so much in name as in spirit. The government is despotic still, but the spirit of it is progressive and the ends contemplated remedial.
Thus throughout the extensive possessions of the Imperial British East Africa Company, ceded by the Sultan of Zanzibar for an annual monetary consideration, slavery is being gradually abolished, while the chiefs and people are settling down to husbandry and to the recognition of the company as their rightful rulers. It cannot be doubted that similar results will accrue from Germany's protectorate. Abyssinia and Shoa, the political institutions of which were of a feudal character analogous to those of medireval Europe, are now under the protectorate of Italy, as are likewise the Sultanates of Abbia and of Mijertain Somalis. The Congo Free State is rapidly being modernized. Nominally ruled by the Kiug of Belgium, this State has a central government at Brussels, consisting of the king and three heads of departments, and a local government consisting of a govern1rgeneral, a vice-governor-general, a State inspector, a general secretary, director of justice, director of finance, and commander of the forces. The governor is further aided by white subordinates, who as chiefs of provinces administer affairs. There is also a native army officered by whites, besides a flotilla of row and sailing boats.
The colony of Mozambique, including the province of Louren90 Marques, is progressing toward self-government. Though as yet under the crown of Portugal, and administered by a royal commissioner appointed for three years and residing in the capitals of the provinces alternately, it was constituted as the Free State of East Africa on September 30th, 1891, and it is hoped that, with the development of the country, the basis of self-government may be laid.
MOROCCO may still be rcgarded as a monarchy, both free and absolute, though within the recognized range of French influence. This empire, which is ruled by a Sultan, has three capitals, and is the westernmost and largest of the Barbary States. The Sultan's rule is absolute, but the tribes south of the mountains are semi-independent, and, indeed, scarcely acknowledge his authority, being governed each by their own chief. The Sultan has six ministers, by whom he carries on executive duties. These are (1) the vizier, (2) secretary for foreign affairs, (3) home secretary, (4) chamberlain, (5) chief treasurer, and (6) administrator of customs. There is a <lisciplined standing army of cavalry and foot soldiers, besides militia and regnlar forces.
The Government of PERSIA has features similar to those of Turkey. The Shah ranks as vicegerent of the prophet, and on this high ground he exacts submission. Of late years the method of administration has been somewhat modernized. Instead of the Grand Vizier and the lord treasurer, by whom the executive government was formerly carried on, there is now a ministry consisting of nineteen members, eleven with and eight without portfolios, over whom the Minister of Posts presides. There are also governors-general set over the twenty-two large and ten small provinces into which the country is divided ; and nnder them as required, and at their appointment, are licutenant-governors, who are immediately answerable to the central government.
The kingdom of SIAM, now being shadowed by the power of France, partakcs of absolute features. The influence of "Vestern ideas, however, is becoming yearly more marked, and "centralization is being largely introduced. "
In AFGHANISTAN the government, while absolute, is unstable, and depends greatly on the executive force of the hereditary prince. Of foreign powers England lIas now the leading sway iu the councils of this kingdom. Looking at absolutism generally, it is evident that its run is rapidly sinking in the political heavens. Absolutism has no footing in the great continents of America, and with the exception of Rnssia and Turkey is banished from the Continent of Europe, while in the great continents of Asia and Africa its power is being more and more conditioned from with- out, modified by Vestern ideas, and put under tribute to governments that breathe a freer atmosphere. Notwithstanding, absolute monarchies have their clearly defined place in the governments of the world. They meet the felt need as regards barbarism, with all its chaos and consequent indi- vidual weakness. They are the first step in the ladder of civiliz'ation j hence the universality of absolutism among all peoples that are but one remove from the bottom of the scale. There is another gronnd that ex- plains the befittingness of this government under suitable conditions, and that is its ideal character. Hence in the Book of Daniel the most precious metal is taken to denote it, the reason being that this kind of rule gives a scope to kingly display and prerogative snch as is found nowhere else. It is as King Absolute the desire of nations shall come.
But, further, for the very reason that absolutism has this ideal char- acter, it eminently suits all nations, such as China, which are non-progres- sive in type, and which look upon the foreigner ill the light of an inferior creation. Accordingly, for absolutism to be at all settled as society now is, the scale of civilization must be either very low, as in Africa, or stereo- typed and non· progressive, as in China j for either this form of govern- ment represents escape from chaos, or it answers to the natural conceit that imagines that the kingdom of heaven is set up within its borders.
History, ancient and modern, bears witness to this. In order to the security of absolute government, one of two things must exist-either human thought is rudimentary or non-critical. This explains why Russian abso- lutism has such a stern warfare to wage. Criticism has awakened in the Czar's dominions, and refuses to give up the ghost j hence, though the crown of gold be still worn, uneasy is the head that wears it.
The same law applies to the Mohammedan power all over the world.
The influence of Mohammedanism lies outside the pale of progressive ideas, for there is nothing in the Koran to stimulate the intellect, but everything to palsy its powers and, by its philosophy of fate, to induce somnolence and decay.
(To be {)()ncluded.) Of the 1,500,000,000 of the earth's inhabitants, the Emperor of China holds sway over 405,000,000 ; the Queen of England rules or protects 380,- 000,000 j the Czar of Russia is dictator to 115,000,000 j France, in the republic, dependencies and spheres of influence, has 70,000,000 subjects j the Emperor of Germany, 55,000,000 j the Sultan of Turkey, 40,000,000 j the Emperor of Japan, 40,000,000, and the King of Spain, 27,000,000-tU'o thirds of the population of the globe under the government of five rulers.
THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN :ijOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMIS- SIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS AT WORCESTER, MASS., OCTOBER 10-18, 1893.
BY REV. C. M. SOUTHGATE, WORCESTER.
Three times before this, its eighty-fourth annual meeting, the Board has met in Woroester. A simple mention of the dates suggests striking contrasts. In] 864, instead of a world thronging to celebrate the discovery of America in an international exposition, the nations were watching the strife which was to determine whether there should be a United States. A resolution on the state of the country aroused great enthusiasm, the whole body rising and bursting- into "My country, 'tis of thee." 1844 carries us back to the year of the first electric telegraph and the annexation of Texas, when the railroad was a curiosity to the great majority. At this meeting three petitions were presented on the matter of slavery. But most impressive was the gathering in 1811. The Worcester of to-day, with its more than 90,000 inhabitants, was a vill~ge of 2500. It was the year after the organization of the Board. A single boarding-house entertained all attending, and its parlor sufficed for their deliberations. Here were examined and approved its first missionaries, Judson, Newell, Nott, and Hall. Famous fathers of famous sons are named-Jeremiah Evarts, father of William M. Evarts, Senator and Secretary of State; Dr. Jedidiah Morse, father of the inventor of the electric telegraph. One of the two pastors of the town was Dr. Aaron Bancroft, whose son George was to become the nation's greatest historian. An item of business was the appropriation of $100 toward the education of Eleazer Williams as a missionary to the Coghnawaga Indians, which was intrusted to Rev. Joseph Lyman, D.D., of Hadley, and Dr. Richard S. Storrs: the one represented here eighty-two years later by the eloquent preacher of the annual sermon, Dr. A. J. Lyman, of Brooklyn; the other, grandfather of the Board's honored president, who is ~he third of that name to render it distinguished service. This Eleazer Williams never went on the mission proposed, but became noted by his claim to be Louis XVII., the lost Dauphin of France. Many will recaJI the magazine article concerning him entitled "Have we a Bourbon among Us?" Note a Christian name prominent in these beginnings. Three of the five students who gave themselves to this work under the famous haystack at Williamstown in 1806 were Samuel J. Mills, Samuel Nott, Jr., Samuel Newell. The two divines who, in 1810, driving from Andover to Bradford, after consulting with the four students wishing to go as missionaries, formed the scheme of the A. B. C. F. M. and secured its adoption by the Massachusetts Association of Congregational Ministers, were Samuel Spring and Samuel 'Vorcester. The striking coincidence is but an illustration of the historical fact that modern missions had their origin in a pouring out of the Spirit upon godly parents. The lesson has meaning for to-day. Mechanics Hall welcomed the multitudes this year, its 2000 sittings being none too many. Even an outline of the four days shows the meeting to be memorable. The treasurer's report gave receipts, including bal- ance from last year, as $680,014.92, of which $205,683 came from the three Woman's Boards, and $14,000 from Societies of Christian Endeavor. For twenty years the average cost of administration has been but six and one tenth per cent-more than 93 cents in every dollar given going directly into the work. Expenditures of $768,333.66 left a debt of $88,318.74, chargeable, not to the falling off in regular donations, which was only about $2000, while those from the -Woman's Boards were $8000 in advance, but to the variable element of legacies, which were less than last year's by $103,000. But painful retrenchment has been necessary, and the Pruden_ tial Committee call for $250,000 beyond last year's gifts. A most pathetic documeut, entitled "The Cry from the Missions," presented the protests and appeals from men in the fields that their work might be not crippled, but advanced.
The report of the Home Department makes mention of campaigns among the churches to carry information and inspiration ; the preparation of lantern slides for illustrated missionary lectures, and helpful material to meet the growing demand of Christian Endeavor Societies and others for monthly concerts. Tlie Eastern Secretary, Dr. Creegan, also arranged for sixty-two addresses by Dr. John G. Paton, which secured to him $7500 for his work in the New Hebrides. " The Y. P. S. C. E. is doing a most important work in the way of educating the young people in the principles and facts of missions. " Gifts from these societies and the Sunday-schools have more than doubled during the year. Seven new ordained missionaries, one of them a physician, with twenty-nine assistant missionaries, have gone out since the last annual meeting, and thirty-six more have returned to their fields after periods of rest in this country. The annual survey by the foreign secretaries, Drs. N. G. Clark and Judson Smith, shows that the Board has under its care more than 1200 strategic points, amid a population of not less than 100,000,000 souls; engaging the efforts of 557 missionaries and 2738 native helpers; including 442 churches with 41,566 members, of whom 3570 have been received in the year; 48,585 pupils in schools of all grades, from kindergarten up through high school and college to the theological seminary; medical relief administered to 120,000 patients; the Bible and Christian literature distributed by millions of pages. The native contributions reported amount to $112,507, most of it given out of deep poverty.
The three secretaries presented, as usual, papers from the Prudential Committee. That of Dr. Alden was upon" The Personal Factor in the Missionary Problem"-the Personal Leader, the enthroned Lord; the Personal Messenger, the individual men and women who have each received a personal call from the personal Lord, and who have been by Him trained by special providence and grace, each for his particular service; the Personal Recipient of the Message, the salvation of the individual soul being the one definite thing for which the messenger is sent; the Personal Source of Supply, which is to provide and support the messengers. And especially "we want not only auxiliary societies, associations, conferences, churches, to be brought into direct fellowship with the administration of this trust, but more than all else, and pr8ctically including all else, every individual believer." Dr. Clark considered" Two Unsolved Mission Problems." First, Industrial Education, as supplementary to the spiritual work "More important than any result achieved in the lines proposed has been the lesson learned that civilization in any form does not precede but follows the Gospel." But this hm; been of great service in developing the native converts, whether as pastors or as business laymen in their communities. "Let education, including industrial education, keep even pace with the preaching of the Word, and a Christian civilization will mark the progress of the Gospel." "A possible unity in the presentation of the Gospel to the unevangelized world by so many denominations and schools of theology," was the second problem discussed. Christ crucified is the one mcssage to which all else must be subordinated. "Let the life that is in Christ have its free development and take on a form for itself, according to the characteristics and intellectual endowment of each separate people. Let there be no more jealous rivalry of denominational interest, no more waste of men or means in building up separate sects, but one Gospel, one Christian life, one united movement on the part of all evangelical denominations. Then would the Church be one in her mission enterprise; then would she arise and shine, the glory of the Lord being risen upon her." The impressive utterance gains redoubled force when we remember that it is from one who for long years has watched the working and progress of missions with a statesmanlike sagacity and apostolic devotion. The paper of Dr. Judson Smith took up the work of the American Board in Africa, showing how inevitable and how successful has been the share of this organization in one of the most fascinating chapters of modern history. "Amid all the 'stir and activity, in politics and commerce, in exploration and occupation, by which the leading powers of the world are vying with one another to cover and appropriate to themselves the resources and power of Africa, this aggressive advance of evangelizing forces is the supreme movement of the times, and holds in its plastic hands the long and growing future of the nations that one day are to fill and adorn these lands with a varied and progressive life and with a Christian CIvilization. "
The Woman's Boards crowded a great church with enthusiastic auditors of the story of efforts and achievements. Their specific work dates from 1868, when the Board at Boston and that of the Interior at Chicago were organized, followed five years later by that of the Pacific. Their present annual receipts are over $200,000, and their total contributions more than $2,000,000. It has been already noted that their gifts for the last year, instead of falling off, have increased by $8000, so that no re- trenchment has been necessary in the work under their charge. It is not strange that the Board voted to grant unmarried lady missionaries an equal voice and vote with men in affairs of their missions, and that the Pruden- tial Committee was instructed to inquire what changes in the constitution were needed to make women eligible on that body of central control.
The intimate relation of missionary work to international problems appeared in the vigorous discussion of complications with foreign nations, such as the unwarranted attack upon missionaries in Turkey and the burn. ing of college buildings j a strong resolution of protest to our Government against the Geary act j and an appeal for annexation of the Sandwich Islands, which the work of our missionaries lifted from barbarism to become the most productive spot of land in the reach of commerce. Men whose lives have been wrought into these achievements were present to discuss the questions with knowledge from the inside.
The greatest immediate interest and excitement gathered about" the Noyes case." It is now eleven years since, at the Portland meeting, the Andover Seminary teaching of a possible future probation for the heathen was denounced as being unsound and tending to " cut the nerve of missions." The first grcat discussion took place at Des Moines in 1886, leading to the adoption of a resolution condemning the doctrine as " divisive and perversive and dangerous to the churches at home and abroad," supporting the action of the Prudential Committee in carefully guarding the Board from any approval of that doctrine by appointing those holding it, and advising the continuance of that caution. At Springfield the next year, after a determined struggle by the liberal party, this position was reaffirmed by a vote of 95 to 43. The meetings at New York in 1889 and Chicago in 1892, while abounding in warm discussion, made no distinctive change in this position, although at the latter the Prudential Committee was requested to interpret the position in a liberal spirit, and to reopen the case of Mr. Noyes. This gentleman, while a student at Andover, had applied for appointment, but been rejected on the ground of statements concerning probation which were held unsound. Four years ago a council called by the Berkeley Temple Church, Boston, ordained him, and he was 'sent out as an independent missionary to Japan, where he has since then been supported by the church. A year ago the missionaries of the Board in Japan requested that Mr. Noyes receive appointment from the Board, affirming the value of his work, his earnest Christian spirit, and that if he held any peculiarities of doctrine, they had never appeared in his work or utterances. After correspondence with him, this appointment was voted by the Prudential Committee, accompanied with a minute stating that they understood him to withdraw from the position previously objectionable. Mr. Noyes replied that he chose not to withdraw that statement, but that he felt it had been interpreted more unfavorably than was warranted. Upon this the Committee withdrew its appointment, holding itself bound by the statement already upon its minutes. His own words before the Berkeley Council should be given: " Of the intermediate state I hold no positive doctrine. I do not know what effect physical death will have upon character. What I dread for my fellow-men is spiritual death. T am confronted with the tremendous fact that without the Gospel they are dying. Character tends to fixity. The Spirit of God will not !'ltrive with men forever. Then woe is me if I preach not the Gospel at once! ,,yith the Gospel message I believe there comes the decisive opportunity and obligation to repent. God help me so to present this message that men shall be saved by it and not lost!
" Those who do not hear the message in this life I trnstfully leave to God. I do not claim to know God's method of dealing with them. But I do not refuse to think about them. I entertain in their behalf what I conceive to be a reasonable hope that somehow, before their destinies are fixed, there shall be revealed to them the love of God in Christ Jesus. In this, as in every question to which God has given no distinct answer, I merely claim the liberty of the Gospel."
In a letter to the Prudential Committee of the American Board under date of June lOth, 1893, Mr. Noyes writes: "In regard to my general theological position, I suppose the vote appointing me was taken on the basis of my statement of belief made to the Council which ordained me. This is quite satisfactory, for that statement essentially represents my present position."
With all the documents before them, the opinion had spread widely among the churches that, although the Prudential Committee might have acted consistently with its records aud instructions, it was entirely competent for the Board to make this appointment upon the present aspect of the case. At the first session memorials from local and State bodies came in requesting such action. A special committee of fifteen was formed, to which all such matters were to be referred without debate. On this were placed men of differing views and most positive convictions. Should they come to an agreement, it was felt that all could agree, but few counted it practicable. They were in session continuously for fifteen hours, considering all memorials and hearing all parties who wished to appear, finally bringing in a unanimous report, with this as the crucial resolution: "that this Board, in response to the expressed wish of its missionaries in Japan, and in recognition of the successful labors of the Rev. William H. Noyes in that empire, requests the Prudential Committee to offer to him an appointment as a missionary of the Board. The Board declares that this action is not to be understood as in any way modifying its former utterances on the subject of future probatitln."
The session of Thursday morning was devoted to the report and discussion, and the resolution was finally adopted by a vote of 106 to 24. Some who had signed a conservative protest voted for the resolution, and others since then have recognized in it a safe gronnd for union. Within the last months a party of moderation has come to the front, composed of men wholly evangelical in faith, liberal in spirit, and wofully tired of a struggle so plainly disastrous, and, in their view, needless. Upon the declaration of the vote, a feeling of intense relief and profound gratitude to God for the manifest guidance of His Spirit was apparent. Eager declarations of loyalty to the Board came from all quarters, an earnest of which appeared in five subscriptions of $1000 each toward the special needs of the treasury. A solemn sense of responsibility and a prevailing conviction of spiritual brotherhood were apparent. No partisan victory was sought or gained. The votes of the strong conservative majority alone made the action possible. It is felt that the Lord Christ Himself has led this Board, with its glorious history and unmeasured opportunity, through a place where two seas met, and that its best years are now to come.
The report included a resolution that the Prudential Committee be in- creased to fifteen, to be elected in three classes for three years each, nine years being the limit of continuous service. A vote taken at another time was in the same direction of keeping the Board in close touch with the churches, by providing that the number of corporate members be increased from 250 to 350, nominations being made in part by State bodies.
Not wholly disconnected with the decision in the Noyes case was the resignation of the Home Secretary and two members of the Prudential Com- mittee. Secretary E. K. Alden has given nearly a quarter of a century to the Board, carrying into it the supreme devotion which marked him as a missionary pastor in his important church in Boston. Dr. A. C. Thomp- son, late Chairman of the Prudential Committee, has the perhaps unprece- dented record of forty-four years' official service. His wide journeys, always at his own expense, covering not only this land but foreign fields, and his remarkable command of its general history and minute events, coupled with unswerving loyalty to his convictions, have given him great influence. Mr. Elbridge Torrey has illustrated for seventeen years the value of a Christian layman in such a position, sacrificing the interests of a large business to bring to the committee the practical sagacity so essen- tial. The hearty testimonials and strong resolutions which recognized the power of these services indicate in part how noble are the gifts of life and spirit devoted to this work of missions, the quintessence of Christianity.
Mention should be made of the prayer without ceasing which antici- pated this gathering, and was evident in prayer-meetings and devotional exercises; of the communion services ; of the stately sweep of song in the great congregation ; of the high intellectual order of addresRes, from the opening sermon to the closing words of the president; of the impressive words of missionaries j of the pervading sense, usually apparent, of acting as under the Master's eye. Fitly chosen was the closing hymn, .. " We are living, we are dwelling, In a grand, an awful time; In an age on ages telling.
To be living is sublime."
AUSTRALASIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO MISSIONS
The closing prayer by Dr. Goodwin carried souls direct to the throne, and the benediction of peace pronounced by the president has its echo in thousands of grateful hearts.
AUSTRALASIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO CHRIST'S CAUSE IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. * BY REV. ANDREW HARDIE, RICHMOND, VICTORIA.
How far has Australia obeyed the last command of Christ ~ (Matt. 28 : 18-20).
Australian Christianity has, from the beginning of colonization, endeavored to keep in touch with the grand missionary moyements of our age. The early settlers kept up their connection with missionary societies in the home land till the colonial churches felt themselves strong enough to take up fields of their own. Whether their efforts have been as earnest, enlightened, and enthusiastic as they ought to have been, we can only decide when we know what has been done. We had hoped to be able to give a complete and accurate answer to the question, but have not quite succeeded. For as you cannot realize how great Australasia is till you have travelled from Melbourne to Cape York, from Sydney to Perth, and then taken the round trip, visiting Tasmania and New Zealand, so you can have no idea how numerOUll are the agencies for foreign missions now existing in Australasia till you have tried to get into touch with all. We can only present the inf~rmation obtained and make an approximate estimate from the known to the unknown in order to furnish a reasonable reply.
In the fulfilment of Christ's last command, the Wesleyan Conference takes a first place among Australian churches, if not in date of start, yet both in money spent and results seen. Her mission work was begun by the British Conference of 1815, and was largely sustained and entirely directed by that body till 1855, when the Australian Conference took full responsibility and control. Besides assisting in the evangelization of the aborigines and Chinese resident in the various colonies, the Conference spread her wings and carried the glorious Gospel to the <;annibal islanders of the South Seas. Employing 22 European missionaries, 95 native ministers, and a host of lay preachers and other workers in her mission churches, her expenditure last year came close on £16,000. Results of the most gratifying character prove that the Lord:s with her in the work. In 6 Chinese stations she has 150 members and upward of 400 adherents. In her latest enterprise (British New Guinea) she is aided by 20 native teachers drawn from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. In New Britain, New Ireland, and Duke of * A paper read at the United Missionary Conference, held in Melbourne, Aus- tralia, June, 1893. York islands churches are established, schools well attended, and over 500 are communicants. New Zealand gave golden harvests among the Maoris; but it is in the Friendly Islands and Fiji that the most conspicuous triumphs have been obtained. There the entire communities have been Christianized, settled governments established, and Fiji has become a British colony. In less than fifty years 100,000 savages, who found their highest joys in horrors of which we dare hardly think, have been made to sit at Jesus' feet j have exchanged the club, spear, and feast of human flesh for the tools, trade, and social joys of civilized life j and many of them stand ready to brave danger and death in carrying the standard of the cross to other islands. Well may this awaken new songs of praise, new hopes of victory for our glorious King all the world over!
Almost contemporary with the Wesleyan Conference stands the London Missionary Society. Through the Rev. S. Marsden, Church of England Chaplain, as agent in New South ·Wales, help began to be given to this noble, God-honored society about 1816. Since then contributions have steadily increased. In 1885 the Australian auxiliaries obtained the privilege of recommending candidates for service, and have fOent 8 missionaries from the colonies. At a cost of over £5000 a year they support 20 missionaries, who labor in Shanghai and Pekin, China j Salem, India j Raratonga and New Guinea, and" make their influence felt not only in the mission field, but iu the life of the churches sustaining them."
The British and Foreign Bible Society appears third in the race, so far as our information goes. From the diary of Rev. ·William vVaterfield, first pastor of Collins Street Indf)pendent Church, ~felbourne, and first secretary of the Victorian auxiliary, we learn that this society was formed in the Scots Church school-room, July 14th, 1840, Mr. Latrobe presiding. Rev. James Clow (Presbyterian) moved the first resolution, a committee was formed, and £16 collected. Since then £15,540 have been sent home as free contributions and £31,081 paid for Bibles. Auxiliaries exist in each colony, and together raise some £5000 per annum j 170,000 jubilee Testaments and large grants of Bibles have been distributeJ.. Seyeral translations of the New Testament into the languages of the New Hebrideans have been carried through the press by this society in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Church of England occupies the next position in chronological order of organized work, although she doubtless helped in mission work from the beginning of her history. Having no federal union, and apparently no central board of missions in each colony, it is difficult to ascertain all that she is doing. 'Ve have only secured returns from 8 missions-5 Victorian, 1 New South Wales, 2 general. lIer great Melanesian mission is supported partly by England and partly by Australasia. There are 6 white clergymen, 9 native ordained clergy, and 93 native teachers at present engaged. At the college on Norfolk Island 29 students are supported by New Zealand, which contributes some £1500 a year to the mission. England gave last year £1897, while the colonies raised £3763. There is an endowment of £35,000, to which the martyr Bishop Pattison left £13,350, so that the expenditure of £6266 for last year, though exceeding the contributions, is provided for. Good work is done at the training college j the workers are very devoted, and a goodly number of the islanders are walking in the light of life. In 1853 Victoria established 2 mission stations for the aborigines at Lake Condah and Lake Tyers. These have been carried on with satisfactory results, at a cost of about £550 a year. Two years later she started her mission to the Chinese, which has now 7 stations, 5 missionaries, and costs £744 pcr annum j 350 converts have been received into church-fellowship, most of whom stand fast in the Lord, some 8 of them being now ordained clergy or catechists laboring in China.
For the last fourteen years New South Wales has had a mission to the Chinese in Sydney and suburbs which employs 3 missionaries and spends £400 a year. Of 68 converts, 40 have been confirmed and 25 are now communicants. A Chinese has been ordained to the ministry. 1891 saw a united effort made to start a mission in New Guinea j 3 missionaries and several native teachers are now at work there, but find the diversity of dialects a hindrance to rapid progress. Victoria has contributed £2000 to this enterprise.
In 1892 a Victorian zenana mission was formed to work among the women of India and China, and 10 lady missionaries with 37 Bible women are now supported by it, at a cost of £1227 last year.
Mr. Eugene Stock this same year was instrumental in forming an association to work in fellowship with the Church Missionary Society, training and sending forth colonial missionaries to India. Victoria has spent £100 on the training of 4 men. New South Wales has also a similar association.
Probably the greater portion of the Church of England missionary effort still goes privately to help the Church Missionary Society j and all know that for many years the Rev. H. B. Macartney has shown what one earnest worker can do in this communion for Christian missions. To support native teachers, schools, and other agencies in India, China, and Ceylon, our brother raised last year £1259. Combining these missions, we reckon that over 200 paid agents are employed, at an annual outlay of under £11,000.
The Presbyterian churches have also about 200 agents, costing nearly £12,000 a year. On April 8th, 1859, the various sections of the Presbyterian Church in Victoria were happily united. Their first act was to ap- a point committee for Sabbath-schools, their next a board of missions.
Attention was first directed to the Chinese, for whom there are now a fully organized church at Ballarat, of which the Rev. James Cline, a Chinese convert, is pastor, and 7 mission stations at Little Bendigo, Beaufort, Ararat, Beechworth, Bairnsdale, Warmambool, and Coburg, with trained catechists in charge. A goodly number of adherents has been gathered, and many communicants show by their godly life that true converts make splendid Christians. For the aborigines, who were next taken up, the services of that able and zealous Moravian missionary, Rev. F. A. Hagenauer, now inspector-general for all the aborigines of Victoria, were fortunately secured. His mission station at Ramahynch, Gippsland, is a pleasing picture, well worth seeing, and the history of the mission has been full of interest-an interest, however, tinged with sadness, for the aborigines are a doomed race and are fast disappearing. But many of them die " in the Lord" and in great peace and joy. After these missions, the New Hebrides were adopted as a third field, and one of its missionaries, the now world-renowned Dr. J. G. Paton, has proved a mighty power for good. His thrilling adventures on Tanna, his successful evangelization of Aniroa, and his untiring advocacy of this field in all the colonies, the homeland and America, have greatly helped the growth of the missionary spirit. The Rev. D. Macdonald, at Havannah Harbor, Efate, has added hundreds of converts to the Church and trained EOme noble teachers, and at 5 different stations other men have done good work. But diversity of languages, races, and customs, entire absence of unity of a political kind and other causes have hindered the speedy conquest of these islands for Christ.
Aided by her Young People's Fellowship Union, the Church has begun a mission in Corea. Her first missionary, Rev. J. H. Davies, lies buried in Fusan, but his monument is the mission house ereded there, and now occupied by Rev. I. H. Mackay, M.A. There the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union placed 4 workers, who are succeeding beyond expectation in winning the women and acquiring the language. This society has also 2 ladies at work in India and 2 among the Chinese women and children of Melbourne, and though only in their third year, are spending about £700 a year.
When the Presbyterian churches of Australia and Tasmania were federated about three years ago, the memorial erected was a new mission to the aborigines of North Queensland. For this 2 Moravian missionaries (Revs. J. G. Ward and N. Hey) were obtained from home, and have made an excellent start at Cullen Point, Batavia River, York Peninsula, among a very destitute and degraded people. As yet only ordained ministers and trained catechists have been employed, but medical missionaries and lay agents will be engaged as opportunity is found; 20 missionaries and 40 teachers are maintained at about £5000 a year, New South Wales joined in the New Hebrides Mission in 1869, taking a station on Malo. In 18'13 she opened a mission to the Chinese in Sydney and subnrbR, and for five years has carried on another to the same nationality at Newcastle. She also helps in the Federal Assembly's mission, and raises about £1300 annually.
From] 854 Otago and Southland Presbyterians in New Zealand sent help to the Free Chlrch of Scotland foreign missions, till in 1869 they beg'an work among the )JaOl·is. Having tasted Lha blessedness of direct effort, they took up both the Chinese and New Hebrides, and now support 5 missionaries and 70 native teachers, at a cost of £2000 a year. Their work has been abundantly successful.
North New Zealand Presbyterians have taken up the same three fields, and last year spent £200 more in the work than their brethren in the south. Tasmania and South Australia each began work in the New Hebrides in 1882. Their fields are a great contrast in results. South Australia has reaped but little fruit on Tanna. On Epi, Tasmania has sent 2000 gathered into the fold; they each spend about £350 per annum. South Australia also works in India, and both help in the Federal Assembly's mis- SIOn.
Queensland only took up mission work as a church in 1888, with one mission to the aborigines and another to the Kanakas, adding recently the Federal Assembly mission. But individual congregations were working among the aborigines at an earlier date. Especially among the Kanakas good fruit has been plentiful, and the interest in the work has been extend- 'ed by the pleadings of the Ormond College Missionary Society. This church raises about £400 a year.
Among the Baptist churches the Rev. J. Price claims for South Australia and Tasmania the honor of being the parents of all the colonial Baptist missionary societies-" the Furreedpore Mission, East Bengal, having for twenty-eight years been supported by the prayers and offerings of the colonies." Whether this claim is admitted we do not know; it is certain, however, that Victoria was then,' if not earlier, sending help through the home society for native teachers in East Bengal. In 1885 she sent out 2 zenana missionaries, and in the following year organized her own society. She now employs 6 missionaries and 9 native teachers. Some 80 converts have been admitted to church-fellowship, and the work in the girls' school is most hopeful. Annual expenditure for this and Furreedpoor £1200 each. New South Wales took up the same field in 1887, and spends £500 in supporting 3 zenana missionaries, 1 Bible woman, and an evangelist. Queensland followed in 1888, and has 2 missionaries, 1 native preacher, and 2 teachers, with an organized church. She raises £250 a year. Total, 40 agents; cost, £3150 a year. 1890 brought to our shores the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, of China. His wonderful work of faith and love in the China Inland Mission awoke deep responses in the colonies, and led to the formation of councils with many branches. The centre is in Melbourne; a5 missionaries have already gone from Australia, and the society is spending £3000 a year. At one place in China a church of 120 members has already been gathered, and the grace resting on this work gives bright hopes of glorious harvests of souls.
Yet another new organization has found a home here-the East African Industrial Mission. Its special aim is to teach the arts of useful industry. This is well worth Christian attention, and has been too long overlooked for some fields, though there are others where it is unnecessary.
A MISSIONARY
Thus far we have presented facts-giving an aggregate of some 650 paid agents and an expenditure of £53,000. But remembering the many denominations Dot noticed and societies not reached-e. g., Church of England work among the Kanakas of Queensland; independent missions to the same people; the missions of the minor Methodist bodies; Bible Christians; Salvation Army, etc.-we may safely reckon that Australasia employs some 800 missionaries and teachers in the foreign field, and raises every year some £70,000 in response to her Lord's last command. In itself this is a gratifying and gladdening fact. But is this all that Australia could and therefore should do ~ Only consider the gloom of the heathen, the good of the Church, and the glory of Christ, and snrely you will say, " Forward," "Amplius." Think of the aborigines! Tens of thousands in North and Western Australia are still uncared for. Ought not· their present misery and prospective doom to urge us to do more, and that speedily, for those whose goodly heritage has become our own? Think of the 30,000 Chinese living among us-strangers set free from the pressure of ancestral traditions, with the heart hungering for sympathy, and readily responsive to kindness. Why let slip the opportunity of winning these for Christ? Think of India's child widows, of a million a month dying unsaved in China, and say, " Have we done enough ~"
Then recall the results of mission work. What heroic characters it has developed in Carey and Livingstone, Judson and Moffat, and thousands more! What blessings it brings to the churches supporting the workers! Would it not be well worth a greater effort to get more of this benefit?
Above all, remember Christ, His great love, His magnificent selfsacrifice, His earnest longing to fold humanity in the embrace of everlasting forgiveness and fellowship. Remember He has trusted us to place Him on the throne. The King cannot come again till we prepare the way before Him. Oh, if Australia transferred to her Lord her enthusiasm for sports, the millions she spends on strong drink, the love she has for gold, how soon she would become" the King's daughter, all glorious within, her garments of wrought gold," her attendant maidens, the converts of the missions, waiting with her, ready to enter into the King's palace and be forever the beloved of the Lord! May He grant her yet this glory !
A MISSIONARY HEROINE.
BY MARIA A. WEST, NEW YORK CITY.
There is a missionary lady whose story of entrance into Thibet and months of sojourn in that hitherto closed country thrilled every Christian heart that heard it, while she tarried a few days in New York, on her way to England, having come directly from Thibet and China.
Miss Annie Taylor was born and reared in London. The child of wealthy yet worldly parents, and without any special religio'us training in early life, she was led of God to turn away from earthly aims and pleasures and choose His service when but fourteen years of age. At that time she united with a Congregational church, but later with the Presbyterian Church, under the ministry of Dr. Sinclair Patterson. After some years spent at school in Germany, and in Italy, where she gave herself to painting, she began a systematic round of Christian work in district visitation among the p~)Or, for the Master's call continually sounded in her ears. This was also connected with medical study and attendance upon a hospital, when her rich clothing was gladly laid aside for the garb of a nurse. All this was not pleasing to the parents, who sought in vain to turn her heart back to the joys and pleasures of this world. But God was preparing His ." chosen vessel" to bear His name far hence to a people sitting in the densest darkness. Miss Taylor received her diploma for midwifery, and studied dentistry enough to aid in her future work. In God's own time the door was opened for her into a foreign land. Her parents, finding it useless to oppose her, gave a reluctant consent, and the joy of her soul was well expressed by a member of the council of the China Inland Mission: " It is like a burst of sunshine when she comes into the room."
Miss Taylor went to China, donned the dress of the people, learned their language, and then, led by the Spirit of God, settled alone in one of the villages on the Thibetan border, and began the study of that language, with the view to labor in that land. This step was not approved by her missionary associates, who deemed the undertaking rash and presumptuous, especially for a woman. Having means of her own, she was, in a sense, independent j and believing that God had called her to this work, she went forward in the face of dangers and trials that might well have appalled the strongest man.
After some time spent at Kansuh, in 1886-7, she went to a Thibetan monastery at Kumbum, and mingled with the Thibetans living there, wearing the dress of that people and studying them as well as their tongue. While there her health failed, and she visited Australia, where she met her mother, who was but recently converted. On her recovery, Miss Taylor was providentially led to Darjeeling, on the Thibetan border, in India, and there continued her study with a native teacher.
Visiting England for a few months, she returned to Darjeeling, in the hill country of lndh, and lived alone in a Thibetan village for five months, going later with six or eight Thibetan coolies, horses, tents, and provisions to Sikkim, a part of Thibet not yet made over to the English. She was taken prisoner by the government officials and most of her supplies seized, leaving her destitute and alone in that strange land. They tried in vain to turn her back, but nothing would induce her to retrace her steps. The hill men who callle with her built a hut of green bamboo for her shelter, and then went ou their way. Finding that she could not be persuaded to return, the chiefs endeavored to poison her, and almost succeeded several times. Finally she said she would go, but by another route, which took her through a wide portion of the country ; and most of that fearful journey, sometimes in the rain or snow, and often intense cold, especially at night, was made on foot, twenty and even thirty miles a day, without a fire at night to dry the wet clothing or warm the chilled frame, sleeping in a hole dug in the ground (sometimes with ,a layer of frozen water underneath), and often without food at the close of a long day's tramp. Yet He who feeds the sparrows never failed to send something sooner or later to His child when she cried to Rim. Her breath was one continual prayer going up to heaven; every place upon which the sole of her foot trod she claimed for God in Thibet! She was within three days of Gaza, the capital at one time. Being a woman, her life was spared-for womanhood is reverenced in Thibet-and her medical skill served her for many a good turn. Sometimes the women would secretly bring her a little food hidden in their garments, when the chiefs had forbidden anyone to sell it to her. Sometimes their popped corn would be strewn by the wayside, and she would pick it up like the birds of the air, thanking God for the timely supply.
And amid a people notoriously immoral, when she had no earthly protection by day or by night, God shielded His dear handmaiden from insult or harm. Day by day she was attended by an invisible guard, and the arrows of the Evil One were turned back by His shield! Unscathed by the enemy, 8he came out of that dark, dark country, having sown in some hearts the precious seed of the kingdom, * and bringing with her the " first fruits" in a converted young Thibetan, whose feet she had washed and bound up when he was suffering from a long journey, having fled from his chief; a native of Lhasa, where the people are hig-her in civilization, and where life is far more endurable, so that it can be made a centre for missionary operations in the future when the door .is widely opened.
Mter this entrance on the side of India, Miss Taylor went in on the Chinese side, and met with similar experiences. I may have confused the two, but it matters not. She will doubtless give the world her own story in due time; and this, which is by her permission, will only serve to whet the appetite of God's children for the full narration. I will add that Miss Taylor goes to England to secure at least ten or twelve men to go out and learn the Thibetan language at Darjeel.ing, India, so as to be in readiness for the work when the door of Thibet is opened to their entrance, as it must be soon. Rome is making preparation for its occupation; and why should the Christian Church be behind in obedience to its" marching orders" from the Commander-in-Chief? God hasten the day!
* The Moravians had prepared the New Testament and part of the Old in Thibetan; also a good dictionary. Blessed pioneers in making ready the way of ,the Lord are these Moravians I
THE RESPONSIBILI'l'Y OF YOUNG PEOPLE FOlt MISSIONS
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR SOCIETIES FOR MISSIONS. * BY REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.n.
One of the most hopeful signs of the present day is the wonderful quickening of interest on the part of young people in the work of foreign missions. Mission work is no longer a novelty. The rosy light of romance has been largely stripped from the squalid wretchedness of heathenism. It is understood that missionary life involves not so much of adventurous iucident as of hardship. The days when Sabbath-school children dreamed of the missionary as sitting under a fruitful cocoanut-tree while the eager natives pressed around him to hear the Word of Life, while his own existence was a kind of happy combination of the life of Robinson Crusoe and the exemplary parent in the " Swiss Family Robinson," have largely disappeared.
Even the boys and girls have come to know that missionary work in foreign lands is very much like Christian work in any land so far as the spirit, and purpose, and determination, and grinding attention to details is concerned. It is frequently a life work in the slums, plus the deprivation of friends and pleasant neighbors and the joys of patriotic citizenship, plus isolation and loneliness.
The idea of physical hardships and romantic sufferings which used to inhere in the thought of mission life has also largely disappeared; there has taken the place of these romantic hardships the far truer idea of steady, constant, monotonous work among degraded classes, with the awful and appalling inertia of heathenism as a constant and discouraging background to all elforts.
Yet in spite of all this the tide of enthusiasm among young people for mission work has been steadily growing. This is indicated by the remarkable Students Volunteer Movement, which has spread into England as well as swept over America, and which enrolls UpOIt its lists thousands of those who are desirous, God willing, to carry the Gospel to other lands.
Moreover, this rising tide of enthusiasm is very plainly indicated at the conventions of young people which have been such a remarkable feature of the religious life of the last decade. It has been noted over and over again, at the huge international conventions of the Society of Christian Endeavor, that the most interesting sessions are those which are devoted to mission work; that the stirring missionary addresses called forth the largest enthusiasm, and that the eyes of the young disciples who represent this army, which is now nearly a million and three quarters strong, are fixed not only upon their own prayer-meeting, on their own consecration service, and their own committee work, but look out with an intense long- • Read at tile Ccngre•• of Missions. Cblcago, October 2d, 1898. ing upon the uttermost parts of the earth with the hope and prayer that He whose right it is may reign.
But this most gratifying enthusiasm should not surprise us if we study the trend of the times. It is the natural and normal expression of the religious life. ",Ve ought to be surprised if we find any other spirit manifested by these devoted young hearts who, in the freshness of their youthful zeal, by the hundred thousand every month renew their dedication to Christ.
The responsibility for missions of these young people and their societies rests upon several natural reasons. First, they, in common with all the world, have received the great commission j they too are under marching orders j to them as well as to the oldest veteran were the words written, "Go ye into all the world." They cannot escape if they would from Christ's command, " Disciple all the nations." But a peculiar responsi- . bility rests upon them because they are young. This is pre-eminently the mission century. More than all the sixty that have gone before it, is it the age in which Christ's command has been heard by all the world.
Uttered though it was eighteen hundred years ago, by some modern spiritual audiphone the command has been repeated, and emphasized, and broadened and thundered out, and heard and heeded as never before.
The young people who have been born in the latter half of this nineteenth century could not help hearing this command as their fathers never heard it. They have been actually enveloped in the sound waves of this mighty audiphone. Their responsibility is greater than the responsibility of their fathers, on the principle that to him that " knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
" Weare," says Dr. Josiah Strong, "it seems to me, even more favored than those who are to follow us. Some one has said that he would rather be his own grandson than his own grandfather, and so would I; but I would rather be myself than my latest descendant, because I would rather have part in the glorious work of creating the Christian civilization of the people than to bask in the full radiance of its glory."
The millionaire has m;re responsibilities than the pauper. Every dollar is an added means of doing good, and for every dollar he must give account. All the light which has broken in upon this wonderful century adds to the responsibility of every man and woman whose birthday falls within it, and the responsibility is an increasing one as these birthdays draw near to the closing decade.
Again the responsibility of these young people's societies is indicated by the very nature of these modern organizations. The Society of Christian Endeavor may, without presumption, I suppose, be taken as the type of the modern young people's religious organization. Born but little more than twelve years ago, it has now spread throughout the world, has nearly twenty-eight thousand branches and an actual membership of not far from one million seven hundred thousand. Formed with no wisdom of man, but by the purpose of God, its scope and real mission are becoming more and more plain every day.
Its fundamental principles are CONSECRATION, LOYALTY, FELLOWSHIP. Its consecration is expressed in the weekly pledged prayer-meeting and in the monthly consecration service. Its loyalty is indicated by the fact that' the societies are always under the control of their own churches, and that the purpose of every committee is to do just what its own church and pastor desire to have done. Its interdenominational fellowship is exemplified by the vast union gatherings which bring so many of them together in loving accord upon the broad platform of service for the one Lord.
But all this consecration, loyalty, and fellowship must mean and does mean missionary zeal unless the very purpose and spirit of the movement is strangely perverted. The consecration of these yonng disciples means that they will go where Christ would have them go, that they will do what He will have them do, that they will be only and altogether what He would have them be. The true missionary spirit cannot be divorced from the true spirit of devotion. Their loyalty to Christ means the same thing. It is a mere empty profession if they do not hear His -command to " disciple the nations. "
Their loyalty is not only to Christ, but to the Church, their own Church and denomination, and part of the work of every church is the mission work. All worthy denominational activity is expended at home and abroad in furthering the kingdom. Loyalty to these interests inheres in the very nature and constitution of a modern young people's movement.
Loyalty to the Church involves loyalty to the denominational missionary treasuries. Not merely a passive wish that they may be full, but an active effort to fill their coffers. It is hoped and expected that during the coming year the Christian Endeavor Society will make a thank offering of not less than a quarter of a million of dollars for missionary purposes. This money will go through the regular church channels into the denominational treasuries, to be used as their own boards see fit. It will be a tangible expression of the genuine zeal which fires these youthful hearts.
Moreover, the world-wide fellowship promotes this same spirit. These soeieties are not confined to the narrow limits of one denomination or hemmed in by the boundaries of a single nation, but their line has gone out into all the earth. Eleven evangelical denominations in America have adopted or endorsed the Christian Endeavor Society. Four in England have done the same thing, and as many more in Australia and in Canada, and it is largely found in all the denominations in all these countries which have not formally endorsed it. A United Society of Christian Endeavor with many branches exists in China, still another in Japan, with its monthly periodical and its useful literature. In India the work is progressing with equal rapidity ; and into Tamil and Telugu, Hindi and Bengali, Marathi and Hindustani and Oordu the constitution has been translated, and the society is making its way. Into the Sandwich Islands and Samoa, Madagascar and South Africa, Burma and Siam, Persia and Syria has the socitlty spread. The cruel tyranny of the Sultan is not sufficient to cru~h it out of the Ottoman Empire, while in France and Spain and the nations of modern Europe it has been found to be, so far as it has extended, help and inspiration for young people.
In England and Australia the society is moving on with the same rapid increase as in the land of its birth. This broad and ever broadening fel- lowship must have its effect upon the hearts of the members of this organization in increasing their brotherly love not only for their fellow- members, whom they have seen, but for those of different climes and dif- ferent complexions, whom they will never see.
In the blessed interdenominational and international felbwship of this movement is found one of its chief incentives to missionary enthusiasm, for its members feel their peculiar kinship with Endeavorers everywhere. The motto which is engraved, not only on the ban,ners and the badges of this youthful host, but upon their hearts as well, "For Christ and the Church," really means, " For Christ and the Church and the world," for the Church is for the world, and the world is destined to be for the Church.
It is worth noting in this connection that the origin of the first Society of Christian Endeavor was closely linked with mission work. The organization which preceded the first society, and which was to an extent merged into it, was a mission circle, and the mission idea has never been foreign to the Endeavor idea.
Another point of contact between young people and missionary work is found in the innate heroism of their youthful natures. Every generous boy is an incipient hero. Every pure young girl is a heroine in embryo. The sordid world often makes sad havoc with these early aspirations, but with rare exceptions among those who are rightly trained they are sure to be present: The ideal heroes and heroines for which their minds blindly grope, as the morning-glory turns toward the rising sun, are found to-day very largely upon the mission field. The Moffats and the Livingstones, the McKays and the Patons and the Morrisons are the real knights of the nineteenth century. If in these piping times of peace stories of valor in a righteous cause can anywhere be found, they will be found in these lands to which our brave missionaries have gone.
All this is felt by the young disciples whosc lives are dedicated so completely to the Master's service. As the camel's foot is fitted to the desert's sand, as the bird's wing is adapted to cut the air, so the hearts of the young people of the present day, stimulated and stirred as they have never been before, are adapted to the heroic service for Christ, which in its highest manifestations is found to-day in mission lands.
Again, their responsibility for missions is indicated by the fact that their own spiritual life can flourish only in the atmosphere which is created by the enthusiasm for the salvation of the world. It has been truly said, " An enthusiasm for humanity is what we most need, not only that the world may be saved, but that we ourseh'es lllay not miss our salvation. Civilization is compelling an interest in others for our own sakes. Christ inculcated an interest in others for their sakeE. Christian brotherhood springs from something higher than common interest. In an ocean steamship the steerage and the cabin passengers have a vast deal in common during the voyage. If the steerage goes to the bottom, so does the cabin. If a deadly pestilence breaks out in the former, the latter is im- mensely concerned; but all this may be without one brotherly heart-beat between the two. Modern civilization is fast getting us aU into one boat, and we are beginning to learn how much we are concerned with the concerns of others. But the higher social organization of the future must have some higher and nobler bond than an enlightened selfishness. Even such a love for one's neighbor as will fulfil the second great law of Christ."
This" enthusiasm for humanity," of which Dr. Strong so eloquently speaks, which is but another and broader name for enthusiasm for missionary work, is necessary to the continual life and growth of these disciples who are banded together in these young people's societies. The spiritual law of self-preservation must compel their interest in these large concerns of the kingdom.
A few years ago the Christian people of Australia felt that their religious life as a nation was at a low ebb. The affairs of the kingdom Ian" guished within their borders. The demands made upon them to subdue and civilize and people a vast island continent occupied all their energies, and spiritual matters seemed to drop out of sight. Leaders of religious life were alarmed, I am told ; but just then came the thought, not, "'Ve must spend all our energies upon ourselves," not, " We must evangelize our own broad domains first," but, "We must do something for the nations beyond, for these vast heathen islands which lie around us, which are sunk to the lowest depths of superstition and cannibal ferocity." "We owe something to them as well as to ourselves."
So the island of New Guinea was partitioned between three or four of the evangelical denolllinations, and recruits were called for to carry the Gospel thither. It was known that going meant hardship and privation, and very likely death; that the missionaries would find no honored graves even, but, in all likelihood, would be served up at cannibal feasts.
It was known that a shipload of Chinamen, who had been wrecked on the coast for which this mission was bound only a year before, had all been killed and eaten; and yet, when the call came for volunteers, not only the four white men who were first asked for came to the front, but five times as many ; not only the forty natives of the South Seas who were immediately desired heard the call, but four times forty.
Those who were chosen were esteemed the fortunate ones, and the tears and the sorrow were all expended upon those who could not go, but were obliged to stay in their comfortable homes. From that time I have been assured more than once in many sections of Australia the work of many churches revived, the spiritual life of the people was quickened, and those who were willing to lose their own lives not only found them, but a great people renewed their spiritual zeal and lighted once more their torches at the altar where this missionary fire of devoted consecration had been kindled.
So it will ever be in America, as in Australia, among the young and the old. Those who would have life must give life. Those who would gain inspiration for larger service must be willing to expend all they have on present duties. Those who wo~ld fit themselves for larger things-yes, those who would escape spiritual atrophy and death must continually kindle anew their enthusiasm for humanity, their. love for the world for which Christ died.
It is becoming more and more evident, I believe, to .all these young people in societies of Christian Endeavor that they must" go or send ;" that there is no compromising with Christ; that His command cannot be trifled with, and that if for good and sufficient reasons they cannot dedicate themselves to this service, they must remember their responsibility for sending some one who can go. They have all been drafted into this war, and if they cannot personally fight the battle in other lands, they must fight at home and send their substitutes across the sea.
This sense of responsibility directly affects their pocketbook, and makes, the matter of proportionate and systematic giving a very real and vital thing. "When this sense of responsibility touches the pocketbooks of men, when every dollar that a Christian earns he feels is mortgaged for the advancement of the kingdom, then will come the glad day when" holiness to the Lord" will be written on the bells of the horses, and when the smallest things will be dedicated to Jehovah.
That glad day is coming, I believe. We can already see its early dawn in the East. One of these days there will be a vast revival in gh'ing. The purse strings of the world will be unloosed. God grant that the young people who are handed together in common forms of service may feel this quickening t011ch, may realize their responsibility more and more, and may know that upon them depends the fulfilment of Christ's prayer, " Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."
The progress of the Christian Endeavor movement has been remarkable in its extent and rapidity. In 1881 there was one society and 48 members. Six years later, in 1887, there were 2314 societies and 140,- 000 members, and in 1892, 21,080 societies and 1,370,200 members. The progress will be much greater in 1893 than in any previous year, as a result of Dr. Clark's tour around the world. It is estimated that there will be about 30,000 societies and 1,700,000 members reported at home and abroad.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEY. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
David Zeisberger, the Friend of the fish and hunt, and found pleasure in the American Indians. hardy life of the pioneer. Near the Forks of the Delaware in Pennsylvania BY ARTHUR C. KEMPTON, ROCHESTER, a site was selected, and here they erected the first log-cabin of what has since N. Y. been known as Bethlehem, the centre of Moravian influence in America. It Let us leave the present and look waS in: this place, with its strong religupon America as it was two hundred ious sentiment, that Zeisberger was years ago. converted. His friends were one day singing a hymn, when Zeisberger sur- I. A Land of Da1'7cness. prised them by bursting into tears and What we now know as Chicago, the leaving the room. In the shadows of Queen of the West, was then a trackless the forest he struggled with the angel swamp; New York was only a small until he received the blessing, and in town; and no white man had yet seen the very hour of his conversion he rethe land of the Golden Gate. The solved to consecrate his life to the cause " settlements" scattered here and there of missions among the Indians. along the coast consisted merely of a few log huts in the midst of a small II. The Dawning of the Day. clearing which bore a scanty crop of In the following year he and another potatoes and Indian corn. The interior young man left their homes to live was a great Unknown. among a friendly tribe of Indians in Coming apparently from the west, the the Valley of the Mohawk, so that they red man had spread himself over the might learn their language. As a rule country, until the whole continent was missionaries are more hindered by their sprinkled with the ashes of his camp- own countrymen than by the heathen fires. Numerous tribes were engaged themselves, and this is certainly true in in unceasing warfare. The war·path the life of Zeisberger. These young was the Indian's delight, and in cruelty men had only entered upon their noble he found his greatest pleasure. work when they were taken prisoners Such was the country which David by the authorities of New York, who Zeisberger saw from the deck of the pretended to believe that they were ship which had brought him from Hol- French spies, but who in reality were land, and such were the people among moved by their hatred for missionaries. whom he was to spend his life. He But their hearts were not daunted. was now only seventeen years of age, Like Paul and Silas, they made the jail and was fresh from the Moravian ring with songs of praise and the voice schools of Germany and Holland, where of prayer, and covered the whitewashed his parents, who had crossed the ocean walls with verses from their hymntwelve years before, had left him to be book, as an expression of their faith in educated. But God was leading this God. After a period of two months they young man, for though he was not yet were released and returned to Bethleconverted, it was in these forests of hem. America and among degraded tribes It was several years before another that he was to accomplish a work effort of this kind could be made. for Christ that has seldom been sur- Zeisberger entered heartily into the passed in the history of missions, and work around Bethlehem, but he longed rarely been paralleled by Christian work to be among the Indians of the Six Naamong the Indians. tions. At the first opportunity he Zeisberger was delighted with his home in the new world. He loved to I).gain set out with the avowed purpose lips swelled with unearthly shrieks, and of living among the Indians until he their hands clutching the empty air.
had mastered their language and be- As Zeisberger rushed up the ladder they come familiar with their customs. He tore it from under his feet, but he thus lived for five years [1750-55 near grasped one of the cross·poles of the Cayuga Lake] in one of the huts of an roof and swung himself into his retreat.
Indian village in Western New York. Here the missionaries stayed till the At first he met with considerable prej· mad revelry was over; then they es- udice, and was exposed to constant dan· caped, while the exhausted savages were ger. A drunken Indian is a fiend in· lost in drunken sleep.
carnate, and these Indians were drunk These are but instances of the dan- a great part of the time. Frcquently gers to which they were constantly ex· Zeisberger and his comrade left their posed, yet they refused to give up their hut and fled to the forest, hiding some· work, and we see them kneeling to- times for days before they dare return. gether in the shadows of the forest and On one occasion the drunken savages vowing to be faithful even unto death.
burst into their lodge, and when the So month after month passed by. At young missionaries fled the Indians fol- last the barriers of heathen prejudice lowed with wild war·whoops, sending were broken down. Zeisberger became bullets whistling just over the head as familiar with the Indian langullges first of one, then of the other. This and customs as were they themselves, cruel sport continued for a mile or two and they esteemed him as a brother.
before the savages returned. They showed their confidence in him At another time, while on a preach- by making him keeper of the belt and ing tour, they came to a town (now wampum which comprised the entire Geneseo) in which the entire population archives of the Grand Conncil. His in- was intoxicated. Two hundred men fluence in the nation was great, and it and women in a frenzy of drunkenness seemed as though success was near; seized them with dark looks that boded but it was further from them than they no good for the missionaries. At last thought. An Indian war broke out, they tore themselves away from their and Zeisberger was compelled to return tormentors, and hid in the loft of one of to Bethlehem (June, 1755). Thus end· the huts. Here, almost suffocated with ed his work in New York State. For heat and burning with fever, they spent five long years he had labored and not the night. In the town cask after cask a single sonl had been converted, but of rum was drained, devilish laughter in those years he had gained an experi- and yells filled the air, and all the ence and knowledge that fitted him for abominations of heathenism made tlJat future trials and for future victories.
summer night hideous. When at last III. Olouds give plilce to Sunshine.
the morning came Zeisberger's compan- During his absence in Ncw York his ion was in a raging fever. His thirst fellow-missionaries in Pennsylvania had became so agonizing that Zeisberger reo founded several Christian villages solved to risk every danger to relieve among the Indians in the vicinity of his sufferings. The nearest spring was Bethlehem. Into this work Zeisberger half a mile away. He stole out, reached entered with zeal, and so~:m the clonds the spring in safety, and was returning are broken and dispersed by the bright with the needed water, when suddenly snnshine. Having he::trd of a distan!
he was set upon by a troop of naked Indian village that desired to hear the savages. Doubling his fists, and dealing Gospel, we see him with a single Indian blows to the right hand and the left, he . companion tramping through tangled drove the squaws aside, and ran for the forest,s and pathleRs swamps, until at hut. The Whole party followed, their last they reached the town. Here they long hair streaming in the wind, their found no time for rest. The Indians flocked together to h~r the Gospel. them. Zeisberger watched over them Da'y after day was spent in telling of with loving care, but during that sad the love of Christ, and in teaching the winter over half of their number were natives to sing Christian hymns in their buried in the Potter's Fleld. With own language. A deep impression was heavy hearts those who yet remained made. Tears rolled down the cheeks started for their forest homes as soon of dusky warriors as for the first time as peace had been declared. It was an they heard of a Saviour's love. Amid awful journey. They were so wasted the shadows of the forest, where the by disease that many were scarcely trees spread out their branches and able to walk. Their food-supply bebreathed gentle benedictions, Zeisberger came exhausted, and the heart of the baptized his first converts, and rejoiced poor missionary was rent with the cries more over them than if he had inherited of famishing women amI children. At a kingdom. another time they were almost con- sumed by a forest fire; but at last they But at the very time these Indians reached the blackened ruins of their were shedding tears of penitence and villages, and at once laid out another blessing the white man who had brought town. Again in their forest homes, to them the Gospel, the hatchets of the converts were filled with gratitude other fierce warriors were reeking with and joy. The new town which sprang the blood of palefaces. As the Indians into existence rang with the melody of watched the white men pushing stead- praise, and was named" The Tents of ily westward, clearing plantations and Peace.., Soon the first baptism took building cabins until the wilderness was place, and this was but the beginning dotted with fiourishing settlements, they of a great revival. From far and near feared that all their hunting grounds the Inuians came to hear the word of would be taken from them, and now salvation, and went their way to scattribe after tribe had joined in a mighty ter the seeds of truth in their own tribe. effort to exterminate these invaders. Hundreds listened as Zeisbergerstood in some forest sanctuary beneath the They were terribly in earnest. Nu- shade of the arching trees, and promerous scalping parties attacked the claimed the Saviour of the world. frontier settlements. Farms were laid Many a poor wigwam thus became a waste, homesteads burned, defenceless home of peace. and many a dying hour women and children butchered, and all was cheered by the Christian's hope. the horrors of Indian warfare prac- Some of these fierce warriors, whose tised. It was contrary to the ~Ioravian belts had frequently been hung with principles to fight, and the Christian scalps, were now seeu weeping silent Indians were threatened with extermi- tears. These were bappy days for nation, for by their neutrality they won Zeisberger. Many were baptized, and the enmity of both Indians and settlers. the town continued to prosper until it One night a band of hostile Indians at- excited the admiration of every visitor. tacked one of the villages, brutally It was a wonderful instance of the civmurdered ten of the Moravians, and. ilizing power of Christianity. Comleaving the town in flames, went off fortable houses were surrounded by with the bloody scalps as trophies of gardens and orchards stocked with their dp.ed. Again several Christian vegetables and fruit-trees. Stretching Indians were treacherously murdered down the river valley lay two hundred by the enraged" settlers," who accuseCl and fifty acres of plantations and meadthem of being in league with the other ows, in whose grassy pastures were Indians. At last Zeisberger appealed seen large herds of cattle. to the government for protection, ann his Indians were taken to Philaddphia. This peaceful town was now left in lIere they were crowded into the bar- the care of another missionary while racks, and small-pox broke out among Zeisberger went to win new victories often lasted until midnight. Many for Christ in mOfe' perilous places. came as champio;s of heathenism and When his friends told him of the des- went away as humble servants of Jesus perate character of the tribe to which Christ. Old and young were converted he was going. and plead with him to re- and baptized, until the mission num- main with them. he replied: "No harm bered one hundred persons. This was can befall me if my God does not per- the second triumph that had crowned mit it. Are the Indians very wicked? the effort of this master missionary.
That is just the reason why I ought to IV. Great Victories and Great Defeats.
go and preach to them." Having ar- This completed Zeisberger's work in rived at the village, he sent his two Pennsylvania. A messenger had come companions to announce a religious ser- from the Indians of Oltio asking for I!.
vice for the evening. An immense teacher, and he reso].ved to go. Ac- crowd gathered round the camp-fire, companied by sixteen canoes full of and as Zeisberger arose every eye was Christian Indians be started on his fixed upon him. Some most desperate journey stilI farther west, April 17th, characters were there. ruffians and mur- 1770. They paddled along the streams derers, noted even among the Indians and rivers until they reached their des- for their wickedness; but no one knew tination in Central Ohio. It was the better than he how to speak to savages. valley of the Tuscarawas, the place He told of the Saviour's love with such which was to be the scene of their great- power that his hearers did not dare to est victories and their severest trials.
oppose him. Some of their faces showed They laid out their town in the form of a the subduing power of the Gospel. while cross, and called it "Beautiful Spring."
some grew black as with the darkness While building it many Indians visited of hell. the place, and here Zeisberger preached On the following morning the inhab- the first Protestant sermon ever preach- itants of three villages crowded into the ed in the State of Ohio. He was so council-house, and Zeisberger and his eager to instruct them that he fre- companions preached from dawn of quently laid aside his axe, sat down day till midnight. His life was com- upon the tree that he had felled. and pletely in the hands of the villainous told them of the Redeemer of the world.
crowd, and a score of times did they Two towns arose amid the prayers of threaten to murder him, yet he con- the people, and the Spirit of the Lord tinued fearlessly to condemn their sin. God came upon both places. Zeis- Plot after plot was formed against his berger's plans for the future challenge life. but God protected him. When his our admiration. He aimed at nothing enemies were most violent and death short of a Ohristian Indian State. He seemed near, he calmly wrote: "They would establish a centre of religion and will certainly not succeed, for He that civilization whose benign influences is with us is stronger than they." His would stream forth and enlighten the faith was victorious. The opposition whole land. He would build for the was gradually overcome, and six fam- Gospel a stronghold from which it could ilies took their stand in favor of the not be driven. He would have all the Gospel. One of the Christian Indians, tribes acknowledge that a people of the called Anthony, became so zealous a living God had arisen among them.
worker among his friends, that Zeis- An old Indian chief named White berger said of him that he "was as Eyes was his chief supporter. With eager to bring souls to Christ as a hunt- tears running down his cheeks this man er's hound is eager to chase the deer." of war and blood plead with his people So was the power of heathenism to accept the Word of God. " We will broken, and a mission established in never be happy," said he, "until we this seat of Satan. Inquiry meetings are Christians." A season of unparalleled prosperity in front of him, and saved his life at now dawned upon the mission. The the peril of their own. At another Grand Council of the Delawares de- time an Indian entered Zeisberger's creed religious liberty. The Gospel had house with salutations of friendship, free course, and was glorified. Upon but suddenly he drew his tomahawk, this outward prosperity the consistent and crying, " You are about to see your life of the converts set a crown as fra- grandfathers," was in the act of strikgrant as the evergreens of their valley. ing the fatal blow, when one of the con- Indian visitors flocked to their town verts sprang forward and wrenched the from all the surrounding country. The weapon from his hand. Then Zeischapel at Beautiful Spring would hold berger sat down by his would-be assasfive hundred persons, and yet it was sin and spoke to him with such tenderoften too small to accommodate the ness and love that he was convicted of worshippers. These Christian settle- his sin and accepted Christ as his Savments were famed throughout the en- iour. tire West. Their plantations covered hundreds of acres along the rich bot- The oon/ve1·ts also bore these trying toms of the valley, and herds more nu- circumstances with great fortitude. merous than ever roamed through the One day a savage attacked one of them, forests or were pastured in their mead- and, aiming his rifle at him, cried, ows. Men coming from the Eastern " Now I'll shoot you. for you speak of colonies were filled with astonishment when they beheld Indians not only civ- nothing but Jesus r" But the convert ilized, but growing rich. But forces were at work which combined to crush stood firm and replied, ., If Jesus does this noble enterprise. The rumblings not permit you, you cannot shoot me." of the American Revolution had beeu The man dropped his gun and turned heard for some time, and now the away in silence. storm·clouds burst in all their fury. Their neutrality placed the missionari~s Zeisberger now found himself be· in great danger, but in the face of al- tween two great powers, the British and most certain death they resolved not to the American, each of which considered desert the converts. Their towns were him an enemy. The British fitted out continually filled with painted warriors, an expedition from Detroit, which was and their escapes were simply miracu- commissioned to utterly destroy the lous. Once the savages had cocked Christian villages and to take the mistheir rifles and were on the point of sionaries prisoners or to bring back their shooting down the missionaries, when scalps. This expedition was placed in their chief was seized with an unac- charge of two noted villains, and soon countable impulse of mercy, and per· reached the villages. They pretended suaded his men to spare their lives. to be friends, and were hospitably reo ceived; but their true purpose soon be· Even the settlers accused Zeisberger came apparent. Encouraged by their of being an accomplice with the Indians, leaders, the savages filled the towns and sent out a party of desperadoes with drunkenness and ruin, running with the express purpose of killing him. around with terrific war·whoops, danc- They met him all alone in the open for- ing and singing, and shooting down the est. "That's the man," cried their cattle for merc sport. The next mornleader, pointing to Zeisherger ; " now do ing was resolved upon for the destrucwhat you have been told to do." He tion of the towns and the massacre of heard the clic1dng of their rifles and the inmates. Death seemed certain, commended hi~ spirit to God, when but Zeisbergel' did not waver. "I care suddenly some Christian Indians burst 110t for myself," he cried, "but oh, my through the hn·,lwR, placed themsclves poor Indians r" As the appointed morning dawned, he ordered the chapel bell to be rung for the usual early ser· vice. Its clear notes sounded far out into the surrounding forest. The dis- of cattle were in the woods; their gartant scouts guarding the trails heard dens were loaded down with fruit, yet them, and wondered if that morning's they were mercilessly dragged away prayer would be the last the mission- and left without food or homes in the aries would ever offer; converts and midst of the forest at the approach of warriors heard them, and bent their winter, and this by order of the British steps toward the sanctuary. When authorities! The winter was the most Zelsberger entered the church it was severe that had been known for years, filled to overflowing. The converts sat and their sufferings were terrible. with solemn faces; the warriors looked Scores of them perished from starvagrave and sullen. Deep silence per- tion and cold. Corn was so scarce that vaded the entire assembly, but when it sold for $8 a bushel, and through Zeisberger announced the hymn there lack of food the missionaries were reo followed such a burst of song as never duced to mere skeletons. At last their before had been heard within those cruel captors showed some signs of walls. All were conscious that heaven mercy, and one hundred and flfty of was near. Taking Divine Love for his the converts were permitted to return theme, Zeisberger then preached a won- to their deserted villages, that they derful discourse. The Spirit of the might gather the corn which had been Lord God was upon him. Surrounded left in the fields. by his enemies, he fearlessly condemned And now we have to relate the IIlost their sin, and lovingly pointed them to heart·rending incident of this sad his· the Saviour of the world. Then, turn- tory. The Indians had reached their ing to the converts, he urged them to towns and were busily gathering the place all their trust in God, and He corn that they might bring it to their would not forsake them. Deep feeling starving families and teachers, when agitated the entire congregation. Tears the Americans heard of their arrival, of joyful trust in the Lord were shed and, with unreasoning hatred, sent out upon every side; eV4in the savages a body of militia under Oolonel Will· bowed their heads in shame. The meet· iamson with the avowed purpose of uting closed with a fervent prayer, in terly destroying these Christian se,tle· which missionaries and converts were ments. They were only too successful commended to the protecting care of in their work. They told the Indians their Heavenly Father, and His bene- that they had been sent to help them in diction invoked upon their enemies. their trouble, and that they would con· God heard that prayer, and saved the duct them to a place of safety, where lives of His children. The hearts of they should have plenty of food and the savages had been so touched, that clothing. The IndianR, thrown comthough their officers both bribed and pletely off their guard, placed themthreatened them, they could not be per- selves entirely in the hands of the solsuaded to stain their hands in the blood diers, even surrendering their weapons. of these servants of God. Thus thwart- The soldiers professed to be Christians, ed in the plans, the hatred of the offi- and the Indians gave them a Christian'S cers found vent in taking the mission· welcome. That night murderers and aries and the converts prisoners. For victims slept side by side like brothers, eight years they had labored in this val- the one dreaming of scalps and bloodley, and the towns which they were shed, the others of lIew and happy forced to leave have rarely been equalled homes. In the carly morning, at a. in the history of the Indians. As they given signal, these fiends arose and were marched away they looked back seized their helpless victims. Taken and saw their homes in flames. Five wholly by surprise, they were crowded thousand bushels of unharvested corn into two houses and strictly guarded, were standing in the fields; hundreds while the soldiers hesitated as to the mode of execution. Some wished to love for the Indians grew only the set fire to the houses in which they greater as his sufferings and disappoint· were imprisoned, and burn them alive; ments increased, and shone brightest others desired to tomahawk and scalp when the end was near. A few years them, so that they might have trophies more the devoted missionary struggled of the campaign. It was finally put to on, and then he was called to enter into vote, and scalping was decided upon. rest. As he lay upon his bed the Ind- ians gathered around his couch and No protests of innocence, no appeal sang in their own language, which had to their friendly services in the past grown so sweet to him, songs of the availed the helpless prisoners. They Redeemer, and of heaven until he fell were allowed until the next day to pre- asleep in Jesus, and then they sobbed pare for execution. Shut up in their aloud. prisons, they began to sing and pray and to comfort one another. At the first In an old, forgotten cemetery in dawn of morning their eager enemies Pennsylvania you will find his grave, asked if they would soon be ready. marked by a single marble slab as sim- .. We are ready now," was the an- ple as was his life; but underneath swer: .. we have committed our souls that stone there lies the dust of one who to God, who has given us the assurance was far more a hero than many whose that He will receive them." And now names are more familiar upon the lips converted heathens taught their Chris- of men. And when the nations shall tian slayers what it means to die tri- be gathered from north, and south, and umphant in their Saviour. They were east, and west before the Great White tied together two and two, dragged to Throne, among them will be hundreds the place of execution, slaughtered and who were led toward heaven by him; scalped. One man felled fourteen to and in that city where all sorrow shall the floor with a cooper's mallet, which be turned to joy few shall wear a he then passed to another ruffian with a brighter crown than David Zeisberger, brutal laugh, saying: .. My arm is the friend of the American Indians. tired I Go on in the same way! I think I have done pretty well !" Mass Movements in India.
Tomahawk and war-club, spear and BY REV. GEORGE w. JACKSON, WELscalping-knife did their awful work till the bleeding bodies of ninety-six Indians LAND, ONTARIO, CANADA. were piled in heaps upon the floors. Of these twenty-seven. were women and That large numbers of the people of thirty-four children, twelve of the lat- India, chiefly from among the poor, ter being infants. Two lads alone es- have become enrolled among the folcaped, one of them being scalped and lowers of Christ, is not only a matter left for dead; the other hiding in the for rejoicing; it is more: it is a fruit· cellar of the house where the blood of ful subject by which we may discover his parents streamed through the floor the methods to be employed, the prin. upon him. Search the annals of his- ciples involved, and the dangers to be tory and you will find no more hellish avoided in this great work of conquest deed than this massacre at Beautiful for Christ, so much of which remains Spring, yet it was carried on under the to be done. And just in passing let me 'stamp and seal of a " religious nation. " note the similarity which seems to exist between the silent, secret, and rapid V. Sun8et and Evening Star. spread of the information and plans Neither Zeisberger nor the mission which led to that almost universal and ever recovered from this blow. He simultaneous rising of the native army was now an old man, and his closing and people at the time of the Indian years were years of sorrow. Driven Mutiny, and the present apparently unihither and thither by his enemies, his versal interest of the poor of India in of concentrated evangelistic work in the Christian religion. Somehow, and connection with the London and Church no one seems to know just exactly in of England Mission stations in Tin- what way, the same class of people in nevelly and Travancore, and In the all parts appear to begin to listen ear· German mission of Chota Nagpore.
nestly, to receive favorably, and to obey And (3) the more recent and similarly more readily tban formerly the Gospel large ingatherings, as the result of pre- of Christ. Is there some secret means vious hard and comparatively fruitless of· communication by which word is toll, in the Baptist 1I1ission of Ongole passed from one people to another? among the Telugus, and the Methodist Or is it rather because the missionaries and Presbyterian Missions in North- in all places, after long years of patient western India. Other cases which toil among others more difficult to reach, might be named woulJ probably fall have only now begun work among the under one of these three divisions.
poor? In cases of famine and distress noth- It seems necessary to remark that ing seems more Christian and therefore those who have never had the honor of more natural under the circumstances taking part in the work under review- than that missionaries should hasten to I mean that of actually accepting for assist in supplying relief to the perish.
baptism large numbers of people from ing. and provide for the maintenance among the heathen-should be careful and education of the children thus left not to hazard opinions or offer criti- orphans. This was more especially true cisms unkind or adverse. Putting our- in earlier times, when the Government selves for a moment in the place of of India was not so fully prepared as it those who have had the above-named now is to deal with the flood and fam- honor, we shall feel that only on the ine. Such evils as have arisen out of spot and during the occasion for action these forms of missionary effort, and could all the circumstances be taken caused bDth distress to the workers im- into account. The public know afler· mediately concerned and occasion for ward how great actions should have complaint to those who are only too been fought better than the men who eager for such occasion, are no doubt did the fighting, or at least they think common to the work at home as well as they do. The public can teach diplo- to the work abroad. We, therefore.
matists the right home or foreign policy propose to pass over this first class of which should have been pursued in movements with the remark that tIle given cases, and this under the guid- next generation will be in a better posi· ance of newspaper editors; and such tion to appreciate all the results and opinions change with each additional fruits of that devotion to the training item of information received, and of orphans which has marked the lives would, no doubt, be radically altered of not a few of the best Christian work· were all the circumstances fully dis- ers in India.
closed. We, then, looking at these Passing on to the second class of marked events in the India mission- movements-viz., those resulting from field, should seek to learn rather than a definite and continuous evangeliza- criticise. tion of a particular tribe or tribes within These movements seem to be capable a given area, as in the aforementioned of a kind of classification: (1) There missions, the following remarks from were the earlier movementA, resulting, Bishop Caldwell's "Lectures on the partly at least, from famine relief and Tinnevelly Missions," pp. 166, 167, its accompanying work, in Krishnagar, should have full weight as proceeding Bengal; in the Madras Presidency; from one who was a most active worker and in the Mysore. (2) Next to these in the field under review: "Wherever may be named the now famous results we have gone we havc preached to the people the Gospel of Christ, in accord· mohullahs or district!', a special caste.
ance with Christ's own command; we In rural evangelistic work results sel· have known nothing nm:mg them save dom follow the general proclamation to Christ and Him crucified, and it is un· the assembleu populace; but when, questionable that the Gospel, without whether in a city mohullah or village the help of any extraneous influences, para, we address a distinct caste, our has again and again proved itself mighty aim being directed toward definite re· through God to the pulling down of sults as to that caste in particular, suc· strongholds. Still it is equally true cess more surely follows. Definite di· that in the greater number of instances rection in methods of work leaus to con· the conversions that have taken place tact with the poverty and oppressed have been the result, not of spiritual condition of the poor, and the most motives alone, but of a combination of vexed problems in this connection seem motives, partly spiritual and partly to be : (1) How can missionaries fulfil secular, the spiritual motives predomi. the demands of philanthropy in cl<ses nating in some instances over the secu· of oppression and injustice, and at the lar, in others the secular predominating same time keep strictly to the principle over the spiritual; aud this holds true of not holding out any temporal induce· not only with respect to Tinnevelly and ments to the acceptance of the religion the missions of the Church of England, they preach? And (2) how can they but with respect to every rural mission avoid repelling sincere inr}uirers, who in India, with whatever society it may profess good motives, while seeking not be connected, and whatever may be the to encourage those whose motives ap- idea of its condition which is commonly pear to be purely worldly?
entertained. May I not add that this has " Rhenius," says Dr. Murdoch, in held good of every conversion of tribes his "Indian Missionary Manual," p.
and nations, as distinguished from the 289, "employed a native lawyer to conversion of isolated individuals, plead the cause of thc oppressed con- which the history of the Church has verts. This, with the favor for a time … recorded?" of one or two of the European officers Coming now to the third and last class of TinneveIly, had a powerful influence of movements mentioneu, we have under in inducing people to place themselves consideration one of the most recent de· under Christian instruction. " And velopments of modern missions. Long. again: "In the early stages of the er periods of regular organized work of Travaucore Mission the secular element every variety preceded these move· was largely present. One of the mis· ments than any of the former. Schools, sionaries, till it was disallowed by the orphanages, bazaar preaching, and home soclety, acted as a judge; slaves evangelistic tours, combined with tract who became Christians were not com· distribution, medical work, and per· pelled to work on Sundays." This sonal effort, were sllstained ycar after practical philanthropy on the part of year with patient persistencc, and now the earlier missionaries, resulting as it the natural results appear in large num- did in large numbers of baptisms, is at bers of accessions. It remains to bring the oppositc extreme from the careful· out the reasons why similar results havc ness of those who would repel all who not followed in some other missions- need temporal assistance, which action for instance, -the English Baptist Mis· may account for the apparent sterility sions along the Ganges Valley. I will of some missions.
only venture to express the opinion Having thus glanced at some of these that direction needs to be added to the mass movements, and suggested some methods employed in order to insure of the methods, in conclusion I ask, success. In bazaars or business streets, Does the missionary experience of the there is always a mixed multitude; in past warrant any society in expecting a large and healthy and rapid growth of 'si~ht of me!l and her judgment of af· faIrs only lllustrate what an ewiOWthe Church apart from previous pioneer ment of common sense can come from unmixed religious consecration and work, which has been 80 faithfully per· spiritual" high·living. "
formed in the missions now so blessed -Bt01'ies from I"d'ian Wigwams and Northern Camp-fire8 is a second volume with success ? We know that some of experiences and observatiolJs among the Indians of far Northwest America, have done the pioneer work without by Rev. Egertvn R. Young. His .. Canoe and Dog Train" at once made reaping its results; but may new mis- a reputation for Mr. Young as one of the most fascinating story-tellers, and sions fearlessly look for immediate reo this volume is so much a continuat.ion of the same sort. that all who know the suIts from virgin soil in which heathen· first volume will wish to read this. The greatest audiences of Exeter Hall and ism has remained hitherto undisturbed? Chautauqua have been charmed by Mr. Young's narratives. It is profusely ilor do the facts of recorded experience lustrated. (Hunt & Eaton, New York; Charles Kelley, London; William indicate that ploughing must precede Briggs, Toronto.) sowing and reaping in spiritual hus- -Answered Prayer, published by the Fleming H. Revell Company, New bandry? York and Chicago, is a suggestive and helpful blank form prepared by 'Dr. Book Mention. Arthur T. Piersou, with columns for " Date of Prayer Begun," " Particular -Rev. I. G. John, D.D., Secretary Prayer asked of God, " "Particular of the Board of Missions of the Southern Promises Pleaded," and "Date and ~1ethodist Episcopal Church has pre- Circumstances of Answer." It will be pared a valuable Handbook of "Methodist a revelation to many devout people if Missions. It is published by the Board they will procure one of these booklets of Missions of the 1Ilethodist Episcopal and keep the memorandum and mark Church, Soath, Nashville, Tenn. Bish- the results when they find prayer rising op Hendrix in the introduction quotes to the plane of power. Emerson's saying, "Coal is portable climate," anJ he adds, "a handbook -Foreign Missions Afttr a Oentury, like this is portable zeal." It sum· by Rev. James S. Dennis, D.D., of Beimarizes English Methodist missions, rut, Syria (Fleming H. Revell Comthos~ of the Methodist Episcopal Ohurch pany, New York and Chicago), is a and bf other Methodist bodies, but gives volume of lectures delivered at Princeover 500 pages besides to the missions tOLl. Theological Seminary, 1893, on the of the Methodist Episcopal Ohurch, J". ,is of the students' lectureship on South. This book will be a vade mecum n,i."iolls. They are remarkable for of value far beyond Methodist linei!. th(,jr order of thought. Qlearness of slyle, and the freshness of facts stated. -All. Autobiography. The Btory of the Lord's dealing with Mrs. Amanda -Hindu Litemtu1'e, 0]' the Ancient Smith, the Oolored JjJcangelist (Meyer & Book.~ of india, and Persian Literature, Brothers, Chicago), contains an account A'l'.cient and .Afodern. Both these volof this ex slave's life-work of faith, her umes are by Elizabeth A. Reed, and travels in America, Great Britain and published by S. C. Griggs & Co., Chi- Ireland, India and Afriea. Bishop cago, These present popular and read- Thoburn says he has learned more from able aecounts of the~e literatures. The Amanda Smith that has been of actual guarantee of their accuracy is that they value to him as a preacher of Christian have had the revision of eminent spetruth than from any other one person cialists like Max Muller. The ablest he has ever met. He also says that reviews have not hesitated to speak of during 6eventeen years in Calcutta he them as fascinatin~ presentations and had known many famous strangers to strong analyses. For those who canvisit that city who attracted large audi- not make original re~earch ther cannot ences, but he never knew anyone who fail to be helpful and entertaiUlng. could dmw and hold so large an audio ence as this devout and soiritual·lllinded negro woman. The strange extremes in her fortune remind one of those of Bishop Crowther; her hold on God by earnest prayer and faith is a spiritual tonic. We do not belbve anybody can read this story, told in her untutored style, without spiritual help. Her in-
FIELD OF )!ON'l'aLY SURVEY
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Topics for 1894. estant missionaries, men and women all included, are now sent out by the January-The World. churches of Christendom. In England February-Chinese Empire, Confu- alone, with a population of 27,000,000, cianism. and in the Established Church alone March-Mexico, Central America, West Indies, City Missions. as there are two and a half timea many April-India and Burma, Hinduism. May-Siam and Malaysia, Unoccu- clergymen. The Moravian Church pied Fields, Buddhism. sends out into the foreign field one in June-Africa, Freedmen. 60 of its members, while other Protes. July-Islands of the Sea, Arctic Mis- tant bodies in general give only one in sions, North American Indians. 5000. August-Papal Europe, Romanism. September-Japan, Korea, Shintoism, As to destitution.-Thibet, almost aU Medical Missions, Chinese and Japanese of Central Asia. Afghanistan, Beloochisin the United States. tan, nearly all of Arabia, the greater October-Greek Europe, Moslem portion of the Soudan, Abyssinia, and Lands. the Phillipine Islands are still without November-South America, Frontier a mISSIOnary. Besides this large dis· Missions in the United States. tricts of Western China and Eastern December-Syria, The Jews, Educa- and Central Congo Free State, large tional Work. portions of South America, and many of the islands of the sea are almost or Facts and Figures from Many Lands. altogether unoccupied.
BY THE MANAGING EDITOR. China's population is variously esti- mated at from 350,000,000 to 500,000,- One tlwusand m'illion souls, two-thirds 000, and counting women, there are of the human race-heathen, pagan, about 1100 missionaries from Protestant Moslem-most of them have yet to see churches. Should the missionaries a Bible or hear the Gospel message. there bear the same proportion to popu- lation as in London, there would be As to religion, the world's popUla- more thanjifty times the present force. tion is divided about as follows: In India there are more objects of Protestants". . . .. ••…..•••..•. 120-1150,000,000 idolatry and false worship than there are inhabitants. RomlUl Catholics ……….. , … , 175-210,000,000 In Japan, for every Christian disciple Eastem Chnrch (mostly Greek).. 84-99,000,000 there are two Buddliiat priests and six Shinto temples, and 10,000 more head Jews…….. .•••…••..•…. …. 7-10,000,000 priests of Buddha than the entire num· ber of followers of Christ. Mohammedans….. .•….•. . … 1fO-200,OOO,000 Africa is not only the Dark Continent Confuclanistst. .• ••………… 80,000,000 still, but perhaps, on the whole, most destitute of all the continents in relig- Buddhists …..••….. , ..•••…•. 340400,000,000 ious teaching. On the West African coast the habitations of cruelty still Hindus .•..•…….•••……• , .. 175-220,000,000 abound. Near Lagos 200 human beings were lately offered in sacrifice! Chris· Shintoos ….•.. ………… ….. 14,000,000 tendom has introduced 70,000 gallons of rum to every missionary. In the Pagans •…..••.•………….•.. 200-2150,000,000 great Congo Free State there are 100 drunkards to one convert. Under the To the thousand millions of non- maddening infiucnce of intoxicating Christian peoples less than 10,000 Prot- • These numbers probably more correctly represent those liYing in Protestant countries and not otherwise designated. There are only about 40,000,000 Protestant communicants.
t There are probably 400,000,000 of the Chinese and Koreans who accept Confucian ethics, but m~ny of them are also Buddhists and Tao· l.ts. drink sent from New England 200 Con· was but one new translation for every goans in one day slaughtered each other. sixty-six years, while from 1880 to 1890 One gallon of rum caused a fight in the average wasfive in one yea1' by the which 50 were slain. British and Foreign Bible Society alone, and in 1892 nine new translations were Medical missions are found especially begun. helpful in China, Korea, Persia, Syria, India, and Africa, where native physi- At the beginning of the century the cians are unskilled and often barbarous Bible was within the reach of only one in their treatment of even the simplest fifth of mankind; now it is accessible, as cases. Many of the acts perpetrated by far as translation into native tongues .. medicine men" among the heathen and dialects is concerned, to nine tenths are in thelll8el yes piteous appeals to us. of the earth's inhabitants. In Africa children are scored with a sharp knife from head to foot to cure During this century over 160,000,000 them of a slight illness. In the Friend- copies of the Word of God have been ly Islands delirious patients were buried printed in over 350 different llillgl1ages alive, and in other parts of the South and dialects. No very important tongue Pacific incisions with a knife are made of the earth is now unrepresented. to let out pain. In 1892 there were distributed, at More than one half of those who die home and abroad, by the American, in Calcutta have no medical attendance British, and Scotch Bible societies whatever, and not more than one fourth 6,000,000 copies of the Bible in whole have attendance of physicians who de- or in part-more than there were in existserve the name. If the supply of phy- ence one hundred years ago. sicians in India were in proportion to that of England there would be a medi- Dr. David Abeel said, forty years ago cal force over 190,000 strong-at pres- and more, that wherever he went, in ent there are less than 150 foreign and China or in Java, in Siam or anywhere Eurasian doctors. else on heathen ground, he met always one missionary, who was neither Pres- Taking the non-Christian countries as 1:yterian, Congregationalist, Methodist, a whole, there is but one medical mis- nor Episcopalian, but Who combined sionary to a population as large as New the excellencies of all; always ready York City, While the heathen are dying to speak, and to speak for God; never at the rate of 40,000,000 a year. doubtful in the utterance of truth; never offensive, but always ready to be In the Report of the General Mission- silent if those around preferred, but ary Conference at Allahabad twenty who was always ready to witness for years ago, it is stated that a .. grave the Divine Master and for the heavenly theological professor considered it neces- kingdom; in which missionary he had sary to enter his protest against the cor- more satisfaction, on the whole, than rupt and immoral system, which had in any and all the others he had met; (or its object the bribing of the heathen and that one missionary was the Bible /" and Mohammedans of India into becoming Christians by means of a dose Educational work is found especially of castor oil and epsom salts." Il1Iadia useful in Turkey, South America, Afrito-day to be able to add medical to mis- ca, and India, and has played a very sioTmry is like placing a cipher after important part in Japan. another figure-it increases the value tenfold. Upward of 200,000 patients There were in 1892 over 700,000 are annually treated in mission hospitals scholars in 17,500 schools, carried on by and dispensaries. the missionaries of America and Eu- rope. Bible translation and distribution has been wonderfully increased of late Oontributiona to all benevolent puryears. l!'rom 100 to 1500 A.D. there poses by Protestant Christians of the United States amount to about $85,000,- 000 annually. Only one seventeenth of this is given to foreign mi~sions. If the rapid emergence out of centuries of gifts in proportion to income of church- midnight darkness. Thirty thousand members equalled that of the Japanese children are gathered into Sabbath- converts, the contributions would be schools. There are about forty soci- increased at least tenfold. eties at work with over 7000 ornaincd The Japanese workmen average less missionaries. In 1868 the numoor of tha'!l 12 cents a day wages, yet the con- communicants was 20,000; last year tributions last year from converted na- the number of converts added was over tives aggregated over $100,000. 20,000.
'l'he training of a native mini8t1'Y is The question has been raised by some everywhere the most important work as to Whether the Africans can be really of the missionary. Clllistianized. Bishop Crowther, a na- Within half a century mission sta- tive African, was sold as a slave and tions have multiplied more thau tenfold " afterward emancIpated, converted, edu· ordained missionaries with same ratio, cated, and has been a roost successful but native laborers and assistants have bishop of the Church of England in increased thirtyfold. Western Africa. .
If the last eighteen years be divided Professor Smith says that the 80,000,- into three periods of eight years each, 000 natives of Central Africa are" as the Baptists during the first sent out 67 good stuff to make men of as were the missionaries; during the second, 70; ancient Britons of England." The trans- und during the third, 175, or 150 per formation that has taken place among cent advance. In other denominations many of the Zulus and Hottentots has there has been similar increase, and it been marvellous.
is probably owing largely to the Stu- In Cltina. has begun a new era of the dent Volunteer Movement. Six hun- railway, telegraph, and scientific ad- dred and thirty volunteers have already vance. Before modern civilization idol- gone out, and 100 ure under appoint- atr.v and superstition must gral1ually ment. . recede as darkness before light. Some Africa has an area of over 11,000,000 time ago the nati ves in Central China square miles and a population estimated objected to the building of a railway, between 150,000,000 and 200,000,000. on the ground that the laying of the If the present missionary force were railroad ties would disturb the graves equally distributed throughout tne con· of their ancestors and anger the guard- tinent, each ordained missionary, native ian dragon which surrounded their city.
and foreign, would have a parish as They were obliged to yield, however, large as the State of Connecticut. before the authority of the governor of As late as 1851 the President of the the province. Science may destroy idols Royal Geographical Society said: "All and dispel superstition and breed scep- beyond the coast of Central and South ticism as to non-Christian creeds, but it Africa is still a blank on our maps." cannot in itself reveal God nor create Twenty years ago the Congo nati ves faith ill Christ. This only the Bible had never seen a steamer; now a fleet cando.
of twenty ply the waters of the Upper In 1842 the number of communicants Congo. Railroads are being built from of Protestant churches in China was 6 ; south amI east toward the centre; a in 1865, 2000; and in 1892, 50,000.
telegraph line from Cairo to the Cape; It is estimated that the Chinese spent steamers ply the waters of many of its every yea~ $130,000,000 in ancestral rivers and lakes. worship, and the Protestant church- A chain of mission stations r:eaches members of the United States spent but from the mouth of the Congo to the $85,000,000 for benevolent purposes of Equator, and Africa is beginning to the church.
surpass many other countries in her In Foochow alone 800 opium smokers knelt in a place of worship anI! prayed the total tract circulation was only half God for deliverance from the chains of a million; now one society alone circuthis soul-enslaving habit. There are lates more than 12,000,000. By the 150,000,000 opium smokers ill China. action of the government education is spreading among the masses, and it is India has a population of 288,000,000, of vital importance to social and religand an area of 1,554.000 miles (one half ious life that the appetite thus created ai large as the United States). There should ha"ve healthy food. are still thousands of towns with populations of 5000 and upward which have The Christian Vernacular Educanot a single missionary. tional Society distributed over 1,000,000 books and tracts last year. When Carey landed in India Protes· tant Christianity was represented by India has 21,000,000 widows and one feeble mission in the south with a 50,000,000 zenana prisoners. No wonfew thousand converts. In 1851 there der that a society of native women in were 91,000 converts. Now there are Bombay hDS for its motto, " The world 40 societies represented which support was made for women too." 1000 ordained, 71 medical missionaries, and 758 women. The communicants An educated Hindu was lately asked number 250,000, and the adherents what in modern missionary effort made about 1,000,000. The number of con- him fear most for the stability of his verts last year was 24,000. There has own religion. 'He replied: "We do been a gain of one 7~undred and forty per not greatly fear your schools; we need cent in the last ten years. not send our children. We do not fear your books; we need not read them. A Sunday.school procession number· We do not much fear your preaching: ing over 80,000 children, all either of we need not listen. But we dread your Hindu or Moslem parents, recently women, and we dread your doctors; marched in Lucknow, the scene of the for your doctors are winning our hearts, awful Sepoy massacre in 1857. India and your women are winning our has eight Christian colleges and 26,000 homes; and when our hearts and our schools and 3,000,000 pupils. homes are won, what is there left us ?"
'I'here are 18,000,000 girls of school Japan has an area of 147.655 square age, and only one in 60 attends school. miles, and consisis of nearly 4000 isl- This leaves 17,700,000 to grow up in ands. The population numbers 40,- ignorance. 072,000.
The Hindu Vivekanandaasked at the Twenty-nine societies are represented Parliament of Religions why those who with 604 missionaries. The adult memwere so fond of sending missionaries to bership of the 365 native churches is save the souls of heathen did not do 85,584. In 1892 there were 8731 consomething for thcir starving bodies. verts added. The Western Recorder replies, that Christians have contributed $40,000,000 It is said a larger proportion of the to famine relief funds, besides estab- people can read than in any other counlishing in India hundreds of hospitals try in the world. There Bre 28,000 and asylums, whereas the heathen have schools with 72,000 teachers and 8,410,- never established one of either. Only 000 scholars. Besides this there are 607 6 per cent of the people of India can Protestant Sunday-schools with 22,777 read or write, and that percentage in- scholars. The theological schoolsnumcludes all English residents. ber 16, and the students 542.
There is a great awakening of the Korea has but oue missionary to every mental and moral forces, and it rests 800,000 people. 'There are three sociwith the Christians of Englaud and eties there and 177 communicants. America to prevent this from developing into agnosticism. Thirty years ago Turkey in Asia has an area of 509,289 square miles and a population of 15,- 608,055. There are 230 missionaries (including women) and 13,513 com· of over 3,1,000,000, there are but 325 municants. Protestant missionaries from 17 soci- eties. The number of communicants is Pliney Fisk went to Syria in 1818. about 15,000. One half of the popula- He died in 1820, and by his grave in tion is not within reach of the pure Beirut was planted a little cypress·tree. Gospel. There are no .missions in Now this tree, planted in the suburbs of Bolivia, Ecuador or Venezuela. Ro· a town of a population of 8000, has manism in its worst form-only a step grown to be a stately cypress in the removed from :heathenism – prevails very centre of a city of 90,000 people. there. The educated classes are in a Overlooking it, says Dr. Jessup, is a transition state from Romanism to female seminary, a large church edifice, scepticibm. a Snnday.school hall, a printing house which sends out more than 20,000,000 As to negro instruction in the United pages annually,. and contains 30,000 States, where only twenty-seven years electrotype plates of Arabic Scriptures. ago no colored child was legally per- Within a radius of four miles are 4 mitted to read, there are now 25,530 Christian colleges, 7 female seminaries, schools in which 2,250,000 have learned 60 boys' day schools, 31 girls' schools, to read, and most of them to write. In 17 printing·presses, and 4 large hos- the colored schools there are 238,000 pitals. pupils and 20,000 colored teachers. There are 150 schools for advanced edu· The great triumphs of the Gospel in cation, and 7 colleges administered by Turkey are the gaining of religious tol- colored presidents and faculties; and eration, the elevation of woman and the of the presidents three were formerly family, educational advancement, and slaves. It is also noted that there are the progress in Bible translation and 154 colored editors, 250 lawyers, amI distribution. 740 physicians, and that there are 247 colored students now educating them· In the Ottoman Empire arc 892 Prot- selves in European universities. estant schools with 43,027 pupils. In the Islands of the Sea there are 211 Sixty thousand copies of the Bible stations occupied by 190 missionaries. are sold annually in the Turkish Em- Twelve societies are represented. The pire. converts number 100,000.
Difficulties in mission work arise A little over one hundred years ago chiefly from the opposition of the gov- the population of the Sandwich Islands ernment, whose policy is" Turkey for numbered 400,000. Through what we the Turks." They are hostile to the call" civilization' " there remaiu now Protestant schools, and large numbers hardly 30,000, and instead of the fine of converts emigrate to America and phySical specimens of manhood, with elsewhere, thereby causing a loss of their extensive tracts of valuable land, teachers and pastors. The boycotting there is hardly a wealthy native left. of native converts makes self.support Their lands have been seized by the ad· in the churches extremely ditlicult. In venturer and the speculator. spite of these difficulties, however, the success of Protestant missions is secured "Gem;ral" Booth says, with more by the Protestant educational institu- severity than exaggeration, that "the tions, wide distribution of Bibles and day has gone by when the priest and other Christian literature, and the deep- the levitc are content simply to pass by rooted faith of the native converts. the wounded man. Some of them must Protestantism as a principle is steadily needs turn backaud punch the head of growing in the land. any good Eamaritan that ventures to come to the rescue of the man they South Amll'l'ica is called the "neg· neglect." lected continent." With an area of 7,000,000 square miles and a population
EDI'l'ORIAL DEPAlt'l'MEN'f
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The leading editorial article, in the T. C. Horton, H. N. Frost, James E. November issue – " Thy Kingdom Come"-was the outcome of personal Mathieson, Bishop Baldwin, H. 11. and prolonged studies of the Word of Parsons, Robert E. Speer, Robert P. God; and if the views therein expressed Wilder, Sir Arthur Blackwood, F. S. may at first have struck auy reader as Curtis, A. B. Simpson, George MUller, extreme or unwarranted, the editor hopes and James Wright, Andrew and Hora· that judgment may not be pronounced tius Bonar, George E. Pentecost, Henry hastily, but only after such careful ex· Varley, Lord Radstock, F. B. 11:eyer, amination as the writer himself has and hosts besides, have held, in sub- given the subject. The paper was pre- stance, the same opinions which this pared, in substantially its present forlll, obnoxious paper upholds; and not only for the ~Iildmay Conference in London so, but the writer has himself heard in June last; then, with some modifica· most of them affirm that their zeal in tions, it was given at the Congress of missions dates from their acceptance of Missions in Chicago in October. Partly these often 1'idiculed views. This is because of its historical interest, as con- something at least to think of. May nected with these two great gatherings, not the common views of the kingdom it was thought best to give it a place in be largely traditional and historical, this REVIEW; but, while the views rather than scriptural and spiritual? therein expressed bind no one, even of the editorial staff, but are purely those The author of this paper confesses of the editor-in-chief and, he may add, that these were not the sentiments of of his beloved colleague, Rev. A. J. his earlier ministry, but these views . Gordon, D.D., there is no hesitation in came purely through biblical studies, affirming that these are substantially the correcting previous opinions by scrip- views of the majority of workers on the tural standards. Hence he holds these foreign field, as actual extensive corre- views not as tentative nor theoretical, spondence with missionaries shows; as but as final, and unassailable on scrip. Mr. W. E. Blackstone, of Oak Park, tural grounds. He therefore once more whose acquaintance with missionaries affectionately commends this discussion is as wide as that of any man in Ameri- to those Who love the Word of God and ca, asserts. The whole question is, wait for the kingdom of God. however, one not of previous bias or personal notions, of tradition or phil- He felt constrained to gi ve his testi· osophy, but ultimately a question of mony concerning the "Parliament of What the W01'd of God teaches. The Religions." But before he ventured to article is meant to be purely expository, put this paper in its final form on the and must be met and answered on a pages of this REVIEW, he submitted it biblical basis. to the judgment of some of the best and wisest men of his acquaintance. Some of our contemporary journals From one of these-a man who for wise affirm, as was anticipated, that the views judgment, apostolic charity, and gen· therein expressed "cut the nerve of eral beauty of character has, among all missions. " Well, it is very strange his wide acquaintance, no superior-he that so many men, most devoted to mis- received the following: sions, such as Hudson Taylor, Spencer Walton, A. J. Gordon, C. H. Spurgeon, " Your article in full on Parliament Dean Alford, S. H. Kellogg, W. G. of Religions was received. I am great- Morehead, E. P. Goodwin, D. L. IV pleased with it. It is strong and Moody, D. W. Whittle, J. H. Brookes, righteous, yet sufficiently tempered. The more I see of the fruits of that blasphemous love-feast, the more I am convinced that it was really originated and managed by the prince of • the power of the air, the spirit that now an understanuing as to the means of worketh in the children of disobedi- publishing reciprocally the dogmas of ence.' " the different religious beliefs. An un- derstanding of this kind, it is true, Rev_ C_ C. Starbuck has sent to would have implied the right of propa- the editor some exeerpts on the Parlia- I("ating the Asiatic religions in our Christian communities; but this right ment of Religions, translated by him, already exists, at least in our Western countries, and we should have no occaas follows: sion for uneasiness if it were put in practice, "The Parliament of Religions at Chicago opened its sittings at the ap- " For instance, Fung Quang-ju, Secpointed date, September 11th. It is retary of the Chinese Legation at Washknown that the idea of thus confront- ington, officially delegated, as appears, ing with each other the representatives by his government, presented an essay of all religions, in order to bring to on < Reciprocity' according to Conview the points which these men may 11ave in common and the differences fucius. This virtue consists in not which separate them, has not met with doing to others what we would not bave universal approbatk'IL others do to us. What an excellent op- portunity this would have been t.o come "The Ki1'chenfl'eund feds bOll nd to call to an understanding with him as to the it' an empty aud stllpid comedy.' The measures tending to obviate the inces- Archbishop of Canterbury has refused sant and often bloody collisions of the to take part in the sessions; the En!!;- Confucianists with the messengers of lish braneh of the Evangelical Alliance t.he Gospel; as to the meaIlS of bringing ha~ abstained from appearing. Tlle into agreement the declarations of re- Sultan. acting IlS Commander of th!! ligions tolerance emanating from the Faithral, has even forbidden the Mos- throne, and the vexations measures of lems to attend the gathering, and has addressed the same prohibition to the the provincial authorities, which render Christian church dignitaries of his em- these futile I pire. " But in pla.ce of taking pains to turn "The promoters of this aspIrIng these religious assemblies to account in (grandiose) enterprise, however, were such ways, it seems to have been animated by the best intentions. Their thought enough, as in similar 8J[!semcirculars assign, as the purport of their blies previously, to exchange complienterprise, the desire to develop the ments and felicitations, and to applaud spirit of human brotherhood among re- one another beyond measure. It ligious men of the various cults; to would, however, have been better to bring into clearer publie conscious- make rejoinder to a certain Buddhist ness the distinctive doctrines of each priest, named G. H. Dharmapala, who religion; to bring into recognition proposed this question to the assembly, that theism has inexpugnable founda- < How many of you have read the life tions, and that man has serious grounds for believing in immortality; to rein- of Buddha?' and wbo, when only five vigorate the forces which are striving hands were raised (which does not absoagainst materialislil; to demand of each lutely prove that these were the only religion the light which it is capable of furnishing to the others; to make out readers of this biography present), exexactly the present situation of each reo claimed, with an accent of profound ligion ; and finally to persuade all the disdain: 'Only five! Four hundred peoples of the earth that they onght to and seventy-five millions of human have more friendly relations with each bein gs profess our religion of hope [of other. despair would have been more exact] and of love; you, who call yourselves "Beyond doubt. if our missionaries a great nation, you do not even know and those whom they e..-angclize were the history of the founder of this religa.lways animateu by the largeness of ion, and you pretend to judge us!' temper breathing in this programme, the labor of the former would be facili- No one seems to have taken pains (pertated in many cm,es. But in order to haps the rules were against it) to conput these principles in practice, it would tradict the eloquent advocate of Budhave been necessary that the r-epresenta- dhism, and to bring him to note that tives of the various Asiatic religions he obtains his formidable Dumber of which figured at the Congress sllould Buddha's adherents only by including llave held personal conference with the the Chinese among them, something represcr:tatives of the various mission- which be bas not the least right in the ary societies lahoring in the midst of world to do ; that tbe countries where their coreligionists, in order to arri ve at Buddhism is the dominant religion, like Siam, Burma, Tbibet, are the most de- generate of all Asia, vegetating ina.. dreary marasmus; that if they seem to A. That the Prudential Committee be at present reviving, it is because be increased at once to fifteen members Chl'istian civilization is beginning to (including the President and Vice-Presiinfuse into them a new life; and that dent). if the island of Ceylon makes an exception, it is only because it is subject to a B. That, beginning at the annual meet- Christian government. ing of 1894, the members of the Pruden. tial Committee shall be elecred in three .. These observations have been sug- classes, one class to serve three years, gested to us by reading the report of one class two years, one class one year; the opening session of these remarkable that at U;e cxpiration of these terms assemhlies; but we do not believe that members shall be chosen in classes for the subsequent sittings are likely to terms of three years each. It is further bring any modification of our judg- recommended that rio member wbo has ment. The' Parliament of Religions' served three full successive terms shall will have no practical result; it will be, be eligible for re·election till after a to the very end, merely a simple curi- year has passed. osity, like so many others which are airing themselves at the Chicago Expo- O. Autborizes means to secure legal sitton."-Revue des Missions Con tempo- authority for this" change in the cbarraines (Basel). n. ter. " Again, and in an un~elfish spirit, the Resolved, That this Board, in re- sponse to the expressed wish of its miseditor appeals to the benevolence of his sionaries in Japan, and in recognition of the successful labors of the Rev. Willreaders for help in the gratuitous circu- iam H. Noyes in that empire, requests the Prudential Committee to offer to lation of this REVIEW among students him an appointment as a missionary of the Board. Tbe Board declares that for the ministry and especially "volun- this action is not to be understood as in any way modifying its former uttertecrs for the field, whose poverty and ance on the suhject of future probation.
self-denial make it impracticable to pay A, B, and o were carried unanimous- ly, and the vote on n was 106 to 24. the price of the REVIEW. These arc the men of all men who need the stimu- lus, the information and inspiration it The editor has hitherto sedulously re- afl'ards. This" volunteer fund" has frained from any utterance on matters fallen of late into neglect. It is a long of the A. B. C. F. M., fearing further time since any considerable amount has to embarrass its action when already been paid into its .. treasury." The complicated with many difficulties; but editor gratefully acknowledges the fol· it seems to us that in this its final issue lowing donations: there has been a distinct concession in lIrs. McEwen, of Italy…….. $25.00 favor of the broad and loose theology Mrs. Grace Passmore Green- of the time.
wood, of London………… 15.00 There is no use of denying that there Benjamin I. Greenwood, Esq., is a drift within the evangelical church in exactly opposite directions. There of London. . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . 33.00 are conservatives who hold to the old $73.00 theology, and cannot and will not give The fund still is overdrawn some $202.. up the full inspiration and inerrancy of 14. Would not some whose hearts are the WonI of God, and the doctrine of stirred in behalf of these poor young future retribution as therein set forth.
men, who are devoting their lives to Others arc advocating the views of missions, take up this ministry to saints? higher criticism and a modified view of and is there not some one person who future punishment, with the .. eternal will send direct to the editor a check for hope" theory of Archdeacon Farrar.
this deficiency? This REVIEW has made its choice, and stands upon the old platform.. As to Tho following is the important por- the future state, if there be any essen- tion of the action of the American Board, tial change in the soul's condition after by which the revolntion in its constitu- death, it is not revealed. If any man tion and policy was effect!ld : will indulge a hope unwarranted by Scripture, why not at least keep it to each a shirt, and told them something ltimseif, and preach only what is clearly of this story of Jesus. He asked if they authorized in the Word of God? It is could l'emember the name, and they said, one of the worst evils of our day that "Yes, it was Paton." Thirty.three men, and even preachers, seem to con- years before he had in his evangelist sider it duty to give utterance to their tours stopped at this island for a few doubtR, theories, and speculations. Why days; and here, so long after, was the not confine Ollr testimony to certainties fruit. The calico shirts had been worn and verities, and convictions based on but once a week, carefully preserved a plain decIaration-a thus saith the for the Lord's Day. and the only way Lord! Then if a man hold any view to keep the day which they knew was or have any notion, not in accord with to meet others and tell what they could Scripture or justified by its direct teach: remember of the wonderful story I ing, it works little harm beyond himself What shall Christian disciples say at at most. There is no power in any the great day with regard to the shamepreaching as such which goes beyond ful neglect of perishing millions? the limits oj instructions>" ambassadors mllst keep within the bounds of the When Hudson Taylor first went out Divine message or they lose all author- to China it was in a sailing-vessel. ity. Very close to the shores of a cannibal island the ship was becalmed, and it We cannot but think that a separa- was slowly drifting shoreward, unable tion is finally inevitable if the present to tack about, and the savages were divergence of opinions continues and eagerly anticipating a feast. The capincreases. Already fellowship is ques- tain came to 1<lr. Taylor and besought tionable both as to its expediency a'nd him to pray for the help of God. " I even possibility. The A. B. C. F. 1L will," said Taylor, "provided you set is a venerable and beloved institution, your sails to catch the breeze." The and this division in its ranks is doubly captain declined to make himself a disastrous; but any unanimity which laughing stock by unfurling sails in a is at expense of principles involved is dead calm. Taylor said, " I will not a greater disaster still. undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails," and it was Dr. J. G. Paton tells an affecting done. While engaged in prayer there story of a visit to a neglected island in was a knock at the door of his statethe Pacific, where he found to his room. "·Who is there?" The capamazement, though no missionary was tain's voice responded, "Are you still there or had been sent there, there was praying for wind ?" "Yes." "WeII," a sort of Sabbath keeping. Two old said the captain, "you'd better stop men, who had a very little knowledge praying, for we have now more wind of the truths of the Gospel, were keep- than we can well manage." And, sure ing track of the days, and on the first enough, when but a hundred yards day of each week they laid ordinary from shore a strong wind had struck work aside, put on a calico shirt kept the sails and changed the course of the for the purpose, and sat down to talk boat, so that the cannibals were cheated to those whom they could call about of their human prey. them, and in a simple way recited the outlines of a wonderful story they had Was it not Augustine who said, "I once heard about one Jesus. Dr. Paton need a whole Christ for my salvation, It inquired where they had learned this whole Bible for my study, a whole truth, and they answered that long be- church for my fellowship, a whole fore a missionary had visited the island world for my parish, that I may be It for a week or two, and harl given them true Catholic andnot a sectarian" ?
EXTltACTS AND THANSLATIONS. G3
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign husband. the late minister of Abercorn.
Periodicals. was one of the first to take an interest BY REV. C. C. STAltBUCK. ANDOVER, in the founding of the Blantyre Mission, MASS. has arrived, and now graces the apse. It is well colored, and the corona of AFRICA. seven lights adds to the beauty of the -" When, in the year 1853, the sec- church. It is pleasant to reeord that ond twelve pupils entered the Her- . twelve years ago Mr. Playfair made a mannsburg mission house, there was valuable gift to the mission of meteoro- found among them a prosperous young logical instruments." "We have now farmer, already married, who made over hung the central lamp, the gift of the to the mission his whole farm, compris- laundry workers. A central chain is ing three hundred morgen of land, with suspended from iron cross-beams, which all its appurtenances, and then. with in light scroll work stretch from four wife and child, entered the mission faces of the octagonal drum of the dome.
house as a simple pupil. That raised a This supports a cluster of twelve lamps great uproar at the time; the young from a height of thirty-six feet. The farmer was declared to be out of his lightness of the grouping of the lamps head; and Lewis Harms, who had ac- in black iron scroll-work is the most cepted his high-minded donation, was marked feature in the structure."
denounced as a fortune-hunter. This -" With a civil service for Africa; a farmer is now the senior missionary of hall of learning at Blantyre; ecclesiasti- Bethany, in South Africa-Herr Beh- cal, civil,naval, military, and geographirens. He has never repented of having cal degrees, we shall soon be a comin earlier times forsaken everything and munity of kings and knights and profollowed Jesus, becoming His servant fessors, with not one among us who in the foreign missionary service; his does not boast a spur, or a hood, or Lord has rendered him, therefore, a rich some other peaceful weapon of inspirrequital of blessing."-Allgemeine Mis- ing awe. And it is quite as it ought to sionB-Zeitschrift. be. We need kings for Africa, and any -The Presbyterian Church at Blan- kings going a-begging may apply-only tyre has been described as "a genuine we need real kings."
Central African cathedral." Life and -" The King of Mukori, in West Work (printed at Blantyre) gives some Africa, was present at tbe baptism of interesting particulars of the interior four converts. He afterward told the furnishings. "An oak prayer desk, a missionary' his whole desire was to obgift to the church from Mr. Patrick tain everlasting life,' and that he had Playfair, minister of Glencairn, has ar- prayed to God for grace to renounce rived. It is carved by himself, and is a polygamy. He has since made this rebeautiful piece of work. We value it nunciation openly before his people, highly." "The communion table is suminoned for the occasion, and has very light in structure, of oak, with placed himself under instruction."- thistle-leaf ornaments. The design is Awake (C. M. S.). taken from an old table in Holyrood.
The window-sills and heads of doors are -" The last half-yearly report of Cap- carved in native wood by the boys from tain Lugard, recently made public by designs by onrselves." "A stanuard the r. B. E. A. Company, though it lamp, the gift of Mrs. Playfair, whose does not add much of special note to
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
our knowledge of events in Uganda, is kingdom, now winning its way slowly a document of extreme interest and im. through sore struggle and conflict towportance. It sweeps away the last ves- ard Christianity and civilization, of tige of fOUIIdation for the reports cir- forces that will paralyze all further deculated by the French mililsionaries, and velopment and destroy existIng work." puts the recent tangled events in clear -Church Missionary Gleaner. and simple sequence. But most of all does it tend to show how closely na· MISCELLANEOUS. tional interests and national honor are implicated in the present crisis. Cap- "Dr. Rigg, President of the Westain Lugard has found within the sphere leyan Methodist Conference, England, of British influence fresh articles of com- preaching recently at Truro, remarked merce anll further facilities for transit. upon the definite Christian character of ' He also emphasizes the state of districts leading English statesmen of the present where the people, trembling before the day, and the lack of Christian faith devastations of the Mohammedan Kab· among many of the great statesmen at urega, who ravaged their land and en- the beginning of the century. Both slaved them, had gladly hailed his ad- Mr. Gladstone and Lord Salisbury are vent, and had accepted with joy his decidedly religious men. Dr. Rigg also assurances that the new power had pointed out that the last ii,e Lord Chancome to stay. They see no distinction, cellors of England, the present Chanhe tells us, between the British power cellor included, were all not only pro· and the C()mpany, and have regarded fessors of religion, but earnest, practical him throughout as the direct represent- Christian men. "-Indian Witness. ative of the Queen. This hopeless confusion in the minds of the Waganda and How will it be when Mr. John Mor· neighboring peoples, not only of the ley comes to the throne? Company with the Government, but of the English missionaries with both, has – " If we are looking for the converadded much to the perplexity of the sion of the world before the return of situation. If all outward manifestations Christ, we shall hear with joy of thouof British power, having once been sands of baptisms and try to think that given, are withdrawn, Uganda will be if they are not all born again of the Holy left no longer' a fairly concrete native Spirit now, many of them will be after kingdom, but one rent asunder by inter- fnrther teaching, and that their children nal political strife, fostered all too clear- will be true Christians. If, on the other ly, alas I by those who should always hand, we understand the Scriptures to , make for peace. ' Uganda will speed- teach that the Lord is now gathering ily fall a prey to encircling enemies, and out of the nations a 'people for His the English missionaries and Protestant name' (Acts 15: 14; Rev. 7: 9), and converts, looked >n as the weak re- that at His coming nations will be mainder of a withdrawing power, will, brought in instead of individual converhumanly speaking, inevitably be as- sion!!, as now, we shall be earnestly de. sailed. It is not a question whether our siring that better day, and shall rejoice brethren there are willing to remain at as we '800 these things come to pass' the risk of their lives, or whether the by which we 'krww that the kingdom committee are prepared to expend funds of God is nigh at hand' (Luke 21 : 31). in a region without British protection- Those who look for the Lord's coming these questions have been unmistakably are not pessimist missionaries, as some answered in the past history of Ugan- suppose, but optimists: the outlook is da. We have put our hands to the full of 'hope for the Church and for the plough, and dare not look back. But world, when the King comes to establish it i~ a question of the flooding into a His kingdom. Until He comes the evangelization of the world i3 ,thtl wtrl"k of thc Church, and' the King's business
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
re~uireth haste.' Prophecy shows the nature, and he carefully points out that uj'gency of missions: "So MUCH THE nations lose their name and their place MORE AS YE SEE THE DAY APPROACH- in the world if they begin to live only ING."-H. DE ST. DALMAS, in Indian for these lower ends. This is ' sound Evangelical Review. teaching,' really wise and healthy coun- -Eleven years ago the Jesuit Father sel, and we commend it to all our read- Colberg, quoted in the Allgemeine Mis- ers. WcaIth has its place and power; sions-ZeitscMift for November, 1892, pleasUI;e, too, has its fUnctions; but writes of the people of Ecuador: "The nations that try to live by and for these simplest teachings of our religion are to things alone will not make very fruitthem unknown things. What shall we ful history; or, if they make fruitful say of the parish priests who take up history, it will only be by way of feartheir quarters in Quito or other cities ful warning rather than of noble and the whole year through, remote from inspiring example. "-Australz'an Ohristheir congregations, and merely ride out tian World.
to them once or twice, when the time -" We which are alive and remain" comes to gather in their church dues, till the coming of the Lord. With this and who only at such times, as it were, hope did Saul of Tarsus go forth to acby the way, administer the holy sacra- complish, within the compass of a huments? The moral state, up to the man life, his work of bringing every most recent period, has been the worst knee, in the name of Jesus, to bow to in Quito itself. What astonishes me is the honor of God the Father. The hope that the faith has not utterly perished. of the great decision as very near did A terrible responsibility rests on the not cause him or primitive Christendom ministers of the Church, and, above all, to esteem the work of missions superon the once so numerous monks. And fluous. Such a position, it is true, in the remaining republics, from Mexi- does not rest upon a shrewd computaco to Peru and Bolivia, matters are a tion of feasibility. It is the love of good deal worse." Christ which gives the impulse and the consciousness of having become, Surely it is time that 80mebody carried through saving grace, a debtor to all them the Gospel.
-" Mr. Justice Hodges, of Mel- men. The world being crucified to Him bourne, does not give a very flattering and He to the world, this may no longer account of the way in which Australians, interpose itself betweell Him and any at all events Victorians, live. Speaking man. It is not only the lust of conquest as chairman at a pleasant Sunday after- or of gain which makes the world ap- noon meeting in Prahran, his honor de- pear small, and will let no corner of it clared that he had lived thirty-eight seem too remote or uncouth to abide in.
years in Victoria, that he had not To whomsoever the horizon of eternity been more than a few weeks out of the has disclosed itself, to him all this is colony all that time, and that he has yet far more certain, and for him the been compelled to conclude that the measures of time also shrivel up. All great majority of the people lived for policy, even church policy, even mis- two objects chiefly-viz., 'gain, and sion policy, can but calculate and strive wild, exciting pleasures.' Mr. Justice after the attainable. The love that pro- Hodges despises neither wealth nor ceeds from Christ is governed by an- pleasure, but he properly thinks that other law; it takes hold of those small they are not the be-all and end-all of details of labor, evidently of themselves life. And this mad love of gain and of of slight account, believing the seed pleasure is, he remarks, common to all corns of the kingdom of God to have a ranks. His honor pleads for a higher vital energy which cannot be sup- life, for the culture of man's spiritual pressed, and to which no limits of
GENE:!tAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [,January
earthly chronology are appointed. entirely devoted."-Sir C. EWEN SMITH, Whenever and wherever Christendom in Ohurch Missionary IntellifJence1'. and Christians, in firm confidence of the eternal goal, renounce the thought of -" The logic of faith. In the sumbeing at home in this world and of con- mer of 1892 therl:! occurred a violent verting this world into a home, then earthquake in one of the West Indian and there stirs and develops itself their islands, arousing universal terror, espeworld·conquering power, a power to be cially among the colored popUlation, displayed, not for themselves, but for who completely lost their heads. There Him who was not of this world. "-Dr. was, however, one old negress who dis- MARTIN KUHI.ER, in Allgemeine Mis- tinguished herself nobly from her counsions-ZeitscMift. trymen. The visitation, which shook the faith of others in shaking their -The Moravian brethren, in their re- homes, only confirmed her faith. One ports of the Labrador Mission, make of our missionaries, visiting her Boon mention of the visit of the agents of the after, asked the devout old woman, Chicago Exposition, to secure the visit whom infirmity had fettered to her ruinof a company of Eskimos to the Fair, ous hut during the earthquake, whether which we know was accomplished. she had not been greatly alarmed. Half The brethren acknowledge that these wonderingly, half reproachfully she re.. gentlemen gave them earnest assurances plied: 'I terrified! How couid I be, that they would do all in their power to when I have a God strong enough to secure the best good of the Eskimos in shake the earth?' "-Mis8ions-Blatt au.~ every way. Indeed, they strongly urged that a missionary should accom- der Bl"ildi3rgemeine. pany them, which, however, the brethren declined. Being convinced thnt the -It appears that it is not the body of dangers, both to health and to the moral the Hanover and Hermannsberg Free and spiritual life, of so long a continu- Church that has separated from the ance among the mixed throngs of such Hermannsberg l,[ission, as was at first a show, were much greater than any supposed, but only a fraction of it, possible benefit, they strongly discour- which, we are sorry to see, has also agcd the project, so that the Eskimos opened opposing missions in Africa and who actually went we may assume to New Zealand. The temper of these debe those wbo were least under mission- vout but extremist Lutherans seems to ary influence. be singularly like that of the extremist Presbyterians of Scotland in the seven- – " 0 ne good missionary is worth ten teenth century, in exaggerating into the indifferent missionaries. You must re- first importance points which appear to member that the personal character- most Christians of little significance. istics of men who lJave to deal with The Covenanter disputes, however, were natives, and especially with ignorant distinctly intelligible, while, according natives who are plunged in the depths to Dr. Warneck, even Lutherans find it of superstition, not only influence the hard to make out what these ultrapeople among whom their lot is cast for Lutherans are contending about. the time being, bnt they leave traces behind them that may continue for years; -It appears that the British Governso tbat, while a good man may leave ment-" thereby acknowledging that the his memory green to blossom for years, . anti-opium fanatics' were right after an indifferent man, or one who does not all"-has decided to prohibit the posunderstand the natives, or who rouses session or use of opium in any form by the prejudices of the natives, may hin- the Burmans. It groundS this prohibider for years the progress of that enter- tiOl'! on the law of Buddhism, thereby showing, as the Olturcl. Missiona;ry Inprise to which I am sure aU here are so telligenCe?' remarks, a regard. to the pre- cepts of Buddhism which is rarely
ENGLISH NOTES
shown to those of Christianity. In this clergy, who use every effort, it is said, case, however, as it remarks. the good to prevent the people from going to hear is a matter of joy, whatever the ground. evangelical preaching. Still there is sign of power in the movement. " If I -" George Fox said to Friends in go to your assemblies," said a man, " it A.merica in 1679: 'If you are Christians is not that I am against the priests, vou must preach the Gospel to Indians. against the Church-it is because there ~egroes, and all others. Christ com- they preach the truth." A poor widow, mands it. "-The Mi8sionary. s devout Catholic, said, "I do not find peace for my soul in my ow.n religion. British Notes. I go to your meetings; that so goes to my heart that I cannot desist." One of BY REV. JAMES DOUGJ,AS. the ladies who befriended her threat- ened to throw her off altogether if she The Fiftyjiftlt Report of the Evangeli- persisted. " Madame," answered she, cal Society of the Christian Missionary " there they preach the Gospel, and that Church of Belgium is now before us, is of far more moment." from which we translate a few items. It comprises 29 churches and stations. The German Buptist J1fission in the In 99 localities the Gospel is regularly Came?'oons.-This mission, to which we preached, and occasionally in 56 others. referred recently, has lately sustained a Colportage is carried on in 325 com- great loss in the exodus of Pastor A. munes. At Amoy, in the middle of Steffens. A young man, he went out Huy, colportage has led on to prayer- with his wife a few years ago to carry meetings. "Our friends had heard on the good work which the English several speak of prayer-meetings which Baptists were obliged to relinquish. evangelical Christians hold. ' We His record is that of a missionary afire should like, we also, to learn to pray,' with God ; and in his brief career he has said they to the reader, 'and to have succeeded in gathering many precious gatherings like those.' A first attempt sheaves. In 1892 the Lord granted a was made, when several ventured with rich increase to the church of 376; and subdued and timid voice to give thanks in June of the present year Mr. Steffens to God for the work done among them. wrote rejoicingly" that the work of the These gatherings are continued week- Lord is progressing steadily. baptisms ly ;" and the need of instruction also taking place nearly every Sunday, more becoming felt, a service of teaching has than 200 having already been added in been organized. the current year." On the morning cf July 4th, at nine o'clock, his earthly In the province of Namur, the move- course was run. In his last letter, ment which began at Morville fifteen which he dictated the night previous, years ago for long hung fire. No he says, "The Cameroons Mission and progress was perceptible. and the meet- the native people I have loved with all ing-house was almost empty. Lately my heart." His poor young widow has this work, so long struggling, has taken elected to remain and carryon the work on an aspect quite new. The constancy they began together. of the little band and the perseverance of their prayers have prevailed, and to- Pro.qre88 of tl,e Gospel in Ireland.- day their wishes are realized. They The work of Mr. Connellan, formerly a have now a worker staying in their Roman Catholic priest, is making its midst, and the meeting-house is lined mark on his fellow-countrymen; and with hearers. The Gospel seems likely so serious is the defection from Rome to extend its conquestR among the that the Roman Catholic bishops have neighboring villages. The work ill been consulting as to the best method Brnssels itself is sadly hindered by the of stemming the tide. Evidently}'l:r._
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Connellan has been raised up of God, late them to take up the work they are endued with wisdom and courage, to already beginning." do a great work in Ireland. He has all the ve1'!le of a born leader of men; and be- Baptist Missionary Meetings at Reading an Irishman to the core, and versed ing.-Four new missionaries have been in the system from which through appointed for service in India. Mr. grace he has found deliverance, he J. J. Hasler, B.A. (London), is desigknows how to insinuate his way into nated for educational work in connecthe hearts of the people, and to turn the tion with the native Christian training flank of the enemy. His method is con- institution in the great mogul city of structive mainly. Where a hearing can Delhi. Mr. A. E. Collier goes forth to be obtained, nothing is so effectual as to work, as soon as his probationary course give the pith of the Gospel. If Jesus in Delhi is finished, in the densely popu- Christ Himself be received, believed in, lated district between Agra and Delhi. and known, the cerements of supersti- Mr. F. W. Hale is to be associated, as tion must soon fall off. The central companion in labor, with the Rev. light will banish the darkness. There J. G. Potter, of Agra; and D. Laurie are, however, many cases where Bible Donald, a Scotchman, is designated for statements will not be listened to, where Bengal, and will serve, during his prothe Bible is not regarded as the rule of bationary course, with the Rev. W. R. faith; and in such cases it is necessary James, of Madaripore. to undermine their boasted refuge by shaking their faith in the Romish The valedictory address to missiona- Church. The Protestant outlook in ries, new and returning, was given by Ireland is brightening, and despite ter- the Rev. W. Medley, M.A., classical rorizing, hundreds of ex-Roman Catho- tutor of Rawdon College, Yorkshire. lic men are to be met with in Dublin Space may be found for a brief paraand elsewhere who glory in their seces- graph: "Whatever may lie' before us sion. hidden and veiled, there is one thing that lies here before our eyes and hearts Rev. W. Holman Bentley oj the COr/go.- unveiled, a certainty; clear, bright, and This Baptist missionary has of late done absolute is this: God is 1'edeeming the a most valuable piece of work. In May world by Jesus Christ. Yes, He, not last he completed the translation of the we; bu. a share in this redemptive New Testament which has been printed work is offered now to us-to you; as by the British and Foreign Bible So- large a share as our hearts have room ciety. In the future Mr. Bentley hopes for, for it is here that lies the true measto work at a translation of the Old ure of our opportunity; not so much in Testament. His wife is an efficient our poor estimates of time, or space, or helpmeet. She has translated "More area, be they long or short, large or about J esns," of which the Religious small; of gifts, be they more or fewer, Tract Society has printed 500 copies, of lengthened or of shortened life, of and are now bringing out a revised edi- connted items of things achieved, but tion of 2000 copies. The same society as old it Kempis says, 'God weigheth has also issued a translation of" Peep' more with how much love a man workof Day," the work of a native assistant. eth than how much he doeth.' , He Mr. Bentley says, "It is . our great doeth much that lovetb much.' " desire to see an earnest, aggressive native Church. The handful of mis- Touring among Telugu8.-Mr. W. G. sionaries can do little toward the evan- Scott, writing from India, gives an ingelizing of so great a country. We teresting account of an evangelistic tour must look to the natives to do this; and among the Telugns. Hundreds of miles it is our aim to do all we can to stimu- were covered and the Gospel preached in 250 towns and villages. A spirit of hearing prevailed, and thousands of -Eugene Stock, of the English tracts, books, and Scripture portions Church Society, based a recent missionwere sold. Many confessed the sinful- ary addres~ on thc two words not and ness of idolatry, and said, " We have but occurring ten times in the second forsaken the true God of whom you chapter of First Corinthians, and with have told us. We want the love and the following hf:)ads: "1. Not the sofavor of God, and to dwell with Him ciety, but the Lord. 2. Not a pet misforever." Mr. Scott believes that there sion, but the world. '3. Not money, but are thousands who, though they have men and women. 4. (For the past) made no profession of faith in baptism, , Not unto us, 0 Lord, 1Wt unto us, but have lost all confidence in idol worship. unto thy name give praise.' 5. (For The fields in that land are white al- the present and the future)' Not by ready unto harvest. might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' " 'rHE KINGDOM. -At the Missionary Congress in Chi- -" The idea that all dark skins are of cago a committee of ten was appointed a race innately" lower, " in the sense of to prepare a memorial and address to all being unfit for progress and civilization, missionaries with the view of calling is an idea born of imperial insolence, an together an international congress of inhuman religion, and a narrow concep- missions for the purpose of reorganiztion of human progress."-JiTrederie ing the missionary. forces of all lands. Harrison, in the F01·tnightly Review. The especial object in mind is the pre- vention of the waste of funds in mission -" The world will never become fields by different societies overlapping wholly Greek, nor wholly Roman, nor each other. If at this point thorough wholly Protestant, but it will become and universal reform could be had, and wholly Christian, and will include every also in respect to the unseemly strifes in type and every aspect, every virtue and the foreign field between Christians of every grace of Christianity-an endless different names, the good cause would variety in harmonious unity, Christ go forward with rapid strides. being all in all. "-Philip Sehaff. -Locate the statement in any other -And such is poor human nature! land and it is just as true. A mission- "My hand was nearly shaken off and ary in Japan writes that the hindrances my hair nearly shorn off for mementoes to mission work come from natural deby those who willingly let missions pravity, religious training, practical die !"-Jud8on. moral difficulties, and unconverted church-members. In reference to the -We must not pervert Scripture effect of religious training he says: precedents. The story is that a man "We speak of God, and the Japanese called upon a rich friend for some char- mind is filled with idols. We mention ity. "Yes, I must give you my mite," sin, and he thinks of eating flesh or the said he. "Do you mean the widow's killing of insects. The word holine88 mite?" asked the solicitor. "Certain- reminds him of crowds of pilgrims ly," was the answer. "I shall be satis- flocking to some famous shrine, or of fied with half as much as she gave," some anchorite sitting lost in religious said his friend. "How much are you abstraction till his legs rot off. He has worth?" " Seventy thousand dollars." much error to unlearn before he' can " Give me, then, your check for $35,000 ; take in the truth." that will be half as much as she gave; for she, you know, gave her all." -An Egyptian native deacon (Copt), at a village sixty miles south of Cairo, -" Personal consecration should be suspended ten of his members for such written purse-and-all-consecration." things as bad di3positions, vanity, stingi- annexed the islands of the Pacific to ness, and not allowing their wives to go civilization. Many of tIwm have been to weekly prayer-meetings. ·Where- completely transformed by the mis- upon the L1ttlIRran Observer is moved to sionaries, whose labors alone have cxclaim, "What a thinning out there given them commercial importance."
would be if such things were pcrmitted And General Lew Wallace this to the to have weight in the United States !" men themselves; "I have often been asked, ' iVhat of the missionaries of the -Shall we hope or fear, rejoiec or East, are they true, and do they serve lament? Wc have read much of late their Master?' And I have always concerning the desire and determination been a swift witness to say, and I say of the Japanese Christians to think and it solemnly and emphatically, that if act for themselves, and their restive- anywhere on the face of the earth there ness under any attempts at control on exists a band of devout Christian men the part of the missionaries or societies. and women, it is these. They live and And now a similar state of things is die in their work. Their work is of reported from the Presbyterian Mission that kind which will be producti.ve of in Brazil. No doubt great peril is in- the greatest good."
volved in all attempts to break leading strings, but (1) anything is better than -~Iaharajah Dlmleep Singh, son of a perfect Willingness to be guided and Runjeet Singh, born heir to the great carried forevermore; (2) independence kingdom of the Sikhs and to the match- must come some time, or the native less Kohinoor, died in Paris, October church will never do its work; and (3) 22d, of paralysis, aged 55 years. In neither missionaries nor secretaries are early life he exchanged his throne in the infallible, nor do they always know just Punjab for a pension of $250,000, rank what is for the best. On the whole, let among the highest nobility of England, us give hearty thanks while we pray for and two large landed estates; became wisdom. thoroughly English in tastes and habits; united witb the Church and long hon- -'Tis a consummation devoutly to ored his profession; married a most be wished that all missionary societies gifted and devoted Christian Egyptian would make haste to codify and unify girl in a Cairo mission school, and their very diverse systems of gathering made annual gifts to that mission, and reporting statistics, and also to adopt amounting in all to $100,000. Sad to a common nomenclature, so that word relate, in later days he lapsed into evil would have the same meaning with all. habits and sold himself to treasonable A half dozen or half score of items undertakings in behalf of Russia, and might be agreed upon which all would seemed to make general shipwreck of set forth. And what is meant by " for- faith and virtue. At many points in eign missions," and by" missionaries," his life truth is far stranger than the and by" churches" (is it buildings or wildest fiction.
organizations ?), or "members" (is it communicants, or what ?), and by" schol- -Perhaps the most famous distribu- ars" (does it include those in Sunday- tor of Bibles in the world was Deacon schools ?), etc. ? William Brown of New Hampshire.
He began the work in 1849, and kept it -The Review of Reviews bears this up until his death last year at the age testimony to the civilizing power of of 76. During that time no less than missions; "It is our brave contingent 120,000 copies of the Scriptures were of missionary teachers, and not the given out by him, and in 2 years pre- present greedy squads of German and ceding his death he canvassed 239 towns Spanish traders and officials, who have and visited over 80,000 families. WOMAN'S WORK. have a new name-to wit, Ovm' &a and Land. Thus its nineteenth birthday is -" Let the beauty of the Lord our to be celebrated. God be upon us" was the motto of the last year's graduating class at the Trip- -The Methodist women continue to oli, Syria, girls' school. push the Lord's work. During 24 years about $3,000,000 have been gath- -Women are displaying a remark- ered, and during the year ending Octo. able capacity for organized philan- ber 1st the income was $277,290, an in. thropy. Their recent Congress brought crease of $11,948. The number of mistogether a large number and an infinite sionaries supported is 145. The society variety of societies. It is estimated that has 4533 auxiliaries, 723 young women's there are some 20,000 women receiving societies, and 713 children's bands, with salaries in England as officers of benevo· a total membership of 150,738. lent organizations and 500,000 giving themselves in a semi'professional and -The agitation of the rights of worn· continuous way to such work. en, and most properly too, has reached the missionary societies where, from the -The Rev. Sumantrao V. Karmar- beginning, the brethren have had things kar, of Bombay, writes in the Mission- all their own way. The wives of mis· ary Herald (American Board), "The sionaries have for the most part been too home of the missionary has done more little accounted of; have often been to forward the progress of the Gospel omitted in the reckoning. And worn· in India than any other agency. To an's worth as a money-gatherer was see a woman, intelligent yet womanly, long unsuspected. The latest case of presiding at the table, voicing her opin· becoming feminine self·assertion is seen ions and ideas freely, assisting her hus· in the recent request of the Congrega· band in his noble work, managing dili· tional Woman's Board that, since al· gently her own household, and conduct. most half of the contributions are deing faithfully her special work among rived from its efforts, a fitting proportion women, is a novel and most interesting of its members may be possessed of vot· sight to a Hindu. The oosthetic and ing powers in the American Board. ' Christian environments of such a home have so impressed the minds of our peo- -The New York State Branch of this ple that they are endeavoring to adopt same Woman's Board has commenced this ideal home life as far as practi. the publication of TlwMessenger, aquarcable." terly, with Patchogue, L. 1., as head- quarters, and Mrs. C. S. Colton. editor. -A deaf and dumb woman in Man· churia, having applied for baptism, ! made her confession of faith in this -The Scottish United Presbyterians fashion: She drew on a scrap of paper have on hand a most importunate call for a crooked line, and pointing first to her- several women to go at once to Man· self and then downward, indicated what churia, where upward of 1000 women her past evil course had been. Then, are literally famishing for the truth, drawing a straight line, and pointing to with Lone to minister to them. her heart and looking upward, described the highway on which she was now OUR YO"GNG PEOPLE. travelling -First, all the giving for missions -Ohildren's Workfor Oltildren(Pres- was wholly by the churches as such, and byterian) is to be enlarged from 16 pages through t.he annual collection. Next, to 24, is to contain news from the the women organized by themselves and home and the foreign fields, and is to sought pledges of definite sums. Now, it looks as though the process of differ· entiation was to be carried another step, THE UNITED STATES. and the boys and girls, the young men and maidens, were to be banded to- -Every Sabbath the members of the gether to work, in a sense by them- Church of Christ Endeavor Society of selves, and in their own way. And cer- Elyria, 0., visit the jail to hold a pray- .tainly somehow from early childhood er-meeting, and the good-literature and onward there should be steady and per- flower committees carry reading and sistent training in the grace of giving, flowers to the prisoners. and toil for the advance of the kingdom. There b a serious defect if only the fa- -The college secretary of the Interthers, or the elders of Isrlte1, bear the national Committee of the Y. M. C. A_ bnrdens. Almost from the cradle let publishes a valuable table of statistics the pennies be saved and consecrated. relating to the religious condition of the colleges of North America for the col- -These three sentences set forth the lege year 18!l2-93, and not including fundamental ideas and principles of the young women or students in profes- Epworth League, the Methodist coun- sional schools. It appears that 147 colterpart of the interdenominational So· leges have the English Bible in their ciety of Christian Endeavor: Motto: curriculum, of which 68 are in the "Look up. Lift up." "I desire a Western States and 31 in the South: league, offensive and defensive, with Number of associations, 441; active every soldier of Jesus Christ. "- WIl8wy. members, 20,856; young men, 70,419 ; "We live to make our own Church a Christians, 38,327 ; non-Christians, 32,- power in the land, while we live to love 092 ; conversions, 2850; studying for every other Church that exalts our ministry, 4892; studying for foreign Christ."-Simpson. missions, 1115.
-" One cent per day for mISSIons -Charles Bathgate Beck, after varifrom each member of our church, " says ous bequests to persons, leaves $10,000 the Epworth Herald, "would give us to Columbia College; $10,000 to the more than $7,000,000 annually." One Home for Incurables in the city of New cent per day from each of the members York; $10,000 to the Society for the of the Presbyterian church would give Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; more than $3,000,000, or three times as $10,000 to the Society for the Prevention much as was contributed to missions of Cruelty to Children; and $5000 to during the past year. the Peabody Home for Indigent Wom- en, and directs that all the rest of his -Six societies of Christian Endeavor, estate shall be given in equal proporwhose members gave each two cents a tions to Columbia College, the Board of week, reached last year 15,000 persons Home Missions of the Presbyterian in Southern China with the Gospel, Church, the Presbyterian Hospital, the 2000 of them with medical aid. Society for the Prevention of Crime, and the New York Hospital. This resi- -An Australian" sunshine commit- due will give them $900,000 each, as tee" has bought an invalid's chair which the estate is not expected to fall below it loans to the sick. It was used for the $5,000,000. first time by an old gentleman who had not been out for six years. -In spite of eminent poetical author- ity to the contrary, the good that men -" I thank God for the Christian do lives after them. Take this capital Endeavor Society," says a Methodist case as an example: The Peabody gift Endeavorer in an Australian Methodist of $2,100,000 for the purpose of projournal, "for through it I found my moting education in the South was made way into the class meeting." in 1866, and in 1869 the donation was Carlisle, Pa., has ended the fourteenth increased to $3,500,000. Mr. Peabody's year of its existence, during which time previous donation to the cause of edu- 2361 students were admitted, of whom cation amounted to $1,250,000. 1483 were boys and 878 girls. These came from 59 different tribes; 1597 have -More than 60 graduates or students left, of whom only 60 graduated, all of the Ohio Wesleyan university are since 1889; 131 died at the school, and now in foreign missionary service. Nine 633 still remain. members of the last graduating class are candidates for the foreign field. -Out of 50,000 Sioux, over 4000 are The university has now somc 25 stu- now members of Episcopal, Presbytedents who are preparing for missionary rian, or Congregational churches. Many, work. A good record, and one which if not most, of these have become citiit is said no other Methodist college can zens_ The contributions of those conmatch. nected with the Episcopalians amount- ed to $4100 last year, while the women -Home missions find no mean field raised $2210. in Chicago, according to the figures relating to its population. The latest re- -The Free Baptists have receu.t1y tums give these nationalities: Ameri- sent a reinforcement of 7 missionaries can, 292,463; German, 384,958; Irish, to India, and they sailed in one party 215,534; Bohemian, 54,209; Polish, from Boston. 52,756; Swedish, 45,877; Norwegian, 44,615 ; English, 33,785; French, 12,- -Secretary Coit states that the 968; Scotch, 11,927; Welsh, 2966; Rus- Fr6nch-Canadians constitute fully one sian, 9977; Danes, 9891; Italians, twelfth of the population of Massachu- 5000; Hollanders, 4912; Hungarians, setts, and that in Worcester County 4827; Swiss. 2735 ; Roumanians, 4350 ; there are 9 towns with a population of Canadians, 6989; Belgians, 682; Chi- 41,395, of which these immigrants from nese, 1217; Greeks, 698; Spanish, 297 ; Quebec furnish 20,6411. The Congrega- Portuguese, 34; East Indians, 28 ; West tionalists have 8 churches among them, Indians, 37; Sandwich Islands, 31. 4 missions, a weekly newspaper, and a Total, 1,248,763. French Protestant'college -How much shall the negro be edu- -The Lutheran General Council nas cated? Three answers are given to this a mission in Eastern India with a force question in the South. The first is that consisting of 4 men with their wives, 2 he should not be educate€! at all, for it zenana workers, 2 native pastori, and would lift him above his station. The 96 evangelists, catechists, teachers, etc. second is that he should have education The Gospel is preached in 146 villages. enough to make him a better servant, The number of communicants is 1141, laborer, or mechanic. The third, held by and of pupils 1608. The number of the few more liberal-minded Southern baptisms was 600 last year. people, is that he should be educated as the white man is, for he is a man, and -Zion's Herald (Boston) is publishing must be prepared for all his duties and a series of exceedingly interesting letresponsibilities to his country, the world, ters from Rev. William Butler, the and to God. And somehow the last founder of Methodist missions in the reply seems to be most benevolent, most Northwest Provinces of India, who went Christian, and most truly American. out in 1856, and reached Bareilly just in time to taste the horrors of the Mu- -The Indian Industrial School at tiny, barely escaping with his life. Statistics of the Missionary S')cieties of the [THESE tables include only Missions to non·Christian and non-Prote,tant people., and so they omit in the United States. The figures are derivpd almost wholly from annual reports, and relate in the main possible blanks, and hence where official figures were not at hand, conservative estimates have been IIIis.ionary Income. Missionaries. Native Helpers. <i — ., ., .c 'C. '"0 0 ., ~" NAMES of SOCIETIES. -'–.0,.,",~, .c . .~ .,; 'O!r:i .~§ .-c2o ",,, S …. '0 l3 oj .~ ~ .. … 'C I::S 'g H ~"~ :«.:0.=.:. s:i.l '" 0 "~0 ~ 31'« … ~ " £ 0 p 0 E<. -183 1 "2 18 1:85 7 1 i 8 -2-,59 1 1 American Board ………………. 1810 -$679,286 $11=.507 2 Baptist Missionary Union ……..•. 1814 990,341 179,2S0 161 18 140 102 246 1,273 3 Southern Baptist Convention …… 1845 154,686 5,368 39 .. … 35 18 21 57 4 Free Baptists ………… ……… 1836 5 Seventh-Day Baptists………….. 1847 34,913 387 62 8 8 5 13 6 Christil>.U (Disciples) …………… 1875 3 …… 7 American Christian Convention …. 1886 6,610 ………. 19 3 3 …… 1 8 8 Lutheran, Geueral Synod………. 1837 9 Lutheran, General Coundl. …….. 1869 69,355 ~5 '0" …… 16 12 3 44 … 10 Methodist Episcopal …..• …. 1832 3,160 105 8 …… 1 1 1 12 4 …… 59,200 1,625 235 80 62 5 182 16,474 50 4 2 2 B9 993,592 104,038 184 100 214 1,971 11 Bishop Taylor'. Missions … …… 1885 36,961 . ……… 51 …… 80 12 37 51 12, Methodiilt Episcopal, South…….. 1845 227,027 12,700 46 181 37 6 20 105 5,300 1,640 99 13 AfrIcan Methodist Episcopal. … .. 1876 12 8 …… 7 14 Protestant Methodist….•……… 1882 14,711 290 54 3 3 4 5 15 Wesleyau Methodist…………… 1887 3,000 200 2 …… 2 3 …. 10 16 Protestant Episcopal ………….. 1835 282,499 8,288 94 …… 53 33 47 251 17 Pre.byterian………………….. 1837 1,014,504' 42,347 214 42 230 137 187 1,460 18 Presbyterisn, South …………… 1861 127,812 6,.~06 48 13 37 25 32 91 19 United Presbyterian …………… 1859 115,893 11,418 28 3 25 26 24 496 20 ReCormed Presb. (Covenanter)….. , 1856 20,839 700 43 6 7 …… 56 21 Ref. Presb., General Synod……… 1836 6,000 40 5 .. … 5 2 …… 28 22 Associate Reformed, South. 1879 4,182 261 2 ….. 2 2 3 Ii 23 Cumberland Presbyterian …. ….. 1820 36,568 1,386 6 …… 6 9 2 8 24 Reformed (Dutch)….. , ………… 1836 136,688 9,034 24 :I 26 1<1 36 356 25 Reformed (German) …………… 1878 . 2'>,015 3,047 4 …… 4 II 9 22 26 Evangelical Association…….. , …. 1876 , 14,889 1,127 7 …… 7 ….. 5 24 16,484 275 6 …… 7 German Evangelical Synod…• …. 1883 …… …… 28 28 United Brethren in Christ ……… 1853 25,000 1,111 5 …… 5 5 …… 44 29 Friends………………………. 1871 8,303 ………. 13 …… 7 12 .. – … !2 30 Canada Baptist………………… 1873 43,345 1,039 18 ….. 12 9 15 160 31 Canada Congregationalist …….. 1881 2,487 ……… 2 .. -.0. 1 2 …… 2 … 82 Canada Methodist.. ………… 1873 122,010 4,559 77 •. " .. 60 …… 16 40 33 CanadB Presbyterian……… ….. 1844 134,291 2,719 ~I 31 8 30 27 2 100 7 293 1 21,4 34 Twelve other Societies …………. …… , .. 585,877 32,672 87 84 1,156 9,793 1 1,448 1.19311,050 Totals ……………… $6,089,4021 $544,734 Unitod States and Canada for 1892·93.
work done in uon·Catholic Europe, while cO"cring that in behalf of Indians. Chinese, and JajJanese to 1893, though sometimes the year includes II part of 1892. The aim has been to leave the fewest made.
~ w§ ~:::s. i ~ ~"1=1':i~3ii 'AS~~~. ~:g ~~.~S !.;:J~:; ,f..)-.'S6 Conntriesin which .~~ o~.i Missions are Sustained. ~0 S~ ~~ ~~ ilr~..c : :l w a:I Q:$ ""' L"I 8 ~ ~~III '" '~0 g ~ '" ~Sill ,g'§ 0 3,215 1,224 442 ~ 3,750 135,000 1,147 –48,585 Africa,-'l'nrkey, India, China 1 Japan, :Micronesia, Mexico: Spain, Austria.
1,929 1,061 770 102,4.5 7,560 220,800 1,213 24,688 Africa (Congo), India, Burmah. 2 Assam, China, Japan, France, Russia. etc.
170 185 75 2,923 395 7,300 16 598 China, Japan, Africa, Italy, 3 42 13 11 860 :Mexico, Brlll.zil. t 59 1,470 95 3,865 India (Bengal). " ,4 15 2 30 …… 80 70 China (Shanghai). 5 97 ,45 20 788 127 1,500 10 960 China, Japan, India, Turkey. 6 17 27 4 199 37 350 2 20 Japan (Tokyo, etc.). 7 203 12 135 8,082 848 20,000 196 5,309 India (Madras), West Africa. 8 101 153 3 1,441 125 3,000 89 1,608 India (;lfadras). 9 2,784 352 366 26,296 2,337 51,200 326 13,053 China, Korea, Japan, Africa, 10 S. America, Mexico, Italy, 181 50 7 400 …… 214 106 99 10,733 947 Bulgaria, Mdaysia. 40 12 10 110 Africa (West Coast, Congo, 11 356 76 1,000 2 etc.). 3,076 China, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, 12 21,000 51 Anlerican Illdians, 800 5 257 West Africa, Westrndies. 13 21 3 2 217 11 400 4 241 Japan (Yokohama). .14 17 2 1 250 10 400 5 208 Mrica (Sierra Leone). 15 478 244 50 5,441 160 12,000 110 3,792 Greere, Africa, China, Japan, 16 2,470 758 398 31,324 3,452 77,500 725 Baiti, Indians.
246 132 35 2,702 391 6,500 26 28,983 India, Siam, China, Japan, Ko· 17 10,641 929 26,000 264 rea, Africa. Syria, PerEns, S. 602 223 41 241 20 600 31 America, Mexico, etc. 76 15 3 1,363 China, Japan, Korea, Africa, 18 Greece, Italy, Mexico, Brazil. 12,068 Egypt, India (Northwest Provo 19 inces). 618 Northern Syria, Asia Minor. 20 40 9 117 40 250 3 60 India (Northwest Provinces). 21 14 10 9 248 41 350 5 110 Mexico (Tampico, etc.). 22 31 10 10 615 85 8.10 4 150 J apl&n, Mexico. 23 459 217 55 5,799 457 14,000 172 5,099 China, Japan, India (Areot). 24 41 37 12 1,842 168 4,500 3 236 Japan (Tokyo, Sendai, etc.). 25 43 16 5 568 80 1,300 1 18 Japan (Tokyo, Osaka). 26 38 9 5 356 1 800 14 520 India (Central Provinces). 27 60 282 25 7,000 1,000 10,000 9 415 Africa (West Coast, Sherbro, 28 54 40 18 21<1 24 32 etc.). 643 Mexico, China, Japan, Jamaica, 29 651 ….. , 1,500 19 Alaska.
2,978 386 7,000 68 l,OOS India (Telugus). 30 7 1 ……………….. . 12 2 75 Africa (West Central). 31 192 95 40 7,607 …… 12,000 40 2,500 Japan (Tokyo, etc.), Indians. 32 198 145 75 2,082 291 6,000 144 3,751 China, India, New Hebrides, 38 West Indies.
– – -2-35 – – – – -2-65 …………… . – -62 – – – 2,530 — —- 14,389 5,749 2,766 277.027 23.783 645,452 4,867 146.652 EUROPE. out of heathenism by the humble in· Great Britain.-Dr. Barnardo's last strumentality of the Moravian Church, report shows that the income for the is the steady increase in the number of year, amounting to £133,000, was con- its members who devote themselves to tributed by 74,543 donors, two thirds service in the foreign field. During the of the amounts being in 49,004 sums past year no fewer than 36 have gone under £1 each, and that· less than 1900 forth, bringing the total of European were of sums of £10 and above. And missionaries to 392. At the same time, it is sai:! that half of the income of the the number of young men in training Salvation Army is collected, chiefly in is unprecedented.
pence, from the poor people who attend -This from the irrepressible Chap- the services. lain McCabe: "Don't you believe it?
-The Missionary Herald (Baptist) for Then listen. Twenty-five years ago, if November gives an excellent illustra- a traveller should come to the gates of tion of what admirable results the mod- the city of Rome with a little Testa- ern art of picture·making is able to ment as big as his thumb in his pocket, achieve. The life-like faces appear of the gendarme would search him, and 14 missionaries about to depart for their on the principle that a little fire would fields; and how much easier it now is do as much execution as a big one if it to follow them with our prayers! only has time enough, he would take the Testament. from the traveller, keep -A clergyman lately wrote to the it for him till he came back, and then Church Missionary Society stating that return it to him. Now, the Methodists, no less than 27 of his people-all of on a lot 95 feet wide and 155 feet long, them working men and women except in the heart of the city, right opposite one Cambridge undergraduate – had the War Department of the kingdom spontaneously and simultaneously offer- of Italy, are laying the foundations of ed for foreign missionary service; and a building that is to cost $100,000, and he asked that some one would go down in it they will soon have two or three and see them. Some are young, and big power presses at work printing must wait two or three years before Bibles and Testaments and religious coming forward; but others were rec- tracts and books by thousands; and ommended to offer definitely whenever they will also have here a school for they were able to do so. If half the boys and one for girls, and a church for number eventually go out, it will be an the people. There is a very long dis- unprecedented event in the history of a tance between the ostracised Testament parish. of 25 years ago and the Italian Method· ist Book Concern which is soon to be." -The Mildmay Mission is altogether unique among beneficent institutions, combining home and foreign work, and ASIA.
carrying on good deeds in great variety. Realms of Islam.-It reads like cut· Thus in London and near by are main. ting sarcasm, or like the extravagant tained 2 hospitals, 3 medical missions, fancies of a humorist, but the Montreal 20 missions, a training home for 40 Witness, in a recent issue, has a grave young women for the home and foreign editorial headed "Young Turkey," field, an orphanage, a probation home, speaking of a liberal movement, not yet 2 convalescent homes, and an invalid quite a party, and quoting from a mani· home; 40 buildings are occupied in the fe~to in pamphlet form which details various works connected in this society. the host of evils under which the em- The Continent.-Side by side with pire groans, how to remedy the same, steady growth in the numbers gathered and warns against the catastrophe in store if something radical in the way of ers, and 178 are women, many of them reform is not speedily taken in hand. wives trained to toil with their hus- bands. -The chief mosque of Damascus, which was destroyed by fire on Septem- -It comes out in official documents ber 14th, was one of the most famous now first published by the Calcutta and interesting in the East. On a com- Government, that after all the Sepoys manding site, its great dome and tall were justified in 1856 in charging that minarets were the first objects seen by the cartridges were greased with tallow, travellers to the oldest city in the world. and that somebody in the Ordnance De· The mosque was built more than a partment deliberately nnd persistentlf thousand years ago on the site of an lied when the fact was denied. And early Christiau church, the old walls hence came the Mutiny, one of the chief and many of the columns of which were horrors of history. Truly that was a permitted to remain, and was an object costly falsehood. of great veneration by the Mussulmans, for about it were clustered many sacred -Robert N. Cust is nothing if not traditions, among which was one that honest and plain spoken and forcible within its walls rested the head of John when he utters himself. And commonthe Baptist. ly, when he resorts to tongue or pen, if we do not believe, we do well to read, -Ten years ago Arabia was one of mark, learn, and inwardly digest what the unoccupied fields of the world. In he alleges, even when he expresses 1884 the Church Missionary Society the conviction that the dogmas and began work at Aden, and the English practices of Christian life are brought Baptists at Jeddah. About the same before the people of India " in the most time Keith Falconer, a Scotch noble- occidental, unacceptable, and unattracman, opened a mission at Sheik·Oth- tive form which can be imagined by an man. Three years ago Thomas Valpy alien and self-asserting European and French began his labors in Muscat, and American agency, despising and eVen about the same time an American mis- insulting the time-honored customs of sion was founded at Busrah and Bah- an ancient people who were civilized at rein. There are at the present time 7 a time when the Anglo·Saxons were Europeans and 4 natives working among still savages." He thinks the converts 10,000,000 people. The cities of Jed- are shamefully kept under. dah, Aden, Muscat, Bahrein and Makalah, each the centre of a province, are -The native kingdom of Mysore is open, and most of them have already to have marriage" reform." That is, begun to be occupied by the heralds of from henceforth no man over 50 shall the Gospel. marry a girl under 14; a man over 18 may not marry a girl not over 8; and -The cholera scourge, for which the the minimum age for marriage is 14 Meccan pilgrimages are largely respon- for a boy and 8 for a girl. sible, is to come to a final end, if the statement is true that England has -Rev. Jacob Chamberlain tells in the served a notice on the Sultan that if he Golden Rule of an exciting adventure does not see that this pest-hole is puri- with a tiger, and of a set-to with a tenfied, she will see that the pilgrimages foot snake occurring only a few days are prohibited. later.
India.-The Bareilly Methodist Theo- -Upward of 60,000 attendances were logical Seminary in 20 years has sent registered at the Amritsar hospital and forth 499 Hindu gospel workers, of its branch stations during the year. As whom 200 are missionaries, 61 are teach- regards out-patients, Dr. H. M. Clark claims that it is the largest medical mis- -Dr. Griffith John gives the story of sion in the world. The central hospital a notable Chinese convert named T'ang, comprises out· patients' department, who in his youth sought to become a waiting and consulting rooms, dispen- Buddhist priest, but was prevented by sary, operating·room, dark-room for the largeness of the entrance fee. After· eye-work, dressing·room and private ward he began to attend the preaching room; in separate buildings are store- of the missionaries, and was converted. room, servants' houses, students' quar· His house was five or six miles from ters, and in·patients' department bath· Hankow; but every Sabbath for six· room. Branch dispensaries are at Naro· teen years he regularly attended the ser· wal, Jandiala, Sultanwind, and Beas. vices, bringiug with him an ever·in· creasing number of neighbors whom he -The Health Officer of Calcutta re- had influenced. By and by he was ports that during the years 1886-91, out made a deacon, and became a preacher. of 49,761 persons who died in that city, But his business allowed him for a time 31,221-more than 3 out of every 5- to give only an hour a day to the work. had no medical attendance whatever in His usefulness, however, grew to be so their last illness, and less that one third evidellt that his brothers and other rela· were attended by those possessed of any tives resolved to set him free for it en· European training in medicine. In the tirely; and now, being supported by villages multitudes are blind, deaf, them, he gives his whole time to the dumb, lame, diseased for life because mission gratuitously. in infancy the simplest remedies were not to be had. -Fong Chung, a pure·blooded China· man, is now actiIlg as United States China.-Bishop Auzer, the chief of Consul at Amoy. As such he has the German mission in the province of power to try Americans resident in Shantung, has received a very high dis- Amoy for breaches of United States tinction from the Chinese Government. law. He was educated at Yale· Upon the advice of Prince Tshing and "Would that Mr. Geary could be the Tsung·li-Yamen (minister of foreign forced to visit Amoy and there become affairs), the emperor has conferred upon plaintiff in Rcase before Judge Chung!" the bishop the rank of Mandarin of the Third Order, an honor which has as yet -The Chinese haveanill·wiII against never been cxtended to a missionary. aU foreigners, but Roman Catholics The bishop is thus in rank next to the seem specially hated-the chief reason governor, and bears the title tas·yen (ex· for this being the extreme closeness of ceIlencY).-l1iilzer Zeitung, 8peye?·. their methods of work. They have sere vices for communion, etc., at which -We call the Chinese heathen, and none but converts are admitted. The yet they have some customs that would Chinese mind. which usually knows do credit to a Christian people. On everything about everybody's business, every New Year's morning each man cannot understand this, and the evil· and boy, from the emperor to the low· disposed can easily invent some bad est peasant, pays a visit to his mother. story, which is swallowed. He carries her a present, varying in value according to his station, thanking -" Behind I'chang are hills, low and her for all she has done for him, and covered with graves for miles-1,000,. asks a continuance of her favor for an· 000 graves is no exaggeration of thc other year. They are taught to believe number. The reason is that the' fungo that mothers have an influence for good shui ' (supernatural influence!!) are sup· over their SOIlS all tllrough life.-Pield posed to be specially favorable at News, I'chang, and so funerals come from great distances to bury. " -It is related that in the dead of to the Congo for use in the service of winter, with piercing winds blowing the mission. fiercely from the north, on a wheelbarrow a blind woman was transported 470 -The white ant is a pest almost bemiles by her husband and another man yond conception. In Africa their houses that she might be taught to read from are dome-Shaped mounds, often 18 feet raised letters, and so be fitted for work high. These insects erect pyramids one as teacher in connection with the Eng- thousand times higher than themselves! lish Baptist mission! ! In their travels the ants so conceal their approach that their presence is not sus- AFRICA. pected until the damage is done. They usually tunnel into any object which -The life and work of the late Bish- they attack, often reducing it to a mere op Crowther, the first African bishop shell. In this way they have been of the Church of England. will soon known to ascend within the leg of a be commemorated in Sierra Leone by table, devour the contents of a box upon the erection of a Crowther Memorial it, and descend through a tunnel bored Church. in another leg, in one night.
-Rev. T. J. Marshall, a native min. -One of the problems confronting ister, is engaged upon a translation of the Germans in East Central Africa, as the Bible into the language of Daho- a result of their progressive colonization mey. The New Testament and the policy, is what to do with the liberated Psalms are already finished. slaves. At first, after liberating expe- ditions, these were distributed among -Nyangandi lives in West Africa, the mission stations; but within the near the Ogowe River. She was going past year or two the number has inaway from the missionary's house on creased considerably, and the difficulty Saturday afternoon, where she had been of providing for them grows proporwith bunches of plantains to sell, when tionately. The missionaries, who were his wife said: "Now, you must not thus heavily taxed, put in a claim for forget that you promised to come to- State aid, and were granted a yearly morrow to chnrch." "Yes," the girl sum in support of each child. But this replied, "I will surely come, if I am does not solve the problem of what is alive." But the next morning she to become of the adult ex-slaves. In found somcbody had stolen her canoe, his report last year the imperial goverand no one would lend her one to go to nor said it was impossible to make them church in. But she had promised to support themselves, as they &re for the go, and so she felt that she must. She most part physically weak, and had swam all the way! The current was never learned and did not desire to work. swift, the water deep, and the river fully a third of a mile wide; but by -The Berlin Society has gathered swimming diagonally she succeeded in 11.456 communicants in South and East crossing. Africa. The Rhenish Society has com- pleted a half century of work in Nama- -Rev. George Grenfell, Baptist mis. qualand, and the results appear in 10 sionary, while acting lately as frontier stations, 2000 communicants, and 5000 commissioner in the interests of the native Christians. Congo State, travelled more than 1000 miles on a bull's back, his wife using -Among the popUlation of Cape the same means of transport. They Town are found 17,000 Malays. Two have found oxen in this respect so ser- English women are laboring in their beviceable, that they are taking four back half, and 6 more are needed. -Whatever may be the immediate has been done so largely by the native result of the struggle with the haughty Christians. Thus in the years 1872-91 Lobengula and his warlike Matabele no less than 52 coupies were sent from followers, there can be no doubt that in the Raratonga mission to toil in New the end great gain will inure to civiliza- Guinea, and of these 4 men and 3 womtion and Christianity. Cecil Rhodes is en were killed by the savages, and 17 a statesman of a high order, and he is men and 23 women died of fever. Last laying the foundations of an East Afri- year 38 more were sent from Samoa, can empire. Niue, etc.
-Alfred Casalis, a missionary of the -Dr. Gunn, of Fotuna, in the New Paris Society in Basutoland, reports in Hebrides, tells a distressing story of how the London Ohristian that in his dis- that island has been desolated by an epitrict there are 6 schools, one with 200 demic of dysentery. Medicines were pupils, 9 native schoolmasters, 7 native almost useless, and one fourth of the catechists, 730 church-members, and popUlation fell victims, including most over 300 catechumens. of the children and youth. Two were taken from his home. ISLANDS OF THE SEA.
-A missionary of the London Society -After sixty years of help and overin Madagascar sends to Tl~e Ohronicle sight the English Baptist Missionary Soan account of a native young man, who ciety is about to withdraw all pecuniary had been a wild lad, but who something assistance from the Nassau and Bahamore than two years sincQ gave himself mas churches. This district, which now to Christ. He was much impressed assumes self-support, includes 19 islands with the Saviour's command to his dis- having 94 native evangelists, who are ciples to preach, and was convinced that superintended by 1 European missionthis command ought to be obeyed not ary. After four years of gradually deby a few, but by all, and not on Sun- creasing grants, San Domingo, Turk's days alone, but every day_ Though a and Carlos islands are also to be thrown plain woodcarrler, as soon as his wood upon their own resources. These conwas sold he would go about the market, tain 14 stations with 2 missionaries and Bible in hand, preaching as long as any 40 evangelists. The same course is to one would listen. Finding that his be taken in the near future in Trinidad, trade interfered with his giving as much with its 20 stations, 2 missionaries, and time to preaching as he would like, he 13 evangelists. gave it up. One day he told the missionary that he had preached 7 times, It is with deep sorrow that we learn but thought that "so little." Ordi- of the death of two of our editorial narily he preached from 10 to 14 times_ correspondents, whose names are fami- When asked to go into some of the liar to all friends of missions. Rev. Dr. churches and preach, he declined, say- Steel, of Australia, died on October 9th, ing, "I should get comparatively few and Rev. Dr. Nevius, of China, on or to hear me, whereas in the market when about October 26th. A fuller notice of I raise my voice and call out, 'Oh all these two able advocates of Christ's ye people, God is waiting to be recon- cause will appear in our next issue. ciled to you to·day ! ' 400 or 500 people can hear me, and stop to listen. "
-One of the most notable features of the progress of the Gospel in the South Seas is found in the fact that the work
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1892
APOSTOLIC MISSIONS; OR, TIlE GOSPEL FOR EVERY CREATURE
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 'I.-Old &ries.–JULY.–VOL. V. No. 'I.-New Series.
APOSTOLIC MISSIONS j OR, THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY CREATURE. * BY RBV. JOSEPH ANGUS, D.D., REGENT PARK BAPTIST COLLEGE, LONDON, ENGLAND.
" And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."-MARK xvi. 15.
It is a hundred years since the revival of the spirit of missions. At the close of the last century, amid the din and bloodshed of an earlier French revolution, Dr. Carey was publishing his first translation of the New Testament into one of the languages of Bengal. After seven years of apparently fruitless labor, he had begun to desecrate the water of the Ganges by the baptism of his first convert. In the same year Dr. Vanderkemp reached the Cape, and began missions in Africa. It is only a cen. tury since j and now the Bible has been translated for the first time into more than a hundred and fifty languages, spoken by more than half the ~Iobe. Three thousand missionary evangelists are now laboring among the heathen. More than twenty thousand native preachers and teachers have been raised up through their toils, and native church-members are counted by hundreds of thousands. There are still found men who ask tauntingly for evidence of our 8uccess, and yet I venture to affirm that as mighty a work has been done in these last hundred years as in any hundred since the beginning of the Gospel: while in Biblical Translation as much has been done in this century, to give the Bible to the world, as was done in the eighteen centuries that preceded it-Pentecost included!
Cheering as this success and these labors seem, they have not kept pace either with the march of Providence or with the needs of the world. Knowledge and commerce and material civilization, the bounties and the openings of Providence have all multiplied faster than our missions. When Carey began his work India was closed to the Gospel, as was nearly all Asia. Over Africa there brooded a darkness which made even its geography a mystery. Europe was everywhere under the power of the man o~ • See Ed. Notes for Editor'. Introduction. sin, or its churches frowned upon all evangelical labor. Within living memory, India and China, Turkey and Egypt, Burmah and Persia have all become open. Africa has been traversed from end to end; and as to Europe, there are two Baptist churches in Madrid, and dozens of Protestant churches in Italy, while the Gospel is now preached again" at Rome also." The march of Providence, I repeat, has outstripped the progress of the Church.
Or, if that march be measured by other standards than the number of open doors, it is no less striking. When Franklin, the American printer and statesman, proposed for his wife, her mother objected to the marriage, because there were already two presses in America, and she thought there was not room for a third. It is little more than a century since, and there are now ten thousand printing offices in that country alone. To reach that Continent required as many weeks as now it takes days. Only thirty years ago to crOSi from the Atlantic to the Pacific was a six months' journey, perilous and toilsome in the extreme; now it is pleasantly done between Monday morning and Saturday night! Any man who has to travel much will save ten weeks out of every twelve; and if he were to spend his life in travelling, the facilities of travel would practically multiply his years fivefold. Half a century of life spent in travel would now effect as much as two centuries and a half a hundred years ago! In 1871 I read, in San Francisco, what had been written that morning near Sedan, seven thouaand miles away j and most marvellous, perhaps, of all, I reached that city within a month of leaving home, by the gentlest touch of human hands controlling iron and steam-forces that are among the mightiest that men wield. Yet within eighty years the man who spoke of " steam wagons" was deemed insane, and was helped only because" his invention," it was said, "could do no harm, and might lead to something useful." So it is with everything. The human eye can now see through 'space millions of miles farther than it could even when we were born. The three thousand or four thousand fixed stars which the apostles saw are now known to be six or seven millions. The yearly income of England is six or eight times larger than at the beginning of the century, and has trebled within thirty years. The effect of all this is that, for openings of Providence, for facilities of usefulness, for material strength and resources, this year of grace 1892 is much further beyond the year 1800 than are the missionary labors of this year beyond the labors of our fathers. The march, the bounty of Providence, has outstripped us all.
What are the feelings in which we ought to indulge ~ Devout thankfulness and as devout discontent.
Our labors have been" more abundant," the results are highly encouraging, and yet comparatively very little has been done. In this spirit I shall discuss the subject of missions, under the twofold division: (1) The work itself j and (2) the cxtent to which we are to prosecute it. We are to preach the Gospel-that is our work, and we are to preach it to every creature, to all creation, as the word is also rendered-that is the limit of our work. May the Good Spirit Himself help us to understand and to observe both parts of this command.
1. Our Work.-We are to preach the Gospel. The Gospel. In an important sense, it is as old as creation. From the very first men knew of a Divine law, fixing distinctions between right and wrong. Their sinfulness and guilt, atonement through vicarious suffering, God's free and yet righteous mercy, the obligation and th(' efficacy of prayer, the necessity of holiness-all were revealed. But now these truths are set forth with new proofs, are enforced by new motives, amid stronger light, and for a wider audience. This Gospel we may describe in various ways. It is a threefold message-of repentance and remission of sins through our Lord; of personal holiness, and of the work of the Spirit whereby the new life is begun and perfected; of blessedness for all who love and !lerve God. Forgiveness, holiness, blessedness. What more can we need ~ Or it is a twofold message: Christ's work for us, in living, and dying, and pleading, and reigning; and Christ'!! work in ns beginning in grace and ending in glory 1 Or is it a single message: of Christ as crucified, the true Revealer of the Divine holiness and love, the Redeemer and Comforter, and Pattern and Sanctifier of us all ~ This Gospel-at once a threefold, and a twofold, and a single message-Christ came to found even more than to teach. Yet it is the Gospel He taught, as it is the Gospel His apostles taught. So mighty did it prove that the most successful preacher of the apostolic age resolved, as much, perhaps, from experience as from direct inspiration, to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ as crucified-the power and the wisdom of God. And this Gospel we are to preach. The words that describe our duty in this respect are all of them suggestive. The first of them is the one used in the text at the head of this article. Weare to proclaim it as heralds-not making our message, but carrying it and announcing it with boldness and authority. Sixty times in the New Testament is this word found. Everywhere it describes the bearing of men who feel that they are speaking in God's name. A second word, translated in the same way, means" to talk." It is applied to the easy conversational method adopted by our Lord, and to the somewhat exaggerated sayings of the woman of Samaria. It describes a gift of priceless value-the power of readily introducing and speaking of religious themes. A third word means" to reason," "to discuss." It is the word used to describe Paul's discourses; and it was preaching of this kind that he continued at Troas till midnight, as it was under such preaching Felix trembled. The fourth, and one of the commonest words of all, translated "preach," means to announce " glad tidings." More than fifty times this word is used. It forms the glory of the new Dispensation-that" the poor have the Gospel preached to them." This is the thought that justifies the outburst of the prophet : " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace." "Blessed [happy] are the poor in spirit," is the first word of our Saviour's longest discourse, and it is the word that is found oftenest ther~. Weare then to be heralds, and talkers, and reasoners, and publishers of good things.
Constantly connected with these terms, which are all translated" preach," are other three. One means to " testify, or bear witness" -from Scripture, and especially from our own experience; another means" to teach ;" and a third " to exhort, or entreat." Thus, at Pentecost, Peter testified and exhorted, saying, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Thus Christ sent His disciples to teach all nations: thus the apostles ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ; the word suggesting that the truths which we announce we are also to explain and apply. Thus also, wherever Paul went, he exhorted and entreated; his own summary of his ministry is " As we go, we beseech men in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled unto God."
Here, then, we have in brief the inspired description of our calling. Weare to proclaim the truth with the authority of ambassadors and in God's name j we are to announce it in quiet talk j we are to enforce it by argument, by explanations, by appeals to what we have ourselves felt, by earnest entreaty. There is a preaching that never speaks with authority, but questions and doubts on all things. There is a preaching that never reasons, but is always dogmatic or emotional. There is a preaching that never " talks," but is ever stilted and formal. There is a preaching that is cold discussion, or bare announcement, and never entreats. Apostolic preaching was a combination of all these processes, saturated with prayers and tears.
These statements of the work of Christian evangelists are, I hope, familiar to all our readers. It is part of their glory that they ('.ontain nothing new; and yet they rebuke theories and practices which are found on all sides. They tell us that it is the Gospel we are to preach-not science, or art, or ethical duties; not what we think on public questions, or even on subordinate pointli of theology, but what we know of essential truth. This Gospel we are to preach-not to discover, or to manufacture, or to excogitate from our own consciousness. We are to preach the Gospel-not become pastors of the churches which our preaching may form; not exhibit a gorgeous ritual, or repeat a solemn litany. Weare simply to preach it as men who feel its power, are conyinced of its truth, and know that they have a Divine authority for all they are saying. To this work we are to restrict ourselves when carrying out our Lord's commission. This is the command that is embalmed in the tenderest feelings of true disciples; the one Jegacy which, besides His peace and the promise of His presence, He bequeathed to His Church until He come again.
2. But the second part of my theme may create difficulty. The words of the text not only tell us what our work is, but what its limits are-to what extent we are to prosecute it: "To every creature," " to all creation" is this Gospel to be preached. "In Jerusalem and Judrea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth," is the inspired description of the duty as defined in the Acts j and in thirty years after the death of our'Lord, it had been preached, as the apostle expresses it in the Colossians, "to every creature, , in the whole creation,' under heaven. "
The words are addressed to the apostles-" the eleven j" but to the apostles as the representatives of the entire Church j for it is a duty in which all share. It was in the spirit of this command that Andrew found Peter, as Philip found Nathaniel, preached Christ to him, and brought him to Jesus. It was in the spirit of this command that the woman of Sychar went and told, in the fulness of hel' heart, of Him who seemed the Christ, and .through her talk great multitudes believed. It was in obedience to it that the members of the Church at Jerusalem, when scattered by persecution, all except the apostles went "everywhere preaching the Word." Hence apostles welcomed all fellow-helpers-men and women-in the patience and kingdom of Christ. Hence, the Thessalonian Church earned the high praise that they were " ensamples," a model Church to all that believed j for from them sounded out the Word of the Lord through all the region beyond them. A common duty!
The only other peculiarity that needs notice is that the form of the command, as given in Matthew, shows by the very expression that this work of preaching t.he Gospel to every creature belongs to each age. It is not done once for all. It has to be done again and again. The Church of each generation redeemed by the same blood, renewed and blessed by the same Spirit, has practically the same honor and responsibility-the honor of making known to the world of each generation" the manifold wisdom" and mercy of God.
Here, then, is our work, and here its limits. The Christians of each age are to give the Gospel to the people of that age. Every Christian is to tell the" good news" to everyone he can reach j and Christians collectively are to tell it, if they can, to all the world. Till this is done we are not free from obligation j and if any of the millions we can reach perish unwarned and unbidden, we divide with them the guilt of their ruin. " Many have not the knowledge of God. I speak it," says the apostle, " to your shame."
The Gospel for every creature! Can we give it 1 Is it possible for the age to tell to the age, for the Church to tell to the world the glad tidings of the kingdom ~ In ten or twenty years can repentance and remission of sins be preached through Christ to all nations 1 I believe that they can. The Christians of the nineteenth century are more able to preach the Gospel to the whole world than the Christians of the first century were to preach it to the world of their day. If so, the duty is binding, and the precept of the text is a literal command, a summons claiming obedience from all disciples. Carefully mark once more what the duty is, and how, in the light of the gospels and of the Acts, it is to be fulfilled. In 1he three years of our Lord's ministry He travelled three times over Galilee. Three times He travelled through Judrea and visited Jerusalem. He preached for weeks at Capernaum, His home, and a border town where many were coming and going. Six months He labored in Perrea ; twice at least He was in Samaria. Twice He sent out disciples-the twelve, the seventy; and in all these districts there were believers, hundreds of them, though no church was yet formed. Such was His three years' work-an itinerant home ministry-among, perhaps, three millions of people.
In five-and-twenty years Paul travelled three times over a great part of Asia Minor and Europe. Twice he was kept as prisoner for two years, at Cresarea and at Rome, preaching to all who came to him, and especially to successive soldIers to whom he was chained. At one place he wintered; at another he spent a year and a half; at a third two whole years, " So that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus." The charm of each scene of labor was an open door and many adversaries. If churches were formed, he encouraged others from among the churches themselves to take the oversight of them, sending written instructions for their government. Those instructions are now the inspired handbooks, which we give in a printed form to our converts, and which are, under God, the means of the growth and permanence of our societies. This missionary rented buildings and used the houses of those who were disposed to receive him. He took nothing of the Gentiles-i.e., of the unconverted-but gratefully ackll0wledged the gifts of all fellow-Ohristians who ministered to his necessities, and yet was ready to work with his own hands, that he might preach a free Gospel, and maintain his character for disinterested independence. In this spirit he travelled from Jerusalem even unto I1Iyricum, fully preaching by his life and by his words the Gospel of Christ. Fellow-helpers he found or made wherever he went; so that within thirty years after the ascension, the sound of the voice of the first preachers-the music of their message, as the terms imply-had gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. And I believe it demonstrable that with apostles, messengers of the churches-missionaries, as we call them, of a like spirit-we are able to do for our world, in the way of preaching, more than Paul and the apostles did for the world of their day.
To the extent of our ability we are to preach it, and we can preach it to all. Take the least favorable case. Suppose that this work is to be donp hy members of churches in Christendom only-i. e., in Europe and America.
We might need fifty thousand preachers, and their support might amount to fifty or seventy-five millions of dollars a year for ten years. In that time, and by snch an agency, the Gospel might be preached, and preached repeatedly, to e'ery man and woman and child on earth.
It seems a great company-fifty thousand preachers. And yet the number is less than ten per cent of the Baptist evangelical church-members in Great Britain and her colonies alone. Two out of every hundred mem- bers of Baptist churches alone, in Great Britain and America, would yield more than we need. While if Britain and America and Protestant Europe were to combine, our fifty thousand would mean one Christian worker out of every three hundred church-members only. England sent as many men to the Crimea to take a single fortress and to keep up for a few years a Mohammedan despotism. Ten times this number of men fell on each side in the great American war to set free three or four millions of slaves.
Five hundred years ago the Crusades had cost more lives, and they sought to win from men wellnigh as chivalrous as the invaders a material Jerusalem and an earthly" sovereignty." And cannot fifty thousand redeemed men be found to win back the world to Je~us Christ 1 Have our hymns no meaning 1 " Oh, send ten thou8and heralds forth, From East to West, from South to North, To blow the trump of Jubilee, And peace proclaim from sea to sea."
It seems a great sum-seven hundred and fifty millions of dollars in ten years. Y6t it is only five dollars a year from each member of the Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches of Europe and America. England alone spends nearly as much every year on intoxicating drinks; and the blessings of civil government, imperial and local, cost Britain every year more than two thirds of the amount. The Crimean War cost five hundred millions of dollars; the American War more than ten times as much. An annual tax of three and one-half ceuts on a dollar on the taxable income of Great Britain alone would yield the seventyfive millions of dollars we need. Nay, more; it would be easy to find ten thousand professing Christians who could give it all.
Looking only at men and money, is it not self-evident that it can be done 1 But, in fact, the process is less costly than I have supposed. In America and England, and generally on the continent of Europe, the Gospel might be preached, fully and tenderly, without much more cost than the loving personal labors of our church-members. In India there are, say, one hundred and fifty millions of heathen. Suppose that we could send out at once three thousand men, who should each spend a couple of years in learning one language or more, and go for eight years or ten of work. They might gather around them, or get from existing churches, three thousand more-plain men or women, competent to preach the Gospel with tenderness and power. And then in ten years the Gospel might be preached, and preached repeatedly, to all India. The entire cost of such an agency for ten years, and for six thousand agents, need not amount to fifteen millions of ponnds. Five thousaud men sent iu the same way to China might, in the same time, evangelize the whole country. It can be done. I have not forgotten the difficulties of all kinds that surround this enterprise-travel, health, unknown regions, barbarous tribes, the great wrath of one who perceives that" his time is short." I know, or can imagine, them all. But I venture to say that. whatever these difficulties, they would be overcome if national honor were at stake; if diamond beds or gold fields of sufficient value had been discovered i nay, if even a Nile were to be traced and mapped. Is there a part of the earth that Englishmen could not penetrate-jor a consideration? And shall Christ's command and the world's needs fail to move 1 I repeat it-It can be done!
The recommendations of some such plan, so simple and comprehensive -the preaching of the Gospel, and, nothing more, to every creature, and nothing less-are clear and decisive.
There is, first of all, the Divine command and the Divine example. Education is of value i so is the relief of distress; the alleviation of suffering ; so are canals, and railroads, and commerce the implements of a material civilization. We honor them all i but they are most honored when made subservient to the Gospel. When the blessed God stepped forth from his place, as philanthropist (Titus 3 : 4) He gave His law and prophets, and sent His Son. And now all the improvement He work!! begins in human hearts, and is to spread from within outwardly till all is renewed. There are, be assured, profound reasons, as there is a Divine command, to justify the announcement that the preaching of the Gospel is the first business of the Christian Church.
Some such comprehensive plan, moreover, will have the advantage of proving to the world that we believe what we profess-viz., that the Gospel is God's remedy for human misery and sinfulness, and that it is the Church's honor to make it known. Everyone sees that our present agencies, with their million pounds a year, for the evangelization of eight hundred millions of people, do not mean businels; and there is, in consequence, widespread infidelity in relation to the Gospel and in relation to the sincerity of the Christian Church herself. . •• What an answer it would bc to rationalism, and secularism, and sectarianism, and popery, and infidelity in all their forms i and what a healthy confirmation of our own faith if the evangelical churches of Christendom were to resolve, in God's strength, to preach the Gospel to every creature. It would be the fitting reply at once to papal infallibility and to rationalistic unbelief.
And how our work would simplify and extend if we confined it to this business of preaching the Gospel. Many men would be found, of every class and of various social positions, competent to do this work, but not competent to become pastors, and not caring to take upon them the business-labors of many modern missionaries-good men, full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost. Nay, might not our best men-our laymen and pastors -whether young or old, be prepared to give five years,or ten, or parts of every year, to this specific work, who are not prepared to become missionaries for life, in the common meaning of the term. "'hat enormous anxieties would be spared us in connection with mission.buildings, and churches, and schools-the dead weight of many existing agencies. All thege things would come in time, but they would come independently of those who make it their business to preach the Gospel. Churches would be formed by thousands; but they would be left to their New Testament, and to native pastors, being commended, not selfishly, but from enlightened conviction, "to God and to the word of His grace. " A freer Christian life might be the result of such an arrange· ment; but the life would be more true, more natural, and, I believe, more abiding.
And what a blessing would it be to the heathen to filld hundreds of men in their country all preaching substantially the same Gospel, and all pointing for details of spiritual and ecclesiastical life to the same book!
It can be done. It is our duty to do it, and there will be blessing even in the attempt. Yes, you say, in the attempt j but in anything besides' Can we, without miracles, hope that men will believe' Is a message of human sinfulness, of Divine mercy, and of holiness-in one word, of Christ, and of Christ as crucified for us-likely to win men who have grown old in sin Y Must we not rather keep to our schools and be content to elevate men by the gradual training of a few in each generation, till, centuries hence, the whole are trained? I think not. The contempt of the foolishness of preaching has not yet died out. Signs, miracles, are still deemed essential. Wisdom, education, is still sought for as the precursor of the Gospel or its substitute. Yet is the Gospel more than a sign. It is power itself, and the power of God; and more than wisdom-the wisdom of God. Miracles have their place in introducing a new revelation, but they are not needed to justify us in preaching the Gospel, nor were they the means of the repentance and faith of the first converts. The truths we have to preach-man's guilt, God's free and righteous mercy, the necessity of holiness-still appeal to men's consciences and hearts, as they did at Jerusalem and at Corinth j the preaching is still followed by "greater things" than Christ Himself wrought j and, in short, the meso sage of the Cross, delivered as it ought to be, with prayer and tears, is still the power of God j and our strength is in proclaiming it. Some will not believe, but multitudes will ; and we shall have discharged our con· science and have obeyed our Lord. There will be a blessing in the attempt, and in much belides.
Thill, then, is the conclusion to which I come. If the Christian Church will give itself to this business of preaching the Gospel, it has wealth enough and men enough to preach it, in the next fifteen or twenty years, to every creature. All we need is a " willing mind"-a Pentecostal spirit of prayer, and faith and zeal. Only expect what God promises to give, only attempt what God bids us to do, and the thing will be done.
The Divine method of ruitlsions has been briefly marked out. We are to work to this model j make the preaching of the Gospel to every creature our ambition, our passion, as it was Paul's. Begin with our children and our friends. Continue in our busineils that we may have the more to give. Take it up as work, not as play.
Let the resolution of our missionary boards be to have hundreds of missionary evangelists with simple work, requiring few, though noble qualifications-love, insight, faith. And let our resolution be to give, not single dollars, but fives, tens, hundreds, and thousands-sums we think we can ill spare; and let all give. And soon-the Lord hasten it !-" His way will be known on earth, and His saving health among all nations."
And yet it is not so much men we need, or money! Not 80 much demonstrations of the sufficiency of our wealth and numbers. What we most need in order to use the wealth we have and to send the men is a heart of warmer love-still greater tenderness and simplicity, more faith and more prayer; in short, the Holy Spirit in us and with us. All I have here written on the power of preaching takes as granted that it is not we who speak, but God who speaks by us. The consciousness, the temper. and the reality of a Divine presence-is not this the great need of us all?
Yet is it less accessible than the men or the money ¥ Nay, it is more accessible than either, and the only thing needed for the acquiring of both. If God give us the Spirit-and can we doubt His willingness-nothing else essential will be withheld.
STATISTICAL FACTS.
I. NUMBERS.
BAPTISTS. Ministers and Members or Communicants. Missionaries. 505,090 Briti.sh. Empire, Colonies, and 3,281,500 MlsslOns ………….•.• 2,853 America and Foreign States .. 25,005 Total (a) …. …. .. 27,858 3,786,590 CONGREGATIONALISTS. Ministers and Members or Communicants. Missionaries. 360,000 Great Britain (b) .. ……•.• 2,722 492,000 America (c) •• '" .•.•.•••.. 4,640 Total …•…•••••.. 7,362 852,000 EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH. Benefices. Sittings.
England (d) …•.••…•… 14,250 6,250,000 Ireland …………..• _.. America .••••..•…••….. 1,210 602,300 4,163 (Members) 1,650,000 Total ••••………. 19,623 7,502,300 (a) "Baptist Handbook," 1892. "The Congregational Handbook" (Boston) for 1891 gives American Baptists as a million more.
(b) "Whitaker's Almanac," 1892. A very inadequate view of the influence and working power 9f the body.
(0) .. The Congregationalist Handbook" (Boston) for 1891. (d) This seems the simplest way of giving an idea of the strength of the Established Chnrch. 'fhe ministers are much more numerous than the benefices, and the nominal melDbers than the Eit~ tings. See H Whitaker's Almanac," p. 236. PBlCSBYTERIAN . Ministers. Communicants.
United Kingdom, Colonies, 5,510 1,418,000 and Missions .•••…….. 5,527 469,000 11,918 European Continent …..•.. 1,561,000 America …•..•••……… —– Total (e) . ••••.••••.• 22,955 3,448,000 WESLEYAN AND OTHER Ministers. Communicants. METHODISTS. 7,285 1,362,000 Great Britain, Colonies, etc. 31,365 4,983,000 (7 bodies) ……•……. —— America (14 bodies)…….. 6,345,000 Total (I) …. ……. 38,650 23,000,000 —- Grand Total (about) …… 120,000 The number of commllnicants is equally divided between Europe and America.
It will be gathered from this list that in these five denominations there are upward of 15,000,000 of church. members who are pledged to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus thrist, with seyen or eight millions more who are equally pledged as members or Episcopal churches.
II. WEALTH.
[NOTE.-It is not deemad necessary to alter these figures to represent dollars. We have only to remember that a ponnd is abont five dollars.-ED.] Since modern missions began in 1792, the wealth of England has enormously increased. Ninepence in the pound from income-tax payers alone would now yield £15,000,000 a year. We spend each year on our army and navy £35,000,000. We spent last year on drink £140,000,000.
Our yearly contributions for foreign missions amount to £1,300,000. (g) In 1850 the communicants of evangelical churches in America were wurth £200,000,000 ; in 1880 they were worth £1,800,000,000. The AmerIcans spend on drink £200,000,000 a year; on tobacco, £120,000,000 a year; on jewelry, £110,000,000. Their yeady contributions for foreign missions amount to £1,400,000. (h) Looking at our numbers and wealth, am I wrong in affirming that the Chris~ian churches of Europe and America alone have men enough and money enough to do a11 I have described in a fraction of the time I have assigned for the accomplishment of this great and blessed work?
<el From" Reports of General Presbyterian Council," sent by Rev. Dr. :ltlathewi (f) From" The Wesl"yan Methodist Kalendar," sent by ~bjor Smith. (g) See Church Missionary Intelligencer, January, 1892, p. 64. (fi) See" Report of the Centenary Conference on Missions," ii. 502, 534.
DECENTRALIZATION IN MISSIONS
DECENTRALIZATION IN MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS.
In a very able article on missions in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review, the writer makes this startling statement, that" the churches of Great Britain have never as yet made foreign mi.~sion8 a part of their work. ,.
What strikes us at first as being a strange assertion is, however, justified by a further statement, which is almost as true of our country as of Great Britain: "The great missionary societies in England are all outside the churehes, which, as churches, have nothing to do with their maintenance or management. It is true the money comes from members of the churches, and church-members are managers of the societies; but all that the churches do is to manifest a benevolent neutrality, or to bestow a benevolent patronage. Missions to the heathen world are not made the work of the churches; they are a parergon-we had almost said a by-play, or a May holiday-instead of being the Church of Christ's first work, as it was her Lord's final commission-a work demanding the highest talent and most devoted service."
It cannot be denied that this statement is strictly according to fact, and the fact is one of the most serious whith eonfronts us in our missionary operations. Responsibility is the mother of activity. Only as Christians are sensible of their obligation will they be moved to active consecration.
Therefore, how to distribute responsibility for the work of evangelizing the world is the great problem to be solved in the present "crisis of missions. "
Now we do not question for a moment the great value and indispensa- ble necessity of our missionary boards. The splendid work which they have done during the last hundred years has amply justified the wisdom of their founders j and it is to be earnestly hoped that the number and efficiency of such societies may be greatly increased in the years to come; but there are certain perils connected with these great organizations to which we should be keenly alive. .
In the first place, they tend to create a missionary trust, in which re- sponsibility is 'centred in a few hands, funds administered by a few men, and the world's evangelization syndicated in a few trustees. As great emporiums shut up small shops and drive the petty store-keepers out of business, so wholesale missions tend to concentrate the trade in Gospel pearls in a single firm, and thus to create a ~ind of evangelical monopoly.
President Wayland, whose views of missionary policy, expressed more than forty years ago, have been more and, more justified by events, had very strong convictions on this point. He predicted that the tendency would be steadily developed to carryon missions by representation instead of by participation-churches turning over their responsibility to boards, boards relegating it to executive committees, and executiye committees to secretaries. " Thus, in fact," he says, "the work of extending the cause of Christ, which belongs essentially to every disciple, is devolved on some fifteen or twenty men, who, overburdened with business, do. all they possibly can i but to what does this amount in comparison with the universal effort of six or eight hundred thousand communicants, each laboring in his own sphere, each building over against his own house, all animated with the same spirit, each determined to do with his whole heart the whole service which his Master has appointed to him individually 1"
In confirmation of this statement, let us ask how many pastors and churches practically discharge their responsibility for missions with an annual contribution, gathered on one Sunday and sent to the missionary society ~ Those who have an intimate acquaintance with the subject well know that many make this the sum total of their interest in this Divine enterprise. Thus the missionary Christ, with His great commission, is treated as a beggar to be discharged with an alms, and not as a yoke-fellow in the Gospel to be supported in daily co-operation. As a consequence, missionary contributions do not grow with the growth of the churches, and missionary interest does not increase WIth the increase of communicants.
On the other hand, whenever ~ndividual churches have taken up the work of giving the Gospel to the heathen, as their own first and inalienable obligation, the results have been surprising. God is constantly giving object-lessons on this subject: The single peasant church of Pastor Harms, in Germany, sending out and supporting more than three hundred and fifty missionaries within thirty years; Pastor Gossner commissioning and maintaining one hundred and forty-one missionaries i and in our day, Pastor Simpso~ sending out one Imndred missionaries in a single year"and receiving for their support within twelve months more than two hundred thousand dollars ! We may not altogether approve the policy and methods of these leaders; that is not the question. Here are "examples writ large" of what single pastors and local churches can do who make missions their principal business, and constitute themselves wiih the Holy Ghost sole agente, and not silent partners in that business.
A second tendency growing out of our present methods is to produce an undesirable uniformity of method in conducting the work of foreign missions. The method is the man himself. Churches which achieve unusual success in parish work generally do so by absorbing and reducing to action their minister's personality. The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a kind of organized Spurgeon iNorthfield is a sort of incarnated Moody. These types of men and method should be transplanted bodily to the missionary field, instead of being> minted and restamped with the uniform signature of a missionary board. There are churches which are hot, and there are churches which are cold. Pour their missionary spirit into a common receptacle, and lukewarm is the mean temperature. In some way the tn0St fervtfut, most evangelical, most spiritual churches ought to make their influ(mce felt directly on the foreign field through agents who shall properly represent them. Professor Christlieb in his book on missions attaches so much importance to a " variety of operations," in order to the highest results, that he even sees a beneficent Providence in denominationalism, in the partition of Christendom into a multitude of sects.
The versatility of method is really provided for in the wide dissimilarity in churches and in their administration.
Without proposing anything either revolutionary or radical, we do believe that the time has come for decentralization in missionary operations. The way to accomplish thi!l is obviQJls and the reason for it scriptural. Let every church become a foreign missionary society having its own field or station, and its own representatives for whom it is directly responsible. Confederation instead of delegation or of relegation might thus be secured. The local churches could co· operate in the work of missions without funding their responsibility in a common treasury.
The missionary boards would carryon the same work which they now conduct with considerable relief from responsibility. They would be the commission housel of the churches which they represent, doing their banking and book-keeping j transporting their missionaries to and from their fields j building their mission house8 and chapels-in fact, doing everything which they now do except supporting and directing the missionaries. We are profoundly persuaded that this responsibility should be retained by the local churches, and for this reason, that the Head of the Church has fixed it there, and that it cannot properly be transferred. The individual church is a missionary society, complete in itself. So it was ordained to be in the beginning, and so it must continue to be in order to do its largest work for the world.
And what would be gained by this method V 1. It would greatly promote the spirit of prayer for missions. Necessity is the spur to importunity. " Lord, make me sensible of real needs," was the petition constantly on the lips of an eminent saint. One who has his larder filled to repletion finds it exceedingly difficult to plead with intense unction, "Give us this day our daily bread." Christ's constant warnings of the perils of wealth and His strong dissuasions against laying up treasnres on earth are sufficiently explained in this fact. Neither wealth nor poverty are praiseworthy conditions in themselves j but the one begets independence of God, and the other dependence on God. Therefore it is not more wealth, but more need that is required in our churches to increase their missionary power. Let the burden of the support of missionaries and missionary stations rest directly on the local churches j let the trials and discouragements of the foreign field be made an immediate and sole concern of these churches, and what a new and wonderful stimulus to prayer it would furnish. Do we hear the plea that single churches are not able to undertake a foreign mission V Our answer is, let them undertake that which they are unable to perform, if ever their praying and working ability is to be brought out. It is the business of a good teacher to give his pupils problems to work out larger than their present capacity, in order to expand the mind j and Christ would have us undertake more than we can do, in order to throw us upon Himself with strong crying and intercession, and so teach us how His strength is made perfect in weakness. Missions rightly conducted are the greatest school of prayer: they nourish that by which they are nourished j they create a necessity which supplies a necessity. In a word, the most pressing demand of our day is more responsibility for missions in order to greater importunity for missions.
2. It would increase vastly the contributions of the churches j and for this reason, that it would make obligation more immediate and personal. A financial pressure resting on a board a thousand miles away is not sufficient to lift the benevolence of the local church to its proper level. Duty is what is due j hence the more personal a debt can be made to appear, the more obligatory will seem to be the claim. How churches will lift and strain their resources and tax their self-denial to build a house of worship or to purchase a new organ! What lover of missions has not longed for the same energy of self-sacrifice on behalf of this greatest of all works? The secret of the earnestness in the one instance is that the work is counted a personal obligation, and therefore since it cannot be relegated it is heroically done. Let a church have its own missionaries who will starve unless it supports them, and there will be a possibility that some at home will go hungry in order to feed a far-off workman j but there is little likelihood that such self-denial will be evoked where responsibility for a missionary'll support is subdivided among several thousand Christians. The wisdom of Sidney Smith's saying is even more apparent than its wit: " Benevolence is a universal instinct j A cannot see B in need without desiring C to help him." How much of the amiable well wishing and even fervent praying for missions is of this sort, an asking God to move others to do what we ought to do ourselves j a pleading for the cause of missions by those who are daily shirking the claims of missions. Never can the resources of the Christian Church be laid under contribution till in some way the missionary enterprise is understood to be the principal business of the Church, and a business which cannot by any possibility be entrusted to an ecclesiastical commission house.
3. It would vastly multiply the number and the variety of missionary agencies. It is quite common in these days to hear the phrase, the " scandal of a divided Christendom." This condition is doubtless to be lamented on many grounds. Nevertheless, it has unquestionably been overruled to the wider and more rapid propagation of the Gospel. An able article appeared in one of the numbers of this REVIEW, showing conclusively that when the unity of the Church bas been most compact and absolute missionary success has been the least.' All that we would emphasize here is, that centralization tellQs illIJl.9lit always to a waste of energy. A
THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION
hundred horse-power can be had by hitching a hundred horses into cne team, but a hundred church-power does not and cannot result from uniting a hundred churches into one society. Indeed, the paradox is constantly witnessed of gaining strength by diminishing the numbers, as in the reduction of Gideon's army. Churches which are strong ought doubtless to be yoked up with churches which are weak, and so to share their burdens j but we know of no law requiring churches that are zealous and thoroughly alive to their missionary obligations to dilute their consecration and to lower the temperature of their zeal, by union with those which utterly lack in these qualities. The responsibility of being devoted, and the obligation to be zealous and self-denying ought, in other words, to be thrown upon each Christian and upon each church with no opportunity to shift them upon others.
In the immense call which is now made upon the churches of Christ for multiplied giving and multiplied laborers, it is natural to ask what further methods can be suggested. "Churches to the Front" is the answer of one of the oldest missionaries in China, in a tract now before us. If separate churches will take up the work of missions, he believes that missionaries will be multiplied a hundred-fold within a fAw years. Another eminent laborer in China has for seyeral years been advocating the same view. What is the suggestion but a call for a " policy of missions which multiplies a thousand-fold the eyes that watch for their success, the hands that work for their prosperity, and the prayers that plead for their blessing i"
THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION.
BY REV. ROBERT STEBL, D.D" SYDNEY.
The first year of the second half century of the New Hebrides Mission witnessed the introduction of steam power to serve the interests of advancing Christianity as well as of progressive commerce in this group of islands. There are thirty islands, most of which have now resident or visiting missionaries, and all of them have native teachers. The first of the interisland vessels was the Columba, a boat of five tons. The second was the John Knox, a larger craft of twelve tons, in which was a little cabin six feet high, where ten persons could sit. and a hold which could accommodate between twenty and thirty persons. This two-masted schooner did good service for a few years, but soon proved too small. The next vessel was the result of an appeal after the martyrdom of the Rev. G. N. Gordon and his wife on Eromanga in 1861, and the perils on Tanna which caused the flight of the missionaries. The Rev. J. G. Paton, who has since become so famous, raised a sum of £3000 by his fervent appeals in Australasia for a new vessel and £lOOO for additional missionaries. A brigantine of 120 tons was built at New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, and sent out to the New Hebrides under the command of Captain W. A. Fraser, in 1864, with a reinforcement of three missionaries, including the courageous brother of the martyred Gordon. In 1866 three more missionaries came from Scotland to occupy stations in the group. The vessel called the Dayspring was supported by the Presbyterian Sabbath scholars in Australia and New ?:caland, with the aid'of £250 annually from Nova Scotia and £250 from the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland. In 1873 this vessel was wrecked on a reef in the harbor of Aneityum during Ii hurricane, but no lives were lost. She was immred for £2000, which was recovered, and formed the commencement of a new fund. The Rev. Mellsrs. Copeland and Paton collected £2000 more, and with this a vessel built in Sydney, New South Wales, was purchased, and adapted to the missionary work. It was a three· masted schooner of 159 tons, and a remarkably quick sailer. For seventeen years this second Dayspring served the mission well, making two voyages snnually from Sydney with stores and mails and mission passengers, and waiting on the missionaries at their several stations. Much pioneer work was done by the aid afforded by this vessel and her master, officers, and sailors, as well as by the native crew always employed in the islands. She was insured for £2000, the premium for which was paid by means of an insurance fund inaugul'l1ted in New Zealand by the Rev. J. Copeland, and completed to a sum of £3000 by Mr. Paton. One of the services of this vessel was the conveyance of the missionaries, and often also their wives, to the place where the mission synod was held, and the entertainment of them during its several sel!lsions. Having had the pleasure of being prellent at one of these synods, I can testify to the happy and comfortable arrangement for the missionaries staying on board and meeting each other at meals. It secured proper attendance and much comfort. The wives of the missionaries were quartered at the mission house. The annual expense of the vessel was about. £1800, of which £1300 were raised by the Sabbath scholars of the Presbyterian churches in Australasia. Indeed, they frequently raised much more, and thus met the necessary repairs required from time to time. It was found, however, that this vessel was too small for the wants of the growing mission in the New Hebrides. The Rev. J. G. Paton, on a visit to Great Britain and Ireland in 1884-85, collected over £9000, of which £6000 were given for the purchase of a steamer for the use of the mission. Negotiations were entered into immediately after his return to Melbourne with a view to ascertain the probable cost of maintaining a steam vessel, and as that was found to involve an annual outlay of some £3000, considerable difficulty was felt in getting those supp-orting missionaries on the islands to undertake so heavy a responsibility. But in Divine Providence an unexpected solution of the difficulty was obtained when the mercantile marine stepped forward and offered to establish a regular line of steamers if encouragement was given. The Victorian and the New South Wales Governments each subsidized a monthly service to the illlands by way of New Caledonia and Fiji. This did not exactly meet the wants of the mission, as the steamers called only at one port on the group. The mission vessel therefore continued its voyages for another year, when the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company offered to place a steamer in the islands, with a view of promoting trade for the main line. The New South Wales Government gave a sub· sidy of £100 per month to this service, and the Maritime Board of the mission entered into a contract with the company to get all the work of the mission done among the islands. The steamer caUs at every station once a month, and conveys all passengers 'and stores. The steamer on this route meets that on the main line, and cruises entirely among the islands. In the early part of this year, and during the hurricane season, she was driven on a reef in the very harbor where the first Dayspring was wrecked. Fortunately no mission goods were lost, and no lives, but the vessel was rendered useless.
A larger and better steamer has now been put on the inter-island trade. The missionaries have greater comfort in travelling, and are altogether more satisfied. The expense has been increased some £500 a year, but no more than £300 of this faUs upon the New Hebrides Mission. The Dayspring has since been suld. In addition to all this, a small steamer is to be provided for the new mission' just started on the most northerly and largest island of the group-Espiritu Santo-hy the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. This is to be provided for by the fund raised by the Rev. J. G. Paton-now D.D., by the University of Edinburgh. The Rev. D. Macdonald, who has been for eighteen ycars at Havanna Harbor, in the island of Efate, is to superintend this new mission, and two other missionaries have been appointed to that work.. Soon all the group will be under missionary care. The evangelistic work is !!preading rapidly. There are cighteen missionaries of the Presbyterian churches now on the group. Bishop Selwyn and his missionaries operate on three of the islands to the north. There are about 180 native teachers employed. On some islands there are o·er 500 communicants; on others, 350, 200, 60, etc. On many there is a large attendance at public worship; on others it is still small. On all the work of the Lord is advancing, but the largest islands are only lately begun to be evangelized. There is still much to be done, requiring faith, prayer, labor, and perseverance. The mission contains agents of six Australasian Presbyterian churches and of the Free Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Thus eight churches work together in the cause of missions. It is no wonder that the late Rev. Dr. Duff, of Calcutta, commended this union to the first General Council which met at Edinburgh as an example of what might by done by Presbyterian churches. The same spirit is at work both in India, China, Japan, and Africa, and will doubtless prcvail. May this consummation, devoutly to be wished, soon be realized !
In April last the Rev. VV. Vatt and wife returned to their station after a visit to Europe, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and New South Wales. Mr. Watt took with him the complete New Testament in Tannese,
WILLIAM CAREY
which he had carried through the press in Scotland. Dr. Gunn, medical mis- sionary, also returned after a short furlough with his wife and family in New South Wales. The Rev. H. A. Robertson, of Eromanga, with his wife and family, came lately to the same colony for their health. Mr. Robert- son had suffered from exposure in aiding the wrecked steamer. The Rev; P. Milne, whose career has been so successful on Ngunna and other islands, is visiting New Zealand and addressing congregations. The Rev. Dr. Paton has been doing similar work in AUlltralia. Altogether this mission, in a very difficult field, is making much progress in evangelizing the dusky tribes of the New Hebrides. A perplexing difficulty has lately been felt. British vessels are not allowed to sell arms or intoxicating liquors to the natives. French vessels are allowed to do both j and the natil'es have been refusing to sell. land unless they receive muskets in exchange. This has aided the acquirement of land by French settlers, and it has hindered purchase of land and other trade to British settlers. American vessels have also, it is said, been trading in these articles among the New Hebrides islands. It is matter requiring some diplomatic settlement, so that all • nations may be on an equal footing, and that the people be protected from trade that tends to their injury and to the injury of thc missionary work. It is high timethat enlightened nations should all agree not to take intoxi- cating liquor to the aborigines of any continent or island. Humanity and religion alike require this course.
WILLIAM CAREY.
IlL-THE TRANSLATOR OF THE 'BIBLE AND THE BENEFACTOR OF ASIA.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., F.R.G.S., EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
When, in his great work, the" Annals of the English Bible," Christopher Anderson, thc accomplished Baptist minister, of Edinburgh, reviewed the principal translations of Holy Scripture which Carey had made into the languages of the peoples of Iudia and Southern Asia, he declared that that generation lived too near the object to be able to descry the proportions or estimate the value of the work. " Fifty years hence the character of this extraordinary and humble man will be more correctly appreciated." Dr. A. F. Cox, the historian of the first half century of the Baptist Missionary Society, wrote about the same time that Carey might have been a Luther or a Newton had he lived in their age, "but his faculties, consecrated by religion to a still higher end, have gained for him the sublime distinction of having been the translator of the Scriptures and the benefactor of Asia." Catholic and evangelical Christendom, after another half century, gratefully adopts as its own the eulogy.
As a man and a missionary William Carey's forty:one years' apostolate in India formed an all-round career. His plodding-the only merit he would admit-his natural genius j his consecration to the highest good of the dark races; his faith in God and personal "ove t~ Jesus Christ; his splendid health and capacity for patient toil; his simple Melf-denial, free alike from consciousness and asceticism for its own sake ; his chivalrous affection to family and friends, and his courtesy to his friends' enemies- for he llad none of his own-all constitute a character nearer perfectness than any since the inspired John died at Ephesus. But if analysis leads us to study each great service that he was called by the Spirit of God to render to the Church and the world, we have no difficulty in selecting these two as the greatest-the founding of his society in 1792, and the translation of the Scriptures into thirty-six Asiatic languages. If Robert Ball could, amid the controversies of his lifetime, declare Carey to have been, even then, "the instrument of diffusing more religious knowledge than has fallen to the lot of any individual since the Reformation," and if the poet Southey could challenge his own Church of England, all combined, to show the like, what shall be the verdict of evangelical Christendom now?
Carey himself estimated his own position when he declared that he was only a pioneer. He meant it modestly, and he would have admitted every' word written down to our own day by English university scholars who desiderate academic tone, microscopic erudition, and college-bred culture. But it is precisely such university gifts, so desirable in themselves and out of reach of the Northamptonshire shoemaker, that unfit their possessor to be a leader of men, an originator of a great movement, a reformer of Church or State. The Spi~it of God prefers the child-weakness of the world, and makes it mightier than all that mechanical training can do to be the spiritual force, the moral regenerator of humanity. Carey was the pioneer translator of the Word of God into the languages of Southern Asia in this sense, that he was the first-cxcept into Tamil and Telugoo-and that, not know. ing how soon he might be called away, he must make haste to give every people the good news of God in their own tongue. He worked night and day for this end, while neglecting no other imperative duty except his personal correspondence. To one lady he excused his silence thus-that eve-ry letter he wrote meant the sacrifice of a chapter of the Bengali Bible !
The providence of God had, unconsciously, trained him for this work far more effectually than if he had gone to college like Claudius Buchanan and David Brown, like Henry Martyn and Thomason afterward. When a thoughtless boy in the church of which his father was clerk and schoolmaster, he knew the Scriptures. When at eighteen he sought food for his new spiritual life among the Nonconformists, he 80 studied the Bible for himself that he "formed his own system" of belief from its self-evidence of self-revealing" contents, and found in it what all the Reformers and universities of the past centuries had failed to seethe missionary call. As the youth learned each new language, he read his daily morning chapter in it, till the number became seven. He might preach with the voice and teach with the lips and the effect might pass away with his own life, which must be brief at the longest. But, his trans- lations of the Scriptures, the first into the Oriental vernaculars, would, if once made, be improved on by others, and would carry the message of God to man far and wide where no missionary could go, and down through the ages when the pioneer was forgotten. Carey loved to preach, but he thirsted to translate; he worked sixteen hours out of ever.y twenty-four, because he hasted to. send out from the press the portions and then the whole of the vernacular Bible, while neglecting no other department of the missionary's duty that fell to him. And God so accepted His servant's work that his holy ambition was realized beyond all his yearning, and in a rapture of thanksgiving he said to Marshman as he lay a-dying: " I have not a wish left uns~tisfied." God so blessed His servant's self-denial and toil that He enabled him to contribute personally £46,625 to the creation and extension of the Serampore Mission, so that he saw before his death "twenty-six Gospel churches planted in India within an area of about eight hundred miles, and above forty laboring brethren rail'ed up on the spot amid them," as his surviving colleague wrote.
Let it not be supposed, however, that Carey neglected either the erudi- tion of scholarship or the delicate variations of literary style and colloquial idiom in his Orientalism. Comparative philology was only coming to the birth as a science in his day, and hill is the merit of having done more to prepare the data for its generalizations, as well as to apply its laws to the mastering of other tongues, than any contemporary ~r predecessor. Sir William Jones, the Christian judge, who died all too early at thirty-four, alone was before him. Sir Charles Wilkins and the elder Halhed had made the first translations from the Sanskrit and the Persian, and the former had cut the first Bengali types. Henry Colebrooke, greater than all, and in- spirer of the German Orientalists, was Carey's immediate contemporary and sometimes fellow-worker. The slightly later scholar, Horace Hayman Wilson, who beca~e first Bodleian Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, and was no friend of missions, has more warmly eulogized Carey's Sanskrit • scholarship and fluent and correct speech than any other, remarking that " it was not in Dr. Carey's nature to volunteer a display of his erudition ;"
the marvel how even be could find time for his translations of the Sanskrit epics, the Sankhya Metaphysical treatises, and for the texts of the Hito- padesa, the Dasa, Kumara, Carita, and the Apophthegms of Bhartri-pari, still more for his many and magnificent dictionaries and grammars. But the motive accounts for it all when he confesses, in 1811, in reference to his" Universal Dictionary of the Oriental Languages Derived from the Sanskrit," which was burned in the great fire of the Serampore press soon – after, the desire" to assist biblical students to correct the translation of the Bible in the Oriental languages after we are dead."
His knowledge of the many dialects and e'en patois of the widespread Bengali and Hindi peoples was unexampled, and has probably never since been equalled. For he was a missionary who daily worked among them, and among the lowest as well as highest classes of them. He had facilities for learning their very slang and vocabulary of abuse which no one has ever since possessed in Bengal save the revenue settlement officials, who may happen to love languages, and the people in other provinces. That rare book, " Dialogues Intended to Facilitate the Acquiring of the Bengalee Language," with its curious preface, published by Carey in 1818, throws a flood of light on the life and beliefs of the eighty millions even at the present day too long neglected. In one hundred and thirteen parallel pages we have the talk of every class, learned and illiterate j the" grave style" and the" common talk of laboring people," the language of women " considerably differing from that of the men, especially in their quarrels j" the proverbial expressions and the very irregular talk of fishermen. Some of it is almost too coarse for repetition, even in EngliSh j but all, includ- ing dialogues which set forth" the domestic economy of the country," forms a priceless revelation of the inner life of the dumb millions of Ben- gal, and no less a testimony to the wonderfully human tenderness and minute knowledge of the first English missionary to India. William Carey used to exhaust three Pundits daily as his amanuenses and fellow-workers. He had the power, like some great generals, of falling asleep in a moment and for a fixed time. Each Pundit had instructions to rouse him for a new spell of work should he not be awake at the hour, and when the Oriental's reluctance to summon a sleeper back to life prevailed occailionally, t.he eager scholar never failed to reprove him. Only then was the perfect temper ruffled, for the translator had been allowed to steal time from his work for God and posterity.
If the science of comparative grammar had not been formulated in Carey's time, still less was that of biblical criticism in the modern sense dreamed of. Theology, though the queen of the sciences, was then as little studied as the active life of godliness was pursued in Christian churches and communities. The two have a far closer relation than the extreme advocate of each-right in what he asserts, bnt wrong in what he denies- ever admits. Carey accomplished his splendid work with no apparatus criticus worthy of the name in those days, and with the help of no com- mentary more critical than Doddridge's "Family Expositor," which had appeared in 1738. His Greek concordance was always at his side. An interesting parallel might be drawn between him and Henry Martyn, his yoting contemporary and neighbor for a time, at the translating work. As to Hebrew, like biblical criticism, a scholarly knowledge of that on any extensive scale is only now coming into existence j but Carey was at the – level of the best Hebraists of his day. The grammar was known then j but exegetical methods are of to-day. The problem which God gave to the Church in the evangelical revival a century ago, was that of evangelizing the dark races j and to-day there has been added that of consecrating all . recent knowledge and critical inquiry by evangelical fidelity to the true inspiration of the Scriptures. The more that Carey toiled at his translating the nearer he was drawn to the Spirit of God, and the more his faith was fed by the revelation and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
William Carey's two greatest translations of the Bible wele that into Bengali for the blind millions, and into Sanskrit for their blinder leaders. In four years after landing at Calcutta he had made his first experimental Beng~lee version of the New Testament from the original Greek. After four revisions of the MS., read to natives of all classes, he had received his first printing-press. The printer landed at Serampore in the person of William Ward, and there, in February, 1801, the first edition of two thousand copies appeared. Ward himself and Felix Carey set up the types in nine months; four Hindus worked the press. The whole, on rough, country· made paper, cost £620. The rare and precious volume is now a curiosity as it rests on the shelves of Serampore College Library. The first page in Matthew's gospel was struck off at press by Carey himself, and this one Gospel was published at once, that the Bengalees might not for a day want a complete and inspired life of the only Redeemer of men. This first ledition was presented to King George III., at the instance of Ead Spencer, owner of the great library at Althorp; and the king replied: "I am greatly pleased to find that any of my subjects are employed in this manner." The whole Bengali Bible appeared complete in 1809. Fivc editions of the Old, and eight editions of the New, Testament were revised by Carey hefore his death. As the first sheets had been offered to God on the altar or communion-table by prayer in the first Bengali chapel, so thc venerable scholar took the first copy of the last edition with him into the pulpit and addressed his converts from it, from the words (in the Bengali), " Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy sal1"ation," just two years before the Lord lovingly answered the prayer. But to the last he persisted in his ruling passion" now and then to read a proofsheet of the Scriptures."
The Sanskrit Bible completed by Carey, burned in the fire of 1812, retranslated, and therefore not all published when he died, was his answer to the Vedic and Puranic literature of the Brahmins, who" cordially received it." As milk in a vessel of dog's skin, utterly polluted, was truth to them in one of the tongues of the common people. But in its Sanskrit dress, as afterward improved by Werger, the Bible has bem at once welcomed by not a few to whom it has proved the power of God and the wisdom of God. Every Pundit' knows Sanskrit as, of old, every educated European knew Latin; so that "by translating the Scriptures into this language we in effect translate them into all the languages of India." Carey translated and wrote every word of the great book with his own hand. It was his thirty-sixth translation and his last, though he edited and revisea the work of others in other languages.
Space fails me to tell the details or even to generalize the romantic facts of William Carey's manifold services to humanity, Indian administration, science and manufactures, botany and forestry, agriculture and horticulture,
DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
literature and education, the mo'ral advancement of society and mlSSlon economics. These appeal to the men of science and of society, to the statesmen and atbninistrators, who rule two hundred and eighty-eight millions today, on lines which this friend of many a governor-general marked out, to all who love the progress of man in any upward direction, to unite with the whole Church in grateful commemoration of the founder and the f/lther of missions a hundred years ago. All may adopt the lines of a contemporary verse-writer, a man of the world, who knew him: .. Thou'rt in onr heart-with tresses thin and gray, And eye that knew the Book of Life so well, And brow serene, as thou were wont to stray Amidst thy flowers-like Adam ere he fell."
'But the believing Christian will specially take to his heart the last written message of the dying saint sent to Christopher Anderson on September 30th, 1833 : "As everything connected with the full accomplishment of the Divine promises depends on the almighty power of God, pray that I and all the ministers of the Word may take hold of His strength, and go about our work as fully expecting the accomplishment of them all, which, however difficult and improbable it may appear, is certain, as all the promises of God are in Him, yea, and in Him. Amen." Carey began the first modern missionary century with " Expect Great Things; Attempt Great Things;" he summons us to enter on the second not only fully expecting the accomplishment of all God's promises, but taking hold of God's strength as we go about the work of evangelizing the world.
[EJrrata.-In Part 1. of this series, page 321, for first date, A.D. 51–55, read B.O. 55-A.D. 51 ; also on page 322 under THE THBEE NEW BIRTH EpOOHS.] DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
[NOTB.-Thls.paper gives the substance of au address delivered In City Temple, London, April 27, 1892, before young men in behalf of the Baptist Missionary Society, and as the opening of the centenary celebration.] Deus in historia (God is in history). The undevout historian, like the " undevout astronomer, is mad." If only the fool can say in his heart, as he beholds the universe, with its marvellous arrangements and adjustinents, " There is no God," only the fool can say, as he looks upon the unfoldings and infoldings of the historic mystery, " It is the work of chance."
Yes, events have an articulated pla~ : they are not disjecta membra. As the author of Psalm 139 said of yet unborn life, we may say of the historic ages to come: "Thine eyes did see their substance, being yet unperfect; and in Thy Book all coming events were written, which in continuous succession are fashioned when as yet there was none of them."
Christ said to the imperious demand for" a sign from heaven" that the signs were already in the very horizon, but were not diicerned by that evil and adulterous generation. The red sky of evening was understood by them to be a prophecy of a fair to-morrow; and the red and lowering sky of morning to be a forecast of foul weather. Yet with all their skill in reading the weather signs, they had no discernment for the " signs of the times. " The comparison implies a profound and most weighty analogy, nalIely, that God gives U8 in the Present a prophecy of the Future; and that it is our duty and privilege to watch the historic horizon, note politi- cal, moral, spiritual phenomena, and make abroad and safe induction as to the times to come; and especially developments nigh at hand even 8t the doors.
Another grand truth implied in all this is that, as God has a plan in history, so it is an infinitely wise and good plan.j and that therefore grand historic epochs wait for the fitnes8 and fulness of times. Accident determines nothing; there is no blunder or mistake, no anticipation or procrastination. When everything is ready, and not hefore or after, with the precision of the mO!lt perfect mechanism, everything moves according to His appoiutment. There may be a wheel within a wheel, but there is the spirit of a living creation in the wheels, and they all move in one direction, obedient to the guiding spirit, and the rim of the wheel is full of the eyes of Omniscience before and behind.
Now observe what follows: God having a definite historic plan, and the fitness and fulness of times being the determining law, we have only to study carefully and prayerfully the events of the present day to see the plan revealed and read the forecast of the future, and especially the near future." The current history of mankind constitutes the putting forth of the leaves of the fig-tree, which reveals the summer as just at hand. The prayerful consideration and comparison of events occurring before our eyes thus becomes to the disciple the spirit of prophecy.
How, then, are we to know that the fitness and fulness of times for the vigorous and successful prosecution of the work of I!lissions has at length arrived 1 What, in respect of missionary enterprise, are the signs of the times now appearing on the world's horizon? This question we seek, with God's help, to answer.
There is a grand fundamental principle which underlies all discernment of the signs of the times, namely, the comparison of prophetic scriptures with providential developments. The Word of God and the work of God must agree; and we must know the former to interpret the latter. At all great crises in history it will be found that prediction, inspired prediction, has long pointed as with uplifted finger toward that crisis j and then there has been at that crisis a singular convergence of events showing a presiding genius in history far above man.
For example, take the Incarnation, that new birth-hour of history. How plainly had prophetic prediction foretold God's manifestation in the flesh, and with astonishing minuteness of detail. The Messiah was to be "Compare Matthew 16 : 1-3 and 1M: 12-14,80-34. bmn in Bethlehem of Judea, of the Davidic line, and after the expiration of sixty-nine of the seventy heptades of years from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. * Devout men like Simeon and godly women like Anna were not taken by surprise when they beheld the Lord Christ, for, like Daniel, they had studied prophecy, and knew that the time must be near. Then there was the convergence of events: a world-wide expectation of the coming of some great deliverer, a sort of prophecy of the human heart; there was a world-wide preparation in the universal empire of Rome and the prevalence of universal peace; and a world-wide destitution in the acknowledged failure of even Greek philosophy to supply a knowledge of God. That wide famine of soul, that altar at Athens" to God, the Unknown," those Roman roads made ready for the messenger of peace-what a gatheri,ng of rays into one burning focal point! And so because prophetically and providentially the fitness and fulness of times had come-Christ came, and as the very hour struck in the belfry of the ages.
Who can deny what Dr. Croly said years ago in St. Paul's, London, that the Reformation of the sixteenth century was another birth hour of history 1 How plainly had prophetic Scriptures pointed to a period of dark ages, succeeded by another new dawn! The long-buried treasure was once more to be unearthed, and the pearl of great price recovered from its depths, and the greatest age of world-wide evangelism to follow. There had been a general decay of evangelical faith, and there must be a revival in that direction before there could be a revival of missions; for there can never bc evangelistic era until there is an evangelical spirit.
And what a strange convergence again of providential eventlil! What can be more signally wonderful! As God's fit and full time came, preparations on a colossal scale were made for the Reformation. In 1453 Constantinople fell, and the revival of learning followed, el'pecially significant because it scattered over the Continent Greek scholars and the Greek New Testament. In 1497 the new passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope prepared the way for closer contact and communication between the centres of Protestantism and the centres of Oriental heathenism, as in 1492 the discovery of America had opened the way to the planting of a grand Protestant republic, a new missionary nation beyond the Atlantic. Then let it be remembered that about this very time the fall of feudalism, after its thousand years of petty despotisms, prepared the way of the development of individual liberty.
Equally marvellous were the marks that God's fit time was come in the theology of inventions. About the beginning of the fourteenth century the mariner's compass, coming into general use, became a guide to thc marinAr over unknown seas; the printing press issued its first book-a Latin Bible-in 1450 ; and the steam engine wag an assured success in 1543. Just at this very time Luther awoke the Church by his hammer, * Daniel 9 : 25. and the Reformed Faith, joint product of the prayers and tears of Huss and Knox, Wyclif and Calvin, Jerome of Prague and Savonarola of Florence, found its full development under the monk of Erfarth. Surely another great birth-hour was reached when William Carey led the way at Kettering, in 1792, in organizing a society for exclusively foreign mission work, and the next year himself in a uobler sense led the way by going to India.
Here again prophecy linked hands with Providence. More than three thousand years before Carey God had called another man-Abraham- " alone, " * and promised that in his seed all the families of the earth ~hould be blessed. Chri3t had distinctly foretold that the Gospel must first be preached as a witness among all nations before the end should come. And now again events converged and pointed to the time as at last arrived for world· wide evangelism. How any candid and careful student of history can doubt that the nineteenth century was distinctly indicated by God as the new century of missions passes comprehension. The whole historic horizou was aflame with an aurora borealis of splendid signals, which even at this distance are still startling and dazzling. The decay of evangelical doctrine and holy living, which made the first half of the eighteenth century seem like a sepulchre of faith and piety, had given place to one of the mightiest revivals of religion the world ever knew under such men as Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, and a score of others like them. Those trumpet blasts had gone forth from the two Northamptons, summoning all disciples to united prayer for a ~peedy and world. wide effusion of the Holy Spirit, and the new openings for effort in the South Seas and Asia challenged the Church to fulfil her Lord's last command. Corruption in the Church had constrained the remnant who had not bowed to Baal to call mightily on God j and the new life in the Church demanded vent in missions. William Carey could not but be a missionary and an organizer of missions, for the new birth hour had come, and this was the Divine issue.
Has another great birth hour come to u~ ~ Who of us discern~, the signs .of the times 1 While we begin to celebrate this centenary of missions, there are Divine signals on the world's horizon more startling than any which fixed Carey's eye on the signs of the times. It may be doubted whether in all history there hal!! been such a convergence of testimony that the fulness of times has come for the prosecution of God's work.
During this century there has been world-wide exploration, so that now the map of the world is complete-there is no untraversed sea, no undiscovered land. We know what the" whole world" is which is to be evangelized and possessed. There is also world-wide communication. There are no nations, new afar off-the whole world is brought into one neighborhood by steam carriages and vessels, the telegraph, the postal union, etc. Man is in contact with man the world over. There is likewise world-wide fro,ternization. Nation is not ~rJ.'ayed against nation. There are friendly * Isaiah 51 : 2. and even fraternal relations existing j prejudices have been removed, treaties established j there is commercial interchange and mutual acquaintance by travel, diffusion of literature, etc. The year 1884 witnessed the august spectacle of fourteen nations assembled by representatives at Berlin to mature a constitution for the Congo Free State, and in that conference not only Protestant and Catholic peoples united, but even a MohaJJlmedan power was represented! Again, there is world-wide emancipation. Britain and America ~ave made all their slaves free, and RUBBia her serfs i and there is not one civilized and nomigaJly Christian nation to-day that upholds slavery! There is world.wide civilization-i.e., barbarism, savagery, cannibalism, snperstition, and cruelty are fast disappearing before the advance of a new civilization, with its greater intelligence and enterprise, liberality, and humanity. There is also world-wide organization. Every class of men, every calling, however humble, finds strength in association. The world is belted· by these monster zones of associated and organized capital and labor, brains and brawn.
Besides all this invention and discovery seem to have. reachecl their golden age, constraining the greatest statesman of Europe to declare that one decade of years in this century has seen more progress than five millennium~ before it. Who has opened world.wide doors before His Church i pnt in the hands of Christian nations and Protestant nations the sceptre8 of the world j given the printing pres8 and steam engine in wedlock, 80 that their countless offspring should pour into all lands; who has provided the Church with between 35,000,000 and 40,000,000 of evangelical members, and given them thousands of millions of pounds sterling, and organizations that reach round the world' And for what has God done all this if these .are not His signs of the times, which mean that just now the King's business requireth haste, and His swift coursers, even steam and lightning, are yoked to His car!
While the Church lingers and hesitates, behold the activity of the devil, who seems to work with mad haste, as though he knew he had but a short time. See him organizing anarchy to destroy the foundations of all government, pouring his missionaries into every land, to carry their doctrinal demons; see him setting up his printing presses and scattering infidel books41nd tracts, undermining the family, poisoning the fountains of public learning, pulling down the palladium of liberty, the Sabbath, destroyingthe very flower of our society by strong drink, locking up the very will in the chains of opium, and using Christian nations to forge the fetters; if we do not, he does discern the signs of the times !
At this centenary of William Carey j God's signals flash like lightning and boom like thunder around the whole sky. By every mightiest argument and most persuasive appeal j by every motive drawn from a world's need and our opportunity; by every open door and loud cry; by every Scripture prophecy and promise, and by every unfolding of Providence Christ is just now saying to His Church, "Go YB: INTO ALL THE WORLD,
TWENTmTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE McALL MISSION IN FRANCE
AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE!" He buttresses up the command and commission by the declaration, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth j" and by the promise, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." His omnipotence, omnipresence, eternity, are on our side. And if this world-wide work were but taken up by the Church with the determination that no creature should be left without the Gospel, it would again be written, "And they went forth and preached everywhere j the Lord working with and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen!"
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE McALL MISSION IN FRANCE.
REPORTED BY ANNA W. PIERSON.
Special meetings were held in Paris on January 16th and 18th last, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the McAIl Mission, and the seventieth anniversary of the birth of the beloved president.
The first meeting was held on the afternoon of January 16th, when friends and workers were invited to meet Dr. and Mrs. McAlI. The ladies had been busy decorating the hall with wreaths, 11ags, etc., and the place was completely transformed.
As the guests of the day arrived, they were met and escorted to the platform by Pastor Holland, the chairman of the meeting, while all rose and sang in French the hymn, •• Great God, we bless Thee; We celebrate Thy praises."
After reading of the Scriptures and prayer Pastor Holland made 8 brief address of welcome to Dr. and Mrs. McAIi. He explained the object of the gathering, and spoke of the longing they had felt for an opportunity to express the affection and gratitude which filled their hearts toward these two dear missionaries who had " Come over to Macedonia to help" them. He gave glory to the God who had prompted them to leave their native land, had broken down every barrier, and had caused these foreigners to become a bond of union between so many French Christians. He told of the rapid growth of the work and its wide extent in Paris and France.
In the name of the churches of France he thanked them for the good they had done in the community, and for the recruits received into their ranks from his attendants. He thanked them in the name of the missionary societies, both home and foreign, and also in the name of his beloTed country, to whose good they had so generously devoted themselves. He closed by saying: "There is something supremely beneficent-a symbol and prophecy of better times for which we long-in this spectacle of a foreigner who thinks of France only to bring her the most precious gift he possesses, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May our Lord give you, dear Mr. and Mrs. McAlI, good health, long life, courage and strength ever increas- ing! May He bless you and the Church which ~o generously gave you to us! May He bless you for all the blessings you have brought to us !
May He grant you here below to reap an abundant harvest from your faith- ful sowing, while we wait for that other, better, and still richer harvest which we together shall behold in the light which shall reveal all the fruits of faith and love, and, above all, of the infinite faitbfulnestl of God."
After the singing of a duet, M. Louis Sautter, one of the directors and an attached friend, spoKe in behalf of the co-workers and friends of the miSSIOn. He told how the news of salvation had been proclaimed to many who had never heard it, and spoke of the conversions which had changed the lives and households of so many. He spoke of the love, goodness, de- votion, gentleness, patience, and perseverance which they had never ceased to show to all. Then he said that the friends of the mission in Paris and France had contributed in order to offer them some tangible testimony of their affection as a souvenir of this happy anniversary j that they were much perplexed in choosing a suitable gift, and had finally decided to let him choose for himself. He then presented him with a pocket·book con- taining 4750 francs ($95()) entirely for his own use and personal comfort.
ITe also presented to Mrs. McAIl a beautiful vase and palm plant as a gift of gratitude from the lady workeff) at the mission.
Dr. McAIl then rose, greatly affected, and testified to his surprise and gratitUde, and how deeply he and his wife were touched by these testimo- nies of affection j he spoke of his personal unworthiness, and of the vahi- able co-operation with which he and his wife had been surrounded, and said that the friendship and affection exhibited had made them feel that they were no longer foreigners. He spoke touchingly of those of the workers whom the Lord had called home, and of the attachment and grati- tude he felt for their patience with him, and closl1d by calling upon pastors, Jaymen, and Christian workers to consecrate themselves anew in seeking to advance in this beloved country of France the kingdom of our glorious Saviour. .
After singing, Pastor Dhombres (Reformed Church), now quite blind, addressed a few words to the assembly. He spoke of Dr. McAll's coming to Paris after the Commune and ministering to their spiritual necessities in the time of famine, preaching the Gospel in its ~implicity and power. He referred to the conversion and transformation not only of people and homes, but of whole districts near the missions. In clolling, recalling the fact that twenty years ago Dr. and Mrs. McAB had come as strangers to Paris, he said: "Look around now on this assembly, so full of warmth, so responsive j this host of friends who lIurround you j and then say whether these two foreigners, these two voluntary exiles, have not found in our midst a new home, a new family, a new church, and a new country!"
Mr. J. F. W. Deacon, of London, then rose and presented to Dr.
McAlJ, through the president of the meeting, a resolution from the committee in London, conveying congratulations and assurance of their w/.lrm interest in the work.
Pastor Appia (Lutheran Church) then made one of his characteristic little speeches, so full of terse and brilliant thoughts. He told how, in an un- equalled degree, Dr. McAIl had been able to secure the co-operation of almost all the Christians in Paris. He spoke of the influence of the sacred songs used in the mission, and the solid biblical instruction imparted to both children and adults in the Bible classes and schools. He closed with the prayer that they should soon see a revival in all the churches in Paris.
Pastor HocaIt, on behalf of the Illesleyan Church, spoke of the great success of the mission, contrary to everyone's expectation. Of the future of the work he said: "I see in the present state of the mission a preparation for future work, perhaps very near at hand-a work much greater, much deeper, and much more extensive than we see to-day. A preparation for future blessing is, I believe, being brought about especially by the instruction of the young. Win the children to the faith of Christ and you insure a glorious future. You train up a generation, transf~rmed to grow in the ways of temperance, justice, and piety." He said: "I would also speak of the influence of the evangelization of the masses on the speakers themselves. The evangelists have learned to apeak a new language j they have found the level of their auditors, and have become truly lay preachers. They have made themselves 'all things to all men, that they might save some.' "
Pastor Decoppet (Reformed Church) then read an original French poem. The day's meeting was closed after the reading of a letter from Laura M. Fetterolf in behalf of the American McAll A~sociation, expressing congratulations and good wishes. On Monday evening the great church of the Oratoire was crowded to its utmost capacity. It was the people's meeting. They had gathered to show their affection and gratitude to the two friends who had loved and served them for the last twenty years. After opening with Scripture and prayer, PaRtor Recolin (Reformed Church) retraced the work to its beginnings. He told of how Dr. MeAll was called to the work when he and his wife were in Paris on a visit. He was accosted by a workman, who, strange to say, spoke in English-" Sir, are you not a pastor? Then why not come to speak to us of this religion of peace and love of which you are a minister 1 Ille have had enough of the attempt to impose religion on us j but if you will come to speak of a religion of liberty and earnestness, many of us will listen with joy." This was to Dr. and Mrs. MeAl! like the call to Macedonia, and some months later they left home and friends and took up their abode in Paris. Pastor Recolin stated that now, after twenty years, there are 136 halls connected with the mission in Paris and its environs. "Dr. McAll has succeeded in securing the co-operation of the pastors and Christian laymen in all the evangelical churches of Paris."
ANSWERED PRAYER
Pastor Monod then spoke, and after a few pithy opening remarks he said: "In the name of all the accustomed attendants of these 136 halls, I desire to offer you a lasting memorial of this twentieth anniversary. Don't be alarmed. No heavy burden has been laid upon anyone j the sum contributed by each would not pay for an outside place on the omnibus." He then uncovered an elegant bronze statue of Luther, twenty-seven inches in height, representing Luther as a boy singing in the streets to earn his bread. The pedestal contained a time-piece. Pastor Monod made a beautiful speech, comparing the reforms of Luther to the putting of the Bible into the hands of the people by Dr. McAll. Finally he said: "I arrive now at my third point-that is, at the third souvenir which I have to present to you. It is the humblest of the three, but, possibly, the one you will most appreciate. Do not search in this album for photographs or pictures. It contains only letters-letters in which the frequenters of your mission halls express their cougratulations and their desires for you. Their number is 11 '7, representing 136 halls. The signatures are 5300. They are very diversified in character-in some cases truly touching in their naivete." He then read one as a sample.
The meeting closed after a touching address of thanks by Dr. McAll, who closed with an invitation to the unconverted.
Many letters and telegrams of congratulation were received from friends in different parts of Europe. The occasion was one never to be forgotten. It illustrated beautifully the two sentences which were the only utterances which at the outset Dr. McAll could make in French, but which were the basis of his whole work: " God loves you," " I love you."
To Dr. and Mrs. McAB the whole Church of Christ owes a great debt. He has done immense service in welding the disciples of Christ, both in France and in the whole Christian world, into a " living, loving, lasting union," and although the days of his years are tl;iree score and ten, we hope and pray that they may reach at least four score years, and that then strength may not prove labor and sorrow, but a marvellous experience of the power of God to sustain p,nd the grace of God to reward and compensate work for him.
ANSWERED PRAYER.
BY A. B,UNKER, D.D., TOUNGOO, BURMA.
In the Toungoo district of the province of BurlDa are the Ga-Moung Mountains, the general trend of the ranges being north and south. Travelling east from the Sittang River, you climb range after range, each higher than the preceding, till you reach the watershed between that river and the Salwen. This mountainous country comprises the fields of the Bghai and Paku Kare~ Baptist missions, now numbering about 150 churches, having their village and normal schools-largely self-supporting-associations, pastors' quarterly conferences, newspapers, books, printing pre8s, and all necessary apparatus for growth in Christian civilization and for evangelistic work among their heathen neighbors. Formerly these hill tribes were worshippers of demons, believers in witchcraft, which they punished with death or exile, blood feuds keeping them constantly at war with one another.
In 1866 the churches of the Bghai Karen Mission numbered nine j now they have increased to 81 well-organized churches.
In tours up and down among these villages to the west of the watershed, the missionaries often looked away to that high range of mountains, and wondered what was beyond; In the Bghai Karen Mission ten or more tribes had already been brought under the influence of the G08pel, but information concerning the tribes beyond was small. There were reports of many tribes; and in subsequent years the missionary explored on the south, going round the more savage tribes as far east as the Salwen River, also the great Red Karen tribe on that river. Various accounts, however, located a wild and savage people between the watershed and the Red Karens, called the Brec Karens. So great was the fear of them that their country was seldom entered.
About the year 1866 Dr. Bixby, now of Proddence, R. I., made a brief visit to one of the northern chiefs among this people. He reports them as exceedingly savage and degr~ded, "fond of uncooked meat and blood." Much prayer was offered by this devoted missionary and his fol· lowers for them, but no permanent foothold was gained in their country. God, however, heard prayer, as after-events showed. Little more was learned eoncerning them for nearly ten years after this visit. As the boundaries of the Bghai Mission extended, the missionary reached the top of the watershed range, which is about 6000 feet above the sea level. The view from that lofty elevation over the land of the Brees was most grand. Here and there columns of smoke marked the locality of numerous villages as far as the eye could reach. Broken and craggy mountain peaks, dense fOlests and deep ravines showed the country to be a natural fortress. When would God give this wild people to His Son? From 1870-80 efforts were made from time to time by native evangelists to penetrate the country and plant the Gospel, but the inhabitants repelled all advances, and little progrcRs was made. The people were found to be the lowest morally and the poorest of all the Toungoo hill tribes. Living largely by plunder, their hand was against everv man, and every man's hand against them. The inaccessible fastnesses vf their country enabled them to carryon this predatory warfare with impunity. So fearful was their name, that it was a brave man who dared to go among them. Thus the missionaries were led to bestow their efforts on better and nobler tribes, going around this one as practically inaccessible or beyond Christian effort. How different God plans from man! The missionary in this case sought the nobler races, but God was preparing to display nis power and grace among the despised Brees. Previous to 1879, as has been said, little progress had been made in planting .the Gospel in the Brec country. A few churches only had been gathered on the borderland, while the heart of the country was almost unknown. In that year the Spirit of God rested upon a young man named Soo-Yah, who had recently graduated from the training school in Toungoo, and called him to work among the Brees. He set out on his journey alone, with only his hymn-book and Testament. Climbing the great range of mountains, he soon passed through the narroW' belt of the Brec country, already occupied for Christ, and took his way through the forests over an unknown road into the heart of the country. Losing his way, he finally reached Sau.pe-Ie-cho, a village famed far and wide as the haunt of a notorious band of robbers; but God was with him, and was leading him in answer to his prayers. On reaching the village, he was at once surrounded by a band of savage and angry men, who drew back their spears and lifted their long knives, crying, " KiIl him! kill him! He is a spy sent by our enemies! Cut him down!" Soo-Yah stood unmoved in their midst, and when he could make himsel£ heard, said: "Do men of war do spies go about unarmed and openly as I do ~ See!" and he opened 3 bag which he had hanging on his shoulder, showing bis hymn-book and Testament. "See! Are these the weapons of bad men 1" The people had Rot yet recovered from their amazement when he opentid his hymnbook and began to sing to them one of the sweet songs of Zion.
Never before had this poor people seen a book or heard anything in music but their own discordant battle cries or rude attempts at song; but here was a wonder before them almost as if an angel had descended from the sky and stood in their midst. They listened entranced j and having won their attention, Soo-Yah boldly declared to them thQ message God had given him.
The Gospel of Christ had come to these savages and taken hold of them. As they listened to Soo-Yah's singing, they said: "This cannot be a bad man j we never saw bad men do this way j" and they received him to the best they had, and listened to his message gladly.
Sau-pi-Ie-cho comprised four villages near each other in a natural fortress, numbering not far from 1000 souls.
In 1882, while attending the meetings of the Karen Association, on the western slope of the water-shed, the mission party were surprised one day by the approach from over that range of an armed band of wild men with drum!! and horns, as if approaching for battle. As they marched up the hill into the circle of the encampment they proved to be two chief!! from Sau-pe-Ie-cho, with their follower!!. They said they had heard the Gospel from Soo-Yah, and of this great meeting of the Christians, and had come for !L teacher, that they might learn how to worship the living God.
The spokesman was their principal chief, a man of gigantic stature named Ho-Wee, or" the blessed"-a strange name for a man who afterward told the missionaries tbat he had killed not less th~n ten men, and how many more he could not remember.
In response to their request, a mission party visited Sau-pe-Ie-cho, and after a week's instruction one of the four villages gave up their worship of demons, destroyed their altars, and received a Christian teacher. In 1889 a church of 40 members was formed. and the remaining three villages asked for teachers. About this time the heathen of this tribe began to be envious of the Christians j for since they had taken up the worship of God they had greatly prospered. Instead of eating roots and herbs, and such game as they could trap in the forests and streams, they had rice. Now no longer sacrificing to the demons or engaging in war, they had time for the cultivation of the soil, and food was abundlint. Not so with the heathen. Having destroyed all the weaker villages on their borders which they could reach, food became scarce, and the prosperity of the Christians excited their envy.
They began to discuss an attack upon them. Some, however, opposed, for, said they, " the Christian's God is not like the Burman's god. lie is a living God j and we have heaJ:p. that Be takes care of His people." Others disbelieved, and wished to make the experiment on one of the Christian villages j and " if the God of the Christians did not interfere, ,. they said, " we shall know that He is a dead God like the Burmans', and that He cannot take care of His people. Then we will eat up all the Christian villages. " These plans were reported to the missionary some time before they were put into execution j but it was hoped that they would not come to the trial.
This tribe being outside of English territory, the Christians had absolutely no protection save God alone.
During the rainy season of 1SS9 these heathen put t.heir plans to the trial, raided the village of Than-thee-per, and carried off two children. Messengers were immediately sent to the missionary, four days' journey distant, with a letter reporting this fact. The issue was now clearly drawn by the heathen. It was tIle God of the Christians or the powers of darkness-which would conquer ~ The missionary took the letter, went into his private room, opened and spread it out before the Lord, and pleaded. for help for His name's sake. If these children were not delivered from their captivity the eight churches would be scattered, and the faith of all the native Christians would be greatly shaken, for they had been taught. from the first that God would take care of them. The matter was discussed with the native pastors, and an arrangement made to have the pastors and deacons, with their missionaries, meet at Sau-pe-Ie-cho after the rains, to plead with God for help and deliverance. Sau-pe·le-cho was about a day's journey from the village holding the captive children. At the time appointed they met, strengthened each other with the promises, and with cases of the deliverance of God's people in Bible history; offered much prayer, and chose messengers to go and demand the liberation of the captives. They were told to demand their liberation in the name of Jehovah, the living God. The messengers went, were driven in shame from the face of the chief who held the children captive. Said he, " If you have brought three hundred rupees ransom for each of them, pay the money and take them away j if not, and you are men, come and take them." The mes- . sengers retnrned greatly discouraged, and so were most of the native pas- tors at their report.
The fall of Jericho and other Bible instances of trial of faith were quoted for their encouragement, and a second delegation was sent with express orders to demand the liberation of the captive children in the name of Jehovah, the living God, the God of the Christians. These were also followed by the united prayers of those who remained behind. Again they were roughly refused j but not a few things occurred to strengthen their faith that God would answer their prayers. The fear of the Lord was beginning to be manifest among them.
The next day, moving to the village from which the children were taken, another meeting was held, and in the evening, while yet at prayer, word came from the village holding the children that if the chief of the village where we were assembled and the parents of the children would come for them the children would be given up. To some this message brought joy, but to others-among whom was the chief of the village-it meant treachery, an ambuscade formed in order to seize the chief and parents of the children, to make their success more certain. Among the pastors and deacons, however, were some who believed that God was about to answer their prayers, and these volunteered to go for the capt~ves. They were led by one of the bravest of the pioneer pastors, and were joined by one of the palents of the children. They lighted their torches and set out on their night's jonrney through the forests for the third trial for the cap- tives. Allllight they went on through the woods till the next day, in the forenoon, they reaehed the village where the captives were. They had been threatened that they would be sh'ot if they came again without a ran- som, yet they marched boldly up into the open place in the centre of the village. The women and children, thinking a battle was about to be fought, fled into the jungle. The old chief came out with all his armed men, ready for battle. He took up his position on rising ground at some little distance, and there he stood. The leader of the Christian band then took out his hymn·book and said, "Let us sing," and the whole band united with a will. This brought back the people who had fled. It was to them a new kind of warfare j they were charmed with the sweet song of Zion, which they had never heard before. After singing, the pastor said, " Let us pray." Another surprise for tile heathen j but as he prayed, all his companions kneeling with him, the Spirit of God fell upon them, and the effeet was great. How earnestly he besought God to soften the hard heart of the chief, to open his eyes to see how the degradation and poverty in which his people lived WIIS due to the fact that they had forgotten the living God and joined themselves to the worship of demons. Rising from their knees, the pastor said, " Now I am going to give you a message from the living God. Listen all of you." Taking a hymn they had just sung for a text, he proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus to that crowd of warriors with most remarkable effect. The singing and the prayer had wrought upon the people greatly; but as the speaker described their ignorance, poverty, and slavery to sin, and the prosperity, joy, and happiness of the children of God, the people were melted. During the address the old chief had drawn near, and when the doxology had been sung, while yet seated on the ground, he looked up and said to the preacher, "Take the children; take them; but give me your trousers as a token of good wiII." This pastor seems to have been better off than many of his brethren, for he had on two pairs, which fact th~ chief had discovered; hence his request.
With what anxiety and with what earnest prayer had those who remained behind followed this band of native Christians on their perilous mission!
All the next day, till near nine 0' clock in the evening, they waited in supplication that God would now vindicate His honor among these heathen, and deliver these captives with power, that all, both Christians and heathen, might hear of His mighty works, and be led to fear Him.
About eight o'clock in'the evening two gunshots were heard on the mountain opposite. Directly torch lights came into view, and in about half an hour the band marched up into the assembly, two of the number bearing the captive children on their shoulders.
The scene following was indescribable. One gray-haired old pastor took one of the children and put him between his feet, and solemnly lifting his right hand to heaven, exclaimed: " We never saw it on this wise before. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has answered our prayers. He has easily done what our might or wisdom could never do. Hehas put His fear upon our enemies, and deli,·ered us from their snares. Praise be to His great name!" Then followed such a praise meeting as is seldom seen.
This, however, was but the beginning of a most gracious answer to prayer. Much had been asked for, but a gracious God gives heaping measure when He bestows answers to the prayers of His children. So it proved in this case. The heathen, as they heard of this deliverance, wrought by the manifest power of Jehovah, the God of the Christians, were greatly moved, and came by villages to the missionary, asking for teachers to show them how to worship this great God. "This is the God we want," said they. "He takes care of His people." Teachers were supplied as fast as they could be procured. Nor was the work confined to the heathen alone, but some of the old churches caught the missionary spirit, and assembled for prayer and contributions for this work. Young men came forward and offered themselves. So great was the fear of God
THE WORK IN THE DIAMOND MINES
among the heathen that in several cases captives were surrendered on demand of native pastors, and in other cases, when chiefs holding captives heard that the Jesus Christ teacher was coming for them, they were sent to meet them in the way. Already some score of captivEs have been surrendered.
In October last a missionary meeting was held at the Toungoo training school, at which about seventy pastora and evangelists were assembled. A good delegation from the Brec country were present. Their reports were thrilling. Said one pastor. "So many villages among the Brees are now asking for teachers that we no longer remember the number." Manyexpressed their belief" that if the churches were faithful, the whole tribe would turn to the Lord." The missionary spirit seemed to take full possession of the meeting, when th!Jleader arose and said, "Indeed, the Lord is doing marvellous things for us. Let us sing 'Jesus shall reign.' "
Said a missionary present, "It moved us deeply to see with what enthusiasm these native pastors, once savages, now joiu in praise to Jesus, who has redeemdd them, and has given such wonderful answers to their prayers.
THE WORK IN THE DIAMOND MINES.
BY MRS. H. B. ALLEN, MERIDEN, CONN.
On the occasion of the first visit of my sister, Miss Ferguson, to the Kimberly Diamond Mines, she was deeply impressed with the opportunities for Christian work among the multitudes gathering there-Europeans, Cape natives, and Kaffirs. In writing of it, she says: " I do not know when my heart has been so stirred. Among the Europeans there is much of sin, much of poverty and suffering. The Cape natives, away from the helps they have had in the Colony, have drifted; but that which has deeply moved me has been the tens of thousands of heathen gathering from all the tribes of South Africa from the Zambesi to the Transkei-heathen bronght in God's providence to our very doors, where they may learn of Christ and carry back the good tidings to their people. It is calculated that 30,000 pass through the Diamond Fields every year, remain for a few months, and then are gone, giving place to others. Mr. Teske, a Dutch missionary, is working among the Colonial natives, and some are much interested in building a church, and it is hoped he will become permanently their missionary."
Miss Ferguson became so much interested in the possibilities of work here, that after nine months' journeying through the mission fields of South Africa she again visited Kimberly before returning to Wellington. She says: "We had a little conference at Beaconsfield, to consider the great need and what was to be done-Rev. Mr. Kriel and Rev. Mr. KeRtell, pastors of Dutch churches here, with their wives, Mr. Teske, and myself. For three hours we consulted and waited before God. It seemed very important that Mr. Teske should be retained for work among the Colonial natives, that a missionary be found to give his entire time to the foreign natives, especially those in the compounds, and that Christian nativee be found to assist in the evangelization of the heathen. We resolved to bear the matter continually before the Lord, to do what we could to find the missionary and the money needed for this most important work-one of the most. jmportant I have seen in South Africa, and promising sl1ch large results.
" Dear friends, will you who believe in prayer and in a God, who hears and answers prayer, pray that the Diamond Fields may become a fountain from which pUl'e streams of living water may flow to all parts of our land ~ " Rev. Mr. Kriel has written to Mr. MabilIe, at Morijah, for six natives from the Bible school for the compounds j only two were found. They had gone into the mines as workmen, as it is the only way they could be admitted. This is a test of a man's love for souls certainly, and it is a question whether the native Christians in our mission churches are willing to make the sacrifice for Christ's sake.
"Mr. Kriel is very anxious several ladies should take up the great work waiting outside, having a mission home, and forming a centre for mission work."
Later Miss F. writes: "You will be glad to hear that Miss Mary Murray, Rev. Andrew Murray's eldest daughter, has offered herself for work at the Diamond Fields. She has visited Kimberly, and was so much moved by all she saw of the need!! for work outside the compounds that she said, on returning: I If there is no one else to take up this work, I must.' She speaks Kaffir well, ha"ing been a missionary at the Moculi station, and is admirably fitted for the work. Two others, also our Huguenot daughters, will go with her, and Mr. Walklett, who has corne from England with the Cape General Mission party, will superintend the work in the compounds."
When the ladies arrived in Kimberly, Mr. Kriel went with them to look for a house. They found one with dining-room, sitting-room, five bedrooms, and a large room which could be used for meetings for £5 a month. It seemed just the place for the work. They were soon settled, and commenced with house-to-house visiting. Then followed Bible-classes, Sunday-schools, mothers' meetings, evening schools, visiting the poor and sick-so much that could be done! One of the ladies writes: "It is wonderful f how the Lord leads us just to t.he places where we are most needed, when we g-ive ourselves to His keeping and guidance. "
Two months later Miss F. visited the little mission home. She says: " We came into the town in the rain and stepped out into a sea of mud. We passed the wretched huts of the Kaffirs, scarcely bigger than the anthills we had been seeing, and found a warm welcome at this little home. Many loving hands have made it bright, attractive, and homelike. This bit of carpet aT that ornament came from kind ladies in Boston; the texts on the wall and table-covers from other friends. It is a sweet resting- place for weary workers.
"'Ve were· greatly interested in visiting among the people with our workers. They are reachinga helping hand to as many as possible. It was a great joy to see the eagerness with which the boys come to the evening school-white boys who cannot read, the eldest seventeen years old! but they are eager to learn, and they will.
" It is such a wonder to the natives in the compounds to see a woman • who can speak to them in their own tongue. It was beautiful to see their faces light up when they heard their own language. The first time they heard it they seemed almost beside themselves. They called others to -come, and soon hundreds were pressing close around our workers, laughing' and shrieking, eager to catch every word that was said.
" The first evening of my visit we met in consultation with Mr. Kriel as to the purchase of a house, either this or some other, as the centre of our work:. It is very desirable that the workers should have a fixed habitation, and in many ways much better to own rather than rent. We are very anxious to have the money in hand before we purchase-no debt!
" Our pupils are taking up the work heartily, and are interesting others in taking shares. Weare searching for something more precious than diamonus. We ask "ur friends not to take shares in the mines, bnt shares in a home for the workers, where we hope many precious souls may be gathered. The shares are one shilling (25 cents), and certificates are given to all who take them; of course, one person may take a number of shares. Some friends have taken twenty each. "
A letter has just come from Miss F., saying: "Rev. Kriel wrote early in February to say that the owner of the mission house had died, and the house was to be sold at auction. How much were we willing to give for it 1 The money for the shares had been coming in, so that we had about £80 in hand. The rent was £60 a year, and it seemed much better economy to buy. , " On the day of the sale Mr. Kriel telegraphed: ' Property bought for £150.' This was certainly very little to pay. A year ago the owner valued it at £800, but property has depreciated in value.
II The £80 has just come of itself, and the Lord knows we still need the £70. He has cared for this precious work most wonderfully. Weare anxious the house should be wholly paid for outside the regular funds of the Woman's Missionary Union.
" We congratulate the shareh alders that they are part owners in this bit of the Lord's work, and will they ask that we may be helped to the money still needed for the purchase of the property, so that it may be quite free from debt 1 "Certificates are sent to all who send one or more shillings, to show tJ!at they are shareholders. In these days of bank failures one is afraid of shares, but this is simply to show that you have a share in the Lord's
A PROTEST AGAINST NEEDLEf'S EXPOSURE IN MISSION WORK
work, and you have no further responsibility excepting to bear the work on your hearts before the Lord, and no dividends excepting such as the Lord gi ves. "
[The editor would add to this statement of the noble work at the Diamond Mines, that he would be glad to have any of his readers take shares in the Lord's stock. A" Lover of Missions" has already sent five dollars, which has been forwarded. 'Viii not the readers of the REVIEW ~ake up the needed $350? Send to Mrs. H. B. Allen, Meriden, Conn.] A PROTEST AGAINST NEEDLESS EXPOSURE IN MISSION WORK.
BY W. R. LEE, M.D.
In the New York Observer of February 18th, 1892 (sixth column, page 54), the following appears: " News has been received of the death of Rev. W. D. Dalrymple, a Presbyterian missionary, at Rampur Beauleah, in Bengal, from leprosy, contracted about two years ago while attending upon the lepers. Rev. W. D. Dalrymple had devoted himself to the service of the wretched sufferers, and he had only been six months in their midst before signs of the disellse made themselves evident in his own frame. Surely this is a noble martyrdom. "
Ever since Father Damien made himself so famous, a few years ago, by exposing himself to leproRY and becoming thereby a leper, the popular mind has been running riot on this martyrdom, so called. It is high time a halt was called by some one, and this dangerous and foolish error looked squarely in the face. Looked at through professional eyes, the report bears some marks of not being well authenticated; but whether true or not, it has served the purpose of bringing to the surface the expression of a dangerous sentiment, and it is this sentiment I desire to attack.
While the best authorities on leprosy disagree on the subject of how close a contact is necessary to transmit leprosy from an infected person to a clean one, yet they are at one in saying that the contact must be close and long continued (such as eating, sleeping, and living in the same rooms), or by direct inoculation (as a fresh wound coming in contact with a leprous ulcer).
This is certainly borne out by the experience of everyone who has had an opportunity of studying the disease from a scientific standpoint.
Further, it is a noticeable fact that in hospitals sustained for the exclusive use of lepers, those who come in daily contact with the dillease yellr after year (I refer to physicians and nurses) do not become lepers.
Under peculiar circumstances, it may occasionally become necessary for a medical missionary to put himself into dangerously close relationship with a leper; yet even then, if he be worthy the name of a nineteenth century. physician, he possesses sufficient knowledge to protect himself from contagion. A PROTEST AGAINST NEEDLESS EXPOSURE IN MISSION WORK.
Under no circumstances that I can think of is it ever the duty of a (medical) layman missionary to come into such close contact with lepers as to make it possible for him to become infected.
While a missionary of the Presbyterian Board at Petchaburi, Siam, and later, as a medical officer of the Siamese Government, I saw and treated many lepers. I also saw, at the same places and time, missionaries (not physicians) preach the Gospel to these lepers; but I never saw the least occasion for dangerous exposure by either myself or them. The life of a missionary, particularly if he has heen on the field long enough to have learned the native language, is too valuable a thing to be exposed to needless dangers; and it is enthusiasm" badly run to seed" for such a person to expose himself on the threadbare plea that lepers are neglected.
With reasonable care for his health, a missionary may last years and preach the Gospel to thousands of heathen whose souls are of equal value with a leper's soul; while by needless exposure he will, probably, not last longer tha~ four or five, the later part of which will be useless to the cause of missions because of the worker's (physical) inability to do his work. vVherever it becomes necessary for a missionary, or any other person, to expose life for the safety of others, let us give bravery its just reward; but that state of things very ra1'ely occurs to a medical missionary in working among lepers, and never to a missionary who is not a physician.
Preach the Gospel to them, my brother, but keep your place, which is far enough away from them that you are in no danger of contagion. If you do not know how many feet that is, ask the medical missionaries of your station.
[Rev. George A. Huntley, of the China Inland Mission, at Chien-kuhsien, China, also writes very earnestly on the subject of proper precautions being taken by missionaries against small-pox. W8 publi.l!h copious extracts.-ED. ] All interested in missions in China must have been saddened by the great mortality among missionaries through that awful disease small-pox. Through it many of our youngest, strongest, and most promising missionaries have been removed from the ranks during the last two years; and what makes the matter more 8ad is the fact that the simple precaution of vaccination or revaccination before embarking had been neglected in the majority of instances.
I will give particulars of a few cases out of the many; and it will be noticed that in each case the sufferer had not been vaccinated successfully for several years before contracting the disease; while the nurses, who had either' been recently vaccinated or had already suffered from the same com· plaint, did not in one single instance contract the disease.
Case 1. Patient had not been vaccinated since childhood. Symptoms of confluent and hlack small-pox developed, and later, hemorrhage, proving fatal on the eighth day. A medical man and traiued nurse were in attendance. Among those who assisted in nursing, one had previously contracted the same disease, the remainder had been recently vaccinated. No one contracted the disease.
Case 2. Patient had not been vaccinated since childhood. The disease assumed a very serious type, !lnd has left the patient very badly marked. There was no medical attendant j and of the two ladies who undertook the nursing, one, a trained nurse, had been recently vaccinated, and the other had previously suffered from the same complaint j neither contracted the disease. The patient believed in "faith healing," and thought it would not be trusting the Lord to be vaccinated.
Case 3. Patient contracted disease while travelling, and reached his station with much difficulty. He had not been vaccinated since childhood. The brother who nmsed him had been recently vaccinated, and did not eontract the disease. Patient was delirious and blind for some days, and took no medicine. The sufferer's hair came completely off, and his face is pitted.
Case 4. Patient had not been vaccinated'for thirty-seven years-viz., in infancy. Duration of disease, fourteen days. A medical man attended. The patent's wife, who did the nursing, had not been vaccinated since childhood, but was revaccinated as soon as symptoms of small-pox were discovered, and did n~t contract the disease.
In addition to these melabcholy particulars I have received the following valuable testimony from medical gentlemen in China: The Rev: J. Hudson Taylor, M.R.C.S., Director of the China Inland Mission, writes: "I quite agree with you that it is most desirable that the home officers of the various missionary societies should not merely recommend, but insist on all candidates being vaccinated shortly before leaving for these shores. Our China Council is urging on our home councils the following rule: ' All candidates who have not been successfully vaccinated within a recent period must be vaccinated before leaving, and must procure a certificate as evidence that this is done.' If I were not so pressed, it would be very easy to collect a large number of cases in which missionaries have taken small-pox owing to this practice not having been carried out. I can only, however, just now refer to the fact that in our Ladies' Training Home at Yang-Tcheou, or the stations immediately connected with it, we have for three successive years lost a lady worker each year by death from small-pox, not to mention other cases in which there has been recovery. The question has been asked by one of our branches, ' In the event of a candidate having conscientious objection to vaccination, what would you advise? ' And my reply was to advise that the candidate work at home, where the danger is less, and where there is sufficient strength to nurse, or hospital accommodation procurable in the event of small-pox taking place. It may be very well for the patient to take the personal risks of the disease, bnt what about the attendants-are they to be exposed? As you know, the work of a station may be seriously interfered with by cases of this kind. " I would like to add that it should not be too lightly assumed that a person is protected because revaccination is not sllccessful. I eould men- tion eases where persons have been unsuccessfully revaeeinated, but who at once took the disease on exposure. A lady missionary reeently arrived' in China, having been three times unsuceessfully revaccinated before em- barking. I recommended her not leaving Shanghai withont being vacci- nated again. This time the vaccination proved very suceessful. '1'he pustules wcre large and fully formed, and showed that there would have been no protcction whatever had she been previously exposed to the disease. May the Lord prosper your undertaking, and precious lives be saved for Chri~t's service 1"
J. A. Lynch, Esq., M.D., Chin-Kiang, sends the following: "I am strongly of your opinion as to the need of vaccination for missionaries coming to China, and wish you every success in your efforts. Small-pox is so widely prevalent in China that no resident can hope to escape being repeatedly exposed to contagion; and my experience has taught me that a single vaccination in childhood is far from being a reliable safeguard. Within a single twelve months I have seen half a dozen cases of small-pox occurring in foreigners, all of whom had been vaccinated as children. Two of these cases were very serious, and one fatal. I know of no instance where a recently vaccinated person has taken tAe disease. It is clearly the duty of missionary societies to take such measures as may secure from needless risk the health of those whom they send abroad. The neglect of such a simple and obvious precaution as revaccination amounts to criminal carelessness. "
Dr. Howard Taylor, C. 1. M., says: "In reply to your question on revaccination, allow me to say that I regard it as of supreme importance that every civilized man and woman should be as completely safeguarded from small-pox as possible. There is no shadow of a doubt as to the efficacy of vaccination properly carried out and repeated twice in diminishing the severity. at least, and in most cases in absolutely preventing the diseases.
" Every candidate who has not thus been thrice successfully vaccinated (unless it prove impracticable, on repeated trial, to do so) ought, I am satisfied, to be refused on that ground alone, if they are unwilling, for their own sake and that of their fellow-workers, to be revaecinated before leaving for the mission field.
"A baby I suecessfully vaccinated a few weeks ago had been thrice before vaccinated without effllct. But in adults it would be enough for practical purposes to attempt inoculation with vaecine three times; if all these failed, the candidate might with reasonable certainty be pronounced immune from small-pox, and might safely come out."
Dr. Randle, C. I. M., Tungshin, Chefoo, sends the following: "Smallpox is one of the most prevalent diseases in China, and I think of the more dangerous diseases it is the most common. It is not specially deadly in its ravages among the Chinese; but Europeans are apt to suffer considerably, mortality among them running very high. We have lost a good many valuable workers in the C. 1. M. through small-pox.
" I don't know how necessary it would be ill England to insist upon each candidate for mission work in China first being vaccinated, for I should have thought that recommendation would be sufficient, seeing that the necessity for protection is indeed great.
" I would urge, too, that the vaccination should be done thoroughly, say in five places at least. It is more important, too, for intending missionaries to China to be vaccinated at home rather than after they get to Chim, for here vaccine is very uncertain, besides being expensive."
Dr. Parry, C. 1. M., Chien·tu, writes: "In reply to your note, I need only say that I am in hearty sympathy and agreement with you in regard to the matter of your appeal to the societies at home in vaccination or revaccination being insisted upon in the case of all their accepted candidates.
"I cannot support this by any experience personally of tQe disease among missionary families, the only case under my own care being that in our own family last year, when among our three children, who were equally exposed to infection, the only one to take the disease was the youngest, who had not been successfully vaccinated."
These facts and testimonies will speak for themselves. Weare ju~t now on the eve of a great influx of Christian missionaries into China, and my earnest desire and praye~ is that this important subject should be at once brought before the committees and boards of the various missionary societies, and intending missionaries throughout the world, and that the simple precaution of vaccination should be insisted upon in the case of every accepted candidate for mission work in the Celestial Empire.
There is, happily, good reason to believe that leprosy is rapidly decreasing in our Eastern Empire. Commissioners have been conducting a Government inquiry into the numbers and localities of lepers; and instead of half a million, as it was believed they would find, they have ascertained that the total number is only 100,000. It is also asserted that the evidence goes far to prove that there is not much risk of contagion, if reasonabJJ precautions are observed by those who come in contact with lepers, and also that the disease is not hereditary. But no such hopeful dil'lcoveries can or should abate our admiration of the saintly missionaries who have been carrying the Gospel, and with bright success, to the miserable victims of what still remains a loathsome and incurable disease.
" The two greatest demands of the hour are the liberal giver and the winner of souls. Given these in the individual church, there will be occasions for a spiritual rejoicing over pastors sustained, church improvements made, and sinners saved. Multiply the number of those who devise liberal things for God and labor for souls until every congregation feels their activity, and what fresh life will be infused into Zion at large, how the Gospel will be extended far and near, and what myriads will be won to Christ I"
EXTRACTS AND TRANSL.T10NS FIWM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
THE UNITED KINGDOM.
-During the last twenty-five years the voluntary contributions of the Church of England have amounted to £85,000,000, an annual contribution of a million is made toward Church extension, and three quarters of a million toward foreign missions. Three hnndred mission preachers halTe been appointed in 20 dioceses. In London there are 6000 appointed lay workers of the Church of England. Since 1877, 32 university and public school missions have been founded. When the time of general spoliation of the Church of England comes, under the united forces of political dissent and embittered atheism, the £85,000,000 will doubtless be swept away to secular uses, with no regard to the claims of the donors j but the miosions, home and foreign, being in private ownership, may escape.
-The President of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, at the Annual Meeting, held November 26th, 1891, said that" he thought the jubilee year of their society could not have fallen on a more auspicious time. He did not suppose that in Scottish history there had been a time when Christians were looking forward more prayerfully and hopefully to widespread blessing. They welcomed the visit once more of Messrs. Moody and Sankey to their shores. The requisitions received daily from all parts of the country, urgent and impressive, sent by minist~rs of e,rery denomination, and by Christian workers of every class, meant that all over the land there was a yearning for and expectation of a blessing."
– " We would strongly insist that nowhere within all the range of religious narrowness has such ignorance been illustrated as that which places the whole of man in the crucible of a physical analysis, or reckons the sum and crown of human knowledge to be incomplete without the rightful exposition of the families of the Monotreme. We mnst suppose that the Chair of History will be discredited by the authority of these later days, and the ethical factor in the conduct of human affairs will be eliminated from the treatment of the problem. Yet it will be affirmed, in spite of the confident contention of the physicist, that considerations of justice and equity, however rightly or wrongly understood, are the pivots and bearings on which the axles of socialistic and individualistic ideas revolve, and these ideas appear to be extending their sway over the whole horizon of political life. Nor have we, we believe, uselessly pointed out that neither locomotion nor commerce, with the extension of their several facilities, are any more than the improved instruments of true culture j and we have, we trust, established that it is missions, or, in other words, Christianity in motion, that, seizing upon the central and cardinal points of human nature, implants there the germ of that mysterious growth which, though the fulness of its perfect nature lies out of sight in the far distances of eternity, still lends on earth its lower fruit!'! of culture and the branching shades of its civilization to the sons of men. "-Rev. GEORGE ENSOR, in Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer.
MISCELLANEOUS.
– " Rev. J. B. Gribble, incumbent of St. Paul's, AdeIong, New South Wales, is contemplating a missionary journey to the Bellenden Ker Mountains, in Northern Queensland. He writes: 'The poor blacks in this region are sadly neglected and wronged. There is vast scope for real missionary enthusiasm in Australia, and it is passing strange that such a field should be so overlooked.' "-Bombay Guardian.
-Miss Leitch, the a11thor of" Seven Years in Ceylon," has, with her sister, raised more than $150,000 for foreign missions during her visit to this country and Great Britain.
-Mr. George Smith, of Aberdeen, returning from the East, says: "The secret of Palestine is outside itself. It is something that can be preached and believed on in any spot on earth j something that is not a mere message j something that was and is and evermore shall be a living presence with men. People would mistake the Crusaders if they imagined that their error, fatal as it proved, was anything more than an excrescence on a true life and faith. The soldiers of the cross sought Christ's land because they had first found Christ in their own land. And so with the living pilgrims of to-day."
-IGNORANCE OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE.-" The type of Anglo- Indian who has ne'er heard of Llissions in India, or who superciliously assures his credulous acquaintances at home ·that they are doing no good, is by this time sufficiently well known to be taken at his true value. But here is a story of ignorance which, if more incredible, is at least naif. In the end of 1890 Herr Buchner, a Moravian missionary director, went into Berlin to transact some 'business on account of the new missions which the Moravians were then establishing on German tel'ritory at the northern end of Lake Nyanza. He called at the office of the German East African Company to' inquire about transmission and exchange of money. The cashier, not being able to give him definite imformation, took the matter before the directors, who happened to be holding a meeting at the time. The directors invited Herr Buchner to their room, showed the liveliest interest in the project of a new mission to East Africa, and asked' whether the Moravian Church had ever attempted any mission enterprise before ~ , It was like asking whether Germany had any soldiers, or Britain any sailors. "-Missionary Record (U. P.).
-An old rabbi perfectly well saw the logical conclusion that Jesus must be the Messiah, but when I pressed the point as a personal matter, he said to me, , Ah, sir! God hath given us the spirit of slumber-eyes that we should not see, and ears that we should not hear.' "-Dr. PRINSKI SCOTT, Smyma, in QUa1·terly Paper of Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society.
-The Ohurch Mi8sionary Intelligencer says that ihe statement sometimes made that India is on the very verge of coming to Christ overlooks the fact that there are tens of millions in India who never heard of Christ at all.
-The Spectator, quoted in the Jewish Herald, says: "While the question [of the return of the Jews to Palestine] has not yet come within the range of practical politics, yet it has ceased to be what it would have been thought to be fifty years ago by aJIbut a few students of prophecyridiculous. "
It also quotes the New York Evening Post as follows: "This is no longer a dream of visionary Bible students, but an actual reality. . . . The question of the return of the Jews to Palestine now seems to be one that interests all nations."
And so it still is; the students of the words of God are" visionaries ;" but their visions come at the last to be practical realities, of which unbelievers have to take heed. The word which has come' out of God'8 mouth shan not return unto Him void.
-The Catholic Government of Nicaragua has given a cordial consent that the Moravian brethren should open a mission within its territory. 'rhey are, however, in hope of obtaining a general permission for the whole of Nicaragua-that is, for the pagan Indians subject to it.
-The oldest Protestant church in Africa, the Moravian church in Gnadenthal (Gracevale), South Africa, now ruinous, has seen its last service, and is to give way to a new one.
-The 48 pages of National Righteousness for May (special number) are filled with the exquisitely painful but very encouraging report of the National Christian Anti-Opium Convention. Sir Lepel Griffin, and his associates, of course, imagine that their ribald abuse is going to bring all this to naught. The haters of Christ have often measured their strength with Him before, but the result has not been encouraging for them.
-A very interesting article on " Religious Movements in the United States," by the Rev. John Smith, M.A., in the November number of the U. P. Record, cO'lcludes: "This is a very cursory view, but it may explain so far the conviction which has come with quickening power into my own life, that America is with us in the van of Christian activity, and tlHlt through h~r co-operation the day of victory is nearer and surer than wc had dreamed."
THE EAST INDIES.
-It 'appears that Bengal alone was lashed into a flenseless fury of opposition to the Age of Consent bilL "The rest of India," says Dr. K. Macdonald, " accepted the position with composure, if not with gratitude. "
– " Dr. Grundemann states that of all the missions he has seen in India, none is more hopeful, none less adequately provided for, none more attacked by enemies and rivers than Gossner's Evangelical Lutheran Mission among the Kols, in Chota-Nagpore. . . . Caste, so formidable an obstacle to the spread of Christianity elsewhere, forms no particularly great hindranco here, and hence it happens that the field of the Kols is ripe for the harvest; they embrace the Christian religion in families, in groups of families, in whole village communities."-Ha1·vest Field (Madras)., – " , A Brave Life,' by Annie H. Small. This sketch contains the personal reflections of a Mohammedan lady. It iii an autobiography in ontline of one who, though not a Christian, yet' had the habit of referring all to God; who cultivated a spirit of meek and sweet submission to His will as revealed to her.' Its mere literary charm is great. The story is told in an artless manner, which is all the more effective from its artlessness. "Vo seem to be in the shaded veranda of a Mohammedan house, and seated upon the razai with the old lady while she recounts the stirring scenes of the past, giving us glimpses of a life which is certainly ~hat of a Christian, though we may not call her by that name. "
-Sir Charles A. Elliott, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, says, as quoted in the Chinese Recorder: " The mere reduction of the missionary's income would only tend to lower his life to the pitiful level which we sometimes see in a poor white or Eurasian clerk, and would condemn him to a life of squalid poverty, which would undermine his constitution without in any way increasing his usefulness, or making him venerabl~ in the eyes of the people. On the contrary, I believe that the sight of a missionary bungalow such all I have often seen in the midst of a wild and rude population, with its modest comfort, its decent order, and its friendly accessibility to all visitors, is a civilizing agency of a high order."
– " A Bombay news writer, commenting upon the arrival of a large number of missionaries in India, remarks that if their coming has no other significance, it will at least affect the price of one-horse victorias. The missionary and his one-horse victoria are too much for a nnmber of the Europeans in India, though why so it is not clear. The missionary always pays for his victoria, and with his own money, too, and his one-horse victoria has as much right on the Breach KUlldy road as any four-horse drag or two-horse barouche. The missionary pays his debts, and, according to his income, pays his share toward all pnblic institutions and more than his share toward benevolent enterprises. He dres not come into competition with any class of professional men, or take the bread out of the mouths of , the merchant or artisan. The worst that can be said of him in this direction is that his wine bill is very small, and he never l:1ubscribes to a Derby sweep. He is not; a noisy neighbor, nor a quarrehome member of society, nor an officious personage, usurping the rights and honors of other people; but he does sometimes drive a one·horse victoria. We more than half suspect that it is the man in the victoria and not the vehicle itself that is such an eyesore tG our critic. "-Indian Witness.
-" The English language works wonders in India. It gives access to three millions of cultivated Hindus." -Calwer Missionsblatt.
– " The idea prevalent so widely among English Christians, that the world' is thirsting for the Gospel, ' is, alas! as far as possible removed from the truth. The world is not thirsting for the Gospel. Men are not disposed, in India or elsewhere, to accept the terms of God's salvation and to wear the yoke of Christ. Thfl evangelist to the heathen, if he speaks the unvarnished truth and avoids exaggerations, has to record a routine with unwilling souls. He sows the good seed of the kingdom on ground which has long been tramped by the feet of profane and degrading superstitions, and his feelings and experiences find oftentimes their truest expression in the cry, , Lord, who hath believed. our report ~' But, thank God, it is not always fruitless toil."-Rev. T. WALKER, in Church Missionary Intelligencer.
– " The feature that marks this year in the Methodist Episcopal Mission is the great increase in the number of baptisms. This increase is , more clearly seen by contrast. One jubilant over the baptisms of 1888 wrote: 'In our whole Indian work, about 2340 have been baptized;' but this year the baptisms will exceed 15,000, or an increase of about sevenfold since 1888, and thousands refused baptism because there is no provision for the care of the converts. This is a harvest from a part of the field which has been sown with Gospel seed for over a quarter of a century."~ Indian Evangelical Review, January, 1892.
-The Ais~ionary Herald reports the ful and warm acknowledgment lately given by Lord Harris, Governor of the Bombay Presidency, to the American Marathi Mission of the American Board, of the obligations under which it has laid the Presidency as respects vernacular, female, industrial, and normal education. Officially Lord Harris confines himself to the edu- cational aspect of missionary labors.
AFRICA.
-" FRENCH CONGO AND ITS PROSPECTS…..:…MM. Tessieres and Allegret, after spending a year in the French country to the north of the Congo cataract region, have returned and reported to the French Protestant Mis- sionary Society which sent them out on this immense new region, which seems to have such claims on them for the Gospel. They find the sphere a perfectly open and inviting one, not so unhealthy as Senegal, and the people not prejudiced against the French by a long series of wars and fight- ingR, as in AIgiers and Tunis. The tribal organization of the country averts all fear of dangerous combined opposition. Each tribe is anxious to be good friends with the white man, and most are very favorably disposed. The climate, too, is fairly good-better, at any rate, than that of Senegal, where yellow-fever is such a scourge. But, as in the rest of Central Africa, the total absence of roads is a hindrance to the occupation and civilization of French Congo. The Ogowe is very much broken by rapids, rendering any continuous navigation impossible. Commerce cannot at present assume any importance, but there is no reason why missionary work should not be vigorously prosecuted. Our French brethren are making a brave attempt to IItart work in that country, and MM. Tessieres and Alh3gret have volunteered to return as the first missionaries j but large funds are needed to start Central African missions. Protestant~ are not numerous in France, and even the few there are not all true Christians, much less consecrated givers and workers for the world's evangelization. The Societe des Missions Evangeliques will have a hard struggle to add a new and expensive mission to those it is already conducting, none of which can possibly be abandoned. May God Himself move the hearts of French Christians to rise to the level of their responsibilities and opportunities !"-Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
-Dr. R. N. Cust, quoted in Central Africa, says of the missionaries: " The schools, hospitals, and printing presses which have come into existence through their efforts are distinct milestones of progress j but the very presence of a missionary raises the moral standard of all who come into contact with or even gain a sight of his holy life. The spectacle of a holy, self-restrained, chaste, benevolent, and laborious manner of living is a phenomenon which astonishes, attracts, and gradually brings into subjection the wayward, though not necessarily evil, will of the unsophisticated races. Not to be plundered, not to be ill used, not to be robbed of wiffl and children, by one who certainly has the material power to do such things, creates a new sensation. The employment at free work in a mission station is a new surprise, for there is an absence of violence, forced labor, and the whip, and the presence of a day's wage, a kind word and a smile, a careful attention to bodily injuries or sickness. Add to this a continuous respect to old age, a delicacy toward the weaker sex, and a kindness to children-all this would go for nothing in a Christian land j but it opens out new fields of thought to barbarians, and is a living, walking, speaking Gospel, presented to their understandings and hearts. Let no one undcrvalue the civilizing effects of the presence of a self-restrained man of European culture in the midst of an African population. "
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
China in Paragraphs. The proclamations made this year, he says, are the only effective notification [EDITORIAL, J. T. G.] of the people as to the intent of the im- perial authorities ever given, and even' The Rev. G. T. Candlin, of China, these we know are very limited in the writing to the Manchester Guardian, in very quarters where most needed. In England, says the right of residence and consequence of this ignorance of the real the right to hold property have never rights of the native Chinese Christians been conceded to missionaries in the in- and the absence of any suitable mao terior of China. There is a clause in chinery for enforcing the conditions of the treaty between the French and the the treaty, a species of indefinite Mis- Chinese which declared this right, but sionary Protectorate has arisen, which that is held now to be invalid. Never· Mr. Candlin thinks is irritating to the theless, missionaries do reside and hold Chinese officials and others. He does property in the interior and away from not think well of the missionary becomthe treaty ports. How is this done? ing the guardian of the convert's rights Mr. Candlin explains that it is done in the courts. The foreigner, to begin under the passports granted to foreign- with, claims exemption for himself from ers. These protect the travelle:r, and, as the jurisdiction of the native courts and a matter of fact, are not inquired into, authorities altogether; and for such a and the custom has obtained of allow- person to interfere besides, with the naing them to extend practically without tural operation of the course of justice limit. Right to hold property he has in the indigenous courts having jurisnone other than this, which subjects diction over the native converts, he him theoretically to being told by any thinks intolerable to any government. local authorities to "move on." It is The remedy seems to lie in the fuller under this fiction that all foreigners, as and sufficient advertisement of the enwe understand it, hold property and re- tire population of the treaty rights conside indefinitely away from the treaty ceded by the Government; and the exports. If Mr. Candlin is correct in this, tension of these to the full recognition it is an easy thing for the Chinese Gov- of the rights of residence and property ernment to retaliate the disrespectful holding in the interior; and then let action of the United States Congress the missionary, Romanist or Protestant, without contravening any phase of treaty abandon all claims to protect his concompact with any Western Government. Vel·ts, leaving them entirely in the hands It can thus break up foreign missionary of their constituted rulers with the work in the interior, at leo.st so far as same remedy at law that they would the foreign missionary residence and have in any other case. holding of property go, which would be well nigh destructive of it in places, and Another subject which has found obstructive of it everywhere. some recognition in the preIs of both Europe and China, while it is novel, While we are dealing with this com- seems worthy of more 'than superficial municaHon of Mr. Candlin, we may add examination. It is nothing less tha-n that he thinks a great deal of trouble in the proposition to have a representative regard to foreigners arises from the fact of the missionaries, as Minister of Reof insufficient advertising to the people, ligion, at Peking, with whom the impe· of the concessions which the Govern, rial authorities of China and the acment has made by treaty with foreign credited envoys of the foreign countries countries, and of the protection which shall deal in the matters pertaining to has been promised to native Christians. the missions in all their branches. On should devote his attention to missionathe Chinese side it is thought such a ries, and keep the British Minister admeasure would not seem so unusual as vised on all such questions, that thus on our side, as the Chinese Government he might be prepared to bring up queshas a Minister of Religion as it has a tions before the Chinese Foreign Office. Minister of War, at Peking, with estab- This would form a link at least between lished offices in the provinoes for the the British missionaries and the Chinese express purpose of attending to mis- Government. The French Government, sionary questions. On their side the this correspondent says, has been tried idea would not be novel. It is urged as an intermediary, and has in some rein favor of the proposition to estab- spects failed. The Roman Catholics lish such a missionary representative have representation through their bishthat the leaders of Christian thought op, who has direct access to the Foreign ought to have some way of direct access Office. But the present proposition is to the Government leaders of Chinese quite other than that of the missionary thought in order to understand each secretary attached to a legation. It is, other aright. This is impossible to the if we understand it, to relieve the narepresentatives of the missions and tional ministers of the charge of mischurches severally, but might be got sionary affairs by setting np, as a sort through a single accredited central officer of imperium of their own, the missionacting for them all ; a personal'"1lnit with ary force in Ohina. It is certainly an whom the Government might deal. The interesting and may be a very imporsuggestion, we may say, is not a new one, tant suggestion, and we fancy there it having been broached as long since might be great gain in many respects if as 1883 ; but it has not been considered some Buch arrangement could be effectwithin the range of practical politics ed. hitherto, as it was complicated with representation of the often diverse in- Missions on the Gongo. terests of the Roman Catholics and Protestants, and with the difficulty of the BY JUDGE JAMES w. LAPSLEY, ANNISTON, Protestants agreeing on a representative agent. It is now, however, growing ALA. easier to overcome both these obstacles. In some of the larger cities in China tb e Their importance may be estimated missionaries are organized as evangelical when we observe that they extend over alliances, and it is held that they could a million-and-a-half square miles, an extend this organization over the coun- area thirty times that of New York, and try, and could form a sort of national or- containing fifty millions of souls, ganization and elect a president, and heathen, but now known to be capable perhaps a vice-president, who should be of high development j for from Cape recognized as thereby selected as the Town nearly up to the Soudan the domi- Minister of Religion at Peking, at least nant tribes and races in the interior befor the Protestants. One correspondent long to what has been called goes so far as to mention, by way of illustration, the fitness of Rev. W. A. P. THE BANTU FAMILY, Martin, D.D., now at the head of the Imperial University, as such minister. of whom a recant traveller sayB : Another correspondent, who thinks com- ., The Bantu is a fine, tall, upright bined aotion of the several nations impracticable, suggests the appointment man, with delicate, small hands, an(l of a Missionary Secretary of Legation to well-shaped feet; a :fine face, high, thin the British representation in China, nose, beard and mustache." who might perhaps be a consul who Mr. Lapsley, of the Presbyterian Mis- sion at Luebo, corroborates this descrip- tion, speaking of some of those around him as" magnificent men and handsome ,If women, variously colored, from a.bright a great slave trade carried on by raids yellow to black-brown being the pre· on his neighbors on all sides. Villages vailing shade." He speaks also of their are burned, men are killed, women and handiwork in iron and coppbr, mined children are enslaved. The stockade in and worked by them, as marvels of skill which Msidi lives has every post surand beauty; and 'of the product of their mounted by a skull. He thins out his looms as sometimes like" a compact, hundreds of wives by frequent decimastout, smooth, straw – cqlored linen," tions. Mr. Swan has often Been piles sometimes" soft as satin, of elaborate, of heads of men and women freshly cut. elegant pattern, woven of different col- Slaves are Bold for cloth, beads, and ored threads. You would think it came brass wire. What would cost a half dolfrom Europe." Stanley discards the lar in Europe will buy a boy. Two or name" Bantu," but speaks of .. finely three dollars' worth must be paid for a formed men, tall, warlike creatures, girl. with Caucasian heads and faces." He says they are descendants of Shem. While man is thus vile, every other prospect pleases. The country is 3000 Stanley tells, however, on the other to 5000 feet above the sea. The climate hand, of many tribes in that region who is salubrious and the soil ri<lh, producare at the lowest point of debasement. ing every tropical plant and fruit. It He describes a village of low conical is not very warm during the day; is fresh huts, from which the people thronged in the evening, and cold at night. The out to see him-" a promiscuous popu- country is full of buffalo, zebra, antelope lation of naked men, women, chil- and small game; and elephants are ,hen and infants, over a hundred beings numerous. Some of the Belgian offiof the most degraded, unpresentable cers speak of parts of the country as type it is possible to conceive of. I beautifully wooded and covered with could only comment to myself, ugly, uglier, ugliest." grass like" un v;ritable pare Anglais.' , * But all, high and low, are alike wicked, Their official reports fully corroborate cruel, and miserable, whose very crimes Mr. Swan's accounts. A recent Brusand miseries cry to heaven for the up- sels paper reports the people as "une lifting which the Gospel alone can work. race ires belle, tres forte, intelligent et vail- lanie, se distinguant non seullment par sa GARENGANGE. bravoure, mais egalement par son aptitude au travail." The Arnot Mission has Beginning at the head.waters of the been well established, the children es- Congo, in the southeast corner of the pecially being taught, and a new gen. Free State, 10° south of the equator, and eration is growing up with new ideas about a thousand miles from the Atlan- and principles. Mr. Swan brings with tic, and an equal distance from the Ind- him a grammar and dictionary of their ian Ocean, we find a Scotch Presbyte- language to be printed in England. rian mission, estlbliRhed some years ago by F. S. Arnot, in what he called" Ga- The Belgia~ [Free State] authorities rengange," but which the Belgians name have within a year past sent several the" Katanga" country. It is watered well-armed expeditions to take formal by the Lualaba and other large streams possession of the country, and in a lit· which flow northward and, united, make the Congo. * Le Marinel, chief of the Expedition to the Very recently Mr. Swan, of the Arnot Katanga, reports (February 1892): .. Le pays est Mission, has returned to Europe, afte- d'un bel aspect ..• maio c'cst -certalncment six years in Central Africa. His home dans la region des petits lacs du Samba qu'il est for four years has been at the capital of Ie plus bean. Le paysage n'y a rien d'africaiu ; Msidi, the king of that region-a bloody iI nous rappelle plutot nos sites de predilection despot, who has l<mg been the centre of des pays civili.e: de grands arbres au feuillege epais, nne herbe courte et fraiche, une belle piece d'ean . • . "-UBBile laurier rOBe et une pIllS graude varlete de fleurs que dans Jes autres contries. " tle while Msidi's cruelty may, we hope, THE AMERICAN BAPTISTS. be effectually curbed. Their farthest station is near where From Garengange down the Lualaba, the Congo crosses the equator. They through a chain of beautiful lakes and have also a station at Leopoldville, on past Stanley Falls, we would go for Stanley Pool, and a number of others considerably over a thousand ~iles be- on the caravan road from Leopoldville fore reaching any more Protestant mis- down to Matadi, the foot-path 230 miles sions ; the first being long, by which everything that goes or comes between the Upper Congo and THE CONGO ROLORO MISSION, the Atlantic must be carried on the heads or shoulders of bare-headed, bare- located on the Congo, and some of its footed Africans. They have about thirty tributaries near the equator. These are missionaries, and also own a steamer, English Baptists, Dr. and Mrs. Guinness, the lIenry Reed, and around some of of London, being ~he controlling spirits their churches whole communities have in organizing and directing the work. been brought nnder the influence of They have fi ve or six stations, and are Christianity. Banza Manteka and.Ln. doing good work. although only about kunga have been especially blessed. three years old. It has just lost two of Mr. Richards, their pastor, said of the its best men, John McKittrick and John first named: "The glorious fact is that Luff, both from hrematuric fever, so Banza Manteka is no longer a heathen fatal in that country. country, but more Christian than any I am acquainted with." Dr. Harry Guinness, in Regions Beyond for March, says of Mr. Luff's station at Mr. Lapsley, of the Presbyterian Mis- Lulanga: "After a steep climb of forty sion, was there on his way to the inor fifty feet of river bank we found our- terior, and his diary contains these selves in the capitally laid-out station notes: "Banza Manteka, 300 members, of Lulanga, only seven-months old, yet 28 villages, some of them 16 miles quite a convenient and beautiful spot. away; almost all professors now, though not all received yet. Their church And behind the garden beds with building was given by the Clarendon their sweet flowers there stands a com- Street Church, Boston [Dr. Gordon's], fortable brick house, with outhouses and was brought from Tundwa, 50 and dependencies, including carpenter's miles, on members' heads. Gray corshop and brick.yard. . .. After the rugated iron; Gothic arched windows. evening meal I walked through a string Store and vestry on either side. Ordiof villages two miles long, and must nary platform and desk, plain benches have passed a couple of thousand of for 600 people. People put their confolk in my little walk. . .. The popu- tributions in the big baskets in which lation in half an hour's walk of the women carry their great loads to marhouse Mr. Grenfell estimates at 6000. ket. Two of these go around and Kindly interested and warm-hearted, come back loaded with strings of blue they appealed to me strongly." beads, handkerchiefs, etc." There is no other currency. Again he says: "Tears of joy and sorrow mingled lately as we stood on Mr. Lapsley was also at Lukunga, and two successive days by the grave of Jobn his diary has this description of the McKittrick [at Bonginda], and at the preaching hy a native, and of the apbaptism of the first converts from Bolo- pearance of the congregl'.tion. boland. We rejoiced as we baptized five converts, and wept over 25 of them After describing Mr. Hoste's regular awaiting immel·sion." service, he writes: The C. B. M. have a steamer-the .. Luwawa rose, one foot on a bench, Pioneer-by which they communicate and his body twisting nervously around. with each other and bring up supplies He soon got his foot down, and his from Leopoldville. hands in use, and his tongue loose. first station at Luebo, on the Lulua, a Began slowly, but soon caught fire- tributary of the Kassai, the great south- spoke like his life depended on it. Not ern tributary of the Cbngo. It is about ranting style. Not very loud, but in a 5}0 south of the equator, and 600 miles hot stream of emphatic words; and his east of the Atlantic. It is the initial little eyes back under his forehead effort of the Southern Presbyterians in burned like coals. His gestures were not Africa, the pioneers being a white and extravagant, but natural and animated. a colored man, Messrs. Lapsley and The men had-some of them-a cloth Sheppard working together. Mr. and about the shoulders and another about Mrs. Adamson, Scotch Presbyterians, the loins. Some were stripped to the have also recently joined the mission, waist. Women had bare shoulders and and have reached the field. Luebo is one large cloth to the knees, or two some 1500 feet above the sea. They say aprons, one tied before the breast, and it is never very hot or hot long at a the other about the waist. Strange con· time, and never hot at night.
gregation met for communion ! Yet Belgian, French, and Portuguese trad- '
quiet and attentive, though some eyes ing posts are loclOted there, and it is a wandered, and some did like Eutychus busy centre of population and of trade in the warm room. The bread broken in ivory and rubber. * The location waR was the common bread of the cOl'.ntry made in April, 1891. Native houses -quanga." were bought and put up, and gradually THE ENGLISH BAPTISTS. some better shelters have been erected. Land has been cleared, and gardens and They have five or six stations. Mr. fruit ~rees planted; and all the time the Grenfell, missionary and far·famed ex· language has been diligently studied plorer, has a well·built station at Bolobo, and the materia. for a dictionary and on the river, 2° south of the equator. grammar carefully gathered and record-.
There Mr. Bentley, of Ngombe, on the ed. The following brief extracts from Lower River, has done greut service to Mr. Lapsley's letters give a view of the all African missions by his Kikongo die. country and the work.
tionary. This mission seems especially October 4th, 1891, he writes: .. Your engaged in the work of educating and summer in Alabama is past, but our civilizing the natives, and their stations spring is just on. We have had fonr are models of good and orderly arrange- months of dry, colcI weather, with bar- ment and thorough preparation in the ren-looking hilI.sicIes,rnsty, leafless trees way of building and appliances. They overhanging the dusty road, and almost also have a steamer, the Peace. hiding the more faithful ones that keep their green. 'Dry,' I saicI; yes, from THE SWEDISH MISSION. ten o'clock till sundown, and dead hot This mission has several Btations, all out in the open exposed places. But on the Lower Rher, and about twenty when the dew begins to fall it is a very missionaries, who are doing good work rain. By the last watch before day- both as preachers and translators of the the hour I used to wake often-I could Gospel. Mr. Lapsley says of them: hear the uncanny sound of the wlltcr " Their piety is most refreshing; they dropping, dropping, when there had seem as if they had only just heard the been no rain. And a dense mist fell story of Jesus, and had not got used to then or about sunrise, so you couldn't the new joy and wouder. Such charm- ing simplicity and earnestness !" * These arc the ouly products tradou in, be- cause they alone are valuable enough to staud THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIA.N CONGO MIS- lJle heavy expense of being carried down that SION. long foot-path to the coast. Ivory is worth say 23,000 francs per ton, and rubber about 7,000 This youngest of the missions ha~ its francs. – .. Then I made a little sketch of what see fifty yards, and it was cold enough for more than my two good blankets. I might say in the town today-largely But a few weeks ago the raiIis began a translation of Paul on Mars' Hill, with nicely – not too much, but a good the clause about the Saviour enlarged drencher every evening – until the till it balanced all the rest of the dis- ground was ready for the seed. Then course.
the women of the town, Bena Kasenga, " Then about 3 P.lIT. I found a quiet held their annual meeting, to assign to corner in town, with a group of women each group of friends their patch to around, whom I knew very well. The plant of the great fields north, east, houses made a screen from the nois9 of south and west of the town. Now the the street, and the subject came np roads are walled with a mass of first naturally. My patient, lounging op· green, like our woods at home in April." posite, repot"ted herself as nearly well.
October 24th, 1891, when he had been " • That's God's doiDg,' I said; and there six months, he writes: "To·mor- asked her what she knew of Niuliuli row I hope to speak to the people. I have (God).
now enough 'Bakata'-as tha natives, the " Bomba, nursing her poor little baby, Bakete, call their language-to attempt which I think will die, and another preaching to them. A Christian soldier woman opposite began to listen and from Zanzibar, who knew Bishop Han- repeat everything, to be sure that they nington and Mackay, has lent me his heard rightly. Milembo, a great friend Kiswahili testament, and owing to of ours, comes up between two of the the similarity of thesa Bantu languages, little houses, and I ask her again abou~ it may help me in the little translation he,· knowledge of God. She answers I intend to make for use to·morrow. right along, and explains fully when I " Weare on very good terms with the stop to breathe.
Bakete of Bena Kasenga. I began to " She said : 'The Bakete know God take a little medicine to the town, and made and preserves us and everything, now I have several cases every day, and, and gives us all things.'
they all have got well so far. My boy, .. , Yet,' I said, 'you don't clap your Shamba Mwana, says they have a song hands softly three timeS-SD-and say in my honor, the refrain of which runs "Wolah," as you do if I give you only like this: a Iittle salt.'
" 'Mutomba Njila, wlltuambika bWllnga " • The Bakete would sing to Him if Watumouekisa mayo.' they only knew how,' said she.
('" Pathfluder [that's me} gives us medicine, "Then I explained who Jesus was, Makes us see health.' ") and they listened earnestly, with some The next day-Sunday, October 25th doubt about His coming again in the -he writes: "The station boys and clouds. But their usual complaint was, women came in for prayers, and we had • We haven't heard this. You white a pleasant little service. . .• Little people know, but we do not. . . .' "
Tumba came in and sat down in front Under a later date Mr. Lapsley writes of an array of ' Children's Friends' with that it is probable that the State has pictures, and went to sleep on the mat. granted his application for the right to Early dinner was brought on and dis- occupy Bolek~ at the junction of the patched-not 'Very plentiful to-day. God Kassai and Kwango. This new station was pleased to answer my prayer. A will make a small ~teamer, such as the few petitions and promises written out other missions use, very desirable to with a pencil and lying before me on keep up communication and procure my little desk took definite hold of my supplies. When necessary, it will doubt- heart, I trust, as I Bat alone in the in- less be given. In the time of need, one tense solitude of tropical noon, when all generous man in far.off Australia was others were gone away. moved to gi ve the mission steamer Henry Reed. now owned by the American Bap. who allowed him to visit them, to state tists. and explain the great leading truths of OTHER MISSIONS. the Gospel. The fierceness of the feel.
There are some voluntary, self-sup- ing against Christianity has been in this way reduced at headquarters, although porting missions, of which Bishop Tay- even now the prejudice of rich Hindus in the city is still so strong that those lor, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Who have CUIne under the power of the Gospel have had to seek employment is the head, and some purely inde. elsewhere. Mr. Hewlett was the Prin· cipal of the Mission Oollege, and in pendent work is being projected. A addition to much educational success he made every possible effort to main. few weeks ago a devout family from the tain its missionary character. The Northwest sold their home and all they had, and are now on their way to the COlIgO. going all of them as missionaries and at their own expense. '
THE ROMAN CATHOLICS Scriptures were read and expounded, also have stations scattered from the and prayer offered daily in the presence Atlantic Coast to the far eastern border, of all the students. The strain of over. and are now about putting a little steam- work has for some time been telling er on the upper river. It is estimated upon Mr. Hewlett. While feeling that that soon they will have as many as 100 the Church can ill spare such wOo'kers priests an~ nuns at work on this great it is a mournful satisfaction to kno~ field now white for the harvest. that this loving and faithful missionary has pursued his course without slack. There is the utmost activity, commer- ness to Itil very end. cial, political. and religious. The dead sleep of centuries is over. The conti· nent is moved from the centre all Great Missionary Conferenoe Next Year around. Ethiopia is at last in very deed in Japan. stretching out her hands unto God. "THE BAKETE WOULD SING TO HIM IF At a meeting of the Central Japan THEY ONLY KNEW HOW" is the plaintive answer that Africa sends back to Chris· Missionary Association, held on the tendom on hearing the first time the Gospel in Bakete. 15th inst., in Osaka, it was decided that God grant that a host of earnest men II general missionary conference, to be and women, full of the love of Jesus composed of Protestant evangelical mis. and fired with a holy ambition to be lik~ sionaries in Japan, be held in 1893 to Him. ma,y hear this sad cry from afar, and be moved by it! discuss the religious interests, p;os.
pects, and other important subjects per.
taining to.the cause of Christianity in Japan. A few present at the meeting were not in favor of II bceoennfepreuntcet~ but after the question had the Death of Rev. John Hewlett, vote and it was fonnd that a large mil.. jority were in favor of holding a confer· The death of Rev. John Hewlett ence, these declared themselves ready M.A.• one of the foremost missiona: to do all they could to further the ob· ries of the London Missionary Society, ject desired by the majority. occurred February 21st last. Seventeen of the thirty years of his laborious life The Anti-Chinese Legislation at Wash· were spent in Benares, the stronghold ington. of Hinduism, and in many respects the most difficult post in India. He wns [J. T. G.] well qnalified for such work, being both The enactment of the two houses of talented and amiable. He knew many Congress relating to the Chinese in this emin,ent Hindu priests and teachers, country has givlln offence to roany mill. ions of our citizens. It is not a case of Foreign Affairs Committee, said this sentiment merely, but one for grave registration was similar to the slave aod dignified deliberation. It is rather regulations in force before the Civil painful to note the ease with which this War, and to the ticket of leave cf the whole subject has been transferred from Australian convict system.
the domain of statecraft to tha.t of poli- The Minister says that these features tics. This whole business ought to have of the bill are in direct violation of the been begun at the other end. It should treaty of 1880, which guarantees to the have been settled long ago by diplo- Chinese laborers in the United States macy; it iR a matter for treaty, not for the treatment of the subjects of the most " municipal legislation." It is with lit- favored nations. He further says that tle grace that the President should be the treaty of 1880 was agreed to by obliged to plead in defence of his 1!aste China at the express request of the Gov- in signing this Bill that there were but ernment of the United States, which a few hours before the expiration of Bent three of its most distinguished citi- existing legislation should be outlawed. zens to Peking to ask for it. He de- Great interests, like those involved in clined to state what course his Govern.
this issue, should not be dealt with ment would take on account of the pas- merely to throw" a sop to the steer. sage of the bill.
ages of the vessels that are being un- loaded at the Battery." It had no The World's W. a. T. U, business to be a political question, which undor the prejudices of a " presi- The World's Woman's Christian Tern.
dential year would almost of necessity perance Union have prepared a polyglot drive noble senators and an unimpeach- petition to the rulers of the world, be- able President to participation in in_ seeching them "to raise the standard iquitous business." of the law to that of Christian morals, The Chinese Minister at Washington to strip away the safeguards and sanc· protested against this Bill for three rea- tions of the State from the drink traffic sons: 1. It renews the Scott Law of and the opium trade, and to protect 1888. 2. It deprives the Chinese ot. the [our] homes by the total prohibition of right of bail in habeas corpus cases. 3. these curses of civilization throughout It requires a registration of Chinese all the territory over which [their] gov- laborers which it is practically impossi- ernments extend." Miss Frances E.
ble for them to comply with. They Willard, the president of this distinct must all prove by white witnesses that organization, informs us that this peti- the~ are lawfully entitled t~ be in the tion has already been translated and Umted StateM, and as the first Exclu- signed in forty languages, and is to be sion Law was passed in 1882, every presented to the different governments Chinaman must produce before the Col- of the world by a commission of wom- lector of Internal Revenue II white wit- en, headed by Lady Henry Somerset, ness who knew him ten years ago and who will go round the world within a can swear that he was in the United year or two for that purpose. The peti.
States at that time. tion is signed by women, but endorsed The law leaves the issuance of the by men, and co·operation is sought on certificate of registration entirely to the the ground that this petition seeks the discretion of the revenue officer, and suppression of opium as well as alco· provides no way of compelling him to holies. They anticipate that the signa- do justice to the Chinaman. He must tures to this petition will swell it to ten register and produce his evidence in the mile!; in length. and as it would not be district where he resides. His white right to go to the expense of carrying so witness may be 3000 miles away. great a bundle round the world, they Senator Sherman, Ohairman of the seek the endorsement of societies, signed by the presidents and secretaries But as so little is known of this part of thereof. For this purpose they have the world, as little as of most interior prepared blanks, which are to be had of parts of Africa of late years, it is of the Secretary, Mrs. Mary A. Wood- great interest to the scientist, and in bridge, Ravenna, O. many ways to the bulk of intelligent Another feature of the movement is people of our time. It is well known under the direction of the Department that few persons have ever been success- of Scientific Instruction in Schools and ful in effecting an entrance into Thibet.
Colleges, of which Mrs. Mary H. Hunt The author of this work, Gabriel Bon- is superintendent. Mrs. Hunt writes valot, is no novice in travel and ex- to us that for several years she has been ploration, he having, on a previons oc- in correspondence with Christian mis- casion, in company with two other sionaries, irrespective of denomination, Frenchmen, accomplished the difficult urging as a means of grace in nominally if not unprecedented feat of scaling the heathen lands the introduction of table-lands of the Pamir, " the roof of physiological temperance teaching in the world," as this region is called.
mission schools. Mrs. Joseph Cook, of The volume he wrote about that adven- B.)ston, recently invited to her parlors ture, "Aux lndes par Terre" (its Eng- the missionary leaders in the various lish title was" Through the Heart of evangelical denominations to listen to a Asia"), made him known as an intrepid proposition that had been privately and wise traveller. The present volume talked over, to the effect that the Chris- gives an account of his journey over tian missionary organizations of the Central Asia, parts of which had hith- world should unite in some systematic erto been u¥traversed by any European.
method that would secure such teaching Starting from the frontiers of Siberia, of the fundamental facts called scien- and coming out at the other end of Asia tific temperance in mission schools. A on the coast of the new French colony third feature of the world.wide move- of Tonquin, M. Bonvalot and his com- ment, we belis"!e, includes the sending panions, one of whom was Prince of missionaries representing their own Henry of Orleans, the eldest son of the body, SCtile of which, if we are correct- Duc de Chartres, traversed not only ly informed, are already in heathen that portion of Thibet which several lands. English travellers and the great Rnssian, Whoever has seen the hindrance of Prje'falsky, had explored, but going be- the mission work from the alcohol habit yond their routes OTer the table-lilnds, he of nominal Christians in heathen lands, accomplished a journey through a coun_ and knows anything of the terrible curse tryon which the eyes of no European of opium among heathen in Asiatic had before fallen. It is to the credit of cOllntrieq, will surely wish these noble their shrewdness and knowledge of women God-speed. If it is not direct, human nature that they sncceeded in it is certainly indirect missionary work doing this without much active hostil- in every land under the sun.-J. T. G. ity, though not without great petIt This volume is charmingly and instruc- New Publications. tively illustrated from photographs taken by Prince Henry, is elegantly [J. T. G.] bound, and is accompanied with a fine map in a pocket showing the route trav- The extraordinary int.erost that at- elled. The ethnographer and student taches to Thibet, as the only land not of religion will find here very interest- open to evangelization, would of itself ing contributions to their stock of spe- gi ve interest to a new book jnst issued cial information-information given in by the Casspll Puhlishing Company a clear and unpretentious manner, (New York) entitled" Across Thibet." which really enhances its value, as there is no evidence of any coloring or .. JodhpOl'e and the Empress Noor Jahan bias from any preconceived theories. (Elioi Stock, London, publisher).
T.he writer simply states what he saw The same publisher has just issued and what was said that throws light on the fifth edition of "The Christian problems of world.wide interest. It is Traveller's Continental Handbook," a not a volume about missions, for mis· small but very helpful book, telling of sions there are none in this part of the the places of Christian work and wor· world; but it shows the religious con· ship in all the principal cities of Eu· dition and the social customs of the peo. rope. Others besides travellers wiI' find pie, and affords a gleam of hope that it of value.
where this intrepid explorer has gone, others may yet be able to go with the -There will be a pathetic interest Gospel of the kingdom. attaching to th" article in this Depart- ment by Judge Lapsley, which was .. Woman's Influence in the East" compiled largely from letters received ny John J. Pool, is a compilation of from his Bon, Rev. Samuel N. Lapsley, stories fabulous and historical, showing engaged in planting the new mission the noble lives of some of the past of the Southern Presbyterians in the queens and princesses of India, which Congo Valley. As we go to press we might be greatly enlarged, and perhaps ha.ve the Bad news of the death of thi~ with advantage, to the impression which devoted and capable young mission. the author seeks to make, that the women ary. Our sincerest sympathy goes ouC of the East are not without influence to the honored father and Church thus even where they are esteemed by West· stricken. 0 Africa! thou art a. great ern people to be very much degraded. prize for the Master, but thou art being That women fail of influence over so- redeemed at great cost by those who cietyand even over public events in the adore the world's Saviour, and thine East, is a figment of the imagination as a part of the whole! only of the thonghtless. Women are J. T. G.
everywhere the conservators of religion, -Rev Dr. George W. Northrup, in good or bad; women mould the child- his address at the Seventy.seventh hood of all the races of the East, and anniversary of the American Baptist throughout the continent of Africa. Union, said: "1. That the Christian What ails them ill, that they have, as a churches of the world should be satisrule, low ideals, I!.nd are content with fied with nothing less than lIending out their place in the social scale. But the one ordained missionary for every illustrious instances which are well 50,000 of the accessible pl!.gan populaknown in Indian annals, of women in tion of the world. 2. That no church high rank having the highest qualities ought to call itself thoroughly aggrespossible to the type of civilization to sive and evangelical that does not ex·' which they belong, command our ad. pend, for the support of missions at miration and suggest the possibilities large, at least one dollar for every five of Indian womanhood when elevated by it expends for itself." Christianity. Quite apart from any moral pmpose, this book is entertain.
ing reading. The Ramayana is the -Among the congresses to be held in " Iliad of the East," and the first char· connection with the Columbian Exposi.
acter presented by Mr. Pool is the myth- tion, one of the most important will bA ical one of Sita, the peroine, the Helen the" Congress of Missions," which will of this, the most popular piece df lit· occnpy eight days-September 10th- erature in all Hindustan. Among the 17tb. Societies of every name, lan- historic characters are the Ranee of guage, and location will be represented.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Ba.ptist Missions on the Oongo. to an address lately given by Rev. R. D.
In justice to all parties concerned the Darby. from the Congo. .. The story following correspondence is published which he told of the privations and in full. It is a matter of sincere regret hardships which he and his companions that the extract from the Christian had endured was a sad and pitiful one. Leader should have appeared in our last His two companions died, and he himissue (p. 464) without editorial com_ self only narrowly escaped. In listenment, explaining- that it did in no de- ing to such a story, one cannot help gree receive our endorsement. We now feeling that there is great and inexcusareprint the extract with the remainder ble blundering somewhere. There is really no need why our missionaries ot" the correspondence, hoping thus to should be left in such straits for the lack of the common necessaries of life. do justice to everybody. We aim at ac- If the mission committee in London, curacy; but while we glean from all who are responsible. would only show a sources, we cannot of course secure in little more business ability in providing all cases" original sources." We should for the wants of their agents, no calamprint little intelligence if compelled to ity of the kind would be likely to over. do this.-A. T. P. take them. The sad thing is that the lack of proper provision for the wants Mr. Grenfell's first letter was dated of the agents sent out has less or more .. Baptist Missionary Society, London, October 10th, 1891."
DEAR Sm : I note that on page 800 of characterized the management of the your (October, 1891) issue you say : committee from the beginning. The .. Grave charges of mismanagement effects of this are shown in the "fact that have been made against the directors about sixty per cent. of the missionaries of the Baptist Congo Mission." If this sent out to the Congo district have died.
refers to the Congo Mission of the above Surely a radical change in the mode of society, it is quite unfounded, and should conducting the mission is called for."
be contradicted. You ought not to ac- Thereupon the whole correspondence cept such statements upon any other was sent to Mr. Grenfell, and from him than the best authority, and should be the following has just been received. all the more careful, seeing that your We think best to print in full : reports are so widely read and accep•. ed. I should be very glad if you would UNDERHILL, CONGO STATE, give me the name of your informant, April 5, 1892. and beg to remain My DEAR DOCTOR : It was very good of Yours faithfully, you to take so much trouble about the GEOBGE GRE"IFELL. paragraph to which I referred in my Dote of October 10th last. The fault is Upon receipt of this letter diligent evidently with the "lfonthly Messenger of endeavor was made to trace the item the Storie Street Church, which has in. to its source, and at last we found it terpreted some remarks as to the hargcame from Rev. James Johnston, of Bol- ships endured by Mr. Darby and his col. ton, England, who sent the following, leagues as an impeachment of the Misasking justification: sion Committee. That hardships were (From The Christian Leader, June 25, 1891.) endured, and more than need have been BAPTIST BLUNDERING ON THE CONGO. endured, had every one been gifted with the faculty of seeing into the future, In the Monthly Messenger of the Storie cannot be denied-such things occur in Street Baptist Church, Paisley, of which every African enterprise-but that the Dr. O. Flett is pastor, reference is made loss of life suffered by our society on the Congo can be attributed to the lack .ward it seemed best to issue it imme.
of "proper provision for its agents," diately in pamphlet form, and by per- or to the want of business •• ability" on mission of author and publishers (James the part of its committee I most dis· Nisbet & Co.) it appears with some tinctly deny, as would also Mr. Darby. slight verbal changes in the present were he here. issue of our magazine.
The statement that sixty per cent of A good word has permanent value.
the missionaries sent to the Congo died "A word fitly spoken" -literally" on as the effects of this lack of business his wheels"-" is like apples of gold ability and neglect will quite account set in framework of silver."
for Mr. Johnston's paragraph; but it is 'l'he discourse is a message on wheels, most distinctly untrue. The total losses and ought to mn round the world.
of the mission, while they are very, very Though first delivered in 1871, twenty heavy, and the cause of great sadness years ago, it is no less adapted to the of heart, are less than forty per cent; wants of the present day than it was for and I assert that no single death in the the time when it was originally con- ranks of our society can be attributed to structed. In fact, it will perhaps stir the causes mentioned. and arouse the Church of God more 'l'hanking you for your courtesy in effectively, as this new century of mod- this matter, I remain, my dear doctor, ern missions is opening, than it could Yours very sincerely, when the interest felt in a world's evan- GEORGE GRENFELL. gelization was less extensive and less P.S.–" Two educated negro women intense, and when the openings for at Vasten have begun to issue the first mission work were far less numerous newspaper in the Congo Free State. It and clamorous. aims to • enlighten the souls of the black-likinned.' " At Ollr earnest solicitation, Dr. Angus now permits us, in this REVIEW, to reo I presume the paragraph above, quot. print this vigorous address, he having brought down th e facts to this centenary ed from, your REVIEW, refers to the Se year of modern missions, 1892. It im- presses us as one of the boldest, wisest, Kukianga, published at the Baptist strongest appeals for immediate and world-wide evangelization we have ever Mission Station, Wathen; but how you read. Years ago it sounded its clarion. call, and the echo of its trumpet-peal is can have got hold of the news of two now heard wherever missions to the heathen are planned and undertaken. educated negro women having anything So far as we know, it was this address from which was drawn the motto of this to do with it is a marvel. I simply call new crusade: .. THE WORLD Fon CHRIST IN OUR GENERATION!" May the Great attention to it, and ask you to be care.
ful of Congo news derived from the same source A paper of the standing of your REVIEW can't afford to make it- self the medium of news so grotesquely metamorphosed. G. G.
II Apostolio Missions j or, The Gospel Head of the missionary host use the new and louder repetition of tbis trum- for Every Orea.ture," * pet.blast to set the whole army of the Lord moving in a mighty assault on The editor obtained a copy of this every fortress of the devil. May the grand article, with which we open this venerable and distinguished author of number of the REVIEW, as it was orig- this pamphlet yet live to see the Church inally delivered, April 26th, 1871, be- preaching to every creature the Gospel fore the Baptist Missionary Society, in he loves. London, and personally besought Dr. Angus to remodel it for republication in the REVIEW. He consented. After. A letter, inclosing five shillings ster- * See lcadin~ article of this nnmber, page 481. ling, and accompanied only by a pseudonym, has come to me, which is too let it go to the heathen." There is a suggestive to be withheld from the pub- wide gulf of dillerence between the five lic eye. shillings amI this, which is equal to £70. But in each case a luxury is surrendered e< GLASGow. April 4, 1892. for the sake of giving the Bread. of "Two or three years ago you ad- Life to lost souls. What immense sums dressed a crowded meeting in the Synod of money would our self denial bring to' Hall, Edinburgh, upon missions, in the treasuries of God were even such which many must have been very deep- self-sacrifice which does not touch our ly stirred. You spoke of giving up lux. actual necessities universal with dis- uries for missions, and suggested that ciples! ladies could give up a pair of kid gloves a year to aid such a work as McAIl's at The Fiji Islands hllve been the great Paris, etc. model field of mission operations in hea- " I thought, 'That does not apply to then lands. At the beginning of the presme; I can't do anything in that way. ent century the people were barbarians. I give one fifth of all my income and In 1835 the Christianization of them was what I earn to God's work, and never commenced, when, in October of that spend anything but what is needful on year, the Rev. W. Cross and Dr. Cargill, dress. I must have decent gloves even Wesleyan missionaries from England, if I have to buy many pairs, and I cannot proceeded from one of the Friendly Islkeep my dress account below £15 [$75] ands to Lactremba, one of the Fiji Islthis year.' ands. The population of the latter num- " However, conscience prevailed, and bered a thousand souls, some of whom next day more than I usually spend on had heard of Christianity in the Friendly a pair of 'four-button kids' went into Islands, and a few understood its charthe collection plate. I had never had acter ; and the chief gave the missiunamany presents of gloves, but at Christ- ries a friendly reception. In a short mas a friend sent me a beautiful lined time a number were baptized and began pair, and shortly after some very good the Christian life. 'rhe missionaries gloves were sold for very little, and so I then introduced the Gospel into other got a supply and lost nothing by the islands, and in 1845 there was a powerprice of a good pair sent to the MeAll ful revival throughout the entire region. Mission. Next year I sent the price of Among the many converts, the Napoleon a better pair, ~ndagain never J.I1issed of an entire island was numbered-a them, for two pairs were given to me. man who had been the most bloodthirsty You see your words were not lost, and of all the people. In 1854 the head their latest fruit is five shillings, which king, with his tribe, embraced Chris- I enclose, and which you will kindly tianity ; and so Divine truth made reforward at your convenience to Dr. markable headway in all directions McAll from one whose interest in mis- among all the people and tribes. Since tiions you have helped to stimulate." that phenomenal period a number of This letter is probably from Bome white peoples have settled in the islands, poor seamstress or woman clerk of slen- and the entire population are now far der means; and it is sent to the REVIEW advanced in civilization; and Christiancolumns simply as a very pertinent illus- ity controls the overwhelming mass of tration of the possible fruits of a little the inhabitants. Out of a popUlation of self-denial. Since that address in Edin- 120,000, 105,000 belong to the Wesleyan burgh many other fruits appeared, and Methodist denomination, Ilond are reguamong others a very brilliant marquise lar attendants in their churches and ring set with Beven diamonds, and halls. The other 15,000 have identified worth probably $350, has been sent to themselves with the various bodies me with the remark: "I can do without that, and never will wear it again; which have entered the field. It was in Summer School of Ohrlstian Philosophy. 1879 that other denominations began their work among these people, Ilnd The school of the American Institute they are helping in raising them to of Christian Philosophy begins July Christian life and civilization. This 12th at Prohibition Park, Staten Island, mission of the Wesleyan body has test· with a lecture by Joseph Cook, on ed the wonderful power of Methodism "Fast and Loose Theories of Evoluwhen permeated by the Divine Spirit in tion." The remainder of the week's converting heathen souls to a practical programme is aa follows : knowledge of Christ and the Gospel. The marvellous success here met with Wednesday, 13th.-G. R. W. Scott, should be generally known among Chris. D.D., Andover, Mass., "Man's Retians and prayerfully considered in con- sponsibility for his Belief." Nightnection with all foreign mission work R. F. Cutting, New York, " Tenementand home mission effort. House Evil."
REV. ANDREW LEES. Thursday, 14th.-George Alexander, D.D., New York, "A Believing Spirit Essential to the Learner." Night- It is proposed to hold a general con· paper prepared by Richard Abbey, D.D., ference of missionaries in Japan. Mississippi, " Where Was Man Before He Was?" Circulars are addressed as follows : Friday, 15th.-William Leroy Broun, To ..••………•…. •• The Progress of Education of the Col- At a regular meeting of the Mission- ored Race in the South." Night-·-Anni- versary. Addresses by Rev. Dr. Deems ary Association of Central Japan, held and others.
in Osaka, December 15th, 1891, the fol- Saturday, 16th.-Professor E. Herlowing minute was adopted, to wit: shey Sheath, Yale University, "Stoicism •, That the Chairman be requested to and Christianity." Night -" Prison Life," by W. M. F. Round, Esq. nominate a Committee consisting of one member from each mission in this dis- Sunday; 17th.-Annual Sermon by trict, to continue inquiries concerning Carlos Martyn, D.D., Newark, N. J. a General Missionary Conference and to Night-" The Brotherhood of Chrisreport to the next meeting of the Asso- tian Unity," Professor Theodore F. Seward. ciation.' ' In accordance with this action, the Monday, 18th. -Hon. Walter B. Hill, Georgia, "Anarchy, Socialism, and the Committee appointed desire to pro· LaborMovement." Night-" Our Shop pound to the missionaries of the various Girls," by Professor Hyslop, of Columsocieties laboring in Japan the follow- bia College. ing inquiries: 1. Is it desirable to hold a. General Conference in the near fu- Tuesday, 19th.-Ethelbert D. Warture? 2. If so, in what year? 3. Shall field, LL.D, President of Lafayette the Conference be composed of evan- College, "The Philosophy of Educagelical missionaries exclusively, or shall tion. " others be admitted? 4, If others a.re to be included, would you be unwilling Persons wishing circulars of the Sumto take part? 5. If they are to be ex- mer School and Prohibition Park, or included? 6. Shall our Japanese breth- formation concerning hotel accommoren be invited to participate? 7. If so, dations, etc., should address Mr. C. L. to what extent? Haskell, Superintendent, West New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y. For in- The Committee earnestly request all· forma~ion about the Institute, address missionaries to give this matter their Mr. C. M. Davis, Secretary, 4 Winthrop careful consideration and to send in Place, New York. t~eir replies as promptly as possible to eIther of the undersigned.
The Ven. Archdeacon WARREN, Ohairman, No.3 Concession. Rev. T. T. ALEXANDER, Secretary, No. 14 Concession. OSAKA, December 22, 1891.
1892.J THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Ohinese Miss:ons in British Columbia. ample facilities for preaching services, prayer.meetings, class.meetings, Sun. BY BEV. E. ROBSON. day and week evening schools, all of wh,ich are now much more successful. The Chinese population of British The missionary is aided by a Chinese Columbia is a very uncertain quantity, assistant, two lady teachers for the evenvariously estimated at from 6000 to ing school, an efficient corps of Sunday- 9000. 'Though some .thousands arrive school volunteer workers and !I care. in the course of a year, yet there is not taker, who is a useful Christian worker a rapid increase in the aggregate num· -a native Chinese. Mr. Gardner him. ber, as many leave the province, some self speaks the Chinese, reads and for China and some, by means best writes it with elegance and fluency. known to themselves, make their way into the United States in spite of the The Woman's Missionary Society of exclusion enactment. The Chinese are this saIDe Church has had, for some mostly located in the towns, but during years past, a Refuge Home for Chinese the fishing season are to be found in Girls in Victoria, by means of which considerable numbers at the salmon can· quite a number of these poor creatures, neries scattered throughout the coast some of very tender years, have been districts; while others are engaged in rescued from cruel slavery and present mining, farming, market gardening, and or prospective social degradation and serving as oooks and laundrymen in shame. The inmates of the home are town and country. There are a few under the care of two most excellent merchants and manufacturers of mod. ladies in the employ of the Methodist erate pretensions among them, but the Missionary Society, and are instructed bulk belong to the laboring class. in everything that is calculated to do them good and render their future lives About fourteen years ago efforts were useful and happy. Most of them have put forth by the agents of the Method· given cause to hope that they have been ist Church of Canada, to bring these converted to God. Some have been reo people to the knowledge of the truth; turned to their parents in China, but but the work did not at that time make the larger number have been married to much headway for want of agents con· Chinamen resident in the province. versant with the language. These generally are doing well.
The present work of the Methodist The spiritual results of the Victoria Church of Canada among the Chinese Mission as a whole have been encourag. commenced seven years ago, in Victoria, ing. Numerous conversions have taken the capital of the province, where there place, and a very marked improvement is a resident Chinese popUlation of, say, has been brought about in the com· 3000 during the winter season, and 2000 munity known as the Chinese quarter. during summer. 'fhe Rev. J. Endicott There are 105 communicants in connec· Gardner, who had the honor, assisted tion with the church, and a good at· by others, of inaugurating the work, is tendance upon the various services still the recognized leader of it as agent especially the preaching of the Word. of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church. For years the work of In Vancouver mission work was begun the mission was carried on in rented in 1887 by the formation of an evening halls, at considerable disadvantage. class for the study of English and relig- There is, however, now a handsome ious instruction. Under the kind and and commodious church, with school earnest labors of Christian ladies (the and class – rooms attached, affording leader being a daughter of the present writer), not one of whom could speak to, been blessed with gratifying success. or read a word of Chinese, there were, Upon invitation of the chaplain Mr. in a few months, eleven Chinese brought Ch'an preaches to the Chinese in the to a saving knowledge of Christ, all of provincial penitentiary, ten of whom whom were publicly baptized after due have given evidence of a change of examination and trial. The mission was heart and life, and have received Chris. reinforced by the arrival, from China, tian baptism at the chaplain's hands. of Mr. Ch'an Sing Kai, who was selected and sent to our aid by the Rev. Dr. The expenditure for land and build. Wenyon, of the Wesleyan Mission at ings at these three stations has been, Fat Shan.' Mr. Ch'an brought his wife including the Rescue Home, nearly and children with him-probably the $24,000, and the amount paid by the first Christian Chinese family in the society for current expenses was, last. Dominion of Canada. The work in Van. year, $4200, exclusive of the Home. couver is now carried on by Liu Yik Are the results satisfactory? Reason. Pang, who had spent three years in the ably so. The Gospel-preached, sung, study of medicine, hospital practice, and personally explained-is put within and evangelistic work in Canton, and is the reach and pressed upon the atten. a man well fitted for and useful in his tion of the Chinese population in the present position. Dr. Liu is assisted three leading towns of the provinCE> by two ladies, who teach the English every Sunday and during every week. classes and give efficient help in all the Many outlying neighborhoods have been services, which are not by any means visited, and the message of salvation confined to the mission premises, but made known. Scores of Chinese men are also regularly conducted on the and several women have been converted street, in the centre of the Chinese quar. to God. Some of these have been the ter and upon the great steamships of means of winning others of their fel. the Canadian Pacific Railway Company low.countrymen to Christ in other parts plying between Vancouver, China, and of the province, and at least several Japan, the crews of which are princi. have gone back to visit their native land pally Chinese. The society has a suit- fully resolved to do all they can, by able building, comprising chapel, school, God's help, for the salvation of their and reading.room and residence for the friends and neighbors there. The inmiSSionary, and, in addition, a number fluence of these missions has done much of pleasant lodging rooms for the Chris. for the Chinese here, and will undoubttian young men who have no homes of edly be felt in the distant Orient. their own, thus obviating the necessity for their spending their evenings and Though the Methodist Church has nights among the demoralizing associa· had the honor of leading in this inter· tions, sights, and sounds of heathen. esting work, other churches are now ism. taking hold tlnd planning for more ex· tended efforts in the future. May God New Westminster also is favored with give an abundant harvest of souls! a Chinese mission, the history of which is very similar to that just described. NEW WESTMINSTER, B. C., March 30th, Mr. Ch'an, now an ordained mission- 1892. ary, is in charge, assisted by lady teachers and volunteer helpers. On the 6th Ohinese Mission in San Francisco. inst. new mission premises were taken possession of, consisting of chapel, BY REV. F. J. MASTERS, D.D. school, and reading-room and residence for missionary-all very complete and Our first convert was baptized in comfortable and well situated. This 1871 ; since then 394 adults have been mission has, like those already referred admitted to church membership. At least 90 per cent of these converts reo main faithful. It must be borne in mind that the effect of the" exclusion" rather, most of them-come from one bill, passed in open violation of treaty, county of the Canton province). Over and the unfriendly local legislation of $1000 have been raised toward this ob. the State Legislature and municipal ject. councils, as well as the daily instances of brutal ill·treatment at the hands of One of our members, Mr. Lum Foon, white ·people, tend to alienate the Chi. lately gave up a splendid business in nese, and to make them sullen and bit· San Francisco, and has gone to China ter. Then we are working among a com· at his own expense as a self.supporting munity of young men, of whom only mIsslOnary. He has bought land and one per cent are married or have their erected a fine chapel and school, with wiveR with them. prophets' chamber .for the missionary, all at his own expense. There he We have branches of our mission in preaches the Gospel and teaches a day Oakland, San Jose, and Sacramento, school. He has already been greatly where young men are gathered in for blessed in his labors. Scores have been religious and secular instruction. As converted, and he is known throughout most of the Chinese are anxious to learn the district as "the Jesus man," and the English language, numbers have his premises as " the Jesus house… come to our school to learn to read and write, and have there been brought Liberality.-During the six years I have under religious influences that have left been here our Chinese members and an impress that will never be effaced. scholars who, according to San Fran. Of the 5000 scholars who have passed cisco newspapers, are so base, sordid, through our schools, hundreds who have and unsalvable, have contributed $2650 not had the courage to confeRs Christ to the funds of the missionary society. before men have, in theory at least, ac· Besides this they have come up to their cepted the great doctrines of the Bible, apportionment in benevolences, and and have forever broken with idola· have sent $500 to aid in missionary tr.v. work in China. Every year we average $5 per member for missions. The open.air services, in which other missions take a part, are full of interest Steadfastness.-We have received 78 and encouragement. It was an impres. new members during the last three sive scene last Sabbath afternoon to see years, and only three have fallen away. 400 Chinese gathered around our preach. A Chinaman who becomes a Christian is er, the Rev. Chan Hon Fan, to hear the ostracized by his fellow.clansmen even Gospel on the open street. On the very in San Francisco, and cursed as he goes pavement that arew days before had been along the street. reddened with the blood of murder, and under the rooms of a highbinder society, Open-air services in Chinatown are the crowd stood for an hour while this held every Sunday afternoon. About brave young preacher preached on " Re. 30 or 40 Christian Chinamen sing Gos· sist not evil, but whosoe'fer shall smite pel hymns, and the crowd gathers. We thee on the right cheek, turn to him the have kept up these services with unother also," and openly denounced the abated interest for over five years, and murderous societies that had disgraced last Sabbath I preached in Chinese to a their nation and terrorized over China· congregation on the street numbering town. upward of 500. It is astonishing to see the interest and the respect that is Zeal qf Our Members.-We have a shown us, notwithstanding the brutal church of 123 members, and they have treatment theyl'eceive from street hood· just formed a Native Missionary Society lums. What I have said applies to the to employ native itinerant preachers and Chinese missions of other denomina· physicians in their native country. (All tions. The Congregational Chinese the Chinese in San Francisco – or, Church here supports two or three mis· sionaries and doctors in Kwantung. The Japanese in San Franoisoo, and circulated over 3000 tracts each month. These have been prepared REV. M. C. HABBIS, D.D. here, with special reference to the The Japanese community in this city needs. of their people.
and surrounding towns numbers about Many workers now in Japan were con- 2500. This small colony receives addi· verted here, and many more are being tions by every steamer from Japan. raised up to glorify God in Japan, They began to come about fifteen years Weare without a church home. They ago in very small numbers, but latterly live and work in rented buildings, and at the rate of 100 a month. They are have done so for six years. Now they all young men, except a score or two of are trying to buy a lot and build a women, and mostly students, seeking church.
for something from the West to enrich and beautify the far East, their home The Island World. land. Still there are some merchants and laborers among them. Those who Religion in New Zealand.-Census repush out from home into a new and dis- turns recently issued show that there tant country are usually self·reliant, am- are in New Zealand 1197 churches and bitious, and energetic, much above the chapels, being an increase of 134 in five average. years. Two hundred and forty-one school.houses are used for Sabbath ser- For some time this renewing and vices, and 161 dwellings and public strengthening power was confined chief- buildings. These val'ious edifices have ly to church-members, though many sin_ accommodation for 278,114 persons {or ners were being converted all the time. less. than half the popUlation of the About one year ago, however, the breth- colony), and are actually attended by ren, filled with the new wine of the 197,055, or about a third of the popu- Spirit, went forth to testify among the lation. Presbyterians report 40,785 unsaved. They met with startling suc- church-goers; Episcopalians, 37,252; cess, and rejoiced with unspeakable joy. Roman Catholics, 30,525; Wesleyans, Within the past six months more than 27,106; Salvationists, 14,442. There 400 have been hopefully converted. Of are 450 Jews, 200 Free-Thinkers, and this number 188 have been baptized and 3803 of no denomination at all.-Free received into the Church. But few of Church Monthly. these have been converted in the regu- lar preaching services. In private rooms, in class meetings, in the field at work, Rev. Hiram Bingham is at Spring- in the quiet places, the great transac- field, Mass. He went out to the Gilbert tion was done. It is a personal work. Islands as a missionary on the first Two things, the two great facts of the Morning Star in 1856. He brings home Bible. sin and salvation, have been pre- in manuscript a translation in the na- sented and held up to the Japanese, and tive language of the entire Bible, which pressed upon the conscience and the he intends to carry back in book form.
heart. Conviction of sin, and in most Mr. Bingham's father was also a mis- cases intense suffering, followed by sionary, going out to the Sandwich faith in Christ and rapturous delight, Islands in the brig Thaddeus in 1819_ are the usual characteristics of the ra- The son was born at Honolulu in 1831, Tival. and was graduated from Yale in 1853.
The believers carry forward the work Soon afterward he married Clara M.
with great energy, both in the city and, Brewster, of Northampton, daughter of country. They meet and welcome the the late Jonathan Brewster, whom he comers by every vessel. All the clubs persuaded to accompany him to the Gil- nnd lodging houses are regularly visit- bert Islands.
ed. For months past they have printed Soon after their arrival on the island of Apalang their first child was born monthly mail steamers plying between Il.nd died, for there was no physician Sydney and Fiji. This is a great im- nearer than 1000 miles. While Mrs. provement on the old arrangement. Bingham was ill, one of the most thrill- The Dayspring often took several days ing experiences of his life came. The to do what is now done in a few hours. king rushed into his house one day, and It several times took three days to do seizing his spy-glass, looked over toward forty miles, and what is now accom- Tarawa, the nearest island, whose palm- plished in a night was often formerly tree tops were just visible. He soon accomplished with difficulty in a week. dropped the glass and ran. In a short This change enables the missionaries to time hundreds of warriors rallied about be present at the annual meeting of the house, and about 100 war canoes Synod without being more than a month :filled with hostile Tarawas approached absent from tbeir stations, instead of for battle. The boats seemed to single three or even four, as formerly. It also out the conspicuous cottage, and made enables the missionaries more easily to straight for it, so that Mr. Bingham help one another in times of sickness, fully expected to be in the centre of the or to take a change to another island battle. He barricaded his house and when required. It enables the native prepared for the worst, being especially teachers to move about from island to distressed concerning his sick wife. island, and promises to make the whole But just before they reached land the group of islands much more accessible war oanoes tacked and headed up the to mission work. The little steamer is coast. The army of savages followed a great favorite, and is known among with a yell, and the battle was fought the islanders, like the Dayspring before about five miles away. The Tarawas it, as the missionary or Christian ship. were routed and the Apaiangs victorious, It is also called the sacred ship, as set although the Apaiang king was killed apart for God's work, and sometimes and the prince terribly wounded. The the good ship, as those on board do young man was nursed in the cottage, nothing but good to the natives. and became a firm friend to the missionaries.
Recently a Chinese convert, of San Within fifteen years from the entrance Fra~cisco, who refused to reveal his of the missionaries on Aneityum, New name to Rev. Dr. Masters, handed him a Hebrides, the entire population em- little package, directing him to expend braced Christianity. A similar change the amount in securing a native China· has taken place on several other islands. man to preach the Gospel in China. It The missionary ship has been an im- embraced nearly all of his earthly posportant factor in this work. In 1862 the sessions. The package contained $100 first Dayspring was built, and did good in gold coin. service for about ten years. It was wrecked in Aneityum harbor by a fear- Sm NEWS FROM THE NEW HEBRIDES.- ful hurricane, which visited the islands Mrs. Lawrie, of Aneityum, had a sunin 1872. A second Dayspring having stroke, and her mind has become serio been procured and the money raised, it ously affected. She is quite helpless, continued to serve the mission till 1890, and requires the constant watchfulness when it was found necessary to intro- of her husband. Mr. Lawrie has taken duce steam power. The sailing schooner her to Sydney, where, by medical ad. Dayspring could only visit the islands vice, she has been placed in the con. twice a year, but now a little steamer, valescent ward of the asylum. Truganini, sails every month between The wife of the Rev. T. W. Leggatt, the islands. Its headquarters are of the Victoria Mission, died while tem- Aneityum, and there it meets the porarily insane. A young Englishman, Mr. Sawer, who instance for a writ of habeas corpus by had been only two days married to a a Chinese person seeking to Jive in the lady who went out to become his wife, United States, to whom tbat privilege was killed by cannibals. They shot has been dellied, no bail shall be al. lowed, and such application shall be him through the heart, and murdered heard and determined promptly, with.
and feasted on the bodies of two natives out unnecessary delay, SECTION 6. And it shall be the duty of who were with him. His body was reo all Chinese laborers within the limits of covered and brought to Tungoa by the the United States at the time of the Rev. Mr. Annand. The sympathy and passage of this Act, and who are entitled prayers of friends of the New Hebrides to remain in the United States, to apply Mission will not be lacking to the be. to the Collector of Internal RevE-nue for their respective districts, within one reaved survivors.-Free Church of &01- year after the passage of this Act, for a land Monthly. certificate of residence; and any Chi.
nese laborer within the limits of the United States who'shall neglect, fail, or GOVERNMENT MONEY AND :MISSIONS.- refuse to comply with the provisions of The .1!lcaminer says: "A resolution was this Act, or who, after one year from unanimously passed by the Methodist the passage thereof, shall be found within the jurisdiction of the United Episcopal General Conference that the States without such certificate of resi- Church should hereafter' decline either , dence, shall be deemed and adjudged to make a petition to or to receive from to be unlawfully within the United the national Government any moneys States, and may be arrested by any United States customs officer, Collector for educational work among the Ind. of Internal Revenue or his deputies, ians.' In the arguments for this action, United States Marshal or his deputies, telling appeal was made to the example and taken before a United States Judge, of the Baptists, 'the only evangelical whose duty it shall be to order that he be deported from the United States as denomination in this country,' said Dr. hereinbefore provided, unless he shall J. M. King, ' who have never consented establish clearly to the satisfaction of to take one dollar from the Government said Judge that by reason of accident, for education.' We should, perhaps, sickness, or other unavoidable cause, he better deserve praise for our consistency had been unable to procure his certifiin this respect if we had done as much cate, and to the satisfaction of the Court and by at least one credible white wit.
in the cause of Indian education as our ness, that he was a resident of the Unit.
friends of other communions, but we ed States at the time of the passage of this Act, and if upon the hearing it shall rejoice that the powerful Methodist in- appear that he is so entitled to a certifi.
fluence is henceforth to be thrown in cate, it shall be granted upon his pay· the right scale." ing the cost. Should it appear that said Chinaman had procured a certifi.
The" Chinese Exclusion Bill. cate, which has been lost or destroyed, he shall be detained and judgment sus· The sections of the Chinese Exclusion pended a reasonable time to allow him to procure a duplicate from the officer Bill against which Senator Sherman and granting it, and in such cases the ,cost others most rigorously protested-pro. of said arrest and trial shall be in the tested, we may say, in representation of discretion of the Court. And any Chi.
the judgment of many millions of the nese person other than a Chinese lllbor. er having a right to be and remain in people of our country-we herewith reo the United States desiring such ce;tifi. produce, in the faint hope that after cate as evidence of such right, may ap.
November next the United States Con. ply for and receive the same without gress may be in a better judicial mind charge.
to weigh the arguments and recognize A Chinese clergyman was asked.how the indignation against them. They many clergy he thought there were in are: England, "Perhaps 1500," he said. When he heard that there were 24,000, SECTION 5. That after the passage of "Can you not," he asked, "spare 100,0 this Act, on an application to any Judge for China?" or Court of the United States in the first
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by .Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
THE WORLD AT LARGE. workers, and expend annually not less -11'1:. Ravenstein has published in the than $7,500,000." Prooeedings of the London Geographical It is certainly within bounds to say Society his calculations about the time that the Protestant churches of Ameri.
that it will take to fill the world with ca, Great Britain and Europe are repreall the people it will hold. The pres· sented in their work for other lands by ent population of the globe is supposed 9000 missionaries and more than 50,000 to be about 1,467,000,000 ; and he esti. native workers, and have expended durmates that the maximum of the inhabi. ing the past year about $12,500,000. tal,lts that can be sustained on the en· But this is not all. During the past tire land surface of the earth is 5,994,- half century a considerable proportion 000,000, and that this figure will be of the annual expenditure of these soreached A.D. 2072, or in about 180 years, cieties has been in the form of investat the present ratio of increase, which' ments in churches, schools and colleges, dwelling-houses, printing-presses, bindis eight per cent per decade. eries, manufactur!>d volumes of Scrip- How Muoh and How Little.-Says the In- tures, educational and religious books dependent: "There are to-day in the Unit- -pretty nearly all the machinery and ed States, including Bible, tract, and apparatus of modern aggressive Chrismedical societies, 51 Protestant general tianity. The total of this investment societies or boards, engaged either ex- has never been even estimated, but clusively or partially in the work of for- could it be done it would open our eyes eign missions. There are also 30 wom- as never before to the tremendous force an's boards, which work through the that the churches have put and are putgeneral boards of the denominations ting into the work of foreign missions. they represent; and an uncertain num- ber, not less than 10, probably not more -The cost of the McAl! Mission in than 20, of individual enterprises, in- France last year was $89,563, of which cluding the various faith missions, so- $33,910 came from the United States, called-the Plymouth Brethren, the $37,671 from EnglanJ and Scotland, and Pentecost Bands of the Free Methodist $13,340 from France and other coun. Churches, and the Pioneer Soudan Mis- tries.
sion. These all employ in the field not THE UNITED STATES. far from 3000 missionaries (male and female) and about 11,000 native agents ; -Mr. Moody's Bible Training Insti.
and at home a force of officials, includ- tute is represented on the foreign field ing secretaries and clerks, of which by 24 workers, among the North Ameri.
tl<ere i8 DO published record, but which can Indians by 4. while 19 are engaged cannot fall short of 1000; and they ex- in work in Chicago itself. The foreign pend annually in the whole work an workers are in Africa, India, China, amount not less than $5,000,000. In Japan, Turkey, Persia and South and Great Britain, Germany, France, Scan- Central America. The officers of the dinavia, etc., there are about 130 regu- Institute can locate 37 men and 9 wom- larly organized independent societies, en who are engaged in evangelistic 30 woman's boards, and perhaps 30 in- work; 31 men are engaged in pastoral dividual enterprises. These are repre- work, including many ministers who sented on the field by nearly if not quite came for further study, and 29 men are 6000 missionaries and 40,000 native now in other schools and colleges. City mission work emJ!!loys 9 men and sides other institutions, educational, 10 women; 5 men are engaged in Sun- theological, and industrial. In the day.school missions, 2 men in home Indian work aa:e 76 schools, against 51 missions, 7 women in church visitation, schools three years ago, and 87 churches.
7 men in Young Men's Christian Asso- -The" American Baptist Year-Book," ciation work, 2 women in Young Wom- which is just out, shows II total memen's Christian Association work; 18 bership of 3,269,806, an increase over men and 2 women are teachers, 5 wOmen the last year of 105,579. The number have positions in charitable institu. reported as baptized has risen from tions, and 8 are now wives of minis· 140,058 in 1890 to 160,247 in 1891 ; the ters ; 5 men and 1 woman are singing total contributions were $11,886,558, evangelists. only a slight increase on those for the Fbr the Freedmen.-Beginning in the previous year, which were $11,215,579.
dark days that followed the war, with The endowment of the seven theological 15 pupils, sheltered in the rude bar- seminaries has risen from $2,000,088 to racks bequeathed by the" Freedman's $2,259,346, and the total value of the Bureau," Hampton now houses and property from $2,992,728 to $3,269,723 ; teaches 960 students in a settlement of the college endowments, not including fitting and permanent dormitories, the University of Chicago, have risen school.rooms, and workshops. It has from $6,097,270 to $9,784,526, and the sent out 723 graduates. almost all" of total value of property from $11,074,327 Whom are teaching their own people. to $16,037,133.
At Hampton and III the various off. -The American Baptist Missionary shoots of Hampton 120,000 pupils have Union closed its financial year March been taught. not only the contents of 31st. The total receipts for current books, not only industrial knowledge, work for the year were $569,172.93 as but the elements of manhood and wom- against $472,174.21 for the preceding anhood. And from these 120,000 pu- year. The Society commenced the year pils has been drawn a body of 2000 with II debt of $61,593.94, and has 'made teachers. Its plant has cost $550,000, during the year appropriations which, free from debt, the gift of friends. The with the debt, amount to $635,927.24. school requires an income of $100,000 Thus, notwithstanding the advance of a year. Of this sum $40,000 is annually nearly $100,000 in receipts, the new year assured from regular sourcef'. The re- commences with a debt of $66,754.31. maining $60,000 General Armstrong has raised year after year, from churches, -The Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, District Sunday-schools, and private individ- Secretary of the American Board at uals. From $25,000 to $30,000 of this Chicago, has proposed a plan by which sum is contributed in annual $70 schol- the young people shall take care of the arships, each of which pays the ex- young missionaries. An annual fund penses of one pupil for one year, in the of $25,000 is to be raised in the Chrisacademic department. But more of tian Endeavor Societies and Sunday. these scholarships are needed. The schools in the form of 1000 shares of permanent endowment fund, which is stock at $25 each. The missionaries slowly growing, should be at least supported by it are to be young mis- $500,000, and will have reached the sionaries of three years' service or less, sum of $300.000 at the end of this year. and not otherwise supported.
-The American Missionary Associa- -The Roman Catholic Mission among tion (Congregational) in July of 1890 es- the colored people and the Iudians re- tablished a mission in Alaska. It is ports $361,000 r.eceived during the last situated on Cape Prince of Wales, the five years. There are now 115 colored extreme western point of the North schools. against 98 two years ago, be- American Continent, only 46 miles from East Cape Siberia, about 1000 miles $16,870,000 to unsectarian societies. north of Sitka, some 3000 miles north The amount contributed through soci- of San Francisco, and just south of the eties of the Established Church of Eng. Arctic Circle. The importance of this land was about $46,100,000; through station is seen in the fact that it is the societies of the Establishecl Church of largest Eskimo settlement in Alaska, and Scotland, $3,018,000 ; through Protestant the third largest native settlement of any Non-conformist societies in England and kind. And the school is already much Wales, $32,600,000, and through Presby- the largest in Alaska. For the first terian Nonconformist societies in Scot. school year the total enrolment was land and Ireland, about $13,000,000. 301 ; the average daily attendance for He claims th us that the societies of the the whole nine months, 109; for the two Established Churches of England last five months, 156. and Scotland contributed at least $3,160,000 more than the societies of -The Missionary Society of the all the other Protestant denominations Methodist Episcopal Church has in its of the British Isles put together. From foreign missions the following members his twenty years' study of the subject, and probationers: In heathen lands, he states his belief that of the ~16,870,- 45.745 ; in Protestant lands (in Europe), 000 contributed to joint societies of 41,413 ; in Roman Catholic lands, 5967 ; Churchmen and Nonconformists during in Greek Church lands (Bulgaria), 171 ; the past twenty years, at least $10,000,- a total of 93,296. In 1891 there were 000 was contributed by members of the expended from the regular appropria. Established Church of England. tions for these missions: In heathen lands, $315,627.50; in Protestant lands, – The Church Missionary Society's $93,380.19 ; in Roman Catholic lands, income has exceeded that of the pre- $147,655.83; in Greek Church lands, vious year, but the expenditure is great. $17,539.28 ; a total of $574,202.80. er, so that there will be a deficit of something like $20,000. The total reo -At the annual meeting of the Gen. ceipts have been about $1.157,645, of eral Executive Committee of the Wom· which $807,880 wer", received from aSb,)- an's Foreign Missionary Society of the ciations, $98,165 from special gifts, Methodist Episcopal Church, held in $146,495 from legacies, and $105,105 Kansas City, Mo., receipts were re- from other sources. The expenditure ported of $263,660.69, being an advance or the coming year is estimated at over those of last yeer of $43,330.73. $1,177,700. The estimates for the coming year were announced as $368,000. -The London Missionary Society calls for 4, men more than are at present -'rhe Southern Presbyterian Church available to fill vacancies in the staff in has decid~d to open a mission in Korea, India and China, and for 15 new mis. and two members of the senior class in sionaries, some of them ladies, to com- Union Seminary, Va., have been com- plete the first year's contingent of the missioned to commence it. They will additional 100. The Evangelical' Union sail probably in August. of the Scotland Foreign Misiion Com· mittee calls upon the churches repre. EUROPE. sented by it to ilupply 10 of the required 100 missionaries, aud notes with grati. Great Britain.-Canon Scott Robin. tude that 2 from their number have al· son has estimated that during the last ready been accepted by the Society. twenty years the sum contributed by the British Isles for foreign mission -The Unitad Presbyterians of Scotwork has amounted to $112,790,915. land raised last year, for foreign mis· Of this total about $840,000 was contrib. sions, £41,602, and for home missions, uted to Roman Catholic societies and £17,725. Their foreign work is being carried on in Jamaica, Old Calabar taught. The English Protestants have (West Africa), Rajputana (Central India), 5 schools-1 for boys, 2 for girls, and 2 and Manchuria (Northeast China). It for small children. Then there is II was their mission that suffered most in school for girls, conducted by the Dames the recent riots in Manchuria. Next to de Nazareth, who are Roman Catholic the Moravians, they are said to be the nuns; and, lastly, a school for small most missionary church in the world. children, conducted by the Loonor de St. Joseph. In most of these manual -The British missionary societies training is also a fixed part of the currichave 139 physicians engaged in mission ulum. There are a number of charitaworks, of whom 13 are ladies. ble institutions, such as the Syrian Protestant Orphanage for girls, con- Sweden.-The Swedish Missionary trolled by the Presbyterians; the Aus- Society is actively at work among the trian Hospital, and the Hospital of the Laplanders. They have an orphanage Scotch Mission. at Ange, and 6 mission schools in other parts of Lapland, in which 173 children India.-Says Professor J. R. Seeley: have received instruction. The king " As time passes, it appears that we are granted them 2000 crowns; but during in the hands of a Providence which is the past year their expenses were 1500 greater than all statesmanship; that crowns in excess of their receipts. this fabric so blindly piled up has a chance of becoming a part of the perma- ASIA. nent edifice of civilization, and that the Indian achievement of England, as it is Palestine.-Selah Merrill, United the strangest, may after all turn out to States Oonsul in Jerusalem, says that be the greatest of all her achievements." the effort to colonize the country with Jews has been a signal failure in spite -Some idea of England's grave reof the generous encouragement given by sponsibility in India may be gathered such capitalist:> as the Rothschilds. The from the latest reports of the popula- Jewish immigration is only sufficient to tion of that country and its rapid inmake the number of Jews at Jaffa 2700 ; crease. In 1881 the popUlation was Ramleh, 166; Jerusalem. 25,322 ; 257,000,000 ; in 1891 it was 288,000,000, Hebron, 1200; Nablous, 99; Taba- showing an increase in a single decade reeyeh, 2900; Safed, 6126; Acre, 200 ; almost equal to that of the whole popu- Haifa, 1640, or a total of 40,353. The lation of England and Wales. Of these, agricultural families added to this will 207,000,000 are Hindus, 57,000,000 are make a total of about 42,000-less than Mohammedans, 7,000,000 are Budhalf the number of Jews that live in dhists, while as yet only 2,284,196 can New York City. be spoken of as in any sense Christians. The increase of population in ten years -Nazareth has a population of 7419. is equal to thirteen times the number The Latin Christians have 4 churches of those who" can be spoken of as in or chapels; the Maronites, 1; the Or- any sense Christians." thodox Greeks, 4; the synagogue in which Christ is claimed to have taught The Host oj Hindus.-It is said that so is now in the hands of the United many are the millions, that if all should Greeks; the Protestants have 1 church; take hold of hands the line would reach the Moslems, 5 mosques. Then there three times around the equator; that are 7 cloisters. The Moslems have 1 there are women enough to form a collarge school, recently erected; the Or- umn, sixteen abreast, reaching across thodox Greeks have 3 schools, all taught this continent from New York to San by Russians, and only 1 for girls; the Francisco; such a host, that if each Latins have 2 large schools, in 1 of one should pick up a pinch of dirt and which several European languages are cast it upon the 100,000 Englishmen who rule them, they would be buried the people is fetichism of the lowest under two feet of Indian soil! The grade. The whole of the Congo Valley land contains 25,000,000 widows, with is now freely open to missionary operaall the woe unepeakable that word rep- tions. In this vast region the American resents. Baptists have established 10 stations.
-In the Telugu Baptist Mission, in On Lake Nyassa.-Dr. Lowe reports India, during 1891 there were about the baptism, on September 13th, of 10 8000 baptisms. There are now 60,057 men and boys and 2 women, and on Baptist members in the Telugu Mission September 20th of 17 men and boys.
in 75 churches. On this last Sabbath, 64 communicants, China.-The needs.-Says a mission. including 6 Europeans, sat together at ary : "Turn to your arithmetic and see the Lord's table. From the north end bow long it will take the 1270 missiona- of the lake we learn that Dr. Cross and ries in China to reach the 400,000,000 Mr. Aitken have selected a new station, heathen, if they use the personal meth- which they think will, in the course of od. And really, nearly all the converts years, be one of the finest places in all in China are made in this way. Sup- Africa. It is in the Uwandala country, pose you seek the aid of every Chinese at an altitude of about 6000 feet, well Christian, and then you would not have watered, free from marshes, with plenty a force of 50,000. Let.these 50,000 visit of good clay and rock lime. The letter each one person a day and talk to him speaks of a valley in which there are two hours, and let them labor in this five miles of gardens.
way for 365 days in the year, and only -The Government census of Basuto- 18,250,000 persons would be reached in land shows that the people have in- one year. At this rate, it will require creased one third during the last sixteen more than twenty years for every person years, thus illustrating the great vitality in China to hear the Gospel once. But of the African races. Tlie nnmber of is one hearing sufficient? Go and adult Christians connected with the preach the Gospel to the Chinese, and French stations of the Paris Evangelical you will find that it requires days and Society in that section is 9662, or about weeks of teaching before they really one eleventh of the whole adult popula- know what the nature of the Gospel is. tion. The mission has 13 stations and And the native Christians of China can- 116 places of worship.
not yet be relied upon for this work."
-There are 109 medical missionaries AUSTRALIA.
in China, of whom 38 are women; and of -Societies of Christian Endeavor are these last, 36 are Americans. In all but only at their beginning, but already four of the provinces medical missions number 223, and are rapidly increasbave been established. ing. 'l'hey are divided among the va- -Miss Madden bas travelled 2000 rious sections as follows: about 53 miles on horseback on her mission for societies in South Australia, 6 in Tas- the lepers of Siberia. She has secured mania, 5 in New Zealand, 20 in New $5000 for a hospital. South Wales, 13 in Queensland, 1 in AFRICA. Western Australia, and in Victoria 125, ~ith an aggregate membership of over –The Congo Valley contains 1,300,000 4000 members.
square miles, or one tenth of Africa, -The Roman Catholic mission among and an estimated population of 39,000,- the Dyaks of North Borneo has now 8 000. From above the Livingstone Falls stations with 600 Christians. There are it is easily accessible to commerce and 14 priests, 2 brothers and 9 Franciscan civilization. The religious condition of sisters. The sisters have 2 convents where they instruct the girls and small From the annual review of the progboys. One of the missionaries-the ress of education in India the figures Rev. Thomas Jackson-is if this coun- are highly encouraging as a whole. The try seeking to arouse interest in the public and private institutions for in. mission. struction increased from 134,710 to 138,054, but the increase was wholly in Bntlsh Foreign Missions. By Rev. James public institutions, those under private Johnston, Bolton, England. management having decreased from 40,547 to 38,279. The number of pupils The Niger Mission.-At a meeting has risen from 3,626,390 to 3,682,707, of the Correspondence Committee of the and the scholars who study English are Church Missionary Society on April 5th returned at 353,515. Young India's rethe question of a successor to the late ligions and races are thus represented Bishop Crowther was introduced. Arch- scholastically: Of Hindus, 2,512,916, or deacon Hamilton and the Rev. W. Allan, 68.24 per cent; of Mohammedans, 836,. who went out to Africa last year as a 389, or 22.71 per cent; of Europeans deputation from the Society (to whom and Eurasians, 25,568, or 0.69 per cent; l'eference was made in the March issue of native Christians, 86,314, or 2.34 per of the REVIEW), presented their report. cent ; and of "miscellaneous races and After a long discussion the matter was religions," 221,520, or 6.02 per cent. referred to the General Committee. The Government of India, in speaking Whether an Englishman or a native of the results as "generally satisfac. should be recommended for appoint. tory," regrets that municipal bodies do ment is causing much division of opin- not contribute more liberally to educa.· ion. Some of the members are strong- tional institutions. Possibly when Inly in favor of a black man, and, were dia's "dumb millions" are permitted this desire to prevail, one of the most to have a greater share in moulding the likely of the native clergy to be selected national policy on which their interests would be the Rev. Isaac OIuwole, a essentially depend, a more generous regraduate of Durham University. The sponse will be made in this direction. general feeling appears to favor an English bishop with a native assistant at a Wesleyan Foreign Missions Relater date. port.-With a comparatively small sum annually contributed, the Society was Education in India.-The endeavor sustaining a vast missionary system of the National Indian Association to represented by 338 missionaries, and promote female education in British 2163 paid agents besides-interpreters, India is bearing remarkable fruit. In catechists, day school officers-as well aid to girls' schools, scholarships for as a staff of 4234 unpaid a.gents. The promising students. facilities for the missionary stations number 363, with training of native teachers, and similar 1572 places of worship. The mission advantages, the special movement of church membership was 34,722, with two years ago is commending itself both 5250 on trial, and the number of schol. to native and officiai support. English ars in mission schools, 65,803. In France women graduates are being earnestlyre- and Germany the work, both among the quested to go out to India. Special people of those countries and the Engcongratulations are offered regarding the lish, had been fruitful and cheering. success attending the effort to train Ind- By the action of the governing powers ian widows as teachers in native schools. in Vienna operations there had been The marriage of Indian girls at an early seriously hindered. From Italy good age stops any supply of young unmar- reports came, and in Spain the staff had ried teachers, but the system which cre- been re-enforced. To the Wesleyan solates the difficulty provides the remedy diers stationed at Cairo constant spirin t,he very large body of young widows. itnal ministrations were given. If the crease had reached the remarkable rate Society were to take its place as one of of 250 per cent;" and then he adds, the leading missionary societies of South " The growth of Christianity in India Central Africa, this vast field, reaching has been a solid fact, and sufficiently to the Mashonaland border must reo rapid to give all needful encouragement ceive a far larger share of help than was to the supporters of missions."
at present granted t-: it. The mission- Dr. Harry Guinness.-After a year's ary staff in India needed immediate absence in Africa, in perilous journey. reinforcement. In the Madras district ings to the heart of Congoland, where alone 300 new converts had been re- he was smitt{)n by serious fevers, this ceived during the year; and in the heroic servant of God has safely reached Hyderabad district the number on trial English shores. He reports that in the had risen from 448 to 795 in addition to Upper Congo regions, where he was 482 baptisms. In China there was great often in imminent danger of death at hope )f opening up the province of the hands of the N'Gombe savages, the Hunan, with its 22,000,000 heathen. spiritual work at the Balolo stations, London Missionary Society.-From both in the cataract region and in the all sources the income of this society is depth of the continent throughout Ba.
£11,000 more this year than it was lololand, is making steady and most twelve months ago. The recent self-de- surprising progress. At the Missionary nial contributions amounted to £5375. Training Institute, London, for whose At a meeting of the directors the follow- support and management Dr. Guinness ing were accepted for service in the for- is responsible, there are nearly 150 mis.
eign mission field: Rev. R. J. Ward, St. sionary students, men and women, Helen's; Mr. W. J. Edmonds, Hackney under his care. For the maintenance College; Mr. T. W. Ingram, Cheshunt and equipment of these future missiona- College; Mr. R. C. Porter, Nottingham ries a sum of £300 is needed every week Institute, and Miss Mary Harris. The decision of the first-named gentleman FALLEN STANDARD.BEARERS.
-Mr. Ward-to go abroad has caused Rev. James Calvert.-By the demuch surprise and admiration among cease of this eminent man at Hastings, English Congregationalists. He is one on Mar~h 9th, at the age of seventy. of the most honored and successful of nine, British Wesleyanism has 10Rt a Lancashire ministers, whose career at conspicuous missionary figure. Trained home has always been marked by a spirit at Hoxton College, he was sent out, in of self·sacrificing devotion. A prayerful company with the late John Hunt, to study of the call of the millions in dark- labor in Fiji; and, nobly aided by his ness has constrained him to take up the heroic wife, he toiled for eighteen years cross very literally in order that he may among cannibals. He succeeded in share the joy of reaping on India's winning over King Thakomban to the white fields. Christian faith, whose influence after- Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Ind- ward was a powerful factor in the Chris· ian Mission.-An eloquent testimony tianization of the people. Returning to to the success of this work has just been England for five years, Mr. Calvert borne by Sir Charles Elliott, Lieutenant· superintended the translation of the Governor of Bengal. While the general Scriptures into the Fijian language, and popUlation of India increased from afterward sailed again for Fiji. In 1866 1872-81 by 8 per cent, and Christians he again arrived in England, and in 1872 by 30 per cent, yet he says, .. In the was sent to South Africa, where for Khasia Hills, where a devoted band of eight years he rendered invaluable ser- Welsh missionaries-with whom I am vice throughout the diamond fields and well acquainted-is at work, the in- other parts of the colony. In 1882 he lost his honored partner, who with him· Brooke at rest March 5th-black water had spent nearly thirty years in active fever." His demise adds another to'
mission service abroad. . When in 1885 that swiftly lengthening list of English- the jubilee of missions was celebrated men who have died in attempting to in Fiji, he went out by general request, evangelize Africa. Born twenty-seven visiting Australasia and the South Sea years ago, he was the son of Lieutenant- Islands, and was everywhere received Colonel Brooke, of Redhill. For some with great joy and affection. Since his years he had been passionately interest- final return to England he had been ed in the salvation of the Dark Conti- diligently employed in translation nent, and had tried to enter the Soudan work, in revising the Fijian Bible, and from the Co~go and Morocco before he in various ways aiding the Bible Society joined the staff of the Church Mission- and the cause of foreign missions. ary Society as an honorary member in Rev. Percy E. Comber.-The death 1890. Mr. Brooke had clearly defined of this young and intrepid missionary ideas about missionary methods, and from the terrible African fever termi- the courage to put them into execution. nates a pathetic episode in the story of It was his conviction that by adopting the Congo mission. Surviving his native habits of life and dress he could youthful wife only some twelve months, remove the antipathy of natives to Euro· he himself forms the last of a noble, self- peans, which had done so much to hin- sacrificing family, three brothers, one der the work on the upper waters of the sister, and two wives-six in all-who Niger. He tried his experiment, and 'have found graves, sacred indeed, be- with admitted success. It is said that neath the palms. Such an example of of late French movements had stirred a family's consecration to the claims of Mohammedan feeling to a dangerous missions has probably no parallel in the pitch, and consequently it was feared annals of the history of the Church of that Lokoja, Mr. Brooke's station, might Christ. .Finis coronat opus-the end become untenable for Europeans. Send· crowns the work. ing away the ladies of the party, he himself stayed at his post, and shortly Rev. Joseph J ohnston.-Intelligence afterward died. has been received of the death at Fremantle, Western Australia, of this Mr. J. H. Redman.-News has been worthy in his seventy.eighth year. Mr. received at the Church Missionary Johnston was appointed to Tahiti as a House, London, of the death of this normal schoolmaster, and was one of missionary, another victim to the clithe band of missionaries who sailed in mate of East Africa. Toward the close 1838 for the South Seas with Rev. John of last year he sailed with Bishop Tuck- Williams. In Tahiti Mr. Johnson con· er, and it is presumed that he ~as actinued to labor, with the exception of a companying the bishop up country, as few months, until the close of 1849, and it is stated that he died at SaadanL on resigning his connection with the Monthly Bulletin, society, accepted the pastorate of the church at Fremantle. -The first subscription for mission Mr. Graham Wilmot Brooke.- purposes in modem days was made by Great sorrow will be felt throughout Sir Walter Raleigh in 1589, when he the missionary world that the beloved gave £100 to the merchants to whom he and devoted leader of the mission on resigned the Virginia patent, ., in spethe Upper Niger has been taken" home" cial regard and zeal of planting the by the Lord of all service. The tele- Christian religion in those barbarous gram received from Brass, West Africa, places."
on March 19th, by the Church Mission- -Some one wrote Chaplain McCabe, ary Society, briefly read: "Wilmot asking him to take stock in a silver mine which was to be worked in the interest of duced seven languages to writing, and missions and church extension. His re- have done a large evangelistic work.
ply was as follows: "We have two mines The Dutch Reformed Church mission- already:, which we are working with great aries now work with this mission.
success. One of them is ' self·denial, ' Thirty.six chiefs have each offered to situated in the valley of Humiliation; provide a home and food for as many the other is • consecration,' which is en- European missionaries if they will come tered on the heavenly side of the book and reside with them.
Peniel. These are glorious mines! -Missionaries of the Norwegian Mis- Their riches are inexhaustible. There sionary Society have established a leper is enough in them to bring the world to settlement at Autsirabe, in Madagascar, Christ." containing besides 30 cottages, a chapel -The following, from the pen of Mrs. and a hospital. Ninety-eight lepers are Mary Clement Leavitt, who has trav- now at this asylum. A number of them elled much in mission lands, will be have been baptized, and there is a painful reading to not a few-the last church for lepers only.
sentence in particular: "Not more than India.-Among the recent accessions half the British misRionaries are total to the force of evangelists is Mr. James abstainers. It is a cheering sign, how- Monro, C.B., late Chief Commissioner ever, that nearly all young missionaries of Police in London. Mr. Monro for- from the British Isles have adopted this merly held a high position in the civil principle and practice. There is more service of India, and has always been than one British mission station in especially interested in mission work India, where all gray-haired missiona- there, being a member of the Corre- ries, male and female, are regular, daily sponding Committee of the Church drinkers, and every young one is an Missionary Society at Calcutta for many ardent abstainer. In all my journey I years.
have met with but one total abstaining Moslem ConverI8.-The Church Mismissionary from the continent of Eu- sionary Intelliqencer contains a report of rope, and I have heard of only two the conversion of the number of Moothers. Most, if not all, of the conti- hammedans who some months since nental boards send out wine and beer to were baptized at Poona. Among them their missionaries as openly and as free- was a Maulvi, who was said not to have ly as they do other supplies. " his equal in Poona. He has lived in Africa.-Among the centenary con- Arabia eighteen years, made 16 pil- tributions received by the English Bap- grimages 1;0 Mecca, and was for a time tist Missionary Society was one from the interpreter for the English Consul at native Congo church at San Salvador, Jedda. He has been a great student of amounting to £33 148. 3d. (about $165), the Koran, knows Arabic well, and is an forwarded by the deacons of the church, eloquent speaker. All this gives him with a letter thanking the Society for the great influence ove~ his people. He has Gospel, which has done them so much come to abhor Islam, and rejoices in the good. The subscription list contains the light of the Gospel. He has about him names of 45 native men and women, in Poona, as Maulvi, 200 or 300 disci- whose offerings were all in goods, the ples whom he is seeking to bring to largest being" one pig and one piece of Christ.
cloth." -Four methods of giving are prac- -The Livingstonia Mission, founded tised by the Christians of Ceylon, it is by the Free Church of Scotland in 1875, said : first, the tithes of their earnings ; at Dr. Livingston's request has opened second, the setting apart by each of a up for Christian work a field as large as tree, the produce of which is for benevo- Scotland. The missionaries have re- lent purposes; third, an offering of labor; fourth, a handful of rict! from . -An extraordinary turning from every day's meal. idols on the part of the people of Kale· van is reported by Dr. Mackay, from -Steps were taken last fall for open- Formosa. Nearly 500 idolaters cleared ing a new Burman mission station at their houses of idols in his presence, Miubu on the Irrawaddy. It is the and they also gave the missionary, as a residence of a commissioner and the place of worship, a temple built for centre of political influence for the idols. southern sections of Burma, and is also well stationed for access to a large Bur- Japan.-An orphan asylum is being man population. At a school at Bassein established in Tokio, Japan, by a Chrisa " do without" band has been organ- tian teacher, who devotes to it all his ized, with a membership of 100, who own property. It is designed for girls pledge themselves to do without some- under six years of age, that they may be thing every month. In one month 36 trained for Christian service. rupees were realized and given to religious work. "':"'A missionary writes: "There are many very poor people in Tottori, and -About forty years ago Dr. Bradley, there is very little money among the one of the earlier medical missionaries, Christian people here. In Okayama the went to labor in Siam. •• Have you girls pay 60 sen (a sen is 8 mills) per come here with your little chisel of month for tuition, while here they can Christianity to try and uproot our great only afford 30 sen. The teachers here Buddha?" was sneeringly asked of him receive only 8 yen, while in Okayama soon after his arrival by a priest. they receive 12 yen a month. (One yen is 75 cents.) The officers of the girls' Uhina.-An English Church mission- school came in the other day to see if ary in Ningpo says: .. Never have I we could do anything to help them pay heard a missionary address a heathen off a debt of 67 yen. They had been Chinese audience without the opium falling behind recently, and are much question being brought up. Often and troubled about it. One .of the teachoften have I been interrupted by the ers whose pay was 5 yen per month has sneer, • Who brings the opium?' 'Do taken no pay for the past three months, not mention that name again!' in- though he is poor and needs the money, dignantly cried an old Chinese woman but says the school must live for the -an eager listener in the crowd-to the sake of the Christian work here." preacher from whose lips had just fallen the blessed name of Christ. 'Do not New Guinea.-At a meeting of the namention that name again. I hate tive Christians held at Port Moresby re- Jesus; I will not hear another word. centiy, the collection (which was for You foreigners bring opium in one missions) consisted of $37 in money, hand and Jesus in the other! ' " 320 spears, 65 shell armlets, 92 bows, 170 arrows, besides drums, shell neck- -An important statement carrying laces, feathers, and other orpaments, all an equally important confession is made of which have, of course, a marketable by Commander F. M. Barber, of the value as curios. This, as Canon Scott U. S. Steamer Monocacy, the gunboat Holland said, at the meeting of the Uni. maintained on the Yangtse – Kiang. versities' Mission, in a similar case, .. Fourteen years ago," he says, •• I may well remind us of those three kings thought that China was a country where who knelt to offer gold and frankincense even the continued dripping of the and myrrh; for we believe and know water of Christianity would never wear that these offerings of New Guinea are away the stone of heathenism, but now as valuable in the eyes of God as those it is apparent to my unprejudiced mind rich gifts of the kings. that the stone will ultimately be forced bodily from its bed."
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1892
THE SCOURGE OF AFRICA
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 6.-01d &ries.–JUNE.–VOL. V. No. 6.-NeUI Series.
THE SCOURGE OF AFRICA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, BOLTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Quite recently a contributor to the leading British newspaper endeavored to show that the Arab in Africa was a maligned person, who was far from heing the slave marauder which he had been so often protrayed. Readers of the article would be induced to suppose that the Arab's" hand" in slave dealing was either a thing of the past or much exaggerated. That both of these suppositions are false there is conclusive evidence to demonstrate. It is freely and sorrowfully admitted that the native races in many parts of the Dark Continent prey upon their fellow-Africans, and are frequently as brutal as the Arabs in their deeds of bloodshed. But in nowise can or shall this screen the Arab, the arch slave. hunter in every quarter of Africa; and although slavery is doomed, please God, in this generation, the Arab at the present hour, roused by the encroachments of European explorers and commercial enterprise, is showing' a revival of savage energy throughout Central Africa in the perpetration of atrocious crimes against humanity and a huge sin before God. Let a survey of his tracks be taken.
In North Africa the slave trade shows little diminution. As a base of operations Tripoli has an unenviable name. From that province young Arabs, as of old, make it their ambition to go on the grand tour of twelve hundred miles southward to Kuka, weilt of Lake Tchad, to exchange the products of semi-civilization for ivory, skins, ostrich feathers, and especially slaves. Their caravan either returns along the same route to Murzuk, where the slaves are distributed over the Nol'thwestern States, or an east.. northerly route is chosen via Baghirmi. through Wadai, the rival State to Bornu, Abeschr, Ogila, terminating at Benghazi, in the north, on the Mediterranean coast. Though a British consul is stationed hepe, the slaves are unaware or afraid of exercising their right to claim liberty. This path, said a missionary, lately returned from the mission field of Tripoli, to the writer, may be traced for hundreds of miles by the white, rotting bones of slaves, the victims of thirst and slaughter. Their awful suffering on these forced marches, chained and heavily laden, is hidden entirely from the eye of the civilized world. Turning to the northeast of Africa, there is a comparatively open seaboard, in spite of blockade precautions, between Tajurah Bay and Cape Guardafui, whence a regular debarkation of slaves is in full swing. Emanating from the African coast via Southern Arabia and the Persian Gulf eastward, the Indian papers say that" unabated vigor"
characterizes the slave traffic. Major Talbot has just stated that" many of the Omani boats fly the French flag and carry French papers, under cover of which they are able to practise their trade in slaves with impunity."
The news is welcome that various suggestions are being considered by the residents and goyernors for the purpose of stopping effectually the abomina- ble traffic. .
Within French protectorates in the extreme Western Soudan the slave curse reigns. In a current volume, "Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee,"
recounting exhaustive geographical research, the author, Captain Bin- ger, describes an extensive and fertile country, "often depopulated and devastated by war and slave-raiding." More terrible records of the pursuit and capture of slaves are furnished in another contemporary work, by Dr. Wilhelm Junker. Over an enormous tract of .country, having Meshra-el-Rek on the north and the Wel!e-Makua to the south, peopled by the Niam-Niams, the Mongbuttus, A-Madi, and smaller tribes, native -raids are prevalent, while all the races are preyed upon by the " Arabs," who gained a footing in the country at the time of the now de- funct Egyptian rule. Since the King of the Mongbuttus was assassinated, disorganization and slavery exist over the whole region watercd by the western feeders of the Nile, intensified by Arab sway and the tremendous advancing tide of Mohammedans from North Africa. It is very disap- pointing that Dr. Junker, whose services to geography, and particularly ethnology, are appreciated, should countenance a modified form of slavery, compulsory labor, and the administration of the courbash to promote the development of the African in regard of work and civilization. Possibly familiarity with Russian methods of government or contact with barbarous cruelties has suggested this kind of reformation. Of course other travel- lers advocate what the German paper, the Reichsanzeiger, urges to be in harmony with the" social and domestic conditions" in Africa. Such a procedure will have to reckon with the enlightened conscience of Europe and the United States! Again and agaiu distinguished men have said that in the principal slave provinces free labor never has had a rational trial, be- cause slave customs have prevailed from time immemorial. Humane methods of redeeming the negro are feasible. In some measure this has been shown in the diamond mines of South Africa, in the British West Coast colonies, in the coffee plantations south of Lake Nyassa, on the Shire highlands, and, notably at Blantyre, in the erection of the finest ecclesias- tical edifice between Egypt and the Cape, which the natives have built voluntarily for wages, under the direction of white men. Testimony like- wise to this effect comes from such African experts as Mr. Stanley and Sir Francis de Winton, who assrrt that a settled form of government, based on European principles, can be established, to whieh the natives in thousands, and millions even, will be easily amenable when their respect and confidence have been won by just treatmpnt. Combated by the resources of a benefi- ceut civilization and permeated by Christianity, the horrors of slavery will be most speedily checked and extinguished.
But whatever plan is proposed for slave abolition, it is imperative that the attention of the nations should be fixed on the slaughter roll in the Dark Continent. By the nobly organized African Association at Cologne, revelations of a dreadful character, scarcely paralleled in recent times, were published last December. That the atrocities now disclosed occurred upward of a year ago is a [foof of the backwardness' of civilization in Africa, and the need of communication and opcning np of the country. The shocking details brought to light at Cologne are. copied from the diaries of German missionaries stationed in the vicinity of Lake Tanganyika, the authority of which is fully verified.
When it was learned, on November 19th, 1890, at the German mission station that a notorious slave hunter named Makatubo had arrived with about two thousand slaves at I{irando, two days' journey south of Karema -within the German" sphere of influence"-Father Dromaux left at once to rescue, if possible, some of the prisoners. Nine days later he returned with sixty-one-bought and liberated. Many of their companions had died of hunger at Kirando, and a large number could not long survive. From the ransomed slaves and followers of the expedition the missionary had appalling accounts of the cruelties inflicted and fearful slaughters by the wild hordes of Makatubo in Marunju and Kizabi. The diary states: " When Makatubo set out on his march back he wished to get rid of all those who might have impeded the march; and at Lusuko, therefore, he had a great number of captives-old women and little childrendrowned. The caravan was now to advance with greater haste; but a large number of captives who were completely exhansted formed a fresh hindrance. Massacres, of which one can form no idea in Europe, followed. A Mgwana who belonged to the expedition assured us that daily ten, twenty, thirty, and even fifty were killed. In spite of this, about two thousand captured slaves arrived at Kirando. "
"The last pathetic fact makes it plain," says the London Daily News, in commenting on this shocking' waste of human life, " that the slaves per· ish by blows, by hardship, by starvation, and by the most devilish cruelty in every form;" proving, too, that while thousands reach the slave markets, a greater proportion die on the journey thither from the villages sacked. The British Commissioner in Central Africa, Mr. H. H. J ohnston, observes that" not perhaps a tithe of the captured slaves live to reach the slave market;" corroborated by Dr. J linker, with the remark that for every native captured ten are slain. Humanity in Africa is, indeed, of small value.
These harrowing statements are confirmed in letters from the mission station of Mpala, the missionary adding, respecting Captain Joubert, whose civilizing rule extends three days' journey from the station, that he " sent for fifty of our people to support him in defence of his station against Arabian slave hunters. They caught hundreds of slaves, and have killed a very great number and burned their villages." A fmther confirmation has arrived, of date January 9th, 1891, from Father Josset, of Karema, regard- ing Makatubo's return from his last slaving expedition with" no less than two thousand slaves of every age and sex." He thus continues: " They were chained together in groups of twenty to twenty-five, and looked like living skeletons. As there was a great scarcity of food in Kirando. they were forced to dig up and eat wild roots which wild animals refused to touch. Wasted away by hunger, fever, and dysentery, they were sheltered in huts which afforded no protection whatever against the weather. Father Dromaux told the writer that he had seen prisoners in a roofless hut: while next to it their masters' goats had a roof over their heads. Every morning corpses were dragged out of each hut and thrown to the hyenas. During the long march through Marunju, when a slave was too exhausted to follow the caravan, they killed him with cudgels."
In such grim fashion proceeds the recital of wrongs against a longinjured Africa, and now the question will be asked, and persistently be asked, " Is Germany, in whose' sphere of influence' these infamies are being enacted, allowing them through inadvertence, or is she incapable of stopping them?" For the nations which have given their adhesion to the Treaty of Brussels adequate provision is made both for the prevention of slave marauding and the mterception of slave caravans, and alsu of the strict. examination of these at their inland destinations and on the coast routes.
From this ghastly picture one turns with feelings of intense gratitude to the telegrams forwarded at the end of December, 18!H, and early the month following, announcing that the Commissioner of British Central Africa, Mr. H. H. Johnston, and Captain Maguire, in Nyassaland, have been delivering what appear like final blows to the iniquitous slave traffic in that region. For months and years the letters of Dr. Laws, Dr. Kcrr Cross, Bishop Smythies, Archdeacon Maples, and the ReI'. "'.V. P. Johnson have supplied terrible revelations of the scenes which they witnessed (ast and west of Lake Nyassa, which consequently invests the current news with special interest. The two British offieers and their forces surprised in October last a slave-trading caravan from Lindi buying slaves at Oponda's, on the Upper Shire. As the tradcrs refused to free the slaves the town of Mponda was stormed and captured, one hundred and three slaves released, and Oponda compelled to send the slave-traders out of his country, and to agree to the entire abolition of slavery in his dominions. This success was followed up by activc measures against other slave-dealers, and after severe struggles, in which the assailants had most r~markable escapes, some one hundred and sixty-three slaves were freed, making two hundred and sixtynine free in all. As the raiders in quc~ti()n had come from Kilwa, Kivinge, and Lindi only in July last, and knew of the pruhibition of slavery, they were tried and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Arriving at . Makanjira's, at the eud of October, in chase of a third slave.raiding caravan, their steamer was fired on by the attacked, who vigorously defended their town. After two days' fighting capitulation was made by the chiefs and agreements signed. From this point the expedition sailed to the opposite side of Nyassa, where a number of ~lave·raiding chiefs agreed to abandon slavery and to rekase their newly caught slaves. The chief of the slave- hunting Yaos, of whose doings Livingstone used to write heart-rending let- ters, was made to pay a heavy indemnity. It ought to be mentioned that the Commissioner had valuable co-operation in his movements on the lake from the African Lakes Company's steamer, the Domira, identified with the transit of goods, etc., belonging to the Livingstonia Mission. All this unexpected intelligence of the overthrow of slave strongholds is a sign that a brighter day is dawning at least on the leafy shores of Lake Nyassa, wh~re henceforth freedom's flag will wave.
Toward the extinction of the slave trade, which the English statesman Pitt declared to be "the greatest practical evil that ever afflicted the human race," there are in several directions encouraging indications. Even European powers are more sympathetic, and at length the Brussels Anti- Slavery Convention, for which Lord Vivian, the late British Minister at Brussels, rendered invaluable aid, will shortly eome into operation. Very recently a number of influential English philanthropists had in London a conference with leading natives of West Africa upon. the best means of circulating information respecting the progress of vVest African affairs, and of other parts of Africa, and also the widening of English sympathy with the native races and the protection of their rights.
That a protracted crusade lies before the friends of the negro in Africa is admitted, and were it not that one half of Christendom lacks imagination, the miseries of the slave would not be greatly prolonged. Nevertheless, manifold agencies are in league against this gigantic iniquity; and what was said of Wilberforce, that he had shared in "the most glorious battle that ever was fought by any human being," may become the honor and the crown of the humblest worker in every land prepared to serve on behalf of the complete emancipation of Afric's dusky race.
The Episcopal Church in England has 34 bishops and 24,090 other clergymen; in the United States, 61 bishops and 3800 clergymen; in Ireland, 13 bishops and 1807 other clergymen, and in Canada, 24 bishops and 1300 other clergymen; in Asia, 13 bishops and 713 other clergymen; in Africa, 13 bishops and 350 other clergymen; in Australia, 21 bishops and 269 other clergymen, and in Scotland, 17 bishops and 280 other clergymen; in scattered dioceses 9 bishops and 1:10 clergymen-a grand total of 189 bishops and 32,729 other clergymen. This is certainly a strong array of working force; with increased devotion to Christ, its evangelical power would be vastly multiplied.
'l'HE GREAT CALL OF GOD TO HIS CHURCH
TIlE GREAT CALL OF GOD TO HIS CHURCH.
BY TilE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
We have sought with increasing diligence to find by searching what is God's plan or purpose concerning the Church and the world. Certain we are, at least, of this, that He wills the largest and promptest proclamation of the Gospel, the presence of witnessing believers and a witnessiug Church everywhere, even to the uttermost part of the earth. Beyond this we are sure of nothing sa~ e this, that His Vord will not return to Him void, and that our labor will not be in vain in the L(lrd.
To all believers the Divine cOlllmand is, that they outgrow babyhood, cease to be mere objects of care, and become care-takers j and enter into that Divine plan which takes in the whole Church, the whole world, and the ~hole age. We must be satisfied with the hope that has its anchorage in Scripture promises, do our duty, and leave results with God j undertake a world's evangelization, and not be disheartened if we find that to the end of the age there is only an outgathering of the elect Church, and that, as in the apostolic age, some believe the things which are spoken, and some believe not. The stress of the command of Christ lieR on occupation, evangelization. A loyal servant or soldier simply obeys implicitly orders which are explicitly given. Here are our" marching orders j" and to follow them is to win what is better even than apparent victory-the approval of Him who will say, " WELL DONE, good and faithful servant."
Now, of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: Every saved soul is called to be a herald and a witness j and we are to aim at nothing less than this: to make every nation and every creature in every nation acquainted with the Gospel tidings. This is the first and ever-present duty of the Church j it is the heart of the whole missionary plan. God will give us souls as our hire and crown; large results in conversion of individuals, and the transformation of whole communities will follow, as they always have followed, a godly testimony. But we are not to wait for reBults; we are to regard our duty as never done, while any region beyond is without the Gospel. Let all men have a hearing of the Gospel at least j then when evangelization is world-wide, we may bend our energies to deepening the impression which a first hearing of the Gospel has made. But, again, let it peal out as with a voice of thunder, to be heard wherever there are believers; the first need of the world is to hear the Gospel, and the first duty of the Church is to go everywhere and tell every human being of Christ, the world's Saviour. To stop or linger anywhere, even to repeat the' rejected message, so long as there are souls beyond that have never heard it., is at least unjust to those who are still in absolute darkness. . Instead of creating a few centres of intense light, God would have us scatter the lamps until all darkness is at least relieved, if not removed. And if to any reader it appears that this is emphasizing a distinction that is of little consequence, let such an one stop a moment and consider what would be the result if our Lord's plan were followed. There are, we will say, about forty million members of Protestant churches, and at least eight hundred millions yet in entire ignorance of the Gospel. Let us suppose that the whole Church, under some mighty baptism of fire, should undertake to bear the Gospel message to every living soul at once. If every Protestaut. believer could so be brought into active participation in this work as to be the means of reaching twenty of these souls, now without the Gospel, the work would be done. All cannot go, but all can send. Let us suppose, again, that Protestant churches should sena out one missionary teacher for every four hundred communicants, we should have a missionary force of one hundred thousand; and by distributing this force in the entire field, each teacher would have to reach but eight thousand souls in order to evangelize the world. Allowing twenty years for that work, each laborer wopld have to reach but four hundred of the unevangelized each year.
We must push this work as we never have done; let men call us fools, fanatics, madmen; we can afford to bear it for the sake of doing the will of God. When Judson had buried himself in Burma, and teu years' work . could show but eighteen converts, he was asked, " vVhat of the prospect?" His heroic answer was, "Bright as the promises of God." When John Wesley proposed to go to Georgia as a missionary to the Indians, an unbeliever ridiculed him. "What is this ~ Are you one of the knights errant ~ How, pray, got you this Quixotism into your head 1 You want nothing, have a good provision for life, and a prospect of preferment; and must you leave all this to fight windmills-to convert American savages 1"
vVesley calmly replied: "If the Bible be not true, I am as a very fool and madman as you can conceive j but if the Bible is of God, I am soberminded. For He has declared, ' There is no man who hath left house, or friends, or brethren for the kingdom of God' 8 sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.' , vVith such heroic missionaries as Adoniram Judson and John Wesley we are content to follow our Lord's leading without regard to apparent results. The command is plain: "Go ye also into the vineyard j" and the promise is sufficient: "Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." God is a liberal rewarder, and He always exceeds His own promise. That workman is surest of blessing who does his Lord's work withont the mIsgivings of unbelief or the exactions of a carnal spirit. The path of the missionary is the way to Calvary, but beyond the cross shines the crown.
In a circular from Staunton, Va., "it is proposed to find two million Christians in the Ullited States willing to give one dollar, in advance per month for ten years, prayiug that God will raise up preachers and teachers and physicians to carry His Gospel to the heathen, and gO to bless their labors and o·ur gifts that the native converts shall be able thereafter to carryon the work through their home missions without additional help from foreign lands."
CASUISTRY OF BUDDHISM
CASUISTRY OF BUDDHISM.
BY REV. GEORGE L. MASON, GRANVILLE, O.
[This paper is designed by the author as an important addition to a former article.-EDIToR.] In the article" Buddhism and Romanism," in the September, 1891, number of the REVIEW, Buddhism was said to be without any authorized system of casuistry by which vices are explilined away. But if there is no authorized Rystem of casuistry, certainly the spirit of Jesuitism pervades the moral writings of the Buddhists of Ceylon, as translated by Spence Hardy in his" Manual of Buddhism." In that very keen critique, which every missionary in the far East should read, " Edwin Arnold as Poetizer and as Paganizer," Professor VY. C. Wilkinson quotes at length from Hardy. Many of the evasions and excuses framed by Buddhists for the evil-doer anticipate the very subterfuges planned by Roman Catholic moralists many centuries later. For example: "When a command if' given to take the life of a particular person, and that person is killed. it is murder; but if another person be killed instead, it is not murder." This sounus quite like Liguori, the highe~t ethical authority of Romanism, who maintains that" he who kills A, meaning to kill B, is not bound to make com· pensation, because the homicide is casual and inadvertent as regards B ;" and that if a man intends to burn the house of an enemy and by mistake hums that of a friend, the incendiarism is a very light offence. When time, place, method, and various circumstances must all be just as the evildoer intended or else his act is not a crime, there will be plenty of loopholes through which the Buddhist or Romanist criminal may disappear.
Says Professor "Vilkinson : "Christian morality at least does not confuse itself, defeat itself, first with absurd exaggerations and then with absurd extennations of rEquirement, or perhaps with subtle qualifying clauses. " But this is the Buddhist method. Among four things neces· sary to constitnte a lie, " there must be the discovery by the person deceived that what has been told him i~ not true. " That is to say, it is not a lie unless you are found out! Authorized Romau Catholic teachers make similar terms for the expert liar. When a crime is " altogether hidden"-that is, known only to the criminal and one witness-the witness is not merely permitted, but is actually bound to say that the accused did not commit it (Liguori, Theologia Moralis, iv. 152 sq.). This low ethical aim-not to prevent sin, but to prevent its discovery-appears also in the discussion of theft. If one stealfl fifty dollars at one time it is " a grave sin,' '. for it might be discovered; but if at many different times one steals small sums, amounting to fifty dollars in all, each single theft is " a light sin" (Theo. logia MoraIis, iv. 54).
The more one studies Buddhism and Romanism, the more he sees the mongrel character of each system, each containing many elements in common, whose origin can be fairly traced only to the father of lies.
AFRICAN THEOLOGY
AFRICAN THEOLOGY; OR, THE ZULU'S CREED, AS SEEN IN HIS FOLK-LORE.
IIY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
If any new encouragement or incentive to mission work among the Zulus were needed, it would seem it should be found in their earnest yet futile study for all the ages to find the light without the Bible. Their religious speculations, theories, notions, erroneous and absurd as they often arc, indicate thoughtful minds and an eager desire to solve the many physical, providential. and spiritual problems with which, like other heathen, they have ever been solemnly confronted.
The Zulus constitute a large element in the Bantu raee, a race that is only just now beginning to be known in its fulness and importance. It extends from the Orange River to about the fifth degree of north latitude, and numbers about fifty millions of people. The language spoken hy this widely extended Afriean family is virtually one, though among the different tribes there is much dialectic variety. Doubtless the best, most perfect representative of the family in respect to speech is the Zulu; and the same seems to be true also of their folk-lore, of which till late little or nothing has been known. In the extended specimens of this language, which the writer gathered some years ago from the lips of their more intelligent men, as they had no books from which to prepare a Zulu grammar, were included many of the myths, legends, fairy tales, and songs of this people. Similar collections were afterward made by Dr. Callaway, to whom the writer is here glad to acknowledge much indebtedness for aid in these studies. The number of what may be called Zulu legends and fairy tales seems almost without limit. Like other people in the midst of their development, the Zulus have ever been greatly delighted with excursions into the realms of myth and fancy. To them all things in nature are peopled with spirits of one kind or another. Wizards and witches, giants and dwarfs, are found everywhere. Their mythical stories, legends, traditions concerning the origin of men and things, their notions concerning the cause and cure of evil, the reason why men die, their ideas concerning the spirit land, or the realm to which the departed have gone, their objects and modes of worship-all testify to the vigor of their imagination and the earnestness of their bewildered efforts to solve the mysteries of life.
From some of their traditions we learn how their ancestors believed that not the dry land of earth alone, but the waters also, and the heavens above, are the abode of manlike inhabitants; while other traditions tell how their friends and all who have departed this life are occupying a subterranean region, and still engaged in cares and labors not unlike those they had here on earth. A mere outline of one story on this point is that, once on a time, Umkachana rose in the morning, he and his dogs, to go a-hunting. Presently they started a buck, which the dogs drove till it went and entered a cavern. Then in went the dogs and he too. On and on he went till he came to where the underground people dwelt, and there met with some of his old friends; but they charged him to return and go home. So he returned and reported to his friends at home where he had been and what he had seen. And now hIS friends at home, who had been wondering where he had gone, asked him: "Is it really so, that you saw men like us there in the underground region?" And he said, " Yes," and went on to give the names of some of them, and told how they had sent him back.
In another legend we have the story of another visit to thosc who dwell below, more minute and extended, which begiw'l with telling how a man started out one morning, in the dew, to follow the trail of a porcupine that had wasted his garden. Being much excited, angry because of the los8 he had suffered, when he came to the hole into which the porcupine had entered, he rushed in, saying, "I will go till I find it and kill it." Weapons in hand, yet without his dog, on and on he wcnt. At first it was dark; but when his eyes had got used to it he could see very well. At length he came to a pool, which he passed with some difficulty by the edge, and went on. When night came he lay down and slept till morning, then woke and went on, never doubting that if he persevered he would succeed and be satisfied. At length he came to a river, which he crossed, and continued his journey till, fiually, he saw it began to grow light in front. Presently he began to hear dogs baying and children crying. Passing on, he came to a village, and saw smoke rising, and said: "Hau! what place is this? I must have come to a settlement." Whereupon he returned, walking backward, returning upon his path, and saying: "Let me not go to these people, for I do not know them; perhaps they will kill me." So he fled, and went, day and night, recrossing the river and the pool he had crossed on his way inward, till finally he came out of the hole he had at first entered. And now he is greatly astonished to find that all things at the place where he has been are like to those here above-mountains, precipices, rivers and all. On going home, his appearance was an occasion of great surprise. His wife smote her hands together and cried. His neighbors rushed in and wondered, and again they shouted the funeral dirge. The woman said, " I have buried your kilt, pillow, dishes-everything that belonged to you save your mat and your blanket, and these I have burned, supposing you were dead." So he told them how he had been on a long journey to the" Abapansi," subterraneans, or those who dwell below-what he saw there, and why he came back.
These fanciful imaginings of the untutored Zulus remind us of the more studied productions of Virgil and Dante. They may not be so poetic or classical, but for a natural, truthful correspondence with their surroundings, mode of life, or mental and moral condition, it is not easy to see wherein the fonner would suffer in being compared with the latter. Dr. Callaway's suggestion is at least plausible, if not probable, that here, in these and other Zulu tales of a like character, we find the relics of an old belief, clothed after a new fashion-a belief having a common origin, probably, with that which, in other countries whose inhabitants have been in different circumstances and had a different development, has formed the basis of morc exact theologies or of such fanciful tales as the Arabian Nights' "Jullanar of tne Sea," Fouque's "Undine," or Longfellow's " Song of Hiawatha."
The folk-lore of the Zulus, their myths and legends respecting the source or orgin of men, animals, and other earthly objects, are numerous and original, and yet in some cases not wholly unlike what we find in other lands and races. Ask them in respect to the origin of man, as in the question, " Who made man? Whence came the race?" and the sum of their llsual answer is, " They burst from a reed," or, as some render it, " They broke off from a reed," as a shoot from a stem, or a bulb from a parent bulb. Bursting iuto life in this way, as the story goes, the first human pair, Unkulunkulu (the great·great one) and Umvelinquangi (the first comer), walked along the fields, fell in with grain, ate it, multiplied, and peopled the earth. Another legend makes U nkulunkulu himself the first man and great author of all. Having himself broken off or sprung into being, as the story goes, he broke off the rest. "He it was that made the first people, the ancients of long ago. These begat others, and these others, and these others. And so it is that we have heard about the origin of men, generations, and nations. It was our ancestors who told us." Still another legend, or another form of the foregoing, is that men sprung originally from a rock, which U nkulunkulu split, and they came out. In this we are reminded of the simile which the prophet used in his address to the Jews: ". Look to the rock whence ye are hewn . . . look unto Abraham your father."
As to the difference in color, an old man said: " When I was a little child, I heard from the old men of my boyhood that there were at first two mothers, one of whom gave birth to a white man, the other to a black. But how or where this happened we of to-day have no knowledge. When we were children, we, the offspring of the men of old, we were not like those of the present time, who worry themselves with finding out knowledge. For our parts, we used not to que~tion a great man; when he told us a tale we used just to listen. We now see how and why we ought to have inquired, but did not because of our great simplicity and respect for age. "
Onc of their legends would seem to have had its origin in some shadowy idea of the scriptural account of the first and second Adam. The sum of it is that there were two U nkulunkulus, one from beneath, the other from above. He from above came in a fog, and wa'l altogether white. When the people saw him they were afraid; but he said: " Why do ye fear, since I too am a man?" They say cattle were slaughtered for him at the place of llis advent j but he did not eat of these j he ate only of that whieh he brought with him. After a long stay on earth he disappeared in another fog, and they saw him no more.
Some of their legends give the order in which men, animals, and all things came into being. They say, " We black men had the same origin as you white. All came from out of the earth-we, the blacks, first. and after that the whites. But we did not bring much with us-only a few cattle, a little corn, spears, picks, fire to cook with, potter's clay, and just wisdom enough to help ourselves when we are hungry, and to know the time of digging, so as not to die of famine. And yet we thought we had all things, were wise, and that there was nothing which we did not know. But when the white men made their appearance wearing fine clothes, able to perform wonders, driving big teams, and bringing with them every kind of goods in great abundance, we saw how verily we black people came forth without a single thing, utterly destitute because wc came firbt and in a hurry, while the white people waited for all things, and delayed that they might sc~ape out the last bit of wisdom. And then as to the order in which men and things made their first appearance, we used to hear it said by our fathers, they too having heard it from others, that the first to come into being was a man, next a woman, then a cow, then a dog, then all the little animals, then elephant~-all in pairs-then corn." This part of the untutored African's story reminds us of some of Milton's words: " The earth obeyed, and straight, Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limbed and full grown."
And so the sacred Scriptures, where we are told that God said: "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so." Nor is it otherwise than natural. and in a sense correct" to refer the origin of all things secondarily to the earth; since from this it is that the elements of the material organism of all living things are derived."
In our day we hear not a little about the development of one species from another, as of man from the ape; but the Znlus have a legend which makes the transmutation go the other way, so that man is not an elevated ape, bnt the ape a degenerated man. The story is, that the chieftain of a certain idle tribe, too lazy to grow their own food, told his people to pack: up, take their picks and all, and follow him far away into the wilderness. So they took their effects-picks, pick-handles, and other things-binding these handles, withal, upon their backs. And so it was that in some way -we know not just how-these handles became caudal appendages; hair made its appearance on their bodies ; their foreheads became overhangiug ; and so they became apes, went to the precipices, and had their abode among the rocks. A Mussulman legend is to the same effect. It says that on one of Soliman's trips from Jerusalem to Mareb he passed through a valley inhabited by apes which dressed and lived like men, at which he was greatly astonished. But upon inquiring as to their orlgm and their many points of likeness to men, he was told that they were descended from men, being the remnant of a Jewish community which, notwithstanding all admonition, continued to break the Sabbath until Allah cursed them and turned them into apes.
Another Zulu legend hints, like the former, at the folly of idleness, by explaining how it came about that the monkey has such a long tail, while the rabbit has almost none at all. "Long ago," as the story goes, " a certain king sent for all the animals to come and receive their tails. Now the day on which t.hese were to be distributed being cloudy and wet, the rabbit, not liking to go out in the rain, called to the monkey as he was passing by, and said, 'See here, my good neighbor; when you get your tail, will you please ask for mine and bring it to me ?' The monkey said he would; but on his way home he managed to join the rabbit's tail to his own, saying, ' If he is too lazy to go himself for what he wants, I shall not encourage his idleness by waiting on him; he may go without his tail.' So the monkey has a long tail, and the rabbit scarcely any at all." Hence the common saying among the Zulus: "Remember the rabbit; and if you want anything done, and done well, do it yourself; and not trust to others. "
Having noticed several Zulu legends concerning the origin of man, we close with one concerning his end, or why he dies. The sum of it is that "Unknlnnkulu sent a chameleon, saying, 'Go and say, "Let not men die.'" The chameleon went, went slowly, loitered by the way, and stopped to eat the fruit of the Ukwebezanc, a kind of mulberry. Then at length the Great Being sent the quick-running lizard, saying, 'Go and say, "Let men die.'" So the lizard ran; and when he had arrived he said, 'I have to come to say, " Let men die.'" Then the chameleon came and said, ' I have come to say, " Let not men die.'" But to this the people said, ' Oh, we have already received the lizard's word, by which it is settled that men must die! '" This tradition would seem to have had its origin in the scriptural account, to which Milton refers when he sings: " Of man's first disobedience and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
And so it is that both of the above-named animals are looked upon by the Zulus much as the serpent is by manyin Christian lands. Both are hated, hunted, and often killed; both are charged with having been the cause of men's dying-the one from having been so slow, the other from having been so quick.
But no complete idea of the Zulu's creed can be had without a brief notiee of the object and mode of his worship. In his way the Zulu is one of the most religious of all people. lIe has, naturally, a broad, deep. religious susceptibility. The Great-great One, as we have seen, is his Maker, the Author of the race to which he belongs j but the object of his worship, the divinity that has power over his destiny, is the shades of the dead-the amahlozi, or amatonga, the departed spirits of his kindred and of the great ones of his race. For a Bible, a prophet, and a priest he goes to the inyanga, a fellow-man well versed in Delphic art. He admits that he is a sinner, believes in prayer and in the need of an atoning sacrifice j that" without the shedding of blood there can be no remission."
When som ecalamity, as sickness, comes upon him, he goes or !Sends a deputation with a cow or other present to the inyanga, to Jearn the cause and cure of his sufferings. After much inquiring of the shades, he it! told that they are offended at his neglect j it is long since he has made an offering of any animal to them j and now, if he will recover, he must slaughter that best cow of his for them. He accepts the answer, admits his negligence, says his prayers, brings out his spear and cow, gives her a stab in the side, and if she shows signs of distress, he says, "Yes, that is good j just what an animal for the gods ought to show j let hcr cry and drive away the evil." He then sprinkles the blood and gall upon his per- son and premises, puts the beef away in a hut by itself, and in the morn- ing professes to believe that the divinities have been there, had a taste of the blood and beef, and been satisfied. And now his hungry neighbors gather at his kraal, bring out the beef, roast and consume it, pronounce the sacrifice a good one, and express the hope that the sick man may soon be well and out again. If so, that priest is praised j if not, he is denounced and called a fraud j and the sick man, resorting to another, goes through the same process again, and perhaps yet again, till finally either health or death ensues.
Another somewhat noted article in the Zulu's creed-the last we name -is his belief that departed spirits sometimes come back and appear to men for a time on earth, especially to their kindred and friends, in the garb of a snake. Hence it is that rept.iles of this kind arc always looked upon with a kind of sacred awe, and never in any way harmed, lest some great calamity befall· those who maltreat them. When questioned on these points, and especially as to whether they really worship the snake, the Zulu says: "No j what we believe is, that we are mortal; that between us and the spirits of the departed -the amatonga-there is a broad chasm j and that the arnatonga are of two kinds-some good, some evil. Those of our families which have an interest in our welfare are able to take on the appearance of a snake, and by that means not only form a link between us and the world of spirits, but in this guise of a snake they are permitted to watch over us. We do not believe in the snake as a snake, but in the amatonga, the spirit or spirits which the snake represents."
From these few specimens of the Zulus' folk-lore stories, and a comparison of these with the like stories of other races and nations, we are impressed, for one thing, with the manncr in wbich they help to show the common brothE)rbood of men. We see this in the common faith of all in
THE J.AST OF THE COMBERS
some superior power or .livinity, to which all are subject, and on which all are dependent. ,Ve see this common brotherhood in the general interest which all take in the great problems of life, such as the origin and end of man, the cause and cure of evil, and in the general belief which all have in another life.
These folk-lore stories help also to show the great value of the light which the Bible throws upon all these problems, and, indeed, upon every question that we really need to have solved for us in the present state. We see, too, what cause we have for gratitude that our lot has fallen to us under the hallowed teachings and influence of the Gospel of Christ, and what obligation we are nnder to help extend a knowledge of these great blessings to those who grope and suffer for the want of them.
THE LAST OF THE COMBERS.
SIX LIVES SACRIFICED.
The death of Rev. Percy E. Comber from the terrible African fever terminates a pathetic episode in the history of the Congo Mission. Three brothers, one sister, and two wives-six in all-bearing a name ever to be honored and revered, have now found a grave beneath the palms. We question whether a similar example of family devotion to the missionary enterprise ean be found in the entire annals of the Christian Church. In the beginning of the year 1878 Thomas, the eldest brother, left Cameroons with Mr. Grenfell for the preliminary expedition to San Sahador. these two being the first Protestant missionaries to enter the Congo country. The following year, after a home visit, Thomas Comber returned with his hride, but the happy companionship was to last hut three brief months. Sidney, the doctor, who had distinguished himself at Edinburgh University, and from whose medical attainments helpful service was anticipated, was the next to fall. Referring to his brother's death, Thomas wrote: "Twenty years ago our dear mother, after eommitting us all to the care of our Heavenly Father, was called away home. One after another we have all given ourselves to mission work in Africa. My brother Sidney and I were on the Congo, my sistrr in Victoria, and Percy, my youngest brother, is preparing at Rrgent's Park College for the same work."
In 1886 the sister Carrie died on the West Coast; the next year Thomas himself, and now Percy has passed away, surviving his young wife only some twelve months. Very touching are the few words written in haste by one of the missionaries, teIling how he was ,mgaged in placing the memorial stone sent by loving friends from the home country over the wife's grave on the very day the widowed missionary had rejoined her.- The Christian.
WILLIAM CAREY
WILLIAM CAREY, THE MISSIONARY ORGANIZER, PREACHER, AND TEACHER.-PART II.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LT".D., F.R.G.S., EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
The same hand of God, in history, which guided Columbus to America, when he set ont for India, led William Carey to India, when he had desired to go to Tahiti. So, three qnarters of a century later, David Livingstone determined to be a medical missionary to the Chinese, but God kept him for Africa. The" fulness of the times" came in India, as in Great Britain, America, and France, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. 'Vhen Carey was mastering seven languages, as he sat on his cobbler's stall at Hackleton and Moulton or among his flowers and birds opposite his chapel in Harvey Lane, Leicester, the surgeon of an East Indiaman, John Thomas, was rudely trying to convert the natives of Calcutta and Bengal. He had no scholarship. and little common· sense, but he yearned for the souls of men, and in his three voyages he had learned the local facts. Filled with these, he met Fuller, Ryland, and Sutcliff-the three to whom, as the executive of his own Baptist Missionary Society, Carey had offered himself. He met Carey also, when they embraced each other with tears of joy, and Bengal was chosen as the scene of the mission. Carey and Thomas went forth, two together, one an ordained and tho other a medical missionary, with their families and £150 a year between them, to win to' Christ the Hindus and Mohammedans, first of a province in which they now number seventy-five millions, then of all Northern, Central, and ·Western India, and then of the half of Asia from the Gulf of Persia to the YcHow Sea of China. While we thank God for Carey's faith and love, which the delays of twelve years had only intensified, let us not blame the thirteen ministers who, at Kettering, subscribed £13 28. 6d. wherewith this mighty enterprise was begun. * As with a few loaves and fishes the Son of Man fed the multitudes of Ilis day again and again in the wilderness, so the Risen Lord and Reigning King multiplied the first mites then cast into His treasury, till before he died Carey saw them grow to £400,000 a year. And now, after a century, we reckon them at £2,500,000 a year, and count that all too small. Carey's minimum for" every person" was lOs. 6d. a year, which these poor strn1!gling ministers more than doubled at starting; and if every communicant of the Evangelical churches had given even the minimum in the last hundred years, there would not be • This is the ever memorable list: £ 8. d. £ 8. d. Samuel Pearce, Binningbam. . .. .•…. 1 1 0 John Ryland, Northamptot:. ………. . 2 2 0 Thomas Blundell, Arnsby… …..• …. 0 10 6 William Heighton, Road…………. 010 6 Reynold Hogg, Thrapstone ………… . 2 2 0 John Eyres, Braybrook……. … …… 0 10 6 J oBeph Timms, Kettering………….. 1 1 0 Jobn Sutcliff, Olr.ey………………. . 1 1 0 A Contributor, name not recorded Andrew Fuller, Kettering 110 (Carey?)…. …………… …….. 0 10 6 Abraham Greenwood, Oakham …….. . 1 1 0 Edward Sharman, Cottesbrook…….. . 1 1 0 Josbua Burton, Foxton……….•….. 010 6 a thousand million of human beings alive who know not Christ. It was the poor of Christ's flock who sent forth the first English speaking mis- sionaries, and who have supported their succcssors all through the century. It is still the comparatively poor who deny themselves to raise every year the two and a half millions sterling administered by the missionary churches and societies.
William Carey was thirty-three years of age when, on November lOth, 1793, he landed at Calcutta, and began there the forty-one years of his mis- sionary career. After months of poverty and hardship causing misery Lo his wife, which soon affected her reason, yet himself ever working for his Master among the natives, Carey found himself nominally an indigo-plantcr in the service of the godly Bengal civilian of MaIda, Mr. George Ddny, on £250 a year. No apprenticeship could have been better than the seven years which he spent among the Hindus of the district now known as Dinajpore. He had been ejected from the East India Company's ship in which his first passage had been taken, and had reached Calcutta unobserved in a Danish vessel. As a missionary he would not have been allowed to land, or, having landed, he would have been deported as some of his successors were. As a planter, daily doing missionary work, he was not interfered with, while he not only supported himself at no cost to his society, which he urged to send missionaries to Africa with the old salaries of Thomas and himself, but he gave more than half his income to extend his own mialiian. The self-supporting system was that on which the only evangelical missionary agency then known-that of the Moravian Brethren -was conducted; and Carey and his colleagues so carried it out till they died that they personally gave £90,000 to their mission. Carey's first congregation were the ninety Bengalees and Eurasians whom he employed, and for whose children, as well as those of the otber peasantry, he opened schools. Hi" first convert was the Eurasian trader, Fernandez, who at once a built chapel next his own house, and who acted as a missionary at Dinaj- pore till he died, four years before Carey. The firRt letters of Carey and Thomas were not received by Andrew Fuller, the Secretary, till the end of July, 1'794, and they were little more than a modest record of toil at the languages, of conversations with the natives, of hardships from the climate, and of the hypocrisy of the one Bengalee whom Thomas llad previously attached to himself as a catechuman and interpreter, Ram Bose. But Carey's faith and sacrifice lighted up the whole evangelical world of Great I3ritain- Anglican, Nonconformist., and Presbyterian-when Fuller published No. I. of his Periodical Accounts relative to the Baptist MisRionary Society, following Franke's Pietist example of 1710. Charles Grant, John Newton, and the Clapham men in London, and Charles Simeon in Camhridge, were delighted and resolved to renew their former attempt, which in a few years resulted in the establishment of the Church Missionary Society. Rylaud, in Bristol, called friends like Dr. Bogue to rejoice with him and spread Carey's letters before the Lord, so that the London Missionary Society sprang into being. In the far north Dr. Erskine and Greville Ewing founded the Scottish Mis- sionary Society; and the Haldanes, selling all they had in the beautiful estate of Airthrey, laid £35,000 at the Lord's feet. Every true Christian in the land was moved as successive numbers of the Periodical Accounts appeared, till in the two Quarterlies Sydney Smith scoffed and Southey rebuked him, while even the doubting churches began to deluge Parlia- ment with petitions, which ended in the comparative toleration of the East India Company's charter of 1813.
Carey's own society was not idle, for Fuller and Ryland were its execu- tive who had vowed, by prayer and toil, to hold the ropes while he worked below in the gold m~ne of the unconverted souls of the millions of Southern Asia. Before the' eighteenth century closed four colleagues and their families were sent out to him; but going as missionaries, they could not then sail in a British ship or lan~ on the East India Company's territory without the license or passport refused them. Again the hand of God ap- peared guiding the infant mission. At the very time when Carey's position in the Company's territory was becoming so intolerable that he seriously proposed to cross the Himalayan frontier into Bhootan, Charles Grant, a director and twice chairman of the Company, advised the four to seek the protection of the Danish flag, at Serampore, fourteen miles up the Hoogly from Calcutta. They shipped in an American vessel, the Oriterion, of which a Presbyterian elder of Philadelphia, Captain Wickes, was captain ; he sent them off in boats just before entering the port of Calcutta, and they landed without difficulty at Serampore on the" Lord's day, October 13th, 1799." Next day they were welcomed by Mr. Forsyth, of the new London Missionary Society, who afterward settled at Chinsurah, higher up the river. Next Lord's day the Danish Governor, with his fltaff, worshipped at their first service. Denmalk ever after protected them, and has not ceased to be proud of its trust up to the present Sovereign, although, in 1845, Serampore became British by purchase. Under a Danish passport, Ward, whom Carey himself had chosen when a printer and editor at Derby, went off to Diuajpore to persuade him ~o share the security of such a centre. January lOth, 1800, found the five, afterward joined by Thomas occasionally, united in loving fellowship and toil in what has been called the Canterbury of Asia. America and Denmark combined to save the infant mission from the persecution of the trading monopoly of the East India Company until, in 1813, and finally in 1833, the Christian opinion of Great Britain compelled the directors, by Act of Parliament, to learn full toleration. America thus really provided an asylum for its own sons and daughters when, having in its turn become missionary, it sent forth Adonirllm Judson and his companions, and Carey helped them to found the great Baptist Mission in Burma, and the noble missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Bombay.
Whcn Carey transferred his India mission to the unique and beautiful centre of Serampore he was in the perfection of his life and powers of every kind. Forty years of age; seasoned to the climate; master of the great Hindu languages of East and West, Bengali and Marathi, and having the key of Sanskrit from which they spring; knowing and loving the people of every class, especially the peasantry, artisans, and Brahmans; familiar with their intellectual and economic condition, their resources and agricultural wants; in command of the printing press and all its appliances; having translated the New Testament and written .ernaeular works; above all, yearning for the salvation of every man the more he knew the misery and the ignorance of all, William Carey stands before us at the opening of the Nineteenth Century the greatest-and is he not still the greatest 1-of the thousands whom Evangelical Christendom has sent to the conquest of the world. Of his colleagues we have mentioned the gentle, the accom. plished, the practical 'Yard, of whom we shall see more when we come to the translation of the Scriptures. The other was Dr. Joshua Marshman, of Bristol, who took with him the first' great woman missionary-before Anne Judson, of Burma, and Isabella Vilson, of Bombay, long after-the devoted Hannah Marshman.
For the six missionaries and their families Fuller had promised £360 a year; but Carey had not been with them more than eight days when they took the first steps to form a brotherhood, by adopting" a set of rules for the government of the family." On the early death of three of them, and as the others made the common fund not only self-supporting, but the means of planting new missions, their Agreement took the form of 1805, spiritual and administrative, under which, in loving unity, they sought to win Asia for Christ. Of their eleven" great principles, " this was the first: " It is absolutely necessary that we set an infinite value on immortal souls ;" and this the tenth: " That we be constant in prayer and the cultivation of personal religion, to fit us for the discharge of these laborious and unutterably important labors. Let us often look at Brainerd, in the woods of America, pouring out his very soul before God for the perishing heathen. without whose salvation nothing could make him happy." In the eleventh we again trace Carey's experience and language: "No private family ever enjoyed a greater portion of happiness than we have done since we resolved to have all things in common. If we are enabled to persevere. we may hope that multitudes of converted souls will have reason t<;> bless God to all eternity for sending His Gospel into this country."
Krishna Pal was the first of these" multitudes," ascertained by the India census of February, 1891, to be 2,284,000, or above two millions, if we confine ourselves to natives, besides the millions of reo deemed Asiatics who have joined the multitude which no man can number. He was an intelligent adult only a few years younger than Carey; a carpenter who read one of Carey's tracts as he lay with a dislocated arm; an inquirer whom Thomas healed, and who came, the first fruit of Bible and medical missions, to Jesus. He became a missionary to his countrymen in Calcutta and Assam, and a writer of such hymns as that whirh, in its English version, many besides those who use the Baptist Hymnal are singing this year with peculiar fervor: " 0 thou, my sonl, forget no more The Friend who all thy misery bore: Lilt every idol be forgot; But Oh, my soul, forget Rim not !"
Krishna Pal's baptism, along with one of Carey's sons, in the broad Hoogly River, beside the mission housl1, on the last Sabbath of 1800, in presence of the Danish Governor and his native subjects, was to the long- waiting and often disappointed missionary of eight years' standing an event " of great joy. I had the happiness to desecrate the Gunga (Ganges) by baptizing the first Hindu. . . , I addressed the people in Bengali, having sung a Bengali translation of the hymn' Jesus, and shall it ever be ?' and engaging in prayer after the address, I administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper." Converts followed slowly at first, and then faster from all castes and clasRes-from Brahmans as well as Mohammedar:s j from Eura- ~ians and Europeans j from English soldiers and their officers. Sir Henry Havelock was one of the last class. Calcutta city and its neighborhood became quite as much the scene of his missionary labors as Danish Serampore, for in the mOllt intolerant times Carey, as profe~sor in Lord V~I lesley's College of Fort William, was to the authorities a persona grata, and as the years went on active opposition ceased. Like every wise missionary since St. Paul, and unlike many ignorant critics of missions even in the present day, Carey followed every method, if by any means he might win men and women and their children to Christ: But his twiu methods of evangelizing the Natives and Eurasians were those of teaching and preaching. From the first he and Marshman opened schools-Bengali and English. From the first he and all his coadjutors, English and Bengali, preached Christ in season and ont of season in tl18 country languages. Dr. and Mrs. Marshman's schools for Eurasian children were the finest in the East, and most profitable to the mission. Carey's College, paid for out of his earnings as professor ehiefly, is still the noblest educational building in India since he and Marshman erected it, in 1818. He nel'er depreciated educational evangelizing based on grantsin-aid from the State, which he was the first to take, and he encouraged young Alexander Duff to follow the same method in happier cjrcumstance~ in the metropolis of Calcutta. Would that the successors of Andrew Fuller and John Ryland had been Christian statesmen like them and the immortal three of the Serampore Brotherhood!
For on Fuller's death, 800n followed by Ryland's, Carey'8 Society, in spite of Robert Hall, John Fo~ter, CLristopher Anderson, and the best of the Baptists, led by RylHlld's inexperienced snecessor as secretary, were guilty of so acting that the brothelhood were deprived of their own personal
1892.J THE DECENNIAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE
property, and in their last years the old heroes were wounded to death. There is no one who does not bewa"a the conduct of Dr. Marshman's assailants now. Alas! it is written in history forever, and it has not been atoned for, else would the great college, made over to the Society by Dr. Marshman's distinguished son and successor, not now be neglected. Writing in 1827 of. the "unceasing calumny" of sixteen years, for action of which Andrew Fuller approved almost with his dying breath, Carey and his colleagues of that time dedared: "We confidently appeal from the decision of the present age to the judgment of posterity." Sixty years afterward I republished that appeal, and have found Carey's confidence justified. All the more because this year is a centennial period of thanksgiving is it right to ask the Church and the world to ratify the verdict. 1< THE DECENNIAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
(1) Place.-The next Decennial Conference will be in Bombay. The daily sessions will be held in Wilson College Hall. A larger hall will be engaged for public meetings in the evenings.
(2) Time.-The Conference will open on the Wednesday following Christmas, DecemLer 28th. 1892, and will occupy a full week, possibly more. (3) Plan.-This Conference will convene on much the same lines as those of Allahabad and Calcutta, and all missionary workers and helpers will be regarded as members. There will be no " Ladies' Day" as such, but men and women will be accorded equal privileges, and be expected to participate freely in the discussion. (4) Papers.-In order to save time for discussion the papers will be printed beforehand. and not read to the meeting. Each writer will be requested to furnish at least 300 copies of his paper for distribution among members II day or two before his topic is taken up. (5) Topics.-Many topics have been sent in by onr friends in India and at home. These have been chosen for the programme, which wili be given to the public after the names of writers and speakers and otber details h'lve been settled-viz., 'Vork for the Depressed Classes and the Masses; Missionary Comity; The Religious Education of the Young; How can our ~liBsionary Schools he Made more Effective as Evangelizing Agencies ? Work among English-Speaking Indians; Special Evangelistic Work for Women; The Native Church in India; The Christian Press; Attitude of Mis,ionaries toward Reform Movements-e.g., The Sabbath, Temperance, The Congre~R, Marriage and Divorce, The Social Evil: Miscellaneous Topics-e.g., 'Vork for Lepers, Statistics in Misgionary Wark, Tbe Relation of Missionary Societies to tbe Management of the Work in the Field, The Relation betwc(m European and Indian Christians, The Influence of the J eSllit Movement on Protestant Missions, Horne Evangelists in India. and 'Vork for our own Countrymen.
* See the principal fnete "nd documents of the Dyer Controversy in the" Life of William Carey D.D., Shoemaker and :lli,,!o!1aI'Y" (2d ed, London, .John Murray, 1887), in which the late Charles H. Spnrgeon wrote. "The He.a."porc mistake is wisely treatecl"
THE ORIGIN OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA
THE ORIGIN OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, O.
From the founding of the first European settlements in the New World somewhat of zeal for the evangelization of the heathen has always existed, and Protestant efforts looking to that end date from the very beginnings of New England. Concern for the spiritual well-being of the aborigines manifested itself in various ways. Appropriations of money were made by the civil authorities, and urgent appeals for financial aid were sent back to the mother country. But much more, labors abundant and truly apostolic were beRtowed by Eliot and by the Mayhews through five successive generations, and were continued in the century following by such as Sargent and Edwards. A school was opened at Lebanon, Conn., for the education of Indians and missionaries, where Orcum, a Mohican, was trained for the ministry, and Kirkland, who for forty years devoted himself to unwearied toil for the Oneidas. As early as 1643 the Gospel was carried in their own tongue to the Mohawks in the vicinity of Schenectady by ministers of the Reformed (Dutch) Church j many were converted, and for their use the liturgy and portions of the Scriptures were translated. In 1741 the Scottish Society for the Propagation of the Gospel established a Board of Correspondence in New York, and sent Horton as missionary to the Indians of Long Island j David Brainerd to the Forks of the Delaware, aud, after his death, his brother John to the same region. The latter was supported almost entirely by American Presbyterians. But, on account of a strange succession of serious hindrance8, no lasting results were secured; and finally, after the close of the Revolution, these efforts almost entirely ceased, At the beginning of the present century the idea of world.-wide missions, the evangelization of the entire race, had not begun to dawn upon the consciousness of American Christians. Though for sixty years the Moravians had been bearing the glad tidings to distant lands j though Schwartz, Ziegenbalg, Carey, and Vanderkemp had been preaching Christ in pagan India and Africa; and though already in Great Britain three missionary societies had heen formed, stillDn this side of the Atlantic, even among the most earnest-hearted, the only heathen who llad any c'aims upon them were the aborigines at their own doors. To not a soul came overwhelming conviction and longing. Hitherto the best efforts had been unsystematic, sporadic, and transient. There had been no attempt at corning together in combination and co-operation to fashion some comprehensive and far-reaching scheme to carry the light far and wide through the lands of darkness. The first signs of something better to come appeared as the result of the call of the Scottish Christians, in 1746, for monthly, public, united prayer for the universal spread of the Gospel. vVhen Brainerd died, his last message to his Indians contained an injunction to observe this day. The Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was organized in 1802 "to promote the knowledge of evangelical truth in new settlements of the United States, or further, if circumstances should render it proper j" and, two years later, the Massachusetts (Congregational) Missionary Sociely changed its constitution so as·to read: "Among people of newly settled and remote parts, among the Indians, and through more distant regions as circumstances invite and ability admits."
The fact is patent that missions in America were an outgrowth almost direct from missions in Britain, though of course at the same time various causative forces, mighty, though less visible, were operating throughout Christendom, so that William Carey was the father of the former as well as of the latter, In spite of the violent sundering which had recently taken place between the colonies and the mother country, the relations still existing were most intimate, especially upon the intellectual and religious side. Great movements starting across the sea were quickly known and deeply felt here also. When, consequently, in 1792, the Baptists launched forth for their sublime endeavor, and when, soon after, Carey sailed for India, the New World also was looking on with wonder and admiration. In particular, the Baptists of this land were eager watchers. Dr. Staughton, later a pastor in Philadelphia, heard Carey's famous Nottingham sermon; like all the others, was stirred to the depths j into the collection which followed cast II half gainea, borrowed for the purpose, and" rejoiced more over it than over any other sum he ever gave in his life." Letters and missionary reports sent by English Baptists were circulated quite extensively. Since Carey, with all his stalwart faith in God, was also a staunch believer in the grace of vigorous works, and was a most indefatigable letter writer, information and exhortation were poured forth in all directions from his pen. Thus communications not a few reached New England and the Middle States, were read with interest, and, as a result, considerable sums of money were forwarded to Calcutta. In 1806-7 he acknowledges the receipt of $6000, and says: "The Lord has wonderfully Rtirred the whole religious world of every denomination to favor our work and contribute to a large amount j and our American friends have special claims on our gratitude in this respect." And, further, in 18ll, through the action of the Boston Baptist Associati:'n, $4650 were contributed by persons of different denominations in Eastern Massachusetts, to aid in carrying forward his numerous translations of the Scriptures into Asiatic languages. Rence the assertion is abundantly justified that" We are indebted to those pioneers for the example which gave a powerful impulse to missions by arousing the interest and embodying the efforts of all denominations. "
But an impulse vastly greater was imparted three years later when the London Mi8sionary Society leaped suddenly forth into vigorous life. Says Rev. Kiah Bayley: "In 1797 Rev. Alexander MeLean, of Bristol, Me., received from Scotland the sermons of Dr. Haweis and others preached at the organization, was charmed by reading them, and loaned the pamphlet to me. I took it to Newburyport, where it was soon reprinted and read with avidity by various others, and among them by the Rev. Samuel Worcester, who thus caught the sacred flame. And so was started the rill which led to the river." In 1796 a society was formed in New York, in which Presbyterians, Baptists, and Dutch Reformed were united, and monthly meetings were held to pray that" the God of grace would pour out His Spirit on His Church and send the Gospel to all nations." By 1807 five societies had been organized in Massachusetts to propagate Christianity, and similar ones in all the New England States, with some also in the Middle States. During the first five years of the century these periodicals were established, and combined to diffuse miRsionary intelligence from the Old World: the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, the :Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine, the Panoplist, and the (Presbyterian) Religious Intelligencer. In 1804 the Massachusetts Society chose the President of the London Society an honorary trustee. It was during this same period that Melville Horne's" Letters on Missions" and Claudius Buchanan's ., Star in the East" were published, and produced an impression widespread and profound. In addition, the churches began to be moved hy missionary discourses as never before. Upon the General Assembly in 1806 Dr. Griffin" urged the claims of the heathen and the greatness and excellence of missionary work with an eloquence and earnestness seldom, if ever, surpassed." The next year, Parish, before the Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, dwelt upon " the growing conviction of the value of Christianity; and so it was a good time to send missionaries to every nation." In 1808 the General Assembly appointed a day of fasting and prayer to beseech" God to bless the efforts of His people to Christianize the heathen and to extend the Gospel." The same year, in Cambridge, Holmes hailed the approaching day when idols would be cast to the moles and bats, and all false faiths be superseded by the glorious Gospel of God. Only a few days before the American Board was organized, at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Society, Norton had boldness sufficient to inquire: "Is the expectation visionary and unfounded that the time is not far distant when from the United States missionaries win go forth to every region of the globe, accompanied with the fervent prayers of thousands 1" Finally, as early as 1R06 Norris. of Salem, had given $10,000 to found Andover Seminary, and declared, " My object is the foreign mission enterprise, for we must have ministers if we would have missionaries."
These Were some of the preliminary and preparatory steps, and such were some of the more significant ~igns of the times. Hitherto zeal has been only general and indefinite, destitute of specifi0 object and aim; but now we cOllle upon desires and convictions burning in the bosoms of godly and heroic men, which cannot at all be c(lnt~ined within the realm of thought and emotion, but must Jeap fOlth and incarnate themselves in action. "With such feelings and utterances among the elders it is not strange that from among the young men some should catch the spirit and propose actually to engage in missions." At this point., in the person of Samuel J. Mills, there begins to come into very prominent view one who without doubt may be properly termed the American counterpart of Will- iam Carey. If there were need of proving this affirmation, it wonld be sufficient to set forth the distinguished and essential part he played not only in the formation of the American Board, the Cornwall School, and the mission to the Sandwich Islands, but also of the United Foreign niis- sionary Society, the American Bible Society, the American Colonization Society, and the school in New York for the education of Africans. Like the Hebrew Samnel, from his birth Mills had been lent to the Lord-not to serve in the tabernacle, but to offer living and life-long sacrifices in pagan lands. 'Vhen a child he "accidentally" heard his mother mention to a neighbor this fact of his consecration, and he never forgot it, but was inspired and impelled thereby to his dying day. She often also told him stories of Eliot, Braincrd, and others. Converted in 1802, at the age of nineteen, his controlling purpose was already so clear and so strong that. he could say to his father: "I cannot conceive of any course of life in which to pass my days that would prove so pleasant as to go and communicate the Gospel of salvation to the poor heathen." And even then his longing was to be a mi~sionary, not to the Indians at home, but in some foreign land.
Entering Williams College in 1806, his heart was too mu~h aflame with another passion to allow him to excel in his studies. Soon a few familiar spirits like Richards and Hall were found or fashioned, and at once they began to pray and plan. There is no time to dwell upon the memorable meeting under the haystack, or the secret society with its solemn pledge binding to the foreign work, or their careful canvass of prudent and efficient ways and means for furthering the momentous project they had so fervently at heart. The object of the organization was " to effect in the person of its members a mission to the heathen," and the constitution was drawn up in cipher, " public opinion being opposed to us," and" lest we ~hould be thought rashly imprudent, and so should injure the cause we wish to promote." They made the acquaintance of various clergymen of influence, and opened a correspondence with others. They secured the publication and distribution of various sermons and other works on missionary subjects. They visited several colleges, or wrote thither to kindle the holy flame in the breasts of other young men. Here, surely, was fonnd a remarkable combination of fervent zeal and knowledge of men and affairs. Yet with all their boundless ardor, anything approaching dangerously near to fanaticism would be hard to find. The spirit which lifted them up and bore them onward may be discerned in the reply of Hall, when, later, he was urged to take a pastorate: "No, I must not settle in any pariFh in Christendom. Others will be left who;e hellli h or pre-engagements require them to stay j but I can sleep on the gronnd and endure hunger and hardship. God calls me to the heathen. Woe to me if I preach not the Gos- pel to the heathen."
In 1809 the scene shifts to Andover, the doors of the theological semi- nary having opened for the reception of students only the year before j and the little band from Williams was re-enforced by Nott and Newell, and a few months later by Judson, coming each one from a different college, and each also having arrived independently at the dominant conviction. Judson had read Bnchanan's "Star in the East," and "the evidences of Divine power manifested in the progress of the Gospel in India fell like a spark into the tinder of his soul." "I could not Mtudy j I depicted to myself the romantic scenes of missionary life j I was in a great excitement." A· few months sufficed to bring him to the fixed purpose to devote his life to a mISSIOnary career. And though several with whom he counselled thought the idea was irrational, he would not change his determination, but wrote to the London SOCiety, and so began to move before he knew of any other who was like. minded. The meetings of these young men to strengthen one another in their planning to extend the dominion of their dear LOld has been likened to that striking scene in the chapel at Mont Martre, where, nearly three hundred years before, the seven founders of the Society of . Jesns mct to exchange their vows. Though wholly of one desire and pur- pose, they were as yet also wholly without knowledge as to who would authorize them to go and send them forth, as well as to what particular portion of the wide world they should direct their efforts. Consulting the faculty, and their designs finding favor, a conference with several clergy- men was arranged for June 25th, 1810 j they were advised to petition the General Association to move in the matter, and that body was to meet the next. day. The petition was duly prepared and presented, signed origi- nally by the entire six j but lest the large number should strike some through with terror, two names were taken off. The petition set forth that their " minds had long been impressed with the duty and importance of person- ally attempting a mission to the heathen," and inquired if they could ex- pect "patronage and support from a society in this country, or if they must commit themselves to the direction of a European society." And it was as the direct result of such urgency of appeal on the part of this con- secrated company that the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions came into being, the first of the kind on thi!;l side of the Atlantic, wh08e aim was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Thus, in 1810, American missions were born.
It is affirmed that at this date not less than eighteen or twenty persons had been seriously considering the perRonal claims upon them of mission- ary work, and, of course, more or less of interest had been excited in the minds of many. Bnt even now only a few ministers-and of laymen fewer still-had attained to the fill ness of faith and zeal. The Prudential Committee were thoroughly persuaded that a considerable timo must elapse before they could sUR[ain a mission on a pt'omising scale in any land. One of their number, a Bosion merchant, was oppo~ed to sending out any men unless a fund of at least $60,000 was in reserve for use in case of inadequate receipts; and a fruitless effort was made to raise a large sum for investment, while but one was venturesome enough to insist that ihey should go forward ju~t as soou as an eligible fidd was found, fund or no fund, holding that the Lord's hand was iu the matter, and that the way would be opened if they bestirred themselves. Meanwhile, the young men were counselled to pursue their studies and wait in patience. Recourse was had to the London Society to see if the candidates could not be sent out by the two bodies in co-operation, and Judson was sent to England to con· fer. Fortunately, however, nothing came of that timid project; and so all concerned were compelled to trust to God and their own exertions. And, verily, those wele the days of small things. At the end of the first year the receipts had reached but $099.52, and when the next year was well advanced the treasury contained only $1200. So, with a minimum of sight for a fOllndation upou which faith might stand and plume itself for flight into the unseen, it. is not strange that there was great hesitation abuut making the tremendous venture. But now, without warning, the supreme test of faith was thrust upon them. Word was brought from Philadelphia th'lt in a few days a vessel would sail from that city, in which missiunaries might take passage for India, an opportunity not likely to occur again for a period indefinitely long. Then, a little later, came intelligence that about the same time from Salem another ship would set fOlth for the same region. With this golden opportunity, and with four men ready and waiting, most eager and urgent to be sent, what should be done 7 To add to the sore perplexity, behold a fifth petitioner appears in the per· son of Rice, asking to be ordained and dispatched with the others. The courage of the Committee rose grandly to the height of the great occasion, and they determined to go forward. They stipulated, however, that Rice should himself secure the wherewith for his outfit and passage, and suggested that the four wives would better remain behind for a season to save the extra expense, and further intimated that if the worst came, a portion of the number, or even all, might be trangferred to the London Society. Nor did the outcome fail superabundantly to justify this act of faith. A call was issued to the churches for money, and arrangements were made for the ordination services. Fortunately, too, the day of sailing was postponed for a fortnight. Now enthusiasm began to rise. So Illany hearts wele opened, and so great was the eagerness to gin>, that by the end of three weeks more than $6000 wele in hand, Philadelphia alone contributing more than $1000. Thus it became posRible for wives and all to depart, with salaries paid for a year and a half in advance! On February 19th, 1812, Judson alld Newrll sailed from Salem, and on the 22d, Hall, Rice, and Nott from Philadelphia. In J nne following war was declared against Great Britain, :md for yean! communication with the East was practically closed.
The in~truction!l drawn up in haste for the guidance of thlse pioneer American missionaries, though, on the whole, surprisingly wise, both in what they contained and in what they omitted, have yd some passages which read strangely in the light of what experience has since taught. Thus they were enjoined to adopt as soon as possible" some plan of polity or social order," a sort of family or communistic arrangement such as Carey had contrived. And, still further, "to lighten expenses, apply yourselves to the most eligible ways and means of support, agreeable to the example of the English missionaries, and even of the apostles." But a few years were sufficient to demomtrate that neither of those ideas could profitably be reduced to practice. In those primeval days, as well as for more than a generation later, the conviction was prevalent that to send women to countries heathen and savage was of more than doubtful propriety ; for not only was thc matter of dElicacy, modesty, and even the greatest danger of gross ill-treatment involved, but, since they could not help, they would provc a serious encumbrance! But, somehow, it has happened that the weaker sex to this day has continued to get itself commissioned of God and of men to proclaim in darkest and vilest lands the Glad Tidings.
Ever since the organization of the Board, the two burning questions had been concerning finances and the location of the missions. During the early conferences of the student originators" sometimes we would cut a path through the moral wilderness of the West to the Pacific and sometimes to South America, the object always being the salvation of the heathen." The London Society suggested the Indian tribes and IIindustan. For long months the committee watched eagerly for the 'rising and moving of the pillar of fire. In 18ll they reported that" scarcely sny portion of the world is more important and inviting than Burmah," and that" Providence points to Canada and the Caghnawaga tribe ;" the latter, since they know of a pious native who longs to carry the Gospel to his people, and is getting an education for the purpose. India was looked upon with favor because of the presence there of the English missionaries, though Burmah seemed to be a more desirable fielil, being outside of the East India Company's domain.
When, in November of 1812, the actual beginning of a mission was heralded by the sailing of the first five men for Asia, this is the language employed: "The magnitude of the event, if estimated by the probable consequences, is such as to form an era in the history of the American churches, though the immeiliate consequences may be such as to dii'appoint" -words profoundly wise and prophetic as well. Up to this point the work had been but that of putting the hand to the plough, and now weTe to follow long and weary years of toilsome seed-sowing and anxious waiting for the harve~t. Jnst ahead were in store struggles again~t ub,tncles numerous, multiform, and well-nigh insuperable. The fir6t message wInch came from the migsionaries was to the ('ffect that they, arridng at Calcutta, . had been ordered to leave the conntry at once; and the next, even more crushing, that two of them had withdrawn from the Board and gone over to the Baptists. As was natural, the surprise and con8ternation which fol- lowed this revolution in sentiment was not unmingled with indignation, though, on the whole, the humiliating set-back was borne with commend- able resignation and forbearance. These words appeared in the next annual report: "The committee has no disposition to impeach the sincerity of these men, but they regret that the subject was not examined before so late a day. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. We repose our hopes on this in spite of the instability which we lament to record, bllt against which no human foresight could provide. Let it rouse a holy zeal; and should it be overruled and bring an accession of strength, it will be a joyful event."
In noting the most impressive series of providences which followed, it will be profitablc to transfer ourselves to the foreign field. After a voyage of five months Judson and Newell had arrived at Calcutta June 17th, 1812. At once a command was served npon them to return to America in the ship which brought them, nor would the Caravan be permitted to sail without them. Later it was concluded that they might depart to any region not within thc Company's jurisaiction. Presently information was received which "decisively deterred" them from attempting to enter Burmah; and as no door, either open or likely to open, appeared in that direction, their eyes were turned westward toward Bombay and Africa. On August 4th Newell and his wife took passage for the Isle of France in a vessel which could carry but two, leaving the Judsons to follow as soon as possible. And, behold, only four days later the Harmony arrived, bringing Hall, Nott, and Rice. They too were bidden to be off at the soonest. A passport was therefore procured by the two former from the police, passage was engaged, and their belongings were put on board, when the order came to go to England in the fleet about to sail; but, notwithstanding. they went on board by stealth and made their escape. Judson had already been baptized in Serampore, and Rice had followed him a few weeks later. Meanwhile, the Newells were enduring wave upon wave of trouble and sorrow. For a month they were beaten up and down in the Bay of Bengal. Mrs. Newell being very sick of a fever; and then in distress the ship put in at Coringa and lay for a fortnight. It was November before they reached the Isle of France, and on the last day or that month Mrs. Newell died; and, as the event proved, thus accomplishing far more for the cause for which she exultingly laid down her life than she could have done by the longest term of most devoted service.
After a voyage of eleven weeks, on February 11th, 1813, Hall and Nott landed in Bombay. But knowledge of their movements had preceded them thither, and they were met wit.h a commillid to depart forthwith for England. Appealing to Governor Nepean, fortun~tely a man large-hearted, and thoroughly Christian, he promised to do the best possible for them, and wrote privately to Calcutta in their behalf. 'rhey began at once to study the language. Just now came the news of the war between Great Britain and the United States, and, as was not 8trange, the missionaries became objects of political suspicion. In August they learned that their names were down on a list as passengers in a vessel which was to have sailed at once, but on account of a leak was delayed. In September they asked permi1'sion to depart for Ceylon, where Newell now was; but consent was withheld. A few weeks later, learning that a ship was to start in a few hours for Cochin and go thence to Ceylon, they went on board, leaving Mrs. Nott behind, and a letter for the Governor, explaining why they had left without authority from him. Delayed at Cochin, letters arrived ordering them to be returned to Bombay. On December 22d they must sail for England. As a final effort, a most solemn memorial was addressed to Sir Evan Nepean as a man and a Christian. But preparations were made for departure, goods were packed and labelled, coolies and boats were engaged. As a last step the captain applied for the passage-money at the pay-office, but it was refused; and not long after came a message granting permission to remain in the city. Newell soon joined them, after ten months in Cey- Ion; and at once the foundations began to be laid of the first American foreign mission.
At the annual meeting of the Board, held in Salem, September 20th, 1815, in the sixth annual report, this is the language chosen to set forth most fittingly both the achievements hitherto made and the current situation : "The last two reports had recitations of the pilgrimages and adventures, perils and deliverances, discouragements and consolations of our missionaries in the East, seeking a door of entrance, but obstructed, disappointed, and in continual anxiety and suspense. But thus have been showed the faith and patience, the firmness and prudence, the fortitude and devotedness of the brethren, and proofs, affecting and animating, of the wisdom and goodness, the faithfulness and mercy, the almighty protection and overruling providence of God. This report has less striking narrative and affecting incident, and because they have found an open door and a resting place, though even now they have scarcely commenced their public labors." The glad announcement was also made that, after three years of war, peace had returned.
During all this protracted period of sore trial, so well had the faith and patience of the saints at home endured, that now, a brighter clay having dawned, the way was open for an enlargement of the work. Five men,' who had long been waiting for the opportunity, were now dispatchedsome to Bombay, to re-enforce the mission there, and the others to Ceylon, to break ground for a second station. The year after, various hindrances, which had hitherto prevented, having been removed, a mission was started among the Indians of Northern Georgia. It is in the annual report of 1817 that for the first time ~everal distinct fields could be named. It informs us that $2200 had been sent to Bombay with which to open schools, and that a house of worship was much needed in that city. In Ceylon the Government had granted the use of certain old Roman Catholic churches, with their manses and glebes. Among the Cherokees, Mr. Kingsbury found much encouragement. Also a mission school had been founded at Cornwall, Conn. And this significant item appeared: "The late glorious events at the Society I..lands-particularly at Otaheite and Eimeo-make our hearts burn with desire to witness the same triumphs of the cross at Owyhee and vVoahu [Hawaii and Oahn]. From all accounts this field is white for the harvest."
In 1819 details are given concerning no less than seven missions- Bombay, Ceylon, Palestine, among the Cherokees, the Choctaws, the Indians of Arkansas, and in the Sandwich Islands. "The first only six years ago was struggling for a place and even for existence, the last just ready to embark, and in all extending from east to west more than two thirds around the globe. " In the North Paeific the way had been strangely prepared by the advent into this country of Obookiah, his quasi-adoption by Mills, his conversion and education with other Hawaiian youths at Corn- wall, and their letters sent home telling of the Christian faith; and per- haps even more, by the news carried by sailors that the idols had been cast out in Ot!lheite, as well as by the return of certain Hawaiians after their conversion in the Society Islands. It was a great event in the history of the American Board when, in 1819, Bingham and Thurston and twenty others-by far the largest missionary family that had yet been gathered and sent forth at one time-set sail in the brig Thaddeus, bound for the Antipodes, to tell to the perishing the Gospel story.
Little came directly from the projected mission to Palestine, from whieh so much was fondly anticipated, and about which so much of enthusiasm and fine religious sentiment had gathered; though indirectly and more remotely it led to the opening of the Board's most important work among the Oriental churches in the Turkish Empire. Tl~e Committee wrote: " Western Asia is an interesting region, and has powerful claims upon us. We owe to the Jews a great debt, and they are to obtain mercy. A disposition manifested lately and extensively, and recent successes among them, are indications not to be disregarded. Our minds and hearts have long been drawn toward Palestine in particular, and we determined to send a mission thither as soon as preparations could be made. So Parsons and Fisk were chosen and sent upon an extensive tour among the churches as missionaries to Jerusalem, whereby a wide and lively interest was excited, and a distinguished liberality of contributions was the result." As one says: "The vision arose of a reconquered holy city and an ingathering of the chosen people. They were to go to Zion, view her battlements, and from her towers get views of the land soon to be possessed for the Son 1"
In 1820, after ten years of most careful planning and most arduous toil, this is the summing up of tangible results. The cost in money had reached $200,000. From $1000, the receipts of the first year, the annual gifts rose to $12,266 in 1814 ; fell to $9494 the year after, on account of the war, and then climbed steadily to $37.521 in 1819. At the end of the first decade 110 missionaries in all had been appointed, of whom 62 were men; and of the 88 still in serl'ice or on the way to their fields, 28 were men ordained. Of the entire force 44 were laboring among the Indians, 25 were in the East, 17 in the Sandwich Islands, and 2 in Western Asia. As to fruit-gathering, even yet the report is: ' , We cannot reckon up much of tangible results." The ten years follOWing were devoted almost wholly to the development of fields already occupied rather than to the founding of additional missions.
Thus far we have been dwelling upon the early designs and doings of the American Board and the New England Congregationalists. In fact, for a number of years the bulk, both of money and men, was derived from the children of the Pilgrims. Williams College, Andover Seminary, and Massachusetts General Association were called of Providence to playa most prominent part in arousing and organizing the forces which laid the foundations and began to rear the superstructure of American missions. It was from accident rather than design-was the result of circumstances-that of the first eight commissioners chosen, five were from Massachusetts, and the others were from Connecticut. But no setting forth of the origin and growth of missions in the United States would be at all complete which did not make mention of the hearty sympathy and generous co-operation of various other denominations, and as well of other missionary societies, to which, directly or indirectly, the work of the Board gave rise. We have already seen what liberal contributions were bestowed by the Philadelphia Presbyterians when the first men were sent out in 1812. The same year the General Assembly was invited by the secretary to form a similar society to co-operate with the Board; but that body, in reply, expressed the conviction that foreign missions would be best served by a single organization, and added that their" churches rejoiced in the American Board and would sustain it to the best of their ability." For a generation that pledge was well kept. In order to secure increased 'denominational comprehensiveness, at the second annual meeting an addition of thirteen commissioners was made to the corporation, of whom eight were Presbyterians. In 1832, out of sixty-two corporate members, thirty-one were Presbyterians, twenty-four were Congregationalists, six were Dutch Reformed, and one was Associate Reformed. while the missionaries were chosen in about the same proportion. The German Reformed also assisted with their gifts.
But special mention must be made of a second organized missionary movement, whose beginning constitute" one of the very strangest passages of missionary history, and which came into existence by what seemed to most to be a piece of human frailty.' Out of disappointment and sorrow, out of apparent failure and disaster, came most remarkable success and enlargement to the kingdom. It was evidently the Lord's doing, and even yet is marvellous in our eyes. Of course the reference is to the famous change of opinion with regard to baptism on the part of Judson and Rice, soon after they had reached India. We have seen what impression that revolution iu seutiment made upon the Executive Committee. In their deep perplexity Hall and Nott wrote home as follows: " What the Lord means by thus dividing us in sentiment and separating us from each other we cannot tell. The Lord seoth not as man seeth, and it ill becomes us to be dissatisfied with what He does. We hope and pray that it will not damp the missionary spirit, but that it may burn with a brighter and purer flame. " That hope was well founded, and that prayer was not unheard. The work already begun was not weakened a whit except for a very brief period, while presently an entire denomination was set on fire with zeal for missions, and ever since has felt the tremendous impulse then received. Among the fruits of that earliest" failure" we may reckon the almost unmatched victories of the Gospel among the Karens of Burmah, and in our day among the Telugus of India!
As soon as the decisive step had been taken the two chief actors wrote to the American Baptists of what had come to pass. Carey also wrote, and their letters all reached Boston by the same mail in February of 1813. It will be remembered that Judson, on his departure, had suggested the formation of a ~aptiBt society; but the time was not yet. Now, all unsought, undesired, unlooked for, and of a sudden, they find two missionaries already in the foreign field, joining their fellowship at terrible cost, and fairly thrust upon them for support. Here were straits even greater than those ill which the Board had found itself with five men on its hands, and with a treasury poverty-stricken. Here, too, was a question without a negative. Almost at once a local society was formed, and circulars were soon sent out looking to a gathering to unite the whole denomination. The proposition was made to the Baptist Society in England to receive the two men into its Indian mission, their support being supplied from this side the Atlantic; but Fuller wrote in reply, and how fortunate for the Lord's work in the world: "Late events point to the origin of a distinct Baptist society in America. " "The intelligence spread with electric rapidity, and gave to benevolence and Christian obligation a'depth and fervor never before experienced. One sentiment of deep thanksgiving prevailed. The providence was too plain to be mistaken. The way had been opened, the field had been prepared, and the true-hearted must enter and prosecute that to which they had been summoned." In Maya preliminary convention was held in Philadelphia, attended by twenty-six ministers and seven laymen representing eleven States and the District of Columbia. As yet no meeting had ever been held for any purpose, which stood for all the churches; but now arrangements were made to form the" General Con~ vention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions." Much fuel was added to the flame when, in September, Rice reached home and began to tell what wonders he had seen and heard. "Here was one who had actually stood among the temples of heathendom and beheld the cruel abominations." His was an imagination most ardent, and his pictures were painted in vivid colors. "He reproduced the rapt predictions of the prophets of the Old and New Testaments and the thrilling exhortations of the apostles concerning the kingdom of heaven, and multitudes hung on his lips and followed his footsteps with an enthusiasm seldom known since "'~hitefield." Nothing could withstand the swelling tide of zeal which now set in. Before it indifference and prejudice-for the time at least-were swept away.
In the mean time, Judson, with no human arm to lean upon, but with unswerving confidence in the protection and guidance of his unseen Master, looked forward only to the accomplishment of the work to which he had been called. Ordered to England, he yet managed, by a remarkable train of circumstances, to escape to a ship bound for the Isle of France; after three months, returned to Madras, was immediately ordered to depart, and, as the only possible resort, took passage in a vessel with Burmah as its destination. So it was that July 14th, 1814, thirteen months after his departure from Salem, with his equally heroic wife, he was landed at Rangoon, in a region to which he had been originally assigned, but into which no door of entrance had been visible while in Calcutta. Here we must leave him upon the threshold of his work, the story all untold of the years of incredible toils, and sufferings, and afflictions next to follow, as well as the distinguished successes which even in his life-time began to appear. His name will ever stand high among the names of Christian heroes.
Space remains only to touch very briefly upon the beginnings of missions in the Methodist Episcopal Church, whieh started only at the close of the period to which this view is limited. Here too is found a peculiar ordering of Providence, which lends to the story an element of romance. As so often happens, it was but a commonplace incident, a mere accident, that started a movement of great importance. At Marietta, 0., a drunken negro, Stewart by name, while on his way to drown himself, was arrested by the voice of a Methodist preacher; was converted by the sermon, and not long after in a vision was called to set forth northward and westward to preach the Gospel to the perishing. Making his journey through the forest, he at length appeared among the Wyandots upon the upper Sandusky River, and immediately began to call those pagans to repentance. A revival ensued, the mission was continued, and later, the facts coming to the knowledge of Nathan Bangs and others in New York, their hearts were stirred, and they proceeded to organize a society which should systematize the work of evangelizing the heathen at home and abroad. For years the entire missionary zeal of this Church was expended upon the Indians; and it was not until 1832 that a venture was made in foreign lands by sending Melville B. Cox to Liheria.
The Prote:;;tant Episcopal Church was the next one to organize. The English Chmch Missionary Society as early as 1817 had urged the founding of a society, and in 1820 the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society was instituted ; but not until ten years later were missionaries sent out; then two
THE MISSIONARY AND THE LARK
were despatched to Greece, and, five years later, the mission to China was opened. By this time almost every denomination in the United States had at least begun to heed the command from Heaven to preach the Gospel to every creature. And finally the supreme test of loyalty to Christ has come to be the question: How abundant in labors, how liberal in giving, how earnest in prayer is an individual, or a body of Christians, for the redemption of the world 1 THE MISSIONARY AND THE LARK.
BY HUGH P. McCORMICK, ZACATECAS, MEXICO.
Through leagues of desert sand, from break of day, A weary traveller pressed his lonely way; And though his heart on mission high was bent, His tardy course betrayed a spirit well-nigh spent.
" What worth my journeying ~ What reeks my haste ~ Why sow my life on such a barren waste V My fainting heart by doubt and dangers torn, As are my limbs by cactus and acacia thorn."
Repining thus, he spoke-when his deep sighs All suddenly were hushed in glad surprise; For, perching lightly on an ancient palm Hard by the way, a field-lark raised its vesper psalm.
As water from the rock to Israel's eyes The pleasing sight and sound bade Hope arise Anew within the falling heart, and woke Afresh Faith's dying flame. Revived again, he spoke- " 0 childhood's mate, by what stern duty pressed Hast left thy native hedge, thy meadow nest, For this unfriendly clime 1 And can5t e'en here Forget thyself a fellow-traveller to cheer V " 0 Singing Angel, sent from God! To me Thou hast performed a holy ministry. Within my heart I'll bear thy sermon song, ~nd learn, like thee, to sing the thorny way along.
" Like thee, sweet bird, a missioner I'll be Of joy to spirits faint. My minstrelsy A lightsome one, that all the desert ways My pilgrim feet may tread b~ redolent of praise.
And will press on, o'er thorns and burning sand, With tuneful heart and lips, and helping hand, Till streaming down upon my paling face Shall fall the light of my eternal resting place."
A DYING TESTIMONY
A DYING TESTIMONY.
[From Graham Wilmot Brooke, of the Sudan Mission, C.M.S., who died at Lokoja, on the Niger, March 5th, 1892, perhaps the noblest young missionary of our time.-A. T. P.] He says, in his last letter: " Three great questions must determine our conception of the conditions amid which we work j and these I state, leaving my narrative of facts to supply the answers in some measnre.
"1. Is it part of God's plan that such mighty manifestations of the Spirit's power among the heathen as are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles should be as mnch a thing of past ages, as those mighty manifestations of animal energy which we wonder at in the gigantic skeletons at the British Museum 1 This position is often maintained.
"2. Is it true, as is often maintained, that ferocious and savage tribes have sunk themselves so low that they are no longer able'all at once to grasp the grand outlines of the plan of salvation 1 "3. Is it truP. that the fearful miseries of Muslim invasion tend, as has been often asserted of late, to bring the few survivors more within reach of the Gospel ~ And here I may point out in passing that while Islam prepares the mind to listen reverently to the idea of resurrection and future judgment-ideas quite novel to the pagan-it none the less trains its vota- ]jes to receive with indignation and derision the doctrine of atonement and of the Divinity of Christ.
" Besides these questions, other matters of scarcely secondary importance are constantly engaging the attention of missionaries-great questions as to the principles whil,h ah.mld determine our selection of methods of work. I will just state these questions, and then, without attempting to dogmatize for other fields or other workers, will mention the views which we hold on each point, and the reasons that have guided us to these decisions.
"1. Should we aim at magnifying or minimizing the benefits of civilization Y We carefully avoid praising civilization or civilized powers to the heathen, and if they themselves are extolling civilization, we tell them that they should not set their affections on ~hings below. We tell them that God has commanded kings not to greatly multIply to themselves sih'er and gold (Deut. 17 : 17), but that holiness is just as much at home in their little villages as in great palaces. Of course I use the word civilization in its strict sense. I do not refer to truthfulness or morality. which are far more likely to be found in the wigwam of the converted American Indian than in the halls of the Palais de Justice at Paris.
"2. Should we direct our effo;trs to the children or the adults ~ We preach to all alike; but in practice we find that the adults give more serious heed to what is preached, and work among them has been more en. couraging.
"3. Should we regard education as a pathway leading to conversion, or as a result to spriug from it V In these lands, everyone, from the Sul- tan in his palace down to the little child that scares the birds from the maize fields, can best be reached by the old apostolic fashion of preaching j and nothing in our experience corresponds to what we hear of India, that educational missions are the only way of reaching certain classes. More- over, we note that about 99.5 per cent of those who have been educated by the Niger Mission in past years have turned out very badly indeed, and the only effect of education has been to greatly increase their power for evil in the country. We, therefore, at Lokoja are endeavoring to reduce the education of the unconverted to the smallest possible limits, as the work of instructing genuine inquirers in the Scriptures seems likely to demand all our strength. . "4. Should we aim at getting influence with the natives as a preliminary to unfolding unwelcome truths to them? or, should we at once declare the whole counsel of God in faith that He will be responsible for our influence V It is our experience in this field that influence which is gained at the price of keeping unpleasant truths in the background is not worth having j for it parts like a rope vf sand the moment a faithful attitude is resumed. On the other hand, we have again and again been amazed at the way in which God has supported a message of uncompromising outspokenness, and has suddenly smitten the hearers with conviction, when, humanly speaking, nothing but curS!1S or violence could have been looked for in reply.
"5. Should we adopt in preaching among the pagans the methods prescribed for the evangelization of Palestine in Matthew 10 : 9-lfi V That we should do so was maintained, as many may recollect, in a very powerful series of papers in the Christian,papers which contained so very much that was true and searching that many of us were almost persuaded to adopt the writer's conclusions. Long and careful examination of the question, however, has convinced us all that taking nothing of the Gentiles is the command for us; and so, although free gifts of food are'heaped upon our delegates in all their journeys, we make a point of paying generously for all we receive, in spite of the people's protestations. A great principle underlies this j for all in these lands, even those who still adhere to paganism, have a g'reat idea of making' Sadaka,' or free-will offerings, to the mallams, as an act of religious merit, and with the great mass of the population a gift to a religious teacher is as much a salve to the conscience as five shillings for a mass is to an Irish Romanist. Those who have worked among Romanists will appreciate my meaning. It is, therefore, of no little importance to refuse such gifts, if we wish our words to strike home with undiminished power of conviction.
" For the last five or six months our work has been rapidly developing, almost, I might say, in geometrical progression, and that ill spite of the steady diminution of our nnmbers, and the fact that no European, except Miss Griffin, has had any prominent share in the mission work. ' The people are yet too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. ' These words, the subject of one of our Bible-readings in the end cf September, have sounded in my ears ever since. And now this is being still further carried into effect. Mrs. Brooke has been prostrated for nearly a month by a second attack of hmmaturic fever, followed by a very severe ,md obstinate attack of dysentery, so that a prolonged stay at Lokoja would be quite useless. I may mentiou that this same attack of dysentery was gradually getting worse and worse for more than a fortnight, in spite of every remedy and every care, when we called a special meeting for prayer. vVhen the party assembled the attack was at its worst, but from that hour, literally, all dIstressing or alarming symptoms vanished, and recovery has since progressed at a wonderful rate. And thus we know how near God is to us, even in Ollr seeming difficulties and disappointments. At the same time Miss Griffin has been invited to take up work in another part of West Africa, and we all feel she has done right in accepting. Thi~, while it will diminish our numbers, need not, to judge from the past, diminish our work, and it will set me free to go with the various agents over all the gronnd that has been visited.
" The dispensary work has grown greatly, the patients in the last month being as many as in the preceding half year. But the wonderful efficacy of the native medicines, in the hands of the best native physicians, must always prevent the dispensary work from reaching very many of those who can pay for native doctors. Indeed, in proof of the skill of good native physicians, I may say that, though native medicines are very unpalatable, I would just as soon have a first-class country doctor as a European physician to attend me in any i1Iness with the cure of which the natives are familiar, unless, perhaps, the European had five or six years' experience of the country, which is not very common. * Our dispensary work, how- ever, has been chiefly carried on among the Kakandas, that rude and savage t'ribe of fishermcn who live between this and Egga, whose little huts, now that they have fled in large numbers from Nupe oppression, are crowded along the waterside. These are the only people in all this country from whom we have met with insults or threats of violence, and now, since the district-visitors have been going to their huts, they all receive us eagerly, and flock up the hill-side every morning to bring this or that comrade to have some sore, or cough, or swelling seen to, and to listen to whatever they may be taught. Thus to the poor the Gospel is preached.
* While acting for a short time as medical attendant to the local garrison of R.N.C. Constabu- lary (at that time about 300 men), I alway" consulted with the· native physicians, who became very open, and freely explained to me their dmgs and their course of treatment. Many difficult cases I entrusted to them, and whenever they told me with confidence that they had a specific for the dis· ease in qnestion. I observed that they effected cures which any London physician would have envied. The natives, accustomed to their own very powerful drug~, look upon our mild remedies just as most English M. D.'s do on a bottle of homceopathic pillules.
LIVINGSTONE'S ANSWERED PRAYER
., At the church we are holding special Gospel services daily, to urge decision upon the many who arc now thoroughly instructed as to the way of salvation, and we see many signs that our efforts will be blessed of God.
" Thus closes 1891, the results of the work equalling our most sanguine expectations, for the Word of God has been fully preached over an area equal to Hertfordshire, Middle8ex, Kent, Surrey, and Hants. But the means chosen of God have been different to what we had planned. ' The people . . . are too many for me' was written in large characters across t he record of the first half year, and now, 'The people are yet too many' is written across the record of the last half year. The least we can do is to accept God's will, and not be as the horse or mule. He would se('m to wish that we should give up for a little any feverish attempts to reinforce the work with new men, but jllst wait on Him, and see how many He can turn to Christ with those whom we have already got. 'Come and let us go over, . . . it may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.'
LIVINGSTONE'S ANSWERED PRAYER.
BY MISS LAURA M. LATIMER, ROCK CREEK, o.
" And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer." -Isaiah 65 : 24.
In the year 1866 Dr. Livingstone was exploring Central Africa, in order to discover the sources of the Nile. Ten men deserted him. They made their way back to Zanzibar, and to excuse their sudden return and to obtain money they circulated the report that Dr. Livingstone was murdered by the natives on the western shore of Lake Nyassa. This was believed by his friends in England. He had ordered five hundred pounds sterling worth of goods to be sent him from Zanzibar. The man to whom they were intrusted stole all these necessary supplies and sold them for ivory and slaves. Dr. Livingstone was pursuing his way on foot through wild, trackless forests, wading knee-deep across deadly bogs and marshes, in damp, poisonous jungles, over famine-stricken plains, through broad districts desolated by war, trying faithfully to accomplish the object of his journey, and in total ignorance of the train of circumstances conspiring against him. In the year 1871 he was nearly to the end of the geographical part of his mission, when Ruddenly his men refused to go one step farther. Bribes, coaxing, nothing availed to change their purpose, and he knew that there' was a plot to kill him if he forced them to go on. When he thought of his children, whom he had not seen for six years, the desire became very intense to finish hiR work. But it was impossible, and heartsore and greatly depressed in spirit!!, he commenced the long, weary tramp back to Ujiji on foot, every step of the way in pain. It seemed so unnecessary to him, this long journey back-five hundred miles under a burning tropical sun. But he comforted himself each day of the toilsome way that there would be letters from his family at Ujiji, news from the dear home-land, and plenty of necessary supplies, comforts, and medicine; and he would find faithful men who would return with him to finish his explorations.
He arrived at Ujiji October 26th, 1871, "almost at death's door," and found that the supplies which he had left there for this hour of need had all been sold; the goods sent to him from Zanzibar were stolen. Not a single letter from his friends had reached there. Sick and without medicine, he seemed forsaken; for he knew of no possible way by which help could come to him. He said that he was like the man in the Gospel who fell among thieves; but in his case he was sure that there was no possibility of a priest, Levite, or Samaritan passing that way. Almost on the verge of despair, and in great destitution, he took up his abode in the poorest habitation in Ujiji. This new trial of his faith was very hard to bear, for the thought of beggary among the Ujijians made him very wretched. It was impossible for any letter to reach his friends while the fierce Mirambo was waging such a deadly war with all the tribes between him and the coast.
In the year 1869 Henry M. Stanley, who was in Spain, received a telegram from James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald. It read : "Come to Paris on important business. .. He reached there the following night, and in haste made his way to the Grand Hotel and awoke Mr. Bennett from sleep to learn why he was so hastily summoned to Paris. Mr. Bennett said: "Where do you think Livingstone is~" And he added, " I think he is alive and that he can be found, and I am going to send you to find him." Stanley looked at him in surprise and said, " Do you mean me to go to Central Africa~" "Yes," the young editor replied; "I mean that you shall go and find him wherever you may hear that he is; and perhaps," delivering himself thoughtfully and deliberately, " the old man may be in want; take enough with you to help him should he require it. Draw a thousand pounds now, and when you have gone through that draw another thousand, and when that is spent draw another thousand, and when you have finished that draw another thousand, and so on ; but find Livingstone." That night Stanley started for Central Africa. After a perilous journey of nearly two and a half years, he stood upon a rugged height and looked down upon the great Tanganyika. Below him was Ujiji embowered in palms, the waves of the silver waters of the lake rolling at its feet. Those dark, deadly, fever-haunted forests" with their appalling, intense silence, were behind him, and with our flag flying in the breeze, and with the firing of guns and the glad shout of his men, he marched into Ujiji and clasped the hand of the hero of Africa.
The Herald expedition arrived there just sixteen days after Dr. Living-
NEWS FROM THE SOUTH A~'RICAN MISSION FIELD
stone reached there. Mr. Stanley said: "Had I not been delayed at Unyamyembe by the war with Mirambo, I should have gone on to Manyema, and very likely should have lost him j but I was detained by a series of circumstances which chafed and fretted me considerably at the time, only to permit Livingstone to reach Ujiji a few days before 1 appeared. It was as jf we were marching to meet together at an appointed rendezvous, the one from the west, the other from the east."
The expedition had been kept a secret j for the young editor of the Herald was sending thousands of dollars to Africa to help a missionary whom nearly all the world believed was dead and buried years before. Rtanley himself felt that he was pursuing a shadow, and yet he was on the way more than two years before Dr. Livingstone knew that his supplies were stolen j he was pressing on with all possible speed, "lifting up his head and asking the silent plains around, and the still dome of azure upheaving to inJinity above, Where can he be g" and at last reached him, just at the hour of his extreme need.
NEWS FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION FIELD.
BY WILLIAM J. NEETHLING.
On Friday, February 26th, the minister of Stellenbosch received the following telegram: "Christening on Sunday, 11 A.M., chief, wife, and thirty-one others j pray for us."
This was from Moc;uli (Pilands Mountains, Rustenburg, Transvaal), where Mr. Beye~, the missionary, is working on behalf of our Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Colony.
This is a great event in the history not only of that station, but also of the Mission Society of our Church, that Linque has at last yielded himself to the Lord and consented to baptism.
He has long been favorable to the mission and built a church, but the attractions of heathendom-polygamy and the like-have hitherto kept him back. Now he is corning out openly for his belief, and we rejoice with the missionary and his lady assistants.
On Sunday 28th we heartily responded to the request. In our young men's meeting and in our large gathering in the Church special prayer was offered for a rich blessing on the ceremony, and for further manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the chief and those around him. All throughout the Sabbath our hearts were full of praise and thanks.
Most likely political troubles will arise from the heathen faction to test the Christian endurance of the king and other converts. They will need special grace to remain steadfast.
"If we Christians," wrote a lady from the mission field, " find it so hard to be spiritually minded how much more they who are undeveloped and in such surroundings!"
NEW MISSION IN AFRICA
Let us then ask for the prayers of Christians who love mission work, that the Lord may send His Holy Spirit into their hearts; that they may grow in grace and in favor with God and man, and lead many of the other heathen to the foot of the cross.
Dr. Laws, of the Nyailsa Mission, has been making a tour through some of our towns in the Colony on his way to Scotland from Bandawe on furlough. He has everywhere delivered addresRes, appealing to the young people to go to the mission field, explaining the needs and nature of the work, and telling us "what great things the Lord had done." He has been greatly blessed in this piece of service for the Master. His remarks are specially interesting for their sober, practical sense. His ideal missionary is to be (1) undersixfeet; (2) slim and wiry, not too much" beef;" (3) he must be a good sleeper; (4) must have good digestion; (5) must be of a calm, untroubled temperament, and more requirements of the same sort. All are welcome, however, provided they have the last (6) qualification-consecration. "Is everyone to have the fever~" "Most decidedly. Just make up your mind to that at once. If the malaria seizes upon you at the start-i.e., if the malaria works outward-you are safe; but if you do not get it within a year, the doctor gets anxious; and if not within two years, he knows that there is small hope of your living more than another year or two."
" Are we future missionaries to go to the mission field married @" Dr. Laws: "No, it would be very imprudent." ," What, are we to remain unmarried 1" "No! You must marry. But don't you see that your wife can follow later on 1 You first go, get a year or two's experience, find her a place, build a house, etc., and then by all means get married."
Such were the remarks he offered. It was to us thrilling when he pointed out the crying need and claims of the heathen, and when he mentioned the few devoted workers surrounded by millions of ungratefnl heathen. Mnch has been done, but oh! how much more remains to be done before we can meet our Master !
NEW MISSION IN AFRICA.
On June 5th last year, Rev. Dr. Stewart, of Lovedale, left this country for East Central Africa, at the request of Sir William M'Kinnon, Mr. A. L. Bruce, and others interested in the welfare of Africa, to found a mission to the natives in the Imperial East Africa Company's territory similar to the mission of the Free Church, Lovedale, South Africa. At Mombasa the other' members of the mission joined him, and thence they proceeded inland. Much difficulty was encountered in procuring the two hundred and . fifty porters necessary for the transport of the goods, and also on their in- ~ land march throngh the Taro desert, where for three days they were wlthout water. The original intention was to place the mission at Machakos.
A little more than half way to that place, however, Dr. Stewart was much struck by a site on the banks of the Kibwezi River. There was good water, good timber, good soil, elevation three thousand feet, and the people so friendly as to invite the mission party to remain with them. It was thought advisable to make a temporary camp there, while Dr. Stewart, ac- companied by Mr. Wilson and fifty native men, proceeded to Machakos to compare the two sites. While journeying to Machakos the chiefs and headmen were visited and friendly relations established. The chiefs were invited to send deputations to visit the white men to se" what they were doing, to study their ways, and to return and report to the old men of their villages. The march for two days was up the bed of a river, that being the only road. Although only the beginning of the rainy season, there was a foot or so of water, which, of course, meant considerable discomfort during the march.
The comparison of the two sites was found to be decidedly in favor of the Kibwezi. Although Machakos is cooler, being five thousand feet above sea level, the disadvantages of the want of a plentiful supply of water, want of timber (the nearest being ninety miles off), and the gWlt distance from the coast entailing so much expense in the carrying of goods-all seemed to outweigh the single ad vantage of cooler climate. A further consideration is, Machakos is situated at the extreme inland side of the Wa-Kamba tribe, while the Kibwezi is on the coast side, this being an advantage in the case of any disturbances arising in the country. Dr. Stewart's intention, however, is to work inland, establishing a chain of stations. Machakos would ultimately serve as a sanitorium for all. The site being fixe<1, on the return of Dr. Stewart and Mr. Wilson to the Kibwezi plans were drawn up, and the party at once set to work to layout the station. Two miles of roads and paths have been made round the station. Seven buildings of strong wooden frames, wattle and daub and thatch, are in various stages of completion. These are the church and school combined, dispensary, workshop, store, and three dwelling-houses. English vegetables have been used from the gardens laid out, and six of the small oxen of the country llave been trained to the yoke. This last item may seem of little importance to many, out in reality it means the ultimate freedom of the Va-Kamba women from being the general carriers and burden-bearers of that country. During the months ending December 22d, 1891, the sen'ices of the medical part of the mission, conducted by Dr. Moffat, included the following: Dressings and attendances, 354 j new cases during the four weeks, 99. Sunday services are held in English for the Europeans; in Swahili for the coast men, who went up ail porters, and remained to assist in the laying out of the station. The larger number of these men, however, are Mohammedans. vVa-Kamba services have also been held j but the natives have yet to comprehend the reason why the white man has come to live in their country. Therefore th~ work among them will be very slow.
Industrial training is also being introduced, and will constitute an important educational factor in the mission. Thus far, therefore, the new mission to East Central Africa may be said to be fairly set a·going j and Dr. Stewart looks forward to a great future for it with God's blessing and wise management. A cablegram received on the 22d instant from Dr. Stewart announces his arrival at Mombasa, whence he sails on the 28th instant for this country.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MAS AFRICA.
-Our French brethren in Basutoland have experienced a hem'y loss in the death of M. Louis Duvoisin, missionary at Berea. '1'he Journal des Missions, speaking of his articles, says: "They enable the readels to ap- preciate all those qualities of style, of penetrating observation, of delicate and sagacious judgmelJt, which distinguished M. Duvoisin, and which stamped him as being, in the true sense of the word, a thinker. But that which these articles do not reveal, and which only his intimate friends and associates have been able to appreciate, are the moral qualities which distin- guished him-that goodness, that sweetness, that charity, that piety which beame! from his countenance, and gave him, above all when he prayed, an expression almost celestial."
-A writer in thc Catholic Review, remarking on the apparent sickliness of the Catholic Church in Southern Europe, is quoted as at-king whether it can be that the instrumentalities of religion have there too much taken the place of that which alone gives them value, namely, the Christian regeneration of the individual. The following remarks of Professor Kruger, in the Journal des jJ/issions, appear to confirm this surmise of the correspondent of the Catholic Review: "The King of Congo is dead. The political journals have said little about it; and more than one reader will perhaps ask who iii this sovereign, mortal like others, but whose death causes so little stir. Dom Pedro V. died February 14th, 1891, in his capital city of Ambassi, better known by its Portuguese name of San Salvador, where he had been reigning since 1859 ; he filled a throne whose occupants once treated as brethren with the powerful Portuguese sovereigns of the sixteenth century. Their court then courted dukes of Sundi, counts of Sonho, marquises of Pango, and of Pemba. Great cathedrals reared their spires toward heaven; processions traversed the capital, upon whose sumptuous sacerdotal ornaments the sun of Africa gleamed resplendent, and above whose ranks floated the standards of white and gold blessed by the Pope. Dom Pedro V. still kept, as an regis, the Standard of the Cross blessed by Innocent VIII. about 1490. This, some crucifixes, some images of saints treated as fetishes, a sonorous and empty title of sovereignty, are all that is left of those Congo missions so much vaunted by the Portuguese Dominican. and the Italian Franciscans of the sixteenth century.
" What a lesson for the missions of the nineteenth or twentieth century! Is it, then, that the monastic orders which preached Christianity in the kingdom of Congo from 1491 until the bishopric of St. Thomas and of Congo was created, in 1533, were wanting in zeal or in sincerity ~ Neither zeal, nor resources, nor successes failed them; their enthusiasm in the sixteenth century is comprehensible, if Christianity consists in ceremonies, if the Church is a passive throng which conforms its movements to a prescribed ritual. That is precisely the germ of death which has killed Congolese Christianity; the outward institution has been accounted more important than the sinners who ought to have been summoned to a personal experience of salvation at the foot of the Cross of Christ; the imposing framework has hidden and smothered the individual; the name has been more than the reality; there were churches, priests, canons, and chapters; there was a fully organized Christian nation-and no Christians. " ARABIA.
-Major-General F. T. Haig, of the British Army, has published an interesting pamphlet entitled" The Evangelization of Arabia." Be remarks that missions in many parts of Arabia, contrary to popular impression, cannot be compared to going forth" as sheep in the midst of wolves," and that, though not destitute of risks, they involve risks far less than those of Paul and his fellows.
-As Islam was born in Arabia, we are apt to imagine that all its people are Moslems. Yet the Bedouins-one third of the Arabs-are for the most part only Mohammedans in name, and many of them hardly even this. They have a strong sense of natural religion, and are wont to pray, " Lord, forgive us in Thy great compassion, and have mercy on our friends that have gone before us," and there they stop. Even of the civic Arabs, those in the East follow all manner of opinions, and are rather hostile than friendly to Islam. In Yemen also, especially near the Britii'h post of Aden, there is considerable opportunity to present the Gospel. The simple, stern, and ferociously Mohammedan Wahabees, in the centre, are, indeed, at present inaccessible. " How such a mi~sion would in time develop it is impossible to foresee; but the Arabs are a noble race, with ~reat capabilities. They once bore the standard of the False Propbet from Persia to the Atlantic, and if fired with a similar enthusiasm for tbe glory of Christ and tbe salvation of men, might yet prove to be a powerful factor in the conversion of the world." There seems little doubt tbat Arabia Felix will soon fall from the hands of the Turks into those of the English.
" The work will be one involving suffering, occasional loss of health, and even risk to life; but it is one which Paul would have chosen and an angel might envy. Can the churches of Christ in Great Britain take it up, or is it of altogether too adventurous a type for our modern Christianity ~ The probability is that the difficulties besetting it are greatly magnified in most minds by ig-norance of the real feelings of tbe Arabs, and tbat those who approach them in a spirit of Christian love and kindness would be met, as the missionaries among the Mohammedan races of Algeria and Morocco have been met, not with fierce hatred and violence, but with a hearty welcome and tbe utmost readiness to listen to the Gospel message. Ve live in a wonderful time; it is the day of the LORD'S power and Abraham's prayer. ' Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee!' has yet to receive its full answer in the conversion to God of his descendants and of the other long-neglected races of Arabia."
-The Church Missionary Intelligencer, speaking of the infamous practice among the Hindu opponents of the Gospel of fitting the most loathsome words to revival melodies, and singing them about the streets as samples of Christian hymns, remarks: "For, failing to revive enthusiasm for the Hindu deities, has Hinduism thus recourse to the Indian Acheron alone. She cites to her assistance, out of the nethermost depths of unbelief, the free· thinkers, the atheists, and tbe agnostics of otber lands. She honors our own country with large orders for such mischievous wares. For these Hindus everything of the foreigner is hateful save his vices and his infidelity. With such Hinduism scruples not to ally itself in closest amity. Anything which is an enemy of Christ is the friend of Hinduism. One of our missionaries describes to us verv touchingly the effect, fatal and instantaneous, of one of these sulphurous shafts of infidelity. A Hindu actually on his way to baptism had placed in his hand one of these missives of atheism. He paused, he read it, his faith was destroyed j per- manently and completely was his trust in Christ uprooted. 'I would give worlds,' was his bitter lament, ' might I again recover Qgain the faith which I have lost.' We believe it is impossible to duly estimate the deadly influence of the scepticism of .the English materialist. We are con- vinced that the persistent assaults of infidelity represented in the coarse and yulgar secularism of the halls of science, or the refined criticism of popular reviews, is efficacious especially in our Indian dependency. We are even of opinion that many of such articles are penned for a far wider circle than our domestic England. Often their contention seems !lot to move in the same plane with the arguments they assail. VI!e have, we believe, detected also an inaccuracy of uncritical statement. a frequent misrepresentation of the most obvious positions of the faith, which seemed to indicate that the writer held not in his view so much the more immediate environment of his educated fellow-c.ountrymen, as the credulous receptivity of a crude, because ill-informed, Indian clientele. These prophets of sceptir.ism are not without honor, but it is not at the hands of their educated countrymen they receive it." .
– " The wilderness hour of this great Society, her time ~f weakness and peril is past. The time when five men in a room in London looked out on the desolate wilderness of the world and asked, 'What shall we do for the heathen g' the time when the power of a Christian State was arrayed not for, but against missions, and for heathendom j the time when to advocate missions was to incur, as its least punishment, the open con- tempt of the wise and prudent and even the good-all this has passed.
Our Society has won her way to a high and honored place; she stands OIl the pinnacle of the .edifice of Christian effort. Let us beware! The hour of prosperity is the hour of trial. When the seed becomes a great tree the fowls of the air lodge in its branches. Remember the promise is still that.
God will be with us only in our appointed ways. Still, the wider our field the greater our success, the greater need of humility and caution j need, in our missionary churches abroad, of wisdom, and power, and a sound mind in dealing with all the difficult questions that arise in new and growing churches j wisdom in avoiding all offence eave the offence of the cross; faithfulness that never shrinks from truth-strict, rigid faithfulness in dealing with errors of heathendom as such j wisdom and gentleness in dealing with the natural prejudices and infirmities of weaker brethren.
Ever as our churches grow will grow their difficulties from these sources.
False doctrines, heresies, schisms, have yet to be encountered. The strug- gle of the earlier Church is for existence j as it grows its trial is to order its life aright."-ARCHBISHOP ~1:AGEE.
-" Not in creeds, not in formularies, not in traditions, not in Bibles even, hut in the hearts of those who believe the creeds and repeat the formularies and read the Bible does Christ dwell. Remember that if He is present to bless He is present among the golden candlesticks to trim or remove the waning light! Let us not he high-minded, but fear. Let us pray to be delivered from self-glorification or party-spirit; delivered by a love of Christ and of His truth from the sin of tempting the Lord our God by spiritual pride and presumption." -ARCHBISHOP MAGEE.
– " The kingdoms of the world are the objects of the lawful ambition of the Church of Christ. To conqu('r them for her Lord is her aim, and her success in that conquest is her true glory. But it must be for her Lord she conquers them i the cities she wins must be called by His name and not by hers; it is His kingdom, and His alone, she is to establish. That kingdom is the kingdom of the Cross, the Cross of Christ. Not the Cross of JesuR, the great moral teacher, with its lesson of merely sublime self- devotion of man for men; but the Cross of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God as well as the Son of man, with its revelation of the infinite love of God for man. Not the Cross as some would have it, whereon hung a patient, loving, self-sacrificing man, whose death distresses us by its cruel injustice, and whose life perplexes us by its inconsistencies and its errors; but the Cross on which was offered up the spotless Victim provided from everlasting for the sins of men. "-ARCHBISHOP MAG:(!;E.
– " The new Christianity shall conquer the world for the new Christ, and all men own the Fatherhood of God, and all men feel the brotherhood of man. Yes! All these will I give thee, and the power over them, and the glory of winning them, if-if only thou wilt fall down and worship, only do homage to the father of all falsehood by yielding the supremacy of truth j only acknowledge that yours is not the true faith, but one of many, all partly true j only bow yourselves to me as you enter those temples where men sacrifice to me, and these shall vanish away, and in their place shall rise a great world pantheon, where your Christ shall still have high place, but others take their place beside Him; only be disloyal to God and God's ttuth, and you shall have the world now !"-ARCHBISHopMAGEE.
-" Be ours the glory of the warfare beneath the Cross. Let His be the glory of the final victory j but never let us be tempted to win the very smallest portion of our Lord's inheritance by compact or compromise with him who has usurped it. No truce in our warfare j no armed neutrality j no alliance, but war, steru, uncompromising, open war, for the truth, for all the truth of God against all the lies of the enemy j and, most of all, against that greatest of all fabehoods, which proclaims his lie to be greater than God's truth, which bids us do homage to the false in order to advance the true. "-ARCHBISHOP MAGEE.
-The Ohronicle for June mentions the Decennial Report of the London Missionary Society, which, however, does not accompany it. It remarks: " Among the many striking facts may be noted: the openings in China for a great extension of country work j that in India whole villages have gone back to heathenism' because, having waited long for teachers, no teachers were forthcoming;' the work of the Native Missionary Society in the Imerina Province of Madagascar, which has raised more than £3000 during the past ten years, and sent out twenty-three agents j the baptism of our first convert in Central Africa at the close of the decade j while the New Guinea decade ends with the arrival of the Rev. W. G. Lawes in England with the manuscript of the New Testament in the most widely used language along the southeastern coast of New Guinea."
-The Missionary Herald of the English Baptists for October, 1891, says: "There can be no perennial freshness in a superficial acquaintance with the Gospel, and if the churches fail to apprehend the end or purpose of the Gospel, then they lose at once its unfading charm. If the truths of Christianity are regarded simply as valuable treasures that are to be kept locked up in a sacred ark, and carefully guarded from all robbers, then we· may expect them to become mouldy and rusty j but if they are regarded as Heaven's coins for circulation throughout the world, or as weapons that have to be used in the conflict against sin and error, then they will always retain their brightness." AFRICA.
-The Free Church of Scotland, in its last report, says: "Almost year by year the Committee has rejoiced to be able, in the good providence of God, to form new and practical relations of co-operation with other churches and societies, as in the case of the Moravians and Berlin Lutherans above recorded. Such relations now exist with the following: With the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in Nyassaland, and to some extent in Kafraria and Bombay; with the Established Church of Scotland in British Central Africa, and-as proposed-in Calcutta; with the Ohurch Missionary Society and the Wesleyan Missionary Society in Madrns; with the Irish Presbyterian Church through the ·Wilson College, Bombay; with the Canadian and Australasian Presbyterian churches in the New Hebrides; with the Dutch Reformed Ohurch of South Africa in Nyassaland; with the London Missionary Society, South Africa, and now with the Moravian and Berlin Lutheran societies. Such co-operation of the different regiments of the Lord's army extends His conquests in a way which amalgamation even if it were possible, would arrest or weaken."
-PerilYdical.Accounts for June (Moravian) has an appeal from Rev. A. G. Hettasch, pastor of Genadendal (Gracevale), in ~outh Africa, which is interesting. He says: "What a church for Genadendal, the mothercongregation of the mission in Africa! I fear the police at home would never allow a thousand people to assemble within those walls, only kept from falling in by solid beams inside and large buttresses without. Yet it is not to be wondered at that this church presents such a miserable appearance, for it is the very first place of Protestant worship ever built for the children of Africa, and is nearly one hundred years old. It is a structure fnll of days and full of honors, but the tooth of time has long been knawing at it, and the process of destruction is far advanced. Genadendal must have a new church."
– " The Incarnation, involving the crucifixion and the present work of the Holy Spirit, is the abhorrence of Islam. Islam seems to make much of the will of God, and does of an external will of God. But its thought is of submission to the will of God, and not of suffusion with the will of God" (" Shall Islam Rule Africa g" by Rev. Lemuel C. Barnes, in Regions Beyond). This is a singularly thoroughgoing article. So also: " In general the fruits correspond to the roots. The result of Islam is stagnation; the result of faith is progression. Islam causes atrophy; faith causes development. There is one refrain on the lips of Muslims always: , There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the apostle of God.' Their thought is of the arbitrary, fixed, mechanical; three characteristic words of Curistianity are • Faith,' 'Ohrist,' 'Life.' They speak of that which is dynqmic /"
-Mr. Barnes remarks that Islam and Rationalism resemble each other in disliklllg the Cross. This reminds us of Mr. Wilfrid Blunt's remark that Islam, strictly speaking, is a rationalistic creed.
-M. George Liengme has been sent out to Delagoa Bay, Southeast Africa, as missionary physician by the Free Church Mission of French Switzerland. He has been also ordained as a minister in the Oratory at Geneva.
~M. Grandjean, of the same mission, writes: "As our mission extends toward the north, that of the Americans of Inhambane will advance to meet it; with them we are always able to extend ourselves, and labor hand in hand."
-M. Junod, of the same mission, remarks: "I am so delighted wheu our blacks preserve their individuality and originality. There is not yet apparent in these converts that varnish of imitation wherewith so many Negro Christians love to decorate themselves, and which in reality disfigures them."
– " A cardinal of the Roman Church sends out soldiers as champions of missions, and hallows their swords, as if Christ had never said: • All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.' These soldiers fail, sword in hand, and are then glorified as martyrs! What a cry would go through the world if any such anti-Christian thing was done among Protestant-above all, among English missionaries! But in Roman Catholic missions everything seems to be allowed, and everything to be extolled_"- Allgemeine If:fissions- Zeitschrift.
-It does seem to be a little late to return to the Crusades. Cardinal Lavigerie, in his speeches addressed to these military monks, blends Christ and France, Gcspel and sword in such an indistinguishable amalgam that it is hard to say what we are to make out of it, except that it is something with which a Protestant Christian of Teutonic race can have nothing to do, and with which we are sure that Protestant Christians of Latin race will have nothing to do. The latter, if they fight for France, will hardly do it under the banner of Rome. Fortunately, they have no temptation, being held altogether unworthy. Cardinal Lavigerie is a man of eminent qualities, but assuredly evangelical simplicity of aim is not one of them, nor even personal simplicity of character.
-The French brethren of Basutoland (Lessuto) have ordained their first native pastor, Carlisle Motobang.
-One of the most self-denying missions in the world is the French Zambesi Mission. After months and years of discouragement, the tide appeared to turn; the brethren were permitted to baptize their first convert; the king, Lewanlka, began to observe the Lord's day, to 0ppoile himself to intemperance, to cruel punishments inflicted on the pretence of sorcery. and to plundering forays against neighboring tribes; hi!! young son, Litia, showed very distinct evidences of a Christian mind, and the schools and the Sunday services began to be more largely attended. But" the clouds have returned after the rain." Malicious whispers have once more gained the ear of the king, while loss after loss has reduced the missionaries, whose comforts at the best have been very scanty, to a peculiar depth of privation. M. Coillard regrets to have had to write the saddest of all his letters home. "But the old soldier of Christ would not know how to linger long over a mood of discouragement. He adds: 'But be of good courage, the bark will not capsize.' "
MISCELLANEOUS.
-The Ceylon Friend (quoted in the India Watchman) says: " We must tell the home churches the whole truth, our failures as well as our successes. There is, of course, a great rage at home for pathetic incidents and striking facts, and they have their use; but when they are so placed before our people as to lead them to suppose that they furnish a correct index of the general character of our work they do incalculable harm; they arouse a momentary enthusiasm, but also hopes which are certain to be disappointed. Our people will never understand our work, appreciate our difficulties, or gain that kind of faith which IS necessary to success unless we place before them the whole truth."
-" According to the papal Osservatore Romano there still live among the mountains of the island of Sardinia descendants of those 80,000 Jews whom the Emperor Vespaslan exiled thither after the destruction of Jerusalem." -Jewish Intelligence.
-The Ohinese Recorder, referring to the abuse lavished by the Lepel Griffins and their confederates on the opponents of the opium trade, quietly remarks; "It would seem rather late in the day to ignore the fact that the conscience of a nation can be aroused, and that there is such a thing as moral stamina among a people." But what can those that have no conscience of their own know about other people's consciences ~ . -Bishop French, of Lahore, who threw up his bishopric that he might preach the Gospel to the Mohammedans, and who died of a sunstroke at Muscat, has been not unaptly likened to Raymond Lull, that illustrious missionary of the middle ages among the Moslems, and like him in fact, though not in form, he died a martyr. His brother, a clergyman, writes of him: "His whole time, from morning to night, was spent in preaching in the open air with varied success. . .. His intervals of time were spent in prayer and meditation, and a translation into Arabic of St. Hilary on the Trinity. His diary reads like an apostolic missive. I never knew a man so humble, so self-sacrificing, so perfectly heroic for his Divine Lord. He was a thorough Oriental scholar-Hebrew, Sanscrit, Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Hindi, Tamil, etc." Such men keep up the succession of saintly witnesses in the wilderness until the time has come to bring Ishmael in.
THE LEVANT.
-The Broossa Orphanage in Asia Minor, at the foot of Mount Olympus -not, indeed, the one venerated of old as the seat of the gods, but the most eminent of its four or five namesakes-being an institution entirely dependent on individual contributions, is deservedly commended to Christian benevolence. Contributions will be gratefully received and acknowledged by Mr. M. Baghdasarian, 303 West Twenty-first Street, New York City. This institution has the warm commendation of Dr. Cyrus Hamlin and of the Prudential Committee of the American Board. Bishop Whipple, quoted in the Spirit oj Missions, says that a new Armenian version of the Bible is now in preparation by a commission consisting cf an Armenia!] priest, a Roman Catholic priest, and a Protestant.
-Secretary Wright, of the Bible Society, at the anniversary of the London Missionary Society said that he felt that the tremendous wealth of influence and power in woman's work had hitherto been neglected. "In Damascus we men preach to the cheerless east wind of the Oriental Bazaars. A woman will go with her smile, and this smile will be answered by a smile. We dare not smile. She goes with this access to all these little springs of love and influence down among the people, into the homes, into the seed place, where the good seed can be sown in the hearts of the women."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Parliament of Religions at the excellent chief of the Liberal Arts De- World's Fair, partment, informs us that the space as· signed to, his division is more than BY BEV. JOHN HENRY BARROWS, D.D., PAS· double that provided at Paris, and more than ten times what was furnished at TOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, the Centennial. But to indicate the in. tellectual and spiritual sources of civ- CHICAGO, ILL., AND CHAIRMAN OF THE ilization, the World's Congress Auxiliary has been organized by the Exposition GENERAL COlllJl'IITTEE ON RELIGIOUS CON· authorities. The congresses provided for will cover the chief departments of GRESSES. knowledge, and will extend through the whole half year during whioh this During the next eighteen months World's University will continue. Hunnearlyall roads will lead toward the Co. dreds of busy men and women are daily lumbian Exposition. The latest WorId's planning for these conventious, corre- Fair will be the largest, the costliest, sponding with more than twenty thouthe most comprehensive. The English sand of the leaders of thought in all commissioners who carefully studied the lands. Religion, the supreme concern situation expressed the conviction that and glory of man, has been excluded, the coming Exposition will far surpass in as an element of discord, from all pre. extent, and eclipse in splendor, even vious world's fairs. In the coming Ex_ the Paris achievement of 1889. At the position, however, it will have a most Exposition Headquarters it is computed conspicuous place, not only in the mao that, by the Directory and th" Commis. terial exhibit, in the Liberal Arts Build. sion, by our National Government, the ing at the very heart of the Exposition, different States and the more than fifty but also in a series of congresses exnations who are to participate in the tending from August 25th through Sep- World's Fair, there will be expended, tember 29th, to be held mainly in the in the preparation and conduct of this great halls of the 'new Art Building procolossal undertaking, a sum not far vided by the Directory. President C. C. short of $40,000,000. The Director- Bonney, of the World's Congress Aux- General is confident that thirty millions iliary, believes that these religious' asof admission tickets to the magnificent semblies will overshadow all the other display will be sold. The vast interest oonventions. They have been assigned aroused in America and in other lands quadruple the number of days given to will increase as the months go by. The any other of the congresses. The meet- Rev. E. S. Williams, one of the special ings of the great churches will occupy a Commissioners of the Treasury Depart- week ; the mission oongresses, covering ment in promoting the World's Fair the whole field of oity, domestic, and abroad, wrote recently: "In Japan I foreign missions, will occupy seven or met almost unceasing ovations. No eight days; a week has been assigned halls would hold the mercurial and en- to the Evangelical Alliance, and three thusiastic people, glad to hear and proud days to the Sunday Rest congresses. that their government was preparing to The Parliament of Religions, to which vote a generous appropriation for the representatives of all the great historic Jubilee of Peace." faiths have been invited, will open the series, and one chief division of this But is the Columbian Exposition to Oongress will be the l'arliameo.t of be chiefly a brilliant illustration of material achievement and mechanical prog. ress? Far from it. No other World's Fair ever provided so amply for educa. tion, music, oharities, religion, and the liberal artl!. Dr. S, H. feabody, tho Christendom, for which invitations are of idols and objects used in ceremonial given to those who accept the moral worship would attract beyond any and spiritual leadership of Jesus. Ac- other. Models and illustrations of the cordingly, one who is able to attend great temples of the world and of the this whole series of meetings, or to read world's history would be in a high dethe full official accounts of them, will gree instructive. Add to these things confront the leaders of the religious the living word of living teachers, and world, will know what is Nported by the whole world may well pause to all its grand divisions, will gain a vision listen." Some years ago President of the supreme importance of religion Warren described an imaginary congress in human development, and will be es- of this sort, locating it in Japan, and pecially impressed with the proofs of giving it as its subject for discussion, the supremacy and the triumphs of an "The Perfect Religion." This interaggressive, world-embracing, evangeli- esting address has been translated into cal Christianity. The venerable Bishop several languages, and presents valuable Weaver, of the United Brethren Church, suggestions to those having the parliawrites: ,. Paul went to Rome, not to ment in immediate charge. Dr. Strong, preach, but to obtain simple justice. Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, God overruled it so that the greatest writes : .' It is in the interest of the possible good came out of it. A word final triumph of truth and of the brothspoken in Rome was like a sound nt- erhood of man that representatives of tered in a whispering-gallery-it could all faiths meet on a friendly platform. be heard throughout the whole civilized Such a gathering will be one of the world. It appears that Chicago is to be most significant as well as uniqne ex made a whispering-gallery, from which hibitions of modern and, I may add, of all nations may hear and know more Christian civilization." Rev. George concerning the kingdom of our Lord_ " Dana Boardman, D.D., of the First Bap- tist Church in Philadelphia, writes: "I Urged to provide plans for religious do not believe that a better tribute can meetings in connection with the WorId's be paid to Christianity than to put it in Fair, the Committee at once perceived fair comparison with other religions." that the religious world in its great his- Dr. Storrs, President of the American torio developments, and not anyone Board, has expressed his admiration of section of that world, should be invited the plan as " certain, if wisely carried to make some representation. Undoubt- out, to attract wide attention, to make edly the Committee believed that the happy and strong impression on a mulbest representation possible by the titude of minds, and to leave behind it ethnic religions would tend to the ex- permanent good effects." The Comaltation of Christianity. But the spirit mittee have been particularly pleased of the most generous human brother- with the responses from Christian mishood a~tuated them in sending out their sionaries and teachers in other lands, invitations and in making their ar- like President Washburn, of Robert rangements for the Parliament of Re- College; President Tison, of the Imligions. They have been delighted with perial Law School of Tokyo; Dr. Miller, the vagt favorable response which so of the Christian College at Madras; and many eminent men of many nations Dr. Henry H. Jessup, of Beirut, who is have given to their Preliminary Address one of the Advisory Council, and who and to their First Report. President has called attention to some intelligent W. F. Warren, of the Boston Univer- and English_speaking Mohammedans of sity, writes: "I am glad to know that Syria, who should be invited to the Parthe world's religions are to be repre- liament. It is well known that the sented at the World's Fair. Were they plans of the Committee have been apto be omitted, the sense of incomplete- proved by statesmen like Mr. Gladstone, ness would be painful.. Even a museum Count d'Alviella, and Professor James portant peculiarities distinguishing the Bryce; by the poets Whittier, Tenny- religions of the wol'ld is not to be cher- son, Holmes, Arnold, and Stedman; 'by ished. Logically following the presenta- Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Ireland, tion of common truths will be the and other leaders of the Catholic presentation of distinctive truths, and Church; by prominent divines of Great no discussion of differences is largely Britain and the Continent; by many useful till men discover what they be- bishops of the Protestant Episcopal lieve in common. It is a matter for Church and of the Methodist Episcopal thanksgiving that a notable gatllel'ing is Church; by leading college presidents to be held wherein men far-sundered of America, leading religious editors, in their inherited and acquired faiths and a score of the best.known teachers are yet to confer in the most catholic in our theological seminaries; by a host and irenic spirit. What a contrast it pre- of stalwart evangelical Christians like sents to those frequent pages of relig- Joseph Cook, Dr. T. W. Chambers and ious history which have been marked Professor Edwards A. Park, and by a by disastrous animosities!
large number of those who have the Since the. General Committee, with conduct of our missionary societies. one exception, are Christians, and since Assisting the General Committee of Six- the summons is sent forth from a Chris- teen is an Advisory Council of nearly tian land, the Parliament may be right- two hundred of the world's religious ly conceived as, in a large and general leaders, who approve the general plan, sense, the invitation of Christianity, ad.
and are furnishing timely and valuable dressed to all the great historic faiths, to suggestions. come and give an account of themselves.
A book has recently been published, The faiths that have been invited, " The Religious Systems of the World," through personal letters, are the Brah- a series of papers and addresses deliv- man, Buddhist, Confucian, Mohamme- ered on successive Sunday afternoons dan, Parsee, Jewish, snd Christian.
in London by expert representatives of Others may be included. The Japanese each. It is something like this school scholar, Morihiro Ichihara, of the Yale for the study of comparative theology, Divinity School, writes: "I dOUbt which the Committee desire to bring whether you can get any English.speak- about, accompanied, however, by sur- ing Shintoists who can competently roundings which will lead men of differ- represent that religious body. Still it ent faiths to a better understanding, seems to me that they should be repre- and to be followed by a Parliament of sented in a meeting like the one you are Christendom, in which the apologetic planning for, and I shall suggest the of Christianity will be set forth by the names of Baron Senge and Mr. Mato- ablest Christian scholars, and in which ori,as the two most prominent Shintoists not only practical problems of ethical at present."
interest, but also the great question of What kind of men are we inviting to the reunion of Christendom, will be speak in the Parliament of Religions?
amply discuesed. One of the many im- Let President Washburn, of Constanti- portant objects aimed at is the brother- nople, answer: ,. You must have able ly conference of religious men, a relig- men, pious men, who have full faith in ious fraternity involving no surrender their own religion and are yet broad of personal conviction and no abate· enough to conier with infidels." We ment of devout faith on the part of have invited such men as Justice Ameer those who recognize that Christianity is Ali, of Calcutta, to represent Moham- widely differentiated from other systems medanism ; Mr. Bunyin Nanjio, a Bud.
by an authoritative and miraculously dhist priest of Tokyo, and former lec- accredited revelation. The temper of turer in Oxford University, to represent indilferentism with regard to tllQ un· Bujdhism; Babu Mozumdar to reprosent th!' Brahmo Somaj of India. Many hear 1" Of course it will only be just names ha ve been suggested to speak for that the Christian faith, which is held these faiths and other3, and the Com- by nearly all the ruling nations of man- mittee will extend invitations after care- kind, should be presented in its argu- ful conference with experts. As the ment and in its historic results by those work adl'ances we are more and more who will speak with the greatest fair- hopeful of securing a good representa- ness, the widest learning, and the most tion from most of the historic faiths. conspicuous ability. Ifit be asked, " In What will the men of other religions be what spirit sheuld the representatives likely to SllY? It is hoped and expected of the great historic faiths be met?" the that they will make the best representa- reply is, " In the spirit of the most cor- tion of their own systems which can be dial brotherhood, attentive kindness, rightly offered. While it is probable and Christian love." It is in our that they will call our attention to the thought to have social conferences, for noblest teachings of their sacred books, example, of the representatives of the and disown the popular and widespread faiths of India. The Rev. Dr. Wherry, perversions of their scriptures, it is also of Chicago, for twenty years a mission- in the scope of our plan to discover what liry in Madura, believes that such social spiritual and other effects their religions conferences will be promotive of per- have produced upon the peoples among manent good, and that the J;epresenta- whom these faiths have prevailed. Chris- tives of the non·Christian religionB tianity has never rejected the biblical should be made practically familiar, by declarations that" in every nation he observation, with the work of the that feareth God and worketh righteous- American churches, charities, Sundayness is accepted of Him," and that schools, endeavor societies, and Young Christ" is the true Light, even the Light Men's lind Young Women's Christian which lighteth every man coming into Associations. the world." It believes that the relig- It is certainly a subject of congratuious nature itself and all its heavenward lation that the time draws near when yearnings are of Christly origin, and representatives of widely different faiths that whatever of truth and goodness will be able to meet in friendly confermay be discovered in the twilight of ence without compromising any per- Asia is a reflection of that original Light sonal conviction. While the Parliament which, in the fulness of time shone of Religions, like the Parliament of amid the hamlets of Galilee and in the Great Britain, is not an assembly whose streets of Jerusalem. The peoples who object is worship, the Committee are have received the ampler Divine radi- planning for the singing of devout ance should disclose the gentlest and hymns of thankful praise; and they most generous spirit to those who have may decide that, as at the Religious groped in a dimmer illumination. Chris- Convention which PreRident Warren tianity will doubtless be forced to face imagined, there shall be moments of thos~ mighty obstacles to misRionary silent prayer. But immediately precedprogress, the monstrous sins of Chris- ing the meetings of the Parliament will tendom ; and it will also be bidden and be daily morning conferences, under a encouraged to tell not only through great variety of suitable leaders, which American and European, but also will enable those naturally affiliated to through ,Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, worship together and to come into a Arab, and African Christians what the more perfect acquaintance. And who Gospel of Christ has wrought for their can doubt that not only will thousands races and nations. Quite as important of earnest hearts be praying to God in as the question, .. Wh!l.twill the Moham- the stillness of spiritual communion medan and the Bul1ilhist have to say," during the sessions of the Parliament, will be the question, " What are they to but also that millions of those who have learned the way of salvation through our own religion, serves only to make us Jesus Christ will, in many lands, offer see more clearly what is the distinctive up daily petitions that this phenomenal and essential character of Christ·s assembly of God's children may be teaching, and helps us to discover the blessed to the furtherance of that king- strong rock on which the Christian, as dom which they believe is yet to cover well as every other religion, must be the earth. The speakers who have been founded." The science of comparative suggested for the opening session of the religions, according to Preaident Fair- Parliament will represent twelve hUll- bairn, has shown the necessity of redred millions out of the fourteen hun- lifjlions to man, and the supreme neces- dred millions of the human race. Sure· sity of the highest of them all. Profes- 1y that will be a great moment in his- sor Legge, of Oxford, speaks for the tory, as Dr. W. H. Withrow, of Canada, Christian scholarship of to-day when he has suggested, " when men who profess says: ., The more a man possesses the the differing religions of the world stand Christian spirit and is governed by side by Ride." The Committee having .Christian principle, the more anxious this enormous undertaking in their he will be to do justice to every system charge fully appreciate the task com- of religion and to hold his own without mitted to them. They are pioneers en- taint or fetter of bigotry." The study tering a new country; they seek light of comparative religion has tended to and wisdom from Ilvery source. They strengthen Christian missionary enthu. desire to accomplish the greatest possi. siasm. Those disciples of Christ who ble good and to unite all tho~e who be· know most intimately the other faiths, lieve that such a congress as has been and appreciate most fully the truths outlined will promote the best interests which they may contain, are augmentof mankind. They desire (to q note ing their unselfish efforts to give to all from the objects of the proposed Par- the world the supreme blessings of the liament, as stated in the forthcoming Christian Gospel. In Christian lands revised edition of the First Report) one chief hindranee to the foreign mis- "to deepen the spirit of human broth· sionary cause is a deep ignorance conerhood among religious men of diverse cerning the non-Christian nations, and faiths ;" to set forth what are deemed a stolid indifference toward those remote the important distinctive truths taught and unevangelized myriads for whom by each religioll; to indicate the im- Christ died. Whatever can be done to pregnable foundatiolls of theism and make the non-Christian peoples le",s unthe reasons for man's faith in immortal- real to the Church generally will be an ity ; to strengthen the forces adverse to enormous gain to Christian evangelism. materialism; to inquire what light each Dr. Ellinwood, of the Presbyterian religion may afford to the others; to Board of Missions, who has widely and furnish an accurate account of the pres- carefully studied the Oriental faiths, ent outlook of religion; to throw all believes that in proportion to the intelpossible light on the solemn problems ligent discrimination which shall be of the present age, and to bring the na- exercised in judging of the non· Christions of the earth into more friendly tian religions, and the skill which shall fellowship. They invite the co-opera- be shown in presenting the immensely tion of all who are favorable to their superior truths of the Christian faith, plan in its grand outlines, and the sug- will the success of the great work of geGtions of all who believe that it may missions be increased; and he thinks be improved in its minor details. Max that a timid attitude "amounts to a Milller has written: "I have never dis. half surrender, and is wholly out of guised my conviction that a compara- place in this age of fearless and aggrestive study of the religions of the worli!, sive discussion. Evidently the one so far from undermining our faith in thing needed to disenchant the false systerns of our time is a clear and accurate the Creator." "That the Influence of knowledge of their merits and demerits, Religion on the Family of Life is to and of their true relations to Christian- make it Virtuous and Pure." "That ity." the Influence of Religion on the Com- I express a deep personal conviction munity is to Establish Justice, Pro- in saying that I believe that the Parlia- mote Harmony and Increase the Gen.
ment of Religions, in connection with eral Welfare." ,. That the Influence of the whole series of religious congresses, Religion on the State is to Repress will bring into glorions conspicuity the Evil, Vice and Disorder in all their supreme power and attractiveness of the Forms, and to Promote the Safety and cross of Christ. While we earnestly Happiness of the People." •• That Con- seek from our brothers beyond the sea science is not a Safe Guide, unless En- a frank and full presentation of their lightened by Religion and Guided by sincere beliefs, which is only possible Sound Reason." "That of a Truth in an atmosphere of confidence, mutual God is no Respecter of Persons, but in respect and affection, we shall speak every Nation he that Feareth Him, and from our hearts those truths which have Worketh Righteousness, is Accepted of come to us from the 'words and the life Him." "That throughout the World of the Son of God. Believing that the Substantial Fruits of Sincere Re- Christianity is not only the complement ligion include the following:. Improved of all other religions, filling out what is Personal Character; Better Citizen- imperfect in them, and correcting what ship; BeUer Business Methods; Nearly is erroneous, but is also a direct, mirac- all the Works of Charity;' Improved ulous revelation centring in a Divine Domestic Order; Greater Public Peace, Redeemer, they who hold this faith will etc." ,. That the Weekly Rest Day is have the opportunity to proclaim it as Indispensable to Religious Liberty, and never before. The religion whose dis- to the General Welfare of the People."
tinctive features are incarnation, regen- "The Triumphs of Religion in all eration, and atonement flings its loving Ages." "The Present State of Re.
challenge to all the world, and has no ligion throughout the World, including fears ! its Marvellous Advances during the Pres.
CHICAGO, April 9, 1892. ent Century." .. The Statistics of Churches as an Answer to the Alleged Prevalence of Infidelity." "The Domi.
nance of Religion in the Higher Institu- Seed Thoue:hts of the World's Congress tions of Learning." "'l'he Actual Hal'. Auxiliary. mony of Science and Religion; and the Origin and Nature of the Alleged Con- The scope of the World's Congress flict between them." .. The Influence Auxiliary is suggestively set forth in of Religious Missions on the Commerce the Committee's report, as intended to of the World," "The Influence of Re· reach a class of information and discus- ligion on Literature and Art." sion indicated by such themes as the following: Some of these topics naturally fall to the Parliament of Religions, of which " The Idea of God, its Influence and the Chairman of the Department writes Consolations." "The Evidences of the in a preceding article. Other portions Existence of God, especially those which will fall to the several Church denomi- are calculated to meet the agnosticism national conventions, and others to the of the present time." "That Evils of Congress of Missions, of which the Life should be shunned as Sins against Chairman of the Committe9 having it God." "That the Moral Law should in charge, the Rev. Walter Manning be obeyed liS necessary to Human Hap. Barrows, D,D" has promised to write piness, anl because such is the Will of in our pages at an early date. [J. T. G,] The OOIDnal'ative Study of Religions. knowledge. Just because the facilities [J. T. G.] for communication with all parts of the world are so exceptionally great, and be- There is in our day a search into the cause there is, as a consequence, a re- religious beliefs of all men, which is markable interchange of thought with popularly spoken of as comparative all quarters of the globe, the spirit of in.
theology, or the science of religion, vestigation becomes unusually active though there is as yet no such thing, and comparisons are instituted in all nor even a tolerable approach to any directions.
such thing as a science of religion or a Persons holding, as do Christians, science of comparative theology. All Jews, and Moslems, that their religious that has thus far been done is to insti. beliefs are the only original, uncorrupt.
tute a speculative and tentative inquiry, ed, and inspired religion, are supposed and an initial experiment as to whether to find it difficult to put themselves in the subject of religion is susceptible of mood for scientific examination thereof.
being in,estigated in the same manner Hypothetically this is to acknowledge as that which has been pursued in the that their religion is one of many, which study of the crusts of earth, by which is contrary to the permanent hypothesis we have the lair beginning of a science of the religion from which they derive of geology; or similar to that pmsued all their spiritual comfort; and most in the case of human speech, by which Christians SpUl'll the perilous principle it may be fairly claimed that we have of Descartes, that in order to be a phi.
laid a foundation of a science of lan- losopher a man must" once in his life guage or of comparative philology. Max doubt everything." Christians of the Miiller doubts whether the" time has most advanced spirituality and of the yct come for attempting to trace, after most profound faith in their religion as the model of the science of language, the one true revelation have, however, the definite outlines of the science of been among the foremost to welcome religion." Yet considerable progress searching analyses of all religions, and has been made in the collection and ar· to place Christianity not so much in rangement of the material of religion comparison as in contrast with all com· after the model alluded to, and there petitors.
are those who hold that" the logic of In a large sense it is incumbent on science is a universal logic applicable to the followers of any religion which lays all subjects of human inquiry." claim to universal acceptance to show " The advance of prehistoric study," that it is universally applicable. But says the author of ., The Dawn of His· this is, in fact, to make a beginning of tory," "has been, during the past few the comparative study of religion. Dr.
years, exceptionally rapid, and consider. Moffat, of Pfinceton College, well said: ing upon how many subsidiary interests "Were there no common principles it touches-questions of politics, of so· pervading all religions, or were all men ciallife, of religion almost-the science as religious beings severally so different of prehistoric archreology might claim from one another that knowledge of one to stand in rivalry with geology, as the man's religious nature could be no guide favorite child of the centmy." to that of other men, a scientific treat- Within thc historic period as well, we ment of religion would be impossible,"
may fairly be said to be in pORsession and we may add that the Christian of information from all quarters of the theory of religion would be seriously globe and of all the centnries, such as undermined.
was never equalled by any people on The very work of evangelizing the earth of any former time. non-Ohtistian world, which has become The natural tendency in all periods so prominent in the last three quarters like our own is to generalization of of a century, has itself thrust upon us the question of the relation of so·called fectly evident that in an age like this we religions to each other, and especially cannot propagate Christianity under to that which we profess. Hence really glass." "There is Christianity in Cal- no persons have been more eager to deal cntta, and there is Buddhism in Boston.
with the material of religions than the The line of battle is the parallel that most aggressive Christians. It is, in belts the globe. It is no time for mere fact, imp08siUe to do the work of a pious denunciation, There must be no Christian missionary without a mastery blundering; the warfare must be waged greater or less of the beliefs which Chris- with weapons of precision, and then tianity seeks to displace, correct or sup- victory is sure." The study of the non- plement. It is possible that the prose- Ch1'istian religions has been too long cution of these investigations may seri- allowed to be a monopoly of anti-Chris- ously modify some of our missionary tian scholars. In the department of methods. It is possible that thereby sociology religions are to be brought to we may find that many systems of reo book, as to their bearing on the condi.
ligious error may be most easily attacked tion of industry which they foster; the from within ; may be best approached Bocial habits of the people; the position through some inherent weakness of of woman and the character of the fam- themselves, and thus the work of evan- ily they are responsible for; the or- gelism become somewhat a work of ganization of Government, and the reformation rather than of religious character of the rulers they inspire; the revolution. Mohammedans, for in- state of public education, and the prac- stance, are bound to accept the Old tical bearing of religious worship on Testament Scriptures and the Gospel of actual life. We will as Christians in Jesus, because the Koran includes these many things have to lay our hands on among the inspired records ,which it is our mouths, bnt if we are shamed to se- obligatory on Moslems to obey; and it cure a freer course for our religion at thus becomes practical to present the home as well as abroad, we can prove acceptance of the Scriptures on the au- that there is in Christianity that which thority of their own acknowledged Sa- will produce it humanity which no other cred Book and prophet. religion among men can produce. Theo- Thus, too, Brahmanism is found to be logically we can show the defect of even weak. Investigation has shown that Chinese ethics as lacking any proper the Shasters and Puranas are but com- relation to God. Dr. Legge says, "I mentaries on the Vedas, and that the have been reading Chinese books for Vedas alone contain the originally re- more than forty years, and any general vealed truth obligatory upon Hindus. requirement to 'love God' or the men- But it is found that the Vedas do not tion of anyone as ' loving Him' has yet teach nor support caste, nor idolatry, to come for the first time under my eye."
nor many other things popularly held in the great Hindu form of heathenism.
The comparative study of religions be- A SIGNIFICANT MovEMENT IN BURMA.- ('omes thus a part of onr work in seek. Professor D. C. Gilmore writes to his ing to bring the world to Christ; awl so father, Dr. J. H. Gilmore, of the Roches- far from shrinking at the seemingly ter University, from Rangoon, under secular search after truth implied in date of March 2d, as follows: "I this comparative study of religions, have glorious news for you; the Bur- through fear lest the comparisons may mans have begun to come. At it village subject Christianity to less reverential near Pyinmana, in the Toungoo dis- consideration, the most progressiye and trict, a pure Burman village, the entire aggressive Christians hold it essential village has united to drive out the Bud- to the universal spread of Christianity. dhist priests and to ask the missionary Dr. Ellinwoocl well says, "It is per- to Bend them a Christian teacher. They've completely cleaned out the week the building was crowded to the priests, and I think- but of this I am door to hear the Gospel preached sim. not certain-that they have torn down ply and direetly to their minds and the monastery. Mr. Cochrane has sent hearts. At the close of this series of them teachers and preachers. services a request was sent to Dr. Pente· cost that those who heard him should ,. Do you realize the significance of be permitted to pay all the expenses inthat move? Such a thing has never curred that week; and at the last meethappened in the whole history of the ing a gentleman stood up, and in the Burman Mission. The Karens have name of all assembled thanked the Doc. come in that way again and again; but tor for what he had been teaching them never until now has a whole Burman vil- and trying to do for them, and he add· lage gone over in that style. It means ed, ., If any man had attempted fifteen a great deal-the first giving way, which years ago to speak in this manner to I doubt not will be followed by a rush. such an audience in Poona, he would It is the beginning of the end. Our have been torn in pieces; but here have hearts are filled with joy aud thankful- we been filling this place night after ness; even the least sanguine ar'! full night for a week, to hear, not lectures of enthusiasm." on secular subjects, but a plain, simple, direct exposition of the Gospel of -We are pleased to learn that it is Christ. This shows how great a change definitely settled that Rev. S. H. Kel. has come over us in Poona." – The Ol,ris. logg, D.D., is to return to India at the tian. close of this summer to act with other able scholars in the revision of the Old New Publications. Testament in Hindi. Weare certainly loath to see him leave this country; [J. T. G.] and the St. James' congregation in To. ronto, the pastorate of which he now reo Everything that increases our in. signs for this more special field, will formation in regard to a country with feel his departure sorely. But the duty which we are so little acquainted as we is plain. Neither America nor Europe are with Korea, .. The Hermit Nation," has a scholar, taken all in all, more should be hailed with pleasure. We are thoroughly fitted and furnished for the pleased to say to our readers that the important task to which the providence Religions Tract Society of Korea has of God now assigns Dr. Kellogg. His started a monthly magazine at Seoul, lectures delivered recently at Princeton called the Karean Repository. The price College, on "Modern Theory of the is $2 a year. It contains articles from Origin of Religion," were of a masterly all classes and nationalities represented order. A more genial gentleman could in the Peninsula, discussing the history, not be found. as an associate in the language, literature, religion, manners labors to which our brother is now ap- and customs of the Koreans, and all pointed under the British and Foreign other matters of interest abont this Bible Society; and we cougratulate his •• Italy of the Far East." The editor of associates in this great work. this department of the REVIEW will reo ceive subscrjptions from Americans as -At Poona, Dr. Pentecost preached showing his interest in this new and in a large theatre. The committee of worthy enterprise. management so arranged it that none but educated Brahmans should be ad. Two very excellent and helpful books mitted, and every night of a whole have appeared recently treating of the religions of the world, very unlike and yet each valilable after its kind. The one is a series of brief addresses given of martyrs, evangelists, and tbilan. in London by recognized able exponents thropists, who, just as the translator of each of the non-Christian religions, renders a word into vocables anll symand of the several branches of the Chris- bols intelligible to the ear of each Afritian churches. It is intended to present can tribe, so by their lives, their utternothing but a condensed, plain state- ances, and manner of dying, translated ment, in the working.man 's vocabulary, into symbols intelligible to the hearts of these several faiths and divisions of of the poor African the great, the eter- Christendom. Its title is "Religious nal and all-sufficient truth that Jesus Systems of the World" (Macmillan & Christ died on the cross for the salva. Co., New York). tion of the whole human race." It is not in our thought to review this excel- A wholly different book, and one of lent survey of the missionary occupa- far greater value to the student of the re- tion of Africa, with its valuable maps ligions of the world, is that of Dr_ Ellin. of every part; but we must make a wood, just issued by the Scribners, en· quotation applicable at this hour, when titled" Oriental Religions and Christian. our Student Volunteers illustrate it : " A ity," which, besides clearly presenting dying world lies at the door of Europe- beliefs of the Oriental world, dis· a world ignorant, but not by their own cusses candidly and boldly the several fault, of Christ's great sacrifice; from questions to which their study gives every rank of the community of the Neo- rise. The lectures were delivered be· Latin races, and of no other, men and fore the students of Union Theological women leap out and cry, 'Send me, Seminary, on the Ely Lectureship send me to my dying fellow-creatures, Foundation. The opening lecture deals dying in body and soul. Never mind with need of understanding the false reo whether their color is black or brown ligions, followed by a lesson drawn from or red or yellow. Never mind whether the _Apostolic Church as a model in the they are cruel, or gentle and tractable.
method of dealing with them. Hindu· Never mind whether they are healthy or ism, Buddhism, and Islam are consid· leprous. Never mind if I die just when ered ; the traces of a primitive theism I land on their shores, or live to Bee them are sought; the ethical tendencies of pass from their barbarous nakedness the Eastern and Western philosophies into the decent form and order of a holy are contrasted, and the divine suprema. church; send me! I have but the desire cy of the Christian religion contended and a few poor talents; the issue is with for. We have no space for a proper re- God.' "
view of this most timely contribution to this class of literature.
The dedication of Dr_ R N_ Cust's -Rev. T. J_ Scott, D.D_, who has been nearly thirty years in active missionary volume, entitled "Africa Rediviva," is service, has made selections from his touching and very suggestive_ It is as contributions to the press from time to follows: "To the memory of Simon of time; and Dr_ C_ C. McCabe's Self-Sup- Cyrene, the first African cross-bearer; porting Missionary Literature Departthe eunuch of Ethiopia, the first Afri- ment, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, has can who was baptized; Apollo of Alex- printed these. The title is "Sparks andria, the first African mighty in the from the Anvil of a Busy Missionary;" Scriptures; Cyprian and Augustine, the the price is twenty-five cents. We first men, and Katharina, Felicitas, understand that Dr. Scott asks no royand Perpetua, the first women who died alty from the publishers. The great for Christ in Africa; Frumentius, the variety of themes, crisply treated, will first tl'finslatorof God's Word into alan- make it helpful to a wide range of read· guage of Africa; and thnt great Ilrmy ers.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
A Letter from Dr. Kerr Cross. Sabbath, at four, besides the English service, a native service at the chief's From Uwundale, Song we Valley, Lake house, nearly 100 present. At first we had few women, but now a goodly num· Nyassa, East Central Africa, Dr. W. Kerr ber. It is amusing to see these rude men standing at the hymns and doing Cross writes : their best with grunts and groans to imitate the tunes. They are getting " Mrs. Cross and I reached our home on, however. Nyembere sits on a stool in the centre, and is all ears and eyes; here October 1st, 1891. I was sent by and when we pmy is most careful that every eye is closed. The idea of God the oomllittee to build on the hills if punishing by fire (hell) is entirely new to him, and he listened with rapt attenpossible before the present rains, Mrs. tion when I had occasion to refer to hell, and when I had finished turned Cross to remain at the central station to the women, saying, ' You women, you hear! if you do bad and don't cook half way up the lake, with Dr. and Mrs: our food, God will roast you in that fire,' pointing to the ashes. Laws till this home should be complet. " The windows and fireplaces of our ed. She did stay a month; but Dr. house are sources of great amusement The natives stare at one another and Laws, being unwell, left fer England, talk. When a fire is put on and the smoke does not fill the house they are and my wife came north. Meanwhile I amazed. Then one stoops and looks up the chimney; anotber explains that the had selected a site and begun building. smoke goes up a hole in the wall and comes out at the top. Out they go to " The country here is worth fighting see this, and explain among themselves how it gets beyond the thatch; then for-the finest in these parts, equally clapping their thighs, they say, ' He! th~ white men! what wisdom they have!' distant from the various settlements of " Our influence is not confined to one white men, English and German as a tribe, but reaches to many. Already we have been visited by several chiefs doctor should be ; from 5000 to 6000 feet and deputations from others. We aim at a large school with youth drawn from above the sea and 3000 feet above the various tribes, to be educated and sent back to open schools in their own counlake. This valley is ten miles by from try. "
three to five, and with aThriechperoepdlesoairl~ Some of the missionary dead of 1891 and abounds in cattle. are thus recorded by the Christian at Work: famed for their garden s. Here are many " Bishop French ascended from Aravarieties of bananas and plantains. bia ; Bishop Boone, having only for a short time been enrobed in the mantle .. When we began work here, Nyem- of bis father, the renowned missionary, died in China ; Newton, 'the beloved • bere, the chief, was at war with a neigh- boring chief, and appealed to me to de- cide on the affair. The discussion was opened' by my reading and explaining the ten commandments, lind assuring them that God was ever angry with war, and that, as white men who obeyed God, we could not but frown on such, etc.
Ny.e. mMbirearseeowfak, eetphiengoonfef thcehriaeif~ accused from his country last year. And so they fought, etc. I decided that both were wrong; and as Mirasewa began the war, he must bring a bull and kill it before me. This was done, and they shook hands and ate together as friends; and so our in- fluence began, and many disputes be- tween chiefs and private men have been deliberated on since.
" We hope soon to have a school and begin more direct spiritual work. Every morning at six we have 150, including workers, for singing and prayer. O~ of the Punjab, was followed to better Cairns had apparently in him the vigor than India's palaces by Winter, of the of his prime. He was born in 1818, and Delhi Mission, who loved his special was but seventy.four years old. His last work more than he did a bishopric. words were, ., Only they who openly Amid the lamentations of thousands identify themselves with the cause of that ' good servant of the Lord,' Bishop God will be victorious and trium- Caldwell, was laid to rest after fifty-four phant." James Calvert was born in years of labor in India for IndIa; Dr. 1813. and was, therefore, seventy.nine ; Luther H. Gulick, the founder of a large he died on Tuesday, March 8th, and Prin- missionary family, went up to the cipal Cairns on Saturday, March 5th. , bosom' of the 'Father of the faith- The two men were in many things ful ;' and dear and great John Inglis strikingly alike, though in others in dropped his finished translation of the marked contrast. But each in his visions of him of Patmos to open his sphere achieved an enviable success, eyes on the beatific vision of the An. and are together in one reward. cient of Days. Redslob, the Moravian sentinel of the outer patrol limit of Born a Savage, Died a Bishop. Christendom on the edge of Thibet, went to know the richer meaning of Those who attended the London 'Nam Thang Song,' and to find it' all Missionary Conference of 1888 will re- bright ahead' forever. Sheshadri, the call the kindly face of the aged Bishop first Asiatic whom America ever honored Samuel Crowther. He died in London, with a doctorate of divinity, found a December 31st, being something over fitting sepulchre in the sea for his body, eighty years of age. He was born, he while his soul went to the 'sea of never knew when, in the Yoruba coun- glass.' Goloknath of Jalander was car- try, one hundred miles inland from the ried to hill burial by 'devout men,' Bight of Benin. He was carried off by and honored by the presence at his Mohammedan slavers In 1819, and was funeral of European officials and a thou- exchanged for a horse. He was treated sand Hindus and Mohammedans." with the greatest cruelty. Again he was exchanged for some tobacco. The slave This list is but partial. Wellington J. vessel was captured by an English man- White's tragic end cannot be forgotten; of-war, and young Adjai, as he was . the Moravian Marx also died at Leh, named, was sent to the church mission and many more, obscure, perhaps, in school at Sierra Leone. In 1825 he was human eyes, but emblazoned on God's christened by the Vicar of Christ Church, immortal scroll. Think of the mis- Newgate, Samuel Crowther. In 1829 he sionaries dying in Africa alone in 1891 ! married a native girl,who had been educated in the same school. He taught The almost simultaneous death of for a while, and accompanied the first Rev. James Calvert, formerly of the Fiji Niger expedition. He then went to Mission, and Principal Johu Cairns, of England and studied in the Church Edinburgh, takes from earth two of the Missionary College. He became a min- most distinguished men of the genera- ister, and went with the second Niger tion-Mr. Calvert, very conspicuous for expedition in 1854. He translated the missionary toils and triumphs, and Bible into the Yoruba language. He Principal Cairns, perhaps the most gift- was set apart as a bishop-the Bishop ed, learned, and really great man in of the Niger territory, in West Africa- Scotland. If auy man survives who in 1864. In May, 1880, the Royal Geo- combined so much mental power with graphical Society presented him with a so much childlike gentleness and gen· gold watch. Bishop Crowther was a erosity, we know not who he is. Mr. ~odl! man, of llU(lh intellectual powerl Q~lvert had fetireq from, wgrk, but Pro ann with a great authority over the na- was already producing a vast social and tives with whom he dealt. He was very political revolution. People were to- highly esteemed in England. His life day taking to heart the suffering and is a striking illustration of the power of misery of their fellow·creatures as they Christianity to uplift the savage races. never did before. They who represent. All that he was he owed to Christianity. ed the London Mission were the illus- trations of that new awakening of ten- When we remember that only ten der sympathy. This movement in Lonyears ago the people of Uganda and Vic· don was the direct result of the" Bit· toria Nyanza' were almost unknown to ter Cry of Outcast London." When the world, it is surprising to read that that remarkable pamphlet appeared a the missionaries recently sold in a few few years ago it tortured the souls of weeks 4000 reading sheets printed in many. They felt it was a veritable the native language. They send word shame that while they were sitting in that they could. sell 10,000 copies at cushioneJ corners of their pews there once if they had them. They say the were hundreds and thousands standing people are most anxious to acquire the under the shadow of their sanctuaries. art of reading, and their eagerness for books is astonishing. "As long as we Christianity is not dying out, but has had a reading sheet or a book left." moved forward until it has obtained a writes one, "a crowd swarmed around marvellous hold among all civilized naus day and night, and hundreds were tions. The .Army Ohaplain states the foldisappointed when the supply gave lowing: "Three centuries after Christ out." there were 5,000,000 Christians. Eight centuries after Christ there were 30,000,- The work in Africa, with all its hin- 000 Christians. Ten centuries after drances, goes forward so rapidly and Christ there were 50,000,000 Christians. with such strides that the records of Fifteen centuries after Christ there were yesterday will be out of date to-morrow. 100,000,000 Christians. Eighteen cen- turies after Christ there were 174,000,000 London Wesleyan Mission. Christians. Now there are 450,000,000 Christians. The followers of the three The London Wesleyan Mission about religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, lind six years since began its work. Atten- Taoism, all combined, are less in numtion was first directed to the East End, ber than the Christians alone. Includand afterward St. James's Hall, in the ing the latest division of Africa among west, and other parts of London, were the European powers, about four fifths made the centres of important mission- of the land of the world is under Chris· ary (,fforts. In addition to the minis· tian control." So much for figures; terial staff, some seventy •• Sisters of but what of the general influence upon the People" and twenty lay agents are society! Of one thing we must beware. employed in the mission, and as the The above figures represent not the conoutcome of their work about five thou- verted disciples of Christ, but those sand persons are .. meeting in class, " identified with so.called Christian commost of whom previously belonged to munities. no church. Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, before a large assemblage in the Free We publish gladly the following cor- Trade Hall, Manchester. observed that rection : nothing wall more remarkable in the present age than the growing sensitive- .. In the MISSIONARY REVIEW for Noness to the amount of pain and misery vember there are some pages of in- for~ation respectins, British foreiRI!, iu the world, ',fhjl! te~derness of heart 464 EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS. [June missions, by Rev. James Johnston, Bol- asked him if he expected to end his ton, England. Respecting' English days in the poorhouse, since he squan- Missions in Canada,' he says: •With the dered his money in that way. .. Ah," translation of the Bible into the Cree said Mr. Carter, ., how little he foresaw language, the Bishop of Moosonee that the time was coming when Robert writes honie that he is making rapid and Alexander Stuart would gi-ve habituprogress.' The writer overlooks the fact ally $50,000 a year to foreign missions that the Bible was translated into Cree and $50,000 to home missions I" Mr. many years ago by the Rev. Henry Stein- Carter, speaking of Robert and Alexanhauer, an Ojibway Indian, but for many der Stuart, says: "They began to give years a missionary of the Methodist small subscriptions to benevolent ob- Church to the Crees, and John Sinclair, jects, which increased with increasing a half. breed of the Cree nation. Tl,J.at prosperity. They first gave hundreds, translation was printed by the British then thousands. then tens of thousands, and Foreign Bible Society, in the syl- and at last hundreds of thousands."- labic characters invented by the Rev. Churchman. James Evans, at that time Methodist mis~ionary at Norway House. The Extract from Christian Ltader, June manuscript was entrusted to another 25th, 1891. Mission field. "Baptist missionary-the Rev. William Mason- Blundering on the Congo." .. In the who subsequently became a minister in Monthly ~JJfessenger of Storie Street, Bapthe Church of England. Mr. Mason had tist Church, Paisley, of which Dr. O. the oversight of the printing, and dis- Flett is pastor, reference is made to an honestly introduced his own name into address lately given by Rev. R. D. Darthe title-page, completely ignoring the by, from the Congo." "The story work of Messrs. Steinhauer and Sinclair. which he told of the privations and He also represented himself as the hardships which he and his companinventor of the syllabics, thus robbing ions had endured was a sad and pitiful James Evans of the honor of the discov- one. His two companions died, and he ery. We are under the impression that himself only narrowly escaped. In the work on which the Bishop of Moo- listening to such a story one cannot sonee is now engaged is not a new trans- help feeling that there is great and lation in the syllabics, but a translitera- inexcusable blundering somewhere. tion into Roman characters of the exist- There is really no need why our mising edition, probably with such im- sionaries should be left in such straits proved readings as may be suggested by for the lack of the common necessaries his knowledge of the Cree tongue. But of life. If the Mission Committee in on this point we have no positive in- London, who are responsible, would formation."-Missionary OuUook. only show a little more business ability in providing for the wants of their A few years before her death Robert agents, no calamity of the kind would Carter called upon Mrs. Stuart, and she be likely to overtake them. The sad drew from a desk an old document, thing is that the lack of proper prowhich she handed to him. It was a vision for the wants of the agents sent call for a first meeting to discuss the out has less or more characterized the propriety of forming a Board of F<Yreign management of the committee from the _Missions. Mrs_ Stuart said that her hus- beginning. The effects of this are band had gone to that meeting, and in shown in the fact that about 60 per cent the enthusiasm of his heart had pledged of the missionaries sent out to the Conhimself to give $500. When he came go district have died. Surely a radical home his mother and his brother Alex_ change in the mode of conducting the ander were full of consternation, and mission is called for !"
1892.' THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF JIUSSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY ,VILLIAM EllENTON GREENE, JR., D.D.
AFRICA. and apes and slaves. The explorations The four evangelists record 0ur Sav. of late years have, however, acquainted iour's activity when He was on earth us with its principal physical features.
in the flesh. Luke, in the Acts of the It has few harbors considering its great Apostles, begins at His ascension and extent of coast. It rises gradually from narrates the continuance of His work a hard beach of yellowish sand; it in the Church by His Spirit for thirty- spreads out into broad plateaus; and four years. It was, however, promised these are traversed by five systems of that the Spirit of Christ should be the mountains, some of them lofty. It is life of the Church. " Iro ! I am with watered by many lakes and large rivers, you alway, even unto the end of the chief among which are the Zambesi on world," said our Lord. It is evident, the east, the Niger and the Congo on therefore, that the Acts must be an un- the west, and on the north the long, finished book. Christian history in mysterious, though historic Nile. It is every age is as truly the story of tho a land of forests, seemingly trackless activity of Christ's Spirit as is apostolic and impenetrable, which yield ebony, history. This is never more conspicu- dye woods, palm-oil, gums, copal, and ously the case than in the annals of india.rubber, and whose clearings pro- foreign missions; and nowhere prob- duce plantains, cassava, tapioca, Indian ably has the work of evangelization been corn, slIgar-cane, much else, so abun- more evidently supernatural, more dantly and readily that industry be- manifestly inspired and guided and de- comes useless and indolence inevitable.
veloped by Christ through His Spirit, At the same time Africa may well be than in that vast and dark continent called the country of the desert. For which, under the name of Ethiopia, is 900 miles along the western seaboard represented in Scripture as about to toward the south there is not a drop of stretch out her hands unto God, and to fresh water and but one fertile spot.
which our thoughts are for a little while An even larger region along the eastern to be directed. coast nearer the equator is dry and Africa is the southern continent of sterile. North of the eqlIator i;; the the eastern hemisphere. Bounded on Sahara or Great Desert, 3000 miles the north hy the Mediterranean Sea, on long, with an average width of 1000 the east by the Red Sea and the Indian miles; its area is almost equal to that Ocean, on the south by the Southern of the whole of our own vast country.
Ocean, and on ·the west by the Atlantic " Its surftlce, lower in many places than Ocean, it has, since the opening of the the Mediterranean Sea, is made up of Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to shifting sand, rough gravel, and barren the Red Sea, become a continental isl- rock, variously distributed, and occa· and. Lying between the 37° of north. sionally traversed by low chains of bare and the 340 of south latitude, it is al. hills. Extensive plains of salt also oc- most wholly within the tropics. Tri. cur. Throughout this sterile region rain angular in shape, its greatest length is is almost unknown, and the heat is ter- 4330 miles; its extreme width, 4000 rific," sometimes indicating, especially miles; and its area, 11,360,000 miles, during the hot wind and stand storms, nearly four times that of the United over 1200 F. in the shade. The western States. portion of the Sahara is the wildest and Until very recently little or nothing the most desolat.e. In the eastern part was known of the interior of Africa, ex- are numerous oases, some of which cept that it was rich in gold and ivory cover many miles of fertile territory. The climate of these oases and of the the ancient Egyptians, and are a mixed forests and rich table-lands of Africa, race, their ancestors having intermarwhich make up two thirds of the conti- ried with Greeks, Nubians, and Abysnent, is very different from that of the Sllllans. Their complexion is brownish desert. Rain is regular and abundant; yellow, their foreheads fiat, their hair the average temperature is about 80" woolly, their lips thin, and their eyes F.; and the thermometer seldom if bent upward like the Chinaman's. ever rises above 98° in the shade. Their home is Northern Egypt. Next we have the Nilotic race, comprising the Africa does not seem to be very rich Nubians in Nubia, the Abyssinians in in minerals. Gold, however, is found Abyssinia, and the Gollos along the in Guinea. Iron and copper occur in eastern coast farther south. These are many of the intertropical places. Seams all strong, vigorous people, often handof coal have been discovered along the some, more or less dark, and standing banks of the Zambesi. Salt is said to between the Berber and the negro. Of be plentiful everywhere. Diamonds of the latter no description is necessary. fine quality and great size have been Suffice it to say, that their home is the found. It is not unlikely that there are Soudan or Central Africa; that they are many mineral treasures yet to be un- very numerous; and that many of them earthed. are partially civili:led. They are found to improve as we penetrate the country, The vegetable wealth of Africa has and there is reason to expect gratifying been alluded to. Its fauna also are nu- developments when we sha1l become merous and highly characteristic. Land acquainted with the vast inland tribes animals preponderate over water ones, of which now almost nothing is known. and many of the quadrupeds are exclu- Nobler far and more characteristic of sively African in their origin. Such Afrioa than the negro is the Bantu race. are the chimpanzee, the gorilla, the dog- Nearly the whole southern half of the faced baboon, the two-horned rhinocer- continent is their home. A recent os, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, and traveller thus describes them: ""The five sixths of the known species of ante- Bantu is a fine, tall, upright man, with lope. It is in a land extensive, varied, delicately small hands and well-shaped productive, and peculiar as this that feet, a fine face, high, thin nose, beard the races live the problem of whose and;mustache. . .. Some of them are perevangelizatiolj. we are about to study. fect Greek statues as regards the splen- did development and poise of figure." The people of Africa may be divided Finally, we have the Gouipine race, into native and foreign. The foreign composed of Hottentots, Korannas, and element, which is numerous, consists Bushmen. ~enoe they originated is of Europeans, Arabs, Moors, Turks, and a mystery. They are thought to resem- Jews. The native element embraces ble the Chinese. Like them, they have six races which are, to a greater or less the high cheek-bones, the oblique eye, degree, allied, and which all spring the thin beard, the yellowish complexfrom the great Indo-Ethiopic fa·mily. ion. They differ, however, in their They are thus a mixture of the pure hair and in the formation of the bones African type with the Asiatic, and they of the pelvis. In height they rarely differ in race characteristics according exceed four feet six inches; and they as the one type or the other predomi- are lively, cheerful, and by no means nates. The Berbers are the descendants wanting in intellect. These six races of the primitive stress of the land. with the foreigners give a total not far a'hey vary in color from blaok to dark from 300,000,000, or considerably more bronze or copper, have high cheek- than four times the population of the bones, thin lips, expressive eyes, curly United States. hair, and athletic forms. Their home is Northern Africa. Then there are the Copts. These are the desQendants of Of the social, moral, and religious African people wherein lies the hope of condition of these millions little that is their future. They are born traders.
good can be said. The northern half They have created a true currency, of Africa has the characteristics of Ara- though not a money one. "In the bic civilization. The people are pas- m"nagement of a bargain," says Stan- toral and nomadic. They have the ley, " I should back the Congoese na- Arab's genius both for war and for tive against Jew or Christian, Parsee or trade, In general, we may say of them Bouyan, in all the round world. Un- that they are restless, fierce, warlike, sophisticated is the very last term I proud, aggressive; in trade, keen, ver- should ever apply to an African child satile, grasping; in morals, grossly sen- or man in connection with the knowl- sual, as the Abyssinians, or proudly ab- edge of how to trade. I have seen a stemious, "s the Nubi"ns, They are all child of eight do more tricks of trade in stamped with the'virtues and the vices an hour than the cleverest European of the Moslem faith. Many of them tmder on the Congo could do in a h"ve heard of the S"viour, but almost month."
none of them have found life in Him or As to morals and religion, the picture even realized their need of Him. is an extremely dark one. Degradation The southern half of Africa is utterly is well-nigh universal. Polygamy is destitute of any civilization worthy of everywhere practised. The idea of the name. The people live in indepen- chastity seems to have been entirely dent groups under the command of a lost. The value of human life is not king, whose slaves they usually are, appreciated. Mutilation and death are As to intelligence, there is a v"st differ- the punishments for the slightest of- ence in different tribes. The Bololo fences. Human sacrifices are common.
people, for example, in the bend of the Cannibalism is prevalent. Atrocities Congo, clear away the forest and raise which among us might not even be crops of maize and mandioc", They mentioned are with them of daily occur- are expert in the working and smelting rence. There is no worship in the of brass. They understand division of proper sense of the word. Religion has labor. Their streets are straight and deg'merated into a superstition called their houses commodious. Of the peo- fetichism.
ple in the Nyassa district, however, It does not come so near to the wor- Professor Drummond gives the follow- ship of God as idolatry does; for the ing description: " Hidden away in the idolater professes to worship God endless forests, like birds' nests in a through the idol, while the African, wood, in terror of one another and of though admitting the existence of a their common foe, the slaver, are small Creator and Father, gives Him no actual native villages; and here in his virgin worship. Sacrifices are made and simplicity dwells primeval man, with- prayers are regularly offered; but there out clothes, without civilization, with. is no confession of sin, no thanksgiv- out learning, without religion, the gen- ing, no praise. Fetichism conRists in'
uine child of nature-thoughtless, care- the wearing of charms or amulets to less, and contented. This man is appal" secure a wish or to ward off an enemy.
ently quite happy; he has practically These charms may be anything-a shell, no wants. One stick' pointed makes a bone, even a rag-that has been con- him a spear; two sticks rubbed together secrated by the fetich doctor, who pro- make him a fire; fifty sticks tied to- fesses to inject into it, by means of gether make him a house. The bark drugs and incantations, a spirit by he peels from them makes his clothes; whom one can be made successful.
the fruits which hang on them make his Ascetic rnles are also to be obeyed. In food." There is, howe,er, one com- a word, the only religion of the native mon characteristic of all the Central is a bondage to fear; and if we except the coast regions, this religion is well- of Belgium, losing his dear son, adopted nigh universal. "In Stanley's journey Africa with her sable children as his of 7000 miles from Zanzibar to Banana, own, out of his royal fortune giving a he saw neither a Christian disciple nor a princely sum annually for her sake. man who had even heard the Gospel What an event was that when, under message !" the presidency of Prince Bismarck. fif- teen nations, by their representatives, What, then, has been the work of the assembled to torm the "International Spirit of Christ for AfrIca? Association of the Congo" I And who are the 'national parties to this most reo He has inspired the explorations by markable compact against the slave which the Dark Continent has been tmde and for civil and religious free. brought to the notice of the Christian dom? Not only Protestant powers, but world, and opened up to the heralds of Papal kingdoms, the Greek Church as the Gospel; but for the patient and represented by Russia, and even Islam heroic forced marches or Speke and as represented by Turkey. When in Grant and Baker and Cameron and the history of the world has there been Stanley, missionaries could not go into such a union of the nations of the earth, the interior of Africa; and, indeed, the not to Ilpeak of different forms of faith, need of them there would not be appre- and all in the interest" of the kingdom ciated. It is significant, therefore, that of Christ? Can we do otherwise than these intrepid explorers, who for the exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" sake of science or adventure gave the Once more, He has developed as well best years of their lives to seeking to as inspired and guided the missions solve the mysteries of the Dark Conti. themselves. If wonderful works are nent, would probably never have seen it needed to prove t.he presence and power but for David Livingstone. Herein is of the Spirit of Christ, these works have the greatness of his work. He was mis- not been wanting. The Moravians taken in many of his geographical the. seem to have been the first in this field, ories, but his mistakes inspired those as in many otbers. In 1737 George who corrected them. He planted no Schmidt, one of their number, sailed missions himself, but his missionary from Holland and established a mission spirit inspired the most effe~tive mis- at Gnadenthal, 120 miles north of the sions in Africa. He did not live to see Cape of Good Hope. Here he labored the results of his arduous labors. After for nine years, gathering a little com· forty attacks of fever he died on his panyof converts numbering 47 families. knees in a grass hut amid the swamps He then went back to Holland to induce near Lake Bangweolo, early in May, others to join him, but was not allowed 1873; but that dying prayer was an· to return. Not until 1792 did the Mora ' swered. With his death began a new vians obtain permission to resume their era for the "Dark Continent." Who work in Africa. Then three humble will say that the Spirit of Christ that artisans were sent to that same place. lived in him did not inspire the explo· There among the first to welcome them rations which his death powerfully stim- was a poor blind woman, an aged pupil ulated, and which but for his life would and convert of Schmidt's, bringing with have been impossible? Again, the her the old treasure Testament which Spirit of Christ has controlled the pol- he had given her fifty years before. icy of empires in the interests of Afri. Who but the Spirit of Christ could have can evangelization. In the words of kept that handful of believers faithful Dr. Pierson, "Perhaps no more won- in the midst of a continent" dead in derful occurrence has been recorded trespasses and sins" ? Was there ever since Pentecost than the Berlin Confer· a more striking illustration of the truth ence, that, in the closing weeks of 1884, that He who begins the good work in met to determine the constitution of the Congo Free State.. King Leopold us will perform it until the day of Jesus tioned anarchy. The different tribes Christ? In 1799 the first four mission- are at war constantly. The same is true aries of the London Missionary Bociety of the different families of the tribe; arrived at the Cape. The Dutch Re- hence, unkind feelings are engendered, formed Church is another of the early and to deal with people so irritated agents in the South African mission '.lalls for unusual patience, prudence, canse. The two great societies of the decision, tact. Another obstacle is in- Church of England, the Society for the dolence. The wants of the natives are Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign so few that they grow up in idleness. Parts and the Church Missionary So- When they profess Christianity, thereciety, were erelong in the field, begin- fore, their change of heart does not at ning their labors, the latter in Abyssinia, once make them diligent. There is the former in South Africa. Egypt has small occasion for diligence. They been successfully occupied by the have, consequently, to be taught indus- United Presbyterian Church of the tries as well as religion. In no field are United States. '.I,'he western coast is lay missionaries, Christian mechanics, the Bcene of very many missions of very and farmers so much needed. many churches. Here we come to Ashantee, where the celebrated native Bish. A further obstacle is slavery. The op Crowther, whose death we have been united influence of the many mission. called on so lately to mourn, labored ; ary societies and the efforts of one and here, too, but farthest down of all Christian nation after another have enwe find Gaboon, and the field well oc- tirely broken up the slave trade, so far cupied by the American Presbyterian as the west coast is concerned. It is, Board, in which field, as in all this re- however still carried on clandestinely gion, the mortality among the mission. on the east coast, and it exists everyaries has been so great that it has been where unrestrained as a domestic instiwell called .. the White Man's Grave." tution. Indeed, slaves constitute the In 1875, a year after Livingstone's laboring class, and hence arises an exdeath, a memorial mission was founded cuse on the part of the free for their infor him on Lake Nyassa, and it has been dolence. In their view work is not very successful. Space, however, would only largely unnecessary, it is also disfail were even the barest enumeration honorable because associated with slaof the missionary agencies now at work very. in Africa to be attempted. Statistics, too, with reference to this field are sin. A fourth obstacle is intemperance. gularly unreliable. Like the maps of The natives have their own beer and the country, they change daily. Ten wine, but they have learned to like the years ago the report was 730 ordained more intoxicating qualities of imported missionaries, 73,000 native communi. rum, gin, and whiskey. 'I'hese are obcants, 250,000 under instruction-prob- tained in abundance at all the foreign ably a million more or less under the trading houses. The testimony of the influences of Christianity; and ten missionaries is that where converts are years ago the Christian Church was just now reckoned by hundreds they would beginning to rouse herself for the evan· be numbered by thousands but for the gelization of the .. Dark Continent." rum trade. "What a record against the Protestant Christianity of Great It should not be supposed, however, Britain and Germany and America !" that the work, because it has been rapid, is easy. It has peculiar difficulties. Polygamy. with its kindred vices and Perhaps no field calls for more of the the moral degradation which result heroism which only the Holy Spirit can from them, is another and most serious inspire. obstacle. 'rhe people have become so debased that there seems to be no moral Among these obstacles may be men- foundation on which to bnild. The climate, too, must not go unmentioned. It has proved singularly, fearfully fatal we account for such apostolic lives as to the missionaries. Now that they Moffat's, as Livingstone's, as Black's, have learned how best to adapt them· as Bushnell's, as Harrington's, as Mac· selves to it, it is less so. At the same kay's, as Crowther's, as those of many time, however, another difficulty has other missionaries that may not now be arisen. The natives cannot understand mentioned, unless the same Christ who why foreigners cannot the as they do ; lived in Paul by the Spirit lived also in and so it often comes to pass that in them? ·Can we doubt that the land in proportion as the missionary takes care which the Saviour Himself is thus diof his health he loses influence in his recting and sustaining the work of evanfield, on the ground that he is too lux- gelization will soon stretch out her urious. hands unto God? Is she not even now beginning to do so? Can we, then, reo That, therefore, the wonderful prog. sist the short and emphatic appeal ad. ress of the past twenty years has been dressed by David Livingstone from the made in spite of all these obstacles is centre of Africa to the Protestant in itself most encouraging. The simple churches of the world, "Coml) on, fact that the Bible has already been brethren !n Friendship for Christ, translated into sixty.six of the Ian. mere loyalty to Him, compels us to do guages and dialects of Africa is a stu- so. Not to be interested in the evanpendous achievement. Great expecta. gelization of Africa is not to be intertions, too, may be cherished with refer- ested in what is conspicuously the work ence to the missionary influence of the of our Friend, who redeemed us with colored people of the United States_ His own precious blood. In number 7,000,000, what might they not accomplish for their brethren over -A testimony to the value of misthe sea if only they themselves were sions is given by Jesse Seligman, the baptized witl~ the missionary spirit? Jewish banker, who is now travelling Can we doubt th.3.t it is God's purpose on the Nile. He says: "I am glad to make them missionaries? Have we, to inform you that the American misthen, any duty more pressing than to sionaries all along the Nile are doing give them the churches and schools splendid work. You can scarcely enter necessary for their religious and moral II single town or village without finding training? Most encouraging,however, one of these nicely constructed school. are the effects of the Gospel on the houses where these Arabs are taught, character of the Africans, who seemed and it would IIstonish you to hear with to have no character. The Pentecostal what pride they say they were taught at blessing has been repeated on the Con- the American mission school… go. In places not a few the people, thieves before, hhve become honest. -The statistics of the Presbyterian Liars before, they have become truthful. missions in Siam and Laos, as l·ecently Indolent, they have become industri- reported, are as follows: Ordained misous. Their idols they have burned; sionaries, 14 ; medical missionaries, 4 ; Christ they have enthroned Lord of all. single lady missionaries, 9; native The Christians in the neighboring isl- preachers, teachers, etc., 54; number and of Madagascar have remained true of churches, 13 ; communicants, 1113 ; in spite of persecution unsurpassed for number added last year, 239 ; boys in cruelty in any age. If the Waldenses boarding. schools, 208; girls in boardare rightly called the ~Iartyr Church, ing-schools, 146; day-school pupils, the believers of Madagascar are fully as 320.-Dr. Ellinwood. worthy 6f the honorable title. Can we explain this save on the ground that the Spirit of Christ sustained them? Can
GENERAL MISSIoNARY UtTELUGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
-Under 120 of the wills reported in this country more than 2,000,000 of during last year in this couptry, the be- Slavs; the Poles number 1,500,000 and quests for religious, educational, and the Bohemian~, 350,000. Chicago alon" charitable purposes have amounted to contaius 100,000, Cleveland and Detroit about $7,000,000. are also large centres, while the mining regions of Pennsylvania hold many -The population of the city of New thousands; but llJUong them only a very York exceeds that of North Dakota, slight beginning in missionary work has South Dakota, Montana, Washington, been made. Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming. The PresbyteJ:ians and Congre- -Says the venerable Archdeacon gationalists have only 85 pastors f>t work Kirkby, who in he service of the Church in New York City, while in the eight MiBsionary Society spent 27 years among new States the two denominations have the Indians of Rupert's Land: "There 540 pastors and workers. The Roman is no better argument for Christianity Oatholics have 115 parish churches and than a congregaMon of Indians repeatchapels in New York City, with 300 ing in their own tongue the Apostles' priests and 300 Brothers, and 2000 re- Creed." There are now 10,000 baptized ligious women constantly at work among Indian Christians leading consistent the people. lives, and reading daily the Gospel of Jesus Christ. -Probably the largest congregation in America is that of the Church of St -In mission work the progress of the Stanislaus Kostka, in Chicago, which Methodist Episcopal Church during the has 30,000 communicants. The num- quadrennium has been marvellous. ber of attendants at the several masses Each year the income of the Missionary every Sunday frequently exceeds 15,000. Society has risen to a higher level, The cUl'e of souls committed to its reaching last year $1,228,888.04. The charge requires the services of 12 sum named does not include $263,660.69 priests. It has a parochial school at- raised by the Woman's Foreign Mistended by 3000 children, and these are sionary Society, nor $155,398.54 raised taught by 26 Sisters and 8 lay teachers. by the Woman's Home Missionary So- The church maintains an orphan asylum ciety, nor $311,827.56 raised by the in which about 300 inmates are cared Board of Church Extension, nor $322,- for. 656.44 raised by the Freedmen's Aid Society, nor many thousands of dollars -Five years have passed since the raised by the various city missionary Students' Volunteer Missionary Move- societies. Even more encouraging are ment started, and in connection with it the spiritual fruits. During the past almost 6000 have pledged themselves to year, in a single field (North India Conthe foreign field, if the way of entrance ference), the baptisms of convertedheashall be opened. Of this number about then have averaged at times 500 a week. 70 per cent are young men and 30 per The accessions in that field alone within cent are young women. Not far from the twelvemonth have amounted to 350 have already entered upon their 16,000. work, while some 500 are yet in theological schools, 125 in medical schools, EUROPE. and a far larger number in various colleges. Great Britain.-Seven of the direct- ors of the British East African Com- -It is estimateil that there are now pany-aIl of them Scotsmen except one -have instituted a new mission, to be lire from Peter's Pence; 3,000,000 lire known as the East Afrioan Soottish Mis- from English Consols ; 300,000 lire from sion, and have personally subsoribed various sources. The expenditures ure £10,000 for that purpose. computed as follows: Salaries of car- dinals, 650,000 lire; expenses of the -Rev. J. Hunt Cooke, editor of the Vatican for kitchen and household, in- London Freeman, estimates the total cluding the Guardia Nobile, 2,000,000 gross ineome of the Church of England lire; for legates, diplomats, etc., 1,000,- at £5,750,000 per annum, of whioh only 000 lire; stipends and pensions, 1,500,- 5 per oent is derived from endowments 000 lire; Apostolic palaces, 500,000; made since 1700, and by far the greater for San Giovanni in Laterano, 300,000 ; part is an inheritanoe from the days Archivio Borghese, 250,000 ; monument when the Roman Catholio Church was of Innooent III., 100,000; other exsupreme. The same authority puts the penses, 1,000,000 lire. total value of the endowment at £300,- 000,000, and calculates that this vast -The election of a new General of sum is equivalent to a bag of 100 sover- the Jesuit Order has been set for May, eigns for every letter of the Bible from the Convention to be held in the Gerthe first of Genesis to the last of Revela- man-Hungarian College in Rome. In tion. connection with this announcement the Rome correspondent of the Paris Temps -New statistics of Austria, exclusive gives the latest official statistics of the of Hungary, hllVe been coJIe'3ted. The Order. The Society of Jesus now numtotal population is 23,895,424. Of these bers 12,947 members. Of these 1764 18,814012 are Roman Catholics; 2,814,- belong to Italy; 2863 to France; 3470 012 Greek Catholics; 544,786 Oriental to Germany, Austria, and Holland, Greeks; 315,528 Lutheran Protestants; which three countries constitute one 120,524 Reformed Protestants; 1,148,- province; 2570 to Spain; 2307 to Eng- 506 Jews. land and her colonies.
Germany.-Among the receipts of -The Orthodox Church of Russia is the Basle Missionary Society last year divided into 60 bishoprics. Of these were $58,000 from poor friends of the 48 are in European Russia, 4 in the sooiety, who subscribed one cent a Trans Caucasus, 6 in Siberia, 1 in the week. Collectors obtained the amount Aleutian Islands, and 1 in Alaska with from them once in ten weeks. These the seat in San Francisco. Of these 60 collections are known by the name of bishops 3 are metropolitans, those of the sou missionaire. Kief, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Ac- cording to the latest statistics Russia -The Moravian Church in the for- had 1418 archdeacons, 34,345 priests, eign field has 135 stations and out-sta- 6810 deacons, 42,371 psalm-singers, and tions, 295 missionary agents, 59 native some 6000 unofficial clergymen. missionaries, 1664 native assistants, and 31,480 communicants. The missions -Sweden is the most Protestant are in Greenland, Labrador, Alaska, our country, for out of a population of own country, the East and West In- 4,774,409 only 810 are Roman Catholics, dies, Demerara, the Moskito Coast, Suri- or 16 out of every 100,000 ; and next to nam, Africa, Australia, North Queens- it in this respect is Norway, which is land, and Central Asia. under the same sovereign, and has only 502 Roman Catholics out of 1,818,853 Italy.-The Italia Evangelica reports inhabitants, or 27 out of every 100,000. the papal budget for 1892. The income In both of these countries the mass of is from the following sources: 1,500,000 the population adhere to the Lutheran lire (a lira is about 20 cents) from spir- Church. itual dignitaries and offices and admission fees to the museums; 2,550,000 AFRICA. agents of the British Bible Society have kept step with the Italian soldiers, and –Unoccupied mission territory to the Swedish missionaries have been laborextent of 4,000,000 square miles still ex- ing llere since 1866. In 1877, with the ists in Centl·al Africa, an area larger assistance of General Gordon, they esthan the whole of Europe, says Rev. tablished the station MoncuIlo, near George Grenfell, of the Baptist Congo Massower ; and this iH the first evangeli- Mission. cal congregation in Abyssinia, consisting chiefly of natives. Representatives of -It must not be supposed that all the Basle Society have been engaged British commercial companies ar here for fifty years, but have been exwholly without conscience and wholly pelled several times. The station Mongiven to gain. The British East Africa cu110 has gradually become a village. Company, for instance, in its scheme Among the 60 pupils in the boys' school, for raising revenue within its territories 38 are Abyssinians, 10 heathen Gallas, forbids the growth, sale, and use of and the others Mohammedans. The opium, bhnng, or gnnji. It entirely pro- Swedes have advanced to the mountain hibi ts the passage of ardent spirits into districts inland, and several Abyssinian the interior, and near the coast it places priests have been converted. 'l'he proheavy restrictions upon licensing liquor- tection of the Italian army and the shops. It recognizes the helpfulness of medical work of the Swedes have been missionary laborers, and exempts al'I valuable factors in these successes. ministers from taxation. In a similar Fully 2000 natives come into contact spirit the African Lakes Company is with the mission and the missionaries conducting its operations north of the every week. Zambesi.
– The Belgium Roman Catholics are -The Ovambo Mission of the Finnish pushing their work in the Congo Free Missionary Society, on the west coast State. One order has 5 stations occu- of South Africa, was opened in 1868, pied by a dozen priests, extending from but its work has often been hindered, the coast beyond the last Baptist sta- and several times has been nearly broken tion. The Bishop of Ghent also has a up by wars among the natives. Nine station at Matadi; and the Sisters of stations are now maintained. At a Charity occupy 3 stations on the Lower single one, LanomlB Harbor, 153 per- Congo. A mission steamer of seven sons were baptized in 1891, making the tons is being built for use upon the number of converts 312 at the close of river. The Jesuits and Carthusian the year. An additional missionary has friars are also entering the field; and recently gone to that field, and another on the eastern coast are found the white will be sent during the coming summer. Fathers of the congregation of Cardinal Lavigerie. More than 100 priests and ASIA. novices besides Sisters of Chal·ity have recently entered, or soon will enter, China.-The China Inland Mission that country as missionaries. reports 123 additions to its force the past year, making the whole number -The Italian expedition to Abyssinia now engaged in that work 512, occupyhas had at least the one good result of ing 94 different points. reopening that land to the messengers of a living Christianity. The lowland -Summing up for the year 1891, Secalong the coast has been in possession retary Mitchell, of the Presbyterian of the Italians for some three years, and Foreign Missionary Board, says of the this, the" Erythrean Colony," has been work in China that the presbytery of made the basis of further operations on the province of Shantung, which now the part of the Gospel workers. The embraces 28 churches, 7 of which have been recently organized, has had" the cupied by missions. Mr. Dutt quoted most prosperous year" in its history; some very striking figures from the cen- 760 communicants have been added to BUS returns, showing how rapid the the churches, making a total member- growth of Christianity had been in reo ship of 3392. It is said that there is cent years. In 1851 there were 91,000 but one presbytery in the United States Christians in India; in 1861 there were in which last year" the number of con- 138,000, an increase of 53 per cent; in verts was as large in proportion to the 1871 there were 224,000, an increase of number of ministers as in Shantung." 61 per cent; in 1881 there were 417,000, an increase of 86 per cent. This year India.-Professor Lindsay, D.D., the Christians are reckoned to be 2,000,- speaking at the meeting of the London 000 in number. Missionary Society, thus defined the problem presented by India: "There -A missionary has recently given were a hundred Indias, with a hundred this bit of evidence that the Gospel is different languages, and representing making progress in India: "There is a every stage of civilization, from the very considerable relaxation in the rigor most primitive to the most advanced. of caste bondage. This is true both in Such differences formed a great part of regard to the scope of caste rules, and the problem of mission work. Hindu- to the question of restoration when caste ism included only about a third of the has been lost. It cost a man more than 280,000,000 inhabitants of India; there $100,000 to be reinstated after losing were about 5~000,000 Moslem!!, 6,000,- his caste 70 or 80 years ago, and men 000 Sikhs, Parsees, and Christians, and were known to commit suicide because about 20,000,000 of aboriginal tribes. they failed to obtain restoration on any The number of pariahs–outside caste terms. In recent years it has been pur- -was, he thought, from 40,000,000 to chased by a wealthy man, to the writer's 60,000,000, and these were practically, personal knowledge, for $300. Caste for mission purposes, outside the great will be dear at a dollar after awhile." realm of Hinduism." ~The Indian Home Mission to the -The Rev. Roger Dutt, a Bengali Santals is a Danish organization which, clergyman from Cawnpore, recently ad· however, receives considerable support dressing members of the committee of from England. Its secretary in Den- the Society for the Propagation of the mark is the well.known Dr. Vah!, the Gospel, said that he had been asked author of "The Mission Atlas." The whether the missions in India were fail- stations occupied are in Bengal, the ures, and that he answered that they head station being at Ebenezer. There were certainly not. There is an impa- are 6 missionaries with their wives, tience about missions. People appear 4 Santal pastors, 18 deaconesses, 80 to think that the Gospel has only to be travelling elders, and 5 catechists. Re- . preached, and that then the place where cently there has also been established it is preached will straightway be won; an Assam colony with 1 missionary, 1 but when Christian people are them- pastor, 9 elders, and 3 catechists. The selves so long in their contest with their last annual report shows that the work besetting sins, it should not be expected done during the year has been quite that those sunk in sin in India should successful. The baptisms of converts immediately rise. The conversion of were 201, and there are at present 6300 England occupied centuries. India is baptized members of the community. 2.7 times as large as England, and con- tains 280,000,000, as against perhaps -The popUlation of Burmah is 8,921,- 2,000,000 in England in the days of St. 700 ; Christians, 2.40 per cent; popula- Augustine. Even now only a few towns tion of Rangoon, 180,324; races from and a few chief centres in India are oc- India in Burmah, 356,087. (Half the population of Rangoon now is from India, servants and coolies.) Burmans, Miscellaneous.-The largest univer· Lower Burmah, 3,391,519; Burmans, sity in the world is at Cairo, Egypt, and Upper Burmah, 2,737,577; total Bur. it has 11,000 students. They come from mans, 6,129,096; total Karens, 633,657. every part of the Mohammedan world, The percentage of religions is: Bud. and they Iiltudy Mussulman law, history, dhist, 86 per cent; Nat worshippers, 3 theology, and other branches needed to per cent; Hindus, 3 per cent; Moham· confirm them in the faith of Moham- medans, 4 per cent; Christians, 2.4 per med. They sit on the floor of an enor- cent; others, 1 per cent; Shans, Lower mous court and study aloud, and the Burmah, 94,302; Shans, Upper Bur. Western visitor who calls on them duro mah, 112,492; Christians, Lower Bur. ing study hours thinks that he has mah, 111,982. struck the original site of the tower of -There is no missionary in Afghanis. Babel, and that the confused of tongue tan, wilh her 6,000,000 people. An· haven't i>topped talking yet.
nam, with 5,000,000, has only Roman -An interesting paper has lately been Catholic missionaries. India has one printed by Dr. Schreiber, of Barmen, missionary to 275,000 people; Persia, on the prospects of Islam. He calcu.
one to 300,000 ; Thibet, one to 2,000,000. lates that of the 175,000.000 Moslems 100,000,000 are already subject to Chris· ISLANDS OF THE SEA. tian Powers, and that it will not be long before the remaining 75,000,000 will be -Among the newer work commenced in the same position. As a political by the London Missionary Society is power Islam has already fallen, and the that in New Guinea. There are now loss of its temporal power is crushing 53 stations along the southeast coast, a and ruinous, unlike the effect of the staff of 6 missionaries, over 30 South loss of the temporal power by Rome.
Sea Island tea~hers, and some 20 New n Islam is gaining something in Africa Guineans. More than 2000 children among the negro races, it is losing are under instruction, and there are be· ground everywhere else. The Church tween 400 and 500 church-members. Missionary Society reports 1000 con- The whole New Testament in the Motu verts from Mohammedanism, the Rhen- dialect has also been put through the ish Society,2000, and in Java there are press. Within the first year a new sta· 12,000 Christians, most of whom were tion on the Kwato Island has been oc· formerly Moslems.
cupied by 2 missionaries. -There are 12,000 mission schools Then and Now.-Fifty years ago there sustained by the offerings of Protestant was not a native Christian on the Fiji Christians. They are teaching some Islands; now there is not a heathen. 600,000 children and young people Not long since 40 volunteers responded to a call for 15 native missionaries for dangerous and unhealthy work in New British Foreign Missions. By Rev. Jas. Guinea. Johnston, Bolton, England.
-The Friendly Islands 50 years ago Wesleyan Foreign Missions.-At had not a native Christian; now there length the clouds which have lain on are more than 30,000 church-members, the treasury of the Missionary Society who give from their scanty store $15,000 are lifting, and a brighter prospect is annually for religious objects. before the directors of this influential -The Samoan group has a Christian organization. In making arrangements population of 30,000. In the largest for the approaching anniversary ser- island there are not 50 families that fail vices, the Rev. G. W. Olver, one of the to observe family worship. missionary secretaries, stated that the financial year which had now closed al- perial British East African Company in lowed the officials to congratulate them. their approach t,O and occupation oj' selves on having" turned the corner" Uganda,has lamentably failed, as only with regard to their missionary income. a sum under £6000 has been subscribed. The year's receipts from the home dis- Although the Bishop eloquently urged tricts of Great Britain were slightly in the influence which the railway would advance of the previous year, which exert in checking slavery and extending would warrant the presentation of an the rule of civilization, it is doubted encouraging report to the Exeter Rail whether his project is a wise one. It is gathering. The annual meeting will be remarked that the King of Uganda will invested with additional interest by the be able to point to the bishop's letter as presence of a large contingent of mis. a justification for his oft-repeated asser· sionaries from all parts of the foreign tion that the missionaries have come to field. ., eat up" his country. A supplemen. tary estimate has now been issued by Under the leadership of the Rev. J. H. the British Government for the sum of Bateson, Wesleyan missionary. the Army £20,000 for the survey of a railway route Temperance Association in India, which from Mombassa to the Victoria Nyanza. the Rev. W. L. Glegson established, is making marked progress. The Confer- Some concern is expressed by the ence has released Mr. Bateson tempo. Church Missionary lntelligencerrespecting rarily, to enable him to act as secretary current income. From returns to hand, of the Association. No fewer than it is apprehended that the close of the 17,500 soldiers, or a quarter of the total financial year will show a decrease in British force in India, are now pledged funds, since the receipts to the end of abstainers. Vith one or two exceptions, January, though appreciably above the every corps in India has a branch so· average of the five previous years, were ciety, prominent among which stands nevertheless smaller than those of last the Welsh Fusileers with 535 members. year at the same time, while the expen- Lord Roberts and the army authorities diture was larger. warmly countenance the objects sought. It is said that the Church of England The Church Missionary Society.- Zenana missions have been embarrassed Very shortly an appeal will be issued of late. by the rise in value of the rupee, for more workers on behalf of the Ugan. which. with other causes, had made the da Mission. The greater danger~ and estimates for the year ending March the rougher experiences in this historic 31st, 1891, over £4000 in excess of the mission than obtain elsewhere do not previous year; and unless the regular deter the. enlistment of volunteers. income 'could be raised to £34,000 the Among the friends of the Society, Cen. foreign work, instead of advancing, as tral African missions attrMt special at. was urgently needed, would go backtention. Recent letters from East Afri· ward. ca, in which entreaties are made for more missionaries, add that the Bugan- The Rev. Canon Lloyd, speaking reda are" thirsting for knowledge," mak· cently on the operations of the Church ing the need of teachers as great as at of England in India, observed that, in any previous time. As the Society's 'dew of the more than 288,000,000 peo- English missionaries are greatly out· ple in India, they could not particularly numbered by the French priests, this rejoice in the statement that of this vast filet will lend emphasis to the cry for population only about 1 per cent bere·enforcements. longed to the Church of England. This percentage, however, represented an in· Thus far the plea of Bishop Tucker to creasing number. While the census of the British public for £60,000, says II 1891 showed that the population had in- London correspondent, to aid the 1m· creased by about 10 per cent, those at· tached to the Church had increased by about 20 per cent. India was on the added. In area it is about the size of threshold of a great moral and social England, and there are 13 clergy at revolution which was progressing quiet- work." Any subscriptions in support ly but surely. The natives were rapid- of the good work will be heartily ac- ly becoming Anglicized in their ideas, knowledged by Mr. Lewis Wigram, The and if they did not all study the Gos- Grange, Chislehurst, Kent, England.
pels, vast numbers of them read John Society lor the Propagation of the Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, and sim- Gospel.-Awaiting the publication of ilar writers, which, on the whole, tend- the formal finance statement of the Soed to their good. ciety, it is possible to foreshadow the Zululand.-A vigorous appeal has amount of the receipts for the year 189L been made by the Bishop of Zululand This is stated to have been £116,520 (Dr. Carter) in aid of missions in that lOs., a sum undoubtedly large, yet insphero of service. He writes: "I know adequate for the demands on the Sothat many missions, both at home and ciety from many lands. Though the abroad, have a special claim upon Eng- collections, subscriptions, etc., show an lish people, but I doubt if any people increase of £1100 on the year, there has have a greater claim upon Englishmen been considerabl<;l falling off in the at the present time than the people in amount received from legacies.
Zululand. Ten years ago England con- The Anti-Opium Cl'usade.-An in- quered this country and took away fluential conference of British Members from its people the discipline which of Parliament who voted with the ma- made them in many ways the finest ot jority in April, 1891, against the opium all the South African races. It was un- traffic as a morally indefensible source doubtedly a cruel discipline, and yet the of Indian revenue, has been held in discipline had its good side; and there London to consider what further imme- ill nothing now in its place. Surely the diate action should be taken. A propo- very least that England can do is to sition that the Government should be show them' a more excellent way;' and thanked for its issue of a Blue Book this is what the Church mission to Zulu- was withdrawn, one of the members re- land is trying to do. But we who are marking that renewed pressure was more working here feel that we are crippled called for than gratitude. In postpon- from want of means and workers. The ing any concerted steps this session, it work here was begun over thirty years was resolved to take every opportunity ago, when this country formed a part of of emphasizing in Parliament the view the diocese of Natal, under Bishop already recorded in the journals of the Colenso. The diocese was established House.
in 1870 as a memorial to Charles Mac- So much has been said in Great Brit- kenzie, the first Bishop of Central Afri- ain of late in the way of minimizing the ca. Since then the work has been going effects of the habits of opium-smoking on in spite of many difficulties, the in India that it is desirable to quote greatest of which was the Zulu war in from a report of Mr. E. H. James, an im· 1879-80, when practically every mission partial and well.informed authority, in station was destroyed. At the present the Government service in the Northern time a sum of about £1000 a year is col· Division of Bombay, who clearly distin- lected from private sources, and about guishes between the Chinese vice and £700 a year is contributed by the Society the Indian one. He says: "Opium- for the Propagation of the Gospel, and smoking in India is not, as in 99 cases this is the whole income of the mission. out of 100 in China, a harmless habit, The ,Hocese consists of Zululand, Swazi- like cigar.smoking among Europeans.
land, Tongaland, an(l a certain portion (I can testify to this from my own ob- of the 'fransvaal, which has lately been servations when travelling in the north of China.) In India it is a degrading conditions, she won her way into the vice, the mark of a debauchee; and 99 hearts of the natives. Broken down in out of 100 who practise it are degraded health in 1891, she was obliged to seek and worthless, perhaps criminal per- rest at home. Partially restored, Miss sons. In the ports, no doubt, respect- Hoare promptly returned to Calcutta, able, hard-working Lascars and others but soon died, leaving means, however, are to be found who indulge in it; but whereby her work will be continued. as a rule an opium.smoking native of India, of whatever rank of life he be, is Mr. Eugene Stock, the editorial sec_ vicious and without any self-respect. retary of the Church Missionary Society, The reverse is the case in China." has been invited by the General Com- mittee to proceed to Australia and New Dr. Thomas Smith, of Edinburgh.- Zealand on a special mission, and he will This eminent missionary, author, and sail without delay. It seems that the professor has resigned the professorship visit was suggested by a letter from the of Evangelical Theology in the New Col- Bishop of Sydney, urging the appoint. lege, Edinburgh. He was ordained in ment of a delegate of "tried experi- 1839, sailed for Calcutta to engage in ence" to travel through the British Colomission work along with Dr. Duff, and nies to stir up interest in foreign misfor twenty-one years was his colleague. sionary work. Than Mr. Stock's selec- The state of his health obliged him to tion, no better could have been made return to Scotland thirty. one years ago, either as regards minute knowledge. of when he undertook the pastorate of the Society's vast operations or capacity Cowgatehead Church, Edinburgh, and as a singularly graceful and persuasive in 1878 was called to succeed Dr. Duff platform-speaker. in the chair which he now resigns. As the author of biographies of Dr. Duff Methodist Free Church Missions.- and Dr. Begg, and of many valuable The Missionary Committee reports that works, an expert in mathematics, a mis· two new chapels have been erected in sionary authority, and a leader in eccle- Jamaica. An expedition started early siastical courts, the venerable doctor, last January fo1' the Mundi country, who has reached his seventy. fifth year, lying beyond Sierra Leone. is deservedly honored and revered. Germany and the Slave Trade in Miss Hoare, of Ca1cutta.-There re- Africa.-Information has been sent in cently died in Calcutta a lady whose a letter by one of the English officers in name is beloved in many a remote command of a Central African expedivillage in the Sunderbunds, and in tion, confirming the serious charges those swampy tracts south of Calcutta made by Captain Lugard against the wherein she had lightened the load of Germans with reference to the importamisery and pain which press so heavily tion of powder into Africa. Captain upon the poorest of a poor population. Lugard protested strongly to Mr. Stokes, Miss Hoare devoted a large fortune to the ex-missionary, who is now in the the founding of an educational institu- German service, against his selling tion in Calcutta, and of schools in the powder to the natives, and offered to v:illages. At the same time she exer- buy the entire stock brought by Mr. cised a large-hearted benevolence in Stokes from the coast for the British ameliorating their bodily distresses, and East Africa Company. As Mr. Stokes is for the last fourteen or fifteen years she employed by the Germans, they are had spent much of her time among the morally, at least, responsible for his villagers. Living in their houses, shar· actions. But the message of Captain ing their food, and patiently enduring Lugard is supplemented very strongly the discomforts which a European lady by the letter written from Tanganyika. must of neceijsity experience under such In his journey throngh German East Africa tUe writer states that he encoun_ tered numerous Arab traders who were work. For three years he had been in possession of large quantities of pow_ suffering with consumption, but he re- der, which they were taking into the in. fused to return hOlUe, preferring to die terior. And even more, the Arabs were among his choeen people with his armor actually in possession of written per· on.
mits, signed by German officials on the, Japal).-A Buddhist priest from coast, authorizing them to carryon this Japan, student in the jnnior class of trade. These Arabs carl'y thousands of the University of the Pacific, in Calipounds' weight of powder into the fornia, has recently been converted to Congo Free State, where it is used for Christ. He said: "Since last August I slave raiding. There appears slight have been contributing articles to a doubt that it was from German East Buddhist monthly magazine, published Africa the Mohammedan party in Ugan- in Japan, for $200 a year. It was my da and their ally, Kabrega, obtained the plan to support my school expenses supplies of ammunition which were used with this money; but as I am a Chrisagainst Captain Lugard in the recent tian I shall not contribute any more, troubles. Although the Brussels Act and shall not fail to tell them so by next has not yet come into operation, Ger· mail." many is a consenting party, and is certainly pledged as a civilizing European -The Japan Conference of the Meth- Power to do all that lies within her odist Episcopal Church lately held its scope to protect the African, and sup- annual meeting in Tokyo, and adopted press slavery, or connivance a t it, be- several memorials to be presented neath her flag of " influence… to the next General Conference of the Methodist Church of this coun- try, which will be held next year.
Monthly Bulletin. Among other things, the Japan Con- ference asks for the appointment of a India.-A native Christian hall just bishop to reside in Japan or China, and been appointed Administrator·General the establishing of a branch of the of Madras; and a native Christian girl, Methodist Book Concern in Tokyo.
graduate of one of the Christian colleges, -The freedom of Japan, to reside and has been appointed to the charge of the travel at will through the empire, subpost-office at Mandapasali. ject only to its laws, has been given to -The Pundit Iswara Chandra, who Rev. G. F. Verbeck, D.D., missionary died recently in India, was noted as of the Reformed Church, and his fam- having been more influential than any ily. The case is believed to be unique other single individual in securing the in the history of missions and of Japan.
abolition of the suttee, or burning of By reason of his long absence of forty widows on the funeral pyres of their years from the Netb,erlands, the land of husbands. his birth, Dr. Verbeck has lost his citi- -There was unity of the faith at one zenship in Holland. Not having repoint. A Hindu was asked by a lady sided in the United States for the missionary if there was anything on legally prescribed period after declaring which the differents sects of the Hindus his intentions, he failed to become an agreed, and he replied: "Yes, we all American citizen. He was thus pracbelieve in the sanctity of the cow and tically a ,. man without a country." On the depravity of woman." his return to Japan he made application for a passport to the Foreign Office, -The death is announced of the Rev. stating the peculiar circumstances in :S. Bradley, President of the Methodist which he was placed. A fow months College at Lllcknow (India). He had later, in a very complimentary letter, spent nineteen years in missionary he received from Count Enomoto a passport entitling him and his family to queen, and also the fact that slavery still perfect freedom of travel and residence exists in Madagascar. The pastor of lhe for a year, with the privilege of renewal. church at Androvakely, about twenty. It is alike honorable to the Japanese five miles from the capital, is a slave, Government and to the good doctor and though he has been much hindered himself. in his work by the claims of his master, Madagascar. -A revival is in progress he has done excellent Christian service in Antananarivo, the capital of Mada- in the district. Recently the queen, gascar. The missionaries of the Lon- hearing of the good work he had done, don Society write with great joy of the sent for him to preach in the palace work which began early in May. The church. She was so pleased with him meetings are attended by young men that she paid fifty dollars to redeem and women, many of them connected him. This pastor is not educated, but with the higher schools. An illustra- he is exerting a strong influence tion of the radical change wrought in throughout his district.
some is presented in the following New Zealand.-The Baptists of New story: One of those who attended the Zealand have recently established an meetings was powerfully wrought upon Aborigines Mission for Eastern Bengal, by the Holy Spirit, and came privately with a station in the district of Brahto confess a great sin, and to make man daria, Hill Tipperah, northeast of reparation. He would not confess his Calcutta. The Baptist Missionary Sosin until after prayer, and then he ac- ciety, of England, has stations all knowledged the stealing of some money. around, but this is the first attempt to •• If I could," he said, " I would do like work in the midst of the aborigines, Zachreus – restore it fourfold; but I whose condition is of the lowest. Two have not got the money. However, I missionaries have been on the ground can restore it twofold, and here, there- for some little time, and they have refore, are sixteen shillings." cently been joined by three others.
-West of the capital of Madagascar Samoa.-A communication has reis a tribe of the Sakalava nation num- cently been received from Samoa, bearbering about 1,500,000. Two years ago ing testimony to the demand among the one of the missionaries of the Society natives for the English Bible Society's for the Propagation of the Gospel pen- Pocket Edition of the Bible, of which etrated into this region to find that he few copies were left unsold on the was the first white man ever seen by the island; and urgently asking for a people, who were heathen, with no in- further supply of 5000 copies. In its tercourse with the outer world, and no way, the letter is an interesting illustra. idea of the value of money. He estab- tion of the extent to which the Bible is lished friendly relations with Tocra, the becoming the people's book all the ruling chief, who expres8ed his readi- world over. ness to receive a teacher. In August last the missionaries landed on the west -A clergyman travelling in the East coast, and with the assistance of a writes in the highest terms of the friendly princess, sister of King Tocra, American United Presbyterian Mission they have made their way inland, being in Egypt and Syria. He says they are oHen met on the way by natives bring- gathering the young boys about them in ing their sick for treatment. Many snch their mission 8cho,)ls, and in ten years cases having been alleviated the mis- the tourist will find the villages along sionaries have secured the respect and the Nile filled with hundreds of young protection of the blacks. men who not only speak English well, but who are washed and" clothed in –An incident that has recently oc- their right mind." curred illustrates the ch'1racter of the
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1892
WILLIAM CAREY, MAY, 1792
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 5.-0Id Series.–MAY.–VOL. Y. No.5.-New Series.
WILLIAM CAREY, MAY, 1792.
I.-THE FULNESS OF THE TIMES.-SCOTLAND, NEW ENGLAND, AND THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SHOEMAKER, BY PRAYER AND A SOCIE'fY, BEGIN THE FIRST CENTURY OF MODERN MISSIONS.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., F.R.G.S., EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
The world was waiting, unconsciously but none the less really, for the event, when, a hundred years ago, William Carey founded his" Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen." The time was the third of the three epochs in history since the incarnation of the Word of God, when the human race made a distinct leap upward. The first of these three periods was in the years A.D. 51-55, in the former of which Paul, the apostle of the nations, passed from Asia into Greece ; and in the latter Julius Cresar landed in Great Britain. Europe, and particularly the Englishspeaking peoples, then entered on the missionary career which has made them the masters and the guides of the dark races to bring them to Christ. The second of these new-birth times of the race was in the years 1492- 1534, in which Columbus revealed America and India was opened up to Europe, while Luther was used to reform the Church, and to put into the hands of each of its members the vernacular Bible, which is " The Great Missionary." Europe thus Christiani.zed, and itg Churches anew vitalized by the living oracles of God-a double process, which occupied eighteen centuries-had not begun its appointed duty, as the servant of the Lord, of Christianizing the world. He with whom a thousand years are as one day-mysterious leisure-was ready. The world in its dumb helplessness and pathetic need was ready. A third time since Paul crossed the Al:gean to Macedonia the Church had been brought to the birth, and it seemed to be withQut strength to bring forth.
The third epoch, covering the years 1779-92, is marked by the names of two men, William Carey and George Washington. In 1779 the former, a journeyman shoemaker in a pretty village in the Midlands of England, and eighteen years of age, began to pray and to work daily for the salvation of the heathen and the freedom of the slaves j in 1792 his prayers were answered in the first defeat of the slave-traders by the English Parliament, and in the foundation of the Society which sent him forth, the first Englishman of modern times, to give the Gospel to the peoples of Asia. In 1782 George Washington's work was accepted by Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris j and the United States of America, independent forever, became the second great-destined soon to be the greatest-factor in the evangelizing of the world. The same epoch was that of the French Revolution-on its secular side an eruptive force which has not yet spent its influence j it was divorced from religion, while the American Revvlulion was saturated with the salt of Christianity by its Puritan fathers. On the spiritual side the French Revolution was the foe of the missionary enterprise, becoming to the new Christian revival much that the apostasy of Julian had vainly hoped to be to the Pauline apostolate, and all that the Mohammedan apostasy had been to the churches of Chrysostom, Ne&toriu.s, and Augustine.
It is so difficult for those who are in the midst of a reformation or revolution to do justice to its leaders and to their own position and duty, that it may help our readers to appreciate William Carey's work, and modern Christendom's responsibility, to place the bare facts, spiritual and secular, comparatively side by side.
THE THREE NEW BIRTH EPOCHS.
A.D. 51-55. A.D. 1492-1534. A.D. 1779-1792.
PAUL revealed Christ to the COLUMBUS opened America, WASHINGTON made the United West through Greece. JULIUS and India followed. LUTHER States the secoud missiouary CESAR opeued Great Britain, reformed the Church and gave centre. W,LLIAM CAREY prayed the missionary centre of Eng- the world a vernacular Bible as for slaves and heathen, and be- lish-Bpeaking world-rulers. The "The Great Missionary," basing eame the firBt English mission- NEW TESTAMENT Revelation at all on the Nicene Creed of the ary and Bible translator for Asia, work. I ChurCh, Apostolic and Catholic. during the Apostasy of the French Revolution.
We see the Lord's leisure working through the first two epochs slowly, because the faith of the Church was so weak, its love so little, its obedience so fitful. We who are at the close of the first century of the third epoch are the children of the men who saw William Carey and upheld his hands, who caught his spirit and created the missionary organizations of the present day. The world is older and needier, and salvation ill nearer than when first we helieved. Are we, in the closing years of the Jlineteenth century, which are yet the opening years of the second missionary century, to rest content without proving the other side of God's eternity-the Lord's haste: "One day is as a thousand years ~"
This was the position of the founder of modern missions in relat.ion to the history of the w.orld and of the Church of Christ. Not less distinct was it as to the literature of the English language, which, by preaching and teaching, by translating and printing, he was to anticipate all others in giving to Southern Asia. He came from a corner of the Midlands in which the poet of nature and of Christian philant.hropy had found a refuge. As a lad he studied theology, and learned to lead the prayers of Christian men and women under Sutcliff, in Olney, not a stone's-throw from the Orchard House of William Cowper and Mrs. Unwin. It was in writing his sixtyeight Olney Hymns, the fir~t and as yet only poet's gift to modern hymnology, that Cowper's genius recognized itself. It was in the seven years from 1780-86 that he poured forth his" Progress of Error," his" Truth," his "1'able Talk," his "Expostulation," his " Hope," his "Charity," his "Conversation," his " Retirement," and then his great work, " The Task," which placed him forever in the lare position of the poet's poet, so that Mrs. Browning sllng at his grave: " 0 poets, from a maniac's tongue was poured the deathless singing!
o Christians, at your cross of hope a hopeless band was clinging!
'0 men, this man in brotherhood your weary paths beguiling, Groaned inly while he taught you peace, and died while ye were smiling !n Cowper heads the procession of the century's poets and prose writers with his hymns of self.surrender, his strains of hope, his trumpet call for the slave, his praise of the evangelicals whom the world despised, his assertion of the right of every man to know the love of God in Christ.
If the world was waiting for such a man as William Carey, the Church was asleep. In England the Wesleys and Whitefield, in Scotland the "Marrow" divines and Secession fathers, in South India such workers as Schwartz, in ice-bound America and the We'!t Indies the devotion of the Moravian Brethren, had led Cowper in 1782 to sing of the first echo of Gospel-preaching: .. That sound bespeaks salvation on its way, The triumph of a life-re8toring day; 'Tis heard where England's Eastern glory shines, And in the gulfs of her Cornubian mines, And still it spreads. "
When Carey himself, four years after, wrote his survey of the religious state of the world, the only names of what would now be called foreign missionaries that he could give were Mr. Eliot, of New England, so long before as 1632 j Mr. David Brainerd, who did not live long enough to dispen~e with an interpreter, Mr. Kirkland and Mr. Sergeant. The late Mr. Wesley ill named as having" lately made an effort in the West Indies ;" but a generation was to pass before the Wesleyan Methodists, who had a great missionary in Coke, were to follow the example of Carey's Society about 1817. Not an Englishman could be found to be sent"forth by the Church Missionary Society till the same year. The Church of Scotland hearo. foreign missions denounced as preposterous by a minister whom it raised to the chair of Moderator of its General Assembly; while Dr, John Erskine, the friend of Sir Walter Scott and correspondent of Carey. was one of the few who protested against such blasphemy. Carey stood alone, even among his own Baptists, " particular" or Calvinistic, and" general" or Arminian. He took the thirteen long years of his early manhood-from 1779, when he began to pray, t9 1792-to eonvince eleven ministers and laymen of the Northamptonshire Union, while to the last he failed to move the Baptist leaders in London to do anything. He found his sympathizers rather in Church of England evangelicals like John Newton, Charles Simeon, and Haweis, of Oldwinkle; in Anglo-Indians like Charles Grant and the Clapham men, whom he influenced, and in the godly mimsters and elders of Scottish Presbyterianism, who worked outside of the Church, or, like the IIaldanes, left it in disgust. Andrew Fuller, when he was roused from that spiritual lethargy of which he complained, by the missionary enterprise, was the most splendid colleague and secretary ever an evangelist had; but he was slow to convince at the first. The elder E.yland publicly rebuked the" young man" who had dared to suggest that these poor Midland Baptists should ever discuss the duty of converting the world. The one friend Carey had was the "seraphic" Pearce, of Birmingham, and he was dying of hereditary drsease, else he might have accompanied him to Bengal.
When these men did become his coadjutors they were generous and bumble enough; nor was his· stronger colleague in the work in Serampore, Dr. Joshua Marshman, less so as they reviewed the wonderful history long after. What did Andrew Fuller write as the very first wordR of No. I of the Periodical Accounts, when he published. a narrative of the first establishment of the Society 1 "The origin of this Society will be found in the workings of our Brother Carey's mind, which for the last nine or ten years has b~en directed to this object with very little intermission. His heart appears to have been set on the conversion of the heathen before he came to reside at Moulton in 1786." But Carey's favorite sister carries back his concern for the millions ignorant of Jesus Christ almost to the time of his conversion; when, having given himself, he must needs save others. His wife's sister, who accompanied them to India, " was witness to the extreme anxiety of Mr. Carey on the subject" long before any steps were thought of for establishing a foreign mission. She gives us the significant picture of the young shoemaker, her father's apprentice and successor, " standing motionless for an hour or more in the middle of a path in the garden, abstracted from outward objects hy the' working' of a mind that had begun to devote itself to a vast, and newly contemplated project."
This originality of ·William Carey and opposition to an the learning, the zeal, and the ecclesiasticism of his time, must be understood, not only that justice may be done to the most modest of men in this centennial year, but that we may see the direct operation of the Spirit of God who called him, as the Master had called to the Divine apostolate the fisherman and the tax-gatherer of Galilee. But the Spirit works by mlOlans evident to those who delight to study the laws of lhe Kingdom. It was because the Lord saw Nathanael in the secrecy of his own fig. tree that He called the guileless one, and, if Church traditiun be true, sent him as Bartholomew to the East. So our modern Nathanael was called to the work all true-hearted Christendom is this year commemorating, because, like Daniel, he " was greatly beloved," and, like Cornelius, who" prayed to God alway," it was said of him by the heavenly watchers, " Behold, he prayeth !" Not even in the sacred Scriptures is there a clearer case of a providential call through prayer to a world-wide enterprise thau the Carey chapter of the past century's contiuuation of the Acts of the Apostles. Let us look at it.
Three times in the opening third of the last century the British people in the United Kingdom and in America ohserved the first national prayer concert un record-in 1712-at " the critical juncture" which ended in the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover j in 1732, and again in 1735. The two last prayer concerts were observed in Scotland, with the result that in 1742 great revivals of religion quickened the ministers and people of its western counties. The ministers who had received the new light resolved to make the union perpetual, and to extend it all over Great Britain and America as a foreign mission union. They called it a " Concert to promote more abundant application to a duty that is perpetually binding-prayer tAat our God's Kingdom may come, joined with praises. " The time was every Saturday evening and Sunday morning, and more solemnly on the first Tu~sday of every quarter, beginning with February, May, etc., 1746. The memorial was sent to Jonathan Edwards, A.M., then" Minister of the Gospel in Northamflton, New England," and fixe hundred copies were distributed in almost every county in what was then known as the Massachusetts Bay and in other provinces. The year after Jonathan Edwards wrote, and five Boston ministers published, with a preface, " An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth, Pursuant to Scripture Promi8es and Prophecies Concerning the Last Time." The five ministers declined to be bound by Edwards's" ingenious observations on the prophecies," but added, "If such a terrible time is coming in Europe, which we, in defending America, are likely to share in, the more need we have of joining in earnest and constant prayers for extraordinary suffering graces for ourselves and others." The American and French Revolutions more than justified the watchful instincts of the man who, as saint and thinker, was without a rival in any land.
The pentecostal spirit that blew from Scottish Cambuslang to New England's Northampton was wafted back again by prayer to " Northampton in Old England." In 1784 the association of Baptist ministers and messengers in the counties of Northampton, Leicester, etc., meeting at Nottingham, resolved on the first Monday evening in every calendar month to pray for the general revival and spread of religion. January 21st, 1788, was kept as a private fast in John Ryland's study when, as his diary records, ~' Brethren Fuller; Sutcliff, Carey, and I • , • each prayed twice-Carey
IMMEDIATE AND WORLD-WIDE EVANGELIZATION
with singular enlargement and pungency. Our chief design was to implore a revival of the power of godliness in our own souls, in our churches, and in the Church at large." To Warwickshire and Yorkshire, and among Catholic Christians, the concert spread, till, on May 4th, 1789. John Sutcliff sent forth from Olney his reprint of the work of Jonathan Edwards, com· mended to him by Dr. Erskine of Edinburgh. The modest edition, in its paper boards and cheap printing, lies before me, a precious possession. Carey had been baptized in the Nest, at Northampton, below Doddridge's meeting-house, in 1783, and had anticipated Ryland and Sutcliff by a year in his praying for the whole world. When he published hit! now famous " Inquiry," he declared that the eight years' Concert of Prayer had led to the opening of lands to mi8sion~, the spread of civil and religious liberty, and the noble effort made to abolish the inhuman slave trade. But he added what, up to that time, no English-speaking Christian, not even Edward!l, had attempted: "Suppose a company of serious Christians, ministers, and private persons, were to form themselves into a soziety 1"
Prayer was the expecting of great things from God j the Society, and Carey's going forth to India as it.s first missionary, was the attempting great things for God. At Nottingham, on May 31st, 1792, after publishing his " Inquiry," he preached from Isaiah 54 : 2, 3, the great sermon which so clearly proved" the criminality of our supineness'in the cause of God," as Ryland confessed that Fuller and he both yielded. At Kettering, on October 2d, 1792, "the ministers' meeting" founded Carey's Society of members, subscribing £10 at once, or lOs. 6d. annually, with this committee of five, three to be empowered to act-John Ryland, Reynold Hogg (Treasurer), William Carey, John Sutcliff, and Andrew Fuller (Secretary).
Thus by Catholic: prayer Scotland began, New England continued, and the English shoemaker, William Carey, by his Society, completed the modern missionary enterprise of 1792.
IMMEDIATE AND WORLD-WIDE EVANGELIZATION.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Obedience to our Lord's will should be immediate. It has been long enough delayed, and the time is short. We firmly believe, ard the conviction enters into the very marrow of our being. that the discipl£'s of Christ should at once organize effort'! and occupy the whole world; that the whole field should be mapped out, and the whole force be massed together ; that we should then proceed carefully to divide the field, so that no part should be overlooked, and then to distribute the force, so that no part should be unprovided for. This lesson is taught in the miracle of the loaves. The first command of Christ was, "Make the multitude to sit down in companies of fifty and a hundred." That showed the disciples just how many people there were to be fed, and helped them to make ~ure that each company and each person should have attention, and provision for their needs.
In apostolic days this miracle of the loaves was grandly translated into action. There were, perhaps, a thousand disciples in all among the world's vast population, and yet those few disciples undertook to "preach the Gospel to every creature." Peter and James went to the " circumcision," James becoming bishop of the Church in Jerusalem and looking after Judean Jews. Peter going to the far east, among the Jews of the" elect dispersion," and the peoples among whom they dwelt. John went to Ephesus, the centre of the Diana worship and the gathering place of vast multitudes. Panl travelled westward o·er mo~t, if not all, of the countries of Europe between the Golden Horn and the Straits of Gibralta-r. Philip went down to Samaria, and tradition says that the eunuch whom he led to Jesus went farther down into Ethiopia and founded the Alexandrian Church. On this simple principle of division of the field and distribution of the forces, the Church. when fewest in numbers and feeblest in strength, when there were no steamships or steam carriages, no printing-presses or even New Te8taments, actually accomplished more nearly the evangelization. of the world than the Church, in the pride of her prosperity and power, with every door open before her, and every facility that even modern progress has supplied, has ever done since, or is even doing to-day! The prompt and universal obedience in the apostolic age to Christ's last command made the very priests of pagan fanes tremble lest the altars of their false gods should be forsaken !
Our obedience should be implicit as well as immediate. We should mark even the minuter features of our Lord's command, and follow exactly as He leads. For example, He indicated an order" to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile." The phrase, " beginning at .Terusalem," is constantly perverted to mean that home work is to take precedence of work abroad; whereas its true meaning is that, first of all, God's chosen people were to be sought and taught. Those early disciples everywhere began with the Jews j whether at Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, or Constantinople. Wherever Paul went, from Antioch in Syria, to Antioch in Pisidea, to Salamis, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Troas, Miletus, Rome, he first went into the synagogue of the Jews, or, if there was no synagogue, sought out and spake unto the Jews wherever they resorted, and he could get a hearing; and only after they had rejected his message did he turn to the Gentiles. Has it nothing to do with our comparative want of SUl'cess in modern missions that the despised Jcw has been perhaps more shamefully neglected than any of the worst heathen, the lowest pagan, or the most bigoted Moslem peoples 1 Missions among the Ancient Israel of God, as an organized movp.ment, are but of recent date, and even now the eight millions of God's chosen nation are scarce approached by the Church of Christ. Here and there a few scattered laborers represent all that Christ's disciples have sent to open the blinded eyes of those who see the Messianic prophecies as yet through a veil. Tho grandest epoch of missions will not begin until God's Ohurch undertakes to do as Christ bade her, " beginning at Jerusalem." In everything, the way of exact obedience is the way of constant blessing and of sure success. God has" not cast away His people whom He foreknew," and He will have the Gospel proclaimed to them first of all, not last of all. It is a noticeable fact that the missionary enterprises, which to-day are reaping largest harvests in other fields are those which embrace missions to Israel among their forms of labor. To pass by the Jew in the effort to reach the Gentile is a plain violation of the declared plan of God, and the slightest neglect of His plain command or revealed mind imperils all our other work. The blindness which is upon the mind of the Hebrew people is no excuse for our neglect-for only when they turn to the Lord can that blindness be taken away j and how can any man be expected to turn to the Lord unless the truth is preached to him ~ The Prussian Army is the terror of Europe, because every citizen is a soldier, and when the order goes forth the army can be mobilized in a day. And it is only such faith, and such obedience of faith that begets heroic courage. Oonfidence in God takes no account of obstacles. When Martin Luther, at Augsburg, was asked, " What will you do now with kings and priests, cardinals and even the Pope himself arrayed against you~" "Put myself under the shield of Him who hath said, ' I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.''' True missionaries are always heroes-they have as their helmet, breastplate, and shield the Divine promise, " Lo! I am with you alway j" and that Presenso is vanguard and rearward. To know that one is in the exact path of duty is to know that all things work together for good in a Divine harmony.
Nothing will be 80 irresistible as the Church of God when her obedience to her Lord is absolute.
In the 277th year of the Hegira, and in the vicinity of Oufa, the famous Arabian preacher, Carmath, assumed the imposing titles of Guide, Director, Demonstration, Camel, Representative of Mohammed, John Baptist, Gabriel, Herald of Messiah, the Word, the Holy Ghost. After his death his name was even more revered by his fanatical followers. His twelve apostles spread themselves among the Bedouins, " a race of men equally devoid of reason and of religion." And so successful was their preaching that all Arabia was threatened with a new revolution.
The Oarmathians were ripe for rebellion, and the secret of their power was a vow of blind and absolute submission to their Imam. A secret and inviolable oath was their bond of brotherhood. Leaving tracks of blood, they moved along the Persian Gulf, and the Province of Bahrein bowed before them. Far and wide the desert tribes lowered their standards before the swords of Abu Said and Abu Taher, his son, until they could muster on the field a force of over one hundred thousand fanatics. Their
lt392.] THE JEWISH QUESTION
approach was like that of an avalanche, they neither asked nor accepted quarter, and bore everything before them.
Even the Caliph trembled as they advanced. They crossed the Tigris, and with desperate daring, with only 500 horse, knocked at the gates of the capital. By special order the bridges were broken down, and the lieutenant, in behalf of the Caliph, told Abu Taher that he and his force were in danger of annihilation. " Your master," replied the fierce commander, " has thirty thousand soldiers, but in all his host not three such as these. " Then turning to three of his followers, he bade one plunge a dagger into his breast, a second leap into the Tigris, and a third fling himself from a preCIpice. Without a moment's waiting or a murmur of discontent each one obeyed. " Go," said he, "and tell what you have seen; and before the night falls your general shall be chained among my dogs." It was so ; before the sunset the camp was surprised and the threat executed.
What could not our Lord do against the most defiant strongholds of Satan, if lIe had even a little band of followers who, without hesitation, questioning, or reasoning, simply obeyed? Nothing can stand before a Church whose only law is the will of God, and the motto of whose crusade is " Deus vult."
THE JEWISH QUESTION.
BY JAMES E. MATHIESON·, ESQ., LONDON, ENGLAND.
" The people which I formed for Myself. that they might set forth My praise. " -Isaiah 43 : 21.
The Eastern Question, which disturbs the slumbers of European diplomatists, once took the form of a wrangle over the custody of the keys of the so-called holy places in Palestine; this dispute may soon be revived when Russia feels strong enough to move again southward, and any alliance between her and France would then be rudely torn asunder, for nothing can reconcile the rival pretensions of the Latin and Greek churches to supremacy in the Holy Land. A greater Eastern Question is the Chinese problem : What barrier is strong enough to keep out the flood of emigration from the Celestial Empire into the sparsely occupied continents of Australia and the Americas ~ But the greatest Eastern question is undoubtedly the Jewish question, and it is coming to the front rapidly; the unextinguishable vitality of this miraculously preserved people has never been more manifest than now, since their dispersions commenced; they are in evidence m'erywhere ; their ability, perseverance, and patience command success in trade, in letters, in art, and in politics; and, if massed together in one ample territory, instead of being scattered in numerically feeble detachments in every nation under heaven, we might even augur for them a '1upremacy among the peoples of the earth upon merely human hypothesis and calculation; and it is only neglect of the truth of God's HQly Word that leads the Church into forgetfulness of the inevitable mastery of the Jewish people over all nations, when their King, who is our Lord and blessed Saviour, comes again to take His kingdom, and His brethren shall recognize and acknowledge Him. It is little wonder that the world and worldly statesmen are in total ignorance of ,. the things that are coming upon the earth," when even the professing Church gives that subject the go-by. Moreover, how utterly distasteful and repugnant to the minds of all imperial races and rulers the contemplation of the possibility of a race superior to their own stepping in to claim rule over them j for instance, that France or Germany, or England, or the United States should have to take a lowly place while the despised Jew comes to the front, and Israel's King shall have all other kings, yea, and empelOfS, yea, and presidents, bending low before Him j and yet this is the thing that shall come to pass j for "all kings shall bow down before Him j all nations shall serve Him." " The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth."* How do you like it, my evangelical brother, whether Englishman, Frenchman, American, or German? We are citizens of great and mighty nations j we each like to tbink ourselves the foremost of all peoples, whoever else shall take the second or third place j but that we should come under the absolute, indisputable rule of a Jew !-is the thought tolerable 1-and yet it mU8t be so.
"One King over all the earth." t that is the destiny 0.£ Jesus of Nazareth; not in the sense of a spiritual dominion alone, claiming as Saviour and Lord the allegiance of all true believers. but in a natural sense as well, and as really when He shall "sit upon the throne of His father David" in Jerusalem j the commencement of a millennium of peace and righteousness, of universal and perpetual sway; earth's holiday, the poet's golden age oft dreamed about and sung, never yet witnessed here below. Yea, this is the culminating point in God's plan for our human race upon this earth (Luke 1 : 32, 33 ; Isa. 9 : 6, 7 j 16 : 5 j 24 : 23).
Are there any cogent reasons why (1) the various peoples of the earth should desire the hastening of the coming and Kingdom of the King of the Jews; and (2) is there any special urgency for the return of Christ to this earth from the Church's point of view ~ I. The peoples of the earth have abundant reasons for seeking the coming of the Prince of Peace and King of Righteousness. I do not say that their rulers have. Unregenerate human nature knows nothing of abnegation ; earthly dynastieR desire to be perpctuRI ; their wise men, their soldiers and their flattereril 85Anre them that things are very well as they are; or, on occasion, will recommend them to seek their individual aggrandizement at the expense of other rulers by spoliation and bloodshed and the waste of national resources. When Jesus Christ returns in glory to this world He will find a fearful war raging (Zech. 14: I-Ii). Yes, in spite of all the endeavors of lovers of peace upon earth, wars will continue to * See also Zech. 8 ; 23. t Ibid. 14 ; 9. the end of this dispenRation, and until our Lord returns in person with all His saints, the ambitions of rulers and the irrational fury and jealousies of peoples will again and again give occasion for the outbreak of hostilities. But insensate folly can go no further than in the present display of such nineteenth-century wisdom as we behold in Europe-a Continent which . claims to be civilized and affects to be Christianized, exacting untold millions of hard-earned money from overtaxed peoples, and withdrawing millions of men from honest industry to play the game of war. And yet the evolutionists and optimillts assure us that the race is on a higher plane than in Adam's or in Noah's day. Nay, rather, we go with Zophar, the Naamathite (.Tob 11 : 12) who hit it off exactly: "Vain man is void of understanding; yea, man is born as a wild ass's colt." Comtists, positiv- ists, or whatever else they call themselves, who dream the altruistic dream of a better time apart from revelation, are doomed to disappointment; what they long for is coming, but not by any improvement in human . nature, which is simply incurable; but by the coming again of the Christ and His ordering of the world aright. What unutterable and endless cause for longing by the masses of the people that that day might dawn speedily, II1ay we not perceive in the condition of the Old World to-day; the millions groaning under heavy burdens, the larger proportion of them exposed to the destruction of life entailed by the relentless blood tax, all bearing their share of the superincumbent military system which must end in national bankruptcy; governments are worse than the highwaymen of the earlier part of this century ; they say to the people, " Your money and your life !" pay your taxes, submit to the conscription; from the Jatter curse no Continental home is safe; against the former who dare utter com· plaint 1 Poor toiling peoples! the rewards of their toil snatched from them; eating the bread of carefulness; desolate mothers and sweethearts, their sons and lovers dragged away to be food for powder; but when H.e comes, whose right it is to reign, we shall see this blessed picture rcalized : " They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" (Micah 4 : 4). This is something better tha~ the socialistic experiments or imagi- nations so rife is the present day; these are bound to fail, because they leave out of calculation human selfishnpss in the mass and human impotence in the schemer to enforce his plans. But when One appears upon the scene possessed of ommpotence and the embodiment of love, One of whom _we read" Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of Thy throne: mercy and truth go before Thy face" (Ps. 89 : 14) there will be no appeal from His deci8ions, and no need to appeal, for oppression will be un- known. Not only no oppression in the earth, but the positive blessing of plenteousness. Such indications as we have in Isa. 35 : 1 : "The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose," or Isa. 55 : 13: "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree, ,. warrant us to expect that Christ, in His earthly reign, will, like Joseph in Egypt, " open all the storehouses j" reveal probably wonderful secrets of nature which man's unaIded wisdom has not yet penetrated, and grant to the earth such fertility as it never before exhibited i for then " the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days" (Isa. 30: 26). In view of such words as we read in Job 38 and 39, can we vainly dream that we have seen the end of the resources of the Almighty ~ Nay, we are only at their' beginnings j and when the" Son of God clothed in humanity" reappears upon the scene of His humiliation and sufferings, He brings with Him not only" abundance of peace," but abundance of every other good thing that will conduce to human comfort and joy. How many of our politicians are familiar with the Blessed Hope 1 How many of our Socialist leaders have ever heard of God's panacea for the ills of the toil-worn people around us ~ Nay, more j do the ministers of Christ, who ought to form an army of witnesses to " the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," make continual mention of this glorious future for our needy, sin-stricken world' Alas! alas! but few ever preach upon the subject, although it was the constant theme of the apostles and early Christians, and was in large measure revealed to Old Testament saints as well. (Read Ps. 72.) II. And this leads me to the second part of my question: Why should the Church of Christ of to-day loug for the immediate rcturn of her Head to take His place as King of the Jews, and His Lordship over all the earth 1 What is the Church's mission to the world in this age ~ Is it not to bear witness to her absent and returning Lord ~ Israel, in the ages before Christ, was specially the witness amid surrounding paganism for the unity of God and against all manner of idolatry (Isa. 43 : 10, 12 j 44 : 8) j and just before His ascension our Saviour plainly told His Jewish apostles that they were to be His witnesses even" to the uttermost parts of the earth" (Acts 1 : 8). Had the Church loved the Jews for her Master's sake they might long ago have been won o"er to belief in Jesus of Nazareth as their Mes!liah and Lord, and have become His most successful missionaries in all lands j some of them have thus witnessed nobly for Christ j the ill success of the Church in evangelizing the world has largely been owing to her lack of such Jewish witnesses from among Christ's own kindred of the house of Israel. In 1885 * I ventured thus to put the case in regard to the result of missions in this age: "Many people are quietly assuming that Christianity is making a yearly encroachment upon heathenism and Mohammedanism and upon the corrupt Christian systems of Europe j in other words, that at each year's close there has been such a displacenJent of error and idolatry that we may reckon upon a relative increase of vital Christianity in the world. No greater delusion could be fostered. Every year the excess of births into this world of sin above the numeer carried away by death is estimated at twelve millions of souls j is anyone sanguine enough to suppose that even five millions of true believers are added annually to the sum * The Ohristialt Leader, May 14, 1885. of converted men and women in the world? And yet, unless some such result as this is attained, there is an obvious loss of ground and a prodigious increase to the ranks of .the foes of Christ. The normal increase of the tens of thous.'lnds in Protestant countries of Christendom sinks into insignificancA when compared with the hundreds of thousands, the millions, who form the normal increase to the numbers of heathen peoples of Mohammedans and of the Greek and Roman churches, to say nothing of the dead mass of professing Christians in more favored lands." These suggestionR were elaborated two years afterward, and completely confirmed by the Rev. James Johnston in his" Century of Christian Missions." And what has been the experience of the Gentile Church in her mission to the world since the early days of apostolic simplicity 1 has it not been an experience of comparative barrenness of result excepting in times of special and exceptional revival 1 Some tell us that revival should be the constant rule in the Church and not the exception; yes, if we follow on the line of God's plan, putting forward the Jews as His witnesses. But we have alienated the Jews by our persecution of them, or by our indifference to their woes; and in the nations of Eastern Europe, where they are settled in largest numbers, their abhorrence of idolatry is intensified by all that bears the name of Christ in these lands, the gross idolatries of the Roman and Greek churches. Gentile ministry unaided will never accomplish the evangelization of all the earth. What do we behold as the fruit of real, soul-saving ministry at this time of day, when one would expect that the gathered experience of centuries of faithful Gospel preaching would make evangelists and teachers proficients in leading men to the Saviour 1 In a congregation of one thousand people, after a powerful scriptural appeal, we are delighted if ten men and women yield their hearts to Christ; if one hundred are led to confess Him we are astounded at the phenomenon, and say that Pentecost is repeated. Nay, Pentecost is not repeated. Peter said on that ever memorable day: "Repent and be baptized everyone of you," and if some of his hearers did not accept Christ then and there the great mass of them did. Pentecost will be repeated so far as great ingatherings to Christ are concerned, when Jews are again in the forefront as His witnesses; and these blessed scenes will not, I apprehend, be witnessed until He comes again, when His brethren" will look upon Him whom thcy pierced, and shall mourn for Him" (Zech. 12 : 10) ; beholding the Christ with their bodily vision, just as the ten apostles did (John 20: 20), and as Thomas did (John 20 : 27). Then shall come to pass what Paul prophesied (Rom. 11 : 26) " And so all Israel shall be saved." Wonderful answer to the question put in 18a. 66 : 8, " Shall a nation be born in one day'" And when Israel is all saved, it will become a blessed possibility to speak of other" nations of them which are saved" (Rev. 21 : 24) ; yes, whole nations of saved people! Who ever heard of such a thing in thii dispensation-a wholly saved nation, or a province, or a county, or a city, or iven a village , No, the history of the age since Christ first came to this earth is just what we might have expected from scriptural intimations. Rom. 11: 5 ; Acts 15 : 14 tell us all along the Christian centuries of a gathering out of Jewb and Gentiles as a people for the name of Christ, but give no hint of universal ingathering; but when He comes again we shall see in the millennial age whole nations brought into the obedience of faith; for, as the latb Dr. McCaul used to put it, salvation is accepted by "some Jews, somd Gentiles in this age; by all the J eWIl, all the Gentiles in the age to c0111e." .
Then we may expect that in a congregation of one thousand Gentiles, listening to a Jew who has seen the King in His glory, still bearing in Bis hands and feet the print of the nails, not ten only, or even one hundred, but the whole one thousand will at once" confess Jesus as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. "
If, then, the darkness is deepening and the dream of evolutionitlts about an improved humanity is vain, and the Church is actually losing ground year by year, shonld not all true-hearted believers send up to the very heavens the Macedonian cry, " Come over and help us!" "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" This is the only hope of the Church. And this age, like all which have preceded it, ends in failure so far as man is concerned. It is idle to expect the Greek or Roman apostasies to give forth this cry, for His coming meant! their destruction. But what of the Protestant churches 1 Will the rich and influential Church of England unite in the cry before she is wholly involved in the corruptions of Rome 1 And what of the Presbyterian, and Methodist, and Congregational, and Baptist churches 1 Are they not qllite impenetrable and unbelieving on the subject of the personal and premillennial coming of Christ 1 As Dr. Bullinger pertinently remarks: ., The Church is filled with itself, and is occnpied with its own feelings and experie;.ees; while it has got other , hopes' for itself and for the world." . As David sent word to the elders of Judah, after Absalom's rebellion was stamped out, " Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house 1" so may Christ say to-day to the great organized churches throughout the world: "Have ye forgotten my promise, ' I will come again,' and where is your longing for my return ~" The longing and the prayer for that glad day seem reserved for the despised Plymouth Brethren, and for a few Scripture-loving men and women in every branch of the true Church, whom the Master has enlightened on this great question and found obedient; and all they see around them, in Church, and State, and society, but intensifies their desire that Israel may speedily be restored to their own land, even though in unbelief, and the way be prepared for the coming of their King to bless the world, to chain Satan in the prison-house, lind begin the peaceful reign, the world's resting time, which our race so sorely needs.
If this interpretation of the predictions which cluster round the hope of our Lord's return and Israel's restoration be correct, what is the present duty of all the true-hearted who long for the visible crowning of Christ al:
THE MISSION STATION ELEVEN THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE SEA
Lord of all ~ 1. 1'0 encourage and intercede for all intelligent and scriptural endeavors for the conversion of the Jews, and thereby the multiplying of Jewish witnesses to the revealed truth of God; especially to the certain fulfilment of His unfulfilled promises. In Christian plans for proclaiming the Gospel to " all the world," let us remember the uncancelled inlltruction, " to the Jew first." It is sad and strange that at this time of day we have large denominations of Christians to whom it never seems to have occurred that they should commence a mission specially to the Jews. From them is withheld a blessing j perhaps there rests upon them a blight for this very cause. 2." The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch," a high, a holy, and a heavenly calling. Now the disciples are better known as Baptists, or Churchmen, or Congregationalists, or Methodists, or Presbyterians, or Plymouth Brethren. What is their aim and expectation 1 Not so much" the increase of the body" as the increase of the particular section of the Church which they admire and delight in. Cannot more be done to " set the Lord continually before us," to exalt the Christ and keep tne Church in its lowly, proper place, and to live" like men waiting for their Lord j" getting away from the entanglements of earthly alliances, of property, of everything that we should blush to have in our possession or in our surroundings in the light of His glorious appearing 1 3. Every true worker for Christ will do his and her work better in the prospect of His speedy return j more conscientiously, more diligently, with greater bestowal of pains. It is the "wicked. and slothful servant" who 8~yS : 'My Lord delayeth His cuming j" and it is no vain dream which stimulates us to labor well, for we should surely do better if we thought He might appear even while we were doing this or that; and we should pray better if we felt He might find us even down upon our knees and crying to Him: .. Come quickly!" "Even so come, Lord Jesus." Who will join in this the concluding prayer of Holy Scripture, the summing up of the believer's hope, the solution of the world's awful need ~ " Almighty God, we beseech Thee that it may please Thee, of Thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of Thine elect, and to hasten Thy Kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. "-Book of Common Prayer.
THE MISSION STATION ELEVEN THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE REA.
BY THE REV. PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ, NAZARETH, PA.
This" forlorn hope" against the stronghold of Buddhism in Chinese Thibet, situated in British India in the lofty mountain valIeys of the Himalayas, has never ceased to excite interest since its existence has become known to the Christian world. Recent events transpiring there justify calling attention again to this outpost of the missionary army. For nearly thirty-five years the Moravian Brethren have been toiling in their lofty statione, patiently sowing the seed in the days of small things, and waiting for the time when the Lord will open the barred gates of Thibet proper and let His soldiers of the Cross enter in. After having been repulsed from Chinese Thihet, Edward PageIl and A. W. Heyde founded their first mission station in Kyelang, a village of the province of Lahoul, twelve thousand feet above the sea, in 1856. Not until 1865 were the first convertR baptized from this stolid people. Previously to this the mission force had been strengthened by the great Moravian linguist, H. A. Jaeechke, up to that time the president of their college in Niesky, Ger- many. In 1867 the second station was then founded in Poo, a village of the province of Kunawur. The next year witnessed the first baptism there, but also the breaking down of Jaeschke's health. Nevertheless he lived to accomplish the publication of a Thibetan dictionary and other linguistical works which have been of incalculable benefit to the mission. After almost endless difficulties and negotiations a third station was established in Leh, the capital of Ladak, eleven thousand feet above the sea, in 1885. This was considered the most hopefnl station. The force" had at various times been strengthened by F. Redslob, J. D. Schreve, C. W. "Weber, Dr. Karl Marx, and F. Becker Shawe.
After thirty-five years of unremitting labor~ in all three stations, but forty-one souls have been won for Christ as the result of the most selfsacrificing efforts. But these are not all the results. The Prince of Busahir, the native Rajah of the province in which the missionaries lived, testifies: "It is true they have not many converts, but the people love them as if they were their father and mother." When Pagel! and his noble wife, who founded Poo and labored there for twenty years, died there all alone within a few days of each other, in January, 1883, the natives buried them, guarded their house and their money as a sacred trust for five months, when everything was handed over with deep emotion to the new miSSIOnary. They trust the missionaries now implicitly after years of enmity, and bring their treasures to them for safe keeping. That in itself is a testimony for Christianity. Redslob's mere name was a safe-conduct, and acted like a talisman to a traveller among the wild Tartar nomads of Rupchu. The conscientious work of years is beginning to tell.
The entire New Testament has been published in Thibetan. Numberless tracts have been issued from the primitive lithographic pres8 in Kyelang, and the Scriptures as fast as they can be translated. These are Widely distributed on extended missionary tours, and read, aye, by the Lamas themselves. This leaven must work. As said, the mission at Leh seemed the most hopeful. Thl:lfe the British Government put a hospital into the hands of the Moravians, and Dr. Karl Marx was called as a medical missionary. He was not only a succes!<ful physician, but also a linguist. He was the brother of Dr. Gustaf Dahlman-Marx, the great Leipsic Hebrew and Talmud scholar, the sncce8sor of Dr. Delitzsch in the conducting of the Institutum Judaicum. Dr. Karl Marx in the past winter translated the first half of Bunyan's" Pilgrim's Progress" into the vernacular Thibetan, and had planned to complete the work during the coming winter. During his laEt missionary journey at Basgo he made an invaluable discovery of a library of (Thibetan) codices argentei et aurei. These were to have been secured for further linguistic studies. His labors as a physician were also wonderfully blessed. In 1887 he treated 1579 patients; in 1889, 1694, and in 1890, 1956; and generally with wonderful success. Besides patients from Ladak he had Baltis and people from Purig, patients from Chinese and Russian Turkestan, and even representatives from Thibet proper. He also treated some of the old native nobility and native viziers. He always held addresses in the consulting rooms, and here was opened a wonderfully hopeful field for missionary work. Through the medical misslOn the confidence of the people has been won to such an extent that many orphans have been brought to the missionaries for adoption. Four they have taken, and only the lack of means prevents the establishment of an orphanage, which would be a source of incalculable good.
The wives of the missionaries, besides attending to their domestic duties, have taken care of the orphans, taught the schools, and worked among the women. If the mission could have a single lady, unfettered by household cares, much more could be accomplished in this direction. Another hopeful sign was the command of the vizier of Ladak, in 1889, that the children should attend the Moravian schools, so that now 110 pupils are in the three mission schools. In November, 1890, t.he newest 'recruit, an unmarried broth~r, F. Becker ~hawe, a talented young Englishman with a German university training, arrived in Leh. The prospects for the futnre of this" forlorn hope" seemed brightening. especially at Leh. But now, suddenly, a most distressing blow, or; rather, blow upon blow, has fallen upon this sorely-tried mission. The superintendent of the mission, Fr. Redslob, after twenty years of unremitting labor, broke down completely. The Mission Board ordered him home, but he consented to return only on condition that he be permitted to aid the mission by making translations into Thibetan. lIe absolutely refused to leave his post until his successor had actually arrived. 'With indomitable perseverance, amid severe suffering in his sick-chamber, he insisted upon instructing his young colleague in the difficult Thibetan. But while waiting for the new superintendent, C. Weber, the missionaries' last letters home were strong ana hopeful, and full of courageom; plans for the future. But now the blow fell. After a most severe winter and a trying spring, during which illness continually hampered the missionaries, Mr. Redslob's illness became more complicated; on May 16th Dr. Marx himself was struck down with fever; on the 19th Gertrude Red810b ; on the 20th, Mrs. Marx; on the 2l!;t and 22d, the servants of the mission households; on the 23d, Mrs. Redslob. Writing on that date, Mr. Shawe declared himself" the only person in all the station fit for work. No one would come near the,mission compound for fear of infection." The brave young brother took upon himself the care of his fellow-missionaries, and tried to conduct the hospital in addition. Matters grew worse. Dr. Marx's condition became Rerious. Unfortunately there was an eclipse of the moon that night, and the superstitious people were firing guns until daybreak, which of course greatly increased the gravity of the situation for the fever patients. In this critical bituation Mr. Shawe betook himself" to. renewed prayer, and the answer came immediately. There flashed into my memory an envelope casually Reen a few days before at the post-office. It was addressed to • Thorold, Surgeo.n. ' Surely Providence had sent skilled medical aid to. the neighborhood JURt for this time of need." He sent messengers in search of him, and they found him some sixteen miles from Leh. He at once returned, and remained there from May 26th to June lOth, rendering gratuitous services which only Go.d can requite.
The next day Mr. Shawe succumbed to the fever, and was not rGused from his lethargy until his listless ear caught the sGunds of unwonted hammering. Outside in the yard a co.ffin was being made for Dr. Marx and fGr his baby boy, born a few days before.
Yes, after but four and a half years of service, for some inscrutable reason the Lord called this invaluable laborer to his eternal reward on May 29th, 1891. Mr. Redslob, with unconquerable determination, tottered fCGm his couch to the grave of his fellow warrior Gf the Cross, and con- ducted the last rites for his fallen cGmrade. Ah, this gens fRterna !
But missiGnary RedslGb will never see his European home, which he left over twenty years ago. On June 7th, 1891, the Lord called him to his eternal hGme. Up to. the last, " amid the pain and weariness of a IGng illness, he persisted in holding the Thibetan services whenever at all possible, and had regularly instructed his young colleague in the difficult language." A native Christian, Samuel Joldan, the postmaster, laid him to rest on J nne 9th.
" Tranquil amidst alarms, It found him in the field ; A veteran slumbering on his arms Beneath his red·cross shield; His sword was in his hands, Still warm with recent fight; Ready that moment, at command, Through rock and steel to smite.
, Servant of Go:!l well done; Rest from thy loved employ; The battle fought, the victory won, Ental" thy Master's joy.'''
Under the blessing of GGd the rest Gf the missiGnary party recGvered. , In August, 1891, a mournful little company of widows left the mission station,eleven thousand feet aboe the sea, homeward bound j but, Gh, how much more gladly would they, under other circumstances, have remained! Mrs. Redslob and her orphaned daughter Gertrude, Mrs. Marx and a child of the new superi ntendent, Mr. Weber, returned to Europe. Now there is left but one mal ried couple at each of the three stations-at Kyelang, the Rev. A. W. Heyde (and his wife), who is the only one of the original pioneers left, who entered the service in 1852, and now. after thirty-five years of labor, is still at his post in Kyelang, which he helped to found in 18.'>6.
At Poo the Rev. J. Schreve and his wife, who entered the service in 1887. At sorely-tried Leh, the Rev. C. W. J. Weber and his wife, who entered the service in 1882, assisted by the Rev. F. Becker Shawe, the recruit of 1800. What a sad change i,n the bright prospects of Leh but a year ago! What shall become of the incipient orphanage ~ what of the schools? what of the invaluable work of translation ~ above all, what of the hospital' The Roman Catholic missionaries are trying bard to gain a foothold in Ladak. It is a critical period in the history of the" forlorn hope" of the attack on Thibet. The ranks have been most terribly thinned out. It is the medical missionary whose place is most difficult to supply. The Moravian Church has scarcely any medical missionaries at its command, chiefly from lack of funds to prepare them. And yet this sphere of the work seemed so bright with hope. Mr. Shawe urges" to move heaven and earth to get a medical missionary, lest the Government appointment to the hospital be given to some one else." He asks for the r>rayers of all who love the cause of Christian missions, and continues: •• You will now understand that our medical work is in imminent danger of coming to an abrupt close. U nlcss a duly certificated doctor is found very soon, the hospital will pass out of our hands, perhaps to a native Mohammedan doctor, and it will be difficult to regain it.
" It is this knowledge that makes us doubly sad in this our season of sorrow. Having attended at the hospital almost daily, I can testify to the great value of this part of our work. If the medical work ceases, we shall feel as if our right hand were cut off.
"For this reason we ask your help, and beg for much, very much earnest prayer, that the Lord would provide a man for this part of His work very soon. If you had been here, and had seen the hospital, with the daily number of those seeking health, and could see it now locked up and deserted, you could not help but join in the cry, 'Lord, help us.' Remind Him of Hill work here. and of His love to the Ladakis; tell Him what is wanted. and a~k Him to send us help. The future in Leh seems very dark j cease not therefore to request the Giver of every good gift to send us a cheering sign. Our hearts faint within us j pray for us, that our faith fail not."
Verily the Lord seem!! to bave grievously afflicted His people. How long, 0 Lord, how long shall the hearts of these Thibetans resist Thy gracious call ~ Brethren, pray. The editor of the Periodical Accounts
HENRY MARTYN
(Moravian missionary jo,:!rnal), to whom and to whose journal the writer is indebted for many of the facts of this article, says: " The important work at Leh has been shaken to its very roots, almost ere those roots have had time to get film hold. But it is of the Lord's planting; and neither our brave young missionary abiding at his post, nor our Mission Board, which is sending him reinforcements, believe that lie means it to be uprooted. Rather let us interpret these solemn events as laying the work anew as a sacred trust upon all our heart!!. "
Brethren, pray for the mission station eleven thousand feet above the sea!
NOTE.-Since the above narrative was written, the gratifying neWB has been received that a medical misRionary for Leh, in Ludak, British Thibet, has been secnred. An English physician, Dr. Jones, of Birmingbam, and his wife have expressed their readiness to go to Leh Ilnd take charge of the hospital, a'lld have been accepted by the Moravian Mission Board. Both of them were born in India, and can speak the Hindustani, a most important qualification. Thus this most …aluable adjunct of missionary work will remain III the hands of Protestant Christians. The Lord's name be praised!
HENRY MARTYN.-PART II.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFORD, M.A., B.D., ROTHESAY, SCOTLAND.
Though his health was weak, he continued patient and active, going through his work as usual. Perhaps if he had taken a little more care of his health his life might have been prolonged for further work; but we must not reflect on him.
Among the Hindus he began work, in addition to the service for theu-.
each Sabbath, but found that their ignorance of divine things was a serious hindrance. For example, he sent his pundit with a copy of the Gospels as a gift to the Ranee of Daoudnagur. The princess accepted the present, returned her complimenti, and desired to know what must be done to obtain benefit from the book, whether prayer or making a salaam to it.
" I sent her word," he writes, " that she must seek Divine instruction in secret prayer, and I a)so added some other advice. "
On July 30th, 1806, he wrote to Miss Grenfell, in England, making her a proposal of marriage, and asking her to come to India to be his wife.
On March 5th in the following year, notwithstanding that Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge, had meantime visited her to urge Mr. Martyn's plea, she re- plied, dllclining the proposal. He was heart-broken, but he recovered himself and threw himself more than ever into his work of translating and of preaching. "At first," he writes, " like Jonah, I was more grieved at the loss of my gourd than at the sight of the many perishing Ninevehs all around me j but now my earthly woes and earthly atttachments seem to be absorbing in the vast concern of communicating the Gospel to these nations. So remarkably and so repeatedly has God baffled my schemes of earthly comfort that I am forced at last to believe His determination to be that I should live in every sense a stranger and pilgrim on this earth.' , Yes, he was indeed a pilgrim, declaring plainly that he sought a better country, .even the heavenly. The rest of the pilgrim's way to Zion he walked alone, leaning on no human hand, but clinging all the more closely to Jesus his Saviour.
With his moonshee and his pundit he had much conversation, but made little headway. The former threw much ridicule on the distinctive truths of the Gospel; the latter seemed more impressible. "I find that serious- ness in the declaration of the truths of the Gospel is likely to have mono power than the clearest arguments conveyed in a trifling spirit." Speaking to the moonshee of his own personal experience, Martyn assured him that his chief pleasure even now on earth was the enjoyment of God's presence and a growing conformity to Him, and therefore, he says, " I asked what motives could the promise of houris, ghilmans, green meadows, and eating and drinking in paradise afford me. My soul sweetly blessed the Lord in secret that this testimony was true; and oh ! what a change must have been wrought in me !"
Having occasion to make an eight days' journey to Monghir and back to Dinapore, he required to spend a Sabbath without work; and how sore a trial this was may be seen from the following extract from his diary; but surely it also shows that his self-introspection was too severe: "April 19th. A melancholy Lord's day! In the morning, at the appointed hour, I found solemnity and tenderness; the whole desire of my soul seemed to be that all the ministers in India might be eminently holy, and that there might be no remains of that levity or indolence which I found in myself. The rest of the day passed heavily, for a hurricane of hot wind fastened us on a sand-bank for twelve hours, when the dust was suffocating and the heat increased the sickness which was produced by the tossing of the boat, though she was aground, and I frequently fell asleep over my work. However, the more I felt tempted to impatience and unhappiness, the more the Lord helped me to strive against it and to look at the fulness of Jesus Christ. Several hymns, particularly, ' There is a fountain filled with blood,' were very sweet to me. After all the acquisitions of human science, what is there to be compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Read much of the Scripture history of Saul and the predictions in the latter end of the Revelation. Read also Marshall on Sanctification, Gilbert's Sermons, and Thomas a Kempis." Surely not so melancholy a Lord's day after all ! His work in Dinapore continued. Five schools for children he sup, ported out of his own pocket. The Gospel he still preached as before, amid the persistent scorn and obloquy of the Europeans; the praise ot man was a form of temptation which did not fall to his lot. Like Paul, he was willing to impart to them not the Gospel only, but his own lIoul also, because they were dear to him; but their response was opprobrium and contempt. At his services sometimes not a single European was present, and he was thankful when he could explain the word of God in Hindustani to a few of the native women. An idea of the difficulty of his work may be gathered from a sentence or two in a letter which he wrote on July 4th, 1808, to his friend, Rev. D. Corrie: "There are four castes of people in India: the first, heathen; the second, Mohammedans; the third, Papists; the fourth, infidels. Now I trnst that you and I are sellt to fight this four-faced devil j and, by the help of the Lord Jesns whom we serve, we will."
Being asked to accept of the pastorate of the Mission Church in Calcutta, he refused the offer, feeling that if he gave himself to the work of the ministry in that city he must abandon his work among the natives j but this he could not consent to do.
Two frE'sh assistants now arrived to aid him in the work of Bible translation-Mirza of Benares, a gifted Hindustani scholar, and Sabat, an Arabian. Mirza appears to have been very helpful in this work, but Sabat proved a thorn in the flesh, owing to his fierce temper, which would oftentimes break out into ungovernable fits of fury. Instead of being a comfort, Sabat became only an additional trial. Yet Martyn bore with this fiery Arabian for two reasons: because he felt Sabat of use to him in the translation of the New Testament into Persian, and also for the man'!! own sake, in hope that he might be led to Christ. Most unhappily, Sabat, though outwardly professing the Christian faith, ultimately apostatized. This Bible translation work was oftentimes continued in much bodily weak_ ness and pain. In an illness which might have been fatal, he felt no fear of death, yet longed to have the Persian gospels finished.
In March, 1808, he joyfully completed the version of the New Testament in Hindustani, " a work for which," says Sargent, "myriads in the ages yet to come will gratefully remember and revere the name of Martyn." It is substantially this version which is still in use. The labor had been severe: "I have read and corrected the manuscript copies of my Hindustani Testament so often that my eyes ache. The heat is terrible-often at 98°-the nights insupportable." This version, accompli~hed by toil so great, is still doing God's work iu India. (See Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer for January, 1891.) In April, 1809, Martyn was ordered from Dinapore to Cawnpore. In the midst of terrific heat the journey of several hundred miles was accomplished. He fainted as soon as he reached the llOuse of the friend, Mrs. Sherwood, with whom he was to regide for a few days. And still even in Cawnpore was the ambassador of Christ ~et at naught. The natives to whom he preached met him with derision,- shouts and hisses j but as a dying man he ceased not to beseech them to be reconciled to God.
He had now received news of the death of both of his surviving sisters. Of the death of the last of them he writes: "To lose my last near relation, my only siRter iu nature and grace, is a dreadful stroke."
One remarkable fellture of his residence in Cawnpore was his preaching
1892.J HENRY
to the beggars. To prevent constant interruptions he had arranged tLat a crowd of mendicants should come to his house on a stated day for the distribution of alms. To this strange congregation he determined to preach the Gospel. The following Sunday he again preached to the beggars, who numbered about five hundred. This audience received him in a different style from that to which he was accustomed; instead of indifference or ~corn there was great applause. He did not cease to minister to these wretched beings while he wa'l in Cawnpore ; and this he did, relieving their temporal wants as well as setting the Gospel before them.
His ill health now caused him much pain, but he felt he could not forego the joy of any part of hi~ work, neither that of preaching to the regiment of soldiers, nor to the crowd of beggars, nor to the little flock of Europeans. One native woman, an old Hindu, was baptized by him in Cawnpore.
So poor did hill health become that it was necessary either that he should try a sea voyage, or return for a short time to England. The precise time of his departure from Cawnpore, as well as his route, were decided by other considerations-viz., by those affecting his Persian translation of the New Testament.
The Persian gospels he had submitted to the judgment of the authorities in Calcutta, and their decision was that the translation abounded too much with Arabic idiom~; it was therefore sent back to him for revision. On this news being made known to him, he resolved to leave India and go to Persia in order to make the necessary revision on the spot.
He applied for sick leave, and this was readily granted. Then he sailed from Calcutta to Bombay, whence he set out for Persia. In Bombay, Sir John Malcolm gave him a letter of introduction to Sir Gore Ouseley, the British Resident in Persia. Sir John introduces him as " altogether a very learned and cheerful man, but a great enthusiast in his holy calling. I am satisfied that if you ever see him you will be pleased w.ith him. He will give you grace before and after dinner, and admonish such of your party as take the Lord's name in vain; but his good sense and great learning will delight you, while his constant cheerfulness will add to the hilarity of your party."
It was on July 7th, 1811, that he left Calcutta. The yoyage to Per8ia occupied five months. He landed at Bushire, and thence travelled to Shiraz. As soon as'he was upon Persian soil he adopted Persian costume. "The Persian dress," he writes to Mr. Corrie, "consists of stocking!! and shoes in one; next a pair of large blue tronsers, or else a pair of huge red boots; then the shirt, then the tunic, and above it the coat, both ot chintz, and a great coat. I have here described my own dress, most of which I have on at this moment. On the head is worn an enormous cone made of thc skin of the black Tartar sheep, with the wool on. If to this description of my dress I add that my beard and mustachios have been suffered to vegetate nndisturbed ever since I left India; that I am sitting on a Persian carpet in a room without tables and chairs; that I bury my hand in thc pilaw without waiting for spoon or plate, you will give me credit for being already an accomplished Oriental."
On the journey from Bushire to Shiraz he suffered greatly from the extreme heat, the thermometer rising to 1260 • "In this state," he writes, " I composed myself, and concluded that though I might hold out a day or two, death was inevitable." It left him, he says, more dead than alive. At length Shiraz was reached, and here he began the work which had brought him to Persia, immediately beginning a new version of the New Te~tament in Persian. In this labor he had an able and willing assistant in the person of Mirza Seid Ali Khan, the brother-in-law of his bost, Jaffier Ali Khan.
Mr. Martyn was very soon the centre of observation in the city; he had many callers, and with all of them he enter!'d into serious conversation on the subject of the Gospel. He was deli~hted to find the Persians far more unprejudiced and more inquisitive than the Hindus, and this gave him hope that the Gospel would soon win its way among them. But what could have brought him to Persia ~ was the question discussed by many; to which some replied that he had repaired to Shiraz in order to become a Mussulman, with the ulterior design' of bringing five thousand men to seize the country by force!
He had much interesting conversation with many persons. Two Moollahs, having listened to what he had to say regarding the person of Christ, seemed quite satisfied, and remarked, "How much misapprehension is removed when people come to an explanation!" While his amanuensis was writing the translation of that passage in the Gospel where it is related how one of the servants of the high-priest struck the Lord Jesus on the face, the irreverence and insult impressed him greatly; he stopped and said, " Sir, did not hig hand dry up~" There are many such notices in his journal, showing how the Gospel, hitherto unknown to these people, attracted their attention and their respect simply by its own inherent worth and by the power of God's grace.
The Jews in Shiraz were falling away to Mohammed~nism. Every Jew who became a Mohammedan was rewarded, by the prince with an honorary dress; accordingly many of them became progelytes. During Mr. Martyn's conversation with some of them, they expressed their wonder why Christians should love the Jews; the truth spoken in love had touched them. One of the Jew-Mohammedans, named Abdoolghunee, said to him: " You talk of the atonement, but I do not see it anywhere in the Gospel." Two passages from the Gospel were cited in reply, along with Romans 3 and Isaiah 53. W~ith the latter he was much struck, and after more questions he said that in his childhood he used to cry while hearing about the sufferings of Christ; and, Mr. Martyn adds, the Jew wept while mentioning it.
Anxious to pay respect to the pow~rs that be, Mr. Martyn was formally presented at court to the Prince Abbas Mirza. A strange sight it must have been. "I went, wearing a pair of red cloth stockings, with green, high-heeled shoes." A hundred fountains playing; the dignitaries, some slanding, others seated. "I never saw," he writes, "a more sweet and engaging countenance than the prince's."
His first pub];c discussion was with the Moojtuhid, or Professor of Mohammedan law; but fair discussion did not come easily to the professor; he preferred to dogmatize. These discussions, and the fact of his being engaged on a translation of the New Testament, excited so much inquiry that the preceptor of all the Moollahs published against Mr. Martyn an Arabic defence of Mohammedanism. Mr. Martyn published a reply in Persian, dividing his reply into two parts: first, an attack on Mohammedanism; second, a statement of the evidences of Christianity. He ends his reply in the words: "If you do not see the evidence to be sufficient, my prayer is that God may guide you so that you, who have been a guide to men in the way you thought right, may now both see the truth and call men to God through Jesus Christ, who hat~ loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood. His glory and dominion be everlasting!" The nephew of one of the princes, hearing of Mr. Martyn's published reply, obserl'ed that the proper answer to it was-the sword; hut the prince confessed that he began to have his doubts.
Toward the end of November such progress had been made with the Persian version that Mr. Martyn ordered two splendid copies of it to be prepared-one to be presented to the King vf Persia, the other to his son, Prince Abbas Mirza. Intending to pass the winter in Shiraz, he resolved to set about the translation of the Psalms from the original Hebrew into Persian.
On Christmas day he made a feast for the Russians and Armenians, and the Soofie Master and his disciples were also present. Addressing the guests, Mr. Martyn expressed his hope that though they would never see him again, they would remember that he had brought them the Gospel. The Soofie Master coldly replied that God would guide those whom Be chose.
At length the year 1812 dawned-the year when Henry Martyn rested from his labors, and" found himself in a world where all is love." On New Year's day he wrote: "I look back with shame and pity upon my former self, when I attached importance to my life and labors. The more I see of my works, the more I am ashamed of them. I am sick when I look at man and his wisdom and his doings, and am relieved only by reflecting that we have a city whose builder and maker is God. T~e least of His works here is refreshing to look at. A dried leaf or a straw makes me feel myself in good company; complacency and admiration take the place of disgust."
On January 16th there is an entry in his journal which shows us his very heart. "Mirza Seid Ali told me accidentally to-day of a distich made by his friend, Mirza Koochut, at Teheran, in honor of a victory obtained by Prince Abbas Mirza over the Russians. The sentiment was that he had killed so many of the Ohristians that Christ from the fourth heaven took hold of Mohammed's skirt to entreat him to desist. I was cut to the !loul at this blasphemy. • . . Mirza Seid Ali perceived that I was considerably disordered, and was sorry for having repeated the verse, but asked what it was that was so offensive. I told him that I could not endure existence if Jesus was not glorified; that it would be hell to me if He were to be always thus dishonored. He was astonished, and again asked why. 'If anyone pluck out your eyes,' I replied, ' there is no !laying why you feel pain-it is feeling. It is because I am one with Christ that I am dreadfully wounded.' On his again apologizing, I told him that I rejoiced at what had happened, inasmuch as it made me feel nearer the Lord than ever."
His heart must have rejoiced when, after months of inquiry and sometimes of opposition, at length Mirza Seid Ali confessed himself a Christian ; that he granted that Christ is the Son of God ; that he despaired of himself, and was willing to trust in Him alone for salvation ; and that he was also willing to confess Christ before men and act conformably to His Word.
On February 14th the la~t sheet of the Persian New Testament was finished, and in March he completed the translation of the Book of Psalms.
On the day before he finished t~e New Testament he visited Mirza Ibraheem, who was engaged lecturing in a room filled with Moollahs. The Master asked him what Christians meant hy calling Christ God, and also if Christ had ever called Himself God. Was He the Creator or a creature 1 " I replied, the Creator. The Moollahs looked at one another. Such a confession had never before been heard among Mohammedan doctors." This was indeed a memorable confession of Christ hefore men.
On May 24th, after instructing Mirza Seid Ali what to do with the New Testament version iu case of his (Martyn's) decease, he left Shiraz for Tabriz, where the British ambassador, Sir Gore Ouseley, then resided. The purpose of this journey was to obtain from the amhassador a letter of introduction to the king, before whom he desired to lay his translation of the New Testament. Arrived at the king's camp at Carach, he attended the vizier's levee, where there was a lengthened and clamorous controversy. It ended when Mr. Martyn said: "God is God," but added, instead of " Mohammed is the prophet of God," " and Jesus is the Son of God." The disputants rose up in anger and contempt, and one of them exclaimed: " ViThat will you say when your tongue is burned out for this blasphemy 1" The Per~ian translation of the New Testament which he had brought for presentation to the king was lying before the vizier. "As they all rose up," writes }fartyn, " I was afraid they would trample upon the book, so I went in among them to take it up, and wrapped it in II towel before them, while they looked at it and me with 8upreme contempt."
He was informed that he could not be presented to the king until the king reached Sultania, where the ambassador was. He now resumed his journey from Carach to Tabriz. This journey proved a most painful one; he was seldom free from headache and giddiness and fe~er; ., but my heart," he writes, "I trust is with Christ and His saints." With want of sleep, want of refreshment and exposure to the sun he was thrown into a high fever and nearly delirious. He almost despaired of getting alhe through what he calls" this unfortunate journey.' At last he reached Tabriz.
But he was prevented from accomplishing what he so much desircdthe presentation in his· own person of his translation of the New Testament to the King of Persia. The cause was a fever which lasted nearly two months. Sir Gore Ouseley, however, promised that he would present it at Court. His promise he duly fulfilled, and the king, on receiving it, publicly expressed his approval of the work. Sir Gore Ouseley also carried 1he manuscript to St. Petersburg, where he superintended the printing of it and the putting of it into circulation. The ambassador and his wife tendedy nursed Mr. Martyn during the whole of this illness.
After recovering from the fever he set out from Tabriz with the intention of returning to England. He turned his horse's head toward Constantinople, distant about 1300 miles-a city he was destined not to reach. He and his attendants journeyed on from village to village, crossing the river Araxes, and having Mount Ararat in view; a hoary mountain, he describes it, rising so high above the rest that they sunk into nothin~; it was truly sublime. His remarks on seeing this ancient mountain were that Noah had here " landed in a ncw world; so may I, safe in Christ, outride the storms of life, and land at last on one of the everlasting hills. "
At Erivan he was kindly receivl'ld by the governor, who accorded him a private interdew. Next day he again proceeded. At Ech Miazin, or Three Churches, he visited a large Armenian church, and encouraged oue of the ecclesiastics, named Serope, in whom he thought he saw promise of some reforming, useful Christian work. The clergy of this church received him most cordially; he stayed with them a few days, and left them with sentiments of brotherly regard.
On September 17th he left Ech Miazin and resumed his journey toward Europe. His party crossed the Araxes four times. Ascending the tableland they had a view of Russian territory; at once they saw Persia, Russia, and Turkey. They journeyed on, and on the 21st he rode into the eity of Kars. Next day they resumed the march, and passed close to the country of the Kurds; then onward to Erzeroum. Travelling on, they came to Chiflick, where he was attacked again by ague and fever, and these let him know how weak he was. Next day they came to Sherean, and thence traveIled all the rest of the day and all night; it rained most of the time; the ague returned, and he could get nowhere to lie down, for, he writes, "Hassan had no mercy." After sleeping three or four hours, Hassan once more hurried him onward till night came on, when Mr. Martyn got off his horse, telling Hassan he neither conld nor wonld go any farther. Seeing a light he made toward it, and got under shelter-a stable-room. Here the fever increased; he besou~ht them to put out the fire or to carry him out-of-doors, but they were deaf to his entreaties; so be put his head in among the luggage and lodged it on the damp ground and slept. Next morning the merciless Hassan hurried him off. Next night the ague and fever returned, and he could not sleep.
The last entry in his journal is that of next day, Oetober 6th: "No horses being obtainable, I had an unexpected repose. I sat in the orchard and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God, in solitude my company, my friend and comforter. Oh, when shall time give place to eternity ~ when shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness ~ There-there shall in nowise enter in anything th'lt defileth, none of that wickedness that has made men worse than wild beasts; none of those corruptions that add still more to the miseries of mortality shall be seen or heard of any more. "
On October 16th, at Tocat, he died, as Sargent, his sympathetic biographer, writes, " either falling a sacrifice to the plague which then raged there, or sinking under that disorder which when he penned his last words had 110 greatly reduced him, he surrendered his soul into the hands of his Redeemer. " He had riot completed his thirty-second year.
A man of the highest talents, his mathematical and linguistic attainments leaving him almost without a rival, he laid himself a willing sacrifice on the Lord's altar. "The symmetry of his stature in Christ is as surprising as its height." "All the dignity to which he aspired was to be their servant, among whom he labored for Jesus' sake."
Even before he left England, 80 thoroughly was his conversation in heaven. that, to use his own words, "his soul lcnged for the eternal world; and he could see nothing on earth for which he would wish to live another hour." "Blessed be God, I feel myself to be His minis~er. I wish for no service but the service of God in laboring for souls on earth and to do Hig will in heaven." "I do not wish for any heaven upon earth besides that of preaching the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ to immortal souls." Even when laboring at the great work of translating the Bible into the languages of India, he writes, "Oh, my soul, be not deceived; thy chief work upon earth is to obtain sanctification and to walk with God."
The Greek text upon the title-page of Martyn's memoir is a true epitome of his life and work: "For My sake thou hast labored, and thou hast not fainted" (Rev. 2 : 3).
THE DEPARTURE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
THE DEPARTURE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON.- PART II.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
When, a little beforp- midnight, January 31st, this devoted man of God passed into the heavenly rest, not only did the Church lose the great- est Gospel preacher of this century and the greatest organizer since John Wesley, but the world lost one of its greatest missionaries. No lUan could love Christ as he did with intense personal love, and love the Gospel of salvation as he did with unquestioning confidence, and love souls as he did without distinction of class or caste, without being in the grandest sense a world-wide missionary. He trained his people to pray and live and give for Christ ; he trained well on to a thousand students, and then sent them into fields far and near, and they are scattered ovel" the globe. He preached Rermons at once so full of the Gospel and so simple of comprehension that they have gone every week to the bounds of the habitable globe, and have been translated into twenty different tongues, from Danish to Arabic, and Spanish to Syriac. No doubt 50,000,000 readers have been reached by them, and in many a chtLlet of Switzerland, a jungle of India, in the Aus- tralian bush, and in the hamlets of our own great Vest, they have been read in humble houses of "ssembly where as yet no preacher has been secured. During his life he preached to not less than an aggregate of 12, )O,OQO, and gathered directly 12,000 converts besides all that went into other churches, but had found salvation while hearing him. He has sent forth 37 volumes of sermons through as many years, each sermon pub- lished at a penny. He has sent forth 27 volumes of the "Sword and Trowel, " besides all the hundred other books and tracts, large and small, on the greatest variety of subjects-the" Treasury of David" alone reach- ing ao issue of ] 25,000, and a probable circulation, as to its readers, of twice that number. All this is but a small part of the marvellous labors of this wondrously useful and consecrated man.
One must live in the atmosphere of this great church as I have done for many months to understand Spurgeon j what he was and still is in his undying influence this monumental church shows. It is called a Baptist Church, but that is not its name; it is the" Baptized Church of Jesus Christ." Mr. Spurgeon aimed, without being trammelled by tradition or denomination, to build up one church on purely New Testament princi- pIes; and I am clear in pronouncing it the purest approach to what seems tlo me a primitive apostolic church in simplicity of faith, worship, ordi- nances, and work. It is a Baptist Church in this, that it emphasizes be- lievers' baptism by immersion, and resists infant sprinkling as tending to . " baptismal regeneration;" it is Congregational in that it is not affiliated with any outside body except in fraternal bonds-advisory, not compulsory -and that it emphasizes the autonomy and autocracy of the individual, independent Church; it is Methodist in zeal, fervor, aggressive activity, and even in the audible responses to prayer and to Gospel preaching; but it is Preshyterian in this, that it makes the bench of elders the ruling court of authority and discipline. It may be questioned whether it be not the purest sp€('imen of a Presbyterian Church in its essential polity. Mr. Spurgeon held that there is no authority for distingnishing the minister and elder save as to functions-that the word presbyter, elder, bishop mean one and the same office in different aspects. And hence, to be an elder in the Metropolitan Tabernacle carries authority to reach and preach and administer sacraments, as well as to rule; it is only a question of gifts and their exercise. If an elder who rules well is found to develop gifts for public preaching, he goes into the pulpit without any re-ordination. And so a deacon, though, like Philip and Stephen, chosen to serve tables and attend to temporalities, if he manifest the preaching gift he goes down into " Samaria," like Philip, and preaches and baptizes, and oftentimes" much people is added unto the Lord. " Never have I found a single church anywhere that seemed to me to copy as nearly at! possible the model in the Acts of the Apostles on the whole. Certainly that was Mr. Spurgeon's aim, and in this six thousand church-members followed his lead. He dared to stand alone and throw open his Lord's table to all his Lord's followers, by whatever name known. And, according as he read the New Testament, he sought to embody in this greatest Christian Church the principles and practices there laid down. Certainly whatever else be said, his plan has worked weil for forty years, gathered the largest single congregation in Christendom, developed a myriad form of Christian activity, and realized that difficult ideal of the apostolic age-for here again the" Lord adds daily to the Church such as are saved," and has done it for thirty years.
Nothing was more remarkable about dear Spurgeon than his catholicity, not only as a disciple, but filst of all as a man. I mean that he was the man of all men. lie despised aristocracy, whether in State or Church. He never wore a glove, for he believed it was a non-conductor. His open hand and open heart were for all men. Whether you were a hod-carrier or a duke made no difference; your greeting was equally cordial and complete. You were set at your ease at once. He hated only shams, and they were always frigidly repelled. This whole city and land are full of his alms-deeds and good works. He gave money as he gave himself, without stint; hundreds of pounds in this direction for a new mission hall or chapel; a half crown to a poor widow; an autograph letter to help some poor brother in an enterprise where Spurgeon's name was worth more than anybody else's money; how grandly, quietly, lavishly and yet prayerfully he gave, until out of his large income from pulpit work and press work he had scarce enough at times to pay his doctor's bill! What will those students in the pastor's college do now that their greatest benefactor no longer points them to the promises of God, and, like Wesley, surrounds them with helpful II five pound" expository " notes" ~ Such a universal be-
ARE MISSION CONVERTS A FAILURE?
reavement and deep-felt grief this century has not before seen. On Tuesday, after the body arrived from Mentone, I counted 150 people a minute passing down the two aisles of entrance past the bier; and as that procession moved steadily from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M., it is estimated that from 75,000 to 121>,000 in all passed through the church on that day. And when the procession moved to Norwood, for miles along the route tho bystanders stood on each side of the street from three to five deep, and shoulder to shoulder. To say that a quarter miLion people lined the route would be to uuderstate. All traffic had to stop wherever that procession passed. At the Stockwell Orphanage a temporary platform was built for his dear fatherless ones to see the great father's ashes borne by, and they tried to sing a funeral hymn as the hearse moved past, but they broke down in tears, and the weeping was more eloquent than the singing could have been. It was a day, a week, a fortnight never to be forgotten; from the Monday morning, when the cablegram from across the Channel brought the tidings of his death, until the afternoon of the eleventh day following, unceasing memorial services were held; and even on the Sabbath following the funeral. Yes, the giant cedar of Lebanon has fallen, and the sound of its downfall echoes round the world, while the crash of its fall shakes a nation. What a vast vacancy in the forest ! how far these great roots reached-to what distances and to what depths! How much was bound up in that one life for good to all mankind!
Mr. Spurgeon's contribution to the pu~ity of the Church's doctrine, the simplicity of its faith, the energy of its work, cannot now be measured. John Wesley's posthumous work was far greater than anything he accomplished while he lived. and it still goes on.
Thankful are we that Rev. James A. Spurgeon, who was to his brother all and more than Jonathan was to David, still lives to guide the works they jointly did. But Charles H. Spurgeon must ever be put among the truest miSllionaries of all ages.
ARE MISSION CONVERTS A FAILURE ?-PART II.
BY REV. ARCHIBALD TURNBULL, B. D., DARJEELING.
We have heard the testimony (1) of Sir William Muir; (2) of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Hear now (3) that of Sir Richard Temple, G.C.S.I. (formerly Governor of Bombay) : "These Christian communities are now becoming so extensive and widespread that an estimate of their character and conduct may be formed with confidence. On that subject I never heard but one opinion from magistrates, civil officers, and independent observers-namely, this: that these people are wellbehaved, law-abiding, free from crime, temperate, harmless; that they are more regular in sending their children to school than their neighbors-a very important point; that they are amenable to the advice of their pastors and attent-ive to religious ministrations; that they never cause scandals to arise, never apostatize, never compromise themselves with idolatrous practices, and yet never engage in feuds or even disputes with their heathen neighbors. As for their inner life, let any person who is acquainted with the practical ethics of Hinduism-not as gathered from sacred writings accessible only to the learned, but as displayed in the conduct of public worship and the effect of private example-contrast all that with the pure helief and the virtuous instruction under which they now live. He will then find it impossible to doubt the cnormouseffect, morally and spiritually, produced by Christianity on their minds and hearts. The conduct of the native Christian communities, now reckoning about hal£ a million souls, is good, and worthy of the faith which they profess.' , As to missionary testimony, Vaughan's standard work, "The Trident, the Crescent, and the Cross," remarks that the great body of native Christian~ ill India need not shrink from comparison with the main body of their brethren at home. They are not eminent in holiness, nor are they hypocrites. Only a few have been bIought in by deep spiritual yearnings j but there has been a decided and deciding conviction of the superiority of the Gospel. Pity and help in the time of famine, as exhibited by the Christians, over against the hard-hearted indifference of Mohammedanism and Hinduism, brought many in. This motive, though not high, was natural and true. Many, beginning with this external apprehension of the superiority of Chril'otianity, have gone rapidly up to a high plane of Christian living. " If deep repentance, earnest faith, and burning love j if complete selfsacrifice, if a cheerful surrender of all that men hold dear in life, if a fearless confession of Christ at any cost. be marks of genuine conversion, then has the Church of India multitudes of confes~ors within her pale distinguished by these marks."
The Indi~n Witness, of Calcutta, the most widely circulated religious paper in India, predicts that the Christians, though mostly of the lower castes, will, by their rapid development of character and intelligence, soon wrest from the Brahmans their social pre-eminence.
The Darjeeling Mission abundantly confirms these judgments. "By whatever practical standard judged, these converts are on the whole an eminently creiitable flock. Knowing of their past and present justifies unhesitating confidence in their future. Not only is their outward propriety unfailingly guaranteed by the strict discipline enforced by the monthly Panchayat (church court), a discipline which would seriously decimate the home churches, but proofs also of their inward sincerity-which is all that anyone needs be concerned about-are to be found in almost every page of the mission's annual reports. If the inevitable cross of baptism and dil!- cipleship, involving not unfrequently the loss of all the natural man counts dear, and involving always the surrender of cherished evil habits-if favorable comparison with the best churches of Christendom, in respect of quotable instances of pious lives and pious deaths, the proportion of enrolled
A VISIT TO RAJPUTANA
communicants and active Christian workers' (paid and unpaid) attendance on ordinances, zeal for education, Christian liberality, mutual benevolence, freedom from vice and crime-if all this is any test of sincerity they are pre-eminently sincere, and we may rest rea,;onably satisfied regarding them."
Nevertheless, the Christians of India are ethically far behind the stllndard of the New Testament. Mr. Turnbull quotes Dr. Pierson's remllrkR IIbout the low standard of home Christianity tried by this test, and the impossibility of condemning missions in India without condemning the missions that brought in our own forefathers, whose fruits have been 80 long in coming even to their present approximate ripeness. And through what struggles and scandals missions had to make their way in the apostolic Church! Nay; although in the apostles themselves was shut up, as in seed, the regenerate world, yet in them, before Pentecost, we find pride, jealousy, revenge>, covetousness, self-seeking, contention, worldliness, cowardice, despair, carnal ambitions. And though the baptism of the Spirit cleansed them from most of this, it left relics enough of narrowness, precipitancy, opposition of feeling to justify Paul's acknowledgment: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels."
The Lord Jesus Christ has had to work through imperfect instruments, and on exceedingly imperfect material from the first, and will find imperfection in both to the last. Yet in the final account Wisdom will be justified of all her children.
A VISIT TO RAJPUTANA.
BY THE HON. DUNCAN MCLAREN, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
[The Hon Duncan McLaren, of Edinburgh, who, with his gifted wife, put the beautiful home at St. Oswald's at my disposal in my missionary tour i.n 1889-90 with lavish hospitality and generosity, has been visiting India at his own cost, that with hill wife he may look personally into the mission work of this and other Oriental lands. From his recent letter we gladly print copious and helpful extracts.-A. T. P.] The district Rajputana, north of the Bombay Presidency and south of the Punjab, consists of nineteen States-~ighteen ruled by native princes, and one, Ajmere-Merwara, British territory. The total area of Rajputana is about 130,000 square miles, and its population over ten millions. The Rajputs-" sons of kings"-the ruling race, but only a small proportion of the population, are warriors by profession; they hunt, and are excellent horsemen. They scorn trade or agriculture, and, lacking both the intellectual acumen of the Brahmans and the business skill of the Bunyas, are better fitted to fight or hunt than to govern. The system of government is akin to feudalism. The land belongs to the Maharajah, or to one of the Thakurs or Nobles, each of whom has his own band of retainers, who acknowledge his authority, etc. The supreme authority in each State is the Maharajah, who has his Council of Nobles, his Ministers of State, and executive and judicial officers. The mission work is conducted with great vigor and encouraging success in Surat, Anand, .Ahmedabad, and other towns, by the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
Jodhpur, in Rajputana, is the capital of the State of Jodhpur or Marwar, founded four hundred and fifty years since. The most conspicuous object is the fort. When the foundations of the fort were laid, a man was interred alive as an auspicious omen. In acknowledgment of his sacrifice, land was bestowed on his descendants, who are also exempted from forced labor. The ancient capital of lfarwar, which means the region of death, and is almost destitute of vegetation, was Mandore, five miles to the north. The palace and other buildings are now in ruins, but many fine cenotaphs, erected by the Maharajahs, commemorate their predecessors and their Ranis, whose ashes are worshipped for two or three generations. Here also is a Hall of Herves, containing large figures of the various Hindu g?ds. The present Maharajah, ably supported by his Prime Minister, Sir Pratab Singh, has done a great deal for the good of the Statc. The heavy debt of ten years ago is almost entirely paid off. Roads have been formed, a railway constructed, and many beneficial changes introduced. One of the chief sources of revenue is salt; a small sum is derived from licenses, but these have been greatly reduced in number j two years ago 883 lieenRes were granted j last year only 674. I witnessed a meeting of the Municipal Council, held out of doors. The town clerks squatted in the centre, and benches were placed round for the members j but half the councillors were on their feet, doing their best to interrupt the member who was speaking with a vehemence and noise worthy of the most up_ roarious town councillors at home. The Marwaris are keen traders, found in all parts of India, making money as merchants, usurers, and pawnbrokers. The United Presbyterian Church opened a medical mission in Jodhpur seven years since. At first neither the mission nor missionary was looked on with friendly eyes, but now by all castes he is welcomed. A house has been rented for a hospital, and a small Christian community gathered. Could a medical lady missionary be obtained, there would be an ample field of labor open to her.
Udaipur is the capital of Meywar or Udaipur, which may be called the premier Rajput State. rhe Maharana, as he is styled, takes precedence of the Maharajahs of the other States when assembled in Durbar, and claims to belong to the oldest reigning family in the world save one, his ancestors having sat OR the throne of Meywar for thirteen hundred years in an unbroken line of seventy-six generations. Udaipur is beautifully situated, surrounded by lofty mountains. The paillce in dazzling whiteness stands out prominently, its walls skirted by a lovely lake with islands. On two islands in Lake Pechola are royal residences. During the Mutiny the Maharana mstructed the late Rao Bedla to take a detachment of soldiers and convey the British women and children from Neemuch to his capital. where, on one of these islands-Jagmander-they remained under his protection till the Mutiny was at an end. For his services the Rao Bedla was presented by Queen Victoria with a jewel'ed sword. The palaces on the two islands are built of marble, exquisitely carved. A feudal council of sixteen Haos, or Dukes, presided over by the Rao of Bedla, has a voice in the government, but there is no representative of the people. The revenue is mostly derived from the land and from customs. Hinduism, the most orthodox and bigoted, prevails. In the large public garden a museum and library has been erected, of which Shyamal Dasji, the poetlaureate and national historian, is curator. He has been many years writing a history of Udaipur, which is not likely soon to be finished. In the garden a statue of Queen Victoria has been placed, which the natives look upon as a new deity, and worship as the goddesil of power! A medical mission has been established for several years; a model hospital erected, admirably adapted and well equipped; upward of 44,000 patients were treated last year, and every patient has an opportunity of hearing the Gospel. A church hal! been built for the native congregation; an Anglovernacular and several vernacular schools opened for boys, and one for girls, well attended by the higher castes. Good work has also been done among the Bhils, an aboriginal race who live in thickets called pals, and are freebooters. Their chief, Lakhma, a sort of Rob Roy, has come under the influence of Dr. Shepherd, the United Presbyterian missionary. A home for Bhil boys has been opened, in which thirty are trained. Some find the restraints of civilization irksome, and escape to their native wilds, but many do well. One has commenced a school in his native pal; others, by the kindness of the Executive Engineer, Mr. Thomson, have been taken in the Raj workshops, where they are learning trades. When the mi~8ion ary first settled in udaipur strong opposition was manifested by the Pakha Hindus, hut many of these are now his firmest friends. Two former bitter opponents-one of them a Jain priest-told me how much they were indebted to the United Presbyterian Church for establishing a medical mission.
Jeypur is the best known native city in Rajputana, and is the capital of the State of the same name. The city was built on a regular plan by Ma~a rajah Jey Singh, a brave warrior and a distinguished man of science, his knowledge of astronomy being unsurpassed by any man then living. He built a large observatory in his own city, and others in Delhi and elsewhere, and corresponded with the ablest astronomers in Europe. Jeypur is a show city j its streets are wide and regular j the palace occupies one sixth of the entire area; the bouses are all of a deep pink; the public gardens. Ram-ni.,was, are tbe finest outside the Presidency capitals. The Hall of tbe Wind~, a part of the palace occupied by the Zenana, is described by Sir Edwin Arnold as " a vision of daring and dainty loveliness ;" tbern is a college, witb a large staff; a school of arts for technical jn~truction ; the Mayo Hospital, with accommodation for one hundred patients; and the Albert Museum. Jeypur takes credit for being the most enlightened and liberal State in Rajputana, but its much·talked-of enlightenment is largely mere veneer. Some of the so-caJled Conservative States have shown much more liberality to their Christian subjects and to missions. This was the first native State which missionaries entered, and yet, after twenty-five years' labor, we are unable to get a site for a church, whereas, in the ultra Conservative State of U uaipur, an excellent site was given as soon as asked. Again, several years ago money was raised to send a medical woman as missionary to Jeypur, but she still is denied entrance to the city, and had to go' elsewhere; in the Conservative city of Jodhpur, on the other hand, she would be welcomed. The Prime Minister, Balor Kantee Chundar Mukerji, is a Bengali; he professed great friendship to our mission, said he owed everything to Presbyterians, having been educated in Dr. Duff's schools, Calcutta. lie promised that a suitable site for a church should be found within a year. Our United Presbyterian Church has two missionaries, who organize schools, preach in the bazaars, visit the homes, and itinerate in the surrounding country. We have also two Zenana missionaries, who visit the Zenanas, teach the inmates to read, and give them Christian instruction. During the past year there have been a number of convelts. On the Snnday when I was there two women and one man were baptized, and several others are asking for baptism; but our missionaries are slow to administer the rite till they are assured by careful instruction and examination that thc candidates understand what they are doing, and are worthy of being admitted to membership.
In Ulwar the present Maharajah succeeded to the throne when a boy, and during his long minority affairs were administered by the British political agent. These minorities are often an advantage to native States. The agent has a free hand, and retrenchment and reform are the order of the day. During the minority of the Maharajah notable irnprovementll were made; a new bazaar was formed outside the wallR, which it was intended to line with peepul-trees; but the bunyas or merchants declared this would ruin them, as they would be forced to speak the truth and trade honestly, the peepul-tree being considered sacred.
". . . The peepul boughs Whisper men's doingA to the listening gods With wlitchfuIJelives."
The palace, a fine building, contains a library rich in rare Oriental manuscripts and illuminated scrolls. Mrs. McLaren obtained admission to the Royal Zenana, and had an interview with the Maharani. VITe have two missionaries laboring in Ulwar, a church, and several schools for boy" and girls. Zenana missionaries would here find a wide sphere. and were more ladies to offer there would be locations for them.
The United Presbyterian Church also carries on work in Kishargurgh and Kotah/ but the most of the mis~ion stations and converts are in Ajmere- Merwara. Ajmere is the centre of the Rajputana State Railway, and many men-Europeans, Eurasians, and Hindus-are employed in the offices and workshops. Native Christians, cast out by their caste fellows and not allowed to work with them, find employment in the railway. Beawar, where our pioneer missionary, Dr. Shoolbred, settled thirty-two years since, was built by Colonel Dickson, who did much for Rajputana, and whose statue was recently placed in the principal street. Four miles from Nasirabad is the Christian village of Ahapura, founded by the late brothers William and Gavin Martin after the great famine year. Here is a Christian girls' boarding-school, and recently a boys' boarding-school has been added. III all these mission work is carried on vigorously. Churches have been erected and converts fiJI them; hospitals and dispensaries opened, though those in Ajmere are quite inadequate for the wants of the mission. During last year upward of 40,000 cases have been treated in the men's dispensary, and 9000 in the women's; 1500 surgical operations have been performed, and 170 patients have been admitted to the hospital. All these have had their physical sufferings attended to, but have been pointed to Jesus Christ as the only Saviour from sin and comforter of weary, heavyladen souls. The medical missionary has been removed from Beawar in order to supply the clamant demands from native States. Work among the young has been very successful, so much so that in two stations the City High School has been amalgamated with the Boys' Mission School, and the entire direction of education placed in the hands of our missionaries. They also minister to the Union congregation which meets in Ajmere, and to the Presbyterian and English Dissenting soldiers in Nasirabad. Industrial work is also undertaken, a printing-press having been established in Ajmere, and carpenters' workshops in Beawar, which give employment to native Christians.
The dark shadow of famine is again overhanging a large part of Rajputana. In Ajmere-Merwara only one third of th~ usual amount of rain has fallen during the last year, the result being that what were formerly green pastures and waving fields of grain are now barren wastes. Grain and fodder are brought from other districts, but at enhanced prices; the cattle are in poor condition, and numbers have been driven away by their owners in search of better pasturage. The river beds are dry, and the tanks and wells rapidly emptying; so unless rain soon falls there will be great suffering when the hot season comes, and possibly pestilence. During the past three months 509,000 persons have emigrated from Marwar, and the human stream still flows. In Ajmere-Merwara relief works have been undertaken by Government, the men being set to make roads, raise embankments, etc", and the women to spin. In the end of December 19,000 laborers were thus employed, and 900, too old or weak for work, obtained gratuitous relief. A good deal of the labor of superintendence is thrown on the missionaries, already burdened.
It is impossible to sum up the result of thirty years' labor in seeking
PSEUDO-PHILANTHRoPY IN MISSIONS
to Christianize the people of Rajputa!Ia, as the larger portion of the benefits flowing can neither be seen nor known, but that Christian influence imd Christian ideas are permeating the minds ol the Hindus is admitted on all sides. One of the most notable marks of improvement is that the Rajputs have raised the age of marriage to' sixteen for boys and twelve for girls. On one of the last days of the year jnst closed the Kayotes or writers held a meeting in Jeypore, attended by delegates from various States, to consider the propriety of following the example of the Rajputs. In this and other ways there is reason to hope that Christianity is spreading, and, though slowly, yet surely, revolutionizing the faith and the customs of the most conservative people in India, the inhabitants of Rajputana.
PSEUDO-PHILANTHROPY IN MISSIONS.
BY REV. H. B. HULBUT.
I propound a paradox. The valleys and hill-sides of Korea are fairly groaning under their loads of rice, millet, and sesamum. For years there has not been such prospl'rity in the peninsula kingdom. The summer rains were so plentiful that not only was every rice field planted, but many were improvised for the occasion, and the rice crop will be heavier than for many a year. The common people live in affluent circumstances compared with the common classes in China just across the Yellow Sea. Mendicants are practically unknown. No other Eastern government is so free from debt; and yet I say there is a famine in Korea.
Is bread the one thing needful ~ Is physical comfort the 8ummum bonum? Is there nothing worth the having that we cannot see, and feel, and handle ~ If twelve hundred people were dying of ordinary famine each day in Korea the whole press of the world would lend its columns to the general commiseration, purses would fly open, and prayers would ascend from countless souls. But, as it happens, it is only a spiritual famine, and the twelve hundred people who die daily in this kingdom die decently in their beds-but without a hope beyond the grave. It is because the instinct of self-preservation is one of the most powerful of natural laws that danger to life and limb irresistibly attracts our attention and excites our sympathy. Is it true, or is it not, that we would read the account of a terrible railroad disaster with greater pain than w~ would read of the moral rottenness of anyone portion of our community 1 If it is true it is because we forget one or the other of two things: either the paramount importance of the soul or the fact that the unregenerate soul is as powerless in the presence of strong temptation as is the body in the presence of the tremendous physical power of a locomotive. In other words, we make a more startling and significant distinction between the safety and the danger of the body than between the safety and the danger of the soul. Is it trne or is it not that the municipal law, which makes it incumbent upon the authorities to hang out lanterns where the pavement has been torn up, has its counteIpart in a moral law which makes it incumbent upon us to set up warnings in the vicinity of spiritual pitfalls? Has the crime of which I am guilty when I fail to warn a man whom I see approaching a dynamite blast its counterpalt in a moral crime of which I am guilty when I see men passing me on the road to moral ruin without giving them a word of warning? Here is the dividing line between Christianity and what we may call pseudo-philan- thropy. The pseudo-philanthropist cares everything about good sanitation, good education, good ethics even, and he cares about Christianity just in so far as it ministers to these. He would rather see a man contented than to see him holy, if both together were impossible. He rates wheat-bread higher than the bread which comes down from heaven. The Christian cares everything about salvation and a holy life, remembering that to him who seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" all thc&e things shall be adde'd." He would rather see a man's body starve than his soul, if both could not be fed. Christianity includes all true philanthropy; for the latter is the second part of that grand summing up of the commandments, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, . . . and thy neighbor as thyself." But it must be borne in mind that the part cannot include the whole, and that if true philanthropy, while presupposing, does not inclJlde Christianity, much less does this pseudo-philanthropy which exalts physical and mental culture above spiritual.
We can lay it down as a fixed rule that there is no true mission work, either home or foreign, either in the city or country, that -uses phYilical aid for any other purpose than as a stepping-stone to a higher form of aid. To feed a hungry man is not distinctively Christian unless there is the desire and the intention back of it to follow up that act by an attempt to put him in the way of getting that food of which, if a man eat, he shall never die. The true missionary spirit is that which looks first toward the soul, and whatever be the means through which it works, keeps its eye fixed upon that goal and is satillfied with no result that stops short of it. To take a man off the street and clothe him and find him employment and make him a respectable citizen is a dead failure from a true missionary standpoint unless there is the desire, the determination, and the prayer that by these means the environments of that soul may become more favorable to the work of the Holy Spirit upon it. It is a fair question to ask whether, in many cases, the missionary ought not to ignore for tho time being the physical difficulties under which men lie and work straight at their souls j for if Christ is for anybody He surely is for those who are weary and heavy laden, and He can help them out of their physical difficulties better than we can when once He has possession of their soul~. The man who receives aid ought to know and feel that that aid comes from the Heavenly Father, and that we are simply His almoners, and for this reason there often is danger in giving physical aid first and waiting until men are comparatively comfortable physically before pressing upon them their need of salvation.
That passage of Scripture, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter thll kingdom of heaven," is a concise statement of the general truth that ought always to be kept in mind by the mi8sionary-namely, that, other things being equal, the hardest men to make appreciate their need of salvation are those men who are in comfortable physical circnm~tances. How many of us who have ever been engaged in city mission work cannot remember how hard it often was after affording physical aid to turn the gratitude of the recipient from ourselves to God the Father? Hard? Nay, it is absolutely impossible unless his soul has been quickened by the Holy Spirit. It may be that it is through these very trials that God is leading that soul to Himself, and the too hasty proffer of physical aid may defeat the very object we have in view.
Again, the giving of temporal aid often seems to have the effect on the reci{>ient of the establishment of a claim upon him by which he shall feel under moral obligation to subscribe to any creed that the giver may subsequently propose, or give his assent to any religious belief that the giver may seem to favor j in which case, the person takes his religion at secondhand, and his faith is not so much in the final source of all strength as it is in the person who to his mind has established a moral claim on him. We believe in large and generous giving, in that munificence which findt! its culminating point in "giving his life for his friend j" but it must be discriminate and careful giving, and it must be giving for a purpose deeper than the mere satisfaction of physical wants, and in no case should it by any possibility stand in the way of the satisfaction of spiritual wants.
The evil results of indiscriminate giving are more painfully evident in the foreign mission field than at llOme. The reason is twofold : in the first place, the utter misery of want into which so many of the heathen have fallen appeals so strongly to the sympathy of the beholder that often his first thought is to relieve the physical misery j but however well this may speak for his heart, it must be indulged in with the utmost care j for, in the second place, the low moral plane of the heathen combined with the utmost poverty, often bordering upon semi.starvation, makes him willing to spend the months in trying to demonstrate his Christianity if there is a prospect beyond of physical help. In this respect there is little doubt that the plan adopted by the Roman Catholics is superior to tbat adopted by Protestant missions. Every Roman Catholic convert ia expected to be from the very start and all the time an active and willing giver. The need of this is especially great in heathen lands, where the mercenary spirit is so predominant. Another phase of this subject is the subjective effect of what we call pseudo. philanthropy. With what a spirit and with what thoughts uppermost in the mind ought people, who are not in a position to do much active missionary work themselves, to give? A moment's careful thought will show that in giving, whether it be a gift of money or of gar-
THE TRAINING OF MISSIONARIES
ments, or medicine, or time, there ought to be in it all a deep earnestness for souls. The pleasure and satisfaction of giving ought not to be that self-satisfaction that we feel when we have gotten through a piece of unpleasant work, nor ought it to be that dangerous self-commendation that is so often Dllstaken for religious feeling; but the joy should come in the thought that the gift is helping to wor'k out the plan God has to reach some soul or to strengthen some soul already Won. It is a very serious question whether the self-denial of giving to God ought to be done away with by accomplishing it in such a way that the giver shall feel that he has at least gotten back a part of the gift in some real commodity. A dollar given outright from the pure love of giving to God is, subjectively, of vastly more value than the dollar given at a church fair for some article that is worth a part of its value. To cover up the self·denial of giving by dressing it up in social form cannot fail to detract from the subjective value of that act. which is not saying that theRe forms of giving are bad, but that they are not the ideal giving, the giving that does the most good both to the giver and the receiver.
It is necessary to inspire people with the love of souls and the desire to reach souls in order to make their gifts of money and of time produce thc fruit which Providence intcnds theDi to produce. When young people work to produce garments and other necessary articles for use in the field there must underlie it a deep love for the cause-such a love as those women had for the Union when they went as nurses to the hospitals. There must be the heartfelt prayer that even as the body is clothed upon by the garment that is sent, so the soul may be clothed upon with the Spirit of God. "It is more blessed to give than to receive," and the blessedness of giving varies not so much with the amount given as with the spirit in which it is given. Whatever we give, let it have beneath it as a final and fundamental motive the salvation of souls.
THE TRAINING OF MISSIONARIES.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
It detracts from the pleasure with which we hear of the large number of men and women who volunteer for foreign mission service, to learn that so many of them ha,'e in no way been trained for it. Piety, zeal, and consecration are almost always possessed, and indeed are among the first requisite qualifications; Lut others are needed for efficient service, and are by no means common. It is found, even by those who have to examine candidates for foreign service, and who have more or less been trained in theological colleges of repute, that, however well equipped they are in theological, classical. and literary lore, they often have but imperfect knowledge of the scope and meaning of the Bible itself, yet less knowledge of the superstitions they volunteer to contend against, and little conception of what may be the best of the various methods adopted for the prosecution of their enterprise.
This is yet more true of those who are not trained in theological colleges, though often they have read much relative to the field of labor for which they offer themselves.
In almost all lands where missionaries labor the physical conditions of life, the religious opinions of the great mass of the people, their moral and social state, and the most efficient methods of conducting the missionary enterprise, differ so widely, not only from one another, but from those of Europe and North America, that some knowledge on these points-and the more the better-is essential to efficiency and success. Nevertheless, numbers who desire the office of a missionary have little consciousness of such need i and, stranger yet, many societies and associations which send out missionaries do little, and too often nothing whatever, to equip them for such noble, arduous, and difficult service.
I am not aware of any college or institution that gives a really adequate training to missionaries destined to labor even in the splendid though most difficult spheres where Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism prevail. But honor is due to the very few institutions in England, America, Germany, and Switzerland which, to the best of their resources, do give a special though inadequate training for the mission field.
Since the greater number who now volunteer for service have had no such training, have no prospect of having it, and yet in many instances have the essential moral and spiritual qualifications for efficiency and success, I venture to indicate the lines in which some preparation may be made for service abroad by themselves, or under the guidance of some judicious and better-trained friends: 1. It might be thought unnecessary to press on any who desire to be teachers of Christianity the importance of a good knowledge of the Bible, its great truths and principles j but it is often affirmed, and with considerable evidence, that even students for toe ministry are not well read in it i still les8 are they familiar with its literature, and have read no single treatise, such as Paley's" Evidences," or any more recent work which proves it to be a divinely inspired book. Obviously such knowledge is essential to a missionary.
2. Missionaries go out not to die, but to live and work efficiently j and for this good health is essential. But the climate of every country where missionaries are placed is very different from our own, and most of them are prejudicial to the health of white men. The conditions of life are therefore different, and these conditions cannot be violated or neglected with impunity. Even things which to healthy persons seem trifles, and which the zealous are apt to regard as fads or pUDctilios, are important to health. The most suitable time of the year to settle in a foreign land, exposed to the sun's rays i the avoidance of malaria j suitable food, clothing, and habitation, are far more than questions of comfort or convenience, and inattention to them has brought the careers of hundreds of young missionaries to a premature close.
3. As much knowledge as possible should be obtained of the people among whom the missionary has to labor. The variety of temper, temperament, thought, sentiment among the races of mankind is far greater than is usually supposed; and, in addition to these distinctions, the moral and social state of almost all non-Christian races is very low, their distrust excessive, and their methods of observation and judgment very different from our own. Of all this young missionaries are usually profoundly ignorant, and therefore enter on the important and difficult task of converting those they do not understand, to whom they are prejudicial and contemptuous, and whom they do not know how to approach in a suitable manner. Preparation in these directions may save a young missionary from grave mistakes, perhaps from a bearing which is most injurious, not only to his own influence, but to the cause of Christ.
4. Quite as important is it that the missionary should enter on his great crusade with some definite conception of the superstition he wishes to overthrow. That it is heathenish, erroneous, and immoral is usually all he does know; but he is hardly likely to become an able missionary or a successful one unless he knows a great deal more.
Even African and Polynesian superstitions need to be understood; and each of the stupendous systems of the East 'require the closest study. It is in the East and during the years of active toil that this may best be accomplished; and so much is there to be learned, and so interesting is the study, that the ablest and oldest missionaries pursue it the most ardently; but a beginning should be made at home, and some book or books on the subject be carefully mastered.
Since much is now written and spoken in commendation of comparative religion, it is necessary to point out that, important and interesting as it is, that which the proApective missionary should aim at is a study for practical purposes of the particular superstition he is about to assail. May I also be allowed to point out that" comparative religion" as usually taught fails to deal adequately with the social and moral tendencies of various religions. It seeks mainly to show their common origin ; how far they agree, and in what they resemble each other; it emphasizes their philosophical aspects, but fails to take adequate account of their practical defectiveness in the national, moral, and social life. It is this which more than justifies the Christian war waged against all forms of heathenism, and its study is worthy of far more attention than it generally receives.
5. How best may the war with superstition be waged needs careful study.
Race characteristics should be considered. So should the very diverse attitude toward the gospel of African fetich worshippers, dogmatic Mohammedans} Hindu polytheists and theists, and Buddhist dreamers. So too there are the questions, long debated, and which each onc mU8t decide for himself. Is it best to attack error or present the truth 1 Is it best simply to preach the Go~pel, or to argue with all gainsayers 1 Should ridicule and satire be employed to bring heathenism into contempt 1 Though the lov- ing aspects of Christianity should rule, is there no place for threatening and denunciation? Preaching, teaching, writing-what is their relative importance in ~pheres so different as Ashanti. Madagascar, Constantinople, and the great cities of India, China, and Japan?
6. So a number of questions ask for consideration relative to the missionary's life and policy. Should he retain his country's mode of dress and living, or lLayc it ; and if so, }IOW far and why 1 Should the missionary receive a fixed income, a sustentation allowance, or whatever his fricnds mlly senu lli;ll ; or should he begin by attempting to support himself, or work up to this as an ideal; or are these open questions to be left to the judgments or circumstances of missionaries as well as to their relations to friends at home and the conditions of life in their spheres of labor'
7. And as these questions affect the missionary mainly in his relations to those who send him forth, so are there others of much importance to converts and native churches. When should converts be baptized-at once or not until duly instructed 1 Should they under any circumstances he supported by the mission ~ To what degree, and in what manner, should they be taught to support the mission? What converts should be encouraged to preach; how should they be trained; under what conditions ordained and made pastors of churches ~ What relations if any should native ministers and Christians sustain to the millsionary and to the society or friends at home 1 The earlier of these suggested topics have the more immediate claim on the attention of those who purpose to become missionaries j but all of them have their value and place in any course of preparatory !ltudies for a missionary vocation. Such a cour!e might well engage the attention of theological and medical students during the whole four or six years of their curriculum, and that not as subordinate to either theology, classics, literature, or medicine, as is now the case, for even the best-educated students who become missionaries have been trained precisely in the same manner as students for the ministry at home. But surely, however admirable such a training may be for borne work, a missionary student needs something more. The suggestions I have made are designed especially to assist such as have no collegiate advantages. It remains only to point out how best they may pursue their inquiries.
1. Private reading and research are probably the only means within their reach, but much may thus be gained by a wise selection and diligent study of books.
2. If any retired missionary can be consulted, especially if he has labored in any sphere resembling that to which the student is turning his attention, much may be learned even from a few brief interviews with him.
1892.1 THE ANGEL OF VICTORY
3. A well-read minister, especially if he be in sympathy with the mis- ~ionary enterprise, can, with little labor, give valuable hints as to methods of study and research, and the channels through which suitable books may be obtained. '
4. A missionary library should be consulted if there is one within reach, aud now happily such are being formed wherever there is an efficient young men's missionary band; and every missionary society should have one and put it freely at the disposal of all who exhibit any marked sym- pathy with the mi8sionary enterplise.
5. Something more i~ greatly required-a mission college on such a noble and Christian basis that it should be open to all societies and to every approved candidate for missionary service, and 80 wide in its range that, while offering a hrief trllining of a few months to some, it should offer the most compltte equipment to others, so as to fit them for the highest forms of learned and intellectual service. Even one such college in America and another in England would be of inestimable advantage to the missionary cause. When aad where will the wealth, the nobility of conception, and the love and liberality be found adequate to so Christlike a design 1 There is another form of training, even more important, to which each one should discipline himself if he would become" a workman needing not to be ashamed." Let everyone who wishes to become a missionary think deeply and often of the curse, the misfortune, and the sin that heathenism must be; of the injury it does to men, and the dishonor it does to God; of the desire which the glorified Saviour must have for the spread of His Gospel, and the conversion of the heathen; of the duty and honor of serv- ing, in however humble a manner, in a cause so glorious and Christlike, and of thc zeal, fidelity, and self-sacrifice of which so divine a cause is worthy.
THE ANGEL OF VICTORY.
BY MARY L. GATES, AMHERST, MASS.
" And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voioes in heaven, say· ing, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever."-Rev. 11 : 15.
o great Seventh Angel, whose shall be the last Imperial age-voice-when long time is done- When wilt thou sound, in sudden, pealing tone, Thy deep, majestic, golden trumpet blast ~ When shall be heard in heaven, great voices plain Which say, " The kingdoms of this world are now Become the kingdoms of our Lord, and Thou, His Christ, forever and forever reign !"
When shall the mystery finish, and the hour Be come, when all shall serve the King of Love?
When living tides of splendor and of power Shall thrill the earth, as now they roll thro' heaven'
o Sonnd Victory's billst. sound triumph from above, great, last angel of the mighty Seven!
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
THE EAST INDIES.
f -The Macedonier, published at Leyden, Holland, by Dr. H. Dijkstra, draws a dismal picture of the hard-hearted and oppressive policy of the Dutch in Java. No wonder the Javanf!se entertain so implacable a hatred of the whites that a European missionary has little hope of making any impression on their minds. " The Javanese is viewed by the European as a thinj! with which he can deal at pleasure, and which exists solely for the behoof of the Europeans in order to furnish these with an easy, wealthy life, free of care." "The Javanese, if be has the misfortunl to live on land destined by the Government or by individuals for the growing of coffee, is required to plant a certain nnmber of coffee-trees, to tend them, to sell all the cofft'e growing on them for 15 florins a picol (125 Amsterdam pounds), while the same coffee brings a market price of 45.55 florins." " Does the Javanese even receive so much for his coffee that he can live 1 Hardly. Indeed, it iM not seldom the case that his coffee brings him in so little that in place of rice he has to live on leaves of trees and the like." " You note, in what a fashion of step-motherly indifference the Javanese are dealt with, and must not wonder that, knowing the Europeans to be intruders and domin}lering conquerors, they are filled with bitter hatred toward the Europeans, and have no belief in their good-will and no mind to their religion, but, on the contrary, long for the moment when they can chase out of the land everything that bears the name of ' white.''' "The Javanese hate the Europeans with a deadly hatred; they pant for their destruction j and the many conspiracies of later years, happily as yet by craft and force detected and suppressed, prove only too distinctly how the hands of the Javanese itch for the extermination of the white man."
-Mr. Kreemer, a missionary from Holland to the East Indies, writes in the Maandbericht (Monthly Intelligencer) of the Nederlandsche Zendelinggenoot8chap (Netherlands Missionary Society): "The work of its missions, with its few and scattered missionaries, remains a small and weak endeavor, where thousands of Christians that have come over here from Europe show that they have little or no heart of kindness for the population, and have merely come to make money." Things are bad enough in British India j but to judge from the representations of our Netherlands brethren, they must be a thousandfold worse in Dutch India.
-In the Madras Presidency the number of university graduates among the native Christians has risen 40 per cent, and has fallen among the Brahmins 8 per cent.
The percentage of regular attendants at school among the native Protestant Christians in the Presidency was: 1891-boys, 55 j girllil, 23 per cent j 1889-boys, 61 ; girls, 28 per cent. Among the Hindus the attendance (of boys only) is 5 per cent j among the Mohammedans, '1 per cent.
INDIA.
-'-The Rev. J. C. Ewing, of Lahore, writes: "I doubt if even Japan is moving away more rapidly from its old moorings thaD is India."-Spirit of Missions. -Through the efforts of Prince Amar Singh, a hospital for lepers is to be erected in Cashmere at a cost of 50,000 rupee!!. It will be under the care of Drs. Arthur and Ernest, of the Church Missionary Society.
– " Delhi is rich beyond most cities in stirring historical associations and archalological interest. . •. The city contains Mohammedans and Hindus in about equal proportion, but the dominating influence of the place is distinctly Mohammedan. The Hindus live in safety and pursue their gain, but they know their place is second, not first. Their chief shrines are not here j and there is nothing to call forth in them pride of race or passion of religion. But Delhi is the chief glory of Indian Islam. Tower and palace, mausoleum and mosque, stand in impressive evidence of a former ascendency and magnificence that have seldom been transcended in history, and which still sustain the pride of the race, though its strength is broken and its wealth dissipated. There were giants in those days. Small men could never have projected that tower of victory, the Kutab-Abinar, or the Pearl Mosque, so perfect in its pure 10veIineRs, and the Jama Abasjid ill beyond all rivalry the first Moslem temple in the world."-Harvest Field (Madras).
– " One of the mOllt interesting recollections of my wbole tour is connected with an evening that I spent with the brethre.n of ihe Cambridge Mission. It is coming to be pretty generally known that these missionaries dress and live just as most of their fellow-workers in this land do. They approve of self-denial and practise it j but they disapprove of asceticism and eschew it. . •. The leader of the band is Mr. Lefroy, by whom, some time ago, the bishopric of Chutia Nagpur was declined.• " He has been for several months conducting in Delhi a series of friendly discussions with one of the ,chief mOlllires of the place. The meetings are held once or twice a week, and generally for three hours at a time. At first they were held in a mosque j but as the attendance increased it was necessary to remove them elsewhere. The audiences hal'e grown stcadily until they have numbered 1000 persons j and when I was tbere there was no decline of interest. Subjects are arranged carefully beforeHand-subjects touching the points of controversy between ChriRtianityand Islam-and each speaker holds the platform for half an hour at a time. Mr. Lefroy has exceptional power in the use of Hindustani, and bas been received throughout with respect. He is happy in having as bis antagonist one who is also a friend. Oftentimes the interest of the meetings has reached the point of excitement, but there has been no breach of order nor, I believe, of courtesy." -Harvest Field.
-The late Bishop Caldwell, remarks the Allgemeine Missions Zeitschrijt, whose opinion was held 80 high, supported, moreover, by fiftythree year!! of missionary life. has given his judgment very distinctly that it was a calamitous step to withdraw European missionaries so largely from Tinnevelly, with its 96,000 Christians, and io leave the native clergy 80 much to tbemselves. He is certain that they have not the maturity of character requisite for tbis, and thinks that the European force in Tinnevelly ou~ht to be at once strengthened. Rome is disposed to keep its converts children too long j Protestantism seems to incline to a precipitate assumption that they are children no longer. The former fault results in stagnation j tbe latter might easily result in dissolution.
-The Zeitschrijt, referring to Pandita Ramabai's home for young Hindu widows in Bombay, remarks: "This institution, in tbe hope of rendering itself more attractive, is careful to declare itself religiously neutral. But it is very questionable whether it increases its influence in this way." And what intelligible motive has a Christian woman to act on such a policy' Life does not seem long enough for such endeavors to see whether something cannot be accomplished by writing in the water.
-Mrs. Lynn Linton, who has been writing against" wild women" in a way which, as The Ohristian (we think it is) well remarks, proves her to be herself one of the wildest, is bitterly contemptuous toward Zenana missionaries. She declares that these ladies want to teach the Hindu women personal independence, and to make them as restless and unruly as themselves. Now, having the happiness of being acquainted with some of these ladies, we can testify that a more ludicrously false description could not be given of them than as restless and unruly. And what a terrible leaven of revolt will be cast into the Zenanas by reading to their inmates the book which exhorts them " to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands !" It i~ true this book will be apt to inspire in the wretched lifelong prisoners of the!le gloomy abodes a sense of personal and inalienable human dignity, of which Hinduism utterly divests them. And for this a woman reviles women, who endeavor to give those that have little to cheer them on earth a belief that God's inalienable purposes of good to them cannot be defeated by the tyranny of men! But the secret of these termagant vituperations is soon found in her sneering denunciation of any attl'mpt to teach the Gospel to the Hindus as an " impertinence." A more bitter malignancy of hatred toward God and His Christ is not to be found in the world again than exists among certain of the educated women of England. Represent to them that anyone who holus a deep conviction has by that very fact the )ight and duty of endeavoring to diffuse it, as opportunity serves, and it would not make the slightest impression, except an impression of anger where the rights of Christianity are concerned. Anti-Christ is preparing in England some of his choicest vestals Rnd prophetesses, in hope of the day when the malignity of hatred may find the means of bursting forth into the malignity of persecution.
-Sir W. Plowden, M.P., has stated in the House of Commons that in the last ten years the House had not devoted fifteen hours in each session to the discussion of Indian affairs. And India is a country containing 285,000,000 British subjects!
– " I am inclined to think that few of our people realize what a terrible condition of poverty is that of the greater part of the two hundred and seventy millions of our fellow subjects in India. The average earnings of each inhabitant of these islands is £41 per annum j but the average earnings of an Indian subject of Her Majesty is £2 a year. While the average surplus of income of every individual in this country is £4 3s. 2td., in India it is represented by the miserable sum of 4;d."-Mr. CONYBEARE, M.P. (reported in India).
-Greece shows average individual earnings of £13 j Italy, £11 j Russia, £10 (approximately). India says: "Comparatively poor as Russia, Italy, Greece. and other countries may be, let it not be forgotten that such resources as they have are spent in the respective countries by the native inhabitants of these countries. That is not the case in India. Foreigners skim the cream off every pint of milk. and take some of the milk as well." – " , A whole nation, forming one sixth of the whole human race, and justly claiming to be one of the proudest races on earth, lives from year's end to year's end on scanty food, and that, too, while living under a Government which, making allowances for the imperfections inseparable from alien rule, is one of the best, the purest, and the noblest govemments the world ha8 ever seen. This makes the serioul!l magnitude of the industrial proulem which confronts us in India.' It does, indeed. What causes the yearly increasing fever deaths is the growing innutrition of the people and the consequent lowering of vitality, whereby an ague, instead of merely shaking a mao for a few days and then leaving him, now takes away his life. "-India.
THE UNITED KINGDOM.
– " To share the work of Christ is to share His trial and His temptation. His work is a warfare. It is the invasion of the kingdom of Satan by the kingdom of God, and it provokes still all the deadly enmity of Satan that it provoked at the first. The servant is as his Master, the disciple as his Lord. We must drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism. The measure of His sufferings must be filled up in His body, which is the Church. And just 80 far as our work is identical with His will the nature of our trial be identical. Whatever weapon was chosen as most likely to wound the Captain of our salvation at any particular moment of His life or work is just the weapon that will be used against His Church at any l!!imiJar moment in her life or work; and ever the nobler the work the sorer the temptation. Ever the closer the disciple draws to his Lord, ever the nearer does the tempter draw to him. Ever the more the presence of the Lord fills His Church, the more does that presence attract the fierce and fiercer assaults of the enemy.
" And if RO, this missionary work of ours must have its special dangers and temptations. It is so entirely work for Christ, it is so truly work in the doing of which the Church grows manifestly Christlike, in the doing of which His presence is specially promised, that in it she must expect especial assaults of the tempter j in it she must need a double portion of the spirit of her Lord." -ARCHBISHOP MAGEE (when Dean of Cork), Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer.
-The Rev. Edward Hall Jackson, in the (Jeneml Baptist Magazine, says: "We gather and distribute the riches of the Gentiles to an extent which fully justifies Professor Freeman's magnificent description of Great Britain as the world's Venice, with all the oceans for its streets j the splendors of our nobles and merchant princes are not surpassed in any land under the sun, and yet the wretchedness that stretches through streets of city slums is hardly paralleled even in savage lands."
– " In several Presbyteries there have been gratifying advances toward larger co-operation with the Free Church. Interchange of pulpits and conferences on common work are the principal means proposed. Two Northern Presbyteries have invited the neighboring Free Church Presbyteries to take part in an ordination j and one of these-the Elgin Free Presbytery-held a pro re nata meeting in order to accept the invitation and appoint a meeting for the occasion of the ordination. Nor is this by any means the only instance of a reciprocal spirit in the Free Church. May the brotherhood of the churches be increasingly manifested!" (Missionary Record, U. P. C.) Perhaps even we may yet see realized Queen Victoria's anticipation of one triple, emancipated, and reunited Presbyterianism of Scotland.
"INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Protestant Missions in the Eighteenth served a disposition to discriminate in Century. many quarters. For instance, Dr. George Smith's If Life of Carey" was reviewed [EDITORIAL, J. T. G] as long ago as January, 1886, in the Church Missionary InteUigencer, and that It is not surprising tbat the promi. writer took exception to Dr. Smith's n,ence given to the Centennial of modern terminology, characterizing the Baptist missions as dating from William Carey, Missionary Society as If the first purely should awaken a spirit of defence of the English missionary society," calling at· honorable record of those missionaries tention to the fact that before that, both who, in the eighteenth century, antedat· the Society for the Propagation of the ed the movement inspired by Carey's Gospel and the Christian Knowledge .. Appeal." We observe that some Lu- Society embmced missionary operations theran periodicals specially, take excep· to the heathen within their purview; tion to the over-emphasis, as they deem had engaged in various schemes of evanit, being placed upon this year-1892- gelization in the colonies, and had for as the centennial of the beginning of some time been" holding the ropes for Protestant mission work among tbe Schwartz, his precursors and associates, heathen. The Lutheran Standard has and so been laying the foundations of more than once called attention to what genuine Christianity in Southern Init esteems injustice in this connection. dia. " Again, that writer said : " We do and says :… Nothing can be gained by not hold it to be an exact description exalting the progress of one century at that' Carey projected the first organizathe cost of lowering the honest achieve· tion which England had seen for misments of another." We have doubt if sions to all the human race outside of there is, with any writers, a disposition Christendom.' . ., The statement reo to undervalue the labors of the brethren quires explanations and qualifications who stood in the relation to the Carey to make it strictly accurate. Again, it date, that John Huss and others did t.o may be that Carey was the first Englishthe times of Luther in being" Reformers man who preached the Gospel in North before the Reformation." At the time India, but it should be noted that he of the Lutheran Four Hundredth Cen- was not the first Englishman who tennial, the Protestant world did not preached the Gospel in India." In lower the record nor dim the glory, of early times even the East India Comthose pre·Reformation times, by the ab- pany demanded that its chaplains sorbing attention devoted to the :great should learn the native languages that reformer himself and his times. Nor they might preach to the" Gentoos ;" do we think observance of the Carey and fifteen years before Carey was born, Centennial will have any differont effect Leeke was recognized as "the Gaius on the facts of the Danish missionary of the Danish missionaries;" and history, luminous with such names as Sh1l1ze says, "he made the work of ZiAgenbalg and Schwartz, nor do any the conversion of the heathen his degrave injustice to the memory of Eliot light; his name will remain a bleB.sing and Brainerd. Plainly 1792 was not the as long as Madras stands." Dr. Sherbeginning of the modern mission; hut ring says: " On reaching Calcutta, Carey after all due acknowledgment is made found the mission of Kiernander alto the earliest pioneers of missionary ready in existence. This had been history, it is an epochal date. begun in Madras in 1758." We take it that Dr. Sherring means it of Calcutta Thpre is need for carefulness in the use of phraseology; but we have ob. alone when he says, that from 1767-76 missions established from one hundred the. large number of 495 conversions to one hundred and sixty years IIgO, if were recognized by Kiernander. The originally sound and true, would in the seeds of Protestant missions in North- present day be the largest and most ern India were, he says, sown by him, flourishing of all the missions of India.
and he baptized hundreds of converts. But what do we actllBlly find? Instead Kiemander joined the mission of the of thousands of converts which the Christian Knowledge Society in 1740. Tranquebar Mission possessed for many We have put thus prominent the Eng- years in the last century, there were, in lish missions, because the relation of 1850, only 717 Christians, and twenty the Danish missionaries to this work is a years later, only 771. Again, Tanjore, hearthstone tale. Dr. Sherring begins the principal scene of Schwartz's labors, his" History of Protestant Missions in contained, in ]850, 1570 Christians. In India," saying, " Among Protestant na· the same year Trichinopoly had 638; tions the Danes have the hon<!r of first Cuddalore, 325; lind Madras probably conceiving the idea of conveying the not more than a thousand."
Gospel to the races of India. " He c!llis He says, in conclusion, that, "had it attention, however, to the fact that they not been for modern efforts by this time had been "upward of eighty years in little would have been seen of the great Tranquebar before they took any steps results of former times." He explains for the evangelization of the natives." this failure by a mistaken attitude of He says: " At the time of the death of those noble brethren toward the terrible Ziegenbalg, in 1719, three hundred and caste system of India. But we learn by fifty-five converts, and a numerous the mistakes of pioneers as well as by body of catechumens mourned over his their successes; and failures are often loss." more instructive than their opposite.
The Lutheran Standard says: "In We would not disturb a fragment of the 1751, under the faithful labors of Fred- chaplet which has been placed on the erick Christian Schwartz, 400 persons, brow of these "Reformers before the adults and youth, were added to the Reformation" in India. None shall Church by baptism … and so great outstrip us in our admiration for the was his success at Trichinopoly that a heroism and Christian faith of Schwartz, church accommodating 2000 was erect- nor of Carey, and their compeers. But ed in 1766." we earnestly note that all Christians, to Now all this belongs in the category whatever inheritance of noble names of things that are of ,. good report," they may have fallen heir, can join in and yet it should not lessen our en. redating as pre·eminently the century thusiasm over the great epoch in mis- of foreign missions, this which closes sion history, which dates distinctly with the year of grace 1892. With the from William Carey's personal efforts fullest of charity each may leave other to to awaken the Church as a church to his own inclination, sure of this one the great obligation to evangelize the thing, that the spirit of unity abroad in world-the whole world. And bating our day will enable us all to ask, as the not one jot of reverence and admiration ChurcTt Missionary Gle.aner did in Janu· for the missionaries, nor of esteem for ary : the missions, that were founded in India " Will 1892 be fraught with as mighty in the eighteent!!. centnry, we have to missionary interests as 1792? Is there face a condition in the lack of perma- a William Carey somewhere, ready to nence in their resnlts. Dr. Sherring call us to fresh endeavor and holy en- may be taken as an unprejudiced his- terprise ? Is there for the Church of torian. He says: Christ a great awakening coming? Our .. How have they stood the test of hearts glow with wonder and adoration time? It might be fairly supposed that as we see what God has wrought in the past hundred years, but there are mill- that territory from Russia, with its ions of heathen still in darkness, and varied elements of wealth, was a genuine the mass of the professing Church is Yankee bargain. The pm chase was con- still steeped in apathy at home. . . . summated under Secretfty Seward in U we, individually and collectively, take 1868. The sum paid, or, in other words, Carey's two historic sentences, 'Expect the capital invested, was $7.200,000 in great things from God,' , Attempt great gold. The annual dividends gathered things for God,' and live them out, 1892 in by commerce to-day amount to the may see things far greater than any same sum as the original investment, seen liS yet. Catching the echo of Ex- and they are increasing every year, and pectation and Endeavor, let us go for- the United States Treasury itself has ward fearlessly but humbly in fne name drawn usurious interest from its invest- of the Lord. " ment. From this point of view, there- fore, the acquisition of Alaska was a good tiling for our country. Politically Alaska and Its Needs, and strategically it was also undeniably a wise stroke of statesmanship on the BY mSHoP H. T. BA.CHMAN, BETHLEHEM, part of the sagacious Seward.
PA.* But we must hasten to ask, Was it a good thing from the Christian's stand- Since my visit to that dreary region, point, either for the United States or Alaska, my sympathies for its peo- for the people of Alaska? That is an ple have been greatly enlarged. and entirely different inquiry; and the anwhenever I can say a helpful word in swer to it remains to be wrought out by their behalf it shall not remain un- our national sense of honor, iustice, and spoken. My charge to eMh one is this; truth. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do" -in the matter of helping on the work When we acquired Alaska we incurred of evangelization in Alaska-" do it great responsibilities: and woe be to with thy might." It is at the best little our land it we wrong the Esquimo enough that we can do, therefore let us be and the 'rhlinket as we have wronged all the more faithful in doing it well and the Negro and the Indian. I fear that fully. Last evening, when I called upon there is already only too much reason our visiting brother, Dr. Gracey, he put to say, No, it is nota good thing for the to me this large question, "Do you Esquimo and Indian of Alaska. think that the acquisition of Alaska by the United States was a good thing?" Under Russia and the Russian estaband this inquiry has started a train of lished Church the people have lived a sorry life indeed-filthy and beastly in thought that may be worth presenting their persons and habits, ignorant, dehere. graded, and superstitious in the ex- treme, you may look in vain for any The answer depends on the point of fruits of the labors (if you can call that view from which you regard the matter labor which consists in holding up a in question. My first answer is that it crucifix for men, women. children, and was a grand deal in a pecuniary sense babes to kiss, and muttering unintelligifor the United States. The purchase of ble prayers) of the well-paid and disso- [* It was our high privilege to worship with lute Greek priests who have frittered and speak to the Moravian brethren, at Bethle- away their' useless lives among them. hem, Pa., on the occasion of the anniversary of But are they faring any better now? I their Alaska Missionary Society. Bishop Bach- answer, Yes, with regard to a compara- man, of that Church, had but recently returned tively small number who have come from an official vIsit to Alaska, and favored the under the immediate and undisturbed audience with an admirable address, which at care of evangelical missionaries. Bethel our earnest solicitation he has revised for our is a grand testimony to the value of l8e, us an article. ;J. T. G.1 Christian missions in Alaska. Lomuck quimos? Niebuhr's assertion that an and Kowogalek, the native helpers whom uncivilized people has never derived I inducted into office, and two soore benefit from a civilized race is too sweep- other souls to whom this life has be- ing-the history of missions in our own oome a new thing, are monuments to and other churches is a standing protest the power of the Gospel; and other against the assertion. But there is missions are rejoioing in the same ex- strong ground for it, since civilized sav- periences. ages do demoralize and degrade unciv- But there is only a small beginning ilized heathen still further, so that their made in this line ; in regard to the great last state becomes worse than the first, mass of the 30,000 people of Alaska, the and they become more and more inac- annexation of their territory to the oessible to the gracious overtures of United States has not proved to be a Christianity. Need we wonder to find good thing as yet; on the contrary, the the abused and demoralized natives at complaints of missionaries, tttachers, Carmel, on the Nushagak, and at many and other Christians, become more bit- other places, turning away and spurning ter year by year as to the wrongs and the cup of salvation because it is pre- evils endured by the natives from Ameri- sented by a white hand?
can whalers, fishermen, traders, and Just now a bilI is before Congress miners. The Aleuts, Innuits, Thlinkets, (God forbid that it should pass!) to re- and other tribes composing the Esqui. scind the law prohibiting the import of mos and Indians of Alaska, are a com- liquor into Alaska. The plea is that it paratively harmless raoe. They are bar- cannot be enforced. What a plea to be barians but not savages. The Esqui- urged by the wise Congress of statesmen mos, particularly, are a nation of of the mighty United States of America!
children-little children. Credulous, Rather, should we say, what a conces- ignorant, and simple. hearted, they are sion to the still migbtier liquor league the ready victims of the stllPnger race of our rum-ruled land!
from the States. If they were not such, Dear friends, if the annexation of they would quickly revolt against the Alaska to our enlightened country is to injustioe and oppression under which be a benefit to the Creoles, Esquimos, they suffer, from the greed, lust, and and Indians of that dreary land, those lasciviousness of many of the whites who are the true children of light must that come among them; American com- do what their hands find to do with all meroe seizes upon their resouroes, and their might in order to make it such.
gives nothing in return for the treas- They must seize the opportunity that ures of furs, fish, and gold that it car- is still afforded to possess the land for ries off from that desolate land. A Christ. If all of you who hear the ap- revolution in Alaska would be far more peal will do what you can for the tem- justifiable than the revolution of '76, poral, moral, and spiritual well-being of for our wrongs then were mere trifles these thousands of perishing viotims of oompared to theirs; and they belong to man's inhumanity to man, before their a oountry that still professes to cherish hearts are hardened againEtt the white the Deolaration of Independence. The man's Gospel, verily our united labor story of ravage and rapine in Mexico '1ha11 not be in vain in the Lord.
and Peru by the blood.thirsty Spaniard ':n conclusion, I am glad to announoe is being re enacted to-day in Alaska by .nat from among seven volunteers, Americans! But if we as a people and Brother Edward Helmich, II student in our strong Government can defraud our theological seminary, has been ac- and wrong and slallghter the Indians of cepted as a new recruit for mission our temperate zone, shall we blame the work in Alaska, and two others will soon cowardly miscreants who go to the Arc- be appointed by our Executive Board to tics to rob and wrong the helpless Ea- constitute with him the new contingent to man the Gospel works on the mighty remonstrances of foreign Powers will Kuskoquim. JliIay the Lord of the har. vest, in answer to our cry, provide labor· be unavailing, cannot yet be deterers in His harvest who shall be men and women after His own heart, and true mined. The guarantee.. which were angels of mercy to the down.trodden, famishing children of Alaska! given in the Treaty of Berlin would A Crisis in Missions in Turkey. certainly authorize the interference of A gentleman, whose name we with. Great Britain and other Powers to pre· hold for prudential reaSODR, but who is recognized as one of the most eminent vent such a course. According to the authorities in the Turkish Empire con· cerning things political or religious, terms of· the • Capitulations' between writes to us from Constantinople, under date of February 16th, as follows: Turkeyand the United States, American •• The outlook for missionary work missionaries have for a series of years in this empire is just now very stormy. What the result will be of the restric. been protected in the exercise of their tive and prohibitory policy at present being inaugurated by the Turkish Gov· profession as preachers and teachers, ernment no one can foretell. There never has been a more serious crisis and it is not to be supposed that the in the history of missions in Turkey. The situation calls for great tact and United States Government will tolerate prudence upon the part of missionaries, and statesmanlike breadth of perception the placing of restrictions upon·the and promptness of action upon the part of all inlluential friends of religious lib· rights guaranteed by these 'Capitula. erty throughout evangelical Christen. dom. It is greatly to be desired that tions.' " the attention of such persons in high places should be drawn to this subject God has graciously endowed the mis· in time to avert the loss of all the con· cessions gained in the last fifty years to sionaries of the American Board in Turthe cause of religious freedom in the Turkish Empire." key with great sagacity as well as zeal, To those of our readers who are not and we may well pray that they may be aware of the facts which form the basis of this note of warning. we may say that guided in this emergency. Their record the Turkish Minister has notified the various embassies of Constantinople in the Turkish Empire is a part of the that hereafter the holding of schools in private houses will not be tolerated. hisotry of the American people, and their Any such regulation would strike a blow at educational work, pre·eminently that past achievement and prospective use· of the American Board. fulness in the interests of national edu· An exchange forcibly says: .. Whether the Turkish officials will seriously at· cation and the extension of the area of tempt to carry out this regulation, or whether, in case the attempt is made, religious lib61ty, well justify the special attention of our Government to the present emergency. J. T. G.
The Story of the South American Mis- sionary Society.
BY L. G. A. B., HUDSON, PROVINCE QUEBEC.
The first attempt to establish mis- sions in the south of South America was made by Captain Allan Gardiner in 1838. Being favorably received by the Patagonians, he returned to England, and tried to induce the Church Mis· sionary Society to send some of their agents to this, which seemed to him so good a field. They were, however, un· able to do this, and accordingly a dis· tinct society was formed in July, 1844, known as the Patagonian Missionary Society. Captain Gardiner and Mr. Hunt, a schoolmaster, were sent out as its first missionaries. A landing was effected in February, 1845, but after a m~nth's stay it was found that the attitude of the Patagonians was so un- scribed at the Annual Meeting of the friendly it was deemed wiser to leave. South American Missionary Society The friends at home were much dis· how. when commanding the Dido. he couraged; not so Captain Gardiner, called at Tierra del Fuego to ascertain who, however, advised the investment the fate of Allan Gardiner, and after of the funds of the society. Having scouring the beach with one hundred afterward received some money from men at a time, and on the point of giy- private sources he was again enabled to ing up the search, they discovered some sail from England with Mr. Williams, a writing on a rock directing them to medical missionary, Mr. Maidment, of Spaniard Harbor. They landed there the Church of England Young Men's and found the boat, the beach strewed Christian Association, and four Cornish with bones, and-what he should sailors. On leaving the ship which con never forget-the body of poor Allan veyed them from England, they took to Gardiner, which had lain there four their boats and made efforts to reach a months, but which, owing to the climate, spot which was, or had been, inhabited was untouched by decay. his counte- by an English-speaking Fuegian. On nance as composed all if he "ere asleep.
their way thither they landed and set up They gave him as solemn a funeral as· a tent among the natives, but owing to they could. with the rites of the Church the plundering habits and hostile atti- of England. On the rocks was painted tude of the people they had to re-em- a little hand, and a lozenge, in which bark. were the verses of Psalm 62 : 5-8 : " My Bad weather overtook them, crippled soul, wait thou only upon God; for my one of their boats, and destroyed the expectation is from Him," etc.
other. With their shattered boat they Among his last words written are the Bought the shelter of a retirAd bay. following: Here on a desert shore, with little pro- •• I am passing through the furnace, tection from the cold and rough weather, but, blessed be my heavenly Shepherd, they waited for a long time in the vain He is with me, and I shall not want.
hope of relief from passing ships, or He has kept me in perfect peace, and from their friends in England. The m, soul rests and waits only upon Him. '
arrangements made for succoring these All I pray for is, that I may pa- valiant pioneers of the Gospel had tiently await His good pleasure, whether miscarried. it be for life or for death, and that Here in Spaniard Harbor, on the coast whether I live or die, it may be for His of Tierra del Fuego, they lingered on. glory. I trust poor Fuega and South Their powder had been left on board America will not be abandoned. Mis- the ship which brought them out; sionary seed has been sown here, and their fishing-net was destroyed, and the the Gospel message oughtto follow. If scanty supply of provisions coming to I have a wish for the good of my fellow- an end after many months of extreme men, it is that the Tierra del Fuego Mis- privation, borne with heroic fortitude sion may be prosecuted with vigor. and and Christian patience. they one by one the work in South America commenced.
fell off by disease and starvation, until Grant, 0 Lord, that we may be instru- at last Cllptain Gardiner himself, with mental in commencing this great and his iron constitution, laid him down on blessed work; but shouldst Thou see that lonely shore to die. Both Mr. fit in Thy providence to hedge up our Williams and Captain Gardiner kept way, and that we should languish and journals, a portion of which was picked die here, I beseech Thee to raise up up by S. E. Davison in a sealing ship, others. and to send forth laborers into and the rest discovered by Captain this harvest."
Moreshead, R.N.• of H. M. S. Dido. The last words written in the diary In 1885 Admiral Moreshead de- were: .. September 5th, 1851.-Great and mar· the missionaries to attempt to establish vellous are tho loving.kindnesses of my a station in their island home. The gracious God unto me. He has pre· missionaries thought they knew th~ served me hitherto, and four days, al. danger, and were willing to brave it for though without food, without any feel. Christ's sake, thinking that the ferocity ings of hunger or thirst." of the natives had been overstated. Mr. Phillips was the leader, and he was In Captain Gardiner's papers he had fearlessly supported by Captain Fell, of sketched out a plan of a mission bear- the Allan Gardiner. The place selected ing the title of the South American was Woollya, in Navarin Island, where Mission, and having the threefold ob· they went ashore on November 1st. ject of supplying the spiritual wants of They took six days preparing their misour own fellow. countrymen, the Roman sion house. On Sunday, the 6th, they Catholics, and the heathen in South landed, and while engaged in Divine ser- America. vice, the natives surrounded the mis- sionaries and massacred the whole This was the origin and this was the party. Only the cook of the vessel, who plan of the South American Missionary had been left on board, escaped to tell Society. the tale.
n. The natives who had accompanied them, and were friendly, were yet far The tragic end of these first mission. too weak in principles to withstand aries, far from deterring missionary their own people. One young Fuegian, effort in this direction, only increased however, who had been at the mission it ; it taught them, however, a caution station at Keppel, was seen at the time which was well heeded. of the massacre to wring his hands in una~ailing distress. In 1853 the keel of a missionary schooner, the Allan Gardiner, of two This young man, Okokko, so earnestly hundred tons, was laid in Dartmouth implored to be taken back to Keppel in Harbor for the missionaries. In 1854 the ship which was sent in search of she sailed under the command of Parker the missionaries, that he prevailed over Snow, who, with his wife, were indefat· the scruples and hesitation of the capigable in the pioneering work. They tain. He and his wife thus became the settled a station at Keppel Island, one means of the surviving missionaries of the West Falklands, where natives progressing with their difficult task of from Tierra del Fuego might be brought acquiring the Fuegian language. It is and receive instruction. Two years not a little remarkable that the survivlater the Rev. G. Pakenham Despard, ors never flinched from their work, and together with the Rev. Allan Gardiner determined to persevere, remembering -the only son of the founder of the their Master's words: .. No man having mission-and others. went out to streng. put his hand to the plough and looking then the mission. A constant inter. back is fit for the kingdom of God." course was kept up between the Fuegian natives and the station at Keppel. For three years, however, no visit Much pains was taken to gain the was paid by any missionary to the coast conftdence of the natives; and Mr. of Tierra del Fuego. Despard, the superintendent of the mission, visited Tierra del Fuego and In 1862 Mr. Despard brought home remained for a month on the coast, the Allan Gardiner for repairs to Eng. bringing back with him three men, land, leaving Mr. Bridges in charge at their wives, and Rom.e younger lads as Keppel. In January, 1863, she again visitors. An attempt was made to im· returned to her work with the Rev. W. part to these a little religious element- H. Stirling as superintendent of the ary knowledge; and so friendly did they mission, who was greatly surprised and seem. that it was thought prudent for encouraged to find the progress made by Mr. Bridges in learning the unwrit- first missionary of the Church of Eng- ten language of the l!'uegian and reduc- land to New Guinea, died of fever in ing it to grammatical form; also at the the end of last December. He was of now acquired civilized English manners Scotch descent, but born and brought of the young Fuegian Okokko. up in England. He became a student As soon as possible intercourse was in St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, again resumed with Tierra del Fuego. with a view to missionary service. He Mr. Bridges astonished the natives by came to Australia and was ordained in his knowledge of their language, and 1878. After laboring for a time in they were also greatly pleased to see Queensland and New Sonth Wales he Okokko safe, evidently surmising that returned to England in company with he had atoned with his life for their the invalided Bishop of Newcastle. He conduct. The arrival of the Allan next volunteered to take charge of a Gardiner with a new missionary and a new mission of the Church of England new captain, both speaking peaceable in New Guinea. H~ had only begun words, perplexed them beyond measure. the work and had opened the way for When their visitors, instead of execut- others when he was called suddenly ing vengeance, spoke to them words of away, to the great regret of all who love, such a strange departure from knew him.
their own customs quite amazed The Rev. W. G. Lawes, of the Lon- them; and as lIr. Stirling· began to don Missionary Society. has returned to preach Christ unto them as the Resur- his sphere of labor in New Guinea with rection and the Life, their guilty con- the New Testament in the Motu lan- sciences were alarmed at the possible guage. It is the work of Mr. Lawes and future appearance of Captain Fell and his fellow.missionary, Mr. Chalmers, Mr. Phillips; but they were very much and others, and was printed in London composed when gradually they under· by the British and Foreign Bible Soci- stood that Christ Jesus came into the ety under Mr. Lawes's superintendence.
world to save men's lives and not to Mr. Lawes addressed many meetings destroy. throughout England and some in Au- Thus was confidence again estab- stralia.
lished, and the work from this time The Rev. V. Lawes, from Niwe, or gradually progressed. Savage Island, where the natives are When Mr. Charl!ls Darwin visited the now all Christian, has been visiting islands in 1851 as a naturalist in the Australia.
Beagle, he denounced the natives·" as The Federal Presbyterian Mission being savages without one single ele- to the Aborigines in Northern Australia ment of elevation or civilization," and has been commenced on the Batavia •• as incapable of progress." In January, River, situated on the east side of the 1870, he wrote: .. The success of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The missionaries, Tierra del Fuego Mission is most won- Messrs. Ward and Hey, have got their derful, and charms me, as I always houses erected. The Queensland Gov- prophesied utter failure." ernment has afforded material help.
Thus the grace of God has overcome' The Rev. J. D. Laudels and Rev. J.
all obstacles. Tierra. del Fuego sits to- H. Lawrie, of the· New Hebrides Mis- day .. clothl'd and in its right mind." sion, are visiting New South Wales.
Mr. Laudels went four years ago to the heathen Island of Malo. He has gath- New Guinea.-We are indebted to ered converts. Mr. Lawrie minillters the Rev. R. Steel, D.D., of Sydney, te the Christian natives of Aneityum. Australia, for the following information: The Rev. Messrs. Leggatt and Morton, from Mallicollo, are visiting Victoria.
The Rev, A. A. Maclaren, B.A., the The Rev. J. G. Paton, D.D., continues to visit congregations in the colonies in may not invade our corner. So far as the interest of the miasion. we depend npon the landlord for sup. plies he may treat us to a dinner of Bitlis, Turkey.-The Rev. R. M. sauerkraut soup, with a few lentils in the Cole, of the American Board of Mis· bottom for filling. the mixture giving sions in Turkey, says: evidence of a little such butter as we might better not ask about for con- •• Away off in the darkness of Asia we science' sake. They also bring us some sometimes turn back on memory's page of their poor Kourdish bread, about as to the delightful sojourn we passed in dark and poor as their inferior barley our native land after an absence of could make it. twenty-three yeara, the last thirteen of which was continuous, without once .. But nearing the close of our long looking in on the home friends. It journey, we forget this part of it as we was, indeed, encouraging to meet with approach Bitlis, a unique town of some the churches and witness their increased 30,000 inhabitants, here among the interest in missions. But of all the mountains of Kourdistan, where is our uplifts to the soul, not the least was home and centre of our field of labor. that at Clifton Springs, in the glorious Crowds of our people, nearly two hunmeeting of the Inter·Missionary Union dred in all, came out of the city to meet in June, 1890. and bring UB it la Orient. Old men and matrons, young men and maidena were .. But our eyes are eastward, not there, and they brought us into the westward now-on objects here in the Qity with such handshakings and songs Orient, and connected with the Master's of welcome as would become some campaign in Turkey. It was after long earthly prince, the chapel-bell, meanwanderings upon sea and land that while, sending out its peal on peal to •Welcome Home' from people and asso· greet us as we came through a distant ciates greeted us at last. The three hun- ward on to our home, made ready to dred and fifty miles on from the Black receive UB through the kind thoughtful- Sea coast had been harder and took more ness of our associates. time than all the seven thousand six hun. dred miles beyond. The last one hun- .. We have just had the great delight dred and seventy miles we compassed in of a brief visit from Mr. L. D. Wisha novel conveyance. Though a' special ard, the Y. M. C. A. delegate, who has train,' it is the old-time caravan with been making tours of nearly all missionthe Turkey palace and drawing cars fields in Eastern lands in hopes of consisting of a sort of palanquin or lit- arousing an interest among young men, ter borne by two horses, and answering and especially those in the colleges, as for Mrs. Cole and little :five-year-oM will result in a closer relationship be- Mamie ; While the other is made up of tween them and such organizations in two boxes covered with waterproof our own land. Mr. Wishard is accomcloth, and hung from either side of the panied with his wife and by a Mr. Grant, pack.saddle, as the superb sittings for a business man from Philadelphia. the other two children. Weary as we They all manifest the keenest interest are, no regular caravansary awaits us at in missionary matters, and we are sure night in this part of our journey, but their words must have done our people for village inns we must needs keep as well as ourselves much good. Only company with grunting old buffaloes once before during our twenty.three and arrogant little donkeys, together years in Turkey have we had for a guest with numerous other domestic animals an American tourist, some missionaries, in stifling stablcs, though usually fenced and naturally took special pleasure in in by a low railing so wanderers-at-large these choice spirits. They left this for Harpoot via Moush, whence they are to turn south to visit Aintab College also." -The Committee of the Baptist Mis. Rev. Eugenio Kincaid, D.D., the Hero sionary Society of England have ar· ranged to hold a meeting for prayer Missionary to Burma." The Monitor every Thursday morning, from eleven to twelve 0' clock, in the libral'Y of the Publishing House at Fort Scott, Kan. Mission House, Furnival Street, HoI. born. It is intended that these meet· sas, publishers. The Christian public ings shall embrace all Evangelical mis. sions. Representatives and friends of will never weary of narratives of the the various missionary societies have promised to preside or take part in early heroic days of the Baptist mis· the meetings. Dr. A. T. Piel'son led the first of these meetings, February sions in Burma. If one wants to realize 4th. vividly what it means to be " in perils -The "Minutes" of the World'ii Woman s Christian Temperance Union by robbers" let him read Chapter XI. explain that in order to complete their orgRnization " at least six missionaries of this book. shall be appointed as soon as arrange. ments can be made to do so. . ., One -Memorial volume No. 20 of Funk & in Japan, one in China and Siam, one in British India, one in South Africa, Wagnalls's publication is Pike's "Charles one in West Africa, one in Egypt, Syria, and Asiatic Turkey." Haddon Spurgeon," just issued. The -" Jesus in the Vedas" (Funk & Wag. remarkable thing, from ollr standpoint, naIls), by a native Indian missionary, is a small book containing a remarkable of this volume, is the light it throws on contribution to the study of compara· tive religion. Its ambition is to show the far.reaching influence of Mr. Spurthat the Christian doctrine of redemp· tion through sMrifice finds a counter. geon's printed sermons, not only over part in the most primitive Hindu scrip. tures-the Vedas. The foremost reli· Christian communities on every conti. ance of the Indo.Aryan for salvation was not worship, nor caste, but sacri. nent, but far afield, with Red Kafirs in fice, "the first and primary rite." This was the potent remedy for all dis. South Africa, in the forests of Southern tempers and disturbances-an opus ap. eratu7ll. The theological thought under. Tasmania, among Moslems and Hindus lying its origin became lost in the course of generations. This the author in India, and other non-Christian per· undertakes to restore from the original Hindu scriptures. The fundamental sons. A Brahman said he envied those teaching of the most primitive of Hin. du sacred books, he thinks, bridges over who could personally hesr Spurgeon the separation of Hinduism and Chris. tianity, and the Vedic text must, if preach. logically followed, lead the most ortho. dox Hindu to Christ. -The Americans at Amoy, China, held a Fourth of July celebration last -Rev. Willis S. Webb is the author year, at which the native Chinese Gov. of " Incidents and Trials in the Life of emor of the Foochow Province, respond. ing to the toast" The Emperor of China," said : ,. China is to·day learning that lesson in education which Europe has obliged hAr to learn-the srt of killing, the sci· ence of armies and navies. Woe, then, to the world if the scholar, profiting by the lesson, should apply it in turn! With its freedom from debt, its inex- haustible resources, and its teeming millions, this empire might be the menace, if not the destroyer, of Chris- tendom. No matter what happens, it needs no prophetic gift to know that the twentieth century will see at the forefront of the nations of the world, China in the East and America in the West. Well may we pray that, for the welfare of humanity, their purposes shall be as peaceful and upright as they are to.day."
That is more statesmanlike than is the pending legislationJproposed by our House of Representatives lit Washing- ton, which is a short.sighted, narrow, viciolls provision for persecuting Chi· nese now in this country, suggestiv<:l of a Russian ukase against Jews. If China retaliates, !lhe can do it on about three thousand Americans now in China.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT 'rOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The "Forward Movement." and eight missionaries, and the results On March 8th, at Sheffield, a large have been surprisingly greater in pro- meeting was held in the interests of the portion, in the number of converts, na. .. Forward Movement" of the London tive workers, scholars in schools, etc. Missionary Society. At the evening meeting, Rev. Wardlaw Thompson, Sec· Mr. Thompson showed where the forretary; Professor Armitage, and myself ward movement should especially apply. were the speakers. Secretary Thomp- New fields, like New Guinea and Oentral eon's address was a gem. He referred Africa, and older fields now budding to his experience eight years since in a into promise. He spoke of hard fields, tour of the missions of the Society; and long unfruitful, which God is now bless· he remarked that such a deputation ing, and drew a fine analogy between proved very expensive, for it revealed •• poor men's diggings" in gold districts the urgent need of reinforcements; that where the deposit is alluvial, and one fields were starving for laborers, and man can work the superficial soil and there must be a " forward movement." make a living, and corresponding mii- sions among simpler and more impressi- In faet, he said, the" forward move· ble tribes; while the gold embedded in ment" was not new. The Society has hard rock. which can be got at only by been entering new fields and undertak. crushing the rock, and demands capital, ing new forms of work: witness wom- combined labor, machinery, and patient an's work for fifteen years past with a mining, represents the more difficult staff of 37 now in the field, and medical but ultimately equally fruitful and promissions, with 16 fully qualified mis- ductive work. From March 13th-20th sionaries and 9 hospitals. The Society the Society's constituency observe a purposes, before its centenary in 1896, week of self.denial for missions.
to add 100 more lA.borers to the 200 now in service. This means an addition to the present outlay of $400,000 another Knowledge is Power. $150,000 annually. The following is a communication o~ Mr. Thompson briefly answered two questions: a most important subject: Why a forward movement? and where! As the magnitUde of the undertaking He said there are three stages in mis. becomes evident to me, I am convinced sionary enterprise. The first, where that unless the Church, or a large pro- fields are newly entered and all is portion of the Church, changes the pioneer work; the third, where fields Whole principle on which it is attempting are fruitful, self-supporting, self.propa- to preach the Gospel to the heathen gating. In the first stage it is imprac- world, we will be bitterly disappointed ticable to send many laborers, and in in our hopes for " world evangelization the third it is needless. But the middle in this generation." The inadequacy stage, when the early obstl.cles are over- of the present forces is painful, is dis_ come, and the people are ready to re- graceful; and appearances now do not ceive the Word, all the force available warrant us, humanly speaking. in ex- should be ma~sed on the field, and such is pecting a very great increase in the near the present stage of work in most of tho future (witness the deficits in our Society's fields. Travancore was in- Boards this past year, notwithstanding stanced as an example of the compara- the curtailment of the work on all sides).
tive results of amply supplying a ueld Even the earnest members of the with laborers The-ugh smaller than Church d'o not and cannot rpalize the some fields where only a single mission- vastness of this work; and probably the ary is stationed, there are five stations la.ge majority of volunteers are without thQ necessary data to enable them Number without any intelligent idea of to make their estimates mathematically and authoritatively. General ideas will Gospel? not do. Is it not somewhat misleading t" say the whole world is ready for the 12. Proportion of population women? GosPQl-the gates are all open? Com. paratively so it is true; but are there Social condition? not yet remaining large tracts in Africa at whose doors we have not knocked? 13. Present and past attitud~ of peo· Do we knOlD these to be any more open than Thibet ? Do we not know that in. pie? deed some of them are closed only too effectually? In Central Asia, besides 14. Present and past attitude of gov. Thibet, there are Nepaul, Bhotan, and other small provinces that are making a ernment? very bold front against the entrance of foreigners. To the East of us here 15. Past success in schools-boys' there are Annam, Cochin China, and Cambodia, with over twenty million; and girls'? here the gates are not only closed by a heathen population, but the French flag 16. Past success in itinerant work? warns us to enter not. In China there still remain many walled J erichoes. Be· Country work ? sides these there are small tribes here and there who as yet are perfect savages, 17. Past success in local church work? and who seem none too friendly to out· siders. City work?
I would like to submit to you the fol. 18. Language (a) Difficult? Average lowing list of questions, that after proper revision could be forwarded to one or time to learn sufficiently to preach Gostwo representative men in each. field. The answers received could be collect. pel simply? (b) How much of the Bible ed, printed in one volume, and would give us in a brief form an authoritative printed? (c) How much of the Bible basis for work : translated? (d) 'What Gospel literature 1. Area of the -field? Portion unex· plored? besides? (e) Number of languages used?
2. Modes of travel? Expense? Spe. (Answer the above questions, a, b, c, d, cial difficulties? and e in regard to each one, and give 3. Number of months in the year when travel is possible or advisable? other particulars.) 4. Physical characteristics of coun· 19. Prevailing religion or religions? try? Relief, climate, etc. ? The power they have over the people? 5. Natural resources for supply of food, etc. ? Are the people students of their own 6. Population of the field? religion? 7. Ratio between city and country population? 20. Present uumber of missionaries? 8. Whether country population is mainly village ? Average size of village? Denominations? Stations? 9. Proportion of adult population? 10. Degree of average intelligence? 21. Average length of missionary term 11. Number yet unreached at all? of service? Rules for preserving health?
22. When was missionary work first begun? By what church?
23. Number of efficient native work· Ilrs? Success of native preachers?
24. Value of medical missionaries in evangelizing?
These questions to be answered clear· ly, as concisely as possible, and as quickly as possible. The writ~r adding his opinion as to the practicability of the evangelization of his field during the present generation and the number of missionaries necessary to be sent out during the coming ten years in order to accomplish that end.
I am very certain that if each one of our volunteers possessed the informa· tion thus asked for it would avoid a danger which I am afraid is only too real, relying on general rather than spe· cific knowledge. , Let us have strong faith in Him who is able to grant us this reqnest, and de· Drift Ohildren's Mission, pend more and more on the power of It fell to the editor to make an address at the anniversary mentioned below, the Holy Ghost. Let us tighten our jnst before the new year came in, and seldom has my mind been so impressed girdles, take a firmer grasp of our with the grandeur of a Kimple and self- sacrificing work for God's destitnte swords, look well to our armor, esti- ones. I felt prond of my fellow-Ameri- can. mate well the forces against us, and go The first anniversary of the Drift Chilforward, knowing well our Captain dren's Mission, after a sumptuous tea provided for about six hundred children, never leads but to vietory. was presided over by Dr. Barnardo, who was supported by numerous friends of LAKA.WN, LAos. W. A. BRIGGS. the poor children of East London. The addresses were interspersed by pieces A New 00.11 from the Telugus. sung by the children, and selections by the brass band of Dr. Barnardo's homes. Dr. Clough's mission to raise $50,000 for enlarging the Telngu work and se- Mr. C. L. Boyer, the originator of the curing twenty-five men for its re-enforce- mission, told how the work was started ment has been completed; the money in a very modest way, and how the has been pledged, and the men are near- blessing of God had attended his efforts. ly all in view. Dr. Clongh, having this His main object was to bring the chilaccomplished his object, was beginning dren who seldom receive religious teachto plan for a return t9 his work in On. ing in any form under a regular course gole, when a petition was received at of spiritnal instruction. To do this he the rooms, signed by the leading men of was compelled to win the confidence Ongole, praying that the Union would and love of the children, whose welfare raise the Ongole high school to a second he had at heart. And by varions sim. grade college. We have now not far from pIe methods he has gained an entrance 55,000 Christians, and a popUlation into many a home, and throngh the under Christian influence of at least boys and girls has reached the hearts of 200,000 more, who reasonably look to ns many indifferent parents. Gospel meetfor the means of an advanced eduoa- ings have been organized, and Mr. tion. There is now no collegiate school Boyer reported that where the special for Baptists in all India, and the need week-night services had been in vogue of such an institution has been pressed the Sunday-schools had invariably benehome on the missionaries and the peo- fited thereby. Since the commence. ple. The Executive Committee has ment of the work (some two years betherefore resolved to avail itself of the fore the Mission was amalgamated with present opportunity for creating snch the Ragged-School Union), the meetan institntion. For the attainment of ings had been attended by 86,406 chilthis end the committee has resolved to dren; 173 had spent a fortnight at the grant the reqnest of the people of On- seaside; 14,456 had been taken by train gole, and to provide for the growing for a day in Epping Forest; and 83,975 need of our people in India. They have visits had been made to the homes of therefore asked Dr. Clough to remain in the children. the country for the purpose of raising $50,000 as a partial endowment for the A farewell address was presented to collegiate school to be established. He the Rev. S. Mateer, F.L.S., the wellhas consented to .tay and raise the known missionary, by the Christians money, which will be included in the and agents of the Trevandrnm District, centennial fund of $1,000,000 for the L. M. S., in February, 1891, when he general enlargement and improvement of the missions of the Union.
J. N. MURDOCK, HENEY C_ MABIE, Corresponding Secretaries. December 30, 1891. was about to leave for a visit to his na- Mistress and Miss Mateer have laudative land. bly seconded his labors of love by man- aging the boarding and embroidery The address testifies to acts of benevo- schools, superintending the Bible womlence and wisdom rarely accomplished en, and introducing the tonic sol·fa in a lifetime, and is a splendid tribute method to improve sacred singing. to his work, which has extended over a This farewell address is in itself a vinperiod of about thirty years. Progress dication of missionary labor. has marked every sphere of missionary labor in which he has been engaged. Severe criticisms have appeared upon When he assumed charge of the District Mr. William Booth and his followers. in 1861, there were 1570 Christians, but The charge is, that while Mr. Booth now 8674. Then there were only 19 preaches humility, aitd calls npon bis congregations, but now 51: and of .,Army" for proofs of self denial, his vanthese 11 have been formed into two self- ity is only satisfied by special steamers supporting pastorates. The schools and an expenditure of the most reckless then numbered 12, but now 65, of character. It is urged that in some which 3 are Anglo-Vernacular, and one mysterious way the recent demonstrais for caste girls. Native contributions, tions wonld draw money into the coffers which then amounted to RH. 271 have of the ., Army;" but people who sublisen to Rs. 2178. scribe have, it is said, no guarantee that, while their object and desire are Mr. Matef'r has been the chief means to feed the hungry and shelter the ontof eftectin~ such marked improvements. casts, they have not really been paying This District, with a rugged surface of for horses and carriages, special trains about 632 square miles, presents great and steamboats, and other luxuries for difficulties in personally superintending the "Genera!." Many think there is somethe various missionary efforts carried thing incongruous in the pUblication of on in it ; but with regularity and energy books lamenting the miseries and hardhe has visited, travelling generally in ships of the pOOl, a.nd in the throwing the common bullock carts, not only the away of thousands of pounds in glorifycongregationl!l in this District, but also ing the nominal lIuthor of those volfor years those in the Quilon District, nmes. with an area of about 878 square miles. Saturday, March 12th, seven mis- He has mastered the two vernaculars sionaries-two for Norway, four for spoken, and the proficiency acquired by Southeast Africa, Ilnd one for Central him in the study of the languages has India-sent out by the Free Methodist been scarcely attained by Europeans, Mission Board, left New York on the and has been devoted to writing, com. steamer Amsterdam for their respective piling, and editing valuable (1hriRtian stations. The Board has purchased literature, and revising the Malayalam 1200 acres of land near Port Shepstone, Dible. Natal, on which they intend to develop a station. Three missionaries are al· Particular mention was made in the ready on the ground. The design is to address of Mr. Mateer's labors for ele. develop such industries among the navating the Pulayars, Yedars, Kuravars, tives as will be serviceable to both them and Hillmen, who form the lQwest and the missions. Schools will he esstrata of the community, for which he tablished immediately, in connection has been rf'proached with the nickname with their other work. of" Pula.padre." Nevertheless, by his instrumentality men once sunk in the deepest ignorance and superstition, a.nd regarded lower than the beasts, have risen to fill respectable positions in the mission and in society.
MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. F. F ELLINWOOD, D.D.
Siam = An Historic Sketch. tributary relations which Siam held to the Chinese Emperor, and continues to Less is known of Siam than of most hold to the present day. Asiatic countries. A general idea of its history, the character of its people, and The early Siamese annals, and even the peculiar development of its religious the modern history of the country, systems will help us to judge of its mis- afford a strange comment upon the assionary outlook. The kingdom com- sumption so often presented that Budprises forty – five provinces, but its dhism, wherever it has become domiboundaries have constantly changed in nant, has rendered nations mild and the past centuries as its wars with Bur- pacific. Its apologists have never mah, Pegu, Laos, Cochin, and Cam- wearied of contrasting the history of bodia have been successful or other- Oriental lands with that of .. ensanwise. Like India, Siam is inhabited by guined" Christian Europe. "And the a vatiety of races-Shans, Laos, Ma- wars of Europe," it is said, " have largelayans, etc. Its full name, according to ly been fought in the name of religion." the Siamese books, may be rendered Much is to be confessed on that score into English as .. The Circle of the indeed; but the peninsula known as Visitation of the Gods"-a name ex- .. Farther India" has al~o been fought pressing the same serene national satis- over for oenturies by Burmans, Peguans, faction as "the Celestial Empire" of Siamese, Laos, and Cambodians, and the Chinese. A mythical history of the often for the interests of the Buddhist country is traced back to about the faith. Wars have more than once been year 243 B.C., when a wild tribe, said waged for the posscssion of a white eleto have descended from some Brah- phant-that animal being supposed to manical recluses, founded 0. city, and be an incarnation of a future Buddha, began to cultivate the arts of civiliza- and therefore a guarantee of national tion. prosperity.
That the influence of India and her In .1350 A.D. Siam made war upon mythology had reached Siam at an early Cambodia, and thousands of captives day is seen in the legend that a certain were taken. In 1382 the capital of the paralytic received a visit from Indra, Laos country was invaded and many who restored him to perfect health and captives were borne into slavery. Three made him King of Cambodia. One of years later another attack was made on his descendants became the wife of a the populous capital of Cambodia, and noted hero, who, migrating westward on only five thousand of the inhabitants account of famine, founded the great were left. In 1401 Ayuthia itself was city of Ayuthia, on the Menam. This captured, and its ruler deposed by a event, which occurred in 1350 A.B., was family of princes who fought for the the starting.point of real Siamese his- thr!>ne. The Laos capital was again intory. Buddhism had been introduced vaded in 1430, and Cambodia again in among the tribes of Burmah, Siam, and 1532. Ten years later, the King of Pegu, Cambodia seven or eight centuries besieged Ayuthia. In 1544 the allied earlier, but its influence was weakened armies of Burmah and Pegu attacked and compromised by Hindp. corruptions the Siamese capital for the possession and by the ineradicable superstitions of 0. white elephant which had excited of spirit worship. There was also from national envy. Three years later the an early period a strong Chinese influ- Siamese King, having become possessed ence growing out of commeroial and of seven white elephants, was again at- tacked by the King of Pegu with ninety thousand m~n. We omit many other Pow€Cs ,~hOllt the same time the mis- religious wars, and only add one more sionaries, unclel' the Bishop of Beirut, -viz., the invasion of the Laos country were uisgusted by a connter-movement in 1782, partly, it would seem, to s€cure of :M'ohammedan missionaries from the coveted .. Emerald Buddha," an Achen ana Golconda, which had long image cut from a single stone 0. foot before been brClught under the sway of and a half in length. Sir John Bow- Islam. Bnt in 1673 a still greater and ring informs us that· , th~ mmal custom more mngnificent demonstration was in these wars was to lay waste the coun- made under the auspices of no less a tTY, plunder the inhabitants, and bring personage than Louis XIV. of France.
innumerable captives to the slave mar- The Bishop of Heliopolis was sent to kets of tho Siameso capital." In 1766 Siam in great state with letters frem the the Burmans destroyed Aynthia anc! great Louis and from Pope Clement IX.
brought the whole country into suhjec- to the Siamese King. Both epistles are tion_ But Phoja Tak, the son of a full of flattery, ana that of Louis ex· Chinaman by a Siamese mother, recov- presses a more fencnt piety than Car- ered the lost power and founded the lyle and others have seemed inclined to city of Bangkok, which is still the capi- accord to tbe dissolute French monarch.
tal. This able ruler, after fully restor· The missionaries were well received, ing the dominion of Siam, became in- and in 1680 the King of Siam sent am- sane, was imprisoned, and finally mur- ba~sadors to France by way of tbe Cape dered by his prime minister, who of Good Hope; but these appear to bave usurped the power in 1782 and founded been lost at sea, as they were never the present dynasty_ The present royal heard from after their embarkation.
family has a trace of Chinese blood For a time the bishop and his associates from a female ancestor four generations met with distinguished Buccess. Two back. Siamese families were baptized, and the THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MISSIONS. king was to a large degree brought un der the influence of tbe missionaries.
The history of Christian missions in But the bishop made a fatal mistake in Siam begins with the missionary tour of urging the appointment of a French- Francis Xavier through …arious coun- man-Constantine Phaulcon-as prime tries of the East; but the first attempt minister.
at a permanent establishment was made The king is supposed to have granted by De 111. Mothe Lambert, Bishop of this and other concessions in the hope Beirut, who, with a small band of fol- of strengthening himself by French in- 10werB, travelled from Rome overland, . flnence against the encroachments of through Syria, Persia, and India, and the Dutch in Malacca, but be little knew arrived at the old capital of Siam in how insidious Jesuit influence in its 1662. As he was n Frenchman, some political schemes may become. He was difficulties were raised by Portuguese led to offer the town of Singor for a residents who were jealous for the in. small French garrison. But be was diB- fluence of their country, ana especially mayed when a French regiment made aB Pope Sixtus, nearly a hundred years its appearance and demanded two fortB before, had placed Siam and Cochin in the city of Bangkok. Soon after, the China unaar the jurisdiction of Portu- French, having inflicted punishment gal. In 1668 t revolution occurred in upon two Malayan nobles, the Malays Siam which retaTded all missionary arose in rebellion, and were fired upon operations by leading the Government by the French troops under Phaulcon's to suspect, as it afterward had abundant orders. A spirit of rebellion was now reason to do, that the Roman Catholic spread throughout the entire kingdom, missions were more or less connected and it became evident that the French, with schemes of occupation by foreign with their soldiers, and their missionsries, would be driven out of Siam at The same histOl'y has been repeated any cost. at a muoh more reoent date in Korea; and, as we have seen above, Siam must More than this, the affair proved fatal be added to the list. Everywhere there to the king and his dynasty. Upon his seems to have been a singular devotion becomin~ ill, one of his high officials on the part of very many of the miswas elected by a secret council as his sionaries : it is fair to say that upon an successor. Phaulcon, the French min- average Roman Catholio missions have ister, having vainly tried to escape, was involved greater self-denial than is imprisoned and put to death. The known to those of the Protestant French soldiers in the garrison capitu- ohurches. lated, and were escorted to Pondicherry, the missionaries and the bishop being But in spite of burning zeal, earheld as hostages for the safety of the nest toil, and even a martyr spirit, Siamese who conducted them. The everything has been vitiated by the cause of Catholic missions in Siam lan- false ethios and the fatal plottings of guished from that time till 1830, when Jesuitism. Intrigue has acoompanied Pallegoix, Bishop of MaUos, was ap- devotion; persecution has been the pointed apostolic to Siam. His hope of swift result of intrigue; overwhelming safety depended, not upon France, but disaster, and even massacre has overupon the English, who had obtained taken tens of thousands of native conpossessions at Penang. verts; missionaries have been put to death or driven away, and their mis- It would seem that the Jesuits have sions have become a desolation. Chrisuniformly proved incapable of learn- tian missions can never gain the fair ing wisdom from the miscarriage of opportunities that have thus been lost their repeated schemes for the pos- -lost to Catholics and Protestants ·session of political control. The idea alike. All the great mission fieldR have of temporal power in the hanus of been burned over, so to speak, by Jesuitthe Pope, and of an alliance of the ism. Of two chief obstacles which are Kingdom of Christ with earthly scep- now enoountered by Christian missions, tres, has demoralized the Papacy from it is difficult to say whioh is the worsethe crown of its head to the soles of its the distrust created by the intrigues of feet. 'I'wo centuries ago the Roman the early Catholic missionaries, or the Catholic Church had begun miRsions in disgust produoed by the over-reaching several lands under most favorable and injnstioe of European diplomRCY, auspices. It had gained a stronghold the corrupting influence of oertain in the Congo States of West Africa. It brancltes of commerce-opium, whishad won such favorable recognition in key, gunpowder, and vile books, to- India that the great Akbar is said to gether with the vices and crimes of have married a Christian wife_ It had tradesmen, miners, soldiers, and advengained a mORt auspicious footing in turers who represent Christian coun- Japan, and had multiplied its converts tries. With these twofold obstacles to by tens of thousands, when the capture contend with, it is marvellous that the of a Portuguese vessel by the Dutch re- modern missionary movement should vealed aJesuitscheme for placing Japan gain any conquests at all. The fact of under the Catholic King of Portugal. its success is evidence. that it is Divine.
In China, also, great successes had In 1857 the Roman Catholics claimed been won, and there was every reason over seven thousand converts. to believe that the Jesuits, with clean hands and truthful hearts, might hope Of Protestant missions the first menfor continued and extensive Christian tion is found in the letters of Glltzlnff, conquests; but there also intrigue and who visited Siam in the year 1832. His lust for power overwhelmed their mis- representations were regarded by Mr. sion. Abeel, who went to Bangkok a year later, as optimistic, and the subsequent and ostensibly of all the more intellihistory has borne out his opinion. gent class (though these also, in an emergency, resort to the devil priests; A mission was established by the and even the Buddhist ascetics do the American Baptist Missionary Union in same); but the comllion people Rre 1832 ; but their work has been carried spirit.worshippers under various visible on mainly among the Chinese residents, forms of idolatry or fetishism. who constitute an important element. The American Board established a mis- Buddhism was introduced into Siam sion soon after, but mainly with the about the seventh century of our era, view to gaining, through the Chinese or a thonsand years after the death of residents, ultimate access to China; Gautama. Transplanted from Ceylon and after the opening of the Chinese by way of Burmah, it had undergone ports, the Congregational missions were transformations, but not to so great a abandoned. The mission of the Pres- degree as the types of the same system byterian Board was begun in 1840 ; but which had been developed in Northern the missionary, Rev. Mr. Buel, having India, Nepaul, Cashmere, and Thibet. soon died, the field was abandoned till There the base admixtures of Siva-wor. 1847. As late as 1857 only two or three ship, known as Saktism or Tantrism converts were reported. Both the late had so corrupted the early faith that it ~ing, who came to the throne in 1851, had wholly lost its power in India and his son, the present king, have been proper, and was soon after wholly upfriendly to the missionaries and their rooted and·banished from the country. work, and in recent years a very grati- But in Siam, Buddhism gained a peculfying degree of success has been at- iar hold upon the Government at an tained both in Siam and Laos. early day, and from that time to the present each has yie:ded a degree of RELIGIONS OF THE, COUNTRY. support to the other. This relation cannot be fully understood without a The religious developments in Siam moment's reference to the origin of the have heen greatly diversified. The orig. peculiar superstition of the white eleinal faith of the people was spirit-wor- phant. This animal has more than an ~hip ; and this has there, as elsewhere emblematic significance like that of the in the East, taken a great variety of lion on the Ahield of Britain, or the forms. Very extensively evil spirits are eagle of America. It is, in effect, the supposed to be incarnate in serpents guardian divinity of Siam. and uncanny brutes. They also take possession of men and women who are To trace the myth to its beginning, supposed to bewitch and torment the when Gautama died, he left his discisick, or cut off the crops, or create pesti- ples to understand that he had become lence. The world becomes a haunted extinct in Nirvana. They had unconworld; everywhere the presence and sciously come to worship him aA the influence of evil spirits are suspected, source of all wisdom and help. Now and a host of devil priests or jugglers, they were disconsolate. But he had scarcely less troublesome than the devils told them that another Buddha would themselves, are employed to appease, appear after a period of four thousand or cajole, or circumvent the unseen foes years, and that he was even then living who afflict the people. in one of the four heavenR. Meanwhile legends of Gautama' fl pre-existent states In the general prevalence of these had been multiplied. It was alleged superstitions Siam, Burmah, and Cey- that he had passed through five hundred lon are much alike. There is no greater and thirty transmigrations, in the last error than to suppose that Buddhism is of which he had appeared in a dream to the chief and every.day religion of the Queen Maya, before Gautama's birth, masses in these countries. It is, in. in the form of a white elephant. Was it deed, the faith of the monastic orders, not likely, therefore. that the coming judge from the above statements, and Buddha also might be incarnate in a also from the kind of reverence paid to white elephant? In the ahsence of the the Emerald or Jasper Image of Buddha dead Buddha, his prospective successor mentioned above, which has more than began to be worshipped in Ceylon under once been the apparent occasion of the name of Maitreyeh. And this idea bloody wars. In a written account of of Bodisats, or coming Buddhas, became this image, given by the late king to Sir greatly developed in the northern types John Bowring. he says: "His maj.esty of the system, so' that by the seventh reverences .and worships this jasper century A.D. there was in Nepaul and image the same as if .Budh Gotam Thibet a trinity of Bodisats. One of (Gautama Buddha) were yet alive."
these is supposed to be incarnate in the Grand Llama of Thibet, and also in the goddess Quanyin, of China; and an- The Present Outlook.
other in the Oelestial Buddha, known Twenty years ago a Laos king sorely in Japan as Amitabu. persecuted the native churches in his But Siam was more fortunate. In the depths of her forests a veritable white dominions, and martys' blood was shed; elephant was found-an unmistakable incarnation of the Buddha to come. but since that time entire freedom of At various times more than one were captured, and of course the country which worship has everywhere been granted, enjoyed so distinguished a guest deemed itself prosperous before all lands. That and the only limit to the prosecution of this was no mere matter of sentiment is sufficiently proven by ~he fact stated successful missionary work is the lack above, that neighboring Buddhist na· tions engaged in long and bloody wars of laborers and of means. It must not for the possession of these. real divinities. be supposed that the present king and When one of these sacred beasts is his court are uisposed to change their found in the forests, the king and his court proceed to meet and escort him to religion. or that they have any great the capital, shaded by silken canopies apprehension that their country will beand umbrellas. There a costly abode is come other than Buddhist. The king, prepared within the palace grounds. in an autograph letter, thanked Sir Ed· High officials are appointed to attend win Arnold for" The Light of Asia," to his every want, and they must al. as a grand defence of Buddhism; and ways enter his presence with tokens of yet it is not likely that the enlightened reverence. sovereign accepts all the nonsense which that poem contains. The late king, his In a letter of welcome, written by the father, left memoranda which gave a late king to Sir John Bowring. British history of Gautama far enough from the Plenipotentiary, March 18th, 1855, this absurd legends which Mr. Arnold clothes postscript is added: with so much fascination.
.. P.S.-I have just returned from the The present ruler has shown the mani· old city Ayuthia, of Siam. fifteen days fest effects of modern enlightenment in ago, with the beautiful she elephant, certain edicts which he has issued which your excellency will witness here against the low and enthralling super. on your excellency's arrival. stitions of his people, and also by his liberal treatment of missionaries. He "S. P. P. MoMoUGKUT (The King.)" has placed one missionary at the head of his royal university, and another has Whether the Buddhism of Siam is an been called to assume direction of the idolatrous system each .reader musL Government hospitals.
On the other hand, it is quite possi. ble that the Government of Siam may find, erelong, that Western civilizatiori is not an unmixed good. Already a godless and unscrupulous commerce is bringing evil in:tiuences. It is said that such is the influx of corrupt literature in cheap form, especially translations of low Fren('h novels, that fathers are be- ginning to prevent their daughters from learning to read, as the only means of safety. The battle in Siam is not yet won.
GENERAL MISSIONAItY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Sta.tistics, Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
– One fourth of the land surface of Bacchus for sixty cents to Christ. Irethe globe is occupied by English.speak- land's drink bill for 1890 was about ing people, distributed as follows: $53,490,000, its total land rental only United States, 3,500,000 square miles; about $43,740,000. Canada, 3,000,000; Australia, 3,000,- 000 ; South Africa, 1,500,000. Then and Now.-In ,1853, or thirty- nine years ago, Mr. Hartwell, a mission- –Professor Kirchoff recently stated ary of the American Board, was seven that Chinese was the most popular lan- months and six days in making the guage in the world. It is spoken by journey from New York to Foochow. 400,000,000 persons. Hindostani is But returning to the same field a few spoken by upward of 100,000,000; months since, thirty-one days were English by more than 100,000,000; found sufficient for the long trip from Russian by more than 70,000,000 ; Ger- St. Paul westward; and of these days man by 58,000,000 ; Spanish by 48,000,- nine were consumed by waiting at Van- 000, and French by only 40,000,000. couver, Japan, and Shanghai.
Woe, Woe !-Gambrinus, the organ of ThanJc-Ojferings.-Some time ago. a the Austrian brewers and hop.growers, woman living in the country in one of publishes every year a statement of the the German States, brought to her minannual production of beer all over the ister 30 marks ($7.50) for the work of civilized globe. And according to this missions, saying, as she laid down her authority, the total quantity of beer offering before him, .• In former years I brewed in 1890 was 1,956,000,000 hecto- have been obliged to pay a doctor's bill liters; whereas in 1889 it was only of this amount. This year there has 1,736,000,000. Great Britain and Ire- been no sickness in my family, which land held the pre-eminence with.567,- enables me to give so much to the 000,000, the German Empire followed Lord." At another time she brought a next with 523,000,000, and Austria- donation of 12 marks ($3). saying, Hungary came third with 253,000,000 of " Many of the farmers b a ve recently been hectoliters. The number of gallons can visited by a cyclone, but we have been be ascertained by multiplying those spared. So I bring you this donation huge sums by 26.4. Reducing to gal- for missions as a thank-offering." lons the prodigious total named above, these are the figures: 51,638,400,000. Heathen at Horne vs. Heathen Abroad.- The frequent prote8t is heard, and not Alas, Alas I-At present Great Britain always without an assumption of supeis the first beer-produciug country in rior wisdom and a touch of scorn in the tbe world, and the increase is stupen- tone, .. Don't neglect the heathen at dous. Taking the last three years, the home in your excessive zeal for the heatotul beer production is as follows: then abroad." Most certainly not. But 1889, 902,310,979 gallons; 1890, 969,- who does such foolish and wicked things? 916,500 gallons; 1891, 1,005,710,044 According to the last annual report of gallons. And the general drink bill has the New York State Board of Charities, increased from $597,322,115 in 1886 to the real estate held by all the charita- $677,947,984 in 1890, bping an increase, ble, correctional, and reformatory insti. per capita, from $16.20 in 1886 to $17.73 tutions of that single State has a value in 1890. Comparing the expenditure of $72,197,804, while the cost of main. on drink and religion, it appears that taining those institutions for twelve Great Britain gives, in proportion, $5 to months was $17,605,661, and the num~ ber of persons cared for was 74,773. work I know of no field which yields Now, for the same period all Christen- larger results. In the mission of which dom contributed for the intellectual and I have charge (it is but one of several) spiritual well-being of all heathendom there have been redeemed from heathenonly about $12,000,000. Hence it rather ism, and are now engaged in mission looks as though the heathen at home, work, 9 clergymen, 7 candidates for sad as is their case, were lavishly cared orders, and nearly 50 catechists and for by comparison with the heathen other workers, the whole number of abroad. communicants being over 1600.
-From reports received just before -According to the facts set forth in the Day of Prayer for Colleges by Secre- the Twelfth Annual Report of the Golden tary J. A Hamilton, of the College and Gate Kindergarten Association, of San Education Society, it appears that in Francisco, the gold of California is not 22 representative institutions nearly 50 all expended upon the things of thil" life. per cent-4320 out of 9023 men-are There are now 32 kindergartens under professing Christians. Even Harvard this Board, with an enrolment of about has among its students no less than 575 3000 little children between the ages of members of Evangelical churches. two and a half and six years. Sixteen of these kindergartens are permanently -Andrew Carnegie has donated for endowed. Mrs. Leland Stanford suslibraries and museums in the State of tains 7 kindergartens. She has set aside Pennsylvania, $2,440,000 in all, besides $100,000 for their maintenance. Mrs. over £100,000 for libraries in his native George Hearst sustains 3, and proposes country, Scotland. And John D. Rocke- to establish others. Mrs. Charles Lux feller, as a thank. offering for recovery sustains 2; Mrs. B. F. Norris, Mrs.' from a severe illness, has added $1,000,- A. J. Pope, Mrs. Cyrus Walker. Mrs. 000 to the much larger sums already be- G. W. Dowda, Mrs. K. S. Hart, T. Fuller stowed upon the Baptist University 'of Shattuck, and Alexander Montgomery Chicago. each sustain a kindergarten. A society of young ladies, called the Helping Hand Indian Education.-Says Bishop Hare, Society, sustains 3 schools. Several who has spent so many years of his life commercial organizations also support among the Indians: "Much has been schools-the Produce Exchange, the said of the tendency of the educated Merchants', the Insurance, and the Real Indian to return to the blanket, and, of Estate. This has interested the busicourse, as in all school work everywhere, ness men of the city in the work, who one meets with grievous and flagrant regard it as a question of political cases of non-success. But, as a matter economy. The work had its origin in of fact, any careful observer who should the Bible-class of Mrs Sarah B. Cooper. travel through the Indian country would of the First Congregational Church, and have his attention attracted by a large she has enlisted some 60 or 70 of the element totally distinct in its bearings representative men and women of San and appearance from the old Indian Francisco in the great work. They take life, and should he inquire what is the a personal interest in it. Over $260,000 history of the young people who thus has been given Mrs. Cooper for the supattract his attention by their appear- port of these kindergartens, to which ance and by the work they are doing in she v.as devoted her time and energies the schools, churches. offices, and shops, for nearly 13 years. Her daughter, Miss as teachers, catechists, preachers, ap- Harriet Cooper, is the depnty superinprentices, clerks, etc., he would find tennent. A free normal training class that they are persons who have had the of 34 young women will graduate in advantages of education in the mission May. During the 12 years nearly 9000 or Government schools. In mission children have been under care and train. this amount very nearly half is credited ing. to Bible societies and missions.
-The Christian Church (Disciple) is -The Salvation Army twenty.five carrying on missionary operations in years ago consisted of only 2 people-a India, China, Japan, and Turkey, as Methodist preacher, ostracized by his well as in several countries of Europe. own communion on account of his un. 'l'he force engaged consists of 24 men, ,lOnventional ways, and his wife. To· 20 women, and 36 native preachers. day it stands before the world a fully. The church·members number 1007, and equipped organization, with more than 840 pupils are found in the schools. 500,000 adherents, 9000 officers, 2900 The receipts last year were $65,366, and barracks, where services are held daily, the attempt will be mada to raise $100,. and an !Innual revenue of $3,750,000. 000 this year. At the annual meeting pledges amounting to $6060 were made -A missionary of the British and for hospital purposes in China. Foreign Bible Society tells of a Bible meeting held in Madagascar which was Methodist Ji)piscopal.-Says World Wide attended by 1246 persons, representing Missions: " We now number in memo 11 churches, and coming, some in canoes bers and probationers: In Africa, over and many on foot, a distance of from 10 3000 ; in South America, neady 2000 ; to 20 miles. And another one writes of in China, about 6000; in India, over a similar gathering held in the theatre 15,000 ; in Japan, nearly 4000 ; in Ger. of a Spanish city, with an audience of many, over 10,000 ; in Switzerland, over 1000, and being reported by one of the 6000; in Sweden, over 16,000 ; in Nor. papers of the place, the whole region way, over 5000 ; in Denmark, over 2000 ; heard of it. in Mexico, about 2500 ; and a few in Malaysia, Korea, and Bulgaria. In all France.-The work of the Salvation our foreign mission stations we number Army in France is conducted at 216 sta. about 75,000 communicants. We have tions and outposts, in 23 of the depart. nearly 500 ordained and over 600 unor· ments of France and 10 of the Swiss dained preachers. Over'U,OOO converts cantons. There are 430 French and were gathered in during the past year. Swiss officers aided by 300 local officers. The native Christians in these fields con- Three Salvation papers-2 in French, tributed over $300,000 last year to the and 1 in German for North Switzerland Church." -are issued, and 24,000 copies are weekly set before the people in every -The treasurer of the Transit and possible way. The hymn.book, recent- Building Fund Society of Bishop Will. ly published, has reached a sale of 84,. iam Taylor's Self·Supporting Missions 000 copies in the year. reports $29,559.90 as the amount reo ceived during 1891. The average per Protestantism Looking Up.-" Never, month was, therefore, about $2460, perhaps, since the Reformation," writes though in May only $41 were received, a French lady – Miss Bertrand, the and in June only $600, while in August daughter of M. Bertrand, "has there the receipts were $5973.78, and in the been such a religious awakening following month they were $7222.53. throughout France. Workmen of the great cities, Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, EUROPE. coal miners of the north, peasttnts of Western France, are thirsting for a pure Great Britain.-The English are a religion. In a hilly region in the cencharitable people. Apart from gifts to tre of France the whole country Beems the Salvation Army the income of the to be ripe for the preaching of the Gos· metropolitan charities for 1890-91 is ap- pel. Through the courageous testimony proximately fixed at £6,060,763. Of of a Protestant postmaster whole fami· lies were converted and meet together as large an,d as populous as some of the to pray and sing and to spread the good great kingdoms of Europe, have been news. Some peasants walk miles to at· almost entirely devoted to the cultivatend the meetings. 'The work at St. tion of opium. Mr. Hudson Taylor, of Aubin,' writes one, 'almost makes me the Chinese Inland Mission, is author- weep for joy.' One year ago there was ity for the statement that more than not a single Protestant there, and now 100,000,000 of the people of China are sometimes there are 300 present at the directly and indirectly sufferers from morning service. They are sincere, for the use of opium, which means that recently the mayor assembled them and 30,000,000 of its people are slaves to its addressed them somewhat as follows: 'If use. we want to be helped we must help ourselves first. We sadly need a chapel and The Hosts Unreached.-The Rev. Dr. we are poor. Iwillgive$500.' 'Ihave William Ashmore has been laboring for no money,' said one man, 'but I have a more than thirty years in the city of beautiful oak-tree worth $50, which I Swatow, in Southern China, where the will give.' 'I.' said a third, 'have a hostility to foreigners has been greater quarry of stone worth $40, and will give than in most other cities, but where it.' A fourth said, 'I will give my there are now more than 1000 converts. horses and men to carry the oak·tree In a recent letter he says: "The towns and the stones.' And together they and villages of this great region have gathered $1600." Such is the cheering lain heavily on our hearts. There are intelligence taken from the Oongrega- 6000 of them just in our own por· tionalist. tion of the field. In a few only-a very few-are any Christians to be found. ASIA. When and how are we going to reach the others: the more than 5000 towns -The Arabian Mission represents one and villages that have in them no wit. of the most recent of American move- nessing servants of God; the more than ments for the world's evangelization, 5000 that have never had anything more having been organized in 1889 and in. than a passing call from some native corporated only in 1891. It is unde. evangelist; the 3000, surely, that have nominational in character, and at pres- never had a missionary inside of their ent has its headquarters at Somerville, gates ?" N. J., with Rev. J. P. Searle as treas· urer. The receipts for the year ending -The Annual Report of the Williams October 1st, 1891, :vere $3473, and a Hospital of the Presbyterian Mission at bequest of $5000 was received. Two Pang Chuang, Shantung, China, gives men-Rev. Messrs. Cantine and Zwe- statistics for ten years. The total nummer-are already at work; and Busrah, ber of cases treated was 38,306. The Arabia has been selected as the first largest number, 9659, were for diseases work·centre. In addition, in January of the digestive system; 7246 for dislast a medical missionary–Dr. C. E. eases of the eye ; 4928 fOl diseases of Riggs-was commissioned, and a few the skin. The record for 1890 shows weeks sinco started for the field. "Oh, 5116 cases treated, the largest any year that Ishmael might live before Thee!" except 1888, when there were 5996 treat- Major·General Haig, of the British Army, ments. The number of hospital in.pa. who is much interested in the evan· tients during the year was 554, an in. gelization of Arabia, writes that 8 or 10 crease over the previous year of 100. men could be placed to advantage at The rel~ious work centres largely about once. the daily dispensary preaching in the chapel or waiting-room, which has been China.-It is stated upon entirely re- full, if not crowded, every day for most liable authority that during the last of the year. thirty years whole provinces of China, -At the annual session of the Fuh- Christians increased more than threechau Conference of the Methodist Epis- fold. At the outset I asked each workcopal Church, last November. there was er, when giving his report, bow many a large gathering of preachers and mem- inquirers he had. The lowest number bAts. Eight hundred and eighty-seven reported by anyone was 200 ; and when additions were reported, of whom 117 they began to number them by the thouwere new members and 770 probation- sand I ceased to ask the question. The ers, making the full number of members field is practically unlimited. By the and probationers 5367. The total col- time the Annual Conference meets these lections were $11053 as against $4360 for brethren will probably report 4000 bapthe previous fifteen months. The great- tisms from heathenism_ One Hinduest advances were in the line of self- stani brother, in giving his report, said support and 'church building, the former that if I would give him 8 men to help receiving $1521 and the latter $2466, a him for one year, he would promise to large sum to be given by a little over gather in 3000 souls before the close of 5000 persons, none of whom were rich, the year. If all our foreign missions while most were very poor. The great- were closed. including all our other fields est progress there, as everywhere else in India, we have here within a radius in China, had been in the country dis- of 200 miles a work of sufficient magnitricts, the largest additions being in tude to absorb all the money in the Hingwha and Kucheng, where the peo- missionary treasury_ It is amazing and ple were exceptionally hard to reach. almost incredible. But it is only one The Conference asks of the General of /l, dozen great harvest-fields to which Conference a decision on the question we are summoned. whether a man who has more than one wife can be admitted to membership. -From Kalirnpong, up in the Hima- This is occasioned by the number of layas, comes the account of the baptism cases, wh!>n a man who, in accordance of 134 converts at the dedication of a with the Chinese custom, has taken two newchnrch in November, when 800 peowives, has come to enter the Church. ple crowded the building. This service was the culminating point of a move- India.-Of all the pilgrims leaving meht which had sent out a foreign mis- Bombay for Mecca and Medina, more sion to Bhutan. .. He that watereth than a third never return. Out of 64,- shall be watered also himself." 638 pilgrims who left in the six years ending 1890, 22,449 were missing. In -Rays a review in India's Women of 1888, of 13,970 who started, 7465 did "Working and Waiting for Thibet": not return. The vast proportion of .. A vague idea prevails that Moravian those missing owe their deaths to epi- missionaries are in the van of missiondemics. starvation, and. it is said, mur- ary heroes. But their practice of leadder between Jeddahana Mecca, robbery ing the way into remote districts hides inciting the murderers to their evil much of their work from the reading deeds. public. This' sketch of the Moravian Mission in the Western Himalayas, , -Bishop Thoburn, writing from transports the reader into a region North India, and speaking of the joint 10,000 feet above the sea-a country sessions lately held of the Agra and Ali- without roads, and watered by moungarh district conferences, says: "The tain torrents; and these torrents unreports presented are exceedingly en- spanned except by Himalayan bridges, couraging. The Agra district reports of which the very description might 1200 baptisms since the beginning of tum a European giddy, where, above the year, and the Aligarh district 1972. all, the heathenism is of a character The number of workers has doubled, which makes the perils of travelling apand the contributions of the native pear light in comparison with the difficulties with which the missionaries have ers that at the last Conference Billhop to grapple. 'Their task is to arouse Thoburn was advised to make him Pre- out of the sleep of death a heathen race siding Elder over the work hI:' had creat· which has for centuries been isolated, ed. This was accordingly done, and he and is petrified in the formalities of a now rides at the head of his forces with gigantic religious system, compounded the zeal of a crusader." of philosophie~ and superstitions.' While these missionary pioneers have ]apan.-The Council of Missions of been working in tho Western Hima- the Church of Christ in Japan has reo layas, and waiting for an entrance into cently issued its fifteenth annual re- Chinese Thibet, 'the last land oi the port. The Council is composed of mis· earth still closed to the Gospel,' they sionaries representing 6 Presbyterian have pr!3pared a Thibetan dictionary and and Reformed Churches-the Reformed grammar, and translated the New Testa- (Dutch), German Reformed, Presbyment, and other books of the Bible, into terian, Presbyterian South, United Pres. that difficult language, thus preparing byterian, and Cumberland Presbyterian, the way for other soldiers of the cross and the Woman's Union Missionary to step in when the door opens." Society. At the meeting of the Synod 40 commissioners were present, including 7 – World Wide Missit)n8 has this to say foreign missionaries. The statistics pre· of a Hindu·Jew·Christian belonging to sented show 54 missionllries, 49 wives, the North India Mission: "The Rev. and 51 other women-a total of 154. Of Ibrahim Solomon is a remarkable man. the five presbyteries, the 2 in Tokyo He came to Rev. Dr. Parker thirty years are the largest, including 41 of the 73 ago, a wandering Jew. One of our nil.· churches, and 6346 of the 10,961 church· ti ve Christians entered into a discussion members. It is interesting to note that with him concerning the Messiah, and in the larger of these two, the Dai lchi kept him in his company for a few days. Presbytery, the membership includes Finally, the native Christian young man 1735 men, 1425 worn en, and -178 children, said to Dr. Parker, 'If we could find There are 70 theological studtmts in the that Jew some work, I believe that his 5 schools for boys and young men, and study of the gospels would lead to his of the 120 pupils in the lIeiji Gakuin conversion.' Dr. Parker at once em· 87 are ChristiaDs. There are also 26 ployed him as a personal teacher to aid schools for girls, young women and him in reviewing the Hebrew Bible, at children, with 1774 pupils, of whom 315 $2 per month. He was 8 splendid He· are Christians. brew scholar. The result was his con· version. He afterward married a noble Korea.-ReT. H. G. Appenzeller, mis· Christian woman, a native of India, sionary of the Methodist Episcopal and has a beautiful family. One son is Church, says: "Korea is a new mis· now entering our ministry. After sev· sion field. Yet within the comparative. eral years he was sent to his present ly short time of seven years the churches field to open missionary work. There in the United States, England, and Au· was literally nothing there in the way of stralia have sent no less than 62 misa church. He now has Christians in sionaries here. Of this number more more than 100 villages; has over 40 than a fifth have come within the last Christian workers; has 1101 member~ year. Preachers, teachers, physicians, anil probationers, a Christian commu· laymen, nurses, are in the number. nityof 1436, and has 327 Christian chilo We feel the Church has done nobly to dren in school. He has the evangelistic send so much in so short a time. How is Korea at the end of seven years of of zeal an apostle. He made out of work? The man who estimates Chris. tian work arithmetically will ask the nothing an entire presiding elder's dis· cost of each soul saved in this time. trict, and has raised up so many work. The problem is easy enough; $350,000 ers come into the harbor from Germany divided by, SbY 250, will bring the cost and England, and they commenced to of each soul saved at $1200." And yet land rum and gin. There were over 100 he wisely holds that this is not too much men employed all day, and the customs to pay, since souls are precious, and officers had to be on duty. The native these are the days of laying foundations. kings are petitioning the Government to stop the liquor traffic. It is ruining AFRICA. their people. One king says, if they continue, it will cause him to leave his -Along the West African coast there country and go where the white man'l! are now 200 churches, 35,000 pupils. rum can't reach his people." Thirty-five dialects or languages have been mastered, into which portions of -The Journal des Missions Evangelique., the Scripture and religious books and gives the following encouraging statistracts have been translated and printed, tics respecting Protestant mission work and some knowledge of the Gospel has reached about 8,000,000 of benighted in South Africa: Africans. Native Commn- Uganda.-The latest tidings from this interior post were dated July 14th. Popnlation. Baptized. nicants. The native lay evangelists, who were set apart in January last, are working Cape Colony…… 1,148,930 229,345 42,863 well. Two of the French missionaries had lately died. Mr. Walker, one of Natal…. …….. 500,000 22,454 6;800 the missionaries. writes that he" cannot imagine happier work" than that in Basntoland .. … 286,500 17,800 5,700 which he is engaged. He thinks that the present population of Uganda does Bechnanaland….. 7,000 900 800 not exceed 200,000, and that the Roman Catholics outnumber the Protestants Transvual……… 100,000 33,763 14,095 four to one. In November Captain McDonald, of the Royal Engineers, left Orange Free State. 129,000 15.098 4.823 London in charge of the expedition of the British East Africa Company to 2,4.'15,080 849,360 78,~1 make a preliminary survey for the pro. posed railway to Victoria Nyanza. SOUTH AMERIOA. Friends of the Church Missionary Society are seeking to raise $75,000 in aid Surinam.-Says the Moravian Quar. of the British ERst Africa Company's terly (London Association): .. Surinam scheme for retaining its hold upon- continues its story of vigorous progress. Uganda. The company itself pledges The increase in church-membership has some $100,000. been 555, of whom about 200 must be set down to the 4 town congregations of -The United States Consul in Sierra Paramaribo. Before the emancipation Leone, in a private letter to a friend in of the slaves in 1863 our church had this country. recently wrote: "I am 27,000 members in Surinam. In consenot a mis~ionary, nor the son of one, quence of that change the number sank but I judge the present by the past. considerably, but it has now been re- The Christian nations of the earth must gained and exceeded ; the present memset a better example than flooding this bership being as follows: Congregacountry with rum lind gin, and landing tions in Paramaribo, 14,123; on the it on the Sabbath day at the wharf with- plantations, 12,464; among the Bush in fifty yards of the church. I stood on negroes, 763 ; making a total of 27,350. the wharf last Sabbath and saw steam- The blessing of the Lord also rests on the educational department. There are 2200 children under instruction, of whom 1500 are in our various day schools in the town."
-The church in Paramaribo has 3475 communicants. The service is held in a very lurge church-building, and is conducted in Negro-English, the moth- er-tongue of the great majority of the members. IS:YANDS OF THE SEA. and the Star had on board, as part 6f its cargo, the following books in the Samoa.-The King of Samoa is de· Gilbert Islands language: 750 arithmetermined that his subjellts shall be tics, 250 geographies, 750 readers, 750 sober. The following order is his own hymn.books,465 New Testaments, and proolamation, any breaoh of whioh is to 205 Bible stories. be visited by heavy penalties: .. No spirituous, vinous, or fermented liquors The New Hebrides.-It was in 1848 or intoxicating drinks whatever shall be that the first missionary settled in this sold, given, or offered to be bought or group. In a recent letter, Rev. Mr. bartered by any nati ve Samoan or Pa. Lawrie, who resides at Aneityum, and cific Islander resident in Samoa." who is aided by over 30 native helpers, speaks of the work within the group as -The Samoan group of islands has a follows: ., After an existence of fifty Christian population of 30,000. In the years, the New Hebrides Mission is largest of the islands there are not 50 being prosecuted with a spirit and vigor families that fail to ohserve family wor· greater than has ever been known be· ship'. Last year, besides supporting the fore. There are 17 principal stations Gospel at home, they sent a thank·offer. occupied by European missionaries, and ing, as their custom is, of £1800 to the frve times that number of branch sta. parent missionary society of London, to tions occupied by native evangelists or help carry the news farther on. When teachers. During the last 2 years por· a ehureh·member dies they still keep tions of the Word of God have been his name on the books, and put a mluk translated and printed in 9 different after it, denoting a word picture which languages." Mr. Lawrie reports that a means : We cannot think of him as more permanent class of buildings, with dead, either to us or to the work. We corrugated iron roofs and board walls, shall give a contribution in his name is being built. One great difficulty in that the cause may not suffer by his reo reference to the evangelization of the moval hence. group is the number of languages. Por· tions of the Bible have now been pub. -Mr. W. B. Stanes writes that in the ished in 15 distinct languages. Perak State, in the Straits Settlements, there are 96,000 Malays, 95,000 Chinese, Britigh Foreign Missions. By Rev. JaB. and 13,000 Tamils, and that there is no Johnston, Bolton, England. missionary work earried on among the Malays and Tamils, and but 3 persons India: Population.-Among the final -·Mr. Hocquard and 2 ladies-are at figures of the Indian Census, taken work among the Chinese. nearly a year ago, the following results are specially interesting: The popula. Gilbert Islands.-A letter from Rev. tion of the whole of India, ascertained Hiram Bingham, who engaged in the by r~gular census, is 287,207,046; the work of revising the New Testament in addition of persons registered by houses the Gilbert Islands language, reports or tribes, amounting in Dumber to 952,. from the Gilbert group that the king 626, gives a grand total of 288,159,672. had been conducting an evangelis. Of these British India contains, cen· tic tour throughout his small domain, sused, 221,094,277; registered, 261,910 and the churches had been great. -total, 221,356,187 ; native States, cen· ly stirred up. The people had erected sused, 66,112,769 ; registered, 690,716- 4 new church edifices, and w~re anx· total, .66,803,485. The registered tracts iously looking for copies of the Bible, are the Upper Burmah frontiers and which are not yet roady to be sent them. British Beloochistan under British and There has been what The Friend, o.f Sikkim Shan States, the Bhil tracts of Honolulu, calls" a phenomenal demand for books" from the Gilbert Islands, Rajputana under native States, and the Niger Mission. It is not likely that any North Lushai district. Taking only the native worker has sufficient capacity for provinces and States enumerated both the discharge of the episcopate, and, in 1881 and 1891, the net increase is 27,- consequently, if an Englishman is ap· 991,000, while the gross increase, in- pointed, the honors will probably fall cluding territory only censused last on the Rev. W. AlIan–one of the depuyear, is 33,555,784. Heturns, accord- tation-whose acqnaintance with West ing to religions, show as follows: Hin- African affairs is unsurpassed. dus, 207,654,407 ; Musllulmans, 57,365,- 204; Christians, 2.284,191;' Jains, The Mashonaland Mission Field.- 1,416,109; Sikhs, 1,907,836; Bud- During his stay in England, Dr. Knightdhists, 7,101,057; Parsees, 89,887; Bruce will endeavor to enlist the sym- Jews, 17,180 ; forest tribes (animal wor- pathies of Englishmen on behalf of his shippers), 9,302,083 ; atheists, agnostics, large diocese in Mashonaland. Last etc., 289. Among the Hindus are in- year the bishop resumed the- initiat(H'Y cluded 3401 Brahmos and 39,948 Aryas. work begun three years ago by laYIng The Brahmos are chiefly in Bengal, the the actual foundations of the missions Aryas in the northwest and the Punjab. for which he travelled between 1200 and 1300 miles in order to plaee catechists English Presbyterian Missions.-In with chiefs, or to persuade chiefs to the London, Liverpool, and Manchester allow mission stations to be planted in centres the members of the Presby- their midst_ His labors in this respect terian Church of England are making have been a great success. In the more earnest efforts to raise £10,000 to IDeet accessible parts of the country the chiefs, _ expenses and escape future debt in con- with one or two exceptions, haTe teachnection with the China Mission. From ers living near them, or have promised present appearances the amount will be to receive them when sent. As it is early forthcoming, Their field com- practically impossible to do anything prises Swatow, Amoy, and Formosa, among the natives apart from the and is occupied by something like 44 chiefs, it is highly encouraging to hear male and female European missionaries. that both chiefs and headmen send In these three districts are found 130 their children to the catechists. Six stations on the coast, with 134 native bases have already been formed from teachers and missionaries. In conjunc- which to extend missienary operations. tion with the Woman's Missionary As- Umtali has been chosen for the princisociation there were 18 ladies working pal mission, on account of its healthy in China, India, and Morocco, and in situation, its being in the midst of a February 2 assistants were on their way growing European mining population, to Chin-Chew. its proximity to the largest tribe, and comparative nearness to the sea. Niger Bishopric.-Some delay will Bishop Bruce adds that the opening occur before the appointment of,a suc· for mission work has never been surcessor to Bishop Crowther, and mainly passed in that part of the world. He because of the difficulties existing could establish at once, were funds in throughout the native congregations, on hand, between 20 and 30 important account of which the late bishop had reo centres. solved at an early date to declare their independence of the Church Missionary Portugal and the African Slave Society. This intention was eventually Trade.-So far from Portugal rendering postponed until the arrival of the depu- Consul Johnston assistance to break up tation from England, the members of the three great slave dens on Lake which, in January, were on the West Nyassa, so that Portuguese sea-coast Coast inquiri,ng into the troubles which ports would not in future be inundated have so mnch marred the success of the by the gang!! of slaves sent thither from NyasS8. chiefs for shipment-as from rejoice that he was spared to establish lbo, for example-to Madagascar, that the mission on what is evidently a country takes a passive attitude. In strong foundation. Mrs. M' Kittrick is plain 'Words, Portugal refuses to ratify on the way to England, but will return the Brussels Anti·81avery Conference to Africa to labor in the district where resolutions. •• This means," says the her husband and only child sleep to- Rev. Horace Waller, .. that her convicts gether. and representatives at Mozambique, Quilimane, and Tette can drive a roar· News is also to hand of the decease, ing trade now in supplying the chiefs from leprosy, of the Rev. W. D. Dal. who are fighting Consul Johnston in rymple, Presbyterian missionary to the Nyassaland with arms and powder, a lepers at Rampur, in Bengal. The first proceeding which would be stopped (at signs of the disease were visible six all events, on paper) were Portugal to months after he began to minister to the sufferers about two years ago. He braveadd her signature to that 0: the other ly remained at his post until the end came. Of him it may be well written, ratifying Powers." •• crowned after trial. ' , Heroic Martyrdoms.-A great loss German Catholic Missions in has been sustained by the Barotsi Mis· China.-According to a report in the sion, in Zambesia, through the death of Volkszeitung. of Cologne, Bishop Auzer, Madame Coillard, the partner and fel- the chief of the Chinese Missions, low.helper of the eminent French mis. states that the result of their ten sionary. This mournful event occurred years' missionary activity gives the fol· on October 28th, 1891, at Lefula. Chris· lowing figures: Baptized persons still tina Mackintosh, the maiden name of living, 3301 ; natives baptized in 1891, the deceased, was of Scotch descent, 775 ; native children baptized while in and in early years was profoundly danger of death, 11,770 ; catechumens, moved by the narratives of cruelty in 10,458; seminarists, 32. There are 125 heathen lands, and after a period of schools, with 1910 scholars. In the consecration in Scotland, she witnessed Sunday. schools 1900 children are for the Master in Paris, and won the taught. affection of M. Coillard, whom she eventually joined at Cape Town; and Baptist Missionary Centenary.- in Basutoland for thirty years she The centenary of the Baptist Mission. doubled the results of her husband's ary Society opened in January with an devotion. With characteristic ardor she impressive devotional gathering at the always joined him in his perilous travels Mission House, over which the Rev. Dr. among the savage tribes on the Upper Angus presided. Certainly the year Zambesi, and oflate had borne the charge 1892 will be memorable in the annals of of a mission school. In fulfilling its missions, inasmuch as it substantially demands she completely broke down in marks the completion of a century's health, and her prostration was followed missionary labors by the Free Churches by a fatal fever. Her dying hours were of England. The Welsh Baptist churches radiant with triumphant faith. "Do are taking steps to unite with their Eng. be in earnest, do !" was one of the last lish brethren in the centenary rejoic. injunctions to her husband. ings, and already several of the county associations, chiefly in South Wales, are Milch sympathy will be felt for the vigorously co· operating. At the end of Congo.Balolo Mission, which has been May, and early in June, publio demon. deprived by death of Mr. J. M'Kittrick, strations will be held at Nottingham, its founder. Rallying from a fever, he I,eicester, and Kettering, because of was afterward attacked on his way home their historic connection with thl' by anremic symptoms, to which, in a foundation of the society. few days, he succumbed. We may well Salvation Army Report for 1891.- strain of opening two new missions the In the service of the International Head- Moravians have been sorely tried by quarters Staff, 1110 officers are returned; losses in their missionary band atThibet. in the British Isles there are 3587 corps; -To fill the blank caused by the death France and Switzerland, 445 ; Belgium, of Dr. Marx, at Leh, Dr. Jones, with his 41; Holland, 186 ; Germany, 68.; Den- wife, has sailed for India.-The districts mark, 139; Sweden, 505 ; Norway, 231 ; of Bombay and Madras are threatened CanadaandNewfoundland,1044; Unit· with famine, and the missionaries from ed States, 1293; Argentine Republic, several parts of Southern India write 57 ; South Africa, 195 ; India and Cey- home that their flocks are in desperate lon, 516; Australia, 1163; New Zea- need, and especially from Cuddapah, land, 268; Finland, 24; Italy, 21. Anantapur, Bellary, Kurnool, Nellore, Total for 1891, 10,893 corps, showing and also from Mysore and ~e Dewan. an increase of 1015 corps.
Miscellaneous.-In addition to the Monthly Bulletin. 4 candidates mentioned last November for th~ North Africa Mission, 6 other Africa.-Dr. Stewart, the founder and laborers have since beeu accepted by the superintendent for so long a time of the Council, and no less than 12 more cases Lovedale Mission in South Africa, has are under consideration, while appli- gone to Eastern Equatorial Africa, to cations are constantly being received- start another institution of the same The Central Soudan Mission, with tem- general nature in (lonnection with the porary base at Tripoli, has two further Scotch mission at and near Blantyre. additions, making 6 missionaries in all. The party left Mombasa the latter part -From a wealthy member at Croydon, of September for the interior. When near London, the Society of Friends in last heard from, on October 9th, their Great Britain has just received £5000 caravan, which when on the march was toward the educational work carried on more than a mile long, had croBBed the by the Foreign Mission Association.- barren track and had struck a section For missionary w"ork at Zanzibar, in con- of the railway proposed by Sir William nection with the Universities' Mission MacKinnon. to Central Africa, the Rev. G. M. Lawson and the Rev. P. R. H. Chambers, -The Rev. Joseph James Cheeseman, curates at Wolverhampton, have lately a Baptist minister, has recently been been accepted. Concerning the urgent elected President of the Republic of need of toilers for this enterprising High Liberia. He was appointed Superin- Church mission an earnest correspond- tendent of the Southern Baptist Mil!- ence is proceeding in the Ohurch Times. sions in Liberia in 1871. If a speedy reinforcement is not secured, grave difficulties are apprehended.- The -The Missions-Berichte gives a stingnative Christians at Apia, Samoa, have ing remark of a South African Kaffir, resolved to celebrate the centenary of that among the whites they became acthe London Missionary Society hy quainted with two things-the Bible, to building a church at a cost of £3,000 save their souls, and brandy, to destroy which will bear the name of the" John their bodies. But, he added, he was Williams Memorial Church." As the content with the former. land and labor are giYen, the cost will be for materials only.-Arrangements Brazil.-The Presbyterian Synod of are in progress among the English Pres- Brazil has appointed a Permanent Combyterians to raise £10,000, and thus mission of Foreign Mi~sionR and has place the missionary fund on a satisfac- taken measures for ~iving aid to the tory bllSis, -Immediately following the mission work of the Presbyterian Church on the Congo. The Synod has also selected Campinas as the seat of the proposed theological seminary. One in China, !.pe missionaries endeavored great advantage of that location will be to present to each student a copy of the the opportunity furnished the students gospel and a tract. ~'his had never for evangelistic work along the lines of been tried in this province, yet in spite railroad which penetrate the interior. of fears to the contrary it all passed off Ghina.-The London Times comes to pleasantly, hardly one in a hundred rethe defence of mis~ionaries in China. fusing, and most expressing their de- It says: "The only real interp,rAter of light. Ten thousand students were thus tile thought and progress of the West to presented with a gospel and a tract, the millions of China is the missionary; while several thousand were refused and when we remember that European because the supply was exhausted.
knowledge of China is derived almost -Mr. Louvet, a French missionary in wholly from the works of missionaries, China, says: "Whenever there shall be we may fairly say that these men stand at the head of the Church in China a as interpreters between the East and Ilative clergy, Christianity will be natu- the West. As to the charity, we can ralized in that great empire of 400,000,- only answer that China had no efficient 000, whose conversion will bring. with hospitals or medic,tl attendance until it that of the whole far East."
the missionaries established them, and India.-Thenew Lieutenant-Governor in truth she has no otlier now; and of Bengal h11s added his testimony to when her great men, such as Li Hung the value of missions as judged from Chang and Prince Chun, are in serious the standpoint of high Indian officials. danger they have to go to the despised "I make bold to say that if missions missionary doctor for that efficient aid did not exist it would be our duty to whioh no Chinaman oan give them… invent them." This is whnt is said by -A band of 12 Church Missionary So- the famous men who built up the ad- ciety missionaries, under the lead of ministration of the Punjab, and who, the Rev. J. H. Hossburgh, are on their when it was annexed in 1849, wrote way to inland China. Their destination home to the Church Missionary Society is not definitely fixed, but they will for a supply of missionaries as a part of probably go up the valley of the Yang the necessary equipment of the prov- Tse River to Ichang and then to ince.
Sz-chuen, and after oonsultation with -A missionary in India reports a sin- the missionaries of other societies will gular case of conversion of a. young man deoide upon their place of work. who subsequently became a divinity -The Empress of China is said to student at Allahabad. While a Hindu take great interest in the working-girls his conscience was greatly aroused by of . the Flowery Kingdom. A few the burning to death of a cow and calf, months ago, according to foreign the result of an accident of which he papers, she established a cloth a.nd was the 'innocent cause. To him, at silk factory on the grounds of the Im- that time, the killing of a sacred cow , perial Palace in Pekin, for the express was a horrible sin, and finding no re- purpose of giving employment to wom- lief for his conscience in Hinduism, he en and girls who had no work. The met a Ohristian, who told him of the Empress is not allowed, by court regula- way of salvation, and gave him a New tions, to leave the palace grounds, and Testament to read. The young man she therefore decided to have the fac- shut himself up for a week and studied tory where she could watch its progress. the gospels, and WaS led to faith in Christ as the Redeemer, not from such -At the close of the triennial provin- sins as he had imagined he had oom· cial examination of the candidatell for mitted, but from the real guilt of which the second literary degree at Chen-tu, he became consoiolls.
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1892
THE DEPAR'l'URE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 4.-0ld f!eries.–APRIL.–VoL. V. No.4.-New Series.
THE DEPARTURE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The giant cedar of Lebanon has fallen, and the crash of its downfall has sent a sound of thunder echoing over the continents. Anchored to the soil by countless and far-spreading roots, who can measure the widespread desolation and devastation which such a downfall of one of the monarchs of the forest leaves behind ~ Look at the institutions inseparably bound up with this marvellous life! A church of nearly six thousand living members, with its vast Sunday-schools and missions; a pastor's college, with more than a hundred students in course of training, and eight hundred scattered over this and other lands preaching the old Gospel; the Stockwell orphanages, with their hundreds of inmates, and thousands more who have now Christian homes or are heads of pious families; the almshouses, with their aged folk; all the thousands and tens of thousands of weekly sermons published in a score of languages, and read not only in homes, but in places of worship, scattered from the Chinese Sea to the Straits of Gibraltar, and still westward from the St. Lawrence to the Pacific, and from Siberia to the Cape of Good Hope and Terra del Fuego.
Has there been anyone death in the century that has left such a vacancy in the world? In March, 1791, John Wesley died, just a little more than a century ago, and history strangely repeats itself. Who can think of John Wesley and Charles Wesley without thinking of James Spurgeon and Charles Spurgeon-in each case two brothers intimately associated in their great work, and singularly fitted to supplement and complement each other's qualities and activities' Wesley and Spurgeon, separated as they were in theology, the one a leader of the Arminians, the other of the Calvinists ; the one a Methodist, the other a Baptist-how strangely do their careers compare and contrast! Wesley was a reformer, an organizer of congregations, a builder of chapels; he appointed lay preachers and set them at work; he formed classes for the instruction and development of converts and the maintenance of strict and orderly discipline j he went about tirelessly exhorting and preaching, perpetually travelling, and holding religious services almosi beyond calculation j delivering from two to five sermons a day, writing works on divinity, ecclesiastical history, biography, as well as sermons, and expending life in an endless rour.d of sanctified activities.
Charles Spurgeon was in all essentials a pastoral evangelist, the organizer of the largest congregation of any denomination in the world; the builder of the greatest Nonconformist chapel; the trainer of lay preachers and ordained ministers j the head of an aggressive work whose outreach no man can measure; the head pastor of a well-ordered and disciplined body of believers; who in one great tabernacle has preached for nearly forty years to an average of 7500 different people each Lord's day; who has published thirty-seven volumes of weekly sermons, written books and tracts by the score, and edited a monthly magazine; who has given sermons and addresses on countless occasions, and in the midst of opportunities for boundless personal aggrandizement and enrichment, has conscientiously and liberally expended his income in works of charity and mercy known only to God Himself. Surely no ordinary observer will dispute the similarity of these two careers, thus separated by a century. Yet there are a few contrasts almost as marked. Mr. Wesley was really, by his own confession, an unconverted man until he was 35 years old j he married at 46, and lived so unhappily that the union was terminated by separation 32 years later. Mr. Wesley had a public career after his conversion extending over 53 years, dying at 88. Mr. Spurgeon was converted and baptized at 16 years of age, was most happily married before he was of full age, and died at 58, having had a public career of about 40 ,years. Who can tell what he might have accomplished had he been permitted to live to be as old as Wesley, or to add to the years of his public life thirteen more, so that he might have enjoyed as long a term of service as Wesley subsequent to 'his conversion ~ As we look at Wesley we involuntarily connect him with his posthumous work. Charles Spurgeon's posthumous work no man can foresee. What a hundred years more may reveal as to the subsequent outcome of his life of faith and consecration God alone can prophesy. We must wait for History to write up her scroll. One thing we already know : not even Mr. Wesley had more unlimited control over his followers than Charles Spurgeon has had over his disciples in the faith and the students he has sent into the ministry. Wesley's virtual rel1Unciation of the Anglican Church, first in his protest against existing abuses and afterward in actually ordaining preachers, and even consecrating a bishop on his own responsibility, reminds us forcibly of Mr. Spurgeon's determined and intrepid stand against the current loose notions of theology, and his bold venture in separating himself even from his own denomination for the sake of what he believed to be the truth.
There is a curious coincidence, also, to which we have referred, in the association of the two brothers Wesley and the two brothers Spurgeon.
A GENEHATlON O~· CIlUI8TIAN l'UOGHffiSS IN INDIA
Rev. James A. Spurgeon is yet alive, and it would be indelicate to say much about him. But in my judgment he has been of much more use to his brother than the public are as yet aware. His peeuliar combination of capacity and sagacity, his more thorough and classical education, his peculiar, business-like habits of mind, his aptitude for organizing and managing great institutions, his umpirical judgment and legal knowledge and acumen, his singular tact and practical uncommon sense-these, with many more cOllspicuous qualities that come not with observation, have done more than most people apprehend or appreciate to make his more" popular" brother the man he was. It reminds one of the association of Moses and Aaron, and their joint work. Mr. James Spurgeon's true work and worth have yet to be written. Close association with him in the work of the Tabernacle for months has revealed that his skilful hand is on the helm of many of the most important interests of which his brother was the visible head. He was content to be in many things a helper of his illustrious and dearly loved brother Charles. All this we have written for a Missionary Review. Four months in the heart of this work havc satisfied thc writer that the head of one of the grandest missionary organizations in the world has fallen when at midnight of January 31st Charles Spurgeon entered the glory. Here is a fountain of home missions and of foreign missions. From this spring a thousand streams go forth to water the garden of the Lord and to turn the desert into the Lord's garden. In fact, the missionary character of this Metropolitan Tabernacle Church so impresses me as to suggest a separate treatment hereafter when the facts are more fully known. But at this time, and before closing this brief article. it mnst be added that such a man as Spurgeon was one of God's missionaries, and himself a trainer of missionaries. Scarce a month passes without either a farewell to an outgoing mi ssionary or a welcome to a returning or visiting missionary; and in most cases it is one who has in this great Church or its college received his first impulse to the field. And what an individual church can do to stimulate everything good and pure and unselfish is abundantly exhibited and illustrated, as we may hope to show hereafter, in the Metropolitan Tabernacle and in its departed, lamented, and never-to-be-forgotten pastor and president.
A GENERATION OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN I~DIA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F.S.S., LONDON, ENG.
Human impatience frets at what it considers the slow rate of progress in Christian and beneficent enterprise in a country like India; and because we do not see great results after a brief bnt what may seem a tedious effort we are apt to be discouraged ; and if we do not despair and abandon our work, it is carried on in a hllguid and despondent way-a way fatal to all success. JIope and ~vu1iJencc are essential to successful work, especially in spiritual enterpriseR, which are in their very nature works of faith, as well as labors of lovc. Even love grows cold when faith and hope are dead.
Of all countries in the world India is the last in which we should expect rapid results from spiritual labor, for -many reasons-its great extent, t.he numerous and dense population, tbe close and intricate way in which they are bound together by religious and social customs, the practical way in which a degraded and flesh-pleasing idolatry is woven into every act of social, domestic, and personal life j the debasing influence of books regarded as sacred, but filled with accounts of gods and heroes whose cruelty, treachery, falsehood, and lust corrupted the whole moral nature, and almost obliterated the distinctions of right and wrong and of truth and falsehood; while some of these sacred books contain truths so divine and beautiful ail to give a sanction and authority to the whole.
To convert such a people is a task which even the Apostolic Chureh had never been called upon to attempt j and how is it attempted by the Christian Church of our day ~ One or two men are sent out af a time, followed by two or three more at long intervals. They are scattered far apart one from the other; or, perhaps, two or three different missions are set up side by side, with little or no sympathy the one for the other, if, indeed, they do not form hostile camps, to the dishonor of Christ and the perplexity of the heathen i and yet men complain of the slow progress of Christianity in India.
But we are far from admitting that the work of Christian missions in India has been slow or discouraging. When compared with the means employed, the results have been greater than we had any right to expectfar greater than is generally supposed even by the well informed, vastly greater than is dreamt of by the careless and ignorant.
It has been' my privilege to see India at such im interval of time as to allow of a fair and, at the same time, striking comparison-an interval of what may be called a generation, though over the usual time allowed for the average term of life in England and still more over that of India.
I would not attach much importance to even two visits to a foreign country and "Mange people as a means for acquiring accurate information or for drawing reliable conclusions, but to one who has made Indian questions a life-long study they are of great value. It is on this ground alone that I do attach importance to my visits to India in the years 1853 and 1889-90. I shall only give the facts and impressions then received, with a comparison of the results in regard to the purely religious aspects of the progress of the people during the generation which had passed in the interval. I need not say that they struck me much more vividly than if I had been a resident and had witnessed the changes passing gradually before my eyes from day to day. The mere facts could be gathered at home, but the impresRions received and the opinions formed were of far more value than the pure statement figures could convey. RELIGIOUS RESULTS OF THIRTY· SEVEN YEARS.
Mere statistical figures do not give the highest resultR, but they are well worthy of study. I take them from two reliable sources: First, the Gov- ernment Census for 1881, which also gives the numbers in 1871 for com- parison. The census for 1891 is Dot yet published, but we have it on the highest authority that the rate of increase in Christian converts is fully maintained. Second, the elaborate and careful statistical returns prepared e,-ery ten years by a committee representing all the Protestant societies at work in India_ These extend over the three decades 1851, 1861, 1871, and 1881. As another decade has nearly run out, it is easy for anyone familiar with the missionary history of the period and accuAtomed to statistical in- quiries to form an estimate for the year 1890. As the first visit was so near to the returns for 1851, we give these without any estimate for the two years from 1851 to 1853, so that the period will practically extend over thirty-nine years-rather a long generation. The following are the numbers for the Protestant Christians of all India~ without including Ceylon and Burmah: Native Protestant converts, 1851 (from returns), 91,0!)2 ; 1881 (from returns), 417,322 ; 1890 (estimate), 720,000-that is, an increase of EIGHT·FOLD in fort'years, or seven times in a generation.
The estimate is a low one-only at the rate of 70 per cent for the decade.
It was 86 per cent for the previous ten years.
It may be put in the Graphic form, thus: The Native Church in India in 1851 (a small church spire), and in 1890 ______________________________________________ (a tall spire 7 times the height of the other). But what is more important–showing that the increase is not merely in numbers, but is an inward as well as outward growth-is the fact brought out in the tables giving the increase in the number of communicants, which is greater than in the number of professing converts. The numbers were: 1851, communicants returned, 14,661 i 1881, communicants returned, 113,325; 1890, estimated, 215,000. The estimate is based on the low rate of increase of less than 80 per cent in the last decade, while it was 115 per cent in that from 1871 to 1881. This gives an increase of FIFTEEN-FOLD in 39 years, or they have multiplied thirteen time, in a generation.
Rut a higher proof of church organization is seen in the increase of native pastors and evangelists. The former, especially, have multiplied at an astonishing rate, implying an increase of intelligence and character in the members of the Church, and a much greater efficiency in ecclesiastical work. Forty years ago there were only 21 ordained native pastors in all the missions in India. Now they cannot number fewer than 700 or 800. Thus: 1851, native pastors (returned), 21; 1881, native pastors (ro. turned), 461; 1890, native pastors (estimated), 750.
These invaluable agents have multiplied THIRTY-SIX TIMES in 39 year!> -or, say, thirty-threefold in a generation. This is also strong proof of the happy relations in which the foreign and native workers stand to one another, when the former raise the latter to the highest positions of power and honor. It shows also the confidence they place in the converts.
Lay preachers have not increased so fast, but their numbers are also rapidly growing, thus: 1851, lay preachers (returned), 493; 1881, lay preachers (rei.umed), 2438; 1890, lay preachers (estimated), 3000.
Here thl) Church has a cheap and efficient agency for the spread of the truth-cheaper and better far than uneducated men sent out from this country, who rarely acquire an accurate knowledge of the language or of the modes of thought and feeling of the inhabitants, and cannot live long in that climate on native fare and after native habits.
iNCREASE OF CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE.
The place which Christianity holds as a power in India struck me, on my second visit, as far more wonderful and hopeful than the numerical increase of the converts. Christianity is no longer held in contempt. Its position and character are recognized. In Madras they are looked upon as leaders in social movements. They take their place in literary and scientific pursuits, and hold their own in t6e learned professions, and some have risen to high positions under government, with the approbation and encouragement of their unconverted brethren. In Southern India they take the first place in the number of the educated, as compared with their num_ bers in the population, and in the North they come next to the Parsees. I would only say that while the native Christians have multiplied eight-fold and communicants fifteen times during the period covered by my two visits, the influence oj Ohristianity as A LIVING POWER is a hundred times greater in 1890 than it was in 1853.
THE PLACE WHICH CHRIST OCCUPIES IN INnIA.
I close with a word on the place occupied by Christ in India. The change during this generation is wonderful. None but "those who can compare the present with the state of matters thirty-seven years ago can form any idea of its extent. In 1853 the knowledge of Christ was considerable, but there was little idea of Him as a living power or authority, to be reckoned with outside the classes directly under the influence of missionaries. He was not widely looked up to with either love or reverence. Now the knowledge is far wider, and the character of Christ stands out in bold relief against the character of the gods of India. His superiority is generally acknowledged by the great body of educated natives, and the devotees of the old religion tremble for their systems of idolatry and hate the Author of the rl'ligion which they feel is destined to supplant their own; while the enlightened look upon Him with reverence and admiration, and many with sincere affection. In fact, Christ is now the central figure to educated Indians, and these now nQ.mber not fewer than eleven or twelve
BENliY MAliTYN
millions, while their number is being increased every year at the rate of another million as they issue from the schools and colleges. It is a rare thing for the youths who go through the higher schools and colleges to leave without a feeling of admiration for the character of Christ, unless they are so depraved as to hate virtue because they love vice. There is much searching of heart about the person and work of Christ. It is in India as in Judea, Christ" is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. " But that He shall be recognized as the Saviour of India is as sure as the promises of God.
HENRY MARTYN.-PART 1.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFORD, M.A., B.D., ROTHESAY, SCOTLAND.
The life of He·nry Maltyn is one of three or four books which Professor 'Marcus Dods, of the New College of the Free Church of Scotland, .J!:dinburgh, teUs us have had a lasting influence in moulding his mind and character. And this testimony is not a solitary one, but there are very many others in all the churches who have drawn from the simple records of Henry Martyn's pen an enduring inspiration of devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Zinzendorf's motto was, Ohristus crucifixu8 passio mea. A perusal of Martyn's memoir will show that this was also the secret of his life, that wherein his strength lay-Christ crucified was his ruling passion.
The life of Martyn is, like that of Robert Murray McCheyne, of Dundee, a life whose secret was unbroken communion with God, and whose influence, therefore, still lives on like ointment in the hand which bewrayeth itself (Prov. 27 : 16).
,. The thought of God Filled him with infinite joy; his craving soul Dwelt on Him as a feast. "
As is well said by Canon Edmonds, in the Church Missionary Intelligencer for January, 1891, "From first to last men loved Martyn. He kindled their interest. He called out their admiration. He won their regard. His memoir was extensively read. It deserved to be. It was far more a sermon than a manifesto. It went with men into hours of retirement. It was the Sunday book of a considerable period. It sank into the hearts of young men. It kindled with its hallowed fire other fires as burning as its own. It carried across the Atlantic a current of glowing piety, and reproduced there the same gracious effects. In both hemispheres for a long time it is hardly too much to say that, among people interested in the work of missions, two names were written each on a white stone of holiest veneration-the name of David Brainerd and that of Henry Martyn."
The sweetness of his character and the lofty purpose of his life breathe through his well-known memoir from first to last. As Sargent, his friend and biographer, well says, his excellence consisted in a renunciation of himself and a compassionate love for mankind. But yet it Was not always so with him. for in his case there was a marked turning to the service of Christ-a time when, as in the case of Paul, it pleased God. who separated him to Himself and called him by His grace to reveal His Son in him that he might preach Him among the heathen.
Martyn was born at Truro, in Cornwall, on February 17th, 1'781. His father was John Martyn, who, from a humble position in connection with some of the Cornish mines, had risen until he became a merchant's clerk in Truro. Henry, as well as his other brothers and sisters, was of a weak physical constitution; all accounts tell us he was a weak and ailing boy. When he was seven years of age his father placed him at the grammar school of the town, then taught by the Rev. Dr. Cardew, who found the boy to be" of a lively, cheerful temper," and of excellent mental abilities.
At the age of fourteen he offered himself as candidate for a scholarship in Oxford. The fact that he did so at so tender an age shows us (,f how great promise he was. But the prize fell to some one else. Here is his own comment upon this incident, written years afterward: "In the autumn of 1'795 my father, at the persuasion of many of his friends, sent me to Oxford to be a candidate for the vacant scholarship at Corpus Christi. I entered at no college, but had rooms at Exeter College by the interest of Mr. Cole, the snb-rector. I passed the examination, I believe, tolerably well, but was unsuccessful, having every reason to think that the decision was impartial. Had I remained and become a member of the University at that time, liS I should have done in case of success, the profligate acquaintances I should have had there would have introduced me to scenes of debauchery, in which I must, in all probability, from my ~xtreme youth, have sunk forever. " This disappointment that befel him was overruled by God both for his personal advantage and also for the purpose of preserving him to be a witness of the cross in far-off lands.
In 1'797 he entered St. J obn's College, Cambridge. Here he worked with great diligence. Hitherto he had been a stranger to any experimental or personal knowledge of salvation. There is an occasion recorded when, carried away in a fit of passion as he sat at table, he threw a knife at one of his companions who in some way had offended him. Fortunately the knife failed to reach its mark; this painful incident caused him most deep regret and humiliation. A college friend attempted to persuade him to better things. and that even his reading should be with a view to the glory of God. This advice, he says, ., seemed strange to me, but reasonable."
The most powerful of those influences which affected him for the better was that of one of his sisters at home, who lived a consistent servant of Christ. She did not cease to urge upon her brother the supreme claims of Christ. This she took special occasion to do during a visit home which Henry paid at the time of a college vacation. But, as he writes in his journal, he steadily resisted his sister, and paid no regard to his father's counsels. "I left my sister and father in October, and him I saw no more. I promised my sister that I would read the Bible for myself, but on being settled at college, Newton engaged all my thoughts."
Returned to Cambridge, he soon received news of his father's death. The bereavement was bbssed to him. He took up his neglected Bible; but how f~int was the light in his soul may be perceived from what he tells us: "I took up my Bible, thinking that the con8ideration of religion wat-l rather suitable to this solemn time. . .• I began with the Acts, as being the most amusin.q, and while I was entertained with the narrative I found myself insensibly led to inquire into the doctrine of the apostles. It corresponded nearly enough with the few notions I had received in my early youth. I believe, on the first night after, I began to pray from a precomposed form, in which I thanked God in general for having sent Christ into the world. But though I prayed for pardon, I had little sense of my own sinfulness; nevertheless, I began to consider myself a religious man." A copy of Doddridge's" Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," which he read at this time, touched his conscience to the quick and caused him much searching of heart-'-" it appeared to make religion to consist too much in humiliation, and my proud, wicked heart would not bear to be brought down into the dust."
Though this in itself was an unsatisfactory beginning, it was nevertheless the turning point of his career, as he himself writes to his sister: "After the death of our father you know I was extremely low spirited, and, like most other people, began to consider seriously, without any particular determination, the invisib~ world to which he was gone, and to which I must one day go. Yet I IItill read the Bible unenlightened, and said a prayer or two rather through terror of a superior power than from any other canse. Soon, however, I began to attend more diligently to the words of our Saviour in the New Testament and to devour them with delight; when the offers of mercy and forgiveness were made so freely, I supplicated to be made partaker of the covenant of grace with eagerness and hope, and thanks be to the ever-blessed Trinity for not leaving me without comfort."
Another most helpful influence at this time was that he was in the habit of attending the ministry of the Rev. Charles Simeon, at Trinity Church, in Cambridge. Simeon's influence was wholly good, both in the promoting of evangelical religion and spirit.ual life and also in fostering the cause of foreign missions, then in its infancy, so far as England W<.lS concerned. Five Cambridge men, all of them disciples of Simeon, had a most important share in the work of making the Gospel known in India. These were, in the order of tlieir arrival abroad. Brown, Buchanan, Martyn, Corrie, and Thomason. Thomason was Simeon's curate from 1796 till 1808, when he sailed for India, and Martyn from 1803 to 1805, when he left for the same destination. But this is anticipating the course of events.
Martyn's pre-eminence as a student is seen in the fact that in the public examination for his university degree, in January, 1801, before he had completed his twentieth year, the highest academical honor was adjudged to him-that of Senior Wrangler of his year. His college friends would crowd round him with warm congratulations, but his own thoughts were these: "I obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find that I had grasped a shadow." As the result of another examination he was chosen Fellow of St. John's College in March, 1802, and soon thereafter took the first prize given to graduates for the best Latin prose composition. In 1803 he was appointed by the authorities of his college public examiner in classics and, in 1804-, examiner in philosophy. At the close of the same year he was a third time selected as one of the examiners in St. John's College.
A renewed sojourn in Cornwall and renewed fellowship with his Rister were greatly blessed to him. "Not till then (1801)," he writes, "had I experienced any real pleasure in religion."
His intercourse also with Mr. Simeon was made of much use to him, under whose fostering care the spiritual life of Martyn's soul continued to grow. And now he abandoned his original intention of being a lawyer, and consecrated himself entirely to God's service in the ministry of the Gospel.
All the members of Christ in all lands form but one body; and it was the perusal of Jonathan Edwards's memoir of David Brainerd, the missionary to the North American Indians, that largely helped to lead Henry Martyn, the Cambridge student, to offer himself for foreign service. The immediate cause of this decision, however, was a sermon preached by Mr. Simeon on the subject of foreign missions, in which attention had been drawn by the preacher to the good effected for the natives of India by the Baptist missionary, William Carey. Brainerd's memoir quite attracted him. He felt a oneness of soul with the young American who, almost at bis own age, left home and the comforts of civilization to enter alone, for Jesus Christ's sake, the dark forest of Indian superstition and sin, and who, like Martyn, finished his course with joy at an early age-be was only thirty-two. Brainerd and Martyn were both intensely introspective; both were fired with love to Jesus Christ and a yearning love for souls. •• Fatigues and hardships," writes Brainerd, " sene to wean me from the earth, and, I trust, will make beaven the sweeter." Martyn read such heart-breathings of the apostle of the North American Indians, and found in bim a kindred spirit. The decision was made; he, too, laid his life at the feet of Jesus, that Jesus might use that life in any way He saw fit.
•, In labors abundant." The successful worker for Christ at home is the only one who is warranted to look for God's blessing abroad. Sargent gives UII a sample of Martyn's work in England. He visited many of the poor, the afflicted, and the dying; he warned numbers of the careless and profligate; often did he redeem time from study, from recreation, and from the intercourse of -friends that he might enter the abodes of misery. Many an hour did he pass in a hospital or an almshouse; and often after a day of labor and fatigue, when wearied almost to an extremity of endurance, he would read and pray with the servant who had the care of his rooms.
He now offered himself to the Church Missionary Society, one of the noblest of all societies at work among the heathen. It was formed in the year 1800, and the name of Charles Simeon is among its founders. Events, however, proved that it was not under the Society's auspices that Martyn was to go to India.
On October 22d, 1803, he was ordained deacon in the Church of England, and in due time began his ministry as curate to the Rev. Charles Simeon, with whom he earnestly labored in Cambridge and the adjoining village of Lolworth until the next year, 1804.
In that year the appointment of a chaplaincy in India was offered him by the directors of the East India Company. This appointment was accepted by him. In March, 1805, he was ordained a presbyter at St. James' Chapel, London, and after the ordination the University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Divinity.
" I see no business in life but the work of Christ, neither do I desire any employment to all eternity but His service." In this frame of mind did he look forward to leaving England for India; in this steadfastness of purpose he was conscious that the Lord had called him to preach the Gospel to the heathen.
He set sail from Portsmouth on board the Indiaman, Union. The yesse! put in for a brief stay at Falmouth, and this gave him an opportunity to meet once more-it was their last meeting on earth-a lady for whom he had the strongest attachment-Miss Lydia Grenfell. Only last year- 1890-were extracts published from the diary kept by this lady, and these throw a flood of light upon the relations of those lovers. Mr. Sargent describes her as "one of whom less ought not and more cannot be said than that she was worthy of him." Martyn deeply loved her, and proposed that she should go to India to him; but she declined to do so. Years before she had been engaged to another, and though this individual married some one else, still Miss Grenfell felt bound to her word while he lived. And" thus, to Martyn's heart-break and her own pain, the only woman that he loved never became his wife." However, she continued to correspond with him as a sister, and this correspondence helped to alleviate the loneliness and pain which fell to his lot. Miss Grenfell survived him till 1829. "At nine in the morning," he writes, "I was sitting at ease with the person dearest to me npon earth, intending to go out with her afterward to visit some perRons with her and preach on the morrow; four hours only elapsed, and I was under sail from England." The ships had sailed in haste, and it was with difficulty Martyn reached the Union in time.
A voyage to India in those days was something to be remembered; not as now in first-class steamers, luxuriously filted up like floating hotels, so that an Indian voyage becomes a delightful holiday. Very different was the state of things then. The ship in which he sailed was one of a fleet consisting of fifty transports and five men-of-war, besides the Indiamen ; for England was then at war with Holland and France. Added to all the discomforts of the voyage was the extreme length of it; from the time he sailed until the ship arrived in India was nine months! The disrespect shown to him by almost all on board was a severe discipline for his spirit, but it became a means of grace. On Sabbaths the captain would not allow him to preach oftener than once. He saw, therefore, that his usefulness greatly depended on his private ministrations. He therefore made it his daily habit to go between decks, where he assembled all who were willing to attend, and read to them some religious book and made comments upon it. "Some attend fixedly," he writes; "others are looking another way; some women are employed about their children, attending for a little while and then heedless, some rising up and going away; others taking their place, and numbers, especially of those who have been upon watch, strewed all along upon the deck fast asleep; one or two from the upper decks looking d('wn and listening. " And on Sabbath things were no more encouraging. "The passengers were inattentive; the officers, many of them, sat drinking, so that he. could overhear their noise, and the captain was with them." " I seemed uneasy at the thoughts of calling forth the hatred of the people to-morrow by preaching to them unpleasant truths." But even in so unpromising a field the good seed took root and grew; there were visible resulti of tho grace of God.
It was a most eventful voyage, its chief incidents being an attempt at mutiny by the crew; four days spent at Funchal ; a short stay at San Salvador, in Brazil, where Martyn landed and engaged in conversation in Latin with some Roman Catholic priests, seeking earnestly to lead them to Christ; and the arrival of the feet at the Cape of Good Hope. This formed a remarkable episode, surely, in a voyage to India. The purpose and meaning of this putting in of the fleet at the Cape was that the south of Africa then belonged to the Dutch, and the fleet was conveying British soldiers to fight the Dutch and to capture the place. Martyn, in his capacity as a chaplain, was actually on the field of battle, in which the Dutch were defeated. There he moved among the wounded and the dying, speaking to the wounded of the blessed Gospel and beseeching them to look to Jesus Christ for salvation. As he was thus engaged he nearly lost his life, for a drunken Highland soldier, taking him for a Frenchman, presented his gun at him. Martyn sprang toward him, and told him if he doubted his word to take him prisoner to the English camp, but that he certainly was an English clergyman. This pacified the soldier, and thus Martyn's life was saved.
Resuming his voyage, India was reached at last. The sickness in the ship had been very great. Shortly before reaching the Cape the captain had died, and now there was more ill health than ever. Throughout it all Martyn was ever at the hedside of the sick and dying, adUlinistering to them every temporal and spiritual comfort.
On April 22d, 1806, the ship anchored in Madras roads, and next month arrived at Calcutta. "Oh, if I live," he writes, "let me have come hither to some purpose !"
Mission work in India was at that time carried on under peculiar diffi- culties. Those in power showed the bitterest hostility to the preaching of the Gospel to the natives. If we would understand the devotion of men like William Carey and Hemy Martyn, let us first realize what were the prospects of missionary success while India was ruled by the East India Company. The British flag was the emblem of a determined opposition to prevent the news of salvation from reaching the ears of the Hindus. Probably the met.hod by which India was then held would have squared badly wit!l the precepts of Christ; and those in power seem to have felt this. Carey, :Iarshman, and Ward were not allowed to live in British India at all, but were forced to reside at the Danish settlement of Seram- pore. It is milch to the credit of Denmark that her rulers were in their friendliness to the Gospel so different from the British authorities of that time. Martyn's position as a chaplain gave him certain advantages, for he had permission from the East India Company, as their chaplain, to preach to the English residents; but it had its disadvantages, too, for he was under military rule, and must obey as much as any private in the ranks. The evangelical party in the Church of England was then regarded with contempt and ridicule. Martyn was a representative of that party, and the same scorn which he had met with on shipboard awaited him in India.
Arrived in Calcutta, he was warmly welcomed by the Rev. David Brown, who received him with true hospitality. Here he worked incessantly, acquiring the Hindustani language. It would be impossible for the East India Company to keep this chaplain within regulation rules in regard to not preaching to the natives. " I lay in tears," he says, " interceding for the unfortunate natives of this conntry, thinking within myself that the most despicable soodar of India was of as much value in the sight of God as the King of Great Britain. " The idolatrous rites of heathenism which he now witnessed filled him with horror. A Hindu widow, burning to death on a funeral pile beside her husband, he made an ineffectual attempt to rescue. His heart was pierced with the sound of the cymbals and drums calling the natives to the worship of the idols. And when he saw them prostrate before an idol which was surrounded with burning lights, he was moved with compassion, while he "shivered as standing, as it were, in the neighborhood of hell." As he wrote in connection with another matter, " Let me never fancy I have zeal till my heart overflows with love to every man living."
His ministerial brethren did not relish the new preaching; the doctrine of justification by faith they could not endure. Accordingly, Martyn had
MAWl'YX
to undergo much personal abuse even from the pulpit. "These clergy," writes Martyn, "denied in the pulpit, one by one, all the lmding doc- trines of the Gospel, as well as abused the newly arrived missionary." Martyn was wise enough when he preached not to make the slightest allusion to those philippic sermons.
This is a sufficient glimpse of the determined hostility then at work everywhere against the Gospel, as well as against all who preached and loved it. Spirituality was the one and only thing that was not tolerated.
An appointment soon came, under which Martyn was ordered to proceed to Dinapore, a military station up the Ganges. Travelling up river was accomplished in boats called budgerows. Embarked in one of these, Martyn used the time in the study of Sanskrit, and afterward of Persian, and also in beginning the translation of the Scriptures with the native moonshee whom he had engaged to help him in this work. An in~resting incident occurred as the boat passed Serampore. Mr. Marshman, one of the Baptist missionaries, could not resist coming down to meet Mr. Martyn, and after accompanying him a little way, left him with prayer. This is the true communion of saints.
Going on shore from time to time during this river journey, he found himself on one occasion in the midst of a crowd of Hindus engaged in the worship of idols. With the presiding Brahmin he engaged in earnest conversation, and though he had not yet a sufficient hold of the language, nevertheless he was able to make known the truth of God. His comment upon this incident is: "I learned that the power of gentleness is irresistible. "
The boat arrived in dne time at Berhampore, the first military station, where he landed and visited the sick in the hospital. His journal shows us the kind of reception he so often met with. " Rose early, and was at the hospital by daylight, but after waiting a long time, wandering through the wards, hoping the men would get up and assemble, I went away amid the sneers and titters of the common soldiers. It is extraordinary that I seldom or never met with contempt on account of religion except from Englishmen, and from them invariably."
Resuming his river journey, he worked assiduously at Bible translation, even wearying the moonshee with the labor, and endeavoring to impress the man's heart with Christian truth. He also made it hiil practice to distribute tracts in the adjacent villages, though in this he received but little encouragement from the recipients. The burden of those Christless souls ever lay beavy upon him. "I was much burdened," he writes, "with the consciousness of blood-guiltiness, and though I cannot doubt of my pardon by the blood of Christ, how dreadful the reflection that any should perish who might have been saved by my exertions." At length he arrived at Dinapore, which was to be his permanent residence for a considerable time. Here his immediate objects were three-fold, to establish natiye schools; to attain such fluency in Hindustani as might enahle him easily to preach the
BENRY
Gospel to the natives and to prepare translations of the Scriptures and of tracts.
As he sailed past Patna, the sight of the multitudes in that city almost overwhelmed him, and his own bodily weakness and pain oppressed him here. He was to suffer more and more from this cause until his earthly race was run. The intensity of his soul consumed the earthly tenement in which it lived.
His work among the Europeans in Dinapore was begun under no more encouraging auspices than he had hitherto enjoyed. At first when he assembled the soldiers for worship he was desired to omit the sermon. Many of the European families took offence at his preaching without a writ- ten sermon, alld a letter was sent him requesting him to cease from extem- pore preaching. Though at first inclined to resent this interference, yet in order to conciliate them he complied with their wishes.
Working daily with the moonshee at Bible translation, he tried to do the man's soul some good. One day, speaking of the divinity of Christ, Martyn told him that he should pray that God would teach him what the truth really is. The man said he had no need to pray on the subject, as the Koran was express. Martyn asked him whether some doubt ought not to arise in his mind as to whether the Koran is the Word of God. The moonshee grew angry. Martyn felt hurt and vexed. "If any qualification," he writes, " seems necessary to a missionary in India, it is wisdom operatiJlg in the regulation of the temper and improvement of opportunities. H In his work as chaplain at Dinapore he continued to be grieved by the neglect, levity, and profaneness of many of the English there. In vain he attempted to speak of religion in the houses of the wealthy: "The manner in which it was received damped all further attempt." Still he labored on, sometimes making long journeys in pursuit of his pastoral work j one journey of seventy miles is mentioned to perform a marriage.
On February 24th, 1807, he completed the translation into Hindustani of the Book of Common Prayer, and a few Sundays thereafter commenced Divine worship in the vernacular. " The spectacle," says Sargent, " was a8 novel as it was gratifying to behold two hundred women, Portuguese, Roman Catholics, and Mahometans, crowding to attend the service of the Church of England, which had lost nothing, doubtless, of its beautiful simplicity and devout solemnity in being clothed with an Oriental dress." Soon thereafter he finished a commentary in Hindustani on the Parables. His moonshee's private thoughts on this work may be seen from his remark to Mr. Martyn that, after that generation had passed away, a race of fools might perhaps arise who would try to believe that God could be a man, and man God, and who would say that the Bible is the Word of God. The bitterness and disrespect of the moonshee only made him resolve that in future he would be surprised by no appearances of the same temper in others.
His Sabbath duties had grown in his hands. They now consisted of a
MO'I'IYES '1'0 MfRSIONS AMONG THE HEATHEN
service fur Europeans at seven in the morning, another at two in the afternoon, for Hindus; then he attended the hospital, and in the evening he ministered in his own rooms to those soldiers who were interested in Divine things. Regarding the English service of a particular Sabbath he writes: " I preached on Luke 22 : 22. As is always the case when I preach about Christ, a spiritual influence is diffused over my soul." This patient, unremitting labor for Christ, apparently so barren of result, was yet not allowed to be without fruit. Both among the privates and the officers some hcarts were touched by God's grace, and with these he enjoyed true fellow. ship. ilis heart was refreshed; his lahor was not in vain in the Lord.
(TO BE CONCLUDED.) MOTIVES TO MISSIONS AMONG THE HEATHEN.
BY REV. HENRY E. ROBINS, D.D., LL.D., ROCHESTER, N. Y.
A paper read before the Autumnal Meeting of the AMERICAN BAPTIBT MISSIONARY UNION, at Buffalo, N. Y.
Upon what motives may we rely to incite the people of God to a rigorous prosecution of missionary work among those who are destitute of the light of Christian truth as conveyed to us in the Christian Scriptures?
The real motive of human action is always within the soul, never without. Outward conditions, often in common speech called motives, are only occasions by which the internal motives are brought into play, and can be called motives only in a secondary, nut in a primary sense. Money as external, to me is not my motive in seeking it, whether I seek it for worthy or unworthy ends j it is rather my desire for it, that I may use it to sustain and enlarge and enrich my life and the lives of others; or that I may hoard it to gratify the passion of mere possession, or pervert it to secure power or station or luxury-self-gratification in one or more of its protean forms.
Bearing ill mind, then, that the motive which we seek is within, we are ready to say that God Himself is the foundation of missionary motive. " God," said the Great Teacher, "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life." God loves and desires to save a world of sinners; this fact, declared so impressively in the passage which we have quoted, is everywhere either expressly affirmed or implied by the general tenor of the Word of God from beginning to end. The love of God, not His complacent but His pitying love-to make a distinction upon which the theologians rightly insist-the love of God toward a world of sinners is the one only motive sufficiently adequate in vitality and force, persistent in its energy and comprehensive in its scope, to inspire the Church to her stupendous task of the conquest of the world for its Lord. A plan which the Infinite God only could conceive, He only can execute. A snpernatural work requires a supernatural motive.
But, you say, the love of God for sinners is a motive for His action, not for ours. Let us see.
The love of God found its first manifestation through Him who shared it with the Father from the beginning, even the incarnate Son of God, especially in His atoning death, by which God's gracious relation to sinful men was justified and made possible. The love of God toward a world of sinners was the motive of Christ's action. But, you say, the motive is still within the sphere of the Divine nature. Admitted, but notiee. It is God's plan in making a channel for His love that, by union with Christ, by faith through the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost, sinful men shall become partakers of the Divine nature, children of God, so that the impulse of saving grace which wrought in the Father and in Christ shall be operative in them also-each one of them " No blind, unsharing instrument, But joyful partner of His pu~pose."
Accordingly, our Lord said to His immediate disciples, and through them to ChristianR of all time': "Ye are' the salt of the earth. " "Ye are the light of the world. ~'. They are constituted salt in order that, since it is of the nature of salt to save, they may save the earth. They have been constituted luminaries in order that, since it is of the nature of light to shine, they may enlighten the world. It is of the very essence of salt, as Bengel suggests, commenting on this passage, to have savor and to give savor, to have it in order to give it. If it neither has it nor gives it, it is not salt, and is good for no economic use, fit only to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. So lamps are lighted, as the Great Teacher affirms, not to be put under a bushel, but on the stand, that they may shine unto all that are in the house. In harmony with this teaching of our Lord, God's promise to Abraham, called the father of believers of all time, since in spiritual character they were to resemble their great progenitor, was: "I will bless thee, and make thee a blessing." "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." God's purpose, we see, is not attained when the individual soul is made Christian. A man is regenerated rather in order that, while he himself is" being sa"ed" (Acts 2 : 47), while the process of salvatio,') is going on in him, and ideally inseparable frOID it, he may save others also:); so that, at last, the Kingdom of God in the new redeemed race shall be established. God's ideal plan is that His redeeming love, kindled as a flame in the hearts of Hill redeemed children, shall run like a prairie fire, each ignited blade of grass kindling its npighbor until the burning circle extends the whole horizon round. The Divine impulse of God's redeeming love for sinners within the believer can be limited in its scope only by his ability; howe,'er the envil'onment of immediate duty may restrain him, his love, since it is the love of God, emhraces the world. He is in fellowship, communion, or, as Dr. Hackett used to emphasize the thought, he is in co-partnership with God j what God loves, he loves j what Gcd seeks, he seeks. _In a word, he is a channel of Divine grace, as ChrIst was. We have in this manner disclosed the supreme, the only real motive upon which we must rely, and to which we must make our appeal. '1'he love of God for a sinful world inspiring a regenerate Church in conscious, living union with her Lord is the sole hope of missions among the heathen.
But there is a fact, attested by current observation and Church hIstory, which, carefully considered, puts a strong emphasis upon the truth Fe have discovered-viz., that missionary zeal of a certain sort may De awakened and missionary enterprises may be prosecuted by appeal to motives operative in the unrenewed heart. Destitute of love, a man may bestow all his goods to feed the poor, may give his body to be burned, may compass sea and land to make proselytes. Accordingly, missionary work may be vigorously carried on, but in a loveless spirit, burdened by unconsecrated workers, unconsecrated money, unspiritual methods, and unspiritual ends. You willllllow me to say, my brethren, that it is my conviction that in these loveless helps, in the alien spirit, we find our chief hindrance in our work. A sort of moral paralysis seems at times to steal over us, making our efforts abortive, so that results are far from commensurate with the money expended and the machinery set in operation. I speak as unto men spiritually wise j judge ye what I say.
Passing this important point, deserving a fuller discussion, with this hrief allusion, let me now pass to say that we are to seek by every means to awaken the regenerate Church to her sublime privilege and responsibility, as put in trust by virtue of her regeneration with the redeeming love of God toward a sinful world. And this we may do by making it evident that, since Christ is the God of providence, Head over all things, administering the government of the world in the interest of redemption, all the vast resources of our material civilization are, so far as they are within her power, facilities granted to the Church with the express design to enable her, as trustee of that priceless thing, to make known God's love toward those, the world over, for whom Christ died.
When on one occasion that seer of God, the late Jonah G. Warren, stood watching a company of missionaries standing upon the deck of a steamer just putting to sea, he is reported to have exclaimed, as if at th.ut moment profoundly impressed with the thought: "That is what steamers are for!" Yes, that is what steamers are for in God's intent. The IIleans of transportation, which mark our age above every other which has prec,~ded it, are highways which Christ has cast up fodeet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace j the means of communication of intelligence so wonderful that a whisper may be heard from city to city, and the touch (j.f II child's finger speed a message around the globe j the accumulations of wealth in Christian hands greater than ever since the Babe of Mary awakened to His mission in the manger of Bethlehem; Christian learning wider in its scope, and more profound, and more exact in its acquisitions than ever before; Christian homes larger in number, and realizing the Christian ideal of family life more fully than ever since the Christian calendar began to witness to the Ilupremacy of our Lord j the social and political life of Christendom testifying-I will not say notwithstanding, but even in its conflicts and agitations to the resistless working of the transforming power of the Gospel-what are all these but means which God's love may use in pouring itself £01 th through His children, as Christ poured forth llis blood for the salvation of the world. The Church of preceding times was never so equipped. never had such resources at her command. The providential indications of God's purpose in redemption were never so clear; and hence Christians of earlier times were so far excusable for their misconception of the mission of the Church j but our opportunity is both index and measure of our privilege and our duty. Alas for us if we misinterpret Christ's meaning in blessing us so abundantly, if we fail to detect in the profusion of His gifts to us the yearning of His heart for lost sheep not of this fold. What He has done for us is but a declaration, a vivid portrayal before our very eyes, of what He desires to do for otllers through us. Let us tremble with a holy joy that the world's Redeemer dwells within us ; that it is His love for earth's perishing millions that moves us. Let us iIpprison our Lord no longer. Let us cease to restrain the Divine love that urges us along the pathway of the Redeemer's missiou. Is the printed Word of God a living thing to us, throbbing with the life of tr J living Word ~ Do we shudder with a sort of horror when we consider how darkened and desolate our lives would be without it? Have we seen Christ evidently set forth before our eyes crucified? Have we clearly apprehended the way of salvation through His atoning death? Have we known the holy joy, the sacred peace of forgiven sin? Have we known the sweet sanctity of the Christian home and the innumerable blessings of the Christian state 1 What are these but gifts of the love of the strong Son of God, impelling us by the very richness of these gifts to give ourselves no rest until Christ shall be to all the world what He is to us , May I quote here, as expressing my thought, from Dr. Storr's address, delivered at the eighty-second annual m~eting of the American Board, recently held at Pittsfield: "Our aim," he said, " is to brighten humanity, by maldng the heavenly temper universal among mankind j to make every house on earth a Christian home, and every community a Christian community, a perfect, vital, social organization. • . . It has been the idea in God's mind from the outset that the heavenly life should finally be experienced throughout the earth, until heaven and earth blend at the horizon, and the heavenly Jerusalem be founded on earth." Yes, it is the love of God in us for a world steeped in the guilt and misery of sin that prompts us to pray, taught by the Saviour of men Himself: "Thy Kingdom come j Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." Ollr transcendent privileges and the appalling destitution, both spiritual and material, of heathen nations, in their piteous ignorance of God and Christ, terrified hy the creations of their own darkened imaginations, the dense gloom, the very shadow of death in which they grope their way through life to hopeless graves, are fitted to awaken the Divine motive within us to its uttermost urgency.
Nor can any hope that, on scriptural grounds, we may cherish for the regeneration of individual souls among the heathen in any wise diminish the force of such an appeal to this motive. vVe do, indeed, rejoice in the fact that Christ in His death " is the propitiation for our sins j and not for ours only, hut also for the whole world" (1 John 2 : 2) j that the atonement is as extensive in its scope as human sin; that the ministry of the Spirit, made possible by the death of Christ, so to apply its benefits, is as universal as the scope of the atonement j that the entire race is thus under a real probation of grace, so that the death of Christ not only makes salvation possible for all, but certain for some in all ages and all lands. This, however, is only to say that there is peril of the loss of the soul, whether in heathen or Christian lands, and that whatever motive impels us to preach the Gospel at home has, if right, equal force at least in impelling us to preach the Gospel among all nations. Beyond dispute it is certain that the truths of the Christian Scriptures assimilated by faith, wrought into the life of the soul by the joint action of intellect, sensibility, and will, are essential to the realization among men of distinctive Christian experience, essential to the attainment of Christ-like character, essential to the purification and reorganization of social and political life according to the Christian ideal, and these in their turn essential to the realization of God's plan of the ultimate establishment of HIS kingdom in the heavenly state. The unfolding of the ages is, we all believe, as the Scriptures teach, " according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of IJis will" (Eph. 1 : 11). What we behold, then, of the triumphs of Christian civilization in the world is in fulfilment of that purpose. Reasoning from what we see that God has done, and interpreting accordingly the intimations of the future given in the Holy Scriptures, who will venture to say that the light which has already fallen from the Sun of Righteousness upon our darkened humanity is not the radiant dawn of a perfect day, when the brightest visions of inspired seers shall become accomplished fact 1 At any rate, we are working along the line of the Divine will, as unmistakably declared in the providence of God, when planting in the midst of the peoples churches of regenerated men and women, instructed in the Word of God, we carry to them the force, the only force which can both regenerate and civilize. Regeneration, evangelization first, civilization afterward as its fruit, if God will. God in the truths of Holy Scripture has committed to us the key of knowledge by which we have entered into the heaven of Christian privilege which we enjoy. In this sense, He has made the expression of His love to the nations dependent npon the fidelity of His Church. In this sense, we stand in the place of God to the heathen nations. Amazing responsibility! In view of it, how acute the senlle of our obligation! In view of it, are we not compelled to say that whoever neglects or refuses to obey our Lord's last solemn charge to His Church sets himself to resist rather than to hasten the coming of the day of God, assumes the attitude of an enemy of his race?
Weare thus led to fix the place of the command of Christ to disciple the nations as a missionary motive. A~ external to man, it is a motive only in a secondary sense. It can be a real motive only as addressed to a soul filled with the love of God for sinners. A command can never originate life; it can only guide it already existing. We may galvanize a dead body to a semblance of life by external appliances, but not so can quicken it to genuine activity. We may thunder the commission in the ears of nominal Christendom till doomsday in vain. It will never be heard save by those whose ears have been opened by the Holy Ghost. Quicken the life of God in the 1I0uls of men, and they will run in the path of His commandments, as the vine runs up the trellis, which guides but does not give its life, and covers it with the beauty of its foliage and the lusciousness of its fruit. To him to whom it has been given by Christ dwelling in him, the command to diRciple the nations is nothing less than a transfiguration; it is a summons to a fellowship in the purest, loftiest purpose that ever entered the mind of man. Interpreted by the declaration with which our Lord introduced it, "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth," it assures love shrinking from her great task that thiR shrinking and apparently impotent love is nothing less than the infinite love of God Himself, energized with His infinite power to love in spite of demoniac hate and bitterest opposition, power to love even unto death, power to continue through the centuries to love until a rebellious race has been subjected by self-sacrificial love to her rightful Lord. Lifted, rapt by this Divine passion of saving grace above the possible plane of mere human action, the Pauls, the Coveys, the Judsons, the Livingstones, the Patons, the Cloughs go forth with the cross in their hearts, the cross in their lives, the cross on their lips, never doubting, despite all appearances, that He who inspires them and He who commands them will surely" not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth" (Isa. 42 : 4).
Your time will allow me to mention now only one more incitement to the great motive to missionary effort. That incitement is the fact that there is hidden in the heart of every gift of God to us a meaning and sweetness which only reveals itself when the gift is shared with others. Money hoarded notoriously makes a man a miser, makes a man miserable. Intellectual acquisitionil unused for the benefit of men only increase sorrow. Indeed, the best acquisition is secured in imparting knowledge-a practical wisdom that finds its expression in the proverb, "If you would learn a thing, teach it." And in the highest realm, the spiritual realm, the truth to which we call attention has its supreme illustration. No man knows
A GREAT ANTI-OPIUM MEETING
the possible sweetness of the Gospel until he has instrumentally carried it to other souls. It must be true, indeed, that no man knows anything whatever of the love of God unless he has the disposition, at least, to communicate it. It cannot, in the nature of things, be selfishly possessed. One of the mO<lt pregnant of our Lord's sayings is' the declaration of the principle of universal application. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." It is more blessed, because it is in giving that we get at the kernel of the gift to us. Every parent knows that if he would discover the superlative flavor of a fruit, he must taste it through the palate of his child. The alabaster cruse did not reveal the exceeding preciousness of the ointment which it contained until she of Bethany whose it was poured it forth upon the Saviour's head; then its exquisite perfume was for her and for all that were in the house. God's love for us sinners, His most precious gift to us, has within it, at its heart, a secret of blessing for us as individuals, as churches, as a nation, waiting to be disclosed in richness beyond our highest thought in proportion as we obey the Master's injunction, " Freely ye have received, freely give. "
A GREAT ANTI-OPIUM MEETING.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
On Friday evening, December 4th, 1891, every available seat on the main floor, on the stage, and in the galleries of Exeter Hall, London, was filled, and by one of the best audiences we have ever seen in that great gathering place.
The meeting was called specially to welcome Mr. Cheok Hong Cheong and Miss Soonderbai Powar, who came to protest on behalf of their fellow country people against the opium traffic; and two representatives of the Chinese Embassy were seated in the front row on the platform.
Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe, Chairman, in his opening address, said he was prepared to unite in taking active measures to suppress the growth and sale of opium, except as needful for medicinal purposes; and proceeded to indicate the special linea of argument for the suppression of the opium traffic.
First, as to the financial objection that it is impossible to do without the opium revenue, if a thing be right to do, it matters not what it may cost. If our forefathers faced the cost to rid the nation of the sin of slavery, it is surely duty and privilege to make whatever sacrifice be required to set India and China free from this curse.
Further, there is the moral difficulty, that the consumption of opium invariably demoralizes, degrades, and lowers the tone and pllysique of those who use it. Here the speaker read from the High Commissioner of Burmah, now Sir C. Aitchison, a strong indictment against th9 Government and nation which permitted or encouraged such a traffic to the ruin of their own subjects. But the highest of all arguments is the spiritual. Like a wail of agony there comes to us the cry, "Come over and help us. We are hurrying fast to ruin."
It is impossible to be silent in view of this tremendous issue. Knowing that opium degrades and leads on to inevitable destruction, can we refraic from urging our Government and pleading with our God to deliver us from this dark stigma with regard to our dealing with the people of China and India ~ Cost what it may, we will dare to do righteouRly, and while sending the Gospel to these people, we will not be parties to their destruction for the sake of money.
Mr. Cheok Hong Cheong, Superintendent of Church Missions at Melbourne, Victoria, who is a model of public utterance in the English tongue, told how, in youth, a father's warnings had saved him from the degrading opium habit. Standing by the victims of this terrible poison, he has often been moved to the tenderest sympathy for men, self-convicted of sin against the clearest light, with a yearning to rid themselves of the injurious practice, yet bound by cravings as abject slaves.
The victims themselves say that the only measure adequate to meet the evil is the absolute prohibition of the traffic by Government. For twentyfive years Mr. Cheong has exhorted men resolutely to battle with their thraldom,'but the invariable answer is that it is hopeless to attempt it until the temptation to relapse is absolutely removed. Very rarely, indeed, have men succeeded by strength of will in giving up thi8 fascinating vice. A medical man used it to soothe his cough, and after a frightful struggle with th~ strong desire for continuous indulgence, brought a strong will and antidotes to bear upon the habit, and so escaped j but in other instances men have utterly failed.
A hopeful and intelligent nati ve, becoming interested in the services of the mission and in the Scriptures, broke the habit, but during a subsequent illness again yielded in a moment of weakness, and has had a complete relapse, it being very unlikely that he will have sufficient strength to undergo the ordeal a second time, with all its attendant agony and suffering. Another man of high reputation, when he found himself powerless to break the habit, sought relief for his misery in suicide.
Missionaries in China are convinced that opium has been well named the" great plague of Asia," and unless dealt with in time it may become the great plague of the world. Already two thousand Europeans in Australia, men of good social position, indulge in opium smoking, besides the large number of others who take the poison in the form of morphia.
From representations made to the Government of Victoria the executives have unanimously agreed that opium is nothing hut an evil, and have drafted a measure absolutely prohibiting the traffic. According to the provisions of this measure, no one is to grow or manufacture opium in Victoria except for medicinal purposes. No vessel arriving at any port of the colony is to carry more than fifty pounds' weight. Sellers of the drug, keepers of dens for its use, and opium smokers are to be subject to a penalty of £500, or twelve months' impriRonment.
Mr. Cheong's speech was very powerful. In course of it he compared opium to the octopus, getting hold of its victim and then extending its many arms in every direction throughout his body, mind, conscience, and will, until he hopelessly succumbs to the power of a victorious foe. The address will never be forgotten by those who heard it.
Miss Soonderbai Powar, an Indian Christian lady of Bombay, addressed herself to the task of delivering the many momentous messages which she bore from the women of India as!lembled in public meetings at Poona, Bombay, and Lucknow.
In her native land the drug is readily obtained by the poorest persons, and it is a fruitful cause of infanticide and suicide. Many families have to suffer privation and ruin because husbands and fathers spend the greater part of their scanty earnings in the indulgence of their depraved appetite. Some of the women said: "Tell the Engli!!h people that, if they help us in this time of difficulty, we should be so thankful that we would take the skin off our bodies to make shoes for them. "
In India, with its thirty-three millions of gods, the female idolworshipper!! said : "Tell the English people and Government that if they will stop this trade, we will regard them as our gods. " When missionaries go to the zenanas to preach, they are told : "Go and convert your Christian Government first, and then come and tell us about Christ." It is useless to spend money on missionaries, and to pray daily for the coming of Christ's kingdom, while the promotion of the opium traffic is delaying that kingdom. Some of the poor women said: " We know that all the Government wants is money, money, money. Tell them only to stop this wicked trade, then they may send their soldiers, break into our houses, and take all we have; for we cannot bear the utter ruin which this thing is bringing upon us!" High caste women are not allowed to work for themselves j and if the husbands spend their time in the opium dens, there is nothing for the poor women and children but to lie down in their dark zenana rooms and die.
The wretched sufferers, being unable to distinguish between missionaries and Government, cast the imputation of this terrible iniquity upon Christianity. If a man knocks down another and robs him because the first needs money, the aggressor is sent to prison; but what should be done to a Christian Government which is knocking down, in II very terrible and heartless manner, millions of men and women for the same reason?
While India and China are suffering these things, some persons say that those who agitate for reform are using !trong language j but Miss Powar prof~ssed herself unable to conceive the strength of denunciation which must come from tIle lipE of Him who gave His precious life alf,o for lands beyond the seas. Missionaries are saddened as they enter the filthy opium dens and see indescrihable scenes, living skeletons heaped one upon another, thousands of degraded beings going fast to hell, and the onlookers powerless for rescue. What is the use of preaching to men who have become idiotic? When they do understand tho message that is brought to them, they exclaim: " We don't want your religion~ The Christians have ruined us !"
"Woe to all who smoke opium," said another. "We did not wish for it, but we were coaxed into its use"-referring to the action of license- holders, who, unless they sell a certain quantity of the drug annually, have to bear a heavy fine j and so work hard in their evil occupation, ~ending their emissaries into the cities for the purpose of enticing young men into their dark and foul opium dens. H an Englishman poisoned his neighbor's children he would be hanged, but England, through her Government, is poisoning India and China j and from these countries, where unlabelled poison freely circulates among the people, there must and will ascend to God a continual cry for justice, until Enghtnd is converted from the error of her way.
Mr. A. S. Dyer followed, moving the following resolution: "This meeting,. representing the aroused conscience of the nation, in view of the fact that the traffic in opium carried on by the British Government of India, brings upon countless numbers of our fellow-men in China, India, and Burmah physical and moral degradation, and upon their innocent families unutterable misery and ruin, is a grievous hindrance to the spread of the Gospel, by identifying this professedly Christian country with the sin of propagating an odious vice, and also dries up the sources of legitimate commerce, calls upon the Government to immediately direct the stoppage of the growth, manufactnre, and sale of opium in India (except for strictly medicinal purposes), and its export therefrom, in harmony with the vote of the House of Commons of April loth last, which condemned this traffic as ' morally indefensible.'
"This meeting further expresses its conviction that the people of the United Kingdom will not hesitate to repeat a sacrifice similar to that by which they put an end to negro slavery in British colonies, and to give 8uch moderate temporary assistance to the Indian Exchequer as may be needed to enable the Government of India wholly and at once to dispense with the revenue from the opium trade, without placing any fresh burdens upon the people of that country."
Mr. Dyer said: " We have listened to the representatives of Eastern countries containing a population of more than six hundred million 80uls. Adjacent to these are other lands suffering from the curse of the British Indian opium traffic, of whose inhabitants these guests are also the repre- sentatives. The plea for justice which they have made is, therefore, a plea in the interests of peoples comprising half the population of the globe.
Considering the numbers affected or threatened by the opium scourge, therl:'
has never been a subject of greater magnitude before the public. May God burn it into the hearts of the people of this land, that the nation is re- sponsible for the greatest attack upon humanity that history records or that the world has known. When I first wcnt to India, rather more than four years ago, I had no idea that the British Government in that country wcre propagating the opium vice among our fellow-subjects there, in addi· tion to exportiug the poisonous drug to curse the Chinese nation. The facts in reference to the consumption of opium in India have come upon me as an awful revelation through careful and patient investigation. "
After showing, on the basis of official reporb, that the consumption of the poison had increased in the Bombay Presidency 549 per cent since 1876, while in other provinces it has also sadly increased, the speaker asked: " How was this increase brought about ~ The license to sell opium in any city or district is put up to public auction, or disposed of to the highest bidder, the Government having previously fixed the minimum sale, or the lowest quantity which the successful bidder must sell during the term of his contract.
" The form of license in use in the Bombay Presidency provides that if the holder of the license should fail to sell the stipulated minimum.amount of the poison he must pay (I quote the words of the license) 'penalty at the rate oj Rs. 5 per pound on the quantity oj opium required to make up the said minimum.'
" In the Northwest Provinces and Oudh the license provides that if one fail to buy of the Government the minimum quantity officially fixed to be retailed by him in each month, 'and the collector considers his explanation of his failure to buy the required amount to be unsatisfactory, the collector may resume the lease at once, and confiscate the instalments paid in advance by the lessee as security.'
"During the last three years the number of opium shops in India, instead of diminishing, increased by 1486.
" Preposterous statements have been made as to the increase of taxation that would be entailed if the opium traffic were abolished. But the legitimate revenue of India-i.e., apart from the opium traffic, has increased for a great many years past. During the last five years it bas increased at the average rate of seven hundred thousand tens of rupees per year. A careful estimate shows that all that is required to end the blackest chapter in our national history is a sum only equal to half the amount t!tat was given fifty years ago, with far less resources, to free the negro slaves in our "'Test Indian possessions. A subsidy of ten million ponnds to the Indian Exchequer, spread over a period of seven years, and divided into annual grants on a diminishing scale, would settle this infamous business; and it could be arranged in a manner that would cause the burden of this great act of justice to be almost imperceptible."
Rev. David Hill read an extract from a letter from a missionary brother a hundred miles from Hankow. The writer said: "I have bad news for you. I have seen the first poppy field in this part of the country." In all his travels he had never seen the poppy grown in that province before. Then in Hankow, forty years ago, one would see in every part of
AN UNCANONICAL MISSIONARY IN PALES'l'lNE
the city signboards with two Chinese charaders implying" Sz-chuen rice," that province growing so much rice that it could supply its own needs and send largely to other provinces. Now these letters have wholly disappeared, and in their stead stand two other characters implying" Sz-chuen earth," a Chinese euphemistic way of denominating the drug poil:!on grown in Sz-chuen.
Rev. John G. Gibson Raid: "The cause has been under trial long enough, and we have got a good verdict from an impartial jury, and demand that sentence against an evil work be executed speedily. We may discuss this qu"cstion on the basis of the Word of God, of Blue Books, of finance, of morality. of mercy, or of justice; but on any ground we have a good canse, and have nothing to fear from the fnllest discussion.
" ~~i!sionaries at home must be interested in this matter; for if it be a foul wrong, then we are sharers in it. Under onr system of government we are partners in the opium concern. Our capital carries it on, and our name and honor are by it put to shame; moreover, we have pledged ourselves to Chinese audiences to lift up our voices against this thing. Let us keep high the tone of this discussion. It is a crusade. The cross of Christ is in front. Let us resolve to follow in that faith which sees the end from the beginning, and that prayer which makes all things possible."
Rev. W. R. Winstone, from Burmah, said: "Practically, we find the people of Burmah on their knees praying us not to introduce the opium. We found, when we annexed Upper Burmah some years ago, prohibition the law of the land. Nominally it may be said to be still so ; but it is systematically broken, and with our own connivance. Our officials license Chinamen to sell the opium drug to their fellow-countrymcn in places where there is hardly a Chinaman to be found. and the smallest inquiry would show the plea to be only a pretence to secure the right of selling opium to the Burmese." The speaker concluded with a recital of English heroism at Manipur, and a call to similar determination in maintaining our protest against this national wrong-doing.
These resolutions being put to the meeting, were carried with much enthusiasm.
AN UNCANONICAL MISSIONARY IN PALESTTNE.
BY REV. J. K. WILSON, TAl.:NTON, MASS.
It must be confessed that he is not the typical missionary, either in appearance or apparent function. He is not dressed in ministerial gal b, or, indeed, in much garb of any sort. He was never known to preach a sermon ; he holds no credentials from mi~sional'y boards; I do 1I0t think that he could be made to see that he is a missionary at all, or even to understand what the word" missionary" means. "Vhen I saw him he was simply one of a gang of men, with picks and spades in their hands working on the Jericho road. And yet I am sure that, all unpromising as he may seem, and unecclesiastical as may be his labor, he has a large place in the enlightenment and evangelization of the land, his particular part of the work being. to preach the practical gospel of good roads.
As everybody knows, the word" road" means much less in Falestine than it does in America or in any other civilized country. There it is simply a trail over the rocks; a narrow footpath, worn hard by the trampling of the feet of men and animals for centuries. It is never cared for nor repaired; it has a curious fashion of getting its every inch covered with rolling pebbles,. or sharp, jagged stones; it is uncomfortable to walk on ; it affords often precarious footing for your horse; it is absolutely impassable for wheeled vehicles of any sort.
But poor roads mean segregation, isolation, non-intercourse. The man who lives fhe miles away from you, over a bad road, is not so really your neighbor as is he who lives ten miles down the turnpike, or twenty miles up the railroad. Distance is measured not merely by miles, but also by the difficulties by which those miles are traversed. This is 'ery clearly seen in Palestine. The little villages scattered through the land are cut off from each other by the difficulties of travel, and still more completely isolated from the few large towns and cities from the same cause. When fifteen or twenty miles constitute a day's travel, and when that distance must be covered on foot over rough ways, the average villager is not apt to get far away from his home. As a matter of fact there is very little of that knowledge of and relation with each other that is seen between the people of different towns in a land where communication is easier.
But latterly a change for the better is coming into the road system of the country. The Turkish Government is being forced to take up the work of internal improvement. It may be questioned whether it is the policy of the Turk to do anything to make Palestine more attractive than it now is j whether he would not rather leave it in its present bare and barren condition, lest, drawn by its restored beauty, heightened and increased by the recollection of its wonderful history, the world should crowd in and presently wrest it from the power of the Crescent. But whether he would or not, the Turk cannot well help himself. There is 1 strange restlessness upon the people. It is like the turning of a giant in his sleep. The Government must utilize it and control it, or be overthrown by it. One sign of this is the recent opening of Moslem schools for both boys and girls, 8S a kind of "back-fire" to missionary schools. The demand for better facilities for travel is another such indication. And so, probably more because it cannot help itself than because of any real interest in the matter, the Turkish Government is now engaged in an extensive work of road building. For years there have been excellent roads between Beyrout and DamaRcus, at the nortll, and Jaffa and Jernsalem, at the south. Now highways as good as are the majority of those in the best-kept portions of our own land are completed or are in process of construction between other towns and cities. From Damascus, going southward, you travel for four hours (twelve miles) over a road twenty-five or thirty feet wide. At Tiberias, on the shole of the Sea of Galilee, a road begins and runs for some distancce over the hills; and before you reach Nazareth you find the other end of it, running out as far as Cana (Kefr Kenna), and before long the two ends will be joined. From Nazareth a diligence road leads to Haifa, on the coast, another to Acre, and still another is finished southward as far as the edge of the great Plain of Esdratlon. A road is nearly completed between Shechem and Jaffa. I am not sure, but I think there is also a coast road from Jaffa, northward. In a few months the Good Samaritan might ride from .T€fusalem to Jericho with his coach and pair over a good broad highway j while to-day the traveller goes down into " the south country," and visits Bethlehem and Hebron and Rachel's Tomb, not as the fathers used to travel these ways, on foot, Of on camel-back, but in a modern, nineteenth-century" hack." On the way from Jerusalem to the sea-coast one crosses the roadbed of the new" Jerusalem and Jaffa Railroad." That sounds odd enough, doesn't it 1 But we must get used to it. After years of idle talk and futile plans, the railroad is at last a fact. On the track laid through the orange groves of Jaffa we saw one day last fall, with steam up, all ready for their trial trip, which was to be made that day, the three American-built locomotives, "Jerusalem," "Jaffa," and" Ramleh," sent out by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, of Philadelphia. Just how soon the road will be ready for operation cannot be told with certainty. The French engineer in charge said in my hearing that he expected to run the Jirst train in July, 1891. So far as I know, that expectation has not been fulfilled. Hut it will not be long before the solitudes which have for ages wrapped the sacred hills as a garment will be startled by the engine's shrill shriek, and the watchman on the" towers of Zion" will look down upon that" modern miracle," a railroad train rolling into its depot hard by the Jaffa Gate of the Holy City. It is not hazarding much to prophesy that within five years one may land from his steamer at Jaffa, take the train to Jeruslllem, and thence go by diligence to almost every point of interest and importance in the land j and that he may do it all with scarcely more of fatigue or discomfort than was involved in a tour through Switzerland five years ago.
Now, all this would be interesting to the student of contemporaneous history, as showing the onward sweep of thought and life even in lands hitherto most rigorously secluded. But it means much more to the student of God's purposes-the careful observer of the workings. of His providence. It means the breaking up of the isolation in whic1J these villages and towns of Palestine have been lying from the beginning. It means an easier intercourse, and, by consequence, a quickened interest in and a broader intelligence concerning the things which lie beyond the narrow village limits. It means a progressive enlightenment and civilization for these people by contact with enlightening lind civilizing influences from without. And it means far more than this, too. It is a matter of history that God has a first mortgage on every foot of road made, and every rod of railload track laid. That history will not be falsified with respect to Palestine. The opening up of this land is the opportunity-the" great door and effectual"-of the Gospel. The" casting up of the highway" is the making of a path for the chariots of the Lord's purposes. The human agents and agencies for carrying the tidings of salvation are helped or hindered by whatever helps or hinders contact and association and intercourse. EvelY blow of the pick, then, cutting its way through the lOck has a higher mission than to contribute to the eaRe and comfort with which the casual tourist shall hereafter pass thf()ugh the land j it facilitates the work of evangelization; it hastens the time when 1he herald of the Cross shall be able to come easily and quickly to all parts of the country, and when he shall find awaiting his coming, not the ignorant and self-satisfied stupidity of isolated villagers, scarce knowing that there is anything to know beyond the childish traditions of the little place they call their home, but the quickened and everincreasing interest of people who are beginning to think and to question, and who in even this beginning of a social and intellectual awakening are prepared to hear and to ponder the message he brings.
Therefore I claim for my brother of the pick and spade a place among the missionaries of Palestine. I hail him as one of the forces by which the redemption of the Land of Promise is to be brought about. And I would give him a place among the chief workers and call him one of tbe mightiest forces, too. I am not unmindful of what has been done and is being done in the Holy Land by missionaries working toward distinctively spiritual ends. I am not disposed to undervalue results thus obtained, nor are my eyes closed to the many significant signs of the beginning of a new order of things in that little mountain kingdom. A marvellous change is coming to pass under our eyes. The scattered people are returning to the land of their fathers, and room and place is being made for them there. It is almost startling to read of 5000 Jews coming back to Jerusalem in a single month (August, 1889), the greater part to take up residence there. If you would have your faith in God's Word stimulated, and the prophecy of the olden time made to appear new and fresh-the making of contemporaneous history-take your Bible and go up upon one of the highest housetops within the walls of Jerusalem. Turn to Jeremiah's word: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, t11at the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord." And now close the Book and look down upon that newer Jerusalem which is growing up about the older, and listen while they who have studied most carefully
1892.J A 'rIlIRTEEN MONTHS' BISHOP
into this matter tell you that, so far as human scholarship has succeeded in ascertaining the location of these variou~ points named, the building is following exactly the lines of this Divine SU1·vey. All this means more than we are always willing to think or admit. And yet, considering these things, and conceding all that they can mean, it is my conviction that there is at the present time nothing relating to the opening and evangelization of the land of greater prophetic ~ignificance and importance than the work of road making which is going on under thA authorization of the Turkish Government. In itself, of courst', it is nothing; but in what it makes possible, in what it facilitates, it is much. It is but a preliminary work; but without it the progress of the Gospel in the land would be sadly hindered. It is characteristic of God's methods that they fit into the grooves which men have made for them. The voice of a new John is crying in the wildernesses of Judea and Samaria and Galilee, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God I"~ They who hear the voice are doing the bidding, not knowing whom they obey, or what it is that they do. But soon along these ways thus prepared, the messengers of the Gospel shall run to every city, and every village, and every home proclaiming again in the Lord's own land the Lord's grace and mercy and love. Thus shall He come" unto His own" once more. Will they refuse to receive Him as before!
Work well and faith full y, then, brother missionary of the Society of the Pick and Shovel. Strike sturdy blows; clear from the way all obstacles; make a good broad highway through the land. And be quick about it; for the King is at thy back. ,. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" for Palestine, as for the rest of the world.
A THIRTEEN MONTHS' BISHOP.
BY REV. C. H. MOCKRIDGE, M.A•• D.D., GENERAL SECRETARY OF MISSIONS OF CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CANADA.
Some men are born with the missionary spirit strong within them. It is an impulse of their nature, and, take with them whatever for!D it may, it must assert itself. Such a man was Charles Frederick Mackenzie, who is brought before our notice first as a fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, at a time when the attention of the people of England was being powerfully drawn to the subject of foreign missions. In 1854 a mission was organized in England for India, the particular point for operations being Delhi, where preparation for the .work had already been made. Two clergymen, Rev. J. Stuart Jackson and Rev. A. R. Hubbard, hoth of Caius College, Cambridge, lp,ft Englaud and undertook the work there. Mr. Jackson wrote back to Mr. Mackenzie urging him to find colleagues for him in England and to send them out to his assistance. Mackenzie undertook the work; but he saw at once that be could not urge others to such a task with- out engaging in it himself. He accordingly volunteered to go, but delays took place, caused chiefly by hIs friends, who seemed very desirous to retain his services in England, and with the delay came a change of design, Africa being chosen as a field of labor instead of India. Soon afterward the terrible Indian Mutiny took place, and Christian people, Ellgli~h people, men, women, and children were massacred right and left and felt the savage power of a revengeful and fanaticro race aroused to the highest pitch of fury. The missions of Cawnpore and Delhi were utterly de- stroyed, and all efforts at evangelization for tne time being were necessarily suspended.
Mr. Mackenzie, therefore, never went out to India; but he did not abandon his idea of undertaking foreign missionary work, for ill the year 1855 we find him in Africa assisting the Rt. Rev. Dr. Colenso, the first bishop of Natal, a name which the orthodox Christians not only of Africa but of the world have had every reason to deplore. Archdeacon Mackenzie, for such was the title bestowed upon him by his bishop, was at the head of a large training institution at Ekukanyeni, or the" Home of Light," and he had as his fellow laborers two men who afterward imprinted their names indelibly upon the missionary work of Africa. One was the Rev. R.
Robertsoq, who afterward labored in Zululand, and the other was a medical man, Dr. Callaway, remarkable in many respects. In him the missionary, the physician, the farmer, the printer, the ethnologist, the philologist were all combined, and in later life he added that of the priest, and a grateful people bestowed upon him the further office of bishop. It is only recently that this wonderful man, one of the greatest on earth, Bishop Callaway, died in England, to which country he went after his physical strength could no longer respond to the suggestions of his gigantic intellect and the mo- tions of his iron yet Christ-like will.
Such were the men who were destined to play an important part in the future work of bearing the Gospel torch into some of the dark spots of darkest Africa.
At that time the master mind of Livingstone was being expended upon that vast and gloomy territory. In 1856 the great explorer, after having labored for sixteen years in Africa, suddenly appeared in England and, of course, became at once the hero of the hour. He appealed powerfully to England on behalf of Africa, and some enthnsiasm, though not to any very great extent, was aroused. Though a Presbyterian, Livingstone felt the power and ancient status of the Church of England, and appealed to her universities for that help which he felt she should give as a powerful branch of the Church of Christ. In 1858 he returned to AfrIca somewhat crestfallen, as his mission seemed to have accomplished but little. Still he had left a f;park of enthusiasm in England whir.h WliS destined to be fanned iuto a flame. Dr. Gray, Bishop of Capetown, a man of apostolic zeltl and fervor, visited England to keep . alive the spark which Livingstone. had ~–~. , ~ kindled. The result was that in 1859 a meeting was held in Cambridge which led to the formation of a mission to Central Africa.
Strange to say, at that very time, quite unannounced anq unexpected, Archdeacon Mackenzie arrived in England from Africa. He had gone there to advise with the home authorities before starting, what he felt ought to be done at once, a special mission to Zululand, and he found that the very society he could have wished for had been formed as if ready for him. Here, then, was the work, and here was the man. The work was that suggested by Livingstone; the man was Charles Frederick Mackenzie, and in every way he seemed thoroughly qualified for it. He was a ripe scholar and popular in his university. To a spirit naturally inclined to missionary work he was now able to add an experience sufficient to promise great usefulness in the future. He had acquired something of the language of South Africa, and knew pretty well the customs of the people, and besides he had wonderful faith in God, so humble and childlike as sometimes to be amusing, and so profound and sincere as to win for him the admiration of all.
The missionary meeting referred to was a large and enthusiastic one. Grand speeches were made, and many boastful things said about the prospects of future tIiumphs for the Church of God-all so easy to talk about and yet sometimes so difficult to achieve. It was easy for men living in sunny England, far away from the darkness of heathenism, to talk of the grand work that was about to be done, but Mackenzie, fresh from the field itself, having been face to face with the foe, could not share altogether the enthusiasm of the hour. In the depths of his own humility he whispered to a friend, " I am afraid of this. Most great works have been carried on by one or two men in a quieter way, and have had a more humble beginning. "
Little did this good soul know at the time how bitterly this prophecy was to be fulfilled! But at all events Mackenzie was the hero of the hour. For nine months he travelled over England, speaking for missionary objects and winning, if not entire enthusiasm for the cause he advocated, at least deep admiration for himself and the work he had undertaken. A man of strong physical power, who had held his own in all manly sports and athletic exercises, commended himself and his undertaking to the ordinary English mind, and this, coupled with 11 deep spirituality of heart, had much influence with those who were full of Christian sympathy and love.
He left for Africa in October, 1859, and was consecrated on January 1st, 1860, "Bishop of the mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighborhood of Lake Nyassa and River Shire"-a title long enough to indicate far more work than the great and good man was allowed to accomplish.
The newly consecrated bishop lost no time in starting for his allotted work. He had with him a small staff, clerical and lay, and with them a laborer and three native converts that had been trained at Capetown. They made their way to the mouth of the Zambesi, and there, at Kongone, they met Livingstone, on whom, it is needless to say, they relied greatly for advice and guidance; but, strange to say, the sagacity of the great ex- plorer seemed to fail him, and the steps advised by him proved singularly unfortunate. He had at the time, for his own use, a small steamer called the Pioneer, which had been lent to him by Her Majesty's Government, and this he gladly pla~ed at the disposal of the bishop and his party, with di- rections to take the River Roovooma, along which, by a southwest course, they might reach Lake NyaHsa. But the river proved too shallow for the amount of water drawn by their boat, and they found that after three weeks' hard steaming they had only gone thirty miles; but at length, on May 1st, they began to ascend the Zambesi, and here the Pioneer had a bet- ter chance, but only for a time, for after a nine days' voyage they began again to encounter shallow water. The account of this voyage is full of interest, but at the same time sad enough. At intervals they had to stop and turn out into the woods to cut fuel for the steamer, which in itself would perhaps have afforded but amusement and diversion for them were it not for the deadly fever which in Africa seems with such terrible clutch to fasten itself upon the white mau. All of the party, more or less, suffered from it, but still they encouraged one another, and kept up their spirits as best tlley could. When, however, they again encountered shallow water they fretted under the delay, and it is little wonder that lonely, depressed feelings stole over them. In this matter Livingstone was again at fault. Two years hefore he had himself ascended the Zambesi, but he had not taken into account that his boat at that time only drew about half the water that the Pioneer, with its present load, was compelled to draw. This, of course, cauRed great delay and much annoyance and anxiety.
After two months battling with sand· banks and shallow water, stirring up the long undisturbed bed of the silent floViing Zambesi, they arrived at a place now known as " Chibisas." And here they determined to abandon their craft and strike inland on foot. Carrying out their intention, they made for the highlands which lay to the northeast of them. On their way they encountered several slaving parties, and took upon themselves to rescue from the slave-dealers their unfortunate victims. Few troubles ever laid upon man by his fellow man have ever exceeded those which the unfortunate African, seized to be a slave, has had to endure on his weary march to the ships that are to carry him away. Weighted with heavy forks fastened round their necks, galled as to their wrists and ankles with the grl/at chains which bind them together, panting and groaning under a hot African sun, goaded by their cruel driver~ into a pace far beyond their strength, left in the forest to die a lingering death if overcome by exhaustion, maimed perhaps beforehand lest freedom should be gained with returning strength, they suffer misery which perhaps is difficult to describe.
Livingstone knew how to deal with these men who thus enslaved and tortured their fellow beings, and, with the assistance of Bishop Mackenzie and his party, rescued the unfortunate creatures from their hands, removed the heavy yokes from their necks, struck off their chains and set them free. Full of gratitude, the liberated slaves joined their liberators and remained with them as their friends.
A friendly tribe of natives also crossed their path. They were called Manganja! and were overjoyed at seeing Livingstone, for they were suffering at the hands of the Ajawa, a hostile tribe who were oppres!ling them. He and the missionary party lent their assistance, and thus reinforced the Manganja effectually crushed their oppressors.
The party at length settled at Magornero. a beautiful place 4000 feet above the level of the sea, and here Livingstone left them to commence their work. It was now about the end of July. The outlook was not of the brightest. They had the slaves that they had rescued as their first material to work upon, and with them they commencid j but they had incurred the h?stility of the Ajawa, who at first harassed them considerably.
They commenced their missionary work by studying the languages of the natives, as the latter were busily engaged putting up huts and doing other necessary work. Daily services were commenced in one of the largest of the huts which, on account of these sacred offices, was called the chapel. Schools were established, and the little community commenced the ordinary Christian life. The natives were much impressed by the enjoined observance of the Sunday. Such order was at last obtained that one of the party wrote home to a friend, "'What a luxury a chair is ! what a rest it is! We have now a table, albeit a very rickety one, and our beds are off the ground-an approach to civilizatiorr which, with the sitting to take our meals, astonishes and delights our bones as much as it does the admiring group of natives. "
Magomero, though spoke n of as a beautiful place and high above the level of the sea, was not a healthy spot, because other places in its neighborhood were still higher than it, and left for it the designation of a " hole." Consequently the deadly fever began again its fatal work. In November the bishop took a journey to Chibisas (already mentioned), hoping to meet Livingstone, and there he met the Rev. H. Burrup, who had recently arrived to do missionary work, little dreaming of the dark cloud be was so soon to encounter. In the month of December the bishop, with Mr. Burrup, started upon another expedition for the purpose of finding, if possible, and conferring with Livingstone. The Ajawa still troubled him and had to be punished for an act of treachery. The journey undertaken was a hard one, and lay through morasses and swamps j nor were they entirely Rure of the route that had to be taken. In fact, after a weary trudge of eight days they found that they had been upon the wrong track and that it would be necessary for them to return to Magomero and start afresh. This they did, and then found that a journey of two hundred miles lay before them. Taking but one night's rest, the energetic bishop determined to make this journey, and in the morning, taking with him only Mr. Burrup and one of the Cape men, he started. They reached Chibisas again and there borrowed a canoe and made their way along the river. On the second night of this fatal journey their canoe upset, and themselves together with their blankets, and a11 things belonging to them, were thrown into the water. No place of shelter could be reached j no one was nigh to render any assistance. They were tired and sleepy, and in their wet clothes, wrapped in blankets which they had rescued from the water, and by no means dry, they passed the night as best they could. The grim spectre of the fatal fever threatened them and at once it commenced its attack. The quinine and other medicines, which must be used continually in that pestilential climate, had been lost when the boat upset, and in abject misery they felt themselves exposed helplessly to a fatal disease. And all too soon it came, and the bishop of God's Church fell a victim to it on a lonely island far away from the haunts of man. The feyer suddenly pulled down his great strength, and he quietly breathed his last on January 31st, 1862, just thirteen months after his consecration. The angels of God were near, no doubt, to see the dismal scene; but the only one in the flesh that was there to witness it was Mr. Burrup, the bishop's companion, who set about the mournful task of consigning the body to the grave. To dig a shallow grave and place the body in it was all that he could hope to do; and when his task was done the sun had nearly set. He was himself weak aud dying, for the fever having taken away the bishop all too easily fastened its fangs upon the priest. By the dull light of receding day he read what portion of the Burial Service he could and then he turned to drag his weary body, if possible, back to the mission-station. No doubt he turned to say a sad farewell to the little mound of fresh earth at the foot of an acaciatree which marked all that was left of the fine, robust Euglishman who had fallen in the wilderness a martyr to his Master's work. And then he turned away, and by painful journeys reached Magomero in time only to tell his mournful tale, when he, too, followed his bishop to the place where" the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest."
ThiE was the end of Bishop Mackenzie, but it was not the end of the mISSIon. The rest of the little band kept up their work as best they could. Some of them died and some were hopelessly shattered in health, but the work faltered not. A new bishop, Bishop Tozer, was sent out from England, and event.nally changed the headquarters of the mission to Zanzibar. Such was the commencement, mournful enough, of the Diocese of Central Africa, in which, however, never since has missionary work flagged or missionary. zeal grown cold. The thought of the lonely grave in the wilds of Africa has ever lent zest to the work, and good Bishop Mackenzie, " though dead yet speaketh. "
A lady, once of much poetic power, on hearing the writer of this paper tell the story of Bishop Mackenzie in public, wrote the following lines, which as yet, it is believed, have never been published, as soon afterward she herself was called away to her eternal hOllie : " On the wings of evening air Fall the sounds of pleading prayer ; 'Neath the acacia words are said For the burial of the dead. Now are past the hours of pain, Scorching sun and chilling rain; From the fever's wild unrest A bishop passes to his rest.
" Then for him there has passed a solemn throng Of the good and true, with their funeral song, And the sands are ploughed with the marks of feet Which have borne the chief in his winding sheet, And a white-robed choir with chant and hymn Have sung him to sleep with their requiem.
" No! one voice alone is heard Breathing forth hope's glorious word; One beside the dead has stood Through the fever and tho flood, Powerless the life to save- Able scarce to dig the grave, Cross the hands and breathe t}!.e prayer For the soldier sleeping there.
c. The death of a soldier, ah ! then will come The mournful throbbings of the mullied drum, And arms all reversed as the bayonets gleam 'Neath banners that over the dead man stream, And men's heads are bowed 'neath the sunset sky Round the loyal dead who could dare and die.
" No! St. Michael's host keep guard O'er the grave with watch and ward, For the march of angels' feet, And the roll of music sweet, And the welcome loud and long To the soul by faith made strong ; Echo in their power unpriced Through the palaces of Christ.
" Oh ! then in thy desolate tomb take rest, Thou knight of the Cross. Though above thy breast No kindred may come sweet flowers to plant, We enroll thy name in our holy chant. One day in seven ten thousands of tongues Arise to the Father in deathless songs, Saying or singing on land and on sea, • The noble army-of MARTYRS-praise Thee.'
" And the faithful men who stood Side by side 'mid storm and flood On the far-off English sod, Once had pledged their faith to God,
ARE MISSION CoNVERTS A FAILUJtlE?
Gave to Him their troth and trust, Shook from out their souls the dust And now in summer lands above Live the life of rest and love."
ARE MISSION CONVERTS A FAILURE 1 BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK.
A series of papers by Rev. Archbishop Turnbull, B.D., Darjeeling, India, appeared in the Church of Scotland mission monthly, which are here presented in substance. This condensation omits much matter intended for Anglo-Indians and for the English, but retains the substance. It does not need to defend the missions on the side of quantity. A hundred years ago Protestant mission converts were 300 j now they are 3,000,000, of whom one per cent are themselves mission workers. How as to quality? Such objections are common: "Colonel So-and-so, home from India, says that our converts are mostly shams." Now, if our converts are mostly shams, our missionaries must be mostly hypocrites. A serious conclusion, which we are not to accept without some cross-examination of our military witness.
We are concerned only with Protestant converts j with these only as a community,. and only with Ind,ja.
I. Assuming the good faith of these military disparagements of our converts, we are not obliged to assume their truth. For instance : A regiment from Benares, passing through Cawnpore, was entertained at dinner there. One of the captains was asked by a lady at the table what the missionaries were doing in Benares. He assured hcr there were no missionaries there. "But I pay an annual subscription for an orphan-house." " 'I do not doubt it–for an orphan-house which does not exist. Do you think I could have lived three years in Benares without learning of it 1" A gentleman sitting by, asked the captain: "Did you go to church in Benares 1" " Certainly-by orders." "But there is no Government chaplain there." " True j but the service was conducted by clergymen who were much beloved by our men." " Strange; you attended services conducted by missionaries, and did not know of the existence of these gentlemen. Now as to the orphan-house. Did you ever see the long building in the street leading by Sigra to Marawaddi f' "Certainly. I once rode into the compound after a fox. I found a heap of little black rascals, who grinned at me. They knew where the fox was, but would not tell me." " Then you were in the precincts of the orphan-house 1" " Indeed! I took it for an indigo factory, or something of the sort. " Now imagine this officer returning to Scotland, and in all good faith, on the strength of his own local knowledge, assuring the discomfited subscribers to Benares missions that there were there neither missionaries nor orphan -houses ! As Dr. Warneck pertinently quotes from Dr. Ellinwood, imagine a London sportsman spending a year in the New York club houses, or an infidel German spAnding a year in the New York hotels. How much would either know of the religious life of the city 1 Enough to echo the contemptuous declarations of his own circle, that the religious life of America is a pure deception, the clergy a band of ragamuffins, and the church-members a flock of hypocrites! But, now, suppose a deputy of the Scottish General Assembly spending only a few weeks in New York.
What a mass of facts as to the religious life of America he would have gathered in that time !
But even such witnesses as tea-planters, spending their lives among the natives, and often friendly with the missionaries, may eailily be no less incompetent. Such sayings as these prevail: "Only vile, lazy fellows be- come Christians." "Let India be Christianized, and good-by to English rule." A native Christian servant misbehaves. "See," says his Chri~tian maRter, " what sort of refuse these native Christians are I" .
Here we see the trail of that universal false persuasion, that the mis- sionaries hold out mercenary inducements to their converts. Now these receive absolutely nothing from them, but are expected to contribute to mISSIOns. The last calculation was one thirty-fourth of their total income.
ImJlgine European Christendom rising to that standard!
We cannot deny, however, that many Europeans in India have met with many native Christians, and have found them "mostly shams."
There will always be the careless or indifferent., who take no pains to pene- trate beyond the soiled exterior of native Christianity. Beyond the narrow path which they themselves have trodden hard, they know nothing, and care little to know anything. Moreover, we have undertaken to be answer- able only for the Protestants; and out of 2,148,228 native Christians of India, 1,600,000 are claimed by the Roman Catholic and Syrian churches.
Most of the Christian servants in India are Madrasis, a majority of whom are Catholics.
Moreover, even the Protestants among them belong to the class most closely connected with the Anglo-Indian community, and most slightly con- nected with the mission churches. The English official has more to do with forming them than the missionary. And their masters are very com- monly so entirely indifferent to their Christian advancement that even when near the church of their conversion, they might as well be a thousand millls away, for all the opportunities they have t.o attend. Outcasts among their fellow-servants because Christians, and outcaRts in their masters' and mistress's view, although Christians, looking in vain for the compassionate hand of the Master in one of His people, they fall back, and are reproached as shams because they are frail men who cannot live a Christian life when all Christian nurture is withheld !
There are, of course, eertain worthless Hindus, or Moslems, who, hav- ing lost the privileges of their old religions, resort to Christianity as a
THE INCUBUS OF' THE KINGDOM
cover. But as English by-ends do not discredit the existence of the genuine pilgrims, nor even prove them a minority, no more do Hindn byends. But let Christian servants have fair play, and there is abundant proof that they turn out as satisfactory converts as any. To be in a real Christian family, under real Christian care, cannot certainly be disadvantageous to native Christians.
II. Now as to positive evidence. 1. Sir William Muir, once Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Provinces, remarking on the ever-increasing ratio of conversions, says: "And they are no~ shams 01' paper converts, as some would have us believe, but good, honest Christians, and many of them of a high standard." 2. The second witness-and after his evidence the case must be adjourned till at least next month-is the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (late Governor of Madras), thus reported in 1883 : " In justice to those natives who had adopted Christianity as their profession in India, he ought not to refrain from bearing his testimony to that which came more especially under the eyes of a governor-viz., their conduct in civil matters, as well as their conduct in religious matters. When they carne to large masses of the people, to whole villages which had adopted Christianity, then it was possible to those in authority to form some opinion as to whether the change of creed had conduced to the good conduct of the converts; and he must not refrain from saying that the tendency of the change had been decidedly for good." It is an obvious corollary to remark that if the character of the native Christian commnnity is satisfactory as a whole, even in the Madras Presidency the character of its members can scarcely be unsatisfactory as individuals.
Is it necessary to say, before closing, that this paper is in no sense designed as an attack on Europeans in India ~ Just as there are converts and converts, so also are there, of course, Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Indians; and among these the writer knows many a tea-planter, merchant, or soldier, whom he has reason to deem a far better Christian than himself, and to whom he owes eternal gratitude.
THE INCUBUS OF THE KINGDOM.
BY W. C. C.
It is generally admitted that the worldliness of the Church is the only obstacle to the immediate evangelization of the whole world. The work is well within our spare ability, and there is nothing in the way of doing it and doing it at once j only the people who profess to be doing it are not doing it, but, as a whole, are devotiug nearly all their time, labor, and money to the pleasures and vanities of this world" as the heathep. do." " The lust of the flesh" (luxury and pleasure), "the lust of the eyes" (refined IIlsthetic indulgences), and" the pride of life" (emulous style in our dwellings, dress and equipage) run all the way throug]! the ranks of Christian people, from the humblest to the highest, according to their several ability. To such things alone do we really give according to our ability; and so we " consume upon our lusts" the munificence of Him who "became poor that we, through His poverty, might be made rich," and have but a beggarly dole to spare for the vast majority of our race who have as yet tasted no share of the blessings purchaAed for them by the precious blood of Christ and entrusted by Him to us for distribution.
The present object in referring to this state of things is not so much to reprove it as to ask the cause of it. Can it be, I ask, that this state of things would continue if it were set before the members of our churches in its true light q In other words, if the theory and example of Christian living set before us by our teachers were essentially better than this our practice ~ Glorious was the Reformation that raised the Church out of dead works to a living faith and opened the Bible to the people. But who does not now see that what we call the Reformation was only a beginning of reformation ; the removal of a condition that made reformation impossible; leaving the great practical reforms to be wrought out by the unfolding principles of a resuscitated Gospel ~ Our thrl:le centuries of reformation have slowly accomplished a large development of the ethical consciousness of evangelical Christendom, and raised with it the standard of godly teaching and example. It is no longer suitable, for instance, to set forth the brandy bottle or to discountenance foreign missions at an ecclesiastical gathering. Far otherwise, indeed; and so of many other enormities that a century ago were not condemned as Church practices. But the fact remains that the worldly living, which the reader has probably thus far supposed to be what is meant here by " The Incubus of the Kingdom," is yet in the full fellowship of our churches and pulpits generally. Show me a Christian, layman or clergyman, who does not Jive up to the general style of his class in the income lists, but devotes more than his superfluity to the kingdom of Christ, and I will show you an exception marked and admired, and sometimes censured, as far as it is known. Show me a pulpit from which the 'consecrated self-abnegation of Christ is definitively enjoined and the lust of the flesh, and the eyes, and the pride of life are plainly denounced just as they are cherished in that particular Church, and you will show me an exception such as I have never yet seen, although I trust that such exceptions do exist.
On the contrary, it was not in a former century, but on a recent occasion that I heard from a very prominent evangelical pulpit, and from a still more prominent evangelical theologian, what I understand, as he did, to be the standard sumptuary doctrine of the Church-give liberally; but live liberally, too, if you can. It is but the unreformed doctrine that has been handed down to us through the comfortably good and pions dignitaries of an easy-going Christianity, but at the present day re-enforced against an encroaching consciousness of inconsistency with our Lord's d·emand of self-abnegation by the four following objections to obeying it, as form~lated by a chief rabbi of the Presbyterian Church on the occasion referred to : 1. You cannot draw the line. 2. It would tend to a rude asceticism. 3. It would impair our social influence. 4. Luxury gives vast employment to labor. As if inability to draw an infallible line between the claims of Christ and self were a reason for satisfying the latter first and at any rate! As if a holy self-denial were less refining than outward elegance, or as if no reasonable mean could be struck between sumptuous salf-indulgence and bare sustenance! As if every church and ministry th~t has been eminently mighty for God in the world, from the apostles down, had not been eminent for plain and humble living, as one great source of their reverence and power in the world! As if the wages paid to the servitors of luxury would not support an equal or greater number in the service of Christ and humanity! As if the Gospel were not the grand creator of and propagator of civilization, wealth, and prosperity wherever its power extends! I heard a Christian millionaire, " whose praise IS in all the churches" for eminent liberality, remark that the plumbing in his new mansion cost him seven thousand dollars. Every thousand that he ga'e to Christian work could have been ten thousand, without being missed as much as one dollar is by many a humble giver. Yet so far from reproof was he that it would be counted sacrilege to pronounce his sainted name in connection with this remark. But I can illustrate this subject with a brighter example-as much brighter as it is less known to fame-an example of consecration that fairly, and, alas! how rarely, translates into practice the literal sense of our Lord's condition of discipleship : "Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath," etc. Possessed of a large fortune, my lamented friend was only" rich toward God." For himself he lived like a comparatively poor man, that he might use all that he had in simple stewardship for his Lord's housein his own house having nothing that could seem suspiciously expensive for a bank clerk with a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. Not everything that might be argued conducive to personal welfare, far less anything dictated merely by the customary style of others in his circumstances, but solely what was necessary for !!imple comfort and simple refinement entered into the measure of his private expenditure; all the rest was, as the former indced was, only less directly so, the Lord's. My first acquaintance with him was by letter, in which he mentioned having been entrusted with some of the Lord's money, concerning which he was seeking the Lord's will ; and in much subsequent experience he was never found to have any other money or any other will concerning it than the Lord's. When the ambassadors of Christ shall dare to preach unambiguously and practice heroically their Master's demand on every disciple as it was .~
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN INDIA
illustrated by this faithful steward, and when their teaching shall be accepted-as that of the Master Himself is not-by those who profess and call themselves Christians, then and then only may the rich and poor clasp hands over the chasm that now threatens to be a bloody one; and for the evangelization of the world, if there shall remain any embarrassmont, it will he from the plethora of wealth and the crowd of laborers pressing into the harvest field.
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN INDIA.
BY JAMES L. PHILLIPS, D.D., SECRETARY INDIA S. S. UNION, CALCUTTA, INDIA.
Some of our India churches have had Sunday-schools for many years. These have been for the Christian community alone. It was counted wellnigh impossible to open Sunday-schools for Hindu and Mohammedan children. The India Sunday-School Union was organized in 1876, and the missions taking special interest in this department of effort united under its auspices to improve and extend our Sunday-school system. Since its organization, barriers have yielded; the prayers of God's people have been answered in the remarkable opening of doors on every side for the Christian Sunday-school. At one Decennial Missionary Conference in Calcutta nine years ago, Sunday-schools received special attention, and thousands of Hindu and Mohammedan pupils were reported in regular attendance upon them. American mis~ions have always devoted much Jabor to this form of Gospel work; but now nearly all missions are coming to see its importance and promise.
There are now auxiliary Sunday-school unions in the principal provinces of India, Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Punjab, Burma, Central Provinces, Rajputana, and the Northwest, all affiliated with the India Sunday-School Union, 80 that our work begins to take shape, and gives promise of large increase. I may say that there are really no serious obstacles now to the planting of Sunday-schools throughout this country. In some cases Hindus have come to our missionaries and begged for Sunday-schools to be opened in their villages. The Mohammedans are more conservative as a rule; but even they are glad to have their children instructed in the Scriptures. There was never so wide an open door, or so inviting, for Sunday-schools in India.
As in America and Great Britain, we have Sunday-school conventions in prominent places for discussing ways and means, for prayer and planning. These are attended by missionaries of all denominations, and other Christians, foreign and native j and this Sunday-school work is proving a bond of delightful fellowship among all disciples of our Lord in India.
I may cite two other good results of this rising interest in Sundayschools here. One is that hidden European workers are coming out into active service. We have not a few in India who were diligent workers in
MODERN INDIA
England, Wales, Scotland, and other places, but have been hidden and inactive since coming out here. For Sunday-school extension we are calling out lustily for volunteers; and I am very thankful to say some of these friends, who in this needy fidd had been idle, are now coming to the front and engaging in hearty effort.
The other good result is one that must greatly cheer all our friends in America and Europe-viz., a rising zeal for Christ on the part of our native Christians. There are things they cannot do and foreign teachers have to dn for them j but Sunday-school work is something they can do, and are learning to do with thoroughness and success. I cannot but look upon our Sunday-school enterprise as a capital school for training native Christians for effective service among their own countrymen. Tokens of cheer in this line already begin to appear.
Let India's Sunday-school workers be faithfully remembered in the prayers of Christians at home, and let special prayer be offered up for the early conversion of the children in our schools, and for their consecration to the Master's service in their own land. I believe that converted and consecrated children have a great work before them in hastening India's complete evangelization.
MODERN INDIA.
Sir William Hunter says: "I have often amusea myself, during my sohtary peregrinations, by imagining what a Hindu of the last century would think of the present state of his country if he could revisit the earth. I have supposed that his first surprise at the outward physical changes had subsided, that he had got accustomed to the fact that thousands of square miles of jungle, which in his time were inhabited only by wild beasts, have been turned into fertile crop-lands j that fever-smitten swamps haye been covered with healthy, well-drained cities j that the mountain walls which shut off the interior of India from the seaports have been pierced by roads and scaled by railways; that the great rivers which formed the barriers between provinces and desolated the country with their floods have now been controlled to the uses of man, spanned by bridges, and tapped by irrigation canals.
" But what would strike him as more surprising than these outward changes is the security of the people. In provinces where every man, from the prince to the peasant, a hundred years ago went armed, he would look around in vain for a matchlock or a sword. He would see the country dotted with imposing edifices in a strange, foreign architecture, of which he could not guess the uses. He would ask, What wealthy prince has reared for himself that spacious palace ~ He would be answered that the building was no pleasure house for the rich, but a hospital for the poor. He would inquire, In honor of what new deity is this splendid shrine ~ And he would be told that it was no new temple to the gods, but a school for the people." -Selected.
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU?
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU 1 BY G. P. T.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"-Lamentations 1 : 12.
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye- Christians, That millions of beings to-day, In the heathen darkness of China, Are rapidly passing away q They have never heard the story Of the loving Lord who saves, And "fourteen hundred every hour Are sinking to Christless graves !"
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians, That in India's far-away land There are thousands of people pleading For the touch of a Saviour's hand 1 They are groping, and trying to find Him j And although He is ready to save, Eight hundred precious souls each hour Sink into a Christless grave!
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians, That Africa walks in night ~ That Christians at home deny them The blessed Gospel light 1 The cry goes up this morning From a heart-broken race of slaves, And seven hundred every hour Sink into Christless graves !
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians ~ Will ye pass by and say, It is nothing, WE cannot aid them! You can give, or go, or pray; You can save your souls from blood-guiltiness, For in lands you never trod The heathen are dying every day, And dying without God.
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians ~ Dare ye say ye have nanght to do 1 All over the world they wait for the light; And is it nothing to you?
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERI0DICALS.
BY RE.V, C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The Rev. A. Bernstein, of the London Jewish Society, writes from Frankfort-on-the-Main: "One thing struck us very forcibly in all our travels-namely, that everywhere Jews are found who are more or less prepared to enter the Christian Church, and are only waiting for some great leader or event to give the starting impulse. IIJ fact, the Jews in Germany at the present time may begenerally compared to the generation at the time of our Saviour. Like Pharisaism and Sadduceeism then so now the , orthodox' and the ' reformed' parties have exhausted their forces, and as neither will give way to the other there is but a quiet watching and gathering of strength for some momentous event in the not distant future."
-The Rev. Alexander Robertson, in A Voice from Italy, remarking on the special honor which Venice renders to the Bible, says: "The lion is the symbol of St. Mark. This symbol, then, is everywhere throughout Venice. It is on the front of St. Mark's Church, on the clock tower in the Piazza, above tho entrance to the Doge's Palace, and it crowns each of the two great granite monoliths that adorn the Piazzeta. It is stamped on the town official papers, it is emblazoned on the city flags, it is carved on gondoliers, and is painted on the prows of ships. In every instance, too, the lion holds in its paw an open book-the Bible. This exhibition of the Bible throughout Venice was, during its best days, no matter of form. The Bible was in the hearts of the people as well as on their buildings, flags, and papers, and its principles guided their lives. Their contracts were made in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Texts of Scripture were carved above the doors of their houses. They witnessed a good confession. Very unlike some modern Protestants who, a(lcording to Mr. Ruskin, are the only people who seem ashamed oj anything that looks like a profession of their faith."
-As the papal influence grew in Venice (though it always met with much resistance) the biblical very naturally declined. But now the Bible is coming again to its old rights in Venice. Few Venetian families, able to read, says Mr. Robertson, fail to have a part of the Bible, or the whole. It is commonly Martini's. But the superior accuracy of Diodati's version is largely commending that to favor, even in Catholic families.
-The Rev. N. H. Shaw, in the General Baptist Magazine for Jnne, says, writing from Rome: "We have had scenes of bloodshed in our streets, and but a few paces from our doors. The poor workingmen of Italy are among the meekest of earth's children, but misery drives men mad. The condition of tens of thousands of poor people in Rome is pitiable in the extreme. Rent and living are (}ostly, and work there is none. And so it was easy for three hundred anarchists to bring about a conflict between the people and the military. Hence we have had streets barricaded, and knives and revolvers on the part of the people answered by volleys of musketry from the soldiery. It was painful to see groups of twenty-four or fifty soldiers stationed here and there in our streets with bayonets fixed, and an officer at the head of each group with drawn sword, standing the whole night through, ready for action at any moment against their own fellow-citizens. And yet the government goes on spending money in Africa, and in preparations for war at home! When is this wickedness to cease ~ We are living in a powder magazine, and if our rulers do not speedily learn wisdom, only Divine interposition can save us from something much more fearful than the explosion of the 23d ult."
-The Supreme Ecclesiastical Council of the Prussian Evangelical Church having declared that, to young men of regular university training, classical and theological, it would, after five years of foreign missionary service, assure a suitable church living at home, the representatives of the first thirteen of the above-mentioned societies assembled at Halle, in November, 1890, after consultation with a representative of the Imperial Chancellor, to which also Dr. Warneck was invited, unanimously presented to the Council an urgent representation of the injury which such a mea"ure was likely to inflict on the standard of permanency, faithfulness, effiJiency, and purity of motive in the missionary work. What the result has been we do not yet learn. But the overmastering anxiety to make missions a handmaid of colonial conditions in East Africa seems just now to be having a very bewildering effect on the minds of high authorities in Germany. We are happy to attest that it does not seem to move the missionary societies from the sobriety of their judgment. To us the si-ngular injudiciousness of such a proposition appears too plain for argument, although the memorial deals with it most thoroughly and temperately.
-The Rhenish Missionary Society is able to report 3000 baptisms for the last year, and a large extension of its range of labor in Netherlands India, New Guinea, and Africa. Of their 150 laborers (at least two-thirds in the tropics) only three have died within the year. In Netherlands India the government bas decided to give grants in aid, according to the number of children, to the Society's 90 schools in Borneo, Sumatra, and the neighboring island of Nias. M. Eugene Casalis, who bad come to France from Basutoland hoping to find his father, found only his tomb, into which he quickly followed him, of ~n unexpected cerebral hemorrhage. The blow is doubly felt, following so soon the loss of M. Duvoisin.
-The Rev. William Boyd, LL.D , writes in the Free Church Monthly of tbe Waldensian Synod: "The work of the Synod was done thoroughly. A report of the spiritual condition of every parish was submitted and discussed. The work of each of the forty-four mission stations up and down Italy was looked into. Questions of finance were bravely faced. There was a lively debate on the tendencies of some of the churches in the direction of more tasteful buildings, a less antiquated service, the use of hymns and organ!!, and improvement in music. The valley people are very conservative, like our Scotch Highlanders, and deprecate changes j but there is in the Church a progressive party which asks for all lawful freedom. There were no doctrinal points under discussion this year, though, from conversations with some of the ministers and professors I can see that they are quite abreast of the controversies which excite attention in our land. They are, however, too busy in their great work of evangelization to waste time on the debating of spccuJativtl points, which can be wisely deferred till the Gospel hag gained a firmer foot in their country. Two things struck me as characteristic of the Vaudois Church-its missionary spirit and its evangelistic spirit. The people cannot give much for these ends. A.s a rule, they are poor, or at least wit~out a superabundance of this world's goods, but they give themselves. A.lmost every family has furnished ministers, mil'lsionaries, and evangelists, and the supply is only restrained by financial difficulties. Were the gifts for the evangelization of Italy doubled or trebled there could be no difficulty in finding a corresponding supply of able and godly Vaudois to do the work."
-The fact that the Evangelical Alliance met in Florence near the spot where Savonarola was put to death, who is increaeingly regarded among the orthodox Roman Catholics of Italy as a saint and martyr, suggests the question whether this common veneration for the great friar might not be made one point for securing a better mutual understanding. Father Curci (lately dead) was no more a Protestant than Savonarola himself, but he declared that until Italy has once more secured a grasp on Jesus Christ and His Gospel she may perhaps do well to " send her innumerable saints and Madonnas to the right about. " King Humbert, when Crown-prince, remarked to the Rev. Dr. Nevin, of the Episcopal Church in Rome: "If Italy is to have a religion, she must have one that is not so fearfully overdone. "
-The .Journal des Missions J!vangeliques for May has a full and loving tribute of remembrance to its great helper, Edmond de Pressense. Among other things it quotes the witness borne by him, in 1879, to the comprehensive character of the missionary foundations in France: "It has come about, by the rapid course of things here below, that I am now, if not in age one of the deans, at least in seniority one of the oldest members of the Missionary Committee. As far back as my remembrances go they are aSEOeiated with this sacred work. I still see its humble cradle in a then morally desolate quarter of Paris, where it already assumed that character which nowhere is lacking to it, of uniting home with foreign missions; for it is in the modest house of the Boulevard Montparnasse that a number of the most important undertakings of our evangelical Protestantism had their origin, and also the Church to which I have belonged for more than thirty years. • . . At that date, already remote, an upper chamber might have contained all the generous founders of onr evangelical movement. They then knew only one question, the grand, the immortal one-namely, the salvation of souls. . . • Their forces are not divided, but distributed, save at one point. Whenever their minds turned to the work of missions they were only one heart, one soul, one thought."
THE EAST INDIES.
– " Experience shows that a temporary withdrawal of the protection of the English Government, such M occurred in some parts during the mutiny years of 1857-58, so far from extinguishing Christianity, helps to spread it; and candid and thoughtful Hindus are not slow to perceive that even if the English were now to leave India, and were not succeeded by any other Christian power, it would still be impossible to counteract the destructive influences already at work, and that caste, as a system of impassable social divisions, must ultimately give way before the ideas which have taken root during a few generations of contact with Christian Europe."- SIR BARTLE FRERE, in Missionary Intelligencer, Christian Mission Board.
– " Whether in the wilds of Scandinavia, or among idolatrous Teuton hordes, in the cloister, in the camp, in the parliament, or in the guild of medieval Europe-or, in later agel, asserting by speech, by pen, or by sword, the rights and obligations of mankind-the strongest and most successful organizers and constructors, social as well as political, have ever been lllen of the "trong-est, deepest, mos.t earnest religious Christian convictions j differing, it may be, most widely as to particular doctrines of their common faith, or particular practical applications of their theories, but all deriving their inspiration from one common source, and refl'rring, as the ultimate authority for all they do, to one Book, briefer than the scriptures of any other faith, and which inculcates all its moral precepts with a clearness and simplicity which an intelligent child can comprehend as perfectly as the most advanced philosopher. "-SIR BARTLE FRERE.
-Herr Canne, formerly Governor of Westem Sumatra, gives an interesting description of the activity of the Rheni~h missionaries as he had become acquainted with them on his visits: "Scarcely had day dawned when from all sides you would see the sick hastening to procure help and advice. Such as were too sick to come to the house were visited at their own homes. Meanwhile, not only the sick, but all that needed help, came to the missionaries. All manner of disputes were Rubmitted to their arbitration. Their advice was asked about everything. A still further claim was laid on their time for the giving of instruction, ordinary and catechetical. From early morning till late at night they were busy. Their wives gave instruction in sewing and other manual arts. The households of the missionaries were in everything pioneers of culture, and a blessing to thousands."
-The Lutheran Brethren of Madras Presidency (Leipsic Mission) have ordained Samuel, a pariah, the first of this dishonored class whom they have admitted to the ministry. In his theological examination he showed himself the most thoroughly grounded of all the four candidates' for ordination.
-Mr. Larsen, in the J)ansk Missions-Bleld for June, gives an interestmg account of the conferences held in Madras with educated young Hindus, Christian and heathen. Once the subject was "The Ideal Life." A young Christian read a papcr upon it. Then a young heathen, an engaging person and fluent speaker, rose. He declared that one could not lead an ideal life without a visible ideal, and he could find no other than Jesus Christ. To the expostulations of his heathen companions, then and at the next meeting, he made no other answer than that so he thought and so he must speak. To the question now, whether he is about to become a Christian, Mr. Larsen replies :. " He may btl not far distant from desiring baptism, though I do not believe so. But certain I am, he has not a glimmering idea what it is to become a Christian. The distance is heavenwide between owning Christ as an ideal and accepting Him as a Saviour."
– " In the Times of September 21st there was published a very sympathetic sketch of the lives of three eminent Indians-representative types of the scholar, the statesman, and the recluse. It is to the last named only that we would here call attention. Pandit Iswura Chandra Vidyasagara was a Brahmin of the best type. Many years ago he braved the wrath of his order in espousing the cause of the Hindu child-widow. He brought the highest scholarship and an immense wealth of Sanscrit learning to bear upon the lifelong task of creating a healthy public literature for Bengal. But it is for his self-denying endeavor to realize the Brahmin ideal of selfnegation, alms-giving, and eschewing of worldly ambition that he is best remembered. Spending little on his own food and raiment, he gave every Sunday to all who came to his door, and took special pleasure in entertaining the poor j to widows and orphans, needy studentR, waifs and strays, and victims of the caste system, he was an ever-ready benefactor. His favorite form of charity was that of personal service-seeking out the unfortunate in their homes, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, speaking words of consolation, and performing ~he humblest duties for others. Brahmin though this man was in creed, in practice dOCR not his example put many professing Christians to shame ~"-The Christian.
-" It is encouraging to find that in the annual report of the ~farathi Mission for 1890 the number received on confession of their faith was not only larger than in any previous year, but that it is an increase of more than ten per cent upon the whole number of church-members at the beginning of 1890. The statistics show that the rate of increase within the last sixty years has been rapidly advancing. During the years 1841-55 inclusive, the annnal average increase was less than sixteen. . Since ] 855 there have been seven periods of five years each. During the first of these periods the annual average increase was 74; during the last period, 171. The mission may well say that' the foundations of our work are deeper and broader, its influences are more widely extended, and the way is being prepared for a larger success in the future.' "-Missionary Herald.
-In 1890 the renewcd Lutheran Mission (Leipsic Society) of South India had completed its first half century. It has now 14,084 adherents.
-The Harvest Field (Madras) says of Sir Charles EI!iott, Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal: "Sir Charles is, we believe, a decidedly Christian governor, and his courtesy to the people over whom he rules springs out of genuine intetest in them, and not out of any desire to secure personal popularity. There is an immense distance everywhere in India between the rulers and the ruled. It is politically expedient to lessen that distance, apart altogether from Christian considerations, and it will be a happy thing if Sir Charles Elliott shall have. even to a small extent, encouraged in Europeans a sentiment of sympathy, conrtesy, and love toward our native fellow-subjects. "
– " We called attention the other day to the pariah, and the helplessness of the best-meant legislation to deliver him from the disabilities of his painful lot. We pointed out that his hope and remedy for the futnre lay in the Gospel. Here is a testimony as to what the Gospel has done already. A writer in the Madras Times 8tates that twenty-five years ago he baptized a sweeper, and that that sweeper's son is now a successful schoolmaster, and has coached more than a hundred Brahmins and KpshatIiyas through the difficulties of high. school examinations; that sons of sweepers are in Government offices; that they arc pushing their way on the railways; that they are studying law and engineering as well as theology and medicine. Thus, directly and indirectly, for the pariah, 'Godliness hath promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' "
-The eminent Bishop Caldwell, of the S. P. G. in South India, has soon followed Bishop Sargent, of the C. M. S., to his reward. The first of Tamil Ilcholars, one of the best of administrators, and one of the greatel:!t missionary authorities in India, he leaves a great void; one of his last acts was to confirm 1500 candidates in the Chnrch Missionary Society's district of Tinnevelly.
-In India, during 1891, a flood of blessing came down in Teleguland j a rain of blessing in Rohilcund, Tinnevelly, among the Kols, Marathis, and in Kodakal, in the Baptist. Methodist Episcopal, Anglican, Gossner (Lutheran) American Board, and Basel Missions respectively. Elsewhere, for the most part, remarks the Zeitschrijt, the blessing has only fallen in a slow distillation.
1892.J IXT~RNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GBACEY, D.D.
The Great Pentecost in North India, mountains, and where millions from all India bathe annually. On the south- REV. HENRY MANSELL, D.D., CAWNPORE, east corner is Benares, the Jerusalem of Hinduism. Between these two points INDIA. are Garhmukhtisar, Rsjghat, Bithoor, Dalmau, ILnd six other bathing shrines, Three missions in India for more at each of which hundreds of thousands than a year past have been baptizing assemble annually to bathe in the sacred converts by the thousand. These are stream. Just outside this field, and the American Baptists, in the Telugu now occupied by the same mission, is country, in Southern India, the Ameri- Mutra, the birthplace of Sri Krishn, one can United Presbyterians, and the of the supposed incarnations of Vishnu, American Methodists, in Central and while within is Ajudhia, the birthplace North India and the Panjab. of Ram Chandar, another of Vishnu's incarnations, and Sumbhal, where the In 1890 the Methodists alone baptized Holy Incarnation is expected by the about eight thousand converts; and Hindus. Lucknow, one of the capitals within the past year this same mission of the Muhammadan dynasty, and sevhas baptized about eighteen thousand eral other important cities are within converts. this field. So, with its caravan routes to Cabul, Thibet, and Nepal, Mld its For such a glorious pentecost all Ohris- pilgrim routes to the sacred shrines tiMls ought to thank God, take courage, mentioned, it has more centres of reand go forward; instead of which ligions power and lines of religious indoubts have been expressed and criti- finence than any other spot of equal size cisms made, calling them "hasty bap- in the empire of India. tisms," and the converts baptized heathen. The provinces are very fertile, espe- cially Oude, "the garden of India." It is becausa the sympathy and prayers Wheat, barley, maize, and pulses of Illl of all Ohristians are wanted to help on sorts grow in abundance, as well as cotthis graciouB revival, to the salvation of ton, rice, sugar·cMle, and all tropical India and the world, that this brief his- fruits. It is capable of Bustaining a tory of the movement is attempted. dense population. Oude is, perhaps, more thickly populated than any other The Methodist missions in India were part of the earth. The people are in. founded thirty-six years ago by the Rev, dustrious, but mostly poor, of the lower William Butler, who selected an unoc- castes, and under the heel of the higher cupied field in North India, consisting caste Hindus and wealthy Muhammaof Oude and Rohilkhand on the plains, dans, who are their religions, as well as and two districts, Kumaon Mld Garh. their landlords and employers. This is wal, adjoining, on the lower Himalaya the cradle and real home of Hinduism. Mountains, containing thirty millions Bere also Buddhism was born, and of people, all without the Gospel. This Jainism, and several other religious refis for missionary work a most remark- ormations, all aiming at the death of able field. Lying on the north bank of idolatry, which has been kept alive by the Ganges, India's sacred river, and on caste. So the caste system has enabled the southern slopes and valleys of tha Hinduism to shake off all reforms and lower Himalayas, it contains the two remain strong to this day. most famous mountain shrines, Badrinath and Kidarnath, visited annually Into this interesting field entered Dr. by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India. On the plains is Bardwar, at the northwest corner of the field where the Ganges leaves the Butler, with Joel T. Janvier, a native helpers, and whence colporteurs-ccrried preacher, whom the Presbyterians south Scriptures and tracts to the villages and of the Ganges had given him, with much village schools. Many missionaries valuable advice and information. His preached daily in the bazaars and streets plan to settle twenty-five American mis. of the cities and near towns. Others sionaries in this field was hailed hope- made tours, preaching in the distant fully by all missionaries in India as a villages and melas at the heathen new departure in mission work, concen- shrines. Others still went in circuits to trating effort on fewer people. At that the country bazaars or markets within a time some kinds of mission work, such radius of ten or fifteen miles of the cen· as English schools for high caste natives tral station, preaching overy day to and preaching to European Christians, thousands who were scattered over had been discounted and abandoned by miles of territory, reaching hundreds of the American Board and others; but thousands every month. the broad-minded, large-hearted Dr. Butler, seeing that all kinds of mission Thus the Gospel was preached over a work alone in faith reoeived God's bless· great part of the territory now visited ing, inaugurated all kinds, and planned by this gracious revival. A very intelto put two missionaries in every large ligent native doctor once told the writer city and central station, that one might that the result of this faithful preaching look after schools, ziyats, colporteurs, and teaching was that forty thousand etc., and the other have charge of all of the inhabitants of Moradabad were itinerations, Mela preaching, and strict- no longer idolaters except in name. Yet ly evangelistic work. Before his first most of them and thousands of our reinforcement of two men arrived, the scholars, while believing Christianity Mutiny or Sepoy Rebellion broke out in the true religion, yet are kept, by caste fury. His house in Bareilly was burned and family govflrnment, from accepting and his work scattered. Soon after the it, and they die, leaving idolatry as a Mutiny, when he had stationed mis. legacy to their children. The missionasionaries at seven centres, a whole caste, ries were not left without fruit; but III! the Mazhabi Sikhs, announced that, a result of their faithful preaching and in accordance with a prophecy given by training their converts and native Guru Nanak, a reformer in the Panjab, preachers, they year by year gathered whence they had come, they must all hundreds into the Church from all become Christians. A few score of them classes, especially from the lower castes. were baptized in the Bijnore and Mo- yet they were not satisfied, but cried radabad districts, and had the mis. mightily to God for the baptism of sionaries been able to give them proper power to win the heathen by the thouteachers, thousands might have been sands. made Christians. Rev. William Taylor, now bishop in When Dr. Butler retired for other Africa, had written "Christian Adven. fields, after eight years of successful tures in South Africa." It gave an inwork, he left sixteen missionaries, four spiring account of about eight thousand ordained native preachers, and a number conversions in a few months. He was of unordained native preachers, el(hort- sent for, and much was el(pected from ers, and teachers, with a few hundred his visit. The result was not as expect. converts. Every form of mission work ed. The heathen were not converted by Was carried forward. There were schools the thousand. Only two conversions for the higher as well as for the lower from heathenism happened in all the classes, orphanages, churches, and book- Methodist mission; but what was far rooms where tracts and Scriptures could better, the missionaries and native be had, and inquirers examined and preachers were quickened and baptized prayed with by missionaries and their for the work, the only nominal Chris· tians were really con verted, and tile whole mission prepared for more spe- drias was far more aggressive, winning cific and aggressi ve work. many of his old followers, and gaining aooess to all classes and sects of Hindus. A zealous missionary of another mis- He spent all his time preaching and sion,returning to England for a short visiting the families and neighborhoods furlough, after twenty years' service, of his followers. He recited poems said to one of the Methodist missiona- written by his former teachers, in which ries ; .. I have never seen any real con- idolatry was ridiculed, gave the Bible verts, and do not expect to see any in teaching against idols, and then perthe present generation; we are sowing suaded them to give up idols and false the seed." After Mr. Taylor's visit aU incarnations and accept Christ the true. the missionaries and native preachers Then gaining a partial consent, he believed without a doubt that God would sit down and teach them orally would be pleased to have them convert (as none could read) a hymn in praise the heathen, for" Herein is My Father of Jesus, a short prayer, the Confession glorified that ye bear muoh fruit, so of Faith. then to those who remembpred shall ye be My disciples." Rev. Zahur- well the Lord's Prayer and the Ten ul Haqq prayed at one of Mr. Taylor's Commandments. He often visited from meetings, " 0 Lord, if Thou c~n8t not five to ten villages a day, and then he make me a soul winner, set me aside would go round again and again, asking from this calling and appoint others if they had kept their promiMe to give who will save these millions." Of up idolatry and worship Jesus. He course God honored sllch devotion, and would collect a few together and hold a made him a soul saver. All the mis· prayer-meeting with them, and thus he sionaries and native ministers went fOf- taught all the forms of the secret private ward with greater zeal and faith, teach· and public worship of Jesus. He went ing and preaching in bazaars, melas, on indoctrinating thousands. Other everywhere; itinerating through the native preachers moved on thus in villages, distributing tracts and Scrip- smaller circles, and the work went on tures, and after careful examination and with inoreasing but not marvellous suoinstruction baptizing all who came, still cess until two and a half years ago, hoping to see the non·Christians tum. when this great and glorious revival ing by thousands frOID idols to the liv- began. At that time there were about ing God, and asking for baptism in the ten thousand converts, five hundred na· presence of great crowds of their coun· tive ministers, preachers, exhorters, and trymen. teachers, twenty-eight thousand Sunday- school scholars. and seventeen thousand Some of the native preachers, before day scholars under instruction. All their conversion, had been wandering these, scattered among a population of preachers, proselytizers or teaohers thirty millions, carried on evangelistic among their own people, and knew the work in nearly one thousand centres. Indian methods of making converts. This work was all directed by twenty- One of these, Zahur-ul Haqq had spent seven American and forty· five native years at the Muhammadan mosque as missionaries. Muezin, calling to prayers and in reading and memorizing parts of the Quran The missignaries had learned from in Arabic, preparing to become a Maulvi. Andrias the Hindustani methods of He had learned how to proselytize. making converts, and made their schools Prem Das and Andrias had been propa· for the lower elasses all into Panthsgators of the teaohings of Kabir and i.e., theological schools, where the boys Nanak, and each had hundreds of fol· and young men learn firstall the modes lowers. These for the most part left of worshipping the gods and then learn their leaders, but were followed, visit- to read if they can. Dr. Goucher. of ed, and taught by them as far af< p'''Ri· Baltimore, had given help to establish ble. Prem Das won'a few of hi:>, .none hundted and fifty such schools in vice as well aB the doctrines of Christ Rohilkhand, and Dr. Frey, also of Bal- and the Commandments. Other mistimore, had given money to found eighty sionaries were called out to villages to in Oude. These schools taught thou- baptize converts, till nearly all the missands to give up idols and to sing hymns sionaries in Rohilkhand were evangelizof praise and offer prayer to the true ing and baptizing converts their helpers God in the name of Jesus. All the above had won. evangelizing agl'ncies were in successful operation when the revival began, and The work spread with such rapidity the way was prepared and all were ex- that all the students Dr. Scott, of our pecting fruit all the while. Bareilly Theological School, could spare were Bet to work, and all the teacher- Rev_ Mr. Knowles, of Gonda, had preachers Bishop Thoburn could combaptized a few score at the Ajudhia mand were teaching converts; then he Mela in the presence of thl! heathen. tried to call a halt in baptizing to teach He had ",isited the Tharus, a tribe liv- the converts more perfectly, but all ing in the wet, unhealthy jungles skirt- made answer: .. We cannot stop the ing the Himalayas, and had baptized baptism that way. The more we teach several whole villages; and all the mis- the more zealously the taught tell others sionaries wished such scenes might be and bring them in for baptism." multiplied. " Give us more teachers and preach- The revival, though expected, came ers full of faith and the Holy Ghost '" in an unexpected way. Henry Mitchell, was the universal cry. The .Bishop reo a native ordained preacher, who had ported this work at Northfield, and Mr. been picked up and supported a while Moody gave and collected enough to by the writer, then sent to the Orphan- Bend one hundred preacher-teachers. age and named for the son of his Pre- In one year he reported 1400 converts siding Elder in the Pittsburg Confer- as the result of these Moody schools. ence, was left without an appointment There are many most interesting incito fill a place expected to fall vacant. dents connected with this great pente- He was needed in another place, and cost we cannot recount here. In 1890 ordered by Bishop Thoburn to report at Dr. Wilson, of Budaon, in only 11 Roorkee. On his way he went with two months, baptized 1163. Dr. Butcher, of or three others to visit some of their Bijnore, baptized 583. Hasan Baza friends in a village not far from Roor- Khan, of Kas Ganj, haptized 415. filrakee, where he was invited to tell them him Solomon, a converted Jew, of Fathall about Christianity. He preached ganj, haptized 477. In 1889 there had faithfully, and as a result about seventy been 4000 baptisms. In 1890 there were persons were baptized. They said that nearly 9000, and in 1891 there have hundreds of others of their caste were been about 18,000, while in only a small ready to be made Christians. This part of the field 20,000 are reported a8 caused a great stir among missionaries as ready for baptism. Some villages have well as among tho heathen. sent pitiful letters, saying that for months they have gi",en up idolatry, and Bishop Thoburn, as usual, WbS quick begging the missionaries to come and to see the situation. He appointed .. make us Christians." The greatBst Dr. Parker, an evangelist. who select- enthusiasm prevails among all the naed several native preachers and started tive helpers to save the people. After out itinerating among the villages where these neophytes learn the way more the people were accessible and ready to perfectly, special services are held for receive the Gospel. He went to as them at the Quarterly. District, and Anmany villages as possible, preaching and nual Conferences ant: camp-meetings. baptizing hundreds, and leaving some Missionaries of other churches look on one to teach the converts more perfectly with wonder and praise as t):ley see the forms of Christian worship and serhundreds every day born of the Spirit younger men, many of whom but yesat these great annual Christian melas terday were riding on conservancy and commune with thousands of these carts, sweeping streets, cutting grasR, or saved sons and daughters of India. following the plough; now with clean This work will and must go on till India clothes without and clean hearts within, and the world ate saved. going here and there and everywhere supplant.ing Krishna with Christ, and The Quick Baptisms by North India proclaiming the religion of the Re· Missionaries. deemer iustead of that of Ram. .. But they are low caste." Yes; but they are BEY. T. J. SCOTT, D.D., PRINCIPAL THEO- on their way to high castehood. Did Christ select His apostles from among LOGICAL SEMINARY, BAREILLY, INDIA. the nabobs and milliollilires of Judea and Galilee? The masses of the world Listening to the remarks of those who of India are poor, are common people oppose quick baptisms on general prin- -low caste. Weare after them. Out ciples, one might be led to conclude that upon the misorable snobbery, the exethe whole thing-converts, converters, crable, pharisaical pride that would pass churches from Peter and pentecost by the million reachable and accessible down-was a dead failure, a rash rush- Brahman·Ramanuja, Gaur, or Kulin, or ing in of the impulsive, eccentric, and the self-satisfied MoslE'm, Shia, Snni inexperienced missionary novice who Wahabi, Moghal, or Pathan. does not know what he is about. But that is not in accordance with the facts. During the past two or three months While there may be a few cases where it I have seen practical illustrations of the would have been better not to have done growth of men under the influence of it, in the great majority of cases it has the Gospel that ought to convince the turned out well. What means this great most sceptical of the success of our aggressive army of twelve thousand or work. Take a few facts. On my last more in Rohilkhand, principally in the tour on the Ajmere circuit I met with Bareilly, Budaon, and Moradabad dis- eight men-Madhu, Samuel, Surta, Latricts? Where did these hundreds of chcha, Changa Lal, Bania, Chanda, and preachers, exhorters, teachers, colpor. YUilif–who but a few months ago were teurs, Bible readers, Zenana workers heathens. Now they are exhorters in the come from? The most of them came Methodist Episcopal Church, are full of from among the poor villagers, who, zeal to preach the Gospel, have been bearing the Gospel expressed a desire the means of saving scores of relations, for Christ Ilond conversion, and were ac- friends, and acquaintances, and who in cepted on the spot and baptized at once. a marvellously short time have learned Let us read Church history, not of the the leading facts of the Bible as taught conversion of Europe or of the Chris- in Mudge's Catechism and simpler portianization of Asia Minor, but the Church tions of Scripture. The Rupnagar quarhistory. concrete, progressive, irrepres- ter is a marvel. These men, seated on sible, recording itself all about us in the the ground, face to face with their rude person and work of our strong preachers instrnments, can hold a crowd all night and teachers-converts but a day or two listening to their quaint adaptations of ago from Hinduism and Muhammadan- •• Yisu Masih Mera Prana BachaSa,' '* ism, who now in the thick of the fight and other bhajans. These are the men show gleaming battle axes with blood who, on four or five rupees a month, on them, and ever unfurl to the breezes are to become the pioneers of a new era. the banner bearing the inscription, .•• In What does the clerically.dressed swell Hoc Signo Vinces." Time would fail me catechist on fifty or one hundred rupees to tell of Haqq, and Cutting, and Jacob, and H. R. Khan, and Mahbub Khan, * ".Tesus Christ has saved my soul. .. and Solomon, and Isa Das, and Stevens, and Chimman Lal, or of the scores of per month know or care about the me one of the men ready for baptism! masses surging about-sheep without a His pay is five rupees. The third man shepherd, driven here Ilnd there by is Isa Das, of GobardlUlD. Recently priests? Voracious and cruel wolves, there has been an ingathering at various who would leave them nothing but their sacred centres about lIuttra. On the bones. It is of these men that the ex- morning of June 8th I started at three perienced missionary, who dug them 0' clock in a tekha gari for Gobardhan, out, writes: "These exhorters are reli· thirteen miles distant. Soon after start. able, good men-our own converts; will ing a fearful storm arose. First dust stay with us for life, and work like came pouring in upon my recumbent heroes. They have passed good exami- person until I was almost suffocated. naUons in the Catechism and Gospel, Then down came the rain. The dust and will develop into good workers; in was turned into mud, and darkness covfact, are even now working well and en- ered all from the rude gaze of men. during hardships. Two of them, when But we pushed on. The morning I could not get a gari for my tent, shoul- cleared up. We had a splendid meeting dered it and carried it six miles to the in a native hut and baptized sixteen next village on June 1st last. That will adults, and among them two Bairagi give you an idea of the stuff they are gurus, one of whom is Isa Das. He at made of." I have three other men- once took hold. Has taught a school, living epistles-read and known of all. and has travelled among his friends in Lal Masih lives at Karas, a village near the surrounding towns. He has just Hattras. I found him and his wife at come in and reported a large number of Hattras a couple of years ago, when they inquirers at Digg, an important place were brought to me for baptism. They beyond Gobardhan in Bhartpore terribelonged to the sweeper caste. Imme- tory. We propose to save India through diately after baptism they set to work to such men as these. I am not crying learn to read. Lal Masih's growth was down education, I am only crying up marvellous. He soon was able to teach what the Lord gives us right at hand. a school. His wife also was able in a Let us go where He leads, and follow short time to ttlach the Christian girls hard after every indication of Provi· in her Mohallah. I gave him an ex- dence. horter's license. He sent his wife to the training-school, and she came back For those who do not think there can much improved. He now has charge of be much done in the hot weather in the a work of his own, and teaches a small way of evangelistic work, I would say school. He has been the means of sav- that we have had the greatest success in ing scores of souls. His pay is five the hottest months. Take the followrupees a month, and he never com- ing as specimens: plains. He has a beautiful voice, and great skill in conducting singing. June 8th, at Gobardhan, 16; June 16th, at Mohaban, 19; July 14th, at Masih Dayal is a convert from Muttra Danjee, 14; July 21st, at Hathras, 10 ; City. He has never given us a moment's July 28th, at Khalilganj, 19 ; July 28th, trouble. He first earned his own way at Jaleswar, 26. as a Chowkidar, reading during spare moments; then he was promoted to Upon these it may be remarked that teach a little school, then worked a few three of the ahove places are shrine cen. months in Agra. He now has charge tres, where there never were any con· of the Muttra book.shop, and is active verts before. Not one of these converts in all kinds of Christian work. Recent- come upon the mission for support. ly he accompanied me to Lucknow, and They are aU well looked after by experi. slept on the veranda with the Pankah enced men, and schools are started walas. On the second day he brought among them. It is a mistake to think that we baptize these poor people and let them go. We baptize them and hold on to them. Our policy is to have good an uncle and an only Hister, whom he strong men at the centres. I divide greatly loved. These two events, in my large circuits into sub.circuits, connection with his natural tendency to and put my strongest and most ex· meditate upon religious subjects, led perienced men over the sub.circuits, him to give up the gross idolatry of his then the cheap men under them. So people. He ran away from home to join there is system. "What I say unto you the mendicants and bands of men cele- I say unto all, Watch." The local brated for their knowledge of Sanskrit preacher watches the pastor.teacher. and Vedic lore. He spurned earthly The preacher in charge watches the local riches, and set his heart fully to seek for preacher and all below him. The pre- the true religion by means of a life of siding elder watches the preachers in austerities. When about the age of charge, and the bishop watches UB all. thirty he became possessed of the con- If there is any work in India more in- viction that he should devote his life to terlocked, more systematic, more care- the effort of bringing back his deluded fully planned, and more faithfully prose· countrymen to the pure monotheistic cuted than this I have not heard of it. faith of the old Vedic times, when Hin- Look at the meetings, and conferences, dustan was enjoying her golden age. and conventions held at all times of the year; quarterly, district, and annual His teachings. He taught that the conferences for business; camp meet- Vedas were the ultimate authority, and ings, district leagues, workers' conven- that modern Hinduism was a gross pertions, itinerants' clubs for spiritual and version of Vedic teaching. He deintellectual training; red and blue rib- nounced the early Brahmins as deceivbon, and Kauri armies for reform. ers of the people. Whatever otherR may do, I shall take advantage of all these and push ahead, Idolatry, early marriages, polytheism, believing that that is the direction in and caste are among the many corrupwhich lies success.-India Witness tions introduced by the Brahmins.
Hindu Puritan Reform-The !:rye. He agrees, with Islam, in Monothe- Some.j. ism, but offends Islam by his caricatures of Jesus their prophet. REV. F. L. NEELD, BARElLLY, INDIA. He agrees with Hinduism in holding The Arya Somaj is the most energetic to the Vedas, but strikes at the root of of the reforming Hindu sects. It is or- Hinduism by denying the possibility of ganized for aggression, and is full of en- an incarnation. terprise. His points of agreement with Chris_ The founder of this sect was Pundit tianity are along in the line of its ethics, Dyanand Saraswati, who died t'ight philanthropy, and spirit of progress; years ago. He was the son of a Gujarati but he parts entirely from Christianity Brahmin, and was born in the year 1825. by denying the possibility of an incar- At a very early age he began the study nation, and by holding that there is no of Sanskrit, and to read the Vedas. His forgiveness of sins. father was a worshipper of the great gvd Mahadev, and taught his son the same In his plan of salvation from the pun. worship. As the boy rea4 and observed ishment of sin, he teaches that works he came to th3 conclusion that idols are of merit are weighed against our sins, powerless creatures, and that it was a and a balance is struck. waste of time to worship them. He thereupon gave more time to the Vedas. So far as I can discover, there is no provision for changing the character of At the age of sixteen he lost, by death, the soul. The individual sonl is left to its own unaided powers in working out a salvation from the consequences of sin by works of merit.
What these works of merit may be can be learned from the Vedas; the Vedas are in the Sanskrit language, with him, and announced that Olcott's hence the development of Sanskrit and occult science was a " lie. " a knowledge of the Vedas was a prime neccBBity. His whole sYRtem stands or Although Dyanand was afterward falls with the Vedas. ashamed of himself for having been deceived, yet he had caught enough of In his reformatory movement his first Olcott's spirit to make him more anattack was directed against the Brah. tagonistic to Ohristianity. mins and the corruptions of modern Hinduism. His controversy was with It is now eight years since Dyanand the old conservative orthodox Pundits. the founder died. During that time the He failed to accomplish anything satis· Soml1j has grown rapidly in numbers factory in this line; the Pundits, espe· and influence. cially those of Benares, refused to accept his new and liberal interpretation of the Their forms of operation. They have a Vedas, and reported generally that number of officers and itinerant preach- Dyanand had been defeated in debate. ers who "travel throughout the connec- tion" and thus bring the local Somajes He then attempted to carryon his reo into unity with the genaral movement. form by means of schools. This plan failed. chiefly because he could not get They have their printing presses, teachers that could do his work. His which they use with marked effect. la8t plan was to travel from city to city, From these issue religious papers, books, establishing Somajes (societies) as work· tracts, hymn-books, etc. Their most ing centres. In some respects this is the vigorous centre is the city of Lahore, same method which the most successful from which they send out their leading missionaries had adopted in establish- paper, the Arya Patrika, printed in Enging indigenous churches. lish.
Dyanand came much in contact with They have quite a number of Arya missionaries and their work, and adopt. schools. Many of them are for girls ed some of their best methods of organi- Their efforts to educate their girls and zation ; and the order of worship in their women are worthy of all praise. Sevweekly meetings is partly an imitation eral orphanages have been started, and of Ohristian worship. In his visits to are well subsidized by Government these centres he found many educated gran t-in-aid. progressive Hindus who were longing to get rid of the absurdities of Hinduism; In the management of these agencies and from this class chiefly the Soml1jes they have the advantage which comes were formed; the Boml1j began with from positions of influence. Many of the most vigorous and advanced Hindus. their members are medical officers in the employ of Government; some In Dyanand's writings and in the tem- are members of municipal councils; per of his followers there is much bitter- they are in the judicial and revenue deness against Ohristianity. Very many partments of Government; in fact, so of his objections against the Bible are far as political influence is concerned, very crude, and based upon mistaken they have the advantage of the Ohrisnotions of its teachings. tians. The interests of the Soml1j are well cared for. His style of treating the Bible is very similar to that of Ingersoll. He was un· In view of these facts it is apparent fortunate enough to become associated that we have here a movement with with Oolonel Olcott, and to yield him- vitality in it; a movement which we self to his flattery for a time; but when cannot ignore. he discovered that Olcott was sometimes a Buddhist, sometimes a Zoroastrian, How should we interpret this movesometimes an Aryl1n Som!!ji, but on the ment? Is it, on the whole, to be rewhole an atheist, he parted company gretted, or should it be a source of en· couragement ?
1. I believe it to be encouraging ; it is most likely a result of the enlightenment of Christian truth. Christian Ministers educated in India will con- preaching, mission schools, Christian stitute the very best agency for guiding literature, and Western civilization have this movement toward Christ led them to reject the grossest and the most fundamental teachings of orthodox Hindui8IU. Rev. S. A. Moffett, writing fom Seoul, 2. It is a movement on the part of Korea, December 29th, 1891, says: what might be called the .. laity" of " Will you kindly call the attention of Hinduism, for the purpose of recover- those interested in the suppression of ing from the Brahmins the rights which the opium traffic to the fact that Korea that great sacerdotal caste had usurped. furnishes another argument for its sup- They claim the right of interpreting the pression.
Vedas for themselves. These men can " The class of Koreans who can afford do more to break the power of the Brah- to use opium are already weakened by mins, and to disintegrate Hinduism as every kind of sensual indulgence; and a system, than any other human or- now it appears that this worst of all ganization can. vicious habits is to gain a hold upon 3. Their work has already awakened them.
the orthodox to such an extent that they "I recently spent several weeks in have formed a society called the Dharm the City of Ein ju, on the Chinese bor- Sabha, for the purpose of resisting these der, and found that already this habit disintegrating and progressive tenden- has gained an entrance, and is rapidly cies. spreading, I learn, also, that in the 4. These two parties are in dispute capital and iI), the port of Chemulpo the over the question as to what the Vedas Chinese have established joints, which teach, and" What is True Hinduism?" are patronized by Koreans, while the This dispute has brought to light the number who secretly use it is reported puerility, absurdity, and obscenity of as increasing.
some parts of the Vedas, and will reveal .. With almost every other of Satan's more and more the false pretensions of devices to meet, we missionaries pray modern Hinduism. While this process is that this traffic may be stopped before going on, the missionary can attend more it becomes one of the hindrancel!l to the to the constructive part of his work. progress of the Gospel in Korea. Please What should we do to meet this move- add the voice of helpless Korea to those ment? raised in favor of the suppression of the 1. Get into closer touch with these opium traffic..
struggling men ; they are waging a hard- er and a longer battle than they know; India's Frontier and Missions, they will eventually have to look con- sciously to Christians for help and The Indian Church Quarterly Review direction ; and from these bolder spirits calls attention to the northwest frontier, we may yet receive some of our strong- which stretches in a long semicircular est and most aggressive preachers. line into Central Asia, and brings India 2. The immediate matter for our at- in contact with many countries and tention, in view of all the above, is the some of the most influential races in training of a native ministry. This is Asia. This line of fron tier station. • being done to some extent; but there begins with Kotgarh, near Simla, and are latent resources in our young native runs to Peshawur, and from there to Christian men that can be developed. Kurrachi – twelve principal stations, From the homeland there should be with a number of subordinate stations.
sent sufficient funds to greatly strength- 'rheae are the doorways to Beluchistan, en our theological scm inaries and Chris- Afghanistan, Kashmir, Persia, Turkis- tian colleges. tan, and that imperfectly defined line of country which lies in the very centre have been the beneficiaries of mission. of the continent. The Review says: "The position of these frontier mis- ary effort. With the facilities now existsions is unique, not only on account of their geographical position among so ing for rapid travel, it ought not to be many tribes and races in Central Asia, but because there are, with very few ex- impossible to secure, in connection with ceptions indeed, no Christian mis3ions beyond them. In the countries adjoin- the World's Fair, an Ecumenical Con. ing and beyond them there is nothing to be seen but Buddhism and Muham- gress of Missions. madanism, with all their desolations, which for a thousand years and more The papers and discussions will aim have devastated some of the most beautiful spots on earth. These missions to set forth the results of missionary are beacons of light which look out upon the widely extended darkness of activity in improving the moral and death." The Peshawur Mission, in its report, says that the mission is on spiritual condition of men; in con- Afghan territory, and that the nation which wins and knows how rightly to tributing to their intellectual advancemake use of Afghanistan will win supremacy in Asia. Nor is Afghanistan ment and the betterment of their mateof less importance to us religiously. We see from history how often Afghans rial conditions; in opening new chanhave planted and upheld for centuries the flag of Islam, both in many prov- nels to commerce and new fields to inces of India and in countries beyond it. When they once are Christians they ethnological and antiquarian research. will probably become the most zealous and energetic missionaries of Christian- It will be shown that diversities of race ity of all Asia. have not proved insuperable obstacles World's Oongress of Missions. to that feeling of brotherhood inspired As the missionary motive was one of the impelling forces that led to the dis- by the Gospel of Christ. But doubtless covery and settlement of the New World, one of thtl best uses of this Congress the Columbian Exposition, to be held will be the opportunity it will furnish in 1893, in a city whose first church was for fraternal intercourse and exchange planted only sixty years ago by a home of views on the vital questionll of life missionary, is certainly a fitting occa- and faith. Ilion to set forth the results of modern missions. The Auxiliary, under whose auspices this Congress will be held, has been The World's Congress Auxiliary an- recognized and approved by the Govnounce that to make thill exhibition as ernment of the United States. It has complete as possible, it will be the en- the support of the World's Columbian deavor of those having in charge the Exposition, whose Directory will pro- Congress of Missions to secure repre- vide places of meeting, and in other sentation from every important mission- ways contribute to its success. The ary organization in the world. They new Memorial Art Palace now in procwill also attempt to bring liogether ess of construction on the site of the representatives from the peoples who old Inter·State Exposition Building will be fitted up for the use of this and the other congresses. In addition to the IImaller assembly rooms, there will be two large halls, each holding three thou- sand persons, where popular gatherings may be held. 'I'his Congress will proba- bly be convened about the middle of the month of September, 1893. Societies and individuals interested in missions will makll their arrangements, natu- rally, to visit the World'lI Fair at that time.
Persons seeking fuller information about the Congress of Missions will please address Rev. Walter Manning Barrows, D.D., Chairman General Com- mittee on Congress of Missions, World'lI Congress Auxiliary, Chicago, Ill.
NOTE.-Missionary and other religious societies desiring to take part in the im- portant material religious exhibit, which i~ to be made in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, will communicate with Dr. Selim H. Peabody, Chief of the Department of Liberal Arts, Columbian Exposition,
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
1lI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Y. M. O. A. in India. stand and will understand still better when you get closer to the situation. I Mr. David McConaughy, Secretary' will give you a leaf, though, from yes· Y. M. C. A., writes from Madras, India, terday's experience. Before the Bible_ December 10th, 1891 : class last evening I had a talk with one " DEAR DR. PIERSON: The work here of our Hindu members, who has seemed goes steadily on. The second year has most unli1cely to receive impressions- been better than the first every way. en old student of the Christian college, Our need of enlarged facilities grows filled with ideas of Bradlaugh, Spencer, more and more pressing. We do so and Huxley, well read and keenly logi- need a building. With a paid.up memo cal, and philosophical to some degree.
bership of more than two hundred, our He had disavowed belief in God and im- quarters are exceedingly straitened; in mortality in talking with me ten days •August next our lease expires, and can before ; but to my surprise he opened be only renewed for a long term and at his heart to me last night, and said a rate at least double that we are now something like this: 'I have lately been paying. We know of no other place greatly exercised about my soul. 1 available; but we are led to believe that hoped that by severe and long-continued a building site very suitable might be contemplation I might attain the truth, obtained from Government if we could but I find my heart less satisfied than give assurance of erecting a good build· before. 1 have no faith in Hinduism.
ing. Our Hindu rival has just obtained I have studied Mohammedanism, but a site on the esplanade near by, and find nothing there. I have never read thus furnishes us a valuable precedent. the Bible, although when in college I We believe the Association has greatly had one of the books (1 think it was grown in the esteem and confidence of Luke, but I am not sure). Lately I the people of all classes. Lately we have found myself unaccountably think.
have added to our Board the Inspector. ing much about Christ I know noth- General of Ordnallce and the Assist. ing about Him save what I have gath- ant Adjutant-General, both out·and·out ered from fragments in various books I Christian men, with heart interest in have read. Yet even in my sleep I have the work. At home the International been dreaming of Him; and last night, Committee finds its hands so tied finan· when only half conscious, 1 found my- cially that my appeals for men for Cal. self crying out, " 0 Christ, save me '" , cutta and Colombo (and even for an as- This m~n lives in a Brahman hostel, and sociate here at Madras, to enable me to of late has spent nearly all his time in turn more attention to the Indian Na- our rooms, sitting often for hours at a tional Committee) are held in abeyance. time in a corner of the social room, It is useless for me to app-eal for money looking blankly at the wall, until we to build under these circumstances. feared his mind was going. Hence I Meanwhile, I am pressed overmuch with was the more surprised to find his mind the growing work, local and national, clearer than mine, and the Holy Spirit and still more oppressed by being working mightily upon his heart. Late- obliged to turn a deaf ear to calls from ly he has come within hearing (but out all sides. of sight) of our religious meetings. Last .. Meanwhile, our hearts are cheered evening, for the first time in his life, he by unmistakable signs of the spirit of came to a Christian gathering-the Bible God working with us. We cannot reo trainIng class-where the subject was port spiritual results, nor even say much 'What must I do to be saved?' AI· about them in print, as you call under- ready a change has been remarked in this man's face; and I trust erelong traffic' has grown until its proportions the light of life will be shining clear and have become very great. The year 18110 bright in his heart. saw no less than 160,000 Chinese coolies imported into Singapore from five or "Well, while we were talking to- six ports in China. The large number gether, the President of the Association of English and Chinese agents, both in came rushing upstairs with his face Singapore and in China, who carry on aglow, and said: 'I say, I've had the this vast and organized traffic are comhest talk to-night with S – (a Brah- monly spoken of as ' slave dealers.' man member) that I've ever had in these rooms; and he has opened his heart and "The way in which the coolies are told me that he is determined to follcw secured in China for the Singapore mar- Christ.' That means SO much for such a ket is this: The' agents' give striking man out here. He and my man, Dorais- descriptions of the successes to be obwamy Moodeliar, and three other Hindu tained by leaving China and going to members (one of the latter' a disciple, but Singapore. To millions of Chinese these secretly') were in the Bible class, and we , agents' have ready access. They are had a good hour. We believe we are very poor, and the' agents' agree to going to see' greater things than these, ' pay the passage of the coolies to Singaand that erelong. I have felt hitherto pore, upon condition that each man that what was required was building an signs a contract, which stipulates that association rather than an association the indebtedness to the' agent' shall be building; but now the need of enlarged recognized and refunded out of the facilities presses heavily. Will you not coolie's wages. So far all seems fair take this matter upon your heart and and above board. From the moment, join us in praying the Lord to provide however, the contract is signed, the the means?" coolie's liberty is a thing of the past.
Ooolie Slave Trade in Singapore. "On arrival at Singapore these un· told thousands of nearly naked Chinese The following are extracts from an' are drafted into large receiving sheds open letter addressed to the Marquis of and houses, from which they cannot go Salisbury by Mr. Henry Varley, Evan- away, though the actual indebtedness to gelist, who, having recently visited the' agent' seldom exceeds lOs. to 15s., Singapore, feels it imperative to bring or four dollars Singapore currency. before his lordship's attention the fol- Hundreds of the coolies are crowded lowing particulars. into carts and conveyed to empty houses in various parts of the city. Crowds of Mr. Varley calls attention to Singa- human faces peer through the iron bars pore as an island situated in the Straits of the windows of the rooms into which, of Malacca, and commanding one of the as human cattle. they are driven, in principal highways to China and Japan; which they are imprisoned, and from as a great coaling station and port of which there is no escape. call for hundreds of steamers and sailing vessels. "Tens of thousands of these coolies are, within a few daya, forwarded by He says: "Singapore has grown English steamers, at the will of the rapidly, and is increasing in importance 'agent,' to Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Joevery year. Already it contains about hore, and scorE'S of places in the East- 200,000 inhabitants, and as an Eastern ern Archipelago. Iniquitous and exrepresentative of imperial interests orbitant charges are made by these ranks high. As a great centre to which 'slave dealers,' and until their unjust Eastern produce and commerce con- demands are paid the coolies know no' verge, and into which great mnsses of freedom. The coolie does not hire him- Chinese and Indian life literally pour, self out. It, is the 'agpnt' who sells Singapore has few rivals and no peer. biB services often for a llIiso·l1ble wage.
"The 'Chinese coolie immigration The Chinese are thus committed to a and distrnst the Christian and mission- system of enforced labor, and where ary efforts of Britain.
they have no voice concerning their .. That this English slave trade in position, work, or pay. There are no Chinese coolies, which has existed for Courts of Appeal; and outside Singa- more than twenty years in Singapore, pore there is no English law either to has so seared the conscience of the colo- protect or to deliver the coolie. nial authorities, that the year 1891 sees ., The Chinese coolie immigration more than twelve hundred opillm dens traffic is a system of slavery with a thin in full blast in Singapore! These veneer over it, in order to its conceal- houses have been licensed by the Im- ment and indefinite extension. This perial Government in order to carryon conviction is common in Singapore, but this degrading traffic, and so abnorma.l the infamous traffic is profitable! It has been the growth and spread of this pays, and hence there is criminal silence traffic that nearly three fourths of the on the part of many who should speak total revenue of Singapore for the year out in words of burning indignation. 1890 was received from the licenses and .. A prominent Government official, sale of the deadly opium.
who for several years has had special .. The Imperial Government goes s~ill oversight and inspection in regard to fmther, and licenses a large number of the coolie traffic, admitted that • prac- immoral houses in Singapore. It is tically it is an organized system of slav- possible to.day for any man or wom- ery on a very large scale.' Referring an to apply to the representative of the to the contracts, he said, • I do not Imperial Government for a license to think they are instruments of oppres- keep a house of ill.fame, and it will be sion up to the point of arrival in Singa. granted. Whole streets in Singapore pore. It is after the coolies leave us are thus licensed for purposes of im- and are forwarded to the sugar planta. morality. In some houses from twenty tions, cotton gardens, and places of ser- to fifty girls, many of them mere chil- vice in the various islands where the dren, are kept in stock, and exhihited ,. agents" send them.' Exactly. Be- in their tawdry finery to all who pass yond the ten or fifteen shillings which hy. In the main they are imported from the coolie owes for his short passage China and Japan. Scores of them have from China, the • agent' has no just been bought, and in hundreds of cases claim against him. are the property of the vile men and .. This traffic involves every year the women whom English law has licensed, liberty of 150,000 Chinese subjects. and whose houses the police are in- Were such an infamous system at- structed to protect and regulate. From· tempted in regard to Englishmen in any Hong Kong, notorious for its degrading part of the earth, not only would the traffic in Chinese women, the bulk of civilized world rise in indignant protest these girls are shipped, and the im- against it, but the moral and material moral purpose for which they are forces of the British nation would com- brought to Singapore is perfectly well bine to overthrow and stamp out the in- known. They have been sold for money famous traffic. into a degrading moral slavery more " Can we be surprised at the strained terrible even than the traffic in Chinese relationships between the English and coolies.
the Chinese? That Englishmen should "Is it anything less than appalling to be spoken of as 'foreign white devils' find the Imperial Legislature of the first suggests, in the light of these terrib'e and greatest Empire in the world pro- facts, sagacity and truth, rather than tecting and tacitly recognizing human ignorant prejlldice, on the part of the slavery and slave – dealers, licensing Chinese. No wonder that they snspect opium dens. as also immoral hOllses, the national and commercial honesty, and their degraded keepers ?" [We feel constrained to say that the see their way clear to grant my request. above is one of the most terrible indict- It is not a very great one, especially ments ever brought against a Christian when they have in their hands about nation; and we cannot doubt the Brit- £40,OOO-jubilee collection – only my ish Government will institute an inves- own salary (single man). I have promtigation. – EDITOR.] ised them not to ask anything for build- ings, etc., for the first three years. Letter from Mr. Williams. I shall let you know again the deci- A short time ago I paid a short visit sion of our directors. Something will to the Lushai Hills, and was accom- be done at the General Assembly, which panied by Mr. Aitken, of Calcutta. It will be held in South Wales about the is my wish to go and start a mission end of this month. among the Lushais. I have already written home to the directors of our WILLIAM WILLIAMS. mission about the matter. If they cannot see their way clear to help me, I KRASI HILLS, ASSAM, June 18, 1891. may feel it my duty to go there without any guarantee of their support-simply Captain E. C. Hore, the African misrelying on the promises of Him who gave sionary explorer, will publish about the the great command: "Go ye, therefore, end of March a volume with the title and make disciples of all the nations." " Tanganyika; Eleven Years of Central African Work." It will be illustrated It is my plan to take Khasi teachers with a portrait, and eleven full-page and evangelists with me. Some of the illustrations from the author's own young men of' these hills have made sketches, surveys, and photographs. It great progress in education. One has will be a complete and concise account passed the Calcutta F .A., and is prepar- of the London Missionary Society's ing for his B.A. ; and the number of Central African Mission, accounting for thould who have passed the Calcutta en- each of its members and all its proceedtrance is increasing every year. ings from the commencement to the present time. We believe it will be the The Director of Public Instruction first report of the share that English Intold me the other day that the young dependents have had in tbe opening up men of our normal school were the first of the great new regions of Central throughout the province in mathematics Africa. Tanganyika is the only one of in the last examination ; and they were the great Central African lakes that has under a disadvantage, too – they had to been definitely surveyed, and this has do their work in English, a foreign lan- been done by Captain Hore, who may guage, while the Bengalees and As- be regarded as, in a great degree, the samees were doing it in their own. discoverer of the lake.
If the Khasis who are not Christians It is said that during the nine years can accompany our troops to Lushailand and six months preceding December, as coolies and harlots, surely the Khasis 1884, there occurred in Japan 553 earthwho are Christians can go there to teach quakes, averaging one earthquake for the people the way of life ! every six days and six hours. Professor Milne makes the average even greater The Government will be ready to give than this. He could trace an average of a substantial support toward schools. an earthquake per day in Nagasaki, in Without primary schools, it will be very the extreme south of the Japanese Archidifficult to carryon the work. The pelago. If the statistics were compiled schools have been the backbone of the from the returns of officials from all over mISSIon in these hills. and I do not the country, only those shocks which know how we could get on without caused loss of life or damage to property them. would be included.
I prayerfully hope the directors will
TIlE MO~THLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
India-Hinduism. to-day that are heathen and MQsiem than ever before, because of the birth· India still remains one of the greatest rate increase under the splendid protec- problems for evangelism the Christian tion and father-care of the British Gov- Church has to confront. Its vast extent ernment, the fact still remains that is still not realized by non-residents of there is less of Hinduism. It is greatly that land. It is not a country as one modified and moderated. It is less cruel, would speak of a country of Europe, leilS in force in its worst forms. It is but, rather, it is a continent. From less defended and seen more and .more Peshawur on the north, to Cape Como- to be less defensible; hence there is rin on the south, it measuree, in a really a different sort of Hinduism; straight line, 1900 miles. From Assam and every year sees more and more dison the esst, to Kurrachee on the west, position to find something that shall its extent is equal to its length. Leav- more commend itself to reason. ing out Burma, it is equal in length to the distance from Edinburgh to Con- THE lIOMAN AND INDIAN EMPIBES COMstantinople. Its breadth is equal to a line stretched from Sicily to Moscow. PAllED. Its popUlation now is known to number 285,000,000 of souls-souls for the re- We find in the Missionary Herald of demption of whom Jesus Christ died. the Baptist Missionary Society of Great Bengal has a population so dense that Britain so forcible a contrast between it seems impossible to take it in. It the Roman and Indian empires that we counts 500 persons to the square mile. venture to draw largely from it : The whole of British India counts 233 to the square mile; half the popUlation "Each empire. in a very wonderful of the empire is in the Gangetic valley, where accesil is easy to them. Madras way, grew gradually and inevitably from has more people than Italy aud Belgium; the Panjab has as many as Spain a very small beginning-the village of and Portugal; Bombay has as many as Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Swe- Rome and the handful of merchants in den put together. Of the total population of India perhaps 200,000,000 may India. In extent there is not very be put down as Hindus; 50,000,000 are Muhammadans; 25,000,000 are of the much difference between them. In ruder races, known as the Hill tribes or aboriginal tribes. These are the abo- each case a large number of different rigines of the country. Some of them have become somewhat Hinduized. It nationalities, with different languages, is a hard task to lead one Hindu to Christ; but there are not less than 200,- have been bound together under one 000,000 to bring over to Christianity. But year by year the people are less dis· political rule, and in each case the result posed to defend their own religion. The attendltnce on religious festivals is has been Romana pax, perfect order and less and less. Christian schools are making· a profound impression on the peace. Each military system has had native mind. Even if we recognize the fact that there are more people in India both foreign and native troops: the 'centurion of the Italian band' is, in modern parlance, a 'captain of an English regiment.' The Roman roads are paralleled by the Indian railroads.
The Roman proctor typified the English magistrate, and the principles of Roman and English law are not very different.
A magistrate in India would say: 'It is not the manner of the English to deliver any man to die befor9 that he which is accused have the accusers face to face.
and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.'
And if ssk(ld to interfere in a purely religious dispute between native and native, he would say: 'If it were a matter of wrong Moruwhaimckmedadlaenwsd, nreesas~o0n ye Hindus and would that I should bear with you; but if it be a question of words and nameR and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters.' • King' England. A Brahman named Charlu, Agrippa was evidently an inferior per- of Madras, was elected President of the sonage to the Roman Festus; just as an Congress. We do not know how many Indian Raja, with all his pomp and of the members were native Christians, titles, must be prepareCi to obey any but probltbly a goodly number, as the orders given him by plain Mr. John Congress of the year before had forty Smith, the English resident. The sllch members in it. spread of the Greek language in the l~oman Empire ill paralleled by that of Kristo Samiij.-A Christian conference the English language in India. Other has been held at the place of the meet· points might be noted, but these will ing of the National Congress. Last year suffice to show how much of similarity (December, 1891) brethren from the varithere is bAtween the two empires. From ous provinces-Bombay, BeIl{lal, Cena missionary point of view, however, tral and Northwest- met every morning there afe two important points of differ- at the Free Church at Nagpore. ence. In the first place, the population of India is more than double the estimat- On Tuesday morning Kali Charn ed population of the whole Roman Em- Banerji, of Calcutta, spoke on the Krista pire in the zenith of its power. And, in Samiij movement, and defined the selfthe next place, the religions of India. supporting church as one that can sup. when mission work was commenced ply spirituality on the conservative and there, were not somewhat effete, as was aggressive side, both to build up and the case with the popular religions of extend the Church. The usual idea of New Testament times. but both Hindu- a self-supportmg church was one which ism and Muhammadanism held full sway could pay its own pftStor, but if, instead in the hearts and lives of their respec- of putting the money question in the tive votaries, and to a large extent they front the man question was made the hold full sway still. The one word first thing, the question of self.support , caste' sums up a host of difficulties would be solved. which apostolic workers had not to encounter. The plan of the Krista Samaj is thus, explained by Mr. Banerji : "A number ,. The evangelization of India is, there- of us are banded together; we endeavor fore, a far harder and vaster task than to recognize gifts and utilize them. was the evangelization of the whole When we find a brother spiritually gift- Roman Empire at the time of our Lord. ed, we don't raise humun questions of education, ordination, or whether he n took three centuries to make Rome has passed through a theological course. We do not recognize technical conveneven nominally Christian; let us not be tionalities. A man that has a gift may discouraged if in less than one century be engaged in a secular calling; we do so little comparatively seems to have not allow these accidents to prevent our been done in India." using that brother. No one is accepted as a member of our Samaj who will not NATIVE POLITICAL AND OTHER DEVELOP- engage in personal work. Every disci- ple can do something. We are not sat- MENT. isfied with work by proxy; so when every one works and they do not look It is a mark of favor toward the Gov- for money, the church is self·support- ing. The money question is laid aside ernment of the British in India that the altogether. On the other hand, a per. son cannot claim a spiritual gift and natives should meet in council to debate thrust himself on the congregation. The call must come from the congreganational issues. On December 28th last tion. The great thing before us is to band ourselves together for the evan· the Native National Congress met at Nagpur, the capital of the Central Prov- inces. Eight hundred delegates were in attendance from various pl"Ovinces, and some four thousand visitors were present watching the proceedings. The Chairman of the Reception Committee spoke in the highest terms of the Brit· ish rule in India. He said the keynote of the movement was loyalty to the Crown and attachment to the British people to whom India owes her re-birth.
He declared they were desirous of an everlasting union between India and gelization of the world; we do not care The Opium Question.
to have everyone give up their differ- We have received from Mr. Alfred ences of opinion. Onr idea is to spread Dryer, of Bombay, some statements a canopy over all the tents, thus putting about the opium question, now being so them all under one roof." Surely this urgently pl'essed on the British at home, indigenous movement for unity on the which show that it is not merely a part of Indian Christians should call question of demoralizing China, but forth the active sympathy of all God's India has also come under the curse.
people. There has been a great increase in the Arya and Brahmo Samaj.-The Arya Indian consumption of the drug. Mr.
Sam!tj and Brahmo Samaj are new Dryer says, that "taking the official schools of Hindu thought causE'd by figures, we find thAt the consumption Christianity. Dr. Hooper, Principal of of opium in the Bombay Presidency in the C. M. S. Divinity School in Allaha· the financial year 1876-77, was 24,765 bad, states that a century of evangeliza- pounds. At the end of the next three tion in India has had a vaster effect on years it had increased 72 per cent. At the country than Islam ever bad. the end of the next three years it had "Indian converts to Islam became so increased to 275 per (lent over the total for the sake of the social rise it gave of 1876-77. At the end of the next them. They remained stationary in three years it had increased to 426 per numbers, and had no influence on sur- cent over that total; and at the end of rounding Hinduism. The Gospel, with the next three years to 494 per cent. In its hllif million converts, has almost the following year (1889-90), the last turned Hinduism upside down already." for which a report has been issued, The Brahmo Sam!tj has not gone beyond the consumption of the poison had the Bengllli race. It has intense faith increased to 549 per cent over that of in prayer and in Providence._ It speaks 1876-77. '
with the highest respect of Jesus. Its " In the annual official document en- main tenets are the fatherhood of God titled • Statement of the Moral and and the brotherhood of man. It is Material Progress of India,' issued last loyal to England. The founder of Ary!t May, it is shown that in the year nnder Sam!tj was Dayanand Saraswati, who report, the consumption of opium had died in 1883. Chrjstian missionaries now increased also in the Northwest, Prov- meet with this sect everywhere. By its inces and Oudh; in the Central Prov- name it professes to bonor Indian an- inces ; in Assam ; in Lower Burmah; tiquity. This school wishes to be what in Bemr, the assigned districts of the Aryans were when they came into Hyderabad ; and to a smaU extent in India. It rejects late del'elopments of Madras Presidency.
the Hindu mind. It is theistic, but in 1 Mr. Dryer says, further, that over cold and lifeless manner. It has noth- twenty·three thousand persons in India ing of the warmth of the Brahmo have set their signatures to one form Samaj. It rejects incarnation, atone· alone of petition to Parliament against ment, inspiration. and the miraculous the wrong done the country by the generally. It checks conversions to opium traffic, while nearly one hundred Christianity. At Allahabad in 1884 a newspapers and periodicals have issued convert who was baptized by Dr. Hoop- anti-opium supplements.
er, meeting with this school, apostatized The Great Religious Movements in India.
and never came, to the Lord's table. -We have two able articles in this num- 'fhis Sam!tj carries on its anti·Christian ber of the REVIEW on the great revival attack by preaching, tract composition, in North India. It is a wonderful pen- holding meetings and private conversa- tecost. Indications of the same thing tion-aU of them methods learned from elsewhere are fonnd widely over India, Christianity. especially among low-caste peopleI'. The Indian Witnes8 has the following: you do IJot come. We hltve no idols now, and yet we cannot be Christians. .. The four district conferences in What shall we do? Do come to us, and Rohilkhand – viz., Bareilly, Pilibhit, make us Christians.' Some people may Moradabad, and Amroha, met in joint smile at such a request, and only notice session at Chandausi on Tuesday morn- the ignorance which the request to ing of this week. The attendance was • make them Christians' indicates, but very large and the reports encouraging. for one I feel more like crying than ~'he Rev. P. T. Wilson, M.D., reported laughing when I hear the story. The 3485 baptisms in the Bareilly district. poor creatures are sincere, and their The Rev. Zahllr-ul Haqq reported 1884 ignorance only gives them a stronger from the Amroha district. The Rev. claim upon us. Had such a spectacle J. C. Butcher, M.D., reported 2200 from been seen thirty years ago, all Indio. the Moradabad district, while the Rev. would have heard of it, and missiona- Ibrahim Suliman brought up the rear ries would have competed for the opwith 1143 from the Pilibhit district. portunity of hastening to them with The grand total of baptisms reported help and comfort." throughout the four districts was thus 8712, a number which ought to startle Hinduism. those on whom the re8ponsibility of caring for these converts rests. The large Sir Alfred Lyell delivered one of a audience WIlS profoundly moved by these reports, I}nd several hymns of triumph series of addresses in Londo!]. on the were sung with great enthusiasm."
Referring to Bishop Thoburn's visits various religions of the world, all of which were given at South Place Instito these district conferences it further tute. The religion which Sir Alfred says: treated was Hinduism. It is a master. ly presentation of the complex system, " Since Bishop Thoburn left Calcutta or conglomerate of all systems and no he has attended district conferences at systems which we know as modern Hin- Hathras, Narsinghpur, Meerut, Bara· duism. We cannot even give an outline banki and Chandausi. The sum total of the lecture. In concluding, he said: of baptisms for the year officially re- "Hinduism has always been changing ported at these meetings is over fifteen thousand I"
Bishop Thoburn, writing of this reo more or less, and it will go on cbanging vival, says: faster than ever under the influence of " The whole atmosphere here seems contact with Europe. There has always full of the feeling that a great ingather- been a reforming school of Hinduisming is near at hand. The workers are a a desire to throw off the coarser ('on lowly company, and many of them but ceptions and practices, and to adopt half-taught converts themselves; but things more spiritual and morally better. when I compare them with the men we There have been recently attempts in had around us twenty-five years ago, I this direction ; there has been a desire thank God anew for everyone of them. to prove that the Vedas, the original They know nothing whatever of fail- sacred books, do not sanction the abuses ure or discouragement. They expect of Hinduism; that they may be intersuccess, and expect it upon a scale preted as again the prevailing idolatry, which those of earlier days never and that the real Hinduism prescribed dreamed of. In every direction the by Holy Writ is a much higher and fields are said to be white to the harvest. purer revelation. . . . He says tbat As the repol·ts were made, I at first " the leaf substance and mainspring of asked each man how many inquirers he Indian religion is not polytheism, but had in his circuit. The lowest number pantheism. There can be little doubt mentioned by anyone was two hun- that the whole edifice of polytheism is dred ; and when some began to speak likely to break up and melt off the sur· of thousands I ceased to ask the ques- face of civilized India; that their im· tion. memorial superstitions will collapse be- fore the steady maintenance of peace " Some of the calls which reach our workers are very urgent. Brother Hasan Reza Khan spoke of people who had sent to him, saying: 'Months ago we threw away our idols and sent for you to come and make us Christians; but and law, the advancement of learning roof to offer a hearty welcome to a and the influx of knowledge. . . . The Christian missionary, who has for his air is charged with spiritual enthusiasm, avowed object the pulling down of both so that no one can say whether some Hinduism and Muhammadanism. Had ardent faith may not suddenly blaze up it not been for the education that we in the midst of India that will shatter have received under this Christian Gov.
all the old fabric of religion, and lead ernment, and through missionary labors, away the great Indian multitudes in an I should have to-day been stoned by the entirely new direction." bigoted idolaters of my own religion, "Are We Really Awake ?"-This is the for having committed the most unpar- caption of an "Appeal to the Hindu donable crime of taking such a part in Community, ,. which has been largely cir- to-day's proceedings."
culated in India. We quote from it a A Moslem Convert.-Dr. Clarke, of the single paragraph: C. M. S. at Umritsur, says: " The life-blood of our society is fast .. Some time ago there was a young ebbing away, and irreligion is eating Muhammadan, the son of a great Mu. into its vitals. Looking beneath the hammadan saint and doctor, who had surface, we find the mischief under great anxiety of soul because of sin. He which we Hindus at present labor is read the Koran through and through owing chiefly to the influence of Chris- without finding light, when he found in tianity, brought steadily and constantly it an expression referring to the Old Testo bear on our national mind for ;nearly tament and the New Testament. The thought came into this young man's a century and a half… , The count· heart, 'If I can only get possession of II less Christian missions at work in this Bible, I might get what I need.' Most country, especially in Bengal, are in a wonderfully, two ladies happened to be fair way of achieving their object, not in the district, and he got what he so much, however, by carrying convic- wanted. He began with the Gospel of tion to our hearts about the superiority St. John, and by the time he got to the of their religion, as by slowly and im- third chapter he was a free man, and perceptibly changing our ideas with re- desirous of throwing off Muhammadangard to our moral, social, and domestic ism. When his father heard of it he life. The unflagging energy and the offered a reward of five hundred rupees systematic efforts with which these bodies are working at the foundation of our society will, unless counteracted in time, surely cause a mighty collapse of it at no distant date. "
A Kindly Feeling Toward Missionaries. to anyone who would kill his son, and -Some five hundred persons, among two hundred to anyone who would whom were representatives of all classes bring him the good news. For two of Hindus and Mussulmans, met in one years I had to watch over that young of the cities of India to welcome back a man, and then his father foun.d him, missionary who had been temporarily and with much difficulty we managed out of the country. A native pastor, to keep him lIafe. At last the old man writing an account of the occasion, says went hack with a New Testament. A that the chairman was a Brahman, who, • year after he came again and said that after stating how the people owed he had brought together other mullahs "much of the enlightenment of the and read it to them. He also said: • We present day to the indefatigable exer- have noticed that this ill the New Testa- tions of the Christian missionary," ment ; that shows me that there must said : "As II living instance of their be an Old Testament; and they have success, I point out to you our to-day's sent me to get the Old Testament.' I meeting. What is the scene that pre- had the pleasure of giving him one; sents itself to the eye? Hindus and Mu- and later on, he came with his son, and hammadans – the true descendants of said: • The God of my son, whom I the once Hindu bigot and the Mussul: wished to murder, is now my God; bap- man fanatic-have met under the same tize me too into the faith of Christ.' " .-~o« •o ·oj GENERAL ~1AP OF INDIA.
-On the Malabar coast is a commu- fused to receive an ambassador, but nity called Syrian Christians, who claim said: "Send me the Christian" (mean. to have been convE'rted by St. Thomaij, ing Schwartz); "he will not deceive whose tomb they point out south of me." William Carey and Thomas land- Madras. They number possibly 300,000. ed in India November 10th. 1793.
-The first Protestant missionaries to -The Roman Catholic religion was India were Ziegenbalg and Plutcho, who introduced by the Portuguese, who con· were sent in 1706 by the King of Den- quered Goa in 1509. Thirty years later mark to Tranquebar, on the Coroman. Xavier began an earnest mission work, del Coast. In 1750 the mission was subsequently continued hyothers. Acjoined by Schwartz. When the English cording to the census of 1881, they num· wanted to treat with Hyder Ali, he re- bered tl65,643.
18ii2.J GENERAL MISsiONARY INTELLiGENCE. a11
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work aad Sta.tistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. LeJna.rd, Bellevue, O.
-More than 2,000,000 barrels of beer with 200,000 B-:luare miles, have each were brewed in Milwaukee during last about 18,000,000 subjects; Spain, 115,- year. 000 square miles and 9,600,000 sub· jects ; and Portugal, 1:1000 square miles -The Mennonites, numbering in all and 850,000 subjects. but 41,451, are yet subdivided and reo subdivided into no less than 12 frag- –This is the way it looks to one misments, of which the largest has but sionary, the Rev. Frank W. Warm, Methabout 10,000 members, the smaller odist Episcopal, of Calcutta: "In the tapering off to 471 and 352, while the United States there are about 65,000,000 least, the "Apostolic Mennonites," to souls: and of these there are, according wit, has only 209! The phenomenon to the New York Independent, including must have giv,en a fearful strain to the Catholics, 20,000,000 communicants; risibles of the census-taker. which. with the 'children and those directly influenced, would easily make -Rev. George Grenfell, of the Bap- another 30,000,000, leaving only 15,000,- tist C.:mgo Mission, says that in Central 000 ; and it iii scarcely probable that Africa there is an area of 4000 square there are so many unreached. When miles larger than the whole of Europe one looks home and reads the Methodist still unoccupied by a single mission- Year-Book, an,] finds that for pastoral ary ; that the centre of Africa cannot support, church extension, freedmen, permanently be evangelized by white StlDday-schools, Bolard of Education, men, but the greater p,trt of the work Woman's Home Missionary Society, must be done by the natives themselves, superannuated preachers, church buildand the natives are showing their fit- ing, and local cnrrent expenses there is nesl'! for the task. used $19,678,000, which with the $460,- 000 of the missionary money used for -A pagan testimony and a pagan no- home missions makes a total of $20,138,- tion. Mr. Lawton, one of the China 000 and deducts from that the total given Inland missionaries in the extreme to foreign work of both the parent and northwest of China, on the borders of woman's societies, $686,000, it leaves a the great Mongolian Destlrt, received majority for the home work of $19,452,- from a pagan the offer of a beautiful 000 to do the Methodist part of the work anc"stral hall LJr a C<lristian church. among the 65,000,000 in America; hut Mr. Lawton expressed his surprise at in the foreign fiolds there are of the such generosity, but the pagan an- heathens easily 1,000,000,000 souls swered, "You are doing an excellent starving for the bread of life; and work here, and in helping you with my Christ says: 'Give ye them to eat;' best I hope to obtain a small part of and for these the missionary grant, in your merit." cluding both societies, is, say, $700,000. Brethren at home, if you could live a -Though the vast bulk of Asia is not number of years in the foreign fields exactly .. partitioned" out among the and be conscious of being surrounded potentates of Europe, yet reasonably by hundreds of million>! who know not large slices of territory are possessed by J eSUA, and then look at the Methodist several. Of course Great Britain leads, Church giving $20,138,000 for her part with 2,240,000 square miles and some of the work among the 65,000,000 of 300,000.000 subjects; the Netherlands America, and $700,000 for her part of bear sway over 700,000 square miles the work among 1,000,000,000 of starv- ~nd 30,000,000 suhjects; Russia, with 6,500,000 square miles, and France, ing souls, I think you would learn more the vast evils which spring from this lessons than did Mr. Bultil!lde in source, and of the dire calamities which Dick's school." opium entails upon the Chinese people. Those who live and work among the -Sabbath observance is finding favor people are, alas! only too conversant with the evils to health and wealth, and in an unlooked·for quarter. For even the moral and social degradation which follows the use of the drug. Smokers in Paris a movement is on foot to secure and non-smokers alike condemn the practice; the former wish to be free, the popular observance of Sunday, and and yet cling to the pipe as its slave; the latter acknowledge that interdiction a very strong society has been formed of the native growth would only increase the Indian import and cause still more to further this cause. The honorary silver to flow out of the country. Fifty years ago we had only to contend with president of the society, Senator Jules the foreign import; now we have in addition the large native growth. Then Simon, says: "We desire that our we had probably not over 2,000,000 of smokers; ,now 20,000,000 is probubly workmen may have a day's rest once a not an over-estimate.
week, and Sunday is naturally thfl day " The evil seems spreading more and more every year. It is slowly finding we have chosen. But our undertaking its way into agricultural districts. It is permeating all classes of society, and is is a difficult one, because it runs coun- not looked upon with the same abhor- rence as formerly. The legalization of ter to numerous customs and interests the import did much to spread its use, The growth of thQ poppy is, for the which do not like to be interfered with. same reason, extending also into new regions. At present our factory hands and shop " This gigantic evil pervades all classes. people work not only during the long The habit is particiIlarly common in the opium-producing regions, where, it is hours of every week day, but also on estimated, 80 or 90 per cent of the men above 20 years of age smoke, and 50 or Sundays. We do not wish to forbid 60 per cent of the women, not to speak of many young people in their teens. people from working on Sunda.y if they In the cities the practice is also com- mon. In the non-producing districts, wish to do so, but we aim to prevent the evil is chiefly confined to the cities; the villages are comparatively free. An them from forcing other people to official estimate for the whole Empire gives four tenths for the coolie class, six work." And Leon Say, the eminent tenths for the merchant class, and three tenths for the official class. In Canton political economist and deputy, who is over seven tenths of the officials smoke. In Hunan not one tenth of the same president of the society, says: "Our class are addicted to the pipe. In the 6 Boards at Peking there are very few society is the result of a congress of so- opium-smoking high officials. It is cheering to note, amid such a wide excilll economists held in Puris during the tension of the vice, that the Imperial exhibition of 1889. It was then unani- mously recognized that a weekly day of rest is indispensable to the working classes. We do not ask for legislation, but depend entirely for success on the power of persuasion. Two years ago our society numbered 20 persons; to- day we count over 2500 members, made up of repUblicans and monarchists, Catholics and Protestants, bishops and free thinkers. We have already achi eved some practical results. In the post- office we have got the hours shortened ownithSuthndellrY~ilr-oalnldd we lire now lllboring companies." In Ger- mllny 1I1so a similllr agitation has been begun.
-Says John Dudgeon, a mediclIl missionary at Peking: "The evils of the use of opium in China are everywhere apparent. Every heart that is not dead to the sentiment of pity must be filled with commiseration at the prospect of family, and the high officers of State, the money is spent" in his station. The in the capital and throughout the Em· total transactions for the yearamounteq pire, may be said to be free from it." to about $8500; of this nearly $2000 came from native interest and co-opera- And it further appears from the fol- tion in educational work, a small sum lowing statement, that the opium being secured from outside sources. scourge is by no means confined to The remaining $6550 was charged to Ohina: The Oalcutta Medical Record, the Presbyterian Board. Itemizing this the principal medical periodical in In- he shows that less than $2000 was ex- dia, says: ., Dreadful as are the evils pended for the salaries of missionaries, of alcohol, the pernicious consequences rents, and repairs; $3300 was paid as of indulgence in'opium are more vastly salaries to 36 native preachers and terrible. By it human life is shorn of teachers ; $350 went for the assistance every vestige of nobility and moral re- of 35 boys to enter college and boarding sponsibility. The mind is rendered in- schools; $160 for educating 2 men in sensate to every ennobling desire or the theological seminary; $300 was sentim'lllt, and the moral nature of man spent by the missionaries and helpers is unfathomably degraded to even great- in touring, and $300 more for rents snd er depths than brutishness. Digestion repairs of churches and schools and a becomes steadily and speedily impaired, dwelling in the village, while $140 was and the whole physical sequellre are expended in postage, messengers, medi- those of emaciation, attenuation. and cine, and miscellanies, including stoves, devitalization of muscle, nerve, and benches, clocks, chairs, maps, etc., for brain. Opium numbers its victims by 23 schools and 18 Sunday-schools. The thousands in Oalcutta alone, and every total force supported by this expendi- city throughout the length and breadth ture consists of 2 ordained American of this vast empire of India and Bur- missionaries with their wives, 36 native mah yields a condemning freight of evi- helpers, 3 of whom give all their time to dence of physical suffering, moral deg- preaching and touring, and 21 preach radation, and social ruin, which none on Sunday and teach through the week; but a callous Government steeped in the the remaining are other assistants. The luxuries of an irresponsible bureaucracy preaching is condncted in 19 centres, would dare to despise. Yet this awful and more than 50 villages are visited. stigma attaches to the Government of There are 2 organized churches with 155 India, that it not only freely permits the members, 23 schools, and one book- sale of a pernicious drug, but protects store. Half of the salary of the keeper and encourages the continuance and of the store and the whole of the salary permanency of its ravages among a peo_ of the colporteur are met by the Ameri- ple whom it has been called upon to re- can Bible Society_ Not one cent has generate and save." gone for any purpose except the work of preaching and teaching the Gospel. -" To what purpose is this waste ?" is the perennial exclamation of all such -The following survey of the work of as have little faith and love, and even the Foreign Sunday-School Association less knowledge, concerning missions. is given in the Independenl: Germany But nothing is more certain than that has now more than 3000 Snnday-schools, there is no-waste to speak of" not even with 30,000 teachers and 300,000 much lavish expenditure, bnt about every scholars. So completely has official opdollar is wisely and economically placed. position ceased, that some years ago the Let one case stand for a host: The Rev. highest Ohurch Oouncil of Prussia or- F. E. Hoskins, missionary of the Pres_ dained that all candidates for ordination byterian Board in Zahleh, Syria, gives, should be trained in organizing and conin The Ohurch at Home and Abroad for ducting Snnday-schools. Besides the 'January, an interesting resume of " how Central Oommittee at Berlin, local sonal' , congregations. In addition there unions exist in various parts of Germany are 36 places where public Protestant where teachers meet for discussion of services are held each Sunday_ Of these methods and comparison of experience. 20 are in institutions of various kinds, The first great National Sunday-school the remainder are the gathering places Oonvention ever held on the European of the City Mission Society. In recent Oontinent was the Jubilee of German months 7 new churches have been Sunday-schools, which was celebrated at begun, of which, however, 3 are to Berlin, October 7th-9th, 1888, while take the plac~s of existing churches. commemorative services were held si. Aud in this connection the statement, multaneously in many towns and cities surprising, and almost incredible to pf Germany. American readers, is made that, if it had not been for the personal intervention of France has more than 1100 schools, the Emperor and the Empress probably with 4500 teachers and 115,000 scholars; not a single one of these 7 new Switzerland, 1500 schools, 6522 teachers, churches would now be in process of and 97,890 scholars;· Holland, 1400 erection. Permission to build a new schools, 3800 teachers, and 150,000 church in Berlin can be secured only scholars; Sweden and Denmark in when the proposal is passed npon nearly equal proportion. In Roman favorably by no fewer than 19 offi- Oatholic countries peculiar difficulties cial bodies and persons-an unheard- have been encountered; but Italy, of amount of red tape! Many of these Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the re- bodies and persons, that range from the publics of Oent1"al and South America Emperor down to the sanitary police, are have many faithful teachers, who, with antagonistic to the interests of the the aid of attractive little papers sup- Church, and, if possible, delay or de- plied by the Association, have won the feat such project.s. In this way, only hearts of the children about them, and recently, two of the best building places are doing untold good. 'fhe Sunday. in the city were lost to the Protestants schools on mission ground, though not and secured by the Catholics. 'fhe larg- originated by the Association, have been est of the new churches has a seating largely aided by it in supplies of papers capacity of 2000 and cost 400,000 marks. and hymn-books, and its correspondents are found on every continent. – The" Encyclopredia of Missions" gives statistics of 8 societies doing mis. -The Catholic clergy of France num- sionary work in Mexico. They are ber 55,540 men. Among these are found these, and arranged in the order of the 18 archbishops, 69 bishops, 3420 pastors importance of their work as determined of various ranks, 182 vicars.general, by figures; Methodist Episcopal, South, 31,255 assistants, 7109 vicars, and 700 Methodist Episcopal, North, Presbyte- other ecclesiastics. The Reformed and rian, Presbyterian, South, Southern Bap.. other Protestant clergy number but 720. tist Convention, American Board, Asso- The religious budget-the amount the ciate Reformed Presbyterian Synod, and Government appropriates for the bene- Cumberland Presbyterian. In all, these fit of such denominations as are" recog- societies employ 51 male aud 78 female nized"-for 1892 is 45,057,::'57 francs. missionaries, with 128 ordaiued natives The foreign clergy who hear mOfls in any lind 199 other native helpers. In the other language than French are not paid 201 churches are found 13,263 members, out of the State treasury. and 6363 pupils in the 145 schools.
-Berlin has for its 80,000 Jews, 8 -Rev. M C. Harris, Methodist Epis- synagogues; for its 120,000 Catholics, copal, San Francisco, writes: .. In 1877 . 10 churches and chapels; for its 1,250,- the first Japanese knocked at the doors 000 Protestants, 44 churches and chap. of the Chinese Mission of this city. Dr. els-namely, 32 parochial and 6 •• per- Otis Gibson, superintendent, kindly ad- "During the 81 years that have elapsed mitted them to the evening school. since its organization, the American Kanichi Miyama was the first convert. Board has sent out 2083 men and women. He is now a member of the Japanese The force now in the field numbers 200 Conference, doing grand service for the men and 333 women, distributed over 22 Master. The work has prospered from mission fields in the Turkish Empire, the beginning until now. Within the British India, China, Japan, Africa, and past year 100 were baptized, and 127 re- in Papal lands. The receipts from donaceived into full membership. Conver- tions and legacies aggregate about $25,- sions occur daily. The last month they 000,000, while the regular receipts and have averaged above 1 per day. For two expenditures of the last five years have years there has been a continuous re- averaged not far from $700,000 a year, vival. A church has been formed and exclusive of native funds received and organized for work, and is looking for- expended in the field. No fewer than ward to self-support in the near future. 475 churches have been organized, into The members give gladly of their sub- which have been received on confession stance. In liberal giving it would be of faith not far from 110,000 souls. hard to surpass them. Upward of 20 The missionaries of the American preachers have been sent out from this Board have reduced 28 different lanmission to Japan and the Sandwich guages to writing among the ruder races, Islands as evangelists to their people. In these, and still more in the languages Some 25 more have been called to the of the civilized races among whom misministry, and are ready {or service. sions have been established-as in India, Here is a great opportunity to honor China, and Japan-a missionary liter- God and save thousands. Who will ature has been created, including gramhelp us? For the past six years the Mis- mars and dictionaries, translations of sion has carried on its work in leased the Scriptures, and educational and rebuildings. It is recognized by all who ligious works, amounting to more than understand the situation that a church 2,000,000,000 of pages. Higher Chrisbuilding is a necessity. The Japanese tian education has constituted an im- Christians are deeply interested. They portant agency in the work of the have pledged $5000, and will raise it. American Board, especially during the They are contributing toward this sum last twenty-five years. During this by the month. A goodly sum is already period the number of higher institucollected and invested in the savings- tions for Christian education has inbank, where it is drawing interest. They creased from 18, with 437 pupils, to are mostly poor students, and can give 122, with 7780 pupils. Who can estibut little. The estimated cost of the lot mate the influence of these young men and building is $25,000. We must ap- and yOtlllg women, now brotlght under peal to the friends of the cause in the daily inflllence of cultured Christian America. Who will consecrate some- teachers, on the thought and life of the thing to build a house of God for the next generation of their countrymen?" Japanese in San Francisco?" -The Censns Bureau has recently -One feature at a church entertain- published some intereRting statistics rement in a certain place not long ago lating to the Lutheran Church in the was a native Indian woman engaged in United States. From these it appears basket-weaving; A little maiden, after that this branch of the Protestant comwatching her movements a while, looked munion, upon variolls grounds, is sepaintently at the pleasant, dusky face, and rated into 12 independent synods. The exclaimed: "Why, mamma, she iBn't total of all the subdivisions is 1,199,514 like an Indian at all ; she loves God just members. The Synodical Oonference the same as we do I" numbers 357,153 ; the General Council, 317,145; the General Synod, 164,640; in British Columbia, $4323. The num.
the United Norwegian Church of Ameri· ber of missionaries maintained is 414, ca, 119,972, etc. According to language with 118 assistants, 47 teachers, and 15 employed in public services, the Lu- interpreters-a total force of 594 paid therans are divided as follows: Synods agents. The membership of the mis.
having 454,005 communicants are al- sion churohes is 44,500. In Japan are most wholly German; 232,512 are partly 28 missionaries, a total of 62 paid agents, English and partly German, while but and 1819 church·members.
198,997 are wholly English. Besides, there are 190,154 Norwegians, 88,700 Swedes, 13,674 Danes, 1991 Icelanders, British Foreign Missions. By Rev. JaB.
and 1385 Finns. 'l'his denomination Johnston, Bolton, England.
has its organized representatives in al. Death of Dr. Samuel Adjai Crow· most every State and Territory, Ptmnsyl. ther, Bishop of Niger.-At the end of vania leading with 219,069, Wisconsin December last this well.known colored standing next with 149,071, and Minne· Bishop of the Niger Territory passed sota following hard after with 143,503. away. His connection with the Church -The Protestant Episcopal Church, Missionary Society began in 1822, when through the Spirit oj Missions, keeps he was rescued from a slave.ship. In this appeal constantly before its mem- 1841 he accompanied the first Niger exbers: "Offerings are asked to sustain pedition, and in 1843 he was ordained missions in 13 missionary jurisdictions both deacon and priest by Dr. Blom. and 34 dioceses; also among the Ind. field, Bishop of London. and afterward ians and among the colored people in returned to Africa, where he entered our land, as well as missions in China, upon mission work at Freetown, Sierra Japan, Africa, Hayti, and Greece to pay Leone. For twelve years he was an the salaries of 16 bishops and stipends active missionary at Abeokuta, subse· to 1000 missionary workers, Rnd to sup. quently for one year at Lagos, and, port schools, hospitals, and orphanages. later, he gave seven years wholly to the Five hundred thousand dollars are asked mission in the Niger Territory. On for this year." Of this sum desired and June 29th, 1864, he was consecrated in expected, $246,193 are appropriated to Canterbury Cathedral, Missionary Bish. domestic, and $198,583 to foreign mis· op of the Niger Territory, and in the sions. For missions among white peo· same year received the honorary degree pIe, $118,400 are designated; for mis. of D.D. from Oxford, followed in 1883 sions among the Indians, $41,045, and by a like honor from Durham Univerfor missions among the negroes, $55,950, sity. His bishopric, covering twenty. For the school in Greece, $2300 are set seven years, has been marked by great apart; for the African Mission, $31,700 ; organizing capacity. In Great Britain, for the Chinese Mission, $53,557, and which he visited on ten occasions, for missions in the Haytian Church, Bishop Crowther was a notable figure, $7720, etc. his advocacy of missions and Bible cir- culation on platform and in pulpit being -The Methodists of Canada are, and singularly effective. Among other for eight years have been, wise and works, he was the author of a " Yoruba happy in being thoroughly united in mis. Grammar and Vocabulary," an English sionary toil. By a strong pull all together and Yoruba dictionary, and" Elements they raised last year $243,015, and be· of Nupe Grammar." His translations stowed upon domestic work $88,842; included portions of the Old and New upon Indian work. $42,862 ; upon for· Testaments into Yoruba, Book of Com- eign work in Japan, $26,523; upon mon Prayer into the same tongue, and French work in and about Montreal and a portion of St. Matthew's Gospel into Quebec, $8643 ; and upon Chinese work the Nupe language.• Few men have done nobler missionary service in the A scheme is on foot, writes the Bishop present century. of Tasmania, for the completion of St.
David's Cathedral, Hobart Town. Only English Church Missionary Intelli- the nave and transept are built, although gence. -It is proposed to constitute a the work was begun eighteen years ago.
new missionary diocese in Southeast It is now proposed to erect the choir Africa, to be called the bishopric of Le· and aisles, also a tower and cloister at bombo, which will include South Gaza- considerable expense. With the year land, Delagoa Bay, and the districts of 1892 coincides the jUbilee' of the dio.
Lydenberg and Zoutpansberg, and thus cese, Bishop Nixon having been conse- complete the diocesan organization on crated in 1842. This event has a fur- the southeast of Africa from Cape Town ther interest from the fact that 1892 to Zanzihar and the mainland opposite marks the two hundred and fiftieth an- that island. The Synod of South Africa niversary of the landing of Tasman's ex- will constitute the See as soon as an en- pedition on the island. It is suggested dowment fund of £10,000 has been col- that the laying of the foundation-stone lected ; and happily the Bishop of Cape of the cathedral tower should commemo· Town has already received and invested rate these two events, the ceremony with trustees £7850, chiefly subscribed taking place carlyin the year, and when within the limits of the province of the Australasian Association for Promot.
South Africa. This excellent endeavor ing Science visits Hobart.
to meet the growing responsibilities of The Bishop of Calcutta, on his recent popUlation and empire in things spiro return to India, promised the sum of itual in British South African territory £5000 toward, the endowment of the merits generous support. Lucknow bishopric, provided that the The Bishop of Madras, in referring remaining £2000 required is raised last December to the difficulties relat. within twelve months.
ing to the partition of the diocese by the Concerning African missions the Cor- creation of a bishopric at Tinnivelly, respondence Committee of the Church said that he could not resign a portion Missionary Society have just accepted of his trust committed to him by letters Mr. E. Millar, of Trinity College, Cam- patent except a special Act of Parlia- bridge, for the Victoria Nyanza Mission, ment authorized him. For this reason that gentleman going out at his own he declined to accept the £15,000 which charges. In connection with the Niger had been promised to him by the So- Mission the resignation of the Rev.
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, F. N. Ellen, late Vicar of St. James's, the Society for the Propagation of West Hartlepool, has been accepted.
Christian Knowledge, and the Colonial Bishoprics' Council, and therefore The Risings in China.-After wished to resign rather than deprive months of unrest and alarm, caused the diocese of that substantial aid. At by turbulent outbreaks in various provo It meeting of the Diocesan Council deep inces of the empire which began last sympathy was expressed with the bishop summer and have been frequent since in his trying position, and a request that date,the Government of Pekin has made to him to submit the matter for satisfactorily endeavored to adjust the the consideration of the archbishops difficulties with the European powers, and bishops of England. There is a chiefly arising from the attacks on for- strong feeling in Madras that the bish- eigners at several points on the Yangtse op's views are sound, morally and legal- River. Order has been restored in the ly, and that the assistance which the affected region. no riots having occurred magnitude of the diocese demands at Tchang since September last. To re- Khould, as heretofore, be rendered by pair the damage done, and to prevent a suffragans. repetitiou of recent troubles, the Chi· nese Government has adopted the fol- a following of 37,287 adnlt native conlowing measures: Indemnities, amount· verts. ing in all to about £100,000, have been paid to the Christian missions of all London Missionary Society.- Aleaf nationalities and to the families of the is being taken from the Salvation Army only two foreigners killed-the mission. book by the directors of the society, supary, Mr. Argent, of the ,. Joyful News" porting a week of self-denial in February, Mission, and a customs official-both to raise the income £30,000 per annum. Englishmen. Severe penalties in the The Rev. J. P. Gladstone, of London, shape of imprisonment and capital pun- the author of the proposal, is sanguine ishment have been inflicted on officials of the result. If the Congregationalists and law· breakers, and stringent precau- who, it is said, number a million in this tions taken to defend the lives and country, and ~ho mainly belong to the property of Christians. The authors of middle classes, take up the idea, there is pamphlets inciting the people against no question of the money being speedily foreigners will in future be condemned raised.
to death, a form of justice already visit- The friends of the Rev. A. N. John- son, of Leicester, will be glad to read of ed on ringleaders of the Kolao·Hui or- his appointment to the important posiganization. The rising in Mongolia last tion of Home Secretary to the London November had no connection with the Missionary Society, succeeding the Rev. ovents in the south of the empire, its E. H. Jones, whose long and faithful object being pillage, without distinction services have endeared him to a wide between Christians and others. This constituency. lIr. Johnson's student fanatical local outbreak has been sup- career at King Edward's School, Birpressed. mingham, at Lancashire College, and Owens College, Manchester, was highly As the Belgian missionaries have suf. distinguished throughout, especially in fered considerably in China, it may be classics. At Trinity College, Cam. interesting to know that these workers bridge, he carried off a first-class in belong to a special congregation, whose the theological tripos of 1881 and other headquarters are at Scheutveld, near distinctions. In Manchester he was Dr. Anderlecht, where they acquire the Chi- Macfadyen'S assistant for a time. nese language, and at the age of twentyfive are despatched to their field of labor. Nyassaland.-News to hand (Decem- About eighty of them are at work in ber 29th) from Dr. Laws, Superintendent China under the superintendence of of the Free Church of Scotland's Nyassa three bishops, two of wl}om afe Bel- Mission, states that he has reached King gians, and the other a Dutchman. Be. William's Town, Cape Colony, on his sides preaching and proselytizing they way home. He purposed calling at render many charitable services to the Lovedale with four natives from Central population. They have opened hos· Africa for training. In the Colony he pitals and schools, and, in audition to will r£'main about six weeks to hold sev. teaching the children the ordinary eral conferences with the leaders of the branches of scholastic knowledge and Dutch Reformed Church at Stellenbosch, training them to trades, they subse- a church which co operates with the quently assist them in the choice of Livingstonia Mission on Nyassa. Dr. husbands and wives. Mr. Alexander Laws hus labored fifteen years in Africa. Michie, of Tien-tsin, whose book on missionaries in China is provoking com· Jewish Migration to the Argentina. ment, says that in China proper the -On authority the Jewish Ohronicle an· Catholics have 530 foreign missionaries nounces that Lieutenant-Oolonel Albert and 525,000 native converts, including Goldsmid will take charge of the archildren, compared with the Protestants, rangements for the colonization of Jews who have 1296 foreign missionaries and in the Argentine Republic upon lands acquired by Baron de Hirsch. Colonel nothing less than Article 31 of the An- Goldsmid hopes that it will be shown glican Liturgy. It is only in the course to the world, after the inevitable troubles of 1891 that the Methodist community, in the first settlements have been over- which has been steadily growing in come, that Jewish agricultural colonies numbers and inftuence in Austria, hall on a larger scale than have hitherto acquired a fixed place of worship been attempted are quite practicable. through the generosity of the Baronesil Telegraphing from Jerusalem, Mr. von Langenau, a convert from Luther.
Scott Moncrieff says that a great snow· anism. Opposition to Methodism ap.
storm fell there on Christmas morning. pears to have emanated from various covering the ground six inches deep. quarters, not particularly the Roman The distress in the city environs among Catholics, and to have been increased the poor Jews, ill clad in wretched gar- by the interest of Sir Arthur Blackwood ments, without warmth of any kind, is in missions to postmen while attending pitiful. Besides the crowd of poor ever the Postal Congress in Vienna, and in a state of chronic starvation there are hence, when a formal application was many famishing refugees. The condi- presented for the recognition of the tion of those" outside the city" is de· Methodist Church, the allthorities were scribed as " dreadful," whose wants the led to examine her statutes, with the re- Society for Relief of Persecuted Jews sult that the chapel was closed and the (Syrian Colonization Fund), Parliament minister, the Rev. Friedrich Roesch, Street, London, is generously alleviating inhibited from preaching anywhere in to the utmost of its capacity. the city. Other conditions of a pecu.
General Booth in India.-On Decem· niary nature which have to be fulfilled ber 28th the" General" concluded his before a church can obtain recognition Madras campaign by expounding the in Austria will readily be met by the ideas of his social scheme at the Ban- liberality of the baroness. Evidently queting Hall before an inftuential gath- the Austrian Methodists are passing ering, which included the Maharajah of through some of the troubles which the Mysore. This was followed by an ad- 1Yloravians and old Catholics have had dress on similar lines to a meeting com. to face and valiantly overcame.
prising 1000 of the leading Hindoos, over which the, Dewan Raganath Rao Monthly Bulletin.
presided. The" General" also opened India.-The Christian Vernacular the Army's new headquarters and hall, Education Society for India has when liberal subscriptions were made, changed its name to the more approone gentleman alone contributing 11,000 priate form, The Christian Literature rupees to defray the mortgage. At the Society for India. Since its organiza- Memorial Hall he addressed the native tion in 1858 it has issued 15,500,000 Christians, and afterward had an inter- books and tracts of all kinds, and 1,000,. view with the Governor, Lord Wenlock. 000 were published last year alone. Its Methodism in Austria.-A vexatious work of providing pure literature for piel'e of persecution has been committed the 12,000,000 readers in India who on the Methodists in Vienna by the have been educated in the Government Public Prosecutor, because an article in schools. is exceedingly important and the Methodist Discipline denouncing valuable.
"the sacrifices of masses as blasphe- -The Church of England Zenana So- mous fables and dangerous deceits" is ciety, working in connection with the regarded as .. an insult against one of Church Missionary Society. though hav- the religions recognized by the State"- ing an independont organization, has, namely, the Roman Catholic. The arti- during the past ten years, increased its, ~le in question, it may be observed, is force of missionaries from 36 to 142, with a large number of Eurasian and and only 4 were HindUd. Among the native helpers. Its income has not, 739 pupils attached to the different inhowever, increased proportionately, and dustrial schools of the Madras Presiit finds itself in financial straits. dency, 357 were native Christians, 75 were Vaisyas and Sudras, 17 we~e Low -The revival of hook.swinging in Caste, including Pariahs, and only 5 Southern India is detailed in a letter were Brahmans. This progress of edufrom the Rev. John S. Chandler, of Ma- cation will eventually give them an addura, and illustrated by two photographs vantage for which no amount of intelin the Missionary Herald for January. lectual precocity can compensate the Application was made to the English Brahmans. authorities to prevent the barbarous exhibition, but they declined to do more -Bombay has always been considered than to discourage it. What that a hard field for mission work. The amounted to is evident from the fact time was when the progress there was that the plan was carried out in the slow and the results were meagre; but presence of more than 10,000 people. that day is past. In a letter written in 1848, it was stated by the Rev. Mr. -Dr. George F. Pentecost gives Hume that during nine years of hard and some interesting figures, in the inde- prayerful work, he had but twice had pendent, from the last census of India. the joy of seeing anyone brought into The English have built and are operat- the Church from the heathen world. ing more than 16,000 miles of railroad Of these two one had already gone back in that country. All the railroads are to heathenism, and the other was then under the supervision of the Govern- an unworthy member of the Christian ment. There are now opened in India Church. At last a change carne, and 26,000 miles of common roads, most of faithful work bore fruit. The number them smooth and hard as a floor. There of churches, of Christians, of schools, are 34,000 miles of telegraph lines, with and of Sabbath·schools, has, during the 116,000 miles of wire. Three milli.on past fifteen years, at least trebled, and in messages are transmitted annually. The some departments the work has multitelegraph lines are also under the super- plied fifty-fold. In giving, in Christian vision of the Government, constituting, activity, in knowledge of and in faithas in England, part of the postal sys- ful adherence to the Word of God, that tem. There are 71,000 miles of post- church in Bombay would be an ornaroads, with more than 8000 post-offices. ment to any city in this country. On There are 95,000 Government schools of the average those Christians give at all grades, in which are more than 3,000,- least 1 month's salary out of the 12. 000 pupils 'of private schools, mostly Almost every member of the Church is missionary. There are, besides, more actively engaged in preaching, in teach. than 40,000, with above 500,000 schol- ing, in Sabbath.school, or in some kind ars. The English language is spreading of evangelistic work. The children and among the people. This, Dr. Pentecost young people are constantly and faiththinks, is one of the greatest missionary fully instructed in the Bible. forces in the country. ~TheArcot Mission of the Reformed , -The conspicuous place in higher (Dutch) Church at its semi-annual meeteducation taken by the native Christian ing in Madanapalle, issued an earnest women of India is illustrated by the fact appeal to the American churches for that of the 19 successful female candi- help for the sufferers from famine in dates for the matriculation examination the Madras Presidency of India. in 1879, 7 were native Christians, while Almost all the 6000 people immediately none were Hindus; of the 234 candi- connected with the mission need assistdates examined for the higher education ance. of women, 61 wero native Christians,