The Missionary Review of the World — February 1919
Laymen's Cou.ncil
THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L PIERSON, Ediwr.
CONTENTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1919 FRONTISPIECE-THE WILLIAM BORDEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL IN CHINA SIGNS OF THE TIMES . 81 THE NEW CHURCH MISSIONARY AU,IANCE SOCIAL REFORM IN PORTO RICO HOPE FOR CHINESil hLITERATES A JEWISH AMERICAN CONGRESS THE MISSIONARIES 'I'o REJUlENA'I'E TURKEY EDITORIAL COMMENT . 87 THE HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS CONFJiRENCES THE Y. M. C. A. UNDER FIRE CHINA AND 'I'HE VA'I'ICAN CHINA, WORLD DEMOCRACY AND MISSIONS By PROF. W. REGINALD WHEE1;ER 91 An illuminating article by the author of "China m,d the World War," a professor in Hangchow Christian College, showing what has been the in- fluence of the war on China, alld the consideration this republic should have at the Peace Conference.
THE WAR'S CONTRIBUTION TO CHRISTIAN UNITY By PROF. WM. ADAMS BROWN, D. D. 97 A clear and inspiring statement of the influence of the war in bringing about a closer cooperation between the various denominations.
AFRICAN RECONSTRUCTION AFTER THE WAR. . By JOHN H. HARRIS 103 Author of "Dawn in Darkest Africa," an authority on social and moral questions in Africa, who "eviews the steps that should ve taken to develop Africa with the re-establishment of peace.
SALT AND ITS SAVOR IN CHINA. . By REV. CHARLES E. SCoTT 109 One of the most realistic writers on China describes the faithfulness of Chinese Christians under persecution, not only in BO!rer days but today.
THE WILLIAM BORDEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL IN CHINA By GEORGE E. KING, M. D. 115 THE MIAU MEN OF CHINA. . By J. FRANKLIN KELLY, M. D. 118 ENCOURAGING SIGNS IN LATIN AMERICA. By REV. S. G. INMAN 119 THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO THE JEWS . By REv. S. B. ROHOI,D 123 SHALL CHINA HAVE AN ALPHABET? . By PROF. H. P. BEACH 127 BEST METHODS DEPARTMENT . . Edited by MRS. E. C. CRONK 131 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN Edited by MRS. W. H. FARMER 137 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS . 141 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY – . 157 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies 25 cents. Published Monthly. Copynghted, 1919, by Missionary Review Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Entered as second class matter. at the post office at Cooperstown, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
PUBLICATION OFFICE:. EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE:- COOPERSTOWN, N. Y. 156 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY.
ROllER'!' E. SPEER, President DEI,AVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary FRANK L. BROWN, Vice-President WAI,TER McDoUGAI,I" Treasurer EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS CHAT THE REVIEW AND THE Him in intercession that the Holy UNITED CAMPAIGN Spirit may impart His shower of blessing there. The 'News from For many years the REVIEW has Many Lands' in the REVIEW has been consistently stood for cooperative ef- an aid to me. Many difficulties in fort in missionary work at home and the way of suffering Love and Judgabroad. We have sought to present ment have been cleared up. I have the world as a whole, with its needs found much use to be made of the and open doors for the Gospel of Imprecatory Psalms." . Christ. We have opposed overlapping, waste of energy and money by Is not this a practical suggestion failure to develop a unified program of great value to other readers? and to employ the methods which Many are using the magazine as a have been found most successful by prayer calendar. various Boards. We have sought to bring the Home and Foreign mis- *** sionary campaigns together into one harmonious effort to evangelize the WHAT ARE "FELLOWSHIP world, and we have consistently ad- SUBSCRIPTIONS !" vocated the necessity of members of each denomination knowing the work The workers of a Chinese Mission of other organizations. write to us that they keenly feel the need for the REVIEW in their Today a united campaign for edu- work. Having no funds available cation and achievement is seriously they have appealed to us to send the proposed by the Home and Foreign magazine to their Reading Room. Mission Boards, and the REVIEW is This would mean that they would planning to cooperate energetically be reached with the message of the in such a campaign. The coming REVIEW, but here is our dilemma, numbers will report more thoroughly. we have many similar requests and than ever the salient facts, and show have no funds available for this the progress and the methods that good work. It is with very sincere are approved by the leaders of all regret that we express our inability evangelical churches. If you and to comply with these worthy appeals, your friends could ever afford to be and we have thought that perhaps without the REVIEW, you cannot af- REVIEW readers may be glad to help ford to do so in the months to come. if they understand the situation.
*** Vill you be a: friend to some one unable to subscribe, but who would THE REVIEW AS A PRAYER value the REVIEW as you do? The monthly visits will bring a twelve- CALENDAR fold blessing, and will carry their message of Christian fellowship. A missionary in Sivas, Turkey, Each Fellowship Subscription costs writes: "When I was laid aside by only $2.50 a year. Address the Cirsevere illness in 1913 from active culation Manager, in care of THE missionary service in Turkey, as MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, strength by the dear Lord's blessing 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. came back to me, I commenced a work of intercession which rapidly THE ANNUAL MEETING increased in 'detail and the joy of the service. It was to isolate the Risen The Annual meeting of the MIS- Lord with the various mission sta- SIONARY REVIEW Publishing Co. will tions separately, and by a careful be held in the Assembly Room of the study of the Word to' get down as Presbyterian Board of Foreign Misdeeply as possible into just what sions 156 Fifth Ave., New York, at He wants of them; then to rise with 3 p. m. Dr. Robert E. Speer will speak and reports will be presented. of the New Era Movement The Laymen's Council completes the organization of the New Era Move- ment. In addition to the Council the representation consists of committees from General Assembly Executive Commission Ten Boards and Agencies Women's Boards Church-at-Large The executive officers of the movement include the Moderator and Stated Clerk of General Assembly. The executive committee includes the executive officers and representatives of component organizations.
THE LAYMEN'S COUNCIL CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING REPRESENTATIVE PRESBYTERIANS Henry P. Crowell, Chairman, Chicago. William Livingston, Detroit, Mich.
Han. ThomasR. Marshall, Washington, D. C. Henry Leland, Detroit, Mich.
Gov. Charles S. Whitman, Albany, N. Y. Emory W. Clark, Detroit, Mich.
Gov. James P. Goodrich, Indianapolis, Ind. Francis S. Phraner, Summit, N. J.
John T. Manson, New Haven, Conn. Cyrus H. McCormicl.., Chicago. 1- B. Forgan, Chicago. Alexander R. Nicol, New York City.
Edwin M. Bulkley, New York City. John V. Farwell, Chicago.
Arthur Curtiss James, New York City. Frank J. Loesch, Chicago.
James H. Post, New York City. Robert J obnston, St. Louis, Mo.
James N. Jarvie, New York City. James B. Welcb, Kansas City, Mo.
Alba B. Johnson, Philadelphia. Nelson H. Loomis, Omaha, Neb.
John Wanamaker, Philadelphia. D. D. Dayton, Minneapolis, Minn.
Charles L. Huston, Coatesville, Pa. John Porter, Spokane, Wash.
Robert Garrett, Baltimore, Md. William M. Ladd, Portland, Ore.
., A. H. Whitford, Buffalo, N. Y. Robert Dollar, San Rafael, Cal W. A. Rogers, Buffalo, N Y. A. H. Jobnson, San Francisco, Cal. D. S. Alexander, Buffalo, N. Y. John Willis Baer, Pasadena, Cal.
William A. Harbison, Pittsburgh. D. B. Gamble, Pasadena, Cal.
Wilson A. Shaw, Pittsburgh. E. R. Brown, Dallas, Texas.
James G. McNary, EI Paso, Texas. Wilbur P. Manley, Sioux City, Iowa.
Sereno P. Fenn, Cleveland, Ohio.
The Council, though an advisory body, has already taken a very active part in the operation of the New Era Movement. It held its first meeting at general offices (I56 Fifth Avenue, New York) November 19, with a representa- tive attendance and perfected certain plans and made other recommendations which vitally affect the stability of the movement.
. THE NEW ERA MOVEMENT, of the Prwb;yterlan Ohurch ID the U. S. A..
166 FIUh Avcmue, No York.
Please mention TH~ MISSIONARY lbcVICW o~ THC WOR~D in writing to advertisers Important Items of news from the present 'Iumber of the ~VIJlW. suitable for use on Church Calendars and in Missionary Meetings 1. A Woman's Police Reserve Corps has been formed in Porto Rico to assist in a "Clean Up Campaign" on the whole Island. "Four Minute Men" are busy rais- ing a fund to initiate industrial work for the women rounded up in the Courts. (See page 81) 2. Mohammedanism seems to be breaking down in North Africa. Seven thousand miles of railways, irrigation and military discipline promise to make the land of Carthage again a factor in world civilization. (See page 83) 3. A Chinese student, returning from America after having received the degree of Ph. D. was faced with the alternatives of using his education to make a for- tune or to accept a meager salary in Christian service. He chose the latter because his father, mother, brother and sister chose death rather than deny their faith at the time of the Boxer outbreak. (See page 91) 4. The solution of all material reconstruction in Africa is a land solution, and public opinion is beginning to realize that oppression practiced upon the child races of' the world is an unerring boomerang. (See page 103) S. The sufferings which came upon the Chinese Christians in 1900 were greater only in degree than which today are often visited upon those who boldly come out and confess Christ. The tricks and devices of fellow-villagers to humiliate and torture a Christian neighbor are numberless. (See page 109) 6. San Marcos University in Lima, Peru, founded in 1551 and therefore the oldest university in America, has recently done the unprecedented thing of conferring the degree of Doctor of Letters on John A. Mackay, a young Scotch mission- ary. (See page 119) 7. The El Mercurio of Valparaiso, one of the leading dailies of South America, had the chapter on Chile from the Report of Protestant Missions in Latin America translated and printed in its entirety, in spite of the former conservative policy of the. editor not to deal in any way with Protestant missions. (See page 119) 8. A Confucian teacher in a private school of Tientsin, China, brought his entire school with twenty-five students under the control of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, introduced the mission curriculum and is teachinj;( at $6 a month. (See page 142) 9. In 1916, tile number of children working in factories in India was 15,780. A more universal enlightenment will do away with economic serfdom for little children, and as a measure in this direction the Methodist missionary leaders will place thirteen hundred more teachers in the India field. (See page 146)
• HAWAII Hospital in
A MAP OF THE CONTENTS …
OUR VIEW OF THE WORLD IN THIS NUMBER .
L£ADING ARTICLES AND EDITOIUA1.5 AREJNPlCATED BY TlTI.£S TKE HUMBER or NE.WS rrEMS ON EA.CH cOUNTRY IS JNltICA.TED • BY AJtMIC NUMERAlS
OF A YOUNG MAN'S CONTRIBUTION TOWARD CHINA'S
General View of the William Borden Memorial Hospital. in Kansuh, Western China. The central block with the Men's In-patient Department is at the left and Women's Department at the right. The two doctor's houses are between. The Yellow River is in the foreground.
MISSIONARY
EVIEW, VOL. FEBRUARY, 1919 NIlMBIlK XLII Two SIGNS OF nm TIlvlES A NEW INTER-CHURCH MISSIONARY ALLIANCE C AN the Protestant churches of North .America do team work~ Is the church able to furnish a leadership for peace as clear- visioned and courageous as the leadership the nations have furnished for war ~ Have the churches of Christ as much in common as the nations that have fought against autocracyT If so, will they move forward under a unified command, consenting for the sake of their cause to sink minor differences, and merge their resources in a mighty, sustained and united drive for humanity and the Kingdom of God on earth 1 Has the time come to project Christ's work on a world scale? Is it possible to finance peace as thoroughly as we have financed wad Has the hour struck which challenges the Church to its supreme effort to redeem the world'
These were some of the questions which were considered in the Conferences of Representatives of Home and Foreign Mission Boards, when one hundred and fifty men alid women gathered in New York on.December 17th in response to the invitation sent out by the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.
At the conclusion of the discussion the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: "Moved, that it be the sense of this meeting that there should be a united campaign in behalf of the missionary and benevolent work of the evangelical churches· of North America, as represented by their organized national boards or agencies and such affiliated interdenominational agencies as it may be found wise to include after further conference.
"Moved, that the chair appoint a committee of fifteen, of which the chair shall be one, for the purpose of preparing a plan, to be il
submitted. to the Home Missions Council and the Foreign Missions Conference in -January, 1919.
"Moved, that this committee be requested to arrange if possible for a joint meeting of the Home Missions Council and the Foreign Missions Conference and such other agencies as would naturally be involved, when a plan as presented by this committee and revised by the conference may be submitted for final approvaL"
This movement may mean a new era for the Church, and if for the Church, certainly for the world. The restraints of autocratic government have been shattered; but if civilization is to be rebuilt, nobler restraints must take their place. Men must acquire selfcontrol, and individuals and nations must be led to relate themselves in terms of the Golden Rule. Only thus can. we hope for a better world.
What does this mean but that the Church and its message are absolutely essential to the new orded There can be no permane~t peace unless men obey the law of good-will. This means that the Church faces its biggest opportunity. If it is to meet the hour, it must project its work on a larger scale than any it has yet attempted. The clock has struck for the Church of God. Can she campaign on a world scale 1 Will she take her eyes off the past and look toward the moruing7 Will she be intenntiomJ and cosmopolitan, or provincial and sectarian 7 Have the Protestant churches of North America enough statesmanship among their l(>aders today to create an alli:mce to save civilization and establish the Kingdom?
HOPE FOR CHINESE ILLITERATES T IE most difficult language in the world to read and write is probably the Chinese. Its words are all of one syllable, and in the Mandarin, which is the spoken language throughout all but the three southeastern provinces, there are only about four hun- dred and fifty sounds to represent the forty or fifty thousand chaJ;- acters in the dictionary. Each sound, therefore, represents many different words. An educated man must be able to read and write from four to six thousand words, and, as China has had no alphabet, the form of each word must be learned separately. 'fheir compon- ent parts often suggest, but are no adequate guide as to the pro- nunciation or the meaning of words. .
Missionary educators, who have had long expf'rienee in China, estimate that to learn to read and write their mother tongue con- stitutes a handicap of not less than two years' time in the education of all Chinese boys and girls. In a nation where the struggle for the mere necessities of existence is so exacting, it is, therefore, not strange that the great mass of the people are unable to read and write. This illiteracy constitutes one of the most serious problems
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
which face the Christian movement in China. Protestant missionaries have from the beginning laid great stress on education and have done their best to teach all Christians and enquirers to read the Bible. Nevertheless in China as a whole, probably one-half of the Christian constituency cannot read even the simpler parts of the Bible with understanding. It is pathetic to see men and women, who, after years of painstaking effort have learned to pronounce correctly the sounds of the words, fail to understand the meaning of what they have read.
Now a new era seems to be dawning, since we are told the astounding fact that an illiterate adult of average intelligence can learn to read with fluency and understanding in three or four weeks! In many parts of North China missionaries have -seen this miracle with their own eyes in hundreds of cases. A man walks into the London Missionary Society Hospital at Psangtsangchow for an operation. While he Jies on his cot recovering from the disease, an evangelist teaches him to read the Bible by means of a new system of writing, and 10, in three weeks' time this man, who was unable to read a line when he entered the hospital, walks out, not only cured of his disease, but able to read with ease anything in the Gospel that has been given him to take home!
An aged woman long past the years when there seems any hope of her ever being able to learn to rC'ad, becomes interested in Christianity and joins an enquirer's class in the neighboring mission station. Day by day a part of the instruction consists in teaching her to read this new system, and a few weeks later when she rpturns to her village, home she is the wonder and admiration of all, because she, too, is able to read intelligently from the little books which she has carried back with her.
This miracle that is now witnessed all over China is made possible by the invention of a system of phonetic writing adopted a few years ago by the Chinese Government Boarn of Education. Their system is composed of some twenty-four initials, twelve finaJs, and three medial vowel sounds. The symbols which are easily learned. resemble parts of Chinese characters, and are written in vertical columns. The symbols always have the same sound and any word in the language can thus be written by means of an initial and a final with or without a connecting vowel. Teachers can master the system in a few hours and even people of no education can learn to use it in a few days or weeks.
Under the leadership of the China Continuation Committee, pastors and educators, as WE'll as missionaries, have unanimously recommended the widespread teaching of the system throughout the Church, and a simultaneous drive for a literate Christianconstituency has been started and leaders expect to make· effective use of this new system in teaching non-Christians. By this means at last
the great masses of China's four hundred million people, and not simply the favored few, can be reached through Christian literature. The significance of these facts can hardly be overstated at the present time, when China is trying to reform her Government and to take her place amongst the great democracies of the world.
THE MISSIONARIES TO REJUVENATE TURKEY T HE outlook for the territories that were Turkish is bright for the coming year on account of the return of the missionary force that has been detained so long on this side, reinforced by as many recruits as can be obtained to fill up the gaps in their ranks and to undertake some of the new opportunities opening up there. Reconstruction will be the first great problem. Many adjustments of population may be expected, involving in some cases a radical change in missionary occupation and policy. The center of evangelistic effort shifts from the Armenian population to the Moslem; but the Armenian Evangelical Church will need fostering and cooperation for some time to come, since so large a portion of its leaders have been martyred. Pastors, preachers, professors, teachers, physicians and strong business men will be sorely missed. There is in America a body of capable and trained leaders, some of whom will probably go back to their people now. The Armenian evangelical forces all over the world will gradually be able to care for their own communities, allowing the missionary force to give its attention elsewhere.
Doubtless the aid and sympathy given the Greeks in their oppression and deportation will help to open doors of access to them throughout the Near East. The Greek civil authorities in Salonica have shown marked favor toward the Americans there; and the Athens Government has been friendly. Much needs to be done for the spiritual uplift of the Greeks of Asia Minor, to save them from the grip of materialism. Their own clergy they quite universally despise, except as they may be patriotic leaders; yet their Christian inheritance is rich and these Greeks can and will be brought back to the Saviour again, and to view things from the spiritual rather than the nationalistic angle.
But the greatest opportunity is for active work directly for Moslems. The remarkable instances, even during this so-called Holy War, of Moslems openly accepting Christ or secretly coming to study the Way, point to a readiness for Christian teaching which is challenging. Statistics of the two great Bible Societies just before the war broke out, show a constantly increasing sale of Bible and Scripture portions to Moslems. And the chastening, humiliating effect of defeat has been seen in the attitude of the Turk toward his Christian neighbors. Once the vicious and irreligious political
OF TItE TIMES 8S
leaders are removed, there should be no insuperable obstacle to the direct access of the Gospel to Turk, Kurd, Circassian and Arab. The experiences of the Reformed Church Arabian Mission have shown a wonderful opening for contact with the Arab tribes of the east coast region of Arabia. God grant it may not now be long ere even the holy cities of Mecca and Medina may be opened to the messengers of Christ.
SOCIAL REFORMS IN PORTO RICO M ISSIONARY work in Latin America was never so encourag- ing as at present. The World War not only brought all America closer to the United States, but it revealed the deep need of the right kind of religion, and an openmindedness in its seeking that is surprising. Another benefit of the war has been the light thrown on the social vices and the need for a new attitude toward these sins in Latin America. The following incidents are only a few of the many that show the new era in mission work among our Southern neighbors.
The military training camps in Porto Rico, with their vigorous measures against immorality within a ten mile zone surrounding the camps, have given the missionaries an opportunity to make a fight on vice in the whole island. Through their efforts, the Attorney General was induced to publish a pamphlet entitled, "Laws of Porto Rico in regard to Prostitution, Adultery, Sale of Intoxicating Liquors, etc.," in English and Spanish. This publication caused much . comment owing to a letter to the Judge as introduction. The Spanish papers have criticised it, and the public has been awakened as never before to the need of "cleaning house. "
When one of the missionaries went to report the case of a white slave, the Chief of Police suggested that the women form a Vigilance Committee to help stamp out the evil of prostitution. He addressed a meeting of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union on the subject, showing how the women could help the police to secute evidence that they generally lacked to convict cases.
The doctors in the Camp became interested in the movement, and aided a group of women and the Police Commissioner in forming a Woman's Police Reserve Corps. The press was flooded with articles and the women awakened to their duty in taking a leading part in the effort to help the police and military authorities in the task at hand. Posters were prepared in Spanish and English, showing the pictnre of a woman dressed in an American flag and waving ·aloft another flag, with the words : "ENLIST. CLEAN UP YOUR TOWN. JOIN THE WOMAN'S POLICE RESERVE CORPS."
Below this, were the letters W. C. T. U. Twelve hundred copies were printed and sent to every corner of the Islapd. The result was magical-more articles appeared in the press, some for and some
against the campaign. So many cases were tried that it became necessary for the authorities to secure additional prison space for the scores of prostitute women convicted in the courts. The one time prisons in Ponce fnd Arccibo and later at l1ayaguez were C011varted into hospitals for the care and treatment of these unfortunates. Due to the effect of prohibition for over a year, the prisons were nearly empty.
A JEWISH AMERICA~ CONGHESS T HERE is a "shaking of dry bones" in Judaism throughout the world. The sufferings of the ,Jews in Europe has driven hundreds of thousands of them to America as their' ,National Sanitarium." Now the liberation of Palestine from the dominion of the Turk, the declaratiqn of the Bdtish government on November 2, 1917, in favor of a Jewish State in Palestine, and the recent return of peace have aroused the Jewish national spirit and have led to the assembling of the first ,Jpwish-American Congress. This met in Philadelphia on Sunday, December 15, 1918, and brought together Jews of many nations and classes-laborers and professional men, financiers and manufacturers, philanthropists and pedlers; Zionists, nationalists, socialists, assimilators and internationialisis. There were all religious shades of J ews-orlhodox, conservative, Eeformed, heterodox and infidel. Judge Julian Mack of Chicago was elected President, and Hon. Nathan Straus, Honor- !art President. There were thr.ee secre,taries-English, Hebrew and Yiddish. l'he main resolutions passed by the Congress were: 1. That the Jews of Roumania should be protected and given full political, civil and religious rights.
2. That the P~ace Congress recognize the Jewish historic claims to Palestine and plan for the formation of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine under British trusteeship.
3. That the Peace Congress insert in the treaty of peace, regulations guaranteeing to Jews full liberty of residence and personal, civil and religious rights in every part of Europe.
It was resolved to call a world Jewish Congress as soon as possible after peace is declared.
Dr. Abraham Schomer, in his historic sketch of Jewish struggles, exclaimed: " We have failed because we have a body but we have had no head. We need a head."
Were there ever spoken more truly significant words 1 Israel l:as rejected the true Head of the body and cannot come into life and power until Jesus Christ is recognized as the Head of all things.
HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
O NE theme dominated the annual meetings of the Home Mis- . sions C?uncil and the Foreign Missions Conference,. which metdurmg the second week of January, the former m New York City and the latter in New Haven. This theme was "The After the War Program of the Churches." At the Foreign Mis- sions Conference this was expressed in a series of addresses on the ideals and results of the New Internationalism; and in the Home Missions Council by a series of papers and discussions on National Reconstruction. .
These meetings were preceded as usual by the annual dinner under the auspices of the Missionary Education Movement. The spirit of fellowship and cooperation was unusually manifest, and found expression in the unanimous approval at all of these meetings of a proposal to unite all the home and foreign mission forces of the Protestant Church in an "Interchurch World Movement." When such a plan was suggested a year ago it was saiel to be visionary and impossible, but one effect of the war has been to make men at- tempt the impossible, if it is ideal. The plan proposed is more fully described elsewhere. The REVIEW is in hearty accord with it, and has for years been a voice often apparently "crying in the wilder- ness to prepare the way" for such a movement. The central ideas are the study of the world as a whole in relation to men's need of the Gospel of Christ, and then by the closest possible cooperation, and fullest devotion on the part of all evangelical Christian forces, to conduct a united missionary campaign. We plan to keep our read- ers informed on this movement through articles giving the results of a close study of the fields, and the plans for a more widespread preaching of the GO!3pel to every creature.
A committee of twenty, appointed by the Foreign Mission Con- ference will, in cooperation with the Home Missions Council and the Women's Boards, select a general committee of one hundred to represent all North America. From this number an executive com- mittee will be formed. Humanly speaking, the success of the move- ment will be due to the selection of the right leaders, and to the hearty and unselfish cooperation of the various denominations. The chief aim is not to secure a large missionary fund as the means of winning the world to Christ but is to educate Christians to see the need of the world as God sees it, and to enlist them in prayer, service and giving on a scale adequate to the magn.itudeand im- portance of the task.
87
A large number of exceedingly able and interesting papers were read at both of the Conferences, and many of these will appear in subsequent issues of the REVIEW.
During the meetings of these Conferences the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, providing for national prohibition, was ratified by a sufficient number of states to assure its adoption. This was pronounced by one of the speakers at the Foreign Missions Conference to be the most important event since the Reformation. We are planning a World Temperance Number of the REVIEW, which will show the next steps necessary in the movement to bring about the world-wide prohibition of intoxicating liquors and habit-forming drugs.
THE Y. M. C. A. UNDER FIRE T HE most severe bombardment to which the Young Men's Christian Association has been subjected has not come from the enemy's camp, but from the American soldiers returning from the front. The Master's warning "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you" does not seem to be a danger from which the "Y" will suffer. Some have attributed the criticism to malicious propaganda, but it has been so general and at the same time so specific that it cannot be attributed entirely to enemies. , The Young Men's Christian Association is an immense organiza- tion which has become a world-wide influence. Since it was founded over sixty years ago, the Association work has been established in all the leading countries of the world, and in many of the mission fields. When the war broke out, the assistance of the Association was offered in the prison camps of Europe; and when America entered the war Dr. Mott and his associates offered to establish work in the cantonments at home, and to send men to conduct welfare work among the soldiers on all the battle fronts. Over 7000 Y. M.C.A.
workers have gone to Europe, Asia and Africa, and have' followed the armies in all their campaigns. There has been no question as to the great value of the Association in helping to maintain the morale, and the moral, physical and intellectual strength of the fight- ing forces on land and sea. Many of the "Y" huts have been de- stroyed in bombardments, and more than twenty of the workers have been killed or seriously wounded. Most of them have been remarkably efficient and self-sacrificing, and thousands of letters have been received commending their work.
What then has been the cause of the severe criticisms that have been made? On the one hand the "Y" has been charged with profiteering, and on the other with inefficiency and selfishness on the part of the workers. The former charge has been due almost wholly to misunderstanding, as the Association has never sought to make
EDITORIAL COMMENT
money from the canteen, which was conducted under Government orders but without free transportation. Consequently government "exchanges" undersold the canteens. No doubt, some Y. M. C. A. workers were dishonest. It is not surprising that there should be some leakage in the distribution of $75,000,000 by men who could not always be thoroughly trained and tested. It is also not to be wondered at that some of the workers should have proved unfit for such high service. Possibly twenty-five per cent were inefficient. Fifteen hundred men of this character would give color· to the statement that the whole organizatiQn was a failure. Such, however, was far from the case. The chief difficulty seems to have been that the War Work Council unselfishly undertook a work that was larger than they could handle. The number of American soldiers in Europe at the time of the signing of 'the armistice was four times the number anticipated, and a sufficient corps of capable secretaries could not be found. In spite of the effort to secure the best men, many were allowed to go over the seas who had not the ability or the Christian spirit to justify their selection. The specific charges of inefficiency and dishonesty are being investigated, and there is no good reason to believe that any failure will be covered up.
It is our conviction that the fundamental mistake of the leaders in this work was not due to any lack of high ideals, or Christian spirit of service, but was due to their undertaking a work in cooperation with governmental authorities which should have been under the direction of the Army and Navy. The War Work Oouncil and "Y" men were continually obliged to make concessions, if not compromises, to meet the demands of the Government. This involved the conduct of the canteen and the responsibility for entertainments (many of which were far from wholesome, especially when conducted on Sunday and in connection religious services). If it had been possible for the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian Associations to serve the soldiers and sailors chiefly by creating homelike surroundings for them, with a distinctly Christian atmosphere, and by conducting religious services, there is reason to believe that they would have been able to do a work of more permanent value, and would not have subjected themselves to such severe criticism. The nations involved in the war, however, including Germany and Austria, have no just grounds for general criticism of the Y. M. C. A.., but rather they have every reason for gratitude. Any failure on the part of the "Y" has been due to inefficiency of individuals, rather than to that of the organization; and to an effort to undertake too much, rather than too little. The spirit of selfishness has been conspicuous by its absence among most of the men and women engaged in "Y" work in America and over seas.
CHINA AND THE VATICAN T HE re-entrance of the Vatican openly into Chinese politics seems to be foreshadowed by the announcement that a papal legate or nuncio is to be appointed to Peking. For a long time France was the protector of Roman Catholic missions in China. In 1891 Germany undertook the protection of German Catholic missions, and later Italy assumed the protection of her missionaries. But the war has destroyed, Gennan inffuence in China, which had been carefully fostered until the Chinese official mind was prepossessed in her favor.
Now since Chinese public opinion has come into existence and has begun to make its own unenforced judgments upon Christianity and its effects, the time would seem to be approaching when "protection" of missions and missionaries in China by the Western nations will no longer be desirable or pennissible. This argument for a nuncio from the papal See is therefore not very strong.
With every disposition to be fair, one cannot view without concern this repetition of the Papacy's effort to take part in the political life of China. The effect upon the Chinese mind, which has only recently learned to dissociate the ideas of Church and State, will not be desirable from the point of view of Protestant missions. They are and should be recognized to be a spiritual and not a political enterprise; and the motive power which propels is spiritual, not political.
Protestant missionaries in China gave a demonstration of their view point in 1899, just before the Boxer outbreak. Roman Catholic missionaries had obtained the rank of civil officials and had made much of the fact, the priest ranking with the district magistrate, the bishop with the prefect, etc. When the Chinese government offered similar rank to Protestant missionaries, the honor was unanimously declined, and some years later the official status was withdrawn from Roman Catholic missionaries.
If the ideal voiced by President Wilson is to be attained, and the old methods of secret diplomacy are to be abandoned, there would seem to be strong reasons against any nation's receiving papal nuncios at their courts. Certa~nly the temptation to enter devious paths has been too much for the legates of that Church in times past. The Papal system is so essentially autocratic that an open and public statement of aims, such as the representative of a republic might make to his constituents, is for a Papal representative impracticable. For the good health of China and of the world there should be no papal legate at Peking.
HINESE INSTI'11''UUTTIIOON58-0LD AND
The old walls and the exclusive autocracy are passing away and the new institutions of learning and democratic prrogrress are coming to the front China, World Democracy and MMissions BY W. REGINALD WHEELER, HANGCHOW, CHINA A Member of the Faculty of Hangchow Christian College and Author of "China and the World War"
W HEN the United States entered the War, President Wil- . son expressed her ideal in so doing by the phrase: " The world :!gpmust be made safe for democracy." These words created a profound impression, for he did not say: America or Europe must be made safe for democracy, but the world itself, including the Orient, was to be safe-guarded for the common peo- ple. This ideal of international justice and freedom has been re-· emphasized again and again throughout the war: there have been no national limits set to the fundamental principles of the Allies, as expressed by their spokesmen. The principles of the Allies have been world-inclusive; and obviously any such world-program must embrace the situation in Asia and the Far East.
Half of the world's popUlation is in Asia, so that if it is 1n1o0t safe for democracy, it will be made dangeroul? by autocracy. Rus- sia and OChina, in their attempts to set up drmocracies, offer su- preme opportunities for exploitation and control by imperialistic powers, or for disinterested assistance by the' free nations of the 91
world. The United States could not live half slave and r.ulf free. The world cannot safely live with its popUlation divided hetween autocracy and democracy. "The ~Western nations are about to plaee in the hands of the oriental races the vast resources of civilization, machinery, factories, methods of organization, forms of government. It is of the utmost importance that when these forces are carried to Asia there shall go with them the idealism which has made their accumulation possible and their uses human. To give one without the other is to invite calamity both for East and for West."* Granting the proposition that Asia and China must be included in any world program of progress, the question arises: what can be done by foreign governments and foreign individuals to help carry out this program1 The service which other governments can perform seems clear. Dr. Wellington Koo, the Chinese Minister, pointed the way when in a speech in New York, he asked that the voices of the Far East should be heard at the Peace Conference of the nations; and that, in the future, international relations in the Orient should be built upon justice and upon the principle of the equal rights of all nations, whether weak or strong. Much has been written concerning the need of this new viewpoint in line with the Allied principles, as expressed by President Wilson and Premiers Lloyd George and Clemenceau. There is hope that at the Peace Conference such a viewpoint will be taken and that the ideals of the Allied statesmen will be carried out in the Far East by international action that is generous and just.
Stable democratic government requires a certain high level of intelligence on the part of the citizens of any country, and this level can be produced and maintained only by education. Education has been the keystone in the arch of the successful structure of the American Republic and other democracies, and in education of the right type will be found the solution for the problepls of Oriental democracy. The Chinese have realized this, and President Li Yuan-hung, in a mandate in 1917, clearly stated this viewpoint when he said: * * * "Ever since ancient days the efficiency of the administration and the protection of the nation have depended on education. I, the President, have been meditating upon this subject day and night, and have come to the conclusion that there are no means other than education by which the Re- public can be strengthened, especially in view of the fact that the moral standard of our people needs to be raised and their minds opened up."
This is the task before the Oriental nations, and especially before China. But the problem is too great for them to solve, unaided and alone. The Chinese government is comparatively poor; its revenues are inadequate to meet the strain of maintaining proper *Tyler Dennett, "Democratic Tendencies in Asia."-"Asia," November, 1918.
19191 CHINA, WORLD DEMOCRACY AND MISSIONS
educational facilities throughout the nation. In 1917 the budget for the current year for education, as drawn by the Ministry of Finance, was less than $10,000,000 gold. In addition to this a cer- tain sum should be added for private expenditures for education.
But in America, "where the school population is one-fourth of the school population of China, the total annual expenditure for educa- tion, has reached the vast sum of $1,000,000,000, or ten times the amount of China's budget. 'I« – Not only is their budget unable to meet the requirements of uni- versal education, but there are not enough trained teachers among the Chinese to properly staff their schools. Only twelve years have passed since the abolishing of the old type of classical study and the governmental welcome of Occidental subjects and studies in Chinese institutions. The time has been too short to make possible the training of enough teachers who are able to carry this double burden of instruction in both Oriental and Occidental subjects. As a consequence China, without foreign aid, cannot successfully edu- cate its citizens. She requires foreign help, and it seems she will require such assistance for some time to come. This assistance has been given, and must continue to be given, through mission schools and colleges, maintained largely by foreign funds.
MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN CHINA The part which missionary education has already played in the education of China is acknowledged by both Chinese and foreigners. Dr. Amos P. Wilder, formerly American Consul-General at Shanghai, has said, "Chinese modern education traces to missionary influence exclusively." Dr. Stanley K. Hornbeck, one of the best known writers on the Far East, has said: "The feature of the greatest pennanent consequence in the history of our relations with China is to be found in the record of the contribution which Americans have made to education."t .
Dr. Koo has spoken of this assistance, and the consequent gratitude of the Chinese, as follows: "It is a general conviction on the part of the Chinese people that through their untiring efforts in establishing schools and colleges in China, through work as translators and teachers and professors, American missionaries, in cooperation with those from other countries, have awakened the interests of the Chinese masses in the value and importance of the new learning. Nothing which individual Americans have done in China has more strongly impressed Chinese minds with the sincerity, the genuineness, the altruism of American friendship for China than this spirit of service and sacrifice so beautifully demonstrated by American missionaries."
In the resulting division of the educational task between Chinese and foreigners, the emphasis of the former has been upon primary and secondary education, while the latter has built up "'China Mission Year Book 1917, p. 375. t"Contemporary Politics in the Far East," page 386.
E;DUCATING. THE; COMING LE;AADDEERS OF CHINA'S DEMOCRACY Representatives of Chin~~O ~g~le~~in:!e tt~e;a~t~[~h~h:ai:~O~(h~fhl~~~e:p~~tsShanghai. A generation more particularly institutions of a higher grade. Aside from the Indemnity College at Peking, certain military and technical institutions, and several normal colleges devoted to training teachers for the elementary schools, the great majority of colleges and universities in China are missionary institutions. Thus the universities at Peking, Nanking, Hankow, Shanghai, Tsinan (Shantung), Kiukiang, Soochow and Foochow; and the colleges at Changsha, Hangchow and Canton come under this designation. In many instances they are the only institutions of college grade open to Chinese students. Thus Hangchow Christian College, supported in America by the Northern and Southern Presbyterian Churches, is the only college, Christian or non-Christian, in a city of 600,000 and a province of 17,OOO,OOO,-the province, according to government estimates, ·being third in its number of students among the eighteen provinces of the Republic. In all these institutions a large share of the running expenses is met by fees from the Chinese students and in certain instances through governmental assistance. But there is a need for foreign capital and for foreign teachers, and the opportunity and the responsibility can hardly be overstated. Here is a very definite way in which American individuals can contribute to the cause of international justice and democracy and friendship.
In what spirit shall the challenge of this opportunity be met ~ The only sufficient answer would seem to be that inspired by the Christian spirit. China needs education; but she needs character more. The recent breakdown in her governmental machinery is due largely to distrust of the integrity of her political leaders; She needs men of conscience and character, as well as of brains. She needs more men of the type of C. T. Wang and S. T. Wen, the former a graduate of a mission school in China and of a Christian university in America, Vice-President of the Senate, and chairman
CHINA, WORLD DEMOCRACY AND MISSIONS 9S5
of the committee which has been writing the permanent constitution. His words concerning mission education have received a striking vin- dication in his own career. "The Christian missions in China are making a real and lasting contribution to the educational work of . the nation…. In all the political upheavals, the people find that those students who, through their touch with the mission schools, .have embraced the real spirit of living sacrifice of Jesus Christ, are the ones that can best be trusted."
A Chinese Ohristian, a returned student from America, has also expressed the spirit of our answer. He was the son of Ohris- tian parents; his father and mother and sister and brother, at the time of the Boxer outbreak, WfT3 givflll the choice between life and death, and all chose death rather than the denial of their faith. This son escaped and wVeent to America where he studied five years, receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from one of the large eastern universities on his return to China he was faced with the alternatives of using his foreign education in a business way to make a fortune for himself, or to continue at a meager salary in Christian service. He chose the latter, and last spring I heard him give the reason of his choicee": He quoted the verse from Hebrews ANOTHE.R FORCE IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF CHINA An Evangelistic Meeting for Chinese Students under the Leadership of Dr. George Sherwood Eddy.
which speaks of the great cloud of witnesses which encompasses all those who are trying to run the Christian race; he said he felt that in that cloud of witnesses were'his father and his mother looking down upon him, and saying, "There is our son; he is running a good race. "So," he concluded, "how could I live my life selfishly, when they are watching me~"
The same choice lies before us all, whether we are missionaries in China or Christian individuals in America. The Great War has come to a close ; ten million men have gone to join that great cloud of witnesses. They have given their lives for the cause of a new world-order. Among them are those dear to us: in that celestial host we see the face of a brother, or husband, or son. .And in their midst is the One who is indeed our Brother and His Son, who first laid down His life that others throughout the whole world might live, and live more abundantly. "Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses," let us "highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain," but that we, like them, will "run with steadfastness the race set before us"; that we will look to Jesus, the captain of our faith, who "always leadeth us in triumph"; who has opened the way to that ultimate city of victory whose builder and maker is God.
A CHINESE GENERAL'S ANSWER "Do you really believe that Christianity can save China?" asked a student of General Chao at the Shansi Student Conference.
"If Christianity can save me it can certainly save China," was the General's prompt answer. Then General Chao told of his own conversion to Christianity. . When he was still a young boy he was one day given a copy of the Bible, Although he read practically none of it and understood less, still he could never get away from his first impression of Christianity. The appeal of the Gospel continued to come to him during the following years, although it was practically unheeded. Finally, while on a dis- couraging campaign against Mongolia the accumulated impression of years brought about the change in him from a reckless Chinese sol- dier to an outstanding Christian general. Now he is a leader in the Church and Young Men's Christian Association at Taiyuanfu, the capital of Shansi Province. His life story made a strong appeal to the student's conference so that his answer carried tremendous conviction.
The Christian life of this man and of thousands of others is the harvest from the work of missionaries who probably did not realize how far-reaching their efforts would be. 'God's spirit gives the in- crease.
War's Contribution to Christian
BY REV. WILLIAM ADAMS BROWN, D. D., NEW YORK I l!' one were asked to put into a single word the new and out· standing contributions of the war to Christian unity it would be a deepened consciousness of need. The desire for unity is no new thing to Christians. It has been in our thoughts and in our prayers for generations, but, because of the difficulties in the way, its realization has seemed remote. Even those who have believed in it most strongly and labored for it most earnestly have been afraid of going too fast. They have looked forward to a future world con· fer-ence when the great subject should be considered with. the thoroughness which its importance deserves, but in the meantime they have deprecated hasty action. So we have gone on making shift as best we might with our existing machinery, conscious that things were not right with the Church, but too busy with our imme· diate concerns to have time for a radical change of methods.
But suddenly we have been made to realize the bankruptcy of this policy of delay. Face to face- with the crisis of the world's need, the sinfulness of our own divisions has been revealed. But yesterday the speculation of the philosopher and, the prayer of the saint, unity has become a matter of practical politics.
What has been happening to the Church has been happening to the world. We have been finding out by bitter experience that if we are to live at all we must find some way of living together. For good or for evil, for evil if not for good, the nations are bound together into a common bundle of life from which no declaration of independence on the part of anyone of them can separate them. If we cannot find some way of living together in brotherhood and peace we shall have to live together in misery and discord. If the war has proved anyone thing it has proved this. The League of Nations is simply the attempt to translate into practical forms of political organization a conviction which has been forming itself in the minds of thoughtful men of all countries that somehow we must find a way to include our rival interests and desires within a larger reconciling unity.
This world-consciousness of need introduces the new element into the problem, let us say rather, into the task of Christian unity. For unity is, in the last analysis, an affair of the spirit. Without the will to live together in peace and mutual helpfulness, the best devised constitution will prove a scrap of paper, and the League of Nations only the last in the long list of tragic failures with which history is strewn. There must be a soul to inhabit the bopy, a :spirit to inform and direct the plans and purposes of the new inter. national organization, or we shall be doomed to failure from the 97
start. Here then is the opportunity of the Church to be the soul of this new body, to furnish the inner bond of principle and conviction that shall weld the separate peoples into one.
But to do this the Church must itself be one. This is true not for its own sake solely, or even primarily, but for the sake of the world. Our Master himself put Christian unity in this large context when He said of His disciples: "I pray that they be one, that.the world may believe that thou hast sent me.' , We must put the em-' phasis where Christ put it. We must realize that unity is not a matter that concerns the household of faith alone i it is the very heart and center of Christianity's contribution to the life of the world.
With this new sense of need, the war has brought us also a new sense of posS'ibility. It is the most signal proof of man's divine origin and destiny, that with the deepened consciousness of need there comes to him also a more vivid consciousness of power. The harder the task, the more resolute the determination to discharge it. The greater the obstacle, the more intense the belief that somehow and in some way it can be overcome. Of all the revelations of these marvelous four years the revelation of unsuspected resources has been the most amazing. We have had to readjust our entire standard of values. If anyone had predicted four years ago that it was possible within a year and a half to raise, train, arm, equip and transport across three thousand miles of sea and deliver on the fighting line of France an. army of two million trained and experienced soldiers, with two million more in reserve, he would have been laughed out of court; and yet the thing has been done. And it is only one of a multitude of similar revelations of unsl!spected capacities in men and in nations. History is a commentary on the word of Jesus: "With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
What we have seen in the nation has had its reflex influence on the church. Existing standards have been revolutionized, old prejudices swept out of the way, new'convictions formed as to duty and possibility. The thing that seemed too hard for us but four short years ago, in spite of God's pointing finger and Jesus' reassuring voice, now seems to us obvious and necessary. It is only a question of finding the way to do the thing we know must be done and can be done.
NEW CONFIDENCE FOR THE CHURCH What are the elements in this new confidence which the war has brought to the Church ~ Three elements at least we can distinguish: first, a new standard of judgment; second, a new experience of comradeship in service; third, a more vivid consciousness of the presence and power of God.
THE WAR'S CONTRIBUTION TO CHRISTIAN UNITY
And first, A NEW STANDARD OF JUDGMENT. The change which has come over our thought, concerning the Church's duty and opportunity is a change that comes from seeing things in the large and from putting individual interests and duties in the right perspective. We have seen the effect of this change in the nation, as it has abandoned its traditional isolation and realized itself for what it is, a member of the family of nations. So, to each section of the Church of Christ, engrossed in its own special tasks and immediate necessities, t]jere has come a new vision of the Church as a whole, as we have contemplated our Christian responsibilities in the light of.the world's need and realized our inability to meet that need alone. At two different points we have been revising our previous judgment of our duty as Christians. On the one hand we have realized, as we have never realized before, how much we hold in common with men of other names within the Christian fold. On the other, we have gained a new respect for the convictions of those from whom we differ, as we have worked shoulder to shoulder with them in a common cause.
Face to face with the elemental realities of life, how much on which we have differed has sunk into relative unimportance, and conversely, how the great facts of our faith have stood out like mountain peaks above the mist; the fact of God in His righteousness, His wisdom and His love; the fact of Christ, our I..eader, our Brother, our Saviour and our Friend; the fact of the Cross with its revelation of a love which does not shrink from suffering, nay, which fulfils itself in and through suffering, a love for which nothing is too great, for which nothing is too hard; the fact of sin in all its naked ugliness of selfishness" and unbelief, and the greater fact of God's power to redeem from sin through the constraining influence of his Spirit; the fact of immortality, completing with its promise of a fulfilment denied here, the prophecy that love has written in every opening life-how these great facts of our common Chri~tian faith and experience have towered above all that was petty and divisive and made us feel our oneness with one another as we have faced the common tasks for which apart from them we should have been too weak!
Again, we have learned new respect for the convictions of others. Not that we have surrendered our own convictions or yielded our right to maintain them against views which we are constrained to believe inadequate or mistaken, but that we have come to see how much more complex and many-sided life is, how hopeless to exp"ect that within the family of God all men should think or feel or act alike. We have discovered that it is possible for men who differ in some thing!;;, even in some great things, to work together heartily and with mutual self-respect for the still greater things in which they agree. Where before we thought that our differences were a 100 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [February reason for keeping apart, we see now that they furnish the great- est of all possible reasons for coming together.
A second element in our new confidence has come from our experience of COMRADESHIP IN SERVICE. The new standard of judg- ment of which we have been speaking, it cannot be too often in- sisted, is not something which has grown up in the abstract as a matter of theory and of opinion. It has been discovered by living. We have come to see things differently because we have been doing things differently. Face to face with the common task, our old divisive methods have broken down. We have gotten together be- cause we have had to get together, and in the course of our gettiug together we have gained the new insight of- which I have spoken. Working ~ogether for a common end that has lifted us above ourselves, we have come to understand one another better, and understanding has bred respect and sympathy.
The experience of -comradeship in service is no novelty to the men and women who on the foreign field have been facing the embattled forces of a non-Ohristian civilization. But the extent to which we have been doing it is new, and the number of persons who have shared this enfranchising experience is beyond computation. One thinks of the service rendered by the Young Men's and Young Women's Ohristian Associations, by the Red Oross, and kindred organizations which, even though not formally Ohristian in name, are born of the Ohristian spirit and express the Ohristian purpose. But it is not of these that we are thinking now. Weare thinking of the new forms of cooperation that have taken place between the organized Ohristian churches as they have functioned through the war commissions and other emergency committees created to meet the instant need. We are thinking of such forms of cooperation as have been worked out in the United States through the General War Time Oommission of the Ohurches, which has brought together for common action representatives of between twenty and thirty different religious bodies. In this Oommission and the various committees which it has brought into existence, Christians who had never before met face to face have been working together like brothers, and in common ministry to their fellowmen in need -have gained unexpected revelations of their kinship of spirit.
This is not the place to tell the story of this common workthe work for our soldiers and sailors through the chaplains, regular and voluntary; the work for the men and women who form the great industrial army that furnishes the supplies and munitions to the men who fight; the work for the sick and the wounded and the destitute through the furnishing of supplies and workers to the great international organizations; the work for our negro troops and (or the communities from which they come; the work for a sounder and a purer national life as it has been carried on through the campaign against the liquor traffic and venereal disease; the work for the leaders of the next generation now in the camps and the colleges and the training schools as they stand at the threshold of their life work facing the question: what must I do with my life? These are only a few of the many ways in which Christians have been working together not simply as individuals but in forms of organized cooperation that carry with them the sanction of the Church as a whole.
In the heart of Camp Upton, near the administrative building of the Young Men's Christian Association and the headquarters of the Knights of Columbus, stands an attractive building which bears the title, Church Headquarters. It has a chapel of dignity and beauty, where under conditions that minister to reverence the more sacred and intimate services of religion can be celebrated. It has offices for pastoral conference, where chaplains, regular and voluntary, can meet men for private conference. It has residence rooms for visiting clergymen, and a conference room were from week to week religious workers have met to take counsel for the spiritual interests of the camp as a whole. The building was erected and paid ror by seven different branches of the church of Christ acting through the General War Time Commission. It was opened with a service participated in by Roman Catholics, Protestants and Hebrews, at which the Commanding General delivered the address. It has been used by all the religious forces of the camp with the utmost sympathy and harmony from that day to this.
. It is a type of the new spirit which is abroad in the Church, the spirit of comradeship in service, the spirit that is determined that, however many and great may be the things in which we differ, they shall not prevent us from working together in the things in which we agree.
One more element in the new confidence needs to be included, the most momentous and significant of all. It is the more vivid consciousness of THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD. It has come to us as all great discoveries come, in ways we should not have chosen and which we did not expect. It has come to us out of the very storm and stress of the time, out of the deepened sense of need, or which we have spoken, out of our contact with forces so much greater and more far-reaching than we, that they have forced us to recognize the presence of an unseen actor guiding the issue of events to ends bevond our ken. It is a consciousness which has made itself felt in the most widely different quarters, in the lives of men who have been fighting, but no less in the hearts of those who have remained at home, awe-struck witnesses of the sacrifice which it was not given to them to share. It has found voice even in the daily press, with its recognition of an unseen presence over-ruling
the plans· of men for purposes that outlast the years and only worthily to be met by reverence and consecration.
From a private letter from Major James M. Black, Ohaplain in the British Expeditionary Forces, written on April 4th, 1918,I quote these words: "Two Sundays ago, the dark Sundayof the German push, I was at Headquarters taking the service. Sir Douglas Haig was there, anxious no doubt, but very quiet. He came up and thanked me afterwards for the comfort I had given him, and he remarked: 'Remember, the battle is not ours but God's.' He is a sincerely religious man whose faith is a big thing to him. I was glad to have been there at such a time."
"The Battle is not ours, but God's." This is a conviction which has been brought home to multitudes of earnest men and women during the momentous days through which we have passed, and in this consciousness of a power greater than man, seeing the end from the beginning, able to do for us more than we can ask or even think, is the last and most enduring ground of our hope for Christian unity.
A new standard of judgment, a new experience of comradeship in service, a new consciousness of the presence and power of God. These, We repeat, are the new contributions which the war has made to Ohristian unity.
But they must be used. Of themselves they are only an opportunity. It is for us with a courage that is commensurate with the need, to translate the opportunity into accomplished fnct.
THE GREATEST NEED OF THE HOUR Must not God wonder that there are not more intercessors in view of the imperative need for the exercise of this potent ministry?
The fundamental ne~d today is not of money-desirable as it is that the money power be more largely related to the plans of the expand- ing Kingdom. Nor is the chief need that of better organization, although anyone can see the waste, friction and comparatively meager fruitage resulting from the want of better coordination and distribu- tion of the forces. Our greatest need is not better plans-insistent as are the demands of the modern age for the exercise of a truer statesmanship and an abler Christian leadership. Neither is the primary need for more workers, although that might seem para- tmlunt. No, back of this and other unquestioned needs is the funda-.
mental need of more Christ-like intercessors. This, if adequately supplied, will carry with it the meeting of the other clamant require- ments of our day.
JOHN R. MOTT.
EVIIDDEE;NNCE OF THHEE; NNE;EED OF HUMMAANNEE; RE;CCOONNSSTTRRUUCCTION IN
Some slaves on the PorttUubgruese Island o f San Thome, West Africa African Reconstruction After thejWaar BY JOHN H. HARRIS, LONDON, ENGLAND Author of "Dawn in Darkest Africa"
·..HE part which Africa has played in the Great War may easily T. mean the greatest revolution in negro and white relationships . since the commencement of the Christian era. The demands which will be made by the African race, and the changes that must take place, command the attention of the whole Christian Church. Missionary organizations must lead in the social reconstruction which will inevitably result. When Colonel Mangin, in 1]9912, was instructed to create a French African Army, trained in the science of European warfare, none foresaw that as General Mangin, he would lead his Senegalese in the re.conquest of the Duamont forts and the CaiIllettewoods of Verdun. Nor was it realized that nearly a million Africans would take part in European warfare; nor, that Marshal Haig would draw his dynamite from the oil palms and cocoa-nut trees of tropical Afriicca. These facts have shown the inherent possibilities of the African and the tremendous resources 103
of the African continent; they have also opened the eyes of the African .himself. Civilization must therefore take heed, and the Christian Church must be in the van, if Africa is to be saved. from a future disaster.
LAND, LABOR AND PRODUCE It is asserted, but without definite proof, that the $2,000,000,000 obtained from the South AfriCan gold mines have involved the expenditure of a like amount. It is certainly true that gold wins approximately only its own equivalent, whereas agricultural investment in Africa repays its cost nearly 100 times. Men are awakening to the fact that African wealth is to be found not below the surface of mother earth· but upon its surface, and, second, that the role of the white man is that of consumer, while the African is the producer. The white manufacturer is asking how the African can be encouraged to produce larger quantities of vegetable oils, cocoa, sugar, cotton and fibre; and these questions are being asked in terms and in a manner which can only lead to a powerful movement for African reconstruction.
White civilization is looking to Africa and to the black man in Africa for a healing balm for the ravages of war. The main products of Central Africa are in round figures as follows.: Vegetable Oils and Fats,.,,"""";""""', … ,…….. $40,000,000 Cocoa and Sugar ……………….. ,.,., ……….. ,…. $20,000,000 Cotton, Feathers, Scented and Pulpwoods .. ,……………. $40,000,000 Total ………………………………… $100,000,000 Any man acquainted' with the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Africa, and a working knowledge of government statistics and reports, knows that a way ought to be found for increasing that output of 100 million dollars to ] ,000 million dollars within ten years after the close of the war. . The solution of all material reconstruction in Africa is a land solution, hence the great land struggles which are already in progress come first in order of thought. Broadly speaking there are two . theories of African economics: (1) that the white man should own land and the native should be his laborer, (2) that the native should both own and farm the land, harvest his own produce and sell that produce to the white merchant. For two centuries the struggle be- tween the two systems has gone on, and there is some evidence that the second system will win. If it does, it will change the whole aspect of Christian missionary work, for the native will possess such a measure of economic stability that Christian Churches will become self-supporting, and thus inevitably selfcgoverning.
The system of white ownership and native labor spells heavy administrative charges for oversight and management, whilst the
A STAGE IN THE PROGRESS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF
[Tree-felling in a Central A frican Forest]
native laborer as merely a wage earner does not put forth his maxi- mum effort. "'nere the native is his own producer, the output is greatly increased and the cost of production far lower. One com- parative feature of this situation is disclosed in the following pre- war figures: The German Cameroons territory is over twice the size of the British Gold Coast j both territories are equally suited to cocoa production, and the only difference is the system pursued.
In the Cameroons, with plantations under white ownership and native labor, the production of cocoa increased from 2,250,000 lbs.
in 1904 to 8,000,000 lbs. in 1912, whereas in Gold Coast the purely native industry increased from 11,000,000 lbs. in 1904 to 85,000,000 .
lbs. in 1912 IBy taking the land from the African natives you get the maximum of laborers; by leaving the land to the African natives you get the maximum of produce. .
The general policy adopted by Great Britain (but unfortunately not always followed) is first that all the lands of the Colonial·ter- ritories are the ownership of the inhabitants, that the Governor is the Trustee for these lands, and finally that any proceeds from the lease or sale must go into local revenues, with a share to the natives.
This system prevails with slight variations in Uganda and the West African territories.
LABOR SYSTEMS Prior to the outbreak of war, the worst labor systems were those of the Portuguese and German Colonies j the Portuguese due to a so-called Contract System, and that of the German colonies due to forced labor. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that it was only in these colonies that this type of labor and its attendant abuses prevailed: they were to be found in several political divisions, but they reached the most serious proportions in the Portuguese and German Colonies.
The object of Portuguese Contract Labor was that of supplying labor to the cocoa plantations of West Africa. It is estimated that from 1875 to 1908 nearly 100,000 men, women and children were landed upon the cocoa islands from the mainland of West Africa, and until 1908 not a single one of these unfortunate people had been allowed to return to Africa. Although the laborers were ostensibly carried across the ocean under "free contracts," many of them had never seen a contract, whilst force or fraud had been exercised in order to secure them.
But this tragedy was by no means confined to the slavery on the cocoa· plantations; the cruelties and deaths involved in securing the laborers in Central Africa were appaling. Mr. Joseph Burtt was told by a Portuguese trader that if he could get five out of ten to the Coast alive, he considered himself very fortunate, but more often than not he reached the AfriGUll Qoal'lt with not more than
AFRICAN RECONSTRUCTION AFTER THBE WAR
a two in salable condition. This is not surprising when it is re- membered that along the whole route of hundreds of miles from the interior the trees and roadways were strewn with discarded shackles, whilst these and hpman bones were everywhere the terrible evidence witnessed by Joseph Burtt, Henry Nevinson, Colonel Hardinge and Charles Swan, all of whom pursued their respective enquiries along quite different routes and for quite different objects.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PHYSICAL RECONSTRUCTION IN AFRICA Plantation of -Oil Pa1ms representing 5SO0 to 100 years' growth, and marking site of ancient vil1age In the years 1908-1910 there broke out in England an indignant agitation for the abolition of this system, an agitation to which many enlightened Portuguese gave support, with the result that some effective reforms have been secured. From the total slave populations of about 30,000 to 40,000 over 12,000 have been emancipated, leaving in bondage today from 18,000 to 28,000. Recruiting on the mainland, whilst stilI attended by abuse, cannot be fairly compared with former conditions, but at the same time much remains to be done. Every slave must be set free and the alarming death rate amongst the laborers of nearly 120 per 1,000 must be considerably reduced before the Portuguese labor system can be regarded as at all satisfactory.
In most of the African territories forced labor has been inherent in the development of the territories, and under native law it was part of the communal control of native custom. European
Governments have also maintained the same policy, but in most territories there has been an ever increasing desire to abolish every form of compulsory labor. Forced labor for purely administrative purposes which benefit the entire community is not without excuse, but forced labor for private profit is indistinguishable from slavery, and this form of labor was characteristic of every German territory.
In ]'ebruary, 1914, a leading Deputy of the German Reichstag said he "would vote no more money for the colonies if energetic steps were not taken to protect the natives from ill-treatment and forced labor, for there had been more loss of life on the plantations than in the slave-hunts of former years." Dr.Solf, the Oolonial Secretary, did not, or apparently could not, deny these grave allegations, but said the Government was endeayoring to protect the natives and to "make their lot tolerable."
AN INTERNATIONAL CHARTER OF FREEDOM Public opinion is beginning to realize that oppression and fraud practiced upon the child races of the world is an unerring boomnang; already strong forces-Christian, philanthropic and commercial, are at work in England, France, Italy and Switzerland upon an International Government Oonference, having as ih; object the framing of principles for (1) the prevention of labor abuses; (2) the restriction of the sale of intoxicants; (3) the study of and prophy~ lactic measures against diseases. The motive power behind this movement is due first to a feeling of Ohristian duty, secondly for the honor of the white races, and thirdly for the preservation and increase of labor supplies for the tropics. It is being asked whether the United States will co-operate in such a movement-the answer will probably come through the churches and missionary societies, and for that answer European Ohristianity earnestly waits.
WAITING AFRICA "Passing" along a native trail in a remote region, I met a company of head hunters, armed with bows and arrows. I asked the leader: "Have the 'WORDS' come to your village yet?" His face lighted up as he answered, "Qh, yes, the 'WORDS' have come! A Ch;istian teacher came to live among us only a week ago." "Would the other villages about here like to have the 'WORDS'?" I inquired. He swept the horizon with his arm and said, "All of them, all of them are waiting for the 'WORDS' to come."
,CORNELIUS H. P AHON.
DJstrI&ution of MIl Icnatla by ~
……………… – – . . . . – , ………. ." . . . .11he_"'.. thoOb….. r.iI7 ……Judo b _ 'Il00 …… ." … ~.r_ _ _ …….. _ ………….. i.lo .. , . _ ,",_' ……, ….. _ ………. Ihea – I J…. ….. ,. _ _ n. _10 ………… .;……..~.-..,.meI Qdorolher _… Tho A~·_;.- – – • …. '" Ihe _~ _ tIIItmI IUIdtr lb. Obi.. lolaod _ – – . II III. _ … _ _ . . . ."'……
Proportionate ~ Occupatkio by Provinces.
– – .~ ……………………………………………………t..,.I ….I …t …~……………………………… o otIM,.,…… .r Tlua <;h.,. tMts … ___ oilY JWO'"irl/$. Holl …….. ………,..,.—.,,.,……_a…. '.1_ the d'~_I. -" 1101' );.,. T. 'or The _ _ of .". ill – " IN"'i_ .",dacIII. . 1M n_'- of ~1IfI of Ih. NhIiw ………. .,It.uu…,…,a.. ……….0.. ….. IIf….. V…….
• …………………… iI..-.,""I'I_.."….. t.oolMlll Itll. . . . . .
…………………… _ …. tIaif,…IftC't ……
,u.. … .-.:…, ………………….. &he………..
BEFORE RULERS TO ANSWER FOR THEIR
Chinese Christians are still haled before magistrates or are persecuted in other ways becanse of their allegiance to Christ Salt and Its Savor in China An Answer to the Question: Do the COhinese Make Good COhristians T BY REV. CHARLES E. SCOTT, TSING TAU, CHINA Author of "China from Within"
·0 one who has taken the pains to investigate the facts longer N doubts that the COhristians of North OChina in 1900 were founded on the "Rock COhrist Jesus." Some 20,000 native OChristians in North OChina, many of them of the first generation out of heathenism, deliberately chose to lay down their lives rather than deny their Lord. And the denial was made possible on such easy terms-all they had to do was to burn incense sticks before 109
the idols, or sign a paper that they had recanted the foreign devil doct.rine, or merely draw a cross in the dirt and spit on it.
The testimony of missionaries on the ground, of persecutors, of neighbors and relatives-was that some were tortured, not accepting deliverance . .. and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. In addition to the martyrs, many thousands more had their homes and property destroyed, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. ln the case of city riots, both missionaries and converts were stoned and hacked, if not sawn asunder.
Ohildren, even, confessed Him, thougli tortured. Bonds and imprisonment were constantly resorted to in cases where instant death was not resolved upon. .Yet they were faithful unto death.
All were tempted in every way, both to deny the Lord Jesus or merely to renounce their religion" for a time," and in both cases were begged by friends" just to bow before the idols whilst remaining faithful at heart." But, in spite of every temptation, many were tortured, not accepting deliverance. Others were jeered at in the moment of their death by.fire or sword, and steadfastly endured the trial of cruel mockings and scourgings. I knew of an old Ohristian who, given the option of recanting or of being immediately plunged into a caldron of boiling water, chose the latter.
Not a few were men who had formerly lived bad lives, but out of weakness were made strong.
And yet, though that crisis of 1900 brought forth its solemn and unbreakable testimony, numbers of Christians in the home Church seem to believe that China reverted to the so-called "rice'" brand of Christians, "those who are in the Church for what they can get out of it." This devil's lie about the quality of Chinese Christians since 1,900 everywhere persists. But the fact is that the sufferings .which came upon the church in 1900 were .greater only in degree than those which today are often visited upon Ohinese who boldly come out and confess Christ. .
Our station field stretches through five counties, with a populationestimated by the Govermnent at some five millions of people. I itinerate up and down through multitudinous mud villa.ges of peasants. . I know those villages and the Christians in them. I know that when a man decides today, no less than in Boxer days, to become a Christian he frequently cuts himself entirely off from the sympathy and companionship of his community.
There are few things more pathetic, that tug harder at the heart of a pastor, than the spiritual isolation of a single Christian or of a family in a heathen village.
If a maIl, becomes a Christian, the break with the hateful past has to be so complete that he concentrates the venom of heathenism
SALT AND ITS SAVOR IN CHINA
upon himself. Its temptations, its hoary customs, its blasphemies, its required· sins-gambling and law-suiting, cheating, concubinage, slavery; ancestor worship, witchcraft, superstition and demon-worship; geomancy and the vile power of priests-all rise up to smite him. So that he and his house, while they become a beacon of light for sin-tossed men, become also by the very fact of their conspicuousness, a ta,g~t for the deviltry of Satan and his servants. And in withstanding their onsets "these little ones" illus~rate what Li Hung Chang recorded in his diary as a curious fact for which he could not account: "This Christianity makes poor and lowly people bold and unafraid."
What is the daring of that break with idolatry, and what is its challenge to the powers of darkness, can be realized only by knowing concrete cases. The illustrations that follow throw suggestive light. These are all common, every-day sufferings, and endured for the sake of the Name. Not all have happened to the same person or in the same village; but they are the ordinary methods that make a Christian in the expressive language of the Chinese, "eat bitterness. "
First, there is the persecution that originates in the family. And this perhaps is the bitterest of all. One day I emerged unexpectedly on the street of a village, a village with one Christian, and saw ahead of me that young man crying and limping. He held his neck sidewise and stiff; his face, clawed fiercely by finger nails, was dripping blood; his eyes were blackened, his fingers were swollen; and he later showed me great welts on his shin bones. He had returned home from a cutting-bee with a queueless head, his badge of discipleship; his mother and wife and sister, feeling the family disgraced beyond measure and the spirits of their ancestors irretrievably outraged, rose up in their wrath, and with sticks and clubs laid to upon his body with such vigor that he required weeks to recover.
Again, I baptized the oldest of four sons; the father had protested to the son at the contemplated step. Soon after the father divided his inheritance. By custom, the oldest should receive much more relatively than the others. In this case he received nothing for himself and wife and children, though they had done their share in earning the common clan living.
Another Christian, a useful evangelist who later went to South Africa to preach to the coolies in the mines there, was an)nfluential man in his village, and secured consent of the village elders to turn a neglected temple into a Christian school. His heathen parents, incensed at such sacrilege, went to the County magistrate, and of him demanded an official destruction of their son. And he consented; for there is an old custom or law of the land, by which, in virtue of parents' power of death over their children, they can
so demand, and not be refused. Before the magistrate could execute the decree, the son had been warned and fled for his life, leaving his wife and children to great distress in the parental home.
Imagine a scene, part of which I saw: a wife tugging at the coat tail of her husband down the entire length of the long ambling village street, reviling him before a laughing crowd. For three mortal miles she hung on, cursing and attempting to pull him back from worship, till he arrived at "a Church in the house," of a neighboring village where he was to meet with fellow Christians. Then the wife turned and fled precipitately, lest some one beWitch her with one of the" Jesus pills" of cursed magic.
On the 23rd of October, 1913, while I was examining mature candidates for baptism, their parents stalked in, and threatened on their return home to commit suicide, if the candidates did not at once renounce their interest in a foreign religion.
Committing suicide is in China an accredited kind of protest ias common as emphatic.. When committed on aCCOllllt of the Jesus religion, it is "to spite" the renegade member of the family, and to discourage others from becoming thus foolish and impious, converts to strange doctrines. Common methods of suicide by the women pea!,ants in my part of the world, in protest against the male members of their families joining themselves to the Jesus Devil Sect, is to jump into the village wells, drink sulphur soaked off the heads 'oj!:' Jg.panes~ matches, or destroy themselves with the iCabbage knife.
It is a consummate triumph on the part of the suicide because it achieves double edged succession in two worlds at the same time. The immediate advantage to a suicide of this mode of procedure is explicable in the light of the Chinese belief and proverb: "He who arrives first at the yamen-with a bribe-wins the case." The spirit of the suicide hastens ahead and prefers charges to a judge of the infernal regions, before the opponent can arrive. On the other hand, manifold and continuous embarrassments for the living victim of the suicide are at once set in operation. He is often looked upon as a murderel', and lives abused and loathed.
The tricks and devices of fellow villagers to humiliate and torture a Ohristian neighbor are numberless. A man is refused the use of the village well; and many a tragedy occurs at night when he attempts to steal out and draw water from the old place or from another. Sometimes he is not allowed to grind at the mill shared by several families on the street. It is a serious business to get bread without flour.
For unwillingness to conform to blasphemous heathen customs, companies of villagers have made the bodies of many a Christian neighbor smart, and have reduced him to penury. He refuses t.) burn paper in worship to his ancestors; and he is despised as un-
WOULD YOU ENDURE l'HIS IN PUBLIC FOR CHRIST'S SAKE In this way Christians have submitted to persecution for righteousness' sake filial, a moral pariah. He refuses to burn spirit money to supply ghosts of the departed with good food and warm clothes for wintelr'; and he is condemned as a niggard. And some morning he awakes to find a hole dug through the mud waII. of his yard, and his donkey pulled through it. He knows it is useless to search for' it. Doubtless it has been butchered and sold on 'the market. Often he wakes up in the night to find his wall pulled down,-and no one can well get along without his wall; or he finds his meagre stock Qf brushwood/-so laboriously cCullt and gathered and carried on his
head down the mountain side,-stolen; or his crops lugged off, his ox driven away, and his straw burned.
He refuses to make a contribution to the expenses of the debasing, roving theatre, intimately linked with the temple. Its local appearance has been arranged through the priest, who gets a rake off for his pains. The heathen even ostentatiously demand of the Christian the use of tools in preparation for the spectacle. On the refusal of one convert, they seized him, bound his hands and hung him up by the arms to beams on the theatre platform opposite the village temvle, and there made him a spectacle, and, taunting, 'said: ,,You say your God is better than our gods within! Now ask him to make you come down!" On the consistent and repeated refusal of two brothers to pay that tax, the fellow villagers decided to seize and divide among themselves fourteen out of sixteen shares of land on the mountainside that belonged to the brothers. On appeal of the brothers to the magistrate the seizure was confirmed as justified.
In cases where Christians have preached to fellow villagers they have suffered many kinds of violence. One of our best preachers was run upon by a. gang of village bullies, who mauled him and hauled him around by his queue, and pulled out some of his hair. Not far from that village two Christians were selling Gospels and tracts,-as the law allows,-when the head village elder not only imperiously ordered them to leave, but kicked their supply into the dust of the street, and the boys threw some into the village pond, and gave away the rest to be made into shoe-soles.
When it was known that I was to arrive at a certain village, the heathen there, in order to humiliate the one resident Christian man, stole his barrow which he was to use to forward my stock of Bible portions, my food box, and my bedding. This vehicle is, for a Chinese peasant, a piece of property of considerable value anq. absolutely indispensable. It was never found.
How often have I received letters like the following from harassed Christians: "When our village learned that we had planned to open a Christian school here, they seized five acres of our land and four ponds."
"Village roughs found out t.j:J.at my son was carrying money for our school teacher, and they tore from him his big fur coat, and hat and girdle, and beat him nearly dead."
"I refused.. to profane the Sabbath with them; and on my return from my field last night, they had broken the doors and win- 'dows of my house, burned my goods, and outraged my wife."
In one village a company of men, wild with New Year's excesses, went to the home of three Christians of the village-humble, inoffensive men-seized and bound them, and nearly ran them through with knives.
(To be oonoluded).
OF A WARD,. SHOWING THE BRTCK BEDS WHICH CAN BE WARMED
WINTER The Borden Memorial Hospital in China A .-Hospital in memory of William Whiting Borden., Conducted by the China Inland Mission at Lanchowfu, Kannsuh, China BY GEORGE ·-E. KING, M. D., LANCHOWFU, CHINA O NCE upon a time right across the middle belt of Asia there were cities and forests and tilled land-kingdom upon king- dom, nation upon nation. They linked up Greece to Persia, Persia to India, India to China; or further north, Persia to Kashmir and Kashmir to China. Then, somehow, by war or famine or the encroaching desert sands-these civilizations passed away, and with the cpllapse of the means of communication the isolation of the different nations increased. But of that old roadway traces still.remain-bits, broken and separated, but enough to call to mind these olden, golden days when green clad rivers ran where now all is bare yellow earth, and lakes used to shimmer in the light where all that is left us is a vast hollow where farmers reap fat crops. Kansuh is at the broken end of that old road-used still as a means to reach China's greatest colony, her New Dominion in Turkestan. Kansuh is for the most part a mass of foothills of the Himalayasearth with scarce any grass to adorn it in these bleak frozen 'winter months. Up and down, everywhere hills of earth without rhyme or reason, but broken by two redeeming features; the one, rich valleys where water wheel,s… some 90 feet high, irrigate the land from the rivers; the other, rocky mountains with leafy trees and flowers and song birds. Of coal there is a good deal, of gold and copper not 115
PATIENTS BREAKING OFF OPIUM AT THE BORDEN MEMORIAL HOSPI'Tl'AL a little. Mineral oil is also obtained. But the mountains that surround Kansuh and give it peace in troublous times hinder contact with the outside world, and will do so till the railway comes.
Reputedly poor, the Kansuh people have often more money than they seem to possess, for they do not spend it on their homes or on their dress. Kansuh has seen many troubles, and the year of awful memory is 1868, or thereabouts, when the great Moslem rebellion deluged the province with blood; and bands of Moslem rebels roamed the country. Then none dared to till the soil, so that wheat rose to 150 times its wonted price and even at that price there was sometimes none to be had. People with their silver in their pockets jumped into the Yellow River rather than die slowly of starvation.
This race problem is most acute in Kansuh. Chinese aga,inst Moslem-Moslem ag'ainst Chinese. Fear and suspicion fill the minds of the Chinese. To him the Moslem is a cruel, treacherous, deceitf1J1-.1 foe, who may today be all smiles and yet full of villainy in his heart. To the Moslem the ChinesH is a despised and unworthy master, unclean in his habits and benighted in understanding. To an outsider, it seems largely a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
In the heart of this country stands Lanchow, beautiful of situation, with mouuntains and orchards and river. And standing high looking across the waters to the city and the hills beyond is the hospital built in memory of the late William Borden of New York.
19191 THE BORDEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL IN CHINA
While preparing to be a missionary to the Moslems of OChina he was called 'into the King's Presence.
The hospital has a large out-patient department, on the upper story of which are rooms for pathological work, and operating department-one for men and one for women. A passage-way from the upper story leads across to the in-patient departments which are on a higher level than the out-patient rooms. The men's inpatient department, and the women's ward are separated by two roomy bungalows for doctors. In the women's side there is also a house for a foreign nurse. Thousands of patients, COhinese and Moslems, have passed through this hospital, coming sometimes ten days' journey to get medical help. Some have taken their stand for Jesus OChrist as a result of the work, but only two or three Moslems have thus far given much promise.
There are accommodations for about eighty men and forty women, butthe beds are not all occupied yet, as the people are somewhat suspicious and distrustful still. It is the only hospital operating in this province, with its twelve million people, of whom perhaps two or three millions are Moslems.
This is "a city set upon a hill." Its message rings out for good or ill, very far afield.
MEN'S IN·PATIENT DEPARTTMMFE.l.NT WITH THE MOSLEM WARD AT THE BACK
Miau Men of
BY J. FRANKLIN KELLY, M. D., HAINAN, CHINA W E have met the Maiu men, Simple children of the forest, From the mountains of the mainland, Who are· strangers in our island, They have journeyed up the rivers, Climbed up high into the mountains, Finding homes within the jungle- There they burn down woods and thickets, Making ashes for their gardens, Growing corn, hill-rice and tubers, The "moudamin" of the Orient- The potatoes of the tropics- Also sweet "au-kia" or taro, And the citron of the South-land.
We would tell of their brave chieftain, Of the lettered brave's adventures, How he fought with those wild Bruno, W ell nigh losing eyes and eyelids; Then he came to mission doctor- "Dang Tin-tae" it was, theYaleman- Got his face patched, heard the Gospel. He it was who had the vision Of a white light in his dwelling, Brightening the darkened corners, Whitening the roof and rafters! Then, with sph:it deeply troubled, Came again unto the white men For more light and we all told him Light in this dark world is Jesus, Saviour of all tribes and nations.
Then returned he to his tribesmen- "Zit-kwang" he, the patch-face chieftain- Sent out letters to his people, Summoned them from all the mountains, Gathered them from all the forests, Lo they came by scores and fifties, Sixties and the hundreds. Thousands Now are listening to the good news; All are having dreams and visions, Dancings, shakings and upheavals, Sin confessions, new convictions; Fiercest strugglings with their demons. Then they gave up homes and treasures, Came out fully in the open Light of day with swift fulfilment Of the vision of the prophets; Now they've built a new pavilion Where they gather to their worship, To their reading of the Gospel, To their prayers and singing hymn tunes.
118
Signs in Latin
BY REV. SAMUEL GUY INMAN, NEW YORK Executive Secretary of the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America T HE outlook for missionary work in Latin America was never so encouraging as at present. The World War has not only brought all North, Central and South America closer to the United States, but it has revealed the deep need of true religion, and an openmindedness in its seeking that is surprising. vv'e have already noted in these pages some of the changes that have taken place in Brazil and in Chile through evangelical Christian influences, and in Porto Rico as revealed in the remarkable moral reform movement; now we record a few other scattered incidents among many that show a new era dawning for evangelical work among our southern neighbors.
PERU-HONORS TO A SCOTCH MISSIONARY San Marcos University in Lima, Peru, was founded in 1551, nearly a hundred years before John Harvard began his school in Cambridge. It is therefore the oldest university in America. With all of its conservatism, located in one of the most fanatical countries in South America, it has recently done the unprecedented thing of conferring the degree of Doctor of Letters on John A. Mackay, a brilliant young Scotch missionary, who began work in Lima two years ago. The press of Lima continues to refer with enthusiasm to this unusual event, which cannot fail to have a splendid effect on evangelical work in Peru where the constitutional prohibition against religious freedom was removed only two years ago. Dr. Mackay is reaping the benefit of his thorough preparation, which consisted, after graduation from his own Church College in Scotland, of two years' post graduate work at Princeton and one at Madrid University, followed by a tour all through South America. Besides his regular mission work, he is now giving a course in literature in the University of San Marcos.
BRAZIL SHOWS CONFIDENCE IN NORTH AMERICAN MISSION It is gratifying to note the confidlmce recently displayed by the Brazilian Government in the Southern Presbyterian Mission, Because of the great scarcity of food in different parts of the world, the Government has thought it necessary to inaugurate a campaign for increasing the production of foodstuffs throughout the country. To assist in this campaign for "Conservation and Increased Production of Food Supplies," the Government has called upon MI'. Hunnicutt, Director of the Laras School of Agriculture, and he is now giving a large part.of his time to this good work.
119
This Mission also has recently received a very remarkable offer from the leading men of the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Norte. It is asked to establish near the state capital, a school organized along the lines of the Southern Presbyterian School at Layras-a Gymnasio and an Agricultural School. To induce them to undertake the work, they are offered, for fifty years, the use of an immense estate (some ten thousand acres of land) with thorough-bred cattle, improved farm machinery, buildings for dormitory, class-rooms, barns, etc., with the probability of advantageous purchase, or' renewal of contract at the end of the lease. It is an off,er such as comes but once in a lifetime. There is no curtailment of liberty in the matter of religious instruction-in this respect the school is to have carte-blanche.
In this same city of Natal, the Government has a large school for girls, to direct which they have recently called Miss James, a former teacher in the Mission School at Pernambuco. The Government proposes to back Miss James, who has had special training in Teachers' College along those lines, in developing modern domes· tic science courses and others that will fit young women for practical life. They have requested her to make a trip to the United States for the purpose of engaging other young women to help her in this task.
CHILE'S BIG DAILY PUBLISHES MISSIONARY REPORT On a recent trip to South America I took occasion to express to prominent men my belief that if Pan-Americanism ever amounted to much, a frank discussion of religious questions must take place among the peoples- of the various countries. When the report of this tour was issued, it was sent to most of these prominent men. Among them was the editor of " El Mercurio" of Valparaiso, one of the most important dailies of South America. The editor, in spite of the former conservative policy not to deal with Protestant Missions, 'had the chapter on Chile translated and printed in its entirety in his paper, saying that it was interesting to know of the growing strength of Protestantism in the country.
In discussing Chile-a most conservative country and often believed to be very pro-German-it is interesting to note that a committee of prominent young Chileans, in Valparaiso, decided recently to raise a fund of $50,000 (pesos) for the American Red Cross. A regular "Yankee Drive" was put on and' netted $350,000-seven times their original goal.
NEW FIELDS OF SERVICE BY Y. M. O. A. IN VALPARAISO The demands in Valparaiso for a night school for women was so insistent recently that at last the Association decided to heed the call. The use of a room in the public school building was granted
ENCOURAGING SIGNS IN LATIN AMERICA
by the authorities free of rent. The money needed for the installation of lights was raised among the members of the Association. A good teacher was secured and the school opened with forty scholars enrolled. This opening interest is an eloquent testimony concerning the necessity for a Young Women's Christian Association.
At the request of a North American lady residing in Valparaiso who is interested in the homeless boys of the city, the Secretary made an investigation with reference to the opening of a home for these boys. The Chief of Police was called on and told of the project. He listened attentively and said, his face beaming: "This is not new to me. I have thought of such a home for these boys for several years, but the work has to be done 'by volunteer workers to succeed. We have a house that we .can turn over to you free of rent, and fifty beds. We will cooperate by bringing the boys to you instead of to the lock-ups. We want this home very much because now we can only put the boys in with other criminals-and that is not lessening crime, but making criminals." And now the only nQed is the right men to conduct the work.
PARAGUAY'S WELCOME TO MISSIONARIES Remarkable indeed was the welcome given by the leading citi- zens of Paraguay to Dr. W. E.Browning, Educational Secretary of the Oommittee on Cooperation in Latin America, and Rev. C. M. Morton, of the Disciples Mission Board, who went to Asuncion re- cently to map out a program for the new Mission to be established by the Disciples. Every man with whom they conversed expressed himself as delighted at the thought of having an Evangelical School in Asuncion, and as willing to help it in every way possible. Presi- dent Manuel Franco said: "Educational work is much needed in Paraguay. Our people . need a practical education. The girls should be taught to sew and to wash and to take care of the home. The boys should learn a use- ful trade. A 'Manual Training School' and a 'School of Agricul- ture' are much needed. There are good public lands which we could give you for an Agricultural School, and there is even an Experi- ment Station already begun by the Government which you might take over, equipment and all. What about your religious teaching? Is it of the confessional type 1"
Ex-President Schearer, and no doubt the future President of the Republic, was especially enthusiastic about the opening of the school and said: "My eldest child is in a Catholic school but I consider the in- struction very deficient. I will not send him to a government school, for the influence is not good. If you will begin your school in March, 1919"", even on ·a small scale, I will send you three children from the first day. The delay of a year in making effective your
plans for opening a school may prove fatal to the project and mean the loss of the opportunity. You should plan to begin your work as soon as possible, and you can count on my personal and official influence to the full. " Dr. Eusebio Ayala, the Minister of Education said: "We need you here. We are disposed to help you in auy way possible. As to religion, most of the men are indifferent. No oue is fanatical. There will be no trouble for you from a religious standpoint.: ' One of the principal dailies of the Capital had the following editorial on the subject: "In -fulfillment of our promise to give further details in re- gard to the object of the visit of Dr. Webster E. Browning and Professor Clement Morton, of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, we have interviewed them with the object of securing facts in the matter of the development of their plans in Paraguay, since it is known that they expect to make extensive to our country the beneficial and philanthropic 'work which they represent. Dr. Browning forms part of a vast educational organization which works toward the diffusion of culture in all South .America, and which has a special department for cooperation in such work. He is the Educational Secretary of this organization. In this position, he has had opportunity to study thoroughly the courses of study, the programs and systems of education of a large number of South .American countries, in almost all of which there are at present institutions connected with this organization. In Brazil, for example, there are probably twenty-five such establishments, many of them large colleges in the large cities.
"The school which it is proposed to found in our country, and which will begin its work just as soon as possible, will offer instruction in all the usual primary and secondary grades, and will have a boarding department. "
Care was taken to let the people know clearly the religious purposes pervading the work to be undertaken. Dr. Browning said to the Minister of Public Instruction, "You understand, of course, that we do not belong to the dominant Church of Paraguay." He merely smiled and suggested that this was a further recommendation and added, "The men of Paraguay have no religion.)J To which Dr. Browning replied, "Unfortunately!" But he merely shrugged his shoulders. It was evident that the people, in general, will welcome the school all the more generously because it is evangelical, rather than Roman Catholic, especially the men who are in the Government and high in authority in other circles.
Outlook for Missions to the
BY REV. S. B. ROHOLD, F. R. G. S.
Pastor· of the Christian Synagogue, Toronto, Canada T HE leading Jewish Press in reviewing the Jewish position in the world declares: «that all things have become new!" And all this is the result of the single declaration made by the Right Hon. Arthur· James Balfour on behalf of the British Government a year ago. We cannot give a better illustration of this exalted feeling than to give a few sentences from the editorial of The American Jewish Chronicle of November 1st, 1918: "Just a year ago tomorrow, there occurred what Jewish annals will record as the most important event in the post-exilic history of the Jewish people. On the 2nd of November, 1917, Israel, the age-long wanderer, ceased being an exile. By the voluntary proclamation of one of the greatest of the wQrld-powers, greatest in point of material resources, territorial dominion and political influence, the status of the Jew has become radically transformed. From a wandering tribe, Israel became a nation once again; from a people immersed in dreams and hugging vain hopes and empty schemes for a millenium in which he might not share, he. found himself all at once a full-fledged member of the family of nations with the solid ground under his feet. And wonderful as has been the results of the British declaration in revivifying the spirit of our people, the full effect of the memorable political statement upon the morale of the world's Jewry is even now scarcely realized by the Jews. Posterity alone will be able to estimate at its true worth what we, owing to our nearness to the event, are scarcely able to fathom with any appreciable degree of accuracy. Never before has the Jewish world been so aglow with hope and expectancy and the determination to labor and sacrifice and achieve, as it has been in this most memorable of years. The Balfour declaration has come to be known as the Magna Charta of Jewish freedom."
The strange thing is that some very thoughtful students of prophecy tell us that the whole fortunes of the War assumed a radical change soon after this memorable Declaration was made by Mr. Balfour. The prophetic references are many and striking. The changes also that soon followed on the battlefields are significant. The Holy City was delivered from the 'Turk by a Christian Army and from that day success after success followed the Allies.
All these speculations are interesting. They may be helpful to some devout souls, but they are full of grave dangers. It is true that the whole Jewish position and outlook have changed externally. The star of hope with regard to the Jewish future 123
shines brightly. The British Declaration favoring the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, and promising to aid them in their national aspirations, has become an important factor in the so-called Jewish practical politics. Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia are delivered from Ottoman dominion, never to go back. The Roya] Jewish Commission is already engaged in the reconstruction of the Land with marvelous results. France, Italy, Greece, and now the United States, have officially declared their approval of the "British Declaration."
All these events are truly epoch-making. The Christian and the secular press have exhibited the keenest interest and have promised their support. The Christian Church has passed favorable resolutions, while Bible teachers, orators and speakers have made it the theme of addresses and deliberations. No subject has secured a larger and a more sympathetic audience.
But these very things, which dazzle the natural eye, may obscure the true picture. The lime-light is turned on the things that please, while many miss the reality. Is all well with Israel ~ It is easy to follow the crowd and sing the popular choruses; it is hard to be in a minority, and to be called "a mourning Jeremiah!" But we must not be disloyal even to the extent of being acquiesoent and passive.
Many and great changes have taken place within Jewry during the past four years. We cannot now describe these or the impending crisis. But if the Church will not now consider the Jewish question in its true light, the Church will have to face a real menace ere long.
THE CHURCH PASSIVE} JEWRY ACTIVE While the Church is passive, Jewry is active. This is shown by a careful study of a hundred different Jewish IDlsslOnRry reports, periodicals and pamphlets. While the official Christian Church is supposedly waiting for an opportune time, and for the so-called favourable point of contact to bring the Gospel to the Jews, the Jewish Press and leaders have been actively assailing Christianity and Christian doctrine.
Israel as a nation in her attitude towards Jesus and Christianity has not changed; she still continues in her stubbornness, and the cry is as of old; "We will not have this man to reign over us." The four years of ravishing war, this hideous deluge of blood, and all the agonizing sorrows and sufferings have not changed the nation in this most vital of all questions: "What think ye of Christ 1"
Four years ago, when war was declared, the sum and substance of the editorials of practically all the leading Jewish papers was "Christianity has failed!" During the whole war this has been the unending chorus of the Jewish press. It seems so popular that
THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO THE JEWS
the leading JeWish writers are growing eloquent in their denunciation of the Christian faith. German·Jews have even made a boast which has been taken up by Jewry at large. They say: In "Judaism will emerge from this war much s*tr*on*ger than Christianity. fact" we expect it will supplant Christianity The war has vin- dicated Law against Faith. Faith in every kind of ideal has failed. Law has triumphed. Judaism being the religion of Law, must needs triumph too, whilst Faith is bound to fail. The natural conclusion is that Chris- tianity is bound to fail."
Leading Jews have not been slow in declaring that: "Judaism, if given the same chance as Christianity, (which they hope it will have as soon as this war ends) will undoubtedly take the wind out of the sails of Christianity." It is now quite common to hear a Jewish Rabbi preach on the "Failure of Christianity," and to point out the denial of such things as the "virgin birth" and the resurrection, by educated Christian ministers. While visiting a reformed synagogue recently, the Rabbi came up in full glee, and said: "Did you read in the papers what the German Christians did to the evacuated cities and to the poor people 1" We replied that it was awful and sinful. The Rabbi declared: "This is the result of your twenty centuries of Christianity." "Oh I no!" we said: "It is one result of twenty centuries of rejection of Christianity by the Jew."
Jewish scholars have been hoping that from their efforts will ensue a weakening of the Christian faith in Jesus the Crucified. Meanwhile the denominational Christian Church has been passive.
PALESTINE AND JEWISH MISSIONS The ordinary Zionist, as well as the self-appointed leaders, declare openly "that Missionaries to Jews will be excluded from the new Jewish Palestine." The Very Reverend Dr. M., Gaster, in "Zionism and the Jewish Faith," declared: "Faith and nationality go hand in hand; nay, they are indissolubly * * * united. No one can be a Jew who does not belong to the Jewish Faith, and he who belongs to the Jewish faith belongs to the Jewish Nation. A Jew who changes his faith is tom up by the roots. There is no longer any connection between him and other Jews. He is practically dead."
The prospect of a settlement of the Jewish question is therefore still far off. The difficulties from within Jewry are by far greater than those from without. The Jewish papers show clearly that a united Jewry is a dream yet unrealized, as Dr. Henry Moskowitz clearly shows when he says: "To the Jews of America, Zkmism has no poslttve message. The American Jew is nationally American only. T):1e American Jew will not tolerate any other national political loyalty."
But however divided the Jews may be spiritually and politically, in assailing a missionary or in attacking Ohristianity, they seem to be generally united.
A OALL FOR PRAYER The whole Jewish missionary problem is momentous, but its perils are vital. In Europe there are reports of awakening interest in Jewish evangelization. The London Jewish Society, the British Jewish Society, the Established and United Free Ohurches are all busy with plans for aggressive missionary propaganda in Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia. What is more significant is the decision of the' two historic Scotch Churches to build in Jerusalem a Presbyterian Jewish Ohurch to be a permanent memorial of the deliverance of the Holy City from the Turk.
At the same time, while the British Government is rightly aiding the Jewish Commissions, reports come that leaders are not thus far encouraged to engage in definite religious work in Palestine and the conquered territories. The Rev. Samuel H. Wilkinson of the Mildmay Mission to the Jews, has been obliged to abandon, at least for the present, his proposed missionary journey to Palestine. The Rev. J. MacDonald Webster, Secretary of the United Free Ohurch, writes: "The great sweep of Allenby's Army in Palestine and Syria undoubtedly brings the re-starting of actual missionary work nearer, but how near or how far, it is impossible to say. I do not think that even here, and probably still less with you, it is understood that no missionary work whatsoever is allowed in Palestine just now. The military authorities are making use of missionaries who were formerly there in relief work, but they are not carrying on missionary activity. It is indeed doubtful whether that will be at all possible until after the peace settlement. This cannot be too clearly understood, for to think that the fact that the Allied Armies have over-run that part of the Ottoman Dominion implies the re-opening of active missionary effort, would lead to untold disappointment. I am not so sure either that all this means the open door for the Gospel in Asia and Palestine. We hope that t~is will be so, but that will depend on the controlling power, and that is not yet settled."
Similar statements from other missionaries indicate the gravity of the situation. Does not this mean that it is time for the Christian Church to awaken, and for every individual who has the cause of Christ at heart "to take no rest till He establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth 7"
China Have an
A Means of Diminishing the llliteracy of Analphabetic China BY PROF. HARLAN P. BEACH, NEW HAVEN, CONN.
T HE best educated Chinese, who knows no other language than his own, is not to be blamed for being analphabet. It is true that he does not know his ABC's, but that is because he has none. Occidentals hear it said that the Chinese written language has 214 letters which constitute its alphabet, and they deeply sym- pathize with a nation so grieviously handicapped. If that were true, China's illiteracy problem would vanish like the morning dew. * The 214 "letters" are not what ilt 'J' Ii! t! * we understand by that name, i" ilt CI! Y C as they give no certain indica- :J "'-1< -, "lIf tion of sound, more often noneAI! ,. 1 >< P whatever for a given character. – tHt- . ml i" :: lit J 4. "
PI! ",1/'11 1j ..1- "J: -,'/< '-'1/1 .II it l:. ~ ~ -I »I They are simply the radical or r " j Jt it …, ……
dassifier portion of the ideo- .J1.Ji graph, used for dictionary pur- :II >l: ,. … ~ • II'l lit T 1., .. poses and often suggest the .11 ,~ ..f; J -~ . III II meaning of the word. Thus L.1.· If 7'. -II I ·- characters having the wood or tree radical are the names of JL ., If. AI-jr ~ I I 7-1 II " trees or wooden articles; the 600 heart radical is usually found in JL EI.L J/1.1~. aTz.~IiJ~i words relating to the feelings or CHINESE CHARACTERS: NEW AND OLD intellectual ideas, and the water radical is used in characters relating to the uses of water and in the names of streams. In short the Chinese has no alphabet, and each of its characters is expressive of an idea whose pronunciation will vary as widely in the Chinese dialects as the different words two, deux, zwei, duo, etc., in European languages, while each gives + the reader an idea conveyed by the Arabic symbol. Similarly mathematical signs, like and – arid chemical and astronomical symbols, express to all scholars common ideas, though differently named in the various languag€s.
As the Chinese have not boon lacking in ideas, the Imperial Dictionary of K' ang Hsi, the standard one of the language, albeit two centuries old, contains 44,449 characters, and since its publication thousands have been added to the list. While scholars do not commonly write more than five or six thousand, and though five times that number may be all that are in use, one can readily see what an endless burden it is to acquire and retain in memory even a few thousand of these.
127
The lack of an alphabet has so retarded the acquisition of the Chinese characters that other nations using them as their written language have for oenturies sought relief from the memorization of endless ideographs. Thus, the Japanese beforel the end of the ninth century of the Christian era had restricted themselves to a limited number of characters to be used as phonetic signs, and even these were abbreviated and made cursive. These attempts led. to the use of Japan's two syllabaries of 47 syllables, not letters. So also Korea attempted to shake off the intolerable burden when King SaJong in the fifteenth century gave his people the unmun or onmun phonetic alphabet, which one foreign Korean scholar asserts is unequalled in the world for simplicity and phonetic power.
In China itself, early Buddhist missionaries were so disturbed to find no alphabet, such as obtained in their native India, that they introduced what is called the fan ch'ieh, or system of initials and finals, to give the sound of words as is done now by the Chinese in dictionaries. By its use a character whose sound is unknown is represented .by two better known characters of which the first part of the first gives the initial sound of the unknown one, and the final part of the second the latter part of the sound. For instance, an unknown character, lang, might be pronounced by using the first sound of lin combined with the last part of mang, l-ang.
Protestant missionaries to China in the early days had few converts, especially among women and children who are most likely to be illiterate. But during the last half century and more, the necessity for teaching church members of the illjterate classes to. read the Bible and Christian literature gave rise to the use of the Roman letters for representing the sounds of the Chinese ideographs. Thus in 1852 the reading of a paper by Rev. Dr. Taylor of the Southern J{ethodist Board at Shanghai led to the appointment of a com-· mittee which later presented a system for the Shanghai dialect, using Roman letters with various diacritical marks. Rev. T. P. Crawford, D. D., a Southern Baptist, saw that for a nation utterly unaccustomed to phonetic analysis, it would be as difficult for the people to separate a Chinese word into its component English letters as to divide bird-shot into several parts, to use Dr. Blodgett's illustration. Hence, adopting the early Buddhist idea of initial and final sounds, he prepared a set of adapted Chinese symbols for repre-senting the two halves of every Chinese word. Shortly thereafter the Shanghai missionaries recommended it for use by the missions and it was so employed to a slight extent. Later, when Dr. Crawford removed to the Mandarin-speaking province of Shantung, he revised it for that more nearly universal language, but it has never been widely used and is not heard of today outside of that province. Subsequently several attempts were made by the present writer and others to adapt Occidental shorthand symbolil to Ohi-
SHALt ClIINA lIAVE AN ALPHABET
nese, usually with the idea of never ·using more than two symbols for a given word, following the Chinese system of initials and finals. None of these has been widely used.
A system that has been employed most successfully for the blind was a modification of the Braille, devised by the late W. H. Murray in his school for the blind in Peking and later used quite widely for sighted readers as well. He took the 408'" monosyllables of the Pekingese and arranged them in numerical order which was easily memorized by means of an ingenious rhyme. Reading thus resolved itself into translating a given number expressed in Braille into its corresponding monosyllable. As each number gave the reader a complete word, no combination of component sounds or even of the initial and final was required.
Missionaries have not been behind in fostering the new movement. For decades, Christian books and Scripture portions had been published in the Romanized Chinese, always with the limitations referred to above. Recently the indigenous system invented before the coup d' etat of 1898 by a Hanlin scholar, Wang Chao, has been vigorously furthered in North China, where it is known as kuanhua tzu-m'u, or Mandarin alphabet. Yet it is more truly a syllabary. Its seventy "letters" are all Chinese monosyllables, and the remaining 30 '" odd monosyllables of the Pekingese Mandarin are made up by combining pairs of these true monosyllables, merely eliding the final vowel sound of words that are dis syllables rather than monosyllables. Here again use is made of the initial and final of the Buddhistic fan ch'ieh system. All semblance of foreign letters is lacking in these simple adaptations of Chinese characters, and the writing is still further acceptable through its being done in perpendicular columns instead of in horizontal lines as in English. Mr. Wang's fifty initials remain as they were, but missionaries have increased his twelve finals to twenty in order to obviate the use of one final for a number of different final sounds as in his plan. The chief drawback to the intelligent use of phonetic writing has been the failure to mark emphasis, without which phonetic reading cannot readily be understood. In this system the emphasis is marked in each clause, as are the tones of emphatic words, thus making the meaning stand out almost as clearly as if the sentences were spoken aloud. Through the generosity of Mr. S. J. W. Clark and the practical assistance of Mr. McIntosh, of the Presbyterian Mission Press, the Gospel of St.•Tohn has already been printed and also the Catechism. As the average illiterate can be taught to read in two weeks with lessons of an hour or two each day, the system promises well for the future. While the learner does not memorize all the words of the language by number, 408 or more, according to the dialect, as in Mr. Murray's words, it can easily be adapted to differing dialects. The objection raised against it, that it varies from the Government
phonetic system, is partly met by the consideration that the latter often requires the combination of three incongruous sounds to make a word, whereas this one calls for only two true phonetic symbols, easy of pronunciation, for any word. Both systems are being stressed.
Despite the fact that the Chinese ideographs constitute the most formidable obstacle to China's progress and hence preseut the problem that most urgently demands attention, as stated in a recent issue of the Far Eastern Review, the ideograph is bound to remain so long as the language continues to be monosyllabic. In the nature of the case, relatively few monosyllables are possible, especially as the Chinese favor open syllables, thus reducing the total number of possibilities. With the utmost number of monosyllables in the Pekingese official dialr.ci- ·120 including eccentric pronunciations-there are, on an average, 105 characters pronounced the same, if the total number in the Imperial Dictionary is divided by 420. In a pocket dictionary widely used by missionaries, there are 165 characters Romanized as chi, like our letter g, and 178 Romanized as i, like our letter e. While these are exceptions as producers of ambiguity, it will readily be seen that whereas everyone of the different characters so pronounced varies from all others having the same sound, thus avoiding all ambiguity, in any Romanized or indigenous phonetic system, there can be only one Romanized or phonetic equivalent for these 165 chi's and another for the 178 ·i's.
Japan has repeatedly discuss'ed the question of using only the Romanized equivalents for the Chinese characters, which still are employed in all their best literature; and though she has societies to promote the Romaji, the final verdict always is that the Chinese ideograph is incomparable as an expression of ideas. This decision is reached, though one reads annually in the native "Japan Year Book" such statements as this: "The ideographs are a clog to the progress of ,education, and their discontinuance and the adoption of the Romanization system would shorten the school course of Japanese boys by two or three years. The Romanization movement was started decades ago; but as yet there is little hope of its being adopted in schools, and Japan in the meanwhile must continue to use the cumbrous system of jdeography." This is said in a country where the records of the Imperial Diet show that 2,000 ideographs suffice to report the addresses, while only 1,360 Ohinese characters are used in elementary school grades. Moreover, the Japanese is a polysyllabic language and does not require differing ideographs to avoid ambiguity, as in Chinese. How much more, then, is China certain to continue to use her difficult characters.
* As a matter of fact, in Sir Thomas Wade's system of Romanization Perkingese has 420 syllables. The numerical discrepancy is due to the fact that some of the syllables are omitted because but rarely used.
@~""…..B.. DEUdS.T ~M. ET_HO…..D_.S'~ m~O'
EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA Chairman of the Committee on Methods of Work of the Federation of Woman's Foreign. Mission Boards UNDER HANDICAP THERE is more than a smooth- victory just ahead, is this courageous ly flowing rhyme in that old verse, facing of handicapped life after the war. The wonders we are witness- "Tis easy enough to. be happy ing should bring a new revelation to When life flows on like a song us of the possibility for missionary But the man worth while service. Our complaints about our Is the man with a smile handicaps in the winning of a world When everything goes dead wrong." should forever cease, and systemati- The testing time comes when cally we should start out to enlist everything goes dead wrong. Worth and train for service many whom we while folks are not those who can have heretofore listed as disabled. sing only ready-made songs, but those who can make a song out of a Let us away with the habit we situation in which other people see have formed of sympathizing with not enough poetry for a rhyme and ourselves because of our disabilities. not enough harmony for a chord; Some of the finest work of the world who can win the race with a handi- has been done and is being done by cap, which other people consider a men and women who have, by sheer reason for not even entering for the determination and consecration, running. faced tremendous handicaps, before which other men and women have One of the wonders of these reconstruction days is the way in helplessly despaired, and who have which maimed soldiers are being lit- wrought with splendid courage until erally made over and fitted for a their liabilities actually became their part in the world's work instead of being thrown out on humanity~s assets. scrap heap. No pitiful wrecks of The Talent of Blindness. When men, seated by the way side, displaying their disabilities in the way Dr. William Moon was stricken most advantageous to the exciting of with blindness, all of his hopes pity and the extraction of small coins, and ambitions seemed utterly crushare to follow in the wake of this war, ed. What use was there in the we are told. No matter how heavy world for a blind physician? After their handicap, men are 'bravely the first awful shock was past, learning new trades if they are dis- he began to readjust his life-not abled for the old ones. "Every man to days of dumb resignation, but to according to his several abilities" is coming into' a fuller meaning than days of altered service. ever before. More heroic even than For forty-five sightless years he the way the soldiers marched forth to battle in full health and strength, raised blind eyes to God in fervent with the inspiration of martial music prayer that he might not fail to see and ringing cheers, and the lure of and to use his opportunity. At the end of those forty-five years he re- corded one of the most remarkable testimonies ever given. He said: "It has pleased God to bestow on me the talent of blindness. I have tried 131
hard not to bury my talent in the was not going to leave them again napkin of despair and hopelessness, for such a long journey, but that she but to use it for His glory." was just stepping around the cor- Without his handicap William nero So, without the handclasp or Moon would likely have been one the kiss for which she longed, but among thousands of physicians. which would be fraught with dan- Handicapped, he became an outstand- ger to those she loved, Mary Reed ing benefactor of humanity, for he went gaily down the old walk she invented the Moon system of reading loved, waving her hand with a kiss- for the blind which has opened the to go around her corner to do the Word of God. and many other rich greatest work a woman has ever treasures to thousands of sightless done for the suffering lepers of the eyes. The same handicap which puts world.
one man on the street corner begging, The message she sent back home puts another in the Hall of Fame as when her mother heard that her a world 'benefactor. The ability to daughter was a leper, working among recognize the "talent of blindness" lepers, has become a missionary c1as- would change many lives from dumb sic-HI am going back not with a resignation or complaining endurance sigh but with a song."
to fine, consecrated service. METHODS OF WORK FOR The Talent o~ Leprosy. The !'SHUT INS." The extras were whole world has marvelled at the crying a terrible railroad accident.
work of Mary Reed, called into In the hospital a little woman for- a great service by a handicap most of got her agony as she looked anxious- us would be very slow to recognize ly into the doctor's face to read what as a talent. At horne in Ohio on omen of good or ill tidings she saw her furlough as a missionary she dis- written there. The days lengthened covered symptoms of leprosy. She into weeks and the weeks into went immediately to New York to months and finally she went horne in consult an eminent specialist who, an ambulance, knowing at last that confirmed her fears. To all who , the rest of her days must be spent read the story of her quick decision on her back. A great wave of bit- which followed the pronouncement terness swept over her. She, who of the doctor's diagnosis, there comes had always been the center of activ- a sudden flood of wondering admir- ity in her church was to be cast ation. There was no place for des- aside, broken and useless. In an- pair nor even gloomy forbodings in guish she lifted up her soul to God her plans. With an ever strengthen- and begged that He would take her ing conviction that a great new op- home and spare her the shame of a portunity had opened before her to useless life. But as she lay in her give her life to work among lepers room day after day the bitterness to whose company she was not ad- gradually disappeared, and she mitted, Mary Reed went back to her learned to live with Him and talk home in Ohio. So that she might with Him as she talked with no not shadow her mother's life with friend on earth. One by one she such a sorrow and so that none of took her friends to God in prayer.
the loved ones at home should be As her pastor preached she prayed exposed to infection, she decided to for him. When the missionary so- return to the mission field immedi- ciety was meeting she spent the ately. She told her mother that un- time in intercession. She had ex- expected changes had made it neces- pected to be shut in alone and shut sary for her furlough to be cut short, out from all her former interests, and playfully persuaded the folks at but gradually she found the bound- home to make it easier for her to aries of her life enlarging until they go by "pretending" that she really embraced the ends of the earth. Her
BEST METHODS
friends who had dreaded at first to Building Methods. Ida Gracey was the daughter of a· Methodist face the ordeal of going to see her clergyman. For long years she and hearing her tell of her affliction suffered from a torturing and infound that it was not of herself and curable disease of the spine.Beof her sorrows she talked. Grad- cause of her own agony her heart ually her room became a community was filled with an overflowing symcenter and a place of prayer. Real- pathy for the crippled girls of China izing the power of her life of inter- about whom she read. What could cession, her pastor came in one day ,;lie do? Sighs for the money she that she might pray with him before did not have would build no homes he spoke. After that he came reg- for these neglected girls in China.
ularly. Friends who were in trou- Longings to address meetings and ble or in perplexity formed the habit thrill audiences and to work as other of dropping in that this little wo- girls work availed nothing. Con- man who prevailed in prayer might stant bemoaning her inability to intercede for them. One day a do anything would only embitter her bride and groom came straight to own life. Ida Gracey bravely faced her from the altar, bringing her the her handicap and began one of the bride's roses and kneeling beside the finest pieces of missionary service couch thatt she might pray with them that has ever blessed China. She ere they went out on their life to- began to pray for money to build gether. After that the visit. to her a school for cripples in China. Be- room seemed a natural part of every fore she died she had the joy of wedding in the congregation.. Once sending to China the money which the girls' society was giving a mis- h:ld come in answer to her prayers sionary pageant in the Church. to build the first school for crippled They came over in their costumes childen in all that great land.
to "cheer her up," but as they went CHURCH HANDICAPS. In ad- away they realized that it was she dition to personal handicaps it is more who had cheered them for great than likely that our society must work tasks by her simple, earnest prayer under some very peculiar difficulties.
with them. There seemed nothing After every good conference on meth- constrained or forced in the eager ods, almost every woman present who sympathy with which she said to asks for an interview with the lead- even the casual caller, "Wait a mo- er does it to explain that she is ment before you go. I haven't working under "very peculiar diffi- prayed with you yet." Under her culties." It is amazing to find how pillow she kept always a little book very similar these very peculiar dif- in which were noted the people for ficulties are. All of us have them.
whom she daily interceded. All As a matter of fact, the societies and down the pages were names marked the churches that are doing success- which indicated answered prayer. ful work are succeeding not because When the call did come for her they have no handicap, but because to go Home her pastor and her they have learned to overcome dif- Church knew the most active and ficulties. "The man who says the efficient worker in the congregation thing cannot be done is interrupted had gone from them, and her in these days by the .man who is doing "prayer-book" furnished such a mar- it." Here follow the interesting ex- vellous record of prevailing prayer periences of some of the churches that others were constrained to a and societies which have overcome life of intercession. Joyfully she difficulties that are typically pecu- stepped into the presence of her liar.
Lord, having finished the work given , Mission Study Under Quaran- her to do. tine. The whole world has been
handicapped this year by the in- ences cited. Forty-six women atfluenza situation. Grace Covenant tended the review meeting and twen- Presbyterian Church, Richmond, ty others who could not be present Virginia, met the same difficulties in mission study this fall that have were reported as having read the faced almost every other church, book. but Grace Covenant Church is numbered among those who over- The Reach of a Reading Club. came. When the time came for the "Oh, if we could only. get more Fall Mission Study Classes, influenza women to read these splendid Miswas raging and the Board of Health sion Study Books" sighed one put a ban on all meetings. After woman helplessly. Mrs. E. H. Bronmuch study and prayer, the presi- son of Bridgeport, Connecticut, dent of the Missionary Society, Mrs. echoed this same lamentation, but she followed it with- more than a helpless J. W. Sinton, outlined a plan for sigh. This is what she did about it: Mission Study under Quarantine, "Feeling that we must get more which contained the following women to read our missionary books, points: I 'concentrated' on plans until I de- cided that The New Fiction Club Since meetings at the church were had the best one of all. That Cnh impossible the women were to study has twenty-five members, e~ch of the book at home. The women to whom buys a book and passes it on be reached were divided into groups until all the members have read all of four. A printed slip containing the books. In our Reading Contest explanation of the plan and the names of the four women ill her cir- we had four missionary books to be cle was given to each group leader. read. We secured six leaders, ('<teh The group leader was asked to buy of whom was commissioned to find a copy of the book to be studied, three other women who would prom- "The Path of Labor," and to paste ise to do two things-buy one book the slip of explanation in it before and read the fOUf. We 'allowed two she passed it on to the next woman weeks for the reading of each book. on the list. The cost of the book was Then it was passed on to the next forty cents which was met by the member, the four books being read leader paying the entire cost, and re- by each member of the club in eight ceiving a refund of thirty cents from weeks. the second reader, who in turn asked for twenty cents from the third. "A still wider circle of inf!u~nc~ The fourth member of the group was secured by the next st'ep, which refunded ten cents to the third, so that the book cost each one only ten was to pass the books on to another cents, and no one had to make a col- circle of four who did not have to pay lecting tour. The study began on for them. This is to be repeated many October 24th. Each one was allowed a week in which to read the book. times during the year. Each reader i.3 asked to write her name on the fly When it was possible to hold a leaf of each book she reads. At the meeting at the church the women end of the year the book goes back were asked to bring sandwiches and to the woman who purchased it, its come for an all-day review. The value being enhanced by the autofirst half hour was spent in prayer graphs of all who have read it. We for Home Missions. Then a review are trying this plan for the first time of the book was given, the outline this year and are finding that interest being presented by excellent charts and enthusiasm are following- the inon the different chapters. There fol- terchange and discussion of the books. lowed a lively discussion, with ques- "Another thing that adds interest is tions asked and interesting experi- the state recognition of missionary reading. Our state organization in Connecticut has six loving cups-one for each association. At the Annual
Meeting of the Home Mission Socie- "No Money." In the rural comty in April th,e cups are awarded to munities one of the ever present the church in each Association which reasons given for small contributions reports the highest percentage of its is that, while the farmers' wives live membership having read the four surrounded by an abundance of good books assigned for the year. things, very little actual money passes through their hands. Butter and "There is some friendly rivalry eggs are exchanged for groceries, between the larger churches, though and none of the sales of the products the churches with small membership of the farm come to the farmer's could more easily have the higher wife in cash form. In one Tennespercentage." see congregation which had made very small gifts to missions, it was Overcoming "The Usual Hour decided to give to mission work all Handicap. Most of our churches the eggs laid on Sunday. When the are failing utterly to claim the other eggs were sold in exchange for ability of their fine business wo- coffee and sugar the Sunday eggs men because they continue to an- were sold for cash. To the amazenounce misssionary meetings "at the ment of the ·congregation the amount usual hour," which is probably three- given in this way was sufficient to thirty when all business women are support a native evangelist in Japan. at work. A few wise ones are beginning to realize that a perfectly or- Rainy Day Meetings. There are thodox women's missionary meeting leaders who despair at a falling may be convened after nightfall and barometer and who feel that a few are lifting the former tacit curfew drops of rain are a dreadful handirestrictions. Here is the story of a cap for a missionary meeting. Virginia success along this line: One August day in 1806 five stud- "A few young business women of ents from Williams College met in a the First Baptist Church of Lynch- grove to talk and pray together al:lout burg, Va., who could not go to the the great non-Christian world to meetings of the Missionary Society which no missionary from America which were usually held during the afternoon, decid ~d that because they had yet gone. When the rain and even the thunder began no one were business women was no reason moved that the meeting be adjourned why they should not have part in or postponed because so few were the King's business, so they formed a present., Noone spent any time in Business Women's Missionary Socie- incriminations against the students ty which is proving a great success. who did not attend. The five who They come to the church from their were there were so intensely in earplaces of business and have a lunch, nest they simply sought shelter under which affords a splendid opportunity a nearby haystack and continued their for relaxation after the day's work prayers for open doors and for God's and makes it possible for them to guidance. There is a monument have a share in the social life 0f the which marks that spot, but no monucongregation. Then follow spicy ment could record the results of that programs on the topics given in the rainy day prayer meeting. Dr. Sammissionary magazine. A Current uel B. Capen, late President of the Events Club always has something of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions said, "The powinterest to add to. each program. While small at first the society is er of the sun will be measured by a rapidly Teachin~ the business women yard stick sooner than the results of and enlisting them one by one. In- the haystack meeting by statistics." stead of contributing ten cents a The first foreign missionary society in month the members of this society America organized and the first foravera~ed $17.00 per member last eign missionaries sent to the field year."
were only the beginning- of results. had brought her to Jesus and was On the centenary of that Haystack fitting her to have part in the great Prayer Meeting a group of laymen new enterprise of giving a larger were called to meet in Fif.th Avenue Christian literature to the women Presbyterian Church in New York. and children of China. Finer yet If the men who were invited to that than the ability to make the most of meeting had despaired because the one's own life is the ability to see rain poured down, there would have and make the most of the possibilities been no Laymen's Missionary Move- ill other Ii'. es, for that life is fullest ment. In some societies rainy clay which fills other lives to overflowing.
meetings are fraught with unusual blessing. THE; GLORY OF IRON ME;DALS Rules for Successful Rainy Day Meetings. Do not postpone the Are we prone to sigh for an meeting because of rain. If you do, nnhandicapped service? Do we look the next time a cloud no bigger with admiring envy at some who than a man's hand appears in that seem to leap unhampered to success? sky some will say, "There will not Do we chafe at the bars that hem onr own lives in? Several years ago be any meeting to-day." there was published in The Literary Do not adjourn because only a Digest a poem to the Chicago River which revealed in that unsung stream small number are present. Reward, a glory surpassing the glory of the by the best meeting possible, those who have come. Occupy none of the time of those Danube or the Rhine.
who are present by dilating upon the "They have bound me with bridges unfaithfulness of those who are ab- With tunnels burrowed under me.
sent. Incessant, unresting, all day and all night, Let there be enough of cheer on Traffic roars over me and my uplook to the inside to dispel the gloom out- the blessed sky side-cheer in decorations, cheer in Is barred by cables, girders. stacks. My banks with docks close hedged in- the program, cheer in the leader. exorably hem me in.
Give special place to intercession. Vacantly through smoke and floating After the meeting send notes to smudge The sun looks down upon me, absent members telling them about Like the bleared eye of an old, old man, the interesting rainy day meeting, No outcast of the gutter slinks by more so:led than I and announcing some special feature Polluted within and without.- that will be reserved for the next But on my shackled breast I bear corn rainy day meeting. and iron, lumber and coal.
Remember that future generations The little children of India eat of my wheat will have no monuments for those My lumber shelters the stricken of Meswho despair on account of rain. sina Finding Others. The story of The iron that burdens me forms a ready that disciple who found his broth- tool Fit for the hand of man. er .and brought him to Jesus is one What singer can sing of me one lowof the first missionary stories recorded. Not for salvation only but keyed song? The Hudson, the Danube, the Nile, the for service as well does this oppor- Rhinetunity of finding others come to us. All these, all these have their poets As beautiful women their lovers, At a Northfield conference one of the most regular attendants was a But I-soiled am I and brackish As sweat on the brow of a workman, girl who was wheeled into the meet- But the broad ships that weigh my breast ings day after day, although she Are like iron medals; with these words wrought: was never able to sit erect. Yet a re- "For Service." turned missionary had found in her Therein alone is my glory, I serve, I an unusual gift. as a translator, and serve."
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MRS. WM. H. FARMER, MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY Representative of the Federation ,of Woman's Foreign Mission Boards Historic Step in Federation which was "Via Christie") and a demand for trained leaders of study NOT every beginning has a known classes. Northfield summer school date. Women who serve ,a great was the pioneer in 1904. cause like that of foreign missions are inclined to get together for prac- Step 2 tical and inspirational barter whether interdenominational mar k e t s are 'fhe year 1910 is marked in red planned or not. Such a conference and gold as the Jubilee, the proof women from different boards was gram of which was initiated by the held before the Parliament of Reli- Central Committee. The story of gions (1893), but the exact date, its nation-wide success, the thrillwhether before or after the World's ing enthusiasm of its luncheons, as- Fair, has not been found. Other semblies, prayers, and gifts is known gatherings followed, usually at an in- to all. terval of one year without the formality of federating. Results-Briefly Outlined.
Step 1 1909. Gathering of women's boards of foreign missions voted to meet The o_utstanding event of 1900 was tri-ennially. (Origin of term the Ecumenical Conference held in "Tri-ennial Conference.") New York City. And the greatest day for women was April 24th, when 1911. (May) Boards voted, to federate Miss Abbie B. Child presented a for conservation of Jubilee scheme for systematic mission study gains, since the Central Comto be followed by women of all mittee had begged to be rechurches. The Central Committee leased from all responsibility for United Study of Foreign Mis- save that of publishing study sions was then created, representing books. at first five, later seven denominations. This committee has reported 1912. Large attendance of delegates on regularly to the Interdenominational invitation of Jubilee Continua- Conference, although it was not ap- tion Committee of Philadephia. pointed by it. New plan of Federation Adopt- ed, leading to The World Committee which organized the women's program at 1913. Organization of 5 Territorial Comthe Ecumenical Conference went missions and a General Advisory out of existence that year leaving Commission. the Central Committee for United Study and the only national inter- 1914. Publication of Bulletin, denominational committee to offer 1915. Suggestion of merging Triennial a report to the Conference of W 0man's Boards of Foreign Missions. Conference and Federation for It became necessary for it to assume the sake of simplicity and leadership in the organization of strength in organization. summer schools of missions. This was in response to a growing inter- Step 3 est in the Study of Central Committee text books (the first of If the preceding steps have seemed chapters dryas dust, dealing with the outward and visible By-law rather than the inward and spiritual grace of our Federation, it will be pleasant to read that in 1916 the merging was successfully achieved, "the wedding celebrated," as the Bulletin for April, 1916, expressed it, "at 25 Madison Avenue, New York City." Henceforth we can use the 137
new title, "Federation of Woman's garden, but they are separated not Boards . of Foreign Missions of by fences nor even hedges but by North America." paths!
And, by the way, nowhere can one 2nd. A development of some find a more satisfactory reflection of blessed by-products of the Jubilee, the spirit of the Federation and the scope of its activities than in those such as dear old numbers of .the Bulletin. This magazine of 32 pages was is- Missionary pageants. sued at first (1914) twice a year, but Lecture courses on the study books. soon afterward appeared quarterly A national day of prayer for foreign miswithout reducing the size or increasing the price (25 cents). sions (this year Jan. 10, 1919). A committee on Christian literature for Dipping into the contents one realizes what talented writers, what con- the women and children of mission secrated personalities have been and fields. are shaping the form and functions Several new summer schools. of the Federation. The first copy Many local missionary unions. appeared just before the war in Europe; the second in October, 3rd. A bulletin of four pages ap- 1914, described Mrs. Knox's experi- pearing six times a year in the "Misence when caught in Germany on the sionary Review of the World." fateful 31st of July. And the war note persisted as Mrs. N. D. Hillis 4th. Six standing committees on wrote of prayer, and Mrs. Montgom- which serve nearly 50 women repreery of song rallies for victory. Mr. senting 12 different Boards. Oldham was quoted on "War and Missions," and Mrs. Peabody de- Types of work: scribed the greatest battlefield Home Base. ( motherhood in India) with a fine Methods of Work. portrait of Dr. Ida Scudder. Publication and Literature. Summer Schools. But most valuable of all was the Student work. comprehensive summary from. time Foreign Field. to time of the varied responsibilities Interdenominational Institutions. resting definitely upon the Christian Christian Literature. women of North America. And that brings us to Step 5-The Future Step 4-The Present In the days to come the Federa- tion will continue to meet annually Out of past experience and pray- for the pJ'actical and inspirational aderful faith there have been evolved: vantages of a delegated assemblage; it will continue to serve the Boards 1st. An organization that demo- in an advisory capacity, encouraging cratically makes a place for the local unions, and a more complete Boards of smaller as well as larger mobilization of individuals and communions, a Federation that is groups. Never was concerted planpurely advisory and yet truly influ- ning more necessary than in this ential, and a plan that is both stable and flexible. In this missionary gar- "New Era." Moreover it will, we den are growing enthusiasm for the hope, enlarge its scope and greatest task in the world, courage strengthen its influence, showing for increased responsibility, friendly both daring initiative and persistent interchange of methods, and love for common sense. For "to be a Chrisall that concerns world friendship- tian today is to be an explorer, an international, interracial uplift-as adventurer." Highest courage, well as all the "Fruits of the Jubi- broadest vision, kindliest disposition, lee." There are many beds in the and deepest spirituality are demanded in this epoch of world reconstruction through missions. The Federation will not fail. Instead· it will summon not only the interested one-fifth but also the indifferent four-fifths of our church membership to appreciate fully the challenge of the following message.
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
A WIDER WORLD FOR WOMEN assumes her task she will find her By Mrs. Henry W. Peabody absolute need of them. The en- (Given at Northfield last summer and larged sphere of woman's work in now reprinted in booklet form.) relation to the Church will demand The very greatest thing that women might do to save the world an enlarged sphere of the Church has not yet been attempted. It would in relation to woman's work. The revolutionize the Church and bring Creator has not limited woman. the Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus She has been oppressed by the greed emphasized it by teaching and ex- of man, by her own evil tendencies ample. Suppose we should try to and weaknesses, by false religions train the children of the Church and by misinterpretation of the as faithfully for international friend- Christian religion. But He has ship, i. e.: foreign missions, as the opened to womankind wide doors Germans have trained their children of opportunity and service from the for militarism. Suppose we could beginning of the world until 110W, enlist the children, not just yours though the Church may have failed and mine, but all the children of the to catch His vision or to live His community, the city, the countryside life. It has not entirely failed for for world service. Children respond quietly, without uniform or parade, with enthusiasm to a great appeal. the groups of women in missionary Suppose we should never let them get societies have been laying founda- to the place where they need to be tions, and they no longer work apart reformed, but should form them in childhood. Suppose when we mothers * * * denominationally, but have federated and older sisters and grandmothers 'lay down our war work we should for larger service. begin to conserve our own American Foreirn Missions. enrollin!! in its children for the rebuilding of the world. Women who have worked organizations less than one-fifth of for the French and Belgian orphans the women of the churches, is might be brought into closer relations pledged to colossal tasks. The to the Church through the needs of women of vast nations like India the children. and China, numbering literally hun- dreds of millions, have practically It will not be safe to trust to a no medical aid. There are no medleague of nations to keep peace un- ical units with ambulance corps and less the standards of nations are equipment for them. They are born, changed. This change will not come bear children at an incredibly early in a day. age, and die on the battlefield of motherhood, with only the aid that. While men discuss plans to pre- comes from a small mission hospital vent war, let Christian women make or an over-burdened woman doctor. such plans possible by educating chil- The great majority of these women dren in the ideals of world brother- are prevented by rigid social custom hood. It is an easy task with all from seeing a medical man, and few the beautiful helps, and the child women doctors are seeking a wider heart is ready to welcome the whole world. The emergency call today world of children. comes to all women with merciful hearts to provide adequately for the Will not a group of women and medical schools now opening for Oriental women. They are equipped * * * girls in every Church make this their liberally with faith, but lack friends, funds, and faculty. The students part of world reconstruction? are ready, thanks to the beginning There is room, is need, in the Church made in girls' schools fifty years ago, for every kind of womanly service when women, north and south, turned and talent. When the Church really from their own bitter grief, to enter into the sorrow of the world.
There are three new women's col- service received scant attention. Dr. leges also begging to be made strong, Patton has called it the most neglectthat they may make strong leaders ed theme, and stated that no church for women. All the great divisions could be found to support a literaof the Protestant Church are uniting ture missionary, because the medical, to meet this crisis. Can the women evangelistic, and industrial work who have rendered such splendid seemed of vastly greater worth to the service in the war fail to respond non-Christian world. to this call-this age-long need? Will not the whole Church put its The scale of values is, however, power back of these organizations as being revised. The time is aproachthe governments of the nations have ing when many shall be proud to stood behind women in war service, dedicate their lives to this service, giving co-operation and support, and to make it of prime importance commensurate with this magnificent in extending the Kingdom of Christ. undertaking to carry the message of Jesus to all nations in terms they can "We are creating a generation of understand, terms of home, health, readers and students in our Christian education, social rights, spiritual schools and colleges," writes Miss .awakening, eternal life? Alice M. Kyle, "and they need the best literature, but we are trying to The Church must adopt a large satisfy their growing appetites with program to win women to large serv- the husks.. Shall we not give them ice. It must redeem county and some of our overflowing abundcommunity from civil forces, whether ance?" in such forms as licensed drunkenness and indecency, or the more Translations of such books as subtle forms of extravagant pleas- "Silas Marner," "Little Lord Faunture. It must train the children of leroy," "Sara Crew," "The Wide the homes and the streets. It must Wide World," and "Birds' Christmas improve social conditions and protect Carol" with Chinese Ruggleses, are. from greed and from avarice those eagerly read and do a world of good who toil. It must make this country in counteracting the evil influence worth dying for and an ideal place of cheap and smutty French novels. to live in. It must recognize international ideals born of the interna- Miss Laura M. White is editor tionalism of Calvary. It must call of the only Christian magazine for in the name of the Lord Christ women in all China (Nu To Pas so for volunteers for world service. It "The Woman's Messenger"). must equip and send all who will go to proclaim the Gospel of the Prince Two young women, Miss Yuen of Peace. It must hold to the eternal and Miss Li are associated with Miss verities, and ridding itself of au- White, and two Chinese men scholtocracy and formalism must ex- ars are also on the editorial staff. emplify the sacrificial life of Him Miss Yuen does the serious work, who shed His blood to destroy the and has recently published an powers of evil and to establish His original temperance story, "From Kingdom of righteousness. Defeat to Victory." Miss Li has just finished an adaptation of Robert Christian Literature in China E. Speer's "One Girl's Influence."
A very important movement for Equally important is the work of the women and children of mission Mrs. MacGillvray, a Canadian Presfields was started in 1912, when the byterian missionary of Shanghai Federation appointed a committee on who gives. her time without salary Christian Literature. Time was to edit "Happy Childhood," a when this feature of foreign mission Chinese "Everyland" for children. Over 3000 paid subscribers mean about ten thousand devoted readers, and the list is increasing every month.
fROM MANY
CHINA as a fruit merchant in Sidney, Aus- tralia, and is a very broad-minded, China's President and Opium far-seeing business man, an ardent advocate of schools for the rising THE decision of the Chinese Presi- generation, although himself without dent, Hsu Shih-ch'ang, to burn extensive education. the stock of opium acquired by influ- . Mr. Ma organized the Cantonese Non-Denominational C h u r c h 0 f ential Chinese from a Shanghai Shanghai. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a steady Opium Combine for the purpose of supporter of all forms of evangelis- tic work. Recently he has given reopening the traffic in China is a $50,000 to provide homes for aged preachers, the homes to be open to matter of praise not only from Chi- applicants of all denominations.
nese but from all civilized nations. A Chinese Naval Study Circle The loss of the $14,000,000 stock, to ONE of the inspiring revelations in these creative days in missay nothing of the loss to the govern- sions is the animated interest which Chinese students are taking in the ment in revenue, and at a time when relation of Christianity to national and social life. The Chinese Governthe country is in financial straits, the ment Naval College in Nanking is one of five such institutions in China. loss of popularity among certain offi- About one hundred trained students are in attendance, and a year· ago cial circles personally interested in there was not one Christian among them. But through the wife of one continuing the traffic seem to have of the students, Lieut. Leland T. Wang, a fine piece of constructive weighed little in the President's mind mission work grew up. Lieut. Wang became a Christian and his before the significance to the Chinese thorough scholarship and social tact eminently fitted him for leadership. nation of the proposed backward He immediately set about studying the practical application of Christianstep. ity upon the social life of the Naval College and soon the Staff donated This action on the part of China a room for a Bible class. Sixteen students have now intelligently acdemonstrates a quality of strength cepted Christ and thirteen have united with the Christian Church at in her people that is not adequately Hsiakwan.
grasped by the west. This eradica- Missionaries Lead Relief Work tion of a century old vice was not CHINESE confidence in Protestant missionaries was demonstrated put in force through the issuing of when over a quarter of a million dollars was placed in their hands for edicts by the government alone but was due to the imperceptible and immense pressure of public opinion- the opinion and belief of millions and hundreds of millions of inarticu- late Chinese scattered throughout the vast distances of China, a force im- bued with the simple and definite in- stinct of right. .
The racial mind of China is built on simple and on stubborn lines, with a bluntness and lronesty that make for character. This primal force was backed by the momentum of hundreds of millions of people, think- ing along the same lines.
China's John Wanamaker MR. MA MlNG PlU, manager of the "Sincere Department Store" of. Canton, has established large department stores in Honkong, Shanghai and Canton. He began business 141
flood relief. George L. Davis of For the EvangeHzatlon ot China Peking, describes the work of tIle missionaries in administering this ONE of the most effective though fund. quiet forces operating for the evangelization of China is The Chi- "Heavy rains caused allthe rivers nese Christian Intelligencer, a publito break their banks, and late in Sep- cation issued by the Mission Press tember we faced a scene of desola- at Shanghai. Nearly seven thousand' tion and a waste of suffering that copies go out every week, to nearly will rank with the great tragedies of all the provinces of China and to China. Between three and four mil- Chinese living in the United States, lion people were without homes or Canada, Honolulu, the Philippines, food, and their villages were sur- New Zealand, Hongkong, Singapore, rounded, first by water, and later by Burma, Sumatra and elsewhere. A ice. In many places fuel was not to number of copies went to the coolie be had." labor forces in France. During the past year, readers of the Chinese "It was to save and relieve the vic- Christian Intelligencer contributed tims of this overwhelming disaster $82,500 to flood and famine sufferers that the Christian forces of China of China. united. Although the city of Peking was not directly affected, the Chris- Gospel Work on China's Waterways tian missionaries of that city formed a relief society to cooperate with the A LARGE proportion of the Chi- Christian Committee in Tientsin and nese 'population are born, live and the government relief organizations. die on boats. In Canton there is a water population of 120,000' and in "Relief work was divided into sev- Hongkong some 55,000 never sleep eral branches. Soup kitchens and on land. In addition to the innumrefuges were established. Asylums erable estuaries along the coast of for children and industrial schools China there are more than 175,000 were started.. Financial support was miles of navigable rivers and canals given in the rehabilitation of the de- within the empire. These waterways vastated areas, and many hundreds not only afford facilities for trade, of people were given new land in but are used extensively for spread- Manchuria." ing the Gospel. No evangelistic work in recent years has been more Confucian Teacher Gives II Whole successful among· women nor more filled with promise than that carried School on by Miss K. B. Evans and a group of Bible women on their gospel boat, "you pushed me through the The Good News, in the waterways about. Shanghai. These workers door of this new doctrine," travel from station to station, visit- ~aid a Confucian teacher in Tientsin ing women in their own homes and to a missionary, "and now you can't holding services for them. -drive me out. I want all my stu- -dents to know about it, and you must Successful Evangelism help me." This man had been teaching a private school in. the ex- SO M E interesting evangelistic German Concession, but has brought methods in connection with his entire school with twenty-five country work are reported from students under the control of the Swabue, Kwangtung, by the English Methodist Mission, introduced the Presbyterian Mission. Six days' Mission curriculum and is teaching evangelistic services in connection at a salary of $6 a month. Access with one country church were to twenty-five pupils with the Chris- planned, with separate services each tian message, and through them to a day for men and women. Then on whole comer of a growing section of four successive occasions the Chris- Tientsin, is just such an "open door" as the missionary is always seeking and rarely finds.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
tians were visited in their homes and of alcoholic beverages from the mintold about these plans. Just before istry and from mission service. the meeting a poster was put into every house in the town and at the A Picture From Idfe same time a personal invitation given. As a result the attendance was very M ISS SARAH E. HOPWOOD, satisfactory. The preaching was done of St. Agnes' School, Anking, by preachers in neighboring towns. China, has contributed to The Spirit The subjects centered around Power, of Missions some so-called "Thumbthe Power of the Gospel, and Per- nail Sketches" of her work" from sonal Responsibility. As a result, which the following is quoted: fifty-two young men gave their names as being willing to study in a church "The sudden silence in the room night-school. caused the foreigner at the princi- pal's desk to look up questioningly. -The Chinese Recorder. At her elbow was a small apparition seemingly sprung from the earth it- Dangers in Rice Wine self. It was a girl-such a girl- stunted, her black hair straggling SO much has always been said across her tear-stained face, her one about the opium curse in China garment slipping from shoulders that alcoholism has •hardly been bruised and blackened by some cruel thought of as a problem. The beating; her legs bare and smeared Chinese Recorder, published in with country mud, and in her eyes Shanghai, comments, however, upon the look of a death-stricken animal. an open letter on the subject of 'Please, teacher'-a silence broken temperance recently addressed by by hoarse breathing and a hoarse the Canton Missionary Association cough-'I have come many miles. to the Christian public of South My father wishes to sell me. I have China, calling attention to the in- worked. My mother and I have juries resulting from alcoholic bev- worked. We have saved this. I erages, especially the so-called rice wish to learn; some day to teach, so wine (which is really rice whiskey) that my mother may rest.' Somethat is used even at the Communion thing in the foreigner's face apservice. ,This ietter points out that palled the child. 'Ah, teacher, a large number of diseases treated teacher, say it will be enough. I have in the hospitals are attributable to worked !' And the misshapen little alcoholic beverages. Rice wine, it is heap of rags, collapsed at the teachsaid, contains only 5 per cent less er's. feet, still holding out her all, alcohol than whiskey of the usual her treasure–seven dollars and fifty strength, and is four or five times cents to pay for six years' schoolas strong as beer or foreign wines. ing. And there were sixty-five girls The letter points out the danger that already, in quarters inadequate for this stimulant may take the place of forty. What did the foreigner do?" opium, and that as a matter of fact opium is the less' injurious of the JAPAN-CHOSEN' two. One serious element in this situation is that alcoholism is deeply Will Buddhism Die with Militarism? rooted among the leaders of the churches, pastors and teachers being DR. DANJO EBINA, veteran and included among its users. The letter leading Japanese Christian pastor urges that a crusade for prohibition be of Tokyo, suggests that Buddhism is started by the preparation and circu- doomed to die a natural death when lation of temperance literature, the militarism is banished, since both are giving of temperance addresses, and non-democratic in their character. the establishment of total abstinence Dr. Ebina believes that Christianity, socIeties and the exclusion of all the religion of brotherhood, will bemen and women addicted to the use come the religion of Japan. "I am exceedingly glad that Japan is par- ticipating as an ally of the great
democratic nations in this war," said dais and carried the paper down to Dr. Ebina at a Conference of the the village school. 'Here is some Federal Council of Churches in news of a war in Colombia.' 'Where Japan in Karuizawa last year. is Colombia ?' asked the school teacher. 'In South America.' 'Where "At the beginning of the war is South America?' 'Wait till I bring some Japanese regretted that Japan my geography.' And in a few minwas not an ally of Germany. Yet in utes Yi had spread out his map and spite of her militarism and her im- was giving the village teacher his perialism, Japan has been on the first lesson in primary geography." side of the democratic nations. The Continent. "The greatest crisis in Japanese history is impending. The defeat of Offered rus Baby in Payment German militarism and imperialism on the battle-fields of Europe will M E DIe A L missionaries have mean the defeat of these doctrines many strange experiences in all the world over. These two the course of their work which seem "isms," as you know, have been the almost incredible to the ordinary greatest hindrance to the spread of physician at home. Dr. Garfield the gospel in Japan. Because mis- Anderson of Korea cites an instance sionaries, pastors and evangelists of this kind; • have been regarded as opposed to militarism, they have been regarded "A man with a serious malady," as enemies of Japan." he says, "that distended his abdomen with fluid and caused his legs to Christianity an Open Sesame swell enormously, came a distance of over 1,000 miles, walking at the CHRISTIANITY has not only rate of 1% miles a day, carrying a opened a wonderful spiritual box of merchandise and a one-yearworld to new believers in heathen old baby on his back. He was exlands, but it has also proved the haus~ed, discouraged and penniless, open sesame to a hitherto unknown and fearing to be refused treatment material world. One old Korean if he had nothing to offer in payhatmaker named Yi did not know ment, asked us to take his boy and his letters before he became a raise him as our own. We treated Christian, but he learned them in or- the man, relieved his distress by reder to read his Bible. He soon moving a couple of bucketfuls of found that reading brought many fluid from his abdomen, and sent things to him of which he had before him away rejoicing in a new lease heard only by rumor, and he sub- on life, and in the possession of his scribed for "Christian News," which baby. This is but one of many exgave tidings of the great world be- traordinary cases that come to us." yond the five seas. What he learned from the paper only whetted his de- Thorough-Going Korean Leaders sire for knowledge, and Vi's next purchase was a geography. Over this I N the town of Syenchun about book he pored for hours, straining one out of two persons is an achis eyes over the maps and descrip- tive Christian. Apparently all are tions in the evening after his day's intent upon making their Church work was done. And F. S. Miller of what it should be-first an institution Chongju tells how eager the old hat- for teaching God's Word and saving maker was to pass on the informa- souls; and second an example of bettion he so toilsomely won. Mr. Mil- ter living and good citizenship. The ler says; church buildings are well cared for and the orderly and business-like "One day the 'Christian News' manner with which their meetings told of a war in Colombia. That was are conducted is impressive. interesting. Yi put on his straw san- The General assembly of the
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Presbyterian Church of Korea held Fighting to Overcome Honesty its seventh annual meeting recently in Syenchun. There are 179 commis- "pLEASE do not come here for sioners in the Assembly, sent from two weeks. We like to have the eleven different presbyteries. Of this total, sixty-seven are Korean you come, but you see the next two pastors, sixty-seven are Korean el- weeks is our special time for thievders and forty-five are foreign mis- ing and your Jesus message makes sionaries. These commissioners rep- us desire to be honest. If you come, resent about 2000 churches and about we shall not have the courage or 150,000 Christians. The missionary desire to steal." This was the tribute no longer leads in these meetings, paid to the Gospel teaching by some for the Korean pastors conduct the Ahir people of Ballia, India, of robbusiness in a most capable manner. ber tendencies.
The Presbyterian. Food or Famine in India INDIA MR. SAM HIGGINBOTTOM, superintendent of the Agricul- Constructive Evangelism in India tural Department at Ewing Christian College, Allahabad, writes that an THE American Arcot Mission has unprecedented number of students been at work in South India for have applied for admission to the more than sixty years. Last year farming courses and many have had the South India United Church inau- to be refused for lack of room. One gurated an Evangelistic Forward very old man and his grandson have Movement, centering about Vellore, joined the Freshman class together. Madras Presidency. The various India needs only demonstration and Councils of the Church were called leadership to enable her to help feed upon to organize their forces for a and clothe the whole world; for she ten per cent increase in the number has both the climate and the soil, as of converts won to Christ each year. well as the agricultural workers. When a report meeting was held to find out how the work had developed Mr. Griffin, a member of the staff during the last twelve months, it was at the College, is endeavoring to get shown that almost every pastorate out large numbers of his improved had gained over twenty per cent, plow which wi!! go far toward outand in some cases the gain was over weighing the ignorance and backthirty per cent. The average in- wardness of the Indian farmer. It crease for the entire field was twen- can be drawn by their underfed ty-two per cent. This result was oxen, can be repaired by the local achieved almost wholly by native blacksmith, is cheap and lasting. It Christians, though the Mission work- is well to remember that all these ers did much to help. improvements are the gift of Chris- tian Missions to India. If the meth- One important feature of this ods of the Mission farm could be put Forward Movement is that it did not in practice all over India, the poor reach out into new and untouched Indian tiller of the soil could be free territories, but served rather as a from despotic circumstances and the strengthening measure in existing terror of famine which always hangs churches. It is interesting that in over him. the Arcot district there are more Bible study classes and more prayer Where Poverty Leads to Suicide circles than in any other district. The Movement shows how valuable A METHODIST missionary of is a definite objective, and is a re- Ballia, India, writes that the markable testimony to the worth of Government has taken over the voluntary, personal effort in extend- woolen mills and weaving establishing the Kingdom of God. ments in order to supply the needs of the soldiers, and that consequently
the price of cloth had been doubled this great and pressing need of ele- and in some cases quadrupled. The mentary education.
result has been that the poor, accus- tomed though they are to wearing a What Does Ind1a Want?
W minimum of clothing, can no longer HAT the much-discussed sub- ject of self-government for buy even that minimum. A statement which appeared in The Cal- India really means to the great mass cutta Statesman was verified by of the people is presented by a Rev. C. F. Andrews and read as fol- writer in Asia, the journal of the lows: . American Asiatic Association, who "Many a man in utter helplessness says: is wearing worm-eaten bed sheets, "As for what the masses of India tom mosquito nets, gunnies, etc., to want, no one knows. One of the keep himself from nudity; and in Indian judges of the High Court, a some cases men have committed sui- man of· great acknowledged leader- cide to escape these humiliations. ship, an ardent nationalist, said to Numbers of families own a piece or me, 'It is very difficult to know the two of cloth jointly, the male mem- mind of India. At the top there is bers using it in relays whenever they a very thin layer of people who have go out. The fate of the women is received an English education. Even even more deplorable. Literally we do not know what the people are dressed in rags, they have to remain thinking about; much less does the all the twenty-four hours within the government know.' One has to re- four walls of the inner house, and member that 280,000,000 out of the they must be watchful to take cover 315,000,000 people of India live in either in a secluded comer or in some villages which average only 290 peo- dark place, if a male member comes ple to the village. These people are in. This they have to do to hide engaged in a life and death struggle their practical nakedess." against starvation, with the odds More Teachers for Ind1a's Chlldren often heavily against them. They are more than ninety-five per cent THE Bureau of Education of the illiterate in the sense that they can- Methodist Church, which is in- not write a letter to a friend, even vestigating the child labor situation in their vernacular, and read his in India, has found that in 1916, the reply. One wonders on going into number of children in factories was these villages and seeing the impov- 15,780. A few factory owners are erished lives of the inhabitants, making an effort to better the con- whether they even know that there ditions under which child laborers is such a place as India." work, but the great majority of fac tory and tea house owners oppose all l'am1l Evangellstlc Sooiet!
T educational movements, because they HE Calcutta Tamil United Evan- gelistic Society was founded know that a more universal enlightenment will do away with economic three years ago to promote unity serfdom for little children. Another among Indian Christians, to deepen hindrance to compulsory primary their spiritual life and to cultivate education is the objection of parent5. missionary interest. Some opposi- who need the pittance their children tion was encountered at the begin- earn, and who not only fear' that ning, but now the work is well estab- education will deprive them of this lished.
source of income, but that it will Regular temperance campaigns make their children feel above man- have been organized to combat the ual labor. The Methodist Centenary drink foe, a Bible class is conducted leaders are planning to place thirteen with marked success and a live de- hundred primary teachers in the In- bating club attracts non-Christians.
dia field to meet in some measure A Tamil lyrical address by Rev. H.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
A. Popley proved how powerful an Hero Worship in Arabia influence music possesses to reach Indian hearers. Lantern lectures, so- WHEREVER the Shiah sect of cial purity lectures, a music club and Mohammedanism is found an a reading room are other activities. annual celebration is held to com- memorate the death of Hussein, Indian Standard. grandson of Mohammed and one of their religious heroes. Mrs. Paul Basel Mission in South lJIdia. W. Harrison, in Neglected Arabia, describes such a celebration which THE churches of the Basel Mis- took place in Bahrein. Every strictly sion in Malabar recently decided orthodox Shiah wore black clothes to unite with the South India for the entire month of Meharram, United Church, and the Church of and draped his house in black. the Khassia and Lushai Hills, con- Readings were held in the homes nected with the Welsh Mission, has throughout the town, the sufferings agreed upon union with the Presby- and death of Hussein being the terian Church. These churches have theme. On the ninth day, a bier, a rich heritage of usefulness, and in gaily decorated, was carried through the new relationship the leaders de- the streets, followed by men and wosire to launch an enthusiastic evan- men beating their breasts and wailgelistic movement in Malabar. A be- ing-this in honor of a nephew of ginning has been made by a group the hero, slain on the same day. of young men who have pledged The culmination of all these demonthemselves to become volunteer help- strations 'was reached on the tenth ers. The Thiars are ready to re- day, when religious zealots, anxious spond to religious appeals, the Nairs to win a good reward in the next can be reached one by one and the world, took part in an elaborately depressed classes are eager to find planned parade. Companies of men a Gospel. brandishing swords and occasionally gashing themselves on the forehead, H. A. POPLEY. chanted "Oh, Hussein! Oh, Hus- sein !" These men wore new white MOSLEM LANDS garments in order to display the blood from their wounds to the best Famous for Truth Telling advantage. The main part of tht: procession was made up of men and AYOUNG man in Syria not long boys representing different relatives ago received a letter from a of Hussein, and following these were friend in America containing trea- horsemen representing Hussein's assonable remarks about the Ottoman sassins, all endeavoring to kill angovernment. He was "immediately other horseman who was Hussein's haled to court and tried as a traitor brother. On another horse rode to his country. The court was en- Hussein's son, ingeniously attired to tirely Moslem, while the boy was give the appearance of a sword be- Christian, and he seemed to stand no ing thrust through his head. Then chance at all. The young man said came men carrying biers, supposed that he knew nothing about the con- to contain bodies of various relatives, tents of the letter before receiving it, and most important of all, the but his assertion was received with bier of Hussein himself, draped sneers. Then the judge asked him in white and perched on it a where he came from. The boy pure white dove. To make the answered that he was a student in beheading more realistic, a man the Syrian Protestant College. In- lay on the bier with his head out stantly the presiding officer turned to of sight and where the head should his court and said : "We do not need have been protruded the neck of a to go further in this case. The boy comes from the Syrian Protestant College, and the boys from there tell the truth."
freshly slaughtered animal, which at eers, mechanics and other technically the beginning of the performance trained men to assist in this work of spurted blood in most ghastly man- rehabilitation. The company will ner. The procession wound up with include a considerable proportion of two companies of men beating their teachers, doctors and others formerly breasts and crying, "Oh, Hussein! resident in Turkey and familiar with Oh, Hussein!" Thus ended the the language and conditions. celebration commemorating the death of a hero of a religion which drags The Armenians in this country are its followers to a moral and phy- doing their share in this work. Over sical plane of living that is almost $2,000,000 have been contributed by unthinkable. Syrians and Armenians in America through the Presbyterian Board of Missionary Shock Troops Foreign Missions.
WHEN Secretary Josephus Dan- Some Fruits of Victory iels recently cited the U. S. A. marines for distinguished service in DR. JOHN H. FINLEY considers Belleau Wood he closed the citation General Allenby a worthy sucwith the words: cessor of Joshua. When General AI- lenby received a despatch from his "More than faithful in every Chief of Staff on September 20th emergency, accepting hardships with he said: "The battle of Armageddon admirable morale, proud of the has commenced. It is the dawn of honor of taking their place as shock the thousand years of peace." The troops for the American legions, they terms of the armistice signed on Nohave fulfilled every glorious tradition vember 11 included the surrender of of their corps, and they have given Mosul and the evacuation by the to the world a list of heroes whose Turkish troops of Northwestern Pernames will go down in all history." sia and the Caucasus as well.
The missionaries might well be In driving the Turks out from the called the "shock troops" of the Mis- Caucasus, it is again possible to sionary Army occupying these out- open up communication with Northposts. Some have laid down their western Persia, which has been lives in holding their posts, but t~eir pretty well cut off from the world names and all they have done will go for nearly four years. For a long clown in missionary history. time no mail has come from there, and what has come through has only Since the surrender of Turkey been by private messengers, some of there are practically 3,950,000 des- whom have been robbed and killed. titute Armenians, Greeks, Syrians One recent package of letters was and others in Asia Minor, the Cau- brought out by an English aviator, casus, Syria and Mesopotamia, who who kindly went over Urumia to see are accessible to relief funds which what had become of the isolated band have been administered by mission- there, and carried their letters out. aries and others-the "shock troops" during the years of the War, and The opening of the Caucasus will which are being administered today, also mean a chance to provision and which will need to be adminis- Urumia and Tabriz with the many tered in the immediate future. necessities for lack of which there has been great suffering. The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief are hop- The fact that the English troops ing and expecting, with the coopera- are in Ramadan, and that a small tion of the State Department to se- contingent was recently sent to the cure one or more government colliers help of Urumia,-arriving, however, or transports, on which can be sent a week too late to avert the awful from 100 to 300 doctors, nurses, flight of nearly all the Christian agricultural experts, sanitary engin- population-shows that they are in a
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
position to move in and help restrain the Turkish police at Beirut, I was the present lawless elements. The imprisoned for a week and- then orbitter feeling between the Moslems dered to leave the city, without any and Christians who have aroused all explanation being given. With my of this enmity, by daring for the first wife and child I started for Constantime to stand for their lives, must tinople, traveling in open cars and in some way be allayed if these two filthy cattle trains, exposed to the peoples who have for centuries lived bitter weather. together in peace, are to continue their relations to each other. The "At Karaman our train was stalled people, weary with years of disorder for three days and nights. We had and all the losses that have followed no food or means with which to keep them, would gladly welcome outside warm on a plain covered with two help. feet of snow and in a temperature below zero. Thirty-two persons on Industrial Work for the Syrian MJsston our train were frozen to death.
NOW that General Allenby's vic- "I offered $2,000 for a camel tory has freed the whole of Sy- transport to Konia, a journey of ria from Turkish oppression, the three hours. This was declined as British Syrian Mission, founded in not being a sufficient amount. My 1860, is making an urgent appeal for wife and child have not recovered help in reestablishing their work. yet from the terrible ordeal. The Mission buildings must be restored and equipped and simple "After living in Constantinople six forms of industrial work should be months I was thrown into a secret established-hand-loom weaving, rug prison at Stamboul with thirty crimmaking, etc. Several of the mis- inals, some of whom were chained sionaries are qualifying themselves to the walls. Neither food nor to train the women in these indus- water was procurable. Afterwards I tries. was sent to the military prison, where I was kept until Sept. 3, m) cell- Among the thousands of Syrian mates being an insane Turk and an women widowed by the war, there Egyptian spy. The madman tried will be many spiritually fitted for the twice to cut my throat while I was vocation of Biblewomen. The Com- asleep." mittee is making plims for the establishment of a Biblewomen's Training The Continent. Home at Damascus, where carefully chosen women will be trained for AFRICA the work of carrying the Word of God into the homes and harems of Sunday-School Work in Egypt the land. SHEIKH METRY DEWAIRY, Modern Martyrs _ who was recently called to assist REV. CHARLES A. DANA and Rev. Stephen Trowbridge as Sunday- Dr. William S. Nelson, mission- school field. worker for Egypt, is aries of the Presbyterian Board in making a personal study of the Cop- Syria were imprisoned by the tic Bible classes and Sunday-schools Turks because of their activities in in Cairo. From this he will extend distributing Red Cross supplies to the his survey to include the beginnings Armenians. The story of their suf- of Sunday-school effort in the Orferings was told by Mr. Dana to a thodox Coptic churches throughout correspondent of the Associated Egypt. Since his father was an or- Press: dained Coptic priest, honored among a wide circle of friends, Sheikh "On Nov. 19, 1917, after all the Dewairy has an entree to any of the records and correspondence of the Orthodox Coptic churches. One of Presbyterian Board were seized by his aims is to educate the priests to an interest in systematic Bible study, and to organize 'groups of children for lectures and the begin-.
nings of class work, led by intelligent A Missionary Physician in West Africa young college men. DR. LUCIUS E. SMITH has been New MoveJ1lent AInong Moslems In the only missionary physician at Benito, West Africa, for a year AbySsInia and the report of cases treated by him during that time fills one with THROUGH the Swedish Evange- amazement at the possibilities of hu- lical Mission a remarkable reli- man endurance. During the twelve gious movement is reported from the months Dr. Smith cared for 10,859 interior of Abyssinia. This has individual cases and made 301 outtaken hold of the Moslem population, side calls. One midnight summons so that in the last six years some 10,- required an eight-mile walk in the 000 have been baptized into the rain. One hundred and eighty-three Christian Church. The apostle of operations were performed, including this movement is an ex-Sheik, Zac- eighty-three major operations, two of caria, who has changed his name to them performed with the thermome- Noaye Kristos, a person of great in- ter at 110°. One patient came from fluence in Sokoto, in the Amhara 650 miles distant and another, a very country where he lives. The move- old man, walked continuously for sixment has sprung from Scriptures dis- teen days to reach the hospital. tributed by the British Bible Society 'in Abyssinia, and is evangelical in Adjusting Personal Property character. Indeed these new Christians are so dissatisfied with the REV. W. C. JOHNSTONE, of <lead forms of the Coptic Church Elat, West Africa, relates some that they are organizing classes for of the experiences a missionary to Scripture study and have mobilized Africa may have in straightening up some 500 men, who are serving as the "personal property" entangleteachers. ments of natives who accept Chris- tianity. One of the head men became The Christian Express. a Christian a short time ago, and as he had forty-seven wives it took The BIble In Zande some time to get his affairs adjusted. At a recent communion service at I N the very hear·t of Central Africa Ngomeden, four men with from two there is a region where the fron- to six wives apiece, wished to betiers of three enormous states-Bel- come Christians. One who was the gian Congo, French Congo and the possessor of six wives had not a Anglo-Egyptian Sudan-come toge- single child, which made his problem ther. This is the home of the easier to solve, as the men usually Azande, black savages numbering wish to put away all the wives who some 300,000 and sometimes called have children and take a new one "Niam niam" (flesh flesh) on ac- without children. Another said he count of their cannibalism. Three would give up trying to be a Chrisor four missions have' approached tian rather than keep the wife who them from different points of the tad three little children. There is compass and representatives of the much patient work for a pastor to Africa Inland Mission and the do in such conditions. Church Missionary Society have now undertaken to translate the The Effect of the Gospel Billie into Zande. A good start was made in the compilation of a gram- T HIS is the testimony of an mar and vocabulary of about 1,000 African native to the work of words by a Frenchman named 'Col- the Gospel among the fierce Ngoni omberoli, working with an inter- tribes: preter. "As I saw men with scars of The Azande are a virile race, in- spears and clubs on them, I martelligent and progressive, and the veled exceedingly. And then, at the printing of the first Gospel in their native speech is a momentous event.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Lord's table, to see these people sit- Americanizing the Foreign-Born ting there in· the still quiet of God's presence, my heart was full of won- To discourage the formation of der at the great things God had further varieties of "Little Italy," "Little Poland," such as done." have grown up in great American cities, is a part of the policy of the Encouraging Signs In Angola Methodist Board of Home Missions. A foreign-speaking church is a ne- THE steamship "City of Athens" cessity in the initial stage of work carried nineteen new mIssIon- among newly arrived immigrants, as aries of the Africa Inland Mission it furnishes the only avenue of apto work in Northeast Belgian Congo. proach and is the surest method of At Loanda, the boat waited while the inspiring confidence and establishmissionaries dedicated a new church. ing sympathy; but it is the aim to The building was quite a fine one, have English used increasingly, and and though it has a large capacity, to promote the teaching of English. many people were unable to gain Foreigners may also be reached by entrance at the dedicatory service. the English-speaking church, which Many Portuguese Christians were has workers with a knowledge of the present and the occasion was most foreign' language. There is Boinspiring. An interesting event at hemian work in twenty of the Engthe close of the service was the lish-speaking churches of Nebraska, burning of fetishes which had been white various churches in New York, brought in quantities by those who Chicago, Scranton, Pa., and Clevehad abandoned their superstitious land, Ohio, are carrying on this work faith in them. From fifteen hundred with notable success. to two thousand people witnessed this ceremony of burning. One Church Homes for Enlisted Men great need in this field is literature. The people are begging for some- THERE is in process of formation thing to read. in Chicago among the men who for a year or more have been con- NORTH AMERICA ducting Bible classes at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, an organiza- A I{hald Theological School tion to see that sailors and soldiers returning from the war are placed A KHAKI Theological College is in a church which will welcome being provided, at the request them. It. is the hope of the foundof the Khaki University for Cana- ers of the movement that arrangedian overseas forces, for the con- ments will be made in most of the tinued training of students for the towns of the country, so that returnministry, and for other forms of ing men will be connected definitely Christian service in the churches of the Dominion. The initial teaching with a local church. J. O. Morris, staff consists of representatives of the Anglican, Congregational, Metho- a Chicago lawyer, is sponsor for the dist and Presbyterian Theological idea and with a small committee is Colleges, while additional instructors formulating preliminary plans. It is may be drawn from other Colleges recognized by those back of the proof different denominations. Compre- ject that many of the churches of hensive courses of study have been the country have not been touched drawn up to suit the attainments of by the enthusiasm for practical rethe men and the time at their dis- ligion with which young men have posal. Recruiting new men for the been in contact with abroad. It is ministry will also be carried on by hoped to seek out the various members of the staff, who will have churches of all denominations which a great opportunity of enlisting ad- will give the soldiers and sailors an ditional students. enthusiastic church home. In some communities the Y. M. C. A. will The Canadian Churchman.
be able to do this work, but in other text is from the King James version, places it is, felt that there should be which is' satisfactory to all religious a special committee whose particular groups. The school boards of Wash- work will be the placing of all the ington, D. C., Wichita, Kansas, York, soldiers in active church work of the Pa., and Louisville, Ky., were the denomination they prefer. first to accept the charts for schools.
The Continent. Wilkes-Barre is one of the large cities in which the school board has Bulldlug Ships and hIen since accepted the Bureau's proffer A YEAR ago Hog Island, in the of Commandments for school rooms. Delaware River, near Philadel- Washington, Pa., was first in acphia was all that the name im- cepting them for courts; Pittsburgh, plies. Now pigs have been re- for industrial plants, and Greens- placed by ships, and the Island is burg, Pa., for the outside of church- productive on a gigantic scale in- es. The movement has been cordialstead of being an unprofitable ly approved by the American Bible marsh land. A Jewish rabbi, a Society and by organi]:ations and in- Catholic priest, and Dr. John Watch- dividuals representing many denomiorn, Secretary of the Methodist nations. The charts have been shown City Mission Society of Philadel- to several Catholic prelates who phia, share the task of ministering have said, some of them in writing, to the spiritual needs of the thirty- that they will make no opposition to two thousand men that swarm the plan.
through the yards each day.
Among these workers are Chinese, Mission Work for Negro Missionaries T Hindus, Mexicans and Negroes. HE relevance of having the Negro churches of America main- Dr. Watchorn does not confine his services to a weekly. talk. He tain their own missionary work in shares in all the interests of the Africa, and eventually come into the men, visits those in the hospital and responsibility of evangelizing the in every possible way is a living continent has long been recognized.
exponent of the gospel of brother- One difficulty has been in the matter hood and good citizenship which he of sufficient funds, for in order that Now that peace has come, Hog these churches should feel the work Island will not return to marsh- to be essentially their own they land. The Government will keep should not only furnish the mission- on building ships, a fleet for per- aries, but assume their financial sup- manency to carry American trade port. Definite steps towards this and represent American ideals. end have now been taken in an agree- And along with them the pastor, ment entered into by the American who once built ships himself, will Board, the Negro Congregational strive to build character in the churches and the American Mission- manhood of the shipbuilders. ary Association to raise a fund suffi- cient to support a group of mission- PublIcity for the Ten Commandments aries selected from the 15.0 Negro T HE International Reform Bu- Congregational churches of America, reau is having great encourage- and to apply toward their initial ment in its efforts to have wall charts equipment certain funds now at the of the Commandments posted in disposal of the Association. The first schools, courts and industrial plants missionaries to be appointed· under and on the outside of churches. The this agreement are Rev. and Mrs.
chart omits the numbers on which MacDowell of Chattanooga, Tenn., religious bodies differ, and which both graduates of Talladega College.
are not shown in the Bible. The They have recently sailed for Africa.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Church Unity in Vermont formation in homes, on farms and in the churches. But most significant SINCE May, 1917, a period of of all is the changed attitude toward nineteen months, twenty-two whiskey. When North Carolina unions and federations of churches voted on prohibition so great had have taken place in Vermont. Nine been the revolution of sentiment that towns have been turned over to the only eleven men in Yancey county care of one Protestant church; four- voted against prohibition. teen ministers have been released for service elsewhere; fourteen min- A Successful Exper:lment in MUwaukee isters are receiving a more adequate salary; nineteen hundred dollars of FIVE members of the Polish home missions money have been M:ethodist Church of Milwaukee freed for use in more needy fields; are devoting all their time to Chrisaverage church attendance has in- tian work within the Church; two of creased,..and large numbers of "out- its young men are studying for the siders" have been enlisted in Chris- ministry and three young women tian work. are giving their time to the Church's social service program. This is the The method of federation em- outstanding result of a missionary ployed in fourteen of the above men- experiment begun ten years ago in tioned instances was that of an ex- a congested Polish quarter of Milchange of fields–one denomination waukee. The first years of the exwithdrawing from a given field in periment were beset with difficulties, favor of another denomination due to the opposition of Catholic inwhich, in turn, leaves another field fluence, but steadily prejudice has to the first denomination. This ex- been overcome and the church has change is made only with the con- gradually come to be a vital force sent of the community. for good in the Polish community of Milwaukee. It has a member- Such a work as this has important ship of seventy. Services are conbearing upon the relation to the ducted in Polish, Sunday school in church of the young men returning Polish and English and the Epworth from the' war, who have become ac- League wholly in English. customed to a religion which expresses itself in practical ways.
Schools for Mountaineers A "Sunday House" for Rural Church THE Yancey Collegiate institute of Goers North Carolina is typical of the thirty-seven schools which the South- THE "Sunday House" is the newern Baptist Church has established est invention in Southwestern for mountaineers. Its superintend- Texas, where people live on large ent, Dr. Albert Brown, says that ranches and ordinary church attendwhen he started out to raise the anceis impossible. These people $3000 needed to found this school are, however, spiritually-minded, and he was told that the people would depend much upon their church life. never give such a sum for education. The "Sunday House" is the soluc On the contrary, men without a dol- tion. The head of each household lar gave a cow or a colt; women maintains a meagerly furnished but who had never once seen a school comfortable house near the church, gave wool or chickens, and children and every Saturday afternoon there gathered herbs and chestnuts for the is a continuous procession of concause. Later, the people of the com- veyances, carrying the families from munity gave $5000 in addition and children to grandparents, with food now the property is worth $45,000. for man and beast. Sunday-school, As for the results, one must travel eleven o'clock preaching service, Epover the country and see the trans- worth 'League, missionary society and evening service all find the en-
tire family in prompt attendance, LATIN AMERICA and early on Monday morning the Coordination in Cuba.
T long procession wends it way back HE "get together" and "work to- gether" spirit is growing among to the week-day home, refreshed and invigorated for the coming Protestant missionaries in Cuba.
week. Mr. Sylvester Jones, Secretary of the Committee of Conference in Ha- Orientals in Utah vana, has offered his office as a JAPANESE Christians in Ogden, clearing-house for plans and move- Utah, have rented a small room ments. The Committee has been for preaching services and are plan- able to meet in large measure the ning to furnish it. They have prom- demand for religious literature and ised to supply thirty dollars a month printed helps in church and Sun- for mission work. Twenty Chris- day school work. Plans are now tian Japanese in Salt Lake City are under way for supplying the general rejoicing that they are to have a public with religious reading mat- mission and have subscribed thirty- ter. The Book Depository has a five dollars a month towards its sup- growing list of volumes on Missions, port, in addition to furnishing a Temperance, Bible Study, Biography, parsonage for the pastor, who will Methods and Recreation.
have the care of both these fields. The Sub-Committee on Social The two organizations will be called Work has taken initial steps for a "The Japanese Church of Christ in Temperance and Anti-Gambling Ogden and Salt Lake City." About Campaign, which will include medal 6,000 Japanese live in this inter- contests.
mountain region. A number of joint efforts have been undertaken, such as union Canada's Econom.ic Perils Thanksgiving services, union summer DRASTIC and revolutionary reso- services and union monthly meet- lutions were adopted in the re- ings of English-speaking ministers port of the Committee on Moral and in Havana.
Social Reform, and it is indicative of Canadian sentiment that this report Food and Strong DrInk in Guatemala was .accepted unanimously and with- "WHY permit distillers to ship to out any important amendment. A foreign countries the liquor few extracts from this report indi- they may not sell in America?" is cate its sweeping character: the pertinent query of the editor of 1. The present economic system Guatemala News. The recent amend- stands revealed as one of the ment to a food bill prohibiting the causes of the war. manufacture of liquor during the period of demobilization of our 2. The war has made more dearly army specifically makes an exception manifest the moral perils inherent of liquor for exports. This would in the system of production for profits. allow the sending of demoralizing drink, which has been excluded from 3. The demand of workers for hu- this country, to be unloaded on man conditions of living, com- Guatemala and other countries, bined with the unfulfilled, often -where American missionaries are la- forgotten, but undying ethics of boring to raise the level of living. Jesus Christ, requires nothing less than a transference of the whole A Buenos Aires Bible Class S economic life from a basis of com- IXTY men at the morning session petition to one of cooperation and of a Bible Class in Argentina is service. one of the gratifying features in the -The Congregationlist and Advance. development of the work in the First
1919J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Methodist Church of Buenos Aires. they would think about it. This was The class was begun several months the result. We had had a good ago under the supervision of Jay deal of snow that winter, and a C. Field, a Y. M. C. A. Secretary, number of the very needy people and it has grown steadily. The leader is now W. H. Spencer, the died of cold and hunger. Those boys representative of a New York busi- went down to the back streets of the ness house. Many British and city, and found a poor widow with American men as well as Argentin- three children. She had no money, ians attend and join in the discussions of popular and current topics no fire, and no food. The boys said: in their relation to Bible teaching. 'If you will come up to our school every day at noon we will give you GENERAL something to eat.' The woman would not believe them, because, you World Sunday School Plans see, she was only a woman. But at last, when her children were at LEADING educators of Athens death's door, she determined to see who have been visiting America if those boys really meant what they with the Metropolitan, or Archbishop said. She came up to the school, of the Greek Orthodox Church, and j;he got a good meal for herself stated that they would welcome the and her children. 'I'he next day coming of a Sunday-school Commis- they gave her another good meal, sion to Greece. In that country, re- and the staff gave her charcoal. ligion and morals are taught in the They went on doing it the whole public schools, and the visitors had winter. Those boys took it in turn many questions to ask concerning the every day, to give up their own methods and success of our Sunday- dinner to feed the poor widow and schools. her children. If you could only know all the prejudices that had to Inquiries are also coming from give way in the doing of that, you Russia as to American Sunday would feel it was worth while teachschool methods which may be ing the Bible in a school for Moslem adopted by the Greek Church of boys." Russia in the very urgent work of religious instruction in that vast OBITUARY NOTIOE· country. Plans are taking shape for a great assembling of the Sunday- Rev. B. A. Walter of India school forces of the world in Tokyo, in 1920 and it is probable that a REV. HOWARD ARNOLD series of ewngelistic meetings will be WALTER, the Secretary of the held in Japan, and possibly China, National Council of the Y. M. C. A. Korea and the Philippines, preceding for India, died in Lahore, India, the Tokyo Convention to be held early in November, 1918. Mr. Walin May, 1920. The last World Sun- ter 'and his family had been engaged day School Convention held was in in missionary work in India for five Zurich, Switzerland, in the summer years. He had given much time to of 1913. the study of Islam and had spent several months in Egypt. Last year A Moslem Good Samaritan also, en route to India, he had spent some months in Japan in research AN English missionary was giving work and the study of missions. the Bible lesson on the Good Samaritan to some boys in a Mos- Mr. Walter had completed sevlem town. The boys were full of eral books on missions and just bepraise for the Samaritan. "But we fore his death had started upon what came to the end," says the mission- he hoped would be his masterpiece. ary, "'Go, and do thou likwise.' I Of his many poems the one below. said, 'Now look here, boys, what entitled "My Creed" has received are you going, to do?' They said highest praise.
I would be true, ber of theological works and was For there are those who trust me; highly esteemed for his ability as a preacher and his warm heartedness. I would be pure, For there are those who care; Dr. Johu Wherry of China I would be strong, For there is much to suffer; AFTER over half a century of ser- I would be brave, vice as a missionary in China un- For there is much to dare; der the Presbyterian Board of For- I would be friend of all-the foe-the eign Missions, the Rev. Dr. John Wherry died at Peking, China, on friendless; Thursday, January 2d. Dr. Wherry I would be giving and forget the gift; was nearly 80 years of age and after I would be humble, eighteen years of work, had just com- For I know my weakness; pleted translating the Bible into I would look up-and laugh-and classical literary Chinese. He was graduated from Princeton Theologi- love-and lift. cal Seminary in 1861, and, after preaching in camps during the civil Rev. Charles Jukes of Madagascar war, went to China. All but a few years of his life had been spent in REV. CHARLES JUKES, a vet- that country, where he was highly eran .missionary 6f Madagascar, respected and greatly loved. who died November 3, 1918, in his seventy"eighth year, went out to Rev. James Cohen of Safed, Palestine this field from England in 1866. He was appointed to the charge of JEWISH missions and Hebrew Ankadibevava, where he continued Christians sustained a great loss to work for more than thirty years. in the tragic death of the Rev. When Madagascar came under Tames Cohen, a victim of Turkish French rule his charge was trans- cruelty. The Missionar'J' Record of ferred to the care of the Paris Mis- the United Ftee Church of Scotland sionary Society and Mr. Jukes re- reports that the last message received turned to England, where he trav- from him was sent through a Briteled much in the interests of the ish prisoner of war in the Taurus society. Mountains, stating that he was obliged to leave Safed and was en- Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. deavoring to make his way to Con- stantinople. THE well-known Evangelist, Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., vice- Mr. Cohen was born in Russia, chairman and Executive head of the but as a boy was taken to Safed, New Era Movement of the Presby- where he became a pupil in Mr. terian Church, died in New YOI:k Cristie's evening school. After a City December 25, following an oper- period of instructIon he was baptised ation which was the third he had un- in Tiberias by the late Rev. James dergone within the past two years. Souta in 1895. This was, so far as Dr. Chapman was born in Richmond, known, the first baptism on the Indiana, in 1859. He was a gradu- shores of Galilee since the days of ate of Lake Forest University and Constantine. He had to face much Lane Theological Seminary, and in opposition, and for nine years after 1882 was ordained to the Presby- his confession of faith his father terian ministry. Twenty-five years refused to see him. After training ago he took up his evangelistic work in the Syrian Protestant College at and during this time he made more Beirut, he was appointed evangelist than one tour of the world, holding at Tiberias and in 1912 was ordained revival services in many different to the ministry by the Presbytery of lands. In 1917, Dr. Chapman was Sidon. elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, a position which he held until May, 1918. He was the author of a num-
MISSIONARY
Rising Japan: Is She a Menace, or that his volume will be regarded a Comrade to Be Welcomed to as a case of special pleading with the Fraternity of Nations? By a foreword by the President of the Jabez T. Sunderland, M. A., D. D. Japan Society. We doubt whether xi, 220 pp. New York: G. P. any nation is as nearly perfect as Putnam's Sons. $1.25. 1918. the one described here; it reads more like a modern Utopia, in the The author was Billings Lecturer etymological sense of the word. in 1913-14 in Japan, China and rndia, and thus gained first-hand Thoburn-Called of God. By W. information used in this volume. F. Oldham. Illus. 188 pp. New If one were to regard this dis- York: The Methodist Book Concussion as telling "the whole truth," cern. $1.00. 1918. as well as "the truth and. nothing but the truth," the question of his Bishop Oldham was a fellowsubtitle would be answered em- worker of Bishop Thoburnin Southphatically in favor of comradeship ern Asia and is a man of like spirit. in the fraternity of nations. All This intimate relation of the two who have written before as dissen- men gives value to the sketch, both tients would be under the suspicion in its selection of material. and in of being liars, and Japan would be its interptetation of a great life. the paragon of nations, despite the The bulk of the volume is made author's modest disclaimer of hav- up of quotations from Dr. Thoing proved that to be true. burn's pen on various subjects re- lated to his work in India and Japan has undoubtedly been mis- his views of missions. Through understood and unfairly treated in it all runs the thread of Bishop the past. She is most that the Thoburn's thesis: "My life furnishes author claims for her in civiliza- a testimony to the fact that God tion; she is less of a menace-if any has been with me, not only in a at all-than sand-lot orators and general way, all the time, but espec- Pacific Coast demagogues picture ially at set times, and in distinctive her; the "conclusion of the whole ways his presence has been unmismatter" at the close is sound politics takable." It was that conviction and religion. But we wonder why that made his work on the mission some items not mentioned are over- field so unswerving and which led looked, such as Japan's conquest of men of other views and missions to Korea in detail, and her proposed question the universal application articles. of attachment (January 18, of certain theories, based upon in- 1915), of most that was worth hav- dividual leading. Dr. Oldham has ing in China. A goodly array of made good his word "called" as it Japanese missionary endorsement is is prefixed to most of the chaptersquoted for Japan, but perhaps a "called" to preach, to foreign mislarger number of missionaries in sionary service, to momentous ex- China are suspicious of their next- periences, to help create a woman's door neighbor? We wonder what missionary movement; called across great justification for further mis- the Ganges, to Calcutta, to father sionary effort in well-nigh faultless India, to the missionary bishopric, Japan could be gathered from such to the Farthest East; and now, in a volume. The author has over- these sun,set years, to a life of quiet done a desirable piece of irenics, so 157
waiting. In Bishop Warne's final unique way. Despite its occasional appreciation, he speaks of his former denominational reference, the s e co-worker under the heads of the thirty-five pages might perhaps be evangelist, the statesman,-a point reprinted for general exploitation not well enough made,-and the purposes; or, better still, Dr. Noss prophet. There is need for a much and others equally able to write ampler life of Bishop Thoburn with from other parts of Japan, might the central factors of this great issue a general appeal of similar India missionary as its leading character for the entire Empire. theme. Every field needs just such general text-books prepared as this special Tohoku, the Scotland of Japan. By one has been written. Christopher Nass and Associates of the Tohoku Mission. lIlus., Money, the Acid Test. By David maps, 302 pp. Philadelphia: McConaughy. 12mo, 187 pp., 50 Board of Foreign Mission, Re- cents. Laymen's Missionary Move- formed Church in the United ment. New York, 1918. States. 60 cts. 1918. Stewardship is not a new subject, This seems to be the best mission but it is here treated with a freshstudy text-book written for Japan, ness, a vigor and with true idealism though its scope and avowed deno- that is stimulating, interesting and minational purpose make it unsuit- practically helpful. The war has able for general use. Its full analy- taught many new lessons in stewtical outlines, true paragraph head- ardship of time, money and talents. ings, specially prepared l1Iaps, abun- There has been a new vision of the dant and well-chosen half-tones, needs of mankind; a new sense of concreteness of style, living interest responsibility and a new taste of and the breadth and catholicity of the joys of sacrificial giving. This treatment make it richly worthy of vision, this sense, this taste, all need commendation. While the northern to be regenerated by the Spirit of section of Japan's main island sup- Christ, so as to be directed into the plies the background of the volume, field of. spiritual service. the Empire is homogeneous enough to make what is recorded here Mr. McConaughy goes to the root approximately true of all Japan. of the matter. He makes steward- One wishes that the book's wisdom ship, not lavish giving or tithing, of method and catholicity of spirit the basis of giving. The inspirawere equally wide-spread there. tion of it is indebtedness to and part- The usual categories of the field nership with God. The zeal for text-book are found under new and acquiring is tempered with the attractive headings, of which "Old thought that possession is not Ways and New Laws" and "Many ownership, and that "the resources Gods" are good illustrations, as of God are promised only to those well as among the chapters best who undertake the program of God." worth general reading. The person This distinction between ownership who would know just how the mis- and possession has been well illussionaries carryon their work cannot trated in the Government tax on do better than to read chapters war incomes. V-VII in their entirety, as the various forms of Christian effort are The joy of spending is safedescribed and explained in a most guarded with the thought that to satisfactory way. The chapter en- abuse is to lose. Saving is distintitled "The Call of Tohoku" is really guished from hoarding, and giving the call of all Japan voiced in a is recognized as a joy rather than a requirement. The chapters on pro- portions, on accounting and on influencing others are definite and ness to be associated with most of practical. W.e could wish no better the enterprises which have sought thing than that all in our churches the all round development of and Sunday-schools and Young Peo- young manhood in this country and ples' Societies should study this in the world. In the book, the book, and master its facts and reader finds himself coming into ideals. Such a study and the adop- personal touch with the heroes of tion of these principles would his boyhood, men like Moody and elevate the whole spirit and life of Speer, McBurney and Mott, Stagg the Church and would vastly in- and Studd. Richard Morse has had crease the giving to the work of a keen eye to see young men of Christ at home and abroad. Pastors leadership-and he has had the good and missionary secretaries would judgment to let these young men feel new eooperation and response make their own mistakes and win from their constituencies, and Chris- ,their own successes. Today Mr. tians would experience new satis- Morse's "boys" are commanding the faction in the acquisition and use Association as it masters the suof money. preme opportunity offered by the Great War, and the period of re- My Life With Young Men. By construction. Richard C. Morse. 8vo. $3.50. Association Press, 1918. The author's story modestly im- plies that he has had remarkable Those who have known the power in winning to his cause men author of this book, or have sat as and women of great wealth. But his students in the summer schools he has not failed to see that the which he did so much to foster, young men of today must face with will see him again in these pages, new courage the question of accuand hear him talk in chatty, familiar mulation as well as of its distribufashion, of the Association move- tion. ment as it has been carried along for a half century upon the tides of The book while dealing with a great movement, gives now and God. again delightfully intimate views of If Richard Morse had not been the home life of the author. It is a very human book. a servant of men, he would have betrayed his ancestry. Belonging The American Girl and Her Comto the famous Morse family, he en- munity. By Margaret Slattery. tered as a child a circle of Chris- 170 pp. $1.25 net. Pilgrim Press, tian culture and service. He was Boston, 1918. a student at Yale in the days of the Civil War, and learned patriot- With that deep understanding, ism and its high demands. keen insight and warm sympathy that has become hers through con- He early found his life work with stant association with and study of young men. Making his home in girlhood, Miss Slattery portrays the New York, he has become a citizen American girl, "a composite of all of the world. As the General Sec- the daughter, of all the people." A retary of the International Commit- new and larger vision is here gained tee, he has been a part of every ad- of what the American girl means to vance of the years. He has encour- her community and what her comaged the educational, the physical munity means to her. The rural, the department, he has furthered the suburban and the city girl is picturwork among the students. When ed in business, in school and at there were many sceptics, he be- home, with her hopes, her dreams lieved in the organization of Asso- and her ambitions. On the one ciations in foreign lands. hand she is greeted with faith and It has been the author's happihope, for "she will enrich America's her old home again. The problem soul, enlarge her power and develop of the Adriatic is not so simple as increasingly in her the steadiness it seems, with Italy as a holder of of purpose and the passion for much of the littoral, and is one that justice that will keep her equal calls for decision in the peace counto the task of a true Democracy." cils. Being completed in December, On the other hand, there is a chal- 191-7, Mr. Savi6's volume does not lenge to the community that owes anticipate the form that Pan-Slavso much to this new American girl, ism will probably take. Standing for it dare not fail her in the present together as a southern barrier crisis. The book is an inspiration against wrong, those peoples are to American girls and those who pictured as taking refuge in Holy work with them. Russia and Mother Moscow, their great ally and Mecca, a dream that South-Eastern Europe, the Main the author probably would not now Problem of the Present World wish to be realized. On the other Struggle. By Vladislav R. Savic. side, Mongol Bulgaria will probably IlIus., map, 276 pp. Fleming H. remain as the author prophesies. Revell Company. New Y 0 r k. Like other books of its class, 'this $1.50. 1918. volume is already out of date, though helpful for the purpose al- President Butler of Columbia ready named. University points out in his introduction, that a durable peace can- The City Worker's World. By not be secured until the Eastern Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch. Question has been settled. To leave 12mo. 235 pp. $1.25 net. The it open will be to invite ambitious or Macmillan Co. 1918. greedy nations to enter again into the arena of conflict. Such a com- Fifteen years' experience as direcplicated problem is insoluble with- tor of Greenwich House, New York, out a full understanding of the en- is Mrs. Simkhovitch's qualification tire question, and for that purpose for writing this story of the city such a volume as this of Mr. Savio, worker-his family, home, educaformer head of the press bureau of tion, work, health, play, politics and the Serbian Foreign Office, is a real religion. The view point is very contribution. He holds that as different from that of Mrs. Bain- America's entrance upon the scene bridge, not less worthy of study but will materially affect the final solu- less spiritual. General facts and tion, it is incumbent upon Ameri- statistics are here emphasized rather cans to know all the facts in the than personal experiences. In the case. These he presents from the chapter on religion, for instance, a side of history-the Austro-Hun- belief in God is recognized as almost garian, that of the earlier life of the universal and as important, but there Southern Slavs and of the contact is no conviction apparent as to the of Austria-Hungary with that race, necessity for faith in Christ and and later in those events that surrender to Him. caused the Austro-Serbian war, the match that set alight the world Religion is defined as the "capacconflagration. Serbia's later part in ity to face life triumphantly." "The the world war is a brilliant record sex impulse is the mother of all the of martial valor and a pathetic hopes," says Mrs. Simkhovitch, and sequel of defeat under overwhelm- she traces religion to the hope for ing odds, a loss that she has since advancement and the fear of unrevenged in her victorious maI'ch known powers. The author's facts with the Allies from Monastir to are interesting and helpful, but her philosophy is unsatisfactory. Korean Buddhism: History-Con- and high-places visited by the ditions-Art. By Frederick Starr. author with more or less adventure. Illus, xix, 104 pp. Marshall Jones The monks for the most part are Company. Boston: $2.00. 1918. not as notable for their piety and scholarship as for their disreputable Professor Starr of Chicago Uni- character and deplorable ignorance versity "but scratches the surface" -with exceptions, of course. The of a subject to the investigation of third section deals with Buddhist which he has given days of journey- art as seen in Korea, including with ing to remote mountain monasteries stone and wood carvings, architecand nights of conversation and in- ture, images or idols, and paintings, quiry among their priests. Small the singular subdivison of scenery! as the volume is,-altogether incom- Not singular, however, in the Far mensurate with its high price,-it East where Buddhists seek out and nevertheless is a fuller account of utilize every coign of scenic ad- Buddhism in this corner of Buddha- vantage, to the delight of even Ocdom than we have hitherto seen. cidental visitors, as well as of their It is the terra incognita of Buddhist Oriental guests. The author has literature in English; and with so given the Occident a sample of interesting a guide, the reader sees stores of information that should curious and interesting scenes and later lead to a full volume, supplelearns facts that are equally un- mental to these three lectures. familiar. The three magi bringing Buddhist gifts to the Three King- The Tragedy of Armenia: A Brief doms were Sundo, a yellow Tibetan Study and Interpretation. By to Northern Koguryu in 369 A. D. ; Bertha S. Papazian. xiii, 164 pp. the olive-hued Hindu, Marananda, Boston: Pilgrim Press. $1.00. to Pakche in the south in 384; and 1918. black Mukocha, an Ethiopian, to Silla on the east in the year 424. Next to Belgium and France, but From Pakche, Buddhism was sent for a different reason, the Christian for the first time to Japan in 552,- world has been most moved by the according to Professor Starr's chron- tragic fate of Armenia during these ology. In the Koryu Dynasty (918- years of blood and colossal wrong. 1392 A. D.) Buddhism was at first The writer of this little volume royally fostered, though it was for- has a right to voice the sorrows of bidden to build more monasteries. a race one of whose surnames she Next, Confucian officials out-influ- bears, and she does it so finely and enced Buddhist monks, and despite tellingly that the book is differthe temporary revival under a entiated from volumes like Mr. strongly Buddhist king in the Savie's which are mainly interested middle of the eleventh century, the in the political aspects of postthirty thousand monks present at a bellum reconstruction. A vivid single ceremony so deteriorated that sketch-history of Armenia in pagan in 1392 Yi-Tajo overthrew the days and in those centuries follow- Dynasty because it had gone over ing her conversion under St. Gregto a corrupt religion. Varying for- ory, brings the story to the begintunes, mostly hostile to Buddhism, nings of Turkish domination and followed in the Dynasty that gave the subseqent renaissance when the way to the present Japanese rule, political dream of Armenian regenersince which time the faith is once ation was incarnated in Israel Ori. more gaining prestige under the The rise and influence of the Near more enlightened Buddhist sects. Eastern question, hints of the awful massacres and the 'cataclysm of the Under the heading "Conditions," world war, bring the volume to its is an interesting account of temples climax, "In the World Court," Signor Gorrini, Italian Consul-Gen- cents. Home Mission Board of eral at Trebizond, W. T. Stead, the Southern Baptist Convention. Henry Morgenthau and a dozen Atlanta, Georgia. 1918. other pleaders stand before this Court and testify to Armenia's sore It is right that the South should distress and worthiness, a plea interpret the South and issue its whkh the blood of hecatombs of own call. Too often the calls have men and women martyrs accentu- come exclusively from Northerners ates. Rarely in such literature does interested in the Southern problems. one find such exquisite English, such clarity Df quiet argument and Dr. Masters speaks as a Southsuch a massing of evidence in favor erner, a student and a worker who of immediate help for a race whose loves his native land. He shows advocate the author is. the extent and character of the needs of various classes-the moun- In the Wilds of South America. taineers, the immigrants, the N e- By Leo F. Miller. IIlus., maps, groes, the unchurched. This is a xiv, 424 pp. New York: Charles book of facts forcibly presented and Scribner's Sons. $4.50. 1918. incidents well told. It is one that all interested in the Christianization This fine volume is the record of America should read. of six years of exploration in Columbia, Venezuela, British Guiana, The Christian Crusade for W orId Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Democracy. By S. Early Taylor and Brazil, undertaken as a natural- and Halford E. Luccock. IIlus., ist of the American Museum of maps, 203 pp. The Methodist Natural History between the years Book Concern, New York. 75 cts. 1911-1916. In the third and fourth 1918. paragraphs of the author's preface one finds a colorful, picturesque The senior secretary of the Methepitome of those adventurous, fas- odist Board of Foreign Missions cinating, laborious years. has been one of the foremost leaders in the sane exploitation of Missions; "The purpose of this narrative is and this is a book that well exhibits to follow the course of explorations his ingenuity and success in setting into the tropical jungles of the forth the claims of the various Amazon, Paraguay, Orinoco, and fields of his Board, an effort in other South America's master which Mr. Luccock has contributed rivers, and to the frigid heights of his quota also. It is primarily inthe snow-crowned Andes." tended as a text-book for classes in Epworth Leagues and Methodist Aside from its scientific character, Sunday-schools. the expeditions and these records supply occasional descriptions of "Making Democracy Safe for the the tribes encountered and less fre- W orId" is followed by chapters quent reference to isolated, jungle- telling of the denomination's work immured misionaries doing a self- and opportunity in Latin America, denying and useful work for savage China, India, Africa, the Pacific communities. It likewise gives the Islands bordering Asia, and needy reader a fair idea of unoccupied sections of Europe-tell it not in sections of the mission field, which Great Britian and on the Continent! await a later and more devoted type As the volume makes central the of Protestant missionary than now centenary of Methodist missions, to feels the call to turn from enlight- be celebrated in 1919, the final ened pagans to degraded, scattered chapter is its peroration, each of the and savage heathen. previous sections being separate and exclusive appeals. Altogether it is The Call of the South. By Victor a masterpiece of wise exploitation. 1. Masters. 12mo, 220 pp., 60 Wilson and Foch say Bible Teachers Training School -"A man has dePrived himself of lhe besI there is in the world who has deprivedhim- Interdenominational and International ——-se/foJintimateknowl- DR. WILBERT W. WHITE, President edge ofthe Bible•.. -Pres. Wilson. Bible study the central, organizing discipline of the curriculum. leThe Bible is certain.. ly the best prepartion Students from 30 denominations and 18 coun- that you can gz·ve to tries last year. – an Amet'ican soldier goin,rr into bottle to School subdivided into: School of Theolog, sustain his magnificent ideal and faith. I, (three years course); School 01 religious Peda- {N. Y. Bible Sociely.)-Marskal Foch. gogy (three years course); School 01 Millions Answer this "Call to the Colors" (two years course); School lor Bihle Teachers (two years course). Be a Trained These two great leaders voice a direct appeal to intelligent men Christian Association Leaders Christian Worker ~~~~~i~:~-~~:cf:%t!~a~~~~: Y. M. The" School offera couree. of .pecial value to – C. A. and. Y. W. C. A. leode…. industrial and home workers. farmers, mechanics, soldiers T!th!e=;eioC~O~uOrfefMoocho~v~e:r !a;1.t~o!t:a:l:o;.f a55:0:hSo~urhs1o1f :E:ng~l~h:;b N::e;';;~:St~~r~i~~~~r~ ~r~:iOd:~:idefoarn~b~~~s,;~~ EducationJ 90 hours of Sociology; 90 hour. in Pracreally know the Bible. There is personal profit .beyond anything you can imagine in prayerful, systematic Bible tlce Work in Teacbing, undercritici.m: 150 hour. in reading and study. Get ready! Start at oncel The P.ycbology.
Correspondence Courses Winter term begins January 2nd of the MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTEwillgiveyouasyst"m Bible Teachers Training School tostudyby-a"uide. a teacher. ¥ouwlllbeapersonalpupi! 541 Lexington Avenue, New York ;::::tfol:~e~~~~rftfe~~taosfs~~~~; ~~~~~:g;~;;nd~~l~o~k: Publiohero of -r::,~!,::~,:e,:.-:~.t.)(Sampl. coPy to Write Today ¥::~~·~:nt:'L~ls~~d~::uio~w~r~!~~e:: THE MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE Dept. SllZ 153 In.mute Place Chicaco.III'jl!!:==================!!i!!iiiEa!!
"Can You Name a Strong A GREAT BOOK ON but Plain Book on the DISPENSATIONAL AtoneInent?" TRUTH Ng: ~~ ~~"gia~~';,~ ~=!:,"e~~'h~:: Containing 40 Splendid Propheti- ~~o~o~k~••esanTdh~c:o!rr,eslpto.n..drIengg~l:y;:a .:.r~e~·;:fr~e~ cal Charts, each 9 x 20 inches, and 20 Chapters of Descriptive Mauer .erioUll absence ot definire a.nd Scriptura.! reaching upon this. the centra.! truth o. ChristIanity. Tli.. Buok .. th~ ftault 01 But now the need ,. supplied in '.11l't7 yea…- .tOO,. . t Dq.., pen••floa.1 'fl'w.tb alltl tear 7eBrII bave JH.CIl aPeat I.
ib!, IIWTpal'Jltiollo It I.
Atonement and Law SANIll, "n.t " "''TDIIiI-sm..
By JOHN M. ARMOUR, D. D. I'", .. TER~" cont.lli.. no "",.eca- '(atlve matt.. b . .ecl …. "An orlglna.! !!ne of rrgument that is at once cle…. strong and concusive." In pOllular edi- tbe ""ITTURIIT SCHOOL"! tion, newly set thronghout. of 'nt.rpft'tatlonJ .. tllllu·I,… will b~ of …._ …..at v81U ;'ail • ..aailard ….b.l'fQ'· Oil "UD"pt"Rllationat 'l'rath"
aad 1. a IIDhI.. of Inf.rma… tl_ _ Pro..h..tJe TnltJr,.
Dean Gray of the Moody Bible. Institute ad of Illeal..ulable ".Iue says: UThe testimony that it Wa!J one of the most remark- ~ "".." Bo.l…"."n(.
able bookS on the A'tonement wblch 'that generatIon The .oolt ,• •':'4 to he had produeed stands unchallenged still. and with ardor the aHotent B……. "Oil …….. I reoommend 1t to my brethren everywhere." peaRatlona] 'l"rutb'" In the ……r1d. an. i. hl&"hly ('om..
_elided b7 the koaillnc …~~tle.1 R..h.l… of the da.,.. a .., .. haTI. . . . wide ~ 12mo.. 207 P&pes, [,sper covers, 50 cents; cloth Publiobed by tbe Autlu>r covers. gil stamp, $1.00 net. . CLARENCE LARKIN THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASS'N I'..tor Bethany Bapti.t nurch 809 North LaSall. Street Chicago FOX CHASE, PHII.A., PA.
Price I'..tpaid, $2.50 Re..;t by P. O. Order Please mention TBlC MISSIONARY RltVIltw OP THlC WORI.D in writing to adverti~€rs
NEW BOOKS ON_MISSIONS
The Near East from Within. Svo, 265 The History of Religions. By E. Wash- pp. $1.50. E. P. Dutton & Co., New burn Hopkins. 8vo. 624 pp. $3.00. York, 1918. The Macmillan Co., New York. 1918.
America and the Near East. By Abra- The Far East Unveiled. By. Frederic ham MitTie Rihbany. 16mo, 164 pp. Coleman. 304 pp. 7s, 6d. Cassell, $1.00 net. The Beacon Press, Boston, London. ·1918. 1918. Japan at First Hand. By Jos. 1. C. The Church and the Great War. By Worth M. Tippy. 16mo, 139 pp. Clarke. IIlus. 482 pp. $2.50. Dodd, $1.00, net. Fleming H. Revell, New Mead & Co., New York. 1918. York and Chicago, 1918. Korean Buddhism. By Frederick Starr. The Achievements of Christianity. By 8vo. 104 pp. $2.00. Marshall Jones, J. K. Mozley. 16mo, 85 pp. Is. 6d. So- Boston, 1918. ciety for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, London, 1918. The Riddle of Nearer Asia. By Basil The Approaching End of the Age. By Matthews. 160 pp. 2s. U. C. M. E., H. Grattan Guinness. 12mo, 371 pp. 65., net. Morgan & Scott, London, London. 1918. 1918. The Race of Judaism among the Reli- The Pulpit in War Time. A symposium. gions of the World. By C. C. Monte- 16mo, 173 pp. $0.75. Presbyterian fiore. 61 pp. Is, M. Lindsey Press, Board of Publication, Philadelphia. London. 1918.
The Country Church in the South. By The Christian Approach to Islam. By Victor I. Masters. 12mo, 207 pp. James L. Barton. 8vo. 311 pp. $2.00. Baptist Home Mission Board. The Pilgrim Press, Boston. 1918.
The Birth of the Russian Democracy. Reconstruction in Turkey. Report. American Committee Armenian and By A. J. Sack 4to, 530 pp. $3.50 Syrian Relief.
Russian Information Bureau, New The Tragedy of Armenia. By Bertha York, 1918. S. Papazia 12mo. 164 pp. $1.00. The Pilgrim Press, Boston. 1918. Rising Japan. By Jabez T. Sunderland. 12mo, 220 pp. $1.25. G. P. Putnam's Thirty Years in Tropical Australia. By Sons, New York, 1918. Gilbert White. 264 pp. lOs, 6d. So- ciety for Promotion of Christian Mexico's Dilemma. By Carl W. Acker- Knowledge, London. 1918. man. Svo, 2S1 pp. $1.50. George H. Doran & Co., New York, 1918. Christian Forsyth of Fingoland. By W. P. Livingstone. 236 pp. 5s. Hodder The Life of Faul. By Benjamin W. & Stoughton, London. 1918. Robinson. 12mo, 250 pp. $1.25. Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1918. Under Coligny's Banner. By Albert Lee. 12mo. 314 pp. 4s, 6d. Morgan The Knock on the Door. By Mary & Scott, London. 1915. Caroline Holmes. 12mo, 239 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. Revell, New York and He That is Spiritual. By Lewis S. Chicago, 1918. Chafer. 12mo. 151 pp. $0.75. A. C. Gaebelein, New York. 191B. Morning Faces. By Georg-e McPherson Hunter. 8vo, 219 pp $1.25. George A Mosaic of Missionary Methods. By H. Doran Company, New York, ~918. Stanley Sowton. 12mo. 155 pp. Is, 6d. Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Little Whiteface and. His Brownie Society, London. 1918. Friends. By "B. Martin." Pamohlet. $0.40. Presbyterian Standard Publish- The Faith that Makes Faithful. By ing Company, Charlotte, N. C., 1918. William Channing Gannett and Jen- kin Lloyd Jones. 12mo. 164 pp. Hudson Taylor and the China Island $1.25. The Stratford Company, Bos- Mission. By Dr. and Mrs. Howard ton. 1915. Taylor. Svo. 640 pp. Is net. Mor- gan & Scott, London. 1918. The Lutheran Church in Paris. By William Wackernagel. 12mo. 63 pp. Camps and Trails in China. By Roy $0.50. General Council Publication Chapman Andrews. Svo 334 pp. House, Phila. 1918. $3.00. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 1918. Romance of the Red Triangle. By Sir Arthur K. Yapp. 12mo. 195 pp. $1.00. The Democratic Movement in Asia. By Geo. H. D{)ran, New York. 1915. Tyler Dennett. 16 mo. 252 pp. $1.50. Associated Press, New York. 191B. The Sword of the Spirit. By Joseph Fort Newton. 12mo. 240 pp. $1.25. Geo. H. Doran, New York. 1915.
XIII
SOlIn,: MISSION SCCHHOOOOLl, CHILDREN AT PORT SAID SEND THE BEST WAY THE MISSIONARY REVIEW T~~ WORLD CdIffi>J :: to serve Communion. It is reverent AS A ~t~':s~~n::r~;t=ce NEW YEARS GIFT chaste and beautiful. Made of lineat TWELVE TIMES A YEAR mateerriiaa1ls aonod best.,workmanship. TO YOUR S8enw4J lIlT iU..trat«l1pJrri«u fill PASTOR, MISSIONARY or OTHER FRIEND ·'INDIVIDUAL COMMUNION SERVICE CO. 1701 Che.tnut Street PhiladelpLia, P •• GARDEN NOVELTIES giving CHILDS' GIANT KOCH IlA., our HOWTOCOOKVEGEI!TASLES, 1918 nbOovveellt7t, bas taken ita place a booklet giving 666 receipts 8a8s the greatest :!~~v~~k~~:~t:hf!~i~, 8'rCi~d:: e. It rivals the r Palms in deco- Will make one's garden cropea nd is equally doubly valuable. lOco valUuRa e or garden or pots. a pyramidofdenste'feather;ygreen SPECIAL OFFER foliage all in fllll. a dark cJlaret briBtmU. For 20c wo will .eennd every. Easiest of s to grow ,hlng., Koch,.., Lettuce,. To_ anywhere. mato,. Woolflower, veguetable lbIook end ca.alloogguua.. Order.
… TCHL!SS LETTUC~. ….. Suppl, lIiImiUted• ~·~~;:"~~~~ja~~~:~s!;:"Wea!.8'X~f:!~· ~ ~~:~S!::nwea e ~n~ : Novel, distinct and abbssoolluutt~~111 the tenderest and SW'etest lettuce grown. Pkt. lfie. TWO·POUND TOMATO. Largest, beennjieesstt.~ Ir'iitr'hest. aBlIGG CATALLOOGUE 'ree.··AU fHloowweer and vegetable seeds, b plants, and berries. We grow the finest Gladioli, andm06t solid Tomato. A perfect marvel. Pkt.IOc.
CHINESE WOOLFLOWERS$. The shOowwiest new garden Beets,. Cabbb&a&R'e. 01110n8, Tomatoes., Seed Corn, •aDDDnuU~..J) for bedding. Notbiolgl !like iht. FF ..t.22OOc• Potatoes~ etc, Prize strains and sterling novelties•.
.JOHN LEWIS CHILDS, INC•• Floral Park, N. Y.
Plleeause meatioll THlf MZSSIONllY ~.w OP 'tHlt WOlU,.D in writing to advertisers Missionary Personals DR. W. J. WANLESS, missionary physician to India, recently received a fitting recognition of his long sBrvice, when the people of India paid three-fourths of the cost of a newly opened hospital at Miraj as a testimonial to him.
DR. HENRY H. MEYER, Sunday School editor, who has been traveling in China, Japan and Korea with DR. E. D. SOPER and BISHOP HARRIS, says that the work they have seen justifies every sacrifice that has heen made; but that a crisis has come with the close of the war, and the social and industrial conditions in those nations.
REV. F. H. KNUBEI., D. D., pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Atonement in New York City, was elected President of the new United Lutheran Church, recently formed ,by the merging of three Lutheran bodies.
DR. W. W. PINSON, Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South, and BISHOP AI'tKJtN of the same Church have sailed for Europe to visit France and Belgium to study the fields in connection with the Methodist Centenary Campaign, and to discover opportunities for Protestant mission work REV. S. R. VINTON, head of the Lantern Slide Department of the Methodist Episcopal Board of' Foreign Missions, has returned from his tour of the Orient with a new collection of photographs to be used as a basis for stereopticon missionary lectures.
DR. E. W. KELLY has been awarded the Kaiser-i-hind 'gold medal by the British Government in recognition of his service as President of Rangoon Baptist College.
REV. MAITLAND ALEXANDI!R, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, has been appointed Religious Work Director of the United States Army of Occupation, with headquarters at Coblenz on the Rhine. He sailed for France November first.
C. T. WANG, President' of the Chinese Senate, is to be a delegate to the Inter- Allied Peace Conference. Mr. Wang has recently sailed from America for France.
PRltSIDEN't HJtNRY CHURCHILL KING of Oberlin College, Ohio, who went to France last July to study and report on religious conditions in both France and Great Britain, has been made director of the religious activities of the Y. M. C. A.
abroad with headquarters in Paris.
DR. B. M. TIPPLE, executive secretary for the foreign department of the Methodist Centenary, has gone to Europe to devote two months to the Centenary plans fur France and Italy.
MR. CHANG PO-LING, who has been making an investigation of the educational methods of the United States, has returned to China. Mr, Chang is the founder and principal of Nankai Christian School at Tientsin, one of China's most progres- sive institutions.
MRS. RUSSELL SAGWS residuary estate of $40,000,000 was divided among thirty-six public institutions, charitable, educational, missionary and religious. Considerable bequests were made to the Presbyterian Boards of Home and Foreign Missions.
FATHER NICHOLAS VELIMIROVICH, D. D., is visiting the United States for the purpose of explaining to America the hopes and aspirations of the Serbian Church, and the contribution it may make toward the union of Christendom.
Ex-GoVERNOR JOHN G. BRADY of Alaska, who died at Sitka, Alaska, on December 17, was once a New York City waif. In 1859 he was sent west by the Children's Aid Society and found a home with a Tipton, Indiana, lawyer. In 1870 he entered Yale, and Union Seminary in 1874, after which he went to Alaska as a missionary. He was appointed governor by President McKinley in 1897 and served three terms.
DR. EDWARD P. COWAN, for thirty-five years a member of the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen, serving as Corresponding Secretary for twentyfive years of this period, died in Philadelphia on December 15.
The Missionary Review of the World — November 1897
IPlRI'1'UAt KOn:Jdn'8 OJ' '1'lIlII JU.LI' CUTUBY
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOl•. xx. No. 11.-0ld&M.-NOVEMBER-VoL. X. No.ll.-NItD&nU.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OP THE HALF CENTURY.-THE WORLD-WIDE UPRISING OF CHRISTIAN STUDENTS.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The rapidity of movement, noticeable in modern civilization, ex.tends into the realm of mind as well as of matter. Every enterprise seems to go on wheels, and at such a rate, as if steam or electricity were harnessed to it. We sometimes wonder whether there be not something abnormal in the tremendous pace at which men are moving. Haste is waste. Hurry implies worry. There is danger of losing deliberation. The calm of God we can not know in the excitement inseparable from such driving energy. While on the one hand a vessel is driven before the storm, on the other hand a swift sailing steamer, plowing through the waves at twenty-five knots an hour, creates a commotion in air and sea as it goes-it almost makes a storm. There is certainly not a little peril of doing things precipitately, and superficially, in the habitual rush incident to our times.
There is one modern development which has perhaps outrun any other in its rapid strides, and, altho as yet we have been able to detect no e@sential mistake, we can only look with amazement upon its progress, and marvel whether its apparent sagacity and success are not to be attributed to a special divine supervision. Perhaps its momentum is really of God, and hence is due to Him to whom one day is as a thousand years. We refer to the remarkable onward and upward movement of the Christian young men of our higher educational institutions. And the fact that this progress has been so rapid and yet 80 regular, so swift and yet so sure, so sudden and yet so permanent, so under the guidance of the young and yet so markt by the wisdom associated with age and experience – it is this which compels us to look upon it as a spiritual movement–a marshalling of human forces under a divine generalship; and to look behind it to the Divine • Thle periodical adopta the Orthography of the following Rnle, recommended by tJie joint action of the American Philological .AssocIation and the Philological 80elety of England :-Change d or .ed 1lnaI to , when IiO p1'ODOllllCed, except when the e a1fecta a preceding lOund.-PulILuBua. force that alone can account for much that is taking place before our eyes. In this nprising of Ohristian students several distinct stages are noticeable, most of which have already received ample treatment in these pages. First of all, there was the introdnction of the Young Men's Christian Association into the nniversities and colleges of Ohristian lands. Then the organization of these associations into a national and international alliance. Then the extension of snch associations in the higher educational centers of foreign and heathen lands. Then, the era of conventions, summer schools, etc., bringing these young men together, and cementing the bonds of personal fellowship. Then came the student volunteer movement, in the Oambridge Band of 1885, the Mt. Hermon Band of 1886, and the immense influence which they exerted in the direction of the foreign field. Then followed the grand scheme of cooperation so fully set forth by Mr. L. D. Wishard*-whereby the Ohristian students in mission countries were to act as a home missionary contingent, for the uplifting of their own countrymen, nnder the lead, or with the help, of Ohristian students from America and Europe. And now comes the last of these great strides which is very explicitly described by Mr. John R. Mott as the" WorId's Student Christian Federation." t The editor of this REVIEW was born at such a time that his life has synchronized with the very period when all this uprising of consecrated young men has been located in the plan of God; and he has been permitted both to watch it and be closely linkt with it.
The first Y. M. C. A. was organized in 1844, and so this whole history reaches over only about a half century; and it may be doubted whether another movement so varied, so vast, so far reaching, and so important, has markt any half-century of history before.
Mr. Mott's new book we have read with profound interest and a sort of awe. To look carefully at this latest feature of this great enterprise -the federating of the young men of the world into one great organization, and marshaling them under the Banner of the Cross, will be to survey the whole movement from the loftiest summit of its development.
A little more than two years ago, on the shores of Lake Wettern, and within the old Swedish Oastle of Vadstena, a gathering of students was held, which has well been compared to the famous Haystack prayer meeting on Williams' College Hill, near the beginning of the century, which was the starting point of organized missionary work on this side of the sea.
This Scandinavian Oongress met to consider the expediency of uniting the national intercollegiate movements of the whole world in one great federation, for three great ends: first, to associate Christian • "New Program of Missions." t "Strategic Points in the World's Conqul!Ilt," Fleming H. Revell Co.
SPIRITUAL )(OVEQNTS OF TUB RolLI' CENTURY
students of all lands more closely; second, to enable them more deeply to impress national as well as social and university life; and third, to influence fellow students to take up definite mission work at home and abroad, for the extension of the Kingdom of Ohrist.
At this conference the five great intercollegiate organizations had their representatives: The American Intercollegiate Y. M. O. A.; the .British Oollege Ohristian Union; the German Ohristian Students' Alliance; the Scandinavian University Ohristian Movement; and the Student Ohristian Movement in Mission Lands. After days of, prayer and holy conference, the constitution was unanimously adopted, by which the WorId's Student Ohristian Federation came to be a historic fact. The momentous importance attacht to this new step may be inferred from the fact that no other student convention ever had been held, in which delegates from all the great Protestant powers were present, and of this the impressive grouping of the respective flags of all these nations was the outward symbol and expression.
The name adopted is itself an incarnate history. It tells of a student movement, distinctly Ok"istian and world-embradng in membership and aim. It is a federation rather than a union, for each of the previously existing organizations keeps in the federal bond its own individual and independent character. The great comprehensive object is to combine all the available forces of the universities and colleges of the world in the many-sided work of winning educated young men for Ohrist, building them up in Him, and sending them out as workers for Him.
Since the Federation was formed, five other organizations have joined it: The Intercollegiate Y. M. O. A. of India and Oeylon; the Australian Student Ohristian Union; the Student Ohristian Union of South Africa; the Oollege Y. M. O. A. of Ohina, and the Student Y. M. O. A. Union of Japan.
The details of this organization it is not germane to our main purpose to discuss. Weare seeking to embody only so much of this history as is essential to a complete survey of the conspicuous spiritual movements of this half-century. But it will be obvious at a glance that certain ends must be directly promoted, such as: 1. The full investigation of the exact moral and religious status of students in every part of the world.
2. The gradual and rapid improvement and development of all that is best in young manhood.
3. The introduction into new and different fields, of organized Ohristian activity under favorable conditions.
4. The promotion of a living bond of sympathy among all educated Christian yonng men.
5. The cultivation of a spirit of united prayer and systematic Bible study.
BPIBITtrll KOVBJOll(T8 01' TJPC lULl' CImTu.v
6. The study and development of that important science of compa.rative humanity-or young manhood in various conditions.
7. The ;penetration a.nd permea.tion of college life with an evangelica.l a.nd mlssiona.ry spirit.
Mr. Mott quotes Gladstone's remark that in the middle a.ges the nniversities "establisht a telegraph for the mind, and 8011 the elements of intellectual culture scattered throughout Enrope were brought by them into near communion. They establisht a great brotherhood of the understanding." And Mr. Mott adds very properly, that this federation establishes" a telegraph in things spiritual~a great stndent brotherhood in Jesus Christ."
No one can watch this marvelous work without feeling God to be behind it, and rejoicing in its unifying power. Not only does it both simplify and unify methods of work among students, but what is better far, it is bringing Christian young men everywhere to recognize that oneness in Christ Jesus which must ever exist between true disciples, and will be seen and felt whenever the accidents of external separation and division are no longer allowed to have prominence. National and denominational barriers will be forgotten, as young men who belong to Christ in different lands and churches come together, federated into unity, to magnify only essentials and remand nonessentials to their true place. True Christians need only to know each other to love each other; and the devil triumphs whenever by any of his devices he can keep them from mutual and sympathetic contact. Already so far as relates to Christian educated young men, there is "no more sea;" the barriers of language do not divide, and the national names are forgotten in the Christiau name. Christ is in these days anew slaying the old enmity by his cross, and of Himself making one new man, not of twain only, but of a multitude of hitherto alienated and estranged bodies.
The student's federation already blends into organized unity students belonging to over seventy branches of Christ's church. And thus, are we not approaching the very fulfillment of our Lord's prayer, tt that they all may be one, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me?" Who is prepared to say that this very federation is not destined to be a grand means of promoting world-wide faith in the messiahship of the Lord Jesus?
The ultimate object which the Lord has in view in this unifying process is thus a world's evangelization. Never since apostolic days have the duty, privilege, possibility, and feasibility of actually carrying to the whole world the message of salvation within the lifetime of one generation, been so obvious to so many disciples. Mr. Mott is not alone in regarding the work of evangelization as a campaign, and the universities and colleges as the strategic points which must be seized and held as commanding the field, and determining the "line of communication."
8PIBITUAL )[OVEJlENTB OJ' THE HALF CDTll'BT
The young men in our educational institt!.tions are to be, and that very soon, the leaders of the nations. Our schools are the cradles of the coming princes, and whether they are to rule for God or for Satan, must soon be determined. If the striking Japanese maxim, telegrapht to the Northfield Conference of young men ten years ago, "MAKE JESUS KING I" becomes the motto of the leading educational centers of the world, with what unexampled rapidity will the earth be encompassed with the network of missions, and every creature reacht with the good news I We come back to the solid and awe-inspiring thought that all these movements' are but the visible working of an invisible power. Let any true child of God review what has taken place since 1844 in the organization of young men for Christian service, and now in the Federation of Christian Students, and say whether a supernatural hand has not been guiding. When twenty years ago the American Intercollegiate Y. M. C. A. was inaugurated, less than thirty college associations were to be found in the United States and Canada. To-day in about five hundred and fifty higher educational institutions within the same territory, these Christian associations are rooted, and embrace over thirty~three thousand students and professors, and nearly as many students have been led to Christ by this means; so that instead of one in three, we have more ~han one in every two students now confessing Christ. Ten thousand students are enrolled in the voluntary Bible classes of these associations, having multiplied fourfold in ten years. About five thousand young men have been led into the ministry; a still larger number have given their lives to foreign missions, and over eight hundred of them are on the foreign field. Dr. Roswell D. Hitchcock, who has been years dead, had alre~dy recognized before his departure, that the great fact in the religious life of the colleges was already the "omnipresence," and he felt half inclined to add, the" omnipotence" of the Intercollegiate Y. M. C. A. The remarkable rate at which the students' work among their fellows has gone forward, is a striking example of the divine blessing upon the movement. It was on~y three or four years ago when the British College Christian Union began its real work. At first seventeen universities and colleges were united in it. Now this union embraces one hundred other organizations, and every considerable institution in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is identified with it. Not only has there been this rapid increase in quantity, but the quality of the work done has been correspondingly enricht, Bible circles, private Bible study, aggressive work among students at the outset of their college career, personal and faithful dealing with the young men, and the actual winning of multitudes to Christ-these are among the markt signs of genuineness in the activity, and spirituality in the methods employed. There has been a wonderful missionary spirit at work-the infal· lible token of God's spirit. The Student Christian Union has become the mother of the Student Volunteer Missionary Union, and the off- spring is already rivalling the parent in all signs of healthy growth. When this latter 'Organization was formed, there were about three hundred expectant missionaries among the British college students; to-day that number has been multiplied over fourfold, and out of these twelve hundred over one-fourth are already in the foreign field. The Student Missionary Convention, held in Liverpool in January 1896, was a gathering unsurpast in all the elements of spiritual power by any missionary meeting of our century. And when we refiect that it was the first time in the history of the world that a thousand young men and women ever met for the specific purpose of organized effort to evangelize the world in this generation, and that it was presided over aud conducted wholly by young men, we shall begin to measure its vast importance in the plans of God. We must not forget also that Cambridge and Oxford-the very ganglia of the educational system and life of the British Empire-are now embraced in this missionary uprising, as well as the great university centers of Scotland,· Wales, and Ireland, and we shall see that the molds whence are to come the future leaders of the Church and State are fast becoming G-od's own matrices of character.
Germany has exercised as mighty, and perhaps as dangerous, an infiuence on modern religious thinking as any other nation. The German mind is vigorously masculine in type, original and profound and persistent in research, and alas, essentially secular and sceptical in tendency, often not only rationalistic, but materialistic. Germany has been the seedsower of religious, as France has been of scientific, scepticism. What a triumph for Christ, when the German students form a Christian alliance, form Bible circles, seek to promote personal purity and evangelical faith among young men, and do in a large and pervasive way among students at large, what the lamented Christlieb did at Bonn-infuse the spirit of simple faith into university students. The Liverpool Convention sent home delegates, anointed with spiritual power and thoroughly convinced of the danger and deadness of mere religious formalism, to kindle God's fires on the altars of Germany, and sow the seeds of missionary consecration. There are now over thirty student volunteers in German institutions, and the infiuence is daily spreading. The work is yet at its inception, but we must not despise the day of small things. In the twenty-one universities of that great European empire there are over thirty thousand students, with twenty-five hundred instructors, and this university army ranks next to the military force in influence and power. Can we afford to neglect the opportunity of turning this vast host of educators and educated into the defense of the faith which otherwise
BPIlUTUAL J[OVlllJIBNTI!I 01' THB ·lULl' CQTUBY
they may undermine and assault? All great spiritual movement" in Germany, like all great sceptical influences, are ultimately traceable to these thought.centers; and here at the springs the salt must be cast in if the waters are to be healed.
This movement, which now embraces Britain and Germany, also penetrates Scandiuavia. In August, 1895, Norway and Sweden, Den- mark and Finland, united in an inter-university organization. The Scandinavian universities rank very high in popular favor, and are open to all classes. They are the higher schools for the masses; and yet their standards are very high, as is shown by the fact that a full medical course consumes a decade of years. These students are physically and intellectually worthy of their Norsemen ancestors, and to turn such strong men into sturdy disciples is worth any amount of effort and sacrifice. .
Then there is the student body of papal lands. A population of thirty millions in Italy, with about sixty thousand Protestants; about eighty educational institutions with twenty-five thousand students, and not one Christian organization! Is not this appalling? The first Christian association was formed at Torre Pellice, the historio center of the Waldensian Church that for six oenturies has stood out firmly against Bomish intrigue and persecution. Franoe, Austria, Hungary, Spain and Portugal, and Belgium are included in the soheme of the students' Christian federation, and the one hundred and thirteen thousand young men of the seven papal lands of the Continent are to be saved, if possible, from the drift of soeptioism, and agnosticism, and materialism, and sensualism, to which they are now terribly exposed.
The earnest spirit of these devoted young men who are at the head of this world movement, can not be restrained within the bounds of one continellt or two. They are reaching out the hand of help to the remoter East. Turker is not forgotten, where Robert Oollege furnishes so admirable a center of operations. This Ohristian institution on the shores of the Bosphorus has sent forth three hundl,'ed and .twenty-five graduates. It has furnisht teachers for Bulgaria and Armenia; it has drawn students from fourteen nationalities, and sent many of them baok as missionaries to their own people, and has been happily compared with the noble Syrian Oollege at Beirut, the Duff College at Caloutta, and the Doshisha at Japan.
Greece, with its historio Athens and its thirty-five hundred students is inoluded; Syria, with its sacred sites; Nazareth and Jerusalem are to be Y. M. C. A. oenters; and Beirut, whose oollege has practically oreated the medioal profession in the Levant, and supplied the educated olass for the whole territory round about Palestine, whose printing press to-day sends its nnrivaled Arabic Bibles throughout the Arabio-speaking world, with its hundred and fifty million people. Is it of no consequence to bring the young men of these countries
SPIBITUAL XOVBIDI:1iTS OF TBB' HALlI' OUTUBY
into living contact with holy fruits of Christian culture in the. Occi- dent, and lead them to a pure faith and a dedicated life? Look again at the Nile Valley. One theological college, founded by the United Presbyterians at Cairo, has supplied aU the ordained native ministers of Egypt. The training college at Asyut has four hundred students, and has educated five times as many, and most of its graduates have become teachers or preachers of the Gospel. So high do these Christian schools stand in even the government's esteem, that its own schools have been largely modeled thereby. Here a Y. M. C. A. has been organized. Is not this a true stragetic center for the world campaign? The followers of Mohammed think so, as the great University of EI Azhar, with its seven thousand students from all parts of the realm, swayed by the green flag of the crescent, suffi- ciently proves. It has a nine years' course of study, and is, 011 the whole, 'the greatest propaganda in the world.
Our space forbids us further to follow Mr. Mott's fascinating story of his round-the-world tour and its grand prospective vision of work among tlul students of all lands. Our readers must read his book for themselves. Especially does he show the stragetic value of India as a center of both activity and influence. Here meetings were held by scores, the proceedings were all in the English tongue, and the tide of spiritual awakening rose steadily to the last. One hundred and twenty educational institutions wer~ represented, and the total num- ber of students registered was seven hundred and fifty-nine, or, inclUding Ceylon, Qver one thousand. Three hundred and eleven missionaries, representing nearly all the sixty sElcieties at work in India, were in attendance. Seventy-six students accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, in face of terrible obstacles, and one hundred and twenty-seven delegates volunteered for mission-service in India. Five hundred and seventy-seven covenanted to keep the morning watch of Bible study and prayer.
There is one great empire of the Orient to which we must at least advert before we close this already extended paper. China has had its series of conferences, at which over twelve hundred of the educated class-students or teachers were present. All but two of the higher institutions sent delegates. Four hundred and eleven missionaries were present, and thirty-seven missionary societies were represented. The total number of regular delegates at the four conferences,-Chefoo, Pekin, Shanghai, and Foochow-reacht three thousand, and came from the ends of the empire. The meetings went from flood-mark to flood-mark in a constantly rising tide of interest and power. Eight hundred pledged to keep the morning watch; over one hundred . serious inquirers, seventy-seven volunteers for Christian work, and general tokens of a great spiritual awakening were among the notable signs of God's hand. The number of Y. M. C. A. was multiplied five-
A BRIGHT SPOT ON A DAlUt CONTIlQQrT
fold; steps were taken towards a national organization, and the college Y. M. C. A. of China wae formed in November laet, and at once admitted to the Federation; and thus the great land-the Gibraltar of the Orient, where the popUlation embraces one-fourth of the whole race of man now living, where the combination of difficulties is the most appallingly formidable, where the possibilities are correspondingly great, the great land of which Napoleon said, "When China is moved it will change the face of the globe,"-wae visited, with most cheering tokens of God's presence and power.
We add a comprehensive resume of the whole work thus far. During the twenty months of Mr. Mott's tour, 60,000 miles were included, and twenty-two counbies, and one hundred and forty-four educational institutions. Twenty-one conferences were held, with fifty-five hundred delegates, of whom thirty-three hundred were representatives of three hundred and eight institutions of learning; seventy students' Christian aesociations were organized, and many more reorganized or reinvigorated. Five national student Christian movements were promoted, and much other work wae done incidental to the creation of a literature of devotion and habits of holy living and praying. Over five hundred young men have been led to acceptance of the Savior, including students who had been Buddhists, Brahmans, Confucianists, and Mohammedans, Agnostics,' and Sceptics. Some twenty-two hundred have pledged themselves to the "morning watch," and about three hundred have given their lives to definite work for Christ. The greatest result of all is one that can not be put on paper, or tabulated in statistics. A great world-wide volume of interest, sympathy, prayer, has been created, which, like ocean tides and trade winds, has a strange power of far-reaching communication and influence, and which is likely to be a permanent and increasing factor in both the unification of disciples and the evangelization of the world.
A BRIGHT SPOT ON A DARK CONTINENT.
BY THE REV. PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ, NAZARETH, PA.
When the dark continent is spoken of, the missionary reader at once thinks of Africa. But there is, alae I a darker continent nearer home than that. Not so very long ago there was publisht a map of South America in black and white, the white indicating Protestant mission stations and the country influenced by them. The map was almost entirely black, with a few minute white specks scattered here and there. In the dark continent of Africa there was one Protestant missionary to every 140,000 inhabitants; in the darker'continent of South America there was one Protestant missionary to every 227,000 inhabitants. South America is nominally a. Roman Catholic country, but the universal testimony of intelligent observers is, that the Roman Oatholicism of South America is practical paganism, with saints and images substituted for fetishes and idols, or added to them, besides the untold numbers still living in actual heathenism.
But· on the northern border of this dark continent there is one bright spot, won from original paganism by the heroic labors of Moravian missionaries, who to this day very properly monopolize this mission field. Dutch Guiana or Surinam presents one of the most marvelous missionary provinces of the world, and its records are steept in heroism. Guiana is the name given to all the northeastern coast lands of South America, from the Orinoco to the Amazon, and is divided into British, Dutch, French, and Brazilian Guiana, altho the latter division is rarely mentioned. These coasts were discovered in 1498, settled by the Dutch as early as 1580, and erected into a Dutch colony in 1667. Negro slavery was introduced in 1621.
We are concerned at present only with Dutch Guiana, or Surinam. The boundaries have changed from time to time in accordance with the fate of war, or course of European politics, but at present Surinam embraces the country lying between the Marowyne and Corantyn rivers, between 54" and 57° west longitude, and southward from 6° north latitude, the southern boundaries having never been accurately determined, as the land is there practically impenetrable.
In the early years of the mission history much of what is now British Guiana was included in Surinam, and in that region occurred some of the most heroic incidents of the Indiau mission. But all the work since the first de.cades of this century has been done within the confines of Surinam proper.
It is a land of rivers, the principal one being the Surinam, from which the country takes its name. It is a land of almost incredible fertility, tropical forests crowding down to the very sea. It is a land without roads, the only passageways through the forests being the rivers. It is a land that delights the eye, but kills the body of the unacclimated Caucasian. It is a land of swamps, miasmas, deadly fevers, of vampire bats, boa constrictors, death-dealing ants, scorpions, and all the untold horrors of dense equatorial low lands. White people can dwell only along a narrow fringe on the coast, and the capital, Paramaribo, on the Surinam, is the only town. But the exports of sugar, coffee, tapioca, mahogany, and other tropical prodncts make it an exceedingly valuable colony, and have tempted many thither in search of fortune. The Moravian brethren were tempted thither in search of souls.
But barely resuscitated from the crushing blows of the Jesuitical anti-reformation of the seventeenth century, and of the devastating martyrdoms of the Thirty Years' War, i1he Moravian Churoh, then num- bering less than a thousand souls, began its first mission-that to the negro slaves of the West Indies in 1732, undertook a second to the Eskimos of Greenland in 1733-and, not content with these enter- prises, cast its eyes upon these northeastern coasts of South America as another suitable place for its apostles to witness for Ohrist. August Gottlieb Spangenberg, later a bishop of the Ohurch, traveling in Hol- land in 1734, made arrangements with the Dutch Surinam Oompany to allow some of the Moravian brethren to penetrate their colony to win souls for Ohrist. In 1735 these brave men started out on this mission, which was to cost the lives of more missionaries than any other field of Moravian labor, and which was to result in the greatest victories for Ohrist.
It is utterly impossible, within the limits of one paper, to treat this marvelous mission adequately, for practically it involves three ·distinct missions. Without any pretensions to completeness only a few points gleaned here and there can be given.
As just stated, three distinct missions were carried on for a while simultaneously: to the Indians, principally the Arawacks, to the Bush- .Negroes, and to the slaves. The Indians had been driven into the interior by the settlers and Bush-Negroes. Thither devoted missionaries followed them 300 miles through almost impenetrable forests and malaria-breeding swamps. In the midst of the wilderness the station Pilgerhut was founded, and there, after nine years of fruitless labor, the.first Indian convert was won in 1748. In the succeeding eight years 300 converts were won from among the Indians.
The infinite patience and sublime heroism requisite to begin such a mission station among these Indians is best illustrated by the case of L. O. Daehne. Resolved to gather the Indians in the neighborhood of the Oorantyn, he built himself a hut in the midst of the forest. For two years he lived there absolutely alone, with no other companions than tigers, serpents, and the wild vermin of the tropical forests. The Indians would have nothing to do with him. With untiring zeal he went after them, and sought to gain their confidence. Often in his lonely hut he lay sick nigh unto death, but the Lord revived His servant. Once a huge boa constrictor crawled through the roof of his hut, and coiled around him as he lay in his hammock. In the agony of that awful embrace he still thought only of his Indians, and, that none might think he had been slain by them, he quickly seized a bit of chalk, and wrote on the table: "A serpent has killed me I" But then suddenly remembering the promise of the Lord, that serpents should not harm Ris messengers, he seized the vile beast with both hands, and, with superhuman strength, tore it from his body, and flung it from the hut. Another time fifty savages attackt him in his hut. Oalm and unmoved he stood before them, and as , they raised their tomahawks to slay him, he told them he loved them, tho they slew him, and that Christ loved them, too. Amazed at such a message, under such circumstances, they dropt their weapons, gave him provisions, and departed in peace. Finally such devotion told, and converts were gained, numbering in this region, in 1783, nearly 200. Theophilus Schumann was the name of the missionary who accomplisht the most among the Indians, so much so that he was called the" Apostle of the Arawacks." He was a man of fine edu'Ca- tion, mastered this barbarous language in a few months, wrote a grammar of the same, and made many valuable translations from the Scriptures.
. This mission, purchased at the cost of so many precious lives (Schumann himself succumbed to the fever at the early age of 40, after 11 years inestimable service, having personally baptized over 400 Indians), was destined to come to a pathetic close. Both the white . settlers and the Bush-Negroes were bitterly hostile to the Indians. The whites attacked them under the form of exacting military ser- vice, and requiring them to do things contrary to Indian nature, and by doing all in their power to drive them from their missionaries. The wild Bush-Negroes attacked them by fire and sword, burning the Christian villages, in which conflagration Schumann's priceless trans- lations were consumed. By the close of the first decade of the present century, the Indian mission in Surinam was practically exterminated. Few, if any, of the original inhabitants are left, unless, possibly, in the yet unexplored, and for Caucasians, almost unexplorable interior. Yet in those seventy heroic years many hundreds of Indian souls were brought to the Savior's feet, and heaven is richer because of the results of that sublime labor in the miasmatic forests of Surinam.
We turn now to the mission that remains to this day. Side by side with this work among the Indians, and often by the .same men, missionary efforts were being made in behalf of the Bush-Negroes and the slaves of the Colony proper.
In all these phases of the work the devoted Moravian brethren had to contend not merely with the horrors of the climate, the hostility and gross heathenism of the natives, but also with the bitter prejudice of many of the white people. The Bush-Negroes are escaped slaves and their descendants. There was no capturing a slave who once suc- ceeded in getting safely into the Bush, because a white man pene- trates those awful depths only at the peril of his life. Consequently powerful tribes of these Bush-Negroes gradually grew up. They were very fierce and warlike, and waged war against the Colony so success- fully that, finally, the governor had to conclude a formal treaty of peace with them in 1764. Convinced that they could not be conquered by force of arms, the government finally besought the Moravian brethren to evangelize them. This the brethren ha.d. been seeking to do all along, but now they had the more cordial support of thegov- ernment.
The only way to reaoh the Bush-Negroes was to ascend the rivers in oanoes. To this day this is the only way of reaohing their" oamps," or villages, and these voyages are exceedingly dangerous, as rapids must be ascended, when the boatmen have to plunge into the water and bodily hold the boat, and push it between the rocks to prevent utter destruotion. A longer journey of this character always results in the illness of the white missionary, and frequently in his death. Few white ~issionories have succeeded in living among the Bu~h Negroes any length of time.
The Bushland is called the "Land of Death/' and the Moravian brethren and sisters have laid down their lives within its fateful con- fines by the score. Of 159 missionaries sent out during a oertain period of 65 years, 75 died at their posts, and 63 returned to Europe with impaired health. One time 14 died in less than 10 months; yet this noble littl~ army of the Cross always renewed the attack, and new volunteers were always ready to take the places of those who fell. Such a mission furnishes an inexhaustible list of heroic incidents. Only a few can be mentioned.
The veteran Daehne, whose heroic career among the Iudians has been alluded to, was one of the pioneers in the Bush-Negro Mission, and led, when already an old man, Rudolph Stoll and Thomas Jones into the pestilential interior. Daehnl returned to his Indians, Jones .succumbed to the fever, Stoll held out alone on that deadly Senthea Creek. Utterly weakened by the acclimating fever, and oovered with painful sores, he lay in his hut one day helpless as a child. Suddenly he saw an immense swarm of ants enter his hut. Expecting nothing but a horrible death from these voracious insects, he commended his soul to his Master. They swarmed upon him, entering his sores, and . causing intense pain. But the Lord, who has strange ways of resou- ing His servants, used these insects to suok the poison out of His ser- vant's sores, and he actually recovered the more speedily because of this awful infliction. But it was a method of cure no one would desire to repeat. Five years of labor in this pestilential spot won a notable convert in the person of the chieftain Arabi, who proved the thoroughness of his conversion by shooting, with his own hands, the alligator he had worshipt as a god. He was baptized January 6th, 1771.
Let it ever be remembered that the heroism of this mission is not confined to the last century-it is continuous-nor is it limited to the male missionaries. When John Henry Voigt laid down his life for the Master in 1839, his widow lived for ten years alone among the natifes. &till more heroic was the case of Mary Hartmann. Her husband, John Gottlieb Hartmann, entered into his Lord's joy in 1844. Altho she had already labored 18 years in Surinam, yet, moved by the repeated deaths among the missionaries, she volunteered to go alone into the Bush country, tho no more impervious to the miasma than other Europeans. There, for five years, she labored among these wild people, absolutely alone, as far as intercourse with white people was concerned, visiting Paramaribo only once in four years, and that only for a single day, lest going to the settlement she might not be able to return to the negroes in the wilderness. In 1853 the inevitable fever carried off this heroine too. A son of this woman was for many years a missionary among the Kaffirs in South Africa; a daughter for over forty years a missionary among the Tibetans; another son was for eight years a missionary among the Papuas in Australia, and twenty- four years among the North American Indians. That is a specimen of Moravian apostolic succession!
The mission among the Bush-Negroes in Surinam has ever been subjected to many vicissitudes. Stations have again and again been left without missionaries, because of the rapid succession of deaths- and the hostility of the heathen has ever been great. Yet, in spite of all these difficulties, after in the beginning paying for each convert with the life of a missionary, now the converted Bush-Negroes are counted by the thousands.
The work is being put more and more into the hands of native evangelists, as they alone can endure the climate. The most noted of these is the Matuari Bush-Negro, John King, who, led to the mission by a series of wonderful visions, has for thirty-six years labored with marvelous success among his own people. He has journeyed up rivera and through forests that no white man would dare to penetrate; he has founded mission stations and iuducted other native evangelists; he has won many precious souls for Ohrist. On August 6th, 1895, he . was elected the " Granman," or head chief of the Matuari negroes.
In spite of the length of this paper, it would be lamentably incom- plete without some account of the laeors among the slaves on the plantations and in Paramaribo, the capital. Here the difficulties were likewise the climate, tho not in such an awful degree as among the Indians and Bush-Negroes; the gross superstition of the African slaves, and the bitter hostility of many of the Okristian (sic /) slave- owners. ~~rom the start it was necessary to maintain a station in Paramaribo as a base of supplies for the work among the Indians and Bush-Negroes. Therefore, as early as 1738, work was begun in the city, but not until July 21st, 1776, could the first convert, won from among the slaves, be baptized. Even in the city there was constant call for heroism, as may be judged from the fact that one year thirteen missionaries died within six months. Petty persecutions of the mis- sionaries, and often cruel treatment of the slaves, continued a long time. But, finally, prejudices were overcome, and in this century the work has gone forward by bounds. The mother church became too small, and three other churches have successively been built in the city, while churches have sprung up everywhere on the plantations.
This was especially the case after the proclamation of emancipation, issued by the Dutch government on July 1st, 1863, which became absolute after ten years' apprenticeship of the blacks on July 1st, 1873. This brought many changes, and entailed grave responsibilities upon the mission, for the negroes, no longer bound to the plantation, wandered hither and thither; and the missionaries had to follow them. .
The emancipation of the slaves brought about the importation of heathen Hindu and Chinese coolies, so that in the past two decades an entirely new phase of mission work has devolved upon the Mora- vians, which they have manfully met, and have won many of these Oriental heathen for Christ, and incorporated them into their con- glomerate and cosmopolitan mission work.
In addition to all their other duties, the Moravians have likewise undertaken the self-sacrificing labor of ministering unto the lepers of the colony, of which there are very many segregated by the govern- ment at Groot Chatillon.
Nothing has been said about the linguistic labors of the mission- aries. The language of the natives is the Negro-English, a horrible mixture of Dutch and English. The Scriptures have been translated into this mongrel tongue by the Moravians, and the latest revised edition publisht by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1889.
Excellent schools are maintained, and latterly especially a training- school for native evangelists, who are absolutely indispensable, if the complete evangelization of the Bush-Negroes is to be accomplisht.
This mission is now over 162 years old. The total number of missionaries who have laid down their lives upon the miasmatic soil of Surinam can not be stated with absolute accuracy, but it runs into the hundreds. What has been the harvest of this precious seed?
To-day there are 29 stations served by 87 Moravian missionaries, having 28,882 souls in charge, or practically half oj the entire popula- tion of the colony, including whites, heathen and all! In addition, there are five native evangelists doing full missionary duty, 35 native assistants capable of conducting services, and 334 natives who in various ways assist in Gospel services. The Roman Catholics claim 13,000 souls in the colony. The white population is divided about as follows: Jews, 1,300; Lutherans, 2,700; Dutch Reformed, 6,500; Episcopalians, 200; Chinese and Hiudus, 5,600; native heathen not accurately ascertainable. .
The mission work is exclusively in the hands of the Moravians, for South American Catholicism can, to the mind of the unprejudiced observer, not lay claim to that name.
November
These noble laborers for Christ, at the cost of their own lives, have whitened these northeastern coasts of this dark continent. with the bright light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we are assured that, in the throng of those who have been faithful unto the death, and who have overcome, no mean place before the throne of Christ will be assigued to the noble army of martyrs from the miasmatic swamps of Suriuam t LIGHTS A1'.~ SHADOWS ON THE FRONTIER.
BY REV. E. A. PADDOCK, WEISER, IDAHO.
There are shadows dark and long in the frontier missionary's life. On the whole, his work is more difficult and discouraging than that of the foreign missionary. He is not, as a rule, as well paid, nor does he receive his salary as regularly as does his brother over the seas. The frQntier missionary can have but little hope of "laying by something for a rainy day." All of his small salary is required to support himself and family. The prospect for giving his children a collegeeducation is by no means flattering; if it is done, the closest self-denial must be practist by every member of the family. 'rhe frontier missionary's wife must be her own cook, dressmaker, and chambermaid, until her daughters are old enough to take a part of the household burdens from her shoulders. Except in case of sickness, hired help is not to be thought of, the salary will not permit it. Often the frontier missionary is far from a railroad, and his next neighboring church may be a hundred miles away. His library is usually small, and it does not grow, as money can not be spared to buy books. Usually he has very few, if any, strong Christian men and women to "hold up, his hands." He may be, in the beginning of a new work, the only professing Christian in the place, except his wife. Probably he must be his own janitor, chorister, Sunday-school superintendent, collector, treasurer, clerk, etc., when he begins a new work. His church building is an old school-house, a hired hall, or the house of a friendly man. His parsonage a hired log-house, or "shack," a board building -" boarded and battened!' Most of the people have little regard for the" Gospel slinger," and he must win his way among the boys by slow degrees. It is evident, therefore, that a successful frontier missionary must endure hardness as a good soldier, and he must be a "rustler," if he is to succeed. This is not always well understood by those who think they would like to labor on the frontier. A graduate of an Eastern theological seminary, having heard a frontier missionary plead for more workers in his field, went to the missionary and
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS ON THE FUONTIBB. I
told him he was willing to go to the far West,· and to live on "jack rabbits and natural scenery," if it should become necessary to do so. The missionary was quite inclined to take the young man West with him, but in talking the matter over, the young man asked: "If I go out West into one of those frontier fields, how will it be about my library and study? ., The missionary replied: "Your library will consist of a limp-back Bible and a copy of Gospel hymns. Your study will be your saddle. Sometimes in your wanderings you will be entertained by a hospitable ranchman ; again you will find a bed in a mow of newly-made hay, and often it will be your joy to roll up in your blanket. and, with your saddle for a pillow, sbep by the roadside, while your hobbled horse feeds a few rods away."
The missionary zeal of this young theologian was not equal to·such a test-he did not go to the frontier. Many other shadows might be noted, but let us turn to the lights. These are many and very cheering. The frontier missionary has just as large a field as he desires, and he does not feel that twenty brethren, more or less, are watching his field, and secretly wishing that he would die or move away, so that they could get his place!· The frontier missionary knows that he is not crowding out some oth8f good man, but is doing a work that but for him would not be done at all. There is great satisfaction in this thought. The frontier missionary plants a seed where nothing grew before. He sees the "blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." This is not always true in older parishes. . The old church may have run in the same groove for one hundred years, and the new minister must be made to fit the old groove. If he is too long, he must be cut off; and if too short, he must be stretcht out, and more often than otherwise, he is considered a success, if he barely" holds his own."
The frontier missionary has the privilege and joy of laying foundations. He finds a new mining camp to which hundreds of miners are rushing. The saloon gambling-hell, and den of infamy are in full blast-these institutions outstrip even the missionary ill their zeal to ental' new fields. The missionary is a good second, however. There is, of course, no church, no organized body of Christian people, and very few who are willing to admit that they ever profest religion of any kind. But these things do not discQurage the frontier missionary. He finds a tent, a half-finisht store building, a dance-hall, or, if the weather will permit, gathers a crowd of "the boys" in the open air, and preaches to them. Then a Sunday-school is organized, and the children in the camp are lookt up, and each one of these becomes an enthusiastic advertiser of the song-and-preaching services. Later on a church is organized, then a suitable building is erected, and in a year or two the entire moral atmosphere of the community is changed for the better. The frontier missionary becomes a friend· and helper to many It wandering boys." Some are rescued from a life of sin, and persuaded to return to their parents again. Others are healed spiritually, but the physical nature is too far gone for healing, and they are buried far from the home of their childhood. Their last messages of love to the folks at home are spoken to the missionary, and by him their eyes are closed, when death releases the soul from the body. It is frequently the privilege of the frontier missionary to serve as nurse for some lonely man, who is prostrated with fever, pneumonia, or some other dread disease. Now is his opportunity to gently suggest that the" Great Physician" be called in. Thus often a dangerous sickness proves to be the salvation of a soul! Surely the frontier missionary is to be envied for the splendid opportunities for doing good that meet him everywhere.
Frontiersmen are rough in appearance, in manner, and in speech, but they have a high sense of honor, and they respect true worth wherever found. They wiU have theirfun often at the expense of the "tenderfoot,"but they would not harm a hair of the newcomer's head, if he is a true man. As a class, no company of men are more generous and kind to anyone in need. Underneath the rough exterior there is a tender heart-if you can once reach it. A case in point will inter- est the reader.
In a Western mining camp, where no Gospel se!vice had ever been held, and which had never been visited by a minister before, a missionary, who had just arrived, was inviting the boys to a service of song to be held in the evening. Now, in the average mining camp there are usually some men who desire to be considered hard cases. An individual of this class probably wears a buckskin suit, has a broadbrimmed white hat, a brace of revolvers strapt to his waist, and a dirk-knife dangles at his side. His hair and whiskers are long and unkempt. In the company of miners who gathered about the missionary was one of those would-be "toughs." It was evident that the boys had determined to see what sort of stuff the missionary was made of, and had chosen this tough man to be their spokesman. A crowd of a hundred or more gathered around the" Gospel slinger," and our "Buffalo Bill" man, glaring at the missionary, spoke as follows: " Boys, I never knowed a camp to have any luck as long as there was a preacher in it I" Placing his hand on his revolver, he continued: " I'll give as much as the next feller to shoot every minister that comes to this camp!" The missionary did not tremble nor try to run away. He had been in mining camps before, and he knew that the proper thing to do WSi to get the laugh, in some way, on the man who had made ..this speech. So, imitating the voice and manner of the speaker as nearly as he could, he said: "Did you ever read that passage in Shakespoke' epistle to the Egyptians, which says,' And a preacher can draw a bead also? '" .AB soon as this was said, a great shout went up from the crowd, and the "tough" man walkt away, terribly crestfallen. The missionary supposed that the boys COUld. see that he was no "tender- foot," and say no more; in this he was mistaken, for another man addrest the crowd thus: "Boys, if we go an' hear this feller's chin music, he's goter set 'em up!" "Set 'em up, set 'em up," shouted a score or more in unison. Then the crowd began to close in upon the .missionary, and he thought they were going to carry him into a saloon. But before this plan was carried out, one of the boys, who seemed to be a leader among the crowd, stept between the missionary and the crowd, saying: "Hold on, boys; hold on! This is the first preacher that ever came to this camp! Let's treat him kinder white, for by- and-bye some on us will be turning up his toes, and we'll want the preacher to do the 'spectable over him. I'll set 'em up!" No further attempts were made to "rig" the preacher.
A church was organized in that camp, and a comfortable building erected. A short time after this occurrence, the missionary met the "tough" man walking alone. The missionary said: "My friend, how long have you been in this camp?" "Nigh on to two year," he replied. " Are your father and mother living?" "I've got the best old dad and mam-back in the hills of Pennsylvania, that you ever seed-and don't you forget it." "Do your father and mother know how you are living in this country?" asked the missionary. The man stopt, and turning to the missionary, said: "I wouldn't have my father and mother know how I am living in this camp for all the sil- ver in that mountain!" And he pointed to the mountain where the best mines were located. It was easy to see that this man, as rough as he seemed, was touched by the memory of his parents away back in their Pennsylvania home. A mistake is often made in supposing that edudated men are not needed as missionaries on the frontier; that men of small intellectual caliber will do. If poorly equipt men must be employed in preachmg the Gospel, by all means let them preach to the strong churches in the East, for these churches are well establisht, and can endure, for a season, a weak man; but frontier work needs the strongest men that can be found. In the roughest mining camps, and in the new, booming towns on the frontier, many college graduates may be found, men of great intellectual ability. , Some of these are well posted as to the latest developments of "Evo- lution," "New Theology," and "Higher Criticism." Some can repeat the" Mistakes of Moses" from memory, and are familial' with all the popular and unpopular objections to Christianity. To interest and instruct these men the missionary must be their equal in intellect and- education. There was a time in this country when an illiterate" cir- cuit rider" could speak to crowded houses, wherever alid whenever he made an "appointment." But that time is forever past; in our day -and especially on the frontier-men will not be heard unless they say something. The printing-press, the railroad, telegraph and tele-' phone have made such meetings impossible. People read more, think more, and are better educated than they were in the olden times.
Pickt men are needed on the frontier. Let no one suppose that high literary ability is not appreciated in the new settlements. It is no uncommon thing to meet graduates of our best colleges in the new frontier town-ex-judges, ex-teachers, sharp lawyers, and keen educated business men are there-and the missionary may find as appreciative an audience as can be seen in many large eastern towns or cities. Frontiersmen believe in calling things by their right names -they have no use for" taffy," they do not ask the preacher to speak "soft words" to them. If-as is the manner of some-the preacher should address a company of rough frontiersmen in this fashion: "Boys, I am happy to address you on this occasion; you are splendid fellows–of course-your' environment' has been such, that you may seem to some of our puritanical friends of the East to be a little offbut you are all right I" At this point he would probably be interrupted, something after this sort, "Boss, you're a liar; we are cusses, and we know it, and we don't want any of your lip, trying to make us out angels! " The men on our western frontier are human beings, have immortal souls, and so need the Gospel. While they do not "go West" for their health, nor from patriotic and benevolent motives altogether, they are yet among our greatest public benefactors. They open up the wilderness to immigration and civilization. They compel dame nature to reveal the secret places where her treasures of gold and silver are stored. Through great privation and hardships they open up the way for the donkey trail, the wagon-road, and the steam engine..
From these wild frontier settlements rivulets of wealth find their sources; these gather into great streams, and flow on to the eastern cities and towns, keeping the wheels of the factories moving, and making it possible for eastern men to grow rich, and to gather about them all the luxuries and comforts known to modern civilization. Stop, for a single year, the streams of cattle, hides, wool, lumber, wheat, gold, and silver that come largely, if not wholly, from our western frontier, and the business of our country would be ruined. But more important still, these people are American citizens, and these distant communities will, ere long, have a great, if not a controling, influence in shaping the destiny of our whole country. What our country needs is good citizens in the best sense of that term. A citizen, to be good and safe, needs at least two qualities in his makeup; he must have an enlightened common sense and a conscience. The best way to secure these is by giving to the children the spelling-
THE MOUNTAINEERS OF MADISON COUNTY, N. C
book and the Bible. Okristian schools-pu t the emphasis on the adjective-and Ohristian churches must be planted everywhere on the frontier. This work is commenced by the frontier missionary, and there is no work more important than this in our land to-day. One live frontier missionary is worth more in "keeping the peace," and in removing the causes of trouble on the frontier, than a whole regiment of Uncle Sam's regulars. A little church, and a schoolhouse near it, are a surer defense from bloody uprisings than aUnited States fort bristling with Gatling guns!
THE MOUNTAINEERS OF MADISON OOUNTY, N. C. * BY MRS. D. L. PIERSON.
Any attempt to describe the "Mountain Whites" as a whole is impracticable, for the mountain regions of five States cover an area of about 100,000 square miles, and the people of the various sections have been subject to vastly different influences, and are very diverse in character. The missionary working in one section has to fight the inroads of infidelity, in another the benumbing influences of Oampbellism, in another the subtle teachings of the apostles of Mormonism, and in still another the fatalistic doctrines of the" Hard Shell Baptists." Yet we certainly would be misrepresenting the" Mountain Whites," were we to charge them as a whole with anyone of these four defections.
Another opportunity for misrepresentation is in the use of the term "Mountain Whites." In a general way every white person living in the mountain regions is called a "Mountain White," but the true mountaineers, who live in their cabin homes remote from the village, and coax their livelihood from unpromising and unwilling patches of earth on the mountain side, are very different from the" valley folks"
• Much criticism was past on an article which appeared in the REVIEW some time ago on the" Mountain Whites of the South." Exception was taken to some of its statements, and it was alleged that while the negro was applauded for his virtues, the .. Mountain Whites " were mercly held up as examples of moral and intellectual degradation. Of course it must he borne in mind that various sections of the country dlft'er vastly both in moral and intellectual status, and each district has its own peculiar problems and characteristics to which attention must be callcd in order to arouse interest, and move people to remedy the existing evils. The large majority of Christians recognize the low moral and intellectual condition of the mass of the negro population of the United States, and hence there Is little need to cite examples of their ignorance and their vices in order to prove the need for giving them a Christian education. The callis for indications 01 the success of such work, as an encouragement for increast elforts. On the other hand, everyone recognizes the practicability of elevating the white race by education', but all do not realize the need for special eft'ort in their behalf. Therefore, while It Is beSt to avoid exaggerated statements, the object of articles on the" Mountain Whites" of the South is naturally and rightly to show the great need that exists for carrying the Gospel to these people. It is not that the negro is better or more promising than the mountaineer, that leads writers to present a less favorable picture of the latter than of the former, but it Is because of the difference in the attitude which men take towards the two problems.-E. B. D. P. who live along the river banks or beside the railroad track, and who come much mllre into contact with the floating boarding-house population.
It is frequently affirmed that these mountain people are almost wholly of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian extraction, and that they were driven to take refuge in the mountains through religious persecution. There probably is some ground for these statements, but neither the colonial records nor the early history of North Oarolina seem to sub- stantiate them. * – Rev. Dr. W. J. Erdman made a careful study of hundreds of names of mountain girls who attended the Industrial and Normal schools at Asheville, and found that scarcely five per cent. were Scotch or Scotch- Irish. While some of the colonists probably did come to Oarolina during the religious disturbances in the reign of George the Second, there is little reason to believe that they were driven into the mountains by local persecution. In the constitution of the colonists, signed and sealed as early as 1698, article 39, we read: "No person whatsoever shall disturb, molest, or persecute another for his opinion in religion, or way of worship," and altho the government underwent many changes after that time, freedom of conscience was always peculiar to the" Old North State." Where popular sentiment was tolerant enough to forego, in the case of a Quaker, the oath of office, because of his religious principles, persecution for denominational differences could hardly thrive. Ohurch of England believers, Quakers, Presbyterians, and Independents lived side by side, making converts from among the large number of colonists who had no religion.
Now, if we deny these people their pure Scotch blood and their heroic martyr history, what have we left? Just a mixt race'ofhardy mountaineers, who, by force of circumstances, have been cut eff from all that is good and saved from much that is bad in our city civilization; a poor, but supremely hospitable people, with unlettered, but naturally bright minds, and an almost medieval chivalry in their devotion to any true missionary who may work among them.
The Madison county mountaineer is large-boned and loose"jointed. He wears a broad sloucht hat, often turned up at a jaunty angle, a homespun shirt, leather strap belt, and tough boots. On Sundays he wears corduroys if he has them, while his wife and children, who wear • North Carolina, the tlrst State of the original thirteen on which the English set foot (Roanoke Island, 1584), unlike Its near neighbor, Virginia, was from the beginning a cosmopolitan settlement. There was royal English blood in the titular lords from the court of Charles the First, besides, of course, much ordinary red English blood; there was French blood in the settlers at Pamplico, and between the Neuse and the Trent rivers. There was an Infusion of Swiss blood when Gra.a1fenrelt brought over his 1,500 Swlsll, and settled them at the contluence of these two rivers. There was GenI)an blood in the German Palatines on the Neuse, and the three hundred Scotch Highland families who settled near Cross Creek, brought a strong, steady current of Scotch Protestant blood. It is probable that emigration was a!most'simultaneous from all these settlements westward into themountaiDI. sun-bonnets through the week, frequently change to les8 becoming hats on that day. The old people wear bright shawls and sun-bonnets· almost universally. They seem to be simple ancl contented. Their modest print dresses contrast favorably with the negro load of cheap gaudy finery. The chief characteristic which would impress the most casual visitor among them is their extreme poverty. Little single- room log cabins, fifteen by twenty feet, often shelter a family of six or eight. One which we 'visited could be described in very few words. The family consisted of an old grandmother, a daughter, and four children. The only opening for light was the door, but there were many for air, as the family cat could make its exit through sev- eral places in the side walls, where the mortar had crumbled away from the logs. At one end a chimney-place with an iron stew-pot and tea kettle, and at the other two beds and a rolled up mattress, showed the situation of kitchen and bed-room respectively. Two or three hooks held /I'll the family's wardrobe, and on rude shelves in the corner was some coarse crockery. A deal table and four chairs completed the inventory. Snow and rain had easy access to that home, and the old grandmother said that when the wind was high it frequently lifted the corner of the roof half a foot. Outside the family cow was grazing along the mountain side, getting barely sustenance enough to yield six quarts of thin milk a day. Chickens scratcht a living from the ground, till somehow they grew into hens and were carried to town to be sold for fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five cents a piece. Some cabins have two rooms, and a few possess the luxuries of a cook-stove and a window or two, but the scanty crops of onions, corn, potatoes, and tobacco which struggle for existence on the mountain side, above the house, proclaim poverty in unmistakable language. Missionaries meet children of seven or eight years who have never had on a pair of shoes, but have trudged over miles of frosty ground barefooted, only being kept at home by the deep snows. Many little feet have to be chafed and warmed during the Winter months before the mission teacher can call the school to order. Sometimes when years of toil have begun to tell upon the fruitfulness of one of these little farms, a mountain freshet, or a protracted rain will wash away the earth, gouge great seams in the soil, and cover the farmland with stones and brush. Years of working against such odds have had their effect upon the mountaineer. We can not charge his poverty to the war. He never was a slave-owner, and his uninviting little home was unmolested by the invading armies. The war has made no change in his condition, unless perhaps it has bettered it, by giving him an opportunity to fill positions which formerly were universally filled by slaves.
But the mountaineer is a shiftless character, living simply from day to day, and making no provision for the morrow. One seldom sees behind a mountain hut a tidy wood pile, chopt and stackt, a defiance to winter's cold. When the thermometer falls to zero, as it sumetimes does in these mountain districts, the children have to be kept home from school to go out in the snow and gather wood to keep a good fire blazing on the hearth. The mountaineer is a social character. He has all the time there is, and is always ready to stop and talk, to answer and ask questions innumerable. If he guides a stranger up a mountain to-day aud earns fifty cents, a five-dollar job would not tempt him until the money is gone and he feels the need of more. Altho an ordinarily kind husband and father, this trait of character throws the burden of work on his wife and children. One woman who had the care of a sick sister, besides aged and infirm parents, said she had been busy all the spring" clarin' land." This means chopping down trees, burning stumps, and throwing off stones in order to prepare the land for cultivation. The women and children will work very hard for a small sum. The children get up at daybreak and pick wild flowers, which they carry miles into town to sell to city boarders for five cents a bunch. Women will save enough milk from their scanty portion to make two or three pounds of butter, and walk twelve miles to sell it for fifteen cents a pound; and others, after picking and hulling five quarts of wild strawberries, will walk fifteen miles to dispose of them all for twenty-five cents. But the lessons of thrift and economy which the girls are carrying to their homes from the industrial missions establisht for them, and the valuable knowledge of farming which the boys are gaining, will in time make this poverty much less hopeless.
In such surroundings, where large families herd like cattle in a pen, purity and moral growth must often be stiffied for want of breathing space. Yet in moral fiber the mountaineer is really much above the aV!Jrage city slum resident who lives in the same manner. While not above petty thefts, he does not molest a traveler, for highway robbery is seldom practist, the perpeirators of such a crime would be held in contempt by their neighbors. Yet, according to their own peculiar criminal code, robbing the government of revenue taxes is a clever trick, and killing a revenue officer is a brave act of self-defence. Breaking one's oath in court is nothing, but the betrayal of a secret " still" is a heinous crime. Feuds for generations arise from such betrayals, and the traitor is known as" Judas," or, as they say," Judayas," forever after. Murder of travelers is very uncommon, but murder for revenge is ordinary retaliation. The marriage tie is a very loose knot, and court, which convenes twice a year at Marshall, has often much difficulty gathering together a jury, on account of the complicated cross-relationships. Illegitimate children can be found by the dozens, yet, as a rule, they are apparently considered no disgrace. The women excuse themselves on the ground that they must have children or there will be no one to care for them when they are old. Tobacco-dipping (or rubbing tobacco on the gums) and its use in all forms is very common; children often learn to like it when mere babies. It probably satisfies for the time a craving for solid, wholesome food, which the poor mother can not supply. Even the bronzing which their out-of-door life gives them, cau not entirely erase the peculiar yellow pallor which this habit induces. In some districts the missionaries have workt most encouraging reforms along this line, breaking the children of these habits, and convincing the parents of its evils. In a Baptist church near the county seat, the people of their own choice prohibited the use of tobacco in the building, with the following placard: NOTICE.
TO. ALL. PEOPLE. YOU. MUST. NOT. USE. TOBACCO. OR • SNUFF. AND • IIPIT • ON THE • FLOOR,. FOR. TruS. IS. GODS. HOUSE, • AND. AUGHT. TO • BE • KEP mCE • AND • CLEAN.
This is, indeed, a great step in advance, when one considers that even the pulpits are not free from the pollution of tobacco juice, for many of their clergy preach with quids in their mouths.
Whiskey-drinking is begun at a very tender age. Extreme poverty and the fact that they look upon whiskey as one of the necessities of life, lead many mountaineers into the illicit and dangerous business of making "blockade" whiskey. The stills are run at night in remote recesses of the mountains, so that the dense black smoke emitted by the soft pine may not show against the dark sky. Night after night the lanterns of the revenue officers may be seen darting back and forth on the mountain side, in their perilous search for " moonshiners." The report of a gun,. reverberating through the mountains, means either a signal of the watchers that the officers are approaching, or the desperate defence of a surprised mountaineer. It is said that no jury of mountain men can be found which will convict a fellow-mountaineer for the murder of a revenue officer.
In some mountain districts there may be dense ignorance of Christ and salvation, but this is not true of Madison county. Altho lamentably lacking in " book larnin'" in general, the missionary is constantly surprised at the knowledge of "the Book," which these ignorant people have acquired. In some districts, such as that around Marshall, -where the seeds of infidelity have been sown by two or three professional men-the Bible may not be believed, but its truths have become known through their constant contradiction. In the Bluff mountain district the Campbellites have disclaimed belief in the Trinity, in regeneration, in the Holy Spirit, and in personal salvation, but the Bible stories are comparatively well known. In some homes, where not a member of the household can read or write, one frequently hears Bible quotations or reference to Scripture incidents in the mountaineer's conversation. The references may not be reverential but they show a knowledge of the Bible, and a certain acknowledg- ment of its claims upon them, which form a good vantage ground for the missionary. An old" moonshiner" near Hot Springs, radmiring the solid hickory cap to his whiskey still, which had been confiscated by the revenue officers, said that it was made like Jesus Christ's gar- ment, without a seam; and referring to the high tax on whiskey said, that by the" mark of the beast," the Bible must mean the revenue stamp. Next to poverty and illiteracy, the most universal trait of the mountaineers of Madison county is their peculiar regard for the Bible. They read it, if they can read at all, and some even study it, tho they seldom attempt to carry out its teachings. One old mountaineer laugh- ingly remarkt that his wife said that she never saw a man who read his Bible so regularly who could" cuss and swaar" like him. Unfor- tunstely, the mountaineers are not unique in this matter of not living up to the teachings which they find in the Bible, but there is this difference, that altho departing from its teachings, if they can read, they still continue to read it with a regularity which would put some professing Christians to shame. When Christ enters the heart of one of these simple householders, He enters the home also, and a family altar is generally set up, and the evidences of the more abundant life which the Savior's presence brings are plainly malliIest. One mountaineer gave this testimony at a little meeting held in a neighbor's house high up on the mountain side: "I hev tried t' be a Christian for eighteen years. I workt at it harder than I ever world with mattock or axe. One day the missionary preacht, an', as I listened, I felt I was a pore lost sinner. He axt me t' pray. An' I prayed the best I could. He axt me t' hold family prayer. I told him I was willin' t' do anything thet would get me saved. It was a heavy cross fer me t' pray in my family, but 1 jest took it up. One day down at the meetin' in Hot Springs Jesus jest seemed t' come before me an' say 'Come unto Me, an' rest.' Since then hev been the happiest days of my life." His wife also bore witness to the change in the home.
As to the general truthfulness of the people, there seems to be a difference of opinion. One who has mingled with them for years, but merely in a business way, thinks that they are untruthful from habit and from choice, often telling a lie when the truth would be even more to their advantage. Teachers, who have come into close contact with the children, thiuk that they are ordinarily truthful, but not scrupulously so; and a Clergyman, who has been much in their homes, holds that they are truthful, except when they wish to shield a friend or injure an enemy. This difference of opinion is probably due to the relationships in which the several people stood to the mountaineers. If a minister is earnest and sincere in his work, and once gains the love of these simple folk, they are to him loyalty and truth itself. Withont any exception, the missionaries bear testimony to the warm welcomes which always await them in these humble homes, where their person and office are held in the highest respect. One old mountain woman, whose boy had been paid in advance by the missionary for chopping some wood, but who had neglected to finish up fifty cents' worth of it, said to the missiollary: "I must pay you thet fifty oents, yes, indeed, I must. We may steal from rascals, but we won't rob you, preacher." Two convicts, side by side in a chain-gang, were both working out sentences for theft; one man was to be free in one year, while the other, who had stolen a suit of clothes from a minister, had been given seven years by a jury of mountaineers.
The children have pleasing manners, and answer questions with no suggestion of shyness, nor yet with undue forwardness. They are fond of their parents, and ordinarily respectful and obedient. Their loyalty to their homes is one of the most encouraging features in the industrial educational work, because the girls can be counted upon to return to their own people and carry to them the benefits received. The people are very retioent about themselves. The girls at the boarding-schools seem to make no confidantes of their teachers, however dearly they may love them. There is no lack of gratitude for the self-sacrificing labors of the missionaries, but anything like spontaneous outpouring of youthful confidences is almost unknown.
They seem to have a quick sense of humor, altho their immorality, and intermarriages of near kin produce many dull and half-witted children, and physical deformities .seem to be unusually common. They are an emotional people. Almost everybody who is past the age of maturity has, at some time or other, been a ohurch member and has backslidden. Under the pressure of some campaign evangelist they have come forward, made a profession, and then fallen away for the want of timely counsel and spiritual help.
.One more almost universal trait of our mountain friends remains to be spoken of-their illiteracy. It is said that there are three hundred thousand young people of school-age in these southern mountains, but scarcely three thousand five hundred of them are in schools. According to tho census of 1890, the percentage of those above ten years old in the United States who could neither read nor write, was thirteen per cent. In some States the rate was as low as four or five per cent., but in North Carolina it was thirty-five per cent., and in Madison County, probably not below forty per cent. The report of the Committee on Education shows the following sad state of things: Average number of school days per year in the United States, 141 days; in California, 174; in New York, 176; in North Carolina, 63, lowest in the list of all the States. In Madison County probably the average would be between 55 and 60 days per year. The average amount of public funds annually expended per pupil enrolled (not whole school population): In the United States. t12.50; in New York, $12.00; in Illinois, $18.00; in North Carolina, $1.10; in Madison County, ninety cents last year! In 1839 the" Old North State" passed a law dividing the State into districts of not more than six square miles, for the purpose of establishing schools. Such a division as this would mean seventy-nine schools for Madison County. The county clerk reports that there are eighty in the county, seventy-five for white children, and five for colored; but for ten months of the year the schools are closed for lack of public funds. If repairs are needed on the schoolhouse, the public funds must be appropriated, so that a year's session must be forfeited. One man in Sandymush, Madison County, told the missionary at Trail Branch, that he had been paying schooltax for twenty years, and had only had three months of free school in all that time.
Many of these little school-houses are so poorly equipt, that the teachers are seriously handicapped. Their books are out of date, and sometimes there are scarcely two reading or spelling books alike, so that classes must be multiplied almost indefinitely. As two or three scholars have to study from one book, progress must be very slow. Missionaries say that it is exceptioual, for parents to refuse to send the:r children to school, on the ground that "book larnin'" will make them lazy.
These facts and figures tell their own story of mental starvation. Along with ignorance of this kind goes superstition, of course; and we are not surprised to find even authentic accounts of belief in witches. One man and his wife said that they were obliged to keep a light bnrning all night to keep the witches away from their baby. Another woman was seen whipping her milk vessels to drive ont the witches who soured her milk. The passer-by advised her to scald out and dry her crocks thoroughly as a substitute remedy. Among the many foolish superstitions held by them are the following: To make your hair grow, hide a lock of it under the doorstep when no one is looking. To cure white thrush in a baby's mouth, let some one who never saw its father blow in its mouth. If a bird flies into your house, some one of your family will die soon. To cure rupture in young children, split a black gum sapling, and pass the child through the slit, then wrap the tree with hickory withes; if the tree grows up, the child will recover. The writer knows of a child thus treated.
The mountain people have a peculiar claim upon us, because they are purely American born. Probably ninety per cent. of them would be eligible" Sons and Daughters of the Revolution." The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which antedates the National Declaration, was the work of their ancestors, and the first blood shed in America to resist British tyranny, was the blood of some of their forefathers, shed at Alamance in 1771. But the Christian Church acknowledges a still stronger claim than patriotic sentiment toward these fellow citizens, whose lives are so circumscribed by ignorance and poverty. Those best acquainted with the situation agree that the little district schools, and not the large boarding schools, furnish the solution of the problem. If each school-house could be manned by two Ohristian workers, and the public funds supplemented by the Church, so that a nine months'session could be held; if Sundayschools could be establisht, and the simple Gospel story could be told in the homes and in the school-house, how many now" alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them," might be " made nigh by the blood of Ohrist." Miss Goodrich, who, with her helpers, has workt along these lines for several years in Britain's Oove, Buncombe county, considers that, next to the direct and simple teaching of God's word, the establishment of a Ohristian home by the teachers in the midst of these people is most beneficial. Their model cottage, so neat and tasteful, is a very practical object lesson. When lessons of cleanliness, refinement, and thrift find tangible illustration in snch a home, the teachers more than double their effectiveness.
The Dorland Institute in Hot Springs is training young women to be teachers adapted to the district schools. Its course is not so high as that of the Normal school at Asheville, but the curriculum includes all the ordinary English branches, with some science and languages.- Rev. Dr. Dorland, after a life of usefulness, spent at Scotia Seminary among the negroes of North Oarolina, retired with his wife to Hot Springs to pass the closing years of his life. But God so laid on his heart the needs of the mountain people of Madison county, that, altho seventytwo years of age, and in feeble health, he entered upon the work of organizing a school. For a time he gathered as many children as he could and taught them in his own parlor. Then, through private subscriptions, scholarships, and donations of various sorts, he started the Dorland Institute, now a school of fifty boarding and one hundred dayscholars. Only girls are taken as boarders, but boys are admitted as day-scholars. Industrial branches, cooking, and sewing are important features of the work. Friends send boxes of new material or partly worn clothing, which the girls are taught to make up or refit. All the domestic work of the school is done by the scholars, and altho the tuition fee is only $50 a year, very few are able to meet even this slight expense.
As in their mountain homes the girls work much out of doors, the confinement of the school-room began to tell on their health, so that the Institute rented two acres of land on a hillside, so steep and stony that the natives made such remarks as: "Thet land is so plumb poor, you'uns caint raise nary a thing on't. I'd not be a wantin' it ef it was give t' me;" and, " Nothin' never will grow there for the rocks. They must go clean t' the bottom; 'pears like the more you take off, the more keeps comin' up." But the girls, determined to "make a crap" if possible, picked off over fifty loads of stones. Harvest time showed the great success of their labors, and more valuable than the citron, potatoes, cucumbers, and corn that Were gathered into the storehouse, were the lessons in practical farming which were stowed away in the minds of the students. The mountaineer merely scratches the soil with a "bull-tongue ,. or single shovel plow, and· then drops his seed in the shallow furrows, a prey to the dry weather of the mid- summer. in good tim•es lllany of the mountaiu people of Madison Even County live not far from the starvation Hne, consequently the suffer- ing in bad times is keen and widespread. Just at present they are in greater extremities than for years past. A good quality of tobacco is raised there, which in former years brought a good price, but last year sold for only two and one-half cents a pound, altho it cost ten cents a pound to raise it. This represents, moreover, ~he return for the labor of a whole family, for from the time the young plants are put under the cheese-cloth, spread on the hill side, until its final dry- ing in the rude tobacco barns, the energies of young and old are devoted to its care. Speaking of the present critical situation, one missionary writes: "We are hoping and praying that this present dis- tress may work a great goo~ in inducing the small farmers to give np the cultnre of tobacco, and raise wheat, corn, and potatoes, something that will sustain the family through the winter. A man between forty and fifty, who has always lived in these mountains, said last evening: 'I never knowed nothin' like this afore. The people never wuz so hard up 1 They caint get rashuns to go on while their crap is growin'. Some of 'em has right smart of truck in, too, an' will hev somethin', if they're lucky.' The pleas for help are truly pathetic, and we believe help should be given, yet not witholt some return in work. For if a man thinks his family will be clothed and fed, it is easier for him to sit still and depend on a drink of whiskey for himself."
When a mountaineer does turn his attention to the raising of other crops than tobacco, the persistency and patience necessary to make a success of the undertaking tell in time upon his character as well as upon his worldly conditon. One man drove thirty miles over the roughest of mountain roads to Dorland Institute with fifty bushels of beautiful apples from an orchard planted by himself ten years ago.
"It did us good," said Miss Phillips, the principal, "to see him handle them with such affection while he discoursed of the different varieties, and of how much thi8 or that tree had borne, and of how he , got shet of the borers' and other pests. ' It's a powerful slow thing, an apple orchard,' said he, , an' I've put a heap of work on 't; but it's beginn'ing to bring me some money now.' He lived too far up the mountain to obtain barrels, so he had bought lumber and boxed the apples in fodder. The team which he drove was of his own raising, and his eleven children were clothed in homespun garments, made from the wool of his own sheep, their especial care." There are a few such thrifty ones scattered through the mountains, and the teachings of Christ, coupled with thorough instruction in farming and household economy, are multiplying the numbers. There is a call for farmer missionaries, equipt with the Word of Truth and an agricultural education, bringing with them the Bible and the most modern and improved farming implements.
The Dorland Institute. at present owns a *15,000 property. The teachers and missionary are doing a work which can not be told by statis- tics. All of the girls but two or three are Christians, aud Christians whose daily lives do not contradict their professions. How much the fathers and mothers in their mountain homes expect from their daughters .whose help and presence they so gladly surrender, may be shown by the following message, sent a long way and with great trouble to the prin- cipal of the institute. A poor mountaineer, father of one of the girls, lay ill, and wisht the prayers of the Christians in the school. He said that he was glad his girl was in such a good place, and that while he cared something for grammar and arithmetic, he cared more for the Ohristian training his daughter was getting. " We hevn't ben livin' right at our house," he added, "an' mebbe ef our girl gits to be a good Christian, she kin help us out." At the close of the little season of prayer, every girl was in tears. They are loving and solicitous about those at home.
Those who work among the mountaineers are constantly being surprised by little tender traits of character which unexpectedly shine out in their hardened, darkened lives. Our home missionaries here do not, like those out West, have to contend with the floods of obscene literature and criminal details with which the frontier people gorge themselves. The Mountain Whites, being generally unable to read, care little for either story papers or newspapers. On the contrary, the missionaries find it difficult to stimulate them to read when they have learned how. Hundreds of homes all through the mountains have not a single page of printed matter in them.
When we think of the dire poverty of the mountain dwellers of North Carolina, and of the bondage they are in to sin and ignorance, what a mockery the state coat-of-arms seems, with its figures of Plent;! and Liberty. They can never approach the ideal of this standard untIl the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free, and the" fullneBB of Him that filleth all in all," are in their possession. In the early colonial records we read that when the grant of North Carolina was bestowed, Governor Berkeley of Virginia immediately inaugurated a government . in Albemarle, in order" that the king might see they slept not with their grant." A far more precious grant has been given the churches of the United States by the King of Kings. Are they as eager as the early colonists to go in and possess the land or are they" sleeping with their grant?"
THE GENESIS OF A. CHURCH IN BRAZIL
THE GENESIS OF A OHUROH IN BRAZIL.
REV. GEO. W. CHAMBERLAIN, D.D., BAHIA, BRAZIL.
The history of a church, I began, but I cannot write it. The ken of man may not take it in, nor the pen of man trace it. It began in the eternal counsels, and will go on into the eons, the ages to come. Known unto God are all His works, from age to age. Known unto man is only sO much as He may show.
Now, to the genesis of a church in Brazil; leaving the history of its exodus, its numbers, and its deuteronomy. The name of a town and district in the interior of S. Paulo, Bot1tcatu, was, in the memory of the writer, a synonym for outla1(Jry. Judge and jury sat in fear of knife and bullet. The priest, in his confession-box, was no barrier, he rather, by his" absolvo ie," an abettor of crime. No wonder that the judge and a group of better-disposed citizens turned for help to a secular institution, and organized a lodge. They wrought better than they knew. A Bible was ordered from Rio de Janeiro, on which to take oath. "My word shall not return unto Me void, but shall accomplish that whereto I sent it."
When a bullet sent the judge to final assizes, because of a righteous sentence against a rich murderer, the other members of the lodge ceast to meet, but one of them, as he read the otherwise unused Book, had an unexpected meeting. He met the Judge of all the Earth, and beheld a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reacht to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. Like Jacob, he vowed a vow, saying: "If God will send a man to preach the truths of this Book, in this place, I will build a house, which shall be God's house."
Two years later an "angel of the church" was led to his door at even, to whom the solitary old man recounted his vow, adding, in a despondent tone, "But no one approves, and one says: 'Don't be a fool; do bettor with your money.' What shall I do?"
"Do as you please; if your vow was wrong, ask God to forgive you; if right, to help you keep it," said the" angel," the messenger of the church. A few months later the latter received a letter from the old man, saying" the house is ready, come and dedicate it to God."
At the end of eight days of services in that house"the preacher repeated the invitation he had made nightly to all hearers, to manifest their views (pro or con) of the truths set forth in the series of discourses. A lawyer arose, saying" I have a question to ask. I have attended all these meetings, I have heard this repeated invitation. Neither here, nor in the streets, nor in the houses, where these doctrines were daily discust, have I heard anyone dispute the truth of what you have said. But you are going away to-morrow, and reside at a great distance. My question is this: What are these people to do hence– forth? Admitting the truth of what has been said (about God, sin, confession, mediation of Christ, etc., etc.),we have no further use for the confessional, nor the sacrifice of the mass. We can make no further use ofthe man who performs these services, nor of the house in which they are performed. We are cut off from the Roman church" What is this people to do for baptism, marriage, and other church rites ?"
"The question," said the messenger? "is pertinent. I shall want the close attention, for a half hour, of those who wish to hear the reply. Those who can not wait so long, please retire during the singing of a hymn. (No one withdrew.) The answer to this question, to be final and radical, depends on another, which I shall put to the people. This friend says that you all admit the truth of what you have heard. You then have convictions, more or less clear, as to your duty in the case. How many among you have the courage of your convictions, and are ready to say: ' We accept this house for the purpose for which it was erected by our fellow-townsman, and pledge ourselves to meet in it regularly on the Lord's Day to read His word, praise His name, and pray for His spirit to guide us into all truth, as Jesus promised His disciples He would do ?' Let us get down to the Live Rock. Let us suppose that, from this day forward, no minister of the Gospel shall come from abroad to this place, and no other help but that of high heaven be at your disposal. Here is a house, given to God in honor of His word. Here is the Book-His word, and here are you-the people.
"In the Book we read that Jesus Christ has pledged His word that He will be in the midst of two or three who gather in His name. Let those of you who are willing to promise so to gather stand up. (No one arose.) How many heads of families will say, by rising to their feet: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we will meet in this place to read His word, at least on the Lord's day?" The donor of the house arose, saying: "If no one else comes, I will." An elderly lawyer, since dead, stood up, and soon other four heads of families.
"It is enough," said the preacher; "these men will have their courage tried. Let us suppose that three, or even four, be failures, and but two are faithful to this public compromise, what then? The Lord, the Head of the Church, will not fail to keep His promise. He will be here, and there will be, ipso facto, a Christian Church in this house. If He be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Him. This house will be too small to hold the congregations which will flock to it. It will be found that among you, as among early disciples, that He who ascended up above all principalities and powers gives gifts, and that gifts differ. He gave some pastors. Upon such the believers call lolemnlylay their ha.nds in the name of the Lord, letting them apart for the service unto which the Lord has called them and ordained them. Elected and solemnly ordained by the Church to this office, they will be entitled to administer the Iilacrament and per- form all other offices of the Christian ministry in the name of the Head of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Thus far the answer to the question, what must this people do ?
has proceeded on the supposition that in obedience to God's word, separating yourselves from the apostate church of Rome, you should be isolated, cut off from all fellowship with the churches of Christ, and forced to independent action. This, however, will not be the case. The group of believers here, while they would form a church of Christ, are only a part of the Church. Other churches already exist in this land, which, by their elders or bishops, maintain the dis- cipline and government which the Lord instituted for His Church.
Into their fellowship you will come, and through their ministry be duly organized into a component part of the one Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all the family in heaven and earth is named.
Young men are already in due course of preparation for the ministry.
Of these one will come to serve you as minister of the Word and pastor of the flock over which the Holy Ghost shall make him an overseer or bishop, to feed the Church of God which He has purchased with His own blood."
As in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void, so doubtless to the majority of the audieuce, the spectators, the Church thus sketched seemed with- out form and void. But the Spirit of God moved over chaos, and it became cosmos. Likewise the brooding spirit of order hovered over the group of untaught and undisciplined men who, from that day forward, met in that place to seek God and honor his Word until they took form and were no longer void. Some fell away, but others took their place, and they have gone from strength to strength, the Lord adding to the Church such as should be saved; and these are adding to their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge tem- perance, and to temperance patience, and to patience Godliness, and to Godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love, so that they have not been barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the genesis of a church which, during its first deC'ade, became self-supporting, and now in its second is contributing largely to send the Gospel into the regions beyond, and to strengthen other weaker churches. .
There are older churches in Brazil which have not so good a record. Why? After thirty years of service as an angel or messenger of the church, scanning closely the history of the work of which I
KI8810N8 IN lIULAY8U
have been a part, I am led to fear that we have attempted to often take the work of the Spirit out of His hands into our own, because He did not work just on our lines and ignored our" methods." We have imposed upon His free manifestations our straight jackets, and have missed the largeness of His mercy; So we have restrained His manifestations, and limited the Holy One of Israel. This is an old error.
It was convenient, yea, necessary, that even the man Jesus should go away, with His overshadowing personality, in order that the Spirit might have a free field to work marvels with the feeble disciples, men of like passions with ourselves, and lead them into the reality of the Lord's promise: Greater works than these shall ye do, because I go unto the Father, and whatsoever ye ask in My name I will do it. His instrument and only vice-gerent on earth is the Holy Ghost. He will not give this honor to another, be he pope, prelate, or presbyter.
The Holy Spirit-the Spirit of LIFE-is a non-conformist by reason of His very nature or essence, and is subject to no forms or formulas, not even to thqse of His own dictation. When these become the object of idolatrous veneration, He orders them ground to powder, as He did the brazen serpent.
The Peter pronounced "blessed of the Father," by the unerring lips of Christ, the Son of the living God, 80 long as he rests as a lively stone on the Rock, is hurled away from the presence of the same Lord, when he presumes to be the Rock, and dictates to the Christ whom he has confest-with a stern rebuke: "Get .thee behind me, Satan." Let us go forward, ever remenbering that the Spirit must be in advance of us, else there is no advance. He may, as in Botucatu, enter a Masonic lodge, disband it, and sit down to hold converse with a single member of it through His own Word. The soul born of this incorruptible seed-tlte Word-must be nourisht with the milk of tke Word, until it can bear the meat of tke Word. Give us a true ministry of the Word. The Spirit will honor His own for the genesis of many churches and their exodus out of a greater than Egyptian darkness.
MISSIONS IN MALAYSIA.
REV. J. VAHL, NORRE ALSLEV, DENMARK.
Malaysia includes the Malay peninsula and all the islands from Sumatra to New Guinea (excluded), and including also the Philippines. This group, which includes some of the largest islands in t.he world, is considered as belonging to Asia, but the islands eastward of a line drawn between Bali and Lombock, Borneo and Celebes, Mindanao and Talaut Islands belong properly to Polynesia. The
NOTeDlbe,o
animal and botanical life is quite di:fferent froDl the Asiatic, but is for the most part the same as that of Polynesia.
With the exception of some remnants of an earlier population whose origin is doubtful, the population of Malaysia belongs to the two great Malayan and the Polynesian races, the line of demarcation being about the same as that indicated above. This leaves Rotti, Savu, Sumbava, and Lombock, and the islands west to the midst of Buru, Gilolo, and Talaut to the Malayan race.
The Malays may be divided into five semi-civilized races and a few savage races. The Malays proper inhabit the Malaya peninsula and almost all the coast regions of Borneo and Sumatra. They all speak Malayan and are Mohammedans. The Javanese inhabit Java, part of Sumatra, Madura, Bali, and part of Lombock. On the two last islands they profess Brahminism, but the others are Mohammedans, and all speak Javanese and Kawi. The Bugis inhabit the greater parts of the Celebes and Sumbava. They are also Mohammedans, and speak Bugi and Macsassar. The Tagals, who inhabit the Philippines, are, for the most part, Roman Catholics, and speak Tagal. The Molucco Malayans inhabit chiefly Ternate, Tidore, Batjan, Amboina, are Mohammedan Christians, and speak many di:fferent dialects. Among the savage tribes are the Dyaks (Borneo) and the Battaks (Sumatra). The Polynesian tribes are animists.* Many Chinese have immigrated to almost all the islands, and have, of course, carried their religion with them.
When China was closed to Evangelican missions, English and American missionaries tried to make preparations for a mission to China by establishing stations in the eastern parts of Malaysia, and working there among the Chinese. Such stations were started in Malacca (London Missionary Society, 1815), Pulopenanz (London Missionary Society, 1819), Singapore (American Board, 1835, Church Miss. Society, 1837, Presbyterian Board, 1838), Batavia (London Missionary Society, 1814,1819, Protestant Episcopal Church, 1836,-Society founded 1835), but when China was opened after the war (1842), the whole work was transferred to Ohina. One of the missionaries, Rev. K~asberry, stayed at Singapore, and after his death (1875) his work was taken up by the English Presbyterian Chnrch (1883), and now has 247 communicants.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel began its work in the Straits' settlement 1856, which in 1869 was transferred from the Bishop of Calcntta to the Bishop of Labuan (Borneo). Here are 5 stations (5 missionaries, of which one is native, and 300 commnnicants). In 1887 the American Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society (North) began its work in Malaysia, which ia nnder a good development (2 stations, 9 out-atations, 11 miaaionaries, 125 communicants).
• WalIaee, "The Mala1.A.roh1pe~." When the Portu~ese (U98) had disconred the pallsage Tia Cape of Good Hope to India, they very soon conquered parts .of Ma.laysia. Malacca Wall taken 1512, the Moluccos, 1521, and the same year the Spaniards reacht the Philippine Islands. With them came Romanism, and almost the whole population in the :Spanish and Portuguese poss68llions were converted to tha.t religion, but retained a large part of their heathenism. In 1595 the Dutch came to Java, and very soon they conquered the Portuguese possessions, of which only a part of Timor is retained; afterwards they extended their possessions, and conquered the whole of Java, in this century, Borneo (the English part excepted); in the last years, the rest of Sumatra. Partly on religious grounds, but principally by political influence, the Dutch East Indian Company won over the Papist natives to the Reformed persuasion, but it was almost an exclusively outward conversion. The Church in the Netherlands, as such, did not possess a true missionary spirit, and when she occupied herself with the questions of missions, it was almost wholly the externals which were taken into consideration. It was very difficult to get the necessary ministers, and altho there were able men amongst them, these were comparatively few. They were, for the most part, unable to speak the native language, and they were not put in the right places. Rev. de Voogt, a great Tamil scholar, was transferred to places in Ceylon and Savu, where Tami1 was not spoken. Ministers were completely in the hands of the company and their agents. Their number was quite insufficient, and the native catechists and teachers were too few, and were, besides, badly educated and generally untrustworthy. Therefore the whole undertaking was a failure, altho there were men both in the Netherlands and in the colonies who tried to inaugurate better times. When infidelity began to sway Europe, and when Engla.nd took the islands in the beginning of this century, and all the restraint was taken away, almost the whole enterprise collapst. Under English rule the Baptist Missionary Society, in 1810, sent a missionary to Amboina, and in 1813 to Java, but ere long both stations were given up. The work at Sumatra (Baptist Missionary Society, 1819,) had to be given up also when the English colony was handed over to Netherlands. The mission of the American Board to the Battacks, 1837, was very soon put to an end with the murder of the two missionaries. A solitary Baptist Independent Mission at Java (1816-57) left only few traces.
Some years before the end of the eighteenth century the Dutch Missionary Society at Rotterdam was started (1798) in friendly relations with the London Missionary Society. For some years it did a very good work, but not having a dogmatic basis, rationalism crept iuto the society. Already, in 1840, Rev. Witteveen, at Ermels, had started a little Ermel!! MissionaryUnion; in 1847 the Mennonites had formed a Mennonite Missionary Society (doopsgeziinde mission-
m :r.t:I1!Il!IONI!I lIU.L.A.YI!II
nry society), a.nd in 1856 the Java committee (originally an auxiliary society to a committee at Batavia) had been started. But in 1858 the discontent with the Dutch Missionary Society occasioned the begin. ning of four missionary societies, viz., the General Missionary Society of the Reformed Church in 1858 (a reformed remonstrant secession church); the Dutch Missionary Union (zending vereeniging; all men shall profess Jesus as their Savior), 1858, and the Dutch Reformed Missionary Union (gereformd zending vereeniging; all the members shall be members of the Reformed Church). The Reformed Church as such takes up the work, and, in lS58, the Utrecht Missionary Society (about the same basis as tho Dutch Missionary Union). In 1894 the first and third of these societies were united. Besides, there exists a Dutch Lutheran Missionary Society (1882), and a Salatiga committee (1891), which supports the German mission at Salatiga.
Almost all the Dutch societies have stations in Java (six societies, 31 stations, 36 missionaries, 16,331 Christians, the Salatiga mission included), and the government (the" Protestant Church" in India) has 1 minister, 5 teachers, 3,630 Christians.
In 1813 the Dutch Missionary Society (jointly with the London Mis· sionary Society) sent missionaries to Java, but the work was soon given up, and when it was renewed, it was only for a short time. It was almost wholly two laymen, the landed proprietor, Coolen, a.nd the watchmaker, Emde, who took up the work among the heathen. Almost the whole work of the former century had collapst, and under the Dutch government the whole island had been presented to Islam, and the government was so whole-hearted that it pub1isht a translation of the Koran at its own cost, and prohibited for a time the publishing of a translation of the Bible. 1848, the Dutch Missionary Society took up again the work among the Javanese by the zealous and able mis· sionary J ellesma (t 1858). Good prospects began to open, but then rationalism, yea unbelief, began to creep in among the missionaries (Harthoorn), and although these missionaries seceded, yet the confi· dence of many friends was shaken. Now the Dutch Missionary Society has nve stations (8 missionaries) in the eastern part of the island, from Samarang to the southeast. To the east from Samarang there are the two stations (3 missionaries) of the Mennonites and the Salatiga mission (the German Neukirchen Missionary Society) with' six stations, (6 missionaries). In the most eastern part and in Batavia the Java committee has three stations, (4 missionaries). The Dutch Missionary Union has ten stations (9 missionaries) in the western part; the Dutch Reformed Missionary Union has nve stations (6 mis· sionaries) in different parts of the island. But the whole population is twenty-three millions.
More than the half of all the Dutch missionaries are found in Java, and as the Dutch missionary methods are somewhat singular, and is the best reprel!lented here, we may make some mention of it. The old practice of the last centuries is totally given up, and defended by nobody. The work is done by the preaching of the Word, but the work is not done as aggressively as in the most Evangelical missions. It seems that it is deemed enough to open a place for the preaching of the Gospel, to preach to them who are gathered there, and to hope that thereby knowledge of the Gospel and spiritual life shall by and by be spread among the popUlation. Preaching in the bazaar and under open air, regular house to house visitation is almost totally unknown; no ·female work is done, and it seems as if the value of such work is not understood at all. Perhaps this may be the reason why the Rhenish Missionary Society, which has so excellent missions in Dutch India, has, in the last years, first begun to make use of unmarried ladies. Perhaps the calmness which seems to rest over the Dutch mission, may have some connection with the Dutch national character.
In 1814, the Dutch Missionary Society (for some time in unison with the London Missionary Society) be~an its work in the Moluccos. These islands had also been ChristianIzed, but the work was done, perhaps, more imperfectly than otherwise. The numerous islands were spread over a territory 1,120 miles from north to south, 750 miles east to west, and here lived 50,000 to 100,000 nominal Christians. Six ministers were needed to do the whole work, but seldom all the places were filled. In 1794 the last minister at Amboina died.
In 18]2, Mr. Kam (t 1832) was sent to Savu, and on the demand of the Dutch governor he went to the Moluccos, where he had to superintend 80 congregations, 50,000 Christians, and 100 schools. In 1818, three other missionaries came out, and later more missionaries, and there were excellent men among them (Bar, Gerrike, t 1834), but the work was far too much. To select some few districts and leave the others, was not thought advisable; they were all Christians and ought not to be neglected. And the missionaries met opposition both from the" burghers" (Eurasians) and from the officials of the government, and besides there was an unhappy connection between them and the society, which was unable to keep up, independently of the govenmernt, the whole work it had undertaken. And when the confidence was shaken forty years ago, it was the more impossible, and the whole work had to be given over to the government in 1865. This (the government) has on the southwestern and Moluccan islands 12 ministers,132 teachers, and 77,455 Christians. The Dutch Missionary Society hus only left one station, with one missionary on Savoc.
On the lesser islands missionaries, principally of the German Gossner Missionary Society or the Dutch Missionary Society, have workt, but only for a short time. Now the government (Protestant Church in India) has 2 missionaries in Timor and Rotti (included in the above named items).
On Buru and Halmaheira (Gilolo) the Utrecht Missionary Society has workt since 1866 (4 stations, 2 missionaries, 1,332 Christians). U!71, a religious movement began among the Alfuros, but when It also began to extend itself to the Mohammedans, the Sultan opposed it, and the Dutch government ordered the missionaries to work only among the Polytheists.
To the northwest are the Sangir and Talant islands. They were
KI8810N8 IN liULATIU
Christianized at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and were only seldom visited by a minister or missionary, yet most of the inhabitants did cling to the Christianity, and when in the midst of the century the rumor was heard of the many thousand Christians (1890, 30,000,) were living there without missionary or minister, the Dutch MisSionary Society, on the demand of the government, sent (1856) four missionaries, sent out by Mr. Gossner, who stayed at Batavia, and in 1857 four others went thither. Since then the government has taken care of these islands, and has there 7 stations, 7 missionaries, and 40,910 Christians. Since 1887 a committee for the Sangir and Talant islands support the mission, about which not much is known. On the northeast corner of Celebes, in the district of Minahasse, the Dutch Missionary Society has had an excellent mission field among the Alfuros. A little superficial work had been done here during the eighteenth tlentury, but the number of Christians was only 5,000 when Hellendoom, 1826, began a regular missionary work. He was followed by the two excellent Germans, Riedel (in 1860) and Schwartz (in 1859), by Graspland, William and others, and a great in-gathering of heathen took place, and it seems that the work was by no means superficial. Also a mighty work of civilizing was done, and the country did blossom as a rose. The Roman Catholics have tried to disturb the good work, but they were not successful. Native teachers and evangelists have been educated, and of the whole popUlation of 145,000, 124,000 (1889), now 136,470 are evangelical Christians.
But the society was not able to keep the whole mission on its handspart of it has been given over to the government, and the government has 10 ministers, 194 teachers, 136,470 Christians, while the Dutch Missionary Society has 4 missionaries and about 6,000 Christians. This is a great pity, as the schools of the government are without religious instruction, yet the Dutch Missionary Society has 131 schools.
On Sumatra the Dutch Missionary Society has 1 station (1 missionary), the Mennonites 2 (2 missionaries), the Java Committee 1 (1 missionary), the Ermelo Missionary Union 1 (1 missionary), and the Lutheran Missionary Society 1 station on an island near Sumatra (1 missionary), but only that of Huta Rimbara. (Java Committee) ought to be mentioned (500 Christians). Also the station of the Unitarian Missionary Society at the south end of Celebes is small. But the missiona.ry society, which surpasses all the others in Malaysia, is the Rhenish Missionary Society of Barmen; of the 111 missionaries in Dutch India, 45 belong to this society. It began its work on Borneo in 1835. The field was hard and it was very difficult to get entrance amon~ the Dajabo, therefore the missionaries began with money, given to thIS aim, to pay the ransom for the debtors, who were slaves to their 'creditors (pandelings), and to work principally amongst those.
Beginning in the capital, Bandjermassing, they tried from there to get into the interior, and already they began to succeed, when suddenly the good work was stopt. 1859 a great revolt began with the aim to kill all the whites and bring the Dutch reign to an end. As almost everywhere, it was the Mohammedans who had taken the lead in this revolt and all the cruelties. Four missionaries and some of their families were killed; only 5 remained, and the work had to be given up, for it was only permitted to work in the capital, and even there under great restriction. It was not until 1866, when a friendly governor came thither, that the whole 'Work could be taken up again. Since
1~97.] 84:1
then it hall progrest greatly, and now there are 8 stations, 11 mis- sionaries, 1 unmarried lady, 450 Ohristians (one-half communicants).
The revolt of Borneo gave occasion to the taking up of the work at Sumatra among the cannibal BaUaks. There the Baptist Mission- ary Society have had a station (1822-25), but when the English possessions had been handed over to the Dutch, the missionaries had to leave the country. The murder of the two American"missionaries we have mentioned before. Later a linguist publisht a translation of the Gospel of St. Luke by the Dutch Bible Society. Meanwhile the Battaks, who were supprest by the fanatical Malayans, had askt the Dutch Government to aid them, and 1819 the Malayans were forced to keep peace. ]857 an Ermelo missionary had begun to work among the Battaks, but he could only get permission to do so by taking employment under the government. Then came the revolt in Borneo, and the Rhenish Missionary Society having heard about the translation of St. Luke, and being invited by Rev. Witteveen, who wisht to hand his mission over to them, decided to begin among the Battaks, 1861. At first it seemed not to promise great success, but when Miss Nommensen went among the independent Battaks, cannibals, and as to religion animists, soon the leaf was turned, they were on the whole kindly received, gailled the confidence of the natives, and even of the Dutch Government, who saw how well it was to have the peacemaking missionaries between their possessions and the warlike Atjahs at the north end of the island. Therefore it gave them, 1892, permission to establish stations in the then independent districts of the Toba country. The Battak mission has been richly blessed. There are now there 22 stations, (109 outposts), 31 missionaries, 5 unmarried ladies, 20 native ministers, 33,170 Ohristians (8,190 communicants), and the natives contributed, in 1895, £793.
A daughter of this mission is the mission on the island of Nias.
There the Rhenish Missionary Society began 1885, and it was at the wish of the Dutch government, which thought that in such a way the natives could the easier be won. The climate is very unhealthy; nevertheless progress has been made. There are here 7 stations, 8 missionaries, 3,106 Christians, (212 communicants). When the Englishman, Mr. I. Brooks, 1841, had been Rajah of Sarawak, he wished to have missionaries to educate and elevate his subjects. As neither the Society for Propagation of the Gospel nor the Church Missionary Society could undertake the work, a Borneo Missionary Society was begun 1876, and 1878 their first missionaries landed at Sarawak. The mission won so many friends in England, that it was found possible to endow a bishopric 1855, whose first occupant took his title from Labuan, a little British island near Borneo. In 1853 the whole was handed over to the Society for Propagation of the Gospel. The work here is done both amongst Dajaks and Chinese, and has been extended to North Borneo. It has 12 mIssionaries, 1 native minister, about 400 communicants.
The Dutch Bible Society has publisht the Bible in Malay, Dajak, Sundanese, Javanese, the New Testament in Marassar, Nias, Berginese, parts of New Testament in Batak, Sangiresa, Madurese, Rotti. It supports two men to aid it in its translating work. The British Bible SOCIety has also publisht translations, and has 4(1 colporteurs in Malaysia. At Batavia there exists a union for promoting Malayan Christian literature (1855).
TlIl!l IITUIIELIUTION OJ' !!OUTlI ."untIc
THE EVANGELIZATION OF SOUTH .AMERICA.· BY EMIL OLSSO}l.
Much ha.l!l been written as to South America's IIpiritual need, but, all yet, comparatively little done for its immediate evangelization. Here is a continent containing seven million square miles, and with a population of thirty-seven millions; a tract of country containing one-eighth of the land surface of the globe, and. yet there are more preachers in New York city alone than in the whole of that continent. South America's millions, who are wholly unevangelized, wait to-day for the messengers of Christ. The fourteen benighted countries are here being opened as never before to the Gospel, in spite of all the opposition of atheism, superstition, and priest-craft.
Traveling in South America, over thousands of miles through Argentine, Patagonia, Chile, and Bolivia, I have met multitudes of people who have never before heard the Gospel, nor seen a Bible, tho there are. plenty of RomanistsJ priests, nuns, cathedrals, convents, crosses, and images. One young man said that he bad been seeking for a Bible for three years without success. In Bolivia, with two million three hundred people, without a single missionary, I held a meeting in Oruro, after which the people were so intensely interested, that they kept me talking half the night. Many offered their houses as places of worship, to show their appreciation of what they had received. 'j'he priests are, of course, very bitter against the work, often have recourse to violence to stop the preaching of the Gospel. A Bible colporteur, Mojardino, lost his life some years ago in Bolivia, but the word of God will yet prevail in spite of all opposition, difficulties, and persecutions. Persecution is still going on in Peru, but the Lord's work is prospering. The Romish priests are doing all they can to prevent the circulation of the Bible. One of them said that he had already burned twenty Bibles, and wanted all my books that he might burn them. Another wanted to burn me on top of my books, etc. Many steal my Bibles, but I pray that they may read the book and learn to steal no more.
Romanism has blighted this beautiful continent and enthralled its people. Africa is not more benighted than many parts of South America, w.ith all its Popish rule and teaching. Ecuador, with its two millions of people, has been in midnight darkness for centuries, but is now, in God's providence, opening her closed doors to the preaching of the Gospel. General Alfaro, who won the battle in the last revolution a few months ago, is in favor of religious liberty. In Guayaquil the people were so hungry for the Word of God, that when I began to distribute Bibles among them, they seemed like hungry wolves, and in a few moments the books were all gone. In northern Chile, almost every night that we held meetings, people accepted * Mr. EmU Olsson thinks that elghtv-five earnel!lt workers could evangelize South America In four years. He says that one man working hard c£.n reach, by preaching and by circulat- Ing the Scrlptures, over a hundred thousand persons a year, and that, at this rate, e~hty-fiTe would reach thirty-four rnU1ion in four years; and that the whole cost would be aoout one hundred thousand pounds sterling, or five hUldred thoul!&Dd dollars.
/'
TlIJl ETAN&lI:LIZATIOll' ON 1!I0UT1I .ummCA. ,843
Christ, and one night thirty a.nxiQus SQuls came fQrward seeking a SaviQr. The peQple Qf SQuth America are ready and willing to' receive the GQspel as never befQre. Since GQd has sO' much blest America and England with the heavenly bread, shall we nQt give SQme crumbs frQm the Master's table to' QUI' starvillg sister, SQuth America? The Christian peQple Qf America are especially resPQnsible to' GQd fQr the evangelizatiQn Qf QUI' sister cQntinent.
HQW to' dO' the wQrk is the great questiQn. First believe that it can be dQne, and pray that it may be dQne to' the glQry O'f GQd. Then gO' to' work and dO' yQur part in the enterprise Qf savmg these lQst SQuls. If yQU can nO't gO' YQurself, give all yQU can, and pray all yQU can to' GQd, that GQd may send fQrth mQre labQrers intO' the harvest field., I believe that the Qnly methQd Qf evangelizing SQuth America is to' give the peQple whO' are destitute Qf the WQrd Qf GQd, the BQQk itself, fQr, apart frQm the Bible, nQthing great has ever been accQmplisht there. ,In the secQnd place, we must believe in the wQrk Qf GQd's HO'ly Spirit in cQnjunctiQn with the written and sPQken WQrd. Everywhere yQU will find a crQwd ready to' listen to' a truly heavenly message. We need living witnesses fQr Christ in HQly GhQst PQwer. SQme Qf the nativecO'nverts make splendid wQrkers and evangelists. My plans fQr evangelizing SQuth America WQuld be to' start missiQn statiQns all alQng the great lines Qf cQmmunicatiQn, sO' as to' reach bQth the natives and the inland Indian tribes. The three million Onidran speaking Indians whO' live alQng the AmazQn, can be reacht frQm BQlivia and Chile, and the Indians Qf Gran ChacO', AraucanQs and PatagQnia can be reacht frQm the Argentine Republic.
The evangelizatiQn O'f SQuth America is an undertaking tQQ great fQr man, but nQt tQQ great fQr the LQrd. But we must have faith and actQn that faith, QrthewQrkwill nQtbedQnesimplythrQughQurunbelief and laziness in the wQrk O'f the LQrd. "Lord, increase QUI' faith! ,,, The editQrs have given space to' Mr. OlssQn's brief statement Qf his plan fQr SQuth America's evangelizatiQn, and CQmmend his zeal and enthusiasm. At the same time we have nO't as much cQnfidence in the Sllccess Qf the plan as Qutlined by him. FQr Qne man to' reach Qne hun- dred thQusand peQple a year implies bringing the GQspel intO' cQntact with abQut 300 peQple a day. If a messenger did his wQrk Qn hO'rse- back, and with a trumpet, riding thrQugh village after village, cO'ntenting himself with a fQrmal and perfunctQry delivery Qf his message, he might thus reach hundreds and thQusands daily, but what WQuld it all amQunt to' in the end? DQes nQt GQspel witness invQlve mQre than this hasty delivery Qf a GQspel annQuncQment? As we understand it, the witness Qf the teacher as well as the evangelist, O'f the life as well as the lips, Qf the Church and all its institutiQns, Qf the hQme transfQrmed by the presence and PQwer Qf gQdliness, etc., whatsO'ever Christ and His truth accQmplish in the SQul Qf the individual. and in sQciety, cQnstitute a part Qf the witness-bearing, whereby men are enabled to' see and feel the superiQrity and the uniqueness Qf the true faith~ And any less thQrQugh and effective methQd leaves nO' impressiQn that is at all adequate to' fulfil the sublime end O'f the GQspel. It may nQt be legitimate to' CQncentrate labQr in a limited territory and then wait fQr results, leaving O'thers to' die unwarned; but QUI' SaviQr's Qwn example Qf a ministry, extend- ing O'ver but three and a half years, is a far truer mO'del to' follO'w.
LNoTember
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED UD OONDUOTED BY lUCT. J. T. GItAOBY, D.D.
Na.tive Ohriatia.n Giving. heathen idolatry, and converts from these c1&S!es but typify many others :For many years paet epecial attention who are enti:ely disabled by their conhae been given on all foreign mission version from continuing in these occupafields to the development of conditions tions. Multitudes of others become the of !elf-euetenance and also of self-prop- subject of great pereecution, and even agation amongst the native Christian of personal violence, because they cease communitiet!l of the !everal mission to contribute to the support of the healIelds. In eome missions in the very then templet!l-their crops being desearlieet stages of their history, it now troyed, their market being obstructed, seems, as if a epirit of over-paternalism or in !Ome one of a thousand other on the part of the missionaries had laid ways they being made to suffer pecua foundation of inherent weakness of niary loss. Dr. Chamberlain, of India, the native church, not only evangelistic instances a merchant who became a native preachers, but native pastors, Christian and was baptized in the mishaving been supported from the foreign Ilion chnrch; as a result he lost his wife funds, without requiring anything from and his child. " They spurned him in the native chnrches_ On some fields court when he Bought to get them back. this condition has been so long chronic He lost his property. He was one of that it is with great difficulty the new five brothers in the undivided estate, order shall be introduced. This can and they brought in false evidence to ecarcely be said, however, to apply to IIhow that he had gambled itaway, and missions which havo been begun within he did not know what dice lookt like. the last quarter of a century, as special He had given largely to IIUpport Hindu pains are now taken from the very in- temples. When he became a Christian ception of most missions to develop he came into the church with naught self-reliance as well as a spirit of Chris- but what he was born with-his naked tian benevolence. llkin I His property had gone, and that is the way with men who had means in The circumstances vary, more or le!l8, that caste-ridden country-they lost however, with almost every locality, everything. " and much also with the hereditary lenius of the societies prosecuting this It is also difficult to show in any stawork. There is, too, the difference in tistical tables what these people do give, the worldly condition of the converts proportionate to any standard of inimmediately on their abandoning hea- come we can use. Dr. Chamberlain thenism. It is often said that these says that the churches of the Reform converts were accustomed to give very Mission in India give ten times as much liberally to the support of their native according to the proportion of their inheathen religions, and that therefore come as the churches in America. The they should be expected to continue income of fifty-four members, taken at the same on their becoming Christians. random was under thirty dollars a year; In many cues, however, these native often, underllfty-fonr dollars; of eight, Christians, immediately on their pro- under seventy-two; and only one refession of Christianity, are thrown out ceived more than one hundred dollars a of their means of gaining a livelihood. year in that church, but they gave dur- It is surprising to know how large a ing the year an amount equivalent to percentage of heathen people are en- one dollar eighty-five and a half cents gaged in business directly allied with per member; or, multiply it by teD,
nrrBBNA.'fI01UL DBPARTlIltNT
they gave the equivalent of ten dollars these statements, it is hoped, will emand eighty cents in that little church phasize the importance of the whole per membcr. The average income of subject in the minds of all who have to the men heads of families was not more do with the administration of missions, than forty dollars per year. It seems. whether at home or abroad. The offitherefore, unfair that the contributions cers and representatives of the foreign of these heathen converts generally mission boards and 'societies in their shall be formulated in money equiva- several conferences, have made strenulents and put in comparison with appro- ous efforts to secure some uniformity priations from the several home socie- in the mode of reporting from the ties. In the American Board Almanac, several foreign fields, which will help for instance, are given the appropria- to reduce these statistics to some such tions to foreign missions of twenty·two order .as will enable all interested to American societies for a given year, reach some general classification of which aggregate $4,429,723, with a facts. and deduce therefrom some gen. credit from the native churches of those eral principles of equivalent adminisseveral mission fields of an aggregate of tration. We proceed now merely to a $455,458, or a ten per cent. ratio. But miscellaneous collation of facts, the if it were true of the whole of the like of which might be multiplied almission field, and possibly it is, that it most indefinitely. averages no higher thau the portion of the India church mentioned by Dr. The Karerui of Burma afford material Chamberlain, the ten per cent. contri- of special interest for the study of this bution from members having an aver- subject. The college in Bassein wal age income of the head of the family of built by their own labor and selfforty dollars a year would, relatively, denial. The native church past a law be greatly augmented. Another diffi- that every disciple should give a basket culty of comparative tabulation lies in of paddy and twelve cents in money. the variety of application of the funds They contributed the whole cost of the contributed by the native churches. land and the buildings, and paid the Some place great emphasis on the con- wages of the teachers, the board of the tributions made for the salary of native pupils. Less than :five per cent. of the preachers, and even limit the term money came from any outside sources. .. self-support" to this item. Others In 1880 they began, in their deep encourage the native churches to evan- poverty, to build their own churches, gelistic ventures at their own charges. tho they were overburdened with taxes. A variety of conditions furuish a variety In 1849 the churches supported their in the impulse utilized to develop the own pastors, and by 1850 they took hAbit of giving amongst these several care of all their evangelists. The churches. evangelistic spirit of these Karens is exceptionally inspiring. They give of Without any attempt at classification the products of their land for the sup· of the several kinds of work, or of the port of their pastors, and to send miscomparative value of the contributions, sionaries to Siam and to other districts we have selected from various sources in Burma. They have their foreign a large number of items from which we missionary society, and send out their now cull. Altho in this promiscuous young men, north and east, to distant way they will not contribute to the countries, support.ing them there, and general philosophy of the subject, per- reenforcing them as need arises. They sons who are interested in that line of have establisht churches among those thinking may pick out data from these tribes, and done a grand evangelistic to place with those which they have work, independent of foreign missionacollated from other quarters, and, ries and in the face of persecutions and meanwhile, the JDere repetition of loni separation from home, and from the privileges of Christian intercourse The great advance in the remarkable with those they love. One missionary work of the Baptists inOngole was tells of a time when he was in charge signalized by the amount of work for of a station, an old Karen pastor came which no foreign money was ever paid. to him with a large contribution for foreign missionary work, and the mis- Turning to China, we lInd a number sionary said: "How can your people of interesting statements. The Re- give so much? I know you lire very formed (Dutch) Church has a mission poor, the overflow of the river has in Amoy, China, in which, in swept aWIlY your crops, and your cat- tle are dying of disease; it is a famine 1882,750 members gave _______ $1,877 time with you." "Oh I" he replied, 1883,758 " "_______ 1,958 smiling; "it only means rice without curry." That is, they were ready to 18M, 742 . , " 1,681 live on one article of diet, that the 1885, 783 " ______ _ 2,107 foreign missionary work should not be 1891, 968 " ___ . ___ 3.382 allowed to suffer. Another instance, perhaps slightly revolting to the taste making a 'yearly average out of their of civilized people, is voucht for to deep poverty of $2.50 per member for the writer by competent missionary ten years. authority, when the pestilence of rats, which sometimes curse Burma, devasted The Hinghua district of the Foochow the land. The rats pass in great com- Methodist mission, China, in 1895 orpanies, perhaps literally millions of ganized a Home Missionary Society. them traversing the country, swimming The first year they gave $300. In 1896 rivers that obstruct their passage, and they gave $1,431. This is used to aid destroying everything before them. It in opening work in new places, and was on one of these occasions that a supporting weak ones. The amount native pastor brought the usual contri- raised for pastoral support was, at the bution, to which the missionary gave same time, $2,432, nearly double the the suggestion that they could scarcely sum contributed the year before. The spare so much that year, and received aggregate of this and the Home Misthe rejoinder, "We can live on rats, sionary collection reacht $3,863, an inbut the Khakyens can not do without crease of nearly one hundred and fortythe Gospel." five per cent. over the year before. The Missionary says, "Another such ad- In the New Hebrides the native vance this year, and our native preach- Christians make it a rule to give one- ers will be entirely supported by the tenth of their time to spreading the native church." The summary of the Gospel and $2 apiece for the mission- pastoral and evangelistic statistics for ary collection. They contributed 3,700 forty-four missionary societies in China, pounds of arrowroot to print an edition given in the "China Mission Handof the Old Testament, and gave $6,000 to book," an invaluable thesaurus of mistranslate the Gospel into Annetyanese. sionary information about that land, while it does not show what some of The Wesleyan missions at Tonga, in the societies received, does show that the Fiji Islands, meet their own ex- out of 706 church organizations 137 are penses, including the salaries of the wholly self-supporting, and that fifty foreign missionaries, and hand a large thousand native Chinese communicants surplus over to the Australian Confer- gave $36,450. The Amoy Mission of ence for mission work in other parts. the London Society, summing up the results of lIfty years, reports between The English Presbyterian chapel at fifty and sixty churches, with over Swatow, China, was built by native nineteen hundred members and two Christians, who gave their money and thousand inquirers, who contributed in three hundred days' work. 1894 $4,300 toward the support of their pastors, schools, etc. According to a table compiled by Rev. Andrew Beattie, in twelve socIeties in the Canton prov- every half year. In 1890 a scheme ince of the London, Presbyterian, Basel, was proposed and adopted by the native South Bap~t, Berlin, and Wesleyan church, by which pastoral districts were missions, 8,248 church members contri- formed, and contributions were subbute toward the support of 117 preach- scribed by the stations included in the ers, $4,683, which is a large advance on scheme. In fixing the salaries of the the giving of the previous decade. pastors, the desire was not to make them rich men, but respected men, and The Presbyterian Church ofEngland, it was felt that the pay of the native in Amoy, make it a rule that no one is schoolmaster was a very good guide. to be ordained to the ministry till called By the plan adopted, the pastors live to the pastorate by a congregation pre- in their own homes, attend to their pared to support him, the lowest salary farms in the busy harvest·season, and being set at $10 per month. At Swatow give about nine months of their time the highest salary given to the senior entirely to the church." preacher by this mission is $7per month, but the native churches give $10 per Turning to Japan, we find in the month. The native Christians support seventeenth report of the Church of a native mission, cmploying two evan- Christ, in Japan, some statements in gelists. The Presbyterian Church of regard to what they call the problem of England, in Formosa, still pays most of how to use "saint-seducing silver," so the salaries of the preachers, leaving as to really strengthen self.support, the contribution of the native members rather than suppress it. The North to go to other objects. They gave in Japan Mission of the Reformed Church 1894 $2,100, about $1,000 of which went places the responsibility of the call to to church building. They maintain a the pastor on the church desiring the foreign mission on the Pescadore isl- service; the mission supplements what ands, where, in a population of 70,000 the churches give. The Presbyterian people, they sustain two preachers. Church, North, has a graded Bcale of The same thing is done by the mission help till the church contains a hundred down at Singapore, where the native members. The South Japan Mission Christians operate a "Singapore Chi- of the Reformed Church has no policy, nese Missionary Society Fund," which except that a church ought to advance, is to support a missionary of their own. year by year, in its own support. The West Japan Mission, Presbyterian, The English Baptist Mission, in Shan- North, leaves the matter largely to the tung, has six native pastors, supported individual missionary, emphasizingselfentirely by the native church. They support as the goal to be reacht. The say that .. At the very first the principle Southern Presbyterian Mission pay the was adopted of doing nothing for the salaries of no pastors, and pay no church which it could and ought to do church's running expenses. They get for itself. So that the work of pastor- the smallest body of believers to pay ing the church in the days when it was something to their evangelist. The not strong enough to maintain a pas- Cumberland Presbyterian Mission torate was done through leaders, stew- makes it a rule to pay thirty-three per ards, and local preachers, who gave cent. less at the beginning of each year, their time and strength voluntarily and unless satisfactory reasons are presented without pay. After a few years two why it should not do so. The report elders were elected, one· shortly after says of the Kumiai churches: "On the the other, who fulfilled all the duties subject, as a united body, we have no of pastors, except administering the particular policy. When we understand sacraments. These were at once sup- how difficult a thing it is for any single ported by the native church, the con- mission to unite upon a policy, the unitributions for the purpose being sub- ll.cation of several may well be COIl' scribed at meetings of delegates held
DI'l'JDUU.TIOB.AL DBP.lltI'K&NT
sidered as one of the most difilcult of those who are pastors of churches. But problems, as well as one of the most while the Presbyterians have 10,~ important. A. difficulty in the way, members in 71 churches, with 49 pas- and a growing one, is that the cost of tors, and the Congregationalists their living in Japan will continue to increase 9,863 members in 72 churches, with 27 with her progress in civilization." They ministers, the Methodist Episcopal report that their churches contributed Church has its 4,387 members in 74 22,697 yen, and received from the mis- churches, with 85 regular ministers, to sion 11,168 yen. In 1895 the Kumiai 8l}pport. Their churches are more cQm- Congregationalist reported seventy- monly in the large towns, and the)'
three churches, forty of which were concentrate upon these points. Weare self supporting, and 11,1112 members also in the large towns, but we carry contributed for all purposes 22,046 yen. the Gospel to many smaller places l1li A. member of the Methodist mission, well, and, we believe, cause more people of Japan, who has given considerable to hear the message…
thought and study to this subject, fur- It was intended to quote the tables nishes the writer the following l1&'l1res for the Turkish mission, the Mexico for 1896: missions, and the A.frica missions, u I ~~i ~&,;' given in the "Fourth Conference of 8i!l~ 1l~ the Officers and Representatives of the ::~5. ~=ii~ Foreign Mission Boards and Societie. in the United States and Canada, 1896," :£ ~.5:;a ~~:a but our space forbids anything further at this time. We will begIRd to receive ——+-''''—- — communications from any mission-field giving thill clallll of information. Presbyterl&n8(Church of Christ)……….. 10,538 $16,180.111 $1.54 J. T. GlU.CBT.
Episcopalians (Sel Ko Self-Support in Japan Missions. KwaI) ……………. 8.8117 7,390.81 1.17 Collgregationalists (K'Ilmiai) ….. .. .. .. . !I,8M 18,451.47 1.87 Baptists (of U. S. .A.).. 1,882 2,232.94 1.111 Methodist Episcopal.. 4,387 13,446.52 8.00 GreekChurch ……… 23,l53 6,126.51 .29 He says: "Some other denominations .T :allV. DAVID s. SPENCBR, NAGOYA, have excelled us, according to the same JUAN.
statistics of lSg6, in the proportion of Conversations with Christian toumts, church officia.ls o. different denominawholly self-supporting churches." He tions, and many n:issionaries, convince the writer that the problem of selfgives the following, unfortunatelyomit- support in mission work in Japan is but partially understood. The discu.llting the Methodiit: sions reported from meetings of home boards and committees force upon one Self- Churches. .upport. Presbyterians. ______ .71 18 Episcopalians.. _____ . 60 1 Congregationalists …72 85 Baptists ___ .. _.. , ____ 25 4, Methodist EpiscopaL 74 8 the same conclusion. A.ltho this is be- He further remarks: "These other coming in mission work the problem of churches began their work in Japan these closing years of the nineteenth trom four to fourteen years before the century, there are evidences that lIome Methodist Episcopal Church had a sin- missionary organizations in the home gle representative on the l1eld. The , land not only do not understand the Congregational Church had given to it, subject, but do not make any adequate mits early years, a whole class of edu- effort to understand it. There are mis- -cated men, who became its leading sions at work whose members areseldom pastors, heads of schools, etc. The ever askt by their home authoritiea for column, 'Unordained preachers and advice upon the important problems helpers,' ill miileRding, for all sorts of with which the miSilionariea on a for- help~rs 1nay be included, U well u lIli- leld laave to contead. More than
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
this, it has been intimated in more than spirit of the Japanese, and who knows one instance that suggestions as to mis- the real thoughts of the Japanese sionary methods are not desired from pastors on this subject, such statements workers on the field. From the stand- seem absurd. Japanese pastors are far point of the home office, this course of more interested in getting their own indifference may be necessary; but the support from their own people than average missionary feels that too many either their actions or the results of blunders have already been made self-support effort would seem to indi- through ignorance, and that the prob- cate. Since there surely is among them lems involved require the very best mueh interest in this subject, and yet brain, heart, and tact that the combined the results are not what they should be, forces, home and fieldward, can furnish let ~s impartially consider a few of in order to wise conclusions. THE IDNDRANCES Some have supposed that the gifts of the people, as heathen to their temples, to self-support in Japan, tho this list could, upon their becoming Christians, will by no means cover all.
be at once and easily transferred to the 1. Most of the preachers are Samu- support of churches. It seems not to rai, members of the old scholar-soldier occur to them that Christianity can not class. With the Samurai it was prac- enforce its claims to financial support tically a point of honor not to love by means of boycotting, threats of vio- money, not to have anything to do with lence, of confiscation of property, de- it. Their former station did not re- nial of burial rites, or of other religious quire them to have. They despised privileges, nor ean it collect means for money and the merchant class. To the support of ·its churches and minis- ask for money for one's self was try by taxing all classes. Refusal of specially humiliating. The dollar- the Christians now to pay these tem- loving American is slow to understand ple taxes is often the cause of trouble. this Samurai characteristic. It stands It should also be noted that the con- strongly in the way of self-Support in verts to Christianity in Japan are very Japan. The people are quite satisfied seldom from the ranks of zealous Budd- to let the pastor be silent on the sub- hists. They are often from Buddhist ject of his salary, and some of the pas- families, but are persons who had tors would face starvation rather than already become practically irreligious. make a direct appeal for their own A desire to know English, or to get a salary. If too much talk about salary taste of foreign civilizations or customs, marks a man in a home church, the may have been the attractive force, social disfavor is far stronger here.
which brought them within the sound Some of our best preachers have confest of the Gospel. To awaken self-support to me their weakness in bringing up self- ideas in such people is a matter of support, and when askt why they did education. not manifest in this the courage they Another erroneous idea is that all show in other good things, have re- efforts at self-support on this field date plied: "I can not do it; I know I their beginning only some four years ought to, but I have not the courage to back. Most of the missions have en- plead for my own salary. It will not couraged the self-support idea from the do."
start, some with greater success than 2. The poverty of the Christians.
others, perhaps. Christianity is already making great im- By some it is asserted that the Japan- pressions upon Japan, and the Chris- ese pastors take no interest in self· tians already represent some of the best support, but would prefer to rely upon blood and brain of the empire. But up a sure support from a foreign board. to the present they seldom come from To one who understands the national the wealthy class. With rare exceptions they live by their daily labor. comes in ill-advised rules made as the They are not stingy, and will generally result of lack of co-operation contribute, according to their means, to the support of the Gospel. But l Let us note what wages in Japan are very low, even in eomparison with the cost of living, and PROGRESS HAS BEEN lIADE, these Christians can not contribute what they do not have. One acquainted Perhaps the Methodist Episcopal Mis- with the real condition of these Chris- sion, to which the writer belongs, will tian homes knows that no large advance serve as a general illustration: in self-support can be made without corresponding increase in the numbers II. CONTRIBUTIONS PER MEMBER SINCE ORGAN- of the givers. IZATION OF CONFERENCE. 3. Rise in the cost of living. Official statistics show that the cost of living ~ ~~ "E~~.:og1<"Oo:~.5'c~.~E:~:S'~",-r-=,..aa'…..-~!o. ~o"~""~'.g ~~~~E.I.l.r~..2t: .~s has increast fully thirty per cent. in eighteen months. Wages have risen, ~ ~ ,..:]~ ,0"'0 ¢ p.Cg:IS. ..0.,0.",e0' but not to correspond with the cost of … iii existence. Strikes are common, and many things seem to indicate that we '" are on the verge of a social upheaval. —- ——– The preachers in all the churches are 1884 907 241 $1,378.43 $1.52 $1.20 …….. . troubled, and those of some denomina- 1&l51,296 352 1.826.12 1.41 1.11 …….. . tions are reported as having to abandon 18861,754 450 2;940.99 1.68 1.33 …….. . their work for want of support. Some of them have had to contract debts to 188711,970 524 3,758.34 1.91 1.51 ……. .. Bupport their families, and it does -Dot 1888 2,854 849 4,736.43 1.66 1.28 ……. .. require a prophet to see that more 18892,961 860 6,372.42 2.15 1.66 …….. . serious trouble is ahead fol' the churches, 189012,815 718 8,064.48 2.86 2.28 …….. . unless relief can be had to tide the 18913,061 644 8,014.98 2.61 2.16 ……. .. work over till social and economic con- 118899321,33,,111948 681 7,061.51 2.27 1.86 …….. . ditions can be adjusted. Under such 841 7,349.14 2.30 1.82 circumstances it is not possible to make 1894:3.278 728 7,217.82 2.20 1.80 ili;iili:47 great advances in self-support without 189513,371 668 8,884.52 3.64 2.20 2,486.70 the danger of going too far, and bring- 18963,3691,018 13,446.52 3.99 3.06 2.841.53 ing permanent injury upon a work well 1897:3,524 1,198 17,851.12 5.06 3.78 3,096.27 begun. The money is all in silver yen, and 4. Lack of effective cooperation be- the contributions are the total for all tween home authorities and the workers purposes, local support and benevolence on the field. There is cooperation of all kinds, in the years named. It now, but it is too often onesiderl. will be seen that when the reaction, Rules and commands framed in a mis- social and religious, commencing in sionary office and sent to the field do 1888, began to be felt, little progress not necessarily help self-support. Cut- was made for some years. We are only ting off supplies of mission money do recently recovering from this reaction. not necessarily help self-support. All depends upon the fitness of the regula- II. CONTRIBUTIONS FOR LOCAL SELF-SUPPORT. tions for the work intended. To cut off at some points involves the loss of – – – – – 1894 -1-89-5 – -1-896- -1-897all the work done for years. In other 1. Current cases the wisest thing to do in aid of — self-support is to cut off grants in aid at once. The hindrance to the work Expenses .. 1,896.29 1,489.16 1,916.86 2,110.88 2. HomeMis- sions …… 299.30 456.66 408.50 873.15 8. Pastor's Salary …. 1,191.49 2,486.70 2,641.53 8,096.27 4. Rents ., .. 304.84 647.32 585.29 5. Am'ntper IIlember … 1.03 1.40 1.66 1.75 6. Total Con- tributions. 7,217.828,884.5213,446.51 17,851.12 7. Am'ntper Member… 2.20 2.64 8.99 5.06 From No. 5 of above, all contribu- tions of every sort by foreigners are eliminated. In Nos. 6 and 7 some small contributions may appear.
It is stated that the Congregationalists have of late fallen behind seriously in the matter of self-support. At one time it appeared that their native churches might speedily reach Bolid self-support ground, and remain there; 4. A well-devised scheme for utilizbut it is now hinted that since their ing the labor of our Christians toward break with foreigners there is a falling church support. Some can not give off in local self-support, and that this money. No scheme of self·support, accounts for the mauy of their pastors with this point omitted, can thoroughly who are abandoning the churches. Un- succeed in Japan. fortunately we have no reliable statistics on this point available. 5. A closer cooperation between the ' home office and missionaries on the But statistics of 1896 show that the field. There ought to be the clearest Congregational Church lo8t 1,299, and understanding between the two parties. the Presbyterians 562 in membership in Neither can succeed in this battle withthat year over the preceding year. This out the other. If the present missionwould account for a falling off in the aries are incompetcnt to suggest methaggregate of contributions. But in ods for meeting the great problems spite of these slightly discouraging before us, let the Boards so inform features in certain missions at certain them, call them home, and put in their times, a careful survey of the field place those who are competent. But shows that self-support is making a to act arbitrarily without their advice steady gain in Japan. The future is has often worked harm to the cause of bright with hope, and if the home con- missions. Board or no board, self-supstituency can wait till the forces now port will be a failure without the wise operating can work out their legitimate cooperation of the missionaries on the results, the world will be satisfied. field.
What now are 6. Increast numbers. As already indicated, no large advance in self- THE NEEDS support can be made until there are more givers. Hence, to the advancement of self-support in Japan? 7. The supreme need. A great re- vival of pure and undefiled religion in 1. Caution.-This is not a time for Japan. Flushed with military victory, visionary experiments. "Let well intoxicated with their intellectual enough alone" would not be a bad smartness, betimes going wild over motto to follow. Christianity is gettiug what they call "national honor," rusha stronger grip upon this land every ing on in the race for worldly greatyear, and will wo!k out great things for ness, glory, and pleasure, overrun with these millions. God is moving among isms about Christianity-oh, how much the people. this people need Jesus Christ' Let us lay aside criticism, and hasten unitedly 2. A more vigorous application by to show this land Jesus! missionaries of the "last man" principle. Every member must be brought Some Good Hoped for from the Missionto contribute regularly to the support ary Debts. of the local church. This will not be secured without the constant coopers- The Editor of the Baptist Mis8ionarg tiOll of every missionary. It must be Review, publisht in the interests of insisted upon under penalty of loss of Baptist Missions in Asia, and printed at all mission aid in case of failure. We the Methodist Episcopal Publishing must begin at the bottom. House, Madras, India, writing in the number for May, 1896, treated vigor- S. A concentration of church finances ously the deficits of the missionary on local self.support. The temper of treasuries. as possibly furnishing a new pastors and people is such that they impetus to the self-support projects of will give much more readily for other the several missions. As this departobjects. Other benevolences should be discouraged, if necessary, for the present, and put all emphasis on selfsupport. ment for this month is given to con- long as the silver stream flows on unin- terruptedly they are not likely to have sideration of self-support, we venture a very vivid impression or a very deep conviction of the necessity of self-sup- to quote, rather than summarize, what port. And moreover, the native church members will never see these things, the editor or editors ssy. They are and go to work in earnest to support religion among themselves until their thoughtful, independent men, with the pastors become thoroughly aroused, and in all earnestness teach and encourage courage of their convictions in all and lead them on in this matter. And the pastors will not do this while their directions, and are specially frank in salaries, or any considerable part there- of, can be found at the mission house. their discussion of missionary econo- "There are some things, the desira- mics. In part, they say: bleness of which is seen by all, which nevertheless do not come to pass till " Lookt at from some points of view a greatly depleted treasury seems like a necessity brings them to pass. That ad- deplorable misfortune, and one that vancement ought to be made in the must inevitably hinder the work. But direction of self.support in native from other points of view we think churches is known by all and acknowl- advantage and blessing may be seen edged by all. And some advancement in it_ And we desire to look on the is being made, there is no question bright side, and discover at least some about that, notably in some fields. But of the good results which will un- the exceedinglv slow rate which marks doubtedly 1l.0w from this apparent the progress towards self-support in disaster. some missions puts the time of its full accomplishment far off. But when the " We do not think it an unmixed time comes that missionaries will be good to have a plethora of mission obliged, on account of these enormous money, a treasury always full, and a deficits, to say to the native churches, uniform copious stream of American 'Brethren, the hour has come; the time dollars 1l.0wing to the missions. While that we have often spoken of has at last there is abundance of money the im- arrived; all subsidies to native pastors pression will inevitably be produced on from this time forth must absolutely be the native mind, in spite of all that we discontinued. And in building your can say to the contrary, that the supply places of worship and maintaining the is unlimited, and that it will 1l.0w on services and ordinances of religion forever. The native churches will be- among you, henceforth we can give lieve that the support of missions by you nothing but love and good advice. foreign money is not merely a tem- , We commend you to God and to the porary measure, a stepping-stone to word of His grace which is able to something better, but that it is the build you up;' then the native bTethproper, normal, permanent condition; ren will see the necessity of self-support that missions are and ought to be as fifty years of explanation and exalways beneficiaries; that Asiatic Chris- hortation would not cause them to see tians ought by right to have their re- it. Some confusion will doubtless folligious and educational obligations and low: there will inevitably be many ups burdens borne for them by European and downs. Men who have gone into and American Christians. In the ab- , the priest's office for a piece of bread' sence of financial stringency this im- will retire in disgust from that calling, pression can not, to any considerable degree, be corrected. Among the ad- and take to something more profitable, vantages that may come from tIlls con- and doubtless some will rail at Chrisdition of our home treasuries, we may tianity, and charge the missionaries mention two. with deceiving them. Some native Christian communities which do not "I. These great deficits and the re- prize very highly the ministry of the trenchment which must result there- Word, may let their preachers go, and from will undoubtedly roll the burden some may even lapse into their former of self-support more and more on the state. But churches which have in native churches. The unavoidable re- them the vitality of faith will rally in duction or complete cutting off of sup- view of the occasion, and seeing that it plies will cause them to see, as they is 'sink or swim,' will decide to keep have never done before, that the inde- their pastors and support them as they pendence of the native churches is a are able, and repair their little meeting matter of supreme importance, that Christianity has not really taken root places, and take better care of them. in any land as long as it is dependent on foreign support. Missionaries have long been seeking to impress these things OIl the native brethren, but as In some places also they will maintain there. While things in the missionary their village schools. And thus, having societies go on smoothly, and there is at last got down to bed rock, with noth- no special occasion for urgent appeals, ing on earth outside of themselves to churches and individuals are apt to fall depend on, they will realize the situa- into an easy, careless way of looking at tion as they never could before. And the missionary enterprise, supposing then we may look for steady, natural that it will go on any way, that prodevelopment and growth. This will vision for it will be made in some way. also separate the chaff from the wheat. But when they see that on account of a Then it will be found how vastlY'more two-hundred – thousand – dollars-deficit important is quality than quantity. the society is in great trouble, and the In some places Uhristianity may appear work abroad is hindered and curtailed, weaker. but it will really be stronger. especially in new fields, where self- Unworthy and useless ministers, who support is impossible, then they will can not gain the love and respect of the wake up to see and appreciate the vital churches, will have to drop off, and connection between the churches at this will be an eliminating process that home and the work abroad. It is to be will proc<led by a natural law, and will hoped that these financial difficulties be much better in its results than the and apparent disasters may lead to a dismissal of men by the missionaries. great missionary awakening in the churchcs in America. And in this "II. Again, these great deficits will respect also seeming defeat may result help to emphasize, among missionaries, in victory." the need of the utmost carefulness in the expenditure of mission money. -The really great book of Dr. Den- When the treasury is full, and the ap- nis on "Sociological Aspects of Foreign propriations are ample, we may possi- Missions," the first volume of which bly. by almost imperceptible degrees, has just appeared from the press of grow a little careless in this matter, and Fleming H. Revell Co. , New York, fall into the habit of expending money will require extended space for proper with a free hand, not at all for unjusti- notice and review. It will be of interfiable or unnecessary purposes, but est far beyond missionary circles, or without taking time to carefully con- even strictly religious circles. It is sider the expenditure of every penny, unlike most missionary volumes in its and declining, as we should do, to spend fundamental structure. The scope of a rupee, or even an anna, which is not the work is very wide. The first volabsolutely necessary. We ought at all ume embraces the Sociological Hope of times to be just as careful as this, but Christian Missions; the Social Evils of when the pressing necessity is not kept the non-Christian World; Ineffectual before us by a depleted treasury, we Remedies and the Causes of their Failmay be apt, in the pressure of our work ure, and Christianity, the Social Hope and our manifold burdens, to avoid the of the Nations. The succeeding volume toil and worry involved in studying is to present The Dawn of a Sociological and practicing economy wherever pos- Era in Missions, and The Contribution sible. In the expenditure of our own of Christian Missions to Social Progress. money a generous freeness is perfectly It is to include an appendix of the most right, which certainly is not allowable carefully classified statistical tables of in the handling of mission money. And the Foreign Missions of the World, so, if the great deficit shall tend to Evangelistic, Educational, Literary, quicken our sense of responsibility in Medical, Philanthropic and Cultural, this matter, and keep us on the watch with Native Organizations and Trainto make the society's money go just as ing Institutions, Directory of Foreign far as possible, that will be one good Missionary Societies, and the Biblioresult. " graphy of Recent Missionary Literature.
It is only fair to note what these mis- sionaries have to say about a hoped-for good result from the debts to come to the home churches.
"These appalling deficits will event- ually call the attention of the home churches to the fact that the work of supporting the missions is still on their hands, that the Lord has laid this res· ponsibility on them and still leaves it
YIELD 01' MONTHLY BURVlIlT
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
South Amerioa,* Frontier Missions in the United Sta.tes.t The Mormons,t Young People's: Work.§ BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
THE YOUNG 1IIEN OF BRAZIL. have heen received (in Rio about one thousand). But what has been done Mr. Myron A. Clark, Secretary of the for the young men as a class? The Evan~eJical chur?hes have frequently Y. M. C. A. of Rio de Janeiro, sends experIenced the bItter sorrow of seeing scores of their own young men forsake out the following earnest appeal in be- the truths learned from parents and at the Sunday-schools, and of finding them half of the young men of Brazil: turn to the vanities and pleasures of the world. Our beautiful city, the capital of Brazil, has a popUlation of some seven In July of 1893 our Rio Young Men's hundred thousand people, scattered Christian Association was founded, and over a vast area. The" cidade velha, " ever since has been housed in rented or old town, is composed of a number quarters near the very heart of the city. of blocks separated by very narrow From the start it has kept free from streets, in which is centralized nearly debt, almost without any help from all the commercial activity of the city. abroad, excepting the salary of its gen- Towards evening a general exodus takes eral secretary (paid by the American place from this scene of bustle and life, International Committee). and the streets become dark and silent, except at the localities where flourish The Association now has many friends the theatres, houses of ill-fame, music and wellwishers; has the cordial suphalls, gambling dens, suloons, lottery port of the local churches and pastors. and sporting headquarters, which sec- Its influence has stimulated the young tion is brilliantly illuminated and bust- men to more effective work in their own ling with Satanic activity. Wickedness churches, and has led to conversions and immorality become rampant, and and additions to the churches. Similar the lewdnesl! of sin puts on its brightest and cheeriest aspect, to engulf the associations have now been formed in young men. Rio is London or New three other cities, and we hope soon york or Chicago at their worst, and for a larger number of Brazilian Assowith almost nothing to offset these ter- ciations to join the World's Alliance. rible influences. Religion is at a discount; the Roman Catholic Church has Our Rio association suffers greatly many temples, but few worshippers; from lack of suitable quarters; the has many who term themselves adepts rooms are small and unattractive to the of its truths, but their lives belie the young men whom we wish to reach. statement. Infidelity is the fashion, Last December our directory started a while positivism, materialism, and spir- members' building fund, which, from itism are profest by multitudes. There the start, has been warmly supported are almost none of those restraining in- by nearly all our members. Our present fluences that are to be found in the hall can seat only about seventy, which United States and England. number is frequently exceeded even on Sundays, while at our large receptions For forty years the Gospel has been and entertainments standing room is proclaimed in Brazil, and as a resnlt several churches have been founded always at a premium, the attendance of (five in Hio), into which some thousands September 7th, last year, being two hundred and fifty. .. See also: pp. 37, 49, 57 (January); 301 Some months after the launching of (April); 539 (July); 575 (August); 809,832,842 our building fund a rare opportunity was presented of acquiring a building (present issue). in the heart of the city. A large, well- t See also: pp. 816,821 (present issue). built, unfinisht structure was sold at auction, and one of our most zealous NEW BOOKS: ., The Minute Manon the Fron- friends, at considerable sacrifice, se- cured it for about twenty-seven thoustier," J. G. Puddefoot. and dollars. Be at once offered it to :I: RECENT ARTICLES: .. Mormonism of To- the association at actual cost, and on easy terms as to interest and time. This day," Christian Herald; "Present-day Mor- offer was accepted, and another friend monism," New World (March); "Anti-Poly- offered to loan, on the same easy terms, the money necessary to finish the buildgamy Mormonism," Midland Monthly (Octo- ber). § See also: pp. 561 (August); 699 (Septem- ber); 801 (present issue). lng at once (about seventeen thousand A remedy must be found. The dollars). As the building is large, and changes which have already been the association will occupr only the wrought point to that remedy. What upper fioor until the debt IS paid, and has been done to set the people free as there will be provided a considerable must be strengthened iu every part; rental above the interest on mortgages, the press must use its cOllstitutional s part of the principal can be thus paid freedom and be outspoken; the per- off; we have hopes also of raising some sonal lights of the people must be subscriptions here in Brazil, tho friends freely and universally discust that they of means are few. We appeal, there- may understand clearly when any de- fore, to our friends abroad to assist us ception or tyranny is attempted. The as liberally nnd promptly as possible, public-school system and other means so that this property may be freed from of public instruction must be vigorincumbrance, and thus we be enabled ously maintained; railroads, mining. to do more for the young men of Rio, improvements in tilling the soil and both Brazilians and foreigners. We all forms of business enterprises must feel led to ask for about thirtl thousand be encouraged, together with the immidollars to meet our needs. -Foreign gration of non-Mormons. Mail. But the most powerful remedy, and THE REMEDY FOR MORMONISM. the one upon which the efficacy of all others will depend, is OhriBtian edu- How are we to combat -the evil of cation. What Christian schools and churches have done under all the try- Mormonism which is in our midst, and ing conditions of the past should be repeated and multiplied. Our entire which threatens the purity and life of country must wake up, and wherever Mormonism is preacht and Mormon one of our commonwealths, if not of fanaticism encouraged, the truth must be presented and Mormon errors exour nation? General John Eaton says posed, and people saved from its delu- sions. People of wealth must see that on this subject: just 80 far as Mormonism is establisht and propagated, it imperils all that they Is this fatal, spiritual poison to have hold dear, and threatens attack upon free, unrestricted, and supreme swar in every dollar of their property. They Utah, and thence to go forth to pOlson must be willing to give of their means all our land, corrupting patriotism, and for the support and efficiency of all destroying Christian life? N on-Mor- measures to resist its doctrines. In mons near the sellt of its power are every part of Utah mission schools anxious. They know the old saying should be sustained, that all who desire that "What has been may be," and distinctively religious instruction may have visions of the return of the dal find it wIthin their reach. There when some one in Brigham Young s should be high schools and academies place may declare, as he once did, "I well endowed, with improved appliwill unsheathe my bowie-knife." They'" ances and the best of teachers, remember from 1850 on, the civll favorably located in different. parts territorial government was hardly more of the State, for the admission of than a convenience for carrying out the those who may seek faithful religplans of the church, and ask, "Can it ious training of this grade. This must be possible that the State of Utah is to be crowned with ample college opportubecome only a convenience for carrying nities open both to men and women. out the decrees of its leaders, their in- These will be naturally located at SaIt tolerance and proscriptiun in business Lake City. This accords with the plan and social life, under the guise of in other states where there is no organireligious zeal. Must all officers be zation directed in secret, alike against Mormons, from the governor rlown, Chlistianity and the freedom of religious throu~h every ~ade in the State, belief guaranteed to every Amelican. countIes, and cIties? Must all but Mormon teachers be driven out from All Christian churches should rally all places of instruction, from the uni- to thi!l work in Utah. In their own versity to the kindergarten? Every good time they will have colleges repre- American and Christian sentiment pro- sentative of their own beliefs as they tests that this must not be. have in other states. All should go for- ward in harmony, each working accord- • Contributions will be gladly received and ing to its plans. The Mormons will lack promptly acknowledged by the treasurer, no unity of effort. In the public schools Mr. Jas. L. Lawson, Caixa do Correio 822, of the state the largest number in at- Rio de JaneiroJlrazll; by the International Committee of xoung Men's Christian Assoclatlons,4O East 23d street, New York city; or by ·Mr. H. Maxwell Wright, 16 Thornton Hill, Wimbleton. Surrey. London. tendsnce are Mormons, as are the larger There have been many assurances body of the teachers from the kinder- of interest and cooperation, which it is garten 10 the State Normal School, expected will materialize in due time Agricultural College, and State Univer- in ample funds. The missionary on sity. The Presbyterians are favorably St. Lawrence Island in Bering Sea situated for the carrying out of a com- who can communicate with the world plete plan of education in Utah. For only once a year, directed that $25 of his more than a score of years they have salary be reserved in aid of the college. steadily advanced the work of their A lady resident of the Hawaiian Islands schools under the Woman's Executive wrote, expressing her idea of the" ur- Committee. It is stated that "50,000 gent need" for the college, and inclosed boys and girls have past under the in- her check for $100. Another lady who fluence and instruction of their teachers had been neither seen or addrest by in Utah." They have four academies anyone connected with the movement, well distributed and favorably located offered $500. By as much as woman in the state; the one at Salt Lake City has been degraded in Utah, by so much of advanced grade doing preparatory the college appeals to her sisters everycollege work. In their churches in where.-T1Ul Ohrilitian Herald. Mormon communities they report a total membership of 1,601. Their Sab- The Directors of Harley House, Lonbath-school enrollment reaches 3,984, and the attendance on their schools and don, have recently taken in charge the academies over 2,500. What a flood of light have these schools let in upon work in Peru which has been carried on Mormon life! Not a few have gone up through them to the discharge of large by missionaries who went out from the responsibilities. East London Institute in 1893, and who The great step forward necessary have hitherto conducted it as an indeto preserve what has been done, and to complete and crown the work of pendent mission. Dr. Guinness writes: this church for the future is suggested and urged by the gift of $50,000 by Dr. "We have perfect confidence in our Sheldon Jackson toward the establish- brethren in the Mission, and have no ment of a college at Salt Lake City, to doubt the temporary difficulty has been be open alike to men and women, in permitted that thus more substantial which the Bible is always to be taught, arrangements should be made for the and which, as a guarantee of its un- prosecution of the work. varying adherence to Christian instruction is to be under the direction of "The three spheres of missionary labor which we hope to occupy are as the. Presbyterian Church (while other follows: denominations are represented in its faculty and on its board of trustees)- "1. Lima, the capital of Peru, toalso conditioned on the gift by the gether with the adjoining country to citizens of a site of not less than fifty which access is given by rail. acres. Eighty acres have been given, providing one of the most beautiful " 2. Cuzco, the magnificent inland sites, half mile outside of the city, city, which can be approached by rail together with lands where those de- and horseback, and from which point pendent on their own efforts may find opens a wide sphere of opportunity to opportunities for productive labor. In the missionary. connection with the gift a careful survey has been made of the educational .. 3. Punto, to the south of Peru, aspirations in the territory. The State and to the northwest of Lake Titicaca, Normal School is well attended, the is accessible by train, and forms a Agricultural College has an attendance strategic point. If our missionaries of 250, and the State University of 500. cross the lake, they are within a short Provo Academy, an institution under distance of the capital of Bolivia. the direction of the Mormon Church, reports a still larger number. The "For some little time the brethren town is districted, and young men have been in straitened circumstances, of promise and markt ability are and we hope that friends will see charged with the spiritual care of the their way to increast liberality in the students in each district. Fifty-eight support of this devoted band of men young men and women are in attend- and women." ance upon colleges and universitics outside of the Sta.te. Dr. Harry Guinness is now in Peru visiting the stations which have come under their care. We expect to have more specific information in regard to .
the work at a future date.
EDITORIAL
IV.- EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
Among the most instructive matters gress of the powers, etc., were disin the history of the past year is the cust. The Jews who arranged the constory of the raising of the immense ference are termed Zionists, and aim to debt of the American Baptist Mission- set up a Jewish state in the Holy Land. ary Union. It was a story of all- The movement meets opposition from night prayer meetings, of dependence the German rabbis, who protest that on God, of diligent use of means, of dis- "the efforts of so-called Zionists to tribution of the burden so that the load create a Jewish national state in Paleswas equitably borne, and of singular tine are antagonistic to the Messisanic and remarkable answers to prayer and promises of Judaism as contained in honoring of faith. The narrative we Holy Writ and in later religious shall present to our readers next month. sources." The movement was started But meanwhile let it be noted that by Dr. Theodor Herzl, of Vienna, to it is a striking proof of the positions so acquire Palestine by purchase from repeatedly and urgently advocated in Turkey, with a view to establishing the these pages that the more we return to Jews in the Holy Land. About 200 the primitive simplicity of faith in a delegates were present, including reppresent and prayer-hearing God, the resentatives from Great Britain, France, sooner will missions be conducted with Austria, Russia and the Balkan States. a success and a power now unknown to Dr. Herzl warmly welcomed the assemus in our work for a perishing world. bled delegates, and Herr Nordau made an exhaustive report on the present Jewish Oonferenoes. position of the Jews, which was loudly applauded. Both addresses were or· The second annual conference con· dered to be printed, and Herren Birncerning Israel and Prophetic subjects baum and Farbstein then delivcred was held Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 and 2, in speeches on the foundation and devel. Chicago Ave. Church, Chicago, and opment of the Zionist program, which the program was very full and very evidently made a deep impression on interesting. Drs. James M. Gray, J. the congress. H. Sammis, P. S. Henson, R. A. Torrey, F. W. Snead, D. C. Marquiss, E. The American Bible Society has re- P. Marvin, A. S. J. McPherson, J. H. ceived recent letters from Peru which Barrows, H. M. Scott, W. J. Erdman, state that four of the men who have Mr. William R. Newell and Rabbi A. R. been most prominent in obstructing the Levy took part. The Jew is evidently circulation of Bibles and evangelical coming to the front in the increasing work in that country have died within interest manifested in the future of twelve months. They are the Bishop this strangely preserved people. of Arequipa, who, in 1889, observed Mr. Penzotti selling a New Testament Meanwhile the Zionists held a three in the street, and ordered a gendarme days' Jewish Congress at Basle, Switz- to arrest him and his colporteurs; La erland, beginning Aug. 29. The ob- Jana, who stopt the entry of Bibles at ject was to consider the needs and the custom-house in Callao, on the wishes of opprest Jews everywhere, and ground that he needed to consult the devise ways of aiding them. Jewish government respecting the legality of societies in all parts of Europe had rep- clearing such pUblications; Quinones, resentatives present who took part in who ordered the mission schools to be the conference. The social, economic, closed; and the padre Veza, the parish and political position' of Jews in all priest of Santa Rosa, who had been lands; colonization, agrarian conditions conspicuous in throwing obstructions and prospects; finances, the Jewish in the way of evangelical work. question, and the next diplomatic con- The American Bible Society an- tural grounding in fundamentals as is consistent with this, the primary object nounces that a large folio Bible in Eng- of our Circles."
lish has been specially prepared as a Among the training schools now happily multiplying, the Northwestern gift to the Emperor of Japan, and sent Bible Institute and Training School for Christian Workers began its ninth year to Yokohama. It will be formally on Tuesday, Oct 5, 1897. Pastor T. C. Horton is president, St. Paul, Uinn.•from presented at the first fitting opportunity whom all particulars may be learned. But from personal knowledge we can after the emperor's return to Tokyo in commend this school. Tuition is free, and no educational test required. the autumn. The gift will be made in A worthy appeal comes to us from the name of the American Bible Society, ~iorgan Park, Ill., for help in building a Home for Mi8sionaries' OMldren. A the British and Foreign Bible Society, few such homes have already been started in various parts of the country, and the National Bible Society of Scot- and have been maintained with markt success and blessing. One of the greatland, which are jointly concerned in the est trials of missionaries life is the separation from their children, that publ{cation and distribution of the they may obtain a good education at home. Frequently no satisfactory Japanese Scriptures. The two agents, provision can be made for them, and if they are old enough, they are Bent to a Rev. Henry Loomis and Ur. George boarding-school where little or no atten- tion is given to their spiritual develop- Braithwaite, of Yokohama, are to make ment. Morgan Park is to be under the supervision of the W orr.en's Baptist all the necessary arrangements, includ- Foreign Missionary Society of the West, and from $150 to $200 meets all exing the preparation of a suitable letter to penses for a child in this Christian Home. accompany the book. The preparation Mr. Edward A. Marshall (secretary) of this volume was suggested by the writes from Chicago, Ill., asking the prayers of the readers of the MISSIONfavorable reception which the Dowager ARY REVIEW for the Bible Institute in Chicago, and the work connected Empress of China gave in 1894, when a with it. He says: God has been Iichly blessing the Institute in the past months beautiful Chinese New Testament was and now an extension of its work is being planned. Three great evening given to her in the name of 10,000 Bible classes are to be organized on the three sides of the city, to include Protestant Christian women of China. Christians of all denominations, for the study of the simple Word of God. In W. E. S. Holland, MagdalenCollege, this great city of nearly two millions of people, there are thousands of Chris- Oxford, of the British College Christian tians who are longing for a deeper and more thorough knowledge of the Union, writes from London to say: blessed Word.
"The members of nearly all our We thank God for three thousand Christian Unions are now distributed students in these classes. We beseech into little bands of 5 or 6 members known as ' Bible Circles,' meeting weekly for systematic devotional Bible study. Each Circle chooses some subject for the term; its members make this their private devotional study during the week, and then meet for prayer and to compare notes-each one contributing the result of his own study, instead of one member addressing the rest. Our objects are the formation of the habit of, and the development of system in, private Bible stud,Y; the infecting of others with a passlOn for it; and the training of our members in its different methods. Most of our members are very elementary Bible students, and therefore, not unnaturally, have a tendency to develop exclusively along some one line of study. Accordingly we are endeavoring to assist them in the choice of subjects by drawing out a four years' cycle of topics for their use. Such a cycle would have as its first and great object the training of our members in the different and most fruitful methods of Bible study, and the giving them as thorough a Scripthe Lord's people to remember, in education and preparation of It ministry, their supplications, this work we are in accordance with the plans of the planning, that the Holy Ghost may be Synod; and in the support of parochial mightily poured out upon teacher and schools for the children of believers. students, and that God may be glorified iii a real Josiah revival of interest ill African Notes. the reading and study of the Bible. Rev. Donald Fraser writes from Eh- The teacher of the class, Mr. W. R. wendtmi, Angoniland, West Nyasa, Newell, the assistant superintendent of Brit. Cent. Africa, July 6: the Institute, especially craves a place in the prayers of our readers. that he " There has been a terdble mortality may.be peculiarly fitted by God's grac- among the Administration men. Six ious Spirit as he undertakes the direc- or seven out of their small number tion of the work. have died in the past two months. I fear that death has been hastened in Mission Schools in BraziL many cases by injudicious living. The missionaries are at present wonderfully The Synod of the Presbyterian free from death in their ranks." Church in Brazil was organized in September, 1888, and embraces all the Two of the oldest missionaries in Presbyterian churches in the Republic. Africa have recently died. One, the Within the last forty years the Presby- Rev. W. Ashton, went out fifty-four terian churches in the United States, years ago to be the colleague of Robmt Northern and Southern, establisht Moffa. at Kuruman. The other, Mrs. missions in Brazil, and the progress Dyke, of Basutoland, was 82 years old has been so rapid that by order of the when she died. She had been more two General Assemblies the missionar- than fifty years a missionary in South' ies and native ministers were erganized Africa. These both have seen the pio· into one independent Brazilian Synod. neer work of missions in the colony. The Mission Boards of the two Mother- They have passed through times of re- Churches establisht schools in Brazil as bellion, when they held their lives in in other mission fields. The results their hands, and Mrs. Dyhe, at least, after years of trial and great expendit- has seen one of the most notable triure are far from satisfactory. The umphs of missions, in the saving of the Synod at its meeting in S. Paulo, July, finest race in South Africa. 1897, after a full discussion, in the interests of unity and peace, in the inter- The native church at Burnshill, ests also of the Kingdom of Christ in South Kaffraria, has a membership of Brazil, adopted by a four·fifths vote 1,062, and more than 600 candidates for the following: baptism. Last year the Kaffirs them- selves contributed toward church pur- WhereaB, there is urgent need for poses no less than .£308. evangelization in the whole territory of our Synod and many fields are open A notorious sinner was recently conwhich we can not supply with the verted near Burnshill. All men marked means of grace; the change, for even his black face, branded with heathenism, became trans- Whereas, immense sums have been formed. To-day he is as zealous for spent on large schools of various kinds Christ and the winning of his brothers as a means for spreading the Gospel; as he was formerly for sin. When he prays, confessing the hardness of his Whereas, there has been an almost heart, he may sometimes be lulard to eomplete failure on the part of these in- cry" Lord, the footstool of Thy throne stitutions in Brazil, both as a means is dry." for propagating the faith and for pre· paring a Gospel ministry: The king of Uganda is now learning to read and write, taking lessons three lV1te1'eaB, they have been a cause of continued strife and bitterness and at times have deprived us of the full support and sympathy of our brethren ill North America; Be it re8olved .. that we, the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil, respectfully recommend and beg the General Assemblies of our Mother- Church!'s that any help they wish to give us be in the direction of aiding us in the great work of evangelization by the most direct methods, including the times a. week. It is good news that he last hours he was much troubled by now drinks milk almost entirely, and fears lest his work should be in vain. so has ceast to be a dmnkard. During the last eight months his subjects have His wife. to comfort him, undertook to bought 13,200 Bibles or parts of Bibles. have the translation printed. She When Bishop Tucker first went to Uganda there was but one church in drew out of the bank the sum of £100,' the nation; now there are three hun- the savings of her lifetime, and with it dred and twenty. Then there were but few native teachers, now there are had printed 500 copies of the book. Of over eight hundred. Twenty thousand course, since there was no one in the of the inhabitants can read the Bible. printer's office who knew the language, The following additional contribu- many mistakes were made. Mrs. Thomas gave away fifteen copies and tions to Pandita ~mabai fund are three were sold. The rest were stored hereby acknowledged: at Shiloh, her husband's mission station.
Rev. E. Griffith _____________ _ t 25.00 During the revolt the Matabeles stole Elizabeth Cochran __________ _ 10000 these copies and used them as head- J. H. Beck _________________ _ M. S. D ___________________ _ 10.00 gear. A friend of the Bible Society in 5.00 Natal heard of all this, obtained what For Armenian orphans: is probably the only remaining copy of Elizabeth Cochran___________ 100.00 the version, and sent it home. The E. Griffith ______________ . ___ 25.00 Bible Society agreed to purchase the In connection with one of the recent copyright, and propose to issue a tenta- tive editiop. of one of the Gospels, and donations, a letter was received which wil1 proceed with the revision of the has so valuable a lesson' in it, that we whole of the New Testament if compeprint it : tent scholars pronounce it to be advisa- ble. " Instead of joining a little party of my children, grandchildren and others Spiritual Guidance. in a trip to the mountains for health sake, which in my own case, through The Editor is so often appealed to the mercy of God, was not necessary, by those who are in need of definite and which cost about the amount enclosed, I preferred putting it into some direction on matters of duty, that he exceptional side issue of the Lord's feels constrained to give here, somework, and enclose draft. My apology what at length, a quotation from "C. to you for asking you to take this trou- H. M.'s" notes on Deuteronomy, coverble is that I don't know the addresses ing, with admirable spiritual insight, of the parties in view, and I may add that you are in a measure yourself res- the matter of guidance in spiritual ponsible, for it was through reading the September issue of MISSIONARY RE- things. He says: VIEW OF THE WORLD that my attention •• Nothing can be more precious to a was just now called to India and Armenia." child of God, if only the heart be in a right condition, than to be guided, in A pathetic story attaches to a Gospel all his movements, by the Divine comnow publisht in Matabele by the British mand. It saves a world of anxiety and Foreign Bible Society, says the and perplexity. In Israel's case, called Ghurch Missionary InteUigencer, of Lon- as they were to journey through a don. Mr. Thomas, who had once been great and terrible wilderness, where connected with the London Missionary there was no way, it was an unspeaka- Society, and was working in Matabele- ble mercy to have their every step, their land; made a translation of the New every halting place ordered by an in- Testament, which he completed the fallible Guide. Jehovah settled al1 for day on which he was attackt by an them. It was for them simply to wait illness of which he died. During his on Him for guidance and to do what they were told.
"Now, we Christians have to learn our lesson in aU this-a wholesome, needed, valuable lesson. It is our sweet privilege to have our path markt out for us, day by day, by divine authoritY'. God has promist to guide We should never move in uncertainty. us, and His promise is yea and amen. It often happens that we harrass our- We can not admit for a moment that selves about moving or acting when Israel in the desert were better off in God would have us to be still and do the matter of guidance than God's nothing. We go and ask God about heavenly people in their passage it, but get no answer; we betake our- through this world. Yea, we are better selves to friends for advice and counsel, off by far than they. We have the but they can not help us; for it is Word and Spirit of God to guide us. entirely a question between our own To us pertains the high and holy souls and the Lord. Thus we are privilege of walking in the footsteps plunged in doubt and anxiety, and of the Son of God. Is not this per- why? Simply because the eye is not feet guidance ? Hear what our adorable single, we are not following Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ saith to us: 'I am , the light of the world.' the light of the world; he that fol- loweth me shall not walk· in darkness, " We deem ourselves perfectly war- ranted in concluding that the One who but shall have the light of life.' He guided His earthly people in all their has left us ' an example that we should desert wanderings can, and will guide follow in his steps.' How did Jesus His heavenly people now, in all their walk? Always and only by the com- movements and in all their ways. Bnt, mandment of His Father. Without it on the other hand, let us see to it that He never acted, moved, or spoke. we are not bent on doing our own will, having our own way, and carrying out "Now, we are called to follow Him, our own plans. 'Be ye not as the horse and in so doing we have the assurance or as the mule, which have no under- of His own Word that we shall not standing, whose mouth must be held in walk in darkness, but shall have the with bit an,d bridle, lest they come near unto thee.' Be it our one grand aim to light of life! Precious words! ' The walk in the footsteps of that blessed light of life.' Who can sound their One who pleased not Himself, but ever living depths? Who can duly esti- moved in the current of the divine will, mate their worth? 'The darkness is never acted without divine authority; past, and the true light now shineth,' who, tho Himself God over all, blessed and it is for us to walk in the full forever, yet, having taken His place as blaze of the light that shines along the a man on the earth, surrendered compathway of the Son of God. Is there pletely His own will, and found His any uncertainty, any perplexity, any meat and His drink in doing the ground for hesitation here? Clearly will of His Father. Thus shall our not. How could there be, if we are fol- hearts and minds be kept in perfect lowing Him? It is utterly impossible peace, and we shall be enabled to move to combine the two ideas. on, from day to day, with firm and de- cided step, along the path indicated for "It is not by any means a question us by our divine and ever-present of having a literal text of Scripture for Guide, who not only knows, as God, every movement or every act. For every step of the way, but who, as example, I can not expect to get a text man, has trodden it before us, and left of Scripture, or a voice from heaven, us an example that we should follow to tell me to go to London or Edin- His steps. May we follow Him more burgh, or how long I am to stay when faithfully in all things, through the I go. How, then, it may be askt, am gracious ministry of the Holy Ghost, I to know where I ought to go, or how who dwelleth in uSi" long I am to stay? The answer is, wait on God, in singleness of eye and Missionary Methods of the Papacy, sincerity of heart, and He will make your path as plain as a sunbeam. This At present, when critics of a certain IS what Jesus did. 'I will guide thee type are disposed to extol Roman with mine eye,' is a most precious Catholic missions at the expense of promise; but, in order to profit by it, Protestantism, it is important that the we must be near enough to Him to characteristic methods of Rome should catch the movement of His eye, and in- be understood. Broadly speaking, the tactics of her agents are the same in all timate enough with Him to understand parts of the world. When a Protestant its meaning. mission shows signs of success, Rome immedIatelventers the same field, pours " Thus it is in all the details of our her workers into the district, and shows daily life. It would answer a thousand no hesitation in taking every advantage questions, and solve a thousand difficulties, if we did but wait for Divine guidance, and never attempt to move without it. If I have not gotten light to move, it is my plain duty to be still. she possibly can. An English mission forever; and thus'let their candle be had been settled at Uganda for more extinguisht in the presence of God at than two years before the first of the the day of judgment. Let their burial French priests appeared there, and it be with dogs and asses. Let hungry would not be too much to say that their wolves devour their corpses. Let the presence not only stirred up internal devil and his angels be their compan- strife among the natives, but seriously ions forever. Amen, amen; so be it; retarded the progress of Christianity. so let it be." . In China the experience has been the same. The Church Missionary Society Bishop P. F. Stevens, of the Re- states that the successful work in the Hok-Chiang district attracted the atten- formecI Episcopal Church, writes from tion of Rome, and that the priests sent there are seeking out the new converts, Orangeburg, S. C., May 20, 1897, to and attempting to win them over before they have made any effort to approach the editor: the heathen. What is going on in Africa and in China is being repeated Though not a missionary in foreign in India. The Romish emissaries are lands I would like to Bay a word tampering with the native Christians, indorsing the views exprest in your and by relaxt standards of discipline, May number, concerning the reception and by open and unblushing bribery, of polygamQU8 con'Vertll into the Church are endeavoring to draw them away in heathen lands. My study of the from their :first teachers and their earlier question long since convinced me that faith. Such methods are perfectly con- the polygamous relations tolerated sistent with the system and the princi- under the Mosaic dispensation were in ples of Rome, but too many people, no way interfered with in the early who, because they are more ignorant Church, and were condemned no fur- assume that they are more liberal than ther than as in 1 Tim. 3 : 2, to be de- those around them, fail to understand clared a bar to the ministry. I have, this. A little more knowledge would therefore, always thought it unauthordo much to correct illusory impressions ized, unwise, and even wrong for and false judgmemts.-Sundall Maga- missionaries to force the polygamous zine. husband to put away all but one of his wives. Unauthorized and unwise, be- The following is one of the author- cause beyond and wiser than what is written. Wrong, because conflicting ized curses publisht in the Romish with and overriding the fundamental principle of marriage, that the husband Pontific al to be pronounced on heretics and wife are one flesh. This physio- logical fact, so often alluded to in Scrip- by Romish priests: ture, lies at the foundation of the Scriptural laws concerning marriage. .. May God Almighty and all his The fact asserted by Adam concerning saints curse them with the curse with Eve. "This is now bone of my bone which the devil and his angels are and flesh of my flesh." may be as truthcurst. Let them be destroyed out of fully affirmed by every man concerning the land of the living. Let the vilest his wife. The woman becomes one of deaths come upon them, and let flesh with the man, not the man with them descend alive into the pit. Let the woman. This fact is recognized their seed be destroyed from the earth; by the wife's taking the name of her by hunger and thirst. and nakedness, husband, the husband never taking and all distress. Let them perish. that of the wife. This fact is the May they have all misery and pesti- foundation for the toleration of the lence, and torment. Let all they have polygamy at all, and for its being be curst. Always and eVCl'Ywhere let confined to the husband. Each wife them be curst. Speaking and silent let is completely one with her husband, them be curst. Within and without and that unity is in no wise marred or let them be curst. By land and by sea lessened by the union of others with let them be curst. From the crown of the common husband. Not so in the their head to the sole of their foot let case of polyandry: the wife in her them be curst. Let their eyes become union with more than one would be blind, let their ears become deaf, let one with neither, but would be in her their mouth become dumb, let their ownself a mixed flesh, which is "contongue cleave to their jaws, let not fusion" condemned by God. This their hands handle, let not their feet being the case, how can the missionary, walk. Let all the members of the or even the husband himself, undertake body be curst. Cursed let them be to decide which wife is the real wife, standing, lying, from this time forth and which ones are not wives? How can this self constituted judge assume TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF MISSIONARY the authority to condemn the put away WORK IN CmNA. By Grace Stott. wives to life-long widowhood under American 'rract Society, N. Y. unjust reproach, or to force her into the commission of adultery and the entrap- $1. 75 ping of a man into the same crime by CHRONICLES OF UGANDA. R. P. Ashe. a new marriage, her true husband being still alive? A. D. F. Randolph & Co., New Leaving this subject, let me go a little York. $1.50. further. This physiological fact ofthe CREATION CENTERED IN GOD. By one flesh so generally over-looked settles other questions concerning mar- H. Gratton Guinness. Hodder & riage relation; the Scripture forbids a Stoughton, London. man to marry his brother's widow (ex- CHINA AND FORMOSA. Rev. James cept in the now obsolete case involving Johnston. $1.25. Fleming H. landed inheritance of the Jew in Pales- Revell, New York, and Hazell tine). The reason seems plain, the Watson, and Viney, London. widow is his dead brother's flesh and he may not marry his own brother's flesh MISSIONARY PIONEERS IN INDIA. John without incest. Rutherford. Andrew Elliot, Edin- burgh. The Scripture says nothing to forbid the marriage of a man with his deceased EYEGA'l'E OR NATIVE ART IN THE wife's sister, the reason is plain, the EVANGELIZATION OF CHINA. Wm. dead wife was his flesh, he was not and Wilson. 1:1. W. Partridge & Co., is not her flesh. Therefore there is no London. more relation between the man and his wife's sister than there was between FROM SUNRISE LAND. AmY' Wilson himself and the wife before he married Carmichael. Marshall Brothers, her. This same physiological fact is London. the reason why the husband has always been allowed to divorce the faithless EEN Y AAR OP REIS IN DIENST DER wife, while faithlessness on his part was ZENDIG (An account of Mission never scripturally a ground for the wife work in Java). Fe Lion Cachet, to separate from her husband. If our Amsterdam. court would remember and maintain this difference in regard to the ground DICTIONARY OF TREATMENT. William of divorce, many scandalous trials and Whitla, M.D. Henry Renshaw, equally scandalous and immoral di- London, Eng. vorces would be avoided in our country. WILLIAM AND LOUISA ANDERSON.- The spirit of Christianity has estab- A record of their life and work in lisht the fact that monogamy is the Jamaica and Old Calabar. By Wilwiser, purer, and higher rule of life and liam Warwick. Andrew Elliot, the law of Christian lands in accordance Edinburgh. with this fact has rendered polygamy equally with arlultery a crime. LETTERS FROM CEYLON. Fannie Greg- son. Marshall Brothers, London. Punish therefore faithlessness on the part of the husband as heavily as you STRATEGIC POINTS IN THE WORLD'S please, but since it does not affect the CONQUEST. John R. Mott. Flemunion between himself and his wife, ing H. Revell Co., New York. except sentimentally, it is de facto no $1.00. legal or scriptural ground for the wife to claim a divorce. SEVEN YEARS IN SIERRA LEONE. Ar- thur T. Pierson, D.D. The Same. This may seem contrary to the spirit $1.00. of the age which in so many respects is putting woman upon an equal footing FRIDTJOF NANSEN. J. Arthur Baln. with man, but God's physiological facts The Same. 75c. must in this life at least preclude the absolule equality of man and woman RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE. Sir. Wilin every regard and particular. liam Dawson. The Same. Si1.00. Books Received. EVEN so, COME. The late John Mac- FOREIGN MIS~IONS AND SOCIAL PROG- Neil. The Same. 50c. RESS. Volume I. Rev. James S. Dennis, D.D. Fleming H. Re- YET SPEAKING. Addresses by the late vell Co., New York. $2.50. (Il- A. G. Gordon. The Same. 25c. lustrated. ) A HOJ.Y LIFE. Rev. George H. C. Magregor, M A. The Same. 25c.
CHOSEN OF GOD.-By Rev. Herbert W. Lathe. The Same. A CASTAWAY and other addresses.
By Rev. ]'. B. Meyer. The Same. 15 and 30 cents. THE STORY OF KESWICK.-By Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. Marshall Broth- ers, I,ondon.
HANDBOOK OF MISSIONS. A: McLean, Bethany Reading Course, Commit· tee, Cleveland, Ohio. 50c.
GENERAL MISBIONARYINTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D., OBERLIN, omo.
Extraots and Translations From Foreign referring them to my goats and to the Periodioals. cows of the station, which need to be tended. But the beautiful parable still BY REV. c; c. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, remains strange to the people. It does MASS. not correspond to their conceptions."
NEW GmNEA. UNITAS FRATRUM.
-Herr Hoffmann, of the Rhenish -The brethren are proposing to Mission in New Guinea, says: "It is a establish a new station on Makk6vik serious difficulty for our preaching that Bay, Labrador, the very place where, in the Papua languages which we have in 1752, Eberhardt, the pioneer of the studied, so many words are lacking, of Labrador Mission, was murdered by which a Christian sermon has need. heathen Eskimo. The bay is pronounced We seek in vain for words for the the best anchoring place in Labrador, most elementary religious conceptions, and as it lies in the midst of the white such as God, sin, grace, kingdom of and half-breed" settlers," and right in God. The Papua, who has a name the route of the thousands of New- for every plant, for every least creature, foundland schooners, it is peculiarly knows scarcely any abstract words. eligible for this side of the work. In his thinking he is very concrete. It requires time and a great deal of prac- -The apprehensions felt for the tice, before one has learned to think l'lfission at Bluefields, when the little in such a way as the Papua does, Protestant Mosquito State was taken and then to express one's self accord- possession' of by Spanish and Catholic ingly.' I have repeatedly wisht to Nicaragua, have thus far not been fully translate the Lord's Prayer, but thus verified. Nicaragua has in the main far have been able to bring to pass no fairly kept her promise to allow full translation that even half way satisfies religious liberty. Indeed, it is secularme. For words like kingdom, glory, ism rather than Catholicism which seems debt, trespass, temptation, I have thus to determine the present policy of the far found no term that even approxi- government. Thus the public subsidy mately reproduces the sense of these has been withdrawn from the brethren's expressions, and paraphrases would schools, because religious instruction make the divine prayer something is given in them. Taxes, it is true, are different from what it is. Inspector now much higher, which makes the Schneider has referred us to the images mission more costly. and parables of Holy Writ as peculiarly adapted to rudimentary preaching. But – " As a subordinate part of the good in trying this we encounter great diffi- offices of our Labrador missionaries to culties. Out of all the parables, let us their people," says the Missions Blatt, take the beautiful ones of the Sower " we may mention something, not diffiand the Good Shepherd. Our people cult, indeed, but taking time, someknow no sower, and have no seed which thing that can hardly be required in they strew on the land. Their field many regions of the earth. It is to fruits, taro and yams, are tubers, which help the Eskimo in the choice of family are simply stuck in the ground. Even names. Hitherto it has only been perso they know no shepherd, no flock, no sonal names that were in question. If sheep. I have hied to help my~elf by two men of the same name were to be distinguisht, the names of their respec·
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
tive wives would be added in the mission station of Mupoore, I can genitive. They commonly, however, bear witness, with great pleasure, that devise these new family names of their this mission is, in my opinion, a perfect own motion, and in doing so render an success; a proof of What sound comattractive testimony of their good, mon sense, courage, and good will can earnest temper and Christian feeling accomplish with savages. It was quite and way of thinking. For instance, a new experience for me when I comone now proudly bears the name of pared this station with others. 'Green,' in the hope that, as in spring ThlOl results obtained here exceed all the yonng green sprouts out of the my experience among the Aborigines branches, so also out of his former life during more than thirty years. I a new acceptable life may grow forth. recommend that the government should Another chooses for himsclf and his supply the station with a good boat and children the name of a bird, in order to with 400 woolen blankets yearly. I am be admonisht thereby, ever, like these glad to have had the privilege of seeing feathered songsters, to trust God in a station which is conducted in so exjoyous unanxiousness, thinking, doubt- cellent a manner."-A. M. Z., quoted less, of Mathew 6 : 26. in 11w Chronicle.
"Yet it is questionable whether -When Nicaragua took possession many coming generations will bear of the Mosquiio coast, she promist the these beautiful names. Every year the brethren fnll liberty and equal favor little Eskimo people is lessening in for their mission. It was not to be number, hastened in the decline by expected, however, that Spaniards, any wasting sickness. To all appearance more than Frenchmen. would keep we can compute the time when it will such a covenant. Even the liberals, be wholly vanisht from the earth, for tho atheists, are still Catholics, and the old are dying off, and the children their langnage and way of thinking are are seldom vigorous enough for long still Spanish. They, therefore, view life. Within three years many little Protestantism and Teutonism with disones have come into the world in Hope- like. Besides, they complain that the dale, but just three of them are living. Moravian labors do too much work for Commonly they fail soon after birth the enlightenment and moral elevation before some seemingly slight indisposi- of the Indians. We know how bitterly tion. On the other hand, among the Zola has complained of Protestantism scattered Eskimo, as also among the in his country, as cultivating a German English and Eskimo half-breeds, the and English habit of speaking the so-called settlers, there is a steady truth, which he regards as something growth of the population. Our brethren very disgraceful for Frenchmen. The are minded to go on in faithful work, Nicaraguan €;overnment takes the altho they are now in part in the care same view. Accordingly it has sent of the father or mother, who is called three Spanish priests to institute an to close the eyes of their hopelessly active counter mission. The Nicaradeclining child. Yet the work among guan authorities, however, will hardly the seekers is broadening out more and go so far as to shoot the Protestants, as more." the French are doing in Madagascar.
-Police Inspector Fitzgerald, for- The priests criticize the mission merly an enemy of missions, reports somewhat severely, but declare that it thus to his superior upon the work of has greatly raised the moral stande.rd the Herrnhut missionaries at Mupoore, of the people. on the east side of the Gulf of Carpentaria: "As the results of personal ob- MISCELLANEOUS. servation of the management of the -" What do we owe the sailor? Owe him for our civilization, owe him
GENERAL :MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
for a thousand of the comforts and we have been pe~istently setting forth, adornments that enrich our homes, and now the Primate of all England owe him for our pleasures, owe him himself comes forward to endorse the for many things that have come to be statement. " almost necessities of our existence, owe him for commercial prosperity, owe -The adult baptism in the C. M. him for our intercourse with other peo- missions for 1896·7 have been 7,700 ples, owe him for the stimulus which more than ever before. 8,751 were in his daring and endurance impart to the Uganda. manifold activities of great populations, owe him for his venture, his patience, -" Provost Vahl calculates that from his bravery, his skill in the navigation 1845 to 1890 the number of male mis· of the sea? What do we owe the sailor? sionaries has been multiplied three or Who can tell? For one, I can not, nor four times, while that of women miswill I try. It is a great debt!-a debt sionaries has been multiplied about 26 we can only pay by securing to him, as times."-Journal des Missions (Chronmuch as in us lies, the best thing in all icle). the world, the Gospel of the grace of God, with its pardon for sin, its restraint -The Ohurch Miasiona'l'1/ InteUigencer in temptation, its joys, its consolations, for July gives a detailed account of the its incentives to duty, its strength in gradual extension of the Anglican life, its peace in death, and the assur- Episcopate into the world at large. ance of an abiding place in that dear, Every ecclesiastical system works most dear country where, having for the effectively when it works on its own last time stepped ashore, the wanderer lines, and an Episcopal Church, like of the trackless deep shall find a home Methodist or Anglican, is most likely forever, for of that land it is written, to do SUbstantial missionary work under 'and there was no more sea!' "-Rev. Episcopal supervision. The first ex- T. SABINE, in &ilor's Magazine. tension was not strictly missionary; it was the communication of the Anglican -The Mis8ionsblattfur Kinder gives Episcopate to this country. Before the two answers of African school·classes, revolution this was much dreaded that are certainly as perfectly African here. Even churchmen were dubious as anything could be. 1. What does about it, and Puritans first could think this mean: In the sweat of thy face of nothing but land and power. With shalt thou eat bread? Answer: You independence, this fear fell, but the must eat till you sweat. 2. For what fear of offending the new republic, says were the eyelids given? Answer (un- the Intelligencer, for some time reanimous): For sleeping. strained parliament from permitting the English bishops to act. Professor Nip- – " The lesson of the missionary is poId's assumption of spiteful intrigues the enchanter's wand." -CHARLES of the king against it appears unwar· DARWIN, (quoted in C. M. I.). ranted. They would have been unin- telligible in so devout a churchman -The InteUigencer,speaking of Arch- after the peace. Nippold's description bishop Temple's address at the annual of the American succession as arising meeting of the Church Missionary So- from the non.juring Scotch is aDother ciety, remarks: "We may safely say mistake. Seabury was only received in that in the whole history of the Church New England. Parliament gave way no archbishop has ever spoken before at last, and on February 4th, 1787, as Archbishop Temple spoke that William White, of Pennsylvania, and morning. 'The very purpose,' he Samuel Provoost, of New York, were said, 'for which the Church exists is consecrated in Lambeth Chapel. In the evangelization of the world.' That 1790 Madison, of Virginia (cousin of is the great truth which of late years James Madison), was also consecrated at Lambeth, thus giving the canonical with double force, that no agency has number for American consecrations. benefited India so much as the Chris- So far is SeaJ:mry, as Nippold imagines, tian missionary societies. They have from being the root of the American been successful where the Indian Gov- Episcopate, that he was not admitted ernment has failed." by White and Provoost to concur in a consecration until Madison's ordination "Miss Stratton, of Muttree, North rendered his participation otiose. The India, refers in her annual letter to a American succession is not Scottish and •purdah' lady who comes to church, Jacobite, but English and Hanoverian. where she sits in purdalt [seclusion] The first colonial bishop was consecrated behind a curtain. She is beginning to the same year; the first Indian bishop read the Bible for herself, and knows in 1812; in 1841 the noble and lovable Christian bhajana [lyrics]. She takes Selwyn became first bishop of New her bhajan book to the houses of her Zealand. After these long hesitations friends and sings with them; so the and delays, the English Episcopate, Gospel is sung in high caste houses, to colonial and missionary, has spread which, at present, the missionaries have rapidly throughout the world. The no entrance, through her instrumentalhasty attempt of Rome-or rather of ity. She came to church on Good Cardinal Vaughan-to pooh it down, Friday and said, •I thought I ought to has about as much effect as the wind. come to-day, for-who knows ?-per- haps in one year, or in two, He may An adherent of the Arya Samaj, have come again."'-O. M. Glearwr. quoted in the annual report of the C. M. S. for 1895–6, writes: " Whatever The E'lJening Post says that the six or differences in some theological doctrines seven millions of dollars spent last year and dogmas might exist between Chris- by the English for foreign missions tianity and the Arya Samaj, the en- have not made very many converts, lightened Hinduism, it would be the but might have saved a million Hindu meanest ingratitude if I, in common lives. What an unworthy jibe! The with my countrymen, did not feel E'lJening Post knows perfectly well that grateful, in the fullest possible way, to part of this money is apent immediately the Christian missionary societies for on extensive and deeply rooted and the good they have done to Il!dia. steadily extending institutions, ecclesi. These Christian missionaries have been astical, educational, and humanitarian. the pioneers in India of every reform, These are the centres and supports of whether it be religious, social, or moral. the more direct evangelizing agencies. Without the aid of the Christian mis- Imagine a sudden collap!le of the gifts sionary societies the Indian Govern- that sustain them, and they would sink ment could never have been able to do into almost hopeless ruin, while the even a tenth part of what has been money thus suddenly withdrawn would done for India. It was pious Chris- assuredly not go to any other great tian missionaries like Drs. Duff, Wil- end of good, That is not the way in son and Foreman, whom the Indians up whic~ human activities or human instito this time revere most respectfully, tutions work. But hatred of the Gospel who first establisht colleges for the ed- of Christ will always find opportunity ucation of the Indians. It was the for a jeer. pious Christian missionaries who first opened female schools, medical hos- English obligations to Hindu lives are pitals, shelter for the Hindu widows, national. It will undoubtedly be found who are so much maltreated by Hindu that those who are most interested for society. Though myself a staunch Hindu missions are most liberal for the Mya Samajist by religion, yet I say, saving of Hindu lives. But so long as the English, inside and outside the churches, have an infinity of luxuries
ENGLISH NOTES
from which to retrench, it hardly seems shown more especially in the developneedful to begin to show their benevo- ment of the young people's guilds. lence by laying all their missionary establishments from Japan to Fiji in Ohina'8 MiUiona_-That there is a hopeless dilapidation. Christly power in true humanity is as distinctly traceable to-day as in the English Notes. days of the Son of Man, and is as patent in China as in Western lands. On this BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A. subject the medical testimony of Dr. Dou,fuwaite, of Chefoo, is most decided. Wesleyan Mi8sionary &czety_-The In an article, just publisht, he says: annual report of the Wesleyan Mission- ,'No matter how hostile a man may be ary Society gives the following sum- to us when he enters the hospital, I mary of its present position in Europe, never have known a case in which we India, China, West Africa, the Trans- failed to make a friend of him." Acvaal, etc.: Church members, 44,573; cording to Dr. Douthwaite, medical principal stations, 330: missionaries and mission work draws people from remote assistants, 370: other paid agents, 2,859: parts, villages, hamlets, and farmsteads, day and Sunday scholars, 88,542. It is and brings them where they can hear interesting to note that the church the Gospel, alleviating prejudice, and membership in Sierra Leone, Lagos, turning foes into friends. Several inand the Gold Coast reaches the high stances are given, illustrative of the figure of 16,945. The increase in con- effect of mission medical work upon tributions from all sources amounts to the military since the recent war. One £2,698. The committee desiderate a of these we now subjoin. "The most Det income of at least £100,000. touching exhibition of gratitude, ,. says Church of &otland.-The Foreign i Dr. D., "that I have ever seen in China Mission of this church tells of revived interest and enlarged liberality. The was when, some eleven weeks ago, past year's income (£45,879) shows a was leaving Chefoo with my family. substantial increase on the previous The general in command and his ofyear. As the fruit of the mission there ficers came with a regiment of soldiers, are now 7,922 baptized persons, while and the men lined up before the hosthe force in the field comprises 38 male pital, and in front of my house on the missionaries, plus 21 wives and 53 other road. When I went out to them they ladies. dropt on their knees, and there they stayed while one of their number spoke An admirable work, that deserves to to me: and I gave them an address in rank as a missionary classic, descriptive return. After this, one can not say that oithe society's work in the Eastern Him- the Chinese are not grateful for what is alayas, has recently been publisht by done for them." R. T. R. Clark, of Edinburgh, entitled "On the Threshold of Three Closed By way of showing the scope of the Lands." The outpost there resembles work, it may be mentioned that during a wedge, the thin edge touching Thibet last year the attendance at Dr. Douthand the two sides skirting Nepal and waite's dispensary was close upon 24,- Bhutan. As an evangelical assailant 000, all of whom heard the Gospel, of these three lands, "the Church of carrying away some knowledge of the Scotland. through her Eastern Hima- love of God: and that, in addition to layan mission, occupies a unique posi- these, there were over 200 in"patients, tion of vantage and of privilege." It not a few of whom, before leaving, ought to be said that Kalimpong and confest their faith in Christ. its mission have greatly gained of late years from the prayerful interest of the Olturch Mis8ionary &ciety.-From ;yelltA of thi Ckurcla of Scotland, aj the "Pastoral Letter" of Bishop Ev- ington, addrest to tll' alllri]' of the
&ENElUL MISSIONARY INTELLIft'ENCE
Japan Church, we gather that there that has accrued: "There are now 489 has been, for several years, an ebb in members, 212 women and 277 men, in the tide of affairs, and that many a san- good standing as communicants." guine hope has become sobered down Speaking of the quality of the fruit, in consequence. The wide spread of Mr. Rees says: "We can not prove unorthodox Christianity seems to be that all are real converts, neither can one of the main causes of this, leading we disprove the sincerity of any. . . to many and notable secessions. In the I can, however, say that scores have a bishop's view, the fight with the spirit deep, inward vitality and heart excelof error and the world, is as fierce as lence, a steadfastness in witnessing for ever. Notwithstanding large additions, Christ before men, a liberality in bringthe returns bespeak shrinkage rather ing gifts to the feet of Jesus, a cheerful than growth. As an offset to the above, forbearance in the face of bitterest per- Miss Hamilton's special work amongst secution, and a purifying influence in the police force of Osaka has been at- the homes, traits which cheer the hearts tended with encouraging results. Fifty of the lonely workers, and whtch of the men are under instruction, and strengthen their faith in the ultimate eight have decided publicly for Christ. triumph of redeeming love."
(}eywn.-In connection with the Mailagascar.-An appreciative notice Tamil CoolV Mission, 1,000 tea and of the monumental work in Madagascoffee estates on the island are regularly car, of Rev. W. E. Cousins, appears in visited. This number represents two- the Chronicle. Through him, under .thirds of the whole. There are now God, the Malagasy have now an idiom- 2,749 Tamil Christians connected with atic and accurate translation of the the mission. Scriptures; and, did nothing else exist, that work alone would render his name Santalpur.-The Christian colony at immortal in the annals of Malagasy Santalpur, on the borders of Assam, literature. How greatly he feels the has been severely tested by the recent altered relation of the London Missionterritlc earthquakes. For more than a ary Society's agents to the converts can week the shocks were incessant, and be better imagined than told; but, in the earth threatened to engulf them. common with his brethren, his counsel .But the severity of faith's trial conduced is to stand by the tlocks and shepherd to its strengthening in not a few. Mr. them to the uttermost, despite the gath- Meerum says, .. Many of the 700 Chris- ering gloom and danger! tians who have emigrated to the colouy are, indeed, letting their light shine be- THE KINGDOM. fore the heathen. They support an agent for preaching to the surrounding -I will tell a decree; tribes." One effect of the earthquakes Jehovah said unto me, My son art was to bring large numbers of the thou; . heathen to the missionary quarters, partly for safety, and also that they I have begotten thee this day. might hear about the better hope. Ask from me and I will give thee London Missionary &ciety. – The Rev. W. H. Rees supplies a descriptive the nation as thine inheritance, acconnt of the work in North China that is under his superintendence. The And as thy possession, the ends of district is Chi Chou, and means the care of thirteen churches, scattered over the earth. a radius of 4lJ miles by 25 miles. The following summary tells of the fruit -Here is a gift which we can only class with that of the alabaster box broken upon the head of Christ. A widowed mother, after serving thirty- seven years as a. missionary among the Zulus, sends a thank-offering of $300 "for the privilege of having another son appointed to the mission field."
The odor of this precious gift may well fill every church in America connected Chinese books for more than 40 years, with our missionary work.-Mi88ionary and any general requirement to love Herald. God; or the mention of anyone loving Him, has yet to come for the first time -" Hadji," in a series of articles en· under my eye." titled, "As Seen Through American Eyes." speaking of the low wages paid -Beware of heroics. I do not say to natives, asserts that an American that you are not to feel enthusiasm. far burns up the day's wages of a China- from it. Enthusiasm recognizes the man every time he lights a cigar, while greatness of the command. It recoghis bill for shaving alone for the year nizes the need, it recognizes the glory would more than support 2 Christian of the message. About all these school-teachers during that time; and things we can be as enthusiastic as adds: "We have not touched the sub- we please. But there Is a danger ject of giving yet j and one reason is that lest we should color missionary work we do not know what good the little Wll with too rosy a tint. This may lead us haoo to give may do." to make a false estimate of the work. Missionary work does cost something; -Bishop Royston, of the Church of there is risk sometimes, there is separa- England, affirms that the whole Eng- tion, there are a good many things that lish Church gives to foreign missions are disagreeable. But soldiers, sailors, not more than one-tenth of what it merchants, orchid·hunterB, butterfly colspends on voluntary efforts for work at lectors, bear equal risks. A missionary home, and that it does not send out who goes to work in an unhealthy dismore than one in 5,000 of its communi- trict is commiserated and belauded by cants, and hardly more than one in 40 his friends and admirers at home: a of its clergy. civilian who goes perhaps to the very same place is congratulated and coveted, -It is a foretaste of blessed things to if the " billet" be a good one. As a come that 3 of the most wealthy leaders trained soldier is valuable. so is a of female society have abandoned the trained missionary. And therefore it fashionable circles of the city, to de- is that it is his duty to take care of vote themselves and their millions to himself. I do not say that he is to be the lifting up the less favored and luxurious or fastidious, but he has no privileged. It is not surprising that right to throw his life away by carelesstheir husbands and male relatives ob- ness, by undue rashness, or by living in jected and remonstrated at first, nor a way in which no European can live that they have all been converted and in an enervating fever-stricken climate. followed suit, the husband of one of If the call comes, then he may and will them now preaching in the chapel risk his life freely and without hesitaerected by his wife's munificence. tion, but to risk it gratuitously is, to use Talleyrand's expression; not only a -Jesuit obedience is well shown by crime, but a blunder.-Bishop Selwyn. the following. A young man from America was admitted to an audience -This advice Dr. Blodgett is accuswith the aged General of the Order in tomed to give tlJ newcomers to the Rome. Before him was a map of Africa. mission field: "Get a note-book. Put Pointing to a spot in the map he said, down in it all your first impressions. " Twenty of our missionaries were Note carefully every mistake you think killed there last March. We must you see, every improvement you think send others soon." "But will they you could make, but say nothing about go?" "Go, my child? Why, I shall it to anybody. Do this for five years. send them." Then go over your note-book, and whatever you still wish to change or -Dr. Legge, the eminent Chinese scholar, says: "I have been reading think you can better it will be well to Asiatic traveling, that I think that if suggest to your brethren." If God the nations of the East are to be evangave speech without wisdom, it would gelized, it must be by the 'means of be a most dangerous gift. But as on native agents. Hence the training of our entrance into the world we do not native agents for native work is one of learn to speak until we have learned the first and most important duties of something of life, and begin to have the missionary. And should the work something to say, so, on the entrance of training be blest, and the supply of to mission work, speech is wisely de- candidates for that training be increast, layed until one has become in some possibly the day may come when the degree Orientalized. The language chief work of the European missionary caught from the lips of his munshi or will be the training and superintending pundit, and of the people on the of native agents, who can carry the streets, becomes the avenue by which Gospel of Jesus Christ in a very differhe penetrates to their inner life, for- ent way to their own people from even bidden ground to all who do not enter the best foreign Inissionary."-Mr8. by that gate. As he speaks their words, Bishop. he learns to think their thoughts, feel their feelings, adopt their customs, -According to Rev. A. J. Diaz, the until in some way he sympathizes with Cuban apostle, what queer saints they them. Then he can work among them. must have down in that island? He Dr. Goodell wrote: "It appears to me says: "The people are of a peculiarly that if a missionary should do nothing jealous nature. If one of them is for the first three years but simply mix selected to perform a duty, they think with the people and learn how weak he is in better favor than the rest, and and ignorant and foolish and prejudiced are accordingly much hurt. This was they really are, it would be an acquisi- the difficulty which confronted me tion worth a million times more to him when I found it necessary for me to than that of all the languages spoken select the seven deacons to aid in carryin the Ottoman Empire."-.Re'V. E. A. ing on the church. I studied the Lawrence. problem over for some time, and at last hit upon a plan which I thought -"Year by year the conviction would work satisfactorily. One evengrows upon me that the slow progress ing, at the close of the services, I anof missions in what is called the nounced that the next Sunday we heathen world, is unnecessary. In the would select the deacons, and that the first place, not many expect to suc- sermon would be on the duties of the ceed, and it goes without saying that deacons. That Sunday every member the average man who expects a low was present, and the church was measure of success, will not be in ad- crowded. I told them that it was the vance of his expectations. In the duty of the deacons, when they were next place, no provision was made for notified of a case of smallpox, to go success, and when it appears, it is apt immediately and attend t() it; the same to become an embarrassment. Our if it were a case of cholera, or in any first success in Singapore was greeted epidemic, they must be the first to be by a determined effort to discard the present and offer aid and the last to mission on the ground that it would come away; that they were to have become extended and entail too heavy their Testaments with them always, responsibility on the missionary so- and were to make a conversion whenciety."-Bis/wp Tlwburn ever the opportunity presented itself After presenting the case in as serious ,–H I would say, in connection with a light as possible, I requested those this work, that from all that I have who felt courageous enough to assume seen now in seven years and a half of the responsibilities of the position to schools and among work people, addstand up. I knew it would be useless ing to the growing interest in "the to attempt to make any selections, so I way out of alcoholism," and successful said to them, 'Go ahead,; you are all legislation against alcohol. The need deacons.' Now they all carry their of protection against the universal New Testaments around with them, enemy is so apparent that leading papers and telling, whenever they have a gladly publish articles on this theme. chance, of the religion of Christ. Thus Meanwhile the two temperance papers you see we have a whole congregation in Brussels and one in St. Trond are of workers." pushing forward the total abstinence cure for alcoholism. WOMAN'S WORK. -The women of the M. E. Church, "':"The Woman's Misawnary F1'wnd South, have 46 representatives in (Methodist Episcopal) would seem to be China, Brazil, Mexico, and among the possest of healing powers approaching Indians of Oklahoma, 116 assistant to the magical. At least word comes teachers and helpers, 24 Bible women, that a heathen woman in J'fadras had 12 boarding-schools, 46 day schools, so much confidence in its pages that and 2 hospitals. Their gifts last year when her child was sick, and she knew reacht $81,716. not what to do, she put· the paper be· neath its head and prayed the God of -In the August MISSIONARY REthe little sheet to heal her child, and VIEW, by an inadvertence resulting the child rooo'll6r6d. from a similarity of names, facts were stated with regard to the Ohurch of -Life and Light for September, England Zenana. &cwty, which beamong other good things, contains a longed to the undenominational Zenana notable article by Dr. Pauline Root on Bible and Medical Mi88wn. The orig- ,. The Personal Factor in Mission inal organization was formed in 1852 Work," whose flavor may be gathered by the late Lady Kinnaird, from which, from these three sentences: "We get in 1880, certain members withdrew to more inspiration from certain women's form the society first named. Since faces, or touch, or even walk, than then India has been divided between from many sermons. They make God the two, the Z. B. and M. M' caring real to us. Sweetly and graciously for Bombay Presidency, the Norththe influence of face or voice steals western Provinces, and the Punjab. into our hearts, and we say, 'They rest us.'" YOUNG PEOPLE.
-These may be named among the -This summary of John R. Mott's speakers at the Toronto W. C. T. U. work, recently completed, is interesting: Convention, October 23-6: Besides the "It required twenty months to make general officers, Miss Willard, Lady the tour of the world. Work was car- Henry Somerset, Miss Slack, and Mrs. ried on in 22 different countries, and in Sanderson; Lady Windeyer, New 144 universities, colleges, and schools. South Wales; Mrs. Kirk, Victoria; Services were rendered in 21 conven- Mrs. Franc Giffen, Cairo; Misses Vin- tions and conferences_ These were atcent and Cummins. Australasian organ- tended by over 5,500 delegates, fully izers; Miss Milks, Chile; Mrs. W 801- 3,300 being students and teachers, deck, Tasmania; "Sister Lily" and representing 308 institutions of higher other distinguisht delegates from Eng- learning. About 1,300 missionaries, land; and Miss Green, of Hawaii. representing over 80 missionary agen- cies, were met personally, and ex- -In Belgium, Madame Chantraine, tended interviews were held with many of the W. C. T. U., has given many of them, as well as with government magic-lantern temperance evenings in officials, merchants and native pastors, teachers and students, while 70 new me off from the church next Sunday if students' Christian associations were they want. The Lord gave me a set of organized. brains and a good pair of eyes, and 1 – " The Missionary Spoke" is a new calculate to use them to my advantage, booklet by W. W. Cooper and F. S. and I'll send my children to school just Brockman, and is not only a valuable wherever 1 want. But before they do contribution to mission literature, but cut me off, 1 want them to tell me why is crowded with suggestions of a prac- they done it in plain words, and pubtical nature for the Epworth League. lish it in all the papers. 1 am one of The nine well-written chapters are as them that wants to know why things follows: "The obligation resting upon are done, and want other people to the League to interest its members in know." Then she added, "1 ain't saymissions," "The missionary commit- ing that I don't think a good bit of my tee," "The missionary meeting," " The religion, but I calc'late to use my brains missionary library," "The missionary just about as I want."-Home Missionstudy-class," "The missionary social," ary Montltly.
"Map and chart making," "Prayer -According to the OongregationaliBt, for missions," etc. the Worcester, lIass., City Missionary -These three items hint at what as Society is to make a new departure: many Christian Endeavor societies are " The organization of missions or doing: churches in the native tongue of these people has proved so inefficient and un- The contribution of $41.25 to fresh- satisfactory, both in this and other air work by the Lafayette Avenue cities, that that plan will be abandoned Methodist Protestant society, Balti- and the effort made to reach the familmore, Md., sent 20 children into the ies through the children and young country for a two weeks' outing. This people, by gathering them into the society gives $40 a year to educate a already existing American churches. Japanese girl in the denomination's Five women visitors will be employed. mission – school in Japan. The two- One will work among the 500 Finns, cents-a-week plan is used. another among the 350 Syrians, another' among the more than 400 Italians. Dividing their offering between home There are 500 to 600 Norwegians and and foreign missions, the society of the Danes, only a few of whom attend any Presbyterian Church, Mattituck, L. I., church, and over 2,500 Jews and Poles, have given during the past year $300. many of them accessible and responsive. This society, working jointly with the Two vigorous Swedish churches are Presbyterian society at Franklinville, doing a good work among 10,000 of is helping to support a boy in school at their own people. It has been found Ashville, N. C. repeatedly that the young people of this population, who learn to speak A mite-box opening was lately held English so readily, will not attend serby the Junior society of the Friends' vices in the native language, and do not Church, Mt. Pleasant, O. The mem- wish to be considered foreigners, and bership of the society is but 19, yet the amount raised amounted to $17.25.
UNITED STATES. since they are in the majority, it seems -That some of the lIormons are be- the wiser, more economical, and effectginning to think for themselves is ap- ive plan to banish that distinction as far parent. A good mother, and an honest as possible, and gather them directly woman, said a short time ago, with a into American churches."
genuineness that gave her unpolisht -Among the different organizations words a real fineness: "I won't be bost for assisting the poor in New York by nobody. 1 told them they could cut City, there are few more successful than the Penny Provident Fund sys- societies have been aided from its funds. tem. This is not a savings bank, but When it is remembered that the fundaonly an agency whereby small savings mental idea is regular weekly contribumay be readily deposited. On Febru- tions of one penny or upwards, and ary 1st, 1890, the fund had 55 stations, that by far the larger part of the 11,690 depositors, and $5,568 in de- amount has been raised on this method, posits. Three years later there were 201 it will be seen that a widespread interstations, with 27,684 depositors, and net est is represented. The association indeposits of $16,785. At the last report sists that all contributions sent should there were 321 stations, 53,449 deposi- be extra gifts beyond ordinary subtors, and $31,305 in net deposits. scriptions. As the bulk of its income is derived from weekly pence from -The Bapti8t Mi8swnary Magazim, those not rich enough to be subscribers since the year began with great strides to societies, there is little doubt that has gone forward toward perfection, these small gifts are extra income for having been greatly enlarged, beauti- the various missions. fied, and improved in every way. It may now claim a place among the best -The report for the forty-third year of such publications. The September of the Bible Lands (formerly the Turknumber is especially good. ish) Missions Aid Society, shows that aid has been sent to no less than 19 -The United Norwegian Lutheran cities or towns where the work is under. Church dates only from 1890, but al- the charge of missionaries of the ready has 125,000 members, as well as American Board. The receipts were missionaries in India, China, Madagas- greater by over $16,000 than during car, and among the Jews in Russia, and any previous year of its existence. is soon to begin work in Persia. -So great was the destruction of -The Cumberland Presbyterians property by the June earthquake in entered Japan in '76 and Mexico in '86, India, that the Baptist Missionary Soand in September last dispatcht 3 ciety alone estimates that from £7,000 men, 2 of them having wives, to China, to £10,000 will be required for reconto make a beginning for the Gospel struction and repairs. there. -The S. P. G. has received $355,- -The Southern Presbyterians are 000 by bequest from Mr. Alfred Marsending out 5 new missionaries this riott, of which half has been voted for year, Miss Sophie Wright going to the erection of churches and half for Luebo on the Upper Kongo, Rev. H. hospitals, colleges, and other places of W. Myers to Japan, Rev. C. C. Owen education, in accordance with the testato Korea, and Marion Hull, M.D., and tor's directions. Geographically, the wife, to China. These additions raise grants a.re distributed thus: Asia, £25,- the total abroad to 156. 660; Africa, £23,730; Australasia, £8,- 975; North America, £7,130; West In- EUROPE. dies, £4,505; Europe, £1,000. Total, £71,000. Great Britain.-The income of the Metropolitan Hospital Fund reacht to The Continent.-For some time it £10,000 last year, and since the begin- has been known that the revenue for ning, twenty·five years ago, £713,482 the Vatican from Peter's Pence has ($4,567,410) have been received for the shown a serious decrease. The chief use of various hospitals, and nearly income has always been from France; 1,000,000 surgical appliances have been but the loyalty of the aristocratic donors bought. appears to have diminisht of late under the indorsement given to the republic, -Upwards of £1,000 were received last year by the Missionary Pence Association, and at least 100 missions or and the result is a markt diminution in The change will come into force a year their gifts. According to reports, there hence. The Czar has also decreed that has begun an active campaign to stimu- a person outside the Greek Church, who late the revenue, and England and marries one of that faith, shall not be America are apparently relied upon to required, as formerly, to sign a promise ,furnish a considerable share.-Indepen- that their children shall be brought up dent. in the faith of the Greek Church. Another step in advance is a system of -Three pastors of the Reformed public justice for Siberia. In that vast Church of France have recently offered region, subject until now to the tyranny themselves to replace the murdered of arbitrary officials, law courts are missionaries, Escande and Minault, in opened in each provincial capital, with Madagascar. This sad event has not justices appointed by the crown, and been without a quickening effect on the legal procedure is for the :tl.rst time French Protestant Church. In many made possible. quarters zeal is growing where it had scarcely been seen before.-.Le Mission- ASIA.. naire. Islam.-The god of Mohammedanism -Pastor Lindemann, a retired Lu- is an ideal Oriental despot, magnified to theran minister in Hanover, dying a infinity. Whatever he does or com- bachelor, bequeathed $45,000 to the mands is right, because he wills it. •Hermannsburg society. The testament What he hates is not sin, but rebellion. wisht that the legacy be used for the He mayor may not punish other establishment of missions in a new field. offenses, for he is all-merciful, but to The society contemplates beginning deny his unity or his prophet is unpar- missionary labor in German East:Africa. donable. For this there is nothing but It will send there some of its efficient eternal fire. As there is no right or workers in the Transvaal. wrong except as he wills it, there is no true sense in which he can be called -A new missionary society has been holy. Nor can it be said that he loves establisht in Berlin, with the name righteousness. What he loves is sub- "Deutsche Orient-Mission," presided mission to his will, and this is the over by Dr. Lepsius. The intention is highest virtue known to Mohammedanto send missionaries to engage in East- ism. It is what gives it its name-Islam, ern mission work. Many distinguisht which means submission. Between Germans have hitherto taken an active God and man there is no kinship, part in this work-as Bishop Gobat and nothing in common. He is not our others-but not in connection with Ger- Father and we are not His children. man societies. Dr. Lepsius has done The idea of the incarnation of God in an important work in Germany by his Jesus Christ is absurd and incomexposure of the cruelties of the Turks, prehensible. – Re'/). George Washburn scarcely believed in by many of his President Robert College, in TM Outcountrymen till his work appeared. look. -The Rhenish society reports about 3,600 baptisms of heathen during the -Streaks of dawn appear in the course of last year. Of these 141 were night of Palestine.-" In many places baptized in the Tungkun district of both lli[oslems and members of the China.-Berichte der Rheinischen Mis- Greek Church are most willing to sionsgeseUschaft. listen, and ignorance and superstition are proving not impregnable to Gospel – T1t6 Daily Ohronicle states that the assaults. A woman bore witness to Russian Government has resolved par- Christ as her Savior to the women who tially to abolish the system of Siberian went to her sick·room, and refused in exile for political and other prisoners. her dying hou to repeat the Moslem formula. One of the missionaries writes This morning the roofs swarmed, the that she meets from time to time in Spirit was present, and there were 15 the villages with women who are pray- prayers before I spoke, some wholly ing for forgiveness in Christ's name, new voices in prayer. A precious and also to be kept from sin and the meeting! How they pleaded for us to Evil One, and she mentions one who stay, but we cannot. ' Think of it, not was nicknamed 'Christian' on this ac- a man to step in and gather this great count. The medical work at Gaza, white harvest of souls for Christ and Nablous, Acca, Salt, and Kerak is ex- heaven!" ercising a widespread influence. The riveted attention with which patients -The long-time-expected and muchlisten at Gaza to the Rev. Dr. Sterling's feared advance of Russian influence in setting forth the claims of Jesus as the Persia has come. It is not a showy one Son of God and Savior is evidence of at the outset, but it bodes no good for real interest."-Clturch Missionary 80· our Protestant institutions. Russian ciety'8 Report. priests have come to Oroomiah to open schools. The Christian population, -Rev. Mr. Browne gives this thrill- groaning under lIohammedan oppres· ing account of a great revival in sion, and seeing in their coming the Choonkoosh, Eastern Turkey: "Gre- promise of political deliverance, have gorians attend every service, tho the welcomed it with wild enthusiasm. meeting place is on the roof, partly Thousands of men, women, and chilcovered by rugs and bits of carpets. dren flocked to their side, kissing thei~ Many take off their outer garments and garments, prostrating themselves before sit on them in the sun and on the hard them as their saviors. In the hope of roof! Surely only real spiritual hun- special favor, multitudes of the Old ger would lead them to· attend at such Nestorian Church are enrolling thema time and place. I have seldom selves as adherents of the Russian enjoyed meetiugs more. Everything Church. Our missionaries write in is so informal, simple, heartfuI. The much sorrow that many of our church early dawn, the cool, pure, delicious members, too, were being swept away air, earnest, hearty singing, deeply felt by this whirlwind of excitement.- confession and prayer, then the plain- Church at Home and Abroad. est, simplest exposition of the Word, and the one, two, or three minutes of India.-Some recent statistics throw prayer after dismissal, then the slow, light on the actual condition of things reverent, thoughtful departure down in this land. Thus, while the average the rickety ladder-well, it all affects income of a unit of population in Engme deeply. Towards sunset last even- land is $210, in India it is $10; the ing the clouds gathered and about the average income of the Indian native hour of meeting, it rained powerfully. agricultural laborer is $32, while even What did I do for the meeting on the in Russia the peasant has an average roof? Up to the very minute of open- income of $50; it is estimated that $15 ing the meeting it just poured. When is necessary in India to merely Bupport I reacht the roof a dripping, steaming life in one person, but in a large part crowd simply packt our little school- of the country the actual income per room. The Gregorians also came, and capita is as low as $11-so that the so our brethren courteously rose and peasant is spoken of as having a minu8 gave them their nice places while they income. Add to these facts the knowlcontented themselves by standing in edge that in India the average of life is the rain, literally taking the drippings twenty-three and a half years as against of the sanctuary. I never saw more forty years in England; that from fever real and unselfish Christian courtesy. and starvation alone in the seven years ending in 1888, 4,349,922 deaths took place-nearly as many as are supposed prayer. This was the sequel to three to have occurred in the wars of a hun- days' fasting, a fast which it is said was dred years, and in what a sad case is kept by almost the entire community, tWs vast population! who at the same time made incessant prayer that the plague might be -The reason and moral sense of the averted. After obtaining the sanction Hindus condemn their theory of caste. of Government the Mohammedans put They will admit that the system is full up screens of matting on the west side. of absurdities, and that it is at war with Several thousand pieces of; palm-leaf the welfare of the individual as well as matting were laid out on the ground, of the community; yet they cling to it about 100 huge earthen jars, each conwith the utmost persistence. A vigor- taining about 50 gallons of water, being ous writer in India has well said: "In placed at regular intervals. J"arge spite of the relaxation of caste rules, in crowds began to pour into the Esplanspite of the fact that the wealthy can ade from an early hour in the afterviolate the laws of caste with impunity, noon, and by 4.30 p. m., the time in spite of the fact that the Hindu has notified for the holding of the prayer, learnt the lesson of the brotherhood of the whole of the extensive ground was man by heart, so that he can repeat it filled by Mohammedans of all sections glibly with the lip, caste is still the of the community squatting down on strongest practical force in the land. A the matting provided for them. The man openly parts with that la.~t; he will Kazees and Moulvies occupied about sacrifice everything before that."- Mis- an hour with prayers, afterwards sionary Herald. preaching sermons from various points on the efficacy of prayer. The usual -It is not physical discomfort, not evening prayer followed; hands and having little to lie on night after night feet were washed, and they proceeded on a jungle tour, or swimming rivers, to break their fast. There were or shortness of food-that is the poetry several thousand cakes and about 8000 of mission life-but the hardship is pounds weight of dry dates provided having to look after native churches for the faithful, and by the time they and bear the burdens of native converts dispersed. about 6 p. m., there was not when one feels that the circle of prayer one cake or a date to be seen." at home is not complete, and that the tide of sympathy is not flowing as it -Dr. Jacob Chamberlain writes thus should. Never until I got on Indian of irrigation in Southern India: co We shores, and had to do with native have in India a magnificent river, the churches, did I know why Paul put sacred Godavery, which, rising on the at the end of his list of agonies-after western coast, only a few miles from the stoning and the scourging, and that the sea of Arabia, among the hills to long series of hardships-as the heaviest the north of Bombay, flows diagonally of all-sorrow's crown of sorrow-" the across the entire country to the southcare of all the churches."-Rev. G. W. east, and discharges its waters into the Bay of Bengal, north of Madras. The OLVER. monsoon, or rainy season, on the western coast is different from that on -The Bombay Guardian gives the the eastern, so that the river comes following account of a vast prayer- freighted with its mighty life-giving meeting organized by the Moham- current during our dry season, flowing medans in Bombay to deprecate the with swollen stream through a region Divine wrath manifested in the visita- parched and verdureless. Some thirty tion of the plague in that city: .. A years ago the government, incited therenovel sight was witnessed in Bombay to by an enthUiiastic and dauntless on Saturday afternoon, when upwards of 2,000 Mohammedans gathered for engineer, who had on military duty January, 1893, and ftnisht February, traversed the country, constructed an 1895.
annicut, or dam, over two miles in -The American consul at Hangkow length, costing $4,000,000, across this reports that 3 American citizens had mighty river, 30 miles from the sea, started to go from Hangkow to Peking raising the level of its current some 30 through the provinces of Hupeh, Ho- feet, and, digging channels great and nan, Shansi. and Chihli, for the pur- small, poured out its vivifying waters pose of surveying a route for the railway over 1,000,000 acres of what had been between those two cities. The expedi- an arid plain. Behold the change! tion was well equipped and was pleas- What had for centuries been worthless antly recognized by the viceroy. The sand plains were converted into fruitful construction of the railway through rice fields; the squalid inhabitants have this most productive section of the become thrifty farmers; the famine- great Chinese empire is only a question stricken region is a garden of plenty. of time.
What has wrought this marvel in these -Most encouraging accounts of sucnow harvest-laden countries? It is but cess come from Manchuria. The the flowing-in of the waters of that his- United Presbyterian Church of Scottoric river. land at Mai-mal-gai has baptized 60, -In the training school and home and at Tieling over 150. The Rev.
for Bengali girls in Calcutta, quite an Mr. Webster says, "It is no exaggera- innovation has been introduced in the tion to say that there are hundreds way of washboards and tubs, and those anxious to join the church." Dr. Ross, poor girls, despite custom or caste, of Moukden, reports 800 on the list of have been taught to wash and iron applicants, and at Ti-Iu, members and their own clothes. And now the money applicants are over 600, and a large hitherto paid for laundry supports an church is needed. The mission of the orphan boy. Irish Presbyterian Church is also China.-There are now upwards of greatly blest, and Mr. Fulton has 1,000 schools of various descriptions for baptized 208 in the past winter. A natives in China under foreigners. They' young Christian suffered martyrdom range from the village day school up to for Christ, and Christians are made high schools and colleges. In that bolder and a general inquiry has been great empire there are no schools for awakened. girls except those founded by the missionaries. -A Presbyterian missionary in China gives the following account of -Mr. Speer, since his recent visit to his boarding-school: The entire ex- Canton, calls attention to the fact that penditure for from 20 to 30 pupils, 500 women and 1,000 girls have gone including food, clothing, outfit, teachout of the seminary, some of them to ers' salaries, and everything else, is give all their time to Christian service, about $1,000 per annum. In the course and hundreds of others to proclaim the of 20 years there have been 144 schol- Gospel through the activities of com- ars, an equal number having been dlsmon life. The wife of Li Hung mist after preliminary trial. Of this Chang's doctor was one of these. number 64 became Christians, 11 had Others are in Vancouver, San Fran- been ordained to the ministry, 10 were cisco, Portland, Oregon, and Chicago. candidates for the ministry, 5 were Christian school-teachers and other as- -A telegraph line nearly 800 miles sistants. At the start almost all were long has recently been built in Chinese from heathen families, and were inden- Turkestan, running as far westward as tured to keep them the full time in the city of Kashgar. It was begun in school, but 4 out of the 40 being Christians. At the time when the Tunis also we have had no further inaccount was given, almost all were terference during the last few months. from Christian families, indentures were no longer necessary, about one- West Africa.-" We can not tell our half were professing Chdstians. friends that we have been able to bap- tize our first Ashantee converts as yet, -You will be surprised to hear of but we have good hope that this will an addition to our home. It came happen soon. We have 2 catechumens about in this way. Ten days ago, who have been under instruction for early on a raw, damp, foggy morning, several weeks with a view to baptism. a coolie was sent out on an errand. He At Manpong and Agona we have schools quickly returned, saying there was a which give us great satisfaction; and at baby in a deep ditch just below our our 6 new country stations there are compound, put there by its parents to already promising little schools. We die of cold and hunger, just because it have 50 scholars in our school in Kuhad the misfortune to -be born a girl. mase, of these 24 are freed slaves, and They do such things in China, you 21 children of chiefs, who tell us that know, and when they do die the dogs they have given us the best that they eat them. We hesitated about bring- have. And indeed they are all very ing her in at first, because of the awful intelligent children."- Mi8sionary Ramstories they tell about our eating babies Beyer, in Le Mi8sionnaire. and digging out their eyes for medicine, etc.; but we quickly concluded the -The North German Society is this course the Master would take, and had year celebrating the jubilee of its work her brought in. Such a bundle of dirty, in Evheland, on the Slave Coast. The vermin-infested rags you never saw, half-century of its occupation there has and from under a dirty cap two great witnessed the growth of a native church, black eyes staring wide open. No heart at present numbering 2,000 members, beat could be felt, and the little mite including a staff of 48 native helpers, was too near gone to cry. We quickly and the opening of 29 stations and outgave her warm milk and stimulants, stations, three of the former lying in and, getting her out of the dirty rags, German Togoland. The European staff put her in a hot bath. We greatly numbers at present 34; 64 male and fefeared she would not survive; so we male workers have sacrificed their lives wrapped her in a blanket, and kept her to the evangelization of the country. in a basket by the open oven door all The Evhe tongue has been reduced to day. At night the little eyes partly writing, the Bible and various educa· closed, but it was three days before she tional works have been translated into slept naturally. There was every evi- it. Of those German agents at present dence of her having been given opiates. in the land, none have remained longer But in a week of feeding on good milk than 16 years, the deadliness of the cliwe had a bright baby, not yet two mate proving an insuperable obstacle to months old, weighing now seven and a protracted labor upon the part of the half pounds.-Mi8s Ford, in Monthly European. Letter. East Africa.-On the west shore of AFRICA. Lake Nyassa, and northwestward to the district where the waters of the Kongo -Secretary E. H. Glenny, of the take their ris&, the Scottish teachers, in- North Africa Society, reports: We are cluding several Dutch co-workers, have thankful that this year we have not had upwards of 8,000 children and youths so much difficulty with the French au- in 80 schools under daily tuition in their thorities in Algeria, as on previous oc- native tongue-chiefly Nyanza–in Engcasions, but it is still necessary to be lish, and in useful handicrafts. Dr. very careful in all departments. In Laws, the veteran and devoted missionary, has founded an excellent institu- care varies from 100 to 500, while tion on Florence Bay, into which the others are coming and going to and most successful young men and women from their hunting ground. They are students are drafted. In it no less than still disposed to wandering, even those 127 students, representing 15 different who have their own cottages occasiontribes, are being trained as light-b~r ally take a spell in the bush. It is ers to their fellow-Africans.-London very hard for them to settle for any Oh1-iBtian. length of time in one place."
-The Moravians are preparing to -The Presbyterian Church of South send new recruits for the old L. M. S. Africa has now its General Assembly, station at Urambo, and 3 mission- in which are represented the Free aries, with their wives, will shortly Church, with 3 Presbyteries; the proceed thither. In the monthly organ United Presbyterian Church, with 2 of the Moravian Society a letter is Presbyteries; the separate Presbyteries publisht from Mr. Draper, the soli- of Natal, Capetown, and the Transvaal, tary missionary stationed there, which and the Congregation of Port Elizaspeaks of the Sunday services being beth. The united body claims to have attended by 300 or 400 natives huddled 13,000 communicants, of whom threetogether like sheep, the school well fourths are natives. attended, and everything ~ppearing hopeful and promising. -The Australian Board of Missions (Anglican) has just publisht its annual -A revolt broke out recently in the report. Amongst other encouraging Uganda Protectorate, but was success- signs is the eagerness with which the fully supprest. On July 6 King Mwan- converted South Sea Islanders are volga left Uganda sf'cretly to organize a unteering for mission work. 'The great rising in the Buddu district against the obstacle in the way of taking advantage government. Mwanga's forces were of their help is their lack of training. defeated. The king escaped to Ger- Missionaries at head stations are urged man territory and surrendered himself to undertake the work of preparing to the Germans, by whom he is de- them for service. The New Guinea tained. Order was restored throughout mission has now a native Christian Uganda, the whole of which, except family an object lesson for the heathen the Buddu district, remained loyal. It to look upon. A large number of canis intended to proclaim the infant son didates are in preparation for baptism. of Mwangll as king, with a regency.- The Bellender Ken :M:ission is one to London Oh1-iBtian. the aborigines of Queensland. In this good work is reported in the school. -By a recent decree of the king of The advance of the mission is retarded Abyssinia, all the members of the for want of laborers and funds. One Swedish Mission have been expelled of the most important and successful from his dominions. branches of the work is that carried on amongst the Chinese of Australia. In AUSTRALIA. the diocese of Sydney alone there are 10 000. The Rev. Soo Hoo Ten is the -The Rev. N. Hey has issued a re- missionary to these scattered ones. A port of the work done at the Mapoon new church is about to be erected for mission station, which is, on the whole, the exclusive use of the Chinese in very gratifying. He says: "No mur- Sydney. ders have been committed by those engaged in the beche-de-mer or pearl- -The venerable Dr. Paton is once shelling industry, as was the case in Rooain in Australia pleading the cause former years, and the year has past of his beloved New Hebrides Mission. away in comparative peace and quiet- He begins to look old and ~eeble. Toil neSi. The number of Aborigines under and time have told upon hIm.
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1895
PALACE, BA~GKOK, SIA)I
MISSI'ON'A'RY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVIII. No.5.-01d Serie.5.-MAY.-VOL. VIII. No. 5.-NMJ1~.
SOME HINDRANCES AND HELPS IN EVANGELIZING LAOS LAND.
The great hindrances to the spread of the Gospel and the conversion of men are the same in all ages and all lands. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God j neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.". "And men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." "The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them." These statements are as true now as when Jesus and Paul uttered them, and in them are still to be found the chief obstmcles to the triumph of the Gospel. Not caste and the slave trade, but the evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God j not Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed, but Satan, the enemy of God and man-this is still the J ebus that holds out against the Son of David, this still the Goliath whom He must meet and slay. And as the most obstinate difficulties, so the highest encouragements of the mission enterprise are the same to-day as at the beginning. It was the truest missionary instinctthat led Judson, when some one wrote to him inquiring what were the prospects for the evangelization of Burmah, to reply, "Bright as the promises of God." The cause of missions will always be at its best when the" Go ye" and the" Lo, I am with you always" of Christ outbulks and outweighs every other encouragement in the esteem of Its supporters. But while all this is true, it is true too that each field presents difficulties on the one hand, and sources of encouragement on the other, which are to some extent peculiar to itself. In these, not in geographical situation or climate or productions, lie the true differentia of mission lands j and of these we must have some right conception if we are to enter into intelligent and prayerful sympathy with missionaries, and not simply to feel a vague interest in missions. The writer hopes, therefore, that it may be to the purpose if in this month of May, when so many prayers will be put up for Siam and Laos, he speaks of " Some Hindrances and Helps in Evangelizing Lsos Land. "
e<>ME BlNDltANCE8 AND DELFS IN EVANGELIZING LAOS LAND
HINDltANCES.
1. Power 0/ Ou,tom.-And, first, let him advert to the power of cus- tom among the Laos as a hindrance to the progress of Christianity. If the world were to be divided as we sometimes divide the churches in our own land, into conservatives and radicals, the Orient would be set against the Occident. Custom has power in the West, it is true j on the other hand, " old fashioned" is more often than not a term of reproach, and the love of novelty is so great that the mere fact that a thing has long been done in a certain way is counted by many a sufficient reason for beginning to do it in some other fashion. The temper of the Orient is the opposite j there the customary is the sacred; the thing that hath been is- that which shall be, and also the thing that ought to be. And in this respect the Laos are true Orientals. It is some time before the missionary can realize the force which this matter of custom exerts among them. He goes into a wayside temple j he seeks out the head priest and courteously salutes him j he is invited to seat himself upon the mat that is spread for him, and a pillow for his elbow, a jar of cool water and a cup, and a tray of the inevitable betel-nut are provided for his comfort and refreshment. After a few commonplaces on either side the real business of the hour is taken up, and that all the more eagerly because the presence of the foreign teacher has drawn every member of the monastery, ,every casual loiterer in the temple grounds, perhaps even ~~score or more of persons from the village, into earshot of the conversation. " Your reverence," begins the missionary, "is a religious man; are you acquainted with that which is called the religion of the Lord Jesus~" The answer will probably be this: " Noble doctor, we have heard of this religion of the Lord Jesus, but we do not understand clearly what it is." This the missionary feels is the very opportunity for which he has prepared himself. He has thought out his statement of Christianity j he has chosen his illustrations with great care j not only the terms he will employ, but the very tone and manner he will use j as not in the way of harsh and initiating polemic, but in that of calm but earnest reasoned appeal to heart and conscience, he sets the new system from heaven before thE> minds of those who know only the old that is of men. There is much to encourage him as he proceeds j there is earnest attention j the head priest interrupts now and then to ask a wellchosen question j not infrequently an auditor ejaculates under his breath that what the teacher says is true. The missionary ceases speaking, and awaits the reply of his fellow-teacher in the yellow robe. What will he pitch upon as the weak point in the argument ~ What will be the line of his attack 7 Listen:" Noble doctor, what you say is good j truly you speak to our hearts j but, haw pen heet paw, hoy maa" (these are not the footsteps of our fathers Rnd mothers). lifissa est! The assembly is dismi!l!!ed. The old priest's answer is conclusive to everybody except the missionary, and he departs wondering if it can really be tht an argument SI) stauch has gone to pieces on a rock Sl) small, 2. WOTship of Evil Spirits.-While Siam is called and is a Buddhist country, yet along with Buddhism there flourishes everywhere, and espe- cially among the Laos tribes, the worship of spirits. You may call them ghosts, demons, devils, genii, sprites, elves, or fairies. If you listen to the talk of the people you will at first think that now one and now another of these is what is meant by the ever-recurring word phee ; but you will come at last to the sad conclusion that if you are to find an equivalent in English, it must be something not very different from " evil spirit." For whether the phee in question be thought of as the soul of a dead man, or the presid- ing genius of a family, or the invisible guardian of some brook or cave, or the inferior deity who has special charge of some natural phenomena like rain or thunder, or some event in human life, such as the weaning of a child or the marriage of a maiden, it may become at any moment and on the slightest provocation a malignant foe. And therefore one of the main anxieties of a Laos man or woman is to keep on friendly terms with these invisible powers. It is only by degrees that the foreigner can come to understand how large a part of life this is for the people about him; for this devil cult has no temples and no priests except as every house, from the carved and gilded palace of the ., Lord of Life" to the thatch-roofed bamboo cottage of his humblest subject, is such a temple, and every man and every woman a priest or priestess of this worship. Go where you will and when you will, in city or country, by river, through forest, to the caves of the mountains, across the smiling rice fields, in wet season or dry, at rice planting or harvest, at birth or death, at wedding or funeral, when contracts are signed, when houses are built, when journeys are undertaken, when sickness or storm or drouth befalls, and you will find in charm and spell and offering the tokens of the sway of this dark superstition as to the presence and activity of spirits. And just in that word superstition lies one chief element of the power of spirit worship as a hindrance to the acceptance of the Gospel. It is not merely that for a Laos man to change his religion will surely offend the spirits of his ancestors and provoke the enmity of all those demons who have in the past been pleased by his worship ; it is not merely that the heart in which the missionary sows the seed of God's Word is already preoccupied with a rank growth of weeds; but it is the peculiar character of this religion as a superstition which constitutes it an obstacle to the truth. An historical religion can be attacked in its history; a philosophical religion can be attacked in its philosophy; but how shall we attack a superstition 1 It is fighting with a ghost. We cut it in twain only to find that the impalpable substance of which it is made up closes behind the blade and suffers no harm. Not based on reason or fact, a superstition like this refuses to yield to reason or fact. And superstition embrutes men's minds; it teaches them to count fact and fancy, truth and falsehood as of equal worth, and at last makes them incompetent to distinguish the one from the other. Much of wha.t is believed by the people is so absurd that even they themselves, when the sun shines and all goes well with them, will make jokes about the" spirits somewhat as the children of America do about the " brownies i" but let the night fall, let misfortune overtake them, and all doubts vanish. Ignorant of the laws of nature, knowing nothing of Providence; rebelling unconsciously against the" Buddhist dogma that the experiences of this life are the resultant of conduct in some previous state of existence, the Laos finds in the activity of these spirits his easiest explanation of· all theiUs that overtake him. And thus this belief and worship roots itself in every event and relation of his life, and constitutes, like the idolatry prevalent in the Roman world in. the first century, at once one chief difficulty in the way of his accepting the Gospel, and when he has accepted it, one chief source of temptation to apostasy.
3. Buddhism.-Buddhism is in Siam and Laos the most obtrusive of all facts. The missionary, as he enters the mouth of the Meinam, gets at the same moment his first sight of the red flag with the white elephant flying over a frowning fort, and of the glittering roof and spires of a Buddhist temple; and every day he spends in the land through whose gate his stj.lamer. is passing will teach him more clearly the significance of the scene that lies before him. And, first of all, Buddhism bars the way to the entrance of the Gospel into men's hearts because it is a religion of self~righteousness. Buddhism has three keywords-misery, transmigration, merit-and the greatest of these, the one most often uttered, is merit. Existence is. essentially wretched, but there is no escape from it ; nothing can stop the endless revolution of the wheel of birth and deAth j all that can be done is to make future existence less wretched than the present; and this can be accomplished only by personal merit. What we are is the result of what we have done, and what we shall be depends upon what we are doing now-this is the short creed of the Buddhist. There lies before the writer some rough memoranda of a conversation with a brother of the King of Siam. He had read the Bible, he said, in English and in Siamese, and always kept it by him. He admired much that was in it; he believed Christ to have been a good, wise, far-seeing man, and a great teacher, though not divine; he regarded Christianity and Buddhism as far superior to Mohammedanism, because the former appeal, as the latter does not, to direc1ly religious motives; but there was one thing in Christianity that he could never be brought to believe-it is that there can be any way of escape from the consequences of our own actions. " There can be. no Saviour," said he, "except as every man can save himself by doing good deeds. If any man can believe Christianity, he will no doubt be happy. I would be glad if I could believe it mYElelf j but I and ttll the higher classes of Siam hold firmly to the belief .that every man mUllt receive according to· his deeds. We cannot believe that God can be bribed to release any orie from his responsibility." And in deference to this conviction the Siamese have made"a vast investment in what they regttrd as work:s of merit. They have c8vered their land with temples and pagodas MISSION PREMISES, CHIENG MAL MISSION CHURCH, CHI ENG MAl, LAOS COUNTRY, and images of Buddha. More than half the men in the kingdom have spent some years at least in the priesthood. Not a household but has furnished one or more sons to the monastery ; not a woman but contributes to the daily support of the priests, and spends her treasured coins for gold leaf to make the idols spleBdid. It has not been enough to supply cities and villages with temples more plentifully than those of our own land are with churches; the very hilltops must be crowned with pagodas and splendid flights of stairs built to make access to them easy; the caverns of the mountains must be sought out and turned into temples for Lord Gautama. No nation under heaven can better than these Siamese Buddhists sympathize with Paul as he catalogues his grounds of confidence in the flesh, and his works of righteousness which he had done j and none knows better what it costs to say with him, what everyone must say who becomes It Christian, " But what things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ."
HELPS.
1. Religious Toleration. -But over against these hindrances to the progress of missions in Siam and Laos there are some helps that do not exist, or do not exillt to the same extent, in other fields. And, first, there is entire religious toleration, and that by law. The very prince whose views were quoted above began the interview in which he gave utterance to them by informing his missionary callers that he had just returned from a visit to Lakawn, a principal city of the Laos provinces, and that while there he had purchased and now wished to present to the mission a site for a mission station in that place. The same man afterward paid to the writer as mission treasurer the sum of two thousand rupees, a gift from his royal brother for the purpose of erecting a dispensary in this same city of Lakawn j and it was just this encouragement and help from the highest in the land that led to the establishment there of what has since become a flourishing station, with churc1es, schools, and hospital. And this only illustrates what for many years has been the attitnde of the ruling classes toward the efforts of the missionaries on their educational and medical sides. There are few incidents of modern missions that more strikingly exhibit the providential guidance of God than the oft-told story which reveals to us the fountain.
head of this tolerance in the influence of amissionary over the future King of Siam, then a refugee in a Buddhist monastery from the hatred of a usurper. It is because in 1845 Rev. Jesse Caswell became tutor to Prince Chow Til. Mongkut, that from the time of the latter's accession to the throne, six years later, the missionaries have enjoyed increasing liberty to preach and teach, acquire property, open schools and hospitals, and make converts. The one serious exception occurred in 1869, when the then King of Chieng Mai (the most important of the Laos provinces) put two native Christians to death. But the persecutor's hand was stayed by his OWIl death, and in 1878 the King of Siam issued his proclamation of religious liberty for the Laos States, and to-day the missionaries are as free to prosecute their work as ministers are at home.
2. Position of Woman.-Along with religious toleration, the position of wo~an in Siam, and particularly Laos, deserves to be mentioned as one of the conditions favorable to the success of missions. There is perhaps no heathen land where women occupy a better position than in the Laos States. Monogamy is the rule among the common people. There are no harems or zenanas. The women wear no veils. They are to be seen everywhere-at their homes, on the streets, in the fields, keeping stalls in the markets, worshipping at the temples. The missionary may address them as freely as he does their husbands, sons, and brothers. Though Buddhism makes no provision for the education of girls, no prejudice is felt against allowing them to attend mission schools, and the Church in Chieng Mai has more than once availed itself of the talents of her native Phrebes and Priscillas, sending them out two and two into the villages to teach the women and children especially, but the men too as they had opportunity.
3. Spirit-worship ])riving People to Christ.-Buddhism has its weak points; it has even rendered some services to Christianity. Its false cosmogony is easily shown to be false; it was the prediction by Dr. McGilvary of the exact day and hour of a coming eclipse that attracted the attention of the man who became the first convert of the Laos mission. The monasteries and temple schools have made the men a nation of readers, into whose hands Christian books may be put. The burden of maintaining the great hosts of priests in idleness, coupled with the dissolute lives led by some of them, has here and there disgusted a community with the ancient faith. The elaborate system of merit making fails to satisfy the consciences of the really earnest; the vanishing prospect of some time attaining in Nirvana escape from the weary round of birth and death sometimes appears as mere heartless mockery; and thus a man here and a woman there is prepared to welcome the proclamation of a Saviour, and eternal life through Him. And yet, when abatement has been made for all these things, Buddhism must still be pronounced one of Satan's masterpieces for deluding men's 80uls. But the writer is inclined to raise the question whether in spirit worship, as in the phenomenon of possession by demons in the days of our Lord, the wily Prince of Darkness has not overreached himself. For the worship of evil spirits is wholly a religion of fear. It brings no salve to the conscience; it makes no ground for self-righteousneRS; it offers no hope for the future, not even such hope as Buddhism gives. "What do you do when anyone dies~" the writer once asked of a group of Moo Surs, a mountain tribe whORe only religion is spirit worship. "We cry and put him in the ground," was the answer. This faith contains no single element of hope or comfort for this life or the life to come. Incantations, charms, offerings, pilgrimages serve but one endthey make the spirits propitious for the moment, and that is all. We
THE NEGBO AS.A )lISSION.ilty. &27
have heard our grandparents talk of a " dark day," when the sun seemed to shine through an inky haze. Every day is a dark day for the adherents of this superstition. They live under a pall of dread, and he who offers them a way of escape from this bondage is likely to have earnest listenel'll. Think what the Christian doctrine of God's providential care must be to such. And, as matter of fact, a large number of those who make up the Laos church have been driven to the missionaries by this very superstition. For in Siam, as everywhere, belief in spirits leads to belief in witches. The Laos man whose child has become suddenly ill, or whose buffalo has fallen into a pit, has a short and easy method of reasoning. " Thii hai befallen me because the spirits are angry with me. But why should the spirits be angry with me, who have taken such pains to appease them? Must not some witch have set them upon me 1" And who is the witch 1 Alas for his enemy, if he has one! Alas for his neighbors, if he lIas no enemy! For his suspicion of witchcraft once aroused will soon light on some hint of the witch, and forthwith the accusation is uttered. A jury of the village elders is impanclIedto hear his complaint; but the jury is as superstitious as the plaintiff, and the verdict will generally be guilty. And what will be the penalty incurred by the innocent victim of this accusation ~ He will be driven from the village, his house will be pulled down, his garden rooted up. And where shall he go? There are cities in Laos land wholly inhabited by such supposed witches, who have been herded together as though they were lepers. But some hundreds at least have gone to the missionaries for help. They have heard that the missionaries are not afraid of spirits; at any rate, the missionaries are foreigners, and a refuge may be found with them; and so they have come under the power of Gospel truth, and found Him who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.
THE NEGRO AS A MISSIONARY. * BY THE REV. J. R. BRIDGES, SALEM, VA.
William H. Sheppard, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1865 at Waynesborough, Va. He grew up after the manner of his race, not much cumbered by cares or clothes. A pious lady said to him when a boy, " I have been praying that God may make you a Christian and send you to Africa." This boy is now a man who, after a strange experience in Africa, has been speaking to crowded houses, capturing all by his eloquence, fund of humor, and histrionic qualities. At the age of sixteen years he studied for four years at Hampton, Va., and then spent three years at the Colored Theological Seminary at Tuscaloosa, Ala., under the • The following I. a brief sketch of a most remarkable colored man, who .pent .ome time Ipeaking throul:h the South, and at the lalt meeting of thu Synod of Virginia received a mOlt enthnlluUc hearing. control of the Southern Presbyterian Church. He spent two years in Atlanta, Ga., in charge of a church, but his success was so poor that the committee under whom he was working hesitated to recommend him to the foreign work, when he proposed to accompany the late Rev. S. A. Lapsley to Congo Free State.
The Foreign Missionary Committee at Nashville, Tenn., under the guidance of the Spirit sent him, however, and February 26th, 1890, he and Lapsley sailed from New York for Africa. One was the son of an Alabama jurist, a fine type of the ante-bellum South, the other the son of an enslaved race, yet they proved kindred spirits in the Lord. LandinI{ at Matadi, on the Congo River, and going by Stanley Pool, they rea.ched Luebo, 1000 miles from the coast, where they established a sta.tion. Many are the incidents related of -Lapsley once preaching so tenderly concerning God's love for men that the women said, " If the Bakete women knew your God, they would sing to Him i" or at another time, awakened at midnight by a weeping mother, who begged him to take her dying child in his arms and" tell your God about him i" or at another time, buying from slave-traders a little girl whose mother they had slain and eaten, and had also compelled the child to feed upon her mother's flesh. At times their position was one of peril, but by using the African telegraph system they escaped. This system consists of two oblong bells welded together, which being struck with a stick produce certain notes, each meaning a certain thing. Every canoe in passing must report at each village, else these beHs are sounded and the next village is notified to look out. Once word was brought that the Mechoka, a fierce tribe, would come at night and destroy the missionaries. Instantly the missionaries had the alarm sounded,. and this message went from village to village. "The Mechoka are coming to destroy the missionaries." Armed bands came running in from every quarter, butthe enemy, taking the alarm, had fled.
While in Luebo Lapsley met some natives of fine form, high insteps, broad foreheads, and tall figures. Upon inquiry he found that they belonged to the Bakuba tribe, a people under the great King Lukenga, who, driving out all other tribes, now inhabited the most desirable region in the interior, into which no foreigner had ever entered, as the penalty was death to the foreigner and destruction to the village showing the road.
The traders and Belgian officials for nine years, and even the king of Belgium, had tried through presents to gain an entrance, but in vain. These two brave men, feeling called of God to the work, made necessary preparations. While Lapsley was at Stanley Pool forwarding the goods, Sheppard, Jacob-like, made savory messes, with which he enticed the passing Bakubas, and thus, while eating with them, he learned many words of their language. Lapsley died suddenly at Underhill, a station at the foot of the Livingstone Cataracts, and the news of his death fell like a thunderclap upon the station at Luebo. Sheppard now regarded the contemplated work as a legacy fro~ his departed friend, and it is a striking proof of the heroic faith of the man that, though alone in Africa, deprived of the man upon whom he had always leaned, he started the following day on his perilous journey. Out of forty only eight men and a small boy responded to his call for men whose hearts were strong. When he reached the first Bakuba village he was royally entertained, but no one would point out thc road farther on. They agreed that his servant should go with a trading party to the next market-town for eggs. This man re1,urning guided him to the next village, where he was kindly received, but the people were publicly warned against showing the foreigner the road upon the pain of death. Again he man- aged to get permission for his man to go to the next town for eggs, and thus reached the next village. Here he was in' a quandary. The egggame would not work, for they offered to supply his wants at home. In his efforts at cornering the home market he performed wonders at eggeating, managing to di!lpose of thirty eggs at one meal; the eggs, however, were small and he was hungry and desperate. While seeking in the woods Divine guidance, three women came from a village ahead. When they returned home he quietly followed and reached another stage on his journey.
He had now been on the road thirty days, losing it often and often unable to travel at all. At M'Boma he remained one month, unable to advance or to go back, as the rains had washed away his marks. Finally three ivory traders on their way to Lukenga's capital passed by. Sheppard sent his headman to follow them at a distance and to mark the crossroads, he with the caravan following behind. Through five villages they passed, and finally reached Bechebing, 40 miles from the capital. The traders, giving them the slip. reported at the capital that a foreigner was on the road. In the mean time the people of the village refused to receive him for fear of their own destruction. That night he spent in the woods, and the next day the king's son, N'toinzadi, with fifty warriors camc to bring the villagers and the foreigner to the king to be beheaded. They seized the people, put ropes around their necks, and then seized Sheppard's men. Sheppard sat on a stool praying and not knowing when his turn would come. In despair he called to the leader in the Bakuba tongue, and assured him that he alone was to be blamed. " You speak my language," said the prince. " Yes. " "And you have come this journey without a guide~" " Yes. " "But did you not know all these paths years ago~" "No; this is my first trip." He then consulted with his men, and coming back said, " Remain here till I return from my father."
The villagers were released on parole, and for three days he waited in anxiety and prayer, not knowing whether the issue would be life or death. The villagers passed him with averted faces, as if blaming him for their threatened ruin, and he imagincd that he could read reproaches in his own men's eyes. In the mean time the king had consulted his wise men, who decided that Sheppard was PO Pay M'Cobba, who reigned before Lukenga, and that he had passed into the body of Sheppard. The prince and other nobles were sent to bring this resurrect-ed ancestor to the capital. On their way to the capital Sheppard was received with marked honor and free-will offerings of sheep and goats. Reaching the capital, they were put in houses different from any they had seen in Africa. Each house had an attic, in which corn and ivory were stored. It was surrounded by double fences ten feet high. In the house were carved bedsteads, tables, clothes-racks, and mats. The city was laid off in squares separated by broad streets.
Three days he remained in the house, while hundreds crowded the yard. The fourth day the king received him in the great square. Escorted by four princes, he passed through thousands of children, some rolling hoops and others running ahead playing leap-frog.
On the public square a large circle had been formed of blanket cloth with leopard skins for a carpet, and there he found the aged sister of the king, his Majesty with seven hundred wives, which number, however, did not represent the full complement. The king was borne by stalwart men. He was dressed in blue robes trimmed with cowries and beads, and his crown was ornamented with blue and white beads surmounted by a white tassel. Around his neck and legs were small brass rings. He presented Sheppard with a knife which had been handed down through the reign of seven Lukengas, and upon the butt end is a seal, which has been the deathwarrant of many thousand lives. The king is nearly seventy-five years old. He will be succeeded by his eldest son, who lives in his own house, nev.er to be seen by anyone till he ascends the throne. Between the heirapparent and Mr. Sheppard pleasant messages have been exchanged. The king has granted him land, houses, and stock, and given him permission to labor among his people.
Mr. Sheppard, in an interview with the king, endeavored to convince him that he was not PO Pay M'Cobba, but the king only smiled pleasantly. The civilization of this country is far beyond any yet found in the heart of Africa. Their code of laws is simple, clear, and rigidly enforced. Polygamy is prohibited except in the royal family. Adultery and fornication are punished by death. Gambling or drunkenness entails slavery upon the man's family. No loud noises are permitted after a certain hour at night. A thief confessing is fined, but denying, he must submit to the ordeal by poison. Every third day is a day of rest from labor. Dancing consists of a movement with music, one standing behind the other, no one touching the other. They dress in flowing robes made of native cloth. They are very particular about their personal appearance. Said a native, " Sheppard, you have no knife." "Yes, why do you say so ?" "Because your finger-nails are dirty." They only believe in an evil principle that brings storms and death. Slaves are slain to accompany their dead to the spirit-land. One thousand slaves were buried with the king's mother.
ON IDOLATRY. "THOU SHALT NOT-" S31
Mr. Sheppard obtained liberty to leave after promising to return in twelve moons. While in London he delivered a lecture in Exeter Hall, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an honor conferred upon Mr. Stanley when he returned from Africa. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, evolved from a Virginia negro through the power of Almighty Grace, is our hero.
ON IDOLATRY. "THOU SHALT NOT-"
BY THE LATE REV. SAMUEL MATEER, OF TRAVANCORE, INDIA.
Among the Ten Commandments uttered amid thunders and lightnings and awe-inspiring signs by Jehovah Himself from Mount' Sinai, and engraven by His own finger on tables of stone as of perpetual obligation on all mankind, the second commandment is very full and express and particular. Its importance is thus evident, and the design that the injunction should not be violated, as if the fact that men would ill every possible way seek to infringe or evade it was present to the Divine mind, which, no doubt, it was.
The first commandment refers to the object of worship-none other but the true and living God, the same who chose the Israelites and l;evealed Himself to them as His peculiar people for the preservation of His revealed truth and the ultimate enlightenment of the nations, and who brought them up out of the land of Egypt and established them in the Holy Land. The second refers to the manner of worship : it must not be through images or visible representations of any kind or under any form. Idolatry denotes the worship of the Deity in a visible form, whether intended to represent the true God or false divinities. The meaning is so plain that Roman Catholics habitually omit this in all catechisms and summaries of doctrine, and to help them in so doing, they do not count it in the number ten, but divide the last commandment into two to make np the total of the Ten Words spoken of in Scripture. But in India we can refer them to the ancient colony of Jews in Cochin as authorities for a genuine copy of the Law, for as God committed the New Testament to the keeping of the Christian Church, so He committed His oracles of the Old Testament to the guardianship of the Jews, who also have been faithful to their trust; as testified by our Lord and His apostles; and our preachers sometimes relate to the Romanists a story of an image of St. Anthony and that of one of the Hindu gods made out of the same piece of timber and regarded by the carpenters as elder and younger brothers. Roman Catholics therefore are unable to join us in open-air discussions against Hinduism, for they are at once confounded by being charged with their image-worship.
Idolatry does not signify merely the worship of a material image as itllelf a living and powerful god, though e'en that is done by ignorant millions of the common people in India. There is a ceremony of COll!!ecration by which the gods are invited to take up their abode and inhabit the image. In Travancore the eyes of the image are sometimes opened by painting in the pupil on the background left by the workmen. There are some images, as the Salagram, a fossil shell found in rivers, which are supposed not to require consecration, being of themselves inherently the habitation of the indwelling deity without its being put in by any consecration ceremony. But few Hindus think of the consecration or distinguish between the image and the spiritual being represented by it. Indeed, the pantheism of India, which deifies the universe, rQgards all things as God and God as all, and declares the highest attainment of spiritual wisdom to consist in a poor, miserable, naked, half-civilized man's coming to say, "I am God." The idol is practically worshipped as itself God. It is bathed with water or milk, and anointed with oil, and carried to the sea or a river in state procession for a bath. This is one of the great periodical ceremonies in Hindu temples. The image is cooled in the hot season by water in a pot hung over it and dripping constantly upon it. It is clothed, and fed, and fanned, and regaled with the sweet scent of flowers and sandalwood. It is married, put to sleep, wakened in the morning by the blowing of the shell trumpet. Female images are said to be at times defiled; others catch cold and are sick or benumbed by enchantment. At Madura one opened the left eye to look in displeasure on a Mohammedan. And when the idol has shown itself disgracefully careless of the prayers and ungrateful for the offerings of the worshippers, it is beaten, contemptuously sat upon, broken up. or cast away. A man in Travancore erected a small temple on government land without leave. He was ordered to remove it, and delaying, a fine of a hundred rupees was imposed. He destroyed the whole, exclaiming, "What is the use of worshipping dumb idols that cannot help me in my time of need~" In the apprehension of the people in general the idols are real deities. They occupy the place of God and receive all the homage and honor He justly claims.
What said Rajah Rammohun Roy, a distinguished Hindu reformer ~ " Many Europeans feel a wish to palliate and soften the features of Hindu idolatry, and are inclined to inculcate that all objects of worship are considered by their votaries as emblematical representations of the Supreme Divinity. The truth is the Hindus of the present day have no such views of the subject, but firmly believe in the real existence of innumerable gods and goddesses who possess in their own departments full and independent power, and to propitiate them, and not the true God, are temples erected and ceremonies performed."
Only by the statements of the worshippers themselves can we ascertain whether the material idols themselves are worshipped or not. Some years ago a stone idol, a Salagram, was the subject of litigation in a eourt in Calcutta, and the judge consulted his Brahman interpreter and the Brahman agent of the plaintiff whether the idol could not be brought into the court for identification. They answered that it could not be brought in- side the court-house because matting is regarded as a conductor of cere- monial pollution, but it might be brought into the corridor of the building, which was done.
A great indignation meeting, however, was held by the Hindus of Calcutta, about ten thousand being present, headed by their leading priests and scholars. A distinguished Pundit addressed the meeting. " An idol," said he, " which was worshipped with all their heart, mind, and strength had been polluted. An object of worship was always kept in a sacred place, and for it to be moved into a court of justice was worse than sacrilege."
The next speaker said: "The God of heaven is an object of worship. He is the creator, preserver, and destroyer of things on earth, and now it occurs for the first time in the annals of British Indian history that a creature of the earth could order about a god of heaven as he liked. It was, therefore, their duty to take steps to prevent a recurrence of such sacrilege. " Here it is distinctly assumed that the idol itself is identical with the God of heaven, not a mere memorial or sign of His presence.
The natural desire of man is to see God-to walk by sight rather than by faith. To such it may seem desirable to have an image, an emblem, a reminder of God constantly before them to guide and help their conception of God, a visible symbol representing an invisible power. This might seem to some men a reasonable expedient as a first step to the knowledge of God. The Parsees now claim to be Theists, notwithstanding their worship of fire and the sun, taking these as the noblest emblems of Almighty God. The Israelites, when they worshipped the golden calf, said, " These be Thy gods (Elohim) which brought Thee up out of the land of Egypt. To-morrow shall be a feast to Jehovah." So also Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12 : 28. The Romanists tell us they only give an inferior worship to their images of the Virgin and saints. The Hindus perhaps had the idea in their mind of representing great power by the four arms of Vishnu and the sixteen of Siva and other representations.
But this is the very thing absolutely prohibited by God-any attempt to give men the knowledge of God by images or visible representations. It is emphatically forbidden in the Word of God, both in the Old and New Testaments. It is condemned by practice and precept, by prohibition and threatening. To bow adoringly to any image is a plain violation of God's law. It is not acceptable worship, but unbelief and disobedience. It is abomination and an insult to the living God. He is jealous of any attempt to worship Himself by any medium. "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." However expedient and desirable it may seem to men to use images and pictures in divine worship, Scripture is the only standard and authority upon the subject. In the Word of God there is much about idolatry, and it is condemned and deprecated and rebuked with all the argument and scorn and vehemence of which human language is capable.
Idol worship does not as a matter of fact and experience aid men in the worship of God. It is unprofitable and useless. It does not remind the Hindus of God their Creator, Father, and Ruler, nor supply any aid or incitement to moral excellence and virtue.
" To whom will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto Him 1" ,, We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by art and device of man." It is impossible to convey any conception of God by an image of anything in heaven or earth or under the earth. On the contrary, idols are deceptive, and convey false and ruinous ideas of God. " Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself." The idea of God is obscured and de. graded. Such gods have been compared to the Brocken spectre seen at dawn on one of the mountains in Germany, but the magnified and distorted shadows of the people themselves, human frailties and passions and virtues projected -and magnified upon the heavens. These gods are simply immortal men. The stories told in the vile mythology of India about the crimes of their gods and the depraving legends of their amours are derogatory to God, dishonoring to His perfections, and virtually a blasphemy of the Divine Being, who cannot lie and is of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity. The votaries of such gods "feed upon ashes, a deceived heart has led them astray. " "They that worship idols are like unto them. " Men will imitate the character of the gods they worship. Indeed, according to the highest teaching of Hindu sages, idols are not worshipped for anything but temporal benefits and prosperity. We are accustomed to appeal to the Hindus when some attempt to defend idolatry- Do these idols lead you to God 1 Do they aid you in virtue 1 Are your people godly, truthful, righteous, chaste, good 1 We appeal to their own consciences as to the general character of those who worship idols, and the abominable fables related of their gods, and can boldly compare all this with the history of Jesus Christ and the character inculcated in Holy Scripture and exemplified in the native Christians around them.
Take again the testimony of the learned and enlightened Rajah Rammohun Roy. He says: "Idolatry, as now practised by our countrymin, must be looked upon with great horror by common sense as leading directly to immorality and destructive of social comforts. For every Hindu who devotes himself to this absurd worship constructs for that purpose a couple of male and female idols, sometimes indecent in form, as representatives of his favorite deities. He is taught and enjoined from his infancy to contemplate and repeat the history of these as well as their fellow deities, though the actions ascribed to them be only a continued series of debauchery, sensuality, falsehood, ingratitude, breach of trust, and treachery to friends. There can be but one opinion respecting the moral character to be expected of a person who has been brought up with sentiments of reverence to such beings, who refreshes his memory relative to them almost every day, and who has been persuaded to believe that a repetition of the holy name of one of these deities, or a trifling present to his image or to his devotees, is sufficient not only to purify and free him from all crimes whatsoever, but to procure for him future beatitude."
Idolatry invariably degrades, belittles, and corrupts the mind. The worshippers as well as the images have eyes, but they see not; ears, but they hear not. An elaborate and debasing ceremonialism takes the place of spiritual religion. In the earliest of the Hindu Vedas we seem to find something of a monotheistic faith, and there is no mention of idols. Then came the worship of the elements, then of the deities supposed to preside over the powers of air, fire, water, and earth, then the worship of innumerable gods, and within the last thousand years the wicked and monstrous fables, the elaborate ritual, the cruel asceticism, the outward meritorious ceremonies of the Puranas and popular Hinduism, down to the worship of the cow and monkeys and snakes, of the mint and the linga-yea, of the meanest objects in creation. Monotheism is utterly lost in the multitude of divinities. It was by such degrees that the Hindus" changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up in the lnsts of their hearts unto uncleanness." As Matthew Henry says: "Whoever thinks one God too little will find two too many, and yet hundreds not enough." Truly, their sorrows are multiplied that hasten after another God. Idolatry is utterly useless for the purpose for which it is now defended, as leading men's minds to God and His service.
Again, idolatry is not only an insufficient system of worship, but the Word of God declares that it is injurious; it is rebellion, high treason against the Divine authority. It springs from disobedience and rejection of God. The genesis of idolatry is sin in the heart.
Whatever theories may be held as to the lower animals (and the theory of evolution is far from being proved), we know from Divine revelation that men at first knew God, but fell. "Since the creation of the world God's everlasting power and divinity are clearly seen, being perceived by the things that are made, that they may be without excuse. Because that, knowing God, they glorified Him not as God, neither gave thanks. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator." Men shut their eyes to the light they had. They" refused to have God in their knowledge. " They were not willing that He should be King, should be a spirit and worshipped in spirit and in truth. Judged by their own natural light they are to blame. Like the rich man who hinted that the Scriptures were not enough for the salvation of his brethren without some one rising from the dead and becoming visible to their sight; like the Israelites who cried, "Make us gods that they may go before us," the frequent demand of the heathen is for a material vision of God. Show us God. Let us look at Him with our eyes and not be troubled to exercise faith in an invisible being and to exercise our hearts in spiritual meditation and loving communion.
Hence it is that the living God is the one being whom Hindus do not worship. There is not a single temple in the'whole of India to the one God. The heart that feels not the want of the living God as its proper nntriment will feed on the ashes of idolatry. Men will worship secondary causes instead of the great First Cause, the Author and Giver of all good. The fisher, we read in Hab. 1 : 16, "sacrificeth unto his net and burneth incense unto his drag, because by them his portion is fat and his meat plenteous. " So in India the implements of war, learning, arts, and agriculture are worshipped annually-the sword of the warrior, the tools of the artisan, the books and pens of the scholar, the almanac and accountbooks of the merchant. We have known Christian officers in India lend their swords and subscribe toward the cost of these ceremonies. Distrust in God and His power and grace, and reliance on the creature, are at the bottom of idolatry. "When one god is asleep another can help us," they say, "but as for you who worship but one God, when He is asleep, there is none to help you."· "One god is good for one thing, another for other things," is their doctrine. The omniscience of God is hidden from them. " Can you tell us of a god whom we can worship in the house without travelling so far and getting so fatigued~" The worship of the sun or the moon is declared by Job to be a denial of the God that is above, to whom we owe life and breath and all things. We are, therefore, specially anxious, in these days, to show the Hindus not only the folly and uselessness of idolatry, but to awake their consciences to a sense of its sinfulness and criminality before God.
Idolatry is a great sin against the majesty of the God of heaven, and is so spoken of in Scripture. Godly men would rather lose their life than yield to it. "We have no need," said the three godly Jews to the king of Babylon, "to answer thee in this matter. Be it known unto thee, o king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. " The early Christian martyrs were asked but to cast a pinch of incense into the fire before the image, but would rather die than do so. Were they right? Certainly-rather die than deny the God that made us and loves us and redeemed us by his dear Son Jesus Christ.
Therefore it is that God has so often and so warmly declared His displeasure against idolatry. God must rule the universe, there is no other way possible. God is love, but He must love righteousness and hate iniquity. "My glory will I not give to another, nor My praise to graven images." He cannot transfer His supremacy to another, else the world would perish, righteousness would perish. No sin is more offensive to· God than thus to rob Him of His glory and give that glory to the finite creature. He is provoked to wrath by the rejection of Himself and perversion of His gifts to evil. " My bread which I gave, the fine flour and oil and honey wherewith I fed thee, thou did set before the imagel!l fora sweet savor." "I gave Israel the corn and the wine and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baa!." "The idol is a shameful thing." "It is an abomination to the Lord, an iniquity which shall be visited upon the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him." It is ingratitude, contempt, and rejection of God's rnle and dominion.
The Israelites were ordered to destroy all images and not to intermarry with idolaters. Idolatry in the nation was to be punished with death, and three thousand were slain for the worship of the golden calf. " If ye shall go and serve other gods and worship them, then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them." For their idolatry and crimes the Canaanites were destroyed from the face of the earth. The Jews themselves suffered many national disasters, and ultimately a long captivity as a punishment for their idolatry.
Again, idolatry is in Scripture classed with the grossest sins, as one of them and leading to them. Neglect or abandonment of God must lead to sin. It is a fruitful source of superstition and vice. " Images," said Augustine, " are of more force to pervert the soul than to instruct it. " The gods that men invent are suited to their taste- " Gods changeful, passionate, unjust, Whose attributes are rage, revenge, and lust."
Gods not abhorring sin and easily pardoning vice, pleased with an external ritual without the veneration of the heart, under the power of their worshippers by their offerings and incantations. None of the Hindu deitiel!l represent any virtue.
Fearful cruelty and crimes which it is a shame even to speak of usually accompany idolatry. Its chief seats have always been cesspools of immorality and vice, and its allurements sensual pleasure. Missionaries are often at a disadvantage because they are unable to explain to a general audience the horrors of evil with which they are acquainted. In India almost every large temple has numerous priestesses engaged in vice, religious courtesans. These are spoken of as the servants and the wives of the god. We have known a melancholy case of a young woman who had been for some time under Christian instruction, but became irregular in attendance, and, when asked the cause, confessed that she was about to become the twenty.first wife of the god Bhuthanatha-" the wife of a stone," said she j "that is, the wife of anybody that wishes. Who can help me," she mourned j "it is settled by the gods, and I must submit to my fate."
It is all this indulgence in sensuality and pleasure that attracts and retains the worshippers, as it did the Israelites formerly. Idolatry exercises no restraint on vice, but rather encourages it. "In heathenism we can do as we like," some tell us, " but if we become Christians we must keep the ten commandments." The very carvings on temples and idol cars are often abominable, obscene, and bestial. From idolatry sprang human sa.crifices, formerly pra.ctised in India, the hook swinging, not yet effectually put down by government, and other sanguinary rites, widow burning and throwing of children into the idolized Ganges, weary penances, and toilsome pilgrimages. From idolatry and its distrust of Almighty God springs the resort to evil spirits for pretended divination, sorcery, magical arts, and demoniac possession. In the Tamil tractate Subhradipam, written by a native Christian, an argument against Hinduism is adduced from the fearful imprecations and magical charms and rites sanctioned by it for the destruction of enemies. Hence sorcery as well as sensual lusts are usually associated with idolatry in Scripture. " The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of which I forewarn you that they which practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
Lastly, it is but reasonable, as it is certainly scriptnral, to declare that idolatry is fatal to the souls of men. The Word of God declares the future punishment of idolaters. Everywhere in Holy Scripture it is spoken of as destructive to the souls of men. We must either give up the inspiration of the Word or accept the lost condition of the world. God says that men are perishing, and there is but one way of salvation for them. " This is life eternal, to know God," and men do not care to know God or to retain Him in their knowledge. What multitudes have withIn the last century heard the preaching of the Gospel and rejected it! Idolaters are under the" power of Satan," and many expressly worship devils as more prudent and profitable and more urgently necessary than the worship of God.
Ve read in Rev. 9 : 20 of those who "repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which neither see, nor hear, nor walk." So idolaters need to repent of this sin, and few do so.
Observe the connection in 1 Thess. 1 : 9, 10 between idolatry and the wrath to come, from which Jesus had delivered the Thessalonian converts, " Ye turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come."
See also Rev. 21 : 8, " For 1,he fearful, and unbelieving, and abomiooble, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Thus if we accept the testimony of Holy Scripture, and view idolatry in the light in which we are told God views it, we cannot rest; with the poor, cold, feeble, inadequate argument for missions that some are now resorting to, that the heathen must somehow be saved by the mercy of God, but
RAILROADS IN TURREY
we should add to their happiness and spiritual privileges by sending them the Gospel. That principle is one of mere philanthropy. No! They are living in sin, and to a great extent, in India at least, knowingly and wilfully, against the law written in their hearts and consciences, in the love of sin. They are responsible and guilty. They have such acquaintance with duty as is essential to accountability. They cling to heathenism even after hearing of God. They need therefore the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and not only from love to our Blessed Saviour and from obedience to Him, but from love and compassion to millions of perishing souls, should we send the Gospel to rescue them from their misery and danger. May God prosper the glorious work !
RAILROADS IN TURKEY.
BY REV. DR. HENRY H. JESSUP, BEIRUT, SYRIA.
It is well known that the present ruler of Turkey, His Imperial Majesty the Sultan Abdul Hamid Khan, is in favor of the material improvement of the Empire. He is a friend of railroads and wagon roads, and more has been done during the eighteen years of his reign in this direction than in all preceding reigns.
The accompanying sketch map has been prepared to show the various railways already built, and others under construction and proposed.
I. The Jaffa-Jerusalem Railroad, about 50 miles long, of standard gauge, constructed by a French company. This is eminently a sentimental railway, as it can hardly be expected to pay dividends to the stockholders. It may pay the employes and running expenses, and thus be saved from collapse. The tourist and pilgrim seasons are short, and during the greater part of the year it resembles the railways to the American mountain summer resorts during the winter. The last Arabic official journals just received from Beirut deny that this railway has been purchased by the Rothschilds, but add the somewhat remarkable news that the French company have asked permission from the Sultan to extend the road to the Dead Sea and Jericho. As Jerusalem is 2600 feet above the sea-level, and the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below it, there is a descent of 3900 feet in about 18 miles. A Swiss cog-wheel road could be built without difficulty in these days of engineering triumphs, but the question arises cui bono? The few hundreds or even thousands of poor pilgrims who go down to Jericho and the Jordan annually would never compensate the company even for running expenses, especially as the majority of the Russian pilgrims, in their superstitious devotion, come to Palestine with a vow that they will walk all the way from Jaffa to Jerusalem, to Jordan, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and back to Jaffa. The Dead Sea, with its salt and bitter waters, would seem, in a poetical sense, to be an appropriate place to " end" a railway which is said to be already a financial failure.
The Sultan has recently annexed to the Turkish Empire the district of Kir Moab (Kerak), southeast of the Dead Sea, where the sheikhs of the MajeUa Arabs have so long defied the government and levied blackmail upon travellers. A wagon road has been surveyed from Kerak to the Mezraa, on the southeast shore of the Dead Sea, and a steam launch is said to be prepared to run between the northern shore and Mezraa. As a military convenience to the Turkish garrison holding Kerak, this is a wise arrangement, but hardly enough to give business to the Jericho extension of the Jerusalem Railway.
A far more encouraging piece of news comes by the last Arabic journals of October 16th from Beirut, that the Jaffa Railway Company have asked of the Sultan a " concession" for building a breakwater and harbor at Jaffa. No tourist to Palestine can ever forget the perils of landing at Jaffa. It is proposed to build a stone breakwater enclosing a port large enough to admit steamers, and to extend the railway to the harbor.
II. The Haifa-Damascus Railway. A firman was given some years since to a native Syrian for the construction of a railway, standard gauge, from Haifa, under Mount Carmel, through the plain of Esdraelon south of Nazareth, via Jezreel and Bethshan to the Jordan south of the Sea of Galilee, thence northeast through the land of Javlon to Damascus, with a branch into Houran and east of the Jordan.
This concession was sold to an English company in London, who surveyed the road, let its construction to contractors, and a few miles of track were laid southward along the Kishon. Then came a sudden halt. The work stopped. The Syrian concessionaire sued the company for a heavy amount, and this with other suits is said to amount to some £80,000 sterling. The engineers in Haifa, having received no pay for seven months, seized all the plans and surveys of the road, and, according to reports published in the Lisan el Hal journal of Beirut, in September, were about to leave for London to prosecute the company. There has been gross mismanagement somewhere, and the whole enterprise is imperilled. It had proposed to continue the road eventually from Damascus to Baghdad.
III. The Beirut-Damascus Railway. The concession for this road was obtained four years since by a Syrian Mohammedan gentleman, Hassan Effendi Beihum, and by him sold to a French company, which has owned the Damascus Diligence road since 1860, and has also just completed a fine breakwater and harbor in Beirut at a cost of about $500,000. This road consists of three divisions: 1. From Beirut to Damascus. This crosses the Lebanon range at an elevation of 5000 feet. It is a narrow-gauge road, and has a third cograil on the steep grades. It pass@s northwest of Shtoreh below Zahleh, thence east to Wady Yehfofeh and Zebedany, and down the valley of the Barada (t1l.e Abana) to Damascus. This road will be open for traffic within a year.
2. The Damascus-Honran brauch. This ruus south of Damascus to the vast wheat region of Bashan and Houran, and is to terminate at Bozrah or Mezeirib. It is already finished and open for traffic. It will protJW)te the pacification of that turbulent district and provide a cheap outlet for the splendid wheat harvests of Houran, besides increasing largely the area of cultivated land. It will also be used by the Hajj pilgrim cara- van on the first stage of its progress from Damascus to Mecca.
3. The Damascus-Aleppo-Birijik branch. This is under survey, run- ning from Damascus northeast to Nebk and Kuryetein, thence northwest to Hums and Hamath, thence to Aleppo and northeast to Birijik on the Euphrates.
This is a part of the future inland mercantile and military trunk rail- way from Constantinople to Damascus. It passes through a fertile region now almost wholly abandoned as pasture land to the Bedouin Arabs.
IV. The Mersin-Tarsus-Adana Railway. This road was built some years since by an English company as the beginning of a through line to Mosul. It is completed only to Adana, and its extension eastward is among the uncertainties of the future.
V. The Constantinople-Angora-Cresarea Railway. This road is com- pleted to Angora, and is under construction to Cresarea, with the expectation of its ultimate extension to Diarbekir, Mosul, and Baghdad. It will, no doubt, connect at some time with Birijik and Damascus.
VI. The Smyrna-Ephesus-Aidin Railway. This is already extended 70 miles east of Aidin to Serai Kowy. through the finest fig-producing region in the world. It will, no doubt, be extended still farther eastward.
VII. The Constantinople and Bulgarian Railway. This is the connecting link between Constantinople and Western Europe.
The advantages of railway communication in this great Empire will be very great.
1. Large tracts of fertile land now lying desolate through insecurity will be brought under government control and settled by the peasantry now crowded into the mountain districts for mutual protection. The -great wheat region of Houran and Bashan and the vast trans-Jordanic pasture lands now claimed by the Bedouin Arabs will be gradually restored to cultivation.
The line from Damascus to Aleppo borders a district of great fertility, now desolate or sparsely settled and at the mercy of the Mowali, Hadideh, and A 'nazi Arabs. Mount Lebanon is crowded with villagers who earn a scant subsistence from their rocky terraces, but are afraid to venture out upon the plains. This railway will encourage settlers, enable the goverp.- ment to protect them, and thus benefit the whole land.
2. It will make travel more safe and economical. A box of Bibles now Bent from Beirut to Mosul (the ancient Nineveh) goes by caravan, and is
GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN JAPAN
a month on the passage, and during the winter is liable to injury and delay from pouring rains and impassable roads. This is true of other routes, and increased facilities will increase opportunities for good.
3. It is to be hoped that increased means of intercourse will tend to bring the different tribes and nationalities of this motley and much-divided empire into a better acquaintance with each other. The Protestant communities of Asia Minor have little to do with those of Syria and Palestine; and yet they are under a common civil organization, with a common wakil or civil head in Constantinople. If the future Evangelical Church of the Empire is to be a unit, and co-operate for the common weal and the spread of the Gospel, the people must know each other, and send delegates to each other's conferences. Railways will make this possible. At present it is out of the question.
THE GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN JAPAN.
BY REV. A. D. HAIL, D.D., JAPAN.
The Protestant division of the Church in Japan has passed through two periods in its progress, and is now in the initial stages of its third period. These may be loosely characterized as the periods of preliminary resistance, relaxation of resistance and revival, and reaction.
The first period embraces the time from 1859-72. To the missionaries of this period Japan was a Jericho, around the walls of which the powers that be, under severe penalty, forbade the priests the privilege of even "blowing their horns." The swaggering Samurai not only "looked daggers," but carried them, and that, too, with a purpose. Indeed, the threat was made that should the Christian's God Himself come to great Japan, even His head would be cut off. The whole chrysanthemum country was completely combined against Christianity.
When the Roman Catholic form of Christianity reached the high-tide of its great success several centuries ago, it drew to itself the attention of the Buddhists. They bQgan a series of persecutions and oppositions which were not terminated with the supposed extermination of those Christians. When our pioneer missionaries came they had, accordingly, to live in an atmosphere of suspicion and hatred generated by the same persecuting power. They found edicts everywhere on the government bulletin-boards against the faith they had come to propagate. The first teachers employed often proved themselves to be government spies. One man hired himself to Dr. Hepburn in order that he might find a favorable opportunity for assassinating him, and was disarmed only by the impression made upon him by the good doctor's uniform Christian kindness. Not quite twenty-five years ago several thousand Catholic Christians, still secretly maintaining their faith, were discovered and subjected to a cruel imprisonment, many of them in the neighboring city of Wakayama.
When the edicts were first taken down by the new government, it was only that they might be renewed by itself. The masses feared Chris_ tianity. and the rulers hated it. So late as 1872, when an inquiry was made of the Governor of Kobe (Hyogoken) whether a native bookseller would be permitted to sell the English Bible, the reply was given that any Japanese who sold a Bible knowing it to be such would have to go to prison.
By the close of 1859 the American Episcopal, Northern Presbyterian, and Dutch Reformed churches had missionaries upon the ground. One of Commodore Perry's sailors, a Baptist, came in 1860. The A. B. C. F. M.
and C. M. S. entered the field in 1869. The total number of missionaries at the close of 1872 was 28. During the first period, up to the time of the organization of the first church, 10 persons only had received baptism, 5 in Central and 5 in Southern Japan. The first convert, the teacher of Rev. James Ballagh, was baptized by him in 1864. The first church was organized March 20th, 1872, in Yokohama, consisting of 9 young men baptized on that day and 2 middle-aged men who had been previously baptized.
With 1873 began a new era in the progress of Christianity. The attitude of the rulers began to change. An embassy left Japan in December, 1871, making the round of the leading Western nations, returning in 1873. This body was composed of men of such ability and social standing as to have much weight and wide influence. The country began to wake up from its Rip Van Winkle sleep of ages. The edicts against Christianity were taken down, and the hundreds of Roman Catholic Christians were released from imprisonment. Various national reforms were undertaken, the Gregorian calendar was adopted, telegraphs, railroads, daily papers, postal treaties with West ern nations, school systems, prison reforms, and many other improvements began largely at this time, and so the Mikado's empire began to move into line with the great nations of the world. With this year also new missions began to be established, and 29 missionaries came which more than doubled the force already on the ground. At this time also the Committee on Bible Translation began its work. In the 55 missionaries on the field at the close of 1873 ten missions and 8 different bodies of Christians were represented. This second period closed about 1887. The .missionaries on the ground had increased in number, from 1873-78, to 99 ; 1879,122 ; 1882, 138 ; 1885, 183 ; 1887, 253. The converts numbered in 1873 about 125(?) with two organized churches. The number of baptized believers had increased in 1876 to 1004; 1879, 2965 ; 1882, 4987 ; 1885, 11,678; 1887, 19,825. During this period occurred three important and helpful events. The New Testament translation was finished November 3d, 1879; (The committee engaged in this work to its close were Rev. S. R. Brown, D.D., Rev. D. C. Greene, D.D., Rev. Dr. McLay, and Rev. J. C. Hepburn, M.D., D.D.) This was about five years and six months from the time they began it. Another important event was the conference of missionaries held in Osaka, April, 1883. Although every Christian body was represented and all the burning questions of mission polity were warmly discussed, yet the sub-base of a common love to our common Lord was the undertone heard through it all. The inftuence of that meeting for good still lingers, and has specially contributed to subsequent Christian comity and fellowship.
There was also about this time a gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit and an uplift of the spiritual life of the Church. It spread throughout the entire country. It entered the Christian schools, and delegates from these went to the various churches to exhort them to do great things for Christ. The triennial convention of the Japanese brethren, which is one of their fixed in~titutions, was that year pervaded by such a spirit of prayer that they found it difficult to follow their prearranged programme. It was truly a Pentecostal time, and one in which the Holy Spirit's power assumed a new meaning. This served to give a good direction to the preaching services in the churches and the Christian addresses in the theatres and other places during those days. It also served to prepare the Church for the third and terribly trying period upon which it was soon to enter.
With 1878 Japan began to swing to the other extreme in regard to their treatment of things Western. A nation whose intensity of feeling against Christianity and Western peoples isolated them for three centuries, has in the continuity of its past a potent instrument for either good or evil. With this in the hands of a designing priesthood the politicians become mere puppets, while true patriots and Christian Japanese leaders have their inftuence greatly circumscribed, and also as members of the" body politic" must have their own feelings more or less colored by it.
The schools were the first to feel the effects of the reaction. The attendance dropped from 10,297 in 1888 to 8758 in 1889-90 i in 1890-91 was another drop of 1861, leaving the enrolment for that scholastic year 6897. The year 1893 shows an increase of 253 over 1892, but less by 2305 than in 1887-88.
During these years there has also been an annually decreasing number of adult baptisms, dropping from 6884 in 1888 to 3636 in 1893. The number of exclusions have annually increased during this time from 161 in 1888 to 636 in 1893. The adult baptisms for these years run as fol. lows: 1888, 6884 i 1889, 5007 i 1890, 4431 i 1891, 3718 i 1892,2731 ; 1893, 3636. The number of exclusious for the same time are: 1888, 161; 1889, 286 i 1890, 355; 1891, 322 i 1892, 573; 1893, 636. There has, however, during these years been a net increase of 11,884, the membership by years being, 1888,25,514; 1889,31,181; 1890,32,380; 1891, 33,390; 1892, 35,534; 1893, 37,398. In these reactionary years the contributions of the Japanese Christians amount in round numbers to about 500,000 silver yen ;* to thc close of 1893, from 1888, the sum was 428,6~8.44 yen, the largest contributions for one year having been made in 1891. The organized churches increa~ed in number from 221 to 365, or 144 during these last five years. The number of theological students, ministers, and Bible-women has steadily increased. The present number of theological students is 367 ; native ministers, 206; unordained preachers and helpers, 665 ; Bible-women, 279.
One reason for the annual increase of exclusions and decrease in the number of baptisms since 1888 is the fact that the Church has come to a better conception of the Christian life. They have become more careful in the instruction of catechumens and increasingly particular in insisting upon the maintenance of Christian character.
This straightforward, silent, steady growth of the Church finds its solu- tion in the fact that it has a life derived from Christ alone, or rather in the statement that Christ still lives in and sustains His saints.
Spiritual, like all other forms of life has within it such a mystical, in- visible element that its growth can be known only by the peculiarities of external manifestation.
A disappointment is sometimes felt by missionaries and others that the developing life of the Church and of the individual Christian does not manifest itself in forms that are in the line of those to which they have themselves been most accustomed. The unreasonableness of such a dis- appointment ought to be evident with but little reflection. In the West, where we have so many different denominations developed, each under trials and difficulties peculiar to itself, and where each one has stood for the emphasis of some one important truth overshadowed by others, there , has come in time to be a common denominational consciousness, so much so that we can even speak of different types of piety. In, America we have very distinctly marked types, such as the Quaker, the Methodist, the Old Presbyterian, and the Episcopal. In Japan the Church has not become so thoroughly denominational, and so its type of life partakes more of national and racial peculiarities. The kinship of the general life of the Church to that of the West is indicated by that literature which is so help- ful to all Christians everywhere. Thomas a Kempis's "Imitation of Christ" and Stolker's "Christ's Image" have had a large sale; with them also Bunyan's" Pilgrim's Progress" is immensely popular, and un- bounded delight is taken in following pilgrims from the cross and the wicht-gate through the whole way to the wide-open gates of the celestial city.
Prayer, providence, and the Word of God have been markedly con- spicuous in their relation to Japanese Christian life. Shortly after the opening of the country to foreign intercourse, about 1857, Dr. S. Wells Williams and the Rev. W. E. Style, of Shanghai, went to NagasakLt At that time the United S~tes gunboat Powhatan was in port, and on the • A yen is somewhat less than a dollar. t Rev. Dr. Stont, Osaka Conference Report. occasion of a visit of the officers to the governor of the city, they were invited with the chaplain, Rev. Mr. Wood, to join the party. In course of conversation during the call the governor said that Japan was now open to trade with other nations, and the Japanese would be glad of anything the foreigners might bring them except two things-viz., opium and Christianity. The remark was noted, and on the return of these three gentlemen to the vessel they talked the matter over. It was plain to them that the governor did not know what Christianity really was, but had formed his opinion of it from Roman Catholicism in the country in former times. They therefore resolved that they should try to bring about the introduction of true Christianity, and wrote letters to the Boards of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches in America, urging the sending of missionaries to Japan. The answer to the prayers of these men and their letters were the first missionaries sent out in 1859. Subsequent events have shown that for the onward movement of the Church in modern missions God had struck the hour of the Church's opportunity. "The isles were indeed waiting for His law." In these early days there was a large number of Japanese with whom the missionaries first came in contact who could read Chinese Bibles and tracts, and these did a good service in sowing the seeds of spiritual life.
As an instance in point we have the well-known case of General Wakasa, who commanded the littoral guards at Nagasaki in 1854, when an English fleet suddenly made its appearance in that harbor. It was his duty to prevent the landing of foreigners except at a designated spot. In his rounds he saw a New Testament floating on the waters and fished it out. From a Dutch interpreter he learned its nature, and afterward obtained a Chinese translation of it. He began reading it immediately. After Dr. Verbeck came to Nagasaki he received a request for instruction from this general, who was living two days'journey in the interior. Owing to feudal restrictions the general could not go in person, but sent by a messenger passages of Scripture for explanation. In time he was ripe for the reception of Christ's appointed ordinance. Dr. Verbeck, on May 20th, the day of Pentecost, 1866, baptized two members of this his interior Bible class-viz., General Wakasa and Ayabe San, his brother. The general translated portions of the Chinese New Testament into easy Japanese for the women of his household, and they too were instructed in the way of salvation. A daughter and female servant were baptized in 1880 at Nagasaki. They reported that the general died a most triumphant death. The servant's zealous service for her spiritual master has resulted in the organization of a church in Saga. A granddaughter of Wskasa has become a Christian, and in 1890 a grandson entered the Doshisha College,bringing with him, and presenting to th~ school, a large English Bible given to his grandfather thirty years before, but which they had been obliged to conceal for years on account of persecution.* Dr. Ver- * Dr. Gordon, .. American Missionary In Japan." beck states that "by the close of the first period of mission work many thousands of volumes of Chinese Bibles and other ChristIan literature had been circulated. These were obtained mostly from the Presbyterian and London Mission presses at Hongkong and Shanghai. The faithful authors of this literature were little aware that while working for the salvation of China, they had been, as it were, writing with a double-pointed pen and working for Japan as well."
There is no mission in Japan but that can in some place or places in its history point to signal instances of the initiation of spiritual life and labor to the seemingly direct inspiration of a conjunction of these three factors-prayer, providence, and the pure Word of God. Prayer at the time of the providential opening of Japan preceded the coming of the first missionaries with Chinese Bibles. Prayer preceded the organization of the first Church in Japan, just at that moment when God's providence opened the country in 1873 to wider Christian effort. Prayer and the translation of the New Testament preceded the revival of 1883. There has for the last year been an unusual spirit of prayer in the churches, while more than 13,000 Japanese Christians are enrolled in the Scripture Readers' Union, and this just preceding that inscrutable providence within which is infolded a dark war cloud big and black with wrath. Has not the Father thus been rooting the life of His people in the living Word that they may firmly endure the coming storm ?
There has from the very first been a spontaneous tendency of the life of the Church toward uniou. Our Lord counted upon the oneness of His people as one of the most apposite of apologetics. In the Saviour's sad. dest hour the solidarity of His saints was His supremest solicitude. " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that believe on Me through their word: that they all may be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe Thou didst send Me." It might have been feared, in view of the many years of feudalism that existed in the land, with the consequent tendency to clannishness thus generated, that the various bodies of believers would carry the " clan spirit" into their various denominations, but there has been but little of this. The consummation of the promptings of the Spirit in the direction of union. and fellowship has become a fixed hope and prayer with Japanese Christians. Indeed, the greatest checks to union have come from our constituencies in the West. In the earliest years of the work, in September, 1872, the three Presbyterian bodies then in the country and the A. B. C. F. M. missionaries agreed upon a basis for the organization of their churches. '" "The plan," says Dr. Gordon, "of forming simple churches of Christ failed at the time, largely (must it be confessed?) because some people couldn't count converts so easily; but the good tlpirit of the convention has followed these missions down to the present time."
• .. American Missionary in Japan." Yet the union of churches in Japan has not wholly failed, and with the splendid nationalistic feeling in the country and the continued development of the spiritual life of the churches, it is a mere question of time when other unions will be effected. There are now two united bodies in Japan. The English, American, and Canadian families of the Episcopal household unite in building up the Nippon Leikyokwai. Four missions are represented in this work. It has 4 bishops, 3 arch-deacons, 91 missionaries, 61 theological students, 21 native clergy, and 5157 members. The other united body, Nippon Christo Kyokwai, has seven co-operating missions representing one Scotch and five American Presbyterian churches. It has 140 missionaries, 105 theological students, 62 ordained ministers, and 11 ,200 members.
With the union of the various Methodist bodies and of all the orthodox bodies holding the Congregational polity, the 23 missions in Japan would be engaged in building up but four branches of the Church. " Desire for union is strongest either in the newly converted or in the mature Christian. An intermediate stage of experience is the best soil for the growth of the denominational spirit."* With the more marked maturity of the • Church, therefore, may we expect that its oneness may become more and more manifest.
The unfolding of the life of the Japanese Church adds one more illustrative fact to the truth that it thrives even under trials. Its dangers have not dwarfed, but have deepened its life. Spiritual life is not one of God's hothouse plants. The life of Christ's body, the Church, has its wilderness temptations and Gethsemanes, as well as had its great Head. Persecution has played a painful part in the work-imprisonment, the pressure of public sentiment, and other forms of it peculiar to Japanese social life. The son of a man who was assassinated JIllany years ago for his supposed sympathy with Christianity became a Christian. He writes: "One day when I returned home from school my mother informed me that if I did not renounce Christianity she was going to commit suicide that very evening. My father had been assassinated because he was supposed to have been a believer in Christianity, and his friends told me that if her son became a Christian the stain on the father's name could never be washed away. It was a terrible trial, but I asked for a little respite that I might reconsider the claims of Christianity. I said I was willing to abandon it if I could see that it was not true. So it went on. They used every means in their power to change my mind, but the unseen hand was above us and led me. After three months I got permission to go to the government college in Tokyo, and a year after I entered the theological school in Kyoto. . . . My mother is now a Christian rejoicing in the faith."t A Buddhist priest baptized by Dr. Verbeck suffered in various prisons for five years. A teacher of Rev. O. H. Gulick was put in prison for his faith • Dr. Gordon. t Dr. Gordon, " American Missionary In Japan." and died there. There have been threatened disinheritance, boycotts, imprisonment of sons at their own homes, the stoning of Christian preach- ing-places, and lately a cowardly and cruel working of the nationalistic feeling against Christians j but whatever the form of trial, they have borne it as a whole with a prudence and patience that places them in the long roll of those worthies who from the beginning have suffered for Christ.
There are numbers of Christians who have given up lucrative employments from the conviction that these were inconsistent with the Christian life-wholesale sake brewers, renters of houses for immoral purposes, the manufacturer of theatrical costumes and furnishments, and others. There are those serving in the ministry receiving far less than they could obtain in government employ.
A girl who makes 90 cents a month manufacturing paper match-boxes keeps the Sabbath, though it means a loss of 12 cents a month from her scant wages. There are other instances of a similar kind. Missionaries whose work necessarily puts them into the closest and tenderest relations to the Japanese Christians could recount many cases of personal sacrifice, patient cross-bearing that would be a source of helpfulness to all who love our Lord. The life of the Church, as it has grown and shown itself in Japan as a whole, is a grand nineteenth-century evidence of the truth and power of Christianity.
Of course the life is not yet a perfect one, and there still are things criticisable by pastors and others, else there were no further need of either, but better than this is it ours to see Christ back of it all.
The developing life of this Christian body is its safeguard in these days when so many loose Western theologies threaten it. The creation by the Holy Spirit of a Christian consciousness through the common experience of the fulness and fitness of Christ to meet the spiritual hunger of the human heart and to heal "all its diseases," is that which increasingly tends to hold the Church true to her great Head. A Buddhist priest who became a Christian, when giving his household Hotoke San to a missionary, said that two years before becoming a Christian he gave up the worship of this idol, " but I never knew how dear it was to me until, in accordance with my vow, I bowed before it for the last time in worship. No human being can tell what a lonesome heart I had during these two years. I had given up the only object of worship I knew, and there was no other to take its place j but since I have known Christ I have never known what it is to be lonesome-hearted. "
As there are" flowers that bloom in the sunless depths of the sea," so this sweet common experience of Christ in the heart is the flower that continually grows in the depth of this Church's Christian life, no matter what storms sweep the surface above it~· Hurtful theologies cannot stand before the soulful satisfaction found in the spiritually presen1; Saviour.
This is the direction which the Church's apologetics are beginning to assume. An eloquent Japanese pastor, at the recent twentieth anniversary
DR. GORDON'S RELATION TO MISSIONS
of his church, said: "Our early apologetics took the direction of the nature of the God we worshipped as compared with the prices of dried wood the idolators worshipped. We were soon met with the popular reply from them, that we do not worship the wood, but only what these images represent. We then took up the superiority of Western morals and progress, for in those days we supposed that the Western people were about all of them Christians, and everything in their civilization was good j but we finally had to weaken on that line. At last, after trying the whole round of evidences, we come back to the argument from Christian experience. We can stand before our adversaries and tell them of our hearts baptized with the Holy Spirit, with a rest of soul as deep and broad and beautiful as a quiet sea in a still night reflecting the stars of heaven. "
Other features of the growing life of the Church readily suggest themselves, and can be only mentioned. This intensifying Christ-life has caused confessions of sin and restitution, the reconciliation of enemies, a purer family life, lives of faith, and the founding of institutions thereon that have been as marvellous as that of Muller's Bristol work. Indeed, the one thing the Buddhists now fear more than anything is the life of the Christian Church, and they are now duplicating in a mechanical way every institution that is the dynamical outgrowth of the life of the Church.
DR. GORDON'S RELATION TO MISSIONS.
* BY REV. H. C. MABIE, D.D.
If I were to express in one word Dr. Gordon's relation to missions, I should say that hi, interest in missions was integral; it entered into his very spiritual personality ; it was but the natural breathing and outcome of his being; it was no form of service that was put on as a garment; no perfunctory performance; no line of duty taken up hecause he had been elected to fill some official position. Missions with him, as with the God who instituted them, and with Jesus Christ His Son, who by His atonement made them possible, were constitutional. He could no more think of missions as geographically limiting his thoughts, his heart, his life, his enterprise, than you could think of there being limits to the sympathies of our Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose it to be the very essence of the heart of God that He yearns over humanity as a whole, longing with infinite tenderness to impart His own type of being, His own type of life, His own type of blessedness, to His creatures. It proceeds from within, as does the heat of the sun. So was Dr. Gordon's relation to the work of missions; it was born in him by the Spirit of the living God. He was in his natural birth the descendant of a parentage missionary in spirit. The • From at) tj,d<lre•• delivered at the funeral, Boston, February 5th. very name which his parents gave him in the old birthplace in New Hampshire was indicative of the spirit that had ruled in the ancestral home in admiration of the foremost martyr of this missionary century-Adoniram Judson. So also, in connection with his conversion, there seemed to be transmitted to him and implanted within him the very essence and genius of this relation to the whole earth in the spirit of his honored and saintly name8ake.
Dr. Gordon's Bible was a missionary Bible from Genesis to Revelation, not merely containing a passage or two in the form of explicit command, such as " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" -but the entire Book, the volume as a whole, the complete oracles of the Old and New Testament, were missionary, from the" In the beginning" to "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." And so whatever his point of departure in his Rtudyor meditation on the Divine oracles, they were ever saying to him, "This is too good, too Divine to be kept; it must be shared with the entire family of mankind." And so Dr. Gordon's preaching was evermore missionary preaching, because missions are the interior of the Bible, the essence of the Gospel, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit among the nations, and he could not expound these words without exhaling a missionary spirit.
Dr. Gordon's world in which he lived was a missionary world. He found himself a denizen of a goodly city, indeed, of a noble commonwealth, of what we are fond of calling the most exalted nation on earth; but Dr. Gordon regarded himself far more than this, even a denizen of the planet; the entire earth was his home, his parish; and so these artificial missionary limitations that we are wont to form called home and foreign, because of our shortness of view and our failure to take in the great Divine perspective, which so often affiict the minds of God's people, never affiicted his mind. Those of you who have heard him speak of missions will remember how he was wont to say that the best prayer-book in the world is a map of the world. " Go," said he, "into the closet, and spread out this prayer-book before you, and then draw a line round some portion of the world, and pray, if you can, 'Thy Kingdom come.' Nay, rather, get the entire globe before you, and hover over it in the spirit of the Holy Ghost, who brooded over chaos, and brought light out of darkness, order out of confusion, salvation out of death, and you will pray aright." This was his attitude toward the world in which he lived.
History, in its ongoings, as Dr. Gordon viewed it, was missionary history. He was not a man sailing over a trackless deep without chart or compass, with no desired haven in view. History was not to him a confused mass of accidents, as it is to the materialistic thinker of our dayan insoluble riddle-a hopeless tangle. The history of the world, as he viewed it, started from a beginning and went on through the middle to the end, in an orderly way, and the end was a glorious and Divine consummation. The one last word that escaped his lips WaS "Victory I" He believed that this was assured in history. His faith swept the entire perspective, and hence it was that he saw great mountain peaks in that wondrous landscape where some of us, perhaps, see only hillocks, if we see even these. His view of history was simply the successive stages of the plan of human redemption, with its glorious culmination.
" The great world's altar stairs That slope through darkness up to God."
If some thought at times that his view of proper mission work was superficial or pessimistic, I bid them think again. If some think that he emphasized unduly what he regarded as the great and immediate duty of the Church in this present age-viz., to preach the Gospel "for a witness" -let them think how long, how ardently, how profoundly he pondered the words of the Lord–for His words they are-" This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." What Dr. Gordon meant by the" witnessing" is not that superficial post-boy, flash-light method of Christian enterprise which some imagine. * What it is let his own tremendously earnest and concentrated efforts-which burnt out the fires of his lifetestify. He meant all that Jesus Christ meant when He said: "To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the Truth." Christ's personal ministry, from the manger to the throne, he believed to be but a witness-the beginnings of things, not the consummation of them-the foundations only of the eternal kingdom that God was to rear. He meant all that the Apostle Paul meant when he spoke of his consummate privilege " to testify the Gospel of the grace. of God j" to" finish his course," a life-work that in the Divine plan had a beginning and a completion.
Dr. Gordon was profoundly moved in respect to missions because he believed that the Holy Ghost-the Third Person of the adorable Trinitybeing the soul of the Christian Church, was likewise the soul of its most characteristic' work, Christian missions. The Holy Spirit, and therefore his spirit, could not rest until it can:ied out what was hinted on the great natal day of the Church-the first Pentecost. Hence it was that Dr. Gordon's thought respecting missions was simply coincident with and exactly commensurate with the attainable spirituality and spiritual service of the Church of God in this age. Missions in his mind were the birth * That there are those who entertain such a view we do not dispute, but such was not Dr.
Gordon's conception of the witnessing. He did indeed believe that, however thorough and effective this period of witnessing among the nations might be, It was ouly preliminary and relatively Ineffectual as compared with what the period of world-harvest to follow the Lord's return will be. This with him was, however, chiefly a matter of programme of the Divine plan of operation. In his mind .it neither warranted superficiality of present-day effort, nor landed him in pessimism. Rather it afforded his basis for the most triumphaut optimism-the only basis for it which he saw In RevelatioD. On this basis he was at least always a pro-millennialist. (See Dr. Gordon's" The Holy Spirit in llIieeions," Ilrst chapter.) of the Holy Ghost~· and hence he could not preach as he did, or think as he did, or write as he did, concerning the Holy Ghost's administration of His Church, without thinking of the most heroic application of service in behalf of all pagan peoples, wheresoever they may be found, destitute of the Gospel. With his large outlool~ on the world, we can appreciate that characteristic hospitality which Dr. Gordon entertained toward all forms of Christian enterprise. Some of us are wont to choose for ourselves the forms of mission which we prefer to do, and we sometimes say, "I will do this," and "I won't do that," but he never thus spake in respect to any aspect of Christ's work on earth. He was naturalized to all Christ's work. To him that work was a circle, not an arc. It was globed. Hence he was as much at home in alien cities as in his own Boston, at the "Vorld's Missionary Conference in London as some of us saw him-easily king of missionaries, as he was imperial among pleaders for missions, the one man without whom no single session was thought complete till his voice had been heard. Hence it was that in Edinburgh and Glasgow and throughout Scotland he was welcomed everywhere, and fitted into the relations and voiced the missionary interest of these people just as naturally as if he were addressing his own prayer-meeting here in Clarendon Street Church. So their testimony was, " He fed us with the finest of the wheat. ,. He enlarged their horizon in respect to the world, and gave them a relish for its conquest. Hence it was that in Paris, with the McAll Mission workers, he was not only welcomed, but eagerly sought for. Hence it was that in our own land he was sought on all platforms where missions were to have a peculiar and effective advocacy. Hence it was that the Student Volunteer movement, the great conferences at Northfield and Ocean Grove and elsewhere regarded his presence and his addresses as indispensable. Hence his favor for the Salvation Army movement, which he commended and cheered when almost all men set it at naught. Hence it was that in the stables of street-car drivers, on the wharves along shore in Boston, or in refuges of the lost, he was everywhere welcomed as the supporter, advocate, and brother, vitally linked with all these organizations of any and every name.
But who shall tell what our beloved brother was to the American Baptist Missionary Union-our counsellor, our inspiration, our pride j none so meek as he. I may be allowed to say, without disparagement of any one, that all through his official relations to that body, through so many weary years in our committee rooms in this city, he often surrendered opinions of his own respecting ways and means in deference to his brethren, whom he was always ready to think of as more to be considered than himself. He was always ready to take the field for us, and was the bulwark of that organization. How this noble church has stood by him and followed him, till at length they only wanted to know his thought and they would anticipate it! There was with him no pulling of people's door-bells to extract from them unwilling offerings j no passing around nertously, hat in hand, to beg for Peter's pence; but rather he quietly exalted the lofty privilege of giving, and reminded of the blood mortgage on all men to redeem the world.
Since I came into this building this morning, I was approached by a young man, a member of one of the young people's societies here. " Excuse me, sir," said he, "but I must tell you what occurred here at our Monday night prayer-meeting. It was discussed what we shoqld do to express our feelings on this occasion, and at length it was resolved-and do you wonder at it-that we would do what he would have liked us to do. There is a great debt upon the Missionary Union; we will make an offering toward its extinction. And in a few minutes we had collected between four and five hundred dollars-gathered with the loving thought that that would have been our pastor's desire." 0 brethren, talk of inB.uence, and power to bring things to pass! It is that unspoken inB.uence which tells-it is what we are far more than what we 8ay, that carries our people. It is what he was in his majesty, his Christly simplicity, that has made his people yearn to be and do. It is that which causes this audience to-day to heave like the billows of the ocean-its main desire to be like Him.
It has been said over and over again, "How can we get on without this brother, in the family, in the church, in the Missionary Union, in Christendom ~ How can we spare him~" Shall we not rise to the heavenly view-point and look down upon it as God does, for this we must do, if we are to stand under this sense of loss? Shall we not remember the words of Him who said-even concerning Himself, the Master of all discipies-" It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come?" God in His providence has demonstrated that it is expedient for us that our brother be taken. He says he can be spared from this side, that he may be glorified on that side ; and God has settled that j it is expedient that he be taken. What, then, we ought to say is this: not how can we get on without Dr. Gordon ~ how can we get on without our pastor 1 how without the chairman of our committee ~ how without him in these Christian assemblies ~ but rather this: how can we get on without those compensations in grace which God's Spirit and providence will give to us if we shall have sanctified to us this inexpressible loss ~ That is what we cannot afford to get on without. We ought to settle it in this house to-day-every one of us-that with God's help we will not get on without that-that compensation, that transmitted bleesing, grace, and power, which may come to us, especially upon the ministry of the land. We draw no denominational lines here to-day. May there come upon the ministry of the world the baptism of fire in connection with thie departure! Oh, that the spirit of Elijah may fall upon Elieha-not !!imply upon !!ome !!ingle man toward whom the Church, in the deep, dark days before them, may reach forth dimly to find as a suc_ Ce!!SOr ill the pastorate, but upon ten thousand ministers of Jeaus Christ-
KEV. ADOLPHE MABILLE. 355
psstors of sll churches, the ministry of all denominations, by whatever name designated, upon united Christendom. Nay, I will not draw the line more narrowly than he would-upon the circle of entire pagandom as well as upon entire Christendom-that there may come such an anointing, such an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, as will be indicative of that great and final world Pentecost toward which his thoughts were forever bent and on which his eye was forever fixed.
REV. ADOLPHE MABILLE, * OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANT MISSION IN BASUTOLAND.
BY ABBIE P. FERGUSON, SOUTH AFRICA.
It is as when a standard-bearer fainteth. The Basuto Mission of the Paris Society in South Africa has suffered a great loss in the death of Rev. Adolphe C. Mabille, now almost a year ago. He was the heart and centre of a great work, one of the most wonderful in its results in South Africa. Dr. Moffat used to speak of it as the most successful of missions.
Mr. Mabille was in his fifty-eighth year, and we had looked forwarll to years of usefulness for him, but he has fallen in the thick of the fight. He was a most intensely active man. One of his fellow-missionaries said of him: "It is of no use to relieve Mr. Mabille in his work, for as soon as he is relieved in one thing he finds something else to do." He had a wonderful helpmeet in his wife, the daughter of Dr. Casalis, one of the pioneer missionaries in Basutoland. The Basutos say of her, "She is our mother, she was born in our land, she is one of us, and what she says is good." And she has unbounded influence among the people.
Mr. and Mrs. Mabille began the work of training evangelists during a time of war. Coming back to look after their people at Marijah,t they were detained there, and while the war cloud hung heavy about them they gathered a few young men and taught them how to help others. Out of this small beginning grew the Bible school at Marijah, from which hundreds of young men have gone forth to all parts of South Africa as teacher!'! of the Word. During all these years Mr. Mabille has given much time to this work, often taking a class at six -in the morning. A small class of young men have gone on to a fuller theological training. and these have been, in fact, under Mr. Mabille's instruction. Indeed, Marijah has been a centre of great activity, with its theological class, its sixty Bible students and seventy .normal students. One great secret of the success of this mi!'!sion has been, under God, the training of the native ChriEltians to work among their own people. I have heard Mr. Mabille say: "Our native .. Mr. Mabille had II church of 1600 communicants and 600 inqulrel'l and OTeraaw work in 16 outstations.
tOrMorija. Christians can help their own people much better than we mIssIonaries can. They know their difficulties and the way to their hearts. "
There are twenty out-stations connected with the Marijah Church, each under the care of a native evangelist, and it was Mr. Mabille's aim to place such evangelists all over Basutoland, until every heathen should come within sound of the Gospel. These twenty evangelists were directly under Mr. Mabille's care and oversight. Twice a year they came up with their church-members to Marijah to a great spiritual feast. These have been never-to-be-forgotten scenes, when hundreds of the Lord's dear people have gathered on the green hill-side around the table of our Lord, and have shown forth His death until He come. Too many for even the great church to hold, they have stood under the blue of the sky, with the grand Maluti Mountains looking down upon them, reminding one of the innumerable company.
Mr. Mabille has always been the life and centre of these gatherings, laying his hand in baptism upon those gathered out of heathenism, breaking the bread of life, speaking words of reproof and exhortation. There were always special meetings for the evangelists, when they reported concerning their work, and received special instruction and counsel from their spiritual father. Mr. Mabille was much used in bringing souls to Christ. I shall never forget seeing a multitude of heathen filling the Marijah Church, many of them under deep conviction of sin, and how wisely Mr. Mabille and his helpers led many of them to accept Jesus as their Saviour.
The printing of a monthly Basuto paper and of Basuto books, which were sent out to all parts of South Africa, made many demands upon Mr. Mabille's time. The printing was done by natives, who required careful superintendence. Mr. Mabille had willing helpers in his fellow-missionaries and in his own family, but a heavy burden of responsibility rested upon him.
Though such a busy man, he was the joy of the home life. Every day after the mid-day meal he and Mrs. Mabille took the time to go away and pray for God's blessing upon their sons and daughters, and God gave them the desire of their hearts. All of their children were converted, and two sons and three daughters were missionaries, working hand to hand with their parents.
Mr. MabiIle had a rare gift of song, and every evening the family gathered around the organ to sing. To us who listened it was a great treat, as each member of the family took his or her own part, sometimes to music of Mr. MabilIe's own composition. We shall never forget how our souls thrilled as we listened to the rich, deep tones of his voice. This gift was a great power among the native students, whom he trained in singing and playing on instruments, like the sweet singer of old. And he has gone, this grand, gifted, courteous man of God, whom every one loved, and whose rule of love was felt all through the Basuto Mission. " God takes home His workers, bnt the work goes on. II His daughter, writing in March, said: "To us the year until now has been one of great joy and peace, in spite of dear father's great mental fatigue. He had done too much and felt very tired. The doctor said if he did not leave the work at once he would not answer for the consequences. The Lord arranged everything for the best. The Home Committee said one of our missionaries was to go with the Zambesi expedition, who go to Mr. Coillard, as far as Mafeking, in Bechuanaland. So father and mother were ready in a week to go. Then strength was given to Louis (Mr. Mabille's son) to take up for a month father's great work-his lessons, printing-office, and church. So ali was arranged, and now we are asking God to bless their journey and to bring back our loved ones to us well and able to resume their work."
At first he seemed benefited by the journey. He attended the Basuto Mission Conference, though he could be present at the meetings only by lying on a couch. There it was arranged that he should have the assistance of his brother-in-law, Rev. Alfred CasaIis, as well as of his son Louis. Then he visited his eldest son at Leribe (Mr. Coillard's old station), all of the Mabille family gathering there, united for the last time.
Mr. Mabille preached in the Orange Free State on his way home, where he arrived, seemingly none the worse for the journey. He suffered very much from rheumatic pain, and when the doctor was called, he pronounced him very ill. Mr. Mabille expressed the desire to live, especially that he might revise the Basuto Bible. He had just finished an English Basuto Dictionary, the work of twenty years, but he soon realized that the end was near. He sent for the Bible students, the Basuto chiefs, the normal-school boys, and said good-by to them. He spoke very earnestly to them, dealing with them as at the very gate of heaven. He pleaded especially with the paramount chief, begging him to be reconciled to God.
Sunday, May 20th, 1894, was a glorious day, full of the veryatmosphere of heaven. Those about him felt that death had no power over the child of God. The first hours of the day he spent praying for each of the catechists, schoolmasters, and elders of his district (about 150 in all), and the students of the Bible school who are in the work. When those about him wondered that he could remember all the names so well, he said: "Oh, you know I have prayed for them so often by name I" When he heard the church bells he said: "Glory, glory, glory in the highest heaven I" and then, "Jesus, I also am one of Thy worshippers." He said during the night before : "You do not know all the struggles my study has witnessed. I have wanted to be small-smaIl-small, that He should take away all the pride and self-love. "
His daughter writes of the privilege it was to sit beside him and receive his last messages.
A young trader wanted to see him. "Yes," he said; "let him in ; I have a lovely message for him." After talking earnestly to him, he said: "I wish I could imprint upon your heart the conviction that Christ
THE LEPERS OF THE WORLD
is your Saviour." Afterward he clapped his hands joyfully, exclaiming, " Bravo! bravo! they are going to reach the Zambesi." His thoughtlil were with the mission party that he had escorted on their way.
At the evening tide it was light. He slept in Jesus to awake in His glorious presence. On the lOth of the next month he would have completed thirty-four years of service in Basutoland. " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord."
THE LEPERS OF THE WORLD.
Few realize how numerous are the sufferers from this most terrible malady. Miss Kate Marsden, whose life is devoted to the mitigation of their sufferings, is preparing a chart, designed to show at one view the real prevalence and spread of leprosy in various countries. From the minimum figures already supplied by government medical returns and other reliable sources, she reckons that there are 1,300,000 lepers in the world. China alone is said to have more than 600,000 j Japan, 200,000 j and India at least 100,000. But Miss Marsden would rather understate than overstate the case in her earnest endeavor to move the practical pity of the Christian public.
What an awful aggregate of sorrow and suffering is represented by those figures! Who can estimate the value of every Christian effort made to alleviate their pain and grief and to stay the progress of the dread disease ~ Leprosy, the greatest disease of medireval Christendom, is identified, on the one hand, with a disease endemic from the earliest historical times, 1500 B.O., in the valley of the Nile j and, on the other hand, with a disease now commQn in Asia, Africa, South America, and the West Indies, and in certain parts of Europe and the islands of the sea.
Egypt is generally regarded as the country from whence leprosy came. It was endemic among the Hebrews when they migrated from there. During the Middle Ages it was estimated that there were about 20,000 lepers in Europe, and every considerable town had its "lazar house." Owing to strict legislation, it is now found only in small isolated coast districts of Norway, Russia, the Riviera, Spain, Iceland, and some islands. It is common in all the countries of Asia, and in most of the coast districts of Africa. The West Indies and South America (the Guianas), Malaysia, and many of the islands of the sea also have numerous sufferers from this dreadful disease. The essential cause of leprosy is unknown, but it is generally found among people who live on the sea-coast and live largely on fish (often putrid), and who intermarry closely. It is not now believed to be contagious. Comparatively little missionary work is being done for lepers. The Moravians have a "leper home" in Jerusalem, and work among those in South America and elsewhere. The Mission to the Lepers of India is doing a glorious work among the lepers of India, Burma, Ceylon, and Japan. There are also hospitals for the lepers of Europe, of Madagascar, and South Africa, and missionaries are laboring among those in various other parts of the world. Little can be done for the poor lepers' bodies, though their suffering may be lessened, but their souls may be cleansed and saved, and the work among them is a certain one, which shonld call forth our deepest sympathy and most hearty support.
INTERN ATION AL DEPAltTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D "In Darkest Afrioa." to the road, so that one has to climb over great masses of fallen trees. This BY R. H. MILLIGAN. is, perhaps, the most exhausting part of the travel; but climbing over such EFULEN MISSION STATION, BATANGA, places i8 infinitely preferable to crawl- WEST AFRICA, March 12, 1894. ing under on all fours. On starting out the first morning we shrank from On July 17th I started for the inte· the cold water and tried to avoid the rior, and returned to Batanga after four mud, but after slipping and falling sevmonths, looking, I imagine, rather pro- eral times we became bold, and when fane, having been neither shaven nor we had walked an hour we came to a shorn for fi ve months. deep stagnant pond that must be cross- ed. I cannot swim in clear water, but There were two white men besides I saw that I would have no difficulty myself, Rev. A. C. Good, who has in swimming here, so I plunged in with charge of this expedition, and who has the others, but we were able to wade been in Africa for ten years, and Mr. all the way over. Just after this a Kerr, a new arrival. We had twenty- heavy rain fell, drenching us through. five native carriers, making in all This was a dreary outstart, but not twenty-eight persons. White brethren unfortunate, for afterward we walked and black friends stood gazing with without timidity, fearing neither mud strange thoughts as we stretched along nor water, nor height nor depth, nor the beach a short way and suddenly any such thing. disappeared into the forest. Noone would think of making this On such a journey toward such a journey for fun. There is great disland none can forecast even the near comfort in walking all day with much future. We were five days in going mud in one's shoes, especially when seventy-five miles, walking from 7 A.M. gravel is added. It is also uncomforto 4 P.M. each day. All the way was table to get up for several successive through deep forest, the trees much mornings before daylight in the cold taller and closer than in American for- bush and put on clothes wet through ests, and made more dense by a thick and through. Yet the road is not growth of enormous vines, all which worse than I expected, nor is it so together make it strangely dark, and rough as to be a great hindrance to our depressing as the Dismal Swamp. work. Any reasonably stro.ng man im- pelled by worthy purpose will find it The road is a po;)rly beaten path, easy enough. which carefully avoids the hills, keeping down in the lowest parts. The natives Four months later Mr. Good and mydislike climbing, but they have no aver- self returned from the interior to Basion to mud; one passes through every tanga, passing over this road at its variety of it and every depth. The very worst. For two months I had road often lies in the beds of streams. been sick with a severe fever that left The part of the traveller that is above several ailments behind, which made it ground is kept cool and wet from the necessary that I should, as soon as I dripping shrubbery that meets across was able, go to Batanga for medical the path, and as if this were not suffi- treatment. It was near the end of the cient, he has to wade many streams. wet season. For many weeks the rain On the first and last days the road passes had fallen almost night and day. The through native gardens, which are never cleared, but the immellBe trees are simply felled, and that without regard forest was flooded. The streams had be- muscle was stiffened and sore, but we come rivers. The rivers had spread had to walk much faster than before, far over their banks, making wading not knowing how far we were from necessary, and beyond were marshes Batanga. which we must reach that which were yet worse. The bridges night, for we had only food for one had all been swept away or buried un- more meal. We walked twenty miles der the water, and others built for tem- . that day, in spite of stiffness and soreporary use. The permanent African ness, but my courage was never so bridge is bad enough, but these tem- taxed before by any physical effort. porary bridges were unspeakably bad, At last we emerged from the forest consisting of a single line of poles tied into the sunshine, which never seemed end to end with rupe uf vines, and so bright nor the sky so blue. Batanga. usually several feet under water. shone like the Celestial City. Our toilet There is also one vine stretched across was in woful shape. Mr. Good had a few feet higher that one may hold received a severe hurt on the way. In with the hand. This latter vine is jumping 07er a deep place he had fallusually rotten, so one must hold it en upon an upright stick. At this late carefully aJ;ld let it go as soon as he be- date I can afford to smile, although at gins to lose his balance, as it will likely the time I turned pale; I thought he yield to the slightest strain. But what- was killed. We twisted his coat into ever other faults these bridges have, a knot over the sore, and bound around they are not especially treacherous; him two strips of bark several inches they make no fair' promises of support, wide, which formed two large bows, and one never starts out upon them extending more than a foot on either with any expectation of reaching the side. Moreover, he had torn his trouother side without sounding the depth sers at the knee so badly that he could of the water. In one place where this only keep the lower part by tying it to upper vine chanced to be strong enough his leg with vine. Add to this that we to bear our weight, the poles beneath were both lame, and besides bore the us, which were three feet under water, general marks of seven days' walking suddenly came to an end, leaving us through mud and mire, and you may to go a short distance on the upper vine imagine the effect. I do not speak of alone, hand over hand, until our feet my own apparel. I could not see that came in contact with another pole. In so well. Our appearance altogether one day we crossed as many as nine was fearful and wonderful. Our such streams with adjoining overflowed friends beholding said: .. Whence come lands and marshes. We were seven ye ?" We replied: "From going to days on the way. I was weak from and fro in the earth, and from walking fever and walked only four miles the up and down in it." tirst day, the next day eight, the next We reached Mr. Good's home first, twelve, and the last day over twenty where I sat down to rest, but in a few miles. On the last day, immediately minutes was unable to walk, and was after starting and before our blood was carried to Mr. Godduhn's home, one in proper circulation, we reached the mile farther, in a hammock. " Slough of Despond," deep with wa- And why illl this hardship, some are ter. We had difficulty in finding the asking, this exposure and peril of life, road. Mr. Good moved about in search, this isolation in the dismal interior of but I not knowing the roads moved Africa, or this madness, as certain of very little, remaining in the cold water our friends have called it? Only obeto my waist, and sometimes to my dience to a Master who thought tit to shoulders, for more than an hour. For say, "Go ye into all the world and the tirst time I felt evil effects from preach the Gospel to every creature." this. Before we had gone far every Is it not strange that even some Christians should seem to question the wis- beads and brass and bells. The men dom of this command or of obedience also wear ornaments, but not in such to it? I am weary of the opposing excess. Both men and women take arguments of many, even my friends, great pains with their hail', doing it up based upon our peril of life or the de- in the strangest and dirtiest way con- pravity of this people. I came not for ceivable. A common style is to build love of these, but in obedience to the it, with the aid of strips of bamboo, above command, and their depravity into three hard ridges several inches makes the command more imperative; high, running from the front to the and as for fear of hardship or danger, back of the head. Each ridge is mount- I am sure that no two things are more ed with a close row of common white incompatible than Christianity and shirt-buttons. Sometimes a card con- fear. If Christianity is anything, it is taining as many as six dozen is sewed courage. When in the French Revolu- on above each ear. The ridges of hair tion France was beset with foes on do not always run fore and aft. They every side, " cannon to right of them, are often in circles built up like a story- cannon to left of them, cannon in front cake and iced with buttons. Some- of them," and all were prostrate with times a kind of splash-board is built despair, the great Danton in thunder- out behind, running from ear to ear, to tones that filled all France called on hold more buttons. This latter style men "to dare, and again to dare, and prevents their lying to sleep in the or- without end to dare," and every son of dinary way. They must place the neck France arose and braced himself for on the wooden pillow, and let the head battle. His words are an echo of what hang over. The hair once arranged re- Christ has always s1id to His followers. mains undisturbed for several months.
Daring is an essential of all successful It forms a convenient place for wiping living. Surely Christianity ought to their hands or knives. After dressing be as strong a motive-power as patriot- it grease is smeared over which in the ism. Hardship ought not to be named; sun melts into the hair, some ot it our life is a small thing, the cause alone usually passing through and running is great. down the back. No matter what color In this interior we found a peculiar this oil is on going into the hair, it al- people indeed, called the "Bule." ways comes out black.
Our station is at the beginning of a The women, moreover, wear a strip countless populace extending far in- of monkey-skin or goat-skin an inch ward. On our first arrival a multitude wide-trimmed with buttons, of course of beggars surrounded our tent, beg- -across the middle of the forehead; and gars everywhere as thick as leaves in besides all this, they have bangs all autumn, insisting that we divide our around the head consisting of loose hair little stock of goods, which to them strung with beads of all colors. With seemed fabulous wealth. No corner this glittering headgear and with brass was too private for them to enter, nor and beads hung over the whole body, could we keep them out but by main the women make an appearance alto- force. Persuasion failed utterly, and gether unique in this world, if they be all a priori arguments were vain. We not like to things sometimes seen in soon came to the use of practical a pos- windows of toy-shops or on Christmas teriori arguments applied with a boot trees.
or other convenient object. We have, no doubt, come among 8 In appearance they are tall, well- desperately wicked people. Borrowing formed, and graceful. The men wear from Hume's estimate of Henry VIII., small loin-cloths. The women wear one might say that a catalogue of their nothing but a few haudfuls of grass, vices would include, perhaps, all the but thAY are loaded wit;.h ornaments of evils incident to human nature. When I first arrived among them I wrote a with the palaver. At the time of shoot· letter to a friend with the superscrip- ing yesterday we were holding our tion "Bule Land," but afterward, usual Sunday service. The man Who knowing more of this land, the super- had stolen the woman was present. He scription seemed a caricature too pro- heard the firing and knew what it fane, and that of my next letter was meant, and thought it was in his own " Chaos," for this is the very home of town, yet he showed no concern, but all disorder. They have reversed the sat calmly through the service. The whole moral law and every righteous people whose men have been killed are maxim. The plough they have beaten on the warpath to-day, determined to into a sword and the pruning-hook into kill a number of people, they care not a spear, and every man's hand is whom. Another palaver is going on in against his neighbor. the town nearest to us. A woman, who said that her husband was so homely There is no other law than the law of that she could not live with him, C'lme selfishness, which reigns supreme. to our station, met a man from another There is no word in their language for town and eloped with him. Her peoservice, they have not the idea. Mr. ple followed a few nights ago and kill- Good has been giving many of them ed a woman. We do not know how medical treatment. They take it for long this will continue. The people of granted that this also is selfish. They the town near by keep up a loud noille will sometimes get angry and scold if all night to let the enemy know that fresh bandages are not gi ven them they are watching. often. One man came and told that his wife was very sick, and asked what Last week Mr. Good and I visited a Mr. Good would give him if he would town one half-day's walk distant, where bring her for treatment. Another was we spent two nights. We found the in great distress, saying that his little stormiest people I have ever seen or daughter was dying, and that a man in heard of. They quarrelled almost a neighboring town had agreed to buy without ceasing, each quarrel involving her in marriage, and had already paid all the men and women of the town. some goods which would have to be re- During the day it was carried on in turned if she died. This latter made the street, becoming worse at night his grief truly pitiable. when they scattered to their houses, the men yelling and the women scream- Their wealth is chiefly in the shape ing their rage from within, loud enough of wives. These are usually stolen at to be heard over the town. There is first. Then follows a big palaver. no lack of matter for copious quarrel· The people of the offended town will ling even among this remote people of come at night and kill some one of the the forest. The occasions are so abun· town where the woman is. The enemy dant that many palavers are not settled, will return and kill one of them. And but are displaced by others. The occaso it goes on-killing in turn until the sion of a large quarrel the day we arthief pays for the woman, or until either rived was that a certain man's hen laid town stop that they may fight another an egg in another man's house, which enemy. Such a palaver has just begun latter man kept the egg. The town in one of our towns. Two days ago was rent in twain. The whole com- (Saturday) a man who lives near by munity is astir; they conspire together; stole a woman from a town some miles deep calleth unto deep; the sky dark· distant. The offended people came in ens; the mountains roll down their arms yesterday, but finding it hard to threatening thunders; hoarse rage is reach the town where the woman was, echoed back; but suddenly strange they killed two men in a town close to quiet falls on all the places-it is time us, which town belonged to another to eat. When eating is finished another tribe and had nothing whatever to do palaver cries out for attention, and the of Freemasons in A.merica, in whose former one is "laid on the table, ", surpas~ing antiquity I can now believe There was not an idle hour in which to that they include Solomon and perhaps resume it before we lefto It is still un- Noah. settled, and liable any day to deluge the valley with blood. Ngee is the native word for gorilla, and is also the name of a certain man We are used to noise. The people in each town, who is the head of this dance in the street almost every night, society and who takes the character of often through the whole night, to the a gorilla. This is also a benevolent somusic of several wooden instruments, ciety, protecting its members from the which they pound furiously, and all power of witches. Ngee may be called keep up a continual yelling such as is a witch-doctor or a devil-doctor, it you only heard in heathendom. Their please, able to kill at will or to cure heads are cracked, but not their lungs. any disease: He has a profound knowl- And with this unfortunate combina- edge of witches, and is a potentate tion of cracked heads and uncracked among them, saying, "Go, "and they go; lungs they make our nights hideous or, " Come," and they come. When in enough. character he will come into the town at any time, roaring like a gorilla, but One day I had thrust upon me the loud enough to be heard at any finite pleasure of seeing a woman perform distance. A.ll women and children the native dance. The woman is a and uninitiated men fiee for their queen. She often comes selling pota- lives. If one of these see him thus toes. This day she was carrying a bun- in character, they will take sick and dle rolled in leaves. She opened it and die. The dire truth is that they Inshowed me a coil of snake, which she deed die if it be known that they was taking home for her husband's have seen him. We suspect they are dinner. There were four other women poisoned. A few nights ago there was with her, all queens and, with herself, a Ngee dance in the nearest town. Mr. wives of one man. They all talk at Godduhn, of Bat&nga, was with us, once; those not talking are laughing, and he and I went through the town. some doing both at once, and at the The chief who lives in the first village same time running about through the followed after us, full of wrath, and house asking for everything they can threatening us with every calamity if find ; but this particular woman insist- we dared look upon the sacred scene. ed upon showing me the Bule dance, We passed on, however, and having which consists of a series of fiendish turned our light very low, we entered contortions. The whole body is in the village where Ngee was holding rapid motion, especially the shoulders forth with many of the initiated. The and stomach. One would think that women were of course hidden in their the body was without bone or solid part. houses, but We have reason to believe She accompanies this with imitation of that they were looking through the the music of their several wooden in- cracks. What woman wouldn't? It struments as weird as the dance itself. was very dark, but we could still see Both music arid dance belong to the un· these weird, black forms in every under world; neither of them should human shape gliding swiftly about in ever have reached upper air. She imi- all manner of strange motions, dancing tates all the instruments at once, and to the discordant sound of the instru· dances on, heedless of perspiration and ments spoken of above, and all shriekdecorum. ing like hobgoblins. The place smelled of sulphur. We soon became conscious But the most hideous of all their that Ngee was approaching. He dances is the "Ngee" dance. The growled hideously and roared in tones Ngee Society is a secret order corresponding in many points to the order such as I would not have supposed where no reason is conceivable unless a could come from man or devil, and love of the lie itself. The only sexual changing from shape to shape. immorality that they consider wrong is the unfaithfulness of a wife, but the "If shape it could be called, that shape had restraint put upon this sin is slight, none, and upon other immorality no restraint at all. They believe in God, but their Diltingui8hable in member, joint or limb." belief is unliving, a vague idea that has no fear in it, and hence no moral force. He flashed his knife about us fiercely, One day when I was returning from but seeing that we were not to be preaching in a certain town, it chanced moved by all the powers of darkness, that several women who had heard the he retired for a time. We turned up preaching were following along the our light and sat down. The novelty way. One of them called to me, a of the lantern overcame their antago- woman in whose face was not even a nism, and they danced freely about us, trace of innocence. She said: .. If God their motions more demon-like than is so good, why does He not give me ever in the dim light of the lantern. more food 1" I replied that the wonder But Ngee did not yet give up all hope was He gave her any, that God only of oVercoming us, or it may be that his promises to take care of good people. purpose was to initiate us. He brought She said that she was a good woman, a the bones of his ancestors-of his grand. very good woman. I looked at her for father or his grandmother perhaps- a moment, wondering what a very bad and placed them in a heap before us, woman would look like. I asked if Shaking the grinning skull at us, and she had never done such and such dancing about them with roaring and things, mentioning their commonest incantation. With look as innocent sins. She had never done any of those and ignorant as we could command, we things, but had always been a model took the bones up and handled them of truth and purity-such a woman, on curiously but respectfully, looked on a the whole, as is not found outside of little longer, and then departed, having Africa. I turned to the other women seen enough. present and asked them if this woman had spoken the truth. To my surprise It is said that after writing the .. In- they all agreed with her, saying that ferno" Dante looked as if he had been they had never known her to do any in hell. I do not know whether I after- of those things of which I had spoken. ward looked so, but I certainly felt as I then said: "Now, you say that you if I had been there. are a good woman. God says you are a bad woman. Who tells the lie?" She The belief in witches is perhaps the replied; without hesitation, "God." strongest prevalent in this country. Again I was surprised, but it was easy History gives us abundant testimony now to defeat her since she had called that this has always been one of the God a liar. Imagine, then, how near most cruel and enslaving beliefs that the abyss a people live on whom the have ever entered man's mind, and greatest of truths, that of a living God, here as elsewhere it is prolific in tor- has no moral force. ment and misery. I am told that among them are men But this subject is too large to enter called "tiger.men," whose custom is upon here. to hide in the bush and spring like tigers upon passing women and chil- As I know more of these people I dren, cutting them to pieces. find greater depths of depravity than I had thoup:ht of. One sometimes won- It is such a people whom we have ders whether man cannot indeed de- undertaken to tame by the Gospel. It scend to the depthS of the witches in .. Macbeth," to whom" fair is foul, and foul is fair." They will answer the most ordinary question with a lie, is not yet too late. "If there are Demon Possession on Missionary Fields.* depths in man as deep as hell, there are also heights as high as heaven. Are There are observable among men not both heaven and hell made out of gradations of intellect. Is there anyhim 1" Christendom may well ask thing unreasonable in the supposition why it is that they have not heard the that there are other intellects in the Gospel centuries ago; but let none ut- universe of higher powers than man P ter reproach nntil himself does his Does the creation necessarily top out duty. Three of us labor here alone with the human· family? Did what- ever force made man exhaust its powamong a people of urenakcnhoewd nthneumdebpetrhs~ ers when it made a human being? a people who have of depravity and misery, where the 2. If there be other higher intelliworm dieth not and the fire is not gences, must they all be necessarily good, or may some of them be malevoquenched. We are calling for help. Their de- lent and evil f pravity calls loud-calls louder to us S. If there be such higher intellithan to our fathers, and Christ's com- gences, good or bad, or both, have they mand, though long neglected, has not any means of influencing the human become a dead letter. The harvest mind and life? Bold, bad men of falls ~o the ground for ripeness, and great intellectual force do here influthere IS none to help. The work is not ence their fellows to evil. May some easy, but I prefer it to any other I have unseen higher intelligences also lead ever done. The Gospel in which we men into error and crime? trust, in which is all our hope, is here These are questions with which the Old and New Testament affect to dperaol ~ put to the severest test, and is not found and about which they are very wanting. It is said of Mohammed, that when a nounced. Is there anything contrary boy, lying one night in the open field, to reason in the way they deal with an angel came in his sleep, and remov- them? ing his heart, wrung out of it all the Explain the Bible narrative as we evil, which fell in dark drops to the may, it distinctly recognizes certain ground. I can think of the streams and phenomena as being superinduced by rivers of this land running red like energy exercised over the human body crimson with their escaping sins, and and mind by unseen spiritual forces. this people still unclean; but we know Is there anything that can be identified a simpler way and more effective, even as the same class of .. possession" as the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the that described in the New Testament? power of God. From these hills that This is what Dr. Nevius undertook to now resound with the noise of this vio- answer in the volume just from the lent people we purpose to proclaim the press, through the kind offices of Mr. life and death, the example and the Henry W. Rankin, to whom he comprecepts of Him whose voice is not mitted the manuscript just before leavheard in the street, who breaketh not ing for China, where, presently after the bruised reed nor quencheth the arrival, he died. smoking fiax, and who died for the But this is not all which interested sins of the whole world. And this we Dr. Nevius. He wanted to ascertain 0; do in the strong hope that in a time not * Demon Possession and Allied Themes be- far distant the smoke of their torment ing an Indnctive Stndy of the Phenomena onr shall no longer ascend to darken the own Times, by Rev. John L. Nevins, D.D., forty sun, but the listening heaven shall hear years a missionary to the Chinese; with an Infrom ten thousand voices the glad troduction by Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. shout, .. Gloria in Excelsis." Chicago and New York: Fleming H. Revell Company. $1.50. whether the same kind of power exer- Chinese, their Present and Future: cised by Jesus Christ and committed Medical, Political, and Social" (1891), by Him to His disciples is applicable says he examined many cases of al- to similar cases if found to exist in our leged "possession" in China, and as- .IllY. He had a far more definite pur- serts that mania, dementia, and hysteria pose than that of a mere contribution are sufficient to account for the cases to the occult science of our time. He he had either seen or heard described, grappled with the question, What ought and he considered any who believe in to be the attitude of the foreign mis- demoniacal possession "superstitious sionary to this class of phenomena in and too credible." But Dr. Nevius heathen lands? Must they be relegated furnishes testimony which, he definitely to pathology or psychology, or dealt avers, and many will concur with him, with as spirit-product, to be exorcised cannot be explained by these causes, in the name of the same Jesus who and he gives some striking cases of commanded like spirits to come out of strong, healthy men, never ill, and men and to cease to torment them in never depressed in mind or body, who His day? Shall the missionary treat were subjects of this sort of double ex- them with the ammonia-bottle or the istence at intervals.
Bible? The practical point, however, is the In order to settle this as far as possi- missionary one, of how to attempt to ble for himself, and to furnish datil for deal with these cases. Dr. Nevius others to do likewise for themselves, he affirms that many cases have been took great pains, by personal investiga- cured by prayer to Christ or in His tion and by correspondence with other name, some very readily, some with missionaries in all parts of China, to difficulty; but, so far as he had been gather the fullest possible testimony able to learn, this method of cure had from experience and from reliable testi- never failed in any case, however stubmony concerning these alleged cases of spirit possession. He carefully sifted born and long continued, in which it the mass of material he had thus collated, and as carefully attempted to had been tried; and in no instance had analyze and classify it; and whatever may be thought of the evidence-and the malady returned if the subject beopinion is sure to be diverse-we have here an important contribution to the came a Christian and continued to lead bibliography of spirit-phenomena. The distinction of the volume consists in a Christian life. the facts as testified to by Chinese competent to observe and state them. A reaction against the gross mate- How they arc to be accounted for is a separate portion of the treatise. Of rialism of our times is sure to come, this much the author is convinced, and the occult is quite a8 certain to be thrown out of perspective when it is taken in hand seriously; and this vol- ume will therefore be of value to Chris- tian people wishing to follow a careful and conservative investigator. as all who knew the author recognize him to have been. [J. T. G.] that whatever was meant by demo- niacal possession in the land of Judea in the times of Jesus Christ, exists to- Shall Missionaries be Sent to Foreign day in China phase for phase. He Fields in Faith that the Funds will gives further testimony of Bishop Cald- be Forthooming? well as to the precise similitude with these of evil-spirit possession in va.rious This question has been a vital one parts of India. with some Christian workers for some Dr. Robert Coltman, Jr., surgeon in while past. The Church of England charge of the Presbyterian Hospital, Missionary Society, seven or eight Teng Chow Fu, In his work, "The years ago, determined that God must in some way take care of suitable men then in the Contingenc:y Fund. The definitely called to this work, and re- year 1894-95 began with about £4000 solved to send all such forward, funds to the good, the surplus on the special or no funds. They have recently contributions to clear off the previous issued a tract showing the development year's deficit. The Society, therefore, of their work in the seven years they after the immense development above have pursued this policy, in which they illustrated, is only £6000 worse off than say: it was seven years ago. And within " 1. The total number of missionaries the same period, a mortgage of £20,000 (not counting wives) has increased as on the Children's Home has been paid follows: Clergymen, from 247 to 344 ; off. On the other hand, it is important laymen, from 40 to 82; women, from to remember that very large savings 22 to 193. Total, from 309 to 619, or are due to the fall in the value of sil- just double in the seven years. (The ver. Had the Indian exchange re- Estimates Committe~ give a larger mained where it was, a much larger number, but they have not deducted income would have been needed."
some recent deaths and retirements.) "2. The increase in some missions is especially, noticeable. West Africa (including Yoruba and Niger) had then Reasons for Taking Part in morts to 11; now 43. East Africa (including Save the World.
Uganda) had then 26; now 58. The BY REV. EDWARD WEBB, LINCOLN UNI- Mohammedan lands, Egypt, Palestine, VERSITY, OXFORD, CHESTER COUNTY, Persia, had then 17; now 63. India PAhad then 133; now 222. China had then 30; now 85. Japan had then 14 ; l. Because" God so loved the flJO'I'ld. "
now 53. 2. Because it is the command of " 3. It was at the end of 1887 that Christ.
the new plans for associated evangelists 3. Because Christ Himself, as the first were formed. It was at the same time great model Missionary to the flJO'I'ld, that the large extension of women's leads the way-we should follow Him.
work began. Since 1887 medical mis- 4. Because salvation is provided by sions have much developed, and the Him for the flJO'I'ld.
number of medical missionaries have 5. Because He has given us the Gos- more than doubled. pel in trust for the flJO'I'ld.
"4. Since 1887. the p1'oportion of the 6. Because if we are not faithful to Society's expenditure on home organi- our trust, the flJO'I'ld will perish in its zation and administration, relatively sin.
to the direct expenditure on missions, 7. Because, if by our unfaithfulness has diminished. In 1887 the home and neglect the flJO'I'ld perishes, we charges cost 2s. 8td. out of each pound shall be adjudged guilty.
sterling spent. In 1893-94 they cost 1;1. Because if we are faithful to our 28. 2d. out ot each pound sterling trust, the flJorld will be saved, and the spent. reward will be ours.
" 5. In 1887, there were four honor- 9. Because Christ has taught us to ary missionaries. In 1894 there are say, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be over seventy honorary. done on earth as it is in heaven."
" 6. In the year ending ~Iarch, 1887, 10. Because no one, without active the General Fund income was £200,- interest in the foreign missionary work, 777. In the year ending March, 1894, can sincerely make this prayer.
it was £237,797. 11. Because foreign missionary work "7. The year 1887-88 began with has brought to the Church In return a £10,500 to the good, being the balance boundless blessing. 12. Because to stop all this work for work and exchange accounts of experithe world would bring upon the Church ences. There were besides five foreignparalysis and death. born missionary children. The mis· sionaries represented work in various 18. Because Christian love is essen- parts of India, China, Japan, Bulgaria, tially world-wide; it utterly refuses to be Hawaiian Islands, Siam, Turkey, and limited. West Africa. These are all receiving gratuitously the medical service of the 14. Because this world-wide love in- faculty and the free use of all the remecludes and fosters love for our own dial agencies of the institution, which country. Dr. Henry Foster has built up through forty years and presented to a board of . 15. Because the plea that to save our trustees composed of the senior secretaown land is to save tke world, has force ries of the leading missionary societies, only when the Church at home fs active to be held in perpetuity for the rebuildin saving the world. ing of the impaired health of missiona- ries. The outright gift is valued at 16. Because home missions had made $500,000, besides not less than $20,000 little progress when, by direction of annually of what may be classed as the Holy Spirit, foreign missions were eleemosynary expenditure. The superbegun from Antioch, in Syria_ intending physician, the Rev. C.. C. Thayer, M.D., and his wife were for a 17. Because, if there is a good reason term of years missionaries in the Turkfor one church or one member of a ish Empire, and as the head of the instichurch neglecting it, there is the same tution are in full sympathy with the for the whole Church. benevolent intent of the founder.
The three non-ethnic religions of the The twelfth annual meeting of the world that in spirit and work are ag- International Missionary Union will be gressive, diffusive and missionary, are held at CliIton Springs, N. Y., June Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and 12th-19th. All foreign missionaries, Christianity. The first, from humani- whether in service or retired, are recogtarian motives only; the second, with nized as members and entitled to free a prevailing political object. But the entertainment. All missionaries pur- Gospel of Christ is spread from su- posing to attend are requested to notify preme love to Him, as the chief and im- Mrs. C. C. Thayer, Sanitarium, Clifton pelling force, and also from love for the Springs, and to name topics they wish world. discussed. Ail information will be gi ven by the Secretary. The prospect is of a Let us, by all means, love our own large attendance, and eminent names country, even as Christ loved His native are already enrolled, such as Dr. H. H. Palestine. In His spirit let us labor Jessup, of Syria; Dr. Blodgett, forty and suffer for it. Let the spirit which years in China; Dr. Jacob Chamberlain moved and inspired the great Apostle and Dr. Boggs, of India; Dr. Amerto the world, whose motto was, "To man, of Japan; and Secretaries Bald· the Jew first, but also to the Gentile," win and Barton. be onrs. For the love which reaches out to the Gentile cannot pass by ~he J. T. GRACEY, Pre8ident, Jew. Rochester, N. Y.
A goodly company of missionaries are REV. W. H. BELDEN, Secretary, " up for repairs" at that great mission- Clifton Springs, N. Y. ary centre, Clifton Springs. One day recently the Sanitarium arranged that these missionaries should dine together in the spacious dining-room of that noble institution, and a social was held in the parlors in the afternoon, at which thirty missionaries gathered to talk over the40
CHU-LA.-LANG-KORN, THE KING OF SIAM, AND HIS SONS. PALACE ENCLOSURE-ENTRANCE TO TEMPLE
FillLD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY. SURVEY.
BY D. L. PDmSON• .Siam and Laos,* Malaysia,t Buddhism,t Lepers.§ THE LAND OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT. lation of the country is estimsted at. about 6,000,000, largely interspersed BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHillF. with Cbiriese. The people are not taU, aTe inclined to tatness; with faces broad' Siam has been, in comparison with and fiat, with, small noses and wide India and China, unknown to modem mouths, and they wear a stolid and sulcivilization. Commerce found little len aspect. 'The type of race is moditbere to attract trade, and, until witbin fied Mongolian, mixed with Chinese and the past quarter century, there has been Burmese. In the extreme south the but little literature which trea.ted of inhabitant8are quite distinct and have that Malayan penil,l8ula; and, as to the migrated from Sumatra; they are Mos- Laos country, it was even more a part lem in religion, and politically indepilDof the great unknown. dent 6f Siam,under rajahs or sultans.
Siam is about 1000miles long, and at Education Is at its lowest level among its widest less than one third of that the'Siamese, and woman Is wholly un· measurement. In the north are great taught, though her domestic estate is mountain districts, rich in fauna and fiora, streams and waterfalls; and the much above the aVllrage condition ·ot lowland,;! produce ample rice crops, the main dependence of the people. Three women in the Orient, and notably hi principal rivers constitute its river system, the Menam, the "motber of wa- toIndia; but. when education is brought ters," being the great highway of inter- bear upon thl'se people, they prove course and the stream on whose banks by no means lack.ing in native ability. Bangkok, the capital, the Asiatic Venice, stands-or, as we might say,fioats- A cuyious cust~m is insepllr~ble from so large is the proportion of inhabitants the exercise of hospitality. The areca living upon its water streets. nut is mixed with lime and 'certain other ingredients, a· compound which not Most of the travel is by boats, but in only blackens, but· rapidly destroys the cases where they are not available, by teeth, and yet this. mixture is chewed elephants, which carry a saddle shaped by both 'men and women, and the richer like a sawbuck. class serve it in gold boxes.
Bangkok has a population. verging The government is an absolute mon. on half a million; and the whole popu, archy, and it is not long' since the lion. ors paid to the Siamese .king. were: aI, * See also pp. 8 (January), 219 (March), and most Divine. There Is no hereditary nobility, and the king himself is elected 321 (present issne). Literature: .. Historical by certain officers. Some. sixty smaU Sketches of Presbyterian Missions:" "Slam provinces have each a ruler, aU subject and Laos as Seen by American Missionaries :': to the king. The late king and his "Siam," Mary L. Cort;" The ·Land of the successor, Chulalangkom, .have, proved Wbite Elephant," Y. Vincent. very able, .educated, and erilightened monarchs, who abQlishEld the CUB· t "India and Malaysia," J. M. Thobnm, toni of bowing lik.e beasts "on all fours," and bade. their courtiers stand D.D.; "A Winter In India ;md Malaysia," before:thein Hkemen.. 'From theacccs- M. V. B. Knox, D.D. sion' of· M8.ha"Mong-Kut" in.18S1, there has been more contact with the outside :I: "The Light of ~Ia and. the Light of the world and more real progress than for World," S. H. Kellogg, D,D.; "Short Chapter~ centuries before. on Bnddhism," .J.. H;. 'TitcOmb;, "Buddhism,',' Rhys Davids: "Buddhism," Sir Monier Will, ams.
S See p. 358 (present Issue). ". The Lepers of Our Indian Empire," W. C. Bailey: "Work Among Lepers." Missionary operations have never been ever opened in this country. Among vigorously carried forward, owing to the first fifteen scholars three were the paucity of laborers. The country daughters of the nobility, and all proved is open in a remarkable degree, but the equal to the boys in the acquirement of whole missionary force in Siam and the knowledge, so the school proved a suc- Laos country does not exceed thirty- cess, and other natives were induced to Jour, including women and the medical send their children also. One of the force (excluding wives of missionaries). Laos princes called to see the school. He had on a coat, pants, and hat, but The missionaries of the American was in his bare feet. The people are Board sent out in 1831 and 1832 were very much darker colored than the afterward removed to China. Since Chinese, but have the same straight 1847 the entire native population have black hair. They cut it short, and been under care of the Presbyterians of comb it d la mode parted in the middle North America. But the whole of the -men and women all the same. The New Testament and part of the Old, priests shave their heads, and wear san· with a beginning in Christian literature, daIs. Their garments are all made of were the fruit of one decade of years, yellow cloth. It is the sacred as well and now the whole Bible is accessible as royal color. There arc thousands of to all who read Siamese. The" Pil- the lazy vagabonds supported by beg· grim's Progress" was among the early ging. They make a very good living, products of a Christian press, which has however, as no one is allowed to refuse proved a grand instrument of evangeli. them what they ask, somewhat after zation and education. Parts of the Bi- the style of certain priests in America. ble have also now been translated into They are all servants of the idol god the Laos dialect. For seven successive Buddha, and at death expect to enter years the accessions to the Church in upon an eternal sleep. They live alone the Laos country were constantly grow- in monasteries upon the temple ~rounds. ing, from 110 in 1887 to 303 in 1893. The mother church at Chieng Mai, after .. At a certain season the kmg celesending out eight colonies, has an adult brates worship and gives gifts to the membership of over 700. priests. He visits the temples for nine days. At such time he may be seen in From 18407 to 1851 aU mission effort his royal barge upon the river. His was hampered by the hostility of the boat, over 150 feet long, with 84 row· king; on his sudden death, and the ers, all dressed in uniform, and keeping election of Maha·Mong-Kut, who had perfect time with their paddles. The studied with an American missionary, boat is beautiful, beginning with a and proved a catholic·spirited sov- bird's head and ending with a fish's ereign, the work began to take root, tail, all covered with gilt and Siamese though it was thirteen years before the carving. There were banners of crimfirst convert, Nai Chune, yielded to son and gold, and tassels of Yak hair. Christ; and the simple faith of the na· The king sat in state uuder a small cantlve Christians has given much hope to opy near the centre ,of the boat, and the missionaries. was almost hidden by curtains of cloth of gold. We saw him plainly When The effort was early made to raise he passed from his barge to the temple up a native ministry and to establish under his glittering golden umbrella. schools for girl8, as well as boys, to He was dressed in shining raiment and whom native custom had confined these sparkling with jewels, but had left his advantages. crown at home, as it is far too heavy to wear with any degree of comfort. I A well·known traveller writes: never saw a more imposing procession. There were perhaps a thousand boats .. Rev. Dr. Samuel R. House and his upon the river; eighty of them, filled wife were at one time the oldest Pres· with princes, nobles, officers of rank, byterian missionaries in Siam, and had soldiers, priests, etc., with their serunder their care the fir8t girls' 8chool vants, were counted as his special es· cort. The whole ceremony was for the perpetuation of Buddhism and the wor- ship of idols.' The people, however, worshipped the king as though he, too, were a god. There was music and shouting, and on either side of the river, in the floating houses, there were altars erected and tapers burning, while the people clasped their hands and bowed themselves as the king in his glory to earth in form of white elephant, passed by." birth, etc., and ending with his funeral pile and miraculous consumption. In the following paragraphs little else is attempted than to make a few The doctrines of Buddhism; bIlef notes on the condition of the land 1. Vacuity, unreality, illusiveness of and people, and to give short extracts nature. from competent authorities. 2. This nihilism levels all barriers of caste, nation, etc. Polygamy prevails to a fearful extent, 3. Final object, Nirvana, or deliver- with the inevitable degradation of ance from pain and illusion. Rotation woman. of metempsychosis then being broken, the soul is not born again; even desire Half a century ago all foreigners were of existence lost. excluded, but now all Christian coun- 4. Its four great truths are; Pain, its tries enjoy treaty rights. The present origin, its annihilation, and the way king subscribeS liberally to educational to such extinction. and missionary enterprises. Buddha actually sways the people of Siam. Its sacred fanes are among the Dr. Dean organized in Siam the first costliest in the Orient. One is estichurch of Chinese Christians in all Asia. mated at $800,000 and has 900 images The first zenana teaching ever at· of Buddha, one of which is 150 feet tempted in the East was by missionary long and is inlaid with pearl and overwomen in 1851, among the thirty wives laid with gold. The sacred literature and royal sisters of the king of Siam. in the Pali is written on slips of palm leaf, and the four hundred principal Buddhism is a most obstinate foe to works embrace 4000 volumes. Gospel conquest. It is a State religion, "Buddhism is evidently losing its and conversion is virtually treason. No hold upon the minds of young Siamese. man can hold office till after three Indeed, many of the older nobility, such months in the priesthood. While this as the Regent and others, are said to is the nominal attitude of the govern- have but little faith in it, but are ment toward foreign faiths, as a matter obliged to keep up appearances to some of fact no Oriental government has degree. The majority of the common made a closer approximation to a catho- people, and the women of all classes, aro lic toleration. still firm in the faith and constant in their works of merit; but there is un- As to Buddhism, it is a very subtle questionably a coldness in certain quarsystem. It is so complex and philo· ters. The present king, before assumsophical, that it has taxed the greatest ing the reins of government, according minds to explore and represent it. It to custom, spent some time in the is a mixture of apparent absurdity with priesthood. This, it is said, he would exalted ethical teaching. The most gladly have avoided, had not the custom satisfactory work I have seen upon been so inexorable, and the prejudice Buddhism is Sir Monier Williams's su- in its favor so strong. perb volume, one of the series of Duff The son of the Minister of Foreign Afmissionary lectures. fairs spent four years in England, part of the time at Oxford. He was there, Buddhism is the religion of the fol- however, without any proper person to lowers of Fo, whose tenets, introduced direct his studies or control him, and about A.D. 66, are called after Buddha, after spending a mint of money for his (to know-inteUigence). father returned, talking fluently upon horse·racing, dog-fighting, dancing, Buddhists hold that countless Bud· theatres, operas, and all plays and dhas have appeared to save the world, among them one in the present period -namely, &kyamuni, or St. &kya, held by some to be the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. His legendary history is in twelve sections, beginning with his being in the fourth heaven, descent sports; but his knowledge of the sci- than anything else. These calculations ences appeared to be small. He pro- are printed at the royal press, and pubfessed to have lost his faith in Bud- lished under the king's seal a short dhism, without having adopted any- time before the opening of the new thing better, and was averse to entering year." the priesthood. His father was indif· ferent upon the subject, but his grand- Buddhism has no place for atonemother was determined that he should ment, acknowledges no creator; the follow the ancient custom. She said souls of men are ancestors'/ all birds-and he was her favorite, and all her earthly beasts represent souls of departed relagoods were laid up for him; she accord- tives. ingly betook herself to weeping, day and night, until the young man was The white elephant is said to represent obliged to relent. Usually the shortest some king or hero. Death may usher time that anyone can spend in the priest- the soul into the body of a white ant or hood is three months. He agreed to elephant. enter the priesthood for tltree days; but stipulated that, contrary to the custom All males enter the priesthood for a of the priesthood, he should have his time, and live as celibates. regular meals in the evening, with claret. It is also reported that many of the ris- The Siamese believe in acts of merit, ing nobility have relinquished Bud· and seek to accumulate them. dhism. It is to be feared, however, that infidelity will succeed. The great The darkness of the future is terrible, preponderance of European influence, according to the confession of an aged outside of the missionaries, is in that priest himself, who with all his virtues direction. and austerities could see only a blank despair ahead. " Phja Krasap, a nobleman of rank and superintendent of the royal mint, Nirvana seems to be a condition in was at one time the only man in the which all attributes or quality, all dekingdom who had any scientific knowl- sire or emotion, or action or sense, is edge ,worth naming. He was also a gone. Buddhists maintain that a soul philosopher of some ability, and has so sublimated exists, though everything been denominated the 0 hunder Sen of that can be predicated of a soul has Siam. He discarded Buddhism as at passed away. One is reminded of an present taught and practised, and be· illustration which a Western college lieved in a Supreme Being, who pos- professor once gave of transcendentalsesses a kind of personality and is capa- ism, When pointing to a sand-bank full ble of hearing and answering prayer. of swallow-holes, he said, "Imagine That Supreme Being he combined with that bank all washed away, and the the correlation of forces, or rather made swallow-holes still remaining, and you that the instrument of the Supreme have transcendentalism." Being in carrying out his designs, and claimed to find this belief revealed in The thing that is plausible in Budthe Buddhist Scriptures. But few of dhism is its ideal, not its practical mothe Siamese know anything about the rality. The Buddhist decalogue is in Copernican system. The Brahman as- most respects commendable, and so far trologers calculate the eclipses with resembles that given by Moses at an tolerable accuracy, and give the time earlier date, that one naturally queries When the sun in his apparent course in whether the wonderful spread of the the heavens reaches the equinoctial and truth in Daniel's time did not reach solstitial points. This is done more in India, and give to Daniel's contemreference to the times of their festivals porary, Gautama, some of his principal ideas. The Decalogue, according to Rev. N. A. McDonald's work on Siam, is as follows: I. From the meanest insect up to man, thou shalt kill no animal what- ever.
18911.] ll'lELD OF' MONTHLY
II. Thou shalt not steal. "4. The way to the suspension ofsuf- lII. Thou shalt not violate the wife fering: By the eightfold noble path- Right belief, right resolution, right of another nor his concubine. speech, right deeds, right life, right IV. Thou shalt speak no word that ideals, right thoughts, right memory, is false. right meditation. V. Thou shalt not drink wine nor •• The last of these clauses is the foun- dation of Buddhist ethics. Evidently anything that may intoxicate. ethical law here is not founded upon VI. Thou shalt avoid all anger, ha- the dictates of a higher power, nor is there anywhere the suggestion of a law tred, and bitter language. VII. Thou shalt not indulge in idle or of universal harmony, or necessity, by which the individual is led forcibly to vain talk:. follow a line of conduct which suits VIII. Thou shalt not_covet thy neigh- the universe. The difference between bor's goods. ~ood and evil conduct, roughly stated, 18 the effect upon the individual him- IX. Thou shalt not harbor envy, nor self. Good conduct in a small way pride, nor malice, nor revenge, nor the produces relative happiness in life, and desire of thy neighbor's death or mis- advance of station in the round of ex- fortune. istence; in a large way it becomes the X. Thou shalt not follow the doc- motive-power toward the highest aim, trines of false gods. the resolution into the all, the Nirvana. This doctrine of suffering concentmtes This illustrates the ineffectiveness of all serious attention upon the Ego, and laws, however good, if there be no lov- for the Buddhist this metaphysical term steps out from the franJe of an ing and sentient law-giver. In a world abstract system, and assumes a reality which" created itself" (" Pen Eng," so strong, that everything without as the Siamese say), and whose supreme fades at times into utter insignificance.
being has no attribute nor emotions, To find the Ego is praised as the best end of all search; to be friends with laws will be observed or not according the Ego is the truest and highest friendto the disposition of men. The proof ship. The Ego spurs to good; through of all systems lies in their power to the Ego one knows one's self, and the change the downward tendencies of Ego watches and protects. The Ego is the ultimate refuge, therefore it must men. The practical morality of the be held in check, as the dealer holds a Siamese may be judged by the fact that noble steed. One's own Ego must, the nameless sins of Sodom-the un- first of all, be securely founded on natural affections depicted in the first good. After that others may be in- structed. chapter in the Epistle to the Romans- .. This may, perhaps, be regarded as are fearfully prevalent even among the the most characteristic point in Budpriesthood. dhist ethics. It is a spiritual egoism, Professor Maurice Bloomfield says : whose existence and development are hostile to and exclude practical selfish- " Buddhist ethics is joined directly to ness by its very existence. Forgivethe doctrine of suffering, as we may ness and the love of enemies is exaltcall it. This is the very corner·stone ed, but the impulse is less from the of the edifice. It is designated with heart than from the head; it is from schematic regularity as the fourfold that knowledge which kills desire, and doctrine of suffering, being presented leads to Nirvana. " again and again in four statements which form a close sequence. "1. The truth of suffering: Birth is THE TEA.CHINGS OF' BUDDHA. AND suffering, age is suffering, disease is CHRIST COMPARED.
suffering, union with what is not loved HISTORICAL DIFFERENCES. is suffering, separation from what is loved is suffering. Buddhism• •, 2. The origin of suffering: The thirst after existence which leads from birth By the doctrine of Karma a man is to birth, and to the desire for lust and power. bound hand and foot to the inevitable consequences of his own acts. " 3. Suspension of suffering: Giving np the thirst for existence by cutting Buddha always described himself as off all desires. self-made. Buddha came down to be born on bodily life as the highest of boons and earth in a rich and princely family. loftiest of aims.
Buddha declal'ed that all enlighten- Beware of action, as causing re-birth, ment and wisdom were to be attained and aim at inaction, indifference, apathy, by his disciples, not through him, but as the highest of all states. through themselves and their own intuitions. Every man is saved by his own works and by his own merits. Buddha died peacefully among his friends, suffering from an attack of in- What shall I do to inherit eternal exdigestion, at the age of eighty, and tinction? leaving thousands of disciples. Ohri8tianity. Buddha is dead and gone forever, or lives only in the doctrine which he left. Christianity demands the suppression Ohristianity. of selfishness. Christianity says: Fight and over- In Christ alone there is forgiveness of sins. come the world.
Christ constantly insisted that He Christianity teaches: Expect a new was God-sent. earth, a world renewed and perfected, in which righteousness is to dwell for- Christ was sent from heaven to be born on earth in a poor and humble ever. state. Bodily existence is subject to only Christ had all the treasures of knowl- one transformation. edge hidden in Himself, and made The body of man may be the abode known to His disciples that He was Himself the way and the truth. of the Holy Spirit of God. Present your bodies as living sacri- Christ died in agony an atoning death, suffering for the sins of the world, at fices, holy, acceptable to God, and exthe age of thirty-three, and leaving pect a change to glorified bodies hereabout one hundred and twenty disciples. after. Work the works of God while it is Christ rose and is alive forevermore. day. DOCTRINAL DIFFERENCES. Become as little children, and when Buddhism. you have done all, account yourselves Buddhism demands the suppression unprofitable servants. of self, with the one object of extin- What shall I do to inherit eternal guishing all consciousness of self. life? Buddhism says: Shun the world and withdraw from it. Another writer says: Buddhism teaches: Expect a never- .. To the Christian, the chief quesending succession of worlds forever tions of the future turn upon the fate coming into existence, developing, de- of Buddhism, and the prospects of caying, and reviving, and all equally Christianity. Can Buddhism retain its full of everlasting misery and change. hold upon the people amid the inevita- ble enlightenment? It is admitted to Bodily existence is continued in six be one of the purest of false sYiltems, conditions, through countless bodies of its ethical code almost identical with men, animals, demons, etc. our Decalogue. Gautama, the origina- tor, appears to have been a man of rare The body can never be the abode of disinterestedness and purity of charac· anything but evil. ter, contrasting strangely with the las- civious grossness of Mohammed. But Look to final deliverance from all the whole philosophy of Buddhism is an impractical dream, futile and ineffec- tual. It lays no strong and cheering hold upon the hopes of the life to come. It lacks inspiratIOn and high prompt- ing, affording no • mark for the prize of his high calling in Christ Jesus,' which quickened Paul to all endurance and all effort, revealing no • eternal weight of glory,' no fellowship of God part to different authorities and in part here or hereafter, no eternal career of to basis of calculation. The 2,284,880 culture and growth and delightful ac- Christians include nearly a million and tivity, no joy of eternal love. but in- a half of Roman an~l Syrian Catholics stead of these a mere endless dream iu and about 800,000 Syrian Jacobites. In which all sin will be bleached out of 1890 there were in India proper (excluthe soul. but with it all thought, feel- sive of Burma and Ceylon) 559,661 ing, and moral quality. It gives no Christians, of whom 182,722 were comimpulse, and lacks moral power. It municants. Including Burma and does not,corrupt, but it leaves all the Ceylon, 671,285 adherents and 223,941 natural corruption of the heart to go communicants. These have now inunchecked, which in the end leads to creased to over 700,000 native adherents I much the same result. and about 250,000 communicants for all India. " Buddhism. so plausible and so negative, will be hard to dislodge, and for NOTES FOR THE MONTH.-D. L. P. this reason great fruits have not yet been gathered in Siam. A people well The estimated area of Siam is 190,000 fed and proud of their garden land and square miles, about equal to that of the their respectable religious faith are less New England and Middle States, or one easily moved than impoverished and and one half times as large as the Britperishing races ; but Siam must yield ish Isles. The population numbers up Buddhism before the progressive about six millions, and consists of tendencies of a practical age. If not 2,000,000 Siamese, 2,000,000 Laosians, Christianity, then scepticism will take 1,000,000 Malays, and 1,000,000 Chithe place of the shadowy and soulless nese. dream that now entrances the people… Roman Catholics began mission work Oorreotion and Explanation. in this country about 1662, but soon became corrupt and a great hindrance Rev. D. F. Watkins writes to correct rather than a help to the cause of pure statements in the March Survey: .' Rev. Christianity, since the Siamese judged Mr. Thompson brought Bibles here (to all Christians by the Romanists among Mexico) in 1827. Portions of the Scrip- them. The first attempt to reach the tures in Spanish also found their way into Siamese with the Gospel was made by this country at an early date after their Mrs. Ann Hazeltine Judson, when, at her home in Ragoon, Burma, she transpublication (1823). . . . There are about lated a catechism and some tracts into a dozen churches and congregations in Siamese in 1819. Mrs. Gutzlaff was the Territory of Tepic with two or- the first missionary who resided in dained native pastors, helped by faith- Siam, but she only lived there one year, from 1830 to 1831. The American ful local preachers. The llethodist Board established and maintained mis- Episcopal Church, South, has also good sions there from 1831 to 1849. The work in three cities in Sinaloa and in American Baptist Union began work in Bangkok in 1833, but since 1835 have three places in Sonora, also at La Paz, confined their attention to the Chinese Lower California. OUf statements in Bangkok and the vicinity. The were based on the fact that there are Presbyterians of the United States no Protestant foreign missionaries sta- (North) entered the field in 1840, and have continued laboring successfully tioned here. A seeming contradiction with but a slight interruption until the iu our April issue needs a note of ex- present, and are the only society now planation. On pages 269, 291, and 293 the statements are made that there are in India 2,284,380 Christians, of whom 592,612 are native Protestant Christians, again that Protestant communicants number 250,000 and adherents 700,000, and again that communicants number 182,722 and native Christians 559,661. These seeming discrepancies are due in working among the Siamese and Lao· was granted, and he regained his throne.
sians. The prospects of the work are Later on the kingdom came under the exceedingly bright, seemingly only lim· power of Siam, when French aid was ited by lack of men and means to take again called in, and the protectorate advantage of the fields already white recognized 1863. Pray for an open unto harvest. In 1894 there were la- door and men and means to enter into boring among the Siamese 22 mission- Cambodia and Annam.
aries, including 8 ordained men, 1 phy- sician, and 5 unmarried ladies. These were assisted by 23 native helpers, In- cluding 1 licentiate and 18 teachers.
Communicants numbered 317, of whom Malaysia consists of the lIIalay Pen- 12 were added in one year; 307 pupils insula (Lower Siam and British colo- attended 13 day -schools, 555 were in nies), Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Molucca, Sabbath'school, and the number of in- and other small islands under Dutch door patients treated was 2800. The rule, Borneo, divided between the more important and promising work is Dutch and English, the Philippine Is- carried on among the Laos tribes of the lands under Spain, and numerous other north. Here 31 missionaries (10 or- small islands, some of them controlled dained, 3 medical, 6 unmarried wom- by Portugal. New Guinea is some- en) are stationed, assisted by 1 ordained times added, but more properly belongs nat~ve and 50 other helpers. They to Australasia. The total area, 830,000 have established 9 churches with 1590 square miles, and the estimated popu- communicants, of whom 289 were add- lation, 35,000,000, of whom two thirds ed in a year. Pupils in the 6 day- are in Java. The prevailing religion schools number 370, and in Sabbath- is Mohammedan. In Singapore and schools 475. the adjacent country there are laboring representatives of the Church of Eng- land, Presbyterians and Plymouth Brethren of England, and the Ameri- One of the unoccupied fields of the can Methodists (North). The British world Is neighbor to Siam. OarnlJodia, and Foreign Bible Society from this with an area of 40,000 square miles and centre sends out Bibles and tracts in a population of about 800,000 Siamese forty-jive languages (200 languages are and Laos people, 30,000 Malays, and said to be spoken in the city), and has 100,000 Ohinese and Annamese. Cam- colporteurs going to Sumatra, Java, bodians are more honest, but scarcely Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippine less indolent than Annamese; women Islands, in which last place they are are fairly respected and independent; the only missionaries. In 1890 there instead of earrings they often wear were 83 missionaries laboring in the wooden or ivory plugs in the lobe, Dutch East Indies, most of whom are which thus becomes distended to a connected with the Reformed Church monstrous size. Society of Holland, the Netherland, The early history is obscure. Con- Ermelo, Dutch, Mennonite, Rhenish, quered by the Annamese toward the and Utrecht societies. Statistics of sta- close of the seventeenth century, the tions, missionaries, and communicants southern portion was set apart for Chi- are very incomplete, the Encylopredia.
nese who had fled from home for politi- of Missions gives 198 stations and 32,767 cal reasons, and this became Cochin communicants; this is, however, a very China. In 1787 the king of Cochin incomplete record. In Java there is a China, being dethroned, appealed, native home and foreign missionary so- through French missionaries (Roman ciety founded in Batavia in 1851. This Catholic), to France for aid, which is now operated from Amsterdam_
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. by the Chinese forces that hover around it. The climate is inclement. Imag- Official ad vices received at Wash- ine a large army tramping through the ington announce that the powers of snows of Maine and New Hampshire, Viceroy Li Hung Chang, the Chinese and we have some of the conditions of the Japanese forces, and, moreover, the Peace Commissioner, embraced negotia- Japanese army has not the clothing or tion upon four points. His credentials the shelter that an army in New Engread simply" to negotiate," but he was land might be expected to have, neither clothed with full powers to effect: can it get much support from the coun- 1. The independence of Korea. try through which it is travelling. It 2. A money indemnity. is not the first time that an army has found it a very different matter to push 3. Cession of territory. the war within the enemy's borders from what it was to gain victories on its 4. The readjustment of treaty rela- own or a neutral country's soil. Ja-· tions between the two countries in re- pan, of course, shows no fear as yet, gard to commercial relations, extra-ter- though there is seen a lack of.enthusi- ritorial jurisdiction, and other matters asm over the war which a tew months ago was not apparent. There is no previously covered by treaties which seeming haste on the part of Chinese have been terminated by the war. envoys. They are evidently confident This information discredits the cir- that the longer the delay the smaller cumstantial statement sent out March will be the .indemnity. There is cere tainly at present some ground for the 121h, purporting to give the text of the prophecy which was made by good auconditions agreed to by China in ad- thority in the fall of 1894-that the vance. These conditions are said to nearer Japan came to taking Pekin in include the cession of certain specified 1894 the greater her victory, an<J the farther she was from Pekin on January territory and to prohibit the cession of 1st the greater her misfortune. But all other territory, and to limit the indem- this may have changed ere this reaches nity to $250,000,000, payable In gold. America.
March 25th the news came from Tokio "One event in connection with the war should fill the Christian world with that a young Japanese, Kogama Roku- rejoicing and prayer for God's blessing nosuk, had shot the viceroy in the cheek, upon the Word. In an almost unex- and the bullet entered below the eye. plainable way Japan has lately been The wound was not thought to be dan- opened to the Bible as never before. It shOuld be known that in the past misgerous, and the would-be assassin is re- sionaries and Christian teachers have ported a lunatic. The Japanese with been forbidden to enter the barracks or one accord deplore the fanatic's act, to present Christianity in any way to the soldiers. A Christian young man and the probable result will be favor· who became enrolled in the arm.y could able to China in the peace negotiation. keep his Testament with difficulty, and Indeed, later it was announced that was likely to suffer much persecution an unconditional armistice is granted by at the hands of officers as well as men. A few months ago a young man who the Japanese emperor. last year graduated from the Baptist Ai to Japan and the war, Rev. J. L. theological school, on being enrolled, Dearing writes in The Watchman: had the greatest difficulty in keeping his small copy of the Gospels. Now all " The war wages steadily on. The is changed. Those in authority are nearer view of affairs gives little en· doing everything in their power to have coura~ement of the speedy issue which the Testament placed in the hand of AmerIcan and English papers report. every ioldier. The private secretary The accounts in the daily vernacular of Count Ito aided in forwarding a press, which may be expected to make large number of copies of the Testaout as good a case as possible for the ment, to be distributed through tbe Japanese, lead one to think that the navy. Prince Komatsu, who is at the Japanese army is advancing very slow· head of the Imperial Guards, asks that ly toward Pekin and is greatly harassed 10,000 copies of the New Teatament b6 fwrniihed for every office! and man in may not seem strange to those who are the Imperial Guard. They are the accustomed to think of the sympathy picked men of the empire, he says, and of a Lincoln or a Washington, but It should be the model men of the army. one thinks of the usual luxury of an He wants everyone to have a Testa- Eastern court, and how unusual such ment. Free permission has been given conduct is on the part of an ElIStern to the agent of the Bible societies to monarch, it will be easier to conceive distribute Testaments and to hold reo the high place that his Imperial Maj. esty, Mutsu Hito, is winning in the lIgious conversation in the hospitals of hearts of his people by the sympathy the army, among the Chinese prisoners, and love that he is showing, and one and in the barracks throu~hout Japau. can better understand what an inspira- How much this means it IS hard to reo tion he is to the entire army." alize. We cannot believe that this general permission to do a work here- From other sources we learn that the tofore forbidden cOll}es wholly from a American Board of Commissioners for new love for the Bible. Other forces Foreign Missions has received from are doubtless at work, but the fact that Hiroshima, the military headquarters the Bible is thus circulated may tell above referred to, a statement and ap· wonderfully in the advancement of the peal relating to Christian work for the Master's kingdom through the new and army, showing that, for the firllt time widespread reading which these thou- in history, a pagan nation authorizes the sands of copies will receive. We may employment of native Ohristians a8 army well pray that the understanding of chaplains! Ten missionaries and six· many may be opened. It is unques- teen Japanese workers have been des· tionably true that the war will forward ignated for the special work. for soldiers Christianity in Japan as well as Korea at Hiroshima. Encouraged by the and China. Korea has been opened as sympathy and weighty influence of never before to Christian teachin~. Christian officials high in rank, the 10- The slur which has often been heard lD cal committee have obtained permission Japan, that Christianity would make to send a number of Japanese evangel· one disloyal and destroy one's love for ists to the front as Cluistian workers for the Emperor and for one's country, has the army, and it is hoped that permis. been effectually stamped out by the sion may be secured for a missionary to loyal attitude of all Christian people. accompany or follow these Japanese. The activity of Christian people in seeking to supply the needs of the An appeal is issued asking for $1000 army, as well as in prayer for the at once to use in the missionary work army, has brought Christianity before contemplated in the Japanese army. the people in a very favorable light, The appeal is signed by seven well· quite in contrast with the inactivity of known brethren, with Bishop Evington at the head, and a new door seems open the Buddhists. for Christian effort which it is to be " Reference ought to be made to the hoped may be promptly entered.
attitude of the Emperor toward the In stran~e ways God may use this war. The subject is little dwelt upon war to promote the spread of Christian· by the home paper, perhaps because it is not understood, but it is a fact, never· ity in these lands. theless, which makes him a great ex· ception among Eastern monarchs. Soon Purushotam Rao Telang, a Brahman, after the war opened he removed his in the December Forum, makes the fol· court from the luxuries of his Tokyo lowing remarkable admission in regard palace to Hiroshima in West Japan, to Christ,ianity: "Here, in justice to that he might be nearer the seat of war the missionary, I must say that he has and able to encourage the troops as done much to lift the pariah, socially they embarked for the war, and also and mentally, by opening schools and oversee the return of the wounded and educating those who became converts. prisoners. There, in plain, temporary The structure of ,Hindu society and r60 quarters, he has remained, taking a deep interest in everything that concerned the war. He often goes through the hospitals and sends the band to play for the invalids. Only a few days since he was found walking in his garden in the clothes of an ordinary solaier that he might, he said, more fully appreciate the condition of his soldiers at the front. Such action on the part of an Emperor ligion – built on caste – is such that there was desperate fighting, 1500 men there is no such help for the pariah as having been killed or wounded.
the Christian missionary has brought to ., Then the diplomats and the Papal him." Nuncio, Mgr. Macchi, intervened and Another war threatens between Chili a peace was arranged. and the Argentine Republic, which "During the fighting all of the forwill draw in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador as allies of Argentine against eign legations were exposed to the fir- Chili. One thing feared by the people ing. The United States Legation was here is that Chili's first step will be to in a particularly dangerous situation. put a heavy body of troops into the centre of Bolivia, which can easily be "Mrs. McKenzie, wife of the United done by the railroad, and thus step in States Minister, narrowly escaped being between all the allies and chastise each shot. More than fifty refugees sought one separately at leisure. an asylum in this Legation. The only means of communication with the out- side world since Saturday has been over the lines of the Central and South Drought and locusts have caused American Telegraph and Cable Comwidespread famine in Eastern Equa- pany. All other lines were closed."
torial Africa. Villages have been de- Dr. Gracey sends the following letpopulated and mission schools and ter from a well-known source: churches have been closed. Many natives are selling themselves and their SEOUL, KOREA, February 7, 1895. children into slavery to obtain food_ I give you a great piece of news- The missionaries in Ugogo, Mpwahwa, Bishop Ninde had an audience with and Mamboia have joined others in an the king of Korea on the 4th inst. The appeal for aid. king expressed a desire to see the bish· op on January 31st, but he had already Mr. McKenzie, United States Min- gone to Chemulpo. He returned and ister to Peru, telegraphed the State was received in auillence. This is the Department March 21st, that, after first time episcopacy stood In the pres- three days' fighting, an armistice had ence of royalty in the bermi~ nation.
been arranged between the insur- Dr. Scranton [Methodist Episcopal] and gents and the government troops, Dr. Underwood [Presbyterian] accom· and that over a thousand dead and panied the bishop, and they understood wounded were left lying in the streets the hearty words of thunks His Majesty of Lima. Later some sort of an agree- uttered to the bishop in behalf of the ment was reached by the belligerents, Americans for their interest in Korea.
and peace was restored. A provisional "There are many, many Americans in government is reported formed with Korea. We are glad they are here.
Senor Candamo as Provisional Presi- Thank the American people, and we dent and Minister of Foreign Affairs. shall be glad to receive more 'teach- The New York Herald says: "Presi- ers.'" This is a wonderful utterance.
dent Caceres surrenders the government There are no Americans worth men- and retires to Ancon. Nicolas Pierola, tioning in Korea except "teachers,"
the leader of the revolutionists and and to tell the bishop to tell "the formerly President, will go to Chorillos. American people" to send more seems Caceres took refuge on board the Chil- to me to be opening the door wide on ian cruiser El P'l'eaidente Pinto. its hinges. The king and many of his .. This change in the government is people believe in Americans, and want the results of the three days' battle in to get as much of their" civilization"
Lima. The revolutionary forces, led from them as possible.
by Pierola, entered the city at dawn To-day I was asked by a representa- Sunday morning, and for three days tive of the foreign department here to receive two hundred students into our ditional pledlSe suggested by this devout mission school. It is not likely they man of God were added? We can im- agine the deeper feeling with which have this number ready, but it does each one would say, ' It meaw mY8elf, mean they want to avail themselves of ()1' my earthly p088essions.' One vow of our school. This Is a time worth living this kind would be worth one thousand in Korea. of the other, which is hedged in on three sides only. The word' if ' leaves Student Volunteers. the other wide open toward the world. Like Gideon's band, the little company An additional pledge is suggested of three hundred would be worth more for battle than more than thirty thoufor the Student Volunteer Movement, sand. by a prominent friend of missions and "These new Volunteers would be a generous giver. We print the com· like the tine wheat and the unblemished munication : sacrifice, which was required in the Old " A widely known and useful clergy- Testament religious rites. Now, no man of our .Church, who has made a less than then, God is mocked when study of Presbyterian and other church solemn vows are broken, or when immethods, made a suggestion recently, perfect sacrifices are brought to His on the Student Volunteer Movement, altar. "
that challenges and will bear consider- In the last issue we gave place to ation. If put into practice, it would insure such a purification of these the communication of Mr. S. F. Wilwould-be sons of Levi as could not fail kins, President of the Howard National • to bring down an abundant blessing on the churches. Bank of Boston, as to the" extra cent· – "Speaking of the imperfect pledge a-day plan" for raising money for the which these young people take upon cause of missions. Mr. Wilkins is not themselves, he added, 'I would find no only very earnest about this scheme for fault with the pledge, if it would go on and say further," If the way is not open- habitual and systematic contributions, ed for me to go to the foreign field, I but he exemplifies his principles by in· promise to live on the same amount, in closing fifty dollars, which we apply to this country, that I would receive were our Student Volunteer Fund for sup- I engaged in missionary work, and consecrate all that I possess over and above plying the REVIEW to proposing and that amount to the maintenance of the intending missionaries. To this plan foreign missionary work." , of Mr. Wilkins we call attention with "It was not said in jest, but in sol- emphatic commendation. emn earnest, and was the result of much observation and careful consideration of the plan that is rcgarded as simple Vivekana.nda. and easy to take up or let go. There is no question but that many who are Last winter no little stir was created counted as Student Volunteers have an in some of the northern cities by the earnest purpose to push on till they lectures of one Vivekananda. a Hindu reach the end they have professed to aim for; but these, as a rule, would monk, who was a delegate to the have gone out, almost certainly. with- World's Parliament of Religions. This out having made any previous public same Hindu has since published his declaration. views regarding missions in India in " It is no less true that most of the rank and tile of the movement are not different papers and magazines in this qualified to carry out their profession, country: and many of the thoughtless, and it would be better that they should or those whose prejudices were against not vow, than vow and fail to perform. foreign missions, were led to suppose Crowded meetings and the enthusiasm inspired by members, with impassioned that missions in India were a failure. appeals, are responsible for forcing, It would be well for such people in our from not over-strong natures, declara- own land to read the comments of the tions they would not make under other newspapers of India, Hindu as well as circumstances. " For these and other reasons would Christian, on the character and views of this same Vivekananda. His Hindu· it not be well, and would it not be an inspiration for the Church, if the ad· ism is repudiated. and it is stated that such a system as he gave forth in this both ways. The lantern and some one country is unknown to orthodox Hin- to read the l"cture must be secured 10.'
dus; and his description 8f mission- cally. Whenever possible, the slides aries is generally pronounced as most are sent so as to arrive a day or two in unfair. It now appears that he was at advance of the date on which they are the outset an actor in the Calcutta the- to be used, and they should be returned atre. He afterward joined the Brahmo the day following, packed in accord- B'omaj, and preached their faith. He ance with the directions on the box.
soon repudiated this, differing from hil!! It may be well to add that Mr. Grant's brethren as to any belief in God. This own hints on giving an exhibition may is the man who has posed before Ameri· be had in printed form, by application can audiences as a learned and able ex- to him. Our illustrations on Siam in ponent of orthodox Hinduism.-The the present issue were kindly lent us by Missionary. Mr. Grant.
Apropos of the above, it may be add· New books on Missions still con· ed that the Calcutta missionaries do not tinue to appear, and some of them of favor the scheme of the Rev. J. H. Bar- high excellence. The Pacific Press rows, of chicago, for a course of lec- Publishing Company publish "The tures to be delivered in India on .. Com- Story of Pitcairn Island, and the Mutiparative Religion." It appears that neers of the Bounty," written by Miss the influence of the recent Parliament Rosalind Young, a native daughter, of Religions has tended rather to foster and it is well done. The marvellous confidence, already too arrogant, on the way in which the Word of God withpart of the mndus, in their own relig- out any living preacher won its way to ion and opposition to Christianity. The the heart of the whole community is a great business of Christians in regard unique testimony to the power of the to India is to preach the Gospel in all living book, and it is well that the story its simplicity and glory, and leave the is fully told by one who knows all the Hindus who hear to make their own facts. The proceeds of the sale of the comparisons. We have had serious book go to the new educational institudoubts from the beginning as to the tion now building on the island. expediency of any such" lectures" in the heart of Asiatic idolatry and false faith. Michael Coates sends gratifying news from the South Africa General A most helpful way of creating and Mission as to the work of God in SWRfostering interest in missionary subjects zieland.
is by magic lantern lectures, illustrating Mr. Baillie with Mr. Coates and wife the daily life of the people, their occu- visited the new station," The Welpations, religion, places of worship, the come," and found the work going for· physical features of the country, public ward, and the natives flocking to the buildings, and the mission work. Such meetings. The Sunday before their illustrated lectures on India, China, and visit it was difficult to find room for Persia may now be had by applying to the people. Klass, the owner of the W. Henry Grant, 53 Fifth Avenue, farm, was converted and baptized duro New York. Each set is composed of seventy or eighty views, with a map ing their stay. The party several time!! and two missionary hymns. A' manu- visited the klng's kraal and held school script lecture is sent with the slides. there for the young king, a boy of About an hour is required for reading about nineteen and his two brothers. the lecture and showing the pictures. l1r. Coates writbs: " We believe there A charge of $2 is made each time the is a work going on in the heart of the slides are used, in addition to expressage queen. lam told she prays often. We heard her speak about Jesus and ask questions about the Bible. She has promised she will shortly tell all her people to learn and to pray. The king is very firm in his belief that their ideas about spirits and snakes are right, being compelled to deny a share in the but all his movements are watched by distribution to any whose income Is the native doctors, who are anxious over £100 a year. The work done by that his mind should be kept -in a state this "book fund" has been immense of darkness. and of vast benefit.
" If the king goes to wash, his medi- A Presbytery has been formed in cine man accompanies him, so that the connection with the United Presbyte- rian Mission in Egypt, one of the most water may be doctored and no evil promising missionary enterprises in the spirit hurt him. When lately the king world. This presbytery has recently shot two men in a fit of anger, his held its annual meeting at Suit al Lebu, witch doctor had to come immediately on the Upper Nile. Americans, visiting Egypt now in increasing numbers, and give him medicine to make the an- often show their interest by their gifts. A gry spirit depart, and the remedy was late letter from Cairo says that Mr. Whitelaw Reid, of the New York to paint the eyes of the king with a Tribune, who has just left for Suez, en black concoction, telling him also not route for Jerusalem, sent in a check for $500 for mission work, with a note in to leave his hut for three days. I was which he witnesses to the excellence of very much surprised the other day the work being done all through Egypt by this mission. when the king told me that the white people simply existed to give nice things The Proposed Medioal Missionary 001- to the nati ves. The king is very fond lege. of speaking to us, and I trust that be- The first payment of $5000 toward fore long his mind will be enlightened. the purchase of the John Stephenson We have had the king's own brother at church twice; he also comes frequently to visit us and is very pleasant and nice. He told me that when he got to know more about Jesus he would believe in Him.
.. Five of the king's sisters with their attendants were present at church, and listened most attentively to what was said, for which we praise God, as we feel sure that the words spoken in church are carried home and repeated again to the queen. "
Rev. Frank S. Dobbins will send to estate at New Rochelle, N. Y., was anyone writing him (at 1420 Chestnut made by the International Medical Mis- Street, Philadelphia) for it, a list of sionary Society early in March. The " Some Two Hundred of the Best Mis- second payment of $70,000 is due May sionary Books. " The list includes only 1st, and the third payment of $15,000 books now in print and on sale and must be made September 1st. easily obtainable. The property, comprising twenty Thirteen thousand copies of the list acres, and forming one of the most are now out in circulation, and a new beautiful sites to be found on Long edition of five thousand is just issued. Island Sound, has upon it a large white stone mansion built in the form of a cross, and measuring 115 feet in length, Mrs. Charles H. Spurgeon, still inside of piazzas. and 72 feet extreme residing at Westwood, London, con- breadth, about 60 feet average width.
tinues to supply ministers of small It has four complete stories. It is pro- means with good books. During 1894, posed to arrange the upper floor as a 8403 volumes were thus distributed, dormitory for male students, the third mostly works by her lamented hus- floor being devoted to lady students.
band. Among the recipients were 183 The ground fioor, containing eleven Baptists, 72 Congregationalists, 105 rooms. will be used for purposes of in- Methodists, 63 Episcopalians, and struotion and administration, While the 6 Presbyterians; £882158. 7d. was con- basement will afford all needed con- tributed. Mrs. Spurgeon says that she venience for boarding, culinary pur· has had more applications from the poses, and laboratories.
Episcopal clergy than she could fill, The former owner, John Stephenson, spent over $400,000 upon the building weeks will also be arranged for prospec- and grounds, but the executors, being tive missionaries, during which instruc- interested in the project, bave given tion will be given in emergencies and $35,000 of the lowest market price- the Bible, and the students will have $125,000-reducing the cost to only opportunity for practical work at the $90,000. A mortgage of $50,000 can mission dispensaries of the Society.
be readily obtained upon the property, The charge for board, residence, and but the promoters of the college trust instruction for ten weeks will be $50.
that the people of God will not permit This course will extend from the mid- this to become necessary. They have dle of June to the end of August.
about $10,000 promised toward the sec- Recently a very valuable addition to ond payment, and much earnest prayer the Society has been made by placing has been and is being offered by the on its Board the Rev. D. M. Stearns, of managers, students, and others that the Philadelphia, one of the ablest and scores and even hundreds of noble soundest Bible teachers of the present young men and women now clamoring day.
for medical education for mission ser- vice may be accepted and trained as they desire. Rev. Dr. Steel, of Sydney. The gift of $1000 will provide resi- dence for one student in perpetuity, Among our ablest editorial correwhile $5000 will provide re8idence and spondents we esteemed the late Dr. board for nine months and medical edu- Robert Steel, of Sydney. A memorial cation for one young man or woman in tablet to him, of Carrara marble, ;has perpetuity. The donors may name been unveiled in St. Stephen's Church, their gifts as scholarships, "In Memo- Sydney. The inscription reads: riam," and for the use of students of their particular denomination. Sacred to Tbe basis of the institution will be the Memory of :THE REV. ROBERT STEEL, D.D. evangelical and interdenominational, Born at Pontypool, Monmouthshire, England, and the trustees will represent, as 15th May, 1827.
equably as possible, the denominations Died at Sydney, New South Wales, 9th' in accordance with the gifts made from October, 1893. and for the same. Minister of St. Stephen's Church for 31 years. The Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., Sec- Third Moderator of the General Assembly.
One of the first Couucillors of St. Andrew's retary Methodist Mission Board, 150 College. Fifth Avenue, New York City, is the President of the Interim Theological facnlty present treasurer. of the Presbyterian Church of New Sonth Since January 1st, 1893, Dr. Dow- Wales. An earnest and eloquent Preacher of the kontt, the Founder and Medical Direct- Gospel.
or of the Society, has received commu- A faithful and Warm-heaned PSBtor. nications from not less than 400 young A Wise and Far-seeing Church Statesman. men and women in our various colleges and schools, who desire to obtain medi- A Popular and Instructive Lecturer. An Enthnsiastic Social Reformer. And an able and voluminous Contrihntor to cal education for mission service. If the Literature of the Day. the building is secured, it is intended In his daily Life to form the first class of first year students of 40 or 50 -both sexes-and be- he endeavored to show himself an example to his Hock. In his intercourse with his Ministerial Brethren he was ever a Pattern gin the regular course about September of Courtesy aud Forbearance, and iu his dealings 15th next. The course will be four with those outside his Denomination, he was a years of nine months each session, with privilege of graduating at the end of Model of Manly Frankness and Christian three years. A summer course of ten Charity.
" 0 for the tonch of a vaniShed hand, And the sound of a voice that is still 1"
GENERAL lIUSSIONARY INTELLIGENOE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign faith that had led many to righteous- Periodicals. ness of life ; but as yet confession of BY REV. C. O. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, Christ is not made unto 8al1Jation. We MASS. have now to prophesy to the wind, and the spirit will come from the four quar- lNDIA. ters of the heaven, and they shall then -" Mr. Redman took me last even- live. In a few years we shall, please ing to visit a memorial to Sadhu Hira God, be able to say, ' And they lived, Nand Shanthi Ram Advani. The in· and stood up upon their feet an exceed· scription in English on the monument ing great army.'" – Rev. ROBERT was that he was' born March 6th, 1863, CLARK, in Church Mi88ionary Gleaner.
and died on July 14th, 1893.' 'Do not -" A More Liberal Christianity for be weary in well-doing.' 'The ,world India. It is an exceedingly interesting passeth away and the lusts thereof, and fascinating study to trace the dif- but he that doeth the will of God en- ferent currents of thought that ripple dureth forever.' On the top of the over the Hindu mind one after another.
monument was the Christian cross, the Many of them are very evanescent in Hindu trident, and the Mohammedan their character and their effects. Some crescent. He founded and for a time of these waves of thought just touch taught in the Brahmo Somaj Union the surface and leave the abysses un- Academy in Hyderabad. He was touched; but there is one current of greatly interested in the education of thought which is quietly but surely en- girls, and taught some of them him· tering the Hindu mind and stirring it self. He was the editor of a native to its depths, and that is Christian newspaper, the Barowati, and advo· thought. In many minds it awakens cated every scheme of social reform. sympathy, in others aversion, in some At the time of the cholera epidemic he intense hatred. Numbers would like a wen(personally wherever the pestilence Christianity robbed of its strength, was most virulent, and gave medicine more accommodating to the ways of to the sick and comfort to the dying. men, or, to employ the usual term, a He never spared himself, and he gave more' liberal' Christianity. The Par- his labor, his time, and his money with- liament of Religions is to some extent out any human reward. He was a na- responsible for this latest ripple of tive of Hyderabad, and his whole heart Hindu thought. Hindus and Bud- seemed filled with a measure of the dhists have been welcomed in Ameri- spirit of Christ. But he never became ea; they have proclaimed to delighted a Ohristian. On his monument appear audiences the lofty morality and tran- two English texts from the Bible, scendental philosophy of their sys- which are surmounted with the em- tems ; Christian men and women have blems of the three great religions in listened with delight to their eloquent India, which are antagonistic to each denunciations of Christian morals, and other. have regarded the testimony of these " Full long has the Christian Church men as superior to that given by mis- been prophesying in India to the dry sionaries. The Christian public in bones, as God has commanded us to America and England are prepared to do. These bones are now coming to· take these men at their own valuation.
gether in the form of humanity. But The pUblication of the report of the there is as yet no life and no confession WorId's Parliament of Religions has of !Jhrist. There is apparently the given ' liberal' editors the opportunity
1895.J EXTlACTS .AND
of having their say. The editor of the prevail must emphasize the facts of Metlwdi8t Times cven is quite prepared sin, of alienation from God, of return to accept the Hindu at his own esti- to God through Jesus Christ. Take mate, and heartily endorse his senti- these away, and Christianity will be ments. Mr. Hughes says: 'How ter- deprived of its power. But the heralds ribly just, for example, was the follow- of Christ in this land will not cast away ing bitter cry of a high-minded Brah- their shield of strength. Their work man: •• Oh, that the English had never is agitating the minds of men; it will set foot in India 1 Oh, that we had continue to agitate them till the people never seen a single European face 1 ·of India shall have fairly faced and Oh, that we had never tasted the bitter adequately answered the question, sweets of your civilization, rather than , What think ye of Christ? ' "-Ha1"lJUt it should make us a nation of drunk- Field.
ards and brutes I'" This rhetoric is – We take occasion to commend the , terribly just,' and is to be accepted as Ha1"lJUt Field, published by the Methtrue because it is the 'bitter cry of a odist Episcopal brethren of Madras, as, high-minded Brahman I' But is there in point of mildness, breadth, and any truth in it? We have no doubt soundness, a magazine that leaves the' high-minded Brahman' would be nothing to be desired. delighted if every missionary left these shores to-morrow. Mr. Hughes ap- -The Madras Mission of the Ameri- parently agrees with him. The en- can Board, as quoted in the Ha'I'fJUt dorsement of such exaggerated rhetoric Field, says: may lead Hindus to think that Chris- "In view of the many accessions to tians who can so write are' liberal :' our community, an inquiry concerning but such foolish writing can only the motives of the new converts in be- weaken the Christian sentiment and in- coming Christians is a very interesting fluences that missionaries are trying to one. The opprobrious epithet of ' rice spread. Missionaries who live in the Christians' is not so frequently hurled midst of the people cannot accept at missions as it once was, so that we these representatives of the Hindu and can study the question more calmly.
Buddhist religion as fully and ade- It Is evident that as intelligence grows quately describing these religions; they among the people, and as the Christian do not endorse their wild and extrava- community multiplies, a greater vari- gant rhetorical statements. Hence the ety of motives and higher ones become people of America and England are possible and common among those who liberal and progressive. while mission- are accepting Christianity as their aries are narrow, puritanical, unpro- faith. The relative number is growing gressive. of those who are disgusted with the " The only 'liberal' Chris- hollowness of Hinduism, and 'are at- tianity that will be approved by many tracted by the truth and divine excel- is a Christianity that will deny the de- lence of Christianity, and for that rea- pravity of the human heart, and there- son embrace it in the face of many per- fore its need of regeneration ; that will secutions. We rejoice also in seeing rob Jesus Christ of His Divinity, and many, perhaps the larger number of set Him up as a peerless man among our accessions, drawn to us by family men. and therefore deprive Him of His ties. Their relatives were already redeeming love. Will such a Christi- Christians, and were being richly bless- anity be of any use in India? Will ed by their new faith. Their pleas, the followers of such a Christianity their example. and the solid blessings ever take the trouble to send out am- which Christianity brought to them, bassadors in any numbers? We trow and their refusal to marry their chil- not. The only Christianity that can dren to non-Christians, Were the all-
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
powerful motives with this class. And is the power of God unto salvation. this motive through ties of blood and And it is no uncommon experience of kinship is to grow, for some years at the missionary to receive men whose least, out of proportion to all others, motives are so low and Whose minds and become the vastly preponderating are so base as to disqualify them from factor in the conversion of India to any true Christian life, but whose Christ. children, when they themselves have passed away, adorn the faith and ex- "The thirst for education and ad- perience the joys which their parents vancement is another growing power never knew." which draws the people. Many a young man, with the hearty consent -Mission jubilees are commencing of his Hindu relatives, now casts in to rain in India. The fact is suggeshis lot with us because it is the only tively instructive. The contrast with way open to him for education and the olden times, which were not better, promotion, with which blessings our is admirably encoura.ging. The Basel faith is becoming more and more iden- German Mission Church at Calicut, tified in the minds of the masses. And which has arrived at this joyful and many families also thus join us in or- patriarchal age, teaches, both in its inder that their cbildren may be edu- ception and by its later success, two cated. A great many still become distinctly important facts. The birth Christians from less worthy motives of the Church at Callcut was instruthan these. They are poor people suf- mentally due to the English civilians, fering injustice and cruelty at the hands Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Conolly. Its of village headmen and their heredi- parentage emphasizes the essential imtary masters-suffering as none but portance of the Christian layman in the poor Hindus do and can. But they counsels and efforts of the Church. Its learn of the missionary and Christian- maturity accentuates the wisdom of its ity, and sopn come to regard them as policy in its complete discouragement friends of the oppressed and the de- of caste."-Ohurch Mi88ionary InteUifenders of the poor. So they flee to gencer. them for protection, and when they find that they have not lied in vain, -" A notable Brahmo Somaj lecture they and their descendants are found on ' The Hindu Conception of God' was among the stanchest friends of the given on the 19th in the Town Ha)) to cause and the most devout disciples of a crowded audience by Babu Protap our Lord. A few come from more sor- Chandra Mozumdar, the leader of the did motives than these; but beyond Somaj. Tha.t conception, be told his telling all plainly that we offer no finan- hearers, had its best realization in the cial inducements of any kind to any Christian doctrine of the Trinity. The one, and can give them no promise of only point at which his utterances cessation of earthly troubles, we feel it might not have been the utterances of our privilege and duty not to scrutinize a sufficiently eloquent Christian mistoo closely men's motives; for we sionary was where-without explainhave learned not to expect high mo- ing, however-he declared that the tives from an ordinary Hindu, and we Christian conception of the Holy Spirit have learned also that a man's religiou'.! was' just too definite.' What a Chrisstatus in the future will depend, not so tian missionary Mr. Mozumdar would much upon the character of his pre- make t But the Lord of the Harvest Christian motives, or the absence of knows best." -Ibid. any serious motives, as upon the faithfulness and heartiness with which he -" The Irawaddy, like the Ganges entered Into the new relations and and the Brahmapootra, colors the sea llstellS tQ!l!ld 4qbibefj that Gospel which for many miles from its mouth. The coast lief! rlLther low, and is covered
EXTRACTI!l AND TRA]i8LATION8
with thick jungle, 80 that you see noth- find there is not a word in that treaty ing of Rangoon itself until you have to support the claims put forward in swept round into its harbor. But long the Chamber of Deputies by Ministers before, when yet miles away, you see, of Foreign Affairs answering interpella- out of the dark green mass, a glitterin~, tions. It is silent on the subject of a flashing tongue of flame shoot upward protectorate, and it only grants a privi- to heaven. Ascending like a fiery pil- leged situation to France in respect to lar, it disappears one moment in the diplomatic relations with foreign Pow- shadow of a passing cloud, and the ers, but not in respect to trading or any next moment flames out again more other relations. They stand on the brilliant than before. It is the' Golden letter, and, they aver, on the spirit, Pagoda,' the Sway Dagon, which is which was more distinctly expressed thus gleaming out far over the sea to in the Memorandum annexed to the greet us. "-Rev. O. FLEX, in Allge- treaty. They would not sign the treaty meine Mi8&01WJ·Zeitschrijt. unless M. Patenotre accepted the Mem- MADAGASCAR. orandum, which is not the less valid because M. de Freycinet shirked read- -The following statement, from the ing it to the Chamber of Deputies when Ohronicle, shows on the highest friendly he represented the treaty as a victory, authority, French, Catholic, and Jesuit, and asked for its ratification. how thoroughly inequitable is the present attitude of France toward Mada- "The Jesuit Father regards the gascar. Hovas as an intelligent and an interest- ing people, and well aware of the evil -" The Paris correspondent of the consequences of war with a great Euro- J)aily News recently sent to that paper pean power. But they will go to war the subjoined testimony as to the pres- if they are bullied, and a sentiment ent position of the French in Madagas- which would engender future trouble car from Pere Caussegue, a gentleman must spring up in the case of their well known in that island as one of the being defeated. If the French Govern- senior and most able members of the ment act with firmness and moderation, Jesuits' Mission. We fully endorse trying to conciliate and to be fair. the Pere Caussegue's view of the situation; Hovas are sure to become attached to it is strikingly true. France. The Jesuit complained to-day "Father Caussegue, of the Jesuits' to a writer on the staff of the Temp8 of Mission to Antananarivo, bas returned the number of usless French function- to France. He thinks the French aries quartered on the Hovas. Why wrong in ascribing aggressively hos- not send, instead of the fifty soldiers tile intentions to the Hovas. They who form the Resident's guard, six have no wish whatever to break the married gendarmes. and doctors, en- peace, and if they are procuring arms gineers, schoolmasters, and schoolmis· from England, it is only to make, tresses? They would be truly work- should they be obliged, a defensive use ers for civilization. A grand palace of them. They are terrified at the ut- has been built for the Resident, and a terances of M. de Mahy and other per- big barrack for the soldiers. The Jesuit sons of intemperate speech in the Cham- Father longed to see hospitals in their ber of Deputies. All that is said there place, and a few hundred thousand about Madagascaris printed at Antanan- francs devoted to benevolent institu- arivo. It does sound alarming to per- tions. Such an expenditure would be sons who are not used to French par- a premium of insurance against war, liamentary oratory, and it makes the which would cost millions, be a cause Queen and ministers scan closely the of military weakness, and bring France text of the Patenotre Treaty and the no return worth speaking of. There Memorandum annexed to it. They are English and Norwegian missions at
GENE:RAL lIlISSIONA:RY INTELLIGENCE
A.ntananarivo. Father Caussegue says out for more." -Ohul'c7& MiasiMWl1"Jl of them that if their relations are not InteUigence1'. intimate with the Catholic missions they are civil. The English and Norwegi- English Notes. ans do not attack the Catholics. The open and violent enemies of the latter BY JAlIlES DOUGLAS. are French. As to the Sakalavas, who are not yet Protestantized, the Jesuit London Mi8Siona'l'1J Society. – In an Father holds them to be an inferior able article on " The Story of the Lonrace, refractory to civilization. They don Missionary Society," Dr. Horton are fearful thieves. The Rovas are shows that there has been no decline really a fine race, and in time to come in the quality, the devotion, and the will be the governing one of the island." achievement of the missionaries. For example, in the last quarter of the cen- -As the two extremes of Christian tury there is the splendid story of New opinion in France, M. Saillens and Guinea to match that of cannibal Tahiti M. Caussegue, a Baptist and a Jesuit, and Samoa won for Christ. Africa concur in deprecating the overbearing presents a similar record-" the eleven policy of their government toward martyrs, gathered one by one,and laid Madagascar, we may regard the case in the lonely graves to possess the land as closed with all the judicious. M. about Tanganyika," forming a titting Caussegue, we observe, while acquit· sequel to the glorious courage of Vanting the Protestant missionaries of all derkemp, Philips, and Moffat. So hostility against the Catholic, does not with China. Dr. Horton, however, as condescend even to mention the charge an Englishman is not quite satisfied that they are plotting against France with the review. "Is it creditable," herself. He evidently does not think he asks, "to England that nearly all this worth notice. our best missionaries in the London Missionary Society have been Scotch- -" Moral ideas seem lacking among men or Welshmen 1 What is it in the the Sakalavas in Madagascar, though England of to-day that saps the herotheir neighbors, the Hovas, are Chris- ism in youths, and drifts them into tianized to a large extent. They say: smooth respectabilities instead of pas- • To lie, a sin? to rob, a sin? to get sionate heroisms 1" drunk, a sin? to aid wars, a sin? What is sin? That is some idea of Tien-Men and King.shan.-Dr. Grifyou white men, not ours. Let the fith John sends an inspiring and length- Hovas accept new ideas and customs. ened aocount of a journey through We are not such fools, or deceived so these districts. We note one or two easily.' Yet there il:l a conscience in items. "At one of our prayer-meetthem, and it may be awakened."-Pel'i- ings," he says, "it was my privilege odical A.ccounts (Moravian). to hear a remarkable prayer offered up by one of the Christians of Pan-tsze-Nau. -" Last November 21st, the birth- The Christian is a man of nearly sixty, day of the Queen of Madagascar, the and a convert of not quite three years' first pocket edition of the revised Mala- standing. Neither in China. nor out gasy Bible was issued. The books are of China have I listened to anything in clear type, neatly bound, and sold in the shape of reverent, earnest talking below cost at one shilling, so as to be with God that has impressed my mind within the reach of most. Thi.. vocket as that prayer did. The truth must have Bible is esteemed a great boon, and become very real to that brother, and when the consignment reached Anta- very precious, too, for otherwise it nanarivo, there was a great rush to se- would have been impossible for him to cure copies. In a few days every copy hold communion so intimate and loving was sold, and the people were crying with his Father in heaven."
ENGLISH NOTES
Dr. John reports large additions in shade of view and practice. As one of the district of King-shan. Besides 66 themselves expressed it: .. Drawn as already baptized, there are on the books we are from all classes and grades of 136 candidates for baptism. .. There society, we try to perpetuate in our is," he says, " something extremely in- midst the very differences that charac- teresting in the whole movement. It terized us before we entered the fold gives one an idea of the possibilities of Christ; but what has become of the connected with missionary work in bond of fellowship that is in Christ China, and especially in this province. Jesus? Is it not strong enough to . •. Our great need just now is more break down all petty barriers of an ar- men." tificial society? We want more of Ohurch Mi8sionary Society.-In H. union and fellowship, more of sympa- E. P's notes in the Ohurch Missionary thy and Christian love, to weld together Intelligencer, attention is called to two into a homogeneous whole the varying defects in Indian Christian life : First, and discordant elements of our comthe prominence given to matters of munity."
only temporal concernment; and, sec- Kerak, Palestine.-This town, which ond, t.be lack of thorough Christian is some 700 feet higher than Jerusalem, oneness. It seems odd that a Christian is the scene of a hopeful mission. A convention should have been held for great work is being done among the no higher purpose than" to deliberate Moslems of the place, who seem on the on such subjects as .the educational most friendly terms with the workers needs of Indian Christians, their indus- there, and who are very open at pres- trial and commercial pursuits, the es- ent to the preaching of the Gospel.
tablishment of a family pension fund," Kerak is adjacent to the Bedouin tribes etc., but such is the information tele- of the great Syrian desert, who come graphed from Lucknow. In Madras thither to trade, and is within three the subject of .. thrift" has been eager- days' journey of the Arabian frontier.
ly canvaesed ; but better still the first It is felt that there is a loud call to meeting of the" Native Christian Gos- make Kerak a strong mission without pel Propagating Association" has been delay.
held in that city, at which Mr. S.Jagana- Bapti8t Missionary Society, North thum told "how wonderfully the Lord Ohina. – We understand that great was helping the earnest members of it in bleSSing has accrued from the Baptist propagating the Gospel to the multi- mission work in North China. Around tudes of both Christians and non-Chris- the three mission stations in that region tians, and thus accomplishing the only there are now from 80 to 100 small object of the Association, which is to churches, with a membership varying make known the only way of salva- from 6 to 60.
tion. " Dacca,lndia.-The Rev. R. Wright The want of homogeneity among na- Hay has had a warm welcome on his return to his much-loved mission work. tive Christians is doubtless due to the A Mohammedan gentleman, whom he very imperfect assimilation of the spirit has known for years to be under imand principles of the Founder-a fruit- pressions of the truth of the Gospel, ful cause of separation among brethren has committed himself by being bapat home as abroad. The grave·clothes tized. Concern for his family had long of caste hamper the movements of the held him back from the path of open Divine faith in India. At one extreme discipleship. are the conservative native Christians, paganized in customs still; and on the other, there lire the Anglicized few who Lower Congo.-Times of refreshing assert their liberty, while intermediate are reported from Underhill Station, is a motley group of ev-ery oonceiVl.lble· Lower Congo River. Two lads have
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTEJ,LIGENCE
been baptized, both of whom made a The Presbyterian Ohurch of England. good confession in their baptism; and -Much interest is felt in the appoint· there is besides a class of fi ve inquirers. ment of the Rev. W. B. Douglas, B.D., Tidings of a good work of grace in the as assistant in the Puerto College of Upper Congo have also arrived. The the Irish Presbyterian Spanish Mission. work at Bopoto was commenced four "Mr. Douglas," says the Missiona1'1/ years ago, but the seed sown is now Herald, .. is not only an accomplished beginning to yield the promised har- scholar, but seems to be on fire with vest. the true missionary spirit which is so much needed for working for Christ in Oeylon.-A revival of Buddhism in this land of Romish superstition and this island has developed a strong op- ignorance and degradation." For three position to Christianity. It is a time years he has been chaplain at the Rio for the workers in patience to possess Tinto mines, being stationed at Huelva, their souls. The Rev. Walter D. Han· where he preached regularly, and su- kinson contributes an admirable article perintended the large Spanish schools on the situation. Much is contrary for the children of Rio Tinto workmen. 'lnd the reverse of hopeful, but "the Lord sitteth above the floods." The A Visit to Jam-tsau..-This place is fierceness of the opposition has aroused interesting because of its associations interest in many. Mr. Hankinson and with William Burns. The Rev. J. L. his native preacher received during a Milne, B.D., has been visiting it along few weeks hundreds of visitors. "We with Mr. Wynd, a missionary in Japan. feel very thankful," he says, "that so Good congregations were had at the many have come within our reach, for services held. Among those visited ever since I came to the district the was an old saint who was found sitting Buddhist preachers" (one a very bitter against her doorway, reading Matthew hater of God) " have been stirring the 6. "Yes," she replied, in answer to . people up." The opposition in ques- Mr. Wynd's inquiries, "yes, she does tion has been accentuated (thanks to often think of the Lord, and is glad she Chicago) by the arrival of Mr. Dharma- soon will meet Him; and when she Iles pala, who was representative of the awake at night, unable to sleep, her Buddhist religion at the Parliament of prayer is for the work in China." Religions. THE KINGDOM. Wesleyan Missiona1'1/ Society.-The Aylilf and Fingo Memorial Church, -This is the entry made on the rec- Peddie, South Africa, was opened on ords of the Leicester Church when November 1st, 1894, amid great rejoic. Carey's decision to resign his pastorate ings. The name Ayliff is of historic in order to go to India was announced: interest, being associated with the work "No business of importance, except and name of the Rev. John Ayliff, who that in January our pastor gave us no- first brought the Gospel to the Fin- tice that he should leave us in March, goes more than half a century ago, and having engaged to go on a mission to laid a solid foundation on the ever-dur- BengalI, in the East Indies. " ing rock. The original Aylilf Church, Peddie, was built about 1840; and a -It is said that the words, .. Reserve striking evidence of the progress made the cots for the two most uninteresting since those days was afforded by the babies," always accompany the check presence of a thousand persons at the which Miss Helen Gould sends each opening of the new church, among year for the support of two beds in the whom were many ordained ministers Babies' Shelter connected with the and other office-bearers; descendants of Church of the Holy Communion, New original Fingo refugees. York City. -The American Mes8enger relates aged by what the missionary societies this incident: A foreign missionary re- have done and are doing in carrying the cently told of a woman who, on a Gospel to the whole world.-Rev. F. M. school-teacher's salary of $1000, lived Rains. on one half, and with the other half supported a substitute in China. She -The Peninsular and Oriental Steam- then felt that she was really two per- ship Company, commonly known as sons, and carried out her lifelong de- the P. and 0., is the oldest and one of voted desire to be a foreign missionary. the largest steamship corporations In She received a letter every week from the world. It commenced a mail ser- her substitute, prayed for her by name vice to the Spanish peninsula in 1837 every day, and realized the truth of with the Siberia, a wooden side-wheeler what a friend of hers had said-namely: of 516 tons and 180 indicated horse "This teacher serves the Lord twenty- power. This company's fleet now con- four hours a day, and thus practically sists of 54 steamships of 221,807 tons lives the life of the angels, who serve and 225,650 horse power, and 22 steam Him day and night; for at the antip- tugs and launches, the largest and most odes her SUbstitute is working while powerful steamships of the company she sleeps." being the Australia and Himalaya, each 6900 tons and 10,000 horse power. The -A missionary among the colored P. and O.'s receipts from passengers in people in North Carolina relates that 1893 were $4,655,880; from freight, $5,676,480; and from the government after he had bee!B. absent from his field for contract services and conveyance of troops, $1,841,940. The total expendi. for a few weeki, and at the first prayer- tures were, in round figures, $10,885,- meeting, they all thanked God for his 000. In the course of twelve months return, and one brother prayed: "0 this company's steamers traverse a dis- Lord, we thank Thee for our beloved tance of nearly 2,600,000 miles. pastor, and we pray Thee to bless him. -The records of a certain church in o Lord, make his head an inkstand, Massachusetts in 1805 were" enriched" by the addition of these words: "Reand his tongue the pen of a ready writ- 8olved, That we will not allow any er." Still another brother prayed that preacher the use of the pulpit to solioit he might "mount the Gospel horse money in support of missionaries." and ride into the sea of truth." It is But very soon came along a pastor who in this same church that when they brought that people to sound repentgive out a hymn they say, .. Let us ance, faith, and good works. now mangle our jangling voices in a hymn of praise." -Much of this is owed to Christian missions: "The farmers have a new -This gigantic enterprise of saving market. China and Japan find that the world has stimulated Christian peo- flour is now as cheap· as rice. The ple to their largest and best endeavors. mills on the Pacific Coast are grinding More attention has been given to organi- night and day to supply the market. zation and thorough preparation for the A new steamship line is proposed from work in hand in the past few years Portland. Flour is only one of a thouthan ever before. We have come to sand articles of commerce that will be understand that an army, however great, required by a Christian civilization. will be weak unless thoroughly organ- Future trade will make the new Northized. Out of the desire to save the west to Asia, what the North Atlantic world, and the determination to be thor- is to Europe."-North and West. oughly organized for the work, have grown up the various missionary socie- -The Evangelist affirms and proves ties which are making heroic struggles that "last year it took the average against the kingdom of darkness and sin. Lift up your eyes and be encour- Presbyterian twelve days to get one ings embraced 1158 young people who cent out of his pocket for the annual were brought under the inftuence of o:ffering taken in the churches for the Gospel teaching. Some young men re- greatest and the grandest work that is quested her to teach them English, before the Church to-day-that of for- which she consented to do upon their eign missions. Think of it I Less than promising to attend her Bible class."
one mill a day in response to the pow- -There are 4 Methodist womenerful (1) appeal, the ringing (1) sermon Mrs. Knowles, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Mess· from the past or before the offerings more, and Mrs. T. J. Scott-who have were taken." And the worst of the been in India thirty-dx, thirty-five, matter is that" the average Presbyte- thirty-three, and thirty-one years rerian" is no worse than the bulk of his spectively. ecclesiastical neighbors-in fact, is better than most of them. -The Friends' Woman's Foreign Missionary Society has 202 auxiliaries, WOMAN'S WORK. with nearly 4000 members, who raised $35,982 last year. They support 41 -The Woman's Board of MiSSions, missionaries and 20 native evangelists· representing the Congregational church- or Bible readers; and 5 schools with es in the Eastern States, received, in 296 pupils. Meetings for worship were 1894, $101,898 in contributions and held in 1894 to the number of 691. $24,551 in legacies, making the total receipts $8329 less than in 1893. It YOUNG PEOPLE. supports 5 missionaries, 16 day-schools, and 8 Bible-women in European Tur- -The College Young Men's Chriskey; 5 missionaries, 1 assistant mis· tian Association is assuming great imslonary, 1 boarding-school, 12 day- portance. Among the 85,000 young schools, and 3 Bible·women in Central men connected with our higher institu· Turkey; 16 missionaries, 1 assistant tions of learning, less than one half are missionary, 3 boarding·schools, 26 day professing Christians. The work beschools, and 35 Bible-women in East· gan in 1857; in 1877, 25 Associations ern Turkey; 24 missionaries, the Ameri- had been organized. At the beginning can College for Girls, 5 boarding- of 1895 there were 440 Associations in schools, 50 day-schools, and 8 Bible- American colleges, with a membership women in Western Turkey; 13 Bible- of 25,000.
women in Bulgaria; 15 missionaries in -A Christian Endeavor Society in India; 5 missionaries, 1 boarding- Moreton, Eng., has become a slave- school, and 3 day-schools in :Mexico; holder. One of its members is a mis· 1 boarding.school, 1 day-school, and sionary in Amoy, where her interest 9 Bible-women in Austria. The Eu- was greatly roused in a young Chinese phrates College has 232 girls enrolled, girl whose parents were going to sell 38 of whom are in the college proper. her for a slave. The mission tried to -Miss Lawrence, of the Japan Mis- induce the parents to give her up to sion of the American Methodist Protes- them, but they would not unless the tant Church, is evidently a busy wom- full market price of $15.50 was given. an; for she, .. in addition to her school The missionaries did not have the duties, is engaged in evangelistic work, money, so they appealed to the.Moreton having in the last quarter, with the society, which has raised the money, and help of 0 Yaso San, conducted 50 therefore become the owner of the girl.
meetings for children, taught 12 Bible -Each week the Golden Rule prints classes, 14 Sunday-school classes, at- in a prominent place "the best news tended 27 evening meetings, and made item." Theile two are among recent 88 visits. The various children's meet. ones: " Oharlestown, Mas8.- The First Bap- to the borders of unkindness to make tist society reports three fourths of its them.
members pledged for a penny a day AMERICA. for missions. Literature is sent each week to different parts of the West. United States.-The will of Henry One hundred hymnals were sent to a Keney, of Hartford, Conn., leaves at missionary in Nebraska; and, when the discretion of the executor about the news came of the suffering there, $800,000 for the purchase of the park the church was canvassed, and 5 bar- in the northern part of the city, to be rels of clothing and 2 large boxes of known as Keney Park. Also $424,250 dry provisions went to the same mis- is left in specific legacies, which in- sionary, the express company kindly clude the following: Trinity College, shipping them free. $25,000; Hartford Hospital, $50,000; "Santa Oruz, Oal.-There are 25 En- Hartford Orphan Asylum, $50,000; deavor societies in the county, and one Old People's Home, $50,000; Park of the smallest-a society of only 26 Church, $30,000; Hartford Charitable members-gave most to missions the Society, $2000; Union for Home Work, last six months, the amount being $10,000; City Mission Society, $10,- $91.25 ; and led the six months before 000; Good Will Club, $30,000, and the with $115. This is the Chinese society Wadsworth Athemeum, $25,000.
of Santa Cruz. Within the last six -During the last twenty years the months another Chinese society has New York Society for the Prevention been organized, and it already stands of Cruelty to Children has cared for second on the list in giving." over 230,000 outcasts, a very large pro- -R. Wardlaw Thompson, of the portion of whom would otherwise have London Missionary Society, sounds a been criminals to-day. During the note of expostulation in the ears of the past year 9078 complaints were reyoung people in the March issue of ceived, of which 3770 were prosecuted; The Ohronicle: "It is in connection there were 3730 convictions, and 5459 with the desire for direct correspond- children were rescued from destitution ence with the mission-field. A consid- and vicious surroundings.
erable and increasing number of re- -Moody the evangelist wields an in- quests now reach the Mission House fluence not surpassed by many men, but from the missionary secretaries of Moody the organizer and fosterer of in- Christian Endeavor societies asking for stitutions is vastly more puissant. Take the names of two or three missionaries the single case of his Chicago Bible In- in each part of the field with whom we stitute, of whose graduates this state- may enter into personal correspond- ment is made: "There are 41 pas- ence, and who would be likely to send tors of Congregational churches, 27 of us three or four times a year a letter Presbyterian churches, 25 of Baptist about their work. Such requests give churches, 24 of ::IIethodist Episcopal evidence of a most kindly feeling, and churches; 32 are city missionaries, 12 if they could be gratified they would are home missionaries, 12 are Young doubtless result in stimulating a con- Men's Christian Association secretaries, siderable amount of personal interest in 11 are missionaries under the American missionaries; but those who write have Sunday-School Union, 10 are Sunday- little conception of the burden which school missionaries under other boards, they are unconsciously laying on the 14 are pastors' assistants, 75 are evan- shoulders of the missionaries." And gelists, 41 are assisting their husbands then he easily goes on to show that in in pastoral or evangelistic work; there most cases it is next to impossible to are 61 foreign missionaries, 15 in India, grant such requests; so much so that, 10 in China, 9 in Africa, 5 in Turkey, 8 though unwittingly, it is l1nr~aeonl!ble in Japan, and so on; also 13 under ap- 394 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. (11ay pointment for the foreign field. At Christian college planted in that region present there are nearly 300 young men and well endowed.
and women in connection with the In- -The Christians (Disciples) have stitute actively engaged in work in the hitherto been behind many of their different missions and in house to house brethren in missionary matters, ·but for visitation throughout the city." two or three years past their energy and -A second Conference of Foreign enterprise have made great advances.
Mission Boards met in the Episcopal Their leaders know how to use the Church Mililsion House, New York, press, and last year was started Ths February 14th, and was attended by Mi8lJionary Voice, devoted to world- representatives of 16 societies in the wide evangelism, which is decidedly United States and Canada, besides sev- bright and breezy. Surely that great eral missionaries and other persons un- denomination, numbering nearly a mil- officially interested in missions. Papers lion, ought to have its missionaries in were read upon such topics as The the field by the hundred and the thou- Japan-China War; its Strategic Sig- sand.
nificance to Missions; Industrial Mis- Canada.-The United OhurchMonthsions; How far they Have Developed ly has the following item: "In 1845 in Foreign Lands; Self-support in Mis- the Presbyterians in Canada had one sions; The Proposed National Church missionary about to enter the field. In in India; Motive in Missions, etc. Two 1895 they have 34 ordained missionsessions were held, and arrangements aries, 68 unordained preachers, 84 catewere made for a meeting in 1896. chists, and many others engaged in re- -Booker T. Washington, of Tuskee- lated work. In 1845 the sum of $1000 gee Institute, seems clearly destined to was available for the foreign mission be a wise leader for the freedmen. His enterprise. Last year the Presbyteutterances to the last one smack re- rians in the maritime provinces expendfreshingly of good sense. Not poli- ed $34,779, and the western section extics, but hard work on their part, is to pended $105,881, making a total of solve the .. negro problem." Or, as $140,660. Of this the women's soci- Mr. Washington puts it: eties contributed $48,661."
"Immediately after the war we be- -Mr. Tyrrell's late explorations :in gan at the wrong end. We began our distant North have, says the Oana- working to get to Congress when we dian Presbyterian, brought to light yet should have been working to get land. another field for the labors of some de- At Tuskeegee we teach the students that voted Christian missionary. On the it is better for them to spend their time Kazan (or Ptarmigan) River he :Cell in and strength in becoming the leading with a tribe of Eskimo, who have be- carpenters, contractors, truck garden- come separated from their brethren on ers, dairymen, in this town, instead of the coast to whom they originally be- being too anxious to make stump longed, and have become an inland speeches or go to Congress." tribe. These inland Eskimo have not -Marcus Whitman was only a mis- intermixed witlt. the Indians, but live sionary, be it known, but yet he saved exclusively among themselves.
the vast and fruitful Northwest coast EUROPE. of the Pacific to the Union, when all our statesmen, the Websters, etc., es- Great Britain.-The United Presby- teemed it not worth having, and were terian Church of Scotland has a total about to hand it over to Britain. And membership of 188,706. The mission- the indications now are that through ary income during the year 1893 was the liberality of Dr. Pearsons and others £33,543, besides £4639 subscribed for his name will be linked forever with a zenana work. The European staff consists of 71 ordained, 15 medical, 8 lay -The same magazine gives this evangelists, and 31 zenana mi88ion- among the hopeful signs of the king- aries; who are 888isted by 19 native dom: "Let anyone pay a visit to Ox- pastors, 127 evangelists, and 567 other ford or Cambridge and live for a few agents. There are 102 congregations, days among the undergraduates. He with 165 out-stations and 18,460 mem- will find a stream of true and godly bers, almost double the number of thir- men coming up year by year, far be- teen years ago. In Jamaica 10,692 are yond anything in past times-which to be found. There are 401 members stream is largely fed from what some- in Trinidad and 898 in Tokio. Old regard as irregular agencies, such as Calabar has 461 members; Kaffraria, children's special services, mi88ions 3311; Rajputana, 521; Manchuria, among school-boys, the new summer 2176. The work in Manchuria is work- camps, etc. The supply of laborers of ed in harmony with the mission of the the best cl888 for both home and for- Irish Presbyterian Church. eign fields promises to increase both in -A Scotch minister declares that quantity and in qUality. The Student Scotland could easily spare 1200 clergy- Volunteer Missionary Union is growing men and $1,000,000 a year, and yet be apace, and looks like becoming the perfectly well cared for in spiritual most effective of all agencies for enlistthings. That may all be very true; ing workers for the Lord's vineyard." and yet it too often happens with ministers, as with other men, that those -The London Missionary Society is who cau "easily be spared" are of no preparing a feast of fat things to spread great value anywhere under the sun. before its friends, September 21st-27th At least, may they never be sent to the next, in commemoration of the thrillforeign field. ing beginning just a hundred years be- fore. At the last accounts the Cente- -The Free Church of Scotland has nary Fund, with £100,000 as the aim, 5 stations for Jewish work-3 in Eu- had reached £49,134.
rope and 2 in Palestine. Fifty-eight ASIA.
Christian agents, among them 5 or- Islam.-Mi88ionaries must mind their dained missionaries, 2 licensed preach- p's and q's in Turkey, as we learn by ers, and 3 medical men are employed. this from the Miasioruury Herald: About 1000 children attend their schools "Among the conveniences used by daily. Dr. Shepard, a missionary physician at -Since the opening of the Operative "intab, was a telephone extending Jewish Converts' Institute in London, from the hospital to his home. Dr. 922 persons have been admitted; 70 Shepard is so highly esteemed in Ainhave become missionaries; 23 parochial tab that he can ordinarily do as he clergymen; 13 ministers of other de- likes. But in this case as soon as the nominations; and many others have wire was stretched a complaint was obtained high positions in other kinds lodged with the government against of Christian service. this unlawful thing. It has been found that a telephone is the 'petty abhor- -Our British brethren have a way, rence of the Sultan,' and so the sus- which seems strange to us, of rolling picious thing was put under an injunc- up large sums for missionary purposes tion and reported to Aleppo lind thence by sales of work. A recent Intelligen- to Constantinople, and from the central cer had a table which tells of 861 sales government came the imperative order held last year, with receipts in the dif- to 'confiscate,' paying full price and erent counties of the realm· ranging costs. The machine was packed up from £3 in ib.e Isle of Man to £2276 in and turned over to the government for Middlesex, and a total of £21,551. its full equivalent, and, in the terms of the State Department, 'the incident is of that country, and commenced work closed.' " in 1869.
-But even the Grand Turk has a India.-English physicians give medsoft side to his nature, and on occasion, ical assistance to 14,000,000 natives in now and then, is liable to do something one year. positively handsome. A case of this kind occurred last January, when by -A missionary writes thus of the His Dread Majesty an iracU was issued poverty of the land: "It is, doubtless, to the American Girls' College at Scu- true that there are from forty to fifty tari, a document the most sacred possi- millions of these people who are chronible, which bestows certain rights and cally on the verge of starvation, and privileges irreversibly, and places the are rarely able to satisfy the cravings institution under the especial protection of appetite. It is well known that the of the government. average per capita income of the peo- ple of this land is only about $7. If -" Among the Syrians the fetters of this be the average, what must be the custom are almost as strong as those of minimum 1 To missionaries who live religion. The rule of the Fez cap proves among the people it is a constant source this. For a prince as for a menial, there of wonder that the people can live at is no other head-covering. No law pre- all on their income. I know of many scribes it, and yet all Syrians wear it, who, during several months of even a whatever their creed. The long, flow- very good year, enjoy only one meal a ing garments, which have been worn day, and that a very miserable one." since the time of the prophets, and which make one of the simplest expres- -Eighteen native ministers in the sions of dress, have been abandoned by Northwest Conference of the Methodist the majority of Christians. A Syrian Church have volunteered to relinquish hesitates before he adopts the European their salaries, and trust entirely for costume, but public opinion forbids their support to the contributions of him to adopt the European hat. The their own people. same remarks apply to the izzar or body covering. This white sheet is the sym- -Mr. Hazen writes from South bolof Oriental exclusiveness, and cus- India: "Last year our women 'at their tom in Syria sternly prescribes its use. weekly prayer·meeting asked for 100 The izzar sometimes reveals some olive- additions to the number in our station, tinted faces of much beauty, lit up by and the Lord gave 200. Encouraged a pair of clear brown eyes, to which its by that we have all taken hold and whiteness forms a pleasing contrast. asked for 300 this year, and we have Sometimes, also, when the hands are got them. We asked for 15 souls in occupied, the izzar is drawn into the Manamadura village, and we have got corner of the mouth and held there by them. Of their own accord and witha set of pearly teeth. The izzar is a out any stimulus from us they have useful covering, which excludes the dust maintained a daily prayer.meeting here and sun, though it fills the streets with for three weeks from this inga thering. " a dull, harsh pallor." -The progress in the Laos Mission -The (Jltristian World learns with in all its departments is an inspiration. regret that Rev. Dr. Bruce, of Persia, There are 4 mission stations and 3 outwho is well known as one of the most stations. "So complete and joyful devoted missionaries of the Church Mis- have been the successes," that there sionary Society, has resigned his posi- was no room for discouragement; intion after thirty-six years· of ser~ice. deed, the only discouragement is the Dr. Bruce was practically the pioneer limited number of workers for the conof Christian work among the Moslems stantly increasing work. Last year a new station was established and 5 new workers sent out. In the past eleven
GENERAL MISSIONARY
months 289 have been received into the Europeans, 1.-Lutheran Mi88ionary church. "Record of defeat is not Journal. heard. It is victory in every quarter." -The Indian Witneu of January -This item from the Intelligencer re- 12th gives these statistics of the North lates to a perplexing question in India, India Conference: "Paid workers, and the last sentence indicates that the 1606; probationers, 19,823; full mem- Hindu is not lacking in at least one of bers, 11,126; adult baptisms in 1894, the constituent elements of human na- 5262; children, 2817; Sunday-schools, ture: "The question of burial reform 1071; Sunday-school scholars, Chrisis one which we would fain see our tians, 18,102; non-Christian, 21,202; Indian fellow-Christians seriously con- native Christian community, 39,327; sider. The revered A.L.O.E. was Christian boys and girls in school, 10,- buried in December, 1893, at her own 185; non-Christian, 9793." request, without a coffin. The funeral of the Rev. F. Sandford, of the Delhi -Alas! that Miss Taylor's Thibetan Mission, cost only about five shillings, Mission, after months of sunshine, and so in many places missionaries are should pass under the storm-cloud. It striving to dispossess the minds of con- is not possible at this distance and with verts of the notion that a Christian's the meagre statements at hand to parfuneral ought to cost a quarter's in- cel out the serious responsibility for the come, which it now often does. A girl at least temporary breaking up of the seriously told a lady missionary not party by the resignation and departure long since that she should like to die at of most of the members; though it a certain place mentioned, 'because looks much as if the leader, though full there the girls were so beautifully of energy and determination, was yet buried, in lovely white coffins just like wanting in sweet reasonableness and ladies'-of course not at the expense of other qualities essential to leadership. their relations." It is to be hoped that Mr. Polhill·Tur- ner, of the China Inland Mission, whose -There are 10 women of the English aid she has sought and secured, will be Baptist Society at work in Calcutta able to restore harmony, and that in zenanas, with 9 schools under their due season these pioneers of the Gospel care, and an average attendance of may be able to enter the Closed Land. about 500 scholars. In addition to these there are 7 other schools in the China.-While recently on a. tour villages that lie to the south of the city, among the missions of this empire, Mr. with 220 scholars, giving a total of 16 Baring-Gould was impressed by "the schools and about 720 scholars. great influence of medical work, the heroism of the women, and the devo- -Mr. Chandler, of Madura, reports tion of many of the converts." that the 8 churches comprising the "East Church Union" of that city re- -Taking advantage of the presence ceived into fellowship during ten of scholars at the government examinamonths of the last year 186 new mem- tions in Wuchang, Nanking, and Chengbers. tu, among some 40,000 young men up- ward of 60,000 copies of books, tracts, -During the five months ending Oc· etc., were distributed. tober 7th, since its re-opening, the Dispensary in Guntur was open 13:3 days. -Dr. Griffith John, writing from a. During that time 1914 patients made place some days' journey farther inland 4556 visits. As to class, the patients than Bankow, says that the people were: Eurasians, 5 ; native Christians, "appear to take as little interest in 290; Brahmans, 156 ; other high castes, Peking and Canton as they do In Can- 257; Varsgas, 47; 8udras, 637; Pa- ada and Wales." He has been making a most successful tour in places where riahs, 396; Mohammedans, 125, and no European missionary, but only cate- God, and telling him their own experichists, have hitherto labored. At Pah- ence on similar occasions. So the idol tsze-Nau, Tien.Men, Tsau-shih, and was chopped up and set fire to, as well Mau-kia-po the mandarins were frIend- as all idolatrous papers, etc. Then we ly, the opposition was silenced, and sang a hymn and had prayer. The idol many converts were baptized. At the was destroyed in the presence and with last-named town the ancestral hall was the full consent of Li's wife, grown-up cleared and used for service. Out of son, daughter·in-Iaw, and other chil- 200 candidates for baptism, 66 were dren, besides two married daughters baptized, coming from 14 villages. who had returned upon a visit, and a There are candidates for baptism in 12 good many neighbors-no one raising a more villages. dissenting voice."
-Says the North Ohina Herald in an -The North China Mission of the article on " China Unmasked" : " Such American Board reaches 440 cities, a system of internal rottenness has been towns, and villages. The working laid bare that even her best friends are force is composed of 87 missionaries forced to shake off the dust of their and 76 native helpers, among whom are feet against her, and to admit that the 3 ordained native pastors. The Gospel present process of being ground in the is regularly preached at 43 places. mill is, perhaps, the best thing which There are 27 day schools in the mission, could happen to her. To such a pass with an aggregate of 454 pupils. The has official corruption come that noth- total number of young people under ing short of a complete upheaval and instruction is 1510. At the various dis· breaking down of old systems seems pensaries and at the Williams Hospital practicable. Patching up is worse than in Pang-Chuang the medical work has useless. China has been patched up been carried on. too often, and corruption has thriven in consequence. The opportunity has -Mrs. Isabella Bishop had some arrived when a general sweeping and most perilous and painful experiences garnishing is possible, and the truest during her recent travels in Korea, friends of China will not wish to see Manchuria, etc. "She was sent out of the besom stayed. The entire govern- Korea at a moment's notice by the con· mental gamut must be ulilltrung and suI without money or clothes. The retuned. The Emperor of the future, British Minister's wife at Pekin gave if he desires to shed some lustre on his her some clothes. She was in Man· heavenly origin, will have to surround (,,huria with the Scotch missionaries, himself with some rather more heavenly and shared their perils at the time of advisers. " Mr. Wylie's murder; was nearly drowned in an inundation; her bed -Miss Kolkenbeck, of Sz-Chuen, was wet for three days, and she has had gives this incident: "A man named a bad form of malaria ever since. She Li-wan-uen came to us for medicine, was nearly captured by pirates; broke and pressed us to visit his home. After her arm through the overturning of a dinner he asked us how he was to WOf- cart ; was turned out of Pekin with the ship God. I told him. that the first other European women," etc. She is thing would be to destroy his idols. now in Siberia. , How am I to do that? ' , Put; them in the fire; they are only wood.' 'Shall ]apan.-The Kyoto Training School I do it at once?' 'Certainly; the for Nurses is very happy over the fact sooner the better.' So he immediately that its nurses are so popular in the stood up on a stool, and got down his military station at Hiroshima. They god. Our Christian coolie and servant have been very successful, and have spoke, encouraging him to trust only in borne the strain of the work better than any others who have gone there. At last advices a request for more nurses trouble in Tokyo. Their peace ideas faU bad been received, and the whole senior to fit the state of affairs in Japan. Some class were anxious to respond, but it of the students in their school showed had not been decided how many should sympathy with the war, and gave help go. This success is a fine indorsement to the destitute wives of soldiers who for the school and those connected with bad gone to the front. Difficulty arose it, both foreigners and Japanese.-Lij'6 and the students were dismissed. The and Light. consequence is a complete separation -The Red Cross Society of Japan of all their converts from the missionsends 6 physicians and 12 nurseil with aries.
each transportsteamer conveying Japan- -'Mr. Pettee writes in the Japan ese troops to Korea and China. The Weekly Mail of February 9th, that humanity of the Japanese in their con- 6 evangelists are to be sent to minister duct of this war is doing mOle to break to the needs of the Christians in the down the walls- of Chinese prejudice Japanese army. High officials were than any other outside influence. Three opposed to this concession, but "as hundred years ago the Japanese rav- soon as they were convinced that this aged Korea and plundered its people, was the request of no narrow sectarian- and as a trophy of victory the ears of ism, but the earnest plea of devoutly 3600 victims were brought back to patriotic Christian men of every name Japan. To-day Japan is at war again, they quickly yielded and affixed their but with what a different spirit I seals to the papers. Rev. Miyagawa, -Rev. Henry B. Schwartz, presiding of Osaka-sometimes called the Chryelder, Hirosaki, Japan, says: "Weare sostom of the Japanese pulpit-Princireaping the first fruits of treaty revision pal Honda, of Aoyama College, and in a very great improvement in the Messrs. Aoki, of Kobe, Terada, and passport system. As Y(IU do not know, Yamanaha have been selected as 5 of we have not been allowed to travel in the 6. This event, coming so soon Japan except with a passport. In these after the permission to distribute unrepassports the proposed route of travel strictedly portions of the Scripture in had to be exactly laid down, and in the garrisons throughout Japan, the those palts of the empire where the letter of Lieutenant-General Katsura, passport regulations were strictly en- in Manchuria, promising extra protecforced, no deviation from the described tion to all sincere Christians, and the route was allowed. Now we can get recognition of the superior work of the passports for a year's time, on which Christian nurses of the Red Cross corps, we can travel anywhere at any time in promises much for the advance of the whole empire; and, best of all, the Christianity in Japan. "
, scientific' and 'health' clauses are -In the orphan asylum of Mr. Ishii entirely omitted from the application at Okayama are now gathered 301 orblanks. phans. They carryon a printing-press with 4 presses, and 38 persons are em- -Several of the leading Christians ployed in the office. Thirteen boys are are alive to Japan's missionary duty learning to be barbers. A home for toward Korea, and are planning for discharged prisoners has been opened, missionary service there. It is note- where there are 11 persons employed in worthy that Buddhists are moving in making mats. There is also a carpenthe same direction, and have already ter's school. Sixty-two girls are in the sent a priest to Seoul to examine the sewing-classes, and 111 are learning cotsituation. He has devised a scheme, ton-weaving. Thirty-six are studying very fine on paper, which will cost blacksmithing. A farming colony of $10,000 a year.
~The Friends' Mission has had 30 has just been started. The children work all day, and study at night from formed; there are no more swamps, five to nine o'clock. no more jungles. Besides the build- ings of the station, which look some- AFRICA. thing like a Dutch village, there is a causeway, and a foot-bridge, which is -Great Britain owns in Africa an the astonishment and delight of the naarea of 2,570,000 square miles, almost tives. These works, which are the reequal to that of the United States. sults of a patience and tenacity which it would be difficult to imagine exactly, -And yet Dr. Zahn, mission inspec- are certainly an image of the progress tor of Bremen, concludes that with the which the work of God is making growth of French and Belgian posses- among the Barotsis.-Journal deB Missions, and those of other Catholic pow- sions FJvangeliqueB. ers, after all Protestant peoples will control, at least in West Africa, much -They have had deluges of rain in less th~lll half the area. Zanzibar this autuUlll. Fancy nine and a half inches of rain in ten hours! It -The world is likely soon to look to was still pouring when the mail left. this continent for its supply of gold. and they call these the" lesser rains" ! ! ! For several years the output of Califor- -Central Africa. nia has scarcely risen above $12,000,000 annually, but in Africa the amount has -In connection with the recent Italgrown from less than $10,000,000 in ian campaigns into Abyssinia, an arti- 1890, to upward of $22,000,000 in 1892, cle of peculiar interest appeared in a and to nearly $SO,OOO,OOO last year. recent issue of the Churchman from the pen of Professor G. H. Schodde, enti- -Before returning to his home In tIed" The Hermit Christian Nation of West Africa, Prince Ademayiwa gave Africa." He calls attention to the noa lecture In Liverpool on "The White table fact in this land "Christianity" Man's Fire-Water and its Effects on the has had an unbroken history from the African Race." He said that while early centuries, hnd only this" Switzer· Englishmen have officials appointed to land of Africa" was able to resist the see that their "fire-waters" are sold fiercest assaults which the Moslem pure, the African has to take what is could make. sent him by unscrupulous men, is little better than poison, and is frequently -Mr. Pilkington writes concerning used for mixing with paint, like tur- the languages of the Lake district of pentine! Mid-Africa, Luganda, Lusoga, Lem- yolo, Lahama, etc., that they are dia- -Khama, the Christian king of the lects of the same language; and has, Bamangwato tribe, has recently paid a what he terms, vague hopes of being visit to Cape Town, having never be- able to make a dictionary on the prinfore been so far away from his home. ciple of roots which would combine all He was very much affected by the these dialects. He also has reason to tokens of respect received while there hope that a single Bible will do for all from the whites. this region.
-Lealuyi, the station founded by -An interesting departure, initiated M. Coillard hardly two years ago, on by the Leipsic Mission, is the expatriathe banks of the Zambesi, is situated tion of Tamil converts (pariahs), with on a little hill, raDled only a few feet their families, into British East Africa.• above the valley; it used to be an ex- These are intended to aid largely in the ecrated and detested place, wheresorcer- construction of the mission buildings, era were burnt, and at the time of the in view of setting free the European inundations it was haunted by innu- agents for the Illore direct evan~elistic merable swarms of insects and legions work. pi reptiles. Now the isJaJl.4 is traWl-
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1889
REVIEW OF THE
VOL. XI. No. 6.-Old 8eries.–JUNE.–VoL. II. No. 6.-New Serie•• I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. A RETROSPECT OF THE WORLD'S CONFERENCE.
[EDlTORIAL.-A. T. p.] THAT grand gathering in Exeter Hall, London, in June, 1888, has in many, perhaps in most respects, had no rival, not to say superior, in all church history. This we have affirmed previously, repeatedly, emphatically; and after the lapse of a year, we see no reason to modify this judgment. Nevertheleiils, as we calmly pass in review the proceedings of those ten days, we seem to see, more and more clearly, a few marked errors in the conception and execution of that great plan, and in the management of that great conference, which were avoidable; or to say the least might be avoided whenever another similar gathering shall be held. This we say in no spirit of carping criticism. The more we see of a fastidious and fault-finding temper, the more we are impressed that the hypercritical and the hypocritical spirit are very closely allied. That conference was an alabaster flask of ointment compounded of precious and fragrant materials by a divine apothecary; and there were in it no dead flies to send forth an ungrateful savor. But it would have been strange indeed had there been no infelicitous features, no lack of forecast and discrimination, no mistakes in methods, which prevented the conference from reaching its highest and widest results for good. To some of these we shaH now advert. 1. One conspicuous mistake was made in the selection of chairmen. The policy of the committee was to change, at every session, the presiding officer. The desire was to have some distinguished clergyman or layman take the chair at each new assembly, and to divide up these honors so as to distribute them over as wide a representation as possible. Some of these chairmen were not only men of mark, but of marked capacity and ability for the place. Others were as conspicuously unfit. We all know how much depends on the selection of a. presiding officer. He not only guides but often inspires the entire meeting. His tact, promptness, decision, suggestion, are the very hinges upon which turn the success or failure of the court or conference whose presiding chair he fills. A moderator of an association, presbytery or other ecclesiastical assembly ~ay facilitate business, suppress
A RETROSPECT OF 'l'H'E WORLD;S CONFERENCE
disorder, disentangle the perplexities of confused and contradictory motions, and stimulate fraternal harmony and prayerful unIty; or, on the other hand, may positively hinder, embarrass, obstruct, the whole proceedings. Sometimes even the voice and enunciation of a chairman, his manner, glance, attitude, may have upon the body of which he is the temporary head an unconscious influence. We have seen a whole throng of ecclesiastics run wild in debate, because, at a crisis, the chairman was flushed and embarrassed and undetermined, and waited a moment too l()ng before decided action. So important have church courts found this matter to be, that the suggestion has more than once been made that a permanent moderator should be selected to guide their deliberations.
At this great conference one was occasionally placed in the chair who, whatever his personal character, had really no fitness for a presiding officer. Timid, hesitating, flustered, stammering, without even volume of voice or distinctness of utterance sufficient to be heard; unacquainted with even the simplest rudimental principles of pltrliamentary law, such men ought not to be put into a place where they can neither do themselves credit nor help anybody else. For such po~ sitions men should be chosen not for some conspicuous service rendered to church or state, to science or art, to letters or to humanity, but preeminently because they are fitted to guide a deliberative body or a popular assembly. A very distinguished man was not long since nominated for such a position in this country; but, before the vote had been taken, his awkwardness, dullness of hearing, slowness of comprehension, made evident into what a "sea of troubles" he would have plunged the assembly had he been raised to the chair. As it was, a much younger man, comparatively unknown, was made moderator,. and showed no common aptitude for the place. The time has fully come when, in great deliberative bodies, the chair is no longer to be a high seat of honor to which to exalt some popular favorite or idol as a mere figurehead, but a throne of power for which the first and last and indispensable requisite shall be competency to preside and control.
II. Some serious mistakes at the conference were made by the speakers themselves. As not every man is fit to preside, so not every man is fit to make an alidress or prepare a paper for such an assembly. The more we hear of public speakers, the more we are satisfied that in the vast majority of cases, apologies are themselves without apology. Time is too valuable to be consumed in useless explanations, tame self-depreciation and false humility. If the apology be true, the speaker has no right to be making the address; if untrue, he has no right to be making the apology. Yet a man will rise before a magnificent audience of intelligent and cultivated people; and, where every moment is golden, coolly state that he has "had no time to prepare," or feels ," in· competent to speak on the theme" assigned him, or in one ofa thousan_d ways excuse himself .for what he is about to say or read; when, if what he states be true, he ought, by every law of good sense and ethical propriety, to sit down and leave the more room for somebody who is prepared. Every speaker should make the very best preparation possible, and then plunge in medias res, from his opening sentence giving his hearer something that has cost thought and is worth thought. We remember to have heard aman of no little distinction rise to address a large assembly on a great occasion ; and, though appointed to the duty months previous, calmly inform his auditors that he "had made no preparation save that which he.had made on his way to the meeting," iu a ten miuutes' ride on a tram-car! If true, that was an insult to the assembly: and unfortunately his speech proved that it was only too true.
A grievous blunder it is to bring in irrelevant matter, especially where brevity, condensation and concentration are essential. There is an impassable gulf between having to say something and having something to say. Those who easily took hold and firmly kept hold of those great audiences were invariably those who spoke, keeping most closely and clearly to the subject. The more direct the track, straight to the heart of. the theme-recte viam secare-and the more vigorous the handling of it, the closer and more absorbed the attention. It was observable that matter, interesting in itself but foreign to the discussion, was ruled out by an impatient or listless audience, if not by a watchful and impartial moderator. Some of the papers were simply specimens' of riding hobbies. Some writer, who had been studying a topic, or making a book, would take opportunity to inflict on his helpless hearers a treatise, having only a nominal connection with his theme, and sometimes so foreign to it as to appear such to the most casual and careless observer. Sydney Smith saidthat "in preaching, the crime against the Holy ghost is dullness." It is very nearly an unpardonable offense to intrude and obtrude before such a body as that which met in Exeter Hall any address or paper which has not been carefully prepared on the subject under discussion, or which lacks the pith of sensible suggestion or the point of fitness and applicability. Spea.kers should be chosen, competent to treat these great themes, and conscientious enough to take pains in preparing; and only such should be heard.
Even in the voluntary remarks that followed the papers there was no real reason why a law of judicious selection should not have been followed. Cards were sent to the secretary indicating a desire to be heard, and the parties were called upon in the order of application. The consequence was that not infrequently the most forward rather than the best furnished speakers engrossed the priceless moments of tha.t great gathering. That a man wishes to be heard is not always a sign that others wish to hear him. To the happy conduct of such assemblies a certain amount of "natural selection" and" survival of the fittetlt" is essential. Every public gathering draws moths about it, which do little more than fly into the flame, singeing their own wings and obscuring the light.
To flaunt one's denominationalism in such a conference is a most grievous mistake. Yet a few-a very few-were guilty of what was so out of taste aud out of tune with the whole key of that ecumenical council. For once from every quarter and every denomination came the champions of missions. In such a presence, it behooved us all to forget our tribal standards as we rallied around the Ark of God. Yet some felt it needful to let the rest know that for them to appear in such a promiscuous gathering was an unusual condescension; that it must not be construed into any abandonment of the peculiar tenets of their" church," or even as an admission of the comparative unimportance of such tenets, as non-essentials. A few such protests and sectarian professions were heard, but they were the only inharmonious notes in a general, beautiful, orchestral harmony.
We ought all to rise above such a level. Why should a Presbyterian in an assembly of the church catholic insist that he abates not a jot of bis belief in the "parity of the clergy" and the" divine right of the presbytery" ! Or a Baptist announce his undiminished confidence "in believers' baptism" and that too only by "immersion"! Or an Episcopalian declare that he must not be understood to admit the validity of Hnon-episcopal ordination," or as conceding that the barriers separating" the church" from the rest of the body of believers are to be easily stepped over! If there be any magnanimity in fellowship with those who differ with us, such great-mindedness is always unconscious, for in nobility, as in humility, self-consciousness is destructlvp of the very grace itself.
III. Another mistake made at the great conference was undue mUltiplioity of meetings. Ten days were assigned to the sessions; and not only were those days, with rare exceptions, crowded with almost continuous meetings, from 9. A. M. to 10 P. M., but there were generally three or four simultaneous gatherings; and to make matters worse, at these different gatherings, at the same hours, different themes were discussed, making impossible attendance at all, and therefore compelling members to choose what they could best afford to miss, though the choice was often no easy one to make. Two marked consequences were observable. First, there was more or less confusion. Persons would go into one meeting and then, from a strong desire to hear some speaker or some discussion in another section meeting at the Bame hour, would go from one to another creating inevitable disturbance. Frequent cbanges of this sort were quite unavoidable and often a very serious hinderance to enjoyment, profit and even good order. Secondly, there resulted, as a conseqnence of these multiplied and divided meetings, the loss of aU unity of impression, and of that peculiar cumulativeness of impression, which is even more desirable than such unity. To have had fewer meetings, and to have arranged them so that essentially the same body of auditors might have attended them all, so far as they chose, would have served to secure from beginning to close a continuous, growing, climacteric interest. But, as it was, the conference was cut up into several minor conferences, which, for all unity or continuity, might almost as well have met in different halls or even cities. It was very noticeable that, so far as unity and continuity of assembly were conserved, the richest results were realized. The interest and enthusiasm touched floodmark only in those large evening assemblies where, without the diversion or .distraction of having rival meetings at the same hour, essentially the same audience met from night to night, and felt the power of every new accretion of argument and appeal. In our judgment, it had been better either to have appropriated more days to the discussions, or else to have .attempt~d to cover less ground, rather than to have split up the hody into so many parts. Section may sometimes be vivisection. Those who attended the Evangelical Alliance meetings at Washington, D.O., the year before, will remember how by continuous sessions in the same assembly chamber, the very ends, sacrificed at EXeter Hall, were admirably served and conserved.
IV. It was, we think, a mistake for the committee of the confero ence to hamper themselves ana the boay with neealess restrictive rules. Laws are the servants, not the masters, of intelligent bodies; otherwise they turn human beings into mere automata. Even Sabbatic regulations, however strict, are "made for mun," not man for rules and regulations. The human mind is too great and grand for any parliamentary matrix, 'and all regulations, not based upon immovable essential moral principles, must be elastic and flexible.
For instance it was determined in advance by the committee that no resolutions should be introduced into the conference. The restriction was well meant. To have put up no such barrier would have left open door for every religious "tramp" or " crank" to find his way into the field of discussion and inflict on helpless ears his resolutions upon his favorite topic. But that such a body should meet as never met before, and never may again, and not be free to act in such ways as to make its power felt and its effects lasting, was to resort to the strait-jacket. ~'he committee themselves felt the awkward constraint of their own restrictions. When the giant evils of rum in Africa, opium in Ohina, and licensed vice in India called for vigorous remonstrance, they felt the need of a series of resolutions, ably advocated, and adopted by the conference. But there was that rule against res- olutions! To "save their constitution" they held the great public meeting for protest, on the night after the conference clol!!ed ; but, as 406 A RETROSPECT OF THE WORLD'S COl.'fFERmNCE.
they wanted it embraced within the proceedings of the conference, they stretched the conference beyond it ; and it fell to the writer, on that occasion, to review the lessons of those ten days at the close of that .u additional meeting" for the passage of the resolutions!
Would it not have been better to avoid this paradox by not adopt. ing in advance rules so stringent? To have determined that only such resolutions should be submitted to the body as had been pre.
anviously approved by the committee would have shut the door against intruders without locking it so effectually against the committee themselves as to compel them to climb up some other way.
V. It was, we think, a mistake that no attention was given by the conference to the great uprising of young men in our coZle.tes and semina,ries. The last five years have witnessed a sort of crusade of missions in which the main movers, the leaders, have been students. As we write, word comes to us that over 3,000 in our own country alone have signified a willingness to enter the foreign field when their course of preparatory study is completed. Making all proper deductions for mere evanescent sentiment or transient enthusiasm; discounting liberally for all hasty action under the influence 6f strong and pressing appeals; not unmindful of the fact that time is a great sifter of even honest purposes, and that hundreds of such pledges will be bloll'D away like chaff before the wind when the crisis of final decision comes; with all reasonable reduction, we have still left one of the most significant movements of modern times. When such men as Stanley Smith, and O. T. Studd, and Arthur Polhill-'l'urner in England, and John N. Forman, and Robert P. Wilder, and Mr. Goforth, and J. H. McVicar in America, lead on a great nprising of students, and thousands respond, "Here am I ! send me," there is some force at work that is more than human. Our sons and our daughters are beginning to prophesy. It looks very like the coming of a last great Pentecost of missions. Some notice shonld have been taken of so stupendous a development. If such a mighty current needs nothing more, it needs proper restraint; it needs to be banked up and turned into a true channel, and kept from spreading into a mere shallow, superficial freshet, where breadth of surface is mistaken for depth of stream, and energy of action is ultimately displaced by mere stagnation. A new spirit of missionary consideration and consecration is abroad in the universities of England and America. Age must counsel youth; experience must temper enthusiasm. Ardor and fervor must not be dampened and quenched, nor left to burn fiercelv and burn out, but must be moderated and controlled. We hoped to'the last that the conference would have given a careful and prayerful consideration to wha~ we cannot but regard as one of the signs of the times which it behooves sagacious disciples to discern, and thereby read the present and forecast the future.
VI. It seemed to many delegates a very serious mistake that no provision was made for permanent and closer bonds of fellowship in missionary work. During ten days of constant contact there ha,d been no break of harmony, no really discordant note. It was a foretaste of heaven, the days of heaven upon earth. To part was inevitable, for duty called in different directions, and "tabernacles," even upon Tabor, are not to be expected. But there were certain bonds of comity and unity, of counsel and co-operation, which might have been perpetuated, and thus have given also a certain perpetuity to the conference itself.
After the lapse of a twelvemonth we do not see any good reason why a permanent Standing Oommittee might not have been created by that conference, that should have been thoroughly representative in character, and to whom might be referred many matters needing careful consideration from time to time. We would not have such committee legislative and authoritative, but simply advisory and representative, and in three directions principally they might have rendered efficient service: 1. In keeping up a certain living contact and practical fellowship between denominations of evangelical believers.
2. In adjusting matters of difficulty, preventing misunderstanding and collision, and promoting a true comity.
3. In providing for the proper division of labor and forces, so as to insure the impartial occupation of all mission fields.
There were many reasons why the blessed and delightful fellowship of that fortnight should be, as far as possible, made permanent. No name but that of Ohrist had been named; contact not only served as an expression and manifestation of charity, but as a means of developing it. To have such contact broken and lost was more than a calamity-a disaster. Oontact could not be maintained at every point, but it could have been at certain points like links in a chain, and such a committee would have served as such links. All questions involving the delicate matters of mutual comity, or the practical co-operation of disciples on mission fields, such an advisory board could settle in behalf of all the churches. Without claiming authority, their advice would become authority.
In reference to the occupation of the whole field, snch a committee could at least wield great influence in three directions: First, Where any local field is now fairly preoccupied, those who are working in it conld be left unmolested. The valley of the Nile might be left for the most part to the United Presbyterians; Turkey to the American Board; Syria and Siam to the Presby~erians of America; Burmah to the Baptists; the Lake Di&1;ricts of Eastern Equatorial Africa, the various islands of Polynesia, the openings in papal lands, to the various bodies already successfully at work-nntil help is needed and may be spared from more needy" regions beyond," Secondly, Fields already open but wholly unoccupied, whose vastness is overwhelming and demands careful division of labor, might by such committee be apportioned to various Ohristian denominations.
And thirdly, Fields not yet fully opened but about to become accessible, could be watched and preparations made for their speedy occupation when the full time has come; as for inliltance Korea, Thibet, etc.
We have already in these pages adverted to this subject, and, after much thought, feel constrained to press even now the appointment by the various evangelical denominations of some sort of Advisory Board who, by correspondence and as far as may be by personal conference, may act for the whole church of Ohrist. Such men as the Earl of Aberdeen, Sir John Kennaway, Dr. Wardlaw Thompson, Eugene Stock, Esq., Rev. A. O. Thompson, D.D., Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D., Rev. Hudson Taylor, Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D., Rev. W. M. Taylor, D.D., Bishop W. X. Ninde, D.D., James Mathieson, Esq., Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, LL.D., Rev. W. S. Swanson, Principal McVicar, Rev. Phillips Brooks, Bishop Potter, Bishop Huntington-who would hesitate to follow the counsel of such men in matters pertaining to the great world-wide field of missions!
VII. There were mistakes of a minor character which pertain to all things human. This limiting of speakers to "five minutes" is one of the absurdities of modern impatience and "fastness." A'man'who, like Dr. Oairns, carries big brains qnder his hat and a big heart in his breast, takes proportionately long to get" under weigh." It was more than offensive to hear some really great and wise m;::,n rung down by the inexorable bell, when he had just laid the basis of his remarks and was just prepared to give us the results af wise and deliberate thinking; while some smart but shallow speaker, who mistook" audibility and volubility" for logic and eloquence, rattled through five minutes and" finished" without saying anything. It was painful to iee that the modesty of some men of merit kept them back because their very aversion to the bell and the five-minute rule increased their embarrassment, while the assurance of others emboldened them to "occupy the time" without any real suggestions to offer. It was very strange to us to hear such an audience actually arrest with mock applause certain men of whom they tired or who overran their proper limits; or to observe evidences of manifest favoritism on the part not only of auditors but of presiding officers and committee men.
But these ware the spots on the sun-the insignificant blemishes on a fair face that was on the whole beautiful and even radiant. He would be very critical and run his criticism into captioul!lness who would turn a telescopic or microscopic eye upon such defects. Here was a grand gathering of missionaries and missionary workers and sup- porters brought face to face and eye to eye from the earth's ends. Here were men competent to speak from actual experience and observation of all phases and perplexities of the work, in every sphere. Here were laborers who spoke with the authority that belongs only to an actual toiler; they were not theorizers lazily sitting on cushions and dreaming about missions, but faithful workers who had borne the burden and heat of the day, and some of whom had already reached reaping time and borne also the sheaves to the garner. 'rhe facts, sometimes poured upon the assembly in one address, came like a deluge for volume and like a torrent for force and momentum. The sight of some men and women, whose names are already immortal for their service to missions, repaid us for a trans-oceanic journey. Even R. N. Oust, Esq., whose keen scalpel mercilessly cut with incisive blade into the faults of the conferenoe, wrote with discriminating and eloque~t pen, such as he knows how to use, in appreciation of all that was best in those days of fellowship. With impartial judgment he condemned what he disapproved, and praised as loudly the manifest solidarity of the churches, the disappearance of offensive denomina- . tionalism, the grand federation of the greatest benefactors of mankind, speaking every language, but using one dialect of faith; and the forming or renewing of precious ties of friendship.
We think it too soon to forecast the ultimate results of such a conference. Perhaps it is true that no original idea was struck out, and no novel information or even important practical suggestion elicited. It is possible to be too near as well as too far off, to see clearly and form just conceptions. Too near a view limits our prospect; too distant a view dims it. But if that ten days does not inspire new devotion to missions; if those two imperial volumes, which constitute the greatest encyclopedia of missions extant, do not feed with the fuel of facts the kindling interest in the world field; and if the body of disciples there gathered do not feel a closer and more vital bond with all true workers in that wide field, we shall be greatly mistaken. We earnestly hope that within a few years another like conference may assemble. The year 1892, which marks the full completion of the century since William Oarey formed that first Baptist Society in Ket- tering, suggests the natural time for the next WorId Oonference. And what stupendous changes may take place before that year 'has opened no huma:n being is sagacious enough to forecast. If, years ago, Dr. Duff could say that, to which ever point of the horizon we look, signs of changes greater than the world has ever seen confront us, it is far more emphatically true to-day. What a century was once required to accomplish a year now works out; and so every hour be- comes a hinge and pivot of history and destiny. Let us, like Erskine, call God to witness that we are "doing our best to .bring on a definite issue between Ohrist and His adversaries." The thicker and hotter the battle, the quicker the rout of the foe. The whole world
THE OUTLOOK IN JAPAN
is the field, the whole church is the force; let us bring the field and the force into actual contact, from the rising to the setting sun, and from pole to pole, while we humbly remember that the only true force in missions is the FIRE FROM ABOVE 1 THE OUTLOOK IN J APAN.
BY REV. GEORGE WM. KNOX, D.D., TOKIO.
THE statistics of missions and missionary work for 1888 are instruc- tive. The growth of the Japanese churches continues. There are 5,785 more Christians than at the close of 1887, the total being 25,514; 1,970 children are included iu this total. Ten years ago there were not 2,500 Christians in Japan. In another decade these tens of thousands should be hundreds of thousands. Another tenfold increase is not too great for faith.
The increase is as great in other things. These Christians gave last year yen 64,454.70 for church and missionary purposes. Comparing • Japanese poverty with American wealth it is as though 25,000 Christians in the United States, including women and children, were to give $600,000, a standard that no denomination has yet reached, though certain favored localities exceed it. In the Itchi and Kumiai churches, Presbyterian and Congregational, the standard is still higher.
The 15,800 Christians, including children, in these two bodies gave yen 51,000, an average of three yen and twenty-three sen per member.
T~at is as if Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the United States were to give more than $30 each a year for religious purposes. Certainly Christianity in Japan is not eleemosynary.
The Japanese ministers are 142,40 more than a year ago. These men are sometimes put down in mission reports as assistants of the foreign mISSIOnaries. In Japan such statements are most misleading. The fact is the missionaries are the advisers of the Japanese ministers. I am most intimately acquainted with the polity of the Presbyterian (with the Reformed) lnd the Congregational missions. The missionaries are already the advisers and friends or at most co~laborers with the Japanese ministers. The latter and not the former are foremost in the most important work. Ten converts are led to Christ by them to one brought into the church by the direct agen<Jyof foreigners. And in councils, committees, synods, and boards the Japanese are in the lead.
The actual state of things would surprise men who have been ac- customed to regard foreign missionaries as the main factors in the preaching of the gospel. Some of the largest and most successful churches have had little or no foreign assistance. Were every foreign missionary and every,dollar of foreign money withdrawn at once the church would still advance and still seek to preach the gospel to all Japan. .
I am not undervaluing missionary work, but am seeking to state its true value. The church succeeds in Japan because it is led by earnest, educated Christian Japanese of the right kind. But hardly one of these men has achieved great success who does not bear the impress of some foreign missionary. The. influence has been direct and permanent, and the missionary thus works through the Japanese far more ef- fectively than he could possibly work himself. Christ's method must. be the missionary's. If the foreigner can spiritually quicken twelve men who will be his apostles he has achieved a grand success. Then the wide results garnered by these men will be his crown and rejoicing. Every mission report in Japan repeats and emphasizes this lesson, though sometimes by contrast.
There are lessons for Boards in the United States in such facts. The foreign missionary must be able to do this thing., If he cannot per- sonally lead men to a high standard of personal consecration to Christ, if he cannot prepare them for successful war, he is relatively a failure. Japanese mmisters can preach more effectively than he. Japanese teachers can almost rival his best efforts in the class room. They are fully ready for all the routine of work. If, then, he cannot supply high spiritual and intellectual stimulus; if by word and life he cannot raise these men to higher grades of life, he is a failure. At present it is vain to send missionaries to Japan who are not exceptional men. The church is at last ready to send many men, and now the higher test comes at once. The church must send its best. Quality and not quantity must be the ambition; or, better still, the best quality in large quantity. The mission service need not be ashamed; it has fair share of the best now. But in fields like Japan none others are of use. Som~ Japanese ministers in intellect and spirituality excel some foreign missionaries.
A large part of the missionaries are in schools. The missions report 15 boarding-schools for boys, with 2,704 students, 39 boarding-schools for girls, with 3,663 pupils, and 47 day-schools for boys and girls, with 3,299 scholars. Half of the men, and nearly all the ladies, are in these schools. The schools are still for the most part under "mission" control. But the most successful one of all has a Japanese for presi- dent, and he does his own thinking, and forms his own plans. Some of the other schools also give the Japanese a large place in their con- trol. These schools are doing a great work for the Christian Church. The Government does so much for education that their influence in general education is relatively small. They are not the introducers of western learning and scientific truth. Their mission is the formation of a body of select men and women, combining spiritual force with in- • tellectual attainments. They are to train the leaders for the church. There is a constant advance in their equipment, but.all feel that equip- ment in things material is only a small aid to growth in things spiritual. It is still to be proved that the great institutions of to-day will exceed in solid results the groups gathered around individuals in the period just past. At the same time in every school the religious influence js constant. They are not like the missionary colleges of India that graduate a "kind of theists." The graduatelil in large majority are earnest Ohristians. Now we seek one thing more-the consecration • that will make them the fearless, devoted and successful leaders of the Lord's hosts.
The number of missionary societies continues to increase. We feel like saying, Hold! Enough! If any church or society, British or American, thinks of launching a new mission, let them seek some other field, or come prepared to unite with some of the organizations already here. We have weak missions enough, and strong ones too, for that matter. Were our mission forces combined, we should not need an- other man; indeed we could dispense with a third of those already here. It is our disunion that makes our mission work so extravagantly costly. It is absurd to place three missions of as many different churches in one small country town of Japan, as absurd and wasteful as to plant a half dozen denominations in a frontier village in the United States. As long as the churches in the United States prefer that sort of thing, and are ready to pay for it, it will no doubt con- tinue; but it costs more than wasted time and money. A Oongrega- tionalist has just written to a Presbyterian, "The division of our few Ohristians in the same neighborhood into two churches of dif- ferent names is the greatest obstacle to our work here," and he ex- presses his perfect willingness to enter Presbytery if thereby harmony can be gained. And yet men in the United States oppose union in Japan, because they happen to be dissatisfied with the results of the plan of union in New York fifty years ago, and associations threaten to cut off their contributions to the Board if union is effected. Let it be understood that the present plan of separate action, in Japan at the least, involves great waste.
The Episcopal societies have united their churches in the Nippon Sei Ko Kwai, the Holy Church of Japan. The union proposed by the Meth- odist missions is postponed because of unsympathetic action at home.
The union of the Reformed and Presbyterian bodies will be completed by the union of the Oumberland Presbyterian Ohurch in the coming spring. The further union with the Oongregational churches was voted by the synod of the United Ohurch in November, but the Gen- eral Association of the Oongregational churches postponed action until spring. Thus their action is still in doubt. This union, if effected, will be of great service to the cause of Ohrist in Japan.
FRO}! THE PRISON. • In December, 1887, a large number of men from the province of Tosa came to Tokio to present a petition to the Government. After Borne delay the Government declined to receive the petition, but the Tosa men still lingered in the city. The Gover~ment professed to find something dangerous in their presence, and issued new regulations for the preservation of the peace. The men from Tosa were ordered to leave Tokio, and the more prominent were lodged in prison. Some of these men had never seen the laws which they were said to have broken. They had no trial, but were told that they would be released if at once they would leave Tokio, not to return for a specified • time. They stoutly denied having broken the laws, and declined to make such confession, or to (lven imply acquiescence by leaving the city. So they were sentenced to imprisonment for two years. On the promulgation of the constitution they were released, having been confined for fourteen months.
Some of these men are Christians. They are gentlemen, and have served their country in the past. One of them is well-known throughout Japan, and especially for his honesty and frankness. They found the imprisonment hard to bear, of course. The food was not enough to satisfy them, anq. the prison bedding and clothing was scanty, and they suffered from cold during the first winter. As time went by, however, both food and clothing were increased. When they entered the prison one of them had his Bible with him. It was taken away, but afterward Bibles and other religious books were freely given them. They read and studied the Word continually; they held morning prayers, and as the few opportunities occurred, they taught their fellow prisoners.. Now they say: "Our imprisonment was grievous to our bodies but beneficial to our souls. We learned the meaning of the gospel as never before. We value prayer and believe more firmly in God's presence and communion with us." Through their labors six of their fellow prisoners were led to Christ.
THE NEW CONSTITUTION.
Japan has a written constitution. It was promulgated on the 11th February. The city was given up to rejoicing for days. The illuminations and decorations were exceptionally fine. Almost every house in the city was ornamented. Thus the emperor redeems his promise, made on his accession. Japan again leads Asia, indeed is in advance of some European states. As we read the provisions for the protection of the rights of subjects, for the judiciary, and for the exercise of ample powers by the Imperial Diet, whole centuries of English constitutional history unfold before our eyes. There is some ground for the boast that' Japan will do in a generation what we have accomplished in centuries. It is only a generation, less than a generation, since Japan was a feudal despotism tempered by assassination. In 1871 feudalism was abolished. And yet there are men in plenty who talk of the Japanese as an inferior race, not at all to be compared with "us." Some think them inferior to the Chinese. If that judgment is correct Europe and America must need look to themselves when
liON. ION KEITH-FALCONER. [Ju.a
China wakes up. The imprisonment of the Tosa men will be the last incident of that sort. I Laws will be, made by the Diet, and no one shall be arrested or punished without due process of law. Arbitrary law and government end.
To us one of the most immediate points of interest is the article that promises religious liberty. The fact has been undispnted for years, bnt its official and constitutional recognition by the emperor will have its influence.
What new pretext can Western powers now find for failing to comply with Japan's most moderate and reasonable request for the revision of the treaties, and the abolition of extra-territoriality? Russia and Austria most likely will fear to intrust their subjects to the tender mercies of this Government, though, to do them justice, these powers have never been credited with an obstructive policy, but pretexts can doubtless be found. or made by some ingenious power. We trust the rumors that the United States are just ready to make a new treaty on terms of equality will prove true. Japan is ready to grant every right and privilege to foreigners that she gives her own subjects, if they will come under her laws. Japan cannot ask less. All obstacles to freest travel and residence are of foreign making. For our part we are glad that this empire will not yield further. Her position is just. II; is "Christian" diplomacy that is unjust, and as short-sighted as unjust.
THE APOSTLE OF BUDDHISM.
The Buddhists are credited with following Christian example in all their propaganda. They have tried lectures, girls' schools, newspapers, young men's associations etc., all without success. Copies are seldom of great worth. Now they have gone a step further and have imported a missionary from America, Col. Olcott. He is the same man to whom Madame Blavatsky referred in the letters that were printed several years since, first in India. His connection with that acute adventuress does not seem to have quenched his love for the occult. We shall see what will come of his mission to Japan. He was welcomed to-day, March, 1, in Yokohama by a throng of priests. If he can improve these men in wit or morals his mission will not have been in vain. He has ample field for missionary work.
HON. ION KEITH-FALCONER. * A MODERN ApOSTLE.
BY REV. W. J. MUTCH, NEW HAVEN, CONN.
THE best there is in human life is not too good to be given to the I service of humanity in behalf of God's kingdom. This truth has been no more impressively exemplified in modern times than in the noble *}{emorials of Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, M. A:, late Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic In the University of Cambridge, and missionary to the Mohammedans of Sonthern Arabta. By Rev. , Robert Sinker, B. D., Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge. With portrait, map and iIlustratlous. Cambrldie: Diihton Bell & Ceo life and early death of Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, a modern apostle of the best stuff that men of our day are made of, and yet not too good to give himself as a living and dying sacrifice to humanity in carrying the word of God to those who have it not.
H blood and lineage counted for as much with us as it does in Great Britain, it would add greatly to our interest in the name of Keith-Falconer to trace the noble ancestry of this son of the Earl of Kintore back through the critical and stormy periods of British history, past the standards of Bruce and Wallace, and back to the year 1010, in the reign of Malcolm II., King of Scotland, when in a battle with the Danish invaders Robert Keith won by his valor the title of Hereditary Great Marischal of Scotland.
But it is not until 1856 that the life of our subject began; and in the years that followed from infancy to college life there iii! nothing that need detain us save the generous and loving child, who was devoted to the truth, had no patience with shams, had the largest sympathy, frDm the fiest, with the suffering and needy, and found his greatest enjoyment in seeing those about him happy and comfortable. He was a faithful 'and interested student of the Scriptures from the time of his earliest reading. His old nurse tells of his going about to the cottages of the peasants soon after he was seven years old, and reading the Bible and trying to explain it. On one occasion, having saved his pocket money for the purpose, he went to the store and bought for himself some cakes of a favorite kind, but on his return he met a hungry-looking boy and promptly gave them all to him. 'rhese things were never known at home save as some one else than he chanced to mention them, but they reveal thus early a vein of pure gold which was to enrich the later life.
It is stimulating to know that with these generous qualities he was not of that solemn, sickly and unenterprising sort which so many good children are represented to be. He came to the front in athletics; and being six feet and three inches tall and finely proportioned in his manhood, his physical contests were a sight worth seeing. He became president of the London Bicycle Club, and was not content with anything less than the championship of all England, which he won in 1878 by five yards in a five-mile race with John Keen, then the champion professional of Great Britain. In 1.882 he was the first to accomplish that remarkable journey on the wheel from Land's End to John O'Gro!lit's house, nearly 1,000 miles, which he accomplished in thirteen days. As a phonographer also he would probably have ranked second only to Isaac Pitman. He was the author of the article on Shorthand in the "Encycl@pmdia Britannica," which is a marvel of comprehensive and condensed accuracy.
In college there were others more brilliant than he, but none more interested, independent and persistent; and his stubborn persistence enabled him to win positions, honorlil and prizes of the hiihest order. But his aggressive evangelistic spirit could not be confined within the college walls, and so with some companions, among whom he was a leader, he went among the lower classes in Barnwell with the simple story of redemption. The work outgrew their halls, and an old theater was purchased with subscriptions largely given or solicited by Keith- Falconer, and from this work, in which I.e was a leader while yet a leader in undergraduate college life, the wretched and unchurched village of Barnwell has been transformed into a comparatively respectable portion of the university town.
But there is a far greater city mission enterprise than this with which his name is connected. It would be an interesting digression if we could trace the history of the Tower-Hamlets Mission in the East End of London. Mr. Oharrington, the leader of this enterprise, was a great friend of Keith-Falconer, who all through his Oambridge dayt! went often to visit this work and to help it on. About 1880 he spent much time in devising ways and means, and in securing subscriptions, £2,000 of which he gave himself, for the Great Assembly Hall, which now towers up on Mile End Road, where 5,000 people may gather under the sound of one voice, where a people's service is held eyery night, while the play-houses and grog-shops have greatly declined in value since the hall was built, and where one of the worst regions of human degradation in modern city life is being redeemed, not in the mind of a wciter of tales, but in the alleys and hovels of East London, by the simple gospel of the risen Lord. Keith-Falconer has been a main factor in all this movement, working as a humble layman in private life who but rarely attempted to speak in public. His direct evangelistic work was mostly in the direction of what he called" having a talk with a man," which would mean a quiet, private conversation about those sacred issues which lie deepest in life. This he always welcomed an opportunity to do. For instance, we find him writing in a letter to his wife, in 1884, while on a bicycle tour with a friend in Sutherlandshire, "We had a job to get across the Kyle. It was very low water, and we had to wade some distance before we got to the boat. We had a talk with the boatman, who said he had been praying and searching for years, but ' couldn't find Him.'"
And so it is as a layman that all his religious work was done-no less indeed commissioned of God for his work than if he had been an ordained minister of the gospel; but on the other hand, no more com- missioned than is every disciple of Jesus Ohrist in the world to-day.
There remains to be sketched one more enterprise of this short life, which may give a fitting impression not only of the life here set forth, but of what is still more valuable, the truth which is set at the head of this article.
While in his college life he had followed a large varIety of studies, his chief interest had centered upon the Bible and the languages in which it was written, especially the Hebrew, and from the Hebrew his interest spread to the whole family of Semitic languages. After the close of his college study he gave Arabic his chief attention for many months, until he had mastered the classic language and its literature, including the Koran; and then he spent a winter in a forsaken place in upper Egypt for the purpose of getting the colloquial language, the temper of the A,rabic mind, and the nature of the Mohammedan religion. For all this work he seems to have had no other conscious motive than his love for the study-a mere scientific interest, and yet who can doubt that there was a sub-conscious motive, an impulse from God which did not rise into the consciousness of the man himself until it had done its work, and made him, while yet a youth, the master of all this knowl- edge. If now this knowledge were followed up in one direction it would, by general consent, make him the greatest living Orientalist, and if it were followed up in another direction it might open the door of many locks that should let the light of the gospel into the heart of Mohammedanism.
Here was a parting of the ways. Science, fame, and comfort on the one hand, and on the other seclusion, with only God and the gos- pel, and a wretched world about him, the dangers of a foreign land and climate, and the sacrifices of nobility, distinction and wealth at home. But there is no moment of hesitation in choice with him. He im~ediately, and in the most methodical and business-like way, sets about finding the strategi() point of attack, geographic and ethnic, upon Mohammedanism. The knowledge of Arabic, which he found himself in possession of, must be used to the best possible advantage to the kingdom of God, which it was always his ambition to.serve.
After careful deliberation he settled on Aden as the point to be ex- amined, but his methodical style required that it should be visited and the climate tried and the methods of operation decided upon on the' ground; and so in October, 1885, he and his wife went to Aden, which is a British coaling station at the point where the Red Sea opens into the Indian Ocean, opposite the Somali coast of Africa, and the south- ernmost point of the Arabian peninsula-a barren, comfortless wilder- ness of sand and rock twelve degrees from the equator. But it is a point from which the arteries of Arabian commerce run inland to the whole country. As many as a quarter of a million camels come into Aden from the interior every year, and there is one of the best harbors in the world.
He saw at a glance that the commission of the apostles to heal dis- eases was what was needed there to open the hearts of the people; for the numberless of aftlicted have no relief there, and a skillful surgeon – would be a blessing whose value none could estimate. His knowledge of the Koran was superior to their own, and he found that by helping them, and then "having a talk with them," he was very kindly received, and the news wonld be carried far away to bring others f~r1ike treatment. Finding no trouble in the climate either for himself or wife, he decided that this was the point to be occupied. His plan was to establish a hospital and a school, both of which could be filled almost as soon as they could be built. With this plan clearly drawn he returned to his home to prepare for the work.
A Ohristian physician was secured; he studied medicine himself; he put himself under the direction of the Foreign Missionary Agency of the Free Ohurch of Scotland, for he did not believe in the free lance business in missions, although he proposed to bear the whole expense of the mission himself.
Just at this point, to his great surprise, he was appointed professor of Arabic in Oambridge, but as this position was partly honorary, re- quiring only one lecture or short course of lectures in a year, the teach- ing being given out to an associate, he accepted the appointment, be- lieving that it would give him more influence and enable him to draw the world's attention to :fJ.is work in far-off Arabia. So he prepared and delivered his first course of three lectures on "The Pilgrimage to Mecca;" and early in November, 1886, in the evening after his last lecture, he started for Aden.
Only five months of lahor lay before him; but in that time with his wife and Dr. Oowen, a work was set onfout, buildings begun, a char- acter and a fame established in all southern Arabia, which with the, blessing of God and the support of man gives promise of solving 000 of the hardest problems laid at the feet of the Ohristian world to-day- , the evangelization of the Moslems. Before that five months ended there were but few who had come in contact with this mission who would admit that they were Moslems, and when spoken to about it they would say, "There are no Moslems here." The Gospel in the Arabic found a ready market and a reverent reading among those who had seen the spirit and power of the Ohristian physician.
But the noble fellow was stricken with the Aden fever. It is not a very dangerous disease, and therefore the surprise even to his wife and the doctor was very great when one morning they found that he had quietly slept out his life while those who had been watching at his bed- side slumbered with him.
"The falling asleep," sa,ys the Free Ohurch resolution, "in the first months of fervent service, of Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer in the extreme Asian outpost in South Arabia gives solemn urgency to his last appeal to the cultured, the wealthy and the unselfish, whom that devoted vol- unteer for Ohrist represented [when he addressed them in these words]: 'While vast continents are shrouded in almost utter dark- ness, and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors of heathenism or Islam, the burden of Eroof lies upon you to show that the .circum-
JEWISH MISSION WORJ[. t1t
stances in which God placed you were meant by Him to keep you out of the foreign mission field:" .
Was it a mistake of Providence that this noble young apostle should be thus early called to "depart and be with Ohrist"? Was it a mis- take that he should have gone to Aden in the first instance? His dis- tinguished position and accomplishments were so widely known, the interest in his enterprise so deep, the love for his person so great, that the dispatch announcing his death sent a shock through the whole kingdom. The call of the church for a volunteer to fill the breach was responded to by thirteen young men from the graduating class of New College, who were ready to be used in the foreign field in the place and manner in which they could do the most good. Others are being led by his example to prepare for a like work. And so, like Samson of old, great as he was in life, he was greater still in death.
This is the kind of men our age is calling for-men who are willing to use what God has given them, and the best he has given them, to His glory• Nothing is too good to be so used. This man was no special favorite of grace. There are thousands who have equal qualifications, except the willingness to use their gifts for God and humanity.
A new value has la.tely made itself known in the Keith-Falconer mission, which promises large benefit to civilization. Since British occupation has turned the current of the Arabian slave ~rade away from lower Egypt, that current has set in right across by Aden.
In September last a British man-of-war captured three cargoes of Abyssinian children, 217 in all, being carried into Arabia for the most degrading servitude. They were nominal Christians. Of course their homes had been destroyed and their friends killed. The mission has put a large number of them in its school, where they will receive a Ohristian training and be sent back as missionaries.
And so another important outpost has been occupied by the armies of the Lord, and is now effectively manned with a force of Ohristian teachers, physicians and evangelists. The Rev. William R. W. Gard- ner, one of the prompt young volunteers, who has been since prepar- ing himself for the special work, has just now joined the mission, and there is every prospect for great good to come from the work of this modern apostle.
JEWISH MISSION WORK.
BY REV. PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, COLUMBUS, OHIO.
THE retirement of Professor Franz Delitzsch, without doubt the leading representative of the gospel cause among the lost sheep of the house of Israel in our day and generation, from the editorship of the Saat auf Hoffnung, the leading journal devoted to this special de~ partment of mission work, after an uninterrupted management of that quarterly for twenty-five years, is a timely occasion briefly to give a bird's..eye-view of the problems, principles, methods, and results of the evangelization of Israel. Such a resume is all the more a matter of present interest, as developments have been going on in this department of mission activity, the records of which form a not unimportant chapter in this, the greatest mission century since the apostolic era. Primarily in the growth of interest in this important work and in the clearer perception of the problems involved and of the correct methods of solution; and, secondarily, also in the success that has attended the efiorts, Jewish gospel work occupies a public prommence in the activity of the church that it never before enjoyed or was entitled to.
When Delitzsch established his journal, he was, at least in central and northern Protestant Europe, a vox clamantis in 'deseno. Affairs stood better in this regard in England. Even as late as 1881, the statistician Haman could report only 20 societies, with about 250 men, and expending about $300,000 annually for the evangelization of Israel. Last year Lic. Dr. Dalmen, the new editor of Saat aufHoffnung, could report 47 Protestant Jewish mission societies, with 377 missionaries, and spending nearly $500,000 annually. In other words, in scarcely half a dozen years, the activity in this ardnous field has almost literally doubled. The Jewish popUlation of the earth is about 6,400,000. There is then one missionary for every 16,976 Jews, and these people are accordingly, in comparison to the nearly one thousand million non-Christians of the globe, which are the figures of so good an authority as Daniel's Lehrbuch der Geographie, by far better provided with gospel privileges than are the heathen nations. This growth of zeal for Israel re-establishment has indeed not been contemporaneous with the revived activity for foreign mission work. The latter had fully half a century the start of the former. But it is an open question whether in regard to methods and manners, principles and means, the cause of Jewish mission work has not gained as much in the last decade or two as the foreign mission cause has since the beginning of the century. Indeed the debatable ground in the latter seems to be greater in oxtent and the interrogation points to exceed in number the difficulties and differences in the former.
It goes without saying that the gospel work among the Jews is the most difficult in the whol-l sphere of evangelization. The problems here are entirely peculiar and unique. It requires but little knowledge of psychology and history to understand why this should be the case. The trouble lies 01;1 both sides, Christian and Jewish. The attitude of the Christian Church, at least practically, has never been what it should have been toward the Jews. Proselyting rather than conversion has been the aim over against Ismel down to almost the present time. There has been a conspicuous absence of that love for ISJ;&el which is an .absolutely necessary prerequisite to successful evangelization in their midst. At best, the attitude of Christians toward the work has been a negative and indifferent one. The poBitive element of zeal for Israel's spiritual interests has been confined to exceeding- ly narrow limits. Nothing like that general interest which character- izes the activity of the chnrches in theforeign and home mission causes in general has been or can be aroused ;or the gospel work among Israel. Just to what degree this apathy and limited interest is the expression of that spirit which in earlier centuries made the Jews the special object of the persecution of a civilization calling itself Ohristian, would bean interesting problem, but one not to be discussed here. To a greater or less degree the popular prejudice against the Jews is the deposit left in the thought of the age from the antagonism of the olden' times. In Ii large measure it is an inheritance and not the result of CODSelous8Dd intelligent reasoning.
That to a great extent the Jews were and are the cause of the antip- athy of modern society and Ohristianity is a matter beyond dispnte. The enigmatical social disorder called anti-Semitism is sufficient evi- dence of this. It is a mistake to regard this opposition to Jewish in- fluence pervading all central and eastern Europe as a rAvival of blind medieval hatred of the Israelites. It is not a new crusade after the manner of a PfefIercorn in the days of Reuchlin. It is the out- growth of the new!3tatus in modern society, socially, politically, ~nd otherwise, which has been granted to the Jews also as one of the Te-:- sults of the general policy of emancipation characteristic of our century. For about three or four decades all political and other disabilities have been removed from the Jews; and as a consequence this gifted people have been crowding into all the higher and influential positions in so- ciety, in education, in politics, in finances, in journalism, and else- where. The Jewish influence in modern society is far in excess of their proportional numerical strength. It is against this undue pre- ponderance of Jewish leadership which, as Semitic in origin and char- acter, is regarded as antagonistic to an Aryan and Ohristian civiliza- tion, that the anti-Semitism of the day is directed. It is a fiction that . the Jews are persecuted for their religion's sake. The problem is pri- marilya social one, and its agitation, aside of some inexcusable excesses, a. legitimate and needful one, made necessary by the social statistics of the day.
A somewhat remarkable confirmation of this is the singular phenom- enon that wherever the Jews are most nUl'lerous and are most influen- tial, that there the work of their evangelization has the fewest friends. Russia and Austria do very little for the cause, and it is in these two countries that fully two-thirds of all the Jews of the globe live. Ger- many, with its many millions of Protestants, does les8 for this work than little Norway with its two millions. But in the Scandinavian countries a Jew is but seldom seen, and the Ohristiansthere, notwith- standing their poverty, take a kind of a sentimental rather than all intelligent interest in the work, and have a warm heart for Israel. In England, where more is done for the cause than in all the rest of Christendom together, the Jew is not numerically 80 well represented as in Germany and eastern Europe, and the distasteful features of his in:fl.uep.qe are to a great extent absent. Besides this, the general lead which England has taken in the work of missions over aU the rest of Europe has not been without its effects in this field also.
Besides this very granting of perfect equality to the Jews, which has been outwardly at least the occasion of tho anti-SemitIc movement, but which naturally, as the expression of a civilization that is Christian in character, would have been expected to make the beneficiaries of this ,emancipation more friendly to Christianity, has had, if anything, the opposite effect. In so far as assimihtion and amalgamation has taken place, it has practically consisted of a comprQmise between traditional Judaism and modern thought, in such a manner that the outcome is little better than radicalism and rationalism. The modernized or "reformed" Jew as a rule entertains little more than such empty generalizations of theological and scriptural ideas that make him feel a warm sympathy with vapid Universalism and Unitarianism. It is the western Jew who has imbibed this new wisdom; and among this class of Israelites the efforts of gospel messengers have practically been love's labor lost.
The problem becomes all the more complicated by the fact that the missionary meets the Jew not as he does the heathen. The latter he approaches as a superior, the former more as an equal. In both cases ho must remove error as well as build up truth; but in the case of the Jew it is intelligent error, fortified by argument and history. The Jew sees in the Christian one who has departed from the pure worship of Jehovah and feels himself in possession of a religion purer and higher than that which he is asked to substitute for it. If there is any idea that has entered into the very marrow and bone of Israel, it is the con- viction that as the chosen people of God it is their mission to uphold the standard of pure divine worship, of monotheism, and that it is their historic and divinely assigned work to bring the religious prin- ciples maintained by JudaIsm to Impremacy in the hearts and minds of the nations. It is true that this is more a theoretic and abstract idea; for Judaism, since the downfall of its political power and the great dispersion, has not been a missionary religion and has made little or no propaganda of its peculiar tenets; yet this does not diminish but rather strengthens the tenacity of this conviction. And this has been fortified by the religious development in Israel for fully two thousand years. The representative Jew, particularly of the East, is the Tal· mudic Jew. His position is essentially the Pharisaism and legalism of the New Testament era, strengthened by the whole Talmudic thought since that day. The Old Testament is seen only in the light, or rather darkness, of Talmudic and Rabbinic thought; and this makes it all the more difficult to prod uce a tabula rasa of error for the erection of Christian truth. To this comes the further factor of a blind hatred of Christ. Vollert, a recent messenger to the Jews of the East, says on this point (BaatautHoffnun~, 1889, Jan., p. 39): "!tis possible to impress upon them that the Messiah has already come; they will listen when we say that they have rejected Him and therefore have deserved their fate; but as soon as we say that the rejected one is 'Jesus,' the Crucified, fire and lightning of the eyes show that the limits of the endurable have been transgressed."
This condition of the problem must determine the methods and manner of its solution. Modern mission workers and thinkers in the field of evangelization in Israel are unanimous that there is but one way proper for the treatment of so intricate a question, and that is the prosecution of the method already adopted by the first writer in the NewTestament, Matthew, namely, to show that the Messiah of the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Messianic predictions of the Old. The work among Israel is more a work of argument than it is anywhere else in the whole sphere of mission activity. Instruction and conviction have here a place not found elsewhere. For that reason the preparation of a Jewish missionary is necessarily a more arduous task than that of a messenger to the Gentiles. He must be not only a good Biblical scholar and interpreter, a logical reasoner, but also well versed in the Talmudic literature, the errors of which he is to refute. Just in this connection is seen the great importance of the revived Instituta Judaica, which are found at fully a dozen German and Scandinavian Universities with a membership of 300 and more and consist of voluntary association of students under the leadership of men like Delitzsch, Strack, Orelli and others, and devote their energy to the study of post-Biblical Hebrew and its literature. But the greatest agencies in this regard have been Delitzsch's and Salkinson's Hebrew New Testaments. The former has been circulated in more than eighty thousand copies, particularly in eastern Europe and in Siberia. The latter has appeared in a second edition of 200,000 copies, and a generous Scotchman has paid for 100,000 copies to be used for missionary purposes. The reports of what the mere study of the New Testament has done to make fair-minded Jews see in the Christianity of the New Testament the fulfillment and complement of the preparatory religious development of the Old, often read almost like miracles of missions. They furnish renewed evidence that the New Testament is the best commentary on the Old. It is this idea, too, that is at the foundation of the various Jewish Christian movements which started independently . of each other and of direct Christian influence in Southern Russia, Siberia and Hungary. Thought and study of the New Testament awakened in these reformers the conviction that brael's development into Pharasaic legalism was a false course, and that the historic mission of the people can be fulfilled only by beginning anew there where the fatal error set in, that is, by accepting the New Testament development as the legitimate and correct outcome of the Old. In this way the correctness of the methods of modern Jewish mission work is vindicated by independent evidence from an entirely foreign source.
Of course even with all arguments in favor of the Ohristian mission_ ary the great work of captatio benevolentiw still remains to be done, and is an all-important factor and most difficult task. The Jews as a class hate and mistrust the Ohristian missionary. They cannot believe' in the purity of his motives, leait of all if he is himself a convert. There seems to be only one man of prominence in this work who has gained the love of all Israel, and that man is Franz Delitzseh. He has given such eVIdence of his affection for that people, especially in the, anti~Semitic agitation, that even the most radical Jews respect him and his motives. To him they all listen, and this fact explains to a great extent the strong influence of his New Testament translation. When recently he addressed a pamphlet to thinking Israelites entitled "Earnest Questions to the Educated of the Jewish Religion," 4,000 copies were disposed of in a few weeks, and many Jewish journals gave it a most respectful treatment. ,But as a rule it is exceedingly difficult to gain the ear of Israel for the gospel. It is a common idea among them, and also among certain Ohristians, that every Jewish convert is a hypocrite. Such rashness forgets that Ohrist's disciples were Jews and that thousands of Jewish converts have noble records on the pages of church history. Think only of such modern instances as the father of modern church history, Neander, whose centennial was bnt recently celebrated; of KalkaI', who presided at the Oopenhagen meeting of the Evangelical Alliance; of Philippi, the great conservative dogmatician of Rostock; of Oaspari, the fine Orientalist and historical scholar of Norway, and men of this kind.
Ooncerning the successes of the work little can or should be said. The estimate of Missionary de la Roi, of Breslau, that fully 100,000 jews have since the beginning of the present century found their way into the church through the mission activity is probably no exaggeration, but must stand ()n its own merits. Oertain it is, that greater gains have been made than friend and foe as a rule are inclined to think. But here as well as elsewhere the question of snccess is important for us only in its relation to the decision as to the correct methods. Ours it is to be faithful to the divine mission command, leaving the consequences to Him who gave it His people.
MADAGASCAR
MADAGASOAR.
BY L. P. BROCKETT, M.D., BROOKLYN, N. Y. (Ooncluded/rompcl/l4J858.) I III. PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL IN MADAGASCAR. THE dea.thof the wicked queen RanavalonaI., and the accession of her son Radama II. to the throne, marks a.nother epoch in the history of the Mal.a. g'asy. From that date (August, 1861,) there was no more persecution, no more exclusion of missionaries or other foreigners from the island, and no more wars for slaughter or for slaves. All religions were tolerated, but idol· atry was not overthrown, and the idol keepers bided their time. Radama II. was a young man of rather weak intellect, though in early lifE' of many good impulses. He had associated, before his mother's death,. with many of the native Chrilltians, and at one time professed conversion, but never united with any of the churches. After his accession to the throne he formed an intimacy with some French adventurers, who used him for their profit, and his own and the nation's injUl'y; and having, very unwisely, abolished all duties on exports and imports, the vile rum from the Mauritius was brought into Madagascar in immense quantities, and he became so addicted to its use as to be almost constantly intoxicated. Drunkenness, became for the first time a prevalent vice with the Malagasy, especially with the coast tl'ibes. The cessation of persecution, and the hopes which were entertained of the young king's good conduct, brought the missionaries back to Madaga.sear,and the Christians who had been scattered everywhere in the island gather.ed again in Imerina, and very many of them in the capital, Antananarivo; the schools and churches were opened again, and the city, so long dellOlate, re– sumed its activities, and again became populous. By 1863 the missionaries found that in Imerina (the land, of the Hovas) there were 37,000 communicants inthe churches, 150,000 professedadhel'eBts to Christianity, and more than 50,000 children ready to enter the school;' So mightily had the Word of God prevailed, even under the instrumentality of native preachers and teachers, for, during at least twenty-fiveyea'1's, them' had been no European missionaries there. They had only the New Testa.- ment in thtlir own language, and the translation of this was not perfect; of course their knowledge of the doctrines of Ohristianity was defective; but they had passed through the fires of persecution, and they knew that they loved Jesus Christ, as their Saviour and Redeemer, and were ready to die for Him. There seemed for a little time to be a probability of the return of persecution. The king, while strongly addicted to his cups, was under evil influences. A French adventurer named Lambert had persuaded him to give him a grant of lands to the amount of nearly one-third of the arable land on the island, and this without any consideration; the idol keepers and idolators had formed an association, naming themseives the M6namaso, "the king's friends," and they were constantly advising him to issue decrees which would injure or destroy the Christians. He was for a time restrained by his Prime Minister, who favored Christianity; but finally Radamall. W8.1I. induced by the Menamaso to issue a decree that whenever individuals orvillages had a quarl'el with each other, they might go out and fight it out, and if any of them were killed the survivors ShOUld not be punished. The people understood that this meant a civil war of extermination against the Christians; and gl'eat efforts were made to induce the king to revoke this decree, but he stubbornly refused to do so, and ad4e<l otherpersec1.ting edicts,
JUNE
The Menama80 were exiled, hut the king, in his sober moments, still ad. hered to his decree, and when drunk.was very violent. A revolution ensued and the Government officials, after using every effort to control him, finaU; put him to death May 12, 1863, and proclaimed his widow. Rabodo, queen under the title of Rosaherina. It was announced to the people that Radama II. had taken his own life, because his friends the Menamaso had been ban- ished. The new government under Queen Rasoherina was to be one in which the Queen. the nobles and the heads of the people were to unite in making the laws; and decrees were at once premulgated as absolute by the new govern- ment; that the sovereign should not drink spirituous liquors; that the friend- ship with foreigners should be maintained; that there should be perfect lib. erty of conscience, and freedom of religious worship to all, natives and for. eigners, Christians and idol worshipers; that the ordeal of the tangena should be abolished, and that the death penalty should be inflicted only for the greatest crimes, and solely by thE' consent of the sovereign and her coun- cil. The people promised obedience to these decrees, and the Queen took the oath of allegiance to them. Rasoherina was not a ChristIan but she proved a good sovereign. Her reign was a stormy one, from the repeated revolts of the coast tribes who had been attached to Radama II., and would not believe that he was dead; from the imperiousness and intemperance of her Prime Minister, whom she was eventually obliged to banish, and from the intrigues of the French. who had made great demands, based on the grants made by the late king to the adventurer Lambert. Finding that she would not concede the lands, the French demanded through their Consul and Admiral an indemnity of $180,000 which she was eventually obliged to .pay in order to obtain the return of the concession. The mission work meanwhile was going forward; new missionaries from the Friends, the Nor- wegian Lutherans, the Church Missionary Society, and eventually the So- ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel came in. Treaties were made with Great Britain and the United States. The Queen was in failing health, and seemed inclined to go back to idol worship, which indeed she had never fully abandoned. On the 1st of April, 1868, Queen Rasoherina died at her palace in the capital, and the next day the Prime Minister and Council chose Ra- . moma, a niece of the cruel Queen Ranavalona I., as her successor, with the title of Ranavalona II. Her reign was signalized by the adoption of a lib- eral constitution fpundeu upon the recognition of Christianity as the ruling power in the state, but not to be administered in a persecuting spirit. At the funeral of Rasohel'ina, and the proclamation of Ranavalona II., no idols were brought forward, nor was idol-worship mentioned in any treaty or state paper. The idol-keepers realized that their power was gone, and fell back into obscurity. On the 3rd of September, 1868, the Queen was crowned at the palace of Andohalo in the presence of a vast concourse of people. A copy of the Malagasy Scriptures, so far as tt'anslated, elegantly bound, was placed conspicuously at her side, and the royal canopy was emblazoned with ScrIpture texts. The coronation oath was administered to her with her hand on the sacred volume. Early in October, the Queen, her Prime Min. ister, Rainilaiarivony, and the household of the palace, met togethel' in Christian worship. On the 19th of February, 1869, the Queen, follOWing the exa.mple of her predecessor, was married to her Prime Minister, a man of remarkable ability, and of pure and noble character. In Madagascar, as in England, the Prime Minister is the real ruler of the country; and in this case he has retained his power through two administrations, and has car- ried it through gr~t qifficulties alld da,ngers. Oil the 21st 9f February,
MADAGASCAR
two days later, the Queen and her husband were baptized by Andria.mbelo," one of the native pastors, and united with one of the mission -church~. It was the custom in Madagascar that the new sovereign soon after his or her coronation should erect a new building, usually a palace, on the palace- grounds: Ranavalona II. decided to build a Christian church there of the beautiful Malagasy marble. Her next· step was the public burning of all the national idols, September 8,1869, and proclamation asking all her peo- ple to follow her example, and henceforth to worship the only living ,and true God. Her request was complied with by all the people of Imerina, though some of the unconverted natives looked forward with terror to the coming harvest, when they thought their idol gods would revenge them- selves on them by a famine, but the ensuing han-est was more bountiful than any which had previously been known, and their fears were allayed.
IV. THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL UNDER RANAVALONA II. We have already spoken of the circumstances attending the accession and coronation of Queen Ranavalona II. ;.of her courageous and frank avowal of her determination that Christianity should be the ruling and controlling influence in the state; of her burning all the national idols, and her virtual command that the people should also give their idols, ancestral statues and fetwhes to the fiames, and the instant response followed by a universal demand for teachers of the new religion. We have also spoken of the public baptism of the Queen and the Prime Minister, and of the erection of a beautiful marble church in the palace grounds by the Queen. There have been instances iii European history within the past three centuries where a ruler has felt it a duty, from motives of state policy, to lead in the change from Romanism to Protestantism, a change almost as great as that made in Madagascar by Queen Ranavalona II. ; but, in the English case of Queen Elizabeth, the sovereign did not deem it necessary that her own life should be an example of genuine piety and devotion to her people. The Queen of Madagascar having avowed herself a Christian, felt that it was her duty and her privilege to live thenceforth a holy, Christian life; and we doubt if in all the annals of history since the commencement of the Christian era, there can be found a record of a purer and more saintly life on the part of a professedly Christ.ian ruler. She carried this devotion into aU the relations of life. Her only questions in regard to any proposed action seflmed to be: Will this glorify God, and will it be for the good of my people? For fifteen years she was spared to bless her people and make them a civilized and Christian nation. How she learned so much of statemanship and effective administration is a gre;;:t marvel; but we believe that she sought and found wisdom from above. Let us enumerate a few of her wise measures and deeds: Whatever she could do to facilitate the work of the missionaries she did promptly and well; she established also large numbet's of government schools in all of which Christianity was tal~ght; and these not only among the Hovas but .among the heathen tribes so far as was possible; she gave equal rights to all her subjects in their religiOUS worship, Catholics as well as Protestants; and when the French Jesuits who, under her liberal administration, had planted missions and established schools, began to intrigue against the schools, churches and missions of the London Missionary Society, and the Friends Mission, whom they called canting Methodists, and finally went" so far as to demand that the whole religious instruction of the nation should be gIven up to Romish . priests, she rebuked them with firmness, and assured them that while there should be perfect freedom ~f wOl'ship and religious belief, no sect or denomination would be allowed to interfere or plot against any other. Her people begged her to expel these Jesuits, who had always been the enemies of the nation, and were really only French spies; but she refused, preferring to subdue them with kindness. She enforced the observance of the Sabbath; caused a code of laws to be prepared based on the best codes of England and America, by which crime should be ('ffectively punished, strict morality promoted, the rights and duties of the family should be maintained, and the strictest purity enforced; emancipated all the the national slaves, and by repeated edicts greatly diminished slavery among her people. She established a government printing house where not only the laws, but the Scriptures and the text books for the schools should be printed; introduced the Tonic Sol-fa system in all the schools, and printed both music and hymns in Malagasy, for religious worship as well as for the use of the schools. She greatly multiplied copies of the Scriptures, which, in 1869, had first been published complete in the Malagasy language. Finding a necessity for more thorough supervision of the various departments of the government, she selected, with the aid and counsel of the Prime Minister, a cabinet of ten of the most competent men in the kingdom to take charge of the agricultural, educational, military, commercial, manufacturing, land and other interests of the country, each of whom was directly responsible to the Prime Minister and herself. When the wild tribes made hostile raids, and it was necessary to suppress them by force, she instructed the military officers to avoid bloodshed, and to show them that their Queen was ready to redress their wrongs if they would appeal to her. The levying of taxes, which in all oriental nations is accompanied by frauds and oppression, was by her wise management made so light a burden that none of her people were distressed by it. In accordance with the immemorial practice of the Kings of Imerina and her immediate predecessors, the sale of lands in fee simple to foreigners, and of mining lands to anyone, was prohibited. Commerce with other nations was encouraged. Treaties of commerce were concluded with France, England, Germany, Italy and the United States, and their provisions carefully observed.* Yet this just and righteous queen was to be suhjected to great and severe trials, through the greed and malice of the French Government, and the bitter hatred and bigotry of the Jesuits, who were acting in the double role of missionaries and spies at Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. For nearly sixty years the French had cast longing eyes on Madagascar. More than once they had attempted to take possession of portions of it by force, but had been thwarted. They desired the glory of foreign conquest, and *This great advance in civilization, in good government, in morality and educational pro- gress, rests not solely on the testimony of the missionaries. who might be regarded as prejudiced witnes!es. In March, 1881, Admiral Sir W. Gore-Jones, at the direction of Earl Granville, British Foreign Secretary, visited Madagascar. taking with him Mr. Pakenham the British Consul, and spent three-a.nd-a-half months in a careful examlna.tion of the condition of the people and the administration of the Queen. Theil' report gives the highest commendation of the Queen, whose reign they declared" the greatest and most beneficial that Ma.da.gascar ha.d ever seen." .. The Hova people," said the Admiral… are now in that condition that they are ready to burst into perfect civilization; large num_ bers of the younger men are highly educated; the missionary schools are fuil of children. and thus the educaotionof the future generation is assured. Under the Queen's administration the Hovas had become a Christia.n people, the children were being educated 1D the Christian faith; the trial by poison had been abolished; more than 150,000 Mozambique slaves had been emancipated; an admirable code or laws, criminal and civil, had been ena.1lted and enforced; an army of 40,000 trO<!ps had been organized, armed a.nd drilled•• This testimolQ' is conclusive.
they wanted possessions in the East and especially 1D the Indian Oeean. After the disastrous Franco-German War, they turned their attention afreshto conquests in the East, attempting most unwarrantably the capture of Tonquin, and seeking to find some pretext for seizing Madagascar. The Jesuit missionaries, furious at theirfailure to compel the Queen to relinquish to them the entire religious control of the island, and to expel at their bidding the Protestant missionaries, were also zealously seeking some pI'etext on which the French Government might seize the island and thus give it upto their control. They represented to the French Government that the Queen, though amiable, was very weak; that there was no military force there worthy of the name; and thata very slight pretext would be sufficient to provoke a conflict; when, if bullied, she would at once succumb to their gemands. Tkiere was a French adventurer there, by the name of Laborde, who had obtained some grants of lands for agricultural purposes without consideration from the weak and intemperate Radama II., and some commercial privileges from Queen Rasoherina, the predecessor of Ranavalona II. ; he now demanded the title to these lands in fee simple, which the Queen refused, as contrary to the laws. He then declared that this was a violation of the treaty of 1868 with France (which was false), and appealed to the French Government to enforce the treaty. The Queen endeavored to pacify him, and to pay him for the concession which he had received from Radama II., but his death occurring soon after, his son and heir, M. Edward Laborde, refused to be satisfied, under the advice of the French Consul. The French had long had a trading station at the island of Nosy-be, on the northwest coast of Madagascar, and had gradually taken possession of the whole of that island. The northwestern coast of the main island, as well as most 01 the western and southwestern coast was occupied by the SakaHtva, a ferocious heathen tribe of large stature and nomadic habits, whose hostility to the Hovas was easily aroused, because they had destroyed their idols, and established a nominal Christianity throughout the island. The French sent their emissaries into this tribe, fomented their emnity to the Queen, made a treaty with them, giving them a claim to a considerable tract, nearly one-third of the island, to which this tribe had no title, and promised, that in case of a war with the Hovas they should be their allies and tht'y would provide for them. These were the only pretexts they had for the demands they now proceeded to make on the Queen; but having assembled a squadron of French ships of war in the harbor of Tamatave, and having taken counsel with the French Consul, the son and heir of the adventurer Laborde, and the Chief of the Jesuit missionaries, communications were made to the Prime Minister and the Queen; but the demands of the French Consul and the Admiral were so extravagant and unjust, and their representations so false, that no settlement was possible. Though the treaty of 1868 had expressly recog- nized the Queen as Queen of Madagascar, they persisted in addressing her as Queen of Imerina, or Queen of the Hovas, and when she refused to receive their communications as thus addressed, they changed their form to Queen Ranavalona II., and addressed insulting communications to the Prime Mmister; and the Commodore made public speeches at Tamatave, which were utterly unworthy the officer of any civilized government. After about six weeks of this fruitless discussion. the French Admiral and Consul drew up an ultimatum, dated June 1, 1883, requiring: 1. That the possesion of all .the island north of the 16th parallel should be guaranteed to them. 2. An indemnity of $200,000 for the claims of French citizens, includingtbe La.borde matter. 8. A revision of the treaty and a controlling voice in all matters
JtiNt
affecting the policy of the Hova Government. A categorical answer Was dema.nded within eight days from the date of the ultimatum under penalty af the immediate bombardment of Tamatave in case of delay.
The ultimatum was promptly rejected by the Queen, and the Prime Minister notified' the French Admiral of the fact. The longer presence of the French residents in Antananarivo having been rendered impossible by the action of the French Admiral, they were on the 29th of May ordered to depart after five days' notice. They protested, although the Hovas in Tamatave had been expelled by the French at one hour's notice. They had been for many months actively engaged as spies, and the French Government or any other European government would, under similar circumstances, have put them to death or placed them in close confinement, but the Malagasy Queen was too thoroughly imbued with Christian principl(> to do either; she sent them away laden with food, with bearers for theilfeeble ones, and transportation for their effects, and a military escort to accompany them to the French lines. They, obdurate and maligant to the last, complained to the French commander that they had been robbed by the Queen's orders, and demanded and eventually obtained a tenfold indemnity for their alleged losses from the Malagasy Government. Tamatave and the adjacent ports were bombarded, and the British Consul, Mr. Packenham, who had been a firm friend of the Queen, was ordered, when dying to leave Tamatave in 24 hours, but died on the 23d of June, 1883, before the time expired., The Queen, desirous by all righteous means to avert the calamity of war from her people, sent an embassy to France, England, Germany and the United States to plead her cause.
The Queen's health had been failing for some months, and the excitement and trouble probably hastened her end. She died July 13, 1883. Hel' death was as noble and befitting in its Christian manifestations as her lite had been. She declared that she died fully trusting in Jesus Christ as her Saviour. She charged her successor and her Prime lIIinister to remember that her kingdom was resting upon God, and that He would take care of it. They were to continue as before in all matters of religion. Not one foot of her land was ever to be ceded to the French. Having joined in the usual evening prayers, she closed her eyes in death, " calmly as for a night's re- pose; like flowers at set of sun."
V. TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS. Queen Ranavalona II. on her death bed named her niece, Razatindrahety, her successor, and asked that at her own death she might be buried quickly so that no interruption should happen to the preparation for resisting the French. She was buried on the 17th of July, 1tl83, her niece having been previously proclaimed as her successor, under the title of Ranavalona III., the Prime Minister, Rainilaiarivony, still continuing to guide the affairs of the kingdom. T~le position of the young Queen was a very trying one. She was a widow, tho::~h only twenty years old, had been very highly educated, and had given evidence of decided abilities and of being a sincere Christian. Her manners were gracious and courteous, but it was thought that she was rather proud and haughty and not quite so amiable as the late queen. She had an excel- lent and wise counselor in the Prime Minister, whom, according to the cus- tom of the country, she subsequently married, though he was about seventy years of age. But she succeeded the wisest, most judicious and most saintly queen who had ever occupied an Oriental throne, and at a time when her na- tion was at war with one of the most powerful nations of Europe. She
IU.DAGASCAR
could· rely upon the loyalty of her people, and wha.t was of far more consequence, she placed her dependence upon God, who had brought the na.tion .
thus far, and would not, she believed, leave them to perish. She declined to be crowned till the following November (1883) preferring first to make herself thoroughly familiar with her duties under the instruction of the Prime Minister. But no time was lost in this delay; the arming and drilling of the troops went on; arms of all sorts and Gatling and Gardner guns were imported from America; eminent military men, of English and American birth, were employed to instruct the troops in tactics, in fortification and in cavalry evolutions; all export of food and provisions was prohibited. The ambassadors sent by Ranavalona II. to Europe and America returned; their mission had been successful everywhere, except in France; there the Government had treated them roughly, and even refused them a hearing. But their mission in England, Germany and in the United States had raised up for them powerful advocates, especially among the Society of Friends, who were bringing such moral forces to bear upon the better disposed citizens of France as did lead to a change of feeling in that Republic.
On the 22d of November, 1883, the coronatioll of Queen Ranavalona III. took place. .From her palace at Andohalo, in the capital, she was borne in a beautiful palanquin to the" Sacred Stone," where all the sovereigns of Madagascar al'e crowned, and thence to the great plain of Mahamasina, where were assembled a half million of the Malagasy, all thoroughly loyal. The Queen made an eloquent and impressive speech, without notes, in which she avowed her dependence upon God, and her belief that as He had brought her to the kingdom at such a time as this He would protect her people and herself, if they worshiped Him in sincerity and truth; she reviewed the past, and her predecessor's glorious reign, expressed her intentions of ruling in the fear of God, and her determination of going forth to lead her people to battle for the right, if it should be necessary, and asked them to stand by her loyally. From all the vast concourse shouts of loyalty and devotion went up, and the people asked the Prime Minister to answer for them to the Queen. He did so in a speech of great eloquence, in which he pledged himself that his own body and the bodies of all that vast multituue should be her wall of defense against her and their foes.
The people went frantic with joy at this declaration, and when, bowing to the missionaries, he told the Queen that much of the recent progress of the nation was due to their teachings, the cheers of the people were renewed more loudly than before. The Queen then descended from the platform and entered a small carriage drawn by a white pony. The pony was taken from the shafts and the highest officers of the court drew the carriage through all the sixteen passageways or streets which divided this mighty host into sections that she might greet all her people and be greeted by them. No accident marred the joy of the day, and on her arrival at the palace she went immediately to the palace church, where a religious service of thanksgiving closed the eventful day.
Meantime the war went on languidly, but without result. The Admiral bombarded the smaller ports and trading places along the.. coast without warning, always to the loss of some subjects of other nations, and sometimes to the destruction of their lives and property. These raids only inspired both natives and foreigners with such hatred for the French as to make any permanent occupation of the country on their part impossible for· many years to come. The Hovas, selecting strong locations neal' the points occupied by the French, fortified them and compelled the French and their Sakala.va allies to keep .under the shelter of their own guns, and any attempts to work their way to the interior were sure to result in their being picked off by.the Hova sharpshooters. Meantime the coast fever struck down more than half the French troops, and from a force of from 2,500 to 6,000 troops, constantly reinforced, they never had fifty pel' cent. of effectives. The Admiral was constantly demanding more men and more money; yet he had nothing to show for it. The drain upon the French army and treasury was oecoming frightful, the more so as they were at the same time expending large sums on 'fonquin with an equally ignominious result. At length this and the strong remonstrances against this unjust war which the Friends had presently led to the overthrow of the French Cabinet, and M. Freycinet replaced M. Ferry as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. In the two years which preceded this change the conduct of the French admirals and Consul in Madagascar was brutal and offensive in the extreme. They bombarded and captured Mojanga and other ports on the northwest coast, often without notice, stirred up the Sakalava to undertake raids and murders on peaceful viliages in the interior, demanded neg'otiations with the Queen, but continued active hostilities while these were in progress; at each attempt at negotiation they grew more insolent, refusing to recognize the' Queen as sovereign of Madagascar, threatening to take possession of the whole island, and demanding now a protectorate, which would be a virtual cession of aU power to them, now a third of the island in fee simple, Ilext the expUlsion of aU Protestant missionaries from the country, and its delivery to the Jesuit priests, and always an increasing indemnity. To these demands the Queen opposed a firm but courteous refusal, offering, however, indemnity for their alleged losses if the other demands were withdrawn. Then the Admiral Miot and the Consul announced their intention of capturing Antananarivo, and dictating terms of peace from the Malagasy capital. This was absurd, and did not alarm the Queen or the Prime Ministel'. The capital was nearly 5,000 feet above the sea, and the ascent to it was precipitous, through a dense forest, and there were no roads in existence, or possible for the French. They made some demonstrations toward capturing the capital, but never succeeded in approaching within 25() miles of it by the route which they took. Had they been able to come within 100 miles they would have been met by a force of at least 20,000 well-trained Hova troops, occupying a strongly fortified position-the key of the route to the capital-and well provided with artillery, Gatling and Gardner guns and small arms, and thoroughly provisioned. There was no time when the French could have brought 1,200 troops of all arms, aside from their Sakalava allies, to this expedition, and the Sakalavas always fled when attacked by the Hovas. Feints were made of maldng this attempt, but Admiral Miot never really intended it. Meanwhile, in 1884 and 1885, the Admiral had attempted to carry the fortified camp of the Hovas at Manjakandianombana, about ten miles from Tamatave-which had threatened the French for two years. The Hovas had about 20,000 troops of all arms, and were well provided with artillery, arms and ammunition, and were commanded by General Willoughby. In both actions the French were defeated with heavy loss and compelled to retreat. They had about 1,500 white troops and a large number of their savage allies. The last expedition was commanded by Admiral Miot in person. Meantime the condition of the French was growing more critical every day. Sickness and small losses from skirmishes were rapidly reducing their numbers, so that less than one-half of their force was effective, and the French people were unwilling to furnish money or men for 1'0 unprofitable a conflict. M. Sailliens, one of the most eminent of their statesmen, who had himself visited Madagascar, had published a book on the subject, in which he told the French people plainly that this whole conflict had been brought on by the JesUIt priests, froUl hatred of the Protestant missionaries, and from the determination to control these Malagasy tribes; that it could never succeed, and if it could it would ruin the French nation; that the conquest of Madagascar would require twenty years' time, a billion of francs ($200,000,000), and the lives of 200,000 men, and even then they would not be safe from constant guerilla attacks; while they would have the satisfaction of knowing that they had sent back into barbarism a nation which gave a brighter promise of speedy civilization than any other on the face of the globe.
It was evident to the French Government that they must make peace; yet they were reluctant to own themselves beaten. On tile other hand, the Malagasy were growing stronger every day. Th'ey had suffered some losses, but they had made more gains. They had acquired much knowledge in militaryaffairs and statesmanship, and this, without the demoralization and wreck which war usually brings; notwithstanding the losses by battle and by sickness, their population was larger than when the war comme,nceu. Religious worship, under church organization, ,was constantly maintained in all the camps. In the two largest camps there were twenty regularly constituted churches in each, with their pastors, who were soldiers, and their families and schools were established in each camp, and the teaching went on regularly. Many natives among the soldiers were converted. Strict temperance was maintained, and Christian song resounded from all the camps.
Several times during 1884 and 1885 the Queen held kabarys, or mass-meetings, at which hundreds of thousands of her subjects assembled on the great plain near the capital, when she told them of the progress of the war, of her affection for them, and of her trust in God. Their loyalty to her and their affection for her gave her great encouragement and strength. At one of these mass-meetings she proposed that the Premier should voice the prayer of the nation that God would send them speedy deliverance. It was a grand scene! The venerable man, with bared head, gave voice to their petitions, his lips quivering with emotion ,at each sentence, while from these hundreds of thousands of earnest worshipers the responsive amens came up like the voice of many waters.
Obviously, the Malagasy, if they had had a firm, unflinching friend among the nations of Europe or America, were in a position to dictate terms of peace, and France would have accepted them. As it was, with a new and courteous envoy in place of the former brutal ones, France exacted hard' and unjust terms, though hel' own losses were very heavy. She had expended more than twenty-five million dollars, and had sacrificed at least 12,COO men and some of her best officers, and she gained only a bay and harbor in the poorest part of the island, a titular right to interfere in the foreign policy of the Queen, a right to lease lands for a long term of years, and two millions of dollars' indemnity for damages to her own and other citizens. But she was glad to withdraw at any price.
The Queen of Madagascar, being relieved from these burdens and trials, has returned to her more congenial task of endeavoring to elevate and bless her people. There was no falling back during the wal' in the number of churches, of communicants, anu of schools, and in the midst of great peril and of death, thousands found consolation in their faith in the ever-living Saviour. Queen Ranavalona TI. had established a branch of the Red Cross Association in Madagascar, and her successor continued it. It proved of great service to her own tl'oopsduringthe war, and not only the sick and wounded Malagasy, but their wounded enemies also received help and'healing from its nurses. At the close of the war it was found that the French, having used the Sakalava and exposed them at all points of dangel', and to the deadly coast fever as well as wounding and death, after promising to care forthem, had abandoned them to their enemies. Many of them had perished in their miserable huts, and hundreds were wasting away from fever and wounds, having no one. to care for them. The Queen interested herself personally in ministrations of mercy for them, and by her care and attention many of them were brought back to life and health, and from being the bitterest of enemies j:.o the Queen have now bl;'come her loyal and loving subjects.
As soon as peace was restored acti ve work was resumed in the establishment of new schools and missions among the border tribes. Twice the Governmeni found that there had been feeble efforts to restore idol worship and the poisonous ordeal of the tangena. These attempts were promptly put down and "the more excellent way " taught, of the worship of the one living and true God. The laws were enforced all over the island, and everywhere was the love of Christ proclaimed. God's richest blessings came down on this faithful work for Him; 1887 and 1888 have been, in a peculiar sense, veal'S of the right hand of the Most High. The accession of converts has been very large, and the people have been pressing into the kingdom of God in: great numbers. Of course, there is some danger of unworthy persons being admitted to the churches, now, as in apostolic days} for intemperance and lust are the prevailing vices of the heathen population; but the churches are, as a rule, very careful and prompt in their discipline, and temperance and purity are strictly required of all their members. Yet, unquestionably, the righteolls souls of the missionaries and native pastors are sorely tried, by the fearful prevalence of immorality, lyingand intemperance among their professed converts. In a country which, sixty or even fifty years ago, was as wholly given over to lust as Corinth was in the apostle's time, it is hardly to be expected that these sins sbould be wholly extermi- nated. The Queen and her officers are models of purity; but the influence of the French traders, officers and sailors is of the vilest character, in promot- mg concubinage and gross licentiousness, and the English, Italian and Amer- ican traders are not much better. The English Government is responsible for the prevalent intemperance, forcing, as they do, the vlle rum of the .Mauritius into the island, in spite of the strict prohibition of the Malagasy Government. The statistics of the churches and schools to July, 1888, are as follows: There are not more than 40 European missionaries in all, but there are over 1,000 ordained native pastors, about 5,000 native preachers, 1,300 schools, with 125,000 scholars; 150,000 church members, about 450,000 adherents, and at least 1,500,000 nominal Christians. The people are very quick to learn, and a larger proportion of them are more inteillgent, even in religious matters, than most of the common people in European coun- tries. With all its short-comings and faults, Mada&,ascar is the missionary miracle of the nineteenth century.
LAY MISSIONARIES IN CHIN
LAY MISSIONARIES IN CHINA.
BY B. C….TTERBURY, M.D., PEKING, MISSIONARY PRESB. BOARD.
THE object of this paper is to briefly emphasize the following: 1. Need of more Christian workers in China. 2. Advantages to be gained in employing a certain proportion of lay workers to supply this need. 3. These lay workers should be sent out by our various Missionary Boards. 4. On the missionary field they should conform in dress and modes of living as closely as possible to the habits of the Chinese. Before discussing these points, let two objections which are commonly urged by many against this whole subject of the employment of lay agencies by the church be stated. The first of the objections is, that the employment to any considerable extent by the church of lay agents necessarily means the lowering of the standard of an educated minister and lessening their influence. But this by no means follows. The Christian Church in its various branches represents a constituency of evel'y class of society and all grades of intelligence. So long as our congregations are composed of intellectual, cultivated people, they will demand an intellectual, cultivated minister, and the demand must be supplied. In China, as well as elsewhere, men of high attainments are needed to translate books, study the various systems of religion, and preach to converts adval}ced in Christian knowledge. Such should be sent out by our various Boards. But besides these there is room also for another class of laborers of different attainments and education. The employment of this latter will no more interfere with the functions of the former than do the track-layers and other workmen who follow the civil engineers disturb them in their duties, as they layout a railroad. The employment of the one leaves the other freer for his special line of work, and the need for engineers with their superior attainments is all the more sharply brought out by contrast with those who are engaged in other details of road-laying. The other objection to this subject is, that lay workers are often cranky, inefficient workmen, and It costs as much to employ them as it does so-called thoroughly educated clergymen. ThIS objection would have weight if it could b~ shown that there are no cranks 01' inefficient men among the graduates of our theological semina.ries. It is not proposed to send cut hap-hazard, to the missionary field, every pious man or woman who comes along merely because he or she wants to become a missionary. Candidates desiring appointment must present the same credentials as to fitness for the work as do other missionaries, with the exception of not having pursued a regular theological course. Those recommending these candidates for service must be sure of their experience in Christian work, of their knowledge of the Bible and acquaintance with Christian evidences. There are such earnest, Christian men and women" of sanctified common sense" who wish to be engaged in God's work. To say that such lay workers are necessarily cranky, difficult to control, and even if not educated up to the highest notch cannot do"honest, efficient work, shows a non-acquaintance with what many of our city missional'les, those connected with the Young Men's ChristIan Associations, members of the China Inland Mission, and many other prominent and honest Christian workers, are accomplishing. In the East, the names of Wells Williams, Dr. Hepworth, Peter Parker, are household words, yet they worked and translated for the church without having been in one of its theological seminaries. The argument that since it costs as much to support a lay worker as it Joes a clerical missionary, and hence the latter sbould always be chosen, should sometimes be turned around and stated thus: That since it costs as much to send out a. clerical, as a lay missionary, our Boards in their selection of agents should give preference to the latter. The church must understand that the employment of one class of men, ministers we call them, to the almost utter exclusion from Christian work of other classes has no sanction, either in the Bible or apostolic teachings. A theological education per se is no guarantee of success in Christian work; like wings to a flying fish, itoften changes what otherwise might be a good swimmer into a very poor flyer.
The first point alluded·to above is the necessity for more Christian laborers in China. By way of illuskation we present some statistics, copied from various sources, but accurate enough for practical purposes. Four hundred millions of people, 35,000 Protestant converts, and not all these giants by at1;y means either in spiritual power or Christian knowledge. This proportion can be better appreciated by supposing that every letter of our English Bible could stand for a Chinaman. It would take over 100 Bibles to represent the number of heathen, while the Epistle to the Romans would stand for the members of our various Protestant churches. At present in China there are laboring. say, about 300 ordained ministers, or one to considerably more than one million of inhabitants. In the United States this proportion is as one to every 800 people. In that country also there are over 1,000 counties representing districts more populous than some of our states where the gos- pel has never yet been heard. The whole Empire is practically open to mission~ry eifort, but the workers-where are they? We constantly hear that our theological seminaries do not graduate a sufficient number of capable men to supply even home demand. Under the present system of choosing its missionaries for work abroad, our Boards then must either depend on those who are needed here, or, on the principle" anything is good enough for the heathen," send out men who can be of no use at home. Why there is this dearth of those willing to enter our theological seminaries we do not discuss. The fact remains that many who are fitted to do good work for the church both at home and abroad do not take a theological course. Why should not our Missionary Boards, if they cannot seCUl'e a sufficient number of efficient clerical missionaries, send out a certain proportion of such as their agents to China and other fields.
The second point to be spoken of is that even if a sufficient number of theo- logical graduates were offering themselves for missionary work, there are some'advantages to be gained in certain Hnes of work in rather employing lay workers. In China those who are willing to listen to and believe in the gospel are not the intellectual or wise, although these are notto be neglected.
But it is the coolies, the farmers, the villagers, the small tl-adesmen, who form by far the greater part of our native congregations. To get hold of these not so much intellectuality is needed as an earnest, loving heart. To instruct and guide them, an acquaintance and sympathy with their daily life is more important than a knowledge of Greek or Hebrew. He who is will- ing to put on their dress, live in some such manner as they live, eat of theit'
food, and sitting on the same bench, is able to talk about what interests them, speaking simply of the folly of idolatry, and of the one true God, will win their hearts. To fit one for this simple work the ordinary theological training is no sine qui non, but perhaps a hindrance. A knowledge of how to deal with the lower classes comes from having bad personal contact with them, and here the layman oCten has the advantage over him who has passed sO many of his years in his study pouring over his books. . Another advantage also to be gained in sending out lay workers in China is that these are more likely to be free from theological bias and the powers of church traditions, and hence will probably work in greater harmony with ,those of other denominations. This is no slight consideration. The figure of the various sects being but different branches of the same army, butallengaged in fighting for the same cause, is a good one. But when the infantry begin to boast that they are better than the cavalry, or the cavalry assert that the artillery are not loyal to the King because they differ from themselves in drill and equipments, then the simile loses its force. In China there are those who tell their converts that their own churoh, the Greek Church, the Roman Catholic Church, are all right, but that the members of other Protestant bodies are all wrong. There are husbands immersed by close communionists who are not allowed to sit at the same communion table with their wives because immersed by others who believe in open communion, while the most powerful argument used against the formation of a union theological seminary was the fear lest the students would not be able to study Whedon's Commentaries. Of course, neither Chinese converts nor other sensible people understand why there should be these differences amongst those worshiping the same God, reading the same Bible, and expecting to go to the same heaven.
A union native church in Japan, China, and other heathen countries will become a possibility only when those who have the oversight of the bewildered flock are willing to consider all loving the Lord Jesus in sincerity as their brethren. The graduates of our theological seminaries are chiefly responsible for this keeping alive on missionary grounds the differences be- tween the various sects, and for this reason perhaps some should be confined to work in home lands where they can do less harm.
The willingness also of laymen to vary according to necessity the charac- ter of their religious meetings is another argumentin favor of their employment. To reach the masses in China demands. the same versatility and adaptability to circumstances as in New York City. A set order of service consisting of a certain number of prayers and hymns, with the ., unfolding" of a text into innumerable heads, all of which must be gone through with or God is not duly worshiped, will no more attract certain classes in that coun- try than here. Some there can fill our largest chapels, for those coming ex- pect to be interested with plenty of good gospel singing, with catching tunes and addresses. short and to the point, while others-well, vice versa.
The third point to be briefly touched upon is that our various Missionary Boards instead of sending out only those who have had a regular theological education, as is the custom now, should send a certain proportion of others who do not possess this qualification. Young men and women are offering themselves for missionary work. If suitable, why should not the church make use of them? The Y. M. C. A. movement is outside of and independent of the church, principally because in the church itself as at present run-to use a political phrase-by those controlling it, there is but little encouragement given to the lay worker to spend and be spent in its sel'vices. The diploma of some seminary seems necessary for anyone wishing to fill any position under its control. Is it not better to change somewhat this plan even if preconceived ideas have to be given up, and insist that the men and women nurtured as children in its bosom shall also be allowed to spend their maturer years in its service, instead of being compelled when wanting to be of use in the world to join outside agencies because unable or unwilling to take a certain prescribed course of preliminary education? The fourth point to which we have come is: If theselay workers should be employed by our various Missionary Boards they should, when on· the missionary field, be willing to adopt the native dress and live in native houses. In other words some of the methods employed by the now well- known China Inland Mission should be adopted by other societies as well.
At present in China the average salary of our missionaries, if married, is from $1,000 to $1,200 ; about two-thirds of this sum is pald to single men. Be- sides this there are other allowances made for ehildren, medical expenses, house rent, when necessary, all of which will increase this amount some- what. The average cost of a house built in the usual foreign style is about $3,000. It must be noted carefully that it is not said that these salaries are too much, or that the residences built for the missionaries are too large.
Christianity represents a following composed of the wealthiest in our country and the resources of the church are large. In the ports it looks well to see substantial buildings connected with missionary work, and, mingling with all classes of society, many missionaries are compelled to maintain more or less so-called "style" in their modes of living. But in the country villages and interior towns, where many of our converts live, workers from abroad can live more as do the native Christians themselves by adopting their style of dress and homes with certain modifications on half the above mentioned salary with a like reduction in the cost of mission premises. This statement can be corroborated by many actually Jiving in China under ttese conditions. In this mode of living a saving is effected along the whole line of household expenses, dress, servants, coal, furniture, while any sacrifice of some of the luxuries of life is more than compensated for in being able to say in the matter of self-denial to our native helpers and church members" come," instead of " go," getting nearer to the people and by putting a brake on the general tendency to unnecessary expenditures in living, so characteristic the world over, ward off much hostile crioticism.
To have $100 a year to spend on their family expenses would seem a large sum to the majority of our church members and native pastors. Surely, then, some of their Christian brothers from the west should be able to get along on several times this amount. We believe there are those willing to go out as missionaries under these'conditions, and if so our Boards should be willing to send them.
The objection that thus there would be two grades of salaries for men and women laboring in the same society has but little weIght. In the Methodist Church it is an understood thing that its younger men shall do pioneer work and receive less pay than do others living in the large towns of the country. In every society, or in any business firm, there are in- equalities of pay and duties. If thought best the difference thus saved iii salaries might be invested in some life insurance company to be paid to the missionary after a certain number of years of serVlce. In the matter of children also somewhat larger allowances to those who receive just their living expenses on the foreign field than to others in some cases should be granted, when these children have to be sent to the hOIl!eland for education. .
The ideas suggested in this paper that lay missionaries, as well as clerica.l, should be sent out by our Missionary Boards to China at least, and that these-with the idea of bridging over as much as possible the chasm which lies between the foreigner and the Chinamen-should adopt nati ve dress and native modes of life, is in harmony with the example of Christ lJ,nd the teachings of the New Testa-ment.
lSS9
Rev. Dr. Martin; President of the Imperial College,Pekin, thus writes oil .this subject: .. On the advisability of lay missionaries coming to China I hold strong views. The field is so vast, and the work called for so various, that it would be a fa,tal restriction to send out none but ordained miniHters. It would be like depriving an army of its non-commissiolJed officers• .. Of the class of lay laborers that appear to be required we may mention two or three. First, medical men, a class whose influence in China is steadily Il'rowing and whose mem- bers are for the most part unordained. Second, teachers-educational work in China has a great future. It would be a grand mistake for missIOnary societies to follow blindly the example of the apostles and limit their agents to the one work of preaching. Times have changed. and methods must be changed to Buit them. Third, artisans: the back- ward state of the arts in China opens a wide door for Christian enterprise in this depart- ment. Good men, possessed of mechanical skill in different lines, might benefit the Chinese and at the same time earn a support for themselves, bnt aiming chiefly at religious results it would be well for them to form part of a missionary organization rather than to act independently."
He thus answers the question: Should some of the principles of the China Inland Mission be adopted?
.. By all means. These prinCiples in general commend themselves as based on common sense and have acqnired the prestige that comes from experience. Native dress' and native honses are required in most places as an indispensable condition to the peaceful and effective occupation of the ground."
Rev. Dr. Blodgett also gives the weight of his experience and labors in China on the same subject. He writes: .. Are there men gifted with God's Spirit and consecration to Christ's service among the lay workers in the United States 1 Are there those whom God has approved, to whom He has given fruits of their labors? If so, and if they are desirous of preaching the gospel in China, let them come. There is a pressing need in North China for a class of laborers whO, leavinlr to others book making and extensive study of the Chinese classics, shall be both able and willing to go with native helpers into all the towns and villages, preaching the gospel. Snch men should wear the Chinese costume, eat the food of the natives,live in native houses, sleep upon their furnace beds. Undismayed by annoyances of all kinds, they should be able to follow up such service year after year for seven or eight months each year with patience and endurance. Would any lay workers or ordained pastors or any thoroughly educated men be ready to join such a band of workers on equal terms 1 If I mistake not some of our best educated young men, those of choice spirits and rare gifts, would rejoice to cast in their lot with such a band and, WesleyJike, 'evangelize China.'"
Dr. Blodgett goes on to give some sound practical advice as to just how he considers this plan of the use of lay agencies can best be carried out.
Rev. Mr. Beach of Tung Chow, also writes in the same way.
EMIN PASHA.
BY RET. LOUIS GROUT.
WHO is he? what is he? where is he? what is he there f01', or what is he doing? Few questions of a far-reaching character and interest are just now more common than the above concerning the Prussio-German doctor-friend of Gordon, Governor of Southern SO,udan, African explorer and benefactor, eminent linguist and lfaturalist-whose assumed name stands at the head of this article. Eduard Schneitzer, who took the Arab-Tur~ish name and title of Emin Pasha, for the sake of the help it might give him in his beneficent work in the Soudan, was born of Protestant parents in Oppeln, Prussian Silesia, March 28, 1840; began the study of medicine at Berlin in 1858, and graduated at the university of that city in 1864. Fond alike of travel and of natural history, he went that year to Turkey, crossed over into Asia Minor, remained there until 1873, then returned to Constantinople, where he soon mastered the Arabic and several kindred languages. In 1876 he entered the Egyptian service as a medical officer, wf1s sent to the Soudan, and eventually to General GGrdoIi.; and then, in 1878, after the Egyptian Government
£:MIN PABBA
had made Gordon Governor-General of all Soudan, it accepted the general's l·ecommendation and appointed Dr. Schneitzer to be his successor as Gov. ernor of the equatorial provinces in South Soudan. Here it was that he llloid aside all indications of his European origin and assumed the name of Emin and the title Bey, Effendi, or Pasha, that he might the more readily reach the people over whom he was set as rulel',.at the same time telling his friends that" a Turkish name would never change an honest German into a Turk."
The region over which Emin Pasha has been called to rule may be described in general terms as on the sources of the White Nile and of the Aruwhimi, a branch of the Congo. It is sometimes spoken of as the province (or provinces) of the great equatorial lakes, and sometimes as the eq)latorial pl'ovince of the Soudan. It lies between twenty-eight degrees and thirtyeight degrees east longitude, and extends from the equator to five degrees north latitude, includes at least a part of Bahr-el-Ghazel and Niam-Niam on the north and west, and has the Congo Free State, of which the King of the Belgians is nominal ruler, for its southern border. Its capital is Wadelai, situated just a little north of Lake .Albert Nyanza and about a thousand miles south of Khartoum. When Ismail, the Khedive of Egypt, formally announced an extension of his Soudan rule southward, so as to include the whole Nile basin up to the equatorial lakes, he issued a flrman to Sir Samuel Baker, giving him absolute control over the whole country south of Gondokoro. Then, in 1873, when Baker retired, General Gordon was sent to take his place. Both evidently did what they could to suppress the nefarious slave-hunting in which the .Arabs and others had been for a long time engaged, and were making just these provinces the great field of their operations. When Emin Pasha took Gordon's place he, too, gave himself with great zeal to this work, as also to every other good thing, and for a time with much success. But when the Arab slave-dealers and the Mahdi combined to recover their country from Egypt and the English, and well nigh succeeded, they began also to set Emin Pasha's rule at naught, and so revive the iniquitous business to which that rule was so stoutly opposed. No doubt both Baker and Gordon did, each in his turn, all it was possible for any man to do in their circumstances in such a field and with such a desperate o.Pposition as they had to contend with. Nor does Dr. Emin fall at all behind them in his zeal, his efforts, or his success. Great praise has been bestowed on them each and all. Great praise is their due. Few who have not had experience in such a work can ever know or appreciate the strength of the opposition they had to encounter. At present the great business of hunting, catching, transporting, and selling men as slaves is almost entirely in the hands of the Arabs. They believe in it. They delight in it. They have hosts of helpers in their employ. Great are the gains they make in it. Their religion approves it. Their Bible, the Koran, encourages it. All the Mo- 113,mmedan governments in Africa combine to sanction and aid the inhuman practice. And yet.much has been done-done by the men just named-to limit and suppress the abomination and to promote the weal of the people under their care.
Of Dr. Emin it is said: .. He found his province in a condition of chaos when he undertook the government. Disreputable officials had obtamed power and inftuence, the slave-trade was in tull force everywhere, innumerable cruelties and oppressions of the poor negroes were rife on every hand, no Industry or agriculture was encouraged, and the government showed an annual deficit of £3.9,000. In one short year Emin introduced a wonderful change. He put down corruption, banished oppression, and changed misery into prosperity. In four years he had expelled all the Arab slave-dealers; had replaced Egyptian soldiers by natives of his OWJ1 training; had turned the deficit into a profit of £8,000 a year; had introduced the cultiva.-
EMIN
,tion of cotton and indigo, colfee and rice; had constructed permanent roads, and est&b- , lished a regula.r mail between his several stations, a.nd introduced camels and oxen for ,tranSDort. Meantime he had won the love and confidence of all the tribes that lived in his territory."
Surely both great and blessed was the work done by Dr. Emin during those few first years of his reign; great, also and well-earned, has been the praise of it in all Christian lands. And yet, ifever the philanthropist; the Christian, or any other man should get the impression that any such benighted province is to be redeemed or put on a basis of sure, continued life and peace so quick, and without other agencies. no mistake could be greater. Least of all can any African province on which the rapacious eye of the slave-hunting Arab has been set be permanently recovered, save by a large admixture of those most earnest efforts which have their origin and efficiency in the truth and grace of the gospel-efforts the full force of which can never be brought to bear upon any most ignorant and degraded people in a day or a decade.
During Baker's foul' years' rule in the Upper Nile basin, he was said to have" given the cruel commerce of the Arab slave-dealers a severe blow." During Gordon's subsequent rule there he, too, was said to have" given the slave-trade a deadly blow." :And yet Emin is said to have found" the slave- trade in full force everywhere; .innumerable cruelties and oppressions of the poor negl'oes were rife on every hand." And now, after all he has done to "clear his territory of slave-dealers" and "banish oppression," some who have most freely accorded to him this well-deserved praise say: "The sad- dest news we have heard from Africa in many a day id that the work of this great and many-sided 'man is probably at an end, and that the people he so ably and heroically served are remitted again to barbarism and the slave- hunter." Nor will any who know the full meaning of the late uprising in the Soudan to throw off Anglo-Egyptian rule, or the meaning of recent mur- derous assaults on Christian missions in the great lake regions and on the east coast of the continent, n~ed be told that the slave-hunting spirit and power of the Arabs are bent on having permanent, unlimited sway in all Central Africa. To this end theyal'e steadily looking and working. And here it is we have the secret of Emin Pasha's long-enforced insulation and destitution-why nothing was heard from him for more than a year; why he was hedged about so long" at Wadelai making garments of cotton he had planted and spun, making shoes of ox-hides he had taught the people to tan, using honey for sugar,.hibiscus-seeds for coffee, making candles of wax, and soap of tallow mixed with ashes, living on a few vegetables and meat, waiting for Stanley, of whose coming he had heard.'; It was in Janual'Y, 1886, that Dr. Emm wrote of his having been prac- tically cut off from the civilized world for the last three years. Six months later he wrote asking for succor-not an armed force, but supplies, including ammunition for his own forces. Responding to this a.ppeal, the British Government fitted out a relief expedition in the early part of 1887, and ap- pointed Stanley to the charge of it. Toward the cost of this, which consisted of 'i00 men and ample supplies. the Egyptian Government contl'ibuted $50,- 000, and the British Geographical Society $5,000. Starting from Zanzibar, Stanley moved by steamers to and up the Congo to Stanley Falls, then re- turned to the Aruwhimi, on which, at Yambunga, he left a camp of men and supplies under Major Bartelott, and started on foot for Wadelai. While Stanley was makihg up his expedition at Zanzibar he chaneed to fall in with that arch slave-dealer, Tippu Tib, captured and subsidized him, thinking it better policy to buy up than fight one who had been for years the great ter- ror of the helpless tribes of Central AfriCa, and of both commercial alld mis-
VOLUNTEERS FOR FOREIGN
sionary settlements among them, as also one whose intrigues and. power over an army of slave-dealing Arabs had seemed to be well nigh unlimited.
Having taken this uncrowned king into his empioy, Stanley made him a.
kind of sultan, with headquarters at Stanley Falls, to be at once a paid ally of the Congo State, and especially a champion helper in putting down the terrible slave-traffic in Central Africa!
When Stanley started on his expedition he hoped to reach Wadelal in eight months, or by the middle of October, 1887. But his journey on foot from Yambunga was slow and difficult. About the middle of January, 1888, a little less than a year, it would seem that he met Emin at Wadelai, having with him 330 men and plenty of stores, all well, yet greatly exhausted, hav- ing been compelled to make a long detour to the northeast to avoid swamps and hostile tribes. And yet another year had expired before anything like authentic or definite intelligence had come to us from him. It was near the close of 1888 that he was reported as having been captured by the Arabs, but nothing was known of him. Indeed, it was only about the middle of last December that the House of Commons was discussing the question of send- ing an expedition for his relief. But on the 16th of January, 1889, the con- tents of a letter reached Brussels, written by Stanley to Tippu Tib, dated August 17, at Bonalya, twelve days' march from Stanley Falls, in which he says he left Emin May 28 at Wadelai, well and with abundant supplies, and that he would take the men and stores at Yambunga and start on his return to Emin in ten days, hoping Tippu Tib would join them, either in helping Emin strengthen his post or in efforts to make his way in safety to the coast. Whether this letter is genuine, and what may be the developments of a later date, are points of great interest on which all are anxiously wait- ing for definite intelligence.
Few are the examples of heroism, self-denial, and persistent devotion to a great beneficent work such as we here find in Emin Pasha. The narrative before us is clearest proof of his self-sacrificing interest in the redemption of Africa. from the terrible suffering and wrong to which for long ages she has been subject. To see" a single European standing by and defending a prov- ince 400 miles in extent from north to south by 700 from east to west, full of poor, helpless negroes, resolved to protect them from being victimized by Arab slavers, and to lend them a hand toward civilization and security"- what nobler, more inspiring sight does the age offer for us to study or ad- mire? His love for his work and his attachment to his people, and theirs to him, were beautifully indicated when he wrote, last year: "These natives have stuck bravely to me, and they deserve the best government and help that can be given them." Already in a previous letter had he signified his glorious purpose, when he said: "The work that Gordon paid for with his blood I will strive to carryon-if not with his energy and genius, still accord- ing to his intentions and in his spirit. . I shall remain with my peo- ple until I see that both their future and the future of this country are assured."
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS.
"THE MISSIONARY NET."
VOLUliTlIIEBB will be interested in a letter of Bishop Thoburn's, of India, given in the January number of The Ohurch at Home and Abroad. The Bishop is a man of wide experience, and thinks that less than ten per cent. of those caught by "the missionary net" are accepted by the Boards or persevere in their intention. Many are of unsuitable age. Others have" a quiver full of little arrows." Some are rejected because oC defective education and no habits of study. "A slipshod, superficial, Inaccurate graduate of a college will be beaten clear out of sight by the careful and alll)11'IIte country school-teacher who studies." Three.fourths are rejected for one of the above
18$9.] GENEItAL MISSIONARY
r8.asone. The average age of those that are left is about 27. Some of these are rejected bJ the physician for physical disability; others because their testimonials are not satisfactory. When. the number has been sifted down, perhaps from 100 to 5, some of tholle who are accepted may change their minds or find excuses for not going at once. The Bishop brings against yonng men the charge of not r('ally knowing their own minds. "Forewarned is forearmed"; many volnnteers will take the hint as to the conditions and requisites of final acceptance.
MR. WILDER'S WORK.
Mr. R. P. Wilder, traveling secretary of the Student Volunteer movement, has completed a snccessful tonr in the South and East. At Louisville, Ky., 13 men decided for foreign missions. At Mayville College, Tenn., six men and six women signed the volunteer pledge. At the East Tennesee College Conference Mr. Wilder met Mr. Mott, and the two worked together. The power of the Holy Ghost rested upon them in such measure that on Sunday there were 20 inquirers after Christ. At the earnest request of the authorities another day was spent there. Monday afternoon, at a meeting for cadets, 22 sought Christ. Four of the five captains are now Christians. On Monday night there were 15 inquirers. Five men decided for foreign missions. At Chapel Hill, N. C., five pledges were secnred and the sum of $187 was raised. At Hampden-Sidney, Va., 16 men signed the volunteer pledge. At the New England College Conference Mr. Wilder /lgain met Mr. Mott. Fourteen male volunteers were secured. At Amherst, $250 was raised among a small number of students. It is hoped to increase the sum to $700.
Mr. Wilder will spend April in Iowa and Nebraska; in May he will visit Kansas, Missouri and lIlinois. NOTES.
-The University of North Carolina will send a teacher to Japan. -At Bryn Mawr three college girls have volunteered for foreign missions. A representative will be seut a year from November. -Oberlin was visited by Mr. Wilder in March. Thirty-two volunteers enrolled aud between $300 and $400 were secured. -The Northfield Letter to volunteers is published. A copy will be sent to every volunteer. Extra copies may be had at three cents each. -A district convention of the Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance, held March 14th at Lancaster, Fa., was addressed by Dr. A. T. Pierson. -College Secretary J. R. Mott, Chairmau of the Executive Committee of the Student Volunteer Movement, has been doing efficient work in the South developing aud organizing the volunteer forces. -At a Missionary Conference in New York City $565 was raised by the ladies toward the current expenses of the Student Volunteer movement. The expenses for the year will be about $1,400. The Foreign Mission Committee of the King's Daughters will keep Messrs. Stoops, O'Brien and Smith in the field this summer recruiting volunteers.
-The student volunteers of North Carolina are planning an active campaign in that State. There are 15 volunteers in three colleges; they expect to raise the number to 50 before the year is out.
-Mr. W. H. Hannum, Correspondin/!: Secretary, has issued statistic blanks to be filled out by volunteers. The blank is accompanied by a letter stating briefiy the growth and organization of the movement, and pointing out the consequent need of a permanent and reliable record. Statistics are gathered under four heads: (1) Personal; name, address, age, etc. (2) As a volunteer; when decided, at what college, training in Christian work. (3) As a foreign missionary; when sent, by what Board, foreign address, present opinion as to the needs of the foreign field. (4) About others ; any points as to missionary interest, etc., that would not be likely to come to the attention of the Bxecutive Committee. The intention is to get and keep a list of volunteers carefully revised to date, and to have accurate information of the plans of each.
n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
I.-British and Foreign Bible Society. from heaven. It was impossible to go over the LORD BRASSEY recently made an whole field dealt with iu the reports, and he naturally looked at places which in the course eloquent address in England from of numerous voyages he had personally visited. The condition of those places would, he knew, which we abstract some items of in- be one of complete spiritual destitution but for the efforts which were put forth by that society. terest: In the dark continent he knew from personal experience there were great difiiculties in the THE total issue of the Scriptures since 1808 work of distributing the Scriptures. On the amounts to 116,459,000 volumes, and the in- West Coast there was a deadly climate which crease In the sale and distribution is one of carried away many of the noble Christian men steady progress. Such an enterprise must be who went forth to do the work of the Lord in costly, and It was gratifying to know that in that country; and on the East (ioast, in "ddl- 1Iugland it had beeu so nobly supported. The lilt of contributors included thousands who ~e !pven nu!1er the promptings which came ,tion to the d!1lleulties of climate, they had the Ing flgures, which show a sustained· Increase hostility of the Arabs, which mnst be met by a mixture of eourage and tact which was not often among the Mohammedan pupils, distrtbuted met with in fraU humanity. Even in Africa the work was making progress, and Mr. John- over every stage of edncation, and chiefly nostone, who was doing good service on board a mission steamer on Lake Nyassa, aaked them ticeable in the private schools, which were at- (or an increased supply of the Scriptnres in Arabic. In the reports there was an interesting tended by 240,47'~ pupils, as compared with IDS,- account of how the Bible was eagerly asked (or by the travelers in caravans, to read in the 415 pupils in 1886-7.- Our Engli8k Oorrespondlong rests in the mid·day and evening. In the ent. ' island of Mauritius, too, the circulation of the Scriptures was doing a great work. and became A Remarkable I1ocument. a valuable influence for the spread ofChristianity The following is an extract (tran'Jamongst the migratory coolie population. Re- lated) from a document addressed by ferring to India he said that it was satisfactory the Greek Patriarch of Constantinoto learn that the distribution by saJe of the ple to the BisRops under his jurisdic- Scriptures was the largest on record, and the tion, dated June 9, 1844.-G. W. reports from Madras and Bombay were ofa pro- WOOD, D.D. gressive character. They knew the seclusion in which the women of India lived, and the dlf- " And in the days of onr most holy predecesflculty there was in conveying to them the pre- sors, as well as in our own, the church has not cious trnths o( the Gospel. The society had failed to write and to command your Holiness done a splendid work in organizing the agency most carefully to see to it, that within your dioof mission women, who were enabled to carry ceSe there be neither bought nor sold, nor read the truths of the gospel to the heathen and Mo- by the Christians under your charge, anti-relighammedan women of India. There was not less ious, anti-government books, such as entirely than 300 native Christian women engaged in that corrupt the Christian people in their politics, most valuable and yet most d!1llcult work. their religion, and their morals. And we do not doubt that obedient to ecclesiastical authority. After alluding to the labors of the society in you will discharge this your eptscopal duty, and Ceylon, China, Japan and the Colonies, he re- watch most diligently that the Christians withmarked that if Christians had found God's iu your jurisdiction be not injured politically, 'Vord a comfort in the hour of trouble and sor- religiously, or morally. And especially influrow-if they had drawn from the Scriptures enced by the fact that the Old Testament has guidance beyond all expression precious, among recently (in the year 1840) been translated from many dilllcult tasks-if they had drawn precious the Hebrew, we would recall to the remembrance hopes for the life of the future, and felt gratefnl of your Holiness what the church has written at for the precious feast of which it had been their different times concerning this subject, comprivilege to partake freely, the promptings of manding you unchangeably to persevere in such !(1"atitude would impel them to do their utmost watchfulness, and take good heed that this Old to extend to others the blessings which had Testament, recently published, be neither sold, been so largely bestowed upon themselves. nor bought, nor read in your diocese, as not be- ing received by the church; nor any kind of II. India.-Educational Report, 1887-8. anti-religious, antt-government book. You are to prevent the Christians in your diocese from The total expenditure on education, which was' the sale, purchase, and reading of such corrupt 2,1)2,41,414 rupees in 1886-87, rose to 2,61,_ books that they may not be corrupted in their 111,280 rupees iu 1887-88. The percentage of politics, their religion, and their morals; and the total population of school'going age that you are by your counsels and instructions to actually attended school was 11.8, as compared conflrm them in their eivil and religious dnties, with 10.7 percent. the preceding year. On March that yon may please God, the Royal Govern- 31, 1887, 3, 343,544 pnpils were on the rolls of ment, and your holy Mother herself, the great the different 6chools to which the statistics re- church of Christ." late, wh.!le on the same date in 1888 the nnmber had risen to 3,460,844. The numbers attending Africa.-Slavery. A meeting was school in 1886-7 comprised 2,960,859 at public held last week in Exeter Hall, to and 872,685 in private institntions; and, in 1887-8, consider the slave traffic so far as 3,021,721 at pnbllc and 439,123 at private insti- it affects Africa. The audience intutions. There were 2,345,794 Hindns, as com- cluded many ministers of religion, pared with 2,303,812, in 188&-87; 804,485 Ma- military men, and ·politicians, who homedans as compared with 752,441; 23,160 listened with much interest to an ad- Europeans and Eurasians, as compared with 23, dress on this important subject by 185 ; 74,498 native Christians, as compared with Commander Cameron, R.N. 60,611; and 203,121 of other classes, including aborigines, as compared with 192,314. There The Archbishop of Canterbury presided will be lome surprise expressed at the foreso and delivered a. thoughtful opening speech. He rejoiced to find that English people are making up their mind!!! that all slavery
"1889.] GENERAL llUSSIONAltY
must come to an end. He would fain we Which the subject was treated in great de- bad been moved to this determination by tail. He maintained that under good and the principle that every kind of slavery is peaceful government slavery would disap- a degradation to him who slaves. and a pear.
worse d<'gradation to the man who makes The Bishop of London moved a resolution his fellow slave. rather than by the Intoler- urging tbe British Government, either able evils which"lie behind the system. and alone or in association with other powers, have now assumed so gross a character to consider the possibility of devising meas- that lihe human mind revolts at the very ures calculated to d'iminish aud suppress thoughtof them. Whole tracts of Africa the evil, and. moreover. to use all its influ- are. he remarked. returning to the silent ence to secure the maintenance of the Zam- void which preceded the creation of man besi as an open highway. This was second- on the earth. and we may well ask what is ed by the Dean of Westminster. and carried at the root of the matter. There ought to with acclamation. A healthy public opin- be a power of resistance amongst the peo- ion on this subject in GreatBritain is great- ple. but we see that among the African ly needed at the present time. and it such tribes there is. unfortunately. nothing that meetings. with really warm-hearted as well deserves the name of community. no form as fully informed speakers. could be ar- of national life. We find. however. that the ranged throughout the country, much good African people form communities round must result.-The Ohristian (London).
about Englishmen. and learn from them -Details of Mr. Stanley's journey for the re- many things. Therefore. continued the lief of Emin Pssha have at last been made pub· Archbishop. it is beginning to dawn upon lie. The letters, received in London, cover the us that the way to stop slavery is to guide period between the departure of the expedition these great nations to profitable labor by from Yambunga, Jnne 28.1887, and the returu what may be called" industrial missions." of Mr. Stanley to Bonalya, August 17,1888, for We either possess or have claims to large the reserves left under Major Barttelot. Writ- tracts of country in East Africa. and it be. ten at the same time with that sent to TippoQ hooves us to consider why God has given us Tib, published last December, they were appar.
power Over them. Whatever we do in the ently held back lest the harrowing details O!
matter we should do as Christians. and privation snd failnre should deter the wily .Ara then we shall have God's blessing. from sending reinforcements. The expedltio, Commander Cameron dealt at length With started in June, 1887, with 389 officers and men, the horrors of slavery. and the pressing and with a reserve force nnmbering 257 lel need for tbe abolition of the system. In under charge of Major Barttelot, and after al.
Central Africa. he said, whole nations. mil- most incredible hardships, reached the Albert lions of people. bave been swept away, and Nyanza in December. Fighting' began with the the iniquity of slavery is increasing. Le- llrst day's march, and continued with almost all gitimate trade is a valuable ally in efforts the tribes along the ronte, while dreary marches to stop slavery. but it· cannot flourish through interminable forests, desertion, stsrva- alongside of the fearful traffic. The speak- tion and disease, rapidly decimated the colnmn.
er exhibited large branches of trees. called The famished men sold their rilles and clothing .. slave forks," Which are bound to tbe tor a few ears of corn, deserted with their am· necks of slaves. The victims of this wicked munition. and became at last so demoralized bondage have no fear of death. but rather that resort to the death penalty became abso- desir~ it, for something worse than death lutely imperative. To crown the ghastly record, awaits them after enduring the awful ago- when the lake and plenty were reached, hos- nies while traveling. Commander Camer- tile tribes blocked the way and cut oil' com- on claimed that it is the duty of Britain to mnnication with Emin, and in the lack of am- say to those nations who dabble in slavery. munition and food, compelled s retreat to the .. You shall not do this thing." If we show highlands. Four months were spent in collect- ourselves perfectly clean in this respect. ing the scattered aud enfeebled forces left in the our influence will be very great. He also rear, aQ.d In the recovery of Mr. Stanley from claimed that w" have an indefeasible right Sickness, and in April an advance guard re- to the great lakes of Africa. In conclusion. tnrned to the lake and met Emln. who had he urged the desirability of conciliatory come from Wadelai in a steamer in search of intervention in African all'airs for the good them. A halt was made of several weeks, Mr.
of the people. with a police force to main- Stauley endeavoring by many argnments to in- tain order and prevent slave.hunting and dnce the Austrian to leave his post and return fighting. He asked his bearers to pray to under his escort to the Congo. As the latter God for the success of well-devised pro- had. however, some 10,000 people under his posa's to meet the necessities of the case. care. including a large number of women and captain Hore. of the London Missionary children, he naturally hesitated to aval! himself Society. for twelve years resident at Lake of the offer, not the less when informed of the TIIoll,anyika.. followed with an addrvis. in disheartening experience of the relievin~ PutT.
'446 GENEIUl.. MISSIONARY INTlilLLIGENCE
Instead, he furnished Mr. Stanley with an es- sac- of the whole expedition would have been cort oflOl men to enable him to return over his route, relieve his abaudoued stations, aud add rificed for want of water had it not been for the to his forces the reserves left under Barttelot at timely intervention of a tribe ofwanderlng Bush- Bonalya. The arrival' of the explorer at the men, who dug pits to a depth of six or seven latter poiut in August last, his appeal to Tippoo feet, and, sinking hollow reeds still further Tib' for reinforcements, aud his return, pre- in the sand, sucked up a supply of water. After sumably by a newaud shorter route, to Emin, sending home the wagon, Mr. Arnot and twenty were aunounced in the letters made public iu porters started ont on foot, carrying with them December. Since then his movements have calico and beads for trading purposes, and a been unknown, though dispatches last week supply of food and water. They traveled for state, ou the authority of Arab traders, that four days before they came to any ponds, and both explorers were on their way to Zanzibar, then, to their horror, they found that some ele- accompanied by some 8,000 people, and with phants had exhausted them. With the greatest a rich store of ivory. However this may be, difllcnlty he prevented his porters from throw- the details of Mr. Stanley's march to the Nyanza ing down their bundles aud at once starting oft' leave no doubt that the expedition has been the for the Chobi River, sixty miles distant. Ulti- most disastrons in which he has ever engaged, mately he induced the men to look for water, neither his jonrney to Tangauyika nor his voy- but withont snccess, until nightfall,when one age down the Cougo having compared in suf- of his servants returned bringing with him a sup- fering and loss with this last fearful passage. ply which had been furnished by a tribe of Of the 389 men with whom he started only 199 Bushmen from a hidden deposit in the desert. were lef.in Au,:ust last, while of the 257 re- PaSSing the trading station of Pandematenka serves left at Boualya, he found but 61 avail- the Chobi was reached. After replenishing his able for service. The inviucible courage and supply of food, Mr. Arnot returned on his path unparalleled fortitude of a man who will adhere to the trading station, 70 miles back. On to his purpose under such discouragements his way to the river again he was struck down cannot fail to add a new luster to his marvelous for the first time with African fever. His car- career. riers had gone on in advance, and he was only , Central Africa.-A missIonary's jour- accompanied by two boys, one who was about ney. Mr. Arnot, missionary and traveler, attend- as sick as' he was, and the other only thirteen ed a pnblic meeting in the Christian Institute re- years of age. Golug back to Pandematenka, a cently, and ga'e an account of his journeyings in distance of 30 miles, this lad brought aid. Central Africa. Addressing a crowded audience, Humanly speaking, he saved his life. As it WIlS, he said he began his travels on the East Coast, he had been lying for two and a half days iu the and going through the colony of Natal, the desert without food and water. After many _ Orange Free State, and the Transvaal, struck a weeks' illness be joined the King's boats on the northwesterly course, emerging on the west Zambezi. G.lme was scarce, and the expedi- coast of the continent at BengueIla. Reports tion were compelled to replenish their larder by which had been received in this country from shooting at the crocodiles as they came to the the missionaries in Africa had shown that their surface of the river with food from their hidden enterprises had been very disastrous, the reason stores of half-pntrid meat, and causing them to being that they had been chiefly connected with drop what they had in their mouths. After the lowlying fever-breeding coast districts. He many hardships Mr. Arnot reached the popu_ had early read in Livingstone's travels that he lous empire of King Maidi, an enlighhmed mon- believed in the existence of a great central arch, at whose hands great kindness was ex- water-shed, and he thought that surely-al- perienced. His country, it was explainelI, was though he had no great government at his back divided into districts, over each of which there to support him, and no science to help him in was placed a chief, who in turn was responsible traversing his way-he might be able to push to one of the King's 500 wives. In concluding past the waterways, and get to the water-sheds Mr. Arnot pleaded for missionaries to be dis- and mountainous parts of the country. Before patched to Africa; not young men who were any missionary could deliver his message to the sent from hol.i::~ with the object of relieving the natives he required to be three, four, or five platforms here, but tried and reliable misslon- years In the land to learn the language, there- aries.-Gtasqow Herald. fore it was oftme utmost importance to find a healthy place where this initial di1llcnlty could -Missionary interests have be·come very be overcome. Through the kindness of a native extensive in East Africa. The Church Mis- chief; Mr. Arnot said he had had placed at his sionary Society, and the Universities Mis- service a traveling wagon with servants and a sion, of the Church of England, the Estab- team of twenty oxen. Starting in the dry sea- lished and the Free Church of Scotland, the son from Shoshong, he traveled by this London Missionary Society, the United meaus until he got into a region where the tBB Methodist Free Churches and the Church ~e fly was so prevalent that the cattle and wag- of Rome, all have missions on the coast or on had to be sent back. Before this severe in the interior. The Church Missionary hardships had been encountered, aud the lives Society has two distinct lines of missions– one with its basis at Mombasa, in the Eng- lish sphere of influence, with eil:'ht stations, some of which are on or,near the coast and -A statement Is made In a CinCinnati some in the interior. On.. is in the neigh- paper which seems wildly exaggerated: that borhood of Mount Kilimanjaro. The second 34 missionary societies are at work In line of stations is that which stretches Africa and its 200,000,000 souls are all pracUcfrom Zanzibar to Uganda. There are nine aily within reach Of Ohristian miBBion./ The stations in this line, beginning with Ham.. revolution in Uganda, leading to the eJtpplboia and Mpwapwa, nearly due west from sion of missionaries, seems like a very fatal Zanzibar,aud including Usambiro. Msalala blow to missions and even civilization In and Nasa, south of the Victoria Nyanza, Africa. But we wait to see God work good and Rubaga, in Uganda, a t the north of the out of seeming evil. great lake. The Universities Mission has twelve stations-one at Zanzibar, four in -" I don't know under Heaven, unless it the Usambara country north of Zanzibar, be in China," said Dr. Guinness, "a more four onlor near the River Rovuma. and hopeful mission than that Congo field, and three on the east shore of Lake Nyassa. here it is for you. You have now waterway The two Scottish Churches have-the Free to the whole of it. It is healthy, notwith- Church five stations on Lake Nyassa. the standing all statements to the contrary. The Established Church one on Lake Shirwa, at interior is healthy beca.use it is high land, the south of Lake Nyassa. The route to well watered, richly wooded, moderate in tbis region s by the Zambezi and Shire its climate, and rich in popnlation. The Rivers. The London i:'lociety goes further tronble with missionaries has been that west than any of the other societies and they stick to the coast line, which is malarplants two stations on Lake Tanganyika, ious. Instead of keeping up in the ordinary and one at Urambo in the Unyamwezi coun- way, in red-tape style a particular station try, south of the Victoria Nyanza and near with a few missionaries, you want to make the stlLtions of the Church Missionary So- an advance into this great interior parish. ciety. The route was formerly from Zanzi- It is no use for your people in this country bar through Mpwapwa to Ujijl; now there to say: •This is the colored men's work, is another route by the Zamhesi aud Shire, let them do it.' They are suited to be the Lake Nyassa aud a road thence to the south- explorers and controllers of such moveern end of Lake Tanganyika. The United ments. White men must be the leaders and Methodist Free Churches have two missions lay the foundation, when the colored men in the Mombasa region,and one in Gallaland. will be the helpers. The Soudan is the true Three German Protestant societies have home of the negro, a vaster region than the five stations-three in Gallaland, one in Congo, wh~ch is 4,000 miles across, with its Zanzibar and one in Dar-es-Salem, where twelve nations, and not a mission station. one of the massacres took place. It is the It is the last region of any magnitude un- Berlin Society which maintains the last penetrated by the gospel." two stations. -Exciting events in the Soudan. It will These are all the Protestant missions be- be remembered that the Madhi of the Soutween Wito and the Rovuma River; but dan, who captured Khartoum and murdered there are German and French Roman Cath- Gen. Gordon and his men, died of small-pox olic stations. There are three French sta- not so very long ago. His successor in tions on or near Lake Victoria, the most power, whose forces were recently defeated h.nportant of Which is the one in Uganda, by the Rritish at Suakim, is not a real Mahunder the control of Plire Lourdel ; two on di. Hehas assumed that tit,je, while his real Lake Tanganyika; one at Bagamoyo. near title is simply Khalif of Khartoum. What Zanzibar. and one or two others. The Jesu- seem t,o be entirely trustworthy advices, its have also a few stations, and the Ger- now inform us that this present powerful man Catholics have one at Dar-es-Salem. ruler has been denonnced as a false Madhi, and ordered to abdicate his authority and In all, there are thirteen missions-six get out of the Soudan by the Sheik of the British, four German, and three French. Senoussi, whose headquarters are in the One society, the Church Missionary, alone large oasis of Faraja, on the western border has spent $500,000 in the last 30 years in of Egypt and south of Barka, and whosefol- East Africa.-Independent. lowers comprise one of the largest religious followings in the world. It is the purpose -The Portuguese mails now bring the of this sheik to unite all the orthodox Mos- Congo's month within 15 days of Enrope. lem orders in one theocratic body, capable A letter in the London Telegraph describes of defying all secular anthority. It is prob- Monanga as the ferocious ruler of 10,000,000 able that more than 1,500,000 fierce Moslems people, with 1,500 wives, whom, for pnre are already prepared to follow wherever he malice, he kills off at the rate of five daily. may choose to lead, and that he now has a He is the large st slave-dealer in Africa, an- force sufficientlynumerous and fanatical to nually furnishing 150,000 victims, to be sold enable him to execute the order already in Asiatic Tnrkey. He is said to have made namE'd, and drive the Khalif of Kh&rtoum his courtiers take oath to exterminate the from the Soudan. When the conftict comes, whites who mi&"ht seek to "eat up Uganda." It will be no child's play. It will be bloody altars, and 883 double open altars. There are and exte'rminating. While neither Great 974 shops where things used in idolatrous wor- Britain nor Egypt can expect more from ship are made and sold, a very large number of Sheik Benoussi than from the Khalif of which are given entirely to the manufacturing Khartoum, the contest between these Ma- of such articles. There are 67 shops which hammlldan rivals will be eagerly watched, make idols, but many of the clay idols used as one in a procession of stirring events, come from the great potteries in the country.
which during the next decade are to attract The quantities of fire-crackers. used in idol-wor- the attention of the civilized world, and ship in Oanton are made in the country. There work wonderfnl changes in Africa. are probably not less than 12,848 persons en- -Bishop Symthies writes from Zanzibar, gaged in the mannfacturing of ariicles used in February 10th: .. I have had somelow fever worshiping idols and spirits, and that live for the past week and am not fit for much, upon their connection with idolatry. This is but I hope I may get my two confirmations iu Canton alone. In addition there are tens of this week, and start with GE>ldart for Magila thousands of women -largely engaged in folding in about a fortnight. It becomes increas- the paper money they burn to the idols and ingly dilficnlt to get stores up to the Bondei spirits. There are three quarters of a million country. It would be equally dilficult to get dolIars spent in Canton every year for idolatrous them through Lindi if it was not for our kind purposes. Mr. Simmons says: "I believe the Arab friend Sellim, who lately saved some above estimates are below the real troth in of our men from being murdered, and who nearly every case; I have purposely kept the has sent a message to Masasi to say that as figures as low as I could, for I do not want to Ion&, as he lives no one shall hurt our stores ' make a bad thing worse than it really is. These or our people. In the face of such action as estimates do not Include the expenses of stated this, together with the protection given to omcial worship, nor do they include the ex- the French Mission by Bushiri, and his atti- penses of the annual theaters, decorations in tude toward us, it is absurd to say that honor oUhe god of fire, or the feast of lanterns, the disturbances here have anything to do etc. The expenses of these are very large, and with religious antipathies-they are entirely are met by an assessment on each shop or political-but I shall probably write to you house, and are often paid under protest. Ihave further on this head. I understand that thought it best not to include any idOlatrous exthe blockade has quite failed in preventing penditures that were not voluntary. To inarms and ammunition being imported into clude these would make the annual expense the conntry, and what is much worse, it considerably greater." Right on top of this has failed to prevent an infiux of foreign huge idolatry the Indian Government is forcing Arab kidnappers, whose presence is a new thousands npon. thousands of cases of opium and serious danger."-Central Africa. every year, deadening the consciences of the people to the sound of the gospel. Shall not -African ivory is the best in the world, God judge for these things ?-Bombay Guarand the finest quality comes from the inter- dian. ior. The tusks of the African elephants are larger than those of any other country. -We agree with the suggestion made by Both the male and female eie;>hants have the Banner of Asia in regard to the opium traflarge tusks, while in India the tusks of the fic of China. Mr. Dyer says that iu 1885 the female elephant are very small. The aver- Chinese Government obtained from GreatBritage weight of a tusk is from 20 to 50 pounds, aiu an opium agreement which can be made but sometimes they are nine or ten feet to terminate on January 18th, 1891, by twelve long, and weigh 160 pounds each. The cost of months' notice being given on either side. The ivory has trebled in the last 35 years, selling opinm tramc has got so decided a hold on now for $8 a pound. It is said that a pair of China, that the Chinese Government will not tusks are often worth £l,OOOsterling. Zan- find it easy to take effective steps fOl' banishing zibar is the great African market for ivory. the curse from the country; but Mr. Dyer sug- From this point it is shipped by merchants gests that the British churches should unite all to India, London, Hamburg, etc. The chief their strength in encouraging the Chinese autrading center in the interior is Tabara, in thorities to close the present agreement, and to Myamweo;i. where various caravan routes refuse to be party to another. In this we think meet. The trader equips his caravan at the churches of India, a country where the evil Zanzibar, and places it in the hands of an of opium is far more patent than it is in Eng- Arab who goes from Bagamoyo to Ta- land, should take an early and decided initiative. bara. Let an infiuential and repl'esentative council be formed at once in this country, whose first bus- Chlna.-1do!atry. Rev. E. B. Simmons iness it shall be vigorously to expound the gives in the OMnese Recorder some statistics matter to all the Christians in this country, with regard to idolatry in Canton. There are both by the press, and by public meetings, 'rhe in Canton and the snburbs 663 temples of vari- issue of this should be the strongest and mo.t ous kinds and sizes, 83 Buddhist nunneries, 50 numerously sign~d exprelSsion of opinion that places where Buddhist priests live, 145 places Christian India has everJl:iven u.tteranQe tQ. M where Tauist priests reside, 275 Shetan or open soon as possible similar councils sbould be India continue to prod the Government in a vig_ formed in England and America. If the Christ- orous way upon its failure: to act eJllc1entIy ian Church can speak with effect at all, here is upon what there is called the" Drink QuestiOll " its opportunity. The opium contract is un· -which means the almost nnrestrleted mannspeakably toul, and absolutely indefensible. facture and sale of intoxicating drinks, and the Let China be told that au)' effort which it makes rapid increase of drunkenness among the nain the direction of abolition will receive the tives of the country. At a recent meeting of moat energetic and persistent support from aU the Methodist MissJonary Conference of Calthe Christian churches of India and the West. cutta, threQ important resolutions upon this As surely as the Lord reignetb Buch an effort subject, were adopted. The first urged the shall not fail. We hope the suggestion will at immediate organization of a Temperance AIonce be acted on.-Harvest .Field. llance for India. The second strongly fa- vored "local option" as to the establishment India. – A Chief Commissioner's of outstills and drinking houses. The third appointed an expert in such mattters to View of Indian Missions. At the lay- collect all available, information as to the results of the present excise system in India, fortbe puring of a cornerstone of mission build- pose of preparing and laying before th~ Govern- ment a memorial upon this subject based upon ings connected with the Methodist existiug and incontestible facts. Undoubtedly the men who passed these resolutions mean Episcopal Mission, Jubbulpur, Mr. business, bnt as the attention of the Government has recently been repeatedly called, and in vain, Mackenzie, Chief Commissioner of to the demoralizing results of the present excise system in India, it is not certain that any heed the Central Provinces, after refer- will be given to these presentations (or the twentieth time. But tha t is no reason for dng to recent criticisms of missions, sleeping over a matter so important. Continued prodding may finally stir np the authorities. said: -Movements among the Jews. The vari- ..It may be that direct results, iu the shape of ous Jewish societies. at home and abroad. conversions and baptisms, are not so startling are specific and Divinely-approved inas the church at home would like to see them. stances of the general law of a multiplicity But this is only a superficial estimate of the sit- of operations in harmonious combination. uation. No man who studies India with a see- Their chief mission may be snrelyaccoming eye can fail to perceive that the indirect plished by the union of living agencies, inresults of missionary euterprise, if it suits you cluding ma.nagers, collectors, mission dep… 80 til call them, are, to say the least, most preg- uties, and missionaries, all working togethnant with promise. The Dagon of heathenism er. These various agencies must work into is being undermined on all sides. To careless each other's hands. As zinc aud copper bystanders, the image may 100m as yet intact in must be broughtintodirect-communication aU its ghoulish monstrosity, but its doom we through an efficient connecting bath in or- know is written. And great will be its fall. I der to the'prodnction of a powerful galvan- have often given it as my opinion that, ere many ic current, so our missionaries at a distance years are over, we shall have in India a great and our friends here mnst be brought into religious upheaval. The leaven of western direct contact, that there maJ be success- thought, and the leaven of Christianity together ful working, praying and giving on the part are working on the inert heap of dead and fetid of all. superstitions, and, by processes which cannot always be closely traced, are spreading- a re- The Jewish societies founded in England generating ferment throngh the mass, which are eight, with 294 agents,55 stations, and must in time burst open the cerements that nOw an income of £59.394. In Scotland there are enshroud tbe Indian mind. It may not be in five missions, with 71 missionaries, 17 sta- our time. It may not be in the time of our im- tions, and an income of £12,631. There is mediate successors. But it wi!! be when He the 'Irish Presbyterian Missions, with 27 Bees fit with whom a thousand years are as one missionaries, 9 stations, and an income of day. My own belief is that it will be SOoner £3,6-34. There are twelve German Associa- than the world, or even the canons of the tions, wIth 13 missionaries, 6 stations, ano! church, snppose. What the Indian Chnrch will an income of £3,188. There is the Basle be, by what organization governed, to what pre- Friends of Israel Mission, Switzerland, with cise creeds a:tllliated, I, for my part, do not pre- 1 missionary, 1 station, and an income of tend to foresee. It is being hewn out now by £518. There are three Dutch societies,with many hands, furnished from many countries. 8 missionaries, 2 stations, and an income of But the main burden of the growing work mnst £888. There Is Pastor Kruger's Mission in ere long be taken up by the children· of the In- France with an incotDe of £60. In Sweden dian soil. It is not beyond the bonnds of lJossi- and Norwaly there are five institutionS, bility that the native church may in time pro duce its own apostle, destined to lead his coun- trymen in myriads to the feet of Christ. The 8tory et Buddha may renew itself within its pale."-Okr01lie~6 L. M. S.
-Drunkenness. ·llissionary orgaDizations in
MISSIONARY CORRlI:SPONDJl:NCII FROM .il.L PAR11i1
with 6 missionaries, 4 stations, and a.n in- that in several places you lind Buddha. excome of £1,440. There are seven North horting his followers to found places where, American Missions, with 34 missionaries, both the sick of men and animals could be 33 stations, and an income !>f £5,680. The a.ttended to. Andyou lind that the great Jewish Societies of Great Britain and Ire- ., King of Glory" in Northern India is said la.nd are 14, the agents 39l:, the sta.tions 81, to have founded places where the hungry and the annual income £75,659. The total ware fed, where the thirsty received drink, number of societies is 47. the certified work- where the naked were clothed, where the ers 457, the fields of labor 132, and the total weary were re~ted, and where the sick were annual income upward of £87,000. De Ie supplied with couches and remedies. But Roy, who has considered the subject of re- we learned, a.lso, from the Buddhist Iiterasults very carefully, is convmced that ture that it was mainly to their own monks, 100,000 Jews and Jewesses have been bap- a.nd to their own teachers, that much of tized during the last 75 years; and that these favors were given. It was not until these proselytes and their descenda.nts, if the Master came that any more general intaken together, would number250,OOO.-Rev. stitutions of charity or active philanthrop· John Dunlop, 8ecreta17l 01 the British Socie- ic work was done. Christianity came and stimulated its followers to found hospit~ls. tlllor the Propagation Of the Gospel among And so we 'find, before Christianity had been three centuries old, Fabola had the Jew.. founded a hospital in Rome. It is only on -Medical Charity the Fruit of Christiani- the banks of the great stream of grace that issues from the Throne of God that there ty. It is to the spread of Christianity tha.t 1l'1'0W the leaves which are for the healing of we owe the great development of medical the ua.tions.-PrO!eB80r Macalilter, F. R. S. charity throughout the world. It is true that hospitals existed and were diffused to some extent before Christianity. It is true III.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
France. tation, to recommend the SaTiour to those aronnd them. [THE following very important communication from our esteemed From the origin of the work we have aimed personal friend and correspondent, not to form separatist communities, but to swell Rev. R. W. McAB, D. D., as to the the ranks of the existing Evangelical bodies. ingathering of the converts, into the But, while hundreds have foond their way into mission churches and branches, will the churches. hunda-eds of equally genuine conbe read with much interest. It will verts have remained outside them. Many of serve ,to dissipate some erroneous mis- our dear people have lived and died without the conceptions and to correct some ma- privilege of commemorating the Saviour's saclicious misrepresentations concern- ridce. Various canses have led to this-In ing the McAll Mission, in the recent many eases, the distance !tom any church where efforts to establish denominational tbey could find a Christian Home; in others, churches in connection with the the fact that the neighboring ministers, through Salles.-EDS.] absorption in pastoral dnties or otherwise, were unknown in the station; or again, the impression, OUR greatest deligbt is to witness decision especially on the part of the poor, that.a wei· for Cbrist, a joy whicb has been often renewed come would not be accorded, has kept them during the closing seaSOn. Second only to this back. is our satisfaction when these new disciples enter into the fellowsbip of neighboring Evan- From an early period of our history, and mOre gelical churches. We cannot tsbulate the list and more strongly as the work has taken deeper of those who, during successive years, have root, the numerous friendS visiting our stations, tbus publicly confessed their faith; but we American, Eoglish, Scotch, pastors and laymen know tbat, could the number be ascertained, it alike have,with emphaticunanimity,urged opon would be found large alike in Paris and through- os the necessity for taking measures to bring all out France. In various churches, whole groups our converts into Christian fellowship. J'oryears exist whose religious life commenced in our we have been considering how to accomplish mission·rooms. Among these, not a few have this without in any degree compromising the become diligent Christian workers. Some are undenominational character ofthe mission. Connow evangelists in our own and kindred socie- ferences have been held with French pastors ties; others, while pursuing their worldly call· and !symen on the subject. Until recenUy, inil, are lIeeking by preaching. teaching, or visi- prayerful study had. failed to suggest a mode of joint action such as the representatives olthe various French denominations could see their way to accept. At length, we have been direct- ed to a method of oraanlzation which will, we trust, supply In a great measure this" missing Bonne-Nouvelle regolar worship has been instilink." The proposal has been favorably viewed tuted in connection withthe Reformed Church or by those of our eswumed French brethren to France, our colleague, M.Victor Van der Beken, whom it has been communicated. It Is twofold: being the pastor in charge. All the evangelistic ' work of the statibn proceeds unchanged In 1. Wherever a mission station is placed within the new Mission-Hall of the Rue du Temeasy reach of a French church whose pastor or ple, in the middle of Paris, we are jOint tenants pastors take interestin the evangelistic work, we with Pastor Auguste Fisch and the Free Church invite such pastor or pastors (of whatever Evan- under his care. On the expressed desire ofthese gelical denomination) to take measures in our esteemed friends, we gladly united with them mission room for organizing a group of the se· in securing this important centel' for aggressive rious attendants with the distinct aim of pre- effort amidst a densely peopled district. In the paring them for membership of the parent new hall of the Rne Saint-Denis, also In the very church. In such case, we leave it with these heart of the city, are combined our mission stabrethren tb adopt such measures as the usages tion, transformed from the smaller one of Bouleof their own church may dictate. We vard Sebastopol, !lnd a new mission church, invite them to constitute these persons as an aided by a Committee of the Baptist denominaanne:lle or branch of their church using their tion in America, under the charge of our welldiscretion as to the administration of ordi- known colleague, M. Ruben SaiIieus. In a nances in the mission room or otherwise. The whole series of onr stations, neighbOring pastors only condition we impose is that whatever fel- are working with the view of forming Christian lowship Is formed shall be on the broad basis of groups or branches of their respective churches Evangelical faith, and that the mission station, in the mode already described, and these include as such, shall retain unchanged its strictly unde- representatives ofthe Reformed, Lutheran, Free, nominational chl!scter as a place for purely Wesleyan and Baptist communities. Gospel effort. On examining the list ofourstationsinParis and 2. In other cases, where existing churches throughout France, we find the following number are too far distant, or stand aloof from mis- brought more or less directly into relation with sionary effort, or where the teaching is not existing churches. Reformed Church of France, purely Evangelical, we are prepared to welcome 57 stations; Lutheran Church, 3 stations; the formation in our stations of distinct mission Union of Free Churches, 21 statioLs ; combinackurchea with their mission pastors. There is ation of several of the above three churches. no reason why each such mission pastor should 15; Wesleyan, 3 ; Baptist, 6; total, 105 stations. not continue to be or become also an Evangelist of the mission. But in these cases also, we re- Of the remaining twenty stations, some are gard it as essential that each church and pastor so placed as to be, more or less, in relation should be folly identifted with one or other of with a number of churches indistinguishably ; others are newly planted and not as yet specialthe existing denominations, so as to avoid the ly linked with any. liability of forming separatist communities. The Lutheran Church, so widely dill'used In Wherever the occasion for a mission church Continental Europe has, in France, only the may arise, we shall always hold ourselves ready Important Oonsi8toire of Paris, and those in the to co-operate with any of the French societies district of MontbeJiard. Our work has not enof evangellzation-" Societe Centrale," " So- tered into the latter district; hence the comparciete Evangeuque," "Societe de Geneve," etc., atively small number of stations as yet placed in constituting such a church as one of the reg- in immediate relation with our Lutheran brethular posts of those societies. In certain cases, ren. The French Wesleyan Evangelistic Mission where no Evangelical ageucy whatever exists in directed by the Rev. W_ Gibson, B.A., carrying a department or district, or where joint action on a work closely resembling our own, accounts with the mission may not be accorded, we shall for the fewness of our stations in which our be prepared ourselves to form the converts into Wesleyan friends are specially iuterested. Many a fellowship; but every such community shall of the stations comprised in the above list have be aftlliated with one or other of the existing been formed at the request orand are aided by the denominations, according to the conscientious contributions of the several churches with which convictions of its members.' Where such a they stsnd in relation. church is constituted and exercises its worship iu one of our mission rooms, the mission funds Those who carefully study the above statement cannot be used for its expenses. The use of the will perceive that the strictly unsectarian charroom mayor may not be granted without ren- acter of our work remains uninvaded, since each tal, according to the need of the particular case; denomination is alike welcomed to the spheres but its sustentation must be provided for either it is prepared to occupy, whilst our hearers are, within itself or from independent sources, the gifts entrusted to us being set apart wholly for of course, left entirely free to connect themselves evangelization. either with the Christian group in the station they frequent, or with that in any other of our We are happy to add that, on the bases Indi- stations, or to jOin any Evangelical community cated, we have already been enabled, during this to which their convictions may lead them, year, to make ahopeful commencement in sever- Above all, we would claim from every reader al quarten ofParia. In ountation of Boulevard who desirell the advancement of Our Lord's. Kingdom in France, a fervent prayer that these He has already secured from a member of his own family $25,000 toward the erection onward ,teps may be Divinely guided, so as tp of the proposed building.
issue in the fuller .ingathering of the spiritual Mr. Swift proposes to secure $25,000 more. Witb this $50,000 he will erect a building in fruits of our. enterprise, and in giving stability the heart of the business community which will be devoted to mercantile men. There and permanence, under the power of the Holy is another .important community which we must reach. I refer to the students. The Spirit, to all that we are permitted to attempt Imperial University has over five hundred students. Near by it is a large preparatory in His name. R. W. McALL. college containing nearly one thousand, also the leading Commercial College of the We append an extract from a let- empire with 500 students. Fully 2,000 stu- den~s, the brightest young men in Ja.pan, ter of Mr. Gustave Monod, Jr., are located in this quarter. Over one hun- dred of them are Cbristians, a far larger Agent f01' France of the British and proportion than Yale, Williams, Bowdoin, and other American colleges had at the close Foreign Bible Society: of last century.
.. For the past seventeen years I have been There is not a single place in all Tokio where the students can go for social recrea.- constantly traveling throughout Frauce, and tion after study hours, except the tea hOUses, whose waiter girls are a terrible snare. have made repeated visits to the various towns There is no hall near these institutions where relildous meetings can be held. in wbich the McAll Mission carries on its work. Now, our proposition is tbis: Erect a I have intimate relations with the pastors of all small, home-like building in the very center of this large student communitV. Place in denominations in these town" and it is a rare charge of it a student of strong intellectual and Christian character as general Secrething if I am not'asked for information respect- tary and we will accomplish a work second in impor~nce to none now carried on in tbis Ing the mission. I beg distinctly to state, not empire. The building and lot will cost $10,- 000. The property can be held by a board only that I have never beard it alleged that this of trustees, consisting of Japanese gentle- men of hi~h Christian and social standing, work had taken any denominational bias, but who will protect the purpose of the 'invest- ment. The amount specified will secnre a that no suspicion of the liability to such a ten· property nearly twice as valuable as the same sum invested in America. If yon dedency has ever been hinted." sire to invest this amount in a permanent Christian enterprise in these lands which (Signed) GUSUVE MONOD, Jnnr. are turning toward Christianity, I do not believe that you can do a greater work than PABIS, January 7, 1889. this, because these students, if Christian- ized, will become the" Pilgrim Fathers" of [The following, from the Commit- Japan.
tee of Direction, may serve to con- Commending this matter to your sympa- thy and wisdom, I am, firm the previous statement.-EDS.] Very sincerely yours, MISSION POPULAIRE EVANGELIQUE nE FRANCE, L. D. WISHARD.
PAIUS. January 8,1889. [THIS letfer, from the son-in-law The Committee of Direction having been of one of the editors, was written made aware of a serious rumor in the United only as a private letter, but will be States that a tendency has arisen in the mission read with interest, as giving a to depart from the neutral ground of the Evan- glimpse of how practical work is gelical Alliance on which It was founded and which it has maintained until now, the nnder- begun.-EDS.) signed, composing that Committee, feel called upon to utter a unanimous and earnest protest HIROSHUU, JAPAN, Jan. 18, 1889. again~t this allegation, and to offer a summary I have now been in Japan about nine or of the steps recently taken, as affording the best ten months, and am glad to say tnat I am contradiction of this erroneous impression. getting along now with the work quite a They declare that the accompanying paper (prepared by Mr. McAll for the Annual English Re· little. I think it well to begin to use the port before the rumor in question reached langnage ",little, asl am able, and sol have Paris) contains an, exact stateIIent of the facts, and has their entire approbation.
(Signed) R. W. McAlI, D. D., T. Howard Gill, M. A., Benjamin Couve, Pasteur de rEglise Reformee, Alfred H. Kellogg, D.D., Charles E. Greig, M.A., Ruben Saliens, Pastenr, Louis Sautter, Edouard Kern, Gustave Monod, Junr., J. Henry Benham, M.D., Lond., Eugene Revell- laud, EmUe Rouilly, Leon Reider, William Soltau.
Japan.
WE are permitted to print the fol- lowing private letter: TOKIO, March 11, 1889. There is a plan to erect a building in Tokio for Association work. There has been a succesllfullnauguration of aSSOCiation work 1U this city, and a very competent man has beeu secured who proposes to spend his life in working among the young men of Japan. begun to read the Scripture and have this Syria. week written out and translated a IIhort prayer which I mean soon to use in public. [A PRIVATE letter from a friend If I could have my teacher all the time I in Beirut communicates to one of should probably have a sermon translated the editors the following facts, under ·into Japanese within a few weeks. As it is date of Feb. 25, 1889.-EDS.] now I hope to preach in Japanese before the year is up since my arrival. Of course, I Dr. Jessup has just started with his wife shall have to read the sermon; the time is for a trip to Egypt. You may notice a great yet remote when I can hope to preach ex- dearth of letters (in aU the magazines) from temporaneously, as I mean to do so soon as I get sufficient command of the language. Syria. This is owing to the strict watch Last Sunday Ipreached to the Japanese in Dr. Lambuth's church throngh an interpre- which is kept on aU the reports sent home. ter, and enjoyed it exceedingly. It was a In consequence of a letter written five years sermon to disciples on the parable of the ago one of the missionaries recently has great supper in Luke xiv. After touching suffered, by the rigid orders at the cnson the excuses I spoke as strongly as I tom-house received from the Porte, the could on going out quickly to compel others loss of much time and some very valuable to come in. I wrote out the sermon in full books. No copies are allowed to enter and gave it to nhe interpreter to study be- of Dr. Thomson's .. Land and the Book." forehand, and consequently he translated The Government is daily pntting heavier quite accurately and promptly. I enjoyed restrictions on our work, and we dare not it e:xceedingly, and the Lambuths, as well as aJlow a word of complaint to be seen in the Japanese, seemed to be much gratified. print lest our work and communities Two weeks ago I administered the com- should thereby suffer. The articles on the munion here, but all I did was to read the increase of Mohammedanism which caused Scripture and administer the bread and so great a stir in England some time ago wine, and prononnoe the benediction in were all translated and published in the Japanese. Moslem paper at Damascus, to the delight of the Mohammedans throughout the We are greatly delighted at having been ,country. In the same way articles in the able tostart a prayer-meeting, composed of New York Herald, noticed by the Indepenall the missionaries iu Hiroshima. We have dent. speaking in unfavorable terms of misalready felt much blessed In the two meet- sionaries and their comfortable homes find ings already held. their way, clothed in glowing Arabic phrases, into the papers of our Jesuit and Catholic There is a certain Japanese, one of our presses here. This will show why the misnative chul'ch members, who has the char- sionaries do not write more often and more acteristics of an old Scotch Presbyterian, a fully of their work. great stickler for orthodoxy, but quite opinionated and headstrong. He is, we believe. A little paper is issued st'mi-weekly by the a true Christian, and we recognize his work pupils of the Mission Academy at Sidon of as being very valuable, for he has won many which Mr. Eddy is head. There are four membera to the church from heathenism; editors and each beside the labor of editing but owing to his peculiar temper he has writes out one copy of each issue: one they done much to keep the church in a state of keep, one goes to Mr. Eddy, one to Zahleh, agitation. He has just been here, and I and one to the Sidon Female Seminary. took him aside after diuner with me and Everycopy is quite perfect in its general aphad along talk with him on the subject of pearance. All is done with the ordinary Arab brotherly love, and afterward prayed with reed pens. The illustrations are by one of him-aU in Japanese. This was the first the pupils, who, having the monopoly of the time I had offered a prayer iu the native artistic talent in the Academy is obliged to tongue, and, of course, it was very short and furnish/our copies semi-weekly of his provery simple. At 3 o'clock I went to our ductions I He has never had a lesson, but preaching place, which I have established often his work is quite creditable. with my teacher, where I read the Scriptures, 9ffered a short prayer, and again at The fifty-fourth annual gathering of the evening worship with the servants read the Syrian workers has just closed. For thirty- Scriptures and offered Prayer-preparing seven of these years Dr. Eddy has been conmy prayers beforehand and having them nected with the work here, and begins to corrected by my Japanese teacher. I write feel himself as if he w<1Uld enjoy a sight of this to show you how soon I have been able the loved ones on the American shores after to begin work and use of the la.nguage, and an absence of thirteen years, but his work that this tongue is not after all so difficult for a year at least will not admit of this. of attainment. Albania- Yours affectionately, WE gladly give space to this ap- FRED. S. CURTIS. peal in behalf of a needy and neg- lected field, In a note to one of the editors the writer, Rev. J. McBaird, ans, frowns upon any Instruction, howeverflOOd missionary of A. B. C. F. M., says: not given in Greek. ' .. The Southprn Presbyterian Board has the Greek work bordering on Albania, and Albania is not near any of the patha ot. com-_ the A. B. C. F. M. the Bulgarian. 1 have written to our Board urging the Prudential merce; her country Is mountainous, and her committee to und",rtake this work, but the answer is that they do not see their way to children have seen but little of civilization, exdo it. If you can persuade some society to take up the work I shall be glad."-EDs.J cept as they have gone to other countries to MONASTIR, EuRoPEAN TuRKEY, MARCH 4,1889. earn a little money. Schools are few. In some Between Montinegro on the north and Greece on the south, lives a people for cities there are poor Turkish scbools, but none whose spiritual welfare almost nothing has been done. 1 refer to the Albanians who, in the larger villages. Greek schools are found with the Rumanians that live among and know the Albanian tongue, number a little in southern .Albania. These are useful only for less than 2,000,000. They are doubtless the descendants of the anci",nt l11yrians and those who can attend them long enough to learn Pelasgians. Their language, which isquite distinct from the Slavic, the Greek or the the Greek language. Those who want a fair Latin, has twodialects, the Gheg or northern and the Tosk or southern. oriental education mnst go beyond .Albania's At least'one half of the Albanians, as far as they have any religion, are Mohamme- borders to lind it. The mass of the people can. dans, mostly of the sect called Bektashi, whose members are noted for being skeptical not read, and mauy of those who can read canand prayerless, and often great drinkers. Unlike other Moslems they seem to be at. not nnderstand what they read. tached to their race more closely than to their religion. Ask a Mohammedan, who is The little that has been done for the evangeliof Bulgarian or Greek extraction, "What are you?" and the reply wiII always be, .. I zation ot Albania bas been done by the agents am a Moslem." Ask an Albanian Mohammedan the same question and his reply of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who most probably will be, .. I am a Skipetal' " (Albanian). About one-third of the race have translated and printed all of the New belong to' the Eastern or Greek Church. Of these the larger part are Tosks. The re- Testament and six of the larger books of the Old maining one-sixth are Roman Catholic. The latter are found mostly in northern Al- and have madejonrneys up and down to give bania. rhe spiritual destitution of the Albanians the Word of God to the Albanians in their own is very great. The Moslems are in as great spirtual darkness as are any other Moslems. tongne. A primer, a simple catechism, a his- The Roman Catholics are under the thumb tory of the Old Testament, and a ~mmar, have of of the Jesuitll' who make no attempt to give also been prepared, The B. and F. Bible Soc. can· them a knowledge of the leadiug truths the Bible, but who are very hostile to the colpor· not however take up and carryon the work of a teurs who wish to give the Word of God to the people. Those connected with the Greek Church missionary society. Though friends of the are worse oft" than the Greeks for whom Protestant Christians are working, for by far the Albanians have pleaded for some miSSionary larger part of the .Albaniaus are utterly ignorant of the language-Greek-used in the church SOCiety to send out a few men to preach and to services. That .Albian schools have not existed till very recently is not only a great mis- carry on missionary work, no favorable reply fortune for that people, but is also a punishment for being born .Albanians. Tbe Greek ecclesi- has been received. So far they have passed by astics have turned their church into an instrument for Heleniziug the .Albanians, and con- on the otber side and left this destitute people sider it more meritorious to wean them from the Albanian language than to give them spirit- in their destitution. ualinstruction. The Greek party, while spending mone;!, for Greek 8~hools amoDS thE! Alban, The present is a favorable time for beginning missionary work among the Albanians. The government is bundin~ some roads which will open up the country. Brigandage and lawless· ness have received lately a severe check. Col· porteurs report a great and increasing readi- ness to listen to the gospel. When Mr. G. D. Kyrlas, an Albanian Protestant, was at Korcha about a year ago, he was invited by both Mos- lems and Christians to preach in the school. Large numbers attended his preaching the three weeks he was there and preSsed him to stay and work among them. There is a growing desire shared by both Moslems and Christians for instruction in their native tongue.
The Lord has raised up some .Albanians who, whether working for the British and Foreign Bible Society, or associated with any mission- ary society that takes up the .Albanians; woald be a great help to the cause of Christ. One of the colporteurs of this region Is a devoted .Albanian Chl'istian. The agent of the BIble So. ciety here. Mr. Kyrias, is an .Albanian of such edncation, ability and piety that we Bulgarian missionaries would be glad to see him pastor of a Protestant Bulgarian church. He however feeA that he must work among his own people. He has a brother and a sister, both earnest Christians,who willllnish their course in school in about two years, and who wiIlprobabIy enter the Alballian work, 11; lDY be.slted : Are the Albanians a promta- Hankow, Hanyang, and WnehaD!: a leWD. popu- IDgpeople for miYionaryelfor~ t I gin it asm,. lation that cannot be -rery far short of the pap- opieion that they are. Intellectually they are ulation oC Liverpool and Glasgow taken to!:eth- equal to any 01 the racea of Turkey. They are er. In the country districts round about are more accessible than the Greeks. Though there many other large towns and vmages, &l;!d we are but Cew Albanians in Monastir, and preach- long to see European evangelists stationed in ing hal been in Bulgsrlan, six of our small various central positions throughout those dis- flock are Albanians. NotwithstRndinC the tricts, Crom which, with the help oCnative Christ- mountainous character of the country, the iane, each one coull. work the surrounding sparseness oC the population, and the 1lIll"1Il7 region. There is no likelihood that this work character ot some of the Albaulaus, I thiuk a can ever be oTert:tkcn by t~e existing agenCies.
mll!llionary society would ftud thla a profitable We therefore invite men who hal"e an independ- field, aud while somewhat hedged in by Turkish ent income, or 't7hose personal friends are able authorities, would ftud abuudaut oppportunity and willing to send them abroad, to come out .
both to sow aud to reap. With so large a part of and supplement in the way just described, and the Bible already printed in Albanian, and the without any cost to the society, the work that possibility of getting at the outset the assistance is being already dOlie by the society's mission- of earnest and educated Ohrlstlan Albanians, aries. Most of the English societies now repre- Albania would seem to be a 11eld that some sented number some unpaid missionaries miasionary society would covet. amongst t:telr nge::J.ts. We wish for all the mis- Anyone hoping to do something for the evan- sions n larGe incrc~se of such workers. An un- gelization of the Albanians may write to Rev. married mUn of frugal habits could probably Alexander Thomson, D.D., Oonstantinople, live here on £lCO per annum. Our desire is that Turkey, to Mr.G. D. Kyrias, Monastlr, or to me. every one coming to Hankow in connection J. W. BAmD. with this scheme may be provided with free quarters; we shall try to arrange that house Ohina. rent shall at all events be as small as possible. To any medical man anxious to combine eTangel- [THE lack of space compels us to istic work with the practice of medicine, we can abridge the following appeal.-EDS.] promise rare opportunities for usefulness here, and the consciousness of ha"ing been able to do A SBLF-SU!'POltTING MISSION 011' TBlC LoNDON untold good to the bodies and also to the souls of men. We do not appeal for single men only. MISSIONARY SOCIlCTY. Married couples would also find a hearty wel- come and plenty of work, but should be full ofthe Editor, of TlllI MISSIONARY RJCVIlCW 011' TUB missionary spirit, strong in health, and prepared WOJlLD.-The London Missionary Society has to put up with inconveniences. We could not for years had dialculty in raising funds Cor carry- recommend married people to come out uuless in!: on itl work. With an almost stationary in- they had something like an assured income of come it is very dlftlcult to extend operations even £200 per annum, and more if they had children. in countries whereit already has representatives, anli almostlmpossible to commence new missions We will correspond with any who wish fuller in other lands recently opened to European com-. information; or inquiries may be addressed to merce. A long experience of liC. in Ohin.. leads the Rev. R. W. Thompson at the London :MIsus to disbelieve altogether in the principle of re- sionary Society's oalce, Blomfield st. E. O. It ducing to the lowest possible point the salaries is not essential that honorary workers should oC missionaries. A missionary may of course haTe a college education, or be ordained, but they should be .. self-supporting," having private erei8t on a very small ineome indeed, but if the great majority ot Europeans are to live in health, to work ejftciently as missionaries, and sources of Income, not supported by a church, to give to their children a proper education, or bT a local auxiliary oC the parent SOCiety. something more than the bare necessities oC life Finally we appeal to parents poss8l!sed of is requisite. We think, however, that the work means, asking them If they have children who might be very largely developed, by the addition desire to become missionaries, to enable tbem oCa band of entirely uuremuneraUd labortrs. to do so as honorary members of the society. Few things will help so much to convince the We ourselves are prepared, if others willjoin world of the disinterestedness of missionaries, US, to forego the salary and various money- as seeing the missionary body largely recruited allowances Cor personal needs granted by the society to Its miSSionaries, and we appeal to from amongst men and women of culture and youn!: men possessed of private means to come good social position, who are willing to go forth out and unite themselves with UB as honorary- into all the world to preach the Gospel to the workers in the Hankow MiSSion of the London heathen, taking no~hing for their service, but Society. lITing on Inherited wealth, their hands strength- The needs of this district cannot well be over· ened and upheld by the prayers, and sympathy, stated. In the very heart of a province contain- and benedictions of Ohrlstian parents.
ing many millions, Hankow presents one of the GBIFFITII JOlIN.
ftuest centers for missionary enterprise in the ARNOLD FosTlCB, lfhol, wqrld. We have ~ tba tllree cltl8ll qf I[4D;ow, OHIN4, 21st -l"annary, 188Q. The Ohinese New Year. represented by a tablet inscribed to bim" Of" myriad yea1'!." When the bighest o1II.cial ar.- LETTER from our correspondent, rives, wbo ie Canton is tbe Governor-General, having jnrisdiction over two provinces, the Dr. A. P. Rapper, President Chris- master of ceremonies gives directions. The civil officers arrange themselves on one side actian.College. cording to tbeir rank before tbe tablet and the military officers on tbe otber side, the one cor- CANTO1", CHINA, JAN. 31, lE89. responding to the other. At tbe direction of the THIs is the Chinese New Year's day. This master of ceremonies all the Officers, in SIlOOIl8numerous people of three huudred millions are sive gronps, prostrate themselves before the keeping holiday. Every employment Is stopped, tablet which represente the emperor, with ihe all the wheels of business stand still; all the ceremony which denotes the most profound adschools are on vacation. The toiling, anxious oration, tbe tbree kneelings and tbe nine knockmillions are resting. These few days are the ings of the bead, i. e., three knockiDgs of the only complete rest days out of the three hnndred . forehead on the 1Ioor after each one of three and sixty-five days of the year. All the Govern- successive kneellngs. This presupposes the dei· ment offices, Cram the highest to the lowest are fication of the emperor, as the emperors were closed for a mouth. The seals of all offices W6~e deified. Tbis deification is implied in the dessealed up on the 19th of the l~th mouth to be ignation of tbe emperor as tbe son of Heaven brought ant. for use on the 20th of the 1st .-heaven, the patron god of the Cbinese Em· mouth. This law of the Government would pire by whose appointment the emperors role. appear to be to give the officers time to arrange all the details of their official business and keep Heuce the officers of this government are them in proper order. bound to serve His Majesty, not by the bonds of All the business of the people must be finished loyalty and faithfulness which bind tboseofother np and settled on, or before, the last day of the lands, but by this bond of annual worship and year; and all outstanding accounts settled. solemn vow. This bond no doubt contribntes These details of business often cause the streets to the peace and stability of the Government. of the cities to be thronged with the surging But what a manifestation of the blindness of the crowds till midnight. But then the tormoil natural heart which can give to a mere man the ceases, and the bustle and hurrv ends. homage and worship which Is due to God ooly- • Tbe closing days of the old year and opening who is Lord of lords and King of kings. May days of the new year are given to idolatry. Ac- all wbo read tbis be led to increased ell'ort and cording to their estimate of the merciee received, prayer that tbe knowledge of the only trne God and of their ability to give, the people of all may soon extend througbout tbis whole land, classes and conditions return thanks to their and its multitudinous people worship Jehovah. goda, by the burning of crackers in tbeir banal' and offerings of incense and fruits, etc. Witb Korea. tbeflrst hrYur8 of tbe new year they commence their 'prayers and offerings. to tbe gods for STIRRING statement and appeal blessings and pro.perity during the new year. from Rev. R. G. Underwood. This early worship has precedence of every- thing else. Tbe rejOIcings and feaRtings do SEOUL, Jan. 2, 1889. not commence till tbe evening of the first day, "THE CHECK IN KOREA." or the morning of tbe second day. Tbns is pre The work in Korea, a8 indicated by statistics sented a scene, which cannot be seen anywhere and as far as it can be indicated by so imperfect else, of such an immense multitude engaged in a method, is very encouraging. Tbe Lord has wOT8h.ip, at the same time in every family indeed blessed us, and as we see how good He bouse and shop and store and temple in the has been to us, how far His bleSSings have been whole land. What an evidence does this fact above all tbat we could bave boped or thongbt afford to the truth that man is religious by na- or even dreamed of, and how He bas granted us ture, and that the acknowledgmeut of depend- so much more than we had faitb for, we feel ence upon superior beings bas come down like calling upon all Christendom to jOin in from the very earliest altes of onr race. And singing ballelujahs of praise for what haR been what an illustration is tbis of the force of pa- done in tbis little land alone. Tbere bas been a rental example and instructiou-that tbis wor- steady advance all along the line, and in no de- sbip has tbus been handed down from genera- partmEmt of tbe work, in no portion of tbe land, . tion to generation for four tbousand years, in bas tbere been the slightest sign of a backward unbroken continuance and without change. move. In the past year alone the churcb in Korea On this first day of the new year there is ob- has multiplied over fivefold, and to-day, instead served a worshiping service wbich is un- of a score of earnest workers, there are over a known in all other lands. Every state capital bundred followers of the Master in this land. has a temple for the worship of tbe emperor. The calls from the country are as loud as ever. On the morning of the first day of the year all On all sides are CetUS for teachers and ministers. the officers oftbe Government, from the highest Wherever the seed is SOwn it seems to take, to tbe lowest, civil and military meet at tbis root, grow and bear frUit. If we only bad the temple to worship. They meet in a large hall at four o'clock in the morning. The Emperori. meil to seatter the seed, how 800n this land Korean of "Nearer my God to Thee," which might be won to Christ 1 The soil has indeed been prepared by God's Spirit and is ready for was followed by the sermon on the" Duties'and the seed, yea, we might say for the harvest. There have jnst gone back to their homes and Responsibilities of the Watchm"lu." .. Uri hal work in different parts of the country eight earnest Korean workers who have spent a pon chlkpoun-A. Charge to Keep J Have," month here in Seonl, being instrncted in Chris· tlan doctrine and the proper methods of diffns· then followed, at the close of which Mr. Appening the truth, and a more thoughtful set of Bible stndents cannot be met anywhere. While here geUer, assisted by Mr. Ohlinger, distributed the they have studied night and day, and have shown a really carefnl study that was very encourag- elements. It was indeed an impressive service. ing. For instance, they would come, after hearing a lecture from a foreigner with the question, God was with us and it was good to be there. "Mr. – – said so and so. "We do not doubt but that It Is true, but we cannot dnd it in the Now let us stop and think a moment. Let us Bible. Where did he learn that and how can we know it is true f" Or, again: "We see look at Japan. There the missionaries waited that Matthew and John were Christ's disciples, bnt who were Mark and Luke? We cannot years for the ftrst convert, and it was not till dnd their names in the list of Christ's disciples, and how come their writings in the • Sacred they had been there for ten years that a church Book?'" And, at another time they said, .. We now see why the fuu'l' Gospels are in the Bible, was organized, and not till years after "that any but why Paul's Epistles and the other books of the New Testament are there, but who wrote the semblance of publicity was given to their ser- Acts and by what right Is that In the Canon?" vices. Now glauce at this land. Opened to the While these questions are simple enough, and from a class at home would excite no remark, world by treaty with the United States in 1881. when they come from Koreans, who are only just coming out into the light, they show a Dr. Allen, the first missionary to Korea, a phycritical study and a careful thinking that we had not expected. sician, arrived in the fall of 1884. Others fol- During the stay of these men we were blessed lowed in tne spring of 1885. In July, 1886, tbe with tbe presence and power of tbe Spirit. The burden of their prayers during the whole month first convert baptized. In the fall of 1887 the was for this One thing-the presence of the power of the Holy Ghost in their own hearts and first church, a Presbyterian, was organized with in the hearts of the believers throughout the country. As He always is, the Good Lord was ten members. In February, IIJ88, a union week the hearer of their prayers, and just while they were here there was a great ingathering. In of prayer among the natives was held. In May, the one month there were no less than 28 appli cants for baptism, of whom 19 were received. 1888, .. The Check in Korea" appeared. In The other nine are now earnestly studying the way, aud ere long we hope to admit them also July, 1888, all signs of the .. Check" as far as to the bleSSings of the ordinances of the church. Just before they returned to the country we in- this land is concerned have disappeared. A new vited the Methodist Church here to nnite with us in celebrating the Lord's Supper. What a .. Check" for Korea has appeared in the for- service we had lOur little room was made larger by the removal of a partition, but before getfulness of what the Lord is doing here on the the hour came it was full and several were com- pelled to stand the whole service, which lasted part of the church at home. nearly two hours. In December of the same year the Power of The service opened with the invocation in Korean, and from first to last we all felt that the Spirit is poured out on Korea and a score or God was indeed with us. Then with heart and soul we all joined in singing "Before Jehovah's more are gathered in in a month. In January, Awful Throne." in Korean, to the tune of" Old Hundred." At the close of this dYe Koreans 1889, the church numbers over 100 (Methodist atood up and openly avowed their belief in the Saviour and received baptism. Prayer and read- and Presbyterian). There are two well organ- iug of the lesson for the day, Ezekiel xxxiii., were followed by .. Hauanim Kakahl," the ized churches in the land. Public servicllll are held every Sunday in two parts of the city.
Weekly prayer meetings are sustained. Boys are working for the Master and holding a prayer meetiug for themselves. The little band Is firm.
They trust in the Lord. He is leading them.
Now what has the church done at home in view of this r The Methodist Board have" cut down appropriations because the work is stopped in Korea t" The Presbyterian Board have decided to send no more men until free- dom of religion is granted t It is time for this idea to be put aside. We do not know that a change In the treaties is de· sirable. We have now all the work that we can do, and more, and we do not know but that if restrictions were all removed it might not be the greatest .. check" that the work had yet received.
Pray for the work that it may go on triumph- antly; pray for the laborers that we may know how to work aright, but while you pray let work go with your prayers. Give of what God has given you for this cause here. Let not the cause of Christ languish for lack of funds.
You are the stewards of the Lord; withhold not the tithes and you will be blessed yourselves.
But who will come, is the question. Does not the Mcaallstaenr dnoowbeysary, .. Go"? Who will hear His Will you not" come over and help us ?" and then with God on our aide we will take this land for the Lamb. We plead" In His Name."
INTEltN.A.TIONAL
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY J. T. GRACEY, D. D.
The Press on Foreign Mission Fields. nacular newspapers to be examined FROM the inception of modern by the Government Translator. By 1872 these had grown to thirty-nine. missions, the power and importance of the press in all heathen lands, The statistical returns for 1885-86 eminently in those having a litera· for India show a steady growth and ture, has been recognized. As long a new departure. There were 1,094 ago as the Liverpool Conference on presses at work in that country. Of Missions in 1860, we find reference to these 294 were in the Northwest the volume and character of native Provinces and Oude, 229 in Bengal, literature in India. 228 in the British territory in Bom- In 1858 Rev. James Long quoted bay, and 20 in the native states, 200 statistical details from the Govern- in Madras, 71 in Punjab, 26 in Burment Report of Bengal, on the ver- mah, 16 in the Central Provinces. 5 nacular press in Calcutta, showing in Berar,4 in Assam, and 1 in Coorg.
that in 1857 the Calcutta presses The number of newspapers printed alone issued for sale 571,670 books, in English during the same year was of which a little less than ten thou- 127, as against 117 in the previous sand (9,550) were Christian. The year, and of newspapers printed in almanacs numbered 13€i,000 and the the vernacular or bilingual 277, as Hindus depended on these to de- against 259 in 1884-85. The Punjab termine auspicious days for mar- is not reckoned in the calculation, as riage (only 22 in the year), for first the returns do not separate the Engfeeding an infant rice (27 days in the lish and the vernacular papers, but year), or commencing to build a give a total of 67 for both. By far house, and the like. The educa- the greater number of the vernacutional works, such as algebra, arith- lar newspapers are published in the metic and agriculture, numbered Bombay Presidency, which supports 145,300. Of books abounding in ob- no less than 104, the Northwest Provscene matter, 14,250 were printed; inces and Oude coming next with 72, of works of fiction, 33,050 copies and Bengal next with 54. In Madras were issued. Of books printed to there are only 29, and in Coorg no sustain the systems of mythology newspaper either in English or in the and Hinduism, 96,150 books were vernacular is published. The numpublished. ber of periodicals published in India -excluding the Punjab-was 284, of In 1871, 769 books were published which 102 were in English and 182 in in Calcutta, of which some 700,000 the vernacular. copies were printed, about one-third being in English, one-third in Ben- The whole number of publications gali, the rest miscellaneous: ArablC, registered during 1886 in BritIsh In- Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit, Santali, dia was 8,963, of which 1,485 were in Urdu, etc. The growth thus indi- Urdu. cated will be emphasized by the In forming an estimate of the statement that it is estimated that growth of thiil literary energy it from 1811 to 1821 the total issues of must be borne in mind that full free" the press were not over 16,000 copies. dom of the press only dates from The leap from that to over half a 1835. It is now well known that a million as we have seen in 1857, and single native publishing house in to over. 700,000 fourteen years later, Lucknow has sent an order at one indicates a great increase of literary time to England, for $25,000 worth activity. of paper to be used in his printing establishment. In 1863 there were but tw~lve ver- I Dr. Weitbrecht, at the London Conference of last year, said that This literary aggressiveness is not "the vernacular books which are limitedto India and Ceylon. Burmah, read for purposes other than studious too, is astir. A report before us or professional are, to a great extent, says: morally pernicious. And this ap- plies also, in great measure, to the .. There are printing presses In Rangoon. one English literature favored by young of them a steam-press, owned and condncted by India, so far as it is secular. Secunatives, which are devoted to the printing of a larism and ft'ee-Iove go hand-in-hand Buddhist literatnre, and cheap editions, put in to furnish the mental food of many attractive forms, are exposed for sale on pagoda English-reading natives." Another platforms, at steamer landings on the river, and speaker, Mr. Madie, said: "I have wherever people are likely to congregate In all been informed, and I am afraid it is parts of Burmah.'" the case, that at the present moment at the different railway stations in But a good deal of this literature India, the contractor for the supply at present is of foreign importation. of books has certainly supplied liter- In 1872 there were eleven booksellers ature of a most degrading and disin Calcutta with extensive shops and gusting nature, that is to say, transwarehouses, whose chief business lations made from the very worst of was importing books and periodical French novels." literature from Europe. Their imports aggregated about $250,000, of Dr. Murray Mitchell added his teswhich the bulk was of course from timony that the number of readers Great Britain, but some from France in India and China is rapidly increasand some from America. The most ing, and the natives are circulating of this was educational. poisonous literature to a fearful ex- tent through the agency of the press. Of the moral character of much of this indIgenous literature it is almost Turning to Japan we find it no needless to write. Dr. Murdock, easy task to write of the literary writing to Lord Napier in 1871, ex- kalaidoscope. The modern newspressed the opinion that it would be paper started in Japan as late as better for India if the whole of its 1871. By 1873 the number of newsindigenous literature were burned papers transmitted through the mails up, and a writer in the Indian Evan- exceeded half a million copies (514,- gelical Review said that "the issue 610), and in 1874 this was multiplied / of books and pamphlets was increas- more than fivefold, over two and a ing in India enormously, very few of half millions of copies (2,629,648) pasthe best vernacular books being free sing through the mails. The next from obscemty, while the great mass six months saw a number (1,839,846) of novels and poetry published in almost equal to the whole year's is- Bengal are distressingly filthy. A sues before. In 1879 eleven millions writer was quoted at the Allahabad and a quarter passed through the Conference as saying in 1852 : Post Office which was 100 per cent. "There are for sale in the Calcutta gain on that of 1876. TheJ;l came the bazaar, pamphlets written fortheex- restrictions of the Government, but press purpose of reducing bestiality despite all, the new'5paper press to a systematic theory. Had we not continued to develop, and by 1880 seen them we could not have be- fourteen millions newspapers passed' lieved in their existence." And of through the post offices of the emthe current Bengali literature Rev. pire. All these newspaper ventures' J. E. Payne said before the Confer- are not of course successful. In ence, that it "consists largely of 1880, of 149 new newspapers started, poetry. dramas, and fiction, and there is very little that is not licentious; probably not one in twenty of these wor~sis fit to read.'" 114 of them never saw 1881; of new with young Japan has been growing journals 266 were commenced in stronger under the influence of such 1880, 47 of which soon succumbed. imported inspiration from the west.
In 1887 a dozen daily newspapers ReV'. Dr. D. C. Greene, in an able were being published in Tokio, three paper read before the' General Con- in Osaka, and more in other large ference of Protestant Missionaries in towns. The total number of works Japan in 1883, said Paine's" Age of published in 1881 reached 4,910, Reason" is known in Japan under the against 3,792 the year previous. Of name of Dori no Yo; and Robert these 545 were on political subjects, Ingersoll's article on Christianity being almost double the number of from the North American Review those of the previous year of this was translated under the name of character: on political economy, 15 Yesu Kiyo Hai geiki Ron. A native works were issued in 1880, and 25 in pamphlet was brought out in 1881 1881. Of books on law, l1il80 pro- entitled Yesu Kiyo Mudori, or Chris- duced 207, and 1881, 225. Medical tiani ty Against Re'ason.
works advanced from 229 to 267; Another was by a professor in ethical and moral works increased Tokio on the Errors of Christianity from 32 to 93 ; historical books, from Exposed, or Yaso Kiya Ben waku.
196 to 276; poetical works, from 491 A book on Christian superstitions to 556; books on drawing and writ- was said to have much influence ing from 127 to 339; engineering with Chinese scholars. Paine's ,. Age works from 8 to 28; books on com- of Reason" was said to be read very merce from 70 to 113. The books on extensively. Another class of Anti- scientific subjects, geography, chem- Christian literature is of native ori- istry, natural history, astronomy, gin, and is based on political grounds slightly declined. School books were, of objection to Christianity. The howevt>r, hearly half as numerous principal books are Fukuzawa's work as all other books -put together. In entitled Bummei Ron or Treatise on 1880 they numbered 707 and in 1881 Civilization; his JiJi Shogen, a they were '704. Lighter literature Word for the Times, and a book was not neglected, 193 volumes of called Yaso kiyo koku gai, or Chris- tales, novels and the like being pub- tianity an Injury to the Country.
lished in 1881. It is needless to attempt in a brief The special feature which chal- article any summary of the literary lenges our attention in the modern features of so great a country, and literature of Japan is, however, the one whose literature is so permeating ready adoption of ll}odern Anti-Chris- and many phased as China. There tian literature. Agnostic and mate- are a few things, however, which in- rialistic treatises from England and dicate a remarkable modification of America have found their way to Ja- the literary life of this nation as im- pan. Huxley's "LaySermons," Spen- minent.
cer's "Data of Ethics" and a large Through ages the classics have range of similar works are read ex- consisted almost exclusively of ethi- tensively by the students of the cal maxims, and these are the text of Government and other English Chinese education of which one reads schools in various parts of the so much. Science was discouraged.
country, and in translationll more Confucian ethics were the standard or less among the students of the ,of scholarship.
normal schools and academies. But recently the Chinese Govern- They form the staple of articles in the ment has made a decided innovation current newspaperIiteratul'e, and the on these centuries-old customs. In materialistic tendency of thought 1888 the Peking Gazette, the official organ of the Emperor, added ques- are uncounted, but 'who in 1843 tions on foreign :science and learning, prmtedoverthree hundred thousand to the examination papers of the tracts, and as long ago as 1872 these tens of thousands of students as- aggregate initial forces had in circusembled at the provincial and metro- lation more than ten millions of politan examinations. Thjl Govern- separate issues. It is impossible to ment had, some time before, engaged follow the development of this foreigners to translate books and agency over anyone of the great follow the current periodicals of heathen countries. . other countries and translate every article bearing upon China; and The rapid growth and the steadily these translations were printed in an augmenting demand may be seen by official newspaper published every a slight glance at the Madras Refifth day for exclusive circulation ligious Tract and Book Society which among the Chinese official class. in the first fifty-five years of its ex- istence printed 7,521,529 copies, and We have no space to show the lit- in the next nine years printed as erary influences which are pervading many more. Forty years latercame other mission countries, such as the the Christian Vernacular Education Spanish-speaking populations of Society, which averaged for its first Mexico, the Argentine Republic, and twenty-two years put into circulaothers on the American continent, tion nearly two and three-quarter nor that of Italy and even of parts millions of publications. Far in the of Africa. Northwest the Punjab, Lucknow and oth!'lr presses have poured forth Enough has been thus hurriedly 'their leaves which are for the healing traversed, to show the vast and im- of the nations. minent need of the hour in the use of the press for evangelical pur- The early China missionaries acposes. Of course we cannot recount complished marvels in the producwhat has a.lready been done in the tion of literature. Commencing department of missionary labor. with Joshua Marshman, the first When Carey, Marshman and Ward translator of the Scriptures into Chion Lord's day, March 30, 1800, stand- nese, who began his work in Seraming at a four corners, or four-cross- pore in 1799, we have a noble band i'oads, sang Bengali hymns, and of litterateurs. Dr. Morrison became then distributed them in print the author of 13 Chinese and 19 Engamongst the people, they began the. lish works; Dr. Milne, of 21 Chinese mightiest revolution the Continent and 3 English; Dr. Medhurst, of 63 of India could experience. Within Chinese, 29 English and 7 Malay; twice twelve montns they had dis- Gutzlaff, of 61 Chinese, 2 Japanese, tributed 22,OQO tracts in the vernacu- 1 Siamese, 5 Dutch, 7 German and 9 lar, and these grew to at least a mil- English; Mr. Muirhead, of 89 .Chilion tracts and pamphlets by 1806, nese and 8 English. Drs. Doolittle, and the year 1815 alone saw the cir- Legge, Edkins and others kept the culation of far more than a hundred literary current flowing in Chinese, thousand. The Church of England, Mongolian, Malay, Japanese, Siathe Baptist, and the London Mission- mese, Dutch, German and English, aries in Calcutta re-enforced the ef- and now Dr. Yung J. Allen tells us forts of the "Serampore Three" in he has translated 90 volumes of his- 1818, the one with 6,000, the next tory, geography and science. OCthe with 15,000, and the last with 88,000 Christian presses estab.lished in variprinted issues, and the whole cul- ous parts of this Empire, there is no minated in the Calcutta Christian space to write. The last annual re- Tract and Book Society, whose issues port of the American Presbyterian Missionary Society says of the press the all-round development ofa at Shanghai: "The business of the Christian church and a distinctly press comprises two departments- Christian civilization. Neither ha.ve the manufacturing and the distribut- we cared to discuss the numerous ing. The former includes the foun- phases of the scope to be given dry, typesetting, pi'inting and bind- to the Christian press in these ing. The foundry has seven casting countries. How far it should be machines constantly at work which ' confined to religious publications, cast six sizes of Chinese type, besides or take also secular type and English, Korean, Manchu, Japanese, much besides, are questions for Hebrew, etc. There is also ma- separate discussion. It is, how- chinery for stereotyping, electrotyp- ever, not much except a question of ing, matrix-makifig, typecutting and capital. Why should not a mission engraving." Three presses are run press issue educational books which by gas, and five by hand, and from 80 tend to augment the intellectual life to 100 persons have been employed. of a people, even if it be in the form And now comes the statementwhich of elementary school books?
caused us to select this press as an The Greek "Alphabetarian" was illustration; " The earnings of the issued by the American Board press at press for the year, including increase Malta in 1829, 27,000 copies of which in the plant, stock, etc., were $12,- were sold in two years. Rev. Mr.
629.65, of which $5,000 were turned Craven issued a small Hindustani into the treasury for current mission dictionary with discriminating defi- work." We do not mean that it is nitions and carefully selected illus- alone in this self-supporting and trations, which was published at the revenue-yielding feature. It is not energetic Methodist Press in Luck- singular herein, else the very point now, India, and 60,000 copies were we desire to make would be dulled, sold in two years.
viz. : that it would seem that no de- These incidentals, however, of the partment of work could so readily mJl>in question should not divert our be made self-perpetuating as a mis- thought from the vast and rapidly sion press, and that a round sum increasing necessity which exists, given for the foundation of a press that the Christian Church shall mul- would be as wise and as useful a dis- tiplythe operations of its press in all position of money as would the en- foreign fields a hundredfold and do dowment of a professorship or even it at once. The hour has struck. The of a college. The power, the reach, procession moves. What we do we the influence of the press, is honey- must do qUickly.
combing tl1ese heathen communities, and the Christian Churr:h should .. Honor the Emperor, :Believe in take such large leadership of the :Buddha." general movement over the world as "Son-NO Ho-Butau Dai Dodan,"
will secure, if not the control of the which is translated in the caption of press in these great countries, yet, our articl~, is the title of the new as- at least such moral power as will sociation in Japan which seeks to materially affect its issues. secure a revival of Buddhism.
We have not discriminated between The Japanese Buddhist is becom- the necessity of furnishing health- ing sensitive to the Christian mis- ful literature for the heathen, and sion, and compliments its efficiency that of meeting the wants of the nat- by seeking to stir up his co-religion- iveChristian community–a commun- ists to rivalry with its pl'opaganda.
ity which must be furnished with all The Japanese newspapers have for the many-sided literature essential to some while past been tellin~ of able
INTERNATION.ll
Buddhist preachers undertaking to in operation along with the course of expound their doctrines with re- the social developments with the newed activity, a~d also of the es- moral and intellectual progress.".
tablishment of schools and other This, to an English reader, is atleast agencies in imitation of Christian a little less mysterious than Om missionary methods, all intended Mani Padn~, the unknown prayer to to counteract the force of Christian the unknown God of unknowable evangelism. The Lew missionary Buddhism.
society organized by these Buddhists But the editor of Bijou publishes can be partly understood by the fol- several letters from persons in this lowing quotation from its prospec- country, describing the hollowness tus: of Christianity and exalting Budd- .. Son-No Ho-Butsu Dai Dodan is an asso- hism as pre-eminently adapted to ciation established for the purpose of main- the needs of the Western barbarians. taining the honor and majesty of our Em- The editor thus expounds Buddhism peror and the truth of the doctrine of for English readers: Buddhism-a union of those who wish to protect our land and religion from the con- .. The fundamental ideas on which Budd- tempt of foreigners. Those who unite with hism hingesare, that the !ltate of constancy, us are expected to avoid everything that or eternal continuance, cannot be found in would lessen the reverence due to his Im- the whole universe, and that there is noth- perial Majesty or the infiuence of Buddhist ing to be pointed to as egoity : and the ob- doctrine. For instance, in selecting our ject of Buddhism is to drive away the conrepresentatives to the national parliament, fusion, and acquire the illumination, of the to provincial assemblies, to town councils psychical state. Every sect agrees on the or local offices, in the distribution of all fundamental idcas and the object; but honors, in appointing school teachers, of- there are found many grades of practice ficials of societies and business companies and principles in the preachings of the etc., we pledge ourselves carefully to ex- Tathagata himself, as well as of the deficlude all who are disloyal to the Emperor or nitions of several points of the doctrine. untrue to Buddhism by belicving in the This reason is that he intended to render foreign religion called Christianity. If these his teachings available to all the circumpoints are kept well in mind and carried out stances which the human beings present in practice, we, 39,000,000 of brethren united among themselves, that all they might be in one, will so protect our country that saved from the dark, miserable circle. This though many a difficulty and many an in- accounts for why Buddhism is divided into ternal social and political problem may sects;." The second extract is in verse, anp arise, still our Emperor's position shall is described as coming from the drama of stand secure and the doctrinc of Buddha the •• Toy Cart" : shall remain unshaken. Yes, if we but stand together on this solid foundation of truth, .. Be virtue, friends, your only store, the result will be that no foreign land will And restless appetite restrain, point at us with the finger of scorn. Now, brothers, if you can see the truth as here Beat meditation's drum, and sore stated do not hesitate to come and join our Your watchagainsteachsense maintain; band. Give us your hand, we shall then all stand together and add to the strength and The thief that stiII in ambush lies, life of our Yamato-damashii I" To make devotion'S wealth his prize.
In order to properly present the •Cast the five senses all away, That triumph o'er the virtuous will, interests of this missionarj society these Buddhists have established at The pride of self-importance slay, And ignorance remorseless ki1l.
So shall you safe the body guard./ And Heaven shall be your last reward."
Kioto a missionary magazine pub- There is, however, little occasion to lished in the English language with apprehend any protracted or powerthe title of Bijou of .Asia. The edi- ful movement toward a real revival tor says of Christianity in Europe of Buddhism, from the success of this -and America, "It is losing its influ- new departure of its missionary so- ence upon the social life and is drop- ciety and magazine. These move- ing away the principles forming the ments, intended as counter forces to part and parcel of its system, owing Christian aggressiveness, of which to the factors which naturally carne we have had many in India and ,I China, whether organized by Mos- powerful allies; shorn of means,of preatlge, lems, Brahmans or Buddhists, have of solid foundationi decay staril)g tb9l!l in been ShOl·t-lived, and are significant the face, no wonder they seek forsympathy rather as containing an acknowledg- and try all kinds of experiments. 'But 'this effort to tack themselves on to oUl-pOor, ment of the power of Christian mis- friendless.,deserted Emperor Is too comical.
sions and an apprehension of their Where is ther~ in all Japan a eJapallese further success, than as at all likely who does not reverence and honor his to furnish a true rallying point for Majesty Y But belief or unbelief in Budd- hism is a matter of choice that has not the revival of the fast decaying forces of remotest connection with our loyalty to the these old faiths in the face of the Emperor. Buddhism may have been of new civilization and the new dogma of Christianity. The editor of The benefit to Japan in olden times, butit is out- Christian, himself a Japanese, re- grown to-day 0.8 the clothes ot childhood are outgrown by one who has come to man- hood. Japan Is now putting away ohildish plying to the editor of the Bijou of things. If Buddhists want to form a politi- Asia, writes as follows: cal party to help themselves, let ,them form a really Buddhist party, and not attempt to .. Buddhism feels that the influence of the mix two things which are as fa.r as the poles old doctrine is decaying, and many are the asunder. But -this dragging in of religiOUS experiments and plans projected to save matters into political life, as they-wilIh to the waning cause. Five or six years ago do in regard to electionll, etc.., is a. matter they started a plan of preaching and lec- that cannot be too severely reprehended. turing on a large scale to expose th" errors We do not wish to see here the-poJitico- of Christianity and to expound the Buddhist religiolls contentions that disgrace papal law: at the same time Yaso-Taijl-Chris- countries. If Buddhism can hold its own tianity expelling society-was started with by the fair teaching of doctrine and by winhigh hopes. These plans failed and the next ning the hearts of the people well and go,od, move was to open girls' schools, establish but if it needs political power to preserve woman's societies, young men's associa- its life it must be in a pitiable condition intions, etc., etc., in imitation of the doings deed." of the Christians. All this is a benefit to Japan, no doubt, but it is suicidal for Budd- "Sunny Spain." hism. for Buddhism and education cannot THREE centuries ago Spain inaug- exist together. Superstition and knowledge urated in the City of Seville what will not mix. Buddhism looks upon Chris- France had theoretically originated tianity as its great enemy, but the real but dUl'st not then attempt to realize enemy of Buddhism is the light of the nine- amongst her people-the terrificInteenth century and the incoming of western science. In India. Bra.hminism is true to it- quisition. Nowhere, even in Spain, self eand opposes the education of the have so many been burned for fidelimasses !Lnd of woman; it may be respected ty to their convictions as here. Here while it is opposed by Christians. There old men, youths, girls died for their would be something manly in Japanese Buddhism standing its own ground and faith. Of the martyrs that cry be- fighting with its own weapons, but when it neath the altar what multitudes asholds its superstitions with one haud and cended from this city! a city so beaugrasps at edncation as an aid with the other tiful that the motto is current still, it IS simply to be pitied. The strength of Buddhism in Japan is wholly in uneducated "He who has not seen Seville, has elderly people, who still believe its teach- seen no wonder." ings. The boys and girls who entered the It was a happy day for Seville when primary schools when the present system was established are now becoming men Rev. L. S. Tugwell, the' British and women, taking the place of the elders chaplain at that place, purchased in who are little by little dropping out, and 1871 the fine old church, San Basilio, hence the decay of Buddhism. But now we have a new scheme. In reading the procla- once a Benedictine monastery, that mation of the Son-No Ho-Butsu we appre- 'ciate the trouble into which they have the gospel in its Simplicity might fallen and pity them, for they are like a once more be preached therein, and lonely castle in the midst of circling foes to ,whom nothing is left but hopelesssurrender. a congregation of a'thousand persons Within, scarcely an intelligent and edu- cated believer; without, no rich or wise or assembled. That work has extended over many parts of Spain; We read of crowded congregations at Malaga,
TJUIl MONTHLY OONOERT OF-KISSIONS
where cruel persecution has failed to – The ticket olllce in the Callt lit Sevilla does Dot su.bdue the pastor or injure the work, open until Saturday; but on Friday 3,000 .per- sons assemble in front of the D68pacho, and and of the success of village missions, walt there Courteen hours in order to prooure and of one occasion where over 200 – cards of admission. A detachment of troops is persons were unable to gain admis- sent to keep order, but Cor all that there Is a.
sion to the room, listening eagerly good deal oC rough horse-pisy. Blows are struck. – at the door and windows. "We have revolvers are produced, arrests are made, and indeed many trials," writes one pas- the authorities threaten to clear the streets'. As this would deprive the multitude of their covet- tor, "but come what may we must ed seats in the bull-ring, order is eventnally re- preach Jesus." stored. Fearing a serious conllict in the Calle But Spain is still a Roman Catho- de Sevilla, however, the Governor of Joladrld lic country. An Evangelical pastor arranges for the tickets to be sold at the bull . ring itself. Directly this announcement is made tells us that when a bull fight, some the crowd march In a compact body to the time ago, was to be given on Sunday Plaza de TOf'08. When the tickets are proafternoon in Seville, in aid of the duced, nearly 10,000 people are standing In the Roman Church, the corners of the blazlnj!; sunshine. On Sunday all the great cen· streets were covered with posters on which the Virgin Mary was repre- ters ot the City are deseried. The Fine Arts Exhibition, which is open free, has scarcely a visitor. But the bull-rlng-the admission to sented as seated between a bull and which is from 14 to 15 twenty-five shilllng……..is a bull-fighter. A recent writer gives packed, and as much as £10 is paid for a seat us this description of the Sunday, for in the shade. which the Roman Catholic Church is responsible in Spain. He writes of "It is a terrible fact that the priest and the bull· fighter are the two chief factors of the day. in- deed, they go together, for bull-fights are fre- Madrid: quently given in aid of the expenses of public .. There is to ,be an extraordinany bull-light on worship, and the proceeds of the revoltinc e1- Sunday, and special attractions are announced. hibltions are called" pWu8 alml."
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.
SUBJECTS for the month: Africa 7. Malayo-Polynesian, Madagasand Freedmen. Consult volume for car. 1888, pp. 411, 468, etc. This is a valua.ble classification. AFRICA.-Physicallyit is compared Religion.-Some of the tribes are to an inverted saucer, the coast line so low sunk in barbarism that they comparatively low, ascending to come as near as any people to no reranges of hills and mountains, with ligion; the language has no words to table lands, SOOO feet high, beyond express properly religious and spirand between. Population vaguely itual ideas; and the consciousness of estimated at 200,000,000 and over. spiritual things, and almost the ca- Keane arranges the -races in seven pacity for apprehending them seem main groups according to language. no longer to exist. Moffat thought some of the people scarcely reachable 1. Semitic, along north coast and even by the gospel, and counseled in AbyssiDia. as the threefold condition of all suc- cess, "Patience, Patience, PA- 2. Hamitic, Sahara, Egypt, Galla and Somali.
S. Fulah-Nuba, in Western Cen- TIENCE." tral and Eastern Soudan. Throughout the northern region, 4. Negro, Western and Central Sou- the crepd of the Moslem is nomina.lly dan, Upper Nile and Upper Guinea. prevalent but is not practically very influential. It is rather a barrier to 5. Bantu, south o[ 60 n. Lat. except the gospel than a positive religiOUS in Hottentot land. belief. On the west coast the Mo- hammedans are divided into Mar- 6. Hottentot, extreme southwest (rom Cape to Tropic of Capricorn. abouts and Soimachees ; the former ers or canoes to give alfJes.8. tQ these are rather stricter in observing the teeming millio.ns. One sta.rts-it(b~ laws and customs of the sec~the mouth of this imperial strea.m and Pharisees of the Mussulmans In Af- ascends 125 miles of navigable river, rica-while the latter are looser, then for 185 miles encountel'S rapids more secular, even eating pork and and cataracts; bu.t beyond that for drinking intoxicants. over1.000 miles, from Stanley Pool to Stanley Falls, is one grand stretch of Fetichism is more widely prevalent navigable river, with branches runin Africa than in any other land. It ning each way navigable from 100 to is the lowest form of superstition 800 miles, and leading into the heart and both marks and makes the deep- of this rich and populous territory. est degradation where it prevails. Dr. Burrell in his excellent book on The people from the river-mouth the"Religionsof the World" compre- up to Stanley Pool and the equator hensively describes Fetichism thus: line are civilized by contact with "A Fetich is any material thing, white traders, and their pagan cusliving or dead, not divine, to which toms largelymodifled. They speak reverence is paid on account of a one language, musical. of Jarge casupernatural influence proceeding pacity of expression and easy of from it. acquis~tion, and along this line the seven Congo stations are already Central Thought: a man not the planted. 'Beyond the point where the controller of his own affairs. 1. His Congo crosses the equator, lies anmaster is Fetich, the fortune giver. other vast populatIOn, . more de- 2. He may have many fetiches of graded, less civilized, and needing at divers kinds. 3. Fetichism is not once the full array of Christian Polytheism, Henotheism or Panthe- institutions, but yet entirely desism. 4. It is however a system hav- titute. ing both a creed and a cultus. 5. It is better than materialism, for it Their moral and· spiritual state is holds to the- reality of supersensib1e hardly conceivable without contact things. To the question: What shall with them. With no idea of God or I do to be saved? it gives no answer. immortality, they worship fetich cha.rms; sickness is not brought about Africa is so wide a territory, that by natural causes, but is the result of in addition to matter furnished in. enchantment; hence the medicinethe last volume, we give only notices man must trace disease and death to of some few missions. some unhappy human victim or victims who must suffer the witch's The Oongo Mission. penalty. One death therefore means another-it may be a dozen. Here A grand open door is that which God runawayslaves are crucified, robbers has set bef "Ire our Baptist brethren in buried alive, young men .cruelly dethe Congo basin! a million square capitated, andhuman beings areeven miles in the heart of equatorial devoured for meat. Africa, made accessible by the great Congo and its tributaries. And yet this people, after centuries of virtual seclusion, are now both The great lakes, Nyassa, Victoria, Iitel'ally and morally accessible. They Tanganyika, are isolated; they must welcome missionaries, come to. the be approached by a long and weary chapels, and prove teachable. Even walk of from 500 to 800 miles from now cruel customs and superstitious the coast, and afford no means of notions are giving way before patient, penetrating the surrounding coun- humble, scriptural instruction. .The try; but the Congo and its branches walls are down, and the hosts of God present from 4,000 to 6,000 miles of river roadway, needing only steamha.ve but to march straight on and heroism of the gospel does not de- take what Dr. Sims calls "the last mand needless exposure or careless stronghold of Paganism." venture.
Wonderfully indeed has God linked Here is a grand opportunity. It Protestant, Greek, Roman Catholic, m'ay be doubted whether there has, and even Moslem 'nations in the ad- been anything like it since the ministration of the Congo Free State. clarion voice of our Great Captain Never was such a highway open for trumpeted forth the last commission. the gospel since our Lord ascended. Ethiopia is stretching forth her hands unto God. On those hands The Arabs from Zanzibar and the are the marks of manacles which coast are moving up toward Stanley England and America helped to rivet Falls and the north country, estab- there. There is but one atonement lishing themselves in large villages we can make for Africa's wrongs-it to capture slaves and carryon ne- is to lay down our lives, if need be, farious traffic, while the Protestant to redllem her sable sons from the forces slowly move upward from the captivity of sin. west. The question is, Who is to occupy the Congo Basin? and the We ought to turn this Congo into question is to be settled at once. This a river of life, crowd its waters great highway of rivers means traffic with a flotilla of Henry Reeds, line and travel; this rich and splendid its banks with a thousand chapel tropical country invites trade and spires, plant its villages with Chris- settlement. Into whose hands shaH tian schools, let the Congo Free such a heritage be surrendered? The State mark its very territory with Christian Church must give prompt the sign of Christian institutions, so answer by action, her reply must be a taking possession, and the old law that to cross its border will be to pass is the new one: "Every place that from darkness unto light. Where is the sole of your feet shall tread upon our Christian enterprise, that such a shall be yours:" the resolutions of work, with such a field and such . enthusiastic missionary conventions, promise, should wait for workmeq the prayers of all Christendom, the and for money! What do our con- planting of the banner of the cross verted ypung men want, as a chance at a few commanding points-all to crowd life with heroic service, that this .will not do. We must send out the Congo basin does not attract enough Christian laborers to meas- them! Here what a' century ago ure off that soil with their own feet. would have taken fifty years. to ac- complish, may be done in five. The " But it is unhealthy"? So are all unexplored interior is open, the dark tropical and especially equatorial continent waits to be illumined. climes to those who are not ac- Nature· has cast up her highway of customed to the intense and steady waters, and there is no need to gather heat, and do not use common sense out the stones. Give us only the 'in adapting their clothing, eating and two-wheeled chariot, with steam as drinking, and habits of life, to these the steed to draw it, and the men and peculiar surroundings. One must not women to go in it bearing the gospel, go from temperate to torrid zone, andfl'om end to end of this highway and wear the garments, eat the heat- we can scatter the leaves of that tree ing food, use the stimulating drinks which are for the healing of the na- and risk the exhausting labors which tions. are permissible in cooler latitudes. A trip to New Orleans or Florida has Where are the successors of Mof- proved fatal to many a fool who fatt and Livingstone! What a hero would not take advice. Even the was he who dared forty attacks of fever and then died on his knees be-
sid~Lake·. Bang-wealo, tliat he might of lieen already formed neaHj ',400
tip open. tbe 'dark recesses of Africa, members, witbas many more'~p:: plying. There were two out-stations. to the missionary I Let us pour men A native elder had moved for health's sake to a new part of the country a.nd money at the fe'8t of our Lord. and some six months after 40 con: verts were gathered into a churoh,· We'have not yet paid our debt to the fruit of his work. Some three: Simon the Cyrenean and the Eunuch years and more ago a chief asked for'· the fifth time to have a station in of Ethiopia! his territory, and just then Barclay Amerioan Mission in ~t. Church,Edinburgh,oifered to support an evangelist. Thus the request Rev. Dr. Muchmore writes: was providentially met and shortly " At the request of Ismail Pasha, there were 93 converts. Said Pasha made the mission, in its infancv, a present of an old building, For 50 years the Dutch Boers which" served them a long time. opposed the work, and even burned Being in the way of the improve- down Livingstone station. Now they ment of Ismail, he proposed to give theni in exchang'e the present posi- themselves are crying out for evantion, On which they erected the pres- gelists. They seemed moved by the 'tmt building, so spacious and so belief that they were the modern adequate to all their needs. In ad- Israel of God, to destroy others about dition he gave them about thirty-five them as God's people did the Ca~ thousand dollars. The money for naanites. the building was nearly all given by outside friends in England and We have elsewhere rE'ferred to the America. The mission field has as cruelty and tyranny of the native centers Alexandria, Monsura, Cairo, chiefs as seen in ,Dingaan, a Zulu, , Assiout and Luxor. They have of who when 100 girls came bringing communicants, 2,042; attendants, provisions to the Kraal, the tribe 4,449 ; evening prayer-meetings, they came from havingoifended him, 2,180 ; which is a wonderful dis- and one girl being considered the closure of true inner life, for this is equivalent of 30 cattle, he killed the the test everywhere of a standing or girls in one foul massacre, thus ex- falling church. In the next test- acting the penalty for the offense, ben'evolence-they do not faU behind. 3,000'head of cattle. He sent out There is raised by native members two spies to hunt for cattle, and and adherent.s for church work $5,043 they mistook game for horned -$2.49 per member. They gave also cattle. He ordered theil eyes to educationalcongregationalschools gouged out, saying, "Of what use $5,508. In tuition fees in all schools, are eyes f0 such men!" Similar city and counil-y, $11,211. Whole things are going on now along the value of the property of the mission Zambesi. It was to such people that $193,304, a good showing for thirty- Rev. W. H. Thompson first brought three years. In the schools of Miss the gospel: and now over 200,000 are 'Vhateley are between three and under its influence, over 50,000 are four hundred boys and girls. These now church-members,and onechurch beneficial statements are fm'ther con- numbers 1,400. There are five or six firmed by the reading habits .of the training schools; LovedaZe is con- people. Bibles and books are sold, spicuous for its educational work: 9.651 volumes, money realized $2,552. out of 2,000 or 3,000 pupils only 15 Religious publications, 8,993 vol'lmes; have gone back to heathenism. money realized, $1,149. Educational books for schools sold everywhere, Rev. Robert Cleland writes from 19,179; money realized, $4,405. Total Chiradzulo: attendance in the Sabbath·schools, 417. "
Zululand.-Ourpersonalfriend, Rev. James Scott, of Impolweni, gave in the course of the mission tour in Scotland in August, 1888, a most fascinating account of his own work in Zululand. A church had
· 1881).} THE MONTBLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS•
.. Perhaps in 110 part of the heart of Africa are came a freedman. there were 4,000.000 of peo–., there so many memories clustered as here. A pie who owned not an average of ten cents little over twenty years ago, and livingstone apiece, Ignorant; nnable to read and writewttb, came here with Bishop Mackenzie and that ill· few' exceptions; but with a religlou8 aptitude fated band. Within five miles lies that beauty-· possessed by few peoples, !laving a reverence Cully·situated spot, Magomero-heautiful, as for holy tbingsthat admitted no skepticism fir kneeling nnder an arch made by a thousand infidelity, and a strange respect tor the marcreepers, we find the open grave of poor "Birrup riage relation, notwithstanding they had been who, dying, buried his dead bishop, only to re- educated in the midst of a system of concubintreat along those solemn fOreRt plains to die. To age and compelled to regard the relation of husthis spot, again and again on his last journeys, band and wife. parent and child as dissolvable the great.souled livingstone turned with a glad at the will oC the master." Be says tbia race is hope not unmingled with a feeling of regret. doubling every thirty-fivo years. Bere the gospel was first planted in the heart of this great land." -In the South there are now 16,000 colored teachers, 1,000,000 pupils, 17,000 in the male and The Rev. Dr. Daniel Lindley, who' female high schools, and 3,000,000 worshipers for twenty-five years was a mis- in the churches. There are 6 normal schools, sionary among the Zulus, used to tell 50 colleges and universities, and 25 thoological some very interesting stories about seminaries. They pay taxes on nearly $2,000.- those poor blacks, who are very ig- 000 worth of property. This in the Southern States, which, if including the Northern States, norant, and live in a very miserable would double the property valuation. way, wearing little or no clothing, and having wretched huts for homes. This is a wonderful showing from a race that has 200 year~ of slavery and 4,000 years ofbarba. OC('Atsionally a poor, naked, black rism back of It, when in 20 years of emancipac man would come to him and ask for tion, under all lis repressive circumstances, it a shirt. None could be obtained makes such a showing. American generOSity within 200 or 300 miles, except from has done for the Sonth in 20 years what states- Dr. Lindley, who was glad to supply manship has failed in for over a century; but the man at cost. Next, he would generosity should not be depended upon, RS want a pail' of trowsers; then he even that can reach a limit. The negro popuwould bring a rqugh piece of plank lation Of the United States is now 7.000,000. or slab of a tree, and three stakes, and ask the missioqary to bore hole& African NoteS.-The area is estimated in it, that the stakes might be placed at 8,500,000 square miles, exclusive of in them for legs, and thus make a islands. Of the territory of Africa, England has stool; for he would be unwilling to sit the controlling influence over 1,000,000 square on the ground with his new clothes; miles; Germany, 740,000; France, 700,000; other then he would want a chair for his powers-Portugal, Italy, etc.-have various wife, and would begin to treat her possessions, raising the whole to 6,500,000 and their little children more kindly. square miles. Now, for that Zulu to come to beg for a shirt wa:;; the same as declaring -Bechuanaland postal-runners carry the that he mean t to give up heathenism mail at the rate of 130 miles a day-each runner and become a Christian. covering 15 miles. The. route hetween Tangier and Fez, in Morocco, is 150 miles of mountain- The Freedmen. ous, crooked roads, and bridgeless and ferryless rivers. The Arab earriersrun, walk and swim SENATOR BRUCE, in his lecture on this distance in three and a half days. the Race Problem, says: -An African traveler, Commander Cam- .. The people of the United States have en' eron,states that half a million negroes on that countered on their soil three other races: the continent are taken from their homes and sold red Indian, the yellow Chinaman and the black into slavery every y"ar. African. The red man's land, the Chinaman's labor, and the negro's peraon have been ap- -The London MiSSIonary Society Mission propriated. Race conflicts sometimes prodnce on Lake Nagami, in South Africa, reports' an amalgamation of the Inferior as hi Mexico, ex- iateresting ea.se of a self-taught preacher, termination as In the case of Indians, and the Bokaba, who had learned the truth from porsubordination as in case Of the blacks. tions of scriptural translstions made by Dr. When the war'ended and the co:ored lDan be- Moffat and Rev. Wm. Ashton in 1857. Be had found the 53d chapter of Isaiah, and had been led to behold there" the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Very hum- hIe in spirit, he has neverthless proclaimed the truth to all about him. .. It is all bahblement," he says. "We are like infants; but the mother understands her Infant, and God understands His children better still."
EDITORIAL NOTES. [ J
-The veteran Dr. )(oll'at, after hearing a deplorable condition. At e•." 1IIDIl' harbOr Christian brother remark that If he were a on the coast may be (ound Bnlpburie RIllcl, aqar yonng man he would go to Africa, said:" I and water, which these tradera sell as braDdy, wonld go to·morrow were it in my power; and I think I am not too old yet… gin, etc. The first German Colonr aOO the Congo lands Mao were bought with liquor. . -One ofthe m,oat terrible facts in modern bottle of rum is current coin. The clamor for drink Is heard here as Cor .. Backsheesh .. history is the forcing of ligum trade upon in Arab lands. One ship brought to the Niger Africa by nominally Christian nations. It is 300,000 bottles oC gin. Brandy has almost taken the unanimous testimony of missionaries that the place oC the native beer on the gold coast; the natural cruelty and bloodthirstiness of the and drunkenness has become so common Africans are kindled into the madness of , that it is a rnle not to visit an omcial after dinner. demons by ftrewater, and beneath the wounds No street preaching is allowed in the evening, of European traders this poor land lies bleeding for no man dare face the intoxicated mnltltude. at every pore. From the cradle to the grave every evening in the West African's life Is saturated with strong- When Bishop Penick reached Africa in 1877, drink. Funerals are horrible to see, sometimes the first word of English he heard breaking $500 being spent for rum and powder on such from African lips was an oath, showing that occasions. A missionary says at times a whole the devil's missionaries had outstripped the village is drunk. )(any sleep with a bottle missionary of Christ. The steamer on under their heads, for use during the night. which he sailed from Liverpool carried fOOT One native dealer is reported as keeping 96.000 missionaries and $50,000 worth of rum to the bottles of brandy in stock for the Interior west coast, and weekly that amount was sent from the civilized world to curse that people. trade." An African missionary writes:" The steamer The New York Timea:" Every ship that on which we came brought apparatus to establish a mauufactory of brandy. They will soon have takes missionaries to Africa carries enough 700 barrels of the poison ready for sale." The poisonous rum and gin to offilet in evil the good etl'ects of a thousand missionaries. Since the secretary of the London Missionary Society opening of the Oongo region enormous quanreports that in all the tribes of South Africa tities of the stutl'-so vile that there is rio brandy is the greatest curse of the natives• market for it in any civillzed country-has .. The bralldy-keg does far more harm than the been shipped to the savages. 14lssionaries in all parts of the Dark Continent are now pleadpowder-barrell " .. Mohammedan influence hinders the sale ing with European governments, for the restric- tion or abolition of the tramc. " of liquors on the East Coast; but iii spite of that the German traders import $20,000 of brandy a No wonder Christian people are petitioning year. In South Africa, Hottentots, Kamrs and those in authority to suppress this iniqnltous others perish beneath this curse by thousJ.nds. tramc on foreign shores I On one Sunday noon,an English gentleman count ed at the diamond fields 317 natives dead drunk, One distillery in Medford. Mass., has a conwhile many others were partially intoxicated." tract to supply parties in the Congo Free State with 3,000 gallons a day for seven years I .. West Africa is, If possible, in a still more VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ONCURRE:NT TOPICS.
Another Assault on Missions. ably inadequate; he thinks the com- mittees at home largely responsible, FOLLOWING in the wake of Canon and that there is urgent need both Taylor, Mr. W. S. Caine, }:[. P., vis- of better men and better methods. iting India, etc., indulges in some- what superficial but critical remarks Mr. Caine is a brilliant example of on missions, which have broughtout the inadecluacy of the ordinary tour- a heavy counterfire from Secretary ist to make accurate observations or , Baynes, of the Baptist Missionary induce sound conclus~ons touching Society, andR. Wardlaw Thompson, missions. He writes about Indian of the London Missionary Society-. missions with the air of a thorough The replies, however courteous, are explorer, yet his travels have been a merciless exposure of the super- entirely confined to North India, for ficialityof his information, and the many reasons the hardest and most injustice of his strictures and the in- barren part of the whole field.' In accuracy of his statements. He at- the Madras Presidency he might find tempts to make out the educational tens of thousands of converts, and policy a conspicuous failure, and the in Ongole and the Telugu country numerical results of missions miser- the greatest harvest field'since apo6-
NOTES
'to!icdays. Yet he. knows nothing of he mistakes egregiously when he the Arcot, Madura, Tinnevel1y, My- prOnounces their "failure complete sore districts or of the work of the and unmistakable" in this direction.
L. M. S. in the Canarese country and He forgets the intelligent and sym- Tra.vancore. pathetic hearers, not to say actfYe Even as to North India, where helpers, who are furnished to evan- Moslem bigotry and Brahman idola- gelistic missionaries from the stu- try have built barriet·s so far insuper- dents trained in these schools; and able, Mr. Caine's criticisms are mis- overlooks the secret faith which as leading. He overlooks Rohilcund yet is not bold enough to face oppo- and the work of the Americl:.n Meth- sition and persecution by open eon- odists, I:.nd Ahmednuggur and the fession. When he advocates the gra.nd missions of the A. B. C. F. M. turning over to the Government of and Calcutta with the work of the all secular education, he evidently L. M. S. In all these not only are , did not know that he was committing there many converts, 'but a con- one of those blunders which Talley- stantly Msing ratio of increase. Mr. rand pronounced worse than a Caine seems to have turned his blind crime. The Indian Govet'nment is, eye to almost every successful field on all matters connected with moral- and his open eye to the more difficult ity and religion, avowedly and neces- and fruitless ones. sarily neutral. To hand. over the With the iron flail of Talus, he entire training of India's vast multi- would at once demohsh all the mis- tudes to agencies destructive, not sion schools and turn over all secular constructive, or to associations posi- education to the Government! This tively 'and professedly heathen in ." Daniel" comes to jUdgment, and character and sympathy, would be in an instant would settle questions madness.
that have engrossed the attention of Mr. Caine is troubled with the cost the ablest men from William Carey of maintaining missionaries. He to AlexanderDuff and John Wilson- thinks the fact that the missionary with one stroke sweepirig away the ., lives in a good bungalow. eats the laborious work of a half century I sacred cow, drives his dog-cart and Mr. Caine is not embarrassed by his is in all respects a BurraSabib," puts humility. "M. P." does not stand an impassable gulf between him and for modest person. Should nis ad- the ordinary Hindu; and holds up in vice' be followed, men who have admiring cou.trast the Salvation studied Indian missions on the Army and the Jesuits. He says, if ground for a generation would con- all the English Protestant missionsider that the religious future of ary societies could furnish 200 men India was disastrously wrecked. He of lil,e devotion, the work of con- seems to think the major part of the verting India would begin. He admissionaries are giving the bulk of vocates celibacy and asceticism as their time to educational work. conditions of success. As to the whereas of the 48 male missionaries in Salvation Army, etc., even those India, in the employ of the L. M. S., who most admire their self-denial, only one-fourth are teaching; and question. the e15ciency and wisdom of the $125,000 spent annually there by this society, only one-twelfth was of their methods and the pt'obability of their ultimate and pet'm~nent granted last year to educational success. And as to celibacy, Dr.
work. Eli Smith, the hero of Syrian mis- Mr. Caine observes quiie truly that "ions and one of the wisest men ever the number of conversions directly on the field of Oriental missions, traceable to the schools is small, but emphatically advised young men to
married to the illi$sion field., and English membel' of Farliamenti{'al_
his cI"owning reason was th3ot'heath- though it must be confessed that 8; enism needed nothing more than the letter'to the secretary of ~e s~e practical exhibition inthe Christian ties would have seemed the first im- home of what Christianity can do pulse of a real friend of missions, for the woman and wife, mother and lest inaccurate statements and un- daughter, and for the whole house- warl'anted conclusions might be hold life. Who dares to say in the rashly put before the public. But, light of history and experience, that attributing to Mr. Caine only the best it is wise to erect in India a celibate of motives, we are constrained to say and ascetic order of ministers, as a. that if he should in a speech in Par- normal Ohristian product, where the liament betray as little knowledgeof very fact of celibacy is a presump- the subject and as fallacious and tion against chas tity! Mr. Caine superficial a course of argument,' he may be a fall' Parliamentarian, but would very soon become a carcase for he is not a safe umpirical critic of the vultures to pick in pieces. We Indian missions. We prefer as a are reminded of Dr. Parr's witty re- judicious and judicial observer some tort to the student who proposed to man like Sir Bartle Frere or the write a book jointly with him: "If Viceroy Lord Lawrence, who has we should write a book and I should lived on the very ground and knows put in all Iknowandyou all lIoU don't, what he talks about. what a big book we would make!" .
Where MI". Caine got his mathe- The following paragraph from the ..Britiah matics we cannot conjecture. He Weekly" may throw additional light on the reports 62 English Baptist mission- matter of Mr. Ca.ine's opposition: .. The main points stand out quite distinctly. In the flret aries at work in India instead of 42, place Xr. Caine, previoU8 to his going to India and makes the number to have was not a subscriber to either the lIaptist or the • doubled from 1880 to 1888; whereas London MIssionary Society,a fact which shows' it has only risen from 35 to 42, one- that he was prejudiced against them. In the second place, belore he went the friends of the fifth increase. He reports the net Society were made aware that he intended to at- increase in the Baptist churches in tack them. In the third place, 8 propotlal WM – India for the year previous as 53 in- made by his friends that he shonld go out as a stead of 153; and his eager eye does representative olthe committee. In the fourth· not discern that the rate of progress place, Xr. Caine, without submitting Imy of his upon previous membership is far in grievances to the responsible authorities, rushed exceSB of that of the whole Church with them into print. The result has been, it is said, a temporary diminution of contribntions, of Christ in England during tpe same , a result not to be wondered lot when itis remem- bered how many are always seeking aneXCU8e to period, notwithstanding the far more escape from giving. but the real damage bas fallnumerous and mountainous obstacles en upon Mr. Caine himself, and if he wishetl to that in this Gibraltar of heathenism know what opinion his countrymen haveformed confront the missionary. Mr. Caine ot him he has only to ascend a platform."-A.
tells us the net gain to native Baptist T.P.
churches has been only 746 during A oonJtliiSPONDBNT who forgot to lIign bls the past eight years, but he does not communication thinks tha~ the China say that during that time 3,830 con- Inla.nd Mission may be ma.de a means of verts were added to those churches. awa.kenlng missionary enthusiasm and He makes 495 salaried workers to be greatly extending the preaching of the in the employ of the Baptist mis- good news in that interesting country. He sions instead of 300. euggests tha.t it would be easy for every towu of, sa.y 10,000 inhabitants, to find 100 These are enough to show that persons zealous for missions, who would this self-constituted critic is a very give, in addition to their other o1ferl~s unsafe guide. We would not at- one cent a, da,y for the support of a missiontribute "malice prepense" to this a.ry in the China Inland: and tha.t this amount ~i8'ht ~ collec~ weekly or,
1889,]'
ll1!)nt;l4by ~,ehildr~n, thJls deepening sense of their stewardship intlie tneU' interest in-the :work. The persons ma.tter of property, eonscientiousin gi-viUgweekIy ~l.·;m;'nthIY to the work would the habit of ,regularly set.ting aside Iia.vetheir thoughts awakened and feel the Lord's portion, and faithful in mUl'hmoreci,uterest tban in,glYingonee a keeping it sacred and bringing it to, • year aIldthElll forgetting aU about it. The His treasury. No such system can money thus given bv members of dilferent be perfectly carried out unless each churches wonld draw them closer together, member becomes his own collector, helping to answer our Lord's prayer for for no collectors can be found to un- unity of heaJ,"t. The sanction of the pastors dertake to gatherall these little sums would be needed and then tberewould beno from so large a body of donors. The difficulty. And then this famine in China theory is perfect; the" BUT" lies in is"s'l'ch ~a grand 'opportunIty to show the its practical working. The Women's spirit and vallie of the religion of Jesus. Boards are doing more than all the Succor sent from far-olf lands, beCl!ouse our other agencies together to work out r~ligion prompts and requires such offer- this organization of the littles. ings, would'do more to recommend it than hundreds of missionaries could do. As to circulars and appeals, the editorsand publishersof this REvmw Weought'to do this work and give the cannot undertake to issue urgent ~p missionaries Oil the ground hundreds of peals for every needy and worthy thousands for distribution. A penny a day cause. We regard it our province to will preserve life there. One dollar would, present the facts and arguments of therefore,save a life for. 100 days. By that missions and leave them to make time something will grow that may be their own appeal. Every page of eaten. ' this REVIEW might be crowded with these special calls for help and lose We a,re asked by this correspondent to their power by theirfrequency. We send out a circular to subscribers, laying must set a rational limit to our this matter before them and teliing them provin~.-A. T. P. what 'to di>,and'he feels' sure 'that in re- sponseto such' burning words,thousands of AMONG other letters receiyed by the dollars would go to the relief of the starving editors is the following: Chiill;se. I am a subscriber to and a constant Such letters as this are not uncom- reader of your excellent REVIEW. It is mon, but they overlook two impor- worth Its weight in gold to the ca.use. I tant facts. First, there is no doubt write to ask can't you give us a. series of pointed and arousing"articles, <>n the subject that the true way to support mIs- of Monell, in its relations to the Kingdom oj sions i~ by gathering the mites sys- God, e. g., one on God's Dependence on Money, tematically and constantly, and so as the chief agency of evaDgelizing the ,world-not abBolute dependeJ1ce on it, of aggregating millions. Butthe trouble course, but His voluntary dependence on it isthe gathering. It is easy to demon- -you understand; one on the demands of strate that one cent a day given by a the age and times on the church for large million people amounts in a year to and increased surrender of the Lord's mouey $3,650,000, but the difficulty is to get in saving the world; one on God's OW7UlT- a million 'people to give the cent a ahip ot money and man a steward, and day, and to provide some way of other articles bearing on the general Hub- gathering such gifts. If we could ject. We need such articles from pens that "organize the littles" the problem can dissect all the main facts .in the case. would be solved, but after 1,800 years Just a.t this time, it Stems to me, 8uell a of Christian history it is still an un- series is demanded. The church must be ' aroused to her responsibili ties in the solved problem. A perfect system premises. Missions under God cIOn only suc- by which all church members may ceed by the use of money. You bave shown be reached, and small gifts regularly us the calls of tbenations; now wake n" n'p on and systematically collected and dis- the means to answer these calls. Tbe money tributed, will mark a much higher question ca,nnot be too elablrately bl'Ou;lt level of Christian liCe than we have ever yet attained. It demands not only a pastor, first of all in thorough sympathy with such plans, but a ({hurch membership imbued with a
NOTES
out ill, your pi!.ges a.nd burnt into the minds up the work, enlarged membership, of yonr readers. The church at large is £'1'0wing interest and larger contribufearfully derelict iu her guty. Hence a tions all along the line. An appeal stirring up of the whole subject of money was made lor $500 to aid Mr. McAU would, it seelDs to me, be in the direct in special work in connection with line of your mission. I should rejoice to see the coming Exposition in Paris, and such a ha.ndlin2: of the SUbject as you are the response, amid great enthusiasm, able togive it. I trust you will see your way was $2,500.-J. M. S. clear to gratify us along this line, and so help on the cause in one of its most, if not WE heartily indorse the words ~lf the most, e~sential plans and methods 01'- the Christian Intelligencer concerndaiued. ing an enterprise that deserves re- cognition and support on the part of The editors have long had this in the Protestant Church. mind, and OUi' brother's appeal only brings our own seed-thought to ripe- For ten years the Rev. James A. O'Connor ness. We propose a series of articles has been holding meetings in the Masonic on the ministry of money. We be- Temple, Sixth avenue a~d Twenty-third lieve this whole question needs a street, for the instruction of Romanists in very serious and thorough examina- the truths of the Scriptures. Be was once s tion, and we purpose to deal wIth the prip.st in the RomaI1 Church, and is thoronghly matter boldly and radically. It is acqnainted with the errors of that chnrch in manifest that money has never yet theory and practice and their disastrous come to the front in the work of results. He has exposed these errors' with evangelization. Thegivers are either singoJar discretion, aud has faithfoJly set over the few who give largely, or else the against them the revelations of the Word of many who give sparingly and inade- God. Cousequently there have been many couquately. But neither the rich nor versions every year, including several priests. the pOOl' have yet learned practically Last year two priests were sent by Mr. O'Conthe true doctrine of stewardship. nor to Princeton Seminary to prepare for the ministry. Mr. 0 Connor is strongly recom- The Amerioan MoAll Assooiation, mended by Dr. Howard Crosby, and by Dr. MacArthur, of the Baptist Church, "as admir- THE sixth annual meeting of this ably qualilled by his experience, as well as by association was heid in Philadelphia, his sonnd judgment, to preach Jes)ls to his April 10th and 11th, and was one of former co-religionists." Other ministers speak remarkable interest. The outgrowth with equal force in his favor. The mission has of the self-denying efforts of Miss for some time felt the neeil of a building of its Elizabeth Beach, who originated the own, in which all the departments of the work movement and founded auxiliaries can be housed, all the meetings held, and where in various cities of the Union, the priests leaving the Roman Church can lind a association has now become. national, temporary home. A suitable building in a conpr~ided over by Mrs. Marine J.Chase. venient location can be bought for $3O,COO, of The treasurer reported $30,795 sent which $1,400 have been given already without to France during the fiscal year-an solicitation. Contributions toward the pnrchase increase of $3,000 over the last year. can be sent to Mrs. William ·Campbell, Treas- The General Secretary reported urer. 36 West Eighteenth street, or the. Rev. 55,600 copies of publications-" Quar- James A. O'Connor Secretary of the Board of terly Record," leaflets, tracts, and Trnstees, 60 Bible House, New York.-J. M. S. pamphlets-issued during the year, and a widely increased publicity to WE have already commended to the work through the secular and the notice of our readers The Chinese religious press. The Representative Evangelist, published both in Eng- Secretary reported seven new Aux- lish and Chinese. Weare g'lad to iliaries formed, a notable increase in note its appearance in magazine the sympathy and co-operation of form as it begins its second year. pastors, three new States taking The office is now 52 West 22d street, where its editors will welcome all in- terested in the Chinese work. Its Ellglish editor is the son of Dr. Hap_ pel', of the Christian College in Can-
EDITORIAL
ton, and this first numbel' con tains a vexation ovel'the ••'total depra.vity of fine photograph of the stltdents now types.'~ In spite of plain copy, severa.l .in that college, which we hope to re- proof-readings and "eternal vigi- pI'oduce in a. future number of this lance," mistakes will creep into the REVIEW. The editor promises arti- printed page, and often they are in- cles during the current year from explicable, and no amount of invesH- several eminent. writers .who are gation suffices to bring to light the specially fitted to interest us in the real culprit. Thus in the May num- Chinese work. We feel that Mr. ber of this REVIEW that grand article Happel' deserves great praise for his by Prof. Leonard-The Marvels of heroic work in this field. There are Moravlan Missions-must be spoiled 100,000 Chinese in this country; by being transformed in the "Con- there are perhaps from eight to ten tents" to The Marvels of M01'mon thousand in New York, Brooklyn Missions I And, as if one such in- and Jersey City alone. Of this num- .iquity was not enough fOl' the num- ber but a small fraction are under ber, the" printer's devil," without a instruction in thEe' schools. There is shadow of reason or authority, must a large class, the "washers" in the slyly interpolate on page 393, at the laundries, who are anxious to leal'n, top of the column, a series offigures, yet never go to the schools, for many represen.ting years, which have no of them are middle-aged and too business there, the years at the top proud to go where their ignorance of the previous page governing the and slowness expose them to the ridi- entire columns on both pages.-J•. cule of the younge~'andsmarterones. M.S.
.. We do not ask for any donations, bnt we do WE have received advance sheets ask for dollars to be sent in payment for papers of Volume I. of THE MISSIONARY to be taken or sent to any Chinese 18undry YEAR BOOK which will be published where there is a sOlli who has not heard of the in a few days by Fleming H. Revell glorious go,pel, though living, perhaps, uuder of 12 Bible House, New York, simul- the very droppinl(s of the "anctnary. The Word taneously with its issue in London is a living Word aud powerful, and if one dollar by the Religious Tra.ctSociety. The can send an Evangehst to sueh a one t'velve American portion of the work-over times a year, who ean, perhaps, be reached in no one-fourth of the whole-has been other way, will anyone grudge the expense f" prepared by Dr. J, T.. Gracey, which -J.M.S. insures its being well done, In our next issue we will give further notice WE are happy to announce that of it. the Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of t.he Northwest has begun The Hebrew Messenger, edited by the preparation of a series of mis- Prof. Julius Magath, Emory ColJege~ • sionary maps. One on China is is welcomed to our list of exchanges, already published; one on India is and we warmly commend it to the in preparation, and maps of other sympathy and aid of all who are countri:J.& are to follow. The m:;,ps interested in Hebrew. mission work. are 4 by 5~ feet in size and mounted The editor writes: on cloth. Price $2.50 each. The price is very low, considering the .. The Hebrew Messenger is the only paper size and excellence of the maps. The of the kind published in the South. I try to proceeds are all to go to the society use all the time I can spare from my duties which .publishes them. as a professor In EmoryCollege to get Chris- tian churches interested in the evangeliza- IF there be any class of workers tion of Christ's own kinsmen according to that deserve commiseration, itis we thellesh." poor editors..In an editorial career of more than forty years, we have It is a. noble wOl'k and deserves the had occasion to shed many tears of prayers and aid of all God's people.
PROGRESS OF ,MISSIO~S-MONTliLY BULLETIN
VII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY / BULLETIN.
Afrlca.-Congo Baptist Mission. An- much damaged. It has sitting aCCOIllDla- other faithful workman- Mr. Slade, has dation for 1.000 worshippers, but at the Callen. The cry is for reinCorcements. 'Only opening service no less than 2,000 managed three men to speak to hundreds of thous- to squeeze into the building, and the school- ands willing to hear. Arthur Brooks, killed room and its grounds were thronged by January 21 by natives, was the eleventh thousands of spectators. All the chiefs but martyr of the East African Mission of the two of the Bonny district were present with London Missional"y Society. their a.ttendants. The service was con- -News reached Zanzibar January 17 oC ducted by the Bishop and his son, ,Arch- Arabs' attack on German station at Tugu. deacon Crowther.
and of massacre of three missiouaries,. The -The London Missionary Chronicle says: Arabs, incensed at the danger to their in- .. The East African situation has during the famous slave trade, are on ,the warpath, last five years undergone complete change and threa ten all missions. in consequence of German aggressions; and -H. M. Stanley. It is very refreshiug at slowly, but surely, Great Britain is discov- last to get definite and trustworthy intelli- ering that friendship with Germany is a gence from this intrepid explorer, whose costly article, and that German coloniza- real name, it appears, was John Rowland. tion schemes are inimical to British Com- His letter Crom the Aruwimi Ri ver, dated merce and Britisb missions."
August 28, 1888,lately received at London. -The Wesleyans report solid prosperity is full both of traKic interest and heroism. in the Mysore district. We quote from the -Bishop Taylo. asks for $4,000 for a Harvest Field: .. We have reached and special w<lrk, to be called a b'irthday gift. pa.ssed the first thousand in the church Richard Graut, treasurer of the Bisbop'" membership, a goal towards which we have work. calls upon .. all who favor self-sup- been striving for a long time. The full num- portiug work to make a grand rally and ber of members is now 1,103, being an in-'
make the old hero'S heart leap for joy crease during the year of 113. There has by making it $50,000, and he gives it a start been no spasmodic outburst of revival by a gift of $5,000. The Transit and Build- power. but in most of the stations steady ing Fund Committee send II' missionariesto growth. The largest net increase has been share his labors and perils. And since May in Mysore City, where 34 have been added last the committee have sent ten missiona- to the church. In the boys' schools there ries to Chili, and still the call comes with is an increase of 426, and in the girls an in- much entreaty for more. The needs DC the crease of 329. Sunday-schools are growing work in Chili, Brazil, and other South Amer- satisfactorily. There have been. 56 bap- ican States are even greater just now tban tisms of adults from heatnenism, some of in Afl'ica Romanism, which in those which are full of interest.
countries is nothing more than heathenized -Congo Balol0 Mission. There Was a Chl"istianity, has reigned there Cor 300 large gathering at Exeter Hall lately to bid years. The true light is just breaking in, farewell to eight missionaries about to and a powerful reaction in favor of liberty, leave for Central Africa in connection with intelligence and religion has commenced. the new mission to the Balolo people, of -Rev. E. F, Baldwin, who is laboring as whom there are about 10,000,000 in the valley 'an independent missionary in Mogador, Mo- of the Upper Congo. The mission Is an ex- rocco, with a companion recently made a tension of the Livingstone Inland Mission, twenty-days' trip into a part of the country founded in 1878. and now occupying and where Europeans have seldom gone. They working a chain of seven stations from the went strictly according to Christ's instruc- coast to the Equator. These new recruits tions in Matt. x., without money, provis- go out under the auspices of Dr. Guinness' ions or change of clothing, but lacked noth- East London Institute, and will reinforce ing by the way. They enjoyed unusual fa- the Livingstone Inland Mission, which. Cour cilities for preaching to the people, ·and years ago, was tranderred to the managewere even admitted to the mosques, and ment of the American Baptist Missionary preached to the Mohammedan priests. ' A Union. The enterprise now becomes unde- considerable number of converts have been nominational, and appeals strongly to those gathered, but they suffer great persecu- to whom hard work, rather than a large tion. salary. is all attraction. Fifteen hundred -Bishop Crowther arrived at Bonny on pounds has heen subscribed for the new January 20. A, week later he opened the mission.
new church of St. Stephen at that place. -Tripoli Occupied. At last Tripoli has The new church Is of iron, and was built (at been entered. The Lord has thus enabled the cost of the people themselves) t.o take us to occupy in some measure Algeria in the place of another which had become 1881, Morocco in 1884. Tunis in 1885. Tripoli in 1889. Mr. Michell, who has been working England.-The amouilt of thedrink bill in Tunis, accompanied by Mr. Harding, who for 1888 was some 8625,000,000, or $15 for left England February 1, landed in Tripoli every man, woman and child in the Unittld tbe-lI7th.- Thus far they &re getting on well. Kingdom. :They find the people more bigoted than In Tunis. Beside the work they may be able to -One of the notable men'of Cambridge i" do In the city and neighborhood, they will Canon Christopher, who proclaim!! his interbe able to send some scriptures by the cq.ra- est in missions by annually entertaining a vans leaving for the Soudan which, with great company of representative men to the blessing of God, will spread the light breakfast. Among his guests this year around Lake Chad. (numbering 300 in all) was the Bishop of British Columbia, whomade what isreported Burma. '- Dr. A. T. Rose says many to have been" a very sturdy and inspiriting Karena are g<?ing over to the Burmese lan- speech." 1'Iis description of his first intro- duction tohis Episcopal" palace" was very gua:;;eand Buddhism. He baptized In Jan- graphic. The .. palace" was simply a uary 20 Burmans. Sunday-schools in Ran- wooden shanty without windows or roof, goon sent 575 for the Hammerfest Chapel, and the flrst thing he and his wife had to do Norway. The first copy for the new Sgau was to nail strips of calico across the roof Karen Bible went Into printers' hands in to keep out the moonlight. January. -The S. P. G. report an increase of 28,- Chlna.-The" Chinese Exclusion Bill," 6011. in the year 1888 over the income of 1887. passed by Congress has reacted in China This is made up of two dona.tions of 25.296Z. to excite great hostility to Americaus. and and 2,288Z., and an increase in the general especially missionaries are suffering perse- income of 3201. cution. When Dr. S. Wells Williams arrived in Canton fifty years since, there was a -The Universities' Miuion has a missiondeath penalty for teaching foreigners the ary fleet on Lake Nyassa. consisting of the Chinese tongue, and there was but one con- following: (1) The Charles Jansen, with two vert in China. Now there are more than dingeys; (2) a larger boat, capable of carry- 35,000_ ing several parsons; (3) still large.. rowing craft, known 80S the consular boat ; (4) a del- -The Missionary Union undertakes a new ta metal centre-board boat; and (5) the missionatSu-Chan,inSz-Chuene. Rev.Wm. 0u8e1 a centre-board sailing boat of galvan- Upcratt and Geo. Warner, both of Minneso- ized steel. ta. go to be supported by young men in Baptist churches of that State. Out of 500hi- France.-At the recent meeting .ot the nese seeking to enter Dr. Hspper's Christian C.ollege, Canton, more than halC had been in McAIl Association, held in Philadelphia. Chinese Sunday-schools in theUnited States. nearly 83,000 was raised as a special offering t<> pay for the two Salles Evangelique, Champ -Increase at Foochow. At the last ses- de Mars, where daily services are to be sion of the FoocLow Annual Conference, held, opposite the entrances to the Exposi- Bishop Fowler presiding. the total number tion grounds. Hundreds of thousands of of members reported was 2,320-an increase strangers. visiting Paris, will be ·confrontof 111; probationers, l,346–an increase of ed by these RaUes, at Porte Rapp and Place 122; mission money raised, $411.46–an in- du Trocadiro. crease of $80.20; self-support, 51,03O.31-an increase of 592.72; church bUilding, $2,8O"l- FOrmOSa.-The English Presbyterian .9&-an increase of 51,341.98. church has appointed another ordained missionary (Mr. Ferguson) to the island of CUba.-B1Sho, Whitaker, of the Protestant Episcopal church, has lately returned Formosa. The Rev. W. Campbell, F.R.G.S., from Cuba, and speaks of tbe religious ont- who is returning, takes with him the gospel look on that island as follows: .. There is a of Matthew in raised Romanized type, which loud call for the gospel. People are ripe for he has prepared for the blind. As the bUnd missionary work. and welcome all well-di- are treated with respect in China,their infiurected efforts. lt is evident that the gener- ence may be used for much good,if taught to al sentiment has been, and still is, favorable read the Scriptures; just as now their infiuto Episcopal services; but the church has ence is very evil from mostly following the been slow in supplying this demand, and art of fortune-telling. Mr. Campbell is also hence the Baptists are conducting a very taking a reprint of the Dutch gospel presuccessful mission in Havana; and many pared by missionaries, who labored among hundreds, tired of the exactions of the Ro- the Malays in Formosa, some 200 years ago, man Catholic church, are welcoming the when theyweredrlvenawa.y. The Dutch are simpler and plainer service furnished by likely to recommence this mission. the Baptists. Considering Cuba as a field for Protestant work, it may be said the peo- -Rev. Dr. Mackay, of the Canadian Presb. ple desire Protestantservices to that extent Mission in Formosa, writes that there are that no more hopeful ground for effort can now fifty churches, 'so arranged that aUt be found anywhere." North Formosa is In a sense occnpied, and that there a.re fifty-one native preachers Who are the sharpest, brightest, most talented and learned class of men in North fit for their oftice by their Idleness, If not Formosa. ' their sensuality, the native population 'of Ceylon now unites with the Church of E1ig- IcC!!land.-Rev. Geo. Bryce writes from land in demanding a dissolution bf the ex- Winnipeg, Jan. 17, that 58 members, all Ice- isting partnership between the British gov- landic converts; have been received to ernment and Buddhism. The sooner this is their first commuuion.· At an aftermeeting done the better. 19 others professed faith. -Mr. W. S. Caine, M. P., writes thus to a Indla.-Ongole field alone has half as number of infiuential English newspapers many member& as in all Burma all 'lnder one pastor, Rev. I. E. Clough, D. D. concerning blS recent investigations at -The school which Pundita Ramabai will Lucknow: .. An opium sot is the most establ1sh for high caste widows will be entirely hopeless of all drunkards-once he Is well secular, on account of the prejudices of the into the clutches of this fiend, everything Hiudus against Christianity. The medical work gives way to its fierce promptings. He only for women, fostered by Lady Duft'erin during works'to get more money for opium. Wife, her residence in India, Is now endowed to the children, and home are all sacriftced to this extent of about $275,000. It has three objects: horrible lust. The receipts of the governto train female physicians, to afford medical re- ment of the North-West Provinces and lief, and to secure a supply of trained nurses. Oude from opium, bhang, and other intoxi- Five lady doctors and a nurse have been ob- cating drugs is no less than £67,000, and is tained from 'England. About 200 young women on the increase. It will give your readers are being educated in the medical colleges of some idea of the way in which this horrible India. There are 12female hospitals and 15 aided traffic in intoxicants is being stimulated. dispensaries. Classes have been formed for the if I give the average revenue for the Northtraining of female nurses.' Although the work West Provinces and Oude from all intoxiis not ostensibly Christian, missions are indi- cants for the three years 1878-79-80, as comrectly beneftted. pared with 1885-6-7. In the former, case, its yearly average was £284,000, in the lat- -More than 1,200 adults were baptized by ter it had run up to £546,000, showinlr a members of the North India Conference of doubled consumption within seven years. the M. E. Church during the past year. Every day I spend in India. brings fresh Alluding to this at the recent conference proof that the government are stimulating Rev.C. A. C. Janvier assigned the following the sale of intoxicants to the very verge of as some of the reasons why this success decency, for the sake of the cheaply colwas granted: 1. Special and systematic ef- lected and rapidly increaSing revenue forts are made to reach the lower castes. which it furnishes." 2. Large and speedy results are prayed and looked for as a neces.ary consequence of Indlans.-Twelve years since the Mothe presence of the Holy Spirit. docs were savages. Now they are industri- ous farmers, ILnd half of them confessing -Assam ranks tenth in territory and Christians. The Rocky Mountain CI,,·i.tian eleventh in population among the provinces Advocate says: .. While the Dakota Indians of India. 2,424 schools in Assam have 63,- were savages it cost the Government $1,848,- 997 male pupils, and only 4,626 female •. ooOto take care of them seven years. The These are less than ten per cent. of the pop- cost after their conversion for the same ulation of school age. length of time was $120,000, a difference of $1,728,000 in favor of Christianity." -In the northwest of India and of Oude, missionary physicians are coming promi- .Jerusalem.-The city is growing rapidnently into notice. Nearly 72,000 cases were ly and improving in appearance. The Ro~,h8treated at eltlven missionary dispensaries, childs have completed a new hospital. Near and 11,000 women Bought relief a~ Mrs. Wil- is a new Abyssinian church. The Russians, son's dispensary at Agra; 18,850 women have erected a new church, consulate, a.nd and children were treated at the Thomas lodging-house for pilgrims of the orthodox. dispensary at Agra. The women doctors faith. Near to the Russian Buildings is ,the in charge succes.fully performed some very .. German House," for German Roman Cathimportant surgical operations. olics, from whose top the German and the papal fiags fioat side by side. The Russians -The British Government and BuddhIsm. have also built a high tower on the summit As a rule, Great Britain has not iilustrated of the Mount of Olives, from which can be the teachings of the gospel in India. In seen the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. CeYlon matters seem to have been going in about the same way. There the British .Japan.-Accordingto a Japanese editor some time ago became tle patrons of Budd- the Protestant churches have grown from hism. as the Government assumed the re- 38 to 151, and the members from 3,700 to 11,- sponsibility of maintaining Buddhist wor- 600 in the last three years. ship. It turned over to Buddhist priests the revenues of hundreds of thousands of Dr. Duane B. Simmons died in Tokio, Feb. acres of public land. Because in this way 10. He went out as a medical missionary of it,has made those priests in many cases Un- the Reformed Dutch chnrch, 1859; after the restoration of 1868 he became Government thrown down; the houses of the congrega- Medical Director and organized the IIrst tions met with the sa.me fate, and priests hospital service. and people were hunted out of the town. No massacres took place. The persecution be- -The Empress has established a college gan in June and continued until October, for )Vomen, to be snperintended by a com- when it ceased, beoouse there was nothing mittee of foreign ladies. Twoare Americans, more to destroy, and all those who would two English, and the other two French and not apostatize were in flight. The acts of German respectively. violence took place under the eyes of the Chinese authorities, who did nothing topun- MadagaSCar.-After 15 years' labor ish the olfenders.-Tke Missionary. the printing of the Malaga~e bible is com- plete. Tu rkey.-Minister Strauss, at Constanti- Mexlco.-ProgreBs in Mexico, thinks nople, lIas rendered another useful ~erVlCe Dr. J. Milton Greene,ismarked not so much to the American missionaries in the Turkish by statistics, as by the changing attitude empire. The local authorities closed the of the people toward the Prote~ta!}t mis- mission school at Istubigo, in the provlnce sionarjes. Sixteen years ago the printing- of Beirut, and other officials elsewhere w;,re offices of the oity could not be induced to about to follow their example, but Mr. print copies of the Decalogue. Now thou- Stranss at once secured from the Grand VI- sands of pages of religious literature are Zier atOonstantinople an order to the gov- issued yearly. So, too, the drift of thepopu- ernors-general of the provinces of Beirut lar mind is shown by the lessening respect and Damascus to reopen the school, which for,and fear of, the priesthood, and by the had been closed, and not to interfere in any greatly diminished attendance at the idola- manner with any American schools. This trousfeasts. is the more satisfactory becanse one rea.son given for the closing of the school was the Scotland.-TheSumTotRlofourNation- fact that the managers refused to reject a.1 Drink Bill is this year a little larger than Mohammedan children applying for admis- it was last. but, considering the increase of sion. This refusal was maintained flrinly our population, the averageexpeudlture per and, in spite ofit, the desired support of the ,person is less. The amouut is portentious- Oenstantinople authorities was granted. £124,603,ll39-whlchgives£il 6s.1Od. for every Good sense and tact are as important to a man, womal1. and child in the kingdom.- diplomatist, and often are equally effective, Church oj Scotland Monthly. as support by a military or naval force.- (/ongreqationali.t. South Amerlca.-In Ecuador none but United States.-Women's Organiza- Roman Catholics are allowed to preach, to the people. The Custon-houses are watched tions. There are in this country 48 national by'the Jesuits to prevent the importation societies of Women, with a direct member_ of Bibles and other prohibited books. Per- ship of 500,000. The largest is the W. C. T. U., sons who do not confess to the priests are with 210,000. Then follow the missionary, objects of popular hatred and violence. peace, suffrage, philanthropic and educa- tional orga.nizations. Twelve of these have SWeden.-Amission house for Lapland- jollied with the National Oouncil, formed to ers has been founded in North Sweden by unite all the women societies lUto one great Empress Eugenie, the noble giver. league.
Thlbet is the only known country on -The followmg act of Christian comity on the part of the Protestant Episcopal Ohurch earth not open to missions. It has an area of Missionary Society, pa.ssed January 29th, 750.000 square miles, about as large as all the will commend itself to our readers: territory in the United Sta.tes east of the Mississippi River. The greatestlengthfrom U Resolved. rrhat in sending mlssionaries east to west is 1,500 miles, and the population to Brazil It is our purpose to occupy such is estimated at 8,000,000. It is the strong- points as are not now under the care of any hold of Bud<lhlsm. Lhassa, the capital, is other Protestan t missioD&ries. " the" Rome" of the Buddhists, and the Dalai Lama IS the Buddhist pope. He is su- -Zenana Work. The Church of Scotland preme in ~oth temporal and spiritual things. Ladies' Association for Foreign Missions One monastry has about 5,000 Buddhist including zenana work, has just completed priests, and there are about 60,000 in the ,its 50th year. The income of the society has country. Thibet is virgin soil for miSSIons. shown a considerable increase on the pr..· The country is trIbutary to China.-Baptist vious year, and the committee have never Miss. presented a more hopeful report. -The Roman Catholic missions in Thibet -At a late gathering in the Mildmay Conhave been broken up by the violence of the natives. The MiBstons (/atlwliqttes, of Lyons, ference Hall, the Church of England Zena"" states tJ>.at the stations have been utterly Missionary Society bade .. God-speed" to destroyed, except one establIshment, which nineteen ladies who will shortlybe aiding in is on the Chinese side of the great Thibetan the noble work of the society ameli&' the decliVIty. Last autumn the mission houses women of IndIa and China. and bUIldings were one by one burned or -The Committee ofthe Church of England ing, and found homes for them, mostly in the Zenana Society reported at their annual country, where theyaeqoired habits ofindustry, lIleeting a year of blessed work. One bun- economy, and self-snpporting thrift. Many a dred lIlissionaries, aided by assistant mis- man of intelligence and npright character will sionaries, Bible-women and native teachers, look back in mature years to this agency with had labored earnestly among heathen and profound gratitude for hiS life of prosperity and Mohammedans. usefalness.
Ninety.four per cent. of all the rum manu- -The Protestant Churches of the United factured in the United States is made within Ave States contribute annuaJly $11,250,000 for formiles ot Boston State house, and nearly aJl the eign miSSions, and, according to Dion Bouciliquor exported from this country to Africa is cault, .. more than $2('0,000,000 are paid every shipped from the port ofBoston. year by the American people for their theatrical entertainment "-nearly $18 to support the the- -Said a heathen to a missionary, "There ater for one given to send the gospel to heathen must be something in your religion which makes nations, and yet there are those who declaim you come all the way out here to teJl us of it. against the cost of foreign missions. I am sure I would not go so tar to teJl you ol -College students. The colleges never had mine." so many professing church members in them as -Last year's Imports from Japan Into the at present. Yale In 1795 had bnt Cour or Ave students who were church members; to- Uulted States were nearly 816,000,000 in value- day nearly one-half hold such membership. more than the purchases of any other nation. Princeton in 1813 had but two or three openly As these goods were largely of a character profeSSing the Christian faith; to-day abont especially attractive to American women, the one-half, and among them the best scholars. In question arises as to their corresponding in- Williams College 147 out of 248, and in Amherst terest in the women ot Japan. It is computed 233 out of 352, are members of chnrches. Out that conversions smong Japanese women num· of a total of 2,493 students, in 24 colleges, there ber forty per cent. more, according to popula- are 1,782 church members; engaged in system- tion, than among women of other countries. A atic Bible study, 2,009; 106 creditable conver- call comes from a society of women near Tokio sions the past year; and 377 intending to enter for a missionary twice a week to teach them the ministry. fancy work and the Bible, which is an advance on earlier requests. The tendency in Japan Is -Am. Sunday-school Union. From March toward a nominal rather than a spiritual Chris- 1 to September I, 1888, its missionaries In the tianity, so, to fully establlsh evangelical Chris- Northwest established 484 new schools, and tianity, the Rev. Mr. lloyd pleads for" mighty aided 943 old schools, where 5,022 teachers are and intense efforts for the next tew years on the now giving Bible instruction to 50,233 scholars. part of those who hold to the pure Gospel of J eSU8 Christ." -The Pope has ordered Roman Catholics in aJl parts of the world to maintain an increasing With a Joss-house and a Buddhist temple in agitation in favor of the restoration of his tem- New York the old cry of" heathen at home" poral power. It is stated that the raising of 500 sounds with anew force. The 3,200student volun- recruits by Cardinal Lavlgerle for the suppresteers are no less needed to carry the pure gospel sion of the slave trade in Africa, is a pretext for Into the strongholds of heathendom before the restoration of the Pontifical Zouaves. these errors and superstitions spread further. I -"High missionary authorities aftlrm that, -The great reason why the mission churches ,especially during the past twenty years, foreign on the continent of Europe do not become self- Aelds have witnessed more converts, in propor- snpporting is the emigration to America, which tion to the efforts put forth, than the home takes away their best young men. This weakfields. Chrlstiaulty has been established in ens them, but strengthens the churches in this more than My islauds of the PaciAc. Among country. the most remarkable instances are the Fiji Islanders, 00,000 of whom gather regnlarly for -Freedmen. Within a few weeks two gifts Christian worship. Madagascar was almost amounting to '26,000 have been made to the whoJlya savage nation twe'!ty years ago, whIle people uuder care of the Presbyterian Board at present its queen, with 20,000 of her subjects, for Freedmen, the gift of Rev. Wm. M. Harare proCessing Christians. There are over 100 grave,a. colored man of Louisvi11e, Ky., is es- Christian congregations on the western coast of pecia.lly worthy of mention. He was born a Africa, and in Sierra Leone over 50,000 Africans slave, was freed during the war,and has, by profess Christ. The slave trade, bad as it is In simple industry and economy, l:'8.thered a the interior, has been suppressed along 2,000 little property. At the age of 70 he makes mJles of sea coast. In China, missions are m it over to the Knox church (colored) ID the operation in forty walled cities and 360 vil- sha~ of a building for purposes of worship, lages."-S4lecUd. worth $10,000, after having jl'iven the use of It to the church for ten years, rent free. -Since the organization oC the Children's Compa.ratively speaking, this IS one of tne Aid Society, it has picked up out of the street noblest and lar&,est benefaction. of modern 86,000 boya., pren them Wholesome moral train- times.