The Missionary Review of the World — October 1923
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'–'- Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF TaE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review 0 f the W orId DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editm CONTENTS FOR OCTOBER, 1923 Page FRONTISPIECE ……….•… HUNGRY THRONGS ATTENDING WORSHIP IN JAPAN EDITORIALS …………………………………………………….. 773 A CLOUD ON THE SUNRISE KINGDOM MISSIONS IN TURKEY UNDER THE THE JAPAN CATASTROPHE AND MISSIONS NEW TREATY IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT JAPAN REPORTS FROM DEVASTATED AREAS JAPAN AS A MISSION FIELD ………………………… HILTON PEDLEY 783 A brief statement of the characteristics of Japan and the exte"t of Protestant Christian missionary work in the Empire.
SOME AN'fl·CHRIS'l'IAN FORCES IN JAPAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wn,L.IAM AXLING 791 Dijficultie$ hindering Christian progress, due to Japanese and foreign oppo.ition to Christ.
HUNGER AREAS IN JAPAN ……………………………. H. C. OSTROM 795 Districts and classes still without the {lospel.
THE SOCIAL EVIL IN JAPAN …………………….. GUNPEI YAMAMURO 801 Work of the Salvation. Army to rescue women and girls in Japanese cities.
THE GOSPEL INTERPRETED BY LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TOYOHIKO KAGAWA 8U5 l'OYOHIKO KAGAWA, CHRISTIAN LABOR LEADER …….. H. W. MEYERS 806 A wonderful story of Christian devotion and its results.
MADAME KAJI Y AJIMA ………………………… MRs. HENRY TOPPING 812 GLIMPSES OF CHILD LIFE IN JAPAN ……………. AMY C. BOSANQUET 817 JAPAN'S NEED OF CHRIS'l'IANl'l'Y …………………. HISAAKIRA KANO 824 CHRISTIANITY AND THE MAKING OF A NEW JAPAN …….. OrIS CARY 826 THE UNFINlSHED TASK IN JAPAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DAVID S. SPENCER 830 BEST ME'1'HODS ON HOW '1'0 STUDY JAPAN . . . . . . . . . . MRS. E. C. CRONK 837 INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY COUNCIL IN OXFORD ….•…………… ….•………………………………….•. . MRS. HENRY W. PEABODY 847 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN ….. EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUlNLAN 851 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS …..•.•…………………………….•… 854 MISSIONARY LIBRARY …………………………………………… 873 TERM:g: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of Jive.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1923, by MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
Robert E. Speer, President Wtllam 1. Chamberlain, Vice-President Walter McDougall. Treasurer Delavan L. Pierson, Secretary Editorial and Business Office. 156 Fifth Avenue, Publication office, 3d & Reily Sts., Harrisburg, New York City Pa. 25c a copy $2.50 a year Entered as second-class matter at the Post Omee, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. REV. H. B. DI!'IWIDDIE, general secretary Professor Robert Dick Wilson of the Pioneer Mission Agency, sailed for Sonth America, on June 28th, accompanied 9f Princeton Seminary, master of twenty-six by the Rev. G. P. Simonds, for eight years a missionary of the Christian and Mission- langu;tges, is the Sunday·school teacher's best ary Alliance, on a tour of exploration among the separate groups of Indians in the friend. For he puts at your disposal the wealth Andean alld coastal regions of Ecuador and southern Colombia. of his vast scholarship,-he knows the original THE RIGHT R>:v, JOHN McKIM, D.D., cele- languages of the Old Testament and its times brated in Senadi, Japan, on .J une 14th, the as perhaps no other living man, -and shows how and why every attack on the reliability of the Bihle breaks down. He will go on, this au- tumn, with artides in The Sunday School Times exposing the mistakes of the Higher Critics. '~;t.
thirtieth annjversary of his consecration as Mother Ruth on Girls' Problems missionary bishop of Tokyo.
Every issue of The Sunday School Times has R>:v. FREDERICK JANSEN AND MRS. JAN- Mother Ruth's answers to letters from real S>:N, missionaries of the Presbyterian Board at Bantangas in the Philippines, have been girls,-theliTroubled Business Girl, "the "Loneappointed to take charge of the Board's work among the lepers on the island of ly, piscouraged Girl, "or the puzzled girl who is Clllion. a S1lIlday-school teacher. Mother Ruth is a real w~man whose life for years past has been d.'iote,d to ~he closest spiritual contact with th.ous;wds c;4: girls. Sunday-school teachers * and ,i!arents who are in touch with girls will MRS. LEST>:& McLEAN, formerly Y. W. find lier column rich and unusual. C. A. student secretary ill Colorado, later assistant dean of WOmen in Colorado Col- ." Dr. Griffith Thomas lege, and for several years past in charge of the Y. W. C. A. hostess house in l'okyo, formerly of Oxford, Englan,d, now one of has accepted the newly created position of America's greatest Bible teachers, wrJtes Dean of Women in the Kennedy School of every week on the International Uniform Missions in Hartford, Conn. Lessons, and is one of lnore than a dozen of the world's choicest Bible teachers writing in * every issue of the Times, which'now treats not only the Uniform Lessons but also the new DR. WESTON, the High Church Anglican "Whole-Bible Sunday.school Course." The Bishup of Zanzibar, on his recent visit to Sunday School Times has never before been able • London is quoted us saying: "Our Lord is to offer such rich lesson helps as this autumn.
being forgotten in this country in a way Ql1jr ~mWav $d.Jlllll ijlmrs that staggers me. London is as pagan as Zanzibar. " tr~e to the whole Bible .,: the infallible word OBITUARY qf God, and the shed blood of Christ as the DR. DAVIl) BoVATRD, for many years hon- only way of salvation, is ;!ll every-week orary medical advisor of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, died at Clifton interdenominational journal. for adults Springs_ N. Y_, on August 10th, after an illness of several months, aged fifty-eight. in Bihle Study and teaching, MRS. LYDIA B. DODD, who died in Mont- Sunday-school rna nageclair, N. J., recently aged ninetY-Elix, was, the widow of Rev. Edward M. Dodd, with ment and the Chris- 37 whom she went to Turkey in 1863. A son and daughter have been missionaries in tian life and ,,',~ 'rurkey for thirty years, and four grandsons are respectively in the Philippiues, China, serv ice. , r:~··'t SUNDAY SCHOOL Persia and Tnrkey. . ""~ Box 1,5T50I,MPhEllSa6~ClpPhMl"l',APNaY.
~~ ~,.c:,~ j<t;- For the 25 ce. enclosed 0-0'$~ ••ae please send ~e Sunday ~oChQol Times for 10 week$ Name .<0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._._ •• _ . Address ._._ .~…:.~……………………
A.k J"our hoobeUer to sLow )'OU The Sund"y Sc……1 imeo book.
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HUNGRY THRONGS ATTENDING WORSHIP AT A BUDDHIST TEMPLE FESTIVAL IN
OCTOBER, 1923
XLVI TEN THE CT~OUD ON THE SUNRISE KINGDOM T HE tremendous disaster that overwhelmed Japan on Septem- ber 1st, anQ. awakened world wide sympathy, was not needed to bring this great island empire prominently before the minds and hearts of American Christians. Two or three years ago the United Mission Study Committee, representing all the Protestant Foreign Mission Boards of America, selected Japan as the study topic for the coming year. A number of book~ have been especially prepared on the subject and it is expected that two or three hundred thousand Church members in America will study them. The unprecedented disaster, combining earthquake, fire and flood, that practically wiped out Tokyo, (the metropolis and capital), and Yokohama (the main seaport and fourth largest city of the Empire) came with unheralded swiftness, brought death to approximately 200,000 people and made over one million people homeless sufferers. Famine, exposure and disease will doubtless add to the toll of the dead.
Over 300,000 homes have been wiped out and billions of dollars worth of property have been destroyed. While foreigners have suffered heavy loss and some two hundred are reported dead, it is remarkable that out of over four hundred missionaries stationed in the affected area, thus far only one, Miss Kuyper, of Yokohama, has been reported killed.
Now, when interest and sympathy for Japan have been newly awakened, is the time of times to study this land and its progressive, virile people who can fight so valiantly, work so effectively and have such an indomitable spirit. The wonderfully picturesque beauties of the Island Empire, the smiling, courteous spirit of the Japanese, the remarkable material progress that the nation has made in the last half-century, the intimate relation to America and the opportunity and responsibility of the Christian Church, all make an unusual appeal for careful study by everyone who wishes to be well informed.
Each nation in turn seems to pass under the spotlight by means 773
of some calamity or national upheaval. Spain, Latin America, Mexico, China, Persia, Turkey, Korea, In&a, Russia, Central Europe, :B~gypt-each have had their special period of publicity in the last twenty years. An unusual opportunity is now offered to the Church to turn the attention of people more generally to the need of the ,Japanese for the Gospel of Christ.•The daily press is full of information; cables and wireless are speeding messages of sympathy and help; the people of America have already given six million dollars for relief and will give much more; many agencies are doing all in their power to help; business houses are planning to join in the reconstruction of the devasted area; missionary agencies are in need of funds to rebuild $5,000,000 worth of schools, churches, hospitals, Christian associations, offices and homes that have been destroyed. Many native Christians have lost all their possessions and the Japanese Church has suffered heavily. Such study and sympathetic help cannot fail to draw the suffering nation and their Good Samaritan friends closer together. It may mean the stifling of the spirit of international suspicion, jealousy and unfriendly rivalry; it may lead to a betterment of industrial and social conditions in Japan and a putting down of the militaristic and autocratic spirit. It gives China and Korea also a rare opportunity to show nobility of character and largeness of heart.
If true eternal foundations are laid, neither earthquake, fire or flood can destroy the spiritual work. The world passes away and the lusts thereof-all material things may be destroyed-but he who does the will of God abides. The Christian missionaries have been spared to carryon the work. Their new lease on life is a gift of God and may mean new power for service. To those in the home churches, a new opportunity is given to show the spirit of Christ and to cooperate more unselfishly by giving generously to rebuild the old better and by helping to bring the Kingdom of God in Japan.
THE JAPAN CATASTROPHE AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS· AN ACCURATE appraisement of the effects of the catastrophe .t1.. in Japan is yet impossible. That must await further infor- mation, with detailed reports from the Japancse govenllnent and missionary societies in Japan. Reports of eye-witncsses make clear that it was well-nigh the most awful and harrowing humansuffering that has occurred in the history of mankind.
From the standpoint of Christian missions, Bome things are clear: First, reports thus far indicate that only one Protestant missionary life was· lost. The Roman and Greek Catholics have undoubtedly lost a few lives among the fathers and sisters. The missionaries were at their summer resorts to escape the unbearably
EDITORIAL COMMENT
humid heat of August and for attendance at the various annual meetings and conferences. If the disaster had occurred any time after the first Sunday of September, the missionaries would have returned to their posts or have been en route.
Second, the later reports encourage us to hope that the loss of life among the Japanese Christians and workers may be less than at first feared. However, with Yokohama a total loss and Tokyo two thirds destroyed, and with destruction in all that region, it will be well-nigh miraculous if all the Japanese workers and Christians escaped. The leaders of the Christian movement in Japan are unique and superior in their solid worth. They came largely out of the samurai class. They are able, earnest, broad-minded, sacrificial and thoroughly grounded in the Christian faith. Already there are im- ,perishable and illustrous names among them both in clergy and laity. We can only hope that most of this splendid leadership was spared. Never was there greater need for them in planning, guidance and consolation.
The loss in mission and church property must be enormous. Probably two thirds of the Boards and Societies of America, Canada and Europe had properties in Tokyo including eight or nine theological and Bible schools; three universities or colleges; five or six boys' schools; five or six girls' schools; two or three kindergarten teachers' training schools; t'venty-five kindergartens; three to ten students' hostels; six or seven night or workingmen's schools; three to five elementary schools; one deaf-oral school, and many Church buildings. Among the most noteworthy institutions are Rikkyo University, including a theological seminary, of the Episcopal Church; the theological school of the Baptists; Aoyama Gakuin, the Methodist college and theological seminary; Meiji Gakuin, boys' college and theological seminary and Joshi Gakuin, girls' high school, of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches; the woman's school of the Russian Orthodox Church; the Sei Gakuin, young men's and women's theological school of the Baptist Church; the national and city Y. M. C. A. buildings.
In Yokohama, the Baptists have a college for young men, with middle and night school; the Methodists, a Bible Woman's training school, elementary, primary, blind and night schools, with two kindergartens; the Methodist Protestant, a girls', elementary and night schools, with a kindergarten; the Woman's Missionary Society, the Kyoritsu school, comprising a Bible Woman's school, and a girls' school; and the Reformed.Church in America, Ferris Seminary for girls.
Both Tokyo and Yokohama are the greatest Christian Church centers in the Empire. In addition, there have been lost many mission residences. The Bible Societies also lost their plates and stock of Bibles.
The loss of so many schools, churches and residences presents a problem requiring serious thought and investigation. Doubtless the students will be considerably scattered. Many will be required in the reconstruction of homes and the restoration of business. Many will be financially unable to continue their education unless aided. But it is unthinkable that there be no provision for the large number of students in the mission schools of the devasted areas or that education be delayed any more than is absolutely necessary. The problem may be partially solved by sending as many students as possible to institutions elsewhere. But, in any case, schools and colleges must be rebuilt and better equipped to meet the requirements of the future. To neglect Christian education on any mission field is suicidal.
The indigenous Christians will be financially unable to rebuild the large number of church buildings required. Aid will be necessary from America and England. The Congregational and Presbyterian Missions have been experimenting with Chapel Loan Funds. Upon condition, that the indigenous Christians raise every cent possible, sums are loaned without interest for a period of ten years as a maximum. Contracts are securely drawn. The further contributions of the Christians, together with the usual mission rental appropriations, repay the loan. The property then belongs to the indigenous church. With modifications,' this plan might be employed to a certain extent in this crisis.
Larger aspects of the situation present themselves, however Have there been too many missionaries in the Tokyo-Yokohama centers 1 Has there been over-lapping in educational work? Have the wisest and most effective policies' been followed ~ Already in the Committee of Reference and Council,. it has been pointed out that the situation is almost a tabula rasa in these centers. A Commission of Inquiry has been suggested. Whether such a commission is necessary or wise would seem to depend on several things: a. Further information as to the extent of the destruction; b. The approval of the responsible organizations on the field, such as the Federation of Churches and of Missions, and the various Missions and Societies; c. The authority of such a commission to decide things. If the purpose of such a commission is merely to get the facts, it would seem that those on the ground are equal to the task. If the purpose is to enable a few on the commission to visualize things, it will have value. One thing is clear: Without any outside suggestion, the existent spirit of cooperation among churches and missions will undoubtedly bring about in this situation many union enterprises and the elimination of much overlapping and competition.
Fourth, it is probable that the social and industrial life of Japan will not be greatly affected by this catastrophe. The Japanese are inured to su<)h dis~sters throus-h the <)enturi(;)s. Fire! floodl typhoonl
EDITORIAL COMMENT
earthquake-these have made the mass of the people stolidly fatal- istic. They accept these things philosophically after the first terrible fear and anguish are over and arise and rebuild. With their added experience and their newly acquired scientinc knowledge, they will apply their well-known industry and administrative ability to mak- ing better cities, adequate for modern social and industrial require- ments. It is highly gratifying that the Japanese Government has appropriated 265,000,000 Yen for relief and rebuilding and that very large sums are corning in from America and the rest of the world. This is the nnest response to human need and suffering that the world has ever seen and indicates that the nations are mor'e sat- urated with the spirit of Jesus than many imagined.
Finally, one thing is already apparent. The disaster has fur- nished a unique and unparalleled opportunity for showing America's Christian goodwill. There can be no doubt that this has already had a profound effect upon the Japanese. No people in the world will be found more responsive to kindheartedness and sympathy than the .Japanese. ~he Washington Conference had well begun to dissipate the doubt and ill feeling occasioned by the California problem and America's discrimination against Japan in immigration and naturali- zation. The magnificent and immediate display of generosity and sympathy being shown by all Americans will most surely create an atmosphere, in which the Christian movement in Japan will thrive and grow. We may even dare to hope and pray that it will rapidly bring about the consummation of our objective, the Christianization of Japan. HARVEY BROKAW.
MISSIONS IN TURKEY UNDER THE NEW TREATY O N AUGUST 6, 1923, a treaty of amity and commerce was signed between the United States and Turkey, which has since been ratined by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, but will probably not be acted on by the United States Senate until December. The treaty does not touch the tragic Armenian question, and consequently is severely criticized by many Americans. The attitude of the American Government is that we are in no position to do anything about the Armenian question since the Allies have given up any action whatever, unless we are to take a stand alone, and risk becoming involved in war.
The treaty specifically recognizes the abrogation of the" Capitulations," against the unilateral abrogation of which we vigorously protested in 1914. Turkey has claimed that these Capitulations were a reflection on her sovereignty, and indeed they did provide for further protection for foreigners than could be found in Turkish law. Life and property of American citizens in Turkey are now protected only by Turkish law as American law protect!') the life and property of Turks in America.
No mention is made of schools, hospitals and missionary organizations, though "commercial, industrial and financial companies and associations" are specifically mentioned and are "entitled to the same protection as that accorded to nationals in Article III." "They shall be able freely to carryon their activities subject to the requirements of public order." However, a note handed by Ismet Pasha to Minister Grew recognizes the missionary institutions and assures them the same treatment as that accorded to those of any foreign power. We do not understand why foreign educational, philanthropic and religious institutions are not mentioned in the treaty, while'commercial, industrial and financial organizations are specified. The implication that a note will have less binding force than the treaty itself would seem more plausible if this note contained striking or extravagant promises which the Government of Turkey might wish later to renounce.
If the treaty is ratified by the United States just how will it influence missionary work in Turkey1 The treaty only recognizes and regularizes the practice which the Turks have established during these disturbed years since 1914. Before the war all Americans, including the missionaries, were subject to the jurisdiction of consular courts. In case of crimes or misdemeanors they were judged by the American consuls, or if in civil cases they were called to a Turkish court the consular representative was present and no judgment was operative till approved by the consul. Now the consular courts and the juridical powers of the conllul are removed.
Then missionary institutions, schools, hospitals, orphanages, etc., could receive goods from abroad free of custom duty. Even the duties charged on articles of commerce were regulated more or less by the foreign powers. Now Turkey is sovereign in the matter of import duties and no exemptions are made for missionaries or their institutions. Then no personal taxes, such as income tax or poll tax, could be levied upon the American missionaries or any other foreigners. Now foreigners are subject to such taxes as the law demands from nationals of the country, except taxes imposed for military service.
Then the curricula of missionary schools were planned aqd carried out according to the wisdom of the management of the school. The Turkish authorities in some cases recognized the diploma of a school as the equivalent of diplomas granted by their own schools, but in no case did they dictate the course of study. Now every school is obliged to submit to the regulations of the land and its course of study must conform to the Turkish educational law.
Then houses belonging to Americans and in which they were living could not be entered or searched by Turkish authorities except in the presence of a consular representative. Now the right of
EDITORIAL COMMENT
search is guaranteed by treaty to the Turkish Government in accordance witih its own law.
Between 1914 and the present day these provisions of the treaty have been operative. Americans have been haled to Turkish courts, they have been condemned by Turkish judges, import duties have been collected on goods destined for missionary institutions, personal taxes have been collected, the school curricula have been supervised, and missionary houses have been searched. Despite all of these new conditions missionary work goes on and the missionaries continue at their posts.
Two significant results of the new attitude on the part of the Turkish Government are worthy of notice. Class room instruction in the Bible and in Christian morals is now being prohibited ,in mis~ sionary schools by the Turkish authorities, on the ground that the law provides that no child of one religion shall be compelled to attend religious exercises of another.
Another result of the present attitude is rather more surprising. Despite the fact that in Article III of the treaty individuals are guaranteed the right "under the local laws and regulations in force to engage in every kind of profession, commerce, etc., not forbidden by law to all foreigners," American doctors applying for examination in order to secure a license to practice in Turkey have been denied the privilege on the ground that there were already too many native doctors in the country. This does not at once close our hospitals, for the American Board already has several licensed practitioners in the country, but it does augur ill for the future of medical work unless the Turkish authorities recognize the immense value of American physicians and surgeons in the country.
Despite reports to the contrary the missionaries of the American Board are in residence and continuing their activities in nine Turkish cities. These missionaries will probably number more than seventyfive when the regular work of the fall is under way. This work will express itself through two colleges, not counting the independent colleges in Constantinople, three hospitals in addition to the independent American hospital in Oonstantinople, and six high schools.
The strength of the missionary work, however, does not lie entirely in its institutions. It is the missionaries' task to demonstrate to the Turkish people by quiet lives of patient service that they are there in the spirit of their Master to devote themselves to the people and not with the purpose of stirring up revolution or of making proselytes to any repulsive dogma. They are there because of their conviction that in Ohrist they have a power and ideal which is needed by all men, especially by the Turks, and in order to give to them the vision of the Christ whether in school or hospital or the quiet conversation of the home. ERNEST W. RIGGS.
REPORTS OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES WITH WORK IN THE DEVASTATED AREA Stations with foreign residents are indicated, with number of missionaries residing in each station (in parenthes.ii!).
Adventists (Seventh Day): Tokyo (12). Missionaries safe. No information as to property. Probable loss, $30,000.
American and British Bible Societies: Tokyo (2). Secretary and family safe. Offices in Yokohama and Tokyo, with plates and stock of Japanese, Chinese, Philippine and Siamese and other Bibles probably a total loss. No word as to colporteurs. Loss probably $400,000.
American Baptist (North): Tokyo (27; Yokohama (16). Missionaries s.afe. Some important buildings in Tokyo destroyed, includ- ing Tokyo Tabernacle and Sarah Curtis Home School. In Yokohama, the losses includes the Mabil Memorial School. Total, about $500,000.
American Baptist (South): Tokyo (8). Missionaries safe. No report on property.
American Boord: Tokyo (11); Kamakura (2). Missionaries all safe and no property reported as destroyed. Probably that in Azabu, Tokyo, is still standing. Probably one or two Kumiai Christian Churches were lost.
Assemblies of God: Tokyo (4); Yokohama (2); Hachioji (1). No report.
Australian Board of Missi?ns: Chiba (2). No report.
OhriS'tian Ch1trch (Dayton, 0.): Tokyo (5). Missionaries safe. Tokyo property ($60,000) damaged.
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana): Tokyo (5). Missionaries probably safe. Buildings in Tokyo damaged. Hongo mis- sionary probably destroyed.
Ohurch Missionary Society (England): Tokyo (8); Yokohama (2). No report.
Evangelical Ohurch (D. S. A.J: Tokyo (12). Missionaries safe. Some property destroyed. Loss, probably $200,000.
Friends (Philadelphia): Tokyo (11). Missionaries safe. Meeting House and Institute in Tokyo, Girls' School and residences were damaged.
Hephzibah Faith Mission (D. S. A.): Yokohama (3). No information.
Japan Evangelistic Band (England): Tokyo (5). No report.
Lutheran Gospel Association (Finland): Tokyo (4). No report.
Methodist Ohurch of Canada: Tokyo (23); Yokohama (1). Missionaries safe. Property loss estimated at about $100,000.
Methodist Episcopal (North): Tokyo (26); Yokohama (8); Kamakura (1). Missionaries safe-Publishing House destroyed. College damaged. Property loss probably $600,000.
MethodiS'tEpiscopal (South): Tokyo (5). None in area affected. Missionary residence destroyed.
Methodist ProteS'tant (D. S. A.); Yokohama (5). Missionaries safe.
Pentec.oS'tal Bands of the World: Tokyo (2). No report.
EDl'.rORIAL COMMENT
Presbyterian Church of the U. S. A.: Tokyo (25). Missionaries safe. No definite report of property loss in Tokyo- including college, theological school, Girls' School, kindergartens, deaf- oral school. Property loss probably $400,000. Protestant Episoopak Tokyo (37).
Missionaries safe. Property loss in Tokyo probably $1,OOO,OOO-includ- ing St. Luke's Hospital, two schools, eight churches and theological seminary. Schools at Tsukiji and St. Paul's University damaged. Reformed Church in America: Tokyo (11); Yokohama (6). Missionaries safe, except Miss Jennie Kuyper, Principle of Ferris Sem- inary, Yokohama (killed by the earthquake). Seminary destroyed. Reformed Church in U. S.: Tokyo (5). Missionaries safe. Kanda Church in Tokyo destroyed and other buildings damaged. Loss probably $20,000. Roman CathoUc: Tokyo (14); Yokohama (4).
No word as to priests. University in Tokyo, and many schools and churches destroyed. Russian Orthodox Church: Tokyo (1). Cathedral reported destroyed. Salvation Army: Tokyo (16).
Col. Yamamuro is safe but some of his staff are reported to have lost their lives. Headquarters in Tokyo destroyed. The Training College still standiIig. General Booth has called for $10,000,000 for relief work and restoration. Scandinavia,n AUianoe Mission: Tokyo (4); Chiba (1). Missionaries believed to be safe. Main station in Tokyo probably de- stroyed. No word as to work in Ohiba. Un,ited Brethren in Christ: Tokyo (5). Missionaries safe. No report on property (valued at $68,000). United Christian Missimwry Sooiety: Tokyo (10). Missionaries safe. Property greatly damaged. Loss probably $250,000. United Lutheran (U. S. A.J: Tokyo (6). Missionaries safe. No property loss reported. Universalists: Tokyo (5). Missionaries safe. Church destroyed. Other property damaged. (Value $100,000.) Wesleyan Methodist: Tokyo (2). No report. WOf'ld Sunday School Association.
No loss reported. Woman's Union Missiona.ry Sooiety: Yokohama (6).
Missionaries safe. No word as to sixty Japanese helpers in Yokohama and Tokyo. Property in Yokohama destroyed, including two school houses and other bliildings. Woman's Union Christian College, Tokyo: No loss of life reported. Property probably safe. Young Men's Christian Assoc;iation: Tokyo (16); Yokohama (7).
Secretaries safe. Buildings in Yokohama and Tokyo destroyed. Loss of about $1,000,000 probably includes five main buildings in Tokyo and city Y. M. C. A. in Yokohama. Gift of $450,000 received for rebuilding in Japan. Young Women's Chrisiian Assooiation: Tokyo (11); Yokohama (4). Secretaries safe. Headquarters and other buildings in Yokohama and Tokyo probably destroyed. Loss not reported. General: Missionary Language School burned and the Christian Literature Society property in Tokyo probably destroyed. Union Protestant Churches for foreign residents in Yokohama and Tokyo destroyed.
IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT JAPAN* Area-Japan proper 148,756; total area 260,738 miles (about size of California and Washington).
47 prefectures with 81 cities, 1,352 towns and 10,804 villages. 5 large islands-Hondo, Kyushu, Shikoku, Hokkaido, Taiwan.
Population-78,261,856 (including 17,000 in Chosen and 3,698,918 in Formosa) of whom 70% live in rural districts. Sixteen cities (before the earthquake) with over 100,000 inhabitants, each.
Religions: Shinto~Native religion, with Emperor worship. 13 sects with 49,000 principal shrines and 14,698 priests. Buddhism-Entered 550 A. D. 12 sects and 56 subsects; adherents, 46,000,000; 71,626 temples; one priest to 1,065 people. Confuciacn ethics are accepted by most of the educated higher classes: One minister to 21,692 people. Ch.ristianity-with 1,482 churches and 2,595 licensed Japanese preach- ers of Protestant, Roman and Greek Catholic Churches.
I Protestant Missions-First Catholic mission, 1549, by Frances Xavier. First Protestant Mission, 1859. First Japanese Protestant Church, Yokohama, 1872. First Greek Orthodox work begun 1861. Protestant communicants in Japan proper: 191,341. 64% of the missionaries labor among 82% of the population, while 93.6'70 of the foreign workers are stationed among 18% of the population-those living in cities.
Protestant Progress (in .Japan-not including Korea, Formosa and the Mandated Islands) : Missionary societies, 54. Missionaries, 1,594 (ordained men, 405; single women, 732). Japanese force, 4,667 (ordained pastors and evangelists, 1,168). Stations, 273; outstations, 2,517; organized churches, 1,615. Communicants, 191,341; added in year, 11,269; total constit- uency (including Roman and Greek Catholics), 350,000. Contributed by Japanese Christians (in 1922), Yen 1,227,124. Sunday-school enrolment, 170,169. Christian school enrolment, 213,145. Roman Catholics, 75,983 adherents. Greek Orthodox Church, 37,104 adherents.
General Information: Mythical period, "Age of the Gods." Empire founded 660 B. C. (Time of Manasseh, King of Judah.) Legendary Period, 660 B. C. to 480 A. D. Portuguese discovered Japan 1542 A. D. Xavier came in 1549. Persecution of Christians began 1617. Japan opened to foreigners by Commodore Perry, 1853-1854. Oonstitutional government instituted Feb. 11, 1889. Edicts agai;nst Christianity promulgated, 1682; repealed, 1873; renewed III 1868.
Currecncy-The Yen (100 sen) is worth about 50 cents.
… Compiled mainly from the "Statesman's Year Book" and the "Christian Movement In Japan."-Editor.
JENNY M
Missionary.of the Reformed Churc,h in America, Prtncipal of Ferris Sem- inary, Yokollama, killed in the earth- quake, September 1, 1923.
THE BUILDINGS OF THE AMERICA~ FRIENDS' (PHILADELPHIA) SCHOOL, TOKYO.
Recently remodelled and "ew bundings erected. (Damaged) FERRIS SEMINARY, 178 DR. UEMURA, PASTOR OJj' THE LARGEST JAPANESE CHURCH IN TOKYO (Probably destroyed by the fire) VIEW OF YOKOHAMA AND HARBOR (Before the ftre) AOYAMA MIDDLE SCHOOL (METHODIST EPISCOPAL NORTH) IN TOKYO (Damaged) THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL UNIVERSITY, TOKYO (Partly destroyed) MIDDLE. SCHOOL MEIJI GAKUIN. TOKYO (Reported safe) Y. M. C.A. HEADQUARTERS, TOKYO (Destroyed witll other buildings valued at $1,000,000) NEW Y. W. C. A. HEADQUARTERS, TOKYO (Destroyed) SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCl:! (Probably destroyed) A STREET IN TOKYO (Before the ftre) METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH, SALVATION ARMY HEADQUARTERS, TOKYO YOKOHAMA ( Destroyed) A GRn.DUATINGCLASS OF THE WOMAN'S' UNION MISSIONARY SOCIETY BIBLE TRAINING GREAT BRONZE ~UDDHA, KAMAKURA (Reported destroyed) WOMAN'S UNION CHRISTIAN COLLEGE BUILDING, TOKYO (Probably damAged) New buildings are being erected SCHOOL 'Off THE BINFFIN YOKOHAMA (Destroyed by tile eartliQuake) Views QfBuildings, Scenes and :Missionary Work in the Area Affected by the Recent Earthquake In Japan
Mission Stations in Japan (Including Chosen) 9 11 138" 13
KEY TO INITIALS FOR MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN .h:AUH STATION WHERE FOREIGNERS RESIDE B (Adapted from list prepared by tbe Missionary Eduaation Movement) ~–_ _ _U4ff AlICFII American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- MCC ldethodist Church (Canada) Methodist Episcopal Church (U_ S. A.) ABF sions (U. S. A.) IIUB Methodist Episcopal Church, South (U. S. A.) ABS Methodist Protestant Church (lJ . S. A.) AEPI American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (U. S. A.) MES Church of England in CaJlada (Canada) National Bible Society of Scotland (Scotland) UP American Bible Society (U. S. A.) MP,IIPW Choshi Jl[SCC Omi Mission (Japan) AG .lligemeiner evangclisch-protestantischer Missions- HBSS Oriental Missionary Society (Japan) OlllJ Pentecost Bands of the World (U. S. A.) ALU verein (Germany) Presbyterian Church in Canada (Canada) OMS Protestant Episcopal Church (U. S. A.) AuK Foreign Missionary Association of Friends of Phila· Presbyterian Church in the United States of America AuP PpBceW Presbyterian Church in the United States (South) delphia (U. S. A.) BFBS PE Reformed Church in America CC Foreign Mission Department General Council of the Reformed G'hurch in the United States ~~—-~—–r—–r PH Salvation Army (England) CGGE Assemblies of God, Inc. (U. S. A.) PS Scandinavian Alliance Mission of North America ~–~~——~~~——–~, CGII RCA Southern Baptist Convention (U. S. A.) CLSK United Lutheran Church in America (U. S. A.) RCUS Seventh·Day Adventist (U. R A.) ~ CJI[A SA Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (England) Australian Board of Missions SAlII United Brethren in Christ (U. S. A.) «-o CIS SBC United Christian Missionary Society (U. S. A.) Presbyterian Church of Australia (Australia) SDA United Danish Evangelical Lutheran (U. 8. A.) I B~E R I CN SPG · EC British and Foreign Bible Society (England) UB Universalist General Convention (U. S. A.) <v EPI UCIS Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America FIA Mission Board of the Christian Uhurch (U. S. A.) UDEL World's Sunday School Association HFlIA UGC Woman's Union Missionary Society of America ICPA Churches of God (U. S. A.) . International Committee of the Young Men's Chris Ind WICA JBTS Missionary Board uf the Church of God (U. S. A.) tian Associations WSSA Young Women's Ohristian Assodations (U. S. A.) n;B Christian Literature Society of Korea (Chosen) WU YMCA LEF Christian and Missionary Alliance (U. S. A.) PRINCIPAL AREA YWCA I Church Missionary Society (England) Affected b'y'the EARTHQUAKE Church of the Nazarene (U. S. A.) Evangelical Church (U. S. A.) Presbyterian Church of England (England) Free Methodist Church of North America (U. S. A.) Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association {U. S. A.) International Christian Police Association (Japan) Independent Japan Book and Tract Society (Japan) Japan Evangelistic Band (Japan) Lutherska Evangeliforeningen (Finland ) Cities ana towns in aevlUIteli area inaicatea Vy be&vy type. 1m portant plaues not staU01I8 of any miSsionary .oaiety in italics.
Letters ana figure. refer to location an map. K;JREA JAPAN Kusatsu G 12 Sasebo J 7 (ClIOSEN) Akashi H 10 PE Sendai F 13 Andong (Anto G 7 Akita F 13 PN Kushiro D 15 ABOFM, ABF, CO, MEFB, . PE, RCUS, UCMS Chail'yung F 5 Kyoto H 10 PE, RCUIS, UCMS PN Aomori E 13 PE, ROUS ABCFM,ABF,AEPM,CN Shimabara J 8 Ch_ClUl.!lpo G 6 Shimonoseki II J 8 MEFB Asahigawa D 14 Ind, JEB; MES, PE, PN, Ind, PN Chi1whun G 6 UB, YMCA, YWOA PN, RCA, SBC Chinju-II 6 7, Ashio G 12 JEB. Maebashi G 12 Shimo.-uwa G 12 AuF E Ashiya H 10 ABCFM, P.E Shimotsuma G 12 Choonehun G 6 CMS, MES MES MaibarG II 11 AFP Atsuta H 11 Chulwon F 6 Ayabe H 10 Marugame II 9 Shingu J 10, 11 MES Chiba H 13 PS PN Chunan G 6 AuM" SAM, SPG MEFB Choshi H 13 Matsumoto G ll, 12 Shizuoka II 12 HFMA MCC, MSCC MCC, UGC oF Dairen F 3 Matsuyama J 9 Shobara H 9 SEA YMCA ABCFM, CMA, MES, PN CMA Matsuye H 9 Sumoto H 10 CMS FMA Mikagi II 10 Susaki J 9 Mitajiri H II PS FapunfMtop C 14 Mito G 13 Taira G 13 Chungju G 6 F ABF, AFP, PE PE PN Fukugawa D 14 J A PA Fukui G 11 Mitsuishi II 10 Takamatsu H 10 Chunju H 6 Miyako F J3 PS PS 3rt MCC, PE, PN Miyazaki K 8 Fukuoka J 8 Takasaki G 12 Fusan H 7 ABCFM PE AuP ALU, CMS, Ind, MEFB, Moji J 8 RCA,SBC Takata G 12 Haiju F 5 Fukushima H 11 ALU MSCC UCMS Morioka F 13 Takayama G 11 MEFB ~. 1 Fukuyama H 9 ABF, ROUS Tanabe J 10 Hamheung F 6 KOREA CMA, CMS Muroran D 13 PN PCC (CHOsENj Gifu II 11 Kagano G 12 Tokushima H 10 Heijo (see Pyengyang) MSCC, PS MOO, MSGC CMS, PS Hoiryeng D 7 Hachiman H 11 Nagaoka G 12 Tokuyama II 8 PCC OMJ Nagasaki J 7 MES Hongsong G 6 ~ul I o Choon,hun 0 G lIachioji II 12 CMS, MEFB, RCA, SBC, Tokyo H 12 SA Kangnung YMCA AG ABC~'M, ABF, ARS, Kangkei E 6 I ' • Hakata J 8 Nagoya H 11 PN AEPM, AFP, AG, AH, Suwon oWonju ALU ALU, MCC, MP, MPW, ALU, CC, CGGE, Kankhwa G 6 H a kodate E 13 MSCC, PS, YMCA CMS, EC, EPM, ICPA, Ind. Kangnung G 7 G Yichur1'
CMS,MEFB Naha M 6 JBTS, JEB, LEF, MOC, MEFB Hamada II 9 MEFB MEFB, MES, MP, Keijo (see Seoul) oChinchun CMS Nakano H 12 PMNSC, CR,COAM, RSC, PUBSW , SlAP,ES,AM, Keizan H 7 oChungjJ Hamamatsu II 11 SBC, SDA, SPG, UB, Nakatsu J 8 SDA MCC, MPW, SPG MES Kokai (see Klingkei) Himeji II 10 Nara II 10 UCMS, UGC).. WMCA, Kongju G 6 ABF, MES, SPG PE WSSA, YMuA, MEFB Hirosaki E 13 Niigata G 12 YWCA Kuchang II 6 MEFB, PE ABCFM Tono F 13 AuP Hiroshima II 9 Nikko G 12 Tottori H 10 Kunsan H 6 S EA H CMA, CMS, MES,PN, SBC Ind, PE ABCFM PS Hyogo H 10 N okkeushi D 15 'foyama G 11 Kwangju H 6 Ida II 11 PN MOC PS LEF Numazu H 12 Toyohashi II 11 Masampo H 7 Inland Sea H 9, 10 SPG MSCC, PS AuP ABF Odawara II 12 Tau H 11 Milyang H 1 Ishinomaki F 13 SPG PE, PN OMS Statute Miles CC (temporarily vacant) Ogaki H 11 Tsuyama .ti 9 Mokopo H 6 Kagoshima K 8 Ind Uraga II 12 PS o, 5,0 10,0 15' 0 2qO CMS, MEFB, RCA Ogasawara-shima M 14 US'1/, D 13 Pyengyang F 5 Kakogawa H 10 SPG Utsunomiya G 12 AuP, 1v1EFB, PN FMA Oita J 8 CC Seoul G S Kamakura H 12 CMS, MES, RCA Uwajima J 9 BFBS, CLSK, MEFH, MJ!]S, JAPAN includi1t!/ CHOSEN J MEFB, ABCFM Okayama H 9 MES OMS, PCC, PN, SDA, Kamisuwa G H 12 ABCFM, CMA, MES, SPG Uyeda G 12 YMCA ~QUELPAIIT LEF Okazaki H 11 MOC, MSCC Songjin E 7 L–/ I. Showing Protestant .Mission Kanazawa G 11 PS Wakamatau G 12, 13 PCC J Stations and Principal Cities MCC, PE, PN Okitsu H 12 PE, RCUS, SDA Songdo F G 6 Karuizawa G 12 Omiya II 12 Wakayama H 10 MES Kawasaki II 12 PE PE, PN Soonan F 5 Inse"t Showing Kobe II 10 Omuta J 8 Yamada II 11 SDA Earthquake Area (Sept.l,1923) ABCFM, ABF, AG, ALU, ALU PN Soonchun H 6 BFBS, CMA, DHM, EC, Onomichi H 9 Yamagata F 13 PS FMA, Ind, JER, MCC, MES, Osaka II 10 PE,RCUS Suwon G 6 Karuizawa 80 mi. N~.ofTokyo NBSS, PS, SDA, SPG, ABCFM, ABF, ALU, CMS, Yamaguchi H 8 MEFB YMCA, YWCA EC, FMA, Ind, JEB, Ml!:S, PN Syenchun F 5 where many m1ssionaries K Kochi J 9 MSOC, PE, PN, UCMS, Yawata H 13 PN were du-ring the Earthquake PS, SPG YMCAA, YWCAUS Ind Taiden G 6 ST CHI N A Kofu II 12 Otaru D 13 Yokkaichi H 11 OMS I MCC ABCFM CMS, PN PN Taiku H 7 SEA Based on Map prepared by th~ Missionary Kokura J 8 Oyama G 12 Yokohama H 12 PN CMS, SBC Port Arthur F 3 ABF, AG, FMA, HFMA, JER, Tongyeng H 7 Education Movement (copynghted) Koriyama G 13 PN Ind. MEFB, MPW, RCA,MCC, AuF UJ—–5~—-12L6-'O—-6~–~lj2~8~O—=7~–~131o~o~~8~–~1~3~200—n9~–~13~4~O~~1~O~–~13~O–~111::==;13t8;O~~12i=~~14bo)co~J1U3r—l1~4~2~O~~1~4~ 30 EC, JEB Rumoi CD 13 SDA, SPG, WU. YMCA, Wonju G 6 Kumamoto J 8 CMS YWCA MEFB ALU, CMS, Ind, MEFB, Saga J 8 Yonago H 9 Wonsan F 6 SBC, UDEL ALU, RCA OMS MES, PCC, SDA Kure II 9 Sakai II 10 Zeze II 10 Yengpyen F 5 CMS, MES, PN Sapporo D 13 UB MEFB Kurume J 8 ABCFM, CMS, LEF, Zushi II 12 Yichun G 6 ALU, CMS, ROA MEFB, PN, SDA SPG MEFB The Latest Missionary Map of Japan and the Devastated Area, Prepared for Missionary Review of the World
SAN-JU-SAN-GEN-DO, THE TEMPLE OF A T H OUSAND GODS, KYOT O
Japan As a Mission Field BY REV, HILTON PEDLEY, KYOTO, JAPAN Field Secretary of the American Board Japan Mission SEVENTY years ago, Oommodore Perry of the United States Navy persuaded Japan to open her doors to her friends in the West. Six years later, not the least of these friends appeared in the persons of four American missionaries who began quietly to cultivate the good-will of their new neighbors. Now there are at least twelve hundred of these missionaries rendering friendly services throughout the Empire.
THE EMPIRE AS A WHOLE Thirty-four years ago, when the writer first saw the shore of the "Sunrise Kingdom," it was composed of four main islands-Yezo, Hondo, Shikoku, and Kiushiu-and a number of small outlying islands, such as the Kuriles, Loochoo, Bonin, etc., containing in all a population of thirty-nine millions. Expansion has been rapid since then. Formosa was acquired in 1895, one result of the triumphant war with Ohina. Ten years later, as a sequel to the greater war with Russia, the southern half of the island of Saghalien, off the Siberian coast, was added, as also the lease of that part of Manchuria which includes the city of DalL.! and its close neighbor Port Arthur.
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Within another five years, the conflict between Russian andJapanese interests led to Japan's annexation of Korea. Finally, as a result of the greatest of all wars, 1914-18, three large island groups to the South-Ladrones, Carolines, and Marshalls were intrusted as mandatories by the Allies to the Japanese Government. All these acquisitions have meant a noticeable increase in territory, and an addition of more than twenty millions of people, so that, at this present writing, Japanese possessions include a popUlation of almost eighty millions, the fifth, in this respect, among the great world empires. Thus, in territory somewhat greater t.han the state of Texas, about one tenth of which is available for cultivation, lives a population two thirds as great as that of the United States of North America. Not much room to spare I Not only have territory and people increased. The face of the land has been 0 'erlaid with the civilization of the West. Japan was very reluctant to admit the latter but the question was decided when the Government sent out the famous I wakura Commission in the early seventies, to survey the world and cull its best for the future development of the Empire. Thenceforth the three problems of effective government, general education and suitable communications were faced in earnest. In 1872, the first railway was laid down between Tokyo and Yokohama, and, about the same time, preparations were made for establishing a compulsory system of public education that should include all children between the ages of six and twelve. Next in oTder was the creating of the sources of supply-normal training schools for teachers, male and female. Once the machinery for these was set in motion, the authorities turned their attention to higher education, and soon what are called middle schools, first for boys and afterwards for girls, sprang into existence in each county or prefecture. From middle to higher middle or junior college, and thence to the university were natural and easy steps, and so at present the Government is directly behind no less than half a dozen universities, equipped on a generous scale, while at thesame time rich and influential citizens have taken upon themselves the task of establishing private institutions that have blossomed out into full university rank.
Waseda with its eleven thousand, and Keio with its ten thousand students are splendid monuments to the generosity of Okuma and Fukuzawa respectively. Futhermore, the newer and higher educa- tion brought with it fresh enterprise and hence arose the need for technical schools where the farmer might learn to farm, the manu- facturer to produce, the merchant to buy and sell, and the soldier to fight, all after the most scientific and, therefore, efficient manner, and this need has been supplied with startling rapidity. .
Following along the path of scientific education came the necessity of a more detailed organization in government, so, in time, villages, towns, and cities became orderly municipalities, local
J APAN AS A MISSION FIELD
legislatures were inaugurated, some of whose most efficient members were trained in parliamentary nsage in the local church organizations, and finally, in 1889, came the promulgation of Japan's first national constitution, granting such liberty of thought and speech as had hitherto been undreamed of except by a choice few. In the following year they opened the first Central Parliament, consisting of two Houses, each of three hundred members, and no doubt it was a time of many thrills on the part of the people far and near who, for the first time in the nation's history, were taking part in the administration of national affairs.
OLD METHOD OF IRRIGATION- WATERING THE PADDY FIELDS Communications had in the meantime been greatly developed. The "Iron Horse" had taken the whole land as his field, and, more especially of late, is dragging behind him not only the unadorned coaches of the humble poor but also the diners, Pullmans, and fast expresses for which the well-to-do are glad to pay. The tallow dip and lamp have given place to the bright electric glare. The hum of the trolley and automobile are heard in every center of trade; the flag of Japan floats from her passenger and merchant ships under all skies, and behind all these creations of the last half century there stand the powerful anny and navy.
Such is the Empire and some of the modern conditions under which it exists. Add to the above that the people are homogeneous in Japan proper where three fourths of them live, that the language 2
is one throughout this area, and that both in Korea and in Formosa there is generally the same homogeneity and the same oneness of language, although language and people are different in each country, and it would seem as if here were just those elements necessary to make missionary work most feasible in operation, and the most promising for results. To summarize again, an intelligent, industrious people, eager to cull the best, liberty to preach, freedom and convenience of travel, newspapers and magazines to be utilized, oneuess of language, the religious habit j what more could one desire in a field where the Gospel of Jesus is to be proclaimed¥ Japan leads in the Orient, and may for many years. Shall it be Christian leadership or otherwise?
EXISTING REUGIONS AND THEIR INFLUENCES Two of the three religions of Japan, Confucianism and Buddhism, came into the country some four hundred years before King Alfred was holding sway in England, while long antedating them was the worship of Nature and of Ancestors called, in contrast to the other two, "Shintoism" or "Way of the Gods."
Confucianism is, strictly speaking, not a religion, as there is no God, no temple, no ritual, no prayer. It is a system of ethics, which, adapted to Japan's peculiar circumstances, centered in loyalty to lord and sovereign, and produced a soldier class whose moral standards became the standards of the. whole people in large part. This knightly class it was that contributed most to the early Christian Church, and it is in this class that the backbone of the Church is found today. The ethical code of former days is not applicable in many ways to modern conditions, but it has the merit of being strong and intensely human. Twenty-five years ago, I read to a Japanese Confucian scholar, who had never read the Bible, the whole of the Sermon on the Mount. His comment was, "I gladly subscribe to that teaching, for it is exactly in accord with the teachings of Confucius."
Buddhism on its arrival in Japan had to fight hard for a foothold, but a famous sage espoused the doctrine and recommended it to the reigning sovereign who became its patron, thus making the way comparatively easy. Conceived of in the first place as a philosophy of life culminating in the annihilation of all desire, it gradually became popularized until it had evolved a theology in which Buddha became the supreme object of worship, and which included doctrines of heaven, hell, and salvation j immense and beautiful temples arose which caught the popular imagination j pilgrimages and penances became common; and in this day and generation the followers of some twenty sects gather before seventy-seven thousand temples to worship Buddha, all seeking the way of life, either through contemplation, or through faith, or through strict obedience to the teaching of the Buddhist law. .
J AP AN AS A MISSION FIELD
"THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY WORSHIP"-AT THE TEMpLES Shintoism contains in its literature the ancient mythology of all Japan. This was the first created land, here came the first Emperor directly at the command of the gods, chief of which was the "Sun" before whom at early dawn the "man of the street" claps his hands together and bows in lowly reverel).ce. This connection with the gods has placed a halo around the throne and thus made a large contribution to the intense loyalty and patriotism of the whole nation. No wonder then that the Department of Education finds Shintoism a powerful agency, especially in primary education. The Emperor's picture, placed in a fire-proof building connected with each school, is unveiled at times before the awe-stricken children who have previously been well instructed; to the local shrine these same children are taken periodically and made to do obeisance; textbooks are full of the glory of the Imperial House, the origin of which and the traditions of which are contrasted favorably with the origins and history of other dynasties. At present the authorities deny that official Shintoism is one with the religion of that name, but the same shrines, the same priests and the same rites are employed for both official and religious occasions. It is interesting to note that with no less than one hundred and fifteen thousand shrines there are but fifteen thousand priests in all, an indication that there are many shrines without the direct serVices of the priest, used merely as public resorts
to which the faithful may come to pray. The upkeep of these is in the hands of the local community.
CHRISTIAN EFFORT, JAPANESE AND MISSIONARY In the middle of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese Catho- lics, led by Francis Xavier, inaugurated a work in the Island Kingdom that developed with astounding rapidity, until, in an evil day, the Church became involved in political schemes that drew upon it the vengeance of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. These powerful lords almost literally swept away the half million of adher- ents and with them all outward traces of Chris- tianity. As has been previously noted, however, the missionaries -this time of the Protestant order –(jame back in 1859. Behind closed blinds the first converts were baptized in A CLASS IN THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION DEAF-ORAL the city of Na- SCHOOL IN 1'OKYO gasaki in 1866, and the first Church (Presbyteri·an) was organized in Yokohama, in 1872, just one year before the edicts against Christianity were abolished by order of the Government. Thenceforth there followed a steady stream of missionary reinforcements until today some thirty societies with approximately twelve hundred representatives are found in the strategic centers. In the meantime, groups of inde- pendent, self-supporting churches have arisen, all of which are either ufficially or informally related to the corresponding missionary groups of the same denominations. These churches, as such, have confined their attention almost wholly to evangelistic work, leaving the burden of educational development to be borne by the various missionary .boards. The net result of all Protestant Christian operations along evangelistic lines is appended to this article but it may be summarized as follows: 1,411 churches; 127,826 com- municants; contributions for 1921, $650,000. The figures for the same year from Roman and Greek Catholic sources are approxi- mately 542 churches; 112,877 communicants; contributions, $18,436.
Some years ago an attempt was made by the Federation of Mis-
JAPAN AS A MISSION FIELD
sions in Japan to distribute the Christian forces according to a geographical plan that would minimize overlapping, but it was only partially successful. Our Japanese associates had little enthusiasm for it, deeming the time not ripe for such a movement, since there were but two hundred and fifty thousand Christians in a population of nearly sixty millions, and therefore plenty of room for all without drawing hard and fast lines. In consequence, there is no such clearcut division of territory as was shown in the article on India in last year's REVIEW.
The above summary, while it includes Formosa, is entirely apart from the work in Korea or the mandatory groups, all of which are A NIGHT SCHOOL MISSION KINDERGARTEN AT MATSUYAMA under Japanese control. Korea has been omitted because it has hitherto been customary to make it the subject of a separate report. Of the mandatories a word may be added. In the Ladrones, one large Roman Catholic church seems to be sufficient for the needs ·of a population of not more than 3,000, including both half-breeds and natives. In the Carolines and Marshalls, the only religion is that of Christianity, either Protestant or Catholic, and the Japanese Government is not favorable to the introduction of .a new type. The Catholic priests are distributed over both groups, while the Protestant workers are confined to the Marshalls and to three groups of the Carolines-Truk, Ponape and Kusaie, the work being divided between the .American Board, which is laboring with sadly inadequate equipment, nnder the leadership of three lady missionaries, one in the Marshalls, and the other two in Kusaie, and a Japanese missionary society headed by a Congregational pastor of Tokyo.
SUMMARY OF PRESENT NEEDS 1. The Need of Manning the Unoccupied Fields. Let us remember that as yet there is but one Christian communicant to two hundred and fifty of the population of Japan proper. Conditions, perhaps imperative, have left the country regions comparatively untouched by either Japanese or foreign workers, who have centralized largely in the great cities and provincial capitals. While it is a fact that few of the towns and large villages are without some who have had direct contact with Christianity, it is also a fact that the masses in these places go on as if J eSll:S had not lived. Reinforcements principally, it is true, of Japanese, but in some measure of foreigners, are greatly needed, for here is virgin soil for the seed of the Gospel on a larger scale than exists anywhere in the homeland.
2. The Educationa~ Need. The quality of government kindergarten work and the extent of that done for higher education are still very inadequate. The waiting list of mission kindergartens and training schools is a long one, while the applicants for entrance to our middle ~chools and colleges for both boys and girls far outrun the possibilities of accommodation. While the Government is ever inc;reasing its efforts, it will be long before the need can be met, thus giving our missionary societies a grand opportunity not only to assist in general education, but also to bring thousands of young minds into daily contact with a genuine Christian environment. .
3. Need for a Rally against Reaction. Japan has at last entered the community of world powers, a position fought and bled for through half a century. Her political goal has been attained. Now is the time of danger, for the pendulum is swinging back from universal to national ideals. Witness the great revival of official Shintoism. Not long ago a Christian minister of outstanding reputation and a prominent layman pleaded before a select group of missionaries for an increase of their forces. "We are drifting," they said, "into a narrow nationalism, such as was not known even in the antiforeign days of fifty years ago, and it is only you with your Christian ideals of universal brotherhood that can keep us sane."
4. Need of a Rally against Materialism. The breaking down of old feudal restraints in family and community life, the new freedom accorded to women, the rapid change in living conditions due to the rise of industrialism and consequent herding in the great centers, the democratic movement, the labor agitation, etc., all these developments are calling for such moral and spiritual treatment as seems possible to Christianity alone. Conscious of the seriousness of the situation, and realizing the Church's weakness, its leaders are insisting that this is no time for our missionary boards to relax, but on the contrary, the time for them to gird up their loins and hasten to the help of their sorely-taxed brethren, with all the resources in their power.
A JAPANESE CHRISTMAS ADVERTISEMENT. WITH SANTA
The true Christmas Idea Is supplanted by Idea 01 a benevolent peroon who gives gilts. This figures largely in advertisements and store decorations at end of year. Many"non-Christian Japanese observe the festival by «Ilts to children.
Some Anti-Christian Forces in Japan BY REV. WILLIAM AXLING, D.D., TOKYO, JAPAN Author of "Japan on the Upward Trail "'; Missionary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 1901- T HE Japanese, like men and women everywhere, have their own inherent faults and vices. These have behind them the ac- cumulated momentum of centuries and bulk large as anti-Christian forces. We shall, howeyer, deal wit.h these only in so far as they have been reenforced by allies from the West. Other new unfriendly forces have aiso drifted in from the Occident and are handicapping the Christian movement in this land.
Strong Drink and Narcotics.- From time immemorial the Japanese have been sake drinkers. This beverage, made of rice, is eighteen per cent alcoholic. At present 330,000,000 gallons are con- ~umed annually, running up a drink bill of 987,000,000 yen a year or eighteen yen per capita. From this drink bill the Government receives through the revenue tax an annual income of 188,838,000 yen. Investigations reveal the startling facts that seventy-five per cent of the nation's criminals, seventy-five per cent of her very poor and sixty-two per cent of her feeble-minded children come from the drinking classes.
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The introduction of whisky and other high per cent alcoholic Western drinks has been going on apace and today j j Scotch Whis- ky," (often made in Japan) is sold at every railroad station and in eating houses far out in the remote corners of the Empire. This developing taste for stronger and more alcoholic beverages is making the liquor curse more deadly and the fight against it more difficult.
Japanese have acquired an unenviable reputation as traffickers in opium and other narcotic drugs, especially in China. Investiga- tions show that the great bulk of the opium and other drugs which Japanese are smuggling into China comes from America and Europe. As agents, the Japanese are searing their consciences by engaging in this illicit trade but the West must bear the greater guilt as the producer and exporter.
The Degenerate Movie.-The movie has captured Japan. The cities are completely under its spell and country villages are feeling its influence. While a few good films are filtering through, too often it is the scum of the film-world of the West which is being dumped upon Japan's shores. Films which fail to pass the censorship in the-Occident are sent post haste to the Orient. Here they not only undermine the morals and lower the ideals of the people but they picture so-called Christian lands in a false light. Through many of these films Western womanhood is defamed, the Western home is made a laughing stock, and sex relations are turned into a scandal. Many of these films are an international menace, and instead of helping the Orient to understand the Occident and its institutions they are creating false impressions and dragging the most sacred Occidental relations and institutions into the mire.
Paganized Morals.-Masses of men are the creatures of their environment. Their standards, ideals and moral code are shaped by it. A change of environment means a complete change of the things by which they live. Among the Westerners living in Japan there are found in every walk of life those who stand four square for the things which are highest and finest. They are not the creatures but the creators of their surroundings. Unfortunately others of a different type abound. No sooner are they settled on this new soil than their Christian or near-Christian code of morals begins to crumble and they drift easily into a pagan mode of living.
Facts fresh from life throw sad side lights upon this dark phase of the West's impact upon Japan. A representative of American big business, who has a family in the homeland, lives a double life with a Japanese paramour. Another whose wife and children are eagerly waiting for his return to Canada is forced, before he is allowed to sail, to make provision for a child whom he has doomed to bear the stigma of illegitimacy. Another representing one of England's oldest commercial concerns has a moral record which is a disgrace to the land of his birth. Another, a consular agent of one of the states of
SOME ANTI-CHRISTIAN FORCES IN JAPAN
Europe, is today the central figure in a sordid scandal which is being played up in the native press.
These are not isolated cases and their influence on the Japanese mind is shown by a question put to the writer recently by a Japanese fellow traveler in the interior. After a few words of casual greeting he insinuatingly asked, "You too have a Japanese mistress I sup- pose 7" Seeing that his question was resented, he continued, "Oh, you can't bluff me, I have worked in the port cities and know how the Westerners there live." He had seen only the worst side but his im- pression was backed up by ugly facts.
Big business in Japan has a habit of resorting to s.ake suppers, geisha entertainments and bribes in order to accomplish its ends and many Western concerns follow suit. The representative of one Euro- pean company whose branches circle the world's capitals remarked to the writer recently that the money his firm expended in these questionable ways made the overhead expense of the Japan branch the greatest of all the branches.
Militarism-In recent years there have been times when a limited section of Japan's leaders have dreamed of Empire building and been infected' with the militaristic germ. In the early phase of her modern development, however, Japan did not choose militarism. It was forced upon her. Wherever she looked in those early days she found the Western nations putting confidence in the mailed fist. She saw nation after nation in Asia coming under the supremacy of these sword-swinging nations of the West. Moreover, she herself had some experiences which drove the iron deep down into her soul. Commodore Perry, buttressed by an American squadron, forced her to unbar her long locked doors to Western commerce and in 1861 an English fleet fired on her Kagoshima forts and razed them to the ground. In 1863 her Shimonoseki fortress suffered the same fate and in 1895 Russia, France and Germany, backed by their fleets, compelled her to return to China the Port Arthur peninsula which had been ceded to her as the spoils of the China-Japan war. No sooner had she withdrawn, however, than these three nations stepped in and laid claim to large sections of Chinese territory. She read in it all a threat to her national security and to her place in the Asiatic sun. In self-defense she began building a navy and organizing an army.
Since that time Japan has kept her finger on the pulse of the Western world and has shaped her policies accordingly. No nation reacts so quickly to the international atmosphere. When imperialism runs amuck among the nations and they madly expand their armament, she catches the fever and joins in the race. Her record at the Washington Conference shows, however, that Japan is not infatuated with militarism and when the Western nations return to sanity and sincerely plan for peace she is ready to make her full contribution toward the realization of this goal.
Crass Materialism-The Samurai of old Japan looked with dis- . dain upon everything that bore the taint of trade. To them money was in truth "filthy lucre." Modern Japan's early leaders soon dis- covered, however, that it took money to play the new role upon which their nation had entered. A mighty ;army, an expanding navy, gigantic fortifications, means of communication, education, and all the frills and feathers which accompany modern civilization were costing a mint of money. They, therefore, made plans for increasing the nation's resources and the result has been the inrush of commer- cialism and industrialism. In ancient Japan the simple handicrafts prevailed and the employer and employee worked together as master and disciple or father and son. It is a commercialism and industrial- ism that is cruel and soulless, that produces men who are money mad, corporations that exploit the poor and machine factories that grind the workers to dust. In its wake has followed the inevitable crop: the enthronement of Mammon, commercial greed, industrial injus- tice, conflict between capital and labor, labor problems, extravagant habits and luxurious living on the part of the rich and envy and hatred on the part of those less favored, crystalizing in bitter class distinctions.
Radicalism-The Japanese are preeminently a reading folk. Rare indeed are the "best sellers" of the West that do not have a reading constituency here. In their search for knowledge the Japan- ese eagerly read Western books on any and every theme. The result is that every idea that challenges the thinking world of the Occident reaches across the Pacific and profoundly influences Japan's thought life. Every Western" ism" leaps the Paciiic and secures a hearing in this land. Ultra-jingoism, red Bolshevism, every shade of socialism, feminism and every type of extreme thought has its followers here.
Mentally, therefore, Japan finds herself tossed about on two dif- ferent thought currents, one flowing in out of her hoary past, often freighted with error and another rolling in from the West as often loaded with the vagaries of the wayward human mind.
In the religious world, materialistic atheism, philosophical agnos- ticism and German radicalism have all crossed the Paciiic and found devotees and propagandists in this Empire. Thus in things religious Japan is groping her way through the superstitions and darkness of her ancient pagan cults and the mist and fog of a multitude of West- ern "isms" destructive of a true religious faith.
Others will deal with the brighter side ofthe West's impact upon Japan but the conclusion is clear: America and Europe must send to Japan not only Christian evangelists but Christian business men, diplomats and scholars as well and fully Christianize the impact of these lands upon this forward-looking, forward-moving nation that holds, to so large a degree, the destiny of Asia in its hands.
MISSIONARY
HUNGER MAP OF JAPAN DrSTRICTS AND POPULATION PER Mrs SIt> NARY F_ …….. _…… _ … 1. Hokkaldo .
2. Aom.orl "'" 8 7,3 74 POPIlLATION PER MISSIOI'ARY 68 ,7 65 3. Akita ……. 179.706 …._ _… ………
4. Iwata …… 211,377 5. Yamagata, .. 322,963 6. Miyagi … .. 30,055 7. Niigata …. . 1,767,455 8. Fukushima " 227,114 9. Tochg . …. 261,614 10. Gumma . …. 210,519 11. lbaraki …. . 270,067 12. Chlha …. _" 222,68 4 13. Saitama … .1,319,51 7 14. Tokyo •….. 14,012 _UJIT..T.,,"… ·.,..~_~otT 15. Kanagawa .. 30,076 16. Yamanashl " 97,242 .. ,,,……-….
17. Nagano …. . 120,208 18. Toyama ….. 241,419 19. Gifu …… . 267,591 20. Aichl 90,857 ~~: ~~l:',:';: .. l~g:m ' ''~ 23. FukuI 149,787 J 33. Kagawa .. .. 169,544 34. T okusbima 134,044 35. Sblmane .. .. 238,233 36. HIroshima ., 55,067 37. Ehime …. . . 209,338 24. Shiga …. . 108,508 38. Kochi •.• • . . 95,842 25. Kyoto . . .. 39. YamaguchI ., 115,664 26. Osaka _.' 35,748 27. Nara .. 64,695 40. Fukuoka … . 87,510 28. Miye ……. 564,605 41. saga …… . 168,469 267,319 42. NagasakI . . , 70,984 29. Wakayama .. 150,080 43. Kumamoto ., 95,842 30. HY ogo • . …. 39 ,01 5 44. Oita ……. . 124,332 31. Tottorl …. _ 1 51,558 4 5. Miyazaki . .. . 325,542 46. Kagoshlma ., 178,192 32. Okayama … 176,809 Missionary Hunger Areas in Japan BY REV. H. CONRAD OS'l'ROM, D.D., TOKUSHIMA, JAPAN Missionary of the Presbyterian Chureh in the U. S. (South ) , 1911 I N the eyes of the world Japan is a land of culture, a first-class nation and the greatest power in Asia, but it is admittedly a non-Christian country. In the eyes of a missionary it is still a land enveloped in spiritual darkness, shot through here and there with gleams of light. It must still remain on missionary maps of the world's need, for it is still a land of hunger.
This needs reiteration, for many contrary opinions are being disseminated. It has been said that the work of the missionary is consummated in Japan. It has been claimed that the day of promise is over, that the summer is ended and winter is at hand. Some maintain that progress is so slow and so difficult, that it would be wen to turn to more favorable climes and peoples, 795
But spiritual hunger stilI prevails, and the need must be met. Difficulty daunts no one who has caught the spirit of Christ and we have the conviction that a new dawn is nearing in the land of the Rising Sun.
It is undoubtedly true that there are wide a!eas of need today. l'Jven though the hunger is not expressed, the pain persists. The deepest demands of the human heart often remain unuttered because undiagnosed. The Japanese are restless but do not know that the cause is hunger for God. In the words of Augustine, "Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee."
PERIMETER OF THE PROBLEM The first hunger area in Japan that naturally strikes a student of missions is new for Ohristian missionaries. In the forty-seven prefectural divisions in Japan proper, with a total population of 55,961,140, there are 787 missionaries (excluding wives) or an aver- age of 70,000 Japanese to each missionary. But since the mission- aries are not evenly distributed we find many areas in which each worker has a much larger parish.
There is what may be called the "Black Belt of Need," where seventeen prefectures, with a population of 17,471,050 or almost one third of the entire population, have only fifty-seven missionaries in residence- or an average of over 300,000 in each working unit. A "Dark Brown Hunger Area" includes fourteen prefectures, with 13,223,507 people or one fourth of the population of the country, where there are eighty-eight missionary units, or an average of one to every 150,000 people.
The situation brightens a little in the area, which we may call "Orange," where eleven prefectures, with a total population of 16,293,328, have an average of one foreign worker to about 80,000. A "Yellow Area" reveals four prefectures, including 5,873,918 people, among whom there is an average of about 34,000 people to each worker. This area, however, contains but ten per cent of the entire population of Japan.
The brightest spot on the map was Tokyo Fil, the political heart of the empire, where 264 missionaries were located among a population of 3,699,283. This is not an evident case of too great centralization or overlapping for an analysis of the Tokyo situation shows that the total includes over 60 young missionary recruits temporarily in the Japanese Language School, preparing to scatter to various parts of the land. Also most of the missionaries in Tokyo were engaged in educational work, for many educational institutions were located there in the greatest student center in the empire. Nevertheless some of the missions recently established in Japan might well have placed their forces in other parts of the country, for twenty of the eighty-three cities are stilI unoccupied and these cities have a total population of over 4,000,000 people.
MISSIONARY HUNGER AREAS IN JAPAN
Owing to the scarcity of tillable soil in Japan and the mountainous character of the country, most of the inhabitants live in scattered communities. The officially termed villages (11,001 in number) are actually composed of 56,225 little hamlets whose aggregate population comprises over seventy per cent of the entire population of the land. Scarcely any penetration has as yet been made by missionary forces into this rural area. But the serious feature of this village situation is not that these country folk form the bulk, but that they constitute the backbone of the nation. Until these are at least partially won to Christ, the land cannot, even in a nominal sense, be called evangelized.
Conservatively speaking, then, no adequate provision has been made at present for the evangelization of two thirds of the population of Japan. Over forty millions of people are untouched by the Gospel. Is it any wonder that the vision of hunger areas arises in the minds of those who are conversant with these facts ~ THE HEART OF THE SITUATION The most potent factor in the evangelization of a land, let alone in its Christianization, is its indigenous Church. The Protestant constituency (and only Protestant forces are dealt with in this urticle) numbers about 170,000, while actual communicants are counted at 120,000, or one Christian to 466 persons, as over against one to four in the United States. Can we look to this body to carry on the evangelization of the land unaided 1 Noone can say that the Japanese Church is sitting down on its job, though it may not conform to our highest ideals. It has set an example of independence and self-support but we cannot expect it to infiltrate a population five hundred times its size. The problem of evangelization grows more acute and more complex as civilization advances. Industrialism hides a host of evils under seeming prosperity. The Government is fostering the ancient Shinto worship; even Christian circles are being invaded with its propaganda. Buddhism is being galvanized into hitherto unexampled activity, and is constantly found imitating Christian methods. Agnosticism is settling like a fog over the educated classes. Greed for gain is gripping business communities. Bolshevism and other radical ideas are rife in certain quarters. In addition to all this, the population of Japan is increasing at the rate of over 600,000 a year.
In the midst of these problems and perils the youthful, but stalwart, Japanese Church needs the concrete expression of sympathy from foreign churches. In answer to the question, "Shall the mis- 'bionary force in Japan be increased!" a prominent Japanese pastor, pr. Ebina, wrote a few years ago: "Yes, largely-up to the limit ·of men and means. Send us two or three times as many as we now have. Let us have all the evangelistic force that can be spared from .
the West." Thus the Japanese Church itself is hungry for a true understanding of its problems, hungry for the touch of brotherhood, hungry for self-sacrificing example in the effort to win the land for Christ.
Statistics say that above ninety-eight per cent of the legitimate children of Japan between the ages of six and fourteen are in school today, while the percentage of attendance in the higher schools is perhaps below the standard in some other lands. This is not be- cause of lack of eagerness for education, for so numerous are the applicants for admission into the higher institutions that an average of only ten per cent is admitted, owing to lack of accommodation. But what of the result of this educational furore ~ It is estimated that fairly ninety per cent of the students in the higher schools and colleges of Japan are without any religion. No religious teaching is allowed in the curriculum of the government institutions, and the hold of the native religions upon the young is gradually loosening. One can but look with grave concern upon the Japan ~f tomorrow, if the educated youth of the land are thus to grow: up without the ideals and restraints of religion. The students of Japan form a hunger area of crucial importance, which must not be overlooked.
A signal token of modernity in Japan is the phenomenal growth of its industrial system. It is a striking evidence of adaptability on the part of the race that it can so readily turn from the small crafts of ancient heritage to the wholesale manufacture of articles for. the markets of the, world. Japan's ships sail the seven seas, carrying goods made in Japan into the marts of all lands. This industrial activity is the cause of a great tide of emigration from the simple existence of the· country hamlets to the perilous life in manufacturing centers. Trained agents from factories tour the country sides, picturing city .life with bewitching persuasiveness and turn streams of humanity into already crowded centers. At present the industrial proletariat in Japan numbers well over two millions, whereas twenty years ago there were only 1,400 factories with 30,000 workers throughout the land.
The day of industry has truly dawned in Japan but this situation reve~ls a need that is crying to high heaven for relief. When country lads and country maidens are once in the hands of the factory managers, they are held as if gripped in a vise. While not legally bound, the conditions of the new life weave a web which binds like cables of steel. Very few workers ever return to their native homes, for they are inextricably caught in the vortex of the industrial maelstrom. Some factories are like human gristmills, into which is being fed a constant stream of youthful, bouncing life, latent with capacities for nobler things, and out of which come weak, discouraged, worn-out relicts of humanity. While this is not true of the whole
industrial system, still the proletariat of Japan can justly be called a hunger area, craving the. deep, satisfying bread of human comfort and of God's help.
A living relic of the ancient feudal system of Japan still remains. A separate people, numbering over 1,200,000, are scattered over the nation who in facial features, in dress, language and manners, often so closely resemble the rest of the population, that even the Japanese themselves are sometimes deceived as to their real identity.
In former times there were two classes of outcasts in Japan, the eta and the hinin, but in 1871 they were both elevated to nominal citizenship. In actual practice there is no intermarriage, and no social intercourse between them and the Japanese. The most menial work falls to their lot. Segregated as they are in villages which breathe of poverty, filth, and ignorance, they are as truly "outcast" today as of yore.
Recently a new spirit has seized this downtrodden, despised people. They are banding themselves together into a brotherhood under the self-assumed name of suiheisha, literally, "water-Ievel-ists," a term revealing an aspiration to get on the-same plane with their Japanese fellow citizens. Propaganda from communistic sources is fanning into a flame their purpose to attain their rights, and recent riots in districts as widely separated as Osaka and Kyfrshfr show that trouble is brewing. The village slums of these people, which are far worse than any city slums, constitute a hunger area which has thus far scarcely been touched.
With a coast line of more than 17,815 miles, washed by both warm and cold currents, it is not strange that sea products form one of the staple articles of Japanese food. The fishery population numbers at present over six millions, and yet very little persistent effort has been made to evangelize these men of the sea. One of the noted exceptions was the masterly, devoted work of the sainted Captain Bickel, whose F1tkuin Maru (Gospel Ship) threaded the many tortuous passages of the Inland Sea, freighted with a more precious cargo than any other keel carries. The fishing towns and villages are still being ministered to by the voyages of this vessel. But these villages form only a small fraction of the total fishing hamlets that fringe the coast of Japan. From among the fishermen of Galilee the Master called some of His chosen few to minister to the hungry hearts of men, and shall the hearts of fishermen of Japan remain always a hungry area1 Some of the more famous shrines of Japan record the visit of as many as a million pilgrims a year. Whoever has seen these "weary, wayworn wanderers" on their search for peace, will have etched upon the memory an indelible picture of the hunger that is an evidence of the universal human quest for God.
By far the largest untouched area of Japanese life is the vast
farming population, which covers the plains, threads the valleys, mounts the hills, and even scales the mountainsides of Japan. Over five and a half million families (or over sixty per cent of the entire population) are included in this supreme area of need.
In ancient times the Roman term for villager, paga;nus, became a word of opprobrium, signifying a non-Ohristian, which has been handed down to us in the form, pagan. This was because the Ohurch of that day was so remiss in reaching out to the rural communities, that these remained pagan centers until the very last. Shall it be that the rural regions of Japan are so neglected by heralds of the Gospel, that the Japanese word inakamono, a rustic, will come to A NEW ERA BUDDHIST SUNDAY SCHOOL RALLY IN JAPAN mean" non-Ohristian T" Think of the millions of unsatisfied, aching hearts that will pass away ere a result is registered I Through its hunger areas Japan speaks of a great opportunity to serve a great race. It is possible now to help shape the destinies of a nation of great latent power, before it has settled into inflexibility. There are hosts of adversaries, but these should only nerve us for greater deeds. A land made free from its pangs of waut, a people made strong for the crusade against wrong, a race made holy for the loftiest human enterprises, a kingdom redeemed by the crucified Ohrist, this is the ultimate aim of our work in Japan. The realization of this vision depends upon the alleviation of its areas of need. "Blessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled, said the Master. Shall we say: "Blessed are the Hunger Areas of Japan, for they shall b~ satisfied 7"
Social Evil in
BY COLONEL GUNPEI YAMAMURO, TOKYO, JAPAN Chief Secretary of The Salvation Army (now busy in relief of earthquake and 'fire victims) I N JUNE, 1872, a Peruvian ship brought 230 Chinese to Yoko- hama. One of the Ohinese jumped overboard and made his way to The Iron Duke, a British man-of-war that was in harbor, and there stated that he and his companions had contracted to go to Peru as laborers. After getting on board the Peruvian ship, how- ever, they had found that they had been sold into slavery. Not only were they treated cruelly on the vessel, but it was clear that still more cruelty was to be their lot on arrival in Peru. The Chinese appealed to the British Captain, who immediately informed the Japanese Gov- ernment of the position. The Government took up the matter and secured emancipation for the 230 poor souls who had thus been trapped into slavery. The Peruvian Government prot~sted, and ultimately the matter was submitted to the arbitration of the late Emperor of Russia who decided in favor of the Japanese contention.
The negotiations in connection with the whole affair made a great impression on some intelligent Japanese officials. It dawned on them that while their Government had freed 230 Ohinese from slavery they were allowing an even worse kind of slavery in J apanin the thousands of women who were sacrificed to the passions of wanton men. Consequently they secured freedom for the girls in question in the October of the same year.
Unfortunately this emancipation came as the result of outside influence and not because of the dissatisfaction of the girls themselves or of the people generally, and the matter was not understood. The girls went out as birds from broken cages, but very soon returned to the old life, and the same kind of terrible traffic continued. The fact remains, however, that, at least nominally, from that time Japan has ceased to recognize the enslaving of its women as legal for such purposes. The money paid for them is called "advance money" instead of "purchase money," and the houses contain what are known as "hired rooms," the inference being that the girls themselves rent the rooms of their own accord. It follows, therefore, that the keepers are nominally boarding-house proprietors. All the same, one must realize that a change of name is not a change of fact, and to this day slavery still exists.
In Japan there are three recognized kinds of girls of doubtful character, though there are, in addition, numbers of unlicensed prostitutes, as well as the seemingly inevitable number of wilfully wanton girls.
The first of the three first mentioned are the Shogi, who are 801 3
the girls who are kept in the licensed quarters and who use the so-called"hired rooms." In the majority of cases they are secured because of the "advance money" which has been given by the procurators, and which the girls usually contract to repay with six years. This sum varies from two or three hundred yen ($100 to $150) to as much as 3,000 ($1,500). With su,ch a responsibility hanging over them the girls are practically bound to their awful calling. Moreover, when the girls go to the houses first the keepers deduct considerable amounts on the score of purchasing dresses, etc. The book-keeping is usually done by the keepers and not by the girls, and thus the poor creatures are held tight as long as health and fair appearance remain. Before 1900, should a girl escape, she was sought JAPANESE SALVATION ARMY OFFICERS-SHOWING EVIUENCE OF EARLY ATTACKS out by the police and sent back,and before she could secure her freedom the signature of the brothel-keeper was required. Because of this the Rev. U. G. Murphy, an American missionary in Nagoya, determined to try to secure greater freedom for the girls, and started off with one or two cases that came under his notice. The Court decided in favor of the girls, and just then the Salvation Army, who were considering something on the same lines, took the matter up. A special number of the Toki-no-Koye (War Cry) was issued, in which clear explanation was given as to the procedure by which freedom could be obtained. Assistance was also promised to any girls who communicated with the headquarters, our underlying idea being, not only the rescue of the girls but also their ultimate salvation through Jesus Christ.
When our people began to distribute the War Cry the keepers and their cronies became most indignant. Time after time Salva-
THE SOCIAL EVIL IN .JAPAN
tionists were wounded, and then the keepers declared they would burn down Salvation Army property. The result was that police protected the headquarters day and night, as also the person and belongings of the officers themselves. Newspapers took up the mat- ter, some of them nobly standing by the Army in the agitation, two or three actually carrying on rescue work on their own account. The affair became so serious that the Japanese Government issued special rules making the procedure for cessation perfectly clear and ena- bling the girls to be free whether they owed money or not. This was in October, 1900, and at that time over 10,000 girls took advantage of the facilities offered. Mr. Murphy, in his book, "The Social Evil," paid splendid tribute to the Army's part in this agitation as follows: "But for the Rescue Home and the agitation carried on by the Salva- tion Army, it is not likely that the government would have done anything. In many places the brothel-keeper's name for Christianity is l(Y1~-Sei-Gun Japanese name of the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army to them is the only Christian organization that deserves attention."
Since that time there has been the possibility of securing freedom for the girls, but hundreds of years' custom still forms a bulwark around the system of segregated districts. Each year the intelligent classes realize the hideousness of the whole business to a greater degree, and feel that it should be wiped out; but the battle is not yet won. Sometimes even new quarters are opened, much to the indignation of religious people, including the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Purity Society, who are specially active in combating this evil.
In 1910 there were 48,769 Shogi, and in 1920, 50,752. There was a slight increase when spread over the ten years, but the system as such had slightly reduced in extent owing to people feeling that such a business was decidedly discreditable to the country. The extension of educational facilities has also helped since educated girls are not willing to go into such a life. This is hopeful, especially seeing that the Department of Education :6gure shows that 97 per cent of the Japanese children attend common schools. Moreover, when this is compared with the state of things when the Salvation Army made a special investigation; which proved that out of 500 girls whom we were helping no less than 200 of them were practically illiterate, it will be seen that great advance has been made. A third deterrent to the spread of the system is the opportunity for women to earn a living in the manufacturing world. Still, no one who has the best interests of Japan at heart will be satis:6ed until the whole system is wiped away.
People who uphold the segregated districts say that such a custom helps to prevent the spread of venereal diseases and alRo keeps down indiscriminate prostitution~ There is only one Prefecture in Japan where there are no licensed quarters, (i. e., Gunma Pre-
fecture) and statistics show that venereal disease is less prevalent there than in any other part of the country. It is also clearly proved that wherever there are licensed quarters a large number of un- licensed prostitutes also settle in the vicinity. .
The second kind of recognized girls of doubtful character are known as Geisha. These are supposed to be entertaining girls who help at feasts, etc. Considering the demand for prohibition is spread- ing throughout the world, the existence of this class is most unde- sirable, for Japan should not be the only country to have such girls to encourage people to drink and live thoughtless lives. But when we realize that Geisha are not purely and simply entertaining girls but practically another kind of prostitute who is not confined to any special district and who comes into the better houses of the cities, the position is made much worse. In 1910 there were 37,038 Geisha, and in 1920,. 70,946. It will be seen, therefore, that they are rapidly increasing and more than counteract the position as to the Shogi. This matter is a very serious one for the prestige of Japan.
The third class are the "Tea-house girls," who are a kind of Geisha of a' very low class. They mainly exist in country districts. serving in tea shops and in certain classes of hotels. In 1910 there were 33,956, and in 1920, 67,822, so these, too, are rapidly increasing. The existence of these girls is as serious as that of the Geisha.
In view of this three-fold problem what are we to do'? In the first place public prostitution should be wiped out, and the Geisha and Tea-house girls should be strictly controlled. If they serve people in an innocent way their existence might be recognized, but as soon as they compromise themselves from a moral standpoint . they and the proprietors and patrons should be seriously punished and the permit to do business taken away. The keepers of houses used for prostitution should be very strongly dealt with, for they take advantage of helpless girls. The "advance money" business should also be entirely done away with, as the idea of lending money to the girls which they have no ability to repay except by the sale of their bodies is a great blot on Japanese honor. Constructively the Labor Bureau might be utilized in assisting girls to get honest means of livelihood. Boarding houses might also be erected to enable them to live in circumstances where they can be protected from evil. Rescue work must also be continued, and public opinion be educated to demand strict morality in the case of both sexes.
Above and beyond all the religion of Jesus Christ,.which alone can save people from their sins, is the only effective remedy for the social evil in Japan, for in this there is not only the true standard of morality but also the power by which that standard can be at- tained.
1923J THE GOSPEL INTERPRETED BY LIFE
THE GOSPEL INTERPRETED BY LIFE BY TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, KOBE, .JAPAN T HE, DIVINE Carpenter, Jesus, a10ne is able to do this work. I am only helper and servant to Him, and with His help am trying to build and rebuild the Human Temple of God. The chief ma- terials for this'building are Life, Labor, Liberty and Love.
The process of life is Labor. Therefore, man should enjoy labor. I am opposed to the system of industry which makes a mere "human , machine" of labor and laborers. Labor, is not a commodity.to be bought and sold; it is a plan of God to be respected and honored. Labor with- out God is useless or harmful effort, a treadmill that brings men' to no goal. Labor, for example, at brewery, armory, or arsenal, results in the destruction of life by its products, and hence does not accord with God's purpose for mankind. A life without useful employment is not in accord with God'8 will, for a man must get a realization 01 life through labor. Paul says, "If any will not work, neither let him eat."
Liberty is not equality. God has given every man a different degree of ability. If a man is allowed to realize completely, and to employ all the powers that God has given him, then he has liberty. No man has the right to hinder any other man in the enjoyment of his liberty. The only equality is the gift of Life which God has made to all. Liberty to be educated, liberty to marry, liberty to vote, liberty to organize, liberty to migrate, liberty to think and speak, liberty to worship, are the due to all men.
Today, Life, Labor, Liberty and Love all seem on the way to destruc- tion. Class hatred and revolution are being urged by the oppressed. Socialistic leaders are preaching revolution with a promise of bread.
The real demand and need, howeveT, are not for bread alone, but for Life, Labor, Liberty and Love to God and our fellow-men. Violence and revolution will never restore to men these materials of the Human Temple. The wounds have pierced too deeply. The souls of men must be redeemed first. Without regeneration and rejuvenation of soul from within, men can never see the Kingdom of God. Men cannot redeem themselves; they must believe in the power of God to redeem. The work (}f Christ is to supply man's deficiency. The mission of the followers of Christ is to go out in the power of the Spirit of God to save the Buffering, armed ,not with a sword, but with Love. Christians must glorify God in the flesh as Christ glorified God in the flesh. This is the building of the Human Temple, and the Gospel of the Incarnation, whereby Jesus Christ revealed God to fallen man and opened the way of Life through the mercy of God.
To live so as to glorify God in our body is a fine art. Here Art and Religion lneet. Economics is a part of Art; it is the art of making human living enjoyable and blessed. Art without God is nothing. To live a Christ~likB' life, a man cannot withdraw to a desert place. He must bear the cross in the flesh and live a life of service among men. Therein is the art of Art, the economics of Economics, and the religion of Re- ligion. Above all, it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of men. '
TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, JAPANESE CHRISTIAN LABOR LEADER
Kagawa, Christian Labor
. A Story of the Sensei of the Kobe Slums BY REV. H. W. MYERS, D.D., KOBE, JAPAN Mlssionary of the Presbyterian Church (South), 1897- UNDOUBTEDLY, the most spectacular Christian figure in Ja- pan today is the Rev. Toyohiko Kagawa, philosopher, poet, novelist, political economist, philanthropist, reformer, labor leader, orator, Bible teacher, and evangelist. He is commonly spoken of as "The Leader of New Japan," and is often referred to in terms of extravagant adulation which he would be the first to repudiate.
Mr. Kagawa was born iu Kobe in July, 1888. His father's legal wife was childless, so from early childhood he learned to know the dark side of life in an upper-class non-Christian home. His father's fortune was lost in speculation and fast living, so that at his death, Toyohiko went to live with a wealthy uncle, in Tokushima, on the Island of Shikoku.
I first knew him as a slender, precocious boy of fourteen, who had entered high school a year younger than the legal limit by falsifying the date of his birth. He was keen in his pursuit of English, and it was through an English Bible class that he was brought to Christ. His Christian life began with a vision of the cross of Christ, and this has ever since been the motive power of his life. He at once. threw himself with energy into the work of Church and Sundayschool, with a self-confidence that was almost embarrassing. Hewas a voracious reader, remembering everything that he read, and at times he would trip up his teachers in a way that made him unpopular with some of them.
His graduation from high school marked a crisis in his life, when he announced his resolve to study for the Christian ministry. The family recognized his talents and wanted him to go through the Imperial University, and enter the diplomatic service or some other branch of public life. He stood firm in his purpose, and his uncle indignantly turned him out of the house without a penny. He came to live in our home, and later was sent to a Christian college in Tokyo. During the first summer we ate together, slept together, preached and visited together and toured our country field together. I recall that three of the books that he read from my library were Christlieb's "Modern Doubt and Christian Belief," Fairbairn's" Philosophy of the Christian Religion" and Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason."
a Rather heavy mental diet for a seventeen-year old boy to read in foreign tongue! At Meiji Gakuin in Tokyo, Dr. Reischauer spoke of him as the most brilliant student he had ever taught.
During his theological course in Kobe Kagawa developed tuber- 807
culosis, and had to spend a year in a fishing village, renting a fisher- man's hut and doing his own cooking and washing. It was here that he learned to know and love the poor. They were ignorant and preju- diced, but he was always ready to write their letters or their names in fancy characters on their umbrellas, to play games with the children, or give help and advice where they were needed. There was not a home that had not been darkened by the black shadow of sin, and old and young would turn to him for help.
Another fruit of this year by the sea-side was a novel in which he pictured the scenes of his boyhood, his education and his conversion.
It was written as a pastime and the manuscript was thrown on a shelf and forgotten. Years after- wards when in need of money for his work, he got down this manu- script, rewrote it and sent it to the publishers with the title "Across the Death-line." The book sold through three hundred editions, brought hundreds of readers to Christ, and made its author the most popular writer of the day.
Much of its literary charm is lost in the English translation, but it makes a strong appeal to the J apa- nese heart along three lines: the hero is pictured as passing through a state of great spiritual unrest- the hammon so common among young people of Japan today.
IN THE SLUMS OF KOBE-WHERE Again, the hero has a passionate KAGAWA LIVES sympathy for the poor and dis- tressed, and he appeals to the ideals of his readers. The book also gives a vivid picture of the tragedy of a wealthy, godless home, such as many of his readers have seen and experienced with broken hearts.
About a mile from the Kobe Theological School is a slum section called "Shinkawa," that is perhaps the most wretched spot in all Japan. A popUlation of some ten thousand souls is huddled in the space of ten blocks, constituting a center of filth, vice, poverty, dis- ease and crime for West Japan. Many of the houses have but one room, six feet square, opening on alleys hardly wide enough for two people to pass. Sometimes as many as four or five people occupy one of these tiny hovels. Long lines of clothes hang out wherever the sun can strike them. Here and there you see trash boxes with their contents spiIling over, and the neighborhood toilets, without a sem- blance of privacy, are unspeakably foul. Gamblers, thieves, mur-
TOYOHIKO RAGAWA. CHRISTIAN LABOR LEADER
derers, prostitutes and beggars abound. Tuberculosis, syphilis and trachoma seem almost universal.
During his senior year in the seminary Mr. Kagawa began visiting in the Shinkawa slums and preaching on the street corners. From the first he began to see definite results, and he soon had quite a group of Christians and penitents. But this success raised a serious problem. There was not a spot in Shinkawa where these young converts could be free from the atmosphere of evil in which they had lived. So Mr. Kagawa came with a request that he be allowed to leave the airy, new dormitory, and go down to make his home in one of those hovels, and provide a place where his new friends could escape from the corruption around them. Ve protested vigorously against TOYOHIKO KAGAWA WITH SOME OF HIS CHILDREN OF THE SLUMS this move, but all in vain. Among Mr. Kagawa's many virtues is an exceedingly hard head. Just before Christmas, 1908, he rented a room and moved into the slums.
The days that followed were heart-rending. He lived on about three yen ($1.50) a month, and gave away all that he could get to help those about him. Often he would eat only two meals a day and give away the third. He gave away all his clothes, except what he was actually wearing. His cough and fever returned, but he relaxed his work only when unable to stand up. He conducted and financed innumerable funerals, visited the sick, provided food and medicine, and every morning and evening was out on the street preaching. He adopted several street waifs, and temporarily adopted a tiny infant until a home could be secured for it. "The baby wept, " he told me, "and I wept too." More than once he was bullied and beaten by roughs who saw him distributing help; and thought he had money to
throwaway. Only a year ago a big brute struck him in the face and knocked out two front teeth!
Soon his unselfish service began to attract attention and raise up friends. Mrs. Arthur T. Pierson, meeting him and seeing his work, gave him enough to support the medical part of his work many months. Mr. J. Hart Sibley undertook his support for a year and a half. A number of Japanese and foreign friends in Kobe helped the poor through him.
While carrying on all this work, he was able to do an immense amount of reading and investigation, and a good deal of writing. He made a careful investigation of the slums in all the cities from Tokyo to Nagasaki. He made a special study of economics and of labor movements, and became a regular contributor to a number of leading papers and magazines. These studies led to the publication of his first important book, "The Psychology of Poverty," a book that has played no small part in inspiring and directing the sooial service work of the Japanese Government today.
# In 1915 Mr. Kagawa went to America and studied for about two years at Princeton Theological Seminary, also taking special courses at the University. He supported himself in the summer by working as a butler in several homes near New York, seeing some phases of American home life that were quite new to him. I wonder if his employers realized how much he sa,· and understood I In America. he made many friends whom he remembers and loves, though he criticizes much in the American attitude toward the Japanese.
Returning to Japan in April, 1917, restored to vigorous health and strength, he spent his first night among his poor friends in his old home in the slums, where they had kept up the work in his absence. Since that time his various activities have been almost incredible. At one time he had in press four books-a novel, a book of poems, a treatise on economics and a book on "Row to Teach the Life of Christ to Children." A catalogue of his charities and activities would fill a page. Some of his experiments failed, but were taken up and carried on successfully by others. Such were his cheap eating house, his box factory, his brush factory, and other enterprises. Here are some of his Mtivities: 1. He does m~-" r- t work in the slums, preaching every Sunday at six A. M. to audit1llces of forty or fifty, conducting prayermeetings and Sunday-schools whenever he is at home.
2. Special Bible lectures in courses of three to five nights have been delivered in scores of churches, usually. crowded to capacity, and resulting in hundreds of conversions. UsuaUy a small fee has been charged, and the entire proceeds given to the work of the church.
3. Special evangelistic services have been held in many places. In some places, such as Tokushima and Okayama, it was reported that the whole city had been profoundly moved.
TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, CHRISTIAN LABOR LEADER
4. Special lectures on economics and sociology have been given to numerous colleges, summer schools and mass meetings, or advocating temperance, abolition of licensed quarters, city planning, universal suffrage, etc. He has as many as four thousand hearers at some of these meetings.
5. He is a leader and organizer of the labor movement in Japan. At one time suspected, watched and even persecuted as a dangerous radical, he is now regarded as a defense against Bolshevism. His latest move is the organization of the tenant farmers. His inflnence is seen in the rule passed by the most important union that no man who has been drinking shall be allowed the privilege of the floor, and that no sake shall be served at their social meetings.
6. He is the editor of several papers and magazines, religions and secular.
7. He has organized two cooperative stores in Kobe and Osaka. 8. He supports a Christian doctor and two nurses and conducts free clinics and dispensaries in two slum sections. Besides these, he has a small army of secretaries, assistants and dependents. 9. He conducts a Social Service Bureau for the study of labor conditions, trade unions and social evils, and for the preparation of tracts and lectures on social problems. 10. He continues to do a large amount of direct charity work in the relief of poverty and suffering. Mr. Kagawa is blessed with a splendid wife, a former factory girl. She is efficient, practical, earnest, and adores her husband. They have been married nine years, and last December their first baby came to make them happy and to upset the routine of the home. Is missionary work in Japan a failure? The life and work of this one man are enough to give a conclusive answer.
1. BEGINNING 2. DEVELOPMENT 3. THE END The man drinks sake Sake drinks sake Sake drinks the man A PROHIBITION POSTER USED IN JAPAN Sake is rice wine-the universal Japanese intoxiGant
Kaji Yajima, a Japanese
'BY MRS. IlENRY TOPPING, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN M ADAME KAJI YAJIMA, Japan's venerable pioneer woman educator and leader in social reform, appeared in Wash- ington two years ago and presented to the Conference for the Limitation of Armaments a petition for World Peace, signed by 10,500 of her countrywomen. President Harding said of her as Presi- dent Benjamin Harrison had said of Lilivati Singh when he heard her speak at the Ecumenical Missionary Conference in 1900: "If foreign missions had done nothing more than discover and develop that one wonderful woman, it would have been worth the entire outlay." , Madame Yajima, in her 90th year, knowing no language but her own, made the long journey from the Orient at her own initiative and her own expense in the interests of world peace. T his pilgrimage made the story of her life a matter of great interest. Her ninety years have been filled with intensive liv- ing, and she has played a great part in "those swift and stupen- dous changes that have taken place in Japan, and that stagger the im- MRS. TOPPING AND MADAME YAJIMA agination. "
The city of Kumamoto, on the southern island of Kyushu, where at the time of her birth Mme.
Yajima's father was governor of Higo Province, was made famous fifty years ago by that remarkable group of youthful heroes called the "Kumamoto Band." The survivors of this Band are among .Japan's leading Christian men today, one of whom is the evangelist, Paul Kanamori, a kinsman of the Yajima family.
Mme. Yajima's life began forty years before the Kumamoto Band was started, and twenty years before Commodore Perry brought to an end Japan's policy of isolation. Her birthday was in the joy- ous month of April when Japan puts on her beautiful garments of cherry bloom. As the Yajima family already had five girls and only one son, the latest comer was called Katsu, a name sometimes given to a boy. "All through my childhood," she says, "I grieved over my name for it reminded me that I should have been born a 812 boy. When seventeen, while crossing a river and watching the rudder of the boat, it occurred to me that Kaji (the word for rudder) was so like Katsu that I might possibly change my name. This I determined to do." She could hardly have chosen a name more symbolic of the service that she was to render, for, all through the last fortyfive years, she has been like a rudder guiding the womanhood of her land through narrow and difficult conditions into broader and larger living, obeying with unfaltering faith and fidelity the guiding hand of God.
As there were no public schools in those days, little Katsu was educated in her own home by her parents and elder brother. Her mother was it "rare woman, well read in the classics, strict in the administration of family discipline, very religious, and governed by a high sense of honor and justice. " Here again, we find the stimulus to a great life in a great mother. Katsu was quiet, thoughtful and deeply devoted to her mother. She cared little for the theatre or the gay festivals. When she came to marriageable age her brother found she had her own ideas about the kind of man she wished to marry. The father having died, it fell upon her brother to select husbands for his seven sisters. Kaji was left free until she was twenty-two, when, after the death of her beloved mother, she was married to a widower who already had four children.
The next twenty years were the darkest period of her life, for her husband proved a drunkard, and unfaithful to her. She devoted herself to his children and to the four other children that she bore and when the long bondage came to an end she was left in poverty and in broken health.
But Madame Yajima's spirit was not broken and in spite of her burdens, she had maintained a keen interest in national events. She had her mother's teaching instinct, and when the public school system was established, she was able to go to Tokyo, attend a special. teach- er's training course opened by the Government and, after passing a splendid examination, was given the first teacher'S certificate ever granted a woman in Japan. On securing a position, although she received a salary of only $3 per month, she sent for her children and educated them nntil they could maintain themselves.
Before the Bible had been translated into Japanese, one of her nephews gave her a copy of the Chinese New Testament. Later she read a copy of Matthew in her own language. But the translation that helped her most to understand and accept Jesus Christ was the beautiful life of Mrs. True, a missionary of the Presbyterian Board, who had been sent to Tokyo to establish a school for girls.
In Mme. Yajima Mrs. True saw great possibilities, and secured her as a teacher in her school. With loving patience the missionary interpreted the Master to her new assistant until she accepted Him as her Saviour. For seven years Mme. Yajima had worn in her
bosom the lucky charms her mother had given her,. but at the end of that time, thoroughly ready to trust in Christ, she threw these em- blems of superstition into the river. (This year her grandson was baptized at the Mabie Memorial School for Boys in Yokohama.) Later Madame Yajima became the Japanese principal of a Pres- byterian school for girls in Tokyo, the Joshi Gakuin, and for forty years, not only guided that institution through its struggles but as- sisted in the development of higher education throughout the country. She took an active part in bringing about compulsory education which has been so successful in reducing the percentage of illiteracy in Japan.
At the age of fifty-three she met Mary Clement Leavitt, round- the-world missionary of the W. C. T. D., who came to Japan with her story of how the women of America had organized for the pro- motion of prohibition and purity. This message was of deepest interest to a woman whose entire married life had been cursed by the evils of drink and impurity, and whose heart had so often suffered with her beloved pupils over their handicaps imposed by the sins of their parents. She determined to organize a temperance society in Japan, and by way of preparation made a thorough study of parlia- mentary law. After earnest agitation among her friends she organ- ized a little group of seven in Tokyo and was made the president. Their dues were one and one half cents per month.
This tiny beginning was the forerunner of the strong national organization of the present time, and also of the hundreds of other active women's organizations in Japan today.
When the terrible Gifu earthquake left great numbers of orphan children, a missionary saved a group of girls from being sold into a life of shame and took them into her own home. This so impressed Mme. Yajima that in her 60th year she obtained the help of friends to start a rescue home for girls in Tokyo. Today this rescue home shelters also a group of Chinese rescued from one of the famine dis- tricts of China. The untiring effort of the founder has secured much needed legislation for the protection of women and children and for the promotion of purer social conditions.
As early as 1895, during the war with China, Mme. Yajima took an active part in work for the wounded and for widows and orphans. Her wonderful devotion and executive ability were also revealed in . the campaign for serving the men at the front which she superin- tended at the age of seventy, during the Russo-Japanese War. The problems solved, the difficulties surmounted, the measure of sheer, indefatigable toil that she achieved during that period can never be forgotten by those who were associated with her. She and her two associates wrote 8,000 replies to personal letters received from boys iIi the Army and Navy.
Through this experience the tragedy of war burned more and
MADAME RAJI YAJIMA, A JAPANESE CHRISTIAN
more deeply into her soul, and when she was invited to attend the World's W. O. T. U. in Boston, in 1906, her determination to go was largely because of her desire to express her gratitude to President Roosevelt for his assistance in consummating the Portsmouth Treaty. Some years afterwards President Roosevelt remarked of her that she was one of the two most interesting Japanese people that he had ever met. After her return this pilgrimag:e was spoken of as "The crowning and triumphal march of a great and undaunted soul."
When at the close of the World War Mme. Yajima announced her decision to attend the W. O. T. U. Oonvention in London she again met astonished protests. But she said, "I must express my sympathy for my sisters in Europe who are staggering under the crushing burden of the aftermath of this world tragedy." She had known something of war in the Orient, but when she came face to face with the results of "civilized warfare," the hatreds, the heartbreaks, the broken homes, the nations in financial collapse, she determined to dedicate the reI?aining years of her life to the utmost effort to urge women everywhere to train the rising generation so that war might be banished from the world.
She was also astonished and dismayed to learn of the criticisms made in Europe upon the foreign policies of Japan to which, up to that time, she had paid little attention. She realized that the women of Japan must do their part in creating better international policieR and attitudes of mind and heart.
While in London she celebrated her 88th birthday, a milestone which is considered in Japan an especially fortunate occasion. Many of her" old girls" of the Joshi Gakuin were certain that the trip to London would be her last adventure and with this idea they held a great welcome meeting after her return and presented her with about a thousand dollars.
"Now, Sensei," they pleaded, "you have given so many years to unremitting toil for others, will you not permit yourself some ease and comfort in your last days 1 Please accept our little gift to employ a personal maid to care for you as we would love to do if we were with you."
"Sensei" was deeply grateful for the gift, but with her rare courtesy and charm she won their permission to bank it so as to use when and where she felt the greatest need. Then with a brave persistence she continued to care for her own personal needs so far as possible, and to urge, in season and out of season, international sympathy, justice, and good will, even going to Ohina with her message.
When, in the summer of 1921, came the rumor of President Harding's invitation to a conference for the limitation of armaments, and while the statesmen of Japan were anxiously considering what the invitation might mean, there was a spontaneous gathering of
forward-looking men and women at Mme. Yajima's home. Mter listening for hours to the discussion, she gave it as her opinion that President Harding's invitation should be taken at its face value and announced that she herself would go to America to pray with American women for God's blessing on the Conference and to assure them that Japanese women want education, not battleships and armies.
Again her plans met opposition because of her age and lack of funds, but smiling and unafraid she said: "In what better cause could I end my life1 I would as happily die in America as in Japan. And as to funds, have I not the purse which my loving pupils gave me f With that I have no need to ask assistance."
So again she went forth across the sea, visited twenty-five cities in America and spoke in public to 110 audiences totalling more than 23,000 persons. In a wonderful way the message suited to the occasion was given by her, whether she was talking to Christian churches or to Japanese delegates to the Conference, to prominent newspaper men, or to an exclusive women's club of New York City, to a group of Negroes or to the President of the United States. Leading Americans vied with one another in doing her honor, but she did not forget for one moment the single purpose that had brought her. Her deep conviction that lasting peace can be brought about only through following Christ made her messages evangelistic. Indeed she felt that hers was a missionary journey, to proclaim peace through Jesus Christ.
On her return to Japan her strength gave way and for days she hovered between life and death, but she had so clear a conviction that there was yet work for her to do that her spirit conquered death, and now though frail, and confined to her bed, she is able to participate in affairs.
The following verses appeared in the Chicago Tribune while Mme. Yajima was in Washington: From cherry blossom land she comes, A little woman quaint and old, Risking all that she may bring A gift of spirit sweet and bold; "One hundred thousand women hearts Petitioning for Peace 1"
No gift~ she asks nor favor craves, Nor mandate brings for wars to cease. From where "hearts mobilized" await She comes-a human dove of peace, "One hundred thousand women hearts· Petitioning for Peace!"
In this vast land can we do less Than "mobilize our hearts," as they, The little women of J apan ~ And kneel with them and bravely pray' , 'An army of the spirit, thus Petitioning for Peace! "-E. O. B.
of Child Life in
BY AMY C. BOSANQUET, TOKYO, JAPAN Missionary of the Church Missionary Society and Secretary for Women and Children Christian Literature Society of Japan T HREE significant glimpses of child life in Tokyo in the course of half-an-hourl It is vVhitsunday morning, in May of this year. On my way to church in a working-class and slum dis- trict, I suddenly find myself in the midst of an excited crowd of little boys, all dressed in short, thin, blue and white cotton garments, with blue and white handkerchiefs tied across their foreheads. They are ~arrying on their shoulders a god-car or shrine, in honor of a Shinto festival, in imitation of the men who on these occasions stagger about under the weight of great cars, supposed to contain some symbol of the god. Round-faced, jolly little boys they are, full of their own . importance!
A little. further on the street crosses tWQ canals and another bridge spans the broad Sumida River. Ohoking up the canals and plying the river are countless flat-bottomed barges, partly roofed over to make a dark, cramped dwelling-place for the family whose home it is. The little bare-footed children who patter about on the slippery planks have small chance of getting any education except boat-lore, for they are ever on the move. Very little has been done for them, but a Christian Japanese school teacher has lately devoted himself to their interests and is heartily supported by the authorities. Last Christmas a missionary living close to a canal had a special entertainment for these children, whom the water-police kindly col- lected in their launches and took home again.
At the church, which has a large preaching-place downstairs and a quiet room for worship upstairs, the preaching-place was full of happy, eager children, including a nucleus of regular Sunday-school boys and girls. A number of new ones had also come for the first time as the result of a children's mission meeting the night before. Everything here is managed entirely by the Christian Japanese themselves. A young man from a divinity school tells the story of Gideon in a thrilling way, and presently, after a hymn, another stu- dent springs up on the platform and tells of Zacchreus and the love of the Saviour. After singing and prayer, the children disperse with many bows and smiles.
Japanese children are far more attractive than they appear in photographs. There is a great charm about their neat diminutive- ness, their little wise faces and bright observant eyes. The radiantly mingled colors of the little girls' clothes-rose and scarlet, purple and pink and apple-green—-light up city street and country road, while the boys wear the more sober tints.
817 4
But what of the colors of the soul-garments of these young, responsive beings? Most of them are left to pick up religious ideas in a very haphazard way-a jumble of Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianismand, perhaps, Ohristianity. The primary schools and their textbooks are not supposed to teach religion, but as a matter of fact they contain Shinto beliefs and reflect others. Sometimes the children are taken by their teachers to bow at Shinto shrines, but their religious impressions are generally very vague. The remarkable thing is that we always find the religious instinct there, waiting for a chance to develop, like a little seed-shoot springing towards the light.
"The children know God 1 They can understand! They don't want to worship idols! It's the grown-up people who thwart and repress them!" exclaimed a university student the other day. He is one of the many young believers who love children. When he goes home for the vacation, he always has Sunday-school for the children of the fishing village there.
KINDERGARTEN WORK The Ohristian Kindergarten is one of the most influential widespread missionary methods. They have full freedom to give the hig'hest and most joyous training'. The first was opened in 1885, and the latest statistics give a total of 234 missionary kindergartens, with over 11,000 pupils. The Ohristian Kindergarten Union of Japan, established in 1906, is doing a great work; its annual reports show what a variety of useful work is going on, and reflect that untiring enthusiasm and joy which are so characteristic of kindergartners. Many of these schools already have charming buildings and playgrounds and first-rate Japanese teachers.. In 1889 the first Training School, connected with the "Glory" Kindergarten, was opened, and both are" still going strong." It has sent out 177 graduates. The Hiroshima Girls' School Kindergarten Normal Department, now moved to Osaka as a department of the Lambuth Training School for Christian Workers, has sent out about the same number, and there are seven other training institutions.
A great deal of Ohristian teaching can be woven into the storytelling, singing and nature study, in addition to the simple worship day by day. In a land where there has been so much nature-worship from time immemorial, nature study is especially important. Games give opportunities for the small boys, who are often allowed to be wilful and overbearing at home, to learn self-control and give-andtake. Here no one says, "Oh, let him do what he likes; he's a boy!"
The thirst of the rising generation for good music and the progress made on all sides are signs of the times. Even the kindergarten children love singing and have sweeter voices than the last generation. Yesterday evening my maid came with an amused face to tell
GLIMPSES OF CHILD LIFE IN JAPAN
ARMISTICE DAY IN A JAPANESE MISSION KINDERGARTEN ~roadening the. horizon of the cqming generation by ~eveloping an international spirit me :that the little ones next door, who come 'once a week to classes here, were teaching "Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me!" to the children opposite, who are not allowed to come I 'Where we cannot go, the children (and the hymns) can go, and theirs is perhaps the
very best missionary work, the spontaneous overflow of their loving, happy hearts and undoubting faith.
Every kindergarten has almost unlimited opportunities of helping parents; the child-key opens many a rusty lock; a friend of the child is welcome when no other missionary would be received, and the special meetings, religious-or on child-training hygiene, etc.- are generally well a t t e n d e d . . , .
"One interesting feature of the work," writes the principal of the Lambuth Training School in Osaka, "is what we are able to do through our Christian doctors. Our children's clinics are proving valuable assets in helping the children through personal instruction of the mothers. And the motive to help the whole child is giving us our best opportunity for evangelistic work with the mothers."
An important resolution was passed at the annual meeting of the Kindergarten Union in the summer of 1922, making a strong appeal to the Mission Boards of America, Canada and England, to select a larger number of adequately trained Christian candidates for this work in Jap~n, in view of the high standards required here.
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK Sunday-school work is going forward in Japan. Much faithful, fruitful teaching has beendone in the past, in the face of tremendous difficulties which called fcit-reld courage on the part of scholars as well as teachers. Things af~much easier now, though we still often hear of local opposition fro~ day-school teachers and other people. Within the last few years thete has been a new element to be reckoned with in the competition of the new Buddhist Sunday-schools.
The history of the Christian Sunday-school movement may all be included in the life-time of living men and women. For instance, Dr. Ibuka, the present president of the National Sunday School Association, was a member of the first church organized in Japan, at Yokohama, and that church is said to have grown largely out of the first little Sunday-school, which Dr. Hepburn started in his hospital nine years earlier. Today there are about 3,000 Christian Sundayschools in the Japanese :mmpire, for Japanese children, and far more if we include those for the Koreans, the Chinese in Formosa, etc. The National Sunday School Association, which was officially organized in 1907, holds National and District Conventions, training schools for teachers, summer vacation schools for children, prepares lesson courses, edits magazines, rewards good attendance, and oarries on other activities.
Formerly, when new churches were built, very little provision was made for the children, but now far more attention is given to suitable class rooms. One Tokyo church, which was built with this in view, has an attendance every Sunday of about 500 pupils, from small children up to adults, and a staff of about fifty teachers. Many
GLIMPSES OF CIDLD LIFE IN J APAN
Japanese are "born teachers" and really love their classes. There is seldom any difficulty in collecting the children. A pastor's son told me once how he had walked from his Tokyo school to his distant home for the summer holidays, and how he had enjoyed resting here and there by the way, singing a hymn and so attracting the country children, and then telling them Bible stories. Companies of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides are being organized in many places now, and we hope much from them.
Children become very real believers and often bring their families to Christ. At a famous hot spring resort, crowded with leprous OLD JAPAN-BEFORE THE IMAGES OF JIGO. THE SUPPOSED PROTECTOR OF CHILDREN and diseased people, was a little girl whose parents were both lepers but people of influence in the place. The father was a zealous Buddhist, who practiced great austerities and believed that he had special powers, such as to tread on fire without injury and to heal diseases. The child went to a Christian kindergarten and then to Sundayschool, and at seven years old was quite clear in her own little mind that she must be a Christian. Of course, this was not allowed. But ehe did not give up. Seven years passed, and at last, when the girl was fourteen years old, both parents became Christians, and all three were baptized together. The mother has since died, but the father is exercising a strong Christian influence in the place.
r know a round and rosy faced little boy who was not at all bril- liant at school and did not shine in examinations until lately, when he
surprised everyone by doing remarkably well. "How did you manage iU" the other children asked. He said, without hesitation, that he had been going to Sunday-school and had learned to pray to Jesus Christ, and had asked Him for help, and He had helped! "Really¥" "Yes, really." "Then we, too, must go to Sunday-school," said the others. Some of them put in an appearance there in consequence.
Even when no results are seen at the time, the good seed, which is so mysteriously full of life, may spring up after lying dormant for many years. We have just heard of a young man of twenty-six, arrested for killing his employer, who has been converted in prison. He had attended Sunday-school as a boy, but what he heard seemed to make no impression. In prison, however, parts of the old teaching came back to him and helped him to find help in his agony. Now he is full of penitence and peace.
JUVENILE DELINQ,UENTS Japan has taken a great step forward lat~ly in legislating for juvenile delinquency, and making provision for young offenders. There are already two Juvenile Courts in working order, one in Tokyo and one in Osaka. Others will be established later. Judge Mitsui, who presides over the Tokyo court, is a Christian, and was for years a Sunday-school superintendent. He has always loved children, and was known as "the children's j~dge" long before the children's courts were established. He knows how to win their confidence, talking to them in a quiet fatherly way, planning how best to save them from becoming criminals, and remembering them afterwards individually. He even kept lists of their birthdays and sent them books and picture postcards then and at Qhrist~s.
Another .well-known Christian, Mr. Ishii, the specialist on mentally deficient children, is often consulted by the court when a boy or girl seems to be defective. He has many such under his care and devotes himself to them. The Tokyo Juvenile Court is a cheerful building, with pictures and flowers about, no sign of a policeman (when I have been there), and the judges wearing ordinary dress. 'rhe general public are not admitted and cases may not be reported in the newspapers. Miss Caroline Macdonald, who has taken a keen interest in the movement from the beginning, has at present three boys in her house who have been placed under her care by the court.
The statistics of child mortality are exceedingly high. This is partly because so many poor mothers have to work in factories or do rough out-of-door manual labor, and cannot possibly take proper care of their babies. Here and there Ohristian Day Nurseries have been opened and are doing excellent work. Now the Government is setting them up, and we often find earnest Ohristian women in charge here too. . A few churches have well organized social work for children.
GLIMPSES OF CIlILD LIFE IN J APAN
For instance, the Misaki Tabernacle in Tokyo, in a busy central position. Here there is a steady succession of children coming all day, first the day nursery ones, then the kindergarten, then (at three in the afternoon) the neighborhood children, and lastly, in the evening, the boy apprentices. '1'here is a roof garden which makes a delightful playground, the only one in that district. H ere, after the kindergarten children have left, the neighborhood children have happy play under the direction of the children's secretary, and a period of quiet listening to some Bible story or a helpful talk.
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN PLAYING A ROWING GAME IN THE MISAKI TABERNACLE (Before the earthquake and fire) We have only space to mention one other form of work for the souls and bodies of Japanese children, namely, Christian reading for the boys and girls, who are among the most eager readers in the world. The Christian Literature Society and other publishing firms and individual writers are bringing out books and magazines, but the demand is far greater than the supply. Parents, school teachers and the children themselves are asking for more and better books for the homes and the school libraries. The need must be supplied mainly by the Japanese themselves, but we can do much to help by supplying material, revising translations and, when necessary, aiding with funds.
Japan's Need of
BY HISAAKIRA KANO, LONDON, ENGLAND The Yokohama Specie Bank, Ltd.
NOONE who studies any of the problems concerning Japan will be able to understand or attempt to solve them unless he first takes into consideration Japan's position in relation to China. Japan's rapid progress during the past half century is due very largely to her geographical position, and second, to her realization of the opportunities which that position affords. Her mission and reason for existence consist in serving her neighbors by assisting in the development of those who have not developed themselves as modern industrial countries. Japfln is moving, though unconscioul;lly, in that direction.
Her present sufferings and struggles, political, social, economic, and spiritual, have arisen because her development has been disproportionate. The material factors in her national life have developed too far in comparison with the spiritual, and thus have produced a condition of affairs which is unbalanced, wherein lies danger.
Civilization may be defined, in my opinion, as a process of harmonious development of material and spiritual life, the one counterbalancing the other. If the correct balance of the two is not carefully preserved, suffering inevitably occurs. For instance, if the United States of America loses the balance afforded to her material progress by the spirit of the Pilgrim Fathers, of the Puritans, or of the Quakers she will soon feel that something is wrong with her national health. The lack of that balance, which would be afforded by adequate spiritual development, causes Japan to suffer at present.
Only half a century ago Japan gave up the material as well as the spiritual civilization of her past, and imported the material civilization of the West. In other words, she destroyed the feudalism of the past, gave capitalism a chance, reconstructed her educational system after the national educational system of the United States of America, and adopted a constitution after that of Bavaria. Her economic life changed from agricultural to industrial. She was so bewildered with the entirely different and wonderful material civilization of the West that e:verything pertaining to the West was absorbed by her.
What are the results? By annexation, as well as by her imperialistic attitude, she caused jealousy and hatred to arise among her neighbors and, in consequence of her past error, she found that her attitude towards them was not altogether friendly. The Great War showed that Western civilization was at stake. Her reactionaries and conservatives are utilizing this opportunity to condemn Western 824 civilization. Internally she is suffering from her labor problems and the nihilistic tendency of her national thought. She began to reflect and found the cause of her real struggle.
Her great development during the past half a century is solely due to the power and influence of the Western material civilization which, however, must progress in close alliance with Christianity.
The ethical thought and the moral life of the people are founded on, and traIned under Buddhism, and are quite healthy even without Christianity, but there is a great discrepancy between them and the material civilization which the people have absorbed. They have TEACHING YOUNG JAPAN TO FENCE been influenced by the teaching of Buddha's benevolence and his spirit of sacrifice.
Japan will find two advantages from the adoption of Christianity. First, a true economic and social democracy is founded on spiritual democracy. Unless she becomes a thoroughly democratic country she cannot attain a real social peace, and the result will be that she will not be able to contribute her services to her neighbor. If she does not serve her neighbor then her ruin is certain. Second, she may be able to show actually what every country should do for its neighbor and humanity. Thus she may be able to propagate by her example what Christianity really means to the world.
It is my conviction that the adoption of Christianity in Japan win not be for her benefit only, for it is my vision that it will also be for the welfare of humanity.
and the Making of a New
BY REV. OTIS CARY, BRADFORD, MASS.
Author of "The History of Christianity in ;rapan,," and "Japan and its Regeneration."
T HE year 1859, when foreigners were first permitted to reside in Japan, may be taken as the year in which the nation entered upon a new life. Sixty years later it took a promiuent part at Versailles in deciding questions affecting the welfare of the whole world. In that short space of time the nation that the United States Acting Secretary of State in 1852 styled a "weak and semi-barbarous people" had advanced to a position where it was surpassed by only two nations in those features that are usually considered as fixing the comparative rank of different countries.
It is impossible to determine what proportionate share Christian influences have had in bringing about this change. It is partly due to the natural development of national characteristics under new conditions and p'artly to the general influence of the West; but there is no department of national life that has not been affected by the presence of Christian missions.
A great change was made in methods of travel when a missionary invented the jinrikisha. Missionaries introduced many new fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Furniture for homes was copied by Japanese carpenters. The first missionary of the American Board utilized some iron oil-cans for making a stove, and the tinker whom he employed made hundreds of others on the same plan. Japanese teeth were polished and a pharmacist was enriched by a dentrifice that a missionary physician taught him how to make. Missionary wives have added to the comfort of many people by teaching women how to knit and how to make bread and to cook other Western dishes.
The educational influence of missionaries was felt from the first. The Government, in its desire to have a corps of interpreters, sent to the missionaries a number of young men for instruction in English. Classes were opened and some of them developed into schools that are still doing good work. A number of the early pupils became prominent among the makers of new Japan. Some of the men whom Dr. Verbeck taught invited him to Tokyo where, besides helping to organize what developed into the Imperial University, he was a trusted adviser to the Government. A missionary lady founded the lirst girls' school and some of the best known educational institutions, from kindergartens to universities, were established by missions. In many respects they have set models that others have followed.
Literature has been greatly affected by the work of missionaries and Japanese Christians. Dr. James C. Hepburn, by preparing the SS6 first Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionaries, helped to adapt the language of the country to the new ideas seeking suitable methods of expression. The style adopted by the translators of the Bible differed from any then in common use and some of its peculiarities have been used by later writers. It was necessary for the translators to invent new words or to use old ones in new senses and these together with striking Biblical phrases have gained a place in the vocabulary of Japanese hardly aware of their origin. Newspaper men now use in a figurative and non-religious sense such words as "baptism," "inspiration," "gospel," etc. The Japanese word now used for" religion" and many others of a similar nature were coined by a pastor who is still making effective use of the language that he helped to shape into modern form.
In the mission schools and in the churches the music of the West was first used. Later concerts, in which the vocal and instrumental parts were performed by the missionaries and their pupils, became popular and did much towards gaining for Occidental forms of music the place they now hold in Japan.
The development of the healing art in Japan owes much to medical missionaries. Not only did they give formal instruction to classes of young men, but with some of them it was a rule to'treat only such patients as were brought to them by native physicians. Thus they gained the good will of Japanese doctors and gave such instruction as these were glad to receive. A number of the early converts to Christianity were physicians who had thus been brought into friendly association with the missionaries. The first school for the training, of nurses was also established by missionaries.
As in other countries women owe much to Christianity. The missionary home has had great influence in making people desire what they have seen there and men with no inclination to become believers themselves often express a desire to have their wives and daughters instructe.d in the Christian way.
In the political development of Japan it is not easy to judge of the influence of Christianity. Its presence in the country led to the insertion ih the Constitution of the provision for religious liberty. The Parliament has always had Christians among its members and three of these have served as speakers of the lower house. Christian members have taken prominEmt parts in opposing militarism and in prollloting progressive legislation. After years of effort one of them has succeeded in securing the passage of a bill prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor to minors.
The ethical ideas, even of persons who are not its adherents, have been changed by Christianity. Forty-five years ago some missionaries, calling upon a prefectural governor, were introduced to his concubine. While concubinage is still common, one practicing it would now be ashamed to acknowledge it openly. Today visitors to
Japan would have difficulty in finding phallic images such as Basil Hall Ohamberlain had in mind when he wrote: "Not the lewdest grogshop-hunting English Jack-ashore but would have blushed at the really unimaginable indecency which preceded our [Europeans] advent in this country…… The very sweetmeats were indecent, the very toys of the children were indecent, the very temples of religion were indecent." As Mr. Chamberlain implies, it was the influence of Western people as a whole that made the Japanese ashamed of these objects and led to their removal, but Ohristianity has gone further and has taken the lead in elevating the moral standards. In its fight against licensed vice it has gained some victories by preventing the setting apart of new quarters devoted to the evil and the open display of courtesans that was once so common is now rare. In 1899 a missionary began the agitation that led the government to alter the laws so as to permit girls to escape from their slavery. Ohristians are active in seeking legislation against the evil system that is such a disgrace to Japan.
Prison reform received its first impulse from an American missionary who received permission to investigate penal institutions and was asked to recommend measures for their improvement. The Government printed his report and sent copies to prison officials throughout the land. What it said about the influence of religion was one of the causes leading to the appointment of Ohristians as "moral instructors" in several prisons. Some who served in this way have since been effective workers in institutions that they have established for discharged prisoners and for wayward youths.
Ohristians are recognized leaders in all philanthropic enterprises. A few years ago" The Japan Year Book" said: "It is a significant fact that by far the greater part of private charity work of any ~arge scope is conduct€'d by Christians, both natives and aliens, and that the part played by Buddhists in this direction is shamefully out of proportion to their number. As to Shintoists, they are privileged in popular estimate to keep aloof from matters of this kind."
The first asylum for lepers was opened by a Roman Catholic priest and was soon followed by others that were established by Protestant missionaries. Orphanages conducted by Catholic or Protestant Ohristians have been the incentives and the models for others. It is a matter for rejoicing that when such institutions are seen to be doing good, persons of other religions are ready to contribute toward their support. The Imperial Family has made frequent and large gifts to Christian orphanages, leper asylums, hospitals, slum settlements, the Salvation Army, and the Y. M. C. A. Oonsiderable is now being done under official auspices for social betterment; but in 1921 Mr. Tokonami, the Home Minister, said: "We are finding that organization, equipment, and scientific training are not enough to make a success of social service. Weare looking to Christian circles more
CHRISTIANITY AND THE MAKING OF A NEW JAPAN
and more to supply the spirit of self-sacrifice and unselfishness with- out which welfare institutions cannot be operated."
The vivifying effect that the presence of Christianity has had on other religions must not pass without notice. It would be difficult, in our limited space, to show what has been done in the case of Shinto, especially as what may be termed" Official Shinto" is now declared not to be a religion. In the minds of the people, however, it seems to be such, and from time to time it shows new activity in those fea- tures that to an outsider appear to be of a religious nature. Funeral services, which for- IN JAPAN merly were left to the Buddhists, are now sometimes conducted with Shinto rites. In old Japan there were no religious ceremo- nies in connection with marriage; but now it is becoming common in fashionable circles to have an elaborate cere- mony performed at a Shinto shrine. Both of these changes are partly due to Christian example. The Shinto sects, which are dis- YOU ARE NEEDED tinct from Official Shinto, are professed- ly of a religious nature. They have been stirred to new activity by the presence of Christianity and some of them have borrowed not a little from what they have seen in the churches.
It is Buddhism, however, that has been most affected. Chris- tianity aroused it from slumber. Formerly the chief work of the priests was to read Sanskrit rituals whose words they did not under- stand. They did hardly anything by sermons, schools, or books to instruct the people in the doctrines of their faith. The activities of Christians made it necessary for the priests to bestir themselves.
This they did by imitating what they saw was bringing success to their n,ew rivals. Imitation of the Christians is shown in preaching services, in the Young Men's Buddhist Association, women's socie- ties, missionary societies, a Buddhist Salvation Army, and in Sunday- schools.
More important than anything thus far mentioned is the spirit- ual life that has come to those that have accepted the Christian message. They are the salt of the new Japan to preserve whatever in it is best; they are its light whose office it is to scatter the remain- ing darkness and to usher in the newer and better J apall. The UnfinishedliTasks in Japan " BY REV. DAVID S. SPENCER, D.D., KUMAMOTO, JAPAN Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1883- T HE evangelization of Japan is an unfinished task. Any fair estimate of the work accomplished and of what remains to be done must take into account the background of political and religious history.
When the first Protestant missionaries entered Nagasaki in 1859, the edict boards publicly prohibiting Christianity, and offering rewards to informants of those suspected of sympathy with Christianity, were still displayed by law. Not until fifty years ago were these notice boards withdrawn but the prejudice aroused against Christianity in feudal times still dominates many Japanese minds. All foreigners were, from the opening of Japan, compelled to reside in open port~ designated in the treaties, and no foreigner was permitted to be absent from his port even for one night without a passport from the imperial government. These passports permitted travel by a designated route, to a designated place or places, and return by a designated route within a specified brief period, when t11e " passport must be returned to the government. A further restriction limited the reasons for which passports would be granted to health and scientific investigation. Acceptance of the passport under such restrictions was objected to by some good missionaries. This passport system was in force till 1899 only twenty-four years ago for the leaders of the government were determined to keep Christianity out.
These restrictions confined all earliest efforts at evangelization to the open ports and tended to locate all the first churches and Christian schools in such ports. This rendered more difficult the missionary movement into the interior when the ban was finally re- moved, and explains why large sections of the people are still un- reached by the Christian message. '
The limitation of missionary residence to the open ports tended also to limit the classes of the people touched by Christian teaching; It ruled out at once the large farming class, comprising some seventy~ , four per cent of the population. It also ruled out the majority of the upper class, who naturally regarded the imprisoned foreigners as an ,I inferior and distrusted people, and while this class aggregated but ~ five per cent of the popUlation, it really monopolized most of tho brains and all of the ruling power of the nation. The missionary was compelled to address himself to the younger or student class, just emerging from the schools, hungry for a knowledge of foreign lan- guages, history and learning; and to the business, or strong middle class. ,These two classes were accessible, hungry for new ideas, and 830
THE UNFINISHED TASKS IN JAPAN
least prejudiced. They were also socially and mentally on a plane differing least from their foreign friends. This handicap of the missionary propaganda, rather than any radical class difference, undoubtedly forms the chief reason why the Christian movement in Japan has made comparatively little headway among the upper and lower classes.
Nor were these all the difficulties the missionary had to meet. The language barrier has always been a real one-less now than in the past, because of the unifying of the people's tongue through the common school system. Even today religious work among the farmers and the fisher folk demands special preparation on the part, not only of the missionary, but of the average native worker. I have held preaching, Bible study and sacramental services at two 0 'clock in the morning in order to reach those engaged in fishing or silk· culture.
Probably the lack of denominfl.tional cooperation has often hindered the progress of our Christian work.
THE POLITICAL CHANGE IN 1899 AND ITS EFFEOT The abolition of extraterritoriality and the bringing of all foreign residents under Japanese law in 1899 threw the whole country open to missionary residence. As a preparation for this step, missionaries had previously been permitted to live in some interior towns under residence passports. Now the movement to the interior increased. Sunday-schools, chapels, and kindergartens offered the readiest method of approach in most places, and churches in the interior speedily developed. Missions of similar doctrinal and ec·, clesiastical history united to form with their Japanese brethren family Churches, the Nihon Kirosuto Kyokai (Presbyterian polity), the Kumiai Kyokai (Congregational), the Sei Ko Kai (Episcopal), the Baptisto Kyokai (Baptist), and the Nihon Methodist Kyokai being examples. These unions strengthened all Christian work, tended to the spread of the churches over the interior, gave the Christian movement more of a united front in the face of the non- Christian religions, made conservative reactions less effective, and relieved the missionary of much of the" serving tables, " thus setting him free for more intensive work in the spread of gospel truth. These unions also tended to promote self-support in the churches themselves, and to encourage larger benevolences among both Christians and non-Christians. During the past eight years, self-support in the churches has increased 370 per cent. Thus many rescue homes, hospitals, schools for blind and deaf, and dumb; asylums for the insane, schools for poor children, libraries, parks and play grounds have come into existence, all classes from the Emperor to the peasant taking part in their production.
Another marked advance is seen in the Christian schools of all
grades, of which there are now 443, enrolling 55,364 yDung people. These schools are now overcrowded, especially since the great Wodd War. In spite, however, of all the progress suggested in the above imperfect sketch, large areas of Ohristian work remain to be undertaken.
A study of the "Missionary Hunger Map" (page 795) suggests the immense population nearly or quite untouched by the Christian messenger. There are forty-seven ken, or provinces, comparable to the states in America. Hokkaido has the lightest population-sixtyfive to the square mile. Tokyo and Osaka are the crowded sections; but there are several whole ken where the people number from 1,000 to 1,900 to the square mile; and the average for the whole country is 372. Only sixteen per cent of the area is arable land. In the map, all foreign missionaries, except wives, are included; and the standard of adequate occupancy is the Edinburgh Oonference standard of one missionary for each 25,000 population. On this basis, Loo Ohoo is the only ken without a resident missionary, and Tokyo is the only one having an apparently adequate force. But many missionaries in Tokyo are language students destined for interior sections.
If we allow one missionary to 50,000, there· are but three spots showing this standard, and they are Tokyo, Osaka and Miyagi, the first two the original open port centers. These two also have the heaviest population. At the other extreme are sixteen ken with more than 200,000 to each missionary. I do not mean to say that there are no native evangelists in the famine sections, but naturally, the J apanese evangelist is most often located where is the missionary and the preaching place. Consequently, while in the United States there are 642 people to each ordained minister, in Japan the average responsibilityof each such minister is 195,000 souls. In Japan are many towns of from 5,000 to 10,000, and thousands of villages of from 5UO to 5,000 souls without a vestige of Christian work in them.
U NFI:NISHED TASKS While the Ohristian movement is making steady progress in Japan, it cannot be said that the missionary task is nearing completion, or that this progress is satisfactory. Some outstanding needf! of the hour are: (1) To improve the quality and the numbers of some grades of the Christian schools. In earlier years, some of these schools were able to serve as standards for government schools of like grade.
Now the government schools are ahead of us in equipment, in teach- ing staff, and often in grade of work done. Our aim for these schools should be adequate equipment, stronger faculties, and higher stand- ards of work, with constant emphasis upon the finest Christian ethics.
Better a limited number of strong graduates than an a:rmy of weaklings! .
STATISTICS FOR THE JAPANESE CHURCH, 1921 COMPILED BY DAVID S. SPENCER For the "Christian Movement in Japan"
"g ~a, ~ ~ 'i: .S "0"0 I ~~1l ~ ~ ~~f::o '0 ~;ij -:l 0 0 ~ it ~ '" '" ~ ,",,:;. ",. ~ .S w -~<l""'"'~''e~ .,,.; ."~s~'miO!ti: '0 'S'" !>~ 1<i ,,:Ii ~o ".-~~"o '""" ~~ ~.c ~" Mlss!on or Church. ~b~ 'E ~a 00-" ~ Eli: .:_ ~m=~ o+' 00.c 8 ~'" 1"1 ~!'",..,. ' 0 og;o;s:::Q;.~ s 'w! …0 …0 ..: 0 ~~ 5~ ~~ .~ca ~ :8 ~.- I'< -<l ::a 2. Amer. Bap. For. Miss. Soc……•….. 10 751 35 29 270 3,924 9,989 $39,090 5 3. AUgero. Evang. :Prot. Miss………. .. 2 2 2U W'J 320 3,605 4. For. Miss. Ass'll Friends- ………….. . 2 1 9 7 …… 846 1,200 ……… .
8. Miss. Bd. of Christian Ohurch ……. . 3 11 14 14 129 1,667 2,429 44,894 11. Ohrlstlan MIss. Alliance ………….. . 3 3 7 …… 7 48 248 638 8,530 14. Evangelical Association …. , ……… . 4 40 11 1 10 183 1,456 4,012 10,000 15. Free Methodist Church …………… . 2 4 6 …… 6 29 242 775 1,800 22. Kumia! Kyoka! …………………… . "12 46 196 80 116 1,517 26,271 18,804 48,183 23. United Lutheran Church ………….. . 8 12 11 …… 9 129 1,233 1,369 2,396 706 24. Lutheran Evang. Finland ……….. .. 4 4 7…… 7 119 603 1,795 25. Meth. Church of Oanada …………. . 11 100 ………………………………………… ..
W. Moth. EJ)lseoJ)al Board ………….. .. "10 100 ………………………………………… ..
'1:1. Moth. EJ)lscopal, South …………… . *10 68 ………………. '………•………•……….• 28. Methodist Protestant ……………. .. 4 16 18 2 16 144 1,984 3,972 10,392 4 41 41.2 1,530 3,650 00. Nazsrene Church ………………… .. 1(4) 3 2 5……
31. liiJ)pon Klrlsuto K~okal tIne. 38, 41, 42) 1(4) 47 333 244 i:87 157 2,438 31,673 19,339 247,170 22. Nippon Meth. (Inc. 25, 26, 27) ……… i~ i~ 2,~ ~ti~ g:rr~ 3~:g~! 33. NIJ)pon Seikoka! (Inc. 1.2. 29, 37, 48) .. 'i(4)'56 '''isi 36. Pentecost Bands of World ……….. .. 1 2…… …… 3 11 28 350 438 38. Preeb. Ohurch in U. S…………….. . (7) 22 192 70 18 …… 1>11 7,544 10,839 66,299 39. Presb. Church, South ……………. .. (7) 10 67 22 …… 22 126 1,135 4,198 1.2,331 41. Reformed Church in Ame'rica …. , …. . (7) 9 21 924 2,062 II> …… …… go 7,m 42. Reformed Church in U. S………… .. (7) 6 ~4 4-3 5 38 334 4,000 7,700 21,133 44. Salvation Anny .•…….•.•.•…..•…. 1 86 8!1 20 00 …… …….. 6,160 …….. .. 4f). Scandinavian Alliance •…•………… 2 9 7 …… 7 45 610 1,211 2,987 46. Bouthern Bop. Oonvention …….. , .. . 7 10 10…… 10 79 1,238 1,231 7,IJl0 50. United Brethren in Chri,t ……….. .. 2 20 2iJ …… 20 100 1,766 2,010 ……… .
51. United Ohristian Miss. Soc ……….. .. t(4) 3 29 14 …… 14 113 .1,439 2,396 3,669 52'. Universalist Gen. Oonvention .•…….. +(6) 3 427 2 4 … .. • 4 …… 3M 620 53. Wesleyan Meth. (Jonneetion of America 1 …………………… 6 …….. 231 106 55. Yotsuya Japan Mission …………. ,., 2 8 5 …… 5 77 260 700 ……… . 56. Y. M. O. A………………………. .. (8) 9………………………………………. 390,000 Total Prot. Japan Proper …… ' 269 2,517 1,350 '200 87710,2117 120,017 170,169 iPl,2'l:1,124 Formosa 90 281 5,545 4,134 $46,470 46 91 2,264 1,664 25,469 59. Pres. Church of England ………….. 2 50 42 22 60. Presb. Ohurch in Canada………….. 1(4) 2 56 19 9 Total Japan :Protestant ……… .. 273 2,623 1,411 300 1,01310,639 127,826 175,857 $1,298,063 1…… OathoUc 275 78 198 784 75,983 ………. , ….. ..
40. Roman Catholic ………………….. . 1(6) … 43. Russian Orthodox ………………. .. (9) 1.. …. 267 47 61 198 36,894 958 $36,873 —–;;g – 125 Total Oatholic ………………. .. –~11~ ~ ~ –;i82 112,877 $36,873 —–ml 42511,272 Grand Total, 1921 …………………… . ~ 11,621 240:-,.00 2,6231.053 $1,325,936 Grand protal. 192() ……………•……… 310i 1,625 2,047 529 1,36411,289 254,269 182,56311,590,030 *' Statistics 1urnished impenect. t NO' report furnished. (4) Statistics lor I92). (6) Flgures for 1919. (7) Possibly Included under No. 31, but not surely so. (8) The Y. M. C. A. has a membership of 22,434, In 106 plae.. , 00 of which are wholly self· supporting. (9) Partly statistics for 1920.
As to theological training for both men and women, better work could be done with half the present number of Bible training schools, provided the teaching staffs were strengthened and equipment improved. The present schools fail to command respect. The grade of men offering is too low. The supply of efficient workers scarce meets one fourth of the demand. Dr. Ibuka, Moderator of the Japanese Presbyterian Church, and a man of wide experience in Japan 5
says: "The great present task of the Japanese Church is that of finding, training, and thrusting forth into the harvest fields, capable, efficient leaders."
More Christian middle schools for both men and women are also needed to supply the constant lack of government schools of this grade. The Christian schools of college grade seriously lack equipment.
(2) To Develop Self-Support. For the year 1922, the Kumiai group head the list of givers to Church work-Yen 15.19 per member. The Japan Methodist Church follows with Y. 12.65 per member. The average giving of all Protestants in Japan was Y. 11.97 per member, as reported. Compared with the giving of Protestant Christians in the United States, the Japanese Christians, their financial ability considered, have done well. Of a total of 1,615 organized churches, and 864 other preaching places, 297 self-supporting 3hurches have been developed in fifty years. This, though encouraging, is not entirely satisfactory. A people, as able financially as the Japanese, should largely support their own Churches. To accept foreign subsidies is compromising the Churches i~ the eyes of the better class. An over-aided Church loses spiritual power. The aggressive and victorious Churches are those independent of foreign aid. Missionaries and mission boards should note the signs of the times and push self-support rapidly. This plea is not made to relieve mission boards, but to aid in thrusting the sickle into the vast waiting fields.
(3) Christian Literature. Some good work has been done in furnishing Christian literature to this hungry people. The Bible, the Christian hymnal, a limited supply of tracts, some standard Christian works translated, and a Christian press of real value already exist, but in both variety and quantity this literatUre is seriously lacking. Commentaries are specially needed. All the people read, and reading matter is seldom or never refused because it is Christian. The lack of good Christian literature has encouraged a tremendous volume of that which is neither Christian nor profitable, often bad. The Christian forces are here largely neglecting a field of outstanding importance. Ten times the money now given to literature ought to be devoted to this great work.
(4) To Christianize the Social Order. Here opens an unlimited field. The Christian forces have been slow to attack directly the evils falling under this head, partly because of being now overloaded with direct work on other lines, partly for lack of means, and partly because of the feeling that the foreigner should not meddle too intimately with matters pertaining to the family, social or political life of the people. But with the decay of the old religions, the moral standards have been swept to the winds. Thoughtful men and women are properly alarmed. The constant occurrence of marital infidelity
1!}23] THE UNFINISHED TASKS IN JAPAN
in high life as well as in low, of bribery, disloyalty, robbery, murder, arson, suicide, and the spirit in which the public condones these crimes, furnish an index to the alarming situation.
Help of the right sort is vitally needed regarding "the shame of Japa;n." Social evil is to be found in every land. The "holier than thou" attitude is uncalled for but civilized nations refuse to enrich the government treasury by the sale of feminine virtue~ Japan alone among the leading nations publicly licenses prostitution. Segregation never segregates. Social vice fostered by the Government is undermining the family, endangering the Church, destroying the life of young manhood and womanhood, and eating out the heart of Japan. Nothing but a direct attack by the combined Christian force will save Japan from rotting at its social center, say leading Christian Japanese. This "shame of Japan" must be removed.
The drink habit is deeply imbedded in Japanese social life. Organized effort to drive out the demon of alcohol began with the missionaries. After years of patient effort, they are iinding increasing support from thoughtful men and women of all classes, and especially from the united student elements in Christian schools. Immediate action is needed by missionary forces to conserve the higher values of this aim at social betterment.
Child Welfare-Birth Control. The increase of infant mortality perplexes and alarms government sanitary departments. Juvenile crime is on the increase. In 1922 there were 180 suicides of children under fourteen years of age. In March, 1919, 220,222 children of thirteen years and younger were reported as factory operatives. Juvenile delinquency and sexual immorality have made frightful inroads. But the nation begins to awaken in this matter. A Juvenile Court has just been opened in Tokyo, and foreigners of experience are being asked to aid in moral reform. Japanese confess that here is a iield of endeavor in which they especially need the aid of the Christian foreigner. They seek intelligent instruction. For the Christians to fail to answer these calls must mean future defeat.
Young Men's Associations. During the past few years 16,694 Young Men's Associations have been formed, with a membership of 2,053,000. These are similar to the Y. M. C. A., but with a broader social, educational and political objective, and have done much com- munity good. Having at least a common school education, with minds awakening, earnest, impulsive, ambitious, these young men embody the great human wealth of Japan's tomorrow. Government Shinto leaders would enlist them on imperialistic lines, and are having some success; but the World War has opened the eyes of these young men, and the right sort of foreign young men could today do a great work for Japan and for God by becoming sympathetic friends and advisers of such Associations. A thousand young
Americans, if provided a moderate support, might find an opening here for constructive service.
Neglected Classes. The vast unreached farming class, the fisher- men generally, and in large measure the millions of industrial work- ers in factory and mine, and the 2,000,000 outcasts or eta, have yet to be reached. The clash between labor and capital, the organizations of tenant farmers against greedy land-holders, the strikes on rail- ways and in shops-all these signs of social upheaval constantly appear. As seventy per cent of the farming class own no land and this percentage is constantly increasing there are dangers ahead.
To introduce Christian justice, humane treatment and brotherly relations among these hitherto neglected classes is the controling motive of such men as Kagawa, Suzuki, Sugiura, Y. Kobayashi, D. Tagawa, M.P., and many others. It is the only hopeful method of solution; but the obstacles facing these heroic reformers are very great. They need every possible encouragement and that speedily.
International Morality. The best Christian ministers in Japan confess their need of sympathetic instruction along lines of interna- tional relations. Secret diplomacy has been condemned. Public opinion is strongly against resort to force. The recent attempt to ' form a society in one of the universities in Tokyo for the study of militaristic principles found the great body of students and professors so opposed that army officers were hooted down, a riot occurred, and the police, accompanied by prominent Japanese leaders, had to come in to restore peace. Military and naval schools complain of a constant lack of students, while mission schools are overflowing. What Japan really wants to know is how to live at peace with all men. International justice is her sincere desire. As to what Japan most needs, a questionnaire has just been taken by an outstanding Japanese Christian worker, covering all the leading Protestant denominations, and here are some of the conclusions reached, briefly stated: "We must seek the aid of the missionaries. The Church in Japan .is facing a crisis. If it does not launch out into the deep and solve the perplexing, agonizing problems of the nation, it will become an esoteric clique of harmless believers. To prevent such a crisis, and to make the Church a real vital force in the reconstruction of the nation, the missionary is necessary. The saving of the individual soul is a lasting work of the Church. But along with this task, the Church today is confronted with a mission vastly greater, incalculably more difficult, yet essentially more in accord with the spirit of Jesus, namely, to permeate the entire life of the people and the whole social order with the Christian principles of world brotherhood, uni~ versal service, human equality, and an aggressive love for the creation of Godlike personalities and of a social and economic system, and of a righteous government that shall be conducive to the production and the full expression of such personalities."
International Missionary Council at
BY MRS. HENRY W. PEABODY, BEVERLY, MASS.
The story of an important gathering, with resolutions on interdenominational cooperation The arrangements made by our Episcopal j Dr. Inman, of Latin British friends for our enjoyment and America, with the women before men- profit were perfect. The women of tioned. the American group, Mrs. Nicholson, The papers that touched especially Miss Calder, Mrs. Fleming and the on woman's work were by Mrs. Nicholwriter, with others who accompanied son and Miss Gibson. Mrs. Nicholson their husbands, were especially ap- presented most ably the point of view preciative of the kind thoughts of the held by those who work in Women's hostesses during the days at Oxford. Boards in America both as to the po- The interest was deep even before we sition of woman in relation to the reached Oxford. The Archbishop's Church on the fields and in her re- wonderful address in the old chapel lation to the cause at home. at Lambeth will never be forgotten. Miss Gibson's admirable paper was The luncheon at the Church House a presentation of the British point of ' Westminster gathered all together and view. The work in England is done we listened to the Bishop of Salisbury by men and WOmen together. We and then to Sir Arthur Wirtzell, wonder whether by this method as Assistant Under-Secretary at the In- much is accomplished and we are quite dia office, as he gave an inspired ad- sure that women lose greatly in initiadress on Internationalism. Of the tive and a sense of responsibility in American delegates, Dr. Mott is so this absorption in Men's Boards. international that we almost forgot Some Boards in America are trying that he belongs to us. Dr. Warnshuis, the experiment along rather more Associate-Secretary at Edinburgh liberal lines than in Europe. We House, is also an American. Dr. Endi- shall watch with interest the results cott, most efficient chairman of the of these experiments. Until woman's hard-worked business committee, is place in the Church, and education of one of the leaders in the Committee of girls in the Orient, keep pace with Reference and Council; while he and that of men and until opportunity is Dr. Mackay and Principal Grandier given at home and on the field for are from Canada, we cannot grant fuller expression on the part of womthat they' are wholly British. The en associated in Councils and Boards wholly American .were Dr. Patton, of men, we think women's societies Chairman of the Christian Literature will be .eeded and will be approved Comm., with Dr. Strong, both of the by most American men as well as by American Board; Mr. James M. the women, For one thing there is not Speers, Treasurer of the Council, rep- time in such a council for any aderesenting the Presbyterian Board; Dr. quate discussion of so important a Franklin, of the Baptists; Dr. Corey, matter-and with five or six women of the Christian Church; Dr. Wolf, of in a body of eighty men it would be the Lutheran Church; Dr. de Schwein- impossible to divert attention from the itz, of the Moravian; Dr. Cobb, of the tremendous issues under consideration Dutch Reformed; Mr. Turner and to the smaller, though important, de- Dr. Watson (from America via. partment of woman's work. We shaH Egypt); Bishop Nicholson, Methodist have Mrs. Nicholson, as the new 837
member of the Executive Committee. York to prepare for his future work as Director of Religious Education in The most beautiful part of all our the Union Medical College of Peking; conference at Oxford was the time from India the Rev. Johan Masih-acspent in Hertford Chapel in prayer cessible, humorous, mature – of the and meditation. French, German, Presbyterian Theological College at Belgian, Swiss, Danish, Swedish, Nor- Indore, a young Tamil whose dark wegian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, face lit wHh eager interest, and the African, English and American-we Rev. Thomas Sitther, tutor of Bishmet as one family with our one Lord op's College, Calcutta, now reading at Jesus Christ, who was verily in our Cuddesdon; Japan sent Dr. Y. Chiba, midst. Through this spiritual fellow- President of the Japan Baptist Theoship we were able to meet and find a logical Seminary, who brought a touch way through many difficult problems of the mysticism of the East and Dr. -not always in perfect agreement, Soicho Saito, Nation!!:l Secretary of but one in the desire to attain that the Japan Y. M. C. A., a man obunity for which our Lord prayed that viously versed in affairs. The discuslast night before His death on the sions and devotions proved how rich cross. and varied a contribution such men could make to common fellowship and The following extracts from the thought. Story of the Council Meeting, written by Miss GoHoek and Mr. Basil Mat- From France came two directors of thews, will give some idea of the main the Paris Mission, from Germany two features of the discussions: specially welcomed representatives of the great work which German Missions The national missionary organiza- have done and begin again to do; rep· tions appoint delegates to represent resentatives from the Netherlands, them at the biennial meetings of the Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzer- International Council, the functions land, Belgium-the delegate expected of which are purely advisory its rec- from Finland was absent through illommendations going through' the na- ness. The small group .of. co-opted tional organizations to the Boal'ds of members came from Latin America, which they are composed. Nyasaland, Portuguese East· Africa, 'rurkey, Java, Congo, Uganda, and The calling of the ron on that first Egypt. Australia, New Zealand and evening was a revelation of the close- the Union of. South Africa were repk;nit and far-flung fellowship of. mis- resented. The two largest groups were SIOnary work. Delegates, over 80 in those from North America and Great number, asked to describe themselves Britain. as they rose instinctively abandoned personal and eve'll denominational The most impressive feature of the characterization until Hertford Hall meeting has been the depth and reality rang with such phrases as "represent- of worship when thrice daily we ing the National Christian Council of gathered in Hertford Chapel for China-of India," "Organizing Com- prayer. In a moment. we who were many and diverse became one as we mittee of the National Christian worshipped God. Those intervals in Council of Japan," "the national our work and especially the hour and missionary organization of Germany, a half spent on Sunday afternoon in thanksgiving, intercession and conseof Norway, Sweden, Switzerland" and cration have brought renewal and stre'llgth. the rest, "the geuer-al missionary confer~ce of the Union of South Africa, In preparation for the general sub- ject of the "Relation of Missions and or of the Congo," and so on. For Governments" we received advanced China there rose the genial and mas- copies of an illuminating pamphlet sive Dr. C. Y. Cheng, leader of the Christian forces of his country, and Dr. Yu Yue Tsu, a young Chinese of the Anglican Church, studying in New
INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY OOUNOIL A.T OXFORD
THE MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY COUNCIL AT OXFORD. ENGLAND, JULY 9 TO 16, 1923
containing Treaties, Acts and Regula- felt the stress of the present con- tions relating to Missionary Freedom troversies will be alive, on the one and a mass of typescript information hand, to the menace of such differ- as to the position of missionaries and ence;! to practical cooperation and, on their work in French, Belgian and the other hand, to the dangers attend- Portuguese colonies. The present ing any effort to make a clear and con- position of German Missions was put fident statement of the Christian faith forward in simple moving statements that is the inspiration of all mission- by the German delegates. The ques- ary work. The Council approved tion of the admission of American unitedly of this statement, not of a Negro missionaries into Africa was creed, but a confession of experience, discussed, a young Negro speaking wrought out through hours of wres- with wisdom and restraint. tling by a committee representing Encouraging facts as to the devolu- varied views. The central part of the tion of authority from the missions statement, accepted' by a standing to the Churches in all the larger mis- unanimous vote, is as follows: sion fields were presented and dis- "The International Council has cussed. never sought nor is it its function to Christian education was considered work out a body of doctrinal opinioni! in the light of the reports of the Edu- of its own. The only doctrinal cational Commissions to India, China opinions in the Council are those and Africa; so was the publication and which the various members bring with distribution of Christian Literature in them into it from the Churches and Moslem Lands and in Africa in the Missionary Boards to which they be- light of proof copies of two special long. It is no part of the duty of the survey reports which will shortIy be Council to discuss the merits of those issued. Steps were taken to ensure opinions, stilI less to determine docthat the recommendations in these five trinal questions.
reports were effectively brought be- "But it has never been found in fore the Missionary Boards. practice that in consequence of this The missionary situation in the the Council is left with nothing but N!.'ar East was made intensely vivid an uncertain mass of conflicting by delegates freshly come from places opinions. The Council is conscious of where thriving Christian communities a great measure of agreement which had been almost wholly destroyed, and centers in a common obligation and a this Council endorsed the plans for a common loyalty. We are conscious of serie;! of missionary conferences to be a common obligation to proclaim the held in several centres in the Near Gospel of Christ in all the world, and this sense of obligation is made rich East in the spring of 1924.
Possibly the session which meant and deep because of our sense of the most to all of us, and will mean most havoc wrought by sin and of the effihereafter to the mission field was that cacy of the sa:lvation offered by Christ. in which papers by Dr. Robert E. We are bound together further by a Speer and the Bishop of Bombay were common loyalty to Jesus Himself, and read on "The Practicability of Mis- this loyalty is deep and fruitful besionary Cooperation in the Face of cause we rejoice to share the confes- sions of St. Peter, 'Thou art the Doctrinal Differences." Christ, the Son of the living God,' and of St. Thomas, 'My Lord and my DOCTRINAL DIFFERENCES . "The Council was deeply moved in God.' The secret of our cooperation the last hours of its final day by the is the presence with us of Jesus Christ, presentation of a corporate statement Human Friend and Divine Helper.
of the fundamental basis of mission- From .this common obligation and this ary cooperation in the presence of doc- common loyalty flow many other trinal differences. Everyone who has points of agreement…. "
MBnlODS
_ ' 11&& sa EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, ROOM 721, MUHLENBERG BUILDING, PHILADELPHIA, P A.
HOW SHALL WE STUDY JAPAN? they are often taken for an automobile ride, during the program, by the Hundreds of thousands of people trusted chauffeur of the group leader.
of all churches will be studying Japan Once a month, at the general mission- ary meeting, when all groups meet in 1923-. Every church should have together, the kindergarten leader is at definite plans for making the most of the church to care for her small guests. Until this plan was adopted the study. Instead of unrelated it was impossible for young mothers to attend the group meetings. It has groups doing independent work there very greatly increased attendance and interest. should be a correlated program for an Alert leaders will study to discover entire congregation. similar plans for enlisting other lln- reached groups or individuals. A Church Cabinet or a Missionary Not only should there be plans for Committee, with a representative from enlisting more members but also plans for ,enlisting more talent. Make two each organization, should outline a lists~ne of the things you should like to have done, if dreams came true, plan in which the Sunday-school and and the other, of things that various people in your church, or available wo tohmeer ~cahnudr cchhioldrgraenniszhaotiuolnds hfaovre men for your work, could do if they tried. part: The lIterary, musical, artistic, social, mechanical, as well as spiritual gifts of the congregation, should be enlisted in carrying out the program. One of the chief contributors to the success of a pageant recently presented was a practical carpenter.
A FAR-REACHING PROGRAM ON It is amazing how frequently the lat.
JAPAN ter list will answer the call of the I. ENLISTMENT-Study to reach former. more people who are not enlisted for II. BIBLE STUDY PLANs-Groups missions in your congregation. Why are they unreached Y How would it studying "The Woman and the Leavbe possible to enlist them' en in Japan" will find "Bible Studies of Business Women for BusinCSl! The women of Delaware Avenue Women"l by Mrs. E. L. Russell, es- Baptist Church of Buffalo determined pecial1y appropriate. For" Japan on to answer these questions. They found the Upward Trail" a favorite verse that some of the young mothers could of one of the men or women whose not attend the meetings because they story is given or some verse illumicould not bring their little children nated by the biographical sketch may with them and they could not leave be memorized. ,A similar plan may be followed for them at home. The Woman's Society Bible lessons for study of "Creative Was divided into four groups each own officers and t~acher. Forces in Japan." No exhaustive !hLavYinogunigts Married Woman's Group Bible study is possible in a mission study class or a program meeting. An IS one of the four. Its meetings are increasing number of societies are having a special Bible teacher come unique in that the babies and small for a week's Bible classes during each children are always present and are always welcomed by a trained kinder- gartener who is there to care for and year.
to entertain these future missionary t.:l!:blished by Woman's Auxiliary Presbyleaders. When the weather is fine St. Loufs~u~~s~~ri~hep~CeSi5 2:e~t:ield Jlldg., 841
III. PRAYING FOR JAPAN-Above Be sure to include the children in all, this should be a year of inter- the plans for mission study in your cession for Japan. Appoint a com- church. mittee to promote intercession. Let them study to know the work for V. A MUSICAL PROGRAM-The i~ which prayer should be made. Con- troductory hyr;'m may be "All People sider the movements in which all That on .Earth Do Dwell," with the churches are interested. Pray for the story told of the service held by Com- Japan Evangelist, the Woman's modore Perry on the first Sunday Christian College at Tokyo, the work after he dropped anchor in Yeddo of the Christian Literature Commit- Bay when this hymn was sung by the tee and other interdenominational Commodore and his crew, the pulpit work, in addition to the work of your being a box decorated with the Stars own church. and Stripes.
With a map of Japan before the When loyalty to the Sunrise Kinggroup, point out various mission sta- dom is stressed, the national hymn tions and institutions. Consider their of Japan may be sung. It may be needs and pray for them. Assign obtained from almost any Board. missionaries and Japanese leaders, by name, to different members and ask At another meeting, a group of for special prayer for them. children in American costume may sing, "Jesus Loves Me" in English, Instead ef. hurried, thoughtless followed by a group in Japanese cosprayer appoint some one in charge of tume who sing this Japanese transiptercession, following each chapter of lation of the same hymn: textbook, who will study carefully the things for which prayer should be Shiu wa·re wo-a i-su made. Shiu wa-tsu-yo-ke-re-ba Wa-re yo-wa-ku-to-mo Give to each member at close of ses- O-so-re wa a-ra-ji. sion a list of objects for special prayer to be remembered daily until the next ChoT'/l,S: meeting. Enlist intercessors who can- Wa-ga Shiu Ye-su not attend meetings but who will Wa-ga Shiu Ye-su pray in their homes. Wa-ga Shiu Ye-su Wa-re wo A i-suo IV. EXTENDING MISSION ,STUDY- Sometimes it is as easy to have five or Then both groups may sing tosix mission study classes as one-and gether, one in English, the other in Japanese. far more effective. There may be one central class Introduce the hymn "Sweet Hour of Prayer," or "Jesus Tender Shepmeeting at the church, and other herd Lead Us" by the incident told classes in various outlying districts. on page 175 of "The Woman and the- Leaven in Japan." Some churches have found that different members have different free In stressing the contributions which hours. To meet this situation they Christians of all nationalities are have a morning class, an afternoon making and will make increasingly in class and an· evening class. A divi- coming days, a Japanese girl or an sion is sometimes advisable with classes American girl in Japanese costume for " Teens," "Twenties, " "Thir- may sing "In the Secret of His Presties," "1<'orties" and so on. ence," thus giving a hymn written by a Christian of India, sung by a Chris- Choose places of meeting to suit tian of Japan in America. different groups. A down town club gives II good opportunity for city There are a number of musical misbusiness or professional women, with sionary programs for various occaa luncheon served. A rural group sions. Good musicians may be intermet for six lessons in six homes of ested in arranging appropriate music farmer's wives who were members of for missionary meetings. the class. VI. THE PossmILITIES OF ARTS AND CRAFTs-There should be a rich
BEST METHODS
program of pictures, charts and ex- Japan every year. Where shall we hibits this year. Announce plans put them?" months in advance. Work out a new wall program for each week. 4. Paste picture of Japanese child or children in center. Underneath There may be a weekly bulletin in print "Which Y" or simply an intercharge of a committee who print on rogation mark. To left paste picture blackboard or on sheets of manila paper each week striking, up-to-date of a Shinto shrine; to right, a Confacts about Japan and display them fucian tablet; below, a picture of in church vestibule or parlors. Buddha; and above, a picture of "Jesus Blessing Little Children." A succession of charts will attract attention and impart information not 5. Paste picture of Japanese man only to the limited circle of mission and one of Japanese child. Understudy classes but also in Sunday- neath man print, "Born in Japan, school classes, prayer meetings and can never become citizen of U. S. A." other gatherings held in rooms in Underneath picture of child, "Born in which they are displayed. America, will be U. S. A. citizen at Chart. and Posters 21."
1. Draw large square or oblong. 6. Paste pictures of Buddha, a Divide in half by line. Print across the entire length-" Population of Shinto shrine, a Confucian tablet side U. S. A." by side. Underneath print "A man may accept Buddhism, Shintoism and Print under half length "Popula- Confucianism. " tion of Japan." On another chart paste the picture On another chart draw 20 squares. "Ecce Homo." Underneath, Color one of them. Print "Japan has 1/20 of territory of U. S. A. and "Either Christ is Lord of all 1/2 her population." Or else He is not Lord at all."
2. This chart is suggested in "How 7. It is estimated that only one in to Use": On outline map of U. S. A., two hundred of Japan's population is color California red, color Idaho, Christian. Draw 199 black lines. In Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, North center draw one line of gold. Under- Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, neath print, "In Japan, 1 in 200 Mississippi, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio, Christian. ' , West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, blue. Japan has mile for mile a n8.umDbeenrniosfond'esscigrenpseopfaJpaeprafnuernseishfiegsin the red and man for man in the blue. ures, cberry blossoms, wisteria and lanterns which may be cut out and 3. Cut from Dennison's crepe pasted on charts. paper, picture of old woman who lived in a shoe. Beside it draw outline of If lanterns are pasted on thin card- Japan. Paste pictures of Japanese board and cut out and then fastened babies across bottom of poster. Above by silk strands to pictures of blossoms them print "600,000 babies born in pasted on chart the effect is good. Any facts printed on charts with such a Japanese background .are sure to have a more interested reading.
9. Make double chart with heading THEN NOW I:mperlal Edict of 1614 I:mperial Gift of 1921 "So long as the Bun shall warm the When the. World's Sunday School earth, let no Christian be sO bold as Convention met in Tokyo the Emto come to Japan; and let all know peror and Empress made a contributhat the King of Spain himself, or the tion of $25,000 toward the expenses Christians' God, or the Great God of of the convention. all, if he violate this command, shall pay for it with his head."
A Japanese Exhibit or heads cut from paper napkin de- Plan a Japanese Exhibit for a week sign are pasted are attractive. Wrap sometime during the year. "Leaves handle with black paper and touch from a Japanese Calendar,"2 by edge with gold paint. One ingenious Emma Gerberding Lippard, contains children '8 leader made inexp'ensive parasols by wrapping toothpicks with material for a wonderfully instruc- tin foil for umbrella sticks and cuttive exhibit. Twelve booths may be ting circular piece of crepe paper a arranged representing the twelve little larger than a dollar, sticking months in the year. Japan's lovely floral calendar Rives special flower for toothpick through it in center and each month as Mrs. Lippard indicates pressing it down to form umbrella. in her chapter headings. Each booth Larger umbrellas may be made on wire sticks. should be decorated with the flower of One of the new features of Foreign its month. At a general booth which may be used as a starting point at- Mission Week at Chautauqua, New tendants may display maps of Japan, York, this year was a display of the give facts of general information and possibilities of Dennison's materials explain the plans and purposes of the for a program on Japan and lessons in how to use them given by Mrs. exhibit. Kimball, an expert demonstrator. If requests for designs and instructions The flower for the first month is for making Japanese favors are rethe pine. At that booth should be ceived in suffiCient number the compictures of the 'new year ceremonies. pany may have them mimeographed.s Children may be playing battledore For children there are fascinating and shuttlecock and attendants in possibilities in hand work. A pattern Japanese costume may explain vari- for Japanese village is published by ous customs of Japan. Missionary JDducation Movement and sold by all Boards for 25 cents. A The second month is the month of the plum. The" Great Cold" suggests the possibility of a display of Japanese dress and indoor life. The morc elaborate pattern is printed by celebration of the Emperor's birth- Milton Bradley Company and sold by day calls for pictures and explana- Boards also for 60 cents. "Twins' Travelogues" with paper doll cutouts tions by attendants. by Welthy Honsinger is published by The third month with its peach the Abingdon Press and may be or- dered through your own Board for blossoms and its girls' festival is full 50 cents. of possibility. A booth decorated with paper fish and wistaria for the fifth month and so on through the months Make ThellL until the twelfth month brings its , 'Where can we get Thank offering Christmas tree. Flowers for decora- boxes to be used during our study of tions may be made from Dennison's Japan-something that is distinc- crepe paper. If elaborate booths are tive T" Make them. Open up your not possible, individuals may be put regular thank offering box or any in charge of each month simply to coin box for a pattern. After you present a moving picture of Around have cut out your pattern, add to it the Calendar in Japan ill One Meet- one of Japanese. figures on Dennison's ing, or a Sunday-sch~ol or missionary crepe paper No. 312, on front flap so society may have a period each month it will stand upright instead of fold- for the presentation of such a plan. ing in. Then trace your outline on Lovely favors for Japanelile lunch- thin cardboard and cut out your eons or teas may be made from crepe boxes. On outline of figure for each paper. 'I.'iny fans with a wire frame box paste the cut out unless you have on which pictures of small lanterns an artist who will paint figUres.
2 Published by Literature Headquarters, Yuh· S·Wrlte to Mrs. Klm.ba,ll, e /0 Dennison Manu.. lenberg Building, Philadelphia, Pa. Price 51} facturing Co., Fifth Avenue. New York, asking cents. if they are available.
BEST 'METHODS
FINAL TABLEAU IN PAGEANT, "THE WAY," P,RESENTED IN CALIFORNIA BY MRS. D. M. THOMAS, WITH A CAST OF JAPANESE AND AMERICAN GIRLS VII. DRAMATIZING THE S'l'UDY OF Mrs. D. M. Thomas who gives this JAPAN-All of the study books abound description of the production: in material of dramatic possibility. Simple monologues are often very ef- "The real Japanese girls who had fective. A Buddhist priest telling his part were lovely beyond description. own story, in costume, makes a deep Japan was queenly and each of her impression. A Japanese girl may attendant virtues seemed that virtue give effectively as a monologue one of personified–Filial Piety, modest and the letters or themes written by school gentle ill a dull kimona; Patrioti.sm girls and printed in "The Woman most impressive in rich kimona with and the Leaven in Japan." her big silk flag; Education a fine university girl in cap and gown. 'fhc Kindergarten scenes are easily pre- procession of Japanese girlhood and sented if correct costumes are avail- womanhood was wonderful. There able. Every missionary society may were between 20 and 30 in the procesrent a child's costume, made in Japan, for a pattern and make as many sion-first little kindergartners, then others as needed. Many mothers will grade girls, high school girls and gladly make costumes for their ehil- young women, and last of all a dear dren if patterns are available. little mother with a year old baby who stayed awake all evening and did not Da.isy Earle Fish and Eva Maude cry. Everyone wore absolutely cor- Earle have prepared "Dramatic Mis- rect Japanese dress and they were sionary Sketches on Japan.". beautiful. They walked down the long aisle, up the steps and across the plat- The influence and possibility of form to Japan, two by two. Each missionary pageants has been strik- pair greeted Japan with low bows and ingly demonstrated on the Pacific each time Japan bowed low to them. Coast by "The Way"5 as directed by American girls simply cannot do the Japanese bow as wonderfully as these • Baptist Board of Education. Department of real Japanese girls do. Aiter We Missionary Education, 276 Fifth Avenue. New found that we could have J apanerse York City. Price 25 cents.
S "Tbe Way." .. pageant of Japan published by -Literature Headquarters, Muhlenberg BuUdlng, Philadelphia, Po.. Price 15 cents.
girls we tried to live up to them by you do it another way it means somehaving absolutely correct stage set- thing else."
ting. When we consulted a Japanese Through the cooperation of a num- artist we learned that our ideas were ber of missionaries and Japanese all wrong. women, a leaflet describing costumes " 'A tori?' 'Oh no, that is the has been prepared. It may be used as gateway to the temple.' a basis for a Japanese Fashion Revue, " 'Cherry trees and bamboo" ,No, as well as for instructions in costum- we never use them together.' ing and decoration."
" 'A great many cherry trees VIII. PLAN A YEAR'S READING- then!' 'No, only three.' Select books and leaflets to be read.
" We finally found a Japanese artist See that they are placed in city li- who became so much interested that braries and in church libraries. An- he painted the scenery for us. When nounce reading contests. Miss Muriel the Japanese Y. W. Secretary saw the Day, Camp IJeader, describes such a finished stage, she said, 'I t1!Qught I successful contest. An enthusiastic was in Japan at blossom tirtle.' At group of girls in Camp Wesleyan of the back was a wide spreading cherry the Home Missions Summer School, tree and above it Fujiyama rose to the Lakeside, Ohio, decided to put into sky. At each side of the stage was a practice at once one of the ideas of cherry tree. A curved bridge came the Methods' leader, and a Reading from each sid~ wall with low beds of contest was the result. The story lavender iris blooming below it and a leaflet, "Little Ann of Lost Gap,"7 lighted stone lantern just behind. was bound in white paper and used Wistaria vines grew from the floor to as a basis, and five girls were chosen the curving side approaches of the as captains. The plan was that each stage. girl was to secure, within twenty-four " The large number of Japanese and hours, as many readers as possible, the missionaries present in the audi- who were to sign their names in the ence were especially happy when, as pamphlet. One could often hear the the flag appeared and the Japanese query during those hours, "Do you National Anthem was sung, the entire audience rose." know how many the others have V", or one could see someone sitting apart, Since the first ,presentation, this concentrating her entire attention on pageant has been given many times on the pamphlet in hand. the Pacific Coast and always with Japanese in the cast. It is a good A list of thirty-three names won the sign in the progress of missionary prize-a booklet of friendship, the dramatization when people of various award being made at the birthday party of the camp.
nationalities can enter appreciatively What Ahout Your City Lihrarian? into the presentation of their own land. After a textbook lecture at the For- tlign Missions week at Chautauqua an In presenting pageants of Japan, earnest young woman came up to the especial attention should be given to speaker and said, "I'm librarian in correct costuming. Every detail is im- an Iowa city. I try to give all the portant. At one of the summer con- help I can to club women who· have ferences the Professor of Japanese at papers to prepare on various topics. Columbia University was asked to in- Last year I was at Chautauqua and spect and criticize the costuming of a attended the course of lectures on young woman representing Japan. India. I looked up the newest and "She would not cross her kimona this way-right over left-unless she were 6 Lea.:fiet Japanese Costumes and Decorations, Literature Headquarters, Muhlenberg Building, dead, " was the first suggestion. "You Philadelphia. Pa. Price 10 cents.
see in Japan," she added quaintly, 1 Woman's Home MiS8iona,l'y Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 150 Fifth Avenue, "everything means something and if New York City. Prioe 2 cents.
BEST METHODS
best books and during the year I was cities. Japan sends to us each year prepared to give help to many women hundreds of students and laborers. If who were to speak or write on India. every Japanese who has ever come to This year I want to be ready to help America had returned to his native the women of my town with their land as thoroughly Christian as was work on Japan." that pioneer, Joseph Hardy Neesima, Japan might have been evangelized We undervalue the proportions and by this time. the importance of mission study work in America. There will be hundreds 1922 IN JAPAN of thousands of men, women and children studying Japan this year. The By J. G. DUNLOP libraries in all of GUT cities and towns should have the newe;t books Presbyterian Mission, TSll, 18e, J·apan on Japan and librarians should be ready to give help. Lists of helpful In a list of the most important facts books are given in all of the textbooks. of the year in Japan one should put A Hst of best books by Japanese first of all Japan's reaction to the authors was given in the July issue of Washington Conference. Whatever the REVIEW. Enlist your librarian to the ultimate effectiveness of the decisbe prepared for the study of Japan. ions of that Conference in really limit- ing armaments, no informed person The plans of this Iowa librarian will deny that those decisions made for the coming year are being made a most profound impression on the to include the 'children also. minds of the Japanese people of all ('lasses. And the very classes most "We have the MISSIONARY REVIEW needing t.he chiding and warning of OF THE WORLD," she said, "and I such a Conference, the prancing want to get EveryCand for the chil- chauvinists and the deeply plotting dren. I shall tell Japanese stories at militarists were smitten almost speech- Story Hour, and arrange to have some less wh€'Il the Anglo-Japanese Alliance stories in costume. Then too I want fell like a house of cards, the FlivetG teach the children to play the games Five-Three naval ratio for the United of other lands." States, Britain, and Japan respec- tively was :finally accepted, and Japan "Children at Play in Many Lands" surrendered to China on the Shandescribes game;. As for pictures and tung question. stories of Japan, there is a wealth of them this year. The Japan Primary '1'he result is a striking comrr..entary Picture Stories for sale by any Board on the declaration of Prof. Y()shino, at 50 cents for six pictures and a one of the foremost liberal thinkers booklet containing six stories are fas- and teachers of Japan, that the mili· cinating as well as instructive. The tarists "are opportunists and always Junior Book, "The Honorable J apa- have been. They hold their ground nese Fan" by Margaret Applegarth, as long as they can. When it is inhas excellent story material. All of evitable, they retreat. It is always a the Boards have stories published in question of policy. It probably canleaflet form. not be said that the militarists and the bureaucrats have had a change of· IX. WHAT SHALL WE Do FOR heart regarding their aggressive poli- JAPANT-No year's program is com- cies in Siberia and China, but they plete without plans for something to have discovered that they are in a do. This should be a year of great losing fight against the temper of the financial objectives for missions in times and the spirit of their own Japan. people and have decided to retreat."
There should be plans for Chris- Why make so much of this in a mistianizing America's contacts with sionary article 1 Because the militar- Japan and with Japanese. Much per- ist has been perhaps the strongest, sonal work can be done in our homes, sometimes the fiercest, enemy of the our churches, our schools and in our
Christian Gospel in Japan and Korea. 1922, and the Council yet to be Every defeat and humiliation for him brought to the birth being exotic in enables multitudes in Japan to meet origin, interest in them wanes as the the offer of the Good News with juster, months go by, and today it is not the freer minds and accelerates the ad- Missions but some of the most ex- vance of the Christian Church. With- perienced and powerful of the Japan- in a few months of the rising of the ese churches, the Church of Christ, Washington Conference, Japanese for instance (Presbyterian and Re- high school boys weore protesting formed) that are drawing back from against the military tunics and leg- the proposition as "not of so much gings which they have had to wear importance. " The chief difficulty is and demanding to be allowed to attend finanr,lal. The original proposals gave school in ordinary civilian attire. How the Japanese churches a debilitating much nearer – to Christ and Chris- three – to – one financial preference. tians-that spirit brings them! And Some missionaries, and some J apan- Y. Tokita, a recruit under conscrip- ese as well, demanded that that good tion at Sendai, North Japan, held out American principle of taxation to for a week against taking the oath of march with representation and repre- military service. He yielded at last sentation with taxation be observed. with reservations; temporarily satis- Whether there is enough interest in fied when officers reiterated to him the the scheme to establish it on those defensive purpose solely of the J ap- terms remains to be seen. Christian anese army. 'He declared that he work in Japan now and then runs would revert to his former attitude of into a lumpy eross-sea of politicsresistance even under pain of death church politics, most distasteful of all if it developed that the Japanese -and it is navigating a bit of that army was other than a defensive sort now. agency. Tokita is a Christian. But .A. very different welcome awaited such a bold and stubborn step as his the Jubilee of the first Protestant is a new thing in Japan, and we should Church in Japan-the Kaigan ("Seaprobably not have had it yet awhile coast") Church at Yokohama, organbut for the Washington Conference. ized on March 10, 1872. The church Of distinctively Christian facts, at its establishment had only 11 mem- perhaps the most noteworthy was the bers, all men. In 1922 the member- National Christian Conference held in ship was 1,543, and the church has Tokyo in May, 1922. The Conference been a mother of churches as well as was rather like the old-fashioned of ministers, a number of congrega- "surprise party"-very little in the tions in other cities having sprung minds of either church leaders or mis- from little colonies of Yokohama sionaries in Japan till proposed from church members. The late revered abroad. This detracted from the in- Bishop H()nda and the present power- terest in it, led one at least of the ful leaders Uemura and Ibuka were strongest Missions in Japan to decline among the first members of the Kaigan to participate, the Mission of the Pres- Church. The one church of 1872 has byterian Church in the U. S. A., and increased to over 1,200, 30 pel' cent of jeopardized its results. The Confer- them, about 360, being entirely self- ence advised the establishment of a supporting, and the Protestant Church National Christian Council, from the membership of Japan, which was 11'
outset three-fifths Japanese and two- in 1872, is about 140,000 now; and fifths missionary, (and to become, as outside of that nucleus is a vast numit should, increasingly and in the end ber, like a ring around the moon, completely .Japanese) to which certain hundreds of thousands, intellectually representative functions are to be convinced and ordering their lives committed if it comes into actual exis- largely by Christian principles, though tence. Both the Conference of May, held back and in some sense still bow-
BEST METHODS
ing themselves in the house of Rim- This less radical advance will be gen- mon, but in the fairer day which has erally approved.
now dawned, coming over the line in The year 1922 was marked by more ever-increasing numbers into full com- vigorous evangelism than perhaps any munion with Jesus Christ and his former year of ,Japanese church his- Church. tory. Rev. Tsurin Kanamori, called The Presbyterian and Reformed de- Paul in America, has traveled over nomination, the strongest in Japan, the whole Empire including Man- celebrated its Jubilee in part by pro- churia, Korea, and Formosa. In his posing new plans for cooperation with largest meetings as many as 900 or the four affiliated Missions-Presby- 1,000 gave rapt attention to his terian North and South, Reformed preaching, and 150 or 160 have signed Church in America, and Reformed cards at one such meeting. In some Church in the U. S. These plans are places the usually undemonstrative sti:ll under discussion. Japanese Christians wept publicly in Other denominations have been their joy over such results. Everyseeking closer relations between where, in all churches, conversions ex- Church and Mission, with a view to ceedall past successes. A series of giving the Japanese Church a greater services in. the great Methodist school authority over foreign missionary and college at Kobe, Kwansei Gakuin, funds and projects and a 'larger in- conducted by a country pastor, Z. itiative. The 'denominations princi- Ono, resulted in decision for Christ pally engrossed in propositions of this by one hundred and forty young men.
sort are the Congregational and Epis- There has been unprecedented copal. The American Board Mission church building also, notably in have turned over their evangelistic Osaka, Sapporo, Kyoto. The Sapporo'
work absolutely to the Kumi-ai (Jap- edifice iEi an imposing memorial to anese Congregational) Churches, giv- Prof. Wm. S. Clark, a distinguished ing up to the Japanes6 denomination American educator who was engaged not only American funds hitherto in Sapporo in 1876-77 and founded used in pioneer evangelistic work and the Sapporo Band as Janes, under in aid of non-supporting churches but God, founded the Kumamoto Band also funds used by evangelistic mis- and Brown and Ballagh the Yoko- sionaries in their personal work for hama Band. Pastor Miyagawa '8 travel, literature, etc. In return the great church at Osaka, Congrega- Kumi-ai Churches have granted mis- tional, have rebuilt their place of sionary representation on their Board worship at a cost of over $100,000, of Control administering Ifl church Japanese contributions only. Of work so far as it is administered cen- Christianity in Japan we can now use trally. The missionary representation the words of Paul to Agrippa, "for is fixed at three members in a total this thing was not done in a corner."
board of fifteen, the twelve others be- A sentimental but deeply moving ing Japanese. Not a few mission- eve-nt was the presentation to Doshisha aries of other denominations are of University of the two swords which opinion that such a complete yielding Joseph Niisima took with him to to Japanese .control befits the last .!fays America in 1864. These samurai of organized mission activity rather swords have been treasured in the than a period in which missions are Hardy family (Boston) whieh origyet in their heyday. inally befriended Niisima, but on The Episcopal forward movement Founders' Day, November 29, 1922, towards Japanese autonomy consists they were formally given to Doshisha.
in cutting off some of their best ffi- President Ebina, in an eloquent ac- tablished work, part in Tokyo and knowledgment of the gift, closed with part in the Osaka neighborhood, and the words: "Today we are permitted setting up two Japanese bishoprics. to add to the treasured mementos of 6
our founder this third sword of gain by politics), he was not even Niisima, the Sword of the Spirit-the splashed from it. Thus perfect was Word of God, which he brought back his integrity. He was to the end a to .Japan." man without wealth, of simple dress, such an one as, being met on the street Some long-serving and true-hearted cars, might have been taken for a vil- Japan missionaries fell by the way in lage headman." 1922, not less than a dozen, and two noble American friends of the Jap- The names of that remarkable group anese Christian Church-John F. of Christian legislators – S. Ebara; Goucher and Frank L. Brown. But N. Nakajima, first Speaker of the hardest to spare of all was the Hon. House of Representatives; K. Ka- S. Ebara, long-time Principal of the taoka, four times elected Speaker; and Azabu Middle School, Tokyo, and two still living and still in Parliament, member I)f the House of Peers. The as they have been from the very first election in 1890, S. Shimada and Y. writer knew him first as a humble Ozaki-will shine with eternal luster country evangelist in 1887. In 1890 he was elected to the first House of in Japanese political annals, and Jap- Hepresentatives at its organization. anese Christians thank God fervently A Japanese writer said of Ebara's for giving such men to His Church public life, "Ebara not only kept out and to their country. of that foul Whirlpool (illegitimate SOME JAPANESE GIRLS IN THE SALVATION ARMY RESCUE HOMEl IN 08AE:A
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINUAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY USE IN MISSION STUDY CLASSES The Master is Coming The following poems are suggested They said, "The Master is coming as appropriate for us€' by groups To honor the town today, studying the textbooks of the year And none ean tell at whose house or home which deal with child life in America. The Master will choose to stay." A carol or a recitation will sometimes And I thought, while my heart beat wildly, help to "drive home" the lesson: What if He should come to mine' How would I strive to entertain Mothers And honor the Guest divine'
LoMr~dregivloevtehetomdoothethrseior fptahret;world And straight I turned to toiling That love which reaches not alone To make my home more neat; The children made by birth their own, I swept, and pOlished, and garnished, And deeked it with blossoms sweet; But every ehildish heart. I was troubled for fear the Master Wake in their souls true motherhood Might come ere my task was done, Whieh aims at universal good. And I hasted and worked the faster, And watched the hurrying sun. . -Ella Wh-eeler Wilcox. But right in the midst of my duties The Children A woman came to my door; She had come to tell me ber sorrows, Oh! 'what would the world be to us And my comfort and aid to implore. If the children were no more' And I said: "I cannot listen, Nor help you any today: We should dread the desert behind UB I have greater things to attend to," WorBe than the dark before. And the pleader turned away.
What the leaves are to the forest, Bnt soon there came another- With light and ajr for food, A cripple-thin, pale, and gray- And said, "0, let me stop and rest Ere their sweet and tender juices Awhile in your home I prayJ Have been hardened into wood,- I have travelled far sinee morning, I am hungry and faint and weak; That to the world are children; My heart is full of misery. Through them it feels the flow And comfort and help I seek."
Of a brighter and sunuier climate Than reaches the trunk below. -Selected.
A <laral- And I said: "I am grieved and BOrry, But I cannot help you today; Oh dearest ;resus, gentle, mild, As Thou wast ODee a little child, I look for a great and noble Guest," Like other little children dear, And the cripple went away. Oh, wilt Thou our petition hear; And the day wore onward swiftly, Lord ;resus, Thee we pray, And my task was nearly done, An ehildren bless today. And a prayer was ever in my heart That the Master to me might come.
When mothers once their children brought, And I thought I would spring to meet Him And for them there Thy blessing sought, Thou on their heads Thy hand did'st lay, And serve Him with utmost ClUB, When a little child stood by me, And tend'rest words to them didst say: Lord Jesus, Thee we pray, With a faee so sweet and fair- All children bless today. Sweet, but with marks of tear-drops, "Suffer the little children dear And his clothes were tattered and old; To come to me and know no fear." A finger was bruised and bleeding, Lord grant that we may do Thy will, And his little bare feet were cold.
This Thy commandment may fulfil; And I said: "I am sorry for you: Lord J e~us, Thee we pray, You are surely in need of care, All children bless today. -Selected. But I cannot stop to give it, -This carol, arranged by Reimann-Dickinson You must hasten on elsewhere." may be procured from any mUBic store. And at the words a shadow 851
Swept over his blue-veined brow; Christ With U. "Some one will feed and clothe you, dear, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of But I. am too busy now_" these, ye did it unto Me."
At last the day was ended, I cried aloud: ' 'There is no Christ And my toil was over and done: In all this world unparadised I My house was' swept and garnished, No Christ to go to in my need- No Christ to comfort me and feedl Aud I watched in the dusk alone; He passed in glory out of sight; Watched, but no footfall sounded,_ The angels drew Him into light: Now in the lonesome earth and air No one paused at my gate, I cannot find Him anywhere. No one entered my cottage door, Would God that heaven were not so far And I were where the white ones are I I could only pray and wait_ Then from the gray stones of a street I waited till, night had deepened, Where goes an ocean drift of feet, I heard a child's cry tremble up, And the Master had not come; And turned to share my scapty cup. "He has entered some other door," I cried, When 10, the Christ I thought was dead Was in the little one I fed I And gladdened some other home! " At this I drew my aching eyes My labor had been for nothing, From the far-watching of the skies. And I bowed my head and wept_ And now which ever way I turn My heart was sore with longing, I see my Lord's white halo burn! Wherever now a sorrow stands, Yet, spite of it all, I slept_ 'Tis mine to heaJ His nail-torn hands; In every lonely lane and street, Then the Master stood before me, 'Tis mine to wash his wounded feet- And His face was grave and fair:- 'Tis mine to roll away the stone And warm His heart against my own. "Three times today I eame to your door, And craved your pity and care; Here here, on earth I find it all- The young archangels white and taJl. Three times yon sent Me onward, The golden city and the doors, Unhelped and uncomforted, And all the shining of the floors!
And the blessing you might have had was -Edwin Markham.
lost, The ChUdt And your chllllce to serve has fled_" Yon may be Christ Or Shakespeare, little "0 Lord, dear Lord, forgive me! child, How eould I know it was Thee t ' , My very soul was shamed and bowed A saviour or a sun to the lost world- In the depths of humility_ There is no babe born but may carry And he said: ' 'The sin is pardoned, furled But the blessing is lost to thee; Strength to make bloom the world's disas- For comforting not the least of, Mine, Ye have failed to comfort Me. ' , trous wildt 0, what, then, must our labors be to mould -Emma A. Lent. you, The Child at the Door To open the heart, to build with dream There's a ehild outside your door; the brain, Let him in! To strengthen the young soul in toil and 'He may never pass it more; pain, Let him in! Till our age aching hands no longer hold Let a litHe wandering waif Vision y~~~-dreamed I But soft I if your Find a shelter sweet and safe In the love and light of home, last goal Be low, if you are only common 8lay- Let him come I What then' T'oil lasH Were our toil There '8 a cry along your street trebled, nay I Day by day I You are a Soul, you are a human Soul, There '8 a Bound of little feet A greater than the skies by star-hosts Gone astray. trod, Open wide your guarded gate Shakespeare no greater, 0 you slip of GOd I For the little ones that wait, -James Oppenheim. Till a voice of love from home tReprinted by permission from "Monday Bids them come. Morning and Other Poemsll published by The Macm11lan Company. There's a voice divinely sweet Calls today; "Will you let these little feet Stray away'"
Let the lambs be homeward led, And of you it shall be said: "You have done it faithfully Unto me." -Selected.
WOMAN'S ROME MISSION BULLETIN
THE NEGRO AND THE NATION RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES FOR THE From the' report of the Committee on Negro BLIND Americans of tbe< Home Missions Councll and From the report of the oommittee of the Home Council of Women for Home Missions for 1922, Missions Council and Council of Women for George R. HoveYI–Chatirman. Home Missions for 1922. John McDowell, Ohair- man. Year by year the Negro is becoming moreo really a part of the American The needs of the blind in our counnation. Increasingly he is vindicat- try, especially in the field of Christian ing his claim to life, liberty and the literature, were forcibly brought to pnrsuit of happiness as guaranteed to the attention of the Annual Meeting him by the fundamental doctrines of in January, 1922. Early in the year liberty promulgated by the Fathers a questionnaire was sent to the various and vouchsafed to all peoples under denominations. A resume of the rethe American flag. plies indicates that there are between 70,000 and 105,000 blind people in More and more, Negroes are settled the country, though the Federal cenin all parts of the land. There is sus places the number at a somewhat constant movement baek and forth be- lower figure,. Of this number twotween various parts of the country thirds lost their sight after arrival at with a trend toward occupancy of the the years of school age. whole land, especially cities and industrial centers. The restriction of Christian literature available in immigration, with the consequent form for use is most limited. The shortage of. unskilled labor demanded American Bible Society has provided by a recovering industry, furnishes the Bible and has lately printed selecreason for a continued exodus from tions from the Bible in the form of the South. An editorial in the New a "pocket edition." The Roman York Sun for October 14, 1922, says: Catholic Church has a fairly long list "Apparently the colored race in the of books in raised type prepared for United States is not destined to re- the spiritual uplift and comfort of main permanently segregated in one the members of that communion. The section. It was the especial adapta- Seventh Day Adventists publish and bility of the Negro workers for the freely circulate a monthly magazine. industrial needs of the Southern col- The Theosophical Society of America onies whicn first brought them to maintains a publishing house and cirthese shores; their increasing fitness culates books free of charge. The for the i'tlquirements of the industrial Christian Science Publishing Society North is now attracting them in turn actively provides literature in raised type. The New Thought people and to other sections.' ~ the Mormons also have publications. The place of the :Negro in the life The Protestant Episcopal Church has of the country has been unusually published 200 copies of the Service of emphasized in the large- number and Holy Communion, Collects, Epistles excellent quality of the books pub- and Gospels. The publication of the lished by and on the Negro during Litany and other parts of the Book of the past year. Few home mission Common Prayer is contemplated. books in recent years have ben so ex- The United Lutheran Church has a tensively read and studied by the committee of five at work in this field. members of our churches as Haynes' Nothing is being done by the other "The Trend of the Races"· and Ham- so-called regular denominations of the mond's "In the Vanguard of a Christian Church except such service Race. ".. They have furnished food as may be rendered by local churches. and tonic for a new sense of interracial cooperation and have quickened Inquiry of the libraries and school the spirit of responsibility in many sup'lrintendents indicates a very real new areas. need. for religious and inspirational literature of the right type, as well as "'Council, of Women for Home Missions. 156 for wholesome general literature. Fifth Ave."N. Y. City. Cloth, 75 cents; paper, 50 cents. ;'
PROM
JAPAN-CHOSEN length. The Bible to be presented to Japanese on World Peace the future Emperor and Empress this T HE following resolutions on the fall will be much smaller so that it subject of American-Japanese re- may be more practical to handle. -Japam, Evangelist. lations, adopted by the Japanese Christian Church Federation at its last meeting, constitute both a chal- The Power of the Word T lenge and an appeal to the Christians HE British and Foreign Bible So- ciety, reporting on its work in of the United States: "We rejoice that since the Washington Japan, tells the two following experi- Conference the dark clouds which hovered ences of one of its colporteurs: Mr. over American·Japanese relations have been Ishikura, while working in Izumo two years ago, sold a New Testament to a dispersed. Howeyer the fact that the anti· policeman. Recently, the policeman ,Japanese spirit has again raised its head and agitations which ignore justice and the principle of humanity are again in evidence wrote to Mr. Ishikura to the efl'ect that reading the Book had convicted among a section -of the American people is him of sin, he had believed the teachan unexpected phenomenon concerning which ing of J esm: concerning himself and we feel the utmost anxiety. We pray that the treaty between Japan and America which soon expires and is to be renewed in had received baptism. Every day now the near future may truly gnarantee the he was praising God, and learning friendship and peace of these two nations. more and more to love- Him. In a We also ardently hope that at this time the village, Mr. Ishikura ealled"on a man, Federal Council of Christian Churches in who said, "I am a schooI~teHcher now. America will anew, ~tre8S America's historic When I was an dfficiaI in .a spinningstand for freedom, equality, justice and the mill four years ago, I purc'hased from principle of humanity, direct and develop you a copx of the New TElStament. I public opiniou and contribute in a large way toward the intimacy and peaceful relations of, these two nations. Moreover W,8 rare de'· bought that Book only With the idea of termined to direct public opinion liere among the Japanese people and earnestly strive in obtaining fCrohmriSittiamnaittyer:i!irl with which behalf of world peace." to oppose read it all I,',j night, but ,vas very disappointed. As A, Bible for Prince Regent time went on, I continued to read it; THE Prince Regent of Japan and and its truths convicted me of my Princess Nagako Kuni were among wickedness: and now, I, too, am a those who €Scaped in the recent dis- Christian." They knelt down and aster that destroyed Tokyo and Yoko- praised God.
hama. At their wedding, which is THE soon to take place, one of the gifts Bibles in Priests' HouBes will be a Bible presented by Japanese story of how the Bible got in- Christians, more than 150,000 in num- to the home of the chief priest in bel'. Madame Azumako Moriya of the Nikko, the famous temple city of Japanese IV. C. T. U. called on Mr. Japan, is vouched for by the American Sekiya, Vice-Minister of the Imperial Bible Soc.iety and quoted in the Japan Household Department, and made ar- Evangelist. The wife of the chief rangements for presentation of the priest was sick, and the doctor recom- gift. At the time of the wedding of mended treatment by a certain expert the Emperor and Empress in 1900, masseur. This man, Mr. Tanaami, t1;te Japanese Christians presented was formerly a colporteur and is now Their Majesties a Bibl'C one foot in independently doing Christian work 854
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
at Nikko ano. vicinity. He still car- Japan to action, and now, both there ries Bibles wherever he goes and is and in China, the methodsl of the known as "the Jesus man. ' , The doc- Christian Church are being copied in tor had told Tanaami that he should deiail. Buddhism was sleeping itself not tell the woman that he was a into Nirvana when Christian missions Christian; but as soon as Tanaami became active. It has sprung into came into the room of the sick woman wakefulness again and-there is nothhe told her of his Christian faith and ing to fear. If the East will really asked her permission to pray to God awake to the value of religion I think before giving his treatment. "I al- they will want the best, and the best, ways pray berore I undertake any- I doubt not, will prove to be the rething." While giving his treatment ligion of our Lord." he told her his experience and of what God said in His Word. This aroused A Church for Ever,. Town her interest and she wondered how she might obtain the book he had men- T OKUSHIMA Province, Japan, has tioned. Both this woman and her son a population of almost 700,000 became ardent lovers of the Bible and which the Church Missionary Society although they still do not dare to con- and the Southern Presbyterian Misfess that they belie.ve in Christ owing sion have been trying to evangelize to the position the head of the family for the past thirty years, with the reholds in the town, they are quietly sult that small churches· have been recommending and pushing the Bible formed in sixteen places. " But, " into the homes of the many priests writes Rev. Charles A. Logan in the who are connected with the famous Japan Evangelist, "there are 140 shrines in Nikko. towns in the province, and we believe that it is the will of the Master that Buddhism and Christianit,. there should be a church in every town, and a Sunday-school for every B UDDHISM ,~as no rea~ strength boy and g~rl in the province….. We or comfort III such a tImt of ca- looked oven the. field for faithful men lamity as that through which Japan living in· places where there are no is passing. Professor W. E. SoothiU churches, aI/d found twenty whom we writes in The Observatory: "Bud- appointed as 'local.deacons' and urged dhism is as complex as is Christianity. to hold meetings in their own homes Its various scho()ls ·of thought and every week. To 'help them to conduct practice are as numerous as our own. services we send them sermons and To describe it in half an hour is about are trying to develop them in their as easy as 'it would be to discuss, in prayer life. We have been trying to the same space of time, the whole of get them together now and then for Christianity, Nestorian, Orthodox, further instruction, and by means of Roman and Protestant, together with posters and lectures have set the fol- Modernism. The difference between lowing ideals before them: the two great schools, IDnayana and Mahayana, is greater than that be- One church in every town; one service tween Romanism and Protestantism. every week; one Snnday-schoo! in every It is Mahayanism which most nearly town; a tithe to the Lord; family worship approximates to Christian modes of in every Christian home; a Christian paper thought, and this is the type prevalent in every family; every man perfect in in the Far East. Christ Jesus."
" A revival in Mahayana Buddhism Success of Kimura's Meetings is taking place in Japan and China. To my mInd this revival is one of the FURTHER proof of the pres€'llt finest tributes to the success of Chris- readiness of Japan to listen to tian missions. It is their success which Christian preaching is to be found in has stirred the imitative mind of the report in the Japan Evangelist of a six months' series of evangelistic meetings carried oil for the Churches of Christ of the United Christian Mis-
sionary Society by Rev. Seimatsu Ki- hand. The exact hour of my arrival mura, evangelist of the Kumiai and departure, the length of meeting Church. He began January 14th with and all details were attended to by a union meeting of all the Churches the central office in Sendai. I generof Christ in 'l'okyo, and during the fol- ally conducted from thr~e to five lowing twelve weeks conducted serv- meetings a'day. Of course a time ices in fifteen churches and preaching must be selected when there will be no places in Tokyo and Os-aka and the trains passing through the station, surrounding districts. "The'most re- else the quiet necessary for a religious markable feature so far was the meet- meeting would not be possible. Not ing in Gose, near Osaka, where 1,000 only every man in the station, but the crowded the local theater to hear the lineman, the men from the express gospel message. Everywhere the at- companies and, in the small places, tendance has been splendid and usu- the neighbors are also present. Someally increasing nightly as the meetings times the wives and children come. continued. In the larger churches the Sixty stations in all were visited. The meetings were held for five consecu- attendance ran from seven in a small tive evenings, with women's meetings country place to six hundred in one and addresses at schools in between; of the large repair shops. I had my in other places the meetings were box of Christian books at hand. After shorter. Seeing the results of Mr. Ki- the speech these were always produced mura's earnest and powerful appeal and in less than the twenty days these in these brief meetings one cannot but men bought more than yen 170.00 wonder what might have been accom- ($85.00) worth of Bibles, hymnals plished if the services had continued and other books. One of the good for two weeks in each place." sellers was a temperance book written by a weIl·known railroad official of Juvenile Court Records Japan. "
THE establishment of the first juve- Imporillnt Japanese Conferenoe nile courts in Japan at the beginning of the year was reported in the ONE feature of the celebration of July REVIEW. During the first three the fiftieth anniversary of the months of their existence the two founding of "the Church of Christ in courts in Tokyo and Osaka handled Japan," which unites the churches of 1,911 cases of whom 1,755 were boys the various Presbyterian and Reand 156 were girls; 38 boys and 4 formed denominations, was a confergirls were warned and dismissed; 24 ence held May 21-25,' 1923, on the conboys and 3 girls promised to reform ference grounds of the Y. M. C. A. at and were dismissed; 46 boys and 5 Gotemba, at the foot of Mount Fuji. girls were entrusted to parents and This brought together, as far as posguarantors under probation; 26 boys sible, all the pastors, evangelists and and 6 girls were placed in institu- missional'ies connected with the tions; 46 boys and girls were entrust- Church, about 280 Japanese and thired to probation officers and 257 were ty missionaries in all. Rev. L. C. M. sent to reform schools. Only one was Smythe, who was present, writes in sent to a higher court for trial. The The Christi4n Observer: "The first cases of the remaining 509 boys and thing that impre~sed me was the abil- 49 girls are still pending. ity of the conference. The idea origi- nated with the Japanese and was Preaching to Railway Men carried through and financed entirely by them. I have never been at a con- CLARENCE F. McCALL, of Akita, Japan, has recently been engaged ference where the details were more in some work for railway men, of carefully worked out nor where things which he writes in the World Call: ran more smoothly. The program was "All meetings were arranged before- perhaps a little heavy, but was well
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
balanced and carried through from maze of contradictions they contain. day to day with increasing power till Christian ideas are common in the the meeting on the last night was one drama and in novels. This is no time of the most deeply spiritual I have for a weak ('hurch or a weak gospel; ever attended." The central theme now is the time for the rise of power- of the conference was evangelism. ful evangelists,. You will see great changes in twenty years.' " Work for Japane.e Miners Mission Schools Recognized ~~THE statement is sometimes made in England," says a C. M. S. SINCE the passage, a little more than a year ago, by the Govern- writer, "that there are' plenty of mis- ment General of Chosen of a new edusionary workers' in Japan. A lady cational ordinance, various questions missionary of the Church Missionary have been raised as to the eligibility Society working in Kokura, a cool- of the graduates of mission schools mining district in the island of Kyu- to enter the higher institutionFi of shu, is the onbr resident foreign learning under government auspices. worker of any denominatioo in that Missionary educators have been makdistrict. The village in which she ing every effort to bring their work lives numberfl 8,000 people. A neigh- up to the government standard for boring 'village' or township includes schools of similar grade, and they are 20,000 people, and throughout the dis- very much gratified by the following trict every few miles there are mines government ruling and the spirit of where the workers (not to mention cooperation shown by the officials in their families ) are numbered by thou- connection with it: "The Governorsa.nds. In the majority of these mines General of Ohosen may designate such the Gospel has never yet been schools not coming under the regular preached, though there are tremen- school system as have qualified them~ dous opportunities for Christian work selves by the general excellence' of among the miners." their work to be recognized as equiva- lent to a Middle School or Girls' High Why Not in Japan? School having a four-year course, thereby making thegrmuates of those THE REV. GEORGE P. PIERSON schools eligible for admission to higher of Nokkeushi, Japan, writing of a institutions under the regular schoo~ glowing report of progress given by a system in Chosen. The nomination of committee which had visited Chosen, su·ch schools will be made, as in Japan says: "Ve have been asking our- proper, only after thorough investigaselves, 'Why not also in Japan l' The tion of their entrance qualification, Japanese Church is asking itself that organization, equipment, teaching question. It is not enough, they say, staff, school course, curriculum, atto lay it to environment; the fact is tendance and scholarship of their stuwe have failed in Sabbath observance, dents, number and after-ll'ecord of in Bible study and in prayer. A cor- their graduates, etc. "-Korea Mission rect diagnosis is a great gain. More- Field. over, a sense of need is manifest in society. 'It is true,' said a prominent Changes in Thirty .Years pastor to me the other day, 'That the average educated Japanese knows LOOKING back over his thirty more about· Christianity than about years of service, Dr. O. R. Avison Buddhism; for many have Bibles of Seoul makes these interesting comand have read more or less of their parisons: "When I came to Korea, contents, whereas few have "Bud- all the Christians of Korea could meet dhist bibles," seeing that a Buddhist in a small room; today churches dot bible would mean a library-several the land, thirty or so in and around camel loads of books–and still fewer Seoul alone, and the Christians are have even a bird's-eye view of the
numbered at some 300,000, with rapid of the brightest hats I ever had, and I increase year by year, while kinder- should not have had the courage to gartens, primary schools and high wear them had it not been that these schools are to be found everywhere girls would be pleased."
and even colleges are not lacking. The change in sentiment can be perhaps, A Tribute to Dr. Avison U best measured by noting that thirty NDER the direction of Korean leaders, "Christian and. otheryears ago it was almost impossible to get pupils into a girls' school and wise," an impressive meeting was those who were secured had to be fed held at the Y. M. C. A. in Seoul on and clothed and have all their needs June 14th, in recognition of the com- supplied, because girls were consid- pletion of. thirty years of service for ered as practically without capacity the Korean people by Dr. O. R. Avi- for an education-they were not son, President both of Severance worth while. Today the demand for Union Medical College and Chosen girls' education is widespread and in- Christian College. Marquis Yunghio sistent, not only in primary grades, presid€'d, and Marquis Pak was among but in high schools and in colleges, the speakers. Dr. Avison in his speech and girls have already graduated said: ' ,The occasion is especially even as doctors of medicine." gratifying because our hosts represent Korean Fact~ry Girls not only the Christian Church but society in general and all types of MISS KATHERINE C. WAM- professions, Korean nobility, finance, BOLD writes from Seoul that religion, education and medicine; the she had long been praying for an op- old generation and the new. Weare portunity to work among factory girls, thankful that our lot was cast in but her efforts had met with no suc- Korea. In another seven years I shall cess until June, 1922, "when, like the have reached the age when mission- walls of Jericho, all the walls were aries are supposed to retire from ac- down, and I.w./l.S admitted freely to tive life, so that our time for work is all. " One of the best of these fac- drawing near its end. Nevertheless tories, all Korean in ownership and we feel at this time that we shall want management, employs two hundred to live in Korea long after the time wo;men and girls in making silk set, to watch the progress of the coun- thread .from the cocoon. She says: try we have seen advance so marvel- "Half the workers live in the dormi- ously within the period of our gen- tories, niqc Korean buildings. The eration. "
forewomen. and some of the workers are Christians. One hundred live at CHINA home and come, every day. Those in Political Outlook in China C dormitories receive their food, and a LOSE observers of the internal political situation in China report girl of twelve told me that she could make twenty yen ($10) a month. little, if any, improvement in the out- They have every first and third Sun- look. China's Millions has this to day off. Through the summer they say: "Serious civil strife is reported have no night work, so we had prayer from many areas. In Eastern Szech- meetmg in the dormitories every Fri- wan, Chuhsien has again been be- day night, and also on the second and sieged, and the road to Tachu and fourth Sunday nights…..When I go Wanhsien closed to traffic. To such to this factory the younger girls run an extent have the coolies been com- down the path to meet me and grab mandeered by the army, that wQmen my hands, arms, skirt, and we all go . and boys IJave had to take to carrying on laughing together. They love coal, wood and oil, etc., and eveh to flowers on my hat, and feel them when act as chair bearers. The city of Ling- I sit down. By a special providence shui has been attacked by troops, who this summer, a friend .!;lent me three exasperated by the defence made,'mas-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
sacred 1,700 men, women and children, appropriation for the support of among whom were a large number of Chinese students in Japan, the ex- schoolboys and girls. The city was' change of lectures and the upkeep of then looted and scarcely a house es- schoole in 1'singtao. It will be re- caped. Three times the mission prem- called that the United States applied ises were entered, but though these its share of these indemnities to the troops threatened to kill everybody, work of Tsinghua College and the no one was seriously injured, though support of Chinese students in Amerthe losses of the church people amount ican schools, and it is now proposed to over $1,000. Other reports tell of that the remainder be remitted to bl'igandage and kidnapping as daily China as an act of friendship." occurrences, while firing on steamers in the upper reaches of the Yangtze Bible Women and Bandits is general. . . . . There are also serious anti-Japanese demonstrations con- MISS CHRISTINE J. BRASnected with the anti-Japanese boycott KAMP, missionary of the Pres- in many parts of China. While previ- byterian Board since 1911 in Chefoo, ous boycotts have been mainly stu- China, writes: "Our Bible women in dent movements, the present one is the country villages are doing.'excep- effected ,by the Chinese Chamber of tionally fine work, this year, ,faeing Commerce and other powerful all kinds of trials, opposition and dan- gers. One Bible woman told me of guilds. " her experience while she and another Bible woma:n were out on a four Chinese Boxer Indemnities month's' trip in the heathen villages. The country swarmed with armed VARIOUS reports have appeared robbers. One 'day these two Bible in the REVIEW in recent months women were holding a Bible class for about the relations of China with the heathen women in a country village. Powers on the question of the Boxer Suddenly they heard strange noises. indemnities. The situation is now All the village people and the women summarized by The Missionary V Dice in the class were called to flee to the as follows: "In December 1922 the thick trees in the mountains because British Government announced its! de- the robbers were entering the village. cision to release all future payments The two Bible women stayed quietly of its share of the Boxer indemnities in their room, and knelt down to pray. for purposes 'mutually beneficial to The following day the village people, both countries. ' These payments who had been so much frightened, re- amount to a total of £11,000,000, ex- turned from their hiding places in tending over a period of twenty-three search of the Bible women. They were years. The monthly installments are surprised that the women had not fied, now being paid into a suspense ac- Jjut had stayed and prayed to God, o count, pending further decisions with and they said to them: 'We see that regard to thp. use of these funds. Nee you are not afraid; teach us to pray, gotiations are in progress to use part and we will stay with you, since we of the French share in reestablishing see that you are safe.' The robbers the French Industrial Bank in China, never again returned to that village but part also in French schools in and both men and women have become China and in enabling students to interested in the Gospel." finish their studies in France. It is reported that Belgium also proposes Bread and Bibles to use the balance of its share-ap- proximately £1,800,OOO-in educa- ALTHOUGH the raid and capture tional work in China. In Japan a by bandits of American and bill was passed in March, 1923, pro- Europ~an passengers on the train in viding for the application of the Japa- Shantung Province occurred several nese share in developing improved months ago, one aspect of the story- relations with China, including an
how American missionaries supplied Sheng of Nanking, one of the fruits the captives with bread and Bible&- of which was the organization of the has just been told in The Continent. Tsining Reform Society, which meets The first food to get through the lines once a month. At one of the first of the bandits for the hungry captives meetings the cigarette evil was diswas that sent by Presbyterian mis- cussed. China is now paying about sionaries at Yihsien. It was carried $2,000,000 a day for cigarettes and by a woman messenger, who reached probably not over one in ten Chinese the camp where the prisoners were smoke as yet. "The society is workheld the fifth day after the wreck and ing against such evils particularly," after trying for two days to find them. says Mr. Johnston, "as tobacco, After that the mission frequently sent gambling, opium, wine, footbinding, up fresh bread, though the bulk of the immorality, swearing, lying, unprisoners' food came from Shanghai, cleanness, and the queue. It is only from the American Board of Trade. necessary for a person to promise Along with the food, the missionaries first, to reform along one of these sent what reading matter they could, lines and second, to work to get including a New Testament and a others to do the same, in order to becopy of the Psalms for each indi- come eligible for membership in the vidual. In regard to this J. B. Pow- society. To date there are thirty-three ell, one of the captives, wrote to the paid-up members. There is a spirit missionary sen.ding the book: "In the of mutual helpfuln€'SS. Some good supplies of today we found among work is being done along social lines. other things a New Testament with There is a fine opportunity for getting your name on the front leaf. I am into sympathetic touch with the betwriting to thank you for it, as it is ter-class Chinese in Tsining and we truly appreciated-appreciated twice, hope some will be won to Christ, who for the. gift itself and for your alone can reform the heart." thoughtfubless. ' , Progre8s in South China A Chinese Martyr I N the Church MiS'sio'Uary OuU()')k THE hospital of the Church Mis- for September, the Right Rev. J. sionary Society at Kweilin, in Holden, the newly-consecrated Bishop Kwangsi Province, China, has lost a in Kwangsi and Hunan, gives a vivid valued worker in the death of Mr. picture of the state of revolt that has T. D. Song. Mr. Song was a con- existed in those provinces since 1917, verted Mohammedan who had been and also of the wonderful progress of trained in the hospital, and had after- mission work during that period. The wards, during ten years, become chief strife has never taken an anti-foreign assistant, dispenser, evangelist, and turn, but four out-stations of the misbuilding overseer. He was stabbed in sion have been looted, and one of the six places by an enemy against whom Chinese evangelists lost his' life. The he himself had no grudge, and whom Chinese workers have shown great he begged his nephews to forgive. On bravery nnder all their trials and difseveral occasions Mr. Song had re- ficulties. Concerning the progress of fused lucrative employment for the the work the Bishop says: sake of remaining in the work of the Church. "Since 1917, when the civil war be- gan in earnest, both our out-stations Reform. Society Organized and organized con'gregations have doubled in number; communicants REV. w. W. JOHNSTON writes have grown from 241 to 817, and bap- from Tsining-chou, Shantung tized members' from 444 to 11254, while Province, China, where he hIlS been the Christian community as a whole engaged in evangelistic work since has increased from 681 to 1,810. Dur- 1907, of ,a visit from Rev. Sun Hsi ing the same period the scholars in
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
our schools have grown in number rumor, and stated that a letter had from 402 to nearly 1,700, while those been received from Sundar Singh, in attendance at Sunday-school have apparently dated after the day of his increased from 350 to 1,900. During alleged death, but fears were finally these years of economic stress, not ended by the receipt of a telegram, only have the total contributions of "Sadhn Sundar Singh in Kotgarh the Chinese Christians greatly in- and in good health." creased, but the average gifts also." An Argument on Idolatry A Notable Pastor ARE CENT controversy between the T HE story is told in the Missionary editors of two Indian Christian Herald of a man in the village of papers throws an interesting light on Ngu Dung Min, in Fukien Province, some Oriental thought processes. It who for twenty years has been pastor began with a recommendation by the of the little flock "in the very mouth editor of the ChrirlUi,n Patriot, of of hell." The church has grown-two Madras, that an image of our Lord be churches haye been set off and called worshipped in a Christian service, pastors of their own in this parish. and the quoting in reply of the Sec- School boys haye grown up and are ond Commandment by the editor of preachers of power. His own family, the Dnyanodaya. The former theregrown up in this river town sodden in upon retorted: "This Commandment heathen vice, are all Christians. One is so purely Jewish that it is not bindson is village doctor and postmaster. ing on Christians, as' Indians are, just Another son got his' A.B. at the Uni- as the prohibition against pork is not versity last June and is professor in binding on Europeans…..It was be- Trinity College at Foochow. This cause the Jews were a very inartistic pastor has made good, and he is a people, with very little genius for the first generation Christian who before plastic arts, that God commanded he met Christ was captive to all the them not to make ugly representations sins of heathen Chinese life. Such of Himself." men make an impression on the social life of the Chinese and explain the The Dnyanodaya editor asks for one growing confidence and love for the Scripture proof in support of such a Church." statement, and concludes: "Con- fronted with the idolatry of his day INDIA St. Paul evidently thought it was not 'ugly representations of God' that Sundar Singh Still Living were forbidden, but any 'representa- tion' at all (Acts 17 : 29 and Rom. 1: AN Associated Press dispatch given 23). We plead with the loyal and out in Bombay, to the effect that devoted editor of the Patriot to cease Sadhu Sundar Singh had been mur- coquetting with idolatry." dered by a fanatic in. Tibet, created a great sensation among Indian Chris- Temperance Teaching in India tians, and according to The Christian Prltriot, "revealed the profound affec- I N 1921 the North India Mission of tion in which the Sadhu is held among the Presbyterian Board appointed Indians, and the void that would be a special temperance committee, which created by his passing away." When planned for the following activities: the report came, some friends of the (1) Educational work – providing Sadhu recalled a ~aying of his, ut- temperance material for schools, temtered in moments of spiritual exalta- perance speakers or demonstrators, tion, a devout longing of his soul, that temperance leaflets, etc. (2) Temperhe might die a martyr inhis thirty- ance itineration-including a fullthird year like his Lord. The SadhUi time worker to visit stations with is now thirty-three years old. The literature, slides, exhibits, etc. (3) Pioneer was the first to doubt the A general propagltnda, which would
include charts, exhibits and leaflets, hated Christians. There was not one and provide a magic lantern to be of them in hi!:! society. But when the used by temperance workers. An out- workers saw him, this year, they line for scientific temperance instruc- found that his heart had been strangetion in schools was prepared and sent ly warmed from the two summers of to every school in the bounds of the contact with Christian leaders. Now mission, while the National W. C. T. he proposed that a day be set when he U. took 3,000 copies and sent them would invite the people of all the surthroughout India, Burma and Ceylon rounding villages to enjoy his hospiand even into Africa. School exam- tality, and we should come out and iners were asked to include temper- preach to them. We gladly accepted ance in their annual examination of the opportunity, hardly daring to bethe school, and an effort was made to lieve it could be true, for for a Budenlist men who would take a short dhist to invite and entertain his temperance training course, with a friends for a day to hear the Chrisview to teaching and organizing tem- tian message is something new in perance societies in the Villages. Burma. ' , Large audiences came for two days in succession and the work- Christian Progreu in Auam ers have continued to preach, teach, and minister to the sick, most of the STATISTICS from "The Adminis- season. "The people still come to the tration Report of the Province of meetings and listen keenly. Not Assam" are quoted by the Australian many have yet broken with ancient Christian World as "of very great, customs to become Christians; but we interest to those who watch the prog- now have a young preacher stationed ress of Christianity in India"; "The there, and we confidently expect a increase of Christians has been re- large movement toward Christ from markable. In ten years· the number that area. ' , has almost doubled. In the Lushai Hills the movement has been described THE NEAR EAST as mass conversion. In this district, where in 1911 there were 2,000 Chris- Engliah Jew. in Palestine tians, there are now 27,000, constituting more than one quarter of the I N spite of the widespread propawhole population. The Superintend- ganda of Zionism in Great Britain ent of the Lushai Hills remarks that and America, only 234 Jews from Christianity is now the fashion, and English-speaking countries were even chiefs have embraced it in some among the 16,800 who arrived in Palcases. The chief Christian mission in estine 88 settlers during seventeen the Province is the Welsh Calvinistic mont.hs. This fact was stated in the Methodist Mission, whose educational, House of Commons in London by Mr. medical and linguistic work is well William Ormsby-Gore, Colonial Unknown." der-Secretary and British member of the Permanent Mandates Commission An Invitation from Buddhists of the League of Nations. In the first five months of the current year only FR.OM Thongwa, Burma, R.ev. C. E. thirty Je,vs from English-speaking Olmstead writes in The Indian countries went to Palestine out of the Witness of an interesting opening in total of 4,000. a newly organized cooperative land society, Sin Kyun by name, to the The paper Ot~r Hope has its exmembers of which Government has planation of this state of affairs. It given the lease for twenty years of says; "Orthodox, Bible-believing Juforty acres of new jungle land, re- daism does not flourish in Englishcently reclaimed from the sea. ' ,Sin speaking countries. The well-to-do Kyun's headman," he says, "is a ('all themselves' R.eformed.' Many of Buddhist Karen who, three years ago, this class think they become some- thing by turning to 'Christian Sci-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
c·nce' and some unite with the Uni- The Kemalist Government had obtarians. The poor classes cast off all jected strenuously t0' the pan-Orthoreligious belief, and are, in part at dox gathering that was being sumleast, infested with radicalism. The moned. The patriarch has taken up real Jewish element, which still holds his residence on Mount Athos in an to the hope of the nation for the com- ancient monastery. He refuses to re: ing of the promised Messiah and their sign or abdicate in spite of opposition subsequent restoration to the home to him both among the Turks and on land, lives in Poland, Russia and other the part of certain Greeks."
portions of Eastern Europe. From this class come the recruits for Zion- AFRICA ism. " Moslem Hatred of Christians Future of the Patriarchate NOTWITHSTANDING many signs of a better understanding and ap- COMMENTING on the wild dis- preciation of Christianity on the part order which preceded the retire- of the followers of Islam, hatred of ment of Patriarch Meletios from the Christian faith is still strong Constantinople, the London Church among the Moslems of Egypt. The Times, quoted by the Living Church, Rev. H. E. E. Hayes, a missionary of declares that in spite of the efforts, the Church Missionary Society at apparently made with success, to force Menouf, writes: "The common street Ismet Pasha at Lausanne to accept cries of little children indicate that the position that the Patriarchate many parents consider it their duty must remain in Constantinople, no to teach their children to hate Chrisreference to the subject appears in the tianity. One of their great insults draft treaty and no intimation is to anyone wearing a hat is to call given that the Turks have accepted '0 Nazarene' after them. I heard a such a position. "There is good rea- woman curse her naughty daughter son," says the Church Times, "to in the following terms: 'By the great expect that if the Allies evacuate Con- Almighty God, I will leave my reli- gion and become an infidel and die in stantinople, the event will be cele- the Christian religion if you will not brated in a fashion rivaling Mustapha Kemal's celebration of the capture of come with me!' " Smyrna, though, of· course, the festivity will be so staged as to enable Students in Cairo ' the Turkophile to declare that the Orthodox have massacred themselves. A VISITOR to Cairo today may On the other hand, no one doubts that see, if he will, a striking contrast once he has free possession of Con- in educational methods. First, let him stantinople, Mustapha Kemal will see visit Al Azhar, the famous Moslem to it that the Ecumenical Patriarchate institution of learning. The classes is removed-in one way or the other. " are conducted in an open court, where The Greek Patriarch from fifteen to twenty students sit cross-legged around an old sheik, their THE patriarch of the Orthodox teacher. Most of the classes are on Churches of the Orient is quite as the Koran, with now and then one in at definitely located at Constantinople as geography or arithmetic, as part of the "university" training. In private the pope is Rome. His recent removal from that city is a striking rooms around the sides of the open commentary on conditions in the court are students from countries Turkish Empire, says' The Christian other than Egypt-Sudan, Abyssinia, Century. "He left Constantinople Arabia, and China. In its "palmy" days, this university boasted of twelve because he was persona non grata to. thousand students. Today, we are the KemaJist regime in Turkey, and told, there are about three thousand. on the advice of Venizelos in Greece. The scientific department consists of
a few chemical specimens, a telescope, " Here in Cairo we are counting and some scales, all kept in glass heavily upon Assiut College alumni in cases, to be looked at but never used. opening our new Egyptian branch. There is an excellent library of Arabic With the splendid grounding they literature, but this is also carefully have had, they ought to be among the guarded and seldom if ever used by most efiec,tive and useful of our memthe students. The visitor may then go bers, and a large number of them have to the American University. As he already indicated their purpose to enters, the two hundred students of nnite with us. " the College of Arts and Science are at work in their classrooms. Instead of The Seeret of Dr. Laws' Preaching apparatus in glass cases, he sees young men performing chemistry experi- AN interesting glimpse of Dr. Laws ments with their own hands in an up- of Livingstonia is given in a letter to-date laboratory, under the guidance from Dr. D. M. Brown, of Tanganof a technically trained American pro- yika, who attended the recent meeting fessor. The college library is filled of the Livingstonia Council. He with students who are reading and writes: "On the way there I enjoyed studying, hut with none of the mumb- the privilege of preaching in the ling and swaying that are customary Karonga church to a reverent CO]lin the Mohammedan university. gregation of nearly seven hundred, and we were gladdened to learn at It is easy to· guess which institution Council that this plucky band of is training the majority of the leaders Christians had at last prospects of a of the Egypt of tomorrow. missionary again. It was a memorable day for my men when they arrived HA Force in Egyptian Life and saw the wonders of the Institu- ON. J. MORTON HOWELL, tion, its mountain road, its water M.D., LL.D., American Minister supply, its electric light, its modern to Egypt, wrote of his recent visit to hospital, its priuting press, its mathe American Mission College at As- chinery! The favored individuals siut: "I shall not soon forget that who saw these things have always the sea of 700 faces in the Prepara,tory final word now when anyone else be- Department which greeted me, or the .gins to brag in their presence about 350 advanced students whom I after- what they have seen or done: 'Ah! wards addr~sed. I could not but ex- but you have not been to Kondowe!' claim then, what an opportunity for It was un inspiration to meet our the molding of character and the mak- veteran chief, Dr. Laws, and to hear ing of lives which would prove an him speak on the Sabbath from the asset to the land which gave them words, , We preach Christ crucified.' birth. I have since thought how well 'Forty-seven years ago on Thursday,' this opportunity is being met by the he said,' 'the first Christian missionpersonnel of this teaching foree. This aries reached Lake Nyasa… This is evidenced by the men and women brought me here; this keeps me here whom I have met-doctors, lawyers, – " we preach Christ crucified." , " judges of courts, editors, statesmen, teachers and business men generally, Khama's Testimony all over Egypt and Syria-who have evidenced the fact that they owe K ING KHAMA, the African Chrislargely what they are to the American tian chief, at a conference of the College at Assiut." Mangwato churches which he attended a few days before his death, put the Mr. Wilbert G. Smith, Y. M. C. A. representatives of the various villages secretary for Egypt, wrote from Cairo through a cross-examination as to after a visit to Assiut, in which he was what they had done with the teachgreatly impressed by the atmosphere ings of the missionaries who had gone of the college: to them, and how they had helped the
NEWS }~OM MANY LANDS
workers. In conclusion he addressed speak the Central African tongue.
them as follows: "You have told me "In the meantime," says Mr. Craw- that you have received the mission- ford, "all the local languages are aries and that you know that they clamorous for expression. Is it not came to teach people, and not to serve written that all languages shall serve themselves. And so I ask you, what Him ~ Many a time in the mosquito- is it that prevents them from progres- Iltung territory this phrase has been sing in their work? I know what it as the music of (}od to nerve us on."
is that prevents them, it is chiefly drink, the sale of your daughters in EUROPE marriage, and bigamy. What is it Revival in Ireland that has destroyed your girls in the A REVTVAL in Ulster County school F It is just the three things North Ireland, under the leader: which I have mentioned. If, having heard the teacher preach the (}ospel ship of the evangelist, W. P. Nichol- son, is reported in The Christiam, to you, you fail to put it into practice, Obser1 ler, which says: "Converts have you will never make any progress." been made by thousands and prayer Tablet to Afriean Chief meetings have sprung up in shops and factories. There has been an increased ATABLET was recently put up in demand for copies of the Scriptures the London Hospital to com- and a great revival of song." It also memorate the African chief, Man- quotes an unnamed English publica- dombi, whose self-sacrifice was the im- tion as follows: "Every day the tide mediate means of the discovery of the of blessing is rising and flowing over.
cause of sleeping sickness. Mandombi It would be interesting to hav-e a list was converted under the influence of of all the characters who have come Dr. Grattan (}uinness, to whom he out on the Lord's side, and who are suggested, after he had fallen a victim now working hard to get others saved to this disease, that he should offer -including publicans, boxers gam- himself for experhnent, for the good blers, thieves, gunmen, as weli as re- of his people in Nigeria. He was spectable church-going people who had brought to England, and submitted to never been 'born again.' The secret tests which led to the discovery of the of Mr. Nicholson's success is a yielded trypanosome which has since been aUfI Spirit-filled life, a genuine belief found to be the cause of the disease. in the inspiration of the Bible from To save the chief's life was not pos- Genesis to Revelation, and a fearless sible, but in consequence of further declaration of the same."
researches literally millions of lives have been saved. The Anglo-Catholic Ideal -Watchman-Examiner. THE Anglo-Catholic Congress, which A Letter from Dan Crawford recently brought together in Lon- don "several thousand men and wom- F ROMElizabethville, CentralAfrica, en from all over England," was the stat~s that there was great excite- occasion for the following editorial in ment among the Africans over the ar- The Christian World, a Free Church rival of copies of the revised version paper in London: "We must put aside of the New Testament in Swahili, the at once the crude idea that Anglo- language which Mr. Crawford says Catholicism is preparing a surrender will ultimately swallow all the neigh- to the Pope, or has the least idea of boring dialects. This is the language bringing back an Italian jurisdiction which will be the medium for an ex- into the English Church. To say that change of thoughts at the Mid-Africa it has treachery up its sleeve is to miss Conference in Uganda this year. In the real strength of the movement.
London there is a Swahili school where Such a view is partly a controversial prospective missionaries may learn to prejudice, and partly it arises because ;
80 many have made the position a tive legislation in Parliament, it conbridge-head towards Rome. But that tents itself chiefly for the present with is very far from being the intention the enforcement of existing laws, and of the movement. The dream of the decrees, the election of deputies favor- Anglo-Catholic is something much ing prohibition and the education of greater than a surrender to the Pope. public opinion. He thinks to build a new spiritual empire, to set up guarantees and sanc- Religion in Germany tions almost of his own kind for Christian truth, and to proclaim a gospel of THE religious life of Germany is in salvation through Christ, but a gospel these days, according to Evanmediated and secured by a priesthood gelical Christendom, "being tested and by a priestly Church which is in- and tried. Her foreign missions have dependent of Rome and stands in its practically been strangled by the exown rights as a living part of the uni- change, and even those districts which versal Catholic Church. There is she can still occupy are left without something imposing and daring in financial support. There are many such an ideal. It is a claim to author- proofs of a return to God, and a sinity in spiritual things and in the realm cere desire to find Him as Lord and of truth and ;to the possession of Redeemer. There is an increase in sacramental graces in a succession of the number of candidates for the minits own-a claim founded on the con- istry, at a time when poverty hangs tinuity and antiquity and apostolic heaviest on those who lead the recharacter of its own Anglican ligious life of the people. We have Church." received much from Germany, that we could well do without; but we can Fighting Alcohol in France never forget the leadership of Ger- many in the critical period of the I N France. the country which leads Reformation, and it may well be that, all Europe in the consumption of in the Providence of God, German alcoholic beverages, a national league Christianity, purged by suffering and against alcohol is making excellent driven back on the Redeemer, may progress. 'rhe League now has over play a great part in the spiritual 10,000 members, and its president is renaissanee which the world needs." Monsieur Herriot, mayor of Lyons and deputy of the Rhone. In addition, German Bishops' Appeal a French admiral and a French general are on its executive board; A N appeal, signed by three Catholic its work has been "crowned" by the bishops of the Rhine and Ruhr French Academy; the Government districts, the archbishop of Cologne has declared the League a public and the bishops of Miinster and Paderutility, enabling it thereby to accept born, is an unquestioned piece of legacies, and permission to preach the German propaganda. Appealing for truth about alcohol in the army and the people, "sighing under the hard navy has been authorized. Today the yoke of hostile occupation," these League finds itself engaged in a ter- bishops have this to say: "The unrific battle with the French liquor in- fortunate war, neither caused nor dustry, American prohibition being wanted by our people, but borne with (me of the chief points of attack. So resignation, and in obedience towards -complete is the control of the French the legal authorities, had a tragic outpress by the French liquor interests come. A terrible revolution, from the that the IJeague has great trouble in consequences of which our people will refuting the false information given but slowly recover, was followed by out concerning prohibition and its the merciless so-called. Peace Treaty results in America. Along political of Versailles, whose cruel conditions lines the League is moving slowly. and burdens completely crushed our While it has introduced some restric- people … Ever since the peace a good part of our daily episcopal endeavors
1923J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
consisted in trying to check the in- Italian chamber mounted the porch of crease of starvation and sickness, star- the church and addressed the crowd ing at us wherever we gO: in orphan in an impassioned oration, in the asylums and hospitals, in Schools and course of which he exhorted th-e peofamilies, in nurseries and homes for ple, while the fire destroyed the corthe aged. We must listen to the ever rupting books, to light in their hearts increa~ing and ardent entreaties for the fire of faith for the good of their help in utmost distress; with the kind souls, the church, and the fatherland. " donations of charitable Catholics in This action has evoked protests not all countries we must save from death only from Protestant bodies and and ruin whatever can be saved. papers in Italy, but also from the Moreover we constantly try to culti- daily press. The Fascisti paper Il vate in our people, longing for peace, Popolo d'Italia declared that the the spirit of Christian charity and Bible was the foundation of the whole reconciliation, in spite of the hard Ohristian Church, including the burdens of the pseudo-Peace of Ver- Roman Church itself, and that the sailles. " burning of these copies constituted a repudiation of the words of Jesus Crucifix in Italian Schools Christ Himself. The Osservatore Romano defends the proceeding by THE Fascisti Government of Italy, saying that if it is permissible for the having clerical leanings, recently Fascisti to be intolerant in the politordered aU public schools to hang a ical field in burning newspapers that crucifix on their walls beside the por- oppose them, likewise it is permissible trait of the King, which already hangs for the Oatholics to burn the Protesthere. The Waldensians thereupon tant Bibles. It said: "It would seem protested strongly against the use of that intolerance in politics is allowed. this Romanist emblem. The Govern- Now we ask, why can it not be so in ment has withdrawn its order par- religion, when it is not an opinion that tially, but insists that a sculptured is in danger, but the truth; not a form image of Christ "manifesting Him as of government, but the government of the Supreme Ideal," shall take the the soul; not questions of earthly and place of the crucifix. changeable institutions, but eternal salvation. Ve believe in intolerance. " Bibles Burned in Rome Problems in Greece THE antagonism of the Vatican au- thorities to the Protestant move- REV. PHINEAS B. KENNEDY, ment in Italy took a concrete form in who visited Greece during th~ the burning of Bibles on May 27th in past summer, writes in The Presbythe square in front of the church of terian of seeing, on his arrival at Pi- Santa Maria della NaviceUa. This raeus, the temporary board huts of was part of a sacred function in which the thousands of Smyrna refugees, the the clergy took part.. The facade of unloading of scores of boxes of army the church was illuminated and a big and navy shoes, for relief work; a bonfire was lit. Then, to quote the hospital of the American Women's Osserl'atore Romano, the organ of the Hospitals Associations, and represen- Roman Curia, , 'there were thrown tatives of the American Red Cross and into the flames many licentious books, Near East Relief societies. immoral periodicals, and Protestant Bibles, which had been taken from the He continues: "It impresses one hands of the young. They were con- as he speaks with these leaders as we sum-ed in the fire to the honor of the did that the problem is apparently Madonna. Whilst the fire was burn- an economic one, and that the quesing the pernicious books a certain tion is, how to help the poor' refugee Signor Cin!(,olani, one of the most to get where he can permanently help zealous of the clerical party in the himself by means of Christian educa- tion. "
LATIN AMERICA their hides, and taken along every- Protestants and an Earthquake thing else of value that could be sold T HE city of Quito, Ecuador, was for money … It is needless to say that badly shaken on :May 16th by an the revolution affects our school in earthquake, which caused serious many ways. The confusion and the damage to many buildings. The peo- chaotic business situation make it imple, who were greatly frightened, possible for many parents who really flocked to the streets and open places, wish to do so to send their children. some of them falling on their knees It is hard for those who do have chiland praying to the saints or the Vir- dren with us, to meet their expenses. Some of the fathers who have boys in gin. A few women fainted, and one the school are exiles, and cannot come Indian was killed by a piece of a back into the country unless Ohirife building falling on him. A repre- gets in. If he does overthrow the sentative of the Christian and Mission- present government, of course there ary Alliance writes: "Our own build- will be many fathers of our boys who ing stood the test fairly well, although will have to leave the country, and on the third floor a couple of the rooms have bad cracks in them. The take their children with them."
fanatics looked at our chapel, think- ing it would surely be the first thing Neglected Argentina to be destroyed; and when they could ERNEST GRAY writes to the find no cracks in it, some were heard Moody Bible Institute Monthly to say, 'God is 'not just; He has not from northern Argentina of the dedestroyed the Protestants, and they plorable lack of missionaries there. are the cause of this,' Another person In the province of Victoria, where he said, 'If t.he Protestants are allowed is working, only ten or twelve are to stay here, we shall all land in the preaching the Gospel among 600,000 grave.' A general belief among a people. In Corrientes, the province certain class seems to be that God has brought this upon them because we to the north, with a population of were permitted to build our chapel 360,000 including many Indians, a native Argentine is the only preacher. here. " Still farther to the north are three provinces with no gospel work except Turmoil in Paraguay one small station of the Seventh Day F OR the past year Paraguay has Adventists. Argentina's population lived in a continued state of is increasing fast, and there are said guerilla warfare. Malcolm L. Nor- to be 2,500 places of over 2,000 people ment, of the Colegio Internacional in without any gospel testimony.
Asuncion, writes in World Call: "The government has run its soldiers all New Method in Brazil T over Paraguay, from one end to the HE Brazil Mission of the Presby- terian Chmch in the U. S. A. has other, trying to put down the bands of marauders that appear here and worked out details of a new plan for there and everywhere. Up until now the evan~elization of the country. The it has been unable to stamp out the proposition is to set up evangelistic sedition. Both sides, naturally, have centers where agriculturists, traveling had to live off the country. Both sides evangelists, teachers, doctors, nurse's, have resorted to pillaging and confis- druggists and farmers will be taught cation. Private property has had no in a demonstration school. These stu- mea.ning for these soldiers. Written dents will be given specialized train- guarantees, worthless, of course, have ing, and they in turn will go out from been given in many instances; but in the school and establish new centers the majority of cases, it seems, the along the same lines. The mission ex- soldiers have gone in, driven off the pects that iu a very little while these cat.tle or killed them and carried off centers will become self-supporting
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
and self-propagating and will result Christian Advocate gives the follow- in the evangelization of the country ing summary of the reports which in less time, at less expense and by reached the Board of Foreign Missions means of fewer men drawn from the for 1919, 1920 and 1921: home Church, than any method which I' New missionaries sent out) 540; has been tried heretofore.-The Con- 612 buildings erected or properties pur. tinent. chased Tor churches and schools; 35 buildings erected or properties pur- NORTH AMERICA chased for hospitals and dispensaries; 521 new parsonages and nllssionary homes; Boards Facing Deficits 6,474 added to the staff of native workers; 80,519 added to church membership; SEVERAL of the great foreign mis- 87,405 added to Sunday·school enrollment; sion boards in the United States 29,583 added to school eurollment (all have issued during the summer special grades) ; appeals to their constituencies to pre- 1,313 new Sunday·schools organized; vent substantial deficits. The Amer- $1,870,901 increase in annual giving of ican Board (Congregational) asked for individual gifts during July and church members on field; $9,359,599 increase in estimated value of all mission property."
August of $176,765, in order that it might end its fiscal year without add- Methodist Union Progresses A ing to the deficit of $130,000 with JOINT commission of the North- ern and Southern Methodist which the year began. The Presbyterian Board .(North) reports that its Churches met on July 24th at Cleve- fiscal year closed March 31, 1923, with land, Ohio, when nineteeu commis- an accumulated deficit of $657,187.57 sioners of the Northern body and made up as follows: (a) $126,298.44 twenty members of the Southern balance of deficit from the war years; body present, voted for closer fellow- (b) $409,415.76 required to provide ship between the two bodies.
living salaries, necessary furloughs The plan as adopted must go to the and hygienic homes for the mission- general conference in Springfield, aries. This amount needed by the Massachusetts, in May, 1924. Accord- missiono.ries was carefully worked out ing to the plan agreed upon, the pres- in a conference with representatives ent organizations will remain intact from all the missions at Princeton in and become part of a united body. The 1920, whose findings were reported to Northern general conference and the and approved by the General As- Southern general conference will con- sembly; (c) $121,473.37 required for tinue to function as jurisdictional the direct evangelistic, educational conferences ('xcept as they delegate and medical work and for the Board's their powers to the general conference share in the obligations. imposed by of the united body. As soon as the General Assembly action in 1922. In- union is consummated, the bishops creased expenditures have been plan- will be organized as one body, and a ned for the current year, and the bishop may be assigned duty in either Board is asking for an increase (If jurisdiction. The Negro question has $1,250,000 in the eontributions of the brought previous conferences to an Church to foreign missions this year. impasse, but this has now been dis- The Methodis.ts, Baptists, Disciples posed of by an agreement that the and others also report serious financial Northern jurisdiction may continue to shortages, with growing needs. support Negro churches in the South jf it so choose.
Methodist Centenary Results Coope:ration in Home Missions As the Methodist Episcopal Church DUB-ING Juno and July. a group of approache~ the completion qf the secretaries of the national boards five-year period set apart for its. Cen- tenary Movement., it is natural to take of several leading denominations account of the achievements. The joined with the home mission adminis-
trators in Idaho, Northern California life of our Nation, will give this week due consideration and recognition by briuging ~nd Wyoming in planning for full mterdenominational cooperation in together fathers and spolancses,inandscah8osio8lts~ those states, and conferences were held ?hurcheB, clubs and other in Oregon and Washington which ~ng the bOIS of the community to their own mherent rIght of companionship with their promise to bear the same kind of fruit fathers. within a few months. Since these Very truly yours, conferen?es were held, denominational WARR.EN G. HARDING."
leaders m North Dakota have been FroDl Suft'ragette to EVallgelist asking for the same kind of joint fellowship and work. In these states MISS CHRISTABEL P ANKgroups of men representing different HURS'l', who has become widely denominations visited areas, inspected known in English-speaking countries types of work and saw what the as a militant supporter of woman churches are now doing. At the con- suffrage, has been making evangelistic clusion of these visits they met in addresses during the past summer in conferences to enable them patiently both New York and Toronto. In one of these she said: "I am thankful for t? go .through the list of unoccupied the hope of the Bible in these times of stann and cloud. We have lived fields III the state and assign responsi- through the great war and many of bility for occupation to the denomina- us believed when it began that it was the war that would end all war. How tions best able in each case to take and could anyone of us have lived in that execute the task. Such conferences fool's paradiRe? The answ-er is that also brought the men face to face with we did not properly study the Bible. other problems connected with indus- We thought in our fol.ly that man himtry, education, foreign groups Indians, Orientals, and Mormons.'
Father and Son Week self could work out the salvation of NATIONAL Father and Son Week the world. The war of 1914 could is to center around Annistice not purge out of the world the sins Day, instead of the week of Lincoln's that make war, and so long as the birthday as before. The change was cause of strife remains, war itself canmade at the request of various na- not be destroyed. God has provided tional and international Sunday-school His own way to bring peace on earth. organizations, and was endorsed by I thought the labor movement and the the late President Harding in the fol- woman movement, and these various lowing letter received at the New York movements, would finally settle the office of the International Committee problems of this world, but this has not happened. .. The terrible events of Y. M. C. A.: "My attention has been called to the Na· that are already looming before us are tional Father and Son Movement which is a challenge to us to go out and preach t.o be launched during National Father and the Gospel to all who will listen."
Son Week, November 11-18. It is a great pleasure for me to commend this movement which has as its objective to draw togethe; Child Legislation in Colorado in a mOl'e intimate way the fathers and JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY, head of sbns of Ameriea, and to strengthen and de- Denver's famous Juvenile Court, velop this relationship. who began over twenty years ago his The success of this movement during the p~st years has won for it a distinct place. long fight for child legislation, has Smce the movement has become world·wide secured for the State of Colorado what in character, it is most fitting that it center its advocates consider the most adarou~d. the date of world-wide significance, vanced children's code in the world. ArnnstIce Day. Surely, the coming genera· The Legislature of 1923 adopted four tion will need to be constantly reminded of their obligation to help maintain the peace bills· drawn by Judge Lindsey. Two of the worM, for which millions of fathers (of these bills raise the age of delin- quency and dependency from sixteen and sons have died in past years. to eighteen; the third is an amend- It is hoped that all individuals as well as constructive agencies, interested in the boy
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ment to the bill relating to the de- school rooms, library and rest rooms pendency of children and extends the and a great auditorium with booth for provisions of the former act, popularly moving pictures. There are also two known as the Mothers' Compensation suites of apartments for the two pas- Law, to unborn children; and the tors' families. Memorial windows to fourth gives to the special court in Miss Alice Harwood, an early teacher Denver, over which Judge Lindsey of the Congregational mission, and presides, and which is now to be called Dr. Sturge, long superintendent of the Family Court, exclusive jurisdic- Presbyterian Japan~se missions, will tion in all cases which concern decorate the auditorium. An electric children proper, and coordinate juris- cross surmounting the roof and the diction with other courts in criminal striking pillared front make the buildcases against adults who violate laws ing a veritable landmark among the for the protection of children. cheap, poor st.ructures of the Japanese quarter. It is sure to excite the in- -The Outlook. terest and enthusiasm of a beauty-lov- ing race, and its international signifi- Japanese on Pacific Coast cance as a dE'monstration of Japanese- American coop~ration will not be ACCORDING to the 1920 census overlooked by leaders of both races." there are 111,010 Japanese in the United States, most of them being Rebuilding at Nain west of the Mississippi River, particularly in the states of Colorado. F RIENDS of Moravian missions in Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Labrador recall the disastrous fire California. Approximately one half which, in August, 1921, completely of the Japanese population of the destroyed the mission property at country is to be found in the single Nain in Labrador, and will rejoice to state of California. know that rehuilding is under way. In a letter received in London April Many of the Japanese who have 20th, Rev. P. Hettasch wrote: "On come to this country are Buddhists Nov. 10th the new missionary's house and in every large city on the coast was sufficiently advanced to p~rmit of one or more Buddhist temples have our moving into it. There were but been erected. Protestant churches few people here at the time, but all have not been unmind.ful of their op- turned out to join us when we dediportunities and responsibilities in this cated the new house, asking God's field and a recent summary of the protection and hlessing for it. Our work shows ninety churches or mis- folks expressed their great joy that sions among Japanese west of the there was again a mission house … Mississippi River. A total church Men's meetings have been held, and membership of !5,390 is reported with one of the chief topics of discussion church property valued at nearly was the new church, to be built, D. V., $1,000,000. this summer. There is not one who is not willing to do his very best, in Union Japanese Church order that the new church may be built. As soon as the fox-hunting LOS ANGELES as a Mexican center season is over~middle of March~the was described in the August RE- VIEW. That city also contains the men have promised to go over into the largest Japanese settlement in the bays where good timber may be found, United States, and in it has just been and fell trees for beams or board. dedicated a union Japanese church, This, of course, will be all free labor representing several Congregational … God grant that we may not merely and Presbyterian agencies, and valued build a church outwardly, but that at over $80,000. The building is thus His spiritual Church may be built in described in 'l'he Congregationalist: the hearts of our people." "It is well adapted to the needs of the community, with gymnasium, bathrooms and. kitchen, as well as
ISLANDS OF THE SEA vention. Prominent among the ques- tions before the conference were the The Japanese in Hawaii authority of the Holy Scriptures and matters of church unity and organiza- REV. SIDNEY L. GULICK, D.D., tion. writes of present conditions in Hawaii in The Christian Work: "The The chief Lutheran strength is in Americanization of Hawaiian-born Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Japanese seems to be going forward France, America and Australia, excellently. Their knowledge of the though scattering churches may be English language is remarkable. In found in all parts of the world. These the schools race consciousness is re- churches are very different from each markably absent. .. One of the much- other in government. The Scanditalked-of questions in the Islands at navian churches in some instances present is that of the foreign language have retained the episcopal mode of schools. There are 130 of these main- government. They do not stress apostained by the Japanese, and twenty tolic succession, though the Swedish more by other races. In 1920, after church claims to have it. In America, some rather heated discussions, a the Lutheran form of government has measure was proposed by a group of more nearly approximated the congremediating Japanese which brought all gational. The conference expects to private ~chools under the supervision meet again in 1927 and hopes to orof the Department of Education and ganize a unified Lutheran Church was promptly ,enacted into law. The throughout the world. outlook in the Hawaiian Islands so far as the Japanese question is con- Baptist World Congress cerned is decidedly hopeful. The Japanese are making good. To allege 'a B APTISTS of the worId, meeting Japanese menace,' as certain politi- as the congress of the Baptist cians in the Islands have recently World Alliance at Stockholm, Sweden, done, in order to frighten Congress in August, refused to accept the into desired labor legislation favorable Anglican plan for Christian unity to Hawaii is itself a 'menace'." known as the Lambeth proposals. Ac- ceptance of any formal creed as a GENERAL basis for church membership or as a condition of Christian union is im- Lutheran World Convention possible, the resolution stated. The congress also reaffirmed its support of MANY denominations have formed the basic principles of evangelical re- some ki.'ld of a world federation, ligion and renewed its adherence to but though the Lutheran churches the New Testament as the only aunnmber nearly half, if not quite half, thoritative guide to faith and life. of the Protestant constituency of the The thousands of Baptists particiworld, they have never had any kind pating in the congress included about of federative overhead organization. 300 from Europe and large numbers On August 19th, however, the first from Africa, Asia and South and Lutheran world convention assembled North America. The new president is at Eisenach, Germany, meeting in old Dr. E. Y. Mullins, president of the St. George's Church, where Martin Southern Baptist Seminary at Louis- IJuther preached in 1521. The one ville. Kentucky. He succeeds Dr. R. hundred and fifty delegates repre- S. MacArthur of New York, who died sented twenty nations and fifty during his term of office. The next synods. Among them were twelve congress will meet in Toronto, Canada, Americans, one of whom. Rev. H. J. in 1928. Stub, of St. Paul, Minn., president of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of -The Continent. America, was president of the Con-
MXSSIONAllY
TWENTY BOOKS ON JAPAN 795. $4.50. Encyclopedia Britannica WORTH READING Co., New York.
BY REV. ARTHUR JUDSON BROWN, D.D. A remarkably comprehensive work by the famous British editor of The Japan Mail.
Books on Japan are so numerous, A Short History of Japan. By E. W. are written from so many different Clement. 12mo., pp. 198. $1.50. Uni· viewpoints, and vary so widely in in- versity of Chicago Press, Chicago.
terest and value that it is difficult and A readable epitome of the most essential perhaps impossible to make a list of facts.
twenty that will be satisfactory to all The Mikado's Empire. By William Elliot readers. Some volumes are apt to be Griffis. 8vo. 2 vols., illustrated. pp. included which certain critics might 651. $5.00 Harper Brothers, New leave out, and SOnic left out that York. should be included. Much depends, too, upon the- phase of the general A famous encyclopedic work of standard value, first published in 1876, and revised and enla.rged in 1906.
subject a given reader desires to study The Story of Japan. By David Murray. -history, literature, religion, man- 12mo. Illustrated. pp. 579. $1.50.
ners and customs, social, industrial, G. P. Putnam"s Sons, New York.
military, missionary or political char- A succinct historical narrative to t.he acter. 'fhe Japan section of the large- close of the Russia·Japan War.
public and university libraries, the Handbook of Modern Japan. By Ernest Missionary Research Library at 25. Clement 12mo. pp. 409. $1.50. A.
Madison Avenue, New York, and the G. McClurg & Co., Chicago.
libraries of the Presbyterian Board of A standard work of reference; full of Foreign Missions, 156 Fifth Avenue, many kinds of information. Published in New York, Union Th€'Ological Semin- 1903.
ary, New York, and Yale Divinity History of Christianity in Japan. By Otis School, New Haven, Connecticut, will Cary. Z vols. pp. 790. $5.00. F'l.em· place a long list of volumes at the dis- iug H. Revell Co., New York. posal of the inquirer. The following list includes a few books on each of The most thorough historical work on several subjects; but it is far from Protestant, Roman Catholic and Greek Cath· olic Missions. Published in 1909.
being an inclusive one: Japan, An Attempt at an Interpretation. By Lafcadio Hearn. 8vo. pp. 549.
HISTORY, PEOPLE, POLITICS .AND $!l.OO. Macmillan Co., New York.
MISSIONS A fascinating study of the Japanese mind by a brilliantly gifted out erratic genius Political History of .Japan Under the Meiji who married a Japanese. Era, 1867-1912. By Walter Wallace M;eLaren. $3.75. Chas. Scribner's Japanese Life in Town and Country. By Sons, New York. George W. Knox. Crown 8vo. pp. 287. Illustrated. $1.20. G. P. Put· Sufficient history of old Japan is given nam's Sons, New York. 1904. to give the atmosphere of the Kingdom before and after the introduction of Nippon A charming account of the impressions to the family of nations. Dr. McLaren, of a distinguished missionary, afterwards sometime professor of politics in Tokyo, professor of Missions IUld Comparative Re· analyzes the reasons for the political ligions in New York. changes and gives a clear account of the important activities' of the Mei]i Era. Japan, Real and Imaginary. By Sidney A History of the Japanese People from the Greenbie. Illustrated. 8vo. $4.00. EarHest Times to the End of th~ Harper Brothers, New York. Meljl ,Era. By F. Brinkley. Colored maps and 150 illustrations, 8 vo., pp. A traveler's impressions written in an animated and picturesque style.
873
The Mastery of the Far East. By Arthur What Japan Thinks. By K. K. Kawa~mi. Judson ~rown, Secretary of the Pres· 12mo. pp. 242. $2.00. Macmillan byterian Board of Foreigt! Missions. Co., New York. pp. 671. Illustrated. Map. $4.50. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. An illuminating symposium on the na· tional and international problems of Japan The story of Japan's rise to supremacy by leading thinkers and public men, such in the Orient; her dealings with China and as Professor Anesaki, Marquis Okmna, Korea, and the charaeter and progress of Yukio Ozaki and others. Christian Missions in Japan.
Evolution of the Japanese. By Sidney L. ABa-Ko Hirooka-an Autobiography. 12 mo. Gulick. pp. 457. $2.00. Fleming H. 28 pp. E. W. Clement. Tokyo, Japan. Revell Co. New York. Madame Hirooka was a remarkable An able and discriminating account by an Japanese woman who was born into exceptionally well informed missionary. a wealthy family where she might have enjoyed ease and comfort. She Things Japanese. By B. H. Chamberlain. chose, however, to go into business, of Crown 8vo. pp. 552. $4.00. Kegan which her husband knew nothing, and Paul, French Trubner &; Co., London. to devote her time and money to active work for the women of her country. Delightfully interesting notes on various She was a popular speaker and an aspects of Japan and phases of Japanese able writer. Mme. Hirooka became a life written by an eminent British au· Christian when she was about sixty t1lOrity. Carefully indexed. years of age and exerted a wonderful influence as a follower of Christ. She BY JAPANESE WRITERS founded the first woman's university in Japan. She died in January, 1919, Bushido: The Soul of Japan. By Inazo but the influence of her life abides. Nitobe. 12ino. pp. 228. $1.50. G. P. The story is briefly, simply and force- Putnam's Sons, New York. fully told.
An important exposition of the feudal Creative Forces in Japan. Galen M. Fisher. chivalry and the idealism that powerfully 248 pp. 50 cents paper; 75 cents cloth. influence the Japanese. Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions. West Medford, Faith of lapan. By Tsaku Harada. 12mo. Mass. 1923. pp. 190. $1.50. Macmillan Co., New York. Twenty years of service in Y. ~L C. A. work in Japan have qualified the One of the great Christian scholars and author to write this one of the three educators of Japan" formerly President of books prepared for mi&;ion study Doshisha University, Kyoto, compares the classes, 1923-24. He has also gathered, ethical ideas of Japanese religions with the from numerous other sources, many r ..ligion of Christ and shows the superiority valuable facts that are encouraging to of the latter. both foreign and Japanese workers in Japan, and that should prove stimu- Intercourse Between the United States and lating and heartening to all in sym- Japan. By Inazo Nitobe. Bvo. $1.25. pathetic cooperation with the Japan- Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore. ese for the best things in this day of great opportunity and grave problems An interesting and useful summary of in the Island Empire. American-Japanese relations. Due to poor arrangement, all the The J"apanese Nation: Its People and Its illustrations, with the exception of Life. By Inazo Nitobe. pp. 334. the frontispiece, are misplaced so that $1.50. Map. G. P. Putnam's Sons, they are not connected with the text New York. to which they belong.
A presentation of Japan IUJd an interpre· A set of questions with each chaptation of the Japanese by one of the ablest ter or subdivision would have made and wisest of its Christian leaders.
Political Development of Japan. By George Etsujiro Uyehara. pp. 296. $3.00 E. P. Dutton &; Co., New York.
The Real Japanese Questi0l).. By K K. Kawakami. 12mo. pp. 269. $2.00. Macmillan Co., New York.
A discussion of the problems confronting Japan and America, particularly those of Japanese immigration to this country and Hawaii, with a full discussion of California land and school legislation. the book more useful as a study book familiar with HenrY Martyn's life as but as the teacher has to make out his portrayed by Dr. George Smith. Here own questions, it may be an advantage we have the great story by a literary since it compels hIm to study the text artist in popular style. Here we see more thoroughly. The" Illuminating student life in Cambridge and con- Questions" in the appendix are in- ditions in India and Persia one hun- teresting and useful. The index is dred years ago. and the Protestant helpful but incomplete. missionary enterprise in its infancy.
Many refreshing and inspiring inci- The Woman and the Leaven in Japan. dents are given in the life of this bril- Charlotte B. De Forest. 224 pp. 50 cents liant but humble, intense but lovable paper; 75 cents cloth. Central Com· man, who was set on fire by David mittee on the United Study of Foreign Brainerd and burned his life out for Missions. West Medford, Mass. 1!}23. God in India and Persia. His life also touched the lives of many other This is another of the three mis- notables such as Claudius Buchanan, sion study books on Japan for the William Carey, Charles Grant, ensuing year. Miss De Forest, the Charles Simeon and Dr. Vanderkemp. capable author is herself a "B. I. J." Henry Martyn's influence still lives (born in Japan), and consequently and will live longer and inspire more has a sympathetic touch upon things Japanese. The many quotations from because of this volume. Japanese writings and testimonies of Japanese girls' and women throughout lames W. Bashford: Pastor, Educator, the book are especially valuable as Bishop. By George Richmond Grose. Ill.
first-hand testimony. 252 pp. New York. The Methodist Book Concern. $2.00. 1922. This is a worthy companion to "Creative Forces in Japan" by Galen A successful pastor, university M.. Fisher and the two books ought president, missionary bishop, and in to be studied together, or, still better, all these 3Jil.d other respects an experhaps, consecutively, taking" Crea- emplarY Christian, has been set before tive Forces" first. Only in a few us in Dr. Grose's volume. He gives a minor points do the two books overlap. bill of particulars illustrating what As in the case of the other volume, the Dr. Robert Speer said of Bishop Bashillustrations are inconveniently placed ford: ' ,No man of his generation has and the teacher must prepare her own done more for foreign missions than questions for the class. he. " Even more fully he completes Dr. John R. Mott's estimate: "While Though Miss De Forest's book will the word statesman is not used with naturally appeal more to the women sufficient discrimination, I have no folks, and that by Mr. Fisher more hesitation in applying it to Bishop to the men, it is to be wished that Bashford. In my judgment, he was there shall be "neither male nor one of the outstanding national and female" in this matter, and that both international Christian statesmen of men and women will study both books his generation. Among the three or with equal ardor, for neither one is four most difficult and important complete without the other. A. o. problems of our time are that peT- Henry Martyn, Confessor of the Faith. By taining to the promotion of right re- Constance E. Padwick. Illns. 12mo. 304 lations between nations and races and pp. $1.50 net. George H. Doran Co. that pertaining to the dra.wing to- gether of Christian communions. In New York and the Student Christian Movement of Great Britain and Ireland. these two spheres, not to mention 1923. others, he rendered a service of rare Missionary history teaching by ex- distinction. "
ample is seen in this impressive story President Grose knew Dr. Bashford of a Christian scholar and hero of the well and had access to voluminous faith of a century ago. Many are sources; he journeyed in China for months that he might secure first-hand Next to Dr. S. Wells Williams' testimony there to his accomplishment "Middle Kingdom," now forty years and spirit. Nor does he neglect his old, this volume will best supply the earlier American experiences, where reader with trustworthy information. he knew him better. We see the boy It is the life behind these pages which James on the Wisconsin farm; we will make that nation, so far as it knew follow him to the University of Wis- him, wish to inscribe on his monument consin and note his struggles and the alien Roman c€,nturion's eulogium, victories, personal and intellectual; "He is worthy; for he loveth our na- tion. " we go on to Boston University School of Theology and after graduation to J ames Bashford, Christian, is anthe Boston School of Oratory; we see other high value of this volume. We him preaching in his student days see him reading his Bible through with acceptance and effectiveness; we annually, with an ever fresh appraisal get a glimpse of him in his pastoral of its hidden values. Into the place work in Maine and in New York of private and puMic prayer we are State; we foHow him to the presidency privileged to follow him In that acid of OhioWesleyan University, whither test of human life, prolonged and he goes after being wanted for a painful suffering, we also look upon variety of educational services. Al- this model apostle. It is. all part of a ways he was trying to materialize the divine plan to make perfect through title .of a s.ermon which he once suffering one of the greatest Chrispreached, "The Law of Love the Su- tians and ecclesiastical leaders of our preme Law of Life." time.-H. P. B.
Then follows the record of his great contacts with Non-Christian Cultures. !lpostleship, when he guided the oper- Daniel Johnson Fleming, Ph.D. 185 pp. ations of the Mission work of his Doran Co. New York. 1923. Church in China. But he was too broad for anyone denomination and The sub-title, "A Case Book in the so became a leader in all societies and Christian Movement Abroad" dewas known as a universal Christian scribes this volume accurately. It is rather than as a Northern Methodist. an unusual venture along a new line, During those fourteen years he did a discussing concrete eases occurring great work, though much of the time on mission fields. The object is to in great physical suffering and under give an insight into certain features the physicians's constant care. He of the missionary task which are not not only traveled through its prov- ordinarily found in missionary literinces for over a hundred thousand ature. Even when the general reader miles, taking voluminous notes and does not care to grapple with the de- tailed solutions, he may see how varied aiding every good work, but he was and difficult are the situations which also deeply interested in the political face the workers, and what are the life of changing China especially in demands on sympathy and delicacy of its time of developing into a republic. feeling. To this end such matters as the following are dealt with in the Dr. Grose gives a somewhat fuB ac- chapters: Matters of Doubtful Expecount of the Bishop's diplomatic serv- diency, The Attitude Toward Nonire in connection with enlightening Christian Religions, Relations With Washington and interpreting Japan's the People, Problems in Economics, twenty-one demands of 1915, in which The Christian Family, Sunday Obrole he rendered most important inter- servance, Decison With Reference to national service. Baptism, The Problem of the Mission- ary Home. Dr. Bashford was likewise an author of note. His magnum opus is A wealth of material is provided. his "China, an Interpretation," the Dr. Fleming does not attempt to fruitage of careful observation, ex- furnish the prospective missionary haustive research and prodigious labor extending over his entire China life. with a set of ready-made solutions. Briti~h North Borneo: An Account of its The new recruit will in no wise escape History, Resources and Native Tribes. the period of humbling apprenticeship By Owen Rutter. IHus., maps, xvi. 404 by a reading of this book. But the pp. London: Constable and Company.
21s. 1922.
author wisely stresses the ide'a that the As Fellow of the Royal Geographmethod Df arriving at a solution of a ical Society and of the Royal Anthroproblem is often as important as tLe pological Institute, the author has imsolution itself. Since this is the case portant presumptions in his favor,' to it is well worth while to study this which must be added the far more book to get the general line of pro- important credentials of many years' cedure. For example, here is the residence there, both as Government problem of manufacturing "idol officer and as planter. paper." Many natives earn. then' living by it. Some of these WIsh to It is the northern end of this second confess Christ and join the church. largest island of the world that the volume describes, a territory as large Shall the missionary refuse to accept as the New England States minus such workers even though they do not worship idols; or ought he to admit Maine, lying only a few miles south them f The opinion of missionaries of our Philippine blands. We all know the island by the phrase, "Wild is given. Opinions will diller in regard to Man of Borneo;" but here, among the other less savage tribes we find some of the conclusions reached in this . 28,500 Muruts, who, Mr. Rutter tells book. But one 'thing is certain: this us, come nearest the popular concep- book will provide new interest in mis- tion of the Wild Man than other sion study groups, and stimulate a tribes. Though this man may dress type of constructive thinking such as in bark cloth garments, the dandy will few books have done hitherto. An have sixteen yards of Chinese red index adds materially to the value of cloth wound about his loins, with a the book as a work of reference. portable chair attached behind, a rat- -J. F. R. tan mat upon which he sits. But South America From a Surgeon's Point of aside from his clothing, this man lives View. Franklin H. Martin. Introduc· tion by Wm. J. Mayo, M.D. 345 pp. with many others in a communal $3.00. Fleming H. Revel! Co., New York. house 200 ft. long, with many points 1923. suggestive for lovers of the simple life and gregarious living. The Murut is All interested in the southern con- not a " Pussyfoot" by any means; and he sips his flowing beer through tinent will be glad to read this book. straws, a la our soda sots. When one sleeps in his home and looks up at Two great scientists give here their the cluster of skuLls, he may reaEze observations with a C'larity which will that his host is wild, but otherwise open the mind to the developments he is "hospitable, goodhumored and honest, so honest that theft is almost of South America along medical lines. an unknown crime, except an occa- sional theft of some one else's wife. The book is not technical and follows His head-hunting habits, through the tactful efforts of the District Officers, the itinerary of these noted physicians he has been induced to abandon." While three–fifths of the North Bornethrough the Panama Canal, to Peru, ans are pagans, the remainder are Mohammedans who are graceful liars AEncduaedso,r~ndBoluivpiathrCohuigleh, across the Argentina, and accDmplished cheats, Rutter teNs us. Uruguay and Brazil.
Dr. Mayo says, "Whatever may be the after-war responslibility of the United States abroad, we can not ques- tion that our first duty is to develop a sound Pan-Americanism, of science and a unity of spirit and ideals that will be more lasting than measures based on financial, commercial or Aside from the inhabitants, whose political considerations. "-s. G. I. environment and inward life are described, most of the finely illustrated Naturally the two most important, volume is devoted to a narrative of as well as most interesting, aspects of its occupation and development by Karen life are the social and religious, the British North Borneo Company which occupy more than half the during the last forty years and their volume. The closeness of social inter- gradual transfonnation of the country est is thus expressed:' "Children and through trade and policing. Rutter grandchildren love one another.
also briefly mentions the helpful work Do not quarrel; do not find fault with of the Roman CathO'lic pioneers and each other. When we are in the village, or three later Protestant societies, we are separate persons; but when we summarizing in the sentence: "Their go to clear the fie'lds, we are brethren; success may be gauged by the and if one is taken sick on the road or behaviour of their converts, who are in the jungle, we must take care of law-abiding and industrious people." him. We must look after each other.
The chapter on "Native Customs When we cut the fields, we are and Folk-lore," is the most interesting brethren. If one is sick, all are sick. for our constituency and also the most If one dies, all die." Some of the likely to appeal to missionary in- Karen laws and precepts might have stincts. North Borneo, presented here been copied from the Old Testament.
mainly as a commercial and govern- Others are a vast improvement upon mental proposition, becomes a subject Asiatic society usually, as the con- of deep thought and desire to the demnation of cursing, so common a serious Christian. The Wild Man of sin. The chapter upon music and Borneo with his "jar-worship,» is musical instruments is especially im- stiLl in darkness, still in dire need of portant, since singing is so wonder- a full salvation through Jesus Christ. fully deveIoped among the Kare'lls.
-H. P. B. One could have expected the author to refer to the Christian development The Karen People of Burma: A study in of music and the almost unique meet- Anthropology and Ethnology. By Rev. ings for village choir singing lasting :garry Ignatius Marshall, M.L Illus. nearly alil night long. xv. 329 pp. Columbus: Ohio State University. $3.01}. 1922. Three leading religious conceptions This Bulletin of the University is are concretely described in Chapter a noteworthy contribution to the XXI, the 1< pgho" or as described in knowledge of a little known, and remarkably interesting people, especially the Pacific islands, the "mana," a species of supernatural power; the from the missionary viewpoint It is assigning of a more or less distinct among this race that the American personality to all unknown forces; and Baptist Foreign Missionary Society the religious traditions of the Karens, has done its notable work, which con- especialily the Y'wa legends and trastitutes some of the most fruitfuil and ditions, reminding one of the early significant chapters of the Society's Genesis traditions and containing a history. prophecy of the return of the white After some general topics describing brother with the Lost Book, which led the Sgaw Karen habitat, the origin to such remarkable success when the of the race, physical, mental and moral white missionaries first reached them. characteristics, language, and dress After reading Chapter XXII, one can and ornaments, four important as- readily see how much proprndeutic pects of the people are taken up. material the missionary finds in these Their domestic life shows the people in homes which are mainly those of traditions for aiding in making clear the small farmer, the hunter and fish- the Christian message. And a later erman, and the artisan as engaged in chapter upon sacrifices still further extends the pre-Christian foundation.
spinning, dyeing and weaving, mat- The discussion of "Growth of Chris- making and basketry. tianity among Karens" is too brief for the REVIEW'S constituency, though The New Missionary Series. Ten Volumes. sufficiently so for an academic thesis; Illus. 16 mo. 62 pp, 60 cents each. but the fina:l chapter upon "The George H. Doran Co. New York. 1923. 'Progress of the Karen Race" supplements it helpfully. In a word, the These ten volumes for young peoauthor has written a scientific treatise ple are very attractive stories of which nevertheless is interesting and famous missionaries-James Chalinforming for the student of Missions. mers, Robert Moffat, James Hanning- ton, William Carey, Pandita Rama- -H. P. B. bai, James Gilmour, Mackay of Uganda, Abel of Kwato, John Wil- :Between the Lines in Asia l'Ilino;r. Mary liams and Heroes of Madagascar. Caroline Holmes. Illustrated. 224 pp. Each story is told by a different $1.50. Fleming H. Revell Company. writer but in excellent style and each New York. 1923. is so brief and so interesting that it This story of the strange and heart can be read in less than an hour but sickening conditions among the 1200 may make an impression that will last waifs of the American Orphanage at a lifetime. All of the missionary Uria deals also with the larger inter- heroes have passed to their reward national questions, into which Miss except Charles W. Abel of Kwato, HOilmes she was drawn as head of the New Guinea, who has been there for orphanage from 1919 to 1921. At the over 32 years and visited .America beginning the ,British were in charge this winter. He is still a young man of the region; later the French took and is doing a great work in K wato.
over Cilicia, and alienated where the British had won, the respect of the Mis~ionary Program Material for Primary people. As a result the French garrison of Urfa was shut up in the city and Junior Grades. Compiled by Anita by a besieging army of Turks. Being B. Ferris. 12 mo. 153 pp. $1.00. Mis· sionary Education Movement. New York. 1923.
an American and having the con- Miss Ferris, who has recently died, fidence of the Turkish officers, Miss wrote the first edition of this useful Holmes was able to act as intermedian book about seven years ago. Her wide between the two hostile forces, but, experience has enabled her to gather in spite of promises of safety from suggestions that may be put into sucthe Turks, the French troops after cessful operation in many Sundayevacuating the city were massacred schools and junior societies. They at Feris Pasha The story of this cover the making of programs, the siege and its terrible ending filils the literature needed, and specific sugmajor part of the book and shows gestions as to books, costumes, dramas, stories and games related to China, how courage and good sense coupled .Africa, India, Japan, Moslem Lands, with Christian faith and love do a Islands of the Sea. Latin America and magnificent work under unspeakable home missions. Teachers and leaders and almost impossible conditions.
-R.M.L. of juniors and primaries will find the book very valuable.
Atlas of the World and Gazetteer for 1923.
8vo. 175 pp: Funk & Wagnalls Co. The Women of 1922. Edited by Ida Clyde New York. Clarke and Laura Miller. 12 mo. 224 pp.
Ninety-four maps, five charts, a list $1.00. John C. Winston Co. Philadel· of 7,500 cities and towns with their phia, Pa. 1923.
populations and 27 pages of descrip- The Woman's News Service has put tive matter make this a handy refer- out this conglomerate book of facts ence atlas, especially useful for home for and about women-their organreference. It is based on the ,latest izations, officers, meetings, activities census aud surveys and the colored in social, political, educational, busi- maps by Hammond, though not large, ness, literary and religious lines- national, international and by states. are clear. It gives the facts about laws sponsored Dr. Shastid's story Simon of Cyrene by women, their occupations and is more than a personal figure; he is many other interesting items. The a symbol of the Jewish soul. If we only reference to missions in the index could be made to see the Old Testa- refers to foreign missions-page ten- ment through Jewish eyes we should where no reference to the subject is understand the reaction of the Jews made! Twenty million women are of Jesus' day to His claim to Messiah- recorded as Church members—two- ship. They were intolerant; He was thirds of them Protestant. catholic. They were materialistic; He was spiritual. They were intensely Prem Masih of Damoh. By George E. Mil- national; He was universal. The ler. Dlus. 130 pp. Powell wd White, author makes plain that with all the Cincinnati. $1.20. 1922. limitations of the Jewish mind, it was steadfastly set upon the seeking of the A medical missionary in the heart true God. of India has combined half a dozen boy characters, plus the lovely girl The book is a great portrait gallery. Seoti, into a tale of orphanage life of The author may not have known of much simplicity and interest. Though Benjamin Jowett's prediction of a idealized, it is substantially a true time when history shall be taught story and should show supporters of solely through biography. But that the author does open to us a great missions that such work is of value. vista of history, Jewish, Roman, While we are unaccustomed to love Greek, Egyptian, is one of the claims stories emerging at eleven years, it is of the book to serious consideration. wholly in accord with Indian €xperi- What Dean Farrar put into discurence, if we except the somewhat Occi- sive form in his book, "The Early dentalized form of emotion. Though Days of Christianity," Dr. Shastid the <:onrse of their love life did not puts into romantic form and, it aprun smoothly, it ended happily. True pears, with quite as much patient to the age of the principals-of course attention to historic detail and with Prem Masih was Seoti's senior and even superior knowledge of the cus years had elapsed after the budding toms and manners of the times. of the flower-a football match and a hardly won goal by the hero seem to be the climax of the booklet. Though The Negro Year Book 1921-1922. Edited by the missionary disciplinarian may Momoe N. Work. Bvo. 469 pp. 50 cents cond€mn the exchange of love notes and $1.00. Negro Year Book Publishing as pictured here, that is also true to Co. Tuskegee, Alabama. orphanage life; and one does not condemn Miss Lee for a measure of Every American should be inter- ested in the problem of the Negroes.
charity which is not too common who comprise one-tenth of the popu- lation of the United States. Mr. Work among women tcachers abro.ad has compiled this new edition of an Simon ot Cyrene, Dimachaerus Splendens. encyclopedia of facts about the Negro, Or the Story of a Man '. (and a Nation's) with maps and charts. The volume for 1922 includes a review of the Soul. By Thomas. Hall Shastid, M.D., events of the past two years affecting the Negro, their economic, intellectual, Se.D., etc. 446 pp. Ann Arbor, Mich. George Wahr, Publisher to the University of Michigan. 1923.
There is undeniable charm in political and religions progress; the stories which attempt to recreate for riots, Ku Klux Klan, the various probus the historic background of Biblical lems and methods attempting to solve scenes and figures. "Ben-Hur" is a them. It is a remarkable compilation classic of this type. So is Walter of facts-the most comprehensive" Pater's" Marius, the Epicurean." In authentic and up-to-date obtainable.
The Missionary Review of the World — November 1902
THE MOUTH OF A COAL-MINE
Missionary Review of the World Old Series t NOVEMBER j New Series VOL. XXV. No. 11 f I VOL. XV. No. 11 THE WORLD-WIDE EFFUSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Every conscious want is a prophecy of its supply. A law of coordination everywhere rules in nature. The ball of bone is the sure sign of a corresponding socket, for the two belong together and make the perfect joint. The bird's wing argues an ocean of air, and the fish's fin, a world of waters; the soil tells of plant-life, and the arteries and veins. of the heart, with its twofold action. Every appetite has its food; every vacuum, something ready to fill it, and pressing to enter and occupy it.
The same law of coordination rules equally in the spiritual sphere. There is, just now, a widespread yearning for some more extensive and intensive working of God's Holy Spirit than has been known since Pentecost. Wherever, in any part of the earth, the most devout believers are found, this longing is finding expression. It is not in isolated instances, as when Jonathan Edwards, in 1747, appalled at the awful signs of apostasy in the churches of Christendom, issued his trumpet-call to prayer; or as when, one hundred and forty years later, Carey and his few associates reechoed that clarion call. There seems to be now a new consensus of conviction and feeling,· on the vart of disciples throughout the habitable globe, that God must be appealed to, to give" the latter rain." The most prominent sign of this unpremeditated agreement is to be seen in the circles of prayer, multiplying everywhere, with this object in view. Surely such a deeply felt want and need is the prophecy of some world-wide blessing.
Our Lord taught a great lesson in Matthew xviii: 19. He said: "If two of you shall agree on earth [symphonize] as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." The agreement referred to is not that of a mere human covenant, nor even sympathy: it is symphony. Symphony is agreement of sounds in a musical chord, and depends upon fixed laws of harmony. It can not be secured by any arbitrary arrangement. One can not lay his fingers accidentally or carelessly upon the keys of a musical instrument and produce symphony of sounds. Such touch
may evoke only intolerable discord, unless regulated by a knowledge of the principles of harmony. Nay, there is even a deeper necessity- namely, that the keys touched shall themselves be in tune with the whole instrument. 'l'wo conditions then are needful: first, that a skilful hand shall put the whole instrument in tune: and then that an equally skilful hand shall touch keys which are capable of pro~ ducing together what is called" a true chord."
It is scarcely conceivable that our Lord used this word by any accident. This language evinces Divine design. He is teaching a great lesson on the mystery of prayer, which likewise demands two great conditions: first, that the praying soul shall be in harmony with God himself; and then that those who unite in prayer shall, because of such unity with Him, be in harmony with each other. There must be, therefore, back of all prevailing sn pplication and intercession, One who, with infinite skill, tunes the keys into accord with his own ear; and then touches them, like a master mnsician, so that they respond together to His will and give forth the chord which is in His mind.
No true philosophy of prayer can ever be framed which does not 'include these conditions. Many have a false conception of what prayer is. To them it is merely asking for what one wants. But this may be so far from God's standard as to lack the first essentials of prayer. We are to ask" in the name" of Christ. But that is not simply using His name in prayer. The name is the nature j it expresses the character, and is equivalent to the person. To ask in Christ's name is to come to God, as identified with the very person of Ghrist. A wife makes a purchase in her husband's name. Literally, she uses his name, not her own. She says, " I am Mrs. A–," which means, "I am his wife, identified with his personality, wealth, com- mercial eredit, and business standing." '1'0 go to God in Christ's name is to claim identity with Christ as members of His body, one with Him before the Father, and having a right in Him to the Fath- er's gifts, a right to draw on the Father's infinite resources. Again, we are told that, if we ask anything "accordh~g to His will," He heareth ns. But what is asking according to His will but ceasing to ask according to our own self-will? Here the impUlse is not human, but essentially Divine. It implies a knowledge of His wiII, an insight into His own mind, and a sympathy with His purpose. How is this possible unless by the Holy Spirit we are brought into such fellowship with God as that He can guide us in judgment and teach us His way? He is indeed" able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or' think," but it is" according to His power which worketh in us." If that power work not in llS, first, it can not work for us, in answered prayer.
We believe, therefore, that in order to gain higher results, wrought
THE WORLD-WIDE EFFUSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
for the Ohurch or the world, in answer to supplication, there must first be deeper results wrought in the believer by the Holy Spirit. In other words, there must be a higher type ofpersonal holiness if there is to be a higher measure ofpOUJerin prayer. The carnal mind does not . fall into harmony with God, nor even see and perceive His mind, and hence the carnally minded disciple can not discern the will of God in prayer, and is continually hindered by mistaking self-impelled petitions for divinely inspired prayers, confounding what self-will craves with what is spiritually needful and scripturally warranted.
Such a true union and symphony of praying souls is the one greatest need of the honr. A most acute observer, and a very spiritually minded man, himself a missionary, recently said to the writer that the supreme lack, even of missionaries, is an enduement of the Spirit for themselves. Scores of men and women are drawn to the foreign field with little knowledge of facts and less heart~training for the work. They have been attracted by the halo and romance that invests missions, when seen afar off, but which fades like the purple vestments of the mountain as one draws near and looks on the dark, rough, forbidding crags. They are disappointed with the real conditions and the slow progress which the actual field presents. Too often they lapse into a mere perfunctory routine of work which is, in all fields, the subtlest snare for the worker for Ohrist. The one and only thing that can prevent this result, or cure this disease of practical formalism, is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. So says in substance this most discriminating witness, and so testified the late lamented Pilkington, of Uganda, who declared that, but for the Spirit's endueing which came upon him, he would have felt compelled to abandon the field and return home.
There is an "eighth-of-Romans" experience which every missionary may well crave. In all the seven chapters preceding, there are but two clear references to the Holy Spirit (Romans i: 4, v: 5). But in the eighth, in the thirty-nine verses, there are no less than a score of such references. The moment we pass into this chapter we are in the atmosphere of the Spirit. He is the Spirit of Life, giving freedom, growth, guidance, energy, power in prayer, harmony with the will of God, patience in suffering. Before we enter this territory of the epistle we have jnstification, reconciliation, knowledge of Ohrist, and union with Him; but here we come into a new revelation of spiritual power.
There are many disciples and ministers who honestly believe the truth and are regenerate servants of God, zealous for sound doctrine and loyal to duty, but who know little of either love or liberty, passion for souls or victory over sin. All these the Holy Spirit brings, nay becomes, in those whom He fills: No one can read the lives of Martyn and Payson, Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley, Charles G.
Finney and Adoniram J. Gordon without seeing how the dynamic force in all service is found not ill truth alone, but in the" Spirit of truth." These men, and many others like them, were endued with power from on high. There is no mistaking either the fact or the ~tfect of such enduing. With Henry Martyn it became a consuming fire of passion for souls. With Payson, a peculiar spiritual ardor and fervor in preaching. With Edwards it was a power to shake a whole congregation like a giant. In John Wesley it was a contagious en- thusiasm for sanctity of heart and life. To Finney it imparted a convicting and converting energy, like that of a sharp sword. To Gordon it became a dynamic force, like the contact of the trolley with the wire. While theologians are contending as to what the baptism of the Spirit is, and divided on the question whether it is proper to expect or even to ask for it in this dispensation, the incontrovertible fact is that men and women are both asking for and receiving a new and strange investment of power from on high which somehow revolutionizes their character, conduct, temper, and work. We may best, perhaps, stop our discussing and go to praying!
Meanwhile, even now as we begin to pray, the blessing has already begun to be outpoured. Fifteen years ago a work began in Uganda which in some respects has no parallel in modern times. It is conspicuously the work of the Holy Spirit, and began with a new enduement of power on the missionaries themselves. There was no new tr1tth, for the Gospel had been faithfully preached; bu t til ey felt that they must have a new and hitherto unknown baptism of power. They claimed it, received it, and, in a sense, gave it to others as channels of transmission. That blessing is even yet a widening stream, or, rather (plural), " rivers" as Ohrist said (John vii: 38). What began with the missionaries first passed on to the native preachers and teachers, and then to the native Ohurch, and even the unconverted thousands and tens of thousands. In the 'l'elugu country, in India, a great effusion of the Spirit came in answer to the prayer of five earnest souls, offered twenty-seven years ago, and has not ceased. Last year two thousand converts were gathered. At this very time in Persia there is a great work beginning among Moslems; in Japan a year of blessing, which began in Tokyo, and is marked as a Holy Ghost work, is expanding with a second year and pervading the island empire. In Australia, in connection with the work of Rev. R. A. Torrey of Ohicago, another revival of pentecostal depth and breadth is yet in progress, the grand feature of which has been simultaneous prayer-meetings in family homes, where in hundreds 6f such homes were lit new altar flames at the same hour. God is at work unmistakably, and in every case certain features are very conspicuous, as tho they were indispensable: 1. A marked return to simple evangelical preaching of the fundamental truths-sin, penalty, repentance, justification by faith.
INDIANS OJ!' CENTRAL AND NORTHERN
2. Great emphasis upon believing, importunate and 'united prayer. 3. Peculiar honor to the Holy Spirit as the indispensable bestower of all saving and sanctifying power. 4. Personal dealing with awakened and inquiring souls. 5. Reliance not upon great preachers, but npon God alone. We here record our deep conviction that, so far as these conditions obtain anywhere, this blessing will follow; and no amount of prayer, however wide the" circle," will be of much avail unless the conditions of blessing, on which God thus lays stress, exist. If there is a law of coordination, there is another of cooperation. We must be workers together with God, if not in vain we are to beseech men to be reconciled to God. He has marked out the definite channels within which the flood of blessing flows. We shall vainly seek to make other channels, or to divert the stream from its appointed bed. While, therefore, we pray we must pl;actise. The Gospel must be newly lifted into prominence. We must leave behind the substitutes, of whatever sort, by which the simple message of sin and salvation has been displaced or corrupted. Prayer must be put into its true position as the appointed means of securing blessing. The Spirit of God must be also honored as a Person, and as the presiding Power in this age of evangelism. Souls must be closely grappled with in hand-to-hand encounter, and from the best of instruments we must turn to Him who has never, even in committing His message to His messengers, surrendered His own sovereignty or leadership, and who is the one and only Indispensable Helper.
INDIANS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN BRAZIL * BY MR. GEORGE R. WITTE, BOA VISTA, RIO BRANCO, BRAZIL Much that has been written concerning the red man of our Southern sister republic is like Leatherstocking Tales-highly imaginative; and even that which currently passes for serious research is generally exaggerated and speculative, if not altogether fictitious. It has been • I must first of all correct an error into which I was led by Professor P. Ehrenreich's tracings of Indian migrations in Brazil, which movements were the result of the forceful breaking·up of the Jesuit-Indian state in the territory, which even to the present time retains the name of " Las ~Iissiones." It was claimed that the Indians, then forced to disperse, had carried the language, taught them by the Catholic priests (Lingua geml), to the variOus other tribes, among whom they settled, and that this idiom thus became more or less known to all of the tribes of Central and Northern Brazil, thereby constitnting a valuable means, by which the red man might be reached and evangelized. This hypothesis has proven to be incorrect. Neither the Indians of the Tocantius, nor those in the Rio Branco region, have any knowledge of the Lingua gel·al. Each has its own peculiar tongue, and these are not merely dialects of a common language, but entirely distinct and not understood the one by the other. Ehrenreich's conjectures are nevertheless, in the main, true, only the Guarani (or Tupi) confined their wanderings to the central and western provinces-now the states of Matta Grosso and Amazonas-and did not overrun either the eastern section-Goyaz and Maranham-nor yet that enormous tract lying north of the Amazon, known as Brazilian Guiana, stretching from the Atlantic coast to the southern confines of Venezuela. It was precisely in these two regions that my journeys were made, and hence the Guarani-Lexica proved of no value to me.
my privilege to spend some years among these children of nature, living in primeval forests or roaming over sunburned savannahs, called" pampas '.' in the south and" sertoes" in Brazil.
Of the larger and more homogeneous Andean races, snch as the Quechua (Kechua) and Aimara, descendants of the people, best known by the name of their chiefs-the Incas-I haye nothing to ::;ny, lIever having had an occasion to Yisit them. 'l'hose who hare from time to time been among them report that they continue to be a melancholy, silent people, as if they were wrapt ill a perpetual gloom of despair and unutterable sorrow or of stupid indifference. Indeed, their life seems but a living death, with brightness, joy, and expectatioll gone. It could hardly be otherwise, when we remember how tliis race, once strong, intelligent, and progressive, has, through centuries of oppression and slavery, been reduced to its present miserable state, a staggering representative of what selfish and ignorant priestcraft and a blind credulity can make of even a naturally gifted people.
The Indi()'ns of Central Brazil, whieh I visited in the Tocantins regions, embraced the Gavioes (Western Maranham), Cherentes (center of Goyaz), and Karaoh (Pianhy). They are very unlike to the description given by Bigg-Withers and others, of treacherous-looking savages, which in his case were probably all Botoendos. On the contrary, they are in the main a graceful-appearing people, with no repulsiveness about them, save that they walked in perfect nudity, and cared not in the least for any prying eye of either man or beast.
The Oherentes and Gavioes have in the past been in contact with and partly under the care of self-styled priests, most generally ignorant Italian hiaI'S, and their condition has been made worse thereby. Not that I would lay the blame entirely at the doors of these monks, but they have invariably surrollnded themselves with white (or, rather, Brazilian mixed) people, whose intercourse with the Indians has been in the highest degree derogatory to the latter.
'This has been clearly seen, even by some of the Indians themselves. so that the Karaoh, for instance, who formerly lived near the 'rocantins River under the care of a priest, near fifty years ago withdrew themselves to the wilderness, refusing thereafter to have any intercourse with the friars or any of their kin.
It required the special consent of their supreme cbief to enable us to make a visit to a number of their villages. These were found to be well arranged and properly governed, huts fairly well constructed and reasonably clean-very different from what I had previously found among the Oherentes.
INDIANS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN BRAZIL
Religiously they have probably never changed their old beliefs. If ever they had adopted any of the ceremonies taught by the friars, they have long since abandoned them again. There are no idols among them, which remark holds true of all other Indian tribes which I have visited in South America. Senor Barbozo Rodriguez, now the director of the botanical gardens in Rio de Janeiro, but formerly head of the museum in Para, asserts that some cnriously shaped stone figures which he dug up from the alluvial soil neal' Santarem, on the Amazon, are idols formerly in nse among the Indians, but there is no other corroborating proof of such a practise now found among the savages.
MESSRS. WITTE AND COOK EN ROPTE TO CENTRAL BRAZIL Religious rites they undonbtedly have, those in use among the Karaoh being confined to all almost mute adoration of the moon when it is nearly or quite full. There are 110 indecent practises or drunken orgies connected with these obserrances; in fact, tq me they appeared as quite an impressive, reverential, silent contemplation of what they regard as the source of every good and acceptable gift.
It took some persuasion 011 my part and lengthy considerations among themselves before they agreed to welcome a missionary among them if one was sent. That was three years ago, and they are stIll without the expected messenger of peace. The friends in England who were wishing to do some work among the Indians have so far not -been able to extend their work beyond the station on the Tocantins,
at Carolina, where my former companions, Dr. and Mrs. Graham, have since held the fort, reinforced hy one other Scotch volunteer, Mr. Angus McKenzie. Their work is entirely among the Brazilians, who, tho nominally Catholic, need evangelization scarcely any less than do the untutored children of the forest.
It is rather a sad thought that in the whole of this vast Brazilian dumain, along the magnificent southern tributaries of the Amazon, not a single Protestant mission exists, save at the city of Para, where no resident Indians are found. Discouraging too, it would seem, that the one society which during the last three years has aided our effort a little (the Presbyterian Board) should be forced to consider the question whether they can renew their subscription of $250 per annum, in view of the little interest that is taken by the Ohurch at home in the fate of our red brethren-the true and original Ameri- cans!
The Xingu, the Tapajoz, the Madeira all have large and powerful tribes of Indians living on their borders, the most notable being the Mundurucu, who have a custom of preserving the heads of their enemies, with skin and scalp, but strangely reduced in size by a process which I never could quite understand. The Parintintins, on the Madeira, are treated by the Brazilians like ferocious beasts of prey, and they in turn give no quarter to the white man. Beyond the Madeira, in the district of the Purus, the Jurua, and the Javary, the Indians are rapidly disappearing. '1'his. region is overrun with the worst strata of Brazil's complex population, drawn there to bleed the rubber-trees. What small remnants of the original inhabitants have survived the smallpox and the rifle are slowly but surely faIling a victim to caxaQa (gin) and other vices, introduced by the white fortune-hunter. A veil had best be drawn over the past and present of that district. Missionary work there could only be carried on at an enormous cost, and would offer about as little prospect of success as like work did among the blacks in the days of legalized slavery in Louisiana and adjoining states.
I concluded to try the country north of the Amazon, and directed my steps to the Indians of the Rio Branco district. 'fhe natural basis for work in that region is Manaos, the rapidly growing capital of the the state of Amazonas. Fifty years ago Manaos was but a conglomeration of a few traders' and fishermen's huts; to-day it is quite an imposing city, making a specially fairy-like appearance at night, when the city, illuminated by electricity, forms a wide-spreading semicircle of brilliantly shining lights.
Space forbids to dilate either on its beauty, commercial importance, or on the opportunities which it offers as a center for dispersing the Gospel among the visitors from all parts of the vast Amazon empire, to whom Manaos is the sum and substance of all that is worth seeing.
INDIANS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN BRAZIL 80D
In company with another missionary volunteer, Mr. John E. Nou- nen, of Swedish birth and Scotch extraction, I went up the Rio Negro to its confluence with the Rio Branco, and then ascended by that river to the Tacutu, almost to its source. Here we established a mission among the Macuchi. Two days' journey east of us live the Uape- chana, and to the west, along the frontier of Venezuela, the Iropocoto. All of these belong to the Carib race of Indians, who, as their lIame suggests, have come from the islands in the great inter-contin!Jntal gulf. Doubtless their ancestors were led by the cruelties of the Spanish adventurers to seek a new home within the inacessible wilds of the continent, and their descendants have remained there erer since.
They are in the main a peaceful, inoffensive people. Wherever they are not so, the blame must be charged to the provocations offered . and the deceptions practised by those who come to them under the garb of Christianity. That is, without contradiction, one of the most regrettable features of this whole sorrowful business, that the Indians know the white man, or, more correctly speaking, the mixed race, which forms the "gros" of Brazil's population, as Christaos (Chris- tians). Never was the term more outrageously misplaced, as ill the case of these, who make a prey out of the Indian's trustfulness and want of experience.
They are a peaceful people, and we never experienced any difficulty with any of them. In a certain village; the young men of which had broken into our plantation and taken a lot of fruit, when I went there with only an Indian guide to reprove them, I slept as soundly and quietly in my hammock as tho I had been among friends at home. '1'hey are generally honest people (tho they will steal the fruit of the soil), a striking proof of which I experienced twice. Once my wagon, loaded with all sorts of valuable stuff, had to be left for five weeks on the open prairie, miles from our station. Another time, after the death of my companions, when I had been carried away, the house was left for weeks quite unprotected. On neither occasion was even as much as a pin missing, nor were there any indications that the house had even been entered or the wagon examined, tho many wandering Indians must have passed there.
There are no religious rites surviving among the Macnchi. If ever they had wise men, medicine-men, or whatever you may choose to call them, their teachings have been lost and forgotten. This, however, is not altogether an advantage; indeed, I am inclined to think that it is a misfortune. The man who has some conception of God, be it ever so crude or distorted, is easier to deal with than he who has no thought of a superior being, to whom he is in some way responsible for either good or evil done.
The Indian has, however, the fear of a certain evil spirit, called
SOME NATIVE HOUSES AT MANAOS, BRAZIL Each section Is a. separate dwelling. The women in. front include one Indian, two negrcsses, and onc of mixed race " Callime,"- whieh literally means the enemy-whose meeting means to them death. But I do not know that any rites are ever performed to appease his anger or to win his favor.
They have some curious customs among them; the most absurd of all is a period of abstention, after the birth of a child, by the flit Iter from both food (partial) and from work (altogether) for a fnll moon. 'l'his is carried to a still more ludicrous extent among sorne tribes to the south of the Amazon.
The Indians do but little work. The men are fishermen and hunters, while the women plant mandioca, ont of which farinha-their substitute fa]' bread-is made. Nature supplies the rest. Fruit grows here and there with little or no labor. The wild cotton and the fibers of some species of palm-trees furnish the material for the making of their hammocks, while the leaves and branches of the palm, either plaited or simply laid one above the other, give all the needed shelter.
Of dress they have just a little more than the Tocantins tribes. '1'he men generally weal' a loin-cloth, and the women have a "tanga" about the size of a baby's apron, made of cotton thread, hand-twisted and decorated with glass beads, sometimes with small shells, often in quite fanciful designs. Children never trouble their mothers with laundry, and altogether they are a happy, contented people, to whom laughter is not at all a stranger, as is said to be the case with our North American Indians. When, during the dry seaSOIl, the "iI'eams dry up and fish give out, they wander like the Arabs, only there are
INDIANS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN BRAZIL
110 tents to fold nor any camels to be packed. The womell, who have to carry the household utensils, altogether have by far the hardest lot. As a consequence of their hard life the old women arc, as a rule, fright- fully ugly. The Indian flppears much attached to his children; and very kind. Wh en the missionary, as WilS the case with us, wants to start a school, it is not always easy to procnre children, as the parents are loth t o give them up. Yet, in my opinion, the most hopefnl feature of missionary work among the Indians is for the young. The fnll- grown Indian, used to his easy and migratory way of living, will hardly be content to settle down and work. Mackay, of Uganda, has said: " An idle man will never be a Ohristian man,-" Even so it is with the Indians.
We had made very elicouraging progress among them, had ,gotten them to assist us in building a house and startillg a plantation, when unfortunately an epidemi c of fever broke out last yeal', which, along with many Indians, took also my fflithful companions, John Nounen-and another brother, who, as a teacher, only joined our work last summer. Both were buried by the Indians, who later on carried me, half dead, to a friend's house down the river, whence, in March of this year, I started for Europe to recover strength and find new · fellow laborers.
A Canadian friend, 111'. Robert Phair, of Toronto, who, with his wiie, was corning to our aid, landed in Georgetowll (Demerara) on the A MERCHANT'S RE8 1DENCE AT PARA, BRAZIL
'l'IiE1 MISStONA1W REVIEW 01<' THE WOnLD
same day when the others died. Robert bravely tried, when he found no news from us, to make his way with Indiau guides to our station, only to find us gone, and he perished in the cataracts of the Essequibo on his way back.
At present I am therefore alone, as far as human companionship goes. May it not be that some one at home may be led to say: "Lord, here am I; send me." * PRESSING PROBLEMS IN THE CHINESE EMPIRE BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, D.D., TIENTSIN, CHINA Author of .. Chinese Chara('teristics~" "China in Convulsion," etc.
Since the conclusion of the negotiations between "the powers" and China, there has been a general lull of public interest in regard to the Far East, partly, perhaps, from the general notion that" the Chinese Question" is at last settled, and partly from the greater in- sistency of matters in other parts of the world-for Americans the war in the Philippines, and for Britons the unhappy struggle in South Africa. I…ocal politics in both sections of the English-speaking world, and in England the absorbing interest in the coronation ceremonies and spectacle and their sequelm, and in the reconstruction of Africa following peace, tend to render the Gourse of affairs in China a relatively unimportant object of attention. In contradistinction to the views of those just referred to, who appear to think that matters in China may be considered settled merely by the conclusion of a treaty of adjustment and final agreement upon a total indemnity, are the opinions of those who consistently refuse to disturb their intellectual machinery with" things Chinese," for the reason that in that country nothing whatever is "settled," and because to follow adequately the involutions of current affairs under such condition.s requires an effort which, as little ~Iargery Fleming remarked of the multiplication table, is "more than human nature can bear!"
It may be well to indicate a few of th/{ more exigent problems in China at the present time, all but one of which bid fail' to continue for an indefinite period. First in order of importance should be mentioned the question whether the central government is likely to be able to withstand the shocks to which it is at present subjected. To the observer at a distance the return of the empress dowager with flying colors less than a year and a half after her ignominious flight, her * The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, receive sub- scriptions to this work, tho the society, as such, does not support it. Rev. D. M. Stearns, 167 W. Chelten Avenue, Germantown, Pa., and Mr. W. Roger Jones, of the Missionary Pence Association, Exeter Hall, London, likewise transmit to us such funds as may be entrusted to them· Address Mr. Witte, care of Rev. John Rymer, 193 Camp Street, Georgetown, British Guiana
PRESSING PROBLEMS I" THE CHINESE EMPIRE
success in capturing the good will, or at least the respectful consideration, of the representatives of all "the powers," the unimpaired and autocratic exercise of her authority precisely as iu the past, no doubt conveys the idea that her position is impregnable. From one point of view this is the literal trnth. As long as she lives and while the Manchu craft floats she will be its undisputed captain. All the highest officials in the empire, Chinese as well as those of her own race, owe their position to her alone. This fact they have never forgotten, nor has she. The foreign ministers were widely criticized for not inserting among the conditions of peace a stipulation that the empress dowager should no longer hold the reins of rule. Without entering into details, it is sufficient to remark that "the powers" could never have come to an agreement on this demand, and that if they had done so the result would almost certainly have been the dreaded disruption of the empire, for which no one was prepared, and for the prevention of which, at that juncture, almost all would have been willing to submit to much sacrifice.
Some Sources of Danger-Within It is impossible, within the brief limits of a paragraph, to indicate all the sources of danger to the present dynasty. While there has for some decades been very little external manifestation of national discontent, it is well known that the southern provinces especially have never been heartily loyal. They were the last to accept the Manchu rule in the middle of the seventeenth century, and they are always the first to try to throw it off. For a long time there has been a formidable rebellion on foot in the province of Kuangsi-next west of the province in which Canton is situated-and attention has been often called to the marked resemblance between its origin and progress and that of the great T'ai P'ing rebellion, begun in the same region a little more than half a century ago. That movement might have been suppressed at once by the use of proper means, and so might this. But the former was allowed to go on its slow lava-flow of ruin, till it devastated more than half the provinces of China, and cost the loss of an untold number of tens of millions of lives.
It was only at last put dDwn by foreign help, and there have never been wanting those who think that it might have been better both for China and for the world had the movement been allowed to take its course, putting an end to the rule of the incompetent Manchus, who are no longer equal to the task of governing China, and who will suffer no one else to help them. It is not alone in Kuangsi that organized rebellion exists. There is open disaffection in we know not how many other centers, both within and outside of the eighteen provinces of China proper. The nature and the significance of these uprisings we are not concerned to consider-the import,ant thing is that they
exist and are likely to increase. The heavy pressure of the demand for the foreign indemnities is a wide-sprpad and fruitful source of discontent in China, as, indeed, it would be in any country on the planet.
In the recent outbreak in southern Chih-li it is supposed that several thousand of the" embattled farmers," banded together for the purpose of resisting the exactions of the local magistrates, under guise of collectillg indemnity taxes, were slain outright, but it is also certain that a great number of villages were simply wiped out by the brutal soldiery-men, women, and innocent children being included in the remorseless ruin. 'rhe terrible story of the resistance to oppression and its punishment has been spread far and wide, and while it does not as yet unite the Chinese into a resisting body, it does much to embitter that national feeling which in this empire takes the place of patriotism, and to make the prospect for the next eight and thirty years, during which the indemnity payments to Western lands must drag out their slow lengths, a particularly gloomy one.
Pressure of Foreign Powers In immediate connection with this subject is to be named the direct and the indirect political pressure of the various foreign powers. The frontier of the Russian and the Chinese empires are conterminous for much more than a thousand miles, and there is not a rod of all this vast stretch in which trouble may not arise. It is superfluous to do more than mention Manchuria, Russian hold upon which will never be relaxed until that great empire shall have undergone changes like that of the pious cat mentioned in the Chinese fable, who vowed hereafter to live only upon cheese and to eschew mice and rats. On the south of China she has a perpetual irritant in the strange republican-empire which has long been wandering over the earth seeking whom she might devour. Comparison between the methods of France and of Great Britain are out of place here, but it is not unimportant to point out that France abroad always maintained an aggressive attitude. She has by progressive approaches annexed Annam; she threatens the life of the Kingdom of Siam; next to Russia she is the most dangerous enemy of China, and the two taken together are a greater meuace than the rest of the civilized world. The rising in Kuangsi she will know how to turn to her own account at "the psychologic moment." 'l'hen there is Germany, anon slow, and again swift like the eagle, as in the unique instance of Kiao Chou, which China can neither forgive nor forget. She wants the Yang-tze Valley, and means to have a part of it, just as France and Russia apparently intend to establish a~d to maintain peculiar and unprecedented relations with southern, southwestern, and western China, within and without the great wall. There is also Japan. She already has Formosa, but she is not content; nor, in the face of her recent
902] PRESSING PROBLEMS IN THE CHINESE EMPIRli B15
development, her unique and inapproachable knowledge of Ohina, is this singular. She appears to have her eye upon the province of Fukien, which it is thought she has definitely ear-marked. The behavior of some of her subjects ill Amoy and elsewhere is inexplicable, unless Japan has a deep-laid and far-reaching plan. It is needless to speak of the eccentric thirst of Italy for the obscure port which she aimed at ill 1898, and failed to get, btl t for which she is supposed still to be lying in ambush; nor yet of Great Britain, which has of late had much more than she could attend to elsewhere without worrying China. The problems connected with foreign control of the railways already built, not to speak of those promised (or threatened) in the immediate future, as well as of mining rights, navigation of inland waters, the abolition of likin taxation, and other grave issues, would alone be fully sufficient to equip China with all the burdens she can carry, but they must be passed by with but the merest mention.
Succession to the Throne The question of the succession to the throne is in China, as in other lands, a matter of prime consequence, but it is a wholly unsettled problem. The topic is to the Westerner somewhat intricate, but it may be mentioned that the present Emperor Kuang Hsli is not the son, nor any sort of a nephew, of his predecessors, as by cnstom he ought to be, but a "first cousin once removed." No son has been adopted for the former emperor, as should have been the case. The late heir apparent, who was a frivolous youth wholly unfit for the lofty post, hAs beell by imperial decree removed, ostensibly because his father, Prince Tuan, was guilty of patronizing the Boxer movement, but perhaps quite as much for his own ill deserts. If the,present emperor were to die, there could only happen what has already twice occurred: the succession of a mere child, with the empress dowager as the "only man in Ohina." On the other hand, were the empress dowager to die, no human being is able to predict what would happen; these contingencies are not remote, but always potentially present.
Two other important themes can be touched upon, but each is of the first importance. One is the adjustment of China to the inevitable new education, and conversely the adjustment of the new education to Ohina. The situation is grave and full of peril. The Chinese want the results of Western learning, but they do not want the learn~ ing itself, much less do they desire its roots, the mere existence of which is but dimly perceived-perhaps only felt. Of this we shall hear much more in the immediate future.
One other danger that lies across the path of China, the gravity of which is daily increasing, is the attitude of the Roman Ohurch as the
political agent of French ambition. "France abroad is the Roman Catholic Church," said one of her statesmen in a burst of fraukness.
If the Western world but knew the history of the conduct of this great corporation in China during the past few years, there would be such an outburst of righteous indignation as unified the world in the trial of Captain Dreyfus, only the matter, instead of being a personal one, is national, and in its effects world-wide. During the last two years the most intelligent Chinese officials in China have come to a clear recognition of the danger to the empire from this source. Within the knowledge of the writer specific expressions of this recognition have recently been made by three Chinese, two of high rank and of great influence, each of whom foresees the gravest consequences if no check is interposed.
The formal and official recognition of the bishops of the Roman Church as Chinese officials of the first rank, their personal audience with the empress dowager in that capacity, and the fact of the reference, in an edict in the Peking Gazette, of religious difficulties to them for their adjustment, carry with them ultimate possibilities involving the total destruction of the autonomy of China as a power.
The indisputable faet that many of the uprisings against the levy of taxation for the indemnity tax have been directly, due to hostility to the Roman Catholic Christians for their extortion and revenge is a window through which the past becomes more clear-and also the future. Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, one of the most intelligent and fair-minded travelers who ever came to China, and who enjoyed opportunities for first· hand knowledge altogether unequaled, has recently published the statement over her own signature that in the province of Sz-chuan she found instances in which the greatest irritation was caused by the extortion of this Church in demanding compElUsation for slight damage to property to the extent of "800 per cent. on the estimated actual loss." Such cases are by no means uncommon, altho it must be admitted that if it be true that selfpreservation is the first law of nature they are almost inexplicable. If anything is certain in this land of incertitude it is that in operations relating to the Chinese we shall all ultimately reap that which has been sown.
It is increasingly desirable that these facts and their international importance should be appreciated in the United States and in Washington, especially by those who direct the foreign policy of the American government. In the present helpless condition of China, drifting on a distinctly visible lee shore, but without power to alter the course of the ship of state by the smallest fraction of a degree without the consent of "the powers," it is essential that wise men should know what it is which threatens the Chinese Empire.• the integrity of which appears at present to be essential to the peace of mankind. Out of
THE PERSECUTION IN MANCHURIA
these deadly difficulties some way may be-must be~found, and to that end the first step is the distinct recognition of their nature, and the next a deep conviction of the need of a united appeal to the God of Nations to open a way for the future peace which is so desirable, so necessary, and so uncertain.
THE PERSECUTION IN MANCHURIA BY JOHN ROSS, D.D., MUKDEN, lIANCHURIA Every great innovation, whether it be a spinning-jenny or a steamengine, produces a considerable amount of commotion in the society in which it is inaugurated. When the alkali of great new principles is introduced into the liquid acid of ancient and inaccurate ideas there is of necessity a temporary effervescence. When the truth-loving and truth-proclaiming doctrines of Christianity are intelligently and effectually proclaimed among a set of corrupt or superstitious notions a measure of excitement, of argument, and of opposition is to be looked for. Yet, in con tradiction to the opinions of ignorant men, the troubles which overtook the Church last year in the North of China had nothing whatever to do with doctrines. The people of the South are far more fiery and short-tempered than those of the North. They have been familiar with the preacher and his message at least twice as long as the men of the North. Yet in the South there was no social earthquake devastating the face of the land. As far as doctrines, theory, and mere opinions are concerned, I question if there is in the world a more tolerant people than the Chinese.
But in their customs they are one of the most conservative of nations. Whatever calls in question the superexcellence of their ancient customs instantly rouses the old question, " Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?" In China, as in Judea, and in some other places, tradition is of more importance than the commandments of God. Yet the opposition to what appeared to call in question their revered beliefs, tho it might stir np angry words, would never lead to the shedding of blood. It was the political activity of the West, become acute by the taking of Kiao-eheo in Shantung and the continuous subsequent aggresRive and encroaching eventswhich need not here be specified-which originated the Boxer movement and caused the events which have stirred the world.
The special hatred of that movement was directed against the railway, by which the Chinese saw the integrity of their country threatened. Anti-foreign outbreaks began on the railway, and wherever it was possible every yard of rail was torn up and every particle of railway material destroyed.
After the edict from Peking was everywhere secretly circulated,
ordering the extermination of foreigners and natives-converts to foreigners, or in any other way connected with foreigners-the active hostility of the Boxers was ruthlessly thorough against all persons and everything in any way related to the foreigner. Not as missionaries but as foreigners were Europeans and Americans massacred in the interior of China. Not as converts to Christianity but as adherents of the foreigner were the native Christians hunted to death. There was no death for those who proposed to disssociate themselves from the foreigner.
Foreign nouses and foreign property of all descriptions were utterly destroyed. Shops selling kerosene or paraffin were fined to the utmost of their resources and their foreign oil confiscated. This foreign oil the people were forbidden to burn. Foreign cottons, most of them American, were confiscated, and the shops in which they were found heavily fined. All cloths, velvets, and woolens' were similarly dealt with. Matches, needles, pins, or any article showing foreign origin, were destroyed. Pretty brass buttons with Chinese designs, made by the millions in Birmingham, were largely used by the Chinese; every garment seen in public with these buttons on it was torn off and cast into the fire. I__ead pencils found on travelers were taken from them and destroyed. Boats laden with foreign materials were boarded, and their cargoes thrown into the river or confiscated. In our gardens every tree bearing foreign fruit, every foreign vine, was torn up and cast into the fire. Of the large numbers of foreign flowers we have introduced, and of which the Chinese were particularly fond, not one was permitted to survive if discovered. The Boxers had apparently resolved not to leave a trace remaining of the presence and influence of the foreigner.
The term for "foreign" is yang, the "ocean." Yang is also a sheep. In China there is a cycle of twelve years, each under the name of an animal; one of these is yang. Any Chinaman born in that year was prohibited from joining the Boxers; thus a twelfth part of China was excluded. Among the Chinese surnames Yang is not uncommon; any man of that surname would not be received among the Boxer ranks. Thus will potently appear the character of the Boxer movement. It was a frenzy of madness against the foreignerhis person, his country, his religion, and all his belongings.
Having briefly explained the origin and cause of Boxerism, I shall state briefly how it affected our Church in Manchuria. The Boxers were, as a body, utterly contemptible and unworthy of serious attention. But snch is the mental corruption in China that the people were given over to believe a lie. High and low, official and private, military and civilian, believed that the Boxers were inspired from heaven to use the "flying sword" and the sacred fire to destroy the foreigner and all his works. Tho the Boxers were few, they ware
THE PERSECUTION IN MANCHURIA
everywhere shielded by the soldiery and supported by the officials. Of the latter a few opposed them, but the majority let their opposi- tion go no further than abstention from all interference. Yet in Manchuria I am aware of no official who desired the death of a foreigner. The officials were gratified when the Presbyterian mission- aries departed. Yet the soldiers and their officers actively supported the Boxers. But the real source of the power for mischief by the Boxers was the government of Peking. No official in Manchuria per- mitted the Boxers to assume any power till the secret edict of extermi- nation was issued directly or indirectly from the government to every official in the country. The viceroy in Mukden retained this edict in private for a considerable time after receipt of it, and published it only when his own subordinates threatened his life if he abstained longer from doing his duty.
The Boxers obtained all control in the city as soon as the edict was published, but it was several days before they dared to begin their destructive work. Fire and robbery went hand in hand all over the country, and no official had any power even if he had the will to stay the evil. Several, however, exerted themselves effectually in saving life. But notwithstanding the efforts of the wiser officials, over three hundred of our Christians have had to lay down their lives for their faith; for tho they were persecuted as foreigners they suffered as Ohristians. The wonder is that the number is not twenty times as great. No place was safe. The crowded city and the solitary mountains were alike thoroughly searched as if with bloodhounds. The tiniest hamlet was hunted and the loneliest mountain gully.
But the friendly millet was about six feet high all over the country, and under its shelter thousands escaped who but for it would have been put to death. The undergrowth of the forests in the mountains was at its densest and hid in safety large numbers. One man fled from the neighborhood of Mukden to the northeast of the long white mountains, where the only people to be found are a few rare hunters of the ginseng medicine plant. There, to his surprise, he came in contact with about two hundred Ohristians, who from various places had found their way to that remote and usually inaccessible region. One of our students lived for about two months in the rocky clefts of a mountainous region visited by no man, where the bear and the tiger ruled. By night he went down to a narrow valley and plucked some potatoes from their roots or maize cobs from their stems. Of the many hundreds who escaped thus individually, each had his own special experiences and his own miraculous escapes.
Never before was God so sensibly present to them, never was I1is word so real and so living-a personal comforter and guide. The providences of God seemed to them special every day. Men and women who in summer were usually troubled with sickness knew not
a day's trouble during their two months' exposure to want and weather. The plowers plowed deep into their souls, and the seed of the Word has taken root and borne fruit as never before in Man- churia.
In some places very few Ohristians were put to death; in others as many as could be apprehended. III the fine congregation of Yilu, north of the city, the womell and children were not molested. In other places the suffering of the wome'n and children transcended those of the men.
One remarkable experience expressed by many who were threatened with death but escaped was the fact that they did not realize any fear. One old man, well-to-do, was apprehended, bound with ropes, and escorted into the city to his doom. His wife was beheaded before his eyes. Threats and mockery were ceaseless in his ears. His heart he felt beating twice its ordinary speed, but fear he did not know. He was dragged behind a cart for a dozen miles, and at length pushed on his knees to receive his death. '1'he edge of the sword touched his neck, when with much difficulty he was respited by friends at a great price. But still he knew no fear, tho his heart continued beating at its fastest. Some men, escaping, passed through the murderous Boxers with their cruelly drawn swords; but so entirely were they without fear that they were allowed to pass on without challenge. 'rhis fearlessness they all ascribe to the special and merciful interposition of God, who assisted them through the awful ordeal and that dreadful time.
Experiences in ~ukden In Mukden the deaths were surprisingly few. The viceroy fur a time exerted himself in his non-committal fashion to stop 01' to retard the evil work. After the Presbyterian missionaries had all retired, ehe viceroy sent repeated and urgent messages to the Roman Oatholic bishop to depart, as the nnruly forces were entirely beyond his control and he could not protect the bishop. The bishop left, and was some distance from the city when he was earnestly entreated to return to his converts, who felt utterly dependent upon him. He returned to share their fate.
When, after the departure of our missionaries, affairs came to their darkest, our Ohristians met together for prayer and consultation in the church. The Roman Oatholics had already resolved to resist by firearms, a stock of which was in the cathedral. The younger spirits of our congregation were eager to follow the same course. The pastor, elders, and senior members opposed this course, as the time was one not for resistance but for flight. They were a few sheep among innumerable wolves; they must "act as serpents," and when persecuted here flee there. For the Boxers in their deadly opposition to the foreigners had the sympathy of nine-tenths of the entire popula-
THE PERSECUTION IN JfANCHURIA
tion, and the active support of all who had little to lose. rl'he officials did not greatly differ from the people, but their greater respollilibility made them more cautious. The soldiers had already openly espoused the cause of the Boxers. Resistance, even if right, would have been madness. Some men, even after long residence in China, are under the delusion that only the official and literary classes are opposed to foreigners. The officials may be able to restrain the open hostility of the people, but it is always there ill the hearts of the great majority. By far the greater proportion of losses of life and property last year was solely due to the enmity of the common people, while, on the other hand, many fugitives escape<l death on account of the humanity of a small fraction of the people.
Our people, therefore, decided that their policy was flight, and their one defense prayer. They agreed daily to pray for three things: the safety of the Church, the salvation of the natioJl, and peace for alL The instructions of the Savior when sending out first the twelve disciples were applied and laid to heart as never before. The words were alive and" had hands and feet."
The very next afternoon the church was burnt down amid the exultation of all classes, who crowded from every corner of the city to see the "end of the foreigners." This was the signal for flight. Thousands hid in the millet, but hundreds of our most prominent people felt safe only when sheltered by the forests in the mountains, a couple of hundred miles away. No relative would dare give house room to a Christian, as it meant death to themselves. rl'he reign of superstition was so unquestioned, and the belief in the destruction of the foreigner, root and branch, so thorough, that relatives would not even permit a Christian to leave a bundle of their choice possessions in the house; for had not the spirit-moved Boxers declared that wherever anything was secreted belonging to a foreigner spontaneous combustion would destroy the property where it was hidden? The frenzy of madness seized the persecutors. Young lads of seventeen went about the streets carrying with joy, in one hand a bleeding sword, in the other a gory head. In dens in the earth and caves in the mountains, perched on almost iuaccessible rocks, or hidden in dense undergrowth of the forests, thousands found refuge from an enemy as remorseless as death, as cruel· as the tiger, and as eager as hounds after their prey. No puniest house in the smallest hamlet was left unvisited. How so few were murdered is to me the mystery, for the Boxers aimed at annihilation.
The Christians saw the hand of God in the terrible trial which came upon the Church and in the calamity which, through it, has fallen on the nation. They saw also the hand of mercy in the manner in which it came and in the season of the year. A month earlier the millet was low and could give no shelter. In the· season of long nights,
even could they escape their hunters, they would have perished of cold. The harvest was the best for a dozen years and grain could be had for the asking; it has not been so cheap for many a year. No one starved who could work or even beg. At any other season not more than one in a hundred could have escaped.
The sufferings of those who hid, from exposure and want, were necessarily great. Yet all expressed their amazement that most of them suffered less from sickness than in normal summers. Still, some have since died as the result of that exposure. The incessant excitement must have been trying; for they knew they were every- where searched for, a price was on their heads, they might be discov- ered at any moment and put to death. The only time they knew peace was when under torrential rains, for they knew that the Boxers were then uuder shelter. These people, who usually dread the slightest wetting, rejoiced when the thunder rolled and the clouds poured down sheets of water.
The Boxers were not all equally brutal. In at least one case a young man who was bound and sentenced to death had his cords cut by his Boxer watcher and told to run into the millet. After the first few days of madness the Boxers parlied, and many saved themselves by paying for their life all the property or money they could command.
The severity of the persecution depended chiefly on the character and knowledge of the mandarin of the district. In some districts no man, or very feW, were put to death; in others every man, woman, and child belonging to the Ohurch were executed when apprehended. Even where the mandarins exerted their utmost moral influence (the only influence they possessed), they could not save the Ohristians from wholesale robbery, tho able to save their Iiyes. Where the death-rate was heavy the mandarin was heartily in sympathy with the murderers, always lending them the aid at least of the soldiers in the yamen, who should have kept the peace.
'fhe Boxers alone would never have been able to effect any mischief. In almost every village there are representatives of a secret society called 'fsaili, firmly knit together, and utterly unscrupulous where the property of others is concerned. These were ten times more numerous than the Boxers. The latter, in their superstition, slaughtered and burnt. The Tsaili plundered; they extorted from the Ohristians many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Persecution, therefore,. assumed almost every possible shape, except in the manner of death. The" spirit-inspired" sword was the instrument of death in most instances. Most of the Ohristians were beheaded; some were hacked to pieces; a few were more cruelly treated, piece after piece of their face and head being deliberately cut off by the sword in order to compel them to renounce their faith; a few were hurnt by means of paraffin oil. One excellent man, a
THE PERSECUTION IN MANCHURIA
successful native doctor, was seized after he had hidden for a month.
A band of cotton-wool was bound as a circlet around his head. It was saturated with paraffin oil and set on fire. He was put to death by burning his brains. For three days his body was kept standing, his skull saturated with oil and burnt all night long. They called him" the heavenly lamp."
The most ruthlessly cruel and barbarous form of persecution was in a town a hundred miles east of this city-Sin pin pu, where we had an intelligent and active congregation of three hundred nien, mostly business men and farmers. Most were able to flee; but all who did not were hunted up everywhere, and when found were beheaded by the Boxers, who had their headquarters under the allspices of the mandarin. .
One young man, the head of a fairly prosperous business, informed his mother, a fortnight before the bursting of the storm. of the serious time before the Ohristians; that he had decided, whatever came, to remain true to the Savior and his faith; that death was only a matter of a little earlier or a little later; and more in the same strain, apparently to prepare her for his fate. He was seized, ordered to recant, refused, and sentenced to execution. He fell on his knees and engaged in prayer. While thus kneeling his head was severed at a blow from his body and rolled a little distance away. His mother was permitted to take the body. She found it still quietly on its knees and the head at a little distance. No wonder if the woman lost her reason for a time. She had to hide in the hills herself for two months.
One man, Wang, a Peking member, went to his execution singing hymns. Another, Swim, preached to his executioners on the way to his death. He was an old man, a scholar, and influential at one time in the town. He was urged to recant. "He would not disgrace his faith or his Ohurch by lengthening his days by recantation."
One of the noblest-looking woman I have seen in Manchuria, an intelligent and whole-hearted Ohristian, who belonged to a well-to-do family, was condemned to death. She asked an interval for prayer, according to her religion. This was granted. She fell on her knees for a time, then stood up to sing a hymn. She sang, as never before, a hymn on "nearing the gate of heaven," and while singing was beheaded.
A girl of fourteen was hiding in a millet field. Her father had been cut slowly to death, as he had been a preacher. She was his only child and motherless. She had a New Testament hidden under her robe which relatives, who dared not shelter her, urged her to hide away.
She refused and carried it about with her. She was found in the field.
She was unknown to the murderers, but her New Testament told its own tale, and on its account she had to die. She stood alone before
the naked swords of the butchers, surrounded by a heartless crowd of onlookers, curious to see how the fools of Christians, who would not bow to images to save their life, could die. Not a word of pity or of sympathy reached her ears. {)ne of the cruel executioners asked her, "How is it you are not afraid?" "Afraid or not afraid, it is all one," was her reply, and she was beheaded.
Of the many of whom I have individually heard who were put to death, not one appealed for pity, not one seemed to fear. There was no shrinking from. the brutal ordeal. As one man put it, "There was no coward among them all." Some went joyfully tD meet their death, all went calmly. Some went with singing, all with prayer.
The heartless barbarity of the whole business has been cruel, cruel, and the hatred has been fierce as a seven times heated furnace. But He who gave rein to the cruelty has His own designs to carry out. Never was gain save by sacrifice. There is no salvation but by blood. When God has great ends to accomplish great sacrifices are called for. The Church in Manchuria has been called upon to place a terribly expensive sacrifice upon the altar. It has been offered, consumed, and accepted. It is for the Church of God in all lands to learn the lesson, to labor for the proper results, and to obtain the inheritance, THE YALE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY BY REV. HARLAN P. BEACH, DIRECTOR This society has no history as yet, and as its first missionaries sailed less than a month ago,* it has no story of successful initiation of an enterprise prophetic of better things to follow. A few statements of purpose and causes are all that can be given at this stage of its development.
The society is the expression of profound convictions, existing first in the minds of a few earnest Student Volunteers of the university, and later espoused by a number of influential members of its faculty and corporation. If any men are especially obligated to serve their fellows, it is the brotherhood of scholars who have received so much from the college and its professional schools. Yale's record as an influential factor in American development is an enviable one, and she has also done much through her merchants, diplomats, scholars, and missionaries to bless less-favored nations. The conviction that the non-Christian world should be more prominent in the university thought and life was the primal one in the agitation for the society.
• Rev. John ThurRton Is the first of the Yale Mission to sail. He left with his wife on the sixth of October for Peking.-EDIToRs.
THE YALE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY
But how can this sense of obligation be best met? Partly by increasing knowledge concerning the need of those lands and the enlarged interest, prayer, and financial support of varying agencies which must follow such study. More well-qualified missionary candi- dates for every Board should be raised up, if Yale would occupy the strong position which shonld be hers, and if she discharges the responsibilities which belong to every institution of higher learning.
The attempt to do her duty in all these directions in the past has par- tially failed, and the society is an effort to utilize the" Yale spirit," which has been so prominent a factor in the university life, and to lay upon individuals a personal responsibility which they have not hitherto felt. Manifestly if a select body of graduates, who have the confidence of their constituency, representing different branches of the Christian Church, and chosen because of their ability in different directions, are sent out by the society to It land which has a strong interest for all contributors, there is every reason to believe HARLAN P. BEACH that sympathy !Lnd financial support will be assured, and that the cooperation thus initiated will become a habit which later will benefit the Boards of the churches to which graduates belong. The missionary enterprise will be dignified by the self- sacrificing and fruitful live8 whose work is constantly being kept before the students, and a far larger number of candidates for foreign service may therefore be confidently expected.
The experiment in the direction of an independent, interdenomi- national university mission has never yet been successfully made; tho a number of colleges and universities in America have their salaried representatives in the field under church Boards, while in Great Britain the experiment has been carried to the extent of distinct missions, like those of Oxford and Cambridge in India, and the Universities' Mission of East Africa. Yale's society is interdenominational and independ- ent for local reasons which made It mission on any other basis impos- sible. Moreover, because of its interdenominational character it promises to aid in the direction of Christian unity in foreign fields, a trend now more than ever desirable because of union movements in the Philippines and in Japan.
The first field to be en tered by the Yale society is China, largely because of America's special responsibility for that empire, and also for the reason that in this time of her renaissance the university graduate may be even more influential there than men without college training, or with a less broad intellectual outlook than comes from a typical American institution. While the exact district is to be decided after the missionaries have had a year of language study and observa-
tion in Peking, North China will be the section of the empire in which a station will be chosen.
As to policy, it is too early to do more than state it in general terms. As the Gospel of Jesus Christ has proven itself during all the Christian centuries to be the power of God most used in the regenera- tion of nations as well as of individuals, evangelization will always be fundamental in the society's activities. The usual auxiliary agencies which make the Christian life effective and powerful, such as medi- cine, schools, literature, etc., will receive due attention also. When the opportunity comes, it will be a most appropriate thing for the society to establish a strong college, and its missionaries will embrace every opportunity to aid China's literary men and other leaders of thought. As soon as possible one man at least will be chosen to give special attention to that form of effort, tho even here the earnest Christian will lose himself in a semiheathenized attempt to be all things to all men. While believing heartily in the evangelical denomi- nations, no candidate will be commissioned who does not care more for the exemplification of a Christlike character than for a formal exposition of doctrinal beliefs, and for the Kingdom of God as simply set forth in the New Testament than for any particular sect or denomination. The power of a holy and helpful life, placing itself warmly in touch with the manifold needs of a well-nigh lifeless empire, despite its phenomenal age and history, is what the society places before itself as a divine ideal.
Tho it has been organized only since June (it had been under careful consideration more than a year before that date), the necessary funds for the plant, etc., and the salaries of those already appointed, have been raised from interested classmates and others without difficulty. It is probable that with even its ultimate staff of twenty families or more there will be no obvious financial obstacle to cripple its work. While, therefore, it makes no appeal for means, it does crave the prayerful interest of men and women who realize the difficulties attending experiments, especially in a land which is in a state of flux, whose populations are yet sore over the awful events of the Boxer uprising and its distressing aftermath. Great wisdom is needed, both by its Executive Committee and by those who have undertaken to be its pioneer missionaries. Perils at home are also possible. Already some friends of missions have considered the society to be an arraignment of existing agencies, instead of an honest attempt to supplement, in such a way as not to encroach upon their constituency, the splendid work which other Boards are doing. It is possible, also, that some small institutions, not financially as strong as Yale, and without its unique solidarity, will be stimulated to emulate its example to the detriment of other missionary organizations and with final collapse. Even Yale, with the present promise of assured success, may become lukewarm in this great interest, and will turn away from responsibilities which bear with them such great possibilities of blessing to the university itself, as well as to the greatest enterprise of the Church, the extension of the truths and the fruitage of the Gospel to every nation.
THE RELIGION OF THE stoux INDIANS
SIOUX AND CROW INDIANS IN WAR FEATHERS AND PAINT THE RELIGION OF THE SIOUX INDIANS BY lIIISS MARY C. COLLINS, PINE RIDGE, SOUTH DAKOTA Missionary of the American Missionary Association The Sioux Indians have always, so far as we can discover, been ruled by their medicine-men. These are also their priests, so that it is hard for them to understand that the missionary, or the" soul-teacher," is not also able to heal the diseases of the body. In the past they had strict moral codes and well-defined religious laws and doctrines. They all believe in a future life and in punishment for sin, here and hereafter. One who has murdered his friend has committed It crime, and he, therefore, mnst be banished for a certain time to loneliness. He is sent away to live alone in an old ragged tent, and no one is allowed to approach him. Some relative, an old woman, may cany food and leave it neal' his tent, but he may not come out and get it until she has gone. He must not speak to anyone. After a time he is allowed to come away, but first his relatives must satisfy the familJ of the murdered one by means of valuable presents. Then comes the purification. All that he has nsed in his isolation, even the clothes that he has worn and the dishes from which he ate, are destroyed. He goes naked into the" Inikagopi" (sweat bath), and with a medicine-man singing and praying to the stone gods his purification is completed, and he may Ollce more walk among his fellows.
l'he Indians are a prayerful people, and have always recognized the necessity for sacrifices and gifts to the gods. All the high buttes throughout the Dakota land have been used in the past as religious altars and places of prayer. Anything which they failed to comprehend, they at once attributed to the Taku Wakan, or the Great Mystery. On the top of one of these buttes they say that the prayers of the people were once wonderfully answered. One long, hard winter, when the snow was so deep that the hunters could not go out for game, and the people were almost famishing with hunger, the priests, or medicine-men, went to the hilltop and prayed for buffalo. For three days they had held their sacred dances aroulld the image of a buffalo suspended to a pole. They had cut their flesh, and tied weights to cords passed through their flesh as they danced. All this agony they endured without a murmur to please the gods, who reward only bravery, and before whom cowardice is the worst of sins. After the men and women had cried to the gods for many days, there came a strong north wind, and running with the wind, almost into the very camp, came a great herd of buffalo. So exhausted were the animals that they were easily slain, and after the best portions had been offered as a sacrifice to the gods, the people satisfied their hunger.
Dancing among white people is usually only entered into for amusement, but to the Indian it is worship. It is a means by which he may come into communication with the spirit which is to direct his movements. There are great war-dance societies, such as the Sun Dance Society, the Holy Dance Society, and the White Horse Dance Society. In the White Horse Dance Society the medicine-man has a dream. He. sees coming toward him from the lightning god a horse with a rider and knife. The medicine-man then calls the people together, and announces that he had a message from the God of -Lightning. He is then accepted as a war-leader, following the spirit of the lightning god, and he calls his society together, and they have the white horse dance.
In this dance the horses are managed with wonderful skill. The men chant songs and prayers for success. 'fhe medicine-man directs the dance and songs, the feast, and all the preparation for war; he announces that no bullet can hurt him, and that by his mysterious touch he can make the whole society impervious also.
The medicine-men are the most dangerous men among the Sioux. Indian agent~, who generally look upon the Indians as playthings, imagine that the Indian dance is simply a harmless amusement, and with this mistaken idea they even encourage the old wild games and dances: On one agency one Fourth of July the old men, who had felt for a long time very much oppressed and abused, and who had secretly been talking of the strength and power of the White House Dance Society, obtained permission from the agent to indnlge in their
THE RELIGION OF THE SIOUX INDIAr-S
dance. The consequence was there came very near being an outbreak. The old men believed their leader to have been directed by the spirit to make war on the whites, and this was only prevented by the influence of the Ohristian Indians.
The" Inikagopi" is a religious ceremony of purification. Stones are heated and put into a small round booth covered with thick skins. A man or woman is then put inside naked, and water is poured on the hot stones. The priest chants prayers, and the steam is supposed to wash away all the sin and impurity. rrhese ceremonies are also used in sickness and for women, like the purification rites among the children of Israel. On coming out of this hot bath the person often rolls in the snow, or cold water is poured over him, so that death sometimes results, often immedil1tely.
The Sioux believe that all sickness is brought on by the gods as a punishment for some offense committed against them. Often in cases of sickness a near relative will go out on a high butte and stay without food and water three days and nights, while they cut their flesh and cry to the gods for the life of the sick one. By his own suffering the Indian.hopes thus to propitiate the angry god, and to remove the penalty from the stricken friend. Their gods are cruel and revengeful; they are not loved, but are feared.
Their code of morals were high, considering the fact that they were of their own make. An unchaste woman was an outcast and a thief was always dishonored. One Bull told me of a man, now permitted by the United States Government to. hold a high positio·n, who once stole a horse from a friendly tribe, in the days when there were war chiefs, medicine-men, and native judges, or peace chiefs. This man· was called before the peace chief and tried for his offense. Sitting Bull was a war chief, and hi'l soldiers . sentenced this man to have his gun taken from him and to stand all day in the presence of the people, tied feet and hands. Any man was permitted to strike him with a whip. Later he has had his revenge, for ever since the Indians have been on the agency as government wards he has lost no opportunity to annoy these men.
Red Horse and Long Feather were peace chiefs, or judges. l'hey lived and died as Indians, but were honorable men. While the Indian may be ignorant of white men's ways, he is not necessarily an ignorant man by any means. In the old life they were able genera)s, and could either plan for war or for the hunt. They could layout new roads, and even now the Indian trail is used by the white men as the best route for their roads. He could select the best natural conditions for his villages, so that the ever aggressive white man is never satisfied until he has secured the home site of the Indian. The roads made by these natural engineers either through '1ooas, across plains, or through
deep snow or swollen streams, were always safe. They constructed rafts and made boats.
The Indians are not a lazy race, or they could never have made a living under such adverse circumstances. They are hardy and brave, or they would never have declared war upon a mighty nation, with all the guns, soldiers, ho1'1':es, and snpplies which follow the American army. Lazy men could never have followed Sitting Bull all those long, weary months, when they resisted the weakening forces which they knew would come to them through being fed like babies by the Great Father. No; they are not lazy, but are wholly unused to digging in the soil. The Indian can march for days in cold or heat, hungry and thirsty; he can hunt game in all kinds Qf weather; he can walk and carry the game on his back many weary miles to bring food to his squaw and papooses at home. His muscles have from generation to generation been strengthened to fight and to hunt, but not to dig. Even the graves of the dead were not dug, but were made of trees or scaffolds. We call them lazy, while our best and brightest men are falling by the way, while trying to develop a different set of muscles to enable them to take up the white man's burden. We are expecting a people to learn in one generation what it has taken us thousands of years to learn. Let us be patient. If in this generation we develop a few scholars, a few farmers, and some stockmen, let us be encouraged.
But we should not forget that the red man must be educated in his threefold nature. We must see to it that the brave heart which led him to war and made him ready to endure hardship is not cowed by threats of the guard-house and starvation. In his helplessness we must not rob him of his manhood. We must encourage his athletic sports, which do no violence to his conscience, while we discourage his heathen dances. We must respect his religious nature, and show him that truly God-the Great Wakan-takes thought of him and seeks to guide him in all his ways. We must teach him that instead of delighting in sacrifice, the Great Spirit desires obedience to His laws. We must tell him the Good News that the Great Sacrifice has been made for us by Jesus Ohrist, and that through Him we may come to God without fear and in full confidence. We must teach God's hatred of sin and His love for all men.
The Indian still feels that it is a privilege to suffer, so that punishment according to our laws is looked upon in somew hat the same way as war in the old time. I have known men who had been sent to the guard-house for some trifle to return home and to be lionized by the Indians, much as he would have been had he escaped from a hostile tribe. The true missionary spends his life for the people. He tries to get into their thought life and heart life, and to see the Indian's rea-
IS THE HOME PASTOR RESPONSIBLE P
son for doing or not doing things from his own standpoint. We may make laws to govern the outward man, but the real man can not be governed in this way. 'fo civilize the Indian he must be tlppreciated. He must be understood tlnd he must be Christianized. If the artists for the tribes could be taught-art in our schools, and those who have descended from the medicine-men could study plants and their med- icinal properties, and the star-gazers, who know all the signs of the heavens, could be led to study astronomy, and others could follow the natural bent of their minds, then might we not out of these people, who have lived so close to nature, secure some able scientists and artists? Let us encourage the sciences that have come with the naturtll life of the people. Under all circllmstances, only those white men should be selected as head farmers, agents, and teachers who love and worship God. The drunken, licentious, profane man, if sent to civilize these Indians, only make the Indian look down upon them, and cause them to feel that their old life was higher than the one offered by the government. The white men who should help the red men upward only develop their vices, make God dishonored, laugh at women, and make . fools of themselves by drunkenness. The missionary is the only factor in all the Indian problem that stays with them. Let them have the full sympathy and help of the Christian Church. Send clean, honest Christian men to teach these wards of Ollr nation, and mission- aries who are Ohl'i&tians of the highest type to lead them into the ways of righteousness. If our government will treat with them as with men, be patient with them in the transition of the old life and the new, give them men to lead them, not to drive them, and the Church will supply the men and money to teach the religion of the meek and lowly Nazarene, and the power and strength of the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, we shall rejoice and be glad in this little flock that we, as Americans, have been permitted to lead them into the new life of the citizen, and bring them all into the Kingdom of God, where we will all be one in Ohrist Jesus.
IS THE HOME PASTOR RESPONSIBLE?
BY REV. JOHN W. CONKLIN, NEW YORK Field Secretary of the Reformed Church in America Board of Foreign Missions Standing in a beautiful and commodious church, after service, I remarked that architecture and acoustics had much to do with impressing the Gospel. " No," answered the pastor's wife, "no one and no thing except the minister is responsible for anything in the church." She voiced a grievance felt in many a parsonage. The pastor bears heavy loads, and there is a tendency among most people to increase his burdens. He has responsibilities from which he can
not escape, but there are other things for which he can not be held liable.
1. I submit that the home pastor is not necessarily responsible for the attitude of his church toward missions. That attitude is the result of many factors. The present pastor is usually one of a line, and is not liable for the shortcomings of his predecessors. There may be a strong chronic anti-mission sentiment in his church, and some members may have been rounded up only half converted. Teachers in district schools can not be fairly judged by the examinations of their pupils after a few months of service. One must consider the previous record of those schools and the sort of children of which they are now composed.
2. The pastor is not certainly responsible for the amount of money given by his church to missions. Tables of benevolence, like rolls of members, are very fallible as revelations of truth. Secretaries and missionary agents ring the changes upon the tales they.telI, but they are shallow indicators. To judge whether forty barrels of potatoes is a creditable yield from an acre of ground one must know whether it is rich prairie or rocky hillside, whether the rains have been plenteous or drought has prevailed. So in the harvest of the Kingdom gifts. The church soils vary vastly and the Lord prospers people very unequally in different years. Judge not that ye be not judged by statistical tables.
3. The pastor is not to be condemned f-or failure to put into his church all the plans for interesting his people and relieving them of their money which he learns have been successful somewhere. We are in danger of losing church individuality, initiative and enterprise. Syndicates are dealing out our Sunday-school lessons, prayer-meeting and Endeavor topics, daily Bible readings, missionary courses of study, special Sundays for offerings, and we seem to be traveling toward the Buddhist prayer wheels. How refreshing to find a pastor and a church that have worked out schemes and schedules for themselves, and are not lying awake nights because others do not copy them! The question is not whence or by whom, but do they do the business?
II. For what, then, is the pastor always liable in the matter of missions? He is responsible: 1. For declaring the counsel of God in regard to world saving. No man can declare the whole counsel of God. But no man should consciously slight any part of it. It is not fair on Christmas to preach "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy," and omit "which shall be to all people," nor at the Lord's Supper to speak of the drawing power of the cross upon ourselves or the completeness of the atonement without noting that He will draw all men unto Him. It is not just at Easter to preach that" He is raised for our justification" without stating that the risen Lord declared
IS THE HOME PASTOR RESPONSIBLE?
"that repentance and remission of sins should be preached among all nations." In studying the books of the Bible it is narrow to disregard the facts that two Gospels (Mark and Luke) were prob- ably written specially for heathen, that the Acts is a history of mis- sions, and that most of the epistles were written to converts from heathenism.
2. 'rhe pastor is liable for not copying the emphasis of our Lord's Prayer in leading his people. That model prayer puts the Kingdom first. What excuse can the follower of Jesus offer for failing to do likewise? This leading human souls in prayer is a vital work. How can we lead them close to the mercy-seat? How can we lead them to enlargement of heart, to unselfishness of desire and petition? How can we bring them into fellowship with that great-hearted, world- embracing Christ? For several years I have been partially a layman, and have often left church sick at heart because the congregation had not been led to make one wish to God for the weaker and more neglected part of His children in the world. Dr. Maltbie Babcock said: " Your love has a broken wing if it can not fiy across the ocean," and the wings of prayer can not be perfect if they do not compass the Master's world.
3. The pastor is responsible for touching the hearts of his people with the deepest needs of the heathen if he is capable of touching them with anything. 'rhere is certainly no lack of material. Paul writes to the Ephesians, in one verse, that" without Christ" they had been churchless, hopeless, Godless and homeless. Each one of these specifications may be made vivid and heart-rending by a study of actual conditions in the world in this twentieth century. Dr. Dennis' "Christian Missions and Social Progress" will give material for dozens of sermons. The Chinese, the Hindus, the Africans and others have been thrust into our view. They have been robbed and left half dead and their ghastly wounds are gaping. If we are priests and Levites, and pass by on the other side, we are liable to them and to our people and to our King. If a pastor can touch the hearts of his people with Herod's slaughter of the innocents, he can do it with the Chinese parents' slaughter of their daughters; if with the story of the woman weeping at the cross, then certainly with that of millions of other women weeping without a cross. When the hearts of our people have been deeply touched by the deepest soul needs of the heathen the battle is won-the rest is easy.
4. If those who attend church do not have the most stirring news of the Kingdom up to date the pastor is not blameless. Comparatively few people take the missionary periodicals, and many who take them do not read them. What do we want? What shall we keep trying to secure? Surely nothing less than that every member of our congregations shall be interested in the forward movements of the Christian
host. Who has the ears of the whole congregation? The pastor, and he alone. When does he have those ears? Mainly on Sunday morning in the church. Why does he preach at all? The people have Bibles and the Gospel is in those Bibles. He preaches to explain and impress the saving truth of God. He must, for the same reason and from the same place, tell the current events of the Kingdom-the news of home and foreign missions. In no other way will all the people ever get such news and become interested. Sunday evenings or weekly prayer- meetings or women's society meetings do not fill the bill, for the most needy people are not there. There should be a prelude to the morning sermon once a month, if not oftener, containing the latest tidings from the front; or, if preferred, the news may be hrought into the sermon itself. There would be nothing strange or inappropriate in this. Paul was accustomed to do it in his letters and probably in his addresses. (Oolossians iv: 7-17. I. Oorinthians xvi: 15-20.) Such telling will come nearer to solving the information problem than any society or presswork ever yet devised. Of course these other agencies can not be dispensed with. Their usefulness and vigor will be promoted.
5. The pastor is liable if he allows any children who grow up under him into full church membership to be ignorant of the duty and triumphs of missionary work. We must be careful how we place responsibility for the conversion of all the children. But it surely is possible to give in the Sunday-school so broad and rich an idea of Ohrist's love and purpose for the whole world that the penitent will not turn to a narrow Ohrist. The children are eager for mission pictures an.d stories, and it is their right to have them. Missions must come into the study course of every church school. No Mission Band or Junior or Senior Endeavor Society is equal to the occasion, for the children most in need are absent from their rolls. The Sunday-school must teach the story of the Kingdom up to date with just as much reason as the day school teaches the story of our country up to date.
6. Finally the pastor is responsible for preaching and teaching New Testament doctrine of giving to help the weak, and for affording abundant opportunities for such giving. This is mentioned last because snch seems to me the proper order. Great harm is done in church and school by hammering on the money question when hearts are not touched and news is not given. "Out of the fnlness of the heart the mouth speaketh," and out of the same the hands give. If I became pastor of a very narrow-minded and anti-missionary church I am inclined to think that I would not ask for a public offering for missions until-the people proposed it. But they would have to take the doctrine and the facts, or stay home, or have a farewell sermon. This giving-time should be made the gladdest and holiest of all services. There is nothing equal to it. In its sincere and sacrificing
AMONG THE COAL-MINERS
performance it is holier than prayer or praise, or hearing, or baptism, or the Lord's Supper. Not one of those exercises is mentioned in that climax of the Master's pictures of human liability-the judgment of those who did it and those who did it not to the least of these.
The active offering at the Master's feet of that which is precious is a service that has no superior. The pastor must give the Master's teaching ~bout giving, boldly and faithfully. "I don't know how I can forgive you, pastor," said a rich man on his death-bed, "for not having taught me, in all these years of your preaching, the awful evil of covetousness and the blessedness of giving."
Pastors are liable. 'fhe words of Jesus, "To whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required," and those of Paul," I am debtor," can not be shaded by any mechanical idea of complete forgiveness or wholesale crown wearing. We owe a debt to our parishioners-to make them as loyal and large-hearted as possible; to our missionaries-to give them what they need for the most effective work; to the heathen. I am more afraid of the untaught heathen in the judgment than of anyone else. No one but myself can pay my debt to him.
AMONG THE COAL-MINERS BY lIARGARET BLAKE ROBINSON, NEW YORK Editor of the Hemld of Light One summer day, when the temperature was so many degrees above zero that I was becoming skeptical as to whether there really ever was a zero, I stopped and rang the bell at a little house in a mining-town in Illinois. A man came to the door smoking.a comfortable-looking old cob pipe and holding a well-thumbed Bible in his hand. He was small of stature, with coal-black hair, well-tanned skin, intelligent features, and a pronounced English accent. I announced that I was holding evangelistic services in the little M.ethodist church a few blocks away, and that I would like to have him come to some of them.
" It's rather hot to preach and visit," he said; "but, then, I like the visiting preacher. I tell yon if it was not for a preacher who visited me, I would be still a drunken miner-as bad as the rest of them."
Then he told me his story. It was not strikingly novel, but it gave me a new light into the hearts and lives of a class of people that I had almost come to believe were as incapable of being made spiritually white as was the coal they mined. His father had been a Methodist clergyman in England and his grandfather a local preacher (" a loaferin' preacher," as his little boy phrased it), and he himself had had a good education and religious training. He came to New York City when he was twenty-one, and aiter vainly seeking employment in the more" genteel" occupations, he turned his faoe to the West and soon became a coal-miner.
" Talk about the man with the hoe and the brother to the ox," he said, "well, the poor ox can't always choose his relations, but if he could, I believe he'd have cut me dead. I made good wages, but the bad influences of the mine and the saloon, which is as much to the average miner as his dinner, soon set their mark upon me. I married a good wife, but neither she nor our children could save me from my evil habits. One day a preacher called. He was not good-looking (say, wife, do you remember the red carrot head and the pug nose on that fellow ?)-helooked like a small edition of John L. Sullivan-but I tell you he knew his Bible, and he was a friendly sort of a chap that you couldn't get mad at. I told him that it was none of his business whether I was a Christian or no, and said a lot of other things of the same kind, but he hooked me all the same. I gave up drink, and then I joined the Church. Now I help to pay the preacher, and I bought this house, and am paying for it little by little, so that my wife and children will have a home if anything should happen to me."
With great pride he showed me the little English garden in the rear of the house, and his wife, who was a Swede, said in broken English, but with such feeling in her voice that it was positively musical: "He's good von year now, an' 'tish like Hefen; but, oh! de udder poor miners' wifes. Oh" (going over and putting her arm on his shoulder), "my Art'ur is chanshed so-he is so goot, so very goot!"
Arthur seemed to like that sort of treatment, and lit his pipe afresh.
Within a radius of ten miles of Danville there are several miningtowns, Westville and Kellyville being the most prominent. The men who live at a distance from the mines go to work every morning in a railroad-car especially run for them by the mining company. It is a dirty, grimy car, inhabited temporarily by as dirty-looking a lot of men as can be found outside the realm of "Dusty Rhodes" and "Weary Walker." Every man of them carries his pipe-a dude wjth a cigarette would be ridiculed in Polish, Swedish, Russian, and murdered English, and would probably be compelled (like chimneys in the East) to consume his own smoke. It seems as if every man's ambition is to have a pipe more disreputable looking than those of his neighbors, and when all are smoking in concert it is difficult to tell on which end of the train is the engine. The same scene is repeated in the evening, and a rush is made for the saloon the moment the railway-car door is opened and its coal-smeared passengers are back from their day's toil in the bowels of the earth.
"'Tis mighty easy to preach temperance," said a Westville miner, discussing the saloon question and the miner one day, "but it's the only decent place we fellows have to go. We have a newspaper to read, another fellow to argue with, and we can put our feet on the table and eat all the free lunch we want. We have a blooming fine
AMONG THE COAL-lIllNERS
)UNJl:RS AT THE NOON HOUR fiddler who plays for us-say, wot's a fellow livin' for-all work? Some of us ain't got no wives, and them that has-oh, say! story-books is all right for love stories, but I've seen enough of that sort 0' business among the miners, an' I know better'n blamin' the fellows wot don't go home."
I might moralize with that man, but he had hard, sad iacts for my theories. I could only think: " God knows it all, but the wealthy city churches do not want to know it." If they did they would reduce the salaries of their pastors and the amount of their own luxuries, and send some strong-limbed, earnest, noble young fellows out here to do for the miners what the Y. M. C. A. has done for the railroad men, only to do it better by making the atmosphere more free and easy, and to pay more real attention to the spiritual work. It will take years of lectures and paintings and classical music to educate a man up to the point where he winces at his beloved scratchy fiddle and objects to have paint-stores that are prodigal of their colors supply his artistic needs; but get that man truly" in tune with the Infinite," and he
will reach out after the noblest and best as l1aturally and instinctively as a child seeks for its milk bottle.
"I never saw a converted tramp who did not take to washing him- self and buying decent clothes and patronizing the book-stores," said a Ohristian worker to me recently. A man has to be convinced that what you have is better and more to be enjoyed and coveted than what he has before he will want an exchange.
Westville is a small village of less than a thousand inhabitants, but it has sixteen saloons-there is an awfully dead sameness about the place; dirt, squalor, and the houses all shaped alike, of the same size, fashioned according to the same utilitarian and unartistic principles, and all owned by the mine-owners. Since the formation of a miners' union the men only work eight hours a day and receive fair wages. The miners (those who dig for the coal) average about $2.50 a day, while the rock men, .timbermen, cagers, and trackmen get about $2.10. Accidents are so frequent that a miner's wife said to me: "A natural death is such a strange thing here that when one hears that So-and- So is dead., they ask at once, 'When was he killed? ' "
'This being true, it wOllld seem that there would be a leaning to religious things among-the men, but, on the contrary, they become so inured to danger that the fear of death has no terrors for them-they live in the midst of it; it is a common visitor, almost as well known as the time-keeper and cashier who appear with their accounts every week. Added terrors and added proofs of a final reckoning do not save men. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rose from the dead," is as good an argument as it ever was.
Womanhood is degraded in the mining communities. A large proportion drink, and the worst examples of absolute human depravity ever forcibly or otherwise brought to my notice were two women and a man who rode on the train, near me, from Danville to Westville. Their language and actions bespoke unspeakable degradation, and I never realized until then how a woman could become so besmirched within and without and so befouled that onlookers would long for a spiritual Board of Health to remove the filth.
"The city has nothing as bad as this," said a young woman who was traveling with me, and who had worked in the slums of Chicago. The city civilization and refinement modifies its sin, but in a country mining-town these elements are lacking, and the sin speaks its native language and uncovers its face in the midst of its fellows. A public school, an occasional local preacher, and a formal church service offer what spiritual aid they can for the miners, but little permanent good seems to be done. Some of the women and a smaller number of the men are truly desirous of better things, and only a changed personal environment will bring them. A few strong Ohristian men and their
AMONG THE COAL-MINERS
wives who would do personal work among the men, live among them, and open places to which they could 1'esort, so as to break the dull monotony of work, would do more good than by any other agency and method. The true reformer must be an individual seeker, and his "personal work" must not consist merely in teaching, but must also be full of brotherly sympathy, free from bigotry and cant, ready to concede a point often, willing to be patient, ready to look at things from the other man's point of view, and full of the love such as Jesus had when He had compassion on the multitudes. Nor is it only the coal-miners that need the light of the Gospel. The spirit of recklessness and the lack of moral character that pervades the coal-pit finds A GROUP OF MINERS' CHILDREN its way into the iron, copper, gold, and silver mines too. A Colorado woman, speaking of the mines, told me that most miners who lived in and around El Dora "knew religion mostly as a help to express themselves when they got mad." This terse remark contains a sad and universally acknowledged truth for those who have visited the average mining-camp.
However the coal strikes are settled, I know that I will in future see more in the flame of the winter coal fire than science or the newspapers say is there. May you, too, see there the crying need of these workers in the heart of the earth for the riches of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. Work and pray that the Lord of Harvest send forth sowers and reapers into His harvest.
STEPHEN LIVINGSTON BALDWIN BY REV. J. T. GRAOEY, D.D., ROCHESTER, NEW YORK A great publishing firm in New York put on its sign" In parvis potestas" (There is power in little things). 1'he late Dr. Baldwin demonstrated the truth of this axiom. He had in him the elements of all true greatness. He rarely did anything brilliant or startling: the "elements" were not "80 mixed in him" as to result in that form of self~expression. There was nothing erratic in his make-up or in his achievement. The ever~recurring surprise was that he did everything more than well, and that he could do so exceeding many things all the time. His was a crowded life sustained on a high level. The purity of his every purpose resulted in a positively blameless life, and the simplicity of his aim gave directness to all his activities. His information was of a cyclopedic character, his judgment excep- tionally correct, his charity and humanness unbounded.
It is easy to analyze some singular great acts of men, but it is not easy to summarize or characterize a whole life of uniform loftiness. Ed ward Everett once phrased this in regard to George Washington, whom, he said, it was difficult to describe, because he had the perfection of the.
circle-without acute angles or salient points. This constitutes a species of greatness which men feel and follow, often without recog- nizing who is their master; it is a personal power, independent of the accidents of official position or the incidents of possession. Environ- ment does not make it; it only exhibits it.
Visiting a native Ohinese minister who was ill, and finding him needing a hot mustard foot-bath, Dr. Baldwin called for the water, and, kn€eling down, himself bathed the feet of his yellow brothel'. The report of the lowliness of "Leader Baldwin" spread abroad from this and similar services. Finding a Ohinese student in America about being sent back to Ohina under our Exclusion Act, he at once became his bondsman in the amount of five hundred dollars to enable him to remain here. A young Ohinese maiden, in the midst of her medical studies, about to abandon them for lack of funds, was quietly told by him not to return to Ohina; he would be responsible for finding the money.to enable her to complete her course of study. Having been long years superintendent of the great mission of his Ohurch in Foo~ chow province, it grew to more mature organized church life in an annual conference, thus abolishing the superintendency. A native presiding elder was appointed, to whom Dr. Baldwin became ecclesias- tically subordinate. Reporting on the pastors under him at the next conference, this Ohinese sub-bishop must report on Dr. Baldwin's work and character. With streaming eyes, he said for him to report .on "Leader Baldwin" would be "like Peter reporting on Jesus," and he " could not do it." The conference and audience were moved with
STEPHEN LIVINGSTON BALDWIN
profound pathos and wonder at the character of the religion thus exemplified.
But, as Carlyle said, three twigs from an Australian forest can not convey any conception of it. A big biographical volume could not contain the memoranda of deeds of Dr. Bald win, of which these are only" twigs."
All classes and conditions in the Far East resorted to him for counsel and help in emergencies. Ministers, plenipotentiaries, diplomats, consuls, customs officers, and foreign merchants said, through the oldest in service of the English consuls on the coast of China, "There is not It member of our community but has received some kind service at Dr. Bald win's hands." He could even take the wretched remnant of an English gentleman from a China jail to his own home, tho it was STEPHEN LIVINGSTON BALDWIN necessary to purify the apartment after he was gone. There was none so lofty and none so lowly as to place them beyond his keen scent of needed help or his purpose to render it.
The Chinese of New York City, as Chinamen everywhere, recognized their indebtedness to him as their champion, and at his funeral there was observed a floral cross six feet high, "From the Christian Chinese of Greater New York," besides other tributes from the "Oriental Club," of which Dr. Baldwin was an honored member· From Minister Wu Ting Fang, at Washington, came a letter of assurrance of his" unspeakable sorrow," and the assertion that in his death "China has lost a stanch champion and the Chinese people a steadfast friend." Of that Minister Wu had reason to know in numerous ways, but specially by Dr. Baldwin's repeated appearances with array of facts and conspicuous influence before Congressional committees, to antagonize proposed obstructive measures against the Chinese.
The wisdom of his counsels was manifest in his work at home as well as afar off. 1'he other officers of the missionary society trusted his counsels, and relied greatly on the abundance of his knowledge of every detail of the foreign fields, whether in Asia, Europe, Africa, or America. The Boards of other denominations testified by choicely phrased resolutions and personal correspondence to his invaluable aid to them. The Ecumenical Missionary Conference, of which he
was general-secretary, was indebted to him for initial suggestion and a masterful molding influence. Dr. Judson Smith and Dr. Cobb, the leading administrative officers of that great conference, heartily recognized obligation to Dr. Bald win for its success, and eminently for the well-nigh unexampled harmony of its conduct.
In the varied other official relations which he sustained, to the Brooklyn Hospital, to the Folts Missionary Institute, and various benevolent institutions and enterprises, his was always a formative thought and influence. lIe was chief among the originators of the International Missionary Union twenty years ago, and has ever since been conspicuous in its direction as an officer. The far-reaching influence of the acquaintance with missionaries of all societies and of all fields which he exercised through this channel, combined with the special relation he sustained to every missionary of his own Church, made him very widely known and everywhere beloved by missionaries at home and abroad.
The advancement of women in both civil and religious spheres was warmly championed by him-by pen, voice, and in administration. Th~ women of the missionary societies, whether foreign or domestic, relied on his counsel and help as if he were specially chosen by them as their secretary. There was nothing he felt to be too insignificant to do for them, and no administrative measure, however far-reaching, concerning their work failed of his counOlel, guidance, and sympathy. He was to them as he was to all, the soul of courtesy, while he was always singularly loved by men-a combination rarely found to so great a degree as it was in his case.
'fhe wealth of personal sympathy expressed by bishops, editors, secretaries, presidents of universities, pastors, leading business men, merchants, bankers, professional men, and others, and, what to strangers would seem the extravagant utterances of their sense of personal loss by his death, testify to the grip he had on an extraordinary world-circle. From Finland, Bishop McCabe tried to find the wordformula for the heart-pangs and tears of Scandinavian Methodism, from India came a wail as of a calamity, from Mexico, South America, Canada-from every quarter, in short, there was a uniqueness of expression of personal affection which must needs recall the utterance of Emerson over I-longfellow, that he "had a beautiful soul." A chief editor of a great journal headed his editorial about Dr. Baldwin, " A Brother Beloved," and another used the caption, "Thy Gentleness Hath Made Me Great." A pastor, .Rev. Benjamin Copeland, poured his soul out in a poem with these closing lines: " St. Stephen lent to thee his radiant name, 'I.'hou hast returned it with a stainless fame; True Christian knight, without reproach or fear- In love a saint, in faith and hope a seer."
EUGENIO KINCAID, A PIONEER OF THE BURMAN MISSION
Dr. William F. Warren, President of Boston University, accompanied his letter of condolence to the family with the following gem: "Long 'crowned' in name, at last in state Thy Lord doth thee incoronate!
" 'VorId-student now from earth tasks free, The student world accIaimeth thee.
"On Sinim's shore beyond the West, Thy Orient children hail thee blest.
" Only ye wronged and weak deplore, Your kingly champion comes no more."
Son of an editor, he inherited the talent which enabled him to found and maintain through the years thereafter till his leaving Ohina the Ohinese Ueeol'der, the most valuable and reliable monthly periodical of the Far East, the editorship of which remained in his hallds till he left the country. He always had an impression that there was something well-nigh sacred about the authorship of a book, and this deterred him from attempting it; but after the Ecumenical Oonference he issued his suggestire and informing volume, "Foreign Missions of the Protestant Ohurches."
Of the measures and policies he originated or supported in missions there is left no room to write now, IlOr does the newness of our sorrow make that a congenial task at this time. He has to some extent discussed such matters in the volume mentioned on foreign missions, but much more extensively in periodicals when debate on them was current.
'rhere has been 110 attempt to do more here than in a plain way recall the" beautiful soul" of Dr. Baldwin- poorly enough outlined for those who knew him that those who knew him not may catch a passing glimpse of the man, the brother, the missionary-we had liked to have added, of our modern St. Stephen.
EUGENIO KINCAID, A PIONEER OF THE BURMAN MISSION BY REV. JOHN McGCIRE, RANGOON, BURMA lIlissionary of the American Baptist Union The roll of missionary heroes has become a long one. A missionary must possess great parts, must have performed heroic deeds, or have been in peculiar and remarkable situations, to entitle him to special mention in these days. Eugenio Kincaid is not a figure in events of the present day; he passed off the stage of action more than thirty years ago. Tho always a keen observer of men and things, he was not, in his day, a man of great intellect or of vast learning. But he was remarkable for his enthusiasm, and he possessed such convictions of truth and duty, such an intensity and earnestness of nature, that he
would dare anything for Christ. The heroic elements of his character aud life so impressed his biographer that he entitled his book" The Hero Missionary." As a pioneer he has had no superior in Burma and but few in any land. A history of his labors during the twentyseven years of }lis life in Burma would take us to almost every part of the kingdom, and over ground much of which no white man's foot had ever before trod: In 1830 he landed in Burma. While stndying. the language he preached to the English soldiers, and the result was a work of grace which brought a hundred of them to Christ. He might have remained and worked in safety in that part of Burma which the English had taken, but he longed to publish the Gospel in the regions beyond, Within two years we find him, accompanied by native helpers, making his way up the Irrawaddy River toward Ava, "in perils of robbers," but preaching the Gospel all along the way. The haughty capital city, forever to be remembered as the scene of Dr. and Mrs. Judson's sufferings, was greatly stirred by the news of the arrival of a missionary. Her gates opened and let him in, but he was not welcome. His life in Ava was attended by much anxiety and IIlany annoyances. He was frequently summoned before the king and nobles, and commanded not to preach or to teach in the name of Jesus. But he coveted work at Ava because it was the capital city. There, at the seat of the "Golden Presence," persons were to be met with from every part of the realm, and what transpired at the capital was soon published all over the land. So, notwithstanding the opposition, he remained there, and for five years preached the Gospel with all boldness. God blessed the labors of his servant, and soon the gilded pagodas of the great heathen city looked down upon quiet baptismal scenes, and with the mutterings of the heathen before their idols arose the voice of prayer to the living God. A little church of twenty members was organized in Ava. This is worthy of record and remark, in view of the fate which overtook the kings of Burma. They were weighed in the balances before they were declared wanting. They not only heard the Gospel, but were given copies of the written Word. They rejected God before He rejected them. Jesus wept over Ava as well as over Jerusalem.
In the streets of Ava, Dr. Kincaid had met a people called Shans, from a region far to the north, toward China. He longed to explore their country and publish his Message in their land. Having gotten the consent of his brethren, and, after much difficulty and delay, a passport from the king, he started on the long and, as it proved, most perilous journey. After twenty-two days of travel by boat, having experienced much kindness from the people, and meeting with but little in the way of adventure, he reached Mogaung, in the extreme north of Burma. He had now preached the Gospel from the mouth of the Irrawaddy up that great river for a thousand miles; he had
gone a hundred and fifty miles beyond its present head waters of navigation; he had penetrated a region, the spiritual darkness of ·which had never been broken before and never since until 1894, when a mission was established at a place called Myitkyina, one hundred and fifty miles north of Bhamo. When he started it had been with the intention of extending his journey across the mountains and into Assam, but at Mogaung neither men nor provisions could be obtained, and, after careful inquiry, there seemed no reason for going farther. The return to Ava was very different from what the journey up had been. Civil war had arisen, the horrors of anarchy had fallen upon the kingdom, bands of dacoits were roving about in every direction. At a lonely point in the river, about two hundred miles above Ava, he was suddenly met by a half dozen boats filled with robbers. A score of muskets were pointed at him, while his crew, half dead with terror, had utterly collapsed, and were lying in the bottom of the boat. Kincaid put on as bold a front as he could under the circumstances, and, looking as steadily as possible into the barrels of those muskets, told his assailants that if they harmed him it would be at their peril, as he was traveling with a royal passport and under the royal protection. The answer was a shout and a volley from those twenty muskets. Bullets buried themselves in the boat, struck the water, whistled by the missionary's ears, but, by a wonderful providence, no one was hit or hurt. The robbers took him ashore, possessed themselves of everything that he had, and, after a stormy discussion among themselves, decided to kill him at sundown, the time when, according to Burman custom, the execution of prisoners took place. Afterward, however, they changed their minds, and, leaving only a slender guard, went off to plunder a village a few miles distant. Kincaid, with a number of his men, escaped in a boat and rowed all night, but only to be captured next morning by another robber band. His sufferings at their hands were terrible, but after enduring them for six days he succeeded again in making his escape, and by traveling through the lonely jungle by night, but lying in concealment during the day, generally near to a well, where from the women, when they came for water, he would beg a little food, he made his way over the almost two hundred miles which separated him from Ava, where he arrived at length almost more dead than alive.
What changes the threescore years have brought! the whistle of steamboats on the river, the rumble of railway trains over the land, even far-away Mogaung having heard these harbingers of civilization. And in that region where the brave Kincaid wandered alone, a hunted fugitive, mission stations have been established, until from a dozen or more different points, and in at least four languages, the Word of God is preached to those who have sat in darkness. We thank God for this progress, and recognize gladly that better days still are to come.
The civil war came to an end with Prince Therrawaddi king npon the throne. As a prince he had been favorable to foreigners and liberal in his opinions. High hopes were entertained, therefore, that during his reign the Gospel might be preached with none to hinder, but these were not destined to fulfilment. He took the ground that as king he w/!-s thathanadayaka (defender of the faith), and in the presence of the whole court forbade Dr. Kincaid, in the most positive terms, to preach or to distribute Christian literature. This was Ava's decision day. The missionary departed. It was all that he could do. Nothing is now left of the once fair city but crumbling ruins. A small Burman village partly occupies the old site, and a little steamer which plies up and down the river calls daily for the one or two passengers who may stand waiting for it upon the bank. A visit to the scene makes one pensive, solemn, sad. It suggests thoughts of judgment, such as the ancient prophets thundered against the cities which rejected God.
When Dr. Kincaid left Ava it was in the hope of soon returning, after the storm had spent itself. Bnt the attitude of the king and of the government continued such that the prosecution of mission work was impossible. Arakan, in the west, was a destitute field and under English rule, and thither he went in 1840. Soon there was evidence of a great interest, not only among the Buddhists, but also among the wild tribes of the hills. He gives a touching account of his visit to a wild mountain chief who had invited him to his village. The chief and his people were delighted at the prospect of having teachers and books and being instructed in the knowledge of the true God. The account is all the more pathetic when we remember that a short time after, in consideration of his own and of his wife's health, Dr. Kincaid was compelled 'to leave Burma, and eight years elapsed before he again returned. Mr. and Mrs. Comstock, who, upon Dr. Kincaid's departure, remained in charge of the work, both died in a little more than a year. The hopes awakened in the heart of the mountain chief were never realized. His descendants to this day are without teachers, and after threescore years the land is .as dark as the day when the missionary first landed on its shores. Who is at fault and whose is the responsibility?
In 1851 we find Dr. Kincaid again in Burma. The following year the second Burman war broke out. He was in Rangoon at the time, and was present at the fall of the city, which was defended by thirty thousand Burmans with two hundred mounted guns. The whole of that day he spent in the field hospital, ministering to the wounded and the dying. At night he walked back two miles to the ship among the dead and dying Burmaus strewed over the battle-field.
The war was short, and its conclusion left the whole of Lower Burma uuder English rule. A great field for Burman work was uow thrown open to missionary effort. Dr. Kincaid settled ',Prome, a city of fifty thousand inhabitan~s, about one hundred andsixty-tive miles up the river from Rangoon. In the rest of his career there is little of incident and adventure, but much of hard and patient toil, which was blessed to the building up of a strong work at Prome. In 1856, at the earnest solicitation of the king, and because Mrs. Kincaid's health had so failed as to make a change of climate necessary, he' became the bearer of a friendly letter from His Majesty to the President of the United States. The king was, of course, not familiar with the policy of our government or the then condition of our navy. But he knew that there had been two wars with England, and that in both America had come off victorious. He perhaps cherished a vague hope that friendship with the United States might result in a possible intervention, and cause England to restore to him the territory which she had just taken.
Dr. Kincaid was soon back on the field again and labored until 1865. He lived, tho with shattered health, until 188;3, when he died at the advanced age of eighty-six years. Ilis memory is still fragrant among the older disciples ill Burma, and his name will be cherished so long as any who knew him survive.
A MISSION ON t'THE ROOF OF THE WORLD"
* BY MISS ANNIE N. BUDDEX Methodist Episcopal Mission. Kumaon Province, India The mission in Pithoragarh, India, is situated ill the Himalaya Mountains, twelve miles from Nepal, and seventy from Tibet. It was commenced thirty years ago by the Rev. J. H. Budden, London Missionary Society of Almomh, by the opening of an Anglo-vernacular school, and was by him made over to the American Methodist Episcopal Mission in 1874. The parent board of this society has only been able to spare a missiouary to take charge of the work fourteen of these twenty-eight years, and these were during the first half of the period. The district extends for abont one hundred and fifty miles from the foot 'of the hills to the summit of the snowy * lIiss Budden is the daughter of the late Rev. J. H. Budden, D.D., who fifty-two years ago began the London Missionary Society's work at Almora, Kumaon Province, in the Himalaya Mountains. For twenty-three years Miss Budden has been missionary in charge of the American Methodist Episcopal mission work in all Eastern Kumaon, which she estabhshed all alone. This province has importance by its strategic relation to the extension of evangelistic work into Tibet, through Nepal and Bhutan. Pithoragarh, in the Shor Valley. is the headquarters of Miss Budden, who has evangelistic work in the surrounding villages, besides the Boys' boarding-school, the Girls' Boarding-school, and the Home for Friendless Women. The farm is operated entirely, under Miss Buddeu's oversight, by the women, except the plowmen occasionally employed. This must support the home, or the women go without support.-· EnIToRs. range, and for thirty miles from the borders of Nepal to the Surju River—:-viz., fifteen days' journey from north to south, and three days' from east to west. The only American missionaries now responsible for the more than one hundred thousand people in this district of Eastern Kumaon are Miss Sheldon, in Bhutan; Miss Budden, in Pithoragarh; and Miss Reed, at the leper asylum in Chandag, which is three miles only from Pithoragarh. While they are missionaries in India, their circumstances and experiences present a marked contrast to their fellow workers elsewhere in that land.
The scenery is su perb, as Pithoragarh is at an elevation of five thousand four hundred feet, and Chandag six thousand four hundred feet above the sea-level. The former is in a valley surrounded by hills varying from six thousand to eight thousand feet high, one of these being Chandag itself. The valley is richly cultivated in terraced fields and dotted all over with clumps of trees, in which nestle the villages, containing from a dozen to four hundred inhabitants each. Added to the natural beauty of the place itself is a glorious view of the eternal snows, always visible except when covered with clouds, and these often are as white as the snows themselves. The climate is one of the finest in' the world, the heat never exceeding ninety degrees in the house, and the snow and frost in the winter only such as to be enjoyable. 'l'he people live in stone-built houses with slate roofs, and as wood is always procurable they do not endure the misery of their fellow countrymen on the plains. Neither are they povertystricken, as almost all cultivate their own or rented land, and realize enough for their own necessities as well as more or less to exchange for cloth or cash. Of course, drought causes famine here as well as elsewhere; but this has occurred only once in sixteen years, and their government supplied the grain that was required, and there were no deaths from starvation.
There are few Mohammedans-almost no "sweepers" or other depressed classes-the rank and file of the population being Brahmans and Rajputs, with a few thousand low-caste people called Dorns. Even these profess to have caste, are subdivided like the higher castes, and while they have no Brahmanical thread, tie their hair in a topknot, and keep up the domestic ceremonies practised by the Hindus at birth, admission into caste, marriage, death, and worship of f01'efathers. Thus all classes are equally accessible, and, it may be said, equally impressionable. The missionaries in Eastern Kumaon are spared many hardships endured by the workers in other parts of India. Not the least of these is the absence of unchristian European influence. Ninety miles from the railway, fifty miles from the nearest European settlement, and thirty from any other white faces, the teaching is not counteracted by the evil practises of some of those professing the name of Christ. .The people have learned to distinguish between true and false, and when any of the native Christians dishonor the name they bear, the heathen are the first to point out the shame and inconsistency. Not only so, but these seclt1ded agri- culturists have not been instructed in the doctrines of orthodox Hin- duism, and are quite unable to reply with the mythical arguments . and arrogant pride of the firm believers in the ancient faith found in the plains of India. 'fhey are Hindus, inasmuch as they conform to all caste rules and keep all Hindu feasts and fasts, besides performing pilgrimages to the Hindu centers of worship, both in the hills and in the plains, but they themselves worship evil spirits, whom they believe to be deities rather than wood-and-stone representatives of the gods. Temples on every high hill and under every green tree remind the traveler constantly of the denunciations of the prophets of old, but when inspected no idol is found, only a native lamp, an iron tripod or two, some flowers, or rice, or copper coin offered by worshipers, and in some places blood on the ground will show that a goat has been slaughtered, the blood to propitiate the deity and the meat taken home to be consumed by the family. Sad to say, this is not all. These e'vil spirits are believed to be willing to work through human agents, and it is an undoubted and well-ascertained fact that demon possession is not only a common but a highly valued distinction. Generally each village has its own" dangara," or medium, and when they desire to know the cause of any special affliction or to intercede for any particular blessing, the village people gather together at dusk, light a large fire in a cleared space of ground, and settle themselves in a circle with their tobacco for a night's entertainment and worship. Two drums, a larger and a smaller one, are beaten with a peculiar kind of tattoo that is reserved for these occasions, and has marred the rest of the missionaries night after night, as heard and recognized in surrounding villages. Almost invariably the evil spirit thus sought and waited for comes into the person of the medium. Its' presence is indicated by nervous twitches which develop into extreme excitement, until the man or woman rises and dances round the fire with a pecul- iar step, keeping time with the beating of the drums. Then hands are joined, heads are bowed, and it is simply horrible to hear the earnest requests of help from some and the flippant remarks from those who are merely spectators. As soon as the oracle speaks the drums. cease, and in the dead of the night the hideous screaming voice is heard, sometimes in intelligible words and sometimes in what seems utter gibberish, replying to the demands or the petitions of the audience. As soon as speech ceases the drums again beat and the dance round the fire is resumed until fresh inspiration for further speech. This may last some honrs, or the whole night, or successive nights, and is the forul of idolatry that has to be met and refuted and overcome in this part of India. The workers, while realizing and suffering from the consciousness of its degrading influence, still find it is more tangible and less invulnerable than the idol-worship of the plains, anti thankfully testify to the fact that hundreds in this valley of Pithoragarh, who have learned of the purity and holiness of the incarnate God, and do themselves compare Him with the indecency, untruthfulness, and unreasonableness of these poor possessed creatures, have decided, once for all, that not God but Satan is the spirit who visits them. Scores of those who were themselves mediums now avoid all contact with such worship. It is also acknowledged .by every one that Christians are freed from the power of all such beings, as they are distinctly under the care of the one true God, who is greater than any other spirit.
Another advantage the workers of Eastern 'Kumaon enjoy is that all the medical and most of the educational help given to the people is by their agency. Government has no hospitals and comparatively few schools. This has placed the missionaries in the relation of benefactors as well as Christian teachers, and they are loved and respected as personal friends by all those among whom they live. Naturally the friendliness extends to the native Christian also, and the antagonism and hostility that is the cross of many missionaries is unknown in this corner of the world. The result is that itinerating is a pleasure, and a kindly welcome and hearing is received everywhere.
The Christian community now numbers nearly five hundred, and would have been much larger but for straitened means. There is a' hospital for men as well as for women, a boys' boarding-school with twenty boys, and a girls' with eighty-nine. There are fourteen boys' day-schools with about four hundred boys, and four girls' schools for heathen girls, besides the one for the Christian girls. There is a home for homeless women, containing seventy-one inmates, supported off a farm of about one hundred and fifty acres. There are eight out-stations, where native workers and Bible teachers are appointed, and several Christian families settled in other villages, cultivating their own land. The asylum under Miss Reed's mire has more than eighty inmates, and besides the care of these she spends much of her time in evangelistic work. She has prayerfully distributed an immense amount of Christian literature through the post among all natiye government officials of the whole of Knmaon, and also exerts a strong influence on many hearts by personal conversation and her own consecrated life, God is with His servants, and supports and strengthens them in all hours of trial and loneliness, and has given them a strong confidence that their labors shall not be in vain in the Lord, but that in the near future His followers shall be counted by the thousands in this chosen Yalley of beauty, and from among these simple, intelligent, and manly people.
ROM, ANCE AND REALITY IN HOME MISSIONS
ROMANCE AND REALITY IN HOME MISSIONS * BY CHARLES W. GORDON ("RALPH CONNOR"), WINNIPEG, MANITOBA When I was graduated from college, I made up my mind to go to China, and a congregation in Toronto chose me as their missionary. But after the examinations were all over, I found that I had to lie off and rest for a year. Then my opportunity to go to China for that congregation was gone. When I was able to work again, I received a letter from our superintendent of missions, Dr. Robertson, ~sking me to go West. At first I thought it really hardly worth while for a man of my ability and education to throw myself away upon home missions, and especially in the "Vest. If it had been going to a great field like China or India, or taking a big congregation in Toronto, that would have been more up to what I thought I was fitted for. But to go West and throw myself away was not to my liking; nevertheless, I went.
I t is wonderful how things change when you come near. I rem~mber my first look at the mountains. They seemed very small, but every mile I traveled toward them they went up into the sky until they became great and majestic. So when I reached the home mission field and got some vague suspicion of its possibilities, of the opportunities of a man "to waste his li fe" there; when I came to know the men-there were not many women; six women in my congregation-I began to feel, not that I was too big to throw myself away on the work, but I began to wish that I had been a great many big men rolled up into one, so that I could command a great many lives to spend in that work.
The West is of unusual importance as a basis for foreign missional'y work. Our nearest neighbors on the west are the Chinese and Japanese, and we are doing a bigger trade every day with both these countries. Vhen we come to be still closer neighbors-and transportation is bringing us nearel' every day-what will happen if we have between the Eastern States and the middle West, throbbing with Christian faith, and the heathen lands of Asia, a non-conducting West? Our foreign missionaries come back to us from Hongkong and Calcutta, and say that the· most difficult thing for them to overcome is that lying testimony, borne to the Christian religion by men who bear the name of Christ, but have hearts worse than those of the heathen. It is difficult to balance the book that is written in a man's life with the book that is written on paper, and I venture to say that unless "Vestern America is strongly Christian we will have a hard time converting China and Japan.
The West is also of great intrinsic importance. There is no doubt that as far as Canada is concerned the greater part of it is going to be west of Winnipeg-but it is hard to get some things into Eastern people's heads, and I have almost broken my heart trying to prove to the Eastern people of Canada the importance of the 'Vest. Think of its wheat-growing power-enough to feed th~ world! Then in that country we have a very large undeveloped mineral belt and immense lumber resources. The same is true of the Western States.
This all shows that we shall have in the West a very large population. And if we peopled our wheat lands as England is peopled, we· should have one hundred and fifty millions living there. We haven't * Condensed from an address delivered on Round Top, East Northfield, MaRS., at the Student Conference. Reprinted from the Northfield Echoes.
them yet, but they are coming. Dr. Robertson used to say that where you can grow wheat and beef, you can grow men; and where beef and wheat are raised men will go. In the Western home mission lands of America we shall have a population that is going to guide our destinies; the balance of power will be in the West. Is it not worth while making that country Christian? As a matter of Christian business, can we afford to lose it?
The time element is important. I believe that the next ten years will decide the following fifty years. Men come in, bring up families, establish homes, and if the children are not made Christians in Sabbathschools, if they grow up like Indians, think of the tremendous reactive influence upon all our continent. We can not afford from any point of view to neglect our West. Let no man think that he is throwing his life away if he goes and preaches to miners, lumbermen, or ranchers away out in the West.
Look at the conditions there. In a ranching country the rancher builds his little shack; his cattle roam all over the country, and his cowboys are out on the ranch. When a meek and mild tenderfoot settles there, to whom does he look as his model? To the old-timer. The rancher lords it over him, and forms his public opinion. Those ranchers are looking after crops and cattle, making money, and if there is nothing to remind them of God and of Jesus Christ, and the claims of God over men, the whole country becomes incased in materialism, in God forgetfulness, and sometimes in soul-destroying vice, which years of Christian work can not counteract. But let a missionary go in with the first settlers, and how different it is !
I remember what happened in one mining town. There was a rich strike and a great rush of prospectors. Boats were plying np and down the lake, and boatloads of men went up to work out claims and buiIg their shacks. The three evils with which they have to contend in those districts are gambling, immorality, and drink-the great trinity of the devil.. A great many men will drink who do not want to see impurity flourish, and a great many men will drink and gamble who do not care to be unclean. Every other town in that district was reeking with vice, immoral women walking the streets, flaunting their silks and satins. To this new town in the first boatload went a missionary. 'Vhat happened? When these vicious women came and proposed to settle there, he talked quietly to a few men and they prohibited it. The next boat carried them away again.
One man counts for a tremendous amount out there. It is wonderful how many you can discover in a camp who love righteousness. After one man has stood up for it, how many men will swing in behind the leader! Let a man be found who stands for God, and there will be twenty-five others who believe in God and will not be very much afraid to say so.
Now, for the doing of this work the institution upon which we must rely under God is the Christian Church. I believe in schools; I believe in literature. I used to carryon my saddle-bags loads of illustrated papers and magazines, and all the miners' shacks were decorated with them. They were always glad to see me with that pile at my back. In our country we owe a v~ry great deal to an organization which was set in motion by Lady Aberdeen, the" Aberdeen Society," which gathers magazines from all the towns and cities in Eastern Canada and sends
ROMANCE AND REALITY IN HOME MISSIONS
them out to missionaries and other men in the West. But in spite of schools, in spite of literature, however good they may be, after all the one chief agency by which the work is accomplished is the Church.
It is wonderful how hard it is to be vicious beside a church out there. The first time I struck one little town I asked a man who was sawing wood in his back yard on Sunday where was their preaching-place, and he said he didn't know. The stores were open; the mines were going, the saloons full blast. I asked him if they had services in town, and he believed they did, but didn't know where. I hunted around and found an old shack which was used for services, but no church was in evidence. In six months we had built on the flat down below the mines a little church twenty-four by forty-six, not very tremendous, but very tremen- dous there-a little church with a little tower on it and Gothic windows. We were not going to have any square windows, we were going to have it put up in good ecclesiastical style. In the West they like a minister to be a minister out and out. As they say, they do not want any chicken around there; they want "a preacher with all his tail feathers." And they like a church in good style; so we had the Gothic windows and the tower.
I preached there once or twice every Sunday, but even while I was away there was a great big sermon being preached all the day long, a sermon that was preached by that church. That little spire and those windows preached to men from Monday morning to Saturday night, and it was a little difficult for men to run their saloons, and for Christian men to keep their stores open on Sunday under the rebuke of that church building.
The Church is doing the work because of what the Church repre- sents. The Church stands for the things that you can not see; it stands for the spiritual. When a man goes West he does not go for his health -not always. He goes to make money; he is after the gold, and he for- gets that there are other things. He even forgets his wife and little children in the East. They forget God and every thing else but the mine, and the fun, and the money. The .Christian Church keeps holding up to men the great God, and the things of God; and when men get think- ing deeply below the crusts of their hearts, then the Church gets in its work and brings to them memories and feelings that may help to lift them above the miserable, low surroundings in which they live. The Church stands for the spiritual.
The Church also stands for this-a thing of prime importance in a Western town or any place in this country: it stands for righteousness.
I remember one fellow, a Presbyterian I am sorry to say, who was keeping a saloon out there-you will be surprised at that; all Presbyte- rians will-and one of our missionaries dropped in on him. The saloonkeeper treated him well-that is, he fed him well. The missionary went to see him often; he didn't rub into him on account of his sin-that isn't ·the way to go about it-but just treated him like a man, and when he did speak of religion he gave it to him hard. One day when the missionary came back he found the fellow carrying on his house, but carrying it on dry. No more whisky there; no more carousals of the boys at that place. The missionary said, "Why is this? "
" Well," the man said, "I will tell you-ever since you came here first I have had a kind of feeling that it wasn't right."
What woke up his conscience? The appearance of the map who
represented the Church. And he became one of the pillars of the Church in that town. Probably nothing would have done that for the man but the impact of the Church. If you are going out West to work, go as a Christian, representing some Church, if possible; go as a missionary.
They may not know whether you are Presbyterian, or Episcopalian, or Methodist, and they don't much care, but the Church represents to them the spiritual things and righteousness.
Then the Church represents also-and this is necessary in a mission- ary-human love. Jesus expected Peter to show his love for Him by caring for His sheep, and we must show our love to Christ, not simply by an emotion in our hearts, but by loving the men whom Christ died to save. You can not help a man in the East or West unless you become interested in him. Unless his sorrow makes you sad, unless his sin grieves you, unless his wandering makes you lonely, yon can not help him. The Church stands for the love of God and love to man.
I remember getting a lesson one day that stood me in good stead for years. I was up in the mountains, in a new town, where I was trying to introduce a little mission. I came across a fellow from Nova Scotia.
That is where they breed men of the right kind, a good many Scotch Presbyterians who know their Hhorter Catechism. It is a great pity that book is not known better. This man was holding an important railroad position, and I talked to him about starting a mission there, but he didn't feel that it was quite in his line. I began asking him where he came from. That isn't always safe, because these men often do not come from anywhere. It is not safe to ask their names either; you call them what the rest of the fellows call them, and that is about all you should try to know about many of them. But I risked asking this fellow.
" From Nova Scotia," he said.
"From Nova Scotia! What is your Church?"
"Presbyterian," he said; and then he warmed up to the subject.
"My father was an elder in the Presbyterian Church."
"I didn't feel as astonished as I looked, but I looked at him with as much astonishment as I could. He said, answering my look: "Well, that is so; I guess my father wouldn't know me now."
"How did you ever get like this?" I asked-he was a pretty wild fellow. "It is a shame for you, brought up as you were, to live as you do in this town." '
Then he turned around on me and gave it to me. He said, "Do you see that shack up there?"
" Yes."
"Well, when I came here two years ago I lived in that shack six months by myself. I read everything I had to read until I knew it by heart; I even read the almanacs. But what is a fellow to do? A man can't live alone in this country. The boys were all down in the saloon.
I can't go there unless I pay my way. How was I to pay? By taking a hand in the games and paying for my drink."
I went away from him feeling pretty badly, for I had lived long enough in the country to know that if I had been living up in that shack for six months, and the only thing open for me in the way of entertain- ment or relaxation was a saloon, I would probably have gone down to that saloon. Did you ever try keeping yourself aloof from the great swim of life that is going past you? I could not realize the temptation becaulie I was braced against it ,by my very mission there. This fellow
190:.:] ROMANCE AND REALITY IN HOME MISSIONS
wD:::rrt. He wasn't a Christian man, and there he was with no home, no mother's influence, no church, no Sabbath day, no Christian public opinion-everything swinging the other way. Tho lesson did me good. I learned to sympathize with the fellow, and to feel the desperate nature of his need. I had been professional in my dealings with him before. but he was my brother then. Thank God, the fellow took hold, and before long he was going around with me, rounding up the other men, and he is to-day a member of the Church-a good fighting and working member. But I learned my lesson.
It is wonderful how God is always at the back.of a man who is pushing on with all his might. The man who is always leaning back against God, and expecting God to do all the work, won't accomplish very much. The man who does the business is the man who goes into the fight with all his might and reckons upon God backing him lip and leading him on. I remember one missionary who, in his early pre-Christian days, had been something of an athlete and used to "handle his hands." He went out t~ a Western town, and was met by a deputation to tell him that no missionaries were wanted there.
"Well," he said, "I was sent here by my church, and until they tell me to qqit I am not going to quit."
They rather liked that about him, and let him settle. He went quietly about his work. The first night he slept under a lumber pile. It was nice and open, with plenty of fresh air, and he felt good and fresh the next morning. Vhen a mining town is new, there is no place to sleep; everything is full-so is every person. One day they were building a road up the valley, and every man in the town was impressed to work or pay money. The saloon-keepers all paid money. They were not in training, and they had more money tha.n muscle. The committee came to the preacher and asked for five dollars.
"Well," he said, "gentlemen, silver and gold have I none, but I will do a day's work for you."
So he went to work, and kept at it a week. The boys working beside him said, "It is an awful pity that a man who can shovel like you should go preaching." But he won their respect; a man who can shovel like that wasn't to be trifled with. They helped him to build his church, and he became an institution in the town. When the "Opera Comique" came that way-out Vest always associated with all that is vile-toe missionary was the man who went quietly to the young fellows and said: "Is this thing going to be allowed to go on here? You know what these people are here for-to take all the money they can get out of youand you know it means ruin to body and soul." They realized that they had a leader, and the "Opera Comique " was closed up.
One day a big flood came down the valley and swept away a great many houses. The missionary opened the church, and for some weeks the people lay there several tiers broad. If a man has in him a right heart and a right courage and spirit, God will give him success. It is worth while giving your life to make this country a great and noble country for God and for man.
AMONG THE COOLIES OF SURINAM, S. A.* After the emancipation of Negro slaves in 1863 the need of laborers in Surinam was keenly felt; for the Negroes, as a general thing, forsook the plantations, and in consequence many were abandoned. The fact that all the plantations have not been abandoned, and the fertile soil, which produces the very best coffee, sugar, and cocoa, has not been allowed to go to waste, is attributable to the introduction of foreign labor, especially from British India and the Dutch East Indies. On September 8, 1870, an agreement was made between the Netherlands and England in regard to the introduction 0 f Coolie laborers from India into Dutch Guiana, and on June 5, 1873, the first vessel with Coolies arrived in Paramaribo, followed the same year by four other vessels. The number of these East-Indian laborers at present in the country is between sixteen and twenty thousand. They are called Coolies-signifying burdenbearer, a laborer-and altho accustomed to the designation they do not like it. During the period in which they have ent,ered into a contract with t,heir employers they are indeed laborers, but in their home in the Far East they belonged to various classes and castes, and many of them are even Brahmans.
The immigration is under the direction of an agency in Paramaribo. Contracts are made by the agency with the various owners of plantations, but a certain degree of care and oversight of the immigrants is exercised. A second agency exists in Calcutta. This board engages the laborers; for large numbers of people come to that city from the thickly settled interior provinces. The board of immigration endeavors to make a contract with laborers for five years. Remunerative employment and a beautiful new home, not very far distant, are promised, and the people are told that the rivers in the new country possess peculiar curative properties. When It sufficiently large number of laborers have been engaged, they are sent by special vessels. by way of the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena, direct to Surinam, the voyage consuming two or three months.
Upon their arrival, the Coolies are placed into barracks, again examined and registered, and then sent to the directors of the plantations. Here barracks are provided, with small dwellings for the immigrants. Tpeir wages range from forty to sixty cents a day. The sick are cared for in a small hospital. In the largest plantations schools have been established, in which teachers from India instruct the people in reading and writing. 'Vhen the time of their agreement has expired, they either enter into a new contract, or. return to their native land. Large numbers remain here. Many have saved sufficient money to be able to purchase a small piece of land, which they cultivate, erect a small house covered with palm-branches, and purchase several cows and goats. Bananas are planted and a small vegetable garden laid out. Others establish small stores, in which provisions or silk goods, imported from India, are offered for sale. Still others labor as tailors. On account of their love of ornaments, goldsmiths also find employment. Some engage in the manufacture of charcoal, and others, again, continue as day laborers. As a rule, they are not averse to work.
The Coolies from India are small of stature. Their color is between the light yellowish brown of the Brahmans and the chocolate color of the * Translated and condensed from the Missions Blatt.
AMONG THE COOLIES OF SURINAM, S. A
Sutras. The upper portion of the body of the men, when not engaged in work, is covered with a loose white or blue jacket, while around the hips there is a cloth, which covers the remainder of the body. On their heads they wear a white turban. -Their black hair is cut very short, and merely a que is allowed to grow. The majority do not wear beards, but among the Mohammedans the wearing of a full beard is a religious duty. The women are small of statnre. Their clothing consists of a skirt, a tightly fitting, sleeveless waist, and a long head-dress, which covers the neck, and, extending across the right shoulder to the front of the body, is again drawn up toward the left shoulder. They appear to prefer white, yellow, and red. Generally they wear silver rings or bracelets on their hands, ankles, and the upper part of their arms. In addition to these, not unfrequently they also wear a silver ornament on their necks, foreheads, in their ears and noses. When in the streets the men always walk in front, the women and children following. The smallest children are carried on the shoulders or hips.
The language of the people is nearly always the Hindu, and appears' to bear some resemblance to Sanscrit. There are also words. which seem to bear some relation to the Indo-German. The language is euphonic. In some words the nasal sounds appear, as in French. Their songs are monotonous.
In India the four principal castes are the priests, the warriors, the scribes, and the laborers. In Surinam these castes have not found a foothold. The equality of all on the plantations and the new conditions of life forbid this; yet the Brahmans, and especially those who are able to read, occupy a prominent position among their countrymen. They are the priests of the people, who apply to them for advice and instruction, for which they are expected to pay. As their business is very renumerative, it is no wonder that these priests oppose our mission work.
There are also Mohammedans here, but they are decidedly in the minority, and are less easily influenced than are the Hindus. The religion of the Hindus is a mixture of polytheism, pantheism, and nature worship. They claim, however, to believe in one Supreme God. In India the worship of idols prevails, but thus far I have noticed nothing of the kind in Surinam.
There are many sects and, therefore, great confusion in matters of religion; and yet it is possible to discover several important truths in belief-viz., the knowledge of one great God; that God must manifest himself to men in order to help them, as becomes apparent in their various incarnations of the deity; the need of teachers of the truth, and the consciousness of sinfulness and the necessity of efforts on the part of men, in order to be cleansed from sin, and especially by washing in holy water. What is wanting in their religion is the knowledge of the true God and His character, as also the deep conviction of sinfulness and the message of the one true meditator, our Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Son of God, who, by His life, sufferings, and death, has reconciled us unto God, and procnred for us righteousness, holiness, and everlasting life. This message of gladness our mission desires to bring to these people.
From the very beginning of the immigration of the Coolies, our missionaries have labored among them wherever an opportunity was presented. A certificate of baptism of one is dated 1879. Another step was taken during the past year by the appointment of Christian Coolies as evaogelistii among their countrymen. In 1897 the Lord brought a man
to our assistance who has been very faithful, and has been active and zealous in the work. This man was born in the neighborhood of Bareili, in North India, in 1843. He was converted in the Sunday-school of the Methodist minister Butler, and was later sent to the seminary in Ben- ares, to be educated. In 1862 he was baptized, receiving the name of the American president, Abraham Lincoln. In 1873 he came to Demerara as nurse on a Coolie vessel, and became superintendent on a plantation. From the very beginning he was interested in his heathen countrymen, taught them reading and writillg, and preached the Gospel to them. On March 10, 1877, the baptism of the first of his converts was announced in a Demerara newspaper.
In the beginning my principal aim was to make known to these peo- ple the message of the redemption. The season of Lent and Easter afforded an excellent opportunity. Nothing arouses their attention more deeply and impresses the Coolies more than the simple narrative of the life, sufferings, and death of Jesus, as well as His resurrection, ascension, and the promise of His return as Judge. Abraham is of great assistance to me in the preparation of my Sunday discourses and their translation into the Hindu language. For this purpose he comes to me several times each week. At such times we read Hindu, and I learn from him a great deal respecting the people, their habits, and their religion.
As often as possible we visit single individuals or families in their dwellings. ,Ve start at about four o'clock in the afternoon and pass t.hrough the city until we reach a road which leads through a grove. On both sides, in the shade of banana, manja, and other trees, are the little huts of the blacks and the Coolies, which are often only covered with branches or leaves. At last we reach a house standing alone. The owner greets us cordially, and brings me a chair and Abraham a chest to sit upon. In the ;;hade of the house we take our seats, while the owner of the house squats at the entrance. The conversation turns to religious subjects, and we endeavor to impart instruction regarding God and His attributes, and sin and the need of a Redeemer. After some time he replies that he would be willing to be baptized if he should receive some financial assistance, since we were receiving money for everyone baptized. Of course we correct this statement, informing them that we are not seeking any advantage for ourselves, but only endeavoring to save their souls. Finally he says that he had grown up in the jungles of India without much instruction; that he understands farming, and if we wished to speak on this subject he was quite agreed; but respecting religion he did not desire to hear anything furtber.
Some distance farther on we came to a small house, beside which several bamboo poles had been erected, patches of red cloth being fastened to the ends of them. This is a religious token. In the house a man was sitting on It table, busily engaged in tailoring. Abraham was acquainted with him, and he was ..soon engaged in conversation. In a short time the question, how we can approach God, was discussed. Our reply was, that we must have a Mediator, and that there is only onQ Mediator-Jesus Christ. He, however, declared that every nation had its own mediator: the Christians have Christ, the Mohammedans Mohammed, and we of India have our own. We maintained that all depended upon having the true Mediator, and that he must be sinless, in order to reconcile us to God, since we are all sinners. He replied that he would not pretend to say that he did not sin, but it is God who worketh all
things in us, even evil inclinations. "Therefore I am free from all respon- sibility for my sins."
On another occasion I entered a Coolie shop, in which I heard the peculiar, rhythmical song of these people. In an adjoining room a man was seated on a little raised platform, on a brightly colored material, with merely a cloth arounfl his loins. Before him there was a book, from which he was reading in a loud tone. When he discontinued his reading, I apologized for disturbing him, remarking that it was appar- ently a religious book from which he had been reading. "Certainly," said the man. I remarked that all men were desirous of learning some- thing respecting God. ' , Yes," replied the man, "there is only one God. " I said that this was true, but that we desired to learn something . regarding His character. He is Love. The man answered that his book also contained something respecting love. He then read a passage, in which mention was made of love, tho only of natural love. I offered him a small tract on "perfect love," which treats of the love of God and of Jesus Christ, which had caused the Savior to suifer and die for us. He gladly bought the tract for a cent.
vVe regularly visit in the almshouse and the hospital. In the latter there are two rooms on the first floor occupied by men, while on the second floor are the Coolie women. Amongche men we have frequently had, in addition to those in the beds, fifteen who sat on the floor around us and were attentive hearers.
About seventy Coolies have already been baptized. Of these, thirty reside in the city and the suburbs. There are many among these who have been converted through the instrumentality of Abraham, who has stood in close connection with a number of these people for several years. Some of these have long since expressed a desire to be baptized, and, with this in view, he has been instructing them in the truths of religion. Some have committed to memory the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer· in the Hindu language.
According to a recent letter, the mission festival on August 25th afforded Brother Venzel much joy, as on that occasion he baptized eight Coolies (five men, one woman, and two children), an entire family being among the number. Fortunately a number of baptized Coolies live near to one another. They can mutually strengthen and encourage one another.
The field is indeed a difficult one, but, at the sa,me time, a very hopefulone. The Coolies, numbering about two thousand, constitute a con- siderable portion of the population of the country, and will soon playa more important part than at present-a very serious one, indeed, if they are allowed to continue in their old religious belief.
The Coolie mission should have a chapel, if the work is to prosper. Abraham's dwelling is too small, and besides not sufficiently prominent. It would also be of great advantage if the dwelling of the missionary were nearer the Coolie settlements. The idea of securing a piece of ground in the neighborhood of the largest Coolie settlement has already been entertained. External means certainly play an important part in the mission, but the principal power lies in prayer. Only the Lgrd can direct us to address the proper words at the proper time to these people, and only He can prepare the hearts and open them to receive the message of salvation. Faithful intercessors are the best promoters of the mission work.
EDITORIALS More Trouble in China American Methodist Episcopal Society. American Baptist Missionary Society. Some districts of China seem to British and Foreign Bible Society. be on the verge of another upris- China Inland Mission. ing, according to the reports re- Church Missionary Society. ceived from Minister Conger last Canadian Methodist Missionary Society. month. The troubles appear to Friends Missionary Society. arise principally from extortionate London Missionary Society. taxation,and general discontent National Bible Society of Scotland. and unrest. The Peking University Mr. Conger reports serious antiforeign riots near Chen-tu, in the The following extracts from a re- Province of Sz-chuan, in which a cent letter from Rev. J. L. Whitnumber of native Christians had ing, D.D., of Peking, China, will been massacred and chapels de- interest the readers of this REstroyed. Dr. H. L. Canright, of an American Methodist mission at VIEW: Chen-tu, reported the riots and asked protection. Under date of There has finally been reached a basis on Jnne 20, from Chen-tu, he tele- which the American Board Mission, London graphed: Mission, Methodist and Presbyterian missions recommend the boards at home to unite. Sz-chuan repeating 1900. Chapel burned; 10 Christians killed. Boxers multiplying four It is called "The Peking University." There months. Officials taxed. are at present four departments: The Col· lege of Liberal Arts, on the Methodist ground; Mr. Conger telegraphed Dr. Can- the North China Training College at Tungright to demand adequate protec- chou; the Union Medical College, on London tion for missionaries and the native mission ground; and the Theological School, Christians from the local officials. on Presbyterian ground. He also addressed a note to Prince Ching, at the Foreign Office, saying We have to furnish equipment for the dethat there were several American partment on our ground; the others the missionaries and many chapels and same. Teachers will be furnished by the dif· converts in Sz-chuan, and it was ferent missions sending pupils. This will necessary that immediate provision make more effective schools, and when they be taken to stamp out tl:tese trou- become large will save in the number of men bles at their inception. This Prince employed. Ching promised to do, and issued several edicts toward that end. It is a new thing, I believe, in missionary en- Government by injunction is popu- terprise to have so many missions unite in lar but scarcely efficacious in any form of mission accivity. It is to be China. The troubles in Hunan, hoped that the scheme will be approved at where Messrs. Lowis and Bruce home, and that it will have there, as well as were murdered, seem only to have here, a good effect in promoting unity. been only temporary, but the uprising in Sz-chuan is more serious. The aim of the Peking University There is urgent need of united is to educate Christian students for prayer on behalf of the work and direct Christian work, and aid Chithe workers in China. nese youth in obtaining a literary, scientific, or professional education, The following societies are labor- under positive Christian conditions. ing in the Province: There are at present four depart- ments, to which others may be ad- American Bible Society. ded: The Union College of Liberal Arts, located with the Methodist mission at Peking; the North China Union Training College, lo- cated with the American Board at Tungchou; the Union Theological School, located with the Presbyte· dan mission in Peking; and the
EDITORIALS
Union Medical School, located with ground 'it was therefore possible for him to gauge the pulse, force, the London mission in Peking. and fluctuations of Christian life, and to note its progress and develop- Thus, while all the ground, plant, ment. The more we hear about this work in Australia the more and equipment may be the prop- we feel that it is to be ranked among the ten greatest revivals of erty of one society to which the the last hundred years. Nothing on such a scale has been known in department belongs, the governing any Christian land since the famous Ulster County revival in Ireland body, teaching staff, and current nearly half a century since. We have asked Dr. Warren to. give us funds are to 'be jointly provided by a clear statement of the prepara- tion, progress, and final outcome of the several missionary societies. this work of grace, specially with reference to its reproduction in its This is an interesting and signifi- essential features in other pa,rts of the Christian'world. cant movement in the direction of The Decennial Conference in India Christian unity. Is it not also in The next general conference of the direction of economy? How all India missions will convene at Madras, December 11th to 17th inoften has it been felt that the same clusive. Those interested in the united study of missions arranged costly buildings, apparatus, and by the Woman's Foreign Mission- ary Societies, which is to o.ccupy teaching faculty, provided for a few their research for the first six months of 1903, will not find the students, under some denomina- Decennial Conference proceedings of avail for January study, possibly tional auspices, might as well be not even for February, as it will take some time for the report of utilized for ten or twenty times as the proceedings to reach America and filter through the weekly press many, if there were proper coordin- in this country, but it will be of great value to these students for ation of methods and cooperation the later months of the course, and will afford much supplemental inof denominations in a common formation to. accompany their textwo.rk? We shall rejoice if the suc- boo.k, "Lux Christi," prepared by cess ;)f this experiment shall con- Mrs. Mason, a companion book to Miss Hodgkins' " Via Christi," strain disciples to forget more and which has reached the extraor- dinary circulation of 40,000 copies. more the trifles in which they differ, The Decennial Conference will in view of the tremendous verities have short papers o.n the pro.gress o.f Christian missions in India, which they hold in common. And shown hy statistics o.f the several departments during the decade; the impression on the heathen can not be, we are sure, other than most beneficial and blessed when they see disciples practically united in such common service. ** The Revival in Australia The A ustralian Revival, or Melbourne Simultaneous Mission, will shortly be written up for these pages by Dr. W. Warren, late of Melbourne, himself an actor and magna pars verum in these scenes of outpouring. He was a hospital and practising physician in that city for over twenty years, and found time to engage in mission work, Sunday-school superintendence, etc. He s:.t on four missionary councils and acted as medical referee, and was honorary director of a missionary training and testing home for young women.
From a considerable vantage-
the same concerning Christian liter- sweetest assurances found in this blessed Word. That is the great ature. The religious movements Jehovah promise. It is found at every great crisis of history, from of the last ten years in the Hindu the calling of Abraham to the end; but in this place the words have a community and in the Moham- unique and peculiar order in the Greek-" Lo, I 1cith YOH mn," as medan community will also be' tho the pronoun and the verb had been purposely separated far summarized. enDtLgh to let in the bel'ieve1' be- tween them, so that the promise of It is evident that most important God is litprally around us when we go forth to proclaim His Word. information will be available as Canon Sell on Islam the result of this addenda, as it really will be to the main discus- sions. It is to he hoped that these papers may be printed and ready for circulation in advance of the sessions of the Conference, and that they might reach this country by the'end of January. ** Principles of Service We call especial attention to the article by Canon Sell in our Octo- Students of the 'Vord of God ber number. It is a rare treat to will observe that the first mention follow so masterful a writer and of any subject in the Word of God scholar of the first rank, and the determines the relation of it to the more so along lines which have had remainder of the Holy Scripture. his special and continued attention Reading Genesis i : 11, the same law for more than a score of years. of creation will be found to be re- There is no writer in the English peated in the department of Te- language, not accepting Sir Willdemption in Genesis xii: 1-3, name- iam Muir or other specialists, ly, "Teceiving blessing 'in order to who speaks w'ith more caution, and imparting blessing." 'I.'he next after fuller research, than Dr. Sell. great crisis and lesson is in Genesis His works exhibit profound acxxii :15-18, "We must sW'1'ender quaintance with Islam in all its the best we have to God if it is to features. His "The Faith of Isbe used in service; the sand repre- , lam" (revised) would alone prove sents the terrestrial Reed; the stars, him a master. His" Essays on Isthe celestial." These three points lam" treat of eight distinct topics, are all gathered up in the New published originally in Madras Testament by our Lord Jesus Christian College j}Iagazine. They Christ (John xii: 23-26), thus fur- are: "The Mystics of Islam'," "The nishing one continuous lesson on Bab and the Babis," "The Religious missions. Orders of Islam,", "The Khalif Hakim and the Druses," "The There are seven principles of ser- Status of the Zimmis," "Islam in vice. These are: Ohina," "The Hescensions of the Quran," "The Hanifs." But the 1. The Lord alone can create lif", most masterly work, to our 2, The Lord alone can nourish life into thought, of Canon Sell is a much proper growth. smaller one, "The Historical De- S, The perfection of growth is found in the velopment of the Quran (1898)." capacity for self-propagation, All of these can be ordered from 4 Service can only be obtained by our self- the Church Mission House, Salissurrender for God and man, bury Square, London, or of Funk 5. Such surrender always involves a dying & Wagnalls Company, New York. process. 6 Th" dying process is not a permanent loss, but a preparation for eternal gain. 7. That gain ;s to be found in indefinite and even infinite multiplication. as the seed finds its multiplication in the crop.
Matthew xxviii: 20 is one of the
BOOKS 'l<'Oft THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
BOOKS FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY DOWN IN WATER STREET. By Samuel H. Had- Street, and they manifest that love ley. Illustrated. 12mo, 242 pp. Het, $1.00. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. by untiring and self-denying efforts 1902. to save, here ·and now, the bodies Fiction is not half so fascinating as fact, and no story is nearly so and souls of those who have almost wonderful as the history of the redemption and transformation of lost hope. They never despair or lost men and women. Most of Us are familiar with the story of the give up, even tho a man may backregeneration of Jerry McAuley and of Samuel H .. Hadley, but, like the slide time and time again, and their Gospel, it never grows wearisome, and ever comes with new interest experience has proved that no case and power. is too desperate for the love of Christ In this account of sixteen years of life and work at the old Jerry to surround them, and for His power McAuley Mission, in New York, Mr. Hadley, the superintendent, to uplift them. Let us read these not only gives his own soul's hi~ chapters, and then follow in the Master's steps in seeking and sav- ing the lost. * _MUHAMMEDS LEHRE VON DER OFFENBARUNG, QUELLENMAESSIG UNTERSUCHT von Dr. Otto Pantz. 1898, Leipzig; J. C. Henrichs'sche Bushhandlung. 8vo, paper cover, pp. 304. Price, 8 marks.
Our debt to German scholarship tory, but those of many of the for critical and thorough study of converts, scarcely less interest- Islam is great. What Geiger, ing and remarkable than his own. Gerok, N61deke, Weil, Koelle, and One can not read these pages / others have done in seeking for the without being stirred with a de- foundations of the religion of Mo- sire to help in such a magnificent hammed in the life of the prophet, Christlike work, and on every page Dr. Pantz seeks to' do as regards there is evidence that the Gospel is his teaching. It is an important as much the power of God unto and, in many respects, novel pres- salvation to-day as it was in the entation-accurate and scholarly, apostolic age. Here is an unan- as well as interesting-of Islam as swerable argument for doubters found in fhe Koran. But just here and infidels, the best ., evidences of is the weak part of the book. The Christianity" possible. Koran no more gives a correct idea It is unfortunate that in one or of Islam than does the New Testa- two places there is a suggested ment of the Roman Catholic faith fling at. the churches and their as professed and practised in Mexi- method of work. These are per- co. The author acknowledges (page haps just, but the story of the 285, note) that he has had slender self-denial and love manifested in opportunities for study of Moham- the rescue work in 'Vater Street medanism by observation on the would carry its own lesson without spot. As an exact tt'eatise on what the drawing of direct comparisons. Moslems ought to believe if they We wish that every Christian and were true to the teachings of their every honest unbeliever would read book, the work has no parallel. For this book. Here is shown the those who desire in small compass a spirit of Christ and the power of world of information on manydiffi- the Spirit. They have only re- cult points in the Mohammedan deemed workers down in 'Vater controversy, the book is invalua- Street, alid these keep telling the ble. All quotations are given in story of their salvation. They love Arabic as well as in translation, lostmenand women down in Water and this commends the book for
practical use. The chapter that lic), J. H. Anderson (Mormons), treats of the contents of the Koran etc. They therefore speak sympa- is as profound as it is original. The thetically, perhaps also with favor- author does not place Islam on a able prejudice. Others view their par with Christianity, but his gen- subject from the standpoint of a eral verdict is nearer to that of critic or an antagonist. That on Carlyle and Bosworth Smith than "Ancient Judaism" discredits the to that of Muir or Koelle. The historicity of the Old Testament, full Index and the table of refer- and fails to give the subject a fair ences to Bible and Koran texts are presentation.
specially welcome to missionaries. This volume does not, of course, The volume marks a distinct step cover the whole field of compara- in advance in the study of a re- tive religion. Some subjects are ligion which is professed by over discussed, such as: "Old Indian 200,000,000 people, and against Poetry," " Mithraism," " The which so little has yet been done Mass," "Religion of Dante," "11'- by Christian apologetics. z. vingism," "Spinoza," "Rosseau,"
RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD. A Col- " Humanity and Evolution," which lection of Addresses. 8vo, 824 pp. $2.50, net. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York; we are surprised to find here, and Swan, Sonnershein & Co., London. 1902. others, as "Christian Science," This is a series of popular addresses delivered in the South Place "Mennonites," "Dowieism," etc., Institute, London, together with others, especially written for this which might reasonably be looked volume. They present the various ancient and modern religious sys- for, are omitted. The sects of tems of the world, not from one standpoint, but from many. It is, Eastern religions do not have a therefore, an unusually valuable study in comparative religion, for place proportionate to that given while few Christians would agree with the position taken by every to those of Christianity. For this one of the contributors, they nevertheless give us the results of honest reason many do not understand and often sympathetic investigation. It is true that the adherents that Islam, Shintoism, Buddhism, of the various religions would not always agree with what is said as to and Hinduism have nearly as many the contents and outcome of their faith. but they would not deny that divisions as Protestantism. the author has carefully investigated his subject. As a contribution to the study of Some of the contributors are well- comparative religion we welcome known and highly honored scholars, such are Prof. James Legge this volume, but it would scarcely (China), Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop (Shinto), F. C. Conybeare (Arme- be one which we would select to nians), and others. Many of them are adherents of the faith and sects place in the hands of one seeking a they describe, among these Dagors Goh (Shinto), Dadabhai Nooroji correct idea of the tenets and out- (Parsis), N. Orloff (Greek Church), B. F. C. Costelloe (Roman Catho- workings of the various religions of the world. * A HANDBOOK OF COMPARATIVE RICLIGION. By S. H. Kellogg, D.D., LL.D. 12mo. 185 pp.
50 cents. Student Volunteer Movement. New York. 1901. .
Dr. Kellogg'S book approaches the subject from a strong, intelli- gent, Christian standpoint. The author had studied the history of religion and had observed the work- ings of many of the present day creeds and superstitions. He here deals with them only in outline, fit'st classifying and then consider- ing the basis of each of the leading world religions-their doctrines concerning God, sin, E>alvation, the future life, morals and their rela- tion to Christianity. It is sound, pithy, and helpful. An Analytical Index has been added for use as a * class text-book.
1902J GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE AMERICA city has been filled with represen- Missionary In an interesting tatives of the race who in them- Magazines Not paper on the "Mis- selves are the best of illustrations Read. Why? sionary Press," read of the possibilities of the future. After seeing them, and hearing the at the late Stu- addresses of their leaders, one can dents' Convention at Toronto, it not but be optimistic with regard was shown that in the U. S. A. to the future. Northern Methodist Church with 3,000,000 communicants, the North- A Methodist The great Method- ern Baptist with 1,000,000, the Forward ist Church is mak- Protestant Episcopal with over Movement ing thorough prep- 700,000, and the Congregational arations for a mon- with over 600,000, there was not for any of their respective missionary ster missionary convention, to be magazines a circulation exceeding held in Cleveland, October 21-24. 13,000. The Assembly Herald of the It is designed not so much for the Presbyterian Church, with a mem- multitude as for those who are bership of nearly 1,000,000, has only already in some sense leaders in very recently reached a circulation evangelizing work, like editors, of 40,000. The Gospel ,ill all Lands, secretaries, presiding elders, etc. the magazine of the Methodist The limit is fixed at 2,500 delegates, Church, had perhaps the lowest and admission will be by ticket relative circulation, about 10,000 only. among 3,000,000 communicants. The Presbyterian (Southern) JJfis- Common·sense A significant and siona'ry appears to have the high- Federation cheering sign of the est, with a circulation of 13,000 times is found in among 228,000 communicants. the fact that the Methodist Church Negro Con. They call it a and the Methodist Church, South, ference at "Young Negroes' have united their forces in China Atlanta. Con g I' e s s," and to the extent of establishing a joint publishing house in Shanghai. The young it may have plan has been under consideration been as to the Negro discussed or for over six years, and has had the as to the race itself, but the au- cordial indorsement of the missiondience that attended (the 5,000 aries on the field of both churches. Negroes that could afford to go to Early in August a joint committee Atlanta) were not young; they were met at Baltimore and adopted a in the midst of their Iif~ work. basis of organization, and this has They invaded and took possession been ratified by the Missionary Soof the city of Atlanta for about a ciety of the Methodist Church and week. Its citizens were surprised the Book Committee of the Methodand enlightened. They were used ist Church, South. In accordance to the Fourth-of-July Negro who with the agreement, the Methodist crowds into the city, who fills the Publishing House of China is to be gin-mills and the calaboose, and established at Shanghai, with a gives work for the courts and the capital not exceeding $100,000 in chain-gang. But this was a very gold, one-quarter of which is to be different crowd. The Atlanta Con- paid in immediately by each party stitution said, editorially: to the contract. All profit from the business is to be used for the During the last few days this development of the plant and as dividends to each Church.
A Presbyterian S orne years ago first among the English and Amer- Forward J. H. Converse, of icans residing either temporarily Movement Philadelphia, and or permanently in the leading cities E. A. K. Hackett, of _these 3 countries (China, Japan, and the Philippines) to strengthen of Fort 'Vayne, became interest- the faith of those who are Chrised in foreign missons. Their in- tians, and to lay responsibility terest was awakened by individual upon those who are not in respect work, and they are now enthu- to their moral and religious influsiastic friends of missions and .enee upon the people among whom generous givers to the cause. So they are residing. It is hoped also great is their interest that they in- to create, or at least to awaken and structed the Board to secure a suit- strengthen, a bond of sympathy able man who will give his entire between them and the mission time to endeavor to interest individ- workers from all lands. The second ual men and women in the work of purpose of my visit is to hold a extending the Kingdom of God in series of conferences with the misforeign lands. David McConaughy sionaries and native teachers and has been chosen to undertake the helpers; and the third to conduct work, Mr. Converse and .l>lr. Hack- some evangelistic services, espeett agreeing to pay all the expenses cially among the Japanese. I hope incident to the work. Mr. McCon- to spend two months, and possibly aughy has already spent more than three, in the Philippines, six weeks 10 years in India, and has special or two months in China, and not qualifications for his task. less than four months in Japan.
A Presb;y- Simon Yondes, an Protection The National Re- terian Model Indianapolis I a w- for Native form Bureau is ever Giver yer, aged 87, has now given away the Races active in the inter· last of a fortune aggregating $800,- ests of native races 000. One-half is bestowed upon relatives and one-half upon public in Africa, the islands, and el'lecauses. To Wabash College goes $150,000; to foreign mission boards where against the white man's of various denominations, $100,000; to home mission boards of various vices. They have already helped denominations, $50,000; to Indiana Synod, as an endowment for the to win many whole or partial vicsalary of a home missionary superintendent, $50,000; and $65,000 to tories, which are most encouraging the Foreign Mission Board, he to receive an annuity of 5 per cent. for and beneficial. Among "them are life. Well does the Interim' suggest: "In the fine ambition to die the following: poor Mr. Y ondes has achieved a greater SUCCess than Mr. Carnegie." 1. Kongo districts in Africa effectively pro- Dr. Pentecost This eminent evan- tected by treaty of 17 nations in 1890 against in the Orient gelist is to sail from ~lavery, distilled liquors, and firearms.
London in October, 2. Nearly all of Africa protected by same and writes thus of his plans; nations in 1899 against distilled liquors by I go under commission from the raising price to a sum prohibitory for most of American Board and the Presbyterian Board to do special work: the natives. 3. British government, about same time, proclaimed policy of prohibition for uncivil- ized races everywhere, in defense of trade, including in the ban not only distilled liquors, but in parts of Burma opium also.
4. United States in two years past has acted 11 times in:protection of native races against intoxicants. The 11 acts in defense of un- civilized races against the vices of civiliza- tion are: December 3, 1900, President Mc- Kinley declared in favor of protecting un- civilized races against distilled liquors; De- cember 14, Senate ratified treaty to so protect Africa; January 1, 1901, Philippine license for- bade the selling of liquor to natives; January 4, Senate declared for a universal treaty to protect all uncivilized races against all intox- icants; January 9, anti-canteen law passed to protect natives as well as soldiers; March 22,
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Secretary Long ordered "no license" in Tu- new lease of power. It controls tuila; December 6, Secretary Hay approved the election of U. S. Senators from proposed universal treaty; December 11, this State. The Christian citizens President Roosevelt ordered British govern- of Utah have hardly one non-Morment invited to join us in submitting such a mon paper which is independent of treaty to other powers; February 15, 1102, the control of this false system. President approved law enacted by Congress The priesthood also seems to be to protect independent Pacific islauds against entering upon the closest conflict American rumsellers; March 22, President with the Christian churches of vetoed official certification of prostitutes in Utah which they have ever expe- Philippines; August 12, prohibition in Tu- rienced. This makes the crisis. tuilla reaffirmed by Assistant Secretary Dar- The word has gone out anew that Mormon children must be withling. drawn from Christian schools, and Surely, with governments leading this mis- that the Mormon people must cease all association with the representasionary and t.;mperance crusade, the churches tiVES of Christianity. Both in Utah will soon awake and keep step in the march and Idaho the doctrine of polyg. to final victory. amy is taught with new vigor. Nothing will be left undone to re- The next step in the United States will be strain and stop our Christian work. to take up anew the appeal made by Presbyterian missionary women of Chicago 10 years In view of this situation we apago, and .seconded later by President Cleve· peal to the churches and Home land, that Congress shall prohibit American Mission Board to continue to supcitizens to export intoxicants to Africa, or sell tbem in Africa, perhaps excepting settle- port the work, so that it may not ments wbere all or nearly all the people are whites. Tbat Congress has power to forbid be necessary to withdraw one minsuch exports has been affirmed repeatedly by ister or to close one school. the Supreme Court, and a new precedent is afforded by the Gillet-Lodge Bill, forbidding 'Ve also appeal to you to help us Americans to sell in Pacific islands not under in concentrating our strength our government. against the compact lines of the opposition in Utah. This is the A Crisis in A crisis has been decisive battle-field of the Home Mission cause on this continent. Utah reached iIloChristian . s. E. WISHARD. work in this State.
Mission work has been carried on here for over thirty years, and has wrought a great social, civil, and moral transformation.
Hundre.ds of Mormon young peo- ple have had the Christian training which has set them free from the Reindeer 'Vhen Dr. Sheldon awful bondage of the Mormon sys- and Jackson proposed tem, and enabled them to become Missions importing reindeer intelligent and patriotic citizens for use in Alaska, and founders of homes on the the plan was ridiculed as a vision- Christian basis. Over 1,500 Mor- ary scheme of an unpractical mis- mons have been converted from sionary. Some of the results of Mormonism to Christianity. Scores the first experiments, even after of communities have been enlight- Lapps were brought over in 1898 ened and transformed by Christian to take care of the animals, were schools and Christian churches. not particularly encouraging. But But notwithstanding these great the herd introduced ten years ago, achievements of Christian missions numbering 16, has gradually been in Utah, there is yet much land to increased, and now the announce- be possessed. There are scores of ment is made that the government towns from 1,000 to 1,400 popula- proposes to raise the number to tion yet without the Gospel. State- 15,000. This step is justffied by the hood has given the priesthood a success that has been gained. The
animals seem to thrive in their new committees consisting of members home even better than in the old of the Baptist Missionary Society one. They help to solve the diffi- and the London Missionary Society. culty about a supply of food in the Mr. Arthington's primary idea frozen regions. They are unsur- seemed to be that the money should passed beasts of burden for the Far be spent in providing every tribe North, and the government has of mankind with accurate and ordered their use in carrying the faithful copies of the Gospels of mail. The change that they have .Iohn and Luke and the Acts of the wrought in the condition of both Apostles. .Tudicial authority may natives and miners has already be sought for details of the procemore than repaid all the expense dure to be followed in carrying out involved.-Golden R1Ale. the missionary trusts. – London Christian. EUROPE England's The Church of Eng- General Booth "We have a brigade Great land's Zenana Mis- and of reformed drunk- Woman's sionary Soc i e t y's Temperanct- ards," said General Society latest s tat i s tic s Booth in Exeter (March 31, 1902) Hall recently. " We propose now show the following figures: Mis- that they shall not be known as sionaries in home connection, 203; in the 'drunkards' brigade,' but as the local connection (including assist- •drunkards' friendH.' Where shall ants), 106; Biblewomen and nurses, they operate? We already attend 254; native teachers, 542; houses 10,000 public-houses per week; these visited, 13,277; zenana pUJ;ils, 6,993; will be the churches and chapels in villages, 2,226; schools, 253; pupils, which we shall hold our meetings; 10,117; normal or boarding schools, we have held such meetings with 26; pupils, 1,087; orphanages or very remarkable results. Ve pro- converts' homes, 12; inmates, 376; pose to enroll the known drunkards in-patients, 3,416; out-patients, in every town, village, and parish 247,503. where we are at work. The publi- Mr. The fortune left by cans will in many cases assist us.
Arthington's Robert Arthington, Ve want to hold midnight meet- Millions the Leeds million- ings, after the public-houses are aire, for missionary shut; we want to see the drunkard's purposes, exceeds even the huge home; we want a guard-room where sum at which it was originally es- they can be taken to sleep, where timated. The will has been proved the kettle is boiling, and there is at £993,565 ($4,967,825) gross per- some salvation ready for them; we sonal estate, in addition to which want to help their wives and fam- there is some land, raising the ilies. "
whole estate to well above a mil- London's Care The record sum of for the Sick £60,000, the Lord lion sterling. From the estate Mayor announced £73,630 has gone to the government at the Mansion House, has been re- ceived from this year's Hospital as duty. The pecuniary legacies Sunday collections. Mr. George Herring's offer to add a percentage and specific bequests are small. to the amounts raised resulted in the collections in churches and One-tenth of the residue is devoted chapels being raised to £45,000, an increase of £8,550 on last year's to private bequests to cousins, among whom litigation is likely.
The remaining nine-tenths are be- queathed for missionary purposes, and are to be under the control of
1902J GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENOE
total. St. Paul's Cathedral collec- afterward in the church, where for tions amounted to £2,121. It is nearly an hour and a half they sat proposed that all grants in future in an orderly, quiet, and attentive shall be spent in maintenance of manner. pa,tients and none on bricks and mortar. Ten hospitals have had The Swedish This body repretheir grants reduced, as their ex- Missionary sents one of the renditure appeared to be excessive. Society mostremarkablere- Jigious movements The London The last annual re- Society and port of the London that Sweden ever saw, which within two decades has produced a com- the Jews. Society for Pro- munity of Christians numbering moting Christian- near 100,000, and which from the first has taken a very active ity Among the Jews shows that the interest in missions. It is now society had 52 stations in EUrope, carrying on mission work among Asia, and Africa, in which 238 work- the Lapps in the north of Sweden; ers were employed during the year. among sailors and other Scandina- The workers consisted of 27 or- vians in London and St. Petersdained and 22 medical missionaries, burg; among Armenians and Stun- 59 layworkcrs and colporteurs, 38 dists in south Russia; in China, unmarried women, 34 wives of mis- both West and East; in north Afrisionaries, and 58 teachers. The ca, among Jews and Arabians; and 10 schools contained 1,360 scholars, on the Kongo. In the region last and 9 free dispensaries and 2 hos- named are found 7 head-stations, pitals were supported. The income 68 out-stations, 30 white missionof the society was almost $200,000. aries in the field and some home on Since the annual meeting a new furlough, 80 native evangelists or station has been opened in Mon- teachers, 79 schools, and 2,571 treal, Canada. scholars. The printing-press at Londe has been at work the whole Work for The Jewish Mis- year, and is pouring forth quite a Jews in sionary In tell i – literature in the Fiote language. Whitechapel. gence for July The World's August 20, coming gives an account of Y. M. C. A. from no less than the services held from time to time Conference 31 countries, 2,100 from the open-air pulpit at Whitechapel church, which shows the re- delegates assembled markable attendance of Jews dur- in Christiania, Norway, to hold the ing the Passover, April 22 to 29. 15th international gathering of this Services were held every day dur- kind. These are among the themes ing the feast in the churchyard presented: Christ for young men and in the church. 'fhe congrega- and young men for Christ, the tions contained Pharisees with long spiritual development of the Assobeards and pions faces, well-dressed ciation's membership, the place of business men, clerks, and workmen the Bible in the association, the of all descriptions and of all occu- Gospel of Christ a power among pations; Jews of all nationalities young men, national work, organand of all shades of belief and un- ization in different countries, the belief, who quietly listened to the world-wide scope of the movement, preaching of the Gospel. Day by and the claim of the 200,000,000 of day the audiences grew larger, young men who are in heathen until one afternoon as many as lands-these phrases express the 1,000 Jews were assembled in the thoughts about which the main churchyard, and from 350 to 400
THE MISSIONAny nEVIEW OF THE WOnLD [Novembel'
program features of the conference physicians, and the Imperial Uni- gathered. More than 400 buildings versity at Constantinople is the are now owned by associations, only institution having a medical worth nearly $23,000,000, while the department. But our missionaries value of equipment is more than are bestirring themselves, and Dr.
$1,000,000 additional. There are Thomas L. Carrington,· of the Mar- over 1,500 associations, and over sovan School, has started a move- 325,000 members. ment which will doubtless result in ASIA a well-equipped medical school Armenian Professor J. Rendel under American missionary super- VISIOn. Also for over thirty years Relief Harris, who with the Syrian Protestant College at his wife made a tour Beirut has been giving a thorough medical training in classroom and into Armenia in 1896, and afterward clinic and hospital to scores of instituted measures for the relief of students. Two hundred graduates the destitute orphans, have now is- have completed the fonr years' sued their sixth report. It is a fine course and received the college's example of voluntary Christian certificate. Many others have service by highly educated people in taken a partial course. Last year behalf of those who have no human over 100 students were enrolled in helper. It shows a total expendi- this medical department of the colture of £1,670 (about $8,350) from lege, the total number of students May, 1901, to May, 1902 (about $170 in the college reaching 600-Syri. beyond receipts). No expenses of ans, Egyptians, Greeks, and Armetravel, postage, or printing have nians. Many of the graduates hold been charged on these accounts. important positions in connection Whatever has been contributed by with the Egyptian army. the eight individuals· or helping. bands from whom gifts have come has passed undiminished into the The Jews During the last work of relief. Professor Harris is in Palestine twenty years 51,540 one of the great modern Oriental- acres of land have ists-a fine scholar and an eminent been acquired by J~Ys in Palestine, teacher._ Yet he finds time and on which 20 villages and 13 planta- strength for this beautiful and un- tions have been established. In selfish service-first going on a per- the colonies, 1,205 families, number- sonal tour of investigation, then ing 4,935, live in stone houses erect- holding meetings to inform and ed according to European models; arouse the public, and then he and 4,340 are devoted to corn, 2,367 his wife acting as almoners in the acres to wine, 1,330 to fruit, and distribution of gifts. A. T. P. 245 to vegetables. Their live stock ·Turkey's Need As the Congrega- consists of 1,575 working cattle, of Medical tionalist suggests: ·1,171 cows, and 2,586 goats and Missions The crying need of Turkey to-day is sheep. The income from the wine industry amounts to 610 francs per medical science and its advocates, acre. The culonists are mostly who shall teach the people cleanli- Russian Jews.
ness. It is true that the unspeak- Moslem One of the latest able Turk bathes his hands and Opposition forms which this feet thrICe daily, yet filth abounds, in India has taken is the and the most loathesome diseases Review of Relig- cause a wasteful loss of life. In ions, a monthly magazine pub- hundreds of towns there are no lished by Mirza Gulam Ahmad, of
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Qadian. Its program does not err parties to start a boys' orphanage on the side of modesty. It under- in harmony with this school, but takes to offer as yet no one has been led to take up the work, so that now Ramabai An Impartial review of the existing rellg- feels that the time has come when ions of the world, Christianity and Islam in she herself should start a boys' particular; to solve embarrassing religious orphanage here at Mukti. As yet questions, the existence of God, immortality she has no building site, there are of soul, resurrection, salvation, nature of no buildings, and no workers. Yet angels, paradise and hell, reward and punish- when God commands, the sea diment, etc_; to give an explanation of the ful- vides as His people go forward. filment of the prophecies relating to the Ramabai has a few boys as a belatter days and the advent of Messiah and ginning. A small printing-press is Mahdi; to give an account of the life and to be put into operation. The farm nature and proof of the claims of Mirza Gulam is ready for their labors; a herd of Ahmad, of Qadian; to auswer every objection buffalo cows and other cows, sheep, against Islam; and to discuss every question and goats are awaiting their care; bearing upou religion. a tinshop, a tannery, and shoe- making are being started to keep Its first number is chiefly taken these boys employed, and to furnish up with an article on "the bondage them with trades whereby they can of sin," in which the author tries to earn a livelihood. show that faith in Ohrist has not proved efficacious. He also repre- It is no small responsibility which hends the present condition of Ramabai undertakes in beginning Islam, and leads up to the new this boys' school, and she has Messenger of Heaven-to wit, the not taken up the work lightly and publisher of the magazine. He COll- impulsively; but, on the contrary, cludes with an exhortation to Mos- as a necessary outcome of the great lems to practise virtue in order to plan God had prepared for her. Ramabai recognizes God's hand, avert the Divine chastisement of and has stepped out by faith, know- ing that the same God who has plague; but he does not here give hitherto supplied all her need will a description of the patt'nt remedy not forsake her now. against plague which he elsewhere advertises. It is a strange mixture The Harvest Bishop Warne says of charlatanry and religious zeal, in Gujarat. in The Indian Wit– not without some acuteness of th~tight. At' any rate, it shows ne88: "The work of that Moslems realize the need of our mission in Gujarat is indeed inemerging . from behind their tensely interesting. Ten years ago traditional barriers into the open we had scarcely the beginning of a arena of human thought and of Christian community; seven years justifying religion by its fruits. ago the forward movement began. The more they do both, the better. This year began with about 5,000 -Report of the Punjab Book So- Christians, and will probably close dety. with 9,000 or 10,000; and beyond this there are approximately 10,000 Ramabai's For some months persons who are known in their re- Orphanage there has been a spective villages as Christian/!, be- for Boys day-school for boys cause they have ceased to worship idols and have identified themselves at Mukti Mission. with the Christian community; but This is composed of the sons of are not baptised, because we have Christian families living at Mukti, a few Hindu boys, and a few little fellows who came with sisters or mothers, and who were too small or too weak to go to other schools.
Ramabai has been urging various
not the workers trainea t~ train Christianity. It is impossible not them, nor a sufficient number of to be struck with the energy with missionaries to supervise the work. which mission work is being carried There is easily in the Gujarat coun- on, and with the success which is try in our mission a Christian com- attending it. An increase of nearly munity of 20,000 Christians in sight, 28 per cent., where the total popuand this has all come about prac- lation has increased bv less than tically within seven years. This is 2.7:j per cent., is a hard -fact which one of the miracles of modern mis- can not he explained away. And sions, and something over which ~his increase, amounting to 638,861, we should give thanks to God. IS shared by every province and There are 11,000,000 Gujaratis and state in India; even Bombay, Cenabout 750,000 of the classes from tral India, the Central Provinces, which these 20,000 are coming." and Rajputana, where the famine was most severe, show considerable Is not this a The Ahmednagar increases in the Christian popula- Shining district is about as lation, tho it is in Southern India, Success? large as the State in Madras, and the native states of of Connecticut. In Travancore and Cochin that the greatest increase is recorded. Ma- 1891, according to the government dras now has a total Christian census, the population was 888,000. population of 1,024,071, and the The census of 1901 showed that the Travancore and Cochin Christians population had decreased in the dec- number 910,409, an increase of 195, .. ade nearly 52,000, but the Christian 758 in the decade, the total populapopulation of the district had in- tion of the two states being 3,764,- creased 300 per cent., from 6,734 to 182. 20,864. The city of Ahmednagar has a little over 35,000 inhabitants, Gospel for An undenominaof whom, according to the govern- the Jews tional work among ment census, 3,572 are Christians- in Bomba), the Arabic-speakthat is, 10 per cent., 2,100 of whom are connected with the Marathi ing Jews in Bombay Mission of the American Board. The First Church in Ahmednagar has been carried on by Mrs. Cutler has 1,089 persons on its register, of whom 529 are adults in full mem- since 1895. A day-school and a Sabbership, 260 are catechumens, and 294 are baptized children. The Sab- bath-school, in connection with the bath-school of the same church, in 3 departments, has 1.139 members. work, were broken up in 1898, after Great Gospel The following ex- the baptism of one of the teachers Gains in tract from the Pio- (a Jewess), a,nd even to-day the India neer, the foremost anger of the Jews is so great that English newspaper they still refuse to send their chilin India. with regard to the recent dren to the schools. A large work census returns, is worth not onlv reading, but remembering, so tha:t among the 14,000 Beni-Israel (black when people say that the Gospel is Jews) in Bombay and neighborhood making no progress in India we is carried on by Miss Trott and Miss may be able to give some facts: Campbell, in connection with the The most remarkable feature of Zenana Bible Mission, who have the returns is undoubtedly that presented by the figures relating to 3 large schools of many years'
standing.
The Impossible vVhat would you Happens think if you should in India see a man take off his hat as he walked along the street and put it on for a coat? If while you were talking to an audience who seemed to be interested and listening attentive- ly, Lhey suddenly walked off and left you? If you found 15 scorpions
1902J GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
in your bath-room r If told that which is so different from our own. They are set forth as slavish imi- 100 scorpions were found in your tators, altho they have borrowed bath-tent? If your washerwoman less than any other people; all in- only charged you 15 cents a week ventiveness is denied to them, altho for doing your clothes? If your the world is indebted to them for a dish-towels were starched stiff and long series of the most useful in- your collars and cuffs came home ventions; they are supposed to adlimp? If a heathen boy 8 years here doggedly to their traditions, old should recite the Peloubet altho in the course of their history Catechism of the Old and ~ew they have passed through many profound mutations of belief.- Testaments r If a heathen boy 12 Evangelisches Missions ilfagazin.
years old read the New Testament What a Chinese Bishop Hoare, in a through 3 times? If a little girl Official Said. recent address beshould come to Sunday-school with fore the Church Misall her clothing in her arms? If in a village about 40 boys were learn- sionary Society of England, gave ing the life of Christ, all of them the following suggestive reminiscaste boys of heathen parents? If cence: "I remember, five and in the same village the schoolboys twenty years ago, sitting at the recited more than 1,000 Scripture table of dear old Bishop Russell verses in one day? If in 10 or 15 with a high English official from years this should no longer be a Peking. The bishop asked this genheathen village? tleman if he had ever come across any traces of the influence of Chris- MISS K. BOOKER. tianity among the higher classes- among the highest officials. The The Hunger of Writing in mid- gentleman said that he had once a Missionary. ocean, on his way asked a high Chinese official if he had ever read the Bible. The man, from San Fran- he said, went back into an inner cisco to China, Dr. W. S. Ament room, and he brought out a notealluded to his glad anticipations of book full of extracts from the New participating in the work of build- Testament, and he said that he had ing up the Christian civilization in read the New Testament through the old empire. "I shall rejoice," and through, and had made extracts he says, "when the walls of the of all that he had admired most. old city of Pekin heave in sight. I And then, after he had put the book long for them as for hid treasures. upon the table, he laid his hand The old city belongs to God, bought upon it, and he said, 'If only the by the blood of the martyrs and people who profess this religion tears of the saints, consecrated by were to live in accordance with its years of Christian labor. We want precepts, this religion would spread our heritage." all over the world.' "
The Much- Never has a great Dr. Griffith This gifted veteran misunderstood people been more John Rejoices missionary and pio- Chinese flagrantly misun- neer in Hunan derstood than the writes thus to the LondonChronicle: Chinese. They are decried as stu- In the opening of a chapel in pid, because there is lacking to us Changsha the hopes of many years a medium which should be trans- have been realized. It has been parent enough to disclose our my privilege to open not a few thoughts to them or theirs to us. chapels in China during these 47 They are stigmatized as barbarians, because we find ourselves incapable of understanding a civilization
years. In Hupeh I have opened assumed to be, not only the ruler, many, and within the past6months but the creator of all things. I have opened 4 in Hunan. It was From about 800 B.C. the title a great joy to open the chapels at Shang-ti is more rarely used, and Heng Chou, Heng Shan, and Si- begins to be replaced by another, showing a progressive alienation angtan at the close of last year, but from the consciousness of God. the greatest joy of all was re- China Must There is no doubt served for the opening of this chapel Advance that the forces of in Changsha. Confucianism are 'ren or twelve years ago the viper thoruughly alarmed, and feel they must arouse themselves for selfpress of Changsha was very active. preservation against the encroach- The valley of the Yangtse was ments of Christianity. Reform is flooded with its anti-foreign and now in the air. All classes of the Chinese are discussing it, whether anti-Christian literature-the filth- reformers or otherwise. There is iest and most malignant literature a small group of reformers in Pe- king waiting and hoping for better the world has ever seen. At that times, but for the present they are time no foreigner dare show his crushed under the feet of the powhead in Hunan. That press was ers that be. There are also scat- tered throughout the empire tens suppressed some time ago; Chou of thousands of reformers of like Han, our arch enemy, is still a pri- spirit, men ready to help the govsoner; and now several missions are ernment in lines of progress as soon as they are permitted so to do, but established in the very city from reform is mostly in the hands of which that unspeakable filth was non-reformers. China may be likened to' a refractory cat which poured forth; These thoughts and an energetic boy has seized by the tail and is dragging forward, while many such thoughts as these kept all the activity of the cat is in the crowding in upon me as I stood in opposite direction! But we have our beautiful little chapel on Sun- no reason for discouragement since the forces of progress are stronger day week, and my heart was filled 'than the forces of conservatism. with deep gratitude and great glad- The influence of foreign govern- ments, of trade, of Western learnness. ing, of Ohristian missions, are all .Tune 1, 1902, will always be re- operating to produce a new order of things in Ohina. Ohina is fastened mem bered by me as one of the hap- to a progressive world, and mnst move from this time forth, and piest days in my missionary life. with ever increasing progress.
The Chinese The Allegemeine REV. D. Z. SHEFFIELD.
Word for Missions- Zeit- Dr. Richard It appears that is Honored. some months ago God 8chrift has an ar- the Ohinese Foreign ticle showing very Office received orders to consult with Bishop Favier, representing clearly that in the canonical Chin- the Roman Oatholic Ohurch, con- ese classics "Shang-ti" always means the personal God; literally, "The lofty One enthroned above the Firmament." He is represented as the ruler of all. of whom kings are the delegates, and who, if they are obstinately negligent or vicious, gives their places to others; who makes them answerable for the vir- tue of their people, while their people are not answerable for them; who sends good or evil upon the nations, according to"their deserts; who, after death, raises virtuous rulers to a share of his divine dig- nity, so that secondary sacrifices may be offered to them; who is al- ways descrihed as wise, holy, and benignant, never as affected with the evil paesions attributed, for in- stance, to Jupiter; who is always
i902] GENEliAL MISSiONARY iNTELLtGEr.CE
cerning religious matters, and later forth from 2,000 to 3,000 graduates every year to scatter the seeds of was ordered to select some Protes- truth in all parts of this land.
tant missionary to be also counseled The Recent A clear majority with. The choice fell upon Dr. Election in for the Oonstitu- Timothy Richard, who has been so Japan tionalists, Marquis active in publishing good literature Ito's party, has in Ohinese. And this decree has been returned. Vhether that gone forth from the throne: means a retirement of the present Ve have received a memorial cabinet and an early return to from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating that foreigners from power of the marquis himself, it the West are divided into two religions-·namely, Roman Oatholi- were idle to prophesy, but many cism and Protestantism. The said ministry speaks in the highest predict such a result. Ex-foreign terms of recommendation of Dr. Timothy Richard, who is at present Minister Kato is one of the ablest in Peking, and is a representative of the Protestant missions. We men el€cted_ Notwithstanding his know Dr. Richard to be a man of great learning, high attainments, expressed wish to retire from politand strict sense of justice-qualities we deeply admire and commend. ical life, Hon. K. Kataska, the Ve therefore hereby command the said Ministry of Foreign Affairs new president of the Doshisha, was to take the scheme the said ministry has lately drawn up, with the enthusiastically reelected, probably object of making Ohristians and non-converts to live harmoniously because of his sterling character with each other throughout the empire, to Dr. Richard, and consult and the brave stand he has taken with him on the matter, with the sincere hope that, with the valua- against bribery, gambling, and ble assistance of that gentleman, the object in view may be arrived other immoralities. Mr. T. Y okoi, at, and the masses be able to live at peace with their neighbors, the ex-president of the Doshisha, was Ohristians. defeated by a narrow margin. The number of Ohristian sympathizers will be larger than in any previous parliament.-Cong1'egationalist.
Religious Rev. J. O. Ambler AFRICA Condition of states that recent Good News Rev. W. M. Morri- from the son writes: " This Japan religious statistics Upper Kongo popUlation has as to Japan have grown enormously brought the following facts to light: at Luebo in the past five years, and we believe it will continue to in- (1) The most powerful sect of the Buddhists crease, so long as the people can shows a larger criminal list than any other. live here in peace. The mission station is splendidly located just in (2) The present majority of religious per- the midst of this large population, sons amonl': the middle classes of Japan are and we are happy to say that admittedly Christians. through our active evangelistic ef- forts we now have converts in (3) The lower classes still cling to Bud- nearly all of these villages. Every dhism more through superstitious ignorance afternoon, the missionaries, with a than from actual belief in it. company of native evangelists, can be seen going from town to town, (4) The upper classes remain committed to holding services. The result of all the religiOUS views of the emperor and cocrt. this is that there has been a most remarkable awakening both in the And Mr. Ambler concludes with church and in the schools. The the remark that from the analogy catechumen classes, where inquirof histmy we may say that the religion of the middle classes is really the only energizing spiritual force at work in Japan. And it is encouraging to note in view of this that Ohristian schools are sending
ers come for instruction, are so Dutch and English will work ami- crowded that we can hardly man- cably, and pave the way for a real age the great numbers. Last Sun- amalgamation of interests. It will day, May 11, witnessed the unpre- be a happy day for South Africa cedented number of nearly 140 when the long racial rivalry which accessions to the church on profes- lay behind the recent struggle is sion of faith. We have not heal'd, forgotten, and a true national feel- at this writing, how many were ing replaces it.
received at Ibanj, our other station, The Situation Rev. H. D. Good- on that day, but the work and the conditions there are almost exactly Since the enough writes as the same as at Luebo. There, t90, have congregated about the mission Boer War. follows in the Indea great many people, seeking peace and refuge. The church building pendent of the sitat Luebo has been enlarged three times to accommodate the ever- uation and the prospect: increasing crowds. Now it has become necessary to enlarge again, I believe that religiously the or at least we must do something. Boers will exert a great and good We need a building to seat 1,500. influence upon South Africa in the At the Sunday morning service the future. As is well known, the Boers building is packed till it can not at'e deeply religious. Perhaps it is hold another soul, and many of not so well known that their ministhose who come a little late must ters are in general a well-educated necessarily sit on the outside and and spiritual body of men. While look through the doors and win- the influence of these ministers dows. The Sunday-school, which has been thrown on the side of at Luebo convenes immediately war, and in favor of continuing the after the morning service, is now war long after it was seen to be crowded to overflowing." hopeless, yet recognizing now that it is the will of God that they should Prospects in The settlement of come into the British Empire, I South Africa the Transvaal ap- have no doubt that they will lay aside their bitterness and teach the pears to be proceed- people to do the same. These mining satisfactorily so far. In one isters in time, as the two races bedistrict as many as 400 families come mingled, will have a profound have already been put into posses- and spiritual influence upon the sion of their farms, with 12,000 ministers of other denominations. cattle and 500 horses. The chief In later years the Dutch Reformed trouble lies in the scarcity in the Church was becoming awakened as supply of native labor on the one to its duty toward the heathen side, and the increased cost of liv- population about them, and were ing on the other; while the dis- doing considerable mission work. banding of the Irregulars has I am prepared to see the Dutch Church take a leading part in the Christianizing of the African races, and I would not be surprised if in the future, when that Church has become imbued with the mission- aryidea, the Boers, who in the past have treated the blacks so cruelly, may become most friendly toward them. This problem of the white and the black looms up '1head as the great problem of South Africa.
flooded the market with unem- ISLANDS OF THE SEA ployed white men. These difficul- ties are inseparable from the situa- Dr. Paton At the advanced tion; often some of the worst suf- at Work age of 76, after a ferings caused by a great war come . Again long and serious afterward. But so far as the pros- illness, the vener- pects of final settlement are con- able apostle of the New Hebrides, cerned, there is every promise that Dr. John G. Paton, has been so far
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENOE
restored to health as to return to they came to the sage conclusion his work on the island of Aniwa. that we too were cannibals, and The enthusiastic welcome given to had men cooked in our country and him by the natives revealed how sent out to us. deeply Dr. Paton was beloved by them all. Dr. David Orombie, who The Maoris of The spiritual condiaccompanied Dr. Paton from Syd- New Zealand tion of the Maori ney, in a recent lettel' writes that, on leaving Aniwa, when he caught corresponds very the last glimpse of the venerable much to that of the lapsed masses missional'Y, he was seated on the of large cities, but there are quite trunk of a tree, with the natives a number of organizations work- gathered round him, listening as ing for their uplifting. Govern- he preached. ment schools, taught mostly by Ohristian teachers, are scattered How It "Why do the mis- everywhere among them. The old Looked to sionaries come? " boys of Te Aute Oollege, an excel- a Savage is the question lent secondary school, have formed an association for the physical, in- whi ch savages tellectual, and mOl'al amelioration naturally ask and sometimes an- of their people. They have travelswer in a cUl'ious fashion of their ing secretaries, who visit the own. At first the savages of New various pahs to instruct the people. Guinea thought the missionaries They hold conferences on lines had left their own land because similar to the summer schools, and they were hungry. Ohalmers, the their influence on the race is already famous missionary pioneer among telling most beneficially. The Anthe cannibal tribes, reports a con- glican, Wesleyan, and Presbyteversation with some of them; rian churches are also actively engaged in carrying on mission " What is the name of your country?" work among the people. There H Beritani." must be a staff altogether of about H Is it a larg-e land?" 12 ordained white missionaries and "'Yes." 40 native pastors engaged in this U What is your chief 1" work. The Anglicans have a board- U A woman named Victoria." ing-school for girls at Hukmere, U'Vhat, a woman? 11 but more schools for girls are ur- " Yes, and she has great power." gently needed. In addition to the .. Why did you leave your country?" Te Aute College for the boys, there "To teach you and to tell you of the great is a Wesleyan boarding-school for loving Spirit who loves us all" boys at Auckland, while the Wes- ~. Have you cocoanuts in your country ~ ,. leyans have a theological train- HNo." ing college at Te Raw. H Have you yams? n "No." WILLIAM MAWSON. "'Have you taro? " "No." MISCELLANEOUS H Have you SRgO ?" Statistics The Un ita s Fra- " Have you sweet potatoes? " of the trulIl in the Euro- UNo." pean or German " Have you breadfruit? 'I Moravian "No," "Have you plenty of hoop iron and toma· Church Province consists of hawks ?" 23 congregations, II. Yes, in great abundance." "We understand now why you have come. with 7,772 members, the net in- You have nothing to eat in BerHani, hut you have plenty of tomahawks and hoop iron crease of the membership during with which you can buy food." 1901 having been 38. Oonnected Seeing us opening tinned meat, with this province are the follow- successful missionary work, have ing : Bethel. Australia. 258 ; in neglected to train the native .Russia. 30; the Diaspora mission- agency, and their missionary aries and their children. 90; a total, churches have too often been weak therefore, of 8,150. The member- and comparatively fruitless. They ship of the churches in Bohemia is are now recognizing the necessity 726. of education, and are setting them- The British Province is divided selves to remedy the defect. The· into 5 districts, with 42 congl'ega- China Inland Mission at first gave tions, numbers 3.458 communi- scant attention to the gathering of cants, or a total membership of churches or the organizing of a 6,058. The number of members and Christian community, and conse- teachers in the Sunday-schools in quently felt but slightly the need the British Province is 5,461. of education as a part of their mis- The American Province, North, sionary propaganda. The results divided into 5 distdcts (including were what might be expected: strik- Alberta, Canada), consists of 88 ing experiences, notable conver- congregations. The number of sions, apparently rapid progress, communicants is 12,526, or a total with little permanency, and an in- membership of 18,529. The Ameri- fluence somewhat narrow1y con- can Province, South, consists of fined to the immediate presence of 3,247 communicants, or a total of the missionary force. Experience 5,367. The total number of com- and observation are gradually cor- municant members in the two recting the methods of this inter- American Provinces is therefore esting society, and they are organiz- 15,773. The entire number of per- ing churches, opening schools, and sons . in connection with the ordering their efforts for the per- churches of this province is 23,896. manent possession and Christian The missionaries in foreign fields, training of the regions which they together with their children, num- visit, REV. JUDSON SMITH.
ber 450.
The total membership of the Mo- National It must be acknowl- ravian Church is. accordingly, 39,- Churches edged, in looking 280. over Christian mis- At the close of 1900 the number sions, that we pay too little atten- of communicants on the various tion to the development of national missions was 32,028, the total of churches, but native churches are people under the care of the mis- too largely dependent on the home sionaries being 96,877. churches. We import denomina- . tional differences into the mission- Education The proper training ary field, and also our church con- a Necessity of a native ministry stitutions, our language, our cul- in Missions was neglected in ture, our way of thinking, This is .
the Hawaiian Is- unhappily furthered by the modern lands when the Gospel was win- policy of colonization, which almost ning its swift and sweeping vic- everywhere destroys nationality.
tories there. And when those When the Senegal Negro has to churches were made independent learn that France is his fatherland, of mission control, they lacked and the black man in the German suitable leaders, and gradually colonies must sing " Germany, went backward, and became ·weak Germany stands above all," it is and inefficient. The Moravians, deplorable, the louder is the call amid all their splendid record of for missions to intervene and seek
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
to rescue the endangered nation- as I can count. A drunken hus- ality. Dr. Warneck touches a vul- band, cutting his wife's throat, nerable point in saying that the brought me first there, as a report- true relation to native manners has er, years ago. It seemed somehow very commonly not yet been just the scene for such a tragedy.
found. When Paul lives "ethnic- In this slough was an English fam- ally" assuredly this does not mean ily, honest, decent people, whose that he involves himself in heathen presence there, when I came to sin, but submitted himself to na- know about them, redeemed the tional usage. So also Christian whole foul spot. The wife was like missions, on the one hand, should It dozen charitable societies rolled strive to maintain and Christianize into one, and the tenement, besot- silCh native usages as have no di- ted and foul, held her in reverence rect connection with idolatry, as as a ministering angel. She was are religiously neutral, o.r whose that truly. 'Vith her husband out religious foundation has vanished at work, earning just enough at out of popular consciousness. A that time to enable them to scratch nationally Christian system of along, and two little children to usages will thus arise, and the look after, she was everlastingly Christian life be felt as a national doing something for some one who life. needed it in the house-nursing the On the other hand, missions are sick, sitting up nights with deliri- bound to set themselves against ous men, planning and interfering the pedantry with which some en- to keep the boys out of mischief. I deavor to force European manners sometimes hear people say, "Oh! upon the heathen world, not to what can I do? Ther;e is so much." speak of imposing European views. She did what came to hand, and Moreover, the mother tongue ought her hands were always full. I be- to be cherished. Here also we may lieve she had more real influence learn of Paul. It is wonderful how. over the lives of those poor tenants Paul has penetrated not only into than an army of mere preachers the speech of the Greeks, but also would have had. That is what one into their way of thinking, so that person can do by giving himself, in the New Testament too we find not his money. It is pleasant to genuinely Greek thoughts. It is as add that better days came to these if he had wrung from them bylisten- two, as they were bound to. The . ing the very spirit of their mother man is now the janitor of a down- tongue, the tongue of their heart, in town office building, but his wife order to speak to them that they has not lost her interest in h,er old might hear God in their intimate friends. She is to-day one of the speech. Warneck says, in his strongest props of the Kin g' s pregnant way, that the missionary Daughters in their tenement house command does not read, " Go, work. JACOB A. RIlS.
teach all nations English."-Evan- gelisches Missions Magazi11. Young People Rev. E. M. Bliss, and Missions WI' i t i ng recently Worth Far Batavia Street was upon the increasing More than one slum tenement, activity of the young in missions, Money with three real' finds much to encourage from the houses upon the lot, fact that the movement is broad in that challenged the constant atten- its scope, broad in its fellowship, tion of the King's Daughters. There while loyal to each particular were eighty families in it, as near church; is thorough, earnest, prl!>Y-
erful; has a notable leadership, and it by its founder. Its points of he concludes: difference with Christianity in aim If this shall be true, this may and result are quite as important well prove to be what Mr. Wishard has called it, .. A Movement of as those of doctrine. H. o. D. Movements;" movements in every branch of the Church, in every com- DEATH NOTICE munity, till the 5,000,000 young people have their 5,000 representa- Rev. William On August 30 the tives in other lands and the neg- Bird. of Syria venerable Rev. lected parts of their own land, and the Student Volunteer Movement William Bird, of motto be made to include the non- Syria, entered into rest. His mis- student workers in business life, sionary career was exceptional, the pupils in all our Sunday-schools, bot:l in length and usefulness. He young people of whatever class or was the son of the Rev. Isaac Bird, condition of society. Then shall the realization of the promise come and was born August 17, 1823. He when the command is fulfilled. was graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in 1844, and at Andover Theo- Islam-••A In the October RE- logical Seminary in 1850. Aftel' a Correction VIEW (page 799) a short experience as a teacher, he became pastor of the Congrega- note on "Christ and tional church in Gorham, Maine. the Koran," quoted from Harvest In 1853 he began his career in Syria, Field, might convey the impression where for 49 years he labored for that the vital points on which Mo- Christ, first as a missionary of the hammedans and Christians disagree are few and definite. Such American Board, and after the rean impression, however, needs to adjustment of 1870,'as a missionbe limited by consideration of the ary of the Presbyterial! Board. Mohammedan pointof view. After polytheism had already received Mr. Bird belonged to the highest type of foreign missionaries. He its death-blow in all tpe neighbor- was distinguished not so much for ability, tho he was a man of ing regions, Mohammed stood forth marked power, nor for scholarship, in Arabia to teach that it is the tho he had ample learning, as for dominating sin of the world, and beauty and strength of Christian in fact the only sin capable of sep- character. He was preeminently a arating man from his God. Hence man who walked with God, and his followers, secure in their en- whose daily walk and conversation joyment, as mopotheists, of the were so pervaded by the spirit of special favor of God, and rating as Christ that all who saw him took hlasphemy any knowledge in relig- knowledge of him that he had been ion or morals outside of the slender with Jesus. The impression he information which their teacher made upon both missionaries and had been able to gather to this da,y, Syrians was extraordinary, have tied down their religious thought to refutation of polythe- NOTICES ism and defense of the unity of God. Their strength has been The China Inland Mission has spent on thrashing old straw in- opened new offices for the United States in the ~'itherspoon Buildstead of utilizing the grains of ing, Philadelphia. The offices in truth which they have in hand. Toronto are to be maintained. as In other words, during thirteen representing the work in Canada. centuries Islam has lain stranded A missionary home has also been in the shallows of the elementary opened in Norristown, Pa, religious knowledge bequeathed to The Missionary Rest Home for West African Missionaries has been changed from Las Palmas to Geneto, Laguna Teneriffe, Oanary Islands. T. M. MACKNIGHT.
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1897
PETER AND HIS SIGHTED
Peter was organist at the London Mission, and head teacher in Mr. Murray'.
School for the Blilld at Peking. (See page 3.S2.) MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOL. XX. No. 5.-0ld Series. – MAY. – VOL. X. No. 5.-N6'IIJ &'fie8.
THE PROMINENT SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE LAST HALF CENTURY-THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT. .
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Like a bold headland at sea, with its lighthouse to guide the.
mariuer, stands in the survey of the past fifty years, the singularly varied attempts to raise the standard of practical godliness. .
Under different names and from divers sources, like mingling streams merged into one flood, the current has been in one direction.
Sometimes these have been called" Holiness Movements," sometimes the name, "Entire Sanctification," or "Second Conversion," or, "Higher Christian Life," has clung to them; they have been stigmatized as "Perfectionism," or as now more mildly described as "for the deepen- ing of spiritual life." As phrases have become obnoxious to criticism, linkt with fanatical extremes, or misleading to the public, others have been adopted. But it must be plain that in all these efforts, the same Holy Spirit has been at work, showing disciples their lack of conformity to God and leading willing souls to new steps of self-sur- render and appropriation of Christ. This, beneath all change of names and variefy of forms, is the essential fact.
The master problem of our day is how to make the possible life of a disciple real? There is an ideal which is to be kept before us as the model and pattern of perfection, and which we shall not reach-which, to reach, would leave no mOre progress possible. When Thorwaldsen had, for once, realized his own conception, he felt that henceforth he could accomplish nothing. But there is a possible life, a measure of actnal approximation to the ideal, which is practically attainable, and has been attained; and it is a great mistake and mischief to count this possible and practicable life as ideal, as is too often the case, because will the level of living is so low, and the habits of living so carnal, that the possible becomes impossible, because of a too weak to resist evil, aud an aspiration that is stifled with the impure air we breathe.
* This periodical adopts the Orthography of t!w following Uule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philological Association and the Philological Society of England :-Change d or ed final to t when so prononnced, except when the e affects a preceding sound.-PuBLISBERS.
PROMINENT !!PIRITUAL MOVEMBNT!!
The purpose of this paper, and of others which precede and follow, is to find and show, if we may, how far a holy life, victorious over sin and restful in God, is withjn reach; and what are the secrets of elltrance upon this Land of Promise, this present inheritance which God would have all His saints' enter and enjoy.
First, let us contrast the average life of disciples with the scrip- tural standard, and, at least, see what is lacking. Socrates held his mission in Athens to be this, to bring men" from ignorance uncon- scious to ignorance conscious," and the first step in all attainment is to see that we have not yet attained. ]'rom at least seven points of view this cDntrast may be studied: 1. The Realization and Verification of things unseen and eternal.
2. The Separation and Sanctification of conduct and character.
3. The 'rransformation of the Inner Life of disposition and tem- per.
4. The Enthronement of Christ as Master and Lord of the Whole Being.
5. The Experience of the Holy Spirit's indwelling and inworking.
6. The Enjoyment of the Rest Life of Faith, and freedom from anxiety. .
7. The Entrance into the Holiest of All, or the right and privilege of Intercession.
If this be not the exact order of importance, and of experience, it is not widely divergent therefrom; and a few words upon each of these several points may help to impress the general theme upon our thought, and to show how natural it is that God's people should feel the kindlings of a higher and holier desire, and feel after some much more advanced attainment.
The sense of the unseen and eternal lies at the basis of spiritual life, which, by its very term, shows its kinship with the invisible and imperishable. This world is real, because it appeals to our bodily senses; the unseen world seems vague and illusive, because it is beyond the realm of sense, and, unless faith makes it real, it will grow more distant and shadowy, till it becomes a mere phantom of fancy. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews rebukes those who have not "by reason of use exercised their senses to discern good and evil." Obviously these are not bodily senses, but higher faculties given us of God, as channels of contact and communication with the unseen world. Reason is the sense of the true and false; conscience, of the right and wrong; sensibility, of the attractive and repulsive; imagination, of the ideal and invisible; memory is the sense of the past, and hope of the future. If these senses are used, they become keener and more acute; if unused, duller and more blunt.
The main office of "closet" communion is the vivid sense of God, and hence our Lord's first lesson in the school of prayer emphasizes "thou" and" thy "-for it is necessary to shut all others out, if we would get the vivid vision of God. Far more important is it to hear Him speak to thee than to speak to Him.* "Wait on the Lord"- literally, "be silent unto Him." This waitiug for a vision prepares us for "the practice of the preseuce of God," which Jeremy Taylor makes the "third iustrument of holy liviug." This vision of God makes the unseen world such a verity, a reality, that it is as assured a certainty as the material universe, and he who thus walks with the unseen God, like Moses, endures as seeing him who is invisible. The weekly Sabbath rest answers a similar purpose: it leaves us ffee to converse with celestial things. As the eye rests itself and improves its vision by occasionally looking away from nearer objects to the far horizon or the farthest stars of heaven, the whole man rests by looking at the unseen and eternal. And he who robs God of holy time by secularizing the Sabbath, cheats himself far more.
So, also, it was expedient for us that Christ should go away, that henceforth He should not be known after the flesh; and that the Holy Spirit should come to dwell within, with all disciples, at all times, and school us to know Christ by that other unveiling of his personal presence through the inner sense, compelling us to walk by faith not by sight, no longer dependent on the grosser and carnal senses.
So soon as we really begin to live in this unseen realm and walk with this unseen presence, every other attainment becomes possiblein a sense natural. To be uuder the eye of God-consciously, constantly-to set God always before us, is to have Him at our right hand, so that we can not be moved. What holy intrepidity, when He is near, and what courage in conflict with evil and confronting barriers to service! The conduct and character become separated unto Him aud sauctified, because it is impossible to siu deliberately when He is not lost sight of. It is when we flee from His presence, like Jonah, that disobedience is habitual. To hold myself directly under God's eye, and to staud before Him with my eye upon Him, waiting for his beck or glance, compels persoual holiness-is itself the very attitude of holy obedieuce. In His presence sin flees as shadows before the light, for transgressions are deeds of darkness..
Even the inmost life of temper and disposition becomes transformed -trausfigured-when we live as in His secret chambers. When He encompasses and enspheres us, He interposes between us and all the foes of our inward peace. Envy, jealousy, malice, uncharitableness, anger, impatience, ungentleness, unloveliness,-all these belong outside of the sphere where God and the saint meet and dwell together. It is amazing how immediate, and even instantaneous, may be the actual entrance into a new atmosphere of inward peace, when once a disciple, after many years of hopeless struggle and wrestle with that inward * See very important text. Numbers VII : 89. tormentor-a vicious temper, an unholy anger, an unsanctified dispo~ sition-suddenly enters into the conscious presence of God-feels that He is a living, present God, and that He can bring under control this wicked and unruly member-the tongue-this even more unruly "member," the temper; so that he just gives it over into His keeping and lets Him subdue it. And then, to see Him do it! and not only conquer it, but· displace it, and in its stead give us outright its very opposite-flooding our hearts with His love-so that instead of a con- stant war against evil, there is a new impulse, a passion for the right, and we wonder that we ever saw any occasion for the childish impa- tience and fretfulness and selfishness of past years!
What a step, too, when the keys of the whole house are surrendered up to the Lord Jesus, and the whole government of the little empire within transferred to His shoulder; when the last lockt room and cupboard, and secret chamber of our imagery and idolatry are thrown open to Him, and He sweeps out all the vile things which the godless life has hoarded and hidden; and then turns the very hiding places of our abandoned idols into the sanctuary of His presence and com- munion. The enthronement of Ohrist in the soul-that is His mani- festation unto the believer, as never unto the world (See that crown of all promises, John xiv.: 23.) Then it is that God "reveals His Son" in us, and shows the vast difference between a Ohrist 10ithin and a Ohrist without-a Ohrist no longer knocking at the door but sup- ping at the banquet board, He with us and we with Him.
Christ ought to be, and may be, on the throne of our inner being, . Master, Lord, Sovereign. And when He is enthroned, self is dethroned.
The self-life is the last inner enemy to be destroyed. It is the root of all forms of sin; and, long after every known sin and weight are put away, it survives; and when every other form of pride is brought into the dust, the subtle survival of the self-life is seen in the pride of humility. What a hydra-headed monster self is! With its self-trust, self-help, self-will,' self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-defense, self-glory, always intruding between the soul and its true Sovereign. To enthrone Ohrist in the inmost life, is to find self-distrust, self-surrender, self- denial, self-r.enunciation, self-oblivion, taking the place of those hide- ous evils we have mi.med.
As to the Spirit's work, how few disciples even understand it! That sublime sentence of ten words: He that is ,"oined unto the Lord 1·8 one spirit (1 Oor. vi.: 17) is the summit of all revelation as to the believer's inseparable wedlock with the Lord, and it is the key which unlocks both Epistles to the Oorinthians. For, inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is one with the believing human spirit, He must evince the unity by the impress of God left upon the believer's inner life and outer life. And so Paul teaches us that God's wisdom is reflected in the disciple's knowledge of divine things; God's ownership, in His possession of the believer as His temple; God's sovereignty, in His distribution of gifts and spheres of service; God's eternity, in the glory of the undying resurrection body; God's power in the believer's ttansformation into His likeness; God's holiness, in His sanctification, and God's blessedness in His ecstatic visions and experiences.* But, besides the Spirit's indwelling, our privilege is to know His threefold inworking: His 8ealing, in our assurance, His anointing, in our illumination, His filling, in our gracious power for service. What a monstrous evil is that, when a child of God, who may know and feel the miracle of such indwelling, inworking and ontworking of the Divine Spirit, lives a life that so grieves and quenches the Holy Ghost, that He is like a silent "voice" or a stifled and scarce burning flame!
As to the Rest Life of Faith, with its casting of all care upon God, and its perfect peace of trust, the fact that such experience is possible ought to fill every disciple with a divine unrest until it is actually his possession. This is the spiritual Canaan, the true land of promise, now to be entered, appropriated, enjoyed. Egypt with its bondage, burdens, sins, and sorrows left behind-the desert, with its wandering barrenness, disquiet and defeats, also left behind, and the Jordan of a new consecration and self-surrender crosst, that He who brought us out may bring us in, into conscious fellowship with God, victory over the Anakim, possession of the promises, and fruitfulness of service. All this disciples have known like Paul, and, thank God, thousands now know; and it is only because unbelief limits God and disobedience limits ourselves, that all who are born of God do not cross this Jordan and march through this Land of milk and honey, vineyards and orchards, forests of timber, and mines of precious metal, and claim it as their own.
And so we come to touch upon that last feature of the possible life in God, the privilege of entering within the rent veil and standing as priests, immediately before the Merc} Seat as intercessors. Prevailing prayer is so rare that it seems to be a lost art. Yet what unequivocal promises offer their crown to the suppliant believer! "Whai80ever ye shall ask in my name "-can anything surpass that? The only limitation to that universal "whatsoever," is "IN MY NAME," which is seven times- repeated for emphasis (John xiv.-xvi.) The Name stands for the Person, and to ask in His name is to ask by right of oneness, identification by faith, withHim ; so that in effect He becomes the suppliant. Whoever authorizes me to proffer a request in His name, himself makes that request through me, and the party of whom it is askt sees him' back of the petitioner. This is our Lord's last lesson in the school of prayer, as closet seclusion was the first; and well it may be the last, for beyond it there is nothing more to be learned or enjoyed.
• See 1 Cor. H., n., TH., xli., xv., and II Cor. iii., Ti., xii. It is only too plain that very few, even among praying saints, do so prevail in prayer, and they knolO it. Thousands of earnest petitions seem wasted, and if we can judge by results, are wasted. Either, therefore, God is untrue or man is unfaithful. The former supposition would be blasphemy; and we are driven to the conclusion that there is little real asking in Jesus' name. Here we tOllch the real core of the difficulty. Unbelief, disobedience, an alienated heart, separate the believer from Christ and the Spirit, so that the bond is practically ineffective; prayer in Jesus' name is too high a privilege and prerogative to be enjoyed without intimate union, a sympathy that Christ himself calls a symphony (Matt. xviii, 19. Greek). Symphony is musical accord, and implies chords, attuned to the same key and to each other. Even a saved soul may live a life so practically unbelieving, unloving, unsubmissive, that there is discord rather than concord-the symphony becomes impossible, and the words ., in Jesus' name" become a mere form, if not a farce.
The teaching of the word is unmistakable. James, and John, and Paul, complete Christ's lesson, and teach that it is only holiness oj life which brings such accord with God as to make possible prayer in Jesus' name. While I continue in sin, neglect known duty, regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord can not hear me, for I sound in His' ear a discordant note. My disobedient life may make even prayer a new affront to God. But so far as we are swayed by faith, love, obedience, zeal for God's glory, the Spirit groans within and our prayers find their way into Christ's censer, and come back in answers with the fire from the altar above.* The believing, obedient disciple may thus enter into the Holiest of aU, and take his stand as a priest-note the meaning of the wordbefore God, he may come to the very Mercy Seat, claim the intercessor's right and place, and, like Noah and Job, Abraham and Moses, Samnel and David, Elijah and Daniel, prevail with God. What wonder that the patriarch of Bristol, sixty-five years ago, gave himself to a life of intercession that he might prove to an unbelieving world and a half believing chnrch that God is a present, living, faithfnl prayer-hearing God.
We have thus, as briefly as was possible, outlined the holiness movement of our century. It is this life of sevenfold privilege, power, and blessing, that the Holy Spirit is urging upon God's people by many forms of appeal, and the fact that extremes and errors now and then appear in connection with human advocacy of a holier life should not serve to obscure the fact that underneath all the worthless driftwood that is borne on by this current, there is a deep, onflowing River of God.
Before this paper closes, we must at least advert to some of the • Rom. vlli.; Rev. viII conspicuous leaders of these holiness movements, if only to mention a few of them.
Oharles Grandison Finney was one of the conspicuous promoters of this advance. He stands especially for the 1'esponsible activity of the human 1oill, versus the passivity of a fatalistic election. He found himself in an age of apathy, when even disciples were idly and indifferently consenting to a life, alike devoid of holiness and power, waiting for some irresistible impulse from above. And he thundered out remonstrance. He emphasized the necessity and liberty of the Human Will, in salvation and sanctification; and carried his doctrine so far, that he maintained that all sin and holiness depend mainly on the attitude of the will, and hence that a perfect choice of God is essentially a perfect life.
Asa Mahan, and others of the same school, represent especially the definite reception oj the Holy Spirit in sanctification and for service. He maintained with singular force and power that an unholy life is one which is inconsistent with the fundamental law of salvation; that there is to be a new {lreation, and that the disposition is to be radically renewed by the grace of God; and that this inner transfiguration may be as instantaneous as the type of it, in Ohrist's transfiguration.
William E. Boardman stands for a higher Ohristian life-a change, corresponding to conversion, and which is often known as a second conversion-in which the change of attitude Godward, conscious wit~ ness of God's indwelling and inworking, and power to work for human salvation, are as unmistakable as the transition from night to day.
R. Pearsall Smith, and others like him, advocated and emphasized non-continuance in sin, abandonment of every 1()eight, even tho not positively sinful, and a definite consecration, whereby the wilderness life is left for the Canaan life.
The Plymouth brethren, with all their divisive, exclusive, and sometimes controversial tendencies, have with uncompromising hos~ tility fought for the Word of God as the final rule of faith and prac~ tise, for a simple apostolic worship, and a literal obedience to Ohrist's teachings. They have done as much as any class of disciples to pro~ mote practical separation from the world, and must not be forgotten in the general estimate of the factors contributing to the great final result, a sanctified and peculiar people for God.
The Methodists deserve recognition, as leaders in insisting on " Sanctification," ever since the days of Wesley, but we are now particularly tracing recent developments without respect to denominations. We should have given the Mystics also a very prominent place in this survey, only that their history reaches back through the ages and demands separate treatment. Yet it is not to be overlookt that every great movement in direction of holier life is inseparable from this great current of thought that is associated with such as Jacob Bohme, St. Theresa, Oatherine of Siena, Madame Guyon, Fenelon, Tauler, and William Law. They who taught "vision by means of a higher light, and action under a higher freedom ,. may have run to extremes, but they got hold of two essential principles that underlie all the highest and 'holiest experiences, and many of them walkt with God.
Among all the leaders of this holiness movement, we regard one, hitherto unnoticed as such, as unsurpast in his way, the late, and widely mourned, Adoniram J. Gordon. Without ever talking much about it, or even thinking of himself as an example or advocate of a holy life, he lived what many others taught, and walkt, while they talkt. Never has the writer known any man whose crystalline beauty and symmetry and transparency of spirit surpast his. How far Dr. Gordon tattgM holiness is seen in his books on the" Twofold Life," the "Ministry of the Spirit,"" How Ohrist Oame to Church," etc. But how he lived holiness, only those know who daily lived in his companionship, and saw his face shine.
Our theme is of sublime practical importance; it is colossal, and overtops all other subjects in its magnitude as related to the triumph of Ohrist in this world. Only a "peculiar people" will ever be" zealous of good works." While we seek to build up missions upon any other foundation than holiness unto the Lord, we are basing our work upon quicksand. All the "enthusiasm" in the world will only be like froth and foam, which overflow and leave nothing behind, a deceptive delusive glow of sentiment, a temporary and untrustworthy excitement that is followed by reaction into more hopeless apathyunless obedience be beneath-and obeuience itself based on the rock of love-a secret sympathy and affinity with God.
It may be well to add, before closing, that the advocates of the "Keswick" teaching desire that it shall not be supposed to advance any new doctrine. All the truths for which Keswick stands are as old as the New Testament; but it is our prayer and endeavor to help others to see that thoy are taught in the word of God, and to claim the promises, and appropriate the power of the Blessed Ohrist. Like the unclaimed riches in the Bank of England, there are mines of unappropriated treasure in the word of God.
If these unworthy words, sent out to be read by thousands of eyes, might be God's call to a new life-might lead our readers to immediate and unconditional commital to the will of God-to a final break with the world, a final abandonment of all known sin, however seemingly trivial; a renunciation of all doubtful indulgences, as "not of faith" and therefore "sin ,.-if the hesitating and unbelieving would take the step into the overflowing Jordan, and test God's power to bring them in and make the promises their own, what fulness of blessing might come to a halting church and a revolted world!
AN OPEN DOOR IN 8lAll-TllE SJlAif
AN OPEN DOOR IN SIAM-THE SHAN STATES.
BY REV. ROBERT IRWIN.
In these days of world-wide missions, when the Ohurch has begun to realize her duty to all nations and peoples in view of her Lord's last command, and has begun in an energetic and systematic way to grapple with the problem of the world's evangelization, it is only necessary to point out some neglected people with their spiritual needs, and before very long the effort will be made to supply them with the Gospel. To call attention to such a land and peoples is the object of this paper.
The SHAN STATES comprise a little larger territory than that of the State of Missouri. They are situated in Eastern Asia, bounded on the North by China, on the East by Tonking, on the South by Laos, and on the West by Burmah. The country is very mountainous and is watered by numerous rivers aud streams. The Maakong divides it into two nearly equal portions. The plains are fertile and rice is the principal crop. Fruits are not abundant; vegetables less so than in Laos or Siam. The people easily make a living. There are two great classes of people, those in the plains and those in the mountains. The plain people are of three principal tribes, closely related to one another and to the Laos-the Lew, the Kuru, and the Ngeeo or Shan. The language of the Lew: and Kuru, both spoken and written, is similar to the Laos. The Lew are by far the most numerous, the Ngeeo and Kuru tribes being confined to the West, and occupying probably not more than one-fourth of the country. In addition to these three main tribes there are a few closely-related smaller tribes scattered throughout, such as the Ti Luang in the extreme North, the Ti Yuen along the East of the Maakong, the Li in the extreme East, the L'wah in the Northeast, the KaHok in Muang Nyong.
Very many tribes inhabit the mountains, and they all differ from the Laos tribes and from one another in dress, customs, language, and religion. The most important of these, so far as we know, are the Kamooh in the Southeast, the Moosur, the Kooey, and Kaw in the central and Southwest, the K'lah, with a thousand fighting men, in the central Northeast, the Lanten, speaking a Ohinese dialect, the Maao and Lamait, south and east and extending into Laos in the vicinity of Chieng Kong. These tribes have no intercourse with one another or with the people of the plains, except in trade, and there are a few in each tribe who can speak the other languages. They are nomadic, remaining two or three years in a place and, impelled by some invisible force, they are migrating steadily southward. Their villages are usually located on or near the summit of a mountaiu, from which they have cleared every vestige of vegetation. In preparing ·rice-fields they display a beautiful abandon. Felling the entire forest, they burn it over and sow among the confused mass of charred logs. No plow is needed. Their civilization is very rude. With the exception of the Lanten they have no books and no written language. One tribe of Moosur say they once had a book of their own, but a stranger visited them and ate it-another way of saying they have lost the art of writing. They have a strange reverence for books. At one village the head man showed us a book bought from a Laos at an exhorbitant price. It was carefully wrapt up and kept on a shelf, and religious offerings made to it. Noone in the tribe could read a word of it, and its meaning was a mystery to them. They were not at all pleased when they found that our Laos could read and understand it, and laugh at the nonsense of worshiping a book. The head man gravely replaced it on the shelf, and changed the topic of conversation. Government is patriarchal, laws are simple, judgment summary, and the customs unchanging. When the matter of accepting the Ohristian religion was presented to one Kaw village, a general council was called, and the question discust for several hours. When it became clear to them that its acceptance meant the giving up of important, immemorial customs, they decided they could not "leave their forefathers." Some of them, notably the Raws, are addicted to drink, and opium, brought from Ohina, is beginning to demoralize some of them. In general, however, they are not grossly immoral.
The civilization of the plain tribes is of a much higher grade, and, like the Laos, is perhaps equal to the Ohinese. They have a large literature, chiefly of a religious nature, much of it translation and semi-translation from Pali. There are numerous histories; and records are kept of all official proceedings. There are also some fiction and poetry. Schools abound in connection with the monasteries (usually called temples), and their teaching is restricted mostly to the rudimentary branches of learning, and to the study of the Buddhist sacred literature, but astrology, demonology, and a practiealuse of the Pali language are also taught. From a third to a half of the male population are more or less educated. There is no oppostion to the education of women, but neither is there provision made for it. Manners and etiquette are cultivated to a much higher degree than with us, and involve speech, posture, position, address, salutation, etc., which must be used between superiors, inferiors, and equals. The science of instrumental music is not well developt, but they have a variety of instruments, and good players are not rare. Tlwir code of laws is elaborate and, in the main, just, but the officials are corrupt. They have a graded system of courts. Litigation is COq1mon, and cases often last for years. Each important prince has a bodyguard of soldiers, and these form the city police as occasio~ demands. There is no standing army, but a system of levy in case of war. In personal appearance the people are of I1verage stature, well-formed, good-looking, of a brownish color, and have not the almond eye of the Chinese. They dress tastily and are sociable and affectionate. Women are respected and sometimes hold high posi- tions. The marriageable age is from sixteen to twenty-two. Marriage is a matter of choice by the persons concerned, but both their families must consent, and the contract must be signed by the heads of each clan. Family life is often harmonious, but adultery and other sexual sins are frightfully common, and the country is full of wrecks of families. Widows and orphans are cared for by relatives. Lepers and persons accused of witchcraft are outcasts.
Just what the political status of the country is now, it is hard to say. Before the last French grab of Sianlese property two years ago, a large part of the Shan States was subject to Britain, part to China, part to Siam,. and part to France, but none of these powers has succeeded in establishing its authority over the scattered tribes, and their rule is only nominal, and amounts to little more than receiving a small annual tribute. In 1893, the British governor, then residing at Fort Stedman on the Salwen, refused Dr. McGilvary and myself a passport to travel through the country, on the ground that the Shan tribes were discontented and turbulent, and his authority over them was so slight that he could not guarantee us protection. The Chinese have no resident official in the country. During our stay in Chieng Hoong, we met the Chinese officer who came for the tribute. The country is divided into petty, independent states. Shortly before we made our trip in 1893, a quarrel, which ended in war, broke out between Muang Lem and Chieng Hoong. The Chieng IIoong people were successful and carried off several large villages of the Lem people as hostages. In general the laws are well administered and lawlessness is not common. The governor of Muang Luang province told us that a man might go alone from one end of the country' to the other and not be molested. Another prince told us that theft was almost unknown in his province. In three months of travel in ten provinces, we certainly saw a well-ordered country. In opening and carrying on mission work it makes little difference to which power the country belongs, except, perhaps, France. It is of no use. to any of them except to keep others from taking it and to secure the right of way into the countries beyond. This is proved by the several easy transfers of large portions of the country made during the late Siamo-French trouble.
The religion of the plain tribes is, as in Loas, a combination of Buddhism and Demonism. The two systems have influenced and modified each other. DemonisDl has peopled the unknown or unexisting Beyond of Buddhism with myriads of good and bad spirits in close touch with mortals, and Buddhism has given a philosophical dignity and structure to the unsubstantial Demonism. vYhile believing in good spirits, tawftboot and tawada, the people think little about them, since they are not much concerned with men, and their whole religious attention is needed to keep themselves out of the clutches of the evil ones. Charms and amulets are worn on the person and placed in the house. In building a house a cabalistic writing is placed on top of the posts under the plate, and a minature house is built on the corner post of the verandah, in which offerings of rice, flowers, little clay animals, etc., are laid daily. "Devil-houses" are erected in consecrated groves and offerings made in times of trouble. Offerings are also made at the temples and in the streets. Buddhist priests prepare the most elaborate offerings of wooden horses, elephants, houses, etc. Strategy is practist to deceive the demons. Streets ;;.re made crooked to bewilder them, and a large party of travelers will sleep in small groups to escape detection. To frighten off the demons, large gongs, the abomination of noises, are beaten day and night in all the temples. On the occasion of an eclipse the whole country is wild with terror, and make every conceivable kind of noise to drive away the demon that is "eating the moon." The other practical religious idea is "tum boon" or making merit. It is a positive doctrine as that of appeasing the spirits is a negative one. To build a temple or a sala,* "booat"t or "pek"t a priest, copy the scriptures, write a book and present it to a temple and to do good deeds of almost any kind, though sometimes it is hard to find the virtue in the deed, are some of the ways of making merit.
In regard to Buddhism as a philosophical system, there are important differences from Buddhism in other countries, which make our work as Christian missionaries easier: A. As to God. Strict Buddhism is atheistic; Laos Buddhism has room for a God, though He does not actually appear in their teachings. They have important personages to perform special functions in the spiritual world. For instance, there is a group of tawaboot who record all the deeds of every man from birth to death, and.• on arrival at the seven-honged! sala in the land of shades, his account (which determines his place of abode until he is reborn into this world), is made up from the books. Again, Poo Ten and Nya Ten (names of a male and female deity) used to have a good deal to do with affairs in this world in the grey dawn of its beginnings, but lately they have retired from actin' life, and now live in some out-ofthe-way heaven with only an indifferent interest in the world or its mortals.
* Rest house.
t To give a son for the prieGthood. The two words are used for ditrerent orders of pritlllts. ; Hong, space between two post•. B. As to the soul. Laos Buddhism makes the soul consist of e., thirty-two "chit ", i. material and mental properties, tendencies, etc. Practically they correspond to the five skandas of other Buddhists, which are dissolved at death, as a candle is blown out, leaving nothing behind. With them it is not strictly true to say that· a man is reborn. His karma, the concentrated extract of life-long actions, fastens itself on a new individual. The Laos* believe their skandes or chit are only scattered at death, and by an inherent power come together again at the proper time, to begin another existence. They are consistent, therefore, in speaking of "wean kuit wean tai ", the endless cycle of births and deaths. This doctrine, however, is inconsistent with the general belief that at death the individual becomes a demon, wandering in the land of shades and ever striving to revisit the earth. No attempt is made to harmonize the two doctrines.
O. As to Kam, the Hindoo Karma, that impalpable something that survives the destruction of everything physical and psychical, the man's record of a life of sin that reappears in a new child with blighting influence and undeserved responsibility. With the Laos it has a double significance. It is fate, an avenging Nemesis, that returns the curse of evil action on the sinner's own head, and it is his "record" that foists in itself npon a new individual to curse its young life. Disaster, actual or impending, is often attributed to kam, and the people fear it more than the demons. Demons may be appeased, kam is inexorable.
None of the mountain tribes, so far as I know, hold the Buddhist faith. The Moosur and Kooey believe in one good Supreme Being and many inferior deities. Their worship is purely spiritual and without temple, priest, form, or rite. The Kamooh, Kaw, and other tribes know of only evil powers, and their worship, if worship it can be called, is of the lowest order. The conception of the grotesque pictures in Dante's ., Inferno" might have been gotten from a Kaw village. Twisted roots and gnarled branches, piled together, represented their idea of the demon's world.
The whole of the Shan States is open to the preaching of the Gospel. In the tour of 1893 all classes of people, from king to beggar, attended worship, and were eager to know about the "new religion." Many invitations were given us to settle among them, and in almost every village and city we were prest to spend some days with them, or at least one night. Several missionaries of the Laos Mission are eager to push up into that country and take it for Christ, but the Board (Presbyterian), owing to the deprest state of the treasury, can not allow any new work to be begun. What a pity! It would not be an expensive mission. One centrally-located station * I use the word in a broad sense to include also the tribes in the plains of the Shan States.
MISSIONARY COMITY IN MEXlOO
with four families, two ministers, and two physicians, could by a system of itineration, and by organizing and training a self-supporting and self-propagating church, care for an,d extend the work into all parts of the land. With the whole country willing to listen to the Gospel, and men, already with a knowledge of their language and customs, begging to be sent to them, will the Ohurch say, by silence, " We can't afford it; let them die in their heathenism?" How then shall she look her Lord in the face? Some one person or church to whom the Lord has committed wealth might easily undertake the support of this work. Who will do so and save God's Ohurch from reproach and future shame?
MISSIONARY OOMITY IN MEXIOO.
BY REV. JOHN W. BUTLER, D.D., MEXICO.
The development of indigenous resources in our respective churches and good fraternal relations between the different missions, to our mind, are two of the most essential factors for laying broad and deep the foundations of such a permanent and prosperous Protestantism in the Republic of Mexico as shall, in .all future generations, be blest of God in the salvation of men and the exalting of the nation.
Ooncerted Protestant work in Mexico dates back to about 1872, tho colporteurs, single-handed missionaries, and the so-called" Ohurch of Jesus" record work some years prior to that date. We believe the following to be about the order in which the different churches planted their missions: The Baptist, Northern Oonvention, 1862; the Ohurch of Jesus, 1868, since disintegrated and one part of it gathered up by the Episcopal Ohurch about 1880; the Friends of the New York Annual Meeting, 1871; the Oongregationalists A. B. O. F. M., 1872; the Presbyterians, 1872; the Methodist Episcopal, 1873; the Southern Presbyterian, 18'(4; the Reformed Associate, 1878; the Baptist Southern Oonvention,18 ; the Methodist Ohurch South, 1874; the Oumberland Presbyterian, ]88',; the Friends' Indiana Annual Meeting, 1888; the Seven Day Adventists, 1893; and the Mission of Mr. Harris in Orizaba, 1894.
No mention is made of the once important work of the lamented James Pascoe.. begun about 1870, as soon after his death his work seems either to have past over to other missions or entirely died out. Mr. Bright, an earnest English lay-worker, did much good for a short time in Mexico-Tehuacan and Orizaba, but left the country for other fields of usefulness, without gathering up fruits which are never visible. The results of the united labors of the foregoing, as far as tbey can be tabulated, are, in pad, as follows: Oongregations, 600; foreign workers, 161; native workers, 467; communicants, Hi,OOO; adherents, 60,000; training schools, 10; boarding schools, 18; children under instruction, 7,000; Sunday-schools, 320; members of Sunday-schools, 10,000; publishing houses, 6; pages of religious literature published from the beginning, 70,000,000.
Medical work at Guanayato (establisht 1891): Dispensaries, 3; medical missionaries, B; lay medical missionary, 1; native helpers, 7; prescriptions from the first, 31,146; patients attended from the first, 12,684.
However scattered the places of our birth, however different our religious instruction, or however distinct some of our church practises, we have one common Lord, and are working in this land for one single aim-the salvation of souls and the glory' of God.. We believe that something may be done along the line of missionary comity which will further aid in reaching this desired end.
To some, the mere announcement of the subject, may suggest the laying of plans and the carving up of the country geographically.
While most will at once say that it is too late for such an arrange- ment, all will doubtless agree that it is not too late to draw a little nearer together, and mutually agree to observe certain rules, which will often serve the cause we love, and hasten on the conquest of our part of the world for Ohrist. In the discussion of this question we mnst not only claim sincerity of purpose on our own part, but concede an equal amount of that desired commodity to all concerned.
Among the reasons why we should attempt something· of the kind may be stated the following:- 1. The sacrifices of our supporters and the faith of our missionary societies suggest that we should make the very wisest use of our time and available funds.
2. The happiness and safety of souls who will die without a true knowledge of Ohrist, if we are unwise in this matter.
3. Our faith in "the coming of the Lord" whose" Day" we'would hasten.
4. Doubtless one of the strongest arguments in justification of our presence in Mexico is the reformation and purification of the old church. Rome will not admit this statement, but the evidence of its truth is already apparent on evcry hand. The founding of new schools and the improvement of old ones, the establishment of preaching services in their more important temples, the multiplication of printing presses, the opening of orphanages; and other like innovations, are eloquent" signs of the times" along this line. Our concerted action can but· multiply these" signs," and accelerate this good work, till Rome will be compelled to teach and preach the Gospel, and put the Bible in the hands of her people. When that glad day comes, saints on earth and angels in heaven will mingle their songs of rejoicing. Fnrthermore, Wtl venture the assertion that, the evangelical misions now working in this country, if wisely supported by their respective societies, according to their day of opportunity, seconded by a sub- stantial growth in our indigenous resources could, through the reform- ation of the old church, and by their own direct and united efforts, bring all the millions of Mexico to Ohrist during the next generation. And who would refrain from participation in such a glorious under- tak.ing?
I. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PAST.
Several years ago the representatives of those missions having headquarters in the city of Mexico, after weeks of serious and prayerful consideration of the subject, recommended a plan which received considerable attention at the hands of our first General Assembly. This plan, in substance, proposes that workers should not pass from one mission to another without proper credentials; that members should have no unworthy inducements of any kind held out to them to change relationship from one church to another; that no town of less than twentyfive or thirty thousand people should be occupied by more than one Evangelical church for a period of years to come; some suggestions were also made as to possible union of theological schools and presswork. Later, a self·constituted committee, with representatives from several missions, met in Zacatecas, and devoted two days of earnest work to a plan looking toward the foundation of a Union Oollege.
This last scheme was disapproved by most of our home Boards, chiefly on financial grounds. The first three points mentioned above have been religiously complied with on the part of several of the missions, but, in some cases, which might be cited, have been ignored to the serious embarrassment of the participants and, we firmly believe, dishonor to our cause. We have carefully watched, where opportunity afforded, the history of some of these cases, and the truth compels us to say that every such case has resulted iu confusion, if not disgrace, where one church has insisted upon entering small towns previously occupied by another. As to members passing from one church to another, we have known individual cases where falsehood was resorted to in order to cover the steps advised by the minister, and the subsequent history of the family again proved that nothing can permanently stand on a lie-for we watched such families till, with profound sorrow, we saw them lost to both churches. Ooncerning workers we have yet to meet the first one who made the change under any kin:d of pressure, who was either happy in himself, or perfectly useful in his new field.
II. WHAT DO WE PROPOSE?
1. As to territory. National and generally State capitals, chief ports, and large towns may be considered as common ground. Still it is our conviction that while so many towns and cities of the Republic are as yet unentered by any Protestant body, it would be the part of wisdom and courtesy, to confine joint occupancy for the next decadE; to a dozen towns outside the National Capital. Suppose we adopt a recommendation to our several missions that for the next two years no town of less than thirty thousand inhabitants shall be occupied by more than one Protestant body? This may involve the withdrawal of the second party which has establisht itself in some such place, bnt would it not avoid considerable friction, and enable us as different branches of the church acting under a general comity to cover, with t~ same men and means, a much wider range of territory?
2. Just here arises the question as to what constitutes occupancy. If we were to answer briefly, we should say, services conducted with reasonable regularity and a due regard to the customs of the church occupying the town. The mere fact that a missionary has visited a town and carried, for long months, the name thereof in his books and, in'his mind, the intention of some day opening work there can not be considered occupancy.
3. Again, if a mission begins work in the principal town of a cer- tain district and intends, in any reasonable time, as men and means are, theirs to command, to enter aU the towns of that district, only a cordial consent from the first occupant, after full and frank conference, could justify a second party entering that immediate vicinity.
Here, again, brotherly kindness, thoughtful consideration, and true frankness will settle amicably ninety-nine out of every hundred such cases. We could cite several, where arrangements of this kind have been made between the representatives of the Presbyterian and Methodist missions, without a jar to the most cordial of relations and, we firmly believe, economy of funds, men, and time, as well as a greater basis of prosperity than could otherwise have been obtained.
4. Territory open to new missions, coming into this broad field, ,is an interesting subject. Wisdom, the avoidance of possible friction, and their wider usefulness would all seem to point to some one of those important but, as yet, unoccupied centers, where they could freely work without building" on another man's foundation." Here again, the honest zeal of those already in the field will lead them, when askt, to give valuable advice and perhaps native helpers with whom to commence a new work which, in all future years, will bless men and honor God.
The most prosperous mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the far East received, first as a loan, and later as a gift, from the Presbyterian Church, which had preceded it in entering that distant empire, a native preacher who, for forty years has been a power for good and who still lives in advanced age to carryon his work. The venerable superintendent of that mission, as well as all who have joined in that work in all these years, still remember with gratitude that act of Christian courtesy and fraternity in their time of need. 5. What shall we agree to concerning the transfer of members and workers from one church to another?
(a) Members should never be tampered with. Inducements of a worldly character, such as employment, gifts, insinuations against the character or work of those with whom the members in question are connected, and all other like efforts, are simply unworthy of servants of Christ. Sometimes weak brethren will be found who for a miserable pittance will pass from one congregation to another. We personally know of a case where a man past from a congregation to which he belonged for several years to another under the influence of a pastor's eloquence, and the promise of twelve cents a week to help ill his family expenses. The pastor of the receiving church paid nl) attention whatever to his long years of membership in the first church, nor the previous period of probation by which he entered that church, nor yet to the fact that he was an officer in the same. When the missionary made his regular visit to that congregation, the pastor presented this new convert (?) as a recent trophy of his arduous labors! The man and place can be named to any who may have interest in the matter. Brothers, such things are a travesty of Protestant missions. Our members and preachers should act the part of men-of men of God-and as a rule, no member should be received into another church without a regular certificate, or some kind of perfect understanding with the church authorities from whence he comes. Can the pastor who acts otherwise be a true shepherd of souls?
(b) Workers, passing from' one mission to another without proper arrangements or just reason, bring serious injury to the cause. It is our candid conviction, after over twenty years of experience in the field, that nine out of every ten such cases are failures.
If a mission educates a young man for its own work, there, as a rule, he should remain till the Master transfers him to higher spheres of usefulness. If a worker does change, however, let him do so in a manly, open way, so that he can retain his own self-respect as well as the respect of those he leaves and those to whom he goes. But the missionary who receives a worker from another church who fails to present clean credentials, generally breaks the "golden rule," encourages the destructive spirit among infant churches, and commits a fault which his own missionary board would n'ot approve. The missionary who holds out monetary, inducements to either members or workers with a view to bringing abont a change in church membership is guilty of a perversion of sacred funds.
In his relation to all these matters it is the solemn duty of every missionary to consider not only the little advantage which might, for the moment, accrue to his own mission by the coming in of, a new worker by transfer, but also the claim which the other church has on such worker. Just as much his duty to consider the rights of other missions in this respect, as it is to offer his daily devotions to God.
Again, in these times of strenuous effort and studious economy, no missionary board has money to send abroad men who will directly or indirectly debilitate or destroy the good which others are trying to do in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6. I believe that great good would come from a free and frank discussion, in a carefully constituted committee, on the matter of salaries and other expenditures in connection with the employment of teachers and preachers: "The workman is worthy of his hire," is equally as true to-day as when it fell from the lips of the Master. And it is a truth which our congregations, our missionaries, and our preachers, should all be willing to consider.
Perhaps the best word for us to employ is "support." If we could agree to see that our workers are properly supported, and that the missionary society supplements or completes what the people themselves can not give, and on the other hand agree to make a special effort to induce the people to realize the privilege and duty of supporting their pastors and teachers, and drawing from the society only such help as is necessary to supplement their own giving, we would make a long stride toward a self-supporting, independent, and selfrespecting protestantism.
Let us do this, and then we shall all be raising up around us a noble body of teachers and preachers, who, partaking of our true Christian spirit, will teach and preach for love of the work, and not for earthly consideration. Then we will soon find that, all workers being truly happy in their own home, and truly useful in their own sphere, will be beyond the reach of the thoughtless missionary, who might try to entice away a worker with the offer of a larger salary.
7. Church forms, or discipline, is another thing we should honestly respect. Many a young man, who promist well for the future, has been crippled, if not ruined, because, when under the pressure of discipline, some one has lent" a willing ear" to his complaint, and left " the door ajar" in case the young man should be "left out in the cold." This is a serious fault. In such cases we would lift up our voice and cry "hands off." Let the church, which educated him, and knows better than anyone else can possibly know his failings, deal with him. They, not you, can correct him, strengthen him, develop him, and, perhaps, after the exercise of a little more patience, make out of him a great worker. Whereas, if he yields under discipline, and goes to another church, the devil has an excellent opportunity to fill his heart with false pride, unholy ambition, and possibly a little spirit of revenge till, at last, he is ruined. No, no, brothers; let every family arrange its own internal affairs. Time enough for you to look for a physician and an undertaker when some one in your own oirole needs them.
8. Petitions of J)<U kinds should be read carefully Rnd repeatedly. Read, perhaps, between the lines, laid away, and read again the next day. If they come from congregations which are already connected with some one of the organized churches, in a vast majority of cases they had better be put in the pigeon-hole or returned to the senders to be, by them, forwarued through their former missionary connections. While writing, two cases are in ll1.ind. In one case, a question of discipline, originating with a family whose relations were not sanctioned by Scripture, induced said family to send a petition with about a dozen names (half of which were minors) to a sister mission. Learning the facts, we sought an early interview with the Superintendent of that mission, made full explanation, and askt for time to bring the erring ones into line. He preferred to act on the petition. He establisht a small congregation, but in all these ten years the progress of that work has never justified the outlay, while the first mission planted there, without the addition of a single worker, or increase of a dollar, would have done just as much, and possibly more, than the two have done since the second entered. We rarely visit the place without hearing of something which confirms this opinion.
The second case is that of a town where we began work in 1876. The long journey was made entirely on horseback; we gladly shared the meager, but sincere hospitality of our humble brethren. Many nights we slept on the floor, and tried to count the stars through the frail roof. But God was with us, and no king on his throne ever had happier times than we, as we saw a school establisht, a church founded, and souls converted.
As organization proceeded, two or three disaffected brothers, failing to have their own way, got up a petition. The new railroad was a comparatively easy way for the Superintendent of another mission to reach the place. We quietly protested, but he continued. His offer of a new church was more taking than worship in an adobe house, and he won the day-most of the flock followed him. That year our appropriation was overtaxt, so we decided, rather than appear to be a party to a quarrel, to withdraw, and close our school, which had already matriculated nearly 150 children. For a while, things went well, but later difficulties arose. To-day, there is no school there, the congregation is divided, and for five years delegations and peti~ tions are coming to us to return to that place. This we could easily do, for we have five other congregations in the immediate vicinity. But we await a missionary comity that will permit us to do so in a proper way. Names of both these places can be given to interested parties. It is but just to a,dd th~t po Jllissionary at present jll Mexico
18~·1 !J41
is responsible for this history. The brethren now here have simply inherited the mistakes of their predecessors.
Is it not time that we join heartily in some compact that will avoid friction and hasten the spread of Christ's Kingdom ? We have only little to give up, but much to gain. Doing so, we shall extend our borders, multiply trophies of the cross, and inspire Te Deums through all the beautiful valleys, and on all the mountain sides of this magni- ,ficent country, and thus hasten the day, when ME!xico's redeemed mil- lions, together with those from "the East and the West, from the North and the South, will sit down with Abraham and Isaac in the Kingdom of our God to go no more out forever."
The following is a translation of the resolutions on missionary comity, offered by the committee on Dr. Butler's paper, and past by the Conference: The Evangelical workers, gathered in their Second General Assembly in the city of Mexico, respectfully, but at the same time with great earnestness, beg of .all Missionary Societies at work in this country that they come to an agreement as soon as possible concerning the adoption of the means best adapted to the securing of an equitable and economical distribution of territory among the respective missions, in order that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ may the sooner be preacht to the entire nation.
BUDDHA, AND ANIMAL LIFE.
REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
Sir Edwin Arnold, in a paper lately publisht in the Youth's Oompanion, on Kindness to Animals, takes occasion to eulogize Buddha's "noble" recognition of the right of every sentient being to live. How can the qualification "noble" be justified ? No course of conduct, even where warranted, is noble, which does not rise a good way above the common level. Nothing is noble in the eminent sense, unless it goes against prevailing feeling, at the risk, at least of reputation. Now, according to all the legends, Buddha's long life was one uninterrupted course, first of royal glory, then of religious success. He was venerated, virtually adored, by millions; he made himself the triumphant interpreter of an irresistible reaction against Brahmanic tyranny, and yet skillfully avoided serious collision with the Brahmans; kings, nobles, and multitudes hung on his words, until, at more than eighty yea.rs of age, he dies of an indigestion, brought on by eating too largely of roast pork! Could a more ridiculous anti-climax be imagined, above all to the career of one who is set forth as a "noble" champion of animal rights? This whimsical modification of compassion for lower life has remained to this day as ineffaceably a coloring of Buddh-
BUDDHA AND ANIMAL LIJ:i'B
ism, especially in its authentic Southern form, as the yellow robe itself. The Buddhist monks (priests, properly speaking, there are none in Buddhism) kill nothing, but if you see them eating meat, and tax them with it, they will laugh, and say: "0, well, we didn't kill the poor creature, and what good is its flesh to it now?" They are faithful disciples of their founder. On the same reasoning, they might just as well practise cannibalism, which some English reviewers are beginning to suggest as a desirable addition to the provision market.
Buddhism, though not Buddha, had a long struggle with Brahmanism, and was finally persecuted out of Hindustan. Yet assuredly there was no quarrel over the prohibition of killing animals. Wherever transmigration is held, whether by Brahmans, Buddhists, or Pythagoreans, an unwillingness to take animal life necessarily appears. It becomes murder. You will not then kill a gnat any more than a man, because the gnat is a man. He probably had the human shape yesterday, and will very possibly reassume it to-morrow. Remove the belief in transmigration, or its equivalent, karma, and the foundation of the scruple disappears. Unless transmigration is a noble belief, there is nothing noble, but everything grotesque and fantastical in its derivatives.
To talk about the recognition of a "right" in Buddhism is to talk nonsense. Talking nonsense about Buddhism, indeed, seems to be Sir Edwin Arnold's chief employment. Right signifies a definite place, founded on a supremely wise consideration of places in the scheme of being. The place of even a mosquito in the hierarchy of sentient life is assigned to it by the wisdom of the benignant Creator. To extinguish even such a spark of life, in mere wantoness, is to reverse the course of creative benignity. In Christianity, therefore, even the lowest animal has its right to live, so long as the extinction of its life does not serve the necessities of a higher order of life. But in Buddhism there can be no right to life, for there is no God, and, therefore, no supreme wisdom or goodness which has assigned to each life its place. Existence in every form, high and low, is a misery and an illusion. Release from it is the only good, and the only benignity allowable is that which smooths the way into non-existence. For Buddhism, therefore, to cherish creatures which are useful, friendly, or beautiful, ought to be a crime, for they make our existence pleasanter, and therefore increase our attachment to it. To spare the lives of serpents, tigers, scorpions, tormenting vermin, should be a virtue, for they disincline us to life, alid conceived as endlessly recurring, help to incline us to extinction of being. Indeed, in Dante, they form the eternal torment of those "that have been profitable neither to God nor his enemies." It is not without reason, therefore, that one of the sacred spots of Buddhist pilgrimage is the place where Buddha, in one of his births, gave up himself to be devoured by the starving cuba of the tigress. Considered as prolonging their being, this was a crime, but considered as involving the future extinction of many lives, it was an act of heroic virtue. To be sure, it is all largely abortive, for life, supprest in one form, is always reappearing in another. Yet every attempted annihilation has a certain value, and may well, in the course of innumerable ages, help to bring about the ultimate extinction of the whole illusion of existence.
Buddhism is a reaction and a construction. As a reaction against Brahmanic mercilessness, and a release of natural religiousness and kindly feeling, it has been a great bleEsing. So profoundly devout is the Hindu mind, that even its atheism is more religious than the devilworship of the Dravidians, or the animism of the Mongols. Indeed, its atheism hardly appears to the people, and is greatly inclined to lapse into a vague theism even with many sages. The calm, systematic impermanence of a Professor Rhys Davids, its unreserved assertion of an endless cycle of change, without substance or meaning, without purpose or achievement, as Buddhism appears in his reported presentations of it, is the Buddhism of the rigorously logical Celt, rather than of the dreaming Hindu. The great merit of this religion, therefore, is on its protesting side, its vindication of natural humanity against Brahmanic rigor. In this respect it is not a system at all, and the natural kindliness which it emancipates has no guarantee, no correlating measure, and varies all the way from callous indifference to fantastic, irrational extremes. The infinite benignity of God towards his lower creatures, revealed °in the Old Testament, and exprest and embodied by Christ in His loving allusion to the sparrows, has no motive and no place provided for it in Buddhism. On the other hand, Christ never tolerates the attempt to equalize merely sentient life with spiritual and immortal life. The heedless remark of the Youth's Oompanion, that the lower creatures have as good a right to live as we, is irreconcilably at variance with Christianity, as well as the heedless laudation by the Outlook of those Hindu children, who, being employed to pick off vermin from horses, and bidden to kill the vermin, answer innocently: "0 Sahib, we never kill anything." This, it is true, is grovelling superstition, not cruelty. It is, therefore, less censurable than cruelty to animals, altho so far is it from proceeding out of a loving recognition of the lower animals as our fellow-creatures, that the Hindus, especially the sect of the Jains, a sort of modified Buddhists, are notorious for their hardness of heart to the animals whom they think it a crime to kill. But to say, as the Outlook does, that these Hindu children are better Christians than American children who are heedlessly indifferent to animal suffering, is to use language without meaning. The Hindu children are probably more steadily hard-hearted to animals than the thus censured American youth. Yet, whether they are or not, their scruples about killing them do not rest on either spdntaneous or religious benignity, and have not the remotest affinity with Christianity. Of two devil-worshipers, one, we will say, is a murderer, the other not. The second is less crim- inal than his fellow, but assuredly it would be ridiculous to call him a better Christian, unless you use words in the most insipid vagueness of meaning.
Sir Edwin, in his Oompanion paper, summons us, with great sol- emnity, to the judgment seat of the Universal Life. Now, what under the sun does he mean by this? Does he mean that all the birds and beasts and insects that we have killed-he has, on his own showing, no right to add, "without necessity"-will some day assemble to sit in judgment upon our cruelty? Probably not. It would be hard to say what he means. These" great swelling words of vanity" are a com- mon phenomeuon in the many who are now pressing upon our rever- ence all sorts of gospels, except the Gospel of Christ. At all events, the judgment-seat before which we expect to appear is not the judg- ment-seat of birds and beasts. It is the judgment-seat of the Son of ~. .
Here is the question. Do we recognize all sentient life, in every degree, as proceeding from the goodness of the Creator, and do we cherish towards it, in our measure, the loving kindness of the Father, and of the Son? Then, so far, we are Christians. Do we, on the other hand, with Christ, distingnish simply sentient life in ourselves, and in others, and in the lower creatures, as essentially subordinate, not in degree merely, but in kind, to spiritual and immortal life, and to be unhesitatingly sacrificed where the interests of spiritual and immortal life require? Then, too, we are Christians, not otherwise. Otherwise we may be very good Hindus, Buddhists, Pythagoreans, Jains, or what not, but assuredly we are not Christians.
In Sir Edwin Arnold's paper there are many urgent appeals to a greater heedfulness of animal happiness, and many wise and humane suggestions how to diminish animal suffering, as, for instance, in what he suggests as to the shipment of cattle across the sea. The framework of his paper is not only non-Christian, but distinctly anti-Christian, utterly at variance, like multitudes of such pIe'"as, with the fundamental postulates of Christianity. It recognizes no difference in essence or in right between merely sentient and spiritual life. The author, as judged by his writings, apparently acknowledges no other immortality than an indefinite vicissitude of varying forms of life, with a vague hope of eventual repose, whether with or without consciousness of bliss does not clearly appear. If, in his" Light of Asia," Sir Edwin has exalted Buddha into a sort of Christ, in his "Light of the World" he has unmistakably deprest Christ into a sort of Buddha. Christian, in his scheme of thought, he nowhere is.
We would suggest, therefore, to the editors of the Youth's Oom-
panion, which is almost always excellently Christian, that when they next publish a Buddhist, or other heathen sermon, they should distin- guish the Christian from the anti-Christian parts by a special type, or, say, by a special color, like the Rainbow Bible. Then our children will not be liable to be turned into pagans in spite of themselves.
LIFE AMONG THE LEPERS.
BY LILA WATT, B. A.
Death, not life, seems the more fitting word, for surely it is but a mockery of life that is theirs who are smitteu with this dreadful disease. Some people think of leprosy only as that most terrible disease from which men suffered in Bible times, and they conifortably put the thought of it out of their minds as something with which we now have nothing to do. In America it is indeed wellnigh unknown, though we occasionally hear of the lepers in Canada, in the province of New Brunswick, and in D'Arcy Island, near Victoria, B. C., and of the lepers' colony in the state of Louisiana. But these are only a few isolated cases, which seldom come to our notice. In the East, how- , ever, leprosy is an every-day fact, a thing continually met with-a disease that claims more victims among the poorer people than con- sumption does among us.
Leprosy does exist to-day, and experts say that there probably never was so much of it in the world before, as there is to-day. It is said that there are half a million lepers in India alone, and in Siam, Japan, and China the number in proportion to the population is even greater. Missionaries in India meet with lepers all over the country from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin. The China Inland missionaries tell us that in Southern China they are everywhere fairly "dropping to pieces by the roadside." In Japan and Siam the conditions are similar.
The leper is still an outcast. In India, with few exceptions, when a man is found suffering from leprosy, he is driven out by his friends and left to provide for himself as best he may, until death. In some districts lepers are driven into the jungles to be the prey of leopards and tigers, or to starve to death. Palestine travelers meet sights similar to those seen by Our Lord, outside of Jerusalem and the other cities "without the gate," the little band of lepers, as of old, standing afar off and uttering their peculiar wailing cry, "unclean!"
" And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone: without the camp shall his habitation be." Lev. xiii.: 41), 46.
LIPE A.l{ONG THE LEPERS
In China lepers are not always separated, but go about among the healthy, and are seen everywhere. But they are hated and shunned and sometimes are buried alive. Mrs. Hordes (C. M. S.) writing from Pakhoi, South Ohina, says that within two hours' walk of them three hundred had been put to death in this way. Hudson Taylor tells of a Mandarin who invited all the lepers of his district to a feast, and while they were feasting set fire to the house and burned them alive. In Japan leprosy is considered such a disgrace, that one of the upper classes who develops the disease is immediately shut up in a little room, which he never leaves till death, his relatives giving what excuse they like to those who ask for him. The Japanese word for leper means "not human." In India caste avails nothing to a leper. Wellesley O. Bailey tells of a man who came to him asking to be taken into the asylum. He was askt as usual, to what caste he belonged. "Oh Sahib," he replied, " I was a Brahmin, but now I am a leper."
This disease has thus far baffled the physician's skill to work effectual cure. Many remedies have been reported, but they have been tried, one after another, in the asylums, and always with the same result-no cure. Oouncil after council has been called in India to consider the cause and cure of leprosy, but they have reacht no practical results.* Of course, drugs have been found which greatly relieve the suffering of the diseased; medical treatment cau do much to lessen the pain and to take away some of its repulsiveness, but that is all, thus far.
The disease is not considered contagious or infectious. Missionaries go freely among the lepers, taking proper precautions, of course, do everything for the sufferers, cleanse their wounds, and perform operations upon them without fear. Neither does the disease seem to be hereditary. This is the conclusion reacht by a commission appointed by the Prince of Wales, in whose investigations no expense was spared. It is spread by innoculation, however. The germ of the disease may enter the system through a cut or any break in the skin. This is why the children of leprous parents who are allowed to live with their parents, do develop it, as a rule, at about the age of fifteen.
Leprosy is still the most terrible disease from which men suffer. In the leper asylums, where the patients appea_r clean and comfortably clothed, and looking happy, one may sometimes be tempted to say, "Oh! leprosy is not such a fearful thing after all." But if one should see the advanced cases, which visitors are not allowed to see, he would know that leprosy is indeed the most loathsome disease with which a body can be afflicted; nothing could adequately describe it.
" The Mission to Lepers," of which Mr. W. O. Bailey is secretary, is little known in America, but this society has been working for twenty- .. Perhaps we may hope for more definite results from the conference recently called by Dr. Koch, of Germany. two years, with its headquarters in Britain, and its stations in India. and the East. Its object .is to provide homes in which the sufferers can be made as comfortable as possible and have proper medical care. It is beautiful to see with what tenderness they are cared for in these hospitals, and how fond of them the missionaries become. There seems to be a kind of fascination about this work, which repays all the love and labor bestowed upon the poor outcasts. Frequently one reads sentences from missionaries' letters like the following: "Of all the work I have the privilege to do, somehow I like this leper work the best." Only recently a medical missionary said, that in leaving one station for another his regret was in leaving his lepers. Dr. Pauline Root says, that if ever she feels blue or discouraged, she always goes and finds a leper to cheer her up. Better than the medical attention that is given them, and the personal interest felt in them by the missionaries, is the fact that they have the Gospel preacht to them. What" good news" it must be to those poor people, who have nothing left them in this world, no home, no friends, no hope, and no outlook for the life beyond. One missionary speaks of a woman who "had no hands, and her wrists were raw. She had no feet, and her legs were eaten away to above the ankles. She could not see, her eyes were covered with a horny skin. She was rubbing one knee up and down with the stump of one arm, and swaying backward and forward as she crooned to herself: 0 Lord Jesus Christ! 0 Lord Jesus Christ!" What a privilege to preach Jesus to such misery. "It seems that if ever there was a Ohristlike work in the world, it is this."
Lepers, as a rule, receive the Gospel very readily. Missionaries often say that among no class in India are converts so easily gained as among them; and they make noble Ohristians. One missionary writes: I believe in missions to-day, because I believe in old Mussuwa. And I would like you to know that if ever there was a man whose life had been completely transformed, it is Mussuwa, though he is only a poor, blind, crippled leper.
Of another a missionary says: It was quite an inspiration to me to sit in my study and talk with poor mutilated Padiya, who praised the Lord for His dealings with him and rejoiced in his sufferings, because they had been the means of leading him into the glad service of such 8. blessed Master. He told me of how he had been used by the Master to bring, as far as he knew, one hundred and eighteen persons to Jesus. Another of the lepers said of him, "He is a God-like man." It is not usual for people to speak or think of a deformed, scarred, diseased leper as being a God-like man.
Mr. Bailey founded the mission in 1874. He had labored in India in connection with the American Presbyterian Mission, and a part of his work had been to oversee the leper asylum in connection with the mission at Ambala. He grew very much devoted to -this work, and when at home in Ireland two years later, addrest a public
u n AliONG Tim LEPliins
meeting and some friends undertook to raise $150 annually for work among the lepers. Before returning to India, Mr. Bailey wrote a small tract, "Lepers in India," which was widely circulated, and before the end of the year the promist $150 had increast to $3,000. Year by year the work of the mission grew. It began to build asylums of its own, besides helping those already establisht, till now it has work in forty-five different centers in India, Ceylon, Burmah, China, and Japan.
It works in connection with fifteen prominent Protestant missionary societies of different denominations, English and American. The work done among the lepers by the missionaries of tpese societies is mainly gratuitous and is in addition to their ordinary duties. Thus all money contributed to this mission goes direct to the use of the lepers themselves.
After twelve years in India, Mr. Bailey came back to Edinburgh, where he superintends the work of the whole mission. Six auxiliary societies were formed in Canada in 1892, and these have since increast to twenty-six in Canada and the United States.
There have been a great many pathetic incidents in connection with this work among the lepers. One of the most interesting depart- ments of this work is the effort to save the untainted children of leprous parents from becoming lepers themselves. When the parents are willing, the children are put into separate homes, where they grow up without the disease. There are now nine homes of this kind.
A sad case occurred at Almora, the place of one of the asylums and homes among the Hymalayas. A bright boy, whose parents were lepers, was in the house and thought he had escaped the taint, but one day he burnt his fingers on the stove without knowing it, and all knew that this lack of sensation was a sure sign of leprosy. With much difficulty he was persuaded to go down to the asylum to live. He has since grown to be a fine looking lad with nothing but the hands affected as yet. He is now a Christian, and is acting as teacher in another asylum. Many children have been separated from their parents, and only one or two have shown signs of the disease. .
The mission is supported altogether by voluntary contributions.
That the money is well spent is shown by the following extracts. Rev.
W. F. Johnson, D. D., Allahabad, writes: It is simply dreadful to have these poor lepers sitting for hours, entreating to be admitted into the asylum. When I refuse them for lack of funds, they will not go away, but sit calling for pity and holding out their poor stumps of hands and begging to be taken in. Only this morning there were two new cases asking admission, both quite helpless with the disease. I finally decided to take them In, but with many misgivings as to how the expenditure will be met.
Dr. Hutchison, Chumba, writes: Very sad, indeed, are the sights one sometimes sees when itinerating. There are twenty-four in the asylums who are comfortable and happy and who hear
WORK FOR THE BLIND IN CHINA
every day the message of love. There must be several hundreds throughout the state sitting in their wretched hovels, all a~ from, 'l7W'/'ning to evening, and from, evening to morning. hungry and cold and naked, with no hope either in life or death.
Mr. Leonard, Rurki, writes: I distinctly remember my first visit to the lepers. On the outskirts of the city, on a little mound by the roadside, were eight or ten wretched humanDeings, in such a pitiable condition that it had the twofold effect of first making me sick, and when this had worn off, of causing such a deep pity for them, that it has never left me and never will. I see them now with matted hair and unwasht bodies, crusted with dirt, clothes that had not been washed since they were first put on (perhaps a year previous), here a toeless foot sloughing, there a fingerless hand literally a festering running sore. Here a bloated face and swollen ears, there two holes that once had eyes in them, there a nose eaten away. The stench was too much for me, and nature shrank saying "Room for the leper, room," yet, with a cry to God, I controlled my feelings and preacht to them Jesus, then hastily surplying their bodily wants, sped away, and for days after could not forget the sights and smells.
Later he adds: I had the pleasure ten daysago of clothing eleven men in clean white garments, of such a pattern that simply by inserting their stumps into the short sleeves, it would easily slip over their heads. The poor creatures lookt so pleased and showed their gratitude, folding their arms, and bowing to the ground. It would have abundantly repaid any of you generous coutributors to have seen this sight. Then looking round to one another, they smiled a happy grateful smile; but the pure white against their loathsome, hot, dry, parcht, bursting skin, made my heart ache, and with a prayer to God to make them pure witkin, I left with the words ringing in my heart, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me." * WORK FOR THE BLIND IN CHIN A.
BY MISS CONSTANCE F. GORDON-CUMMING.
A sighted Chinaman learning to read his own book, must be able to recognize at sight, at least 4,000 complicated characters. But in Mandarin Chinese, as spoken at Peking, there are only 408 distinct sounds. Mr. W. H. Murray, an English missionary, much interested in the Chinese blind, therefore, strove to find some method by which to represent these 408 sounds to the fingers of the blind. By the system of embossed dots, arranged by Mr. Braille, and now generally used for teaching the blind to read throughout Europe, sixty-two symbols can be produced. By these he represents the twenty-four letters of our alphabet, and various syllables, also musical notes. But the Chinese have no alphabet, so that it is necessary to represent each of the 408 sounds. Mr. Murray solven this difficulty by MAKING THE BMBOSSED DOTS REPRESENT NUMERALS, the same group of dots * Informa.tion will gladly be given, or contributiOnS received, by JIlrs. Ja.mes Wa.tt, Sunlly .A.Qres, GUelp~ Ontario, Qa.nada., . differently placed representing units, tens, and hundreds. Just as we write 4, 40 or 400, using only ten figures to represent any extent of numbers. Thus it becomes quite simple to represent any numeral whatsoever. HE THEN NUMBERED THE 408 SOUNDS OF MANDAIUN CHINESE.
Thus No. 1 stands for A, No.2 stands for Ai, No.3 represents An, No.6 suggests Oha, No. 13 is Ohang, and so on.
A page from Murray's Primer, giving a sample of the four thousand Chinese symbols, and their simple equivalent In embossed dots, which in no case exceed three groups, representing units, tens, and hundreds.
The pupils having learnt this list by heart (which they do with remarkable facility) thenceforth find that THE TOUCH OF THE DOTS REPRESENTING ANY NUMERAL INSTINCTIVELY SUGGESTS THE CORRES- PONDInG SOUND (just as in our language, the sight of certain letters of the alphabet suggests certain sounds).
The second stage in Mr. Murray's invention, and one which promises to prove of incalculable value, was the adaptation of this same system to ,the use of sighted persons, by the very simple method of USING BLACK LINES PLAINLY VISIBLE TO THE EYE, INSTEAD OF THE RAISED WHITE DOTS, EMBOSSED FOR THE FINGERS OF THE BLIND.
,. … .. … … … .'it •• •• •• • •• ••• • •••• • Specimens of numerical symbols embossed Numerical symbols printed In black for the for the blind. sighted, by filling in the outline between the points.
As it has been fully proved that the most ignorant peasants, both blind and sighted, can by this system learn to read and write fluently in periods varying from one to three months, it is evident that this invention is calculated to prove of the utmost value to the illiterate converts IN ALL PROVINCES WHERE MANDARIN OHINESE IS SPOKEN, AND AS THIS IS THE LANGUAGE OF ABOUT THREE HUNDRED MILLIONS of the inhabitants of Ohina, it must be admitted that the field open to Mr. Murray and his pupils is a pretty large one, and surely all who desire to spread the knowledge of the Gospel in that vast land may well not only wish him success, but also do all in their power to further his very uphill work.
Besides conferring on these poor creatures the ability to read for themselves the Word of God, Mr. Murray trusts that he has herein found the solution of one of his gravest difficulties, namely, how to enable his blind pupils to earn their own living. A few are doing so as organists at mission stations. In common industrial work the sighted Ohinamen can always undersell the blind. But if once a considerable demand arises for books in the numeral type, Mr. Murray hopes to provide an inexhaustible supply of work for his blind as compositors, distributors of type, and teachers. The actual printing has hitherto been done by sighted persons.
The blind pupils are found to be successful teachers of others, both blind and sighted. A striking instance of this was early given, when at the request of Mrs. Allardyee (an Australian lady at one of the other missions at Peking), Mr. Murray sent a blind girl to teach her and a party of very ignorant farm women from a distance. Within one week Mrs. Allardyee had effectually mastered the system, as had also one of her Bible-women, who wrote a letter to Mr. Murray, without a single mistake. The same thing has been done by various other intelligent pupils. As regards the farm women, all the party, taught only by blind Hannah, returned to their homes in periods varying from one to three months, able not only to read anything at sight, but also to write letters to their kind hostess at Peking.
Blind Peter, who has recently died, was one of Mr. Murray's earliest pupils, when the work was quite in its iufancy, and known only to a very few of his immediate neighbors. But the strange fancy of the foreign book-hawker who cared for the blind so practically as to admit several to share his own humble home, soon became known among these poor creatures, and one morning there came to his door two brothers, aged twelve and fourteen, whose parents had recently died of fever, in a town 150 miles distant, leaving their children destitute.
These boys had accordingly begged their way to the capital, and there the oldest brother besought Mr; Murray to take charge of his blind brother, saying that he himself could earn his own living, but could not provide for two without begging, which he shrank from doing. So Mr. Murray agreed to keep this little lad awhile, to see whether he was capable of learning, and the brother promised to return ere long, to see how he prospered. But evidently fearing lest the blind lad should be returned to his care, the elder brother did not return for t~o years, by which time the bright little fellow had proved himself an eminently satisfactory scholar-the best hand at stereotyping, and most reliable in all departments of work,and having, moreover, the markt talent for music, which in due time led to his appointment as organist of the Landon mission at Peking.
When the elder brother returned, Mr. Murray took him into the school, and without speaking a word, placed his hand in that of the younger, who instantly recognized the touch, and great was the joy of both in talking over their varied experiences. Of course, there was no further question of. Peter resuming his travels. It was plain that he was on the way to earn his own living by teaching others, and making himself usefnl in a thousand ways, and thence forward this has been his never-failing record. By degrees he rose to be Mr. Murray's right-hand man in all departments of the school, taking charge of all new pupils on their. arrival, and teaching them most successfully. He was also a very earnest and persuasive preacher.
When in May, 1890, Mr. Murray attended the Great Missionary Oonference, held at Shanghai, he took with him blind Peter, as a most practical illustration of the results of his system of teaching the blind, and Peter's excellent reading, writing, and playing on the church organ, won for him enthusiastic appreciation from that great assemblage gathered from all parts of Ohina.
Naturally, on his return to Peking, Peter's fame went abroad, and doubtless was not without its influence in captivating a very pleasantlooking sighted "girl, who, having been brought up in a Ohristian school, was allowed the unheard-of privilege of selecting her husband from an available half dozen young men. She unhesitatingly selected Peter, as being the best, cleverest, and best-looking of the lot, and they seem to have been a very happy couple during their brief years of married life.
FORTUNE TELLER, NOW
WORK FOR THE BLIND IN CHINA
Alas! while Mr. Murray was absent in Scotland he received letters from Peter, telling of failing strength. He was apparently a victim of the dread consumption, which has proved fatal to so many of the most promising students. He wrote that he feared he would have past away ere his dear friend returned to Peking, but happily, he and they were spared that trial. It was not till about the beginning of March that Peter was translated from his life-long physical darkness to the unspeakable joy of "beholding the King in His beauty" in the land where there is no need of the sun, because the Lamb is Himself the light thereof.
In 1892 the delapidated old Chinese house which was on the little property when it was bought for this mission, was condemned as being unfit to live in, its inhabitants being literally washed out of it, and their goods destroyed by the violent annual downpours of summer rain: Repeated appeals have been made to the public to supply the necessary funds for rebuilding it. But Mr. Murray has all along urged that, instead of spending a considerable sum on rebuilding on the present cramped site, which would necessitate the house being now made two stories high-a detail very seriously objected to by the Chinese-we should endeavor to raise a sum sufficient to secure the adjoining premises, on which are Chinese houses, which can easily be adapted for the purposes required. This would permanently benefit the mission, as it would secure ample space for the extension of the Blind School and development of the printing works, instead of everything being crowded, as it now is, with no space even to accomodate pupils, either blind or sighted, desirous of lodging at the mission while being taught.
There can be no question as to the great advantages involved. Hitherto, however, the subscriptions received have not proved sufficient for even the minor outlay, so that Mr. Murray's larger hope was not seriously entertained till a letter was received from a self-supporting missionary lady to say that she considers the acquisition of this property so essential, that (although the risk of a permanent reduction of her small income is a serious matter to herself) she has decided to guarantee £1,000 of the whole cost, provided that steps are at once taken to secure the property and to raise the balance of the money. Instructions to this effect have accordingly been sent to the Committee at Peking, in faith that the requisite sum-abotlt £1,700wiII be forthcoming, for it is earnestly hopt that those who sympathize with Mr. Murray's work will not allow this generous missionary lady to be called upon to meet her guarantee.* *Since the above article has been printed we have received another much more complete from Miss Gordon-Cumming, which we will print in a later issue. This work strongly deserves our hearty support. Snbscriptions of any amount will be gratefully received by the Treasurer, Mr. James Drummond, 59 Bath Street, Glasgow; or by the editor of this REVIEW.
POLYGAMOUS APPLICANTS
POLYGAMOUS APPLICANTS.-IV.
WHAT MISSIONARIES THINK SHOULD BE DONE WITH THEM.
BY REV. DANIEL L. GIFFORD, SEOUL, KOREA.
REPLIES RECOMMENDING ADMISSION OR FAVORING LENIENCY.
China.-Rev. J. Hudson Taylor (China Inland Mission), Shanghai.
The China Inland Mission has no mission rules as to church formation and discipline; being interdenominational, each missionary forming a church organizes it in the way he believes to be most scriptural. The mission secures that the organization adopted by the first missionary or missionaries shall be maintained by his successors. I can therefore only give you my own opinions.
To the first question, I should decidedly reply, No. If there be good reason to believe that a man is regenerate, and has therefore received the Holy Spirit as earnest and seal, the question of Peter, Acts 10: 47, is in point. To the second, I should reply in the affirmative, under the condition that he proved faithful to his wives, did not add to their number, and sought their conversion. Of course, he would be precluded from holding office in the church. As to your third question, so far from being required to put away I should say he was not at liberty to put away any wife to whom he was legally married, unless she had been unfaithful to him. Adultery is the only ground our Savior allows for putting away.
To your fourth question, I should reply, by all means baptize her. Theabove conclusions scem to me sustained by our Savior's requirement that adultery be the only lawful cause of divorce, and by His further statement that a woman divorced for any Qther reason is caused to commit adultery. A man therefore putting away a woman because she is his second wife, being an inciter to adultery ought to be disciplined if he were in the church Cr.'latt. 5 : 32 and 19 : 9). If any of the wives voluntarily wisht to separate from the husband, they could do so by mutual agreement. but such wives must remain unmarrieu, in which case the husband would, of course, be responsible for maintenance. The only case in which separation brings freedom, is that mentioned in 1. Cor. 7: 15, in which the unbelieving husband or wife takes the responsibility and will not dwell with the believer. During an acquaintance of mission work in China of over forty years, I have seen the practical working in our own and other missions, both of the Scriptural method I have referred to above, and of the mistaken one, which some think necessary. In the former case I have known both the wives and all the children converted and living together in a happy home; in the latter case I have seen great hatred to the Gospel developt in the case of the one put away; I have seen such distress occasioned that the husband has felt constrained to take the woman back again, has given up his connection with the church, and instead of being a believer, has become an opponent. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." Putting away inflicts the most grievous wrong on helpless and unoffending women.
Rev. Httnter Garbett, D.D. (N. Presbyterian), Chefoo.
Some years ago a missionary of mueh experience persuaded an applicant for baptism that it was his duty to put away a second wife previous to baptism. Soon after the missionary received a visit from the second wife, who questioned him somewhat in the following manner. "What authority have you to demand my husband to send me away and dishonor me before all my kindred and people? What sin have I committed deserving of such treatment? What is to·become of my helpless children? .Are they also to be dishonored and treated as outcasts? Does the all merciful and compassionate Savior of whom I have heard, require such a step for admission into the church and into heaven?" etc., etc. The missionary was not prepared with a "thus saith the Lord" in answer to such questions. He began to study his Bible anew on the subject, and was led to change his views, and receive the man without complying with the condition originally laid down. In a late number of the PresOyterian Me8.~enuer, Pittsburg, is an able exposition of I. Tim. 3 :2, Dr. Warfield, of Princeton Seminary, takes what seems to me the only tenable view, viz., that there were undoubtedly members in the Christian church (in the transition period) who had more than one wife, and that class was clearly not eligible for office.
More than twenty years ago two women, the wife of one man, not a Christian and yet not an opponent, applied for baptism for themselves and for their children. What was to be done? They gave good evidence of conversion. Neither could put away her husband, if she had wisht. The question seemed plain. Who could forbid water? They were received. Our General Assembly has been appealed to again and again to decide this question-once when I was a member. The only action thoAssembly could take was to refer the case back to those who have charge of the work on the field, where all the facts are known as they can not be at home. I am aware that the Methodists working in India refuse to baptize a polygamist; but in my judgment they have no more Scripture for this than they have for baptizing adults without any true evidence of conversion.
Rev. O. W. Mateer, D.D. (N. Presbyterian), Tungchow.
My own mind is very definitely settled. When a man has two wives taken before he knew the law of God on this subject, he should be received to the communion of the church without being required to give up either of them. The Old Testament example is enough to prove that true piety is not neces8arily inconsistent with the having of two wives. The heathen are in the same state of ignorance as were the Patriarchs, and their wives are real tDive8, taken in ignorance, still wives, and can not be divorced without sin. The wrong done to a wife divorced under such circumstances would be very grievous, ruining her position for life. The case with the woman asking for baptism is practically the same. She is a wife and she can not and should not be askt to leave her husband. A vast deal of wrong has been done by requiring the breaking up of the marriage relation in such circumstances. Christ never intended that any such violence as this should be resorted to in bringing in faith in him. It is enough that such a relation is a disability for holding office in the church.
India.-Rev. John .N. Forman (N. Presbyterian), Fatehgarh- Ferrukhabad. Referring to the memorial of the Synod of India sent to the General Assembly, he says: "Almost all of our missionaries and native preachers and elders favored the admission of the man having more than one wife to church membership. I have, myself, as yet never been confronted by a case. But I have favored the admission of the man and his wives."
Rev. 8. H. Kellogg, D.D. (N. Presbyterian), Allahabad.
This whole question came up before our Synod, comprising all the missions of our church in India, at the meeting of our Synod last November [1894], in this form-I quote the words from memory: "Resolved, that the General Assembly be askt to modify their action of 1875, so as to allow the question of the admission of polygamists to the church in foreign countries to be left in each case as it may arise to the ultimate decision of the highest church courts in those countries." The question was discust in a debate of markt ability, and at great length. Some took the ground that under no circumstantJe8 whatever was it right to admit any man to the church by baptism having more than one wife. Others, and those as appeared from the final vote, the great majority, thought that every case must be judged on its own merits; and that when the polygamous relation had been entered into in the days of Mohammedan or pagan ignorance, it did not, of itself, constitute a sufficient bar to the admission of a man to baptism and the Lord's Supper. It was the judgment, apparently, of the great majority, in accord with that of all the church fathers of the first two or three centuries, that this view of the matter was sustained, and even required, by I. Tim. 3 : 2. On the ground of this passage, the Synod was unanimously of opinion, that under no ci1"IJumstantJe8 whatever, should any such polygamist communicant be eligible to even the lowest office of the church; and I hardly need perhaps to add, that the Synod was as unanimous in the judgment that any second marriage, the first wife being alive (apart from the case in which there had been divorce of the wife on the ground of her adultery), or any additional marriage by the polygamist himself after admission to the church, would be ground for excommunication here no less than in America and other lands under Christian law.
The Synod resolved, by a vote of 43 to 10, to ask the General Assembly to make exception to their rule requiring the compulsory separation of all the polygamist;s wives but one, as a condition of baptism and communion; and to leave the decision, as to what was to be done in all cases, to the ultimate decision of. our church courts here. This vote meant, that in the judgment of the great majority of Synod, about 4 to 1, a polygamist should not be required to put away all but one wife, as a condition to baptism; and that such a man, while admissable to both sacraments, was forever precluded from receiving any office in the church. With regard to your other questions, I can only answer from the recollection of what came out in the debate, as to opinions held by different members of Synod in the small minority. A few only think the polygamist should be kept outside the church as a perpetual catechumen till all his wives but one have died; a kind of "proselyte of the gate." Question III. (a) by the minority in our Synod, and also by those in other missions, who agree with them. would be answered differently by different men; there is nothing approaching to unanimity of sentiment on the subject; while those who maintain the position indicated in your Question I. [a perpetual catechumen] think it would be quite wrong, often cruelly unjust, to the women and children in our existing condition of society, to require the converted husband to live apart from anyone of his wives. In this position that part of the Synod's minority are quite at one with those of us who agree with the majority of Synod. Of those who think that all the wives but one should be put away, I think all would agree that if one or more wives are to be put away, the man must be required to support them and their children throughout the term of the natural life of the wife, and as long as the children may need a father's support. As to Question IV., I do not recollect that that case came up formally in the course of discussion, but I may say, as a matter of opinion, that the majority would probably hold that the same principle would apply in the case of the wife of a polygamist, when converted, as to himself, whatever that might be. The great majority would probably agree that the circumstances of her husband having other wives, was not, of itself, sufficient to debar her from baptism and communion. It will be of interest to you to know that the ladies of our mission, who were present during our Synod meetings, married and single, were so much interested in this matter, that they took a vote to ascertain the state of opinion among themselves on this subject, which resulted, if my memory serves me accurately, in a vote of 30 in favor of the receiving of polygamists without requiring them to put away their wives. to only 3 or 4 against this being allowed. Of these 3 or 4, one, and, I think, two, were young ladies who had only been two or three weeks in the country. When you remember how, in our conditions of society, these ladies knew much better than we could the practical working of the conditions of zenana life, you will agree that their judgment becomes of much moral force. As for "the rule or practise of our. missions" hitherto, we have had no "rule" one way or the other; it has been.left to the judgment of individual missionaries. In point of fact, those who practise polygamy in India, whether among Mohammedans or Hindus, are but few; and few cases of polygamous candidates for baptism have come before us. In a very few instances. such have been received into the church, without putting away their wives; and no court of our church has ever made objection to their admission, or censured any brother receiving them. As for my own opinion on this subject, which you ask for, I may say that I am emphatically of opinion that:!' Tim. 13 :2 implies inevitably that in the churches referred to, there were men who had more than one wife; and that, therefore, as this is not made a matter of censure by the apostles, inspired authority sanctions, by necessary implication, the admission of men having more than one wife, from non-Christian communities into the church, without requiring them to put away anyone of their wives. To require this of any man, seems to me to require him to do a gross wrong to those whom he should thus put away. Here in India. the woman put away would inevitably be regarded as presumably a harlot; if she keep her own children with her, they are deprived of the Christian nurture, on the part of their father. to which they have no less a claim than for food and clothing; if they are separated from their mother, and kept with the father, this again is a cruel wrong both to mother and children. In short, to require this putting away of anyone of the wives as a condition of baptism, seems to me a clear instance of doing evil that good may come.
SUMMARY OF OPINION.
The vote of those replying, or whose authority has been cited, together with missions that have put themselves on record by special action.
Recommending Excl1lsion.-Bishop E. Bickersteth, M. L. Gordon, J. B. Ayres, J. L. Atkinson, and J. B. Porter, of Japan; J. Bates, '1'. Barclay, W. Gauld, J. N. B. Smith, W. M. Hayes, C. Hartwell, David Hill, A. Foster, H. V. Noyes, and Griffith John, of China. The Presbyterian, Congregational, and Church of England bodies, of Japan, and the English Wesleyan Mission of China.
Recommending Admission, or favoring leniency.-P. D. Bergen, Y. K. Yen, T. Richard, A. G. Jones, D. B. McCarty, H. H. Lowry, J. C. Gibson, J. R. Goddard, John Wherry, J. L. Stuart, R. Lechler, James Carson, J. Ma,cintyre, John Ross, S. F. Woodin, H. C. Du Bose, D. E. Hoste, Stanley P. Smith, Wm. Ashmore, Jr., Wm. Ashmore, H. D. Porter, the late J. L. Nevius, the late A. P. Happer, B. C. Henry, Arth.ur H. Smith, J. Hudson Taylor, Hunter Corbett, and C. W. Mateer, of China; J. N. Forman, and S. H. Kellogg, of India. The Irish and Scotch Presbyterian Missions, of Manchuria; the Basel Mission, American Board Mission, of N. China, and the Sruod of India (N. Presbyterian), by a vote of 43 to 10.
INDIVIDUALISM IN MISSIONARY WORK
INDIVIDUALISM IN MISSIONARY WORK. * BY MISS ALICE KING, COE COLLEGE, CEDAR RAPIDS, lOWA.
Individualism is personality, one's separate, distinct self. Take away from anyone the lights that shine upon him from the protecting love of the home circle, from the glitter of fashionable life, from the fascinations of popularity, or from the glamor of high place and power, and apart from these, see the man as he is, and yon 'have his individuality, himself. That this real self is often very different from the apparent self no one can donbt; the real self is often hard, cold, and nngenerous, when the apparent self is amiable, sympathetic, benevolent. The reverse is also sometimes true: one may seem indifferent or stern, when the real self is intensely earnest. But, after all, disguise it as we may, it is the true self, the individualism, which leaves its impress on our lives and on our work. How true it is that "in the central deeps of our being we are alone!" "Each must take up his life plan alone, and preserve in it with a perfect privacy with which no stranger intermeddleth." This is one of the truest thoughts of life, yet we shrink from dwelling upon it, for it is so awful in its selfreaching, in its issues; yet God Himself has establisht it in that, 'Everyone of us shall give an account of himself to God." Perhaps, we do not think enough about our individualism, nor value it rightly. How few of us know ourselves just as we are! How few are conscious of this individual life-plan, of capacities distinctively our own! Certain it is we shall never discover our individualism by disparaging it as some are wont to do.
A celebrated English novelist, who even when a schoolboy recognized his own genius and determined to lead a literary career, refused to indulge in the follies of his gay companions. But on one occasion he was induced to enter a gambling saloon. It was his first play, and enchanted by its fascinations, and lured on by success, he spent most of the night at the gambling-table, and then went to his room with a purse heavy with his unworthy gains. Going to a casket which stood upon his dressing-table to secure the money, as he turned the key he saw his own face reflected in the mirror. He was startled at its appearance; not only was it pale and haggard, but about the mouth was a sinister expression never there before, and the blue eyes had lost their manly frankness. That moment was the resolve taken, and ever afterward kept, that never again would he yield to the insidious charms of the gambling table. As we see ourselves reflected in the * This paper is the substance of an address given first in Iowa City, then by request repeated before the Ladies' Missionary Societies of the Synod of the State in 1824 at Waterloo, la" and, frequently called for since. It is here given as near as may be, as spoken, andby the special solicitation of many who heard it. The author is e.n intimate personal friend of the editor, and long known by him as one whose modesty is equal to her merit.-EDITOR. mirror of God's word, may not we see there the image of Himself in which He created US, and resolve never to mar that likeness?
Neither should we be discouraged if our individualism is different from that of some one else. The infinite diversity of individualism lies side by sid13 with the infinite diversity in the physical world. No two leaves are ever just alike, no two flowers have just the same perfume, no two fruits have the same flavor, and no two faces exactly similar features; why then should we expect any more sameness in mental qualities, dispositions, and abilities?
Yet while this individualism is so distinctively and entirely our own we can not keep it to ourselves; it is this more than anything else about us that leaves its lasting impress upon others "None of us liveth to himself." Consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, for good or for evil, our individualism is effecting others. Have we not all known persons whose very presence changed the atmosphere about them, whose lightest word roused noble aspirations, whose smile cheered, whose gentlest touch gave peace? And alas! the reverse here is true; a word can check our enthusiasm; there is a smile that only debases, a touch that pollutes.
Stanley had heard of the wonderful explorations, marvelous endurance, and generous self-sacrifice of Livingstone, but it was not until he had taken the Missionary Explorer by the hand in the depths of African forests, and seen his daily life of suffering and self-denial for the good of those degraded natives, that Stanley recognized the power and beauty of Christianity, which had prompted and made possible such nobility of life. The sublime sibyls and prophets of Michael Angelo show the strong, rugged character of that great artist, yet none the less truly is Raphael's gentle spirit reflected by the pure Madonna faces which he loved to paint. Walter Scott never could have drawn such magic word-pictures of Scottish life, had he not so loved the Highlands, the dales, the lakes, and heather of his native land. The characters depicted by Byron's genius would not have been so distorted, had he himself not seen all things through a false medium. Shakespeare, who perhaps hides his individualism more than any other author, can not conceal his wondrous knowledge of his fellow-men and his sympathy with all their moods and passions. In Mozart's "Miserere" was there not represented in music the restless longing of his own unsatisfied spirit r in Bethoven's symphonies the desire of his own dull ear for the joy of harmonious sounds? and iu Heiue's pitiful wailings the outcry of his own bitterness of spirit?
Among the missionary names that we cherish most tenderly stands pre-eminent that of Harriet Newell. Why? Not for the sake of her work, for she was not permitted even to begin the work she had hoped to do for God, it is for what she was that we love her; for the devotion that led her in the very bloom of her beautiful womanhood, to prefer a life of self-abnegation in a heathen land to a life of ease in her New England home. Not her work, but herself made her the leader of that long line of Ohristian women who have given their lives to the cause of foreign missions.
The Reformation in Scotland, France, and Germany assumed different phases, because the leading spirit in one was that of the fiery Knox, in another the gloomy Oalvin, and in the third, the large hearted, great-souled I-,uther?
We each have an individualism which must be taken into account. How then may we use this individualism in missionary work. Think for a moment of the great needs of foreign lands. In Ohina proper, with a population of 350,000,000, there is but one missionary to every 500,000; in India, with a population of about 280,000,000, one missionary to 400,000; in Siam, population 10,000,000, one missionary to 1,000,000 persons; some cities with a population of 280,000, have not even a Bible reader or a native teacher; in Western Africa, 90,000,000, and" scarce a missionary," and further south in the Kongo Free State, 40,000,000 who have not seen a missionary; in all Africa, it is said, there are to- day 150,000,000 of people who have never seen a Bible nor heard the first proclamation of the good news. With nothing before us but these few figures, who would miss the opportunity of doing something?
Oonsider, too, the fascinating interest of these lands-Ohina, India, Japan, Siam, Persia, Africa. They have extended plains, pic- turesque and fertile valleys, vast forests producing rare and beauti- ful woods, deep mines stored with precious ores and gems, vast river systems, numerous lakes, harbors fitted for a world's commerce; and mountains of wondrous grandeur. They have populations of whose numbers we have little conception. They have histories, mystic, ancient, tragic. They have political institutions worthy of a states- man's study. They have architectural monuments that might be well numbered among the world's wonders. Many of their kings and princes are clothed in fabrics of such delicate and costly texture as no European loom can weave, and dwell in palaces of marble so delicately wrought, so inlaid with mosaics, so adorned with precious stones, and so furnished with silver and gold and ivory, that one could more easily fancy them the product of a magician's wand, than . the labor of barbaric hands. Their philosophers study a literature that both fascinates and baffies the Ohristian scholar. This is, indeed, the bright side of the picture, but its dark side is even more thrilling, so revolting, so terrible are its shadows of degradation, cruelty, aud vice.
Is there any need even to outline the picture of the home mission regious of our own laud? Oould we draw a veil over the vague historic past, loose sight of the teeming myriads, forget its effete arts aud unprogressive literature, the geographical outline of the far East would serve as well for the far West. There, too, are to be seen vast river systems, magnificent mountain ranges, great lakes, one harbor within the Golden Gate where the world's navies could float at ease, mines of inexhaustible wealth, forests whose woods are simply peerless in their beauty, valleys of matchless fertility, imd plains of almost incredible extent. It is only by comparison that we can at all realize the greatness of the West. You can go by steamboat on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers as far as from New York to Constantinople. Place California on the Atlantic Coast, with her northern boundary on the southern limit of Massachusetts, and the southern edge would coincide with the southern boundary of South Carolina. The greatest measurement of Texas is about equal to the distance between Boston and Chicago. "Lay this same Texas on the face of Europe, and this giant with its head resting on the mountains of Norway, with one palm covering London, the other Warsaw, would stretch himself down across the kingdom of Denmark, across the Empires of Germany and Austria, across Northern Italy, and have his feet in the Mediterranean." Put all the inhabitants of the United States in 1880 into Texas, and the population would be scarcely as dense as that of Germany.
California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Colorado have boundless resources in their mines of gold and silver. Not a State or Territory west of the Mississippi is without iron, only three where lead is not found, and only two without copper. Besides salt springs and salt lakes, there are beds of salt covering thousands of acres. Nevada has borax enough to supply mankind, and Texas yields gypsum enough to' supply a universe. The Colorado River in some places cuts its way through mountains of solid marble, and building stones of all colors are found in immense abundance in the Rocky Mountains. Even to summarize the natural resources of the West is wearisome. Yet amid all this utility grow in regal profusion fruits of delicious flavor and flowers. of such marvelous beauty that the American as well as the Asiatic shore may boast its Flowery Kingdom. And the rapid progress of this great West in all the arts and culture of social life is as phenomenal as are its natural resources. " And as it is without a precedent, so it will remain withont a parallel, for there are no more new worlds-America holds the future."
But this fair Western picture has, like that of the East, some dense shadows. Amid these scenes of sublimity and beauty there may be found such degradation and evil as will make us ashamed of our past and fearful for our future, unless they be overcome through the power of Christianity. We can well believe that" America holds the future," but let us so work and pray that she shall hold it for truth, purity, and Christian righteousness.
What of those who have gone to carry to the East and the West the one thing lacking-the knowledge of God, the obedience to His law? For such a work none but heroes and heroines are worthy, and such has God provided. If there is anything in heroism to attract us, in scholarship to win, in usefulness to enkindle our enthusiasm, or in devotion to inspire, we can find all these nowhere more clearly shown than in the lives of our missionaries. Mark the numbers who are winning a martyr's crown in saintly lives of self-sacrifice in the isolated homes and unappreciated labors of our Western missionaries, or who have already won it on the plains of Africa, Siam, China, India, and the islands of the sea.
The time is past when to be ignorant of missionary enterprises was excusable. In these days not to know the work of missions is to be lacking in one of the essentials of an intelligent member of society. Become acquainted with missionaries. Discover their individualism, that yours may touch it at many points. Once truly interested in some special field or some particular workers, tell others of them, and arouse their enthusiasm. With a consciousness of your own individualism, and of your responsibility for its use, and with a knowledge of the individualism of missionaries, you will not be long in finding out many ways in which the two may be brought together in helpful contact. If we are rich, we can give money; if powerful, our influence; if eloquent, our thrilling words; but I suppose the grandest way of all to use ourselves is to be missionaries. Oh, what a life that must be! What must it be to employ all one's powers for others; one's life freely spent for the uplifting of other lives; one's self all given away that some other self may be saved! It seems to me the height of human consecration-it is like Christ. All have some precious thing that God can use in this great work. Have you a patriotic heart that loves country next to God? Then help win that deal' country for God. Have you skilled fingers to use the needle, the pen, the pencil, the brush, or to touch musical keys? Have you an eye, quick to see the wants of others? an ear sensitive to another's cry for help? a heart thoughtful and sympathetic? Have you a voice eloquent in speech or sweet in song? All these may be used for God if only they are consecrated to His service. God only asks you for what you can do, not for the work of some one else.
"The God who sent men to preach the Gospel of His Son in their humanity, sent each man to preach it in his humanity." And just here comes in another of God's great truths. To use our individualism for God is but to increase its beauty and worth to ourselves; to seek to enlighten another life is to drive away darkness from our own; to seek to lead another soul to Christ is to draw nearer to Him ourselves. Work for others begets nobility of character in the worker. Ruskin says: "The power of the masters is shown by their self-annihilation;" and George McDonald writes: "There is no forgetting of ourselves but in the finding of our deeper, our true self, God's idea of
A CALL FRoM KOREA
us." "The glory is not in the task, but in doing it for Him;" true, but doing it for Him ennobles even the meanest task, and all our work grows in importance, in beauty, and in effectiveness, as we bring this spirit into the doing of it.
This brings us to the crowning truth and glory of this individual work. for an individual end; it is God's own appointed method, and so must succeed. It has often been questioned why there was need of so much preaching in Christian lands. Why home missionaries, when all in America either have or may have the Bible; why must God's truth be proclaimed every week by the mouth of the living preacher? Just because it is God's way. So Christ Himself workt and taught, and He must be our example. It is recorded that great multitudes followed Him, and that from out those multitudes one leper stept and worshipt Him with the prayer, " Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean," and touching him, He said, "I will, be thou clean." Never can we be saved ourselves until personally we come to a personal Savior; never can we do Christ-like work until we learn to follow His example, to stretch out our hand and help.
Let each bring what he or she has to the Master. Only bring it, give it, trusting to His wisdom to find a place for it-for us-in His great plan. Let no false depreciation of our individualism cause us to miss the" blessedness of spending and being spent in His high service, where all loss is gain." Never let us be disheartened because we can do so little. Never forget the words with which our Savior blest the woman who brought her alabaster box to give to her Lord. It was not much, but it was her best, perhaps her all, and He rewarded her deed with the matchless praise, "She hath done what she Jould!"
"God smiles. and takes with equal love Our various gifts, and knows no great nor small; But in His infiniteness sits above, And comprehends us all. "
A OALL FROM KOREA.* BY MRS. ISABELLA BIRD BISHOP.
I came to Korea a fortnight earlier than I had intended in order to attend the Presbyterian Annual Meeting, and I am very thankful that I did so, for I have not elsewhere seen such an earnest, cheerful, whole-hearted body of men and women, with so completely one aim in view and so much in harmony in thf;l way of carrying out. The * We reprint part of a letter from this noted lady traveler and author, written November 2, 1896, to Dr. F. F. Ellenwood, of New York. It has already had extended notice In the religious press, but deserves as wide a circulation as possible. No traveler is more entitled to a hearing than Mrs. Bishop, who for many years has journeyed in the Orient. She is a convert to missions through seeing the need of the heathen and the work accomplisht by missionaries. accounts of work, specially of that in Pyeng Yang district, were absorbingly interesting. The harvest so far has fulfilled the promise of a year ago. 'rhe hearts of all present burnt within them, as we heard these reports, and the feeling of gratitude found fitting expres- sion in the hearty singing of the doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." But I confess that I feel very bad about the pros- pects for Korean work, unless the Ohurch awakes to a sense of what the situation really is. I have no special interest in Korea, and in the three years of travel now drawing to a close, I have visited over one hundred mission stations and am not conscious of having felt a greater preliminary interest in the work at one than at another. But I am bound to say that the needs of Korea, or rather the openings in Korea, have come to occupy a very outstanding place in my thoughts, and I should not be justified in withholding my view of them.
The Pyeng Yang work which I saw last winter, and which is still .going on in much the same way, is the most impressive mission work which I have seen in any part of the world. It shows that the Spirit of God still moves on the earth, and that the old truths of sin, judg- ment to come, of the Divine justice and love, of the atonement, and of the necessity for holiness, have the same power as in the apostolic days to transform the lives of men. What I saw and heard there has greatly strengthened my own faith. But it is not in Pyeng Yang only, but here in the capital, and especially through the women's work, of which Mrs. Gifford is such a noble and faithful representative; that the seed sown so long in tears is promising to yield a harvest, if the reapers come. And tho, in lesser degree, there are signs elsewhere that the leaven of the Gospel is working.
A door is opened wide in Korea – how wide only those can know who are on the spot. Very many are prepared to renounce devil worship and to worship the true God, if only they are taught how; and large numbers more who have heard and received the Gospel are earnestly craving to be instructed in its rules of holy living. I dread indescribably that unless many men and women, experienced in winning souls, are sent speedily, that the door which the Ohurch declines to enter will close again, and that the last state of Korea will be worse than the first. The methods of the missiqn are admirable in the training of the Ohristians to self-help. They' are helping themselves to the limit of their means. Also admirable are the methods used for fitting the Koreans to carry the Gospel intelligently to their brethren. This work alone requires four times the number of men already in the field to carry it on! Yet on it perhaps more than on any other agency hang our hopes for the advancement of Ohrist's kingdom in Korea. Truly" a great door and effectual" is opened; I sadly ask – is it to close again? Your Ohurch is rich in the silver and gold which are the Lord's. The abandonment of a few luxuries on the part of your members, with an increase in the spirit of self-sacrifice, might mean eternal salvation to many in Korea, but what a fearful responsibility it will be if the door closes! There are men and women willing to come to Korea if a moderate sustenance be provided. The money value of a ring, of an evening dress, of a carpet, of a seaside trip, would support a laborer for a year; I write strongly, I dare not apologize. I have been compelled to feel strongly by what I have seen and heard in Korea.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
IL-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
West Ohina. this territory, the popUlation is homo- geneous, and speaks the same language, BY REV. SPENCER LEWIS, CHUNG KING, viz., the Mandarin, or court dialect. CffiNA. Variations there are, but not so impor- tant but that one can travel from the The term West China is usually re- borders of Burma up through the west· garded as including the three provinces ern and northwestern provinces clear of Szchuan (Se-chuen), Kueicheo and to the imperial capitol, Pekin, a jour- YUnnan. Szchuan is the Jargest, and ney of between five aDEI six months, probably the most populous province and still make himself understood with in the whole empire. The figures usu- the Mandarin tongue. It is the lanally given for the population are a cen- guage of about three-fourths of the peotury old, while there is every evidence ple of China, or about 300,000,000. that the population. is constantly on the No language on earth is spoken by so increase. Early in the present dynasty, many people. On the other hand, from which had existed for two centuries and Shanghai to Canton the dialect often a half, frightful massacres left but a completely changes within a distance of sparse population, the vacant places be- 100 miles or less. It is ell,sy to see that ing afterward :filled by a vast influx a region with a common language comfrom adjoining provinces. When a mands points of vantage for missionary Chinaman in Szchuan is askt from labors that a region divided among what province he comes, he will fre- many dialects does not possess. The quently reply, "Hupeh," or "Hunan." aboriginal tribes and the Tibetans, If he is then askt how long since he though they speak languages of their came to the province, a common reply own, through mingling with the Chiwill be "200 years," identifying himself nese for purposes of trade, have become with his ancestors in a very certain more or less acquainted with the Chi- Chinese fashion. The population is now nese language, and many of them might dense everywhere, except in the very be reached by the preaching of the Gosmountainous regions. For a long period pel in that tongue. Thus, when God no war has decimated the population, shall have opened the doors of Tibet to and this province of Szchuan is never the missionaries, there might be Tibetan subject to extensive floods and famines. converts already prepared to preach the The Roman Catholic priests, who have Gospel to their own countrymen. good opportunities of judging, estimate tho population at 45,000,000, Adding With the exception of a few river the population of Kueicheo and Yunnan bottoms and large plain in which is sitwould probably give a total of from uated the capital, Chentu, the province 60,000,000 to 65,000,000, or about the of Szchuan is decidedly hilly or mounpresent population of the United States. tainous. Kueicheo is still more moun- tainous, while Yunnan is mountainous, The territory of Szchuan is 166.800 with great stretches of table lands situsquare miles, and of the three provinces ated six or seven thousand feet above the 339,323 square miles. This would be sea. Though there is so little land, the about equal to the popUlation of seven industrious farmers terrace the hillsides great states of the Mississippi valley, for rice fields, A part of these remain viz: illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michi- filled with water after the rice is hargan, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. vested and the rest are planted to winter crops of wheat, opium, peas, etc. The With the exception of the wild tribes and the Tibetans who have come into atmosphere in Szchuan and Kueicheo been accustomed for centuries to subfor the most of the year is so humid that sist almost wholly on what they could there is very little evaporation from the raise from their own soil. Rice is the fields. The cloudy days are more num- chief food of the people, but in mounerous than the sunny ones, which is not tainous regions the people subsist chiefly pleasant to those who are accustomed to on maize and potatoes. Wheat, barley, brighter skies. But passing into Yunnan millet, beans, and peas are grown in lhere is a sudden change. One traveler, considerable quantities. Enough sugar· journeying from Szchuan to Yunnan, cane is raised to supply the home defound himself ankle deep in mud on one mand for sugar, though it is not refined side and ankle deep in dust on the other to suit western taste. Salt is produced side. On the Szchuan side, the clouds in large quantities and exported in all seem to deposit their moisture as they directions, forming a considerable strike the mountains, leaving little for source of revenue to the government the Yunnan side. In the latter province At the place where the most saIt is proit is bright for about ten months of the duced are self-flowing wells several year, as is the case of North China and thousands of feet in depth. Some of the most of India. The rainfall is so these contain brine, and others natural inadequate that large tracts of fertile gas which is used to evaporate the brine. land remain uncultivated, or produce There is an abundane of silk, but cotton but scanty harvests. As a consequence is not largely grown, much cotton, cotthis province has the smallest popula- ton-yarn, and cotton-cloth being importion in proportion to its area of any pro- ted. Sufficient tea is produced for home vince of the eighteen. The masses of consumption and large quantities are the people are poverty stricken as com- exported into Tibet and Siberia. The pared with the prosperous people of Szchuan province is noted for its medi· Szchuan. cines, large quantities of which are ex- ported. Much of the medicines are the In Szchuan the rice crop of 1896 has same as are imported by our mission been nearly ruined by excessive rains. doctors from London or New York, but In the midst of a good harvest the rains they are in a crude state, or not in began and continued, almost without best condition for their use. Most of interruption, for 100 days. The rice the fruits to be found in temperate rotted in the fields, or became moldy in zones are found in West China, though the granaries. Even the straw rotted no berries or currants are cultivated. so that there was none with which to However, most of the fruits, grains, rethatch their houses or feed their cattle and vegetables are inferior to the samc through the winter. In a short time kinds grown in the home lands. While the price of rice had gone up to double in most parts of China the farmers live the usual rate, with the prospect of in hamlets and go forth to their work going higher still. This means great during the day, in Szchuan they live scarcity and suffering among multi- upon their farms or holdings just as tudes of people, though not necessarily farmers do in America. This is doubta great number of deaths from actual less because they have lived at peace for starvation. Other rice-growing fields many generations, and do not need to of the empire are so distant that, with- gather into hamlets for mutual protecout railways, no food can be brought in. tion.
The productions of West China are Provision is made for the vices of the varied and valuable. Nearly everything people. Spirits are made from maize, is produced that is necessary for food, millet, and rice, and tobacco is grown clothing and shelter. With little means extensively, and opium in its season in of communication with the outcr world some parts of the country seems to except through that great artery of com- cover half the land. The last is a growmerce, the Yangtse-Kiang, they have ing scourge, which threatens the Ohinese country. Another decade or two is people with ruin physical, moral, and likely to witness important changes in mental. No opium worth mentioning this respect. May we not believe that all is imported from India to West Ohina, this mineral wealth has been hidden in but every year an increasing quantity is the bowels of the earth till in the pro- sent down river to other parts of Ohina. vidence of God there should be the The native opium is much milder than moral and spiritual uplift of a Ohristian the Indian drug. and so cheap that a civilization? The wealth of the hills is regulation smoke in an opium den costs His and will be forthcoming in His only about one cent. Every year the time. poppy is encroaching on the fields of grain and vegetables, so that when there The exploitation of the commerce of is a poor crop of rice multitudes go hun- West Ohina by railroads is a live quesgry. An alarming proportion ofthe men tion. In Tongking the French, and in and a considerable number of the women Burma the English, are building railare addicted to the use of this pernicious ways which are projected to the Ohidrug. It is a common cause of back- nese borders. It is expected that the sliding among our Ohristians or inquir- Ohinese will build railways to connect ers. Missionaries can not countenance with these, or authorize others to build the opium habit among their converts. them. Yunnan has nothing worth men- It is an insidious foe whose stealthy ap- tioning in the way of navigable rivers; proach can not easily be detected. It but with railroads to develop her minsteals away manhood, selfrespect, fam- eral wealth, she might become one of ily affection, and regard for truth. the richest, instead, as she now is, one of the' poorest of the provinces of the Mining is little carried on, and when empire. Large as the present trade of it is, it is usually by the rudest of West Ohina is, it is but a fraction of what methods. The upper Yangtse has re- it would be if the country were thorceived the name of the" River of the oughly opened up by railways. At Golden Sands," from the gold which is present the most of the trade tinds its brought down by every summer's flood way along the Yangtse river, even and which is washed out of the sands though the river takes such an exorbialong the stream for hundreds of miles. tant toll in wrecked boats and ruined How much gold is yet to be found back goods. Ohungking, the commercial in the mountain recesses, who can con- center of the, West, is the objective jecture? The most of Ohina's supply of point of trade and railway construction. copper has come from. the Yunnan pro- It has been opened as a treaty port, but vince, yet there is reason to believe that steamers 'run only to Ichang, 500 miles only a small fraction of it has been mined. below. At the close of the recent war Ooal is found in abundance in most between China and Japan, the latter parts of Szchuan, and iron ore is plenti- secured a clause in the treaty giving her ful. We have seen good anthracite the privilege of running steamers to coal on the top of a mountain 7,000 feet Ohungking, and it is expected that high, but the price was ridiculously low' steamers will be especially built for the because of the expense of transporting purpose soon. There is depth of water it to market. Ooal at the pit is worth enough for boats of light draught. The little more than what it costs to dig it difficulties are in the numerous rapids out of the earth. We have seen coal and conflicting currents. But we beat the pit selling for 75 cents a ton, lieve that the difficulties are no greater while scarcely 100 miles away it was than modern genius is able to overcome, worth several times that amount. An now that permission has been given to immense development of Ohina's min- try. eral wealth would come if there were railroads to open up the resources of the With steamboats and railways we may hope that the progress of Ohristian missions will be accelerated. Much Savaras still live in a Vflry primit.ive precious time might be saved. Railways style, and love to roam over the hilIs~ would take us in ten hours where now picking up a precarious liveliho"d. ten days are required. A new life would They raise some grain, keep a few throb in those isolated regions. Some- cattle, and gather firewood for sale thing like the prophet's vision of the dry upon the plains; but a good ded Gf bones would take place. Missionary food in the shape of game, nuts, herries, societies must be ready to follow the etc., is pickt up in the jungles. The lines of rail, so that with a new mental Kamper Savaras, on the other hand, activity and material progress there may have become more civilized. They come a moral uplift and a spiritual have imbibed a good many Hindu life. ideas, live better, and dress better. They live by farming chiefly and con- A beginning has been made in mis- sider it quite beneath them to cut wood sion work. Much sowing has already and carry it to the market. If they been done, and a little reaping which is use their mother tongue, it is in a the earnest of the great harvest which corrupt form and with a good many awaits the consecrated energy of the admixtures of Telugu or Orija; but Christian church. This is a noble por- they speak the languages of the plains tion of the inheritance which has been probably more than they do their own. promist to the Son in the uttermost parts of the earth. Let us be strong and The Savaras in their native mountains of good courage and go up and possess have a nationality, history, religion, the land. system of law, and landed property. They used to live independently, giving The Savaras-A Hill-tribe in Southern taxes to no government. Frequently India. they made raids upon the plains below and carried off whatever they could. BY REV. W. v. mGGINS, PARLAKIMEDI, About half a century ago one of the ancestors of the present Parlakimedi INDIA. Rajah led an expedition against them and appointed men, called Bisois, here In Southern India the Savaras oc- and there to guard the passes and recupy an important place among the hill- duce the Savaras to subjection. Since tribes. It is said that there are sixty- that time the British govcrnment has four different bibes of hill-people in extended its territory into those hills the Madras Presidency, with a total and draws a revenue from the people. population of 1,273,947. More than Formerly there were groups of Savara one-seventh of these are Savaras and villagcs under a powerful chief. Even only one other tribe (the Khonds) have at present there are groups of fam· a greater population. The Savaras ilies closely united and under the govnumber 182,295, and are found chiefly ernment of two chiefs, the Gomang in the Garyam District, upon the hills (great man) and Boya. Together they to~'ttie North of Parlakimedi. The discharge the duties of a magistrate, latter place is the most northern station and the Boya is also high priest. These of the Maritime Provinces' Baptist Mis- offices are hereditary and fall to the sion among the Telugus). Originally eldest son. The Boya must be intithe Savaras belonged to one community, mately acquainted with the customs and but have since become divided and ceremonies to be observed at funerals, sub-divided into various classes, which marriages, feasts, etc. On all such might be called castes. However, we occasions his presence is indispensable. may divide them for our present pur- All cases of dispute, transfer of lan.ds, pose into two classes, viz.: Hill Savaras sale of liquor, trees, divorce, etc., are and Kamper Savaras, who live upon settled in the council ot ~l:Cl ~lgel,'S~ the plains at the foot of the hills. The latter have been much more affected by contact with the Hindus. The Hill • under the leadership of the Gomang There seems to have been no punishand Boya. Until forty years ago even ment for immorality committed precases of murder were tried by these vious to marriage. A man may marry chiefs, and they were the sole arbitrators as many wives as he can support; but in every transaction among the villages. polyandry does not seem to be practist. These chiefs receive no fees, and make At the father's death the property is their living from the soil or forest as divided equally among all the sons of others do. But the British govern- the various wives. In taking to himment and the Bisois give distinction to self so many wives the Savara seems to them by presenting occasional gifts. think that women, like beasts of burden, They are exempt from personal service are useful and valuable property. They which other Savaras are required to can work for him and their children render. But the jurisdiction of the will also, in time, be a help to him in Savara chiefs has been largely curtailed his work. His property consists in by the government. It is interesting wives, children, and cattle. A wife, to note the methods which these chiefs who does not like her present husband, adopt for the punishment of offenses. may induce another man, whom she Capital punishment was administered likes better, to buy her from her husto those who burnt villages, thus en- band. In such a case the price to be dangering the lives of the community. paid is a buffalo, or a pig and some Many kinds of tines were imposed for liquor. This prerogative of hers often different minor offenses. These con- acts healthfully upon the tyrannical sisted chietiy in liquor and cattle. The husband, and makes her position more life of a woman was considered as tolerablc than that of a Hindu woman. worth more than that of a man. In When a boy's parents want a wife for this respect we may consider the him, they consult with their relatives, Savaras as more civilized than their and then send to the girl's parents some Hindu neighbors. Hence the tine for outside parties who make known their the murder of a woman was eight request. Soon after they come to the buffaloes, but only seven for a man. girl's home with liquor. Should they A thief might be shot dead if caught find the door closed, it is understood in the act. In cases of adultery it was that the marriage with their boy is not always the man, not the woman, who agreeable. But if consent is obtained, was punisht. In case of a quarrel the the contract is solemnized by all memcontending parties were required to bers of the two families drinking liquor unite in some religious ceremony and together. After drinking the liquor, in the offering of a sacrifice. After the tumeric paste is smeared over certain appointed fine has been paid and the parts of the body. This smearing is sacrifice offered, to continue the quarrel confined to the girl's relations, and is would be offensive to the unseen spirits put on by the boy's relatives. Several and departed ancestors. A Savara vil- visits are made, in which music, danclage, consisting of a row or two of well ing, singing, liquor drinking, etc., are thatched houses, is often changed and participated in. Then comes the final sometimes upon a slight pretext to marriage ceremony, when various gifts another site. For example, if a tiger in clothes, brass jewelry, etc., have to enters a village and carries off a child, be made. One pot of liquor is reserved if a case of small-pox occurs, or if some and, after being decorated, is worshipt. of the cattle die, the village is likely to This is performed by the priest, who be deserted, and another bliilt in a prays to dead ancestors and unseen better place. spirits generallv. He asks for pros- perity upon tIi; newly married couple. Among the Savaras infant marriage The sacred liquor is sprinkled over the is the rule. The girls seldom live un- feet and shoulders of the elders. Then married until they reach maturity. the girl is askt if she will have the hence, instead of medicine, offerings to man. She replies: "Have we not drunk the spirits are beneficial. The dead the liquor? Are we not Savaras? Savara is burnt with his head to the Why should I not marry him?" Then west. At the funeral there is much a festival is proclaimed, and all the drum-beating,· dancing, and drinking. villages take part, each household giv- The ashes are gathered together and ing a present to the bride and groom. put into a pit, on which a stone is After the wedding she is sent as soon placed j and tumeric paste is smeared as possible to her husband's hous~ and upon the stone. Liquor and oil are she is supposed to bring enough gifts also poured over the stone, and often from her relatives to make up for all rice, liquor, etc., are left for the spirit the gifts which her husband's relatives to feed upon. had given. For the temporal and spiritual wel- Widows may remarry, and they often fare of this host of our fellow creatures marry the deceast husband's younger little or nothing is being done. But brother, who inherits his brother's the return for what little labor has been property if he died without children. expended upon them is sufficient to If a widow marries a stranger she must indicate the importance of doing vastly leave behind her her own and her hus- more for them. Mr. G. V. Ramamurti, band's property. Her new husband Assistant Principal of the Rajah's High must also pay a fine (a buffalo or a pig School in Parlakimedi, a Brahman, has and some liquor) to the former husband's taken a very commendable interest in younger brother. This fine is dis- the Savaras. For soine years he has tributed by the priest among all the been learning all he could about the villagers. If anyone marries a widow, tribe, and has pickt up their language. he must offer a sacrifice consisting of a He has made a dictionary and grammar pig and some liquor. This is offered to which, if publisht, wuold be of great the spirit of the dead husband, and the service to those seeking the evangelizapriest thereby propitiates him so that he tion of this tribe. Not long since he will not trouble the widow and her urged the government to do something new husband. The husband is at more for the education and civilization liberty to send off any of his wives if of the Savaras. It is a matter of rethey are extravagant, illtreat the chil- gret that the government did not take dren, quarrel with the other wives, etc. up Mr. Ramamurti's suggestions. It The Savaras believe that departed was objected that in their semi-barbarspirits hover around and often do much ous state the Savaras are contented and injury to those who displease them. that they should not be disturbed. Hence they must often be propitiated, and generally they like to be propiti- The Baptist Missionaries of the Mari. ated with liquor, of which they are time Provinces of Canada have been very fond. In every Savara house working among the Telugus right up there will be found a pot or two daubed to those hills, and they have been with tumeric and covered with a flat hoping some time or other to have a plate. These pots are sacred, as they missionary especially for the Savaras. are the abode of the departed spirits. That hope does not seem likely to be One of these pots is generally kept in realized very soon. However some the corner of the room and another is work has been done among them. suspended from the roof by a string, Years ago a Christian leper lived within down which the spirit is supposed to a mile or two of a Savara village. This descend as it enters the pot. The man of God was bitterly persecuted- Savara knows nothing of good spirits, his house being burnt over his head. but is taught to dread evil ones. All For some time he lived in a hut rudely disease is caused by evil spirits, and built beneath a tree. There he taught a school and his principal pupils came from that Savara village nearby. Eager children and self, the deprivations they for education, and, finding no other are under, as to physical surroundings, school available. these youths came to social, educational, and spiritual privi· sit at the feet of this Christian leper leges, seem to mark their real position beneath the wide spreading tamarind as slaves to the men.
tree. He was the means of implanting One or two sights of the average in their hearts the seed of divine truth Korean house are quite enough to satis- and he won several of them to Christ. fy. Of homes the common people ap- One or two of those boys subsequently pear to know nothing. A house-to- became preachers in the mission. The house as well as a national 0 sqji, (great family belonged to Kamper Savaras cleaning), seems sadly needed. What- and spoke both Orija and Telugu easily. ever the theories of the people, they will As preachers they have been occasion- be compelled to look to Christianity ally making tours over the hills and and its teachings for the emancipation preaching the Gospel in their mother and education of woman, and the ele- tongue. May this interesting tribe of vation of the home. Not a glimmer of aborigines soon be provided with light appears from any other quarter.
Gospel light. The question constantly forces itself First Impressions of Korea. upon the visitor to Korea. Why are nearly all forms of business enterprise BY REV. DAVID S. SPENCER, NAGOYA, in the hands of or under the control of JAPAN. some foreign agency? Are tb.e Koreans incapable of initiating paying business First Impressions! That is all I enterprises? Can they not learn from attempt to write; and as no average examples around them, from their person can reasonably be expected to tutors of one nationality or another, have reacht fixt judgment regarding how to do some paying business? Brief a great people in the experience of a observation leads us to think that not few brief weeks among them, any the lack of capacity. not the lack of opinions here given, concerning Korea, capital chiefly, but a lack of business are understood to be subject to revision confidence, of trust of man, of the with the incoming of additional light. citizen in the government, of the sub- But a cursory glance at affairs seems to ject in the ruler, lies at the bottom reveal an interesting race of natives, the of the present regretable state of male portion of which are about as in- affairs.
dolent as circumstances will allow, To the visitor from Japan, the bar- having the largest percentage of " gentle- renness in Korean stores of anything men of leisure" we have ever seen attractive to the traveler is a surprise.
in any body politic. Yet on every hand Something peculiar to the country, and indications of poverty afford valid rea- desirable to the traveler as a souvenir is sons why these able-bodied men should expected, but the variety from which to work. The evidences of great physical chose is exceedingly limited. All ideas powers manifested everywhere in the of the fine art seem to be rude. One cooley class lead one to the conclusion does not even find toys for children.
that the Koreans can work if they have I do not remember to have seen a boy a reason for doing so. What the in- playing with hoop or ball, a girl with terior might reveal we know not now, doll, or any other toy except what the but the cities visited seem to indicate inventive genius of the little one had that the women are the chief bread- produced. There must be Korean winners of the nation. The burdens fathers who are proud of their sons, they bear everywhere, the pat-a-pat-pat and mothers of their daughters, but I at all hours of the night as with painful quite fail to observe any manifestations care they iron the clothing for husband, of such emotion. , It is as if some evil spirit had blasted the hopes and aspir- conditions in Korea. Through them ations of the people, and all sense of Japan is badly represented to the world. the good, the true, and the beautiful If they are to remain in Korea, and on had fled. no principles of justice can they be easily excluded, the opening of dis- I was permitted to attend a great tinctively Christian work among them mass meeting on the birthday of the is a matter of the highest importance. king. The place, the occasion, the crowd were all remarkable; 3,000 peo- The Christian work done in Korea ple gathered in lind around the large has grown to be II great enterprise. To Hall outside the city wall, in which, in the busy worker on the field, surround- bygone days the king, as head of a ed by difficulties, which none under- tributary state, was wont to meet the stand better than he, oftentimes seem- embassies from China, previous to their ing to have to stand alone for the truth, entry of the capital. On this birthday and always working under the gaze of of the king, the old hall rang with an unsympathetic multitude, the work speeches from the lips of both Koreans may seem to move very slowly; but to and foreigners, in which sentiments one who distinctly remembers when the Christian and patriotic equally blended, first stroke of Protestant Christian work while the manifest sentiments of the was done in Korea, scarce ten years ago, crowd indicated that the day of Korea's the change wrought seems amazing. enlightenment begins to dawn. The Not only in the great meeting above meeting under such auspices and at such mentioned did we discpver rich fruits a time was a splendid idea, and worth of Christian work, but in the ordinary coming a long way to see. It will pay meetings of believers, when addressing the missionaries to make use of all such audiences of native Christians and when national occasions. Nothing imprest visiting the Christian schools, the hosthe writer more than the large number pitals, and the printing establishment, of voices that joined intelligently in the we were much imprest that the mis- Lord's prayer, repeated at the close of sionaries, criticise them as you will, call the more formal invocation. Some mis- them hard names if you must, discount sionaries from somewhere have been their work all you can, and make out doing something in Korea. the worst possible case against them, have done already for Korea a work for I had not been in Korea a week be- which that country to her last day can fore I became convinced that, with cer- never repay them. And I was glad to tain manifest exceptions, the Japanese note that at least some Koreans are not who are there are not at all fairly rep- without a sense of gratitude for the help resentative of their people. A dozen they have received. Let the weary years among them should give one a Christian worker in Korea comfort himright to an opinion. They are by far self with the thought: "Inasmuch as in too great a degree, for the good of ye have done it unto one of the least of either Korea or Japan, mere adventur- these my brethren, ye have done it unto ers, who have found their way to Korea Me." in the hope of making financial gain out of the present and recent past state I can not share with some foreigners of affairs in the peninsula. Without resident in Korea the gloomy view definite aim, without financial or moral which they take of the prospects in this standing, many of them professing to now much-talkt-of country. There is be irreligious, and more of them feeling great hope for Korea, if the Gospel is none of the restraints of moral obliga- allowed to have a chance to bear its tion, and lacking business qualifications, natural fruit on that soil. But aU real they form an element rather dangerous help will have to come from sources inthan otherwise under present social spired by Christi@ sentiment, A Missionary Oonferenoe in Germany. and a town exceedingly rich in historic associations of every kind. The ses- BY D. B. SOHNEDER, HALLE, GERMANY. sions began on the evening of the 22d of February, and continued throughout The writer, an American missionary the next day. Dr. Warneck presided. in Japan, has just had the privilege of attending the Annual Missionary Con- The conference from beginning to ference of the Province of Saxony. In end was of such a character as to give order to make clear what follows it one a profound impression of the deep. may be well to devote a few sentences earnest and wise interest of the German to an explanation of the organization of church in missions. An opening ser- German missionary effort. vice was held in the largest church of the town, which was filled to overflow- First of all are the missionary 8ocieties. ing with an appreciative audience. A Of these there are 16. They have no sermon setting forth the scriptural idea official connection with the state church, of missions was preacht by Pastor yet are the free outgrowth of the spirit Hafner of Elberfeld. Then followed a of missions within the church. It is lengthy meeting in a hall holding about the function of these societies to solicit twelve hundred people. This, too, was and receive funds, and to appoint and filled, so that many were obliged to oversee the missionaries_ Working into stand. After a few introductory re- the hands of each of these societies there remarks by Dr. Warneck on the great is a large number of missionary associa- opportunities and responsibilities of the tions, organizations which correspond hour, an address was delivered by Rev. to our American congregational mis- Dr. Grundemann, who, without official sionary societies, but which here may connection with the work, has out of be composed of members of several pure love for the cause, become Ger- congregations located close together_ many's best mission geographer and These are the rivulets that help to make statistician. His topic was the question, the large stream. Lastly come the " How can we most effectually dissem- missionary conferences, the function of inate a practical knowledge of missions which is solely educational. Nearly among our people?" The speaker every Prussian province has its confer- argued that Germany should become ence, as have also several of the other a missionary nation. In order to do this German states, and every one who is two things are necessary,-knowledge interested in missions, regardless of his and love. Knowledge of missions may connection with this or that society, be spread abroad in various ways. may become a member. The meetings What especially imprest itself upon are annual. Prominent missionary an American ear, was the speaker's adworkers are invited, and such mission- vocacy of the teaching of missions in ary topics' are discust as are intended the public schools. He urged this point to interest especially the pastors and strongly, seeing only one considerable intelligent laymen. difficulty in the way, namely, the already overcrowded state of the curriculum of The conference above referred to is the schools. And the speaker who the conference of the Province (not the followed him in the discussion reem- Kingdom) of Saxony. It was called phasized the point, saying that the into existence eighteen years ago by school readers, the school geograthat great and untiring friend of mis- phies and the school histories should sions, Dr. Warneck, who until this day contain missionary matter. All this, of remains its chief inspiration. The con' course, can only be understood in conference met this year, as it always does, nection with the fact that religion is in Halle, the towu of August Hermann taught in the public schools of Germany Francke and of Tholuch, the town in every day in the week. The devoted which George Muller of England's most famous orphanage, was converted, Moravian missionary superintendent, preparation for Christianity Islam can in Dr. Buchner, who was born in Jamaica, no wise be, partly because of its intrin- sic unfitness. and partly because of its of missionary parentage, and who has sworn enmity against Christianity. traveled in almost every land in visiting Everlasting enmity to all other relig- the widely scattered missions of the ions is one of the essentials of Islam.
Brethren Church, said that there would Hence Islam has shown itself much less be a great gain in knowledge and interest when once there was a missionary in accessible to Christian missions than pure heathendom. Islam, instead of being a bridge between Christianity and the field from every congregation. As a heathendom, is an almost insunnount- member of the Moravian church he able barrier. But a great day for miscould say this with good grace; for sions among the Mohammedans will be although this church numbers only 30,- upon us when once the temporal power of the Sultan and of the Shah of Persia 000 souls, including children, it main- shall have crumbled to pieces. It is tains 173 foreign missionaries, and it is therefore the duty of Christendom to be ready and to begin now to gather her said that there is not a Moravian family forces and prepare them for the task.
that does not have a son or a daughter In concluding, the speaker made a brief or a brother or a sister, or some other statement of the work done among the near relative in the foreign field, and Mohammedans, and said that in India there is not a family, therefore, that is there are now over 17,000 COllverts not in private con'espondence with a from Islam.
The address was a masterly one, and mISSIOnary. It appeared in the course was followed in the discussion by Pas- of the discussion that most of the tor Seller, whose grandfather, Dr.
methods of spreading information were Gobart, was a missionary bishop, and already to it greater or less extent in use whose father is now a missionar:y under throughout the churches of the prov- the Church Missionary SOCIety at ince, and certain it is that there is al- Nazareth, in Palestine, also by an Ar- readr a very extensive and excellent menian Christian pastor, AmiI' Han missIOnary literature in wide circula- Janz, who spoke almost perfect Ger- tion. man. The Armenian massacres were The following day was devoted to referred to by him and by others, es-'
matters pertaining to the work in the pecially by Dr. Lepsius, who has be- field. A continuous day-session of over come known in both hemispheres three hours, and an evening session of through his famous book "Armenia two hours were held; the attendance and Europe." and who has visited Arbeing eyen larger than on the first day. menia in the previous year. It was a An address on the scripture teachings melancholy thought that after the long of missions by superintendent Buchner hesitation on· the part of the European was followed by a report from Dr. powers to interfere, the :first shot at last Warneck, according to which it ap- (two days before) was fired, not against peared that the contributions for mis- the Turks, but against the Christians.
sions in the province had doubled At the evening session representatives during the last twenty years. of three societies gave reports of the The principal address of the day work in German East Africa, and the was delivered by missionary secretary closing address, by Pastor Hafner, was Schreiber, of Barmen. His subject a solemn challenge to holy endeavor for was: "The Relation of Evangelical Christ.
Missions to Mohammedanism." There were present over 800 pastors, Under four important headings he men who bv their appearance and their spoke of Islam: utterances feft the impression that their 1. As a rival of ChIistianity ; interest in the cause of Christ at home 2 As an alleged preparation and pre- and abroad, is a matter of manly con- liminary for Christianity; viction. Besides the pastors there 3. As the sworn enemy of Christian- were present professors, jurists, physi- ity and Christian missions; cians, students, and others, togetherwith 4. As an object of evangelical mis- a considerable number of ladies. Alto- sionary effort. gether the gathering gave evidence that As a rival of Christianity, the speaker Germany is still the land of Luther, said, Islam is without a dOUbt the most and that in the future Christianization dangerous. It is the only religion of the world, she will surely playa part which, like Christianity, seeks to be- that is in keeping with her high place come the religion of the world. A in Christian history in the past.
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Siam and Laos,* Malaysia, Unocoupied Fields, Buddhism,t Work Among Lepers. + BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
Malay Moslems. BRITISH, DUTCH, ANO SPANISH POSSESSIONS IN One-eighth of the inhabitants of the MALAYSIA. earth are Moslems. These are chiefly to befound in Western and South West· British: Square Popula· ern Asia, and in Northern Africa; in all of which places work among them Miles. tion. is found to be very difficult, if not im- Singapore……….. '" 107 134,554 possible, from the governmental and Penang, etc. . . …. . . . . . 270 235,618 popular opposition to, and persecution Malacca. _….. ……… 1,095 92,170 of, any other religion. Even where Protected Native States: nominal liberty of worship is allowed, Peral<……………. 10,000 214,254 the persecution of converts is so fierce, Selangor….. " . . . •. . 8,000 81,592 thatfew dare to brave the anger of their Sungei Ujong. .•••.. 28,602 countrymen by coming under Christian Negri Sembilan…… 660 41,617 influence and professing Christian be- Johore……. …….. 2,000 300,000 liefs. Medical Missions, and Tract Pahang………….. 9,000 57,462 and Bible distribntion are almost the Labuan……………. 10,000 5,853 only means of work among them. One of North Borneo… . . . . . . • 175,000 the few lands where progress has been 80 made in the work of Christians among 81,106 the followers of Mohammed is in Malaysia, where thirty thousand have re- 67,268 1,411,722 nouncE)d their old religion for the faith Dutch: 24,284,969 as it is in Christ Jesus. American Me· 2,972,388 thodist, German, and Rhenish mission- Java and Madura,….. 50,554 aries, and the Bible Societies have been Sumatra………….. 161,612 382,758 carrying on a glorious work in Java, West Borneo… ……. 55,825 864,860 Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula, and South and East Borneo 156,912 1,450,400 it is believed that these converts will Celebes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,390 1,389,600 not only help in the Christianization of Bali and Lombok…… 4,065 200,000 the Malay peoples, but that they may West New Guinea ….. 151,789 1,120,595 also be the means of converting their bigoted fellow religionists in other Mo- Other Islands …….. " 106,253 hammedan lands. 736.400 32,615,065 The following statistics show the Spanish: political distribution of the Malaysian lands: Philippine Islands….. 114,326 7,000,000 • See pp.214 (March); 329 (present issue.) Lands Without a Missionary. Recent Articles: "The Emperor of Annam and His Capital," Gentleman's Mapazine The last closed country of South (February.); "The Malar. Peninsula,' Macmillan's (February); 'Something About America has recently allowed mission- Siam," Outing (March). aries to begin work there, and it is ar- t See also pp. 182 (February); 341 (present dently hoped that ere long the other issue). New Rooks: "Buddhism-Its History and closed doors will be opened and that Literature," T. W. Rhys Davids; "Primitive the strongholds of satan will be cap- Buddhism," E. A. Reed. tured in the name of the Lord. Tibet Recent Articles: "Philosophy of Buddh· is 'Still besieged by missionary armies *ism," The Monist (January)_ See also p. 845 (present issue). and progress is being made among Tibetan peoples and footing has even been gained in Tibetan territory.
The 2,000,000 miles of unoccupied territory in Africa is gradually growing less as the picket stations of the advance guard of Christendom are penetrating the Soudan and other inviting territory -inviting because of the difficulties to be encountered· and the victories to be won. Afghanistan and Beluchistan still shut out the light of Life, but an occasional ray from the Sun of Righte- ousness penetrates even there in spite of governmental edicts. The Philip- pine Islands and some other Papal possessions are still hostile to the truth, but one by one these countries are fol- lowing the example of the Central and South American republics by shaking off the yoke of Rome and declaring for freedom of belief and worship. In Northern India and Western the Grand Lama and a stay among the crowd of gods and goddesses in all China some doors are still either closed their tawdry glory caused them ~o ~e their folly, and be cured of thell' illor there is no one to enter. Russia fatuation. prohibits active missionary work except in the way of Bible distribution; the pSetrusnedciusttis~n. however, thrive through The Mission to Lepers. Turkey is trying to stamp out Christianity in spite of treaties and The :Mission to Lepers in India and thereby endangers her own' existence. the East was founded in 1874 through On the whole, notwithstanding the the efforts of its present secretary and disastrous retrenchments and curtailing superintendent, Wellesler. C: Bailey.
of establisht work, due to lack of sup- This mission is undenommatlOnal and port from Christian~ at home,. the mi~ international. Its object is to preach sionary host is steadIly advancmg and IS the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lepers, surely if slowly, fulfilling the Lord's to relieve their dreadful suffenngs, comm:md and prediction by the preach- supply their simple wants, and provide ing of the Gospel of the Kingdom homes for untainted children of leprous among all nations. parents. The societ;r ende~v<?rs to uti- lize as much as pOSSIble eXlstmg agen- The Ethics of Buddhism. cies by assisting leper asylums already A careful examination of the Bud- establisht and providing missionaries dhist writings and of the Old Testament with the :neans for carrying on Chris- shows that every valuable mora! pre- tian work in connection therewith.
cept inculcated by Buddha or hIS fol- It makes grants of money towards the lowers was freely taught by Moses and building of new asylums, prayer-rooms, the prophets centuries before Buddha etc. ; and in many instances provides existed' but this is scarcely to be for the entire support of lepers. It has many asylums of its own, .and ai~s wonde;ed baet ~ncot hnrsoidwenrinogf the light which has late on the .many others. It has work In IndIa, extent to which nations in earlier days Burma, Ceylon, and China, and has had intercommunication. The ethics recently sent grants to Japan, where of Buddhism were evidently derived there are said to be 200,000 known from nations with whom the inhabitants cases of leprosy; Altog~ther, it~ opera· of'India had commercial and other re- tions are carned on In 38 different lations, including the Je:vish, which dciefnfteerres~t.anPdrotienstacnotopMeraistsioionnawryithSoc1i4- was in its greatest prospenty five hun- eties. It has 5 homes for the untainted dred years before Buddha was said to children of leprous parents.
have existed; and also later, when the This work is entirely supported by captivity took place, and there arose a voluntary contributions. The Lord has tendency toward the dispersal of that greatly blest the efforts of the society people. in the conversion of souls, oapnerdattihoner.*e is urgent need to extend its From the account of Chandra Das, heorwede-vme~r doenren inference is easily gath- £6 or $30 will support an adult leper Eastern Buddhism is for otone£1y0e0ar~ran$2d50£4to or $20 a child. idolatry. The" Light of Asia" is often £50 $500, will build made to appear a pretty and innocent a small hoine for the untainted chil- philosophy. When the present draw- dren of lepers. About· £150 to £300, ing-room craze for "Esoteric Bud- or $750 to $1,500, will build an asylum dhism" has subsided, perhaps certain for adult lepers. – scholarly and comfoI"!able. people may There are many European leper~, perceive that BuddhIsm IS, after all, especially in India, where there IS merely a gross and degrading worship of urgent need of a separa~e ho~e f?r idols. The great temple at Lhasa is a them, in which they mIght lIve In place of gods many and lords many. privacy and be comfortably cared for All the deities in the Buddhist Calendar in their terrible affliction.
-over 400 in number-are represented, * Contributions will be thankfully received mostly in life-sized proportions. There by the secretary and superintendent, Welles- ley C. Bailey, 17 Glengyle Terrace, Edmburgh, is a colossal figure of the goddess Pal- or they may be sent to Rev. J. S. St0!1e, M.l?, den Thamo. The pope of this stra~ge 40 Washington Square, New York; CIty; MISS Lila Watt, B.A., Guelph, OntarIo; or Rev. religion,. the Grand Lama, was a chIld John Neil 577 Sherbourne street, Toronto. Any frien'ds wishing the a:nnua1 report or of eight years of age, the s1!preme ~m occasional papers of the socIety shoufd ajlply bodiment of modern BuddhIsm. It IS a to the secretary, 17 Glengyle Terrace, Edin· burgh, or to any of the above. They may be pity our devotees of the new-fangled had free of charge.
cult can not be sent to Lhasa and kept there till a course of genuflections before
EDIl'OltlAL
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
There was at Scranton, Penna., on vindicate. But in them lies the head Wednesday, January 20, a missionary and front of his offending. rally of over forty churches, in one im- The address is stigmatized by some as mense gathering in the superb Elm St. "premillenial,"- a term which is com- M. E. Church. After delivering over ing to be with some people the brand of one thousand addresses on missions, in all that is repellant. To my knowledge this country and England, Scotland, the term was not once used in the ad· etc., the editor has never spoken to a dress. The Scripture itself was appealed to, as warranting no expectation beyond finer or more devout assembly. It was this: that during this gospel age, "God a great tribute to the spiritual type of is visiting the nations, to take out of them piety in Scranton, that such a meeting a people for his name." Acts xv : 14. was possible. The addr~ss, which oc- This is the scriptural position, and the cupied more than an hour, and was scriptural hope. And, if we expect the listened to throughout with close at- conversion of the world under this dis- pensation, we have no authority for it tention, has attracted so much animad- in the Word/ and the facts, after 1900 version-hobweit it was attended with years are utterly disappointing; whereas much manifest blessing, that it will be if we accept the other basis, it is not only scriptural, but historical, for facts bear essentially reproduced in these pages, us out in it, for that is exactly what so soon as there be found time to write God is doing. It is certainly a, very it out, and space to accord it. Mean- remarkable confirmation of this inwhile it may be well to meet two hostile terpretation of Scripture that it is the only one with which historic decriticisms which are going the rounds, velopments tally. If the same God ,and are largely based on misunderstand- who inspired the book, controls events, ings, and find most currency with those we can not but feel that each witness who did not Ma1' the address. In fact, confirms the other. And this it was it seems to us unfair for editors, even of which compelled the writer to abandon religious papers, to indulge in severe the expectation which for many years underlay his activity, that the Gospel judgments upon an address of which was to win the world to God in this age. they have no knowledge, save through He was forced to see that this result was partial and often by no means impar- not reacht nor likely to be; and he hetial, reports, or even more untrust- gan anew to search the word to find God's plan. He found it outlined in worthy rumors. Acts xv., Matt. xxiv., etc., and he found The two positions taken by the Ed- that plan to be exactly what God is now doing. From that day he has been itor of the REVIEW, in that address, working on this plan and has had a, which have awakened most antagonism, new revival of hope and courage.
were these: As to the second suggestion, it is not new. It is brought out by more 1. I said that one reason for discour- than one devout modern writer on agement in missions was that we were spiritual themes, and was recently sometimes working on the basis of an in my hearing solemnly uttered by expectation of converting the world in Prof. F. L. Chapell, of Boston. The this dispensation"whereas the true Bib- thought is essentially this: that the lical hope, authorized in the Word is Holy Spirit is the .t1dministrator of only an outgathering from all nations of a people for God.
2. I called attention to a solemn suggestion, for which no originality was claimed, that the Holy Spirit. grieved by the secular and skeptical spirit prevailing in the churches, is largely withdrawing from them.
Both of these propositions, the writer of these lines is ready to reaffirm and
EDITORIAL i>EPARTMEN'I.'. [Ma.y
the church, but that He may be numbers of dead Parsees, (who expose " grieved" and "quenched" in his work their dead to be eaten by the vultures), in the lXYI'pO'l'ate body of Christ, as well are slowly decomposing in the open air.
as in the individ1lal believer. And that, The vultures having been overgorged when secular men and methods rule in by the great abundance of corpses.
the church, when unspiritual tendencies Already five hundred thousand people and influences are allowed to prevail, out of a population of eight hundred He withdraw8 as the administrator of thousand, have fled from the city and affair8, and leaves the churches to their the exodus goes on. The cemeteries own chosen guides. This does not mean are filled with the dead, which remain that the Spirit wholly forsakes God's unburied for days owing to the refusal people, but that, as a light that is hidden of friends and relatives to handle them.
under a bushel is outwardly quencht, The natives remaining in the city or as a grieved parent may retire within gather to pray by the tens of thousands, his private chamber, leaving his erring while others filled with superstitious children to follow their own wilful fears, escape as best they can. The ways, the Spirit of God, hindered in His scene is unparalleled, and before it Administration of the Body of Christ, science seems to be dumb. The famine seems to have left large numbers of is also terrible and demands instant God's people to the folly and failure of measures for relief by every considera- their own ways. And every existing tion of humanity and piety.
condition in the church at large rather coniirms this impression, that we are A dispatch from Constantinople, Feb.
in danger of a secularism and a skepti- 24, stated that anarchy prevails in the cism that shall leave the church. like disturbed districts of Asia Minor. The the Jewish body of believers before, Turks and Kurds have seized every- as practically abandoned to formalism thing belonging to the Armenians.
and spiritual drought. They compel the latter to plough their own fields for the benefit of their de- The Maroh of Events. spoilers. All who retain a remnant of A terrible famine is raging in the property are squeezed by the tax colnorth of Transvaal, the result of a visi- lectors to the uttermost farthing. It is tation of locusts and prolonged drought. reported that the reservists are harry- Streams never seen dry before are ex- ing the country, and that not the slighthausted. Natives are found, on all est check is put upon their outrages. sides, dead of hunger. The cattle plague Recent massacres and ravages are reis raging also. A sack of maize costs ported and the end is not yet.
40 dollars, usually sold for from two to Rev. W. J. McCaughan, of Belfast, three. Women sell themselves to ob- has accepted a call to St. Andrews Prestain food, and one poor mother drowned byterian Church, Toronto, and the fareher child rather than see it starve. well meetings were held in Belfast, Telegraphic reports from Bombay March 1. He left Ireland, it is not too hint a tale of horrors as to the plague much to say, univCl·:oaIly regretted. He of India. The efforts to stay the pro- is a man who, "or evangelical faith and gress of the disease have been so far evangelistic fervor, had no superior in fruitless, that the death rate is 600 out Belfast, where so many grand men are of 1,000. The native customs add to to be found. Mr. McCaughan is alive the hideousness of the plague. The to his very finger ends with zeal and Mohammedan cemeteries are over- enthusiasm for the Lord's work. He is crowded, and men can not be found to a stirring speaker, an energetic worker, dig graves and bury the dead. The unsparing of himself and full of the sound of dirges is incessant. Large missionary spirit. In a six months' tour of Great Britain in 1896, the editor these missionaries are helping to mold met no man anywhere that seemed to him to have more of the Master's spirit a great nation, and are directing mighty and more of the elements of usefulness. We commend him to the confidence of movements. Of the 61 native pastors, all his brethren. If a speaker is wanted for missionary gatherings, send for him, envangelists, etc., 40 were present at and you will not be disappointed. We hail the coming of such a man to our his meetings, having come from all shores. quarters to attend the conference. The death of Prof. Henry Drum- mond took place at Tunbridge Wells, Dr. White also visited Jerusalem England, on Thursday, ;March 11, at the age of 46. He was personally one He pleads for ten timp,s the funds and of the most lovable of men we have ever met and had immense influence. the force now at the disposal of the Tho not sympathizing with his views of evolution, we pay our tribute to his United Presbyterian Church, which is noble nature and ability, and with thousands of others regret his early at the head of the work in the Nile death. Valley. Received from Rev. John Suycock, of Morden, four dollars for mission He reacht Calcutta at Christmas work in Africa. This was a collection taken in a union prayer-meeting in time, and found a wide door open Morden; it has been forwarded to the Philafrican League, an interdenomi- before him. College stucents' confernational society, which labors for the temporal and spiritual emancipation of ences were arranged at Poona, Madras, the Dark Continent, Allahabad, and Lahore, at all of which Received $2.85 additional from the Shickley (Neb.) Union Y. P. S. C. E. he was to spea.k. for the Armenian sufferers. Prof. White says in his letter to the Rev. Prof. W. W. White, who, as it will be remembered, left Chicago to do editor: a work of two years in Calcutta, writes very interesting and hopeful letters. "The report has been widely circu- He was in Cairo, Egypt, in November, lated in India that Swami Vivekananda where he held a series of meetings on has made many hundred converts in prayer and Bible study_ He held seven- America from Christianity to Hinduism, teen meetings at Assiout. He spoke in in illustration of this I enclose the leadthe native church on a Sunday morning ing editorial of the Indian Mirro'/' of to about 600. He says the spread of to-day. English in Egypt makes it easier to travel and hold communication than ill "What have you to say of the like- France or Italy. He gives a noble lIhood of america abandoning Christribute to Dr. Andrew Watson, who tianity, and adopting either Hinduism acted as his interpreter, and to the or Mohammedanism in its stead? American Mission in Egypt. He says Will you kindly reply to this question?" Prof. White desires to secure from a number of prominent men and women in America, for wide circu- lation in India, a symposium on Hinduism and Mohammedanism in Amm·ica. Or to be more particular, Swami Vivekananda in Amen'ca. He thinks great good would follow send- ing a good, strong ringing testimonial respecting the hold which Christianity has in America, and its prospects for the future, to India. He says, "Dr. John Henry Barrows, now lecturing- in India, has spoken with no uncertain sound on this point." "India has reacht a crisis. The idol worshipers are encouraging each other saying of their gods, • The ~oJdering is ~ood,' and they fasten the idol with naIls that it shall not be moved, (see Is. 41), but Hinduism is doomed so surely as Jehovah lives. Americans, of all people in the world, ought to thank day and night for their rich heritage."
In response to Dr. White's request, we can only say that we have seen no likelihood whatever of America's ex- changing Christianity for either Hinduism or Mahommedanism. The very idea Hampshire, Berkshire, Maine, and Rhode Island Missionary Societies, ' is preposterous. The courtesies extend- until, in 1821, it came under the con- trol of the American Board and has ed to representatives of various relig- since become the well-known Mission- ary Herald. ions at the" World's Parliament" were "There are one or two others of utterly misunderstood, as we feared they which we have specimens only, which it is not necessary to describe further. would be. Politeness toward those who These facts seemed necessary to the truth of history and will, doubtless, be differ, and the according to them of a welcome to Mr. Stock. himself, as well as to you." right to be heard, was construed to mean Rev Chas. E. Faithfull writes lov- indifference toward their errors, if not ingly from Madrid, of his beloved and sympathy with them. And Swami departed fellow worker, Mr. A. R. Vivekananda is simply a specimen of Fenn, whose death has been noticed in the elation and inflation of a weak man these pages-and pays a noble tribute to over the adulation of some silly people. the church of about 100 members and If America ever gives up Christ, it will the school of 400 children, as a most be for the devil, not Buddha or Brahma valuable evangelistic agency. He sends or Confucius. It will be a lapse into also a report of his first year's work as utter apostacy, unbelief and infidelity. brother Fenn's successor. Dr. Henry N. Cobb, secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Dr. H. H. Jessup writes from Hel- Reformed Church in America, writes that in the MISSIONARY REVIEW ouan, Egypt-where he went on ac- (March, page 224) is a statement made by Secretary Eugene Stock, which he count of his health-that he had received questions. "Our secretary from 1802 to 1824, the Rev. Josiah Pratt, started great benefit, and was expecting (Peb. in 1813 the first missionary magazine ever brought out. This was called 7) to reach Beirut, to celebrate the 41st Tile Missionary Register. "There are several missionary magazines," says anniversary of hi8 first arrival in Syria. Dr. Cobb, "in the small library of this Board which considerably antedate He expresses his gratitude for the long this. life in the field, and he says his "faith "There lies before me, as I write, Vol. I. of The Missionary Magazine for in the work of foreign missions 1796 a periodical monthly publication, inte~ded as a repository of discussion has always been strong, and is now and intelligence respecting the progress of the Gospel throughout the world. stronger than ever, because he believes Edinburgh,1796. Vol. III. contains a map of the world with the principal it to be God's work which knows no mission settlements on it. such word asfaU. He adds: "In 1800 the New York Missionary Magazine and Repository of Religious " It is a great privilege to live long in Intelligence was begun. It continued the Christian ministry and every misfour years, and the four volumes sionary who has lived more than forty are in the poss3ssion of the Board. years in the Master's service ought to be They contain reports of then existing the most thankful of men. missionary societies, both American and European, with letters from W m. Every young missionary ought to try Casey and oth"r~ from different parts to live as long as he can; to use the of the world. means for the preservation of his bodily and mental health; to look on the bright, "In 1808 the publication of The heavenward side of everything; to live Panoplist was begun in Boston, Mass., for Christ, as the noblest, purest, 'conducted by an association of friends worthiest character in history, and the to the evangelical truth.' In 1809, only Redeemer, and to be patient as God the magazine underwent a change and is patient, and hopeful as the promises was thence forward publisht as The of God. Panolist [trld }rfissimary Magazine United, 'conducted by an association I can not be too thankful to all the of friends to evangelical truth, under friends of my childhood and youth, who the patronage of the Massachusetts, led me to love the missionary work, nor t@ my parents who prayed me into it. Blessed missionary work, which the an- gels could not do, and we poor frail men are bidden to undertake. After forty·one years I can only say, I would nineteenth century has achieved ap~ like to live forty-one years more. But pears to many Christians' but a faint this I can hardly anticipate. The Lord prophecy of Christian victories that grant us all in the foreign field a fresh await the twentieth. On the 23rd of baptism of the Holy Spirit, new love for June, 1891, Sir Samuel Baker and his souls, new zeal, stronger faith, clearer party were sleeping on the dry bed of vision of Christ, brighter hope, and the Atbara, one of the tributaries of hearts full of tenderness and personal the Nile. In this dry river bed they love for men. had been traveling for days. On thIS night Sir Samuel Baker was awakened There is much land yet to be pas· by a noise like distant thunder. Soon sest. Call for the Joshuas to come his native attendants rusht in upon forward, for the forty years in the wil- him shouting in their terror: •'fhe derness are bringing many a Moses of river,' and with all speed they hastened the Lord's host to the brow of Nebo. to the parcht and sandy shore, and Our work. will soon be done. The soon the torrent which had gathered its Lord's work will not be done until the volume of waters among the snows of triumph is assured." the mountains of Abyssinia, rusht by, and on the morning of the 24th of June, Queen Victoria is immensely gratified when the sun arose, the English travat the responses which have been made, eler lookt out over a river fifteen all over her vast empire, to her wishes hundred feet broad and fifteen to twenty that all gifts in honor to the sixtieth feet in depth, rolling on in freshness year of her reign should be in the form and fertilizing power, and moistening of assistance from lIer richer subjects the roots of ten thousand palm trees. toward the more indigent. So the waters of Christian civilization have been long accumulating on the In 1870 the laws of Japan forbade highlands of Europe and America, and a missionary to ask any native to accept a mighty rushing river has suddenly Christianity, the penalty for any native descended on the thirsty African plains who profest the name of Christ being and over the tropic fields of India and death. And now the Church of Christ the freshly opened provinces of the in Japan is soon to begin missionary Oelestial empire; and the roar of the work in Formosa. President Ibuka, of incoming torrent is a new fulfilment Tokio, and President Ogimi, of Steele of Ezekiel's vision of a sacred stream College, Nagasaki, have been appointed which shall go out into the East counto visit the field and report to the try and down into the desert, healing Mission Board. Three thousand dollars the waters of the bitter sea." are to be raised from the Japanese churches to inaugurate and push for- Book Reviews. ward this new work. Descriptions of the need and progress The first of the lectures which Dr. J. H. Barrows went to India to deliver, ofjrontier mi88ions in the United States was given before a large audience in the General Assembly's Institution, Corn- have had very little place in the vast wallis Square, Calcutta, on Dec. 24. Babu Protap Chander Mazoomdar pre- number of missionary books publisht sidedand introduced the lecturerin a few graceful sentences, recalling the kind- in late years. The subject is of imness he and other Orientals had received from Dr. Barrows when attending the mense importance and thrilling interest, Parliament of Religions in 1893. Dr. BalTows spoke of the universal fitness and we now welcome as a companion of Christianity as a religion and of its progress, concluding thus: volume to Dr. Josiah Strong's stilTing "But all the progress which the books, a valuable and unusually enter- taining description of the work of re- claiming the Western frontier towns from the dominion of satan to the King- dom of God. Rev. W. G. Puddefoot, the author, has been for many years engaged in work on the frontier, and is now well known as the field secretary of the Congregational Home Missionary Society and for his very happy faculty of thoronghly interesting an audience in the subject of his addresses. Tlw Minute Man on ehe F'roneiqr * contains The kindergarten has of late years filled an important place in education; much valuable information in regard its scope has been steadily widened to the character of both the land and and its methods perfected. The latest the people of the new West, the branch to be added to its curriculum is products, and possibilities of the soil, that of Missions. A. D. F. Randolph and the physical, mental, and moral & Co. are publishing a Junior Mission· character and progress of the settlers. ary Extension Course by Stephen L. The illustrations are from photographs Mershon, entitled "Kindergarten in and add greatly to the interest and Mi8sions,"* These studies consist of vividness of the description and narra- twelve villages, the first of which to tive. appear is an Indian village. This com- prises 150 appropriate figures and ob- "The Hope of Israel" isthefirstnum- jects, such as might be seen in the ber of the Jargon Monthly of Volume villages of an Indian tribe, printed in IV, issued by the" Hope of Israel Mis- various colors on thick cardboardsion," Arno C. Gaebelein is the editor, wigwams, squaws, papooses, warriors, 209 Madison street, New York City. ponies, cowboys, United States soldiers, The language in which it is printed is a fOlt, an Indian school, a missionspoken by about seven millions of Jews. ary, etc. These are so arranged that The contents are" scriptural exposi- they may be cut out and made to stand tions, reports of our work, news concern- erect on a table. Accompanying each ing Israel restoration, etc. The Lord has village is a printed description and used this little paper not only in this other information. When the village is country, but also in Eastern Europe, set up the effect may be made very where "the Hope of Israel" is being realistic and will serve the purpose of distributed in hundreds of copies. The emphasizing the story of missio!lary paper has only a few subscribers; it is labor among the Indians. Full and publisht by the voluntary gifts of complete directions accompany each Israel's friends, and we hope it may set. This will be valuable to Sundaysoon enlarge its borders and many school teachers, junior societies, misthousands of copies be printed and dis- sionary bands and the home circle. tributed. The same well-conducted missions publishing various small books The excellent article on 'Foreign Hosand tracts in Hebrew and other lan- pitals and Dispensarie8, by Miss V. F. guages spoken and read by the Jews. Penrose, which appeared in our Sept., And we bespeak for the work the help 1896, issue, has been reprinted in leaflet of all true lovers of Israel. form and is now to be had from the American Board in Boston, the Baptist The April number of the Record of Board in Philadelphia, the Congrega- Ohri8tian Work, which is the first to tion S. S. Publication Society in Chiappear under the editorial management cago, the Presbyterian Board in New of Mr. William R. Moody, shows al- York and elsewhere. It is being widely ready an immense advance over former distributed among the Student Volunissues. Its prospectus promises still teers and Medical Students. further improvement. The editor purposes to make it invaluable along lines The British Government has been of the theory and progress of Christian askt to put a stop to the Mohammedan work and methods and results of Bible pilgrimages from India to Mecca. The Study. Published monthly by Revell pilgrims, it is feared, will spread the at 50 cents a year. plague in Egypt and Arabia. It will * Publisht by T. Y. Crowell & Co., Boston * Publisht at $10.00 per set of 12, or $.100 and New York. $1.25. escl!.. ~. D. F. Randolph &; Co., New York. not be easy to carry out this plan. The cost Borne $30,000 or $35,000, not a penny of compensation is offered! Moslems think they are going to heaven Mr. John R. Mott, the College Secre- straight if death overtakes them on tary of the Intercollegiate Young Men's such a pilgrimage. If a few unbelievers Christian Association, after visiting and can be killed by the plague, the Mos- holding conferences with the Y. M. C. lems will not mind. A.'s of Ceylon, wrote as follows :- French Ideas of Religious Freedom. Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, is a Protestants complain bitterly of the city of great commercial importance. It is the half-way station between the behavior of the Jesuits in Madagascar. West and the far East, as well as along the pathway of the most important line Protestant missions are destroyed, and of approach to the Southern hemisphere. It is more nearly at the crossroads of protestant converts of whom there are the nations than any other port in the world. Every year tens of thousands 400,000, are forced to attend Catholic of travelers from all parts of the earth stream through this city. services. The French protestants are Ceylon has a population of a little now collecting funds for the protection over 3,000,000. Christianity and edu- cation have made greater 'progress here of Protestant missions. than in any other country in the East. About one-tenth of the people, includ- There is a strange inconsistency be- ing Roman Catholics, are Christians. The same proportion would give India tween the proclamation of religious 30,000,000 instead of 2,284,000. In Ceylon ten per cent. of the children of freedom made by French officials, and school-going age are being educated. In India less than one per cent. This the actual experience of Protestant gives Ceylon a position of leadership greater than her size and population Christians, as the following remarkable would cause us to expect. In all parts of India I found Tamil teachers who incident shows: were born and educated in Ceylon. I was informed that Sinhalese and Tamil On Sunday (Dec. 27th), while the lawyers are also numerous in India. Protestant congregation at Ambohima- Ceylon is destined to continue to exert nambold, about 6 or 8 miles east of a special influence on India, owing to Antananarivo, were engaged in their its geographical proximity, its racial ordinary service, the Roman Catholic ties, its educational advancement, and Bishop suddenly appeared at the door the furtherfact that the two countries of the church. He held up his hands are under a common flag. A strong and askt for silence, as he had very im- spiritual work in Ceylon must necesportant business to communicate. He sarily prove a blessin~ to India. Morethen went into the pulpit, and said he over its infiuence WIll extend beyond had been sent for to conduct a Catholic the Indian Empire. As we have seen, service, and was surprised to find any Ceylon is the center of the eastern Protestants in the building. The Prot- world. More than that, it is the sacred estants present said they were all loyal home of Buddhism. Therefore the subjects of France, and they believed work of Christ here will exert a special that as such they had full liberty to influence on Siam, the Straits and even conduct a Protestant service in their China. At different times in the cenown church. The Bishop then appealed turies that are part, multitudes of to the native governor, who stated, that Buddhist missionaries have gone forth by order of the government the build- from this little island to propagate their ing was to be handed over to the Roman faith throughout the vast continent of Catholics. The Protestants replied, Asia. To day in Ceylon there are 10,- that if this was the decision of their 000 Buddhist priests. Should we not rnlers, they would offer no further op- work and pray that the student Chrisposition, and then left the building. On tian movement in Ceylon may in the the following Tuesday, two French of- present and coming generations raise ficers and some soldiers went to Ambo- up and send forth multitudes of volunhimanambold, and fully confirmed teers to be witnesses to Christ unto the what had been done on the Sunday. uttermost parts of the far East? About a dozen buildings in this same district have been taken from the Protestants and given to the Roman Catholics.
Another heavy blow has been dealt to the cause of Protestant missions b,v the seizure of the large Mission Hospital. This has been taken from us by the authorities; and' for buildings that
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign brought piecemeal to J'Iohammed, as Periodicals. occasion required. The Koran was sent from heaven in the Arab tongue, BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, says Abu Khaldre.' It will be seen MASS. that the only attitude possible to the Mohammedan in regard to the Koran is MOHAMMEDANISM. one of absolute, unquestioning accept- ance. All human influence in its com- The Rev. J. R. Bacon, writing in position is denied absolutely, both in 1. he Chronicle in commendation of the regard to matter or form; there is, con- Rev. E. Sell's book, "The Faith of sequently, no possibility of error in re- Islam," remarks: "We are not wish- gard to even the smallest particular. ing to undervalue the work of Islam in Not only is the Koran absolute truth of its early history in Arabia. Mohammed universal application, it is now beyond found Arabia divided by tribal dissen- the reach of any comment whatever. sions and without unity of faith strong To quote again: 'So sacred is the text enough to support a national life. Both supposed to be that only the com- Judaism and Christianity had come in- panions of the Prophet are deemed to direct contact with Arabian life, but worthy of being commentators on it.' neither in the form presented possessed Thus is the immobility of Islam ren- vitality enough to form aud direct it. dered absolute. A few men living in Mohammed founded a system which the seventh century amongst a people gave Arabia national unity, and which but just emerging from a low depth of awakened in the Arabian mind a pas- Polytheism and tribal life, are consti- sionate impulse to compel the new tuted the fount of authority for all the Arabian world into its own mold, So needs of all future ages. This is, of far his system was a success. But the necessity, the logical outcome of the very feature which made Islam a suc- claim that the Koran alone, of all cess in the seventh century-its purely books, was "communicated" to a pro- local color and form-is the very feat- phet by an audible voice.' ure which now makes Islam a cruel and enslaving force, whenever it comes into " Attempts have been made at various contact with progressive thought and periods in the history of Mohammedan social organization. Islam is immobile thought to break this chain which binds and· absolutely inadaptable to the needs it to the imperfect thought of their of the nineteenth century, however well early life. Within the first century of it may have met the needs of the un- Islam men had arisen who questioned cultured Arabic in the seventh. the teaching of the divines in regard to the authority and interpretation of the "To take up one subject only-the Koran. ' During the year 198-232 A. H. Koran-Mohammed was so far above these rationalist interpreters were in his companions in insight that he was high favor at Bagdad.' They arose able to establish a claim to actual direct out of the culture which, for a while, revelation. The Koran was communi- took hold of the Mohammedan mind cated to him by revelation through the under the developing influence of the agency of the angel Gabriel. The pos- wealth and prosperity of the Khalifs of sibility of a human element in the com- Bagdad. They were inspired by no , position of the Koran was thus disposed high motives, and their efforts were of at once and forever. 'The whole divorced from all moral purpose. The Koran,' to quote from Mr. Seil's book, orthodox school at length proved too •is said to have descended to the covert of the seven heavens, whence it was
EXTRA(lTS AND TRANSLATIONS
powerful for them. To use Mr. Sell's "The result was not slow in coming. words: 'This culture was in spite of, In many districts people no longer dare not on account of, the influence of to speak to the English missionaries, orthodox Islam,' andperisht, with all its nor enter their houses. Nay, their very possibilities of reform, in the nature of domestics leave them, because they no Islam, giving us a proof of the absolute longer feel themselves secure under inadaptability of Islam to the changing their roof I needs of progressive human life. " How sadly humiliating for us, the " A movement similar to this one in French, to reflect that France is repre- . the earlier ages of Islam is now taking sented in Madagascar by such men 1 place amongst the Mohammedans in When we see the mass of intimidation British India. It is another expression and coercion of which they avail them- of the same spirit of revolt against the selves to extend their propaganda; immobility of Islam. That was the when we hear them threatening chains, outcome of intellectual culture dis- and see them even bring about the con- associated from moral impulse. The demnation of native governors as rebels, modem movement is the direct result simply because they have not been of the impact of Christianized moral, willing to turn Catholic or favor their social and political life upon the Mo· ferocious proselytism; when we see hammedan rule under the conditions of them falsely accuse the Protestant free thought obtainable in British India. evangelists and teachers, in order to The most enlightened and subtle of our have them thrown into prison, in the Mohammedan fellow·subjects in India hope of thus being able to lay hands on are the supporters of this new move· their churches and schools, we are ment. The object of their activity is obliged to allow that the worst enemies reform of the common law." It is to of France in this country are not the be feared, however, that it will fail like Fahavalos, terrible as they are, but the- the former. Should it succeed, the re- Jesuits." sult would be a new religion, essentially divergent from Mohammed's Islam. MISCELLANEOUS.
MADAGASCAR. -A very respectable jest-book might be made up of the blunders of people M. Escande writes, in the Journal about missions and missionaries. Some de8 MissioruJ for February, 1897: "0, of them are benevolent and ignorant, these Jesui~s I What infernal ability more are malevolent and ignorant. Of they have to draw advantage even from the former was that of a German tradthat which, it should seem, ought to ing company, whose officers, very cordturn against them I There lately ap- ially granting some requests of the peared a proclamation of the govern- Moravian brethren for certain business ment forbidding the mISSIOnaries, facilities, innocently askt whether the wherever they may be, to meddle in Moravian Church had ever had anypolitics. Now in the Malagasy lang- thing to do with missions before I uage the word "missionary" is always Hardly so certainly benevolent was the employed to designate the English blunder of a German colonial authority, pastors of the London Society and the who reproacht the German Protestants Quakers. The Jesuits are known only with doing so little for missions. He as 'fathers;' so that they have a fine took the receipts of the ·smallest of the chance to' repeat everywhere that the eight societies, and publisht them as English missionaries alone were in- the sum total J This is alluded to by tended in the proclamation, that they F. M. Zahn, in the A. M. Z. were k~own to be occupied with politics, and that measures would be taken -The eminent scholar and historian, against them on the first occasion. Dr. Creighton, late Bishop of Peter- . borough, now Bishop of London, in- a recent address, quoted in part in the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Church Missionary Gleaner, gives, with- the almost inanimate banks which conout having it at all in mind, an effective trol that life and enslave it. We find answer to the great Roman Catholic everywhere that, if there are principles naturalist Mr. George Mivart's strange at the bottom of other religious systems assertion, that every appeal to the than Christianity, those principles have original form of the Church savors of been enslaved and rendered uselessheresy. Undoubtedly the endeavor have been robbed of their power of givafter a mechanical reproduction of the ing vital impulse to the life of those who original Church savors, if not of heresy, profess them. And the history of Chrisyet of narrowness and unintelligence. tianity stands out in contrast with the "When two men do the same thing, it history ofevery other religion. It stands is not the same." Difl'erent generations, out in contrast, because Christianity if they should insist on precisely the alone rests upon principles which are not same forms of worship, or policy, or capable of being enslaved by man's deeven precisely the same human form- vice_ It is true that Christianity shows ulas of doctrine, might become the many times at which its great spiritual more widely alienated in proportion to principles were enslaved by being their outward similarity. Yet surely turned into arbitrary systems; but the there is such a thing as a moon, and a power of Christianity lies, and always deflection from it, Mr. Mivart, as a has lain, in its force for breaking naturalist, would be the first to admon- shackles, in its capacity for renewing ish us that there may be degradation, as its youth, in its desperate instinct to go well as elevation, of a type. And back to its great spiritual principles, in surely, when the realization of that type the fact that in the person of the Lord is committed to human will and intelli- Jesus Christ there remains a power gence, the dangers as well as thepos- which can not be bent by human persibilities are vastly increast. How versity, or destroyed by human frailty, can these dangers be better escaped or lost amongst men's indifference. And than by a frequent visitation from the so I would venture to put before you, great Norm? What exposes to corrup- as simply a fact which may be proved, tion more surely than a hearty determi- which is writ"large on all philosophies nation to maintain that every doctrinal, and on all history, the fact that Christritual, and disciplinary form which ianity stands in a unique position as pleases a particular age of the Church being the only religion which can claim. is a healthy development merely be- and warrant its claim, to be the uni- ,cause it pleases it? Bishop Creighton'S versal religion. words, which. it will be observed, are not in the least controversial, appear to .. Throngh the ages God's purposes contain alike the true principle of a have been made increasingly manifest. Bound development and of rectification Now that we know what mankind is, from an unhealthy one. now that we know all that can be said, now that we see the whole problem of " We see in most nations of the the future of our race before us, with earth-in all non-Christian nations I clearer eyes than man ever saw it in the would be bold enough to say-that times gone past, we have a deeper sense there were once two principles, spirit- of what is our duty and of the means by ual principles, principles that sprung which that duty has to be performed, up in the minds of great men in the and therefore it is that we are bound to past; but we see that they have been have a growing interest in missions-an enslaved by the life that went on interest not in their great and brilliant around them. We see that they have successes, but in tileir slow and gradual become arid and lost their power, that growth. We are invigorated by the instead of animating the life of those knowledge of the way in which God who profest them, they are simply has workt in the past."
ENGLISH ~OTES
English Notes. to the true state of affairs out here, I must no longer delay to write. . . . BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A. Now I must tell you something of what we have been trying to do to save life. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. As far' back as last March I opened a 'children's kitchen' at Murwara, our Indian Famt'ne.-C. M. S. Relief out-station, and ever since then about Fund. The specter of famine in the 130 little children have been fed every populous Indian Empire can never be day. I think it would be difficult to safely assumed to be remote, and now exaggerate either by writing or painting in the beginning of the year 1897 the the awful condition into which some of scarcity caused by the failure of the these poor little waifs have fallen belate summer rains of 1896, has wrought fore they began to be fed by us. great distress among the people. The government is not so entirely at a loss "The mortality among these little as in 1877, for owing to the increase of ones is terrible, many of them being in mileage in the railways of the peninsula, so wasted a condition that they can food can be conveyed to the starving never rally, and what little life they multitudes much more quickly than have soon flickers out." heretofore. In spite of this fact, the gen'lral position is of universal distress, The Claims of Uganda.-Rev. J. S, and to alleviate, in some measure, the Pratt writes most encouragingly of the suffering and want of the people, the work done in this part of Africa, urging society have started their relief fund. at the same time that at the present The society's fund, it is needless to say, time this continent is unique in its need is in no sense a competitor or a rival of and its respectability of the Gospel. the public fund. A certain number of He calls for help in this sphere of acthe C. M.S. missionaries are pursuing tion, and this help he states to be needed their labors among many of the suffer- at once. ing and dying, and they are simply unable, even if they wisht to, to stand Lower Zambesi Misswn.-A most inaside as unconcerned spectators of the teresting and promising field of labor is awful scenes around them. The many being entered on very shortly by Mr. feeble aud diseased among the men, and Mrs. W. G. Anderson in the abovealso the helpless women and little chil- mentioned place. For four years }ir. dren, who cannot be employed in Anderson has labored in Africa, three government works, naturally appeal to out of that time in the territory he the missionaries, and a small sum desires to adopt as his future sphere. placed opportunely in their hands may During that time he has acquired the go sursprisingly far in affording relief " Sena" language, and has translated and saving from death. portions of scripture, now in course of publication by the British and Foreign The Rev. C. H. Gill, from Jabalpur, Bible Society, and in addition to this writes: "It is not because there has has compiled a grammar and dictionary been no famine here that I have not preparing for issue by the Society for written to you about it. Famine has Promoting Christian Knowledge: been with us since last Febrnary; but my hands have been too full dealing' The district of the Lower Zambesi and with it, in addition to all our other its tributaries comprises about 400 miles work; and I have been largely occu- of waterway with populous villages pied in obtaining help from the Euro- every few miles, and this whole tract peans in this large station, and applying of country is, from a missionary point it to the starving poor. Now, however, of view, unoccupied. The needs are: as things are getting worse, and as the public at home need to be informed as 1. A sufficient sum-about £250 per annum-to support Mr. and Mrs. An- derson and a coworker.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
2. A further sum of about £100 to for in m!l.ny instances it has been misprovide a boat suitable for evangelizing directed. the villages, or if possible the sum of £800 to provide a house·boat to serve The Directors at their last meeting a3 a home for the workers instead of on took leave of six out-going missionaries, land. who were respectively going to Cal- cutta, Mongolia, Central China and t< It should be stated that the mission Shanghai. The missionaries each spoke will be conducted on strictly evangelical briefly and were then commended in and unsectarian lines. In the raising special prayer. of necessary funds the committee and the workers look to the Lord, and to Regions Beyond.-Mr. and Mrs. Howthe Lord alone; their part being to ard Taylor in writing to the friends at furnish information as to the needs and home, tell of the manifold blessings progress of the work. showered upon them in their work, and the way in which the native converts "It is very desirable that Mr. and in China-T'ai·Kang City-are being Mrs. Anderson should return in April used. l'Irs. Tayl::r writes: "It has next; it is therefore essential that been very wonderful to us during these prompt aid be rendered in order to months to see how the Lord can use, make it possible for them to do so." and has been using, our dear native fellow-workers. Some of them have Uhina Inland Mission.-A large as- been mightily empowered by the Holy sembly gathered in Exeter Hall on the Ghost, and in our absence, as well as evening of January 27th in order to bid when we have been at hand. they have farewell to five friends, who in response been really wonderfully used of God:" to their Master's call, •• Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and Mrs. Taylor goes on to tell some of from thy father's house into a land the wonders of the power of the Gospel. which I will show thee," obeyed and In one place eight women have congave their lives to serve in China. The fessed their faith in Christ who a week two gentlemen of the party, Mr. Whit- before had never heard His name. field Guinness and Mr. Hyslop, leave England on February 11th, and the Poona.-Dr.. Grattan Guinness has others follow early in March. May the been successfully carrying on a mission Lord abundantly bless them in their in this part some time, and finds the labor of love for Him in the far East. work among these educated Hindus very interesting and encouraging.
THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. The Kongo Balalo Mission. – This branch of service has snstained a loss in Is Ohristianity Making Way Among the death of Mr. Aitken, who only left Educated Htndus ?-This is a question this country in August last. He, with which just now occupies the minds of other brethren, was on his way up the many workers. Christianity in its usual Kongo from Stanley Pool, where he acceptation is not making way, but was attackt by fever of a more fierce happily the Hindu is able to discern nature than is usual, even in that disbetween Christianity as a name, and the trict. One of the other workers was Lord Jesus Christ as a Savior and Lord, ill too, but he recovered, whereas Mr. and many among the most highly edu- Aitken past away unconsciously on cated have trusted in Jesus for salvation Wednesday, October 14th. . On the even after they had had their minds evening of the same day he was laid at poisoned by having read much of the rest in the little cemetery on the hill literature-so called Christian-which above Bolobo, all gathering around t() has been sent out from this country. witness the last duties being performed for one whom all had loved. The education of the Hindu often is a great stumbling block to the work, THE KINGDOM. in Foochow, in November last, in di- recting the contribution boxes to be -The recent conference of officers of past a second time, "in order to acforeign Boards took steps providing for commodate those who, on second a World's Ecumenical Conference to be thought, find that they had not been held in New York City in the year as generous as they now wish to be." 1900. A committee, which has had preliminary correspondence on this pro- -When Bishop Selwyn askt Sir ject, has received most cardial and John Patterson for "Coley," his son, helpful replies from a large number of then a student at Eton, who afterward missionary organizations in England became bishop of Melanesia, the father and Europe. At a similar general con- cried in anguish: "I can't let him go." ference held in London, in 1888, J39 But as he realized the call of God, he different societies were represented. exclaimed: "God forbid that I should Over 1500 delegates were in attendance. stop him." So he finally consented, saying: "Mind, I give him wholly, not -One-third of those who speak Euro- with any thought of seeing him again. pean languages speak English; one- I will not have him thinking that he seventh speak German; one-eighth must come home again to see me." speak French, and their number is not They never met again on earth. increasing. There are 6 great English speaking nations in sight, if the colo- -A corporation with somewhat of a nies in South Africa, India, Australasia, soul has been discovered. The Chicago and Canada shall develop. With an Burlington and Quincy railroad refused alliance among such nations for liberty to make special rates to the Nevada and evangelical piety, the world will prize fight, because it is an unlawful be enricht. event which should not be encouraged.
-Logically, evangelism always pre- -The Misses Leitch, those indefaticedes education; historically, it must gable Ceylon missionaries, have sent often follow. . . . If we can not be- out a printed communication in which gin where we would, we must begin they throw large responsibility upon where we can. The proper starting mlsslOnary pens. They claim that point is the point of opportunity.-Rev. every missionary ought to send letters E. A. Lawrence. home which would be an active force in sustaining missions. " Quarterly -In the strong appeals which are letters," "manifolded letters," "letters going out for special contributions to to a hundred friends ,. are among the save home and foreign missions from methods they advocate. Say they: crushing debts, should not more em- "If a business firm in this country phasis be put on faith in the good hand had an agent abroad who saL: that he of our God? Our efforts may degene- could not find time to write about his rate into confidence in the arm of flesh. work, and whose pet phrase was, 'Shall Dependence upon human expedients I do the work, or write about it,' how and alliances almost ruined Hez.ekiah long would it be before such an agent of old in presence of Sennacherib. would be recalled? The China Inland While nsing the proper means at com- Mission requires its missionaries to keep mand would it not be the wisest thing a diary, using a carbon paper to make to go first into the house of the Lord a duplicate of each day's entry. At and Hezekiah-like lay the whole matter the end of each month these duplicate before God in agonizing prayer?-North sheets are torn out and sent home to and West. the society."
-It was a happy idea of Mr. Ling, -Bishop Vincent has found in Brazil the Chinese presiding officer at the the results of the " self·supporting " Christian Endeavor Convention held mISSIOn work which Bis-.op Taylor Government had provided 7 medical began there sixteen years ago. It is a men for about 11,000,000 of people. story of pitiful failure. He says: Be- Thirty-nine years ago there were about tween 1880 and 1893 twenty-five differ- 7 medical missionaries, all told, in ent persons came to Brazil under these India. Now there are 140, of whom 64 auspices. To-day 4 of them remain. are women. One "became engrossed in business;" another was soon "engaged to be mar- -Bishop Fowler makes bold to af- ried to an explorer;" another became firm: "It cost less than $1,200,000 to "discouraged by ill health and difficul- Christianize the Sandwich Islands. We ties in the work;" another, "disliking now have from $5,000,000 to $8,000,- the administration of the school, went 000 of commerce, making in net profit to work on his own account." In one annually about as much as the entire case the "furnishings of the school cost of Christianizing them. From the were sold to pay the accumulated debt." South Sea Islands England annually And "none of the teachers were con- receives 10 pounds for every pound she nected with the schools long enough to spends there. From Micronesia the become acquainted with the Portuguese United States receives annually more language." The 4 who remain, while than $40 for each dollar spent on mis- admired for their courage and devotion, sions there. An immigrant is valued are pitied for their sufferings and for in Washington at $800. Each mission- the apparent waste of their lives. ary in the South Sea Islands is worth to England $10,000 each year. It costs the -In 1818, or 80 years ago, there were United States to support the heathen Da- a.lltold 357 missionaries abroad, of whom kotas an average of $120 each per year, 194 were in America (West Indies), 102 while it costs to care for the Christian in Asia, and 61 in Africa. Almost one- Dakotas less than $7.80 each per year." half were Moravians, 71 were under the care of the London Society, 48 that of -Mr. Colton, the chart maker, says the Wesleyan Methodists, 18 of the there is scarcely an exploration in any Church of England Society, and 13 of land that does not acknowlcdge its in- the American Board. Now, the last debtedness to missionaries. Carl Ritter, named society alone has 555 in the for- the celebrated geographer, says he eign fields, 358 of them women. could not have written his great work but for the material furnished by mis- -Says Dr.Valentine, an eminent Eng- sionaries. " lish missionary: When about to finish my medical course, I offered my servi- -The children of Mrs. Stowe object ces to the church to which I belonged, to the proposal to erect a statue of their to be sent as a medical missionary to mother. Her son, Rev. Charles E. India. A dear old gentleman of the Stowe, says on the subject: "If any- mission board, who had himself been a thing is to be done, why could not missionary in India, rose in his place money be raised to found a Harriet and said, that he thought it was quite Beecher Stowe scholarship at Hamp- unnecessary to send out a medical man ton, Fisk, or Tuskegee? Such a me- in connection with their newly-formed morial would, I know, be in keeping mission, as the Government of India with my mother's taste, and far more had made ample provision for the wants useful to man and honoring to God of the community. For many months than some brazen monstrosity scowl- we had to wait an answer to the ques- ing the unfortunate beholder out of tion whether there was room for one countenance from its ugly granite ped- – more medical man in their district. At estal. The ordinary bronze statue last the answer" yes" arrived, and so I ought to be regarded as a terrible pen- was sent out, and on arriving, found that IIlty to be inflicted only on great of- fenders." YOUNG PEOPLE. called for by number, and read. After many of them, short sketches were -Forty prominent speakers have given of the lives of the missionaries already accepted invitations to address from whom the quotations were taken. the British National Christian Endeav- or convention at Liverpool, June 5-8. -M. w., in The Golden Rule.
-The Junior Epworth League of -The Society of the Presbyterian Christian Endeavor of Vancouver sup- Church of Perry, N. Y., has recently , ports a native teacher in Japan, at an adopted systematic giving, the active expense of $50 a year. members pledging 2 cents a week or more, to be given at each monthly con- -An active missionary committee in secration meeting. The November a society in Toronto, Ont., has started offering was between $5 and $6 and a missionary library, has conducted a the society hopes to raise at least $50 study of China lasting for three months for missions the coming year. and closing with an examination, and issues a miniature missionary weekly, -There is a noteworthy society in each number containing a question on the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church of missionary topics, the answers to be Cleveland. Its recent report of a year's called for at the next meeting of the work, showed more than $500 given society. Some special subject for far missions, more than 5,000 books and prayer connected with the missionary periodicals distributed, visits 700 made, work is suggested for each day of the cottage prayer meetings held, an ice- week, and in each prayer, meeting the water fountain maintained on a city topic is considered by some one with street, and 2 members sent abroad as special reference to missions. missionaries, " Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God," is -The Rev. Soo Hoo Nam Art writes the society's motto. in the Pacific Ohristian Endeavor: We have a flourishing Chinese society con- -Three" missionary pigs" are being nected with our Presbyterian mission reared by an Atkins, Ark., Endeavor in San Francisco. It has about 25 society. The proceeds of their sale will active and 30 associate members. We be devoted to misssions. have also Chinese societies in Oakland, Alameda, Santa Barbara, and Los A~iERICA. Angeles, making 5 in all. These are conducted entirely by our Chinese United States. – Satan appears to brethren. be trembling out in the Buckeye State. For the following appeared in the Wine -The Presbyterian Endeavorers of and Spirit News, official organ of the Arkport, N. Y., originated an admir- Ohio State Liquor League, February able missionary social. Printed cards 24, 1897: "You are scarcely aware of were prepared bearing the following the activity of the Anti-saloon League. legend: It is but a little over three years old, and yet in that brief time it has accom- .some can IrO. Most can give. All can pray. plisht more than any other organiza- Y. P. 5. C. E. tion ever formed in a similar time. The first year it held 2,000 meetings, Vhat are you doing for missions? the second year it held 6,000 meetings, and the third 12,000 meetings were held On the back were written quotations in the State of Ohio. In all, the offifrom eminent missionaries, such as : cers and members of this League have "Where Christ leads and directs, I slandered your business and my busicheerfully go. I only desire what he ness in the presence of 300,000 people approves, and to do what he requires, in the three years, or at the rate of 100,- for the remainder of my life."-James 000 every year. The highest number Oalvert, Missiona,ry to Fiji.
These cards were passed around, of saloons in this State at one time was added : 7 shelters for men, 1 shelter for over 13,000; now the total number has women, 2 rescue homes, 3 prison-gate been reduced to less than 9,000. The homes, 1 slum post, 1 hospital, 1 basket Anti-saloon League has reduced the factory, 3 farm colonies. number within the last year and a half, 1,500. In the same length of time they -Miss Serena Rhinelander, of New championed a bill in the Legislature York, has made a tentative gift of a that would have made 60 counties of this new mission home, to be known as St. State vote 'dry' at the very first elec- Christopher house, which is nearly tion, which would have been this completed. It is at the western end of spring. And what is more amazing a plot of ground comprising 14 city lots still, they actually secured 50 votes in on East Eighty-eight St. At the Eastfavor of its passage. Two years have ern end is the Rhinelander Industrial gone by, and we are face to face with School. The conditions stated to govthe same issue again. The same enemy ern this donation are that within three is again in the field better equipt, years the mission shall accomplish with more men and more supplies than enough good in the neighborhood to he was when the Haskell Bill was de- satisfy the donor. If at the expiration feated in the last General Assembly by of that time Miss Rhinelander is the narrow margin of 7 votes. Our pleased, she will extend the probation duty, therefore, as business men, en- to five years_ If then everything goes gaged in the liquor-traffic in this State, well she will deed over the entire propought to be plain. We must fight fire erty to St. James' Protestant Episcopal with fire." Church for St. Christopher's House. The estimated value of the gift is about -The sixth annual session of the $300,000. Tuskegee Negro Conference had a large attendance not only of farmers, mech- -The Sailor'8 Magazine for March anics and others, but of representatives has a most interesting account of the of different institutions and prominent Genoa Harbor Mission, written by Rev. educators. The reports presented Donald Miller, who started that work as showed considerable advance in the far back as 1869 _ A sailor's rest has been purchase of houses and farm lands. built, and a steam launch is now owned The platform urges (1) increased attend- and in use. The annual cost of this ance to improved methods of farming. mission is about $2,700, of which the fruit, stock and poultry raising; (2) sailors contribute about $800. greater economy in living; (3) better preparation to meet competition by -The Tsimshean Mission on Annette skilled labor; (4) increast attention to Island, Alaska, William Duncan's not-, schools; (5) advises that the full force able achievement, dedicated a beautiful of community sentiment be cast church January 3, with 800 in the conagainst immorality; (6) recognizes the gregation. Offerings were made to the mutual interdependenceof the white and amount of $140. The people performed black races and pledges all to do their the building work. A fine choir of 30 utmost to remove the obstacles to mutual members, a brass band of 40, and a progress; (7) advises the organizing of reed band, supply music for New Met- Negro conferences throughout the lakahtla. South, in view of the steady gain noticeable in every department. Spanish America.-Dr. E. S_ Cam- acho, for many years a Roman Catholic -Since March 1. 1896, the following bishop of Tamaulipas, distinguisht for advances have been made by the Sal- his ability, fidelity and purity of life, vation Army along lines of social work has recently, from deep Christian conin the United States, or there have been victions, protested against the idolatry taught andpractist in the Roman Catholic church in Mexico, and has -was simply the clerical party. But publicly withdrawn from its com- a curious incident of the late war be- munion. tween China and Japan led to a revo- lution against this clerical party, and -Mr. Eaton, of Chihuahua, reports last summer this revolution was sucan incident which illustrates strikingly cessful. The leader of the liberal or the changed attitude of the people in revolutionary party, General Alfaro, that city in reference to evangelical was chosen president. He is in favor work. He had recently been invited to of religious liberty, the constitution has officiate at a wedding ceremony, the been re'Vised, and the first Protestant bride being a relative of families promi- missionaries have been permitted to nent for their wealth and official po- enter the country. Almost simultanesition, lind still Roman Catholic. At this ously with this revolution, a body of wedding these relatives were present in Christians in Kansas, known as the large numbers, witnessing for the first Gospel Union, sent out 4 missionaries to time a Protestant marriage ceremony. Ecuador. They have been cordially Mr. Eaton reports that he could not have received by President Alfaro and have been treated by those who were present begun work under favorable auspices. with greater courtesy had he been the bishop himself. When he first reacht EUROPE. Chihuahua, a notice was posted upon the cathedral door, warning men not to Great Britain.-These figures, taken rent rooms to him, nor sell furniture, from reports compiled in 1896, will food, or drink; and not to attend the give some idea of the scope of the work services of the Protestants under pain of the Salvation Army: of excommunication. No Spanish teacher could be secured for five Number of rescue homes ___________ 74 months. Number of homes for children. _____ 10 Number of food depots and shelters __ 79 -The Moravian Me8senger gives the Number of farm colonies ___________ 10 following item of news respecting the Number of factories and workshops __ 44 Moravian mission on the Mosquito Number of employment bureaus ___ .32 Coast)n Central America: "A cloud Number of heathen races reacht _____ 19 looms over our Nicaraguan work, and Number oflanguages used _________ .28 the present government seems deter- Number of Army corps ___ . ______ 5,469 mined to squeeze our mission out of Number of weekly papers _________ .42 Bluefields. It has levied a rate of $53 Weekly circulation about ____ 1,000,000 a month on our people for town-lighting purposes, has fined one of our mis- -The Bible Lands Mission Aid Sosionaries $20 for not keeping the church ciety has rendered most efficient help premises in proper order. Roman in many mission stations of the Ameri- Catholic priests have come to the can Board. It has recently reported capital, amI are working hard to try that, through a special fund for relief and bring the natives to their way of work, it has- forwarded no less than thinking." $34,000 for help at mission stations in Asia :Minor. -The last six months have witnessed a remarkable change in Ecuador. -Since the China Inland Mission For more than three hundred years, was formed in 1865 over $2,000,000 since the invasion and conquest by have been received in answer to prayer, Pizarro and his Spaniards, Ecuador has and without solicitation. In China, been under almost exclusive priestly where the work first began, only 2 of rule. The only religioTJ. tolerated has the inland pfovinces were in any sense been the Roman Cathclic. The dom- open; now, largely through its service, inant political party-the conservative only 2 are in any sense closed. In addi~ion, some 260 stations and out- stations have been establisht; and there afe 342 native helpers working together with nearly 700 missionaries. work in Formosa. The work consists of There are in connection with mission 42 stations, 2 hospitals, a college, and a churches about 5,000 persons. Over number of schools under the manage- 8,000 per,sons have been baptized, and ment of 8 missionaries. The children's Mr. Taylor has recently estimated that mission field requires about £3,000 a between 15,000 and 20,000 men and year to maintain its different agencies. women have been brought to the Lord -Monthly Messenger. through the instrumentality of the ,mission workers. The Continent. – The "liberal" radicals in the French Parliament are -Nearly 300 women last year were urging the government to expcl all turned away from the Industrial Farm Proteatant missionaries from Madagas- Home for women inebriates founded by car. They do not say a word against the British Women's Temperance As· the Jesuit missionaries on the island. sociation at Duxhurst. In the February number of the White Rib?Jon Signal -The Paris Missionary society is Lady Henry Somerset gives an account sending out 5 or 6missionaries to Mada- of a recent visit to the farm Colony, gascar in the Spring. These French which has attracted the earliest atten- Protestants will cooperate with L. M. tion of those in authority as a probably S. missionaries, and will, we trust, be successful solution of the problem of able to rescue the Malagasy from the dealing with inebriate women. The coercion to which they are subjected. scheme differs from all others in being on the village plan, consisting of a -M. Lauga, brought back with him model village of 6 cottages clustering to France 8 Malagasy teachers, who around a large house, on a farm of 180 wish to study the French language and acres among the hills of Surrey. Each methods of education. Four of them cottage is presided over by a nurse have been placed at JIontpellier and the matron from thc Church .Army, and other 4 have entered the l'Iaison des everything of an institutional character Missions at Paris. -Jou1'nal des .1B••ions is carefully excluded. Every patient is Evangelz'ques. .kept one year, and every means that love and ingenuity can devise to build -A wealthy woman of Paris has pre- up the physical, mental, and spiritual sented a large house handsomely fur- health is used to to cure them of the nisht and valued at $130,000 to the deadly disease of alcoholism. Y. W. C. A. of that city. She has also paid off the last remnant of the Y. -The S. P. G. sent out 30 mission- M. C. A. debt, amounting to $3,000. aries in 1896, of whom 11 were clergy- men. Of the number 10 were sent to -The German" Woman's Society for Africa-viz., 2 each to St. John's and the Education of Women in the East" Zululand, and 1 each to Capetown, was founded at Berlin in 1842, and has Grahamstown, Bloemfontein, Mashona- now been sending out missionary teach- land, Lebombo, and St. Helena; to ers for fifty-four years. Tho it wag Asia, 10-viz., 2 each to Chhota Nag- the first society of its kind, it is little pur and Korea, and 1 each to Calcutta, understood and ill supported in Ger- Madras, Bombay, Lahore, Colombo, many. It has now 6 women working in and Borneo; 4 went to America and connection with the C. M. S. in India. 6 the West Indies, 2 to Australia, 1 to with other societies in India, and 1 with Madagascar, and the others to the the Rhenish Mission in Sumatra. A Pacific and Cape de Verde Islands. friend of the society has lately presented it with a training home for missionary -The Presbyterirun Church of Eng- sisters in Berlin.-AUgemeine Mi88wns- land is asking the children of its zei tsclt r ift. schools to support entirely its mission -Be it known that the Orthodox Church of Hussia is the wealthiest in the world. As evidence of this, it is sick; in another village, which had 28() stated "that it could easily pay the houses before the massacre, 250 were national debt of the empire, amounting sick, some 400 having already died to about £200,000,000, or nearly since the massacre. The people in $1,000,000,000, and yet not be im- many of the villages are dying not Se) poverisht." This seems almost incred- much from disease as from want. In ible, but it must be remembered that it Harpoot city two houses have been has some very lucrative SOlH-CeS of opened for orphans, and it is hoped that revenue. One of the most profitable others may be secured. The Arabkir is the sale of candles. Being' <conse- pastor reports that there are in that city crated candles," there is an enormous alone 1,711 orphan boys and girls, and demand for them during the Easter no less than 683 widows, the whole season. number dependent upon charity being over 3,000. It is a significant fact that ASIA. of the £ T. 2,500 in the hands of the local officers from the collections made Islam.-Asiatic Turkey is a Moham- by the government for relief during the medan country. Out of its 18,000,000 past years, the sum of £ T. 1,000 has. inhabitants, barely one-fifth belong to been set apart for the repair of mosques. the various Christian communions, not What remains is being distributed at more than 1,500,000 of these being the rate of from 25 to 45 cents a person. Armenians. Darmesteter, writing of Another fact is significant that, simulthe Afghans, accurately characterized taneously with the giving of governthe religion profest by Afghan and ment relief, the taxgatherers have been Turk alike as teaching "no charity, no specially active. In one place at the self-control, no self-improvement, and door of the room in which the governbest qualified in the damnation of alien ment was giving aid, stood zaptiehs creeds." Naturally there are excep- collecting taxes of those who came out. tions to this sweeping generalization. The officials in other places are more But on the whole, the feeble minority generous, giving to those who had reknown as the followers of "the N az- ceived relief protection from the exacarene" have long represented in Asiatic tions of c011ectors and creditors.-Mis- Turkey the only forces which urge the sionary IIerald. Moslem population to charity, to selfcontrol, and even to self-improvement. -The native churches in Oroomiah gave last year for their preachers about -There are no fewer than 8 cities in $1,200. This is about 20 per cent. in- Turkey in each one of which more per- crease over the sum raised over a year sons were killed by the massacres than and a half ago for the same purpose. fell on the Union side in the terrible 7 days' battle of the Wilderness. In the -The following statement from Rev. fiercest battle of our Civil War, that of J. L. Potter, Teheran, indicates that. Gettysburg, 3,070 fell on the Union the new regime in Persia is not likely side. Twice that number were killed in to be liberal. For this is the first official the 2 massacres at Oorfa. During our order promulgated: entire Civil War 110.070 Union soldiers were slain in battle. During the last « In accordance with the exalted will two and a half years not far from that of the slaves of his most holy, august, number have been killed by the Turks, Imperial }Iajesty, the king of kings, with accompaniments of the most in- of powerful glory (may God perpetuate human barbarity. his realm and his reign), it is enacted as to all sorts of books, such as heavenly -Reports from Harpoot at the begin- and religious books, and other kinds, ning of January reveal some very sad that the import of such books into the cases of destitution. At one village of kingdom of Persia, and the sale and 200 houses there were reported 170 purchase of them, is dependent on the ference consists of the North-West special permission of the Ministry of Provinces east of the Ganges, and the Sciences of this exalted State, and like- Province of Oudh." There are 9 prewise the transport of these books from siding elder districts, and 90 circuits; .anyone of the cities of Persia to other 121 ordained native ministers; 15,t!85 provinces and districts of the exalted members; 22,393 probationers. Total State is also restricted to the permission 38,278. Sunday-schools 764, pupils ,of the Ministry of Sciences and the 38,083; day-schools 497, scholars 10,254; permit of the afore-mentioned Ministry, foreign missionaries, 20; wives of misin which permit the name and number sionaries, 17; foreign missionaries of -of the books and other necessary infor- the W. F. lL S., 20 mation shall be included, and, without the permission and permit of the Minis- -A missionary writes: "One morn· try of Sciences, every book imported ing I past a man lying near the road, into Persia, or transported and delivered and askt him why he was lying there. from city to city, will be seized and He opened his eyes wearily and said, eonfiscated, and the carrier will be 'I am very hungry. I have not tasted liable to punishment. rice for more than three days, and I can not walk any further.' 'Poor fel- The aet was to take effect thirty- low,' I said, 'I'll bring you some food, three days after its date, and so became and then perhaps you will feel better.' operative February 22. Away I went, and presently returned with a leaf plate full of rice-every India.-The Indian Home Mission to grain white and separate as Hindus love 1;he Santhals is under the charge of to have it. ' 'rake a little,' I said. The Messrs. Boerresen and Skrefsrud. man opened his eyes once more, and 'There are in all at the 16 stations of the looking at the rice, oh, so hungrily, mission, 6 European missionaries, 3 San- and at me, oh so piteously, he waved thaI pastors, 113 traveling elders, 15 his hand feebly and said, 'I daren't, I -catechists, 1 native doctor, with 2 as- daren't ; my caste, my caste.' 'But,' I ,sistants, and a dispenser with 2 as- replied, 'if you don't eat it, you will sistants. Mrs. Boerresen, assisted by 20 lose your life, and what then will be ,deaconesses, conducts the girl's school, the good of your caste?' •Sir, came in which there were at the'close of the back the answer feebly, 'if I lose my year 189 pupils. Many of these past caste what will be tM good of my life? ' the government examination with I do not suppose the rice would have eeredit, one girl gaining a scholarship of saved him." 3 rupees per month for two years. The boy's school has 157 pupils, 9 teachers, -Lord Radstock is right when he ~nd 2 monitors, and the efficiency of declares: But few people can realize the teaching and the intelligence of the the magnitude of the distress which boys is proved by the successes at the has come on our Indian fellow subjects. government examinations. In addition The Governor-General informs us that to the work carried on in Santhalistan, 37,000,000 are "in famine districts, a colony of Santhals has beel!- started in where there is not enough to sustain Assam under Mr. Bunkholdt's superin- life, and 44,000,000 men in districts tendence, and now there are 1 Santhal where there is not enough to maintain pastor, seven village elders, 12 deacon- health." For ihese, relief works are -esses, 6 schoolmasters, 2 schoolmis- already open for over 2,000,000. But ttresses, and 1 native doctor with 1 as- according to the Famine Commis- ,sistant. The total number of baptized sioners' report, 15 per cent. of the popheathens is over 9,700.-London Ghrist- ulation of the famine area will event- .ian. ually come on relief for three months, and 7~ per cent. for tweh,e months. -The "North India Methodist Con- There will be thus 5,000,00v practically China :-" We have had a large at-' helped before long. tendance at the hospital. We had some very serious cases last season, that China.-In China are tens of thou- cost us many anxious thoughts and sands of villages with small trace of fervent prayers that we might be Bible influence, but hardly a hamlet guided aright in our treatment, and where the opium-pipe does not reign. that the friends of the patients might It does more harm in a week than all our be led to look more favorably on us missionaries are doing good in a year. and the 'doctrine.' A woman from The slave-trade was bad, the drink is whose face we removed a large growth bad, but the opium traffic is the sum of said one morning, 'Are you glad this villainies_ It debauches more families lump has gone?' and when we said than drink, and it makes more slaves , Yes,' she replied, 'Well, I do not than the slave trade.-Rev. J. H1!li8on understand how it is you are glad, Tal/lor. and yet you are strangers. How is it you are so interested in me? It must, -Among the party of C. E. Z. M. S. be your' new religion.' " missionaries who have recently sailed for Fuh-kien, was Miss Codrington; -The organization of a new Preswhose life was so wonderfully pre- byterian Church, 65 miles from Ningpo, served in the Kucheng massacre. There markt the fiftieth year since Ningpo is also a probability that :Mrs. Saunders, itself was occupied, and makes the the mother of the two sisters who were 'tenth church connected with that staamong the victims of that massacre, tion; total additions last year were 65. will go out at an early date. It may Since the yearly report closed, how. be remembered that this lady heroically ever, there has been a work of grace in said, after hearing of the terrible mur- the church at Yong-YU (also 65 miles der: "If I had two more daughters, I away from Ningpo) which added should wish them to go to China. I 10 to the church and developt a good am only waiting till I am able to go many inquirers. This awakening is myself." It will be a striking object- traced chiefly to one earnest old man lesson to the Chinese of Clll'istian love whose witness-bearing is entirely vol. and forgiveness to see these ladies untary. working among them as witnesses for Christ.-G. M. InteUigencer. -The Grand Lama, living represent. ative of Buddha, rides a bicycle! TO' -The Presbyterian Church, South, such a startling and revolutionary is able to give this report: In the work course, who can predict the end? As. of our medical missionaries there is a for ourselves, we should never have surprising summary. The whole num- credited the statement had it not been ber of patients were: Dr. J. B. Woods, sent us by a senior member of Peking 8,762; Mrs. P. F. Price, 5,763; Dr. J. Mission, who had it from a source con- R. Wilkinson, 4,937; Dr. W. H. Ven- sidered trustworthy.- Woman's Work able, 4,659; :Mrs. Annie Houston Pat- for Woman. terson, M. D., 3,428; Rev. M. B. Grier, 3,000; Rev. R. A. Haden, 2,500; -Doctor Wittenberg is the name of Mrs. H. C. DuBose, 1,200; Rev. J. Y. the Basel medical missionary at Kayin McGinniss, 635; Miss E. B. French, Tshu. The natives come to him in 600; Dr. G. C. Worth, 235; total, crowds, and he has already acquired 35,719. Altogether the reports from fame as a skillful oculist. A heathen our work in China arc a great deal Chinese brought to him his wife for more full of encouragement and whom he had only paid $5 because she promise than they have ever been. was blind. He had bought her on speculation and did not lose anything, -Dr. Mary J. Hill writes as to the for' Dr. Wittenberg was successful in medical mission in Chiningchow, curing her. On his way home, the Rev. Douglas Hooper, but it helps us first man he met exclaimed: " Thirty to see what it costs to be a Christian: dollars!" The value of the wife had risen sixfold. "You will be glad to hear of our Christmas at Jilore. Petro Vuko's Japan.-In 1870 the laws forbade a wife and four bairns were baptized, and missionary to ask any native to accept the next day a man, not of the village, Christianity, and the penalty for any but who has been a catechumen for native who profest the name of Christ some years, came and said he was was death. But now the Church of prepared to part with two of his wives Japan is soon to begin missionary work and live with only one-the senior. in Formosa. President Ibuka, of You may be sure it came to us as a Tokio, and President Ogimi, of Steele blessed Christmas remembrance from College, Nagasaki, have been appointed the Master. Of course this means a to visit the field and report to the mis- much reduced income, amongst other sion board. Three thousand dollars things, as the wives hoe the fields are to be raised from the Japanese which yield the maize, which is the churches to inaugurate and push for- only source of income the man has. ward this new work. Yet, there are He is sending his children to live on the still those who tell us that foreign mis- station, that they may be the better sions are a failure. taught, this means the loss of 60 goats ($120) for each unmarried girl, the -In the Imperial Uuiversity at money paid as dowry by the bride- Tokio, are now about 1,900 students. groom." The time is not far distant when Japan will be able to boast of another uni- -The Thirty-fourth Annual Report versity. Efforts in this direction have of the Sierra Leone Native Pastorate been under way for some time. The Auxiliary Association, was presented new institution is to be in the old capital at the anniversary on April 29th, 1896. city Kyoto, where the Doshislta, a There wtre then 12 clergy, 86 lay Christian college, has been in existence teachers (of whom 35 were females,) for many years. 10,420 Christians, 6,340 communicants -Quotations from the Bible are now and 3,271 scholars in 34 schools. Th~ often used in the same way as are extracts from Japanese and Chinese class- sum of £2,100 was contributed, the ex. ics and Buddhist scriptures. A diary penditure amounting to £1,987. Bishop recently issued by a publishing house in Ingham confirmed 613 candidates dur- Tokio contains a number of passages ing the year. The reports from the from the Bible, tho compiled by non· several districts refer to day and night Christians. schools, Sunday-schools, school libra. ries, Dorcas meetings, cottage meetings, -Rev. E. W. Gilman, secretary of Bible-classes, temperance meetings, etc. the American Bible Society, New York, One of them refers to agoogooism, a has received from the agent of the kind of devil worship, which receives society in Japan a copy of the Gospel of encouragement from some who call St. Luke, prepared for the use of the themselves Christians. blind Japanese. "The volume is the first of a series of parts of the Scriptures -We have received the report of the to lJe publisht under the auspices of North German Missionary Society, the Bible for the use of the blind in which has its headquarters in Bremen Japan. and its mission·field in German and English Eveland, on the Slave Coast of AFRICA. West Africa. Whilst their neighbors of the Basel Mission, whose African -We smile when we read this from field of labor matches with theirs on Eastern Equatorial Africa, written by the Gold Coast and the Cameroons, 10st ten agents by death in as many tho a certain Jew made three attempts months, the NQrth German mission has to prevent her being an exception. had sickness enough, but no deaths. Some received the bad egg in the face, The income of the society was over others on the back, some on the head, £6,000, and the number of baptisms at and so on. Certain Jews who were not the different stations was 107 adults "lewd fellows of the baser sort" were and 24 children, bringing up the total most indignant at the treatment of our number of baptized Christians con- workers. The indoor meeting after nected with the mission to 1,623.-.Yis- this attack was about the best we have sion Record. had, as the questions askt showed a. real desire to know the truth.-&uth -The Rongo railroad has made such African Pioneer. progress during the last few months that the directors feel confident that -The progre~s of the Livingstonia. the locomotive will reach Stanley Pool Mission (Free Church) is becoming very in the fall of 1898. The average rapid. At Bandawe, Nyassaland, the receipts per mile show a continuous numbers in the "hearers" classes had increase from the beginning. About risen, at the close of the last session, 130 miles are in operation. from 456 women and 207 men to 500 men and over 1,000 women. On Easter -Eleven more additions have been Day the number of communicants was reported to the church at Luebo on the 120. Attendances at church have risen upper waters of the Rongo. This to over 1,000. The unnamed missionswells the number of members to about ary who, according to the newspapers, 100. hid 300 native Christians on the mis- sion premises during the late Ngoni -In a letter to "the Assembly of rising, and defied Chikusi's command those who help Nations of Strangers in to surrender them, was probably a Free Resisting Liquors," King Khama ex- Church missionary.-C. M. InteUipresses himself with the picturesque- gencer. ness and force with which we became so familiar during his visit to England. -Bishop Tucker publishes these He is thankful because they' •stand true figures which help to set forth what ill the word they spoke to him in Eng- the Gospel has already achieved in land." He is still struggling against Uganda. Readers of the Word, 57,380; the drink, but fears he will not suc- buildings used for worship, 321; sittings, ceed. He has "Europeans who like 50,000; Sunday attendance, 25, GOO; liquor exceedingly, and they are not the trained teachers, 192; other teachers 533; people who like to save a nation." He catechumens, 2,591; baptized Christhas rejoiced exceedingly to see" the ians, 6,905; communicants, 1,355. path of the train" in his country, but there is something in it which he does ISLANDS OF THE SEA. not like, viz., "the little houses to sell liquor in them." He begs help in this Madagascar.-The Queen of this matter, or it will kill his nation.- island realm for some reason not yet London Christian. made public, has been banisht to Reunion. -The meetings for Jews in Johannesburg h6.ve got to a very satisfactory – The London Missionary Society stage-called by some, ., The rotten has issued an appeal to the Christian egg stage!" We always hold a pre- world setting forth the lamentable conliminary open-air meeting before march- dition into which things have fallen in ing up to our hall. At the last open-air Madagascar on account of Jesuit per-_ meeting nearly every person in the ring secution of extreme "bitterness, aureceived at least one rotten egg. Miss dacity, persistency and unscrupulous- Arnot managed to escape, we believe, ness," and to all appearance because the French authorities desire to have it so. -The Queen under orders from Gen· west of Samoa which first heard the eral Gallieni, has, according to a correspondent of the Manchester Guardian, good news from the lips of Samoan written to the joint committee of the teachers, and in New Guinea there are London Missionary Society and the Society of Friends in reference to the nearly 20 more of these living and Antananarivo Hospital, built in 1890 at an expenditure by the two societies of working amongst the savages there. £10,000: 'Everything connected with the care of the sick which you have New Hebrides.-The "Dayspring" built on my compound belongs to me, missionary ship which was wreckt in and for that reason I inform you that you may not in any way spoil the com· October last on a coral reef near the pound and the houses (i.e. the hospitals) built there, for if you do so it will be a New Caledonia Islands, will in all matter for the law courts. So I ask you to leave my compounds and houses in, probabality, have a successor. From the shortest possible space of time and let me know what day I shall be able the latest issue of "Quarterly Jottings to enter and do as I like." from the New Hebrides," we learn that -M. Escande writes from Madagas. car :-" From four different quarters the insurances effected on the vessel the news has alTived this week that the amounted to £5,000, and as she origin. Jesuits have made simultaneous at· tempts to seize Protestant churches and ally cost £7.000 there is a dead loss of use them for the mass, and to place their own teachers in the Protestant £2,000. On the wreck being reported, mission schools. They give everyone to understand that they are all- powerful friends of the work came forward with with the government. and, unfortun· promises amounting to £1,300. It reately, the help which they got from certain officials gives them a semblance mains with the New Hebrides Mission of reason iIi the eyes of the natives. We are in presence of a very well· Synod and the churches immediately combined plan of attack, and to make head against it we are compelled to responsible to aay whether a new vessel prodigious activity.-Journal des Mis· 8ions Evangeliques. shall be procured.
Samoa.-The Mulua Institution has -From the New Hebrides Rev. Mr. done a noble work for 52 years. The aims of its founders, that every M'Kenzie, of Brakor, sends most pleas· village in Samoa might have a well· trained educated native pastor, and that ant intelligence: "I have had much some of its students might take the Gospel to heathen lands, have been encouragement since you last heard accomplisht. More than 200 Samoan villages are now supplied with pastors from me, for 89 have renounced who have had a four years' course in the Malua College, and some 5,000 peo- heathenism, and now there are less ple of Savage Island have been won to Christ by means of Samoan Evangel. than 12 heathens in my district. lists. There are 16 islands to the north· Most of those who came in this year belong 10 a small island, Meli, where in years gone by they were exceedingly hostile. The change whieh the Gospel has wrought at that village is ,simply marvelous; on several occasions my life was in danger, but now they seem as if they could not do enough for me.
To see those people in their grass school-church, already twice enlarged and still too small, all nicely clothed, so different looking from the days when painted and feathered, and to hear them sing heartily, praising that Name which is above every name, was enough to gladden any missionary's heart, and abundantly reward him for many long years of toil and discouragement. We have now 14 church members in that island. At Erakor, at the communion in July, we had the finest gathering ever seen here. Our church was crowded and about 100 had to remain outside. We have over 200 church members, nearly all of them took their seats at the Lord's Table, and 21 sat down for the first time."
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1897
PROMINENT SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XX. No. S.-Old &neB.-MARCH.-VoL. X. No. S.-N6W &riel.
PROMINENT SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE LAST HALF CENTURY-THE WORK AT NEWPORT, ENG.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
"IN THE BEGINNING-GOD." These are the sublimely significant words which opeu the Book of Books; and they may serve as the key to all real advance in human history. Every true movement forward has but one ultimate source; its fountain is God, and we shall find Him to be its spring if we follow the stream far enough backward to its very fountain. There is no practical difficulty that hinders all true holy living and holy serving which is not also traceable at last, to the'lack of the Divine factor. God is not in all our thoughts: He is not recognized, in our plans, in our resolves, in our activities; His pres- ence is not sought, His guidance is not real, His power is not our supreme dependence, whenever we confront failure and find our work coming to naught. And, whenever a genuine and permanent growth or increase is found, those who have the key to the history can only shout: the Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad.
It is now a little over twenty-five years since, in Newport, Mon- mouthshire, England, a remarkable work of God began, the results of . which even yet appear in a manifold form. In a recent visit to New- port, where the writer held a series of most singularly blessed meet- ings for the deepening of spiritual life, the striking facts as to this great spiritual awakening were ascertained; and in view of the many and inarkt lessons which they embody, we avail ourselves of the only record now to be found-and which is now out of print-prepared at the time by one who was conspicuously connected with the history, Rev. J. Tinson Wrenford.* It is first of all to be noticed that God interposes in the extremity oj his people. Our unbelief and worldliness cause serious forgetful- • "God's Work at Newport, Monmouthshlre," pubJisht by S. W. Partridge & Co., London. ness of Him and departure from Him; and when we are at our wit's end, and all our resources and dependences fail us, then, and it is sad to admit it, then alone, do we turn fully unto God. Religious life commonly sinks to its lowest ebb before the flood-tides of God sweep over a community. It was 130 in Newport, From the narrative of Mr. Wrenfol'd we make copious extracts, for a double purpose: first, to perpetuate a record of a blessing 130 remarkable; and secondly, to emphasize the conditions upou which such outpouring of Divine grace depends, and may be enjoyed elsewhere.
Prior to the commencement of this se880n of blessing was a seed-time of tears. To the inquiry, frequently made of members ,of different communions, co Are you prospering? Is there much life amongst you?" the humbling reply W88 almost always returned, "Alas! we are not 88 we should be: there is much deadness of soul: we greatly need an awakening."
It pleased God (early in the year 1870) to put in the hearts of some of His children to meet together every Friday evening to pray, specially for a blessing on the services, teaching, and other means of grace on the approaching Lord's Day, and also that God would graciously pour out His Spirit on the church with which they were connected, and upon all other Christian congregations in the town. Amid various discouragements this little prayer-meeting W88 carried on week after week. At first ouly a very few 88sembled; but, at 188t, the room became inconveniently crowded. The Lord gave them the spirit of prayer and supplication, but withheld any special or signal indication that their petitions would be abundantly answered. They did certainly perceive a change in their own Minister's preaching, and remarkt upon it one to another. He himself, conscious of it, w881ed publicly to express his gratitude to God for the sustaining intercessions of the "praying band." At length, however, a deep impression was made on the minds of some who had thus continued together in prayer, that the Lord was about to commence a great work in Newport. Their faith had long been exercised: now they began to expect a gracious answer.
Just at this time the wish W88 exprest by members of the Young Men's Christian Association (with which several of these praying men were connected) that a meeting for 'United prayer should be held at an early date; and an earnest invitation was issued to " Christian men and women of all denominations," to meet together at the Victoria Hall, on Thursday evening, January 12th,1871, co to calIon the Lord (1.) for the descent of the Holy Spirit among them, and an increase of vital godliness; and (2.) for the conversion to God of many of their fellow-townsfolk during the coming year." This united prayer-meeting was attended by a large number: a most solemn spirit pervaded the assembly: the Lord Himself W88 in the midst, His presence being felt by many.
There was a short SC880n of praying and waiting again: the Lord "tarried"- but not long. The spirit of expectation continued, and, indeed, became intensified. At length came the "earnest" of the approaching co showers of blessing." On Sunday evening, February 16th, the preacher (who had himself on the previous day experienced a glorious deliverance from the buft'etings of Satan, and been brought out into "a wealthy place," a place of sunshine and certainty never before experienced by him), made an earnest appeal to any who were in an anx:ious and inquiring condition of mind, to remain at the close of the service. Several that night found peace with God, through Jesus Christ. The work of .. in-gathering" had commenced, although, as yet, but on a small scale. Several weeks P88t away, Every Sunday night inquirers were led to Jesus; and every week it became more and more apparent that the Lord was preparing the minds of many for the momentous cry, "What must I do to be saved? "
About this time special "Mission Services" were held at the neighboring town of Cardiff, upon which the Divine blessing was evidently resting. Among the preachers was the venerable Robert Aitken-so long and well known in England and Scotland in connection with evangelizing labors. An invitation to come to St. Paul's, Newport, was complied with. At the foot of the handbills announcing the forthcoming special services, was printed the text from lIalachi, " Prove me now herewitl., 8aith the Lord of Hosts, if I willwt open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall wt be room ewugh to receive it."
A very solemn spirit of supplication and expectancy pervaded the preparatory prayer.meeting, on Saturday night, March 25th, and on the following morning, Mr. Aitken preacht, taking as his subject the incidents narrated in the eleventh chapter of John's Gospel relating to the sickness, death and resurrection of Lazarus. Mr. Aitken spoke of realities. The anxiety of Mary and Martha, their affiiction, their grief. were real: the loving sympathy of Jesus toward His distrest diciples was also real: and so, too, His power over death and the grave. Jesus is still a real Savior-" the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." His words were, that day, addrest to many of His hearers: "The Master is come, and callethfor thce."-" Take ye away tlie stone."-" Lazarus, comeforthl"
In the evening Mr. Aitken again preacht, from Heb. xii : 24, and the Spirit accompanicd the word spoken. At the close an invitation was given to any who might be desirous of direction, and a large number remained, many of whom were evidently in a state of deep concern as to salvation: and that night, about seventy entered into the liberty wherewith Jesus makes His people free.
On the four evenings following, Mr. Aitken preacht, to crowded congregations, "the unsearchable riches of Christ," his sermons being characterized by great simplicity and fervency. With a power of utterance at times vehement, he besought the careless, the ungodly, the mere professor, to come to Jesus for pardon and eternal life. What he contemplated was the reality of all that the Gospel declared,-the reality of the sinner's necessity and danger,-of the allsufficiency of the blood of Jesus,-of the love of the Father toward the returning prodigal,-and of the power of the Son of 11an to forgive sins. To him sin, the judgment, eternity, heaven, and hell too, were terribly real. Hence the" reality" of all his appeals, remonstrances, and exhortations. The Lord owned His word upon each occasion, and every night crowds of penitents came for direction. The after-services were prolonged until nearly or quite midnight: and, even then numbers lingered, as tho loth to depart without further blessing.
* * * * * Thus were brought to the feet of Jesus the young and the old,-hardened sinners,-mere professors of religion of many years' standing,-backsliders,-the self-righteous-persons of almost all classes and descriptions. Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, in some instances. whole families, were brought in-in other cases the remaining members of otherwise godly families were reacht by the Word. and led to the cross.
One precious feature of these services was the real spiritual unanimity and unity manifested by Christians of all denominatwns, from first to last. It seemed as tho the Lord's prayer was fulfilled, "That they all may be one," His people felt they were "one," not artificially or theoretically, but actually and truly, Distinctive titles, indicative of divisions in the family, were iorgotten. Church-~ men, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, Brethren-all met together in the house of their common Lord, not a8 .. sectarians," but as .. Ohristian8;" with one heart and voice they prayed and praised; with one purpose they assisted, when ocC8Bion served, in directing the inquiring. The Spirit of the Lord was a spirit of love and fellowship to them all: and Jesus was Himself in their midst, breathing upon them, and saying to them, as to the disciples of old, "Peace be unto you."
After Mr. Aitken left Newport for his own parish, in compliance with the eamest desire of many, special services were continued during the five following days, and the Lord did not stay His hand or withhold His blessing. Every night many penitents were led to the cross, and found peace and joy in believing. Friday was a day long to be remembered. It was the commemoration of the crucifixion. A vast congregation assembled, and about five.and·thirty souls cast themselves upon the finisht work of Jcsus, and realized pardon and deliverance.
Thus closed the second week of the special services. Altogether six hundred BOuls had been brought to the Lord. Among the converts were persons connected with nearly all the congregations of the town. No attempt was made to proselytize; on the contrary, the converts were urged ordinarily to remain in connection with the communions to which they had formerly been attacht. Many congregations Were stirred up to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon themselves, and a reviving work began to make itself felt among the people. Special services were commenced at several churches of the neighborhood; and the power of the Lord was present to heal and to save.
In May, Lord Radstock delivered evangelistic addresses at Newport. Two halls were secured, each accomodating at least a thousand persons. Two addresses were given daily, and each evening the hall was densely crowded. His expositions and appeaIs-so scriptural, clear, eamest, and persuasive-were listened to with deep attention. The Spirit of God graciously applied the word, and again the Lord brought many souls' " out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder."
In June, Mr. Aitken paid a second visit to Newport; accompanied by his two sons, the Rev. R. W. Aitken, and the Rev. W. Hay Aitken. It pleased God to give His blessing to the Gospel message at each of the assemblies, conveNions taking place every night.
The congregations were extremely large. On one night, nearly or quite two thousand persons were crowded into the church, while hundreds thronged the approaches, unable to obtain admission. The services were prolonged to a very late hour, in consequence of the large number of anxious ones seeking direction. The result of this second mission was tllat three hundred souls were brought to the Lord, in connection with St. Paul's church alone.
Surely no one can speak of an aggregate of ()1U! thousand pro/eat ctm'De'l'BionB in a single parish within four months, without feelings of fervent gratitude to Him who alone can turn one sinner" from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Many hundreds besides were awakened and led to Jesus, in connection with other communions, in the same period of time, and the work of the Lord rapidly spread to several parishes adjacent. But yet further testimony has to be bome to the goodness of God in His dealings with the people of Newport. He did not withdraw His hand, and cease to manifest His power to save, but 011 the contrary, proved, in the six remaining months of the memorable year 1871, that He was always ready to respond graciously to His peoples' prayers, and to own their efforts for His glory in the conversion of souls. His disciples were stirred up to multiply and extend the means heretofore employed-nothing doubting as to the result. The Young Men.'s Christian Association commenced a daily midday prayer-meeting at their rooms, which proved a means of spiritual refreshment and strengthening to many. They engaged the large Victoria Hall, for special Sunday evening services, the London Evangelization Society sending down, week by week, experienced evangelists. From twelve to fifteen hundred persons were thus gathered on each occasion, a large proportion being not in the habit of frequenting any place of Divine worship. The Lord caused His blessing to rest upon this additional effort, and every Sunday souls were won to Christ.
Most markt and evident was the result of God's work upon a large portion of the Newport population. The Churches of Christ were revived. Christians were not contented with a bare spiritual existence. The surpassing blessedness of the •• higher Christain life" was sought and realized by very many. The old condition, so far removed from that to which believers should attain, became distasteful, and from the heart-gladly, gratefully, lovingly-proceeded the cry, .. All for Jesus!" Nor could they who had received so much at the hands of the Lord remain inactive. "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" was the cry of many a willing worker; and, in a variety of ways, the desire to be useful found welcome exerciSe. And more than, perhaps, at any time before, Christians discovered that, notwithstanding all minor differences, they could "love one another, with a pure heart, fervently."
The people of the world were, at the first, evidently perplext by what they witnessed. The confession was again and again made, "I can not understand it." In some instances utter incredulity was exprest; while not a few attributed it to a sort of fanatical excitement, the effects of" which would soon pass away. The people of the world could not be expected to form a right judgment upon such a subject. It lay beyond them altogether; and their opinion of it could not possibly possess any value. .To the unconverted, the operations of God's Spirit must ever be an enigma which they can not explain. The Inspired Word tells us, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." That is decisive.
But what a solemn season is it to a congregation-to an entire communitywhen God thus wondrously makes bare His arm and manifests His saving powerI In concluding this narrative of God's great work at Newport, to what shall we trace it, so far as man is concerned? Shall it not be, first, to earnest, beliefJing pe1'8e1!61'inp prayer" for this very thing;" and secondly, to the real preadting of a. real Gospel? Our Lord's words are: .. If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." Surely, this assurance ought to be sufficient. And as to the preaching, of what avail is it unless a real Gospel be preacht? It is to be feared there is much 'Unreality in the preaching of the present day. If men are really sinners-perishing sinners-then away with theorizing, with speculating, with mere ., opinions" and "views." Away, too, with all dead •• sermonizing," be it never so correctly and artistically done. The need of men's souls is awfully real: let them hear of a God really waiting to be gracious; – of a Jesus really able to save to the uttermost and as willing as he is able; – of an all·sufficient atonement really made and accepted;-of the precious blood of Christ, that can really cleanse from a11sin;-of a Holy Spirit really given to regenerate, guide, comfort, teach, and sanctify men's souls. Let them hear of a real heaven-a real hell-a real eternity; of real pardon for the guilty-real peace-real joy-reaIUfe; of a real approach of the sinner to the feet of a present Savior-of a real acceptance of Jesus, and a real surrender to Him, and then a real and most blessed discipleship, Away with mere ideasl with mere" hopes" and" trusts I" with all uncertainty and unreality!
This rea.lity of praying, preaching, and hearing was at Newport, the secret of the conversion of so large a number of souls to Ohrist-through the power of the Holy Ghost.
March
Why may not such a result be brought to pass, wherever sinners are found? Doubtless, the fear of the world's frown, prejudice, routine, dead formalism, a dread of "irregularities" and of "excitement" may hinder; but should not all hindrances be surmounted for Christ's sake, and that souls may be saved?
o for 1'eaWy in the p1'aying of God's people, reality in the preaching of God's ministersI 0 for men to preach, and people to pray, who have themselves been brought into a condition of conscious acceptance-pardon-life; who themselves are "in Chri8t," and who know, in their own daily experience, the sweetness of that "peace of God" which "passeth all understanding," and of that" joy" which is .. unspeakable and full of glory." 0 for reality / A. real lifting up of Jesus in the midst of perishing sinners-not that· 'doctrines" or .. views" (be they ever so correct) may be set forth, discust, demonstrated,-but that the guilty may draw near-may look-may livel 0 for the "real presence" of Jesus in our assemblies,- the real coming of the sin-burdened to Him there and then.- and the real reception from His willing hands of a most real salvation I So writes substantially, the original narrator of God's work at Newport. And, in thus perpetuating and extending this testimony to one of the most deep-reaching and remarkable spiritual movements of the last half century, we are confident that God means the whole church to learn a lesson.
What is that lesson? It is manifold in instruction altho it all bears in one direction. No one who carefully reads this solemn story of divine dealing can escape the conviction that a pecnliar stress is laid by these events npon united prayer, a pure Gospel, hand to hand contact 1vith souls, and simple faith in God's present power to save. Here was no grand array of unnsual and striking combinations. No far-famed evangelist was sent for to inaugurate a revival, there was no appeal to novelty, nothing dramatic, spectacular, sensational. The whole work began in the prayers of a few fervent believers for the church with which they were connected, and particularly their own minister. Their prayers first brought to him new blesl'ing and new power in preaching; then, as souls were won, the work spread to other congregations; the circle of prayer expanded and became more inclusive; differences of doctrine and polity were forgotten in the bond of unity; variety of congregational life was merged into community of work for souls. As help was needed, the most spirit-filled helpers were sought-and dependence was never transferred from God to man, but the power of a God-given Gospel and of a God-given Spirit was constantly and reverently recognized.
Contrast all this with modern efforts to secure revival. We read some time ago with a shock of awful surprise a private pamphlet prepared by a noted evangelist as a guide to committees who were making ready for his coming. It was full of dependence on "business methods," advertising-striking announcements, big posters, etc., etc. -everything must be done to create a publicfurare in advance. This is the way of the world, and it is now the way of the church. Boston
PROMINENT SPIRI'rUAL MO"VEMEN'l'S. 16~
wants a revival; and Mr. Moody must be at Tremont Temple, and Sam. Jones and Francis Murphy at other "temples"-and the men whom the people will flock to hear must be got-so says Dr. Ohapell, as he contrasts the revivals of fifty years ago with those of to-day. We have no design, as he had none, of reflecting on either of the abovenamed evangelists, but what we would emphasize is, that for a true revival whose results are to be lasting, our dependence is to be first of all on God, not on man. We must emphasize the preacher less, and the message and the Spirit more. The most wide-reaching revivals of this century have been associated with the most unexpected times and methods and men; they have been a surprise to those through whom they were wrought. They have been preceded by fasting and prayer, have begun often in a union of prayer between two or three burdened souls. We knew, for instance, a case where a few young men, who could find no better place wherein to meet, actually went into a church belfry, unwarmed, in winter, and there sought blessing for the congregation; their numbers slowly increast until the unfinisht room was too strait for them; and when their meeting was scarce known to the congregation, a mighty flood of blessing was already upon the community. Another case is known to the writer where a very ordinary preacher, speaking to his own people about parental duty and responsibility, felt moved to call on parents who were imprest with their own unfaithfulness, to come from their seats and stand in the aisle in token of repentance and earnest seeking for blessing. Out of the pews moved fathers and mothers, until the aisles were filled and they crowded about the communion table-and the place was turned in a Bochim. We are getting away from dependence on ordinarg means of grace. We do not expect any widespread blessing on the preaching of the simple Gospel and on prayer, and on personal contact with souls, and must have several churches united, and great meetings, with distinguisht evangelists and great choirs with far-famed Gospel singers, or we look for no divine outpourings. All this is unscriptural, unspiritual, abnormal. The Gospel would be a failure if it were not. And because our churches, and pastors, and the people at large have lost confidence in the ordinary use of Gospel means, and depend on extraordinary efforts alone, every interest of the churches is in peril. Even for missions we must have colossal meetings-some president or ex-president, or governor, or other celebrity must preside-some gigantic crowd be got together in some way; no matter if the speakers are not spirit-filled men, if they are only attractive-no matter if the assemblies are not composed of the more devout, if the numbers are large and the elite are there! These are the unspoken sentiments which have too often guided the arrangements, and repelled the Spirit of God and forfeited blessing. At risk o~ being accounted pessimistic and hypercritical, we repeat that, if the church wants greater prosperity in the life of her members, and in the abundance and constancy of her benevolent offel'ings, the Holy Spirit must be more honored; there must be believing prayer and faith in God's promises. God's arm is not shortened nor His ear heavy, but there are modes of doing and attitudes of being which He will never own with the sanction of His blessing.
Let any pastor undertake in his own congregation and parish work to follow a few simple rules, and see the result: 1. Get himself thoroughly n:ght with God, by abandoning every known sin or doubtful indulgence, and seeking first of all for himself the very type ·of life and character which he craves for his people.
2. Trust himself absolutely to the Gospel as the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation, and expect that God's word, faithfully preacht, will not return to Him void, in a single instance.
S. Give himself to prayer-giving time enough to get the sense of God in the closet; and never leaving the place of supplication until he gets a divine vision-a new impartation of life and power.
4. Go himself to seek individuals-not depending on mere pulpit exhortations-but remembering that souls are won by individual approach, and that all such contact will make his preaching more personal and effective.
5. Keep himself from all direct or indirect dependence on man; avoid seeking men's applause, or looking to man's patronage for support and encouragement. Let him study the Acts of the Apostles and aim at an apostolic church life.
6. Live himself a life of faith, depending on God for his support, daring to cut loose from the pcw system and take his support from voluntary offerings; and sedulously cultivate in his people the same spirit of direct leaning upon God.
7. Yearn himself over a lost world-cherishing a missionary spirit, and claiming the entrance into the holiest as the intercessor's place and privilege; and educating his people to regard missions as the indispensable proof and fruit of all spiritual life.
No man could follow seven such simple rules and patiently wait, without seeing a mighty work of God in his own life and sphere of labor. And it is only in such a new level of spiritual life and character and conduct of God's work that the permanent revival of missions is to be found. The stream needs a source more abundant and elevated-then the channel will be full and the current rapid. God is speaking, and it is not in this case, out of the cloud-no mystery attends His utterance. All the great spiritual movements of the century have hinged on supernatural interposition in answer to believing prayer. If we are to have other such divine interpositions, other intercessors must be found, mighty through the same means which were used by Daniel and Job, Elijah and Samuel.
MIZPAH CHAPEL 0];' C ()~ G Rl:G"TIONAL SLAY1G MISSION , :,IT. STANISLAUS lWMM, CA'J'IIOUC }'OLISIl CH1:RCn
CU;YELAXD, (l. CLEYELAND, O.
In this" Polyglot " chapel.f0ur la nguages are,cOll8tantly u ~ed: I'oli. h, IJo- llcllllun, GctllJan, amI Enghsh.
STRONGHOLDS
TAKING STRONGHOLDS.
CHRISTIAN WORK FOR OUR FOREIGN POPULATION.
BY REV. A. F. SCHAUFFLER, CLEVELAND, O.
When, during our Civil War, Vicksburg, strongly fortified and held by the Confederates, was III tourniquet fastened on the great main artery of this country's circulation, it became absolutely necessary to capture it. No cost of means or men was considered too great, for was not the lasting welfare, even the life of our nation, at stake? The more difficult the task, the more stubborn and fierce the resistance, the more determined, carefully planned, and courageously executed were the efforts made to take that stronghold. And when it was won and the stars and stripes waved over it, a thrill of joy went through the Northern States, and every patriot thankt God, took courage, and lookt more confidently for the final and lasting victory of freedom and loyalty. We have some Vicksburgs still.
It is little more than a decade since American Christians began to realize certain very serious dangers that threatened the stability of our free Christian institutions and the welf~e of our country, – dangers arising from the character and influence of some parts of the immense immigration of later years. . Americans are naturally optimistic, and have fondly hoped that the very atmosphere of "the freest country on earth" and our vaunted free-school system would not fail to transform all classes of foreigners in'to loyal and useful American citizens. But such unexpected and terrible events as the bloody Cincinnati riot of March, 1884, started by a mob of second-generation young Germans, who raised the cry, "On to the jail," and which resulted in the destruction of valuable property, the death of forty-five men and wounding of one hundred and thirty-eight, and the awful Chicago Haymarket bomb tragedy in May, 1886, whose perpetrators were chiefly foreigners, rudely waked us from our pleasing dreams and shockt us into something of a true sense of the situation. The Mafia in New Orleaus, the more recent Chicago Pullman strike riots, the bad eminence and dangerous power attained· by Gov. Altgeld, and many other less markt but not less really significant proofs of the activity of anarchic and revolutionary forces, have so emphasized the danger that threatens this nation from the presence in it of mischievous foreign elements, that of late strenuous efforts are being made to restrict emigration and to exclude undesirable foreigners. But whether such attempts are successful or not, the fact remains that there are immense portions of our foreign population, which, whatever possibilities they may present of future development into true American citizens, are very far from being now in sympathy with the principles and institutions which we most prize as the founaation of our nation's character and the condition of its prosperity. They are Vicksburgs, hard to win, but all the more necessary to gain for true freedom and genuine Christianity. Left to themselve/!, they will be a serious menace to our country's welfare; won for the Bible idea of Christian citizenship, they will help to make our nation that happy people whose God is the Lord, and which rejoices in peace and righteousness as the conditions of genuine and lasting prosperity. Perhaps we can best gain some adequate idea of the difficulty, urgent importance, and practicability of the great task which God in His providence has set His people in the whole northern and western part of our land by sending into our very midst such armies of foreigners, if we consider one of the nationalities thus providentially brought close to our doors and hearts. One element in our foreign population which does not naturally accept our conception of Christianity or readily adapt itself to our social, educational, and religious order of things, is the Polish. It is an important part of our immigrant population. Of our Slavic elements it is by far the largest, much outnumbering Bohemians and Slovaks (Hungarian Slavs) taken together, and constantly increasing in size and political influence. "Poland in America" is a Vicksburg which must be taken for Christ. It is a stronghold of Rome, that old and determined enemy of the Bible and of all true freedom and progress.
A glance at the tragic history of Poland, at the religious condition of the Poles in America, and at the efforts being made to reach them with the Gospel, will show how great and urgent is the duty to do the very best of missionary work for that interesting people.
I. HISTORY.-The early history of the Polish people is shrouded in the mists of myth and mystery. In his "Story of Poland" Morfill, .says: "The first undoubted historical event in which Poland is concerned relates to the year 963 A.D., when the Markgraf Geron conquered the heathen prince Mieczyslav, who ruled over the Poles from the Oder to the Vistula, and made him pay tribute to the German Emperor Otho I." In 965 Mieczyslav became a Christian, as condition of marrying the daughter of the King of Bohemia. Under Boleslas the Great Poland became a kingdom, and made great progress, building many new cities, and increasing trade, while Christianity was more widely spread and firmly establisht among the people, and schools were founded. There were no popular assemblies, society being organized entirely on a military basis. By the beginning of the 11th century Poland had absorbed nearly all the Western SJavic States, including Bohemia.
Poland gradually became the great power of Easteru Europe, which it continued to be till near the close of the 17th century. From 1541 to 1606 was the golden age of foland, which saw the rise of Polish literature, and during which Stephen Batory, Prince of Transylvania, a vigorous ruler, became King of Poland. He renounced Protestantism for the Roman Oatholic faith. During his reign the Jesuits were introduced into Poland, and a great contest took place between Protestants and Oatholics, in which the latter gained control, by aid of the Jesuits, who had in their hands the education of the country. The country was rent by adverse factions, and from that time began the decline of Poland.
In 1674 John Sobieski was made King of Poland, and earned the title of "Savior of Europe" by hastening with his splendid army to the relief of Vienna, besieged by an immense and victorious Turkish host, which he utterly routed in one battle, saying: "Not unto us, not unto us, 0 Lord of Hosts, but to Thy name give glory." Sobieski's valor changed the course of European history, but could not arrest the internal dissensions of unfortunate Poland, or save it from the envy and enmity of other European powers, which com- bined to bring on the final catastrophe. The first partition of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria occurred in 1772, the second partition in 1793, and the third in 1795. The noble patriotism and magnificent bravery of Thaddeus Kosciusko, who fought against tremendous odds, availed not to stem the tide of ruin that over- whelmed Poland. 'fhe Poles lost their independence and their country, and Siberian mines and prisons attested the terrible severity of the punishment meted out to them by the victors.* The causes of Polaud's misfortunes are not far to seek. The chief ones are: 1st. The abnormal social conditions. The nobles, jealous of each other, and united in jealousy of their king, reduced the serfs to a. state of practical slavery, with power over them of life and death, and then finally bound them to the soil. 2nd. There was no Polish middle class. The burghers were Germans and Jews governed by . special laws. They could own no land, which was wholly the property of the nobles. 3rd. The influence of Protestantism was fiercely com- batted and overcome by Papal power. 4th. All education was in the hands of Roman Oatholic ecclesiastics. 5th. Poland had no natural frontiers, and was surrounded by powerful enemies ever ready to despoil her. These conditions promoted internal dissensions, decay, wasting wars with neighbors, disintegration, poverty, and ruin. It has been truly said that Poland was "the heaven of the nobles, the paradise of the clergy, the gold-mine of foreigners, and the hell of rustics." We may add that it became the grave of true liberty.
• We owe a debt of gratitude to Poiand,- for Kosciusko, like Lafayette, came to our aid during our Revolutionary War. "He joined the American Army as a volunteer, and was conspicuous for his bravery at the battles of Saratoga and Yellow Springs. Washington made him a Brigadier and afterwards Governor of West Point." He helpt us win the freedom he could not conquer for his own country. II. RELIGIOUS CONDITION IN AMERICA. It will surprise none who know anything of Poland's sad history and present opprest condition, that Poles are anxious to leave the land they may no longer call their own, in a large part of which government is systematically suppressing Polish nationality and language, and to found new homes in this conntry of freedom and opportunity. But with most of them it is true, "change the place and keep the pain" – or rather "the chief cause of the pain," which in their case is the tyranny of their Roman Catholic priests with the resulting ignorance, ghostly fear, bigotry, and violence. This makes their presence in large numbers a very serious matter.
It is impossible to obtain reliable statistics of the number of Poles in the United States, for many of them tell the Census official that they are from Russia, or Germany, or Austria, and are set down as Russians, Germans, or Austrians. But it is safe to say that there are between one and two millions of Poles in the United States. Chicago has about 70,000, Pittsburg 65,000, New York and Brooklyn 45,000, Buffalo, N. Y., 30,000, Detroit 25,000, Cleveland 8,000 to 10,000. I have before me a list of 79 Polish colonies in 14 States.
What an important social and political factor these compact Polish colonies are becoming, was pointed out by the New York Evening Post in its issue of April 13, 1892. The Post said: "In Milwaukee, Wis., there is a Polish population of 25,000 in a total of 200,000, and, as they are exceedingly clannish in politics, as in everything else, the Polish vote is cast almost solidly in a block, and this nationality already holds the balance of power in city elections."
The Pole is as much under the control of his priest as is the Irishman. For him the priest is God's representative, the priest's word is law, and the priest's anger most dangerous. Ayoung Pole, who afterwards joined our Bohemian Mission Church in Cleveland, unable to pay the priest's assessment towards building a fine new church, was summarily excommunicated, and thereupon thought himself lost forever, and he was much more intelligent than the majority of our Poles, mostly the descendants of the enslaved serfs.
Polish priests are very strong and even fierce in opposing not only all-Protestant influences brought to bear on their people, but also the Americanizing influence of the public school. They have kept their people secluded in Polish colonies and Polish quarters of the cities, where the butcher and baker and grocer are Poles, and have made it an unpardonable sin to send children to our public schools.
A priest told one of our colporteurs that he had burned seventeen Bibles sold to his people. And when one of our Polish missionaries called on him to ask why he refused his people permission to read the Word of God, the priest became so angry that he set his dog on his visitor; fortunately the dog had wound his chain around the priest's legs, and could not reach our brother. Another priest drove away a young Pole, now a member of a Protestant church, by charging him $4 for absolution, which the young man was unwilling to pay. One of our female missionaries who worked among the Poles in Toledo, 0., reported that the priest had roused the people very much against her, and forbidden them to buy any books from her, or to send their children to her sewing-school, and ordered that if she visited any of their houses, they should take a broomstick to her. But with all their I fear of the priest and servile submission to him, there is a spirit of growing independence and revolt abroad amongst Catholic Poles in the United States. Hence the frequent reports of mobs, riots, violence, and bloodshed in Polish parishes. Rence also the new movement to form independent Catholic Polish churches, of which there are quite a number already started in several large cities. Quite a large church of this kind was founded in Cleveland about two years ago. I have before me a copy of a Cleveland paper of December 8, 1894, in which there is a very remarkable account by a Polish editor of his efforts to start this new movement. He says, that as the Polish people are 'Very earnestly and patriotically devoted to their religion, the only way to lift them up is to reach their hearts through their devotion to the church. After he came to this country, eleven years before, he found out that" the Roman Catholic Church keeps the Poles in the worst kind of slavery for its own shallow and egotistical purposes." He asserts that for a Pole the priest is "almost a personification of God on earth," so that every Polish priest exercises a tremendous influence over his flock. But," instead of trying to ennoble them, to lift them up morally and mentally, every priest is trying to make them even more ignorant, more fanatical, more superstitious than they are." This is the reason, says the editor, "that they are so far away from the spirit of American institutions, that they are regarded almost as a blot on the civilization of the 19th century, as well as on the glorious Constitution of the United States." This editor started to spread the ideas of religious freedom eight years before by means of a paper publisht in New York. The paper was put under the ban by the Polish clergy over all the country. He made two other attempts, one in Chicago and another in New York, but "in each case the Romish priest won the battle." When he started this movement again in Cleveland, he determined to put a priest at the head of it. He pickt out one who had been driven away from the largest Polish church in Cleveland by his people on account of his alleged immorality and dishonesty.
But later the editor thought himself mistaken, and exprest the conviction that the priest had made his peace with Rome. This led to their parting company. But it seems that the priest had not been reconciled with Rome, and his church continues to the present independent of Rome. On one occasion, when celebrating the anniversary of the giving of a Polish Constitution, he invited one of our missionaries to make an address to his church, crowded full of Poles. It was an admirable opportunity to speak ta them of the true liberty with which Christ makes us free. This priest hb.s circulated Bibles and Protestant tracts among his people. This contest between the new church and the old has opened the eyes of many Poles, and led them to look upon Protestants and Protestant missionaries with much more f&vor.
As I write, a terrible conflict is progressing in the Polish colony of Bay City, Mich., where there are 6,000 Poles. An elderly priest was accused by his people of gross immorality and dishonesty in the handling of church funds. A riot ensued. The priest was driven away and the church closed. When the Sheriff appeared with the Bishop to reopen the church by force, they found a body of 400 Polish women massed against the church doors, and the Sheriff turned to the Bishop and askt whether he would command him to charge upon those women. The Bishop's heart failed, and the attempt was abandoned. Polish women routed the Bishop. All the twelve or fifteen Roman Catholic priests of Bay City stood by the Polish priest, but he had to go, so strong was the feeling against him. Another priest was secured in his place, but having refused to let the opponents of his predecessor see the church accounts, he involved himself in a fierce conflict, which has just resulted in his shooting two men and being under bonds for trial. The church is closed again, and excitement runs high. In the meantime Congregationalists and Presbyterians have united to commence missionary work for the people shut out of their own church and fighting for a purer priesthood. Quite a large number of Polish children attend sewing-school on Saturday and Sunday-school on Sunday, and the missionary finds open doors into many families and many hearts.
There is much such dissatisfaction with priestly abuses among Poles over all this country. The spirit of American liberty and the influence of Protestantism is having its effect. This leads to our third topic.
III. MISSIONARY EFFORTS FOR THE EVANGELIZATION OF OUR Po- LISH POPULATION.-Missionary work for the Poles in this country is yet in its infancy. Our Poles are mostly the descendants of the serfs whom the Polish nobility enslaved while fighting for their own freedom, and on whom the church of Rome has fastened the fetters of ignorance, bigotry, and fear. It is hard to conceive the difficulties which at every step beset the missionary who wants to reach the· Pole with the Word of God. The common Pole is afraid of the priest, afraid of excommunication, afraid of consequent loss of his soul, afraid of losing his livelihood, afraid of violence from his fellow Poles. The latter fear is well grounded, for many of the Poles are ever ready for a fray. And yet patient and persistent efforts, prompted by genuine love for Ohrist and for misguided souls, have not been without their reward. There are grand possibilities in the Polish people. A people that has produced a great poet like Mickiewicz, a great astronomer like Oopernicus, a great composer like Ohopin, and many great patriots and heroes like Sobieski and Kosciusko, is a people well worth winning for Gospel truth and freedom.
The first Polish convert I ever saw, a man given to drink and gambling, and moved to attend Y. M. C. A. meetings and church services by a faithful German fellow-worker in the factory, and who subsequently went through a course of preparation for the ministry in the Slavic department of Oberlin, 0., Theological Seminary, has been laboring patiently and faithfully for years in Detroit, Mich. Many a one looking through the reports of his early years of labor, would have said that he would be justified in giving up the work, so great was the prejudice against him, and so small the apparent hope of success. In Detroit there had been the same sort of a split as later in Oleveland, and a priest who had been driven from the great Polish church on account of alleged immorality, succeeded in founding an independent Oatholic church, which still exists. At first it seemed as tho this would facilitate Protestant missionary work. But the missionary found himself accused by both parties of being the spy of ihe other.
Latterly infidelity has begun to appear amongst the Poles. This new tendency among the Poles, a very old one amongst the Bohemians, illustrates the fact that the church of Rome is not only the mother of bigotry, but the promoter of infidelity. But in spite of all the difficulties and trials he has had to meet, this faithful missionary has lived to see blessed results of his labors. The First Oongregational Ohurch of Detroit, which opened its beautiful new building for Polish services, has received thirty-six Poles into its membership. Thisforms virtually a branch church ministered to by the Polish missionary. No one who has not lived in a Roman Oatholic community, and who does not know the Poles from close contact and long observation, can imagine what true courage, strong faith, and genuine heroism it takes on the part of this people to come out from their church and expose themselves to the taunts and fierce opposition, often threatening personal violence, of their former coreligionists.
A Polish woman in Oleveland, who has for some years attended our services, was visited by our American lady missionary who has learned Polish, to whom she related her recent experience when, with her husband in the Roman Oatholic church, she heard the priest declare that no one could be saved but Roman Catholics. The wife shook her head so hard in dissent, that her husband, a bigoted Oatholic, wanted to put her out of the church. The missionary said to her, "I have long wondered why you still go to the Catholic church, since you do not
THE GOSPEL FOB THE DESTITUTE
believe what they teach." To which the woman answered: "I go only because my husband compels me. I will not pray to the Virgin or to pictures. I believe only those can be saved who trust in Christ and serve Him."
The Ohristian churches of America have only begun to make their approaches to this stronghold of Rome in our midst. As the· loyal patriots of our Oivil War cherisht no hatred of those who were fighting for slavery, so we harbor no ill-will toward our Polish brethren. On the contrary, it is because we love "the stranger that dwelIbth with us," that we long to make him free "with the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free," and save both him and our beloved land. Let us be up and doing, and remember that this difficult and important work requires not only self-sacrificing love and overcoming faith, but great wisdom in the study of the people, their language, history, and characteristics, and the careful adaptation of means to accomplish the great end sought, the deliverance of our Polish brethren from the thraldom of Rome, and the winning of them as allies in the greater work of making our whole nation that "happy people whose God is the Lord."
THE GOSPEL 1!'OR THE DESTl'fUE.
THE STORY OF THE NEW YORK CITY MISSION.
BY REY. W. T. ELSING, NEW YORK OITY.
A few weeks ago a New England farmer came to New York on a visit. He had read the accounts of murder, robbery, arson, divorce, suicide, and many other crimes in our sensational newspapers, and lookt upon New York as but little better than Sodom. When he heard that Mr. Moody was holding services in Oooper Union, the man left his farm, and set out for the Metropolis, that he might by his presence encourage Mr. Moody, whom he pitied as a solitary Jonah in onr great modern Nineveh. At the Oooper Union meetings he came in contact with other Ohristian workers, who were carrying on a quiet, but effective warfare against sin. The farmer became interested in city evangelization, and appointed himself a committee of one to visit the various mission stations. I found him in a Christie Street mission, which is conducted by a converted anarchist, who had also been a drunken butcher. The room in which the mission held its meetings had been a low drinking saloon. The pulpit consisted of a stand, on which beer-barrels formerly rested. On the wall were. arranged, in fantastic fashion, pipes, cigar-holders, plugs and bags of tobacco, packs
TIlE" LIGHT IlOVSE MISSION,' JACKSON STEEET, NEW YORK
THE GOSPEL FOR THE DESTITUTE
of cards, daggers, revolvers, and a rosary. "This is the devil's face," Bajd the leader, "and the old fellow's head is fast swelling, for every man who is converted brings his idol to be hung upon the wall." The room was crowded with tramps, drunkards, and anarchists. Some spoke in German, others in English. Some were in rags, workless . and homeless; others were provided with every apparent comfort, but all told the same story. The uplifting power of Jesus Christ had come into their lives, and they had become new men. At the close of the service the farmer said, "I had always heard that New York was a dreadful place, but I have not seen so many good things in all my life as I have found in New York dU);ing the past two weeks. I wish the good people of New York would come out into the country and stir us up a little."
There is no city in the world, except London, where more is being done to point the lost to the Son of God than in New York; to give even a brief summary of its Christian activity, would fill a large volumo/' It is our purpose, in this article, to give, a short account of one of the oldest and most potent agencies at work in the evangelization of New York City, and to say something which may be helpful and stimulating to those who are interested in the religious welfare of our American cities. We are more in need of accurate knowledge of what has actually been accomplisht in city evangelization, than of the elaboration of new schemes and untried theories.
The New York Oity Mission and Tract Society has a history:of seventy years' experience in Christian work among the masses, and even a partial knowledge of that history, on the part of those undertaking similar work in other places, might save both money and time. The City Mission was organized in 1827, on a broad evangelical, but undenominational basis. The original purpose was to promote sound morals and evangelical religion by means of tract distribution and personal visitation of prisons and hospitals. When the Society commenced its work, the city was almost entirely composed of Englishspeaking people. In 1835, the visitors connected with the City Mission distributed over 35,000 English tracts and books, while only 265 foreign publications were called for. The workers were all volunteers, who gave their Sunday afternoons and an occasional day during the week to this work. The entire city was divided into districts, each of which was in charge of a visitor. Over the district visitors was placed a ward superintendent, to whom monthly reports were rendered. Over the ward superintendents there was a general superintendent, to whom the ward superintendents made their reports. This arrangement, now impracticable for New York, would probably be the best way in which to reach every family in the smaller cities of our land. It was soon found that it was impossible to secure efficient work without having a superintendent who could give all his time to oversee and direct the district visitors. In this way arose the offioe of Superintendent of the Oity Missions, a position now so ably filled by Rev. A. F. Schauffier, D. D. It also became necessary to have permanent ward superintendents, these corresponding to the city missionaries of the pre~ent time. The ward missionaries commenced to hold neighborhood prayer-meetings, and, as the congregations grew too large to be accommodated in private houses, halls were rented as fixt meeting places. Experience taught those in charge of the work that permanent places of worship were necessary, and in 1866 the Oity Mission and Tract Society became an incorporated body, which now owns real estate to the value of *450,000. The cottage prayer-meetings have developt into institutional churches, in which from 40 to 50 weekly services are held. Women's organizations have become numerous in recent years, but as early as 1829 the womans' branch of the Oity Mission was formed. The power of this organization lies in the fact that it does not seek to work on independent lines, but is closely connected with the older society. The woman's branch has a separate board of directors, a. separate superintendent and treasurer, but in the practical work of evangelization the two societies have always been one. The spirit of the two bodies is beautifully illustrated by the fact that Mr. Morris K. Jesup is president of the male branch, and his wife president of the woman's branch of the society. Mr. and Mrs. Jesup through their ,;c~l~ perseverance, and generosity have been a great power in city c'lnugelization, one evidence of their interest with neglected masses being their gift of the De Witt Memorial Ohurch. The older society hBs charge of the erection of church buildings occupying new fields, Dud under its care the male missionaries work; while the woman's bmnch employs all the trained nurses and Bible women, who work in connection with the chapels and churches, as well as in the prisons and public institutions on Blackwell's Island and other places. The support of a trained nurse or Bible reader costs from $500 to $600 per year. These women are frequently supported by ladies of wealth. In addition to four commodious church buildings, the Oity Mission has a fine house at 129 East 10th Street, where the B1ible women and nurses find a pleasant home. A training school has been opened for missionaries, and all young women who are added to the missionary force must first spend 8 year in this training institute. At present there are about sixty persons employed by the Oity Mission Society.
Me~dS of work.-The Oity Mission seeks to touch the whole man -body, ind, and soul. It meets the man at every stage of life, from the little ts in the kindergarten to the decrepid old people, unable to enter the ()hurches, but who are sought out in their homes. There is not a need which the Oity Mission does not seek to alleviate, and everyone in distress may find a measure of help and sympathy in the City Mission chllfches. The greatest stress is laid 911 th«;l spiritlllW. work, because sin is at the bottom of most of the evils with which we come in contact. If we can bring people into right relations with God, they soon come into right relations with themselves and their fellow men. When there has been no soul improvement, all outward aid usually goes for nothing. Conversion of men to God is our chief aim and constant endeavor. We preach the Gospel in English, Ger- man, Italian, and Armenian languages, and carryon a successful work for the Chinese and the Jews. We do, however, a great deal of purely social and educational work. It is commonly believed that in the degraded and neglected parts of our cities social and educational work can not be carried on successfully in connection with church buildings. Experience convinces us that this is a mistake. The Jews and Roman Catholics patronize our penny provident banks, our read- ing rooms, libraries, gymnasiums, sewing schools, cooking classes, kindergartens and day nurseries in great numbers. Our social and educational work could not be better conducted in a secular building.
All of our City Mission churches are educational institutions as well as churches. One of these churches has sent out, during the past eight years, three public school, two kindergarten, and three music teachers, three trained nurses, two city missionaries, two foreign mis- sionaries, two ministers, and three physicians. Three young men are also now studying for the ministry. These young people were all converted through the instrumentality of the City Mission, and through the uplifting power of Christ in their lives became desirous to improve themselves, that they may be more helpful to others. All our churches could show similar records. These facts are encourag- ing, when we so frequently hear that the poor are opprest and down-trodden, and that in our day there is no possibility of their rising. "
Tke Government oj the Oity Mission Ol~urches.-Our doctrinal basis is the Apostles' Creed. A few simple rules have been prepared for the government of the churches. The pastor, with a number of workingmen, administer the affairs in each individual church. The greatest freedom is allowed, and the churches are practically self- governing. The executive committee of the City Mission appoints the pastors, but no man is ever placed in charge of a City Mission church who is not acceptable to the people. In case differences arise between the pastor and his official board, and the board attempts to pass measures, which are in the pastor's judgment unwise, he has the veto power, and the matter is then referred for settlement to the executive committee of the City Mission. Mr. Moody has recently criticized the whole system of mission churches, and there is, no doubt, a good deal of wisdom in his words, but if the wealthy churches, who now support mission chapels, were to follow the simple method of this society, there would be no force in his criticism. It is undoubtedly true that the ideal condition is one in which the rich and the poor meet together before their Maker in the same house of prayer, but we do not live in an ideal world, and we must strive to use the means best adapted to existing conditions.
The majority of working people in New York live in a kitchen and two dark bedrooms. They have no facilities for bathing, and in damp weather little opportunity to air their clothing. It would be impos~ sible to keep people who are accustomed to refined surroundings, and who have not au over-abundant supply of missionary ;eal, in churches largely composed of people from the tenement houses. The self~ respecting and better class of working people in one of our City Mis~ sion churches complained when the men in the Bowery lodging-houses, who were ragged and unwasht, began to fill the church, and we felt that they were justified, and made special provision for the lodging~ house men. The working people will be most at home in a church largely composed of their own class. Their churches should have an air of refinement about them, and be adapted for institutional work. A~ absolutely perfect system of ventilation is indispensible. The mission chapels should be manned with an efficient force of workers, and should be practically self-governed. If the church building is provided with ten or twelve Sunday-school class-rooms, each capable of seating fifty scholars, self-denying men and women will be found, who will esteem it an honor to identify themselves with the chapel work as leaders of these important classes.
Rescue Agencies.-There is in the minds of the most degraded people a certain veneration for a building set apart to the worship of God. People will go to a dime museum in their rags and dirt, but very few, who are sober, will enter a place of worship unless they are decently attired. The surroundingslOf even our Oity Mission churches become too refined for those most in need of spiritual quickening. The Oity Mission acted most wisely when, instead of lowering the tone and respectability of its churches, it planted out-stations in the most degraded courts and alleys. We had some most interesting experiences in these out-stations. Our aim was to reach those who would not enter our church buildings, either because they had no clothing, or because there was absolutely.no desire for spiritual things. We devised a system of movable missions. A degraded court was selected, in which forty-six !amiljes resided. We quietly rented two rooms, such as the tenants occupied as living-rooms. We had an understanding with the landlord for what purpose we desired to use the rooms, but there was no advertising whatever. The day before we opened the mission, we sent a wagon-load of chairs and a small organ to the court. The news that a wh01e wagon-load of chairs had been sent to one of the rooms was sufficient to fill every woman's head in the court with interrogation points. "What in the world is coming to this court, a wagon-load of chairs and an organ, but no pots, beds, or washboiler?" The women advertised our coming effectively, and the next day, when we hung up a red sign, decorated with a white rose, on the door, and sent a pretty card of invitation to every woman in the court to come to the "White Rose," the excitement and curiosity was sufficiently great to crowd our rooms to their utmost capacity. We commenced the service with coffee and cake, because no saloon in our neighborhood is ever opened without some free refreshments. One woman, who had left her children upstairs, started to leave when she had dispatched the refreshments, but we asked her to wait a little while we read from" the Good Book." As we began to read, a woman, who was sitting by my side, put her hand on my arm and said: "Look here, Mister, do you think it is right for that woman to blackguard me?" I said, "please do not disturb me until I have finished reading the Bible." I read the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and talkt to them about the two lives, two deaths, and the two eternities of these men. Ohl what a luxury to preach Ohrist to those who have never heard the message of mercy I Soon a death-like stillness fell upon the audience. The big tears ran down the faces of these weary mothers. I finally said, "before we close, I would like to know if any of you women desire to turn over a new leaf? Will any of you start for heaven to-day and try to bring your husband with you? If there are any such, will you raise your hands and we will pray for you." Reverently, but spontaneously, and as if moved by the Spirit of God, every woman raised her hand and we poured out our hearts to God in prayer. It was a wonderful meeting, and the power of God was present to save. I turned to the woman who had interrupted me and said, "My good woman, what did you want to say to me? " The anger in her face was gone, the tears were running down her cheeks, and with a choking voice she said, "Never mind, I have as bad a tongue in my head as any woman in this house. It was my fault as much as hers." For IPX months our rooms were filled every afternoon with children, and with adults in the evening. At the approach of hot weather we gave up the mission, and urged those who had become interested to attend our church. The next Fall we started in an entirely new locality, and passed through the same experiences. There were stormy times occasionally, the rougher elements frequently seeking to break up the services, but soon the moral sense of the community was with us, and we were left undisturbed. The value of these movable missions lies in the fact that it brings the converts into the church, with which the mission is connected, to be trained in Ohristian life and work. The best place to convert a man or woman is the rescue mission, and the worst place to leave them in permanently after conversion is the rescue mission. The church is the spiritual home of converted men and women, and the great defect of the Salvation Army and other rescue agencies is that they do not lay more stress in transplanting their converts into the churches. The great cities of America will be the storm-centers of the future. The Gospel of Christ will be the most potent remedy for the evils which now aftlict us, and the greater evils which may come upon us. The permanent remedy will come not through acts of congress or the legislature, but through the moral and spiritual elevation of the individual. Two years ago I saw a man whose eyes were closed, and whose face was horribly disfigured from cruel blows received in a drunken brawl. His wife and children were about to be evicted. The starving little ones were piteously crying for food. To-day this man is a volunteer care-taker in the infant class of one of our large City Mission schools. He came to me just before tl;te presidential election, his face beaming with honest pride and pleasure, as he said, "I have been nominated for assemblyman by the Prohibition Party!" Multiply such cases by the thousands, and the red flag will never be flaunted successfully in the faces of American citizens.
The Oross of Ligkt.-A few years ago a poor woman, with breaking heart, was sitting in her desolate rooms on the top floor of a tenement house. Comfort and happiness, and a home which she once owned had all been destroyed through drink. She said to her husband, "George, I hope I will be dead next Christmas, because when Christmas comes, and everybody is happy, you will make my life doubly wretched by your drunken conduct." He uttered a curse, slammed the door, and left her. She said, "Why should I wait till next Christmas, I can be out of all my trouble to-night, and I can bear it no longer." She went to the window, raised the sash, and was about to throw herself on the stone pavement five stories below, when suddenly her eyes' caught sight of a fiery cross, and she gave a shriek, "What is that, look, children, look!" The woman and her children gazed in wonder upon the cross of fire, and then called to their neighbors. The neighbors said, " Oh, that is nothing, that is only the cross on the top of the City Mission church. They are holding their Christmas festival, and they have lighted the cross." "Oh, no," said the woman, "that cross is the vision and voice of God to me. I was about to do an awful thing, and that cross stopt me." The symbol of redeeming love stood for an hour against the dark outline of the sky and vanisht, but hope did not die out in the woman's heart. She was present at the City Mission church on the following Sunday. She began to pray for her husband, and he also was converted. The saving power of the cross of Christ must be made known to all who are ready to perish in the dark places of our great city; in this blessed work the New York City Mission and Tract Society has been successfully engaged for seventy years.
"TlIBSE FROli THE LAND OF SINIlI." 18S
"THESE FROM THE LAND OF SINIM."
WORK AMONG THE CHINESE IN NEW YORK.
BY MISS CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS HALL, NEW YORK.
CHRISTIAN work for the Chinese in America. is unique. The young meu come from the opposite side of the world. They are opposite to -1lB also in customs and in manner of thought, so that even the Chinese idea has to be transposed before it is translated into our language. Methods to suit their need must therefore be opposite in many re- spects to those used in other missionary work in this country, and even methods usually successful in China do not always avail for the Chinese in America; and further, in San Francisco different circumstances require different methods from those in use in New York City. To look at Orientals and oriental work from an occidental point of view is usually to see the reverse of what is true. Hence the many adverse statements which Christian workers know to be false. To any thus misinformed, and in the spirit of Nathaniel would ask: "Can any good thing come out of China?" the reply is, as Philip's was, "Come and S88."
We see ~rst a stronghold for God; a stronghold for Satan. This characteristic of Greater New York marks its Chinese population. The righteousness of its two hundred or more communicants in evan- gelical churches is in contrast to their heathen kinsmen. It is said that – China has no darker spot than Chinatown in New York.
There are about five hundred Chinese Sunday-school scholars, prin- cipally laundrymen, who form a distinct class among the many grades in New York and vicinity. "Come and s8e" a Chinese Sunday-school in session. A Chinese prayer-meeting, attended by all the scholars, is held half an hour before the opening of school. This prepares the Christians to lead in evangelistic meetings, and brin&,s the Gospel to those who can not yet understand it in English.
"I see a number of the teachers are women," you say. "I do not approve of women teaching the Chinese," and add, with a smile, "I would not mind having an attractive woman teach me."
Truly, an American man's view of it, applicable, doubtless, to his own but not the Mongolian race. The little Chinese boy is taught reverence to mother as well as to father, and the village school-teacher in China is a highly respected man of authority. It is a sorry day fol' the boy if he disobeys, for when he gets home his parents punish him again. Thus early taught diligence and respect at home and school in .China, we find him a deferential, appreciative scholar in the Sunday- school here. I do not believe a Chinese ever acted in other than a proper and courteo~s manner to his lady teacher. You see most of the teachers have one scholar, and ask, "Why this waste of time on one man?" Experience has shown it the best method, especially with beginners. Given: Several Ohinese, kinsmen, of about the same age, ability, knowledge of Ohinese and English, willing to set aside the custom of other Ohinese Sunday-schools and be taught together. Given: A teacher of such tact as to hold the reins of instruction so that all the scholars keep pace and mutually increase progress, then the results may be satisfactory. There are several such classes.
Yonder see that Ohinese group. The older man, a typical Ohristian, his face aglow, his suited gesture, his rapid words in the mother tongue, show his earnestness. The younger men follow every motion, listen absorbed; now and then ask a question; he answers, glances around to see if all understood, and continues. The teacher who taught him is teaching that circle of Ohinese through him. Was it waste of time? It is evident that one scholar, having the whole attention of the teacher, must make better progress. ~'he teacher is a Ohristian friend that makes their hardworking lives more endurable; one to whom they turn for comfort in their sorrow, and sympathy in their joy.
An earnest young scholar profest his faith and was baptized. He was the first of the nineteen converts whom Dr. John Hall has since received into the church. This young Ohinaman was soon after called home by his mother's illness. After some years stay he returned. He had so faithfully taught and lived the religion of Jesus that his whole family became Ohristians. Our Ohristians in Ohina have a cemetery of their own. All the vast province of Kwangtung, from whence all the Ohinese come, is being permeated with Ohristianity. The young men, as they visit Ohina and return, tell of the wonderful changes the Jesus religion is making in their native villages. Truly one, even" a little one," prayerfully taught, becomes in time" a thousand." Is it waste of time to teach that one for God?
"Come and see." Oome nearer. Hear what is being taught. Here is a beginner learning A, B, O. "Ah! all that these Ohinese come for is to learn English!" you exclaim. That is the reason, doubtless, that attracts most of the Ohinese, at first. They know that their success here largely depends on acquiring the language. If any are so kind as to teach them, why shouldn't they come? But, I never knew an instance where, if the teaching continued, the prayerful teacher failed to bring that scholar to Ohrist. That one man saved, offsets all the failure, is worth all the energy and expense put into the work.
There came to Sunday-school a middle-aged Ohinese, with so sad a countenance that it occasioned remark. He had large, deep Bet eyes, fine forehead and evidently a refined nature. Tenaciously he held to the religion of his ancestors. He despised our religion. The very name of Jesus was hateful to him. In his laundry he never allowed it to be spoken in his presence. In vain his cousins had urged him to come to Chinese Sunday-school. One day his brother came from St. Louis, where he had been a regu!ar attendant in Chinese Sundayschool. "See," they said, "your brother he read, he write English, you older, you know nothing!"
Then he made up his mind that he would go and learn English. A new teacher came that Sabbath, and he became her scholar. With contempt he pusht the Bible away, but eagerly poured over the alphabet. There had been a fall of snow, she called his attention to its whiteness and purity, and made him understand that our God, for Jesus' sake, could make our souls "whiter than snow." When the man heard that, he bowed his head, and seemed to think deeply. He was so earnest to learn English, that she invited him to come to her home and study on Monday afternoons. She was a young woman of rare tact and deep spirituality. Long before he could read English, he was reading this "living Epistle of Christ." After a time, he reacht for a Bible and askt to read it, then he would read no other book. "Small words in Bible," he said. Now, he came, that through English, he might learn the Way of Life. The arrogant Confucianist became humble as a little child, at the feet of Jesus, and after two years of further study, he was received into the Ohurch. At that solemn service we sang his favorite hymn, " Whiter than Snow." Many spoke of his radiant face, not at all like the man who came that snowy day, to learn English. Knowing how timid he was, his cousins asked him, if he was not afraid to stand so long before so many. "No," he answered emphatically, "I not afraid, I stand up for Jesus one whole hour. In my heart I say, 'fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God!' " For several years the illumined face of that transformed man has been shining in his Ohinese !wme.
At another table the scholar is memorizing the Lord's Prayer. He points to the words, "Our Father." "What that mean?" His teacher, an elegant man of wide culture, explains. Still the cloud of mystery rests on the Chinese face. Suddenly there is a rift in the cloud. "My Fader, and your Fader?" "Yes." It is too wonderful, again he asks, "God your Fader and God my Fader, too?" "Yes." A burst of soul-light radiates from every feature, he has graspt the revelation. The Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of Man.
"Yes," you say, as the session closes, "it is very interesting, but do these Chinese really become Christians?" "By their fruits ye shall know them." When a man loves his enemies, prays for those who persecute him, denies himself that he may help the more needy; when his upright, industrious life is in harmony with what he professes, when the calm, genial face tells of the love, joy, and peace within, we say, that man is a Christian indeed. Such are our Chinese com-, municants. Of all Christians, I know of none under such strict sur- veillance-:-from friend and foe as they, and none better stand the test.
" But," says one, "does not hope of gain influence them to join the Church?" It may, in some instances, but it is the exception. The Christians find much to bear; much to give of time, energy, and means. They bear and give rejoicingly for Jesus' sake. Most of them have regularly attended, at the same time, schools of different deuomi- nations, and circumstances have led to their choice. No ancient wall of Church differences divides these workers, but Christ is all and in all.
Let their works show the reality of their faith. The Okinese Ohristian Union has met monthly for years, holding evangelistic services in each school in turn. The power of the Holy Spirit has manifestly been with them, and much good done, which only such zealous Christians could do. Their headquarters is at 8 Pell Street. Mr. Gong Yu is their newly elected president.
The Evangelical Band, composed of about thirty young Chinese, of different denominations, does aggressive work in Chmatown. They rent rooms at 8 Pell Street. With the help of Mrs. Blanchard and other Christian friends, they have a Sabbath-school every Sabbath evening at eight o'clock; at nine thirty they hold a Chinese Gospel- meeting. Mauy who would otherwise know nothing of Christ, are attracted, in the first instance, by curiosity to hear the singing or to learn English. This is the nucleus of the Chinese Union Church.
Already they have raised five hundred dollars toward the building fund. Mr. K. F. Pang is now president. 0/ the Methodist Ohurch The· Okinese Young Men's .Association found that comparatively few of their people m the city had the Word of God in their own language. They have, therefore, personally dis- tributed seven hundred and thirty-five Chinese New Testaments, and their work continues. Their headquarters, and those of the M. E.
Chinese Mission, are at 150 Fifth Avenue, in the M. E. Mission Board rooms (2.30 P. M. every Sabbath). Rev. Dr. S. L. Baldwin and Miss M. A. Lathbury are their efficient friends. Mr. C. Soule Bok, now a law student, is their able and spiritual leader and interpreter.
The Ohinese Ymtng Men's .Association of St. Bartholomew Guild, of the Episcopal Church, meets at 23 St. Mark's Place every Sabbath at six o'clock. Two Sabbath services, afternoon and eve:Q.ing, and Monday evening school, are held. The Guild has between two and three hundred members. Of one member, Mr. Lee Lea, recently returned to China, they hear that he devotes all his time to travel- ing from village tO,village, preaching the Gospel. Mr. Guy Maine, at whose eloquent appeal in behalf of the temporal and spiritual needs of his people the Guild was founded, has returned from China, and resumed hIS place as superintendent. He is planning a Chinese cam- paign in Chinatown. The Baptists are foremost in zeal. They have had large and power- ful Christian Associations, and done much missionary service. Mr. Fung Yuk Mow is the leader of the Morning Star Mission, founded by Miss Helen F. Clark, at 17 Doyer Street, and Mis. E. C. Potter, secretary. The Christian Sunday-school of the Calvary Baptist Chinese Sunday-school has united forces with them, and they hold the school there every Sabbath evening. The Tabernacle :Baptist Chinese Sunday-school, Second Avenue and 10th Street, under Dr. W. H. Bell, have long done faithful work.
The Ohinese of the Three OongregationalOhurches unite in sup- porting three missionaries in Ohina. The Rev. Sydney L. Gulick, now on the field, imprest his own spirit," rabid for missions," upon the Broadway Tabemacle Chinese Sunday-school, which he founded (Broadway and 34th Street, 2.30 P.M., Sabbath). The Superintendent, Dr. C. E. Bruce, 456 Lexington Avenue, is one of the "Beloved Physicians," to whom the Ohiuese are deeply grateful. Mr. K. F. Pang is the genial interpreter. The Ohinese Sunday-school of Dr. Behrend's Church, in Brooklyn, is one of this missionary trio.
Besides these, they send one of their own number as missionary. Mr. Yung Park, a member of the Pilgrim Oongregational Church, (121st Street and Madison Avenue, 2.30 P.M., Sabbath, of which :Rev. Dr. Virgin is pastor, aud Mrs. E. R. Solomon, superintendent). Mr. Young Park is an orator by nature, a deeply spiritual man, who, by thTehegrOacheinoesfeGModismsiuosntaarycc.oAmsspolcisiahtimonuc0h/. the Presbyterian Mission, superintendent Rev. Ruie Kin, 14 Umversity Place, have raised *2,000 (gold), to bnild a church that is to be self-supporting at San Ning City, China. They also regularly support two day-schools in that vicinity.·'l.These are Sabbath-schools on the Lord's day, and centers of influence. In the schools there are fort,-two boys and eighteen little girls. The fact that the girls have the :prIvilege of education, and are taught in the same room with the boys, IS eloquent tribute to the influence of the Christians of the Ohinese Sunday-school here, on the aucient customs of Ohina. There is a :prosperous and most interesting day-school for Chinese boys at 14 Umversity Place, thirty of whom came from Ohina last summer. When the Ohristians were askt to help rent a summer home for these boys, the 14th Street and 2nd Avenue Presbyterian Chinese Sunday-school, (2.30 P.M.), where Mrs. Reath has labored so long, and is so beloved, and the Chinese Sunday-school of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Mr. William Campbell, Superintendent, (7.15-9 P.M., at 9 East 59th Street), responded generously, and took much interest in these young kinsmen. 'fhe Presbyterian Chinese Mission has also a large school at 53 5th Avenue (2.30 P.M., Sabbath), and a Monday evening school at 14 University Piace. When the Rev. Mr. Ruie Kin was in China last summer, he was called upon to visit the homes and baptize the mothers, wives, children of those whom he had converted in America, and who had brought the Gospel home.
The Okinese Evangelist, a Chinese and English Christian monthly, ably edited by Mr. J. S. Happer and Mr. Guy Maine, of Canton, China, did effective work for three years – arousing interest, organizing Sunday-schools, etc. Mr. Yung Kwai (1327 Fifth Ave.), a scholarly, ChristIan Chinese, edits the New York Ohinese News, which exerts a wide influence for Christianity.
These and other Chinese Christian Associations show something of the results of the Chinese Sunday-school work. With the united effort of about forty Sunday-schools, however, only about one-twentieth of the Chinese population is reacht. From every school the cry goes forth-tell it again and again, untiloSome one hears and responds, "Oh for teachers! More teachers!" Nine thousand five hundred heathens
POLTGAlIlOUS APPLIOANTS
at our door, waiting to be taught the way to heaven. The red signs of the laundries cry out, as we pass, "Oh for schools! More schools! " Who can estimate the value of a soul saved! A Ohinese soul saved here, means the salvation of many yonder, the beginning of the undermining of the" Gibraltar of heathenism." Oh, that God would speak, and listening souls reply, "Here am I, send me."
POLYGAMOUS APPPIOANTS.-II.* WHAT MISSIONARmS THINK SHOULD BE DONE WITH THEM.
BY REV. DANIEL L. GIFFORD, SEOUL, KOREA.
REPLIES RECOMMENDING ADMISSION OR FAVORING LENIENCY.
Ohina.-Rev. Paul D. Bergen (N. Presbyterian), of Chinan-fu, thinks that "we have no right to make a man put away his extra wives. It is gross injustice to those put away, and also to the children, and also to the man, because all entered into the compact innocently. We have no mission rule, but I think without exception we would take what seemed a Christian man into the Church and let him keep his wives. Same in regard to wives who ought to continue to live with their husband."
Rev. Y. K. Yen (a native Chinese of the American Church Mission, Shanghai), says: My own opinion is that a polygamist ought not to be excluded, because: (1) He married in ignorance of Gospel law. (2) Concubinage is legal, and she married him in good faith. To be put away would be cruel to her, especially if she has children, which generally is the case. (8) If put away, she would have no home to go to, and thus be exposed to great perils. (4) During the infancy of the Church she ought not to have burdens greater than she could bear. .. God will have mercy." I need not add that no convert could marry a concubine. I have had such in my church and they have been forbidden Holy Communion.
Rev. Timothy Richard (formerly of Eng. Baptist Mission, but now connected with the" Society for Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese "), Shanghai.
(1) Never heard of such a practise in China as a •• perpetual catechumen" in regard to any subject. (2) Would allow a man with plural wives to enter the *We regret our inability to print the whole of this important discussion In one or even two Issues. The subject is one which can only be thoroughly understood and~ intelligently dlscust in all its aspects by one who has resided for years among polygamous people, who are being brought by slow stages from the darkness of heathenism Into the true light of the Gospel. Hence it is of especial importance to consider In detan the opinions of misSionaries, who have studi~ the question for many years on the lIeld.-EDlToB. Church, .1 but not to hold any office." (3) In answer to the question whether sUch a man should be required to put away all but one wife, he replies: .. No, no. Unless the extra wife or wives are willing for the nell" arrangement and proper compenaation be rendered to them and their children; otherwise compul- sory divorce would be cruel injustice and, of course, contrary to the whole tenor of scripture." (4) Receive her also into the Church on the same condition as No.2. My opinion coincides with the general practise of our mission.
Rev. A. G. Jones (Eng. Baptist), Choup'ing, says, that their mis- sion baptizes polygamists; but meets very little of it and has had only a few cases. The converts may "retain their 'ch'ieh' (concu- bines), and must support their children, but cau not take or hold office in the Church outside of their own congregation."
D. B. McOartee, M. D. (N. Presbyterian, of Tokyo,Japan, but for- merly of Ning-po, China), narrates an experience with such a man, in China, some forty years ago. While stationed at Ning-po, he made the acquaintance in a shop, of a Chinese gentleman, of the name of Kun. In a subsequent interview at the doctor's house, he gave him a Bible and some tracts. Ten years later they met again. Mr. Kun had become an applicant for baptism. Dr. NcCartee says: We found on conversing with him that he had carefully studied both the Old and New Testaments, and showed such evidence of acquaintance with the plan of salvation and of his having taken Christ as his Savior, and of his endeavor to do whatsoever He had commanded, that after a suitable length of time, the session of the Yu·yao Church (some forty miles from Ning-po) wisht that he might 'be received into their church by baptism. But we then for the first time learned that some years before having reacht the age of forty-five or thereabouts, and his wife not having born him a child, he had taken to himself a second wife (or concubine). . • . Mr. Kun's concubine had borne him a son, and Mr. Kun had no idea that he had done anything contrary to the rules and requirements of the Christian religion, but supposed that he was following the example of Abraham, the father of the faithful and of other Old Testament saints. The mission was for some time uncertain as to the proper course to be followed. My own view was that Mr. Kun had acted in good faith according to the laws and customs of his own country, and with no intention or consciousness of disobeying any of the commands of Christ. He could not legally put away his wilt! without cause and to make him put away his second wife, for no fault of her own, would not only be inflicting a penalty upon her which she had not merited, but would separate a mother from her own child, which would be cruelty. The matter was finally settled in that way. The church were advised that altho anyone who had been admitted into church fellowship, if he afterwards took another wife (or a concubine) while his first wife was still living, should be cut off from communion, two wrongs would not make one right, and that Mr. Kun should not be required to send away his second wife. And 80 the church acted and admitted him to baptism.
Rev. H. H. Lowry (Methodist North) Peking, doubts whether any rule can be laid down to cover all cases. Each case should be settled on its merits. Should not hesitate to receive such a man if otherwise perfectly satisfied with his sincerity. If one wife can be put away and supported without hardship to herself, he should insist on it. But nearly always it is the second wife who has the children, and is probably the favored one. In that case he sees no reason why the other could not be comfortably provided for by the husband. Of course, such a man should never be given office in the Church; and thinks the man must support both wives and the children. WouId receive the female applicant in such relations. It is a relation into which she entered without her consent, or perhaps any thought of wrong. Speaking of the actions of "Synods or Oouncils, etc., in the home land," he says, "They simply can not appreciate the situation. It is easy to formulate a very clear theoretical course of action, but in practise we find difficulties that they can not understand at home."
Rev. J. (J. Gibson (Eng. Presbyterian), Swatow.
The practise in our mission, • . . both here and in Amoy is to refuse baptism to men who have more wives than one. We have kept them in the posi. tion of unbaptized worshipers. . • . As to the wives in such cases, I do not remember that the matter of their being baptized or not has ever come before us. My impression is that if it did, we should receive them if otherwise suitable. • . • Oases of this kind have not been numerous with us. The people among whom we work are for the most part a poor farming class, and in the cities our membership is comparatively limited. Among the agricultural and small trader class the practise of polygamy is rare. . . • If the cases were more frequent, I think we should all feel it to be necessary to give the matter more thorough con· sideration than we have done, very probably with the result of a change in our practise. • . . I think we [in this mission] all occupy much the same position of provisional assent to the present practise, with a feeling that it may require reconsideration.
Of course, it is to be assumed, that the taking of a second wife by a church member would be treated as matter for discipline. . . . Should he be required to put away all but one wife? • . . (1) As Ohristian teachers we can not admit that the man has a right to dispose of the women without their own con· sent, and in cases where they did not consent, what could be done? I am quite clear that the man is bound to provide for these women for life. If he is to put them away he must do either of two things; (a) He may give them a separate establishment, and provide for their maintenance, while remaining himself quite apart from them. In this case they would remain under his control, and however good his intentions might be, no one who knows the Ohinese would think that to be a safe permanent arrangement. • • . Or (b) he may arrange marriages for all but one of his wives. . . • Here there are many difficulties. As a Chris· tian must he not seek Ohristian husbands for the wives whom he is marrying out? On the other hand, would we feel free to recommend these women as wives to Ohristian men who are not yet trammeled? Would they not do much better to take for their wives women who have not gone through any such painful experi· ence? Also will it be possible for him in all cases to find suitable husbands for these women? . . • Again, he has put himself into a very close relation, rightly or wrongly, to these women; has he a right, as himself a saved man, to put them once for all beyond his own influence and give up all opportunity of leading them to the Savior? . . • I can not think that it is in the spirit of the Gospel to outca3t in this way these women, who by no fault of their own, prob· ably without their consent having been askt, have been put by this man in the days of his ignorance into this falae position.
Now as to which wife he is to choose [in case he puts away all but one]. . • . He has absolutely no right to put away his first and legal wife. • • . To my mind the putting her away, with no fault alleged against her, would far more disqualify him from receiving Christian baptism than would the possession of two or more wives. . . • But may he retain her, and put away the others? If the other wives have no children, if they are willing to go, and if he finds a suitable Christian marriage for them which is acceptable to them, then I think he may put them away. But is it likely that these conditions could be carried out? I think not. From what I have said it seems clear that it is not open to him simply to divorce any of his wives. To do so would be adding sin to sin, and the lin is the more grievous that he is now a Christian man.
The existence of children still further complicates the situation. Whether they are the children of the first wife or of the others, he is their father, and their claim on him. not merely for support, but for a Christian training, is not affected by the sinfulness of his relation to his secondary wives. In many cases the chilo dren are likely to be the children of the secondary wife or wives, because the reason for taking a second wife very often is that there are no children by the first. For this reason the retaining of the first wife and the putting away of all the others will raise at once the very difficult question of the rights of the chilo dren. Are they to follow the father? Then they will be separated from their own mother. Are they to follow the mother? Then they will be separated from their own father, and moreover the father is by supposition a Christian, while the mother may not be. On the other hand, where ODe man has several wives, the mother of each child has a stronger claim to the possession of it than the father, who by taking several wives, has made a Christian home and the con. cllDtrated exercise of parentiallove impossible. In short, when there are children, there is no possible extrication of the situation by the rough and ready method of putting away.
Whatever the solution to be adopted may be, it seems to me that we are shut up to contemplate as unavoidable the continuance of the old relationship. It was. a wrong relationship at first, and the man sinned in entering upon it ; it is a wrong relationship still, its moral character being unaltered by the lapse of time. But the wrong done is in its nature permanent in its results. It is not a wrong which can be righted by an act of repentance and reformation. To change the status now would only be a fresh act of sin. The penitence must be that of the heart, but the wrong done can not now be put right.
If this be so, what attitude is the Church to assume? Is a man in this posi· tion to be baptized or not? . . . If a case came before us in which the Chris· tian character of the man was very plainly that of a renewed man, . . . I think I should feel inclined to admit them to baptism. But there are reasons of weight for refusing baptism. The church is in its formative stage; . . . their admission may tend to lower the tone of spiritual morality which we wish to keep as high as possible. You may fairly say to such a man that by refusing baptism you do not imperil his salvation, and that for the sake of warning, and for the common good of the whole Church you feel bonnd to keep him at the door. After a time, when the Church has made some growth and its moral tone is better establisht, it might become sa.fer to risk the a.dmission of such men. But at an early stage one such man might by his infiuence do a world of harm to the spiritual tone of the Church. . . .
On the other hand, it seems to be very much in the spirit of the Gospel, and ~n a~ord!nC(l witl!- apostolic practise, to ~mit iAto tbe Cburch verr imperfect elements, trusting to the working of the spiritual life present in it to eliminate the elements of evil. So slavery was dealt with. There must have been not a few slave-owners in the early Church. And one can not help feeling, that 1 Tim. 8: 2 distinctly hints that there were in the early Church some that had more wives than one. If a man is kept out of the outward church because of his having more than one wife, many dangers may arise in his family life. He worships under a stigma that lowers his self-l'el!pect. His wives and children may very likely feel it so much as to be deterred thereby from coming to worship at all. If, on the other hand, his wives and children should follow him in making a Christian profession, and are baptized while he is not, the man will feel that an injustice is done him by which his rightful influence as a Christian man over his own household is greatly weakened, just at the time when he has begun to desire to use it for good.
The one condition that I would impose would be the one suggested by 1 Tim. 8:2, that he should not be appointed to hold any office in the Church. I would explain the principles acted upon to the man himself, to his family, and to the congregation, protest against the wrong done, so that the Church's attitude may be unmistakable, and then in the exercise of the charity which believeth all things I would baptize him.
Rev. J. R. Goddard (Am. Baptist), Ning-po, believes that when such a man applies for admission, if he gives good evidence of conversion, he should be received. If he can put away all but the first wife without injustice, should be encouraged to do so. But having married them legally, while a heathen, it would be doi1ig a wrong and injustice to put them away against their consent, or without making adequate provision for their needs. If they have children it would bring a stain against their legitimacy. He would, therefore, fully explain to such a man, and also to the native church, the Bible doctrine of marriage, and as the lesser of two evils, would receive him to church membership with his plural wives.
Rev. J. Wherry (Am. Presbyterian), Peking, says neither the Presbytery of Peking nor Synod of China have a rule on the subject. He knows of three cases: In one case the man put away one of the women and subsequently was elected an elder; the other two were admitted, keeping their wives.
(1.) Inclined to think he would admit a man who had taken two wives in days of ignorance, if truly regenerate.
(2.) The only condition he would require in admitting is that the man satisfy his Conscience in retaining or putting away one of the wives. Still, if young, and second wife had no children, and could be restored to her father's household, or put in some safe retreat, might advise to put away if it could be done with her consent and quietly.
(3.) If he wishes to put away and can peaceably, should as a rule retai.n the first wife. If the second wife only has children, and the first wife ill willing and has a suitable home to go to, it might be wise for her to separate from her hus- … band. Wives Bent away should be supported or divorced only with their own consent freely given. "Whether the first wife should, even with her own consent, be absolutely divorced would, in my opinion, depend to a certain extent on the nature of the marriage contract and the circumstances connected with it, and the laws of the country under which the m.an lives." The divorced woman, if she 80 desires, should retain the children. He believes in admitting a female candidate in such relations. He believes that a weighty principle bearing ilpon this question is, "The right of every true believer in Christ to baptism."
Rev. J. L. Stuart (S. Presbyterian), Hangchow:- I would say that if he recognizes the sin and would like to restore what he has taken unlawfully, but can not do 8Owithout injury to others,let him be baptized.
Let him understand, however, that he should make all amends that are possible: 6. g. living apart if the woman be willing. Invariably the first wife should be retained as the only legal wife. • He should see that they are supported, or that they or their families can support them. She may marry another man. The children always belong to the father. The female applicant, if a concubine, may be baptized when the man, who is practically owner and master, refuses to give her up. I put her in the same category with minors, ser.
vants, slaves, apprentices, etc.; persons who are bound to others and can not act freely. Always try to change the relation when it is not in accord with the prin.
ciples of the Bible, but when this can not be done without violating some other Bible principle, let it stand, and treat the person bound by it as not a free agent and not morally responsible in that particular respect. Receive him on condition that when he becomes free he or she will use his or her freedom and conform to the law of God. The Gospel teaches men to do right, but not right in one direc- tion at the expense of right in another direction.
Rev. R. Lechler (Basel Mission), Hongkong, sends a copy of their church rules in Chinese. Commenting upon these, he remarks: He should not be required to put away all his wives but one unless he sees his way plain that no injustice nor injury be done to the innocent. • The first wife must be retained in China, otherwise his social standing would be ruined.
Of the second wives, he can retain those who have bome children; mere concu~ bines should not come into consideration. . The wives sent away must be supported by the former husband if they can not find a new husband. The children, at least all boys, go to the father by Chinese right. I had a case in Hongkong where the second wife of a heathen husband was converted.
The husband did not wish to part with her, but allowed her free exercise of the Christian religion. So I baptized the woman and had no occasion to regret it.
Dr. Ashmore. in the Ohinese Recorder of 1883, related an incident which was as follows: "An applicant had two wives, and was told that he must put one away.
Which one? The one last married. But the first wife had no children, while the second had several. Was the mother to be separated from her children? The discarded wife said to the missionary, 'Teacher, he is my husband; I am his wife. You say that he ought not to have taken me, but he did take me before he knew your new religion. He is the father of my children. I have a right to look to him for companionship and for protection. You make my children illegiti.
mate. You should not do that. You have no right to injure my children that way. You have no right to put me in the position of a disreputable woman, for he lawfully married me according to the usage of China. I had a husband; now I have no husband. I had a home; now I have no home. If I go and marry another man I shall break the law. I had one to whom I could go as the father of my children; now I can go to my children'S father no longer, nor may I dare to speak to him.' " When a man marries a second wife after he became a church member the course of a miSSionary is plain. But when Christianity finds a man living according to the custom of the country and the sanction of its laws with two or more wives, can not he be accepted under protest rather than do irremediable injustice and injury to the innocent?
Rev. James Oarson (Irish Presbyterian), Moukden:- This question came up and was discusst and settled by us as a Presbytery [Manchuria] a few years ago. We decided that the fact of a Chinaman having two wins should not be a bar to his receiving baptism; moreover, that he should not be required to repudiate or put away either, but at the same time that he should not be eligible for any office in the church. Of course it is not permitted under any circumstances for a man, once he becomes a member, to take to himself a secondary wife or concubine. It was my painful duty last year to excommunicate a man for this grave offense against the law of the church. He persisted in contracting the second marriage, altho he knew that he was infringing the said law and knew the consequences that it would entail. The members at the station (Fa Kuh Men) entirely approved of my action. . . . I remember we felt, when the question was under discussion, that a great wrong would be done to the unoffending wife if she were to be divorced from her husband, inasmuch as the marriage was contracted during the days of his ignorance. What would become of the divorced wife? What would be her status in native society, and how would the outside heathen world regard the action of the Christian church in thus separating husband and wife? By tolerating the evil under the above limitations we believe we are acting in the spirit of the Gospel, that the relationship may be sanctified and the whole household saved.
Rev. John Macintyre (United Presbyterian Church of Scotland), New-chwang:- We did not make a clean start. There were no women in those days to tell us who was who in the family, and some were baptized who would not have been if we had known all. . Thus I have been gradually educated into the belief that after all it is better in China to baptize as we now do, with the proviso that no fresh relationships be entered into, and that none compromised by the question of concubinage should ever, under any circumstances, hold office in the church. I have a friend in Sonth Africa who has had rare success among the .
Kaffirs. He has one rule: "Break up the pack; scatter the conCUbines." His story is a thrilling one. But I could not follow him. A glance into the story of Hagar is enough for me. I would leave them aU out of the church together or accept them together. . .
Rev. John Ross (United Presbyterian Church of Scotland), Moukden:- A few years ago the United Mission in Manchuria had the matter before them for final settlement. It was unanimously agreed that on account of the conditions of family life in China a man proved to be otherwise conducting himself as a believer should, could be baptized, tho he had a plurality of wives, but that he be not eligible for any office in the church; and that one of several wives be similarly admitted into the church. But that any member taking a second wife while his first was living would at once be put out of the church. This law has had to be enforced in the cases of three useful men who became inveigled into this forbidden relationship. We always consult our senior Christians in regard to every measure connected with church life, and the native eldership in the Presbytery were cordially at one with the Europeans there.
(To be Continued.)
CHRISTIANITY IN THE WES'!' INDIES
OHRISTIANITY IN THE WEST INDIES.
BY REV. DAVID W. BLAND, JAMAICA, W. I.
When we speak of the West Indies, we mean not only the numerous islands of the Oaribbean Sea, but also the colonies of Guiana on the northeast coast of South America. This, together with the diocese of British Honduras, is what constitutes the Ohurch of Eugland Ecclesiastical Province of the West Indies, of which the Bishop of Jamaica is now the Primate.
A study of the map will show this province to be one of vast extent, with a great variety of races and nationalities, and with different forms of government. Throughout the majority of the inhabitants are either of pure or of mixt African blood, freed from slavery a little more than sixty years ago, and speaking more than one European language -Dutch, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Danish, English. Everywhere the pure whites are, numerically, in the minority. There are, also, principally in Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Guiana, large numbers of natives of India and of Ohina, brought hither, since the cessation of slavery, as immigrants indentured to labor on the sugar plantations. To these must further be added the tribes of aboriginal Indians living in the forests of the Guianas, far from these aboard and difficult of acceBB.
Prior to the abolition of slavery, whatever Ohristian work was done in these West Indies was, from the nature of circumstances, very meager. Missionaries labored under tremendous difficulties. The planters with, perhaps, here and there a noble exception, were bitterly opposed to any enlightenment of the negroes, and either absolutely forbade the preaching of the Gospel to them on the plantations, or else placed such restrictions on the missionary as made his work hard and even perilous. And yet his work, hindered as it was, was not fruitless. Many an enslaved one, amid the cruel surroundings of those dark days, found peace and true liberty in the name of Jesus.
In 1834 freedom came in the British colonies, and with it a new era dawned, opening out great opportunities for Ohristian work, which the various Ohristian bodies have not neglected. Everywhere now they are faithfully and earnestly laboring to win these islands for Ohrist.
It is impossible to attempt, here, anything like an adequate account of what is being done in every island and on the mainland. A glance over the field, selecting such portions as may be considered centers of organization and work, must suffice. Everywhere the problems and difficulties, the conditions of life and work, are very similar.
Beginning on the mainland, omitting French Guiana, we find in Dutch Guiana, or Surinam, the Moravians doing an exemplary missionary work. Their labors there, particularly among the bush negroes, have been heroic and full of much worthy, without a doubt, of a place in miracles of missions. It is a matter of deep regret to hear of the financial difficulties threatening to hinder the progress of these zealous brethren here and in other fields, and all friends of missions will be anxious to see them removed. Next in order comes the colony of British Guiana with its three divisions of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo,-a magnificent country of immense resources and full of promise of a bright future. Here Christian activities abound. Among the Portuguese, who form a large section of the po,{>ulation, the Roman Church h88 a considerable mission under the JesUlt Fathers, aided by a body of nuns doing chiefly educational work; and among the general population the Anglican Church~ the Wesleyans, Moravians, and Presbyterians are energetically laboring. The Anglican Church, besides her regular parochial work in towns and villages, has also missions among the aboriginal Indians in the depths of the primeval forests extending to the frontiers of Brazil, among the Ohinese iu Georgetown and on the river settlements, and among the East Indians, or coolies, 88 they are called, scattered through the sugar plantations. This last work, for a lon~ time neglected, is of deep interest, and. by every branch of the Ohurch IS now being recognized as extremely important in its bearings on the evan~elization of India and Ohina. Very many of these people, after theIr terms of indenture are expired, return to the East, and among them often are Ohristian converts bearing the precious seed of Divine Truth, which they have learned in these lands, back to their old heathen homes. There their lives and testimony, as recorded instances witness, are a powerful influence in aiding the spread of Christianity. In Trinidad, the island nearest the mainland, are also considerable numbers of these eastern immigrants, and here, perhaps, the best work done for them in the West Indies is to be seen, the Presbyterians of England taking the foremost place. The bulk of the popUlation are of French and Spanish descent, and are adherents of the Roman Ohurch; but there is good Protestant work being done by the Church of England and other bodies.
The other West Indian islands, with the exception of Puerto Rico, Haiti, Ouba, and Jamaica, fall under two great divisions, formed by numerous small islands and termed the Windward and the Leeward ·Groups. Of the former, Barbados, and of the latter, Antigua, is each the center of considerable Ohristian enterprise. The Spanish island of Puerto Rico may be said to be entirely under Roman influence, altho I believe there is some effort being made from Antigua by the Anglican Ohurch to meet the needs of the small English-speakmg community.
Eastward of Puerto Rico lies the great island of Hispaniola, divided into the two black republics of Santo Domingo and Haiti, the former Spanish, and the latter French-speaking. Romanism is in both repub- lics the prevailing form of Christianity, but in neither has it done much to raise the people morally or intellectually. The degradation of Haiti is very great, the most barbarous practises, even sometimes cannibalism, being said to be prevalent. The Protestant Episcopal Ohurch of America has a mission here under the care of a resident bishop of African descent; and there are also missions of the Wesley- ans and of the Baptists. Passing by Cuba, where, so long as the revolution continues, all efforts of evangelization must be at a standstill, we reach Jamaica, the most beautiful, most prosperous, and most advanced island in the whole archipelago, and the scene of extensive Ohristian labors. There is scarcely a Christian denomination of any importance that has not its representatives in Jamaica; but the largest and most influential are the Baptists, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and the Anglican Church. Everywhere the churches, chapels, mission-stations, and schools of these bodies are to be found; and, from Kingston as a base, Ohristian Endeavor Societies and the Anglican St. Andrew's Oross are spreading their operations. In almost all the towns Young Men's Ohristian Associations are organized..
A noteworthy feature of Ohristian work here is that the whole of the elementary education of the people is lookt after by the churches under a system of government grants, by which, under certain condi- tions, the building and repairing of schoolrooms is assisted, and the Rayment of teachers, graduated by results at inspection, assured. These annual grants amount to about $300,000. This denominational system of education is, however, very unsatisfactory, and is fruitful cause of much lamentable friction between the different Ohristian bodies. There is a fast spreading feeling that the time is come for it to be replaced by a national system.
From this survey of the field, cursory as it has been, it will be gathered that thero are considerable Ohristian forces at work in these West Indies; that there is a variety and mixture of races producing peculiar problems and difficulties; and that the bulk of those among whom the churches labor are the descendants of quondam African slaves. We have now to meet important questions :-what, with all this vast machinery, have been the results? Are the people being elevated morally and intellectually in a manner proportionate to the outJay? Is the Christianity seen in the lives of those to whom the Gospel is being unceasingly and faithfully preacht, and on whose education such large expenditure is made, of a satisfactory type? TakingJamaica as typical of the whole province, we are forced to answer in the nega- tive. There is, undoubtedly, much for which we have to thank God; there are many lives that are consistent, pure, and exemplary, of whom, indeed, it may be said that their conversation is in heaven; but, looking at the mass of our people, results are very disappointing, and there is a wide-spread anxiety concerning the future in the minds of all who desire to see something better than a mere superficial Christianity.
One great evil which Ohristianity has to combat here is the sin of sexual immorality, the fearful prevalence of which is seen in the distressing fact that, for years, official returns of the registration department have given over 60 per cent. of our population as of illegitimate birth. Nor do I think that any other of these Islands can show anything better than this.
Another distressing evil is the presence of gross superstitions, particularly of the dreadful obi, brought from Africa in the old slavedays. The Ohristian teaching of so long years has not yet eradicated this; it still lingers, and is a gigantic hindrance to the growth of a pure Ohristianity.
In an article which appeared a few months ago in one of our leading journals, attention was drawn to these two evils, and, from their presence and that of other things complained of, the conclusion was drawn that the churches in the island are" a failure." This conclusion was extremely unjust, as it omitted to fairly consider the difficulties around the churches in their struggle against these things. With regard to sexual immorality, some kind of legislation is sadly needed to assist the churches' efforts. More than one attempt has been made to obtain this; the evils threatening the whole community from this vice have been pointed out with no uncertain voice, but all without success. This year a letter on this subject, and others of a pressing
THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL IN CUBA
nature, was jointly prepared by nearly all the Protestant bodies, read simultaneously from our pulpits, and distributed among the people. It pointed out the degrading tendencies of this sin, and advised, among otlier things, the building of larger and better homes, in which decency and modesty would be inculcated in the minds of children from their earliest years. It is a sad fact that very many of the homes in which our children are born and bred are so wretched, so saturated with moral corruption, that the wonder is, not that so many fall away from virtue, but that any are able to resist the temptations to immoral lives. And with regard to the superstitions, it must not be forgotten that it takes a long time to completely remove the old ancestral beliefs from the minds of any people. I firmly believe, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, that their hold on our West Indian people is gradually weakening, and that, in the course of time, as the dark ignorance which in many regions yet prevails is removed by education, they will event- ually entirely disappear. But, disappointed as many of us may be, yet we are not discour- aged. In confidence that the long-wished-for results are only tarrying, we still go on preparing the way of the Lord, believing in the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to regenerate all men, waiting for that outpouring of the spirit which, some day, is sure to come, and looking for a time when righteousness and purity will be the character of our people. That happy time may be far in the future; generations, perhaps, will pass away before it comes; meanwhile the Church works on in faith, and prayer, and hope.
THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL IN CUBA. * BY REV. ALBERTO .T. DIAZ, HAVANA, CUBA.
The Roman Catholic Church is largely a political church and in Cuba all politics are settled by the Catholics. When I first returned to Cuba as a citizen of the United States, and began to try to establish an independent church, many Cubans, who were hungering and thirsting for liberty, came to join the church, thinking that by being baptized they would become free American citizens. I explained that this was not so, and the result is that only twenty-seven hundred have been baptized, but they thoroughly understand regeneration.
There are now seventeen hundred members in my little church, and they are spreading their influence all over that island. They visit a certain number of homes in Havana every week, and do missionary work among them. This is the secret of so large a church. Our place of worship was intended for a theater, but has been converted into a church. It seats 3,000, and there is room for 3,000 more seats. We can have no sign outside of the church, as it is against the law. We can not tell openly that we have a church even; it is against the law. So you see all the missionary work is done quietly by the members. I would be put in jail for telling people where the church was located.
I have been in jail six times just for preaching the Gospel, but I am ready to go twenty times more for the same reason. I must tell my people all about the Lord Jesus, as it is in the Bible. I have been • Abridged from an address in the Calvary Baptist Church, Dec. 20, 1896. doing it for years and am not tired yet. At one time the Roman Oatholic Church wanted to make Columbus a saint and canonized him. I went to my church and said: "I know history; I know Columbus discovered Cuba and America, but ought that to make him a saint?" The result was I was taken to jail for preaching against a saint. I was eventually let go because Oolumbus had not yet been canonized.
It is sometimes hard to get a man or woman to accept Jesus Christ as He is represented in the Bible. My father was a doctor. I askt him to read the Bible, but he refused, saying it was an old book; he wanted something newer and more scientific. I took it to the Lord in prayer with my little sister, a child of ten, who finally said: "Why do you worry so about father? I will get him to read the Bible." Sunday came and she found father and said: "Father, will you read just these two or three verses to me? I am in such a hurry and want to know them by heart." He read them, but she kept asking him to repeat them until she knew them thoroughly. She went to school, and returning said to me: "Father has read the Bible, and if you will tell me what verses to get him to read I will have him read them." I markt some, and that night she said again to father: "Father, I am so tired, and I always read my Bible before going to bed. Won't you read it to me to-night? " And so every night he would read to her. One night about 4 o'clock I saw a light in my sister's room, and thinking the child was sick went to see her. The child was sleeping and my father was reading the Bible. I rusht in and kissed him and we knelt down together and he gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Ohrist, and the next time we went to church he was baptized.
We have to be very particular about those we admit to membership, but when they are converted they quit dancing and other harmful habits and never go back to them; if they did, they would be excluded from the church, but we are glad to say that we never have to exclude any. We have persecutions, but we do not mind them, because every time our church is persecuted the membership increases and the old members are more fully consecrated to the Lord; so every time we pray, we say: "Lord, send us persecutions that we may be more faithful disciples of the Master."
The war was not unexpected. When it commenced nearly a thousand members of my church called for a meeting. They said: "You have been preaching to us about our liberty and freedom in Ohrist Jesus and these men are fighting for civil liberty and we, who have been so persecuted, feel we must fight for religious liberty." They are all in one regiment fighting for religious freedom. Ieould take no part in the war myself, so I organized a society, not only for the relief of our men, but for the sick and the wounded, the Spanish as well as the Oubans.
The war has been expected for seventeen years. Ouba has a population of one and a half millions, and Spain taxes them $29,000,000 every year. They tax everything. A doctor has to pay ten or fifteen thousand dollars to complete his education. Nor is that all. After he completes his education he has to pay $300 every year for the privilege of practising. If he has a horse, a tax of $25 is imposed, if a carriage, $50. If he puts a sign outside his door he is taxed 10 cents for each letter that is an inch long, and if the letters are two or three inches long, the tax is from 50 cents to $1.00 each letter. The taxation averages $25 a head for every man, woman, and child. I have from twenty-five to thirty pages of manuscript in my possession, proving the shooting of women and of children from six months to two years of age. I am well posted as to the horrible crimes that the Spaniards are committing every day, and that is why they put me out of the island. I knew too much and talkt too much. We are fond of the United States and would like to deal with her, but if we want to buy a barrel of flour from you, Spain has so arranged it down in Cuba, that it would cost us *24. Spain secures her flour from here and sends it from Europe to Cuba, making us pay *15 a barrel. We 'are allowed to have no trade of our own. A few years ago, if we sent our children to be educated in the United States, the father of that child could hold no official position, for his terrible crime. We have been praying and working to be free in Cuba, as you are in the United States, and we know that God will hear our prayer and will protect and help us as he helpt you. We are alone; we have no Lafayette. We have rung our Liberty Bell, but none has heard, and oh I how we pray they will hear and come to our help. I have been banisht. At four o'clock one morning policemen came to arrest me and my brother. They spent seven hours reading my papers and sermons and everything I had and then wanted to take us to jail. I said: "I have been sitting here very patiently, have not opened my mouth, but I want some breakfast first." The Spanish people are the slowest people you ever met. If you make a business appointment with them they will meet you and say" To-morrow." For instance, I have *20,000 in my hand, the first payment on our church in Cuba, and have been waiting a year to pay it. The man always says" I will sign the paper to-morrow." While we were eating, my brother entertained the policemen; they were our guests, and I wrote a telegram and slipt it under my plate without attracting their notice. My wife took it and sent it, and I was saved by that telegram. For eight days we were kept in jail, unable to read, write, or talk to anybody. After eight days they brought us to trial. I was an American citizen and refused to answer their questions. My brother answered their questions and laughed about it. We were taken back and had the sentence of death read to us, but to this I protested, saying I wanted to hear nothing about it. I knew I was to be executed the next day; I knew everything was ready. A soldier stayed by my bed all the time, every two hours a new one coming. I knelt down and prayed: "Lord, send me an angel and save me if you will." In the middle of the night the angel came. It was one of my church mem- bers who was sent in to keep watch. He askt me what he could do for me. I wrote several telegrams and letters, and he sent them for me. The telegrams were sent to the United States. The next day the jail door was opened.. My brother and I said farewell, and sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again," with tears. It was natural; we were to leave wives and children, but instead of execution we were free. It is always my custom on leaving the jail to go to my church andJ finish the sermon I have been preaching, so this time I went. My people were all very much surprised. The papers had announced that we were to be executed that day, but I said to my people: "Don't be afraid; the same Lord Jesus Christ who opened the jail for Paul and Silas and Peter is the same Lord Jesus who opened the jail for us," and we had a revival lasting until half past one in the morning.
We went home, and the next day two policemen came with an
THE WANING INTEREST IN FORMGN MISSIONS
order from Gen. Weyler that my brother and I and my family should leave Ouba immediately, at SIX o'clock, the time the next steamer left. I said that was too quick. Nevertheless, I signed the paper and commenced to dress. I wanted two or three days to put the work into the hands of the mission board. We had a church, a school, and a cemetery in which were buried 17,000 Catholics, and which brought us five or six thousand dollars a year for the work. I went out and no one knew where I was. I stayed until half past six, after the steamer had sailed, and then came back. I arranged about the property and came here as an exile, but I have been treated better here than in Cubs. Pray for Cuba, and pray for the women who carryon the work of the church, and pray for your humble servant.
THE WANING INTEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS.* BY REV. RICHARD S. STORRS, D.D., BROOKLYN, N. Y.
It would be superfluous to argue for the blessing which comes with foreign missions; for everything which we have as individuals, in the way of character or culture, or of prosperity and happiness, by which we are differentiated from our savage ancestors in the woods and on the seas, has come to us from foreign missions, from the messages of the Gospel carried from Rome to the British Isles, from the subsequent messages sent under Augustine and his monks at the end of the sixth century, to the crude and fighting English people. Every happy home in which there is a Christian influence rests upon foreign missions. Every school in which instruction is truly and effectively given, every seminary of learning of whatever rank, every great university, the great libraries, all these, with all pleasant, happy, social customs, all just laws, prosperity, commerce, industry, power III the world-have come as the effect of foreign missions reaching our ancestors, and building them to a nobler and lovelier manhood than they otherwise could have attained. Every asylum of charity, every institute of beneficence rests upon foreign missions. It IS not the Anglo-Saxon spirit, as we sometimes say, it is not the confluence of life at this center from all peoples of the earth, which constitutes the basis for these great educational, charitable, beneficent institutions and influences. They come from foreign missions. And if we are ever blind to the value and glory of foreign missions it will be the worst example of civic ingratitude in the history of the world. Our just and humane legislation, our courts of justice, our republican institutions, our literatures, so far as they are enlightened and purified and purifying in effect, our hopes for the future, as well as our present prosperity and tranquillity, likewise come from foreign missions. These have been the builder by whom has been erected the entire personal, public, civic, and national development in which we rejoice to-day. And so it is natural that there should be an interest in foreign missions throughout the country-an interest in them not merely, tho primarily and supremely, because they reach individual souls and lead them toward the celestial and • An address delivered at the Interdenominational Rally for Foreign Missions held In Carnegie Hall, New York, on Friday evening, January 15, 1897. Reprinted with some abbreViations from the New York Independent. immortal life ; that would be an impulse to preach in the next village to preach in any neighborhood. Souls are there needing the Gospei as precious as the souls at Benares or Bombay, in Japan or China, or anywhere else.
Now there seems to be a diminution of the intense enthusiasm for foreign missions, which has been a characteristic and a glory in our national thought and life; and it comes, you observe, at the very point where we should expect just the opposite. Our means for promoting foreign missions were never so great as to-day. There have been added to our churches millions of profest Christian converts within the last twenty or thirty years. Wealth was never so abounding as now, in spite of the occasional alternating reverses in commercial affairs. In five years, before 1896, there were produced in America alone, beating all the rest of the world out of sight, nearly one hundred and ninety millions of gold, more than three hundred and seventy millions of silver; the products of manufactures have been immense beyond computation; the harvests of immeasurable abundance and bounty; the commerce of the country has been drawing to it the tribute of the seas from every ocean and every shore, wealth never so great as at this present time, and these millions of Ohristian disciples have their reasonable share of it and of its increase; and it might be expected that they would give more freely than ever before to this sublime' work which God has put partly into their hands. And then the missions themselves have never been so prosperous as they were three or five years ago, until these reductions began to cripple and almost imperil them. And these terrific outrages in the Ottoman Empire, at which we shudder and before which our blood stands still, are only the signs of the power which the Ottoman Government finds in foreign missions-the power to educate, the power to elevate; and ther come from the fear that by the onward working of these foreign mIssions, the Empire itself, the Mohammedan Government, will be overwhelmed or displaced. Missions were never so prosperous as recently; conversions never so frequent; the aggregate of church members in the missions never so great; the instruments for furthering missions within their own bounds-churches, schools, presses, individual labors, never so numerous and powerful as now. Everything has been looking apparently toward greater success soon to come; and yet at this precise point comes in this strange diminution of enthusiasm in our own land and churches for this sublime enterprise of God on the earth.
The question is one that faces us directly and must be answered. To what is this diminution of enthusiasm owing? Well, no doubt, it is owing primarily to the increasingly secularized temper of the Ohurch itself, which does not grasp spiritual things with the old vividness and vigor, which is more imprest by the temporal things which are beautiful and suburb to the sense, but which are transient and passing away. Unquestionably there is such a decline in the spiritual energy and intuition of the Church in this land as in others, and so comes diminution in the revenue of our treasury, a diminution not peculiar to one organization nor perhaps in the same measure to all, but as a general fact, common to all Ohristian denominations. And, for this lowering of the standard of Christian thought and Ohristian impulse and energy there are obvious causes; the increase of wealth in the community is one, and the eagerness for wealth and the power rapidly to acquire it, never equaled before in the history of the world. Then life is more fascinating, more entrancing with the younger and with those in middle age than it used to be. The machinery of life is more complex and intricate, and requires more expenditure of mental and moral force upon it to make it work, than it did in the earlier and simpler day in which we were, most of us, trained. Literature is more fascinating than ever before. 'fhe secular news of all the world comes upon us every day and almost every hour. And the result is that this great, solid, splendid earth pulls us to itself, holds us on the lower levels of aspiration and purpose and from the thought of God and his truth. The Church becomes ornate and sumptuous, but wanting in aggres- sive vigor. It walks in embroidered slippers and not iron-shod. It goes to what it calls its combat, in Sunday-morning dressing-gown and not in mail, and corselet, and battle mantle. It becomes very much like the petrified wood, agate, beautiful to look at, but all the pores of the living wood have been filled with substances foreign to itself, so that you can not melt it nor burn it, it will bring forth no fruit, and it will not ignite, altho beautiful to look upon. Sometimes that seems to me a fair image of the Church in our time, with all its splendor, with all its consciousness of power, but without the power to kindle others or almost to be kindled within itself. So it is that there comes this diminution of enthusiasm for foreign missions; that the ~eat unseen and stupendous things hold us less vigorously and contmuously than do the transient things of the earth to which our earthly nature gravitates.
And then, of course, it is to be recognized that there come in, in this comparatively chilled and torpid state of the Christian mind and life, a multitude of things that have to be met, of calls that have to be answered and which more or less interfere, no doubt, with the former enthusiasm for foreign missions. This great work of home missions -its.treasuries suffer also, and yet to a mind that thinks of the great- ness of the interests involved, it might almost properly take the place for the time of the work of foreign missions. Here we have seventy millions of people on this continent planted on the apex of the earth and reaching with its commerce around the whole globe. The work continually grows on our hands. It is a work of patriotism as well as of Christianity. It is a work that becomes more complex and more costly as it reaches out further-to New Mexico and Alaska-as it reaches different races, colored people, Chinese, Japanese, the Hungarians and Bohemians, and Russian Jews, who pour in such immense numbers into our country. Foreign missions and home missions interlock among us as never before, and we work upon these masses of foreigners that we may affect those from whom they come, to whom they return, and on whom their influence in the interval is exerted.
And then city missions absorb an attention never before given to them, and they do it directly; for the city is the center of the nation and one of the centers of the earth; and one of these great American cities with its enormous heterogeneous population reaching out to touch all lands of the earth through its affiliations with them, is a field for missionary work never surpast, one might almost say never equaled in history. Then there come in all the other institutions- every college, every seminary of learning has a trumpet-shaped mouth, like the mouth of the trumpet in the temple, calling for and receiving gifts all the time, from mites up to millions. Every institute of char- Ity needs help for the sick, for the blind, for the deaf, for those who are in ignorance, and want, and poverty; and the very stones of the streets would cry out against us if we did not meet those demands upon us. So it is that there are multitudes of things which come in before the American Ohristian mind in this comparatively tepid and torpid state of which I have spoken, which distract and arrest its attention and which hinder it from taking hold with the old energy on this sublime work of foreign missions. The foreign missions seem to be in danger of being left to take care simply of what is left after everything else has been attended to; and instead of leading the march of all Ohristian benevolence in a Christian land like this, it seems to be remitted to the rear. Now this is sad; not altogether unnatural, as I have said: and the question for us is what can we do to arrest the tendency and to turn the current again to the nobler direction, in which it moved so steadily and strongly in the earlier times?
One thing we can do is to take our stand by the side of Christ himself when he said, "The field is the world." What a magnificent conception, when he said, "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth!" How they must have paused to know what his direction then would be for the use of that power ? Would he sweep the Roman Empire from the earth ? Would he set back the tides of the Mediterranean and overwhelm Italy ? Would he chastise with his divine vengeance the barbarous and cruel nations and tribes? " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Never person trod the earth who could say that-say it truly, emphatically, without stirring fear in the minds of all who heard him. "All power is given unto me; • • • therefore, go make disciples of all nations." What an extraordinary sequence of precept to declaration I If there were no other point in the work of Christ to mark him divine, that would show the divinity in him, not of power merely, but of wisdom, and tenderness, and love; with God to stand beside him and enter into his conception of a world to be reacht by his truth, renewed, purified, uplifted, glorified, transfigured into the likeness of the heaven come down upon the earth. And until we do that we never can arrest this current from foreign missions toward other things of importance, but not taking their place in the supremacy of their nature and of their effect. And then we need to cherish in our own hearts, everyone of us, the enthusiasm which the early missionaries aud martyrs felt for the Gospel of Christ in its relation to individual souls as well as to communities; the enthusiasm which has been a great power in the Church, out of which came the revivals, now so infrequent and far from being spontaneous; that are now excited, if at all, only or chiefly by the impact of individual minds thoroughly concentrated on those they address. We need to have this euthusiasm in ourselves. It is only fire that kindles fire. It is only life that propagates life. It is only spiritual energy that stirs spiritual energy in other accessible and responsive souls. We need to be "prest in the spirit," as Paul was; or, if any prefer the later reading and rendering, "impelled by the Word," before he went to preach at Corinth; to have these fires burning in our hearts for the salvation of men, and their conversion unto Him who came from the heaven to the earth to uplift and redeem them. We need to feel for ourselves and to impress upon others that sublime part of the plan of God in human history which no man ever saw and graspt without being exalted and dilated in spirit by the vision of it. The plan of a campaign, the long preparation for the adVElnt, the coming and childhood, and work and death of the Divine Master; His glorious ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit-all parts of a plan that contemplates the absolute supremacy of the divine kingdom in the earth. That day when the lion and the lamb will lie down together-predicted, as we think, by the alliance of the lion and the eagle in our own time; that day when holiness shall be inscribed on the bells.of the horses; that day when righteousness and peace shall fill the whole earth-that is the aim and is to be the consummation of God's great plan for the world.
Sometimes there seem to be pauses in its progress; sometimes, perhaps, setbacks to its advance. But all the while, on broad, geueral scale it is moving onward to its climax and ultimate achievement. And when we see that, we know that the power of God is behind us and that we are keeping step with omnipotence when we are working in this sublime a,nd divine cause; and we need to feel and to make others feel what is the relation of this nation of ours, what part it has in this stnpendous work of God for the world. That is the only key to its history-the history of its early colonization by the English and the Dutch-Protestant people-the history of its early salvation from the Spanish and French domination and from the Roman Catholic power which at first seemed destined to overspread the land. That is the key to the successful prosecution of the long and wasting French and Indian war. That is the key to the Revolution, giving us a sepa- rate life, largely derived from and modified by English life, but under our own separate development in our own separate line of direction. That is the key to the providential men that came to us at that time and have come to us at every time when they were needed. That is the key to every event which has occurred in and since the overthrow of slavery in this country, in the tremendous crash of the Civil War.
Men talk of the logic of events. Here is the logic of events. They talk of the Nemesis. Here is the Nemesis in history. Everything which falls in with God's design in the earth is furthered and for- warded and leads on to other and nobler issues, and everything that stands against those plans goes down under their impact, either in silent decay, or in the swift and awful crash of ruin. That is the Nemesis of history. And God is all the while working forward through this and other nations of the earth, to bring about that which is already present to His supreme mind, already embraced in that vision which searches through the eternity. And then we are to remember that we are living in the dispensa- tion of the Spirit, and that this may be only the temporary interval before the coming of that period in which His power will be advanced for all of the Church. How wonderful it was that Christ put in that bar to the immediate advance of the Apostles; when the entire Gospel had been completed-everything from the advent to the ascension, when every precept was in its plac~ and every doctrine and every promise, and all the beauty of His example was before the minds and hearts of His disciples, and they had been commissioned to teach the Gospel, and they were eager to go forth on that great work, the further issues of which they themselves could hardly foresee, but whic~ they knew was to be a work for the glory of God in Christ and the welfare of mankind, and when they were eager for the service, almost like hounds straining against the leash, that they might enter it, comes that voice: "Tarry ye at Jerusalem "-at the city where the Lord had been hated and killed, at the city whose neighboring hill is already red with His blood, at the city where passions are fiercer because they have had this initial success. "Tarry ye in the city until ye be endued with power from on high." Ten days they waited, and then came Pen- tecost, and then they went forth with the power of the Spirit to proclaim the glad tidings of great joy to Scythian and barbarian, to Greek and Jew. Then Paul could say afterward, looking at Rome, center of power, adoring power, making its emperor a god because he had power: "I am not ashamed to preach the Gospel of Christ to you that are at Rome, for it is the power of God unto salvation to all them that believe." It is the only omnipotent force, the only power to which His almightiness is pledged. That came with the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Now I have sometimes thought, looking on the depression of these times and the hindrances to missionary success, that God was saying to us in the same voice with which Christ spoke to the Apostles: "Tarry ye till the Spirit comes. Tarry ye and pray." And when that Spirit comes He will come suddenly, as He came at Pentecost, as came the angelic song, as the Lord's second coming will come-suddenly. But when He, the Spirit, comes ye will have power for the conquest of the earth. Let us remember that we are in the dispensation of the Spirit. Let us wait, and wait in prayer, for the coming of that divine energy which shall make the Gospel vital, energetic, divine, overwhelming to those who hear it, and shall carry it swiftly forward to the ends of the earth.
One thing more. Let us wait and work and pray in undaunted and exultant confidence, knowing that the end is to come. Christ did not die in vain. He shed his blood upon the earth, he dropt his tears upon the earth, that it might be in all its regions baptized unto God with water and with blood. He breathed his spirit into the air, that it might fill the atmosphere of the earth. He gave himself for the earth, and his disire for its salvation in himself is not less intense than wht'n he died for it, than when he rose over Olivet with his hands lifted in benediction as he went. God is not dead; his arm is not shortene'd. The swing of the universe to-night proves that. The Spirit is not dead. His power is shown in individual minds and hearts as lustrously as ever; and if we pray it will be shown in great com- JIlunities, in vast revivals, in turning the hearts of the children of men in every land unto the Lord Christ; and we are to walk and work, as well as wait and pray, in the knowledge, in the assurance, in the absolute certainty that the end is coming in the age of glory and of peace.
So let us not be discouraged by any temporary drawback or hindrances. Let us set ourselves to overcome the hindrances in our own hearts and in the hearts of others till the Ohurch glows with the heavenly light, till it is animated and nourisht by the heavenly temper, till the Ohurch on earth, quickened by Christ and illuminated by His truth, can at last take the world of mankind and present it before God as its tribute to him, who sent the Son, who loved the world, and who gave His Son unto the death for it, and who accepts it at last as the jewel in His infinite crown.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Missionary Economics j The Scribes in authors, and tho in most cases there were unnecessarily long prefaces con- Council. sidering the character of the men who were to listen to them, who were, or The returned missionaries of the va- ought to be, experts in the subjects rious missionary societies in the United treated; yet, once the discussion was States and Canada, have held thirteen entered upon, they all became concise, annual sessions, of a week each, for well-digested, instructive, and suggest. the purpose of discussing questions per- ive treatises. They were not intended taining to the foreign missions of the for the general public, yet it is our world, with most signal advantage to opinion that the great advance in intelthem and to the cause of evangelization ligence of the churches on missionary of the non-Christian world. In 1893 matters, not only justifies the presenta· the representatives of the several For- tion of such discussions to the public, eign Mission Boards of the United but calls for it. A very large number States and Canada met in council for a of the pamphlets containing the reports like purpose, and have assembled an- of the proceedings of this conference nually since. They have just concluded judiciously furnisht to the patrons of their Fifth Conference, in New York missions, would greatly augment concity, with a large number-some sixty- fidence in missionary administration, seven in all-officials in attendance, and enable the patrons of the societies with a dozen foreign missionaries add- to intelligently defend them against ed. January 12, the treasurers held a ,the criticisms freely current in many special conference, for comparison of quarters. The meeting itself marks methods of receiving and forwarding an advance. That these several repmoneys with safety, expedition, and resentatives have determined to sit in economy. During the next two days, such council annually, to find how to the following topics were presented in improve the methods of their adminpapers specially prepared for the con- istration will tend to increast confidence. ference. in each case a free discussion There is one danger to which their atfollowing: Self-support, Dr. Judson tention is already attracted, to wil- Smith; Uniform Statistical Blanks, Dr. there might be too great centralization Samuel W. Duncan; Gifts for Special of policy, if they undertake tofQrmulate Objects-Should they be encouraged? their general conclusions with a view to Dr. E. E. Strong; Form and Practical a binding effect on the several Boards. Use of Annual Reports, Rev. A. Wood- Legislation is beyond their province; ruff Halsey; The Economic Distribu- but they know it and are hence free tion of Missionary Force, Dr. S. L. frqm the criticism of attempting it. Baldwin; Furloughs, their frequency, The smaller societies are, however, in length, and profitable use to mission- some danger of being dominated by the aries and the work, Dr. W. W. Barr; consensus of opinion, and may miss, for Unmarried !Iissionaries, Dr. Ellinwood; themselves and for others, the great Ecumenical Missionary Conference in good of making new ventures, under 1900 in America, Dr. Judson Smith; new conditions. Where everything is The Student Volunteer Movement, Dr. so fraternal, however, as here, none Henry N. Cobb; Independent Missions, will welcome the results of new experi- Dr. A. B. Leonard; Chinese Indemni- ence more than the older of these repties, Dr. Ellinwood. It will be seen resentatives. There was a markt abfrom this that the conference is designed sence of the "we-know-it·all" spirit. to be of a most practical nature. The Everybody seemed 011 a school-form papers were worthy of their eminent eager to learn of anybody else. A very being so near the end of the century, it much larger representation of the lay- would be better to extend the time till men of the several Boards would be a 1900. The mission representatives in decided advantage to the meeting and Great Britain and on the Continent of to the general interests of missions. Europe had been generally heard from, and all responded with hearty approval The ladies of many of the Women's of the proposal to hold such a WorId's Boards met on January 15, and organ- Missionary Conference at the opening of ized a similar conference, to meet an- the twentieth century in the city of nually for like mutual benefit. As it New York, tho the precise date could was strictly pardaniBhin we cannot reo not be agreed upon with equal unanport what they did or said. Both these imity. The Churches of America will conferences will meet next year, the hail with great pleasure the holding of guests of the Methodist Episcopal such conference here. It ought to be Board, as they were this year the guests the subject of much devout thought. of the Presbyterian Board. It may well be askt what measures can be instituted to prepare for a great meet· The Conference has already reacht ing. Nothing short of a greater spiritu· practical unanimity on several ques- ality in the churches, with deeper con· tions, such as the following :-That one secration to the work of the world's mission should not receive into its memo redemption, will furnish the fitting en· bership those dismist on account of vironment for that great assembly. improper conduct from any other The world will then be full of wonder church; that native converts should be and exaltation at the material advance· discouraged from coming to Europe or ment of the present century, and the America for education; that natives of presentation of that class of themes the mission fields educated in America will divide the attention of the churches. should not be appointed on the same That need not be deprecated, but it will basis as regular missionaries ; that di- require a profound spiritual energy to rect preaching of the Gospel should concentrate attention on spiritual affairs. have precedence over all other forms of We ought to get ready to march into missionary effort; that they do not favor the twentieth century with the greatest the organization of a National Church spiritual force, intensity, and consecrain India; that the study of missions in tion. The holding of such a meeting theological seminaries should be pro- here should be accepted in the light of moted, and professorships and lectures a great trust, as well as in that of a on missions should be urged; that gifts great privilege. outside the regular appropriations should not be encouraged; within the For all this, a conference like that appropriations however, while some: whose proceedings we are reviewing, times open to objections, on the whole, must needs be one measure of prepara· would be welcomed; that all competi. tion. It will be well for all the Chris. tion for the services of native agents on tian agencies of the land to find how foreign fields between the agents of the they can, more and more, cooperate; several societies should be discouraged; and to this end they should cultivate that frequent visitations of official rep- a fuller acquaintance with each other·s resentatives of the Boards to the foreign methods and achievements. The whole fields is of imperative importance. forces of Christendom in this western continent ought to come up solidly The subject of most popular interest intelligel).t. as to their successes, their was the paper on the holding of an failures, and their needs. A special Ecumenical Missionary Conference. feature of the proceedings of the The London Conference in 1888 recom· Officers' Conference, which looks to the mended a decennial conference, which holding of simultaneous union mission· would bring the next conference in 1898, but on all hands it was conceded that ary meetings in all the great centers, sible for the selection of the portions will contribute to this. Eight divis- herewith presented.-J. T. G.] ional meetings were held in New York city, one evening during the time of A circular letter was sent to twenty the conference, and a great pan-denom- of the various Boards here represented, inational meeting was provided for in embracing the following inquiries as to Carnegie Hall on the 15th of Janu- the results of the Movement as shown ary which theoretically was the center in their experience: of a great number of similar massmeetings to have been held simultane- "1. Can you trace any inereatJtJ in ously in other great cities. This was the number of applicants for appointrealized in part, Chicago and a few ment to the existence and influence of other cities having arranged for such the Movement? assemblies. But the meeting in New York itself was not what it might have "2. Are you able to detect any imbeen, and other cities which would provement in the quality of 'Volunteer' have responded to the call for simul- applicants, or of those actually aptaneous meetings were debarred from pointed? If so, in what respects? the same through the shortness of the notice received. But all this can be "3. Have you noticed any quicken- I'vercome, if the Officera' Conference ing of missionary zeal in your churches will fix the date long enough in advance through the instrumentality of the S. to allow the churches to make suitable V. M., and have the Volunteers aided, preparation. They must remember to any extent, in the raising of funds . that this is a big country, and a few fol' their own support or for the other weeks' notice is not enough. They work of your board? might better advise the churches at once of the date for 1898. "4. Would you suggest any changes in the methods of working adopted by The papers of this conference are the leaders of the Movement?" worthy of a far wider reading than they will receive through the pamphlet form, To our surprise and gratification, and yet as they were prepared chiefly nineteen replies have been received. Of for members, it might interfere with these one only answers every inquiry in the desirable freedom of these dis- the negative; eMu may be styled as cussions, were the press to invade their , , non-committal," through insufficient meetings and publish all the discussions. opportunity for observation and ac- One paper, however, that was read by quaintance; jive give a qualified, and Dr. Cobb on the Student Movement, the remaining ten an almost unqualified was requested for use in this magazine, affirmative reply. with the privilege of selecting such portions of it as our space would allow us In reviewing the aims of the :Moveto use. It will be found in the follow- ment in connection with these replies ing pages. we unhesitatingly offer the following 'conclusions: The Student Volunteer Movement. 1. The steadfast effort to bring stu- BY REV. HENRY N. COBB, D.D., NEW dents to "a thorough consideration of YORK. the claims of foreign missions upon them as a life-work," and "to foster [Dr. Cobb presented a paper in the this purpose," should be followed by a form of a report to the Fifth Conference perceptible increase in the number of of Representatives of Mission Boards, those applying for appointment. And January last, which at our solicitation such has been the result. To this the was placed at our disposal so far as testimony of some of our largest sociepracticable. Dr. Cobb is not respon- ties is. emphatic. Thus one writes, "There has been a markt increase in the number of our candidates singe the Movement was more thoroughly organ- ized, and notably since the Detroit Con- vention. So far as we can judge, the majority of our candidates have been work and a better mental equipment."
given their early impulses toward the " We have one very promising yOlmg foreign field by the Movement." An- physician under appointment, who is other says, "The number 'of applicants an ardent member of the S. V. M.· I perceptibly increast from 1886 to 1894; think his course of preparatory studies and this increase, while doubtless due has been a great benefit to him, and he to several causes, was due in part to the has pursued it along the lines laid down Student Volunteer Movement." An- in the Student Volunteer."
other answers, "Yes. And what is So far as the educational work of the more, a majority of the men whom we Movement is concerned, we feel the have sent to the foreign field, in the force of the official statement respecting last four years, have been Student it : "A common preparation, aside from Volunteers." "Yes, very clearly," the regular studies of the curriculum, writes another. "In answer to a re- is needed for the work of the foreign cent call for an additional missionary, missionary. The Volunteers need to we received the applications of sixteen. know what special preparation is neces- Most, if not all of them, were led to the sary. They need to understand the step by their connection with the Vol- relative importance of the different unteer Movement." Another still, "De- lines of preparation. They need to • cidedly. Quite a number of men and learn how to economize to the best ad- women, in writing to us, have stated vantage the time at their disposal for that their first impulse in the direction this preparation. " Especially is this of foreign missions was received from true of our Theological Seminaries, the Volunteer Movement." And yet which are in general the immediate one more, "I think I am safe in saying sources of supply. If the testimony of that we have had ten offers for service the Movement is to be received they in the foreign work, where we had one offer a peculiarly hard field. "Another . previous to the organization of the problem confronts us in some quarters, Movement." and that is the dijJiculty of holding Vol- 2. What, then, is the quality of these unteers after they enter the '.1heological applicants? The object of the "mis- Seminam.* If they leave college with sionary study" proposed and guided by a strong purpose and are thoroughly the movement is, as it should be, to grounded in missions, the question of produce a better class of candidates. holding them does not present insuper- Has it done so? Again let the Secre- able difficulties. But even in such cases taries speak. " Weare under the con- it is a real problem to preserve the faith viction," writes one, "that there has and enthu8iasm of Volunteer8 who enter been a decided improvement in the imtitutiom where, to quote a prominent quality of Volunteer candidates. We Board SecretOll'1J, 'from the beginning to have noticed this in respect to two lines the end of the C<JUr8e the who~ pr88ump- of equipment; first, in the intelligence tion in the teaching and attit'!/.d(j of the of such candidates concerning the faculty is that the men are all going to heathen field at large and our own in stay at home. ' Add to this the constant particular, and second, in the stability pressure brought to bear upon them by of their zeal and the positiveness of home churches, and the solution of the their determination to serve in the for- problem is not simplified."
eign field." Another, "There has been This is a sad statement and full of a steady improvement in an intelligent ominous suggestions. May not a par- appreciation of the principle and motive tial explanation of the difficulty be underlying the missionary cause." found in the condition of missionary "Better in the matter of education and instruction in these seminaries so for- equipment and general fitness for the work." "A better conception of the * It&lics Qul'tl.-J. '1'. Q. cibly set forth in one of the papers of the proved the quality of the missionaries Conference of a year ago and in the who have been available or who have book on the same subject by Mr. been appointed. The volunteering has Adams? And if this be so, should we been usually done at an age when not welcome, and esteem of special young men have been most impressible, value, an agency which aims specifically and the most emotional of the young " to provide systematic, comprehensive men are usually the ones who volunteer. and progressive courses of study on Hence I would express the opinion, not foreign missions for the. use of stu- without hesitation, that the quality of dents," and to inform them by intelli- missionaries has not been, and is not gent study, intelligently guided and likely to be, improved by the Move- aided, as to 'their principles, history, ment." Except in the somewhat de- methods, needs and obligations? The spairing conclusion of the last quotation, courses of study outlined should not, the truth probably comprehends both nor are we able to believe they do, these statements. The Volunteer Move- make too serious a draft upon the time ment-and many others with it, even or strength of the average student in the Kingdom of Heaven-His like unto the average Theological Seminary, nor a net that was cast into the sea and needlessly and injuriously conflict with gathered of every kind." It could his proper duties in the institution. . . hardly be otherwise. It is for the Boards • 3. There is another aspect of the to sift the" catch," or such portions of question as to quality, which demands it as are brought to them, and, with and deserves special consideration. The such wisdom and insight as God may fear has been exprest that, through the bestow, select the best. . • . . enthusiasm created by the Movement, 4. The fear has been exprest lest the and the too wide circulation and too work of the Volunteer Bands should ready or too early acceptance of the tend to create a broad line of demarca- "Volunteer Declaration," those stu- tion between the members of those dents who are rather emotional than in- Bands, all having the missionary work tellectual, impulsive rather than sober- in view, and other students, as tho the minded, are led to volunteer; that, by latter might feel theIllSelves absolved the methods in use, the best minds are from all interest in and all concern not only not reacht but are tempted to about the great cause of missions. This hold themselves aloof from volunteering danger appears to have been clearlyapand in the end from missionary service. prehended in the statement of the main This would be most deplorable, if true. objects of the Movement before referred On this point the views of the brethren to. On it is said, "Essentially involved are more conflicting than on any other. in all this is the further object of the One writes, co Under the influence of Movement to create and maintain an this Movement men of positive mark in intelligent, sympathetic, active interest our Seminaries have been imprest with in foreign missions, among the students a sense of responsibility for the heathen, who are to remain on the home fleld, in and have thus been led to offer them- order to secure the strong backing of selves for service, who would not have this great enterprise by prayer and otherwise seriously considered the sub- money." In our opinion this is quite ject. Some of the best men who have as important as any other object of the gone to our fields in these latter days Movement, especially in view of the are the direct fruits of the Student growing demands of the great work, Volunteer Movement." On the other the backwardness of the Churches, and hand, another says, while stating that the deficient resources of all our Boards the number of applicants has been in- and Societies. The Boards may pos- creast, HI have had the impression that , sibly receive, as some have received, ~e Vol~nte~r Mov~ment has not im- many more applications than theT can accept. But the Churches can never this lost world to the knowledge of the have too many nor too active and ardent truth and love of our Redeemer. missionary pastors and teachers, men and women of learning and influence, In bringing this report, already far who abide at home. The multiplication too long, to a close, we can find no of these will be the surest way to in- better expression of our own feeling in .crease the ability of the Boards to ac- this regard than that which comes from cept all applicants who ought to be one of our correspondents, a member of accepted, and to send to the field all this conference. who ought to be sent. . . .. . .. It is my matured conviction that in 5. The avowed disposition and pur- this movement we may plainly discern pose of the movement to make its work one of the signal interpositions of our subserve the interests of the existing God on behalf of world evangelization. Boards and Societies, deserves the cor- It has failed, if at all, in accomplishing dial recognition of the Conference. Its all that was possible, because the Church endeavor is to secure to them an in- of Christ at home has been slow to discrease not only of "missionaries with cern the signs of the times. In other the right qualifications," but also of words, had our Churches throughout available funds for their maintenance, the land promptly accepted this moveand of intelligent missionary zeal in ment as a call of God to them for en· the churches to which they look for larged offerings to missions, I am conthe support of all their work. This fident that the achievements of the purpose clearly appears from the fol- Gospel in all our fields would have lowing statements in the report of been greatly multiplied. In this up- 1894: rising among the students of our in· stitutions of learning, leading to the •• The r68pO'Mibilitll of tM M0'D6ment consecration of so many of them to the doa not ceo.se until the Volunteer8 are foreign field, I can not fail to see the brought into direc' communication wjth faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God, their respeeti'1)6 Boards. Nor does it in answering the prayers of His people cease entirely then." . . for lab0rers. It seems to me, however, that brought face to face with the de- We believe there is an agency here of mands and the sacrifices which these which the Boards might make far very answers to prayer have involved, greater and more effective use than they our Churches have shrunk back and now do. It is no doubt true in general, failed to meet their part of the respon. that "returned missionaries have a sibility. It seems to me no better serstronger influence in both directions." vice could be rendered than the calling Yet the supply of these is necessarily the attention of Christians over all the limited. And there is much in the land, who desire to obey the great comsight and words of consecrated young mission, to the divine significance of men and women, whose hearts the the Volunteer Movement." Lord has toucht, and who ha'1J6 8tudied up Ute subjec' and arefull of it, to waken The Oountess of Dufi'erin's Fund. interest and move to conviction. Properly introduced and commended, ex- BY REV. A. MCLEAN, D.D•• CINCINNATI, perience shows that they are welcomed OIDO, SECRETARY FOREIGN CHRISby pastors and acceptable to the people. TIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
Such influences can not be too greatly In India one hears much about this multiplied if the churches at large are " Fund," and of the great and good generally to be awakened not only to work it has accomplisht. One sees the the signiflcance of the Volunteer Move- spacious hospitals and dispensaries that ment itself, but also to that of the still have been erected and opened under greater movement and enterprise of its anspices. The origin of thisent~r which it forms a part, the bringing of prise is both interesting and pathetic. Tho the story has been told many times, that vast empire. In her account of it is so good that it will bear repetition. this interview Lady Dufferin said: "When I was leaving England, Her The wife of the Maharajah of Punna Majesty the Queen·Empress drew my was the victim of a painful and linger- attention to the subject, and said she ing sickness. She suffered much from thought it was one in which I might native doctors and received no benefit. take a practical interest. From that Her case was deemed hopeless. The time I took pains to learn all I could of prince heard of Miss Beilby, a medical the medical question in India as regards missionary in Lucknow, and besought women. I found, that altho certain her to come and heal his wife. She great efforts were being made in a few came and spent several weeks with her places to provide female attendants, and so treated her that she recovered hospitals, training.schools, and dis- her health. Soon after Miss Beilby pensaries for women; and altho miswas leaving for home to take her de- sionary effort has done much, and for gree. When she called to bid farewell years had been sending out pioneers into the Maharani said, "You are going to the field, yet, taking India as a whole, England and I want you to tell the its medical women were without that Queen, and the Prince and Princess of medical aid which their European sis- Wales, and the men and women of ters are accustomed to consider as abso- England, what the women of India lutely necessary." After studying the suffer when they are sick." She begged field and its needs and conferring with her to see the Queen in person and ask the chief men and women in the counher for medical assistance. Miss Beilby try, she organized The National ..1.880told her of the great difficulty of seeing ciation for Supplying Female Medical the Queen and presenting the message Aid to the Women of India. This Asso· in person. The princess said, "Did ciation is commonly spoken of as "The you not tell me that our Queen was Countess of Dufferin's Fund." good and gracious, and that she never heard of suffering without sending a The objects of this organization are message to say how sorry she was, and as follows: 1. Medical tuition, includtrying to help?" Miss Beilby exprest ing the teaching and training of women her willingness to do what she could. as doctors, hospital assistants, nurses, The princess askt her to write the mes- and midwives. 2. Medical relief, insage at once, " Write it small, DOctor cluding the establishment, under female Miss Sahib, for I want to put it into a superintendence, of dispensaries and locket, and you are to wear this locket cottage hospitals for the treatment of around your neck until you see our women and children; the opening of great Empress and give it to her your- female wards under female superintendself. You are not to send it through ence in existing hospitals and dispensaranother." In some way the Queen ies; the provision of female medical heard of this messsage and sent for officers and attendants for existing Miss Beilby. On reading the message female wards; and the founding of she said, "We had no idea it was as hospitals for women where special bad as this. Something must be done funds or endowments are forthcoming. for these poor creatures. We wish it S. TM Bupply of trained female nur8e8 generally known that we sympathize and midwivetJ for women and children with every effort made to relieve the in hospitals and private houses. It is suffering state of the women of India." eleven years since the Association be- gan its work. There are now sixty.two· About this time the Earl of Dufferin lady doctors and forty-four hospital was appointed Viceroy of India. The assistants at work. Over a million Queen sent for Lady Dufferin and patients were treated last year. The urged her to do what she could to annual increase of patients numbers bring medical help to the women of about one-hundred thousand. There to be unsectarian and national, and are sixty-five hospitals and dispensaries. therefore neutral as respects religion. These cost seventeen lakhs of rupees. No employe is allowed to proselyte or Ten of these are entirely supported by interfere in any way with the religious native princes. Two princes in Raj- beliefs of any section of the people. putana gave $190,000. Seven other Lady Dufferin and her associates sought hospitals are in course of construction. to arouse the conscience and imagina- There are two hundred and forty-three tion of the public at large, and to reach students in medical colleges or in train- all parts of the Empire and all classes ing classes. Scholarships have been of the community. They sought to given women in the schools in Calcutta, enlist and benefit the Hindu, the Mo- Madras, Lahore, Bombay, and Agra. hammedan, and the Buddhist. At the There are training classes in Cuttack, same time they were careful not to an- Lucknow, Allahabad, Rangoon, Nag- tagonize or interfere with the medical pur, and Benares. Students are encour- work of the missionaries. There is aged to go through these schools and work enough for all. then to go to England or Germany for their degrees. There has been much pre- This National Association has been judice in the way of the work. Sickness called one of the greatest charities in is regarded by many as a visitation for existence. It is one of the direct resin and can be cured only by expiations sults of missionary enterprise. The an· and incantations and other religious nual reports do not refer to Miss Beilby remedies. Others think women are and the Maharani of PUnn&. They unworthy of the medical treatment pro- prefer to say that the Association owes vided for men. It has been found its existence to the direct initiative of difficult to get women of the higher Her Majesty the Queen·Empress. That castes to leave their seclusion and pre- sounds better in some ears than to say pare themselves for this service. Gradu- that it owes its birth and being to a ally, however, prejudice is giving way, medical missionary. Nevertheless, the and the work of the Association is truth is known, and it can not be hid. growing in public favor. Recently the London Times referred to Lord Dufferin as an orator, a statesman, It will be noted that this is work con- and a diplomat, and added that the ducted by woman in the interest of work that would live longest and be women. A masculine physician is not most beneficent, was the work he did allowed to enter a woman's apartments. in connection with this Association for If he is called in as a last resource he supplying Medical Aid to the women may speak to her through a screen, but of India. he cannot see her and make a thorough examination. Many women would die Some Reoent Innovations at Oheung rather than to have a man come near them. For this reason women must be Mai, Lao Mission. trained as physicians and nurses. They must be qualified to treat all diseases BY BEV. W. C. DODD. that their sex is heir to. This means much for the elevation of the women of Most of them you in the home-land India. If the minds of a considerable wonld not call innovations, but develop· number are developt, if they take ments. But to the Lao people they some worthy part in the work of the come as something very new; and we world, and live no longer like a frog in will not quarrel about names. a well, others will profit thereby. It should be noted, furthermore, that this One innovation was the observation, is a benevolent work simply; in no sense this year, of Children's Day in the is it missionary or Christian. It aims Cheung Mal Church. The word got out that there was to be something un- usual, and something very enjoyable. People put their own construction on it. Some conjectured that it was to be like almost passionately fond of games. the native New Year-a time for throw- Hence it has been put on the hearts and ing water on everybody. Rev. Nan consciences of the missionaries that we Tab, As~ociate Pastor of the Church, are bound to lead our young people into even sent me a note, saying that he had Innocent amusements, or they will drift heard that there was to be some kind of into questionable ones. We have tried doings, he did not know what. He to meet this new duty by inaugurating hoped it would be appropriate to the several social features, none of them at day and the place. But after in was all new to you, but all of them innova- finisht, he turned to me and said: tions to this people. "Can't we have it every Sabbath?" And no wonder. Surely nothing so One has been the translation of a set enjoyable had ever before been wit- of Bible-History cards, which can be nessed by these sober-minded Chris- played as authors' cards are played. tians. There was marching into the These are not all finisht yet, but a few church; there was singing in concert, trials of them have seemed to indicate reading in concert, the Lord's Prayer that among the better educated they in concert; one class recited the Fourth will be popular, not only as a pastime, Commandment in concert; more than a but also as a course in Bible History. dozen other classes recited selected portions of Scripture in concert, beginning Another social feature has been that with the two infant classes, and ending individual missionary families have, with the Bible Class of Rev. Punyah; from time to time, invited the Lao minthere was a motion song by another isters, or the members of one of the class, and an English hymn by the chil- schools, or the members of a Sabbathdren of the missionaries. The only ex- school class, to the missionary homes, ercises which were not in concert were and have entertained them with pictwo prayers, two addresses, and the tures, games, microscopic views and benediction; and it is by no means cer- refreshments. These entertainments tain that the people did not wish that have seemed to be very PQPular. Grathese had been in concert, too. dually foreign games are being intro- duced and adopted, sometimes with It was a great day. And Rev. Nan amusing modifications. Tah, who knows a good thing when he sees it, wrote me a poem on the subject, But, after all, most of our innovations extolling the patience and the ability of are quite distinctly religious, not only those who had trained the classes, and in tendency, but in actual form. One had planned and managed this whole which the people at first resented as a affair. He and others have said that if most decided and unwarrantable innowe can not have it every Sabbath, they vation, was well begun last year, namewould· like to have it at least once a ly, the matter of urging systematic, month. scriptural giving. Sporadic example and teaching on this subject had been Another innovation this year is in the given before, but last year a movement social realm. We are beginning to have was begun all along the line. It is a second generation of Christians now, bearing fruit. One church, Lampoon after thirty years of mission work. First Presbyterian, at a congregational There are young men and women com- meeting held after a most thorough ing from our schools who are not con- ventilation and discussion of the sub': tent to spend their time in idleness or jcct had already been had, decided frivolous gabble. Their minds must without a dissenting vote to tithe as a have some employment, especially in the Church. And if they live up to that evenings, after their work is finisht. action, it 'IJJZ·ll be an innovation of a most As yet we have only a limited stock of welcome sort. Christian literature. This people are Another most welcome inroad into Christian-heathen ignorance is the organization of a Woman's Missionary a distinct dialect of its own. The work of the Methodist Episcopal Mission Society. It now has over thirty mem- began here over thirty years ago. Durbers, holds monthly meetings, and al- ing the period from the early sixties to ways takes up a collection, or rather a 1890, no foreigner lived in Bing-hua.
voluntary contribution. Some conse- There was generally a native Presiding Elder, and the missionary in charge, crated missionary effort, some conse- living in Foochow, made more or less crated native zeal, and some consecrated extended and frequent trips over the tithe-money is going into that Society; work, as time and other duties would and we know what will come out. permit. But it became manifest that the work Angels are rejoicing over that Society needed a more thQrough- supervision already. than it could receive in this way. The One of the best innovations, and one dialect being different from that of Foo- which might prove a real innovation if chow, few of the missionaries could use it effectively. In 1890 the writer was introduced into some home churches, transferred from Singapore, and apis what we may call the organizing of pointed to Bing·hua, with his wife, be- the church into a night-school to study ing the first foreign residents there.
the Word, village by village, commun- We began to hold short camp-meet- ings at the various village centers, ity by community. It is something beginning generally on Thursday even- .' after the plan outlined in "Methods of ing and closing Sunday evening, holding Mission Work," by Rev. J. L. Nevius, four services a day, beginning with a late of China. Each community is or- before breakfast prayer-meeting. Near- ly a score of such meetings have been ganized into a school, a leader is ap- held. Many hundreds have been clearly pointed, the members are put into converted in these meetings, and the classes, according to their advancement spiritual life of the whole Church has in study, and a record of attendance is been greatly quickened. That the work in this line has been kept. Also, the completion of anyone deep and genuine is manifest from the course of study by any class is noted. markt advance in self-support.
The courses consist of learning to read, Last year the three districts now reading in course, committing to mem- forming the Bing-hua Mission Confer- ence raised for pastoral support$12811.74 ory certain designated portions of the (Mexican); this ysar, $2,432.12, or an advance of $1,148.38; being an increase Word, explanation of Scripture. pas- of nearly 100 per cent. sa~es, comInitting of the Child's Catechism, and now that the Shorter Cate- In addition to this, a Bome Missionchism is just translated, it also will be ary Society has been organized. It was committed by the more advanced beglln by some of our most zealous classes. This work was suggested to native helpers toward the close Of the the people by the missionaries, but in many places it has been taken up by the last Conference year. Nearly $300 was people theInselves, and is being sus- given in 1895. This year there has been tained in a very gratifying manner. great enthusiasm about this collection, Surely the Spirit who inspired the Word and the sum of $1,431.78 has been will richly bless the study of it. raised.
May the time soon come when all The aggregate increase of money these things shall cease to be novelties raised for pastoral support, including and innovations, and shall become fix- the Bome Missions collection, reaches tures of the Lao Church. $2,283.00. Another such advance this year, and our native preachers will be A N6W Oonference in Ohina. entirely supported by the native church. There has also been a healthy increase BY REV. W. N. BREWSTER. in membership of 380 full members and 634 probationers, or a little over one On the morning of Nov. 26th, Bishop thousand altogether. The year has been Joyce opened the first session of the one of solidifying rather than expand- Bing-hua Mission Conference, com- ing. posed of the three southern districts of The Conference Session was memor- the Foochow Conference of the Metho- able. Nearly one thousand people were dist Episcopal Church. The Bing·hua crowded into the Jesse Lee Memorial Prefecture lies on the coast half way Church, which is the largest Protestant between Foochow and Amoy. It has Church in the Province.
FIELD OJ' MONTHLY SURVlIl'. 21~
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Mexico,* Oentral America, t West Indies, t City Missions, § Foreigners in America.,.
BY DELA.VAN L. PIERSON.
MEXICO. (3) There is need of the presentation of a reaaonablefaith to those who have Mexico still sorely needs the pure revolted from the gross Buperstitions of and regenerating Gospel of Christ. The the Roman Church in Mexico. Noth- recent attack on one of the Protestant ing sadder can be imagined than the missions there gives evidence of this funeral orations by prominent citizens at the graves of their departed com- as do the teachings and lives of the rades. No hope, no gleam of light for Romanists who occupy the land, and the future, only a troubled look into the condition of the ignorant and de- the great unknown, which: has received another soul. Many men of the liberal graded Indians and half-breeds. Much party now declare that they have done progress has been made since mission- with religion; yet numbers of these aries tirst went to labor in the land, but are in sympathy with the Protestant there is need that the people of the churches that encourage education, United States stretch every nerve to progress, and rational thinking. help raise these people to the true level of Christianity, before infidelity and (4) There is urgent need of Christians paganism I1tamp out their life. who know how to pray, with intelli- gence as well as faith; and the enlight- Mrs. James D. Eaton, of Chihuahua, ened fervor of many in our evangelical gives the following roosons for sending churches is one of the most hopeful missionaries to Mexico: . effects of the Gospel here.
> , (1) Many souls are tr:ving to satisf, (5) And there ds need of the Gospel , thems~lves with the husks within theIr for the sake of our own countryme,n here. Americans are comin~ more and reach, whil,e hungering for the Bread more to Mexico, to engage In mining, of Life. One poor woman feeling the railroad, agricultural, and manufactur- need of something, she knew not what, ing enterprises. There are said to be ventured to lIsk a priest to explain the several thousand of them in this State, forms of the church, the mass, baptism, some 700 in this city and vicinity. If etc~; but he only replied that she was a fool, who could not understand. Now home missions are a necessity in the that she had received the Word, and new settlements of the United States, fflels that Jesus is her Savior, that long- there is similar need o~ this side of the ip.g is met, and she is daily satisfying line. her hunger and thirst by the Word of Pioneer mission-work in Mexico W88 God.,and pra;ver. begun in 1862. Rev. D. A. Wilson of (2) There IS needed a Gospel of holi- Guadalajara writes: n68B in this land where religion and It is doubtless quite true, as has often morals are divorced. A people that have been allowed to break the whole been said, that " Protestantism entered decalog, and obtain an easy absolution at the hands of the priests; yes, even Mexico in 1847, between the covers of gain pardon in advance for crime to be 'committed, realize that it is a new the Bibles carried in the knapsacks of ~ospel which says, "Thy sins be for- gj.ven thee; go and sin no more." American soldiers," but the first effort to propagate Protestantism in this coun- try, so far as can be ascertained, from • The article promist on this sub~ect has a1u86th2.e*nticInsotuhreceasutwuamsnaboof utthtahte year faUed to reach us in time for publicatIOn. See year, .G9speZ in AU Lands (March) and The Mission Rev. James Hickey arrived at Mon- World (monthly). terer as an independent missionary, t An article promist on Central America haVIng previously labored for eight- has also failed to reach us. See Moravian PetrSioedeipcap.l Accounts (quarterly). een months as colporteur of the 195, 196, (present Issue). American Tract Society in Tex88. In NeuJ Books: "CUba and the Cubans," March, 1863, Mr. Hickey began to Ralmundo Cabrera; "The Island of Cuba," Prof. Ramsay, preach publicly in Monterey, both in – II See pp. 176,183, (present Issue). English and in Spanish, and on Jan. SO, Recent Articles: "Regeneration of the 1864, he organized the first evangelical Slums," Demorest's Family Magazine (Oct.); "The Problems of the City," C. R. Woodruft', church ever constituted in Northern Mexico, probably the first in the Re- American Magazine of Civics (Dec.). ,. See pp. 169, 188, (present issue). ' Recent .Articles: "Chlnatown in New York," .. It Is a misstatement that pioneer work Dem. Family Mag.). was begun by Miss Rankin, in 1865.
»- public. Thomas M. Westrup, one of it was declined on the ground that the the first converts, was ordained pastor, burden of responsibilities already unand has occupied that position almost dertaken in other countries was too continuously since that time. One year great. While we would not seek to after its organization, the church had prevent in any way the entrance of our twenty members. In Feb., 1864, Mr. English friends, so long as they can not Hickey was appointed agent for Mexi- come the American Churches ought to co of the American Bible Society, but see that the need is filled." did not receive the appointment until Aug. of that year, from which time -Not long ago the Roman Catholic forward the care of the church at Mon- Bishop in Jamaica issued a pastoral terey devolved more entirely upon Mr. letter charging the Protestant people of Westrup. Mr. Hickey workt continu- that island with •• lax ideas of moralously, and amid great trials and difficulties, but also with great success, ity," and adding: "Our Catholic poputhroughout the country from Monterey lation is, we are glad to say. singularly to Brownsville, Texas, selling the Script- free from reproach in this matter." ures, preaching, and distributing tracts It might be well to make known some from house to house, from the time he of the facts which have come under the first entered the country, until his death personal observation of one who has at Matsmoras, Mexico, in 1866. lived in Costa Rica, facts which so clearly reveal theimmoral tendencies of After the organization of the Baptist the boastful Romish Church. Mr. F. Church by Mr. Hickey, in the summer de P. Castells of San Jose writes: The of 1865, Miss Melinda Rankin visited Baptist Mission (supported from JaIllai- Monterey, and employin~ several of the ca). has planted churches in a number members of the church lU Monterey as of places on the Atlantic coast. Some colporteurs, left them under Mr. Hick- time since the Roman Catholic Bishop, ey's direction, and returned to the alarmed at their success, set his mind United States to collect funds for the on putting up rival churches in all work. She returned in 1866, and it was those places. He obtained the money through her influence, that the first by holding raffies in several parishes, Presbyterian Church in Mexico was where cognac, beer, and playing cards organIzed at Monterey, in 1869. This were the principal articles raffied; and church was composed of members from this on the Lord's dayt Not long ago, the Baptist Church, which had at that time received into membership 224 on a Sunday, the priests of San Jose persons in nine different towns. organized a concert in the Variaty Theater for the purpose of obtaining CENTRA.L AMERICA.. funds with which to help in building some church. They used the most vul- -The Greater Republic has recently gar music ever sung in Spanish musicsent its representative to Washington, halls and public houses. Not man, and he has been received by President weeks ago a public writer of thIS Cleveland. This federation including country, a liberal, called attention to all the republics except Costa Rica and the fact that the festivals of the Romish Guatamala, is formed for mutual protec- Church are but so many opportunities tion and influence in foreign relations; offered to the people for the most flagthe autonomy of the several countries is rant debauchery. in the main retained. Doubtless this greater Republic will soon include all Ah, the morality of Rome I It is the countries of Central America. easier for its emissaries to talk of it in a Protestant country than it would be The Moravians are suffering many set- if they were in any country where backs and hindrances from the Nica- Romanism is the prevailing religion. raguan occupation of the Mosquito Here. for instance, no one is surprised Coast. The government not only per- at hearing that Father So-and-So. tho mits but fosters gambling, Sabbath- a celibate, has 80 many children by so breaking, and the like. The officials many women. The llractise is far too are corrupt and no sympathy and little forbearance is shown to these mission- general for even his Bishop to be astonaries who have so long and faithfully isht. Priests think nothing of going workt in this field. to a club to join 8 gamblin~ party, or playing the usurer by lendIng money "An earnest appeal was made recent- at 30 and 40 per cent_I And somehow ly to the committee of the Church Mis- SIOnary Society, to open a new mission Sunday is the day when we see Romanin Central America for the purpose of ism at its worst. On that day the railreaching the still unevangelized Indians way, the clubs, the public-houses, the of that section. After some discussion theaters, the women of ill-fame, do far better business than in the six preeeed- ing days put together. IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
In the January issue of this REVIEW, sionary societies, representing five de- we felt constrained to call attention to nominations, have a present debt oC the risk now confronting the work of $1,013,632, and would owe three quart· foreign missions. In that connection ers of a million dollars more, but for it was stated as our deliberate judgment, severe retrenchment." that at no time during the half century now closing, have missions to the hea- It is true that never was there such· then been at greater peril of collapse. an uprising of young men and women, This has been characterized by some as offering for the field; but it is also an unwarranted and extravagant state- alarmingly true that never was there so ment, and dismist by that easy modern inadequate a provision for sending those fashion of stigmatizing any discourag- who offer. Dr. H. C. Mabie, mourn- ing presentation of facts, calling it pe8- fully said, lately, that the A. B. M. U. BimiMn. One of our exchanges seeks to had been compelled to refusejivs out of make the editor inconsistent by con- 861JCn picked men, and that over 100 trasting with this " gloomy, if not hope- volunteers had offered, whom the union less view of the situation," the" glow- had not funds to encourage. We shall ing pictures of the missionary outlook," only make the situation worse by stig- which the same editorial pen has fur- matizing as pessimists those who simply nished, etc. call loudly for attention to the crisis DOW upon ns, and for much prayer and Without any undue jealousy for con~ self-sacrifice, in order to meet it. It is Bistency, the editor would simply say a profound conviction with the Editor that he sees no incongruity in these two of this REVIEW that God is marching contrasted views of the situation. Even on, far more rapidly than his people are if consistency were at risk, it is better following, and that to retrench now is to to be t:rue than even to be consistent. But retreat, and fall more and more hope~ there is no contradiction. The outlook le8s1y behind. The opportunity of the was never so hopeful; the risk was age is upon us, but we are not, as a never greater than to·day. It is the Church of Christ, proving equal to it. hopeful and promising outlook which And it is the duty of those who occupy makes'the risk so great. The world's an outlook which gives them a wider doors are open, and in most countries survey, and who see the danger, to peal we have reacht the middle stage of mis- out as with trumpet voice the warning sions-when the first stage of antagon- cry to God's people. Let the Church ism is past, but the third stage of self- arise, with greatly increast prayerful- support, and self.government, and self- ness, and multiplied gifts, and ten years propagation is not reacht. That middle may see results never seen before in stage-when the field is open and invit- mission history. ing, and the opportunity is great but short, when there is a clamor for more On Friday evening, Jauuary 15, a workmen and a need of greatly increased Missionary Rally was held at Carnegie effort and expenditure-that middle Hall, N. Y., representing all Christian stage is the existing condition in most denominations, both of the United mission fields. And it is just now that .states and Canad~. It was designed to the church, a8 a wlwle ana on the whole, be a sort of climax to the week of does not respond. Everything calls for prayer, and a starting point in aggres- . advance, yet, almost every organized sive missionary movement. The pro- Board is crying Retrenclt. gram was elaborately alTanged, and all the preparations were on a scale of Dr. L. H. Cobb, himself a devoted magnitude that befitted the occasion. mission secretary, evidently thinks the General and ex-Governor James A. – peril great. He says that "twelve mis-
Et>t'i'ORtAL DEPAitTMEN'r
Beaver was chosen to preside, Richard supreme work of the centuries, the S. Storrs, D.D., the Cicero of the Con- evangelization of the world, that on gregational pulpit, and Bishop Fowler, such an occasion, at such a crisis in af- whom the Methodists account one of fairs, with such speakers discussing their most attractive and effective speak- such a theme, the metropolis could fur- ers, being chosen to make the addresses. nish only about enough hearers to fill The evening was mild, and there was a an ordinary church buiidingl How self- very slight flurry of snow, but nothing evidencing Dr. Storrs's own words, that to hinder people from attendance. And the church needs most of all to tarrg yet it was a disappointment which must again before God in prayer, to be en- have caused the committee of arrange- dued with new power from on highl ments no little chagrin, that Carnegie Bishop Hartzell has left a very beau- Hall was not one·third full. By actual tiful and touching "Christmas farecount there were less than 1,200 people well," as he sailed for the field of his present to greet such master orators, bishopric in Africa. In it he recounts and exhibit interest in such a supreme the steps of surprise and surrender theme. It is no depreciation of Gov- which preceded his formal acceptance ernor'Beaver's stirring speech, nor of the of this trust-and all this reminds us emphatic utterance of Bishop Fowler, that successful workers are like Omar, to say that Dr. Storrs's address was im- not those who wantZthe place but whom perial. We undertake to reproduce and the place wants. Somehow an unusual perpetuate it in these pages, so far as earnestness and hopefulness seem to the grand body of thought is concerned. characterize this new choice of a s~c But the subtle aroma, the indescribable cessor to Bishop William Taylor. A quality, the personnel-evade the print- tinge of pathos has been added to this ed pages, and defy the reporters' art. departure by the surgical operation it There was a sweep and swing about it was found necessaty for him to undergo which were like the sway of a scepter before he left London. But God gave in the hands of a giant. It was a speech him an unexpectedly rapid recovery, that should have been heard by tens of and six days after he lay on the operathousands instead of a few hundreds. ting table, he was on his way to Liver- It showed, flrst, the immensity and in- pool to set sail, and his last words are tensity of the debt we owe to foreign like those of Paul to the Ephesians, missions in every department of our " Pray for us." civilization. Then it surveyed the vari- ous causes of the diversion of the pop- George Mliller, known to the whole ular enthusiasm and energy into other Christian world as the profound bechannels, and in dignified, but candid liever in the power of prayer, is now and careful terms, described the secu- ninety-two years old. He still makes larized church, ornate and sumptu- use of the gracions instrument which ous, but unspiritual and selfish; and he has wielded for so many years. The compared it to the wood agate which, direct answers which have come to him hO,wever ornamental, has its pores filled in response to his petitions, he says, with a substance foreign to itself and now amount to more than $7,000,000 in can neither be kindled, nor kindle any- money. They came in different ways, thing else. How anyone could hear but were so connected with his special that stately but stirring presentation of prayers that he believes they were tied God's historic plan for this world, and together in the gracious counsels of be indifferent to his own cooperation God. It is a wonderful story. with it, passes our comprehension. And yet it is abundant confirmation of Dr. It is a great but startling proof of the Storrs's indirect arraignment of the trend of unsanctified scientific thought church for apathy and lethargy in this that Mr. Darwin, who taught man's evolution from brute ancestry, virtually only present every grand principle and encourages the cultivation of a brutal selfishness. Witness the following para- motive of consecrated giving, but pregraph from the Descent of Man (vol i, page 161). He is referling to natural sent seven paradoxes that are very reselection as affecting civilized nations, and he says: markable. These Macedoniansseem to " With savages, the weak in body or have furnisht the most singular exmind are soon eliminated (i. e., they die or are killed off), and those that survive ample of Christian benevolence to be commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other found anywhere in Sacred Scripture; hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums their giving was a sort of revcr8a~ of for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws, and our all ordinary experiences. medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of everyone to the last 1. They gave out of the abundance moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thous- of their po'D6rty, not out of the plenitude ands who, from a weak constitution, would formerly have succumbed to of wealth. smallpox. Thus the weak members of civilized £ociety propagate their kind. 2. Their wilUngnes8 exceeded their No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that ability, instead of their ability, their this must be highly injurious to the race willmgness. of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, 3. They were urgent to be allowed to leads to the degeneration of a domestic give rather than reluctant, while those race; but, excepting in the case of the who received the gift were reluctant. to man hhnself, hardly anyone is so igno- take it, knowing how deep was their rant as to allow his worst animals to poverty.
breed." * 4. They made the greater gift first (of themselves), and the latter gift was The inference is plain: To build asy- the le88 (their money). Usuallr people lums, institute poor-laws, to vaccinate, give the least they can to beglll with, to seek to prolong the lives of the and have to be educated up to giving weaker, lower, more degraded, to carry themselves at the very last. on missions among the outcasts at home, or the savages and brutal pagans abroad, 5. In these chapters value of gifts is is misdirected benevolence, and in fact .reckoned, not by arrwunt given, but by no benevolence at all, for it is perpet- the degree of willi'l/{/ne8a and cltelYl'fu~ uating a degenerate stock that should ne88 exhibited. be left to the process of elimination by disease or other means of extermina- 6. Weare here taught that increase tion! comes not by keeping, but by giving,- that the way to get more is to give In 2 Cor. viii.-ix. is the one discourse more, and the way to lose is to keep. on giving that makes needless all other treatment of this great theme. And it is 7. And the crowning lesson of all is noticeable that the two chapters not that they regarded giving, not as a privation to be evaded and avoided, but *Compare Morris' Present Conflict of a privilege and a blessing to be courted Science and Religion (p. 266-67). and cultivated.
Can we do better than to follow such a glorious example?
The Doshisha, the Japanese College, has drifted away from the moorings of its original Congregational evangelical- ism. In a publisht letter the president of this institution tries to justify the trustees, in virtually assuming the ownership of property, through the necessities of legal procedure committed to them in trust, and in perverting it from the uses for which it was estab- lisht by its founder, with the help of the gifts of Christians in America. Secretary Barton, of the American Board, has printed an open letter to President Hozaki in reply, showing that the Doshisha can not jURtify its departure. He enjoins plainly upon that body "not to think that by declin- ing further subsidy from the board and dispensing with the services of the mis- siouaries, they thereby release themselves from obligations to maintain the propaganda-but its main effort is to genuine Christian character of the in- make faith impossible or destroy it stitution." And he adds: "All the aid where it exists. This is the d.amning given by the Board and by American fact about Liberalism that in proportion Christians has been contributed from as it prevails, missions perish. In these the first for the purpose of establishing days of want and woe, superstition and and supporting an institution positively degradation, the liberal club has noth- and decidedly Christian and evangel- ing better to propose than to take away. ical. if possible, from Christ's disciples, their only real hope for this world or the When the Iron Duke gave a very next, and to interrupt a great work for difficult position to one of his veterans, the rescue of lost souls by tryin,'f to the reply was: "I go, sir, but first give prove that there is nothing worth bellevme a grip of your conquering hand." ing in the only system of religious faith What a privilege, when undertaking that has ever been able to uplift and the arduous work of making disciples redeem! of all nations, to get courage, hope, and assurance of success in advance by a The story of Uganda, which we hope grasp of the victorious Hand of our great General-in-chief who says, "Lo, I soon to have summarized in these pages, am with you alway." is one of the most marvelous in all his- The Christian Endeavor Union, of tory. _ New York City, has its Tenth Legion, which means, a body of Endeavorers Contrast the present condition of who give not less than one-tenth of their income to the Lord's work, and who, in matters with the days of Hannington's hopes to influence others to do the same, cruel assassination I "One hundred form themselves into an enrolled organization, with the understanding, how- thousand souls brought into close conever, that there is to be no publicity given to the names. There is none of tact with the Gospel, 200 buildings for the maChinery of organization-constitution, by-laws, elected officers, and worship raised by native Christians, meetings. Those who undertake to give God at least the tithe fill out an 200 evangelists and teachers entirely enrollment blank and receive a certificate of membership. This is a move- supported by the native church, 10,000 ment in the right direction, and may copies of the New Testament in circuthe glory of Cresar's immortal "Tenth Legton" be eclipst by the fidelity of lation, 6,000 souls eagerly seeking daily these young people to the stewardship committed to them of God. instruction, and the power of God shown When Mr. Moody was challenged by in changed lives; all this in the center the Manhattan Liberal Club to a public of the thickest spiritual darkness in the debate upon the merits of Christianity, he wisely replied in substance that his world." In the great church at Mengo, mind was made up in regard to the merits of Christ; he "knows what there are over 200 trees to support the Jesus has done for him during the last forty years since he has trusted Him.", roof. Each of these trees took 100 men "The time calls for action, not for discussion. Hundreds and thousands to drag it up the bill. of men and women are dropping into drunkards' and harlots' graves every There has been a remarkable growth year right here in New York. Now, let us all join hands and try to save of Christianity in Uganda, since King them. I will try to reach them with Mwanga ordered the massacre of Bishop the Gospel. . • . If there is any Hannington and so many Christian conmerit in infidelity, let your members likewise put it into practise. " There is verts, less than eleven years ago. Durno danger that liberalism will take up the gauntlet and undertake aggressive ing Bishop Tucker's recent visit to the mission work. Infidelity is not a country he ordained fi ve natives to the tp.i&eionarr forqe. It ~ inlleeq its deaconate and three to the priesthood, licenst twenty-two as lay readers, and confirmed more than two thousand con- verts. One of the natives recently or- dained was Samwili Mukasa, who, in 1890, was one of the envoys sent to the coast by the king to see the consul-gen- eral with regard to the political situation.
"His earnestness and devotion," the bishop writes, "are beyond all ques- tion " The ordination service was attended by from 3,000 to 4,000.
Rev. Dr. A. B. Simpson, leader of the Christian Alliance, is contemplating the foundation of a Christian Alliance settlement and camp meeting resort on the heights of the Hudson at Nyack, N. Y. He has recently purchased for the purpose twenty-eight aCTes of land hi~h up on Sou~q ~oupt~m QVeJ;lookin~ the river, the property in question being added: " All must admit that there is bought from Rev. Ross Taylor and good ground for a charitable judg- Charles H. Woerz. The Taylor house ment in this instance, in view of the edis to be utilized as an adjunct of the ucation, associations and general moral Berachah Home, now in West Forty- environments of one born of Jewish fourth street, and another building now parents, and largely removed during on the site is to be turned into an the greater part of his life from the re- orphan asylum. Other buildings will straining and corrective influence of the be erected, including a tabernacle, to Gospel of Christ." This declaration accommodate 5,000 people. makes the matter worse, as it suggests grounds for distrust. We wish this Those who remember the small be- case could be finally settled. Some ginnings of sixteen years ago, must be time since a commitee of which Dr. led to exclaim: " Wha.t hath God John Hall was a member, reported that wrought I" all charges against him had been ex- amined and found baseless. If Mr. Says the late A. J. Gordon, in his Warsawiak is entitled to confidence, wonderful work" The Holy Spirit in what ever be his errors of judgment, it Missions": would be well so to assure the public.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or Apropos of the recent sesquicentenfigs of thistles? asks Jesus. Yea, 0 nial at Princeton, of the four hundred Son of God, through the engrafting of and sixty-nine graduates belonging to Thine own Divine Life even this miracle the period of Dr. Witherspoon's adis possible I ministration, it is said that one hundred and fourteen were clergymen, thirteen See the fruits of the Spirit hanging of whom became presidents of colleges; in rich clusters where once only the of the remaining three hundred and thorns of hate and cruelty aboundedl fifty. five, one-James Madison-was Forgiveness, that rarest and divinest for eight years President of the United grace, springing up in the heart of the States, one was Vice-President, six were man-slayer and cannibal! This is in- members of the Continental Congress, deed the crowning miracle of redemp- twenty became Senators of the United tion. States,twenty.three entered the House of Representatives, thirteen were Govern- It was this grace in lively exercise in ors of States, three were Justices of the the heart of a once savage New Zea- Supreme Court of the United States, lander which explained his singular and some twenty served as officers in behavior in rushing away from the the Revolutionary Army. And this, Communion table and then suddenly too, under the administration of a single returning to receive the sacred em- president. We have hoped that some blems. competent person would show Prince- ton's contribution to foreign mis8iom, Mr. Taylor, the missionary, observ- both in the way of direct work on the ing this action of his convert, askt an field and the creation of missionary literexplanation. The islander replied, ature. as well as prominent advocacy of "When I approacht I did not know the claims of the world-field, etc. Here beside whom I should have to kneel, is a department of Princeton's service to then I suddenly found myself close to the church and the world which is ns the man who slew my father and drank conspicuous, if the facts could be known his blood, and whom I swore to kill the generally, as any other. Who will write first time I saw him. The old revenge up this record? seized me, and I rushed from the table. But just then I seemed to hear a voice The Growth of Missionary Literature. saying. 'Hereby shall aU men know that ye are My disciples if ye have love The growth of missiona.ry literature one to another.' At the same time I is one of the wonders of this century, thought I saw another sight-a cross and the field is widening. Yale Univerand a man nailed thereon-and I heard sity has a special missionary library of him say. 'Father forgive them, they thousands of volumes, which would know not what they do.' Then I went have been impossible a hundred years back to the altar." ago. This growth may be traced in different ways. The recent action of the New York Presbytery over Mr. Warsawiak's case 1. The material for a good missionseems to us to require further steps in ary literature is now abundant. There justice to all parties. Without investi~ating charges against him, they de- is a, miI1,~ of literarr wealt4 Pl th,~ Ufe, clIned to ordain him, which, of course, they were at liberty to do, as there is no obligation to prd!l.w. lJut ther times, and labors of such men as Carey, There is still about $270.00 behind Judson, Duff, Livingstone, Morrison, on the fund, which we would be glad Nevius, etc. The task of shaping this to have made up.
material into good literary form has in- No new charges have been added spired the genius of scores of able during the past year, as the subscrip- writers. tions to volunteers are charged at a new 2. The 8tyle of modern missionary and special rate.
writing is very much improved, and For the Armenians we have received now demands and commands a high from W. M. Webb, for Anderson Bapliterary grade. Mere annals, dull and tist Sunday-school, Anderson, 8. C., lifeless, are not tolerated. In recent $15_57, and $5 from Miss L. M. Rood. missionary reviews, papers, and books, the arts of the printer, engraver, map- maker, bookmaker, and litterateur all ' Eugene Stock, Esq., of the Churh Missionary Society, has been releast combine. from editorial duties, for a time, to 8. The subjects treated now are speci- write up the history of the hundred years of that venerable organization, fic, not so general as formerly. Dr. B. whose centenary is close at hand. The C. Henry does not write of the whole task is very heavy, but no man is more Celestial Empire, but of special work in competent than Mr. Stock. He writes: and around Canton; Dr. J. L. Nevius, of specific work in the Shantung Pro· .. Our Secretary from 1802 to 1824, the vince; Dr. John G. Paton, of the New Rev. Josiah Pratt, started in 1813 the Hebrides. :for8t miB8iona1'1/ magaziM 61Je1' brought 4. As a result, Christian people are out. This was called' The Missionary reading missionary periodicals and Register.' He carried it on for nearl)' books with a growing interest. The thirty years, up to 1841, and it continued time has been when it was fashionable for a few years after that. It was from to know but little about missions. But the first a record, not of C. M. S. onlr, times are changin~. The Cross-Bearer's but of all the societies and missions m Missionary Readmg Circle, a three all parts of the world. Your REVIEW, inyears' course of systematic reading and teresting as it is, does not, of course, prostudy on missions in all lands, was in- fess to give a systematic history of all augurated six years ago, as an educa- the societies and missions, which the tional movement among our thousands Missionary Register did. Of course, of Christians who remain in the home missions were on a smaller scale in those land. The literature chosen for 1896-7 .days, but still they were extensive, and demanded the most skilful treatment to is as follows: The" Life of John Will- make their history clear. Gradually, iams," the "Life of Dr. J. L. Nevius," of course, the different societies began "Medical Missions," the "Life of Alex- to issue their own distinct periodicals, ander Duff," and the "Missionary Re- and in 1858 the Register was dropped. view of the World." So writes Rev. The earliest reports of the A. B C. Marcus L. Gray, President C. M. R. C., F. M., the Baptist and Presbyterian St. Louis, Mo., who will give further information to those who apply.
Boards, etc., appear, and in the year We have just learned the address of 1822 the two American missionaries in the author of the medical work to which Bombay, Hall and Newell, issued a reference is made in the February paper on the Evangelization of the REVIEW, p. 140.-" Medical Hygiene, whole world within a brief specified or cures for all diseases without drugs." time. The words, 'in this generation,' W. Frank Ross, M. D., Rantoul, are not there, otherwise the scheme is Illinois. Correspondents may thus almost exactly like the present S. V. M. U. plan It contains careful calcucommunicate directly with him. lations of the number of heathen in the Donations have been received by the world, the number of Christians in the editors or puQIishers for the Missionary church, the number of missionaries Volunteer Fund, and applied, as fol- necessary, and the cost of E1ending them out-very similar to the calculations lows: JamNe.s ZReeaidla,nWd _e_i_n_u_i_,_A__k_a_r_o_a_,$ 1.86 made by Mr. Wishard in his recent book. Have you ever seen this remark- S. KAo.reMa_o_f_f_et_t,_ _P__ye__n_g_ _B__a_n_g_, 8.50 able paper? I suppose it must be in the archives of the A. B. C. F. M. The Mrs. McEwan, of Italy (By Missionary Register prints large extracts Mrs. Bowie, Phila.) ______ 50.00 from it, which I havll read with the deepest interest. Truly there is nothing 65.36 new under the sun!"
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D.
Extraots and Translations from Foreign rightful Lord and Master, and to set Periodicals. before him in all, earnest love and patient sympathy, the grace, the glory, BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, and the power of the Eternal Son of MASS. God ?"
MOHA.MMED.A.NISM. -The Intelligencer, some time -The Rev. E. SELL, quoted in the back, commented very pertinently on Annual Report of the C. M. S. for Professor Max Mllller's assertion, that 1895-96, remarks on "the great barrier the Mohammedans have a more elevated which Islam sets up to hinder the conception of Christ than Christians, Church's onward march In the Eastern inasmuch as they ca.ll Him the Word world. Possest of a highly dogmatic of God, but refuse to call Him the Son religion, the dogmas of which are of God. Inasmuch as the Moham- sharp and well defined; accepting a medans have borrowed "Word of God ..
law supposed to be divine, complete, from the Christians, Max M1lller's and final; looking back to a history meaning can only be that it is an un- which records many former successful worthy conception of God to view Him worldly conquests, with occasional as capable of sustaining any relations gleams of borrowed splendor-the of mutual affection, either within the Moslem stands erect, proud to be such, Godhead, or beyond it. Such an ab- and utterly scornful of all other creeds horrence of love as a possibility to God and men. Has the Church yet realized is thoroughly Mohammedan. It S66IDS the greatness of this force thus arrayed strange, however, to hear a Christian against her, or estimated aright the declaring that He who, tho high, yet difficulties to be overcome? Century hath respect to the lowly, degrades after century past by, and the Church Himself by a relation of such intimacy, was silent. It is only within this cen- affection, and reverence, as that exprest tury that any very real and continued by Son and Father. Certainly Sonship effort-and that all too feeble-has been and Fatherhood are as central to Chris- made to place the true faith of the Gos· tianity as they are abhorrent to the pel of our Lord Jesus Christ before the coldness, hardness, and unutterable Mohammedan world. When, then, we uncleanness of Islam. We hope to remember our past neglect, the points bring the whole world yet to see that of contact in some matters of belief the ineffable pity and tenderness of between us and them, the conscious Fatherhood, ~aving its antecedent in groping after a higher light which some the eternal bosom of the Godhead it- MosleIDS have shown, the repudia- self, is the very crown and summit of tion of much that is narrow, super- the Infinite Glory. Word addresses stitious, and immoral by a few the mind, but Son, including Word, Mohammedans now in India, whose but bringing it out of its cold abstrac- ideas will doubtless lJ·ffect more and tion, addresses mind and heart, ad- more the educated classes ;-when we dresses the whole being of man. It remember all these things, are we not seems much to be regretted that Pro- distinctly called upon to try to under- fessor }Iax MUller should have allowed stand this great Islamic system, and his young Turkish friends to bring him then to seek to win the Moslem for his to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
-In the Annual Report, the Rev. the London Society chapel bas been for F. F. Adeney, of Egypt, writes: two years turned into a barrack, and " The casual visitor stops to wonder at also the missionaries' dwelling-house, the grave Eastern in his flowing robes and likewise the S. P. G. schoolhouse, bowing reverently at the time of the Jesuits have meanwhile enjoyed the prayer, even in the open street. But he undisturbed" possession of their builddoes not consider that the very same ings, both of worship and instruction. man has very likely been cursing and It is true, this discrimination may have swearing, and cheating. and quarrelling been not so much in favor of Catholics just before he began to pray, and will against Protestants, as in favor of do so again when he has finisht. He Frenchmen against Englishmen. admires the stately intonation of the Koran, but he little thinks what his- All the English churches o! the provtorical absurdities, what sinful licenses, ince of Tamatave, save one, have been what cruel and bloodthirsty injunctions burned by the insurgent heathens, and it contains. the missionaries compelled to take refuge on the coast, or at Antananarivo. "The Moslem sheikh who teaches me Arabic has been enlarging to-day on The French government, before tathe superiority of Islam. He rejoices king possession of Madagascar, gave the over the massacres of Christians in the English government assurances that Tnrkish Empire. So narrow-minded is it would maintain liberty of conscience, he, that he declares that it is impossible and would respect the work of the to translate the Koran, and that all English missionaries. Of course, nobody nations are bound to learn Arabic in put much faith in its promises, tho we order to participate in the revelation of have tried to hope against Rope. France God. And so ignorant is he of the is mainly goverued by atheists, but by power of Christian love, that he believes atheists who always bear in mind the that were my wife to declare herself a words which the Protestant Guizot was Moslem, I should drive her from me. not ashamed to avow in his public He would kill all idolaters who refused capacity: "France abroad means Cathto become Moslems, and thoroughly olicism." The French despise and hate recognizes the obligation to flght against Protestantism as a Teutonic intrusion unbelievers. into the Latin world. English Protes- tants they hate with double hatred, "Would that people at home under- national and religious. But the bItstood how loveless the creed of Islam terest of all hatred is that which may is. Of real unselfish love a Moslem be called the irreligiously religious. It has no notion, and the great and crown- is the hatred of those who remain Cathoing Christian truth that God is love, is lic, tho they have long ceast to be to him an enigma. Power is his only Christians. It is in the hands of such idea of greatness, and consequently the men, principally, that the government weak suffer terribly in a Moslem coun- of France has long been, and it is in the try." hands of such men that it will probably long continue to be. Should the House MADAGASCAR. of Orleans come once more to the throne (which seems hardly likely), a -Altho the French goverument in less fanatical temper would probably a general way endeavors to maintain prevail, but not one less unscrupulous religious liberty in Madagascar, yet it abroad, in the endeavor to suppress is not to be supposed that it "forgets the Protestantism, at least English Protes· Protestant Guizot's declaration in the tantism within the French territories. name of his government: " France The policy of Louis Philip's government abroad means Catholicism." Thus, as in Tahiti is sufficient proof of that. M. Escande, the new agent of the Paris Society, reports: at Tamatave, while Of course, where a pretext is wanted,
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
it is always to be found. This is what government itself has as yet given any the Journal de8 Miasi0n8 for December, distinct intimation of an intention to 1896, says: expel the English missionaries from Madagascar, altho it may be doubted •• The news brought by the last mail how long it will be either able or disfrom Madagascar gives us to forsee evil posed to withstand the mingled flood of days for the Protestant missions. The ultramontane and of atheistic hatred, odious system of falsehoods and calum· which is thus availing itself of a hyponies which persists in representing critical pretense of patriotism. Just the Fahavalist jIlovement as fused with now, it is true, there is said to be a good Protestantism-altho the first victims understanding between France and have been Protestant missionaries, and England, which may for a moment altho of six hundred churches and delay the accomplishment of the evil chapels which have been destroyed, purpose. Good understandings between scarcely one hundred and twenty were the European powers at present, how- ·Catholic-this system has already be- ever, are a mere fortuitous concourse gun to bear fruit, and many indica- of atoms, likely to be followed in a few tions give us the presentiment of a days by as violent a mutual repulsion. period whose dominant character will Certain it is that ?rIr. Harold Frederick, be to assume, in many particulars, an .who is not apt to let his wishes take opposite position to the liberal and the place of facts, gleefully anticipates friendly administration to which M. the speedy expUlsion of all English Laroche has given his name. missionaries from every severed part of the wide colonial empire of France. "It is well to affirm it, in view of This gentleman is much too careful to the inundation of falsehoods which has have here made the wish the father of overflowed the press: up to this day, the thought. He avows that he could the attitude of the Protestant mission be equally eager for the expUlsion from has been irreproachable. The engage- India of the Zenana nurses, whom, for ments assumed before the minister by some reason, he segregates from the the directors of the societies which labor mass of Indian missionaries, and honors in Madagascar have been kept; the with the full cordiality of his hatred. missionaries, after having accepted with Yet he regretfully allows that it is out gratitude the new administration which of all question to look for the banishpromist to their churches religious ment of these from India. His joyful liberty and to the country the security alacrity of confidence, therefore, that and all the advantages of a good gov- the English Protestant missionaries ernment, have done all that lay within within the French colonies are all to be their own power to lend a cordial and sent packing, does not rest merely on unreserved support to this government. his hatred of missionaries. It doubtless It has required all the bad faith of rests on some solid ground of expectaimplacable adversaries to obscure as to tion. Even Protestant Germany mutthis point the truth, to which the im- ters against foreign Protestant missionpartial administrators bear witness. aries within her bounds. Great Britain Unhappily this testimony has not been seems to be the only power that has able to make itself heard everywhere, completely surmounted all such miserand calumny pursues its work." able persecuting suspicions. French- men or Germans, A.mericans or Danes, -The Societe de8 Mia8i0n8 E-oangel- Catholics or Protestants, all are equally iqu/J8 means to send out as many French welcome to her wide dominions, if they laborers as possible, so as to give can only do her subjects any good. a Gallic tinge to the Protestant work, This is one of the thousand proofs of and to blunt as far as possible the edge her "inexhaustible vitality." both of Jesuit and of chauvinistic slander.
It does not appear that the French
ENGLISH NOTES
English Note& gelistic branch-the fishing for living souls, and secondly, the pastoral branch BY JAMES DOUGLAS. -the shepherding converts, and the now numerous bodies of hereditary The Presbyterian Ohurch of England. Christians. -Rev. Dr. Dykes, in the Presbyimza,n Mes8enger, writes an article on "Chris- The SundaY-8chool MO'Vernent in India, tian Unity," setting forth, in the first can not be called a recent one, as it was place, the apparent disunion existing be- introduced for non-Christian children tween the various sects in the Church of nearly a quarter of a century ago, but Christ. He then points out that the it gives promise of proving Ii valuable real unity is the individual relation of means for influencing the children of each believer to the Lord. " A living the poorer classes of the community. union to the Personal Lord with all More than one-third of the total of that fiows from this:-here is what is schools and scholars are found in the common to all true Christians and to all north-west provinces and Oudh, where true Churchmen." the lIfethodist Episcopal missionaries, by whom the first serious attempt to The Olturch at OhaocluYtrfu has establish such a school was made in grown so large that the place of wor- 1872, have largely developt the effort. ship is no longer large enough to accommodate the number of people who The Zenana Work has many encourgather from Sabbath to Sabbath. There agements. Some of the pupils can read is an opportunity just now of purchas- English, and enjoy the "Life of Bishop ing a house in a good and suitable posi- Hannington," the "Schonberg Cotta. tion, near to the mission hospital and Family," etc. There have recently just inside the south gate of the city. been several baptisms among the The cost of purchasing and altering the women of the Zenanas, and the whole new premises is about £500, about £200 work shows mental and spiritual deof which has already been subscribed velopment which is most hopeful. or promist. " It is of the utmost importance that this center should be Work in Colombo.-Colombo is a worthily occupied, and it is hoped large, prosperous city, as the immense friends of the mission will respond growth and ever-increasing expansion quickly to this call." of its trade indicates. The Rev. A. E. Dibben reports an increasing English The Ohurch Missionary Society.-The congregation at Galle Face Church, and ninety-seventh annual report of the ever growing interest on their part in above society shows an evident forward the missionary work carried on in movement, both as regards the number Colombo and in the island generally. of missionaries, and also the way in Miss Child visits the homes of the which these workers have been received Mohammedan women, she writes:- and encouraged by the natives of the Oncof the most interesting things that various countries and districts in which has taken place in connection with the they have labored. The annual sermon house-visiting, is the reopening of a preacht at St. Bride's Church, by Rev. house that has been closed for two W. H. Barlow, D.D., put clearly years, because a young girl confest her before the listeners the opportunity faith in Christ. Her books were taken for present active service for God in from her, and she was beaten by her home and foreign fields of labor. The father; but still slle stood firm, and at text was "Behold, I have set before last the father has relented, and allows thee an open door," and these words her to be taught again. The girl's joy were taken as an incentive to immediate was unbounded, and she says, "I have action. In briefly reviewing the work forgotten nothing, it has all been kept of the past, it divides itself naturally in my heart. The last time I saw her into two great division-first, the evan-
GlllNlllRAL MlSSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
she said how much she was looking . hand in the fire and not know it, while forward to Christ's coming, and how you listen.' Truly Eastern imagery, yet very glad she would be to see him." I believe that woman is a true Christian at heart, tho she fears to confess it." The King of Two, IJaudi Ka~agama, stands alone among his chiefs in being THE KINGDOM:. a true Christian. God has wonderfully toucht his heart, and he realizes to a -Surely this of all times is not the very real extent that his duty is first to time to disbelieve in foreign missions; God. He is most regular in his attend- surely he who despairs of the power of ance at the classes, and sits daily at the the Gospel to convert the world to-day, feet of Jesus to be taught. He is show- despairs of the noontide just when the ing his love for God's work in a practi- sunrise is breaking out of twilight on cal way, that is, he is having built a the earth.-Phillips Brooks. house suited for the work to be carried on in it. -Says Prof. J. H. Goodell in TM Pacific: "The modern conception of Sla'I)(J'I'1J in East Africa.-The follow- the missionary idea must delocalize the ingresolution was past by thecommittee, thought of missions. It must soon be and has since been forwarded to Her impossible for one· Christian to ask Majesty's Government:-"That in the another: 'Are you interested in misopinion of this Committee the time has sions ?' As well may we inquire, fully arrived to give effect to the long 'Do you believe in living?' God has apd definite promise of Her Majesty's brought our ears literally to the beating Government, to abolish the status of heart of heathenism. The day is past slavery in the dominions of the Sultan when a church is just to take charge of of Zanzibar, including Mombasa and adjacent slums, the surrounding boardall the country within ten-mile limit. ing houses, or the Nob Hill of society. They would earnestly and respectfully To·day God has planted every church press upon Her Majesty's Government in the midst of heathenism. The throbthe urgent necessity for prompt and res- bing pulse of the unsaved world is to olute action in the matter." be feIt in every sanctuary. Every ear, unless it be purposely stopt, can de- Uganda. – On December 15th, the tect the fever-jump of our smitten committee welcomed back Bishop brethren the world over. The cry, Tucker, and were thrilled with his 'Come over and help us,' has become wonderful account of the spread of the universal. There are no foreign mis- Gospel in Uganda. sions. Distance is no longer. In the marvelous providence of God every North Africa Mission.-" Mr. Reid, point of our world is now home misof Tripoli, reports a very fair attend- sions. It is now time to realize that in ance at the medical mission during the the kingdom of God, as at present month. of October. The Bible shop opened, consolidated, and intermingled, had been opened as often as was possi- nothing is foreigu. nothing is far off, ble. Very few Arabs have visited it at nothing is separated from my own perpresent, but a great many Jews, to sonal interest and privilege. Africa is whom tracts have been given, and a your home and my home; Asia and the few Bibles sold." Miss B. Vining, of isles of the sea, and every spot on this Tangier says, "I have lost some of my footstool of God is our personal abode. girls from the class lately-their fathers The modern conception of the missionfeared they were learning too much of ary idea must make every business man the 'religion of the Christians.' One of feel as he goes to his office that he is my women the other day told a fliend, to make money for the conversion of in speaking of the teaching, 'The words the world; and every professional man are so beautiful, you might have your that his mission now is to live to bring the earth to loyalty in the kingdom of the nations have been steept in hea- God." Verily, that is God's truth in thenism for centuries, the conversion every word, and exceedingly well of a single person means more than lips spoken, besides. can express. The greatest hindrance to-day to the spread of the Gospel in -In 1850 you could buy a man in foreign lands is the attitude of Christenthe Fiji Islands for $7.00, butcher him, dom toward the heathen world concernand eat him, without even public re- ing the vices that are a part of our monstrance. To-day the Bible is in civilization. The missionaries will ever nearly every house, and on Sunday fail to reach the thinking men and nine-tenths of the people may be found women in heathen lands until the liquor assembled in the churches for public traffic is overthrown in America, and worship. What about the power and the opium traffic in England, until profit of foreign missions? foreigners can see the principles of Christianity exemplified in our govern- -The amount expended by the ments." churches of the Toronto Baptist Association last year in their local work was -This is the conviction which the $47,987. The baptisms reported were directors of the East India Company 318. That is one baptism for about and their friends embodied in a resolueach $150 expended. The amount ex- tion and past in Parliament in 1793: pended in the foreign mission work of ., The sending of missionaries into our the Canada Baptists was $33,954, and Eastern possessions is the maddest, the baptisms numbered 453, or one most extravagant, most expensive, most baptism for each $75 expended. unwarrantable project that was ever proposed by a lunatic enthusiast. Such -Dr. Hitchcock, of the American a plan is pernicious, impolitic, unprofit- Board, has been looking the matter up, able, unsalutory. dangerous, unfruitful, and 'makes this surprising statement: fantastic. It is opposed to all reason Adding to the enrolled students in 39 and so;;nd policy; it endangers the American colleges which are regarded peace and the security of our possesas Congregational all the scholars under sions "!fl! the care of the American Missionary Association in the South, and of the -A census of the world seems impos- Education Society. including the New sible, but it is going to be undertaken. West, as well as the students of the 7 The unparalleled labor is to be one of Congregational theological seminaries, the gigantic projects to celebrate the there are not more than 30,000, possibly advent of the twentieth century, and it not more than 28,000. How many is safe to say that a more stupendous pupils there are in Congregational undertaking has never before been deacademies we do not know, but it would vised. The scheme had its real inceprequire 250 of them, with an average of tion at the biennial meeting of the In- 100 pupils in each, to add to the above ternational Statistical Institute, recently to bring the total up to the number now held at Berne, Switzerlaud, where a under instruction in the schools of the committee was appointed to consider American Board. But this is only one ways and means. Anything approximabranch of the Board's work, yet this ting an accurate census of the populabranch is seen to be a vast education tion of the earth at the present time is, society. without doubt, an impossibility. In addition to the poles, there are many -Miss Jessie A. Ackerman, of the BpOts on the earth that have never been W. C. T. U., has been twice around the visited by the explorer, and others from world, and spent 8 years in travel which a census enumerator never would This is a conclusion she has reacht: get away alive. The population of the .. I take a very cheery view of missions and their outlook for the future. After earth is now estimated at 1,700,000,000, starving Armenians which amounted to guesses founded upon the observation $113.00. of travelers, and upon other guesses mentioned in treaties given by such UNITED STATES. countries as China, Persia, Arabia, and – The A.doonce gives these figures Turkey.-London Mail. concerning the gifts made last year for public purposes in the United States: -The editor of The Herald of Go8pel " Without taking account of the small Lib8rt1/ is pleased with the word "in- sums collected by various organizations terdenominational," but evidently has through the usual methods, the aggresome difficulty with it. " It does not gate of special contributions and large look exactly right," he says. "Itseems gifts was $33,670,000, nearly $5,000,000 odd not to have at least a hyphen to more than in 1895, and $13,500,000 more separate; but itfu18 right." than in 1894. Of this amount $10,854,- 000 went to charities, $2,135,142 to -That great Baptist Church, Tre· churches, $16,814,000 to colleges and mont Temple, in Boston, has fitted up $2,000,000 more to museums and art the sixth floor of its beautiful new galleries. building for the especial comfort of the many' young members of the church – The Oongregationalilt started a few who are at work in the business section weeks since a fund for the care and wherein the church is situated. There education of Armenian orphans, which is a fine kitchen, and a large tea-room. at last accounts approximated to The tea-room is bright and cheery in $25,000. all its furnishings, and here nourishing food will be fumisht at a low price. -It is pleasant to read in TM Ind.6- Near by are cosy rooms for men and penti8nt that there are 25,424,333 comothers for women, with desks to write municants and 136,960 ministers in the at, lounging chairs for comfort, places churches of the United States; but not for sewing, for newspaper reading, for so pleasant to be informed that the games,-in fact, a delightful Christian Union holds 19 kinds of Lutherans, 17 home, in the midst of the whirl and kinds of Methodists, 13 kinds of Bapuproar of busy Boston. The plan is as tists, 12 kinds of Presbyterians, 12 kinds practical as it is beautiful, and will do of Mennonites (only 52,944 in all), 6 much to commend to young people the kinds of Catholics, 6 kinds of Adventreligion of the Christ of Bethany.- ists, 4 of Friends, 4 of Dunkards, 3 of Golden Rule. Reformed, etc., etc., etc., etc. It looks as tho it was high time for 8O'TlUbod1/ to -The curfew ordinance, requiring "go back" further than to Wesley, children to be at their homes after or Calvin, or Luther, even to one Jesus. nightfall, has now been adopted by 200 cities, and city officials, parents, -The New York Tribune', Fresh Air school-teachers, and chiefs of police are Fund has issued its reports of last year's emphatic in their praise of its efficacy. work and a summary of that of its Mrs. John D. Townsend, who makes twenty years now-ended. Its expendithis statement in the North A._Wan tures for the year were $23,948, with Rsfliew, believes that, while prevention which 1,040 were sent for two weeks of crime is better than its punishment, into the conntry; 25,910 mothers and it is best to begin with care for children, children were given a pleasuring in the and also that the associations of the Fund's grove on the Hudson, and the streets in the night hours are productive day excursions made up the number of of crime. beneficiaries for the season, 40,600. In the twenty years, with $371,778, it has -A mission church in Chihuahna, helpt 347,269 children and adults, of Mexico, recently by the use of mite whom 151,324 were given the usual two. boxes made an offering for the relief of weeks' summer outing. -Below are given the average re- (b) The place for Foreign Missions in the plan of God. ceipts of the American Board by de- (c) Christ's yearning for a lost world. cades for sixty years: (d) The Holy Spirit and Foreign Mis- 1833-43, $35,909 sions. (e) The penalt,Y of disobedience. 1848-53, 86,909 (f) Foreign MIssionary motives.
1853-63, 134,718 (g) Apostolic Missionary methods.
1863-73, 250,138 1873-83, 509,979 -During 48 years the Presbyterian 1883-93, 798,033 Foreign Board has supported 453 mis- -The Oh'I'iBtian StandaJrd (Disciple) sionaries of all classes among 21 tribes says: We will soon enter Africa. The of Indians, at an expense of $525,600, Springfield Convention urged the Ex- given by the churches, and of $520,000 ecutive Committee to enter at once. entrusted to the Board by the Govern- The committee hopes to be able to send ment for educational work. Over 3,000 2 men, but if 2 can not be sent, 1 will were received during that time as combe sent early in 1897. Before another municants, not counting the nearly year rolls around we hope to be able to 2,000 more transferred by the Amerireport that our missionaries have en- can Board.
tered the Dark Continent, and have set -An interesting feature of the recent up their banner in the name of the meeting of the Synod of Washington, Lord. Idaho, was the presence of 30 Christian -The Methodist Episcopal Church Nez Perc~ Indians. They were minis- has appropriated $586,800 for foreign ters and elders and their wives. One missions for the current year. Of this of the evening services was conducted sum China receives $114,000, Japan wholly by them; one of their number, $46,576, Korea $14,285, India and Rev. James Hays, preaching the ser- Malaysia $142,436, South America mon. Mr. Hays and many of the others $71,348, Mexico $49,500, the rest going were trained in Miss McBeth's theolog- to Europe and to Africa. ical school. The whole company were -The Presbyterian Church gives out the frnits of the labors of those sainted this most excellent scheme for monthly 'missionaries, Spaulding and Whitman.
concerts. At the end is appended the -Word comes from Massachusetts subdivisions of the theme for January. that since the first publication of a list Jan.-The Bible and Foreign Missions. of unoccupied farms in that State five Feb.-Evangelistic Missionary Work. years ago, nearly 300 farms have been .March-Missionary Administration. Bold, most of them to Americans. We Aprit-Native Christians. hear little concerning that subject in Jfay-Woman's Work. Vermont now. We have few unoccu- June-Foreign Missionaries, pied farms and those are not giving us July-Mission Printing Presses. any uneasiness. Weare not likely to Aug.-Reflex Influence of Foreign see again such an emigration as in the Missions. past, and many who have gone out from &Pt.-Missionary Schools. our borders would gladly return if they Oct.-Medical Missions. were able. In this connection the Nov.-Influence of Christianity on the thought of Secretary Merrill is still per- Social Life and Civic Institutions tinent, "Abandoned farms are not so of Heathen Lands. dangerous as abandoned principles."
.Du.-The Home Church and Foreign Our churches must see to the latter in- Missions. dustry.- Vermont Ohronicle.
BmLE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. -Cambridge (Mass.) voted no-license at the late election, for the eleventh (a) The place of Foreign Missions in the consecutive time, with the largest Word of God. majority in the city's history. 1,881. A and locations of all medical missionaries prominent factor in the fight was Father holding British degrees, 239 in number, Thomas Scully, who ~ctively opposed a net gain of 23 over 1895, and estimates the saloon. Also Mayor W. A. Ban- that the United States and Canada are croft, who addrest and, presided over represented by about as many more, several meetings. Many business men while the Continent is credited with but shut down their shops for noonday 10. About 500 physicians are now in rallies, factories, foundries, and stores the foreign field. being turned into rallying places. Cam- bridge seems to be permanently in the -The Manchester mission has just prohibition column. observed its anniversary. It lllaintains crowded preaching services at the Free -Rev. Lyman Jewett, one of the Trad hall, the Central hall, the Grand modern heroes of faith, has recently Theater c Varieties and various chapdied in Fitchburg, Mass., at the age of els. It has concerts, lectures, lantern 85. Entering the Telugu mission in exhibitions, Bible classes, guild meet- 1848, by 1862 it had proved so barren ings in bewildering variety. Its relief that the Baptist Board seriously debated and rescue and preventive agenCies, the wisdom of closing it. Mr. Jewett conducted by a large staff of paid and was at the meeting and exprest his unpaid workers, form a network of determination to return and die there, philanthropic beneficence that practiand concluded by saying that somebody cally covers the city, including a labor must be sent along, at least to bury yard, men's home, preventive and trainhim. And not many years later came ing home for girls, night shelter for those astounding revivals. women, casual ward for men, medical mission, district nursing among sick GREAT BRITAIN. poor, maternity home, servants' regis- try employment bureau, food depot, -At the Foreign Office recently Mr. cottage mission, girls' institute, lads' G. N. Curzon received a deputation club and other departments. from the Society of Friends, headed by Mr. J. A. Pease, M. P., in reference to -Honored as is the work of the the abolition of slavery in Zanzibar. Religious Tract Society, few persons Several members of the deputation regard it as a great auxiliary of urged that the abolition should be foreign missions. Many will learn with immediate, and that there should be no surprise that it has publications in 219 intermediate system of apprenticeship. languages, and that large grants of Mr. Curzon, in reply, said he repeated Christian literature, always to the full and endorst the pledge previously given extent of the means at the society's disby the Government as to the abolition posal, are made to the leading missionof the legalstatua of slavery in Zanzibar ary societies. In the course of the' life and Pemba. As to the manner in of the Society no less a sum than £685,- which that was to be effected, the mat- 000 has been so expended. Last year ter was under consideration, and no the grants amounted to £32,561. The decision had been arrived at. The value of Christian literature for con- Government wanted to secure the bona verts surely needs no words to emphajld8 freedom of the slave from any legal size it. In another way the R. T. S. trammels, and at the same time to does excellent service. Where missionavoid any sudden economic convulsion aries have printing-presses in the and consequent political and social dis- mission stations. the R. T. S. makes turbance. There was a danger that grants of paper for printing, and has there might be a large exodus of freed expended in the last fifty years £62,- slaves from the plantations. 000 upon this object.-Ohurch MUl8ion- arg intelligencer. -Medical MUll/ions at Home and Abroad for January gives the names -The Luganda version of the whole ASIA. Bible is the latest issue of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The shape Is)am.- Cyrus Hamlin is always cer of the book is singular, and the ex- tain to say something whenever he planation of it is no less singular. It is speaks or takes his pen, but seldom has ihree inches broad, or thereabout, and he uttered himself to better purpose or the Bame thickness. The Bible Society more forcibly than in his recent article in this carried out the instructionsgiven on "The Failure of Islam." An en- to them without asking the reason why. grost copy ought to be sent to His When they did ask, they were told Serene Highness, whose thorny seat is it was in order to fit the book into on the Bosphorus. Qne of Huntley and Palmer's 2-lb. biscuit-tins, leaving room at the side -An item from the MiBsWna'1"1f for a.little book, ., Oxford Helps to the Herald says: How many Sunday- Study of the Bible," and at the end for schools are there in the United States prayer and hymn-book. These tins are that are obliged to enforce a rule that somewhat plentiful in the country now adults can no longer be permitted to so many Europeans are residing there, attend because there is no room to and they protect the books from the accommodate them? Such is the case voracity of white ants and other insect with the Sunday-schools in Aintab, plagues.-Idem. Central Turkey, which are now held at noon, and have a membership of over -An anonymous friend has offered 3,000 children. More than half these the Church Army £1, 500 for the special children .belong to the old Gregorian purpose of extending the society's work Church. While the Sunday-schools amongst the outcast, on condition that are thus prospering, inquiry meetings a further £8,500 is subscribed for the are held and are largely attended. And same purpose, in sums of £25 and up- it is in that same city of Aintab, that wards, by the end of February. In not long since Prof. J. Rendal Harris, response to an appeal issued, over of Cambridge University, England, and £2,600 of the required amount has his wife, spoke in one day to audiences already been subscribed. numbering nearly 11,000.
-It is now definitely decided that -The American consul at Erzerum, H. S. Newman shall accompany Theo- writing Nov. 21 in a letter made public dore Burtt to Pemba, in Africa. It is by the State Department, puts the numa responsible and hazardous enterprise ber of orphans at 50,000 and adds: in behalf of free labor in the African German charitable or religious sociisland, and with the hope and prospect eties are preparing to establish industrial of helping the cause of freedom, and orphan asylums at Oorfa, Cresarea and mayhap, indirectly, helping the Govern- elsewhere, and the Kaiserswerth deament to remove a stain from the flag of conesses of Germany have made pro- Britain, but especially that true Chris- vision for receiving Armenian orphans tianity may thus find expression among at Smyrna. and 30 have been sent there Mohammedans and others.-Engli8h from here. The British Government Friend. or its ambassador at Constantinople has initiated a movement .leading towards -A most interesting and important settling a number of widows and their volume of about 300 pages has been children on the island of Cyprus, more publisht by the English Friends, giving particularly. at present, at least, those the papers and addresses presented at within the province of Erzerum, which the recent Darlington Conference on number in the cities of Erzerum, Er- Foreign Missions, and abundance of zinjan, and Baibourt 2/049 who are information concerning their work in wit~oilt means and are recipients of foreign lands. The showing is most relief. creditable•. -The command to .. begin at Jeru- This was more effectual than all the salem" was literally observed by the rest. He helpt his fellow at the yoke early promoters of medical missions, for half an hour, and then down he for one was establisht in that city as came. 5. This time the irate driver far back as 1824, and the number of out- graspt the tail of the reclining animal patients visiting the English Mission and, taking it in his mouth; bit it merci- Hospital for Jews at Jerusalem last lessly. This was as effectual as the year was 12,335, not including dressings Chile powder, but made the biter some to wounds, sores, etc., which numbered trouble to get the hair all out of his 11,880. The in.patients numbered 879. mouth. 6. His last resort was to put a Many sick Jews had to be refused for live coal under the brute's caudal ap- lack of room. The patients came from pendage. This brought the cart into Cairo, Alexandria, Damascus, etc., as the village. If any minister in America well as from Jerusalem. The new hos- ever came across such ingenuity on the pital which is building will have 40 part of an American farmer in dealing beds, 15 more than the one used at pres- with a balky horse, to divert his mind ent, which was built in 1832. So still from wearying thoughts, let him speak. walks The Great Healer through the On another occasion I was called upon old city, over which He wept, in which to decide a case of considerable gravity. He workt, and in which He prayed A poor man, in a comer for cash, borand died.-Medzca& JlfiBsiouOll'1/. rowed 10 rupees ($2.50) of a neighbor, and made over his wife to him as secur- India.-A Hindu named Aaron was ity for the same till such time as he the first native Indian convert educated could pay the debt, which was without and ordained a Christian minister. This interest in view of the kind of security was in 1733, by Ziegenbalg. There are given. Our poor man saved until he now 1,000 natives ordained to the min- had 10 rupees in hand, and then called istry of the Reformed Churches. upon his neighbor to take his money and return his wife. The neighbor was so -I have heard more than once the well pleased with the security he said opinion exprest that a missionary's he did not want the principal back.- life was a very humdrum sort of one, and greatly wanting in the spice of in- R4'D. O. B. Wa1'd. cident. I do not accept the idea and propose to pen a few incidents in proof. -H. F. Laflamme, a Oanadian Bap- Some time since, while traveling over tist missionary, gives this vivid picture the country, I made note of the numer- of an outcaste Sunday-school: There ous and ingenious resorts of an unso- the children are, 77 of them, a tangle phisticated native of India to make a of lank arms and lean legs, their halfrefractory bullock that showed his de- naked bodies glistening with oil, or termination not to pull any more by grimy with filth accumulated by rolling lying down in the road, bend his shoul- in the gutter. The larger girls are disders once more to the task. 1. He tinguisht from the larger boys by prodded him with his nail-pointed gad. having one end of the cloth skirt, com- This made him move on a little way mon to the costumes of both sexes, pass when he dropt 'down again. 2. He up over the shoulder, and form a sort got a long whip and tried this on him, of loose waist. The smaller children ineffectually. 3. He wound a rope dress in a small cloth, the size of a around the nose of the obstreperous pocket-handkerchief. 'rhe hair crop, quadruped so tightly he could not get long, straight, black, and tangled, inhis breath. This brought him to his dicates the girls; that of the boys is feet and secured five minutes pull at the shaved off close to the shining black yoke. 4. He applied. Chile powder scalp, with the exception of a short (powdered' red pepper) to both eyes. tuft, or top-knot, used by their elders as a handle by which to pull them, wIlen recalcitrant, into the path of duty. matter of Sabbath observance. The They crowd together like a flock of Sabbath is a blessing they are slow to I crows over 'a new find of spoiled grain. appreciate. Living, as so many of the Chinese do, on the verge of starvation, -What woe, unspeakable and unim- they are slow to see the advantage of aginable, has deE.cended upon the hap- one day's rest in seven, when there is a less millions of India, when to the chance to earn something on the seventh awful scourge of the famine, the even day. As an example of Chinese povmore deadly infliction of the plague has erty, one man who had a wife and sevbeen added. The stories are quite past eral children, once gave as the reason belief that half the population of Bom- for his absence from Sabbath worship, bay have fled the city in panic terror. that they had no food in the home and he had taken the family over to his -The Rev. Robert Spurgeon, of father's house in order to get a meal Barisal, India, declares that there are there. districts in Barisal with populations of 800,000 and 500,000 without a single -The contention that the only hope preacher, tho when an occasional visit of missions lies in the education of chilis paid the people listen eagerly, and dren and not in the vain attempt to purchase copies of the Scriptures and convert adults finds a strong refutation tracts. What must the divine Head of in the work of the late J. A. Leyenthe Church think of these neglected berger in China. During his missionary opportunities? life he baptized 940 adults, 46 of whom were between the ages of fifty and sixty, -What a strange picture to our West- and 27 were over seventy years of age. ern minds this experience gives I A pupil in a mission college; then a dis- -An American professor in Peking tinguished graduate of the university University says of the Chinese church, and a great linguist; then a magistrate; of which he is pastor, that it is rapidly then a wandering fakir, who, while a coming up to self-support: "If the fakir, carried about with him one book Methodist Church in the United States only, and that the Bible; and, lastly, a would do as liberally in proportion to Christian brought to Christ by reading its ability, it would give about $15,000,- the Bible which he had carried about 000 annually for missions." Our conwith him while a heathen mendicant. verts are better than we are, more lib- We must go back to the earliest cen- eral, more self-denying, and more turies to find a similar picture.-Free prompt in their gifts. Ohurch Monthly. Korea.-After being well-nigh ship- China.-According to the Rev. S. wrecked at the hands of her officious L. Baldwin, who has spent over 20 pilots from abroad, Korea has entered years in China, the following are the upon a quieter era of reform, under infigures relating to this agency in that fluences nearer at home. The Re· land: "There are 100 male and 50 fe- pository, published in Seoul, remarks: male physicians, 150 male native med- "We gladly recognize the existence of ical students and 80 female students, 71 the progressive party and the good work hospitals treating many thousands of it is aiming to do: The widening and patients, and the physicians attending repairing of the main streets; the careyet other thousands at their homes, and ful cxpediture of government money; 111 dispensaries. in which over 223,000 the presence of capable foreigners in the patients are treated. About $70,000 law, war, and police departments; the was spent in medical work last year." dismissal of incompetent clerks; the redistricting the country into thirteen -A missionary of the China Inland provinces; and the fixed salaries of Society writes; Weare having a little governors and magistrates, tOlether difficulty at present with some in the with the littliting of their power and are continually discust in these papers, privileges," Add to these the royal and from a Christian point of postal service in 11 cities and 14 smaller view. The influence of the Christians towns, and we have a hopeful outlook upon the great moral reforms of the for the future. day is undeniable-they are practically under Christian leadership. The ChIis- -Rev. G. H. Jones writes: "In tians have already added largely to the Korea the Protestant mission work is commercial and industrial strength of carried on at 40 different places. The the nation.-The Outlook. storm of war and desolation has driven us ten years nearer our ultimate goal. -There are 15 publications in Japan The chief results have been the relief of devoted to the interests of women. Of Christianity from misconceptions of the these 3 are Christian. It is said that people, the mastery of a hitherto un- the late war with China has given a known tongue, and the successful great impetus to female education in inauguration of a Christian foundation. Japan. In the Mitsui Bank, of Osaka, Woman's work has been specially suc- the book keepers are all women. The cessful. The Protestant missionaries fair sex is also pretty well represented number 82. Of these 35 are Presbyter- in some of the Government offices. ians (31 from the United States and 4 from Australia); 26 are Methodists -The Y. M. C. A. of Tokyo has on from the United States (24 of the Meth- its roll the names of 347 members, odist Episcopal Church and 2 of the active and associate, and 186 young Methodist Episcopal Church, South); men attend the Association's night 12 are of the Church of England from school. England; 5 are Baptists from the United States; 4 are independent. In -A census of Christian charities in October, 1895, there were reported 42 Japan has been prepared by Rev. Mr. congregations, 528 baptized members, Pettee, of Okayama, in which are given 567 probationers or inquirers who had the names of 37 schools for the poor, given evidences of conversion and were having 1,317 pupils; 6 "homes" for applicants for baptism: 445 Sunday- various classes of persons, having 106 school scholars. The mission of the inmates, besides 22 orphanages having Methodist Episcopal Church was com- 1,189 inmates. There are also reported menced in 1885. It now reports 9 male 16 hospitals, and 4 institutions for the and 15 female missionaries, 122 mem- Ainu. Some of these charities were bers, and 288 probationers. organized and are supported by mis- sionary societies, but the greater portion Japan.-It is a striking fact, which owe their origin and maintenance to those who question the power of the individuals or churches, native or the Christian movement would do well foreign. The oldest of these charities to consider, that out of the half dozen are a school for the poor and an orphan so·called great papers (Dai Shimbun) of asylum at Yokohama, organized in Japan, two are avowedly under the 1871 by the Institute des Soeur de St. guidance of Christian principles. These Enfant Jesus. The next oldest is an two are the Kokumin Shimbun (the orphan asylum in Tokyo founded by Nation) and the Mainichi Shimbun (the the same sisters in 1873. J)a$'lu News). No Japanese, certainly, would dispute the correctness of this -Count Ito, the reforming Chancelclassification. One may doubt, possibly, lor of Japan, has persuaded the empress the religious influence of these journals; to wear European dress. His object in but they are stalwart champions of doing so is to help to secure for Japan- Christian ethics, and they have a wide ese women a higher social position. At hearing. Questions of public morality present they have assigned to them an inferior place in society. and Count Ito's notion is that by dressing like Europeans their standing will be raised. " If the your rifle, when you are getting a bead women," it is argued, "begin to wear on a fidgety buck, and bite in some foreign attire, their husbands will be painful spot just as you are about to obliged to modify their houses and pull the trigger. Other insects annoy their whole manner of living." you. Big moths, inquisitive about your lamp, enter your room at full speed, AFRICA. flutter noisily about your lamp, or try -There is little of Africa now that is to commit suicide inyour soup, leaving not controlled by either Portugal, Italy, the fluff of their wings floating on the Germany, France, or Great Britain. surface. The jigger burrows into your Germany possesses an area five times flesh, and starts in to raise a family in a as great as the original extent of its little white bag beneath the surface of own country. The African possessions your skin. The proverbial little ant is of France have been multiplied by five a terror to mankind. The large brown within the last decade. The only re- driver-ant, marching in swarms of milmaining portion of the great continent lions, with giant-ants as leaders and ofnot under European protection, the ficers, is a dreadful enemy. They move Sudan, is in process of conquest, really over the ground like a dark-brown ribby Great Britain, tho nominally by bon a foot wide, devouring every living Egypt. thing they meet, from a grasshopper to a goat, if the beast can not escape. -If the Kongo River were laid down Their heads are furnisht with terrific in Europe, it would extend from St. nippers; if you are bitten, and attempt Petersburg, in the north, and Smyrna, to pull away the insect, you will flnd in the east, to Athens and Naples, in the that the head remains in your flesh. south, watering the whole of Europe They will enter your house; no matter with the exeeption of northern Scandi- how well filled your larder was before navia and eastern Russia. the visit, it will contain nothing but -The English and German mission- bones afterward. The white ant does aries in East Africa introduced the cus- not bite you; his particular province is tom of raising a white flag with a red to destroy your most valuable property cross upon the flag-staff in their stations -your best trunks, your favorite shoes. on Saturdays, in order to tell the neigh- In one night he will so attack a wooden borhood that the Lord's day is on the box that when you lift it in the mornmorrow. The natives consequently call ing the bottom will drop out; he will Sunday" flag-day." eat a living eucalyptus·tree, and when he is in the district the poles of your -The late Mr. E. J. Glave wrote, in house in a few months' time will crum- the Century: "A word as to African ble into dust. At a certain state of his insects. In the swamps the mosquito is existence he has wings, which he sheds a vicious little fanatic. He assails you at your meal-times into your dishes.
in clouds without the slightest provo· Scorpions and tarantula spiders are only cation, and remains till killed. He is a occasionally met. Large beetles come keen observer, and if you are sitting in from long distances to see you, and end any posture which stretches your gar- their journey by striking you in the ments tightly over your leg, you feel a face. Many insects of smaller caliber sharp sting which tells you the mos- settle on the back of your neck, and quito has noticed the fact. A small hole when you try to brush them off sneak in your mosquito-net he notices at once, down your back. Small saw·flies feel and will struggle through it, a wing and particularly curious about your right leg at a time, and when inside calls to eye when the left one is closed and a few friends and tells them the way he you are trying to get a bead on a entered. They perch on the barrel of buck." -Extraordinary steps have been with the intrigue and fatalism of the taken by the authorities of Cape Colony Moslems, and the well-known ignorance to arrest the progress of the rinderpest, of the superstitious Mograbin Jews, which, making its way southward from the workers see little encouragement, the Zambesi, has desolated Rhodesia, but their trust is in the Lord, who has stript Khama's people in Bechuana- purposes of grace in Morocco as well as land of their most valuable property, in other countries. and threatens to desolate the entire southern section of the continent. At -The American Sudan Mission has its first irruption infected herds were already 4 stations and 18 workers near promptly slaughtered-one of the the source of the Niger at Falaba, and causes of the revolt of the Matabeles now proproses to send another set of was the refusal of the authorities to workers to occupy Timbuctoo. Two- compensate the native owners for cattle thirds of the inhabitants of the Sierra thus slain. Then an attempt was made Leone hinterland speak the Mendi lan- to prevent the infection spreading south guage, and the Mendi are the Waganda of the Molopolo River; strong patrols of the West Coast, so the possibilities were establisht on the southern bank- seem to be considerable, even though but in vain. A fresh boundary line- the surer way to reach the Sudan as a a fence of wire-was then constructed Whole be through the Hausaspeaking by the Cape authorities, at great ex- nations. pense, from the German territory on the west to the Transvaal on the east, -The Presbyterian Church of South and continued down to the south. The Africa has now its General Assembly, plague leapt this barrier, and appeared in which are represented the Free in three native localities. These were Church, with 3 presbyteries; the United promptly fenced in. A double fence Presbyterian Church, with 2 presbywas then built right across Bechuana- teries; the separate presbyteries of Natal, land, with a five mile interspace, and Cape Town, and the Transvaal, and the this belt is incessantly patroled to pre- congregation of Port Elizabeth. The vent the crossing of cattle. In all, united body claims to have 13,000 comsome 1,500 miles of wire fencing has municants, of whom three-fourths are been constructed, and the work has natives. Outside this community there cost, including the police and patrols, are 2 other Presbyterian churches in over $2,000,000. South Africa-the Dutch Ref(lrmed, with 160,000 members; and the Basuto -The annual report of the Central Church, with over 9,000 members. Morocco Medical Mission gives us some idea of the anxieties which be- -Dr. George F. Becker, of the set the work of Dr. Robert Kerr and United States Geological Survey, who his helpers. The Mission carries the has just returned from mining investi- Gospel to the Jews, Moors, Arabs, and gations in the Transvaal RepUblic, re- Berbers in the center of Morocco. ports that that country contains the Rabat and Salee, with an aggregate most stupendous gold deposits the population of 55,000 souls, 5,000 of them world has ever seen. Within 15 miles Jews, form the basis of operations, of Johannesburg, he says, on What is while the tribes lying between bring up called the main reef series, there is an the population to upwards of 400,000. amount of gold practically in sight, Owing to civil war and the unsettled estimated to be worth $3,500,000,000, state of the country, no itinerating work or nearly as much as the entire volume was possible last year, but the medical of gold coin now in the world. For mission was frequented by many of the the present gold is being taken out at people, 4,491 cases being treated during the rate of $100,000,000 a year, and it the nine months ending Sept. 30. What would not be surprising if, within a few years, the South African gold output equalled that of all the world be- way, and that he hoped they would be sides. Most startling of all is the report which Dr. Becker brings from another met on the coast of Kavirondo by the American mining expert that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the new steamer supplied by the Stanley gold deposit, instead of being 30 miles long, is practi(~alIy 1,200 miles long. and Record Fund and conveyed thence -The Pennsylvania Bible Society to their destination, thus saving a fort· contributes $500 to pay the expenses of a second edition of the Tonga New night'smarching. The new Government Testament, for the missions .of the Methodist Episcopal Church in East steamer, which was put together at the Africa. The translation was made by the Rev.E. H. Richards, superintendent mouth of the Lake and was the first to of East African Missions. He will superintend the issuing of the new 1I.oat upon its waters, has suffered a disedition. The American Bible Society does the printing. aster at Bukoba, the German station on -The death of Baron Von Eltz adds the west coast, where it was driven on another name to the roll of those who have fallen in their enthusiasm to bring the rocky shore by a storm. Christ's kingdom of light and peace to Africa. He occupied the post of Com· -Writing by the last Livingstonia missioner for the German territories east of Lake Nyassa., and by strenuous mail from Ekwendeni, the headquarters efforts against the Arabs, had contributed in no small measure to the ex- of the mission which has tamed the tinction of' the slave trade in his district. To his children, as he called the Ngoni on the western uplands of Lake German missionaries in our African Interlaaken (the land between Tanganyika Nyasa, Dr. W. A. Elmslie reports con· and Nyassa), he was full of kindness. -Blantyre Life and Work. tinued progress up to the end of last -The missionaries of the Leipsic July. The 17 schools, with above 1,000 Society in East Africa are rejoiCing that they henceforth will receive their mail eager scholars in daily attendance, were regularly every three weeks. If they were in Alaska or in the Hudson Bay all in operation, and all studying the territory they would be glad to get it every three months I And we spoiled Word of God. which they purchase for children of civilization grumble if our morning paper is late a few minutes. themselves. Revs. E. Ovir and K. Segebrock, two young Leipsic missionaries, were mur- -We may give thanks to-day that the dered by Arusha and Meri robbers, October 20, on their way to the Meri spirit of place is so wide-spread. Folmountains, where they were to establish a new station. lowing hard after the good news about -Bishop Tucker, now in England, the Venezuelan difticulty comes the states that the Uganda party, who left the coast November 28, were to go tidings that Italy has resigned 'her pro· the 1I.rst 14 miles of the journey by rail- tectorate over Abyssinia and has recog· nized the independence of that plucky African countrr., whose Christian king and soldiers, It will be remembered gave the Italian army the most ignO:- minious drubbing several months ago. It was feared that Italy, to maintain lier military standing, would continue this expenSlye and bloody war at all costs.
Now that the present treaty has been concluded onreaigbnroabdetawnedenlibethraesl ebatswis~ peace will countries, and one more long step has been taken towards the recognition of the oft-ignored fact that weak and " uncivilized" nations have rights that should be respected.-Golden RUle.
-King Menelek of Abyssinia claims to have treatad the Jews more kindly and justly than others have done. •• There are more than 300,000 of them in my kingdom," he said lately to a missionary; "and though they enjoy almost complete independence, they are obedientand industrious subjects. They never conspire, pay all tributes, and respect our abuna as much as do the Christians. If they are worse in Eu- rope, it is because the Christians, too, are worse. Our Lord Jesus forgave them on the cross j why should we persecute them?"
The Missionary Review of the World — November 1892
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE AS A MISSIONARY CENTRE
MiSSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No.n.-Old series.–NOVEMBER.–voL. V. No. n.-New Series.
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE AS A MISSIONARY CENTRE.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-OHIEF.
On the southeast side of the Thames, in London, stands a great church building, for more than thirty years linked with the name of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The church organization which finds there a home is not only foremost among Baptists, but is, in a certain sense, "mater et caput omnium ecclesiarum, urbis et orbis." .
" See," said God to Moses, " that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount." This principle has been at the basis of the construction and conduct of this noble enterprise. The providence of God, having brought me into intimate personal contact with the Metropolitan Tabernacle during a period of eight months, rare opportunity has been given for the study of the interior workings of this colossal organiz!rt.ion j and it is both duty and privilege to give to the Christian public, some- what more completely than has ever yet appeared in print, an outline of its autonomy and autocracy, its theoretical and practical administration, its spiritual machinery and world-wide usefulness. .
Comprehensively speaking, this brotherhood of disciples, over which C. H. Spurgeon so long presided, is not so much a church as a radiating centre for all city evangelization, public philanthropy, and home and foreign mlSSlOns. The methods here pursued are so silliple yet so complete, so concentrated and yet so comprehensive, so uniform and yet so multiform, so convergent and yet so far-reaching, that they provide and present in some sort a pattern or model for the organization and administration of church life in other parts of the world, and especially in great cities. The basis of the success here attained is laid in principles so scriptural and spiritual, that it challenges instead of defying imitation, and suggests pos- sible reasons for the failure, elsewhere so common.
The church-membership now embraces nearly six thousand, a fact which is the more remarkable, since the drift of the better classes of population has for years been away from the vicinily of the Tabernacle toward the more delightful and healthful residential suburbs. The most conspicuous feature of this great church is not, however, its numerical force, bllt the promi- nence here given for forty years to the preaching of the pllre Gospel of Christ, and to the advocacy and illustration of a simple and apostolic form of worship and Christian life. There is noticeable also an absence of all attempt at worldly art. There is no magnifying of the resthetic acce&- sories; the only beauty cultivated is the beauty of holiness.
The building is almost excessively, though not repulsively, plain; there has certainly been no constructing of ornament, and but little ornamenting of construction. The main objects in view have evidently been commodiousness, convenience, and comfort. The building has been so planned that everyone in the vast audience may both see and hear the preacher, and probably no other building in the world combines such large accommodations with such freedom from acoustic defects. When all available sittings are occupied, in the aisles as well as pews, five thousand persons may be seated; and on a few occasions it is said that more than seven thousand have been crowded into the house.
The area or ground floor furnishes the main seating capacity, but two galleries run entirely around, elliptical in effect, and very convenient and capacious. A portion of the lower gallery, extending forward, provides the platform for the preacher. The actual point where the speaker stands is near to one of the foci of the ellipse formed by the gallery front, and is therefore the best point from which to be well heard. Immediately below this is the baptistery platform, elevated about four feet, and extending still further toward the centre of the area; and here on ordinary occasions are seated children from the orphanage and elderly women from the almshouses, those whose hearing is imperfect, etc.
Mr. Spurgeon's great law in preaching was to combine simplicity with evangelicity. He believed thoroughly in the inexhaustible beauty and power of the old Gospel, when its native Divine attractiveness and effectiveness are unhindered by the vain trimmings and trappings of this world; and he honestly and persistently sought to make every sermon not only a means of edification to saints, but of conversion to sinners. Lest anything should divert attention from Christ as the centre of the message, and God as the centre of worship, he gave no encouragement to organ or choir, and the vast aS3emblage has always been led by a precentor. The service opens with prayer and song; the Scripture reading and exposition are followed by another hymn and prayer, and the benediction immediately succeeds the sermon. So great was Mr. Spurgeon's dependence on the power of the simple Word, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, that he was Dot wont to hold" after meetings," except for prayer; nor did he use the methods so common with modern evangelists of "bringing hearers to an immediate dt'cision." Yet, to the honor ·of God be it noted that the average accession of members for the last thirty-eight years has been three hundred and ninetv per year, and in 1874 and 1875 exceeded five hundred. No presentation of the Metropolitan Tabernacle and its work could be complete without indicating both the departments of activity and the apparatus by which it is carried on. The building itself is very large, embracing twenty or more rooms, large and small, the main space being occupied by the great aS5embly hall. Back of this are some twelve rooms: four of these are in the uppermost story, and mainly used for storage; on the middle floor is the pastor's study or vestry, with rooms for the deacons' and elders' courts, which together constitute a communicating suite, available for pastor's receptions, etc. From the hall leading from the elder's room to the deacon's room a door opens to the pulpit platform. Below this story and on the level of the baptistery are the secretaries' offices, robing rooms for candidates for baptism, etc., and the ladies' room; and in the ,basement, which extends beneath the entire building, are found the large Sunday-school room, the lecture-room, with capacity for about eight hundred persons, and other apartments for all the numerous and various purposes made necessary by such a Christian household.
There is scarce a room among all these that is not sanctified by multiplied forms of service. In the elders' room meets a Bible class of young women ; in the secretaries' 'office are kept church records, lists of members, pewholders, etc.; and here communion tickets and pew tickets are distributed. In the ladies' room meet the Ladies' Benevolent Society, Loan Tract Society, orphanage, working, colportage, clothing, and Dorcas societies, and here adult Bible class and prayer services are conducted. In another room assemble a men's Bible class and Mother's Working Meeting. In the lecture-room a Sabbath afternoon preaching service and a Thursday evening prayer-meeting are held. Near by, the Tract Society has its repository, whence to three hundred homes every week go forth visitors with loan tracts, to be collected and redistributed when the week expires. This building is also a centre for other forms of Christian service-the Flower Mission, Evangelistic Association, Bands of Hope, Total Abstinence Society, Benevolent Society, etc.
Immediately back of the Tabernacle is the college building, with large library, conference hall for five hundred, lecture-rooms, president's offices, etc. Here are the "common room," where the body of the departed pastor was first laid after its arrival from Mentone, the colporteurs' room and bookstore, whence eighty distributers go forth to disseminate Christian literature. etc.
As to the college itself, the aim is to train up a generation of preachers and pastors who hold and teach the precious old truths of the blessed Word; and the main support of this institution, with its seventy or more students, is found in the voluntary offerings, for the gathering of which some sixty boxes are placed in and about the church building. These offerings average from forty to sixty pounds sterling each Lord's day.
Much care is taken as to the choice of students. Applicants are divided into three classes: First, the accepted; secondly, the rejected; and thirdly, the doubtful, whose cases are to be considered and decided more carefully. Each applicant sends his photograph, recommendations from pastor and others, with evidence that he has already been successfully engaged in work for souls j and, if there be further question about him, he is invited to a personal interview, his travelling expenses and entertainment being provided, so that the college authorities may make his acquaintance. If found worthy and needy, his food, clothing, text-books, and lodging in some home round about, will be furnished, so far and so long as he requires; and the homes of students are visited each quarter by an elder, who thus keeps track of the student's peIsonallife. The average time spent in the college is three years, but the students are set at work for Christ meanwhile, and many of them act as pastors in mission halls and chapels, while others go out to preach as occasion and opportunity offer. Having often had occasion to address theological stndents in American seminaries, I have never found among an equal number so many intelligent, earnest, and consecrated men. At least four evangelists are employed and paid by the Pastor's College, and above eight hundred students have been trained here.
The Sunday-schools of the Tal:iernacle entoll about twelve hundred members, and the classes meet both in the Tabernacle !milding and college building, but all under one superintendent. Linked on to the Tabernacle are not a few chapels and missions, such as the Richmond Street Mission j Haddon Hall, with its full complement of Sabbath preaching, Sundayschool and week-night services j Surrey Grove Chapel, Surrey Garden's Memorial Hall, Almshouse meetings, and the Sunday-school, and evangelistic service!! and like meetings at the Orphanage. Converts gathered at these halls join the Tabernacle.
Some forty officers·-elders and deacons-with the pastors, have constituted the governing and directing force of this Metropolitan Tabernacle, the elders having charge of the spiritual interests, and the deacons mostly of the temporalities, but both working unitedly to secure efficiency in all things. The method of election has been very. simple j the pastor has been wont to nominate to each body additional members j and if there were no dissent, these names were reported for the confirmatory vote of the church at large. Then the right hand of fellowship was extended by the pastor, and prayer offered, without laying on of hands, to which Mr. Spurgeon was opposed. Superintendents of the Sunday-school were likewise commonly nominated by Mr. Spurgeon, who thus became the real and proper head of the entire administration. Three elders are set apart to special spiritual oversight, and are so employed by the church, as also are two most competent secretaries, who give up their time to the management of its clerical and business affairs. Two families act as caretakers, one of them living in the college, the other in the Jubilee House adjoining the Tabernacle, and built in Mr. Spurgeon's jubilee year, 1884, from offerings given in commemoration of his fiftieth birthday. Rev. James A. Spurgeon, although himself having a large and influential chapel in West Croydon, has long been associate. pastor with his now deceased brother, and remains the actual and capable head of this great church and its various institutions. He is a man of marked ability and singular fitness for his great administrative trust; and Colgate University has just honored him with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, as also Olivet College has voted him the first Doctorate of Laws ever given in its history. What the Tabernacle, the Pastor's College, and the Orphanage would have done without Doctor James Spurgeon at this crisis it is difficult to say. We may all bless God that so strong a hand was on the helm in such troublous times.
The brief statement here given suffices to show that the Tabernacle is a great missionary centre. First there is the constant and faithful preaching of the Gospel to vast audiences on the Lord's day and during the week. The prayer-meeting on Monday nights is often attended by upward of two thousand people; the Thursday night's preaching service by as many more; and these, with the Lord's day, make the aggregate audience weekly not far from seven or eight thousand different people, of whom one seventh are strangers from every quarter, who from this great centre carry to their distant homes the report of what they hear. In this great house of worship is thus repeated every week some such influence as that exerted by Pentecost, through those who, temporarily dwelling at Jerusalem, went back to every nation under heaven to bear the good tidings. This vast outreach of the Gospel there preached constitutes the Tabernacle a great centre of missions. Moreover, the continued publication of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, week by week, at a penny each, their translation into twenty-five living tongues, and their perusal by hundreds of thousands constitutes a second distinct branch of missionary influence.
Then there is the dispersion of the members in every direction for the evangelization of the city,for in this church perhaps a larger proportion of Christian workers may be fonnd than in any other church in Christendom ; and here is a third form of mission work. The college, including the present body of students, is training or has sent forth nearly a thousand young men, to engage in either home or foreign missionary work, and they are scattered throughout the world, and this constitutes a fourth branch of missionary influence traceable to this central stock. The Evangelistic Association, which supplies temporary or permanent evangelistic labor to churches and communities in need of such help; the Colportage Association, sending out Bibles and religious books in every direction; the Tract Loan Society, visiting families every week and leaving tracts; the Sunday-schools of the Tabernacle and its connected missions, with their thousands of youth; the various other societies for aiding mothers, poor ministers, orphans; the Total Abstinence Society, and Band of Hope and Flower Mission-these are but a part of this many-branching tree of life. The Stockwell Orphanage has now over four hundred inmates, and has sent out more than one thousand children, and is a missionary centre in itself. Beside these, there are private forms and methods of benefaction, in visiting and relieving the poor, the sick, and the outcast, good works whose history bas never yet been written, because the data have never been supplied ; and all these must be included before a true conception is formed of the multitudinous ramifications which proceed from this one centre of spiritual f<;>rce and impulse.
Mr. Spurgeon was not known peculiarly as an advocate of foreign missions j but the Gospel he preached was so full of the spirit of missions that it kindled zeal in many hearts which impelled them to take up work among the heathen j and Hudson Taylor's recruits always love to come to the Monday evening prayer service to say their farewells and get, as from a mother, a parting blessing before leaving for China's inland regions.
No reference has yet been made to that famous "Book Fund," whose special manager-shall we not say mother ?-was and is the beloved wife of the departed pastor, and of which we need to write a separate paper, if justice is to be done to this noble work. In 1890 £836 sterling (upward of $4000) were spent in books and sermons donated to various parties in home and foreign lands. No one but God knows how many private contributions of money, love, sympathy, and prayer go forth from this congregation every day ; and the gap that would be made not only in the metropolis of the world, but in the world itself, if this church should cease to be, only God can measure. The fact is, the members of this great church and Pastor's College, like the Moravian Brethren, are trained to expect work for God as a necessary part of Christian life j and when the pastor lays his hand on a man or woman, and appoints such to a certain post of responsibility, he feels sure the appointment will be accepted and the workers will do their best.
It will be seen that Charles H. Spurgeon occupied a throne and wielded a sceptre the like of which the world furnishes nowhere else. Yet he was a leader rather than an autocrat. He was so highly esteemed and dearly loved, and such was the confidence reposed in his piety and judgment, that there was conceded to him almost unlimited and undisputed control j but he was a fine example, how safe it is to be guided by a single will, when that will is itself guided by knowledge and love. An archbishop of the Anglican Church is credited with saying that Spurgeon was " the most influential ecclesiastic in the world;" but if he was an absolute monarch inside of his church realm, it is safe to say that he never abused the sceptre held by his hands. He said jocosely to me, that if you want a thing done you must do it yourself, and that the best possible committee is a committee of three, two of whose members are sick or out of town!
~othing impressed me during months of labor here more than the atmosphere of prayer pervading the entire institution. Not only all day Sunday, but all through the week, there is scarce half a day not more or less occupied with religious services of some sort, and at almost all hours the voice of prayer may be heard; and when, at Florence, an American visitor asked Spurgeon the secret of his success, his quiet, hum ble, reverent, truthful answer was, "r have a people who pray much for me."
Never have I seen a people so willing, generous, considerate, affectionate, nor an activity so widespread and universal; never a church so primitive and apostolic. Beyond baptism by immersion, there is nothing which might not be common to the most devout evangelical believers everywhere. If anything could be suggested as an improvement in the administration of this church-any change which would make it seem nearer the apostolic pattern, it would be to throw all pews absolutely open to all comers and trust to voluntary offerings for the support of the minister and the supply of current expenses. This matter has been considered, but many fear that" free pews" would be appropriated by so many now attending other places of worship that non-churchgoer~ would be practically excluded, and such think that a moderate rental secures a more miscellaneous attendance. Upon this I prefer not to retreat from opinions long held, that the only right and best way is God's way, and that there is no foundation in the Acts of the Apostles for any pew-sale or pew-rental. Yet fairness compels me to concede and to confess that strangers have always a cordial welcome and do feel at home, and that the" atmosphere" of the Tabernacle repels no one and makes no worshipper conscious of restraint or constraint.
At the time of Mr. Spurgeon's decease, in January last, it was prophesied by many that the whole church, like a sheaf whose bond is removed, would fall apart; but up to this time the audiences continue as large as ever, and there is no decline of interest apparent; while the contributions for current expenses and the offcrings for benevolent work have rather increased than diminished-a practical proof that when the Gospel is faithfully preached and the Christian life is sedulously cultivated, there is created an esprit du corps that rtlmains as a permanent bond of union and is the abiding secret of vitality and activity, even when so great a preacber and pastor is forever withdrawn.
To conclude, if it be asked what is the secret of the success attained in this church, which makes it pre-eminent perhaps above all others, it seems to me that this secret lies mainly in two things: First, that there has never been anything countenanced here but the simple preaching of the Gospel, unheralded by sensational announcements and advertisements, and nnmixed with worldly leaven; and, secondly, that from the first there has been set up and held up here the simplest, purest type of apostolic worship. Hindrances either to the Gospel's power or the Spirit's working have been practically reduced to a minimum. No needless rites or ceremonies have here surrounded the administration of ordinances and sacraments. Beyond the decency and decorum of the service of worship, art has no place, and there is nothing to interfere with the exaltation of the Lord alone in the eyes of all men, in His house.
Why may not all that is essential in this church life be repeated in any
SAMOAN MISSION OF THE LONDON MISSlONARY SOCIETY
part of the world ~ The same uplifting of Christ, the same magnifying of the Spirit, the same zeal for simplicity of worship and fervency in prayer, the same adherence to a biblical pattern of church order and conduct, with the same renunciation of mere worldly art and attractions, might in any of the centres of Christendom give us other churches which, like the Metropolitan Tabernacle, should be at once witnesses to the power of the truth and centres of all missionary operations at home and abroad.
Charles H. Spurgeon being dead yet speaketh. A monument more lasting than brass and more precious than gold stands to his memory iI} the heart of the world's metropolis, and lifts high the flaming light of a testimony that flashes its beams over the entire civilized globe. May many other churches find in the Metropolitan Tabernacle the suggestion and the impulse of a nobler career of service, and, like it, send forth into dark and desert regions beyond both living rays of truth and living streams of grace!
THE SAMOAN MISSION OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
BY REV. J. E. NEWELL, D.D., MANCHESTER, ENG.
The Samoan Mission is the link of connection between the two great divisions of the South Pacific-Eastern and 'Western Polynesia. It was the first link of a chain which now embraces all the principal islands and groups of Western Polynesia, and connects them with the vast island of N"w Guinea.
The man who first carried the Gospel to the ,Samoan Islands lost his life while engaged in the work of introducing Christian teachers to the New Hebrides. As the Tahitian teachers taken by Williams and BarlI carried the torch of life to Samoa, so the Samoans in turn went forth to Western Polynesia-to the New Hebrides, the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, and the Isle of Pines. And how Christian teachers from both Eastern and Western Polynesia are united in one grand crusade against the powers of darkness in New Guinea.
Having witnessed the transforming power of the Gospel in his own group, and seen it take root in the Hervey Islands-the principal island of which (Rarotonga) John Williams himself discovered-that man of daring and heroic enterprises conceived the idea of taking the good news of God's love to the Samoans living in islands lying from fourteen to eighteen hundred miles distant. How his ship, the Messenger of Peace, was built and launched; how those bold pioneers-Williams and BarlI-crossed that trackess waste of ocean, and how in August, 1830, they landed in Samoa and located those first eight Tahitian teachers, John 'Williams himself has told us.
The jubilee of that event was celebrated by the Samoans during the year in which the writer of this sketch began his work among that interest- ing and lovable people.
With what thrilling interest did one just entering on his work listen to native reminiscences of that event!
Standing on the spot where John Williams first landed, an old man- one of the first Samoan Christians-recalled the portly presence of the missionary; the grateful and courteous way in which he had received the food which the kindly, hospitable Samoans had taken to the strangers; above all, that first giving of thanks to the Father of all mercies as " Uiliamu" took the food presented to them.
Again, an ever-memorable speech was that made at another of those jubilee meetings by one who had been a priest of that olden time. A priest, and therefore according to the very remarkable belief of the Samoans an incarnation, or at least a representative of the unseen God to men. Said he : "I was supposed to possess supernatural power, and men were ever afraid of me ; and yet I was in my own personal relation to the God even as others. I could provoke the wrath of the deity, and I must pro- pitiate him even as others must. I had a beloved sister who was sick unto death. When naught availed for her recovery, and hope was well- nigh gone, I determined to make a propitiatory sacrifice." And so he had taken the bamboo knife and severed the third finger at the joint from his left hand; and when that did not avail he took off the next, the little finger. Then the sister recovered !
With what a sympathetic thrill one witnessed that old man tottering on the verge of the grave, as he raised his left hand in confirmation of that beautiful story of self· sacrificing love.
Appropriately enough most of the speeches given during that interesting series of meeti~gs were from native missionaries, who had gone forth in the fervor of their self.consecration to preach God's glad news to perishing men in other islands; for Samoa was ever a missionary church. Natives from Samoa were employed in introducing the Gospel into Savage Island, and into the Tokelan, the Ellice, ,and Gilbert Islands (those south of the Equator), and some of these natives were there to tell how the Gospel was· the power of God unto salvation, not only to the Samoans, but also to peoples whom Samoans considered to be much more degraded than themselves. Some, too, who had labored in the islands in Western Polynesia, already mentioned, were present to tell of sorrows and privations endured for the Gospel's sake in the West.
Before John Williams went that last fatal voyage to the New Hebrides he had the joy of seeing the establishment of the Samoan Mission. In 1836 six British missionaries arrived in Samoa. One of the six, the Rev. A. W. Murray-in many ways the most successful and remarkable of the six-has recently passed away. He was the historian of the Samoan Mission, ana has well told the story of the forty years subsequent to his arrival in Samoa. Two or three features of the wOlk of the mission during that period are all that can be touched upon: 1. The education of a native ministry. 2. Bible translation. 3. The extension of the mission by native agency.
1. An event of deep importance to the mission was the establishment of the Malua Institution for the training of native pastors and teachers. This institution was established in September, 1844, by the late Revs. Charles Hardie and the late Dr. George Turner. Mr. Hardie's place was subsequently filled by the late Rev. Henry Nisbet, LL.D. While recog- nizing the extraordinary talents of the latter, especially as the author of valuable commentaries in Samoan on several books of the Bible, and as seen in the multifarious work of the institution, there can be no doubt that the honor of having created one of the most efficient of mission institutions is mainly due to Dr. Turner.
To have laid the foundation of such a trllining institution so securely and so wisely, that for all essentials there should be nothing hereafter to undo or to modify ; to have solved the problem of how to educate the native Christian without robbing him of the faith of his heart; of how to Christianize without Anglicizing the native, was largely the work of Dr. Turner. Under him it was proved that a South Sea college could be reared on the lines ef the communal life of a Polynesian village. The Malua Institution is, in fact, such a village consisting of some twenty· six " families." The heads of each household are the married student and his wife, whose position in the institution entitle them to the dignity. With these young unmarried men are placed, and each family receives a member of the Boys' Boarders' Class.
There are at present in the institution 108 students, of whom 56 are married, and boy boarders to the number of 26, Reckoning all three classes as students for whom the institution has provided education since the college was established, exclusive of those who are still under training. there ha'e been 940 students for the native ministry, 589 women (wives of students), and 307 boy boarders, making an aggregate of 1836 who have passed through the institution.
The students cultivate-the food necessary for their own support and that of those dependent upon them. As this can be done in such a country without much labor, it allows ample time for the strictly educational part of a student's training.
Certainly the training needed by a native pastor or missionary is unique. Every pastor in Samoa must be also village schoolmaster, and for that normal training is needed. To meet that need a normal school has been established. The villages in Samoa are small, and there is very little of the wealth we reckon by money to pay for skilled labor in the erection of village churches, and the pastor who can direct such work is greatly valued; hence an important part of his training as a student must be industrial.
And what a pastor needs, that a missionary in an isolated out8tation in the Ellice or Gilbert group needs still more. The fact that pur village churches and our outstations are locally independent of outside help is proof of the training of the pastor. The native village church may be rude and simple in construction, but at least it was built by the people themselves, and mission funds have in no case been used in erecting it.
With regard to that singular feature of the college-the Boys' Boarders'
Class-it is noticeable that our most successful pastors in Samoa and the most efficient missionaries in the outstations and in New Guinea are those who first entered the institution as boys, and who afterward returned for a further four years' course as theological students.
And with reference to the association in families of peoples as dis- .
similar as Samoans and Gilbert Islanders, it may be safely affirmed that nothing but Christianity could have made such a thing not only possible, but entirely satisfactory in experience.
2. The Samoans possess an excellent version of the Bible. The present edition is the result of more than thirty years' study of the Samoan lan- guage, and is as faithful to the original as it is idiomatic and pure in the vernacular. Both as to knowledge of the original and for Samoan scholar- ship the Rev. George Pratt (now of Sydney, N. S. W.) has been facile princeps; but the work is the result of the combined knowledge of the whole of the mission staff. '
The New Testament was first printed in 1847, and at the close of 1855 the Old Telltament was completed. Ten thousand copies of the Bible were sold at cost price to the Samoans in six years, and each edition of the great Book has been successively paid for by the people.
3. By means of native Samoan missionaries alone sixteen islands to the northwest of Samoa have been evangelized. These islands are in the Tokelau and Ellice groups, together with five islands in the Gilbert group.
The first step in this extension of the Samoan Mission was taken in 1865, when native missionaries were located in the Ellice group. The way in which the missioll was led to take the Word of God to those islands forms, perhaps, the most romantic story of modern missions; the result, however, is all that can now be referred to.
So far as statistics can give that result, we have the fact that 11,000 adherents have been added to the mission; and of these 1916 are profess- ing Christians. The children in Sunday and day schools number 2268.
The people of each island support their own pastor, and for this purpose contribute an average of over $2000. In addition to this, they have built their own churches and pastors' houses, and sent to the foreign missionary fund the sum of something like £300 sterling annually. Si~ce 1883 the Samoans have joined the rest of their Polynesian brethren in the work of evangelizing New Guinea. There are thirteen Samoan native missionaries with their wives in New Guinea, all of them are in heathen districts, and are making full proof of their ministry.
The London Missionary Society keeps up a staff of seven English missionaries in Samoa, and two lady missionaries have been recently added to the number for the work of female education.
The statistics for 1890 show that there are in the whole of the Samoan Mission (Samoa and outstations) 204 native ordained pastors, 173 native preachers; the adherents of the London Missionary Society number 36,459 (out of a population of 46,000) ; church-members, 7943 ; Sunday and day scholars, 11,827. The average annual contributions for the past ten years have been £2010 sterling, of which a little more than half was given for the support of the native pastors, and the rest was contributed to the funds of the London Missionary Society.
Apart from stati8tics, the present condition of the Samoan Church is causing grave anxiety. While numerically as strong as ever, there is only too much reason to fear that there is more formalism and less life than at any previous period of the church. There is a manifest tendency to escape the dominion of the motives which operated even ten years ago to quicken conscience and arouse to spiritual activity. It is. probable that a large proportion of professing Christians have passed from the dominion of spiritual impulse to the formal and lethargic condition which was so disastrous to the Post-Apostolic Church; and yet there is a core of earnest Christian life in the church. Some of the older pastors and many of the Christians in the church are manifestly alive to the dangers and perils of this age of transition. Especially in this connection it is right to mention the Christian heroism of a truly noble band of men and women who have gone forth from the institution to service for Christ in the high places of the field.
Never in the history of the mission have there been better and more efficient native missionaries than those who in recent years have gone to New Guinea; and it seems as if yet again it would be seen that the missionary zeal of the native church, while it can only come as the expression of the loyalty and love of living Christians to their Divine Master, may also be the salvation of the church at large.
As John vVilliams himself felt, Samoa is only the first link of a chain; and the chain is not yet complete. The islands of the South Pacific have been connected with New Guinea as John Williams prayed they might be; but in the South Seas itself, the largest and most populous of all the South Sea Islands is still entirely heathen. The great Solomon group is stilI almost untouched by the Gospel. Can it be that Papua itself is to be the chief agent in the evangelization of that portion of the race to be found in the Solomon Islands ~ However that may be, we ought not in our missionary forward movements to forget our older missions, but" hold fast that which we have t.hat no man take our crown." As it was when the Messenger of Peace first landed native teachers in Samoa, so is it still. God has owned these natives as pioneers of the Gospel, but the vessels that take them and the men that train them and lead them will still for some time to come be European.
1892·1 NATIVE INSTRUMENTALITY IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
NATIVE INS,TRUMENTALITY IN FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. BUNKER, D.D., TOUNGOO, BURMA.
Modern missions have now largely passed their formative stage, and are calling for new or modified methods. As Paul was the model missionary, we do well to study his methods for our own guidance. In this study we find that there were two stages in his work-the formative stage and the orgamzmg stage. In his early missionary life he wrought alone or with some chosen companion, preaching from place to place when able to travel. When converts had been gathered he changed his method. and went about organizing and confirming the churches and appointing pastors. He called into the work native helpers who had been instructed by him, and ordained them in the churches. He also commissioned them, as in the case of Timothy, to do the same work he had done. He thus laid upon the converts he had gathered the work he had formerly carded.
In this example set us by Paul we find a guide in our missionary enterprise. With us the first stage has been passed in many missions. Countries, nations, and tribes have been explored; written languages learned; the unwritten, in many cases, learned and reduced to writing; the Bible translated into many tongues; other useful books prepared; mission plant gathered, and a vast amount of preliminary work completed.
The Gospel message has been proclaimed far and wide, and native converts gathered in many missious by the hundreds and thousands. The calls for men and money are pressing and incessant, and missionary societies are having increased difficulty to find how to meet these calls.
The development of a native instrumentality on the mission fields is one way of meeting these demands, and asks for our consideration.
It is manifest ·that on many mission fields work has reached that stage where it must be done by native agency or not at all. It then becomes all important to know how best to develop that instrumentality.
It will be readily seen that such a development will not decrease the necessity of sending missionaries from Christian to heathen lands. In fact, this demand has been, and is likely to be always in excess of the supply. The necessity of prayer for laborers in the harvest is not likely to pass away. When home churches have done what they can for foreign work, there will still remain a vast deal of work uncompleted, which must be done by native workers, if done at all.
In this stage of mission progress there is an increasing caIJ for peculiar gifts in missionaries. In preliminary and pioneer work among the heathen, men of the highest ability have been required. They were men knowing no fear save the fear of God-men of resources, indefatigable, invincible in Christ.
In the second stage of missionary progress men of no less distinguished ability, though perhaps of a different kind are demanded. The work needs men of large execntive and organizing ability, who can multiply themselves in the native workers whom they find gathered to their hand j men apt to teach, and full of zeal, faith, and the Holy Ghost, like the heroes of the past.
The saying that men of small talent are good enough for the heathen, while those of large endowments are too valuable to be sent abroad, the future is likely to reverse. The mighty works of the Lord are yet to be wrought largely among the Gentiles who know not God, and who are as the sand of the sea-shore for number j and if so, there is to be scope for the activity of the great men of God in the future.
One reason why great importance should be given to the formation of a native ministry, is that the character of foreign mission work is better fitted to native than foreign talent. It requires long experience and much humility for a missionary to learn all he can from the natives in order to enable him to get down to the every-day life and thought of the beathen, and it is only in that low place that he can do his best work and reach the common people. It is often said that few churches in Christian lands really reach the masses. The reason of this does not come within the scope of this paper, but the missionary knows well that he can reach the heathen only as he comes into close touch with them. He cannot deal with them at arm's length. Moreover, he finds himself hedged about, as with a wall, by his ignorance of the language, manners, and customs of the people, and especially of their modes of thought. Through this wall he must work his way, requiring time and much patient labor. His own habits of life, thought, and sometimes even dress must be changed to accomplish his object. The native workers, however, have inherited this knowledge from their birth, and are at once in that place where they can best reach their countrymen after they themselves have found the truth. Best of all, they are in full and intelligent sympathy with their needs. Again, these workers can be more easily lifted into higher thought and life, and equipped for missionary work, than the foreign missionary can learn to adapt himself to these new conditions in which he finds himself. He clln reach his native helper much more easily than he can the masses about him, and thus instead of one, if he has the talent and .grace, he becomes many, multiplying himself in the native converts under his instruction.
This will go a long way in solving the question of how to meet these calls for help from mission fields. This brings us directly to the question before us-namely, how best to train np a native instrumentality on mission fields.
Doubtless one of the most important means at our disposal for this purpose is the training school. This raises the question of mi.ssion schools, much discussed in our day. It is a wide question, and must be settled largely by individual missions on local grounds. In general, however, ,mh'siQn schools have their use as well as abuse. In countries where the government is willing to aid schools, passing prescribed standards in examination, and where mission funds are small and the people poor, there is great temptation to secularize the school in order to retain the pupils under mission influence on the one hand, and to secure the government aid on the other. This is a very insidious temptation, and without doubt has led astray some missionaries and societies even. This temptation should be resisted most strenuously. It should be the aim to leave to the secular powers as much as possible all secular instruction. The preaching of the Gospel is pre-eminently the work of the missionary; but he sometimes finds the necessity of schools laid upon him, and it must not be forgotten that there are many ways of proclaiming the Gospel message. Even Paul had a school in his own hired house for two years.
It may be necessary, in training a body of native helpers, to establish even high schools and colleges, as well as theological seminaries, but such calls should be most carefully studied before being acceded to. We say it may be necessary, but only so, as such schools can be used in training a native instrumentality for mission work. If it is not possible to bend all school work in this direction, be it in primary or higher schools, then the sooner one drops secular instruction and reverts to direct missionary work, the better it will be for the cause of Christ.
Schools, then, which can be controlled in the direction of raising up trained native workers, are a powerful means to the end in view. Here the pupils are constantly under the eye and influence of the missionary, and having been brought to believe in Christ with a saving faith, are in the very best conditions to be prepared for the work before them.
In such school work there is the largest scope for the missionary talent. It has been said that" the method is the man." It is emphatically true that native converts will take very readily the stamp of their much-loved teachers, too readily copying their faults. How often can they be picked out as belonging to this or that known missionary by their mannerisms even, which they have copied from their teachers; but all-important will be the missionary's ability to impart zeal and enthusiasm to his pupils. He needs not only great faith, but Divine enthusiasm for souls, like Jesus and His servant Paul.
A second important method of instruction is by example. If there is any place where an example of Christian living is required, it is in that of the missionary teacher. As an evangeli~t he indeed needs to live the Christ-life daily, or his teachings are lifeless; but as a teacher who must impress his own character and individuality on the' learner, he, above all others, needs to live the Christ-life. It has been said that the heathen need not so much men and money as the Christ.life lived before them as an example. " The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." Experienced missionaries know very well how sharp·eyed the native converts are, when they have learned to compare Christian living with God's Word. Not only in daily living will example be powerful, but in work also. The missionary must not only teach his pupils to work, but show them how by his own example. He must lead them in teaching from house to house, and from town to town, and in exploring and opening new fields. He must show them what patient endurance means. We have a beautiful type of this kind of teaching in our Lord's training of His disciples, as He travelled and taught and wrought His mighty works before them. Often the missionary is called in like manner to lead a band of native workers, which frequently involves the mission of healing as well, as with Christ. Here is an almost unlimited field for practical training.
A third means for the development of a native ministry, and not the least, is found, first, in impressing upon the converts the fact that the duty of evangelizing the heathen about them is theirs, and not the work of the missionary alone j and, secondly, in laying upon them the responsibility of that duty. The missionary will be often pained to find that the converts are inclined to put him in the place of Christ j that they are ~eek ing how they may please him rather than their Redeemer. They seem to regard the building up of the kingdom of Christ as belonging to their missionary, while they are at most only helpers. This is a great mistake in instruction, if allowed to continue. The missionary 8hould impress upon his people, at all times, that this work is theirs, and that he is their helper only. They must realize, if possible, that the Divine commission comes to them directly, and not through man. In order to this end, all possible responsibility must be thrown upon them as they are able to bear it. It has been said justly that a wise missionary will never do what a native can do. It will often be easier for him to perform the work himself than to teach tho native worker how to do it, yet for the sake of the end in view this rule is safe to follow. It is true that he may need to " keep his hands on the lines," but he can do so "out of sight." He may, if he has tact, lead and not seem to lead. These are the best leaders of men, and the missionary cannot cultivate this talent too highly.
There has been too little of this putting of responsibility on the native Christians, and too much interference with the churches among them in past time. One can easily see how this comes about. After much labor and anxiety some are led to Christ. How dear these first converts become to the weary worker, and how solicitous he is for their spiritual welfare! He is too apt to judge them from his own standard and try to raise them to it; but it is better to imitate Paul, and leave the native converts largely to work out their own salvation. To try is to learn. Fail? Yes, they will make mistakes, but leave them to the guidance of the Holy Spirit to learn by their failures, as the children of God have done in all ages, but always with wise care and help when needed.
Just here comes in the question of self-help. It has been the custom of most missionaries to pay a stipulated stipend to native preachers and others. This plan, unless carefully guarded, is likely to work weakness in, instead of being a help to the native worker. One may leach him never so diligently that he is responsible to Christ alone, but 80 long as he feels that he is dependent on the will of his teacher for his monthly wages, he will with difficnlty learn the lesson of dependence on Christ. He is a child, and, like a child, feels obligation to him from w.hom his support visibly comes. There are many ways of helping native workers and not leading them under obligation to the helper. The practice of standing in the place of helper, instead of principal has, in the hands of tlie writer, wrought wonders in developing a self-reliant native ministry.
What is said here of individuals is also true of churches. These singly or associated, however, form a wider field for instruction, as they have special duties assigned them by the Head of the Church. One of the first lessons to be taught them is the power of organized effort. Heathenism disorganizes. Christianity reorganizes. Hence the missionary will be obliged to teach the new body of converts everything in church work. He will meet prejudices which it may take years of patient effort to overthrow. He cannot lay his plans to be consummated in a day or year even. Faithful, persistent, patient teaching, while throwing all possible responsibility upon the native churches, to enable them 10 work out and digest his instruction, will accomplish wonders in time.
Finally, there remains the dignity of the calling of the worker with Christ, and the glorious mission of the Church, to be impressed upon the native mind. 'Without a due sense of these, no corps of workers is duly equipped for their calling. Here is a call for the highest talent God has bestowed on man. Only Divine wisdom can meet the case. Here the missionary may well pause and tremble, for he is entering the Holy of Holies in his mission as a messenger of God to earth. It is here as nowhere else that the native converts take the stamp of their teacher.
When the native worker has come to realize that the work of the ministry of Christ is the best, the most honorable, and the best paid service on earth, and that the Church is engaged in a warfare with evil and darkness, which will, beyond doubt, result in a most glorious victory; when he can, by faith, rejoice in the midst of trials, as those who have already won the crown, a fire has been kindled on heathen soil which, by the grace of God, all the powers of darkness cannot put out. 'That but Divine wisdom can lead the native churches to such faith! Who but the Holy Spirit can enthuse them with the glory of their mission on earth and reward in heaven, and thus incite them to holy endeavor! The missionary, however, is the ordained channel of this grace, and only as he has fellowship with Christ, can he do the work laid upon him. Only as the workers in the kingdom of Christ in any land realize their high calling can they do their best work. This is the work for the missionary of the future. Using all means for the development of a corps of native workers in mission fields, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we shall see the Gospel proclaimed in all lands, and the kingdom prepared for the enthronement of our Lord.
IN OUR MISSIONARY MEETING!!
HOW SHALL THE INTEREST IN OUR MISSIONARY MEETINGS BE INCREASED 1 * BY MRS. ETHAN CURTIS, SYRACUSE, N. Y.
In our larger cities are literary clubs, meeting weekly or semi-monthly, for which papers are most carefully prepared; attendance at them is regular, and many now outside are waiting and wishing to become members. Y,et our missionary societies, in spite of the large number of women in our church-membership, have discouragingly few at their monthly meetings.
Why this difference 1 Is America, Italy, or England preferable to the kingdom of heaven? Is the inspiration of Browning superior to that of St. John, or Shakespeare loftier in thought than Moses, Job, Isaiah, or David 1 Great as are all these, God's direct word to man is greater. Dear is our own country, the land of freedom j precious is Italy, the mother of art; grand is old England, the realm of thought; but the kingdom of heaven, the home of the soul, is better than all other regions.
These literary clubs are fashionable. If we may not make our mis. sionary meetings fashionable, let us at least make them attractive, even if wc borrow from our literary friends some of their methods.
First, let us, like them, make our appointments months beforehand, so that work be carefully prepared. Is not the story of our heroic and selfsacrificing missionary ministry worthy of as much study as poetry, literature, and art?
Let the main feature of the meeting be a strong, vigorous, well-prepared paper, or still better, talk. The subject may be the life of some missionary-biography is always interesting and inspiring. The deeds of the heroes of history make us long to be heroic. There was Carey, educated at the shoemaker's bench, yet becoming the finest lingui8t of India; Judson, a careless, reckless boy, rising to noblest manhood in Christ j Hannington, always human, but always heroic j Paton, working and waiting on the Lord; John Coleridge Patterson, gifted by nature and by race, offering himself to the rudest and roughest people with a supreme joy, because such was the Christ-life ; that other martyr of the South Seas, John Williams, brave in death as in life, giving himself always to forsaken souls; the Moffats in South Africa living there a half century for the Lord. One cannot name or number the biographies that will interest an audience if properly prepared. Then there are romances of missions: our own Oregon story; the Jesuit heroism in North America j the Madagascar mission; the New Zealand transformations; such tales make our best magazine stories pale in comparison. Even the degradation of these human brothers of ours and the dire needs of our fellow-men help us to lose self in longings to help others.
Some such paper should be the central point of the meeting, and there *MN. Cnrtis ill the Vice-President of the N. Y. Woman's Home Missionary Union. is no reason why a missionary paper should not have as much gl"ace of language and vigor of thought as the papers in the literary clubs. Never lose unity or "central radiance," as the old artists called it. The old st.ory is told of Leonardo da Vinci, that while painting the Last Supper, he thought how much" the cup" meant to man, and so lavished his love of detail upon that. When the picture was exhibited many called out, " How beautiful is the cup /" Next day he painted it over, and replaced it by the plainest piece of pottery, saying, " If in a single beholder's mind the cup distracts attention from the face of the Christ, it should have no place in my picture." Such a principle of art we do well to make our creed in missionary meetings.
Singing brightens and belongs to mission work, but be sure that the songs relate to the subject. One sings with peculiar tenderness, "I am coming to the cross" or "Jesus, lover of my soul," after a paper on Hannington. " My country, 'tis of thee" comes with an accompaniment of heart throbs when the story is Whitman's ride.
Instead of always taking Scripture by chapters, it is well to select passages having special application to the subject. A few words at the opening, with responsive sentences, given to individuals to be recited at appropriate intervals, are often very effective. A few phrases learned are better than many chapters read; better to have each member bring home an especial meaning from these Bible words than to have them suggest many and diverting thoughts.
A sacred feature of the meeting is prayer, a knowledge of the needs of the hour expressed with truth and with tendernes~, a right attitude of soul helping to right words and thoughts toward God. "Who can make us comprehend the grandeur, the majesty, the might of prayer~" It is the highest worship earth can show ; it includes the entire relation between man and God; it contains in itself all the longings of humanity fo'r heaven; it changes aspiration to inspiration; it completes all truth, all sentiment, all knowledge. Let our souls be prayerful, our minds earnest our hearts ardent with good wishes, and prayer, like the mist of the morning, will mount heavenward, because that is its natural pathway. Let us think and feel and long earnestly for this meeting, and prayer will be tho simplest, the sweetest, the most sacred portion of the programme. " We do not say prayer; prayer forms within us." Let our souls be wholly absorbed in God's cause, then the prayers of the hour will be a blessing and a benediction.
A map is almost essential to every missionary meeting. A simple outline map may be obtained from the missionary rooms. One can mark with pencil' the route needful to be traced, and pin small pieces of red paper on for missionary stations. If some one says that it looks as if " geography had a sudden attack of the measles," we must not be afraid of such criticisms; we are sending forth messengers of healing, and there may be appropriateness in such appearance. Mention the bound!lories of the chosen country; it is well to know the neighbors of any selected portion of the earth. Let Bome one else give population, that we may know how many hungry, helpless human beings call for us in their awful despair, or are settling into despondency that is worse than despair. Another may give the present material resources of the country, that we may know their outlook for an earthly future, and be stimulated to hasten our slowmoving missionary labors. Shall we allow Japan to grow and gain in everything but the Gospel? or our own West to unearth gold and silver while the heavens overhead are lead and brass? Shall we allow the mountain highlander to grow rich in mines and mills while body and soul are starving? Our missionary countries are not necessarily pauper lands. Some are natural Edens, fragrant with fruit and flower, but morally poisoned by sin. Shall we not seize these riches for the Lord?
What is the intellectual calibre of heathen peoples? Look at the litt;rature of the Orient, where man was first made and where the sun first dawns; some of these are reverent rhapsodies, when man was groping for God with his benighted brain. A sentence may show what they have done and thought, what they are capable of doing. Ages ago were the Vedas written, but still there are sharp wits and sentimental souls in the Orient, and these demand our best and brightest minds to teach them. The Indians of America have spoken many stirring words, well worth recalling. In our Congressional reports is a plea for the Bible from the lips of an Indian as thrilling and as pathetic as Lincoln's funeral oration, and as deserving to be held in memory.
Decorate the meeting-room with the handiwork of these people. Japan has taught pottery to the world. India and Persia and Turkey have almost translated beauty into a beatitude. Religion has been wrought, even by these heathens, in color and harmony exquisite to behold, and rich in suggestions of thought. Can they not also see the beauty of the true faith? If we are studying Africa, a bit of ivory may mean very much when it is known that the first missionaries in Africa lived upon a pittance, built their church and school without aid from the home society, the tusks of ivory larglly paying their expenses; or when we remember that the dead elephants did more than the living men and women of England toward opening the Dark Continent to the Gospel. Dolls dressed after the fashion of these pagan peoples may help us to know more about them and may teach us something of grace and comfort. An artistic lady once said, " I wish the heathen would send us some missionaries and teach us how to dress."
If we are studying home lands, some of the products of the soil, specimens of the ores, grains, special workmanship of the people, picture. of the scenery, may help. Photography may aid much, as the telescope does with the planets in diminishing distances. The nearer we get to these people in space, the closer our hearts will come to theirs.
·Whatever the country, let us have its flag. It is easily made from the dictionary illustrations. Nothing shows the soul of nationality like that country's banner with its device. Many spiritual meanings may be gained from the national emblem. A Japanese flag was used in a missionary con- cert. It was just a red circle sewed on a white ground, and cost only a few cents, and was the work of only a few moments. At the close a Japanesll told us something of the feeling of his nation for that flag. It preceded all processions, was hung before them on all grand occasions, and signified the rising sun. When he expressed a wish that his country should love the Sun of Righteousness as she loved her flag, keep Christ ever before her, the entire audience was stirred to aid Japan in her noble struggle.
Suppose some one writes a letter, imagining herself in some field at work as a missionary. She can give her life, its longings, its joys, its discouragements, and its blessings. This will help her and her audience to be interested in real missionaries; perhaps to do something beyond imagination for those whom she is representing.
Suppose some one brings up the objections to missionary work; a dozen will rise up in answer to them, and they will set Borne one to studying the real value of missions. Hawthorne found a cabin boy on the wharves reading a commentary on the Bible. He asked why he studied t/tat book in that place. The boy looked up with a knowing wink as he replied, "Ther's consid'rable her'sy in our place, and I'm studying up fur 'em." Honest doubts have led to the highest knowledge. Was not Thomas the doubter first of all to cry out, "My Lord and my God"? Strauss published his Life of Christ in 1835, and it looked for a time as if the best of the Bible was to be turned into a myth; but men greater than he set to work to answer him, and an entire literature arose on the one sinless and sacred life that has been given to humanity. After Strauss, the ministry everywhere took up the subject in pulpit and in press. All these have helped to bring the highest humanity into closer and more vital relations with common humanity until the first and the nineteenth centuries have joined hands in fervor and in faith. Thus doubt has become the stepping-stone to surest belief. Thill task of expressing doubts upon missions is good work for the women who neither attend the meetings nor give to the cause. Let a discussion follow. Doubtless even the doubter will be convinced. A sluggish spirit on this great subject is most to be feared. The surging waters are pure; but the stagnant pool gathers poison.
It is good to use the conversational method, even if the questions and answers are all arranged beforehand; but spontaneity is preferable. The greatest power of the leader is not in imposing silence, but in arousing speech.
Appoint watchmen, heralds, messenger girls, telegraph lads, to bring in the latest news from the field. Delivered during the session and in the regular telegraph form, they will awaken special interest and enthusiasm. Children, coming home from school, will be delighted with some such errand, and will not soon forget the message they have brought.
JOHANN LUDWIG KRAPF, A PIONEER OF .A.FRICAN MISSIONS
Vary missionary meetings as much as possible. No garment is so strong as to stand constant wear. No good method is always and everywhere successful. The best thing is for each to expect something new every time. When Joshua Reynolds began portrait painting, he adopted the style of his teacher, and painted all his men with their hats in their hands. It was easier to dispose of hats than of hands. One day he found a subject who had ideas of his own. He wished to wear his hat on the top of his head. The portrait was finished, the original came to claim it, when he found himself possessed of two hats, one on his head, the other in his hand. This cured Sir Joshua forever of fixed and forced attitudes. Repetition may be ridiculous elsewhere than in hats. It is well to find something new each time not only in subject, but in method and manner and in means. Children always call for new things, and we "children of a larger growth" must keep fresh and fervent all the longings of our lives, all the ways of working for the Master, if we would pass the bread of life from soul to soul. Fixed and forced forms are forever fatal to life. Growth is everywhere the law of greatness and of goodness.
These are only hints and suggestions. The use of the inventive powers will add much that will be of vital interest. The attendance in these monthly gatherings might be brought up to the hundreds, instead of standing below the score; and with a greater interest in the missionary meetings the contributions to missionary work would greatly increase.
JOHANN LUDWIG KRAPF, A PIONEER OF AFRICAN MISSIONS.* BY REV. F. WILKINSON, LIVERPOOL, ENG.
Johann Ludwig Krapf was born in 1810, near Tubingen. He would have followed farming, the occupation of his father, had not circumstances induced his parents to give him a superior education. During his school course the future explorer revealed himself in a special inclination to geography ; and at fourteen yearf he expressed a decided wish to be a captain and visit foreign countries. His father was desirous to carry out the boy's wish, if pOSSIble, but the cost was found to be beyond the resources of the family, and the idea was relinquished. A novel incident turned young Krapf's thoughts to the work of the mISSIOnary. The principal of the school one day read before his scholars a pamphlet on missionary work and the spread of Christianity among the heathen, desiring them afterward to embody the substance of the pamphlet in an essay. Ludwig had never before heard anything of missions, but what he now heard was enough, and he asked himself the question, "Shall I be a missionary, and go to the heathen~" This thought never left him, and at the age of seventeen he travelled to Basle to offer himself as a mis- • The pre.ent article is based npon the life of Dr. Krapf by W. Claus (in German). sionary student. The principal of the institution advised him, on account of his youth, to return home for a time, to continue his studies, and to endeavor to grow in the knowledge of Scripture and of his own character, and wait for God's guidance.
The following year found him in the institution at Basle, but the intellectual and spiritual condition of the place did not entirely satisfy .his expectations, while the reading of the mystical writings of Madame Guion and Jacob Bohn so unsettlecl his mind, that he could not with a good conscience remain longer in the institution at the expense of tbe mission. He laid before the committee the grounds of his decision, and left the institution two years after he entered it. Returning home, he continued his studies, passed the university examination, and p.,ished in 1834 the theological course.
His heart had often turned to the mission house at Basle, especially when his cousin-a namesake-entered the institution, but he determined to enter the ministry at home, arguing that thus he could carry on ~ork similar to that which his cousin would prosecute in non-Christian lands. Be accordingly settled at vVolf~nhausen, where the neglected condition of his parish and the work he had to do became the means of bringing more vividly to his mind the needi of the heathen world.
He wrote: "The inducements to mission work appeared to me in a new light. In the needs of my congregation I recognized those of non-Christians in a measure that affected me very deeply; in their sorrow I recognized the wretchedness of the heathen; the cry for help from my own congregation seemed an echo from heathen lands. The grace which I myself enjoyed, and which I commended to my own people. was, I felt, for the heathen as well, but there might be no one to proclaim it to them. Here, everyone may without difficulty find the way of life; in those lands there lliay be no one to show the way. Bere, in almost every house the Holy Scriptures may be found; there, the Scriptures are only scantily distributed. This seems to me a powerful incentive to think seriously of missionary work."
An event soon occurred which left him free to follow his inclinations. Some incautious pulpit utterances gave offence to the ecclesiastical authorities, and he was deprived of the living at Wolfenhausen. A few months afterward he once more offered himself for missionary work, stronger in every respect and better equipped for the work. .Being willing to go wherever his services were needed, and the Abyssinian Mission requiIing another worker, he left for that country in February, 1837, arriving in Alexandria in April, and travelling up the Nile to Cairo, where he had his first glimpse of Africa's greatest curse-the slave trade. In the 1Ihive market he found the poor creatures lying on the bare earth, by day fainting in the burning rays of the sun, at night placed in a stable without any covering except, at the most, a few rags around their loins. There they lay -young and old of either sex-to be examined by buyers, like cattle. This first experience of slavery gave him a new impulse to do his utmost for the sprEad of the Gospel in Afriea, as the most effectual remedy for the miseries of its people. From Suez and Massowa he travelled, with difficulty and danger, to the highlands of Abyssinia, and joined Isenberg and Blumhardt at Adoa, in the hope that their united labora would bring such life into the Abyssinian Church as would make it a missionary church; but soon after priestly jealousy so worked upon the fears of the ruling prince as to induce him to issue a peremptory order to the missionaries to leave his territory and go to their own land. Repulsed in Northern Abyssinia, Krapf resolved to find his way to Shoa in the south. A sudden illness, however, compelled him to return to Cairo. After a time he made a second attempt to reach Shoa, arriving there in June, 1839, in company with Isenberg, who in a few months returned to Egypt, and left Krapf alone. Notwithstanding the geod-will of the king, the work in Shoa was slow and discouraging, and Krapf regarded the neighboring heathen tribe (the Gallas) as offering more hope of successful work than the nominal Christians of Abyssinia.
In 1842 he left Shoa for a short while, partly to meet his flture wife in Egypt, and partly to help on their way two new brethren-Mllhleisen and MUller-who, he was told, had arrived on the Abyssinian coast. Setting out on foot, after considerable difficulty and suffering from robbery, hunger, and the fatigues of travel, he arrived at his destination only to learn that the missionaries he expected to meet had returned to Egypt. It was thus necessary, apart from his private concerns, to visit Egypt to bring back the two brethren who had fled from the difficulties of their position.
While in Egypt he married Rosine Dietrich, that loving, faithful, and steady helpmeet in the difficulties and dangers of his career. With his wife, Isenberg, and Miihleisen Krapf set out to return to Shoa; but on arriving at Tajurrah he receiTed the astounding intelligence that the king forbade him to enter his dominions, an act which, like the expulsion from Adoa, was due to priestly interference.
Isenberg and Miihleisen travelled back to Massowa, in order to reach Gondar, while Krapf betook him8elf, with his wife, to Aden, desirous to gct into Gallaland by the south; but finding this impracticable, he determined to follow his two fellow-laborers, taking with him a number of Ethiopic and Amharic Scriptures, so that he might at least, by the circulation of the Scriptures, do what he could for the spiritual welfare of Abyssinia.
He landed at Massowa, and began the journey to the interior in company with a trading caravan. While passing through the Shoho desert, his wife, who in spite of her state of health had accompanied him, prematurely gave birth to a daughter, having no medical aid, or even the assistance of one of her own sex. The child lived but an hour, yet long enough to be baptized, receiving from its parents the name of Gneba (tears). In the evening they buried the little one at the foot of a tree, the father conducting a funeral service in Amharic. It was only by great e1Iort that Krapf succeeded in obtaining three days rest for the young mother, at the end of which she was obliged to set out again with the caravan.
On reaching the boundary of Tigre, Isenberg and Miihleisen met them with the distressing intelligence that the Prince of Tigre would not allow them to enter his territory. Thus every attempt to establish themselves in Abyssinia was frustrated. The door was closed at Adoa in the north, and at Ankober and Shoa in the south, and Gondar, in the centre of the country, they could not reach. Even then Krapf did not lose heart j his faith rose above present discouragement, as is evident from what he says when writing home: " Abyssinia will not soon again enjoy the time of grace she has so shamefully slighted. Meanwhile we will not cease to pray fof that unfortunate land, especially commending to the Lord the many copies of His precious Word, that He would bless them and make them witnesses of His truth. It is a consolation to us and to dear friends of the mission to know that over eight thousand copies of the Scriptures have found their way into Abyssinia. These will not all be lost or remain without a blessing.
Faith speaks thus: Though every mission should disappear in a single day and leave not a trace behind, I would still cleave to mission work with my prayers, my labors, my gifts, with my body and soul j for there is the command of the Lord .Tesus Christ, and where that is there is also His promise and His final victory."
Krapf determined to atte~pt to gain a footing on the East Coast of Africa, in order from there to reach the Gallas, whose language he already understood. With this object in view, he sailed, with his wife, in an Arab vessel from Aden in November, 1843. Strong headwinds and a heavy sea compelled them to return to Aden. In spite of their exertions, the water gained upon them in their leaky boat, and on reaching the entrance to the harbor of Aden the land wind drove back the vessel toward the open ocean. There was indeed a ship's boat, but it could not carry twenty-five persons in a rough sea. Just then a bumboat coming within hearing, Krapf asked its captain to take them on board. This he at first declined to do, and only by promises and threats Krapf at last succeeded in inducing him to take them off the sinking vessel, which in half an hour after they left it sank. Eight days later Krapf sailed again. and after four or five weeks' journey arrived at Takaungu, north of the island of Mombas. He then went on to Zanzibar, and after a favorable reception from the Sultan sailed northward again to fix upon a favorable position for a mission station. As the result of his inquiries and observation he decided upon Mombas.
Scarcely, however, had he begun work at Mombas when he was called to pass through another sorrow, in the loss of his wife. She was attacked with fever, which was the more serious a<; she was daily expecting to become a mother. A daughter was born, and a renewed attack of fever brought her very low. In prospect of death, she felt for a time disquieted regard- ing her spiritual state; but her husband's words about the grace of God and the completeness of Christ's work had such a consoling effect upon her that she said: "I have obtained grace and mercy from the Lord; He has looked upon me ; I feel His presence as I have never felt it before." She then prayed for relatives, for the mission, and for East Africa, and for the Sultan, that God would incline his heart to promote the eternal welfare of his subjects. The next day she appeared much better, but the day follow- ing much worse, while her husband himself was so weakened by fever as to be obliged to leave the care of her almost entirely to servants. The next day she breathed her last, and on the following morning-Sundaythey buried her, according to her wish, on the mainland in the territory of the Wanika. During the night the little daughter also passed away, and was laid by the mother's side. Krapf, even amid all these trials, writes, in a letter to the secretary of the missionary society : "Tell the committee that in East Africa there is the lonely grave of one member of the mission connected with your society. This is an indication that you have begun the conflict in this part of the world; and since the conquests of the Church are won over the graves of many of its members, you may be all the more assured that the time has come when you are called to work for the conversion of Africa. Think not of the victims who in this glorious warfare may suffer or fall ; only press forward until East and West Africa are united in Christ."
Recovering strength, he continued his work, occasionally making short journeys from Mombas to the mainland among the Wanika, anxious to establish a mission station among this people, especially to open the way into the interior of Africa-al ways a prominent idea with him.
In 1846 he had thc joy of welcoming as a fellow-laborer Rebmann, who was jn one respect the very opposite of Krapf. The latter, restless and energetic, entertained far-reaching plans, and even saw in imagination a chain of mission stations stretching from Mombas to the Niger, and thus connecting East and West Africa; Rebmann, on the contrary, had determined to settle in one place and work there. In spite of this dissimilarity, they were at once drawn to each other, and Krapf, after two years of loneliness, could well appreciate the presence and help of a fellow-laborer. They decided on Rabbai Mpia, a Wanika village not far from the seacoast, as the mission site. In October of the same year they finished a house so far as to aIIow of their living in it, and Krapf remarks, " Every true friend of Christ's kingdom must rejoice over this mission, for it is the first step in the way to the heart of Africa. We have secured a position whence the unexplored regions of the interior can be reached and the ancient bulwarks of Satan assailed by the messengers of Christ."
The people, though keenly alive to the material advantage of having Europeans among them, were perfectly indifferent to the truths they taught. They showed themselves inveterate beggars; the mission house looked like a shop with a crowd of customers, who, however, had no intention to pay. The missionaries naturally felt a difficulty in dealing with the requests of the people. To give them everything they asked for would increase their avarice, and seem like bribing them to become Christians, while to refuse every request would lead the heathen to conclude that, though the white teachers spoke much of love and self-denial, they did not practise these virtues. Krapf was inclined to be liberal in his gifts, arguing that though the missionary cannot heal the sick and raise the dead, he can at least perform the miracles of love, humility, patience, and self-sacrifice, leading the heathen to say among themselves, ""How is it that the missionary submits to so much on our account, and does us so much kindness ~"
Like many other missionaries, in the early period of his work he thought it incumbent upon him to spend much time in attacking the beliefs and practices of the people, in .:onsequence of which the simple presentation of Christian truth fell somewhat into the background. Upon this point he says: "I have a conviction that for some time past I have argued too much against the heathen customs and practices of the Wanika, for their abominations excited my indignation; but I ought to preach to them more of the love of Jesus to the lost erring slaves of Satan. I must pity them more, and speak to them more pitifully and sympathizingly." Still some encouraging signs did appear, for one convert was made, who gave evidence that Christian truth was a power in his life; this man, too, was the means of bringing to the missionaries another, who eventually became a true Christian worker among his countrymen.
Krapf was not tho man to rest long contented with work at one station. His fixed idea was a chain of stations stretching across Africa, and he attempted several times to penetrate farther into the interior, visiting Usambara, to the southwest, in 1848, and the land of the Wakamba in the following year. In both places he received a friendly welcome from chiefs and people, and" everything seemed favorable for the extension of the mission.
Twelve years of unremitting labor in Africa had now passed away, and Krapf thought the time was come to visit Europe for rest and change, and to arouse a greater interest in African missions. During his stay in Europe he secured the promise of three missionaries and three artisans to strengthen the African mission. With the former he hoped to place two stations farther in the interior, and by the aid of the latter to carry out a plan long in contemplation-the establishment of a Christian colony. On his departure from Europe the outlook for the East African Mission was at its brightest. With him were two missionaries, Pfefferle and Dihlmann, and three mechanics. On reaching Aden, Dihlmann, who had scruples about connecting himself with the English Church, remained at Aden. Further, on arriving at Rabbai, Rebmann and Erhardt, who previously had fully agreed to his plans, were found to be opposed to farther extension, without first laying a firm base of operations on the coast. In theory they were perhaps right, but Krapf thought that a disinclination to encounter hard- ships had not a little to do with their opposition to his forward movement.
There grew up also an unbrotherly estrangement between Rebmann and Erhardt, on the one side, and the three mechanics, on the other, resulting in much trouble to Krapf, who had a difficult task in dealing with both parties. Again, the three artisans and Pfefferle were stricken with fever, of which the latter died after a few weeks' illness; thus trouble after trouble seemed to fall upon Krapf. Yet he wrote to Dr. Barth in June, 1851, the following noble, even prophetic words: "And now let me look backward and forward. In the past what do I see ~ Scarcely IU6re than the ren:.nant of a defeated army. You know I had the task of strengthen- ing the East African Mission with three missionaries and three handicrafts- men ; but where are the missionaries ~ One remained in London, as he did not consider himself appointed to East Africa; the second remained at Aden, in doubt about the English Church; the third, Pfefferle, died on May lOth of nervous fever, into which the country fever had developed.
As to the three mechanics, they are ill of fever, lying between life and death, and instead of being a help to me and to Brothers Rebmann and Erhardt, look to us for help and attention; and yet I stand by my asser- tion that Africa must be conquered by missionaries; ther9 must be a chain of mission stations between the east and west, though thousands of the combatants fall upon the left hand and ten thousand on the right.
From the sanctuary of God a voice says to me, , Fear not; life comel!
through death, resurrection through decay, the establishment of Christ's kingdom through the discomfiture of human undertakings Instead of allowing yourself to be discouraged at the defeat of your force, go to work yourself. Do not rely on human help, but on the living God, to whom it is all the same to save by little or much. Do what you can in the strength of God, and leave the result in His hands. Believe, love, fight, be not weary for His name's sake, and you will see the glory of God.'
" Now when I heard this voice I could accompany my departed brother to the grave in the conviction that in spite of this the Lord's work in Africa must and will advance. It does not matter if I fail entirely; the Lord is King, and will carry out His purpose in His own time."
Soon after his coadjutor's death Krapf made a journey to Ukambani, about one hundred miles from Rabbai, to establish a station; but the journey ended disastrously. While travelling in company with a friendly chief, a superior force attacked the chief's party, the chief himself was slain, his followers scattered, and the missionary abandoned by friend and foe. There was nothing left but to retrace his steps, and after much suffer- ing from hunger and thirst, he at last reached one of the villages of the vVakamba completely exhausted. Suspicious that the villagers had designs upon his life, he stole away at night to travel to Yata, but the difficulties of the way-in which he advanced only six miles in three nights-determined him to return to the Wakamba village and surrender at discretion. •, Kill me if you will," he said, "but you must take the consequences." On the other hand, if they allowed bim to leave in peace, he promised them a portion of the property he had left behind at Yata. To this they agreed, and after reaching Yata and fulfilling his promise, he returned to the coast with some Wanika, arriving at Rabbai after nine days' travelling, to the joy of his fellow. laborers, who had heard reports of his death, The following year he. paid another visit to U sambara ; but war having broken out, he was compelled to return without accomplishing anything toward the settlement of a mission.
And now his health making another visit to Europe necessary, he left in 1853 for his native land, in the following year setting out again for East Africa, taking Abyssinia on his way, to endeavor, by an interview with the king, to revive the mission in that country. On leaving Abyssinia, instead of returning to Egypt via the Red Sea, he chose the route by the Nile Valley; but the journey so told upon his weak health that, on arrival in Egypt, he had to embark for Europe-a return to East Africa was not to be thought of, Passing over his life in Europe, we now come to his last visit to his old field of labor. Wishing to open up a mission in East Africa, the Methodist Free Churches requested Krapf to accompany their missionaries-W oolner and Wakefield-to Africa, and to assist them in commencing a mission. He consented, and after seeing Wakefield settled at Ribe, the new station (illness had already driven Woolner back to Europe). he returned home, his health not allowing a prolonged stay. Of the new station he remarked: "The station Ribe will in due time celebrate the triumph of the mission in the conversion of the Wanika, though I may be in the grave. The Lord does not allow His Word to return to Him void, although often our own desponding hearts and the unbelieving opponents of missions will say, You are laboring in vain."
With these hopeful words his life as an African missionary came to an end; he only entered the Dark Continent once more, and that was as interpreter to the British expedition to Abyssinia in 1867, though even then ill-health compelled him to leave the army before the expedition had reached its destination.
From tbis time onward he passed a quietly active life in taking his Oriental manuscripts through the press, and in unostentatious efforts for the spiritual good of others. Africa was still dear to him ; he had the joy of hearing from time to time of the progress of missions in that continent, and especially that the work he began in East Africa had not proved unfruitful.
The closing scene came on November 26th, 1881. In the afternoon of that day Krapf said to a friend: "I am so penetrated by the feeling of the nearness of 'the Lord's coming that I cannot describe it. He is indeed near; oh ! we ought to redeem the time, and hold ourselves in
PRAYER AND MISSIONARY WORK
readiness, that we may be able to say with a good conscience, • Yea, come, Lord Jesus.' It will be glorious when our Saviour appears as a conqueror and His enemies have become His footstool. Then shall we both be permitted to see that our work for the Lord has not been in vain." He spent the evening until 9 o'clock in correcting proofs, and then, after family prayer, visited his sick wife, leaving her with the words, "Good-night, dear mamma; the dear Saviour be thy pillow, thy canopy, and thy nightwatch." Then with a loving "good-night" to his daughter, he retired to his room and, as was his custom, locked the door. Not appearing at his usual hour in the morning, his daughter called him, but receiving no answer, the fears of the household were aroused, and on making their way into the room they found he had " gone home" while kneeling at the bedside.
PRAYER AND MISSIONARY WORK.
BY W. D. mIDLAND, TAl-CHOW, CHINA.
The China Inland Mission was begun and is carried on by prayer. Ea~h member, on being received, is told that he is to look to the Lord to' supply his need, and not to the mission. Mr. Hudson Taylor said to me, when accepted for China, " The mission might become bankrupt, but the Lord never could; difficulties might occur which would hinder funds being sent inland, but the Lord would be inland."
These remarks came with double force to me. I had been lIome months in London, and my stock of savings was exhausted. I was to pay a farewell visit to my mother, some two hundred miles distant, but I had not a penny to buy. a stamp for a letter saying I was coming, and of course I had no money for my railway fare. I had only to mention my need, and friends would have supplied it at once; but we were to look to the Lord in China, and if I could not look to Him now, at home with friends around me, what would I do perhaps alone in a heathen land! I went alone and pleaded with God as perhaps never before. Two days passed; I expected money by letter, but none came. It was Saturday, and I was at the usual prayer-meeting. After the meeting Mr. Taylor asked me to carry his bag to the station, as he was to spend Sunday in the West End. I gladly did so ; and just as the train was starting he said to me that, perhaps, I might need money for travelling expenses, and put a sovereign in my hand. This 80 took me by surprise that I nearly dropped it. How I inwardly praised the Lord for a direct answer to prayer just when I was not expecting it ! My letter was already written and shortly was in the post. The battle was fought, the victory won, and my faith strengthened for service in China.
The next day I was introduced to a gentleman, who on shaking hands lI.nd wishing me Godspeed left a half sovereign in it. Two days later another gave me two pounds, and so, time after time, the Lord supplied all my need until we left for China. Only the Lord knew my need, and it was years before I told anyone of it but my godly mother.
I remember, too, Mr. Taylor telling us that we must join him in prayer for the fundd needed for outfit and passages, if we were to leave in May, as proposed. We had daily united prayer for this object, and the results are told by Mr. Taylor himself in the" Occasional Paper," No.2. "On this day [March 12th] I again examined my mission cash book, and the comparison of the results of the two similar periods of one month and six days eachone before and one after special prayer for £1500 to £2000-was very striking: Receipts from December 30th to February 6th, £170 8s. 3d.
" "February 6th to March 12th, 1774 58. lld. Funds advised since received 200 0 0 Total receipts since February 6th, £1974 58. lld.
This was previous to the circulation of the' Occasional Paper,' and conse- quently could not be the result of it. It was the response of a faithful God to the united prayers of those whom He had called to serve Him in the Gospel of His dear Son. We can now compare with these two periods a third of the same extent. From March 12th to April 18th the receipts were £529, showing that when God had supplied the special need, the special supply had also ceased. Truly there is a LIVING GOD, and He is the hearer and answerer of prayer."
Such direct answers to prayer and supply of all need furnished great encouragement to young workers just beginning their life work to go forward, believing that He who had thus shown His faithfulness would supply all further need when in a heathen land. He had already shown us that we had only to ask and receive.
Twenty-six years have passed, and the Lord has continued to provide in many ways, showing that He is not limited to anyone line of action.
In one case our need was supplied by a heathen prefect. In China all foreigners are supposed to know something about medicine, especially missionaries j so I was sent for to visit the private secretary of the prefect of the city, who was very ill, aud whom the native doctors could not cure. This was rather a trying ordeal, as I was quite ignorant of medicine j but this they would not believe, so that I could hardly refuse to go. After prayer for guidance, I went, taking a native helper with me. We found the patient suffering from fever and ague, while his knee joints were both set fast. After leaving him, I sent a quinine mixture such as I had taken myself for ague and some camphorated oil to rub on his knee joints. Two days after I went again to see him, and found he could move one leg and that the fever was less. He soon got well, and came to thank me mr for kindness. Nearly two months after this, when our funds were so exhausted that we had only 3 cash in the house (less than a farthing), we had a little rice, and were making that go as far as we could. Just after a very frugal dinner there came a sharp rap at the door, two men came in with half a goat, a piece of beef, a large fish, and some sweetmeats. According to the usual custom, I was going to take a part and return the rest, but the men said that they were under strict orders not to take anything back; that the prefect was sorry he could not get a better present to send j but there was still a difficulty. It is the custom to give something to those who bring a present j but the Lord knew we had nothing to give, and had provided for that, too, for they themselves were told not to accept any- thing on any account. This is the first and last time I have had such a present, or 8Qnt without the bearer expecting to be well paid. It being cold weather, the food kept and lasted us till supplies came to hand.
Again our need was supplied for enlarging the house. The native house we were living in-the only one to be had at the time -was very small, and the matting ceiling so low that one could touch it with the hand. This with the thermometer from 96 0 to 1000 in the house in the summer was not conducive to health or calculated to fit one for work. Knowing that mission fnnds were low, we set apart a day for fasting and prayer, that the Lord would enable us to add one or two larger and more airy rooms before another summer. Other difficulties besides lack of money were to be overcome. The house was a rented one, and to add to it without some new agreement was to have our rent raised, nor could we remove the addition if leaving for a more suitable house. We also needed a small piece of ground joining the house, which belonged to anothAr man. We made a note of the date of our prayer, and waited for the Lord to work. Shortly after the landlord came to terms, the needed agreement was drawn up, and the piece of ground was bought. These difficulties being removed, we had not long to wait for funds, as a check came from a friend in England, outside the mission, who knew nothing about our need, which nearly covered the expense of the addition. After thanking God for it I looked at my note-book, and found that the check was drawn on the day we had spent in fasting and prayer-a fnlfilment of the promise, "Before. they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear." A prisoner was released in answer to prayer. Our native Christians often go to God in their simple, childlike faith, and ask for things which at times to us seem strange. Some eighteen years ago an aged woman came to one of our chapels in a newly opened station, and asked if this was a Roman Catholic place of worship, but was told that our worship was very different from that. The Gospel was put plainly before her, and sounded very strange to her. She was a devout Buddhist, had visited all the noted shrines and temples year by year, in order to obtain merit. She had already gone to the Roman Catholics, and thought that their religion was a little better than. her own j but now shew as told that her merit was useless j that she niU8t come to Jesus as a poor, helpless, lost sinner j that she could have eternal life as a free gift by putting her trust in the Lord J e~ms Christ. She left, promising to come again erelong.
She came again, but this time bowed down with sorrow. Her husband was constable of the village, and consequently responsible for the conduct of the people. A murder had been committed in the village, and news of it had reached the ears of the magistrate. The murderer had escaped, the magistrate was very angry, and said he would punish the constable instead of the murderer, as is often done in some parts of China j but he was an old man, so the magistrate took his son instead, and everybody said that unless the murderer could be found he would lose his head. So she had come with her heart almost breaking to know if Ah-kying, the native helper, could assist her. lIe told her that to go and plead with the magistrate for her son would be useless j but he could pray to God for her j that God would hear and answer prayer, and help her if they prayed to Him. The mother said she would gladly pray to God if she knew how. So they knelt down together. Ah-kying told the Lord all her trouble, asked God to deliver her son, and also that both mother and son might be saved from eternal death.
She returned to her home, told her husband and neighbors how this Christian had prayed to God, and how confident he was of his prayer being speedily answered. Day after day passed, and still no news of the poor prisoner j but one afternoon, just as hope was beginning to die away, she saw coming toward the house her son, alive, set f~ee from prison. He could not understand it himself, for he had not the least _ expectation of being released. That morning the magistrate had sent for him, had him beaten, then set him at liberty. Great was the joy at his return.
The mother told him about Ah-kying's prayer, and for weeks they walked about eight miles to the chapel to worship the God who had answered prayer, and saved the son from death.
Some weeks after, she, her son, and a neighbor came to see me, and told me the whole .tory. They begged me to send some one to their village with them, as many of their neighbors wished to hear more of this prayerhearing God j but I had no one to send, and when I went that way again no trace of them could be found. I heard afterward that they left the place, and did not wish their whereabouts to be known, lest, after all, they should get into trouble.
We have now an outstation within a mile of this village, and a family of native Christians in the village itself. Had we been able to follow up that case at once a whole Christian village might have been the result.
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO CHRIST FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINUS
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO CHRIST FOR TEMPORAL BLESS. INGS.-Ill.
BY REV. T. LAURIE, PROVIDENCE, R. I.
We are SO accustomed to the large measure of our freedom that we seldom thiuk how few nations are so favored. Among them all England approaches tbe nearest to onr liberty, but even there the battles for the rights of the people are not all fought yet. It was at a great cost that our fathers purchased our privileges, not only on the battle-fields of the Revolution, but during that first winter at Plymouth; yea, in the dungeons and even on the scaffolds of England under Queen Elizabeth and her successors.
There is hardly a greater contrast to our institutions than that afforded by the theocratic, absolute monarchy of Turkey. Time and again Ratti sherifs (honored edicts) have been issued promising the speedy enactment of laws to secure life and property with a regular mode of collecting taxes, and time and again have things gone on precisely as before. In Turkey the only limit to oppression is the impossibility of carrying extortion further; and however far it is carried, few of the sufferers think of an infringement of their rights; they are only conscious of greater misery, and passively submit to the inevitable.
It may be said that it is not wise to expose oppression so long as our missionaries are in the empire; but the story of Turkish oppression has already gone forth ou the wings of the wind. It is too late to cover it up. Every traveller adds to the list of facts already published; and standard bo~ks of reference embody the results. From a broad induction of facts the Encyclopr:edia Britannica concludes (xxiii., 654, 9th ed.) : "All its officials unite in their own persons the judicial and executive functions, and are, as a rule, thoroughly corrupt, venal in the dispensation of justice, oppressors of the subject, and emblezzlers of the public re'enues, and wholly absorbed in amassing wealth during their generaIly brief and precarious term of office." A note on the same page gives a specimen of the facts as follows: " Mr. G. P. Devey, Consul at Erzrum, reports that in one place in that province the sheep-tax for 1885 was collected three times over. At first the number was underestimated, only 9000 piastres being paid. So the collector came again, and instead of the difference between that and the correct amount, made the villagers pay the entire 14,000 piastres. Then he came a third time, and because he knew they had no receipt-for he had given them none-he collected the 14,000 piastres again." Row many governments are there whose officials would have dared to do that !
Such extracts might be multiplied, but we hasten to add that the Turkish Government has no truer fflends than our missionaries, or any who do more to promote its prosperity. Though they suffer in the suffering of tbeir people, they suffer in silence. Or if they speak, they exhort to submit to the higher powers, "for there is no power but of God" (Rom. 13 : 1), and while they weep with them that weep, they bid them "humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt them in due time" (1 Pet. 5 : 6), " being in subjection with all fear not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward" (1 Pet. 2 : 18).
They also inculcate that patient industry and thrift, also that truthful. ness in daily life which Turkey needs so much to make her truly prosperous. Turkish officials know that however the prison and the bastinado are prominent factors in the collection of the taxes of other communities, they are never needed to collect those of evangelical Christians. The only fear is lest the enormity of their oppressions prove too strong for the teaching of the missionaries, for we have it on good authority that "extortion maketh a wise man foolish" (Eccles. 7: 7), or, as the old version reads~ " oppression maketha wise man mad."
In 1882 the debt of the Turkish Empire was more than $532,000,000. The annual expense of the seraglio is from one to two millions more. The original cost of the steamers and ironclad vessels in the navy with the annual outlay for their maintenance is immense. The army is a still heavier burden, and is distributed over the whole empire. Though the pay of a private is only 90 cents a month, yet some provinces cannot do much more than support their own soldiery. The government then must have money. Whence does it come? Commerce is mostly in the hands of foreigners. Manufactures hardly exist, and what there are cannot compete with imports from abroad, which are much cheaper. Agriculture is carried on in most primitive methods, and the peasant is so ground down by taxation that every year he has Jess money to pay with than he had the year before. Tax-gathering seems to be the one business of the government. If it sought to develop the natural resources of the country, a much larger revenue might be collected with less trouble both to the people and the tax-gatherer, but so far from doing this it pounces on everyone who seeks to better his estate, and demands more additional taxes sometimes than the improvement produces. So while, on the one hand, it represses all enterprise, on the other, it extorts to the very uttermost all that it can lay hands on.
The Pashaliks of the empire are generally sold to the mghesG bidder, and the buyer must hasten to get back his investment before anothAr offers a larger sum and takes his place. Then, if while hurrying ~~ reimburse himself, he does not keep up large remittances to the capital, he is liable at any moment to lose his place. Money thus flows constantly from the circumference to the centre, leaving provinces continually more impoverished to supply the stream. In such a state of things who expects a pasha to seek the good of his people? I knew one who tried to lighten their burdens, and sought nothing for himself; but as his remittances were small, he was set aside for another who would be a better sponge.
It is a necessary part of this process, that so long as the purses move toward Constantinople there shall be no questions asked as to the manner in which they were filled. Every petty official may add to the sum he is expected to collect-whatever in his modesty he thinks will remunerate him for his trouble-so that by the time the demand reaches the tax-payer it has grown to several times its original amount. I was sitting one day in the salaam luk of the commander of a garrison in Kurdistan, shortly after the massacre of the mountain Nestorians, when one of them brought in the tribute of his small hamlet to pay to the Turk. He began to I:ndo the numerous fastenings of a bag that had heen patched so often. it was impossible to tell its original material. Snatching it from him, the Tnrk ripped it open with his dagger, tore out a gold coin that had been wrapped in many coverings and sewed into one corner of the bag, hastily tossed the remaining coins over, and pronounced the 300 Tcherkies only 277, and thus addressed the astonished tribute· bearer: "Either bring the lacking 23 in two days, adding another 50 to pay me for my trouble, or flee, if your people have a place to flee to, for I will come and take what I want at the mouth of my cannon." What could the man do ~ I presume there was hardly a coin left in the village, and many of those he brought had been pierced, as if the women had given up the ornaments of their head-dresses to pay the taxes-ornaments which they never part with save under the direst necessity.
This oppression is not visited on Christians only; Mohammedans also suffer. On our way to Tiyary, in 1843, Dr. Grant and the writer passed several villages in succession empty and desolate. The climate was delightful, the soil fertile, and water abundant, but the houses Were roofless and the fields generally untilled. One of them was Bastawa, the home of the chief of Mezury, whose wife was there with a few attendants securing the rice crop. Totally different from her coarse companions, her appearance at once awakened our interest. The tassels of a fine silk shawl depended gracefully from the lower border of her head-dress. A green silk saltah (jacket), lined with fur, but. evidently well worn, covered a dress of coarse blue cotton, suggestive at once of former wealth and present poverty. Her face, still beautiful, showed a spirit roused rather than crushed by misfortune. Dr. Grant asked if she could furnish us lodgings for the night. At the question the smouldering fire kindled up. Rising to her full height, while one hand threw back her braided hair, she pointed with the other to the roofless houses and the ruined castle. " Look around; you have stripped us of everything and driven us forth to beg, and now do you ask our hospitality 1 Go to those with whom you have still left something, and God be judge between us." She said more, but this was the substance of her address in Kurdish, as translated by our servant. She did not rave. Gesture, look, and tone were faultless. She seemed to scorn to yield to the violence of passion. There was a dignity of sorrow about her that moved us even more than her words, and made thelll understood eveII Pllfore they were translated. We stood ashamed of our Turkish dress, that led her so to mistake US, and though as !loon as she learned who we were she offered to share with us the food she had brought from her pre~ent home, we had to move on, a<I there was absolutely nothing for our horses, thinkiag as we went much more of her than of our own discomforts.
A Kurdish chief, whom Dr. Grant had visited at his home in Akra on his first entrance into Tiyary, claimed descent from the Abasside caliphs of Baghdad, and was lord of many villages along the valleys and on the hill-tops, but he could not satiate the cravings of the Pasha of Mosul, who, without even a trial, imprisoned him three months, and set another over his estates. He then was ordered to remove his family to Mosul. Long after he had done this he told his old friend, the doctor, "I have been here three years, my means are nearly exhausted, and what I am to do I cannot tell." From sources like these we learned how the Turkish taxgatherer, claiming that a field will yield ten times what it does, demands most of the actual product for the pasha, and enforces the demand without mercy. How, then, are the peasants induced to sow their fields 1 The publican of last year is imprisoned till he disgorges what he had retained for himself, and his successor swears by the prophet to deal justly, only to do the same things over again, till the people either rebel or fiee. It is a righteous retribution that sometimes when a pasha is known to have grown rich, he, too, is thrown into prison till he gives up his ill-gotten gains; but that gives no relief to the taxpayer, .for. his successor follows on in the same steps j but take it all in all, it is a fearful round of sorrow and suffering. When Sherif Pasha sent to collect the taxes of SQIlle villages in the plain of Mesopotamia the poor people, who had hoped that a change of rulers would bring relief, implored some alleviation of their burdens, but in vain ; then placing their household goods on the backs of their cattle they set fire to their fields white for the harvest, saying that that was easier than to reap and thresh it for the Turk, and fled to Kurdistan. The only remark at Mosul was that in the days of Mohammed Pasha they could only have fled singly and at night.
But how do pashas dare to go to such extremes? At that time, whatever may be true to-day, they were a law unto themselves. A firman (royal edict) was sent to the Mohammed Pasha just referred to, reserving to the Sultan the right of inflicting capital punishment. He assembled his subordinates to hear it read, and then remarking that if anyone thought Mosul could be governed without cutting off heads, he knew nothing about the matter, made a sign to an attendant, who threw down before the assembly the heads of those then in the prison, and so allowed them to retire, glad to find their own heads still on their shoulders. Before he came several of his predecessors had Leen assassinated soon after their arrival, and the city was a camp of warring factions j but he not only defied his assailants, he also kil!ed them one after another by his secret agents and confiscated their estates, for his rapacity was fully equal to his energy. The Pasha of Diarbekir had long struggled with a rebellion in Mardin, but he quelled it at once. The Kurds who, instead of robbing others, as had been their custom, were themselves being stripped of their plunder rebelled, and their leaders were soon seated each on a sharp stake just outside the gate by which their friends entered the city, while their shrieks, curses, and groans were heard day and night till death ended the torture. The plundering Arabs were put down no less effectually, likewise the Yezidees, who had been robbers for ages, but the poor people soon found the pasha's tax-gatherers worse than all the robbers.
The city suffered no less than the country. To make his powder he wrought a sulphur mine, and though no one wanted it, the SUI plus sulphur had to be bought by the citizens at an extra price. The same was true of taxes that had been paid in kind; whether men needed the article or not, they had to buy and pay more than current rates.
Then he sold the monopoly of such things as everybody wanted. A Moslem patient told Dr. Grant that he paid more for the right to sell coffee than the cash he received. "How, then, can you live 7" "Last year I made money in building rafts. The pasha heard of it, and this is what follows. "
If the reader counts these as exaggerations, let him study the figures which follow. In 1835 the imports of European cloths amounted to 966 bales. In 1841 they had dwindled to 95 bales. Why 1 The explanation may appear in the fact that the pasha collected in 1841, 3,195,500 piastres -i.e., so much was published as collected. I might add that that sum is equal to $138,935, but it gives a more truthful idea of the case to add that the wages of a groom arc 30 piastres a month ($1.20), and of upper servants, 100 piastres ($4). A Nestorian from the mountains once told me with great gusto that besides his food he got one tenth of a Tcherkie a day (2 cents !), and yet where wages were at that rate the taxes were $138,935. In summer, when the drought leaves the plain of Assyria bare and verdureless, it is refreshing to look across to the dark green of the olive groves of Baashaika. Streams of water are led in turn to every tree, so that the foliage is fresh all summer long, but its owners may not pluck one olive from the loaded hranches, and the villagers must cultivate the whole for the pasha.
Looking day after day on such a state of things, is it strange that I longed for the day when Christians at home should appreciate the debt they owe to Christ for temporal as well as spiritual blessings 1 Ever since my return I have been hoping that a suffering people had reached the lowest point of mlsery, and that their next step would be upward out of the depths, but year after year I have looked and longed in vain. Instead of that, the wanton cruelties and terrible extortions of Moussa Bey have called forth thc remonstrances of united Europe, till the Sultan, who had sided with the robber a!.ld murderer, was compelled, from
FORERUNNERS OF CABEY. 8S9
a regard for his own interest, to banish the offender. Even the dark deeds of Moussa Bey do not seem to be the extreme of trouble.
In the Independent for January 29th, 1891, a missionary says: "I regret to be obliged to report that the condition of the people is daily becoming more pitiable, and our hearts constantly bleed at the tales of rapine and plunder that reach us from every side." As I read that I am grateful that the Holy Spirit furnishes the following language of dl'votion: "My spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever 1 and will He be favorable no more 1 Is His mercy clean gone forever 1 Hath God forgotten to be gracious 1" (Psalm 77 : 6-9.) Another missionary adds: "The ministerial office in the increasing stress of poverty reqUIres no ordinary self~denial. Salaries are inadequate and irregularly paid. Not only does the number able to contribute diminish, but there is a corresponding increase of those dependent on the charities of the churches. After the wany taxes are all paid, I always wonder where the money is to come from for even this meagre support of churches and schools, in addition to the support of their own families. ,.
I have heard another more familiar with the capital say that there workingmen cannot buy more than one suit of clothes for the year, and that the material of that grows coarser year by year. In food also they have to restrict themselves to one or two articles, and even of these they have to buy what is less nutritious.
So one land at least has not outgrown the comfort provided in the seventy-second Psalm, which says of the Christ that" He shall judge" (i.e., in behalf of) " the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor, for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, and the poor that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from oppression and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight."
FORERUNNERS OF CAREY.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D.
As there were reformers before the Reformation-men who sounded out all the essential notes of the coming revival-so there were Careys before Carey-men who foreshadowed all the main principles of the coming age of missions.
What if the Church had not listened to Carey 1 We have often asked ourselves the question. What if the sarcasm of Sidney Smith against the " consecrated cobbler" had suppressed him and put out the candle of his enthusiasm 1 What if Dr. Ryland's peremptory, " Sit down, young man I" had silenced him so that he had ceased to plead with the Church to " expect great things from God and attempt great things for God"? We need not now conjecture " what if r' but rather rejoice that, bavini won a hearing, first by a few, and then by an ever-widening circle of British Christians, it has come to pass that the English-speaking races are now honored to be the missionary army of the world.
William Carey was the pioneer of modern missions indeed; but let us – honor for a moment some of the forerunners of this eminent pioneer.
A writer of high authority on the subject heads a chapter of his book thus: " William Carey, the first Englishman who was a foreign mis- sionary." But our thoughts instantly run from Paulerspury, in Northamp- tonshire, where the great man was born, to another English hamlet, Nasing, in Essex, where, more than a hundred and fifty years before the birth of Carey, John Eliot first saw the light. In missions, as in other enterprises, there is rarely an effect without a cause or a stream without a fountain. .As Pietism has repeatedly proved itself to be the mother of missions, so, in this instance, did Puritanism give birth to a new evangelistic revival. "Godly parents, by whom my first years were seasoned with the fear of God, the Word, and prayer," is Eliot's simple allusion to his Puritan father and mother. .And the eminent Rev. Thomas Hooker says: " When I came to this blessed family I saw, as never before, the power of gOdli- ness in its lively vigor and efficiency." Out of such a home came the first Protestant Englishman who went forth to the heathen as a herald of the cross; and thus a century and a half before Carey became a missionary to the Indians of .Asia did John Eliot become a missionary to the Indians of .America.
From Old England Eliot came to New England in 1631 ; he was settled as pastor in Roxbury, and almost immediately began to be moved with concern for the benighted red men of the neighboring country. With prodigious toil he leamed their language and reduced it to a grammar, closing this difficult work with an inscription which has already passed into a proverb: "Prayer and pains, through faith in Jesus Christ, will do anything. "
As Eliot was the first Englishman to go as a foreign missionary, so he was probably the first to translate the entire Bible into a heathen language. Considering the exceeding difficulty of mastering the Indian tongue and the lack of helps for accomplishing the task, the work is to be regarded as perhaps the greatest achievement, as it was the beginning of efforts in biblical translation. Edward Everett has said, without exaggeration: " The history of the Christian Church does not contain an example of resolute, untiring, and successful labor superior. "
As for Hliot's missionary labors, they were most devoted and unwearying. -By toil an-' hardship, by nunger and peril, by exposure and privation, he proved himself indeed an " apostle." as he is invariably called. He writes concerning his evangelizing tours: "I have not been dry day nor night, although I pull off my boots, wring my stockings, on with them again, and so continue." .And so he did continue until savage chiefs were transformed into childlike disciples, who, gathering their warriurA about their camp-fires at night, rehearsed to them the wondrous story that the white teacher had brought to them; communities of " praying Indians" were established, and Indian preachers were raised up to become missionaries in turn to their neighbors.
It will be interesting for us to take a brief glance at the remarkable life as it has been sketched for us by Cotton Mather. Why did he pour out such prodigious pains and toil npon these miserable Indians? Because he believed them lost, and without Christ destined to eternal perdition. Instead of speculating on their possible chance of salvation while ignorant of the Saviour, he set himself resolutely to make known to them this Saviour. •, It powerfully moved his holy bowels," says Mather, "to hear the thunder-claps of imprecation on the heads of. our naked Indians. 'Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not,' and he thought, ' What shall I do to rescue these heathen from that all-devouring fury 1 ' "
In his daily toil he so sanctified the meanest work, and so " made drudgery divine," that he constantly said, " Were I to go to heaven tomorrow I sh01.tld do what I do to-day. " Working for God and walking with God were wonderfully conjoined in his life; prayer and pains were never unyoked from each other. If the burdens were heavy, and discouragements pressed, then so much the more time did he devote to prayer, "being of the mind," says Mather, " that when he had any great thing to accomplish, the best policy was to work by an Engine which the world saw nothing of." And what a tribute this writer pays to his heavenly mindcdness! Who would not crave such an encomium: " We cannot say that we ever saw him walking any whither, but he was therein walking with God"? His closing days and peaceful end remind one of the departure of venerable Bede or of Colomba of Iona-he was so transfigured by his own work, so glorified by that in whieh he had striven with utmost strength to glorify his Master. Did ever a consecrated career have a more lovely close ~ His body was now bent with the weight of years, his hairs were white as driven snow, yet his zeal was unabated. To his friend and patron, Robert Boyle, he writes: " My understanding leaves me, my strength fails me, but thank God, my charity holds out."
Like most of his Puritan co-religionists in ~arly New England, Eliot was an ardent milIcnnarian, and the hope of the Saviour's glorious appearing seemed wonderfully to cheer and stimulate him in Ilis work; and Dot, as it is often slanderously reported concerning this expectation, to cut the neIVe of missionary zeal.
Cotton Mather says on this point: " While he was thus making his retreat out of this world, his discourses ran from time to time on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; it was the theme unto which he still had recourse, and whatever other subject he was upon, we were sure to hear something of this. On this he talked; of this he prayed; for this he longed. . When any bad news arrived, his usual reflection thereon would be: Behold some of the clouds in which we must look for the coming of the Son of Man.' "
Thus he prayed and studied and wrought, declining, though' much urged to do so, to take his hands from the plough, or to look back with self-congratulation on the furrows already turned.
" His last breath," says Mather, " smelled strong of heaven, and was articled unto none but very gracious notes, one of the last whereof was , welcome Joy! ,,, Thus he passed away May 20th, 1690, aged 86.
Eliot preached to a decaying race, and translated the Scriptures into a dying language. His Indian Bible remains as an archreological curiositythere is none to read it now; and his communities of praying Indians have long since disappeared. Therefore we hear the constant lament among the historians of his mission that no permanent result of his work remains. But let us think a moment. Who were the co-laborers and successors of Eliot in this mission to the American Indians ~ There was the noble family of Mayhews-father, son, and grandsons. Governor Thomas Mayhew" devoted his own profits and his son's and grandsons' lives to the conversion of the red Indians." Experience Mayhew, the great-grandson of the governor, was hardly behind Eliot in the devotion and success of his work. Dr. Cotton Mather, in his" Magnalia, " says of him: "A hopeful and worthy young man, Mr. Experience Mayhew, must now have the justice done of him, of this character, that in the evangelical service among the Indians there is no man that exceeds this Mr. Mayhew, if there be any that equals him." Of the fruits of his labor, Mather mentions "more than thirty hundred Christian Indians" and " thirty Indian assemblies."
In this family there was a succession of missionaries to the Indians, extending over a century and a half, the last of the house dying in 1806, at the age of 81. A noble line, who at the appearing and kingdom of our Lord will present such a company of redeemed heathen as to prove that their labor was not in vain in the Lord.
In the same fellowship of New England missionaries to the Indians stands David Brainerd, whom we count one of the very greatest that any age has produced. Wonderful man 1 Who has read his journal without tears and humiliation of heart ~ Those prayers in the depth of the forest so intense that his garments were saturated with the sweat of his intercession ; that insatiable hunger for the souls of these poor savages; those scenes of Gospel triumph where the Indians fell before his preaching like grass before the mower's scythe! What wonder that Murray McCheyne, as he read this life, should have made this entry in his journal: "Most wonderful man: What conflicts, what depressions, desertions, struggles, advancements, victories within thy torn bosom! I cannot express what I think when I think of thee. To-night more set on missionary enterprise than ever." And last and greatest of all in seraphic piety and intellectual power stands..Tonathan Edwards, who joined to his attainments as theolo-
18'2.J FItOM CANNmALISM '1'0
gian, philosopher, lind preacher, the distinction which he counted not the least of laboring as a missionary among the Stockbridge Indians.
Now consider how great were these men as the forerunners and prophets of the coming missionary era! Brainerd was the true successor of Eliot j and Brainerd's" Memoirs," edited and sent forth by Edwards, powerfully influenced William Carey and Henry Martyn to give themselves to missionary service. Not only in the beginning, but continuously was Carey influenced by this wonderful life. In the spiritual covenant into which the Serampore missionaries entered, setting forth the things upon which they thought it right to "fix their serious and abiding attention," this clause occurs: " Let us often look at Brainerd in the woods of America, pouring out his very soul before God for the perishing heathen, without whose salvation nothing could make him happy." Thus did Carey seek to draw perpetual inspiration from this devoted life. Edwards was principally instrumental, as the world knows, in instituting concerted prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit in all lands. His writings and appeals on the subject fell into the hands of Carey, and so a second .fdctor in the making of Carey came from the Indian missionaries of New England.
Thus it is unquestionably true that one of the deepest and most abiding springs of nineteenth century missions is to be found in the Indian missions of America of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
FROM CANNIBALISM TO CHRIST.
Twelve years ago, the Rev. Oscar Michelson landed on the island of Tonga, in the New Hebrides, alone among cannibals. He was broken up with fever. At first he had many perilous adventures, and again and again fled into hiding to save his life. Once a savage, now one of his best teachers, levelled a rifle to kill him, but was stopped by a look. He persevered amid many threatenings and dangers. His house became known as " the Sunday House," and Christian hymns were often heard mingling with heathen !Songs. From heart to heart, home to home, village to village, the Gospel won its way, until now thirty Christian teachers are laboring in as many different villages. Mr. Michelson's field now includes, he writes, four whole islands. The people speak three languages. During the week of prayer he held meetings simultaneously in all the villages. At one meeting 300 rose for prayer. Ten years ago they proposed to eat him. Now he lives in perfect safety. The rifles are rarely used for the purpose for which they were made, but Mr. Michelson often sees them used in pairs over the fire to hold the saucepan. If a coin or some such object is lost on the road, the owner is almost sure to find it stuck up on a post, the next time he passes that way. Peace, love, honesty, prevail in the stead of savagery. Similar transformations were reported by Mr. Richards, of our Congo Mission, and by many another missionary. The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation.
'844 EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REY. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
EAST INDIES.
– " The Christian Patriot (Madras), in a highly eulogistic article on Dr. Pentecost's work, says: 'The most enthusiastic interest continues to be evinced by the public of Madras, Christian and non-Christian, in Dr. Pentecost's tlervices. The very first question asked wheu one meets another is, "Have you heard Dr. Pentecost?" Never before has Madras been stirred to such a longing to hear the Gospel of Christ as during the past few weeks. The popularity of this servant of God who has come in our midst at considerable personal sacrifice is evinced by the crowds that flock to hear him evening after evening at the Esplanade. The audience is by no means confined to the religious set alone. It is thoroughly representative of all classes, and during the past few days in particular the meetings have been attended largely by those who do not care ordinarily to have anything to do with religion. "I must go and hear Dr" Pentecost," said a European gentleman who had never set foot in a church for the past five.or six years; "I hear he has something to say worth listening to." What is most encouraging to us is the appreciative audiences of educated Hindus that Dr. Pentecost has at his daily services. To those who know how difficult it is to attract Hindus to purely religious meetings, this is indeed a marvel. "'What is it that you were struck with in Dr. Pentecost's address f' we asked a most cultured Hindu gentleman the other day, and he replied: "It is hIS earnestness more than his eloquence. " There is something convincing in his utterances. As we said last week, he does not appeal to the emotions III the least. He is no doubt eloquent, but there is nothing studIed about his eloquence. 1t is spontaneous, and is the outcome of his earnestness and zeal in the Master's cause.' " – The Reaper.
-" The Hindus are a people wholly given to idolatry, which, with its endless round of rites and ceremonies, possesses a fascination over the human mind which those accustomed to Christian ideas cannot understand. • •. In the case of women, religion is interwoven with eyery minute particular of daily life. In a word, religion is her own peculiar sphere. After the household work is done she has plenty of time hanging heavy on her hands, which she spends in sleeping, gossiping, or in the performance of some one or other of her endless religious ceremonies. A Hindu lady has no visiting or shopping to do as understood by the Europeans; she has no fancy or plain sewing on hand; and anything like reading is out of the question. Almost every second or third day there is some fast, feast, or ceremony to observe; and on such days she must have some light dish or cake, for each feast has its own peculiar dish. She thus finds something to do to kill time, and has become subject to the' ordinances of touGhing, tasting, handling.' She also gives alms to the Brahmans and the poor in a manner somewhat ostentatious; she must have her adviser by her side to tell her which is the propitious hour of the day to buy, sell, etc. Being thus incrusted in her shell of fancied good works, she does not feel the need of a Saviour's cleansing blood. She is clean and made pure by her rites and deeds of charity; and a sense of sin being absent, the message of a Saviour has no meaning for her. . " Among the Hindus, whatever may be the case with most of the men, there is no denying the fact that most of the women are in dead earnest in their superstition ; and we must take advantage of their strong religious instincts and give them a right direction and turn them into a Dew channel, by giving them an education leavened with the Christian leaven. This will create in them a habit of reflection, help them to think rationally on religion, and to read the Bible with profit to their souls under wise and sympathetic guidance. " -The Helpmeet.
-" Stand with me for a moment in a Hindu village. We are in the centre, and have come to the Hindu temple. The priest comes out and says, 'Stay here, sir; don't go further. I will provide mats and seats for you.' We sit down, and there gather near us 150 or 200 Brahmans and educated natives. In the distance we see women in the verandas. Then a Bengali stands up. I shall never forget that scene. Behind is the Hindu temple. Above is a clear, tropical moon; and as the Bengali teacher tells in flowing, fervent Bengali the life of Christ, and as he comes to the part ",here they were driving nails into His hands, and Christ cried out, ' Father, forgive them; they know not what they do ! ' you can feel the thrill going through the audience. And as the preacher goes on to tell of the death and resurrection, you can see the tears running down the faces of the people. When this man closed, another Bengali started a soft, wild Bengali air, telling how man had wandered away from God, and God had sent His Son to bring him back. When he stopped there was dead silence. You see before you the picture of Bengali Christians convincing by their eloquence and zeal their fellow-countrymen. In another village some of our Bengalis ",ere alone, and by their preaching they converted a rich young man. He, won by them, came forth and confessed Christ in baptism, even though it meant to him giving up a fortune of £20,000 and never looking on his mother's face again. In another village, where one of our old students lived, he, by his learning, was able to convince an English-speaking schoolmaster of the divinity of Christ. By hiR love and zeal he won him so that he and hi;; wife and four children were baptized. You can be proud of your native workers. You may thank God for them, for I believe that, as a whole, they are a band of truly converted men. They are men who know Him in whom they beliel'e. They are men of wonderful eloquence; and I make bold to say that 90 per cent of the baptisms are won first by the natives themselves. They'are the feelers, the outposts of the army of European missionaries behind, by which they are guided and controlled, but they are the real workers among their own people."- Rev. W. II. BALL, in Church Missionary Intelligencer.
– " Come with me to Madras, where there is a great university. You will see four or five great colleges, where they are teaching thousands of students for the university examinations. And the best of all these institutions is a missionary college-the Christian College. Come with me to the Mofussil towns, to the provinces, to Masulipatam, Madura, and Tinnevelly, for example, and what do you see ¥ Large colleges and hi/rh schools, some of them conducted by natives, some of them by missionary agencies. You can go lower down still to the large villages, and you will see middle schools, and still lower and you will see sIIlall primary schools started. What is the meaning of all this intellectual activity? It is this: There is a perfect craze among the upper classes in India to have an English education. The first thing you have to seek, from a missionary point of view, is to use this craving for the spread of Christ's kingdom. You know India is I'ltratified by caste. At the bottom of the social scale you have the outcastes, then the Jaw castes, gradually rising to the high castes, and these are the leaders among the 270,000,000 of people among whom the Queen rules in India. They are not the feet, they are the head-the leaders in Indiathe men who are now crymg out aloud from the national Congress for representative government for themselves, and for many things for which they are not fit just yet, and thcrefore cannot have at present. But these men are, after all, the brain of India, and they come from the highest castes and are being educated in these schools and colleges of which I have told you. You remember that the Lord Jesus, when He was upon earth, made use of a great want that He round among the people. They wanted healIng, and thousands and thousands of them came to Him just for nothing else than to get their bodies healed. Do you think the Lord Jesus does not value the mind as much as He values the body ~ Do you think that these Brahmans-these leaders of the people, who become the judges, and the rulers, and the magistrates, and the barristers-do you think these men, who are saying, 'Give us English education; give it us with Jesus Christ if you like, but we must have it in any case! '-do you thmk Jesus Himself would not have pitied them 1 I believe He would have come to us educational missionaries and said, 'Go on, my brethren, go on lU this great work and win the brain of India for God. ' Yes, India is ripe for this work of Christian university education. "-Rev. C. W. A. CLARKE, in Church Missionary lntelligencer.
– " What wonder that we hear out of the mouth of missionaries in India the severest judgments respecting caste! 'It is our greatest enemy.' , This it is, which hinders the Christianization of India.' 'The might of caste is as unintelligible as unbounded, and its fruits are almost pure evil,' writes J. Murray Mitchell. In fact, India will never become Christian without an adequate solution of the caste question. 'I.'he religious declamations of the Hindus, which often, indeed, are not seriously intended, have not a tithe of the resisting power against Christianity w.b.ich inheres in the wordless tenacity of the sense of caste.
" What now if Christianity in India itself became a caste ~ Nothing would be more fatal to our missionary hopes. And yet there is among the Christians of India a tendency, perhaps not sufiiciently noted, to constitute themselves into a caste. Nothing would be more grateful to the heathen; for with this the claim of Christianity on the conversion of all would be broken. Caste is tolerant, because intrinsically exclusive. We should then share the fate of the Syrian Christians (Thomas Christians) in Travancore, who have attained to the rank of a high caste, not eating with the heathen, but, by the very fact of being a caste, having lost all efficacy toward the rectmstitution of the spiritual life of India. "-GEORGE SToseH, in Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift.
– " Under the guidance of a well-known social reformer of Madras, a society has been formed to enjoy and maintain a brotherhood of all persons professing the Hindu religion; to promote the study and knowledge of Vedic and Shastraic literature and religion; to inculcate and practise toleration toward all other religions; to worship God; to be loyal to the sovereign, and to love Bharata Varsha (India).
, " This movement is probably the next stage in India's religious history on the part of the orthodox Hindus, and may be regarded as the last despairing effort to save an ancient and honored institution. Its members are not necessarily opposed to Christianity. Some, no doubt, resent the intrusion of an alien religion, and patriotically defend the ancestral faith; 1>ut others are quite friendly toward Christianity, and admit that it has done much for the country. In many parts of South India there exists a strong feeling, however, that something ought to be done to restore the past. Letters are written to the papers, schemes are elaborated for preaching Hinduism. occasionally a lecture is delivered, but no one loves the past so well as to gIve himself heart and soul to its revival. Spasmodic attempts there doubtless will be here and there, but they are not likely to be either widespread or lasting. We believe there is not sufficient enthusiasm among the Hindus to maintain for any length of time such an organized revival and reeonstrnction of Hinduism. It may be clung to as an historic possession for some time to come, but the national faith cannot satisfy the deflpest spiritual longings of the human heart, and this movement will ultimately lead ou to the reception of Christianity as the fulfiller of all ancient faiths and the satisfier of all human aspuations. "-Rev. HENRY RICE, in Mission Record of the Church of Scotland.
– " Some thoughtful observers believe that the battle of the future will not be so much with Hinduism or with Islam aR with Western scepticism modified by Oriental metaphysics. That such a struggle will take place in the near future is not improbable, but the Hindu nature is far too deeply religious for atheism to take root in the land. The Hindus banished Buddhism because of its atheistic character, and they will never endure a negation of God and faith. When we bear in mind the deep religiousness of the Hindu nation j their instinctive passion for tranRcendental ideas j their spiritual searches after the Divine Essence; and, what is of greater significance, that all modern revivals of Hinduism have tended toward biblical monotheism, we may believe that the present opposition to Christianity proceeds rather from the pride of national inheritance than from any hostility to spiritual truth as such j and that India's best minds will yet surmount their superstitions and prejudices, and turn adoringly to the Light of Life."-Ibid.
– " There is the class of earnest, thoughtful men whom every missionary meets, who are already confessedly Christians at heart. They are far more familiar with the facts of ' Christianity' than they are with their own religion. They admire Christ's characttr and delight in His teaching. Within the visible pille both of Brahmoism and Hinduism there are those who recognize the claims of Christ and His right to their allegiance. There is many Ii Cornelian Hindu who would embrace Christianity at once if an open profession by baptism were not demanded with it_ But so long as the open acceptance of Christ's religion mealls the sharp severance of family ties, social disgrace, and isolation, so long must we 'De thankful for this growing number of secret disciples. The heroic in daring is absent from the Hindu. He dares not' be a Daniel.' Bring him to a crisis and his courage fails. He sees, but stands still. He knows, but will not do. He needs arousal. He stands shivering on the brink, waiting for the leadership of a more venturesome spirit. But may we not claim these timid, silent ones for Christ, and wait patiently ana hopefully for the day when the enormous difficulties created by caste and the power of unenlightened female influence shall have passed away ~ " What is wanted is that a man shall arise among the Hindus themselves, fired with the moral courage and splendid fervor of a Martin Luther, who shall possess the instinct to comprehend the blind outreaching!! of the native mind and the genius to give expression to its common longings. The success of such a leader will be greater than that of any Vishnavite rdormer, because he will appHal to a people waiting for a change, !md because the tolerance of British rule will secure him unrestrained freedom of preaching. The appearance of such a personality is but a question of time j and when he appears, who will deny that his success will be greater than that of Chaitanya, and might equal that of Gautama Buddha himself. " – I b i d .
-Dr. Grundemann decidedly objects to the closed churches of the European style iu India. He found them bad enough in the cooler time, and he does not know how they can be endured at all in the hotter months.
– " With the exception of the United States of America, there is no spot of earth beyond the boundaries of the British Empire where individual liberty and opportunity for personal advancement equals that enjoyed by the people of India. There may be, it is true, greater poverty and ignorance here, and the environment may be unfavorable, but these things are, in the main, beyond the control of governments, and do not vitiate the statement that the native of India has large opportunity for making the roost and the best of the life that is given him."-Indian Witness.
:..-" Dr. Grundemann concludes, in the April number of the Allgemeine Missions Zeit~chrift, his interesting and valuable observations on mission work as he saw it in India. He takes up the questions of architecture, sculpture, painting, and music in their relation to the spread of Christianity. In regard to church building, he regrets that in the large towns and at head stations European styles of architecture are employed. On the score of coolness, so desirable in a hot climate, he doubts the wisdom of putting up Gothic churches, while he thinks it would not be easy to make Hindus enter into the symbolic significance of spires pointing heavenward. As he says. it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at a knowledge of the real thought and feeling of natives with regard to such matters, they are so accustomed to give replies suited, as they hope, to the wishes of foreign questioners. But Dr. Grundemann quotes the words of a Tamil, who expressed that when any of his fellow-countrymen accepted Christianity, they ceased to be regarded as Tamils by the rest. And this may arise in no small degree from the foreign character of the church buildings and church arrangements with which they are henceforth connected. Dr. Grundemann thinks that the attempt should be made to follow, in regard to building and other matters, the Indian ideal of beauty, and so avoid that marked departure from national idiosyncrasies which tends to produce the conviction that native Christians become members of a foreign race. Indian notions of beauty may be distasteful to us, but our ideas are probably equally distasteful to them. On the far more difficult subject of music and singing, Dr. Grundemann throws out some notions worthy of consideration. There is, he says, a Christian Indian national music, and at Ahmednuggur he heard three men, one an aged pastor, sing and play, the subject being prayer-Christian as compared with heathen prayer. He says he could not share the pleasure evidently felt by the crowd in the music and singing j yet the whole scene made a deep impression on his mind. He expresses the wish that, in addition to Christian hymns, harmless and pretty songs could be written, especially for children. In an orphanage he found girls joining in a dance and singing a song on the sufferings of our Lord. Another remark he makes is, and with this we conclude: 'Above all, children should be taught to sing after the manner of their people, and not according to our melodies! "-The Chronicle (L. M. S.).
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Afrioa. in a. World's Oongress. formulated could scarcely be better out· lined in part than in Mr. Cust's lan- BY J. T. G. guage : •• (1) To develop the self-gov- erning aptitudes of African nationali- In former years Europeans used to ties either as kingdoms or republics. steal Africans from Africa; now they (~) The European powers should be just are trying to steal Africa from the Afri- and unselfish to the populations, which cans. " This, from Dr. Robert N. Cust. have by violence and by brute force been brought like a flock of helpless " How could we combine to become sheep under their influence. (3) The unprovoked aggressors, to imitate, in resources of the region should be de· Africa, the partition of Poland by the veloped by methods not calculated to conquest of Morocco for France, of Tunis destroy the indigenous popUlation. for Italy, of Egypt for England, and (4) The introduction of legitimate comhow could England and France, who merce, exclusive of spirituous liquors have guaranteed the integrity of the and lethal arms, and the gentler virtues Turkish Empire, turn round and wrest of education and social culture." Egypt from the Sultan?" This, from Lord Palmerston, writing to Napoleon Of courso it will be impossible to lay III. the foundation of a true policy without considering Africa past and present, It is impossible to arrest this political the African at home and abroad, Africa's and commercial drift. The only ques- influence on letters and language, comtion in practical politics is, Can this be merce and politics, and the influence regulated-dominated-bya benevolent of the outer world on Africa. What intent? Who shall attempt it, Ameri- Africans have done and can do as manuca who received the stolen goods, the facturers and tradespeople, as agricul- Africans, or Europe, who is stealing turists, in medicine, mechanics or the Africa? fine arts, we judge, are to find promi· nent place and able presentation in the The splendid diplomacy of holding a proposed African Congress at Chicago, great council on this newly revealed and there are some Africans who can Africa is to be tried in connection with forcibly treat these topics. Rev. James the World's Fair in July, 1893. Would Johnson, a member of the Legislature that it might create sentiment that of Lagos, and Bishop B. T. Tanner, of would thunder as a moral army and America, are well furnished to discuss navy, force crowned contestants to ac- the sociology of Africa and the Africans. cept it as a mighty umpire, or create a concordat, not of text, but of a one- African philology is of much wider inhearted master passion, which should terest than the limits of Africa. Dr. hold the nations in leash from greed of Robert N. Cust has already catalogued might and greed of gain, and oblige a upward of five hundred of these Afriregenerated Europe and America to ac- can languages, and if he should present cept the task and seize the opportunity, a paper on the subject in general, it to concentrate all the accumulated ex- will be the rich result of years of special perience, intelligence, and benevolence study of African philology. Then our of the Christian centuries in one gigan- own American, Lewis Grout, the autic effort, to make the noblest and lofti- thor of a Zulu grammar, a man who has est experiment of the race, the creation devoted strength and time to the whole of another ,. New World." The twenti- subject of the relative place and power e~h century should see this experiment of these several families of Afric::n far toward a successful issue.
Perhaps the policy that ought to be speech, Bantu, Swahali, and all the rest, The AdVisory Council of this, which can ably discourse on the relation of is technically termed " an African Eththese severally to the development of nological Congress," numbers a strong Africa. Others eminently qualified to host of able men in America, Europe, discuss allied themes will surely take and Africa. The administrator of part. Bechuanaland, the commissioner for Basutoland, and a large list of other The history .and geography of Africa, important fu'tlCtionaries in South, West, ancient history as well as modern, the North, and East Africa, at Zanzibar, influence of Madagascar on Southeast Natal, the Gold Coast, Algeria, Tunis, Africa, Egypt and the Soudan, the prog. Zambesia, and every other important ress of the modern unveiling of the con· point, are members. of this Advisory tinent, are fruitful parts of the general Board; De Brazza, Wissman, Schweinsubject, and men specially adapted and furth, Du Chaillu, Carl Peters, Sir Samwilling to treat them can be found. It uel Baker, and other eminent explorers is given out as probable that such offi- of the continent, members of the Royal cials as the Premier of Cape Colony, Geographical Society, Capella and Ivens, James Stevenson, of the African Lakes Ministers of Foreign Affairs Rome, Sul- Company, Dr. Ward of the Independent, tans and military men, with many foreand even H. M. Stanley, are to be in- most ministers of America and of Euvited or have already' consented to dis. rope, have all pledged their patronage to cuss important matters of African civili- this council and become members of it. zation, colonization, and commerce; It ought to arrest attention even amid and' that Hon. John A. Kasson, ex- the whirl of the Columbian Exposition. United States Minister to Germany at The anticipation is that t.he papers will the Berlin Conference, may write of the be published hereafter, in full text, function and power of the Congo Free even should the twenty-five minutes or State in the redemption of Africa. so allotted to their reading be too re- Other great sub.departments of the po- stricted for the entire essay. litical and social sphere will challenge the ablest thought of eminent special- Africa is a vast continent. Lay its ists. western edge on our Pacific Coast and it would cover land and sea to the coast The department of religion in Africa of Ireland. It has perhaps four times is quite extensive enough to have a the population of the United States; week to itself, for the African religions it is the coming continent! Great opare of great varieties and marked by portunities are offered the Christian strong characteristics. The ancient Church for its evangelization. Mis- Egyptian religion with its .. Book of sions, and, as it now seems, missions the Dead ;" the ancient Christianity of only can ameliorate the condition of Egypt, Abyssinia, and Nubia; the Mo- the barbarous races of three fourths of hammedanism of the north half of the this vast continent. The African probcontinent; the work of the modern lem is a perplexing one, but its resolumissions of the Roman Catholic and tion is hopeful and assured. Protestant churches in the Dark Continent, are of foremost ·interest. We are Lay Missionaries for the Foreign Field. given to understand that archbishops, biIlhops, and secretaries are among BY REV. C. A. NICHOLS, BASSEIN, BURMA. those likely to present papers on the great subject of the evangelization of Foreign missions are unmistakably Africa; while ex·governors and sena- passing out of the emotional into the tors, jurists and statesmen will present practical stage. Many of the most devarious phases of Afro-American cul- voted among our pastors and laymen ture, opportunity, responsibility, and are diligently studying the problem progress. how most rapidly and effectively the in the very highest state of efficiency Church may fulfil her mission to the while on the field. After arriving, he naVons. All are agreed that a greatly will have to acquire a language as di- increased force of laborers are needed verse from his vernacular as well can for this purpose, and by Bome it is be, and that, too, under very untoward argued that an adequate force can never circumstances. If he has not already be available until recruits are drawn gained fixed habits of study and con- from all worthy sources, lay as well as centration, in nine cases out of ten he clerical, from our Christian artisans, will fail in gaining such a thorough business men, and farmers, as well as mastery of the language as he must from those liberally educated and or- have in order to gain the respect of the dained to the special work of the min- people to whom he is sent. Moreover istry. if he does not have such habits of con, A little over thirteen years of experi- centration and sustained mental effort, ence and observation in the foreign he will be apt to yield to the temptation field, however, have convinced me that, to magnify trifles and chafe in the har- while Carey and quite a number of ness, to. a far greater extent than he others successful in foreign fields have would had he been subject to the severe been men who did not go out thus mental discipline that should be the trained for the special work of the min- result of any training that is contem- istry, still the same success may be pred- plated in what we commonly under- icated of many evangelists and pastors stand by a "liberal course of study."
in the history of the Church at home; Under the new and trying surrDund- and, notwithstanding that fact, the ings amid which his work must be done, great bulk of the most successful work he will in every respect find his re- in the ministry of the Word has been sources tried t'o the utmost, and thus done by men specially chosen of the will on every hand find a ,need for the Spirit, set apart by the Church for that very best discipline available, and with- special work. and educated for that out which so many have failed who work as liberally as possible. By some might have otherwise achieved success.
it is thought that the foreign work It, will be said that failures have not would not call for so thorough an edu- been wholly among the undisciplined; cation as the home, from the fact that but the same may be said with equal the people to whom the worker will be truth of pastors at home, notwithstand- sent are presumably less intelligent than ing which fact, very few people will be those to whom he would minister if at found to-day who would urge our going home; but there are other factors in back to an uneducated ministry for the the problem that are not always taken home churches.
into account_ There is, then, the need of still more One of the exceptional conditions to care in gaining the highest possible be taken into account is that most of efficiency in those whom the Church our foreign missionary operations are sends abroad, because there is involved necessarily carried on among peoples so great an outlay in sending out and who Jive in climates inimical to Euro- returning those who fail; while their pean races, with the result that not only failure will be sure to work so much must the work be prosecuted there with more disastrous results abroad than much less bodily vigor, but that it will here, where the worker is far less con- necessarily be subject to stilI further spicuous, lost as he is among so great hindrance by absences from the field an army of other workers.
on the part of the worker. in order to Some of the friends of missions are regain health and vigor. Hence it is es- almost overjoyed over the fact that some sential that the missionary should come of our farmers, artisans, and business to the work so disciplined that he will be men have begun to go to the foreilln field, many of whom have gone at their gain money. This would be merely to own charges, hoping to be able to live gain subsistence for himself and family, by the exercise of their secular calling without speaking of the time and and preach the Gospel meanwhile. We strength necessary for evangelistic work could only wish that the whole heathen among the people, or to gain a mastery world might be leavened by such ; and, of their language; a task requiring, of on the face of it, the plan would seem itself, several years even for one who to be the most reasonable and easy of has the maximum of his time and the many experiments yet tried in the strength at his command. In the opin- world's evangelization. Still, there are ion of some who have advocated an ex- many things to be fully considered be- tension of this principle upon which to fore any family determines to sell out conduct our foreign missions, the relaand undertake the actual experiment. tion of such lay workers to the ordained 'God will not interpose to save us from men in the field would be that of "asthe exercise of reasonable forethought sistants" or .. helpers," and so under any more than He did in the days of their direction, while reference is frethe crusades, even though the apirit quently made to the example of some and intention of the effort may be solely of the English and continental socithe furtherance of His glory. Those eties ; but it may be said that this sysof us who have b~en many years on the tem is the outgrowth of the social and field have seen some very disappointed class distinctions which enter so largely people, nor have the home boards been into the European habit of thinking, less disappointed, in many cases where and results do not show their organithey have been called on to pay the zation to be superior to ours. On the round trip expenses of some who have other hand, I have often heard the memstarted out with undoubtedly a sincere bers of their missions express their recimpulse, but nevertheless from an im- ognition of the greater fruitfulness of pulse without forethought. Happily our American missions, employing, as such cases are in the minority. but still most of our societies do, chiefly orthey have been frequent enough to dained ministers of the Gospel. serve as a warning. It may be understood, at the outset, that in most cases One of the chief objections that I a European, with his hereditary habits have to this plan of lay .. assistants" and constitution, will find it a hopeless or " helpers" is, that the most valuable task to provide for the support of him- helpers will always be found in the naself and family in an uncivilized or tive converts, who need the benefit of partially civilized tropical country, in the relation in training for their own competition with the natives of the future work. If foreigners do this work country, who can endure exposure and for them, they will never take the relabor there far better than himself, sponsibility upon themselves, and we and who can live on what to him shall only perpetuate a dependent body would mean the ruin of health or loss of converts. of life, ~his is true of any form of manual labor; while, if he engage in Lay workers of a certain kind, howtrade, the habits of mutual distrust and ever, afe called for on the field in greatunreliability, which obtain among all ly increased numbers. Well-qualified heathen people, stand in the way of medical missionaries and teachers are his success, unless he shall descend to still imperatively demanded, and even habits of trickery that are far too com- these will do far better if educated for mon among European traders in such the ministry and ordained to its work lands; nor will the people ever give him as well. their confidence as a religious teacher "'<.1.1 leader, if they think he is there to As to lay workers going out at their own charges, I may say that the above opinions are not brnught forward as speculations as to what might be the case, but from personal observation of substance, which sacrifice will, accord- cases where the experiment has been ing to the Divine law, certainly not tried, under as favorable conditions as only gain the direct end for which she would fall to the lot, on the average, of labors, but will also bring her in return anyone attempting this method. Some a rich fruitage of blessings at hOlDe.
such have been dependent for months together upon the families of those sen~ out and supported by mission boards, Affairs in Japan. and who all'eady had more demands upon their resources than they could BY REV. H. LOOMIS, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN.
supply; some suffered from actual want Few, if any, more auspicious changes and disappointment, to the limit of have occurred in politics than the re- mental derangement; and numbers cent reorganization of the Cabinet and have afterward gladly gone to work un· the return of well,known and honored der appointment from l'egular mission leaders to power.
boards, doing work in the regions to When Count Inouye and Count Ito which they have gone. resigned their positions and retired to There is always a certain fascination private life, the control of affairs fell about the idea of thus going out, inde. into the hands of new and untried pendent of all controlling boards and men, and it seemed inevitable that agencies, which is very apt to captivate, serious and irreparable loss must b"
not only those contemplating the work the result, and all the bright hopes of for themselves, but others, so that they the past were to be disappointed.
can be assured they will get a hearty But greatly to our surprise and relief, amen and Godspeed from pastors and there has been accomplished a happy churches, already burdened by ever-in- change in affairs, and the outlook for creasing avenues for expenditure on ob. Japan to-day is brighter than ever.
jects nearer home, even though the bulk What is evidently needed at this time of that expenditure may be for more is the presence of the best and ablest luxurious services and imposing edi- men at the head of the government.
fices of worship. Constitutional government is an experi- Hence, while we gladly welcome all ment thus far ; and it is inevitable that those devoted men who have" sold all tor years to come there must be a strong they hRd" and laid it at their Master's and wise administrative power to check feet, and have given not only it bu' what is wrong and enforce the right.
themselves to the work of reclaiming a So we have now most happily in the lost world, believing that their sacrifice new ministry the ablest and most popu- will meet its reward, yet it is to be de- lar statesmen that the country can fur- voutly hoped that those contemplating nish. At the head is Count Ito once going out will "count the cost" before more, and associated with him is Count they begin to build, lest they reap for Inouye as Minister of Home Affairs.
themselves disappointment and cha- To these two men more than to any "grin. Such advice will not injure the others does Japan owe her present posi- work any more than similar solemn in- tion and progress; and with years of junctions on the part of Christ Himself experience in the administration, they to those who would follow Him in His are without question the two men to bf missionary ministrations while He was at the head of the Cabinet and the chief yet in the body. advisers of the Emperor.
On the other hand, the Church at The Minister of Foreign Affairs is home must not expect that she will be Mr. Mutsll, who was for several years relieved of her part, as a whole, in car- the Japanese Minister at Washington, rying on the work ; and that at a sacri- and who has thus the experience that fice of her hest taleIJ.t as well aa of her especially fits him for such a position. It is not too much to expect that under sive revivals are reported from many his administration there will be some quarters, and a most hopeful state of better adjustment of the present ques· things has taken the place of the dead- . tion of extra territoriality and the re- ness and indifference of the past. The lations of foreign residents to the gov- greatness of the difficulties and the in- ernment. The recent attempt to force adequacy of human means are being concessions from the foreign powers, felt everywhere, and so there is a turn- by limiting the privileges of the foreign ing to the true source of success in all residents here, and making the situa- mission work, and that is the help of tion more uncomfortable, has not been God. helpful to Japan, and is making the question of coming under Japanese con- Some think that there are enough trol still more serious and questionable. missionaries in Japan to accomplish all' that is needed to make this a Christian The question that will especially in- nation. Others think differently. But terest the Ohristian people in the United one thing is certain, that it is not by States is the probable attitude of the an increase of numbers alone that these present and new ministry toward- mis- hard hearts are to be subdued and won sionaries aIrd their work. I think that to Christ. God chose only three hun. it is the general opinion that we owe to dred to overthrow the Midianite host; the men now in power the liberty that and with His help we shall have suc- we now enjoy; and more than that, cess, whether the helpers be multiplied they have shown a sincere and intelli- or not. gent sympathy with what has been done, No doubt there is still room for many As proof of this I need only mention more good men, and in some places the liberal donation of 1000 yen (about they seem to be sadly needed, but we .$800) toward the Doshisha at Kyoto by need even more_ than all, such a bap- Oount Inouye. Count Ito signified his tism of the Spirit as will make the truth approval of the work and promised his effective in the convincing men of sin aid. No institution in the country hall and their need of a Saviour. That God been more decidedly Ohristian in its is showing His power and willingness character, to save should call forth the gratitude of all hearts. The erection at Yamaguchi, by Oount Inouye, of a suitable building for the The Rev. 1. H. Corrl'll, of the Methuse of Rev. Dr. Beck in teaching his ~dist Episcopal Mission, reports that he Bible class, and his liberal construction has recently been through a large part of the restrictions contained in the pass- of Kiushiu, and the work is in a very ports, are direct and tangible proofs prosperous condition. The people are that missions will not suffer from any very attentive to preaching and the conaction on the part of those now at the gregations are quite large. He has rehead of the government. cently visited the Loochoo Islands, and brings back a glowing account of the The discussion of theological ques- reception given him. He preached sevtions is becoming less prominent, and eral times. At the first service he had the pastors and other Christian workers about one hundred present, two hunare settling down to more steady and dred at the second, and four hundred effective work for the-salvation of souls. at the third. Everywhere he went he It has become e,:ident to many that was most kindly received, and 1'as. there is no new and better method for urged to commence work on the islands. the conversion of sinful men than the The Baptists have a native worker there old theories of redemption through now. Christ, and the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying the The school for boys connected with heart. the Southern Methodist church at Kobe is soon to be cnlarged, It has shown a And the happy result is that extenconstant growth since its organization pressed with the direct interposition three years ago. In a recent letter of God in the present progress of mis- from the Rev. Mr. Wainwright, he says sions. From his vantage-ground he that" We have been havfng a very gra· discovers secret growth as well as prog.
cious work of the Holy Spirit in our ress that is more tangible. The mix- school. It has been a glorious season ture of evil with good (to be truthfully with us, and we believe there will be recognized) is no more than is going on much fruit unto the salvation of souls all over the world, and the wonder is as a consequence of this blessing." The that from the overwhelming mass of Southern Presbyterian Mission bas re- evil so much of good is forthcoming.
cently opened work in Takamatsu, on "A Divine purpose is being clearly the island of Shikoku, and are meeting evolved." These things are to him ab- with much success. solute fact.s of experience, and in his The conference of the missionaries of farewell address we found enlarged the American Missionary Union (Bap- consolation fitted to fire the heart with tist) has recently been in session at that confidence in God which is the Yokohama. The report says: "The result of a generation of proofs of His work of the year shows progress. About faithfulness. .
twice the number that were received It may not be sufficiently realized the previous year have been baptized that in this distant Eastern land there into the Church." Rev. J. H. Pettee is reason to look for exceptional devel- writes that the late annual meeting of opments of good. So far there have the representatives of the Congrega- been grinding toil, sapping and mining, tional churches at Osaka was the best seed·sowing. If a touch of life is all-round meeting ever held. Kbout granted from above, what is just now eighteen months ago a native pastor feared politically, of any spark setti~g was first stationed by the mission of this province in a blaze, may take place the Evangelical Association at Togane, in a happier sense.
near Tokyo. The work has steadily in- Multitudes of Chinese Christians are creased, so that the present church- praying for the conversion of the Em- membership is forty-five, and ten more peror. Whatever views may be held in are ready to be baptized. Quite are· the West as to the good or evil of rulers vival spirit has appeared in the schools being mixed up with the spi-ead of the of the Methodist church at Nagasaki. faith of Christ, here it seems to be gen- The two churches at Hachoji have re- erally felt among Chinese Christians cently united in holding special or re- that the will of God cannot be fully ac- vival meetings, which have been at- complished while the leaders of the tended with good results. New inter- country are unaffected by the truth.
est has been awakened, the attendance At present Christianity is not even re- at the churches has gradually been in- garded as a legal system of faith and creasing, and a number of applicants conduct, much less understood. It is for baptism are reported. time for the Lord to work to discounte- nance heathen and immoral proceed- ings, which are often tolerated all round Things Ohinese that are Promising. by the great of this world, if not even BY REV. J. SADLER, AMOY, CHINA. engaged in. Christ was weak as re- Dr. Cobb, whom you may soon see- gards the things of this world, but He back in the States, * is profoundly im- never lacked the p~wer of the Spirit.
It transpires that there may be more • Dr. Cobb, the Secretary of the Missionary of indirect success than is imagined_ Board of the Reformed Church in America, com- Tbe Chinese are now known to be keen pleted his tour around the world and resumed on our newspapers (in Chinese), and his dutie. at his desk early in September.- IlOt a little interested in seeing what ill J.T. G. thought of them. They cannot shut Church in Canada, for in that week themselves up any longer. One paper, three missionaries were ordained and called The Ten Thousand (Jouniries' News- designated for service. Our Trinidatl paper, is, we believe, read in high quar- Mission has now reached an important ters. We know of a Mandarin, not era in its history. Twenty-five years mean in degree, who considers it greatly have passed away since the pioneer to his interest to have honorable men- missionary, Dr. Morton, left Nova Sco- tion in this paper. What suggestions tia and commenced work among the grow out of such a fact as to good coolie population. The general work though silent influence. We need not of the mission has been very much en- expect that the turning of this people larged of late, adding very greatly to to God may come about in just our its cost. The Government of Trinidad methods of church life and discipline. passed a new school ordinance which If, as we know to be the case, con- had to be accepted by our staff of mis- sciences are aroused, a moral sense sionaries. The law, on the whole, is deepened and vivified, vigorous sym- favorable to the mission. A number of pathy. however hidden, be called out new buildings had to be erected, which for many kinds of reform, this all is cost the ChUl'ch $10,000. In conse- good. Individual conversions are ever quence of the government's action a taking place. Prayer is constantly debt of over $7000 now rests on the going up for such wot:k of the H01y Foreign Mission Fund, and steps are Spirit. There is nothing too hard for being taken to wipe it out. A Presby- God in regard to turning the tremen- terian college has also been opened on dous forces of heathenism to His ser- the island, with a staff of three profes- vice; and, in answer to prayer, ever sors and an assistant and forty -six stu- being offered, raising up such effective dents in attendance. Several of our native apostles as may, like Moses and Young People's Societies of Christian Paul, lead multitudes into the kingdom Endeavor have contributed nobly tow- of heaven. ard the support of these students, and I have made a suggestion to Dr. the institution will eventually prove a Cobb, as to whether he could have it feeder to the wide heathen field of arranged for important news from your India.
valuable REVIEW bearing on China, to be Forty-seven years ago mission work translated into the Chinese newspaper in heathen lands was first commenced above referred to, and vice versa. by one branch of the present United Presbyterian Church in Canada, The 'Presbyterian Church in Nova Scotia' in Oanada Notes. 1846, Qomprising scarcely thirty con- gregations, sent forth their first mis- BY REV. W. B. DlCKIE, MILFORD, NOVA sionary. Now there are not less than SCOTIA. eight different fields occupied-viz., The Presbyterian Church in Canada New Hebrides, Trinidad, Honan, India, has sent out this year eleven new mis- Formosa, Jerusalem, Indians North- sionaries. Four young ladies, two of west, and Chinese British Columbia.
whom are M.D. 's, are now under ap- Three presbyteries have also been pointment anel have gone to India. formed – viz., Trinidad, India, and Two others have left for Honan and Honan.
Formosa, and Rev. C. Webster, this Upward of $8000 was on hand to Church's first missionary to Palestine, commence operations among the Jews is now on the way to Jerusalem. The in Palestine, and the young man who last week in July was then a most e~ent has gone forth as the first missionary is ful week in the history of the foreign eminently qualified for the work. Tha mission enterprise in the Presbyterian matter of establishing this mission has been under consideration for some its watch-cry: The evangelization of the years. and has lain very close to the hearts of not a few Canadian Presbyte- world in this generation. rian people. The mission has been inaugurated under most favorable aus- Regarding the observance of the day, pices, and it is probable that in a short time another missionary will follow. we further suggest : A Gall for Prayer. 1. That the volunteers be called to- To the Membe:rs of the Student Volunteer gether at t,he earliest possible date, to Movementfor Foreign Missions: hear the reading of this call, and to de- The Student Volunteer Movement has reached a time of crisis. Its mem- termine definite plans. bers include thousands. It has the confidence of the churches and mis· 2. That early in the day a meeting sionary societies, as never before. The missionaries are looking t'o it anxiously for special prayer be held, limited to and expectantly. Never in the history of missions have the calls for laborers volunteers and all oLhers deeply interbeen clearer, louder, or more imperative than those which ring in our ears to- ested in this object. day ; for it is the unanimous testimony of missionaries at the front, that during 3. That a publie meeting be held later the closing years of this century the issue of the conflict will be determined in the day, when there will be given for generations among a vast majority of the unevangelized inhabitants of the brief, carefully prepared addresses perworld. As far as responsibility rests upon the United States and Canada, if taining to the purpose and significance these calls are responded to at all, humanly speaking, they must be answered of the Student Volunteer Movement, largely by the student volunteers. The movement is now over six years old, the crisis in missions, and the individand a great many of the volunteers have completed their courses of study. It is ual responsibility of Christian students. time, therefore, to look for and con· fidently expect larger numbers to hasten 4. That a thank.offering to God be to the fields. To make this possible one thing is pre-eminently necessary. made at the public meeting, which shall It is that which Jesus Christ explicitly commanded: "Pray ye, therefore, the go toward the extension and develop- Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest. " ment of the Student Volunteer Move- In view of the crisis on the one hand ment. and this command on the other, we, your Executive Committee, most ear- A vast Hindu conference has recently nestly recommend that the volunteers in each institution set apart Sunday, been held at Benares, India, to take October 30th, as a DAY OF PRAYER for the Stndent Volunteer Movement, and steps toward the saving of Hinduism for that greater object wrapped up in from the encroachments of Christian- ity. Among other things the confer- ence recommended that October 30th be set apart as the special day of prayer for the preservation of the Hindu re- ligion. Should not this mighty faet 'attach peculiar significance to our ob- .servance of this day? Let us recall the experience of Elijah with the proph- 'ets of Baal (1 Kings 18 : 19-39); and before a witnessing world, let the day demonstrate in some new measure that, " The Lord, He is God. "
JOHN R. MOTT, Inter-Collegiate Y. M_ C. A., MISS CORABEL TARR, Inter-Collegiate Y. W_ C.A., D. WILLARD LYON, luter-Seminary Miss_ Alliance, Executive Committee.
Book Mention.
-Serampore Letters, being the unpub- lished correspondence of William Carey and others with .Tohn Williams, 1800- 1816, edited by Leighton and Mornay on" and strong, and the rhetoric is Williams, has been issued by G. P. strong. It is an inspiring pamphlet. Putnam's Sons. There is incidental The Heart of the Gospel (Baker, Taylor & information here, which shows New Co., New York). This is twelve ser- York to have had a large share in the mons, delivered at the Metropolitan initiation of the Baptist Missionary Tabernacle in London, by Dr. Pierson. Union. A Baptist society in New York Many thousands of people will be curiantedated Judson's departure, and ear· ous to know what Dr. Pierson preached lier still they had sent Elkanah Holmes under the circumstances. 'rhes.e are to the Indians. plain, helpful, vigorous Gospel sermons; in many respects not unlike Mr. Spur- -Do not Say (F. H. Revell Co., New geon's own sermons in this great Taber- York) is a book of about 100 pages, nacle. They will be widely read, as containing brief answers to the Church's they ought to be. They treat of themes excuses for neglecting the heathen, by which are the" heart of the Gospel," a missionary of the Church of England for they are clear.cut expositions of ex· in mid·China. Price, 10 cents. The perimental Christianity. same publishers send forth Indian Gems for the Master's Crown, a true narrative, -Bishop Tucker, in writing from intended for native Christians in India, Uganda, uses the following language: but helpful to an insight into the way " How shall I find langnage to describe Christianity spreads in India. It is little the wonderful work of God's grace which wonder that it has been translated into has been going on in this land? Truly, many European languages. The diffi- the half was not told me. Exaggeration culties of the men of the East who de- about the eagerness of the people here sire to become Christians are here made to be taught there has been none. No real to the foreign Christian. words can describe the !lmotion which filled my heart as, on Sunday, Decem- -Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians ber 28th, I stood up to speak to fully (Congregational Publishing Society, 1000 men and women who crowded the Boston), by Mrs. Caswell, is a record of church of Uganda. It was a wonderful fifty years of service among that portion sight! There, close beside me, was the of the well-known Six Nations on the Katikiro-the second man in the king- Cattaraugus Reservation near Buffalo, dom. There. on every hand, were N. Y. It is illustrated. The student chiefs of various degrees, all Christian of the red races and those interested men, and all in their demeanor devout in mission work among them will de- and earnest to a degree. There was a light in this book. second service in the afternoon, at which there must have been fully 800 -A really great work is Bibliography present. The same earnest attention of the Algonquian Languages, by James was apparent, and the same spirit of Constantine Pilling, a Smithsonian In- devotion. I can never be sufficiently stitute volume of the Bureau of Ethnol- thankful to God for the glorious privogy. It is full of missionary intelligenc'e, ilege of being permitted to preach to and ought to be largely drawn on for these dear members of Christ's flock." material on the missionary advance of this country.
– The King's Business, speech by Dr. -In 1888 the great Japnnese version A. T. Pierson, at the annnal meeting of of the Holy Scriptures was completed. the China Inland Mission (Morgan & On this monumental work, forty-six: Scott, London), is in Dr. Pierson's best missionaries, under the leadership of style. The facts are strongly grouped, Dr. Hepburn, were engaged for sixteen the movement of thought is " straight years.
DEPARTMENT ·OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
III.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PROFESSOR AMOS B. WELLS.
The cable has announced Dr. Clark's published by The Golden Rule. The safe arrival in Australia. He made stops first follows Dr. Clark across this con- at Hawaii, the Samoan Islands, and at tinent, dealing with such topics as the Auckland, New Zealand. Misappre- Moody work in Chicago, the Utah prob- hension exists in some quarters regard- lem, the money-power of the nation as ing the purposes of Dr. Clark's around- a national peril (this in connection with the-world Christian Endeavor tour. It California), and suggesting books to be is not .intended to start new societies. read and essays to be written. This is Dr. Clark is glad to be able to say that only a sample of the ways in which this he has organized only two societies, and journey of Dr. Clark's will be utilized those in ch urches over which he was for the increase of missionary enthusi- pastor. He believes that societies asm throughout the great army of En- should be organized by no one but the deavorers.
pastors of their churches. He goes Mr. John Willis Baer, the General with two aims-one is to study the Secretary of the United Society, has re- foreign fi elds, and see their peculiar turned from his voyage to Scotland de- needs, that he may be able to judge cidedly improved in health, and able to· what modifications in Christian En- devote himself energetically to his office deavor methods, if any, would better work. He narrowly escaped a twenty- adapt them to changed conditions. He days' quarantine.
will become acquainted with zealous At a recent meeting of the United So- Christian Endeavor workers every- ciety, held in Boston, the By-laws were where. He will give them of his own so amended as to provide for the elec- abounding zeal, and will gain fresh tion of thirty-nine instead of thirty-one courage and good cheer from them. trustees, the present number. The While he will himself organize no new membership of the board of trustees is societies, nor set in motion agencies now quite evenly divided among the for their organization, undoubtedly evangelical denominations, but there many new societies will spring up in are two or three which have zealously all these foreign lands all the result of adopted the Christian Endeavor move- his visit. The second aim is to inspire ment, and yet have had no representa- the societies at home with fresh mis- tion on the board. This body has al- sionary zeal. These societies are watch- ways been a fairly representative one, ing his trip with especial care. By and it is always to remain such. In ac- means of it their interest in missions cordance with this action there have and knowledge of them will be increased been added to the board Rev. J. F.
many fold. Cowan, of the Methodist Protestants, One instance of how this will be done. 'and Rev. William Patterson, of the In many societies it is already proposed Canadian Presbyterians-two denom- to hold regular meetings, keeping pace inations in which Endeavor socie- with Dr. Clark's progress, for the sole ties are now multiplying with great purpose of studying Christian missions rapidity.
in the lands he visits. These are to be Few things done at the New York apart from the regular prayer-meetings. Christian Endeavor Convention have Mr. S. L. Mershon, one of the Christian been productive of more good than Mr.
Endeavorers most prominent and sug- Robert E. Speer's call for a vote show- gestive in tbisline of work, has outlined ing who had read ten representative- a very capital course of study for such books on missions. The eyes of the meetings. The programmes are being thousands of Endeavorers there were opened to their lack, and not in vain. as found in the — Church '-but it From all over the land comes news of a wasn't," Endeavorers are true to their more ardent reading of missionary lit- church, and to Christ wherever He ill erature than ever before. If Mr. Speer found. asks that question at Montreal next year he will get a far better showing. One fruitful work for which Endeavor To aid this increased study, Rev. S. W. societies are especially well fitted is the Pratt gives in the New York Evangelist establishment of Sunday-schools in several lists of the best twenty mission- neglected places. These Sunday-schools ary books, prepared for him by Dr. are sure, if well kept up, to grow into Pierson, Dr. Ellinwood, and Mr. Speer churches. It is pleasing to notice that himself. These authorities recommend here and there, all over the country. the lives of Carey. Burns, Paton, Mills, the young people banded together" For Judson, Williams, Neesima, Brainerd, Christ and the Church" are undel-takini Mackay, Moffat, Livingstone, Hanning_ this gracious task. ton, Duff, Patteson, Martyn, and Morrison. Among the other books they One society in California has pledged recommend are Pierson's "Crisis of itself to labor against the opium traffio Missions" and "Miracles of Missions," and against cigarette-smoking. Of a Strong's" Our Country," Funk & Wag- special train sent to a recent California naH's Encyclopredia of Missions, ., Co- county convention, crowded with Enrea, the Hermit Nation," and" The Mi- deavorers, it was said that it was the kado's Empire," by Griffis, "China and first train ever sent over that road withthe Chinese," by Nevins, and" Mora_ out a smoking-car. The same remark vian Missions," by Thompson. This was made of the train of ten cars that list will make an excellent guide for pulled out of Boston for the New York thousands of young readers. Convention, Probably not one of the thirty thousand Endeavorers at New In many ways Canada is showing a York used tobacco in any form. most vigorous interest in the Endeavor movement, and especially in the organi- A special effort-but only a slight one zation of large and vigorous county -was made among the Congregational unions. The fact that Montreal is to Endeavor societies of the western part have next year's' International Conven- of Connecticut last year, and forty-seven tion is one cause of this access of en- societies contributed to the Woman's thusiasm, and another is the capture of Board of Missions $1800. This sum the two banners' by Ontario and Mani- supported missionaries in India, China, toba-the banners that represent the Turkey, and other heathen lands. greatest aggregate and the greatest pro- Equally good results could doubtless be portionate increase in the number of gained by equally faithful work among societies. the young everywhere. And what rev- enues for missions that would mean! In a large Christian Endeavor Convention held recently in Chicago, Dr. The Methodist Protestants are wisely P. S. Henson said emphatically, .. I adopting a plan of conference unions would not be a Baptist if I could not of the Methodist Protestant Endeavor be a Christian Endeavorer, and I would societies, like the plan of presbyterial not be a Christian Endeavorer if I could unions adopted quite largely b~ the not be a Baptist." Presbyterians. Such unions bind the societies to their denominations, While At the successful convention lately the State and national gatherings give held by the Endeavorers of the maritime them broad outlooks and the blessprovinces of Canada, one speaker sig- ings of interdenominational fellownificantly said, "The motto of the so- ship. ciety, instead of • For Christ and the Church,' might have been, • FOl' Christ The Christian Endeavor pledge has been translated into the Mpongwe lan- guage, of the western coast of Africa. The name of the society literally reo committees obtain and distribute.liter- translated is, .. The Party of Christian ature, get up public meetings to en- Zeal. " force the duty of tithe·giving, and form leagues of those who are willing thus There are Christian Endeavor soci. to share their possessions with the Lord eties in Syria, and some of these carry who gave them. Such committees are on their services in Arabic. very effective.
Sunday.school committees of En· The same young people that gave deavor societies have planned some very Whitelaw Rei-l such a rousing reception shrewd ways of increasing the numbers at the New York Convention have sent and interest of their Sunday.schools. him a petition asking him to stop the Here is one of the best. The commit· publication of a Sunday newspaper. tee gets one class each week to act as a .. recruiting squad" to bring in new Twenty State, Territorial, and Proscholars. The Endeavorers in that class vincial Christian Endeavor Conventions will naturally act as leaders in the occur during the fall and early winter week's campaign. The superintendent months,-Maine, the mother·State of announces publicly the result of the Christian Endeavor, leading the list, as work, and after each class has had its is proper. For these conventions the turn the Endeavor Sunday.school com- greatest preparations are being made. mittee gives a pleasant party in honor Most eloquent and earnest men and of the class that has done the best. women will address them, and many projects for the advancement of the The young people of Lawrence, Kan., kingdom will be set in motion at these have enjoyed, during the summer, the meetings. The splendid fervor of the advantages of the Christian Endeavor New York Convention bids fair to aniinterdenominational fellowship in this mate them all. way. During one week a meeting would be held of the lookout commit- Compared with some denominations tees of all societies belonging to the the Reformed churches have few Chrisunion; during the next week, of the tian Endeavor societies, but here is prayer.meeting committees belonging their record: In 1890 twenty.three soto these diverse societills, and so on. cieties gave to their mission boards The interchange of ideas and the mu- $117; in 1891, twenty. nine societies tual inspiration were very helpful. gave $231; in 1892, eighty-five soci- eties gave $545. Recently a .Christian Endeavor so- ,ciety has been organized among the In Australia, where Dr. Clark is now Chinese in San Francisco by the Con· at work, the first Christian Endeavor gregational Chinese Mission there. society was formed about four years This is probably the first Chinese Chris- ago. In South Australia there are altian Endeavor st>ciety in the country, ready seventy-seven societies, in New if not in the world. South Wales thirty, in Victoria one hundred and thirty, and mauy more in In the Hawaiian Islands, Dr. Clark's other divisions of the continent. first foreign stopping·place in his around-the·world tour, a Christian En- Two significant bits of news come to deavor society was organized early in us from a Christian Endeavor society 1884. Three others have since been among the Sioux Indians. They are formed. All are engaged in aggressive actually running a Sunday.school for Christian work. the benefit of the poor white children who are brought upon the reservation Systematic giving is one of the most by Caucasian settlers, and the other day prominent subjects before the Endeavor they gave $50, as a society, to help plant world, and deservedly so. Committees Sunday.schools among the white chilo on systematic giving are appointed by dren of South Dakota. the societies in some places. These
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
IV.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Improvement of the "Review." to omit altogether notice of current events, or else to abandon all such com- Now and then letters are received petition with the daily press. This REcriticising the editing of the REVIEW, or VIEW goes to the heart of Asia and Afrithe nature of the material here gath- ca as well as of Europe. It may be of ered, or both; though it is but candor consequence to make it a compendium to acknowledge that for one letter of of recent intelligence, even though complaint we have a score in com- months have elapsed; otherwise, to mendation. All such criticisms, and some who are out of commullication especially suggestions aiming at im- with the world, the tread of events will provement, will have an honest and not be known. But we aIe seeking by hearty hearing; for no reader can desire every available means to shorten the inthe increa~ed accuracy, value, and ser- terval between events and their report viceableness of these pages more than in these pages, by arranging for advance those who give so much labor to their sheets of great missionary magazines, preparation. We welcome our readers etc. to a share in the untiring endeavor to make the MrssIONABY _REVIEW OF THE We are annoyed at times by discover- WORLD a storehouse of both exact in. ing inaccuracy. We employ trustworthy formation and spiritual inspiration. parties to send us reports of various matters; but it is not always in our At times the same sort of items have power to verify their statements. appeared in the different departments; Whenever any error is found it is recand as it has seemed best to put these tified, and when we find a correspondsubordinate departments under care of ent careless we get the best man we different members of the editorial ~taff, can to take his place. on account of the extent of the world field and the vastness of the matter requiring The obvious improvement of the Au. to be passed upon, it has been found dif- gust "Monthly Bulletin" over that of ficult to avoid such seeming repetitions. July is to be accounted for by the new But arrangements are now making to arrangement, by which all matter emhave all the pages pass under the final braced in the intelligence department is revision of the managing editor, Mr. submitted to Dr. Leonard, and re-edited Delavan L. Pierson, before electrotyp- by him before appearing in type. ing. One criticism made on the material in One of our esteemed correspondents the REVIEW is that while" good, it is not complains that" the editing is not up timely nor the best." Our correspondent to date," and mstances the outbreaks thinks that most articleB would" suit in the Pirreus, which occurred in Feb- one month as well as another," and ruary, but were referred to as " recent" that only" missionaries on the ground on page 622. can furnish accurate statements of mis- This is an electrotyped periodical; and sions and mission work. " the time needful for preparing each In reply we would say that the REnumber, even with utmost speed, makes impracticable all competition with daily, VIEW is adjusted on a principle of divior even weekly, religious papers that are sion oj the world field. Each number is issued at short notice and with such fre- principally given to a certain country or quency. Even' in the weekly religious grouping of countries, as, for instance, journals the news is often stale, having February is mainly assigned to China, had the eyes of the reading public for a and December mainly to Syria. 'fhis ar_ week previous. But our choice is _either rangement makes certain articles pecul- iarly suitable to certain months. But when any paper reaches UB. which should from its nature have imme- so absolutely without a basis, tl act, that diate insertion, we put it in the next it casts a shadow over whatever else the available issue. writer may have to say in condemna- tion or even commendation. It betrays And as to missionaries furnishing a squmt, a defect of clear vision, or a the only trustworthy statements, it is total misunderstanding of the truth he remarkable that the great body of com- assails. plaints have come from those who have criticised the papers furnished by mis- He says: sionaries themselves. Often a man sees .' Dr. Pierson's views on mISSIons little beyond his own field, denomina. are utterly at variance with those of altion, or peculiar work. For example, most all missionaries. More than once the statements of missionaries in China, it has been said to me that there was etc., as to the China Inland Mission; danger lest he do the cause of missions the statements of parties in India as to !Dore harm than good. The reason for the work of Bishop Thoburn and the this is that he is a strong premillena- " S. P. G." ; the strictures of African rian, and believes that the sole duty of missionaries as to Bisbop Taylor and missionaries is to preach, without any his self supporting missions; the severe reference to conversion or the establishanimadversions upon the articles of Mr. ment of churches. He is opposed to Baldwin, of Tangiers, etc., have made missions having anything to do with the editors hesitate to admit some education, the development of literapapers from the missionaries them. ture, etc. This was brought out last selves; while articles furnisbed by week at Northfield, and every foreign such men as Drs. Ellinwood, Mitchell, missionary that spoke attacked his posi- George Sinith, Mabie, etc., have elicited tion most earnestly. In this opinion he almost universal approval. We have has the strong support of Dr. A. J. Gortherefore chosen to give every article a don, his co-editor. That particular view place upon its own merits as the only safe has, as a rule. been kept in the backrule. ground in the REVIEW. but it modifies its whole tone, and is, I suspect, the One correspondent thinks the REVIEW true explanation of the selection of should furnish " a field for the discus- some articles. Dr. Sherwood kept it sion of missionary problems," and that out entirely; but it is scarcely possible in this" it fails absolutely." This seems that it should not control more and to us a strange indictment. If anyone more. I hear it spoken of constantly will take up any bound volume and go with regret and disappointment." over its contents, he will find the relation of education to evangelism, the The editor can speak confidently, position .of native churches, native pas- both for himself and Dr. Gordon, in tors, etc.• and the demands for a ver- saying that no more complete travesty nacular literature discussed by no less of their views could well be put into distinguished men than Drs. Knox, of language. Japan, Gracey and his coadjutors in the " International Department," and Mur- ]. The view we entertain as to the reray Mitchell. If our readers will send lation of the Lord's coming to missions to us or procure for us first-class articles is stated by Mr. W. E. Blackstone to be on these and kindred topics, the editors in accord with those of the majority of the will welcome each on its own merits, most devoted missionaries, as ascerand gladly pay for such as are used the tained byactaal investigation. highest rates in our power. 2. The so-called " premillenarian One criticism which has reacbed the view" does not hold that it is th., .. sole editor is so absolutely unfounded it duty of missionaries to preach," without should have full space and a distinct reference to conversion or the establish. emphatic rejoinder. This criticism iii ment of churches. If any sensible man, who accepts the Scripture teaching that our Lord's coming is an imminent concentrate our forces there until the event, holds such a preposterous theory, nation is converted, is to disobey our we have not yet met that man. What Lord's command and abandon His ob- we do maintain is just what Dr. George vious plan, while it is to set up a false Smith so compactly writes in· his and illusive standard of success. Wher "Short History of Missions." Refer. ever, as Dr. Smith says-whom we have ring to Constantine's so·called "con· supposed to be one of the post-millenaversion," he says (p. 57) that" from a rian brethren-nationalism displaces inpurely missionary point of view, it be· dividualism in conversion, and concengan a system of compromise with error tration on limited fields displaces diffu. -of nationalism instead of individualism sion over the whole world field, we com· in conversion-which in the East made promise with error, and risk the real the Church an easy prey to Mohamme. success of missions. danism, and in the West produced J eauit missions." The editor-in. chief presided at North- field on the Mission Day, and if " every Dr. Gordon and myself firmly believe foreign missionary that spoke attacked that " preaching the Gospel as a witness his position most earnestly," he failed among all nations" means setting up to recognize the opposition. In fact, all churches, sohools, a sanctified press, that he said on Mission Day was to premedical missions, and, in fact, all the sent a fllw of the marvellous results of institutions which are the fruit of Chris- missions in the hundred years; and tianity and constitute part of its witness; whatever was said on the bearing of the but that our Lord's purpose and plan Lord's coming on missions was said the are that we should not wait in anyone day bifore, when only a few of the speakfield for the full results of our sowing ers had yet arrived! to appear in a thoroughly converted community before we press on to re- As to Dr. Sherwood's" keeping out gions beyond, where as yet the name of such matter entirely," he never inter- Christ has not been spoken; and that fered with the province of the editorour duty is to ROW everywhere and as in-chief. who from the first controlled shortly as possible .the simple message by explicit arrangement the character of the kingdom, that it may everywhere of the articles appearing. Dr. Sherwood's be followed up with every other agency department was the arrangement of dethat helps to transform a community. tails and the make-up of the REVIEW; Missions begin in evangelization, but and only in the absence of the other have everything to do with Christian editor did he control the literature of education, and the printing press, and the REVIEW. But from the first no arti· the organization of churches, and the cle has ever been e>ccluded because it pre. training of a native pastorate. Not at sented a view contrary to the private and Northfield, or anywhere else, "last personal views of any of the editorial week," or any other time, has the editor staff. The question has never been asked of this REVIEW affirmed anything else of any contributor, or even of any sub· than what he here boldly reaffirms, that editor, whether he held a premillennial our duty is to go into.all the world and or a postmillennial view of the Lord's within the limitS'of our own generation advent; nor does the editor know, save preach the Gospel to every creature; in the case of Dr. Gordon. Each writer that our first duty is contact. and that is alone responsible for the view he conversion is something we cannot com- takes; and all we ask is that no grea mand, but must leave to God. To give essential truth of the Christian system every man the Gospel, this furnishes a shall be questioned in these pages. basis for all other work which helps to make a true Christian community. But Now that we have given thus much to lay siege to a nation like Japan and space to the subject of the improvement of the REVIEW, it may be well to add that we desire the best available papers, from whatever authorized and compe- human, with a pathetic love note. There tent sources, upon all phases of mis- is so much new mat!'lrial, that, as Dr.
sionary work at home and abroad, and Smith says, his Life has yet to be written, upon all questions pertaining to the outside of his own precious journals; philosophy and economy and history of and -he proposes to put him and Carey missions. For such articles we shall, side by side, both men of the people; whether personally solicited by us or but one a self-educated shoemaker, and not, whenever we can make use of them, the other an academic scholar. This pay the writer whatever the pecuniary hint of the coming feast will serve to resources of the REVIEW make possible. whet the appetite of our readers for Weare specially desirous of accurate re- Dr. Smith's promised book.
ports of recent intelligence from every fieJd.
If any reader knows of a work, II mission, or a field of labor which has po ade- Nothing unfriendly to Dr. Pentecost quate representation in these pages, we was intended in publishing the stricask his help in furnishing or securing tures of Rev. C. M. Wherry, D.D., on such matter as remedies the lack. The his public addresses about India (May, editors desire to have every intelligent 1891, page 387). Dr. Wherry was for reader share in the editorial care of the twenty years a missionary in India, and REVIEW by thus making it a fuller and . one of the founders of the theological more trustworthy magazine of informa. seminary at Lodiana, and author of a tion. Various changes which experi- noted work on Mohammedanism. Such ence seems to dictate will be made with an authority deserved to be heard on the opening of a new- volume in 1893. questions pertaining to the Orient.
Meanwhile, we welcome any friendly suggestions which may help us in a field where we have had none to precede us A Hint to Oontributors of Artioles and pioneer the way. This is, so far a8 The editor finds it absolutely necessary we know, the only REVIEW that has un- to reject or return many articles because dertaken to cover the world-wide field of they are not in shape to be used in missions, and it is not strange if we these pages without toil in editing, to should have found no small obstacles in which the editor is not equal. A care- ollr path. We invoke Divine help in a less letter is sometimes written which most arduous toil.-A. T. P. cannot all be published, and is not in condition for the printer, and perhaps a report or newspaper article accom- A new contribution to mIssIOnary panies it, and the editor is told biography is forthcoming from the that he may make such extracts as he golden pen of George Smith, LL.D., of chooses. This is no way to insure in- Edinburgh, Foreign Secretary of the sertion of matter. If a paper is worth Free Church. It is to be a life of Henry anything for readers, it is worth being Martyn, and will be II valuable addition carefully written before it reaches this to the marvellous biographies of Duff, office, and should be ready to go into Carey, Wilson of Bombay, Summerville, the printer's hands with as little change etc., from the same gifted author. as possible. If writers will themselves Dr. Smith spares no pains to prepare kindly take pains to send us brief, these masterly volumes. He went last pithy, well-written and legible manu- year to Land's End to get up the" lo- scripts, they will seldom be disappoint- cal color" for Henry Martyn's life, amid ed by finding them returned as rejected the surroundings of Truro, in Cornwall, MSS.
where Martyn was born. That story of the Cornish boy who died at Tokat has Madame Hyacinthe Loyson is now in splendid possibilities in it, divine and this country on a mission for the National Society for the Evangelization of "We receive both boys and girls from France. She comes with the strong their earliest days, keep the boys until endorsement of a Committee, among they are between fourteen and fifteen whom we find such conspicuollS names years of age, when they are apprenas those of Pastors Mettetal, Monod, ticed, and the girls till they are about Lalot, Gout, Duchemin, Prunier, Sail- seventeen years old, when both boys lens, etc.; and such men as Reveillaud, and girls are provided with an outfit, Rougement, CourUa! and Passy. Dr. and with suitable situations also. Up McAll adds a warm personal letter of to the time that our orphans are sent sympathy and commendation. We be- away from the institution, they are speak for her and her caU3e a cordial boarded, lodged. clothed, and educated hearing. There is a wide and effectual entirely free of all expense to their reladoor open in France; but there are tives, and have a most comfortable and many adversaries. happy home_ Mrs. E. L. Ryland Jacques, grand- "When I began the orphan work daughter of the late Dr. Ryland, of fifty-seven years ago, there was accom- Northampton, afterward of Broadmead, modation in this country for 3600 or- Bristol, and President of the Baptist phans only; but since that time, through College, has some manuscript outlines of her famous grandsire's sermons. the blessing of God, which has rested They are written with crow·s quill on so abundantly upon my-labors, such an narrow slips of paper convenient for slipping over the leaf of his pocket Bi- impetus has been given to orphan work, ble, and he being very near-sighted that institutions have sprung up in vacould read them, though the writing is rious parts of Great Britain, by means so fine as to be legible only because so of which more than 100,000 orphans exquisitely neat. Mrs. Jacques offers these for sale at $2 each, the proceeds can now be provided for; and for this reason.it is that we have so many va- cancies at the present time, and find it so difficult to fill them up.
., I repeat, therefore, that I shall con- sider it an especial kindness if Christian friends will take the trouble to seek out destitute orphans, and advise the rela- tives of such to apply to me for their admission, as we have good and abun- dant accommodation for them, and a large number of efficient helpers."
to go to missions. There are only a few The editor regrets to add that in the left, and if any of our readers desire fifty-third annual report of these insti- such a curiosity, it would be well to tutions there appears a d~cit of £3663, write to her at once, at Merrickville, or about $18,000, nearly one half of Ontario, Canada.. which is salaries due to teachers, who voluntarily and nobly relinquish pay Mr. George Miiller's Orphanages at until relief comes. We cannot but Bristol. believe the exigency is only one more trial of faith and incentive to prayer. With no little surprise do we find a For nearly sixty years the work of public appeal from this distinguished George Miiller has stood before the advocate of faith work, stating that world as an example and proof of mighty there are now a great number of vacan- works still possible to believing souls. cies for girls in the Bristol orphan Surely some to whom God has given houses, erected to receive 2050 orphans means will be glad to share in such a both whose parents are dead. Mr. Millier work by relieving the present pressure. says: " 1 earnestly request Christian friends The Woman's Foreign Missionary Sokindly to assist me in filling up these ciety of the Presbyterian Church has vacancies, by seeking out suitable cases published in a revised form the" Hisfor admission into our institution, by torical Sketches of Presbyterian Misletting the relatives or friends of orphan sions," 1334 Chestnut Street, Philadelgirls know that they can be received at phia. We haTe often said that this the Ashley Down Orphan Houses, and by advising them to write to me for their admi6!!iQn. little compendium is one of the very has been known as one of the most reo best books on missions that has come under the editor's eyes; ahd will be markable organizers ever conducting found most helpful to all who study missions in the fields here treated- the work of home missions. A more viz., Africa, China, India, Japan, Korea, extended notice will, we hope, appear Mexico, Guatemala, North American soon. A. T. P. Indians, Chinese and Japanese in America, Persia, Siam and Laos, South By some accident the following letter America, and Syria. Each is treated by a specialist on the particular field. failed to appear earlier. We publish it While referring to recent books we now, with apology for delay.-A. T. P. call attention to four new issues of our TREMONT TEMPLE. BOSTON, MAss., enterprising friend, F. H. Revell, 30 June 15, 1892. East Union Square, New York: "Everyday Life in South India," $1; "Chil- Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D.: dren of India," $1.40; "Gospel Eth- DEAR SIR: On page 464 of June nology; or, the Gospel for the Race," number of the REVIEW, deaths in Africa $1 ; ., On the Congo," 50 cents. These are wrongly stated as being 60 per cen· tum. are a very useful addition to that cheap Careful statistics show the death-rate and comprehensive missionary library in the Congo missions up to April, 1890. which Mr. Revell seems determined to Since that date the death-rate has been furnish to all willing readers at a merely lower than the average, {or owing to our better houses, improved transport nominal cost. We are also glad to see service, our accumulated experience, that the African News is published in etc., some of the old causes of sickness volume form embracing the year just . have been removed. These figures in- clude all the societies then at work on passed. the Congo-six in number. Percentage of deaths in the Baptist Missionary So. I am told that at Springfield and J ack- ciety (English): Arrivals, 66; deaths, sonville, Ill., about thirty miles apart, 25-percentage, say, 38. Percentage are to be found colonies of Portuguese, in all the missions: Total arrivals, 204 ; driven out from Madeira in 1849, and total deaths, 54-percentage, 26-!- The taking refuge in these cities. The death-rate is higher in the English Bapstreets are wholly given up to these set- tist Society than the average rate, but tlers. They have at least four churches the English Society began work in 1878, of their own. In the Sandwich Islands when the country had not been explored, 12,000 are to be found, where amid a and the missionaries of the English total population of perhaps 80,000,20,- Baptist Society and ours of the American 000 are Chinese, and a few thousand Baptist Missionary Union had the hard more Japanese. To such an extent, task and exposure of exploring for themnot only in our own land, but through- selves the country now pierced by their out the world, the peoples are mixing. chain of mission stations, which now stretches fully a thousand miles into Two deaths, such as not often are the interior of Africa. chronicled, have recently occurredone that of Rev. John Van Nest Tal- Six years of this preliminary work mage, D.D., of Amoy, China, who died had been done, and the two missions August 19th, and the other that of named had already established them- Rev. Henry Kendall, D.D., who died selves far beyond Stanley Pool, ere any September 9th. Both were veterans. of the Qther societies entered. Then Dr. Talmage being seventy-three and came the first attempt made by Mr. Dr. Kendall seventy-seven, and both Simpson. of New York, in 1884. Two very remarkable men. We can in these years later Bishop William Taylor's pages, and at present writing, do no mission was started, and the same year more than record this great loss to the the Swedish Missionary Society (two Church, one in the foreign and the members of which had already done other in the home field, both leaders good service in the A. B. M. U. mis. lind generals. Dr. Kendall particularly sion) was organized (1886). Following those came the Congo Balolo Mission.
The old established missions had al- ready bought a good deal of experience, and some lives were laid down in the learning of the lessons; thosA that fol- lowed had an easier task, and a lower death-rate in consequence.
Yours, JOSEPH CLAllX.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V:-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY THE EDITOR·IN·OHIEF.
South Amerioa.-Brazil. ties for inland navigation exceeding that of the combined Afrioan rivers; and the This being the four hundredth anni· 'Orinooo, though smaller than either of versary of the discovery of America by the others, has a length of 1800 miles, Christopher Columbus, and South and with its branohes supplies 8000 America having been the actual conti- miles of navigable waters. The oom· nent to whose shores he found his way, bined lengths of these three streams is there is a special reason for giving this 8200 miles; the total of their navigable portion of the globe a conspicuous plaoe waters nearly 80,000 miles, and the in our thought; and there is a provi. areas of' their basins cover 3,700,000 dentiallesson of great signifioanoe whioh square miles! is suggested by the history of its disoov. ery and settlement. It is, however, still more remarkable that these rivers are so iocated as to fur. South Amerioa is a vast triangular nish a natural highway everywhere to peninsula; Hs extreme length, 4550 the heart of the continent. A resident miles, and its greatest breadth, 3200 at the eastern foot of the Andes may miles; of its area of 6,500,000 square transport himself and his property in English miles, three fourths lie between less than seven weeks 2000 miles to the the tropios and the other fourth in the Atlantic by floating with the current; temperate zone. and the eastern breeze whioh blows perennially up stream will convey him This superfioial area may be conven· back almost without effort if he spreads iently divided into five physioal regions: sail; nor is the navigation interrupted the low country skirting the Paoifio; by one cataract or even rapid from the the Orinoco basin, espeoially linked Atlantio to Jaen. A glance at the map with Columbus; the Amazon basin; reveals that the great river system con· the great southern plain of the Plata stitutes a natural roadway, with two and other rivers; and the country of main trunks, making it unnecessary for Brazil. From the extreme south to the the poor people to build roads, and Isthmus of Panama runs the Andes affording facility for an extensive inland range, with an average height of 11,000 communioation and commerce, elsewhere to 12,000 feet, and a breadth of from 20 unrivalled on the globe, save in the com· to 400 miles. The vast plains or steppes panion continent of North America. Is of the Orinoco basin are called llanos, not this God's providential provision for intensely hot, and having little wood· the rapid oocupation of South America land; and the open steppes of the La with the Gospel and its institutions? Plata region are known as pampas, with a prodigious 'growth of grass and weeds, The population of South America furon which great herds feed. nishes a study for the ethnologist. As at the northern extremity of this new The Andes have three transverse world we meet the Esquimaux, four and chains or branches nearly at right angles a half feet high, so at the southern cape to the main range, and forming the natu· we find the six·foot Patagoniano The ral boundaries of the three great ri~er tribes ocoupying territory north of Pata· basins. The river system is among the gonia and east of the Andes, St. Vincent wonders of the world. The Amazon classifies as American, and the Neptuniu.n alone pours a flood into the sea that ex· on the west coast he identifies with the ceeds the united disoharge of the eight inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula and prinoipal rivers of Asia, the Indus, the Indian Archipelago. Humboldt Ganges, Yenesei, Oby, Lena, Amoor, thinks that from Cape Horn to Behring's Hoang ho, and Yang.tse. The Plata Straits and the St. Lawrence baain we probably ofIe~ij wit4 ite brllnches facili· have a people from a common stock, ring that nothing less than a continent notwithstanding diverse tongues. Of could furnish such a stream. Dying, the total population of the globe, South still in ignorance of the extent and im- America has about thirty. five parts out portance of his discovery, the name of one hundred and' fifty, or between " West Indies" crystallizes and fossilizes one fourth and one fifth, about as large the impression that the countries he a proportion as Europe, but of course had made known to Europeans were a much less dense. part of the outskirts of India.
From these physical features, etc., we Before leaving this wonderful history, turn to consider the providential history we must place side by side with it the of this great peninsula. Columbus, equally significant fact that John Cabot, with three small vessels and 120 men to whom, with his sons, Sabastian and sailed from Palos, August 3d, 1492. Santius, God gave the immediate suc. From the Canary Isles he entered upon cession in this career of discovery, was a realm of oceanic mystery, borne on by an Italian by birth. John Cabot was the trade winds toward what he believed not only the contemporary of Columto be the coast of Asia. What trifling bus, but a Venetian merchant, but reevents are the hinges of destiny and his- sided in England, and Sebastian was tory! Pinzon's counsel led the great born in Bristol. The discoveries of the Genoese to steer toward t11e southwest. Genoese navigator fired a like zeal in Had Columbus kept to his original young Sebastian; and as Henry VII.. route, he would have met the warm was ambitious to enter the field of mari- Gulf Stream and have touched at Flori- time discovery, when the Cabots proda, and thence, perhaps, gone up to posed to the king the project of shorten- Cape Hatteras and Virginia; and as he ing the route to India by a western represented a Roman Catholic power, course, the king fell in with their prothe result would have been that the con- posal, and on March 6th, 1496, the first tinent of North America would have patent was granted. From all we can fallen under the awful blight now rest- gather, it appears that before any other, ing on the twin continent of the south the Cabols saw the mainland of America, -a semi·pagan Romanism. A Roman the term Terra primum visa being used Catholic Spanish population would have to distinguish the continent. This was spread over this land of ours instead of seen June 24th, 1497, and was probably a Protestant English people! And as Nova Scotia. A second patent, issued Martin Alonzo Pinzon himself formed to John Cabot, February 3d, 1498, led his opinion as to the direction of the to another voyage, but not until after land by observing a flight oj parroquets the father's death. This issued in the toward the southwest, we m.ay say that discovery of 1800 miles of North Ameri- God used the trackless pathway of birds can seacoast; and so-does anything through the air to determine the equally merely happen 1-a Venetian navigator, trackless pathway of Columbus' ships employed by the British Government, through the sea, and to fix the distribu- appropriated for Protestantism the vast tion of this Western world between the territory of North America. Had the Latin and Germanic races! Cabots been in the employ of Ferdinand the whole of the Americas might have As it was, on October 12th, 1492, Co- been to-day under the rule of a civilizalumbus first touched at Guanahani, or tion little above barbarism, and a re- Watling Island; and after about three ligion little above paganism! months in Cuba, Hispaniola and other isles, he returned to Spain. He made Arnold Guyot" in his book on" The three other voyages; on the second, Earth and Man," treats the contour and coasting along the northwest shore of relief of the continents of the earth, the South America, and from the vast vol- shape of the dry land, etc., as a physiume of the Orinoco at its estuary, infer- cal prophecy of a divine providential !'
purpose in the working out of human a fairer land. . .. And now that Brazil history and destiny. has entered into the sisterhood of reo Rev. G. W. Chamberlain, D.D., of publics, now that education has received Br~zil, finely says that the physical a great stimulus, now that slavery has geography of that great land forecasts been abolished, and religious bigotry the acts in the great drama of its fu- has given place to religious liberty, we ture ; and shows that the land shall be are drawing nearer to the realization (1) one and indivisible; (2) a healthy of the possibilities portrayed by the habitation, and (3) a theatre for congre- great naturalist."
gating tbe families of the earth. Dr. We must content ourselves with this Chamberlain's words are so forceful mere outline, not daring to touch upon that we embody their substance. The the history of missions in South Ameri- topography, hydrography, prefiguration ca, which must be reserved for separate of Brazil leave no chance for a division. treatment. We are content to suggest You cannot divide the country-by the philosophy of history found in the eternal forecast it is to be one. A very strange and marvellous facts here slight depression of the earth's surface brought to notice.
would have left the river systems, whose broad arms embrace Brazil, to have made it a vast island. He whose hands formed the dry land raised Brazil high The story of the mission to the Pata- toward heaven, so that even in the inter- gonians and Fuegians, as connected tropical regions it is among the habit. with the name of Captain Allen F. Gar- able parts of the earth. And as the con, diner, has few rivals even among the tour and configuration of the old hemi- most pathetic tales of missionary hero· sphere forecast the separation and seg- ism. Darwin recorded his verdict that regation of the family of man, the new in this extreme part of South America, hemisphere hints concentration and man existed in a lower state of improve- congregation. In the southern half of ment than in any other part of the this new world, in the United States world. Yet just here Captain Gardi- of Brazil, a theatre for history is pre- ner went. Failure could not disap- pared similar to that. where the United point nor disaster dismay him. When States is working out its historic future. the natives drove him from the shore, Vast area, healthfulness, individuality he said, ., the mission establishment must all point to a vast concourse of human- be for the present afloat." Accordingly ity and a vast development in the near two large decked boats were fitted out, future. In pursuance of the Divine and in December, 1850, they bore the plan, this great fertile territory was mission party to Banner Cove. A year committed to the Portuguese in order from that time the letter of Samuel La.
that for a time it should lie j ealou81y fone brought the sad tidings of the guarded and hermetically sealed even to deat.h of these devoted men. Captain all foreign commerce. And now, as the Gardiner's journal was found at Span- northern civilization begins to overflow iard's Harbor. He appears to have died and demand new outlets and a wider September 6th, of starvation; but over area, Brazil, reserved for such a time as his remains was the rude inscription, this, throws open her doors and reaches " Wait, my soul, upon God; for all my out after the means for developing her expectation is from Him." What won- territorial resources. And as Dr. Cham- der that Mr. Despard published far and berlain adds, " should her moral and wide the resolve: WITH GOD'S HELP THE intellectual endowments grow into har. MISSION SHALL BE MAINTAINED! And it mony with her wonderful natural beauty was maintained, and even Darwin con- and wealth, the world will not have seen fessed its grand success.
GENERAL MII!SIONARY INTELI.IGENCE. 871'
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work a.nd Statistios. Edited ,by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Oberlin, O.
-The usual carefully prepared tables "that now it is the most important of statistics, which many readers of the work for Jews in the whole world… MISSIONARY REVIEW have found so valu- able, may be expected, though at the -Though indifference and guilty beginning of next year, instead of at the withholding are so oommon in the end of this. churches, yet many also are the exam- ples of self-denying consecration. As -Of the 139 missionary societies Dr. A. J. Gordon suggests: "On the represented at th" General Conference staff of the China Inland Mission there of Protestant Foreign Missions in Lon- are 60 men and women who are work- don, in 1888, while only 18 represented ing in the foreign field just as they all other races. 121 represented the would work in their churches at home, Anglo-Saxon race. entirely supporting themselves. A Western farmer has recently sold his -Among the most significant signs house and lands, and with his wife and of increased zeal for missions is to be children-all consecrated to the workset the fact that almost all the leading has gone to Africa to constitute 8 self- religious papers. and not a few of the supporting missionary household. A great dailies, gi ve regularly large space lady of wealth, within the last month, to news from the field. In some cases sailed from New York, taking with her once a month whole pages are covered 8 other missionaries, she providing for with letters from missionaries, or col- the perpetual support of all the party. umns are filled with interesting bits of The widow of one of our honored misintelligence; in others something is sure sionaries is carrying on a work in Japan to appear every week, and in a few cases of the same kind, she providing fcr the the secretaries of the societies use the entire support of herself and her copress to reach the Christian public. laborers."
-Rev. A. F. SchaufHer, of the New The same spirit is found in Britain. York City Mission and Tract Society, For James E. Mathieson, Esq., the forhas recently published a special report mer secretary of the MiIdmay Mission, on the Jewish work, which for two years has renounced his banking business enhas been carried on in that city with tirely to engage in religious work. Lord such remarkable results by the convert- Radstock and his family spend their .od Polish Jew, Mr. Hermann Warsza- lives as evangelists in the slums. A wiak. He visits irom house to house wholesale butcher, one of the Taberamong his brethren, and holds frequent nacle congregation, went to his business services, which are attended by 600 to at half-past five in the morning, that 800. Some 16,000 copies of the New he might come to. the Tabernacle at Testament have been distributed, most- half-past nine to see that the visitors ly in Hebrew. It is estimated that to the pastor's conference were properly 50,000 of the 200,000 Jews in New York housed and taken care of. Another man, have attended the services held in the worth $500,000, adjusts all his busi- DeWitt Memorial Church, Rivington ness so as to act as usher at the Taber- Street. Mr. Schaufll.er says: ., The nacle door. Such consecration to largest male audiences that this city God's work is not very rare in Britain. affords are now to be seen listening to Also, when the Mongolian heart is touchhim." and affirms that, .. not for a thou- ed by the Spirit of God, the same divine sand years has God shown such favor to longing to minister begins to stir within. one preaching to Jews;" and further. For Mr. Lum Foon, a member of the Chinese Mission church, of San Francisco, 1890 there were 142,256, a.n increase of has lately given up a prosperous business 272 per cent. The total value of church and gone to China as a self-supporting property in 1850 wBlf $87,446,371, and missionary. He has bought land and in 1890, $631,221,303, an increase of 621 erected a fine chapel and school at his per cent. The five leading denomina- own expense. tions had communicants as follows, -There are 12 memorial kindergar- viz.: The Methodists, 4,255,377 ; Cathotens at work in San Francisco, and 6 of lics, 6,250,045 ; Presbyterian, 1,278,815 ; them were started by Mrs. Leland Stan- Lutheran, 1,199,514; Congregational, ford. To put them on a permauent 512,771. The increase in the value of basis, she has now set aside $100,000 as Catholic church property since 1850 an endowment fund. She had given has been 1178 per cent, and that of the $60,000 for these schools previously. Lutheran, 1098 per cent.
The one opened in 1884 by Mrs. Stan- -A recent census bulletin states that ford was the first memorial kindergar- of the 7,470,000 colored persons in the ten in the world, it is said. United States, 2,371,100 are church- -A Grand Army mission is conducted members. More than one half of them by Colonel H. H. Hadley, under the are Baptists -1,230,516. Different pension agency on Canal Street, New branches of the Methodists claim 722,- York City, where pensioners' checks are 964. There are 110,000 Roman Cathocashed and remittances made to friends lics, and the rest are divided among without cost. Free breakfasts, lunch several sects.
and coffee are furnished to the pension- -The International Missionary Alliers, 10,000 of whom come to the agency ance publishes the names of upward of every three months to receive their 90 men and women who have gone to checks. A Gospel meeting is held every the foreign field under its auspices, and evening. Major-GeneralO. O. Howard, are found laboring in Africa, Turkey, General Wager Swayne, and other men India, China, Japan, the West Indies, of note serve on the committee of man- Alaska, etc. agement. -The Reformed Presbyterian Church -The Cross Bearers' Missionary Read- (Covenanter) numbers only about 10,000, ing Circle is well worthy of notice by but sustains missions in Syria and Asia all who would inform themselves con- Minor, as well as among the freedmen, cerning the growth of the kingdom. Indians and Chinese in the United The idea of the organization is for each States. The contributions for foreign member to read a certain amount on missions from all sources in 1891, not missionary or kindred subjects each day including a bequest of $8500, were $19,- as designated, to pass a yearly exami- 614, or an average of $1.74 per member. nation, and to recei ve a certificate of graduation. Such books will be read -The Evangelical Association has a ae these: biographies of missionaries; mission in Japan which was established books describing the countries, customs, in 1875, and now contains 18 itinerant and peoples; works treating of God's and 5 local preachers, and a number of purpose a.nd the adaptability of the . Bible women and other native helpers.
heathen to that purpose ; and a periodi- The number of communicants is 488.
cal giving the latest missionary informa- There are 6 church edifices, 2 parson- tion. Further particulars may be had ages, and 6 mission homes. At Tokio by addressing Rev. Z. M. Williams, Sec- is a prosperous theological seminary.
retary, St. Joseph, Mo. -The experience is not uncommon -In 1850 there were 38,183 church with secretaries of the societies, but is edifices in the United States, while in it not strange that even in a church so substantial as the (Dutch) Reformed, so offered for service, as against 179 now. inspiring an announcement as the fol. Thirty.four were accepted then, 118 lowing should need to be introduced by now." a phrase so lugubrious: "If we can get money to send them, 5 missionaries -The Universities'Mission includes expect to sail per steamer Ohina from 21 English clergy, 3 African clergy, 27 San Francisco September 27th; the laymen, 23 women, and 84 native teach. Rev. and Mrs. Harris, Miss Brokaw, ar.d ers and readers. There are 1300 adult Miss Couch go to Japan, and Miss Mor· baptized catechumens, 1071 communi. rison to China" ? cants, and 3000 day scholars.
-The United Brethren have a mis· -The Church of Scotland is repre. sion in West Africa known as the Sher. sented in the foreign field by 77 Euro.
bro·Mendi, whose beginning dates from pean missionaries, women included, 1855. Upon it $225,000 have been ex· and 314 native helpers. In 1891 the pended, and $8725 last year. The mis· baptisms numbered 1129, more than sionaries visit some 350 villages and double those of the year before, and the towns, and upward of 7000 natives have total income-was £46,124 ($230,620), the been gathered into the churches. A largest sum ever reported.
theological training school is doing -This is the jubilee year of the Free good work. Church, and in an appeal for special EUROPE. thankofferings these statements are Great Britain.-The twenty.seventh made: "Our Church has never had anniversary of the Salvation Army was such a year of ingathering in our foreign held in Exeter Hall, London, July 25th. mission work. We have seen the fields General Booth stated that they had ri pening to the harvest for many a year, nearly 11,000 officers, 6000 abroad and but in this year we have been bringing 5000 at home; that since August last in the sheaves. In Central Africa, in there had been an increase of nearly South Africa, and in the New Hebrides 1000 societies; that they had 32 weekly our mission work has been blessed and papers and 6 monthly magazines with a owned of God as it never was before; circulation of over 17,000,000 ; the num· While in India we have been able to ber of languages in which there was count our converts by the hundreds, preaching done by the officers was 24. when formerly we rejoiced in the tens. This is surely a cause for devout thank.
-Only recently John Horniman, of fulness. Nor are we alone in this har.
Croydon, made the munificent gift of a vesting. God is blessing the mission convalescent home to Worthing, Sussex, work of the whole Christian Church in England, for the public benefit; and India as it never was blessed before.
now the same generous donor has put The past year has been one of almost $100,000 in the hands of trustees, who universal rejoicing in the mission field." .
are arranging for the building and open· The Continent.-Besides their 12 ing of a Friends' Missionary Training stations in the Moskito Indian Territory, Home, more particularly for the foreign Central America, the Moravians have missionary students and prospective 14 stations among the Esquimaux of workers abroad. Greenland, Labrador, and Alaska•. 6 -Sir J. H. Kennaway, M.P., Presi. among the North American Indians in dent of the Church Missionary Society, Canada and the States, 50 among the said at the annual meeting: •• Onr or· colored population of 9 West Indian dinary income this year is £23,100 in Islands. 26 among the negroes of Brit.
excess of the year 1887, when I first ish and Dutch Guiana, 24 Ilmong the took office. In that year 82 candidates Hottentots and Kaffirs of South Africa, 3 am ong the Aborigines of Australia, and lem is urgent and alarming, but in India 3 among the Tibetans of the Himalayas. the perplexing question relates rather to They have a hospital for lepers close to the agricultural districts, with their 90 Jerusalem, and their latest enterprise is or even 95 per cent of the population.
a mission to the north of Lake Nyassa. ' The masses are found not crowded into At these 139 stations they have 31,380 cities, and not scattered upon farms, communicants and a total membership but collected in almost countless vil- of 90,544. Their home churches in lages.
Germany, the United I:!tates, and Great -An idea of the vast numbers inhab- Britain number about 21,000 communi· iting the whole of this huge peninsula cants and 30,000 members, including may be gained by considering the fact children. that in Bengal alone the census staff ASIA. employed exceeded 309,000, and the population of this single province is Turkey.-No friend of missions can 9,000,000 in excess of those inhabiting read withont deep solicitude "f the fre· the United States at the last census, quent attempts made of late by Turkish for an area oHess than one twenty-third officials to cripple and fetter the work that of the United States! of the Gospel. And so it was pleasant to read that the Secretary of State, on -The widows of India number four the receipt of a telegram from the Unit· times as many as the entire popUlation ed States Charge d'Affaires at Constan· of London. tinople, stating that the house of Dr. Bartlett, an American missionary in -In the single province of Behar there Konich, Asia Minor, had been burned, are 30,000,000 of people untouched by and that the lives of the missionaries missionary effort, and if 40,000 missionawere in danger, cabled instructions to ries were to be sent to India there would still be only one to every 50,000.
the legation to demand of Turkey effec- -An American missionary, speaking tive protection, indemnity, punishment of the unsanitary conditions in which the of the guilty parties, and reprimand of people dwell, resulting from bad water, the authorities found remiss, and also foul air, filthy food, ignorant quacks, that the cruisers Newark and Benning- etc., does not wonder that" there are ton, now on the way to Genoa, would be 500,000 lepers, that cholera carries off ordered to the vicinity of the outrage to 417,000 in a single year, that in the same support this demand. time 125,453 die of small-pox and 3,486,- -A native Albanian, Rev. G. D. 448 of fever," but thinks the marvel is Kyrias, the first man who ever pro_ that all are not smitten by deadly pesticlaimed the Gospel in the Albanian lan- lence. The British Government is guage, is preaching to his people in doing its best to mend matters by 0. Kortcha, Turkey. vast system of hospitals, dispensaries (1641), medical schools (18), etc. There -The Syrian mission of the American are 25 lunatic asylums, and 23 for Presbyterian Church has a force of 16 lepers. Vaccination is compulsory, men and 24 women; and of natives, 4 much to the horror of all devotees of ordained pastors, 41 preachers or evan- caste, and last year 5,709,462 children gelists, 172 teachers, male and female, 5 were vaccinated.
other helpers-a total of 222. Regular -The need of female education in services are held in 88 localities. In In(lia is shown by the fact that while the 89 Sunday-schools are 5433 children, there are about 18,000,000 girls of a while 192 young women are in training school-going age, a recent return made for teachers. From the mission press by the Government shows that not more 65,300 volumes issued in 1891. than 294,457 are attending school.
India.-In this country the city prob- From this it will be seen that there ill only one in ~very 61 receiving education (of whom some 575 are ordained) 58 are of any kind. The rest are simply left Germans. who also have about 1000 of to grow up in ignorance, heathenism, the 17,000 in the schools, and 2500 of and superstition. the 40,000 communicants.
-In the Marathi mission of the -The Basle mission at the end of American Board, retrenchment in some the first decade had 1 station and 2 mis- form became necessary last year, and sionaries ; at the end of the second, 4 the native preachers and teachers gave stations and 5 missionaries ; ten years up two months' salary, leaving their later, 5 stations and 14 missionaries; vork through the week for that time and fifteen years later still, 13 stations and taking whatever employment they and 5 out-stations, 37 missionaries and could find to keep out of debt. Some 90 native helpers. In twenty years the of them went into the harvest fields as Christians have increased from 668 to laborers, in order to supply their neces- 3600.
sities. Japan.-Reports from Japan indicate -In the Sialkot district (punjab) be- that about 400 people are baptized in tween 1881-91 the number of Christians the Protestant churches every month.
rose from 412 to 9711, and mostly by -The Council of Missions of the baptisms. The Scottish and American Church of Christ in Japan, composed of Presbyterians occupy this field. missionaries representing 6 Presbyte- -A. L. O. E .. the well·known writer, rian and Reformed churches-the Re- is a missionary in India, doing Zenana . formed (Dutch), German Reformed, mission work. Although more than Presbyterian. Presbyterian South, Unit..
threescore'years and ten, she goes out ed Presbyterian, and Cumberland Pres- daily to teach India's degraded and pov- byterian, and the Woman's Union Mis- erty.stricken women. sionary Society-in its fifteenth 'annual -Two Brahmans, father and son, report gives statistius which show 54 were recently received into the Baptist missionaries, 49 wives, and 51 other Church at Rangoon by Rev. F. T. women, a total of 154, aud 10,961 Whitman, who writes that Rangoon is a church-members. There are 70 theomost favorable place for work among logical students in the 5 schools for the caste people of India. There are boys and young men, and of the 120 thousands of them there, and the power pupils in the Meiji Gakuin 87 are Chrisof their caste is greatly weakened. Four tians. There are also 26 schools for have been received into the English girls, young women, and children, with Church by Mr. Whitman. J774 pupils, of whom 315 are Christians.
-According to the statistics in the China.-'I'he Rev. H. C. Knox says annual report of the Japanese mission that Chinese converts are governed by (American Board), there are 109 Congre- the law of self-sacrifice. In illustration gational churches in Japan, with a total he refers to a native bookseller, who had membership of 10,760. The number of been taken up and beaten for reading additions by confession last year was Christian books, and who, when he 1096, an increase of 56 over the precedheard that the Rev. H. S. Phillips was ing year. There are 129 preachers and alone and iu danger, walked forty miles 22 Bible women. The contributions for in order to stand by him. He had church purposes were $25,706, a gain of heard this bookseiIer, after a weary nearly $5000 over the year before.
day's labor, pleading with souls for hours until near morning. -In Korea, the" Hermit Kingdom,"
which is one of the newest of fields, -Of the 1300 missionaries in China with its 80,000 square miles and 13,000,- 000 of population, 8 societies are at work a half was represented by five genera· -the Methodist Episcopal, the Presby. tions, and during that time forty.one terian North, and South, and of Aus. congregations had been established in tralia, S. P. G., and 2 Canadian societies England, of which twenty.one-includ. -in all with 59 missionaries, of whom 22 ing the chief town congregations and are ordained, 17 are wives, 11 unmarried the settlements-were begun before women, and 5 are physicians. 1770.
AFRICA. Association for Promoting Female Education in India. – This society, -In the mission churches established which is wholly sustained by ladies, along the Congo by English and Ameri- was started in 1866 in connection witb can missionaries there are already 1500 the Society for the Propagation of the communicants. Gospel, and seeks to provide teachers -Rev. Taylor Smith, of the Church for the instruction of native women and Missionary Society and canon mis. cbildren, as well as to assist female mis· sioner of the diocese of Sierra Leone, sion schools by providing suitable in describing the changes wrought clothing and a maintenance for board. within seventy.five years, says: "There ers. Funds are raised by establishing has risen a flourishing, self.~upporting branch associations throughout the church-a church, moreover, which country and by sales of ladies' work. maintains its own missionary society. The first teacher was sent out to Mada. We have full churches. It is no uncom· gascar in 1867, which is now the centre mon thing to see from 1000 to 1400 peo· of a large and important work. Zenana ple-English.speaking Africans-in the missions have also been opened all over cathedral at Sierra Leone, and in an· India, and schools in South Africa, Ja. other church at Freetown, in which pan, and China. Lack of funds has pre. place there are !l churches. In another vented speoial medical work being at· tempted, but the teacher who has been i have counted 1000 worshippers on a stationed in Madagascar for twenty.
week.day morning; and in holy week last year there were over 1000 worship. three years spent her last holiday of a pers (everyone African) at seven o'clock. year training in a hospital, with the reo in the morning." suIt that many of the natives for miles round the station come to her for ad.
British Foreign Missions. By Rev. James vice and remedies.
Johnston, Bolton, England. Society for the Propagation of the English Moravian Synod.-At the Gospel.-There are now on tbe society's annual synod in August last at Fairfield list 672 ordained missionaries, includ· the Rev. W. Taylor, bishop of the ing 6 bishops ; in Asia, 225 ; in Africa, church and president, stated that as the 153 ; in Australia and the Pacific, 16 ; London congregation, the oldest in the in North America, 211; in the West Eritish I~les, was about to celebrate the Indies, 36; and 31 in Europe. Of third jubilee of the settlement as a con- these 127 are natives laboring in Asia gregation, the present synod might be and 35 in Africa. The various missions considered to have a jubilee character. have about 2300 lay teachers, 2600 stu· They had reason to praise God for His dents in the society's colleges, and goodness to them, especially in view 38,000 children in the mission schools of the fact that they had enjoyed the in Asia and Africa. The funds in. blessing of spiritual life and union, trusted to its stewardship for the main. and that none of their congregations tenance of this vast work amounted in had severed their connection with the the year 1891 to £116,520.
Unitas liratrum-the church of their Niger Bishopric.-It is announced spiritual forefathers, The century and from reliable quarters that the Rev. Joseph Sidney Hill is the bishop desig- and evangelists, increase, 55 per cent; nate of the Niger to succeed the late 2057 local preachers, increase, 57 per Bishop Crowther. Mr. Hill was trained cent; 33,523 church-members, increase, at the Church Missionary College, 611 per cent; on trial, 12,231, increase, Islington, and served as a missionary 36* per cent; 337 day schools, increase, at Lagos from 1876 to 1878; was sta- 29 per cent; 20,845 day scholars, in- tioned at Wairoa, New Zealand, from crease, 42t per cent; 380 Sunday- 1878 to 1883 ; acted as prison chaplain schools, increase, 50 per cent; 24,959 at Auckland from 1883 to 1890, and for Sunday scholars, increase, 42 per cent.
the last two years has been engaged at The adherents number 135,000, and home on the staff of the Church Paro- the missionary income has grown from chial Mission. Mr. Hill had previously £1500 to between £5000 to £6000.
been enrolled by the society for work At the English Wesleyan Conference on the Niger, and will now at .the arch- last July it was resolved that one of bishop's request proceed immediately the secretaries should visit and spend to the Niger as his commissary to make several months in India during the en- inquiry, to the fullest extent, as to the suing autumn and winter, when the attitude of the native pastors, and on Decennial General Conference of Indian the basis of his report an arrangement missionaries of all Protestant Churches will be made which will satisfy, it is will be held, and also the triennial meet- hoped, the aspirations of the native ing of the society's missionaries. The church. To the difficulties which so financial statement showed that the long beset the Niger Mission the arch- total income was £125.129, and the ex- bishop has given great attention, and it cess of expenditure over income, £4068.
is believed that he will be able to effect To the foreign stations the principal a solution. payments for the past year ",ere: Sierra Leone.-According to custom, Europe, £26,848; Ceylon and Contithe bishop (Dr. Ingham) has arrived in nental India, £34,005; China, £6320; England for his six months' furlough, South Africa, £15,681 ; Western Africa, and is seeking opportunities to plead £6529 ; and West Indies, £7462.
for the pressing needs of the Diocesan Uganda.-The latest letters from Fund. The ordinary departments of Uganda, of date January 31st, come from church organization are actively at the Rev. G. K. Baskerville, an intrepid work, and lately a technical school has young missionary who went out to been established with a view of bene- Africa in 1890. He was in the capital fiting the natives of West Africa. The of Uganda all through the recent fighttask is admittedly a hard one, but a ing, and his communications give the good beginning has been made. Re- first detailed accounts of the unhappy cently the bishop's wife has founded a feuds. It seems that Mwanga has escottage hospital, and these two efforts caped from the Catholic party and atwill tax his resources for some time to tached himself to the Protestants. AIcome. If the bishop carries success in , though the fighting has ceased, private the former department of service he sources of information state that there will have done something toward solv- is much anxiety in official circles as to ing one of the trying problems of Afri- the events of the next four months.
can missionary work. Bishop Tucker, who had been in the South African Wesleyan Metho- neighborhood of Chagga, has now Bet dist Church.-Formally organized on out for Uganda in order that he may its separation from the British mis- advise the missionaries and share with sionary society ten years ago, it has to- them the difficulties of the situation.
day 493 churches, an increase of 60 per Very strongly does the bishop deny the cent on the ten years; 274 ministers charges of the German press, which aeouses British missionaries in Kilima necessary result there has been neither Njaro of selling rifles and ammunition uniformity in practice nor in prin.
to the Moshi. The bishop declares ciple.
that no arms have been sent either to London Missionary Society.-At the mission or to the Moshi from the the request of the directors the Rev. British sphere, whereas the sale of am- R. Wardlaw Thompson, foreign seoremunition in German territory, notwith- tary, will shortly sail for Capetown to standing the Government monopoly, is visit the South African churches and praotically unlimited. stations in the oapacity of special com· Nyassaland.-Commissioner John- missioner. Fresh offers of service for ston's di.spatches touching the suppres. foreign work oontinue to be made by sion of slave-raiding in that region re- English Congregational ministers.
late the oircumstanoes attending the Among the latest names are those of death of Captain Maguire, who wall in Horace H. Theobald, of Kirkham, Lan.
command of the Indian contingent of cashire, and W. Thomas, of Waterhead, the British Central African polioe force, Oldham. Both ministers have relin.
and was shot after leading a gallant at- quished successful pastorates. The tack on a number of slave dhows, and Rev. G. W. Watson, of Wollerton, of Dr. Boyoe and Mr. MacEwan, the Salop, who has completed a ten years'
engineer, while negotiating with the ministry, has been accepted by the enemy for the recovery of Captain Ma- directors, and will prooeed to his ap· guire's body. On April 8th Mr. John- pointment as a teacher in the High ston reported that things were very School at Madras.
satisfaotory on Lake Nyassa, and asks Bishop .Tohn Selwyn's See of Mela.
that the German and Portuguese Gov- nesia, which he has vaoated through ernments be requested to take such ill-health after fifteen years' servioe.
ilteps as to prevent the slave·hunters has been offered to the Rev. Alfred from obtaining supplies of ammunition Penny, vicar of Tunstall, Staffordshire.
from German or Portuguese souroes; -Bishop Smythies of the Universities and such steps have been promptly Mission is regaining strength by his taken. furlough to England, and has reoently occupied one of the cathedral pulpits. An African Council.-In British official quarters there are rumors of the establishment of an African Council on Monthly Bulletin.
lines somewhat similar to that of the -The Divinity School of Yale Uniexisting Indian Council. In recent versity has set on foot a scheme to esyears African affairs have assumed tablish a library of modern missions, to growing importance, requiring the Eng- embrace history, biography, annual relish Government to devote more atten. ports and periodicals, as well as books tion to questions respeoting the" Dark prepared by missionaries for the use of Continent." So enormously have ques. the natives. Professor Day has this tions of civilization and rule oome to important matter in hand. the front, it is felt that the time has arrived when the whole question of -The M'!'ssionary Herald oalls on the England's relations with the native children to supply another and much.
raoes and vast areas, especially those needed Morning Star for work in the under her own influence, demands reo Pacific Ocean, to be called the Hiram oonsideration. It is well known that Bingham, after the missionary who is hitherto British policy in Africa has said to be the first man to reduce to been dictated by the exigencies of the writing a language before unknown, moment and the supposed special reo and then to translate into iit the entire 9,uirements of each sphere j and as a Bible. The call is for $5000. -The punishment of iniquity at India.-It is Dr. Pentecost who de- home is helpful to the Gospel in heathen clares : "You can pick out the children lands. So it is fitting to note that the of the Christian native from those of last of the ballot box stuffers in Jersey the heathen while they are playing to- City have been sentenced. Originally gether in the flame village street. The there were sixty-seven persons indicted Christian children are better clothed, for this crime. All but seven have been better fed, brighter in face, and cheerier tried. Two of these are dead, one is in in manner than those of the heathen."
the insane asylum, one fled to foreign -Ah, the curse of caste! A missionparts, and three the district attorney did ary at Lodiana was preaching to a quiet not think should be tried. audience of Hindus, when a fakir came upon the scene, and became noisy and -Max Limon, until lately a rich abusive. Standing close to the misbanker of Kiev, Russia, recently exiled sionary and gesticulating, by an acciby the Czar's edict against Hebrews, is dent he happened to touch the missionworking in the stock-room of a Chicago ary, when he suddenly stopped, spat clothing house for a weekly salary of on the ground, and with a look of the $7. At one time his fortune amounted utmost disgust, as if he had touched to almost $500,000.
-Mr. Joseph Arbely, a native of some loathsome thing, stooped down Syria, and a graduate of tile Syrian and rubbed his finger in the dust. Then Protestant College at Beirut, has started turning to the crowd he said, " These in New York City a weekly paper in people eat pigs and cows, and they are the Arabic language for the thousands not fit to preach." Then he walked of Arabic·speaking people now in the away, most of the audience following, United States. The title of the paper with exclamations of horror at such de- is the Kankob America (or Slar of Ameri- pravity.
ca). -Whose heart is not touched by the story of the blind man who walked all -Mr. Mellin, a Portuguese lay mis- the way from Lhassa, at least 1000 sionary at Madeira, was arrested and miles, in the hope that Dr. Marx could tried for expounding the Scriptures and remove the cataract and give him sight! singing a hymn at a Protestant funeral When he arrived within a day or two in the Portuguese cemetery on All Souls' of Leh, he heard that the medical mis- Day, when it was crowded with Roman sionary was dead. Sorrowfully he Catholics. A clever lawyer succeeded turned and travelled home again, all in obtaining his acquittal on the ground those thousand miles, over mountain that the service was not an act of public passes and plateaux; averaging 15,000 worship, inasmuoh as Mr. Mellin was feet above the sea. not an ordained pastor. Twelve years' banishment from the islands would have -Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, lately electbeen the punishment. ed to a seat in Parliament, is a native Indian, and was born in Bombay, 'the Palestine.-The number of blind per- son of a Parsee priest, and was edu. sons in the East is large. There are cated at the Elphinstone Institution, mission schools for them at Beirut, later becoming It professor of mathe- Damascus and Tyre. Blind Scripture- matics and natural philosophy. He readers have the entree of Moslem homes, went to England in 1855, and since was a privilege which blindness confers.
-The Presbyterian reports that Jeru- for years prime minister in the native salem has 135 places where liquor is State of Baroda.
sold, and the license fees, which last -The Gaekwar of Baroda, now trav- year amounted to $2,292, are sent to elling in Europe, before leaving his own constantinople, dominions, gave orders to his dewan to open ten boarding-schools for the sons work extends nearly seventy miles of low-caste people in his territory. northward into the province of Chihli, -The Methodist Episcopal Church is and nearly as far west, and the patients reported as preaching and teaching the who are treated in the hospital have Gospel in India and other parts of Asia come from no less than 1031 villages. in thirteen different languages, and as During the past year 5116 persons have having 29,000 native pupils in India. It been treated, and during ten years no has also established missionary publish- less than 38,306.
ing houses, and from its own presses is -Dr. Hunter Corbett writes from sending out missionary pamphlets and Chufoo, China, that ten men of fine periodicals in nine different languages. education and much promise will soon -There are 330 Bible women taking have completed the course of study in the Scriptures into the Zenanas of the normal school. They will go out, India. t~o by two, to preach at markets and from village to village, on salaries of -At a public meeting in Edinburgh about $50 per year each. Thousands in connection with the Zenana Mission, hear the Gospel at the markets and inns it was stated by Miss Hogg, of Old Cala- and by the wayside. Sometimes 8S bar, that one of the difficulties in her many as five or six men preach at the mission was the love of dress on the same large market. part of the converts, and their insubordination to their Christian husbands. -The Rev. Dr. Mackay writes from The women wanted silks, satins, and vel- Formosa of a wholesale turning from vets, and instead of doing as they were idolatry. By unanimous vote the peobid, as they formerly had to do in the ple of Ka-le-oan handed over a heathen harems, they now had their say in temple for Christian service, and nearly everything. 500 cleared their houses of idols, and a great bonfire was made of the rejected Ohina.-At a banquet recently given gods.
by Li Hung Chang, at which many for- -Dr. Griffith John writes from Haneigners were present, the statesman's kow, China, to the Ohristian World, givson, speaking in English for his father, ing the welcome news that Chan Han, praised Western civilization, and espe- the leader of the recent anti-foreign and cially Western medical science, stating anti-Christian movement in Hunan, that a foreign physician had recently has been deposed from his government saved his life. position by an imperial edict, cashiered, -The Norwegian Evangelical Lu- sent to his home and placed under the theran China Missil:m Society was organ- surveillance of local officials.
ized June 11th, 1890, and already has Japan.-The chapel of the Doshisha twelve missionaries in China. It works College of the American Board's Kyoto in association with the China Inland Mission is filled every Sunday morning Mission. Its headquarters are at Han- by from 500 to 700 young men and kow, on the Yangtse River. women, students in the college and -Rev. David Hill, missionary in girls' schools. This college graduated China, though born to wealth, has this year 83 students, the laq;est num- cheerfully supported himself for twenty- ber on record_ eight years. His brother, a magistrate -Rev. C. S. Eby, a Canadian Methin York, has contributed nobly to the odist missionary, recently gave an exwork, and now his son has gone to labor hibition of stereopticon views at the in the same field. palace in Tokyo, and received in ac· -The report of the Williams Hospital, knowledgment therefor a choice silver at Pang-Chuang, for 1890, states that its cup from His Majesty the Emperor.
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1892
NARAYAN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No.l.-0ld Series.–JANUARY..–VOL.V. No.1.-New 8erie3.
THE MIRACLES OF MISSlONS.-NO. XXI.
[EDITORIAL, A. T. P.] THE BEGINNING OF MODERN WONDERS.
The Society Islands were so called by Cook in honor of the" Royal Society j" and the largest, having a circuit of one hundred and forty miles and containing about six hundred square miles, is known as Tahiti. It consists of two rounded peninsulas joined by a narrow isthmus, and is crowned with a majestic peak called The Diadem. The name was a prophecy, for this island furnished the first conspicuous diadem of modern missionary labors.
It was first seen by an English Captain-Wallis-in 1767. The inhabitants were tall, stout, brown skinned, with dark eyes, and seemed unusually good.natured and playful j but they were thieves, liars, and murderers.
When the knowledge of the Tahitians reached England, the directors of the London Missionary Sooiety determined to send the Gospel to this island, and at last found thirty men who were willing to go, four of whom were ministers, the rest tradesmen ; and six of them were married. A ship called the Duff was bought, and pious Captain Wilson took charge of it.
This memorable missionary band left the Thame.s on August 10th, 1796. A purple flag waved in the wind, with three' doves bearing olivQ branches as its device; and as they set sail they sang the hymn, " Jesus, at Thy command we launch into the deep."
A seven months' voyage brought them to the shores of Tahiti. and they were welcomed by about seventy-five canoes, whose natives clambered over the ship's side, and in various ways expressed their joy, hoping for knives and axes and other useful implements. They had brought with them hogs and fruit for the purpose of barter; but as it was the Sabbath day the missionaries tried to make them understlOlnd that they neither sold nor bought upon the Day of Rest. Most of the natives returned in their canoes, but about forty stayed on deck, and the missionaries had a service. While they prayed and sang the natives looked on in silence.
Two white men were already at Tahiti, one of whom had been shipwrecked, and the other left on shore a few years previous. Their names were Peter and Andrew, and they were. clad like savages. Being able to speak some Tahitian, they served at first as interpreters between the mis-
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS
sionaries and the natives, but they turned out to be very wicked men, though born in a Christian land.
An old man, Mane-mane, was high-priest to the idol gods, and was held to be some great one. A chief showed the missionaries an empty house about one hundred feet long, but unfurnished, which he said should be given to them. 'Upon thsir arrival on the beach they were met at once by strange customs. They found the king, Otu, and his queen both riding on men's shoulders. Wben those that carried them changed the burden to other shoulders, the royal feet were not permitted to touch the ground, because whatever land they touched would become their own, so they jumped over the head of one man upon the shoulders of another. For the same reason, when the king and queen visitcd the ship, they refused to go on deck, because if they touched the ship it would be theirs, and none but their own servants might dwell there or eat there henceforward. Afterward, when Mr. Lewis unfolded his umbrella, they warned him not to hold it over their heads, as it would thenceforth become sacred to their exclusive ust'.
Thc missionaries found dancers on these i~lands called Areois, who were a most wicked set of people. Their bodies were blackened with charcoal and their faces dyed red. They committed murders, killing their little children as soon as they were born. They had no occupation but dancing, boxing, wrestling, and sporting.
The first night, in presence of the natives, the missionaries sang and prayed and thanked God for inclining these strangers to receive them so kindly; and the first Sabbath they turned their dwelling into a chapel and Mr. Jefferson preached, being interpreted by Andrew, the Swede; and so through the vehicle of an ungodly man the first impressions of the Gospel were made upon these natives.
The father of Otu was called Pomare. He was a very wise man; had formerly been not only a chief, but the supreme king of the chiefs of the island. He had, however, many fauIts. He was a liar, a glutton, covetous, and pre-eminently selfish. On the second Sabbath, however, he attended the service of worship, when Mr. Cover preached from that text which has been probably the subject of more sermons than any other in the Bible-John 3 : 16-and after the service Pomare pronounced what he had understood very good.
The favorite g')d, Oro, was simply a log of wood about the size of a man, kept in a shed among trees surrounded by a stone wall. . In this place were altars on which lay pigs that had been dead for months, and it was called a Marro, and was a habitation of cruelty. Men were sacrificed and their flesh hung in large baskets on the trees around till it decayed. No woman was counted worthy of the honor either of approaching the Marre or being sacrificed in it. The priests used to roll themselves up in a great bundle of cloth, and in a squeaking voice pretend to represent the gods; and though tlw people knew that it was the priest that was speaking, they dared not disobey. They kept in their houses some of their gods, and fancied them to be in disposition like unto themselves. Hiro was the pro- tector of thieves, and when they went out to steal, they promised Hiro a part of the booty if he would not expose them ; and the missionaries found that the natives were very much like the god th'ey worshipped. Nothing was safe within their reach. Murder was quite as common as stealing; and one Sunday Mr. Lewis preached upon the commandment, " Thou shalt not kill." Mane-mane advised the people to leave off their wicked ways, yet he had not left off his own; and when he wanted to kill a man, drank wine to keep up his courage for his horrible work. His own wife killed her offspring, and when remonstrated with, said she would keep the customs of the country and defy the missionaries' displeasure.
Some of the idols were made of stone, but most of them of wood, or of a kind of string made from the outside of the cocoanut. Sharks and birds were worshipped, and there were more than one hundred gods. When 9 sacrifice was demanded for Oro, it might be the guest who was eatir.g beneath the roof of a chief. If one man of a family were offered, the people of the same household were usually chosen until the whole was destroyed. When the beating of the sacred drum gave the signal that II human sacrifice was required, the natives would flee to the mountain dens and caves for refuge. The Tahitians believed that at death their spirits went to cruel gods, who first devoured them three times over, after which they passed into the body of a beast, bird, or man, and lived again on earth.
If thus cruel to their friends, their cruelty to enemies may be inferred; their bodies were left unburied to be devoured by beasts and birds. Sometimes a hole was made through an enemy's body, and he was worn as a Tiputa by the man who slew him. The conquerors destroyed all the women and children of their foes, and taught their own little children to kill those of whom they would naturally have made playmates; and sometimes these little children of conquered foes were strung on a spear like beads.
Among such a people these missionaries began their apparently hopeless labors. Three weeks had not passed before they were robbed, and, because they did not punish the offenders when detected, they were regarded as cowards; but they sought to win by kindness, and determined they would not seek to defend themselves, but confide themselves entirely to the keeping of Jehovah. They placed near their house a hospital, and offered to nurse all who would come. Though many natives were suffering from terrible diseases, they would not accept the proposition. Satisfied with food and raiment, the missionaries gave up their blacksmith shop and store room to Pomare, and even offered to surrender to him all their own private property, but he would not accept it. During the first year there was a quarrel between Pomare and Otu, and, as Mane-mane had stirred up the rebellion, Pomare order~d him to be killed. Thus perished the wicked old priest, the great man of the Tahitians. The more the missionaries saw of Otu the more wicked he was found to be ; and the continued unbelief of the peo~le was a source of much heavi- ness to these servants of God. Nothing offended the natives more than to rebuke their wicked customs. rdia, the queen, bad destroyed three chil- dren of her own within three years after the missionaries had arrived.
On March 5th, 1800, three years to a day from that when the mis- sionaries first saw the island, the first wooden posts or pillars of a Christian chapel were reared; and they besought God that these, like the pillar that Jacob set up at Bethel, might be a memor.ial of the presence of God.
The next June, in the Royal .Admiral, eight new missionaries arrived, and were welcomed by Pomare. It was agreed by the brethren that Mr. Nott should go around Tahiti to preach to all the inhabitants. He was accompanied by Mr. Elder. Sometimes Mr. Nott preached three or four times a day. They lodged in the houses of the natives, and took with them on the journey some of the Tahitians themselves, who thus had the advantage of hearing him preach during a five weeks' tour, and UpOll his return he found that they were able to give a clear account of the Gospel truths they had heard. Constant prayer went up to God that He would pour down His Rpirit from on high. The missionaries endured great suffering for the natives' sake, especially in consequence of desolating wars. When the natives were entreated to believe in Jesus Christ, like ancient unbelievers, they asked, " Has Pornare or any of the chiefs believed 1" They were, in fact, the greatest enemies of Christ, and discouraged the natives from attending to the Gospel. The tenacity of idolatry seemed to make preaching a hopeless task.
The natives had great confidence in the power of red feathers, attributing large success in fishing to their presence on the canoes, but had little conception of the soul or of duty, and while faithless toward God they were credulous toward the most absurd imposture, placing their trust in fortune. tellers, dreams, and signs of good or ill luck.
While Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Scott were travelling in Tahiti and lay down to rest, a chief invited a guest to go with him to the beach, killed him with stones, put his body in a basket of cocoanut leaves, and sent him to Pomare as calm and unconcerned as if he had only killed a hog.
In 1803 Pomare himself suddenly died, and the wicked Otu had more power than during his father's lifetime. He styled himself Pomare II. It was he who was destined to be the first convert of the Gospel work at Tahiti. He had taken pains to learn to read and write. He was greatly feared, and it was believed that he could kill a man by his prayers and imprecations. In the spring his queen had a child, and he himself was privy to its death. The queen died in 1806.
In May of this year a day of fasting and prayer was appointed by the missionaries, and particular pains were now taken to teach the children. They learned to repeat a short catechism by heart, and in November Mr. Davies opened a school in the new houee, and invited the boys who lived near by to attend it on three afternoons in the week. A month afterward they asked to be taught oftener, and were instructed daily. They learned to read and write, being first taught to make letters on the sand. Spelling- books !lnd Bible histories were made for them and sent to England to be printed. A!I the missionaries began to be 'familiar with the language, they discovered that it was unfitted for the expression of Christian ideas. There was, for instance, no word for "thanks," and no proper expression for " God."
A vessel arrived from the directors of the London Missionary Society, bearing a letter in English for Pomare. He was pleased with it, answered it courteously, and consented to the request of the directors, and promised to banish Oro from the island. He acknowledged that his land was a bad land, a foolish land, and one that knew not the true God ; asked for a large number of men, women, and children from England, and said he would adopt English customs. This letter appears to have been insincere, for shortly afterward he desired thai a man might be killed at Atehuru as a sacrifice, and taken in a canoe to another place ; and he sought to conceal it from the missionaries. He seems to have made his fair promises only as a "loak for his covetousness.
In 1807 another war broke out at Tahiti, which lasted about three years. The missionaries were obliged to leave the island, Mr. Nott and Mr. Hayward going to Huahine near by, and all the rest to Port Jackson in New South Wales.
The king, who had. gone to Eimeo, invited the missionaries to come to that island. There were now seven missionaries in Eimeo-Nott, Hayward, Bicknell, Scott, Wilson, Davies, Henry. They had settled at Papetoai, and built a small chapel and opened a school. Events occurred which inclined them to stay in Eimeo, and they observed that the king appeared £0 regard idols less than he had done in times past. For instance, in 1812, when a sacred turtle was caught, instead of Rending it to the idol's temple, he had it dressed in an oven in his own kitchen, and served for his dinner, which was an ast.ounding blow at idol customs; and as no harm befell him, he was confirmed in his contempt of idols, and the power of the popular superstitions was greatly weakened. Pahi, the brother of the King of Raiatea. made a still bolder experiment-destroying in an oven a sacred log which had been worshipped, and then ate bread fruit that had been baked in its ashes.
Pomare declared that he would now have henceforth but one wife. He married Teara, daughter of the Raiatean king, and on the birth of her little daughter the customs of the ages were disregarded, which permitted no fires to be lighted for many days, nobody to leave the shore, and no persons to approach the child except sacred persons in sacred garments.
On July 18th, 1812, Pomare asked to be baptized, and declared his fixed purpose to cleave to Jehovah and His people. He said, " I wish you to pray for me," and proposed to build a larger chapel. He declared that he had tried to persuade the kings of other islands to do as he intended to do, and when they answered that they would cleave to Oro, he told them that was cleaving to Satan. The missionaries, full of joy, waited anxiously to see whether Pomare was really a converted man. Subsequently his grief for his sins, his observance of the Sabbath, and his efforts to persuade his friends to turn to God, convinced them that he had been changed by the .grace of God.
When the missionaries found the people in Eimeo ready to attend their instructions they heard that the people in Tahiti were likewise inquiring after Jehovah, and Mr. Scott and Mr. Hayward were sent to see whether the joyful report was true.
Missionary labor at Tahiti was apparently in vain for from fourteen to sixteen years, and, notwithstanding untiring, earnest, and faithful effort, but one solitary instance of conversion had taken place. The wars of desolation continued, and abominable idolatries and iniquities reigned. " The heavens seemed as brass and the earth as iron i" and when God's time to favor the work in Polynesia came, the beginning was such as to turn all attention to Himself. For at the time the war had driven the missionaries from the island and cut off all communication. Two native servants, formerly employed in the missionaries' families, had, unknown to them, received favorable impressions, and had united together for prayer. They had been joined by others, and at the return of the missionaries to Tahiti, at the termination of the war, they found a number of praying people, and had little to do but to aid in a work which God had thus singularly begun.
These years of fruitless and apparently hopeless toil had almost determined the directors of the London Missionary Society to abandon altogether the work at Tahiti. Dr. Haweis, chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, one of the founders of the society, and the father and liberal supporter of the South Sea Mission, earnestly opposed such abandonment of the field, and backed his arguments by a further donation of a thousand dollars. The Rev. Matthew Wilb, the pastor of Mr. Williams, declared with great emphasis that he would sell the clothes from his back rather than give up the mission, and proposed, instead of abandonment, that a season of special prayer should be observed for the divine blessing. Such a season was observed i letters of encouragement were written to the missionaries, andmark it I-while the vessel w~s on her way to carry these letters to Tahiti, another ship passed her in mid-ocean, which conveyed to Great Britain, October, 1813, the news that idolatry was entirely overthrown in the island, and bore back to London the rejected idols of the people; and so was fulfilled literally the Divine promise, " Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear."
We have already mentioned the fact that, while the missionaries were driven away from Tahiti, two natives had begun to call upon the Lord Jesus in prayer. One of these lads was named Tuahine. Another native, impressed by some remarks from Pomare, had gone to make some inquiries of Tuahine, who had lived for some time in the missionaries' families. Finding his mind was in a similar state they resolved to retire to some secret place to talk and pray, and after a little while several young persons united with them ; and this little band, without the guidance of any missionary, determined to abandon idols and the wicked practices of their countrymen, keep the Sabbath, and worship Jehovah alone. As Christianity spread, Tuahine helped the missionaries by directing inquirers, teaching in the schools, and translating the Scriptures. Sometimes he spent from eight to ten hours a day in this last work, and rendered invaluable counsel and aid to the missionaries. He proved himself to be a Barnabas and an Apollos both in one, and had a surprising gift in prayer. He discharged the office of a deacon with great faithfulness, and died about forty-five years old, a model of a converted native.
The chapel that Pomare had desired to be built at Eimeo was opened for worship July 25th, 1813, and the next evening thirty-one natives cast away idols, and their names were written among the disciples of Jehovah. Shortly after, the number had risen to above three hundred. embracing, among others, a priest called Patii, who led the way in the burning of idols. He brought out the gods one at a time, tore off the sacred garments and ornaments, threw them one by one into the flames, pronouncing their names, repeating their foolish histories, and challenging the people to observe what helpless logs they were. The joy of the missionaries may be imagined. The queen's sister about the same time publicly showed her contempt for the idol gods; and Pomare himself, though gnilty of many things inconsistent with the character of a Christian, made a tour of Eimeo, seeking to persuade the heathen to turn from idols.
Meanwhile at Tahiti persecution arose against the native Christians. They took refuge in the woods and lonely vaUeys at midnight for prayer. One young man suffered martyrdom, and another bore a lifelong sear received at their hands. The year 1815 was the most remarkable that had ever been known at Tahiti. A plan was laid to destroy the Christian natives entirely, and the night of July 7th was fixed upon, when the Christians were to be assembled for prayer. Having been adTised, however, of this conspiracy, they sailed for Eimeo, and their departure was the cause of a quarrel among their enemies themselves, in which they largely destroyed each other.
The missionaries at Eimeo received the Tahitians with great affection, but feared that the heathen might rise up in both islands and destroy all the worshippers of Jehovah. July 14th was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer. Soon afterward two chiefs from Tahiti came to Eimeo, inviting the Christian chiefs who had fled to return. The invitation was, however, a mere cover for a plan to destroy the king and his friends. A battle ensued in November, 1815, in which Pomare and his little army were victors. Instead of killing his enemies the king determined to destroy their idols. The multitude stood astonished, both at the helplessness of their gods and the audacity of their destroyers j and when the great god Oro was carried to Pomare's feet, he set it up as a post in his kitchen, fixing pegs upon it on which to hang baskets for food, and subsequently burned it as fuel. Such was the end of the great war god.
Mr. Nott and Mr. Hayward soon went to Tahiti, and made a tour of the island. They found the people busy in destroying Marres and build- ing little chapels. Pomare himself had written a prayer, which he often read in these places of worship-a prayer worthy of any Christian author.
The missionaries found the people very anxious to learn to read, and the king had not only destroyed his public idols, but now wished to part with the family gods, always kept in his house. He sent about twelve of these frightful little images to the missionaries in Eimeo, with a letter ask- ing that they might be sent to the Missionary Society in England, that they might know the likeness of the gods that had been worshipped in the island. The idols were accordingly nailed up in a wooden case and sent to the directors of the London Missionary Society. Family prayer became common, and the people retired to the bushes for private supplication.
The missionaries could scarcely get any rest, so continually were they besieged with inquiry. In every place they found chapels-sixty-six in all -in which the people assembled four times a week.
About this time a printing-press was brought to Eimeo, and from a neighboring Marre, polished stones-pieces of pavement upon which worshippers had knelt before the altars-were dug up and placed where God's Word was to be printed. Satan was robbed that God might be honored. The first book printed was the Baba, or spelling-book, and Pomare was permitted to aid in setting up the first page, and to strike off the first impression. The Tahitians were very anxious to have these printed.
books, and sent to the missionaries plantain leaves rolled up, with the request for spelling-books written on the leaves. This was the beginning of the spreading of the knowledge of God from isle to isle by the power of a sanctified literature. Catechisms followed, and little books containing col- lections of texts j schools were multiplied, converts increased, and there was a general spirit of inquiry. .
For years Mr. Nott had been translating the Gospel of Luke into Tahitian, assisted by Pomare, and while the book was in press the natives often constrained Mr. Ellis to stop printing to explain to them what they read. The missionaries wished to bind the books before they were dis- tributed, but the impatience of the people compelled them to give up wait- ing for proper binding materials. The natives, however, did not suffer these precious books to remain without proper protection j dogs and cats and goats were killed that their skins might be prepared for covers, and the greatest anxiety was manifested to obtain these new copies of the Gospel. Five men from Tahiti landed at Afareaita, and did not go into any house to lodge lest some one might anticipate them in the morning and buy up all the books, so that they should be compelled to return without any. Mr. Ellis gladly gave them copies of the precious Gospel, which they wrapped in bark, put in their bosoms, and set sail for Tahiti without having taken food or drink during their stay at Eimeo.
And now the brethren determined to form a missionary society in Eimeo, and on May 13th a great meeting was held, and numbers of natives came from Tahiti. The prayers began at sunrise, and long before the chapel service at three 0' clock they were obliged to leave the chapel for the grove outside to accommodate the crowds. The king was seated with the queen, her ladies, and many chiefs, and Mr. Nott preached from the words, "Understandest thou what thou readest~" (Acts 8 : 30,31.) 'An address from Pornare hims.elf followed, advocating the formation of the. Missionary Society, and hundreds of 4ark arms were lifted toward heaven in assent.
The" Royal Mission Chapel" at Tahiti, so called, was finished in the spring of 1819. It contained 133 windows, 29 doors, and was 712 feet long and 54 feet wide-212 feet longer than St. Paul's in London. As no preacher could speak loud enough to be heard to the end of the chapel during a whole sermon, three pulpits were placed in it, with a minister in each. Six thousand people joined in singing God's praise in this new place of worship, and three sermons were preached simultaneously.
The next day after the dedication service in May, 1819, laws were publicly given to the people, condemning murder, rebellion, theft, Sabbath breaking, these prohibitions being followed with becoming sanctions. After the law was read the king asked the chiefs, " Do you agree to this law~" and Tati, a ringleader among the rebels, held up both hands, and called upon the people to do the same. At the close of the Sabbath service, Pomare solemnly pronounced his faith in a crucified Redeemer. Let any reader consider how different were these assemblies from the feasts at which Pomare and his father had distributed the bleeding limbs of human victims as offerings to the gods.
The rest of the year was full of rejoicing; new customs obtained, and the preaching of the Word was greatly blessed. Pornare was shut up whole days with Mr. Nott, helping him to correct the translations of the Gospel of John and the Acts.
We can give no further space to this wonderful story. The king himself was a leader in all good works, and on December 7th, 1821, died in the faith of Christ at the age of forty-seven years. Though naturally proud, covetous, deceitful, intemperate, and treacherous, he not only believed the Word of God himself, but persuaded many others, while he forced none to turn from their idols, and we cannot but believe that, not- ,withstanding his many faults, he sincerely belonged to Christ.
A fitting conclusion to this narrative may be found in the coronation of the young king, four years old, on April 21st, 1824. He was dressed in his coronatiou robes in Mr. Nott's house, and borne to the church on the highest platform. A hymn was sung, a prayer was offered. and Mr. Nott
lIONQR OF' A MISSIONARY
made an effective address. The laws of the country were placed upon the table, and the young king was asked whether he would promise to govern the people in justice, and mercy, and obedience to these laws and to the Word of God; and he replied, "I do, God being my helper." Oil was then poured upon his head, and a blessing pronounced upon him by Mr. Davies. The crown was placed upon his brow while Mr. Nott spoke words of benediction, and the Bible was presented to him as the most priceless treasure in the world. From the platform of coronation, the procession went to the " Royal Mission Chapel," and the young king sat in the royal pew.
Contrast this scene with the coronation of Pomare II., who had been declared king according to the heathen fashion, robed in a girdle covered with red feathers, the ceremony attended by the slaughter of men and followed by the worship of the god Oro. Now a little prince began his reign with the sweet sacrifice of prayer and praise to the living God.
In the end of the summer of 1835 many people in various parts of the island were converted, especially by the preaching of Mr. Nott, at Papao, and in July, 1836, the queen found that only two openly ungodly persons were to be found in the whole district of Pare; and Mr. Davies was almost as much blessed at Papare as Mr. Nott was at Papao. The translation of the whole Bible into Tahitian was completed in 1836, the greatest part of the work having been done by Mr. Nott; and in February of this year Mr. Nott set sail for England. He presented the translation to the directors of the London Missionary Society, and remained in England for two years. He appeared at Exeter Hall at the great anniversary in 1838, and after showing the Ailsembly a copy of the Tahitian Bible, bade them a last though not an everlasting farewell, and returned to Tahiti, rejoicing in the privilege of spending the remainder of his days in the service of Christ in the South Seas.
HONOR OF A MISSIONARY.
I should not like you, if meant by the gifts of God for a great missionary, to die a millionnaire. I should not like it, were you fitted to be a miRsionary, that you should drivel down into a king. What are all your kings, all your nobles, all your stars, all your diadems and your tiaras, when you put them altogether, compared with the dignity of winning souls for Christ, with the special honor of building for Christ, not on another man's foundation, but preaching Christ's gospel in regions far beyond ~ I reckon him to be a man honored of men who can do a foreign work for Christ; but he who shall go farthest in self-annihilation and in the furtherance of the glory of Christ shall be a king among men, though he wear a crown no carnal eyes can see.-Spurgeon.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND THE HIGHEST USE OF WEALTH
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND THE HIGHEST USE OF WEALTH.
B. C. AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE A. F. M. AT PITTSFIKLD, MASS., OCTOBER 14TH, 1891.
BY PRESIDENT MERRILL EDWARDS GATES, LL.D., OF AMHERST.
The incarnation of the living God as the Redeemer of man has made it forever necessary that the man who would know God must see something of God in his fellow-men. In all ages the men whose hearts God has touched, whose eyes God has opened that they may see Him and make others see Him, have been men mightily moved in soul and heart toward their fellow-men. The nearer we come to God's view of human life, the purer and deeper and mightier will be our love of human souls and our pity for wasted. sinful. and benighted human lives.
LOVE OF GOD AND WORK FOR MEN.
There is a Divine revelation of the very heart of God Himself in the description Christ gives us of the scenes of division at the judgment. Our Master takes as His own not those who selfishly cry, "Lord, Lord!" and boast familiarity with God's power and achievements of their own in cast- ing out devils; but the men who have shown" the mind which was in Christ Jesus, " and under the constraining power of Christ's love have served Him by serving" in His name" their fellow-men for whom He died. It is by the faith that is in Christ Jesus that we stand; but the absolutely vital, the indissoluble connection of faith with love and with works of love and help- fulness and mercy, is made startlingly clear in this revelation by Christ of the things whi.ch shall be made manifest at that day. It is only by living out a vital principle of life to its issues that we can come to know it thoroughly. True Christians are men and women who are bent upon reducing right theories of life to right living. Life-power and moral truth are the mightiest forces in the universe. In Christian character these two forces are combined. God is life and truth ; godlikeness worked out in life is character; into sound character has entered the " omnipotence of a • principle," and the almightiness of God Himself is pledged to make char- acter, which is vitalized truth, the mightiest power within the control of man. And since God is Jove, and God in Christ is the supreme revelation of that holy and infinitely attractive love which spared not His own Son that He might be just and yet might Jove us out of our sins into lives of holiness, Christians can never Jearn large lessons of God's love in Christ without sharing in Christ's love for their fellow-men THE TEST-OUR FEELING TOWARD MULTITUDES OF UNSHEPHERDED MEN.
Always, then, for the individual Christian, and for any body of Christians who are acting together, there is a supreme test in the question, How deep a concern do you feel for the welfare of the great body of your fellowmen ~ What are your feelings, what are your purposes, what is your attitude of soul t.oward the benighted ones, 'our brothers and sisters, who are ignorant, debased, sin-burdened, and hopeless in the world ~ Sharp and clear is the contrast between the spirit of the Pharisees and the spirit of Christ in this matter of caring for crowds of the commou people. When their returning officers said, " Never man spake as this man speaks," and when "the common people heard Him gladly," the Pharisees waved aside the divine meaning of the message with that contemptuous phrase, the essence of selfish vanity and arrogant pride, " This people that knoweth not the law is accursed." But" the mind that was in Christ Jesus," the mind that dwells in every true child of God in richer fulness as the Holy Spirit shows him the things of Christ, is revealed in the words, " But when He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion upon them, because they fainted aud were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. " In those words speaks from the heart of God the loving voice of the Good Shepherd j and "His sheep know His voice and follow Him."
This mind that was in Christ, this deep yearning love for lost men, has always marked the true Church. It began its growth among men with the growth of the early Church at Jerusalem, and it had to break its way through that intense spirit of exclusiveness which, with the Jewish Church, had been a cult for centuries. For generations God had walled in His chosen people, had separated them from the rest of the world, that their knowledge of Him and their realization of His presence might be intensified by exclusion. In the fulness of time, when the Word was made flesh, when the love of God was poured into the life of men through the life and the words of Christ, this spirit of love for all mankind burst the cerements of the old dispensation, and the Christian Church began its wondrous growth on earth. It came into life, it grew and prospered under the teaching and guidance of the Third Person of the Trinity, the ever-living Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take of the things of Christ and show them to His followers, who is with us here to-day guiding His Church. Peter first felt the power of this mission-spirit of love for all mankind. Then the heavenly vision came to Paul, and flaming with the spirit of Christ's love he went through all the provinces, fiery-hearted with the spirit of missions. With the growth of the Church this spirit has increasingly prevailed; the walls of separation between nationil have been broken down by it. It is to the growing spirit of Christ, not to the evolution of a perception of a subtly selfish interest for the individual to be attained by the promotion of the we)£are of the whole-it is to the spirit of Christ and not to "enlightened self-interest," that we owe the deepening sense of the solidarity of the race which binds men together the world around.
In the history of the Church it is the men whose hearts have'received this spirit in the largest measure whose names illumine the annals of the Church and the pages of universal history. In their hearts was condensed so much of the thrilling force of Christ's love that heat passed into fiery rays of light, and they became beacons to men for all time. From Paul, longing to visit Spain, yearning over the Romans, melted with love for the Galatians, holding all Greece and all Asia in his heart, down through the glorious roll of saints and martyrs and missionary heroes till we reach the names of the missionaries whom we have seen in the flesh, and whom we love, hearts and lives on fire with the love of lost and benighted men have been the evidence of the spirit of life in the Church of Christ.
IN A LIVING CHURCH, ALWAYS A LOVE OF MISSIONS.
There can be no living Church without a glowing love for mlSSlOns. Christ has made this very clesr to us. In the glimpse He gives us of the judgment. in His parting words as He ascended, "Go ye and make disciples of all nations," and, ,. Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the world," we find the very essence of His teaching, the flowering of His spirit of service. To seek and to save that which was lost, was the mission that brought our Divine Redeemer from heaven to earth j and to seek and to save the lost is the Divine commission, from the glorified Christ in heaven to each believer who looks up to a Divine Redeemer for direction in a life of grateful service.
What has this to do with the question of money and its use ~ Let us ask ourselves this question thoughtfully.
MEN AND MEANS.
As members of the Church of Christ set to do Christ's work in the world, assembled here in the interest of one of the most important agencies in that work of evangelizing the world, which is pre-eminently the one work given by Christ to His people to do in His name, we are brought face to face with the question of the means to carry out this important work. Here, as in every other important undertaking which is to influence many lives, men and means are the essential requirements. Men never were offered to a praying Church in such numbers as stand confronting us today, saying, ' • We are ready, send us." Under the influence of the spirit of God, the immeasurable importance of bearing the glad tidings to the dark places of the earth has dawned upon young men and women in our· land with a vividness and a power never before seen or known in the history of the Church. Do you who are past middle age remember the " missionary concerts" of your youth, when prayers were regularly offered that God would" break down the walls" that shut Christians out of China and Japtm V That prayer has been answered. This year the Emperor of China issues a royal edict calling upon the governors of his provinces to protect the missionaries against misrepresentation and violence, and declaring that the object of Christian teaching is to make men better. We have been witnesses of this marvellous change. We have seen Japan rise suddenly to highest standards in civilization 'and ih government-a nation born in a day. Japanese Christians are setting the Christian world an exam- ple of unity and loving fellowship in work. The testimony of all observers is that never was a great nation in a more receptive mood for Christian truth than is Japan to-day. In India there is a special call for laborers.
Another generati0n of educated men, broken loose from the old faith, will soon be anarchic in morals unless Christianity shall supply the basis of morality in life. Ve need not raise any questions of a future hell; there will be hell let loose upon the earth unless Christian truth gets hold upon India, unless the love of Christ cherished in the heart shall more than make good the loss of restraints of the old order. In unharvested fields the grain, ripe and ready, falls to the earth in rich, decaying masses, un- garnered. Unless these years that are now upon us be used, the oppor- tunity is forever lost. It i~ now or never, for India! .
"TIME-VALUE" AND" PLACE-VALUE."
Political economists talk of a " time-value," which belongs to a commodity that is ready precisely when it is wanted, like seed corn in spring, and of a " place-value," which is the result of the presence of an instrument or a commodity at the precise place where it is needed, and at precisely the time when it is needed. The time-utility of missionary effort just now is immense. Who can estimate the place-utility of Christian effort DOW in Japan and in India ~ Of Africa I hardly dare to speak. Africa, no longer the totally" Dark Continent," first pierced through by the rays of love and light where Livingstone carried his well-read Bible that rayed out life for him and made his path a trail of love and light until that night when he knelt alone beside his cot under the great tree in the wilderness and, kneeling, met his God; Mrica, now slowly rising to a place in the world's history, but still as booty to be struggled for in a contest of diplomacy, if not of arms-to save and uplift Africa, what need of Christian giving, what a call for help from Christian America, who owes the heaviest debt to that continent which is mother of the race, long fettered and beaten with many stripes, whose unrequited toil made" cotton king" !
We see these open doors. We hear these calls from perishing men. We see the" time-value" and the " place-value" of efforts now put forth for Christ. Loyal subjects of Christ our King, we see clearly the importance of these strategic points to be seized now for the advancement of His kingdom among men. The old walls about the isolated nations, which our fathers and mothers prayed to have thrown down, lie flat before us. The opportunity 'is ample. The need is pressing. The demand from the field is imperative. The loss of life, the loss of souls, is deadly. WHAT HINDERS THE WORK ~ In those monthly concerts, when the walls about China and.Tapan had fallen, the petitions began to take on this stereotyped form : "Lord, raise up men and women who shall be uJilling to go into these opening fields.," The sacrifice involved in foreign mission work has always been immense, but the fruit of it has been abundant and rich. Partings with kindred and friends, departures into strange lands-these have always been essential to the propagation of the. truth since the time when God said to Abraham, the father of the faithful, " Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show you." By such self-sacrificing obedience to God's commands have new nations learned of that brotherhood of man which has no meaning, no power, save as all nations learn that they have a commGn 'Father, even God. Much of what is called the " spirit of the nineteenth century," this awakening of the world to the conviction that all men are of one blood, and that property in man is impossible, is the manifest result of mission work done by strangers who, for Christ's sake and at God's call, have sojourned in strange lands among despised peoples preaching peace and brotherhood through Christ. But the cost of leaving home and friends and native land, the sacrifice involved in expatriating one's self and one's children, has always been so serious 8 matter to contemplate that those who love their own ease have always wondered when the call of God has been potent enough to carry His consecrated servants as missionaries to foreign fields. The supply of men and women willing to go has never been equal to the need of the field, seldom to tbe means at the disposal of the missionary boards. It has been taken for granted by the Church for the last two generations, first, that the walls that shut in mighty nations could not be broken down short of centuries to come; and then, that laborers willing to go could not be found in sufficient numbers.
FACE TO FACE WITH ANSWERED PRAYERS.
But what is time to our God, when He wills to send His kingdom forward by a mighty unfolding into the growing season, into the flowering time! A thousand years are as a day with Him. He laid the walls level. He opened the way. His will and wisdom' brought in the age of steam. Railroads and steamship lines girdle His globe to make ready a highway for his messengers, " speaking peace to the nations." He sets a Stepherason and a Fulton, a Morse and a Bell and an Edison at His tasks when they know it not. Corporations of selfish men do His work, as heedless of the plan of God as are the stones which are framed into the mighty arch of the cathedral, or the liquid elements that are seized upon by the growing plant and drawn up into a place in the beauty of its unfolded blossom by a power utterly beyond their ken! Mission fields are open. The world is the field. AU fences are down. A Christian Church, the Church of America, stands to-day face to face with its answered prayers. It is as if a throng of men and women had been standing in the ante-room of the King's chamber, half drearily telling eachother in monotonous voices what they wished to ask for if the King would only give them audience. Suddenly the King steps in among them and declares, " I know your wishes j you have them now!" And with stammering voices and uncertain gestures the would-be petitioners stand abashed in the presence of a royal Giver, whose readiness to give exceeds their readiness to receive!
THE STUDENT VOLUNTEERS FOR MISSIONS.
For a generation the Church has been praying for men and women who were ready to go. The Holy Spirit hae tried the hearts and searched the spirits of young men and women at our higher institutions of learning. No one who bas been among them, as I have been, and has seen this searching work of the Lord, can fail to recognize it as God's doing, and as altogether wonderful and like His mighty power and the gracious constraining force of His own love, that to-day over six thousand young Christians of America are volunteers for Christian mission-work.
The years when young students look out upon life from the· mountain heights of youth are favorable to a clear vision of comparative values. While the wish is eager to make one's life count for the utmost possible in the service of God by serving one's feHow-men, those whose eyes God touches that they may truly see discern the truth that no other work compares in potent possibility for good with this light-bearing in dark places. Our" young men see visions;" and this is the fulfilment of God's glorious promise of rich blessing fO,r any nation. They see that the Holy Spirit describes the highest object of a liberal education, when He speaks of one who" has tbe tongue of the'learned to speak a word in season to him that is weary." And the spirit of God has so moved upon the young people in the Church of God in this land, that as a class of Christians they say today to the Church of God, " Weare ready to go. Weare eager to try within this next generation to fulfil the glorious command of Christ and , make disciples of all nations.' "
THE ALMIGHTY BANKER CALLS IN HIS LOANS.
Since the work is Christ's work intrusted to us, since the would.be workers are ready and call upon our mission boards to send them, since the great, the rapidly growing wealth of this Christian nation is in the hands of Christian men and women of mature years, my brothers, what answer can we give for ourselves before the jndgment throne of God, if this glorious work of preaching the Gospel of light to dying men is checked and dwarfed, and fails of its glorious pORsibility, because we who are God's stewards hold fast to God's money for our own selfish uses 1 There is a time when the Almighty Banker of the Universe calls in His lo~n81 There is a time when the Master, about to return from far countries, Himself makes rigid yet loving inquiry of every steward concerning the talents, be they one or ten, intrusted to his use. Are we so using the money God has given us as to give to Him" His own with interest" 1 But, some one will say, this is an unnatural view which you present. Christians are to use their money as do other men, subject to the laws of. political economy and in accordance with the general spirit of the time in which they dwell and with the standards that prevail in the grades of society where their lot is cast. Let us look at the question for a moment.
HIS PROPERTY IS.A MAN'S" OBJECTIFIED WILL."
A man's property has been said to be his" objectified will." Mere things, which apart from man are impersonal and utterly outside of moral and jural considerations, enter into the domain of rights, of justice, of morality, through their relation to the will of their owner. The object into which you have introduced your will, which you have willed and worked to make your own. has become in a sense a part of you. There is a true sense in which the man who touches your property toltches you. Property that is truly owned and used becomes in a sense a part of the owner and user. His intelligence permeates it, his will directs its use. Since wealth is often labor stored up in portable form, it has in it a man's life. It partakes of his personality. A man's wealth, through his acting in it. becomes a personal force in social life which may be used for the noblest ends or prostituted to the bagest uses.
No man can escape the fullest responsibility for the use he makes of his wealth, which is potential power of service. Every man holds all his powers in trust j for the use he makes or fails to make of each power, he must auswer at the judgment-seat of God. Our divine Teacher has warned us that in wealth there is a subtle and dangerous tendency which leads it to seek to escape this law of service. Wealth, whkh should be a useful servant, seeks to become a tyrannical master. Christ in His warnings to His followers personifies but one power in the universe as likely to become a dangerous rival for that throne in man's heart and life which belongs to God Himself. The subtle power against which He thus warns us is Mammon, the love of money. Between the mad pursuit of gain and the service of the living God, He warns us that every man must choose. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. " The property that you have must be as fully and entirely subject to the Jaw of the service of God in serving your fellow-men, as must your powers of heart and will and hand and head.
THE CONVERTED HEART INVOLVES THE CONVERTED POCKET-BoOK.
Talk of men as converted, as Christian men, who con~ciously and deliberately allow their property to be used for debasing and ruining their fellow-men! Imagine that a man'M heart and will can be converted to the service of God, and his property remain in the service 0" the devIl! 'Tis an utter imposRibility !
The cOllversion that does not reach a mall's use of his property is no true conversion. There is no truly Christian man who keeps an unconverted pocket-book or bank account. God'~ universal law of unselfish service is as supreme in the domain of material possessions-in the realm of that wealth which extends a man's power" to bring things to pass"-as it is in any other department of man's possible efforts. The unvarying law of God, which uttachcs an obligation to every opportunity and places a duty over against every right, makes no exception of wealth with its vast powers of service. God has so ordered the tiocial life of our race that no man can make the most of his powers of mind and heart and will until he employs those powers in the service of his fellow-men. This is an accepted law in the realm of mind and spirit. It is no less binding upon the power which material wealth places at a man's disposal. No man has the slightest light to say of his wealth, " It is mine; I may nse it selfi&hly if I will." No man has arrived at a true conception of the responsibility that attaches to the possession of property, until his relations through it to his fellowmen fill a larger place in his views of life than does his ability by his wealth to serve his own selfish ends. No man is free to make an option as to whether he or his property shall come under God's law of service. He and his property are under that law, of necessity, as he is of necessity a member of society and of the State, without his leave having been asked. In the use of his property, as of all his other powers, he olVes steady allegiance to that law of 5ervice, by virtue of the solidarity of God's universe of law; and though in managing his property he may disregard this obligation, he can never escape it.
Now, wealth must be used for service according to its own laws. Wealth is productive only as it is used. as capital-that is, as wealth employed in the production of new wealth, of new values. Since wealth is " the usufruct of skill, intelligence, and morality," it places its owner under obligation steadily so to use it as to reproduce morality, intelligence, and skill.
RESTRIOTED SERVICE, TO GAIN WEALTH.
My brothers, Christian men who have put much of your life into money-winning, as you remember how much of time and effort have been withheld by you from more definite Christian work that you might concentrate yourself upon money-winning, is there not an especial call upon you that you redeem (" buy back") the time that was withheld from God's work by you while you were making money ~ Take the case of a man who has won his wealth by years of concentrated effort. Often it is true that he has gained it by a constant withdrawal of his time and his strength from other occupations in which a generous, public-spirited man wuuld like to engage. "Follow this line of study with me," said a friend, in his early mallhood. " No; business demands all my time," was the answer. "Take hold and help us in thi.; effort at political reform in our city," said his public-spirIted neighbor. " I haven't the time, business claims me." "Will you undertake part of the work of special visitiqg to be done by our church people this winter ~" " Really, you must find some one else, my dear pastor, I am so pressed by business." It was by such restrictions of effort, by such exclusions of everything that did not tend directly to the winning of money, that he made his way to wealth.
But clearly, God meant that man to cultivate his mind, to be a useful citizen and a Christian worker. In some way, then, the time and strength withdrawn from other duties and from public service should be given back to serving the public, to the enriching of the life of others.
LET THE LIFE INVOLVED IN WEALTH-WINNING BE EVOLVED IN THE RIGHT USE OF WEALTH.
The time owed to distinctively Christian effort, to work for the good of his fellow-men, may be in part made good, if the wealth into which his efforts and time were coined is used nobly and wisely. And while no giving for Christian work can take the place of personal interest in Christian activity, yet many men could do infinitely more by free and consecrated gifts of large sums of money than they now do by formal expressions of their sense of unworthiness and lack of effort in the past, unaccompanied even now by any large use of their wealth for Christ's cause.
"Redeem the time" that was withheld from God's service by you while you were making money. Redeem it, buy it back, by using your money conscientiously and generously for God's work.
If you have inherited wealth, let the time and labor that were involved ill the rolling up and the transmission of a fortune, be evolved again in days and years of active philanthropic and Christian work, done by the Christian workers whom your money supports in mission fields.
" PECUNIA ALTER SANGUIS."
For everyone of us, a part of his life-effort is stored up in money-in his possessions. It is the clear perception of this fact that gives significance to the old phrase, " pecunia alter sanguis. " In the money your life acquires is stored up the life-blood of your effort; not because gold is as precious as one's life, but because the power acquired by past effort, stored up in money, enables you to set the efforts of others in motion to carry out your purpose and your will. How shall this life-blood of your past effort be kept pure and noble? How will you use it?
Wealth is concentrated power of service. Whether our wealth be great or small, it is still concentrated power of service. Is the wealth that is in the hunds of Christians also 0/ co.ns~cmted power service? Upon thi.~ blood of your past life, which has in it a life-giving power if used for noble ends, has there fallen the touch of consecration ~ Is it not an awful danger of our times, the greatest peril that threatens professedly Christian people, that though we are Christians, we 80 persistently ignore all true ends in the use of our money 1 Is it not too much our habit of thought to regard only those as people of wealth who have much more money than have we ~ When we read upon page after page of the New Testament the most searching warnings as to the use of wealth, is it not our habit to pass them on to the very wealthy, whose fortunes far exceed the means at our disposal ~ MAMMON MAY BE WORSHIPPED BY THE POOR AS TRULY AS BY THE RICH.
Yet the essential nature of wealth does not lie in its quantity, in the amount of money at a man's disposal. The god Mammon may be worshipped with a man's whole heart, though his business transactions be petty and his savings small. Some rich men give to good causes small contributions, with a hypocritical allusion to "the widow's mite i" but our Lord bestowed His regal blessing upon the widow's mite not because it was small, but because she gave her whole living to the Lord. And in the countless warnings addressed by Him who is the Truth to Hill followers, cautioning them as to the deceitfulness of riches, as to tho difficulties that those who trust in riches will find in entering the Kingdom of Heaven, the word used is one that does not lay stress upon great wealthis one that may be used of very small possessions. The essential meaning of the word is usable values embodied in material things. The warning is against trusting in material things for our happiness, our security, our power. Rather are we to trust in the living God, to use for the glory of God all the powers we have of body, soul and mind, every means by which we may bring things to pass in our life here. The warning is against the comfortable sense of safety that comes from" having means behind you." large or small. Whatever possession is capable of standing between a man's soul, and a vital living dependence upon God day by day, is to be suspected, dreaded, and used with fear and trembling as in the sight of a jealous God, who has personified this love of possessions as His great rival in the hearts of men.
" DECEITFULNESS."
The peculiarity of riches, great or small, ·lies in their deceitfulness. They that trust in possessions cannot enter into the kingdom, even in their conception of what that kingdom is, and of what are its powers. And the awful danger in dealing with riches is, that the material advantages they secure are so obvious. so universally recognized, that most men never get beyond these advantages in thought, desire, or fear. How lightly and apologetically we Christians are accustomed to deal with the awfu! emphasis which our Master has laid upon the perpetual, essential danger that lies in the use of wealth! Our Lord has spoken of this danger again and again, in words that stand out luminous with such lurid light as burns in His warnings against the unpardonable sin. Yet too often we hear these warnings tossed aside with a half smile, even by preachers of the Gospel who are accustomed to preach to the rich, as though they would say, " Of course, Christ said this j but what He meant was so essentially different from this that it need not for a momeut make you gentlemen with large bank accounts uncomfortable, especially if you respond kindly to the special appeal I make this morning, and drop into the box a contribution a little larger than usual." Let us, who believe in the living Word of the living God, take time to read together a few of the many utterances in God's Word which bear directly upon this point. Who c~n doubt that the iteration and reiteration of these warnings is, for us and for all Christians, profoundly significant ~ THE TESTIMONY OF THE WORD OF GOD.
" The rich man is wise in his own conceit" (Prov. 28 : 11). " Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12 : 20). "The deceitfulness of riches chokes the word" (Matt. 13 : 22). "But they that will to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition" (1 Tim. 6: 9), "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after, have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Tim. 6: 10). " Let not the rich man glory in his riches." " Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly" (the Greek is [duskolos] dVC1,,6A.wS, meaning literally that his diet and his digestion are such as to put his life entirely out of harmony with the heavenly life j it " goes against his stomach j" before he can enter in, he must be fed upon other food !)-" shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19 : 23). " How hardly shall they that have riches" (the Greek is [chremata] xpf]/LaTrJ." not necessarily great riches, but possessions enough to trust in) "enter into the kingdom of God" (Luke 18 : 24). "Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God j that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate-that they may lay hold on eternal life" (1 Tim. 6: 17, 18). "Go to, now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted; your gold and your silver are rusted, and their rust shall be for a testimony against you" (James 5 : 1-3). It is the rust, not the gold, that is the witness against them. Their means are not used for Christ, and the selfish rust on them" shall eat your flesh as it were fire." "There is a grievous evil which I ha,"e seen under the sun-namely, riches kept by the owner there9f to his hurt j and those riches perish by evil adventure" (Eccl. 5 : 13).
Can there be any question that these clear declarations of God cut sharply across the tacit assumptions of many of the Christian congregations of our times 1 CHRIST TEACHES CHRISTIANS TO USE ~~EALTJI, BUT NOT TO "TRUST" IT.
Yet this awfully dangerous power of wealth is entrusted to Christians. The parables and teachings of our Lord, time after time. hold up the property relation as the basis of a lesson in Christian living. The great majority of His parables deal with this relation in one form or another. Nothing can be clearer than that He holds every Christian responsible for the right use of all his possessions, however small, however large, they may be. For the right use of the ten talents and tho two talents, there is tht' same commendation, the same relative reward j while 1he awful stress of contrast is laid upon him who had but one talent heeause ho declined to use that one for his master. There is no one of us here present, then, who can feel that the warnings and the responsibilities that attend the possession of wealth for a Christian do not concern himself. For the right use of all his powers of service, God holds each one of us responsible; and certainly the income that each one of us receives, the property that each one of us possesses, has in it latent power of service for the promotion of the Master's kingdom.
Now the divine law of political economy applies to this whole matter. Dangerous as is the use of wealth, God calls upon Christians to URe all they have of it, be it little or much, in His service and for His glory. We sing in moments of devotion, " All that I havo I 0'11'0 to Thee, I hold it for the Giver."
The proportion which each man of us is free to spend upon his own personal gratification, upon the personal pleasures of his family, upon the embellishments of his home, we cannot determine for each other j but everyone of us is bound conscientiously to determine it before God, and under the searching vision of the Spirit of all Truth, whom no detail and no selfish motive can escape. The Holy Spirit in the heart of Christians can and does make " sumptuary laws" for us.
To HELP MEN TO HELP THEMSELVES.
When we become convinced that there is in our hands as stewards money to be used for our absent Lord-for om Lord in bodily presence withdrawn, in spirit dwelling in us-then how gloriously does the scope of this mission work open out before us ns wo look at the money in our hands! Wealth must be used for unselfish ends, or it cannot be used as the Lord wills. To help others, we must help them to help themselvcs. The greatest work which Christian wealth can do in the world is to bring men one by one under the sway of that one Supreme Personality, the Lord .Tesus Christ !
HELP THEM TO CHRIST.
The only hope for men is in a close personal relation with a personal Saviour. Not in masses will men be Iiftf~d out of vice and sin. Society will be purified, institutions will be made better and kept better, only as men are drawn one by one to IIim "Who has been lifted up." The grellt social discontent of our time, whose hoarse warning voice comes to our ear from every continent on the globe, finds its canse in thp. Jack of a true centre for each man's life in Christ. The pitiable, blind yearnings of socialism must touch the hearts of true Christians, because they are the gropings of men after that true brotherhood which men find only when they see the Fatherhood of God. Christ is the" Desire of the Nations," though they know Him not. The truest, wisest use of wealth is in promoting efforts to bring the Gospel of Christ home to the hearts of the people, and to bring the people home to Christ. "They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ranEOm for him." But the power of the Holy Spirit can transmute these money gift!;, wllich we here and now before God pledge ourselves to make for the promotion of His kingdom, into Christian influences which will win souls for Christ. Oh, what a glorious thought, that dead and wasted years, which have been coined into money, if that money be laid at the feet of Christ, may be made to live over again, His Spirit touching the dead past and quickening it into living service, as this money shall send to the dark places of the earth souls fired with the wish to preach Christ!
" Defer not charities till death," says Bacon, " for certainly if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth 80 is rather liberal of another man's than of his own." Be your wealth great or small, use it for Christ while you can yourself direct its use, while you ~an yourself see and enjoy the mighty moral and spiritnal values which are produced from the right use of wealth. Where is the man or the woman of large wealth who will set tlle world a Christian example of that free, cheerful, joyous giving which God loves (" God loveth a cheerfnl giver") by taking a whole mission station to snpport from his abundant means, as a rich man keeps a yacht" for his own pleasure" 1 vVho will thus prayerfully "rcde~m" large sections of his great wealth, of his coined time, by prayerfully using it for these noble ends 1 Vie look for the speedy appearing of such great benefactions, as the re-
THE GOSPEL AFLOAT
sponsibility of wealth comes to be more clearly felt. Meanwhile, let us see to it that by loving and free giving until we feel it in the sweet deprivations that we are willing to meet for Christ's sake, we each one of us show to the world something of that spirit that brings a blessing from the Lord, Who still" sits over against the treasury. "
THE GOSPEL AFLOAT. (With .Map.) BY REV. ROBERT W. :/d,ALL, D.D., PARIS, FRANCE.
[NOTE.-At the Editor's request Dr. McAll has sent to the REVIEW an account of the new enterprise for French waters, and a plate of the proposed boat.- EDITOR.] Not long since there WaS issued the following appeal for a McAll mission boat for river and canal-work throughout France.
Each summer, for many years past. the boats lent to the mission by Mr. Henry Cook (Seamen's Friend), of Portsmouth and Gosport, have visited various French seaports, and a remarkable blessing has resulted.
Last summer immense interest was awakened during the sojourn of the boat in Paris, moored for two months in the Seine, beside the celebrated Pont de la Concorde.
Henco has arisen our intense desire to have our own boat adapted to the system of rivers and canals which is spread like a network all over France, and which consequently could be used at all seasons of the year. By this means hundreds of hitherto umisited places can be reached with the Gospel message. The estimated cost of such a vessel, containing a saloon for meetings and seating 120 to 140 persons, with lodging for those in' charge, is estimated at £1000. Captain and Mrs. Pim, of Valence, members of the Society of Friends, generously offer to give their services during seven months of each year to carry out this enterprise. The annual outlay for dues, watermen, lighting, warming, etc., and the expense of an evangelist sent to aid in the services, will amount to about £200.
We plead earnestly for special donations toward building the boat, and annual subscriptions toward working it. Without these, this most desirable undertaking cannot be accomplished, the ordinary income being already taxed to the utmost.
While we were using Mr. Cook's boat, Le Bon .Messager, one writer, in a popular French daily newspaper, professing to be very friendly, asked, " What is to be done when, in a few days, this little ship.has to quit the Seine and put to sea again ~ A happy thought occurs to us, which we submit to the promoters of this effort. "Ve recommend them to engage a
I,S,SIonRB.Y
anal~ tn 'l1RllCeI J • f–'—I IIan -:i- + -+– 'ecHon + PARIS – FEBRY 1891 H. R~&. It€'Y.
H(!c;~itecf D. by I~( ;;tale
THE GOSPEL AFLOAT
balloon and hold meetings in the air, high above the Tour Eiffel. The audience being thus already part way to heaven, it will be easier to guide them upward for the remainder of the journey."
This and similar pleasantries clearly attracted thousands to the boat, and numbers who came expecting to be amused remained as earnest listeners. It would be difficult to compute in how far we are indebted even for the new, permanen.t boat to the popular interest thus awakened, evidencing how especially this novel mode of evangelization is adapted to reach the French people.
When the ship was about to leave Paris, a pleasing little incident occurred. Mr. Henry Cook, of the Portsmouth Seamen's Society (who lent us the vessel), and our missionary, the Rev. S. R. Brown, had to go from one marine office to another to carry out some formalities. The distances were considerable, so they hired a small carriage, and were directed from bureau to bureau, a wearisome round. When it was finished Mr. Brown asked the driver what extra sum (beyond the small legal fare for a single drive) was due, on account of the many calls and long waiting. " Gentlemen," he said, his countenance brightening, " I will not receive one sou extra. It has been a pleasure and privilege to conduct you. I and my son have attended the boat meetings whenever we could, and have found great benefit there. I am only too happy to offer this small mark of my gratitude."
The new boat is now in process of building; the special donations have warranted ordering it, but there will be the annual cost of working it, river and canal dues, mariners' support and cost of sending evangeliststhough the good captain and his wife will receive nothing, not even their own support. We tried to believe the annual cost would not surpass £200, but to work well we must rather reckon on £300. It certainly promises to be the means of sending far and wide the Gospel message in France to numbers of places in which it is as yet never heard. We hope to launch it about the end of October.
From the Nineteenth Annual Report of the McAIl Mission we append a few statements which will interest all who are watching the new developments of this work. The missionary boat on the Seine has found the door open wider than ever in France. This was a new experiment in the heart of the vast city. Moored at the well-known Pont de la Concorde, it was wonde~ful to descend into the cabin on a summer afternoon, and find everything orderly as in a regular place of worship, and hear the hearty singing, and mark the reverent attention pervading the crowded assembly, composed chiefly of men; then, so soon as one meeting was ended, to see a new audience eagerly rushing in and filling the cabin a second, third, and even fourth time. What a resistless evidence of a widespread desire to listen to the Gospel message! The gross attendance, during the seven weeks, was 23,500, comprising all classes of society, and many, evidently, hearing the Gospel for the first time in their lives. By a vessel permanently connected with our work the G08pel could be conveyed not only to the cities and towns, but to ~ multitude of remote places where, as yet, its glad sound is never heard.
Every ycar brings new proofs that, so long aR the workers, whether for young or old, keep strictly to the faithful declaration of the Gospel, and the direct effort to win souls to Christ, the people will ncver grow weary of listening to them. Our special work during the" Exposition Universelle" evidenced this anew j each of our two temporary halls at the gate!! has ceased to be temporary. In each a little permanent cl)ngregation of residents in Par'is remained after the Exposition had closed. Were-entered the large salle of Avenue Rapp with the New Year, the influx of these new-comers having rendered the neighboring one of Avenue Bosquet too small, while the little room at the Trocadero has bcen retained. In both "We have the joy of recognizing a certain number of true converts.
Another striking indication that the present i~ a peculiarly favorable time for Gospel work here is found in the fact that in two of our central llalls in Paris-those of Rue Royale and Boulevard Bonue Nouvelle-the gross attendance during 1890 (omitting all extra mcetings) exceeded that of 1889 by 24,300, and this without any novelty of procedure or 8pecial attempt at publicity.
Mr. M. L. Dodds has written: "Never before did this 'Salvation Navy,' as the new~papers call it, attempt to take Paris hy storm, nor dare to cast anchor and hoist flag just below the Pont de la Concorde. Soon, however, the curious crowd gathered, and were welcomed to the nicely fitted-up saloon. The hours of meeting were at first from three to four and from eis-ht to nine. They were gradually extended, till three meetings occupied the afternoon, the saloon emptying and refilling each hourhardly emptying, for often there were a dozen or more people who did not stir, and whom the longest discourse did not frighten away; people who seemed rooted to the spot-both sexes. The greater number are men -men of all classes. One quite young fellow sat in his place from halfpast two till six, and again from eight to nine, magnetized, as it were, by what he was hearing. He was a Catholic, from the North) and had never been to meetings of this sort before. Many took the thing less seriously; they like to whet their intellects on the discourse. 'These are good things,' said a young man to his companion, as they went out, ' but one takes and leaves.'
" Anything like steadiness of attention did not, of course, come all lit once. At the first there was a grcat dcal of coming and going, ~ometimes II little staring and laughing; some were amused at the faint sickly swing of the boat IU! other vessels passed it. Some found the steep companionladder ridiculous-' fit for English people,' they said-these Parisians do not see these ladders as often as they do in England. Some tried to join in the hymns, and sang out of tune, amusing the others. Some came only frOID curiosity, which being satisfied, they retired, never to return. h short, the meetings on the boat began exactly as those first meetings in 1872 began. If anyone wanted to stand again, in imagination, at the cradle of the miRsion, he could have seen the same curiosity, the same criticism, the same bewildered qnestions, the same falling off of wayside hearers, the same process of selection by whieh others stayed, and returned, and listened, and wondered, and often received life for their souls. .
" The French daily papers, describing the work, gave us lengthy advertisements for nothing! Think of it! Advertisements are expensive in France. 'With what gold should we have bought a column and a half of the Figaro .2 " All the French papers were talking about our Bon Messa,qer. Under some such title as 'Le bon Dieu .~ur l' eau ' – ' La religion Ii voiles'- , Une cJwpeUe flottante,' they gave a piece of clever and not ill-natured banter, and llometimes of not too inaccurate description, which helped to send hundrcd~ on board. Le Monde Illustre had some capital comic ,;l:etehes. The crowd pressing down 'en queue '-the saloon filled with peopll1-the lady open-mouthed at the harmonium-the orator keeping time with his llymn-book-were all represented. Even the texts eould be deciphered in full in the pictures. Le Monde made a mistake, however, in giving us too many old ladies in the front seats j but that may be passed over.
" The Rappel said : •• • A yacht is moored below the Pont de la Concorde. To its masts is attached a large ensign, white, on a blue gronnd, " Evangelical meetings every day, free entry." A fixed gangway gives access to the yacht j by a steep staircase we reach the cabin, transformed into a meeting hall. " , A dignified English lady, a little leather bag hangin"g on her arm, gives you a red book. The title is" Popular Hymns." You are warned, by a notice on the cover, that the book is not for you. Comfort yourself -you will get other presents! There are tracts for all tastes.' Butenough. The speakers and players are in turn described or caricatured. Thc singing and reading is carefully described, then the address by M. Mabboux. Then it is naIvely remarked, 'The meeting is closed with a prayer, which must be said with the eyes shut j , for to elose the eyes during prayer strikes these people as a new and peculiar action. "The Figaro also describes the steep ladder, and the hall, 'which might contain about two hundred persons. It is a meeting hall, with a reading. desk at one end j wooden benches arranged in order, and all round the walls are little sentences setting forth the adyantages of having to do with God (commerce avec Dieu), such as "God is your refuge." Jesus Christ said, " Venez d moi vous tous qui etes travailtes et charges, et je vous s01dagerai. " " The Lord is my Shepherd," etc. These' go all along the cabin, in French and English.' "One tract was given down-stairs, and one Gospel on deck. The tract was usually offered by a lady to each one going out, and within its cover was placed a complete list of the mission halls in town, so that any one could choose the hall nearest to his place of residence if he wished to attend. On deck a young man offered a copy of a gospel. Some!imes curious but too rapid conversations took place with those going out.
" A lady, being offered the Gospel of John, said she wi&hed that of Matthew too. ' It is not here to-day, madam, but would you not like to buy a New Testament g, '" A New Testament g What is it g, " , It contains all the four Gospels, and other matter. ' " Ah ! then I should like that j is it expensive ~ , " , Four sous.' " And it was bought. "Miss B– gave a tract to a lady, who stopped, and said abruptly; " , Then, what must one do to get to heaven g, " , Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. His death saves you.' " , Yes-but what must I do g, " , Just what I have told you-believe.' " , And then ~ , " , Then you must read His Word and do His will.' " , Do you believe in hell and in purgatory? ' " , In hell I do, not purgatory.' " , According to that, we are all condemned.' " , We are. Only Christ saves us.' " , Are you saved g , "But a rush of people through the narrow doorway, up the ladder, separated the two. Others had to be attended to. Will she come back again and inq~ire further ~ Who knows !
" They get good speaking on the bateau, and they get plain speaking, too. These Frenchmen make a noble use of a noble language. Some came from the country to help, as Messrs. Mabboux, Vernier, and Sainton. When possible, four or five took turns in the course of the afternoon. And they rose to the occasion. The best gave their best here. I suppose the sight of those wistful faces appealed to them, and they , stirred up their gift.' What the people got was the simple Gospel, suited to their needs. Christ was exalted as Saviour and as King of kings."
M. J. Sainton, who labored very earnestly in the meetings, adds: "The audiences were very mixed, from the consequential lady and gentleman to the street urchin j but, with few exceptions, after the first moments of surprise, our listeners were respectful, attentive, and even sympathetic. By these meetings on the boat we have reached a new contingent of sinners in the midst of our Parisian society, till then strangers to the Gospel. lIad this been the only result, thc work carried on had been a real success, for we should have been carrying out the commandment of our Master, , Preach the Gospel to every creature.'
" But, besides this, we can say that from this time the work of God has begun in very many hearts, a work which the Holy Spirit will deepen unto salvation, "One day a young man, with a fine open face and well dressed, said to me, 'For several days I have been without work, my savings permitting me to wait and look out for a good place. Meanwhile, I am profiting by your good conferences, where I am glad to hear, in regard to religion, things quite new to me, and which I desire to know more about.' Since then I have seen this young man several times at our evening meetings. He has become one of onr regular attendants.
" Another young man, whom I had noticed at different times, and who always appeared most serious, said to me in reply to a question, • Yes, sir, I begin to understand that what you say is the truth.' Later on, I spoke to him again, and he said, 'Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ. I want to live according to the Gospel, and not only that,' added he, with as much seriousness as naIve simplicity, " but I should wish to become a preacher like you. '
" Another day a young man came, accompanied by some companions, and with a mocking smile on his lips. By degrees his expression changed. After two or three meetings his companions dropped off, but he returned alone. He always sat in the same place, and sang and listened quite earnestly. I asked him one day about his spiritual state. He could not answer, bllt I felt that a good work was going on in his heart. He told me that since coming to our meetings he has ventured into II Protestant church, and that the simplicity and beauty of our religion had greatly impressed him. I gave him the address of the hall near which he lived, and he said to me that he would certainly attend the meetings there.
" Another time a gentleman, a merchant from the Provinces, waited for me at the door. That day we had to some extent touched on controversy on the subject of 'confession of sins.' • It is the first time,' said this gentleman, ' that I have been present at your meetings, and I wish to tell you with how much interest I have listened to you and your colleagues; but,' added he, • I should have liked to see our Catholic priests defend their points, and to know what you would have replied to them. ' , If the priests,' said I to him, • do not accept the Word of God as the common ground of discussion, we would not argue with them, for God has not given any other foundation for our faith in the doctrines of the truth. If, on the contrary, they accept it, all discussion is quickly settled, for not only can they not base the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on the Word 'of God, but they have against them numerous and striking texts.' Then followed a most interesting conversation, which ended in the gentleman declaring: 'I also have had religious convictions from my childhood. In youth I rejected certain ordinances of my Church without abandoning the faith, and I see to-day that I am much more Protestant at heart than Catholic.'
SOME HINDRANCES '1'0 THE WORK 01' FOREIGN MISSIONS
"Unfortunately I did not think of taking his address, and he has probably returned to the provinces, for I have not seen him again."
Pastor Aubanel, of PariiO, says of the missionary ship at Fecamp : " The meetings held at Fecamp during August, 1890, on board The Herald of Mercy, were specially noteworthy because of the number of hearers, and the earne:;t attention with which they listened to the fundamental truth of the Gospel. For some days they were led by Pastor Cresseil, of Paris, but he had to leave, to conduct the evangelistic work at Trouville during the bathing season. The committee sent me to replace him. Every day, aided by the captain and Mlle. M–, I held a meeting and proclaimed a free salvation through repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to a number of sailors and their families.
•, Perfect order reigned on board during the whole time. The missionroom was constantly full of attentive and interested hearers-often too slIlall to hold all who wished to come, so that the deck also was crowded with persons eager to hear the glad tidings-which they could do, as the skylights were open; many also stood on the edge of the quay. On those days it is estimated that as many as 250 were present. The average was 180.
" A plentiful distribution of tracts and Scripture portions was made at the end of each meeting. New Te:;taments were on sale at the low price of one penny for the small edition. The people were so eager to buy that the stock on board was soon exhaustcd.
" When I took leave of the audience after the last meeting, very many of them, with a warm shake of the hand, said how sorry they were that the meet.ing" were over, and how much they hoped that they would be begun agaiu in a ncar future. "
SOME IIINDRANCES TO THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY REV. GEORGE W. NORTHRUP, D.D., LL.D.
[We venture to reprint from the Baptist Missionary Magazine the masterly address of President Northrup before the Se;"entv-seventh Anniversary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, held in Cincinnati, May 25th, 1891, hoping thus to bring it to the attention of some who may not have !lad an opportunity of reading it. -ED.] I purpose to speak of some of the hindrances at home to the work of foreign missions, or some of the causes of the comparative failure of the Church to evangelize the pagan nations. Before expres5ing my thoughts on this subject, I beg leave to uttcr a word of a personal nature. It is possible that my remarks may not Eecure the approval of all ; may, in fact, give offence to some who hear me. If such shall be the case, let me assure you that I am not mored by a pcssimi6tic spirit, nor by a disposition to disparage the missionary history of our people. I am not willing to admit that I am inferior to any of my brethren in loyalty to the denomination with which I have Leen identified for fifty years, and which I have served, in a public way, for more than a third of a century. The feeling which I am most distinctly conscious of, as I stand before you to· day, is that of heartache in view of the apathy of Christian people, and especially the apathy of our denomination, in regard to the temporal and eternal salvation of the vast population of the pagan nations. I have put the question to myself once and again, within a few weeks past: " What can be done to change this state of things-to awaken the feelinl! of love and compassion which ought to exist for the hundreds of millions of our felloW'.men involved in the darkness, degradation and misery of heathenism g I speak in behalf of a billion human beings, for everyone of whom Christ died, every ODO of whom has a place in the heart of God, everyone of whom is of as much worth in His sight as any citizen of the great republic. It is certain that God has done all that He could wisely do in bestowing grace UpOll His people. It is also certain that, if they would use the grace bestowed with greater fidelity, He would give more and still more-, " opening the windows of heaven and pouring out a blessing, that there would not be 100m enough to receive it." The speedy eVaI;gelization of the pagan world, and shall we not also Bay, their salvation, is, in a real and profound sense, in the hands of the Church.
1. Among the causes referred to, we notice, first, the departure from the method of Christ, in laying chief stress, not on salvation here and now, the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth, but upon salvation in a narrower seuse of the term, as escape from the retrihutions of hell. To use the words of another: "It has been too much the habit of Christian people, in looking abroad upon the heathen world, to regard it, Dot as a kingdom to be congucred for Jesus Christ, but rather as a seething sea of drowning men, a few of whom might bo saved from the general wreck by those whom the Church sent out on her gallant life-boat service." But certainly this is not the conception which Christ empllasizes when He sets before men the object of their immediate aud supreme devotion. He hegan His ministry by preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye, and bclieve tho Gospel." He frequently called the kingdom which He came to establish the" kingdom of heaven." not because it is in heaven, but because of its heavenly origin and nature. The prayer given by our Lord indicates plainly the location ned nature of tho kingdom for tho establishment of which He enjoined His disciples to labor ~and pray: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done"-where g in heaven? " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The objects presented in these two clauses are identical; the petition, "Thy kingdom come," means" Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The end here presented-universal obedience among men to the will of God-is the burden of the Gospel which Christ preached, and which He commanded His disciples to preach to " all nations," "to every creature;" an end which includes the whole duty of man, and in the accomplishment of which the earth will reflect, in II degree beyond buman conception, the love, purity and blessedness of the heavenly world. True, in a few instances, Christ spoke of the infinitely diverse destinies of men in the future world; "but for once that He spoke about tho ';;iVing of the soul, lIe spoke fifty times about the kingdom." Since Christ's method is the wisest and best, in the measure that the Church has departed from this method, it must have lost in reli~ious power, llow much power, in the way of missionary appeal,' has the doctrine of the eternal perdition of the great majority of the pagan world 1 I received, a few months ago, a letter from a missionary in India, accompanied by a printed appeal to all evangelical churches, in which he states that, while last year (1890) fifty thousand heathen had been rescued, twenty millions had died, few of whom had heard of the love of God in Christ. And he exclaims- " Twenty millions of immortal souls swept into hell in a single year I"
It is probably an approximately correct estimate that, during the missionary year just closed, twenty millions of pagans, who had reached the age of moral accountability, have passed away, the great majority of whom never heard of the Gospel of the grace of God. Is there not, in this fact, considered in the light of the commonly received view of the Bible relation to the final doom of the heathen world, a power of appeal to the people of God sufficient to impel them to all possible labors and sufferings necessary to make known the way of eternal life to every pagan on the face of the globe 1 Rave they been greatly moved by this fact of overwhelming importance 1 Row much have the Baptists of the Northern States, numbering eight hnndred thousand, contributed to aid in sending the Gospel to the vast multitude who have passed to the awards of the eternal world since the Union met in Chicago, one year ago 1 If we allow to these twenty millions their due share of our contributions according to their number, it will appear that the members of our churches have given, on an average, not to exceed two cents for rescuing from hell a number of our race equal to one third of the population of the United States. Is not this an amazing fact 1 Does it not ~eem incredible 1 Does it not furnish a moral demonstration that the idea of the exposure to everlasting puni8hment of the pagan world has but an almost inappreciable influence upon the great body of Christian people 1 Brethren, I would submit the matter to you j I would ask you, each one, to state, clearly and fully, to his own mind, the considerations which render it credible that the Baptists, represented by the Union, believe what they profess to believe in regard to the final doom of the heathen world, and yet give, on an average, not to exceed one cent a week, to send the knowledge of the way of eternal life to a billion heathen, and not to exceed two cents to rescue from perdition the twenty millions whose day of probation has closed since the last anniversary of the Union. Would it not seem difficult to find eight hundred thousand non-Christian men, of average natural benevolence, who would not give as much, if necessary, to prevent the everlasting misery of an equal number of irrational creatures ~ 18 it a matter of wonder that the world does not believe in hell, or that it does not believe that the orthodox churches believe that the heathen" shall go away into eternal punishment'" Do you say that for the world to deny that Christians believe what they profess to believe on this point is to charge them with the most culpable insincerity-a charge which involveR, logically, universal historical scepticism, rendering it irrational to believe in the existence of faith and goodness among men 1 True, but we would inquire if the charge involved in the other alternative is less damaging-the charge, well grounded, of continued practical indifference, on the part of the great majority of the members of all evangelical churches, to the eternal welfare of a thousand million of their fellow-men, whom they profess to love, and whom they are bound, by the most saered obligations, to love as they do themselves.
We would not have you misunderstand us at this point-to regard us as doubting the reality or under-valuing the importance of salvation as escape from the retributions of the future world. We believe that everlasting punishment will last forever; and we believe this awful truth because it iii taught in the Bible; and we believe it is taught in the Bible because it is a fact in the universe; and we believe it is a fact in the universe because the infinite God, in the plenitude of His resources, conld not prevent its existence, acting, as it behooves Him to act, in accordance with the immutable principle of His holy nature; and we believe that this truth ought to have the same place of relative importance in the instruc- tions of the pulpit which it has in the Bible. And yet we affirm that Christ did not dwell chiefly upon salvation as pertaining to the future world, but as a good to be realized here, through the reign of love in the souls of men, constraining them to grateful and self-sacrificing labors that the will of God might be done everywhere on earth as in heaven. Salva- tion is deliverance from sin, and sin is of all evils the essence and the sum. "It brings present disgrace and ruin to body and soul, to home and country ; it breeds distrust; it enervates manhood and womanhood; it incitp.s to murderous revenge; it arrays class against class; it kindles the fires of volcanic social hate; it is a menace to peace, to social order, and to international amity; and from all this there is salvation only by that personal integrity and "ocial righteousness which are the gifts of God to man through Jesus Christ." Salvation in this world involves salvation in the world to come ; the kingdom of God on earth is the foundation of the everlasting kingdom of God in the heavens; and in the measure that salvation is wrought out here, and the kingdom of God extends among men, will the end be accomplished which Christ set before His disciples as the object of constant and paramount devotion. The whole ministry of Christ was a ministry of love to all the sinful, sorrowful, lost sons of men. He was moved with compassion for the multitude because He saw them "in distress," "scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd," living mean, ignoble, wicked lives, ignorant of God and of the place which they occupy in His infinite heart, with latent spiritnal powers capable of development, with solemn re!!>ponsibilities of moral agents, with features of the divine image not yet wholly effaced and that might he restored. How strongly did He nrge, by word and deed, in life and death, the duty of self-sacrificing love for men, not merely for the souls of men, but for men, women and children, in all the relations of life; and how impressively did He emphasize, in the sublime programme of the judgment day, the decisive importance of deeds of love and mercy. "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, y0 did' it unto Me." " Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto Me." "Come, ye blessed of My Father." "Depart, ye cursed." Who are the brethren of Christ in this judgment programme? His disciples ~ Yes, but not these alone. For the event which He describes is that of the general judgment, when all nations, all the generations which shall have thronged the globe, will stand before His judgment seat, among whom there will be countless millions who never saw one of His disciples. The brethren of the Son of Man are "the poor, suffering, sorrow-laden sons of men, and the principle on which the judgment proceeds is that as men treat those, they would have treated the Judge had they had the opportunity. "
Are not the heathen among those who are in greatest need of the offices of love? Are they not hungry, famishing for lack of the Bread of Life q Are they not sick, consumed by the fever and leprosy of sin! Are they not poor, bankrupt in estate and character? Are they not in prison, compassed about by walls which they can neither scale, nor dig beneath, nor break through? If this great passage does not teach that men are saved by works of love, it certainly does teach that a faith, which does not produce these works, is vain and dead, and that those and those only who possess the spirit aud do the works described by Christ, are justified in regarding themselves, or in believing that He regards them, as His true disciples. The question for us to answer, as Mr. Spurgeon is reported to have suggested, is not, May the heathen be saved without the Gospel, but, Will we be saved if we do not carry the Gospel to the heathen ~ And it may be confidently affirmed that those who cannot be moved with compassion, in view of the wrath of God which has come upon the heathen, will not be moved with compassion in view of that which is to come upon them; that those who will not make sacrifices to rescue the heathen from the hells in which they are in this world, will not make sacrifices to rescue them from the hell of the future world, which seems far off, vague, unreal.
What, 'then, is the greatest need of the Church to-day ~ We answer, A divine enthusiasm; a mighty passion for the kingdom of God on earth, embracing all the populations of the globe":"'all China, all India, all Africa, all Enrope, all America, and all the islands of all the oceans; a kingdom as wide-reaching as the manifold life of man, involving obedience to the will of God in all positions and relations-in the sphere of the family, of social life, of business life, of political life; a kingdom whose progress shall be marked by the growing consecration of the people of God, the preaching of the Gospel to the poor, the overthrow of oppression, the extermination of drunkenness and the passions of lust and the greed of gain, the destruc,tion. of superstition, idolatry and all forms of infidelity, the sway of truth, and love, and righteousness over all the earth, a divine enthusiasm-a mighty passion of love and loyalty, impelling the soldiers of Jesus Christ to conquer for Him all the kingdoms of the globe on which His cross of shame and agony was set up, and from which He uttered the cry of expiring and redeeming love.
II. We mention, as a second cause, the failure of the evangelical churches to apply at home the principle of comity which they recognize in their foreign mission work. .
It is estimated that there is, on an average, one ordained minister to every three hundred thousand of the pagan population of the world.
There is good authority for the statement that in China, and t.he popula- tion accessible to the American Board, there is only one missionary for every six hundred thousand people. Moreover, there are whole nations, numbering scores of millions, in which no disciples have been made. We are confident that all who have any adequate conception of the interests involved will admit that the two following statements are thoroughly reasonable : 1. "That the Christian churches of the world should be satisfied with nothing less than sending out one ordained missionary for every fifty thonsand of the accessible pagan population of the world."
2. "That no church ought to call itself thoroughly aggressive and evangelical that does not expend, for the support of missions at large, at least one dollar for every five it expends for itself. "
What would compliance with these propositions require of the evan- gelical churches of the world ~ Twenty thousand ordained missionaries instead of four thousand, as at present; an immediate reinforcement of sixteen thousand, of which the quota of our denomination at the North should be not less than twtlve lmndred, making our foreign force of ordained ministers at least fifteen hundred. This would require our churches to give annually five times as much as the committee planned for expending during the current year, as authorized at the last annual meeting of the Union, or $2,500,000, a sum which, large as it may seem, is $400,000 less thau would come, annually, into the treasury of the Union if. the members of our churches should give, on an average, one cent a day for the cause of foreign missions.
We ask you to consider most seriously the vast relative waste, in men and money, involved in the condition of things existing in all the Northern States-the part of the country represented by the Union.
To illustrate the matter which we have in mind, let us take an example of numberless cases, with many of which everyone is familiar. Here are five fields, each having a population of fifteen hundred, and five evangelical ministers-one Baptist, one Presbyterian, one Congregationalist, one Episcopalian, and one Methodist-twenty-five ordained ministers preaching the Gospel to seven thousand five hundred people. while on the other side of the globe there are twenty-five fields, each having a population of three hundred thousand, and but one ordained minister; twenty-five men preaching the Word to seven million five hundred thousand people-one thousand times as many as are under the care of the same number of religious teachers at home. We ask now, in all earnestness, Would it not be infinitely more reasonable and Christian, if these several denominations would apply at home the principle of comity which they recognize abroad, keeping five of these ministers here and sending twenty to aid their brethren, each of whom is confronted by nearly a third of a million pagans? If it would be wrong in the sight of God to put five ministers of different evangelical denominations in a village of fifteen hundred people in China, or Africa, or Burmah, restricting their labors to that locality, is it not wrong and equally wrong, yea, wrong in a greater degree, to do the same thing here, while hundreds of millions o£ our fellow-men are living and dying in the darkness and misery of heathenism ~ The field is the world. The whole world is missionary ground. Every city, every village, every neighborhood, in which there is one man, or woman, or child who is not a citizen of the kingdom of God, is a missionary field. We challenge any man to adduce reasons which will approach to a justification of the course of the Christian churches in distributing their forcet! over this common missionary ground-the whole world-in such an extraordinarily uneven way, putting one minister in charge of three hundred people, many of whom are Christians, and another, of no greater ability, in charge of three hundred thousand, of whom all, or nearly all, are pagans. If the great evangelical denominations would act on the principle of comity here suggested, it would be an easy matter for them to send an immediate reinforcement of sixteen thousand men, so that there might be one minister to every fifty thousand pagans; and it would be an undertaking of no difficulty for us to send our quota of twelve hundred, and to furnish them with adequate support.
Is it a violation of truth or charity to say that the existing state of things is a great religious scandal, an offence against God, and a crime against our brethren of the heathen world, sit.ting in the region and shadow of death, perishing for the lack of the Light of Life?
What are the lessons taught by these facts? What are the duties which they should impress upon us? One duty, and that of paramount importance, as clear to our mind as if it were written on the heavens in words of fire, is this: That the evangelical churches ought to emphasize strongly all points of doctrinal agreement and all methods of Christian work in which they can unite, coming as closely together as possible, and presenting a united front to the enemies of God. Consider, we beseech you, the most obvious facts of our condition. Here are the evangelical churches, in all but a few millions, confronted at home by three hundred million members of two powerful and thoroughly corrupt organizationsthe Roman and Greek hierarchies-and by vast masses of men connected with no churches, dominated by sensuality, greed of gain, lust of powcr, and social distrust and hate, tremendous principles of evil which have brought to untimely destruction cities and nations, many and great, all down the ages; and abroad, confronted by a billion heathen, all involved in deepest moral ignorance and most debasing superstition, and half of them held in the thraldom of false philosophical systems of extraordinary power; and joined with these forces, both at home and abroad, the spiritual hosts of wickedness, nnder the leadership of the god of this world. In such a war as this, fighting the organized evil forces of earth and hell, the combined powers of "the world, the flesh, and the devil, ,. united in the strongest compacts, shall we not, all soldiers of Jesus Christ, stand together in the closest relations possible, help each other heartily on the march and in the deadly assanlt, cheer each other amid the fire and storm of battle, knowing that the Leader is one, the army one, the foe one, the final triumph one, the eternal glory one-the glory due unto Him who is " worthy to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and blessing" ~ But we hear objections, many and plausible, urged against what some may be pleased to call an impracticable and fanatical appeal.
1. It is said that we, as a denomination, hold the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; that it is of supreme importance that we secure the widest possible acceptance of onr views at home; that we dare not compromise with error by consenting to give up any community, however smail, to the care of Predobaptist churches, etc.
The question, then, for us to consider is reduced to this: Shall we give over more of the population of our country to the Predobaptists, or more of the heathen world to the devil ~ Are we to regard the errors of all Christian churches, other than our own, as more destructive than the errors of heathenism ~ And, then, if we have the truth, in its purity and fulness, are we not, of all Christian bodies in the world, under the greatest obligation to go to the regions beyond ~ Surely, the very fact of the purity of our creed immensely engances the claims of duty resting upon us to secure its worldwide acceptance. What an inspiring and uplifting event it would be to the whole Christian world, if we should send out, at once, the number of missionaries suggested-twelve hundred-moved by the spirit of apostolic self-sacrifice and heroism, whose labors might be the means, under the blessing of God, of winning to our pure faith tens and hundreds of thousands in heathen lands, creating at many points, as among the Telugus, Baptist communities numbering fifty thousand! Furthermore, is it not evident that the fundamental principle of our people ought to constrain them to go, in large and increasing numbers, to the nations of the pagan world ~ For the fundamental principle of our churches, that of which. we boast and in which we glory, is loyalty to Jesus Christ, implicit obedience to His commands. We discard and repudiate all assumed authority of a human source, whether of popes, or councils, or traditions, or creeds. But loyalty to Christ, in order to be such in truth and not in name only, must include obedience to all His commands, especially to those which are of supreme importance, among which stands the Great Commission. Does our action, as a denomination, justify or contradict our profession of loyalty ~ What is the command of Jesus Christ, as distinct and imperative as if we heard His words ringing out from the height of heaven ~ Is it not, "Go ye, Baptists, preach the Gospel to every creature, make disciples of all nations~" Is it not the belief of our churches, that the Great Commission was given originally, not to Presbyterians, or Congre- gationalists, or Episcopalians, or Methodists, but exclusively to Baptists- the very people of whom we claim to be the only living representatives ~ The first body of Baptists were right loyal to their Lord; they went every- where preaching the Word; they carried the good news to aU quarters of the known worM. How is it with the people known as Baptists in the last quarter of the nineteenth century ~ Is their obedience such as to justify their claim to be the true successors of those early disciples of Christ ~ Have they discharged, are they now discharging, in any true and worthy sense, the high and imperative duty imposed by the risen and glorified Redeemer, loyalty to whom they claim as their distinction and horlor ~ Is it obedience to the command, "Go, make disciples of all nations," for a people, numbering eight hundred thousand, to contribute $400,000 a year-on an average, one cent a week-to give to a billion pagans a knowledge of the incarnate Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them, and through whom alone they can attain eternal life ~ Brethren, mere profession will not justify our claim of special loyalty to Christ, nor ~ill obedience to His requirements in the matters of baptism, communion and church government justify it while the great majority of the members of our churches are in a state of mutiny against the Great Commission, saying, if not in words, yet practically, We will not ourselves preach the Gospel to the pagan nations, nor will we make sacrifices to aid others in the work of preaching to them. .
How is it that the belief has come to prevail so widely, among all Christian people, that there is au enormous difference, in culpability and danger, between disobedience to Christ in rejecting what He requires them to believe, and disobedience to Christ in disregarding what He commands them to do ~ Why is it that the heresy of unbelief is regarded with such apprehension or alarm, while the heresy of inaction is viewed with comparative indiffer- ence ~ Is faith without works any better than works without faith ~ Are they not alike dead and displeasing to God-equally vain and perilous 1 To the heresy of inaction, far more than to the heresy of unbelief, is due the deplorable fact that the midnight darkness of heathenism still envelops nearly two thirds of the population of the globe. What, then, shall we do 1 The alternatives are: Either cease to claim to be the true successors of the earliest Baptist churches, or obey, with the devotion which char- acterized them, the Lord's command, "Go, preach the Gospel to the whole creation."
2. But we hear another objection urged with great frequency and confidence. It is said that the United States is destined to be the leading I nation of the future, that it occupies a position of immeasurable importance in the world's history; so that whatever we do, or fail to do, in relation to the evangelization of the pagan nations, we must seck, by all means in our power, to make our nation thoroughly Christian. What shall we say of this utterance, heard everywhere, especially on anniversary occasions, in the pulpit and on the platform ~ Is it not largely an utterance of national conceit, inspired by national pride and selfishness, and utterly opposed to thll example and teaching of Christ and His apostles 1 1. The ruling motive force of Christianity is love j and it is the nature, the irrepressible instinct, of Christian love to help the most helpless, the deformed in body, the feeble-minded, the moral refuse of. society for whom none care.
2. Jesus gathered around Him the weakest, the lowest, the" publicans and harlots," the social outcasts-the nobodies of ilis time, according to the prevailing standards of the world.
3. Does the Great Commission read, Go ye, therefore, make disciples of the leading nations, preach the Gospel to those who hold positions of great stategic importance? . This would seem to be the form of the Lord's final command as given in the English version most widely current in our churches. But the oldest manuscripts, beyond question substan- tially identical with the "Original Autographs" of Matthew and Mark, read very differently, as follows: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations;" "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. "
4. The history of the Church justifies the method of Christ. Chris- tianity has won its most notable victories among peopla of little account in the judgment of the civilized nations, as among the Karens, the Telugus, the Sandwich Islanders, the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles, who, though they were regarded by the Romans as too stupid and brutish to serve as slaves, have built up the most magnificent empire known to his- tory-an empire upon which the sun never sets, which has endured for a thousand years, and is influencing now, as never before, the thought, and life, and movements of the world. .
5. The only principle of missionary strategy recognized by Paul, the foremost missionary of all the ages-as appears from the inspired record of his life-was to preach the Gospel where men were thickest. And for the adoption of this principle he had divine warraut j for when he was at Corinth, the Lord said unto him in the night by a vision: . " Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace j for I alll with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee; for" -what did the Lord say? Corinth is a city of culture, the eye of Greece, occupying a position of great strategic importance? No, no ; but, " no man shall set on thee to harm thee, for I have much people in this city."
o brethren, can we not hear our Lord calling us one uy one, by name, and saying, " I have much people in China, much people in Africa, much people on all the continents and islands of the globe?" Let us take deeply into our minds and hearts Christ's idea of the people! the people! the people! He accounted man transcendently great, not because of the external distinctions which gain for him recognition and honor in the world, but because of what he is as man, the divine image in him, his inherent powers of intellect, heart and will, which have revealed but an insignificant fraction of their latent energy, even in the case of those who stand forth in history as the greatest of the sons of men, and to whose expansion and growth there is no goal this side of the infinitude of God.
In Christ's esteem, all men, of whatever race, or rank, or condition, ar~ of equal worth in virtue of their divine endowments and immortal destination.
The people have been of but little account in the past. It has been the great ones of the earth-emperors, kings and nobles, the rich and the powerful j for these it has seemed that all things were made; for these the people have labored, and suffered, and died like the beasts of the field; but thanks be unto God for the signs, multiplying on every side, betokening the growing power of Christ's idea of the greatness of man as man, the worth and dignity of the people. It cannot be doubted that one of the chief causes of the agitations and revolutions which are taking place in all Christian nations, working the di&integration and overthrow of institutions of social and political wrong which have survived the destruction of dynasties not a few, is the growing conscionsness, on the part of the people, of their divine rights and powers of manhood; their dignity as moral agents-deep calling unto deep-the strivings and aspirations of the human soul, like the ceaseless ground-swell of the ocean, in response to the presence and quickening touch of the Spirit of God. And as the Christian idea, which is Christ's idea of the people, shall grow in power and splendor, it will mould more and more profoundly all social and political institutions, and will constrain all the true disciples of Christ to labor with equal love, devotion and joy for the temporal and eternal wellbeing of all men, irrespective of race, or nationality, or color, or sex, or social condition.
But who knows that the United States is destined to be the leading nation of the future, that the Anglo-Saxon race will rule the coming ages ~ To whom has the assurance been given that God will not build up in China a kingdom far surpassing, in intellectual and moral power, the British Empire or the great republic 'I Where is the prophet who can foretell the destiny of the " Dark Continent," having at the present time a population of two hundred and fifty millions-four times that of the United States ~ Who can forecast the turnings and overturnings which shall precede the coming of Him whose right it is to reign, and who shall reign over all the nations of the earth ~ Is it nrged that certain of the pagan nations and races have no future, that they are worn out, their powers of expansion and growth exhausted? We reply that the judgment of those who thus speak is certainly shallow, and probably false, because they fail to estimate adequately the restorative and re-creative power of Christianity. The error is like that involved in the conception of "a mechanical world and an outside God." The idea has widely prevailed that the material universe is a " closed system"-a system of finite forces, acting and reacting upon each other, excluding all divine causality-its goal quiescence and death. The conception is fundamentally false, because it does not include, as it should include, God as the universal and abiding ground of all being and all life, as immanent and active in all chemical forces, in all vital forces, in all souls-to His almighty will energizing throughout creation from the atom to the archangel." This view compels us to reject, as irrational and incredible, the notion that the goal of the material universe is quiescence and death, and to affirm that, through the immanent and energizing power of God, it will abide, and pass on from lower to higher stages, " from the nebulous matter to the glory of the new heavens and the new earth."
But God is in history in a sense infinitely more real and profound than He is in the realm of physical nature; and hence we believe that there are no effete and worn-out peoples, no races whose powers of expansion and growth are permanently exhausted. For though the words of the apostle that" all live and move, and have their being in God" declare a universal fact of history, yet, in these last times, God has entered, in Jesns Christ, into new and more vital relations with mankind, and is creating them anew by His spirit. awakening and invigorating their dormant and paralyzed powers, thus enabling nations and races, as well as individuals, to enter upon a new career, far higher and grander than would have been possible to them before the Advent.
In concluding these remarks, we desire to say, that we have spoken as truly and earnestly in beha!f of the work of missions at home as of the work of missions abroad. The cause of home missions and the cause of
MISSIONS AND THEm RESULTS
foreign missions are one in principle and one in interest. And, therefore, along with the motto, " America for Christ," but high above it, we should place the motto, "The World for Christ:" And the speediest and the only infallible way to gain America for Christ is to give to the world's evangelization the place of supremacy, in labors and gifts, which it holds of right. This our churches, this the churches of other denominations, have lamentably failed to do. The most general and conspicuous act of disobedience to Christ, on the part of the Christian people of the United States, is their deliherate and persistent refusal to discharge the high and imperative duty to evangelize the pagan nations-a work for the accomplishment of which, within the period of the past twenty-five years, their resources, in men and money, have been ample. It is, in our judgment, no exaggeration to say, that the Baptist churches of the Northern States could have done and ought to have done, during the past year, as much for the cause of foreign missions as has been done by all the evangelical churches embraced in the same portion of our country.
Brethren, I would that one half of the Baptist ministers at the North would give themselves to the work of evangelizing the heathen. Disastrous to our denomination at home, do you say ~ Impossible. It would bring to our churches an unparalleled degree of prosperity; the places left vacant would be filled by men called of God from the ranks of the laity; ministers of other denominations would be won to us, convinced that we were holding the truth in its purity, and living it with apostolic fidelity ; Christians of other names, moved by the power of our example, would obey in a worthy manner the Lord's final command; and this powerful missionary "movement" .would confound infidelity at home, would convince the world that Christianity is, indeed, what it claims to be, and would mightily advance the Kingdom of God in all parts of our country.
May the Divine Spirit enable us to penetrate to the heart of these great paradoxes in the kingdom of Grace-that we saVtl our life, not by seeking, but by losing it; that we become rich, not by keeping, but by giving; that we become great in moral power among men, not by self-assertion, but by self-abnegation, by self. sacrifice from love to others; that it is through our poverty that we are to enrich the world, according to the way of Him who, " though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich."
APOSTOLIC MISSIONS AND THEIR RESULTS.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFORD, ROTHE SAY, SCOTLAND.
" Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Such was the word of the Holy Ghost which came to the church in Antioch as they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
This was the actual beginning of Chris.tian missions; those two men were the pioneers of all in every age who have gone forth to carry the Word of Christ " far hence unto the Gentiles."
It was a vast work that lay before them. As Paul afterward wrote, " Who is sufficient for these things~" so would he feel now. Alone and single handed they were to attack the ignorance and superstition and vice of the world. Their difficulties could hardly be overestimated. What amount of credence were they likely to meet with from hostile Jews, from subtle Greeks, or from tl1e military Romans ? Was it probable that the minds of the heathen could be easily turned from the saturnalia and idol festivals to which for generations they had been addicted? Systems of priestcraft, of degrading mythologies, of widespread epicureanis~, of an utterly debased home life, of slavery and of revolting games and pleasures kept the world crushed beneath corruption and sensuality. And who, then, were Barnabas and Paul, to attempt to overthrow institutions venerable with the traditions of centuries? who were they to try to change the religions and social face of the world? "Two Jews of obscure name, of no position, without rank, without wealth, without influence, without either literary, political, or military genius, without any culture but such as a Roman noble would have despised as useless and grotesque." Yes, and even after years of working at this their chosen work, they did not find it either popular or remunerative, for it fell to their lot to approve themselves the ministers of God in affiictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in prisons, in deaths, being beaten, being stoned, being shipwrecked, Iiving in weariness and painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness.
Were they sufficient for these things? sufficient to cope with false philosophy, with heathenism, with abounding moral pollution, with a world which knew not God? They realized that their sufficiency was of God j they had been called by the Holy Ghost.
And so Barnabas and Saul went forth from Antioch, taking with them as an attendant and companion John Mark. Barnabas was one of the noblest, most manly, gentlest, and most effective of all the apostolic band. A Christian of the highest type, he had already been of the greatest service to Paul on more than one memorable occasion, a man of large heart, of wide sympathy, of great generosity and liberality j devoted and earnest and Joving, a " son of consolation," a good man, who rejoiced iu all good by whomsoever wrought, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.
And Paul, still known by his early name of Saul, was a man whose character towers far above that of ordinary men j a gentleman in the true sense of the word j a Christian, devoted, body, soul, and spirit, to Christ; courteous and orave, tender-hearted and true, full of enthusiasm and of sobriety of mind j a man of the deepest power of thought, eloquent, persuasive, able to organize and to manage, able to bear with weaknesses and prejudices, a man whose life was yielded without reserve to the glory of Jesus Christ and the welfare of men.
These, then, were the first Christian missionaries. After a farewell meeting with the church in Antioch they made their way to the port of Seleucia, where there stretched at their feet the waters of the great welltern sea. Here they found a splendidly built harbor in which the ships were lying protected from the swell of the waves outside. The ruins of this harbor remain in great perfection to our own day, only silted up with mud. From just such a harbor and such piers as we are acquainted with in any of our great shipping centres, the first New Testament missionaries set sail. It was the noblest use to which the masonry of the port of Seleucia had been ever put, when it sheltered the ship into which Paul and Barnabas stepped as they went at the divine bidding to evangelize the nations. Their vessel sailed out into the west-westward was the call of God to the Christian Church for many a century, until Europe and America should have received the Gospel-and soon arrived at Cyprus. Arrived at length in this, the first country to which God had led them, what would the results be? What would be the results of discussions with unbelieving Jews and with opposing philosophers? of weary journeys on foot-journeys continued for weeks together, while the preachers endured hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and had no certain dwelling-place? what would be the result of their residence in foreign cities among neVI' faces, all of whom were alike ignorant of" this Jesus whom Paul preached"? 'Would the results be commensurate with the time and labor expended V Modern critics would say, No ; for upon their principles Paul would have done better if he had not interfered with other people's religion, if he had let the world alone, for the religion of Greeks and Romans, of Celts and Britons was no doubt good enough for them, and they would somehow or another all turn out right enough in the next world. It was not after this fashion that Paul reasoned or acted. No ; he had a gospel to make known'-" woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." To make all men know the mystery of Christ he was willing to be buffeted and reviled, willing to undergo abuse and bodily injury, willing to be scourged, to be stoned and left for dead, as he was at Lystra. What, it is asked, are men to undergo treatment like ihis for the sake of propagating the Christian religion? Here is his reply : "I count not my life dear unto me, that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I received of the Lord Jesus."
But what were the results? A handful of converts in each of half a dozen or a dozen towns, and those converts by no means the mature, well-informed, experienced Christians who are to be seen in modern congregations. It is difficult to realize how inexperienced those converts were, how crude their ideas, how imperfect their morality ; they required mIlch patient teaching and exhortation; and even the best of them, who were appoicted deacons and deaconesses and elders, knew very little, for they had but recently turned from idols to serve the living and true God. All their previous life had the dead weight of heathen custom, heathen ideas, heathen morality, heathen vice; and it took long years of patient labor on the part of the apostles to raise their converts to anything like a proper appreciation of the behavior that is beeoming a Christian. Were ,OJ these results, then, worth the labor ~ WaR it worth while to have gained these new churches in heathen countries, when the gain had been achieved at the expense of such bodily injury to an apostle as had made him prematurely old and taken many years from his lif,e 1 Similar objections are constantly made against modern mission work-Is the conversion of a handful of Jews or of a few thousands of negroes or Hindoos or South Sea Islanders worth the life and the moncy that are spent in the process ~ and the verdict of many is in the negative.
But surely the actions of a divinely inspired apostle are a safer guide than any negative or hostile theories. Look again at Paul as he is returning from the second of his great missionary journeys. He has been away, from Antioch and his friends there for perhaps three years, and years and,hard work are telling upon him; he is not the same strong man he once was; no, he bears in his body the branding marks of the Lord Jesus. Since he and Silas set out-for Silas is now his companion-they have undergone the" shameful handling" which fell to their lot at Philippi; and violence of that kind no man can ever fully recover from. But Paul has a brave heart j none was ever braver than he. The devotion of his whole being to the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him, this personal affection to the Lord Jesus ever urges him on to spend and be spent for the glory of Christ and the salvation of man. He feels himself debtor to all–to slave and freeman, to Jew and Greek; and therefore as Jesus Christ's minister he is abundant in labors; life is too short and too precious to waste; eternity will give him rest. Therefore. does his heart bound onward to the work, although even in this second journey he has been in stripes above measure, in prison, in deaths oft, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness.
Yes, this was the kind of life Paul chose for Christ's sake. There was then no other educated man of his position who was acting in this fashion. They looked on him as a fool, and regarded those journeyings of his as fanaticism. He knew that this was the estimate formed of him by his former associates, " Weare fools for Christ's sake j" but he had counted the cost, and Christendom of to-day thanks God for the sufferings, the journeyings, the fearless enterprise, the manly Christian resolution of St. Paul-a resolution to live not for applause either in the Church or outside of it; but to live for Jesus Christ alone and for mankind of every nation, for slaves and outcasts, for little children and for women, for those whom the world despised. One thing this Paul ever does, one thing engages his thoughts by day and his dreams by night, that Christ be glorified in his body whether by life or by death.
Was it worth while ~ Would Paul and Barnabas and Silas not have done better to have stayed at home and taught the home church ~ Suppose they had, where, then, would our European and American churches have been to-day ~ Simply nowhere. Had there been no apostolic missions, Anglo-Saxon Christianity would have been non-existent.
Are missions worth the money ~ Do they pay? Alas! that such a question should even be asked by a worldly church. Ask Christ, and listen to His answer, " Make disciples of all nations." Ask Paul, " I am debtor to all men." Ask the martyrs, they counted not their lives dear to them for the name of Jesus. Go with me to Central Africa, to Lake Victoria Nyassa, and see what divine grace can do for the most benighted races. One of the missionaries, Rev. Mr. Ashe, writes as follows: "Picture the tyrant playing the first act in the tragedy. One of the elder storekeepers, a Christian page, is brought into the royal presence. 'Can YOIl read 1 ' asks his majesty. 'Yes,' boldly answers the page. 'I'll teach you to read!' cries the king, catching up a spear and laying it about the lad's shoulders till it broke in two ; then, taking up the blade, he gashed the head of his faithful servant and kicked him, till in a state of exhaustion he handed the weapon to one of his chiefs nearly as cruel as himself, to continue the lesson. He then sent and had fifty of his pages arrested and cast into prison. After being imprisoned for a week thirty-two of them were burned in one huge funeral pile. "
The spirit which animated these martyrs was the same which inspired the early Christians, who endured a similar death, as Tacitus narrates, in the time of Nero. Wrapped up in sacking which had been previously smeared with pitch, they were hung upon trees in the royal gardens and then set fire to, there to burn to death, blazing as lamps in the darkness of evening; or again, encased in the skins of wild beasts, they were thrown to dogs and worried till they died. The early martyrs and the martyrs of the nineteenth century in Madagascar and China and Africa were faithful to Christ, faithful unto death. Most assuredly work which God blesses with results such as these is worth the while.
The work is Christ's. The command to carry the Gospel to every creature is Christ's command. It is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Jesus, who still breathes into His people something of the compassion of Christ for those who are even to-day sitting in the shadow of death; and the results of Christian ,missions are Christ's. The handful of converts in Cyprus, in Pisidia, in Derbe, and Lystra, and Iconium, a]ld Athens, and Corinth, and Rome, and Spain, and Egypt, and Gaul, and Britain continues to increase throughout the centuries, until in this year of grace, 1891, we have Christian churches everywhere, the prelude to the timc when the earth itself shall be full of the knowledge of God, when sin shall be made to cease out of God's world, when in the fulness of the joy of the wholo human race ccnsciously redeemed, the shout shall. rend the skies, " The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever."
NARAYAN BHESHADRI, D.D
NARAYAN SHESHADRI, D.D., THE BRAHMAN APOSTLE OF THE OUT-CASTE MANGS.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., EDINBURGH, SNTLAND.
[We venture to reproduce from the Free Church of Scotland Monthly a superb paper which many readers have not seen.-ED.] The same Scottish newspaper announced the death of two remarkable Asiatic converts of Dr.. John Wilson of Bombay-the Parsi, Rev. Hor- mazdji Pestonji, and the Brahman, Rev. Narayan Sheshadri, Doctor of Divinity of the University of Montreal. There still survives the oldest of all, the Rev. Dhanjibhai Naoroji, at the head of the native Christian community of Western India.
Vilhen, in 1839, Dhanjibhai and Hormazdji left the fire-worship of Zoroaster for the only Name given under heaven whereby men may be saved, Parsi and Hindu society was moved to its centre. In vain was the civil court appealed to. But the Institution was almost emptied. .tmong the few sons of caste and superstition who clung to it through ill.report were two Brahman brothers-Narayan and Shripat. What Dr. John 'Wilson and Mr. Nesbit began, Dr. Murray Mitchell continued, and the good work resulted in their determination to put on Christ by baptism. Narayan, who was confessedly of age and could not be hindered, became the first convert of the Church of Scotland, Free, in the year 1843, when Dr. Wilson and Dhanjibhai were in Scotland founding the home organization of the missions anew. Shripat was not sixteen years of age, and Sir Erskine Perry handed him over to the Brahman priests, with a sneer at the plea of the age of discretion. He was torn from Mr. Nesbit's arms, as he sobbed forth the question, "Am I to be compelled to worship idols ~"
While the younger brother was thus driven back by a Christian judge into Brahmanism, and submitted to the humiliation of swallowing the five products of the cow, that he might be restored to caste, the elder began that apostolic career which, for this life, ended in the committing of his body to the Atlantic on the 21st July last, in the hope of a glorious resurrection in Christ Jesus, at the very hour when the Foreign Missions Committee in Edinburgh, all unknowing of the fact, were discussing the arrangements by which Dr. Mowat was to share his toils next October.
After spending some years as a missionary teacher in the Institution and preacher to his countrymen, Narayan Sheshadri was ordained by the Presbytery of Bombay, and the highly educated Brahman became for the rest of his life the apostle of the Mangs, the out-caste poor of the Deccan centre of India. Leaving ordinary British territory, he resolved to annex the great native state of Haidarabad to the kingdom of Christ.
The year was 1863. As his base, he worked from Jalna, a military cantonment, in which mission buildings were easily acquired. Three miles south he gradually obtained three hundred acres of land, which forms the centre of the mission to the Mangs. As the Spirit of God blessed his incessant evangelizing, he made that spot the centre of what grew to be his extensive mission to the out-caste. He formed a Christian church and a Christian community, calling both" the House of God," but using the Hebrew" Bethel" rather than one of his own beautiful Marathi words. After ten years of blessed toil he visited Scotland and America, to tell the churches of his work and to raise funds for the necessary buildings. His winning face and irresistible personality, his native eloquence alike in English and the vernaculars, and his contagious earnestness, captivated not only Christians in all the lands he visited, but the Parsi official of the district, and even the proud Arab prime-minister of the Nawab, Sir Salar Jung. For the mission he received three hundred acres of gautan, or chnrch land, free of tax, and never to be cultivated save as a grass common; for the Christian peasants he was installed as patel, or headman, over six hundred acres, in which office his son Yeshwant-rao, lately agricultural professor in Nagpore College, has succeeded him.
Year by year the work went on increasing, when he paid a second visit to America and Scotland. The writer was with him a deputy to the Presbyterian Alliance at Philadelphia in 1880, and went up and down Scotland with him, pleading alternately for the Livingstonia and for the Bethel Mission. After his first visit some of our generous Glasgow elders, led by Mr. William Mitchell, formed a committee to' help his village mission. Congregations specially charged themselves with the support of his catechists. The children of the Free Church, above all, built him his church, and year by year supported some of his schools. By 1886-87 the work had so far extended that we published this appeal for him : " Before we pass away from these earthly scenes, we should like to see the thirty villages, wherein our Christians reside, supplied with pastors duly qualified, called, ordained, and settled over their respective congregations.. How is this to be accomplished 1 However, we have most encouraging promises in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. , I shall take out of them (namely, Gentile nations) for priests and Levites, saith the Lord.' Has He not given a full realization of this promise in the experience of once heathen European nations; and what He has done with respect to European and American nations, lIe is able and willing to do with reference to the Gentile nations of India, China, Burma, Japan, and all Eastern nations. We mean to submit to the Free Presbytery of Bombay a scheme of studies to train up village pastors in connection with our Bethel Mission. Last year we had the pleasure to dedicate a new church at Rewagao, two miles to the south of Bethel, to the worship of the only living and true God."
In 1888-89 our deputies visited the Deccan Village Mission, and Rev. Dr. Lindsay made this report to the children of the church: " First, there was a most interesting series of baptisms, with an address to the baptized; then the nsual service, when I preached and Dr. Sheshadri interpreted; and lastly, the communion service, at which I had the privilege of presiding. No pews exist in the Bethel churcb. The congregation sit on the floor in row after row, devout and attentive; and th,e babies, most of them without a stitch of clothing on, crawl about everywhere. An bour or so after service the catechists and Bible-women met in the church, and we had an interesting interview with them. A great number were present besides Bible-women and catechists, and I could only get at which was which by act.ually taking hold of each and finding out by question whether the person I had hold of was a catechist or a Bible-woman, and separating them from the rest.
" One or two of the Bible-women made a very great impression on us. Their story of work was simple, clear, and interesting. 'Have you made many converts ~' one of our number asked. 'There is one,' she replied, pointing to one of the men among the catechists. Mrs. Mackichan and Mrs. Daly examined these Bible-women, and their questions drew out very interesting answers. Mrs. Daly gave them some very sound practical advice, which produced more immediate results than longer sermons usually do. All the small children came to the Monday village family worship clothed, although most of them spent the hour of service in getting rid of their inconvenient garment. One small urchin, having divested himself, to his own evident satisfa~tion, of every vestige of garment, toddled to the church door, carefully put on the largest pair of shoes he could find, and then tumbled down the steps in them. When he reached the bottom he picked himself up, got into the shoes again, and shuffied off out of sight-a happy child 1 "Dr. Sheshadri sends his men out in small bands to preach in the villages round about Bethel, and in this way has formed small Christian communities in most of them. One sees at Bethel genuine native Christians, who preserve all their primitive habits, and who are not Anglicized by their Christianity. The evangelists all collect at Bethel on the first Monday of every month, and are regularly instructed by Dr. Sheshadri, who is a born teacher (to hear him give a Bible lesson to school children, and to see the small eyes twinkle with eagerness, is a sight not to be soon forgotten), in the interpretation of Scripture, and in the best ways of meeting the various objections commonly brought by Hindus and Moslems against Christianity.
" In the afternoon we started for the neighboring village of Rewagao. It possesses the first of those village churches which Dr. Sheshadri proposes to build in the principal hamlets in his district. A congregation of about ninety people gathered, and three baptisms took place at the close of the service.
"Dr. Mackichan and Mr. Daly returned in the evening from their visit, and reported a cheerful little Christian community in the far-off village they had gone to see. These Christians lived in a distinct quarter of the village,- and though greatly outnumbered by the heathen, were full of hope and courage.
" I hope that Dr. Sheshadri's plan of building ten or twelve village churches will .be carried out, and that each church will have attached a prophet's chamber, in which the missionary may reside when on his rounds. The great defects of our mission in the Bethel district appeared to be the want of adequate provision for the training of the children, and the wide extent of country which Dr. Sheshadri has to superintend."
Of converts still living in 1890, Dr. Sheshadri reported 1062 as the number, besides 649 adherents. Mr. A. G•.Mowat, M. B., C.M., was sent ont from Glasgow last year to work the northern division of the mission from Jalna, after learning Marathi with Mr. Small at Poona. He has just been instructed to repor~ on the whole mission, after a year's survey.
Accompanied by his son, Dr. Sheshadri left Bombay for Japan last February on sick leave, proceeded thence to America, preached almost daily, and addressed the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. He sailed for Glasgow in the (Jircassia very well,* even at his age; but as the result of a storm on leaving. New York, he succumbed to bowel disease, and was buried in mid-Atlantic.
It is a strange story from man's point of view. The Brahman lad, fruit of our educational Institution, who confessed Christ before thc Supreme Court of Bombay, was enabled by the Spirit of God to bring, from first to last, some two thousand of his countrymen to Christ, notwithstanding defects of a purely secular kind, which he was ready to acknowledge and bewail. He has left a goodly heritage to the Church of India.
Do we ask what is missionary work g Rather ask what is not missionary work g for wherever there are Bouls to be saved, ignorance to be enlightened, human wrong to be righted, vice to be uprooted, and woes to heal; wherever the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, is obscured by reason of darkness, there is missionary work; and wherever in the homes of Christendom there are hearts unrenewed, lives wasted in folly and trifling, God-given powers dying for want of holy exercise, money, time, influence and example diverted to unworthy objects, there is missionary work.
* This was his last letter to Dr. Graham, of Edinburgh, now ninety years of age : – " WALNUT STREET, PHILADE~pmA, July 14, '91.
"My DEAR FATHER GRAHAM: I see that in all probability you'll have me once more in my temporary home, Ashfield Villa, Greenhill Gardens, 1 Chamberlain Road.
"You and your dear minister, Dr. Wilson, and all inquiring friends in your beautiful city, will be gratified to hear that I have been restored to health and strength. I have been travelling from San Francisco to New York, and thence to Chicago, Washington, and Bostoll, very often preaching twice on the Lord's-day, and once or twice on week-days.
"We leave New York on the 18th instant by the Circassia, on or about the 29th in Glasgow. I shall let you know when we-that is, my son Yeshwant-rao and myself-will be at Edinburgh.
Morningside. With warmest love to you, Miss Graham, and Miss Martha, and all Inquiring friends, ever afi'ectionately yours, NARAYAN SHESH~DRI."
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The census just taken shows India to have a population of 285,- 000,000.
-The Report of the Free Church of Scotland remarks: "A work on which Dr. Duff laid great stress in connection with all educational operations in the country, from the lowest indigenous vernacular primary school up to the highest college class, was the compiling or selecting of good, pure text-books, thus superseding the impure, immoral rubbish which at one time prevailed to so large an extent in all schools in India. Of course a good deal of this work has been accomplished, but a good deal remains to be done. The Government of India has put itself in communication with all the local governments on this subject of pure text-books, passed resolutions and laid down principles for the guidance of the various educational departments throughout the country. One of these principles is to the effect that at least one half of every school-book used as a reader in English or in vernacular teaching should consist of lessons having a direct bearing on conduct, either by way of precept or of example. The fact is becoming more patent to missionaries every year that the progress of Christianity rests on a sensitiveness of conscience as to conduct. Wherever there is an indifference as to conduct, there can be no conviction of sin. Wherever I God or the Supreme Authority is regarded as indifferent as to whether actions are good or bad, and also wherever men are regarded as under the compulsion of fate, so that they can do nothing of themselves and are therefore blameless as to bad conduct, there can be no conviction of sin. Now these are two of the fuudamental principles of Hinduism, and taught in most of their school.books. Hindus are trained from their infancy on these Ii nes.' '
-Mr. F. N. Farquhar, B.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, has lately gone out to take up work in the London Missionary Society College at Bhowanipur, Bengal. He writes: "Nothing impresses me so deeply as the extreme difficulty of the work of leading the class of men we have to deal with-educated Bengalis-to become Christians. They are not only proud of their own hoary cult, and filled full of arguments drawn from the purer and nobler parts of its teaching, but their want of physical vigor and moral greatness makes them far more difficult to rouse than stndents at home; and the fear which is now felt by Hindus concerning the advance of Christianity has led them to form almost a sacred dread of allowing any shred of Christian teaching to find a place in their heart.
"Yet though this seems to be true of a very large number of these young Babus, there are many whose hearts have been touched, and who are anxious to learn more about Christ.
" My little experience and few scraps of observation since I came here confirm my belief that the educational work done here is of extreme value and importance. That these young Christians should be taught by earnest Christians rather than by careless Christians or by Hindus is of immense importance, o,'en if we do not consider the actual Scripture work and direct Gospel teaching. And the magnificent set of educated native Christians dependent upon our mission here is a proof of the power of Christian educational work. The native pastors and other educated natives have impressed me deeply; they are kings among the ordinary Bengalis here, and their Christian character seems far advanced, and is most beautiful, most helpful, and most encouraging."
-The English Baptists, in their Annnal Report, announce as their policy" Aggressive Concentration." "Ooncentration and consolidation of missionary effort, rather than unwise diffusion, are the methods most ownea and blessed by God in Indian mission enterprise." The report of their deputation says: "vVe have in India to-day just one thin long line of stations, in most instances with extensive distances between. We have located our brethren in great cities far distant from each other, and by so doing removed from them the strength and inspiration that come from working in touch and contact in mutual sympathy and brotherly counsel. We ha'e set one or two brethren down in a vast and densely peopled city, and written' Occupied' over the entire district stretching far away, until we have treated a similar centre hundreds of miles distant in precisely the same manner. • . , 'Spread the Light!' 'Spread the Light !' is a cry in which we would all thankfully join j but it is surely well to remember that the light of missionary zeal and usefulness resembles that of live coals, which if kept together may long continue to burn brightly and diffuse a genial warmth, but which if unwisely scattered will soon become dim and cold."
Says the deputation: "Even putting all distinctive missionary effort out of the question, the mere contact of Western thought, culture, and education is inevitably breaking up the older forms of Hindu thought. But it lies with us to say whether that contact shall be charged with infinite blessing, leading them on to a higher, deeper, truer faith, and a new national life j or whether, cutting them adrift from their old moorings, we leave them without Christ, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, to be ravaged by intoxicating drinks and made imbecile by opium."
-The Rev. L. P. Weinberg, of Jaffa, quoted in the Jewish Intelligencer for February, writes: "The general topic of conversation among Jews at the present time is Palest.ine, and almost every Jewish newspaper speaks of this country as ' the only place of refuge' for them." , Arias, missionary of the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews, reports a significant remark of some Italian Jews: "Till the Chris- tians treat the Jews well, we shall never beliE)ve that Jesus is our Messiah."
Most of the Italian Jews that he has met with seem to be in the dregs of Judaism, with few signs of longing for anything better.
-Professor A. R. Simpson, President of the Edinburgh Mediclll Missionary Society, says, most aptly, that in the Old Testament the" place of God's feet" is the Temple, but that the feet of the God-man are found most often "where the sick lay and the bereaved were weeping." ,. These were the places of His feet, who Himself bore our sicknesses and carried our infirmities; and these are· what He would seek our wealth to make glorious." Brave encouragement, Professor Simpson well says, to the medical missionary, to show him that he is in the track of the Saviour of the world.
-The West Himalaya Mission of the Unitas Fratrum was begun in 1853. Not until 1890 has a meeting of all the missionaries of the three stations been found practicable. Compared with the giant heights among which theY' live, saY's the Missions-Blatf, the Alps seem mere ranges of hills. And hardly had they broken up from their first meeting, when a veritable deluge converted the whole valley of Leh into a sea, swept away every bridge over the Upper Indus except one, and swept many persons out of the world. The Brethren do not seem to remit their ancient passion, " To plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose On icy rocks, and 'mid eternal snows."
– " See," said a sick child in India, "the goddess Kali's bloody tongue, wicked face, cruel hands. necklace of skulls; our gods are terrible; I cannot help screaming when I see them."-Canadian Church Magazine.
-Whether the late English reviewer, who is greatly displeased that Christians should endeavor to disturb the sweet calm of Buddhism, would be equally displeased that they endeavor to discredit the worship of the venerable goddess Kali, is not certain. Perhaps he would grudgingly allow this one exception.
-The Missions-Berichte gives a stinging remark of a South African Caffre, that among the whites they became acquainted with two thingsthe Bible, to save their souls, and brandy, to destroy their bodies. Butt he added, he was content with the former.
-In China, it appears, at least in some hospitals, wherever a patient. on returning home, expresses interest in spiritual things, an evangelist is sent after him, and thus, says Dr. ~iain, of Hangchow, much fruit has been gathered unto life eternal. E,'ery year there pass through that one medical mission 10,000 patients.
-The China Central Mission of the Presbyterian Church makes a very strong appeal for reinforcement. The field immediately accessible to them includes the whole great valley of the Yang-tse-Kiang, the" Son of Ocean." The four provinces of Kiangsu, Kiangsi, Nganhui, and Chehkiang have 121,000,000 inhabitants within an area of 204,287 square miles.
There are signs of a sudden breaking-up of the fallow ground of general indifference. They want to be ready to answer spontaneous calls from all parts. The accession of a new emperor, and an uneasy expectancy of political change, join with an extraordinary frequency of natural calamities, of flood or drought, famine or pestilence, at once to unsettle and humble men's minds.
The province of Szechuen, on the Upper Yangtse, with some 45,000,000 of people. ought to be occupied in force. Untouched by the 'l'ai-ping insurrection, it retains all the glory and prosperity of ante-rebellion times.
The people are a hardy, straightforward, enterprising race, as is shown by their various and productive industries. For centuries they have been boring salt and gas wells from three to five thousand feet deep, and using natural gas for evaporating the brine pumped from the bowels of the earth.
Their bronze, silk, and white wax industries are noted over the empire.
Their language is Mandarin, in which a Christian literature is already prepared.
The Central China Mission statistics for last year show an increase of a little over eight per cent. Five of their fifteen churches pay their own pastors. Everything is encouraging. "Come .over and help us," they say. The great Church to which they speak wlll /.Issuredly not be heed- !es~! .
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Week of Prayer. begun; all the Protestant churches can scarcely muster 7000 men and women as [EDITORIAL.-J. T. G.] ,. witnesses to the uttermost parts of the It was at the request of a smr.ll band earth;" the members of the Church of of missionaries in the Panjab that the England in its richer portion alone have Evangelical Alliance originally appoint- an income of $1,750,000,000 annually, ed a Week of Prayer for supplication for but last year, 'gave only $1,450,000 to for.
the conversion of the world. Since eign mlSSlOns. What is true of them is then there have been many other weeks relatively true of the rest of the churches.
and special days set apart for the same The circular appeals for a fuller recog- purpose. The Church of England Mis- nition of the principle of the missionary sionary Society, for instance, has a entel'prise: ,. Missionary work is not a Day of Special Prayer, or, as they phrase voluntary, supererogatory work of a few it, of "Intercession for Foreign Mis- more devoted souls. It is a charge sions," and many other churches have which is given to all as Christians."
adopted more or less regularly, the cus- It also mentions as a matter of special om of a set time for united prayer for thanksgiving the altered tone of the pub- the same object. We note with pleas- lic press toward missions. It reads: ure several statements in the introduc- ., Since the death of Bishop Hanning- tion to the week's programme of the ton, slowly but surely much of the Eng- Evangelical Alliance this year, such lish press has changed its tone with re- as these: ,. The privilege of prayer rises spect to the missionary enterprise. How to the topmost height attainable on often now have we thankfully to ac- earth, when, in common with believers knowledge that current literature brings of every name the wide world over, the missionary subject before house- we agree to hold a concert of prayer, holds who otherwise would remain ab- so that the globe may be girdled with solutely ignorant of the work! How assemblies of believers of one heart often of late has the public press done and of one mind, interceding with signal service in defence of missionary God for each other, for the Church agency – notably regarding work in of Christ, and for the spread of the China, India, and Uganda! In this, Gospel. • .• Looking abroad on the with profound gratitude, let us distinct- world in the light of the Word, we see ly acknowledge God's gracious hand."
the predictions in the Holy Book being All this can be readily transferred to fulfilled all around us. Be it ours to the Universal Week of Prayer, and a wait on God and to v.ait for Him in holy study should be made of the topics concord of faith and prayer, 'looking named in the programme of the Evangel- for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus ical Alliance, and'illustrations searched Christ.' . •. Wherefore,' holy breth- for of the special topics mentioned in it.
ren, partakers of the heavenly calling,' To these suggestions we venture to as in the opening year we gird ourselves add that the Church of God on earth has anew for fresh service and faithful testi- good realmn to render praise for the mony, let us invite each ot'her again to workmen God has raised up. We ought gather unitedly before the Eternal to pause to shed a tear at the grave of the Throne in praise and prayer." missionary dead of 1891. The list is but The Church of England circular names an appendix to the eleventh chapter of groundlifor humiliation, as found in the Hebrews. Bishop French ascended from fact that nearly nineteen hundred years Arabia; Bishop Boone, ha.,-ing only for have rolled by since the Head of the a short time been enrobed in the mantle Church gave the great missionary com- of his father, the renowned missionary, mis!lion, and yet the work ill !lcarcely died in China; Newton, "the beloved,"
of the Panjab-" a man sent from God, Harmony and Proportion in Missions.* whose name was John"-was followed to beUer than India's palaces by Winter, REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, D.D., LEXINGTON, of the Delhi Mission, who loved his special work more than he did a bishopric. MASS. Amid the lamentations of thousands, that" good servant of the Lord," Bishop The foreign missions of the Church Caldwell, was laid to rest after fifty-four of Christ are becoming numerous and years of labor in India for India; Dr. complicated. Many missionary socie- Luther H. Gulick. the founder of a large ties are in the field, separated from each missionary family, went up to the other by differences of nationality, lan- "bosom" of the" Father of the faith- guage, and church organization. ful ;" and dear and great John Inglis dropped his finished transhtion of the When these different organizations ocvisions of him of Patmos to open cupy the same field there is, there must his eyes on the beatific vision of the be, more or less of denominational fric- Ancient of days; Red slob, the Mora- tion, sometimes of antagonism even, vian sentinel of the outer patrol limit of and generally there will be a want of Chri~tendom on the edge of Thibet, that co-operation that always constitutes awoke to know the richer meaning of strength and progress. In that wonder- Nam Thang Song, and to find it "all ful prayer in ?hich the Son of God bright again" forever; Mrs. Bennett, poured out His soul as His hour drew more than sixty years in Burmah, went near, He prayed most earnestly that the to join again the Judsons and the Father would keep His disciples" that Boardmans; Sheshadri, the first Asi- they may be one, as we are." .. Neither atic whom America ever honored with pray I for these alone, but for them also a doctorate of divinity, found a fit- which shall believe on Me through their ting sepulchre in the sea for his body, word, that they all may be one, as Thou, while his soul went to the .. sea of Father, art in Me, and I in Thee; that glass;" and Goloknath of Jalander was they may be one, that the world may becarried to his burial by .. devout men," lieve that Thou hast sent Me." and honored by the presence at his funeral of European officials and a thou- The missionary work has given birth sand Hindus and Mohammedans. Time to a great measure of the true spi~it of would fail us to tell of others who have unity for which the Saviour prayed-a I gone from remotest mountains and val- unity which exists between true discileys, from the habitations of cruelty and ples, notwithstanding all this diversit;,r. spiritual solitude, to the .. general as- The existence of this International Missembly" and the" Church of the First- sionary"Cnio-n is an answer to the Reborn" on high. But surely in the crowd deemer"s prayer, and must be an object of our on-rushing thoughts at a season of His approving regard. like this, we can pause long enough to thank God for such examples of the In order to remove so far as pOBsible highest missionary spirit and loftiest the occasions of conflicting views and spiritual achievement, and to ask that measures which perplex and scandalize their tribe may increase, and the Church the heathen, it has been generally agreed universal catch the radiance of their that one society shall not interfere with lives and be inspired to emulate their another society's legitimate sphere of devotion and their deeds. labor, marked out by actual occupation. And as surely, turning from this missionary nave in the great Westminster Where the different societies are alof the Church, we cannot fail of interest ready intermingled on the same terriin prayer for the great host of stillliv- tory, there is danger of injury to the spiring missionaries, both men and women. itual element. One will say, ., I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos." It requires of the missionaries thus divided, great wisdom, prudence, and brotherly love. There is evidently a growing *ltead before the International Missionary Union at Clifton Springs, N. Y., Jnne, 1891.
ht-rERN.A.-rtONAL DEPARTMlllNT
spirit of unity on mission fields, and fields that some of them are a law unto those who intrude upon fields already themselves. 'rheyhavenotroubleabout occupied are guilty of a great sin. They proportion in their work. We have: become the authors of a great wrong and 1. The sslf-supporting missionary, injury to the Master's cause. The grow- who has property that makes him inde- ing spirit of harmony will make such in- pendent of missionary bodies and Bocie- trusions more and more difficult. De- ties. He may be a very happy, useful nominational friction will be avoided, man. If his means enable him to call and denominational comity as to enter- to his aid native helpers, he is equal to ing each other's field is becoming, or a whole station. In prosecuting his rather, I would say. has become a recog- work he is sole judge of the depart- nized international and interdenomina- ments of his work, and in what relation tionallaw of missionary strategy. to each other he will develop them. It Japan is now a field of special tempta- is impossible to work only in one.
tion, so many societies are earnestly 2. There are self-supporting missiona· engaged in the work. The Holy Spirit, ries, who depend upon their own indus- the Guide unto all truth, the Paraclete, try or upon some secular employment He alone can deliver the work from this for support. Their object is to exhibit danger of divided counsels and of weak- the example of an honest, industrious ened efficiency. Christian life, and lead the heathen both The law of proportion in the mission- by precept and example into the same ary work must be regarded as well as life. They would show them and help the law of harmony. them also to experience that disciple- There are many departments of this ship to Christ has the promise both of work, as preaching, education, the press, the present life and of that which is to the formation of churches, the erection come. Thls scheme of missionary work of buildings, the care for the poor and can be fruitful of much good only by suffering, anyone of which may be put combination. The Inland Mission in forward out of proportion and to the in- China is partly of this nature, but it re- jury of the rest. It requires great wis- quires the oversight and management of dom and judgment to develop all the in- gifted men, like Hudson Taylor and his terests of a mission so that no one shall compeers, to gu~e its affairs, direct its be neglected and no one shall overtop labors, and provide for expenses that the others. The missionaty needs to every progressive work will demand.
have" an unction from the Holy One, Bishop Taylor's mission in Africa is and to know all things." He must neg- of this partially self-supporting kind.
lect nothing, he must push nothing be- He gathers from Christian friends at yond its value. I think to a very re- ·home what is needed for the complete- markable degree this wisdom has been ness and efficiency of the work beyond given. the productive results of the laborers.
Where there is Episcbpal government I would bid God-speed to all such efforts, a great responsibility falls upon the and yet they must be exposed to certain 'bishop. He can more readily remedy infelicities. Untrained men and women mistakes and harmonize the depart- will be found in them who, when they ments, or, if he should lack wisdom, he encounter the grave difficulties of a for- may get them into a muddle. eign language and find the native proud But many missions are more demo- and contemptuous, will Boon be dis· cratic in their organization. They are couraged, and retire in black despair.
largely self-governed, although the home Such cases have too frequently occurred.
societies fix upon the general principles In future they may be avoided.
upon which they must proceed. 3. By far the greater number of mis· Let us not forget, however, that there sionaries on the field are supported by are so many kinds of agents in different _.. mi s -s-i-o–n-'a. ry s o c i e t ie s , The operatiDZ and ~ ";"' :' largely apportioliating power is in those established, and for a time, it may-be, societies. But the officers, being far chiefly officered by the best-educated from the fields of labor, must depend missionaries. But from the very begin- upon the missionaries for the facts, and ning the object to be aimed at is the upon their judgment as to the meaning raising of native laborers for every de- of the facts. WhilE! here is an oppor- partment of the work_ tunity for difference of opinion between ]'or a time the native agency, in press- the officers and the missionaries, which ing forward into new fields, must be perhaps sometimes occurs, yet there has supported in whole or in part by the been remarkable harmony on the whole. mission, otherwise it cannot exist at all.
When earnest discussion has arisen it A mission is prosperous only so far as it has been conducted in a Christian raises up an efficient, well-trained na- spirit, and has resulted in the advance- tive agency. One missionary with four ment of the work and in the settlement well-qualified native preachers will reach of important principles. Sometimes the people more widely and efficiently education has been too much pushed, by far, than five missionaries with no and sometimes preaching. In Buresal, nath's assistant, and the expense will India, preaching was almost the only not be half so great. The work will be- work attempted. Education was left come in this way self-developing and entirely to the native Christians. In self- perpetuating.
consequence the children were growing It follows then by necessity that when up in such deplorable ignorance that a the funds of a mission do not keep prog- general meeting of missionaries took up ress with the missionary work, the for- the subject and demanded that Chris- eign missionary should be withdrawn, tian education should accompany the that the native work m~y go on. If dur- Christian native Church. ing the past year the societies that have But the subject which is most exposed been compelled to cut down their ap- to disproportion has regard to the work propriations had, instead of doing so, of the native Church, with its pastors, refused to send out a single missionary, teachers, and helpers. Generally in all they would have saved their work from departments of the missionary work in a calamitous set-back. Some missiona- the ministry, in education, in editing ries have seriously contemplated resign_ and translating, the native factors must ing and leaviDg the field in order to be our chief reliance for ultimate suc- avoid this great evil.
cess. Fifty years ago the prevailing An early movement in the missionary idea was that the world is to be convert- work of sending ou~ laymen to teach the ed by the preaching of missionaries. various arts of ci vilized life proved a That idea is no longer held by anybody. failure; but the time has now come The nati ve Ohurch is to be the true mis- when there is a call for such co-opera- sionary Ohurch. Native preachers and bon. The converts from heathendom helpers are to go everywhere preaching must live by their own labor. The the Word. They are to do the chief sooner they are emancipated from many work of evangelization. The great work of the filthy modes in which all heathen. – of the missionaries is to bring forward, dam, including even the Chinese, live to educate, to train the native laborers the better for a pure and honest Chris- and native churches unto this work, and tian life. The glorious example and life give the whole over to them as soon as of Mackay of Uganda have taught us possible. This is the only way in which what a lay missionary-a mechanic, a the great work of the world's redemp- civiI-engineer-can achieve for Christ tion from sin and darkness can be ac- under the darkest prospects. The Lord complished. It is the most effective will have many Mackays ready when the and the most economical way. Ohurch shall really call for them. Mis- Schools, colleges, seminaries must be sionary societies must learn that CODverts must have daily bread not by hundred dollars a year for the support charit.y, but by their own labor. And of each one, three millions of dollars 8 all missionaries, men and women, year will be needed for their bare sup· should have that practical knowledge port, and certainly not less than nine of the common arts and activities of life millions more for the prOilecution of the which will enable them to gnide the work through native agency. Then the porsecuted and boycotted into inde. six thousand would soon be one hun. pendent self-support. dred thousand, and that number a mill- ion of native preachers.. By that time, There is great danger at the present moreover, the million would be mainly time of looking more to the number supported by native churches, and the than the quality of the laborers. Men promise of the Almighty Father to the of mere sentiment are sure to fail. Son, "Ask of Me and I will give Thee They find themselves confronted with the heathen for thine inheritance, and the difficulties. of an unknown, strange, the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy barbarous language, and by a proud, in. posse~sions," would approach its glori. solent, contemptuous people. After a ous fulfilment. year or two of heartless effort they reo treat in black despair or sink into a list. Ohinese "Blue-Books." [J. T. G.] less :Mfe. None but men who are strong in the Lord and in the power of His Whoever has carefully studied the might are needed in this work. splendid volume containing the Records of the Missionary Conference which met It follows, from all we have read, that at Shanghai in 1890 will have noticed in this great and marvellous movement the essay of Rev. Timothy Richards on among the youth of our colleges is " The Relation of Christian Missions to in danger of involving the Christian the Chinese Government," his reference Church in an unexpected embarrass- (pp. 407-10) to what he .is pleased to ment. To send out all who are willing style" Blue Books." It is a collection to go and are fitted for great usefulness of public documents on all State queswould necessitate the entire abandon. tions published in 1826, in one hundred ment of the element of native co-opera. and twenty books. It was republished tive help, of pastors, teachers, trans. by the Shaghai publishers in 1889; a lators, common schools, and, to some supplement to the same, also in one extent, of colleges and seminaries. A hundred and twenty books, bringing the greater catastrophe could not befall the subject down to date, was published in work. 1888. These books, he says, are in the catalogue of the books for sale in the What, then, is the meaning of this Government book.shop at Tientsin, and wonderful movement? probably in all the provinces. Two books of the supplement are devoted to It brings before the Church the tre. Christian missions. mendous reality of the missionary work. It cries aloud to all Christians, Aban. Mr. Richards proceeds to give some don your luxurious living, your piling idea of their "scandalous" contents. up of millions. Pour your millions into First, a history of the way in which the missionary work, und see if the Lord Christianity has gradually corrupted will not pour you out a blessing that China. This is followed by an attempt there shall not be room to receive it. to stamp out Christianity in the provo inces of Hlman, the source of the pres. But these six thousand crusaders must ent Ohinese riots, and Kiang Suo Sun. not be encouraged to go forth while the dry other documents follow. Mr. Rich. Church stands back and refuses to de- ards proceeds to recite that the books velop the work already in progress, having the evident blessing of God and the co-operating work of the Holy Spirit. Their going forth must be to aid, not retard the work. At an average of five affirm that six hundred years after Bud- able books translated; of the tens of dha all India followed the Christian thousands of youllg and old taught; ot'
religion. Among the statements are the hundreds of thousands saved from found assertions that the founder of death during famines, and of'the tomb- Christianity was a criminal, and Joseph stones of those who have given their was not his father. lives for the good of China, this collec- The great rebellions in the Ming tion of obscenities and lies is their dynasty and of the various secret lOects version of what we have done for in the present dynasty, with all their them."
, horrors, are attributed to these Western The relation of the State to these so- religions. It is an insult, the author called" Blue-Books," and of their rela- says, to suggest that all these vile here- tion to the present disturbed state of the tics could have 'had the same origin as country, as it originates in hatred of the Chinese. The writer says that four foreigners, has become the subject of taels were given to each convert, and considerable discussion in China. It is that the books of the Roman Catholics well known that the riots have been in- were full of obscenity, and that the Gov- cited by the literati and gentry of ernor Man of Chi Kiang memorialized China ; and it is this class that read the throne regarding their evil deeds, such statements as are contained in requesting to have their churches turned these books, Which, be it borne in into charity schools for a hundred years, mind, are for sale at the Government to cleanse away their moral filth. book-stores. It would seem, therefore, "After this," says Mr. Richards, of little avail that the imperial authority "follow scandalous quotations from Wei at the Peking Yemen should by royal Yuen, who says that men and women edict declare that Christianity was a re- sleep promiscuously together in the ligion of good moral influence, so long churches; that one hundred and thirty as it permits these documents to be taels of silver are given in three instal- placed on sale under its auspices. To be ments to the converts to help them to sure. it might be claimed that the edict do business; that the Christians' eyes counteracts their influence, and even are scooped out by the priest after that it was so intended. It is much death; that when these eyes are melted more probable that the Government up with lead, eight per cent of the lead chooses to blow hot and cold at the same is turned to silver; that a pill is given, time, for whatever else the West mlly which makes the convert pledge him- teach China, it is not likely to set it any self for life, and so bewitched is he that lesson in the duplicity of diplomacy.
the first thing he does is to destroy the In the North China Herald the vener.
ancestral tablets; that several other able and highly esteemed missionary, things are practised by Christians which Rev. Griffith John, calls upon the for- I consider too vile to print… Mr. Rich- eign powers to demand the suppression ards closes his remarks on the" Blue- of these books. He says that it is to be Books" with the following grave reflec- hoped that some one will take these tion: Ie Thus end the 'Blue·Books' books in hand and bring their vileness without the slightest acknowledgment of and falsehood to the light. He has any benefit derived from modern mis- afresh examined them, and declares that sionaries. They wish to convince their " anything more false, disgraceful, and people that Christian missionaries only inflammatory it would be difficult to come here for mischief, and that the find, even among the vile placards of converts are the scum of society! In Hunan." He deems it of the utmost im· face of about a million taels spent an- portance that their publication, as they nually for the good of China; in face of now stand, should be suppressed. He tens of thousands of patients gratuitous- concludes by saying that the Hunan ly healed annually; of the many valu- placards are intended for the multitude;
JartUBl'j'
these books are intellded for the officials out-patients belong to the Syongtn, or and literary classes. 'rhey are to be low-class people, many of whose wom- round in every yamen, and in thousands en, except the newly married or those of private libraries. The foreign powers of marriageable age, go out upon the have decided that the Hunan publica- street in the daytime. I would like to tions shall cease, because they poison open an evening olinic for those Korean the minds of the people. For a still women who must not be seen upon the stronger reason they ought to decide street in the daytime, and I want to that these" blue books" shall cease in open a dispensary in another part of their present form, because they poison the city, and perhaps one outside.
the minds of the officials and scholars. Quite often at my morning clinic I have Just how far the foreign powers had women from the higher class who should go in aUempting an " Index" of have come in closed chairs. They al- literature that must be expurgated in ways inform me that it is a great ell.cep- China, or whether they should attempt tion for them to go out, but their dis- at all to coerce the Government to cause ease was difficult, and they had heard certain parts of current literature to be that I was a very wise doctor, and there- suppressed, may be grave questions. fore came.
But that they might demand that their .. My out-calls have, many of them, sale should be prohibited in Govern- been to people of quite high rank-from ment book stalls would not appear alto- the daughter of a ' Chusa' to the moth- gether unreasonable as a political meas- er of the late Prime-Minister-but others ure or as a war measure, if you please. have been to those most miserably low We have not called attention to the mat· and poor. I, have visited a niece of the ter with a view to second the call to the late queen-dowager, living in a large foreign powers to demand their suppres- stone house built within two or three sion, but rather to show some of the court-yards, with foreign lamp-posts sources by which the prejudices of the here and there ; nice-sized rooms, easily literati and gentry are stirred against made larger by pushing back the Korean Christian missionaries. Perhaps we shove-doors and throwing two rooms may even come into greater charity into one ; large Korean screens here and toward some of those whose minds have there ; a fine mirror and Korean dress- been thus poisoned ; and perhaps we ing-case ; the patient and her attendants may come to better apprehension of clothed in spotless white, in mourning why the literati and gentry, rather than for tho Queen; the under-garments of the common people and the coolies, dis- the patient made of soft white Korean like foreigners and missionaries. At silk. She was covered with light downy any rate, if we are to proceed with judg- comfortables of colored silk, and lay ment, it is manifest we must become upon a soft mattress with a beautifully more closely acquainted with the in- embroidered Korean pillow on the warm· digenous influences affecting the people est part of a highly polished 'Rang'
of Ohina. floor.
" In the same afternoon I have visit- ed a poor sick woman of the Coolie class Medical Work for Women in Korea, in her little tive-by-eight room, with ceiling so low I could not stand up- We know so little of the" Land of right, one small window covered with the Morning Calm" that it is with inter- oiled paper, the patient lying on a small est we quote from a long oommunication mat and covered with a coarse cotton from Miss Rosetta Sherwood, M.D., of comfortable. The history of many of the MethodistEpiscopal MissilJll in that the wretched cases one meets with in a country, the following paragraphs: practice like this are appalling and "The majority of the hospital and heart.sickening. "
" Why is the Ohina Inland Mission Suo- mission in China, suggests that a longer period of time is required before we cessful?" can predicate success or failure of the mission in its evangelical enterprise. The editor of the lIarvest Field, the Wesleyan magazine published in India, " That it has heen a wonderful suc. some while since addressed the above cess at home everybody must admit. question to the Rev. David Hill, the The rapid pouring into one field of so Britisb President of the Shanghai Con. large a number of missionaries is un. ference of Missionaries laboring in exampled in modern times as far liS I India. We have so long heard and know, and demands close study. Two read conflicting statements of the effi. or three reasons for this success have ciencyand value of Mr. Hudson Tay. occurred to me : lor's methods, and those of his associ. ates, that it was with rather more than "1. The mission is steeped in prayer, usual interest we read Mr. Hill's reply, and its founders and followers have Ilnd we are so confident of a wide inter. boldly made the grand experiment of est in the subject that we quote the testing and trusting the promi~es of article bodily. Mr. Hill says: God.
"You inquire as to the reasons of the " 2. Appeals for men have been made success of the China Inland Mission. at meetings for entire consecration to The assumption implied in such in. God. This consecration has been quiry some would question, if it refer urged home first of all-then the de. to the work of the mission in China, mand to show cause why this consecra. and the number of members gathered tion should not flow in China cbannels into the Church. This is not large as has been made. Full surrender has compared with that of several other opened the ear to China's claims. missions having a much smaller staff of missionaries, and does not demon. "3. Speedy entrance on the work. strate Ilny very marked success. No protracted waiting for examination after examination, or for a long college "On the other hand, 2000 and odd course. This attracts men. Christians gathered into the Church in twenty-five years does tell of success, "4. Then the offer of a life of sacri. and that Mr. Hudson Taylor should fice rather than one of ease has a great have been used of God to this end is deal to do with winning the right sort matter for profound thankfulness. of men. Faith, too, fascinates. That it is not large may be accounted for by the perpetual pioneering of "5. Besides Mr. Taylor's magnetio many missionaries. In opening the influence, Mr. Broomhall's untiring way to regions beyond they have been energy and the broadcast sowing of llbundantly successful, hut this per. China's millions have marvellously aided petual" motion has not favored large the progress of the mission. harvests of converts. Where steady, persevering work has been the order of "These have appeared to me the the day, conversions have been most chief causes of success, and I as II numerous. Methodist feel I may learn a good deal from them." " Then the genius of the mission is so largely that of witnessing rather -Mrs. Maria T. True, of Tokyo, tem· than winning, of sowing rather than of porarily in tbis country, in writing to reaping, that that doubtless has had us says: "Some Japanese ladies have something to do with the comparatively purchased an acre of ground and built small ingathering. And the very large a small house for an industrial school proportion of new men occupying new for young women. About forty pupils places, as compared with any other are enrolled, and during tbe little more than one year since the school was opened they have by their own labor
liTElRNATlONAL :l)Et'Alt'I'MEN'l'
earned their board, and in some cases ful, as it is certainly entertaining, other expenses. The main industry is called" In Brightest Asia," which Mr. silk embroidery, but they also have in- Corthell, of Tremont Temple, publishes. troduced various other kinds of work, Its 127 illustrations are a panorama of and have still more comprehensive the trip and much besides. plans, to be carried out when the fund for another building have been secured. -Rev. Henry N. Cobb, D.D., Corre· This is a Ohristian school, and is blessing sponding Secretary of the Board of those who have established it and are Foreign Missions of the Reformed carrying it on as well as those who are Church in America, has started to make taught in it. a visit to their missions in India, China, and Japan. Rev. J. N. Conklin, "One of the native pastorR has also of the Arcot Mission, temporarily in been the means of opening an indus- this country, has assumed Dr. Cobb's trial home for young men. I know both official duties in his absence. We of these enterprises well, Bnd am sure learn from him that the native Christhey are worthy of our warm sympathy tians of this Arcot Mission are suffering terribly from food scarcity, and cholera " A letter just received from a Japan. is likely to follow. The report about esc minister contains the following: the cholera at Amoy, Mr. Conklin says, • This is my strong conviction: we can· has been greatly exaggerated. not evangelize Japan with a method like child's play; if we evangelize such a -Our Baptist friends are getting heathen country as Japan we must take ready for the observance of the great a gigantic method. The Bible and the Carey Centennial this year. A good Holy Spirit are the only weapons needed deal of literature will doubtless be forth. in our battle.field.' coming, which will be helpful to them, and to all of us. The American Baptist , • Then he goes on to outline a meth- Publication Society, Philadephia, has od by which he thinks work could be just issued ., A Century of Baptist For. carried on in every town and village in eign Missions," by Mrs. Titterington. Japan. He asks advice concerning It is an outline of annals, briefly stated, leaving one of the best churches in and with a list of questions at the close Tokyo in order to give his time to this of each chapter, suggestive of its being country work. used as a text·book. It is confined to American Baptist missions in Asia, .. It is ~ard to realize how heavily Africa, Europe, and South America. burdened the few earnest workers in Japan are, unless one has seen the con- -The Congregational missions in ditions there." South Africa have been the subject of many an inquiry with other than mis. -The Rev. Dr. Mabie, Home Corre- sionary intent. Ethn ologists, :philol. sponding Secretary of the American ogists, and others have found the mis. Baptist Missionary Union, presently sionary's arcana of knowledge the after getting well seated in his position, most valuable and resourceful that started on a trip round the world, chiefly could be investigated. There have to visit the Baptist missions in Asia. been heroes and statesmen among the About two hundred Baptist mission· missionaries of that country. Rev. aries were visited. They must have Josiah Tyler furnishes a fresh fund of enjoyed his calls, for there was nothing knowledge for mllny classes in " Forty of the bugbear of a .. deputation" in Years Among the ZulUB" in autobjothem. He did not go to make official examinations into their larders or their learning, nor with any authority to upset their plans. Dr. Mabie tells his side of the cheery journey in a sketchy way in a book that must be very help. graphical form of narrative. (Congrega- ent at the celebration of the sacrament tional House, Boston.) in a church other than their own; to have inter-mission discipline, by which -In April, 1890. Rev. Mr. Large, of an agent of one mission should not be the Canada Methodist Mission, in Japan, engaged by another until after mutual was murdered. The murderer has been, consultation, and strangers coming from as is supposed. found out, and on Au- another station should be provided with gust 25th was arrested. He is described letters, of commendation from the as a youth about twenty years of age. church which they had left; to foster At first it was supposed he was insane, social advancement by means of obtainbut fuller investigation does not sup- ing grants of land from the Government, port the theory. He is a native of the the endeavor to have Christian regiprovince of Kazuza. ments formed, the adoption of technieal pursuits, the encouragement of capital- -Rev. Dr. T. J. Scott, President of ists among Christians, the institution of panchayats among them, and the pur- chase of land in the villages as sites for schools and churches which should be the property of the missions."
the Methodist Theological Seminary at Bareilly, India, writes us: "God is -We have received the following com- wonderfully blessing the work in this munication from a representative of the part of India. Just think of a thousand Protestant native congregation at Bag- baptisms a month! At least ten thou- dad: sand will be added to the Christian •• I beg to inform you that there are community during the' year. What a work in supplying pastors and evange- about twenty houses of Evangelical Protlists! In places of course the devil estants here in Bagdad, reaching from rages. In AImorah, while a young man sixty to seventy persons, male and was being baptized in the London Mis- female. You will be very glad, of course, sionary Society's church, a mob smashed to know that there is such a light and salt the windows and doorl!. Dr. Butcher in such a. big city of Turkish-Arabia, had his "coat tOfn off, and would have where thousands of people are living in been brained by the mob had not Dr. darkness and the shadow of death. How Parker seized the ringleader and got Dr. many difficulties are on the way of the Butcher into the church. The colonel Lord's laborers in such places! But commanding the station got word, and faith, patience, and perseverance over- • doubled quicked' the Sepoys down; come everything that hinders the extenthe magistrate arrived, and the mob sion of the kingdom of our Heavenly quailed. The young man stands firm. Father. We hope we shall never fail in We may expect more mobs and more fulfilling our sacred duties toward our victory. Pray for us." God, ourseIve~, and our neighbors. For the establishment of this, our Protestant -Apropos of Dr. Hamlin's admirable native congregation in Bagdad, we need article, which we present this month, on to have soon registration, cemetery, "Mission Comity," we take the follow- school and church, without which we ing from the Report of the Church of cannot enjoy success and progress in Scotland Mission, setting forth an agree- such lands. To get what is mentioned ment to which the missionaries of the we must apply to the Sublime Porte in various societies in the Panjab came Constantinople and the Turkish auin a Conference of their members, held thorities here to get the necessary orders, last April : that we may possess all our national " At this Conference it was resolved rights. I am very glad to say that we to adopt a common course of instruction have already got orders for registration for inquirers before baptism; to admit and cemetery, so there is firm hope that and welcome to the communion mem- we shall get an order for school and bers of the various churches when pres- church too. Our registration was partly made by the local Government here; but I am sorry to say that burial-ground has not yet been given to us for ceme- tery, as we have not enough money to buy a piece of ground, to pay official fees, and all expenses concerning such serious matters, for our Protestants here are unable to provide the necessary SUUlS."
·EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Editor's Salutation. himself one of the tery foremost mis- sionary biographers of the age, the au- METBOPOLITAW TABEBWACLE, thor of the 'standard classic on Carey's life, will contribute a series of papers NEWINGTON, S. E., on the great cobbler of Hackleton, and LONDON, ENGLAND.
The editor salutes all readers of the other writers of scarcely inferior merit REVIEW and friends of missions with will take a part in this symphony of the most cordial good wishes for the testimony to the work of a world's new year! May it be indeed a Happy evangelization, and the duty and priv- New Year to us all individually and to ilege of the Church to push her COD- the whole Church of God! flicts and conquests to the extremities The year 1892 ought to be a year of of the globe.
grand advance all along the line. It is Once more we emphatically call our the centennial year of modern missions, readers and all who are linked with the • for it marks the hundredth anniversary work of missions to a new consecration of William Carey's great movement, the to prayer. Here lies the hope of the organization of the first distinctively Church and the world, in a new spirit foreign missionary society of Britain, of gracious supplication. God will be at Kettering, May 31st, 1792, and will be inquired of when He is to do great observed all over Britain, if not all over things. Our hope must be in no com the wider realm of Christendom, as the pleteness of organization, no abundance ~ completion of the grand century of of gifts, no sufficiency of laborers, no modem missions. multitude of agencies, but first of all But it ought also to mark the begin- in God, in the Providence that opens ning of a new century of far more in- doors and keeps them open, that pro tense Christian zeal and far more self- tects workers, that rrues even rulers and denying missionary effort. The open controls all things; and in the grace doors now before the Church, the sin- that works even mightier marvels in gularly complete equipment providen- anointing the messengers of Christ and tially given for world-wide work, the inclining lost sinners to hear and heed amazing successes of the century past. the message. Let us remember those the strange withholding of laborers and two wonderful words of promise: Matt.
gifts from the service of the Lord-how 17 : 20 and 18: 19, 20. One of them ought such considerations as these to reminds us that in faith there is the stimulate the whole Church of God to seed of God, the secret of divine life undertake new enterprises for Him, to and power to upheave even mountain lengthen her cords and strengthen her obstacles; the other teaches us the 8takes until the canopy of her mission- power of a symphony of prayer, when ary effort shall stretch over the Whole believers who live in the secret of God area of the unevangelized world.! are like keys of a musical instrument The pages of this REvrnw will be that the hand of God touches, and largely given up during the year to the which give forth a sweet chord in har- rehearsal of William Carey's life and mony with His will. To abide in God, work, and to the exhibition of its mag- and so have power in united prayer, is nificent results; While it will be our the first and last secret of missionary aim to suggest and inspire far larger success. This is one of the essential hopes, stronger faith, and wider en- truths to be impressed by perpetual deavor, in behalf of the coming of the repetition.
kingdom of our God! May the prayers Here in the great Tabernacle we have of every devout reader be with us! had an exhibition and illustration of ~eor~e Smith, LL.D., of Edinbur?h, the power of importunate and believing prayer. In May last pastor Charles H. 8th, to propose another union of prayer Spurgeon was attacked with a violent in tbat place. for the greatest outpour. and virulent influenza. After partial ing of the Holy Spirit ever yet known, recovery, in June he was the victim of upon all flesh. If this spectacle has a relapse that brought him to the very been sublime to angels and men, who jaws of death. His recovery was pro. can describe the sublimity of a holy nounced impossible by human means, agreement of all disciples in supplica. and this great congregation of six thou. tion for a worldwide effusion of the sand souls united in daily prayer to Spirit of all grace! God for him. For twenty.one weeks This Metropolitan Tabernacle is a daily meetings for prayer assembled in house of prayer most emphatically. the Tabernacle, early in the morning, Here are numerous rooms, under and at 7 o'clock, and again at the same hour around the great audience.room, where, in the evening. They were thronged, for almost forty years, this one servant and not only by Mr. Spurgeon's own of God has held forth the Word of Life; people, but by Christians of every name. and in these rooms prayer is almost No sublimer spectacle has appeared to ceaselessly gomg up. When one meeting human eyes since apostolic days than is not in progress another is. This is a this union of discipIes, in believing hive of bees, where there are campara. prayer. As for Peter when in prison tively few drones. There are prayer· awaiting Herod's axe prayer was made meetings before preaching and others without ceasing of the Church unto God after preaching; evangelistic associa· for him. Baptists of every "grade;" tions, zenana societies-all sorts of work Methodists, Primitive, Wesleyan, and for God find here a centre and all can· Episcopal; Congregationalists and Inde. secrated by prayer. Before I go upon pendents ; Presbyterians and Plymouth the platform to address these thousands, Brethren; even the members and clergy the officers of this great church meet of the Anglican communion were pres· me and each other for prayer as to the ent and participated. Meanwhile Mr. service; and one feels upborns on these Spurgeon was overwhelmed with per· strong arms of prayer while preaching. sonal and official attentions from all No marvel that Mr. Spurgeon's ministry classes and conditions of men. Up to has been so blessed. He himself at· the time of his departure for Mentone, tributes it mainly to the prevailing on October 26th, he told me that over prayers of his people. Why may not seven thousand messages of condolence the whole Church of God learn some· and sympathy, resolutions of various thing from the Metropolitan Tabernacle religious bodies, etc., and other docu. of London as to the power of simple ments, from the lowest and highest in Gospel preaching backed by believing society, had reached him. Fifty tele. supplication! grams of inquiry a day came to Beulah Referring to this great church, one Hill, until clerks were unequal to the cannot forget also its divine mission as reading of and the replying to these a standing protest against the secular. messages and inquiries. Even bishops izing of the house of God by the attrac· and archbish~ps called to offer not only tions of worldly art and restheticism. sympathy, but service, if such were Here is nothing to divert the mind from possible; and Jewish rabbis called to the simplicity of worship and the Gas· assure the sick man that all Israel was pel. No attempt at elaborate architec. praying to Jehovah for his restorl't· ture, furniture, garniture. A precentor tion! What wonder he was raised as leads con"gregational song without even from the dead-taken out of the jaws the help of a cornet; prayer and praise of the lion! In view of all this, I ven· and the reading of the Word of God, tured, in presence of a great congrega· with plain putting of Gospel trnthtion i:Q. t4e Tabernacle, on November these 4nve been Mr. StJur~eon's lifelon~ " means of grace" and weapons of war. a year of praise also, a new year of mis- And yet this remains to.day the largest sions, introducing a new century of mis- congregation in the world, even when a sion triumph and glory to God!
stranger attempts to fill the place left vacant by the pastor's withdrawal to a -The editors of American newspapers place of rest and recuperation. are, as a rule, a sagaeious folk. They This lesson has, in my opinion, a beating on all work for Christ, at home cannot be hoaxed. But not all of those and abroad. Our reliance is too much on the charms of this world, in drawing who have the l'equisite " nose for news" souls to the Gospel and to the Saviour. The Holy Spirit will not tolerate our are favored with the reciprocity of the idols. If we will have artistic and secular type of music, substituting unsancti- senses by which they" know news when :lied art for simple praise; if we will have elaborate ritual in place of simple, they see it." An instance is at han~. believing prayer; if we will have eloquent lectures in place of simple, ear- In, the summary of Dr. Pierson's open. nest Gospel preaching, we must not wonder if no shekinah fires burn in our ing sermon at the Tabernacle, made by sanctuaries. If Ahaz is allowed to dis· place God's plain altar by the carved, the Christian, we :find the following: idolatrous altar fro!ll Damascus, we need not be surprised if God withdraws " The Holy Ghost never tolerates idols His power. Perhaps the reason why the work of God abroad shows more in his courts. The success of this great signs of His presence and power than our sanctuary services at home is in Tabernacle is owing to nothing more part this, that our foreign mission work has never been embarrassed as yet by than to this-that the paster has preachthose elaborate attempts at resthetic attraction which turn many of our home ed the Gospel, and has never preached churches into concert halls and lecture saloons and costly club-houses. May anything else, for well.nigh forty years, God grant us to learn once for all, that nothing in our mission work can make He prayed God that some calamity might up for Holy Spirit power, and that Holy Spirit power itself makes up for the happen to the building itself before it lack of all else. If the angel troubles the pool, there is healing in the waters ; was ever prostituted by unsanctified and but if God's angel comes not down 'all the doctors in Jerusalem, with all'the secularizing methods of attracting the drugs in creation, cannot impart healing virtue. people. We want to keep out of our v.orship everything that turns away at- tention from God, or hinders the power of the Holy Ghost."
An irate reporter, by whom the" in_ terim" pastor declined to be interviewed rushed off and cabled to this countr; that Dr. Pierson had most wantonly and uncharitably attacked Mr. Spurgeon in his absence, and had ~harged his con- gregation with doing the very things which he had commended them for not doing. We extend our sympathy to so much of the secular press as became tho victim of this hoax and falsehood. Yet on its face they should have been able to recognize its improbability_ Even a caricature must be a likeness. But to present one who is '
LET us PRU! Oh, for a new spirit of " the president Of nobleness and chevalree" prayer to God! Oh, for a whole Church on its face before the throne, with in snch a roll was too much out of align- mighty pleading for a blessing as wide- ment to afford amusement or to do spread as the race of man, and as deep- harm. The editor.in· chief of this RE- reaching as man's depravity and degra- VIEW answers too closely to the en- dation, guilt and need! Let the year comium on Sir Philip Sydney, in hav- now opening be-whatever else it may ing ., mildness which is associated with not be-a year of prayer; so shall it be courage, erudition modified by refinement, and courtliness dignified by There is one preacher to eight hun. truth "to render it necessary to correct dred inhabitants in the home land; so m:mifestly gross a canard. It may one preacher to four hundred thousand be that he will not so much as thank us in non-Christian countries. for an allusion to it. [J. T. G.]. Estimated wealth of Evangelical Christians in United States•… $13,000,000,000 Increase of wealth last :year (sur- plus after paying all expenses Facts and Figures. of living and contributions for benevofent purposes)….••…. 450,000,000 REV. c. R. BELL, D.D. Contributions for Foreign Mis- sions during the year……… . Population of the world ……….. 1,500,000,000 Total foreign missionary contri- 5,000,000 Living in Asia •••.••.. 800,000,000 Living in Africa •.. •. 210,000,000 butions during the century …. 90,000,000 Living in Europe……. 350,000,000 Annual expenditure for home Living in America, churches….. .. •.. .. … …. .. .. 80,000,000 North and South ….. 110,000,000 Average per member. . •. . . . . • .• •• $6.00 Living in Island World 30,000,000 Annual expenditure for Foreign M.issions, per member (average) .37 – – – 1,500,000,090 Evangelical Christian Commnni- The annual increase of wealth was' ninety times more than the foreign cants………… …………… 35,000,000 missionary offerings during the year. Adherents.. … .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. . 105,000,000 The estimated increase of wealth of Total Communicants and Adher- 140,000,000 the evangelical Christian population of ents………………………. . 90.000.000 the United States last year was more 205,000,000 than four times greater than all the Greek Church……………. . .. .. 8,000,000 foreign contributions by all American Romanists…………………… . 175,000,000 Christians d~ring the entire century. Jews……………………… .. 882,000,000 Startling statements I M.ohammedans ……………….. . Pagan and Heathen………….. ..
Converts to Christianity in heathen 1,500,000,000 lands one hundred years ago did not exceed…… …. … …. .. .. .. 300 Communicants now………….. . 800,000 Adherents ………………….. .. 2,200,000 Total Communicants and Adhe- Signs of the Times. rents…….. ………… …….. 3,000,000 There are signs of a general upheaval Then there were very few Christian all through the pagan, papal, and Mosworkers abroad. and they were chiefly lem world. Japan has suffered from a peasants and artisans who accompanied recent earthquake, in which thousands enterprising merchants. Then the are said to have perished. China was Church for the first time began the visited by most destructive floods, and great enterprise of organized foreign now is the scene of widespread riot and missionary work. not a little bloodshed. South America -Brazil, Chili, and the Argentine Re. Now there are 170 missionary boards public-has been and is undergoing and societies directed by men, and 110 civil and political disturbances, which by women-all actively in service as in some cases amount to a convulsion. agents for their respective Christian Russia is expelling the Jews and preconstituencies. Now at work in non· paring for war, and all Europe is either Christian lands 7700 missionaries, male in a state of ferment or of uncertainty and female, consisting of and apprehension. No one on the con. tinent feels sure of the peace of Europe Ordained…………………… .. 3,482 for thirty days ahead, and a European La,Ylllen …………………….. . 829 war means a world's upheaval. Africa WlVes of missionaries…………. . has been the scene of almost continual Umnarried women…………… .. 2.005 conflict since the Zulu and Soudan 1,384 wars. Turkey is on the verge of per. petual disturbance. The isles of the Native workers ………………. . 7,700 sea are the scenes of repeated and some· Of whom 4,250 are ordained 36,000 times widespread antagonisms, either preachers within their own coasts or with foreign 43,700 foes. No one can predict how long Total force …………………. .. 13,500,000 UNITED STATES ALONE. 80,000 Evangelical church-members..•… Ordained preachers …………… .
Ordained preachers abroad……. . 1,000 Unordained missionaries, male and 1,750 female, abroad…………….. ..
2,750 Mexico and Central America, Burmah Pierson has met with the warm welcome /lJld India, Thibet and Korea will keep and hearty support of the officiary and their uncertain quiet. There are some congregation of Mr. Spurgeon's Taber- sagacious students of affairs who boldly nacle. Our English exchanges make say that never within this century has kindly mention of his entrance upon his there been such a general murmur of new responsibilities. The Ohristian says approaching conflict; and that only the of the opening service: "The great destructiveness of modern engines of building was thronged with worshippers war prevents its outbreak. In the re- in every part. At the opening of the cent naval exhibition, we saw a fac- service the crush was not BO great as we simile of a trial target upon which one have generally seen it, when Mr. Spur- of the largest of modern English ord- geon was the preacher; but before the nance, a HO-ton Armstrong gun, had commencement of the sermon there expended its explosive force, aud the were very few vacant seats." After giv.
ball-a conical one-had been driven ing a column to a synopsis of the in- through six feet of steel and iron, tell terim pastor's sermon from the admir- feet of oak timbers, five feet of solid ably chosen text Acts 10 : 29: .' There- granite, fifteen£eetof concrete, and six of fore came I unto you without gainsay- brick masonry, in all penetrating forty- ing as soon as I was sent for; I ask, two feet before its progress was arrested! therefore, for what intent ye have sent Meanwhile, let it be recorded with for me?" the editor says: "His brief thanksgiving that never has such a ministry at the Tabernacle has open.
spirit of benevolence been exhibited as ed auspiciously." He further quotes now among God's true children. For from a Tabernacle correspondent, who example, Mr. Thomas M. Russell, a writes: Scotchman, has just willed £60,000 ster- " • With the hour the man' is a prov- ling to Rev. John Wilkinson for his erb which hail received a very happy work among the Jews ; £8000 were con· illustration in the presence and minis- tributed by a. single donor in Australia try of Dr. Pierson as Mr. Spurgeon's to modern missions, and we hear almost locum tenens at the Metrollolitan Taber- every week of large gifts to home and nacle. The arrangement is according to foreign evangelizatIOn. A prominent Mr. Spurgeon's mind and heart; and, lady, a well-known countess, has sold judging from the welcome which has all her jewelry and ornaments except been accorded to our American brother, heir-looms, that she may send her valu- the indorsement of the church and con- ables to minister to God's kingdom ; gregation has been assured. Possessed and amid all modern apostasies in doc- of the rare qualifications necessary, there trine and inconsistencies in practice, is every reason to believe that Dr. Pier- there is a practioal protest of conse. son will fully justify Mr. Spurgeon's crated souls in the more complete self. choice, and his own acceptance of the surrender that includes property. Oh, appointment, and that the happiest re- for the new spirit of war for the Lord! sults may be expected from his three When will the world be convulsed not months' ministry. An enthusiast for by the preparations for gigantic de- missions, the aggressive work at the structive conflicts of arms, but by the Tabernacle is not likely to flag; an ear· universal uprising of the Church of nest and an able exponent of the Gospel, God in behalf of the world's conquest the living ministry which has been car· for Christ! ried on so long by Mr. Spurgeon is sure to be maintained."
On Sunday evening, November 1st, The Editor-in-Ohief Abroad. the audience numbered some 6000 per- Our readers will not bE' surprised, bu!; sons, 2500 of whom remained to the the,}' will be gratified to know that Dr. after-meeting. [J. T. G.)
18112.] THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY J. R. MILLER, D.D.
The World-Field-Hints for Prayer and Our very life must be in it, in the tem. Work. per of the divine self-sacrifice. But what a privilege and joy thus to work -An artist was asked, "What is your in it, with God Himself and all the best .picture?" He replied, "My saintliest spirits of the earth, now and next. " That was a good answer for an aforetime! Is it not the grandest testi. artist to make. When a man looks mony to the magnificence of human na. back for his life's best work in any ture that God made us co-workers, not line, his feeling should be that of the in the primary work of creation, but in other artist, who wept when he saw his the far grander work of redeeming the completed masterpiece, because his sat- world? In this work we can make isfaction with it marked the climax of our lives luminous in this world, and his lifework. It should be the same bright forever with a celestial glory in with 1>ur years; we should always look the next." to the next as our best. This is a good thought, too, for every Christian and -For a good while the burden of the every church with regard to the work prayers at monthly concerts was for the of missions-our next year should be opening of doors, the breaking down of our best. We should surpass our best barriers. Now from all the fields comes past in praying, doing, and giving. We the cry that the dOOTS are open everyshould make our monthly concerts for where, and that the want is for men to 1892 the best we have ever had. We go in and occupy them. Later the should become more familiar with the prayers were for men and women who needs of the mission·fields, and with would go to the opening fields. These the nature and extent of the work that prayers have been answered, too, in the Church is doing. We should seek most wonderful manner, and to.day to kindle missionary interest among there are 6000 young Christians in our our friends as in no former year. We country alone who have volunteered should pray as never before for the for mission work, and are ready to go cause of missions. We should give wherever they are sent; and now the more than in any former year. cry from all societies is for money. Thus the responsibility for the work is -One of the address!ls of President thrown back upon Christian people Storrs at the recent meeting of the themselves. God has done His part in American Board closed with these opening doors and inclining men and strong words: "It is a vastly critical women to be willing to go as mission.
time in the progress of Christ's king- aries; He has answered our prayers.
dom, with all the world uprising before Are we going to fail him now? Said us, with wealth enough and men President Gates, in an address at the enough to meet the need, with only last meeting of the American Board: the spirit to use them wanting. Let us .. Oh, my brothers, what answer can settle it in our minds that the world is we give for ourselves before the judg.
not to be converted to God by good ment-throne of God, if this glorious people sitting in pews and listening to work of preaching the Gospel of light sermons, even the best, or sitting in to dying men is checked and dwarfed, rocking-chairs and reading good books. and fails of its glorious possibility, be.
The work is vast, difficult, possible-a cause we who are God's stewards hold work that calls for the labor of enthu- fast to God's money for our own selfish siasm, for prayer and tears, for sweat· uses? There is a time when the AI.
drops, and, perhaps, for blood-drops. mighty Banker of the universe calls in Contributions of money are not enough. His loans. " 68 THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS. [January -There are indications that the time mooring from all its past, and is emis at hand for a great blessing in India. barking upon a movement that must This " slow old land" is beginning to lead on to the greatest of revolutions in arouse from her sleep of centuries and its internal life and external relations." respond to the tender touch of a faith He adds: "The time is most opporthat regenerates. Dr. Phillips writes tune for the pressing of missionary almost enthusiastically of the outlook. work at every point, in every. form, There are open doors on every side. with all our power. The present dis- Prayers are being answered and long, turbances, while not without elements patient labor is having its reward. All of anxiety, are rather symptoms of the India is ready for a forward movement. general ferment that is spreading than In Life and Light we are told of a wide- of a reaction, and will doubtless in the spread restlessness and a spirit of in- end lead to a far more open door for all quiry in India. In a Madras paper eTangelistic work. " these lines are given as the cry of a multitude to-day: -The condition of things in Japan is such as calls for much earnest prayer "We are weary of empty creeds, at the opening of a new year. The Of guides who show no man the way, country is undergoing a wonderful Of worship linked with lust and shame; transformation. Great progress is Life is an iiI, the sea of births is wide, being made in all departments of na- And we are weary-who shall be our guide 1" tional life. The influences of Chris- tianity and of civilization have swept Thank God for those consciously weary through the country in the last few and heavy laden, to whom the mission- years with marvellous rapidity, The aries may carry the pitying, "Come new empire with its constitutional govunto Me, and ye shall find rest for your ernment takes its place almost alongsouls." side the most enlightened European governments in its freedom and liber- -It is to be hoped that the troubles ality. In the Parliament of 300 memin China are not altogether discourag- bers, 13 are professedly Christian men. ing. May there not be an indication The work of Christian missions in that in them of the beginning of a change land has been prospered beyo'nd the in that wonderful country which shall most sanguine hopes of the Church. leave it a new China? Western thought is breaking in among the peo- But in the midRt of all this progress ple. Modern science is forcing itself and success there are dangers besetting through the old walls, and the country the interests of Christianity and of the is feeling its power. Telegraph wires empire, through which only the hand are stretching everywhere. Western in- of God can guide the country. Says ventions are revolutionizing everything. Dr. Ellinwood: "At the present time China is about breaking its old bonds. the forces which array themselves This is the fruit of Christian missions. against the missionary work in Japan The Bible is doing it. There is unrest are entering into a strong alliance, with for the time; there are persecutions a determination to resist the aggressive of missionaries; but while these things influence of Christianity. Very natuare disheartening in a sense, yet there rally the advocates of the old systems is in them an element of victorious- of Japan, as well as the converts to ness. The leaven of Christianity is various types of western infidelity, are working. Says one of the mission sec- alarmed at the influence which Chris· retaries: "Internal changes of striking tianity is gaining in Japan. . • . Books character assure us that this nation of also have recently been published by venerable antiquity and proverbial con- native authors, which earnestly advo· servatism, almost without its knowledge oate a union of all Buddhist sects and and against its will, is in reality unan alliance with the philosophies (in- worship and schools in their own fidel) of the West, in resistance to the dwellings, this order, whioh has not yet missionary efforts of the Christian been executed, but which at any time Church. Evidently Japan is now the might be, is one which may cause serio theatre of one of the most active con- ous trouble. These outcroppings of a flicts of religious and philosophical persecuting and intolerant spirit show thought that the world has known, and a disposition at least to trouble and in. the Christian Church needs to regard terfere with the work of missions in it the more seriously, from the fact that that old country_ Christian truth has no such advantage there as in countries where the momen- -Africa is wide open now to the tum of many generations of Christian Gospel. The explorations of the last influence constitutes an immense con- thirty years have revealed a heretofore servative force. All questions in Japan, terra incognita, and where the old maps to a generation which has had only the had" Great Afrioan Desert," the newer' antecedents of error, are open ques- maps have rivers, lakes, and mountains tions ; and Christianity must take its and great peoples. Rnilroads are being even chances with every other form of built to supplement the splendid water belief or unbelief, save as the omnip- highways whioh nature has provided. otent Spirit of God shall prompt and The doorl;! of language are also being direct the work in answer to the pray- opened ahd mainly by missionaries ers and efforts of His people. " themselves. Four hundred and thirty. eight languages and 143 dialects have There should. therefore, be earnest been oatalogued. Thus a new world is and importunate prayer for Japan, that open to the Gospel. In the Congo Val. wisdom may be given to the men called ley alone is a population equal to that to direct in missionary work; that the of the United States. Stanley travelled Christian Churoh there may be kept in 999 days 7000 miles and never saw from yielding to worldly influences or the face of a Christian, nor of a man counsels, and from all divisions and who had had the opportunity to become dissensions; that the cause of Christ one. Yet he moved among a populamay be advanced until the empire shall tion of fifty millions. What will the be indeed Christian. Church do to send the Gospel through these wide open doors into Afrioa in -There is trouble also in Turkey, 1892? appealing to the prayers of Christian people everywhere. The government -It used to be said that in India the seems desirous to check moral and intel- birds never sing, the flowers have. no lectual progress, and therefore is assum- fragrance, and the women never smile. ing an unfriendly attitude toward mis- No wonder the women of heathen lands sions. Several acts have been com- never smile. Their lot is sad beyond mitted whioh show this hostility. Mis. description, but a better day has come sionaries have been arrested without for them. The Christian women of cause and kept in close confinement, Christian lands are hastening to give as it they were guilty of some grave their sad sisters the blessed story of offenoe. The government also con· the Gospel. There are in the United fisoated a large number of hymn-books States 34 women's foreign missionary and Bible diotionaries belonging to the societies, 10 in Canada, 24 in Great Amerioan mission. In October last the Britain, 1 on the continent of Europe, Sublime Porte issued an order prohibit. and 1 in South Africa. The work that ing the holding of public worship or has been done by these societies, espe. conduoting of sohools in dwellinghouses. As many missionaries conduot cially for the women of heathen lands, only a desire to please white people in is one whose value and influence can- the awkward appointments of their not be estimated. It would be easy to home, they would be of little account; gather up and present here a table of but in many cases it is the outward sign atatistics (see page 954, December num- of a prooess of change which will eventber of REVIEW), but large as ,the figures ualIy rectify even their distorted family would be, they would give no adequate relationships-a heritage from their view of the resulta of the work which heathen ancestry. The desire for a woman, with her loving hear' and her better home life has somehow been imgentle touch, is doing for her sister planted in the young wife's heart during woman in darkened countries. One her school.life. looked at an opal as it lay on a jeweller's case, and it seemed cold and lustre- -Faraday showed that a drop of dew less. Then the jeweller held the stone oontains electrioity enough to rend a in his hand for a few moments, and rook. The Gospel of Christ has in it now it shone with all the colors of the all the power of God and can work marrainbow. It needed the touch of a hu- vels, as it has already wrought marvels man hand to bring out the iridescence. in saving men. Like that stone in its case are the millions of women in heathendom. Their -If we can do nothing else, or whatlives are dull and sad and without ever else we may do, we oan all pray beauty, but they require only the for the blessing of God upon the work warmth of the hands of Christian women of Christian missions, and prayer has to draw out all the beauty that.slumbers mighty power. The worship of Durga, in their nature. "Godly women have the blood.goddess of the Hindus, is atproved themselves the link, so long tended by the most terrible excesses of missing, to bring their sisters in East- sin. Some native converts have agreed ern lands to the feet of Jesus." that every evening this worship goes on they also will meet to pray to God to -The establishment of Christian put an end to the wicked practices. homes is one of the finest results of " Let us go on praying night after night missionary work in heathen lands, and year after year," they say, .. tm we hence the beauty of a picture which a have prayed down the Dllrga Puja. missionary draws of what is being done Let us pray it down. ' , Christians for Zulu girls in the Inanda Seminary: everywhere should join in all such The humble little home shows that the prayers. wife and mother has tried with the little means at her disposal to give a home- -Some idea of the difficulties of city like look to the place. There will be a evangelization may be gotten from a curtain at the window, a cushion on the statement, by the President of the wooden settee, and a bit of frilled cre- Methodist Church .Extension Society, tonne about the shelf which holds her that within one square mile of New lamp and a few books. If it be objected York City there are 20,000 people, nineby the wise in such matters that the teen twentieths of whom are foreign Turkey red and white of the window born and speak 30 different languages. decorations are not artistic, nor the Yet no work is more important just now friII of cheap cretonne, nor the patch- than that which needs to be done in work quilt whioh covers the bed, we our great cities if they are to be saved say, perhaps not, but the mark of the for Chrh!t. The real heathenism that woman's hand and care to our 'mind is found in many of them is appalling. make the dark little room much less One of the most hopeful of recent cheerless. If these things indicate movements is that which looks toward poses purely religious. Within the cen.
the regeneration of the slums. In Lon. tury now drawing to a close 150,000,000 don and now in New York there has copies of the Bible have been printed been an arousing of the people which in 226 different languages. Fifty years promises much. The work should go ago there were 502 mission stations in forward till all the cities have been foreign parts; there are now 5765.
cleansed. One of the saddest things Fifty years ago there were 653 ordained about the slums is that they are fed missionaries; to.day there are 6696 from the churches and Sunday-schools such servants of the Lord. Then there and from Christian homes. The peo. were but 1266 other laborers and help.
pIe there have fallen out and have ers abroad; now there are 50,552.
drifted downward to where they now are. Many of them have memories of -There is a view of the benefits of better days, even of holy things. In foreign missions which should appeal our prayers at the Monthly Concert, the even to worldly men. General Arm· efforts to evangelize our cities should strong says: "America, through the have a place. American Board, expended in fifty years a million and a quarter dollars to -As nearly as can be computed from evangelize Hawaii, and during that the reports of various societies, the fol. time has received about $4,000,000 a lowing summary of Protestant foreign year in trade. England's missions are missions is correct. From churches in said to bring back £10 in trade for United States, Canada, Great Britain, every pound given to convert the and Continental Europe there are in heathen. Christianity means a demand foreign lands 8048 stations and out- for clothing and utensils. The first stations, with 5594 missionaries, 35,343 sign of grace in a penitent savage is a native helpers, and 681,503 communi· request for a .shirt.- cants. The amount of money given last year was $11,429,588. Of COUlse -A writer in the Children's World this summary is incomplete, as there says: "Of every six infants in the are unreported missions and mission. world, one is born in India; of every aries. six orphan girls, one is wandering in India; of every six widows, one is -The reports of the Americsn Board mourning in India; of every six men give the following facts: The Board that die, one is passing into eternity in has under its care 21 central missions India. Think of it, and give India a with 97 stations, 1136 out·stations and part of your prayers•• , 1287 preaching places. A total of 538 missionaries are employed, with 2648 -After two missionary sermons in native laborers. There are 410 churches Melbourne recently a hard.working man with 38,226 church.members. During sent in thetitle·deeds of 93t acres offarmthe year the additions were 3554. In land, worth about $2500, to be divided schools of all kinds 46,403 pupils are between India and New Guinea. Being reported. Medical relief was given duro asked afterward about his gift, he said: ing the year to 100,000 patients. ." This is how I look at it. Supposing I were a boy and my father gave me $5, -The following figures are full of but afterward wanted part of the money interest. Seventy.five million dollars back again to help him in some work are contributed yearly in the United he was doing, and he came to me to States to the sustenance of the Church, help him, and I gave him a five·cent $31,000,000 more being given for pur. piece, what sort of a Bon should I be ?"
'12 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Orga.nized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O. .
-Hermann Wagner and Alexander upon them as touching the redemption Supan have recently published a vol· of the world. All the more since they ume of statistics relating to the popula- are such inveterate and indomitable tion of the globe. Of course the figures travellers, traders, colonizers, and buildthey give for countries not a few are ers of States. Most of all is the call of but estimates, and sometimes are but Providence to British Christians to beguesses; but taken all in all are no stir themselves for the Master, since the doubt the best to be had. They fix the sway of their government is so supreme number of the human family at 1,480,- over so large a fraction of the human 000,000, Of these there are in Europe, race. 326,000,000; in Asia, 826,000,000; in Africa, 164,000,000; in America, 122,_ -India is ten times larger than Ja- 000,000 ; in Australia, 3,000,000; and pan, China nearly three times as large in the Oceanio Islands, 7,500,000. as India, and Africa twice as large as China has 350,000,000 and India 324,- India and China combined. The 000,000, of whom 286,000,000 belong to "Dark" Continent is of vast propor- British India_ Russia has 93,000,000 ; tions as well, and contains a vast multithe German Empire, 49,000,000; Aus- tude which is well-nigh altogether either tria-Hungary, 41,000,000 ; Franoe, and pagan or else Mohammedan. Call the Great Britain and Ireland, 38,000,000 population 164,000,000, acoording to eaoh; Italy, 30,000,000, and Spain, 17,- the latest estimate, that of Wagner and 000,000. But another authority, Pro- Supan, and what impression has been fessor Von Juraschek, gives 1,544,000,- made upon it by the Gospel? Accord- 000 as the population of the world, of ing to a Danish authority, the Rev. whioh Europe has 358,000,000 and the Dean Vahl, in 1890 there were laboring Americas 124,000,000. in Africa, and representing all Christen- dom, 1004 missionaries and 206 women, -" When Shakespeare lived and and 878 native missionaries with 8389 sang, 300 years ago, on the whole globe other native helpers, or a total force of there were less than a million more 10,477, and the fruit of their toil is English-speaking people than now in- found in 214,561 oonverts or communihabit London alone. There were be- cants; but the" Encyclopredia of Mistween 5,000,000 and 6,000,000. So re- sions" gives a list of 43 missionary socently as a century ago, even after this cieties at work between the Mediterrarepublic was founded, there were only nean and the Cape, with 611 ordained 15,000,000 English-speaking persons on men, 170 unordained, 387 women, 209 the globe. At the same date 30,000,000 ordained natives, 4891 native helpers, spoke French and 40,000,000 German. or a total of 6268 persons engaged in Now we find that While the French and bearing the glad tidings to the perish- German tongues are spoken by a rea- ing. Into 565 churches 101,212 souls sonably increased number of individ- have been gathered, 9439 were admitted uals in the world to-day, in Australasia, last year, and 53,235 pupils are receivthe British isles, and in America 115,- ing instruction in 861 schools. These 000,000 olaim English as their mother figures stand for what Protestant Christongue. This is 40 pel' oent of the in- tians are doing-that is, they have sent habitants of the oivilized world." If 1168 men and women to Africa, or such is the fact, it follows that Anglo- about one to every 150,000. Saxon, English-speaking Christians have a tremendous responsibility laid -Next see-one item from many- what the devil and his angels are doing to maintain his widespread and fear- single Christian of every denomination, fully well-established sovereignty over at least 2 Buddhist priests (not head- Africa. The following tabulated state- priests). So there is a population of ment, printed in the {!hristian Union and over 39,000,000 of Japanese without a obtained from the Boston Custom single Christian among them. Once House, shows the exportation of rum to more, if all the Christians in Japan were Africa from the Port of Boston during congregated· in the city of Osaka (500,- the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1891 : 000), there would be in that one city 4 times as many heathen as Christians, …. …. and not a single Christian in any other ;:~ :~ :: :: :: :. part of the country. No, Japan is not r … :: ::: yet a Christian country; and there is room and need for hundreds if not I thousands of missionaries and native evangelists, if this people is to be saved il ere the Lord come." Then ponder this concerning India: "Since 1881 the For two or three years this traffic, which population has increased by 29,000,000 partakes so largely of the inhuman and -that is to say, almost as many souls the hellish, was reported as steadily have been added to the people of India falling off, but now it has again reached in ten years as are comprised in the high-water mark. whole population of England and Wales. The total is now 286,000,000. India -More than one fourth of the earth's contains more people than all Africa inhabitants are crowded into China and and South America combined; more Japan, and more than one fifth into than all Europe, excluding Russia; India; but after all the phenomenal nearly ten times the popUlation of Engsuccess which the Gospel has had in land. Or take the provinces, Bengal Japan, but a trifling beginning has been alone has more souls than the United made. An English missionary states States and Canada combined; the Punthe following facts: "To-day there are jab more than Spain and Portugal ; the 40,000,000 in Japan, and not 40,000, Madras Presidency, equal to Italy and Protestant Christians-that is, one in Belgium together. Each missionary, 1000. For every 2 Christians there are on an average, has 250,000 Bouls to 5 Buddhist temples, not to mention reach." And then, as for China, "not Shinto temples. There are 10,000 more one in 10,000 has as yet ever even heard head-priests of Buddhism than there are of Jesus Christ." Among China's 350,- Protestant Christians, and for every 000,000, 30 ProtAstant societies sustain in all less than 1300 men and women (at the rate of one to 270,000 heathen), something more than 40,000 have been gathered into churches, and about 15,- 000 are receiving instruction in Chris- tian schools. Evidently the call for 1000 more missionaries to labor in China alone is a most modest and reasonable one.
-Or, glance at South America with 7,500,000 square miles and a popula- tion of about 35,500,000. Over almost the entire continent the papacy bears undisputed sway, and heathenism holds the rest. Including the American Bible committed to our trust-as contrasted Society, 8 societies are endeavoring to with the superabounding opportunities diffuse a pure Gospel-the Methodist of this Christian land, where one per- Episcopal Church, North and South, son in every 600 of its 63,000,000 is an the Presbyterian, North and South, the evangelical minister, and one in every Southern Baptist, -the Moravian, and 5 is a professed disciple of the Lord the South American Missionary Society Jesus Christ? Is $6 out of $100, $94 of England. The number of men and being retained for work at home, is $20 women at work is but about 325, and out of $100, $80 being retained for be- the number of communicants is less nevolent work at home, a fair propor- than 15,000. There remaineth yet very tion ?"
much land to be possessed. -0£ the 15,730,000 people of Hun- gary, 3,200,000 are Protestants. Of -Of course there should be some fair these again 2,030,000 are Reformed -that is, some truly Christian-propor- and 1,120,000 Lutherans. The latter tion established and maintained in our have 1195 pastors and 1433 congrega- churches between home expenses, home tions; the former 4241 congregations missions, and foreign missions; and served by 2283 pastors. The Unitarians hence these words of Secretary Alden, number about 1i0,000, organized into of the American Board, are well worthy 187 congregations with 107 pastors. of careful consideration. His figures The Protestants are very active in edu- relate to the Congregationalists. He cational and literary work. The num- says : " There are 4817 chnrches with ber of their schools is 3826, besides 14 a membership of 506,832, a Sunday- preparatory schools for teachers, 52 school membership of 613,810. The high schools, and 13 theological schools. reported contributions for 1890 for , home expenditures' in round numbers -Says Bishop Walden: "Italy has were $6,100,000, and for the several de- above 30,000,000 of people, of whom bepartments of home benevolence $1,900,- tween 25,000 and 30,000 are connected 000, a total of $8,000,000. The reported with some Protestant organization-not contributions for foreign missions were more than one in every thousand of the $350,000. Suppose we add the gener- population. In 1890, 6 Protestant bodies ous sum of $150,000, t6 represent possi- reported 23,452 members, but besides ble unreported contributions, and thus these there is the mission of the Plycall the contibutions to foreign missions mouth Brethren, a few small indepen- $500,000; we have then a total from dent missions, and the several Anglican benevolent contributions, excluding and other foreign churches. The entire legacies, of $2,400,000-that is, $80 out Protestant force, however, must fall beof every $100 is for work at home, $20 low 30,000. The Methodist contingent for work abroad. Bringing in, how- is about 2500, a little more than 1500 ever, the entire home expenditures, are found in the Wesleyan, and a little which is a proper thing to do, we have less than 1000 in the Methodist Episcoan aggregate of $8,500,000. On this pal Mission. The Waldensian Church basis, $94 out of every $100 is devoted began the work of evangelization in to the support of Christian institutions 1848, and reports 18,000; the Free and Christian bene,olence at home, and Church of Italy, united in one body in $6 for the corresponding work abroad. 1865, reports 1800; the Baptist less We ask, Is this a fair proportion? We than 900, and the 'Italian Catholic repeat the question, Is this a fair pro- Church' about 100. Such is the nuportion, particularly when we remem- merical strength of Protestantism in ber the perishing need of the unevan· Italy."
gelized nations-not less than 120,000,- -Belgium received its Roman Catho- 000 of their popUlation being specially lic impress under the iron rule of Philip of Spain, and is to-day, along with Agency, South Dakota, says: "We Spain, the country most devoted to the have just closed the convocation of our papacy, and is in the eyes of the Ro- Indian deanery, which, despite the late man Catholic Church, a true, ideal disturbances, was the largest in num- state. Among its 6,000,000 inhabitants bers and offerings we have ever had. not more than 20,000 are Protestant. Over 1500 people camped around an In 1837 a number of Protestants, among open circle. The women, representing • whom was the well-known Merle d' Au- 36 local branches of the Woman's Aux_ bigne and the church elder Mertens, of iliary, presented in cash $800, and the Breslau, founded the" Evangelical So· young men $170 for all sorts of chari- ciety of Belgium." In 1848 a church, ties, among them being work in Japan consisting of 49 converted Catholics, and China, missions in South Dakota, was organized upon a Presbyterian ba- the Episcopate fund, the native clergy sis, under the name of the" Christian fund, and other objects." Mission Church of Belgium." Accord ing to the statistics of 1889 it consisted -The secretaries of the Missionary of 2; churches, 22 ministers, 81 elders, Society of the Methodist Episcopal 104 deacons, 4 evangelists, 8 Bible Church have issued a circular letter readers, 5 colporteurs, and 4 students showing how the collections for mis- of theology, all under the direction of sions have been steadily advancing, bnt 3 local synods and one general Synod. calling attention to the fact that the In 1888 the number of communicants demand is advancing at a greater rate was 4396 ; Sabbath-schools, 59; schol- than the supply. The table appended ars, 2631. Besides this free church, gives a snmmary of the collections for there is also the Belgian National (Prot- the past seven years for the general estant) Church, whose ministers are work of the Society, both at home and paid by the State. abroad: -What a spectacle was beheld at the 3 … ""~~~o;~~&? :.''","e; Yankton Agency, S. D., a few weeks since, when 1000 Sioux, representing 0 8i~~~f8~~ 0~0 16 tribes-the Omahas, Santees, Yanktons, Yanktonnais, Brules, Ogalalas, E-< :l:g-o"o&'<5~ g,..f…,.t…§….,.,…g……,.,l……i…<is Minnecaujus, Two-kettles, Blackfeet, Hauhapapi, Sissetons, Wahpetons, As- … .,; &3~~8~~~ ~ siniboins, Rees, Mandans, and Gros … ~~E~~~~ <Xi Ventres-came together to hold an an- ~ ~'" nual meeting to tell and to hear the '" ~~~~"t:!~fi 0> story of the victories of the cross. And 0 Ui>""''''''''''' ,…. it was only a year before that the" Mes- c0>r siah crRZe" and the war were on. These were all Christian brethren and Presby- ~ terians and Congregationalists. Among the subjects in which the Indians took -"'" g;:ll~c;;188;g1~ an active and eloquent part were these: " How to Prevent the People from Being … .,S,-. ~_~_~_~_~_~.~_c:!~: Led Away by False Religions," " Should "'"::: 0 Mourners Refrain from Attending Pub- … ~ ":'g~<"o'&~5g"s'"'''','..'..'~'..S.'..;~lIo~ ~> lic Worship 1" "How to Make Prepara- 0 tion for the Sabbath," "The Proper 0 Uses which the Dakotas Should Make of Money Annuities." And further, Ii Bishop Hare, writing from the Rosebud ~ ~ E-< illi§JOCi§OJl&:51-2-O&O5~0g0 I ,…. ""'''''''''''''''''''"'''i?""t -The Presbyterian Church, North, is doing earnest work with excellent results in Western Persia, Rev. J, H. Shedd states: "Four of the churches, with professing Christians of the country.
an aggregate of 879 members, support The system of church polity, which has themselves, and 2 of them contribute slowly developed itself, is rather a com- largely for helping others; 5 other bination of Independency, Presbyteri- churches, with less than 100 members anism, and Episcopacy. An Anglican each, pay half or more of their ex- mission works chiefly on the East Coast, penses, and 28 others pay a less sum to with a bishop and cathedral at Antan- self-support. The tacit understanding anarivo. A Roman Catholic bishop is is that a church of 100 members ought also stationed at the capital. There to be self-supporting. There are some are about 28 missionaries of the London 20 other mission stations-for the nomi- Missionary Society in Madagascar, 10 nal Christians-home missions. One of the Friends' Mission, 10 of the Angli- fourth of this advance work is from the can Mission, 26 of the Norwegian Lu- native missionary fund, and three therans, and about 40 priests and fourths from our mission. The whole brothers of the Roman Catholic Mission.
of this agency cost the New York Board as well as sevflral Sisters of Mercy.
last year $3741, an average of $62 a The London Missionary Society has congregation, to help the development about 950 native pastors and about 100 of the native church and home mis- evangelists or native missionaries sta- sions. Last winter nearly 100 schools tioned in various parts of the country, and over 2000 pupils were cared for at many of them in quite heathen dis- an expense to the Board of $1582.50, an tricts. There are about 350,000 Protes- average of $16 to a school, about 75 tants and about 35,000 Roman Catho- cents to a pupil. To this should be lics. Five sixths of the Malagasy are added the sums given in self-support. still pagans. Schools have been estab- A few schools are entirely self-support- lished, and education is compulsory ing, and all pay some part of the ex- wherever the influence of the central pense, except in a few very peculiar government is effective. All the mis.
cases. In a few places Moslem pupils sionary societies at work in Madagascar attend. The higher education of the col- have colleges and high schools, the lat- lege or female seminary costs the Board ter both for boys and girls, in all of a larger sum. The number of pupils which education is given ~reely, with in the united schools, male and female, but nominal charges for books, etc. Al- was 337 the year past. Of these 202 most every congregation, except the were boarding pupils. The income smallest and the weakest, has its school.
from these is almost enough to pay for The London Missionary Society has their board. The charge to the Board also an industrial school for teaching aside from missionary salaries was handicrafts. Hospitals and medical $2200, which covers expenses of teach- schools are also connected with this So- ers, buildings, rooms, and some inci- ciety, as well as with the Friends, Lu.
dentals. It is about $11 a pupil for the theran and Anglican Missions, and boarding departments." there are now a number of trained doc- tors and surgeons. It is estimated there -A large portion of the Hova and of are about 1800 schools and about 170,- the other tribes in the central districts 000 children under instruction, but it is of Madagascar have been christianized, difficult to get the statistics of the Ro- and Christianity is acknowledged and man Catholic Mission.
protected by the government. There is no state church, although the queen -The Moravian (Bethlehem, Pa.) very and principal officers of the government properly, and in excellent spirit, calls are Qonnected with the churches formed attention to certain misstatements con- by the London Missionary Society, tained in the" October" number of THE which comprises the vast majority of MIsSIONARY REVIEW, "usually so accurate," relating both to the total expen- misstatement referred to is found not diture for missions made by that body in October, but in November instead.
of Christians aD.d the amount contrib- uted by friends from outside. Now, he who would knowingly offend in that way, and thus" belittle the liberality" Monthly Bulletin. of a church which just there comes nearest to the Gospel ideal, would by -News of the death of Miss Jennie the act prove himself the chief of sin- B. Small, a missionary of the Presbyteners. The mistake is deeply regretted, rian Board of Foreign Missions, at and originated wholly from partial and Petchaburee, Siam, on June 2, has been so defective information. However, received. Miss Small taught school for Borrow is not altogether unmingled several years in Mansfield, Allegheny with joy, since the opportunity is thus County, Pa.
afforded to present the facts, which for -The Zambesi Chief Lewanika has substance, The Moravian being author- sent his eldest son Litia to Morija, in ity, are as follows; "The total cost of Basutoland, to receive Christian inour missions in 1890 was $350,475. struction. The chief has many excel- The largest proportion of this-more lent parts, and for some time has been than two thirds-was raised in the mis- on terms of friendship with M. Coilsion fields themselves, through the con- lard, of the Paris Society of Missions, tributions of the converts and also from and Litia himself is a promising young the proceeds of trades carried on in man of Christian character. certain mission-provinces for the benefit of the missions. The sum of $24,060 -The London Christian says; "The is to be credited, as THE MISSIONARY Chinese Government is now taking very REVIEW puts it, to the ' Brethren's con- vigorous steps to suppress and to pregregations,' but this is not all. The vent attacks on missionaries. We may Labrador and the Alaska accounts do therefore reasonably trust that those not pass through our General Board. who are carrying the Word of God into Labrador entailed an outlay of $9800, that distant land will be in less danger Alaska of $8400. The gifts from friends than has recently been the case. This in Britain, including therefore those of is something to thank God for not only the London Association referred to were for the sake of the missionaries, but of $26,686 ; on the Continent of Europe, the future weal of China itself."
$22,656 ; in America, $285. [Total gifts -The work among the blind in Syria from friends, $49,627.] Mite societies is full of interest. The number of blind in the various Moravian congregations seen in the East is very distressing. contributed $3430. Legacies were receiv- There are blind schools at Beirut, Daed to the amount of $23,670, and the in- mascus and Tyre. Blind Scripture come from funded legacies was $37,264. readers have the entree of Moslem homes, How much of the last two items should a privilege which blindness confers. be credited to members, and how much One of the earliest pupils in the Beirut to friends of the Moravian Church, we Blind School, after completing his are not able to say. It may be added studies in Edinburgh University, has that the entire cost of administration been ordained pastor of the Presbytewas but $16,570, and that the total of rian church of Knox, in Brussels, Onadherents is now 90,020, while the tario. home churches number less than 35,- 000." It will be noticed that a portion -The first section of the little rail- of the $350,475 is derived from the road which is to connect Jaffa with Jern- " proceeds of trades." salem has been completed, and tourists Surely, humanum est errare, and the are now able to travel by rail from Jaffa to Ramleh, about one third the dis- Glasgow, said, at the annual meeting of tance. It will not be long before pil- the London Missionary Society, that grims to the Holy Land will be whisked missionaries did not sufficiently raise in an hour from the sea to Jerusalem, the veil and tell what Hinduism is.
to the ~reat disgust of camel owners One could not speak about it and and stage proprietors_ scarcely write about it. Almost every -Some of the Indian women on the temple in India had from 30 to 200 Yakama and Puyallup reservations have priestesses engaged in vice. That was asked that women evangelists be sent how Hinduism dealt with woman. to them, and in response Mrs. E. C. Miller has been sent to Yakama, and -The Bev. Allen Hazen, formerly a Mrs. Bell to Puyallup. The doing of missionary in India, and more recently Gospel work among Indian women will a pastor in New Zealand, has returned, result in great good. If they can be at the age of sixty-eight, accompanied taught the blessedness of peace, and be by his daughter, born in India, to re_ made to know the Prince of Peace, sume, at his own charges, his old work in the Marathi Mission.
Indian wars will soon come to an end. –In an interesting paper in a recent -At the "Keswick Convention," in number of The Church of Scotland Home England, there was a missionary meet- and Foreign XtSsian Record, Rev. Dr. ing, at which many addresses were Mackinnon, of Heidelberg, calls attenmade by missionaries from many lands tion to the thoroughness with which -among others, by Mrs. Grattan Guin- German missionaries are trained for ness, representing, as she said, mission- their work. Their systematic method aries on the Congo River, Mrica, and is said to be remarkable indeed in comby Mr. Robert Wilder, who described parison with the lax preparatory trainthe great volunteer missionary move- ing in some other countries largely enment in the United States_ A very gaged in missionary effort. After satispractical issue of the Convention was factory proof of their fitness for the the fact that a multitude of gifts, vary- life, the candidates in Germany are ading in amount from a few shillings to mitted to attend the Mission House one hundreds of pounds, and reaching the evening in the week for a year. They grand total of £1814, were sent in to be are then entered upon the books of the devoted to the cause of God at home preparatory school for two years for inand abroad. struction in Latin, etc. After this they have a course of instruction of a theo- -A Japanese converted to Christ logical nature, including the study of seems at once to betake himself to the the Bible in the original tongue, and a labor of teaching the truth to his friends few sessions of medical training in the at home and at a distance, and thus is hospital. The years thus spent are use- the way prepared for the minister of ful in developing in the future mission- Christ. No wonder that, with such ary many qualities which are of the ut- preparatory service, the truth is run- most value in the mission field. The ning in that land, and being glorified. rllsult is that men are sent out who are -Mrs. L. J. Newton, in a recent ad- in every way worthy of their work, and dress to the Missionary Conference held who undertake it thoroughly equipped at Chautauqua, speaking of progress in for the master's service. the Punjab, India, said: "We have $7000 invested in our church and hos- -The American Baptist Missionary pital at Ferozepore, every cent of which Union is supporting eighteen preachers was given by native converts." in Russia. One has been exiled to Si- beria for preaching the Gospel, and an- other sent out of the country with only -The Rev. Professor Lindsay, ..··of three hours' notice. -A Misil Agnew, of New York, it is cheerfully, 'and he lived there in the said, when only eight years old gave most frugal and primitive fashion. He her heart to· mission work. She went had no notion of being too valuable in to Ceylon, and spent forty-three un- Europe to be hidden away in the almost broken years. A thousand girls passed inaccessible uplands of Asia. He was through her school. She taught the a true Moravian.
children and the grandchildren of the first generation. The natives called -King Mwanga of Uganda has proher the mother of a thousand daughters. hibited slavery in his dominions.
IShe led six hundred girls to Christ. -The Queen of Madagascar, with They became the wives of the chief 200,000 of· her subjects, is ranged on men, and were shining lights. There the side of Christianity.
are also forty Bible women in India -At Oyamada, Japan, the church of who were trained in her school. 100 members has built a church costing -A few weeks ago a leading Brahman $1300, of which they paid $900 them· in Bombay, an official in the education selves.
department, married the widowed -England proudly boasts that the daughter of another Brahman prominent sun never sets on her dominions. The in the literary world. The ceremony United States may say as much, for was attended by many Hindoos of note. when the sun sets in Alaska it is an The other Sunday a Bombay pleader hour high in Maine. convened a meeting to get sentence of expulsion pronounced upon all the -A medical missionary in China reo Shenvi Brahmans who were present at cently treated fourteen men in one day the marriage. The temple was crowded, who represented eleven of the eighteen but it is a remarkable evidence of prog- provinces of the Empire.
ress that only nine persons voted with -The four gospels have been transthe convener of the gathering. The lated into Uzbek, the language of 2,250" Shenvi is one of the most powerful 000 people in Central Asia, and pub- Brahman castes in Western India. lished by the British and Foreign Bible -The Moravians are alive to their in- Society.
dividual responsibility concerning the -Tunis is under the protection of unevangelized nations of the world, and France. It has a population of 2,000,.
they hold themse~ves in readiness to go 000, mostly Mohammedans, among out as missionaries when called upon whom drunkenness is prevalent.
to do so. This is true of the most -The work of telegraph building in scholarly and distinguished among them South Africa is pushed far ahead of rail· as well as of others. Henry Augustus road enterprise. Savage Africa will Jaeschke, late Moravian missionary in thus be joined with civilization by elec. Northern India and Thibet, besides Ger- tric wire. man was master of Polish, Danish and Swedish, and was acquainted with Eng- -The first section of the Congo raillish, Hungarian, Bohemian, Latin and way has been completed, from Matadi Greek, and, after going to the East, al. to Leopold Ravine, and construction ready knowing Sanskrit, Persian and trains are running.
Arabic, and, no doubt, Hebrew, he -The Chinese Government has fully learned Hindustani and Urdu, and compensated the missionaries in Honan lastly Thibetan. He was likewise for the injury to their property by a versed in mathematics and natural sci. mob only three months ago. ence, especially botany. He obeyed the call of his Church to go to the -The Comber family will be noted Himalayan regions unquestioningly and ,. in the martyr list of Congo Missions, having given five lives already to that -The Rev. Mr. LeWis, of England, work: Dr. Sidney Comber, Thomas J. died recently. In 1842 he went to Comber, Mrs.' Hay, Mrs. Thomas J. India, and having reduced the language Comber, and Mrs. Percy Comber. of the Khassees to writing, he devoted himself to translations, and was able Ohina.-The 32,000 native Chinese without any help but that given by his Moravian Christians gave year before wife, to translate the whole of the New last $38,000 for missionary work. Testament into Khassei. From the work which he started have developed -It is reported that, as a result of 60 churches with a membership of 7000. the great assistance given to the faminestricken people of Shantung, in 1889, -The Rev. W. F. Bainbridge tells the when over $200,000 were distributed following touching story of a Brahmin and over 100,000 lives saved, a great convert hemet in India: .. Ashe talked many have been drawn to pay special of his work and urged me to labor hard attention to Christianity as the religion in the interests of heathen evangelizawhich influences people for such deeds tion, I felt that it was not he, but Christ of kindness and mercy; and during speaking through him. Last mgnth a 1890 it is said that over a thousand per- Conconada brother wrote me of his sons were baptized whose attention was death. He had just officiated at a weddrawn' to the religion of Christ by the ding. A sudden sickness came on befact that the missionaries were so promi- fore he had signed the marriage certifinent in securing this aid and distribut- cate. 'Just your name, brother,' they ing it. Not by any means were all these said, as they put the paper unner his recipients of aid, but they saw what was hand, and the pen between his fingers_ being done for their fellow.men, and , Name? • said the dying Brahmin, compared the fruits of Christianity with , name? There is none other name the fmits ,of heathenism. given under heaven among men where- by we must be saved.' • Yes; but we -It is stated by Dr. Joseph Simms, want your own name. Quick I Write it.' who has lately returned from China, , My name? I have none other name that at least 200,000 girl babies are than the lamb's name written in my brutally killed in various ways every forehead.' And the pen moved and the year in that empire, to get them out of hand dropped, and the spirit was gone; the way. In every large city there are and they looked, and he had written asylums for tl:ie care of orphans, sup- 'Jesus.' .. ported and conducted by foreigners, who save yearly from slaughter tens of thousands of female infants.
India_-Sir Charles A. Elliott, the new -The Methodist Episcopal Church Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, speak- has three conferences in India, North ing at Simla, has added his testimony India, South India, alild Bengal. The to the value of missions as judged from statistics have recently been published the standpoint of high Indian officials. of the three combined, together with cor- .. I make bold to say," were his words, responding figures for 1870, and the " that if missions did not exist it would growth of 20 years thus shown is most be our duty to invent them." This is cheering. The figures for two decades what was said by the famous men who ago are put in parenthesis: Missionbuilt up the administration of the Pun- aries, 72 (19) ; wives, 62 (17); Hindustani jab, and who, when it was !1nnexed in missionaries, 54 (5); Zenana mission- 1849, among their first requirements, aries, 33 (2); baptisms in 1890, 7661 along with courts, and codes, and roads, (471); native communicants, 11,991 and police, wrote home to the Church (600) ; day schools, 853 (117) ; scholars, Missionary Society for a supply of mis- 25,540 (4309) ; money collected in India sionaries. in 1890,217,287 rupees (24,478).