The Missionary Review of the World — June 1939
1939
What Is New in Home Missions?
Mark A. Dawber Experiences Among Ozark Mountaineers Paul A. Wobus The South's Number One Problem Archie C. Smith Berea's Work for Mountaineers William J. Hutchins New Frontiers in Home Missions Edward D. Kohlstedt American Indians' Work for Indians G. E. E. Lindquist A Christian Philosophy for Rural Work Frank W. Price 2S Cents a Copy $2.50 a YeaI'
to Remember elected one of the secretaries of the THE
Board of Foreign Missions of the June 7-13 – Ann u a I Conference, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., to take <- The only weekly in the Church of the Brethren, Anderson, the place of Dr. Webster E. Browning Presbyterian Church. Ind. who has been honorably retired. Dr. Anderson is a Canadian by birth, a <- Its message is based upon June 8 – General Synod of the Re- graduate of McGill University, Mon- the Revealed Word of God. formed Church in America, New treal, and of Princeton Theological York, N. Y. Seminary. He went to Cameroon, <- Goes into every state in West Africa, in 1926. On June 1, he the Union, U. S. possessions June 9-16-Annual Meeting, Foreign will take up his official duties as Sec- and many foreign countries. Missions Conference. Swarthmore, retary but first expects to visit the Pa. South American fields this summer Subscription rate – $2.50 and autumn since he is to have re- Ministerial rate – – $2.00 June 16-24–Winona Summer School sponsibility for the Latin America of Missions, Winona Lake, Ind. and Africa portfolios. SOc. extra–Canadian postage Courses include Bible, Mission Text- $1.50 extra– Foreign postage books and addresses by missionaries. *** Write to Mrs. C. E. Ahrensfeld, 431 THE PRESBYTERIHn S. East Ave., Oak Park, Ill. Dr. Everett B. King, pastor of the Hemphill Church, Fort Worth, Texas, 121 7 Market Street June 20-25 – Northern Baptist Con- has been elected Secretary of the Philadelphia, Pa. vention, Los Angeles, Calif. Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. He theologian and professor for 20 years, june 21-2S-Sunday School and B. Y. has been assigned to responsibility for has been appointed to the FaCUlty of P. U. Congress of the National Bap- Sunday school missions and Alaska, the Graduate School of Applied Reli- tist Convention, U. S. A., (Inc.), to take the place of Dr. John M. gion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Spiegel Tulsa, Okla. Somerndike, recently deceased. Dr. shared for a time the fate of Martin King is a native of Texas and was Niemoller in a concentration camp, June 24-July I-Eagles Mere Confer- educated at the University of Texas, and was recently "shipped" to Switzer- ence of Missions. Chairman, Mrs. Trinity University, and the Presby- land. Earl Breeding, 24 Rugby Lane, terian Theological Seminary at Chi- Scarsdale, N. Y. cago. Dean Alfredo* G*onz*alez, of Central July 3-10-Northfield Missionary Con- *** Philippine College, has written a book ference for Women and Girls. East e~t!tled "The 9a11 of the Heights," Northfield, Mass. For information, Dr. Albert ,schweitzer founded his VIrIle and umrustakably religious in address Mrs. Warren C. Taylor, 38 hospital in Africa twenty-five years its appeal. The book has just been Union Ave., Schenectady, N. Y. ago. On the 25th anniversary the selected by the Philippine Government children of the Mission presented him Department 01; Education, as the text july 6-11 – International Christian with a beautiful piece of furniture, for character instruction in the public Endeavor Convention, Cleveland, made by themselves. One of them schools of the Islands. Ohio. made a presentation speech to "our dear, grand docteur." Dr. Schweitzer *** July 11-August 16 – Winona Lake refused an electric organ because of School of Theology. Winona Lake, the difficulty of keeping the compli- Rev. Myron Terry, of the Christian Ind. Dean, Dr. J. A. Huffman, 302 cated machinery in order in that cli- Litera;ture Society in ~hanghai, is Morton Blvd., Marion, Ind. mate. Instead, he was given the price spendmg some. mont~s m Kunming, of an X-ray for the hospital. Yunnan, supermtendmg the erection July 22-28-Baptist World Congress. of a small building and getting a new Atlanta, Ga. *** branch of the Christian Literature So- ciety started. July 24-August 2-World Conference Dr. Walter Spiegel, member of the of Christian Youth, Amsterdam, ConfC'ssional Church in Germany, a Rev. George*W*. Sh*epherd, of Au- Holland. J}pmn~ burndale, Mass., went to China 18 Aug. SolO-Ninth Quadrennial Con- y~ars ago as a Congregational mis- vention of the Woman's Home and of tbe SIOnary. Ten years later, the National Foreign Missionary Society of Af- Council of China detailed him to as- rican Methodist Episcopal Zion ctbri~tian sist Generalissimo and Madame Church, Detroit, Mich. Chiang in their "New Life Move- lLift ment," fight~ng supersti~ion and politi- August 13-20-Geneva Summer School cal corruptIOn, promoting education of Missions, Lake Geneva, Wis. cA BOOK of worship in song, com- and public health. Along came the For information write to Mrs. Paul bining a hymnal for general war and the Movement's energies H. Wezeman, 1177 S. Humphrey church use, and a song book for evan- ~ere diyerted to :relief. Mr. Shepherd Ave., Oak Park, Ill. gelistic purposes. onty songs sound IS now m the Uruted States, ostensibly in the faith and inspirationaf in char- on furlough, but using his time to Personal Item. acter induded—emphasizing Evangel- raise funds for the "Church Commit- ism, Missions, and the Deeper Life. tee for China Relief." Dr. Francis S. Hutchins, of the Many of the new—the best of the old. Yale-in-China Mission School at (Co'Mluded. em page 273.) Changsha, has been elected President 504 Songs Responsive Readings of Berea College, Kentucky, to succeed his father, Dr. William J. Topical Index Gold Embossed Hutchins, who is resigning after nineteen years of service. Published in round notes and Roxite cloth edition only at $65.00 per 100—an especiall~ Dr. Francis Hutchins is 38 years of low price. Single copy, 8Se postpaid. age. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., educated at Oberlin and Yale and Write today for returnable sample co,", went out fourteen years ago to work in the Yale Mission. His brother, Dr. CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, Inc. Robert M. Hutchins, is President of the University of Chicago. 1502 NORTH THIRD STREET HARRISBURG. PA. *** The Rev. Llewellyn K. Anderson, Ph.D., recently a Presbyterian missionary in West Africa, has been
MISSIONARY I have taken the magazine for years WHEN THE CALL LEADS
and would feel quite lost without it." REVIEW OF THE WORLD II EAST 0F SUE Z" Long BeaMchIS-,SCSaAlRifA. L. HAMILTON. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor The Jain Temple, Calcutta * .. … VOL. LXII JUNE, 1939 NO.6 I'OR OVBR 100 YBARS "We always enjoy greatly reading THB WAY HAS BBBN Publication and Busines" Olllce- Third and Reily St•. , Harri£burg, Pa. THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. I wish Editorial and Executive UlIlce– every minister could take it." 156 Firth Avenue, New York City. Entered as second-ciass matter at REV. FREDERICK G. COAN. Claremont, Calif. Post Olllce, Harrisburg. Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. * .. * 25 cellts a copy-$2.50 a year. "Your magazine fills a place which Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. Published monthly, except August. no other missionary magazine quite All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1939. British agents – Marshall, Morgan fills." F. A. GOETSCH, and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London. E. C 1 shilling per copy, Executive Secretary of the 10 sh!Jlings a year. Board of Foreign Missions, Evangelical Synod of N. A. MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- LISHING CO., INC. … * …
BOARD OF DIRECTORS A CORRECTION ROBERT Eo SPEER, President Rev. E. E. Elder, the author of the A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-Pre.•idcnt article in our December (1938) num- WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer ber: "What is the Koran?" is a mem- DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary ber of the United Presbyterian PAUL J. BRAISTED Mission in Cairo, Egypt, from Meshed, SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Persia. The Rev. John Elder. of Ham- D. J. FANT adan, Iran, is a missionary of the MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIC M. NORTH Obituary Notes SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Dr. Dan B. Brummitt, editor of the PaO Editorial Chat Central and Northwestern editions of The Christian Advocate, died April 5 Let the comfort of mOclern liners and the secur- This is our Home Mission Number. in Kansas City, almost on the eve of ity of British seamanship enhance your voy· The field is so large and varied and the uniting conference. Dr. Brummitt age. Whenever you are called to the other we have so recently devoted special was an outstanding religious editor side of the world, choose this traditional reute. numbers to the City (June, 1938), of our time, and ardently upheld Cross to England by a modern transatlantic Rural Problems, The Negro, Orientals Christian democracy in journalism. liner and then embark in a great liner of the and Spanish – Speaking Americans, Few knew that the weekly column of p & 0 and British India fleets, led by the new that some of these important topics wit and wisdom, filled with the spirit 23,500-ton Strathallan. StrathmoHl, and Strathare not treated here. Other articles of Christ, and signed "Justus Timber- eden carrying First and Tourist Classes. Airthat have appeared in recent issues line," was written by the editor. conditioned dining saloons in First Class, hot deal with and cold running water throughout, built-in Rev. John A*. Si*lsb*y, retired Pres- out-door swimming pools. children's play- A Cathedral on Wheels (April, rooms! Regular service to Egypt. Sudan. Iran- 1938) byterian missionary to East China, ian Gulf. India. Burma. Ceylonl& Straits Settle- ments, China. Japan, Australia. East and Migrant Workers (April, 1938) died in Hayward, California, March 4. South Africa. Mauritius. Special reductions The Whole Community (July, 1938) In 1890 he became principal of Lowrie and generous baggage allowance for American Indians (February, 1939) missionaries. Missions in Alaska (April, 1939) Institute for Boys, the oldest school Problems of a Midwest City (Sep- in Shanghai and one of the oldest in tember, 1938) China. * .. * Other articles on Home Missions Mr. Frank A. Horne, Vice-President will appear later. of the Board of Foreign Missions of *** the Methodist Church for twenty-two If you are leaving your present mailing address for the summer, years and chairman of the Methodist Convenient throuqh bookinqs can kindly send word as soon as possible be arranqed by your travel aqent. with the address to which you wish Book Committee, died March 22 at the to have your C!}py of THE REVIEW age of seventy. He had been a mem- Or apply at 25 Broadway. 638 Fit~h forwarded. Please mention dates of Ave.• N. Y. . . . or any ottice of your absence from home and mail to ber of six consecutive General Con- Subscription Department, MISSl()NARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, 3rd & Reily ferences since 1916 and a member of , Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. There will be the Board of Foreign Missions since no August number of THE REVIEW 1906. CUNARD WHllf. ~lAR printed. Person.I Item. ,. ents for 'T A. Among the c*om*men*ts on THE RE- General 9 (Concluded from 2d cover.) VIEW received recently from readers ANO OR,eN are the following: In the war zone, missionaries and New Life workers give first aid to fleN'NSU.AR. S:teAt" "I used THE REVIEW a great deal victims of Japanese guns and bru- . t 'NO'A with my recent review of 'The Amer- tality. Then refugees get clothing, ",G ANO BRl'T'S COMflAN,eS ican City and Its Church,' and found food and transportation away from it exceedingly helpful to make the danger zones. Refugees must find NA A'T,ON mission study book more interesting. new farms, jobs, homes. Even in "free China" there is the perenl'lial problem of famine.-NeW8week.
[273]
B. D. WEEKS AND MRS . ROBERTA CAMPBELL, WITH INDIAN STUDENTS OF BACONE COLLEGE (Baptist
INDIAN PILLARS OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH ( Congregational), REV. AND MRS. W. DAVID OWJ~, SENE CA, N. Y. MR. OWL ELTON, LOUISIANA IS THE' INDIAN PASTOR ON THE RESERVATION REV. AND MRS. SILAS, OJIBWAY REV. ROBT, PAUL CHAAT THREE I NDIAN RECTORS IN TRIBE (Reformed Church) SOUTH DAKOTA SOME AMERICAN INDIAN CHRISTIAN LEADERS (see page 299) REVIB ORLD VOLUME LXII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 6 JUNE, 1939 Topics of the Times RELIGION IN THE WORLD TOMORROW Gospel messages are not excluded. A very defi- nite Christian note in the "WorId of Tomorrow"
The New York World's Fair, which opened on is sounded in a small concession paid for by the Sunday, April 30, is an impressive spectacle. It "Gideons," where they can exhibit Bibles and lit- covers 1,216 acres, or nearly two square miles, erature relating their work of Bible distribution on the Flushing Meadows – ~ormer marsh land in hotels and elsewhere. Other attempts to secure commonly called "Corona Dumps." The reclaim- space for the presentation of Christian activities ing of the land, planting thousands of trees, con- and achievements have failed to produce results. structing roads, lagoons. and fountains, and erect- The message and work of Jesus Christ, as the reving buildings, has cost nearly $160,000,000. The elation of God and His Way of Life for the "World exhibits include many interests related to art and of Tomorrow," are not exhibited there, even as education, transportation, housing, manufactures they have not been at other national expositions.
and inventions, various national, state and foreign The Fair is devoted to the humanistic ideals, to buildings, as well as areas devoted to amusements, the strictly material and temporal hopes. and sports and restaurants. achievements, rather than to things that relate to The Fair is being visited daily by from 100,000 God, to spiritual ideals and Eternal Life. to 300,000 persons who are expected to spend This is, perhaps, not surprising. Men today do from two to twenty-five dollars each (from May not agree in their conception of God and His Way to November), making a total of perhaps of Life. Any attempt to present Christ, and all $500,000,000 to be spent during the season. The for which He stands, unfortunately often provokes Fair thus provides much that is of interest and oontroversy. But there are naturally many who value. Most people can find there what they are would present what they believe to be the vital most interested to see – beautiful flowers and truths and most dynamic forces in the world of tofoliage, human nature of all sorts and conditions, day and for the World of Tomorrow. The Temple the wonders of modern science and industry, the of Religion has been severely criticized as a weak beauties of music and art, amusements for every attempt to recognize an "unknown God" to whom, taste-high and low. in some way, men may have some responsibility.
It is in the realm of religion that the Fair is Dr. George W. Arms, a pastor in Brooklyn, New lacking. If the "World of Tomorrow" can offer York, calls the Temple of Religion "the devil's nothing more than is here provided there is no smokescreen to hide from the people the Cross outlook for more than a very vague worship of of Jesus Christ and the true issues at stake in the some "unknown God" and a faint hope for the pro- foundation of democracy, and to blind them with motion of peace, brotherly kindness and social serv- a false sense of security."
ice. The Jews have a Hebrew Temple and a Pal- No doubt this is an extreme view, but is it not estine exhibit; Christian Science is represented true that in this presentation of the "World of by a building with a reading room and literature; Tomorrow" there is no recognition of the God who the Y. M. C. A. building includes a restroom and has created the wonderful world in which we live, restaurant; there is a "Temple of Religion," has loved the world of mankind enough to give where music and pageants are presented. The Himself that men might have life, and to whom atmosphere is restful and dignified. Distinctly the world of yesterday and today owes everything [275 ]
worth knowing, doing or possessing? After all union was effected in Great Britain, two hundred the American nation was established by men who years after John Wesley began his work that rebelieved in God and who desired a home where sulted in Methodism. There are still several they could worship Him and could live in the way Methodist churches outside the union-the Free that Jesus Christ made possible. The Bible, as Methodist, Wesleyan Methodist, the African the Word of God, the Sabbath as the Lord's Day M. E., the African M. E. Zion, and the Colored and Christ as the Son of God and Saviour, cannot Methodist Episcopal, numbering in all about safely be ignored in the "World of Tomorrow." 1,600,000 more American Methodists.
What can be done to make up in some degree This large body of Christians, now organically for what is lacking in Christian emphasis in the united into one Methodist Church, can accomplish World's Fair? At the Columbian Exposition in great things for the Kingdom of God, under wise, Chicago in 1893, the most potent Christian in- consecrated leadership, if they are truly motifluence was the series of great evangelistic meet- vated, instructed and empowered by the ideals and ings conducted by Dwight L. Moody, where there spirit of Christ. As Dr. John R. Mott, a promwere addresses day and night by outstanding inent Methodist, said at Kansas City: "We have Christian teachers from many lands. In these united to accomplish together things that we canmeetings it is estimated a million people heard not do separately. We must not be satisfied with the Gospel and thousands of them were won to past achievements or with the present situation. Christ. In New York City and its suburbs there An increase in our aggressive missionary work is is a similar opportunity. There is no limit to the one of the tasks which we must now undertake personal work that may be done among visitors to with new vigor." the Fair. Gospels and other literature may be given out to the crowds in hotels, in subways and The new Methodist Church has been divided terat the entrances to the grounds. Parents can ritorially into seven sections or "Jurisdictions"- interpret the exhibits to children from a Christian the Northern, North Central, Western, South point of view. The Calvary Bapti.st Church of Central, Central, South Eastern and Foreign- New York and other churches are kept open all with thirty-six bishops, located at different cenday and some are holding special services where ters. There are also seven missionary Bishops the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be presented. In appointed by the Central Conference. all this there is the ministry of prayer in which all Christians can engage day and night. Christ- The Uniting Conference took a strong stand like lives and friendly service by those who con- against intoxicants and war and adopted the exfess His name will mean much more to visitors cellent "Social Creed" of the Methodist Church, to the Fair than any material exhibits could pos- South. The educational work will be conducted sibly mean. A truly Christian exhibit, presenting under a single board with two divisions, one carthe results of Christian teaching and work in ing for institutions and the other directing reli- America and in all other lands would be a con- gious education in local churches. The confervincing evidence that, if the world is to advance ence was unable to settle the question of a church today and tomorrow, men must .accept God as He periodical-whether it is to be one great national is revealed in Jesus Christ and must follow His paper or several jurisdictional papers with one Way of sacrificial love and eternal life, if they purpose and plan and under one general editor. are to live joyously and victoriously. A commission was appointed to study the question and report. AMERICAN METHODISTS AND THEIR MISSIONS The missionary work of these three uniting churches, which have formerly been conducted The union of the three Methodist Churches in under a number of boards-Home and Foreign, the United States – the Methodist Episcopal General and Women's-will henceforth be under Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, one General Board that will have charge of misand the Methodist Protestant Church, as finally sionary policy and program; the details of adcompleted at Kansas City, brings together into ministration, the choice of fields, the selection of one organic body the largest number of Protes- personnel and the administration of funds, will tants in anyone Church. The total membership be in charge of three administrative divisionsof this united church is approximately 8,000,000, Foreign Missions, Home Missions and Church distributed all over the United States and all over Extension, and Woman's Work-each with its the world, from Alaska in the North to Chile in own executive secretaries. The General Board the South, and from East to West around the will consist of twenty-four men and twenty-four globe. It will be called "The Methodist Church." women, with the bishops.
:r.hi~ ~nion takes place in America, as .a si.roiJar The missionary work of the new Methodist Church will be world-wide, with 1,400 foreign missionaries, 13,500 on their native staff, com- .m~J).i~a,nt§l Jl1 eleven forei~n ~oU.I).tri~t'I ,lUmbering
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
over 270,000 and total annual budgets of ing possible journeys in a day that formerly took a $3,000,000. The Methodist Episcopal Church has month; the telephone, telegraph and radio have had the largest work, conducted in forty-two mis- practically obliterated distance and have united sion areas; the Methodist, South, has worked in the country; the pr'omotion of literacy by the nine of the same areas and Methodist Protestants phonetic method and the increase of general modin three of these fields. Many of the Methodist ern education have set new standards of life and missIon churches are already united where they thought; newspapers and other literature have have work in the same areas. linked China to the outside world and have helped to break down barriers; many foolish and harm-' The first General Conference of the Methodist ful taxes have been abolished and public revenues Church is set for April, 1940. Ecumenical or have been used to meet public need rather than to world-wide Methodism is explained by Bishop fill private purses; before the Japanese invasion Frederick D. Leete as follows: the external credit of China increased with grow- ing export and import trade; mines and other nat- "The purposes of the ecumenical Methodist ural resources have been developed where for- Church are three. One is to catholicize and frater- merly important areas were reserved for burial nalize Methodists everywhere by correspondence, grounds of ancestors; the sta;bilizing of the curvisitation, and world meetings, bringing far-flung rency with a new coinage system and banking reorganizations of the same faith nearer to the fact forms have improved the financial structure of as well as to the concept and ideal of unity. An- the country; the New Life Movement, fostered by other is to encourage and report on the Methodist Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, has mission and its achievements, extending its mu- spread new ideas for public and private life; the tual evangelistic and reformatory movements new leaders in the government have proved themwhich minister to all human needs. The third is selves patriotic,courageous, intelligent, highto assist and advance the total Christian program minded, strong and unselfish-and many of them attempted by all Christian bodies in the name and are Christians. spirit of Christ. All this was being accomplished and was on the "The world alliance of Methodist churches has way for more complete fulfilment when the Japtwo branches. The Western branch represents anese military party (in 1937) undertook to "come the Methodist denominations of the Americas and to the rescue of Chinese," to make their neighbor of the Orient. The Eastern represents Methodist "more friendly," to "put down communism" and bodies of the British Empire in various parts of extend Japanese civilization and control! the world and of the countries of continental Europe." The Japanese have done what a century had not accomplished in unifying China. The unmistak- CHINA'S VICTORIES OF PEACE able evidences of Christianity, as seen in the lives of the Christian missionaries, have abolished the The progress made in great slow-moving, con- anti-Christian spirit in China. servative China since the founding of the Republic in 1911, is unparalleled in history. This is espe- The judgment of many intelligent observers is cially remarkable when we consider the immense that China today, in the midst of her tribulations, extent of the territory (ten times the size of Japan offers the greatest opportunity for Christian adproper); the huge population (over ten times vance anywhere in the world, while Japan is probthat of the British Isles); the former lack of ably one of the most difficult fields for sowing and political, linguistic and cultural unity in its eight- reaping spiritual harvests. The reasons are not een provinces; the scarcity of newspapers, rail- hard to discover. The Chinese realize more and roads and other means of communication; the more the uncertainty of this life and the passing prevalence of graft among officials and the pov- values of material possessions. In their distress erty of the masses. All this and more was true and extremity they turn to God, as their only hope. thirty years ago. He is manifested to them in the lives and sacrifi- cial service of missionaries and Chinese followers Since the Boxer Rebellion, and especially in the of Christ. God is proving to be a very present past fifteen years, new China has become united help in trouble and Jesus Christ is a true friend under one central government; graft has been dis- and Saviour. The Chinese leaders also set an explaced by patriotism; warlords and bandits have ample of Christian faith and courage that appeals given place to intelligent and trained officials and to the people. Idols and false gods are recognized an organized national army; economic reconstruc- as powerless. The one hope for humanity is in tion has made great strides; railroads and good the one True God, as revealed in Christ; the God highways have been built across the country link- of love, of righteousness and of power. ing all important cities; motor bus service has taken the place of "the wheelbarrow and mule-lit- The Japanese on the other hand are turning ter i public airplane lines have been extendedl mak-
more to temporal power, and put their faith and is the convincing evidence of the Living Christ as hope in material things, in armaments and armies, the Saviour of men. in stern discipline and a human program. Their national leaders turn back to the Sun Goddess, to Spirit-filled missionaries in every land agree in national heroes, to Shinto Shrines and emperor their testimony that, while methods of missionary worship. National ambition, laws and standards work may vary in different lands and under diftake precedence over the eternal laws of God and fering conditions, the one essential is a true pres- .His standards of truth, righteousness and love as entation of Christ by consecrated witness. revealed in Jesus Christ. VELLORE MEDICAL COLLEGE, INDIA WITNESSING TO PILGRIMS IN INDIA Dr. William Decker, a Baptist missionary, formerly in China, who has recently sej:!n the VeI- In India, says Dr. E. Stanley Jones, a time of lore Medical School in action, reports: a greater Christian harvest seems to be coming. "I saw Dr. Ida Scudder's hospital, the indus- Old superstitions and prejudices are gradually trial work, as well as a new departure in agricul- breaking down, and thinking Indians are more tural missions which is a most promising venture.
and more seeking truth and liberty, such as can Perhaps .outstanding, however, was two or three be found only in Christ. On the other hand, na- hours with a roadside medical unit doing dispen- tional ambition, economic needs, and intellectual sary work, and making injections for leprosy- contacts with other nations, lead many to empha- from an ambulance drawn up at the roadside." size political power, materialism, and skepticism. The Christians in India are awake to the situa- Dr. Scudder and her staff have treated as many tion and are emphasizing evangelism, not only as a thousand lepers in one day in these roadside among depressed classes, but among pilgrims, clinics. VeIlore combines a medical college, a students and caste Hindus. nurses training school, and X-ray and radium de- partment, an out-patient clinic, four roadside clin- A special retreat and conference, held at Be- ics and Gudiyattam Hospital; a maternity hospinares, in April, brought together Christian work- tal, a children's hospital, and an operating theater. ers from different centers to consider work among The hospital has 250 beds. All these are operated Hindu pilgrims, Sadhus and Sanyasies. The on annual gifts of about $48,000, .of which Amerievangelists came from Puri, where the temple of ca contributes $25,000. Does any institution in Janannath draws thousands of pilgrims to wor- the United States operate as many departmentsship; from Calcutta, Patna, Behar, Ayodhya medical, surgery, pathology, bacteriology, anat- (birthplace of Sita and Ram) and from !tarsi, omy, biology, eye, ear, nose and throat, maternity, Muttra, Brindaban and Benares. These repre- ante-natal clinic and gynecology-treating in one sentatives met for prayer and conference and to year 3,398 in-patients, 44,484 out-patients, 20,060 report on methods and results in their work. An roadside patients. and 1,321 in the maternity ward organization was formed to promote work among -at such a small expense? the pilgrims. Jesus Christ, where faithfully presented by teaching and life, appeals strongly to The decree has now gone forth that, by 1942 Hindus, even if they are not ready to break away at the latest, the school must be raised to a college from their old religions. The following points standard of M. B. B. S. which is equivalent to an were emphasized in the discussions: American M.D. That will require an endowment of $700,000 to support ten more doctors, and pro- 1. Hinduism should be studied so as to develop vide for medical research, public health work and understanding and to equip the messenger to medicine; also $300,000 is needed for extra buildpreach the Gospel. ings and equipment. Here is a great oPP.ortunity 2. The truth and sufficiency of Christ and His to strengthen this great interden.ominati.onal hos- teaching should be stressed and exemplified more pital, medical college and nurses training school than the weakness and deficiencies of Hinduism. in South India.
A "full and positive Gospel of the Living Christ" *** is the need of the hour. Dr. Scudder expects to be in America next year, after 3. Only simple, sincere and practical conse- completing her forty years of service in India. The pro- crated Christianity of the apostolic type is effec- gram of Jesus Christ given in the doctor's Gospel (Luke tive to meet the vital needs of Hindus. 4: 22) is being carried out today at Vellore. Dr. Scudder asks Christians to pray that this great work into which 4. Collective witness and cooperative Christian she and other American, British and Indian women have work is necessary to offset the influences of the put their lives, may be continued.
united forces of Hinduism.
5. The guidance and power of the Spirit of God Miss Hilda Olson, of Rockport, Massachusetts, is the American Treasurer of the Veilore Medical College.
Is New in Home Missions?
By the REV. MARK. A. DAWBER, New York Executive Secretary of the Home Missions Council How many, many times I have been asked strong centers of support for the Christian cause. this question during the past years, and Others have passed through the settling down now I am requested to write an article on process and, due to the disintegrating forces of the subject! The answer in a word is that there land erosion, land speculation and exploitation, is nothing that is basically new in Home Missions. the people again need missionary aid. To make the Gospel available to the disadvantaged people or to those who, for various reasons, have Many descendants of the early settlers, who not been reached with the ministry of the Church, became farm tenants in the agricultural depresis still the primary task of the Home Missions sion immediately following the World War, are now being displaced by the all-purpose tractor enterprise. and large-scale agriculture. An outstanding illus- But in another sense, everything is new. The tration is that of a Mississippi Delta planter who question raised is symbolic of the age in which formerly had 160 tenant farmers. He purchased we live; it anticipates change, it suggests that the 22 tractors and now he needs to employ only 30 thinking person is conscious that something is families to work by the day. happening to human life in America, and that new demands are being made upon institutions, such Family Life and Migrant Workers as Home Missions, that· are engaged in the task of ministering to people who, because of chang- Thousands of American families must now ing situations, are unable to support a church, or travel to find employment. The family continues who are no longer accessible to the religious min- to sleep as a unit, to consume as a unit, but it no istry of the normal established church in more longer is able to produce wealth as a unit from settled communities. its own property. Because the family has lost this basis of productive property the American Old Americans and Old Frontiers family, as a fundamental natural productive unit, is well-nigh destroyed. Food, clothing and shelter, Home Missions was the child of the frontier. the basic essentials for living and the sources from That thrilling episode of American history that whence they come, are now gathered up into huge records the daring and heroism of the early interlocking hands of incorporated commercial pioneers, who crossed the Rockies and blazed the owners and distributors. With this centralization trail into what was then the American wilderness, and industrialization of food, clothing and shelter, was also the record of the first organized Home the last vestiges of American freedom and security Mission work. This frontier is no longer with us are wiped out. For many of these people there in the sense in which it obtained a hundred years is no available land upon which to build and own ago. There are still geographical frontiers, but better homes; there is no land for the production they are not the challenge to the population move- and consumption at home-the only efficient and ments such as obtained in the days of the early conserving land economy. This is something new Home Mission era. in our American life and brings with it new prob- But the frontier ideal has always dominated the lems for Home Missions. Home Mission enterprise. People seeking new This situation raises some interesting and peropportunities to secure their democratic heritage as American citizens, ever pressing on to what plexing questions. What is happening to this would provide a better opportunity to earn a live- land of opportunity, democracy, freedom and se- curity? What is happening to the millions of lihood, build a home and bring up a family-these acres of homestead land? What is happening to ever made their appeal to the Home Mission this. land where it was once possible for the poor- agencies. est to build homes for their children? Weare A century has passed and many old frontier being reduced to slavish workers in the homes communities have become established centers of and fields that once we owned. This process of culture and religion. They no longer need the dispossession is having a serious effect upon thouministrations of Home Missions but have become sands of American citizens.
[279 ]
Others have accepted a wage in place of owner- of certain types of industry from the North to the ship, a tenant shack for a home, a city street for South, in order to take advantage of cheap labor, a few acres of land; some have substituted the has had an adverse effect on many towns.
faint promise of a quick fortune for a permanent Communities that for years have sustained a home and a family on a few acres that would, self-supporting church with a full-time ministry under careful management, have provided secu- are now obliged to seek aid from their denomina- rity. This transition from the farm family to the tional mission board. The demands now made urban tenement industrialist is creating new upon these agencies are far beyond their ability problems for the church that place a heavy re- or finances; they can help only a small number sponsibility upon Home Mission agencies. of the churches in these areas of recent distress.
There is nothing new to America in a migrant The fact that many members of these churches population. Always we have had them. But our are receiving aid from federal and state relief distinctive migrant groups today present some agencies does not help very much. The conscious- new and difficult problems. ness that they are the recipients of relief has Twenty-five years ago the migrants. were drawn sapped the morale of many of these people, and in the main from a few of the racial groups, par- as a result their religious need is greater than ticularly the Mexicans, Italians and Filipinos. ever. This also is new in Home Missions.
Now the majority of these groups are thedescend- The Southern Highlands ants of the older American families. They are to be found in various sections of the country, but There i~ great danger that the emphasis upon the bulk of this migrant group is on the Pacific the plight of the sharecroppers and the low- Coast. wage industrial workers will overshadow the A ten-year depression, together with droughts equally great needs of other groups, such as the and dust-bowl conditions, has created a new millions who live in the Southern Highlands. The exodus of impoverished farm people who have conditions of the sharecropper, the industrial continued to press their way to the Pacific Coast. worker and the migrant, have been publicized, They have swamped California and are making but not so the Southern Highlanders. Fiction and that state aware of their existence in a way that romance have been written about these people the Mexican and Oriental farm laborers could (and there is much to be written), but the socio- never do. The state is struggling desperately logical story has not been told. The romantic with the problem, seeking to prevent any further story of the Anglo-Saxon rugged mountaineer inroads of these people from Arkansas and Okla- with his quaint language and colonial customs has homa. But this alone doesl not solve the problem. obscured the poverty of the coves, the mountain It is easy for people who are remote from the farms, and the thin soil of the plateaus.
scene of this human tragedy to indulge in moral Drastic changes are taking place among these criticism, but it is not easy for a state, already people. As recently as fifty years ago the High- burdened with relief, to accept a sudden inrush lander with his log cabin, his rifle and his spin- of 100,000 needy people. Driven off the cotton ning wheel was on a par as to standard of living lands by the tractor, driven off the wheat lands with the other pioneers of the prairie cabin, the by the drought and the combine, drawn by the log hut, or sod house. The wooded hillsides fur- strange tide which pulls. the white race westward, nished timber and game. Now the timber is gone the impoverished people have been pouring into and the game with it; also, it should be said, the the West, dogged by disease and hunger, too proud meagre income is gone that was once provided.
to accept charity, willing to work for any wages. The mountaineers have multiplied so that they The result is a condition that calls for action by have been compelled to cultivate the steep moun- the Nation, State and the Church. The Church, tain sides in a desperate effort to make a living.
through the Council of Women for Home Mis- The following summary of conditions will help sions, with very limited finances, is struggling to us to understand the modern needs of these people.
grapple with a herculean task. The size and the (The teachers of some 13,232 children in moun- character of this migrant group present many tain schools supplied the information.) Children new problems for Home Missions. needing clothing, 38%; shoes 32'10; milk 27'10 ; New Distressed Areas soap 42 %; hot lunches 45 %; school supplies 26 %; library books 80 '10. Any consideration of With the coming of new materials, new tech- the changing needs and demands in Home Mis- niques, mass production and the machine, there sions must take cognizance of the Southern High- has developed a new type of distress. Towns and lands. Dr. Odum of the University of North Car- villages, and some cities, have been seriously af- olina has well said that these "retarded frontiers"
fected by the recent innovations of science and will have to pass through several stages of devel- labor-saving devices, Furthermore, the movement opment, not only in improved economic conditions,
WHAT IS NEW IN HOME MISSIONS?
but development as it applies to the human ele- vantaged groups in America during the days of ment. Moreover, we are dealing with a very the "New Deal" administration have also created different type of mountain youth today than we new problems for the home mission agencies. were twenty-five years ago. They too are creating new demands upon State and school and Church. The resettlement projects, like Arthurdale and Cumberland Homesteads, present an opportunity The depression years have also brought great for religious work. Here some 250 families are changes among the people of other countries, reestablished on what amounts to subsistence groups who have anticipated coming to America, levels of living. The people will have little cash and among the immigrants who have come to this with which to support a church, so that the miscountry in recent years. Immediately following sion boards are under pressure to provide a minthe World War a different attitude developed to- istry. This is also true of many of the rehousing ward these foreign countries. No longer was projects in the cities where slum clearance has America to remain the "open door" to the peoples taken place. It is well-nigh impossible to reach of the world. Before the World War, European these people with the established churches in nearimmigration to the United States reached a high by territory. The approach must be made on an peak and as many as 1,285,000 immigrant aliens interdenominational basis, so that agencies like were received in a single year. The revised im- the Home Missions Council have an important migration law of 1921 limited the number of aliens function to perform in arranging the program and coming to this country in a single year to 3'70 of providing a Christian ministry to such commua given nationality already in the country. This nities. reduced the number to 358,000 in a year. In 1924 the immigration act was again revised to limit By its very nature the Church finds these changes more difficult than most other instituthe quotas to 2 '70 of the resident population of tions. It is identified with values that are time- less, and these values are often conceived of as not any nationality, based upon the earlier census of being affected by these matter-of-fact changes in 1890 as against 1920. our human and material universe. Rooted in the past and sanctified by age, the Chur·ch finds It is hardly necessary to say that this restric- change necessarily a painful process. Yet those tion has wide implications for Home Missions. who really love Christ and the Church, and are Add to it the further fact that, in many cases, alive to the facts that confront us in modern life, more of some nationalities were leaving America will gladly sacrifice the outmoded in order that the for their native land than were coming in under Kingdom of God may be advanced. A living the new restrictions, and it is readily seen that the Church is one that will make the adjustment in Home Missions program to these groups would its program and equipment in order to fit it for undergo drastic changes. These adjustments are the ministry to which it is called at a given time. now in process-consolidation of foreign language The home mission agencies are alive to these churches, the assimilation of the second and third changes that are taking place. They are far generation by the English-speaking church, ex- ahead of their general ecclesiastical bodies in their periments with interdenominational work among insight into these problems and in their willingthese groups-these and other movements mark ness to make the necessary adjustments. They the changes that must be made by the mission are hindered only by the lack of morat and finanboards in their ministry to New Americans. cial support.
The various programs of rehabilitation, resettlement and rehousing of depressed and disad- AS PROF. EINSTEIN NOW SEES THE OHUROH "Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the univer- sities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Then I looked to the individual writers, who, as literary guides of Germany had written much and often con- cerning the place of freedom in modern life; but they, too, were mute.
"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly." ALBERT EINSTEIN; quoted in The Living Church.
Among Ozark
By PAUL A. WOBUS, Manchester, Missouri Director of Mountain Work in the Ozarks "you ought to go to Vichy if you're looking "You ought to go to Short Bend," said a man for a spiritually-neglected place," said a on the road. "No church there at all; virgin ter- friend when he heard that I had been dele- ritory. No opposition-no prejudices."
gated to find an opening in the Ozarks for work I went to all four points-and many others. I to be sponsored by what was then the Evangelical had been asked to select any area where no other Synod. "It seems to be quite a center, judging church was effectively serving. "Of course,"
from the number of people who gather there for added the genial chairman of the committee, "you the Saturday night when the fiddlers sway to need not go all the way down to the Arkansas line.
More than likely you'll find a field nearer to your home on the outskirts of St. Louis."
My observations revealed several typical Ozark church situations.
Vichy is truly a center. It boasts a population of 210, which, in the sparsely settled rural sec- tions of the Ozarks, is not small. I happened to come to this town on a Friday, and found there a large gathering of some kind. Inquiry brought out that the banker was a member of the official board of the church which was still intact. He said that he was interested in having an active church. The town needed it and he would give his support.
"May we use the building for services tomor- row night and Sunday morning?" I asked.
"Why-er-that is, the time is so short. The house needs cleaning up, there is no oil in the lamps, and a window pane is out. And [this was the real hitch] we'd have to see the district super- intendent about it. What denomination did you say you are connected with?"
We were face to face with one of those tragic DIFFICULTIES OF CHURCH GOING IN SHANN'ON COUNTY cases, where a dead organization is an obstacle in the way of any live effort. Cobwebs and dust yield their tunes for the old-time square dances. Dur- readily to an energetic arm ; window panes can ing my two weeks' vacation there I found that the be replaced; but ecclesiastical machinery, always village church has been closed for some time." cumbersome, may block the path to progress. In rural areas this is felt even more than in cities. "You, ought to go to Lesterville," said an Ozarkian. "Yes, I know they have a church there, *** but it does not serve the community. It is practically dead." Lesterville's sole church organization was functioning after a fashion. Of the strict immer- "You ought to go to Antioch," s,aid a druggist sionist type, it had about fifty members, six or in an Ozark county seat. "It's the very place for eight of whom were said to be active. The pasthe work you have in mind. Two churches at tor, a man of more than average ability, came once Antioch, both defunct; one at Gill and a fourth a month from another church 121 miles south, at Stone Hill, in the same state. Unite these four over roads which a decade and a half ago were into one strong church at a logical center. An- none too good. _ tioch is ready for you~the people are tired of It was not difficult to get a good attendance for divisive sectarianism." the monthly services we conducted at Lesterville.
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EXPERIENCES AMONG OZARK MOUNTAINEERS
Of much help was a devout Presbyterian, whose and which then is open to anyone and everyone family belonged to the local church, he himself who cares to use it. We had early come to know could not feel at home in its atmosphere of exclu- of several such churches, but they were standing siveness. He dreamed with us of a community idle most of the time for want of an organization church where people of all creeds could worship or a responsible group to make sure of a definite, our common Master, Christ. The postmistress, continuous program of worship, service and study. also a member of the church, rendered friendly Short Bend still does not have a church, but all help. THE' SHANNONDALE COMMUNITY HOUSE Not many months elapsed before the seemingly defunct organization took on a new lease on life. manner of sects have put forth spasmodic efforts Giving them credit for being sincere in their efforts, and consistent with our ideals of a united there. *** Christendom, we slackened our own pace lest we divide the community. When we ceased to be Eminence, a county seat town, is an example aggressive the ardor of the local church rapidly of yet another type of sectarian sniping. At one cooled. time there had been four church organizations- two of them of the immersionist persuasion. After some years of this sort of procedure, the These four used the union church building in a immersionists had thawed out to such a degree peaceful way-one Sunday every month for each. that we withdrew altogether. The local church In time one of the immersionistchurches, and made some gains, increased its active member- one of the other kind, died. The other two were ship, and improved the property, which originally of about equal strength. Voices were raised in had been intended as a community building. We favor of a community church, but we were undid not feel inclined to open a dispute over its pos- able to enter this field. session, but a number of people,among them some of the very best citizens, did not, and perhaps Then there came to the non-immersionist group never will, affiliate with a church of this type. a young minister with a determination to climb. Their dream of a community church is unrealized He won the ecclesiastical approval he courted by because they want to be generous with those of whipping up the enthusiasm of his congregation their friends and neighbors whose church life to the point of erecting their own church building. makes them narrow-minded. There are many His frie.nds predicted that with such "success" to Lestervilles in the Ozarks! his "credit" he would rise high among the clergy of the land. They prophesied that he would be *** called to the pulpit of a large city church. He did not get such a call before he had widened the Rather against our own judgment, but in re- breach in this little Ozark town which now has sponse to a very definite call, we entered the An- two church buildings where one would suffice. tioch-Stone Hill neighborhood. The four churches of that locality belonged to two sects. The natives *** asked us to merge the two of one kind which still had some life in them. The other two seemed The Ozarkian is by nature deeply religious.. He beyond the possibility of revival, even to the is the descendant of a people who not only were preacher who had hastily organized them, yet the well-grounded on the Bible but who reserved for old organization had some adherents whose te- themselves the right to interpret it. Jealously nacity was worthy of a noble cause. guarding their liberty, they freely grant it to others. A relatively small percentage are mem- *** bers of a church and these are scattered among many sects. Our difficulty lies not, with those At Short Bend, where we held a number of services as we were forming contacts throughout this section of the Ozarks, there was no debris of any existing organization to clear away. An obstacle was the cityward exodus on the part of those whose enthusiasm welded the community together. There was also a misconception of the community church.
We had held two services in the schoolhouse at Short Bend and then somebody spoke of building a church. The entire group seemed to fall in line and, being very new in the Ozark work at that time, we hailed this suggestion with delight. Many Ozarkians speak of a union church, meaning one which the entire community helps to build
outside the Church, but with those church mem- agencies trained and equipped for guiding the bers who fail to act like Christians. physical, cultural, social, economic and religious development of the region. We must also remember that overchurching is really underchurching and leads to spiritual de- *** pression. It is easy to effect a new organization and to erect another church building-lumber be- After several years of orientation and reconing cheap. There is a smug satisfaction in cling- noitering we began to concentrate at Stone Hill, ing tenaciously to a creed and in thinking that all Bixby, and in northern Shannon County, Misthat religion means is to defend it with great zeal. souri.
This sectarian zeal has wrought untold havoc in At Stone Hill we did succeed in merging two the Ozarks. As soon as one responsible group decadent churches. Some years later, in response undertakes an adequate ministry, an astonishingly to desire of the people, a community church was large number of self-appointed preachers comes organized. The wounds caused by old-time diforth to complicate the work. "There is a visive sectarianism have by no means been healed; preacher behind .every stump," in the picturesque the preachers of other sects do not always refrain language of an Ozarkian. If somebody would hold from interference with the good work that is be- ing done; but we go on, preaching and teaching AT A COMMUNITY GATHERING IN THE OZARKS the unifying power of Christian love. One handi- cap is. that the denomination which relinquished the preachers in check, we would feel competent the field to us fifteen years ago still owns the to deal with the laity! church building and makes an effort now and then to come back. The Sunday school has gone on Villages and small towns are the worst suffer- uninterruptedly for 61 years. ers from over-churching in the Ozarks. Hamlets and the open country have fewer churches for *** their population. At Bixby we entered a field in which no reli- What is it, then, that we set out to accomplish gious work had ever been done until our native in our ministry to the Ozarks? Briefly this, to Ozarkian evangelist, the Rev. Zenith F. Yount, bring the Gospel of God's redemptive love to all, preached the first sermon there. One month later, regardless of man-made barriers and creedal di- when I accompanied him to Bixby for what I visions. We seek to unite in indigenous churches thought would be the second sermon, a man said those who already profess faith in the Lord Jesus to us, "This will be the third service here. Brother Christ and to win others to Him. We aim to Clark slipped in ahead of you, but the place is minister to those who have hitherto been passed yours anyway by squatter's rights." by, and to lift the natives out of their tendency toward an ingrown religion; we want to give A church was organized after a revival which them a consciousness of and a share in, the com- resulted in a most amazing transformation of munion of saints; we would like to make the what was once known as the toughest little spot Church the institution from which radiate whole- in the Ozarks. The work is going forward in some influences on all of life, by cooperating with spite of occasional inroads by various types of "Holiness groups" who like to meet at just the time of Pastor Yount's bi-monthly appointments. When they asked for the use of the building- which is a remodeled store, purchased from funds raised by the sale of used clothing-a real prob- lem arose. Some of the church members were quick to refuse, while others felt that they should be hospitable. Showers of rain one Sunday set- tled the question-nobody had the heart to turn anyone out. Such revivals stir up great enthu- siasm for the time, but after it dies down our work continues as before. At Bixby the Sunday school carries on under native leadership.
*** In Shannon County, south of Salem, Missouri, we discovered a large area in which no church of any kind was functioning. It is one of the most rugged sections of the Ozarks, with narrow val- leys along the many streams. The population is sparse, and there were but few people to count on at the start. The community lacked cohesion, yet
THE WORLD NEEDS THE CHURCH
a united church came as the natural result of one More and more calls are coming in from other of the greatest revivals ever held in the Ozarks, communities for a united church. The Ozarkian, conducted by Pastor Yount. Since we wanted keen and alert student of life, is giving this type to serve an extensive parish, the welding together his approval. We believe that by helping the of a number of rural school districts, we worked towards the purchase of a tract on the main high- GOING TO CHURCH IN THE OZARK MOUNTAINS way running through the center of the county from north to south, and named it Shannondale. Ozarks to make a contribution to the spirituality In 1932 a community house was built of native of the world, the efforts of the Evangelical and stone. The Rev. Vincent W. Bucher, who had en- Reformed Church are bearing rich fruit. deared himself to the people of this region as a teacher in Vacation Church Schools, became resident pastor of Shannondale in 1934. Last year the thank-offering of the women of the Evangelical and Reformed Church was used for the erection of a modern manse for the Bucher family.
A group of natives, under the guidance of Mr. Bucher, formed the Shannondale Cooperative Association and operate a store in a building they erected on the same tract. A Folk School, held for three weeks. each year, seeks to enrich life. Weekly recreation and play nights, with also some opportunity for study, are very popular. Besides holding church school and services at the center, Mr. Bucher preaches at a number of isolated schoolhouses.
The World Needs the Church The Commentator has this to say about the na- no freedom is secure. Close the Bible, and what tions and the Church: becomes of a free press? Silence the pulpit, and what is left of free speech? Many of us have vague ideas of religion. We care little for creeds and ceremonies. We leave The value of a church to society-the sermons, the churches to the clergy and spend our time else- the sacraments, the music, the missions, the hospiwhere. Some of us, however, have been startled talities and the pastoral services of the clergy beout of our indifference. We are not as sure as we hind the scenes-is to be measured by a twofold used to be that a world without churches is the standard. A church does good: a church preworld in which we want to live. We feel a need, vents evil. Churches remind us of the weak who and wonder whether churches might not meet this are apt to be trampled under foot, of the sufferers need. who yearn for sympathy, of the bereaved who cry out for consolation, of strangers against whom What arouses us is a contrast. In some coun- prejudice is apt to be fomented, of failures in life tries churches are respected. In other countries who want to make a fresh start. . . . churches are humiliated. Whatever may be our beliefs or unbeliefs, we know which kind of coun- Children within a church form friendships .with try we prefer. Millions are eager to enter coun- other children, similarly situated, and are less tries where churches are active. Millions· are liable to drift into the no-man's-land where eager to escape from countries where churches juvenile delinquency is a danger. . . . are suppressed. . . . After three centuries of experience, this nation still believes in churches. They who condemn churches as obsolete, con- They may differ widely from one another in faiths demn themselves. For churches are not only diand forms of worship. But, jointly and severally, vine. They are human. They are what men and they justify their existence. women enable them to be.
In the fight for democracy against dictatorship This Year of Grace, 1939, challenges civilization. throughout the world, churches and synagogues To uphold civilization is the urgent task. It is not are in the forefront of the hottest battle. They wholly a matter for surprise that churches should stand for freedom of conscience without which be appraised afresh as an ally of society in its hour of grave uncertainty.
South's Number One
The Tenant Farmer – Whence and Whither?
-~ I By the REV. ARCHIE C. SMITH, De Queen, Arkansas I)ae– I N THE fertile river valleys of the Southland posses,sed little or no capital, no land and no tools is found some of the best alluvial land in the with which to farm. Legal emancipation was not world. The God of nature has there provided enough to enable him to establish himself on a man with the means of producing abundant har- self-supporting basis. With only his bare hands vests. Yet it is here, in this land of plenW, that and a willingness to work at the only trade he we find conditions which challenge the social, edu- knew, the Negro turned to the planter for employ- cational and religious institutions of North Amer- ment.
ica. For it is here that we encounter the South's On the other hand the planter possessed large number one economic problem, the share-cropper, tracts of land the cultivation of which required a or more correctly the tenant farmer. As Chris- . tremendous amount of manuallahor. Out of their tians focus their attention upon this problem it is mutual need was born the sharecropper system important to look at the underlying causes as well in which the planter agreed to rent a certain as at the results,. number of acres of farm land in return for a Too frequently have the efforts of Christian share of the crop at harvest. The planter also forces proven futile because they have approached supplied a house, seed, garden patch, farm ani- a solution without understanding the economic mals, and money for food during the time of grow- and social background. An historical inquiry as ing and harvesting the crop. This money with to the South's "Number One Problem" shows the interest was charged to the tenant's account and condition of the tenant farmer to be largely de- deducted from his share of the proceeds from the termined by social and economic factors as well sale of the year's harvest.
as by the use of unchristian ethics on the part of Under this arrangement the rent usually re- both the tenant farmer and the landlord. quired half the year's crop. This system has re- The history of the tenant farmer reaches back mained virtually unchanged until today. Its into the early history of the South. The great greatest weakness is that at best it furnishes to tlie waves of settlers who came from the eastern sea- average tenant but a mere living. Any emergency board were of two sorts, the wealthy planter who that may arise from sickness or crop failure will settled on large tracts of land in the river valleys, often throw the tenant in debt so deep that he is and the poorer farmer who settled on the less fer- always in arrears to the landlord.
tile farms in the hills. The romantic pictures of In this way the tenant was virtually bound to plantation life in the South before the War are the land. His only escape has been to go to another not a true graph of its social structure. Every planter, with whom he eventually found himself river bottom plantation operated: with slave labor, in the same predicament. The development of the was matched by numerous dirt farmers who lived industries of the North and East brought an ave- and labored in the hills. nue of escape. .Labor agents came South and The Civil War brought about the emancip~tion thousands of N~ro tenants went with them to of the slave but it wrought little change in the the North, thus es~aping from their debt burdened social structure of the South. ThehiU farmer status in the farm tenant system.
continued his way earning a living' from·n.is few acres. He chose one of his sons as his successor The Hill Farmer's Troubles on the farm and equipped the others for the trades Meanwhile things were happening to the hill or professions. The planter and his former slaves farmer. Unscientific farming led to the erosion succeeded in effecting an adjustment that enabled and the depletion of the fertility of his land. Year the fertile river valleys to continue to produce a after year decreases in his crop yields lowered his major portion of the world's supply of cotton. To status in the economic scale of the South's agri- supplant the old system of slavery a new system cultural system. His tribe was increasing with was evoIved which was to become known as the each generation and, with his decreasing income, sharecropper plan. The N e gr 0 "freed-man" he was finding it impossible to maintain his posi- [286] . tion in the social order. He was no longer able by every trait of temperament and personality to to educate his sons for the trades and professions enter into an economy which called for the closest therefore his already overburdened acres were cooperation between planter and tenant. He re- called on to support even greater numbers. Lack- belled against the close supervision exercised by ing capital to move to more fertile land his only the planter and friction was inevitable.
recourse was to remain on and eke out an exist- Owing to the inherent weakness of the farm ence of a sort. With his economic strength van- tenant system (tenant indebtedness) the worker's ishing he naturally began to deteriorate socially. meager capital was soon exhausted and his eco- The triune ravages of the South, hookworm, ma- nomic existence came to depend wholly upon his laria and pellagra, were exacting their toll from employer. Unfortunately for many tenants this his physical body, leaving him without energy. attitude was none too favorable. Frequently the The one-room public school was doing its best tenant was fractious and the planter soon tired to provide an education but it seldom did more of the strife that was continuously creeping into than to teach him to read and write and lead him their relationships. Since many tenants were to feel that he had all the educational world had unreliable the planter learned to regard them as to offer. His reaction to conditions beyond the a bad economic risk. Under such conditions realm of his understanding grew to be one of planters felt justified in getting rid of them as stupid suspicion. His personality, locked in the soon as possible. They passed from plantation to vaults of superstition and. ignorance, became a plantation until finally no one would have them.
dwarfed and distorted image of his forbears. Thus hundreds of white tenant families found Religious Decadence themselves thrown on their own pitifully inade- quate resources. They usually found some aban- In his religious life we find the same pitiful doned house and eked out an existence as best story of decadence. The clergy were recruited they could, doing odd jobs. Other white tenants from his. own ranks and made the transition from however succeeded in making the adjustment to the laity to the ministry by the simple expedient the system, until the depression made their posiof swapping the plow and the furrow for the Bible tion insecure. and the pulpit. About all this type of ministry has had to offerits. parishioners. is a very narrow A new factor, in the way of farm management, and limited conception of the broad principles of entered the field. Insurance companies were Christianity. The tenant farmer's faith came to forced to take over and operate many plantations consist of an extreme denominational conscious- to protect investments in southern farm lands ness; it was decidedly negative in character, pos- and established corporations. for the purpose of sessing little of the vital qualities of true Chris- carrying on farming operations. These business tianity. As a rule the average minister rose or organizations soon realized the economic weakfell in the estimation of his congregation with his ness of the tenant farmer and the mule and supability to vanquish his denominational foes in an planted them with the tractor and wage hand. ecclesiastical debate. Sometimes these theological Thus many more tenants passed out of the farm tenant system.
arguments grew so tempestuous that the police The Negro Tenant had to be called to enforce the peace. The position of the Negro tenant was also threatened. Tmnsition from the "share" method As generations came and went the stronger to a daily wage was disastrous to both the Negro sons succeeded in escaping from the farm, leav- and white tenant. Neither was able, by training ing the weaker to usher in a new generation a or ability, to manage his own economic affairs. little further down on the social scale. Like his They were forced to establish an entirely new impoverished acres the tenant farmer's character basis of economic existence on a low wage scale. has been depleted in moral, spiritual, intellectual The only time the cultivation of cotton demands and physical strength. The chief characteristic a great deal of manual labor is during the hoeing that remains from his pioneering forbears is a and harvest seasons. But these Negroes simply fierce pride; but unlike his forbears he has little do not possess. the economic sagacity to be able justification in his character for such a pride.
With the planters of the South looking for labor to manage a small seasonal income so that it will to replace Negro tenants who had gone North, cover the needs of an entire year. Thus many came an opportunity for the poor white man to more tenant families were added to the homeless escape from his impoverished land. He therefore and unemployed.
sold his holdings. for whatever they would bring With the arrival of the cotton control program and with this limited capital moved to the planta- many more will be forced into this group. The tions to take the place of the departed Negro. planter has been forced to reduce his acreage This was a terrible mistake. He was ill suited planted to cotton. If he is forced to reduce his
acreage one-third it is only a matter of simple a conference on the problem, but little was accomfractions to make him realize that he can get along plished other than the realization of the immensity with two-thirds of his tenants. Thus the farmless of the difficulty. group is threatened with a large increase in its numbers. Once this primary need has been met the next step must be to establish and carry out a South- There is yet another Damoclesian sword hang- wide program of human rehabilitation which will ing over the head of the hapless farm tenant. restore in the individuals of the farm tenant group The rules under which the government subsidizes the material and spiritual ability to fend for themits soil conservation program require that the selves in the rapidly changing economy of the rent paid the planter for acres planted with soil South. No such program has been formulated, conservation crops shall be shared with the tenant. but a hint as to its character may he found in the Here is an opportunity for the planter to profit success of the various social and educational by exchanging the rent system for the daily wage. agencies laboring in areas inhabited by large num- If he is not renting the land to the farm tenant, bers of tenants. In the regular course of their but merely working him by the day, he will receive duties they have touched the life of the individual the entire subsidy check. In the writer's experi- tenant and have brought about some very encourence he has known of no planters. resorting to this aging results. The Agricultural Extension Servunjust means of augmenting their income, but it ice has brought to the mind of the farmer a knowlis a possibility that must be considered by the edge of scientific farming and to his wife the farm tenant. advantages of agood home and home environment. The Public Health Service is teaching them the The Situation Today rudiments of simple hygiene and the value of diet in health. The displacing of the one-room school As the situation is today the Southern tenant by the consolidated school has wrought a wonderfarmer falls into two classes; the farmless tenant, ful change in the social and educational outlook who in reality is no longer a sharecropper but of their children. The children of the average is generally regarded as such; and the tenant tenant farmer today have a much broader and farmer who has succeeded in remaining in the more intelligent view of life than their parents. "system." It is imperative that the former re- If the more promising of these children could seceive attention at once. One cannot but be cure the advantages of a higher education they shocked at the thought of helpless people sitting could extricate themselves from the toils of the beside the road with no place to go. Here are sharecropping system and in a generation or two step-children of an economy which is rapidly would become normal Americans. As it is they changing and, in its change, can find no place for know that college is for them in the realm of the its unwanted wards. Very little is being done to improbable, if not impossible. With this barren meet the needs of this group. A few have found outlook before them they marry at an early age, refuge in the Farm Security Administration, a start to farming on shares, bring a large family federal agency, which is carrying out a national into the world, go in debt and remain so until program of rural rehabilitation. Others have death settles the account with the landlord. been brave enough to endeavor to homestead lands in the poorly drained swamp areas. They cannot While the work of reclamation, wrought by these hope for much success for they are without cap- social agencies, is merely a dent in the surface, "ital to carry them through the lean years before the success of their limited operations shows that their newly acquired acres can be brought to pro- the Southern tenant farmer is able to make a reduction. If their venture is successful this outlet sponse to efforts in his behalf. will serve only a small proportion of those in need. Some are finding a refuge in the homes of rela- The Christian Aspects tives who have succeeded in retaining their position as tenants on the plantations still using the What are the Christian aspects of the situation? share-cropping system. Unfortunately they are few for little Christianity has been exercised by the principals involved. The most immediate and urgent need in the The religious and moral life of the tenant farmer whole Southern tenant farmer problem is to find is only a dim shadow of the Christ-inspired life. a means of economic existence for those who are Gradually through the generations, the farmer in the army of farmless tenants. Other than the has come to look upon the Bible as containing limited amount of work heing done by the Farm proof texts for his denominational position rather Security Administmtion, and a single project be- than as a rule of faith and life. But the planter ing conducted by a group of socially minded has had many of his generous impulses shattered American Christians, there have been no con- by treachery and unreliability on the part of some structive efforts made toward the remedying of of his tenants. The Christian forces working in this situation of homeless people. One state held their midst have failed to realize that the tenant
THE SOUTH'S NUMBER ONE PROBLEM
farmer needs to. have evidences Qf their mission- farmers find that it is virtually impossible to effect ary interest. any radical change in the outlook of the older gen- eration. The young people, however, readily re- None of the Home Mission authorities of the spond to influences which are brQught to bear on more prominent churches of the South have thus their lives. If they can be reached befQre their far come to look upon the farm tenant group as environment has warped their cQnception of life, one which needs a well planned prQgram Qf mis- they will make as much progress as any group of sionary effort in their behalf. Only here and there average young Americans. in an isolated case does one find such a missionary project. The experience gained from these The promotiQn of a missionary project for a activities teach us that the tenant is not only the community of tenant farmers in southeast Ar- South's number one economic and social pro.blem, kansas has shown the writer that the task of but that this group also represents Southern effecting the spiritual rehabilitation of the tenant Christianity's numberQne spiritual problem. Ef- farmer will be a IQng hard struggle, filled with forts are being made by the State to effect the bitter experiences. The work began in an abaneconomic and social rehabilitation Qf the tenant doned one-room school house. The tenants posfarmer, and it is essential that the Church under- sessed no. means with which to erect a church gird this work with a well-planned program of building and refused to believe that funds CQuid Christian activity. It is 'a tremendous task which be secured. During the period of raising funds will require the wholehearted effort of every home from outside sources, the purchas.ing of materials mission agency in the Church. and the erection of the building, every conceivable obstacle was thrown in the way Qf the project by First of all effeotive work in this field will re- the tenants themselves. The pastor's character quire a ministry that is "wise as serpents and was assailed and his motives questioned at every harmless as doves." Men of ability must be will- turn; it was not until after four years of someing to devote their ministry to. sacrifice on the times heart-breaking service that his ministry altar of Christian service. The minister will be was vindicated in their sight. By the exercising called upon to work with people who will questiQn of patience and understanding, refusing to allow his motives. His every move will be subject to himself the luxury Qf righteous indignation, he scrutiny to. see if there is some flaw in his char- finally won their confidence and the tenant farmacter. In his presence the tenant farmers will ers with their families became loyal friends. express appreciation for his services, but to each When the church building was a reality large other they will be apt to speak of him with SCQrn crowds began to attend the services and the light and will ridicule his ministry. The minister to the of the Gospel was shed over the community. A tenant farmer must be a man of preaching ability. sound program Qf religious education was adopted It is no easy task to preach acceptably to thQse and Christian influences began to be revealed in who require the simplest of thoughts cQuched in daily lives. This work was correlated with the the simplest of language. The peQple instinctively program of the social agencies in the community resent anything they do not understand. and the program of rehabilitation there, today, is well balanced and wholesome. If organized Christianity ever recognizes the challenge presented to. it in the Southern tenant Under the inspiration of this church and its farmer and decides on some prQgram of missiQn- activities, several young men and women, who ary activity, there must be adequate financial had dropped out Qf school, have been induced to backing. In Qrder that his work may have an air resume their high school studies and one young of permanence the missionary must have a build- man is in college today, literally lifting himself by ing in which to. carry out a program of Christian his own efforts toward a higher education. The activity. There is little permanence abo.ut a brush social life has undergone a gradual change. The arbor and an abandoned one-room school house, weekly community dance, which generally ended such as are the abode of itinerant preachers who in a drunken brawl, has disappeared and the gento.o often exploit the peQple rather than render a eral moral tone of the community life has taken religious service. Anyone utilizing such places. as on an entirely different hue. Truly the power of houses of worship is classed in the itinerant group this church is being felt in the economic, social for which the tenant farmer has little respect. If and religious life Qf this community and is pointthe missionary's work is to be at all successful ing the way to higher and nobler conceptiQns. We it must be housed in a respectable building; then believe that some day the social agencies of Amerthe tenant farmer, who is naturally a church ica will find a solution to the social and economic goer, will fill it to capacity. problems of the sharecro.Pper. When that day comes the church in a community will be able A good program of religiQus. educatiQn will en- to lend its help toward making that solution efable the tenant farmer to apply mQral and spir- fective. itual truth to the sQcial and economic prQblems of his life. Those who have labored among tenant
Berea's Work for
Some Impressions Gathered from Revisiting the College After Thirty-five Years r~"- -'1l!;;1====;;o;;B;;o;;Y;;o;;D;;o;;E;;o;;L;;o;;A;;o;;V;;o;;A_N=L;;o;;';;o;;PI;;o;;E;;o;;R;;o;;SO;;o;;N====-=l..I, T HE true value of every factory or institution and in other parts of the nation and in foreign is to be judged by its products. In America lands. A new era has been ushered into the moun- the name of Berea has become synonymous tains of the South by what Berea has taught and with effective, practical Christian education. Here done. At comparatively small expense, the colgood raw material is received in the form of boys lege has shown how to accomplish wonders in and girls from the Southern Mountains and is practical education by new methods of farming shaped into strong, intelligent, useful Christian and stock raising, by courses in home-making, citizens. Many' other schools and colleges are en- nursing and child training, by modern business deavoring to do the same kind of work but most methods, by industries such as baking, weaving, of them with much less evidence of success. They printing, and furniture making. Students not only would like to know Berea's secret in order that help to earn their way by these industries but they they too may achieve as satisfactory results; but are taught the dignity of labor and learn to be exthey are, in too many cases, handicapped by tra- perts in one or more of these lines. Their products dition, by too much money, by indulgent parents, are works of art with high commercial value. or perhaps even by a lack of the highest ideals, Each student is required to payor earn $150.00 and true sacrificial service on the part of faculty a year to cover his or her expenses for room and and trustees. board, but most of them are able to earn a large part of these expenses by work in the industries, One reason why Berea is a truly great institu- on the farm or elsewhere. The results are seen tion is because it is not so handicapped. The col- in the wide-awake, industrious, fine spirited stulege is rather enriched by tradition, by its ideals, by the necessity for economy and hard work, by dent body.
the quality of the student body, and by the char- What are some of the secrets of Berea's success acter and spirit of its faculty and trustees. Berea in making strong, self-reliant men and women out has a high aim and a noble history and seeks to of the comparatively raw, untrained and underbe true to them today. This unique college, which privileged boys and girls of the mountains?
has today 1700 students, has grown out of a dis- First. Berea gives hope to the students. Many trict school, with a very few pupils, which was of them come from homes where poverty has opened at Berea, Kentucky, by John G. Fee in brought discouragement, where the "upright" 1855. mountain farms offer little possibility for earning a livelihood to support a growing family of chil- The equipment has grown from a small frame building unm it now.comprises a large and beau- dren; where poor roads and lack of schools give tiful campus and forest of 6,284 acres and little opportunity for economic or intellectual rriany fine buildings with all the necessary equip- progress; where churches cannot support a ment for physical, industrial, intellectual and spir- trained minister. Berea teaches these boys and itual education. In the early days Berea sought girls to look forward not back; to be dissatisfied to promote understanding between the white and with past achievements and with things as they Negro races by co-education, but when the Ken- are; to look ahead hopefully to something better tucky Legislature made this illegal, the college -in education, in the economic situation, in Christurned its attention wholly to the neglected and tian service, and in life as a whole. They learn underprivileged mountaineers of the South. Now to look forward to something better than the old 90 per cent of the students must be from the cabins such as are common in the mountains and mountains; no more than 10 per cent can be re- are inspired and taught to build new homes that ceived from outside this region, although many cost little; they learn how to make these attractive apply. The product of Berea has made the college and clean through the science of home-making. famous., for many of its former students have be- Berea students are given a vision of life that is come honored teachers, lawyers, physicians, truly worth living here and that looks forward to Christian preachers, legislators, business men and the Life beyond. home-makers in their own mountain communities Second. Berea gives its students courage and [290 ] inspires them with ambition and energy to do the strictly "cultural" work, is the labor system, a seemingly impossible. They are taught never to be discouraged by handicaps; not to complain be- dominant emphasis of the institution. Each dorcause of what they lack but to use thankfully and effectively what they have. They are taught never mitory student labors ten hours a week or more to accept defeat in any ambition that is high and useful and to realize that nothing good is impos- and for this he is paid in labor credits which are sible to those who have faith, courage and perseverance. There are multitudes of examples in available toward the payment of college bills. The Berea's history from the days of John G. Fee to those of William J. Hutchins. purpose of the labor system is to make it possible Third. Berea teaches its students the value for a student who otherwise would not be able to and joy of unselfish service. They are not encouraged to come to Berea merely for what they can procure an adequate education to win the special do for themselves but because there they can prepare better to serve their fellow men. This is the advantages of Berea. In no one of our campus spirit of the college from the president down to the first year student-and it makes them unusu- schools do we charge tuition. ally cheerful and attractive. Ability to earn money, or to achieve fame of personal comfort, is A student may labor in the dairy, on the farm, not the goal set before them; it is the ideal of making their homes, their community and the in the garden, in the broom industry, in the bakworld a better place in which to live. It is the same ambition that actuated Sir Wilfred Grenfell ery, in the laundry, in the heat and power plant, of Labrador and Dwight L. Moody of Northfield in their life service. Godlike love is the ideal and in the several weaving industries, in some janitor motive that sets the standard of service. service, in Boone Tavern, in one of the offices of Fourth. Berea teaches its students to look to God their Heavenly Father for power to attain the institution. Work for which a student receives these ideals. Youth must not only look forward hopefully and within courageously as they take educational credit, yields him no money; labor stock of their assets, but they must look around lovingly to meet the needs of others and they must which yields him financial credit, gives him no edlook up to receive the guidance and strength of God. Berea is assured that this higher source of ucational credit. Much of the labor is highly eduhelp is provided in Jesus Christ and the Bible. Students are not expected to fight the battle of life cational. A student janitor in one of our buildalone. Prayer, Bible study, church services and student organizations are used to promote spir- ings, a man recently from the mountains, reitual life. These growing young people learn what many great men and women have learned-that marked the other day, "Me and cobwebs are not true success is attained by putting God first and others second; and that putting self first and God congenial any more." No registrar's card can second courts failure. capture that type of education; but that is edu- *** cation. . As President Hutchins Looks at Berea Some years ago we, at Berea College, sponsored (Excerpts from an address by President William J. Hutchins, given before the Rural Life As- a County Achievement contest. This contest, sociation of Lexington, Kentucky, and printed in their periodical.) originating in the mind of our one time secretary, Berea College is now eighty-four years old. Mr. Marshall Vaughn, which may be tried in vari- Many efforts have been made to label or to classify Berea. It teaches cultural subjects, but ous sections. Judge Bingham offered $5,000 in it is not a "cultural" school; it teaches agriculture, but it is not an "agricultural" school; it prizes, to be divided between the two counties teaches the industries, but it is not an "industrial" school. which should win the largest number of points in Quite separate, whether from the vocational or a County Contest. Nine counties participated. If any man in a county put screens on his house, built a toilet, or painted his house; if any man cooperated in mending the steps of the church house, or in painting a schoolhouse, he did not win a prize himself, but he helped his county win a prize. The friendly emulation of mountain counties in a revamping, redeeming enterprise means a great advance. A man who has once caught a vision of his county with decent roads, and schools, and churches, and toilets, a man who has worked with fellow citizens for a Cause, is not going to be satisfied with shrubbiness and squalor and walrus-like isolation. The County Achievement Contest proved that there are forces in our mountain communities that lead our people toward a high and holy civilization.
A second emphasis of Berea College is the Home. We rest in the belief long ago expressed by Francis Peabody that "the home holds the key to the salvation of the state."
We went into the mountains and found a typical house of the poorer sort; it had no windows in the sides or in the lean-to; it had no foundations.; the hens and hogs of earth, and the winds of heav- en, could find their way beneath it. This house we bought, took down, and moved in sections so
that we could place it in a quiet but central site and women, in a health program, supervised by upon our campus. Next to this house we erected, with the aid of our own construction department, Dr. Joel E. Goldthwait, of Boston. and under the guidance of our Home Economics Department, a "contrast house," the material cost- Each autumn twenty or twenty-five doctors, exing us only $650. The result is a house into which I should be proud to have anyone of our alumni amine our students ; after the examination a sillive with his bride. Within a little mo~e than a year we sold more than eighty-five blueprints of houette is taken of each student. A girl looks at this house. her silhouette and says: "That isn't my picture, Aside from the class and laboratory work done in our Home Economics building, there are five is it ?" "Yes., that's your photograph." As a recountry or "practice homes." In each of these is an expert teacher of Home Economics, who lives sult the girl changes her posture almost as quickly with her girls, eats with them three times a day, guides them as they fashion their menus and their as she changes the way she dresses her hair. Thus meals, as they keep their food expenses within two dollars and sixty-five cents, a week for each a better physical breed of men and women are goperson. In one of these country homes is a baby. ing back into the mountains, whence 90 % of our I had supposed that the girls would kill the baby with love, but I learned better. One day a visitor 2,QOO students come. from Boone Tavern came to see the baby. It was at a time of influenza. A modest mountain girl A fourth emphasis .at Berea is the Ancient came to the door, and asked the visitor, "Have you a cold?" "No." "Then I will see if the baby Simplidties and the Fine Arts. Some students is asleep." In other words, if you haven't had a cold, and if the baby is not as,leep, then you may have not money enough to pay for stamps to send see the baby. That is education. letters home. We are doing our best to inculcate *** a democracy which makes it possible for the boy, There is a new and strange shop on the Berea campus. A man ninety years old, but shrewd and who on Sunday presses his blue jeans, to go to keen, came to tell me of the futility of a college education. He said that college men broke down church and not be embarrassed by the boy next to in the time of depression; that a college man did not know even how to change a fuse in his own him, with white collar and better clothes. At the house if he used electricity. He went on to say that every American ought to be able to till his same time there is emphasis on the Fine Arts. own ground, and to build his own house. Finally he gave us money enough to pay for the part sal- Music and art, we insist, are not the monoply of ary of a high class "Jack of all Trades,," and to build a shop, in which five girls this past year the financially elect. "All of God's, chillen have made their own looms, and in which an average of 150 boys worked each week. Here the boys may wings." Through the window of our "House of study the framing of a house, the wiring of a house, the plumbing of a house, and so on. the People," we seek to prove to our students that The Council on Economic Conditions of the the mountains are beautiful, and that mountain South report that 4,000,000 Southern families should be rehoused. This is one-half of all the life is potentially beautiful. families in the South. And yet, "The home holds the key to the salvation of the state." The fifth emphasis of Berea is religion. While A third emphasis of Berea College is health. we grant that there is no such thing as compUlsory We have a hospital with fifty beds and a contagious ward with 75 beds. Four doctors, two religion, we insist that our students shall be exdentists, four trained nurses, a dietitian and a technician are members of the staff. On the posed to the noblest thoughts which men have ground at one time we have 'approximately fifty student nurses. All join with the Department of cherished, whether they be thoughts concerning Physical Edu~atio;n, with its gymnasia for me)). mathematics, political science or religion.
We do our best to build a golden bridge by which a student may pass. from an impossible theology, and an erroneous Biblical interpretation, to thoughts and convictions about God and Christ which will enable him to fight fearlessly and win in the arena of modern life.
We do not expect our mountain people to be rich, nor shall we lightly endure their hideous destitution. If we Americans have a modicum of communal character and good will, such destitu- tion is absolutely needless.
We who serve the mountains are trying to teach the boys and girls that they can play without per- verting the most sacred instincts of mankind, that they can hear the golden trumpets sound while great sacrifices are being offered; that they may live a life of external hardship, and at the same time find their way, straight and clean, to the per- renial sources of joy which are not destroyed by the ravages of time and circumstance. We are trying to teach the boys and girls how to take their share, their full share, in the economic and spir- itual redemption of the South and in the cosmic redemption of which the great dreamers have dreamed and for which the prophets and apostle.$ .and martyrs h.ave died. . . –
A Challenge for Advance in
–<!III By REV. W. A. ROSS, D.O. Ill>- C APTAIN JIMENEZ, an officer iIi the med- have ministered in the Name of Christ to the sick, ical department of the aviation corps of the has completely changed the attitude of the people Mexican Government, a Protestant and one toward Protestant work. The schools during the of my former students, was remarking on the years they were being carried on, created a friend- tendency in the government toward a more lib- liness and called forth cordial support and elicited eral attitude to religion and a more· spiritual warm praise from all classes of the people.
philosophy. This tendency is more marked in A Nation in the Making some sections than in others. It is a challenge to the evangelical forces to take advantage of the if Mexico prides herself on being one toofbtehgeinfirtsht~ present situation, and at the same time a call from not the first, of the modern States Christ to present His claims upon all. The times and conditions are favorable. struggle for a larger freedom, and that was less We do not mean that all is friendliness toward than thirty years ago. As a nation that is being the Gospel, or that there are no forces of evil, no radical elements opposed to religion, no hearts in made over, she is very young. The people are Mexico that have no room for Christ. We refer to conditions in general. formulating new policies, they are working out At the Congress of the American Republics· in new systems of statecraft, they are facing the Peru, the dominant note was friendliness. The "good neighbor" policy is bearing fruit. It is in edcaownonm. I.CT, hseoyciaarle avnedrycusletnusriatlivecotnoditthioenspoolifticthale' this atmosphere we are working in Mexico but there come at times breaks in the friendly trend. present-day neighborhood world and are receiving Three or four years ago the church in Cuerna- ideas and patterns of behavior which are stirring vaca was closed for some months and the State government was making plans t~ take it as a cul- and moulding the minds and confusing or directtural center. It was saved, and in recent years we have not been in the least molested. Later ing the thoughts of multitudes. These new curthere was a heavy tax put on all ministers of religion. In some cases it amounted to more than rents are uprooting the foundations of their forhalf the salary. That also has been removed, and the ministers go about their duties as freely and mer simpler life, are affecting not only the outer openly and actively as in the United States. In another capital city about four years ago the forms, but also the inner contents and are shaplargest Protestant church was taken over by a semi-official labor group and used as headquarters ing the framework of a new civilization. until recently when it was turned back to the people for religious services. There is a tenacity in the old conditions and The liberal elements have always been favor- conceptions of life which do not yield easily, and able to the Protestant cause. Juarez said eighty years ago: "We need the Protestants in Mexico." there is much that should not yield, but no one And liberal-minded men of affairs in all walks of life have often expressed similar sentiments. can deny that this new structure moves with irre- Their knowledge of history teaches them that in countries where the Protestant faith predominates sistible force. The danger is that the good will there is liberty, progress, and a larger degree of happiness. There is also the missionary work go with the bad, and that sinister elements will that is being done before their own eyes. The work of the hospitals where the doctors and nurses come in. There is danger that, as they are pro- gressing through outer forms and organizations and are mastering the material, they wil not learn self-mastery or will not give a place for God who controls and masters life.
Here is the opportunity for the Evangelicals.
Just at a time when a nation is casting off the old faith there is the opportunity to press· the claims of the new; when hearts are open to the new it is a challenge to present Christ whose coming makes all things new.
A good number of those who have pretended to be the saviors of the people and guardians of their interests during the years of revolution have been selfish and unscrupulous men. This accompanies all revolutionary movements. We must also re- member that the efforts made to uplift the masses of the people take the form of material uplift.
• Reprinted from The Christian Ol1'8erver. This is needed and when rightly and wisely [293 ]
guided has its value; we can rejoice in everything The Religious Qualities of the Mexican People that is done to help in any way. The Mexican people are breaking away from But during the whole of the revolutionary pe- the dominant religion of the country, but this does not mean that they are irreligious or are losing riod there have been men and women who not their inherent religious qualities. Jose Vascononly have given themselves unselfishly for the selos, one-time Secretary of Education, speaking material welfare, but also have sought to bring to for his own people said: "We are Indian blood the masses larger cultural opportunities in the and soul; the language and civilization are Spanthings of the mind and the heart. There have ish"; and the Indian is by nature religious. His been enough of these to give continuity to the religion as a pagan before the conquest with its movement and under their leadership it has gone priesthood, its religious communities, its penances forward. and a host of deities, was the center of his life. His religion as a Roman Catholic, with its very Twenty-five years ago some of the men at the similar priesthood, with its pilgrimages and the head of the then very young revolutionary party attendant community life, its penances, its muloutlined. their plans for making available to titude of images and saints, was until recently, the masses a larger portion of the resources and and still is for many, the center of life. Those products of the country, for the education of all who have come into the Protestant faith with its the people and for the enlargement of their intel- ministry, sacraments and ordinances of New Teslectual and spiritual outlook on life. As we have tament type, with its fellowship with Christ and watched the progress throughout the years, in with those who love Him, with its repentance spite of many things to oppose and many un- from sin and pardon in Christ, with the free acworthy elements which have crept in, we have cess of all believers to God our Father through the observed that they have, generally speaking, held merits of His Son our Saviour, find joy and peace true to these ideals. At the heart of their pro- in this life of faith. grams there has been an earnest desire to help the people and to lift them up. With some, as in the There are many inherent qualities in the Mexcase of President Cardenas, it is a life passion. ican people, brought in through the Indian strain There are now, and have been from the beginning, and fostered by the dominance of the Roman Cathmen of like mind. One young thirty-five-year-old olic faith for centuries, which when captured by governor put on a vigorous anti-alcoholic cam- Christ go to make up well-rounded Christian charpaign, and is giving especial attention to the edu- acters. Their patient and sympathetic natures cation of all children of school age. when touched by Christ become genuine Chris- tian virtues. Their fidelity and endurance, re- This earnest desire on the part of the present vealed in the hundreds who have died rather than rulers to help the submerged of Mexico may help deny their faith, are qualities. which add much to us to understand better some of their acts. In the the building up of stability in the family, church, exchange of notes between our State Department community and national life. Their mysticism at Washington and the Foreign Relations Depart- and contemplativeness have full playas they mediment of Mexico, Secretary Hull called attention to tate on Christ in the night watches. Their social the apparent, if not real, weakening of a sense of nature and spirit of comradeship, when the Spirit moral obligations. One cannot justify a break- of God purifies. and elevates, make the communion down in national honor and a weakening of a of the saints a high privilege. ~ense of national obligations, but one can find perhaps an explanation for some of the things. done Much of the old order is going and the new by the Mexican Government in the passion of the philosophies of life, the economic and social theleaders for the sharing of the masses of the people ories which have all the characteristics of religion in the resources and products of the country. along with nationalism, also elevated to a religious passion, are seeking entrance into Mexico. Many in the Government, from President Cardenas down, have indicated their appreciation of a feeling of obligation to the Protestant cause for what they are doing and have looked upon them Here again lies the peril for Mexico; here again in many cases as allies. We were one day discuss- lies the opportunity for the Evangelical Church.
ing with the Under-Secretary of Education the The Church itself must recapture the vision that rural school system and the plan of the Govern- God in Christ meant the Christian community to ment for the training of rural teachers. Mr. be a fellowship of believers, rooted in God and Saenz said that they could give the intellectual, His divine redemptive order and therefore com- technical and practical training to the teachers, mitted to the service and salvation of the world.
but that when they were sent out to the rural Then going out in His Name the Church must communities to teach, too many of them broke capture for Christ those religious qualities in the morally, adding that here is a great field of serv- Mexican people which make them His joyous and ice for the Protestant Church. consecrated servants.
Frontiers in Home
By the REV. EDWARD DELOR KOHLSTEDT, D.D., Philadelphia Executive Secretary of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, Methodist Episcopal Church BASIC backgrounds and ideals are fateful States on April 30, 1789, George Washington was factors in the unfolding life and destiny of visited by a special delegation from the recently men and nations. Material and moral as- organized Methodist Episcopal Church (Baltisets, undergirded by a consciousness of the real- more Christmas Conference, 1784), the first in ity of spiritual values, determine the character the history o.f our country to bestow an official and quality of their economic, civic and social blessing upon the Chief Executive and other adactivities. No nation can hope to endure the tests ministrative officers of America's infant republic. of time without at least three imperatives to per- On October 3, 1789, President George Washingpetuity: an adequate fo.undation of race; a high ton's first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamastandard of private and public morals; and a tion pledged this nation's gratitude and loyalty to spirit of fidelity <to tested and well-established in- God: "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge stitutions. the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to Expanding Frontiers implore His protection and favor." The coin of the realm still bears this suggestive inscription: The geographical growth of the United States 'Tn God we trust." of America constitutes an amazing chapter in the story of nations. Our early American colonies American missionary history stirs the souls of only fringed the Atlantic seaboard. When this those who trace the trails and sense the spirit of New World Republic was launched upon its no- the hardy pioneers. and heroic "circuit riders," table career in 1789, the Mis<sissippi River had patriots and preachers, whose joint services to become its western boundary. Later a sixty-year God and country were so effective during the series of rapidly receding western frontiers es- formative period of our national life. The most tablished the territorial unity o.f the United States substantial achievements which have blessed this between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf world were conceived in the hearts and fostered of Mexico. and Dominion of Canada. The years by the faith of missionary-minded men and 1867 and 1898, respectively, witnessed the pur- women. We are indebted to their initiative, darchase of Alaska and the voluntary annexation of ing and self-sacrifice for humanity's material, Hawaii. Sho.rtly after, acquisitio.n of the Philip- social and spiritual progress. Challenged by the pines, Puerto Rico, a number of other islands that spirit of adventure, stimulated by the desire to dot the seas, and a permanent lease on the serve, and responsive to an inner spiritual urge, Panama Canal Zone completed the composite area they were able, out of a forbidding wilderness which embraces Uncle Sam's present political hitherto untrod by the feet of white men, to wrest domain. a civilization that was dominated by a Christian Our governmental superstructure rests upon purpose. A dynamic conscience characterized the foundations furnished by organized Christianity. colonization of America. The United States is The first representative assembly in this Western "a nation that was born Christian." Hemisphere was housed in a Christian church at old Jamestown, Virginia, where a monument now Is America Becoming Pagan? marks that historic spot. When the Plymouth What has happened during the century and a colonists were threatened with starvation, the . half of our national life, so startling in its impli- day designated for fasting and prayer was sud- cations that a level-headed leader and seasoned denly transformed into a time of feasting and re- Christian statesman like William Adams Brown joicing, hence Governor William Bradford pro- is prompted to voice the fear that "America is acclaimed the observance of America's first general tually in danger of becoming progressively pa- Thanksgiving Day on February 22, 1631. At his gan"? Constantly changing conditions, shifting first inauguration as President of the United economic and social situations; the influx of mil- [295 ]
lions of people from all parts of the world, with prime importance of personal salvation should not their own continental traditions, prejudices and be content with anything short of collective comracial animosities; the propagation of pagan fort as well as individual security. The spectacle philosophies of life; and the development of crime of absurd extremes between plenty and poverty, cultures of appalling proportions – these all surfeit and starvation in the richest country on threaten the foundations of our governmental earth, is an anomaly which has no place in a prosuperstructure and tax the resources of Chris- fessedly Christian commonwealth. This must be tianity. America's slump in ethical ideals is evi- corrected and its recurrence made impossible or denced by: the unsavory -revelations of our the manhood of tomorrow may curse the present United States Senate Committee hearings, in the generation for its stupidity. Significant trends in field of finance; the subtle trickery of dress-suit the current life of our day challenge the Church racketeers as well as the brazen effrontery of of Christ to arouse itself; to enlarge its vision, machine-gun gangsters; the perversion of public expand its horizon, revamp its program, and reoffice to propaganda methods that clash with the fire the zeal of evangelical Christianity so genuine principles of constructive statesmanship; strangely tempted, during these fateful days, to exploitation of the masses, for the sake of a selfish yield to the spirit of smug complacency and a surplus and the satisfaction of corporate greed; false sense of security. As Dr. H. E. Woolever rancor-breeding racial discriminations, that coun- wisely insists, "The Church of Christ must press tenance economic and social inj ustice. These and her spiritual ideals more effectively to the fore in kindred developments. undermine sacred institu- legislative halls and public life, or the increasing tions, hinder human welfare, and challenge the forces of greed and materialism will smother the Christian constituency of this country with a far economic and social rights of the masses." In more intricate and exacting task than that of our this or any other country, human happiness and pioneer fathers. national welfare can become a full reality only when those entrusted with governmental and so- An unwholesome industrial and social system cial responsibilities. are dominated by spiritual that breeds iniquities and haI1dships; ignores ra- incentives; when our national superstructure is cial discriminations and persecutions; tolerates buttressed by the fundamental doctrines of Chrisslum and dumping-ground residence areas; bar- tianity: the Fatherhood of God; the Saviourhood ters with beer barons and liquor lords for the of Christ; the Brotherhood of Man; the infinite privileges of physical and moral debauchery; value of human life, regardless of racial antecedwinks at broadcasts and cinemas that deliberately ents or backgrounds. distort ideals and magnify the worst features of American life, at home and abroad; and cheapens The Social Creed of the Churches, endorsed by itself by acknowledging the validity of alien di- the Home Missions Council and the Federal Counvorce laws that ridicule the sanctity of marriage cil of the Churches of Christ in America (to which and disrupt home life – these conditions deeply nearly all of our major Christian communions susconcern an awakened national conscience. The tain constituent relationships) embraces the follargest military budget in the history of the lowing clearly defined declarations: United States; crime and relief bills that require many billions to finance; fifty per cent of our (1) Equal rights and justice for all men, in population and a minimum of 15,000,000 of our all stations of life. children and young people under twenty-five years of age unrelated to the Church of Christ so that (2) Family protection by the single standard even a United States Senator voices the plea, of purity, regulation of marriage, and proper "Save the youth of the land or America is lost"- housing. all these stir our souls; indifference or silence on the part of Christian leaders would be treason to (3) Adequate physical and moral safeguards both the Cross and the Flag. for women toilers.
Social and Religious Frontiers (4) An unhampered development opportunity for every child, and the abolition of child labor. The totality of human welfare is Christianity's central concern. In the technical sense, geograph- (5) The right of employees and employers ical frontiers gradually fade from the national alike to organize, adequate means of arbitration scene, but modern home missionary agencies. must and conciliation during industdal disputes. reckon with functional frontiers of even greater urgency. In America, as elsewhere, vast areas (6) Application of Christian principles to the of under-privileged rural and urban life demand acquisition and use of property. conscientious com'l,ideration and action on the part of both Church and State. A passion for the Calvin Coolidge well said: "I do not know of any adequate support for our form of government, except that which comes from religion. The mere sharpening of the wits, the bare training of the intellect, the naked acquisition of science, while they greatly increase the power for good, likewise
NEW FRONTIERS IN HOME MISSIONS
increase the power for eviL Intellectual growth, service calls for a sound sociological basis for unaccompanied by moral and spiritual growth, missionary method and procedure, buttressed by will only add to our confusion." a valid humanitarian as well as genuine evange- Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes of the Methodist listic urge. A composite task requires, a composite Church emphasizes individual and social gospel program.
mutualities, as follows: The major task of Home Missions has always Any contest between the two seems to be a quarrel be- been to meet the demands of expanding geographtween the inner and outer life. Despite its individualistic ical and functional frontiers, with their changing emphases, the Wesleyan movement made most efficient economic and social situations; to aid in the esbeginnings in social reforms that later shone so beauti- tablishment of churches and the maintenance of fully in the expressions of Christian life. Wesley met missionaries; to explore and seek the solution of the standards of his own social gospel, did not dwell in community problems. that have been created by elegance, shared all he had, died poor. While the Church exploitation, poverty, ignorance, intolerance, dishas not usually protested where the main question de- manded economic expertness rather than moral judgment, ease and death. Modern Home Missions must she has spoken with boldness on starvation wages, child reckon with the basic needs of human hearts and labor, the liquor problem, the gambling evil, personal minister to those who, menaced by fOI'ces which purity, divorce, etc. Earnest men who plead that Christ are destructive to all that makes life worth while, is the ruler of the market place, that His spirit and prin- ciples should be applied to industrial life, should not be find their unaided strength unequal to the strugclassified as Soviets, Socialists or Communists. This whole gle for moral and spiritual victory. It is not task of creating a redeemed society calls for both regen- enough to tarry at the foot of the precipice, waiteration and education. ing with stretchers to catch the falling victims of sin and selfishness; Home Missions must major The CUn'ent Challenge Modern social situations in the United States in preventive rather than curative policies and of America, neware:as of activity created by programs in order to lift the whole of life to changing conditions and modified modes of living, loftier levels.
must be met and served by Home Missions with America's Salvation an adequate program adapted to the demands of these times. It is 'a far cry from the comparative Freedom of worship, lawful liberty, equality of simplicity of pioneer life to the confusing com- economic and social opportunity, and the sacredplexities of America's twentieth-century commu- ness of personality were the objectives of the Pilnities; from the program of a missionary move- grim Fathers who laid the foundations of this ment across expanding geographical frontiers, to New WorId Republic. Their ideals were crystalthe intricate and intensive task of providing an lized in the Constitution of the United States of adequate Christian ministry to modern communi- America, the separation of Churoh and State, the ties, threatened by destructive forces and fre- Emancipation Proclamation; they developed a quently abetted by "spiritual wickedness in high sturdy type of character which became the pride places." Home Missions must continue an un- of American citizensbi.p, until the finer sensibilifaltering' commitment to the supreme purpose of ties of our people became blunted by sordid sobringing the constructive and Ufe-enriohing serv- cial, commercial and political ambitions, when ices of the Gospel of Christ, not only to the SQ- license and lawlessness began to displace liberty called under-privileged areas of humanity, but and law. America's material, scientific and social also to any and all rural and urban communities achievements have been phenomenal, unsurpassed which, for whatever reason, would not otherwise by other nations, but her current spiritual situabenefit by them. It is the task of the Home Mis- tion is a cause for grave concern on the part of sion enterprise to serve isolated villages of reli- thoughtful Christian statesmen. Dr. Mark A. giously and socially forgotten men, women and Dawber, Secretary of the Home Missions Council children; to spiritualize sparsely settled rural of America, warns us that regions, pocketed mountain communities, and congested city centers; to brother bilingual Es- When wealth becomes an end in itself; when education kimo, Indian, Latin American, Migrant, Negro, leads to a deification of the intellect; when industry de- velops into a selfish struggle between capital and labor; when statesmen degenerate into petty politicians; and Oriental, and polyglot peoples from every part of when social life takes on the characteristics of the jungle, the planet now resident in and potential citizens the soul of the nation is lost. When lawmakers lose their of this country. The Christian attitude toward, spiritual ideals and sense of God; when the Lord's Day interest in, love for and ministry to these national is commercialized and secularized; when moral standards are lowered and a materialistic order becomes the major and family racial groups who have come here from motive of men, the supremacy of God is ignored and gov- ernment, education, industry and society, as well as relieverywhither, to make this their home, their flag, gion itself are in peril. their country, is bound to determine both the char- acter and the quality of future American citizen- The Christian Church and her Home Missions ship. In order to be effective and fruitful such agencies must save the soul and enrich the inner
life of America. A truly Christian democracy, sis, it is the same historic and heroic warfare according to our most seasoned statesmen, is the against the world, the flesh and the devil. Now, only constructive procedure in society, economics, as then, we wrestle not only with flesh and blood, education and government that ultimately can sur- but with principalities and powers. Home Misvive. America's greatest possible contribution sions faces an exceedingly exacting task in the toward world welfare, hence the most urgent re- new frontiers which now tax the mental, material sponsibility of Home Missions, is a reestablish- and spiritual resources of organized Christianity. ment of America's basic ideals of liberty and law, Shall we join Wycoff of Yale '84, in the following prayer: buttressed by a functioning faith in the God of our Fathers. Experience has demonstrated that Fronting my task, these things I ask: this is best for the physical, moral, social and To be tn.e, this whole day through; spiritual good of mankind. Present problems a.p- To be content with honest work, pear to be new and intricate, owing to the complexities of our modern life but, in the last analy- Fearing only, lest I shirk; To see, and know, and do what's right; To come, unsullied, home at night.
A Roman Catholic Challenges Rome By EULA KENNEDY LONG FROM earliest days until now, ignorance of the people to read the Bible. The accusation is not Bible has been widespread and notorious in correct, stated thus bluntly. We do not prohibit Brazil. the reading of the Bible (the Catholic version, be It was only a few months ago that a stu- it understood); but its almost general neglect, dent in Brazil said to a missionary who had given and the little attention given to teaching Catholics him a Bible : "You do not know how grateful I the supreme beauties of Divine Revelation, are am for this. All my life I have wanted a copy of practically equivalent to prohibition. . . . How the Bible; but this is the first time I have seen or can Catholic Action prosper when Catholics do not touched one." Missionaries could tell of having know the soul of the movement; when Jesus consearched the bookstores in some large cities of tinues ignored or unknown-the unknown God of Brazil, without finding one copy of the Bible for whom Paul preached to the Athenians?" sale – unless, perchance, there might be one or two of ancient pulpit Hize, .offered at the prohibi- It is a cause for rejoicing that concern is felt tive price of the salary of a workman for one over such a situation. Then came the good news month. -welcome to all sincere Christians, whether Roman Catholics or Protestants – that Father The Roman Catholic Church, which has been Rohden had completed a remarkably fine transladominant in Brazil for four hundred years, has tion of the New Testament, issued under ecclemade no practical attempt to provide the Scrip- siastical Imprimatur. It is a mere coincidence, tures or any portions for the people and many perhaps, but one is struck by the fact that this priests have forbidden the reading of what it calls new launching of God's Word, under Church the "Protestant" Bible, on the grounds that it is sanction, came in the same year that the Englishheretical. This is in spite of the fact that transla- speaking peoples celebrated the fourth centenary tions have been made by their own priests. of the transJation of the Bible into the language of the English people. Over a year ago, Evangelical (Protestant) church papers reprinted, with unfeigned joy, an The significance of this translation by a Roman editorial by a Roman Catholic priest, in which he Catholic priest cannot be overestimated when one voiced deep concern about this widespread igno- remembers that Brazil is a great Roman Catholic rance of God's Word. After relating experiences country, and the nation of greatest size, populain three hundred cities of BrazH, Father Hum- tion and potentialities in South America. The berto Rohden wrote: value of the achievement will be practically lost, however, if Father Rohden's New Testament is "Everywhere I found a profound and shameful not printed in a popular edition, put on sale at ignorance of the Divine ReveJ.ation. . . . It has secular bookstores, and its careful reading inreached such an extreme among us that Biblical sistently recommended by the priests. and Protestant are considered synonymous. . . . Ignorance of the sacred text is an open door to Will Rome accept the challenge of one of her the most horrible religious fetishism, to the detest- own priests? If so, then Father Rohden's work able superstition that exists among our people. of love and courage will prove to be, as he says, . . . The Protestants. accuse us of forbidding the "the breath of a promising spiritual springtime."
American Indians Are Doing
Evangelize Their Own People By G. E. E. LINDQUIST, Lawrence, Kansas I ~.- I Missionary-at-Large to the North American Indians ~==============================~t "EVERY race in the end must be elevated by These are only a few of th0'se wh0' have labored its own educated leadership," said a wise to bring the Gospel to their own people, either by leader 0'f his people. He would have been means of the translated word or as interpreters of the Message. They have all entered into their wiser had he said "Christian leadership," for in reward but their g00'd deeds follow them. Much the final analysis any elevation worthy of the of the work of Indian evangelization today is carname must be inspired and permeated by the ried on by native leaders. This does not mean Christian motive. The Indian race is no exception to this dictum. Historically, the most successful that the number of Indian pastors. and evangelists missions are those in which Indians have actively exceeds that of white missionaries, but when we participated in the evangelizati0'n of their own include interpreters, catechists, helpers and lay people. This is true in both Americas, north· as Indian leaders, young and old-in Sunday schools, well as south of the Rio Grande. women's societies, young people's organizations, such as Christian Endeav0'r, B. Y. P. U., Epworth As the North American tribes pass in review, League, Y. M. and Y. W. C. A., St. Andrew's certain notable names are associated with them, Brotherhood, Girls' Friendly Society, D. V. B. S., not as warriors and statesmen only but rather as evangels 0'f the Cross of Christ, messengers of the etc.-the total figure is impressive. G00'd News to those "sitting in darkness and the True, there are Indian communities today, an shadow of death." increasing number of them, where English is One calls to mind among the Cherokees, for ex- practically the only language spoken, whether on ample, such a spiritual leader in the person of the street, shop, school or church. Here the na- Elias B0'udinot, associated with Samuel A. Wor- tive tongue is used only 0'n special occasions when cester in translating the Scriptures and numerous old people are present, for example, at a tribal hymns, still used by present-day tribesmen; council or a funeral. On a recent field trip the Frank H. Wright, Choctaw evangelist and singer, writer visited the Yumas where this holds true. whose ministry was by no means limited to his However, among the neighboring Cocopahs, who own people; Joseph Islands, apostle to the Creeks; drifted across the border from Mexico several Frank Mt. Pleasant, for over forty years among decades ago, the white missionary must still use his own Tuscaroras ; James Hayes, a prophetic an interpreter at all services. To the north, voice among the Nez Perces, pr0'bably the first am0'ng the Mojaves, there is a native pastor min- Indian of the N0'rthwest to be hon0'red by the istering to his own people both at Needles, Cali- Doctor of Divinity degree; Artemas Ehnamani, fornia, and at Parker, Arizona. In a maj ority first native pastor to the Sioux, with the third of services English is the accepted medium of generation in his line serving at present; Charles expression although the pastor is a member of the Wright and Mark Hart among the 0hippewas, tribe and uses his mother tongue freely. who received much of their early training under One should not, however, draw the conclusion Bishop Whipple; Philip Deloria among the Da- that the work of Indian evangelization is no longer kotas, a disciple of the beloved Bishop Hare; dependent on the translated Word. Great has Isaac McCoy, a name-sake of the great Baptist been the contribution of those who have devoted missionary; Lucius Aitsan among the Kiowas, years of lab0'r in translating the Christian Scripa c0'nvert under Isabelle Crawford's ministry to tures into Indian languages. The story of the the blanket Indians in western Oklahoma; Horace Cherokee Bible, using Sequoyah's famous alpha- Williams among the Pima, who received his in- bet, reads like a romance; S0' also that of the spiration for evangelizing from Charles H. Cook, Sioux (Dakota) and the Chippewa (Ojibway).
pioneer missionary to the Southwest; Sherman Who can read of Dr. Rudolphe Petter's painstak- Coolidge, an Arapahoe, who also ministered to ing eff0'rts in making the Bible available to the other needy tribes. Cheyennes without unbounded admiration. In [299 ]
addition to these, the Scriptures, either in whole faith. One of the high spots of the church year or in part, may be found in the following: Choc- are the evangelistic services, usually held in J antaw, Muskokee (Creek), Shawnee, Arapahoe, uary and conducted by the deacons, more often Winnebago, Nez Perces, Seneca, Delaware, Tewa than not in the homes, but sometimes in the (Pueblo), and is some of the Canadian Indian church. The neighboring Tuscaroras as well as languages, such as the Cree, Miconac, Tinne and the Tonawandas frequently join in these meet- Maliseet. More recently some books of the Bible ings. It is the testimony of the leaders that the have been put into print in the Navajo tongue, church work receives a spiritual lift from these as well as in the Hopi and Apache. services which is felt throughout the entire year.
The Navajoes Among the Chippewas, especially those in Mich- igan, the annual camp meetings are looked for- Since the Navajoes constitute the largest tribe ward to as the big event of the year. Whether numerically in the United States and since these the camp meeting, as conducted by these people, people have often been referred to as "the last is an outgrowth of the old Indian councils which stronghold of paganism" it is reasonable to sup- were called by the chiefs, or whether they hark pose that the translated Word will have an im- back to early day Methodism, is a mooted question. portant place in their evangelization for years to The point to be noted here is that the Indians feel come. But what is of even g.reater importance instinctively that they are indigenous and belong to the Navajo is the development of an indigenous to them. Ever since the days of Rev. Peter church, under Indian leaders. Twenty years ago, Marksman (the name of Marksman is. writ large following a field survey, the writer urged that "at in the missionary history of the Chippewas), every mission station a small group of promising brought into the Christian life by Rev. John Clark native leaders should be trained for missionary of the Oneida Mission some time about 1840, the service in the future." Wherever these conditions Ojibway Camp Meetings. have been largely conhave been met certain encouraging results in the ducted by native Christians in which their own work of evangelization have followed. But alas, hymns and Scriptures loom large. The writer has after fifty years of missionary effort among these often heard the Indian preachers exhorting their people, one can count on the fingers of one hand people, sometimes far into the night. When the the number of full-time Indian Christian leaders. sinners and backsliders come to the front, the ex- hortation gives way to united prayer on the part The Hopis, a sedentary and agricultural people, of the faithful who are on their knees.. When the who unfortunately are widely advertised because penitent has "come through" there is exuberant of their annual snake dances now rapidly becom- singing as they rise to their feet in glad acclaim. ing commercialized, have had (until the recent One of the exhorters who has recently gone to passing of Pliny Adams) three native workers- his reward, J,ames Keshick, rarely missed a camp at Polacca, Toreva and Moencopi. Only those who meeting; he also served as local preacher at Hanhave first-hand knowledge of how the minds of nahville community for many years. these people "have been shackled by pantheism and idolatry," and how "within our own day men The Oklahoma Indians have lived and died in Hopiland without knowing that there is a redeeming Christ"-only those can Oklahoma Indians, especially the so-called understand what the lone workers must face as blanket tribes, still observe annual camp meetthey seek to bring the Gospel of the Cross to their ings, generally held in August or September, with fellow tribesmen. duly appointed committees in charge and careful preparations. made, sometimes months in advance The Senecas and Cherokees in order that such necessary items as food, equip- ment and shelter may be in readiness. A large On a recent trip to the Tonawanda Senecas in meeting tent, capable of holding hundreds of wor- New York the writer renewed acquaintance with shipers, is provided. Formerly a maj ority of the Peter Doctor, an Indian elder who for nearly attendants sat on the ground or on a piece of cantwenty-five years has kept the fires going in the vas spread for the occasion. Now practically all little Presbyterian Church, situated in the heart prefer camp chairs or benches, some of the nonof the pagan district, in the hope of evangelizing Christians choosing the cushioned seats from that element. During all these years he has near-by automobiles. Often as many as five or preached the Gospel faithfully and has made pro- six tribes gather for this annual event and a colorhibition speeches around the country. He is still ful assembly and picturesque congregation prewaiting for the Presbytery to appoint a successor sents itself. Beginning with a sunrise prayer to the late Mr. Tripp. meeting, called by the camp-crier, these people are rarely satisfied with less than four services a On the near-by Cattaraugus Reservation, Rev. day. They believe in and practice prayer, song David o,wl, a. Cherokee, has for twelve years led the Seneca people into the truths of the Christian
£9391 WHAT AMERICAN INDIANS ARE
and testimony. The climax comes when after the nual camp meetings and evangelistic s'ervices at exhortation by Indian leaders – in the old days Talmaks, Idaho, usually around Independence Nahwats, Poafpybitty, Saneco and Wautan-at Day, under the aegis of such native leaders as present by such younger recruits as George Hunt, Mark Arthurf James Dickson, Joseph Cook and Robert Chaat, White Parker, James Ottipoby and Harry Moffett. Robert Atchavit, when "the net is cast" and the converts and backsliders are brought in. The In the old Indian Territory (now east~rn Okla:.- elos.ing Sunday often witnesses baptisms, restora- homa) where dwell the Five Civilized Tribes, one tions and new members added to the church rolls. naturally expects. to find Indian workers dedi- cated to the cause of evangelization of their own Among the Sioux there are annual convocations people. Notable names are connected with their and mis8ion meetings. The latter, knolWn as past missionary history, but not all are written in l?taya Owohdake, have been held each autumn the past tense. Such institutions as. Bacone Colsince 1874 by the Congregational and Presby- lege, Dwight, Old Goodland, Oklahoma Presbyterian Indian churches of which there are 24 and terian College, Oklahoma Baptist Univ~r:rity a:.nd 30, respectively. They are manned by Indian the American Indian Institute have all had a part pastors, and the states of Nebraska, North and in preparing and sending forth many of the preS'- South Dakota and Montana are represented. ent generation of Christian leaders, lay and cler- While these do not have the distinctive revival ical. Among the Cherokees the list includes such emphasis of the usual camp meeting, they consti- preachers as Richard Glory, John Acorn and Jim tute a very significant link in the work of evan- Pickup, with Aaron Hancock, Johnson Bobb, gelization among the Dakotas. Here,' among Oscar Gardner and Grady James among the other items, may be heard thrilling reports from Choctaws; Sam Hawkins and Mose Wesley with the "Wotanin Waste," the Indian women's mis- the Chickasaws and Ben Haikey, John Smith and sionary societies, recounting their efforts to raise William King among the Creeks and Seminoles. funds to send the Gospel to needy groups. Here The last-mentioned, together with his wife, has such present-day leaders. as Truby Iron Mocassin, carried on work among the Florida Seminoles Thomas Blueyes, Clayton Hold, Philip Frazier, near Lake Okeechobee for a number of years, the Homer Redlightning, George Firecloud and Wal- support of which comes from the Muskogee-Creek lace Runningeagle sound the Gospel trumpet. Baptist Indian Association.
The Dakotas and Chippewas While the primary objective of all Indian mis- sionary work is to make known Christ and His In the Protestant Episcopal groups. the annual Gospel, to do this most effectively the ultimate meetings are called convocations. Last year the 67th annual gathering was held at Pine Ridge aim is to develop alid use Indian leadership. A Agency, South Dakota. A missionary who was trusted missionary of long experience once said, present writes: "The Dakotas crowded the separate meetings for men, women and young people "The constant testimony of the Indian preacher and demonstrated the depth of their religion with to Christian teaching and Christian things, just their interest and seriousness of purpose. Each group, from our grasshopper and drought-stricken because it is from an Indian, is worth more than prairies, came with larger gifts. of money for the any amount of preaching from a white man." promotion of Christ's work than they had brought Other things being equal, the white missionary the year before. Everywhere the keynote of the should work. himself out of a job. He must not convocation 'Forward with Christ and my hesitate to give responsibility to those most im- Brother' was sounded." Here the Indian clergy, mediately concerned, the Indians themselves, derepresented by such trusted leaders as Paul spite possible mistakes and failures. He must be Chekpa, Vine Deloria, Dallas Shaw and the Rouil- willing to trust God with the souls of people, lard brothers, voice the preeminent thoughts and whether they be clothed with red skins or not. aspirations of the assembled hundreds in worship, as expressed in faith in God, love for their fellow :. In the above somewhafcursory review it must men and courage for the future. be kept in mind that Indian participation is still somewhat sporadic and far from. being sufficient The Minnesota Chippewas also stress such an- or satisfactory. Great pressure is being brought nual gatherings as the summer convocation when to bear on Indian youth to enter other secular practically every locality and mission station is callings, especially from Governmental agencies represented, Rev. W. K. Boyle, archdeacon and and notably so in recent years. Progress in raisnative leader, being the forceful present-day ing up qualified Indian Christian leaders will conleader. On the Pacific Coast Region of the North- tinue to be slow unless missionaries with greater west the Nez Perces, Umatillas, Makahs, Spokanes earnestness continue to recruit, train and release and the Shoshones have for years conducted an- an increasingly large number of Indian workers for the evangelization of their own people. (See Frontispiece.)
Days in
By ELLEN H. BERGREN, Kermit Mission, Cassard, Virginia .nA .FTER completing my course in the Moody The meetings were well attended, but the peo- Bible Institute, and spending two years in ple did not seem to feel their need of salvation. Albany as pastor's assistant, I learned of The thought of "furrin" folks coming with new the great need in the mountains of the South and methods was something strange. To the moun- offered myself for service there. My best expecta- taineers preaching consisted in the loud singsong tion for a future home in the Appalachian Moun- exhortation of the so-called "Hard Shell" mountains was possibly a log hut, or a dug-out. I knew tain preacher. And women! They had never that I was apt to find myself in a place where star- heard of such a thing as women taking part in a vation and violence would be my lot. After much meeting. By way of introduction we visited every struggle I finally arrived in Bristol, Tennessee. home and gathered the children for a summer school. Rich indeed were the experiences encoun- I asked for a needy field, no matter how hard. tered. We spoke to the parents about sending In a few days, Rev. J. H. Little of Bristol took their children but one grandmother let us know his daughter, a singer, and myself to Appalachia, in no uncertain terms that she was not going to Virginia. On the way, near Big Stone Gap three let her grandson be injured by "book larnin." miles from Appalachia, the conductor aroused a Her only son was in the penitentiary at Richmond, drunken man whose destination was Big Stone and "If he had never known how to write enough Gap with the words, to forge a check," she said, he would be at home right now helping her. She was going to see that "Wake up! Where are you going?" his son escaped such a calamity.
"I'm going to hell," the man drawled out. Is it any wonder that ignorance prevailed, when "Well," said the conductor, "pay me ten cents ~he "Hard Shell" preachers fight it? One man more and get off at Appalachia." used this argument against learning: Mr. Little turned to me and said, "Is that "We'll say, here are two barrels; one is empty tough enough to suit you?" Such was my first and the other is jammed full of books. When the introduction to my new home! Lord wants to get in one of them barrels, and I axe you which one can He get into." During the following ten days, while Mr. Little held meetings, Miss Little and I did personal work The people will see the impossibility of the Lord in a little church, built by a former Christian getting into a heart that is full of learning. Sunsuperintendent in a near-by mine. After his death day schools seem to them a thing of Satan, and to the services were discontinued and the House of be preached against at every turn. It is a wonder God became a loafing place and gambling joint. that we had as many children in our Sunday The floor was carpeted with torn-up cards and schools those early days, as well as older ones who the windows were broken. flocked to our meetings.
First we gave this place a good scrubbing, many Many of the Primitive Baptists, or "Soft children and young folks helping to carry water, Shells," declare that they are not opposed to Sunsweep down cobwebs, and clean the few panes of day schools, but one of them remarked: "The glass remaining in the windows. Mr. and Miss Little and I had rooms in, the primitive hotel, young uns might just as well be in Sunday school which was kept by my future benefactors, the as in any other deviltry." The difference in Hales. In the lobby was a wooden sink, with a "Hard" and "Soft Shells" (or Primitives) is that bucket and dipper, for drinking and washing pur- the "Hard Shells" believe that only the "elect" are poses. Miss Little and I washed there, and, as saved, and God will see to them without any interthe roller towel had been much used, we used our ference from preachers. The sinner who is not handkerchiefs to wipe our hands. Mr. -Little face- "elect" cannot be saved, so that the preachers tiously remarked, "Well, ladies; hundreds have have no message for them. The Primitives believe wiped their hands on this towel and you are the that salvation is for all who will accept. Many fir,st ones to complain." have real revivals where people are saved. The [302 ]
• PIONEERING DAYS IN APPALACHIA
"Hard Shells" class believe in dreams and visions, mons arid others who do not believe in the Word as giving their call to the ministry of which many of God. They fear any deviation from the simple ludicrous instances are told. One preacher tells life. In some parts of the mountains are stretches how he heard three distinct "calls from heaven" of country sparsely settled, where there are no when he was going home from a meeting. He churches or schools. In one isolated section located the very place where each call was heard, lived an old woman who had been to church but with the words repeated three times: once as a child, and had not heard-or at least did "Lige, you go and preach the Gospel." not remember that she ever heard the Gospel Three young pranksters still laugh at their story. This woman told the missionary that she climbing up trees and calling out the "heavenly had not seen a preacher for thirty years. She had a Bible once, but lost it when she moved to Trou- blesome Bend. She could not read, but the book had been good to put under the pmow in sickness.
She wi,shed she had another. The missionary told her the story of the Lord Jesus, and when he came to His suffering and death, tears came to her eyes and she s,aid, "I reckon 'tain't true-let's hope it ain't."
When he finished with the resurrection story and the Great Commission to His disciples this darkened soul believed and walked miles to her scattered neighbors to tell them the story. She said: "How could I know all this and keep still?"
MISS BERGREN (at left) AND FELLOW-WORKERS When the missionary returned to Troublesome TWENTY YEARS AGO Bend, she had gone to be with her Lord but her command" to the future prophet as he passed faithful witnessing had turned many to the Lord.
their hiding places. Noone ever informed him Alone in Appalachia as to the truth. After one month of school, Miss Little returned These preachers are not required to know how home. We had about twenty children who wanted the school to continue, but a county school was to to read, or how to preach. Their belief is that the begin August 1st, so I decided to give my time to Lord will tell them what He wants them to speak. One of them remarked to a preacher who p~e pared his sermons, "Now brother, you are wrong preparing your text; the devil will look over your shoulder and read it too, and then go to your con- gregation and lock their hearts agin it; so it does them no good. When I preach, neither me nor the devil knows what I am going to say."
This ignorance still prevails in this class of preachers, who believe that a little whiskey helps them to preach with "spirit" and power, but there are, thank God, many true servants of Christ in the mountains, who are preaching the Word, so that many are saved under their ministry. There are also many true men of prayer among these people. One who prayed that God would remove A MINING CAMP IN THE APPALACHIANS a still from his neighborhood, and that very night a cloudburst drove a mighty wave against it and visiting and meetings. The old church had a bell, tore it down. God has not left the beautiful and I announced a meeting for each afternoon.
Southern mountains without His witness, even Night services were only possible when people though its ministers present the Gospel in ways brought lamps or lanterns. I invited the women peculiar to those who are accustomed to decorum out for afternoons and rang that bell, whose jerky in the House of God. tongue seemed to say, "Come and hear me talk!
The mountain people readily recognize a Come and hear me talk!" The women came, and preacher with wrong doctrine. A "no hell" professed conversion. Alas, they were only my preacher will not be received in any church, if converts, but I did personal work with the zeal of they know him as such; nor will they admit Mor- a Moody Institute student. When the newness of
my meetingS! had WQrn .off, the women lost their the Lord sent tWD yellQw dogs who drDve away the pigs and were fine protectors against other curiosity and the attendance waned. intruders.
One day, I noticed a woman whQ hardly took When my first helper came she remarked, when she was ushered into my first home in the mounher eyes .off me during the meeting. But after- tains: "Oh, how lovely! I thought you lived in a shack, and here is a chapel with four large winwards when I asked if she would accept the LDrd dows and a glass door."
as her Saviour, she shook her head and said, Miss Church was very happy with me, and a truer friend and helper I could nDt ask. This "No, but I want the pattern of that thar dress chapel, seating fifty persons, was often packed to .overflowing. Many ministers came here to preach you got on." . and true conversions were witnessed in this room. I learned a great lesson-not to try to force any- Only the Lord knows the many mistakes I made one to be saved, but to let the Spirit .of God work. Many of the children professed to accept the Lord during thDse early days. As there was nD .organ, as .their persQnal Saviour and even the smaller ones took part in .our early morning devotions by I used a guitar as accompaniment t.o .our singing. praying and testifying. Only the older children could read, and very few had books, so teaching I know now that it was a hindrance, as guitars, was a problem. Our "reader" was the New Tes- tament. It was a time of rich reward to see the banjos and fiddles were considered Satan's tools, development of their minds. Bible stories were part .of their daily lessons. As I told the story, being used by Negroes fQr dances. Never had they were to tell what lesson they could get from it for themselves. One girl, in telling the story of they heard of hymns being played on either. When Jacob and Rachel, said, "This lesson teaches us to always ask the Lord for sweethearts." my organ came, it was a wonder t.o all and the The following story of the loaves and fishes is guitar was not used for years. as it was retold by a boy: After I had been in Appalachia about three ~'One day a little boy went fishing and his mother had put up a little lunch for him. He saw m.onths, Mrs. Charles Hale was sent home from a a big crDwd on the hillside and he heard Jesus speak. After a while, Jesus asked if they had anytuberculosis sanitarium to die, and her husband thing to eat, but they hadn't. So the little boy brought his little lunch to Jesus. Jesus looked at asked me to come and care for her and their little it and said, 'There is mighty little .of it, but I will use it.' He broke the bread and little fishes, and ones. I could not believe that she had tuberculosis there was plenty for all. This lesson teaches that, if we give what we have to Jesus, He will let it but she said, feed many thousand." "Yes, I have it; I am g.oing to die and I want The st.ory of the triumphal entry was quaintly to be with my children to the end." written: "One day Jesus came from heaven to Jerusalem, on a borrowed mule, to be king. The I began to pray that God would reward this people didn't like Him, but the children did for they put flQwers on the rQad for the mule to walk family with the life of the m.other and as I nursed on, and sang a pretty song to Jesus. The other people got mad and said, 'Did yQU hear that?' her and cared for the little girls, I saw strength 'Yes.' 'Well, make them stop that noise.' 'No, I wDn't. If they would hush, the stones would return. God lengthened her life until her children holler.' This teaches us that we .shDuld sing, no matter who gets mad." were grown, when she died .of sunstroke. The story of the flood was told as follows: As I needed all the time for my work, I rented "God made Noah make a big boat to hold all the animals and people, but only eight people were an old storehDuse, and the .owners dug in the saved. The .others drowned because they would nDt listen, as the animals did. This teaches that mountainside eight feet for a living rODm which we should listen to good people always."
he divided intD a tiny kitchen and bedroDm. I fDund a brDken stove with .one leg, and supplied bricks for the others. The bedrDom had a cot, some chairs and a small table. Noone could feel richer than I, and nD one eQuId be happier. Little by little the walls .of my hDme were covered with pretty wallpa.per and the flDor with mDuntain rugs. My tiny kitchen acquired a small sink and table combined. The seats in the chapel were a combinatiDn of benches and school desks, and made so that a bDard at the back .of each seat cDuld be raised, forming a long table fQr school pur- poses. I had tWD large closed-in benches with immense drawers, wherein to bestow my go.ods, clothing and other things which came from friends of the work and which were sent fDr the pODrer people and the children, as well as for myself- things both to eat and to wear.
As the public school .only lasted three months, the need .of schooling was ,sad. This little chapel stood upon a hillside, the front being high above the road, while my floor in the dUgDut was on the ground. As cold weather came .on, the pigs came from the village and slept under the chapel.
Their noise and stench could nDt be endured, so
PIONEERING DAYS IN APPALACHIA
At the end of the six months, I offered a reward mmmg companies had built churches. In one for the most Bible stories they could repeat. One camp, one mile from Appalachia, we started a girl handed in forty from the Old and New Tes- Sunday school in an unfinished house and the first taments. year I had services in three places – Imboden, Preacher Creek, and Appalachia, making a walk Reciting verses was first on the program every of six miles every Sunday. morning. In six months the older children memorized fourteen chapters of the Bible and fifteen After two years, I thought that some people in Psalms, beside a verse each morning' at roll-call. Appalachia could carryon the Sunday school with I have the privilege now of teaching their children the help of preachers, so I decided to move to a in the Appalachia Daily Vacation Bible School; near-by community within walking distance, and in some cases, I have their grandchildren. open a school. I moved to what is now Andover, During the first year I was entirely alone and MY FIRST EASTER IN APPALACHIA it was a year rich in experiences. The customs were new and strange, but when one becomes rented a house and taught classes that met in the used to them, they no longer seem so quaint. In largest room. It was rather crowded, with thirty calling one day on an old lady, she asked first of children, but with the help of Miss Church, we all where I was from. got along by letting the children recite in the din- ing room. These dear children were religiously "Albany, N. Y.," I answered. inclined, and it was not long till all with two ex- "That's a right smart piece, ain't it? Come by ceptions, accepted the Lord. One morning, after train ?" our usual song and Bible period, I asked (feeling "Yes." a strong working of the Spirit) : "How old are you?" I gave some answer. "Children, shall we take up our arithmetic?" "Well, have you store teeth?" "No ma'am," all answered. "No." "Well, what shall we do then?" "Make your own dress?" "Let us pray," was the almost unanimous re- "No." sponse. "How much did it cost. Are you married?" Then those dear children began to pray for a "No." revival, which shortly came. God sent His true "Never been married?" servant, a rather unique old man, Mr. Bassett, "No." "Got any children?" "N0, I am not married." "Well, too bad, but you can be yet, I reckon. You are not so old looking." I asked if she was a Christian. "Law yes, honey, I was baptized a right smart while ago."
Then she asked me about my religious faith, and said she heard someone say I belonged to the Roman Catholics. When I denied this, she seemed to draw the conclusion that I belonged to some other strange cult. But when I told her that I believed the Bible from cover to cover, this seemed to satisfy her. Later, we became fast friendsa friendship which lasted until her death.
The first weeks in Appalachia will never be forgotten. Every Saturday night there were shootings or stabbings, and for several Saturday nights in succession someone was killed. A man was shot one Sunday morning while we were having Sunday school, and someone called out, "Silas is killed." Everyone in the church ran out, leaving me entirely alone.
The surrounding mining camps were much upon my heart as few had any Sunday school or religious service of any kind. Within a radius of ten miles there were only three camps in which the
who went wherever God sent him. During that with me. Her mother gave me daily the choicest milk, called "strippings," and when I told her not meeting, every home was touched, and I have yet to, she said, "The children like the plain milk without the cream, and since I give you milk and to see a place so stirred, in answer to the chil- butter, we never have to hunt our cow-she al- ways comes home." Cow-hunting was the most dren's prayers. . hopeless task we could imagine. All the mountains around us were pastures, and no one knew which From Andover, I moved to Blackwood, a mining way a cow would roam. I don't wonder that the Holy Spirit recorded Saul's mules lost and found, camp six miles away. By this time, three other as it was really a daily miracle to me that the children found the cows. Some cows would reworkers had come and they stayed at Andover spond to the call, "Sook, heifer," but many would not stir. until I could leave Blackwood in the hands of Miss In those early days, an amusing incident oc- Jennie Henry. Workers were also located at other curred in the mining camp where Miss McPhee- ters worked. She was a teacher who assisted mining camps-Stonega, Osaka, Roda, West Nor- (unremunerated) the public school teacher. While I was visiting her one day, a young minister asked ton, Sutherhind, Roaring Fork, Pardee, Inman, us to be witnesses to a marriage ceremony. The young man came in with a red bandana tied Imboden and Upper Imboden. As the camps around his neck, and on his head a hat which did not fit. The bride, who had not thought much opened for us, we had students come from Nyack about a wedding outfit, was a shy girl about eight- een or twenty. The minister plaeed a chair in Institute and Moody Bible Institute, until we have front of him in place of a marriage stool, and the groom thought this an invitation to sit down. had over one hundred workers at different times. When asked if he wanted a ring ceremony, the young man was at a loss and, turning to a boy Some were there only during vacation but others with him who wore a large gaudy ring, said, "Here, Sam, loan me your ring for a minute. I'll remained longer, and some are still in Virginia, give it right back."
though not in the camps. Miss Collins has lived When the minister asked: "John, will you take this woman to be your wedded wife?" he answered in one camp, Roda, for more than thirty years. lustily, "You bet." The minister turned to the After Miss Henry came to Blackwood I returned bride with a similar question but she could not speak, and said, "Uh huh." to Appalachia, where a new mission was being After the ceremony was over, the groom caught built. We moved into the unfinished rooms and hold of his wife's hand and started for the door when the boy with the ring said, "pay the different preachers came to hold services in the preacher." The groom turned and asked, "How much do you charge?" When told that he could chapel, part of which was completed. give what he wished, according to how much he thought of his wife, the groom smiled and said, It would read like a fairy tale, should I tell of "I sure do think a heap of her. Here is a quarter" -with the air of a millionaire. the many evidences of the Lord's care. Friends As time passed, our number of workers grew sent things to us, so that we never really lacked, until several camps were occupied and this work was called "The Appalachia Mining Camp Misthough at times our faith was tested. sion." We had no demands for reports which, personally, I had found superficial in my former While living in Preacher Creek, Miss Church work. But at our monthly workers' meetings, a secretary wrote down testimonies as to how the had typhoid fever, and the friends there were un- Lord had led and blessed – each one – also the trials and failures. These records are kept as retiring in their assistance. We seldom had to cook minders of God's faithfulness.
a meal, as everything was sent in already cooked. An Archdeacon of the Episcopal Church in Big Stone Gap, Dr. Lloyd, a fine Christian and a Our workers took turns in helping to nurse her, and it taxed everyone's strength, as she was bed- fast seventy-two days. It proved to us the un- tiring devotion of workers and people.
Preacher Creek was, in someways, different from the other places where I have lived. The revival there touched every home and made us all seem like a large loving family. All came to church and there seemed to be no division among the peo- pIe-all lived in harmony and love. Three orphan children came to live in my home. One little darling girl, Milford, would often beg me to adopt her, though she scarcely knew the meaning of the word.
"Why Milford," I would say, "your father and mother could not do without you."
"Oh, yes," she said, "they have Gertrude, and Maggie, and Edith, and two dead. They have enough."
"Well," I replied, "you have two dead you say, so you can't be ,spared."
"Oh," she said, "they were little boys. Mama never had much luck with boys."
She lived with me a long while and the dear memory lingers. She is now mother of a large family, to whom she tells about the time she lived
PIONEERING DAYS IN APPALACHIA
true missionary, invited our band of workers to monthly for conference and prayer so that we his home. He had a wonderful ancestry of for- often had thirty at our table for two days as they eign missionaries, and his son was a missionary could not return the same day on our little interin Japan. He assisted us in every way that he state train. These were times of rich blessings could. He had· already begun to place Episcopal and refreshment. deaconesses in a few needy places, but when he saw that the church dress was a hindrance, he The reports, which are very rich in experiences, show how wonderfully the Lord fulfils His prom- THE ~'IRST SUNDAY SCHOOL AT KERMIT ises. Some testimonies were quaint and mirthful, showing the crude initiation into the strange ways urged them to use ordinary clothing, which he did of camp life. Some workers learned quickly the also, except in his own church. .In this way he ways of our people but even at that there were won the love and esteem of all. some misunderstandings and mistakes.
Dr. and Mrs. Lloyd gave us a delightful time of Once I was asked to take a little girl eight years fellowship. When he asked me how we were sup- old. I went up to Roda Camp to see her and deported, I told him that I asked of each mine su- cided to adopt this little darling and gave her my perintendent for a rent-free house, electric lights mother's name, Elsa. After six months another and coal, but for salary the workers trusted the little g~rl was added to our family. She was one Lord, who always supplied our needs in wonder- of our Sunday school scholars, and after the ful ways. "How can you maintain love and har- funeral of her step-mother, the motherless little mony among them all on this basis?" he asked. one, Olive, ran up to the Mission and her father It never had occurred to me to look for trouble finally gave her to me. Two years later, I also ,along this line and I said, "Why, the ones who adopted her little sister so that my home was come here are willing to put up with some diffi- blessed with three little girls. They were dearly culties as their invitation to the work includes loved by all our workers. All three grew to sweet hardships, poverty, dirt, misunderstandings, and womanhood, and married.. It pays to invest in the winning of souls. In not one case has the chidren, and if my health ,allowed, I would gladly applicant been discouraged." open my home for more of God's little ones.
In all the years the Mining Camp Mission One day in school, the children were told to existed, there was little trouble among the work- write the full names of their parents. Little Olive ers. Of course, at times there were disagree- wrote, "My mama's name is Miss Ellen Bergren, ments, but our workers were most untiring and and my papa's name is Mr. James Skidmore." It never once was a reprimand necessary for neglect never occurred to her that anything could be of duty; instead, necessary lines were drawn to wrong with it. The teacher, who was also one of prevent their overdoing. our Sunday school teachers, handed me the slip laughing. Nursing was necessary and many nights were spent by sick beds. There is a mountain custom, Another time, during presidential election, all whenever anyone dies, for neighbors to sit up the children were having a mock election. When with the dead all night; in some cases they sing Olive's name was not among them, she was asked hymns. One of the few laws enforced was that, when tired out with the living, the workers must THE KERMIT CHURCH AND "PARSONAGE" let the people of the place "wake" with the dead. why she did not vote. "Well," she said, "I am As new mining camps opened for workers, our what mama is." family increased until fourteen camps were manned. From these our workers gathered "Well, what is that?" "I can't spell it but she is a perditionist (mean- ing prohibitionist)." The other children thought that must be all right if Olive's mother was that. A child asked Elsa one day where her father
was. She answered that she did not need any A little later a little boy was brought to the father. Mission. Next day he came down with the measles, and Nancy caught them too. Everything in the "Well," insisted the child, "who gets the 'vittles' Mission was new and strange to' Louis. He had for you?" never heard the name of Jesus except in swearing, and our Mission was like a new world to him. The "Oh," said Elsa, "we just pray and God sends little girls were his teachers, and we could often us all we need. We don't need any daddy." hear them say, "Louis, you must not say that, it isn't nice," or "Louis, Mama don't let anybody As this was a new way of support to this child, talk like that here." He learned the stO'ries in the she wanted to know more about it. So Elsa, hav- children's Bible and the little missionaries truly ing witnessed the almost numberless answers to began in virgin soil. Louis loved to sing and prayers both for food and clothing, spread the learned quickly. Like Faith, he used his own truth among her schoolmates about a life of de- words and tunes, and as he sat in a swing on the pendence on God. porch he would sing with all his might: There was nothing too hard for these children, Jesus is good, He wants all the people to come to Him and I often feared that their faith would have a and be good. severe test. But today, I cannot remember more than once when the waiting for an answer seemed The people don't want to come; no they want to be bad, to be so long that they would ask, "Why don't God poor little Jesus. answer? We have asked Him." They were told that God sometimes answers in the negative.
Out of their small weekly allowance the chil- The children often played Sunday school, and dren tithed faithfully. It was made a rule that Louis liked to be preacher. each unkind word was to cost the speaker a penny. This started a turn for the better as it put an end Other children were brought to the Mission, but to petty quarreling. with the work of the mining camps and incoming workers to place, we could not keep them all. For One day Olive came to me very much wrought a time we had seven and a worker volunteered to up, and 'said, "Mama, I've got to lose some money. be their teacher. I have to tell Elsa a few things." She told me the trouble and that was the last I heard of it. Per- In my earliest years in Appalachia, I had many haps she did not feel that the few words she would opportunities to visit other oommunities and assay would be worth the loss of her pennies. sist in meetings. With a little baby organ (a great wonder to many) I led the singing, and When little Faith was five years old, she began many were helped to trust in GO'd for their salto go to the chapel part of the Mission, and con- vation, rather than trust in good deeds, good feelduct services alone. It was touching to listen as ings, in something imaginary, such as a vision of she prayed, gave out hymns, and sang lustily to light or hearing some voke, or in emotion created an improvised accompaniment of her own. Her by a song. These are often accepted as tokens of keen musical ear would not allow any discord, and the New Birth, without the person knowing anyat six she had made up several compositions en- thing of God's promises and the way of life in tirely herself. The older girls taught her some Christ. The greater number of backslidings can easy tunes and to these she put her own words. be traced to the lack of knowledge of the Bible. One, which she was always asked to play for visitor,s, ran like this: The first mission building soon became too small for our large family, so, little by little, the Jesus comes; Jesus goes. addition of rooms began. The last was built when When He comes He stays a little while; it seemed best to put the growing work in the caore When He comes, He goes. of stronger hands.
One day a little girl of six was left on,our front Everything was clear to both parties. The understanding was that these four rooms were to porch aWndhewnasw, etolfdoutnod stay there until someone be built for me, as the first money of $500 was came. her there, she said that given for a rent-free home, so the givers would still wish to have it so. They would not hear to she had come to Istay with Miss Bergren." She was any other arrangement, and the gentleman with whom I dealt said that there would be no trouble. a robust little one and said that she could work So we began building the rooms, but, alas, when we were half finished a letter came from his well, and that at Elly's she did "every lick of headquarters that I must sign over the whole without any clause as to my reservation of rooms. work." I asked why Elly did not work and she The readjustments came asa remarkable answer to prayer s.o that the work then continued until answered, "Oh, she was sick and lazy till she died." regular minis,ters and nurses were stationed in We tried to find out who Elly was, but no one knew; we only learned that Jim brought the child to us and told her to stay. We could not find out who either Jim or Elly were. So the child re- mained. All she knew was that her own name was Nancy.
PIONEERING DAYS IN APPALACHIA
the mining camps. The spiritual workers left the lamps were ruined, chairs were broken, and all field and so-clalled trained social workers replaced was in a pitiable condition. It seemed impossible the Gospel with classes for domestic science, to bring back the former life. nursing, and other good projects that are still not up to the highest standard of a missionary who One day, in late summer, I stood on our front seeks to lead souls to God. porch. I was tired and worried, and my heart cried out: "0 God, take me away from here. I When it se~med wise to leave the Mining Camp can't do any more here, my people love excitement work we moved to Kermit, Virginia, where we more than reality, and some other place needs us built a house and chapel used for school and more." An answer came so real as to be nearly church work. Since a county s,chool has been audible: "Child, do you want to leave now? I built here, the chapel is used for church services have none to stand in The Gap for me. They have only. It was a needy place, seven miles from any not gone back on you but on Me. Will you still other chur·ches and schools to which no one could go away?" walk on the impossible clay roads in the winter. It was sad to leave so many wonderful friends I fell down on my knees, crying out, "0 my behind in Appalachia but as churches of three Lord, if you wish me to stay here, I will never denominations were there it seemed right to go again ask to be moved. I am ready to stand in where there were none. The Gap if it is Thy will, as long as I live."
The first years· here were constructive in the As a shower refreshes the parched earth, so like beginnings of many kinds of classes for grown- a miracle God began to move. The preacher got ups as well as children. A tabernacle was built In trouble with a member of his former followers, in a shady place where services were held in sum- and the church in an adjoining community asked mer, and little rustic cabins were built for classes. him to resign. A shame-faced people came back In all the schools conducted by our workets the to Kermit church, and in a most miraculous way, Bible has a large place, and hundreds of verses things began to be normal again. have been committed to memory by the children. There were very few Sundays. when we did not About two years after this experience, when have from one to three preaching services-morn- some had forgotten that this preacher was still ing, after Sunday school, afternoon and at night. abroad, reports came that he was in jail. One day there was a knock on the door and there stood An unknown preacher, who had had a marvel- the same man. I cried to God for wisdom to ous success in his last revival in a neighboring handle the situation. Then I told him plainly community, came to hold revival services in Ker- that he had stirred up confusion, and scattered mit and filled the church to overflowing every our people to such an extent that some were night. He swayed the people with a hypnotic worse than ever before. He wanted to gather the power, and all our folks were converted over people in Kermit, so as to draw the members from again. Then he wanted to build a church, but as Cowan's Branch (the church in the next commulong as he could have the church free, the people nity where they asked him to resign). But since decided not to build. For six months or more, his motives were wrong I could not allow him to they followed him wherever he preached, going preach anymore. in trucks to distant places. Religiously, Kermit was ruined. Noone knows the anguish we en- I have only touched the borders of the years. dured during this time. It seemed that everybody A veil has been drawn over many sad experiences, was running after the man except a few who did and I have touched only a few of the many which not believe in him or his ways. have been true miracles. May the work go on and on in different ways and places, doing the The large crowds had caused much damage to true s'ervice through many of our missionaries the church building which had settled over six who are claiming the promise that they will bring inches so that every window was tilting. Our forth fruit even in old age. May the Lord who pipeless furnace had to be cut off several inches has done so much for this work in these thirty-six as the register projected above the floor. The years still carry on the work after He has called us. Home.
A Christian Philasapy far Rural Wark*
By FRANK w. PRICE, Nanking, China Head of Department of the Rural Church, Nanking Theological Seminary A PHILOSOPHY of Christian rural work is villages in the rural community. Governments now needed. Interest in rural reconstruc- are meeting some of these needs; non-Christian tion and the betterment of rural life is ris- agencies are meeting others. But unmet needs ing like a. mighty tide all over the world. The are legion. The Christian group should study its Christian Church is aware of its opportunity and community, select the greatest needs, and do what responsibility in meeting the needs of the "rural it can to meet them through promotion of good billion," especially in less privileged lands. Gov- causes, pioneering in new fields, holding up Chris- ernment and social agencies are promoting large': tian aims and ideals in social change, or through scale programs. What should the Church do that the leadership which the church contributes. It will be unique and fruitful? should seek, above all, to meet the deeper moral Many Christian missionary institutions are add- and spiritual needs of individuals and in society.
ing departments of rural service and are begin- 3. We must see the rural man or woman as a ning new rural experiments. Small groups of complete personality; we must see village life as Christians are answering calls of need from rural a whole. In the words of the Jerusalem declara- areas. Special types of training are given to those tion: "Man is a unity, and his spiritual life is preparing for rural service. In some countries indivisibly rooted in all his conditions, physical, governments are looking to Christian organiza- mental and social." The Christian Church should tions for special assistance. Agricultural missions reach men, women and children and seek to in- and the rural church are an essential part of the fluence them in all their family and social rela- world Christian movement. Christian individuals ti.ons. We want to make better citizens, citizens and groups must have a clear vision of aims, defi- of the community and of the nation, Christian nite guiding principles, a firm underlying phi- citizens. The various aspects of rural service losophy of Christian rural service, and a faith in must be integrated so that the whole life of the their cause, if the Christian Church is to make community is improved. Rural Christian leaders any distinctive contribution to the remaking of should see more clearly the relation between the village life in harmony with Christ's ideals in the many factors in rural betterment – health im- twentieth century. provement, higher standards of living, richer in- Ten guiding principles must be vital elements tellectual life, better community organization, the of this philosophy. These may stimulate thought development of stronger character and more un- among Christian rural workers, especially in the selfish leadership, and more vital Christian ex- lands of the younger churches. perience, because they see each person as a whole 1. We should be openly Christian. Christians and rural life as a whole. Our task is to arouse or groups of Christians engaging in rural service the desire and the will for a better life, and to should be openly and fearlessly Christian. As show the way to wholeness of life-in the Chris- Christians we have a distinctive faith and mission tian sense, salvation.
and our work should reveal a distinctive spirit of 4. We should attempt a limited program of high a fellowship and a unique power because of their quality. The program which a Christian group allegiance to Christ and His cause. We should not or a church in a rural community should attempt hesitate to express our Christian purpos.e, to seek will be determined by the leadership and member- opportunities for witnessing to our faith and ex- ship available; by the method of organization and perience, and to work unreservedly for the build- financial resources, by the opportunities presented ing up of a Christian fellowship in the community. for service, and by the faith and spirit of the 2. We should help to rr/,eet rural needs. The group. The aim should be to work intensively Christian gIloup should be seriously concerned rather than extensively. It is better to become with the needs of individuals, of families, and of intimately acquainted with one small rural com- • From a paper Issued by the Agricultural Missions Foundation, munity of fifty to a hundred villages and to do a Inc., 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. fruitful and lasting work than to spread in a [310 ] superficial way over many hundreds or thousands 7. We should make large use of local resources. of villages. Good, intensive work, done intelli- The ordinary Christian institution or group cangently and effectively, will be in the eD.d the best not command the financial resources which govkind of extensive work. We should aim at quality ernments and some non-official .agencies can comrather than quantity of service. We must resist mand. The Christian group must make large use the temptation to promote the kind of work that of local resources and develop local initiative and can be "shown off" to visitors.. We must see the leadership as much as possible. The village peovalue of little things well done and of unpreten- ple themselves must have a large and growing tious service with results that may not be imme- part in the working out of local programs. Any diately apparent but that are of lasting value. No help from outside should be used to stimulate and matter how limited the area of work or how simple encourage local planning and effort. Only thus the program, we should combine scientific knowl- can the rural church hope to become rooted in the edge, the best educational methods, and Christian rural community. devotion and sacrifice in realizing our aim of essentially good and permanent work. 8. We should cooperate as much as possible with other agencies and groups. Churches and all 5. We should go into the villages and live among Christian groups should cooperate in every way the people. Christian rural workers should con- possible with government and other agencies tinually go among the people and not wait for working for rural welfare, but must not sacrifice them to come to the workers and their institutions. or compromise their Christian faith and prin- Christian work in a rural community must be ciples. Following the inspiring example of Bishop deeply rooted in homes and village groups. The Grundtwig of Denmark, the Church should help central institution, service center or church build- the government to "revive the national spirit" by ing may be a me"eting place, training school or teaching Christian ideals of patriotism and by house of worship, but it should draw p€ople out building up the morale of the people. Where other of their homes and villages only to send them back organizations in the community are meeting a to serve and to transform their homes and their need, we may cooperate or support their work; communities. We must go "deep into the villages" where a vital need is not being met, we may help (to use the Chinese phrase); spend days and to arouse government attention or community innights in the villages, live among the rural people, terest and to organize the people to help themshare their joys and their sorrows, sacrifice and selves; frequently we may introduce outside agenendure with them. The ordinary rural worker cies and institutions for rural betterment to the will not do this, or he will attempt it for a short local community or bring groups in the commuperiod and then want to return to the more com- nity in touch with outside agencies which might fortable life of the market-town, the county seat assist them. We should do all in our power to deor the metropolitan center. The constant tempta- velop a community spirit, and community cooperation is to do rural work from an office or by occa- tion. At the same time, we must stand upon sional trips into the villages. Followers of Christ, Christian ground and never deny our Christian our Master, should be willing not only to go among purpose and principles. the rural people but to stay among them. If we can do this, we shall have an assured place in the 9. We should constantly stress the moral basis remaking of rural life. of rural reconstruction which is hindered by powerful forces of selfishness and greed. The 6. We should stress personal relationships and Christian group should be united and daring in small group organizations. What is the Chris- its opposition to all evils which it sees in individtian approach to the villages? First of all, through ual and community life. It should openly proclaim genuine friendship; then through unselfish forms Christian teachings in the face of any wrong and of service, and finally but exceedingly important, injustice even though such a stand may cost perthrough the organization of small, voluntary, co- secution and suffering. It should strive continoperating groups. These groups should aim to ually to strengthen and to organize effectively pubmeet some definite need of the group itself or of lic opinion and common effort against community community life. They should be self-helping and evils and against all forces in and out of the comself-directing from the beginning with such inti- munity which are hindering the fullest developmate and expert counsel and training from the ment of community life. It should preserve and outside as may be available. They' should not be strengthen the best traditions and customs in the mere formal organizations but should be warm villages and build upon the worthy spiritual elewith the spirit of friendship and should give a ments in the cultural inheritance of .the people. broader and deeper meaning to those p€rsonal re- It should call the rural communities to moral and lationships in family and social life which are spiritual life and ideals as well as to material adessential to the preservation of rural society. vance and, through the teaching and the power of
Christ, seek to regenerate as well as to recon- tribute something vital and unique to all the rural struct the lives of rural peoples. reconstruction in the community.
10. We should build up the church, which is the We look forward to the day when there will be permanent ex;pression of the Christian faith and in every rural community throughout the world a spirit in rural rebuilding. Hence we seek to bring strong rural Christian Church, deeply rooted in together in group worship, group study, group rural culture, serving community needs and transfellowship and group service, all Christians and forming community life, united in prayer and in all seekers. for Christian truth in the rural com- fellowsMp, teaching a real love of country and munity. The guiding, teaching and building up releasing the spiritual possibilities of the villages, of such a group becomes an essential task in Chris- indigenous but also vitally connected with the tian rural work. It is not enough to live and to Church of Christ-historic and universal. In a serve as Christians in rural communities; we fellowship of rural churches around the world, a must also find and win comrades in the Christian fellowship of Christian farmers and their famfaith and life and bind these together into a strong ilies, a brotherhood of men and women who are brotherhood. Ministers and lay workers must be helping to feed and to clothe the world and who found and trained to serve in such a church. A worship God and serve His Son, the Galilean Carchurch-centered program; broadly conceived and penter-Farmer, lies one of the greatest hopes of wisely carried out, will not divide the rural neigh- world peace. We must build up the rural church borhood but will help to unite it, and will con- in all lands, among ,all peoples.
The New Urgency in the Congo* -'I~I========~B~Y~R~E~V~.~M~O~TT==E==M~A~R~T~IN========~II~ DR. JOHN R. MOTT, after personal investi- ance of those thus studying our Bible is about gation, has declared that a dollar goes fur- 40,00.0 pupils! Hundreds and hundreds of our ther and accomplishes more in Africa than converts are coming out of these schools yearly, in any other field which he has visited-and he and as we wish to have a "self-supporting, selfhas visited them all! Of all the fields I know, governing, and self-propagating Church," this is. there is none more seriously menaced and which our hope for deacons and elders and pastors, for so urgently demands your sacrificial interest and all such must be intelligent and have clerical abilprayers as the Congo! ity to qualify.
The Southern Presbyterian mission during the The theological seminary at Mutoto is the first five years of this last decade (1928-1932) largest in the Southern Presbyterian Church, with received into the communion 9,455 carefully in- the snudents all married, thus giving the wives an structed and probation-tested converts-but dur- opportunity for special training, and through reing the last five years (1933-1937) received 19,205 quired plantations and gardens able to be largely communicants! Note the astounding rate of in- self-supporting. All must teach the village (or crease-and know that we have over 35,000 now "bush") schools; they must speak some French under preparation, already enrolled in the cate- to pass government inspection; they must know chumen clas·ses, also being tested. Open doors how to lead and instruct their congregations in wide open-thronged with needy supplicants beg- singing; they must be adepts as soul-winners; as ging to be taught! Over 2,000 preaching points well as able expositors of God's Holy Word. All daily trying to tell of the Way, the Truth and the applicants must have had their station (high Life – with yet hundreds of other villages and school) diploma of nine years schooling as a pregroups still on our waiting list begging and plead- requisite for entrance! ing for teachers. The mission:s medical work is also indispen- In addition to direct evangelistic work, we are sable, in that it breaks up inherited superstitions cooperating with the Colonial Government in their of the Voodoo and of animism; it continually wins nine-year educational program which permits us the loyalty of entire villages; and affords countto use. the Bible throughout. The average attend- less opportunities for personal soul-winning. The five hospitals have over 300,000 native visits • Reprinted from Th,e Chffi8tian 01/8eTWr.
THE NEW URGENCY IN THE CONGO
yearly; they perform hundreds of operations; if you had to care for large expansion and incare for all epidemics and scourges; besides car- creased needs? ing for over 2,000 lepers. The health of the missionaries and of our thousands of workers is de- Belgium has, launched a new educational propendent upon them and answered prayers; and gram for the Congo, which provides for nine years neither priest nor pauper ever calls upon them in of education, but sub.divided into three-year perivain. ods. For the first three-year period, the law looks forward to the establishing of little chapel-schools The mission is now attempting to minister to in every small community or tribal group, and the over 45,000 communicants, all of whom were not law further provides that any cult or confession, only received into the church after long instruc- whose teachers are qualified to teach the first tion and probation, but are statedly tested and three-year part of their curriculum, shall have the approved at each communion season, as to whether full protection of their laws; and furthermore, they are "doers of the doctrine." Using the old that the people of that group or village shall be Scotch "token" system, we give a ticket only to protected in their choice of such religious teacher. those whose lives are dedicated and obedient to Even previous to the promulgation of this law, Him. every station had scores and hundreds of such vil- lages on their "waiting lists," for whom we had "How then," you may ask with others, "can it no money in our budget nor prepared "preacherbe true that our mission is seriously menaced, as teachers" well enough trained for such positions. was stated in the opening paragraph of this letter?" The answer is that the mission is both The priests and nuns, who are now encountered under-staffed and under-financed! The average everywhere, have made the situation far more age of the present missionary group is past fifty, acute still, for on arriving in a village where no without any younger men being trained to take Protestant work is manifest, they call the village our places, and with an actual decrease in num- head men, demanding in the name of the law that bers. More pertinently, the mission has succeeded all the children be turned over to them for inand expanded, so that at least twenty more work- struction. The people, loyal to us whom they have ers are needed to maintain the previous degree of learned to love, protest that they are Protestants, efficiency. Among other extensions the mission and that they are looking to us 'and our Church has been forced to open up two more stations for instruction. So the priest departs, threaten- (there are seven now), thus withdrawing mis- ing that when he returns some weeks hence to find sionaries from already over-worked stations to that no Protestant teacher has been installed, he man the new ones. The scattered 'Tillage groups will establish his own school and chapel, or else which we control have increased from 1,100 indict the chief for lying and obstructing the (1928) to over 2,000 now, and we must visit and colonial Program by leaving his children uneducare for these regularly. Every department of cated. Alarmed, distressed, the chief and his peoour work has been enlarged, improved, extended, ple, scorning inconvenience or season, rush into increased in our attempt to hold our own; so that the mission station demanding the teacher for each missionary has far more tasks than either whom they have, awaited so long. Alas, and alas! his health, or the good of the work, can justify. Our little remnant of a budget has already been stretched beyond the breaking point, we can do As to financial support-the peril is even more nothing. So the priest enters, propaganda begins grave, but I trust not more hopeless! The facts against the heretic foreigners, gifts and school speak for themselves, for we have less than one- supplies are lavishly given, and even threats and half of our previous budget, and just a little more blows and unbelievable ruthlessness are employed than one-third. The actual figures in Belgian to prevent the people from visiting us or hearing francs, the currency of Congo, are as follows: the Gospel message. Before the depression the American Church gave us $65,212 which dropped to $25,000 during the Nevertheles,s, the people are remaining loyal to depression. Simultaneously, the exchange rate the Evangelical mission, and many are enduring fell from thirty-five and one-half francs per dollar great sacrifice and poverty and suffering in those to twenty and one-half francs, so that the actual places where we do not desert them. But in the amount in francs dropped from 2,315,026 francs rapidly growing number of those villages which before the depression to 512,500 francs-less than we cannot "occupy," the priests are locking and one-fourth of what we needed! This lowest figure barring the doors, against us and religious freehas been raised little by little until, with the ad- dom, so that in areas dominated by the priests for dition of two new stations, we now receive francs ten years, the children have even hooted the pass- 861,097 ($29,693 at 29 francs to the dollar). If ing missionary, an almost unheard of rudeness for your church budget, or your business, or house- the native Congolese. My conviction is that if keeping budget, were suddenly to be cut down to our Church does not awaken and soon, God will one-third, how would you get along, especially not hold open the doors another ten years.
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I Effective Ways of Working Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MISS GRACE W. MCGAVRAN, 5718 OAK AVE•• INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Do Personal Work with Christian teaching and fel- magazine is not suitable for a lowship those people have. With boy in reform school, is it suit- A state Communist leader once able on your own library table? came to talk to a group who at the pastor and his wife, go sevthe time included members of eral other members of a town *** the national staff of a Missions congregation to "help with the and Christian Education Board. singing," to give an increased In one of our smaller cities sense of fellowship, to make a lives a young woman with a love I remember clearly his state- hard trip easier. of music and ability as a direcment that a member of the party tor of singing. The paid music in good standing, working full There are services within leadership of her own church time at a job, was required to reach of most of us, where our leaves no room for her to use give four full evenings a week lJresence might mean the differ- that ability, but she does not find to Communist activities, meet- ence between success and failure. that any excuse for leaving her ings., propaganda, or other work Search out one such piece of talent unused. She found that for the party. Christian work and give an eve- a group of children in a mission ning a week to it. It will in- church in the same city were At the time it struck me that crease your worth to your own eager for a children's choir and if Christian church membershilp church. It will encourage your one evening a week finds her involved that, our active mem- worker-in-charge. It will carry busy training her sweet-voiced bership would hardly be worth forward the missionary task of group. Sunday evenings they counting. And yet-would it not your church. form the choir for the service of be a minority as effective in the church. Anyone who has its contagion as Communism? *** had much to do with a choir More so, because of its s.piritual knows the number of hours she life, light and reality! Over in Boston lives a mis- must put in outside of timesl of sionary woman, retired from In- actual contact with the children; There are people who are giv- dia.. She is hard of hearing and planning their work, choosing ing such service for Christ's music suitable for various occacause. If we note some of them, the possibilities of active service sions, solving problems. She is it may help suggest some ave- semed at an end. Yet she pluck- doing far more than training a nues of personal service for our- children's choir. She is leading selves – personal missionary ily undertook to learn to write a group of underprivileged chilservice. dren along a path of beauty; she Braille. With painstaking care is enlisting and developing their North of Sault Ste. Marie, On- she has worked at translating abilities fOir Christian service, tario, Canada, runs a gravelled she is giving them a warm, vital road due north. Twenty-five into the familiar Hindi of the contact with her own Christian miles out it ends. From there to field of her labors, stories being personali ty. Hudson Bay there is nothing. It used in Christian education. is still pioneer country up there. Then with meticulous care she There are children from coast The "bush," which has grown has pricked into the raised dots up after logging, is forest again the story or the Bible pass1age or to coast, from northern border and here and there iSi a little log to south, who are crying out for cabin. Small farms are being mess·age for the blind to read. cleared. Russian, Finn, French, Hindi Braille! Her days of serv- Christian leadership. Children English stnck-they are pushing ice over? Retired? She is open- in city, in village, in country and the wilderness back. Along that ing the eyes of the blind as mountains, needing a contact, if road every Thursday evening, only once a week, to guide their while the road is not blocked surely as she did in the days of activities along worthwhile lines with snow, there goes the cir- her medical service in India. and to give them definite contact cuit pasitor and his wife, to hold with Christian personality. You a service for all who will come There are services you can can render vital service if you to the tiny chapel in a little set- render in preparing materials are willing to give an evening or tlement. It is the only contact for use in mission fields at home two a week to it. and abroad. There is that ever- present implement-the needle. There is the hammer and the paint brush and the saw. There are books to be collected, maga- zines to be gathered for use in prisons. And by the way, if a [ 314 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
What, you say, has local To feed these children at the move out. The woman telling about it, said that she and her church work to do with mis- Center one nourishing lunch a family were utterly ashamed of belonging to a community which sions? Who said local church day, the churches of the county could do such a thing. She spoke very feelingly about the sense work? Whenever you step out -one church each week-under- of contrition which comes to one in the face of circumstances like of your own local church en- took to collect what was needed. that.
vironment, to go to the aid of a But at this point came a fail- First, let us rej oice in the growing number of people who group not able to provide its , ure which, to the visitor, seemed have a deep sense of shame and contrition at the possibility of own leadership, you are in a rather embittering. In spite of such action.
sense engaging in missionary ac- all the wealth and all the power- Second, let us see what we can do about it. There is a tivity. We have left too much ful modern automobiles owned deeper problem than that of bringing 'Public opinion to bear home missions work to the over- in those churches, not one per- upon the agent and the dwellers in that apartment house. The worked members of our home son could be found willing to de- editor of these pages was aching to ask in that conference, how missions s,taffs. Too many of liver thoee supplies to the Cen- many persons there pres,ent had ever entertained a Negro person us fail to see, that beyond our ter. After a week of exhausting as a guest in their homes.
financial support of home and work, heartbreaking in some of For after all, there lies the root of that particular trouble. foreign missions which provides its revelations, those three girls To entertain a Negro guest wa's such an unusual thing in that the continuity of work and had to collect and carry to the community that when an apart- ment house dweller attempted it, workers, we s,till owe the gift Center, unload and store away, she had to give up her apart- ment. The next step for all that is more difficult to make— all the food supplies for the fol- those who feel contrition, is to make the entertaining of Negro the gift of our own time and lowing week. guests such a common observ- ance in their neighborhood that talents in direct personal serv- Can you not imagine the it will cease to draw attention ice. When we render such serv- women of those churches saying and to cause unfavorable comice, we grow in understanding as too many of us say on similar ment. and in power. We speak with occasions, "We've collected the authority as we seek to enlist the things needed. It seems that There are few of us who can members of our local church in the least they can do is to come make our voices heard in breaka deep concern for the work of after them!" It would have been ing down racial prejudice. But the church at home and abroad. a little thing to those church peo- as has been the case since time began, What you do speaks Our cause is not to be com- ple, taking long drives to cool louder than what you say.
pared with the Communist cause. off in the hot summer evenings, Why not plan during this next year to take a person of an un- Shall we, then, give it a lesser to load the car and drive in the accepted racial minority in your community to at least one of devotion? direction of the Center. A heavy your miss,ionary meetings as a guest. That is one of the easiest Give Full Measure – burden they put upon those tired steps, for there at least you find workers by their failure to do so. some persons theoretically if Running Over! not in actual practice believing Many of us will be involved in in racial equality.
A visitor to a Christian Cen- projects of one sort and another, Why not have as a dinner ter' in Ohio, where children of collecting that which we would guest at least once, the most inmigrant onion – field workers share, and getting it to those teresting person of another race were being kept and cared for with whom it is to be shared. whom you can secure. Make it during the day, found three In planning such enterprises, a real occasion. Invite your let us remember that full meas- guest because of a common inyoung .women doing a tremen- ure – running over – involves terest, or because of some dous piece of work. Faced with finishing u~ the project our- accomplishment along lines inappalling need on every side they were reaching out to the selves" not leaving part of it to full limit of their time and weary workers who are glad to strength to bring health and have our gifts to distribute but Christian teaching – the touch whose joy would be the greater of it that was possible – to as to have full measure of help.
many children as they could in Creating Public Opinion the weeks during which the Cen- ter was maintained. At a recent conference on Children, utterly worn out missionary education in Chi- with the attempt to sleep on cago, one woman got up and told hard boards in bare shacks with about an experience a friend of no netting to keep out the hordes hers had. The friend, a lover of of mosquitoes, were put to bed music, had invited one of the under mosquito-netting on a mat most famous, singers of today, a in the grass, and were allowed Negro woman, to be her guest at to sleep as long as they would. dinner in her apartment in a Children suffering from the ail- northern city. The other occu- ments that come from lack of pants of the apartment house food, no milk, and few of the had combined to force the agent nutritive elements needed, were to refuse to re-lease her the served a hot lunch at noon. apartment. The friend had to
teresting to some member of for following an address. Can during the address, questions, your family, or because the one we do anything about it? small or great which occurred invited is a stranger in this We certainly can. In the first to them. These were collected country, or because you are' place we can recognize the fact at the close and given to the working together on a commit- that most subjects presented by speaker. As they were answered tee and want to spend the eve- most speakers do not stimulate by her, other questions began to ning working together. The discussion. Unless we are sure be hastily written and passed invitation must rise out of a real that discussion will be stimu- forward. The question period desire to have that person in the lated, we should not plan for it had to be brought forcibly to a midst of your family and must or announce it. It is often a lazy close. Another method is pribe a happy experience for all in- idea on our part, for by it we vately to ask several clear-thinkvolved. have avoided having to build up ers among the listeners to jot Why not have as your house the program in line with the down questions during the adguest at summer camp someone speaker's theme. First then, do dress or presentation, and to be of another race? Students in not plan for discussion unless ready to ask them. It stimulates this country might find that a you are sure it will be spon- attentive listening to do this and real experience. A boy inter- taneous and valuable. if the group is merely shy about ested in the same hobby as your In the second place, there is starting questions a number of son's might bring more than questions like this to begin with pleasure in doing things to- the subject or address or speaker often sets things off to a good gether. which should stimulate discus- start. Still another and very sion under ordinary circum- good way is to have, either in Why not help your young peo- stances. Plan for discussion in the preceding open meeting or in the officer's meeting a preple to take with them to summer that case and announce it. But discussion of the speaker's be alert. If the speaker fails to theme. Some definite things the conference as a member of their group would like to find out may own group, some young person stimulate discussion, if the ad- be determined and thus quesof another race or nation whose dress has a tone such that its tions prepared. Or for those own church will not be sending message will be lost if followed who read a great deal, stimua group and who would be lonely by discussion, if circumstances lating questions regarding the going just as an individual? prove such that the audience point of view of some author cannot enjoy spontaneous dis- who writes on the subject may It is through the doing of cussion, if the majority will not be proposed. Avoid like poison these things that you are really want discuss,ion although a few the trite and banal question. creating public opinion. To are eager for it, rise gracefully There is nothing sends a speaker make the desirable so common into a fatal "spin" more easny in actual experience that it will to the occasion with a statement than a question like, "Do they be "the thing to do," will be which reverses the proposed pro- eat with their fingers?" after more effective in creating a gram arrangement. For in- she has p,resented a picture of friendly world than any amount stance, "We had planned for dis- the terrific problems faced by of mere talking about it. cussion, but I think we all agree the women of India in emerging that we s,hould prefer to close on from centuries of ignorance, Best Use of Question Periods superstition and binding custom. the note Miss Jones has sounded. Third then, where discussion is Who has not been at some Some of us will want to talk to legitimately planned, decide defimeeting or other upon whose her further,' quite informally nitely on the way in which quesprogram appears "Address, by tions are to rise and make some So-and-So" followed immediately after our meeting." Or, "Miss suggestion as to the type of below by that fatal line, "Discus- Jones has answered in a remark- questions which will be helpful. sion." The pres,iding officer able way the questions we had Bring questions or discussions rises, bright-faced, and turning thought of asking. Suppose we to a prompt close when time is on her charm like a lamp, pro- just omit the discussion period up or when desire for further poses, "Now I am sure we all questioning seems about to lag. have many questions we want to and have an informal chat with It is a good principle in question ask Miss Jones." Dead silence. her after we close." Second, "I have one myself," seys the then, be alert to eliminate a dis- periods, as in recreation, to stop officer smiling. One wonders cussion or question period you how much of the period of the short just before people are address she spent in trying to had planned but which you come formulate it! Miss Jones an- to feel will not be wise or effec- ready to quit. swers it with enthusiasm. Dead silence again. tive. Question and discussion peri- The "Discussion" on this pro- In the third place, develop a ods rightly used are excellent. gram was a flat failure. It technique for drawing questions. An interdenominational confer- ence of children's w 0 r k e rs, where each was a stranger to the other, had a most lively question couldn't have been worse. Yet period. At the outset of the You can become more expert in that is exactly what happens presentation the group listening using them helpfully if you study ninety-nine times out of a hun- was asked to keep paper and the reasons for your success or dred when questions are called pencil in hand and to jot down failure and try again. BULLETIN Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
~,==================~ TAMBARAM SPEAKS FOR for action to an ecumenical con- that the pulse of the Christian ference, those delegates hold in Church is to be found in the HOME MISSIONS their hands the deciding votes throbbing life of its evangelistic By REV. HILDA L. IVES that can establish their inter- fervor. Here is the test of the The third International Mis- pretations of spiritual truth and reality of the Christian religion. sionary Council which met at that can express their spiritual Any church or any individual Tambaram, India, in December, ideals in Christ. I do not know Christian who lacks missionary 1938, made history. For the that there was any time at Tam- zeal is as a burnt-out coal on the first time in the record of ecu- baram when the colored dele- altar of the Living God, for a menical religious councils the gates as a whole were in opposi- transforming religious experimajority of the appointed dele- tion to the white delegates or ence brings the propulsive love gates were representatives of when the representatives of the and power of the Living Christ the colored races. To be exact, younger churches were in dis- and with this inflow of the Holy there were eight more colored agreement with the delegates of Spirit comes a sense of Divine delegates than there were white the older churches. But if acute Mission. In the words of the delegates. This fact has far- differences had existed, victory Tambaram findings, "There is a reaching implications for the was always possible for the sure indication that evangelism missionary cause. In the first younger churches. Such decid- is not due merely to the zeal of place, it means that the Chris- ing power will be increasingly Christian people, but rather is tian Church is now so deeply in the hands of the colored races the outcome of a Divine initiarooted throughout the world in the years to come. tive. The task can never be that it has taken on the sem- In the third place, this world- achieved wit h 0 u t :sacrifice. blance in color and in dignity of wide establishment of the Chris- Churches as well as individuals the family of nations as God tian Church means that the term are summoned to die unto themcreated them. God is an artist. "home missions" has new conno- selves and unto their own par- With the dawning of a new morn tations for all Christians. The ticular interests that the world He paints His skies with irrides- work of the Christian Church may be saved. Worship must cent hues. With the flaming can no longer be divided into lead to witness and spiritual rays of His dying sun, He sets "foreign missions" and "home growth to self-giving." These His heavens aglow with glorious missions," with the meaning words can well be a stimulus to color. Such a God would nat- that has existed in the past. the work of home missions.
urally create His children, His Every country now has its Tambaram laid an emphasis, family of nations, a colorful peo- strong indigenous C h r i s t ian as did the ecumenical conference ple. His Church is a colorful Church. Every country now has at Jerusalem, upon the strategic church, beautiful in the warm its home missions, consisting of importance of the Rural Church shades of brown, yellow, black all areas where Jesus Christ is in the stabilization of a chaotic an"d red, with enough white to not known. From the discus- world. This means, of course, make a perfect harmonious sions at Tambaram, it was the strategic importance of whole. This was shown to all brought out that all churches home missions in every nation.
Christian leaders who saw the are now considering the sending Tambaram emphasized the need Universal Church assembled in of Christian leaders to other of experts and specialists for all the beautiful new auditorium of lands as foreign missionaries. It the different phases of village the Madras Christian College at was suggested that India might life where human needs are the Tambaram. The Ecumenical well send from her Indian Chris- most pressing. This need was Church which represents Chris- tian Church foreign missionaries expressed in the findings in the tendom fairly in the future will to Africa, even as it was sug- following words, "Increasing the consist of inspired harmonious gested that America might con- fruitfulness of the land, raising leaders blended into a colorful sider the appointment of a fine the level of literacy and intelli- Negro Christian missionary to gence, providing wholesome unity of faith. In the second place, the pre- India. Such suggestions have recreation, turning slums to dominance of colored Christians tremendous import in the re- homes, rescuing people from meaus that at any time there is va1uation of the whole mission- financial exploitation or trying unanimity of opinion upon the ary cause. Tambaram asserted to prevent such sin, directing the r~solutions of findings presented again and again in its findings energies and the social instincts [317 J of youth into channels of whole- is right, who still feel the clasping sage of the mystic, Kahlil Gibsomeness and service-all these hands of love even when they go ran, but the period of directed are the blessed touch of the hand through pain and trial and loss, this prayer which followed its readof Christ when done by men and seed-spirit will spread, this nucleus ing was one of the high moments women filled with the love of will enlarge and create a society. of the conference. Christ and equipped with special knowledge for the task. . . . This excerpt from "Inner The commission group meet- Wherever possible the Church Life" by Rufus M. Jones ap- ings were held at Riverside should cooperate with govern- peared on the cover of the pro- Church, and in Hamilton and mental agencies contributing gram of the Metropolitan Chris- Business Halls at Columbia Uniher Christian spirit, her trained tian youth Conference held in versity. The unique feature of workers, her volunteer assist- New York City on March 3, 4, these commission groups was the ance and her deep interest to and 5, 1939. setting up of booths to resemble lift the level of the community's the World's Fair, called "The way of life." The committee of ten young World's Fair of Social Chal- people headed by the general lenges." In these booths were In conclusion, I would say that chairman, Mr. Oliver Powell of displayed the contributions of the message from Tambaram to the Metropolitan C h r i s t ian various racial groups and rehome missions is that home mis- Youth Council sought in their source materials on outstanding sions are thrilling opportunities arduous planning for this con- social questions. for service and for evangeliza- ference to spread this "seedtion within national boundaries. spirit" among the youth of the The subjects covered were: Foreign missions are the thrill- Metropolitan area. Their months Peace, Economic Problems, Race ing opportunities for service and of thoughtful, prayerful en- Relations, Jewish-Christian Refor evangelization within inter- deavor resulted in a well-bal- lations, Housing, Unemployment, national boundaries. Interest in anced program. both home and foreign missions Home and Marriage, Leisure will exist in the same person if The conference speakers were Time, Labor Problems and he is a true follower of the Mas- Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, World Christianity. ter. Home missions gives a minister host to the delegates, Christian an opportunity for Rev. Abraham J. Muste of the Some dealt with personal relimore direct practical concern Labor Temple, Dr. John Suther- gion, as, for instance questions and service to needy parts of his land Bonnell, pastor of the Fifth such as these: own nation, for a more intimate Avenue Presbyterian Church, knowledge· of many groups of and Mr. Oliver Powell. Anyone Is religion personal or social, or is underprivileged people and for doubting that youth is inter- religion personal and social? a definite part in the develop- ested in a pulpit message need ment of a constructive, vital pro- only to have witnessed the rapt Can I save myself without saving gram for the building of the attention given these conference others? Kingdom of God. The needs of speakers to be convinced that the home mission fields, close at youth will give ear to a message Can I be religious and not go to hand and sacrificially met, can of worth. church? open the heart to the needs of far-distant lands. Home mis- One of the outstanding mo- What would happen if young peosions is a spiritual and necessary ments in the services of worship ple really believed in Jesus? preparation for foreign mis- was that in which the words of sions. "Such movements are "The Prophet" were read. Does God have a purpose for every the urge of the Spirit to the life? If so, does the individual have Church to fulfil its great com- And an old priest said, "Speak to a definite part to play in carrying out mission, relying not merely upon us of religion." And he said: "Have that purpose or does he just find for human resources, but upon the I spoken this day of aught else?" himself something to do in advancing power of God. . . . The Church's the purpose? message to the world is the Lord Is not religion all deeds and all re- Jesus Christ Himself in all His flections, and that which is neither These young people faced honmanifold grace and power." deed nor reflection, but a wonder and estly and frankly these and many surprise ever springing in the soul, other problems. that confront YOUTHFUL BUILDERS even while the hands hew the stone youth today. or tend the loom? OF THE KINGDOM Naturally there was a diver- Who can separate his faith from sity of opinion, and both con- The Seed his actions, or his belief from his oc- servative and progressive poi~ts cupation? of view were presented. Our It was Jesus' faith that, if you get young people live in a world in into the world a seed of the Kingdom, Who can spread his hours before which they themselves must a nucleus of persons who exhibit the him, saying, "This for God and this choose what they shall believe blessed life, who are dedicated to ex- for myself; this for my soul, and this concerning the essential facts of panding goodness, who rely implicitly for my body? . . ." life and only as they think for on love and sympathy, who try in themselves can they grow into meek patience the slow method that He to whom worshipping is a win- men and women of principle and dow to open but also to shut, has not stable Christian character. yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn. Earnestness of purpose and youthful enthusiasms character- Your daily life is your temple and ized all sessions of this gather- your religion. ing of youth and one could not but feel that these youthful Whenever you enter into it take builders of God's Kingdom had with you your all. come a little nearer Christ's dream for the world Space does not permit a full quotation of this beautiful mes-
A Story for the
KEEP OFF THE GRASS Norman and the policeman the boys all laughed and told him turned round to look ata young to forget it. They said that all By VIOLET WOOD man who had come over to them. reporters were crazy. As the long summer days passed, Nor- Norman was burning up. His "And who may you be?" bel- man still dreamed of sailing in a clothes stuck to him. It was the lowed the policeman. boat up and down the Hudson hottest day of 1875. None of River. the gang were around for they "George H. Williams of the had all gone s.wimming in the New York Times." One afternoon he was sitting East River where his mother on the curbstone outside of his wouldn't let him go. "A smart alec reporter, huh?" tenement under the shade of the "Look here, officer, I don't in- elevated trains when he noticed All along the road, carts and tend to get into a brawl. I'd a man evidently looking for horses were tied to hitching just like to ask you a civil ques- someone as he consulted the posts or were moving fretfully tion. How many times a day do house numbers. The boy's heart through the narrow city streets. you kick little boys like this one skipped a beat. It was Mr. Wil- Up on the fire escapes of out of the city parks?" liams. Norman rushed over to crowded tenement blocks babies The policeman pushed back greet the reporter. He was so lay in cradles made out of old his hat, the better to see the re- excited he scarcely heard right. orange boxes. Many of them porter. What he saw evidently He was to have a gang of boys cried incessantly. pleased him for he changed his at Battery Marsh on Sat.urday. surly tone. "More than I care Norman felt like crying, too. to think of, young fellow. I Saturday came too slowly, but He had never disobeyed his know that there's no place for then Norman, his friends and mother, but the impulse to go these kids in New York City to hundreds of newspaper boys with the gang was strong. He play but in the gutters. But from all over New York City had only a vague idea where the what can I do? If I let this kid went sailing on the ferry boat. East River was. Street after stay here, tomorrow there'd be Best of all, was the news that street he crossed in the blazing hundreds tramping around here for the rest of the summer they sun, with the horses and car- and what would become of the could spend the long, hot days riages ambling in every direc- park?" on the boat. tion. After much walking he came to a park. The cool, green Mr. Williams turned to Nor- Mr. Williams had told Norgrass stretched all around. The man who had been crouched man's story in the newspaper, as sight of it thrilled him. Al- down between the. two men, well as that of other little boys though it was carefully foot wondering whether he should whom he had seen compelled to wired and bore signs warning, run or stay. "How would you "Keep off the grass." People "Keep off the grass," Norman like to spend some of your sum- had sent in money to hire a ferry jumped the small fence, picked boat to take the children sailing out a choice spot beneath a mer days on a ferry boat, sailing every morning and bring them shady maple tree and lay down. up and down the H u d son back at night. The idea seemed River?" so wonderful that one of the big The lovely tree swayed, caus- New York churches took it up ing a slight breeze and making Norman looked at the re- and for many years made this the sunlight fall in patterns porter. "You're making fun of one of their home missionary upon him. He lay thinking, "I'm me, mister. I ain't never been tasks. going to bring mama and papa on a boat in my life." and the baby here." Reverently Making Use of This Story he felt the grass. Although "No," said the reporter, "I'm parched and dry, it was delight- not kidding you." He whipped "Keep off the grass" is the fully cool to the hands of this out a notebook. "What's your true story of the beginning of little boy who knew the feel of name? Where do you live?" He The Floating Hospital of St. cement sidewalks better. John's Guild that still carries on wrote down what Norman halt- the work. "Come on, get up out of ingly told him. there!" Many children have no idea as "Who do you think you are, a to what "home missions" are. Norman started up, his heart See how many aspects of work beating wildly as he looked at a millionaire? Getting ferry boats among underprivileged children policeman towering above him. for kids-don't make me laugh!" in metropolitan and rural sec- tions the child knows. Tell of "Get a move on, you !" The policeman swung his stick. your denomination's work in Norman was too frightened to "Just watch the pages of the various fields. move. "Why don't you pick on some- New York Times, brother," anbody your size, brother?" Both swered the reporter. To Nor- man he s.aid, "And you, sonny, I'll be round to see you real soon."
When Norman got home, and told his adventure to the gang, [319 ]
World–wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO "
~~~~=====================================================================~ NORTH AMERICA life; the Church and marriage. five cents each for bricks in the Family participation in commu- edifice. The upper part was paid One Hundred Year Split Ended nity activities. Education for for by royalties on the Moody- world citizenship. Old age and Sankey song books sold in Great The three great divisions of its place in family life. Britain-money which the evan- Methodism are closing the books gelists would not accept for their on more than a century of schism It is a common mistake to as- personal use. The ministry of to form the largest Protestant sume that Christian education is this good-will gift has extended group in the United States. The for children only. The whole over more than seventy years. union will give the Methodist work cannot be done by the When the Chicago Avenue Church nearly 8,000,000 mem- Church School, so that a pro- Church organization moved one bers, 50,0'0'0 churches and $800,- gram must be developed which mile to the north, the Moody 0'0'0,0'0'0 worth of property. The will include men and women, as Bible Institute purchased the old Articles of Religion will be those well as the youth. An adequate building and has since used it historically held in common by program is necessary in order for classes and conferences. the three uniting bodies. Two to make the Church ineffective. differences had led to the split: Another Survey on Beliefs theNegro question divided North -The Church in Action. and South in 1844, and lay rep- The ·Survey Gra.phic for April resentation in church affairs in Bibles from the Dumps published the results of a study 1828. made by Prof. James H. Leuba Not all hotel managers like to of Bryn Mawr, in which he The publishing interests of the have Bibles in their rooms. For sought to find out the proportion unified Methodist Church are to example, when a hotel in western of Americans who believe in God be under a Board of Publication, Canada changed ownership the and a future life. Sixty-four per which replaces the book commit- new proprietor had all the Gid- cent of the prominent bankers tee of the Southern church and eon Bibles thrown out on the believe in God, but only half the board of the Northern. dump. Later, a poor girl went that many writers do. Figures to the dump hoping to find SOme- for a belief in immortality were One weekly paper, with re- thing of value that she could sell. somewhat higher than for a begional editions, to be called The Noticing the books, she picked lief in God. About 25 per cent Methodist, will serve the entire up one and took it home. had not made up their minds Church. Editors will be drawn Through reading it she found about immortality while only 7 from the staffs of papers which Christ, and this led to the forma- per cent were undecided about the new publication displaces. tion of a Sunday school class, the existence of God. Among whose members also went to the men of science the proportions Church Education dump and provided themselves of doubters in immortality was with Bibles, so that not one copy also much greater than that of The 19th Social Work Confer- was left unappropriated. doubters in the existence of God. ence of the Episcopal Church, which meets in Buffalo, June 16 -So S. Times. -The Churchman. and 17, will have a wider appeal than in the past. It is to be a Moody Auditorium Replaced Home Missions' Outreach conference for all who are interested in education, as is evident The historic Moody Bible In- Dr. Antonio Mangano, an from the list of topics to be dis- stitute Church in Chicago was Italian Baptist min i s t e r in cussed: Family life and its ma- closed on May 6 on account of Brooklyn, makes this comment terial foundations; its legal and the widening of the street on on home missions: "Soon after social status; its spiritual pat- which it opens. This landmark, evangelical churches commenced terns. Youth problems; youth scarred by use and age, has been work among Italians in Amerconsultation service; youth's in- replaced by its successor one ica, the effects were seen in Italy. terest in social education and block to the north, called the The first missionary pastors social action. Preparation for "Torrey-Gray Auditorium." Fol- were converts who came from family life; mental hygiene of lowing the great fire of 1871 the Italy, but by their labors Amerinfancy and childhood; adoles- first story of the old structure ica soon began to repay Italy. cence and education for family was erected, thousands of Sun- day school children contributing [320 ] Here and there an Italian con- mountains supplied the idea for posed for the year 1939-40 in the verted in America returned to an experiment, and in 1934 an booklet "A Venture of Faith," Italy and did not hide his light Emergency Relief Administrator recently published by the Naunder a bushel, but faithfully with a vision collected a stack of tional Committee for Religion proclaimed his new-found faith old, nondescript books, maga- and Welfare Recovery. Among zines, and pamphlets, the latter the objectives are: in Jesus as his Saviour. Some- dealing mostly with religious times these humble messengers topics, hired an enthusiastic To educate the American public in were ostracized and persecuted young mountain woman, who the underlying principles of stewarduntil they returned to America. owned a white mule of dubious ship through conventions, regional In other places their townspeople age and a pair of saddlebags. conferences, national magazines, the listened, first with curiosity to With these bags crammed with daily press, motion pictures, radio and the American religion, and later miscellaneous literature, through other educational media. with such interest. that many creek bottoms, cane patches, and were converted. A peasant of over abandoned trails she rode, To broaden the base of giving by Calitri was converted anhe Bap- stopping at every mountain enlisting as nearly as practicable, tist mission in Hartford, Con- home to urge all who could read "every citizen as a steward of life and necticut, and became an earnest to read what she was giving property for the welfare of mankind." Christian. When he returned to them. Often she read aloud to his family in the little hilltown whole families, most of whom To develop more business-like methof southern Italy, he labored were illiterate. ods of systematic giving, proportiontirelessly to bring his townsmen ate to incomes. to Christ, with the result that a The Kentucky mountaineers grasped and clung to this pack To lift the present level of giving church was formed with a mem- horse service, which grew at from 2.033 per cent to the unprecebership of 50 which has since such a rate that today it is en- dented figure of 3 per cent of income, grown to several hundred." tirely out of hand-through lack and as far as practicable toward the of books. One by one, pack- biblical tithe and the 15 per cent -Watchman-Examiner. horse library carriers were which the government exempts from added, until, at the present time, income tax if given privately for pub- First Spanish Baptist Church, women ride horseback and walk lic welfare. New York City an average of 26,182 miles monthly to deliver 39,293 books To educate the public on the im- There were about twenty chil- to 36,293 Kentucky mountain portance of "Mbre and Better Wills," families anxious to learn, and to including annual review of wills with dren present, most of whom had know the doings. of the world due consideration of our personal in- outside. These libraries extend debtedness to religious, educational, never prayed in public before. over certain backwoods regions character-building and welfare insti- of thirty-one counties. tutions. We had a worship service, and The Federal Government pays To seek the religious, social and then I told them why we were the carriers – all from relief moral welfare of the donor as more rolls – a small wage. .once a important than the material value of assembled and asked all who week they hold conferences at the dollar. their centers, clip continued wished to lead in prayer to do so. stories from old magazines and In the Indian Field bind them into a unit; and fas- The children ranged in age from ten Sunday school lesson papers A glance at the year's work in cardboard covers, with a reli- among the Indians indicates 5-14 years. All those present led gious picture on the outside. progress both in extending evangelization and in strengthin prayer, and for so many it The "bookwomen," however, ening the groups of converts in are not without rebuff. One was forty-seven different t rib e s. was the first time in their lives, met on a mountain side by an There has been an increase in irate father who said he "wanted the number of accessions on proand so I was immensely proud no more sech goin's on." Said fession of faith. However, there he: "I cain't get my gal to do have been obstacles to Christianof them. There was no waiting nothin' but read. My cornfield izing efforts, such as violations needs hoein'''; and he declared of the law against the sale and because one little boy led in angrily, "sittin' in a corner with use of liquor; converts who have her nose in a book h'aint gonna earnestly tried to withstand prayer every time no one else get them weeds out!" temptation have been enticed by unscrupulous white men engaged spoke up. He is seven years of -Bible Society Record. in the traffic. Among the Sioux Indians, sales of peyote, unreage, and I was surprised at his Stewardship Promotion Plan stricted by the government, have been promoted. A bill introreligious experience. He came A nation-wide program of duced in Congress to prohibit stewardship education is pro- the traffic of this drug among very near crying many times the Indians was not reported out of the committee because of the while he led in the five prayers influences which were mar- shalled against it. he offered that day, one of them In certain reservations, Inbeing of about twenty minutes' dians have been encouraged to revive their ancient culturesduration. He wanted to pray so-called – which involve pagan for everyone he knew, because it was the Day of Prayer. He prayed for grandmothers and asked a blessing on all the bad people and the gang of boys who beat him up. -Selected.
Pack Horse Library Just what is a pack horse library? An expressed wish for reading material in the Kentucky
practices. The encouraging fact farmers; but Palmer Church says Dr. Johnson, are not antiis that many of the Indians are also serves the coal miners to Semitic. opposed to the return of these the north, the many gold miners primitive rites. It should be high in the mountains and iso- Palestine at the "Golden Gate" recorded that recently the gov- lated communities along the railernment has issued an order road, including the Eklutna Vo- An interesting exhibit at the prohibiting Indian dances for cational School to the south and San Francisco World's Fair is a commercial ends. All the Chris- fishing stations on Cook Inlet. "Holy Land Garden," containing tian, and most of the progressive more than a hundred trees, Indians are in hearty accord "The Vanishing Indian" shrubs and plants mentioned in with this order. the Bible: olives from Mount This common phrase does not Olivet, Lebanon and Galilee; -Presbyterian Board of hold up under scrutiny. When date palms, acacias, plane trees National Missions. the Pima Indians held their an- and pomegranates-the Eastern nual camp meeting in Arizona, symbol of life and fertility. Mexicans in Texas fifteen acres of desert were cov- There will be almonds, fig trees ered with wagons, horses, tents, and "bitter herbs," the latter Evangelization of the Mexi- and hundreds of children, young mentioned to Moses (Exodus cans in Texas is important be- people and white-haired Indians, 12: 8) in connection with the cause there are almost a million assembled for one of the largest Passover. Fragrant, pungent, of them who are ignorant of the evangelistic meetings ever held spicy plants with Biblical back- Gospel. Southern Baptists are by Indians. There was contin- ground will be here – hys,sop, grappling with the problem, and uous activity from sunrise until thy m e, rosemary, lavender, have marked out two lines of ten at night. Choirs from a anise, cummin, rue, cassia, musapproach, the first being evange- dozen villages, in training for tard, leeks, onions, garlic. The lism. To this end, six evangelis- months, took part in services carob, which is identified as "the tic conferences were held in Jan- conducted by Indian ministers. husks that the swine did eat," uary and February in various will also find place in the Garden. parts of the state. The second -Monday Morning. will he emphasis on stewardship Barley, wheat, flax and riceand tithing; teaching the funda- Anti-Semitism in U. S. the papyrus antiquorum, or bulmentals on which any Christian rush, that sheltered Moses in his forward movement must be built. Dr. Alvin Johnson, director of watery cradle, the arundo donax, the New School for Social Re- "the measuring reed" of Holy Efforts will be made also to search, New York City, confirms Writ, camphire, coriander, lilies, have an every-member canvass the estimate that there are 800 myrtle, and finally Christ's in every Mexican church early distinctly anti-Jewish organiza- Thorn (Paliurus aculeatus), and in the year. Goals will be sug- tions in the United States, claim- many another growing thing gested as a minimum for each ing 6,000,000 adherents. Some with definite line of identificachurch. The First Mexican Bap- of these organizations are na- tion back to Biblical times and tist Church of San Antonio has tionwide in their operation, some scenes, will be installed on voted a 33113% increase in their are regional; a few require pay- Treasure Island. budget for the present year, and ment of dues, and sell antiplans to make missions a definite Semitic literature. The most im- Interpretations will be given part of its program. portant are: the Silver Shirts, of the ancient uses of the plants Defenders of the Christian in the Garden. -SouthernBaptist Home Faith, Industrial Defense Asso- Missions. ciation, American Nationalist -Sunday School Times. Confederation, James True As- A Growing Parish sociates, Knights of the White The Gospel at Golden Gate Camellia, and the German- Exposition Not much has been heard re- American Bund. cently of the government's Ma- The Christian Business Men's tanuska Valley proj ect, but Dr. Johnson classifies their Committee of San Francisco has Monday Morning reports that propaganda appeal something planned an aggressive soul-savthe federated church at Palmer like this: for the average tim- ing program for the World's (in this valley) now has its own orous person, identification of Fair. Eight thousand square building, a membership of nearly Jews with "Reds"; for the so- feet of outside space in a choice, 75 and an average Sunday school ciety dame, the fake letter of central location has been purattendance of 112. This church, Franklin; for the anti-New chased, and an auditorium seatunder Rev. Bert Bingle, has Dealer, list of government jobs ing 250 people has been erected. withstood a number of reverses held by Jews; and for the small In addition to services in the in its three years of existence. business man, assertion that cor- auditorium, thousands of Bible porations are controlled by portions and tracts are being dis- Since the construction men Jews; nothing for the parlor tributed. and clerical forces required in anti-Semitic who hates the Jew the beginning have now with- on his own. Women, as a rule, Tom M. Olson, a well-known drawn, the church membership Bible teacher and personal is made up almost entirely of worker with wide exposition ex- perience, has been procured as
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
the manager of the project. request of the wife of an un- converts in the ocean at Port-de- "Sermons from Science" will be faithful drifter; another woman Paix. A member of the Mission presented by Irwin A. Moon, who had lost her son asked for a writes that it was necessary to who has had an unusual minis- sermon on death. The church is call three meetings in one week try for Christ during the past always filled to capacity. recently, to examine individually few years. His messages and fifty candidates for baptism. Not equipment will captivate and Mr. Pagan takes great pleas- only the testimony of the conarouse the curiosity of the un- verts was heard, but that of saved. Three messages daily He ure in the church organ, which their neighbors who knew at present the first century Gospel first hand about· their changed to this twentieth century. he practically built himself. life. Twenty-two of these con- would appreciate having victrola verts came from a distant part Tithe Reindeer and Walrus? records of religious music. of the Island. They traveled all night, some on donkeys and some Rev. Fred Klerekoper, a Pres- Unappropriated Ouba on foot. One was a well-known byterian missionary to the Eski- witch doctor, who, soon after his mos at Point Barrow, Alaska, In northeast Cuba is a tract of conversion, presented the Mishas not as yet reached a solution sion with a piece of ground in of this problem, but the church some 13,000 acres, known as his village on which to build a members of that community chapel. His wife and daughter (which includes almost all the Realengo 18, meaning "unap- were baptized with him. natives) have all agreed to tithe for the support of their church. propriated." This area which Women's Service League- There is almost no cash at all in Ohile the community. When an Es- includes both mountains and valkimo wants a sack of flour or a Manana (tomorrow will do) pound of coffee, he takes a fox leys is inhabited by 2,500 fam- may be the motto of some Latin or a polar bear skin from his re- Americans, but this does not go serve and makes for the trading ilies, very industrious folk in for the evangelical women of post. He does not receive cash. Valparaiso, Chile, who have or- When there is a surplus after he spite of their uncertainty of ganized a "League for Service." has completed his purchases, he Not only do they work in groups, is given credit on paper. tenure. In 1934, the Gospel knitting or sewing for the poor; they visit jails, orphanages, So, if an Eskimo has a walrus reached the southern part of asylums, hospitals and homesand ten seals, what will be his Realengo 18 through Senora del in fact few chances are lost to gift? What could the church do be of service somewhere. One with the meat? The community Valle; and another sec t ion member took into her own home reindeer herd contains some the small child of a woman who 12,000 of the animals, and how heard the Good News through must go to the hospital; another could one manage to use 1,200 prevented the marriage of a girl reindeer? some Haitian Christians harvest- of 14 to an old man; others clear up homes too filthy to live in, -Presbyterian News. ing coffee there. One of the first take sick children to the public health clinic, and teach mothers LATIN AMERIOA converts was a peddler of pins, the rudiments of health and sanitation. Radio Sermons in Puerto Rico who goes about and at each Good News from Brazil Radio station WPRA in Maya- house leaves a copy of one of the guez, P. R., has granted its fa- An interesting and heartening cilities for one hour every Sun- Gospels. This man has held piece of news, coming through day to Rev. Antonio Pagan, pas- the evangelical papers of Brazil, tor of one of the Presbyterian preaching services in many of says that in Ceara, the leading churches in the city. Results state in the north of Brazil, have been far-reaching. The the homes of the district. Few reading of the Gospels has been Sunday sermon is heard in Cen- adopted for public schools. tral, South and North America, families of Realengo 18 are with- Christians everywhere, knowing as well as in the Island. Mr. what ignorance of the Bible has Pagan does not claim to be a out at least a portion of the prevailed in Brazil, will share good preacher, "but," says he, the joy felt in evangelical circles "I receive many letters every Bible and many have accepted of that country. The editor of week thanking me for the ser- the Expositor Cristiio, official mon." Many of these sermons Christ. There are now three Methodist organ, writes: "This are prepared especially for those marks a gigantic stride in the who write of their spiritual regular preaching places and needs. A sermon on "Put· Your House in Order" answered the one Sunday school. In March last year, the believers started a fund for a church, school and parsonage. The first offering amounted to more than $60. A friend of the work in Homer, New York, added $60 and a house was, purchased.
The peddler preacher made his rounds on a horse, and when it died the group of Christians raised a fund to buy another.
They have a vision of one day being. able to support their preacher, so that he can devote all his time to the work of the church. They also have another idea; Friday has been selected as "missionary day," when every Christian is expected to call on some one not yet a be- liever. -Missions.
Oonverts in Haiti The Haitian Gospel Mission reports the baptism of forty-six
path of the re-Christianization standing in a new and rapidly Conference of Evangelical developing central business secof Brazil." Students tion of Rio de Janeiro. Cambridge University, more Bible Sunday in Brazil The Church in Colombia than any other in England, has been associated with evangelical Half a century ago Bible Sun- . day, as it is known today, had The establishment of a "self- movements and tradition. It is not been instituted. H. C. supporting, self-governing, self- therefore appropriate that the Tucker, writing in the World propagating" church in Colom- International Conference of Outlook, traces the development bia is a slow process, for poverty Evangelical Students should be of Bible distribution in Brazil and ignorance abound and con- held there (June 2:7 to July 3). during the past fifty years. The verts often face bitter persecu- It was there that Erasmus inpopulation in 1888 was approxi- tion. However, the beginnings troduced the study of the Greek mately 15,000,000, of which 85 oE an indigenous church are evi- Testament to those who became per cent were illiterate. There dent. leaders and'martyrs in the Engwere only a few miles of rail- Some years ago a land owner lish Revr:>lution, Latimer, Ridley road, travel and communication in the interior heard the Gospel and Cranmer. It includes among being by mule, oxcart, canoe and and accepted Christ. Through its alumni Oliver Cromwell and on foot. Brazilians not only had his testimony, and faithful ef- John Milton. no Bibles, but were told that the forts of missionaries, not to say Speakers at this conference Bible was not a book for the hardship and sacrifice, a group will come from several parts of common people. Many priests of beUevers was organized in Europe. The general theme will did not possess copies in Portu- 1935 and a board of five men be "Christ, Our Freedom." It is guese, some not even in Latin. placed in charge. A recent visi- open to undergraduate and post- But on Bible Sunday, 1938, tor to the district was impressed graduate students, and univerthe population of Brazil stood at by what he saw. Alone, or two- sity faculty members. 47,000,000 and illiteracy had by-two, these Christians go out been reduced by one – third. to preach Christ, while those at One Thousandth Anniversary home look after their small Means of communication had farms. The church has twice The Mis s ion Field, the been greatly extended; even air been enlarged, but even so there monthly magazine of the Society lines connect centers in many is not room for all who wish to directions. Educational facili- attend. Another group has been for the Propagation of the Gosties, cultural influences and organized a day's journey away, pel in Foreign Parts issued in measures of health and hygiene and nine have been baptized. April, 1939, its 1,000th number are spreading out into rural Schools have been opened in of this excellent magazine. The areas. During the half century, both places, with native teachers' first number was issued eighty- and young men and women are two years ago and it has since the American Bible Society re- being prepared for the Bible Inports the annual distribution of stitute, and later for service. been making known the needs of Bibles, Testaments and Scrip- people of non-Christian lands for ture portions has increased from EUROPE 7,286 to 221,034 copies, while the Gospel and the progress the British and Foreign Bible Youth Movement in England made especially through the Society report a similar increase. work of the S. P. G. The peri- Probably not less than 8,000,000 Young people and their inter- odical was begun by Earnest ests are coming to the front in copies of the Bible have been Great Britain. This was mani- Hawkins in 1856 but the Society placed in the hands of Brazilians fest in the Youth Assembly in was organized in 1701 and the in the half century. This would London early in the year. The 239th anniversary was celebe about one copy to every six Methodist Youth Service Council brated in Londo'n this year. Its people. is not only taking part in the work is being carried on in public inquiry as to youth condi- Japan, Korea, China, British It is significant that Bible tions, but has had a special in- Malaya, Siam, India, Burma, Sunday, 1938, records a marked Australasia, Africa, Central and change in the Roman Catholic attitude toward the popular use South America, the West Indies, Canada and Europe.
of the Bible, particularly the terest in the First National Par- England Bans Stage Profanity New Testament. At least four liament of Youth, held March attempts with ecclesiastical ap- 24-27, a parliament composed of A play that was shown 168 proval have been made in recent fourteen national youth or- times in New York was not alyears by priests of this church ganizations. lowed to finish the first perform- to translate, popularize and stim- Among the supporters of the ance in Chester, England, on ulate interest in the reading of Youth M 0 v e men t in Great account of its profanity. The the Gospels. and the entire New Britain are the Archbishop of theater manager rang the cur- Testament. An increasing vol- Canterbury, the Archbishop of tain down in the middle of the ume of the Scriptures and Bib- York, the President of the Meth- first act, and the orchestra lical literature is going out from odist Conference and other struck up "God Save the King."
the nine-story Bible H 0 use, leaders. Actors and producers were
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
called before the constable to an- tains that he is bound to preach ers, in very simple words, try swer the charge of allowing such and declare that a man is saved to persuade the reader to buy, profanity on the stage. by the blood of Jesus Christ and and read aNew Testament or not by Aryan blood, that the ex- Bible. Posters were also sold for On the same day on which this clusion of converted Jews from distribution in Tunisia, Belgium, incident occurred a court in the full privileges of Christian Switzerland, Great Britain and Montreal, Canada, sentenced the life is unchristian, that the Canada. author of a play called "The Church of Christ must be ruled Deluge" to two months' im- by God's Word alone, and not by In answer to prayer, permisprisonment and a fine of $250 the government, that the denial sion was given to open a stall at on a charge of blasphemous libel, of justice is the mark of an un- a market for second-hand things, because the play "offended God christian state, that political realistically called "The Flea and religion." One actor was movements cannot be regarded Market." Astonishment was also sentenced to serve time in as Divine revelations nor their plain on the faces of passers-by, jail, while six others received leaders be venerated as mes- one of whom exclaimed: "What! suspended sentences. sengers of God. Such books at the Flea Market!" Two young business men devote -World Outlook. Jews in Warsaw their only leisure half day on Saturday to sell the books. On Scandinavian Teachers For several years the Church one Saturday they sold 44 Tes- Abjure War Mission to the Jews in Warsaw taments in eleven languages. has held evening classes in the More than 130 representatives English language, which brings No More Jewish Converts of Danish, Swedish, Norwegian numbers of the younger element and Finnish teachers' organiza- of Polish Jewry to the Mission The Evangelical Church of tions, assembled for a conference House. Thuringia is one of those most in Finland, have adapted a state- completely under Nazi domment on war which makes scant Attendance during the past inance. This church has recently compromise with the trend to- winter has greatly increased, issued an order by which bapward increased armaments for and if premises and staff could tized Jews can no longer be defense. These teachers say: be enlarged would be still members of the regional church; "In line with the growing war greater. These classes serve as and by which the ministrations psychosis there is observable a means of breaking down the of the church can no longer be also in Scandinavian countries age-long prejudice of Jew s rendered to them. Since this an effort to adapt the schools to against Christianity in general order was issued, the example of the system of military defense. and missionaries in particular. the Church of Thuringia is be- We consider all such actions, The classes are uncompromis- ing followed by the regional whether involving outright mili- ingly evangelistic, yet this fact churches of Saxony, Mecklentary training, or education and does not diminish the attend- burg and Anhalt. In complying preparation for the defense of ance. Once a week the gather- with these new laws, the the population, as tending to be- ing combines evangelistic and churches mentioned have given cloud the spiritual life of the social activities; and while per- up the right to make converts, to child, and to counteract the spirit haps forty will occupy them- Christianity. -Kulturkampf. of confidence in the love of hu- selves with the games and manity that the school endeavors reading matter, a hundred or so Russian Bible Fund to inculcate in the young. We will listen to the Christian adare obliged, therefore, to regis- dress, lasting about an hour. About ten years ago, the Soter our determined opposition to Willingness to listen does not viet Government gave permissuch a violation of the school's imply acceptance of the Gospel, sion to a group of Russian Chrisrights – irrespective of the ex- but does indicate open-minded- tians to publish 50,000 Bibles ceptional difficulties of the times ness. About twenty young Jews and 50,000 New Testaments. An -to carryon its educational ac- are sufficiently interested in the appeal was sent out for funds, a tivity in accordance with its own Bible to meet every week to committee of Christian leaders aims, which are to develop hu- study it, both the Old and New was organized and contributions man beings sensitive to life's Testament. began to come in. Soon 5,000 highest values and prepared to New Testaments were published promote the development of con- The P. T. L. in Paris and distributed; the printing of cord and good-will in the world." 25,000 complete Bibles got under French workers of the Pocket way. Then the Soviet authori- Pastor Niemoller Testament League, not sure how ties discovered what those 5,000 long they may be free to spread Testaments were doing. Imme- Revelation claims to be the the Word of God, have placed diately they stopped the printing first to publish the real reason more than 1,200 posters. on Paris of the 25,000 Bibles and canfor the imprisonment of Pastor walls, near everyone of the 38 celled the permission previously Niemoller, despite the fact that Parisian cemeteries, and in 72' granted. the court declared him innocent. villages and towns. These post- NiemOller still steadfastly main- Although the collection of
funds had to cease, there was, found a job as sweeper and were busy far into. the night exhowever, a balance of $7,000 in cleaner, and after a few months the bank. The Committee then was employed as a nurse in the amining those who sought bapdecided, since there are millions men's ward. -Life of Faith. of Russians outside of Russia tism. -Life of Faith. and they, too, are hungry for D. V. B. S. in Egypt the Gospel, to distribute these African "Keswick" copies along the borders of The W 0 in en's Missionary Russia. With the cooperation of Magazine reports an increase in A convention for A f ric an Christians in seven countries, the number of Daily Vacation Christians has for some years 4,000 Bibles, 45,000 New Testa- Bible Schools in E.gypt. Also, been held in Kenya. It was orments and 7,000 Bible portions 500 more children were reached. ganized by missionaries for the have thus been distributed. Re- Out of the total number of 2,839 spiritual renewal o.f African cently, the $7,000 was reduced to pupils, 760 were Moslems. Mr. teachers and pastors. There has $17.71, and this was handed over Aig3iban, director of this work, been rapid growth in interest to the "Russian Missionary visited all of the 43 such schools until in 1938 some 200 Africans Service" which will add the dis- conducted by students of Assiut and a dozen Europeans gathered tribution of Bibles to its other College, and a number of other from all parts of the Colony, large activities. -So S. Times. schools as well. Some could only some also from Ruanda, Uganda be reached on donkeys. He says: and Tanganyika. As a direct re- AFRICA "It was very wonderful to hear sult o.f that. convention there boys giving Bible stories and have been many cases of a break- Potential Leader in Egypt Golden Texts. Not only this, but ing of the power of sin. to hear Moslem boys and girls Two or three years ago a giving Bible stories." The most During the 1938 Convention young Mohammedan was attend- popular hand work was crayon the question arose as to whether ing an Islamic school in prepara- coloring of Bible verses. Many the time was not now ripe for tion to become a sheikh. Instead, times children hid the bell, so the formation of a Convention, he is today a baptized Christian, that lessons would last longer. not only for pastors and teachand gives promise of becoming a One of the best schools in Upper ers, but also African Christians leader among Egyptian Chris- Egypt was conducted by a Mos- generally. The matter was tians. While this young Mad- lem boy named Yusef Moham- brought before the committee of booli was at the Islamic school, a med Suliman. It is the third Kenya "Keswick," and as a refriend asked him to join in a year that he has had a school. sult a committee was appointed study of the New Testament, This volunteer in Kom Ghareb to arrange, together with Afriwhich he did, and was so inter- worked all summer both morn- can leaders of the Church, for ested he went to a neighboring ing and afternoon. He declared the organization of the African village to ask some missionaries that he himself got most benefit Convention, under the title for other parts of the Bible. Not from the school. "Kenya Keswick." only was his request granted, he was introduced to the local evan- Revival Comes to Mompono -Life of Faith. gelist, with whom he spent many subsequent hours discussing the The "Regions Beyond Mission- Christian Center in Bible and having his difficulties ary Union" was discouraged Tanganyika explained. He also gathered up when one African teacher after a group of young men from his another proved unfaithful to his It is obviously difficult for a own village to join in this stUdy. trust; but continuance in prayer Christian African boy who goes resulted in enlisting forty keen- to work away from home to keep Of course, his interest did not minded boys in a training class, his balance and resist temptaescape the notice of his Moham- to go out later to the surround- tion. Realizing this, some years medan associates, and he had to ing villages. The number grew ago a number of African Chrisput up with the usual annoy- to sixty, and when all these go tians from different parts of ances. His father thought to out there will be a Christian Tanganyika launched a scheme, end the matter by bringing a evangelist for every village of under the leadership of Eurosheikh to "talk Madbooli out of importance in this dis t ric t. peans, to provide a home and this nonsense." But Madbooli About this time, the missionaries Christian fellowship for such was not to be moved, whereup felt an awakening around them. boys. As if in answer to prayer, his father refused to support Open-air workers reported a a well-to-do African business him, so he set out for Cairo to new interest; natives employed man who had been interested in earn his living. He secured a by traders at the State Po.st were the project willed his home, the job as a basket maker, but when asking for their own evangelist, newest and best house in the his employer found he was a and this spirit was not limited to community, to be used for this Christian he promptly dis- the vicinity of Mompono. Five purpose. The house provides accharged him, and refused to pay witch doctors yielded their commodation for a large recreahim what was due. This time hearts to Christ, and misionaries tion room, a reading and waithe went to Shebeen Hospital, ing room, and one for meetings, as well as a small chapel which gives opportunity for quiet and prayer. In connection with the
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
club is a hostel where rooms are tory church collections and, after pay- til they found a friendly chief at ing the allowances of over a hundred let to African Christians. village pastors and teachers, main- Bonginda. Here they settled, -Life of Faith. tained wholly by the indigenous 1,200 miles from the coast, and church, the church sent a gift of five established the Congo Balolo A Great Conference thousand francs toward the deficit of Mission. Eventually, the Re- gions Beyond Missionary Union The largest missionary confer- the Baptist Missionary Society and grew out of this work, and ence South Africa has ever two thousand francs to its largest today it controls work in two substation for church building.
known brought together this The Bible for Cape Verdians fields; in the Congo and in the year at Bloemfontein over 1,000 Bihar province of North India, ministers and laymen of Dutch On the Cape Verde Islands, off where there are seven stations. Reformed churches. The 150 the west coast of Africa, at least In the Congo, there are 20,000 mission congregations were each eighty out of every hundred per- church members, and at least represented by a European mis- sons can read and write; and 20,000 more have been won and sionary, and 400 European con- faith runs high among the mis- are now in "the Church Triumgregations were also repre- sionaries there that Scripture phant." -The Christian. sented. Since 1877 the church's distribution will have far-reachmissionaries h a v e increased from twenty-two to over three ing results. Their plan, they tell Fetish Bonfires Multiply hundred. During the South us, is to place a portion of the African war, 85 young men from Bible in every home. These peo- Public burnings of fetishes the military camps decided to ple are poor, but they have a real are becoming more common in hunger for the Gospel, and will the Belgian Congo; accomgive their lives to mission work. make almost any sacrifice to se- panied by public profession of It was 47 years ago that Rev. A. cure a copy. Proof of this faith in Christ. At Rethi more Louw trekked by ox-wagon to hunger is seen in the following than fifty families have given up Mashonaland, and in that center literal translation of a letter re- their spirit paraphernalia. A today his church numbers 5,000 ceived from one of the islanders: blind evangelist, Paulo, preaches members, with 22,00.0 young with power and he can quote people under instruction. The "I come very respectfully to many passages from the Bible Dutch Reformed Church has ask you this special favor about from memory. To the African, missions in all parts of the your religion. For a long time I the amazing thing is that one so Union of South Africa, in Rho- have lived without belief or fear despised as a blind man should desia, in Nyasaland, and in the of God. Since the first time I go a-bout helping others.-Life heard your words concerning the of Faith. Sudan. It is expected that, as a Gospel I have felt a strange fear result of this conference, every of God and a grand pleasure has WESTERN ASIA congregation will be directed to been in me as I come to this true carryon missionary work in its pathway which I do not know Ten Years to Graduate own area. -So S. Times. profoundly. Therefore I come Draw your own inference by this letter to ask you to loan from the fact that when nurses' Congoland After Fifty Years to me a copy of that book which training was undertaken at Ken- Dr. Holman Bentley, English I have heard you speak about, nedy Memorial Hospital in Trip- Baptist, was the pioneer of Prot- the book which is to guide me oli, Syria, ten years ago, the only estant missions in the Congo. A into 0 Caminho da Salvacao, promising students were girls native boy, Niemvo, helped him (The Way of Salvation}." who had been cared for in Near reduce the Congo language to -The Word of Life. East Relief Orphanages, and had writing, to make a grammar and had a measure of training in dictionary and translate the Regions Beyond Missionary orderliness and regard for the Scriptures. Fifty years ago in Union welfare of others – qualities February, Niemvo was baptized the first native Christian in It is 60 years since the first lacking in most of the others. It Congo; today, there are 250,000 missionary went from the East has taken ten years for the first Protestant church members and London Training Institute to group of girls to carry their a constituency of a million. Central Africa, in territory now training through to successful known as the Belgian Congo. completion. There were four The International Review of girls in this first class to be Missions makes this comment: The Mission at that time was graduated. called the Livingstone Inland Righteousness is beginning to flow Mission. In 1884, it was decided -Monday Morning.
as a mighty stream through the life to hand over the direction of this Long Range Christian Service of the community. Formerly no one Mission, with its seven welldared begin to protest against abuses equipped stations to the Ameri- The American Mission in but, with the revival, fear of man was can Baptists. They, however, Syria has set a goal for a new subdued. A new breath has blown through village life, clearing away the were not able to penetrate as type of missionary work; e.g., old, polluted air. Never has the liberality of our people been so mani- far inland as had been hoped, to reconstruct village life on the fested. Large sums of money have and an expeditionary force principles of the Kingdom of been raised over and above the statu- God as taught in the New Tes- pushed up the Congo River, un-
tament. Briefly, the following a filthy priest leading a tiny bull and so eager to assist their factors enter into the problem: with a crooked mouth and neighbor in her suffering that To follow the example of Christ women stroking its ears in wor- they responded heartily to the with a correlated program to re- ship; women picking up dust Bishop's suggestion that two deem both individual and group tha.t feet of naked priests had representatives of the Methodist life; by living the Gospel before trodden, and putting it on their Episcopal Church in India and preaching it, and by cooperative faces-some of it tied up to take Burma be sent with him to self-help as proclaimed by Jesus. home. However, many were en- China on a mission of fellowship No program is to be "put over," lightened enough to refrain from and help. As soon as arrangebut built around the needs recog- these things. Some were seen to ments could be made, the two nized by the villagers themselves. dip their hands in the river, let men appointed left by motor bus Full cooperation is sought with the water trickle through their over the newly opened road from every department of the Amer- fingers, while their faces were Burma into Yunnan and further ican Mission, with other mis- upturned toward the sky. Be- north in West China. At Runsions and with all national and hind all this, unquestionably, is ning they boarded a plane for government agencies. the search for God. Chengtu. These representatives from India have addressed many It is recognized that changing Caste and Christianity audiences, chiefly students, seekthe lives, thinking, attitudes and ing to aid by evangelistic mescustoms of a conservative vil- H. C. Mookerjie, Ph.D., writ- sages and Christian sympathy. lage community is a long and ing in The Indian Witness, has difficult task, that immediate re- this to say about the bearing of -The Indian Witness. sults must not be expooted. Christianity upon the caste system: A Burmese Woman Leader -Agricultural Mission Notes. Weare all aware that the Indian Dr. Daw Saw Sa, F.R.C.S., Christian community contains within D.P.H., of Rangoon, who ha.s the INDIA AND SIAM itself men and women coming from distinction of being the first nearly all the Indian races, tribes, Burmese woman physician, is The Great Mela castes and strata of society. Blue the first and only woman sena- blooded Brahmins and Syads, high tor under the new constitution, Once in twelve years the castes and scheduled castes, land- which on April 1, 1937, made greatest of all religious festivals owners and tenants, capitalists and Burma a Crown Colony in the is held at Hardwar, in April, laborers, farmers and landless culti- British Commonwealt<h of nawhere the sacred river Ganges vators, rich and poor jostle one an- tions. In 1932 the Rangoon emerges from the mountains. other within the Christian fold. Government conferred unique At that time the population honors upon her by making her swells from a few thousand to All over India, Christianity has sup- a member of the Rangoon Corabout a million, most of whom plied leadership in the revolt against poration, the first time in the are illiterate. For this reason, the rigors of the caste system, and political history of Burma that an announcer told people who specially against untouchability which a Burmese woman was admitted wanted tickets to this or that is a manifestation of the caste feeling as a member of either Corporaplace to go to a spot where they in its most objectionable form. The tion or the Legislative Council. saw a picture of an elephant, a acceptance of our faith has enabled Dr. Daw Saw Sa has long been snake, scissors, a wheel and so thousands of untouchables to shake off interested in politics, particuon. for all time to come the disgrace larly the section relating to wrongly attached to their birth, and physical, moral and mental de- Priests prepare for the wor- to rise in the social scale. The differ- velopment of women and chilship of the river by lighting ence between their position before and dren; and is a member of variwicks in little cups of oil. Wor- after conversion must have made ous societies and institutions, beshippers pass their han d s these men realize very keenly the dis- sides having her own nursing through the flame, then draw abilities under which they had been home and clinic modeled on the their hands across their faces, laboring in their pre-conversion days. most scientific ones in America. perhaps touching lips, eyes and The improvement in their social ears in order to be cleansed from status, always reflected in their be- -Missions. evil they have spoken, seen or havior, has tended to encourage furheard. It is at such times that ther conversions among non-Christian Building the Church in Siam evangelists. are busy with tracts members of the group to which they and Gospel portions, and it is had belonged. In the past, Hindu so- The Church of Christ in Siam not difficult to dispose of them. ciety had refused them all chances of is urging a Five-Year Plan of education, and all prospect of social Evangelism, and is asking each A writer in the Woman's Mis- advancement. Christian missionaries congregation to form a prayer siona1"Y Friend describes some offered both, group for special intercess,ion. of the sights that make one sad A committee was appointed at -make one long to have them India's Mission to China the last meeting of the General know Him who said: "Come Council to consider the possibilunto me." One was a man who At a meeting of the Central ity of a Bible Correspondence had held his arm upraised so Methodist Conference in J anlong he could not take it down; uary, Bishop Ralph A. Ward, of Chengtu, West China, was pres- ent and addressed the audience on conditions in China. Mem- bers of the Conference were so deeply stirred by the situation,
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Course being worked out that the Japanese sentries, helping finished just in time to aecommodate could be used throughout the the government care for its all these poor bombed and bayoneted wounded, and conveying money victims; that our staff was spunky whole Church, especially which to stranded communities where they serve. enough to stay; and just now-that furlough is coming in five months.
A Bureau of Evangelistic and the local mission staff is cut off Church Work has been formed from outside contacts. It's a World Movement to encourage all Christians to -The Church in Action. take responsibility for this plan. Japan's military campaign in It is hoped that eight Siamese Statement from Chiang China is destroying Ghina's inwill enter the Union Theological Kai-shek stitutions of higher education, School in Manila; ,two men have because they do not produce already taken this course. The following formal state- citizens that are friendly to ment was issued by Chiang Kai- Japan's imperial ambitions. In Another need is for an or- shek a few weeks ago, and is of the midst of Japan's bombing of dained man and his wife for special s,ignificance: Hunan University that institurural work, since the majority tion organized a Student Chrisof the Siamese are rural folk. At this hour of our national crisis, tian Association, and one of There is also need for'more work we, the Chinese people, are profoundly their first acts was to write the among the Chinese in Siam, be- moved by the earnest increase in the Christian students of Japan saycause of their numbers, and the many concrete expressions of sym- ing that they of Hunan Univerinfluential place they hold in the pathy which have been continuously sity were deeply aware of their business life of the country. coming to us for over 19 months from membership, through theWorld's our friends in other parts of the world. Student Christian Federation, in a world-wide fellowship of Chris- Chinese Evangelists in Siam Christians have left no stone un- tian students, and especially con- scious of their common partici- Some of the evangelists who turned to show their growing interest pation in that fellowship with have been driven out of China in the material as well as the spirhave gone to Siam, and are put- itual welfare of our suffering people. Missionaries, in particular, have never ting new life into Christians hesitated to make even the greatest there. They have conducted meetings through interpreters, personal sacrifices to heal the wounded Christian students of Japan. which have led to the formation and succor the distressed. They called Christian students of Japan, China and other counof bands for Bible study and I welcome this opportunity, there- tries to go in united prayer to a prayer. Dr. Song, an evangelist. fore, to reiterate the previously ex- pressed appreciation of myself and my educated in the United States, has succeeded in arousing many countrymen for the unqualified en- common Father with the plea of the Siamese to a realization of dorsement of the righteousness of our that His and not their will be their need and responsibility. resistance that has come to us so done-that peace based on jus- spontaneously, and in such unstinted tice come to their nations. In spite of the fact that the measure from the Christian world. Siamese have their own national -Intercollegian and Far church, there has been a tend- I believe that those of our people Horizons. who will survive the terrible holo- causts which have involved us all in Universities on the March so much loss of life. and human suf- fering will emerge victorious in spirit, ana more confirmed than ever in the ency to lean too much on the faith that right will always triumph Chinese educators have coined over might, whether in personal, na- the phrase "Universities on the missionary for the initiative. tional or international relations. March," to describe the condi- CHINA "Count Your Blessings" tion of China's higher institu- Redeeming the Time tions of learning after fighting Mrs. T. D. Stevenson, daugh- changed the educational map of Evangelism, tea chi n g and ter of Charles Ernest Scott, and China. Fifty-four of China's healing – the ministry of the Presbyterian missionary in Can- 114 colleges and universities ton, rut Hackett Medical Center, have been destroyed by bombs Christian Church-never more is able to find cause for thank- or incendiarism; and 82 have needed in China, was never more fulness. Writing home in Feb- been compelled to move just one active than now, in spite of ruary, she says: jump ahead of oncoming Japaterror, bloodshed, destitution nese invaders. To move some of and destruction. Whole popula- There are really so many things to these involved treks of from 500 be thankful for that I do not know to 1,000 miles, most of the jourtions often flee from cities and where to begin. The biggest item, of ney in small boats and on foot. with them the Church, to find course, is that we're reunited as a As much as possible of equipthemselves in some remote area family, and that we're all safe and ment was carried along. where, perhaps, their presence well; that we have so many children brings the first Christian mes- on the compound this year so that our An educational map of China sage. "New circumstances teach small son isn't lonely; that we hap- today would show a number of us new duties," say the mission- pened to have our car (which has been new universities and colleges in aries, who find themselves guard- Hackett's only link with the rest of the city, and has been invaluable for ing the gates of mission com- bringing patients who could not get Kwangsi, Kweichow, Yunnan, pounds, taking in foundling here otherwise, taking the servants to Szechuan and Shensi-provinces babies, preventing cholera, es- market, fetching coal or wood, fetchcorting coolies to market past ing our milk or letters or almost any- which before the war had no thing); that our new hospital was governmental supported univer-
sities – all established by stu- regions. However, there has to drop bombs near Christian dents and faculties. been a measure of success, even churches?" though workers are somewhat -Dayton News. apathetic toward these sparsely Japanese officer: "Certainly. populated areas. Finally, there Glad to cooperate. Let me see In the New Capital are the tent missions, chiefly in your mission maps and I will market towns. have our maps marked accord- To most people, Chungking, ingly. (Moment of silence while if it means anything, means a The South Shensi Mission officer studies map.) Why, you small town in a backward part seeks to create in the Chinese a have churches everywhere. We of China. As a matter of fact, sense of responsibility toward all could not bomb anything withit is a city whose population be- unevangelized districts. To this out hitting one. How many have fore the war was 400,000; since end, a prayer cycle suggests you, anyway?" the transfer of the capital, the items for special intercession. population has j u m p e d to Priest: "Thirteen hundred, 800,000, and is steadily mount- -China's Millions. and Protestants have 300 in the ing. It is far up the Yangtse same area." River, beyond the reach of Jap- How Shall We Pray? anese armies and battleships.; Officer: "I wish I knew what however, it expects bombing Dr. and Mrs. John R. Mott it is that keeps you Christians planes any day. It is a commen- formulated a statement for the working in such places as this." tary on modern civilization that guidance of their own prayer practically every house has its life, early in the conflict between The power of the Gospel is dug out, as much a necessity as China and Japan. Here it is: well illustrated by the following a kitchen. Three anti-aircraft story from Nanking. Bibles and guns are placed within a hun- 1. We should pray for both China Testaments were being distribdred yards of the home of the and Japan-for their rulers, their peo- uted among Japanese soldiers Methodist High School principal, ples, and, very especially, for all their who had a habit of looking in on a school with an enrolment of Christians; for the ending of the war, church services. For the most about 1,'000 boys. Sometimes and for a just and enduring peace. part, these soldiers accepted the the buildings are used by the Not to pray indicates that we believe copies readily. Later, a Japanese Government for official confer- that human wisdom, devisings, com- officer came to a member of the ences, and at such times the binations and power alone will suffice Church Council and urged that school is more like a military to effect these things; whereas, to no Bibles be given to his soldiers. camp, every entrance guarded pray indicates that we believe that No regard was paid to the reby riflemen with fingers on gun superhuman wisdom, love and power quest, and the officer came again triggers. are absolutely essential to the achieve- and again, ordering finally that ment of this wonder work. We should distribution of Bibles must be In South Shensi become alarmed if we find that in our stopped at once for said he, "the secret prayer life this tragic need New Testament talks of peace, The task of evangelizing does not have a large place; because and the chief business of our South Shensi is divided among we are what we are in the dark where soldiers is war." The Bibles had the Norwegian Alliance Mission, God only sees us, and by which He been passed around in the barthe Lutheran Free Church of judges us. racks, read by many, with the Norway and the China Inland result that they did not wish to Mission, the latter having fifteen 2. We should do all in our power to fight. counties under its supervision. relieve human suffering. The volume Five methods of reaching the of unrelieved suffering in areas af- Shanghai's 5,000 Jews people are employed, and of fected by this war in the Far East is these s t r e e t preaching has even greater than at anyone time in If Shanghai is the world's proved the most fruitful. Prob- the World War. Notwithstanding this most cosmopolitan city, this can ably fifty per cent of the con- alarming fact, it is tragic that, as indeed be said of its Jewish verts have been won by this yet, the efforts put forth by the Chris- community of 5,000. Here Jews means. tians and others in America to meet from every country of the world, this overwhelming and indescribable speaking a score of languages, Village evangelism is another need are relatively negligible. Our live, do business, and thrive in method. It is found that one sympathy and sacrificial action in general, despite the frightfulfaithful Christian family can be such a situation are a true test of ness of the Sino-Japanese war. most effective in winning others. our Christ-likeness. Perhaps nowhere else have they City witnescSing includes prison contributed so much to the visitation, distribution of tracts 3. We should, with true penitence, growth of a great city, and perand open air preaching. Evan- acknowledge the sins of our own coun- haps nowhere else is this service gelistic bands have been organ- try against both China and Japan, so little recognized, the reason ized to visit unoccupied towns. and bring forth fruits meet for re- being that emphasis there has This presents difficulties, inas- pentance. This will be difficult. It been laid on nationality, not race much as roads and communica- will involve real self-denying effort or religion; that is, the British tion facilities are poor in the and, it may be, very prolonged effort. Jew is considered a Briton, the mountainous, brigand – infested Russian Jew a Russian, and so 4. Let our Government know unmis- on. takably that the Christian forces will be solidly behind them as they put forth their full influence to secure a just settlement.
Conversation from the Front French priest to Japanese aviation officer: "When you en- ter new territory, would you be willing to instruct your men not
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
An interesting aspect of J ew- their future program; and that in Mongolia. One young man ish life in Shanghai is the new- furthermore, if they want the said to a missionary, "I can tell ness of the Jewish community support of the better class of a Christian now when I meet in contrast with the antiquity of Chinese the first step toward him on the street. I asked one China. Only for little more than securing it would be the instant man whom I met yesterday if a century have the Western na- stopping of this flood of nar- he wasn't a Christian; he smiled tions carried on organized trade cotics. and said, 'Yes, but how did you with China, and for decades the know?' I told him that I could trade was restricted to Canton. Importance of Hongkong see the evidence in his face." The opening of the treaty ports, of which Shanghai was one, the The British colony in Hong- The writer is at work in building up of foreign communi- kong holds a strategic position Hailar, a city 550 miles from ties, and the arrival of Jewish not only politically, but spir- Harbin, where few have learned traders with their non-Jewish itually. The city is at the thresh- of salvation through Christ. colleagues, have occurred during old of the greatest mission field Next door to the little chapel is the lifetime of many now living. on earth; a land of 450,000,000 a tin shop where a young Chris- Shanghai's senior Jewish resi- people of whom very few have tian makes kettles and stove dent has lived in the city sixty- understood, or even heard the pipes. The partition is of paper, nine years; her sister, born Gospel; among the Europeans, and the young tinner became a sixty-six years ago, was the first only a few acknowledge Christ Christian by what he heard Jewish native of the port. as Master. In view of this spir- through the partition. He ham- itual need, the coming of the mers away loudly most of the -International Committee evangelist, Mr. Edwin Orr, last day and night, but never while on Christian Approach October was prayerfully antici- services are in progress. He has to the Jews. pated. learned several Gospel hymns, and sings these lustily as he The Opium Campaign Two of the largest churches in works. Hongkong were. secured for the Much has been written about English services, and there were Hailar is notorious for gam- Japan's campaign to subdue the 250 to 300 people present at bling, opium dens, and other Chinese through opium, and the every meeting – which is to be wickedness, having, most likely, truth of the matter has been both regarded as wonderful, as co- the lowest percentage of Chrisaffirmed and denied. Dr. M. S. lonials are notoriously "tough." tians of any other provincial city Bates, an American missionary Mr. Orr began with the Chris- in Manchukuo. But many of the educator, has written "An Open tians, devoting the first four people are responsive to the Letter on the Narcotic Problem" nights to the need, the method Gospel. which has appeared in two lead- and the conditions for revival. ing Chinese papers. Dr. Bates The succeeding nights were Work in Tribal District says: "Fifty thousand people- given to the proclaiming of the one eighth of the population of Good News of God's grace to The China Inland Mission Nanking-are being slowly poi- sinners. In the first part of each finds a broad field for its minissoned today by heroin, supplied address Mr. Orr told of his ex- try in Yunnan. The capital of by Japanese – controlled d rug periences in different lands in the province, Kumming, is at an rings. Every month a minimum proving the faithfulness of God, altitude of 6,000 feet. Wuting, of $5,000,000 are being squeezed and how He answers prayer. fifty miles northwest, is in a from the impoverished Chinese The evangelistic appeals re- small plain. These two towns in the region by dope traffickers, sulted in conversions – some of are inhabited mostly by Chinese, belonging to or allied with, the them in the King's uniform. but in the surrounding hills are Japanese Army." Four groups thousands of Miao, Nosu, Lisu, are named as closely connected During the past two years, and other tribes. Several miswith this traffic: Hongkong has become a place of sionaries devote their whole time refuge for thousands of people, to these tribes with encouraging 1. The Special Service Section among them many Christians. results.. A little village 7,000 of the Japanese Army. feet high is the center of work -:-Life of Faith. among the Miao, and the average 2. The puppet administration attendance at Sunday service is of Nanking., Working on the Frontier from two to three hundred. Next to the chapel is a little room 3. "Independent" Japanese A missionary remarked that about eight by ten feet, which and Korean drug run- he never saw a smile or heard has been opened as a reading ners. joyful song in his field in India room and "place for discussing until people began to find Christ; the doctrine." Bibles and Tes- 4. Japanese business firms. now many both smile and sing. taments are on display and many At first, the minor key in every copies have been sold. Dr. Bates points out that a phase of life was almost more shorter-sighted greed cannot be than he could stand. In the A new avenue of service has imagined than that of destroy- Evangelical Christian is the tes- been opened among school boys ing a people on whom they must timony that the condition is true in the city of Wuting. In redepend for building up the kind of nation they expect to use in
sponse to a request, the mission 8.4 per cent. Eight years ago, volumes, besides tracts in great offers instruction in English on licensed prostitutes numbered number, of which more than condition that the Scriptures be 52,000; today, there are 45,000. 4,000,000 copies have been sold. used as a textbook. The class His most famous work is "The has an average attendance of Again, there is respect for Common People's Gospel," a twenty, and meets twice a week. labor. Manual labor was once simple but comprehensive man- for the outcast, but the position ual of the Christian faith. More -China's Millions. of laborers has been elevated. than 400,000 copies have been Another advance is a spirit of issued, and the annual sale stilI JAPAN-CHOSEN peace. The Japanese havanever averages 10,000. A Braille edi- been averse to war, but the pres- tion and a Korean translation "Business As Usual" ent war, they say, is a war for have also appeared. peace! It is at least a step in T. T. Brumbaugh has recently advance that they must find an Hundreds of Japanese owe returned to Japan after an ab- excuse for war. Finally, there is their conversion to the reading sence of nearly two years, and the spirit of service, introduced of this book-students, business reports in the Christian Century, by Protestant missionaries. Even men, and men of all classes. that an observer would see noth- the "Tendai Shu," a Buddhist Gamblers, drunkards, liquoring out of the ordinary. Jap- sect, has ordered every temple to dealers, criminals of all sorts anese passengers, bound for carryon art least one piece of so- owe to it their new life in Christ. home, had little to say about the cial service. A restaurant keeper of loose conflict in China. In religious morals studies it for a week and circles little difference was Control of Religious Bodies then in prayer receives forgivenoted. Ostensibly, Christians ness of sins. Such was the are loyal to their government, A bill to control religious or- change in his life that when he regardless of its leadership; ganizations is awaiting final ac- was later elected mayor of his prayers are offered for the tion, and seems likely to be town, no one called him by his preservation of the empire and passed. The bill provides that own name, but "Christ's mayor." the success of the army. They no religious body can be estab- To many of the dying this book urge that evangelization follow lished without the approva1 of has brought hope in last hours. the wake of the imperial army, the Minister of Education. In apparently not considering applying for approval, the doc- -Sunday School Times. whether conquest and mission- trine of the group must be subary endeavor are compatible. mitted, as well as a statement Missionary's Life Has Variety But with all this, the Christian covering its entire set-up, range groups are oases of brotherly of activities, etc. Any later al- Miss Virginia Mackenzie, of love. teration must have the govern- the Presbyterian Mission in ment's approval. Churches and Japan, has a new undertaking- There has been a falling off in pastors who violate the law are all in the day's work-teaching baptisms and even in Sunday subject to fine or imprisonment. English manners to a group of school enrolments during the eleven policemen, plain clothes past few years, but attendance The present bill does not pro- men in charge of investigating at divine services seem'l not to pose to deal with religion, per se, the foreigners that pass through have been affected except, pos- but with religious organizations. the city. They are a kindly sibly, for the better. Christian- in this it differs from previous group, anxious to do things i,ty is fundamentally contrary to efforts to regulate religion which pleasantly and correctly. On an the spirit of the age in this and were open to the charge of vio- average day they examine 160 other lands. Yet, deep down, lating the constitutional pro- non-Japanese travelers, most of most Japanese rejoice that "the vision, guaranteeing religious them either English – speaking, love of God is broader than the freedom. or able to use English. It is measure of man's mind." readily seen how mistakes, or Inasmuch as Christianity lack of politeness, even though Christian Achievements hitherto has had no legal status, unintentional, "can make for all all Christian communions and sorts of misunderstandings; and In his Fellowship Bulletin, local churches must take steps how important to have mis- Toyohiko Kagawa says that, to conform with the provisions understandings as few as poswhereas he was discouraged two of this law within two years sible, so that this effort becomes years ago, he now sees a brighter after its passage. Japanese a v e n t u rein international side and points to the following Christians feel that, on the friendship. achievements Cif the Christian whole, the bill is an advance for movement in Japan. He gives Christianity. Japanese-Korean Church first place to personal piety. Re- Union Discussed ligion was not taken seriously -The Living Church. until the missionaries came. The One of the mottoes of the day second is purity in home and so- Salvation Army Literature is "Japan-Chosen: one body," ciety, taught by the Christians. and its use is having the effect Forty years. ago the divorce rate Commissioner Yamamuro, Sal- of creating a willingness of the was 32 per cent i iu"1936, it was vation Army publicist and au- two Christian groups to unite. thor, has published over sixtY"
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
The Japanese and Korean Y. M. thought to this question. "All ture book. In the manger a black C. A.'s have already united. At that Buddha offered," said he, Papuan baby gurgled.
least the Korean churches in "I found in greater measure in -So S. Times.
Japan proper are likely to unite Christ." Admitting that some with the Japanese Church; in of Korea's best national traits Natives As Museum Exhibits the Methodist Church commit- were the outgrowth of Budtees have been appointed to draw dhism, he summed up his double The Netherlands Committee up plans and union evangelistic experience in two religions with for International Nature Protecservices are being held. The gap a series of contrasts: tion at its annual meeting in of racial feeling will be hard to Amsterdam, Holland, considered bridge, and it is yet to be seen "Buddha is a lover of solitude; the problem of protecting the how much actual union will re- Christ seeks us in life's thorough- primitive people in New Guinea. suIt from the tendency to coop- fares." The recent opening up of Dutch erate; yet the tide seems to be toward a coalition. "Buddha sits imperturbably as New Guinea has proceeded so races go by; Christ agonized on the rapidly that it was felt that Koreans in Tokyo Cross that new life might be open to ne~essary measures must be men." taken without delay for the pro- "Buddha offers release from life and tection of the inhabitants. With its ills; Christ offers more abundant life, in spite of its ills."
The past year has seen the "Buddha calls to meditation; Christ no advance preparation, ideas calls to the service of God and fellow most modern are suddenly thrust withdrawal of Chosen from all men." upon people most primitive. international organizations.
Every effort is being made to ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC Two opposing opinions were preserve the evangelical Chris- disclosed at this meeting of the tian character of the Y. M. and Igorots Ordained Committee: one in favor of pre- Y. W. C. A., W. C. T. U., and The Igorot tribe in the Philip- serving a group of primitive peoother groups under Japanese di- pine mountains is barely two ple in their "stone age" culture, rection. generations removed from head- . shutting them off in a large re- hunting, and to large extent the serve from all foreign influences, Some 500 buildings prepared most primitive superstitions still including missions. In the interfor the Olympic Games that dominate their lives. It is neceswere to have been held in Tokyo sary to remember this in order est of science, a strictly limited have been bought by Koreans, to properly evaluate a recent contact would be allowed. On and ttre now filled mostly by low- event. After several years of the other hand, a group held that wage factory workers. A young training and experience in evan- the authorities had no right to Christian graduate was so ap- gelism, three young Igorots have deny to any people the right of palled by the neglected children been ordained to the ministry in making progress, and to conthat he started on Sundays to the cathedral at Manila. Hopes demn them to remain savages tell them stories of Jesus. At for a native-born ministry for and "museum-objects" for ever. first the parents objected, but these people have long been cher- The danger, it was argued, is soon appreciated the lessons in ished, but the mission staff has cleanliness and truth, so that been inadequate in numbers to not so much in civilization itself some 120 gathered in a vacant train the younger generation. as in abruptness of contact with lot each Sunday until snow and it. As for missions, it was cold made it impossible. Then agreed that their tribal religion six student helpers were en- should not be taken away from listed; paper, pencils and lesson helps were secured and classes Papuan Christmas these people without offering were started in both Korean and them a better one in its place.
An unusual celebration of -Aboriginees' Friend.
Christmas took place in Papua, Japanese. when five hundred Papuan men MISCELLANEOUS –Mrs. H. H. Underwood. and women gathered on the very American Tract Society hill where James Chalmers was Buddha or Christ? martyred half a century ago to Since 1825, the American sing Christmas carols and put Tract Society has been issuing Mr. Kim is a Korean who had on a pageant. The first time tracts, pamphlets, periodicals spent long years in patient pur- they came to a Christmas cele- and hymn books in many lan- suit of the Buddhist goal; then bration at this hill they were guages, and has been sending at last he found Jesus Christ, armed to the teeth; but now colporteurs to distribute them and put the same devotion into some of the world's most back- wmong neglected peoples of all his new faith as he had applied ward people, who could neither lands since 1840. Neglected to the old. A writer in Korean read nor write, were able to re- areas of our own country are de- Echoes tells of a conversation cite long passages of Scripture pendent upon this Society for lit- with Mr. Kim, when he asked and sing Christmas hymns. erature and colporteur service.
him what, in his experience, was Children on hands and knees Its Spanish periodical has a the difference between Buddhism represented a flock of sheep and weekly circulation of 19,000; its and Christianity. His answer a shepherd whose only idea of Polish periodical reaches 4,000 .~howed that he had given much his occupation came from a pic- hOmes.
~- '~
Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information The History of Christianity in Amer- own denomination as he sees it and church people or for any ica. ' By Frank Grenville Beardsley, who are honest and desire the Ph.D. 8vo. American Tract So- cast against the background of best for America – the best is ciety, New York. 1939. Christ and all for which He all the other denominations, as stands. The stories of many who Here is a great book. To call have been led into larger life and it history is hardly to do it jus- they have struggled together or service add to the interest and effectiveness of the volume. The tice. It is that, but it is no mere with each other to establish reli- book is a challenge to the dry factual statement of events Church. It is also a kaleidowith dates and places and gious opportunity in the life of scopic view of home missions, showing its beauties, but it deals names; rather it is an interest- America. MARK A. DAWBER. with so many phases, personaliing narrative, told in lucid and ties and elements that the piccharming style, of the develop- Homeland Harvest. By Arthur H. tures of various types of work Limouze. 211 pp. Index and bib- are not clear. The bibliography ment of religion and the Chris- liography. $1.00 cloth; 60 cents contains some books of doubtful tian church in America. paper. Friendship Press. New value from a Christian viewpoint York. 1939. and omits some of real value- Beginning with the Puritans particularly biographies and and the Pilgrims, the author Some pioneers went West for stories of pioneering. weaves his way through the the purpose of establishing thrilling experiences. that were homes for themselves; others Evangelism for the World Today. were drawn by a lust for gold; As Interpreted by Christian Leadso characteristic of men and re- others went in the spirit of ad- ers Throughout the World. Edited ligious movements in the settle- venture or to establish the by John R. Mott. 8vo. 295 pp. ment of the new world. The United States control over new Harper & Brothers, New York. founding of New England, the territory. But the greatest con- 1939. chartering of the colonies and tribution to the progress of the instigation of citizenship Christian civilization in Amer- The primary aim and the cenwere all an integral part of the ica was doubtless made by the tral task of the Christian Church religious enterprise. No one can missionaries who went with the is to "preach the Gospel to every distinct purpose to make friends creature" and to persuade all understand America, democracy, with the Indians and settlers and men to receive and obey Jesus or the American way of life who to win them to Christ and His Christ as their Saviour and is not familiar with the story of Way of Life. Without their Lord. the struggle to establish Chris- prayers, their faith, courage, tianity and freedom of religion vision and labors of love new Partly in preparation for the territory might have been con- recent Ecumenical Missionary on this continent. quered economically but the peo- Conference at Madras, Dr. John The rise and growth of the ple would have been generally R. Mott invited some 1~5 reli- lawless and godless. gious leaders throughout the Protestant denominations is world to answer three questions carefully but interestingly por- Dr. Limouze has written the on the meaning of evangelism. trayed. The development of the interesting and inspiring story Their replies, or the most relesects, the history of the great re- of what home missions have vant portions, have been made done for America-in establish- available in this attractive volvivals and their influence upon ing churches and schools, in giv- ume. American life, as also the vari- ing examples of Christian homes, ous allied movements and or- in helping to promote social wel- In his foreword, Dr. Mott arganizations-such as Boy Scouts, fare, and good government. He rests attention immediately by Lay men's Missionary Move- draws his illustrations from declaring that "nothing in the work with Indians and Orientals, religious realm is more evident ments, the Gideons, Y. M. C. A. the Negroes, mountaineers, and than the world-wide interest in and Y. W. C. A., Knights of others. He reports. results and evangelism, the world-wide con- shows the cost; he pictures pres- cern .regarding the need that Columbus, Jewish Associations, ent-day problems, difficulties, the the Salvation Army, to say noth- trends and the need for contining of the Ku Klux Klan – all uing and strengthening home have their niche in this religious mission work, all forces coopergallery of fame. ating. It is a book for pastors It is a great book that should [334 ] be read by every preacher. He will come from the reading of it with a better appreciation of his
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF SS5
only evangelism can meet, and the message. Some also seemed will shall be done in every area the world-wide manifestations to confuse the spirit of evan- of life. of evangelistic action." gelism with its essential content. Every missionary should be The attempt to define evan- In the section dealing with the equipped in life and message to gelism brought forth a variety "relevance of evangelism," the win men to a saving knowledge of conviction and expression. views of contributors were nat- of Jesus Christ. To win con- Many emphasize the presenta- urally colored by the environ- verts, however, is not enough; tion of the Gospel, the Word or ment in which they lived and the they must be gathered into a felthe Christ to individual man to characteristics of race, custom lowship, a Christian brotherhood the end that he may respond in or religion of the people whom and there learn how to be wittrust and obedience to Him as a they sought to evangelize or nesses and winners of souls. As Saviour and in the commitment Christianize. one said: "The most abiding of his whole life to doing God's evangelism is that which is the will. Others emphasize the Dr. Charles R. Erdman, Presi- expression of the life of the local presentation of the Go s pel dent of the Board of Foreign church." through example and deed, and Missions of the Presbyterian would include in evangelism any Church, U. S. A., declared: "In It is pointed out that some service that interpreted God's these days the aspects of the mission schools report few stumercy and love to man. Dr. Christian Gospel which are most dents won to Christ; other meth- Johannes Warneck of the Rhein- needed (and most neglected) are ods are ineffective; even direct isch Missionary Society, frankly those which are regarded as methods of evangelistic work declares that "evangelism is not supernatural and which have are ineffective unless the mesmerely an enlightenment. One been communicated by definite senger is on fire with love for cannot send away darkness first revelation. The great truths of souls, has a saving and positive and then bring light. . . . And the Incarnation and the Deity of message, gives it in the power it does not promise cultural Christ, of His atoning work, of of the Holy Spirit, and with tact, blessings. It is not our task to His regenerating power and of love and patience. Christ must make earthly living conditions His infallible teaching are of the be given His opportunity to win more favorable. . . . The mis- very essence of the Gospel." each person to Himself.
sion has no social mission. So- On the other hand, Dr. Doug- This volume may be used of cial uplift is according to our las Horton, General Secretary of God to put evangelism in its experience not a good prepara- the Congregational and Chris- place of primacy in the missiontion for the Gospel." tian churches said: "It seems to ary enterprise, and to inspire me that the psychological and Christian workers everywhere, On the other extreme we find sociological aspects of the Gos- through the faithful presenta- Dr. J. Leighton Stuart, Presi- pel are the most relevant in our tion of Him who is the only Redent of Yenching University, time." deemer of mankind, to seek and Peiping, calling attention to one to save those that are lost. aspect of evangelism out of his Others, while pointing out that own experience. "This," says the basic needs of men do not FRANCIS SHUNK DOWNS. he, "is the witness of institu- change, say that present world tions, educational, medical and conditions call for stressing the Christian Home Making. Edited by otherwise, in their corporate Christian message of hope, the Mrs. Robert E. Speer and Miss Concapacity. . . . The right attitude giving of Christian guidance to stance Hallock. A joint statement to current social, economical and intellectuals and business and prepared for the Madras Conferpolitical issues, and with the professional men, and for the ence of the International Missionquality of life which wins the ad- presentation of Christ as the ary Council. 141pp. $1.50. miration of the Chinese public, Prince of Peace. . . . is a form of evangelism." This small but important book In the section on the "Fruit- amplifies somewhat the report Probably the definition that fulness of Evangelism," empha- of the Committee on the Chrisgathers up the essentials of sis is laid on sending forth men tian Home which was prepared evangelism on the part of most and women who are "truly con- for presentation at the recent is expressed in the words of Dr. verted and deeply Spirit-filled," meeting of the International William Temple, Archbishop of on the "preaching of the Gospel Missionary Council at Madras. York: "To evangelize is to pre- in the power of the Holy Ghost," The central theme of the book sent Jesus Christ in the power a clear and intelligent grasp of of the Holy Spirit, that men the great essentials of evangeli- is~ shall come to put their trast in cal Christianity, a life that hides God through Him, to accept Him behind Christ when He is pre- To see the human home in the light as their Saviour, and serve Him sented as Saviour and Lord and of this fierce flame of perfection, to as their King in the fellowship yet which is so Christian and see where and how the leaven of of His Church." vital and genuine that it cannot Christ, working in our common life, be hidden; a presentation that has lifted us from one level to an- In some instances, the mean- not only secures a decision, but other, and to face these infinite reing of evangelism was confused an honest and intelligent desire sources of power that can enable us with the various methods em- to obey Christ, and that God's to go on steadfastly to higher and ployed in the interpretation of higher levels.
Written in careful collabora- tion by outstanding missionary workers at horne and abroad, the book presents the Essence of the
Christian Home, the RequisIte more consistently the colorful F. Ernest Johnson, L. Foster Training for Christian Home days when Dr. Coan resided in Wood, A. J. Muste, Benson Y. Making, and studies of homes the Near East. There might Landis, Allan Knight Chalin America, Africa, India, have been added a more com- mers, and Luman J. Shafer. The China, Japan, Brazil and Mos- plete and accurate statement of chapters are too short for adelem lands. In many instances the present situation. In his quate t rea t men t s of their and with vivid illustrations, non- excellent foreword Dr. Speer weighty themes, each one of Christian homes are des.cribed very properly calls attention to which might well require a sepand contrasted with "the new the fact that modern Iran is very arate volume. But the high things of today" which are different from Persia forty or competence of the writers and brought by the knowledge of fifty years ago. their skill in the condensed pres- Christ. The changing status of entation of their subjects have women, the influence of mission- The reader must be cautioned giV'en us a readable and very ary homes, the effect of Chris- not to accept this as a report of important contribution to the littian education and many other present-day missionary activity erature of one of the great probinfluences are carefully consid- in Iran and Kurdistan. The last lems of the modern Church. ered. Individuals and groups chapter unfortunately gives the will find this book offers an un- impression that the closing of ARTHUR J. BROWN. usual basis for the study of that the Urumia Station was an immost important subject-Chris- mediate result of the World War. Art of Conducting Public Worship. tian Home Making. No mention is made of the post- By Albert W. Palmer, D.D., LL.D. war reconstruction of Urumia 207 pp. $2.50. Macmillan, New MARY SCHAUFFLER PLATT. Station. We should remember York. 1939. that the Imperial Government Yesterdays in Persia and Kurdistan. of Iran paid the Presbyterian This is a book of deep interest By Frederick G. Coan. 284 pp. Board of Foreign Missions its to all ministers of non-Liturgi- $2.50. Saunders Studio Press, asking price for the property in cal churches, as well as to lay- Claremont, California. Urumia and has allowed the men who have the resiponsibility mission to continue employing of conducting devotional meet- In the preface Dr. Coan ex- native evangelists all through ings and public services of worplains that his object is "to give the Urumia plain since that date. ship. As President of Chicago an account of the human and ro- Theological S e min a r y after mantic aspects of the mission- Dr. Coan's stories of hair- years of experience as a pastor ary's life, to outline the experi- raising adventures of early mis- in Oakland California, Central ence of a life of service and a sionaries make exciting reading Union Church, Honolulu, and kind that, with a change of time, and give further evidence of the First Congregational Church of has become almost unique, and, courage and abiding faith of Oak Park, Ill. Dr. Palmer can above all, to present that side of these pioneers. The maps in the speak with authority and he the missionary's life that will end papers and the illustrations writes with enthusiasm and in a especially interest the young." are helpful but there is need for very practical way. He deals This purpose the author has ful- an index and a glossary explain- with the weaknesses and failfilled with a great degree of suc- ing the Near Eastern terms and ures in much public worship and cess. Certainly few modern phrases used throughout. clearly points out the causes. He volumes of fiction or travel de- treats the historical background scribe such rough and ready HERRICK B. YOUNG. of Christian worship and the existence and such hairbreadth primary significance of it, showescapes. The Church Faces the World. Edited ing what must happen if it is to by Samuel McCrea Cavert. 133 pp. remain worthy of the name. The early chapters are espe- $1.50. Round Table Press. New There is a chapter on the archicially valuable to the student of York. 1939. tectural setting. for worship, missionary activity in the Near which alone is worth the price East. Here Dr. Coan tells of the This small but important book of the book to any who are renotwenty-five years of pioneer was prepared for the Interna- vating, remodeling or building Rervice begun by his parents· in tional Missionary Council in new church edifices. There are 1851. The succeeding chapters Madras, India, last December. suggested patterns of worship deal chronologically with Dr. A commission of American services, and for special occa- Co-an's own colorful forty years Christians had been appointed sions. The two parts. 0'£ the among the Assyrians and min- to study the relation of the appendix are most helpful. "A" gling with the Kurds between Church to the changing social has a check list by which one Mosul, Tabriz, and the Turkish and economic order, and the re- may grade his own efforts. in frontier. Those who have had sults of the study are sum- conducting public worship, and the pleasure of knowing this vet- marized in the present volume. another check list for rating the eran missionary campaigner will The varied phases of the subject use of music in such services. read of his experiences with in- are discussed in ten chapters, "B" is an annotated book lis,t, terest. One could wish, however, by. John C. Bennett, H. Richthat the occasional references to ard Niebuhr, Samuel McCrea for those who wish to enhance modern Iran had been omitted Cavert (who, in addition, edited their skill in this art. so that the story would depict the volume and contributed the Introduction), John H. Reisner, R. C. WILLIAMSON.
List on Home Missions American Youth Commission of the The Red Man in the United
American Council on Education. By G. E. E. Lindquist. $3.50. GENERAL AND HISTORICAL $1.50. D. Appleton-Century Co. Doubleday, Doran. New York. New York. 1937. 1923. Christian Youth in Action. Frank W. Herriott. $1.00 cloth; 60 cents They Starve That We May Eat. MEXICANS AND ORIENTALS paper. Friendship Press. New Edith E. Lowry. 35 cents. Friend- IN AMERICA York. 1935. ship Press. New York. 1937. Mexican in the United States, The. God and the Census. Robert N. Mc- Races and Ethnic Groups in Amer- E. S. Bogardus. $1.60 cloth; $1.25 Lean. 50 cents cloth; 25 cents ican Life. T. J. Woofter. McGraw- paper. University of Southern Cali- paper. Friendship Press. New Hill Book Co. New York. 1932. fornia Press. Berkeley. 1934. York. 1931. THE CITY Orientals in American Life. Albert Homeland Harvest. Arthur H. W. Palmer. $1.00 cloth; 60 cents Limouze. $1.00 cloth, 60 cents City and Church in Transition. Mur- paper. Friendship Press. 1934. paper. Friendship Press. New ray H. Leiffer. $2.50. Willett, York. 1939. Clark & Co. Chicago. 1938. ALASKA AND THE WEST They Came Seeking. Coe S. Hayne. Urban Scene. Margueritte Harmon The Story of Alaska. Clarence L. $1.00. Judson Press. Philadelphia. Bro. 25 cents paper. Illustrated. Andrews. Enlarged edition, $4.00. 1935. Friendship Press. New York. 1938. Caxton Printers. Caldwell, Idaho. 1938. Toward a Christian America. Her- City Man. Charles Hatch Sears. mann N. Morse. $1.00. Friendship Special paper edition, 75 cents. Sheldon Jackson. Robert Laird Press. New York. 1935. Friendship Press. New York. 1938. Stewart. Revell. New York. 1908.
American Saga: The History of Lit- City Shadows. Robert W. Searle. Alaskan Adventures. L. Wirt. $1.50. erature of the American Dream of $1.00 cloth; 60 cents paper. Friend- Revell. New York. 1937. a Better Life. Marjorie Barstow ship Press. New York. 1938. Greenbie. $4.00. Whittlesey House. Henry Harmon Spalding: Pioneer of New York. 1939. RURAL LIFE Old Oregon. Clifford Merrill Drury. $3.00. Caxton Printers. Caldwell, Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Christ of the Countryside. Malcolm Idaho. 1936. Road. H. A. B. Bruce. $1.75. Mac- Dana. $1.00. Cokesbury Press. millan. New York. 1910. Nashville. 1937. Marcus Whitman. Clifford Merrill Drury. $5.00. Caxton Printers. Epic of America, The. J ames Tru- Christian Enterprise Among Rural Caldwell, Idaho. 1937. slow Adams. $1.29. Blue Ribbon People, The. Kenyon L. Butter- Books, Inc. New York. 1936. field. $1.50. Cokesbury Press. Vanguard of the Caravans: A Life Nashville. 1928. Story of John Mason Peck. Coe Frontier Spirit in American Chris- Hayne. $1.00. Judson Press. tianity, The. Peter G. Mode. Mac- Rebuilding Rural America. Mark A. Philadelphia. 1931. millan. New York. 1923. Dawber. $1.00 cloth; 60 cents paper. Friendship Press. New York. 1937. AMERICAN CHURCH AND THE March of Faith, The: The Story of CHRISTIAN MESSAGE Religion in America Since 1865. America Begins Again. Katherine William E. Garrison. $2.50. Harper Glover. Illus. $2.75. Whittlesey Christianity-and Our World. John & Bros. New York. 1933. House. New York. 1939. C. Bennett. 50 cents. Association Press. New York. 1936. Right Here at Home. Frank S. Mead. THE NEGRO AND THE $1.00. Friendship Press. New AMERICAN INDIAN Church and State in Contemporary York. 1939. America. Williams Adams Brown. American Race Problems: A Study $2.75. Scribner's. New York. Story of Missions, The. Edwin E. of the Negro. Edward B. Reuter. 1936. White. $1.00. Friendship Press. 2nd. rev. ed. $3.00. Thomas Y. New York. 1926. Crowell Co. New York. 1938. Church Looks Ahead, The. American Protestant Christianity: an Analy- Wagons West: A Story of the Oregon Twelve Negro Americans. Mary sis and Forecast. Charles E. Scho- Trail. Elizabeth Page. Farrar & Jenness. $1.00. Friendship Press. field, Ed. $3.00. Macmillan. New Rinehart. New York. 1930. New York. 1937. York. 1933.
We Must March. Honore Willsie Brown America. Edwin R. Embree. Church Unity Movements in the Morrow. A. L. Burt Co. New $1.25. Special Friendship Press United States. H. Paul Douglass. York. 1927. Edition. New York. 1937. Institute of Social and Religious Re- search. New York. 1934. PRESENT-DAY PROBLEMS Story of the American Negro, The. Ina Corinne Brown. $1.00 cloth, 60 Evangelism i,n a Changing W orId. Alien Americans: A Study of Race cents paper. Friendship Press. Ambrose M. Bailey. $1.50. Round Relations. Bertram J. O. Schrieke. New York. 1937. Table Press. New York. 1936. $21.50. Viking Press. New York. American Indian and Christian Mis- U. S. Looks at Its Churches, The. Christian F a i t h and Economic sons, The. George W. Hinman. C. Luther Fry. Institute of Social Change. Halford E. Luccock: $2.00. $1.50. Revell. New York. and Religious Research. New York. Abingdon Press. New York. 1936. 1930. Story of the Red Man, The. Flora Christianity and Industry in America. W. Seymour. $5.00. Longmans, PROGRAMS AND POLICIES OF Alva W. Taylor. Friendship Press. Green & Co. New York. 1929. HOME MISSIONS New York. 1933. Cry Dance. Coe Hayne. $2.00 (Fic- Christian Mission in America, The. Pioneering on Social Frontiers. tion). Harper & Bros. New York. Hugh T. Kerr. $1.00. Friendship Graham Taylor. $4.00. University 1939. Press. New York. 1933. of Chicago Press. Chicago. 1930. Facing the Future in Indian Missions. Home Missions Today and Tomor- Protestant Churches and the Indus- Lewis Meriam and George W. Hin- row: A Review and a Forecast. trial Crisis. E. B. Chaffee. Mac- man. $1.00. Friendship Press. Hermann N. Morse, Ed. 75 cents millan. New York. 1933. New York. 1932. paper. Home Missions Council. New York. 1934. How Fare American Youth? Homer Indian Americans. Winifred Hulbert. P. Rainey and others. Report to Friendship Press. New York. What Next in Home Missions? Wil- 1932. liam P. Shriver. 50 cents. Friend- ship Press. New York. 1928.
THE FAMILY ALTAR RETURN?
The increased use of a daily devotional guide among Protestants of all faiths gives hope and encouragement for the return of the family altar. By far, the largest circulated of these devotional guides is THE UPPER ROOM The World's Leading Devotional Periodical Read Daily in a Million Homes Are the homes represented in your church using it? . The issue for July, August, and September is now ready for distribution. Place an order today for as many copies as you need. Use our consignment plan. Ten or more copies, shipped to one address, to be sold at five cents per copy, with the< privilege of returning unsold copies at our expense. Yearly subscriptions, 30 cents postpaid; foreign, 40 cents. Send all orders to THE UPPER ROOM Doctors' Building, Nashville, Tennessee
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1935
1935
The Only Christian College in Iran Samuel M. Jordan Islam's Debt to the Bible Samuel M. Zwemer Federal Favor for Fetishism Flora Warren Seymour Always Something New in Turkey Charles Trowbridge Riggs What Is a Faitll Mission?
Robert Hall Glover Forty-seven Years Among Chinese Jonathan Goforth Front Page News-An Airplane Crash!
R. w. Hambrook 25 Cents a Cop, $2.50 a YeaI'
to Remember Obituary Note. Mrs. Lucy W. Peabody has
September 3-S-Negro National Bap- Miss Stella Relyea, who had served from the chairmanship of the Associa- tist Convention, 143d Street Armory, 37 years under the Baptist Board in tion of Baptists for Evangelism in the Harlem, New York. China, died May 7 at Clifton Springs, Orient. She has been succeeded in N. Y. In 1902 she became principal' the chairmanship by Rev. Harold T. September 16-23-School of Missions, of Chung Md Girls' School in Kinwha. Commons, of Johnson City, New York. Minnesota. Mrs. A. F. Auguster, The work of this Association is con- 1536 Van Buren St., St. Paul, Min- fined to the Philippine Islands. nesota. *** *** September 17-24–School of Missions, Warren, Ohio. Mrs. Geo. Konold, 314 Mrs. Archibald Hore, for many Rev. Paul Shinji Sasaki, professor Scott St., N. E., Warren, Ohio. years associate editor of the Spirit of Liturgics and Applied Theolog~-, of 1ldissions, died last June in Scotch Central Theological College, St. Paul's September 27-0ctober 6 – Interna- Plains, N. J., at the age of 86. tional Committee of International University, Tokyo, has been elected Missionary Council. Northfield, *** second Bishop of the diocese of Mid- Mass. Japan. He will be the fourth native Bishop Arthur Stanley Ward, of of Japan to be elevated to the Angli- October 15-20 – International Con- the Moravian Church, died May 27, in can espiscopate. vention of the Disciples of Christ. his 71st year. He was born in Ja- San Antonio, Texas. maica, where his father was a mis- * October 16, 17-American Mission to sionary. Bishop Ward was a member Rev. G. A. Riggs, Baptist mission- Lepers. Annual Meeting, New of the General Missions Board of the York, N. Y. Moravian Church. ary in Puerto Rico, is celebrating the October 22-Five Years' Meeting of :;: * * silver jubilee of his service in the the Friends. Richmond, Ind. Levi Mumaw, Yice-President of the island. * * '" October 2S-November 1 – Houston. Mennonite Board of Missions and Texas. Mrs. E. B. Mohle, 2309 Charities, diE'd at his home at Scott- Dr. T. L. Holcomb, of Oklahoma Robinhood, Houston, Texas. dale, Pa., .Tune 4. In addition to his City, has ~ucceeded Dr. L J. Van Ness duties in conncctilil1 with the mission November 17-Men and Mission Sun- activitics he was secretary-treasurer as Secretary-Treasurer of the South- day. Topic: "Jesus Christ and the of the Mennonite Publishing House at World Today." For source material Scottdale, and secretary of the Men- ern Baptist Sunday School Board. write to the Laymen's Missionary nonite Central Committee, a relief or- Movement, 19 S. La Salle St., Chi- ganization that carried on extensive * *' * cago. work in the Near East and Russia after the war. Dr. Daw Saw Sa, who is noJw in December 7-Universal Bible Sunday. private medical practice in Burma, '" * * takes an active interest in missionary December 28, 1935-January 1, 1936- work, and represented the National Student Volunteer Convention. In- Miss Elma French, missionary of Missionary Council of India, Burma dianapolis, Ind. and Ceylon, at the International Mis- the Reformed Prellbyterian Church in sionary Council Meeting at Lake Mo- the Levant, passed away April 26 at honk, New York, in 1921. She was Aleppo, Syria. Miss French had been formerly Head of the Lady Dutferin on the field about twenty-seven years. Hospital at Rangoon. The greater part of her work was in Mersine, Asia Minor, where she did ** outstanding work in the schools and for the refugees and Armenians Dr. J. J. Lucas, of the American through their trying years. Presbyterian Mission, who began his service in 1870, is the senior mission- ary of North India. He has beeR active with his pen and recently has published a history of the North India Tract and Book Society.
Printin Personal Items •*• When You Require It Dr. and Mrs. Daniel A. Poling, Dean L. S. Cozart, of Barber-Scotia President of the World Christian En- Presbyterian School at Concord, N. C., We wish to ext••d to you an invi- deavor Union, sailed from New York has been accorded several honors as a tation to become acquainted with on a round-the-world tour on July reward for outstanding service. The THE EVANGELICAL PRESS of 12th. Mter visiting Europe and at- Governor of North Carolina asked him Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. tending the Christian Endeavor Con- to serve as a member of a special com- vention in Budapest, they plan to visit mittee of fifty, composed of 25 whites Thousands of institutions and individ- Greece, Egypt, the Holy Lands, and and 25 Negroes, to gather facts reuals have accepted a similar invitation, go through Persia and Iraq to India, garding Negro teachers in North Caroand have enjoyed a profitable printing Siam, China, Korea, Japan, and Aus- lina. He was also asked by the State association for years. Department of Education to serve on Our specialty is Books, Magazines and tralia. Dr. and Mrs. Poling expect to the Textbook Committee, the first Booklets. We have modern equipment to meet all the requirements of your be in Hawaii in March and to return Negro in the history of North Carolina particular job. Our service is quick, to the United States in April, 1936. to be asked to' help select its textbooks. careful and courteous. ,. '* '" * ,. * Why not allow us to estimate on your next printing? You will be delighted Dr. James L. Barton has retired Dr. Harold A. Moody, Negro phywith our product, price, and service. from the office of President of the gov- sician in London, is the founder and erning boards of the three union col- president of the League of Colored The Evangelical Press leges for women in India, an office Peoples, organized in London four which he has held since their organiza- years ago to promote the economic, Printers 01 tion. He has also resigned as chair- educational, political and social inter- man of the trustees of the v,ralker ests of colored peoples in Great The Missionary Review of the World Missionary Homes, Auburndale, Mass., Britain and America. He has been after thirty-five years of service. elected president of the British Chris- PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE: tian Endeavor Union. **• Third and Reily Streets Harrisburgl Pa. *** Dr. Walter Van Kirk, Secretary of the Department of International Jus- Dr. Robert Cochrane has resigned tice and Goodwill of the Federal Coun- the medical secretaryship of the Brit- cil of ChUrches, has been designated ish Empire Leprosy Relief Associa- as the special investigator with regard to the possibility of establishing an tion to work as a volunteer for five American church in Moscow to serve years among lepers in India. He will members of the American colony. (Concluded on page 385.)
MISSIONARY Times may grow worse, but the RE- America and open fQr engagemet;lts
REVIEW OF THE WORLD VIEW grows better." during the autumn. Arrangements may be made through Dr. David Por- DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor REV. HOWARD A. ADAIR. ter, Headmaster of Mount Hermon Paterson, N. J. School, Massachusetts. Dr. Koo is VOL. LVIII SEPT.,1935 No.9 one of the mQst brilliant, eloquent and *** Publication and Business Office– convincing speakers who have visited Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. "The July issue has just come and America. He is especially effective is more fascinating than ever." with young people and miscellaneous Editorial and Executive Office– 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. REV. MARTIN P. SIMON. audiences. Entered as second-class matter at Eugene, Oregon. *** Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under *** Act of March 3, 1879. Dr. K. S. Oh, a Korean Christian The article on "The Spiritual Con- physician, has been elected President 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. dition of the Heathen," by Dr. Frost, of Severence Union Medical College in Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. in the July REVIEW, is the strongest Seoul, KQrea, as successor to Dr. O. Published monthly, except August. argument I have seen for the imme- All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1935. diate evangelization of the non-Chris- R. Avison, retired. Dr. Oh is a rep- British agents – Marshall, Morgan tian wQrld. It shows what God resentative of the Southern Presbyte- and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, teaches in His Word and ought to be rian Church. He was born in Korea London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, widely read. on October 4, 1877, of Christian par- 10 shillings a year. ents, and after completing his course HORACE N. DOUGHERTY. at the Pai-Chai Middle School came MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- New York City. LISHING CO., INC. to America and studied at Center Col- BOARD OF DIRECTORS Personal Items lege, Kentucky, and the University of ROBERT E. SPEER, President (Concluded from 2d Cover.) Louisville, after which he returned to WM. I. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer go to the Leper Settlement in Madras Korea. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary for a five years' period of 'intensive research into the treatment of leprosy ••ttAWonderful Help SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT on the most modern lines. He will MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD live among the 750 patients at the onThe Foreign Field"
WM. B. LIPPHARD Settlement. * * * The School That Comes to You… By Mail!
ERIC M. NORTH Misses Mildred Cable, Evangeline "Your school is a wonderful help here on JESSE R. WILSON and Francesca French, the three in- the foreIgn held and I am so happy to have trepid piQneer workers for the China my children so well educated," writes a A. L. WARNSHUIS Inland Mission, who were held pris- parent whose children are studying Calvert oners three years ago in the Gobi Courses in far off China. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Desert, returned to their work in northwest China last month. They For 28 years. Calvert School has had a part Editorial Chat are accompanied by "Topsy," their in educatmg the children of famIlies in sixteen-year-old deaf and dumb Chi- Missionary work . . . in giving them the Our June Special Home Mission nese adopted child. rich, cultural background of an Amencan Number has been enthusiastically re- private school. ceived. Now is the time to order *** copies for pastors and Mission Study No matter where your mission, Calvert Classes. This issue of the REVIEW, The Rev. C. Y. Cheng, D.D., LL.D. School will come to you with complete with its wealth of Home Mission in- (Dr. Cheng Ching-yi), has resigned courses of instruction for your children formation, will be a stimulus to many. as general secretary of the National from kindergarten to high school age. Special rates for quantities ordered at Christian Council of China. He has one time. been for 25 years a leader in China, All lessons, books, stationery and special remarkable for his winning personal- Calvert educational devices are supplied *** ity, broad statesmanship and marked from our rrominent and successful pnvate ability. He was chairman of the Chi- day schoo in Baltimore. As noted in our July issue, the Au- nese National Christian Conference in gust number Qf the REVIEW was omit- 1932 and has made several visits to These simple, understandable, moderately ted – to save expense and because Europe and America. He originated pnced Home Instruction Courses arc a many readers are away from home. the Five Year Program of Evangelism unique and satisfactory way of solving your To compensate for this the June, July, for China and has been moderator of b~l~~'s educational problem in the foreign September and October issues each the General Assembly of the Church contain sixteen pages extra. Do not of Christ in China since its organiza- Lessons MlY Be Storied It Any Time miss their wealth of material. tion. Dr. Cheng is now placing him- self at the disposal of the United Write today. Get full information about *** Church Qf Christ to work for the unity Calvert-"The School That Comes to and upbuilding of the Christian cause You." See what Calvert is doing for The REVIEW has been warmly rec- among his people. others . • • it will do the same for your ommended at many Qf the Summer Conferences and Schools of M.issions. *** – – – – – children. – – – – – – – – – – – If it is not on sale, or is not mentioned at any conference yQU attend, please Rev. James H. Nicol, of Syria, is CALVERT SCHOOL speak about it to leaders and write to temporarily filling the place of Dr. us that we may correct the oversight. Cleland B. McAfee, in the Presbyte- Mrs. G. S. Rhoads It is your magazine. rian Board of Foreign Missions, Dr. Director of Home Instruction McAfee being laid aside by illness. What you say*, a*nd w* hat others say, 189 W. Tusclny ROld *** helps the REVIEW and helps the Cause BALTIMORE, MARYLAND of Christ. Already we have been Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, the foremost asked to reprint three articles fro'm Christian leader of Japan, is expected Name recent numbers. Notice what some to arrive in America in December for Address readers say: a six months' lecture tour. One of his principal addresses will be at the Stu- Child'. Age_ _ "The June (Home Mission Number) dent Volunteer Convention in Indianis especially strong and valuable. I apolis, December 28th. Dr. Kagawa's wish that all our Home Mission boards speaking engagements are being made would order a large number of copies by Miss Helen Topping, 2969 Vernon to distribute throughout the Church." Ave., Chicago, Ill.
JOHN McDOWELL, Secretary of *** Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Dr. T. Z. Koo, the well-known Chi- nese Christian speaker, is now in *** [385 ] "I rejoice in the continued high character and helpfulness of the articles in the MISSIONARY REVIEW.
DAY FOR HEALTHFUL SPORT AT ALBORZ COLLEGE
STUDENTS OF ALBORZ COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL IN ASSEMBLY Note that Persian Students Wear Their Caps in Chapel TRAINING PERSIAN YOUTH IN BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LVIII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRES!'l NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER, 1935 Topics of the Times NEED FOR REVIVAL IN EUROPE (5) Modern rationalism and humanism also deify humanity and humanize God. This tend- All Europe is like a volcano, a powder box or a ency leads to the exaltation of reason, science and cauldron "where the devil's broth is brewing." the material universe, and to the degradation of Miss Ruth Paxson, a well-known Bible teacher humanity by the worship of the creature rather and Christian ambassador, who has been spend- than the Creator. ing some months on the Continent, calls attention to the following outstanding antireligious factors (6) These influences lead to paganism with its that are working against Christ today: attendant nudism, loose sex relations and the exal- tation of pagan superstition and ancient deities- (1) There is the communism that deifies ma- as in Germany. terialism and seeks to destroy belief in God. Soviet leaders will fail to realize their aim to It is estimated that 375,000,000 people in "uproot religion," but a spiritual awakening is Europe need to be evangelized. Many know the needed to counteract that influence. name of Christ but show little or no evidence that they really know Christ as Saviour and Lord, or (2) Atheism has organized "The Alliance of that they have ever experienced spiritual life, or Militant Godless" which ten years ago reported know the transforming power of the Gospel. Mil- 120,000 members, five years later claimed 2,000,- lions of people in Europe today need to be evan- 000 and in another five years (1940) expects to gelized as truly as do the millions of Africa and enroll 20,000,000. Godless Russian groups are Asia. Dr. Karl Barth says that if Evangelical promoting atheism in thirty-nine other countries; Christianity is not to be utterly destroyed in thirty-five antireligious universities have been Europe, then the truths of the Protestant reforstarted and there are travelng antireligious mu- mation must be reemphasized. If the Christian seums and atheistic papers published in forty- Church is to survive in Europe then Christ must eight languages. be reborn in European hearts by the power of the Spirit of God. (3) Nationalism is another movement that is sweeping over Europe and is seeking to put the State above God. Hitler and Mussolini attempt RELIGION AND MISSIONS IN GERMANY to make themselves and their laws supreme. Mrs. Wasserzug, a German Christian, says: "The The situation in Germany does not seem to imleader principle means that the will of man is to prove. Not only is anti-Jewish persecution as rule absolutely in all spheres of life, so that the strong as ever but the Nazi's are campaigning Church becomes a servant of the State. It is anti- against Roman Catholics and all Protestants who Christ wanting to save man according to a human will not yield to the dictatorship of the secular plan. Christ is no more to be Head of the Church." State. The German evangelical Christians stand All this is leading to man-worship and idolatry. firm though threatened with the loss of property and the management of their own ecclesiastical (4) Fanaticism, in the form of superstition, affairs. These injustices and high-handed measignorance and bigotry, is another evil influence. ures on the part of the Hitler representatives are It may be in the form of mariolotry, Bibliolotry, causing Germany to lose friends in all civilized ecclesiasticism or any other formal religious be- countries, have brought about a threatened boylief that exalts something else in the place of cott of the Olympic games in Berlin next year, Christ.
[387 ]
and may bring retaliatory measures in other di- t1;ley must combine their spiritual forces with the rections. Some German leaders are still seeking "confessional churches." They have gone through to promote a return to the worship of all pagan one perplexity after another. After the World Teutonic Gods. Confessional pastors are also be- War there was the task to recover the lost mission ing persecuted. fields-a task in which they have not been com- German evangelical missions are still suffering pletely successful. * from financial depression, the attem!pted regulation of churches in Germany, and the Nazi finan- Then suddenly the disastrous inflation threatcial restrictions. Dr. Julius Richter, of Berlin, ened to put an end to all German mission work. writes as follows concerning the present situation This danger had hardly passed when the turmoil of church and missions in the Germany today: of the political and of the ecclesiastical develop- ments threw the missions again into great and The Protestant churches, as a whole, have not seemingly unsuperable difficulties. At present the been divided by denominational lines but by the missions face the perplexity of foreign exchange historic territorial divisions – the P r u s s ian and the government prohibition against exporting Church, the Bavarian Church, etc.-twenty-eight money from Germany. British and American of them. When the German Reich was forged churches, in spite of their own perplexing financial together it seemed desirable to the Government situation, have to some extent come to the help of to amalgamate those 28 territorial churches into German missionaries. God alone can preserve the one united "Reichskirche" since there was no de- work and keep alive German Protestant Chriscisive obstacle of creed or order. But this attempt tianity. has met with strong opposition. THE JEWISH QUESTION IN AMERICAt All the world over it has been a common experience that a vivid materialistic upheaval A very remarkable conference of well-known usually goes hand in hand with a religious revival. church leaders of many denominations was held This seemed within reach if all 65 millions of in Princeton in June to consider the attitude of Germans could be brought under the all-embrac- Christians and churches toward the Jewish people. ing enthusiasm of the national socialistic revolu- The Conference accepted the principle that a tion so that a strong religious rejuvenation might Christian approach to the Jews is an integral part follow the political and national reconstruction. of the Church's responsibility. Christian work The development has gone rather in an opposite among Jews has too long been regarded as the direction. Cinderella in the Church's missionary enterprises, lightly esteemed, scantily supported, and pushed In Germany, as in many other countries, there aside for what have been considered more imhave been many pseudo-religious movements such portant enterprises. The time has come to recogas spiritism, theosophy, anthroposophy, and Chris- nize the regal character of a ministry to the race tian Science. These substitutes for Christianity of Jesus, and to claim for it its rightful place in have made a move in line with the national revo- the life of the Christian Church. lution, have taken up the watchwords of race and blood and "Bode" and have started a dozen or a The right of the Church of Christ to include the score of old German or neo-pagan associations or Jewish people in its ministry should never be quesspiritual currents which curiously find favor in tioned. As Dr. Louis H. Evans, of Pittsburgh, extreme nationalistic circles. The pious Christian put it: "Christianity dm never fulfill its task if circles have felt all the more the obligation to it loses its sense of imperial universality, born of stand firm on the foundation of the Biblical reve- the fact that Christ is the need of every race. The lation and of the German reformation. At present power of evangelization is largely lost when we the "Reichskirche" is dead, yet there is a very approach our task with any sense of apology, or serious conflict between the divers currents of of embarrassment, as though what we had to neo-paganism and of the "confessional churches." offer did not justify the attention and loyalty of every human heart. Christ is the universal need. The Protestant missionary societies are not di- He is no more sectarian than sunshine or rain." rectly implicated in this ecclesiastical turmoil, but There should be no illusions as to the greatness • The Swiss Basel Mission has not recovered its flourishing work of the task of winning Jews to the discipleship of in the French part of the Cameroon mandate, the Bethel Mission Christ or of the difficulties that must be faced, but has not been given back its promising work in Belgian Ruanda, the we cannot avoid the duty because of its extent or Hermansburg Mission has lost its Telugu field. of the difficulties involved. There must be an earnest spirit of endeavor to accept the challenge The Rhenish Mission has transferred Its mission in Borneo to the and to gird ourselves anew for the task. Basel Mission Society; has transferred its mission in Southwest Africa and Amboland to the Finnish Mission Society; has trans- t Notes of a conference held at Princeton in June. ferred its mission in New Guinea to the United Lutheran Church of America.
The Berlin Mission has transferred its Kioutschou Mission to the American Lutherans.
The Breklum Mission has transferred its mission In Tanganyika Territory to the Newkirchen Mission.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
There is, of course, great room for diversity with the Church if it does not recognize its opof opinion as to methods to be used in work for portunity. the Jews. But differences of view can be discussed with a real desire to understand and ap- "Unless the Church is made to feel its responsipreciate others' points of view. In Princeton bility for the Jews," said Dr. Wm. R. King, "there there was complete unanimity on one issue-the is no hope of an advance in our approach to them. Christian attitude toward antisemitism. The It must be confessed that the Church has not al- Church can never compromise with an attitude so ways gone about this work in the best ways. We foreign to the teaching and spirit of Christ. A must bring to the work sane and practical methmissionary, a pastor, a layman and a public school- ods, tried and tested techniques, and above all a teacher, each discussed most helpfully "The Im- genuinely Christian spirit of approach that is full portance of a Christian Ministry to the Jews." of promise for its future success." There was no disposition to minimize the value of the mission in a Jewish ghetto as a means of evan- WHITHER MEXICO? gelization but there was a keen recognition of the fact that the time has come when the Church it- Not many weeks ago, General Elias Calles, for self must undertake the task directly and by means a number of years the supreme stage director of of every agency at its command. With Jews liv- the Mexican drama, suddenly took a plane in the ing in 12,000 different places in the United States Federal Capital and flew northward to his native and Canada, and with at least 50,000 churches state of Sonora. This sudden and dramatic flight having Jews living in their parishes, besides hav- of "Mexico's strong man" marks the end of one ing many neighborhood houses, colleges, and other chapter and the beginning of another in the revoinstitutions in continual contact with Jews, it is lutionary history of the country. How are we to high time that the Church utilized its resources estimate the significance of this change in the in some adequate way to break down the barriers center of power in Mexican affairs? In the inbetween Jews and Christians and open a way for tervening weeks since the flight took place, a numthe Gospel. ber of happenings have occurred, sufficient to lift the veil from the Mexican enigma, and set in high The open forum, literature, the neighborhood relief the part played by Calles in the antireligious house, the local church and the Christian college, campaign of recent years, and the trend of the may be very effective means of approach. new government on the religious issue.
The high value of an educational program is The state of Tabasco, a quite unimportant reacknowledged, not only through the pulpit and gion on the geographical periphery of Mexico, will promotional literature, but through church study go down in history as the chief experiment station groups, and church literature. Dr. Park Hays where General Calles and his satraps permitted Miller, of the Board of Christian Education of antireligious policies to be worked out, expecting the Presbyterian Church, said: "In our interpre- to apply them at an opportune moment to other tation of the Bible we can and should endeavor to states. In April, 1928, General Obreg6n called be fair and to avoid creating prejudices. As an Tabasco the bulwark of the revolution. The Goveditor supervising Sunday school lesson materials, ernor, Garrido Canabal, had been assidiously clos- I have felt called upon to revise some manuscripts ing churches and expelling all clergy from the at this point when they unnecessarily stirred anti- territory. This identification of Obreg6n (an ex- Jewish feeling. This can be avoided without president of the Republic, and then candidate for weakening our Christian testimony. There is a second term), with the radical policies of the little use in avoiding opposition at the price of Governor of Tabasco, was an ominous sign of surrendering what we believe to be essential what might be expected when the new president truth." took office. Less than three months later the presi- dent-elect was assassinated by a young Catholic Contrary to the general impression, Christian fanatic. work for the Jews has not been attended with meagre results. Fruitful fields await only wise In March of 1934, another presidential candiand consecrated reapers. So many have been the date visited the state of Tabasco, General Lazaro converts in connection with Peniel Community Cardenas, his visit coinciding with that of the ex- Center, Chicago, that the Director is planning for president and then virtual dictator, General Elias the establishment of a Hebrew Christian Church Calles. The two men publicly eulogized the in October. Pastors bear testimony to the re- achievements of the Tabascan Governor, and held sponsiveness of Jewish neighbors to a friendly up Tabasco as the model state of the republic. Christian approach. The Spirit of God is mani- Less than two months later the exercise of the festly moving upon Jewish minds and hearts Christian ministry became illegal in Sonora, throughout the Jewish world and it will fare ill Calles' native state, where his son was Governor.
From then onward, until Calles took farewell of tion. The main radical policies of the governthe Mexican capital, one radical act followed an- ment will probably continue, but positive religious other with startling rapidity in different states of persecution will increasingly diminish. One of the Republic, and in the Federal Legislature. The the first acts of the president, after power was amendment to the Constitution (in October, 1934) fully vested in his own hands, was to rescind his made it a primary function of education to com- former edict which had banned religious literature bat all religious prejudice and fanaticism. Some states interpreted this as a charter to eliminate and correspondence from the mails. The presence religious ideas from the minds of children. All Roman Catholic Churches were closed in the State in the new Cabinet of General Cedillo, former govof Queretaro and Colima, while all religious services were suspended in the State of Chihuahua. ernor of San Luis Potosi, is evidence that a rad- ical policy will be followed along agrarian lines, The new president took office on December 1, but a liberal policy in everything relating to reliand on February 12, as a result of an alleged conspiracy against the state, the use of the mails was gious belief and worship. General Cedillo has condenied for religious literature and for correspondence which might involve propagation for any re- sistently refused to allow the Federal laws bearligious teachings. The notorious governor of ing on religion to be applied in his state. The new Tabasco had also come into federal politics, as chairman of the National Revolutionary Party Minister of Agriculture in the new Cabinet. He (ex-president Portes Gil) is one of the most libwas accompanied by a small army of "reds" whose eral elements in Mexico. He sympathizes deeply function it was to bait Catholics in the Federal with the Evangelical position and was at one time District. Some bloody conflicts took place and an official in Tamaulipas when Doctor Andres increasing restrictions upon religion in a number Osuna, a distinguished evangelical, was governor of states created a situation of growing intensity of that state. both in Mexico and in the United States. Nobody knew who was really responsible for this ultra- Meanwhile the strain and stress has tended to radical trend. Was Garrido Canabal the protege weld Mexican evangelicals more closely together. of Cardenas or of Calles? Was the antireligious In some states they have suffered religious recampaign, which continued in full force during strictions equally with Roman Catholics, but they the new president's first months in office, a delib- have great hopes for the future. For some time, erate policy of General Cardenas, or was it im- a prayer meeting, held each morning in the Fedposed upon him? The answer to that question has eral Capital at 6: 30, has been largely attended by been supplied by events in Mexico since Cardenas evangelical workers. Although the foreign misshook himself free of the tutelage of Calles and sionary aspect of the work, as carried on by evandefied his erstwhile chief. gelical churches in this country, has been greatly It is now clear that the major interest of Presi- curtailed, the Gospel has sufficiently taken root in dent Cardenas is not the suspension of religious Mexico to guarantee under God its continuance liberty, but the prevention of capitalistic exploitation. He thus appears as the new champion of and indigenous propagation. The next phase the Mexican workmen and agrarians, while his administration is denounced by Calles as radical should be the establishment of closer relations and anarchistic. Calles himself began as a poor schoolmaster in the early days of the revolution between evangelical communions in the United and is now a feudal baron with millions of capital. States and autonomous evangelical communions Among his immediate followers have been a con- in Mexico, so that together, in full Christian libsiderable group of socialist millionaires. The revolution undoubtedly gave back many wide acres erty, they may think and pray and work together to the people, but it also bas thrown up a new landed plutocracy. for the promotion of Christ's kingdom on both Nobody can confidently forecast what may take sides of the Rio Grande. JOHN A. MACKAY. place in Mexico, but if the Cardenas government succeeds in consolidating itself for a period of THE CRISIS IN ETHIOPIA years, certain actions of the president and the composition of the new Cabinet, warrant us to Ethiopia (formerly known as Abyssinia) is attempt a prediction. Mexico at present is not threatened with invasion by Italy, possibly with taking a swing to the right or to the left, but is a view to making it a part of the Italian empire, returning to the central position of the Revolu- at least with the hope of making it a protectorate. This mountainous country comprises 190,000 square miles-about one-fourth less than the area of Texas, nearly the size of Spain. Tradition says that the rulers are descended from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and the Emperor is called "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah." The country has maintained its independence for over 3,000 years. The Abyssinian religion is traditionally Christian, having been introduced by the officer of Ethiopia in the first century A. D., as a result
of the preaching of Philip the evangelist on the from God, went through this province and made a great road from Jerusalem to Gaza. The people of the impression on these people. Almost to the last man they country are hardy, poor in this world's goods, and are devoted followers of the teachings of Asa. Among generally uneducated. The nearest neighbors to many other things, he told them that soon the white man Ethiopia are the British in the Egyptian Sudan would bring them God's Word, and to wait for it and beand British Somaliland, the French in French lieve it. And ~ it is not surprising that there are 150 to Somaliland and the Italians in Eritrea and Italian 200 people coming out on Sundays to hear God's Word. Somaliland. They will listen to a two-hour message, and then sit until three or four o'clock asking questions. Theirs is not merely Premier Mussolini, like a modern Cresar, hav- an idle curiosity, but a genuine intelligent interest. The ing set out to form a strong Fascist government, old men in the surrounding country come out, and many with a militarized people, apparently desires to have shown an amazing grasp of the atoning work of our enlarge Italian territory and is looking for some Lord. Until the old men have decided on the "merits" of way to use the growing Italian army and navy. this "new matter," the women and children must not Slight disturbances on the Italian Somaliland- listen, even for a moment. Abyssinian border have given an excuse for demands on Ethiopia and a threatened invasion. The friends of the Sudan Interior Mission re- Naturally not only is Ethiopia greatly disturbed cently sent a cablegram to the Ethiopian Minister but France and Great Britain also, especially as of Foreign Affairs expressing sympathy and say- Ethiopia is one of the chief sources of the Nile, ing that they were joining in prayer for Ethiopia. which is the life of Egypt. The arousing of A reply came from His Majesty, Emperor Haile Africans and other colored races, by a new evi- Selassie, expressing the gratitude of the nation dence of "white imperialism," also threatens to "which has lived through many centuries, guardstart a race war and possibly another world war. ing her independence. In the Name of our Lord Any Italian-Ethiopian conflict will be a blot on Jesus Christ, I beg you to continue praying for civilization and will set back the cause of peace her." and world brotherhood at least a generation. This is a matter of world-wide concern. For more than a decade the door into Ethiopia has been wide open to Christian missions. The Haile Selassie I has appealed to the League of Sudan Interior Mission alone, in the past eight Nations to prevent armed conflict. The Emperor, years, has sent in eighty-seven missionaries. upon whom falls the burden of governing and When the American Government requested that modernizing a medireval empire, is ruler of a war- American missionaries withdraw, the mission has like people, and he promises to lead his armies replied that mothers with children, and others with the "Ark of the Covenant" borne by the Ethi- electing to go, would be sent home but most of opian pope at his side, just as the ancient Kings them will remain at their posts. of Judea once went out to wage battle. Emperor Haile Selassie asks the world to note that Ethiopia Recently an American committee of the "Friends is progressing in civilization, is promoting educa- of Ethiopia" has been formed, with Dr. Thomas tion, that many slaves are freed each year and that Jesse Jones as chairman and Emory Ross as secspecial schools are opened for their instruction. retary. This is a national committee, representing many interests and religious creeds. The object Evangelical missionary work is carried on in will be to arouse Americans, British and others Ethiopia and is encouraged by the government. to the need for definite action to prevent a conflict. The British and Foreign Bible Society has col- An appeal is being made to various governments porteurs there, the Swedish mission has long been and to the League of Nations. established, the United Presbyterians (U. S. A.) have an excellent medical work and the Sudan WHISPERING CAMPAIGNS Interior Mission (international and interdenominational) is opening many stations as centers of An astonishing admission has come from a witpioneer evangelistic work. ness before the Senate investigating committee to the effect that he had recommended a "whispering If Italian domination should prevail in Ethiopia, campaign" as a means of combatting certain legisit seems probable that limitations would be put lation to which he and his friends were opposed. on evangelical mission work, as has been the case What this campaign was or why it was recomin other Italian territory in Africa. A glimpse of mended or inaugurated does not concern us here the type of work conducted by the Sudan Interior so much as the fact that the statements made in Mission is given in a recent interesting letter from the campaign were without foundation in fact, Mr. Harold Ste~t who has recently settled in a were intended to destroy public confidence in a new station at Shama, eighteen days' journey national leader and were given pUblicity for the southwest of Addis Ababa, the capital. purpose of winning support for the campaigners' cause. That such unscrupulous campaigns are About ten years ago a native religious teacher and possible is another sign of human degeneracy. prophet, named Asa, who claimed to have a revelation "Whispering campaigns" to discredit opponents are doubtless as old as history. They have been
used against Roosevelt, Hoover, Wilson and other WHAT AN AFRIOAN WOMAN THINKS presidents. They were used against St. Paul when OF A MISSIONARY* men said he was "mad" ; they were started against Jesus when His enemies said He had a demon and Mrs. Thomas Moody, for forty-four years an blasphemed God. They are used today against American Baptist missionary in the Belgian Christian ministers when, without proof, they are Congo, died on November seventeenth, following charged with being disloyal to Christ or unfaithful a two weeks' illness. Dr. Catherine Mabie, of the in their sacred office. "Whispering campaigns" same Mission, writes: "To know Mrs. Moody was are not only carried on against missions by un- to love her and she leaves a large group of col- leagues and friends; in hundreds of Congo vilsbeellfiiesvhearsndwhuonpcrloaidmuctthivaet,thbeutweovreknisCuhnriwstairarnasnwteild~ lages there is sorrow because the lightly tripping feet of 'Mama Moody' will never again be comfully arouse suspicion as to the orthodoxy, loyalty ing down the long trails over which they have or effectiveness of missionaries in general because so often passed during recent years. Both Mr. they think that some have proved unworthy of and Mrs. Moody have been intrepid itinerant their high calling. These "whispering campaigns" evangelistic missionaries. Three to four months are started through rumors which discredit indi- of each year they have spent out among the vilviduals, boards or causes with which the cam- lages, ministering to the deep need of the Chrispaigners are out of sympathy. The rumors may tian communities as well as winning many conhave some foundation but are insufficient to war- verts to Jesus Christ." rant the campaign. The worst of it is that the campaign is spread by thousands who pass on the One of the Congo Christian women, Elizabeth rumors but know little or nothing of the facts. Mangunga, came under the influence of Mrs. Moody and reflects something of Mrs. Moody's Such a "whispering campaign" was recently saintliness and serenity. She gives her testistarted by an anonymous editorial in a Christian mony (here translated) to what a missionary periodical. The editor thought he had reason to may be: spread charges as to certain missionaries' unorthodoxy and lack of evangelistic zeal. Readers Mama M'oody called home by God our Father in the accepted the report as true and it spread by word of mouth to the great detriment of the mission- Congo. She has gone to the Saviour, Jesus Christ, whom aries, the mission Board, and the cause of Christ. Subsequent investigation showed that the "cam- she loved so much. paign" was without any adequate basis, and the man who wrote the letter acknowledged that he Tata and Mama Moody, our helpers, came to this councould not substantiate his charges. Unfortunately much damage had been done, for falsehood is try to tell the Good News of God to us, but our fathers much more fleet of foot than truth that seeks to overtake it. in the early days opposed them and they endured many Followers of Christ should be energetically op- hardships. They were truly workers who sacrificed their posed to all "wliispering campaigns." Jesus himself did not approve of them when His disciples own desires to work for God our Father; they persevered were inclined to discredit those who did not agree with them in all particulars. The Christian will in showing the friendships of Jesus Christ, and our fathers make no compromise with sin or with falsehood but neither should he spread suspicion and doubt. came to know that they were people of love and finally It is best to deal with facts, tested facts, proved facts-the truth spoken in love-and trust God received Jesus Christ. to judge motives, loyalties, and results. After many years of close contact with missions we are Mama and Tata Moody loved us very much. They were convinced that, as a rule, no body of people in the world is so unselfish, so loyal to Christ and the zealous to tell the Good News of Jesus everywhere. They Word of God, so full of spiritual power and so effective in service as are the missionaries of never tired; they went to Lukunga, Bolenge, Mwanza, to ~hrist. It be~ooves us to uphold them in prayer, m understandmg sympathy and by sacrificial gifts the Bayaka and Bambala country, to Sona Bata, telling so that we m,ay be in partnership with God wherever He is manifestly working to transform lives the Good News. They continued zealously to tell the and to enlist men in His service. Let us beware of "whispering campaigns," but be diligent in story until Mama Moody finished her work here on earth spreading the Good News. and,went to her Saviour and to her God, whom she loved always.
In 1927 Mama Moody excelled in itinerating. I went with them to the Bayaka country. They had a very diffi- cult trip. When the carriers could find no food, they re- fused to carry tIle "Kipois," Mama was not discouraged, we walked along the road together.
She told me how much trouble and sorrow she had ex- perienced. She told me of the time her child died at Lukunga. She was all alone at the time, for Tata was at Leopoldville on a trip to the district there. "Y eCs~"ngMo abmuat Moody said, "we have had hardships here in never mind, all is well."
That night Tata read and talked about Philippians 3: 7-12. His teachings strengthened us at Zikomba and all through our trip, which was long and tedious. '
Mama never tired of working for Jesus and with a great love she loved us. The Sunday before she was taken ill she went out to a village Kinzila, to hold services. Now she is resting in heaven-Mama has finished washing her heart in the blood of Jesus Christ.
ELIZABETH MANGUNGA.
• Congo MisSion News.
HALL, ALBORZ COLLEGE, TEHERAN
The Only Christian College in Iran By SAMUEL M. JORDAN, D.D., LL.D.* President, Alborz College of Teheran MANY were surprised when the Persian gov- most outstanding feature of the landscape. This ernment informed other nations that from new name preserves the College monogram- March 22, 1935, the spring equinox on ACT, which has become the College slogan. Stuwhich the Persian New Year begins, that country dents and alumni say, "We Iranians have always is to be addressed by her proper Persian name, been famed for poetry and philosophy rather than Iran (pronounced "ee-rahn") , by which, from for practical action, but the students of our Colprehistoric times, she has been known to the in- lege act. We do things." They have acquired habitants and to her Asiatic neighbors. Iran is this reputation throughout the empire and are the land of the Aryan, in contrast to Turan the justly proud of it. land of the Turk. In the autumn of 1872 the American Mission Ninety-nine per cent of the people of the coun- was established in Teheran, the capital of Iran, try, if they heard the name Persia, would not by the Presbyterian Church, and the following recognize it. Cyrus and Darius were natives of March a school for boys was opened. This school the province of Pars (Fars today), from which, was at first of primary grade, but the standard through Greek and Latin, our English term "Per- was gradually raised as the demand for modern sia" has been derived. education increased. In 1901 it became a high school, in 1913 a junior college, and in 1925 a The growing nationalism of Iran is fUrther standard college. In 1928 the first B.A. degrees evinced by the fact that the government has re- were given under a temporary charter granted by quested foreign institutions to discontinue the use the Regents of the University of the State of New of foreign names. For this reason the name York. This charter was made permanent in 1932, American College of Teheran has been changed putting the American College of Teheran on a to Alborz College of Teheran. This is eminently level with first-class American colleges. appropriate as the snow covered Alborz range, rising like a mighty wall behind the college, is the For many years this Christian school occupied centrally located but limited quarters within the • President Jordan recently received the honorary degree of Doc- city. In preparation for the college-to-be a new tor of Laws from Washingtqn and Jefferson College. In the citation, Dr. Ralph C. Hutchison, the President. said: ··Great and beloved site, now comprising forty-four acres, was purteacher of the youth of Iran, tutor of princes, preceptor to sons of the desert, indomitable pioneer, ingenious moulder of bricks with- chased in 1913. At that time it was waste land oofutthsetratwho,ucgrhetataonrdoifdiaomsigonfifaicabnrot tahnedr psetroaptleeg, icspcioriltluegael , fraathreerscohf otlhaer of noml'nal va.lue,· but today ·l·.·t l'S ··perhaps the most c~~isl;,an, and powerful, happy, and veteran missionary of the valuable property in the.city. Located just north [393 ]
of the recently demolished city walls, overlooking picked up a flashlight and stepped out to show the entire city, it commands a superb view of him the way. It was this same young prince with mountain and plain. a large pail in his hand. I said, "Hello, are you on the water patrol this week?" He replied, "No, On this campus college buildings have gradually I am not, but a few minutes ago I went to the tank arisen until at present the plant comprises Rolle- to get a drink and found it empty. I brought a stone Hall, the main building with offices, library, pail instead of a cup so that if any of my friends auditorium, and classrooms for 600 to 700 stu- should want a drink the water would be there. It dents; a fully equipped, up-to-date Science Build- seemed to me a brotherly thing to do." I think ing; two dormitories with a combined capacity of we all will agree that it was a brotherly thing to 150 students; an infirmary; and three residences do, but a few years earlier no high-class Persian for professors. Three football fields, three basket- would have dreamed of "demeaning" himself by ball, four volley ball, and eight tennis courts, base- doing such a thing. ball diamond, and running track, provide for the physical education of the students. These col- Before the World War in the numerous schools lege buildings combine American ideas of educa- and colleges scattered throughout the Turkish tional efficiency with Persian architectural grace Empire, because of the bigotry of the Turk, the and beauty. They are considered the best modern enrolment was largely made up of the minority examples of the celebrated Persian-Saracenic peoples – Armenians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Ser- bians, Syrians, Jews; every race rather than the architecture. Turk, the ruling people. Naturally the students imbibed liberal ideas and became agitators for Prejudices Removed reform. Hence these colleges were looked upon with suspicion and distrust as fomenters of re- In Iran the different races-Moslems, Zoroas- bellion against the rule of Turk. trians, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews – have had separate schools. The result has been suspicion, One of the remarkable things about this College distrust, intolerance, and enmity. We have al- in the capital of Iran is the class of students enways enrolled students of all races, religions, and rolled. While many deserving poor boys have ranks of society without discrimination. They been accepted and trained-and a number of these have shared the same seats, sat beside each other today are found among the prominent leaders of in classrooms, rubbed shoulders on football fields the country-since the beginning of the century and basketball courts, and the result has been that a very large percentage, especially in the boarding all have learned to be friends, and to cooperate department, have been sons of prominent families; enthusiastically in service to their country. sons of royal princes, cousins of former Shahs, the only grandson of His Majesty, Reza Shah In 1928 three sons of one of the greatest princes Pahlavi, sons and grandsons of Prime Ministers in Iran were graduated from our Junior College. and other Cabinet Ministers, of Members of Maj- When one of them was about fifteen years old he less (Congress), of the great tribal chieftains, and was playing in a football match one afternoon. He of other influential men from every corner of the and another boy collided and they proceeded to Empire-boys who whether educated or not would scrap with all the vim and enthusiasm that Ameri- be in future years among the rulers of the land. can boys .would show under like circumstances. A The Persians suspect the citizens of all other nacousin on the side lines turned to the servant of tions of selfish motives. They do not suspect the princes, who had come with their carriage to Americans. All classes have confidence in our take them home, and exclaimed, "What a good- good intentions and our ability to give their sons for-nothing servant you are! You saw the son of the education they need to equip them forthe new His Imperial Highness struck by the son of no- duties of the new democratic age. Referring to body and you did not avenge the insult!" The Alborz College, the Persians say: "The Americans young prince overheard the remark. He stalked have a factory in Teheran where they manufacover to his servant and laid down the law thus, ture men." Because of the efficiency and trust- "When one of my friends and I have a difference worthiness of the men turned out, the College has of opinion on the football field, you understand it won its high reputation. Probably no other school is a friendly fight. If you ever dare to interfere in the world has ever enrolled so many of the sons and strike one of my friends, I will report it to of the leading men of any country as for the past His Imperial Highness, my father, and you will thirty years have been studying in this College get bastinadoed." He then turned back and re- in the capital of Iran. The result has been that sumed the game. many of the men educated in this College are prominent among the progressive patriots who Some five years later we were camping in the have cooperated to transform the medireval des- Alborz Mountains with the Boy Scouts. Late one night I heard someone going to the spring from which we got the drinking water.. Knowing that the lantern had been taken in for the night I
THE ONLY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IN IRAN
potism of thirty years ago into the modern, pro- new campus. We need a football field. See this gressive democracy of today. stack of shovels. Here's the way to make a foot- ball field!" Suiting the action to the word, I threw Self-Support, Self-Respect, and Service a shovel across my shoulder and started off. The young American housemaster did the same. The Making people pay a fair price for what they boys without hesitation followed. We marched get is one of the best ways to teach self-respect out through one of the principal avenues, past the and self-reliance. Tuition fees are much higher home of the Prime Minister, and each boy was than other schools and the boarding department having the time of his life, for he was outraging has been more than self-supporting. We have the proprieties and conventions of a thousand years and he was enjoying it just as an American boy would. We put in three or four hours of good stiff work and at the end I said, "I hope you re- alize the significance of what we have done. It will go down in the history of the College that the first work on the campus was done not by down- trodden peasants receiving twenty cents a day,"- the usual daily wage-"but by the self-respecting, patriotic students who wished to testify by action as well as by word that a new day has come in Persia and any kind of labor is honorable." The young men who took part in that first "labor demonstration" more than twenty years ago never fail to mention it with pride as they return to the college. Some facetiously maintain that the num- ber who participated has materially increased with the passing of years. Numerous such de- IN THE CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT, IRAN COLLEGE charged nine sons of the wealthy and well-to-do DR. VESSASI, MEDICAL GRADUATE AT WORK enough to support ten. This has met with the full approval of the patrons. In this way we have partures from medieval prejudices have helped been able to educate a number of worthy poor to establish the dignity of labor. boys. Although the majority of the boarders are from wealthy families, the spirit of the institution The steadily increasing contribution of the is democratic. There is perfect equality. Each alumni to the development of the new national boy makes his own bed and takes his turn in wait- life of Iran becomes more impressive year by year. ing on the table. This is contrary to their old One alumnus-the only man who has been a memideas of rank and exclusiveness, but it has worked ber of every Majless (Congress) since the incepwonders in ushering in the new democratic age. tion of constitutional government in 1907 – con- In every department of the College we are teach- tinues to be (utstanding in the political and ecoing the dignity of labor. We are producing men who are both democratic and level-headed. We are training up a democracy that is safe for the world.
The dignity of labor has been instilled into the students by example as well as by precept. Shortly after the land for the present campus had been purchased, passing along the street T saw a mule loaded with the wooden snow shovels which are the ideal things for cleaning off our desert land. I bought the whole load and had them stacked up in front of our door. As it was Friday, the school holiday, I sent word to the housemaster of the dormitory to bring over his boys after luncheon. They all came anticipating something interesting. I said, "You know we have bought land for the
nomic life of the country; another for five years In 1914 when many were terrified by the imhas been the youngest member of Majless, though pending peril of a Jehad or Holy War, we posnot the least influential. The Minister of Educa- sessed our souls in peace, for we were sure that tion, his first assistant, the working head of the Persia would not go in, and, therefore, a Holy medical school, the legal advisor of the Ministry, War could not succeed. In her early years bolthe Governor and the Chief of Police of the shevism boasted and other nations feared that she wealthiest province, the Assistant Minister of the would make an easy conquest of Persia, and from Interior, the controller of the government opium there spread eastward into Afghanistan and Inmonopoly, the director of the mint, the financial dia, and westward into Turkey, Irak, and Arabia. controller of the new railroad, and the superin- Again we knew it would not happen, for we had tendent of the rolling stock, and hundreds of been selling the Persians a different brand of others as government officials and in every walk democracy, and the bolsheviks would find no purof life are rendering notably faithful and efficient chasers for their special brand. The political, service to the country, as physicians, lawyers, social, and international services rendered by this teachers, army officers, merchants, manufacturers, College are worth to the world many times all that bankers. It is a great joy to us to see how loyal has been spent in Persia in the last century-and our alumni are to the ideals of honesty, truthful- these are only by-products. ness, and hard work which were held up to them in student days. It is often said by those in high One of the reasons for the success of the school places that the greatest defect of the Iranians is is that we have always played fair. We accepted that they fail to cooperate. Frequently we hear the all races and creeds, and every social rank, and remark: "Noone in Iran knows how to cooperate naturally insisted that there should be liberty, except the young men who have been trained in fraternity, and equality. One of our first rules the American College." By means of football, was that no one, either student or teacher, should volley ball, basketball, and other group games, and make a slighting remark about the religion of the Boy Scouts, as w~ll as by classroom instruc- another. tion, our students have learned that cooperation is the only road to success, and so they are playing While there is religious liberty for all, the well the game of life. Christian character of the school has been positive and pervasive. A goodly number .of the students The College has always cooperated with the become Christians. As a rule this causes very government in every possible way. For many little comment o.r opposition. The Christian stuyears practically all the football games of the city dents have weekly Y. M. C. A. meetings; carryon were. played on our fields, our laboratories have personal work among their fellow students and been shared with the government medical school, evangelistic work for outsiders. The All-Persia members of our staff regularly assist in the an- Christian Student Conference initiated in 1928 nual government examinations, and in revising continues to conduct inspiring conferences each and drafting l1ew courses of study for the govern- spring. ment schools. ··.With the recent full recognition of our higher courses of study, the very favorable Inspiring the young men of Iran with the ideas attitude of those in authority, and the fact that and ideals, the principles and standards requisite one of our loy~l. alumni is Minister of Education for the regeneration of a nation; helping a nation prospects seem brighter than ever before. to move out of the middle ages into the twentieth century; training the men who are helping to .The best political news in the world today is mould the new life of Persia; counteracting that Iran, the 1,2000mile bridge between the Near numerous subversive influences; promoting inter- East and the Eftr East, is a nation of hearty good- national understanding and goodwill, and consewill. In the midst 'of ~ world gone mad with quently promoting world peace, this College is supernationalism Persia has kept her head better rendering a priceless service not only to Persia, than any of her neighbors. While maintaining her but also to the whole world. national integrity, and insisting that other nations shall treat her with due respect, she is not carry- If anyone of the 623 colleges and universities ing chips on her shoulders. She is eager to co- in America was forced to close its doors there would be 622 remaining, eager to welcome the operate with her sister nations for international students of the college that had closed. But Al- borz College- is the only Christian college in the fair play and international peace. This is largely Empire of Iran, the only Christian college in a stretch of 3,000 miles. This college needs help to due to the American Mission in general, and to continue its service. Do not let the fact that you the College in particular, which have convinced cannot contribute as much as you would like pre- vent your sending what you can. the Persians of the sincere disinterested friend- ship and goodwill· of America.
Favor for
The American Government and the American Indian By FLORA WARREN SEYMOUR, Chicago, Illinois U NDER the high-sounding slogans of "toler- dent that the opposition to many other features ation" and "religious liberty" missionaries would also prove a barrier to its passage. It was of all denominations working among the therefore withdrawn, and a substitute provided. American Indian are meeting with such obstruc- The religious feature was, among other things, tions to their work as have not been encountered eliminated. for more than a century past. Still Indian opposition to the bill has continued. The attitude of the present administration of At the last moment, when the session of Congress the Indian Bureau was made clear in the original text of the was almost at its final gasp, the passage of even this emasculat- Wheeler-Howard bill which ran Here is a striking and im- ed remnant became clearly im- its spectacular course during portant contribution. Mrs. possible. A hurriedly composed the spring of 1934. In this Seymour is an attorney at makeshift was then rushed proposed legislation it was ex- law, for twenty-five years has through Congress and sent to pressly declared to be "the pur- been a student of American the President for signature. It pose and policy of Congress to Indian life and history, and is became law on June 18, 1934.
promote the study of Indian the author of HThe Story of This last minute legislation con- CI.VI·1l·zat·IOn and preserve and tbhoeoksR. edSheMwaans,"a manedmboetrhoefr tained only a few of the pro- develop the special cultural the United States Board of visions of the original bill. It achievements of such civiliza- Indian Commissioners from was obviously a face-saver- tion including Indian arts, 1922 until it was abolished in something which should still crafts, skills and traditions." 1933. She has visited many bear the names of the original Such a purpose is far from of the Indian reservations and promoters and so relieve the ad- favoring "religious liberty" as schools and is thoroughly ministration of the onus of defined by the American Con- familiar with the situation complete failure. To those who stitution. Instead, there was in among the Indians and the had read neither bill nor the contemplation a deliberate pro- various efforts to improve substitute, the similarity in motion of "native religion" as their condition. What she name (Wheeler-Howard bill) opposed to the Christian faith wanrditeasctsheorfe thoef UtnhietedattSittautdees made it appear that success had learned by the Indian from Commissioner to encourage crowned the efforts of the pro- white missionaries. Here was the Indians to Hrevert to ponents of the original. That a direct challenge to those who type" should be read and impression was strongly fos- believe missionary endeavors carefully considered by all tered by a press release from to be justifiable and desirable. who are genuinely interested the Indian Bureau itself, pro- One denomination, and only in the welfare of the Red Man. claiming that the Commissioner one, realized this challenge of Indian Affairs was "the hap- fully and roused itself to meet piest man in Washington" on the danger. From one church and another in the day the bill was signed. If he read the final Michigan, from home mission clubs, from Sunday text which became law his happiness must have school groups, from young people's societies, pro- been sadly dimmed.
tests poured in to Congress asking that this sub- Succeeding events seem to indicate that the In- versive clause be removed from the bill. It was dian Bureau is still unaware that the deliberate made plain that there was strong opposition to fostering of native religions and primitive ritual- the deliberate official teaching of Indian traditions ism is not a part of the law of the land. For the and superstitions. official encouragement of shamanism, tribal cere- When the bill had'been three months before monials and the like, has gone on as strongly as Congress and before the Indians, it became evi- if there were legislation behind it. This attitude [397 ]
on the part of the Indian Bureau in Washington dermine the practice. The attitude of the Indian is a hindrance and a menace to the work of teach- Office was made clear before the Wheeler-Howard ers, extension agents, physicians and nurses, as bill was passed. On January 3, 1934, an order well as to the missionaries whose aim in life is signed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and to replace the old Indian magic and fakirism with countersigned by the Secretary of the Interior, the tenets and practices of the Christian religion. declared that "the fullest constitutional liberty in all matters affecting religion, conscience and cul- HOPI-INDIAN SNAKE DANC ER ture, is insisted upon for all Indians." A rattlesna k e is carried in the mouth of the priests in front while This sounds like a wide and generous gesture; the priest behind uses a whip of featbe rs. it is supplemented by something a bit more spe- cific: "In addition, an affirmative, appreciative at- From the nor.th woods a woman missionary titude toward Indian cultural values is desired in writes: the Indian Service."
The work here is getting very hard. Paganism is on the "Cultural" is an all-embracing word. In some increase. The children are being taught the pagan dances Indian tribes it includes polygamy; in others, and rituals. Our scout troop has been taken to a distant r,tual prostitution; in many, a pitiful terror of city to exhibit the Indian dances and the largest pagan evil spirits that supposedly keep baleful watch ritualistic service in our twentieth century was held two over every human activity. Fear of the dark, weeks ago. fear of a dead body, fear of touching even the hide of certain animals; fear of looking in the direc- When I came to this post in 1931 I went fearlessly all tion of one's mother-in-law; fear of dreams; fear over the reservation at any hour of the day or night. This of eat~ng fish-these are some of the many Indian is no longer possible. They feel that they are a law to taboos ' toward which employees of the Indian themselves and celebrate by getting and staying drunk. Service are bidden to take an "affirmative, ap- I am afraid to meet a drunken Indian after dark. Sober, preciative attitude." How much appreciation for they are both gentle and kind. . Indian customs can a teacher or matron manifest when a young girl begs to remain at school for the Under a previous administration provision was summer that she may avoid the submission of her made for the setting aside of one hour weekly, body to the elders and medicine men of the tribe? when pupils in the government schools might receive religious education, according to the de- The first Indian Bureau circular was followed a nominational preferences of themselves or their few days later by one which permitted "as a parents. Openly to abandon this would have been provilege" the use of a schoolroom for religious impolitic, but the same purpose could be served education by a missionary, "Including any repreby new regulations which would effectively un- sentative of a native Indian religion." It was stated that children were to receive instruction from missionaries only if their parents appeared before a superintendent and gave consent, or made request, in writing. To obtain such formal con- sent from illiterate parents, living at remote dis- tances from the reservation superintendent, would be difficult if not impossible. With the Indian Bureau employees formally warned to maintain an "appreciative attitude" toward native religions, the obtaining of parental consent would not be facilitated. As a result religious instruction lan- guished in many of the schools. The prohibition of "required attendance" was frequently if not always interpreted to mean that the religious hour was not regarded as an educational period at all and in some schools the new regulations brought about a discontinuance of all religious education.
On April 3.0 Secretary Ickes promulgated a cir- cular threatening with dismissal any employee of the Indian Bureau who should oppose the new policy, including "opportunity for them (the In- dians) to develop their own culture." That cir- cular still applies to any encouragement that gov- ernment employees might offer to missionary en-
FEDERAL FAVOR FOR FETISHISM
deavor. Some employees still attend churches, and rule is that the pupils should converse in their own contribute to their support, as has been their cus- tribal language, though that as a rule shuts them tom in the past. Others, not few in number, have off from communication with the teacher who is felt that their standing with the Washington of- supposed to be guiding them. How disastrously fice will be better if they withdraw from any con- this retards the school work is too obvious to need nection with religious activity. elucidation. It is a widening of the gap between the races. But the purpose of Indian schools is "My wife and I feel that we have a right to at- to narrow that gap. tend church when away from the reservation," The new day schools among the Navajos offer A TYPICAL INDIAN HOGAN (HUT) the solution for this problem. No books are pro- vided so the native mind is unsullied by their insaid a teacher of many years' service, "but here fluence. No blackboards on which a word might on the reservation it is best to refrain from par- be written, deface the unbroken whiteness of the ticipation in the work of the mission." schoolroom walls. There are no teachers to whom English is the native tongue. Instead, young While such participation has not been formally Navajo "assistants" conduct the affairs of the inprohibited, no doubt is left in the minds of Indian stitution-largely industrial-with the use of the Service employees as to the direction in which Navajo language. the wind is blowing. Even such apparently innocuous contact as might be involved in an em- One might assume that English would thus be ployee of the Indian Bureau explaining to a effectively barred. Strangely enough, in the very missionary gathering the purposes of the govern- few day schools that have so far been put into ment work on erosion control or agricultural ex- operation, the demand for English teaching has tension has been definitely discouraged. In other already come, in no mistakable terms, from pupils words, if a government employee values his job- and parents alike. The Navajo people themselves, and who doesn't, in these hard times ?-it is to though primitive, are intelligent and adaptable. his interest to remain silent and inactive in re- They realize fully the usefulness of the English gard to his own religious convictions. This in the language in their daily life. name of "toleration" for the native religion, we find to be a virtual denial of religious freedom to Nowhere, however, does the inconsistency of the government employee, whether white or In- the Indian Bureau reveal itself more clearly than dian. NAVAJO INDIAN GRADUATES OF A MISSION SCHOOL If this were all, it would be sufficient to show that the vaunt of "religious liberty" is a mere in the medical work among the Indians. "Native cloak for official opposition to Christian mission- religion," as all workers among primitive people ary effort. But the insistence upon the inculcation understand, usually includes medicine men, with of native culture goes much farther than this. their incantations, charms and ceremonies de- signed to relieve a patient from illness or disaster Heretofore the use of the English language has brought upon him by the ever-present evil spirits. been required in Indian boarding schools after the To foster the ancient traditions inescapably means pupils have become acquainted with the speech of to foster the traditional, primitive forms of treattheir teachers. A case can be made out for call- ment of disease and the ceremonials in case of ing this rule a hardship, but it is a hardship that death. is inseparable from effective education. None of us learn to speak a foreign language if we persist in using our own on any and all occasions. Yet such is the procedure now officially fostered. The
The Indian Bureau has accepted responsibility ual values to offer the Indian, then he should re- for such encouragement of shamanism. Faced frain from intruding upon him. In that case the with this question at an open meeting, the Com- sooner he withdraws his schools, hospitals and missioner of Indian Affairs told the inquiring churches, and leaves the native culture undis- physician that the "cultural unity" of the tribes turbed to work out its own way, the better it will must first of all be preserved. It is fully under- be for all concerned. But if he has a better way of stood, among employees of the medical service of living to present, either for this world or for the the Indian Bureau, that they are expected to co- next, then he should present it without apology, operate with the local medicine men – priests with the full consciousness that it is truly a better of the native religion. Too often such coopera- way and is entitled to supplant filth and ignorance tion means the removal of the patient from the and cruelty.
hospital at a critical period. He may then be the A Higher Way of Life subject of a bear dance or a four-day "sing" or some other typical tribal ceremony. Whether his Missionaries and those who support them are disease be tuberculosis or scarlet fever, a broken committed to the belief that there is a higher way leg or bronchitis, the ceremonies include the at- of life than that beset by shamanism and savage tendance at his bedside of as many interested fears. In that belief they should confidently put spectators as can be crowded into his smoke filled before the Indian what the white man can offer hogan or tepee or "wickiup." When the disease is in the way of relief from physical and spiritual contagious, the death of the patient may be only terrors. Missionaries giving their lives to such the beginning of the fatalities as a result of the work deserve the unqualified backing of the observance of native religious rites. boards and congregations farther removed from Handicaps of the Indians the actual problems. In the past two years that backing has not been so confident or so strong Fear and ignorance are too often accompanied as the faithful workers in the field deserve. In by cruelty. The spirit working these ills must eastern cities, far from actual conditions, men sometimes be exorcised by physical attacks upon and women listen to the specious cry of "religious the affected portion of the body. Beating upon a liberty." Some are deluded into thinking themtubercular spine, at the hands of the local medicine selves "broadminded" when they are merely negman, was the lot of one little girl. Another Indian ligent; tolerant when in fact they permit stumbpractitioner essayed to perform a major operation, ling blocks to be placed in the way of their chosen using for a knife a piece of a broken bottle. In representatives. both these cases death was a merciful end to hideous suffering. What does "cultural unity" "We white people have nothing to give you Inmean in the face of such preventable "tragedies? dians," the Navajos were informed at a council held last summer. Missionaries and employees An ancient tradition among the Navajos looks heard this from the lips of a man sworn to carry favorably upon the presence of vermin in the hair on the government's work among the Indian and upon the body. Many of the tribes have never tribes: "Our culture is a disintegrating thing. known what it is to be without body parasites. It Yours is an integrated culture. You must do your is difficult for those raised in our more modern best to preserve it." civilized ways to realize the religious and cultural significance of these small creatures. Even yet, Fine-sounding words: but what do they mean?
after two years of pronouncements on ancient In the final analysis, this-that both government rites and folkways, the average nurse or teacher and missionaries should cease their efforts to is apt to feel an aversion to them. After a pupil bring about any improvement in Indian life and or patient has been visited by members of his fam- thought. No longer should we impose upon the ily, there are often discovered tiny crawling in- Red Man our decadent notions of education and truders carefully placed by the visitors upon a sanitation and social values. We should retire and child's hair or clothing. Real toleration and a leave his integrated culture undisturbed.
properly "appreciative attitude" would· perhaps If the members of the Christian Church believe let such vermin remain; but this is broadminded- such a statement, all missionary activity should ness which few real friends of the Indians have as stop at once.- But if they hold the conviction that yet been able to attain. Christ has something of value to offer the Ameri- This conflict between modern cleanliness and can Indian, they should continue to make the offer; ancient "culture" is typical of the whole illogical, and should back up by word and deed and earnest unintelligent attitude which has prevailed in the devotion the work which is being done to bring Indian Office in the past two years. If the white the Indian into the fellowship of the faith and the man has nothing in education, sanitation or spirit- ways of Christian civilization.
Something New in
By CHARLES T. RIGGS, Istanbul Missionary of the American Board ST. SOPHIA changed into a museum! The be made for a limited time by the Grand National wonderful airy dome of this gem of Byzan- Assembly, allowing such garb for one representa· tine art, the church erected by Anthemius tive of each religious body. In a place where the and dedicated by the Emperor Justinian fourteen long flowing robes and peculiar headdress of each centuries ago, will no longer echo to the prayers one of a dozen or more different sects or faiths of the faithful of Islam. After nine hundred years have always been noticeable, such a law is drastic as a Christian church, and five hundred more as and causes much discussion and speculation. Will a Moslem mosque, the massive building is now the Roman Catholic orders acquiesce, and French closed to all visitors, to be reopened after exten- and Italian priests and nuns doff their garb? Or sive alterations, as a museum of Byzantine art, will they decide to leave the country rather than under the secular government of the Republic of submit? With most orders of nuns, the pure Turkey. Thus have the present rulers solved a white butterfly-winged hats are a part of their problem that has been for ages a source of trouble consecration vows; how can they abandon them? between Greeks and Turks. The Syrian Archbishop has already appeared in the streets in civilian garb; and the Gregorian One essential item on the Megali idea, or grand and Orthodox clergy will apparently offer no replan of the Greeks, was that when the city was sistance. For Evangelical Christian bodies, the again brought under the Greek flag,' the services new regulation makes no difference. in Agia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom, in- terrupted on that fateful day in 1453 by the in- What is the purpose of this new ordinance?
rushing hordes of Moslems, when the officiating The Government gives no explanation, save that priest fled through the secret door, shall be re- it is determined to abolish all distinctions tending stored and resumed. The initiated believe that to establish a religious hierarchy. The fact that the priest will again come out of that same door· the new law affects many times as many Moslem to conduct the worship. The Turks for many clerics as all the others put together, seems an years excluded all Greeks from the mosque and indication that the step is rather for the purpose declared that it should be blown to atoms rather of striking another blow at the reactionary, ultra- than surrendered under any circumstances. But conservative Moslem element, than (as has also many will regret that the famous Night of Power, been suggested) to lessen the prestige of the Ital- the night of the twenty-seventh of Ramazan, with ian and French Catholics. When one considers its awesome mass of ten thousand worshipers go- the former domination of the Ottoman State by ing through the Moslem prayers together, will not the Moslem clergy, one is the more ready to con- again be repeated in this place. done such drastic measures. When an Evangelical In this transformation is there any resemblance clergyman was recently interviewed by some reto that of the Church of St. Michael in Moscow porters on Turkish dailies, as to the feeling of changed by the Soviet Government into a mu- Protestants toward this new regulation, they were seum? There is another change which, like this, surprised to learn that the Gospel gave no direcis attributed by some to the growing influence of tions whatever as to any distinctive dress for the the Soviet Government in Angora. A significant clergy, and were pleased to be assured that Protfact is that Comrade Karahan, who has recently estants as such had no peculiar religious garb. been sent there as Russian ambassador, is an When they asked the clergyman what were his Armenian. With grim sadness the remnant of own individual feelings about such a regulation, Armenians left in Turkey witness the predom- he replied: inating influence of an Armenian over Turkish "I am an American; and in my country any policies. This second change, rightly or wrongly clergyman can wear whatever he pleases, in the attributed to Soviet influence, is the ordinance street or anywhere else; there is absolutely no forbidding the use, by any cleric-Moslem, Jew, compulsion, everyone is perfectly free as to what or Christian-of any distinctive clerical garb out· he may wear. I only wish there were this same side of places of worship. A single exception may freedom from compulsion in every country."
[401 ]
Their reply was significant: "This present rule instrumental minor of western music, gives a preis one step for us in that direction." God grant vailingly melancholic effect; and the peculiar high that with complete freedom from ecclesiastical quavers form an art by itself. But henceforth domination and from all fear of it, may come also Western music is to be the standard; and in order complete freedom to preach and teach the Chris- to be acceptable, Turkish tunes must now be set to tian faith! harmony. No longer will the inje saz orchestras be heard; and for a while Turkish popular music Another extensive change of these days in Tur- is greatly hampered. The reason for the change, key is in the adoption of purely Turkish family as given in some newspapers-that this sort of names in place of the ancient system of "Ali, son music was inevitably associated with drinking and of Mehmet," and "Suleyman, son of Bayram." carousing, which must stop – is specious. The The law has now been promulgated that everyone true reason seems to be that those in authority beshall have a family name, which must be Turkish, lieved that Europeans were jeering at Turkish and not Arabic or Persian or other nationality. music as unmusical, and that therefore Turkey Thus the President, Mutafa Kemal, has become should conform to recognized Western standards, Kemal Atatiirk; the Prime Minister Ismet Pasha, to prove her high civilization. has become General Ismet Inonii; the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tewfik Riishtii Bey, has adopted In the midst of all these Ghanges, woman seems the name Tewfik Riishtii Aras; the Turkish Min- to be coming into her own far more rapidly than ister to Rumania, Hamdullah Suphi Bey, is now in other lands. During last December a law was Suphi Tanriover. This is sufficiently confusing; passed, giving her not only the right to vote in but coupled with this has come the more surpris- national elections, but also the right to candidacy ing regulation abolishing all titles heretofore used. for the Grand National Assembly; and in the com- Not only have they discarded such titles as Pasha, ing elections for members of this parliament, we Hodja, Hadji, etc., but even the lowly Bey and shall probably see many women voting, and per- Efendi, which were no more than the equivalent haps a few elected to seats. One thing is certain, of mister; and Hanum, which was applied to all in general education women have made wonderwomen, old or young, married or unmarried. Such ful strides in these past ten years, so that perhaps titles, according to Turkish custom, were placed they are as well prepared to be electors as the after the name. Now, they are all dropped and average of the men. ancient Turkish words for Mr. and Mrs. (or Miss) – Bay and Bayan – are being adopted. The revolutionary-evolutionary process also in- These, moreover, are to be placed before and not cludes progressive steps in the development of the after the name. The military titles of Mushir and Turkish language. Further spelling reforms are Pasha must also now be replaced by Marshal and being introduced, which are real improvements General. So that Ismet Pasha becomes General over the system as first adopted six years ago. Ismet Inonii; and Halide Hanum becomes Bayan A commission is at work discovering and listing Halide, while Ali Efendi is Bay Ali. For a time for adoption hundreds of old Turkish words in this may lead to confusion; but in the end it will place of foreign words thus far in common use mean a great simplification. Some may like to see for very common things. Even highly educated in this a further indication of Russian influence Turks find this sudden bringing back into use of -like the universal adoption of "Comrade" and terms long rare and provincial, or even obsolete the abolition of titles of nobility. for centuries, most confusing. In their eagerness for a pure Turkish, these scholars are far more But perhaps the new ordinance that has caused anxious to get rid of Persian and Arabic terms the deepest sorrow to the heart fond of the ancient than of French or German ones; and the ordinary traditions and customs of the Turk, is the sweep- newspaper today, while it is very particular to ing abolition of traditionally Turkish music or avoid certain words of the former type, will have dozens of European words in every column. music ala Turque. On pipe and lute, the familiar In this connection it is providential that the new airs in a peculiar minor key which have held many translation of the Bible into modern Turkish, now in progress and of which certain parts have been a coffeehouse group spellbound, and have formed issued in tentative form, will take some years yet part of the entertainment at countless firesides, before it is ready for print; for by that time we are now forbidden to be played over the radio, or may hope ttl see a bit more of stability in the ,voto be used at any public gathering. This does not cabulary and spelling of Turkish words. Every effort will be made to keep up to the minute with for the present ban them in private homes; but it official changes, which have a distinct influence on puts the stamp of official disapproval on this brand the Turkish attitude toward all foreign ideas and of music. Typical Turkish music knows no four- customs, and a bearing on Christian missionary parts, or harmony of the European sort. Its work.
rhythm-often alternating measures of four and five beats-is weird; its minor key, resembling the
Turkey's Predicament*
-~I~=======B=Y=D=R=.=C=H=A=RL==E=S=C=.=M=O==Rru==S=O=N======~1I~ T HE government of Turkey is in form a re- Ataturk is unqualified. His support does not rest public; in reality it is a dictatorship. Its on force, though of course force is in the back- undisputed head is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ground; but the people's mood is spontaneous and the president of the republic. There is a parlia- genuine. They are grateful to him for saving the ment of one chamber, called the Grand National country from Greek domination and the domina- Assembly, which debates and passes laws, but it tion of the great powers. They recognize in him is strictly under the dictator's control. Its mem- a military genius and trust his devotion to the na- bership is determined by him through the one- tion's well-being. They support the reforms he party system which insures that the candidates has already instituted-even the abolishing of the selected by the party chiefs and approved by the fez caused a minimum of murmuring. If he does dictator will be elected. The members are allowed not become too ruthless in his collision with to debate certain measures upon which the gov- Islamic habits and institutions, the people will ernment is neutral, and to vote freely upon such tolerate his reforms and follow him. There is no measures, but measures considered vital by the clamor for a more real democracy. Sympathetic government are not debated, and there is no di- outsiders see a dictatorship in some form as in- vision in the voting. evitable for Turkey, and they would rather have Ankara, the capital, is a new city, in many Ataturk than a sultan or a Stalin.
respects, like far western American cities. The Assuming that the new regime is successful and government has established here a score of insti- attains its objective, what sort of society will it tutions for training a new generation of leaders produce-a communistic or a capitalistic society, in every type of economic and cultural need-agri- or something else? There is in the dictator's culture, industry, pedagogy, music, liberal arts, regime a minimum of economic dogma. The lead- various sciences, plant pathology, business admin- ers hold no brief for capitalism, though so far istration, accounting, stenography, and others. there has been no mortal wound inflicted upon it.
Thousands of students are drawn to Ankara from On the other hand, they are not afraid of doing every part of the nation and given free instruc- things which are characteristically communistic tion and free board and dormitory. Such students (or socialistic). The railroads and the banks are are under oontract to go, at the end of their train- owned (or controlled) and run by the government.
ing period, wherever they may be sent, with sup- The government is doing practically all the in- port but without salary, for a period of five years, dustrial developing that is being done. The lead- to teach locally the things in which they have been ers deny that this is socialism. It is looked upon trained at the government's expense. Thus the as necessity; it is common sense! If there is to government hopes to "rationalize" the economic be any industrial development in Turkey, the gov- life of Turkey and to quicken its cultural aspira- ernment must mother it and operate it, for the tions. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Tevfik very good reason that no one else can!
Riishtii Aras, is also president of the assembly of Turkey is poor. From the background of the the League of Nations. United States or Germany or even Italy, it is un- Americans and other foreigners, missionaries believably poor. It is predominantly agricultural and foreign business men, the Turks themselves, and even its agriculture is deflated. There is no officials, highly responsible citizens, and the man industry, in the modern sense. There are, in rough in the street, all tell essentially the same story as figures, 7,000 "industrial workers" in Turkey; there are 4,000 "factories." This means that the to matters of fact. so-called "factories" are for the most part one- man shops, most of them in the homes. It will be There is little criticism of the form of govern- clear, therefore, that the economic problem which ment. For the present stage of Turkey's develop- Turkey faces in bringing herself abreast of modment, it seems that no better form of government ern nations is tremendous. This lack of industrial could be devised. The popularity of President • Condensed from The Christian Century, June 19, 1935. development in Turkey greatly simplifies the eco- [403 ]
nomic problem on its theoretical side. There is market, a dumping ground for European manuonly one thing to be done – put the collective factured goods. She paid for these goods by her wealth of the people-that is the government- agricultural products, by the marvelous treasures behind a program for the creation of industry. of art which had been accumulated through the While you are doing this very socialistic thing, centuries of her own imperial prosperity, by her you can pass laws, and vigorously enforce them, woven things like rugs and tapestries into whose prohibiting socialistic or communistic propa- creation millions of hours of human toil was put ganda; you can do this without inconsistency be- at the most cruel of starvation wages, and by the cause the propaganda of any kind of economic piling up of a vast pyramid of debt to other nadogma only tends to clutter the necessitarian tions which only put her the more helplessly at the policy of the government. mercy of the vultures. Thus Turkey's impoverish- ment was made complete. Mustafa Kemal's prob- There is but little radical agitation and little lem was to turn a mere market, a dumping ground, likelihood of it, or of its opposite. The govern- into a self-respecting and self-supporting econment's assumption of the industrial burden is not omy. He and his regime are working at the probopposed by industrialists, for there are none; nor lem with true patriotism. by "labor," for there is none! That is to say, the Kemalist government can use its common sense in LAWRENCE OF AFRICA* developing industry, and will meet with no resistance such as is met in America or in any coun- Everyone has heard of "Lawrence of Arabia" try where industry has become a vested private (whose death has saddened the British Empire), interest and labor has become class conscious and but there is a Lawrence of Africa whose advenorganized. This simplifies the problem for the tures have been equally thrilling. Dr. William T. Kemalist regime. Lawrence has spent thirty-four years in the East Africa Mission of the American Board and speaks But it is easier tl} introduce collectivism in a with a smile of the hazards of living where lions society that has no machine industry, and it is and leopards lurk in the grass; where cobras pay more difficult to make that collective industry a social calls and where swarms of red locusts, four practical success. Machinery has to be procured inches long, sometimes take half a day to pass a from other countries. Materials for the construc- given spot, and break off branches of trees when tion of plants must also be imported, as well as they settle down on them. many raw materials for the manufacturing of commodities. How will you procure. this ma- Better roads have meant the difference between chinery and these materials? You can buy them. life and death to the kindly dispositioned Ndaus Yes, and how will you pay for them? Only by of this country. When Dr. Lawrence first went the export of your own agricultural products. But to Africa he traveled on foot, then on horseback, other countries, with a few exceptions, are not in on bicycle, motorcycle and now by auto. great need of your agricultural products – they have their own. Not only so, but in order to pro- We who live where a ring on the 'phone brings tect their own agriculture against competition, a doctor quickly, and where an ambulance rushes they have erected high tariff walls to keep yours a sufferer to a well-equipped hospital, cannot conout. And so your industrial program, backed by ceive the plight of thousands in Africa. For exthe unqualified collective good will of the nation, ample, a mother with a baby on her back, trying cannot even get started. to carry home a bag of grain, slips down a wet bank and breaks her thigh. What can she do but This is Turkey's predicament. Here success lie in agony? largely depends upon securing some degree of cooperation from other nations. She has effected Lions and leopards are particularly dangerous, certain trading arrangements with Germany and often roaring around the spring that supplies a Russia, but these, while better than nothing, are village with water, so that no one dare approach. all onesidedly unfavorable to Turkey and are quite Once they have tasted human blood these animals insufficient for the realization of her industrial are for all time "man eaters." The deadliest repaspirations. Responsible men whenever they ap- tile is the cobra, but another is the puff adder. proach the question of trade relations with 'other The amambla attacks without warning and death countries, see that their whole program depends ensues if tts poison reaches the blood stream. upon overcoming the economic isolation of Turkey. Dr. Lawrence not only has a hospital under his Kemal had on his hands a Turkey which was, care, but the health supervision of more than 400 economically, at least one hundred years behind boys and girls in mission schools; the training of the rest of Europe. Other countries had some natives in first aid and frequent trips through degree of industrial development; Turkey had jungles to outstation schools. none. Turkey had been a market, nothing but a * C'ondellseil from The Mi$$ionary H erakl.
Islam's Debt to the
_."'Ii! By SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, Princeton, N. J.
Editor of "The Moslem World"
JEREMIAH the prophet draws a clear distinc- Rome, have written books on the subject, prov- tion between false and true teaching, between ing their thesis by a wealth of new evidence. the revelation of God and the muttering of We notice that the influence of the Bible on self-deceived prophets, comparing them to the Islam began in the very life of its founder and his wheat and the chaff. (Jeremiah xxiii). This sharp family. Mohammed was, in a sense, the illegiti- contrast with the climax, in which he asserts that mate child of the Oriental Church, and Islam is a the Word of God is a fire and a hammer that Christian heresy. Two of Mohammed's wives were breaks the rock in pieces, reminds us of the phrase Christians. His cousin, Waraka, read the Hebrew of Karl Barth, "The Word of God or the word of Scriptures, and Khadijah, his first wife, was per- man." haps a Jewess. It is even held that Mohammed There are many voices on religion, but only one himself could read and write and that he heard Revelation. There have been many prophets, but parts of the Gospel read by Christians. So in only one Saviour. That is the eternal issue. "The many and mysterious ways the truth of God bored grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word its way from within.
of God abideth forever." Our New Testament is From the first the Bible, directly and iJildirectly, the supreme textbook of missions. The basis, the has exerted its power and has changed Islam. This aim, the goal, the motives, the triumphs of mis- is true, for example, in Moslem mysticism, which sions are what they are because God has spoken owes so much to early Christian teaching. Then once for all. In the last analysis all the sacred there was the influence of apostates, Christian books of the non-Christian religions are a chal- wives of Mohammedans, and Christian slaves who lenge to the supremacy, the finality, and the suf- embraced Islam. The traditions are in a measure ficiency of God's Word. the table-talk of these people who told what they This is especially true of Islam, for it is the only knew and did not know of the Gospel.
great religion that came after Christianity, and Christ, even though portrayed only in caricature the only one which has supplanted it in some parts in the Koran, cannot be hid. The light that was of the world. When Mohammed was born in under the bushel has burned the bushel! The fire 571 A. D., the New Testament had already ap- smouldered for centuries, then burst into flame.
peared in six translations: Syriac (Peshito) , Therefore today we see the result, and are face to Latin (Vulgate), Gothic, Armenian, Coptic, and face with a new situation, new toleration, and' new Ethiopian versions. Thus there were two versions manifestations of God's Providence in the history for Africa, two for Asia, and two for Europe. But of Islam. One example is the beautiful Mosque of it is the tragedy of the Near East that no version Santa Sophia in Istanbul (Constantinople), which existed in Arabic and that Arabia became the was built in 537 A. D., under Justinian, and for cradle of Islam through this neglect. nine hundred years was a Christian Church. In In the old city of Mecca and in sight of the the fifteenth century it was made a mosque and sacred Kaaba (where three Yemen Arabs recent- the precious mosaics were covered with plaster.
ly attempted to assassinate Ibn Saoud), Moham- Recently this plaster has been removed and the med gave out the Koran which professed to be a building restored to its original condition-not as new revelation from God, supplanting that of a Christian church, it is true, but as a museum.
Jesus Christ our Lord; from that day, down the Yet here the stones cry out to the Moslem visitor, centuries, the Koran has captured the tongues and proclaiming the "Old, Old Story," in symbolism minds and hearts of 250,000,000 people. In the and mosaic art-Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd, the Philippine Islands, under the American flag, there Alpha and Omega and the glory of His Cross and are 557,000 Moslems, and in India 77,800,000. resurrection victory.
Islam arose out of a Christian and Jewish en~ The Koran itself bears clear testimony to the vironment. Present-day scholarship is agreed that Bible. Other sacred books have no reference to the best elements in its dogma and ethics are due the Gospel or to Jesus Christ. But Mohammed to Nestorian Christianity. Professors Bell of Glas- could not escape Him. This is one of the most gow, Tor Andrae of Upsala, and Lammens of remarkable facts in the study of the non-Christian [405 ]
religions. Sir William Muir has collated all of tongue of the common people which men despised, these references and commented on their character he recreated the German language and the Gerand significance. There are 131 passages alto- man nation. When Tyndale and Coverdale gave gether, 65 of the Mecca period and 66 of the the Bible to England, they perpetuated the faith Medina period in the Prophet's life. The Old and of the Bible not only, but made its vocabulary and New Testament are highly spoken of as God's style penetrate and permeate English literature. earlier revelation and as "containing light and Shakespeare, Tennyson, and Browning are exguidance for the pious." amples.
Moslem Tradition About Jesus So when Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck and Eli Smith a century ago ended their "work of faith and labor Add to this fact the influence of the Bible on of love and patience of hope," translating the Bible Mohammedan tradition. There are six great page by page and verse by verse into the Arabic standard works numbering tens of thousands of tongue, they ushered in an era far more important pages. That vast, heterogeneous collection of laws than any dynasty or any change in governments and customs, of folk-lore and story, resembles the in the Moslem world, because they gave to 50,- Jewish Talmud. But in one respect it is very dif- 000,000 Arabic-speakhig folk the Word of God in ferent. Jesus is dishonored in the Talmud and a matchless translation. There is a proverb curwas cast out of the Ghetto. He is crowned and en- rent at Damascus, "Al 'Arabiya la tatanassar" shrined in the pages of the Koran. As Goldziher ("Verily, the Arabic language will never be Chrishas shown, the early Moslems borrowed very tianized") . But they no longer use it. Not only largely from the New Testament to build up the has the Arabic tongue been Christianized in an form and content of their faith. They spoke of excellent Bible translation, but there have been Jesus as a great prophet and miracle-worker. Then modern Christian poets and writers who have they took their colors from a Christian paint-box wielded this language with tremendous powerto portray Mohammed-his character, his sayings, Dr. Andrew Watson and Dr. Hogg, in Egypt; his ethics. Al Ghazali, the great theologian of the Dr. Jessup, Dr. Post, and Nasif-al-Yazigi, in eleventh century, is an example in his frequent Syria; Gairdner and Upson and Ibrahim Saeed, references to Jesus' teaching. Again and again he in Cairo; Dr. George Ford, of Sidon; and Miss says, "I have read in the Gospel."* Trotter, of Algiers. The Christian literature of the Cairo and the Beirut press finds its taproot in Now remember that for thirteen centuries these the Scriptures, and has gone to all parts of the pictures and stories of Jesus and about Jesus have Moslem world. circulated in the world of Islam. It is as if an advertising firm had circulated cheap and gaudy New Testament Influence prints of the Sistine Madonna, not at all a true representa.tion, but still calling attention to the Take another example. On the cover of an great original. In fact, the Koran references have led many toward Christ. Professor Mohammed Albanian translation of the Koran there is a re- Ismail, of Lahore, once told me of three things in the Koran which led him to Christ: the fact that production of an old German picture of Christ and all men are sinners; that Jesus Christ as pictured in the Koran is sinless; and that those who want the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. But to learn more about Jesus must read the Injil, the Gospel. the title reads: "Mohammed, Abu Bakr and Ali on Again the Bible in present-day literature and Their Way to Mecca"! So even Christian art is the press is more influential than ever before. It has been translated into all the languages of Islam being adopted by Moslems! and circulated everywhere. It is the hammer of God, more powerful than that of Charles Martel The leading Turkish novelist, Yakoob Qadri, on the battlefield of Tours. Missionaries were the first to capture the magnificent vehicle of the states that he owes his style to the Bible, and he is Arabic tongue for Christ, as Mohammed once used it to proclaim his religion. When Ulfilas, the great criticized in the press for using a Christian vomedieval missionary, came to Northern Europe he put the Bible into the language of the people, and cabulary. The leading Moslem poet of Egypt, the appropriated the Gothic tongue for Jesus Christ. When Martin Luther made the Scriptures use the late Shauket Bey, found much of the motif for • AI! the passages are given in full In chapter Ix of Zwemer's his national poetry in the New Testament. The A Moslem Seeker After God. Revell & Co. 1920. daily press of Cairo affords many other interest- ing examples. .
Sirdar Iqbal Ali Shah in his book, published in 1933, called Lights of Asia, writes of the precious blood of Christ in the words of a fundamentaHst: Whatever modernists may think about the Blood, God esteems it very precious. Saith the Word: "The blood is the life" (Deut. 12: 23). "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9: 22). "It is the Blood that maketh atonement for the soul" (Lev. 17: 11). God commendeth Hif; love to us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
WHAT YOUNG TURKS THINK OF MOHAMMED
And this from the pen of an Afghan Moslem prison. What a book is the Word of God! It abideducated in England! eth forever. It is God's spiritual dynamite in the hands of converts in India and Persia and North Think of the ever~increasing circulation of the Africa. Century follows century; the Bible re- Scriptures in Persia, Arabia, Moslem India, and mains the same. Empires rise and fall and are Egypt! Holy places which less than twenty years forgotten; it abides. Dynasty succeeds dynasty; ago could be visited only in stealth by Christian it rules hearts. Kings are crowned and unworkers now receive the Word openly-among crowned; it remains the same. Its enemies dethem Kerbela, Nejf, Qum, Riadh, Hail, and even cree its extermination; but it lives on. Taif, the neighboring city of Mecca. It is a seed that takes root and bears fruit in "So is the kingdom of God as if a man should every soil; an anvil that has broken a million cast seed into the ground," said our Master . . . hammers; a light that shines on "till the sun and then it brings forth "automatically." This grows old anq the stars are cold, and the leaves of Greek word is also used of the iron doors that the Judgment Book unfold." swung back when Peter was released from his What Young Turks Think of Mohammed* An Open Letter to Mohammed -"I By ERNST MAX HOPPE, Sofia, Bulgaria 1j;t- ~==========================~ "Well then, do you ever teach yourself, you teacher of religion is spiritual, a faith, a conviction. What! should other people ? You preach against stealing; do you steal? the faith or the conviction of a Moslem, or a faithful one You forbid adultery; do you commit adultery? You de- be in danger? It is not possible to take away the faith of test idols; do you rob temples? You pride yourself on another. the Law; do you dishonor God by your breaches of the Law? Why, it is owing to you that the name of God is Yes, something is in danger; but it is not religion. maligned among the Gentiles, as Scripture says! Circum- It is the interests of those who, under the name of Dercision is certainly of use, provided you keep the Law; but vishes and Hodjas, exploit the masses that are in danger, if you are a breaker of the Law, then your circumcision is and that in the name of Allah. It is these interests that turned into uncircumcision." Romans 2: 21-25 (Moffat's are in danger. Islam does not consider prayer as intranslation) . trinsically necessary where there is no water, nor is a mosque necessary for worship. Actually no true Moslem Jesus said: "Come to me, aU who are laboring and needs this disgusting class of intermediaries between God burdened, and I will refresh you." Matthew 11 : 28 (Mof- and men. The more the land progresses, the more does fatt's translation). this class lose its means of livelihood, for its religion con- sists only in material profit. CONCERNING Mohammed – his life, his times, his mission, his wars, his ostensible In late years there has been no lack of Turkish miracles and acts-many books have been voices that betray a search after a new religion written in the occident. The thing which has been and that rebel against Islam. Among them the interesting me more and more, while living in the following "Open Letter to Mohammed" is worthy Orient, was to investigate the present-day opin- of notice. The letter is a cry of the awakened ions concerning Mohammed and his teachings, young Turkish generation in these modern times. that engage the Moslem nations and peoples them- It appeared in the Stambul periodical Gendsh Diisselves, who formerly played an important part as hiindshiiler (Thoughts of the Young) and was pioneers in the spread of the Mohammedan faith. printed in three issues of the paper. I am quot- ing it unabridged in translation, as follows: The Turkish paper Aksham, in. Stambul, once published the following item about Islam in Open Letter to the Prophet Mohammed Turkey: o Apostle! In Turkish history the cry, "Religion is in dangerl" is well known. Ever and again, whenever this country has Thou must tell us the reasons why these decrees of the taken a further step toward civilization, this cry, "Religion Hodjas and MoUas (the religious leaders and teachers of (Islam) is in dangerl" has been heard. Islam) are so entirely unknown, although they have had an important influence for centuries upon the destinies Religion, as all people know, is not anything material, and the politics of the nation. which one can see or touch. Like all other hallowed things, Thou hast forbidden the worship of images and hast • Article translated by Dr. C. Theodore Benze, Philadelphia. even betrayed the worshipers of idols and images. But
notwithstanding, thy representatives have worshiped only within you, that I too belong to that class of dark scounthe external forms of thy work and have desecrated them drels, who use this world to build up the future world, for more than thirteen hundred years. Is it not an for I know very well, that unless an earthquake will shake abominable setting-up of idols, to kiss the pages of the that old building-a pile of stones and earth-whose sole Koran, to go into the wilderness of Arabia, to imperil value consists in its antiquity-it will not tremble. one's life there, to offer up money, in order to visit the four sid~ of the holy shrine (the Kaaba at Mecca) and o Apostle! to conceal one's hypocrisy under the cover of a pilgrimage? How can we deny this? Because thy softas, who forbid The Kaaba did not tremble when foreign unbelievers such a beautiful art as pictures and music, as being contrary to thy holy law, defend sheer idolatry. tried in their drunkenness to tread down thy building with If thou hadst had such a powerful spirituality distrib- their polished shoes. Why did not the heavens burst under uted over all the world, as thou hast a philosophy and ideas, thou wouldst surely not approve these things with these desecrations? Thy lazy softas always explained, a seeming approval. "No unbeliever may enter the Kaaba, the holy temple in Further yet! Does not thy silence express a clear approval? Let not thy silence be abused here, 0 Apostle of Mecca. Upon such desecration the suns will fall from God. Let it not be abused, because under the mysterious protection of thy holy law, the softas (perhaps holy for heaven in fiery masses and destroy the earth with fire." thee, but for us only disgusting cowardly rascals) commit hundreds and thousands of crimes and hypocrisies. Never- And yet the boots of the unbelievers trod the temple at theless they ascribe all their acts to thee and thy holy law. Mecca and committed all kinds of abominations under its o Mohammed, holy law-giver, is not in this case thy shadow. But nothing fell from heaven and nowhere did silence an approval? the earth quake. . o Apostle! With thy permission I will tell thee something and in- Did not the Kalifs, thy so-called rep.resentatives, and the form thee of a fact that will really make thee tremble. softas and the sheik-ul-islam, who worked in thy name, Thy softas with their great turbans, waving garments commit for centuries, following thy example, those abom- and fat necks, raised their heads and uttered prayers that inations of the harem, for which the whole civilized world thy sanctuaries and theirs should be trampled down. They and all humanity was aroused? All those corruptions and prayed to Allah for the slavery of Islam. Why? Because heinous deeds, which merely to name is a disgrace to the the unbelievers brought money. Is not gold a religion, human name and civilization, and which are hearths of the creed and the faith of them all? infection in a large community, thy hodjas call "Punna" (i. e., holy practices), enjoined by thee. More yet! The o Apostle! Kalifs and Softas, who for so many centuries could secure the perpetuation of their pleasures and their rascality, by How shall I make it known that even thy enemies are depriving these orphans of martyrdom of the last they ashamed because of the spiritual downfall of thy reprehave, call this thing "thy holy punna"! sentatives. But thy softas are never ashamed for this! Does thou see it now, 0 Apostle of God? o Apostle! Thou who sawest no wrong in adding several captured women to thy harem after thy warlike expeditions, thou Suppose we draw a dark curtain over all this and see hast approved of the abominations of these hodjas, softas it no more. We have already drawn a curtain and see and kalifs. And thou hast even made them legal by the nothing more of the abominations of thy softas, nor hear marriage rite. their sermons. Weare only suffering from the wounds of the past. Since thou hast been example and pattern for them, thou hast taught as a holy custom the marriage of I know not But what wilt thou do? Thou who hast always promhow many women with men, who did not even have the ised righteousness, uprightness, prosperity and happiness ability to earn their daily bread. Thou hast taught that by thy religion and thy laws! these things are meritorious actions in the sight of God and so thou hast been the cause of thousands, yea millions What wilt thou do, since that which the unbelieving of family tragedies. Thou didst cause that millions of could not do, in spite of their endeavors, in order to exchildren roamed abandoned in the streets and became terminate thy people during the last thirteen centuries, criminals, swindlers and voluptuaries. thy softas and sheiks have succeeded in doing, namely dragging down this poor Turkish nation into that deep Did not thy temple in Mecca tremble when thy soul did whirlpool, only because it adhered to thy religion! Benot do so? But do not let my words awake the thought cause hodjas and softas held the fort from within. The evil that the unbelievers were unable to accomplish, they did with pomp and delight.
And thou stoodest there as an unconcerned spectator and gavest approval to all the evil deeds and wickedness of these men! So many years, yea centuries did we wait for the promised Redeemer! We waited for Gog and Magog! No deliverer appeared. We even prayed for the deceiver to come; but alas! he too did not come to help us!
KUMANDAN OGLU KASIM TEVFIK.
This eighth chapter of Paul's "Letter to the Romans" gives us some conception of God's dealing with His children. The Spirit takes the little child of God, and leads him to the Fa- ther; then, as he approaches, and is a little timid, the Spirit of God whispers to him, just like. a mother: "Now, do not be afraid, remember that He is your Father" witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God, and teaching us to say, "Abba, Father." Then as we approach God, and try to put before Him our requests, and do not exactly know how, the Spirit takes up the inperfect prayer and says, "Father, this is what the child really wants." Thus He interprets our desires in his own dialect in the Father's ears. ARTHUR T. PIERSON.
Is a Faith Mission?*
By REV. ROBERT HALL GROVER, M.D., D.D., Philadelphia Home Director of the China Inland Mission THE name "Faith Mission" was not chosen or undertaking for the evangelization of inland assumed by Missions which have come to be China. Thus was born-by the Spirit of God, but so designated. Rather was it given them by through the travail of the soul of His servant-the others on account of their distinctive policy and China Inland Mission.
practice regarding financial support. Nothing is But how was such a new enterprise to be sup- more remote from the mind of such Missions than ported? Every Board already carrying on mis- that they have any monopoly upon faith, or that sion work depended for its support upon the they necessarily exhibit any greater faith than churches of its own denomination. Mr. Taylor Missions of a different order. Keenly conscious was quite unwilling that a single shilling should oftentimes of the lack or frailty of their own faith, be diverted from these existing missionary chan- they take humbly the position of looking to God nels. More than this, he felt the importance of alone for the financial needs of their Christ-ap- safeguarding his new undertaking from any just pointed tasks. criticism on this ground. Accordingly he cove- The oldest Mission of this type today, and still nanted with God that he would solicit nothing much the largest in the number of its workers from man, whether publicly or privately, but and the extent of its work, is the China Inland would tell the needs of the new work only to the Mission. Begun in 1865, this Mission is just Lord in prayer and look to Him alone for its about to celebrate its Seventieth Anniversary. support.
Brought into being unquestionably by God, its In this spirit of implicit faith he walked into a human founder was Hudson Taylor, whose name London bank, and with ten pounds (fifty dollars) has become well-known throughout the Christian -all the money he possessed-opened an account world. . . . He had spent seven years in China, in the hitherto unheard-of name of the China Inand although he was compelled to return to Eng- land Mission. Fifty dollars to begin the task of land in broken health, the burden of China's un- evangelizing four hundred millions of Chinese on evangelized millions continued to weigh heavily the other side of the globe-what an absurdity! upon his heart. He thought of China by day; he Yet not so, for it was fifty dollars p~us God! And dreamed of it by night. And little wonder, when so wonderfully did God set His seal upon this attiwe stop to think of China's spiritual condition at tude and action of faith on the part of His humble that time! More than half a century since the servant that in the succeeding seventy years, as beginning of Protestant mission work in that the Mission has maintained unaltered its original land, and still there were only fifteen stations in financial policy and practice, approximately $26,- the whole Empire, all of them along the coast, 000,000 have passed through its treasury and been eleven out of eighteen provinces yet unentered and used in its work. Its first party of missionaries, lying in utter spiritual darkness, a mere handful eighteen in number, left England in the sailing of missionaries, and actually only 350 evangelical vessel Lammermuir on May 26, 1866. Such has Chinese Christians among 400,000,000 heathen! been the growth of the Mission through the suc- Mr. Taylor made the rounds of all the Mission ceeding years that its missionary staff now num- Boards in London that had work in China, and bers 1,368. These workers, together with nearly pleaded earnestly with each one to undertake a 4,000 Chinese colleagues, occupy 344 stations and penetration of the interior, but no Board saw its 2,000 outstations, distributed over all but three of way to respond. Finally, on a Sunday morning in China's provinoes and also her vast adjoining de- June, 1865, he fiung himself upon the sands of pendencies to the north and west. Brighton Beach . . . and cried to God in behalf of China. Then it was that God spoke and this It was not long before this new type of misgodly young servant of His received a never-to-be- sionary undertaking for China began to be duplidoubted divine call and commission to begin a new cated in behalf of other needy fields, and thus, one after another, new "inland" enterprises were • Condensed from ReVelation, Philadelphia, April, 1935. launched, such as the Africa Inland Mission, the [409 ]
Inland South America Missionary Union, the one to produce facts to prove the contrary. . . . Sudan Interior Mission, and so on. The list of such societies working in foreign lands has now Evangelistic missionaries, far from being mere grown to twenty or thirty. While these have no propagandists, are the ones in every mission field organic relation to one another, each being a sep- who are living closest to the people, who know arate entity, and while as to their organization their needs and problems most intimately, and and administration, and even their financial meth- who along every practical line are filling the role ods, there are differences in detail, yet in the main of the Good Samaritan toward them. For evi- they are patterned along the same lines and as a dence of this fact one need only point to the China group have come to be spoken of as "Faith Mis- Inland Mission as an illustration, with its 16 hos- sions." For purposes of spiritual fellowship, pitals, 106 dispensaries and 328 schools, its opium prayer and conference over common problems, refuges, leper asylums and orphanages, its spe- and mutual helpfulness in every practicable way, cial work for the blind, the deaf and dumb, the . a number of these societies on this continent are aged and infirm, and the victims of domestic now linked together in a purely fraternal union slavery, as well as the leading and costly part it known as the Interdenominational Foreign Mis- has taken, year after year, in relief work for suf- sion Association of North America. ferers from famine, flood, and pestilence. This is equally true of the other Missions of this class Distinctive Convictions of Faith Missions laboring in other fields. Yet none of these Mis- sions thinks for a moment of apologizing for the 1. As to financial support, they do not solicit fact that all such ministries in behalf of the funds or pursue popular methods of raising physical, temporal and moral welfare of the peo- money, but look to the Lord in faith and prayer ple are ever held subservient and made contribu- for the supply of the means to carryon their work. tory to the primary aim of seeking the salvation They do not go into debt or borrow money. Their of lost souls. . . . workers are not guaranteed fixed stipends, but all unite as a family in trusting God for their tem- We are of the opinion that any Christianity poral needs and accepting what He is pleased to which does not find practical expression in daily send them through the voluntary gifts of His peo- life is not the real article but only a spurious imi- ple. All share alike financially, no distinction be- tation. The Gospel which every evangelical mis- ing made on the ground of age, length of service, sionary preaches is something that prov,es its or position in the work. power by making those who embrace it better men and women, whether as sons and daughters or 2. As to doctrinal position, firm insistence is parents, as workmen or employers, as citizens or laid upon sound evangelical belief. No worker is rulers of the State. Nor do we know of any other accepted or retained who does not unequivocally potent means of lifting society to a higher and hold all the great cardinal truths of the historic purer level, and of making human relationships Christian faith with reference to the Bible, the what they ,ought to be, apart from the winning of person and work of Christ, the lost condition of individuals through this Gospel to a new life in man and his need of spiritual regeneration. These Christ the Saviour. Missions firmly hold that the old Gospel is the only Gospel, and they are absolutely opposed to 4. As to missionary policy, stress is ever laid "modernism" in any degree. by these Missions upon wholly unoccupied fields and unreached areas in fields already entered. 3. As to missionary method, these Missions They believe that the true objective in missions unite in the conviction that the terms of our Lord's is the evangelization of all men, rather than the Great Commission make the preaching of the conversion of anyone favored section or the edu- Gospel the primary and central task of missions cation of anyone preferred class. As set forth for all time. . . . In accord with these instruc- in the account given in Acts fifteen of that first tions, direct and aggressive evangelism was given great missionary conference of the Christian the central place in the missionary program of the Church, convened at Jerusalem, God is in this New Testament Church, and with attendant re- period of time-from Christ's ascension to His sults transcending those of any succeeding gen- Second Coming-"visiting the Gentile nations, to eration. In the face of the disposition today in take out of them a people for His Name." The some missionary circles to disparage and discard true ambition of the missionary today should evangelism in favor of a more popular program of therefore be what Paul's ambition was in his day, social service, higher education, and other things, "to preach the Gospel where Christ was not we boldly assert that the substitution of any other named" (1 Cor. 15: 20), or "in the regions be- policy or program of work has signally failed in yond" (2 Cor. 10: 16), inspired by the hope of achieving anything like equal returns for the reaching the last unevangelized region and tribe energy and money expended. We challenge any- on earth, and winning the last souls to complete
19351 DRAWING ON THE CHIEF TREASURER
the church, or "ecclesia" (called-out company), goodness that this testimony has been given. He which must be made ready for her Lord's return. has condescended to use these most imperfect and It is the consistent aim and endeavor of these unworthy agencies in some measure to carry out Missions ever to be pushing on into new territory His purposes and to show forth His faithfulness and reaching with the Gospel those who have and power. May He be pleased to use what has never had a chance to hear it. The China Inland been written to call forth more prayer both for Mission, for example, has within the last five years these Missions and also for all others that are actually opened and occupied eighty-two new striving to obey the Great Commission by taking centers in China as a part of its Forward Move- the Gospel of salvation to all those for whom the ment. Eight of these new points are in distant Saviour died!
Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan) and on the borders of Tibet and Mongolia, while others are among the DRAWING ON THE CHIEF TREASURER* primitive hill tribes on the remote frontier of Burma. No less marked and worthy advances Is Christ the chief Treasurer who supplies the (although less familiar to the writer) have been missionary funds? Practically there is a wide made by other pioneer Missions into hitherto neg- difference of opinion upon this point.
lected areas in South and Central America, in "And Prudence sat over against the treasury, Nigeria, Abyssinia, the French Sudan and other watching the expenditures, to see that Faith did parts of Africa, in the Netherland East Indian not overdraw her account," would fairly state the archipelago, and in still other sections of the mis- financial method of many missionary committees.
sionary world. . . . "Faith in t~e work of preaching the Gospel, in- While much more could be written about the so- deed, but in administering the missionary ex- called Faith Missions, enough has perhaps been chequer, sound business principles, if you please."
said to set forth their more distinctive common So we have often heard it, and we do not dispute features. It may be well to add a few words the wisdom of the saying.
about the question of missionary reinforcements But we are conducting the King's business, let in the light of the present grave economic. situa- it be remembered, and in its transactions are no tion. . . . They (the "Faith Missions") have overdrafts of faith ever allowable? May the never concluded that their continuance or advance promises of God never be taken as collateral in need be gauged by prevailing financial conditions. this business? Is the Lord's servant forbidden to If God wants a certain work done, He is surely hypothecate the bonds of the everlasting covenant well able to provide the necessary means, whether as a security for a missionary contract when he little or much, and in times of prevailing plenty has no funds in the bank? The enterprise of misor stringency alike. If the work in hand demands sions is peculiarly the Lord's work and as such reinforcements for its effective advance and com- has guarantors and guarantees back of any that pletion, and offers of service come from those who are human.
give clear evidence, after thorough and prayerful The paradox, "Verum est quia impossibilia," consideration, of being called and fitted of God which Tertullian uttered concerning doctrine, it for such work, then would it not be contradictory is time for us boldly to apply to action, saying, "It to the very principle of faith upon which these is practicable because it is impossible," for, under Missions were founded to decide to decline such the dispensation of the Spirit, our ability is no applicants from fear or misgiving as to whether longer the measure of our responsibility. "The financial supplies will continue sufficient? Rather things which are impossible with men are poshas their policy and procedure been to accept such sible with God," and therefore possible for us who approved new recruits, and to look to the Lord have been united to God through faith. with them in prayer land faith for the provision of the necessary fundi" as a seal of His approval. Since the Hoty Spirit has been given, it is not sufficient for the servant to say to his Master, "I In this way the China Inland Mission during the ;:tm doing as well as I can," for now he is bound six years of depression has sent out over 500 new to do better than he can. Should ~*I;New York workers without curtailing the support of the merchant summon his commercial agent.in Bosexisting work and workers, and has thereby made ton to come to him as quickly as possible, would possible the most marked advance a,nd develop- he be satisfied if that agent were to arrive at the mentof its work in its whole history. Substantial end of a week, footsore and weary from walking reinforcements have also been sent out, and no- the entire distance, with the excuse, "I came as table field advances made, by other Missions of the quickly as I could"? With swift steamer or railsame group. It is with a spirit deeply humbled by an over- way express at his disposal, would he not be bound whelming sense of the Lord's exceeding grace and • From The Alliance Weekly.
to come more quickly than he could? And so, condition for attempting great things for God, with the power of Christ as our resource, and His we shall be disappointed; for that is not believing riches in glory as our endowment, we are called but bargaining. "Said I not unto thee, that, if upon to undertake what of ourselves we have thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory neither the strength nor the funds to accomplish. of God?" (Jno. 11: 40) . Shall we reverse this order, and believe only according as we have seen We have watched with the deepest interest an that glory? If so, He will give us little credit for experiment of enlargement which has come under our faith. Most significantly is it written: "Many our observation. A missionary treasury, taxed believed on his name because they saw the mirto the utmost for years to meet the demands upon acles which he did; but Jesus did not believe in it, was assessed at one stroke an extra fifty thou- them" (Jno. 2: 23, see Greek). sand dollars annually for a new work which God seemed to enjoin. Seven years passed since the I am more and more persuaded that the greatundertaking, and yet the treasury kept just as est things are possible if only we have His power full through all this period, notwithstanding the resting upon us. I have seen such a demonstraextra draft, as during the seven years previous. tion in my church when we met morning after Certainly this outcome does not seem like a di· morning in the early year, simply to pray for the vine admonition not to do so again, but rather like power of the Holy Spirit. We were looking for a a loud invitation to repeat the experiment upon revival. When I made a plea for foreign misthe first new call. When the bugle is sounding sions, I astonished my conservative brethren by for an advance along the entire line, we do well asking ten thousand dollars for our contribution. to mark the significance of such experiments. Only a few wealthy men among us, and they were Our Lord does not say, "Be it unto you according not likely to give largely. But when the offering to your funds," but "Be it unto you according to was gathered, twenty thousand dollars came; noyour faith." If He sees that we trust Him for body was personally asked; no solicitations were large missionary undertakings, He will trust us made. It was simply a great impulse of the Spirit. with large missionary remittances. If, on the contrary, we demand great things of God as a A. J. GORDON.
Seventy Years ofthe China Inland Mission* -ail By MARSHALL BROOMHALL, M.A., London, England / THE history of the China Inland Mission has Hudson Taylor has told us how an aged min- proved that to trust God for the supply of ister of the Gospel prophesied failure both to him temporal things is more than a pious idea. and to the Mission, when the Lammermuir party "How shall Jacob stand? for he is small," cried sailed. "You are making a great mistake in going the prophet Amos of old. And some such cry to China with no organization behind you," this might well have been uttered seventy years ago well-wisher said. "We live in a busy world, and when Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland you will all be forgotten, and the Mission won't Mission. The crisis at Brighton in June, 1865, live seven years." "That," wrote Hudson Taylor and the opening of a bank account in London two some years later, "was the prophecy of this good days later, in the name of the new Mission and man-and a wise one, too. But he was mistaken." with the small sum of £10, are well known. But as we look back over the seventy years, imagina- It is a good thing to remember that the Mission tion endeavors to recapture the human feelings of was not always a large and well-known organizaweakness associated with such a venture as Hud- tion, and th.at God answered prayer seventy years son Taylor then undertook. What prospect was ago in the day of small things as well as today; there that a new organization, founded by an un- But one word of warning is necessary. While God known man, for work in a distant and little known led the children of Israel through the Red Sea, the country, could stand and prosper? Egyptians, when they essayed to imitate them, were drowned. Even prayer must be God-guided, • Condensed from The Ohristian, London, May 9, 1935. not merely inspired by the spirit of imitation.
SEVENTY YEARS OF THE CHINA INLAND MISSION
The China Inland Mission today, though a large of China have been opened to the Gospel, but and now well-known organization, has no other what a history of prayer, of patience, of hardground or foundation upon which to build than ships endured, of mercies granted, and needs supthat which Hudson Taylor enjoyed. It has no plied lies behind that brief statement. other confidence; and the very magnitude of its work, as compared with seventy years ago, makes There are 345 central mission stations, and yet it more, rather than less, dependent upon God. the full story of almost anyone of them would fill The present Master of Balliol has truly said that a small volume. For twenty-five years unceasing "structures and systems are always asking us to prayer and persistent efforts were made to secure worship them, to forget the spirit that informed a footing in the hostile province of Hunan, before them, and to settle down for good in the per- entry was obtained. One 'man, Adam Dorward, manent camp. When that happens, when man's actually traveled in that province for eight years spirit worships its own creation, then structures without having a place which he could call his and systems become idols." The China Inland own, where he could lay his head. He died not Mission is nothing except what God has made it, having obtained a footing. Somewhat similar in answer to the prayers and faith of God's peo- stories could be told of most of the other provinces. ple. And it will only continue as that spirit prevails. Unless the Lord Himself had built the Mis- Times have changed but the difficulties and sion, Hudson Taylor had labored in vain. And trials cannot be said to have decreased greatly unless the Lord today keeps the Mission, its watch- with the passing years. Opposition has only asmen will be vigilant in vain. sumed a new form. In the early years outbursts of violence and local riots were a common experi- Changes in Seventy Years ence. These culminated in the terrible Boxer per- secutions, when nearly two hundred foreigners, The world of today has altered out of all recog- including children, lost their lives, as well as an nition since 1865. Then the Suez Canal had not unknown number of Chinese Christians. Of late been cut, and there was no cable to China. Then a new menace has raised its head, partly as the voyage to the Far East had to be made by sailing outcome of prolonged civil strife, and partly as the ships around the Cape of Good Hope, and it took fruit of communistic propaganda. It has become the best part of a year to obtain a reply by letter a far-too-common experience now for missionaries from one country to the other. Today the journey to be taken captive, and sometimes to be slain. can be made, via Siberia, in about a fortnight, Opposition to Christianity has become more subtle, and, by air, letters can travel even more quickly. more organized, and more ably directed. The News of the recent earthquake in Formosa was local riot has been exchanged for systematic antireported by wireless in England within an hour of Christian methods and bitter hostility. The natthe disaster! Such things would have seemed in- ural anti-foreign bias of the Chinese mind has credible to members of the Lammermuir party. proved a fruitful soil for the false reports of a militant communism, with its godless spirit. It is When the China Inland Mission was founded, therefore the simple truth to say that there has the greater part of China was unevangelized, and, been a life-and-death struggle for the soul of indeed, the interior of that great country in theory China during the last twelve or thirteen years, open by treaty, was extremely difficult of access. largely directly from Russian sources. There were then only fifteen Protestant mission stations in the whole of China, for the most part Yet, despite the formidable opposition-which on the coast. Seventy years ago the total number at times has made the evacuation of considerable of Chinese converts connected with Protestant areas inevitable-spiritual results have increased. missions, was about 2,000. Today the China In- During the first fifty years of the Mission's hisland Mission alone has 345 central stations, 2,000 tory, a period devoted in the main to breaking new outstations, reports over 160,000 converts. ground, 50,700 persons publicly confessed their faith in Christ by baptism; but during the last It is comparatively easy to look back and see twenty years that number has been increased by what God hath wrought, or at least see the super- an additional 107,000 souls, making a total of apficial aspect of what has been done, but it needs proximately 158,000 from the commencement of historical imagination to realize what those sev- the work. The promise that those who do not beenty years have meant. Some knowledge of the come weary in well-doing shall reap in due season trials and difficulties are essential to an apprecia- has been fulfilled. tion of the past. The future always looks more formidable than the past, and it is easy to forget If after these seventy years the China Inland the obstacles that have been overcome. Progress Mission were asked to give an account of its stewcan only be measured by difficulties surmounted. ardship, we should begin to ask: What contribu- It needs only one line to say that the closed doors tion has the Mission made to the Church of God generally? Its primary duty has been the evan-
gelization of China, but in seeking to be obedient come must speedily be transferred. The spiritual to this call, God has given the Mission a witness need and claims of China are still great, and if to bear concerning God's faithfulness in fulfilling God still has a work for the Mission to do, as we His promises. In a day when materialism is believe He has, we would make this time of celerampant, and when men are ready to deny the bration one of renewed dedication to the service presence and the power of God, the testimony as of Him who has blessed us hitherto. to God's trustworthiness in the matter of temporal supplies has strengthened the faith of many. WHEN A CHINESE "HEART.IS God's goodness in supplying the daily bread for His servants still continues a standing marvel, BROADENED" and those who know most about the Mission's financial history can rej oice in God. A mIssIOnary is exammmg an old woman of seventy-three for baptism and admission to the When the World War broke out in 1914, the church: human probabilities against the continuance of the work increased, yet the Mission was maintained "Who is Jesus?" throughout those difficult years. When the cost "Jesus died for me." of silver rose to unheard-of prices, and the con- "How did he die?" sequent need of a greatly increased income, in "I don't know." terms of gold, became necessary if the work was "Who were Jesus' disciples?" to continue, the total income of the Mission in- "I don't remember. I can't read." creased according to that need. When economic "Do you know the names of any of the books famine came to afflict all countries, though the of the Bible?" Mission could not expect to be immune from the "When one can't read. . . " general trial, the necessary bread was given, and "Where did Jesus live on earth ?" water was made sure. Though economies have Silence. had to be practiced-and the Mission has no de- The missionary stopped. The old woman had sire to escape from the trials experienced by so made a very poor showing. many of its supporters-and though faith has "This old lady is one of our most faithful Chrisbeen tested, the barrel of meal has not wasted, nor tians," said a deacon. "She always comes to our has the cruse of oil failed, "according to the word meetings, though she lives three miles away. She of the Lord." gives cheerfully what she can to every good cause. She used to have a terrible temper, but since she In other ways the Mission has been allowed to believed, she has become kind-hearted and patient. bear witness, as in the blessedness of an interde- Everybody knows about it." nominational fellowship, and in the possibility of The missionary looked at her. Seventy-three maintaining an international relationship even years old. She might be gone before he could through the war. The ideals of Hudson Taylor come around next year. He decided to go on with have not been proved impossible, but they have the examination. been embodied in life, and have stood the strain "Who is God?" and test of seventy varied years. "God is our heavenly Grandfather." "Where is He?" We cannot close without a word of gratitude to "Wherever I go, He is there." God for His goodness to the Mission in the matter "Can you talk to Him?" of leadership. The seventy years of the Mission Her face brightened with understanding : "Yes, history are strangely divided into two equal peri- I can." ods of thirty-five years each, with the Boxer crisis "When do you talk to him?" in the centre. From 1865 to 1900, Hudson Taylor, "Why, very often. When I am working in the the founder, was the leader of the Mission, and fields, when I am making bread, when I feel sad, from 1900 to 1935, that great responsibility has I talk to him and my heart is broadened." She rested upon the shoulders of Mr. D. E. Hoste. was now on familiar ground. "I talk to him when- God's best gifts are often found embodied in some ever I want to. Sometimes I have more to say consecrated personality, and the Mission cannot and talk longer. Sometimes I have only one or be too grateful to God for the long and devoted two thoughts and talk shorter. Whatever I have labors of those who have had the rule over the in my heart, I say." work. Mr. Hoste is now well over seventy years of age, and the time has come when he must lay From Jesse R. Wilson's new book, Men and Women of his burden down. The prayers of Christian Far Horizons (paper, 60 cents; cloth, $1.00), which is friends are asked for the one upon whom the published by the Friendship Press, New York. great responsibility of leadership in the days to
Forty–Seven Years Among the Chinese*
The Fruit of the Labors of Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan Goforth D R. AND MRS. JONATHAN GOFORTH re- compromise with sin, he is always very tender in turned to Canada early this year after dealing with sinners. forty-seven years of consecrated missionary Throughout these forty-seven years he has service in China and Manchuria. When Dr. and never lost that passion to save souls and to give Mrs. Goforth were in Canada nine years ago they the message of salvation to the unsaved. The met Allan Reoch, a young student just graduating hardships he has been willing to endure, the scars at Knox College and he returned to China with on his body (marks of the Lord Jesus), his ex- them. ample at the age of seventy-six, and blind, testify- Mr. Reoch has written the following illumi- ing for our Lord with the energy of youth are all nating study of Dr. and Mrs. Goforth who have proofs of this. Not only has his love for the left their beloved mission field in Manchuria to Saviour been the impelling motive, but also his return to Canada. love for the people. The Chinese aTE) intensely at- tached to him. What qualities have made Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan Goforth so outstanding and so marvelously Not only has he labored in season and out, to used in their work for the Saviour? I came across reconcile lost souls to God through the preaching the following "Seven Rules for Daily Living" of the Cross and shed blood of Jesus, but his work made by Dr. Goforth in 1894 and written on the in reviving backslidden Christians is too well fly leaf of his Bible: known to need further comment. His prayer has been, "0 Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the 1. Seek to give much-expect nothing. years." 2. Put the very best construction on the actions of others. 3. Never let a day pass without at least a quarter of an In all these qualities Mrs. Goforth has shared to hour spent in the study of the Bible. the full. All through the years she has been an 4. Never omit daily morning and evening private prayer able and loyal helper, rendering effective aid to and devotions. the cause of Christ amid dangerous scenes. While 5. In all things seek to know God's will and, when not able these last few years to engage as actively in the preaching as before, on account of ill health, known, obey at any cost. she has carried on an equally important work and 6. Seek to cultivate a quiet, prayerful spirit. 7. Seek each day to do or say something to further Christianity among the heathen. strenuous correspondence.
Dr. Goforth has lived up to these rules. He has After having worked with Dr. and Mrs. Goforth surpassed them. His love for the Bible is well for many years, all these qualities together with known, and he has taken every opportunity to read their obedience to God, strict honesty, generosity, it. Even after becoming blind he had a Chinese kindness, and benevolence remain as precious read to him at least twelve chapters a day. His memories. loyalty to the Bible as the Word of God, and his defense of the fundamentals of the faith have been Dr. Goforth held a week of special meetings just outstanding in his career. before leaving. The farewell service, which lasted four and a half hours on January 20 was attended He is a man of prayer, and through prayer and by many of our Chinese leaders. Bible study has sought to know God's will. It is this love for Bible reading and communion with Pastor Chiang, who represented the Christians God that has given him the power to move audi- from the North, struck a high note when he said, ences to a conviction of sin and repentance. At "Now that Elijah is leaving, we must all be Elishas and pray for a double portion of Elijah's all times he keeps self in the background and relies spirit." wholly on the power of the Holy Spirit to take of the things of Jesus and reveal them unto his Dr. Goforth, speaking from Acts 2, dwelt on hearers. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my the Promise of Power, and the necessity of being Spirit. . . ." These Scriptures have ever been filled with the Holy Spirit to save those yet in his battle cry. darkness. The Christians from every part of the field sent farewell gifts to Dr. and Mrs. Goforth. The silk banners were hung on the walls, while a Though Dr. Goforth's preaching contains a long table was covered with silver shields, all stern denunciation of sin, and in no case tolerates manifestations of their love for them personally and an expression of appreciation of what the • Condensed from The Sunday Schoo! Times, Philadelphia, May Gospel has meant to them.
25, 1935.
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Everyone expects their forty-seven years of and gambling. He broke everyone of the ten eminently fruitful service in China and Manchuria commandments more than once. Among other to be crowned with rich blessing among the things, he sold opium and rented out his buildings churches in the homeland. for houses of ill fame. He was converted a year and a half ago and since then has been a tower of Some Fruits of Their Labors strength in the work. He has lived a changed life The result of this aggressive evangelism is that ever since, has provided buildings for a church, precious souls nave been won to Christ and have and gives testimony himself. Whereas before he the hope of eternal life. Some of the old Chris- never got up in the mornings until near noon, now tians we found in a backslidden condition have he is at the church at five a. m. for early morning prayer meeting. DR. AND. MRS. JONATHAN GOFORTH TODAY Mr. Sung, of Tailai, was not baptized when we been restored. One in particular who has been opened work there, but he was a nominal Chrisgreatly used in opening new centers, especially in tian, and his father was an elder. Living away the country districts, is Wang Teh HaL He was from home, he had not received much instruction, baptized about twenty-five years ago, but shortly but was anxious to help. He was seIling opium on afterward an unconverted deacon in the church the side, and, when reproved for his conduct, taught him the best tricks in gambling. Afterthis slapped faithful pastor T'ang in the face. But love Mr. Wang became the most notorious gambler in and patience won the day. Mr. Sung has been his country and was feared because of his con- made a new man in Christ and is a pillar in the stant lawsuiting. He had a fierce temper. One church. Last year, when the building of a church day while he was listening to the preaching of the was discussed, he sold five pigs and brought the Gospel, a pastor offered him a Scripture portion, money to the treasurer. but he threw it to the ground in a rage. The second day, however, his hardened heart was touched, Among the recent converts, Mr. and Mrs. Wang, and he has been out and out for the Lord since. of Tailai, are outstanding. When, in the autumn He said lately that in his unregenerate days, if of 1930, the missionary was doing evangelistic anyone stole a chicken out of his yard or a pump- work in that city, he went out with the colporteur kin off his window sill, he would stand on the selling Scripture portions. One of those to buy housetop and swear at the neighbors for three was a soldier. Later he went to a shop to find out days. Now he used his flow of language in telling what they were about, as he couldn't read. He the Gospel story. only bought them because they were so cheap. The manager in the shop said he didn't know and Mr. Tung is the most prominent and wealthy gave away the ones he had bought to Mr. Wang, layman who has joined with us. He was baptized who then went to the chapel and heard the Gospel three years before the Boxer trouble and remained for the first time. He was so impressed that he steadfast throughout that persecution. Later he decided to become a Christian. On reaching home became an official and rich in this world's goods. he smashed up his opium lamps, for beside being He fell from grace and took unto himself eight a soldier, he ran an opium den. Mrs. Wang bewives, spent his days in opium smoking, drinking, came as ardent a Christian as her husband. What a change the light and love of Jesus brought into that dark and sinful home! Now, four years later, we find Mr. Wang working as an evangelist. Mrs. Wang went to Bible college at her own expense and does voluntary preaching among the women. They are a marvelous couple, showing in their lives the power of the saving grace of God. . . . .
Another who has come out on the Lord's side, is Chang Pao Cheng. He was living in Szepingkai with his mother, wife, and family. When his mother became ill, his wife decided to consult a fortune-teller, as things were going from bad to worse in spite of her daily burning incense to pla- cate the gods.- Seeing her distress, and having listened sympathetically to her tale of woe, the fortune-teller said that their little daughter was the cause of all their troubles and that they would have to get rid of her. Mrs. Chang was to keep on a vegetable diet, burn twice as much incense,
FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AM;ONG THE CHINESE
and finally give him a liberal contribution for his the thirteen-year-old daughter of Mr. Sun, as he advice. grabbed her tightly around the throat.
For the next few days, Mrs. Chang could be "I don't know where my father is, and even if seen walking up and down the streets of Szeping- you kill me, I can't tell you where he has fled to kai, carrying her daughter in her arms. The child because I don't know," she replied in a calm voice.
was dressed in her best clothes with a piece of The unperturbed manner of this country girl straw sticking in a buttonhole. That was a sign in the face of danger was so different from what the girl was for sale. But nobody wanted to buy they had ever seen that one bandit asked of his the girl, and wouldn't take her even for nothing, companion in evil, "What kind of a girl is this?"
as every family had enough to do to make ends "I'm a Christian," she said, slowly raising her meet without adding to expenses. head (for she had been standing bowed in silent One day while looking for a prospective buyer, prayer). "I think you would like to hear me sing,"
Mrs. Chang stopped at the market place where a she ventured.
theatrical performance was in progress. The "Yes, sing us a song," the bandits shouted.
church had also put up a tent and, taking advan- She sang a hymn, and they were so pleased that tage of the large numbers present, preached daily they wanted to hear some more. "Wait until I to the crowds. Mrs. Chang heard the Gospel for call my cousin and we'll sing together. You will the first time, went home and told her husband.. like that better still," was her reply. When her The next day Mr. Chang went, and was even more cousin, a girl about her own age arrived, they sang impressed. They decided for Christ, went home another hymn, and the robbers were so delighted and smashed their idols, determined not to sell the that they returned all of her father's goods they child but to trust in Jesus for the recovery of the had stolen. "Please give back my uncle's things, sick. From that time on, the old woman began too," she boldly pleaded, and they did as she asked.
to recover, and is still hale and hearty. On leaving gave her two dollars as well.
Later Mr. Chang was made an elder at Szep- A Farewell Message ingkai. Now he is out preaching in a very wild district. When he was a young man living in A "Farewell Message from Dr. and Mrs. Go- Shantung, he lived a very bad life. How com- forth" sent to friends in January, just before they pletely he was changed by Christ! He became left Manchuria, contains the following: gentle and could be trusted absolutely and was As we lay down this work, we praise God for our faithconstantly sent to the bank on business. A year ful coworkers, the Rev. and Mrs. Allan Reoch and the Rev.
ago he returned to his old home for a short visit and Mrs. William G. Davis, who with some splendid Chi- nese leaders must now carryon. They have all along been and won family after family for the Lord. absolutely one with us in the aggressive evangelistic The Sun Girls and Bandits methods adopted from the inception of this work. Mr. Reoch is now Secretary-Treasurer of the Goforth Evan- A typical case of how the Christians stood firm gelistic Funds Account, from which nearly all our evanduring the chaotic conditions prevailing two years legists are supported. Address the Rev. Allan Reoch, ago may be seen in the case of the Sun girls. My Szepingkai, Manchuria.
notebook tells the tale better than memory could We plan to open a "Goforth Evangelistic Funds Acrecall. count" in the Canadian Bank of Commerce, Toronto, in which all money for this work will be deposited. Our "If you don't tell me where your father is, I'll home address is 47 St. James' Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, kill you," said a rough looking Chinese bandit to Canada.
A MISSIONARY'S PRAYER By VIOLA RICH SIMTH, Legaspi, Albay, Philippine Islands Oh, lift us heavenly Father, At noontide, with its scorching heat, And strengthen day by day From labor worn, we find The feeble thoughts that yearn toward Thee, Renewal, rest and'peaceful power, For we would learn to pray. At once with Thine Own mind.
We come to Thee at morningtide, "At even' when the sun is set," When skies are clouded gray; We bring our day to Thee, The howling winds of bitter fear And find its petty burdens gone, Thou clearest from our day. Ourselves, Christ-centered, free.
Letter to a New Missionary*
By ALEXANDER McLEISH, London World Dominion Movement YOU wish to know how best to set about your provide material for home letters, but your spir- work. To answer that is not easy, but there itual power, your success in creating a living are certain things which stand out prom- Christian fellowship, may be conspicuously absent. inently. First of all I would place at the center, One of your problems will be the use of money. as of primary importance, the influence of per- The amount the missionary spends on himself and sonality. One must keep the best of one's energy his household will seem prodigality to the poor for personal relationships. There must be un- villager so that you must make every effort to live hurried daily communion with God through Bible . simply and with as little display as possible. This study, meditation and prayer. You cannot live is the way of avoiding innumerable difficulties. on spiritual reserves, but on day by day "income." "Give us this day our daily bread" has a twofold The problem of a young missionary going to an old field is very different, and also very diffisignificance. cult. Here he finds work which is long estab- Secondly, every contact in any capacity is a lished, and the question will arise in his mind why, after thirty years or so, has it not been commissionary method, and therefore you are "on duty" 'every moment of the day. mitted to the people themselves to carryon i The Does anything else matter? In a sense, no! saying that "here we have no continuing city" is You may often be perplexed as to what you should true of the contact of foreign missionaries with do. The urge to get things done is Western and native peoples. The missionary is not intended to modern. As your object is to build up a truly in- be a permanent factor in the life of an alien peodigenous Church, you should aim principally at ple. His work is to make Christ the permanent winning the family to Christ. In the social sys- factor, and himself to pass on to other pioneer tems of India, China and Africa, the family and tasks as quickly as he may. The one thing wllich the communal life are the real units. As a general will justify your presence in an old field today is rule it is better to urge the individual to realize the strengthening of the indigenous Church to his Christian duty to the members of his family live its own life and to develop its own institutions and to seek to bring them with him before he is in its own way and with its own personnel. The baptized, for once baptized he will in most cases acid test of work today is whether it can stand be effectively cut off from further influence with alone in the absence of the missionary and withthem. A convert always finds it easier to wind out the help of foreign funds. his family before his baptism than after, and thus the social unit is won. This may mean in- It will be seen that a new missionary's task is no easy one. Every talent will be needed, and the tensive rather than extensive work. For this vital contact with the people the first more he possesses the better. A great deal of the requirement is intimate knowledge of their lan- paraphernalia of modern missions he will find to guage, customs and ways of thinking. To keep be of little use. He will find it best to study the first things first is no easy task. You may find Master's methods and closely follow them. When yourself running a printing press when you could confronted with the difficulties of your task aleasily get the work done elsewhere; you may find ways remember that Christ said, "Lo, I am with yourself hurrying off to a Fair with Gospels, be- you alway, even unto the end of the world." This fore you are able to answer the questions of your alone will give you the true outlook on the situa- hearers. All such activities may fill your day and tion, and will inspire you to press forward with • Condensed from The Burma News. the task of evangelism.
"Growds of young people are awakened to their dire need, and eagerly look to the Church for leadership. In thirteen years in Korea I have never seen such a favorable time as now for direct, aggressive evangelism. Never were the people more eager to hear the good news." -REV. C. C. AMENDT, Konju, Korea.
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Page News-An Airplane Crash*
-ell] By R. W .. HAMBROOK, Washington, D. C. 11Jue– l'". AS A substitute for my chief in the United me to go Home to be with Him or whether he still States Office of Education, I spoke before had more work for me to do. His answer seemed members of the New York Teachers' As- to be that my work on earth was not yet finished, sociation at Syracuse, New York. Having been and therefore I sought His promises and found compelled to sleep on Pullmans for two nights, I comfort in John 15: 7-"If ye abide in me, and decided to return to Washington by air. A plane my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will was to leave at 7: 23 p. m., which would allow me and it shall be done unto you." I searched my own to spend a night in Newark, and reach Washington heart and then I said, "Lord, I will to live, if You the next morning at the same time as by train. will me to live."
It was snowing heavily when I reached the Syra- It may have been seconds or it may have been cuse airport, but the wind was scarcely evident. minutes after we brushed the top of the tree be- About 7: 30, after the pilot fore we struck other trees. We had made careful inquiry re- were in total darkness, but my garding weather conditions The secular press gave con- emotions were not at all disahead, and after being in- tinent-wide front-page dis- turbed, and I was noting carestructed to fly, we left Syra- play to the incident here re- fully the different events cuse with a pilot, co-pilot, and corded. While grateful to the which were taking place. The a passenger co-pilot, and my- men who, on land and in the nose of the plane turned self as the only paying pas- air, ran great risks or endured downwards and struck the senger. real hardships to effect their ground first, and then the We had been flying for rescue, and deeply apprecia- plane settled on the snow as about three-quarters of an tive of those interests, wheth- level as if it had been laid on hour when I became aware er private corporations or special foundations. Immedithat something was wrong. I ately the two pilots rushed indid not know that the left government owned, that· in a to the cabin and asked if anymotor had stopped in conse- single day burned up nine body was hurt. To the astonquence of ice, nor did I know thousand gallons of gasoline ishment of all, not a leg, nor that a small amount of ice had in their efforts to locate them an arm, nor even a finger was formed on the leading edge of by plane, Mr. Hambrook broken, nor was one drop of avows his supreme indebtedthe wings, resulting in de- ness to the Heavenly Father. blood shed, nor was one of us His compensation for the two creased wing efficiency. A days and two nights of phys- in any way stunned. I re- light burning in the front of ical suffering and nervous marked that God had an- the cabin said, in effect, "Do strain lay in the joy that he swered our prayer and had not remove your safety belt had in leading his three com- saved our lives. or smoke as long as this light panions to a saving knowlremains lit"; it had not been edge of Jesus Christ. Gasoline was pouring out of the left tank in the wing. We turned off as is the custom stepped out of the cabin door upon leaving an airport. The into snow almost to our knees cabin was growing cold through lack of heat from and stayed there until all gasoline had ceased run- the exhaust of the left motor. The plane throbbed ning; then we returned to the cabin, turned on somewhat, caused, as I learned later, from the the lights, and made a survey of our situation.
"missing" right motor. This motor had been The two active pilots spent the night in the open, supercharged and was working at its limit, but by the side of a small fire which they had lit, in yet the plane was losing altitude. hopes that someone might have heard the sound The first indication to me that anything serious of our crash and come to rescue us. The passenger was the matter was when we brushed the top of co-pilot and I spent the night in the cabin in a a tree. As a child of God, my thoughts naturally temperature somewhere between freezing and turned to Him, and I asked whether He wished zero.
• Reprinted from The Evangelical Christian, Toronto, Canada. The next morning the pilot and the passenger [419 ]
co-pilot decided to seek a way out to the north, available. We took the fifteen seat cushions and takmg the airplane compass to guide them. After placed them under our feet and in front and in going about two miles they decided to return be- back of our feet, and then we pulled off the cur- fore becoming completely exhausted. One of the tains from the windows and wrapped them around men decided to repair the radio, and found the our feet. The two blankets we shared among us.
antenna broken, but the battery still in good con- Never shall I forget the misery of that night, dition. Starting the generators, he called Albany, as the temperature reached 15 degrees below zero. giving the number of the plane saying that we I was so cold that it seemed as if my body must were all safe and not injured, stating our altitude, shake to pieces. Only those who have had similar and requesting assistance as soon as possible. experiences can understand what we passed Several calls were made at different intervals for through during that night. We had gone into the the purpose of directing the radio beam to chart cabin shortly after dark, and after we had been our location. shivering for a short time, I began to pray out Fifteen Degrees Below Zero loud, constantly referring to Scripture. I was most grateful that I had stored my memory with During the day a lean-to was made, using sap- multitudes of His promises. The prayers of that lings tied at the top and fastening upon them night have all been answered. We were still cold, fabric torn from the wings and fuselage of the but I learned again the infallible truth of Philipplane. The fabric was tied with strings to the pians 4: 6-7-"In nothing be anxious, but in ev- erything by prayer and supplication, with thankssaplings. giving let your requests be made known unto God, I prayed with the men and asked God to send and the peace of God which passeth all underdeliverance. In addition, I prayed many times standing shall garrison your hearts and your alone. Our lean-to was about ten feet in diameter thoughts in Christ Jesus." His peace filled my and a little over one-half of a circle, but it was soul. somewhat small for the four of us, so several times I left the other three to attempt to make a good Life Out of Death fire where several logs could be pushed together. It was a distressing night. I do not believe any Try as we would, however, we were unable to se- one of us slept for more than a few moments at cure wood that burned brightly, or made smoke. a time. Only God kept us from freezing to death. which would rise above the tops of the trees. A' Many, many times we referred to our watches to foot of snow had fallen during the night, and see how long before morning. Shortly after dawn, with the snow previously on the ground, made a we heard the sound of an airplane. All four of us depth of nearly three feet. With no shovel, no axe, immediately rushed out into the snow to see a and no food to give strength, it proved very ex- plane equipped with skis flying a few hundred hausting to secure wood from under this depth of feet above the trees, less than one-quarter mile snow. Our only means of removing snow was away. Although we waved our arms frantically, sheet metal cowling taken from around the motors. the pilot failed to see us. It seemed as if some of Numbers of times I knelt near this second fire to the 35 to 50 planes which were sent out to rescue plead with God for aid, but the heavens seemed as us were within sight of us a good part of the day.
brass, and no answers came. The sky was overcast When our plane crashed, the interior was in as all day Saturday, and no airplane came within good condition as when we left Syracuse, with the reach. We heard no sound of automobile horn, rail- exception of one seat a leg of which had pushed road train, or airplane. Again and again I sought its way through the floor. We used seat covers to the promises, and my thoughts turned to John 15: protect our ears and to cover our feet to prevent 7. I asked God if I were abiding in the Lord Jesus snow from getting into our shoes. We utilized and if His words were abiding in me, and I asked strips of curtains for tying the seat covers and Him to search my heart and see if anything as yet other material on our feet and legs. One man had was unconfessed to Him. . I wanted nothing to a pair of zipper overshoes, another had a pair of come between myself and God. Still the answers low rubbers, whereas the other two had nothing did not come. . more than low shoes. Pillow cases, towels and We made our plans for Saturday night so that pillows were all put into service in some way, we could secure as much protection from the cold Even the parcel rack material was ripped from its and assist each other, as far as possible. It was place and made into leggings and foot coverings.
impossible to secure wood enough to burn The leather backs of the pilot seats made good throughout the night. We could light no fire in the leggings when tied with strips of curtain material.
cabin without burning it. None of the fifteen seats One of the men said he was tempted to chew on could be removed because there were no tools the leather before using it for leggings, but de-
FRONT PAGE NEWS – AN AIRPLANE CRASH
cided the dye might be poisonous. Strange to say ferred to John 1: 12 again. He replied, "A son of we were not conscious of hunger. God." I asked whether he would thank God for this fact in his own words, and there in that deep About ten o'clock Sunday morning two of us de- snow, he, with a towel bound around his head, and cided that we had better make one more attempt I with a seat cover over my head, with our hats at finding our way out. Consequently we fitted off, he expressed his appreciation to God for the ourselves up to walk through the deep snow. We fact that he was now a child of God. had pushed through the deep snow, over huge fallen logs, over small hills and into hollows, for We trudged along. The thrill of that moment about a mile. Before leaving our camp I had asked is with me as I write. Numbers of times as we God (according to James 1: 5, 6), to give wisdom walked along my companion said, "Mr. Hamand to show us a way out, that we might bring brook, it seems so different n9w." help to the other two left behind. We stopped to rest a moment, and I challenged my companion, We came to what seemed to us a swamp. The saying, "lam concerned about your soul. Are you really satisfied that all is well?" He replied, MR. HAMB'ROOK WELCOMED HOMill AFTER THE CRASH "No, Mr. Hambrook, I am not satisfied." "Then," I said, "what is to prevent you from snow was deep, but we could travel in a straight making things right now, before we go any line. At one point, my pilot friend all of a sudden farther?" He replied, "Nothing, if you will slipped into water up to his knees. Wet legs and show me how." zero weather do not go very well together, so we turned back and continued on the same side of You can imagine the delight that was mine in the swamp until we reached a deer trail, the only knowing how to show him the way to salvation. sign of animal life that we had seen. While we I began with John 1: 12-"But as many as re- were contemplating crossing the swamp, our skiceived him, to them gave he power to become equipped airplane flew nearby, but failed to see us, the sons of God, even to them that believe on although later he told of seeing our trail in the his name." Then I explained by John 1: 1-3- snow. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God; all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made" – whom it was that should be received-that it was Deity, the Christ of God. Then I passed on to John 1 : 14, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," and pointed out from this the manhood of Christ. From there I referred to John 1 : 29, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," and explained how the blood of Christ was necessary to take away sin. Next reference was made to Romans 10: 9, 10, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
The question was put: "Will you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour?" He immediately said, "I will." I then asked him if he would tell God this fact. He said he would repeat after me in sincerity such prayer as I would present to God. We both prayed around the Scriptures referred to above, and ended by a statement something like this, "I, in this snow, among these trees, accept You, Lord Jesus, as my Saviour." Immediately I asked him, "What are you now?" and re-
It was suggested that we go back to camp be- in 25 degrees below zero temperature. How we fore exhaustion was complete. God said, "Go back. thanked God for men with hearts like these men There are two more in the camp whom you must who rescued us. lead to Christ." We reached camp about 1: 30 p. m., and immediately I put the same questions to Between one and two o'clock in the morning, one of the other men, with the same result. At seven of the men went back, and two remained 1: 45 the third pilot came into our lean-to and I with us all night. After a while one of the pilots put the same questions to him, discussed the same said, "Don't you think we ought to thank God for Scripture passages, received the same replies from this?" So he prayed, and I prayed, and the other him. two prayed, thanking God for His wondrous kind- ness in saving us in our hour of need. Then I began to understand why God had not answered the praye'rs which had gone up to Him At eleven o'clock, an army plane flew overhead for rescue. Now all four of us were members of and dropped a parachute of food for us. Early the body of Christ and could go tod-od' in unity the next morning another plane dropped another and make request for rescue. We prayed around parachute and now we had enough food to start our small fire and told God that we needed His aid, a restaurant. In the morning men returned with that we had done all we knew how toward our a toboggan, boots, woollen socks, and other things, rescue, but now that He must take action. We to bring us out of the woods. The pilot was carrequested God to send help before midnight, as we ried on the toboggan; the co-pilot walked most of felt that some of us would have passed· into death the way, but was very weak, having bruised his before morning. face and injured his jaw in the crash.
It was growing colder every minute. The situa- On our way into Morehouseville, I was privition looked hopeless; but our trust was in God. leged to talk to the leader of the men who reached At dusk, when it seemed as if all search would us the night before. After discussing the same cease, we heard the noise of an airplane over- Scriptures with him, he held out his hand and head, and then saw its lights. As hastily as said, "I'll do that," and there in those woods, he fatigued bodies would allow, two of the men se- accepted Christ as his Saviour, and lifted his cured gasoline and threw it upon a tree, and then voice in gratitude to God. with an ember from the fire, lighted it. The flare attracted the attention of the pilot, and he began An ambulance was waiting for us at Moreto make circles around us. Our joy can be imag- houseville to take those who needed it to the hosined, for we knew that he would immediately radio pital. The two of us who had walked the entire to our relatives and friends that we were safe. way rode in the doctor's car to St. Elizabeth's All of us stood by the flare to indicate I'tliat all Hospital in Utica, where I shaved myself, took a four were able to stand up. bath, and left Utica on a plane at about six o'clock for Washington. The bad weather forced us down Saved At Last at Newark, and it was necessary for me to con- tinue to Washington by train. The first plane left us, after dropping a flare, but soon afterwards another airplane appeared. Was it worth it? An $80,000 plane was de- We did not know just what he was doing, but he stroyed except for some parts salvaged. The four continued flying over and at about 10 :,30 we heard of us suffered untold agony for two days and two a shot, then a shout.' Two of the men~n our party nights. Our relatives and friends went through went outside and shot off their revO,lvers, while great anxiety. Nine thousand gallons of gasoline two of us stayed in the lean-to next'~ to the fire. were consumed in one day by airplanes searching Never shall I forget how my whole being sobbed for us. in gratitude to God -for bringing aid.~ Jesus said, "What shall it profit a man if he In a few moments, nine men reached us, bring- gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" ing hot coffee, chocolate, bread, sandwiches, wool- (Mark 8: 36). If it ,had cost the whole world to len socks, blankets, and other things to make us win those souls, it would have been worth it. comfortable. Soon a big warm fire was burning and we were chewing slowly on the food. These Since the accident happened one of the pilots men did not know then that they were answering has publically given his testimony many times and our request to God in bringing help, for only those his :wife has recently been converted. A recent acquainted with these Adirondack woods can rea- letter from one of the men ends: "May God bless lize what it means to tramp through the deep snow you for showing me the Way." One of the resat night over rough ground for four or five miles cuers writes : "We rescued us and then you res- cued me." • Your cooperation in giving this thrilling testimony a wide distribution is most heartily invited. Price per copy 10c, 3 for 25c, I would not go through the experience again for $7.50 per hundred. Evangelical Publishers, 366 Bay Street, Toronto, millions of dollars, but I believe I would go Canada. through it again if' God wanted in that way to bring one more soul to Him.*
Challenge of Changing
An Address Delivered at the Younger Men's Missionary Congress. Stevens Hotel, Chicago, May 3, 1935 By GEORGE CRAIG STEWART Bishop of Chicago M EN talk of a coming revolution in the world from now on there's going to be a change!'" It order. We are in it. Men speak of the would be a dull world if there were no change. Day of Judgment. It is here. I entered It would be a mad world if there were no stability.
college in 1895. Christmas Ev·e of that year 2. Well, there is no danger of a static world. marked, I suppose, a very definite gateway into This era of ours is a very helter-skelter of change. a new universe so vast, and subtle and mysterious And I am glad to be alive in it. It is exciting, adthat all our conceptions have had to be recast. In venturous, perilous, challenging, and that fits my 1900 the dictionary did not include "radio" or religion. (Sometimes you know I am called a high "movie" or "chauffeur" or "aviator" or "jazz" or churchman. Very well, we have in the Episcopal "hijacker" or "rum-runner" or "income tax" or Church an interesting triplet,-"Low and lazy, "parcel post" or "fundamentalist" or "bolshevist" broad and hazy, high and crazy.") or "quantum theory,"-Pas rei. "Everything flows." The map of the world, the map of the uni- Jesus Christ came into the world to change it, verse; the map of life changes before the ink is to change lives, to change attitudes, to change indry on your old one. It is bewildering. And the stitutions, to change human relationships, to main features of these changes are- change the world. He refuses to be pocketed by any party or by any "ism," but He is and always 1. The narrowing world of communications. has been a revolutionary. Wherever He is the en- 2. The new emphasis upon the common welfare vironment changes. And there is no place in His of all the race. discipleship for those who want to settle on the 1. Now there is something in us that resists lees. "Let the dead bury their dead," He says, "go change and also something that demands it. Here thou and preach tbe kingdom." are two fundamental human bents-one for things as they are; one for things as they ought to be The kingdom is fresh seed planted in every and are to be. One side of us is with the past and soil and growth is change. It is light for every conservatism- darkness, and light is lively. I see the economic and social and political upheavals, the scientific So was it when my life began and philosophical and religious shifts and up- So is it when I am a man, heavals in the world today as the signs of God shaking the earth, sifting the nations, breaking up So be it when I shall grow old the old stale modes of thought, tearing down and one side of us is with the restless spirits who Rejoice that man is hurled, withering and sterile relics of empty tradition, From change to change unceasingly, and pouring His spirit into men, imperatively de- manding life-life more abundant. And to you His soul's wings never furled.
If one side of us has all the say we become old, and me He comes challenging us as His followers static, obfuscous, obscurantist, fossilized. If the sayingother has all the say we become noisy nuisances Look to your faith! Is it so anremic that it will committed to what Walter Raleigh called "the not stand going out of doors where the bright idiotic simplicity of the revolutionary idea." light of science beats and the tearing gales of a I remember once down in Memphis, Tennessee, new naturalism and skepticism come out of the many, many years ago hearing a Baptist orator northeast? A challenge faces your Christian eth- preaching a very eloquent sermon. He was all ics which you say are based on the character of flame. The only thing I remember was this, that God-can they stand the tests of new social vision, he compared England with America. "In Eng- or will they capitulate and be revealed as only a land," said he, "they say, 'as it was in the begin- kind of protective coloring for the old order?
ning, is now, and ever shall be:' but in America Is your Church the Body of Christ with the we say, 'As it was in the beginning, is now, but wounds full of the power of crucifixion and resur- [423 ]
rection, or is it a "subsidy of Caiaphas" and a bul- There is a crisis here today in the world. There wark of the privileged class? A challenge to your was once a crisis in Jerusalem. Uzziah the great creed! Is it the dry bones of formula, or is it the statesman king was dead. Then a young man, beblood in your spiritual veins, beating through your wildered like the rest, went to the temple to ask reason and firing your will? Can it be said of us God to raise up some one on whom they could lean. as of the apostles-"they thfl,t have turned the And suddenly God spoke to him. "Why not you ?" world upside down are come hither also"? The other day a young man, a Christian, came to me and said-"I believe the time is ripe for some 3. John Buchan, the new Governor-General of young man who actually believes in the risen and Canada, has just written another book-since his contemporary and reigning Christ to rise up and "Cromwell"-I mean "The People's King"-in sweep all young men of the country into following honor of the 25th anniversary of his gracious Him in establishing His kingdom." I said, "Why majesty, King George V. And in that book he not you?" brilliantly reviews the Georgian Era and its changes. Indeed he begins with 1834-100 years After all when I see Jesus Christ coming down ago, with a picture of young Gladstone and his the center of the world's stage the kindest, friendfirst t,erm in Parliament. Gladstone was only 25 liest, cleanest, gr,eatest, noblest, grandest figure years old. He returned to spend a week-end in of all ages, I observe that what He is really about Oxford. And what do you think his diary reveals? is calling for leaders. "Will you come? Will you He spent the week-end reading. Reading what? follow Me?" Pickering on "Adult Baptism!" "The name of the book," says Buchan, "moves me like a spell. And suddenly I hear a vulgar Philistine's Preposterous and yet magnificent! The symbol modern note, "What'll we get out of it?" of a lost security of soul long ago dropped by the wayside!" Then Buchan goes on to show the de- And His reply is the kind that challenges all veloping skepticism and religious languor of the that is finest in man-"Get out of it? You'll sleep end of the century. The manly humility, called the with me in the bracken. 'Foxes have holes and the fear of God, began to disappear. And then the birds have nests, but I have not where to lay my war-August 4, 1914. Sir Edward Gray looking head? Are you game? Drink a bitter cup! I out from his window in the Foreign Office as the must drink it. Are you able? I must go to the lights sprang out of the dusk said, "The lamps are cross and my followers too. Loneliness. Scorn. going out all over Europe: we shall never see them Opposition. Hatred. Death. Will you come?" lit again in our life-time." And then came the crashing of thrones and the filling of a world with "What if we are alone, and don't know the the noise and dust of them. And following the way?" war, the disintegration of morals, the flood of cloacal fiction, and petty petulant poetry, and joy- "I am the way. I will be with you to the ages of less gaity, and everywhere the familiar cliches ages." of decadence. "Where shall we go?" But now out of the depression-to be seen in facism, in communism, in nazism-everywhere "To the ends of the earth!" youth is springing forward with fresh willingness to sacrifice, with idealisms not to be denied, with "What shall we do?" a demand that the spirit shall be recognized. "Heal the sick, teach the good news, baptize 4. There is in the Christian faith the stability them into me and my kingdom !" not of stubborn death but of growing life. The larger universe has not destroyed God but enlarged You know what happened; a Power that went God. We need a bigger God than we have like wind and fire through Syria, through Greece, dreamed, and how the world today leaps to re- through Rome, and when Rome fell gripped the ceive Him. invaders, swept through France, England, Ire- land, Scotland, leaped to America, and is this Christ, as Tertullian said, is "not convention very day changing not only individual lives but but Truth." His shoulder, as Francis Thompson society itself in every part of the earth. said, is "too high for me to lean upon it," and yet how He stoops to us! Jesus Christ is bigger, vast- David Livingstone said, "We will go anywhere er, than we have dared to think, and yet as ever provided it be forward." I think of the three available to the hllmblest. The challenge is not young men who faced a wonderful picture in one from the new world to Him, but from Him to you of the galleries of Europe, "Come unto me." In it and me. one can see the sick, the sinful, the discouraged, the worldly -coming. But one young man stood longer than the rest searching the eyes of Christ, and letting his soul come up and speak and finally that young man did speak,- "0 Man of Galilee if I can help you in your great world job, count on me!"
– ¥;II &IA $
PAPAU TA CHAPEL – I N TERIOR; ALL-SAMOAN DESI GN A N D WOR KMANSHIP Building an All–Samoan Chapel * By EVELYN A. DOWNS 1·- L. M. S. Missionary, Papauta, Western Samoa ~==========================~ PAPAUTA L. M. S. Girls' School in Samoa is asked for a plan and took it away to consider now forty-three years old, and all through whether it could be constructed. A few days later those years the church services have been held he returned full of enthusiasm, saying that he and in the big schoolroom. The teachers and mis- his fifty men were ready to start immediately.
sionaries have talked often of a beautiful Samoan They would cut all the materials out of the forest, cruciform building for a church, in which only and would try to make everything as perfect as Samoan materials and workmanship should be possible. We had no idea of beginning so soon, used. but we felt that the opportunity might not come With this object the girls planted sugarcane again. So within a week we had fifty men in the two years ago, so that there should be plenty of compound with our plantation men. The old chiefs thatch if ever the dream were realized. At the of Saanapu decided to come to keep the boys in same time they began to plait sinnet from the order, and direct the work. The men were with husk of the coconut, for there are no nails in a us for six weeks and we had services together '
Samoan building; everything is bound together every Sunday. The boys as well as our own school- with miles of string. They are optimists, for girls caught the spirit of working joyfully to the times are hard in Samoa and at the beginning of glory of God. As the building grew, all seemed 1934 the church building seemed a far-away pos- to be conscious of the peace that pervaded it.
sibility. But God rebuked faintheartedness. The The foundation of a Samoan house is laid last sugarcane flourished as never before and the beau- of all. The heavy posts are first put in place, the tiful leaves were ready for mak,ing into thatch. beams hoisted on primitive levers made from Food plantations yielded more taro and bananas than usual, so that there was plenty of food for boughs of trees, and bound firmly to the tops of the carpenters who would live on the estate while the posts. After that all the work is in the roof. working. In June a famous Samoan carpenter We assembled for the raising of the first post, from the village of Saanapu, Iuma by name, came sang a hymn, and the Samoan translation of "God over the hills to visit and I asked him to come to be in my head and in my understanding." The talk of something new. There has never before posts are the trunks of large breadfruit trees been a Samoan building made with transepts. He brought down from our hillside plantations. The great crossbeams are coconut logs.
• R eprinted from The Ohr oni cle; April , 1935. While the young men were doing this heavy [425 ]
THE NEW CHURCH AT PAPAUTA WITH TRANSEPTS, PAPAUTA, SAMOA work, the older men sat under the trees and made Government High School offered to bring the the ribs for the roof, a long, tedious piece of work, while others shaped and spliced the rounded ends earth, and to build up the outside platform. The of the building. This was expert work, for all shaping was from rough logs, and measurements building looked something like a giant anthill, as only by eye. the two hundred boys and our own one hundred We had prepared 20,000 yards of sinnet (string), but we soon realized that there was not and fifty girls rushed backwards and forwards nearly enough. It is an expensive item if it has to be bought so we challenged the girls and asked carrying baskets of soil. them to make as much as they could in a week out-of-school hours. The compound resounded The girls had to go to a part of the beach nine with the thud of beating coconut husk, for the husk had to be gathered, washed, beaten, and miles away for a special kind of grey pebble for rolled before the plaiting could be started. Everyone, big and little, walked round for that week the surface, a species much admired by the with a bundle of husk, and the length of string grew steadily. There was tense excitement when Samoans. lit took two days to gather enough for we measured it a week later; even the tiny girls brought a few yards as their contribution. Alto- forty lorry loads. The village near by entertained gether they had made 26,000 yards in that one week and the sinnet, used in the entire building, the girls, and helped them with the work. is twenty-eight miles in length. The outside posts of the chapel are tree ferns, The girls also undertook to make the thatch, which is the leaf of the sugarcane twisted on to with a beautiful, rounded surface. There are a pieces of wild bamboo two and a half feet long. Some went into the forest to cut the bamboo, while hundred altogether, and they had to be brought others gathered the dried leaves of sugarcane. There are 8,000 pieces of thatch on the roof, made from a forest on a hill ten miles away. by the schoolgirls themselves. The girls helped also to make the lattice work When the building was completed, the next consideration was the floor, which must first be made and blinds, which are slats cut from the slender with heavy rocks, with a layer of beaten earth, and finally covered with a layer of small pebbles some wild coconut and bound together with string. six inches deep. The students of Malue offered to put in a day bringing up the heavy stones which They designed and made the basketwork lampthe girls could not lift; they worked very hard, but it was a merry time. Then the boys of the shades which cover the electric light and match the general scheme of the building.
To stain the woodwork we made a varnish from the bark of the mangrove, and darkened it, as it is red, with lampblack made from the candlenut.
There is very little furniture needed in our chapel, for the congregation sit in Samoan style on the floor for which old Papauta girls in the Tokelau Islands have made beautiful mats. The pulpit is of pomuli, a Samoan forest tree and the log had to be brought several miles. This was the gift of a friend of the school. , Now this truly Samoan chapel lies in the shadow of Vaea Hill, where sleeps Robert Louis Stevenson in his grave "Under the wide and starry sky"; and in front stretches a wide view of the sea beyond the white waves breaking on the coral reef.
Situation in Korea*
By C. BURNELL OLDS, Japan -<I£( Missionary of the American Board T HE process of Japanese assimilation is go- city of 150,000, are seventeen flourishing Pres- ing on in as healthy fashion as could be ex- byterian churches, half of them organized within pected. I heard some complaint from the the last fifteen years, while within the suburban missionaries that the attitude of the government area of the city are twenty-;five Presbyterian in compelling conformity to her program of shrine churches, with 350 country churches of the same worship and reverence for the Japanese soldiers denomination in the province.
who had been killed in battle in Manchuria, was On Sunday morning, in visiting half a dozen of not wise. these churches at the hour of Sunday school, I The government is making great strides in the found practically the whole church constituency Japanization of the population through her diligently engaged in the study of the Bible. No educational program. During the last year the church member or church adherent, old or young, number of primary schools under government is regarded as in good standing if he was not a supervision increased from 4,000 to 7,000. As regular attendant at Sunday school. In the first practically all the instruction in these schools is church visited, 1,115 children were gathered in carried on in the Japanese language this means well-organized classes, during the first hour of the that Japanese is fast becoming the language of morning, followed, the next hour, by 709 adult the country. women, while during the last hour, just before Since Japan is planning evidently to take over noon, there were 344 men gathered for their reg- into her own hands as rapidly as possible the en- ular class work. This made a total attendance at tire educational enterprise in Korea, the mission- Sunday school that morning in that one church, ary enterprise will of necessity have to undergo of 2,168, and that was only an average day.
considerable change. At present a number of sec- The preaching service is held regularly in the afternoon, but since this was a special day, in ondary and higher mission schools are doing work honor of the meeting of the General Assembly, a great mass meeting of all the Presbyterian of such excellent quality that the government may churches in the city was held on the playground of one of the large schools belonging to the misnot be able soon to dispense with them, but even- sion, and it was estimated that there were between 12,000 and 15,000 people present at that service. tually her own system will be so far perfected as This was followed by a parade through the city, in which some five or six thousand people parto make it difficult for privately controlled schools ticipated. Such is the strength of the Presby- terian church in that city, to say nothing of the to continue. Even now students of mission work of the Methodist churches which is, in some respects equally strong. The point to be noted is schools are put to a great disadvantage in view the universal emphasis put upon the work of the Sunday school, as the training school of the of the preferential treatment given to all grad- church. I was interested also to see how well or- ganized the work seemed to be. The classes uates from the government system. seemed to average between ten and twenty mem- bers, but even so, regardless of the large number The missionary in Korea, as compared with of teachers required, there seemed to be no dearth of teacher material. Hundreds of the teachers, I Japan, occupies a position of predominant in- was told, came from the boys' and girls' schools that the mission has in the city for some ninety fluence, though undoubtedly that is waning rather per cent of the student body in these schools is Christian and most of them are engaged in Sunthan waxing. The Korean Christians are begin- ning to chafe under the missionary's too persistent exercise of control.
One cannot but be impressed by the amazing efficiency of the organization that the missionaries have built up during this first fifty years in the Christian movement in Korea. • I was especially impressed by the strength of the organization built up by the Presbyterians and by the efficiency of the method developed by them.
To see the work of the Northern Presbyterians one needs to go to Pyengyang, the largest Pres- byterian mission station in the world. Here, in a • Condensed from The Japan Christian Quarterly. day school work.
[427 ] Effective Ways of Working j 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~=I================~====~======~ HOME MISSION STUDY the teachings of Christ are sufficient your church, locally and as a denomi- for meeting all the problems of the col- COURSES nation? lective life." 2. List activities and accomplish- The books issued annually for Devotional theme for the Course: the United Mission Study courses ments of your church which are funhave become increasing popular, "There remaineth very much land to damentally home mission and give not only for use in church or com- be possessed." Josh. 13: 1 c. (R. V.). reasons. List agencies in your community schools of missions but munity which illustrate the broader also in group study in Sunday Course Hymn: "America, the Beau- definition. Discuss the relation of the school, discussion sessions of the prayer meeting, as a basis for tiful." local church to these. programs in young people's and The Study Involves: A review of 3. Debate: The Church should conwomen's missionary organizations, and even as source mate- the pioneer home mission enterprise; fine itself to inspiring people to prorial for the pastor's sermons. Coupled with the reading courses an analysis of recent trends in our na- mote such activities as health and recin vogue in nearly all denomina- tional life as affecting and affected by reation centers, settlements, hospitals tions, they have made themselves the Christian Church; an appraisal of and clinics, rather than to engage in felt in church finances. One na- the present home missions program; a them as an organization. tional secretary of missionary consideration of the enterprise "in reeducation said that in her de- lation to the total task of the Church 4. Discuss the relation of the church nomination the relationship be- and to the inclusive purposes of the as an organization toward such evils tween study and financial re- Christian religion as these are under- as bad housing, civic corruption, liquor turns was direct and unquestion- stood and accepted by the Church." able. Whatever division of opin- and narcotics traffic, unwholesome ion there might be on the ques- Aims of the Course: tion of the continuance of for- 1. To review the history of home amusements, etc. eign missions, there surely can missions as a background for ap- 5. Make a study of one large city, be none as to the practical value praisal of the needs and opportunities of the home bookS" this year. indicating in parallel columns causes They have been linked up di- of the present. rectly with social, economic and 2. To consider the extent to which for growth, effect on industry, culture. religious issues of dominant im- distribution of population, etc., and portance. the existing home missions program is ways in which the Church tried to supplying spiritual ministry in Amer- meet new problems. Make a similar Toward a Christian America ican life. study of one rural field. by Hermann N. Morse affords 3. To define and assume our indi- Chapters 5 and 6 aim to discover excellent study or discussion material. Mrs. B. P. Heubner, of vidual Christian responsibilities in the areas in need of evangelization and to Galesburg, Illinois, sends the outline used by her as instructor in enterprise. evaluate the means available to meet the Boulder, Colorado, Summer Chapters 1 and 2 aim to discover the School of Missions. Only a few the needs. high lights can be used in our home mission motive and trace the be- Devotional Theme: "That all may limited space; but those wishing ginnings of the efforts. to secure the full outline may know Him." Rom. 10: 13-15. have it at cost price plus postage, Devotional The me: Yesterday's 15 cents, addressing her at 56 E. Spiritual Frontiers. Rom. 1: 13-25 Assignments: Fremont Street. (R. V.). 1. List methods used by your local The Key Quotation was: Home mis- Special Assignments and Devices: sions must think of the salvation of so- 1. A brief history of your church in 'churches to win men to Christ and conciety as well as of individuals, and that sider their effectiveness. America with attention to extensions in its program. 2. Original dramatization: A local church official board meeting with pas- 2. "The Missions Map Grows"-a tor discussing such questions as:- chalk talk indicating the settlement of How many of the present membership emigrants, approximate dates, indus- of this church are active in its work? tries affected by their coming and cor- How many do not attend services, give responding- missionary expansion. financial support or show interest in its program? Are there unchurched 3. Reading'S or dramatizations from people in the community? How can "We Must March" (Honore Morrow.). they be reached? What is our respon- sibility in their evangelization? In re- 4. "The March of Time," introduc- ing' the characters of Chapter 2. enlisting those on the membership list? 3. A review of your denomination's 5. "Thumb-nail statements" of pres- ent status of pioneer stations reviewed Christian Americanization work. in this session. 4. Story hour period of "human in- Chapters 3 and 4 aim to comprettend terest" narratives from such fields as the broadening scope of the ChurCh's function in American life. this session considers. 5. A thought question: Should the Devotional Themes: Today's Spir- itual Frontiers. Matt. 6: 33. (See Church carryon any activity which is text, p. 56.). The Christian as Inter- not in some way, directly or indirectly, preter. Isa. 40: 3. evangelistic? Chapters 7 and 8 survey the Church's Assignments: ministry of practical service as now 1. How have the forces summarized conducted and consider its relationship on page 52 affected the program of to the extension of a social welfare [428 ] program.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Devotional Theme: Jesus' posses- year was "Looking Upward- York City, marking package "Books sion of "new land" through service. Claiming Spiritual Treasures in for the Philippines," as many commu- Matt. 4: 23. (a) Bible Study; (b) Prayer nities are bookless although the people and Intercession; (c) Devo- love to read. Arrange a shower of Assignments: tional Books." This year's em- books and magazines (and magazine phasis is upon "Reaching Out- subscriptions.) for home mission insti- 1. Compile a list of home mISSIon ward-Seeking Living Treas- tutions. service agencies in your state. Is ure." The climactic note in 1936there duplication with similar govern- 1937 will be "Moving Forward- Set up an inquiry as to recreational mental or public agencies? Sharing Love's Treasures." This advantages, hospital facilities, etc., for year's emphasis is timely in view otHer racial or national groups in your 2. Use electrified map locating serv- of the study topics: "For the community and bring pressure to corice projects in your denomination. As ultimate measure of both our rect any inequalities. each light is flashed on, have a brief work in the homeland and our sketch of that project. Impersonate mission in Latin America must Sponsor a Church School of Misworkers at the various stations, giving be in terms of human lives and sions. information in the first person. human relationships. To a large degree the early exploration and Plan a Pan-American evening with 3. Review or readings from "Nurses colonization of the American an exhibit of pictures and objects illuson Horseback" (Ernest Boole) or continent were motivated by the trating home life, etc., in Latin Amer- "Clever Country" (Carolyn Gardner). search for material treasure. It ican countries and have a program in is the high mission of the Church keeping. 4. "Relay story," given like relay to rediscover America in terms race, of "Quare Women" or "The Glass of her living treasure." Coordinated with these programs is Window" (Lucy Furman). a leaflet packet interpreting each The September to January outlines month's theme by discussions, drama- 5. Exhibit of handicraft stimulated feature "Treasures at Our Door- tizations, stories, book reviews, panel by missions among Indians, Southern Awaiting the Pioneer": "In Rural discussions, conversations, selected Mountain People, West Indians, Mexi- Areas," "In Areas of Attitude and Ac- poems and the like, furnishing good cans and urban centers, its discussion tion" and "In the Paths of Peace." material for any denomination willing creating atmosphere and imparting in- Among the questions for personal to substitute its own specifics. formation about the various peoples. preparation are: Address the Society at Missions Chapters 9 and 10 appraise the prog- Do I, as an individual, enjoy any Building, 222 Downey Ave., Indianress made toward accomplishment of benefits as the result of home mis- apolis, Ind. the ultimate objectives of home mis- sions? What? sions. BULLETIN NUMBER Is my community a friendly place for Devotional Theme: Possessions to- the representatives of the various THREE gether in His Name. Heb. 11: 40 b; races and nations? Joshua 13: 1 c. Those who have used Bulletins How would these groups answer the Number One and Two of the Pro- Assignments: same question? fessional Advisory Section on Missionary Education of the In- 1. Survey of local social welfare A Christian order of society: what ternational Council of Religious agencies from standpoints of coopera- does this involve in regard to church Education (and the secretary retion, duplication or overlooking, and unity, race relations, housing, economic ports a large number of orders adequacy in meeting needs. conditions, etc.? from readers of THE REVIEW) will find the third issue, which 2. List important tasks in your com- What elements in our national life came out in July, of even greater munity which are done cooperatively retard efforts toward world peace? value, since it fits in with the two by churches and which can be consid- study themes for this year and ered as home mission tasks according January to June outlines feature provides excellent auxiliary and to the interpretation in this course, "Treasures Next Door-the Lay of the source material instead of spegiving attention to any tasks at- Land" : "Beyond the Rio Grande," cific methods as heretofore. It tempted competitively. "The Pearl of the Caribbean," "Cos- reports the main addresses given mopolitan Argoentina." "Libertv-Lov- at the February meeting of the 3. Study one cooperative orgoaniza- ing Paraguay" and "Treasures Sought Council and falls under the foltion like the Home Missions Council, and Found." Some of the questions lowing four heads: Federal Council of Churches, Mission- are: ary Education Movement, etc. 1. The address of Dr. T. P. H. What effect do the economic condi- Sailer of the Missionary Educa- 4. In parallel columns list the rela- tions of Puerto Rico have upon the tion Movement, on "The Situative advantages and disadvantages of Church? tion in China" and starts from denominational emphasis in the home this keynote: "The Chinese mission enterprise; of interdenomina- Has our country's attitude in the Church is too frequently giving tional cooperation. conflict between Paragouay and Bolivia its efforts to an imitation of been consistent with the teachings of the conventional forms of the 5. Discuss: If it could be demon- our missions? Church in the West rather than strated that it would be for the g'ood studying and meeting needs. of the cause of Christ in your com- How can the U. S. as a nation pro- Many Christian leaders, Chinese munity if your church were' disbanded mote friendly relations with Latin and foreign, gave testimony to and the members taken into another American peoples? this effect. . . . What should Protestant church, what &r'!'Uments be the Christian policy under for and against the plan would you ad- Some of the projects under "Reach- such circumstances?" The disvance? ing' Outwprd" are: cussion of this theme and also of Mrs. Heubner's complete outline Seek living treasures in your own gives many more assiO'nments and a church and community in a quest for very comprehensive biblioO'r3nhv. Ex- those who will share actively in memcerpts from her course on "Christi3n bership and service. youth in Action," l1S taugoht in July, at Lake Koronis, Minnesota, will ap- Send stories, books of travel, biogpear next month. raphy, handicrafts, the classics, etc., to the Methodist Episcopal Board of For- SEF.'KTN''''- T.TVTNG eign Missions, 150 Fifth Ave., New TREASURE Th~ United Chrh;tlan Mi<1sionary Society is working- lln~er a three-year program on "Treasure Seeking." The keynote last
the situation in Japan is detailed tive outline last year, their sub- -may be used to paste little outand authoritative and throws ject matter being divided into line bottles on whenever mismuch light on the matter of "Re- five- and ten-minute talks: sion stations at definite points Thinking Missions." are mentioned. Contrast with Opportunity. Vast, unchristianized the size of the world the few sta- 2. A panel discussion of home regions of our country considered and tions we maintain. missions participated in by Dr. pressing needs emphasized. Charles H. Heimsath; Dr. W. R. Expressional work may well King, Executive Secretary of the Charity. Large amount used in be the dressing of nurse and doc- Home Missions Council; Dr. J. medical mission work, etc. Brand in- tor dolls or the makiing of scrap- L. Lobinger, Chairman of the dispensable. books for children in hospitals Department of World Fellowship either here or in foreign lands. in the Congregational Education Spirituality. None of better quality. Visiting a real hospital, if one is Society; Miss Anne Seesholtz, Its company endeavors to make brand available, and making sunshine Executive Secretary of the Coun- more popular especially with students. boxes (filled with little toys, letcil of Women for Home Mis- (Deals with religious education, evan- ters, pictures, cards, etc., done sions; Rev. J. S. Stowell, Direc- gelism, etc.) up in separate packages and tor of Publicity of the M. E. marked to be opened at different Board of Home Missions, as well Unity. Increasing demand for this times) for use among crippled or as a number of people in the au- brand. Its lack one of greatest deter- charity patients would be a dience, the report indicating the rents to foreign missionary progress. prime expression. Some patients several contributions by identify- would be allowed to have fruits ing designations. Finer mate- Prosperity. Comparatively modern and candies. Playing games rial on the theme, "What is the brand grown by horticulturists under with the patients in hospitals for future of Home Missions in the direction of Christiani-tea Company. cripples is another activity, the light of the increased emphasis (Agricultural missions.) games being, of course, all of a on social relations"? can scarcely sort to be played sitting still. be found anywhere, and not only Brands of rival companies laymen but pastors and teachers were: Conformity (custom-fol- A suitable program for the inof mission study classes will lowing, as in China); Modernity spirational meeting might be as benefit by reading it carefully. (young China's flair for new follows : ventures); Infidelity (Russian 3. The address by Rev. S. brand in particular). A Chinese Hymn, "Rescue the Perishing," or Franklin Mack of the Presbyte- figure cut out of wall paper was "The Great Physician," followed by rian Board of Foreign Missions used to carry the program, name prayer. on his recent trip taking motion and date of each meeting being pictur€;s in Latin America for inscribed. Devotional lesson on "Jesus heals use in the interdenominational and then the disciples try." study of the current year dis- Crusaders of Compassion cusses at length (a) "The Re- Discussion of Presbyterian (or ligious Sit u a t ion in Latin This program for Juniors may whatever the denomination may be) America," and (b) "Protestant be held out of doors around a hospitals around the world, using map Achievements and Prospects" in camp fire, hence it fits in well as indicated. a fine, appreciative critique. with the present season. Stories of medical missionaries, taken Prayer for the sick, doctors, nurses, 4. A discussion by Dr. and from study books or the pam- native helpers, salvation of souls Mrs~D. C. Baldwin of their work phlet literature of your denom- through this ministry of healing, etc. among college students in Amer- ination may be divided into secica, with a view to throwing light tions and assigned to good talkers Dramatizations of little medical mison the facts as obtained from the in the membership; or if the sion incidents, in costume, may be students themselves, facing and stories seem a bit long, invite made very effective. analyzing the difficulties and sug- some intermediate members to gesting ways of meeting them. tell them. Seat audience around -Adapted from outlines by Miss College pastors and counselors a camp fire and have recreational M. Katherine Harris, in will find this particularly helpful. songs for the warming-up, then "World Comrades." lead into a good hymn before be- The mimeographed fourteen- ginning the program. After the J. Hudson Taylor said that the page report is sold at the cost story-telling, s,ing again, then following are necessary to the price of 25 cents. Address Miss quietly have your Scripture equipment of a missionary: Ruth HeinmiIIer, 2969 West 25th study and close with a prayer St., Cleveland, Ohio. before the social f eat u res. A life yielded to God and controlled Toasted marshmallows make a Christiani-tea Company good climax. Another group by His Spirit. might use the topic, "Bibles and The women of the First Bap- Pill Bottles," the program being A restful trust in God for the supply tist church of Hillsdale, Mich- written on paper cut in the igan, used the following attrac- shape of a pill bottle with pic- of all needs. tures of hospitals, nurses, etc., pasted on duplicate pages tied A sympathetic spirit and a willing- together with the colors of the organization. A good map of the ness to take a lowly place. world – homemade or otherwise Tact in dealing with men and adap- tability to circumstances. .
Zeal in service and steadfastness in discouragement.
Love for communion with God and for the study of His Word.
Some experience and blessing in the Lord's work at home.
A healthy body and a vigorous mind.
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BULLETIN OF ; The Council of Women for Home Missions ~=I=============================I~ ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK'
Setting-Up Conference for group their experiences, point- The discussion of the use of ing out the importance of the re- the 1935 vacation church school , Migrant Work lation of the Council staff to the migrants themselves, to the em- text for nursery and kinder- A dream of the Council of ployers and to the local commu- garten school, "Let's Go Out-of- Women for Home Missions be- nities. Thus the group was Doors," was led by Miss Frances came a reality this year when oriented in a measure to the sitabout thirty young men and uation in which they would find M. Hedden, Director of Chilwomen, who were soon to serve themselves. Now they were dren's Work, New Jersey Counin migrant camps in the East, ready for help in building pro- cil of Religious Education. met at Salvedale Camp, Califon, grams for the various aged New Jersey, for the first setting- groups in migrant camps-pro- Then, Miss Jeannette E. Perkins, up conference for migrant work, grams that would really develop member of the Editorial Staff, June 22-26. These were to be physical, mental and spiritual Congregational Publishing Sodays of preparation for Chris- strength. The faculty, all spe- ciety, and head of the Primary tian service among the migrant cialists in various fields, did an people in Delaware, Maryland, outstanding piece of work. They Department, Riverside Church, New Jersey, New York and Con- caught the spirit of enthusiasm New York City, suggested ways necticut through the summer of the group. The first and sec- of using "Exploring God's Outand early fall. These young peo- ond evenings Miss Marguerite ple, graduates and undergrad- Hazzard, head of the Depart- of-Doors," the 1935 vacation u ate s, represented Columbia ment of Church School Music, church school text for primary University, Mt. Holyoke College, School of Sacred Music, Union Sarah Lawrence College, Syra- Theological Seminary, showed children. She also fascinated cuse University, Bennett College, how to teach songs to groups, the group with her lesson in State Teachers Colleges of New taught a number of songs that spatter work and blueprinting. Jersey and New York, Biblical they in turn could teach, and Seminary, New Jersey College suggested many others suitable As the majority of the chilfor Women, Bucknell University, for the various age groups. She dren at the migrant centers dur- Colgate – Rochester D i v i nit y helped the group to see the vital ing the daytime are of nursery, School, Yale Divinity School, part that music can play in the kindergarten and primary ages, Princeton Theological Seminary, program at a migrant center. Northern B apt i s t Seminary, Miss Marie Gaertner, head of Eastern Baptist Seminary, and [431 ] the Nursery School, New Jersey Hartford Seminary Foundation. Interesting also was the wide College for Women, gave the range of denominations repre- young people invaluable help in sented: Northern Baptist, Congregational – Christian, Pro t- methods of handling children of estant Episcopal, Mis sou r i these ages and various types of Synod Lutheran, United Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, A. M. children-the friendly child, the E. Zion, Presbyterian U. S. A. shy child, the negative child, the and Reformed in America.
Although almost all were meeting for the first time, there seemed to be an unusual spirit of oneness in the group. For four days they worked, played, studied and worshiped together. Five former staff members who had served several summers in migrant centers reviewed for the
over-stimulated child, the fright- Work, led the group as they grower for his investment, risk, worry talked and thought together. and labor." ened child, the imaginary child, There were moments of quiet in the talkative child and the child the group, moments when each Experienced adult pickers are said with an inferiority complex. She one around that camp fire dedi- to make from $1.75 to $2.50 per day. cated himself to the task of mak- To those who say migratory workers illustrated story – telling and ing "more abundant" the lives should have more pay and better livshowed how to make toys and of the migrant people. ing conditions, the grower asks where playground equipment out of the additional money to provide these New Complication in the changes is coming from. He says with things at hand, such as cigar consumers in the cities demanding boxes, planks of wood, nail kegs Migrant Situation cheap food on the one hand, labor de- manding higher pay and better living and spools. The value of group The education, health, low conditions on the other, it is imposactivity with modeling clay was wages and living conditions, sible to satisfy both and stay in busi- have long been problems in the ness. Even today, the farmers say, also demonstrated. migrant situation. The relief the majority of their number are One evening Mrs. Newman, of program has brought a new com- heavily in debt. . . ." plication. To quote from the the Music Department of the New York Times, July 7, 1935: Labor Sunday Message, 1935 E. R. A. of New York City, Recent events in this extensive berry Excerpts from Message of demonstrated singing games and growing area (Hammonton, New Jer- Federal Council of Churches of community singing. At another sey) have focused public attention on Christ in America: session, Mrs. Pauline Rappaport, a situation that for many months has been the subject of much discussion in "But in the midst of our suf- Assistant Recreation Supervisor gatherings of fruit and vegetable fering a glorious truth shines of Bergen County, New Jersey, growers, whose crops are largely har- clear. For the first time in hugave excellent suggestions for vested by seasonal or migratory man history, man has the tech- workers. For many years labor of nical knowledge to solve his ecohandcraft both for little children this kind has been recruited without nomic problem. He can at last and older boys and girls. Prac- difficulty from metropolitan areas, en- provide sufficient material goods tically all of her suggestions tire families moving out into the coun- for an abundant life. Since the try to work as harvest hands as the depression the researches of could be followed out with very various crops matured. scientists and engineers, the findsimple equipment and could be ings of private and governmental Farmers contend that, with the ad- commissions, have been reiteratcompleted within a short space vent of emergency relief, it has be- ing this same basic fact. The of time, an important item with come increasingly difficult to obtain natural resources of the United harvest hands and other temporary States of America and the inchildren. labor. Matters came to a head here dustrial and agricultural equip- last week when, it is asserted, there ment are sufficient to give every While several of the other were not enough pickers available to man, woman and child the mamembers of the faculty touched move a raspberry crop variously esti- terial basis for the good life. Reon recreation, Mrs. Annetta mated to be worth from $300,000 to cent governmental estimates and Humphries, Recreation Super- $500,000. . . . other authoritative studies have indicated that had our plant been visor of Bergen County, New One criticism is that the farmer used to capacity in 1929 over Jersey, was exceedingly helpful underpays this help. This point has $4,000 in goods and services been made with respect to the two and could have been supplied to in showing how to teach games a half cents a pint the grower is pay- every American family. Neverto groups and she also taught ing for picking raspberries. . . . theless, 16,000,000 American families, or nearly two-thirds of games which were suitable for Another criticism the farmer has our people, actually received in the young people at the centers. faced bears on the living conditions on that year less than $2,000. . . . farms for migratory workers. From Health, a vitally important various sources it has been charged "Finally, the churches must that the camp-like environment in ceaselessly proclaim that out of part of the program was covered which the migrant workers live varies the heart are the issues of life. by Mrs. McLaughlin of the State all the way from "inadequate" to True religion must stand always Department of. Health in New "unspeakable." . . . not only against exploitation but against the very desire to ex- Jersey, and Miss Marie Doer- Support of the raspberry growers' ploit. The Christian religion mann, Specialist in Nutrition, contention that they cannot pay more demands now and must always Extension Work in Agriculture than two and a half cents a pint for demand that both human hearts picking was given by Professor J. and human institutions be conand Home Economics in New Harold Clark, small fruits specialist trolled and judged by that mind Jersey. Miss Doermann majored of the State Agricultural Experiment which was in Christ Jesus. . . ." on the planning of menus for Station at Rutgers University. Gross returns to the growers, he pointed out, Suggestions for the observance of lunches that would be tasty as have been six and a half cents a pint Labor Sunday and Bibliography may well as nutritious. Mrs. Mc- this season. Professor Clark said the be secured for five cents, from 105 Laughlin gave excellent sugges- grower would have to charge off one East 22d St., N. Y., N. Y. cent for the berry crate and boxes, tions for the care of babies in one-half cent for fertilizer, one-half the nursery, using a large doll cent for cultivation, hoeing and other for demonstration. growing costs, and another half cent for taxes, interest on investment and The last eve n i n g all met other overhead charges. around the camp fire to talk over the experiences of these days to- "This totals five cents a pint for all costs," Professor Clark said, "leaving gether, what these days of prep- one and a half cents a pint to the aration had meant, and the challenge of the task that each was about to undertake. Miss Laura H. Parker, Chairman of the Council's Committee on Migrant
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~~I_=====()==u=A=r=M=;xr=SiO=nO=ary=r=~d=ew=::V=~=!=~=:=c=ur=r~=mU=E=:=~~=s=o=k======_~~ JAPAN-CHOSEN John R. Mott in Japan than 17,000 members of the Union, which is established in The Far East Situa.tion As a result of Dr. Mott's re- many parts of the Far East. A cent conferences with the young J a pan e s e correspondent at Dr. Wynn C. Fairfield, Secre- Japanese, the following resolu- Tokyo states that Islam is still tary of the American Board, who tions were adopted and referred a long way from having any aprecently visited Asia, reports to the National Committee of the preciable standing in Japan. that, in general, Christian lead- Y. M. C. A. in Japan: Mohammedanism, he says, is ers take the whole Manchurian still classified in Japan among development as a fait accompli 1. Increased efforts to expand the the quasi-religions. unlikely to be reversed, and cer- work of the City Associations to new tainly not as a subject for con- centers, and to train the leaders for -Moslem World. tinued agitation on the part of such expansion. the Christian group. Even an Temperance League outstanding Christian, who care- 2. The adoption of a program that Anniversary fully refrained from defense of will elevate the quality of the present Japan, took the attitude that the student Associations. It is suggested Japan's Temperance League Christians had for years left the that the National Committee place a was 50 years old last April. The Manchurian question to the gov- student secretary in each important 16th National Conference was ernment. There is a general student center, or at least one man in held in Yokohama, where the satisfection with the successful each of the present districts. League was founded. The first negotiations for the transfer of session of the conference was in the Chinese Eastern Railway 3. Increase the number of student charge of the juvenile section of from Russia to Manchukuo. hostels. the League, and this was fol- This will clarify Japanese-Rus- lowed by a lantern procession in sian relations and make for 4. Adopt a program of leadership the evening. The public was peaceful understanding. training for Middle School Associa- surprised at the number of youth tions. enrolled in the movement, and The Christian group, as seen their ability and enthusiasm in in a number of personal inter- 5. A larger measure of cooperation promoting temperance. The views and larger conferences, with the various world-wide Christian N. T. L. is a reform movement seems to expect no further de- movements. of national importance, and with velopments in relation to China. government recognition is pro- Rather, the gaze is turned east- 6. Plan to establish Y. M. C. A.'s moting education for temperance ward, where the shadow of in industrial and rural regions. and purity in every nook and American militarism is pro- corner of Japan and her dejected. 7. Cooperate in the promotion of pendencies. ~mutual understanding among the na- Everywhere there was evi- tions of the world. Rebuilding Village Life dence of determined interest of Japanese, both Christian aI].d S. Study the possibility of pro- In proportion to her area and non-Christian, in better under- moting the Y. M. C. A. in Manchuria. population Japan has one of the standing and peacemaking. Rep- "Christian Leadership" and "Spiritual largest student bodies of any naresentatives of fifteen peace or- Habits" were discussed by Dr. Mott tion in the world. Tokyo alone ganizations met Dr. John R. with a force and persuasiveness that has 300,000 students attending Mott and expressed their strong moved every delegate to a new con- schools of various types and interest in the improvement of sideration of his own resources and grades. Japan has one of the understanding between Japan responsibilities. best organized educational sysand America. A representative tems in the world; her literacy of the Three Religions. Associa- Islam in Japan is 99.7 per cent. It is evident tions, formed in 1924, and in- that evangelism requires trained cluding Shintoists, Buddhists Almost 600 Moslems, includ- leaders. and Christians, quoted a Jap- ing Indians, Tartars, Turks and anese proverb: "If in a hurry, Japanese, have formed a Moslem Today, the Christian movego around." In international Union in Manchuria. The aim ment is reaching out into rural political matters, the way of is to preach the Koran in the Japan. During the past seventy rapid progress is to "go around" Far East, and the center of the years, Christian forces have through religion. -Advance. Union is at Tokyo. Little by concentrated their efforts in little they set up mosques and .schools in Tokyo, Kobe and other cities. The Japanese Govern- ment gave them free land for this purpose and provided teach- ers whose salaries were paid by the Government. In one of the Universities of Japan a special class with free scholarships to Moslem stu den t s has been opened by the Government.
At present, there are more [433 ]
cities and larger towns. Ap- entirely on the Presbyterian trained in Moo.dy Bible Institute, proximately 31,900,000 people Church in Korea and America. Chicago, and the Missionary live in 11,434 rural towns and The need for this Bible school is School of Medicine in Londo.n. villages. This inc Iud e s the great-to train Korean Chris- She Io.cated in Perigi, district of 1,450,000 fishing folk and the tian lay workers as evangelists Landak, built her own dwelling 450,000 miners, who are dis- and Bible teachers. and added a tiny dispensary. persed in these rural communi- She has also made prolonged and ties. Of the towns and villages, Some of the results of the arduous journeys into the far 9,127 lie beyond the range of work are shown in a letter from inland and untouched regions, by Christian influence. The Baptist the late Mrs. W. J. Anderson of means of coolies or bearers, Mission is in the initial stages Seoul: carrying food sup p lie sand of developing two Rural Life shelter. These journeys cover Demonstration Centers: one in Traveling over Korea the mission- new territory each time and last northern, and the other in south- aries frequently meet Pierson Bible as long as four weeks. Only the ern Japan. These projects aim School graduates who are doing effec- merest fringe of the territory at rebuilding the total life of the tive work. Mr. Oh, a blind student has been touched. village – agricultural, economic, had a class of twenty or thirty who social, moral and religious-on a met regularly at the Sung Dong The Scripture Gift Mission Christian basis and according to Church. The Koreans are great peo- sponsors this work and hopes to Christian principles. ple to follow the sun rather than the send another woman missionary clock, and on a dark, cloudy morning to join Miss van 't Eind. – Watchman-Examiner. service is very apt to be a half hour late in beginning; but these blind Suicide Among Dyaks Methodist Student Conference young men seem to have better sense of time than those with eyes, and they Unlike the Japanese who think The first All-Japan Methodist are always on time. After their Bible it co.urageous to take one's own Student Conference was held in study in one of the classrooms, they life, the Dyaks of Borneo think Tokyo during the summer, with come in to the church service. Mr. Oh it cowardly and shameful. The 60 delegates in attendance. married a widow with one little girl, following incident is to.ld in The a darling bright-eyed child dearly Pioneer: A committee was appointed to loved by all the blind boys. Her habit cooperate with the adult com- was to lead them into their places Some excited Dyaks summoned me mittees of the denomination in Sunday morning, always with a ra- to their long house and upon entering studying the needs, and ways of diant smile. I saw a strange sight. A Dyak woman meeting the needs, of students sat bolt upright against the wall. Her in Japan today, and particularly Rev. W. J. Anderson, of Seoul, eyes were closed, her head was tied to prepare for a larger and if is the new administrator of the against a board, her feet were tied possible an interdenominational Pierson Memorial Work. together, her hands were clasped bestudent conference in the near fore her. The woman was dead – a future. The significance of this Hospital Replaced suicide. I learned that because of first denominational national grief over the death of her husband student conference in this land Despite the destruction by fire and child she had drunk of the pulp lies in the fact that it testifies of the Southern Presbyterian of the tuba root, which brought her to the awakening of Japanese hospitals at K wan g j u and to a speedy end. churches to their responsibility Chunju, the medical work of the to students and youth; and indi- mission has had a most encour- I heard other Dyaks enter, then the cates that the churches as such aging year. At Kwangju a new sound of loud slapping and angry must hereafter be reckoned with building has already replaced the voices; the relatives of the suicide as important factors in the stu- old one, and the record for hos- stood over her corpse and beat it undent Christian movement in the pital operations was greater mercifully, accompanied with loud de- Japanese empire. than the total number during the nunciation of her action, inasmuch as previous two and one-half years. it was a disgrace to all her relatives. -The Christian Century. In cramped, temporary quarters, 137 operations were performed. Usually the Dyaks bury their dead Pierson Memorial Bible School in rough boxes made from trees. To There has been a marked in- sh6w their contempt in this case, they Owing to changed conditions crease in the members enrolled merely tied three boards together, in the church and missions in in mission schools. During the which served as a stretcher. The men Korea, the Methodist Missions year 1,451 communicants have hurried off with their sorry burden, (North and South) have with- been added, while 2,736 have off to a lonely grave apart from the drawn from the work of the been added to the catechumen others. There was no ceremony, no Pierson Memorial Bible School roll. The list of communicants lamenting, nothing but loud scolding. in Seoul and that institution is now stands at 13,318 in a Chrisnow entirely under the control tian constituency of 42,000. In the Dutch East Indies of the Presbyterians. This will • -Christian Observer. siUlPlify the problems of man- .In this area there are a comagement and teaching while it ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC paratively small number of well places the financial responsibility developed Reformed churches bf Untouched Areas a strict Calvinistic type and a few smaller groups, such as the About two years ago a new Adventists, with adherents prin- area was opened to the Gospel by cipally in humbler circles. By Miss Greet van 't Eind who was far the greatest number o.f the Christians belong to. the General
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Protestant Church. The old that he wanted to be christened largest Protestant denomination, East India Company had in its as soon as he was strong enough with 10,027,929 members. The time introduced the Reformed to walk to the church. Weare Methodists were second, with Church which was the prevalent especially rejoicing because this 8,976,492. The largest religious one at home in the Netherlands. man is influential in his commu- body in the country was still the The Company considered it to be nity." Roman Catholic Church, with its duty to foster not only the 20,398,509 communicants. matters of commerce and juris- The Year in the Philippines diction, but also those of religion. Contributions made by church It founded the first congregation The United Evangelical Church members for all purposes in in 1621 in Batavia. About the of the Philippines continues to 1934 amounted to $299,416,781, same time a Lutheran congrega- grow. Its slogan now is, "Uni- or $12.07 per capita. tion was organized. In the fication of all activities." The middle of the 19th century the organization of a National Chris- Church Effort for Children King of Holland succeeded in tian Endeavor Union and of sevuniting the Reformed and the eral district unions marks this The United Presbyterian Gen- Lutherans in one denomination. as a year of real progress for eral Assembly of 1935 appointed This church has done much good Christian Endeavor. One society a special committee to promote a in the course of three hundred has taken as its special project serious effort to reach all chilyears. The Dutch government the transportation expense of an dren in America with the Chrishas always fostered tbese church earnest Christian who goes each tian message. In Sterling Colinterests in the warmest manner, Sunday afternoon to the near-by lege, Kansas, thirty-four of the even in the case of occurring leprosarium and conducts a Sun- best students signed the followvacancies. In such times the day school for some of the 150 ing: government assumed the care lepers there. There were 9,429 for the vacant congregations, children enrolled in the 247 daily DECLARATION OF PURPOSE their church buildings and had vacation Bible schools in the even the cemeteries kept in area served by Presbyterian mis- It is my prayerful purpose to lead proper condition by prisoners. sionaries. In one congregation, at least 10 boys or girls into real 18 of the children so enrolled trust in Christ as Friend and Saviour Medicine Man Becomes united with the church. One through being a Leader of one or Christian section reports that accessions more Boys or Girls Clubs which I hope to organize. It is also my purpose to Dr. Hawkins K. Jenkins, of this year were 93 % more than help in all possible ways to extend the Saguda, P. I., writes of a signal knowledge and experience of Christ victory over native medicine the average for the seven years to all Children and Youth in America. men. preceding. There are 400 church-con- "One of them became seriously -Women and Missions. nected colleges in the United ill himself, and immediately be- States. If 34 students in each gan to offer sacrifices to evil NORTH AMERICA formed a similar resolution this spirits. He was a sincere be- would mean 13,600 volunteer liever in the teachings which he Churches Gain Over One leaders of boys and girls. had helped for years to pass on Million Members to those younger than he, so he Coverdale Bible Anniversary was quite puzzled when he found George Linn Kieffer, statistithat he derived no benefit from cian of the National Lutheran Over the signature of Robert the sacrifices. When it was Council and head of the Amer- E. Speer, John H. Finley, Wilquite evident that he would soon ican Association of Religious liam Allen White and Martha die unless something more effec- Statisticians, reports that church Berry, announcement was made tive could be done for him, he membership is increasing in the in July of the formation of a naasked to be brought to the hos- United States, and that the gain tional committee to sponsor a pital. There we found that he last year was the greatest since nation-wide commemoration of had a very large abscess of the 1930. the four hundredth anniversary liver, and advised that he be of the first printed English Bible. operated upon immediately. To There were 207 religious Dr. Finley, speaking for the comour great surprise he consented, bodies in the United States in mittee, stated, "On October 4, and now th!>t he is well again he 1934, with a total adult member- 1535, the first printed English is one of the most ardent sup- ship of 62,035,688. These bodies Bible, a translation by Myles porters of the hospital. Shortly added 1,222,064 members. The Coverdale, was issued from the before leaving the hospital he Methodist Episcopal Church, press. During the four centuries told me that he wanted to be- with an increase of 210,475, since that date, it has not only come a member of the Church, headed the list of Protestant de- surpassed in circulation any that he was no longer satisfied nominations. The B apt i s t other book in the world, but has with worshiping evil spirits and Church, which had previously profoundly influenced the lives been first, came second with a of peoples and the ideals of gov- gain of 161,720. The Lutherans ernments. Regional, state, city were third with 101,118. The and church committees through- Baptists continued to be the out the country will arrange suitable programs."
New Bible Society dren carrying heavy burdens of great need of new departments Headquarters pain, suffering, hunger, adnidsesaosre~ of research and medicine. The debt, ignorance, terror, Scudder family has given 400 The American Bible Society years of medical service through has purchased a six-story build- row. medical missionaries in India. ing at 450 Park Avenue, New York, as its general office, li- Rev. James Myers, in his ad- At another "Round Top" sesbrary and salesroom for Scrip- sion Mrs. Peabody spoke of the ture'S. The new location in a dress, said that "missionaries danger of war between Italy and fireproof building will not only Ethiopia, and said that the safeguard the Society's records have ~v.er been the shock troops Treaty of Bethlehem rather than and library containing Scrip- the Treaty of Versailles is the tures in 639 languages and dia- of relIgIOn. They are Christians only hope of peace, as the only lects but will enable it also to successful internationalism is make exhibits and displays of its unafraid, and know how to face that under the leadership of the rare manuscripts and editions Prince of Peace. which for many years have been loneliness, misunderstanding left for safekeeping with the Hungarian Church Celebrates New York Public Library. The persecution, danger, martyrdom' Society hopes to occupy the new The First Magyar Reformed building in the fall, so that it and death in the supreme loyalty Church under the shadow of may be used in connection with Cornell Medical Center in New the celebration of the Four Hun- to Christ. As the church turns York City, is celebrating three dred Years of the Printed Eng- anniversaries this year. The lish Bible from October to De- now with missionary zeal and work was begun 80 years ago cember. when Kossuth visited the United courage and sacrifice to the high States. Forty years ago the members of this church formed adventure of the abolition of war, we may look forward with renewed assurance to the final victory of peace and goodwill among men."
The 2000 people in the parade pledged themselves as follows: "Because I cannot reconcile the Way of Christ with the practice of war, I pledge myself before God to work for the abolition of war as a method of settling international dis- A Demonstration Against War putes and to insist upon the use by a permanent organization, and 20 years ago the new building A dramatic demonstration all governments of the machinery of was erected. against war was impressively peace to maintain international jus- tice and goodwill."
presented by the Northfield Mis- Women's Conference at Manhattan's Abyssinian Northfield Church sionary conference on July 11th. A special Women's Confer- The Abyssinian (Negro) The Peace Parade was hailed as ence was successfully arranged Church in Harlem, New York, this year in connection with the added 771 members last year "an omen of profound signifi- General Conference (July 27- giving the church an enrolled August 12). Mrs. William R. membership of 12,808. The cance in the religious crusade for Moody was chairman, with Mrs. church raised from all sources Henry W. Peabody cooperating, $33,120.76; $8,584.62 of this a warless world." and nearly 300 women regis- amount went to benevolences. tered for the morning sessions. The church ended its fiscal year The Parade for Peace started The general topic was "The Bi- with a surplus of $1,160. ble Our Message: Everyone a at Round Top, the grave of Messenger." This church has a staff of twenty-nine paid workers, in- Dwight L. Moody, pas sed Speakers inc Iud e d Mrs. cluding t'WJ missionaries in Li- Moody, Mrs. Peabody and Mrs. beria, Africa. It gave last year through the village of East Delavan L. Pierson, who has re- $900 toward the support of the cently visted New Guinea, India, Chair of Religious Education at Northfield and back to the camp- and other fields; Mrs. John F. Virginia Union University. It Williamson, of the Westminster owns a home for its aged memus. The Cross was borne in the Choir School; Miss Gnanadi- bers at 732 St. Nicholas Avenue, kam, M.A., of the Madras Wom,.. Manhattan, and all its properties front followed by the massed col- are free of debt. The pastor for an's Christian College, India. 27 years, Rev. A. Clayton ors of the Church, the flags of On August 4, meeting was de- Powell, celebrated his 70th birth- voted to the medical work of Dr. day anniversary May 5 and dothe nations, missionaries from Ida Scudder of Vellore, India, nated $1,000 to the Home for the who has spent thirty-five years Aged which is named after him. many lands, many nationals in in South India and has opened a native costume, students, nurses, delegations from churches with- in a radius of fifty miles and the 600 members of the Missionary Conference. Salvation Army bands furnished the music.
The most striking float de- picted Flanders Field with rows of crosses, each one bearing a silver dollar sign and the Dsolollgaarn~ "Munition Makers Reap -Others Reap Death." The bowed figure of a "gold star mother" in heavy mourning sat Christian medical college that in the foreground. The final has sent out nearly 200 graduate The First American Foreign float, with the slogan, "Genera- Indian women doctors, all of Missionary tions of Children Bear the Bur- them Christian. An endowment Susan Elizabeth Kaske, wife of dens of War" showed the chil~ is being sought and there is George Kaske, was the first na-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
tive-born Protestant missionary Mohammedan Association (that strength of the institution. to go out from America to a for- is, Russian Tatar Moslems) in Starting with six members in eign land. The Moravian Church Brooklyn, a three-story wooden 1830 there are now over 700,000. of Bethlehem, Pa., founded in building; and the only Moslem With its branches and missions 1741, sent her with her husband newspaper is El Bayan, pub- it records nearly 2,000 church in 1746 to South America where lished in New York City, with a organizations. There are seven they served in British and Dutch circulation of 2,000. temples where the inner rites Guiana. Susan E. Funk was are performed. The church uses born November 18, 1721, in Ger- Leaders strive to present a the radio, printed page and the mantown and moved to Bethle- new and more or less enlightened rostrum as channels for its meshem in 1843. On May 12, 1746, Islam, keeping in the back- sage. There is a system of relishe married George Kaske, and ground aspects at variance with gious education second to none, they went to work among the modern ideas, e. g., the position starting with the Sunday school, Indians of South· America in of women. The number of con- continuing through the seminary Berbice, Demarara. They la- verts must be less than 10,000; for week-day religious instrucbored there until 1763 and Mrs. it is not to be expected that tion ; and cuI min a tin g in Kaske died in Bethlehem, Pa., on Islam can be more successful Brigham Young University. July 28, 1804. here than in Europe. -Presbyterian Banner. Recently on June 2, 1935, the -G. H. Bousquet, in "The Women's Missionary Society of Moslem World." LATIN AMERICA the Bethlehem church celebrated its 117th anniversary. Ozark Mountain Children Work for Puerto Ricans Taught Bible Moody Institute Lectures A united evangelistic cam- Hugh B. Reid, of Carthage, paign has been carried on in A new venture is to be Mo., writes that through the co- Puerto Rico in a very unique launched by the Moody Bible In- operation of rural public school way this year by the churches of stitute of Chicago, September 5, teachers he is reaching more five cooperating denominations. according to the President, Rev. than 11,000 children of south- These services, extending over Will H. Houghton, D.D. The western Missouri with a Chris- several weeks, p r act i c a II y plan involves the visit of a num- tian program. About 5,000 of brought the presence of Christ to ber of Bible teachers and church- these receive no other Christian the entire area where Protestant men of unusual prominence, each training. Mr. Reid reports that churches are located. The final serving a one-month lectureship. results' of this campaign have They will be especially stim- 585 families were called upon. not been tabulated, but Dr. Arulating and informing to pas- 460 pieces of clothing were given chilla reports that the number of tors, evanglists and other Chris- accessions should reach at least tian workers who aspire to a to the needy. a thousand. greater mastery of the art of 81 toys were given at Christmas. expository preaching. Among 470 addresses were made. The Puerto Rican church, althem are the following: Dr. Wil- 63,000 pages of reading material were ways aggressively evangelistic liam Evans, expositor, author and missionary, was responsible and lecturer on Bible themes; given away. a number of years ago for the Dr. B. B. Sutcliffe, Bible class 634 books, and more than 1,300 opening of work in the Dominiteacher; Dr. Harry A. Ironside, can Republic. The Presbyterian a clarion voice in the field of ex- Bibles, Testaments and Gos- mission is now proposing to position, pastor of the Moody pels were distributed. carry the gospel in Spanish to Memorial Church, Chicago; and 48 were added to Cradle Rolls, and the Puerto Ricans who have col- Dr. Wilbur M. Smith, editor of 92 to Young People's So- onized in the Virgin Islands if Peloubet's Notes. cieties. finances permit. Representa- 6 new schools, with an enrolment tives of the presbytery have vis- Islam in America of 216 were added. ited the island of Santa Cruz, 48 conversions resulted from 5 re- have preached there and discov- It is impossible. to know the vival meetings; and 30 from ered that there are 150 members exact number of Moslems in the 27 Vacation Bible Schools in of the church in the colony of United States; perhaps 25,000 which over 900 were enrolled. several thousand. is a fair estimate. The largest 169 took a leadership t r a i n i n g center is probably Detroit, with course. Baptist Work in Puerto Rico 10,000. There are about 2,000 10,700 Bible verses were memorized in Pittsburgh, 3,000 in Cleve- by school children. The Watchman-Examiner reland, 5,000 in greater New York, 8 institutes were held. ports advance on all fronts in 2,000 in Massachusetts, 500-600 7 teachers' conventions and Puer·to Rico. There were more in Rhode Island. The only real 145 rural public schools were vis- baptisms than for several years. mosque which exists today in ited. The Sunday school attendance is America is that of the Anglo- the largest in the history of the Mormonism work. Offerings have moved To most Americans Mormon- ism is a curiosity. "But," says Dr. W. M. Paden, "it is more than that. It is the largest, wealthiest, best located, best or- ganized, most aggressive of all the false religions of America." Not everyone is aware of the
upward and church membership The balance of their sustenance mander of Jutiapa was an enemy continues to increase. they make up by tenant farming of the gospel and when Don Jose and odd jobs. The Campaign began to offer Scriptures for During the year representa- shares in the expenses of fur- sale… the commandant took him tives of the various denomina- nishing free rent and firewood to jail, struck him twice on the tions working in the island made for the transients, and thus se- head, pulled his hair, and said, a tour, covering the greater part cures the opportunity of making "What do you mean by preachof the work of all denomina- suggestions as to sanitation and ing without my permission?" tions; this was followed by four of asking for reports on the Don Jose replied that the law days of conference – review of number and nature of the con- gave him perfect liberty to the past, evaluation of the pres- tacts made at each lodge. Cam- preach. "Oh," said the coment and plans for the future. paign evangelists make regular mandant, "you know more than visits to the lodges to help the I do." "No," responded Don Cuban Pastors' Conference lodge keepers make our Lord Jose, "you know that as well as known to the travelers, and then 1." The commandant hunted for Last winter Cuban pastors follow up prospects in their the jail keys. Don Jose told him called a meeting of representa- homes. Well located lodges are he would not run away, but the tives from every church organ- operating in s eve r a I places. keys were found and the doors ization throughout the entire Re- Since its opening in March the locked, and five guards placed in public to form an association of San Pedro house has been the charge! The faithful worker evangelical ministers and work- means of reaching 171 Indians sang hymns and read his Bible. ers for the purpose of promoting with the Word of God in direct In the morning he was released cooperation am 0 n g religious personal evangelization. and ordered not to preach, but to groups. Foreign missionaries leave town. Don Jose made no were invited to attend, but it was A Steadfast Indian promises, but went out and sent in every sense a distinctly Cuban a telegram to the President of movement. Plans are made to Work among the Cakchiquel the Republic, asking if he had a put this into effect throughout Indians of Guatemala was men- right to preach the gospel. The the six provinces of Cuba dur- tioned in the REVIEW some time reply came quickly and read as ing the next year. ago. About 100 preaching cen- follows: "You have liberty to ters are now estaollshed, and a preach the gospel as long as -Presbyterian Banner. Bible school has trained 25 grad- peace is not disturbed." uates. The quality of the con- "Over Night Lodge" verts is apparent in the story of Eventually,arrangements were Don Macario, evangelist. Some made for public meetings; at the The Guatemala News indicates years ago a man knocked at his first, twelve persons accepted the possibilities in a work called door about midnight. When Christ. "Flop Houses for Indian Tran- Macario opened the door he was sients." Migrant groups of In- struck with a machete which al- -Moody Institute Monthly. dian laborers and their families most severed a cheek bone from huddle around their little camp his face. He was taken to the White Ribbon Mission Work fires at night along the road- hospital at Antigua and after a sides, or in the public squares of few months returned home, Missionaries find that the the towns. The dirt floors of the healed but with disfigured face. Woman's Christian Temperance open thatch roofed sheds along He began preaching in his home Union is the right hand of the the highways are often very and a mob of several hundred church in many foreign lands. damp and always vermin in- tore down the house. But he has fested. .Even in the towns the the Indian persistency. The In Japan alone there are ten corridors of the public buildings house was rebuilt, and eventually thousand women members of where the Indians sleep on the the town ceased opposition to this brganization, and thousands brick paving are exposed to the him and his preaching. About of young people and children in fury of the elements and afford 125 worshipers assemble at his the various branches. Twenty little in the way of shelter. Ex- home every Sunday. thousand men are united in the haustion may induce a few hours masculine Temperance League, of disturbed slumber despite the -So S. Times. largely as the result of the efnight life of bugs, rodents, dogs; forts of the W. C. T. U. As a but between two and four o'clock Open Door in EI Salvador result of their activity, a law was in the morning the cold becomes passed in Japan a number of so pentrating that the migrants For some time special prayer years ago forbidding minors to are glad to be up and going. had been offered for Cabanas, smoke or drink. There are three with its population of over temperance periodicals-one for Christian evangelists have in- 66,000. men, one for women, and one for stituted the over-night lodge children. Besides the direct war which has become largely self- About a year ago a colporteur, against alcohol, tobacco and supporting. A Christian family Don Jose Escamill,a, made a drugs, members have attacked in charge does a simple lunch passing visit to Jutiapa, a town the social evil most vigorously, counter business which provides of over 3,500. The military com- have established rescue homes, for a part of their own table.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
two women's homes, hostels for and conditions in these homes has also a much improved rev- have shown improvement almost enue. On the other hand the factory girls, a sailors' resort, immediately. Methodist Society shows a deand a social centre, all of which ficiency of £ 5 8 , 0 0 0, but its is testimony to the fact that -Flora E. Strout, Rio de friends believe it is only a tem- Christians realize that social Janeiro. porary deficit. evils are among the greatest hindrances to the progress of the EUROPE Calvin Anniversary Gospel in Japan. Youth's Mission to Youth The summer of 1936 will wit- In Singapore, the W. C. T. U. ness a great pilgrimage to established child welfare work, The twenty-fourth anniver- France by American Presbyand in the exhibitions temper- sary of the National Young Life terians, Scottish Calvinists and ance always has a prominent Campaign of Great Britain members of Reformed Churches place. Colombo, Ceylon, has a brought out the fact that this in all parts of the world to comcounter-attraction to the saloons movement is definitely passing memorate the 400th anniversary in a large working man's resort, from the experimental stage, and of John Calvin's "Institutes of where three hundred men gather is becoming a strong evangeliz- Religion." It was in August, each day for the classes, lectures, ing agency. During the years 1535, that Calvin, then only 26 games and delicious refresh- since the War the N. Y. L. C. has years old, dedicated to King ments. In India, Egypt, Pales- developed in various ways, such Francis I, of France, his vigtine, in every place where the as the additions to headquarters orous exposition of the Christian Gospel is preached, the W. C. staff, voluntary evangelists, the faith. From March 15 to April T. U. assists in conquering the missIonary service and training 15 the French National Library social enemies of men, women fund for helping young people will feature a Calvin exhibition and children. to enter missionary service. of manuscripts, books and other Churches are according in- documents. There will be Cal- In 1894, the W. C. T. U. was creased recognition of the value vin memorial celebrations in born in Brazil. In 1925, it was of its service. other cities than Paris, notably reorganized under the name of Noyon, his birthplace, and Ge- UnHlo Brasileira Pr6-Temper- The number of actual cam- neva, Switzerland, where he anc;a with some of the most intel- paigns in the past year num- spent most of his life. ligent women in Rio de Janeiro bered fifty-seven, beside those on the national committee. It carried out by teams from the -Missions. influences all sorts and condi- London School of Evangelism tions of men even. For the last and a Liverpool team of young Russia Rediscovers Values three years during the carnival men doing similar work in their spare time. The income for the That a new Russia is emerging season, Government has not per- year showed an increase of £500. from the Soviet chrysalis apmitted anything stronger than The most encouraging feature is pears to some observers. Signs beer to be sold to the people on the increasing zeal for evangel- are multiplying that she is trekthe street and only allowed wine ism of the members themselves. king back to the safe and sane and champagne to be served There are now more than 300 principle that the family is the with food in the clubs. This who have entered either the min- corner stone of civilized society, year gambling was added to the istry or the foreign mission field and one of these signs is the prohibitions. since the War. fact that "Romeo and Juliet" may now be played in Moscow During temperance wee k, Increased Mission Funds theaters. Says the Boston Tranthere are talks over the radio, script: "People won't play at bemoving pictures on scientific For the most part the leading ing robots forever. They've got temperance, essay and oratorical missionary organizations 0 f to have music and novels and contests. The barracks are not Great Britain show increased in- plays and fairy tales and relionly open to talks at this time, come for the past year. The gion. The rulers of the Soviet but their own doctors give the London Missionary Society re- are, little by little, retreating soldiers and police accurate in- cords an increase of £6,324 in from their earlier position; they formation in periodical lectures. contributions during the past fi- are beginning to recognize that nancial year-the first increase man cannot live by bread alone." The schools are always open to after seven years, during which temperance propaganda, and the the income has been going down. Crowded churches last Easter, pupils become temperance mes- The bulk of the increase is from without consequent molestation sengers to their homes. So in- personal donations, but contri- on the part of government, seems formation grows and the results butions from the churches have to show that hostility to religion are little short of miraculous. increased as well. Baptists re- is weakening. Children who had port a £5,000 increase. The lately been rewarded for betray- In a very poor district, where C. M. S., which keeps its total ing their parents to authorities much of the poverty is caused by cash receipts together, has an must now be taught to honor drink, the children have carried increase of £51,654. The S. P. G. their fathers and mothers. information concerning the evils of alcohol with the result that cachac;a (national whiskey) has been banished in some instances
AFRICA fore next meeting of the confer- out how the cinema can best be ence three years hence, to evan- used as an instrument of adult Moslems Copy Christians gelize effectively the whole of education and recreation adapt- the large areas in their care; so ed to the needs and mental equip- Mohammedans are seeking to that it could be reported that ment of the African. African emulate Christianity in doing for every village and hamlet, even Missions have much to gain by the blind similar work to that every isolated farm or com- the success of this project, which being done in Egypt by medical pound, in these areas had re- should furnish them with a new missionaries. A note in Al Ah- ceived the Gospel. The growth instrument to use in their work. ram reads: "Students of the of opposing forces was the im- Specialists' Department of the pelling motive. South Africa Sunday-School Higher Training College at Shu- Association bra have formed a society for The question of one African combating blindness and in- Church for Nigeria has faced the Wayside Sunday schools are structing the blind. They ap- Conference for some years, and a prominent part of the work peal for the blind to be sent to it was agreed that the most carried on by the South African them." helpful course to follow in the National Sunday-School Associa- meantime would be to develop tion. In Port Elizabeth there Visit to Algeria among the Christians the con- are now thirteen such schools sciousness of unity that already with an enrolment of 7,000 chil- Rev. W. L. McClenahan, of exists, and to that end it was de- dren each Sunday, and in Cape- Egypt, writes of a visit in Al- cided to hold spiritual life con- town there are five with an avergeria, covering about 1,200 ferences, and to publish a Chris- age attendance of 400. One waymiles with a view to assisting in tian periodical in Hausa, which side Sunday school in Port Elizathe work of evangelization, to would give accounts of work and beth has gone so far as to hold a gain further knowledge as to the blessing all over the field, thus service every Sunday afternoon needs along that line so as to promoting the sense of oneness for Indian women, another conhelp in prayer those already on in Christ Jesus. ducts a wayside Sunday school the field; also to furthering in- on Saturday afternoon which has terest on the part of those who Twenty-seven delegates from an attendance of sixty or seventy might themselves go out and give six societies were in attendance. white children. Noon day lunch a hand in the work. meetings of Sunday school teach- -The Christian. ers is another feature of the As- "One thing that attracted our sociation's work. attention," says Dr. McClena- Motion Pictures for the Bantu han, "was the simplicity of the -The Presbyterian. methods used by missionaries in The International Missionary their work. The contacts they Council's department of Social F have with the people are ob- and Industrial Research has just tained through open-air markets, embarked upon an experiment to WESTERN ASIA visits in the homes, classes for provide good cinema films for women and children, and in a Africa, with the help of a grant Sabbath Observance in few places 'homes' for children from the Carnegie Corporation Tel-Aviv and hostels for lads. In no case of New York. I believe have they entered to Tel-Aviv in Palestine is the any large extent into the field The first step will be the pro- only one hundred per cent Jewof education and medicine. Be- duction of films performed by ish city in the world. Sharp difing in a section of 'the land of native actors, the subjects of ference of opinion and practice the Vanished Church' the mis- which will relate to life and with regard to the religious obsionaries there are in a some- scenes familiar to the African. servance of the Sabbath apparwhat different position from that Some will deal with such prac- ently exists among the Jews of those in most Arabic-speaking tical subjects as improved meth- there, for recently riots took countries, where there are an- ods of poultry keeping, cattle place in the course of which, accient Christian communities, and raising, etc.; others will relate cording to the Jewish Daily Bulare thus able to work along to culture and a few will be pure letin, several persons were insimple, New Testament lines in comedy. The films will be shown jured. Orthodox Jews, it seems, the planting of churches." to selected Bantu audiences to paraded the streets on the Sab- discover the appeal made by dif- bath, and began to break the -A Thirsty Land. ferent types of pictures, and windows of all Jewish shops will be accompanied by a talkie which were open. They inter- Far-Reaching Decision commentary produced by syn- cepted taxis containing Jewish chronised gramophone records. passengers with the result that At the triennial Conference of street fights broke out requiring Missions in Northern Nigeria, The fullest possible coopera- the intervention of the British held recently at Miango, a reso- tion of the missions and govern- police authorities. In commentlution was adopted, urging that ment departments (Native Af- ing on this disturbance Jewish all the societies in the northern fairs, Education, Health, Agri- writers point out that on the Provinces should endeavor, be- culture, Veterinary) is being whole Jewish youth in Palestine sought in this enterprise to find
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
is antireligious. The orthodox established Evangelical Church of Bible Motor Caravan Jews are particularly indignant Iran. over the fact that Jewish youth The British and Foreign Bible in Palestine carryon sport ac- The Assembly rejoices to welcome Society has des i g ned and tivities openly on the Sabbath. to the fellowship of the Evangelical equipped a motor caravan which Church throughout the world, this new is to tour India, and possibly 'I'he Plight of the Assyrians church of Iran so largely the product Ceylon, selling Scriptures and of the work of the missionaries of the generally forwarding the work The Assyrians of Iraq (Meso- Board of Foreign Missions of this As- of the Society. The van carries potamia) are Christians – un- sembly . . . and assures the Church a large stock of Scriptures, seleceducated it is true, but profess- of its affection and prayers, and trusts tions of which are attractively ing to be followers of Christ in that by God's blessing the most glori- displayed behind glass panels in spite of persecution. Groups of ous days of Christianity in past cen- the side. There is s'eating ac- Assyrian Christians have fled to turies may be surpassed by the service commodation for f 0 u r passouthern France, Syria, Iraq and and faith of this new Church in Iran. sengers, in addition to the driver, elsewhere and most of them are and a sleeping berth for use living in dire poverty. The On August 19, 1934, was held when necessary. It is also European office for International the first meeting of the United equipped with a gramophone, Church Aid – in Geneva – is Evangelical Church of Iran. and a magic lantern for showing seeking to help these groups. The moderator of the Church, as slides on the Life of Christ and Some camps have been provided he took the chair, called upon the the work of the Bible Society. for Assyrian widows and or- delegates to keep clearly in mind Later it is hoped to include a phans in Iraq but in the villages that the one purpose of the meet- portable cinema outfit. Two or north and south of Mosul, 35,000 ing was the advancement of the three months will be spent in are living in misery. Few lands Church of Christ in Persia. each main language area workare willing to receive them. The ing in close cooperation with Universal Christian Council has On August 23d, the date of the local missions and churches. been trying to find a new home closing, a communion service The initial tour began in the for these people – in British was held, exactly 100 years to Madras Presidency in January Guiana-but there the climate is the day, since Rev. Justin Per- of this year, and during the two unsuitable. Western Christians kins arrived in Tabriz under the and a half months spent in the should not rest until this prob- appointment of the American Tamil country over 10,000 Scriplem is solved. Board of Commissioners for ture portions were sold. Foreign Missions. The service, PROF. ADOLPH KELLER. therefore, was a fitting close of -Dnyanodaya. the century. The sacrament To Beautify Holy Ci.ty was administered by one or- The Literacy Problem dained missionary and one or- Announcement is made of a dained national. The past and India's illiteracy problem is "five-year plan" to make Jeru- the future were thus joined. colossal, nearly 92 per cent of salem as beautiful as in the days her people being unable to read of the ancient Hebrew kings. INDIA or write. During the last ten The municipality of Jerusalem years the rate of increase in lithas obtained a half-million dol- Boycott of Hindu Gods eracy in India is one per cent. lar loan to aid in launching a Taking into consideration the program of civic improvements. At a Harijan Conference last rate of natural increase of the The funds are to be used in pro- population also, one is not sure viding a park system and for the April, a delegate, in moving a whether the net result of progimprovement of sanitary condi- ress in literacy is not in fact tions in the city. resolution to the effect that the progress backward. Even at the present rate of one per cent in- Evangelical Church of Iran Harijans of Hyderabad State crease in ten years, it would take 920 years before illiteracy can The Presbyterian General As- should strive their utmost to be removed from India. Only a sembly took the following action very small percentage of public at its meeting in Cincinnati in eradicate untouchability from revenue is available for mass May: education. Hinduism, declared that there The General Assembly has learned -Christian Century. with joy of the establishment of The was "a ID;'eaningless superstition Evangelical Church of Iran with its Poona's Colleges independent Synod and three presby- among Hindus that if an unteries, and has been happy at this ses- Poona has the reputation of sion of the Assembly to approve the touchable entered a temple, the having more colleges than any transfer of the Presbytery of Eastern other city of its size in the Persia, heretofore connected with the god in the temple would be pol- world. Its, population in 1931 Synod of New York and with the Gen- was 250,000. What has been eral Assembly of the Presbyterian luted, and he advised them to Church in the U. S. A. to the newly boycott such gods as were pol- luted by their touch."
The Conference also exhorted Harijans to eradicate drink and other evil customs. It was re- called that the Nizam's Govern- ment had already ordered the prosecution of those who offered girls as devadasis to goddesses, and that they should help the Government by reporting such cases. ' -Dnyanodaya.
described as India's premier non- some' terse statements which ters of the Han and Yangtze official educational institution, summarize the progress made, Rivers. Fergusson College, is also in with Christian missions the es- Poona. Its jubilee occurred last sential element: Northern provinces also con- April. The influence it has in tinued struggling to imprison modern India is indicated by the Has the best government which she the raging waters of the Yellow fact that during the fifty years has known since the founding of the River, "China's Sorrow," as it of its existence about 70,000 Republic in 1911. roared headlong to the sea, students have received their edu- crushing its barriers to engulf cation there. The Deccan Edu- Forty thousand miles of new roads immense districts of farmlands. cation Society is the parent of have been built in the last five years. this college; it also sponsors an- The report from Red Cross auother Arts College and four high Broad avenues have been cut thorities in Hankow combined schools in Poona. through the poverty-ridden sections of with reports from neighboring many of her cities. areas indicate uncounted thou- -Dnyanodaya. sands of Chinese who have per- "Clean-up campaigns" have im- ished in the Han and Yangtze Jubilee in Western Tibet proved the sanitation of a host of floods. towns and villages. The remoteness of western Government authorities an- Tibet from the civilized world The railroads, telegraphs and mails nounced that five northern provdid not prevent its inhabitants grow daily more efficient. inces of China have been devasfrom joining other loyal British tated, leaving about six million subjects in celebrating King Increasing education is lifting the people homeless. George's Silver Jubilee. Kye- moral tone of the people. lang, a Moravian Mission Cen- Ohinese Ohild Welfare ter, has never known an occa- The "New Life Movement" is stimsion comparable to it.. Early on ulating many reforms, such as the at- The first national Child Welthe morning of May 6 the Chris- tack on the opium trade which has fare Conference was held last tians assembled in the church taken place in many provinces. October, with 134 delegates from for a thanksgiving service, while 14 provinces in at ten dan c e. the Buddhist clergy met in their Although numbering only one Branch associations have been monasteries to read passages in a thousand of the population, organized in Peiping and Luanfrom their scriptures which they the Christian group has supplied hsien, and plans are under way thought would be appropriate. an astonishing proportion of the for one in Nanking. The secre- The c e Ie bra t ion included leadership of the co u n try. tariat handled 123 cases of child speeches from the missionary Fifty-one per cent of the college protection. In June, 1934, the and the headmaster of the Gov- graduates listed in Chi n a's Association attempted to proseernment Middle School, parades, "Who's Who" are the product of cute a professional dancer for various competitive sports, bon- Christian schools and colleges. cruelty to a six-year-old adopted fires and native costume dances. daughter. Although the court Everybody was out to enjoy him- A Year of Opportunity found the defendant guilty, it self, and did. Unlike many of was compelled to waive jurisdictheir social functions which de- Two years ago the Honan tion, as the Association lacks the generate to orgies of lust and Mission of the United Church of right to prosecute in accordance drunkenness, there was not the Canada opened a small hospital with the present criminal code. slightest trace of these vices in Taokow. During the first The Association therefore has during the two days' rejoicings. year 5,443 treatments were petitioned the Juridicial Yuan registered; the total cost being for this right to be given to child The people here, living under $3,206 Chinese currency, of welfare bodies. the administration of the British which $1,521 was received in Government, are more world- fees, the balance being taken The Shanghai Child Welfare aware than their compatriots in care of by Canadian friends. Clinic treated 12,344 patients; other parts of Western Tibet. Over 700 flood refugees were 1,818 children were given free The medical, educational and cared for the past two years. In baths; 1,611 children particimilitary activities of the Gov- addition, 52 expectant mothers pated in health club meetings; ernment, not to mention the in- from refugee camps were cared nurses made 414 calls on pafluence of the mission, have re- for, and every baby saved. tients at their homes. Since sulted in an understanding of the Schools were organized for teen- March 1, 1934, 4,654 cases were influx of Western ideas. age boys and girls from these handled in extension medical camps. From one point of view, clinic work. A child tuberculosis -Moravian Missions. the flood has been a blessing; section has been erected at the these sufferers have come under Ching Chong Sanitarium at OHINA influences they would otherwise Kiangwan. have missed. There are some Evidences of Progress 2,000 villages in the Taokow April 4th was widely observed field. -Honan Quarterly. as Children's Day, and 1935 is The American Board, under to be a Children's Year. the title, "China Changes," gives More Deaths by Flood -Chinese Recorder. In July reports from China stated that 30,000 bodies of flood victims had been assembled in the Hankow area alone. This indicates the toll, taken in Cen- tral China by the receding wa-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Through Eye Gate in Hong port shows how, at Yungkang, to send him as a Christian the aim of creating self-support- worker. He found a native hut Kong ing churches is being realized. in a splendid location near the Seven years ago the missionaries market, where he has been wit- Mr. H. Lechmere Clift of from Yungkang went home un- nessing for Christ ever since." Hong Kong, sees a unique op- able, for health reasons, to reportunity there, both of attract- turn. The Mission agreed not In another center a Christian ing the indifferent and of help- to send resident missionaries Annamese opened a barber shop ing missionaries. In a letter to there again, but to ask the work- in the market center, and wit- The Life of Faith he says: _ ers in Kinhwa to render what nessed to every customer who help they could. For one'or two came for a haircut. He gave his For years my dream has been to years not much happened, and home for a meeting place, and have a book-shop in the very heart of there were very little signs of thus a strong evangelistic center the business section of Hong Kong. progress. By and by, church has been established. The show windows of the shop are to leaders saw that they must have large open Bibles in English, either shoulder their responsi- -The Call. French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, bility and throw themselves into Urdu and Chinese. Passengers of all the work, or face the possibility Religious Life at Nanking nationalities here change their ships of its discontinuance. Men and University and come ashore to see the sights. women voluntarily went every- where preaching and teaching, W. Reginald Wheeler writes of On the mainland itself, in the thick with the result that the church progress in the religious life of of Kowloon's residential flats, we al- has gone forward by leaps and Nanking University. All chapel ready have such a shop: and the bounds. Eight or nine new cen- service and classroom religious books, pictures, posters and open Bi- ters have been opened, and this instruction is on an elective bles attract the attention of the year 97 adults have been bap- basis. crowds of Europeans, Americans, Por- tized. All expenses are met by tuguese and Chinese passing by. Then church members. There has been a subsidence of the there are throngs of tourists and we anti-Christian attitude of previous could reach them also. Some hun- -China's Millions. years, but there is much still to be dreds of pounds a year would be re- done and won, and the battle is not quired to run such a shop. It would The Cambodia Field an easy one, either for Christian stube not a paying business from a com- dents or faculty. Those who choose mercial point of view, but a spiritual Mr. Jeffrey, of the Christian the Christian way of life have enenterprise: not bringing in monetary and Missionary Alliance, says gaged in a real conflict "and there are gain, but saving immortal souls, and that the past year's results in many adversaries." Here is a student proving a marvelous witness in a French Cambodia have been who had decided to become a Chrisgreat city given over to money-mak- most gratifying. The previous tian and be baptized. He comes from ing and pleasure. year had seemingly been the a family of wealth and influence. darkest in that field, but work None of his family are Christians; his China Mission Losses was established in four new father learns of his contemplated step places last year ; at Prey Nop, and the boy is compelled to drop out Missionaries and missionary center of a large district; at of this Christian University and go enterprises in China lost heavily Kampot, capital of the province; to a government institution. Here is in the failure of the American- and in two villages; in each another student, with a shining face, Oriental Banking Corporation place the way was opened un- to whom I am instinctively drawn. and allied companies last May. expectedly. "We were refused After class he comes to me and says: This enterprise was promoted by permission to open a chapel in "I want to be a Christian. How do Frank J. Raven and was known Prey Nop," says Mr. Jeffrey, you be a Christian?" The boy has as a "missionary bank" since it "but one day we drove out there had a difficult path since that decision, catered to missionary patronage. in company with some of our but he has stood firm and has been The China Weekly Review, Cambodian workers. As we baptized into the new faith. Such ex- Shanghai, says: "Not only have traveled along, we felt led to periences are both a challenge and a mission organizations suffered stop the car in the shade of the reward. potential losses on invested forest for a season of prayer. funds from $3,500,000 to $5,000,- While we prayed, one of our In the faculty there has bepn real 000, but thousands of individual workers broke down in tears, religious activity, though we still have missionaries scattered over the and in prayer offered himself to far to go. During the year two "reinterior have their retirement, God as 'a living sacrifice' for the treats" have been held; one in a home-vacation and educational opening of the work in Prey picturesque Buddhist temple. Seventy funds locked up in these enter- N op. Although a Bible school of the faculty, Chinese and foreigners, prises. . . . One of the maj or man and well versed in the met in this temple. During- the sinl!'- casualties of the Raven bank- Word, he was willing to go there ing' of one of the hymns an old Budruptcy was the American Epis- as an ordinary farmer, since the dhist monk made his way to the altar copal Mission which has ap- Government would not allow us in front of an image of the Buddha proximately $700,000 tied up in and placed a single stick of burning stocks and bonds of the defunct incense there, as if afraid this new companies." religion might displace the worship of one who had lived and taught cen- Self-Support Achieved turies before Christ.
The following extract from the MISCELLANEOUS China Inland Mission annual re- A Survey of Progress Canon Stacy Waddy, Secre- tary of the S. P. G., visited the
United States on a world trip to Cases arrested without defor- (b) Golden Rule observance of visit Anglican mission fields. mity, i. e., symptom free. . .. 1,054 Mother's Day, He reports steady progress in many places, notably the estab- Cases arrested with deformity 359 (c) Religion and Welfare Recovery lishment of a new diocese in Program. West Africa known as the Gam- Of the remaining patients bia. Further progress is indi- some became worse, or station- 3. Allocation of relief and welfare cated by increase in numbers, ary, and a considerable number funds as grants-in-aid to instituconspicuously in D 0 rna k a 1, left or died; 704 of the cases ar- tions and agencies recommended where 12,000 were baptized in rested without deformity were by the Committee on Research the year and where an assistant, discharged and 126 of those ar- and Survey. Bishop Elliott, has just been pro- rested with deformity. In addivided to aid Bishop Azariah in tion upwards of 6,900 lepers 4. Administration of Trust Funds for the enormous work of that dio- were treated as out-patients. Philanthropic Purposes. cese. -Without the Camp. Each year the program be- Looking to the future, Canon comes more practical, varied, far Waddy points out two factors in GENERAL reaching and strategic. Among missionary procedure, not new the 1935 objectives are: Feeding but of great significance. One The Bible Needs No Witness the hungry, healing the sick, reis migration. Races and groups lieving the underprivileged in of people have always moved In a letter to the New York neglected areas, development of about over the face of the earth, Times, Dr. J 0 h n Hay n e s self-help, character building and acting as carriers, such as the Holmes recently offered a pro- religious and welfare recovery. Jews, the Tamils of South India, test at the representation of the and, particularly at the present discovery of porcelain archives, Dynamics vs. Mechanics time, the Chinese. There are almost 3,000 years old, as "of said to be some eleven million vast importance in corrobora- It is evident from the present Chinese outside China. Where tion of Bible stories." "Are we conditions that the primary hitherto the Church has worked never to learn," asks Dr. Holmes, problems of our day are in the in places, it now moves out to "that the Bible is itself a first- realm of dynamics, rather than work along lines of communica- class historical document, or col- in the realm of mechanics. The tion. There is also the increas- lection of documents, which no need of the hour is not more ing importance of printed mat- more needs confirmation than knowledge, but more action; not ter. To quote only one instance, Thucydides or Tacitus? . . . more campaigns, but more consenew ideas are p e Ii e t rat i n g Instead of saying that these cration; not more statistics, but throughout the Moslem world by archreological deposits in Pales- more spirituality; not more means of printed matter, and the tine confirm the Bible, why not councils, but more cooperation tremendous possibilities of this say that the Bible confirms these with the Holy Spirit. are seen especially in the fact deposits? It is the 'porcelain that printed matter can pene- archives' just unearthed that There is no dynamic power in trate among Moslems in lands need authentication, not the Christianity that has not staked that missionaries are still for- Biblical text. I count it high its very existence on belief in the bidden to enter. Other oppor- time that we drop our subcon- Holy Spirit. Without this the tunities, for active personal work scious suspicion of the Bible and Christian Church will be timid and for the use of printed mat- accept it without reserve for when it ought to be courageous, ter, are offered by the pilgrimage what it is-one of the most pre- bewildered when it ought to uncenters which are visited by cious and trustworthy records of derstand, stagnant when it ought thousands yearly, especially in human history now in possession to be alive. Belief in the Holy the Orient. of the race." Spirit means that the Christian Church is called to dare great Some Leper Statistics Golden Rule Foundation adventures and take tremendous risks. Only when the Christian Returns received from 50 dif- The Golden Rule Foundation, Church essays the impossible ferent stations in fndia, China, does it give God a chance; only Korea and Africa where the Mis- incorporated by special act of the when it achieves the impossible sion to Lepers maintains, or aids does it prove that the Holy Spirthe work, show the results of Legislature of the State of New it is not merely a theological leprosy treatment during the proposition but a living reality. year: York, March 29, 1929, seeks to It is not learning, or wealth, or organization, or equipment that Patients under treatment for serve the American public as "a will enable the Christian Church not less than three months .. 9,157 to conquer the world; it is ac- people's foundation," rendering tual belief in the Holy Spirit. If Number of above who slightly we would silence our theologic·al improved …………….. 2,800 to the average citizen a service controversies, our ecclesiastical rivalries, our counsels of expedi- Number much improved …… 2,772 which includes: – ency, our clamor for money, we might again "hear what the 1. Investigation of appeals as to rela- Spirit saith to the churches" tive need, efficient administration, more clearly than we hear Him and strategic importance. today. -John McDowell.
2. Stewardship education and stimula- tion of increased giving by pro- motion of: (a) International Go 1den Rule Week,
Missionary
Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information I===============================I~ Outline of Buddhism, C. H. S. Ward, The discussion of Nirvana will devoted uncompromising, con- sistent, loving, self-sacrificing pp. 149, % net. The Epworth Press, be found interesting and illumi- Christian parents. Here too we see (under God) hope for the umdon, 1934. nating. The author summarizes future church and the mission- ary enterprise – not in highly- This little volume is one of the very well the various views held trained specialists, but in well- Great Religions of the East se- educated youth who are "born ries, edited by Eric S. Water- of the Buddha's' concept of Nir- again" and who truly "seek first house, M.A., D.D. It has been the Kingdom of God and His said that he knows not England vana. righteousness." who only England knows. The same may be said of Christian- The book is well written and John and Betty Starn would ity. To understand Christianity have made their mark anywhere. it is necessary to understand well documented. It will be use- Betty had rare gifts as a poet other religions. The struggle of and writer and John was a Christianity with other religions ful for classes and study groups musician and trained for busiis not in the past, but it still is ness, but these and other gifts ahead of us in the future. At and should prove helpful to those were made to serve the cause of present nationalism and com- Christ. Here is a true romance, munism loom large, but the fun- who are at work in Buddhist a tragedy in human eyes but a damental attitudes of Buddhism triumph of faith and love. will have to be faced by thinking lands. The careful definitions Youth will find in this story the people. essentials to stimulate ambition, and exposition are valuable at courage and devotion. Buddhism is one of the universal religions. It must be un- present when so many ideas are Christian Realities. By Robert E. derstood by Christian mission- Speer. Pp. 258. Price, $2.50. Flemaries. This volume has for its presented in the name of Bud- ing H. Revell Company. New York. object the discussion of the type of Buddhism found in the Pali dhism. LEWIS HODOUS. In a recent sermon Dr. Fos- Pitakas and what is easily de- dick made a strong plea for realducible from them. It does not The Triumph of John and Betty ism in thought in religion: deal with Mahayana Buddhism. Starn. By Mrs. Howard Taylor. While this limits it to the Bud- 127 pp. 40 cents, paper; 75 cents, Pleasing sentimentality, wishful dhism of Ceylon, Burma and cloth. China Inland Mission. Ger- thinking, idealizations, comforting Siam, the book will prove of val- mantown. 1935. faiths; satisfying optimisms-these ue to those who are working in are the devils of the new generation. countries where Mahayana Bud- The main facts as to the mar- Nothing will do today except realism. dhism is practiced. tyrdom of John Stam and his wife, Elizabeth Scott Stam, at In the realm of theology, for ex- The aut h 0 r takes up the the hands of the Chinese com- ample, the liberals are being soundly sources of our knowledge of the munists last December, are al- trounced nQW by a group of men who Buddha and his teaching. Then ready well known. The wonder- call themselves realists.. The trouble he gives an account of the Bud- ful preservation of their three- which the realists find with the liberals dha's life. This is followed by a months-old "m ira c I e" baby, is serious. Against the background of Helen Priscilla Stam, has also the old theology, with the wrath of God discussion of Buddha's teach- become famous in the annals of and the fear Qf hell in the ascendency, ing and the order of Bud- mIssIOnary history, but this the liberals reacted to the opposite exdha's disciples. A sketch of the brief story of the early life, edu- treme. They ceased being grim and historical development of Bud- cation, missionary call, courtship became sentimental. dhism and a discussion of Bud- and two years of service in China dhism as a religion conclude the will be new to many. It is fold He goes on to say that when main part of the book. A selected by a very highly skilled and men become sentimental "they list of literature and an index of spiritually sympathetic b i 0 g- streamline their theology to renames and subjects complete the rapher. duce wind resistance."
volume. Here is a thrilling and deeply The present volume deals hon- significant story of two young estly and intelligently with reali- lives who II y consecrated to ties in the realm of Christian Christ and his service. As we read we see that consecrated parents can definitely count on h a v i n g consecrated children. The five Scott and the eight Stam children are all definitely Chris- tian and active in Christian work or preparing for it. Here we find the secret in united, sympathetic, Any of the books noted In these columns wlIl be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[445 ]
thought and life. In his book a great book with a great mes- for a building for Colored men "The Finality of Jesus" Dr. sage for our own day. and boys. It is a remarkable Speer presented a strong apolo- fact that this offer should have getic for the Christian faith- S.M.Z. come from a man of another the Deity of our Lord, and the faith; but it clearly indicates the unchangeable character of the I Am a Chrj,s,tian. By Jesse R. Wilson. value which a man like Mr. Christian message. In these ad- Pamphlet. 25 cents. Student Vol- Rosenwald placed upon the work dresses, taken down as they were unteer Movement. New York. 1935. of the Y. M. C. A. His deep delivered, the emphasis is not on seated sympathy for the strugdogma, but on life. The unreal Today students and youth gen- gling Negroes of our country in the realm of fact is myth, but erally wish not only theory but however has been shown in many in the realm of conduct it is in- practical experience as a basis other practical forms of helpfulsincerity and hypocrisy. The for faith. Clear cut testimony to ness which never can be forgotfirst chapter answers the ques- such ideas and experience are ten. As a result of the offer just tion, "What is Christianity?" what the Secretary of the Stu- mentioned 25 Y. M. C. A. and two Dr. Speer says: dent Volunteer Movement gives Y. W. C. A. buildings have been us in this pamphlet, but the basis erected in cities like New York, We believe in an objective deliver- is Jesus Christ, the Son of God Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washance wrought on Christ's Cross and in and only Way of Life. Being a ington, Chicago, St. Louis, Los a living Presence, and we will not be Christian involves for Mr. Wil- Angeles, etc. Weare sorry to confused or misled, nor caused to doubt son at least four things: A note that only two (Atlanta and or deny. We believe in a Life rthat Christian experience, faith, phi- Dallas) are found in the deep was here and that we have seen at losophy of life and hope for the south, where most of the Negroes work in the world, and that we know world. These four essential eleto be here now; and that it works now ments he sets forth, explains and reside. in us, in the lives of 'men and women illustrates in f 0 u r chapters. Among other matters treated whom we know and love, and in whom They are simply and clearly and through whom we have seen God stated, practical and true and is the distinguished war service in our time in Christ. will be helpful, especially to in- rendered by Dr. Moton, Max telligent youth who are seeking Yergan and others, and Mr. Yer- In a following chapter the au- light. gan's later efforts for the stuthor presents from a personal dents of South Africa. The auangle what Jesus Christ means Life on the Negro Frontier. By thor in the closing chapters tries to him and does for him. Other George R. Arthur. 259 pages. $2. to face modern difficulties and chapters are entitled: "The Es- Association Press. New York. problems, and through a quessentials of Christian Disciple- tionnaire sent to the Rosenwald ship"; "The Perils of Being a This title gives no inkling of aided institutions to discover Christian"; "Living in the Care the fact that the purpose of the methods for their improvement. and the Will of God"; "Finding book is to portray the work of One's Self." The strongest of the Young Men's Christian As- R. M. LABAREE. the seventeen chapters, in our sociation among Negroes. The opinion, is that on "The Gains of author claims (and we think that Apolo, The Pathfinder-Who Fol- Conscious Unattainment." It is he is correct) that the large cities lows? By A. B. Lloyd. Illus. 12 heart-searching and heart-re- create for the Negro many of the mo. 68 pp. 1 s. Church Missionvealing. conditions which formerly pre- ary Society. London. 1935. vailed on the far western fron- As a matter of fact, the best man tier-the large number of new Apolo wa-s an African canon never does his best. That was the arrivals, many of them young of the Church of England-a agony of the life of St. Paul; he never men and women; the sudden s t ron g character and a true realized his ideals. He looked back break from old home ties and Christian who worked among the over his life, and always found some- conditions; the resulting demor- pygmies. His story is unusually thing that he had not succeeded in do- alization in manners and morals. impressive and shows the true ing. It is because of this similarity results of Christ's work in an that he justifies his title "Life on African heart. This converted Dr. Speer's theology does not the Negro Frontier." and educated African went as a include perfectionism. As we missionary into the trackless might expect, the last four chap- The Treatment of the subject forests of Pygmy land, worked ters deal specifically with the is largely historical and descrip- with his own hands as a pioneer missionary enterprise and tell of tive, showing the conditions un- pathfinder and prepared the way an adequate Gospel for the need der which the Negroes live, the for further advance. This is the of the whole world, of areas in origin and leadership of the Col- third book about Apolo. Read geography and in life still un- ored Y. M. C. A. work, and more the fascinating story and you claimed for Christ, of the present especially the most interestIng will agree with Bishop Willis of and stimulating support of it Uganda who says: "As truly as task that faces the Church, and given by Julius Rosenwald of Christ lived in St. Paul, so truly, of the undiscourageable convic- Chicago, when in 1910 he made if to a less conspicuous degree, tion that the missionary enter- the offer to give $25,000 to any He lived in Apolo of the Pygmy prise will not fail, but will come city in the United States which to glorious -I'ruition. Altogether would raise an additional $75,000 forest."
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
The Conquest of Cannibal Tanna. By philosophy. After completing 1. Let the approach be unequivo- A. K. Langridge. Illus. 8 vo. 199 cally religious. pp. 2 s. 6 d. Hodder & Stoughton. his theological course at Prince- London. 1935. ton, he spent sixteen years as a 2. Let every Evangelical Christian missionary in Peru where he learn to think Eurindian (a synthesis The New Hebrides Islands of founded the Anglo-Peruvian Col- of European and Indian elements). Melanesia were made famous by John G. Paton whose thrilling lege. As a side issue he became 3. Let there be a profounder apprestories of missionary adventure a professor in the University of hension of Christ crucified. have captivated thousands. Now San Marcos, Lima and lectured the secretary of the John G. for seven years under Y. M. C. A. 4. Let the new Christian communi- Paton Mission briefly reviews ties be educated and equipped for servand continues the story. It was auspices in many cities in Mexico ice. nearly 100 years ago when the and South America. Besides his first Christian missionary ven- 5. Let the new frontiers be adetured among the fierce cannibal books in Spanish, his "The Other quately manned. islanders. John Williams was Spanish Christ," has given him murdered in 1839. Sam 0 a n wid e reputation as an inter- 6. Let all contacts between the Christians volunteered for serv- preter of Latin American in- Americas be Christian. ice in 1854 and many lives were sacrificed. Godless traders and tellectual, social and religious 7. Let us face the full implications raiders made the work much conceptions. This study is more of being Christian. more difficult. popular in sty I e but equally Those who read this illuminat- John G. Paton and his young worthy of careful reading. ing study will have a new underwife landed on Tanna in 1838. Dr. Mackay shows the two standing of Latin Americans and The story of his work is well the problems and opportunities known. Before he died fifty Americas and their peoples in that confront evangelical misyears later medical work had sionaries. The good index is a been started, a Church had been striking contrast. Latin Amer- help and the carefully selected built and the work was formally icans strongly dissent from the reading list invites to further established. In 1922 over 500 study. natives partook of the commu- U. S. A. habit of monopolizing nion. The story is deeply im- the name "American." To them India Calling. The Memories of Corpressive but would be more sat- "The Other America" is of much n~lia Sorabji. Wus. 8 vo. 308 pp. isfactory if the last twenty-five 12 s. 6 d. James Nisbet & Co. Lonyears of the mission had been greater importance. The vari- don. 1935. pictured with greater complete- eties of climate and physical feaness. tures are compared with the Born in India of high class, e d u cat e d Parsee parents, That Other America. By John A. characteristics and forces that brought up in intimate contact Mackay, Ph.D. 8 vo. 214 pn. $1 00. mark the people, their upheavals, with Hindus and Moslems, later Friendship Press. New York. 1935. educated in England, a cultured, ide a I s and institutions. Dr. widely traveled Christian lawyer Latin America is the topic for Mackay is especially illuminat- -such is Dr. Cornelia Sorabji foreign mission study this year ing on Latin American traits. who gives us the very readable (1935-6). Geographically it in- The chapter on their "Dawning story of her life, with intimate cludes the immense continent of pictures of India and her prob- South America (with 10 repub- Vision of God" is illuminating. lems. She reveals not only the lics and three colonies, besides The people have been clouded in influences that molded her own Panama and British Honduras) , life, but takes us behind the Mexico and the Caribbean Is- the past-by materialism, hu- scenes in India as only a woman man philosophy, false religious could-a pioneer woman lawyer teaching, and the failures of -lifting the veil to disclose the pleasures and sorrows, the hu- many professed Christian lead- mor and the tragedies of India's ers. As a result agnosticism and women and children. atheism have captured the intel- lectuals but there is growing evi- dence of the power of Christ to transform life and this is having its effect. Many examples are given.
lands. The variety of languages, The work of evangelical mis- Miss Sorabji studied law in climate, races and the political sions is presented, especially as Oxford, became a barrister and and religious problems make it it is today. Limits of space for- a doctor of laws, and has traveled essential that someone with a bid a detailed account of the mis- widely in Europe and America, clear head, and a knowledge of sion work in the different coun- addressing large audiences. Her the whole, shall bring order out tries but examples are given to friends include some of the most of chaos and point out the main show some of the methods, diffi- notable people of three conti- factors, forces and trends. culties, trends and results. A nents. She comes of an unusu- Dr. Mackay has produced a notable piece of work is that of ally talented family. Her father, very valuable study book, based Dr. George P. Howard, a pioneer Sorabji Kharsedji Langrana, on a clear Christian philosophy, evangelist in many parts of the who became a Christian at peril full of concrete facts and en- continent. In presenting "The of death, was a notable man of riched by personal experiences Challenge to Christian Action," property and standing; her and illustrations from Spanish- Dr. Mackay makes a strong ap- mother was a remarkable and American life. The author is a peal which he develops in seven beautiful w 0 man greatly be- Scotchman and an honor man in points: loved; one sister married Dr.
Pennell, the British missionary reform was to ignore the need The Responsibility of Success. By physician. of the Afghan Fron- for reform. It was put into Dr. W. Wilson Cash, Prebendary tier; another sister, Susie So- words by one of my charming of St. Paul's and General Secretary rabji, was the founder of the St. progressive Indian friends: 'Let C. M. S. 92 pp. Price, $1 or 1 shilling. Church Missionary So- Helena School for girls in Poona. them come into the open and take ciety, London. 1934.
There is a charm, intellectual what we have or die without.' In September, 1934, at Swankeenness and sterling character The new way is legislation- wick, a vital Conference was held by officials, members and about the Sorabji family that is compulsion to renounce the ties reproduced in this book. A true that bind. It has not succeeded. friends of the Church Mission- . . . The way for which I plead ary Society-a conference on the sense of value, touches of humor, state of the work and the prokeen insight and high ideals is, shortly, an understanding gram to be laid out for its ad- heart. . . . The emancipated make the narrative stimulating vancement in view of an acand fascinating reading. The have themselves been brought to cumulated deficit of 100,000 the place where they stand, not pounds and still falling receipts. seven girls and one surviving by compulsory legislation but by boy (two died in infancy), were The C. M. S. was founded in personal conviction based on edu- 1799, and its grave problem now brought up by English tutors, on cation. Only, their progress has is to care for the success which English nursery tales and with been rendered easy by the initial has come to its work under the English discipline and Christian cleavage with ties of their re- blessing of God. Lagging or ideals, but they lived in Indian ligion, where these ties remain, style and were obliged to learn failing work can be dropped is not a different rate of progress without concern, but when an the languages, literature and cus- indicated ?" toms of the people among whom they lived. Thus they were truly Something Happened. By Mildred enterprise is on the very edge of Indian in the best sense. When Cable and Francesca French. 11- great achievement how can it Cornelia Sorabji was only eight Ius. and map. 8vo. 320 pp. Frederyears old she determined to study ick A. Stockes Co. New York. 1934. be dropped or restricted? "The Church of God can never budget law in order that she might help Evangeline French was a ven- for retreat." Dr. Cash has forceher Indian sisters out of some of turesome, independent child, oft- fully described the present situatheir many troubles. She kept en in danger, full of life and tion in this small book. that aim in view and how she hard to manage. What took her realized it in a remarkable de- into the interior of China, as a Illustrations of the Bible from Pergree is told in this narrative- missionary, ready to travel hun- sian Life. By Annie Rhea Wilson. with many fascinating incidents, dreds of miles by mule cart and Pamphlet. 44 pages. 15 cents. the training in law at Oxford-a cam e I, suffering continuous Sold by the Board of Foreign Mispioneer worn a n student who hardship and privation? "Some- sions, 156 Fifth Ave., New York. broke all precedents-presenta- thing happened" to her and to 1935. tion at court, contacts with Eng- Francesca French and Mildred lish nobility and conversations Cable. What it was is told in this The Orient, especially the with members of Parliament. very captivating story of the Near East, throws much light The incidents about noted per- childhood, youth and later years on Bible history and the cussonages are many-some of them of these three interesting wom- toms and figurative language of too much in detail or too scrap- en. Each of the trio heard the Bible times. Mrs. Wilson, durpily told, and others with charm- call to China and went out under ing her life in Persia as a mising completeness. Her two vis- the China Inland Mission. They sionary, gathered many facts its to America are passed over were the heroic stuff out of and incidents that interpret lightly, with little detail. which true missionaries are Bible passages in a charming made and were full of faith and and illuminating way. She But the most effective part of devotion. Here is the story of knows her Bible as well as she the narrative is perhaps the training for service, at home; of knows Persia – customs and story of her actual forty year's their lonely pioneer days in the costumes, names and titles, symwork for her Indian sisters-the far northwest of China. There bols, similes and metaphors, are purdah women, who could not see they spent years of adventure, all paralleled and briefly illusa man lawyer face to face, and and fruitful service in stormy trated by pertinent facts, poems who needed some one to defend Shensi, working among Tibet- and incidents. For example them and to protect their prop- ans, among Buddhist pilgrims in she throws light on swaddling erty rights. Dr. Sorabji also is Sinhiang, among bandits cross- clothes, vows, ornaments, doora pioneer in social service for In- ing the Gobi Desert, and among keepers, water-jars, breaking dia's women and by Indian wom- Europeans on the Russian bor- bread, feasts, kissing, almsgiven. In c los i n g Dr. Sorabji der. The story is full of gripping ing, prayers, fasting, "evil eye," writes: incidents and reveals spiritual salutations, leprosy. She also illustrates symbolical language "The problem is how to lessen life and power at work in and -the door, the vine, the lamp, the shepherd, the Lamb, the cup. the gulf between the orthodox through these messengers of the This pamphlet whets the appe- tite for additional facts to illus- Hindus and the few thousand progressives. The old way.of Cross. It is worth reading. trate Bible truths.
i[bt 1Sing'~ 1Jju~int~~
ASTHMA aDd SUMMER COLDS are UDDec….ry. published by Complete r.li.f only $1.00 postpaid. Nothing .Ise to buy. O••r 40.000 HOLFORD'S WONDER INHALERS BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES sold 14st year alone~ Mail $1.00 today for full,euon'. relief to THE DANDEE CO., 252 HENNEPIN AVENUE, A monthly Bible Family Magazine with something in it MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., or write lor Fr•• Booklet. jor every member of tbe family circle New Books I SSUED for twenty-live years without interruption. THE KING'S BUSI- NESS has consistently represented the best thought of the funda- Around a Mexican Patio. Ethel L. mental Christian churches of the nation. In addition to its Smither. $1.00, cloth; 75 cents, paper. 120 pp. Friendship Press. interesting contributions by leading teachers, evangelists and pastors, New York. 1935. it prints every month several valuable departments, including: An Christian Youth in Action. Frank W. Herriott. 169 pp. $1.00, cloth; 60 International Lesson Commentary, Notes on Christian Endeavor, Daily cents, paper. Friendship Press. New York. 1935. Devotional Readings, Girls' Query Corner, Junior King's Business, and Chaos in Mexico. The Conflict in Helps for Preachers and Teachers. Trial subscriptions (3 months) 25c; Church and State. Chas. S. Mac- Farland. 284 pp. $2. Harpers. Annual subscriptions $1.50. The following premiums are at present New York. 1935. available free with annual subscriptions: a teacher's Bible, a copy of Eight Things That Matter. W. Graham Scoggie. 64 pp. 6d. Pick- lamison'S Bible Chdrt, or a copy of ObjectJ that Talk dud Tedch, con- ering & Inglis. London. 1935. taining 52 new and interesting object lessons. The supply of each of The Fine Art of Soul-Winning. Wil- liam Wistar Hamilton. 109 pp. 60 these premiums is limited, so order at once. cents, cloth; 40 cents, paper. Bap- tist Sunday School Board. Nash- Address: ville. 1935. rrbe 1&ing'5 18usineS5 Der Heilige in Dem Chinesischen Klassikern. Gerhard Rosenkranz. 558 South Hope Street Los Angeles, California 188 pp. M 9.80. J. T. Hein- richs'sche Buchhandlung. Leipzig. Gold Coast Methodism. The First Outline Chalk-Talks on the Spiritual 1935. Hundred Years, 1835-1935. Arthur Life. Abdul-Fady (Arthur T. Up- E. Southon. Illustrated. 158 pp. son). 38 pp. Nile Mission Press. I Am a Christian. Jesse Wilson. 25 Is. and 2s. 6d. 1934. Cairo. 1935. cents. Student Volunteer Move- ment. New York. Japan in Crisis. H. E. Wildes. 300 Die Rechtliche Stellung Christlicher pp. $2. Macmillan. New York. Missionen in China. Dietrich Huse- Into All the World. A. J. Brown and man. Carl Heymann. Berlin. 1935. John D. Freeman. 60 cents. Sun- History of Palestine. Th ~ Last Two day School Board, Southern Bap- Thousand Years. Jacob deHaas. These Sixty Years. The Story of the tist Convention. Nashville. 1935. 523 pp. $3.50. Macmillan. New Keswick Convention. Walter B. York. Sloan. 114 pp. 2s. 6d. Pickering Keeping Our Balance. Eva Taylor. & Inglis. London. 1935. 80 pp. 25 cents. Cokesbury Press. The Color Problems of South Africa. Nashville. 1935. Phelps-StokeS Lectures, 1933, deliv- Some Old Testament Parables. J. ered at the University of Cape Stuart Holden. 128 pp. Is. Pick- Forty-five Years in India. Memoir Town. Edgar H. Brookes. 237 pp. ering & Inglis. London. 1935. and Reminiscences of the Very Rev. 48. 6d. Paul Kegan. London. 1934. Principal Mackichan. Edited by The Triumph of John and Betty. David Williamson. 126 pp. 58. The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism. Mrs. Howard Taylor. 127 pp. 75 Nicholson and Watson. London. L. Austine Waddell, 2d Edition. Il- cents, cloth; 40 cents, paper. China lustrated. 646 pp. 258. Heffel'. Inland Mission. Philadelphia. 1935. SA.fPUiS OF OUR SliNDA Y SCHOOL punucA.nONS, Cambridge. OR YOUNG PEOPLE'S DIBLF. STUDIES SE~l fREE O~ REQUEST Joseph Wolff. His Romantic Life A Pageant of Asia. A Study of Three and Travels. H. P. Palmer. 222 Civilizations. Kenneth J. Saunders. pp. 78. 6d. Heath Cranton, Ltd. 248 pp. $2.50. Macmillan. New London. 1935. York. Winning the Border. Una Roberts Faiths Men Live By. John C. Archer. Lawrence. 160 pp. Home Mission 497 pp. $2.75. Nelson. New York. Board, Southern Baptist Conven- tion. Atlanta. 1935. Lowell and Abigail. A Realistic Idyll. Mary Dillingham Frear. With Christ in Soviet Russia. By 325 pp. Privately printed. Vladimir Ph. Martzinkovski. Illus- trated. 12mo. 364 pp. 5 shillings. Lupita. A Story of Mexico in Revo- Nile Mission Press. Jerusalem. lution. Alberto Remhas. 180 pp. 1933. $1.00. Friendship Press. New York. 1935. Our Korean Friends. Frederick S. Miller. Illustrated. 8vo. 191 pages. Off to Panama. B. H. Pearson. 217 Fleming H. Revell Co. New York. pp. 35 cents. Harry Harper, Agent. 1935. Los Angeles, Calif. Waiting for the Coming. .John T. Over the Mexican Border. Hewitt Mawson. 12mo. 124 pages. 2 and Thomas. 138 pp. $1.00, cloth; shillings. Pickering and Inglis. 75 cents, paper. Friendship Press. Glasgow. New York. 1935.
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i; + T It What Do You Know About Those Other Americans? If TT i, ~ THE south of the United States of North America lie other "The ; tf l:}United States." There are sixteen republics, besides a number of colof t f nies, and island dependencies. More than 100,000,000 people who live there , are different in many respects from North Americans and yet they are kin. fT IT They include descendants of Anglo-Saxons, Portuguese, Spaniards, Indians, •t Negroes, Orientals and many mixtures. Most are nominally Roman Catho- It lics but millions of them are atheists or pagans. ','
Why should we send missionaries to Latin Americans?
'Ii Who are these people, and what are their customs and beliefs? How If II many Protestant societies and missionaries are working among them and what are the results in converts, churches and the transformation of society? I'
THE NEXT NUMBER OF THE REVIEW Ij . W ill deal w~thd fithlisd fashcinatin.g. sulbject-Ithedrevol.l~tions, thde.t~ansforhmations, It the unoccuple e s, t e po1lhca , mora an re 19lOUS con ItlOns; t e transi t formations that are taking place; stories of how the work is conducted. + I ! OUR LATIN AMERICA (OCTOBER) NUMBER !! Ii+ The Latin American Republics Religious Trends in Spanish America By MARY WILHELMINE WILLIAMS By JOHN A. MACKAY i t. Some Unevangelized Areas The Influence of the Printed Page i I+•I By JOHN RITCHIE +, By H. C. TUCKER Attitudes of Governments Toward t• Religious Liberty The Living Church in Latin America I, By C. S. DETWEILER By KENNETH GRUBB t. ReligiousHEducation in Latin America The Indians-Pagan and Christian I I•'. By UGH C. STUNTZ t + Emerging Latin American Youth By JOSEPH A. DAVIS Union and Cooperation in Latin i By S. FRANKLIN MACK t f+~ Next Steps in Evangelization America I•.. By RALPH E. DIFFENDORFER By WEBSTER E. BROWNING it I, The Gospel for Latin Americans Best Books on Latin America By EDWARD H. HAYMAKER By SAMUEL G. INMAN + There will also be series of sketches of outstanding evangelical Christians, stories of t I notable misisonary work, an article on "The Progress of Women in Latin America" and I,: "Spanish-American Views of Evangelical Work." : ORDER NOW It ~J Single copies, 2S cents $20 per hundred +t The Missionary Review of the World ………….. i if t; …………………._.. ._.T_.h_ir_d_a.n_d.R_ei.l_y..S.tr.e.e.t.s.,.H~_ar_ris._bu_rg_, _Pa…….~_ t
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1932
1932
A New Day in Old Persia Wm. N. Wysham Attempting the Impossible in Japan William Axling Leaves from an Oriental Diary Mary E. Moore Today in the New Hebrides Fred Bowie At Herrnhut–Two Centuries After Samuel M. Zwemer
time . .. to Dates to Remember been prominent in the section of poli-
tics relating to physical, moral and JAPAN • CHINA September 17-20-Bi-Annual Conven- mental development of women and tion, Evangelical B rot her h 0 0 d, children. and MANILA Evangelical Synod, St. Louis, Mo. *** Just 10 days to Yokohama! 4 September 28, 29-Committee of Refmore to Shanghai! If you take erence and Counsel, Foreign Mis- Gen. Chang Chin-Kiang has become Empress of Asia or Empress of sions Conference, New York, N. Y. a life member of the American Bible Russia, largest and fastest liners Society, the first Chinese to be placed on the Dire"t Express route ••• October I-Young People's Congress, on that roll. One of his chaplains straight across from Vancouver. Woman's Missionary Society, United gives this testimony: Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Md. If you want to go via Honolulu "In all these years I have never and still do it in record time ..• October 11-16-International Conven- known a single day when my chief then go on Empress ofJapan (the tion of the Disciples of Christ, In- did not find time for studying his Bi- Pacific's largest, fastest liner) or dianapolis, Ind. ble. Always, whether in camp or on on the huge, swift Empress of those long marches across Mongolia, Canada. Yokohama in only 13 October 12-22-Convention of the he gave his devotional life this daily days .•. including a Honolulu United L u the ran Church in food. Always there was pitched the visit! San Francisco and Los America, Philadelphia, Pa. prayer tent or, if we were housed in Angeles sailings connect with a temple, I have known him to lead these "Empresses" at Honolulu. October 18-24-Five Years Meeting his troops in worship in the courtyard of the Society of Friends, Richmond, before a gallery of idols. He believes On all "Empresses," a sumptu- Indiana. in searching the Scriptures." ous First Class … an unusually spacious, comfortable, well-ser- October 19 and 20-New York City. * ** viced Tourist Class. And the cost The annual meeting of The Ameris correspondingly lower! ican Mission to Lepers. Speakers Dr. iUOert Schweitzer of Africa, re- will include Dr. Sam Higginbottom, cently visited England and received All .. Empress" sailings from of India, and Dr. W. C. Terrill, of an honorary D. D. at Oxford. The Vancouver (trains direct to ship- Africa. A program of the meet- public orator of the university deside) and Victoria. Fares include ing can be 0 btained from The clared him to be eminent alike in passage from Seattle. American Mission to Lepers, 156 theology, philosophy, music and medi- Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. cine. Dr. Schweitzer plans to return Fastest by Direc-t Express to Africa at the end of the year. October 23-25-Biennial Convention, Empress of Russia •.• Sept. 10, Nov.,S Woman's Mis s ion a r y Society, *** Empress of Asia ……. Oct. 8, Dec. 3 United Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Md. The Rev. and Mrs. E. E. Calverley Fastest via Honolulu of the Arabian Mission of the Re- November 10-12-World Alliance for formed Church in America, identified Empress ofJapan … Sept. 24, Nov. 19 International Friendship through with both medical and evangelistic Empress of Canada … Oct. 22, Dec. 17 the Churches, New York. work in Kuwait, have recently re- signed as missionaries and Dr. Cal- Information, reservations, from November 25-28-Africa Conference, verley has been made a professor in your own agent, or Canadian Pa- Hartford, Conn. the Hartford School of Missions. cific offices in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montreal, and November 29-December 2-Interde- *** 31 other cities in U.S.and Canada. nominational Conference on the City and the Church in the Present Dr. O. R. Avison, President of Se- CANADIAN Crisis, Chicago, Ill. verance Union Medical School, Seoul, Korea; also President of Chosen PACIFIC Personal Items Christian College, has been decorated by the Emperor of Japan with "The • Dr. Sam Higginbottom, Principal of Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Allahabad Agricultural Institute, is in Class." America on furlough. Recent action has consolidated the Institute 'with *** Ewing Christian College. Dr. Caleb Frank Gates, of Robert *** College, and Arabic scholar, and a leading member of the American com- The Rev. W. Reginald Wheeler, munity in Istanbul, left Turkey on from 1916 to 1921 a missionary in June 20th, after fifty-one years of China of the Presbyterian Church, U. arduous service. S. A., and for the past ten years an associate secretary of the Board in In 1881 he arrived at Mardin where charge of West Africa and Latin he spent thirteen years as a mission- American fields, has recently resigned ary of the American Board. He went this latter position to return to China to Harput College until 1902, going as a missionary, with his wife and through the Armenian massacre three sons. Mr. Wheeler was former- when he was compelled to abandon ly located in Hangchow, Chekiang, for his house. Dr. Gates became presi- three years and now is to join the dent of Robert College in 1903 and staff of Nanking University to teach made it the most important seat of English and to make evangelistic con- learning in Turkey. tacts with the students. Dr. John A. Mackay, formerly of South America, *** will take up Mr. Wheeler's work on the Board. Dr. Robert R. Moton has been awarded the 1931 Spingarn Medal. *** This is an annual award given by the National Association for the Ad'l1ance- Dr. Daw Saw Sa, of Rangoon, grad- ment of Colored People to the Negro uate of Judson College, has been made who makes the greatest contribution a member of the Rangoon Corpora- to the race during the year. tion, the first Burmese woman to sit on a legislative council. She has long *** The Rev. Arthur E. Harper of Moga, India, has received the degree of Doctor of Education from the Col- lege of Colorado. Dr. and Mrs.Harp- er are just completing their furlough year, during which they have visited many churches in the homeland.
"THE THE MISSIONARY REVIEW
GREATEST CHALLENGE TO NON-CHRISTIANS" THE WORLD IS WHAT GANDHI SAID DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor OF THE WORK OF THE MISSION TO LEPERS Vol. LV HEPT~;MBER, 1932 Xo. J Church groups and other organizations will ——-~——- find liThe New Day of Hope For Lepersll an FRONTISPIECE – THE OLD AND THE NEW IN attractive topic for discussion. THE NEW HEBRIDES September is the time for planning the season's program. Are TOPICS OF THE TIMES .. 467 you including the work for lepers in your meeting plans? Deductions from Deficits AMERICAN MISSION TO LEPERS Spiritual Awakenings in China A Forward Program in Korea 156 Fifth Avenue, Room 1118M, New York Communism in Chile Pledse send d sdmpie set of literdture, including Progrdm for Leper Mission- A Moral Revolt in Brazil dry Meeting, PldYs, Stories, Tdlks, etc. Siam Turns Over a New Leaf NAME ………………………..• ·············•·•···· …..•…..•…..•…… ADDRESS …………………………………………………………….. . A NEW DAY IN OLD CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . STATE .•………….•.•…• PERSIA …………… 471 SOCIETY OR CHURCH ………………………………………………… .. Wm. N. Wysham of Teheran Editorial Chat Among the valuable articles prom- ATTEMPTING THE IM- ised for this number of the REVIEW POSSIBLE IN JAPAN .. 475 DO NOT MISS THIS ON ANY are the following: William Axling of Tokyo ACCOUNT! COME WITH ME TO CHINA LEAVES FROM AN ORI- THE OCTOBER NUMBER will be o. E. Goddard ENTAL DIARy …….. 477 largely devoted to China-a most im- Mary E. Moore of New York portant subject and the Foreign Mis- CHRISTIANS IN THE CHINESE sion study topic for the coming year. CRISIS A KOREAN AT PRAYER. 479 Walter C. Erdman of Pyengyang *** By Frank Rawlinson of Shangha! TODAY IN THE NEW WHAT OTHERS THINK SOME ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE HEBRIDES ………… 481 CHINESE Fred Bowie of Tangoa "The REVIEW is getting better all the time. The March and April num- Kenneth S. Latourette AT HERRNHUT-TWO bers are wonderful!" OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES CENTURIES AFTER… 485 THOMAS WEIR, Salt Lake City, Utah. IN CHINA Samuel M. Zwemer of Princeton *** 'Vm. H. Gieysteen of Peiping HOW THE CHINESE WORSHIP ERASMO BRAGA OF "The REVIEW is more suggestive James L. Stewart of Chengtu BRAZIL …………… 491 and valuable than ever before. I prize WHAT CHINESE ARE DOING W. Reginald Wheeler of Nanking it for its information and helpfulness for myself and for missionary gather- FOR CHINA EFFECTIVE WAY S OF ings." Mary F. Parmenter of Shanghai WORKING ………… 495 ELIZABETH P. WHITING, Wilbraham, RECENT PROGRESS IN CHINA Edited by Mrs. Estella S. Aitchison Charles L. Boynton of Shanghai Mass. TESTIMONIES OF CHINESE WOMEN'S HOME MIS- SION BULLETIN…… 499 CHRISTIANS Edited by Miss Anne Seesholtz P. c. Hsu and others OUR WORLD OUTLOOK. 501 OUR MISSIONARY BOOK- SHELF …….•……. 511 Puhlication Office 40 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis, Indiana Editorial and Business Office 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City Entered as second-class matter at Post-Office, Indianapolis, Ind., under Act of March 3, 1879.
25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year Foreign Postage 50 cents a year Puhlished monthly-All rights reserved Copyrighted 1932 by the MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- LISHING CO., INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS ROBERT E. SPEER, President WM. r. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PrIfusON, Secretary SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIC M. NORTH MILTON J. STAUFFER A. L. WARNSHUlS SAlIUEL M. ZWEMER
HEATHEN WOMEN OF ESPIRITU SANTO. NEW HEBRIDES
A GROUP OF CHRISTIAN STUDENTS IN THE NEW HEBRIDES THE OLD AND THE NEW IN THE NEW HEBRIDES (See page 481) REVIE ORLD VOLUME LV AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER NINE SEPTEMBER, 1932 Topics of the Times DEDUCTIONS FROM DEFICITS the work. The crisis leads us to look to God more American, British and European missionary intently for wisdom and supplies: Larger insocieties are sharing in the experience of drastic comes have at times led to unnecessary and uncuts that have become necessary on account of wise expenditures for elaborate equipment and mounting deficits. The boards, as a rule, have la:ge executive salaries which are out of keeping faced the situation courageously. The Presbyte- WIth the spirit of sacrificial missionary work. rian Church of Scotland reported a deficit of $125,- The amount given by the churches to missions 000 on the Foreign Mission budget. Rather than has never been adequate to meet the requireundertake to abridge the work the missionaries ments of the work at home and abroad but there requested a salary cut, but effort will be made to has been wide difference of opinion as to how the avoid this by "Christianizing" congregations money may be expended most wisely. Now miswhich give little or nothing to evangelize the sion boards are obliged to retrench in one or more of the following ways: (1) to cut executive salworld. aries at home from 10% to 331/3%; (2) to re- In America the Presbyterian Board of National duce missionary salaries from 5% to 25%; (3) to Missions has cut executive salaries from 10% to reduce budgets for new buildings, native workers 25%, has reduced the staff and has reorganized institutions and advance work on the field; (4)' the five divisions and nine departments of the to cut budgets for promotion and other items at Board into two departments-one of "Missionary home; (5) to place larger responsibility for self- Operation" and the other "Missionary Support." support on the churches in the field; (6) to re- They have cut their total budget $466,000 below duce the number of missionaries and native worklast year. All but $80,000 of this cut will fall on ers; (7) to decrease or omit appropriations for the field. It will be difficult to prevent a great and union and cooperative work at home and abroad. vital loss to the spiritual side of the work under this new adjustment. Some of these retrenchments have been drastic and will bring real suffering to individuals and The Methodist Episcopal Christian Advocate loss to the work-at least temporarily. It will asks "Must we throw the missionaries to the be difficult, but it may be a blessing for high salwolves?" Their small salaries are being cut 25% aried executives to adjust their living more nearly for the next four months and 50 % for appropria- to a missionary basis. A part of the salary re- tions for their native workers. Salaries of execu- duction is met by reduced cost of living at home tives at home. are reduced from 10% to 30%, on and by favorable exchange abroad. Some mistop of a prevIOUS 10% cut. The Board's income sionary institutions have been conducted on a has fallen 37% ($341,288) for the first seven scale too much above the standards of the people months of the year and there is already a debt of that they serve, though far below the standards $630,000. Will the great Methodist Church rise at home. The reduction in home office expense to meet the need or will a further cut be neces- may arouse the Church to undertake larger volunsary? teer service. It would be a blessing if less execu- Most o~ the other denominational boards and tive effort were required to awaken sleeping passome independent missions face a similar situa- tors and congregations to respond to need. It will tion but are facing it courageously -not running be of great advantage if churches on the field are away from it. . led to self-support and self-government. Much In some respects this need to revise budgets will be learned if mission boards will deterrnine downward may not mean disaster or detriment to to avoid accumulating debts.
[467 ]
But the tragedy of the cuts is experienced 1arge number were saved, and many were revived where missionaries have children to educate, and empowered for service. The villagers came where trained native Christian workers are re- running to ask, 'What's the matter, is this a fuleased and have no other means of support, and neral ?' where greatly needed evangelistic and medical work must be closed, withdrawing the efforts to "'Yes,' said the leader, 'we are burying folks relieve a suffering and sin burdened people who who have been dead in sin for many years.' were just beginning to appreciate the offer of life from Christ. There is enough money, there are "What happened in this church is taking place enough workers, there are sufficient supplies in in other Pingtu churches too. God is pouring out the Church at home; there is abundant truth and His Spirit; souls are being born again and others life in Christ to supply every need. Will God's quickened. Yesterday an evangelist came from stewards who have been entrusted with material the East to tell us of a wonderful awakening in and spiritual wealth fail to share their blessings one of our struggling churches." with others in dire need? It would be well to establish an "In-as-much Fund" in the churches at M. Gardner Tewksbury, of the Presbyterian home and in other lands. Mission,. who does evangelistic work among stu- dents, conducted a very successful series of meet- SPIRITUAL AWAKENING IN CHINA ings in Weihsien. "Through personal interviews and two classes a day, all hearts were touched. Rays of light shine through the gloom in Asia The revival is spreading all over Shantung provto brighten the disturbing darkness and distress. ince, and has brought new life to the Christian There are many evidences of spiritual awakenings Church such as has never been before." The blessin the midst of economic and political depression. ing is not confined to the Chinese alone, but India, Burma, Siam, Korea, Japan, China and extends to missionaries. Persia all report new signs of spiritual life and keener interest in Christ and His Gospel. From The Rev. C. L. Culpepper, of Hwanghsien, Shantung, China, Dr. T. B. Ray, secretary of the Shantung, gives another picture of the revival Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Conven- now in progress in that section of the great Retion, reports that for months there has been going public. He says: forward a Christian awakening in which many have been genuinely converted. The movement is "Wonderful things have been happening during growing in power among American Baptists and these past few months. I have never heard such other denominations. earnest prayer for God to reveal to each and every one his sins from the President of China on down A Southern Baptist missionary, the Rev. W. B. to the very humblest beggar. Our people seem to Glass of Hwanghsien, writes as follows: have forgotten everything else but making things right with God. Literally hundreds of people had "There has never been so much deep, genuine been saved in the villages. Prayer meetings are spiritual interest in the churches as now. This held every morning and night and the church is not true of all the people in any of the churches, building will not hold them, so they meet both in but it is undoubtedly true of more than ever be- the church and school buildings. It would take fore. your breath to see how they are going everywhere preaching the Gospel. You keep thinking of the "I had a fear that it was going to develop into Acts of the Apostles. a 'wild fire' movement, accompanied by excesses, but it has been gratifying to note a deep spiritual "What has happened at Pingtu has happened yearning, and the willingness to go anywhere, or at- almost everyone of our stations. Tsining has pay any price to satisfy that longing. Rich bless- had a wonderful revival. Tsinan has had one ' ings have been received by churches on the Ping- continuous revival and fifty or more students tu field. have been saved in the Shantung Christian Uni- versity. Many have been baptized. "In Hwanghsien about ninety people are preparing for baptism and there is a class of instruc- "A great sweeping revival began in Laiyang tion at the city church for all outside the schools. and spread to Laichow. Early morning prayer The parents of some are so bitterly opposed- that meeting would run to nine or ten o'clock and then it is impossible for them to be baptized. The we would have a recess and the meeting would go spirit of revival continues and people everywhere until nine or ten at night, with an hour of rest iJ). seem anxious to hear. We have a new church, the afternoon. No one was preaching or leading, <: full of the Holy Spirit and are rejoicing in but the Holy Spirit. Heavenly fellowship." "It seems that the Lord is going to fill our Mrs. Grace Boyd Sears, Of Pingtu, writes: school full to over-flowing with God-called preach- "Last week God's Holy Spi~it came in power, a ers. Pray that God wiII keep us humble and usable. The field is so great and the multiplied
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
millions all around us do not know. Only the Lord COMMUNISM IN CHILE Himself can save China now." Argentine, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, A FORWARD PROGRAM IN KOREA Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba and Nicaragua The Methodist and Presbyterian Churches of have all been in political turmoil during the past Korea are not satisfied with having each individ- few months. The picture of Europe and Asia on ual congregation work only for the people of its the verge of disaster from war, war debts and own~district, but year by year plan a nation-wide economic and social unrest has apparently had campaign to make the whole nation Gospel little restraining influences on the Latin Ameri- can mind. Chile has had several almost bloodless conscio.us, even if not wholly Christian. Last year the Presbyterian movement began revolutions in quick succession. The government with th:ree days of consecration meetings in every has changed hands many times and is now in conone of the 22 presbyteries. All salaried workers trol of the socialists. The people are weary of the in the district, and as many others as could come, dominance of landed proprietors and of military gathered for daylight prayer meetings each day, dictatorship. and other meetings at 10 A. M., 3 P. M. and in the The most astonishing revolution occurred on evening. Missionaries write of wonderful bless- June 4th when a self-appointed "Messiah" seized ing. The leaders scattered to their churches and control of the government. While President Monrepeated the three days in everyone of the 2,600 tero and his cabinet were quietly working they churches of the country where they could arrange were surprised and overpowered by a detachment it. Revivals began all over the country and nearly of the garrison, headed by officers under Colonel every church has had at least one period a week Marmaduke Grove, Minister of War. He exwith grea~ numbers of. Christians revived and plained his revolt by declaring that the entire Renew converts brought in. Churches are now public considered its president wholly incompecrowded, and new ones are being built every- tent and that a Revolutionary committee would where.. In Pyengyang 1,500 women gathered in a take charge of the affairs of the nation in order great Bible class in March, and 1,000 men in J an- to make it a socialistic republic. A missionary writes: uary. This program has included an effort to get every "The Revolutionary committee outlined its 'prochurch attendant to read through the New Testa- gram of reform and published extensive maniment. A large calendar was printed bearing the festoes. Col. Grove gave an address in which the Scripture references for each day so that all might most arresting passage made his hearers gasp in read the same verses the same day. Fifty thou- astonishment. He said: sand of those calendars are in use this year and When we shall have realized the golden dream of Simon 50,000 families reading the New Testament Bolivar everyone will be compelled to admit that we were through. The Korea Mission Field reports: not actuated by motives of personal gain. Two thousand years before our time, Jesus Christ adopted our ideas, "This year the campaign begins with six promising better living conditions to those whom fortune Wednesday prayer meetings and a brief course in had disinherited. This better life was to be enjoyed in personal soul winning. Before Christmas a small another world. We, more humane and diligent than Jesus booklet of the Life of Christ will be distributed. Christ, offer to the proletariat a better life in this world.
Christians will be asked to take these and give "Within the succeeding four days another se- one each to every non-Christian friend in their cret conspiracy was framed among the regiments villages. The booklet gives in Bible language the in Santiago and on June 16th the presidential pal- essentials of Christ's activities and His Gospel. ace was surrounded by tanks and machine-gun Four hundred thousand are already provided for batteries and the messianic career of Col. Grove and it is hoped that there will be at least a million came to a dramatic end.
'published. Each presbytery is now raising money "Despite the fate of the bold atheist who spon- to supplement the fund. After Christmas, when sored the revolt, the socialist movement seems fatmers are more free, hundreds of preaching firmly embedded in public opinion. Chile is fol- bands of three or four each (men or women) will lowing the lead of Spain and Mexico into state will be organized and go from house to house to socialism. Unfortunately, she has not the pre- preach. A new feature of their work be an pared leadership but she is ready to take the risks effort to sell Gospels to all those who received the involved in the trial and error method."
little booklet free, but the effort for decisions for Between 1810 and 1925, Chile was governed by Christ will be the main thing, and the mission- an oligarchy of wealthy land-owners and distin- aries hope for a great ingathering. The plan is gUished lawyers. In 1925 President Alessandri to try to touch every house in the remotest village was elected' by the middle classes who had grad- with some of the million booklets." ually achieved political aggressiveness. The adop-
tion of a number of laws favored the working The American Methodist Church is also strong classes. He was followed by the military dictator, and growing.
General Ibanez who mortgaged the patrimony of But unfortunately some of the evil influences his people and left them in "misery, anarchy and that are undermining the nation come from North the shadow of death." Then followed the world America and Europe in the form of atheism, and crisis, the collapse of nitrate and copper as ex- immoral literature and films. The Brazilian Bap- ports, general bankruptcy and unemployment. tist Convention recently passed strong resolu- More than a hundred thousand bread-winners tions calling on President Hoover and the Ameri- were suddenly bereft of their means of livelihood. can Congress to take steps to stop the flow of de- Dr. J. H. McLean, a Presbyterian missionary grading motion pictures from North America.
in Santiago, writes: ,The resolution says in part: "The elemental hunger of mankind is two-fold. WHEREAS, criminal and immoral pictures give a dis- Men clamor for brotherhood quite as insistently torted conception of American life that result in prejuas they do for bread but they will never find it dice and anti-American sentiment, hurtful ~o this great until they turn Godward through Christ and His Republic, therefore be it resolved, that we petition the Gospel. The frenzied mobs have tried to burn Government of the United States to forbid the exportadown several metropolitan temples because they tion of such harmful pictures to this country. have imagined that the organized church was allied with their enemies. The best sentiment in Turkey, Japan, China and other non-Christian lands has shown the same "No violence has been offered to evangelical reaction toward these degrading films-many of Christian churches, schools or dispensaries. Every which are exhibited in America without arousing pastor and congregation is endeavoring to feed serious and widespread protest.
the hungry, clothe the naked, succour the unfMtu- SIAM TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF nate and care for the sick. Our work is conducted under distressing circumstances yet it has ac- Soon nothing of the old regime will be left in quired a new sanctity since it grapples with pain, Asia. Only a few years ago all who approached poverty and anguish of soul. The divine mission the King and Queen of Siam were obliged to do of our Messiah is that of binding up the broken- so on hands and knees or with the peculiar crouch- hearted and proclaiming the year of jubilee. ing stride that betokens inferiority. The monarch "A moderate socialist government would bring was reverenced almost as a god. On June 24 of relief to many victims of neglect but the present this year the only remaining absolute monarchy effort is false in motive and weak in moral pur- in Asia was suddenly overthrown, King Prajadhi- pose. The constraining love of Christ is not the pok and his queen were made prisoners and a con- popular urge in those who repudiate His claims stitutional monarchy was set up. The King, abso- and reject His aid. So the evangelical churches lute ruler over 11,500,000 people, who was edu- in Chile redouble their efforts. Multitudes who cated in England and had recently returned from ought to turn to Christ have gone off after com- America, accepted the new regime and was re- munism. Occasional volcanic eruptions remind tained as a constitutional monarch. The "rule of us that there is no absolute stability save in Him the princes" has been eliminated and there will who is the same yesterday, today and forever be an earnest effort to .lighten the tax burdens of more. We cannot do our full share of His com- the people, giving them a voice'in the government.
mission without the partnership of intercessors; King Prajadhipok, who is thirty-nine years of surely the Church at home will pray for Chile." age and came to the throne in 1926, is the seventh A,MORAL REVOLT IN BRAZIL ruler of the Chakri dynasty which has been in power for 150 years. He is a Buddhist and is Revolutions have also gripped the largest re- known as an enlightened scholar, interested in the public in Latin America, where the revolutionary welfare of his people and sympathetic with the and federal forces are still striving for mastery. philanthropic work of Christian missions. He or- There is more hope for progress from the moral ganized Siamese Boy Scouts and has promoted revolt led by evangeliealChristians against ig- public health, education and athletics.
norance, vice and other degrading influences that Evangelical missionary work in Siam is almost are sapping the life of the nation. Many of the wholly in the hands of the American Presbyterian best influences come from North America through Church which has thirty American missionaries, the missionaries, teachers and Bible distribution. located in 10 stations, and a church membership The Presbyterian Church is strong, independent of over 9,000. Many Siamese officials have testi- and self-supporting; the American Baptist work fied as to the influence of Christianity in advanc- has just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and ing educatioJ). and in promoting the general en- has.n9w nearly 500 churches and 45,000 members. lightenment of the Siamese.
A NeV Day In Old
..:( By the Rev. WM. N. WYSHAM, Teheran, Persia Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
PERHAPS no country in the world has ing matter, and, with their natural courtesy and changed so much in the last decade as has quickness of intellect, marvelously receptive of Persia. She has exchanged a worn-out old moral and spiritual truth as well as the best of dynasty for a new one, a spineless absentee king western science and material achievement.
for an energetic giant who constantly visits the Persia holds out a hospitable hand to Christi- far corners of his kingdom, helpless subservience anity along with all the other influences which to Russia and England for a proud independence are molding her future. Christian thought, Chris- characterized by the most up-to-date nationalism. tion education and Christian literature have an Camel and donkey caravans open door in that land today.
have given way to American These changes have had an trucks and touring cars, two- Tcohme e movirearcolene ooff tchheamngoest haans- amazing effect on the power foot trails have been replaced cient civilizations in the world. and influence of Islam in Per- This was influence1 by the by a network of roads to every sia. The Persians have been corner of the land, not yet as nearly 100 % Moslem for cen- smooth as American highways fanatical Moslems who have turies but theirs has been the but passable for motor trans- long fought against Christian Shiah division of Islam, al- port at good speeds; wide ave- teaching. Mr. Wysham tells ways different from the "or- nues have been driven straight the fascinating story of this thodox" Sunni branch, and . through all important cities change of mind which is also abounding in mysticism and where formerly there was a bringing about a change of in heresies of every conceiv- maze of twisting alleyways; heart. The story can not yet able type. Withal, the Persian Teheran, the capital, has been be fully told, but while some genius and temperament have largely rebuilt; a new army, are losing all religious faith, produced a large proportion of well equipped, has been created other Persians are coming to the greatest names in Moslem by the soldier Shah; bandits see in Christ the satisfaction history, and the sheer fanati- have gone out of business; new of their greatest needs. cism manifested annually at industries have been encour- the time of the so-called pas- aged. sion play in Moharram, the By royal command the costume of men has been month of mourning for Shiah martyrs, has per- completely changed and women have been permit- haps surpassed anything in the Moslem world.
ted to abandon the veil, more of them every day Until the last decade this fanaticism seemed un- all blossoming out in western costume. A new sys- abated, and Shiah religious leaders commanded tem of schools emphasizing science has driven out the absolute and unquestioning obedience of the centuries old drill in Arabic and dead sys- Persian Moslems, former Shahs making it a rule tems of thought. Thousands of men and boys to defer to them and to pay their respects to the have learned to read and even girls are now hav- great rnujtaheeds at their headquarters at Qom.
ing opportunities of education. The percentage The inrush of new ideas and influences ·from of literacy has mounted rapidly; ther~ is a re- the west in the last ten years has completely un- markable new freedom of thought and speech and dermined the Moslem stronghold in Persia. The a new interest in Persia's glorious history, litera- government, nominally Moslem, has become secu…
ture and art. lar in policy and, though it has deferred to reli- These changes have brought about a rocking gious leaders in some minor points, has never to the very foundations of the moral and religious hesitated to oppose them decidedly when the attitudes of the people. Many moral safeguards, progress of the Persian people seemed to be at such as they were, have been swept away, age-old stake. Thus, in instituting dress reforms, the gov- superstitions have vanished, and educated people ernment compelled all except a specified number have no longer any Tespect for old religious au- of rnollahs and rnujtaheeds, who had to pass a thority. As a whole the Persian people are eager special examination in theology, to adopt western for new ideas, ravenous for any up-to-date read- dress. Many of the legal powers were taken [471 ]
from those who remained and were turned over docile and blind followers of the mollahs, because to the governmental Ministry of Justice. These of their ignorance and superstition, have caught changes alone have enormously reduced the power a new spirit as a result of recent changes. One of the Moslem leaders; their prestige also suf- Persian traveler who knows the myriad villages fered severely when, in spite of their vigorous of his country intimately has told me that the opposition and outraged protests, tacit permis- universal donning of the Pahlevi hat has brought sion was given by the government for Moslem about a remarkable open-mindedness and toler- women to remove their veils and when far-reach- ance among men in the most remote rural dis- ing reforms in the marriage and divorce laws tricts. Since he now wears the same type of hat were introduced. as anyone else, including the King himself, the The apparent inability of the mollahs to rally Persian peasant feels that he has become a man any public opinion in their favor or to set on foot and he is eager for new ideas. The new roads any reaction to these changes shows how rapidly and quicker transport have made the country and completely the decay of Islam in Persia has smaller and unified. Such changes weaken fanat- progressed. The mollahs have become a laughing- icism, and the mollahs have been unable to arouse stock among intelligent Persians, who seem gen- any excitement. over what a decade ago would, erally to have abandoned the study of the Koran, have been considered unpardonable insults to the the daily prayers, the fast of Ramazan and the old religion.
great pilgrimages to Kerbela and Meshed. The A personal experience should make this vividly opinion is freely expressed that the legalistic ob- clear. As I entered Persia in the spring of 1921, servances of Islam are hopelessly out of date for I remember passing caravans carrying empty the new Persia and, while many educated Per- wooden coffins back to Kurdish villages, where sians call themselves Moslems, their adherence is wood was scarce. These were used again and purely nominal, and they are usually ready to con- again to transport the bodies of faithful Moslems demn the religious leaders as entirely reactionary more than a thousand miles to be buried in the and a menace to Persia's progress. holy ground around the sacred shrine at Meshed.
The New Nationalism For centuries, at the cost of much sacrifice and hardship, thousands of such departed pilgrims This same effect on the attitude of thinking from every nook and corner of Persia have found Persians as to Islam is brought about by the new their resting-place in the venerated shrine ceme- nationalism. They are proud of their new Shah's tery. In 1929 I stood outside the great shrine and energy and leadership and of the great 'efforts for watched Persian Moslem workmen shovel thou- progress which the national leaders have made. sands of the bones of the faithful out of the. way They are quick to criticise if they feel that ad- as they dug foundations for a new boulevard bi- vance steps are made too slowly. Everyone talks secting the city and replacing the narrow, crooked of the need of Persia to renew her glorious alleys of the past. The ancient cemetery was achievements of the past, and the Arabs are completely wrecked and yet, not only was there blamed for many of the ills of the country because no riot in formerly fanatical Meshed, but I never of their conquest of Persia in the seventh century. heard of a serious protest anywhere at this dese- One hears repeatedly that the Arabs burned the cration of one of Persian Islam's historic sacred ancient libraries of Persia, destroyed her monu- places.
ments and ruined her irrigation systems. Efforts When such things are possible in Persia, one are being made to reduce the number of Arabic cannot get away from the feeling that one is wit- words in the Persian language and to substitute nessing the collapse of one of the greatest and Latin characters for the Arabic, as has been done proudest of the world's religions.
in Turkey. The Persian nationalists believe that The Religious Changes the Arabs tried to superimpose an inferior cul- ture of the desert upon Persia's superior one and This astounding change in the religious situa- that, in so far as they succeeded, their influence tion in Persia opens up a long prayed-for oppor- was entirely harmful. Of course, Islam was all tunity for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it also the "Arab culture" there was and, while the Per- means an opportunity for communism and of sian nationalist may not as yet openly say so, in this it is well to speak briefly first. Russia is the his heart he doubtless feels that' the religion of most easily accessible neighbor to Persia and Mohammed was the most far-reaching of all the there is naturally much intercourse of a commer- Arab influences which he is today so eager to con- cial and other nature. Ever since the War a large demn. number of White Russians have made their homes Even the peasants and other members of the in Persia, but in the past five years an influx of lower classes, who have been for centuries the Bolshevists has also occurred. These communists'
A NEW DAY IN OLD PERSIA
have been very zealous in propagating their ideas hopeless fanaticism and intolerance into the conand have scattered their literature all over the fidence and cordiality with which the messenger country, especially in the northern provinces. It of Christ is received nearly everywhere in Peris hard to say how much real success they have sia today. "Love melts what the hammer cannot had in winning over individuals in Persia to com- break."* munism, because Persians naturally fear the political menace of the colossus to the north and The waning of fanaticism showed itself first their whole history and background seem entirely in the increase of Moslem patients in the hospiout of harmony with communism's basic ideas. tals and pupils in the schools, until for many In short, Persians do not desire to become com- years the large majority in most of our institumunists, but the Russian preaching of atheism tions have been Moslems. Then here and there and the doctrine that "religion is an opiate of the brave souls dared to accept openly the Gospel mespeople" are dreadful pitfalls spread in the way sage, but for years the tiny churches passed of Persians today who are giving up their historic through great tribulation, not only of persecution allegiance to Islam and, sadly disillusioned, feel but of heart-sickening experiences with renegade themselves swept into the full current of modern Moslems who sought baptism for ulterior motives. life without any of their former moral and reli- It is only in the most recent years that little gious safeguards. bands of tried men and women in various centers have by their transformed lives scotched forever The final answer as to what progress. commu- that age-old lie that "a Moslem can never become nism will make in Persia depends upon Christi- a sincere Christian." With the greater freedom anity. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for every and tolerance of the last decade, the stream of nation, but it seems peculiarly suited to this an- sincere inquirers has rapidly grown larger until cient people who, with racial background so simi- in one city in.1931 more Moslems confessed Christ lar to our own, have all the keenness of intellect, than in all the sixty years of missionary endeavor strength of imagination and artistic temperament there. The hospitals, and especially the schools, needed to flower out into a wonderful new era have not only held their prestige but have proved of their history if they have full access to the most effective centers of evangelistic effort, and a truth and beauty of the Gospel. Truly the soul most promising amount of Christian leadership of the Persian seems to be naturally Christian. for the new church of Persia is developing all over This was amply demonstrated by the rapid prog- the land. In addition, open evangelistic work of ress and heroic deeds of the church in Persia dur- a non-controversial nature is now possible, and ing the first six centuries of our era, and that last year a series of evangelistic meetings were would surely have been an outstanding church held in several cities wit./,Lamazing interest and today, had it not become a martyr church when results. In these meetings it proved wisest to the blight of Islam struck Persia. Ours is the ignore Islam entirely and to appeal to Persians responsibility to see to it that in this new day of as hungry souls weary of sin and ready to know freedom Christ is fully known there again, lest and accept a divine Saviour. atheism and crass materialism bring a deadlier blight in their wake. New Literature for Persia Fortunately the forces of the Gospel have for A clear illustration of the new receptiveness of decades been building up a prestige which com- the Persian people and their interest in the Gosmunism can never hope to overtake. It has been pel is found in the enormous increase in the disalmost a century since the first modern mission- tribution of Christian literature, particularly in aries began their work in Urumia and, although the past five years. A committee representing for many decades they seemed to make no impres- the two great missions at work in Persia has presion whatever on the wall of Islam, they were pared, in an attractive form, nearly a hundred succeeding far better than they dreamed. It is new titles of books and tracts, and these have only now that those of us at work in Persia ap- gone out to every nook and corner of Persia. They preciate the great achievements of our predeces- have been written to meet the needs of old~fash sors from America and England of bygone dec- ioned Moslems, of wandering souls without any ades. At a time when it was dangerous to life faith, and of Christians new and old, and they to speak a good word openly for Jesus Christ, are finding an eager perusal in a land where thouit was their Christian character, shining like sands of men and women have but recently bebeacons amid the darkness of Moslem morality, come literate. In 1931 more than a million pages their homes of beauty and peace bearing silent testimony to the power of the Lord Jesus, their • As I write this in the homeland, the cablegram comes of the sacrificial service in hospital and school, which decease of Rev. J. W. Hawkes of Hamada-n, after nearly fifty-two year after year gradually changed an apparently years of missionary service in Persia. He had personal recollections of the first missionaries to Persia, and one could thus picture in him the whole century of nlissionary work. all but the last decade or two seemingly without fruit among Moslems.
of this Christian literature was distributed and along with former Jews, Zoroastrians and Bahais, it is not only proving potent in bringing about mingle in full fellowship with Armenian and a new understanding of the Gospel and a willing- Assyrian Christians. The Persian church is an ness to receive it, but it is a blessing to the new eloquent testimony to the power of Christ to cast church and an ideal antidote to communism and out age-long racial and religious animosities.
all thepoiso~ of secularism in Persia today. Moslem converts are rapidly growing to outnum- Now that the natural courtesy and hospitality ber all others in these churches, and more than of the Persian temperament have been freed from one church is entirely composed of former Mos- the bondage of fanaticism by the new influences, lems. Therefore the great problem of providing there are many examples of the increasing esteem a home for Moslem converts within the church, in which Christianity is being held. Here again so acute in other Moslem lands where sporadic the faithful work of the earlier missionaries is converts are often ill at ease among those who bearing fruit. Slowly our religion has lived down have a Christian ancestry, has already been solved the evil reputation which it had gained through in the Persian church by the nature of the church the twisted ideas of Christianity found in the itself. Much of the leadership is also already in Koran and in Moslem traditions, and through the the hands of former Moslems, and as one takes lack of contact which Persian Moslems have had stock of the quality of the average congregation with true Christianity in the past. The consist- and notes the high level of intelligence and lead- ent lives of an increasing number of Moslem con- ership ability, especially among the young men, verts has greatly strengthened the examples of one has little fear for the self-support and self- the missionaries themselves. One of the earliest government of the Persian church. This was converts of all, once a fanatical Kurd, has for a strikingly evident in the all-Persia church confer- generation been a respected physician in Teheran, ence at Teheran in the summer of 1931, at which known far and wide as a consecrated Christian more than 200 delegates from 19 churches, a ma- eager to win others to Christ. Moslem women jority of whom were former Moslems, met for a have long formed 'his largest group of patients. week of inspiration and of planning the church's In many Persian cities former Moslem men and future. The" addresses and resolutions of the con- women have openly confessed Christ for years ference were characterized by a,deep devotion to and have gained the full confidence of Moslem a full-rounded Christianity and an appreciation friends by their integrity and thoroughly Chris- of the church's duty to bring all Persia to Christ.
tian point of view. Among Moslems, generally in The church in Persia, so new and so free from the more progressive cities, it has already become historic impediments to churches in other lands, a matter of slight comment when Moslems are has a unique opportunity to profit from mistakes baptized, and this new tolerance will eventually elsewhere and to blaze fresh trails' of Christian spread over the whole country. progress. "The missionary situation is ideal, with Some months ago the son of one of the leading the American Presbyterians and the Church Mis- mujtaheeds of Persia was converted while a stu- sionary Society of Englanrl the only two large dent in a mission institution. When friends missions at work. They Qlvide the field and work rushed to the father with the news, he amazed with each other and with two or three small socie- them by replying: ties in the utmost harmony and cooperation. The "What of it? Isn't Christianity a good reli- Persian Christians themselves are determined gion? I chose my religion and shall always re- that there shall be but one church in Persia, and main a Moslem. But this is the twentieth century are completely one in spirit now though content and my son is free to make his own choice." to leave the exact form of the organization of the Such an attitude is of course as yet exceptional, church until its fuller development. In the mean- but the trend of opinion is plain and the new tol- time, missionaries are endeavoring to avoid creat- erance and spirit of fairness are certain to be of ing all possible future obstacles to this great aim.
incalculable benefit to the progress of the Gospel There is now interchange of membership among in Persia-and to Persia herself. all the churches and a federation of the churches The New Church in Persia in certain general standards and in the beginnings of "home mission" work. Plans are under way Under such favorable conditions in the new for a form of joint ordination of the young men Persia, missionaries have recently made great who will compose the future ministry of the strides toward reaching the ultimate goal of all church, and it is hoped that a theological depart- successful mission work-the estd>lishing of the ment to be connected with the American College Church of Christ in that land. In many of the of Teheran can train candidates for ordination important cities of the land Christian churches for all Persia. Constant efforts are being maCe now flourish and III them converted Moslems, to let Persian Christians themselves govern their
ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE IN JAPAN
own congregations as rapidly as they can do so, land some day, and church history may well charand unceasing stress is being laid on the ultimate acterize the present movement in Persia as the responsibility of each Persian Christian to be an beginning of the final victory of Christianity over evangelist to his own people and to the whole Mos- the one rival which has seemed until now to be lem world. Since the history of the spread of in- as impervious to the loving service of missionanumerable heretical sects of Islam marks the Per- ries as to the battering-rams of crusaders. Howsians as born propagandists, there is real hope ever that may be, the present triumph of the that with the "Good News" at last available for Gospel in what has been one of the most difficult them to pass on, they will reach this great ideal of all mission fields should give encouragement of every truly successful Christian church. and new hope to many troubled souls who have felt that Christianity has been failing to gain in If the church in Persia continues to fulfill its recent years, and brings vivid testimony from present rich promise, its influence On the whole still another quarter of the world to the truth of Moslem world should be immense. Already the a recent statement by a Chinese Christian college great cracks in the apparently impregnable Mos- president that "there is for the modern world only lem wall which have appeared in Persia are an one religion-Christianity." earnest of what is sure to occur in every Moslem Att.empting the Impossible In Japan I By the REV. WILLIAM AXLING, D. D., I "~I I Tokyo, Japan The Tokyo Misaki Tabernacle and the Fukayawa Christian L Center; author of the "Life of Kagawa"
T HE Christian forces engaged in the King- worn itself down' into a groove. In the face of dom of God Campaign in Japan have at- all this, the Christian forces in ninety cities and tempted to rally every Christian and every prefectures united in organizing District Commit- Church behind a united nation-wide movement tees for the purpose of planning and conducting and to create a spiritual solidarity among the campaigns. These committees have formed a net- Christian forces of the Empire. This is some- work of evangelistic units across the empire and thing new, not only in this land but in any land. most of them have conducted advance movements in their own localities. This is an effort to give the Message of Christ to every group and every class-30,000,000 farm- Complete statistics are not available but reports ers; 5,278,000 induStl'I-!1 and factory workers; indicate that during twelve months 1,278 meet- 597,000 fishing folk; 459,000 miners; 1,033,000 ings were held in 248 cities and towns; 712 employees in transportation services and the 1,- churches participated in these meetings ; the total 158,000 toilers engaged on public works. These attendance was 262,344, and 13,837 signed cards classes and masses have been left practically un- as inquirers. touched during the past seventy years of mission work in Japan. This Movement has also set out The Kingdom of God Weekly has leaped from to humanize and christianize the social and indus- an ardent hope, born in the heart and brain of trial order and make the Christ's Way of Life the Dr. Kagawa, to a weekly circulation of 30,000 standard in every relationship. This has never copies. At the rate of 1,600,000 copies a year been done in any land and which a large section everywhere it is hailed as one of the most effecof the Church of the West has never recognized tive evangelistic forces that has ever been released as a vital part of its program. in this Empire. A cl~rk in a Yokohama firm, out of his meagre salary, ordered 200 copies every The hope is to raise the number of Christians in week and distributed them among his fellow- Japan from 250,000 to a million, not in order to clerks and friends. Judge Mitsui, of the Tokyo glory in numerical strength but that a creative Juvenile Court, uses 70 copies a week among the force may fix the ideals and set the pace in every juvenile delinquents whom he is trying to lead out phase of the nation's life. into a new lifE!: The Reinanzaka Church, Tokyo, sells 200 copies every week among its members Nothing runs its roots down so deep as religious in order to give them a full-orbed vision of the nrejudice; nothing is harder to overcome than de- Kingdom task.. Other churches are doing the nominational isolation, especially when it has
same. The story of the growth of this paper is a Christian, insisted that they wanted a religious one of the romances connected with this move- message and the more Christian the better. At ment. the close of the message the local pastor asked that decision cards be distributed, and while he The campaign is making large use of three of made a ringing plea for decisions a good number Dr. Kagawa's books which are aflame with the of the audience signed cards as inquirers. evangelistic message: "New Life Through God," "Meditations About God" and "God and the Gos- The holding of a Christian evangelistic meeting, pel of Divine Love." The country is being sown closing with an appeal for decisions, in a governwith these silent but potent messengers which find ment primary school is something which never an entrance where no evangelist's or Christian's could have happened anywhere in Japan a few voice could be raised. years ago. It shows the turn of the anti-religious tide which has been running with such tremen- Five small books have been especially prepared dous force during the past fifty years among the for use in follow-up work with inquirers. More intellectuals and educational leaders of the emand more we are coming to realize that it is not only inexcusable neglect but a crime before God pire. to lead a hungry heart to take an initial stand Later, the writer was asked to help in a camfor Christ and fail to feed the flame of faith that has been kindled. paign in two churches in an industrial centre. Never during almost thirty years in Japan have I This campaign has made its influence felt far seen so many laboring men in a Christian church, beyond Christian circles. After Kagawa spoke in wearing their working garb marked with the em- Osaka, the Osaka Mainichi, an influential daily, blem of their trade. At the close, one-fifth of invited him to hold a series of Christian meetings those present responded to the invitation and under its auspices, promising to put its circula- signed cards as inquirers. In the other church tion of a million copies back of the meetings for the building was packed with young people from publicity purposes. a neighboring factory.
Not long ago the Chugai Nippo, an outstanding Communism threatens to capture some of the Buddhist daily paper in Kyoto, related to the best minds and the finest spirits among the stu- Shinshu sect of Buddhism, came out in a ringing dents and to entrench itself in industrial centres editorial saying that the Kingdom of God Cam- and among the peasants, but it is doing so largely paign was one of the best movements ever because the Christian Chnrch has failed to think launched in Japan. and speak and work in terms of the problems of our day. If the Christian Church will arouse it- Of special significance is the fact that last Oc- self and face the challenge it still has a chance to tober, in one of Kagawa's meetings in Kyoto, win out in this fierce fight for the soul of Japan. Nishida Tenko, a well known Buddhist priest signed a card indicating his purpose to accept the The Kingdom of God Campaign is no one-man Christian faith. During the past ten years Mr. campaign, but is a movement of the Christian Nishida, as a Japanese St. Francis, has attracted forces of the nation. Kagawa is its outstanding the attention of the whole nation. He himself has figure. He conducted a special effort in three of lived a life of poverty and has espoused the cause Japan's northern cities in which 1,800 people of the poor. He has organized a Mutual Help signed inquirer'S cards. Order, the members of which live a communal life. The doors of this Order are open to any- A Mass Conference for Laymen and Laywomone who is in trouble or in need, either spiritual en, held under the auspices of the Kingdom of or physical. The members of the Order agree to God Campaign at Nara, was the second in the render any kind of service at any time and in series of conferences which the movement put on any place, even of the most menial type and with- in different parts of the empire in order to mobilout any stipUlated remuneration. ize the laity and train them for aggressive and effective participation in the campaign. Communism is making tremendous inroads in student centres, as well as in the industrial areas The first conference, held in Tokyo for Central and among the peasant class. The doors, however, and Eastern Japan, was attended by a total of are not closed to the Christian message. The over 1,000 delegates representing every city and writer participated in a campaign in a rural town province within the area which this gathering where the local committee arranged to hold the tried to serve. The interest manifested, the conmeetings in the auditorium of the public primary tagious spiritual atmosphere which characterized school. When I expressed concern as to whether every session, the fine fellowship which marked my message, in which I expected to major on the the meetings and the high purpose to' carryon, evangelistic note, would be welcomed in such a which was expressed in every period given to displace I was told that the principal, although not cussion and prayer, caused this conference to stand out as one of unusual significance.
from an Oriental
..:( By MARY E. MOORE, New York Secretary of Young People's Work. Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church. U. S. A.
Tokyo, August 25, 1931 were much impressed with the large Sunday T ODAY I had a long talk with Gladys Walser. school in the West Gate Church where they It is hot and not particularly comfortable, have over 2,000 … We revelled in the dazzling but Mrs. Walser is waiting for the arrival whiteness of the Korean garb-probably due of Lindbergh, so heat is forgotten. She was tell- to much beating from little wooden ironing clubs ing me of her particular hobbies which are "cook- … We heard rumors of war from Manchuria.
ing" and "peace." . Drove down town and saw war posters every- "The one thing my mother taught me to do was where.
cook," said Mrs. Walser. "When Later~n the China Sea my sister and I graduated from college we were given a cook We returned to Seoul and took book, the entire charge of the a boat from Chemulpo to Chefoo.
kitchen and told to proceed." It was a Chinese boat, the Litung, Down in the Terajima district, and had six hundred Chinese on a most needy section of Tokyo board, fleeing from Korea due to where 39,000 people gave their persecution resulting from land lives in a fire during the time of troubles between Chinese and the great earthquake, a House of Koreans in Manchuria.
Hope (Kobokan) has been start- Peiping, China, October 7, 1931 ed. The women make hooked rugs and do other work. Mrs. Mrs. Leynse took us for a visit Walser has cooking classes to to three Christian homes. It is teach the Japanese women to use part of the work she loves to do- cheaper cereal and spinach in- this visiting! We visited the stead of so much polished rice and home of a very wealthy Chinese pickle. lady. There were many court- Princess Shirakawa has become yards as a part of her six hun- interested in these classes and dred room house, and off of one asked to have one started for the of the most beautiful inner gar- women of noble rank. Such a dens we were shown into a re- class now meets in her own home. ception room w her e tea was The members give liberally to A MISSIONARY AND KOREAN HOSiJ'- served and we talked about her help raise the budget of 600 yen ESS BESIDE SOME PICKLE JARS family. I shall never forget the for the Social Center. little rock garden and the thou- The Women's Peace Society of Japan, under the sands of gold fish. As we took our leave, two presidency of Michi Kawai, is an active organiza- little round boys wrapped in many layers of tion. Formerly the work of good will cultivation jackets, for it was a cold day, came in from school consisted largely in caring for tourists, but at the with their amah. When they saw us they drew suggestion of Mrs. Walser, peace literature and back in dismay, but were finally prevailed upon pageants have been introduced in the schools, es- to come forward and greet us. With boys like pecially at Christmas time. that growing up under a wise Christian mother, Pyengyang, Korea, September 22, 1931 China has hopes. Our second horne was that of a Chinese bead Louise Hayes drove us around to visit most of merchant-simple but clean, with its reception the seventeen churches in this great city. We room, stiff chairs and table and tea equipment.
[477 ]
A refugee son from Manchuria had just arrived General Chang Tse Kiang, head of the Bandit and there was much excitement, but we were Suppression of Kiangsu Province, has been using greeted with all friendliness. his influence to urge Chinese Christians to pray that their own sins of selfishness, lack of conse- It was to the miserable abode of a riksha man cration in individual living, indifference to govwe went last. An untidy little girl with a bright ernmental matters, be removed. "When China smile, opened the gate and invited us to come in. prays to have her own sins removed there will Except for the courtyard there was only one in- be no need to fear Japan for the answer is with closure with a brick k'ang and some iron kettles, ourselves," says he. a few farm implements, a broken riksha-to make this "home." Some dried weeds and a few stray These are almost the exact words of the sticks of wood had been gathered thriftily and Manchurian banker who shared the second step were waiting the evening time when the family of the car with Sam Dean on one of his trips would assemble, warm their hands at the meager down from Mukden last· falL Both men were blaze while it also cooked the sweet potatoes or strapped on by leather belts to prevent their millet. Afterwards, all would retire to the brick falling off should sleep o'ertake them. Speaking k'ang and go to sleep in preparation for another of Mr. Dean-no mention of Peiping is complete weary day. A miserable dog emphasized anew without mentioning his unique service as OrIgI- nator of the School of Practical Engi- neering and Architecture. The evan- gelistic work carried on by his students in the villages near Peiping is worth a visit to China just to see and experience.
Shanghai, October 24, 1931 Mrs. Millican and I went to see Mrs.
Lee today. She is the wife of a wealthy Chinese broker. It was a bit awesome to pass the Sikh guards at the gate and enter the park-like inclosure. The house is set in a colorful background of green shrubs and gay flowers. For her hobby, Mrs. Lee conducts a kindergarten in her home. The children were practicing TECHNICAL CHRISTIAN TRAINING FOR CHINESE MEN-ENGINEERING for Christmas-rugs were up and on that highly polished floor activities for me the wretched existence of that animaL were taking place which would produce nervous (One does not talk of dogs and their habits in collapse in an American housewife. Mrs. Lee sees· polite society in the Orient.) For all the lack of her home only as a place for service. What if cheer in the home surroundings, there was no scratches do appear and furniture gets battered- warmth lacking in the hospitality of our little children are to be considered first. She loves Chinese hostess. every minute of the time the children are there!
Nanking, China, October 20,1931 We also met Miss Li Gwan Fang. Miss Fang is editor of The Woman's Messenger Three fascinating experiences today! A visit which has at present a circulation of 2,000 and to the tomb of Sun Yat Sen on Purple Mountain. sells for $1.20 (Mexican) a year. (Divide by four There were many steps but a perfect view of the to estimate price in American dollars at present awful flood area. rate of exchange.) The aim of the magazine is to At five o'clock we went off to be guests of give the Chinese mother in the home a broader Madame Kung, whose husband is Minister of In- outlook and a greater skill in performing home dustries. The occasion was a special prayer meet- duties. Some features have been series of aring, called at the request of General Chiang Kai ticles on "Women of the World" and their Shek and Madame Chiang. The latter was there place in international life; home problems; in person and looked every bit the First Lady of translated stories such as "Ramona," "Hans Brinker," and "The Secret Garden." Miss Fang the Land. is writing a book on "Famous Women of China" Throughout China the Christians are meeting to pray earnestly for the future of their country. I could not understand a word, but I never "felt" and has also published a pageant, "Mothers of such prayers in my life. the World."
A KOREAN AT PRAYER
Canton, China, November 1, 1931 That evening Miss Florence Lei told me of the Young People's Conference held in Soochow in Oc- Such a busy day! Here is a strong Christian tober. The young people had said that some of young people's organization. We had hardly made the present weaknesses of the church were exour first talks when we were asked how young and tremes in preaching, conservatism, too little worold can cooperate in the church. ship, too much preaching, lack of social life, no tOeal message in sermons and poor organization of "The older people think we don't know anything material; leaders were too self-important, not and can't take responsibility," said one young keeping up to modern times. (There-nothing man. "How can we prove that we do and can?" wrong-except- ?) The young people are chiefly interested in communism, science and material We discussed this same question later at an- things, but the solution as worked out at Soochow other conference. One older man pled with the was to be found in a paid Young People's Secreleaders to use the same skill and patience in inter- tary, a fund to use for work with youth, a retreat esting the young people in the church that they of leaders to plan an immediate, tentative pro-· do in fishing. "You don't throw stones into the gram to help take care of the most glaring laeks. water," said he, "when you want to catch fish." "Most of all," said Miss Lei, "we felt the need It sounded familiar to hear Mrs. Kwang talk of advisors with religious experiences to guide us, about raising money. "I don't ask for money. I not older people to scold." ask for a chair, a picture, or a brick, and I get them."
A Korean at Prayer By the REV. WALTER C. ERDMAN, Germantown, Pa.
Missionary of the Presbyterian Church to Korea A YOUNG man was sitting cross-legged on a glade, neither aroused his curiosity nor disturbed .I"l.. flat-topped boulder, his hands upon his his concentration. He made no movement to ob- serve us, though it must have been startling to knees, immovable in meditation. He have a group of foreigners, barbarians from bemight have been a "White Buddha" on its pedes- yond the Great Peace Ocean, in strange outlandtal. He did not glance at passers-by and his un- ish attire, suddenly break into the sunny silence seeing gaze was not disturbed by the brightness of that secluded hollow far up among the hills. of the noonday sun. The more ambitious of the climbers went on The ashes of a dying fire were just below his to the summit of the peak. Some remained to feet. On another boulder near at hand were a rest and eat a noon-day luncheon on the edge of brass bowl and spoon and in a bag a few handfuls the cliff beyond the spring and to await the of rice. A dozen yards away in a hollow place others'return. A deep valley wound away among at his right an ice-cold spring bubbled out among the mountain ridges below. Behind us rose steep the roots of a hazel clump and slipped away in the mountain slopes covered with thickets of scrub bamboo grass. On a slightly higher rock behind oaks and beeches with clumps of azalea and him was a small white china bowl filled with clear patches of bamboo grass between the copses. water from the spring and a few grains of cooked From time to time we glanced across at the asrice were scattered over the surface of the rock. cetic. An hour passed. He made no movement. He must have seen us but he made no sign. The The young man was worshipping an "unknown sun was hot but he sought no refreshing shade. god," the spirit of the mountain. The rock was He seemed far away in some other world of his altar. The limpid spring water and the rice thought. grains were his offerings. His ascetic fare and his self-discipline were. his devotions. He was Finally I went and sat beside him on the waiting. ~ .. boulder. He eyed me calmly and dispassionately but waited for me to speak. I confess to a curi- Our mountain climbing party of missionaries, suddenly emerging from the thicket across the
osity far greater than his own. With proper form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into and polite phrase I introduced myself, speaking the world that men might learn about God and go his language and following his country's custom. to Him in prayer 1 Gravely apd with no show of irritation he returned the salutation. His name was So-and-so Truly he had never been caused to hear such from Such a village. Was I honorably in peace? words as these. What was the meaning of them 1 I was at peace. Was he willing to be inter~ Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He came into rupted in his meditations and to talk to a man- the world to save men from their sins. He is our nerless foreigner'? go-between with God. The Orient's great teacher Confucius is reported to have said, "If a man sins Certainly; he had no other work in hand. before God there is no place in his life for Had he been sitting there long in this manner 1 prayer," but our sacred writings have a more Long? No, assuredly not. Only three days helpful word for sinners. In our Book it is hopeand nights. fully written, "If any man sin we have a go-be- tween in the presence of God the Father, even Nights? Surely he. does not pass the nights Jesus Christ the Sinless One." You can pray to there in the cold without shelter or covering? God even now if you will. Close your eyes to shut out the sight of the world around you and repeat Yes, it was cold but he did not mind it particu- this prayer after me …" larly. It is warm in the daytime.. o God who created all things, our Father, open my But what about the tigers? They prowled continually in these wild ravines. There were bears dark mind that I may understand thy truth. Help me to in the thickets and wild boars in abundance. The understand that Jesus Christ is my Saviour from the guilt signs were all about us. Was he not afraid? and power of sin. Help me to trust Him now and forever. Not particularly. The tigers did not seem to molest him. The wild boars grunted and passed Free me from all fear of evil spirits and save me for Thyby. self. I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Was he fasting? ' Not entirely. Twice a day To our amazement, sentence by sentence, he rehe cooked a handful of rice from the bag and drank water from the spring. But the food sup- peated the prayer. ply was getting low. He could only remain another night and day and then go home, even so, "I ask in the name of Jesus Christ …" Cleartraveling hungry. ly and carefully the words fell from his lips. Might one gently enquire the meaning of this long vigil through freezing nights and burning Strange, was it not? A young man who, until noons? that moment, had never heard the name of Christ, He was praying. To wbat spirit? willing to repeat a form of prayer suggested by He did not know. The mountain spirit, perhaps. Tiger, or an unknown stranger of a different race? dragon or horse, he was not certain which. Certainly the spirit of the place. The water on the It was time to go down the trail again. We rock and the rice grains were for the spirit of the place. could not stay for a longer talk. One final ques- What earnest desire led him to this rigorous form of devotion'? tion and we would go. Would he like some leaflets No particular desire. He wished to please the spirits. which would tell him more about God? Were they good or evil? He would but he could not read. He did not know. They might give blessing. Certainly they could bring disaster if neglected. "Take them anyway," we said. "Ask someone How did he pray? in your village to read them aloud and then read- He had no method. He tried to keep his mind er and hearer both can learn the truth. Is it not as free from thought as possible. He had heard from Buddhist monks that this was true religion. a good plan ?"
Would he like to know how to pray, truly? "It is well." Surely he would. But where' could one find a teacher. "Do not forget your prayer. Perhaps God sent Had he ever heard of the great God who made the earth and the sky and the mountains, the clear us to meet you here to teach you how to ·pray. water for man's drink and rice for his food; or Remain in peace."
"Even so. Go in peace."
We turned and left him on the boulder, com- mending him in our heart, to the Greater Spirit of the place. He remained through that night, but two days later woodsmen who had passed that way said that the young man had gone. .
Millions in the world seem indifferent to God.
Amateur atheists in America and virulent Reds in other lands may bitterly oppose Him because His Word is a condemnation of the life they wish to lead, but here and there in the world are lonely, seeking hearts. Shall we carry to them the mes- sage of God through Jesus Christ?
In the New-
Hebrides By the REV. FRED BOWIE Tangoa, Santo, New Hebrides ):..
Missionary of the Australian Presbyterian Church T HESE islands are too isolated, and too far CONTRAST-HEATHEN CHIEF AND SON OF A CHRISTIAN separated, and each missionary is too con- PASTOR fined to his own particular field to make it possible to give any general or detailed view of his people nearer Tangoa to a more easily de- fended place, and built a new village. the situation in the group. If the field were a like area of continuous land, In the southern islands the pig was an impor- tant article of property and of food. In the north the difficulty would be much less. No doubt the it was much more than this; by killing pigs in missionaries would be in more intimate touch ceremonial a man determined his rank in this with each other, and at centres other than their world and also in the world to come. Only on speown they would have some personal acquaintance cial occasions like the killing of pigs did the peowith existing conditions of which they know only pIe of various districts come together. Every man possessed a rifle of some kind, but for the by hearsay. time no firearms were to be carried, and there Long stretches of sea separate most of the was general peace.
islands, and, for most part, differences of lan- Even then acts of treachery were sometimes guage separated even more effectively. This lat- perpetrated. In our earliest days in a mountain ter feature applied not only as between island and village there was to be a pig-killing. Crowds of island, but also as between district and district people came to take part in the feasting and of the same island, and in our early days meant dancing. Among them, relying upon the recoghostility between the tribes. With us in Santo- nized rule, was a man who, having killed one of Tierra del Espiritu Santo-the normal condition the people of the village, had been able to evade was one of war, and every man was on one side various attempts upon his life. At the "singof the fight. sing" none of the villagers took any notice of him.
As an example of the language barrier, here at Tangoa, South Santo, about the middle of the coast, and for several miles inland, for "good" we say "ruchu"; farther inland it is "nam"; three miles west and inland it is "otomi"; eight or ten miles west again it is ('meretach"; inland from that and farther west and north the word is "vure'a"; a dozen miles up the west coast it is "woto." This was all in our district. Beyond, and in the north, and in the east, are other words, at least four that I know.
Thirty-five years ago we never heard of a man of another part passing along our beach. A little before our arrival some who ventured were fired upon and one was killed. Immediately after, sure of reprisal, the man who shot the other took [481 ]
A man of another place struck up acquaintance miration for him. All were sure that they would ·with him, and by degrees spent a good deal of time see another order of things, and all three did. in his company. On the last night of the feast, while the beating of drums and dancing were pro- We had already seen something of what had ceeding, this man, Vokeipau, entered the house been done elsewhere. The day before we reached where the enemy, still somewhat suspicious and Tanna we had been at Futuna, and had seen some avoiding the dancing ground, was seated alone. of Dr. Gunn's Christian people. Two days earlier, With seeming carelessness carrying an axe, the on a Sunday afternoon, we had made our first handle in one hand and the head in the other, he landing in the New Hebrides at Aneityum, at Dr. approached, saying, "This is the axe which I told Geddie's old station. To all of us newcomers it you Kele brought from Noumea." With a sudden was a moving sight to see the people, clean and movement he swung the axe and sank it in the decently clad, coming to church, and to hear them man's shoulder. For his effort Vokeipau received sing their hymns to the familiar tunes in use in our own homes. In the prayers of the elders who a pig. took part in the service there was an earnestness There were only slight contacts and it was and a fervor that impressed us; it was something that we could all understand, although not even therefore difficult to carry the Gospel to t4e peo- Dr. Paton knew any of their language. Here was ple. On the main island no local man would go encouragement: what had been accomplished by with us beyond a very limited area. We overcame grace in the hearts and lives of the Aneityumese this by inducing inland men and boys to come to would yet be witnessed among the Tannese and work for us, and by using some of them as guides. among those to whom the others of us were to go. Most of us had to prepare our own translations of Scriptures and of hymns. Now anyone may After we left Tanna, our next stopping-place go anywhere in safety. was Dr. Paton's own island, Aniwa. When his conv.erts met us at the beach, welcoming Dr. More than thirty-five years ago seven young Paton back, and as he and they conducted us all missionaries went out to the new Hebrides to- to the old house, to the church, to the well, and gether, with Dr. John G. Paton as a fellow pas- as we considered what had been done there as at senger. He came especially to see his son Frank Aneityum, once more making the situation over settled as a missionary on the west side of Tanna. against Tanna as a bright light over against in- tense darkness, again we had fresh cheer, and fur- At that time only Aneityum and Aniwa were ther assurance that all things were possible. Witclaimed to be entirely Christian, but considerable ness to this was added at Efate, at Nguna, at advance had been made in Eromanga, also in Tangoa, and in less degree at Epi and beyond. Efate and in the islands of which Nguna and Mr. Smaill of Epi was visiting Paama, but there Tangoa were the centres; Epi too had bright only a beginning had been made. spots. Tanna was particularly difficult. Now after thirty-five years today all the islands On our fourth and fifth days in the islands we from the south northwards, including Paama, are visited the scenes of the heartbreaking experi- accounted Christian. The Condominium Governences of Turner and Nisbet, of Dr. Paton himself, ment recognizes this, for it has made provision in of Matheson, Johnston, Neilson, Watt, and Gray. these islands for the administration of a native We saw the Tannese as all had seen them from the code of laws by native courts; in the islands to time when Captain Cook visited Port Resolution. the north of Paama as yet there is no law-so Our guide was Mr. Watt, whose headquarters at that even an offense like the murder of :it native that time were at the Port, and who then was the by a native is not punishable by law. only missionary in Tanna. We had heard Dr. Paton talk of the Tannese as naked, painted In Tanna such progress has been made that savages. Some were painted, and they were all while thirty-one years ago Mr. Macmillan bapnearly naked, but none of us thought them at all tized his first eight converts, in his report last grim and repulsive. year he set out that at the last celebration of the Lord's Supper between six and seven hundred Fifty-four years had passed since Turner and members took part. For various reasons these Nisbet had lived on Tanna. For nearly thirty were ohly a part of the Christians. On the oppoyears Mr. Watt had been holding on. Although site side of the island there is now a new misin 1881 he had baptized fifteen converts, it was sionary doctor with his wife. said that at the time of our arrival, in 1896, there was not on the island one baptized Tannese. Yet The position at Vila, the capital of the group, is he did not talk like a man without hope, but rather also worthy of note. There are the greatest numas a live sane man of deep faith, sure of the power bers of whites, British and French. Before the of the Gospel, delighted and encouraged at the eyes of the natives there is endless drinking, gamadvent of Dr. Paton's son, and of Mr. Macmillan bling and other evils. Natives of many islands to take Mr. Gray's place. We were filled with ad-
TODAY IN THE NEW HEBRIDES
are taken there as crews for boats and ships, and ary had retired; another had to give up Ollac- as workers about houses and stores, wharves count of ill-health; a son of Dr. Paton, thirty-six and plantations. It is said that such as wish years in Malekula, for over a year has been out may get any amount of alcohol almost under the with a poisoned foot which has had to be ampu- very eyes of the authorities. Still, for the most tated. The one missionary left has been on fur- part, the local people seem to be uncontami- lough, and is returning. A young couple also is nated, and to some of us it never ceases to be coming. In the meantime several teacher-evan- ope of the wonders of the Gospel in the islands to gelists have been carrying on, and no one fears see them kept so unspotted in spite of the bound- that the work is going to pieces; all recognize that less temptations to which they are subjected. these workers, cast upon their own resources and In those days Ambrim had two established centres of work. It has had its special cross to bear. Besides other losses, in the twinkling of an eye at Christmas in 1913, its principal station with its splendidly equipped an d most useful general hospital was blown sky-high when the whole valley went up in a volcanic eruption. A lesser, but also a destructive, erup- tion has occurred since. The Gospel is manifesting its power in many places today.
In the large island of Malekula there were four mIsSIOnaries. Soon aft e r there was a fifth. All these extended their influence in all directions. As in all the A CHURCH IN TANGOA. NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS northern islands, in Maleku- la much still remains of the old heathen life. On depending upon their Lord, will be all the strong- the first day of this year I went to Malekula with er for the experience, and many of their people some time-expired students. One of the teachers as well. .
told me about shooting that had occurred in the What is said of Malekula holds also of Santo north. A heathen chief had been planting and Malo. The three islands in the northeast, bananas. As he stood upright, holding a banana Pentecost, Oba, and Maewo, are outside our rec- stock with both hands, and with his feet pushed ognized field, and long ago were occupied by the the ground in around the base, two rifle shots rang Melanesian (Church of England) Mission, and out. A bullet went through both arms, and more recently by the Church of Christ as wen.
another through both thighs. His assailants fled. Thirty-five years ago in this the widest part of The wounded man's friends carried him home. Santo there was only one church and school, situ- Seemingly no attention was paid to the wounds, ated on a little island off the coast. About sev- so that they became a horrible mess, and the chief enty miles distant in the northwest there was begged his friends to strangle him. This two of another church. That year another central sta- them did with a vine. A grave was dug, and tion was opened in Big Bay in the north; the fol- when we (Were there his body had lain for three· lowing year another was established fifty-five weeks uncovered. It was not to be covered till his miles away on the east coast. Now there are death should be avenged. Christian communities all around the island.
At that time on Santo we had had a similar There have been several inland communities also, case, except that the unburied man was supposed but in most instances after a time they have de- to have been killed by witchcraft. To some extent liberately migrated shorewards. Where the peo- the strength of the present position in ·Malekuht, ple have been able to settle on heights inland they may be gauged by this that for several months re- have done well, but where, as at various places cently in the island there have been no Christian on the west coast, they have come down to the workers except people of their own. One mission- beaches, the result has been disastrous. No per- 484 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [September suasion could stop them. Blackwater fever is it curious that there should be those who cannot; common on all that coast. who fearlessly handle a lizard or even a snake; who, unafraid now of spirits finding means of ac- There are in the islands, or definitely assured cess to their houses, break out the extra windows and in sight, twelve or thirteen missionaries. At so as to have more fresh air; who without hesipne time we had twenty-six. The motor launch, tation burn the cutH,:..gs of their hair, and who replacing the old sailing boat, has played quite a do many other like things that their fathers or part in the change. In the early days nothing was tf~ 11' grandfathers would not have dared to do. certain in regard to a journey to a distance to Many are sterling fellows, earnest, dependable, leeward. With a good engine in a good hull one keen to acquire knowledge, particularly of the can now make definite plans, and can depend upon Bible, and in the days to come ought to do good overseeing a much wider field than with sails and work. oars. If there were more of Christ in the hearts of For the past thirty-six years the various mis- the whites in the islands, much more would have sionaries (Presbyterian) representing Canadian, been done, and much more might be done by the Scottish, Australian, Tasmanian, and New Zea- people themselves. Fortunately many of the Britland churches, and the J. G. Paton Fund, all work ish would not willingly do anything to create even together as if we were from one church. We a wrong impression, but there are islands and dishave been sending men, single or married, with tricts where the influence of outsiders is anything their wives to this place to be trained as teach- but helpful. Some have no shadow of regard for ers. Dr. Annand, of the Canadian Church, of morality. However, there is a likelihood that whose death we have just heard, established it. much that during the past years has been winked at by the administrators will be stopped. The There is no limit to the obligation under which government helps us to this extent, that it allows all of us have been to our native fellow-workers, us to import books free of duty. Nowadays the to scores who have had no special training. They islanders discriminate between outsider and outhave been alive and full of desire to see their fel- sider, and form definite opinions of each. More lows won for Christ. Others, during their four and more they· are ready to shoulder, and are years here, have been taught something of many shouldering, the burden of the work. They are things, but chiefly the great truths of the Gospel. our hope for the future. In spite of every oppo- The book VI hich we use for spelling, for reading, sition, perhaps in part on account of this, the for dictation, for transcription, for composition, Gospel has triumphed, and gradually is winning for practically everything, is the English Bible. its way through all the islands. This is necessary on account of the multiplicity of tongues. –,.:—- On our roll of Christians at present are fifty- A PRAYER FOR HELP':' one men and seven women, wives of seven of the men. The women have their own classes and in- Dear crucified Lord, in the shadow of Thy Cross struction in various kinds of work. These work- may we receive that moral strength, that divine ers come from as far south as both the east and courage which will enable us to combat the evils the west sides of Tanna, and from as far north of selfishness, greed, indulgence and all unworthias the north of Santo. ness that would prevent our deliberations leading us to decisions for the highest good of the little Several of them were reared in heathenism village as well as of the great city; for the poor and are acquainted with all its ways, including its and the nearly poor as well as for those who have fears. They know the pit out of which they have plenty; for the places of hard toil as well as the been brought. Last week I discovered that two places of affluence; for those who are weak in the of them still do not venture to speak of a father- face of temptation as well as for those who can in-law or a mother-in-law by name. One deals stand strong. Help us, dear Saviour, to rememgently with such, all the more because many of ber that in this great throng this morning we their prohibitions have been laid down for rea- appear before Thee as individuals, seperate and sons morally sound. We have now more of the alone. Be Thou the captain of our souls! Then if second generation of Christians, who know a good poverty comes we shall not be so poor and if sordeal about the former heathen life, but who have row comes we shall not be so sad, and if death been freed from many of the fears attached to it. comes we shall not be afraid. 0 Thou God of all A few days ago one of these, afrajd to touch a nations, Jesus Christ the world's Redeemer, hear lizard, was induced to approach and take one out us as we pray, and have mercy upon us, for Jesus' of my hand and handle it. There are still others sake, Amen. of the third generation who in their own islands have not seen any of the old way, who can name ,;. The prayer of Evangeline Booth was the most inspiring event in .a father-in-law or a mother-in-law, and who think fill the session of the Dem9cratic Convention meeting in Chicago.
OPENING OF THE I. M. C. COMMITTEE MEETING AT HERRNHUT
The delegates met in. the historic old Moravian Church. They were seated in the center section.
At Herrnhut -Tw-o Centuries After The Meeting of the International Missionary Council in Birthplace of Modern Missions By the REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D. D.
"~I Princeton, N. J. I~"
Professor of the History of Religion and Christian Missions T HERE is spiritual power in environment. ago the Moravian Brethren sent out their first "Vhere John first baptized," we read, "there missionaries from the very "upper room" where many believed on Jesus." (John 10 :40-42.) the Council met for its devotional meetings. Dr. Those who attended the International Missionary Julius Richter calls the place "the sanctuary and 'Council Meeting held on the Mount of Olives in shrine of the whole continental missionary enter- 1928 or in 1930 near the Haystack Monument, or prise." The very stones cry out, "Believe, endure this summer at historic Herrnhut, felt there the and dare." In his opening address of welcome unseen power of past history. Two hundred years Bishop Baudert, of the Unitas Fratrum, said: [485 ]
"What has given us the courage to invite you to Dr. Mott spoke, the great congregation-with the small Herrnhut? We remember how on August Sisters on the one side and the Brethren on the 21, 1732, the first missionaries set out from Herrn- other-included more than half of the population hut to carry the Gospel to the Negro slaves in St. .of the town! So they shared the worship and Thomas. Then a fire was lighted here at the foot vision of the International Missionary Council.
of the Hutberg which by the grace of God has not Under the chairmanship of Dr. John R. Mott, gone out and never will. With gratitude to God and with the secretarial leadership of Dr. J. H.
we remember how he has enabled our little Church Oldham, the Rev. William Paton and Dr. A. L.
to send out in unbroken succession more than Warnshuis, in fellowship with the lay and clerical three thousand Brethren and Sisters as mission- leadership of these widely scattered missionary aries to the heathen." forces, the Council has grown in strength. Its Indeed, the setting of the conference in this program is world-wide, its proposals are often Moravian community, with its marvelous history, startling, but the sober judgment and Christian enriched our inner spiritual life and our discus- boldness of this leadership has won the whole- sions. It was the great English historian, Lecky, hearted allegiance of most of the missionary who said that what happened to John Wesley in forces of Protestant Christendom.
the little Moravian meeting in Aldersgate'Street, The opening sessions of the Council were wisely London, meant more to England than all the victo- devoted to the unburdening of hearts on the great ries of Pitt by land or sea. The missionary move- issues of the day in which we live, the new oppor- ment sprang from the evangelical revival which tunities and the baffling difficulties in a score of came out of the Moravian movement. This revival countries across the world. There was out-spoken in turn expressed itself, not only in personal con- reality and no shrinking from the issues that are version, but in social action-the abolition of the at stake; no deferred hope made hearts weak but slave trade and legislation for industrial reform. courage rose with danger.
~ome of the letters written by John Wesley to Again and again, in single sentences, a window Count Zinzendorf are in the archives at Herrnhut was opened into dramatic new situations that and two of them were read at one of the sessions startle and challenge. What a world of suffering by Mr. Basil Matthews. and gallant courage is, for instance, revealed in Most of the delegates arrived by way of Dres- the simple statement that "forty-nine churches den in a great German omnibus which drew up in of Korean Christians have recently been closed in the beautiful little square called Zinzendorf-Platz, Siberia by the Soviet Government, many of the after a seventy mile drive southward through the Koreans taking refuge in .Manchuria, and that in rolling corn-fields and forests of Saxony. We were response the Korean Church itself is carrying out within sight of the mountains of Czecho-Slovakia, a special evangelistic forward movement among at the centre of a Europe that is passing through those people in Manchuria."
one of the major changes of history. As the men Similar heroic advances in face of humanly im- and women stepped out from the omnibus, the hos- possible conditions of chaos .and economic terror pitable and kindly eyes of our Moravian hosts and in China, in face of terrible distraction in Japan, hostesses looked into the faces of men and women, in the midst of national unrest in India were re- Indian, Chinese and Korean, Japanese, Belgian ported. A stirring picture of the apostolic travels and American, Filipino and Fr~nch, leaders of the of a pastor touring the villages of Siam, and the Christian forces of every country in Scandinavia wonderful work of a group largely of young folk from Finland to Denmark, Dutch and Scottish, bearing their witness, brought thrill and cheer Canadian and Afrikander, Mexican and English. from an unexpected quarter. From the Philippine They came also from the banks of the Nile, the Islands came a picture of a Youth Movement Congo and the Yangtse rivers. These men and based on the three principles of reaching youth women had come across oceans and continents, through youth, of moral and social as well as spir- drawn from absorbing tasks at great cost of time itual uplift, and of the union of all the churches, to this little tranquil town of sixteen hundred in- in face of the vast multitudes of youtlJ., detached habitants, hidden among quiet hills, remote from by modern secular materialism from all Christian the roar of cities and the turmoil of industries. loyalties, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant.
The Chairman of the Council, speaking from the The very radical proposals made by Commis- spot where Zinzendorf had stood, said that he, sions on Higher Education in India and in Japan by analysis, had found that on the· average one showed that a new day is bound to dawn in these in sixty of the Moravian Brethren and Sisters fields. The proposal was welcomed that in Japan have gone to the mission field, while the propor- some score of theological colleges which, striving tion in the Protestant Churches of the West is less with inadequate staffs to give denominational than one in five thousand. In that church, as training to pastors, should concentrate into two,
AT HERRNHUT-TWO CENTURIES AFTER
where the best teaching strength of all these col- opments in the restriction of religious thought and leges would be for the good of all. life were reported from Turkey, Egypt, Persia, Eritrea, the Congo, China and Russia, and they At one of the sessions Mr. J. Merle Davis of reveal that the battle for religious liberty needs Japan and America and Dr. Iserland of Germany to be fought again. The work of the Council's expounded their work as colleagues in the new officers and proposed further activity in relation- Department of Social and Industrial Research and ship with governments in face of some of these Couricil in Geneva under the International Mis- situations, were approved. The refusal by the Sosionary Council. Their research into social and viet authorities to allow any religious worker even industrial conditions created by Western capital to pass through Russia, is one among many exand civilization among the African and other amples of the obstacles placed by some governprimitive peoples is a handmaid to direct evange- ments in the path of Christian missions. Common lism. It is essential to Christian men to discover counsel revealed that different nations and misand display in practice how to make civilization sionary agencies in widely separated areas are congruous with the Gospel of Christ. The Geneva suffering restrictions that are largely common in Department is concentrating at present upon the character and can best be met by concerted action, unique situation created in the copper belt of the if action is necessary, through government chan- Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia by its in- nel!:.. tensive industrialization of the African. Their definite goal is to work out in concrete terms how THE MORAVIAN CHURCH AT HERRNHUT the mining organizations, the governments and the missionary organizations can cooperate and In view of these facts, however, what is the integrate their forces in order to create a new Christian attitude to be with regard to mission- Christian African community, in place of the ary and religious freedom? This problem faced present disastrous corrosion of the old tribal St. Paul and all the Christians in the days when system which leaves the individual African an they were commanded to worship the Roman isolated atom. Emperor. It faces us today, but in new and strangely difficult forms, all across the world. The This large social and industrial program, put days of imprisonment, of persecution and of forward at Williamstown in 1930, had, however, martyrdom for the truth are not altogether of the aroused misgivings on the part of the Missionary past. The Council declared therefore: Council of the Northern Countries before the meeting at Herrnhut. They sent a joint memorial We believe that much more may yet be done by wise, from Stockholm which received careful attention. sustained and progressive efforts to secure full religious One paragraph deserves record here: freedom in all mission fields, and we would count the con- tinuance of such efforts indispensable, since such a serv- Since we are firmly convinced that the preaching of the ice can only be rendered effectively under such cooperative Gospel is the essential task of missions, and must always auspices as the International Missionary Council, and is remain SQ, we cannot help feeling anxious at the growing directly related to the evangelistic program of the mistendency of making programs for the solution of rural, sionary movement. social and industrial problems in the various mission fields. Naturally we do not object to discussing these important But at the same time they challenged the courproblems from the point of view of missions. But if this is age and faith of disciples: done beyond a certain measure there is a real danger of diverting the missionary zeal from its central objectives In the presence of restraints and limitations upon the to such social problems as will naturally present them- free witnessing of Christians and Christian missionaries selves when Christianity has had a long period of devel- to the Gospel of 'Jesus Christ, which are increasingly evi-. opment in a nation, but which in no wise need be put in dent in certain lands, and which emanate from sectarian the foreground at the time of laying the foundation of a hostility, rival religious systems, new theories of the State, Christian Church in a nation. or the rising tide of nationalism, it is our opinion that In the findings of the Council meeting to which we refer later it will be seen that Herrnhut owed much to this Stockholm letter. The central message of Christianity, the cruciality of the Cross, the need of conversion and of a new life as prerequisites to successful evangelism-all these came to their own once more in the Herrnhut deliberations.
Next to this question of the essential task, was that of religious liberty. A number of documents were in the hands of the delegates and two or three interesting and weighty statements on the principles of religious freedom. Alarming devel-
when such prohibitions to Christian witnessing become the Gospel and transforming social conditions. fundamental and sweeping, in the judgment of the Church These great spiritual movements, the growing concerned, these prohibitions do not relieve the individual Christian and the Christian Chu'rch of their duty to con- self-consciousness of the indigenous churches and tinue their witness with love and patience, and yet also the present financial stringency at home, all unite with endurance, if need be unto suffering. to summon us to closer and wider cooperation.
Another question that called for earnest con- This was evident in all the discussions. Problems sideration was the future policy of missions in the that are common face every missionary society in present financial crisis. At the outset of the com- the world; no one society can possibly grapple mittee meetings Mr. Kenneth Maclennan, Secre- with them, for they need the mobilizing of the tary of the Conference of British Missionary So- wisdom, the experience, the leadership and in- cieties, very strikingly showed how during the fluence of all in the light of God's leading. The post-war years, when income has been on the whole problem of cooperation between different whole stationary, the work in the field has gone churches was carried dramatically to a deeper ahead in multiplying prosperity. "Has not God," and more searching level by the Rev. W. J. Noble, he asked, "called us to discover through the very of the Wesleyan Missionary Society of Britain, stringency of the present economic crisis that one who declared that ultimately we are bound in era of His missionary work has closed and practice in cooperation to find ourselves face to another opened? Are we not called to face the face with the tremendous questions of Faith and fact of the self-witnessing Church in all mission Order. Unless we are ready to go further, he de- lands ?"Our contribution in the fields of the world clared, we have already gone too far. Is it not today must be something different from that of time, representing the missionary forces facing organization and direction. What is it to be?" heathendom, to say to the churches in the home Our first task is to ask what is God's will for land: "It is your duty to come together, for the future of missionary work in the face of this divided you make. it more difficult to win the world present crisis. We must seek to get deeper still for Christ. Variety in unity is in accord with the into the fulness of the Christian message for the will of God. The real breach is made by ex- present age. We witness, in the troubled waters clusiveness !"
of the Far East, the wonderful sustained evange- There was no exclusiveness at Herrnhut. Cath- listic movements in Japan and in China which re- olicity came to its own without compromise: veal the steadfastness and courage and faith of Realizing the colossal power of the inertia caused largethe new Christian churches there in a time of ly by the divided state of Christendom, the delegates, chaos, amid the crushing forces of materialism moved by the tragic world situation of today, call missionand communism. We must share the agonizing ary workers throughout the world to enter boldly a new era of cooperation. In that new period the requirements, conflict of loyalties in the hearts of members of principles and spirit of such cooperation must be more the Indian Church under the stress of nationalis- thorough, serious and sacrificial than ever.
tic hopes and fears; and rejoice together in the The officers of the Council are to give a major news of the movement of high-caste Hindus into part of their effort to furthering in an advisory the Christian Church, influenced by the beautiful way constructive advances in cooperation such as witness of the purified lives of former outcasts; may turn the retreat threatened by economic a movement that presents to the world a new stringency into triumphant advance. miracle of the Eternal Gospel. Amid the multitude of "findings," the complexi- It was a memorable occasion, and we were ties of the daily program and the activities of greatly stirred on hearing from representative leaders from all lands of astonishing aggressive special committees there are two things that made Herrnhut distinctive to my mind: the clear and work that is, with increasing momentum and out-spoken utterance on the central task of mispower, being carried on by the Christian Church, sions and the consciousness that the only source whether in the Far East or in Africa. Under the terrible economic stress of today's world crisis, of power is God's Holy Spirit. The message is and in the face of self-confident materialism and the Word of God. The method is conversion. The positive atheistic communism, the Christian forces power is outside of ourselves, and the goal is not in Japan and Korea, in China and Siam, in India mere social progress, but the fulness of the Kingand in the Philippines, far from beating a retreat, dom of God. The committee on the message had are pressing forward in ways for which it is dif- referred to it the Stockholm correspondence, and ficult to find a parallel in the history of modern their report, unanimously adopted, will reassure missions. One of these adventures is the detailed those who may have had misgivings regarding the program and the specific activity of the Kingdom position of the International Missionary Council: If we have anything to bring in the name of God to a of God Movement in Japan, to carry Christ into slum, village and industrial city, both proclaiming world in need, it is certainly not o ughr toowrnopuiretoy~nouhrumowann way of life, our own modes of thou
HOW CHRIST IS AFFECTING INDIA
-i,' "
help. What the Church has to give in its world mis~ion is tions, races and communions, we were repeatedly recalled to the parallelism between the Internathe good news of a divine act in history, of the Word made tional Missionary Council opening its heart and flesh. Apart from a Word which is from God, and not soul to the working of the Spirit in face of the from man, there is 110 Christian mission. In face of the world task of Christianity and the Moravians powerful anti-Christian forces operating in the world today we reaffirm our faith that the revelation of God in Christ is the only way of deliverance for mankind and sending out the first missionaries from that very that it alone can provide the foundation for an order of room in 1732. Early in the morning, on more society that will be according to the will of God. than one occasion) the Holy Communion was celebrated by the Bishop of Salisbury, in which, And again they say: We have considered afresh what is central in our mis- at his invitation, the members of the committee sionary work and where the chief emphasis should be laid. from all over the world shared. At no time did Weare convinced that our missionary task is to proclaim the radiant community spirit of the unity of the in word and life God's revelation and redemption in Jesus Brethren sweep across the spirits of the delegates Christ. We have no other task; for while there is much that is useful and good, "one thing is needful." We need with greater force than at the united Love Feast to ask ourselves whether everything that forms part of on the first Sunday, at which,with the delegates, present missionary activity serves the one dominant pur- there was present the Moravian community, pose of making clear the message of Jesus Christ in all whose strong, sweet choral singing expressed the its fullness. enduring moral and spiritual fibre of a people who No stronger statement could be desired. Each have triumphed over persecution, and have even society and each missionary must striv~ to reach this ideal at any cost. Finally, the atmosphere of faced peace and relative prosperity without de- Herrnhut was not materialistic, but devout and generation. May we not hope and pray that from other-worldly. In the devotional meetings at nine the Herrnhut meeting spiritual forces will go o'clock each morning, led by men of different na- forth that shall be like Zinzendorf redivivus!
HoV Christ Is Affecting India* -"II By ROBERT WELLS VEACH, D. D. 111'· W HILE traveling from Singapore to Cal- Hindustani; but on about every fifth page there cutta I became acquainted with a young was a paragraph in English which contained a Indian merchant. Tall, erect, well poised distinctly Christian idea about love and the marand with a rich, brown complexion, he was about riage relation. as handsome a fellow as one would like to meet. Apparently he was wealthy, a camphor merchant Some paragraphs were direct quotations from with large interests in Sumatra and Java. His the New Testament and a few had been a bit muhair was closely cropped except a lock about two tilated by lopping off the context, as, for instance, inches long which protruded from the crown of Ephesians 5 :24. "As the church is subject to his head, the sign that he was an orthodox Hindu. Christ, so wives should be subject to their hus- He was always draped in an immaculate white bands in every respect." (Moffat's translation.) robe finely embroidered with black along the edge. In response to my question about these Christian When the evenings were cool, he would don a ideas being incorporated in a Hindu book, he said: three-quarter length white serge coat with deli·- "We Hindus always read the best European and cately traced gold buttons. Occasionally he wore American books, and when we come across a a rose-colored turban. really good idea we assimilate it into our Hindu thinking." Picture him reclining languidly on a steamer chair, speaking English fluently and rolling his This is a significant statement and reveals the large, dreamy eyes in whose depths one caught While admitting that Christianity is making glimpses of fathomless philosophies milleniums rapid strides in India, my friend insisted that old, nebulous ideas and wistful wishing. power of Hinduism to survive the centuries. Hinduism would win because it has this amazing One day he handed me a book he was reading, capacity to assimilate Christian ideas and ideals. entitled "Love and Marriage," with the request Because of its profound philosophic insight, he that I look through it. The book was printed in * Presbyterian Survey.
claimed that it is able to give to the world a more unadorned and impressive. There was no altar, spiritual understanding of Jesus. All this came no priest, no image. For ten minutes I listened from a young Indian camphor merchant. to several hundred Hindu students chant their prayer and praise to the God of their fathers. One Sunday evening I tramped with Dr. Sam Then this leader and teacher of men showed me Higginbottom across the acres of his Agricultural through his library of which he is justly proud. Institute of Allahabad. He described the unex- He had majored in English Literature at Oxford pected visit he had one day from some Indian and was familiar with our American poets, even princes. They had been attending a great re- down to Lindsay and Robinson. Emerson and ligious gathering at Benares and having heard of Whitman he was willing to concede a high place; Higginbottom's work ·decided to see for them- but of all the others he refused to group any of selves. One morning six of them arrived at the them with Wordsworth, Browning, and Shelley. station in a private train. They were deeply impressed with what they saw and with the Chris- This man had recently presided over a public tian motive back of it all. One of them was so meeting addressed by Dr. Stanley Jones. At the taken with a fine young Christian student that he conclusion of the address he arose and expressed offered him the position of agricultural manager his complete agreement with most of the speakand teacher on his own large estate. er's statements because he found the same ideas in Hinduism. "This is our classroom for the study of Industrial Chemistry," said the president of a large But there are many thoughtful, highly intelli- Christian college. The room with its apparatus gent men among the six million followers of and charts was neatly arranged. On one of the Christ in India. One evening I met a very promiwalls I noticed a picture of Christ and the Rich nent Judge, a man of great intellectual breadth Young Ruler, while back of the teacher's desk and spiritual insight. Both he and his wife are hung a fine copy of Hoffman's Christ Among the active members of a Christian church. On an- Doctors. other occasion I attended a social gathering in the home of an Indian Christian. He is the head of "This Indian teacher is evidently Christian," I a large Government High School, is mentally alert remarked. and enthusiastically devoted to Christian work.
"No," said the president, "at least not a pro- Riding from Calcutta to Benares I shared the fessing Christian; but it would appear as if he compartment with an elderly gentleman, whom I were almost persuaded. The character of Jesus found most companionable. He proved to be a makes a strong appeal to many men who are not high railroad official and an active Christian. interested in organized Christianity." One day I addressed seven hundred students in Perhaps the keenest man intellectually I met in the Assembly Hall of a Christian college, and to India was a distinguished college president, the the best of my ability I challenged this host of head of a large Hindu Graduate School. He was promising young men to take the ideals and teacha Hindu and believes that, freed from shallow tra- ings of Jesus Christ and incorporate them into dition and vitalized by close contact with the main the new social and political structure that is takcurrents of modern thinking, Hinduism possesses ing form in India. The response was trementhe dynamic to make India great and powerful. dous. Is India almost persuaded?
I attended the chapel exercise. It was simple, The Cure for Depression What would Christ do and say to help us out of our trouble if He were on earth now?
We can judge only by what He did and said in the first century, an age not so different from our own, an age of unsettlement, violence, drunkenness and license. Christ would tell us not to yield to panic, "be not anxious for the- morrow, and not to trust in riches; what shall it profit .a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Christ would tell us to work and pray for our daily bread, to keep our hearts clean and steady and kind, to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves. He would tell us not to be selfish or afraid, but to trust our Heavenly Father and do our duty from day to day. He would tell us that the Holy Spirit will guide us to our duty, that the universe is in the hands of God and that the soul of man is the most precious thing in the world.
These are the fundamental principles and spirit that must underlie and cure our trou- bles. Everyone can begin at once to put them in practice. HENRY VAN DYKE. .'.
Braga of
II: J ··:ill w~ . ~~~ ~ a~:n J:.. By REGINALD WHEELER, Nanking, China Recently Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, V. S. A., in charge of Latin-American Fields — _. __ . ._. — — ONE of the essential aims and ends of foreign clerk in a country store which, due to the exig- missions is the establishment and develop- encies of the economic situation, used old news- ment of a native church. To fulfil its mis- papers for wrapping its packages and articles of sion this church must be in reality self-propa- sale. One day the newsboy who brought these gating, self-supporting, self-governing. In many papers to the young clerk gave him some leaves mission fields such indigenous churches are now torn from a book in which John Braga became developing. Leaders of those churches are intensely interested. These leaves had been appearing who are worthy of being in- torn from a Bible, a book with which cluded in the long line of the suc- Mr. Braga, like many other nominal cessors of the glorious company of Roman Catholics, was not familiar.
the apostles. In Brazil, after two He became interested, asked for generations of mission service, more of these papers, read and there is such an evangelical studied them, and resolved to church today, independent of give himself to this new way foreign subsidy, directed by of life and belief. Soon after its own leaders, expressive a Presbyterian missionary, of the genius and spirit of the Rev. F. P. Schneider, its own people. Foremost made his acquaintance; as a among the leaders of that result John Braga was bap- church was Erasmo Braga. tized and became a member On May 11, 1932, at only 55 of the recently formed Pres- years of age, Dr. Braga's byterian Church in Brazil.
rich service upon this earth He studied for the ministry, came to an end. It is a privi- and became one of its most ac- lege to attempt to review a few tive and able leaders. While of the achievements of this truly teaching in a mission school in great man and to summarize some Rio Claro, as a candidate for the of the characteristics t hat en- ministry, he met and married a dea·red him to so many friends and girl who was also teaching in that that won for him the well deserved con- school. In 1877 their first child was fidence of the Evangelical Church, not PROFESSOR born, and was named Erasmo after the only in Brazil but throughout the world. ERASMO BRAGA famous Dutch humanist. This boy was Erasmo Braga was first and foremost a man of baptized by a Presbyterian minister who had the church of which he was a servant and a leader. fled from the Island of Madeira after a terrible He was an ordained minister of the Presbyterian persecution and had been wounded in a similar Church in Brazil, which he had served as Mod- persecution in Brazil. Erasmo thus grew up in a erator and in whose councils he occupied an infht- Christian home; entered the second class at Mac- ential position. kenzie College, Sao Paulo; took work in the His ecclesiastical inheritance is of unusual in- preparatory course of a school of law; and terest. His f.amily was an influential one that later entered a theological seminary to pre- lived in Portugal in a town that bore the family pare for the ministi'Y. After he was ordained name of Braga. His grandfather was an army he taught for. many years on the seminary officer in Portugal and his father, John Braga, faculty without salary. He was one of the emigrated to the new world of the Americas, land- directors of the seminary in Rio de Janeiro, ing in Brazil in the early 1850s. At first he had and has taken a special interest in the Curso difficulty trying to make his living. He became a Jose Manoel da Conceicao, which provides a [491 ]
junior college course of preparation for can- ments between the two. He favored the plan by didates for the ministry. which financial assistance would come from the Dr. Braga was not only a minister of the Evan- mission on a diminishing scale for initial and pio- gelical church, but an educator whose advice was neer areas, with the missionary force acting as sought in this field both in the sphere of the mis- the spearhead of evangelistic service on the fron- sion and of the government. He taught for some tier, and the native church taking over as rapidly years on the faculty of Mackenzie College and of as possible the work in larger cities' and evan- Campinas Seminary; he was Chancellor of the gelized areas. Such a cooperative plan has been Federation of Evangelical Schools of Brazil; put to the practical test in Brazil and has stood served on the Executive Council of the National the test. The Brazilian Church stands on its own Educational Association; and was the editor and feet with self-respecting independence and re- author of a number of text books, both in the field sponsibility, and Dr. Braga has had a large part of religious and secular education. No one who saw in shaping this development. His clearness and him preside at the Montevideo Congress and heard incisiveness of thought on this subject of coopera- him swing with ease and fluency from his native tion between mission and church was especially Portuguese to Spanish, to French, to English, will evident at the Lakeville Conference of the Pres- ever forget his linguistic skill and ability. He had byterian Board of Missions, where this issue was also a reading and working knowledge of Greek, one of the chief topics of consideration.
Latin, Hebrew and Italian. In a memorial service In the wider groupings that include churches held by the Brazilian Association of Education and missionsjn other lands, Dr. Braga also made after Dr. Braga's death, Dr. Anisio Teixeira, his distinct and serviceable contribution. Not long Superintendent of Public Instruction, said: before his death he was appointed representative Erasmo Braga was an educator in the highest and rich- of the Latin American section of the World's Alliest sense of the word, a binder together of men among ance of the Reformed Churches. A government themselves. I render today, as a member of the Brazilian official in Brazil paid this tribute to the universal Educational Association, and personally, the profound and quality in Dr. Braga's leadership: sincere homage of my intelligence and my heart to this man who did good to all of us because in all of us he There are those ~vho say that the Protestants built a added a power of love not of ourselves. bridge for a great intellectual passage in modern times but they did not have the courage to pass over. Men like But Dr. Braga's influence went beyond the Erasmo Braga are conducive to such a passage. They usual bounds of church and school and was ex- use their influence for religious cooperation in Brazil and pressed in many channels of service which are in the whole world. They tend to suppress the divisions grouped under the head of union and cooperation. among men by a tacit or expressed accord in a group of common ideas…. He led us forward because of those For twelve years he was Secretary of the Commit- delicate and sensitive labors which arduously insisted on tee on Cooperation in Brazil, the consultative and the harmony between men seeking with tolerance and long correlating agent of various evangelical church suffering spirit that which was a common denominator. groups in that country. Dr. Braga took an active He led us forward because he broke down differences, he part in the Panama Congress held in 1916; was eliminated divisions, and created stronger and more ample bonds of unity for human cooperation…. Because of chairman .and presiding officer at the Congress on this all of us, believers and agnostics, are able to associ- Christian Work in South America, held in Monte- ate ourselves together in homage to such a remarkable video, Uruguay, in 1925; he was one of the three character, reflecting Brazilian and universal religious members of the International Missionary Council thought as was Erasmo Braga. . . . representing Latin America, and met with the A missionary wrote of him: Council at Jerusalem in 1928; he was Honorary He was the one internationally-minded Brazilian Protes- tant. He always had an aptitude for other people's points President of the Evangelical Congress of Havana of view, even as a student back in 1892 when I first came in 1929; he .attended the Lakeville Conference of to know him well. … He knew the whole "Who's Who the Presbyterian Foreign Board held in June, of Brazil," and was, as a Vice-president of the Republic 1931, and played an influential part in the discus- once said, "mais acatado" (accepted with friendliness and sions there on the relations of mission and church. respected for character and intelligence) more than any Dr. Braga saw clearly that the merging of mission other man of his acquaintance.
and church, as many native leaders advocate, with In the sphere of the church, of education, in the continuance of foreign subsidy to this merged or- world field of cooperative enterprise, Dr. Braga ganization, was not the right solution of the prob- made his contribution and served his generation lem, and tactfully but fearlessly advocated the de- wisely and well. "He was a man, take him all in velopment of mission and church on parallel and all. We shall not look upon his like again."
distinct lines, each to administer its own funds But many of us who knew him remember him given by its own constituency, with a cooperative not as a minister, or as an educator, or as a leader or liaison committee or group to work out adjust- in cooperation, but as a friend whom we trusted
ERASMO BRAGA OF BRAZIL
and loved. Strong, wise, full of grace, Erasmo some weeks before his death, both he and his wife Braga drew men to him in friendship that was were ill. Death took Mrs. Braga on April 19th, deep and true and lasting. He was .an ideal com- three weeks before his own death. In a letter, panion, ready to enjoy the simple felicities of the written April 29th, he wrote in answer to a mesday and to share in the experiences of the common sage of sympathy in the loss which he had sustask as a true comrade and friend. tained: "Our sufferings have given us an oppor- tunity to witness for the Eternal Hope to a large Through all his service, in church, in school, in circle of relatives and friends." his cooperative capacities, as a friend, Erasmo Braga was a true witness for Christ. Dr. Braga's earthly ministry has ended, but his spirit lives on in school and church in Brazil, and In the Covenant Compam'on, published in Brazil, in ute wider circle of those in many lands who in October, 1929, an article summed up this dis- came to know him, who gained through him a tinctive spirit of his service: truer and more vivid understanding of the beloved community of the Church Universal, and of the For Latin America as a whole, no man today means One who is its Lord and its Light, before Whom more in the interest of making Jesus Christ known, loved, one day, that Church, in the building of which Dr. believed or followed, than Professor Erasmo Braga, whose Braga has had such a vital part, will be presented father learned to know the way of Life Eternal from the faultless with exceeding joy. fragments of a Bible used for wrapping paper in the early days of the pioneers in Brazil.
He was a witness clear through to the end. For An Egyptian Convert from Islam A CHRISTIAN effendi and a sheikh from EI mud read the Sermon on the Mount. When he Azhar University in Cairo took shelter to- read it he found notes from the donor: "Pray for gether in a shop during a shower of rain. those who despitefully use you"-"I pray for you Before they parted the effendi gave the sheikh a daily." And so on. card inviting him to a lecture at the C. M. S. student center. Attracted by the idea of meeting the Six months after he had broken up the discuseffendi again, Sheikh Mahmud went to the lecture sion meeting Mahmud, now convinced of the truth and made his first contact with Douglas Thornton of Christianity, had to make his decision. It is and Temple Gairdner. almost impossible to conceive what that decision involved. On the one side was training in Con- As a boy, when Mahmud was attending the stantinople as a lawyer-an assured position, great Moslem school in the Temple area (in Jeru- property, honor; on the other-a loneliness we can salem) he discovered in his father's house a copy only imagine, outcasting from family and home of a book forbidden throughout the Turkish Empire-"Sweet Firstfruits." He read it from cover and country, dishonor, persecution, disinheritance to cover, again and again. This was his first -and Christ. Mahmud himself tells the story of touch with Christian truth. How his father, a that night of decision: bigoted and orthodox Moslem, a teacher in the Haram, had become possessed of this book is a Mr. Gairdner called Mr. Thornton, and we three prayed mystery. together. Perhaps only about three times in my life have I prayed with the certainty of faith, and that was one. After the first lecture in Cairo Mahmud went Mr. Gairdner said: "I will say the words, and you shall regularly to the meetings. On one occasion he say them after me. .. 0 Lord, what shall I do? Enbrought twenty Azhari students with him for the lighten my eyes that I may perceive the best course, the express purpose of breaking up the meeting. The best for soul, the best for conscience." Even while I subject was the Crucifixion, and when Mahmud was speaking my heart was filled with a great glow of leaped to his feet calling on all true Moslems to love and I saw shining on the wall the word Al Masih show their abhorrence of the teaching, the meet- (Christ) . ing was broken up as most of those present followed him out. Then Mr. Gairdner said: 'Now we won't talk to one another. You go away and get God's guidance without Imagine his astonishment when, after this rude talking to any human being, and I shall stay here and behavior, Douglas Thornton came and invited him pray for you.' to come every week! I went back to the Azhar (university mosque) and took Douglas Thornton and Temple Gairdner spent my daily ration of bread. Then I went to 'the lodgings, themselves for him during the months that fol- which I shared with several others. I took out my father's lowed. A typical touch was the gift of aNew letters and spread them before me. I took the Koran and Testament from Gairdner on condition that Mah- Injil (Gospel) and. I read them in turns. When the others came in, I was in a muse. They asked me to a party in another room. I said: "No! My thoughts are burdened tonight. Leave me." The two sides of the question kept surging in upon me. How could I face poverty, as I must, if I were a Christian? But how could I deny Christ?
Why not follow Christ secretly and outwardly comply? For a fully qualified sheikh of EI Azhar the But Thornton and Gairdner said that was only laughing at convert's usual problem of employment did not Christ. occur. Rather did it add lustre to the mission schools that their Arabic master was so qualified. At last I prayed exactly as a man does who is speaking For twenty-five years Sheikh Bulus has faithfully to his fellow. I said to Christ, as though He were at the taught both in the boys' and girls' schools in Cairo-a picturesque figure in his sheikh's robes other side of my bed: "Guide me Thou, 0 Christ, if Thou which he always wore. art Lord." It needed the endless patience and humility of It was night, and I slept after that. It seems to me as Gairdner to hold on to Sheikh Bulus during the if I saw in sleep the faces of Thornton and Gairdner and years of adjustment and struggle. The story is another that 1 knew was the face of Christ. one of ups and downs, of falls and conquests. It is, too, a record of faithful service and of loyalty Suddenly I awoke, hearing a voice say: "Mahmud, rise to Christ, a loyalty that never wavered. up, there is light for thee. Fear not." I thought my comrade, Sheikh Ahmad, had called to me, but he was sleep- His position in the Old Cairo Church strengthing. Then a man in white passed me and swished me ened, and perhaps it was the memory of the with his robe, saying again: 'Mahmud, rise up, there is "father" God gave him in Douglas Thornton that light for thee. Fear not.''' It happened a third time, and inspired his efforts to befriend converts. What- I was left trembling all over. At last 1 said: "0 Christ, ever the motive it is a fact that his was one of the Thou art my Lord." few Christian homes always open to converts, and there he and his wife (herself a convert) let it be My one thought was to meet Thornton and Gairdner. known that "our house is a home for converts." When I went to them, Gairdner said: "Now you who were Saul are Paul (Bulus)," and kissed my forehead. After- Always eager and impetuous he threw himself wards I learned they had taken no supper but had stayed heart and soul into the care and teaching of intill three o'clock praying for me-till about the time of quirers, especially when the student center was remy vision. opened in Cairo. No effort was too much-his heart and his home were always open to them. Loneliness came on me terribly on the night after my baptism. That is always a hard time, when all the calls of So well did Bulus like this work that he longed the old life sound in a man's ears and he has not yet rooted to give up teaching in school and to devote his himself in the new. I could not sleep that night. At whole time to evangelism. He was still a young eleven o'clock, Mr. Gairdner saw a light under my door man-only forty-six years of age-and had apparand called out: "Bulus!" "1 can't sleep," I said. He ently years of valuable service still to give when came in and saw me miserable and said: "I'll stay with he was taken ill and in five days (in June, 1931) you a little while." Then he began to read to me out of he had passed on to join those who had brought missionary papers about some boys in Uganda who had him into the fellowship of his Lord. suffered everything for Christ. He read in English and told me in Arabic what he read. I saw that others had -Church Missionary Outlook. left all for Christ. At twelve o'clock he said: "Now you had better sleep." The war was not over in my soul and I said: "1 can't." Then he said: "Very well, I have a proposal. You lie down on your bed and shut your eyes, and I will sit on this chair beside you and go on reading to you. 1 promise to stay with you till you sleep." At first 1 could not keep my eyes shut, but every time 1 opened them he put his hand gently over them until at last 1 slept.
Unexpected Testimony Professor Julian Huxley, describing a visit to East Africa, writes: Perhaps the most striking impression I take away from Kampala is of a service in the Church of Eng- land Cathedral. Five or six hundred natives; a choir of fifty who sang a Bach Chorale with great feeling; a sermon which I longed to understand by Ham Mukasa, one of the aristocracy of the native kingdom, a noble-faced old man who has twice been to England, and has written a book about his travels there.
One is reminded of Charles Darwin's visit to the Church Missionary Society station at Waimate. He wrote: The lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. . . And to think that this was in the centre of cannibalism, murder and all atrocious crimes! . . . 1 took leave of the missionaries with thankfulness for their kind welcome, and with feeling of high respect for their gentlemanlike, useful and upright char- acters. It would be difficult to find a body of men better adapted for the high office which they fulfill.
It is a long stretch of time from 1835, when Charles Darwin wrote of the work of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand, to 1930 when Professor Huxley writes of the work in Uganda. The work.in New Zealand is now in charge of a Maori Bishop. The work in Uganda is still the responsibility of the Church Missionary Society.
The Uganda story is one of heroic sacrifices and of wonderful results. When Bishop Chambers visited Uganda he was so impressed by what he saw there that he made it his prayer that Tanganyika would be transformed by the power of the Gospel as Uganda has been.
-Church Missionary Gleaner.
Ways of
Tested Methods for Incr~asing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO THE AUTUMN KEYNOTE shade beneath, to guide the of white, green, yellow or red.
Whatever increases receptiv- April folk. June had orange At the sounding of the luncheon ity for our missionary message is ,veIl worth cultivating, blossoms, July its patriotic fea- call, guests found their way to though not to the extent of lowering the tone of the mes- tures, November its turkey and whatever table bore the same sage. In any department of church activity, you will find ingathered grain, December its color decoration as themselves. your audience rising to the keynote of seasonal appropriate- tiny tree and bells, and so on The winter table centered on a ness. Home-coming functions, receptions for newcomers in the around the year. Everyone was Christmas tree, with pure white missionary organization, harvest home festivals and out- well 'introduced by the time the candles, tiny sleds on cotton door gatherings turned to missionary uses, the stressing of groups were assembled; but to snow, etc.; the spring table was fresh beginnings and advanced plans-these all fit into Septem- make doubly sure, the persoll exquisite in green, with beds ber and October, the latter being the month in which the who first located her natal of artificial daffodils, tulips and average missionary organization musters its 'forces for a headguarters had to welcome narcissus; the summer table new year's work. In this connection, the outline for a recep- the next, these two the next, was stunning with yellow tion to newcomers given in the May number of THE REVIEW and so on until an atmosphere candles and a patriotic centeradapts itself to autumnal use. of cordiality and good cheer piece, and the autumn table was Welcome Home Parties had been created. Then the the beauty spot of the room, A resume of this plan, given in THE REVIEW several years hostess announced that as' this with its red candles, bright ago, may prove timely. The hostess announced that all guests was the cook's day off, guests leaves of many shades, and a born in January were to assemble in a spot in the room which must prepare the repast. .THnu- Jack-o-Iantern center. they must find by its appropriateness, and so on through the ary had to cut the bread, A hostess in corresponding rest of the calendar. Then ensued a lively search for birth- February to make one sort of attire was seated at each table, month headquarters. January proved easily recognizable from sandwiches and March another, a blushing bride and groom a sheet of new resolutions and other decorations, hung in one June must concoct the cocoa, honoring the spring group. corner of the large room. February had an abundance of etc. After all were seated, the The missionary organization snow and ice, pictures of Lincoln, Washington, etc. On hostess tapped a bell and said, personified was the general a chandelier hung an umbrella with both overshoes and sun- "The sandwiches, please, April" hostess, her table having a – at which the Aprilites birthday cake centrally placed.
trooped off to serve that item- One or more jingle-gifted per- and thus the merry meal pro- sons were seated at each table gressed. Each group was re- to reel out rhymes reminiscent quired to evolve a limerick or of the organization's past, or jingle on the subject of its fraught with optimistic feJicita- birth-month, the most popular .tions for its future. The table being given a blue ribbon. It groups broke out from time to was then announced that the time in appropriate music- divisions would stand for the "Jingle Bells" at the winter year, and that the programs table, "0 Promise Me" in the would be presented accordingly, spring gathering, etc. After the January group giving the the cutting of the cake with its program in that month and so good wishes specific to the or- on. ganization, a talented speaker The Hyde Park Baptist set forth the goals and ideals Church, in Chicago, also had of the denomination for the its autumnal rally in the form opening year, and another well- of a birthday party. At the informed speaker followed ex- entrance the mystified guests ploiting the program of study were compelled to yield the and service planned for the so- secret of their natal day (not ciety. Earnest prayer foc'
the year!), each then having guidance and power to actuate pinned upon her a dainty favor the plans closed a meeting [495 ]
begun in merriment but ended a good hunt, on trees, bushes, that time we will start on a fall and winter cruise, visiting many countries in information, inspiration and decorations, etc., or on their indeep seriousness of purpose. door counterparts if the out- en route. We will touch at a number door function is not practicable. of ports and explore the country round about. Be on hand on Rally Autumn Parties Have guests work singly or in Day to help launch the boat. En- twos, giving a year's subscrip- closed is a round-trip ticket. Please One such missionary gather- tion to THE REVIEW to the per- fill in with your name and address ing, held in October, had deco- son having the nearest complete and bring it with you on Rally Day rations of chrysanthemums and list of questions and answers so that you can start on the cruise gaily colored leaves, its title with us. Arrangements have been being, "Autumn Gleanings." Red cardboard apples made in a given time. Summer or made for picking up new passengers covers for booklets inside of autumn music, with suitable re- who may wish to come aboard after freshments, will make this a which were pasted pictures of very attractive social-mission- the cruise has started. some definite missionaries or Our offering on Rally Day will be fields, with corresponding information clipped from THE for – – . We have set as our goal REVIEW and denominational pUblications, placed alongside. ary event to rally the new or the sum of $—. Please bring the These apples were presently opened and served successively uninterested. enclosed envelope with your offering by different young people read- An autumn Christmas tree ing and displaying the contents. and help us reach our goal. Walnuts with questions inside for the purpose of assembling were at the places at the ensu- gifts for some worker on a dis- This boat trip will not interfere ing luncheon. These had to be tant foreign field is a further "cracked" and answered. rallying function for the first with the regular work of our school; autumn meeting. A harvest home rally in Octo- each class will continue to have its ber was gaily decorated with The calendar plan is often fruits, flowers and grain of the instituted in September or Oc- regular lesson period. Many of our season and had its music of old tober, one person being apfolk songs furnished by a quar- teachers took special courses during tet in costume. The program pointed to represent the miscentered on "The Christian sionary year, nine or ten o~ers the summer better to fit them for their Home," with devotionals on the the months of missionary-prohome of Mary and Martha, and gram observance, each month work, and we have reason to hope that brief talks on the missionary's having four personified weeks, each week seven human days, our school will grow in numbers and a penny a day being the toll from each person. (Otherwise enthusiasm and in knowledge of, the each member of this human calendar is asked to earn and great Guide Book which we all are turn in a dollar for missionary benevolences. ) studying. The motto selected for the coming year is: Only out· best is good enough for Christ.
Let each one memorize it and live it.
Then Sunday School will be what our Divine Pilot would have it.
The program for Rally Day was built around the idea of an ocean trip, and to give atmos- phere to the voyage, the plat- form had been decorated to resemble a ship. The songs used were: . "Jesus, Saviour, home on the various fields in Pilot Me," "Let the Lower which the organization was in- RALLY DAY IN THE SUNDAY Lights Be Burning," etc. Paul's SCHOOL* shipwreck and rescue was the terested, as an opportunity and Scripture story; "Our Chart an object lesson among the non- Many missionary programs and Compass in Life" the sub- Christian natives. The improve- ject of a brief address by the ment in native homes after nowadays are built around the pastor. their inmates became Christian figure of a world tour or ocean was another fertile topic. A cruise. Here is one which is Announcement was made home mission dramatization calculated to give the Church that the missionary cruise was and a luncheon inclusive of School a fine start at its first starting and that China would parched corn and other au- autumn meeting. It was used be the first port of call, and tummiJ Indian features closed in the Concord Presbyterian that other countries would be School at Carrick, Pennsyl- visited during the winter. the meeting. A missionary garden party vania. Two weeks later, in the clos- Five days before Rally Day, ing exercises of the school the furnishes a good opening in the daughter of a missionary in fall, and may be used to famili- a letter similar to the one be- China gave a fine talk, illusarize guests with newly elected low was mailed to every mem- trated with curios, on the part officers at annual gatherings ber of the Church School: falling during the summer, Dear Friend; of China in which she had lived N ow that summer is over and vacanew plans by the denomination for a number of years. Several for the opening year, names of tion a thing of the past, we are look- weeks later, a pretended land- ing .forward with enthusiasm to the the new study books, etc. Type fall and winter work. As a member ing in India was made and a a considerable list of the de- of – – Sunday School you will, of native Hindu in a near-by uni- course, be interested in its plans for sired questions on slips of the coming months. versity gave a talk with profuse paper, their answers being on illustrations of curios. A young separate slips. Pin these suf- September 25th is Rally Day. At Egyptian from a theological ficiently far apart to necessitate seminary not far away effected • Copyright, The Duplex Envelope Company, Richmond, Va, Abridged.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
the fifteen-minute landing in Unrivaled in natural beauty 3. Public schools Egypt that had been previously Cosmopolitan Developing cooperation in Govannounced. And thus all dur- The Indian's place in it ing the winter the "landing fea- ernment schools tures" were used in the closing 2. The Indian's contribution to the 4. Religious education in Governassembly period. world ment schools OUTLINE STUDIES OF "IN- Trails along which the United 5. Mission schools and their influ- DIAN AMERICANS" States expanded ence By MRS. B. P. HEUENER Lure of the out-of-doors Aim-to make citizens "with the Foods Baptist,,,Missionary Education Heritage of beauty finger print of God" Se~etary for Illinois Devotionals: The Christian Student. Devotionals: Our Joint Heritage of These studies-greatly con- Religious Inspiration. Eph. 6: 8, 9; Provo 4:5; Romans 12:2; 2 Tim. densed on account of space limitations-were presented by Romans 8:14, 16, 17; 10:12. 2:15. Mrs. Heubner in the Normal Supplementary Suggestions: S1tpplementary Suggestions: Course on Home Missions, at Lake Geneva Interdenomina- Prepare list of Indian names in Name and locate Indian schools tional School of Missions last summer. Their aim was (1) your own or a neighboring of your denomination to provide a guide in the teach- state, with historical connec- Impersonations in dialog form er-training course of that tion where possible. school; (2) to furnish material One or more choice legends told. of students from government, for later mission study groups public and mission· schools, in local churches; (3) to serve Two menus incorporating as as the basis of programs in discussing relative advantages both senior and young people's many Indian foods as possible. groups. Room decorated with samples of and disadvantages of their re- Text: Indian Americans, by Indian art. spective schools Winifred Hulbert. Special assignments on such A day in a Government school- A uxiliary Helps: Meriam- themes as "The Place of Mu- may be impersonation of Hinman's "Facing the Future .sic in the Indians' Life"; in Indian Missions"; "The Moc- teacher casin Trail," by. Bruce Kin- phonograph records of such A day in a mission school ney; "Leaders' Manual," by music; readings of Indian Assigned talks on Bacone Col- Elizabeth Mann Clark; books of Indian legends, music and poems or translations; "Story lege or Santee Normal Trainpoetry; magazine articles as in- of Sacajawea," from "The dicated in the successive les- Bird Woman," by Schults. ing School, on education for sons. THE MISSIONARY REVIEW preservation of Indian culture OF THE WORLD, July-August, Topic for Discnssion: Should mission 1932. schools be continued?* Aim: (1) To secure a knowl- CH!PTER II-E PLURIBUS UNUM CHAPTER IV-FACING 14 COMPETITIVE edge of present conditions among American Indians; (2) A.im: To realize the adjustments to WORLD to recognize and assume the responsibility of every Christian American life necessary to be made Aim: To understand the Indian's individual toward these Indians. by Indians. problems of adjustment to the pre- Keynote: "In the America Topics: that was ours before it was vailing civilization; to recognize yours, we desire to take our 1. Changing attitudes place in the ranks of Christian and assume the Christian's opporcitizenship." (From address of 2. The Indian no relic of the past tunity to help in solving them. Indians to President Coolidge Growing race versus tribal con- Topics: at Pine Ridge Agency, August 17, 1927.) sciousness 1. Looking for a job CHAPTER I-A HOMELAND SHARED 3. Out of many tribes, one race In Indian service; in white Aim of Session: To recognize our cul- 4. Out of many races, one nation world; on reservation tural and spiritual as well as our material heritage from the Indians. 5. Old ways and new days 2. From Stone Age to Machine Age Aim of adjustments-to produce at a step Topics: 1. The land which the Indians highest type of citizen E con 0 m i c adjustments-ex- shared Means-Government, mlSSIOns, change, citizenship obliga- touch of average white life tions, occupations open Devotionals: International Citizen- Social adjustments – initiative ship. Book of Ruth. lacking; prejudice to be over- Supplementary Suggestions: come; problems in city life; Map drill locating tribes service of Y.M.C.A. and In- Spell-down on tribal names dian Office Game of jumbled tribal names 3. The Church's opportunity Story of "The Trail of Tears" Devo tionals: In the world but not of Study of distinctive and com- it. John 17:8-17. mon tribal customs Supplementa1'y Suggestions: Roll call of pioneer missionaries 1. Roll call of Indians known in to Indians '. history Question for Discussion: How far 2. Talk, "Citizenship privileges of will intermarriage with whites aid Indians" in adjustment to American civiliza- 3. "The White Man's Book of tion? Heaven" speech (in play, "Two Thousand Miles for a CHAPTER III-TOOLS FOR THE FUTURE Book" and in Indian Office Aim: To discover the strong features Bulletin for 1928; No.8) in every type of school. To face the 4. Survey of your city or locality problems involved in making citi- to discover number of In- zens "with the finger print of God." dians, their living accommoda- Topics: tions, social and recreational 1. Education and student problems advantages and church affilia- Learning a trade tions Financing a higher education Discussion Topic: If you lived in a Winning a place in the modern . section where there were Indians world and had positions to offer, to which 2. Government schools today would you give preference-Indians Aim-to educate to make a liv- * (See Indian Office Bulletins of Education ing and to become citizens Division; ah::,o Prof"feSsi'L'e Educatim, Feb, Recent improvements 1[132.)
or whites? How can we touch the Devotionals: God the Creator and The next meeting is desig- lives of some Indian young people? Guiding Spirit. Mal. 2: 10, Rev. nated "A Look Around"-' "Look not every man to his CHAPTER V-AT HOME IN THE INDIAN 4:11; Is. 58:11; Ps. 37:5. own things but also to the Supplementary Suggestions: things of others." Migrant COUNTRY work in the homeland is to be 1. Map locating the missions of considered. Aim: To see the Indian student in your denomination. his home environment; to discover "Look unto Him," with a means of making the home envir- 2. Roll call-name, location and home-coming address by the onment safe and progressive toward type of service of a mission- pastor, is the theme of the third "the abundant life." ary to Indians, in your de- nomination. mabneeidentgi,nwg"e,TreihtesyliSglcohrotiekpnetedudr.e'-~,k-.e, yT"n'hTo!etn.e. Topics: 1. The student back among his peo- 3. Comparison of health safeguards comes "A Look Across the Sea" ple in average American and av- -"Go ye therefore and teach 2. Home viewpoints erage Indian communities. all nations." This will give op- 3. Constructive plans for the fu- portunity for a review of the ture 4. Impersonation of Steve Quones- study book on China, which is Legal protection tiwa. (See "Moccasin Trail," to be studied in all the circles Improved reservation system Chapter 9.) of the organization. Removal of evil white influence (See Home Mission Congress state- "Look and Praise"-"Let us Devotionals: Newness of Life. Eph. ment, Congress Report.) offer the sacrifices of praise to 4:21-24. God continually," will be the GENERAL PROJECTS FOR THE COURSE theme for the November meet- Supple7nentary Suggestions: ing, which will feature a pag- 1. Discussion topics: That Indians 1. Comparison of Indian proverbs eant and praise gifts. . should be encouraged to per- form at rodeos, at fairs and and teachings with similar Scrip- "A Look Inward"-"Examine for tourists. How can the In- yourselves"-heralds a mission- dian's heritage of culture be tural references. ary magazine presentation. made significant to him? What contribution can Christian 2. Study of Indian legends for simi- "A Look Up," on the keynote missions make toward the of Luke 21 :28, is in celebra- wise use of enforced or nat- larity in Old Testament stories. tion of the World's Day of ural leisure? Prayer. 2. Debate: Resolved, That the Res- 3. Detailed sketch of work of one of ervation System Should Be "Look to Thy Neighbor," Abolished. your own missions. Matt. 19 :19, agam will afford 3. Assignments: The desirable and opportunity for a review on the undesirable aspects of tri- 4. Prepare a play for public presen- Indian study book. bal holidays or ceremonial trips. How be adapted to tation (see Elizabeth Mann Clark's "Look to the Harvest," Matt. good purposes? Class member 9 :37, with a survey of world investigate and report what Leaders' Manual and denomina- mission fields, will close this measures relative to the In- dians are before Congress. tional catalogues for names of unique series. Write your congressmen, in- plays). .• dividually or in a group. Where We Place the Emphasis Consult the Indian Rights As- 5. Secure local or missionary speaker sociation, 995 Drexel Build- of authority to address church. Each year $750,000,000 is ing, Philadelphia. spent for cosmetics, perfumes 6. Stereopticon lectures on Indian life (See "Literary Digest," Aug. 3, 1929 and creams. -"The Plight of the Educated In- and missions. $350,000,000 for soft drinks. dian." $300,000,000 for beautiful 7. Prepare an "Indian Night" for Also "Atlantic Monthly," Dec., 1929- furs. "Yours Lovingly" whole church at close of study. $500,000,000 for jewels. Nov., 1931-"Two Insurgents" See Clark's Manual for instruc- $800,000,000 for cigarettes. tions. Readings from "Kiowa," by $250,000,000 for ice cream CHAPTER VI-AN INDIAN ApPROACH Isabel Crawford. 8. Public Debates. and cakes. TO GOD $100,000,000 for candies. 9. Carryon correspondence with mis- $200,000,000 for chewing gum. A itn: To face the problems and as- And from each dollar people sume the responsibility involved sionary in your own denomination. in cooperating with the Indians in have, 75 per cent of a cent goes developing a truly Christian envir- Note: "Topics" in the foregoing for the Lord's work. onment. outlines may become the basis for talks, impersonations, dramatizations, "Less than a cent, 0 keepers of gold, Topics: With houses and lands and riches un- news items, "Living Magazines" or told; 1. Truths from Indians' past; sim- "Newspapers Come to Life" (cover- Less than a cent-it cannot be ilarities to Christians' truths. ing subject matter) or any other rep- That is the way you divided with me." 2. The Indian and the Christian '. utable means of popularizing the ma- Church. terial. Dominant problems-securing an education; deep, practical SOME POINTERS FOR PRO- religious belief; health stand- GRAM MAKERS ards; self-respecting economic standards; wholesome and The First Baptist Church of sufficient recreational activi- Wichita, Kansas, has worked ties; appreciation of citizen- out its year's programs from ship and opportunity to prac- the keyword "Look," using the tise it; training of Christian Scripture theme, "Eyes they leaders. have, but see not." (Query; 3. Through brotherhood to God- Should this not be balanced Indian contribution. with a positive passage instead of resting upon a negative?) The first meeting is entitled, "A Look Forward," this being an introduction to the new offi- cers and a preview of the year's endeavor. Its motif 'is, "No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven." The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEES HOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK WITH THE PEA PICKERS crop is one of the earliest crops Contract labor is used in By EVA BARNES, R. N. of the spring, many come from peas. A man, usually a Mexi- the cotton fields to pick and, as can or Porto Rican, will con- a result, there were about tract with the grower to pkk "Oh, I know her; she's our thirty families whom I knew in his peas. He brings in the peonurse we had while we were in the cotton and about fifteen pIe and pays them and he is cotton," and dark eyes sparkled others who had lived in cotton the "boss." Many contractors in friendly recognition as the camps in the San Joaquin Val- agree to pick peas for several well-known "Chevy" stopped ley, outside of the district in of the growers. This system before a row of twenty or which I had worked. The peo- makes it more difficult to bring twenty-five rather dilapidated pIe were surprised and very the work to the attention of the looking tents pitched on the much 'pleased to find that the grower. The growers with bank 6f a wide ravine down nurse had come to peas also. whom contact was made were which trickled a little stream This gave a certain continuity pleased with what was being of water. While the other chil- to the work started in the fall. done. Another disadvantage is dren looked at the stranger In visiting camps, it was most that the grower feels no rerather curiously and with not a interesting to find friends and sponsibility -for the people who little suspicion, Margarita, who to be welcomed by a friendly he feels belong entirely to the had migrated with her family smile and word of recognition. contractor. The latter feels that in a rickety Ford car some 175 In only one section of a camp he must make as much as posmiles from cotton to peas, were there no familiar faces sible from the people and he jumped upon the running board found. Here a large number of is not so interested in their of the car and exclaimed joy- gypsies of Roumanian-Serbian well-being. This is particularly fully, "We didn't think you'd descent had settled for the crop true this year when everyone come to peas, too, but we're season. To me they were very is trying to "get by" with the sure glad to see you .for my interesting as it was the first least possible expenditure. little brother, Juanito, the one time I had met them. They As the season lasts from four that had the awful burn and were quite distinct from their to six weeks, the camps are you took care of him 'til it was Mexican neighbors in the same only temporary, the people all well, he's got hiedra (poison camp; their brightly colored, bringing their own tents. The oak) and his face all swell up. usually of flowered material, camp site is selected in a level Look, Nurse, it all down by the full, long skirts and consider- space or along a ravine under creek where we go to get water able jewelry served to dif- the trees. The latter location and wood," and she pointed ferentiate thern at a, glance. is cooler and pleasanter, but down into the wide and shady They did not appear to be as poison oak is' found in abunravine where ten or twelve destitute as the Mexican mi- dance. Margarita's brother was other tents were pitched. grants. Their tents were larger not the only one whose "face Due to the fact that only two and made of more durable ma- was all swell up." Some had of the canneries of the Sacra- terial and they had beds and it more, some less. Many were mento Delta District opened the very elaborate bedspreads. The the calls for medicine to soothe early part of April, it was pos- gypsies also had better care. the itching and burning. _sible this spring to open a new They had come from various Many times an extra "room" work in Washington Township parts of California. Most of was built onto the tent from in Southern Alameda County, the adults were American-born. cartons, corrugated tin, old California. This region, which Their native language was pieces of lumber, etc. In some is but a short distance from the Roumanian although they did instances families lived in old San Francisco East Bay Dis- speak English fairly well. At barns which had been made trict, is becoming an increas- first they were inclined to look fairly habitable. It was rather ingly important center for the with a little suspicion on the interesting to find that the pea industry. Here many hun- nurse but when they found she better and more thrifty Mexidreds of acres of hills and low- was their friend and had come . can families who had come lands are planted with peas to help them, they were most from the cotton camps, where which are picked by means of cordial and always ready to they were accustomed to houses, migratory labor. As the pea welcome her. did manage to make enough or [499 ] had saved a little to enable time; my sister catch cold and ing in the peas is a real probthem to rent a house or build- she been very sick in the throat lem. ing which had formerly been since then," the older brother used for a barn or garage, but explained. They had been un- Wages for picking peas have which was better than a tent. able to take her to the doctor decreased greatly in the last For this they paid from five to as they had just arrived that few years .as in other seasonal ten dollars a month. Others paid day and had no money. crops. In some sections in 1930 one dollar a month for the the pickers received one dollar privilege of putting their tent Instructions were left to for a hamper which holds about in the back yard of some pri- make the little sufferer more thirty-two pounds. In 1931 they vate residence. In the regular comfortable and in a few days received thirty-five cents and camps no charge was made. All the swelling subsided and she this year only twenty cents, a camps were inspected by the was much better. few contractors paying only Housing and Immigration Com- eighteen cents. Even at that, mission and the contractors "You bring us more 'papeIi- a fairly good picker could make were forced to make the tos' (little papers) 7" a group from seventy-five cents to one camp conform with state of boys and girls asked conregulations. dollar a day and the com- "LITTLE MOTHERS" bined earnings of the fam- In the section there DOING THE I~AMILY WASHING ily were more than in cotwere about 1,200 people. The majority of these stantly. As some primary Sun- ton. As the work was were Mexicans, but there day school papers were given steady until just about the were a good many Porto out, they were seized eagerly close of the season when Ricans and a few white while one boy assured us they did not pick some American and R u s s ian proudly, "I can read; I in the days at all or for only a fa mil i e s. Eight large high fourth." The papers with few hours, there was not camps were visited regu- brightly colored pictures were the actual destitution and larly and five smaller ones carefully reserved for the sick privation there was in the occasionally, as well as children or for those who had cotton. This was due in many transient families to be "cured" in some way. great part to the weather. living in Decoto. Three Very few of the children went As long as there was hundred and one health and to school. As the season was steady work, they got forty-one other calls were made short, the schools did not want along fairly well and had throughout the season; one hun- them particularly for they dred and thirty-four patients hardly got started when they enough for necessities but little were treated and thirty-eight were gone. Most of the camps for extras. Several told me the were advised. Minor illnesses were about two and one-half children had no shoes and could such as sore throats, sore eyes, miles from the school and in not go to school. There were a colds, toothaches, swollen and in- this state no child can be forced few calls for clothes. flamed glands, intestinal dis- to go to school more than two orders, boils, poison oak and miles if transportation is not As the peas are early in this minor injuries such as cuts and provided. None of the schools section, many of the people miburns, were found and cared for. provided transportation. I fear grate from here to the coast in Skin diseases such as impetigo, that in some of the camps the the vicinity of Half Moon Bay scabies and ring worm, were contractor 'placed his 'camp just and also farther south where prevalent but cleared up under beyond the two-mile limit so he there are late peas. While only proper treatment. There were would not have to send the chil- a small beginning was made in a few cases of pneumonia. dren to school. The atten- this region this year, contact Mothers were advised as to diet dance officer said the children was made with several interfor babies, and pre-natal advice would not be allowed to pick ested groups in nearby cities and literature were given ex- during school hours, but this which will help put the work on pectant mothers. The work was rule was not adhered to. School- a more permanent footing in appreciated by the people and the future and will help to open in practically all cases they gave up new avenues of service in good cooperation. this community. Several friends from Oakland were taken to In one camp a girl was found the camps and their interest was greatly stimulated. There with a bath towel wrapped was fine cooperation between local health centers and local around her neck. She could doctors. Many new friends were scarcely speak due to a severe made and old friends found. and case of tonsilitis. "While we in practically every camp there were coming over the moun- were those whose faces lighted tains, our car break down; it up with pleasure when they was very cold in the night found "La Nurse" had followed them to peas.
W orld·'wide
~,,~~A ~ Miss~ iona~ ry N~ ewsp~ ape~ r of ~ Curr~ ent E~ ven~ ts ~~~ JAPAN-CHOSEN The steady spiritual progress Again have I become the child of an .aching heart Newspaper Evangelism among her people has not re- Four years ago there were six ceived so much attention. Dr. Carrying the burden of Japan's D. C. Holtom, a Baptist mis- crime, centers of newspaper evangel- sionary, reports from Tokyo: Begging pardon of China and of the world ism in Japan; at present there "In the presence of distress at With a shattered soul,- are thirty. Last year more than home, and abroad, the Christian Again am I .a child of sadness.
10,000 men and women, having Church has preserved a steady- Korea Keeps in Step seen the articles or advertise- ing and constructive attitude. There are some 2,600 Presbyments, wrote to inquire more In the face of the stimulation terian congregations in Korea, about Christianity. They came of the military ideal through with 160,000 or more believers. from every prefecture and col- the repercussion on the national ony in the Japanese Empire, mind -of events in Manchuria Since January reports tell of and also from China, Borneo, and Shanghai, the church has churches doubling their memand the South Seas. Many have found opportunity to uphold been baptized and are now as- with a new boldness the idea bership, new groups started, new buildings erected, an excel- lent spirit everywhere, all partsociated with a Christian con- of peace. It has been driven ly the result of the Forward gregation. There are 500 mem- by the financial urge to find Movement initiated last fall. bers of the New Life Society in new and greater resources of The Sunday School Associadirect touch by correspondence the Spirit. The 'Kingdom of with the Tokyo office. Many God Movement,' has brought tion of Korea conducts a Bible the forces of the Gospel aginteresting letters are continual- gressively into contact with Correspondence Course and ly received, telling of changed over 4,000 people have p.aid the equivalent of a day's wages for lives, and the joy of Christian hundreds of thousands of men the New Testament booklet and experience. and women throughout the questions, or two days' wages Helping Japan's Farmers land. It has undertaken a for the Old Testament. Two strong program of training lay hundred and sixty-nine men at- Five years ago Kagawa's first leaders; of re-directing the in- tended the six weeks' Bible In- "Japan Far mer's Gospel ner life through national evan- stitute in Pyengyang, all at gelistic campaigns; of bringing School" was opened. Two hun- both material and spiritual re- their own expense. Women who lief to the hard-pressed rural attend the ten-day Bible classes dred such schools are now be- communities through the pro- walk an average of ten to thirty ing held. The daily program motion of Peasant Gospel miles, some farther. They eat Schools; and of deepening the and sleep all those days in acute begins with flag-raising, to the spiritual life among the Chris- discomfort, but they take back strains of the Kimigayo, fol- into the life of their little counlowed by a hymn and prayer, breakfast dishes, a Bible lecture, and then the demonstra- tian groups themselves through try villages the thrill of the tions of agricultural experts. an intelligent program of Chris- great assembly. Heart to heart talks .on the tian education. In the total na- A magazine, Woman's Opin- tional life of Japan the leader- Christian life have resulted in ship of the Christian Church ion, proves that Korea is no some decisions. One of the stu- has never been more vigorous longer only a man's country. dents wrote: "I am joyfully re- than during the past year." membering and putting in prac- -The Presbyterian. tice what I learned at the – Watchman-Examiner. school. In the evening father, ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC mother, and I sit in the warmth Kagawa's Poem on Japan's of the quilts over the brazier, Attack on China Gains in Malaya The Malaya Annual Confer- and I retell to them what I Toyohiko Kagawa wrote a ence of the Methodist Episcopal heard at the school and wrote poem entitled, "Child of an Church reported last year a net down in my notebook." Aching Heart," at the time of gain of membership of 15.7 per -Congreg(ttionaHst. the Sino-Japanese incident in cent. In the Philippine Islands, Signs of Spiritual Progress Shanghai. The poem was in-' with a decreased missionary ap- cluded in a "Peace Bulletin of propriation and a very small Japan's military adventures the Friends of Jesus" and wide- missionary staff, the reports re- have had much recent publicity. ly distributed: veal a net gain of 5,270 mem- [501 ]
bers. This brings the total sembly room, which seats 600 crisis, to be held in the Chicago members for the Singapore people, is rearranged for Sun- Temple auditorium November Area to 86,000. All the eight day, and a dignified service is 29 to December 2, 1932. This Districts are now led by Fili- made possible. Students and conference will discuss such pino pastors who have rendered faculty have contributed over topics as, The Challenge of the twenty years of constructive $5,000 toward the church of City, The Church in a Democservice. their dreams. racy, The Fight for Righteous- ness and The Church and Co- A Pastor's Courage -Women and Missions. operative Life. Speakers will include Jane Addams, Prof. Ar- The pastor of a large Meth- On the Island of Bali thur E. Holt, Rev. H. P. Dougodist Church on Mindanao, self- lass and Rev. Douglas Thornsupporting for a year, reveals No Christian missions have ton. Each day sessions will be the difficulties and blessings of been permitted on Bali, but devoted to group discussions. the present situation. about a year ago the Dutch This will not solve the city's government granted permission problem. A campaign of pray- For the month of October we have for a resident Chinese mission- er and evangelism is needed received less than $5, although the ary to preach to his own people for the regeneration of the men, spirit of the members to give is still on the island. Some have now women and children of the city. the same, or in some cases still more accepted Christ, among them strong. The amount of their gifts is two young men whose fathers Church Growth gradually decreasing because of the were Chinese and whose mothfinancial crisis. I commit all to the ers were Balinese. These young Statistics for all Churches, mercy and goodness of a loving Fath- men have witnessed to their gathered and published by the er, who is ever present in time of Balinese friends and relatives Christian Herald, gives the totrouble. Personally, I can stand this and ,a considerable number of tal Church membership for adverse situation, but my wife and pure Balinese country folk be- every decade since 1800. This children cannot stand it. There are came deeply interested in the membership has grown more trying moments when the children are Gospel, turned their backs upon rapidly than the population. In sick and we have no money for medi- their age-long belief in Hindu- 1800 reported membership was cine. All we could do in such a time ism, threw down their idols, only 6.5 per cent of the popuwas to pray and our children got well. and declared themselves believ- lation; this ratio in 1860 had The saving grace of Jesus has become ers on Jesus Christ. Twenty- reached 16.6 per cent, and toa living reality to us in our sorest six men and women who have day it stands at 40.1 per cent. need. After all, there are spiritual thus taken their stand have This does not include children lessons to learn in a seemingly trying been baptized. They are among below the age of Church memtemporal situation-to develop one's probably the first of this race bership,. except in the case of faith in God and to teach one to de- to accept Jesus as their saviour. the Roman Catholics, who estipend on God only. Many more are earnest seekers mate the entire Catholic popu- after the truth, possibly one lation. Near half of the Amer- -Missionary Herald. hundred inquirers. The work ican people are professing is spreading from village to Christians. The total gain in Silliman Student Conversions village, and notwithstanding Church membership last year very considerable opposition on was 433,656, apportioned among More than 2,500 have found the part of local Balinese coun- the principal denominations as Christ in Silliman Institute and try officials, these Christians follows: Baptists, 139,526; Luhave dedicated their lives to are becoming more established therans, 49,931; Methodists, Him. They are scattered over and are witnessing wherever 46,225; Presbyterian, 16,676 ; the Islands and in other lands. they go. Roman· Catholics, 15,243. The Thirty-one are in the ministry; Disciples of Christ showed a twenty-three are preparing for -The Pioneer. loss of 4,477, ,and the Congreit. Besides the twenty teaching gationalists of 736. in Silliman, sixteen are teach- NORTH AMERICA ing in other schools where the A Call for Prayer Bible is taught. Two are phy- A City ~hurch Conference sicians and five are nurses in A seri.es of meetings held in mission hospitals; five are in The modern city is the center Philadelphia a few months ago the service of the Y. M. C. A. of vice and lawlessness; it is to consider the great need for Usually the year begins with a also the place of great need and a spiritual revival resulted in third of the 900 students al- of great religious activity. The the adoption of the following ready evangelical Christians committee on the City and New "Call to Prayer" : and ends with about half the Americans of the Home Misstudent body as church mem- sions Council and the Council Great evils have come upon us bebers. of Women for Home Missions cause we have forgotten God. . is arranging for an interdenom- For thirty years Silliman has inational conference on the city Evil times are upon us, but it may had no church building-a seri- and the church in the present please God to send revival, since He ous handicap, for it is difficult says, "If my people which are called to create a worshipful atmosphere on Sunday morning in a room where everything suggests the secular associations of the week. To offset this the as-
OUR WORLD-WIDE,9UTLOOK
by My name shall humble themselves, day school to set apart some Japanese Woman's Home and p,ray and seek My face, and turn of the farm land, or certain In and around Seattle there from their wicked way: then will I farm animals, and at the har- are about 8,000 Japanese, of hear from Heaven, and will forgive vest season sell the produce or whom more than 1,000 are their sin and heal their land" (2 the animals and give the pro- Christians, and 400 are mem- ceeds to the church. Those who bers of the Baptist Church. The Chron.7:14). have been in the plan state that Japanese Woman's Home, the There is a bankruptcy of hum,an it has three outstanding results: oldest Christian center in this first, that contributions have area, has three departments : leadership in all fields. The situation been increasing; second, that it church, kindergarten and womin the world is desperate and beyond provides training in stewardthe control of men. It may grow worse ship; third, that there are val- an's home. rapidly unless there is supernatural uable spiritual results – that Bible reading and hymn sing- people acquire new attitudes tointervention. ward. the earth and are striving ing is carried on in Japanese The supreme need of the hour is a more zealously to make it holy. homes, with Japanest men and women as co-workers, testifyg?-"eat spiritual awakening like the re- -Watchman-Examiner. ing, praying, and doing acts of vlVal under the Wesleys in the Eight- kindness for Christ's sake with McBeth Mission Closes the joy of service shining in eenth century which saved England from the horrors of the French Revo- their faces. lution. Such movements have ,always been prepared by a widespread force of prayer, as in the thousands of prayer groups that were formed in Wesley's time.
We therefore earnestly appeal to Christians everywhere to forsake their sins and to return to the sim- Mis,S Mary Margaret Craw- Western Canada's Children plicity of Bible faith. We appeal to Christians individually to pr,ay more ford, known to her friends as Over 8,000 children are enearnestly for revival within the rolled in the Bible Memory Con- Church, and to form prayer groups "Miss Maizie," after 33 years test operated in four provinces for united intercession. in rural Western Canada by the on the field in McBeth Mission Canadian Sunday School Mis- We suggest the following to meet for Nez Per~e Indians at Lap- sion of Winnipeg. In one place the nearest church is 135 miles the special needs of the various classes wai, Idaho, has retired. As the away. This mission has over a of each community: hundred Sunday schools in ru- whole faculty of a theological ral communities where a few 1. Groups of women, meeting in years ago there were none. Last one and another's homes, daily or seminary for Nez Per~es, summer they held 76 summer weekly, at some convenient hour dur- Makahs, and Spokanes, Miss schools of two-week periods where many children accepted ing the day. Crawford has borne the respon- Christ as their Saviour. Boys 2. Cottage prayer meetings in sibility of training Indian ap- and girls who have memorized homes in the evening to be held each Scripture in the contests for week. plicants for the ministry since two years are eligible for a 1915, when her aunt, Miss Kate Bible Correspondence Course of 3. Weekly prayer meetings for 52 lessons, with questions to be McBeth, died and left the answered and returned for coryoung people. rection. Radio evangelism each Sunday from November to 4. Daily or weekly pr,ayer meetings unique work in her niece's April is another ministry of for business men at the noon-hour in the center of the city. hands. In addition to this she the mission. Also, summer carried on a many-sided com- camps for children and ~or ru- 5. Prayer group,s of ministers and ral school teachers. A total of church officers on Saturday night; and munity program which included 80 workers were engaged last of ministers with each other. year, most of them volunteers. religious work in the govern- Christians are asked to pray ment tuberculosis sanitorium, and work for the formation of courses in domestic arts and thousands of small groups, not sciences and music, and instrucwaiting to be invited, but tak- tion of Indian communities in ing the initiative. When the , politics and citizenship. spiritual movement comes then McBeth mission, including the spiritual, social and finan- the seminary for the training cial distress of our day will be of Nez Per~e, Makah and Spokhealed. . ane Indians, will be closed this Send the name and address of one member summer. This action was takof a prayer group to the Great Commission en by the Board of National Prayer League, 808 North LaSalle Street, Chi- Missions of the Presbyterian cago.
Lord's Acre Movement Church in the belief that the LATIN AMERICA Nez Per<;e Indians have out- Seventy churches, represent- grown "the milk of the Gos- Cause for Optimism ing seven religious bodies in pel," as Paul puts it, and as western North Carolina, are co- Christians are ready for as- The Rev. G. A. Riggs writes operating this year in' the sum p t ion of .responsibilities in a recent Watchman-Exam- "Lord's Acre Movement." The that are at once the obligation iner: plan, originated several years and the privilege of maturity. Baptist work in Puerto Rico conago by the Baptists of Georgia, The six Nez Per~e churches" tinues to prosper. In spite of the crowded condition of our buildings, is being promoted by the Farm- under Board of National Mis- our Sunday schools not only hold their sions are pastored by six fine attendance, but increase. For more ers Federation. The churches Indian ministers, trained in the than a month the average attendance cooperating asked each member seminary. of the church and of the Sun- of the Rio Piedras Sunday school has
been well ahove 500; with about as Evangelical Influence is pioneering among Indians in many more in Barrio Sunday school, the Beni region and preaching for which this church is responsible. Of the twenty republics con- and distributing the Scriptures In most of our churches there is op- stituting what is known as Lat- throughout Bolivia. The Irish timism and enthusiasm in spite of the in America, not one is without Baptist Foreign Mission workpinch of poverty and reduced pay- evangelical schools. In most ing at Rosario, a city of half a ments on pastors' salaries. Enforced cases, their students have come million people in the Argentine, lowered appropriations fr.om the Home from social strata not reached has planted six vi go r 0 u s Mission Society has left six of our by the evangelistic arm of the churches. Fifty were recently smaller churches pastorless, but in all missions, but they have been a baptized. The mission is piobut one case the work goes forward. silent, persistent force for neering into Southern Peru, righteousness, the Bible and its where the scattered people can Progressive Women teachings have been exalted in only be reached by continual the lives of their Christian evangelism. The Inland South Puerto Rican women are im- teachers, and untold thousands America Missionary Union is porta}:,!. .factors in the religious of young men and women have reaching Indians and others by life of<t~ 1::. island. Although learned of Christ and have tried means of a launch in Iquitos they lead~ery busy lives they to follow him in their own lives. district, Peru, also the Bororo find time to visit the sick and Indians, Brazil, and those at needy, to carry to them spirit- A testimonial to Mackenzie San Roque, Argentine. The Salual comfort, cheer and practical College in Sao Paulo, Brazil, vation Army has decided to help, as funds permit. A proj- written by a Latin American, send a mission to work among ect now in process of develop- might well be said of other the ticket-of-leave men at the ment by the women is that of evangelical schools: French convict settlements in doing something to give to the French Guiana, Ile Royale, Ile needy aged in Puerto Rico their A great change has c.ome over us St. Joseph and Devil's Island. proper place and care. In some in Sao Paulo. We have found that 4,000 convicts are here engaged places school children are to be religious thought is perfectly com- in hard labor in lumber camps. asked to each give one penny patible with scientific thought. You The Union Seminanr at Buenos for starting a fund, which may people at Mackenzie do not parade Aires, the Training Center at lead to the establishment of a your religion, but you have it, .and Azul, Argentine-in the joint home for these unfortunates. make it felt, and stand for it on any interests of the Evangelical suitable occasion; and you are doing Union of South America, and Temperance programs have the best scientific training that is be- the Christian and Missionary formed another part of the ing done in Brazil today. Weare Alliance of America-and the women's responsibility, and a convinced that incompatibility of sci- Training College of the Latin civic organization known as entific thought is with a certain type American Evangelization Cam- Mujeres Votantes (V 0 tin g of religious thought, and not neces- paign in Costa Rica, are doing Women) is doing much to pre- sarily with Christianity. You can this work of training. pare women for their coming safely say to any intelligent audience responsibility of suffrage by in Sao Paulo today that God the Creholding night schools to reduce ator is the Governor from whom, by the illiteracy which debars whom and to whom all things pertain, Puerto Rican women from vot- without exciting a sneer on the part ing.-Women and Missions. of the thoughtful men.
Adverse Situation in Mexico -Presbyterian Banner.
Mexico's measures to curb re- Cooperation in Latin America EUROPE ligious bigotry are becoming more drastic. While not direct- Coordination of evangelical British Methodist Union ed against Protestant missions, these .are suffering the conse- forces in Latin America in or-. The Wesleyan Methodists, the quences of the struggle. No der to evangelize untouched re- Primitive Methodists and the Bible study may now be con- gions is being promoted by the United Methodists, the three ducted in school, no minister, Latin American Fellowship. A largest bodies of the Methodist either Mexican or American, conference representing work in name in Great Britain, have may teach any religious subject, Spain and Portugal, and its re- formed a plan of union to go and not even grace may be lated activities in Latin Amer- into effect on September 20. asked at meals. According to ica, will contribute to the gen- Representatives of the three the Mexican Constitution all er:al scheme of coordination. bodies will meet in Albert Hall real estate owned by any relig- The Evangelical Union of South and declare the three churches ious organization becomes at America is seeking to put all its to be one, the terms and condionce the property of the government. A new law in Mexico work on an indigenous basis, tions of the union having al- City and its vicinity prohibits anyone from preaching in and pioneer efforts in Argen- ready been approved by the remore than one locality. -Record of Christian Work. tine and in the Sao Francisco spective Conferences. The united Valley in Brazil will apply and church will be the largest Non- develop these principles. Re- conformist communion in Great markable meetings and many Britain.
conversions followed weeks of On doctrinal standards, no special prayer at Sao Paulo, change is admitted, but the Act Brazil. of Parliament under which the The Bolivian Indian Mission union is authorized empowers
OUR WORLD-WID~..oUTLOOK
the new church to change its A mer i can Congregational their pastors. Beggars are co.nstitution to meet changing churches and missio.n stations, tramping from village to vil- conditions, sho.uld that be neces- and in Bulgaria forty churches lage. Along the Volga the cases sary. There is every indication and mission stations with a to.- of death by starvation increase.
that the union will be affected tal membership of 5,000, and Men, who are compelled to de- witho.ut the loss o.f a single 3,000 children in the Sunday vour the carcasses of fallen ani- church or minister. schools. A revival of these mals, have nothing to offer pas- The German National Church churches would bless 650,000 tors. Moslems in Bulgaria. In Al- There is also a dearth of The German Evangelical Lu- bania, Kortcha is of prime imtheran Church, with its 40,000,- houses. Pastors are compelled 000 members, is the largest portance, where the American to ask for shelter of any colsingle Pro.testant church gro.up. onist who. will grant it. Most Thro.ugh -all the succeeding po.- Mission is at work. An evanlitical and so.cial upheavals it gelical revival here, in view of men are afraid of ' .lg exhas remained substantially in- the present impressionable con- cluded from the Cok. ~~IVe or o.f tact. Furthermo.re, by forming sharing the fate of the exiled an "Evangelical Church Feder- ditio.n of Albania, would reach kulaks. In many instances a ation" it is endowed with more than half a million Mos- pastor must leave in order to avoid bringing further persecu- lems-half the entire popula- tion. In northern Albania there tion upon those who have be- are 169,000 Greek Orthodox strengthened resistance to anti- Christians and in the south friended him. religio.us currents, of which 118,000 Roman Catholics, but there has been no. lack. Most they have no evangelizing initia- Evangelical Conference in Spain dangerous and comprehensive is tive. Friendly relations be- Convened by the Evangelical at present the mo.vement of the tween Turkey and Greece are Spanish Alliance, the Confer- Go.dless which hand in hand drawing together Serbs, Bul- ence of Evangelical Churches with socialistic communism is garians and Rumanians. being pro.mulgated by Russia in took place in Madrid from May every po.ssible way. In the face 3 to 4. This conference was of this, tbe Go.spel is making itself felt. Home Missions, with Church News from Russia composed of representatives of their hundreds of ho.spitals, the According to the Evangelical practically all the Protestant Pressedienst, the evangelical denominations in Spain. Matters under consideration tens of thousands of deacons churches are fighting for their referred to the project of the and deaco.nesses are carrying life in Russia. The Lutheran law governing confessions and on their services o.f mercy. Fo.r- Church has a seminary in Len- religious congregations that are eign Missio.ns have no.t o.nly re- ingrad from which twelve to to be presented to the Cortes sumed work since the War, they fifteen young men were to grad- Constituyentes. have continued without serio.us uate in June. This seems to Various propositions w ere curtailment. give promise for the future but, made to give unity to all the As to spiritual vitality, the under the pressure of the ter- forces of Evangelical Christiandisappearance o.f a number o.f rorism which has been going ity in Spain. There was manischo.ols of tho.ught, such as His- on for years, church life is fested a tendency to group not to.ricism, Biblicism, Psycho.log- threatened even more than merely under the name of a ism, has been fo.llo.wed by a under the violent measures in federation, but under that of a genuine Luther Renaissance. In force hereto.fore. church which shall be known as the front line, there stands the Death and banishment have "The Evangelical Church of Schoo.l o.f "Dialectic Theo.logy," reduced the number of Luthunder the leadership of Karl eran pastors to forty. These Spain." The Conference elected five Barth. Its aim is to. regain a are divided over the colonies persons to constitute a provicentral position for the great along the Volga, the Ukraine, sional executive committee of o.bjective facts o.f the salvation, Caucasia, and the congregations the above-named church. This the redemptio.n of the world in the cities-a terribly small committee has already begun wro.ught by the incarnation of number. Thirty pastors and the preliminary work on the the Godhead, as applied to theo- leaders of congregations are important task. logical and ecclesiastical work. pining away in prisons or are -Espana Evangelica.
JULIUS RICHTER, Berlin. worked to death in the lumber camps of Siberia – a living Strengthening Lines in Balkans death. AFRICA Anti-Missionary Agitation The strengthening of evan- It is very difficult to place gelical religion in the Balkans young graduates. Only two or _ A storm of fanatical opposi- at the present juncture of af- three of the congregations are tion to Christianity has swept fairs is extremely important as in a position to receive pasto.rs over E gyp t the past few a means of appro.ach to the because of poverty. Many vil- mo.nths. It centered abo.ut a numerous Moslem populations. lages are utterly unable to pro- young man who became inter- In Czechoslovakia there are 132 vide even a bit of bread for ested in Christianity while at
the American University, Cairo. Rebuilding An Important Post Men, women, and children shouting, scuffling, reeking with rancid palm oil Subsequently he attended a In Abyssinia, the present -this unsavory mass of misery kin g has returned to the thrusts knives, spe,ars, dead fish, an- Bible School, and being over Church Missions to the Jews cient meat, live chickens· or ducks as eighteen years of age, and le- the fine old mission station of presents to the medical boy assistants gally entitled to think for him- Kobela, which was devastated in the hope of immediate treatment. during the Abyssinian cam- After relative quiet and order was self, he became a convinced paign under King Theodore in attained by the huge, black engineer Christian. His father, a big- 1863. For many years it has Ekeba and his wood carriers, the served as a chief rallying post women were first examined, their oted Moslem sheikh, and, more- for brigands. Although the names and tribes being registered and over, a notable magician, whom walls of the huts have tumbled their fees taken. Then c.ame the men's down, and the place is over- turn. At one .0'c1ock the medical boys, even highly educated men fear, grown with shrubs and thorns, utterly weary, covered with dirt, palm immediately appealed to the po- the missionaries are planning to oil, and worse, returned to the Oregon lice, ·t,o arrested the boy. The rebuild slowly this important to snatch sleep until 5 a. m. when they case w< brought into court, center for work among the would go ashore to give the treatand the boy was eventually Falasha Jews. ments. The injections were made at handed back for "protection" to the rate of one every two minutes or, -Alliance Weekly. for both boys, sixty an hour. They his father. worked quietly, never slackening in This incident was immedi- spite of growing weariness.
ately taken up and enlarged This treatment is so effective upon by the Arabic press, and bitter attacks upon mission work in general ensued. Reso- New Openings in Nigeria that the infective stage has allutions were drawn requiring most entirely disappeared from active propaganda for the faith Nsukka in the Niger Diocese the radius of the Bolenge hos- (Islam), to launch a virulent was the last district of the Ibo pital. Cases which appear are Arabic press campaign, to stim- tribe to remain unevangelized. from a distance. It is interestulate the circulation of anti- Bishop Lasbrey, of the C. M. S., ing to learn that practically all missionary literature, and to went there for the first time in the work of this hospital, save stir the government against 1930 and found a large pagan where white people are under mission schools and missionary population and a sprinkling of treatment, is done by native as" activity in general. However, Moslems. Some of the older sistants, the doctor keeping in missionaries rep 0 r t a wide- Ibo congregations on hearing the background as instructor spread spirit of inquiry among of the need raised £150 for mis- and counselor. Some forty-four sionary effort, and teachers thousand treatments are given enlightened Moslems.
were sent to five or six towns. annually.
New Y. M. C. A. in Assiut In January, four new stations Dr. J. Quay, an American were opened in hitherto un- Forward in Central Africa Y. M. C. A. secretary in Egypt, touched villages. Some churches Vigorous for war d action writes of the new Assiut Y. M. have had to be enlarged and a marks the work of the Africa C. A. building and grounds: large number of inquirers have Inland Mission. New station sites now secured in the Bel- "Nine years ago thirteen been enrolled. Ibo Christians gian Congo permit an advance young Egyptians decided they have provided funds for two among 100,000 or even half a ought to found a modern Y. M. teachers in the Nsukka area, million Azande people and will C. A. Most of the thirteen are while the Awka church has pro-· facilitate the evangelization of still in Assiut and prominent in vided £20 for the present year 40,000 in the Ruwenzori area. business, official or professional and £20 for 1933, to support The Pygmies in the Belgian life. They form the backbone another teacher.
of the Committee of Manage- Medical Ministry on the Congo Equatorial forest are also being ment. There is an acre and a taught. Tanganyika Territory half of land in the very heart The Disciples Mission in the reports great encouragement of the growing residential sec- Congo has a steamer, the "Ore- from the stations at Mwanza tion of the city. The new build- gon," whose ministry is the in- and Buduke, which were opened ing has an auditorium, smaller jection of Neosalvarsan for last year. Tanganyika has prorooms for office, library, dis- yaws and syphilis at points all duced a gifted African transcussion rooms, billiards, ping along the river Ubangi, tribu~ lator who has already finished pong and cafe. It cost $22,500 tary of the Congo. The ap- Genesis and Exodus in the Kesiand every cent of it was raised pearance of the boat is the sig- kumu language which have in Assiut. Current operating nal for announcing by drum, to been printed at the mission expenses have come too from the people along the river and press. Tabora, largest town in Egyptian sources, and all in the in .the interior that an oppor- Tanganyika, is to have a Mo-: midst of terrible financial de- tunity is at hand for ridding ravian church, composed of conpression. The founders say they themselves of these terrible verted heathen. In Kenya, fol-: are now ready to do something scourges. The Congo Mission lowing a second survey of unconstructive. News pictures the scene: reached tribes, work is under
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
way, with native Nandi and ly to a positive Christian ap- Easter and Whitsunday and the Kamasia Christians assisting. A proach to Jews and Moham- days of St. Chrysostomus and bill to amend the native mar- medans. riage ordinance is before the Saint Barbara. Among their sacred books they enumerate Kenya Legislature. African United Jewish Missionary Con- the Torah, the Psalter, the Goswomen wedded according to na- pel of Christ and the Koran. tive custom may have Christian ference They have never been on good marriage, and thereby they ob- A United Jewish Missionary terms with the orthodox Mostain the status of legal majority Conference of Palestine, was lems and of late have shown' and cease to be chattels. A held on Mount Carmel, April much friendliness to the Chris- Christian widow, not her pagan 20-22, 1932, and the following tians living in their country.
relatives, will have custody of recommendations were made: Recently a deputation of Alaher children. The intention is Literature: That a Literature Com- uites appeared among the Cathto preserve the Christian moth- mittee be appointed to produce litera- olic Sisters of the Sacred Heart er's influence over her children. ture suitable for indifferent and The Depression in Africa agnostic Jews, and also for young peo- of Jesus and Mary at Safita and asked to join the Christian ple. The Chairman conveyed an of- faith. This visit resulted in a fer from the S. P. C. K. Council to The depression has reached consider any applications for help that movement toward the Catholic the heart of Africa. Unemploy- faith and a number of vilment is a great and bitter prob- might be submitted to them from the lages have already become Cathlem not only in this country, U.J. M. C. olic. but in the huts of Katanga -Die-Katholischen Missionen. Province, Belgian Congo. Dr. Methods of Approach: The question John M. Springer, writing un- as to whether evangelistic work is Missionary Cooperation more productive of spiritual results than institutional work was discussed and the Conference decided that each was obviously complementary to th~ der date of April 7, 1932, says other. American Board work in Turthat in that mining district The presentation of the simple Gos- key began in 1819, with the "the natives had become quite original purpose of helping all accustomed to the industrial pel message by lip and life was ad- races in that country. More and town life, to good wages, v,ocated as the most sure method of and more it has concentrated and, for them, high living, when approach to every class of Jew, al- upon the Armenians and Greeks, suddenly the tide turned and though it was pointed out that a resulting in a strong, evangeli:- the urban population of whites knowledge of Jewish literature, his- cal church. Oppressive politiand natives has been dimin- tory .and language was an invaluable cal conditions caused many of ished by more than half. Many equipment for the Jewish missionary. the leaders to migrate to Amerthousands of natives have been Tribute was paid to the work of J ew- ica, where they have formed sent back to their villages; the ish missionaries in the past and then, Armenian – speaking churches. wages for all remaining are as now, it was recognized that the Some twenty years ago the greatly reduced, and many only means of winning a Jew was Armenian Missionary Associaskilled and once highly-paid na- by the way of friendship and love, tion of America was formed, tives have no income what- and it w.as suggested that prayer, the its purpose being to further ever." Could anything show greatest of all methods, had not yet missionary activities among the more plainly that the world is been tried to the full. Armenians scattered in every one, and that we dwellers here, whatever our color, location, or Alauites Giving Up Islam land. job, live a common life? About six years ago leaders North of the Lebanon is the -Christian Advoc,ate. state of the Alauites, one of the in the Armenian Missionary four mandatory regions of Association of America sug- French sovereignty in Syria. In a r 0 ugh mountain district, reaching as far as the border of New Turkey, 200,000 people gested the p 0 s sib iIi t y of live under the rule of their strengthening the whole work WESTERN ASIA sheikhs and subsist by tending through closer cooperation with their flocks and farming their the American Board. This was Y. W. C. A. in Haifa A new branch of the Y. W. land. brought about by forming, in C. A. has just been opened in They are known as a Mo- 1927, the Executive Council of Haifa, Palestine. The branch hammedan sect, a branch of the Armenian Missions, made up of includes a hostel, club room fa- Shiites, the followers of Ali, the representatives of the Armecilities, offices and an employ- son-in-law of Mohammed. Their nian Missionary Association of ment bureau. This center in religion is a curious mixture of America and the American Haifa where there are so many pagan, Mohammedan and Chris- Board, thus creating a unique girls of Jewish, Mohammedan tian elements. They think they form of missionary cooperation. and Christian faiths can render are descendants of the Cru-' Armenian Protestant churches a unique service in revealing saders and celebrate mass at in America number only thirtythe true Christian spirit to all night, offering wine and incense five, of which only eight are girls served and, in so doing, and calling upon the name of self-supporting. will be able to contribute great- Jesus. They observe Christmas, -Congregationalist.
Youth Service in Isfahan ~ional ~sset of which they must take I went there twenty-five years ago. mcreasmg account in the building of A Youth Service was organ- the new India. Today there are over ten times that number, 83,000 Christians. When I ized last winter in Isfahan by young converts who invited Twenty-five years ago Dr. left the District thirteen years ago young people to come and hear Mott addressed the students at young speakers tell what Christ Allahabad for four days with- there was scarcely a caste Christian •had done for them. Persian out daring to mention the name in it. Now, the outstanding feature .. hymns were sung to Persian of Christ. On the last day at of our work there is this incoming of tunes and the four addresses the close of his address' he the caste people. were by Armenians and con- spoke of Christ; within five verts from Islam, all connected minutes the hall was empty. At I am fully persuaded, after seeing with Stuart Memorial College. Agra, Dr. Jones spoke in a The meeting was an effort to cro~de.d hal~, night after night, hundreds of these caste people and link the college more closely begmnmg WIth Christ and talk- baptizing many of them that two wit~ ~he church. A group of main m.otives explain the'movement. ChnstIan young women said ing of nothing else, yet the peo- The religion of their fathers no long- that they, too, would welcome ple crowded in, listened for er grips them; their gods are not an opportunity to witness for hours and seemed loathe to go. merely dead, they have become ri- Christ. Near the close of the meetings in every place it was asked diculous; no Indian can remain long Life Among the Loors that only those come who really without a God to worship. Here comes wanted to find God, and the in the second motive. As one man put it: "I have seen for years the children halls were filled, as before. of your outc.aste villages laughing and Dr. Jones· observes more happy. Because we have seen what skepticism than in all his pre- Christianity can do with the people vious 25 years in India-honest that Hinduism has no use for, we skepticism, which acts as a come to you. We want a religion purgative from superstition. In- that can make good people .out of bad dia is intent on the intense quest people." for some new power to remould -Dnyanodaya. Dr. Joseph W. Cook, Presby- character. Hindu Christians terian missionary at Htyapmhuasdain~ Persia, who died of An S. P. G. missionary writes of a sect called Hindu Chris- January, 1932, wrote for the tians, and a conversation he had held with one of their lead- Presbyterian Magazine an ac- ers. "I have never before had the opportunity for such a free count of a trip he made to Looristan, a place practically blank on even the best maps of Persia. Its people are earnest Mohammedans according to A Triumph of Christian Living discussion, and to know how their lights, living under most The 1931 census report of this sect has developed. They primitive conditions. Modern 12,000 new disciples of Christ accept the whole of our Bible every month for the past ten but keep their form of worship education and modern medicine years shows the triumph of to what it was in our Lord's Christ-like I i v i n g . In the time. Hence they keep the Passhave never touched them. One Andhra territory of the Telugu over, Feast of Tabernacles, the country there have been well Sabbath. They are building small grade school in a district over 22,000 caste people led to themselves a new place of wor- become disciples of Christ dur- ship, on the lines of the Temple of 75,000 people is the only ing the past five years, and an at Jerusalem. They have a very observer explains that the chief strict discipline among themeducational facility. TdhireecLtoodres~ factor in winning caste people selves, and open and individual like the Kurds, are is what Christianity has done confession is made in the pres- scendants of the ancient Medes.
Sheep, cattle and chickens share the tents with people. Women ma~ry at eight or ten, lose four babIes for everyone that lives.
INDIA AND BURMA for the outcasts. The Wesleyan ence of the congregation. They Mission in Hyderabad reports: tithe absolutely all their posses- "In spite of the bitterest per- sions and income, hence they India in Transition are very rich. Excommunica- secution there is no sign of the tion is practised, and it is a real After a series of evangelistic movement abating. . . We re- discipline. Baptism is adminis- joice to record 7,234 caste bap- tered after a person is eighteen meetings, Dr. E. Stanley Jones tisms since the first fourteen writes in The Indian Witness: This has been by far the best year were baptised. . . 1,400 in the years of age. They have twelve I have ever sp~nt in India, though past year… The bitter enmity elders, and by lot one is chosen by all outward SIgnS this should have to administer baptism, another been otherwise. F.or the first time I of many of the village headmen felt that I was dealing with real is- and wealthy landowners has the Last Supper, another to sues and that India was ready to face preach, and another to read the them with me. There has been that been a terrible test for many of Scripture. These hold the office sense of facing things together. The the new converts. . ." for lifetime, and are also excoming possibility of self-government The Rev. G. E. Hickman has sobered India. She is not now Johnson, after a few years' ab- pected to be teachers, for which merely taking the role of the critic they are paid. They do no she is beginning to take account of sence from Hyderabad, his for- evangelistic work. Their wom- mer field of labor, writes: en only marry one of themher resources with which she has to face the future. Men are now be- Eight thousand was the number of ginning to feel that Christ is a na- Christians in Hyderabad State when selves, but men marry outside,
and the woman is admitted to ment and exiled to Ratnagiri. for his circle of from fifteen to the community." Being a Chitpavan Brahman, twenty villages which he visits -The Mission Field. the highest of the high, he soon regularly from month to month. Hindu-Moslem Riots became the religious leader of The church membership list in Rioting between Hindus and Ratnagiri. About two years this field has now passed the Moslems is not an everyday oc- ago this man began a move- 5,000 mark with the addition of currence in India. In most places in India where the fol- ment to inaugurate intercaste the 422 reported this year. This lowers of the two religions live dining. He made a dinner and growth is gratifying to all. close together the happiest of invited members of the differ- friends of foreign missions in– relationships exist, and no riots are ever known to have oc- ent castes, outcastes, Moham- South India. curred. This fact is lost sight of by people in other lands medans and others to dine with – Watchman-Examiner. when the newspapers report on him. Many from the different the outbreak of a rioting in some one place, and they imag- castes accepted the invitation, Evangelism in South India ine that all over India there is some sort of civil war going on and Brahmans, outcastes and Evangelism has had a sucbetween the Hindus and Mos- others sat down and dined to- cessful year in South India lems. where with two exceptions the gether. It was decided to make largest ingathering in the his- Church Union Movement it a monthly affair, and for tory of the Baptist mission is some five months, the group recorded. Typical of many re- The Church Union Movement ports is that of the veteran has taken one step further by came together and dined, with- missionary, Rev. W. A. Stanton, the "general assent" given to of Kurnool, who writes: the South India Scheme of Un- out any caste restrictions. This ion, by the General Council of seemed to be a remarkable for- In November the people in one of the Church of India, Burma the largest Madira hamlets on this and Ceylon, formerly known as ward step. After five of these field with more than 100 houses sent the Church of England in In- dinners, a list giving the names word that they wanted to become dia. The scheme will now be of the Brahmans who had inforwarded to the Diocesan Councils (constituent bodies of terdined, was published in a lothe General Council) for dis- cal paper. Some months later cussion and report. If the scheme is not modified mate- we read in a local paper of the Christians. For more than thirty rially, this Church will be ready annual visit of the Chief Priest years we had preached the Gospel in to act in 1935, provided the of Hinduism for the territory, that village, but the hearts of the other two negotiating Churches who has to do especially with people were as hard as the stones of also make up their minds finally. The United Church will the purity of Hindui~m. He old Kurnool. We sent a preacher and accept the Episcopal form of called the interdining Brah- finally went and spent two days church government, without mans before him and notified among them, having the great joy of subscribing to any theory of them that they had been exepiscopacy. The conscience of baptizing thirty-two people. Further North India is also being report comes that the whole palem is stirred and conferences and now ready for baptism. There seems committees on church union are the order of the day, but the communicated and in order to to be a wide-spread awakening among movement there will mark time the outcastes on this field. In one viluntil the issue is settled in return to Hinduism they would lage twenty miles from Kurnool nine South India. be required to perform praya- converts had returned to their homes schit, atonement, or forever re- Intercaste Dining and had started a school, called a main outcastes. As no one was teacher from another village to show "About eight years ago," them what to do, and were rebuilding writes Rev. A. L. Wiley of the willing to remain outside of the ruined walls of an old house for Presbyterian Mission, "a man a church. When the missionaries arwho had been convicted of po- Hinduism, the s e Brahmans, rived they proudly showed what they litical murder and sentenced to among them lawyers, doctors, life imprisonment, was released after sixteen years imprison- business men, etc., came for- had done and reported thirteen of' ward and performed prayaschit, their neighbors ready for baptism.
which means that each, in turn, The Will to Do in Burma ate a mixture made up of the In spite of distressing eco- five products of the cow." nomic conditions the Karen peo- Preaching Band ple are supporting their work, though on a reduced scale, of Ninety-one villages were vis- course. We have fourteen acres ited by Dr. W. A. Stanton and of land for the school com- his band of faithful preachers pound, and we are getting it on tour early this year. The cleared of the jungle growth.
Kurnool field, South India, cov- The churches are apportioning ers a territory three times the the work bringing lime, sand, size of Rhode Island, and has pebbles for concrete, timber for a population of more than 400,- roofs, floors and interior walls.
000. The band traveled 500 These are all contributions miles and preached to thou- , from individuals and churches.
sands of Sudras, who gave Some will send men to give eager and attentive hearing. free labor. One or two men Every pastor in this area is an have promised to send ele- evangelist, and is responsible phants to help pull out the
stumps when they have been condemn the scourge of war but .ac- practice. In eight years not a undercut. How really happy the tively to support the movement for people are in this planning! the outlawry of war that the relations single doctor for the district of of men may be builded upon other and Shanghai. So much to do. So C. L. KLEIN, Schwegyin. more secure foundations. very few to do it. So very few – Watchman-Examiner. In the political world the founda- willing to make the venture for Baptist Assembly at Maymayo tions of security are the rule of law and the sanctity of covenants, of Christ's sake. Where is the an- The Burma Baptist Assem- which warlike acts are the negation. swer? (Rev.) HOLLIS S. SMITH, In the spiritual world the foundations Changshu, Kiangsu.
of peace are living stones, men of Many Opportunities bly at Maymayo this year was sincerity and good will who will make the machinery of law and treaties more completely in charge of work. We invite all who read these The suffering in China has Burman and Karen leaders than words to join us in turning to the influenced more people to atever before. One new feature cr,oss of Christ, that we may be for- given Jor all our pride and folly and tend Church and to turn to rewas the introduction of a course inspired to follow in His steps, and in ligion as a means of comdesigned to help teachers who llnceasing prayer and effort at what- fort. Though services are not are responsible for Bible teach- ever cost to maintain .and strengthen ing in the schools. About 60 the foundations of security and peace. crowded, there is a considerable received this special training. Other efforts are being made A Friendlier Spirit increase in attendance over last both at the college and at Ran- year. Anti-Christian feeling goon to raise the standard of "One of the most significant religious' education, to make the achievements of the past year does not seem to exist, or at experience of Christ by men of has been the bringing about of least it is entirely submerged twenty centuries real to the closer relationships and coop- for the present. younger Christians. About 200 eration between the Christian delegates were in attendance at Student Movement and our Truth Hall, a Presbyterian the Assembly. Church," writes Rev. A. R. Kep- ler, missionary at Shanghai, mission school which is regis- -Paul Braisted. China. Three years ago the tered with the Chinese govern- ment, has so many students that it is necessary to hold as- sembly out of doors. Large numbers of lay workers in the Siam Situation slogan of the Christian Student churches are spending a great Movement was "Exalt Christ! deal of time in voluntary evan- The Presbyterian Missiona- Down with the Church!" At a gelistic work. More than 5,000 ries have always enjoyed the recent national conference of people at a country fair, confriendly cooperation of the the Christian Student Move- ducted by Christian workers, royal house of Siam. The late ment at Peiping, the prevailing heard the Gospel message. king, in his earlier days, gave purpose was "Cooperation with his own title to the mission col- the Church!" An Active Christian Lawyer lege at Chiengmai, naming it Is the Church Short of Faith? ·Dr. Sherwood Eddy in em- ' the Prince Royal's College. The phasizing that Christianity is present king attended the exer- I am well aware that the China's only hope, tells in the cises celebrating the centennial Church is short of money. No Missionary Herald of a Chrisof Christian work in Siam in one knows that better than the tian lawyer, Mr. Gong, who 1928 and spoke appreciatively mISSIOnary. But is the Church has personally won forty-two and encouragingly of it. In ad- short of faith? In spite of our friends to accept Christ. Durdition, their majesties have troubles here in China, and ing a week of meetings in Foomade gifts of money to the they are many, there never was chow, attended by 4,000 stu- Presbyterian Mission in Siam, a greater opportunity to bring dents a day, Mr. Gong, with in recognition of what is being these people to Christ. Sick at the consent of judges and feldone for their subjects. he art, disillusioned, harried low lawyers, called off all his CHINA from pillar to post by famine, law cases for the week, giving floods, and war, with no hope or his entire time to the meetings. National Christian Council faith in anything, these peo- To one single meeting he ple are only waiting for the brought fifty lawyers. During Denounces War Great Deliverer. the week he brought three hun- Dr. C. Y. Cheng, General Our seminaries at home are dred different persons. He or- Secretary of the National Chris~ ganized a body of eight huntian Council of China has is- crowded with students for the sued a significant statement to ministry-yet no ministers for dred Christian personal workthe National Christian Councils the preaching of Christ's salva- ers to invite men to the meetin other lands concerning war. ings and to speak to them per- After describing the horrors of tion to the heathen. For ten sonally about Christianity. Of war, the statement concludes: years not a single minister for the 50 lawyers he brought to the meetings ten have made We, therefore, pledge ourselves the district of Shanghai. Our their decisions and are now anew, and urge all our fellow Chris- medical schools at home are preparing to enter the church. tions to do the same, not merely to turning out doctors faster than they can be absorbed in stable
Education in Japan – A New Life Through God. By Toyohik() ested in the true experiences
Study. 247 pp. International Mis- Kagawa. 210 pp. $1.50. Revell. these six school girls in China, sionary Council. New York. 1932. New York. 1932. as told by a missionary who loves the Chinese and under- This is a report of a Commis- There is something amazing stands them. We see here vivsion, and how many people read about the literary fecundity of idly their temptations and trials, reports? Few, it is to be feared. K a g a w a . A comparatively their failures and victories, their The very name "report" sug- young man, far from robust in need and response to the mesgests something dry and per- health, with impaired eyesight, sage of Christ. functory. But no student of preaching and lecturing every missions can afford to ignore day and often several times a Chefoo. By Stanley Houg-hton, Edith this report. It was prepared day, serving on many commit- Harman and Margaret Pyle. 12 mo. by a Commission on Christian tees, and the leader of various 82 pp. Paper. 28. China Inland Education in Japan, represent- religious and social organiza- Mission. London. 1931.
ing the National Christian tions, he yet finds time to write The educational center of Council of Japan, the National "books and articles. Dr. Ken- the China Inland Mission for neth Saunders, who writes an Christian Education Association Introduction, speaks of him as missionaries, children, a hospital of Japan, the Foreign Missions champion of the poor, expert and the health station for their adviser of government, mystic missionaries, is at Chefoo in Conference of North America North China. This pictorial and the International Mission- and social reformer, poet and story of the many-sided life at preacher, who is doing more Chefoo is another evidence of ary Council. It was headed by the Christian spirit and efficithat eminent Christian educa- than anyone else in Japan for ency of the Mission founded over sixty-five years ago by tor, Kajinosuke Ibuka, Presi- social reconstruction and who Hudson Taylor. dent Emeritus of the Meiji gathers great crowds whenever Gakuin of Tokyo, whose asso- Streams on the Desert. By Mrs. he speaks. This book is the Charles E. Cowman. 8 vo. 328 pp. ciates were eleven eminent Jap- $1.50. The author, 832 No. Hobart anese and missionary educators. substance of addresses that Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. It is the most thorough .and were delivered.at mass meetings comprehensive study of Chris- attended by thousands of J ap- anese. Its theme is "new life, tion education in Japan that has ever been made, and it presents new morale, a new society- The present hunger of people a literally immense amount of through God." It discusses God for spiritual help is shown by reliable information. Its pri- and the World of Suffering, the large number of daily BIble mary purpose is to bring to God and Christ, God and the readings published. Here is one light the present situation and Soul, God and Prayer, God and of the best-the fruit of study the future needs of Christian the Bible, God and the Con- and experience. Many of the education in Japan in the light science, God and Daily Living, greatest spiritual leaders are of the rapidly changing situa- and God and the New Social quoted in prose and verses, with tion in that country and to de- Order. It is pervaded through- Scriptural selections for every termine what changes should be out by a warmth of evangelical day in the year. To read it made in the policy and program feeling that deeply moves the prayerfully promotes spiritual reader. It is a spiritual tonic, of the schools in order that they a real contribution to devotional growth. may more actively serve the Christian literature. Written in The Interwoven Testaments. By H. Christian movement. Several Japanese, it has been translated C. Moore. Pocket volume. 50 cents. maps and charts helpfully con- Sou the r n Baptist Convention. tribute to the reader's under- into excellent English by Eliza- Nashville. 1931. standing of the situation. This beth Kilburn of Sendai, Japan. In the form of daily Scripture B. readings, the main teachings of is a volume of notable value and the Old and New Testaments are it should be carefully studied, Schoo] Gids Together. By Mrs. E. combined in brief quotations, not only by officers and mem- Weller. Illus. 12 mo. 128 pp. bers of missionary boards work- Paper. . Is. China Inland Mission. without exposition but with ing in Japan, but by the stu- London. 1931. short explanations. They will dents of Christian education in School girls in America and prove interesting and suggest other lands. A. J. BROWN. England cannot fail to be inter- further study.
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Bible Verses to Memorize. Selected chapters make an excellent sub- standing, of righteousness, of by Helen Miller Gould Shepard. 16 faith and of love. mo. 96 pp. 50 cents. American ject for women's missionary Tract Society. New York. 1931. meetings. A good, but very lim- New Books The good seed is the Word of ited bibliography of British The Prophetic Lamp. Ernest Baker. God. Sown on good soil it bears books, suggests opportunity for 79 pp. 1s. Pickering & Inglis. good fruit. The Bible verses, further study. London. 1932.
carefully and prayerfully select- The Conquest of Gloom. By James Present-Day Problems. J. C. M. Daw- L. Gray. Introduction by E. son. 115 pp. 1s., 6d. Pickering & ed by Mrs. Shepard, have al- Stanley Jones. 12 mo. 158 pp. Inglis. London. 1932. ready been translated into over thirty languages and have been 38 6d. Marshall Morgan and Scott. The New Man. Capt. Reginald Wallis. widely scattered by faithful sow- London. 1931. 95 pp. 18. Pickering & Inglis. London. 1932. ers in many lands. These selec- The author has been aNew tions, in two series and topically Zealand Presbyterian mission- Individual Work for Individuals. arranged, relate to Sin and Sal- Henry Clay Trumbull. 186 pp. $1. ary in J agadhri, India, for ten American Tract Society. New vation, Law and Grace, Sorrow years and most of these ad- York. 1932. and Comfort, Death and Immor- dresses were given to audiences That Strange Little Brown Man tality, Confession and Service, of Christian missionaries and, as Gandhi. Frederick B. Fisher. 239 Wisdom and Folly, Faith and pp. $2.50. Long & Sniith. New Unbelief, Promises and Prophe- Dr. Stanley Jones says, they York. 1932. cies. Those who memorize them "touch on problems that press in I. LiIIias Trotter. Bla"nche A. F. Pig- on this Indian atmosphere; ott. 245 pp. 68. Marshall, Morwill store away spiritual riches problems of an awakened na- gan & Scott. London. 1932. and those who scatter them will As It Looks to Young China. Edited plant living Seed. tionalism and the clash between by William Hung. 181 pp. $1. East and West." They are spir- Cloth; 60c paper. Friendship Press. The Lutherisches Missionsjahrbuch for 1932. 160 pp. This time it itual Bible studies that exalt New York. covers 150 pages and has a separate supplement of ten pages. Christ, encourage faith, promote~ Community Organization in Religious " Education. Hugh Hartshorne and J. obedience, stimulate to prayer and exhort to sacrificial service. Quinter Miller. 250 pp. $2. Yale University Press. New Haven.
This Yearbook con t a ins a Challenged. By Caroline Atwater The Causes of War. Sir Arthur Salnumber of important articles- Mason. 12 mo. 100 pp. $1.00. ter and Others. 235 pp. 7s. 6d. Revell. New York. 1932. Macmillan. New York and London. the History of the Evangelization of Iceland, Theological Miss Mason is well known as The Good Shepherd and His Lambs. the author of "A Lily of H. Forbes Witherby.. 185 pp. 1s. France," "The Little Greek Work in India, by Dr. Sande- God," "The Highway," and Pickering & Inglis. London. gren, Problems that grow out of the increasing Industrialization John Thomas Gulick – Evolutionist of the World, and the Nature of and Missionary. Addian Gulick. 556 pp. $4. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. the People and the Work of Mis- other spirited stories with a pur- The Heritage of Asia. Kenneth Saund- pose. In this short novel she ers. 224 pp. $1.75. Macmillan. sions in New Guinea. There is pictures life in an American city New York. the usual amount of most impor- and the efforts of a newspaper The Indigenous Church in Perno John tant statistical material cover- Ritchie. 39 pp. 6d. World Domining the missions of Germany, man to promote total abstinence ion Press. London. and prohibition. The facts pre- Indigenous Ideals in Practice. W. F. those of the Scandinavian coun- sented give convincing reasons Rowlands. 43 pp. 1s. World Dotries and the present status of for abstinence from intoxicants minion Press. London. missions to the Jews. Indian Americans. Winifred Hulbert. C. T. BENZE. and show the benefits of prohibi- 161 pp. $1 cloth; 60c paper. Friend- tion laws, even when not ade- ship Press. New York. The Dawn Wind. By Olive Wyon. Kagawa. William Axling. 202 pp. 12 mo. 155 pp. 28 6d. Student quately observed. $2. Harpers. New York. 1932.
Christian Movement Press. London. The Life of Chas. Albert Blanchard.
1931. Bread to the Full. By ~ohn McNeill. Frances Carpthers Blanchard. 220 12 mo. 208 pp. 28 6d. Pickering pp. $2. Revell. New York. The Gospel of Christ has in- and Inglis. Glasgow. 1931. Lim Yik Choy-The Story of a Chitroduced a revolutionary prin- nese Orphan. Chas. R. Shepherd. ciple into society, but many For over forty-five years this 252 pp. $1.50. Revell. New York.
Christians have failed to recog- famous Scotch preacher has The Republic of Brazil-A Survey of Religious Conditions. Erasmo Braga nize its transforming influence been widely known for the and Kenneth S. Grubb. 184 pp; 58. on the womanhood of non- graphic pictures, hum 0 r 0 u s World Dominion Press. London.
Christian lands. The awaken- touches, evangelistic passion and Rural Education for the Regeneration ing of womanhood to the oppor- spiritual insight in his sermons. of Korea. Helen K. Kim. Published by the Methodist Board of Foreign tunities and responsibUities of a These sermons were delivered in Missions. New York. new era is the subject of these Dr. McNeill's early prime- Totem Tales. Warren E. Crane. 95 brief studies in which the author forty years ago, in the Regent pp. $1. Revell. New York.
pictures the change wrought on Square Presbyterian Church of Yellow Rivers. Earl Herbert Cressy. 153 pp. $1.50. Harpers. New the women of Africa, of India London-:-they combine human York. and China, of Korea and Japan interest and divine unction, and Annual Report, Home Missions Coun- and of Mohammedan lands. The breathe out the spirit of under- cil~1932. 85 pp. New York.
Missions LOS PACIFIC j III
ANGELES Are presented in novel and very I had a usable form, for Missionary Meet- COLLEGEi ings, as illustrotions for s<':rrnons Prodigy and talks, or for personal inspir- ! "Character Firstation, in for a the College that Cares" The Presbyterian Chi Id" 12 Acres-3 Buildings-28 Years BANNER of Success-Also Accredited "I thought I h.d • prodigy for. child," • mother Prep School- Coeducdtion – A wrote us. "But when I found th.t other children A Church weekly modern in Homelike School. studying .t home .ccomplished the s.me results .nd appearance, evangelical in creed, wlth e6se, I knew it WtIIS your Ctilivert course and progressive in contents, practical THI N K! Board, Room, Tuition- methods." in help to ministers, ministers' $40 month or work on campus wives and other active Church and pay $25 month. C.lv«t School tr.vels to children .11 over the workers; and prepared with world to give them, wherever they may Jive, as thorough special regard for the layman and Send Application and References an elementdry educcdion I!IS children ~ttending the the laywoman. to Registrar … C.lvert O.y School in B.ltimore, M.ryl.nd. It comes to your home, bringing with it interesting books, A Christian Companion 5832 Ebey Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. pictures, new reading devices and up~to-dtllte equip~ ment-everything the child needs for .ny ye.'s work. For the home, the study, mission- Obituary Notes The lessons .re cle.rly outlined step by step, .nd ary meeting, young people's interesting to both p.rent .nd child. meeting, Sunday school, and hour Dr. J. Kelly Giffen, of the Sudan of family and personal devotion, Mission of the United Presbyterian The knowledge of C.lvert tr.ined boys .nd girls its many pages of "News of the Church, died in Khartum on April 6th. impresses people-and impresses their teachers later Churches Everywhere/' and its His widow, Grace H. Giffen, died on when they fin.lly t.ke their pl.co In high or prep.r.tory pages of vital editorials, are July 27th in Assiut. Dr. and Mrs. school. There is the usual elementary education} prepared by numerous selected Giffen went to Egypt in 1881, and also rich trtlining in cultural .sod scientiAc subjects. Correspondents and entered the Sudan as pioneer mis- Scores of missioncuies, exchange doctors, p~rents in sionaries in 1900. They were effective the diplom.tic service h.ve enrolled their children, Editorial Staff forces in building the Church of Christ in that difficult field. .nd found them wei r equipped to enter hi~h or Including William H. Boddy, William E. Brooks, Paul Patton *** erep~rdtory school on their return to the United !:>tates. Faris, Ralph Cooper Hutchison, Ihere have been so many of these enrolments that noW Hugh Thomson Kerr, John A. Mrs. George J. Geis, of Myitkyina, there .re C.lvert School centers in foreign fields. Mackay, Donald Mackenzie, Burma, died April 28. She had been a Baptist missionary for forty years. The full course begins with the first gr.de .nd Joseph R. Sizoo and James H. c.rries through six ye." till high school. It m.y be *** tdken 4S 4 whoJe or in Pdrt-dt d complete cost of $40 Snowden. d year, the school furnishing all lessons dnd mote rid Is. Miss L. Couch of the Ramabai Person~1 criticism of pupil's work by Calvert teachers SUBSCRIPTION RATES Mukti, Mission, Kedgaon India, died $20 .dditionol. Kinderg.rten courses ore .voil.ble $2.50 a year; to ministers, $2. In on April 1st at seventy-nine years of for use by individu.ls .t $10.50, or in groups .t combindtion with The Missionary Re- age. Miss Couch was born in Eng- reduced cost. view of the World ($2.50 alone), land and went to India forty years only $4 for both-d saving of one ago. After spending ten years in V. M. Hillyer, founder of C.lvert Home Instruction dolldr. Sample copy of THE BANNER Calcutta she went to Mukti where School, wrote "A Child', History", "A Child's free on request. Pamlita Ramabai gave her work in Geosr.phy………uccessful books imbued with the ch.rm the Boys' School where she acted as .nd .ppe.1 th.t enliven .11 Calvert home lessons. Send your order to a real mother and won many boys to Use the coupon for full inform.tion. Christ. The Presbyterian Banner CALVERT SCHOOL, In recent years she has not been 189 E. Tuscanv ROld, Baltimore, Md. 2007 Commonwealth Building able to do much active work on ac- Pittsburgh, Pa. count of an automobile accident but Ple.se send me full inform.tion, including. s.mple Or to The she has gone twice daily to the sta- lesson. tion to distribute the Gospel portions Missionary Review of the World and tracts. Guards of every train NAME ………………………………… . looked for this messenger of God and 156 Fifth Avenue for her bundles of biblical literature, ADDRESS ……………………………… · . New York, N. Y. papers and magazines. Mukti is situated on the regular Indian pilgrim can Board of Commissioners for For- route and every day more than fifty eign Missions, in Japan, died on July of these pilgrims and sadhus pass 31, in his eighty-second year at the through. Miss Couch was interested home of his son, Rev. George E. Cary, in these wanderers, and would show Bradford, Mtlssachusetts. Dr. Cary them the One who is "The Way, the was born in Foxboro, April 20, 1851, Truth and the Life," and give each was graduated from Amherst in 1872 a Gospel portion or tract in the lan- and Andover Theological Seminary in guage they understood. 1877. He went to Japan that same year. *** Dr. Cary was the author of a very The Rev. Otis Cary, D. D., forty- complete and valuable history of two years a missionary of the Ameri- Christian Missions in Japan.
Retiring from the field in 1918 he served Japanese churches in Utah and California under the auspices of the American Missionary Association. In 1923 he established residence at the Walker Missionary H.ome, Auburn- dale, and assisted with the editorial work of the Board.
His wife and four children, Rev. G. E. Cary, Dr. Walter Cary of Dubuque, Iowa, Rev. Frank Cary of Otaru, Ja- pan, and Miss Alice E. Cary of Osaka, Japan, survive him. Our Special China Number OCTOBER, 1932 Illustrated Up-to-date Factual Partial Table of Contents What the Chinese Have Accomplished … . Kenneth S. Latourette of Yale University Come With Me to China ……………………………….. . 0. E. Goddard Overcoming Difficulties ………………… "….. Wm. H. Gleysteen of Peiping The True Soul of China …………………… .Francis C. M. Wei of Wuchang How the Chinese Worship …………………… .James L. Stewart of Chengtu Why Send Missionaries to China … , ……………… .P. O. Hanson of Taianfu What Have We Learned About Mission Methods …. .Frank Rawlinson of Shanghai What Kind of Medical Missions Are Needed ……………. .Dr. Elliot I. Osgood A Sample Mission Station ……………………… Charles E. Scott of Tsinan What Christ Has Done for China ………………… Carleton Lacy of Shanghai The Church of Christ in China ………………… . A. R. Kepler of Hangchow Woman's Place in Changing China …………………….. Katherine R. Green Whither-and What Progress ………………. Charles L. Boynton of Shanghai The Christian Task in China ……………………….. .P. C. Hsu of Peiping Testimonies of Twice Born Chinese ……………….. , ……. Various Authors What the Chinese are Doing for China ………. .Mary F. Parmenter of Shanghai Best Books on China « SEND YOUR ORDER NOW » 25 Cents a Copy $20.00 per Hundred THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
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